# The Coffee House



## snowbear

Welcome to _The Coffee House_, where there is no competition, no Leaderboard, no C&C, and no stress. It was started by small group of TPF gnomes who not only like photography, but also like to share coffee, cinnamon buns, poems, and stories.

Pull up a seat, grab a cup, and unwind!




 
_© Copyright Lewis Clarke and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons License_


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## oldhippy

I think I know those guys.  Ed


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## snowbear

Good morning, Ed.


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## mmaria

just stopped by to say hi crazies!!!!!!!

drinking coffe, looking for some ceramic tiles for the new bathroom and buying a new phone!


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## mmaria

and it's AFTERNOON!!!!!!!!


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## snowbear

Good afternoon, Marija.  What phone are you going to get?  We are thinking about changing our phone company.

It's OK, Ed and I are in the same time zone.


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## Warhorse

It's also morning here.

I would like a cup of black coffee, and a cinnamon roll please.


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## snowbear

Welcome.  Where, in Michigan are you?  My lovely wife is from Monroe.


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## Warhorse

I live in the northern area of the lower peninsula, about 25 miles south of the Mackinaw bridge.

My bride was born in Monroe.


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## sm4him

Good morning and/or afternoon, everyone!

Already had the first cup of coffee this morning.

No snow on the ground, but it's flurrying a bit.  Too cold for the south!


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## snowbear

Good morning, sweetie (Lenny said I have to keep up the mindless flirting!)

Overcast here.  It has rained but stopped.  Flurries are good, unless you get a foot of them.  Set up a time lapse out the window.

edit: corrected weather.


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## sm4him

My feelings might get hurt if you just suddenly stopped flirting, Charlie! 

No, flurries are NOT good. Ever. Because flurries mean it is cold, and Cold is Bad.

I might sit at the window and watch the birdies for a while though.


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## sm4him

I was supposed to be shooting some soccer today, for a friend, but they cancelled the games due to the weather.

This is what we do down here in the winter-weather-weanie South; we cancel stuff the night before because it MIGHT snow!!


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## snowbear

You need a warm snuggy.  I am going to help Miriam with her work today.  I'm planning on a trip up to the mountains tomorrow.  Miriam wants to clean the oven but we have get lazy lobster out and away from the chemicals (asthma).  I think the color is pretty much over, but we might see some deer in the national park.


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## snowbear

sm4him said:


> I was supposed to be shooting some soccer today, for a friend, but they cancelled the games due to the weather.
> 
> This is what we do down here in the winter-weather-weanie South; we cancel stuff the night before because it MIGHT snow!!



Sometimes we do that, sometimes.  Where we live, they'll close schools for nothing and fail to close them for real stuff.


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## sm4him

snowbear said:


> You need a warm snuggy.  I am going to help Miriam with her work today.  I'm planning on a trip up to the mountains tomorrow.  Miriam wants to clean the oven but we have get lazy lobster out and away from the chemicals (asthma).  I think the color is pretty much over, but we might see some deer in the national park.



If I can steel myself against the cold, and if the weather improves a little, I hope to go out a bit later and do some birding. But this morning, I'm kinda enjoying having nothing in particular to do.


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## sm4him

Hey, here's the selfie I couldn't post last night because my phone decided to whack out on me. Every time I tried to open the picture gallery, the whole phone would freeze up. That's what I get for taking a selfie!


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## snowbear

Enjoy your day, keep warm, and have another cup of coffee.

Oh, and a hug.


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## snowbear

sm4him said:


> Hey, here's the selfie I couldn't post last night because my phone decided to whack out on me. Every time I tried to open the picture gallery, the whole phone would freeze up. That's what I get for taking a selfie!
> 
> View attachment 88463


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## limr

Good morning!

Actually rough morning today. My feet still hurt from yesterday, I'm sinusy from the dry air in the apartment, and my neck hurts from using different pillows.

But I have coffee, so all is right in the world!

A lot of so much right.


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## snowbear

Awww, sorry you don't feel up to par.


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## sm4him

Good morning, Lenny! Sorry you had a rough night; that happens to me almost anytime I spend the night somewhere else. 
But you have coffee, and crazy internet friends to hang with for a bit.


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## limr

It's true! Coffee and crazy LB family and I'm already feeling better 

Plus, sinusy=sneezing, so how bad could it be?


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## limr

I've got Leaderboard open in another tab so I can read the madness that I missed while walking around. I posted a few phone pictures I took, if you didn't see them. They won't be hard to find - they were in the last few pages.

I think I'm going to write a short little Leaderboad tribute and then we need to ask someone to shut that thing down!


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## sm4him

limr said:


> I've got Leaderboard open in another tab so I can read the madness that I missed while walking around. I posted a few phone pictures I took, if you didn't see them. They won't be hard to find - they were in the last few pages.
> 
> I think I'm going to write a short little Leaderboad tribute and then we need to ask someone to shut that thing down!



I'd like to see your pictures, and especially the tribute, but I refuse to go back into that thread. I put my own personal "lock" on it and it's now DEAD to me.


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## snowbear

I'd say let it keep going, but without me!


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## limr

Good points!

Sharon, I'll post my pictures here for you!

Second cup of coffee and I abuse exclamation points!


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## limr

One from the apartment to show the view:


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## limr

There was another selfie in front of Radio City but I'm not going to repost that because it's just not a good picture. I look awful and Radio City is blurry.

BUT, this is the winner anyway


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## sm4him

Ha, that last one is awesome!! That's what we should have named this thread--Lenny's Place!! Or Charlie's Place!
Hey look, I'm abusing exclamation points too!! And I'm not even all that excited!


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## snowbear

It looks like I can change the title.


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## sm4him

Random:

I got a new camera yesterday. 
But it's not as exciting as it sounds.

My boss came in and set a camera bag on my desk and said "see if that's anything you could use." It was a lost-and-found item that had been there past our maximum holding period.  

It was an old film camera. And not even a particularly interesting one.
A Minolta Maxxum 7000. Has what is likely a pretty cr*ppy Tamron 80-210 lens on it, but there was also a Minolta 50mm f/1.7 lens in the bag.
And the bag itself is pretty decent; would make a good little "holster" type bag for my backup camera when I take two out with me.


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## limr

NICE!

Those Minolta lenses are pretty sharp. I've got an SR-1 with a Rokkor lens that is really quite nice.


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## Designer

Good morning!  I've had my breakfast and a mug of tea.  Waiting for SWMBO to awaken so I can make her breakfast shake and mug of coffee.  

Here is a recent shot of a central portion of my red oak whose leaves are quite red this autumn.


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## snowbear

Run a roll through it and see what you get.  I'm guessing the battery is common (my rangefinder uses mercuries that I can't get anymore) but use the D7000 to meter on a few things and compare with the Minolta.  It may have some light leaks, but that can be fixed.

A lot of the zoom lenses from that era have poor IQ compared to today.


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## sm4him

limr said:


> NICE!
> 
> Those Minolta lenses are pretty sharp. I've got an SR-1 with a Rokkor lens that is really quite nice.



I'm thinking about maybe trying a little freelensing with it. I've got several old 50mm's now; it might be a fun project to freelens with each of them and see the results.


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## Designer

sm4him said:


> Random:
> 
> I got a new camera yesterday.
> But it's not as exciting as it sounds.
> 
> My boss came in and set a camera bag on my desk and said "see if that's anything you could use." It was a lost-and-found item that had been there past our maximum holding period.
> 
> It was an old film camera. And not even a particularly interesting one.
> A Minolta Maxxum 7000. Has what is likely a pretty cr*ppy Tamron 80-210 lens on it, but there was also a Minolta 50mm f/1.7 lens in the bag.
> And the bag itself is pretty decent; would make a good little "holster" type bag for my backup camera when I take two out with me.


 Good morning, Sharon.

I have that same camera the lens you mentioned and two other lenses for it.  Been hoping to either sell it or give it away to some deserving young person.


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## snowbear

Good morning.  I like the leaf with the red veins.


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## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Run a roll through it and see what you get.  I'm guessing the battery is common (my rangefinder uses mercuries that I can't get anymore) but use the D7000 to meter on a few things and compare with the Minolta.  It may have some light leaks, but that can be fixed.
> 
> A lot of the zoom lenses from that era have poor IQ compared to today.



Actually, I've got some light meters I can use.  And I've even got some film that I've been meaning to run through my trusty old Pentax and one of the Nikons I've picked up in the last year or so.  I just haven't managed to motivate myself to do it.


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## pgriz

Good morning, kind people.  Yes, it's still mid-morning where I am.  Getting together the things I need to go to the cottage, drain the water, and prepare it for the winter sleep.  Savouring the last little bit of coffee before finally venturing out and doing what I need to do.  There are snow flurries in the forecast, and the wind is supposed to be picking up.  Temperature is just above freezing, and the radar maps are showing snow showers to the west and north of us.  And tonight...  the ritual of setting back the clock to try and get more daylight for the morning.  Winter's coming.  I think I will go to our local coffee house after and enjoy a few timmies with my double-double.  I'll buy you one if you care to join me.


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## sm4him

Designer said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Random:
> 
> I got a new camera yesterday.
> But it's not as exciting as it sounds.
> 
> My boss came in and set a camera bag on my desk and said "see if that's anything you could use." It was a lost-and-found item that had been there past our maximum holding period.
> 
> It was an old film camera. And not even a particularly interesting one.
> A Minolta Maxxum 7000. Has what is likely a pretty cr*ppy Tamron 80-210 lens on it, but there was also a Minolta 50mm f/1.7 lens in the bag.
> And the bag itself is pretty decent; would make a good little "holster" type bag for my backup camera when I take two out with me.
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, Sharon.
> 
> I have that same camera the lens you mentioned and two other lenses for it.  Been hoping to either sell it or give it away to some deserving young person.
Click to expand...


Well, if you give it away to a deserving young person, make sure they aren't the sort that will just forget it and lose it on the city bus.


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## snowbear

Well, I think I'm going to go back to bed for a little while.  The kitties were very hungry this morning so I got trampled on.

See you later on today.


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## sm4him

pgriz said:


> Good morning, kind people.  Yes, it's still mid-morning where I am.  Getting together the things I need to go to the cottage, drain the water, and prepare it for the winter sleep.  Savouring the last little bit of coffee before finally venturing out and doing what I need to do.  There are snow flurries in the forecast, and the wind is supposed to be picking up.  Temperature is just above freezing, and the radar maps are showing snow showers to the west and north of us.  And tonight...  the ritual of setting back the clock to try and get more daylight for the morning.  Winter's coming.  I think I will go to our local coffee house after and enjoy a few timmies with my double-double.  I'll buy you one if you care to join me.



I'd love to join you, but I'm already miserable about the cold down here where *I* am; I don't think heading north is a good plan for me.


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## limr

I'll join ya, Paul! I need another coffee and Canadian winters don't scare me


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## pgriz

sm4him said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, kind people.  Yes, it's still mid-morning where I am.  Getting together the things I need to go to the cottage, drain the water, and prepare it for the winter sleep.  Savouring the last little bit of coffee before finally venturing out and doing what I need to do.  There are snow flurries in the forecast, and the wind is supposed to be picking up.  Temperature is just above freezing, and the radar maps are showing snow showers to the west and north of us.  And tonight...  the ritual of setting back the clock to try and get more daylight for the morning.  Winter's coming.  I think I will go to our local coffee house after and enjoy a few timmies with my double-double.  I'll buy you one if you care to join me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd love to join you, but I'm already miserable about the cold down here where *I* am; I don't think heading north is a good plan for me.
Click to expand...


Well, yes, I can understand your reluctance.  There is, however, a very small silver lining to the cold.  When you come in after being outside, and your nose and cheeks are slowly defrosting, the hot chocolate smells and tastes extra delicious.  Other times, it's just a hot chocolate.  But when you're coming in from the cold, it's rather special.

Mind you, I'm not suggesting that this is enough to compensate for frozen fingers and chilled toes - but it IS a bonus when you're going to have frozen fingers and chilled toes anyways.


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## limr

I need more coffee but can't be bothered to make a whole new pot just for one cup (French press). Luckily, you can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting a Starbucks so when we head out in the afternoon, I'm sure I only have to suffer for a block or two before I get my fix.


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## pgriz

limr said:


> I'll join ya, Paul! I need another coffee and Canadian winters don't scare me



You see... there's still another way.  I've skypied a joint breakfast with my daughter in Vancouver.  Kinda works, but needs coordination over the time zones.  However, I'll be in internet-free spaces in about half an hour, so we'll have to wait.  On the other hand, the next time I and my lovely wife come down to the New York area (we've got lots of family there), I'll buy you and significant other a coffee or maybe even better. That's a promise.


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## limr

It's a deal!


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## Designer

Paul, in that case, you're welcome to come to Iowa, too!


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## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Housers!


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## Gary A.

It has been raining all night and this morning. Just stopped.


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## Gary A.

My oldest daughter lives in St. Louis. Luke, the grandson, played his last soccer match today. It was 35F. Sarah, a SoCal girl, thought the whole thing was crazy.


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## Gary A.

Anybody home? ... I'd like to order a croissant and a Costa Rican, black ... please.


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## sm4him

Hey, Gary!  I just popped in for a minute, not really staying long.
Got to get to the store, and I think maybe I'll work on a new birdfeeder today. Might go shoot some birds later if the weather improves any, but that isn't looking promising.

Probably will be back on later this afternoon or evening while I watch some football.


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## Gary A.

Morning Sharon. The sun is coming out here. Only 57F here ... maybe it will get up to the high 60's.


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## Gary A.

Mary Lou was thinking that this would be a Netflix day. But the sun is out.


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## sm4him

Seeing the sun would improve things somewhat but even that isn't seeming too likely.

Amazing: There's 16 inches of snow up in the Smokies now and still snowing. That is more than DOUBLE the previous record snowfall for November 1.

And I just saw pictures of a residential area about halfway between me and the GSMNP. They have easily 7 or 8 inches there. That's less than 30 minutes away from me!
Not even a dusting here. Guess I should count my blessings. I'll have to do it while I'm inside though; if I go out there, my fingers will be too cold to count anything on them.


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## Gary A.

Closest snow here is up at Mt. Baldy in the San Gabriels, about 30 minutes away. I'm about halfway between the beach and the mountains, 30 minutes in opposite directions. In winter, it will be in the 40's at Mt. Baldy or mid-60's to 70's at the beach.


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## Gary A.

Yep, no more rain, finished my coffee ... time to take Cook for a walk.


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## Gary A.

The other day Mary Lou came home with a new footstool. Cookie saw how Mary Lou rested her feet on the stool and decided to try it out.


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## sm4him

Just got on to see who might be here, and every single thing on the Active Threads page was a Welcome and Introduction thread. What's with the dude posting a welcome in every single Intro thread so they all get bumped to the Active Threads page?  Kinda takes postwhoring to a new, more annoying level.


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## sm4him

Since I know Lenny will go back and read whatever she misses when she gets back on:

I'm watching the FL v. GA game, Len.  I would root for Not Georgia to win, if I thought there was even a chance it would save Muschump's job and keep y'all saddled with him for another year.  But I'm afraid he's a goner no matter what, unless Florida makes some incredible turnaround.  And halfway through the first quarter, they are not really looking like a team making an incredible turnabout.


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## snowbear

sm4him said:


> Just got on to see who might be here, and every single thing on the Active Threads page was a Welcome and Introduction thread. What's with the dude posting a welcome in every single Intro thread so they all get bumped to the Active Threads page?  Kinda takes postwhoring to a new, more annoying level.



If it's the one I think, his profile is old & has quite a few posts already.  Maybe he's bored.
MLW has decided not to do the work, yet.  She just finished coloring her hair and needs to run into DC (after she's caught up on her TV shows).

When you get a chance, look for that bus photo!


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## sm4him

Yeah, it's the one you think. That's what seems weird, actually, is they're at least a semi-regular and don't normally do that sort of thing.
Ah well--who knows?  Maybe just felt over-friendly today. 

I was really thinking seriously about going bird hunting (with the camera) after the trip to the store I needed to make. But then I went outside.
Yeah. JAM that. It's jammin' cold out there. And while it's not snowing or rainy, it's still really gray and cloudy--and windy.

I decided an afternoon of coffee drinking and football watching was a better choice.


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## snowbear

Warmth:






Royalty free image from morgueFile: andrescarrio


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## sm4him

Great idea, Charlie! I need to go start a fire. In the fireplace, of course.   Tends to be safest that way.


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## snowbear

I'd start one here, but since we don't have a fireplace, or fire pit, I'd be arrested for arson.


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## Gary A.

I'm not trying to rub it in ... (well, maybe I am ... lol), but Mary Lou and I are heading out to the beach.


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## sm4him

I *really* want to make a fire in the firepit...but that require sitting outside!!

Maybe I'll do that for at least a few minutes this evening though.


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## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> I'm not trying to rub it in ... (well, maybe I am ... lol), but Mary Lou and I are heading out to the beach.



I just have to ignore you, because otherwise, I'd feel compelled to hunt you down and pummel you. 
And then go to the beach.


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## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not trying to rub it in ... (well, maybe I am ... lol), but Mary Lou and I are heading out to the beach.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just have to ignore you, because otherwise, I'd feel compelled to hunt you down and pummel you.
> And then go to the beach.
Click to expand...

LOL, we have an extra bike.


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## Gary A.




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## Gary A.

Or maybe some cliff hiking ...


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## sm4him

Well, well, well, look at that. A little trickery with a fake field goal, a good defensive stop and all of a sudden it's 14-7, FLORIDA.
This could get interesting.


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## sashbar

Welcome to my table folks


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## snowbear

"What do you do with a drunken sailor, early in the morning?"


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## Gary A.

Hey Sashbar, is there still an Iron Curtain?


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## Gary A.

It seems we're moving that way again...


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## limr

Well it is good and chilly here in New York and I had to buy a new red touque.


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## sashbar

Gary A. said:


> Hey Sashbar, is there still an Iron Curtain?



They are building the new one, bastards. But I am behind the Irony one, so I do not care.


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## Gary A.

sashbar said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey Sashbar, is there still an Iron Curtain?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They are building the new one, bastards. But I am behind the Irony one, so I do not care.
Click to expand...

LOL ... got it (I have to take my time when reading the small print).


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## snowbear

limr said:


> Well it is good and chilly here in New York and I had to buy a new red touque.
> 
> View attachment 88505



I've got a blue one; decorated.  I'll post a pic if I can ever get this jammin' phone and computer to connect.  My life sux.


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## sm4him

limr said:


> Well it is good and chilly here in New York and I had to buy a new red touque.
> 
> View attachment 88505


Nice; I need an orange one!


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## snowbear

I quit.  I'm going to drown myself in something really worthless, like FB.


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## sm4him

snowbear said:


> I quit.  I'm going to drown myself in something really worthless, like FB.



Wow. That's desperate. You must be suffering from LB withdrawals.


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## snowbear

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I quit.  I'm going to drown myself in something really worthless, like FB.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow. That's desperate. You must be suffering from LB withdrawals.
Click to expand...

 
You're a funny lady!
It's better.  Mostly.  Phone and Win 8 are crap but that's nothing new.


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## snowbear

limr said:


> Well it is good and chilly here in New York and I had to buy a new red touque.
> 
> View attachment 88505



Shot is noisy - I had to use the little micro camera on the laptop.  This is as close as I get to a selfie until I lose a bunch of el-bees.


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## sm4him

Wow, Arkansas is up on Mississippi State! But it's only halftime; they still have plenty of time to lose. 

And my Vols are up by a TD at halftime, against USC Jr. (South Carolina). Dobbs is looking pretty good at QB--I'm starting to kinda hope our original starter, Worley, isn't able to come back this season. I hate that he's hurt, because he really did "give it his all" every game...but this Dobbs kid just has more "all" to give.

But right now...we just NEED an SEC win!  And then another. And then another.


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## snowbear

sm4him said:


> Wow, Arkansas is up on Mississippi State! But it's only halftime; they still have plenty of time to lose.
> 
> And my Vols are up by a TD at halftime, against USC Jr. (South Carolina). Dobbs is looking pretty good at QB--I'm starting to kinda hope our original starter, Worley, isn't able to come back this season. I hate that he's hurt, because he really did "give it his all" every game...but this Dobbs kid just has more "all" to give.
> 
> But right now...we just NEED an SEC win!  And then another. And then another.


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## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well it is good and chilly here in New York and I had to buy a new red touque.
> 
> View attachment 88505
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shot is noisy - I had to use the little micro camera on the laptop.  This is as close as I get to a selfie until I lose a bunch of el-bees.
> 
> View attachment 88516
Click to expand...


Nice touque! And do I see blue eye, hmmmmmmmm?


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## limr

sm4him said:


> Wow, Arkansas is up on Mississippi State! But it's only halftime; they still have plenty of time to lose.
> 
> And my Vols are up by a TD at halftime, against USC Jr. (South Carolina). Dobbs is looking pretty good at QB--I'm starting to kinda hope our original starter, Worley, isn't able to come back this season. I hate that he's hurt, because he really did "give it his all" every game...but this Dobbs kid just has more "all" to give.
> 
> But right now...we just NEED an SEC win!  And then another. And then another.



Well, Gators won!! We may have lost our own homecoming to Missouri but who the hell cares because WE BEAT GEORGIA!!!


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## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well it is good and chilly here in New York and I had to buy a new red touque.
> 
> View attachment 88505
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shot is noisy - I had to use the little micro camera on the laptop.  This is as close as I get to a selfie until I lose a bunch of el-bees.
> 
> View attachment 88516
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nice touque! And do I see blue eye, hmmmmmmmm?
Click to expand...


Thank you, and yes you do.  I got (at least) two pairs of recessive traits: blue eyes & curly hair.
I've never heard  a "ski cap" referred to as a touque - thank you for expanding my vocabulary.


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## limr

snowbear said:


> Thank you, and yes you do.  I got (at least) two pairs of recessive traits: blue eyes & curly hair.
> I've never heard  a "ski cap" referred to as a touque - thank you for expanding my vocabulary.



I believe 'touque' is mostly a Canadian and very northern US term for ski cap. It's also the gift for the 5th day of Canadian Christmas, according to Bob and Doug McKenzie 





I have all kinds of recessive genes, too! My hair is wavy enough to be bordering on curly, and my eyes are green.


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## snowbear

Goodnight, lovely ladies.  I'm going to call it quits for the night.  I'll see you in the morning.


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## Gary A.

Anybody home?


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## Gary A.

I am so full. Dinner was eaten at Naples Ribs.  Mmmmhhh good.


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## sm4him

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, Arkansas is up on Mississippi State! But it's only halftime; they still have plenty of time to lose.
> 
> And my Vols are up by a TD at halftime, against USC Jr. (South Carolina). Dobbs is looking pretty good at QB--I'm starting to kinda hope our original starter, Worley, isn't able to come back this season. I hate that he's hurt, because he really did "give it his all" every game...but this Dobbs kid just has more "all" to give.
> 
> But right now...we just NEED an SEC win!  And then another. And then another.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, Gators won!! We may have lost our own homecoming to Missouri but who the hell cares because WE BEAT GEORGIA!!!
Click to expand...


Something WRONG with a team that schedules another SEC team for their homecoming game, anyway. ;-)

Win another game, and maybe you all can be saddled with that coach for another year!! ;-)


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, Arkansas is up on Mississippi State! But it's only halftime; they still have plenty of time to lose.
> 
> And my Vols are up by a TD at halftime, against USC Jr. (South Carolina). Dobbs is looking pretty good at QB--I'm starting to kinda hope our original starter, Worley, isn't able to come back this season. I hate that he's hurt, because he really did "give it his all" every game...but this Dobbs kid just has more "all" to give.
> 
> But right now...we just NEED an SEC win!  And then another. And then another.
Click to expand...


Well.
There was certainly no keeping calm in the last quarter of THAT game.  I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to the end of the game before I had to get to the ER. I'm STILL not sure my heart has recovered.

That was a wild last two minutes and OT.  It actually brought tears to my eyes, but that may have been from the heart attack as much as anything. 

Oh, and as an extra bonus: We actually rendered The Old Ball Coach (Spurrier) speechless. He refused to take questions at the press conference and said, "I don't need to take any questions. You guys watched it, and I need to just get out of here."

I do actually feel for him a bit; the Gamecocks have had a similar meltdown the last three games in a row.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well it is good and chilly here in New York and I had to buy a new red touque.
> 
> View attachment 88505
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shot is noisy - I had to use the little micro camera on the laptop.  This is as close as I get to a selfie until I lose a bunch of el-bees.
> 
> View attachment 88516
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nice touque! And do I see blue eye, hmmmmmmmm?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thank you, and yes you do.  I got (at least) two pairs of recessive traits: blue eyes & curly hair.
> I've never heard  a "ski cap" referred to as a touque - thank you for expanding my vocabulary.
Click to expand...


Blue eyes, and RED curly hair.
I'm ALL about the recessive gene.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Something WRONG with a team that schedules another SEC team for their homecoming game, anyway. ;-)



Not to mention something wrong with Missouri being in the SEC in the first palce 



> Win another game, and maybe you all can be saddled with that coach for another year!! ;-)



I still want Spurrier back! I didn't see the game yesterday but it sounds like that man's visor must have been thrown to the ground about 56 times in those last two minutes and OT.


----------



## sm4him

Lenny, THIS should give you a pretty good idea of Spurrier's mood the last few minutes:


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Not to mention something wrong with Missouri being in the SEC in the first palce
> .



You got THAT right!



limr said:


> I still want Spurrier back! I didn't see the game yesterday but it sounds like that man's visor must have been thrown to the ground about 56 times in those last two minutes and OT.



Seeing as how the guy is almost 70, I think it may be a bit of a pipe dream to hope he comes back to Florida. He was always highly entertaining, win or lose, though.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, everyone.  I have awoken from my Benedryl induced coma and I have my coffee.  I am almost ready to face the world, or at least my tiny part of it.

I didn't realize the time change was this morning, so I guess it is well into afternoon for Marija.

Sharon: I used to have a few, randomly placed red hairs when I was younger, even in my beard.  From my Celtic roots, I suppose.


----------



## limr

Oh yeah, he was lots of so much unhappy.


----------



## limr

Spurrier, not Charlie, that is.

Morning Charlie!


----------



## mmaria

just stopped by to say

*Hi!*


making lunch... and no, no trout this time 

7 pages already


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> just stopped by to say
> 
> *Hi!*
> 
> 
> making lunch... and no, no trout this time
> 
> 7 pages already



Well, hello, sweetie!  How are you doing this afternoon?

Yes, 7 or more page but we are NOT keeping score.  I'm trying very hard not to break posts up into many pieces.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> just stopped by to say
> 
> *Hi!*
> 
> 
> making lunch... and no, no trout this time
> 
> 7 pages already
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, hello, sweetie!  How are you doing this afternoon?
Click to expand...

just came back from a child's birthday... feel free to judge me but I don't like those... I also don't like to small talk with other mothers who are just talking about children

yes, I'm a bad person


----------



## mmaria

just saw pixmedic's new avatar

me likey his new avatar


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Spurrier, not Charlie, that is.
> 
> Morning Charlie!



Good morning.

OK, so where should I go:  Skyline Drive or Catoctin?  Skyline is further but offers more, but Catoctin has a great apple orchard, and is close to Gettysburg.  No work tomorrow, so getting back late is not an issue.


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> just stopped by to say
> 
> *Hi!*
> 
> 
> making lunch... and no, no trout this time
> 
> 7 pages already
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, hello, sweetie!  How are you doing this afternoon?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> just came back from a child's birthday... feel free to judge me but I don't like those... I also don't like to small talk with other mothers who are just talking about children
> 
> yes, I'm a bad person
Click to expand...


Not necessarily.  What is your relationship?


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Not necessarily.  What is your relationship?


 with the child you mean?

his mother is my cousin but I don't see why is that relevant?


----------



## snowbear

Just wondering how you came to be there -- family obligations.  No, you are not a bad person, unless you slapped them all in front of the kids.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Just wondering how you came to be there -- family obligations.  No, you are not a bad person, unless you slapped them all in front of the kids.


that's funny 

see.... here's how I'm thinking....

I have two toddlers, lots of motherly stuff I'm doing of course... I just want some relaxing/intelligent/interesting/funny not related to children talk with other women... but that's actually extremely rare


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> just came back from a child's birthday... feel free to judge me but I don't like those... I also don't like to small talk with other mothers who are just talking about children
> 
> *yes, I'm a bad person*



No, you are not a bad person. Why would you think so?

A woman is not bad just because she doesn't like to be around or talk about children all the time.


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just wondering how you came to be there -- family obligations.  No, you are not a bad person, unless you slapped them all in front of the kids.
> 
> 
> 
> that's funny
> 
> see.... here's how I'm thinking....
> 
> I have two toddlers, lots of motherly stuff I'm doing of course... I just want some relaxing/intelligent/interesting/funny not related to children talk with other women... but that's actually extremely rare
Click to expand...


I can tolerate a very select few little kids, and even then, generally only one or two at a time. I was just never a "kid" person. I always said we were lucky I managed to love my OWN kids, never mind anyone else's. 

But the weird thing is, I'm kinda starting to get the grandmother bug now. I have a couple of grand-nephews and I LOVE playing g'mother to them!
But neither of my kids is even married yet (and I don't want them to rush!!), so it'll be a while.
Besides, I only want BOY grandbabies. I like baby boys more than girls. Girls are too...girly.


----------



## snowbear

I understand, completely.  So, after the party and put up with the bragging moms, you come here.  I'm sure Lenny & Sharon will be more than happy to talk seriously with you.  I would too,  but I'm not a woman.  If you want something a bit less public, try the conversation mode.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Spurrier, not Charlie, that is.
> 
> Morning Charlie!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning.
> 
> OK, so where should I go:  Skyline Drive or Catoctin?  Skyline is further but offers more, but Catoctin has a great apple orchard, and is close to Gettysburg.  No work tomorrow, so getting back late is not an issue.
Click to expand...


Is one a place you might be more likely to get to WITHOUT a full day off? Or is there one you go to less often?


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Spurrier, not Charlie, that is.
> 
> Morning Charlie!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning.
> 
> OK, so where should I go:  Skyline Drive or Catoctin?  Skyline is further but offers more, but Catoctin has a great apple orchard, and is close to Gettysburg.  No work tomorrow, so getting back late is not an issue.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Is one a place you might be more likely to get to WITHOUT a full day off? Or is there one you go to less often?
Click to expand...


Full day off isn't an issue - we are off on Mondays  for Alternate Work Schedule.
I haven't been to either in quite a while.  It will be only me going, so I'll probably just take some photos, enjoy the scenery and come back home.  I'll probably go to Catoctin this trip and save Skyine for when the family can go along.


----------



## pixmedic

mmaria said:


> just saw pixmedic's new avatar
> 
> me likey his new avatar



who, me?


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> No, you are not a bad person. Why would you think so?


I wasn't THAT serious... look at my avatar. I obviously think I'm an angel 



> A woman is not bad just because she doesn't like to be around or talk about children all the time.


 yup
The thing is.... I'm surrounded by mothers that are too different than me... so...
Women I love to talk to and spend time with live in another city or another state


----------



## mmaria

pixmedic said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> just saw pixmedic's new avatar
> 
> me likey his new avatar
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> who, me?
Click to expand...

like like like like


----------



## sm4him

Well, I gotta go. But I thought I'd leave you all with this selfie I took this morning.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Well, I gotta go. But I thought I'd leave you all with this selfie I took this morning.
> 
> View attachment 88541


OH GOD!

THAT SHOULD BE YOUR AVATAR!!!


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> OH GOD!
> 
> THAT SHOULD BE YOUR AVATAR!!!



YES! YES! YES!


----------



## snowbear

The cats are chasing each other around the apartment at full speed.  It sounds like a herd of bison.


----------



## runnah

Dammit, it begins...


----------



## mishele

Bad runnah!!!!


----------



## runnah

Already a bunch more since I took that


----------



## snowbear

Nice.


----------



## pixmedic

mmaria said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> just saw pixmedic's new avatar
> 
> me likey his new avatar
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> who, me?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> like like like like
Click to expand...


----------



## runnah

10 mins later. Supposed to get a foot in spots.


----------



## mmaria

pixmedic said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> just saw pixmedic's new avatar
> 
> me likey his new avatar
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> who, me?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> like like like like
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> View attachment 88545
Click to expand...

Oh.... well.... hmmm...

this is much much better....


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## mmaria

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 88547


oh... well... hm....

this is way more disturbing than I can handle


----------



## pixmedic

mmaria said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 88547
> 
> 
> 
> oh... well... hm....
> 
> this is way more disturbing than I can handle
Click to expand...


rave beard


----------



## limr

There was talk of snow here this morning but so far, nope.


----------



## Designer

mmaria said:


> ..just came back from a child's birthday... feel free to judge me but I don't like those... I also don't like to small talk with other mothers who are just talking about children
> 
> yes, I'm a bad person



Don't be ridiculous.  You're not "a bad person" just because you don't like children's birthday parties.


----------



## mishele

Designer said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> ..just came back from a child's birthday... feel free to judge me but I don't like those... I also don't like to small talk with other mothers who are just talking about children
> 
> yes, I'm a bad person
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't be ridiculous.  You're not "a bad person" just because you don't like children's birthday parties.
Click to expand...

Yes she is!! Bad, Maria! Bad!!


----------



## snowbear

mishele said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> ..just came back from a child's birthday... feel free to judge me but I don't like those... I also don't like to small talk with other mothers who are just talking about children
> 
> yes, I'm a bad person
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't be ridiculous.  You're not "a bad person" just because you don't like children's birthday parties.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes she is!! Bad, Maria! Bad!!
Click to expand...


And we all like "bad" girls, don't we?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Housers. 52F here @ 7:00 a.m. It's getting colder.


----------



## Gary A.

runnah said:


> 10 mins later. Supposed to get a foot in spots.
> View attachment 88546


What's all that white stuff?


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> 10 mins later. Supposed to get a foot in spots.
> View attachment 88546
> 
> 
> 
> What's all that white stuff?
Click to expand...


For the lucky ones, a curiosity.
For the young ones, a thing of play.
For the less young, a sign of slogging, sliding, grunting, and sighing.

When my father was thinking of immigrating to Canada, he asked what's the weather like.  He was told:  9 months of winter and 3 months of bad skiing.  He thought it was a joke.  By the time he found out, it was too late to go back.


----------



## pgriz

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> just stopped by to say
> 
> *Hi!*
> 
> 
> making lunch... and no, no trout this time
> 
> 7 pages already
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, hello, sweetie!  How are you doing this afternoon?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> just came back from a child's birthday... feel free to judge me but I don't like those... I also don't like to small talk with other mothers who are just talking about children
> 
> yes, I'm a bad person
Click to expand...


No, definitely not a bad person.  "Parents" who go on and on about their kids are a bore, and aren't doing their kids any favours by focusing so much on their precious little creations.

When we were having kids, my wife stayed home to look after them, and joined a few neighbourhood get-togethers where there were other mothers getting out of the house.  Unfortunately many could only talk of their kids and they would end up boring my wife practically to tears.  Fortunately, she found a few women who wanted to talk about other things in life and with them she formed what is to date a long friendship.  The kids have grown up and moved away, but those friendships have continued.  One's intelligence and curiosity about the world doesn't drop to infantile levels just because one has a baby.

Actually the same applies to people who want to talk "shop" (work) in non-work settings.  Some of that is ok, but lots of that just shows that the person has few outside interests.


----------



## sm4him

runnah said:


> 10 mins later. Supposed to get a foot in spots.
> View attachment 88546


You all are getting what we had on the 31st/Nov. 1st. Places in the Smokies hit 18". I think the previous record for Nov. 1 was 7 inches.


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, I gotta go. But I thought I'd leave you all with this selfie I took this morning.
> 
> View attachment 88541
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> OH GOD!
> 
> THAT SHOULD BE YOUR AVATAR!!!
Click to expand...


No time right now, but I might just do that later today.


----------



## snowbear

I did not going to the mountains; I'll plan that for a time when the rest of the family can go.  I went to a little park along the Potomac river, not far from here.

I know better, but I didn't look at my battery before I left.  Yep, one shot and it died.  I did shoot a film panorama, though, so we'll see how that works out.  The wind was straight at me (SWAG 20mph - I have no idea) and it was very chilly.  The leaves are not that pretty, as there is still a lot of green.  Some smaller ornamental trees are fully turned, however.  I'll walk around the neighborhood once the battery is charged.

On the bright side, I did find a couple of mud puddles to drive through.


----------



## runnah




----------



## snowbear

runnah said:


> View attachment 88563



I just showed my lovely wife -- her comment: "Too bad we're not there."


----------



## Tinderbox (UK)

I just made some bread, even kneaded the dough by hand, this is shaped for going into the toaster and making normal sandwiches.

John.


----------



## pgriz

Runnah, you're obviously getting the same system that New Brunswick is forecast to get today - up to 18".  Earlier in the week, the long-range forecasts was for us (in the Montreal area) to get about 10" - and everyone (or so it seems) rushed off to change their tires to winter tires.  Looking outside right now - clear skies and sunny.  But to the east and south - heavy, dense clouds.  We missed this bullet.  You, at the very least a glancing blow.  Hopefully it won't last long.


----------



## Gary A.

Let's see ... White Christmas ... ✔︎


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> Let's see ... White Christmas ... ✔︎



Not necessarily.  Usually the pattern is for a dump or three before Christmas, with all of that melting away.


----------



## limr

I think that was the storm that they thought might hit us but it seems to have completely missed the Tri State area. It has been very windy today, mid-40s but bright sunshine.


----------



## limr

In other news, I have bought a stationary exercise bike. Should have it by the end of the week. I'm getting a head start on the new year's resolutions


----------



## mmaria

pgriz said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> just stopped by to say
> 
> *Hi!*
> 
> 
> making lunch... and no, no trout this time
> 
> 7 pages already
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, hello, sweetie!  How are you doing this afternoon?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> just came back from a child's birthday... feel free to judge me but I don't like those... I also don't like to small talk with other mothers who are just talking about children
> 
> yes, I'm a bad person
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No, definitely not a bad person.  "Parents" who go on and on about their kids are a bore, and aren't doing their kids any favours by focusing so much on their precious little creations.
> 
> When we were having kids, my wife stayed home to look after them, and joined a few neighbourhood get-togethers where there were other mothers getting out of the house.  Unfortunately many could only talk of their kids and they would end up boring my wife practically to tears.  Fortunately, she found a few women who wanted to talk about other things in life and with them she formed what is to date a long friendship.  The kids have grown up and moved away, but those friendships have continued.  One's intelligence and curiosity about the world doesn't drop to infantile levels just because one has a baby.
> 
> Actually the same applies to people who want to talk "shop" (work) in non-work settings.  Some of that is ok, but lots of that just shows that the person has few outside interests.
Click to expand...

I understood this like I would get along with your wife 


work.... hm... yeah, just the same for me..

long meetings, lectures, conferences and such... When the break comes I want that break to be just what it suppose to be. THE BREAK! Instead people approach me non stop and continue to talk about the same thing we're taking the break from!
After some time I actually started to avoid people meaning that I would take my coffee and go sit to the farest table... No. Someone would always approach and try to start that kind of conversation.

There is one guy I'm always happy to see on my business trips. Smart, funny and totally ok. Breakfast, lunch, coffee... never been bored. When I see him on an event I know I'm saved .


----------



## mmaria

pgriz said:


> When my father was thinking of immigrating to Canada, he asked what's the weather like.  He was told:  9 months of winter and 3 months of bad skiing.  He thought it was a joke.  By the time he found out, it was too late to go back.


one of my best friends and her bf are moving to Canada in the spring. I'm  and  in the same time


----------



## mmaria

Tinderbox (UK) said:


> I just made some bread, even kneaded the dough by hand, this is shaped for going into the toaster and making normal sandwiches.
> 
> John.


give me a piece of that bread and I'll give you some rice puding I made and am having right now
deal?

I love to make bread


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> In other news, I have bought a stationary exercise bike. Should have it by the end of the week. I'm getting a head start on the new year's resolutions


Go girl! 


don't you forget... Zoomba is tomorrow!


----------



## mmaria

Gary A. said:


> Let's see ... White Christmas ... ✔︎


and wearing this outfit Grumpy?


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, I have bought a stationary exercise bike. Should have it by the end of the week. I'm getting a head start on the new year's resolutions
> 
> 
> 
> Go girl!
> 
> 
> don't you forget... Zoomba is tomorrow!
Click to expand...


I'm happy to watch zoomba from the sidelines, but I'm not a fan of doing it, sorry! 

But maybe I'll put on some music and dance around my living room tomorrow night instead!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, I have bought a stationary exercise bike. Should have it by the end of the week. I'm getting a head start on the new year's resolutions
> 
> 
> 
> Go girl!
> 
> 
> don't you forget... Zoomba is tomorrow!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm happy to watch zoomba from the sidelines, but I'm not a fan of doing it, sorry!
> 
> But maybe I'll put on some music and dance around my living room tomorrow night instead!
Click to expand...


That might be fun to watch!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> I'm happy to watch zoomba from the sidelines, but I'm not a fan of doing it, sorry!
> 
> But maybe I'll put on some music and dance around my living room tomorrow night instead!


not a fan of doing it either but I simply have to do something with my body 

music and dance around are just perfect!


----------



## snowbear

Just got back from a walk around one of the local ponds.  I'm going through the shots in LR.  I'm disappointed in the focus ina bunch of them, so I'll have to figure that out.


----------



## Gary A.

66F right now.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> That might be fun to watch!



It would probably be fairly entertaining watching me "dance" 

Actually, I'm good at dancing - just at the kind of dancing that has actual steps and a partner. You should see my salsa!  I can also hold my own in a Vienna waltz or a swing dance.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> That might be fun to watch!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It would probably be fairly entertaining watching me "dance"
> 
> Actually, I'm good at dancing - just at the kind of dancing that has actual steps and a partner. You should see my salsa!  I can also hold my own in a Vienna waltz or a swing dance.
Click to expand...

can you do something like this?


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm happy to watch zoomba from the sidelines, but I'm not a fan of doing it, sorry!
> 
> But maybe I'll put on some music and dance around my living room tomorrow night instead!
> 
> 
> 
> not a fan of doing it either but I simply have to do something with my body
> 
> music and dance around are just perfect!
Click to expand...


Yeah, I understand. That's why I bought the bike. I have exercise tapes that I enjoy well enough, but I need variety, and I need a way to get myself back into the habit of exercising. The bike is perfect, because I can get in some good cardio and still watch television (I can't read on cardio machines. Makes me dizzy) to not get too bored. And I know myself - once I start, I usually want to keep going, so I'm sure I'm going to end up just riding the bike for a few days, and then one day, I'll finish with the bike and want to do some weights...and that's how it starts snowballing for me.

It's just getting started that's hard.

I'm putting a dollar in a jar every day that I exercise and that money will be used to buy myself little rewards periodically. I'm allowed to "cash out" only on the first of the month, so I can use it to get a small reward, or I can roll it over to save a little more for a bigger reward.


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> That might be fun to watch!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It would probably be fairly entertaining watching me "dance"
> 
> Actually, I'm good at dancing - just at the kind of dancing that has actual steps and a partner. You should see my salsa!  I can also hold my own in a Vienna waltz or a swing dance.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> can you do something like this?
Click to expand...


Belly dancing. I sure can. I even have a few of these:


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> That might be fun to watch!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It would probably be fairly entertaining watching me "dance"
> 
> Actually, I'm good at dancing - just at the kind of dancing that has actual steps and a partner. You should see my salsa!  I can also hold my own in a Vienna waltz or a swing dance.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> can you do something like this?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Belly dancing. I sure can. I even have a few of these:
Click to expand...

oh yes!!!


----------



## limr

Actually, I do have a few belly dancing video tapes - some that are for instruction and some that are actually meant as workouts. I think I'm going to start doing them again. Belly dancing is a lot of fun!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm happy to watch zoomba from the sidelines, but I'm not a fan of doing it, sorry!
> 
> But maybe I'll put on some music and dance around my living room tomorrow night instead!
> 
> 
> 
> not a fan of doing it either but I simply have to do something with my body
> 
> music and dance around are just perfect!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, I understand. That's why I bought the bike. I have exercise tapes that I enjoy well enough, but I need variety, and I need a way to get myself back into the habit of exercising. The bike is perfect, because I can get in some good cardio and still watch television (I can't read on cardio machines. Makes me dizzy) to not get too bored. And I know myself - once I start, I usually want to keep going, so I'm sure I'm going to end up just riding the bike for a few days, and then one day, I'll finish with the bike and want to do some weights...and that's how it starts snowballing for me.
> 
> It's just getting started that's hard.
> 
> I'm putting a dollar in a jar every day that I exercise and that money will be used to buy myself little rewards periodically. I'm allowed to "cash out" only on the first of the month, so I can use it to get a small reward, or I can roll it over to save a little more for a bigger reward.
Click to expand...

that's great!

I need someone to push me a bit, can't motivate myself... and I'm not jumping around/running/ fitness type of girl. I love yoga. Have some great exercise I was doing for some period of time.
This time, I started with zoomba, and later when I "wake up" I'll continue my yoga


----------



## limr

I like yoga too, and will probably start adding that in at some point.

I already know that I won't have time to exercise on Mondays and Wesnesdays, but the other days are possible, so that should be $5 per week in the jar. Small enough amounts that I can afford it, and they'll add up to enough to actually buy something worthwhile.


----------



## mmaria

ok people, c u later


----------



## limr

Good night! Sleep well


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Good night! Sleep well


I hope so... I'm sooooo tired and I don't like Monday


----------



## bribrius

hello is the leaderboard gone now?


----------



## pgriz

bribrius said:


> hello is the leaderboard gone now?


Nah, still there, on the forum first page.  And the usual suspects are featured on it.  Why?


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> hello is the leaderboard gone now?


It's still over there, somewhere.  This is a casual, no competition, no post counting hangout.


----------



## snowbear

Something for the ladies.  The guys too, if you like them.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> hello is the leaderboard gone now?
> 
> 
> 
> It's still over there, somewhere.  This is a casual, no competition, no post counting hangout.
Click to expand...

no post count hangout sounds good. I never would have kept up anyway. LOL. Good evening peeps!


----------



## snowbear

<-- Peep!

I'm in and out - mostly out, while cooking dinner.


----------



## snerd

Well, well, what have we here?! A secret hangout for the pretty people!! I don't know HOW I miss these threads that try to hide from me!!










Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## limr

Hey, you're not the only one who can take selfies! Limrs...I mean lemurs can take them too!


----------



## snowbear




----------



## limr

Awww, cute bear


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## limr

That monkey wants out.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> That monkey wants out.


My selfie?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> That monkey wants out.
> 
> 
> 
> My selfie?
Click to expand...


Didn't realize you'd been posting from the big house


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> That monkey wants out.
> 
> 
> 
> My selfie?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Didn't realize you'd been posting from the big house
Click to expand...

Another few days of faking my meds and I can figure a way to break out.


----------



## Gary A.

I went to Costco ... Man ... what a jammin' nightmare. Never go to Costco on a Sunday ... never.


----------



## bribrius

I try to avoid all stores except off peak hours when I really Need SOMETHING.


----------



## snowbear

The best time to go to a store around here is when the football team is playing; especially if they are playing Dallas.


----------



## Gary A.

Marinating some chicken for the BBQ. Squeezed some lemons and oranges, salt & pepper, my chili powder, a dash of Italian dressing and a couple of handfuls of herbs (sage/basil/rosemary/lavender) and some Chardonnay.


----------



## bribrius

trying to figure out what the hell to put on a flikr account....


----------



## snowbear

I just put anything.  I also use it to post my tests, like star filter vs small aperture.  Others are more selective than I am.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> I just put anything.  I also use it to post my tests, like star filter vs small aperture.  Others are more selective than I am.


I am really just trying to bridge that gap between what I like and what is actually a good photo LOL I need the test too. Only been at this for a couple years this time around as well so most anything I have is just from the last year or two.


----------



## bribrius

small fish here, compared to what is out there for really amazing work.


----------



## snowbear

Don't I know it; I seem to have plateaued.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> Don't I know it; I seem to have plateaued.


I think a lot of my problem is I don't get out much. You don't go many places, you kind of lose that creativity energy that comes from seeing and engaging in new things.


----------



## snowbear

That could be.  Start shooting stuff in and around the house.  I got into the "What is it??" thread and started looking at details to shoot around here.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> That could be.  Start shooting stuff in and around the house.  I got into the "What is it??" thread and started looking at details to shoot around here.


that's how I ended up with this..


----------



## runnah

My back door. I think I need a stormdoor.


----------



## bribrius

haha. snowed here too but everything melted when it hit the ground. Really really windy...


----------



## snerd

snowbear said:


> Don't I know it; I seem to have plateaued.


Get off your fat plateau!!!!  *


* heard at a sales meeting in 1977.


----------



## Gary A.

runnah said:


> View attachment 88611
> 
> My back door. I think I need a stormdoor.


Is that from today? You don't need a stormdoor ... you need to move south.


----------



## runnah

Yeah south sounds good.

Good news is that this will all be gone by Wednesday. Probably some flooding, then the wolves come...


----------



## snowbear

runnah said:


> View attachment 88611
> 
> My back door. I think I need a stormdoor.



This is what I got to look at, today


----------



## Gary A.

A rose ... ?


----------



## runnah

Gary A. said:


> A rose ... ?



A rose by any other name...


----------



## snerd

..... is still a rose.......


----------



## bribrius

hey does this suck?


runnah said:


> Yeah south sounds good.
> 
> Good news is that this will all be gone by Wednesday. Probably some flooding, then the wolves come...


when you coming down to show me how to use a camera?


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> ..... is still a rose.......


I like the rose. I think they have there thorns too....


----------



## snowbear

No, I think it's fine - I like the shapes between the lines.

Thanks - I didn't really expect to find them this late, even though it's been pretty warm (until this weekend).


----------



## runnah

bribrius said:


> View attachment 88614 hey does this suck?
> 
> 
> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah south sounds good.
> 
> Good news is that this will all be gone by Wednesday. Probably some flooding, then the wolves come...
> 
> 
> 
> when you coming down to show me how to use a camera?
Click to expand...



At some point. I frequently stay in Portland for work.


----------



## bribrius

born in Portland but I haven't lived there in years i'm about fourty five minutes south west of there toward n.h..


----------



## Gary A.

runnah said:


> Yeah south sounds good.
> 
> Good news is that this will all be gone by Wednesday. Probably some flooding, then the wolves come...


We keep our snow up in the mountains.


----------



## mmaria

*IT'S MONDAY!




*


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Noches Marija. I hope you have a nice day.


----------



## snerd

I shed the stress many years ago. Living is a lot more fun now!


----------



## mmaria

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Noches Marija. I hope you have a nice day.


hey Grumpy!

are you going to sleep?


----------



## mmaria

snerd said:


> I shed the stress many years ago. Living is a lot more fun now!


what time is it for you?


----------



## mmaria

oh yeah....

everybody is sleeping now.... 

got to find another forum...


----------



## Gary A.

It is 10:38 and I am tired and grumpy.


----------



## mmaria

Gary A. said:


> It is 10:38 and I am tired and grumpy.


it's ok to be tired.... but don't be grumpy!


----------



## snerd

mmaria said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> I shed the stress many years ago. Living is a lot more fun now!
> 
> 
> 
> what time is it for you?
Click to expand...

1:03am here.


----------



## mmaria

snerd said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> I shed the stress many years ago. Living is a lot more fun now!
> 
> 
> 
> what time is it for you?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 1:03am here.
Click to expand...

why you're not sleeping?


----------



## snerd

You sound like popo and twenty questions. _ I'm slowly adapting to daylight living. _hours. Getting to bed by 2am or so, and up by 9am. My Ambien is escorting away now................... later peepe. zzzzzzzzzzzz........


----------



## mmaria

just saw this, and had to lol

best pictures from dating sites

I know some people here like cosplays


----------



## mmaria

I mentioned that my girlfriend and her bf are moving to Canada... just read that Canada will accept a record number of immigrants in 2015... something about 260 000 and 285 000

I should apply!

How's living there Paul?


----------



## sm4him

Good afternoon, Marija!

Good morning, everyone else!

I was up so late watching football on Saturday, then up early for church yesterday and a baby shower I had to help with after that--by the time I got home, I was exhausted. Fell asleep at 8 p.m. last night!

And then woke up at 4 a.m. this morning... I did manage to go back to sleep for a little bit though.


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, Marija.  Good morning everyone else.


----------



## sm4him

Gonna be a LONG, LONG week. This is the week of the state public transit conference we're hosting. I'm the staff photographer, so that means being there to take pictures of everything from the Opening Reception to the Awards Banquet. Early mornings and late nights.
But at least I should get a day or two of comp time out of it.

Plus, I get to be taking pictures.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Good afternoon, Marija!





snowbear said:


> Good afternoon, Marija.


----------



## mmaria

*AVATAR CHANGED!!!!




*


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> just saw this, and had to lol
> 
> best pictures from dating sites
> 
> I know some people here like cosplays



I'm glad I didn't see those before going to bed, because they would have given me nightmares.


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> *AVATAR CHANGED!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *



Yay!
Marija, did you see your rose?


----------



## snowbear

That's weird, Sharon.  I still see the osprey silhouette on the posts, but the new one in the alerts.  I guess I have to reload,


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Yay!
> Marija, did you see your rose?


 where who what?


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> That's weird, Sharon.  I still see the osprey silhouette on the posts, but the new one in the alerts.  I guess I have to reload,


Yeah, I don't know what's up with that, actually. I've changed avatars TWICE now since Oct. 30 (which is a new record for me!), and mine's still showing the osprey as the little "you've posted in this thread" icon too.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> Gonna be a LONG, LONG week. This is the week of the state public transit conference we're hosting. I'm the staff photographer, so that means being there to take pictures of everything from the Opening Reception to the Awards Banquet. Early mornings and late nights.
> But at least I should get a day or two of comp time out of it.
> 
> Plus, I get to be taking pictures.



At least there is a plus side, or two.


----------



## bribrius

goodmorning. anything good posted over night?


----------



## sm4him

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's weird, Sharon.  I still see the osprey silhouette on the posts, but the new one in the alerts.  I guess I have to reload,
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I don't know what's up with that, actually. I've changed avatars TWICE now since Oct. 30 (which is a new record for me!), and mine's still showing the osprey as the little "you've posted in this thread" icon too.
Click to expand...


Oh, actually, it's changed now, for me.  You're still seeing the Osprey though, Charlie?


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yay!
> Marija, did you see your rose?
> 
> 
> 
> where who what?
Click to expand...


The Coffee House | Page 12 | Photography Forum


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yay!
> Marija, did you see your rose?
> 
> 
> 
> where who what?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The Coffee House | Page 12 | Photography Forum
Click to expand...

I'll take the right one thanks


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's weird, Sharon.  I still see the osprey silhouette on the posts, but the new one in the alerts.  I guess I have to reload,
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I don't know what's up with that, actually. I've changed avatars TWICE now since Oct. 30 (which is a new record for me!), and mine's still showing the osprey as the little "you've posted in this thread" icon too.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, actually, it's changed now, for me.  You're still seeing the Osprey though, Charlie?
Click to expand...

I had to reload the page; everything is up to date.


----------



## mmaria

bribrius said:


> goodmorning. anything good posted over night?


nope


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yay!
> Marija, did you see your rose?
> 
> 
> 
> where who what?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The Coffee House | Page 12 | Photography Forum
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'll take the right one thanks
Click to expand...


You can have both.  I have more of them.
Florals - an album on Flickr


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yay!
> Marija, did you see your rose?
> 
> 
> 
> where who what?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The Coffee House | Page 12 | Photography Forum
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'll take the right one thanks
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You can have both.  I have more of them.
Click to expand...

..... what will happen if I'm honest and tell you that I don't like roses....

one is more than enough...I took it just because it was from you....


----------



## bribrius

mmaria said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> goodmorning. anything good posted over night?
> 
> 
> 
> nope
Click to expand...

well I just saw something from sliest. I like following his work.


----------



## mmaria

bribrius said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> goodmorning. anything good posted over night?
> 
> 
> 
> nope
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> well I just saw something from sliest. I like following his work.
Click to expand...

that wasn't posted over night... I like his work too


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yay!
> Marija, did you see your rose?
> 
> 
> 
> where who what?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The Coffee House | Page 12 | Photography Forum
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'll take the right one thanks
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You can have both.  I have more of them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ..... what will happen if I'm honest and tell you that I don't like roses....
> 
> one is more than enough...I took it just because it was from you....
Click to expand...


Awww.  That's OK.  What kind of flowers do you like, if any?


----------



## sm4him

I like roses; I'll take those, and Marija can have whatever flowers she prefers. If she likes flowers. 
Roses remind me of my grandmother.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Awww.  That's OK.  What kind of flowers do you like, if any?


strelitzia was the first I had in mind

I like flowers like like hm like... well... almost everything except some


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> I like roses; I'll take those, and Marija can have whatever flowers she prefers. If she likes flowers.
> Roses remind me of my grandmother.


it's a deal!


----------



## mmaria

got to go... work... promotion of some projects results... 

hairdresser later... enjoying that!


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> I like roses; I'll take those, and Marija can have whatever flowers she prefers. If she likes flowers.
> Roses remind me of my grandmother.


Done.  You and Lenny can share the roses.  There are more (I added a link).



mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Awww.  That's OK.  What kind of flowers do you like, if any?
> 
> 
> 
> strelitzia was the first I had in mind
> 
> I like flowers like like hm like... well... almost everything except some
Click to expand...


It might be hard for me to find some of those around here so I'll have to see what else I can come up with.  I have some Black-Eyed Susans and some Cherry blossoms and this (whatever it is)


----------



## snowbear

Bye.  See you later.


----------



## sm4him

Yep, I gotta go get ready for work as well.
Have a good day, peeps!


----------



## snowbear

See you in a couple minutes!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Lenny.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> It might be hard for me to find some of those around here so I'll have to see what else I can come up with.  I have some Black-Eyed Susans and some Cherry blossoms and this (whatever it is)



Whatever that is, it's pretty but mostly, I just really like the picture


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> It might be hard for me to find some of those around here so I'll have to see what else I can come up with.  I have some Black-Eyed Susans and some Cherry blossoms and this (whatever it is)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Whatever that is, it's pretty but mostly, I just really like the picture
Click to expand...


  Thank you.  I took it at the US Botanical Gardens a while back.  I think I see something different every time I go there.


----------



## limr

Morning Charlie. How's your day looking?


----------



## snowbear

Home, as usual on Mondays, but I have a spreadsheet to work on for the office.  I could send it on as it is, but I want to make it easier to read.


----------



## limr

Nice and mellow.

Mondays are my busiest days. Class from 11-1, admin crap from 1-5, class from 6-8-ish (technically until 8:20 but I don't give them a break and we leave early instead, so anywhere between 8-8:10 is when we usually leave.)

I'm going to have a similar schedule next semester, though it will start at 10 instead of 11, and it will be repeated on Wednesday. The good news is that I will have the other days off! Plenty of grading and that is always stressful, but at least I can do that work at home.


----------



## Warhorse

limr said:


> Nice and mellow.
> 
> Mondays are my busiest days. Class from 11-1, admin crap from 1-5, class from 6-8-ish (technically until 8:20 but I don't give them a break and we leave early instead, so anywhere between 8-8:10 is when we usually leave.)
> 
> I'm going to have a similar schedule next semester, though it will start at 10 instead of 11, and it will be repeated on Wednesday. The good news is that I will have the other days off! Plenty of grading and that is always stressful, but at least I can do that work at home.


That does sound like a tough two days...but the other five days, and all summer off?


----------



## limr

Warhorse said:


> That does sound like a tough two days...but the other five days, and all summer off?



This semester, My Wednesdays are also 11-8, but just one class in the evening. And I teach on Friday morning as well. T and Th off. Next semester, I won't have the Friday class - it will be on Wed, so thus the two really long days with three days off. The two-day work week is certainly nice.

As for the summer, well it is nice to have time away from teaching, but what you may not realize is that I am adjunct faculty, not a public school teacher. If I don't work in the summer, I don't get paid. And even during the semesters when I am getting paychecks, I only get paid for my classroom hours. All the grading and planning that I do at home doesn't get compensated.

So those days off? I need those for the other jobs that I have to have to keep myself above the poverty line.


----------



## astroNikon

snowbear said:


> Welcome.  Where, in Michigan are you?  My lovely wife is from Monroe.





Warhorse said:


> I live in the northern area of the lower peninsula, about 25 miles south of the Mackinaw bridge.
> 
> My bride was born in Monroe.


I've driven through Monroe.


----------



## snowbear

astroNikon said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Welcome.  Where, in Michigan are you?  My lovely wife is from Monroe.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> I live in the northern area of the lower peninsula, about 25 miles south of the Mackinaw bridge.
> 
> My bride was born in Monroe.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I've driven through Monroe.
Click to expand...

A lot of people do!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> That does sound like a tough two days...but the other five days, and all summer off?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This semester, My Wednesdays are also 11-8, but just one class in the evening. And I teach on Friday morning as well. T and Th off. Next semester, I won't have the Friday class - it will be on Wed, so thus the two really long days with three days off. The two-day work week is certainly nice.
> 
> As for the summer, well it is nice to have time away from teaching, but what you may not realize is that I am adjunct faculty, not a public school teacher. If I don't work in the summer, I don't get paid. And even during the semesters when I am getting paychecks, I only get paid for my classroom hours. All the grading and planning that I do at home doesn't get compensated.
> 
> So those days off? I need those for the other jobs that I have to have to keep myself above the poverty line.
Click to expand...

all the teachers around here are union, cut out on early days and since the kids all have computers and ipads they use in class now basically hangout at the front desk just watching.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Housers. Colombian Supremo today.


----------



## Gary A.

50F right now. Should reach into the 70's.


----------



## bribrius

how come the best photographers on this site never post anything??


----------



## snowbear

Sure they do.  There are plenty of photos posted by them - take a look through the POTM pages.


----------



## JacaRanda

bribrius said:


> how come the best photographers on this site never post anything??



If they never post, how do you know they are the best?


----------



## astroNikon

JacaRanda said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> how come the best photographers on this site never post anything??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If they never post, how do you know they are the best?
Click to expand...

Because they said they are !!


----------



## sm4him

bribrius said:


> how come the best photographers on this site never post anything??



So, are you saying those of us who HAVE posted plenty of stuff aren't that good??


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> how come the best photographers on this site never post anything??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So, are you saying those of us who HAVE posted plenty of stuff aren't that good??
Click to expand...


That's what it sounds like to me.

Sharon - hint on Whats it - hurry!


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> how come the best photographers on this site never post anything??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So, are you saying those of us who HAVE posted plenty of stuff aren't that good??
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's what it sounds like to me.
> 
> Sharon - hint on Whats it - hurry!
Click to expand...


I did, but I don't know why--I don't have anything to put up right now if I get it!


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> how come the best photographers on this site never post anything??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So, are you saying those of us who HAVE posted plenty of stuff aren't that good??
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's what it sounds like to me.
> 
> Sharon - hint on Whats it - hurry!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I did, but I don't know why--I don't have anything to put up right now if I get it!
Click to expand...


cough - lug nuts - cough


----------



## sm4him

I bet if I actually DID that right now, you wouldn't even guess it, because you'd expect it to be anything BUT that!!


----------



## snowbear

I would bow out.



Maybe.


----------



## sm4him

I actually HAVE something in mind that would be a good one, I think. But I only have my cell phone with me today and this is one that definitely needs a macro lens to do the closeup.  

I'm about to go heat up lunch, so I'll look and see what I can find.


----------



## snowbear

Actually, I've removed (and replaced) enough of them that I'm sure I'd get it; even if they had those little flags on them.


----------



## snowbear

In the spirit of stalking:
<---  New avatar (for a little while)


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> how come the best photographers on this site never post anything??



What are you talking about, I have posted plenty!!


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> I actually HAVE something in mind that would be a good one, I think. But I only have my cell phone with me today and this is one that definitely needs a macro lens to do the closeup.
> 
> I'm about to go heat up lunch, so I'll look and see what I can find.


leave my pee pee out of this!


----------



## snowbear

I am playing with time releases again (ControlMyNikon trial) but the only activities are the wind chimes gently swaying in the intermittent breeze and Zoe stretching in the window sill.  The landscapers should have been here, but apparently had better places to be.


----------



## limr

Well, one class is done and now I'm at my admin job, which means I am bored to tears and annoyed by everyone. 

Good times.


----------



## snowbear

We need a "Partial Like."  Make up creative secret nicknames for the more "challenging" students, staff & faculty.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> We need a "Partial Like."  Make up creative secret nicknames for the more "challenging" students, staff & faculty.



You mean Jamming Jammer can't just be used for everyone?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We need a "Partial Like."  Make up creative secret nicknames for the more "challenging" students, staff & faculty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You mean Jamming Jammer can't just be used for everyone?
Click to expand...


As a general population, yes, but you want to identify individuals.


----------



## snowbear

I believe that is a trick table servers use to remember what each person ordered, like "pig face in red shirt gets the baconzilla burger, blue hair bitty in (1970s) gunny sack has the string bean salad and iced tea, and elephant ears has the fajita special."


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I believe that is a trick table servers use to remember what each person ordered, like "pig face in red shirt gets the baconzilla burger, blue hair bitty in (1970s) gunny sack has the string bean salad and iced tea, and elephant ears has the fajita special."



Yeah, I've used that trick at times. My memory also tends to be quite visual, so it often helps to include the person's location at the table. When I'm learning student names, in the first few weeks, I'll get confused if someone changes seats - at least until I associate the name firmly with the face instead of the location of the seat.

Also to that end, I've been known to put little notes next to the students' name - fin hair, dumbass backwards cap, ugly sweater...


----------



## limr

Heh...I'm grading some papers (yes, I'm at my other job, but I'm here for 4 hours and I've only got about 30 minutes of work to do) and a student just wrote that he wants to be an EMT to "help and service people."

A happy ending to your ambulance ride?


----------



## runnah

Writing papers are hard.

If I had to write a paper right now I'd fail horribly.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Heh...I'm grading some papers (yes, I'm at my other job, but I'm here for 4 hours and I've only got about 30 minutes of work to do) and a student just wrote that he wants to be an EMT to "help and service people."
> 
> A happy ending to your ambulance ride?



LOL - a real "hands on" type, eh?  Nickname that one "sneezy" or "sniffles"


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Heh...I'm grading some papers (yes, I'm at my other job, but I'm here for 4 hours and I've only got about 30 minutes of work to do) and a student just wrote that he wants to be an EMT to "help and service people."
> 
> A happy ending to your ambulance ride?


That is hilarious.

How do you typically respond to those types of errors? (Unless it's not an error! )


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Heh...I'm grading some papers (yes, I'm at my other job, but I'm here for 4 hours and I've only got about 30 minutes of work to do) and a student just wrote that he wants to be an EMT to "help and service people."
> 
> A happy ending to your ambulance ride?





waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Heh...I'm grading some papers (yes, I'm at my other job, but I'm here for 4 hours and I've only got about 30 minutes of work to do) and a student just wrote that he wants to be an EMT to "help and service people."
> 
> A happy ending to your ambulance ride?
> 
> 
> 
> That is hilarious.
> 
> How do you typically respond to those types of errors? (Unless it's not an error! )
Click to expand...


I can send them a link to our job application, but I don't think we give extra points for that.


----------



## runnah




----------



## limr

runnah said:


> Writing papers are hard.
> 
> If I had to write a paper right now I'd fail horribly.



Well, any skill you haven't practiced in a long time will be rusty, but I would wager that after 10 weeks of a 15-week writing course, you'd not be making the same mistakes you did at the beginning.


----------



## runnah

limr said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> Writing papers are hard.
> 
> If I had to write a paper right now I'd fail horribly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, any skill you haven't practiced in a long time will be rusty, but I would wager that after 10 weeks of a 15-week writing course, you'd not be making the same mistakes you did at the beginning.
Click to expand...


The idea of going back to school makes my butt cheeks tighten up.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> That is hilarious.
> 
> How do you typically respond to those types of errors? (Unless it's not an error! )



For this particular one, I just leave it alone. If it's really bad, then I'll make a comment to explain the error and why it might be embarrassing. For example, there was a student who wrote an entire essay about how much she loved cooking. The problem was that she spelled it wrong every time. Instead of the second 'o' in _cook_, she was writing the letter 'c.' 

That was actually one of their final essay exams - they have to pass one of the exams in order to pass the class - and all the teachers in the department score the exams together (two people have to score each essay and agree with each other, or get a third to break the tie.) So we were all crying with laughter over that one!

But for that kind of thing, you just write a very professional kind of note, explaining what the work means and how it's considered inappropriate. Remember, these are non-native speakers I'm mostly dealing with, so they are unaware of how some of their errors sound.

If it were a native speaker? I would not be as nice. I had a student once write a paper in which he talked about goosing his girlfriend. Let's just say that his paper was filled with so much red ink that it looked like I had bled all over it.


----------



## runnah

limr said:


> For this particular one, I just leave it alone. If it's really bad, then I'll make a comment to explain the error and why it might be embarrassing. For example, there was a student who wrote an entire essay about how much she loved cocking.



Do you ahh...have her number?


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> That is hilarious.
> 
> How do you typically respond to those types of errors? (Unless it's not an error! )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For this particular one, I just leave it alone. If it's really bad, then I'll make a comment to explain the error and why it might be embarrassing. For example, there was a student who wrote an entire essay about how much she loved cooking. The problem was that she spelled it wrong every time. Instead of the second 'o' in _cook_, she was writing the letter 'c.'
> 
> That was actually one of their final essay exams - they have to pass one of the exams in order to pass the class - and all the teachers in the department score the exams together (two people have to score each essay and agree with each other, or get a third to break the tie.) So we were all crying with laughter over that one!
> 
> But for that kind of thing, you just write a very professional kind of note, explaining what the work means and how it's considered inappropriate. Remember, these are non-native speakers I'm mostly dealing with, so they are unaware of how some of their errors sound.
> 
> If it were a native speaker? I would not be as nice. I had a student once write a paper in which he talked about goosing his girlfriend. Let's just say that his paper was filled with so much red ink that it looked like I had bled all over it.
Click to expand...

Ah, didn't realize they were non-native speakers. Gotcha.

My in-laws' speak English as their second/third language. I still chuckle at some of the things they say. Don't get me wrong, they speak excellent English... but some things just come out wrong.

Then again, apparently my mother's dog's name in Arabic is a bad/slang word. That was an interesting topic of conversation for a while

Goosing his girlfriend? That's lovely. I wouldn't have been as nice. I would have just put a big F on it.


----------



## sm4him

runnah said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> Writing papers are hard.
> 
> If I had to write a paper right now I'd fail horribly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, any skill you haven't practiced in a long time will be rusty, but I would wager that after 10 weeks of a 15-week writing course, you'd not be making the same mistakes you did at the beginning.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The idea of going back to school makes my butt cheeks tighten up.
Click to expand...


Huh. Kinda makes me wonder exactly WHAT your school experience was like…

But I really, REALLY don't think I want those details.


----------



## runnah

sm4him said:


> Huh. Kinda makes me wonder exactly WHAT your school experience was like…
> 
> But I really, REALLY don't think I want those details.



High School was not good to me.


----------



## snerd

runnah said:


>


That is sooooooooooo weird!! My cell buzzes in the doc's office awhile ago. It says East San Francisco Area. I know of nobody out there! Maybe Tiny Tim?!  


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## pgriz

You probably won a cruise somewhere...  I get these calls from all over North America and they keep changing the number they call from so that you can't block it in advance.  The nice lady's name is "Aimee".  Know her?


----------



## sm4him

waday said:


> That is hilarious.
> How do you typically respond to those types of errors? (*Unless it's not an error!* )



For some reason, that "unless it's not an error" comment made me think of an email my sister received a couple of years ago. She works for our county Office on Aging agency and received the following email from one of the nursing homes--and yes, the writer was a native English speaker, so she doesn't have that excuse.

"It is rare to hear of the elderly living past the ripe old age of 100 years old, but can you imagine having a total of four fixing to be six under one roof?….Come celebrate the lives of four of our wonderful residents...One wrote a book and the other is possibly well over the age of 103…"

not done yet, but let me interrupt here. So she mentions that there are 4 centenarians present (and uses that classic southern term, "fixing to"), but then only says what TWO of them have actually ever done. Evidently the other "two fixing to be four" had not managed a single thing in their 100+ years that was notable enough to mention…

Okay, but now the real gem of the story…

"…and the other is possibly well over the age of 103 and has vivid memories of the civil rights error."


My sister's comments were awesome:

"On top of the language usage, one wonders about the creative use of numbers throughout. What about the two soon-to-be centenarians? What became of them? And after the writer mentions the four "wonderful" residents who are "all over" the age of 101 years, she tells us that ONE wrote a book and another remembers something that happened 60 years ago--wow!  Did the other two manage to get through 100 years without doing anything as remarkable as remembering the 1950s?
In all fairness, though, I may be mistaking an editorial opinion on the part of the write for a wrong word choice at the end."


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Ah, didn't realize they were non-native speakers. Gotcha.
> 
> My in-laws' speak English as their second/third language. I still chuckle at some of the things they say. Don't get me wrong, they speak excellent English... but some things just come out wrong.



My parents are non-native speakers. My mother's English is quite good, but my father's English was always somewhat broken. Portuguese was his native language, but he spoke French, Italian, and Spanish before he moved to America in his 40s and started learning English. We used to tease him about some of his more amusing pronunciation errors, like saying the /l/ in would, could, and should. He had a sense of humor about himself so it kind of gave him a kick when we'd tease him 



> Then again, apparently my mother's dog's name in Arabic is a bad/slang word. That was an interesting topic of conversation for a while
> 
> Goosing his girlfriend? That's lovely. I wouldn't have been as nice. I would have just put a big F on it.



Oh, he got an F on that assignment. And then on others. Then he got kicked out for plagiarism. And then you know what he did? Showed up for the final exam! After failing a bunch of assignments, THEN being told that he would get an F for the class and be reported to the disciplinary committee for cheating, he STILL didn't realize the exercise in futility taking the final would be. He walked in and I could barely even speak for a couple of seconds. I took him aside and told him to just go away. Actually, looking back, I should have made him take the exam, just to make him suffer through it.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> For some reason, that "unless it's not an error" comment made me think of an email my sister received a couple of years ago. She works for our county Office on Aging agency and received the following email from one of the nursing homes--and yes, the writer was a native English speaker, so she doesn't have that excuse.
> 
> "It is rare to hear of the elderly living past the ripe old age of 100 years old, but can you imagine having a total of four fixing to be six under one roof?….Come celebrate the lives of four of our wonderful residents...One wrote a book and the other is possibly well over the age of 103…"



What in the what?

What does "four fixing to be six" mean? I mean, I understand the "fixing to do something" Southern construction, but "fixing to be six"?

And "the other is possibly well over the age of 103"... why don't they know the ages of their residents? And doesn't "well over" imply something like 10-15 years? So, she might be 115 instead of 103?



> not done yet, but let me interrupt here. So she mentions that there are 4 centenarians present (and uses that classic southern term, "fixing to"), but then only says what TWO of them have actually ever done. Evidently the other "two fixing to be four" had not managed a single thing in their 100+ years that was notable enough to mention…
> 
> Okay, but now the real gem of the story…
> 
> "…and the other is possibly well over the age of 103 and has vivid memories of the civil rights error."


----------



## runnah

Everyone is the south is always fixing to do something.

Which is odd because everything is so damn broken down there.


----------



## limr

Oh my, here's a good one:
"When I was 11 years old, I witnessed a triple car accident right on my face."

Ouch.


----------



## snowbear

runnah said:


> The idea of going back to school makes my butt cheeks tighten up.



No problem; don't take any gym classes.


----------



## snowbear

I wonder if "four fixing to be six . . ." means "six feet under, under one roof."  Either that, or by some miracle two are pregnant (or one with twins).  "Lawsymercy"


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Oh my, here's a good one:
> "When I was 11 years old, I witnessed a triple car accident right on my face."
> 
> Ouch.



Obviously you never played with those little cars that you launch down tracks and then up in the air.  The trick was to get different tracks set up and launch the cars so that they all come to the same point at the same time.  Bonus if one of the sisters/brothers happens to walk through the shooting gallery at the right time.  

I, of course, was just watching this as a bystander.  Yep, that's my story.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh my, here's a good one:
> "When I was 11 years old, I witnessed a triple car accident right on my face."
> 
> Ouch.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Obviously you never played with those little cars that you launch down tracks and then up in the air.  The trick was to get different tracks set up and launch the cars so that they all come to the same point at the same time.  Bonus if one of the sisters/brothers happens to walk through the shooting gallery at the right time.
> 
> I, of course, was just watching this as a bystander.  Yep, that's my story.
Click to expand...


Ah, a triple Matchbox car accident on his face!! Well, that makes more sense 

You little scamp, you!


----------



## snerd

runnah said:


> Everyone is the south is always fixing to do something.
> 
> Which is odd because everything is so damn broken down there.


That's because we're fixing to get a round tuit.


----------



## runnah

snerd said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> Everyone is the south is always fixing to do something.
> 
> Which is odd because everything is so damn broken down there.
> 
> 
> 
> That's because we're fixing to get a round tuit.
Click to expand...


I've been to Texas in August and I am impressed that people left the house let alone worked.


----------



## snerd

runnah said:


> I've been to Texas in August and I am impressed that people left the house let alone worked.


I remember the worst.............. summer of 1978 I think. 30 days straight of temps over 100 degrees, and within that was 10 days of temps over 110 degrees. I was in Altus, OK back in probably 1989 or 1990 when it had the high temp in the nation at 117 degrees. I handled it a lot better in my youth than I do now.


----------



## snowbear

runnah said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> Everyone is the south is always fixing to do something.
> 
> Which is odd because everything is so damn broken down there.
> 
> 
> 
> That's because we're fixing to get a round tuit.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've been to Texas in August and I am impressed that people left the house let alone worked.
Click to expand...


Heck, it's bad in May - I can't imagine what it's like in August.


----------



## runnah

snowbear said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> Everyone is the south is always fixing to do something.
> 
> Which is odd because everything is so damn broken down there.
> 
> 
> 
> That's because we're fixing to get a round tuit.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've been to Texas in August and I am impressed that people left the house let alone worked.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Heck, it's bad in May - I can't imagine what it's like in August.
Click to expand...


It's hot.


----------



## bribrius

lived in vegas for a while. don't remember much of it except people telling me to look at some fire rock place and red canyon something or other.
I just remember a lot of big rocks that weren't very exciting.
I did enjoy the nature scenery in the strip clubs via the bottom of a glass.


----------



## mmaria

Yeah I know you're sleeping but still







did I miss anything intelligent enough?


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> Yeah I know you're sleeping but still
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> did I miss anything intelligent enough?


Good afternoon, Marija.
Do you have anything special planned for the day?


----------



## sm4him

Good morning, Charlie!
Good afternoon, Marija!

And GOOOOOOOOD MORNING, Coffee!!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Sharon.  I'm almost done with my first coffee, and I don't think I'll get a second at home.  We have to leave for work early, today.  Someone is coming to Miriam's office to assess her work space, as part of her carpal tunnel mitigation.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Good morning, Sharon.  I'm almost done with my first coffee, and I don't think I'll get a second at home.  We have to leave for work early, today.  Someone is coming to Miriam's office to assess her work space, as part of her carpal tunnel mitigation.



I had really hoped to sleep in this morning, but I still woke up at about 6:15 a.m.  I'll probably go into work just a little late this morning, maybe around 9:30 or 10, because the state transit assoc. conference starts today, so I'll be working until about 8 p.m. tonight.  Tomorrow won't be as bad, I don't think, probably a little long...Thursday may kill me.  Bus Roadeo competition in the morning and afternoon, then the awards banquet from 6:30 to 11:30 p.m.!  And in between all that, I somehow have to find time to get all the photos processed and create a Powerpoint slideshow out of them that will be shown at the awards banquet.

Just thinking about it makes me want a coffee IV.


----------



## snowbear

Good luck.  Will the powerpoint be a real presentation or just "background" images that will just cycle during the banquet?


----------



## sm4him

Just background images that they can look at and get a full "review" of all the goings-on during the conference. Thankfully!  That's gonna be hard enough; I don't think I could manage creating one with anything more than that given the time frame and the fact that most of my days and nights will be spent doing the photography!


----------



## sm4him

I'll be shooting raw + jpg; that way, I can go through and any photos that I decide are ok "as is" I can just use the jpgs, and limit my processing work to those that might need to be edited a little.


----------



## snowbear

Well, it is time to leave for work.  I'll catch up with you all this evening.
Marija, it will probably be late for you when I get back so I'll just say "good night" now.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Marija, it will probably be late for you when I get back so I'll just say "good night" now.



awwwww


----------



## limr

Good morning, folks! Good afternoon, Marija!

Woke up with an angry monkey fist in my back, right near the left shoulder blade. Hurts like the dickens. Still going to see the kitties but not sure how helpful I'll be.


----------



## mmaria

I was thinking about you girls last night  






*I just wish my instructor had a nicer butt... yeah... I got to watch her butt for an hour because I have to follow/learn the steps...and I kind of don't like her butt


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Good morning, folks! Good afternoon, Marija!
> 
> Woke up with an angry monkey fist in my back, right near the left shoulder blade. Hurts like the dickens. Still going to see the kitties but not sure how helpful I'll be.


just a note... I liked your post because of your "Good afternoon" to me, not for the rest of your post, for the rest of your post is


----------



## runnah

I don't know what is going on but I do enjoy the erotic undertones.


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, folks! Good afternoon, Marija!
> 
> Woke up with an angry monkey fist in my back, right near the left shoulder blade. Hurts like the dickens. Still going to see the kitties but not sure how helpful I'll be.
> 
> 
> 
> just a note... I liked your post because of your "Good afternoon" to me, not for the rest of your post, for the rest of your post is
Click to expand...


I liked yours just because 

Hey, I thought of you yesterday morning. I had to stop at the post office before work to pick up a package. I haven't been to that particular office in a while, so I forgot what other businesses were in that same building. 

There's a zumba studio! It is only 5 minutes from my house! Though honestly, if I were to ever to go a zumba class, I don't think I would go to that one. I've seen the people in this town. I don't want to see them in tight workout clothes dancing!


----------



## limr

runnah said:


> I don't know what is going on but I do enjoy the erotic undertones.



Monkey fist doin' it for ya?


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Hey, I thought of you yesterday morning. I had to stop at the post office before work to pick up a package. I haven't been to that particular office in a while, so I forgot what other businesses were in that same building.
> 
> There's a zumba studio! It is only 5 minutes from my house! Though honestly, if I were to ever to go a zumba class, I don't think I would go to that one. I've seen the people in this town. I don't want to see them in tight workout clothes dancing!


how about if I lived there?

we would go together for sure


----------



## limr

If we could go together, then yes, I'd go! The problem is we might spend more time laughing than dancing


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> If we could go together, then yes, I'd go! The problem is we might spend more time laughing than dancing




Have no issues with that, laughing is a great exercise!


----------



## runnah

limr said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know what is going on but I do enjoy the erotic undertones.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Monkey fist doin' it for ya?
Click to expand...


Oh my!


----------



## limr




----------



## bribrius

morning peeps....


----------



## mmaria

I wish they locked LB...


----------



## limr

Morning, bri!

Marija - I wish they'd locked it, too.


----------



## Designer

Hey, good morning to everyone except Marija, and a good afternoon to you!

I think I got more or less caught up with this thread, and I didn't see any explanation of "fixin' to be six".  

There are four now, and two more fixin' to turn 100 (perhaps soon).  

Unless one or more of the current office holders expires before that happens and then the count would be off.  

Then the nursing staff would have to re-figure it all over again.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Hey, good morning to everyone except Marija, and a good afternoon to you!
> 
> I think I got more or less caught up with this thread, and I didn't see any explanation of "fixin' to be six".
> 
> There are four now, and two more fixin' to turn 100 (perhaps soon).
> 
> Unless one or more of the current office holders expires before that happens and then the count would be off.
> 
> Then the nursing staff would have to re-figure it all over again.



Man, that was just some bad writing all around. My red pen would have been flying all over it!


----------



## limr

Okay, I have to go get dressed, take some Advil to see if it will help the monkey fist, and drive to the shelter to see if I can do anything to help or if I'll be useless because even lifting a coffee cup hurts.


----------



## mishele

Soooo cute!!!


----------



## runnah




----------



## runnah




----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Okay, I have to go get dressed, take some Advil to see if it will help the monkey fist, and drive to the shelter to see if I can do anything to help or if I'll be useless because even lifting a coffee cup hurts.


Here, get this:

Amazon.com: Thera Cane Massager: Health & Personal Care


----------



## runnah




----------



## runnah

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, I have to go get dressed, take some Advil to see if it will help the monkey fist, and drive to the shelter to see if I can do anything to help or if I'll be useless because even lifting a coffee cup hurts.
> 
> 
> 
> Here, get this:
> 
> Amazon.com: Thera Cane Massager: Health & Personal Care
Click to expand...


@limr has a whole drawer full of "personal massagers"...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Housers.


----------



## Gary A.

Not a good moning for me. Mary Lou heard running water at the kitchen sink. A check showed a small geyser sprouting forth from a fitting. So I had to do all the stuff I needed to do for replacing the valve. aaaaarrrgh what a pain. Fortunately Mary Lou caught the leak early on so no major flooding or damage.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Not a good moning for me. Mary Lou heard running water at the kitchen sink. A check showed a small geyser sprouting forth from a fitting. So I had to do all the stuff I needed to do for replace the valve. aaaaarrrgh what a pain. Fortunately Mary Lou caught the leak early on so no major flooding or damage.



Oh, no fun at all!


----------



## limr

runnah said:


> @limr has a whole drawer full of "personal massagers"...


----------



## limr

So I went to see the kitties and the back felt better than I thought it would. The activity loosened up the muscle a bit so I was able to do some laundry for them and scrub the litter boxes. I also got to interact with some of the cats and get a few shots.

There was one grey and white cat that followed me around a little. His name is Fuzzy and he was apparently just returned to the shelter and not happy about it, so he was very vocal and looking for some lovin', so I gave him plenty of head scritches 

I voted on the way home and pulled into the driveway to find that my exercise bike has arrived. Woot!


----------



## sm4him

Just popping by for a visit--been taking pictures of registration and the ONE seminar that was happening this afternoon; now I've got about 90 minutes to relax before it's time to head out to the Welcome Reception that goes from 6-8 p.m.  That's gonna make for a LONG workday, but not as bad as Thursday is gonna be.

The good thing about the welcome reception tonight though is that it's at the Museum of Art--there's a photography exhibit there I've wanted to see, and it ends this weekend. So at least I'll get to check that out a bit.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> So I went to see the kitties and the back felt better than I thought it would. The activity loosened up the muscle a bit so I was able to do some laundry for them and scrub the litter boxes. I also got to interact with some of the cats and get a few shots.
> 
> There was one grey and white cat that followed me around a little. His name is Fuzzy and he was apparently just returned to the shelter and not happy about it, so he was very vocal and looking for some lovin', so I gave him plenty of head scritches
> 
> I voted on the way home and pulled into the driveway to find that my exercise bike has arrived. Woot!


Just came back from walking to City Hall for voting. 79F today, nice for the walk. You gotta be OCD with your bike. Set up a schedule, like first thing in the morning, otherwise it becomes easy to say "No time, I'll get to it later." Consistency is very important when working out.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Just came back from walking to City Hall for voting. 79F today, nice for the walk. You gotta be OCD with your bike. Set up a schedule, like first thing in the morning, otherwise it becomes easy to say "No time, I'll get to it later." Consistency is very important when working out.



Yup, you're right. I've got a plan. Since my Mondays and Wednesday are very long, I'll probably skip those days, or maybe just do a very light ride when I get home at night. But on the other days, I'll ride in the morning.

I also have a Ball jar into which I will put a dollar for every day I get in a good workout. At the end of the month, I can either use that money for a little reward or roll it over to the next month.

Buzz was over and we put the bike together. And he gave my the first dollar to put into my jar.


----------



## Gary A.

What a guy ... 

(A stationary bike can quickly turn into a clothes rack.)


----------



## bribrius

hey peeps.. anything good posted?


----------



## Gary A.

Okay, I'm about to remove the Ghost Pepper in the front. Anybody want a Ghost Pepper pepper? PM me an address and I'll mail it to you sealed in a baggie.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Okay, I'm about to remove the Ghost Pepper in the front. Anybody want a Ghost Pepper pepper? PM me an address and I'll mail it to you sealed in a baggie.


totally lost. what the hell is a ghost pepper a imaginary pepper?


----------



## Designer

It's enough to put you in the hospital. 

I don't need it.


----------



## Designer

I made split pea soup for supper.  

We just returned from voting.


----------



## Gary A.

A Ghost Pepper is considered one of the hottest peppers in the world. There are internet videos of people flopping around like a fish out of water after consumption.


----------



## Gary A.

What a great afternoon. It is 77F and I've been spending the afternoon in the patio. Watching the Sun turn the backlighted roses into jewels of red, yellow and pink. Mary Lou pointed out a half dozen spiky orange and black Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar on the Passion Vine. A squirrel has the attention of Cook while Hummers guard their territory.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> I made split pea soup for supper.
> 
> We just returned from voting.


Wanna share your recipe ...


----------



## bribrius

I went to rehab today. It was a no drive day dizzy one of my not so good days etc.  They held up papers with black and white shapes and asked me what I saw. wicked fun when the entire room is spinning.
I don't quite think they "get " it.

put me standing on some rubber mat. "okay, can you catch the ball?"

"uhh. hell no. everything is spinning and just you look like you are in triple 3d. Throw something at me it will probably just hit me. Ask me tomorrow or later when my mind is clearer."

"okay, I am going to read you a story and you tell me what you remember about it I will ask you about it in ten minutes"

okay..

ten minutes later " can you tell me about the story"

"not a damn clue I was looking out the window while you were reading it.  ."


----------



## snerd

Dude.............. you scare me.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I made split pea soup for supper.
> 
> We just returned from voting.
> 
> 
> 
> Wanna share your recipe ...
Click to expand...


Nothing much.  I had some ham in the freezer, so I bought split peas and carrots.  Already had an onion.  

1 package of dried split peas
1 quart of chicken stock
1 onion
5 carrots
parsley
thyme
marjoram
salt
black pepper
ham (or whatever)

Clean peas
Soak overnight or water to cover and simmer 2 minutes then soak one hour
Saute onion in olive oil
chop carrots finely

add chicken stock, onions, carrots, ham and parsley

Season to taste  

Simmer one additional hour

Serve with sourdough toast or your choice of crackers


----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


> Dude.............. you scare me.



He scares _*you*_?  He lives closer to _*me*_!


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Dude.............. you scare me.


why?


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I made split pea soup for supper.
> 
> We just returned from voting.
> 
> 
> 
> Wanna share your recipe ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nothing much.  I had some ham in the freezer, so I bought split peas and carrots.  Already had an onion.
> 
> 1 package of dried split peas
> 1 quart of chicken stock
> 1 onion
> 5 carrots
> parsley
> thyme
> marjoram
> salt
> black pepper
> ham (or whatever)
> 
> Clean peas
> Soak overnight or water to cover and simmer 2 minutes then soak one hour
> Saute onion in olive oil
> chop carrots finely
> 
> add chicken stock, onions, carrots, ham and parsley
> 
> Season to taste
> 
> Simmer one additional hour
> 
> Serve with sourdough toast or your choice of crackers
Click to expand...

Thanks. I definitely will try it ... (or maybe I should just come over).


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I made split pea soup for supper.
> 
> We just returned from voting.
> 
> 
> 
> Wanna share your recipe ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nothing much.  I had some ham in the freezer, so I bought split peas and carrots.  Already had an onion.
> 
> 1 package of dried split peas
> 1 quart of chicken stock
> 1 onion
> 5 carrots
> parsley
> thyme
> marjoram
> salt
> black pepper
> ham (or whatever)
> 
> Clean peas
> Soak overnight or water to cover and simmer 2 minutes then soak one hour
> Saute onion in olive oil
> chop carrots finely
> 
> add chicken stock, onions, carrots, ham and parsley
> 
> Season to taste
> 
> Simmer one additional hour
> 
> Serve with sourdough toast or your choice of crackers
Click to expand...

wow. you can cook! I personally haven't a clue on cooking but I sure do think it is great when others can!


----------



## mmaria




----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, Marija!


----------



## sm4him

Good morning/afternoon!

Day 1 of the 3-day marathon work session is in the books. Worked about 14 hours yesterday. Left the reception at 7:30, but had to come home and work on photos, so didn't really quit until about 10.
Gotta be at the convention site by 8 a.m. this morning. Relatively short day there--hoping to be able to leave about 4:30. Take a break for church and choir practice, then more photo processing, so it'll be another 12 hour workday by the time I'm done.
Tomorrow will be the killer though. Roadeo competition starts at 8:30 a.m., goes until about4, then the Awards Banquet from 6:30 to 11:30.

The good news is I'm off on Friday. The bad new is that's because I'm headed to a retreat that I'm supposed to be leading the sessions for!  That'll be okay though; it's for my leadership team for our women's ministry, not for another church, so these are my dearest friends and most of the weekend will be just relaxing and enjoying each other's company.

But first, I gotta survive the next two days.


----------



## mmaria




----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> But first, I gotta survive the next two days.


----------



## mmaria

oh God!

sometimes I wish I'm girlie and romantic type!

You have no idea how much pink, teddy bears, flowers, cuteness, sweetness and such is there when I google "Good morning/Good night!"

Can't put up with it anymore... or I can... I must...


----------



## snowbear

You will get through it, Sharon; I have no doubts.
Marija, there's nothing wrong with pink.  Just have another strong coffee to cut the sweetness!


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Marija, there's nothing wrong with pink.  Just have another strong coffee to cut the sweetness!


I've just had it ... no help 

eta: Sharon and Leo certainly help


----------



## snowbear

How is this for pink?
http://images.wjla.com/communities/pgfd-pink-paramedic-unit-firetruck-courtesy_606.jpg


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> oh God!
> 
> sometimes I wish I'm girlie and romantic type!
> 
> You have no idea how much pink, teddy bears, flowers, cuteness, sweetness and such is there when I google "Good morning/Good night!"
> 
> Can't put up with it anymore... or I can... I must...



Pink. Ick.

I've always said it's a good thing I had two boys; I wouldn't have had a clue how to help a little girl do "girlie."


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Marija, there's nothing wrong with pink.  Just have another strong coffee to cut the sweetness!
> 
> 
> 
> I've just had it ... no help
> 
> eta: Sharon and Leo certainly help
Click to expand...


We're too awesome for girlie!! 

Alright, I'm out!  I might get to check in by phone now and then.


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Marija, there's nothing wrong with pink.  Just have another strong coffee to cut the sweetness!
> 
> 
> 
> I've just had it ... no help
> 
> eta: Sharon and Leo certainly help
Click to expand...


I try to help.  Or is that hinder?


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> How is this for pink?
> http://images.wjla.com/communities/pgfd-pink-paramedic-unit-firetruck-courtesy_606.jpg


lol

why oh why are you doing this to me!!!!!!!!!!????????????????


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> How is this for pink?
> http://images.wjla.com/communities/pgfd-pink-paramedic-unit-firetruck-courtesy_606.jpg
> 
> 
> 
> lol
> 
> why oh why are you doing this to me!!!!!!!!!!????????????????
Click to expand...


But it's a fire engine and an ambulance . . . not what I would consider "girlie!"

Let me find something else.


----------



## snowbear

No pink, no flowers, and not girlie.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> I've always said it's a good thing I had two boys; I wouldn't have had a clue how to help a little girl do "girlie."


lol!

I have two younger brothers and I've always liked men better.

I was terrified when I found out that I was pregnant with a girl. Now she's 4 year old.

She has some clothes she got from people that I simply couldn't put on her! Fur coats, princess dresses... oh no... can't

Last night she wanted me to paint her nails, and while I was doing it (pink sparkles and blue "nail paint") my hb commented: "I like the fact she's a bit girlie... unlike you"


----------



## snowbear

Well, I've got to go.  We have a stop to make on the way to work, today.  I will check in sometime later,

Marija - there is no need for flowers or pink; you are sweet and cute enough on your own.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Marija - there is no need for roses or pink; you are sweet and cute enough on your own.









see... pink again!!!


----------



## limr

Hey folks!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Hey folks!


Hi

Wearing fishnets this morning also?


----------



## limr

Ick, there really is a lot of dreck when you google images for "Good Morning." What's with all the roses and hearts?

This one was acceptable to me:


----------



## limr

Hey Marija. So you're wearing pink today, are you?


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Hey Marija. So you're wearing pink today, are you?


I'm all in black today except my dark red nails

you?


----------



## limr

Not sure what colors I'm wearing today. I've got about 20 more minutes to nurse my coffee and play in TPF, and then I have to get ready for work. But once I'm there, I can play on TPF again!


----------



## limr

I'm not girly but I have some moments of it. I don't mind if someone is girly. What I DO mind is when I'm expected to like something girly just because I'm a woman.


----------



## mmaria

sometimes I really don't like this time difference... 

but I'll be here for the next 20 minutes or so for sure juggling between the work and tpf


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> I'm not girly but I have some moments of it. I don't mind if someone is girly. What I DO mind is when I'm expected to like something girly just because I'm a woman.


EXACTLY!!!!

Like roses?


----------



## runnah

limr said:


> I'm not girly but I have some moments of it. I don't mind if someone is girly. What I DO mind is when I'm expected to like something girly just because I'm a woman.



So everything you own isn't pink and frilly?


----------



## limr

runnah said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not girly but I have some moments of it. I don't mind if someone is girly. What I DO mind is when I'm expected to like something girly just because I'm a woman.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So everything you own isn't pink and frilly?
Click to expand...


Nope. Not even close. 

The thing that always annoyed me is that pink actually looks quite good on me. It complements my olive skin. If I actually like a shirt or sweater that happens to be an acceptable shade of pink (bubble gum is only acceptable in gum), I'll buy it, but you can be damn sure it wasn't my uterus that told me that I had to buy it because I just loooooooooove pink


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> The thing that always annoyed me is that pink actually looks quite good on me. It complements my olive skin. If I actually like a shirt or sweater that happens to be an acceptable shade of pink (bubble gum is only acceptable in gum), I'll buy it, but you can be damn sure it wasn't my uterus that told me that I had to buy it because I just loooooooooove pink


I'm sure every color looks good on you


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> EXACTLY!!!!
> 
> Like roses?



Like roses! I don't hate them like you do, but I prefer other flowers. And I like to get flowers sometimes. So you know what I do? I go out and buy some! 

Buzz does get me flowers for Valentine's Day (but not roses). And I buy him a bottle of Scotch. The best thing about this arrangment is that I then get to share the Scotch!


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The thing that always annoyed me is that pink actually looks quite good on me. It complements my olive skin. If I actually like a shirt or sweater that happens to be an acceptable shade of pink (bubble gum is only acceptable in gum), I'll buy it, but you can be damn sure it wasn't my uterus that told me that I had to buy it because I just loooooooooove pink
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sure every color looks good on you
Click to expand...


Awww


----------



## runnah

limr said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not girly but I have some moments of it. I don't mind if someone is girly. What I DO mind is when I'm expected to like something girly just because I'm a woman.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So everything you own isn't pink and frilly?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nope. Not even close.
> 
> The thing that always annoyed me is that pink actually looks quite good on me. It complements my olive skin. If I actually like a shirt or sweater that happens to be an acceptable shade of pink (bubble gum is only acceptable in gum), I'll buy it, but you can be damn sure it wasn't my uterus that told me that I had to buy it because I just loooooooooove pink
Click to expand...


My testicles always insist I look good in taupe.


----------



## limr

Buzz says the day he hears me say that I did something - or can't do something - because I'm a woman and I actually mean it, that's the day he starts searching for the pod and figuring out how to kill the alien that took over my body.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sure every color looks good on you
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Awww
Click to expand...

girl, you should have said: "You too"


----------



## limr

This does not include things like "I can't grow a beard because I'm a woman." Or "I'm more likely to be raped because I'm a woman."

I'm talking about, "But you figure out the math! I can't do it because I'm a woman." Lord, it's nauseating just typing that out in jest!


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sure every color looks good on you
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Awww
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> girl, you should have said: "You too"
Click to expand...


Yes, I should have! I slacked! I got distracted by too many alerts at one time. 

I failed. Here is a picture of a baleful kitten to show my contrition.






(And for the record, the internet apparently does not know what "baleful" means. I searched for that first and got all kinds of random crap.)


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> I'm sure every color looks good on you



You too!!!


----------



## runnah

awww whole lotta love in here


----------



## mmaria

oh no problem!!!!

still looove  you!


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> (And for the record, the internet apparently does not know what "baleful" means. I searched for that first and got all kinds of random crap.)



Hmm.. A "bale full of random crap".


----------



## limr

Well, unfortunately, there's going to be slightly less love around here for about an hour and a half or so. Gotta go to work! Blech.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Well, unfortunately, there's going to be slightly less love around here for about an hour and a half or so. Gotta go to work! Blech.


I'm gone too, but more than an hour and a half...

who knows what might happen when guys are left alone


----------



## mmaria

oh God!
I was almost hit by a car

still shaking but everything is ok
can't explain right now


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Housers.


----------



## Gary A.

mmaria said:


> oh God!
> I was almost hit by a car
> 
> still shaking but everything is ok
> can't explain right now


Damn Marija. I am glad that it is "almost".


----------



## Gary A.

54F right now. Just checked the sink, it is dry as a bone. Anybody need a plumber? Coffee Housers get 10% above my normal rates.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> This does not include things like "I can't grow a beard because I'm a woman." Or "I'm more likely to be raped because I'm a woman."
> 
> I'm talking about, "But you figure out the math! I can't do it because I'm a woman." Lord, it's nauseating just typing that out in jest!


As I move on past middle age it becomes evident that it is,  sadly, NOT impossible for a woman to grow a beard.  Or at least a few whiskers. [emoji143]


----------



## bribrius

cloudy again today. Not really helping me I really want to go shoot the inside of those old mills but with no electricity in them I am waiting for a bright sunny day to get as much natural light through the windows as I can.


----------



## sm4him

Marija, I hope you're okay!


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> 54F right now. Just checked the sink, it is dry as a bone. Anybody need a plumber? Coffee Housers get 10% above my normal rates.


I change our kitchen faucet almost every year. we have one of those maytag dishwashers that hooks up to the faucet and blows them out from the water pressure.


----------



## sm4him

I've got a few minutes break before I head to another area of the conference to take more pictures. It's a bad sign that it's only 10 am and I'm already tired!


----------



## Forkie

*Hello*


----------



## limr

Hey Forkie!


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> oh God!
> I was almost hit by a car
> 
> still shaking but everything is ok
> can't explain right now



Oh no!! I'm glad you're okay!


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 54F right now. Just checked the sink, it is dry as a bone. Anybody need a plumber? Coffee Housers get 10% above my normal rates.
> 
> 
> 
> I change our kitchen faucet almost every year. we have one of those maytag dishwashers that hooks up to the faucet and blows them out from the water pressure.
Click to expand...

The valve that failed was on a pipe separate from the faucet. It diverts water to the RO system which feeds the frig and drinking water tap. The fitting that fastens the valve to the pipe developed a split.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> This does not include things like "I can't grow a beard because I'm a woman." Or "I'm more likely to be raped because I'm a woman."
> 
> I'm talking about, "But you figure out the math! I can't do it because I'm a woman." Lord, it's nauseating just typing that out in jest!
> 
> 
> 
> As I move on past middle age it becomes evident that it is,  sadly, NOT impossible for a woman to grow a beard.  Or at least a few whiskers. [emoji143]
Click to expand...

I dunno about that. (You haven't seen the women I used to date.)


----------



## Gary A.

Top-o-the-Morn Forkie.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> As I move on past middle age it becomes evident that it is,  sadly, NOT impossible for a woman to grow a beard.  Or at least a few whiskers. [emoji143]
> 
> 
> 
> I dunno about that. (You haven't seen the women I used to date.)
Click to expand...


Okay, fair enough. SOME women can grow a beard! And some men can't grow a beard. There are always exceptions. 

If I grew a beard, I would totally join a circus. I'd get all tatted up and be the bearded AND tatoo-ed lady!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> As I move on past middle age it becomes evident that it is,  sadly, NOT impossible for a woman to grow a beard.  Or at least a few whiskers. [emoji143]
> 
> 
> 
> I dunno about that. (You haven't seen the women I used to date.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Okay, fair enough. SOME women can grow a beard! And some men can't grow a beard. There are always exceptions.
> 
> If I grew a beard, I would totally join a circus. I'd get all tatted up and be the bearded AND tatoo-ed lady!
Click to expand...

Reminds me of a story. (I have a lot of stories.) The kids and I rode our bikes to the Huntington Beach Pier. On Sundays there is a drum jam at the pier. Peoples show up with drums and beat away all day long. So were grooving with the drums and there were some jugglers doing their thing and the jugglers start pulling people from the crowd to teach them how to juggle ... but actually to make them look silly. The jugglers pull me out ... not knowing that I am skilled in the art of juggle. I play along but soon I'm tossing the three balls into the air without missing a beat. One of the jugglers says "I know you ... we were in clown school together." My kids have teased my ever since that I went to clown school.

PS- There is a lot of waiting shooting news. A few of us news photogs starting juggling to pass the time. Soon we were tossing up lenses.

PPS- If you ever grow a beard, I think B&B Clown school is in Texas.


----------



## limr

Oh man, Texas? Well, just as long as I don't have to be there very long. Is there an accelerated clown program? Do I get credits for real-life clowning I've done over the years? I mean c'mon, Leaderboard alone should be good for a semester's worth of clown credits!

Can I go to Krusty's Clown College?


----------



## Gary A.

BTW- how's your morning workout?


----------



## Gary A.

Oops I was wong. The Ringling Brothers - Barnum and Bailey school is in Florida. (sorta the same thing only with more older people)

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> BTW- how's your morning workout?



No time on Wednesday mornings. Technically, I guess I have some time for a quick 30 minutes, but I don't react well to rushed mornings. If it starts to stress me out, I won't do it. Mondays and Wednesdays are the two days a week when I have to be on campus for 10 hours, so they are my off days. Or, after I get home at 9pm, I might hop on the bike instead of flop on the couch for a little while to wind down. 

I did do 12 miles last night, though.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> BTW- how's your morning workout?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No time on Wednesday mornings. Technically, I guess I have some time for a quick 30 minutes, but I don't react well to rushed mornings. If it starts to stress me out, I won't do it. Mondays and Wednesdays are the two days a week when I have to be on campus for 10 hours, so they are my off days. Or, after I get home at 9pm, I might hop on the bike instead of flop on the couch for a little while to wind down.
> 
> I did do 12 miles last night, though.
Click to expand...

Good for you. You can probably mount a tablet or laptop to the thing and surf while biking.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Oops I was wong. The Ringling Brothers - Barnum and Bailey school is in Florida. (sorta the same thing only with more older people)
> 
> Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College



Oh, well that's a deal breaker. I might be willing to tolerate Texas for a while, but there's no way I'm staying in Florida again for anything more than a quick vacation to see my sister. Ooh, I shudder just thinking about it.

I'll just have to settle for a lesser clown college, or embellish the resume I send to the circus. Which I guess I would do by simply growing my beard longer and getting my ink. I mean, what kind of experience do I really need to be a bearded, tattoo-ed circus freak?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Good for you. You can probably mount a tablet or laptop to the thing and surf while biking.



The display area is relatively flat and I could mount a tablet. But I also have it facing the television. This way, I keep myself entertained and I make it easier on myself to combine taking a little mental break with physical activity.


----------



## BillM

Hello !!!!







This is a friend/co-worker Bob. Ever seen a man so happy ??? It was his surprise 70th birthday party, he was surprised lol


----------



## limr

Hey Bill!

Bob really does look happy and surprised. That's the reaction you want to a surprise party


----------



## BillM

We got what we were after


----------



## BillM

And here he is just Happy


----------



## limr

I will never ever throw Buzz a surprise party. His surprised face wouldn't be happy in that situation. It would border on murderous rage. 

I'm torn on the concept myself. On the one hand, it would be nice (I've never been thrown one). I am, however, quite introverted and don't always handle sudden changes very well, so if I'm not in the mood to be around a lot of people and am suddenly faced with a situation that requires me to be social when I'm not expecting it, it might make me cranky.


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> oh God!
> I was almost hit by a car
> 
> still shaking but everything is ok
> can't explain right now



I'm glad you are OK.


----------



## BillM

We can send Raj to hold Maria until she feels better


----------



## snowbear

I'm working on the Thanksgiving Two menu.  The traditional dinner will be at mom-in-law's on Thursday.  That leaves Friday for just us.  I'm suggesting a seafood concentration this year - shrimp & andouille jambalaya, crab cakes, and lobster pot pie.  Maybe some salmon cakes for breakfast.


----------



## limr

BillM said:


> We can send Raj to hold Maria until she feels better



She would really like that! Let's send EIngerson, too! And Mich.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I'm working on the Thanksgiving Two menu.  The traditional dinner will be at mom-in-law's on Thursday.  That leaves Friday for just us.  I'm suggesting a seafood concentration this year - shrimp & andouille jambalaya, crab cakes, and lobster pot pie.  Maybe some salmon cakes for breakfast.



Yum!

Does Thanksgiving stress anyone else out? Or is it just me?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> BillM said:
> 
> 
> 
> We can send Raj to hold Maria until she feels better
> 
> 
> 
> 
> She would really like that! Let's send EIngerson, too! And Mich.
Click to expand...



Can I go?


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Can I go?



The more the merrier!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm working on the Thanksgiving Two menu.  The traditional dinner will be at mom-in-law's on Thursday.  That leaves Friday for just us.  I'm suggesting a seafood concentration this year - shrimp & andouille jambalaya, crab cakes, and lobster pot pie.  Maybe some salmon cakes for breakfast.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yum!
> 
> Does Thanksgiving stress anyone else out? Or is it just me?
Click to expand...


'tis the season for stress.  I'll be somewhat stressed on Thursday, only because of a house full of people.  Friday will be great (we don't go to the "Black Friday" shopping frenzy) because it will only be three or four of us.  And you, if you want.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can I go?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The more the merrier!
Click to expand...

<picks up telephone and calls lovely wife> . . . <loud laughing in background> . . . nevermind.  I don't think I can get to the airport.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> 'tis the season for stress.  I'll be somewhat stressed on Thursday, only because of a house full of people.  Friday will be great (we don't go to the "Black Friday" shopping frenzy) because it will only be three or four of us.  And you, if you want.



Aww 

I spend Thursday with Buzz's family, which is smaller than mine, but in a way it's more stressful.

My family is big and loud when we're all together, but we also tend to be more relaxed about things, so if something burns or if cooking takes longer than expected, we just shrug, pour more wine, and start teasing whoever burnt the food  The biggest source of stress is really my mother, who generally has poor time management skills and so is always stressed and running around trying to get things done, even though she's not been responsible for the whole dinner in many years. When she's not cooking, she's instructing everyone on how they are doing something ALL WRONG!

But for the past few years, my mother has been going to Florida to visit my sister and her husband for T'giving, so there's one big source of stress gone!   But then we fell into each spending the holiday with our respective mate's family. So that leaves me at Buzz's house, which is fine, but it gets more tense there than I'm used to with my own family.


----------



## BillM

There is usually a large family gathering at my sisters house, one of the ones who lives local. But this year everyone is going to visit another sister in Maine, she lost her  husband a few months ago so they are going to spend the holiday with her.


----------



## snowbear

I know what you mean.  MIL is having some heath issues so we (lovely wife and her sisters, Lazy Lobster) have been doing the cooking.

I think we'll all have to grab a few Coffee House moments the night before (and afterwards).  We can be our own support group.


----------



## snowbear

BillM said:


> There is usually a large family gathering at my sisters house, one of the ones who lives local. But this year everyone is going to visit another sister in Maine, she lost her  husband a few months ago so they are going to spend the holiday with her.



That sounds nice.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Does Thanksgiving stress anyone else out? Or is it just me?



For me, Thanksgiving is probably the most relaxing of the major holidays.  I usually help my son do the cooking, his wife makes the deserts, my wife does the decorating and corrals the children.


----------



## bribrius

Got milk?


----------



## bribrius

thanksgiving. one of only two times a year I usually get together with my siblings. look forward to it.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I know what you mean.  MIL is having some heath issues so we (lovely wife and her sisters, Lazy Lobster) have been doing the cooking.
> 
> I think we'll all have to grab a few Coffee House moments the night before (and afterwards).  We can be our own support group.



I actually don't find it that stressful to do the cooking. It's not an easy task, but the thought of just being in the kitchen cooking is actually quite soothing to me. When I threw myself a 40th birthday party, I actually did all the food myself. I spent two solid days cooking.

But I like the idea of a Coffee House Thanksgiving Support Group 

I'll also be reviving a tradition I created for myself when I started going to Buzz's house for the holiday. They always have Pillsbury Grand biscuits. Always. And I adore buttermilk biscuits. When I was losing weight a few years ago, I was determined to control my eating during the holidays without getting too stressed out by counting every bite of food I took. And I knew I wanted that biscuit. So I figured I could just exercise extra that morning, and I went running.

Ever since then, I've done a "Run for the Biscuit!" jog on Thanksgiving morning. The past 2 years, I think, I didn't go, though. Lots of reasons, none of them having anything to do with lack of opportunity. This year, I am going to start it up again. It might be tricky because I haven't gone running in a very long time, and I've had a few weird things going on with my right foot, but I don't care - this year I'm running for that damn biscuit so I can enjoy it in peace!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I know what you mean.  MIL is having some heath issues so we (lovely wife and her sisters, Lazy Lobster) have been doing the cooking.
> 
> I think we'll all have to grab a few Coffee House moments the night before (and afterwards).  We can be our own support group.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I actually don't find it that stressful to do the cooking. It's not an easy task, but the thought of just being in the kitchen cooking is actually quite soothing to me. When I threw myself a 40th birthday party, I actually did all the food myself. I spent two solid days cooking.
> 
> But I like the idea of a Coffee House Thanksgiving Support Group
> 
> I'll also be reviving a tradition I created for myself when I started going to Buzz's house for the holiday. They always have Pillsbury Grand biscuits. Always. And I adore buttermilk biscuits. When I was losing weight a few years ago, I was determined to control my eating during the holidays without getting too stressed out by counting every bite of food I took. And I knew I wanted that biscuit. So I figured I could just exercise extra that morning, and I went running.
> 
> Ever since then, I've done a "Run for the Biscuit!" jog on Thanksgiving morning. The past 2 years, I think, I didn't go, though. Lots of reasons, none of them having anything to do with lack of opportunity. This year, I am going to start it up again. It might be tricky because I haven't gone running in a very long time, and I've had a few weird things going on with my right foot, but I don't care - this year I'm running for that damn biscuit so I can enjoy it in peace!
Click to expand...

you are older than me? no way!


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> you are older than me? no way!



Way! 

Not by all that much, though. I'm 43.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> you are older than me? no way!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Way!
> 
> Not by all that much, though. I'm 43.
Click to expand...

four big years.....


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I'm 43.



One of the perfect ages.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> you are older than me? no way!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Way!
> 
> Not by all that much, though. I'm 43.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> four big years.....
Click to expand...


Now say it, "But you look way younger than 43!"


----------



## snowbear

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm 43.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One of the perfect ages.
Click to expand...


I was going to say that you are hot at any age, but decided to go with the more dignified response.


----------



## snowbear

you are older than me? no way![/QUOTE]

Way! 

Not by all that much, though. I'm 43.[/QUOTE]
four big years.....[/QUOTE]

Now say it, "But you look way younger than 43!" 





[/QUOTE]


----------



## Gary A.

Leo, you should get one of those exercise monitoring baclettes. They are super motivational devices.


----------



## mmaria

just stopped by to say that the lady with the car ruined my zumba! I couldn't zumba tonight!! my leg,hip and arm hurt.
ok bye tommorow I'll type,can't type now,having troubles with phone again


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> But I like the idea of a Coffee House Thanksgiving Support Group



Yeah, we could be like the "Breaking Crockery Thanksgiving Emergency Save My Damn Meal Hotline".

(ring-ring) BCTESMDMH, how can I hep you?

(caller) "I've made a terrible mistake."

(hotline) "Speak to me."

c. "I've placed the forks on the left at ALL the place settings!"

h. "There's only one thing to do; move the place cards so that all of the guests are sitting between two place settings.  That way, they will think the problem was theirs, not yours."

c. "Oh, how can I ever than you for such wonderful advice?"

h. "Never mind that now.  You've got dinner guests."

(click)


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> just stopped by to say that the lady with the car ruined my zumba! I couldn't zumba tonight!! my leg,hip and arm hurt.
> ok bye tommorow I'll type,can't type now,having troubles with phone again



Talk to you tomorrow.  I'm glad it isn't too serious - it could always have been worse.


----------



## sm4him

Thanksgiving, you say? Here's a picture of one of our "typical" Thanksgiving celebrations, usually held at my cousin's farm:




 

Just shy of 50 people, I think, but not everyone was still there when we took the picture. I think we had a total of 56 that year.
More than half are family by blood, the rest of family by choice.  This particular year, we had Americans, Mexicans, Brazilians, Ethiopians, Palestinians and maybe a couple of nationalities I've forgotten about.

Each family brings a dish to share; many of the internationals bring dishes traditional to their homeland. My cousins usually provide the meat, drinks, etc.

We do also usually do a Thanksgiving Redux on the following Saturday that is a MUCH smaller affair--but that was something my sister-in-law was always in charge of and while we have DONE it in the two years since she passed away, we've struggled with it and I'm not sure whether we'll do it again this year or not.


----------



## Gary A.

mmaria said:


> just stopped by to say that the lady with the car ruined my zumba! I couldn't zumba tonight!! my leg,hip and arm hurt.
> ok bye tommorow I'll type,can't type now,having troubles with phone again


Marija, take care of yourself. All of us CRAZIES are worried about you.


----------



## sm4him

Why am I on TPF??? I have hundreds of photos to process and get into a Powerpoint slide show tonight!!

Well, really, I'm only on while the photos transfer from my card to my external drive.


----------



## snowbear

Nice crowd!  Y'all could have a decent game of touch football.  And you are the one with the window growing out of your head?


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> But I like the idea of a Coffee House Thanksgiving Support Group
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, we could be like the "Breaking Crockery Thanksgiving Emergency Save My Damn Meal Hotline".
> 
> (ring-ring) BCTESMDMH, how can I hep you?
> 
> (caller) "I've made a terrible mistake."
> 
> (hotline) "Speak to me."
> 
> c. "I've placed the forks on the left at ALL the place settings!"
> 
> h. "There's only one thing to do; move the place cards so that all of the guests are sitting between two place settings.  That way, they will think the problem was theirs, not yours."
> 
> c. "Oh, how can I ever than you for such wonderful advice?"
> 
> h. "Never mind that now.  You've got dinner guests."
> 
> (click)
Click to expand...

I believe forks are to be placed on the left side ... in order of use.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> But I like the idea of a Coffee House Thanksgiving Support Group
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, we could be like the "Breaking Crockery Thanksgiving Emergency Save My Damn Meal Hotline".
> 
> (ring-ring) BCTESMDMH, how can I hep you?
> 
> (caller) "I've made a terrible mistake."
> 
> (hotline) "Speak to me."
> 
> c. "I've placed the forks on the left at ALL the place settings!"
> 
> h. "There's only one thing to do; move the place cards so that all of the guests are sitting between two place settings.  That way, they will think the problem was theirs, not yours."
> 
> c. "Oh, how can I ever than you for such wonderful advice?"
> 
> h. "Never mind that now.  You've got dinner guests."
> 
> (click)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I believe forks are to be placed on the left side ... in order of use.
Click to expand...


That depends; if you're really hungry, the forks might be considered optional.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Nice crowd!  Y'all could have a decent game of touch football.  And you are the one with the window growing out of your head?



That's me! And my two boys are both in the very back: my youngest is just to the left of the guy with the sunglasses next to me (who is a nephew…kinda…cousin's son really), and my oldest is the guy with the brownish/reddish beard over to the left, just behind the bearded guy in the blue shirt.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> I believe forks are to be placed on the left side ... in order of use.



OOps, I guess I blew it on that one.  heh-heh.


----------



## Gary A.

I'm at Kaiser Permanente Hospital right now. Mary Lou is have a procedure performed and I'm the designated driver. They don't want her to operate heavy machinery.


----------



## snowbear

OK.  I had your youngest picked out correctly.  Now, is your sister at far left or in front, right?

I'm waiting for a script to finish logging database fields so I;ve got some time on my hands - can you tell?


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> OK.  I had your youngest picked out correctly.  Now, is your sister at far left or in front, right?
> 
> I'm waiting for a script to finish logging database fields so I;ve got some time on my hands - can you tell?



My sister is front right; that's my niece back there in the left corner. 

And now, the photos are transferred and it's time for me to get to work!


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> I'm at Kaiser Permanente Hospital right now. Mary Lou is have a procedure performed and I'm the designated driver. They don't want her to operate heavy machinery.



"The Surgeon General has determined that attempting to get pregnant while operating heavy machinery can be hazardous to your health."


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> OK.  I had your youngest picked out correctly.  Now, is your sister at far left or in front, right?
> 
> I'm waiting for a script to finish logging database fields so I;ve got some time on my hands - can you tell?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My sister is front right; that's my niece back there in the left corner.
> 
> And now, the photos are transferred and it's time for me to get to work!
Click to expand...


Bye.  I'm up to "water" -  need to get to "zoning"


----------



## Designer

What I've been up to:  I gathered leaves today.


----------



## bribrius

that looks like a RATHER LARGE pile of leaves or is it the camera angle?


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm at Kaiser Permanente Hospital right now. Mary Lou is have a procedure performed and I'm the designated driver. They don't want her to operate heavy machinery.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "The Surgeon General has determined that attempting to get pregnant while operating heavy machinery can be hazardous to your health."
Click to expand...

Our tax dollars hard at work.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> What I've been up to:  I gathered leaves today.
> 
> View attachment 88792


You gather them from your neighbors also?


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> What I've been up to:  I gathered leaves today.
> 
> View attachment 88792
> 
> 
> 
> You gather them from your neighbors also?
Click to expand...

kind of what I was wondering. I just ran mine over with the lawn mower looks like lots of orange confetti.


----------



## runnah

My leaves are all covered with snow.

It is natures way of telling me to kick back and have a beer rather than raking.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> What I've been up to:  I gathered leaves today.
> 
> View attachment 88792



Oh my god, that pile! Hours of entertainment


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Leo, you should get one of those exercise monitoring baclettes. They are super motivational devices.



What is this black magic of which you speak?



sm4him said:


> Thanksgiving, you say? Here's a picture of one of our "typical" Thanksgiving celebrations, usually held at my cousin's farm:
> 
> View attachment 88791



That picture gives me anxiety! So many people...I'd be the one in the corner not talking to anyone and playing with whatever pet was on hand. If there were no pets, I'm screwed. I'd probably hide somewhere.



Gary A. said:


> I'm at Kaiser Permanente Hospital right now. Mary Lou is have a procedure performed and I'm the designated driver. They don't want her to operate heavy machinery.



Hope it's nothing serious!

Edit: It's so nice to put that all in one post instead of splitting postwhoring my responses!


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Oh my god, that pile! Hours of entertainment



Oh, yeah!  shoving them into the shredder is loads of fun!


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> that looks like a RATHER LARGE pile of leaves or is it the camera angle?


It's a large pile.


----------



## bribrius

....still wondering what he is going to do with that big pile of leave now...


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> What I've been up to:  I gathered leaves today.
> 
> View attachment 88792
> 
> 
> 
> You gather them from your neighbors also?
Click to expand...

These were mainly for the front yard.  I never do the back yard because it is just too much work.


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> ....still wondering what he is going to do with that big pile of leave now...


Tomorrow I will put them through the shredder and then haul them back to the front yard for mulch.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> ....still wondering what he is going to do with that big pile of leave now...
> 
> 
> 
> Tomorrow I will put them through the shredder and then haul them back to the front yard for mulch.
Click to expand...

we have one of those ones you carry around that sucks up the leaves, shreds them and blows them into a trashcan (or whatever). Like I said, I haven't used it or even the leaf blower this year I just ran it over with our little john deere. i was anti foliage. lol.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> ....still wondering what he is going to do with that big pile of leave now...



JUMP!!!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> ....still wondering what he is going to do with that big pile of leave now...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JUMP!!!
Click to expand...

you wouldn't want to jump in any leaf piles here because it would be raked up dog crap with them...


----------



## bribrius

I actually plow some of our backyard with a truck. Keeps the kids from playing in the yellow and brown snow.  wife keeps saying "you should leave more snow for the kids to play in out back".  umm. Don't think so unless you want to get rid of the dog...
They get about a day with fresh snow after every snow. Then I push it all back and start piling it. so they end up with snow mounds to climb (course still filled with dog crap I suppose)

No one ever volunteers to pick up the dog poop in the winter and the dog has no manners.


----------



## snowbear

A new deli just opened.  We don't have many delis down here, so I got a Reuben; very good.  I will definitely go back.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> ....still wondering what he is going to do with that big pile of leave now...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JUMP!!!
Click to expand...

LOL!  I think I've outgrown that. and the grandchildren are not here, so I'll just run them through the shredder.  (how boring)  

Besides, there are sticks in there besides the leaves.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> I actually plow some of our backyard with a truck. Keeps the kids from playing in the yellow and brown snow.  wife keeps saying "you should leave more snow for the kids to play in out back".  umm. Don't think so unless you want to get rid of the dog...
> They get about a day with fresh snow after every snow. Then I push it all back and start piling it. so they end up with snow mounds to climb (course still filled with dog crap I suppose)
> 
> No one ever volunteers to pick up the dog poop in the winter and the dog has no manners.



I'm sorry, this may sound rude, but...what kind of kid doesn't know to avoid the yellow snow???


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> I actually plow some of our backyard with a truck. Keeps the kids from playing in the yellow and brown snow.  wife keeps saying "you should leave more snow for the kids to play in out back".  umm. Don't think so unless you want to get rid of the dog...
> They get about a day with fresh snow after every snow. Then I push it all back and start piling it. so they end up with snow mounds to climb (course still filled with dog crap I suppose)
> 
> No one ever volunteers to pick up the dog poop in the winter and the dog has no manners.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sorry, this may sound rude, but...what kind of kid doesn't know to avoid the yellow snow???
Click to expand...

lol. Not rude at all. They are little and running around playing whatever I am afraid they wont notice. Also if it gets covered over with a dusting or more accumulation you don't even see it (doesn't mean you wont sink in it). would rather it just be "gone"


----------



## snowbear

Carrot cake a la mode . . . working on a good sugar buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> I actually plow some of our backyard with a truck. Keeps the kids from playing in the yellow and brown snow.  wife keeps saying "you should leave more snow for the kids to play in out back".  umm. Don't think so unless you want to get rid of the dog...
> They get about a day with fresh snow after every snow. Then I push it all back and start piling it. so they end up with snow mounds to climb (course still filled with dog crap I suppose)
> 
> No one ever volunteers to pick up the dog poop in the winter and the dog has no manners.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sorry, this may sound rude, but...what kind of kid doesn't know to avoid the yellow snow???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> lol. Not rude at all. They are little and running around playing whatever I am afraid they wont notice. Also if it gets covered over with a dusting or more accumulation you don't even see it (doesn't mean you wont sink in it). would rather it just be "gone"
Click to expand...


Fair enough. I guess I grew up with more of a 'survival of the fittest' sort of approach  I say take the kids outside and take the dog with you. Let the kids watch the dog pee or poop into the snow and then tell the kids, "See this? See how the snow looks now? Do you want dog pee or poop all over you? Then pay attention when you're out here."  And if one day, they land in some poop and get all freaked out...well, I bet they'll be more careful after that!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> I actually plow some of our backyard with a truck. Keeps the kids from playing in the yellow and brown snow.  wife keeps saying "you should leave more snow for the kids to play in out back".  umm. Don't think so unless you want to get rid of the dog...
> They get about a day with fresh snow after every snow. Then I push it all back and start piling it. so they end up with snow mounds to climb (course still filled with dog crap I suppose)
> 
> No one ever volunteers to pick up the dog poop in the winter and the dog has no manners.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sorry, this may sound rude, but...what kind of kid doesn't know to avoid the yellow snow???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> lol. Not rude at all. They are little and running around playing whatever I am afraid they wont notice. Also if it gets covered over with a dusting or more accumulation you don't even see it (doesn't mean you wont sink in it). would rather it just be "gone"
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Fair enough. I guess I grew up with more of a 'survival of the fittest' sort of approach  I say take the kids outside and take the dog with you. Let the kids watch the dog pee or poop into the snow and then tell the kids, "See this? See how the snow looks now? Do you want dog pee or poop all over you? Then pay attention when you're out here."  And if one day, they land in some poop and get all freaked out...well, I bet they'll be more careful after that!
Click to expand...

so basically you agree with my wife. Leave more snow for the kids to play in even if it has dog chit and pee in it. lol


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> I actually plow some of our backyard with a truck. Keeps the kids from playing in the yellow and brown snow.  wife keeps saying "you should leave more snow for the kids to play in out back".  umm. Don't think so unless you want to get rid of the dog...
> They get about a day with fresh snow after every snow. Then I push it all back and start piling it. so they end up with snow mounds to climb (course still filled with dog crap I suppose)
> 
> No one ever volunteers to pick up the dog poop in the winter and the dog has no manners.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sorry, this may sound rude, but...what kind of kid doesn't know to avoid the yellow snow???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> lol. Not rude at all. They are little and running around playing whatever I am afraid they wont notice. Also if it gets covered over with a dusting or more accumulation you don't even see it (doesn't mean you wont sink in it). would rather it just be "gone"
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Fair enough. I guess I grew up with more of a 'survival of the fittest' sort of approach  I say take the kids outside and take the dog with you. Let the kids watch the dog pee or poop into the snow and then tell the kids, "See this? See how the snow looks now? Do you want dog pee or poop all over you? Then pay attention when you're out here."  And if one day, they land in some poop and get all freaked out...well, I bet they'll be more careful after that!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> so basically you agree with my wife. Leave more snow for the kids to play in even if it has dog chit and pee in it. lol
Click to expand...


I bet they will only hit it once or twice, then they'll look.


----------



## mmaria

just to say


----------



## mmaria

waiting for coffee and reading what you guys wrote yesterday...


----------



## mmaria

Gary A. said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> oh God!
> I was almost hit by a car
> 
> still shaking but everything is ok
> can't explain right now
> 
> 
> 
> Damn Marija. I am glad that it is "almost".
Click to expand...

awwwwwwwwww Grumpy, that was the nicest "Damn Marija" ever!!!

Here's one for you


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Marija, I hope you're okay!





limr said:


> Oh no!! I'm glad you're okay!





snowbear said:


> I'm glad you are OK.


awwwwww


----------



## mmaria

BillM said:


> We can send Raj to hold Maria until she feels better





limr said:


> BillM said:
> 
> 
> 
> We can send Raj to hold Maria until she feels better
> 
> 
> 
> 
> She would really like that! Let's send EIngerson, too! And Mich.
Click to expand...




snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> BillM said:
> 
> 
> 
> We can send Raj to hold Maria until she feels better
> 
> 
> 
> 
> She would really like that! Let's send EIngerson, too! And Mich.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Can I go?
Click to expand...




limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can I go?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The more the merrier!
Click to expand...

yup!!!

and I need someone who's good at massage!!!

it's better that yesterday but it still hurts... I really need that massage!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Now say it, "But you look way younger than 43!"


b - u - t   full !!!

and you look way younger than 43!


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Thanksgiving, you say? Here's a picture of one of our "typical" Thanksgiving celebrations, usually held at my cousin's farm.


This picture really needs me to be on it!


----------



## mmaria

Gary A. said:


> I'm at Kaiser Permanente Hospital right now. Mary Lou is have a procedure performed and I'm the designated driver. They don't want her to operate heavy machinery.


everything ok?


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Talk to you tomorrow.  I'm glad it isn't too serious - it could always have been worse.





Gary A. said:


> Marija, take care of yourself. All of us CRAZIES are worried about you.



lots of so much love 

Thank you Crazies! 

You all were nice to me! When you woke up I'll try to explain what happened (I realized it's not easy for me to explain it in English)

Hope I replied on everything, sorry if I missed something


----------



## sm4him

Good MORNING, Marija!  I think I get to actually say that for once; it's only 5:30 a.m. here so I think it's not yet noon where you are.

And good morning to one of the other more local CHCs (Coffee House Crazies) unfortunate enough to be up at this hour.


----------



## sm4him

Having a quick cup of coffee this morning, then gotta head to work. Today is the REAL marathon day. Need to get to work by about 6:30 a.m. and won't get home until close to midnight!

I did get all the photos from Tuesday and yesterday processed and into a Powerpoint slideshow. I still need to re-arrange the slides some, as they want the pictures to be "random" rather than in the order I took them, and there's no way to "randomize" the slides in a PP, evidently. Well, no simple way already provided by the software, I should say.

I'll be shooting bus competition until about noon, then a quick lunch and then I have to get all the photos from this morning culled, processed and inserted into the slide show, do some timing work on the slides, before leaving for the awards banquet about 5:30.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Good MORNING, Marija!  I think I get to actually say that for once; it's only 5:30 a.m. here so I think it's not yet noon where you are.
> 
> And good morning to one of the other more local CHCs (Coffee House Crazies) unfortunate enough to be up at this hour.


it's a quarter to noon  coffee is on its way 

Good morning ma!


----------



## sm4him

Morning, daughter of mine!
I'm so glad that bad-driver lady didn't hit you yesterday!!  You should wait to explain until some others are up (since I won't be on much longer anyway), and I'll check in sometime during the day to read it.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Morning, daughter of mine!
> I'm so glad that bad-driver lady didn't hit you yesterday!!  You should wait to explain until some others are up (since I won't be on much longer anyway), and I'll check in sometime during the day to read it.


I just can't explain it in decent English, don't know lots of expressions so you'll have to figure out the most of what I have to say


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, GF Sharon.  Good morning, sweet niece Marija.
We don't care about you English proficiency, we only care about you, and knowing that you are OK.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> Having a quick cup of coffee this morning, then gotta head to work. Today is the REAL marathon day. Need to get to work by about 6:30 a.m. and won't get home until close to midnight!
> 
> I did get all the photos from Tuesday and yesterday processed and into a Powerpoint slideshow. I still need to re-arrange the slides some, as they want the pictures to be "random" rather than in the order I took them, and there's no way to "randomize" the slides in a PP, evidently. Well, no simple way already provided by the software, I should say.
> 
> I'll be shooting bus competition until about noon, then a quick lunch and then I have to get all the photos from this morning culled, processed and inserted into the slide show, do some timing work on the slides, before leaving for the awards banquet about 5:30.




Sharon - don't forget to take a shot of B5 (or even a shot _*at*_ B5_*)*_ so we can have the photo-chopping session; not kidding, really.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> We don't care about you English proficiency, we only care about you, and knowing that you are OK.


oh... can I talk German then? 

Haven't use it in ages, can't remember a thing!

Guten Morgen Charlie!


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We don't care about you English proficiency, we only care about you, and knowing that you are OK.
> 
> 
> 
> oh... can I talk German then?
> 
> Haven't use it in ages, can't remember a thing!
> 
> Guten Morgen Charlie!
Click to expand...

I can count to five in German.  Heck, I can count to five in five languages.  That will get me far.

You are in Norway, correct?
We could always try one of the various translators to get the general idea, if you want to post in Norwegian.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> I can count to five in German.  Heck, I can count to five in five languages.  That will get me far.
> 
> You are in Norway, correct?
> We could always try one of the various translators to get the general idea, if you want to post in Norwegian.


I don't know a single word in Norwegian 

but my Google friend just helped me: God morgen!


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can count to five in German.  Heck, I can count to five in five languages.  That will get me far.
> 
> You are in Norway, correct?
> We could always try one of the various translators to get the general idea, if you want to post in Norwegian.
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know a single word in Norwegian
> 
> but my Google friend just helped me: God morgen!
Click to expand...


What is your native language?


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> What is your native language?


I'll tell you one day


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> What is your native language?
> 
> 
> 
> I'll tell you one day
Click to expand...

OK.


----------



## sm4him

I have to stick with Spanish-speaking countries, because that's the only language besides English that I can speak well enough to ask where the bathroom is.


----------



## mmaria

I'd like to learn at least one more language... like French


----------



## runnah

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> What is your native language?
> 
> 
> 
> I'll tell you one day
Click to expand...


Love isn't a language!


----------



## snowbear

Lenny could help you learn Portuguese.


----------



## mmaria

runnah said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> What is your native language?
> 
> 
> 
> I'll tell you one day
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Love isn't a language!
Click to expand...

isn't it?


----------



## runnah

mmaria said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> What is your native language?
> 
> 
> 
> I'll tell you one day
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Love isn't a language!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> isn't it?
Click to expand...



Well it is the international language.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Lenny could help you learn Portuguese.


would like to


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> What is your native language?
> 
> 
> 
> I'll tell you one day
Click to expand...


There are 198 countries in the world.  I've got yours narrowed down to one of about 30 or 40.  I'm practically there! 
Makes it kinda hard for a Mother to visit though… 
There have been times I kinda wished my mother didn't know what country I was in.


----------



## mmaria

runnah said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> Love isn't a language!
> 
> 
> 
> isn't it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well it is the international language.
Click to expand...

Finally I get to agree with you about something


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> There have been times I kinda wished my mother didn't know what country I was in.



Totally agree with you


----------



## runnah

You will find that I am very agreeable


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Having a quick cup of coffee this morning, then gotta head to work. Today is the REAL marathon day. Need to get to work by about 6:30 a.m. and won't get home until close to midnight!
> 
> I did get all the photos from Tuesday and yesterday processed and into a Powerpoint slideshow. I still need to re-arrange the slides some, as they want the pictures to be "random" rather than in the order I took them, and there's no way to "randomize" the slides in a PP, evidently. Well, no simple way already provided by the software, I should say.
> 
> I'll be shooting bus competition until about noon, then a quick lunch and then I have to get all the photos from this morning culled, processed and inserted into the slide show, do some timing work on the slides, before leaving for the awards banquet about 5:30.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sharon - don't forget to take a shot of B5 (or even a shot _*at*_ B5_*)*_ so we can have the photo-chopping session; not kidding, really.
Click to expand...


Right! Definitely need to do that!

Well, I'm off to the races…or the Roadeo anyway! Check back with you peeps later!


----------



## mmaria

runnah said:


> You will find that I am very agreeable


I'd like to agree with this but...


----------



## snowbear

Time to play the 301 boogie.  It should be very entertaining as it is raining.

I will catch most of you later.


----------



## mmaria

did I say that I don't like Paypal anymore!?

well I don't like it anymore!


----------



## Designer

mmaria said:


> I just can't explain it in decent English, don't know lots of expressions so you'll have to figure out the most of what I have to say



Everybody understands hand gestures.


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> There have been times I kinda wished my mother didn't know what country I was in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Totally agree with you
Click to expand...


I got along with my mother much better when I was living 6,000 miles away. It's really best for us to be in different countries.

Good morning! Anyone here?


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> There have been times I kinda wished my mother didn't know what country I was in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Totally agree with you
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I got along with my mother much better when I was living 6,000 miles away. It's really best for us to be in different countries.
> 
> Good morning! Anyone here?
Click to expand...

I'm here

Is that ok with you


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> I'm here
> 
> Is that ok with you



Of course!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm here
> 
> Is that ok with you
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Of course!
Click to expand...

so... I'll explain what happened yesterday


----------



## bribrius

man, cloudy again. i cant catch a sunny day to save my life here...
i was still waiting for a nice sunny day to shoot in side those old mills since they have no interior lights. any thoughts?


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> man, cloudy again. i cant catch a sunny day to save my life here...
> i was still waiting for a nice sunny day to shoot in side those old mills since they have no interior lights. any thoughts?



Sorry, I've got nothing useful for you other than maybe bring a tripod and do long exposures. Me, I'd do that with Tri-X and then push the development, but it's not the most helpful advice for you


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> man, cloudy again. i cant catch a sunny day to save my life here...
> i was still waiting for a nice sunny day to shoot in side those old mills since they have no interior lights. any thoughts?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, I've got nothing useful for you other than maybe bring a tripod and do long exposures. Me, I'd do that with Tri-X and then push the development, but it's not the most helpful advice for you
Click to expand...

 just afraid i wont have the conditions right and wont take the best advantage of it.
i am really lucky i am even getting in i think the caretaker recognized my name from my photographs locally here so offered his phone number to give me access when i call him.  so i wont be trespassing YIPPEE.  I just don't know how giving he will be if i frig it up and tell him i need access over , and over.....
He also caretakes the buildings for a corporation that owns them now so i am not sure how much leeway he even has to keep giving access.
Basically, i think i will get a day or two but probably no second chances.


----------



## mmaria

ok...

I was walking home yesterday, looked left and right before I stepped on pedestrian crossing to get to the other side of the road. No one was there so I naturally walked.
I made two or three steps when the car pushed me and continued to push me from my left side. I placed my hand on the car like I was a Superman and though I'll stop the car with my hand !? I even think I yelled at her while trying not to fell in front of the car.

Luckily she wasn't driving fast but she was't stopping either! She kept pushing me for a few meters. That's way my arm hip and leg hurt. I really don't know how I managed not to fall in front of the car considering that the car was completely pressed to my body and my leg and hips were in unnatural position while I was trying to  "run" from it.

She stopped and I just continued to the pedestrian on other side of the road.

After the crossroad dozens of meters away, she stopped her car and called me to approach her. So I did. She was deeply disturbed, she was saying: "I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking  in front of me, I was looking behind... blah blah" So I ended up consoling her 

I got to my house, got in the shower. Was pretty upset for a half of the day. Went to zumba, couldn't do it because it hurt.


----------



## bribrius

mmaria said:


> ok...
> 
> I was walking home yesterday, looked left and right before I stepped on pedestrian crossing to get to the other side of the road. No one was there so I naturally walked.
> I made two or three steps when the car pushed me and continued to push me from my left side. I placed my hand on the car like I was a Superman and though I'll stop the car with my hand !? I even think I yelled at her while trying not to fell in front of the car.
> 
> Luckily she wasn't driving fast but she was't stopping either! She kept pushing me for a couple of meters. That's way my arm hip and leg hurt. I really don't know how I managed not to fall in front of the car considering that the car was completely pressed to my body and my leg and hips were in unnatural position while I was trying to  "run" from it.
> 
> She stopped and I just continued to the pedestrian on other side of the road.
> 
> After the crossroad dozens of meters away, she stopped her car and called me to approach her. So I did. She was deeply disturbed, she was saying: "I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking  in front of me, I was looking behind... blah blah" So I ended up confronting her
> 
> I got to my house, got in the shower. Was pretty upset for a half of the day. Went to zumba, couldn't do it because it hurt.


in the united states that would be a 100k settlement and they would give her fines for endangerment.


----------



## Rick50

bribrius said:


> man, cloudy again. i cant catch a sunny day to save my life here...
> i was still waiting for a nice sunny day to shoot in side those old mills since they have no interior lights. any thoughts?


You should move those Mills here. I look forward to a cloudy day so I can  get the great shadows.


----------



## limr

Wow, that definitely sounds scary, thinking about the 'what-ifs"! At least she acknowledged what she did and apologized, but still. 

Again glad you're okay! 

(And no, that wouldn't be much of a lawsuit here. Maybe some would try, but it wouldn't go far.)


----------



## mmaria

bribrius said:


> in the united states that would be a 100k settlement and they would give her fines for endangerment.


in my country that would be: Consider yourself lucky because your day hasn't come yet


----------



## limr

Gotta run for a couple of hours. Placement exams have started up again for new students who want to register for Spring, so I'm off to read their essays! If I find any doozies, I'll let y'all know


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> (And no, that wouldn't be much of a lawsuit here. Maybe some would try, but it wouldn't go far.)


oh, if I lived in USA I would fell in front of the car on purpose in this situation


----------



## bribrius

Rick50 said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> man, cloudy again. i cant catch a sunny day to save my life here...
> i was still waiting for a nice sunny day to shoot in side those old mills since they have no interior lights. any thoughts?
> 
> 
> 
> You should move those Mills here. I look forward to a cloudy day so I can  get the great shadows.
Click to expand...

I am trying to put some thought into it, maybe i need to come up with a plan of attack. He told me a lot of the old machinery is still in one of them. This might sound stupid, but i have taken photos of these and walked around them for years and out of the empty ones only know of one time that was granted access for a crew shooting a movie and i don't even think they got full access. There is some old photos of the insides from they hay day but not much i have seen. i would kind of like to make a true to life current depiction with all the still and long time sitting machinery. Lot of people wont be into this kind of thing so it may sound dumb to them but for me it is like a Christmas present. i actually considered buying a full frame just because of this. i haven't as it would be going on a credit card but i wont lie i could almost justify it.


----------



## Rick50

Might you be able to bring in some flash?


----------



## bribrius

Rick50 said:


> Might you be able to bring in some flash?


could (not that i am any good at flash photography).  I might frig it up and make it look fake. Have these great bright spots with the obvious flash and then the other half of the frame dark. lol


----------



## Rick50

Well, natural light is better. And flash does need to be done well in a scene like this. I now use flash during the day as fill and it works good but your scene is big and that would require big flash I think.


----------



## KenC

If you want the natural look, which can be really nice in places like that, take a good tripod and just do very long exposures.  I recently did this in my mother-in-law's basement, where it is really dark without the overhead lights, which I didn't want to use.  I did a lot of 30 second exposures, some of which even required going to ISO 800 to get good depth of field.  I posted one of the shots this morning.


----------



## Rick50

Good idea, just watch out for bright spots that might over expose.


----------



## bribrius

Rick50 said:


> Good idea, just watch out for bright spots that might over expose.


like the window light. And the time long exposure is great but i can see those minutes ticking by. I should probably just relax a couple notches on this. i feel like a wedding photographer doing their first wedding.


----------



## bribrius




----------



## Rick50

There should be lots in that building.


----------



## bribrius

Rick50 said:


> There should be lots in that building.


that  is the highest they go at six stories.. i think that is building #4. The front sections is what i was told still has all the machinery. Probably biting of way more than i can chew here.


----------



## Rick50

One step at a time. You don't have to shoot it all. There will be another sunny day even though it might not seem that way.


----------



## Designer

mmaria said:


> So I ended up confronting her .



Here I think you might mean; "consoling" her.


----------



## bribrius

Rick50 said:


> One step at a time. You don't have to shoot it all. There will be another sunny day even though it might not seem that way.


yeah, honestly i don't even understand my own such fascination with it. Kind of like how some people like to walk through graveyards and look at old stones. Like going back in time. Certain mood to it. This is sort of that thing for me. surely not everyones cup of tea. And comparing my photos to some of the ones we have around from the historical society and such when it was all operational and booming. Like the first pic i posted in my other post of the building there, originally it had a railroad going through there i have bw circa 1900 of two kids riding there bikes down that stretch next to the train tracks. compare it to my current photo i look at all the differences. Took photos of where the track used to run too there is still remnants of it.


----------



## bribrius




----------



## Rick50

I get interested in old stuff too. Makes me think about how things were back then and what life was like. How did people spend their time?


----------



## mmaria

Designer said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> So I ended up confronting her .
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here I think you might mean; "consoling" her.
Click to expand...

lol you're right! 
thank you


----------



## Designer

Yesterday I posted a picture of a pile of leaves.

(reposted here)



 

Today I ran them through the shredder.

Part way done, stopped for lunch.




All done!


----------



## astroNikon

shredding leaves ?


----------



## Designer

Yes.


----------



## Gary A.

I stuff my leaves in the composters or use them like bark to line the pathways in the rose garden. ... I wish I had a shredder.


----------



## limr

Not nearly as fun to jump into.


----------



## snowbear

The county in which live allows leaved to burned.  It is still a predominately rural county, though I am in a suburban area.


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> ok...
> 
> I was walking home yesterday, looked left and right before I stepped on pedestrian crossing to get to the other side of the road. No one was there so I naturally walked.
> I made two or three steps when the car pushed me and continued to push me from my left side. I placed my hand on the car like I was a Superman and though I'll stop the car with my hand !? I even think I yelled at her while trying not to fell in front of the car.
> 
> Luckily she wasn't driving fast but she was't stopping either! She kept pushing me for a few meters. That's way my arm hip and leg hurt. I really don't know how I managed not to fall in front of the car considering that the car was completely pressed to my body and my leg and hips were in unnatural position while I was trying to  "run" from it.
> 
> She stopped and I just continued to the pedestrian on other side of the road.
> 
> After the crossroad dozens of meters away, she stopped her car and called me to approach her. So I did. She was deeply disturbed, she was saying: "I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking  in front of me, I was looking behind... blah blah" So I ended up consoling her
> 
> I got to my house, got in the shower. Was pretty upset for a half of the day. Went to zumba, couldn't do it because it hurt.




Wow! Really glad you were not SERIOUSLY hurt.  You are a better person than I, because I would have given her an earful AND gotten her insurance information and tag number too. Because often, when something like that happens, we are in shock, and the shock "numbs" our body so we don't feel the pain as much, but then the next day or several days later, we discover that we are more injured than we initially thought.

I'd say next time be sure to get that information and then go to a Dr.--but really, I think I'll just say, Don't DO that again!! ;-)
(not that you could help it that time…)


----------



## sm4him

Well, I finished my slide show for the awards banquet ahead of schedule!! I'd given myself until 4:30 to get it done, which would have allowed me time to run through it once and make sure there were no glitches.

Instead I finished it at 3:45--had time to run through and test it, then take all my extra stuff I've collected at work over the last two days out to the car, bring in my outfit for tonight and get changed, and now I have about 30 minutes before I have to head to the conference site with the slide show file and camera gear to get ready for tonight.

Just a few more hours and this will ALL be over for FOUR more years!! The state transit conference rotates between the four largest transit systems--ours, Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga.  So we won't have to host again until 2018.


----------



## Gary A.

Marija, I am glad you are still around and kicking. Here in the US, I would have taken the driver's personal and insurance informations in case there were some medical complications (it is better to have the responsible party pay for the medical bills than your insurance) . But if you're in Europe, then you guys have socialized medicine and responsible party probably doesn't matter ... because it is all the same. 

If you need a doctor, my best friend is a physician and a photographer ... he can sew you up and critique your images.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Not nearly as fun to jump into.


True, shredded leaves will float up into your nose and sprinkle your mash potatoes after a jump. No fun at-tall.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> If you need a doctor, my best friend is a physician and a photographer ... he can sew you up and critique your images.



Yes, but can he bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan? He must wear Enjoli.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Not nearly as fun to jump into.



I've let the grandkids do that when they were here, but the OCD in me just looks at the mess.


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> The county in which live allows leaved to burned.  It is still a predominately rural county, though I am in a suburban area.


Supposedly our city no longer allows leaf burning, but I came out of the house a couple of days ago and smelled burning leaves.  Ahhh, that was wonderful! 

When we lived in the country we burned anything and everything.  Also had a wood stove.


----------



## limr

I don't know about burning leaves here but just about everyone has a wood burning stove. I love having a nice fire going in the winter.


----------



## bribrius

no burning leave allowed here. can burn wood, have outdoor fires, shoot you can burn trash.

But for some reason with leaves they say no, not sure if it is the amount of smoke when they are wet or it is that they are afraid people that burn leaves don't normally have out door fires and will burn the place down.


----------



## bribrius

mmaria said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> So I ended up confronting her .
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here I think you might mean; "consoling" her.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> lol you're right!
> thank you
Click to expand...

 Your door photo was pretty good. I played with it some cropped the left side, but the door over toward the left on the edge of the frame, considered your sharpness (too much?) but when it was all said and done I had nothing substantial as it was all pretty much personal preference I was considering and didn't change the photo enough for better to warrant disregarding your own personal preferences or suggesting the change. I would have cropped down the left side and put the door in the corner  of the frame but that is me I tend to not like chit centered.


----------



## limr

Hey Charlie, this one is for you


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hey Charlie, this one is for you





Those are my cousins: Paulette and Gizmo.


----------



## limr

So I did 10 miles in 45 minutes on the bike today. When I was done with that, I just hung out and peddled for another 2 miles while I watched the rest of the show that was on. That means one more dollar goes into my jar


----------



## snowbear

WTG, Lenny!!

Please remind me to get air in my bike tires tomorrow.


----------



## Rick50

bribrius said:


> no burning leave allowed here. can burn wood, have outdoor fires, shoot you can burn trash.
> 
> But for some reason with leaves they say no, not sure if it is the amount of smoke when they are wet or it is that they are afraid people that burn leaves don't normally have out door fires and will burn the place down.


Leaves can blow in any wind. Not so good.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> WTG, Lenny!!
> 
> Please remind me to get air in my bike tires tomorrow.



Put air in the tires! 

I haven't been on my actual bike since last summer. Hopefully I'll get out more next summer. This past summer involved more hiking than other years, though, which is good.


----------



## mmaria

today is


----------



## mmaria




----------



## mmaria

*yeah yeah I know you're sleeping!!!!*

*I just don't care!!!!*

**


----------



## mmaria

I'm off to say something in my thread... have to change the title


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Wow! Really glad you were not SERIOUSLY hurt.  You are a better person than I, because I would have given her an earful AND gotten her insurance information and tag number too. Because often, when something like that happens, we are in shock, and the shock "numbs" our body so we don't feel the pain as much, but then the next day or several days later, we discover that we are more injured than we initially thought.
> I'd say next time be sure to get that information and then go to a Dr.--but really, I think I'll just say, Don't DO that again!! ;-)
> (not that you could help it that time…)



you sound like a real ma! 

and you're right, it started to hurt after.

I don't know... seeing how she was frightened .. and I thought that the same thing could happen to me too... well, I felt sorry for her. I kind of tend to forget about myself and concentrate to other people's feelings when something bad happens.

foolish I know...


----------



## mmaria

Gary A. said:


> Marija, I am glad you are still around and kicking.


awwww I think I like you Grumpy



> Here in the US, I would have taken the driver's personal and insurance informations in case there were some medical complications (it is better to have the responsible party pay for the medical bills than your insurance) . But if you're in Europe, then you guys have socialized medicine and responsible party probably doesn't matter ... because it is all the same.


yup

it would just complicate things too much



> If you need a doctor, my best friend is a physician and a photographer ... he can sew you up and critique your images.


Oh...he sounds like a really lovely person... I think I need him


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


>



Good afternoon, my sweet niece!



mmaria said:


> today is



It's almost always like this at work.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> WTG, Lenny!!
> 
> Please remind me to get air in my bike tires tomorrow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Put air in the tires!
> 
> I haven't been on my actual bike since last summer. Hopefully I'll get out more next summer. This past summer involved more hiking than other years, though, which is good.
Click to expand...


Thank you.


----------



## limr

Good afternoon, Marija! How are you feeling today?


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Good afternoon, Marija! How are you feeling today?


Good morning Leo!

I'm like the weather today... I would like to go home now after work and stay in bed...just lying, watching TV or something... or go somewhere to shoot... but neither of those are possible

How are you?


----------



## runnah

mmaria said:


> I'm like the weather today...



Hot, wet and ready to blow?


----------



## limr

Doing okay. Glad it's Friday. Today I have class but then I also have to go to a training session to learn the new system of ordering supplies for my admin job. Good times, eh?  But at least it's paid.

But tomorrow is pizza and football!  
And because of pizza, tomorrow is also extra time on the bike!


----------



## limr

runnah said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm like the weather today...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hot, wet and ready to blow?
Click to expand...


----------



## runnah

limr said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm like the weather today...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hot, wet and ready to blow?
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


Oh so only the ladies are allowed to be filthy?


----------



## limr

runnah said:


> Oh so only the ladies are allowed to be filthy?



Oh, I thought you were being naughty and asking to be spanked


----------



## runnah

limr said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh so only the ladies are allowed to be filthy?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I thought you were being naughty and asking to be spanked
Click to expand...


I am more of the spanker...


----------



## limr

Hey, change it up once in a while


----------



## mmaria

runnah said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh so only the ladies are allowed to be filthy?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I thought you were being naughty and asking to be spanked
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I am more of the spanker...
Click to expand...

he's lying
I have the proof... warning, not a pretty picture!


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> The county in which live allows leaved to burned.  It is still a predominately rural county, though I am in a suburban area.
> 
> 
> 
> Supposedly our city no longer allows leaf burning, but I came out of the house a couple of days ago and smelled burning leaves.  Ahhh, that was wonderful!
> 
> When we lived in the country we burned anything and everything.  Also had a wood stove.
Click to expand...


Here, you can burn leaves in the county (unless there's a burn ban in place) but in the city, you have to have a permit to burn anything.
But the cost of the permit is almost exactly the cost of the fine for doing it without one; I think it cost about $10 more if you get fine. So it's one of those times when it's definitely better to ask forgiveness instead of permission.

I have a fireplace, AND a fire pit too now, so I get to enjoy the smell of burning wood all winter long.


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> you sound like a real ma!
> and you're right, it started to hurt after.
> 
> I don't know... seeing how she was frightened .. and I thought that the same thing could happen to me too... well, I felt sorry for her. I kind of tend to forget about myself and concentrate to other people's feelings when something bad happens.
> 
> foolish I know...



Well, not foolish--sweet really. It's just that sometimes you DO have to make sure your compassion doesn't make you vulnerable to getting "taken."

And I *am* a real ma, so that's why I sound that way!  I've got lots of experience.

My two sons, the oldest one especially, are the exact same way you are describing. And seriously, it makes me feel so proud of them that they have such compassion and empathy for others--but I've already seen it get my oldest in a bad spot several times, most recently with a former roommate (former only after much, much too long) and his last employer.

His last employer was sooooo bad, and then did something really underhanded that should have been the last straw. But he ended up "feeling sorry" for his direct boss because she'd already lost all but two of her employees in the last two weeks and he "didn't want to leave her in a  bind." I was so very proud of him for that kind of compassion, but he had a really good line on another job and I was afraid he was going to lose that opportunity if he didn't jump on it right then.  In the end, he did realize that he had to take the other job before they hired someone else.


----------



## sm4him

Good morning and afternoon, my lovelies!

I survived the work marathon!!!! 43 hours in three days!
The slide show was a hit; I had many comments on it, and one person even wanted to know if they could buy a copy of it.

Actually slept late this morning--well, kinda. I woke up at about my regular time, at 5:15 a.m.  I got up and took care of a couple of things and then went back to bed and actually managed to sleep until about 8:40 a.m., the latest I've slept in many, many months!

And now, I gotta start getting packed for my retreat. I was supposed to go with a couple of friends this morning to get the groceries we need for the weekend, but they sweetly let me sleep in and are doing the shopping for me! So I just gotta get packed so I can meet them in a bit.


----------



## limr

Good morning, Sharon!   Congrats on surviving the work marathon! And was there ever any doubt that the slide show would be awesome??

See you later, Sharon! I have to go to work


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Housers. Sharon, I echo Leo, congrats on your slide show and finishing the marathon. Enjoy your retreat.


----------



## snowbear

OK.  I have to say all of this in one post because I'm working on three different projects at once.

Marija: I hope you are feeling, at least a little better today.  Don't push it - you don't want to make it worse.

Lenny: I'll be with you on the bike, in spirit - I've been trying to deny and thus delay back spasms.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Sharon: It's good to hear everything went well.  Have a good weekend retreat - I'll talk to you when you get back.

The rest: Have a great day and a wonderful weekend.

Later, peeps.


----------



## limr

Time for lunch!


----------



## Gary A.

Birdman is incredible (except the ending).


----------



## limr

Wow, this place was quiet yesterday.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Wow, this place was quiet yesterday.


Morning Leo :*


----------



## limr

Good afternoon Marija!


----------



## mmaria

How are you?


----------



## limr

How's your Saturday so far?


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> How's your Saturday so far?


let's see... it's raining for a few hours, I had a chance to go out and shoot but the rain wouldn't let me. Now, I'm editing for a bit and making lunch... it"s grayling today


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> How are you?



Hey, I think we posted at the same time 

I'm going to do some work this morning, ride the bike or go out for a walk, and finish reading my book for the book club for Friday. The book won't take long. It's only something like 160 pages long, the print is large, and the writing is awful. I read for about half an hour last night and I'm already on page 50. So one more hour and I'll be finished.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Hey, I think we posted at the same time


yeah 

wanna read a book!

not that one of course, a good one


----------



## mmaria

.................... and................... my free time is over!


----------



## limr

Oh nooooo!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Lenny.  Good afternoon, Marija. if you are still here.


----------



## bribrius

hello fellow derelicts.


----------



## bribrius

37 degrees here. maybe winter is coming early...


----------



## snowbear

High of 54 here, low of 30.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> High of 54 here, low of 30.


 I hope we hit near fifty.  the colder climates are great eh? Pretty soon will be scraping the ice of the car windows. I should probably get off my but and get ready for winter with the snow equipment. I still have the boat out!


----------



## snowbear

My snow equipment consists of a large coffee mug and a laptop for working a home.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Housers. 57F right now, but it should get to the upper 80's today. Warm and dry. I'm having my coffee on the patio watching Cook patrol the upper retaining hill. She's anxious for her walk.


----------



## Gary A.

You peoples gotta see Birdman. Great movie.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> My snow equipment consists of a large coffee mug and a laptop for working a home.


 I don't get much into it anymore down to my one old truck now and a couple blowers family and friends. Used to run resi route. At one point I was so tired from plowing I tried to get my wife to learn to do it just to give me some shut eye. I have a couple vids somewhere from a few years back I will look for it. Not very exciting I think I just found it amusing trying to get her to take over some of the plowing I was running on no sleep.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> My snow equipment consists of a large coffee mug and a laptop for working a home.


My snow equipment consists of getting in my car and driving 40 minutes north.


----------



## bribrius

crappy cellphone vid and shaky (I was freezing) but here is one.


----------



## snowbear

It says the video is private; what were y'all doing in that plow?


----------



## limr

Today's high will be 44F.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> It says the video is private; what were y'all doing in that plow?


 working now? Not very entertaining anyway I was just taping to show her what she did wrong and try to speed her up from taking twenty five minutes a driveway...


----------



## snowbear

That's not too bad, Lenny.

Bribrius: Not that I know about plowing but it looked like she did a good job.  I didn't see any light poles getting knocked down (happened at work a couple of years ago).

I just skipped though a lot of it.  Yes you must have been freezing.


----------



## bribrius

well.. maybe not. says it is 63 percent done.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> That's not too bad, Lenny.
> 
> Bribrius: Not that I know about plowing but it looked like she did a good job.  I didn't see any light poles getting knocked down (happened at work a couple of years ago).
> 
> I just skipped though a lot of it.  Yes you must have been freezing.


I guess you can see it then. She ended up deciding it wasn't for her. she would plow our stuff and people we knew but was too nervous about plowing people out that wasn't family or close friends that she would hit something. she didn't like the idea of being out alone at night in a truck either in case she got stuck or was under lower visability.


----------



## snowbear

For Marija.  



Spoiler: Shhh! It's a secret!



http://cdn.morguefile.com/imageData/public/files/a/5demayo/11/l/1415463484yt99r.jpg


----------



## Rick50

Gary A. said:


> Birdman is incredible (except the ending).


I saw that too and I agree.


----------



## Gary A.

The Cook and I are back from our walk. Up to 73F. A quick shower then to the beach for breakfast.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> For Marija.
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Shhh! It's a secret!
> 
> 
> 
> http://cdn.morguefile.com/imageData/public/files/a/5demayo/11/l/1415463484yt99r.jpg


awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww


Thank you!!!!


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> For Marija.
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Shhh! It's a secret!
> 
> 
> 
> http://cdn.morguefile.com/imageData/public/files/a/5demayo/11/l/1415463484yt99r.jpg
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
> 
> 
> Thank you!!!!
Click to expand...

To make up for those nasty old roses! 
I hope it makes you feel better.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> To make up for those nasty old roses!
> I hope it makes you feel better.


awwwwww

it does for sure!

It's a really nice gesture


----------



## snowbear

Anytime, sweetie.


----------



## vintagesnaps

OK, this not a thread that you can come in at page #45 and get caught up since the thread started, or figure out who's talking to who about what... Gary's on the beach and Bri's getting plowed out and I'm not sure what Snowbear and Maria are whispering about! lol Or what Leonore did...

If nothing else it seems like everyone's enjoying their visits to the coffeehouse! Hope everyone's enjoying their Saturday.


----------



## mmaria

vintagesnaps said:


> OK, this not a thread that you can come in at page #45 and get caught up since the thread started, or figure out who's talking to who about what... Gary's on the beach and Bri's getting plowed out and I'm not sure what Snowbear and Maria are whispering about! lol Or what Leonore did...
> 
> If nothing else it seems like everyone's enjoying their visits to the coffeehouse! Hope everyone's enjoying their Saturday.


hey Sharon!

welcome!!!


----------



## snowbear

Welcome Sharon.  This is basically a low-stress hangout.  It was spawned from the Leaderboard thread (may it rest in hell).

Pull up a chair, have a drink & enjoy.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh, the leaderboard thread started this! lol No wonder I don't know what's going on...

Thanks Maria I always enjoy your presence on the board 

I'm in my chair Snowbear but not for too much longer, was doing lumen (sun) prints earlier, now since it's clouded up I'm going to get some run thru some fixer and ferrotype them while I have a weekend of not much going on. (Some of course that I did some time ago, not the ones from _today_! I'm never _that_ caught up! lol)


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Oh, the leaderboard thread started this! lol No wonder I don't know what's going on...
> 
> Thanks Maria I always enjoy your presence on the board
> 
> I'm in my chair Snowbear but not for too much longer, was doing lumen (sun) prints earlier, now since it's clouded up I'm going to get some run thru some fixer and ferrotype them while I have a weekend of not much going on. (Some of course that I did some time ago, not the ones from _today_! I'm never _that_ caught up! lol)



No worries.  There was a bit of camaraderie among some of the LB posters, but we didn't care for the competition that had formed for the top spot.  That'e when we decided to put this together.

I'm looking forward to seeing some of the prints.  We've done a few cyanotypes here.


----------



## Gary A.

It is perfect today in Seal Beach.


----------



## Designer

I'm sort of enjoying my Saturday, but I'm recuperating from surgery I had yesterday, so I can't really do much.  

The weather is nice here, started out windy, but now it's just high thin clouds letting in lots of light.  

Back to bed with me.


----------



## mmaria

vintagesnaps said:


> Thanks Maria I always enjoy your presence on the board


It's time for another awwwwwww from me

thank you for being kind!


----------



## snowbear

Relax & take it easy.  Get better.


----------



## mmaria

Designer said:


> I'm sort of enjoying my Saturday, but I'm recuperating from surgery I had yesterday, so I can't really do much.


what surgery?


----------



## mmaria

ok people


----------



## snowbear

Sweet dreams.  Catch you tomorrow.


----------



## vintagesnaps

And thpptt to Gary! lol not jealous or anything of you on your sunny beach...  I at least had sunshine for _part_ of the day! But is it ever dark by 5 on days like this since the time change.


----------



## Designer

mmaria said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sort of enjoying my Saturday, but I'm recuperating from surgery I had yesterday, so I can't really do much.
> 
> 
> 
> what surgery?
Click to expand...

Repair of two hernias.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sort of enjoying my Saturday, but I'm recuperating from surgery I had yesterday, so I can't really do much.
> 
> 
> 
> what surgery?
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Repair of two hernias.
Click to expand...

Man, I hope everything went well. I think you need to migrate to MFT.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> And thpptt to Gary! lol not jealous or anything of you on your sunny beach...  I at least had sunshine for _part_ of the day! But is it ever dark by 5 on days like this since the time change.


Us Californians are used to that, lol.  But, it was perfect. Sunny and warm, in the low 80's. Brunch at the Old Town Cafe.  Mary Lou had this giant mushroom burger with Blue Cheese and I ordered tamales and eggs. Then we walked up a block to the nursery and we picked up a Princess Plant and this very odd Poppy. Then we walked down a couple of blocks and took a nice stroll on the pier.  People were boogie boarding and playing in the waves, catching some rays, fishing and just hanging out.


----------



## Rick50

I like those days Gary. When I first moved here I rented  down at the beach. Was way cool. Walk to the beach, swim, walk home and shower then back out for some food. Like being on full time vacation.


----------



## Gary A.

Rick50 said:


> I like those days Gary. When I first moved here I rented  down at the beach. Was way cool. Walk to the beach, swim, walk home and shower then back out for some food. Like being on full time vacation.


Yep, when I lived in Huntington Beach and Manhattan Beach it was a block to the water. A nice way to start the day was with a cup of coffee watching the morning waves.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Man, I hope everything went well. I think you need to migrate to MFT.



I hope it went well also.  

What is MFT?


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> I'm sort of enjoying my Saturday, but I'm recuperating from surgery I had yesterday, so I can't really do much.



  Hope you recuperate nicely and quickly!


----------



## limr

Watching football.

Crap. Vandy just scored. You know it's a bad season when we have this much trouble with Vanderbilt.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sort of enjoying my Saturday, but I'm recuperating from surgery I had yesterday, so I can't really do much.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hope you recuperate nicely and quickly!
Click to expand...

Thank you!


----------



## limr

Woot! Gators got one back! We're tied now at 7-7.

Rangers are down 3-2, though


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Man, I hope everything went well. I think you need to migrate to MFT.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hope it went well also.
> 
> What is MFT?
Click to expand...

Micro Four Thirds format. Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Cameras made by Olympus and Panasonic. Small cameras with a big punch. Much lighter and smaller than a dSLR.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Watching football.
> 
> Crap. Vandy just scored. You know it's a bad season when we have this much trouble with Vanderbilt.


 you know i am a guy, and i don't even watch football unless i have money on the game.


----------



## limr

Well, I'm not a guy and I love football. I never bet on games. Well, I'll often bet a dollar or two on the over/under for the National Anthem time before the Super Bowl, but that's about it.

I watched Michigan vs Northwestern this afternoon and was watching Florida vs Vanderbilt until I left Buzz's house. Now I have to follow on the ESPN game cast because I don't get the SEC network 

So far we're winning ("we" = Gators) but it's still the 3rd quarter and the Gators have been known to blow leads in the 4th.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Well, I'm not a guy and I love football. I never bet on games. Well, I'll often bet a dollar or two on the over/under for the National Anthem time before the Super Bowl, but that's about it.
> 
> I watched Michigan vs Northwestern this afternoon and was watching Florida vs Vanderbilt until I left Buzz's house. Now I have to follow on the ESPN game cast because I don't get the SEC network
> 
> So far we're winning ("we" = Gators) but it's still the 3rd quarter and the Gators have been known to blow leads in the 4th.


 yeah, i know. i am odd. eccentric . whatever. i hear it all the time. i have to ask you the same question i ask everyone else though. Unless you have money on the game. why do you care who wins?


----------



## bribrius




----------



## bribrius

da da da da


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> yeah, i know. i am odd. eccentric . whatever. i hear it all the time. i have to ask you the same question i ask everyone else though. Unless you have money on the game. why do you care who wins?



Hey, I hear I'm weird all the time, too. Just for different reasons


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> yeah, i know. i am odd. eccentric . whatever. i hear it all the time. i have to ask you the same question i ask everyone else though. Unless you have money on the game. why do you care who wins?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, I hear I'm weird all the time, too. Just for different reasons
Click to expand...

just don't get it. like we have the new England patriots. would i like them to win? hey, sure. why not.
does it really matter?
probably not. unless i bet on it.
if i bet on it am i betting a spread?
so does it really matter even then if they win?
well i am from new England.
so does this team represent me somehow as i am from new England and the team is called the new England patriots?
well, probably not.  And if they did would it matter if they did? Is there like a football bonus point card for everyone in each teams zone where we get free lolly pops or anything?
Don't think so.
well what about routing for your "local boys?"
well. are they even local? how many hours away is that team?
does that matter.
no.
because how much of the team is even from newengland?
this isn't like the guy down the road.
so why watch football.


i cant say much though, i watch pool, soccer occasionally.... martial arts tournaments if i am lucky enough to find one, rally racing (not that it is ever on they just play that nascar crap)...

i basically live on line, they don't play most of what i watch on tv i hardly ever watch tv..


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> yeah, i know. i am odd. eccentric . whatever. i hear it all the time. i have to ask you the same question i ask everyone else though. Unless you have money on the game. why do you care who wins?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, I hear I'm weird all the time, too. Just for different reasons
Click to expand...


----------



## limr

There are a lot of reasons people choose teams, I suppose. Pride in their hometown. Solidarity, to show they are part of the group and they fit in. A way to share in the accomplishment of an athletic endeavor.

When I was a kid growing up in the NY metro area, of course there were several NY teams to choose from. I decided I liked the Jets, Mets, and Nets because they rhymed. Then the Nets moved to Jersey and I didn't like them anymore because they were traitors. The hockey teams didn't rhyme, but I knew that the Rangers were my team. They just were.

I lived in Pittsburgh and enjoyed it, so I like their sports teams, too. I really don't care about baseball, but if the Pirates were in the World Serious, I would cheer for them. If the Pens ever play my Rangers, though, then it's too bad. Rangers all the way.

But really, the sport that gets most of my attention is college football. UFlorida is my alma mater, so of course I'm cheering for the Gators and I don't ever stop being a fan. The excitement and camaraderie of those games are associated with a very important time in my life. I loved college, and cheering for my school's team is a way of maintaining that connection. I don't feel the same emotional connection to any pro team the way I feel about the Gators. Hockey and the Rangers come close, but still not quite the same level.

Plus, I just love football  
(31-10 Gators, 10 minutes in the 4th. Woot! Go Gators!!)


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> yeah, i know. i am odd. eccentric . whatever. i hear it all the time. i have to ask you the same question i ask everyone else though. Unless you have money on the game. why do you care who wins?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, I hear I'm weird all the time, too. Just for different reasons
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


Love that song


----------



## bribrius

more my thing...


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> There are a lot of reasons people choose teams, I suppose. Pride in their hometown. Solidarity, to show they are part of the group and they fit in. A way to share in the accomplishment of an athletic endeavor.
> 
> When I was a kid growing up in the NY metro area, of course there were several NY teams to choose from. I decided I liked the Jets, Mets, and Nets because they rhymed. Then the Nets moved to Jersey and I didn't like them anymore because they were traitors. The hockey teams didn't rhyme, but I knew that the Rangers were my team. They just were.
> 
> I lived in Pittsburgh and enjoyed it, so I like their sports teams, too. I really don't care about baseball, but if the Pirates were in the World Serious, I would cheer for them. If the Pens ever play my Rangers, though, then it's too bad. Rangers all the way.
> 
> But really, the sport that gets most of my attention is college football. UFlorida is my alma mater, so of course I'm cheering for the Gators and I don't ever stop being a fan. The excitement and camaraderie of those games are associated with a very important time in my life. I loved college, and cheering for my school's team is a way of maintaining that connection. I don't feel the same emotional connection to any pro team the way I feel about the Gators. Hockey and the Rangers come close, but still not quite the same level.
> 
> Plus, I just love football
> (31-10 Gators, 10 minutes in the 4th. Woot! Go Gators!!)


My Trojans had a bye this week. But ASU kicked a lot of Irish butt. (Okay ... not really kicked butt, it was an interesting game with ASU holding on for the win.)


----------



## snerd

Humans love "spectating." And football is less brutal than coliseums, swords and spears.


----------



## bribrius




----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Humans love "spectating." And football is less brutal than coliseums, swords and spears.


 

send out some roman slaves with swords and spears i would probably watch..


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> My Trojans had a bye this week. But ASU kicked a lot of Irish butt. (Okay ... not really kicked butt, it was an interesting game with ASU holding on for the win.)



Gators beat Vandy!

And there's another reason for choosing loyalties. I have no horse in the race outside of the SEC, so I choose by either people or events. Ok, I also went to Pitt, so there is that. Buzz's mother comes from a Michigan family so I inherit that loyalty and the rivalry with Ohio State. Plus, when the Gators played them for the Championship, they were so obnoxious because they were the favorites and so I also have my own reason to not like them. (And we swatted them around like flies in that game!)

And now I support Derrel's Oregon Ducks and Tio Gary's Trojans. I even have some more favorable feelings towards Sharon's Vols, even though she still hates my Gators!

And no one likes 'Bama. Just because


----------



## bribrius

wow. that is a old one..


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Housers.


----------



## Gary A.

Finished my coffee, scanned the paper, took Cook for her walk, trim and mowed the backyard, planted a poppy and some other stuff. Sunny and 72F right now. I'm gonna look for some breakfast.


----------



## snerd

Started my walking routine again, exactly 4 months from stopping due to another surgery. Walked 2 miles, ugh! Out of shape!! Out at the refuge now, the colors are slow to appear this year. We have a good frost coming Wednesday, so I'm thinking next week it'll be getting close to photo time. 


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## bribrius

did outside portraits of neighbors daughter. shot baby portraits of a friend of ours. now my day is done....


----------



## bribrius

one very ticked off baby.....lol


----------



## snerd

I put the 70-200 on 7D for shoulder rehab and strengthening.


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## bribrius

girl was great though. I really have no portrait setups I basically do outdoor snapshots....lol


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> I put the 70-200 on 7D for shoulder rehab and strengthening.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


sounds fun..(not really)


----------



## snerd

Been rough. But I'm a crybaby I've been told.


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> one very ticked off baby.....lol
> 
> View attachment 89042



I'd be ticked off if I had to do a photo shoot 

I got out of the house around 10:45, had brunch with Buzz, then we went for a walk. I'm about to throw some ingredients into the crock pot for next week's meals. Sweet potatoes and french lentils, some fire roasted tomatoes (canned, but still good), and lots o' spices.


----------



## oldhippy

Lenny. What are French lentils. Guess I could google it.  Have only had lentils with a bay leaf, and some orange jest.  Ed


----------



## limr

Ed, they're just another variety of lentils. They're very dark green. There are slight differences according to this side: How Do French Lentils Differ from Regular Ones? - Cooking Tips - Food News 

Better able to retain their shape, slightly different taste. I haven't tried them before so I'm seeing how I like them.

I never thought of adding orange! I am definitely going to try that. I sometimes like adding a dollop of yogurt or some shaved goat cheese over lentils, or also a drizzle of truffle oil.


----------



## limr

I took a picture on my phone for you too


----------



## snerd

You yanks sure do eat funny! I just open a can of vienna sausages and some crackers, with a cup of hot joe!



...........


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> You yanks sure do eat funny! I just open a can of vienna sausages and some crackers, with a cup of hot joe!
> 
> 
> 
> ...........



No WONDER you are up until all hours of the night!


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> No WONDER you are up until all hours of the night!


Oh, I'm right proud of the progress I'm making! For 15 years I worked nights and slept days. It's been 6 months now, and I'm almost on a regular, normal-person schedule! I do my best to be asleep by midnight, and to get myself up at 8am. Some nights I do regress, but no later than 2am if I'm lucky. Then I might sleep in until 10am or so. However, I started setting an alarm last week (haven't used one in 20 years!), 8am with Enter Sandman by Metallica to screech me awake. The last 3 days I'm asleep by midnight and up at 8am!! I'll get there!!!


----------



## limr

You'll get there. Hey, if I can do it, so can you!  I don't even have a long history of working nights as a reason - I am just a hard core night owl. But for the past 2 months (maybe more?) I have been getting to bed by midnight at the latest and out of bed at 7:30 every morning. Even if I don't have to work. Never thought it would be possible to be that consistent.


----------



## limr

I sat down at my desk to check a quick thing on the internet and then go get my film started, but as soon as I sat down, Zelda climbed into my lap and she's all curled up, purring her fool head off. I can't bear to disturb her. So now I'm "stuck" here until I decide that I have to get other things done. I'll give myself another little while before I decide that "getting things done" means something other than "pet the sleepy purring kitty on my lap."


----------



## snowbear

You're trapped beneath a kitty!


----------



## limr

And I can't get up! 

Meh, there are worse things.


----------



## snowbear

Yes there are, and some of them lurk around here.


----------



## limr

Well, she has just decided that she had an urgent appointment in the other room and went darting off. So now I get to do stuff, yay! 

Except...no more soft purring kitty, booo 

Well, she'll be back another time. I'm sure at some point this week, at the moment I realize how much I need to eat or use the bathroom, she will curl up on my lap.


----------



## snowbear

My two were on the desk earlier.  They got into a bit of a tizzy and one knocked a jar/container of paper and binder clips onto the floor.  I tossed (figuratively) both of them out of the room.


----------



## limr

Sometimes these kitties need to know just who is the boss. And by boss, I mean large lumbering unpredictable ape


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> large lumbering unpredictable ape


Are you in town - looking in my window?

They have forgotten the incident and have been hanging around my chair.


----------



## limr

Nah, not stalking tonight  Just thinking of this article: Why Your Cat Thinks You're a Huge, Unpredictable Ape | WIRED


----------



## mmaria

yeah yeah everybody's sleeping but still 

it's exactly







and I just got my coffee


----------



## bribrius

good morning maria!   wakey wakey!!!!


----------



## mmaria

bribrius said:


> good morning maria!   wakey wakey!!!!


oh there's someone here!








ok just realized... you could get mad at me for calling you  weirdo... but... I really think you're a weirdo... can't be mad at me for being honest..... you should respect my opinion... yes...


----------



## bribrius

mmaria said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> good morning maria!   wakey wakey!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> oh there's someone here!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ok just realized... you could get mad at me for calling you  weirdo... but... I really think you're a weirdo... can't be mad at me for being honest..... you should respect my opinion... yes...
Click to expand...

yes. I believe if you really do a in depth character of every individual you will find they are all weirdos.

people, as a species, are weird.


----------



## bribrius

hey wait, are you studying me? That, is pretty weird...


----------



## mmaria

bribrius said:


> yes. I believe if you really do a in depth character of every individual you will find they are all weirdos.
> people, as a species, are weird.


completely agree

I think I'm a bit weirdo too so I can call you that way because I kind of understand ... no.... actually I think I'm "normal" but my family and friend think I'm a weirdo... have no idea why...


----------



## mmaria

bribrius said:


> hey wait, are you studying me? That, is pretty weird...


oh I'm studying everybody... it's my curse!


----------



## bribrius

mmaria said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> hey wait, are you studying me? That, is pretty weird...
> 
> 
> 
> oh I'm studying everybody... it's my curse!
Click to expand...

take you a while to figure me out my wife still says she don't get me and I am a "complex individual"


----------



## mmaria

bribrius said:


> take you a while to figure me out my wife still says she don't get me and I am a "complex individual"


She's always right, so you know!

Why don't you like grammar?


----------



## mmaria

it's just 8 a.m and I'm already eating a cake!

That's not good!

But I can't say no when a person offer me a cake! It's not my fault!!!


----------



## mmaria

can't take this much of sweet in the early morning!!!

why oh why I love to eat!?


----------



## bribrius

mmaria said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> take you a while to figure me out my wife still says she don't get me and I am a "complex individual"
> 
> 
> 
> She's always right, so you know!
> 
> Why don't you like grammar?
Click to expand...

 I never was very adept in grammar. I actually sucked at it.


----------



## bribrius

I really should finish editing that batch of photos I just did that post up from. But I really don't feel like it....

Might as well wait for the cc (if there is any) and worry about finishing the editing then. I already gave the parents some of the photos but am holding back all these still.


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon Marija.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Good afternoon Marija.


here's some pink-purple- glitter I looove so very much


----------



## sm4him

Hey y'all, how's everybody doing this morning/afternoon?

I loved being gone all weekend and NOT having a blue zillion pages of posts to catch up on when I logged on this morning.

Had an awesome but sleep-deprived weekend with my leadership team for our women's ministry. These are the people who are closer to me than anyone else and we spent the entire weekend at a beautiful cabin in the Smokies (after a somewhat terrifying drive straight up the side of a mountain to get there). We ate and laughed, and cried,and ate,  and played games and ate and talked and ate...

One of these ladies is my friend who lost her husband in a boating accident this past Memorial Day (end of May, Marija). We all miss him SO much--he was one of those guys everybody loved. If you'd known him for more than a week, you felt like he was your best friend.
The next two months, with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming, are going to be so hard for her, but she is just an amazing, sweet, gracious and incredibly strong person!


----------



## limr

Sharon!!! We missed you! 

It sounds like a wonderful weekend, one that you needed too after the crazy week you had. Glad you had a good time :  I remember when you posted about your friend's husband. So sad. I'll keep her in my meditations during the holidays.


----------



## mmaria

First off, glad you had a nice weekend



sm4him said:


> One of these ladies is my friend who lost her husband in a boating accident this past Memorial Day (end of May, Marija). We all miss him SO much--he was one of those guys everybody loved. If you'd known him for more than a week, you felt like he was your best friend.
> The next two months, with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming, are going to be so hard for her, but she is just an amazing, sweet, gracious and incredibly strong person!



I remember when that happened.

Lots of so much   and for her! I'm sure you'll help her as much as you can


----------



## snowbear

Welcome back, Sharon.  I'm glad the weekend went well.
Good morning, Lenny.
Marija, since you found some pink glitter, I won't send you the pink glittery roses.  

Although I am not in the office today, I have work to do so I'll be gone from TPF for most of the day.  Have fun, y'all.


----------



## limr

Have a good day, Charlie!

I've got my long Monday, but it's a little easier today because both my classes are doing practice exams. They have their first real exam next week, so we're doing a 'dry run.'

My classes are 'developmental' - meaning they're meant to prepare students for English 101 - and the students have to pass a departmental essay exam to get out of the class. It's called the exit exam. They have 100 minutes to write one essay. There are two chances to pass the exam and they only have to pass once. So that is what next week is - their first exit exam.

We've been doing more and more short in-class writing activities so they can improve their speed, but this is our first full-length timed writing practice. So essentially in both classes, I'm just proctoring and not actively teaching a lesson. I'll grade essays while they are writing, but I might come to see who's hanging at the Coffee House


----------



## sm4him

Thanks; I loved the weekend and that time with my best buddies, but I will say it was also kinda nice to wake up this morning, grab my coffee and come to the Coffee House!

I won't be on much today, I don't expect. I've got a massive amount of work to do today--all that stuff that needed to be done last week as part of my REGULAR full-time job, which didn't happen because I was busy doing a different full-time job!

Now we are already past the deadline for people to get me the information I need for several end-of-year projects, and of course, I don't have any of it yet! 
Veteran's Day Parade tomorrow that I need to get detours posted for, photos that have to be selected for the calendar that is due to the printer before the end of the month, route schedule changes for January that will need to be at the printer soon--on and on. PLUS I still have over a week of use-it-or-lose-it vacation to take before the end of the year--which is great, except it means all this work REALLY needs to get done so I *can* take it!


----------



## KenC

I'm sitting here with a nice real coffee, not one of those machine-brewed ones we have here at work, since I had to go out to the bank, so I stopped by a coffee place on the way back.  There are only about ten within two blocks of here.  There are actually four Dunkin' Donuts between here and the train station four blocks from here.

The usual here these days, which is putting up with and keeping up with the company's end-of-year nonsense (no, you don't want to know).  However, a guy has to have his breaks, no?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Housers. Welcome back Sharon. I am glad you had a well eaten weekend. Coffee is good. It is cooling off. It is 63F right now but should only get to about 70F today. My youngest daughter, Amy, came over yesterday with her one year old Goldie pup, Holly. Holly is on the overactive side, her real name is Holly No. She and Cook had some fun then Cook got tired of the over energized Holly and just walked back inside and left her. I marinated some chicken which I tossed on the BBQ ... it was delish.





Amy and moi.


----------



## Gary A.

I start my Photoshop class today and I have to shoot a Veterans Day ceremony.


----------



## KenC

For the class or for money?


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday, I marinated the chicken for about five hours. I ran around the yard grabbing stuff, oranges ... Simon and Garfunkel herbs (parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme), fennel and some lavender sprigs. Splashed in some chardonnay and my chili powder for some zip and viola! (I'm proud of myself.  )


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> For the class or for money?


Neither, pro bono for a school. Nearly everything I shool for others is pro bono nowadays. I'm shooting a high school play on Thursday for a different school.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> It is 63F right now but should only get to about 70F today.
> 
> Amy and moi.



Love that picture! In my head, though, you will always be the guy in your avatar--mask and all. ;-)

It'll actually be almost as warm here today as there; about 68. Tomorrow and Wednesday may get into the mid-70s.
But then a high of about 40 by Friday--the day I was planning to take off and go hunt some birds!


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is 63F right now but should only get to about 70F today.
> 
> Amy and moi.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Love that picture! In my head, though, you will always be the guy in your avatar--mask and all. ;-)*
Click to expand...


Me too 

It's warm here today. I think it's going to be a high of 60F? 61? Something like that. Very warm for mid-November. But by the end of the week, it'll be in the 40s again.

They have about 35 more minutes to write. Some of them were pissing me off so I got kinda bitchy. There were lots of little things, but for example, two of three of them were totally clueless that we were having a practice exam. I've been talking about this practice exam for 2 weeks, reminding them at the start of every class. These students were not absent, either. 

I'm looking at essays but just giving them a first read. One kid had plagiarized material in his first essay. He gave me the, "Oh I thought I quoted it!" line. I made him rewrite it and gave him a warning. This 3rd essay? Same kid plagiarized again. You don't get three strikes in my class, so he's essentially doomed now.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is 63F right now but should only get to about 70F today.
> 
> Amy and moi.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Love that picture! In my head, though, you will always be the guy in your avatar--mask and all. ;-)*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Me too
> 
> It's warm here today. I think it's going to be a high of 60F? 61? Something like that. Very warm for mid-November. But by the end of the week, it'll be in the 40s again.
> 
> They have about 35 more minutes to write. Some of them were pissing me off so I got kinda bitchy. There were lots of little things, but for example, two of three of them were totally clueless that we were having a practice exam. I've been talking about this practice exam for 2 weeks, reminding them at the start of every class. These students were not absent, either.
> 
> I'm looking at essays but just giving them a first read. One kid had plagiarized material in his first essay. He gave me the, "Oh I thought I quoted it!" line. I made him rewrite it and gave him a warning. This 3rd essay? Same kid plagiarized again. You don't get three strikes in my class, so he's essentially doomed now.
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

You guys have the Polar Express coming right at 'Cha ... So watch out.

I used to do all my writing in a bar. LOL, the life of a news guy.  I had a column in the my college paper. It only officially only ran once. It was called Monday's at Medina's (a local watering hole for the disinfranchised and poor students). I managed to offend nearly ever person on the planet. The few I missed I intended to hit with the next day's column. My plan was foiled by the prof sternly pulling my column and a brazen threat of a failing grade if I didn't write an appropriate apology.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I'm looking at essays but just giving them a first read. One kid had plagiarized material in his first essay. He gave me the, "Oh I thought I quoted it!" line. I made him rewrite it and gave him a warning. This 3rd essay? Same kid plagiarized again. You don't get three strikes in my class, so he's essentially doomed now.



Future Congressman, that one.


----------



## limr

Howdy, folks. Anyone around?


----------



## sm4him

Kinda popping in and out for a bit. Pretty sure I'm gonna find my bed and a good book a bit earlier than usual tonight.


----------



## snowbear

I'm here for a while


----------



## limr

My evening students are writing their practice essays and I don't feel like grading.


----------



## snowbear

I'll grade for you.  Head over to "What is it??" and take a guess.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Kinda popping in and out for a bit. Pretty sure I'm gonna find my bed and a good book a bit earlier than usual tonight.



Whatcha readin'?

Did I tell you folks that I finished that book club selection in an hour and fifteen minutes?


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I'll grade for you.  Head over to "What is it??" and take a guess.



Heading over right now!

Oh my god, 11 more jammin' seconds! I'm having Leaderboard flashbacks...


----------



## snowbear

Not, quite, Lenny, but almost everything is a cat toy at one point.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Not, quite, Lenny, but almost everything is a cat toy at one point.



True. Except, perhaps, objects made specifically to be cat toys


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Kinda popping in and out for a bit. Pretty sure I'm gonna find my bed and a good book a bit earlier than usual tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Whatcha readin'?
> 
> Did I tell you folks that I finished that book club selection in an hour and fifteen minutes?
Click to expand...


Right now, I'm reading sheer fluff. Eye candy reading, because I don't have the energy to actually pay attention and I just want to be entertained. I don't even know what the name of it is.  It's a book called Desert Heat by J.A. Jance. I think that's a pen name for some popular romance writer. The author was recommended by a friend, so I tried it. It's predictable, but entertaining enough and requires no effort on my part at all, so it's the perfect read for tonight.

I'll typically read books like this in an evening, maybe two if I'm tired or too busy to really just sit down and read. I'm a little over half done with this one, so I should be able to finish it tonight.

Most women like romance for their eye candy/fluff reading material--I tend to like mysteries and crime thrillers.


----------



## limr

Have you ever read Laura Lippman? That's the author of the book I had to read for the book club. I told you guys...okay, I _complained_ to you guys about it in Leaderboard: http://www.amazon.com/The-Girl-Green-Raincoat-Monaghan/dp/006193836X

I've been known to read crime thriller fluff and enjoy it from time to time. In Portugal, I got hooked on Patricia Cornwall books for a while because they were being passed around the teachers' room.

But this book was so fluffly and poorly written that it was torture to get through it. Thank god I was reading it while using the exercise bike so that hour and fifteen minutes wasn't completely wasted!

I'm really not a fan of the bodice-rippers, either.


----------



## snowbear

When I want fluff reading, I turn to Sophie Kinsella (Shopaholic series).  Yes, I have read chick lit - more than once.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Have you ever read Laura Lippman? That's the author of the book I had to read for the book club. I told you guys...okay, I _complained_ to you guys about it in Leaderboard: http://www.amazon.com/The-Girl-Green-Raincoat-Monaghan/dp/006193836X
> 
> I've been known to read crime thriller fluff and enjoy it from time to time. In Portugal, I got hooked on Patricia Cornwall books for a while because they were being passed around the teachers' room.
> 
> But this book was so fluffly and poorly written that it was torture to get through it. Thank god I was reading it while using the exercise bike so that hour and fifteen minutes wasn't completely wasted!
> 
> I'm really not a fan of the bodice-rippers, either.



No, I've not heard of her.

I also went through a Cornwall jag for a bit.  A couple of those were decent, but mostly just too much language and not enough substance.

I DETEST the "bodice-ripper" books, and I can't abide a book, even fluff, that is so fraught with errors that I can't actually pay attention to the storyline.
I DO like John Grisham, and I like Jefferson Bass, aka Dr. Bill Brockton, the forensic anthropologist who runs a place called The Body Farm right here in my little hometown. He has gained national renown for the research he has done on the body farm, and back some years ago, took to writing novels based at least loosely on some of the crimes he's encountered over the years.  His stories can tend to be a bit gory sometimes, but I prefer gory to sickening romance.


----------



## Gary A.

Man, day one and I am learning a ton of stuff in my Photoshop class. I don't know what real world application it may have in my work flow ... but It's been a real eye opener.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> When I want fluff reading, I turn to Sophie Kinsella (Shopaholic series).  Yes, I have read chick lit - more than once.



I don't know her either.

I "buy" a lot of my fluff material from Kindle freebies. I've gotten some pretty good stuff that way, and some absolute nonsense that I couldn't continue to read. But most of it is free, and what isn't free, I rarely pay more than 99 cents for, so I don't get too irritated if I hate it.  I just move on to the next one.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Man, day one and I am learning a ton of stuff in my Photoshop class. I don't know what real world application it may have in my work flow ... but It's been a real eye opener.



Yeah, I took a Photoshop class; a couple of them actually, in connection with my work--along with a class on Illustrator and two on InDesign. I got really obsessed for a while playing with some of the ultra-cool stuff you can do!

Now, I probably couldn't even remember how to DO half of that stuff. I'd really like to take an intermediate PS class strictly aimed at photo processing. I've got really good basic skills, but I get lost on the more intense stuff.


----------



## limr

I'm not really sure what I consider "fluff." I mean, I know fluffy when I read it, but there's no genre that I reliably go to when I need something fluffy. I know this is probably going to sound horribly pretentious, but something like Jane Austen is kind of fluffy for me. I mean, ultimately it's just chick lit, right? Just with fancier vocabulary  I'm just so aware of the writing and if it's bad writing, then I can't enjoy the book. If the writing is at least competent and doesn't get in the way of the story, then it's fine. But if the writing is bad, I just hate it and I seethe all the way through the book (which of course I HAVE to finish because I'm a moron that way...) And there's so much bad writing out there. It's one of the reasons I don't read a lot of current fiction. Some of it may be very good but I am more often disappointed then not, so mostly I don't even bother.

I enjoyed the Harry Potter series very much, actually. The storyline was so creative and compelling, and her writing was nothing outstanding but definitely competent. I used to read a lot of science fiction/fantasy, actually. 

Basically, I treat most fiction as a 'rest' for my mind. But I also read a lot of biographies and non-fiction.


----------



## snowbear

Harry Potter FTW!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> I'm not really sure what I consider "fluff." I mean, I know fluffy when I read it, but there's no genre that I reliably go to when I need something fluffy. I know this is probably going to sound horribly pretentious, but something like Jane Austen is kind of fluffy for me. I mean, ultimately it's just chick lit, right? Just with fancier vocabulary  I'm just so aware of the writing and if it's bad writing, then I can't enjoy the book. If the writing is at least competent and doesn't get in the way of the story, then it's fine. But if the writing is bad, I just hate it and I seethe all the way through the book (which of course I HAVE to finish because I'm a moron that way...) And there's so much bad writing out there. It's one of the reasons I don't read a lot of current fiction. Some of it may be very good but I am more often disappointed then not, so mostly I don't even bother.
> 
> I enjoyed the Harry Potter series very much, actually. The storyline was so creative and compelling, and her writing was nothing outstanding but definitely competent. I used to read a lot of science fiction/fantasy, actually.
> 
> Basically, I treat most fiction as a 'rest' for my mind. But I also read a lot of biographies and non-fiction.


I loved the Harry Potter series! My boys and I read the first few together, but soon got so hooked that when a new one came out, I had to buy THREE books because no one was willing to wait their turn to read it!
Actually, usually I bought two books--my oldest son reads so fast (but still remembers it; he has an eidetic memory) that he was generally done in a day or two, so I was willing to wait that long. But I did buy three copies of the final book and none of us would talk to each other until we were ALL done.

For me, "fluff" is pretty much anything that just requires no more effort on my part than it takes to keep my eyes moving across the page.  They are, for me, the equivalent of most TV shows, they don't require me to engage the brain. The genre doesn't matter--science fiction, humor, classics, mystery, etc.

The stuff I read that I don't consider fluff are books that engage me, that make me really THINK--either trying to figure out the outcome, or just engaging me in thinking, maybe understanding new concepts or different ideas. I just read a book about the life of Tesla that was pretty interesting. I like biographies, and a variety of non-fiction stuff. I also read a lot of Christian authors, but again, primarily nonfiction. Funny, I just don't much care for most of the Christian fiction I've ever tried to read. It's too Ozzie and Harriet for me.  Well, there IS an author named Ted Dekker I like, although some of his stuff is kinda bizarre.


----------



## snowbear

I tend to read non fiction, usually of historic or scientific influence.  I do enjoy fiction and sci-fi, but not as much as I did a few years ago.


----------



## limr

Be back in a while! I finally get to go home now


----------



## pixmedic

15 hours down, 9 to go!


----------



## snowbear

pixmedic said:


> 15 hours down, 9 to go!


Does your shift plan work out to about 8 days per month?


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> 15 hours down, 9 to go!



More than halfway there! You can do it!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 15 hours down, 9 to go!
> 
> 
> 
> Does your shift plan work out to about 8 days per month?
Click to expand...


I'm curious about why so many in the medical field - EMTs, nurses, interns - have such long shifts. What is the advantage of cramming in all those hours in fewer days rather than spreading it out?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 15 hours down, 9 to go!
> 
> 
> 
> Does your shift plan work out to about 8 days per month?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm curious about why so many in the medical field - EMTs, nurses, interns - have such long shifts. What is the advantage of cramming in all those hours in fewer days rather than spreading it out?
Click to expand...

For many firefighters, there is a lot of down time - you aren't out running calls for the whole shift; it just depends on the station and jurisdiction.  Some of our stations may only get 5 calls in a day, while others seem to run constantly.


----------



## pixmedic

We're 24 on 48 off. 
Not firefighters tho. We're a private ambulance company. 
We do have a station where we can rest, but last shift we were only there for 2 hours, and I worked a 36 hour shift.
We do interfacility transports as well as transports from nursing homes to the ER. We are also backup for several other emergency services.
A few of our trucks, like mine, also run critical care and ventilator transports.

It's nice only working 10 days a month, but some shifts make it feel not worth it.


----------



## snowbear

Our shift workers are 24/36 - four shifts (teams).  Some of the people are on straight daywork.  The EMS have a convoluted schedule - some 36 hour shifts.  I can't figure them out.


----------



## pixmedic

snowbear said:


> Our shift workers are 24/36 - four shifts (teams).  Some of the people are on straight daywork.  The EMS have a convoluted schedule - some 36 hour shifts.  I can't figure them out.


Ours aren't normally 36 hours. I just picked up a shift on a day truck when I got off my regular shift.


----------



## limr

I get that there is a lot of down time, but why such long shifts to begin with?


----------



## pixmedic

limr said:


> I get that there is a lot of down time, but why such long shifts to begin with?


For coverage. Less shifts to fill.
Our contact with the county requires that we have a 24 hour crew and station in their area.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I get that there is a lot of down time, but why such long shifts to begin with?


I don't know.  Most of the people who work it love it (at least here); plenty of time off for school, part-time or your own business, and many opportunities for overtime.  We have people that commute from DE, NJ, WV, and PA.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I get that there is a lot of down time, but why such long shifts to begin with?
> 
> 
> 
> For coverage. Less shifts to fill.
> Our contact with the county requires that we have a 24 hour crew and station in their area.
Click to expand...


That makes sense, as long as people are allowed to get some sleep. Otherwise I imagine there would be a lot of errors made by very tired people.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I get that there is a lot of down time, but why such long shifts to begin with?
> 
> 
> 
> For coverage. Less shifts to fill.
> Our contact with the county requires that we have a 24 hour crew and station in their area.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That makes sense, as long as people are allowed to get some sleep. Otherwise I imagine there would be a lot of errors made by very tired people.
Click to expand...


Yep - bunks at the stations.  Some of the firefighters are straight day, depending on the station.  We are a hybrid department - some career and some volunteers.  If the volunteer station has enough members to "get out" at night, the career crew is only there during the daytime hours.


----------



## pixmedic

limr said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I get that there is a lot of down time, but why such long shifts to begin with?
> 
> 
> 
> For coverage. Less shifts to fill.
> Our contact with the county requires that we have a 24 hour crew and station in their area.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That makes sense, as long as people are allowed to get some sleep. Otherwise I imagine there would be a lot of errors made by very tired people.
Click to expand...

Sometimes...
We've been on since 0600 and have not seen our station since we clocked in.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> That makes sense, as long as people are allowed to get some sleep. Otherwise I imagine there would be a lot of errors made by very tired people.
> 
> 
> 
> Sometimes...
> We've been on since 0600 and have not seen our station since we clocked in.
Click to expand...


Dude, go to sleep!


----------



## snowbear

pixmedic said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I get that there is a lot of down time, but why such long shifts to begin with?
> 
> 
> 
> For coverage. Less shifts to fill.
> Our contact with the county requires that we have a 24 hour crew and station in their area.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That makes sense, as long as people are allowed to get some sleep. Otherwise I imagine there would be a lot of errors made by very tired people.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sometimes...
> We've been on since 0600 and have not seen our station since we clocked in.
Click to expand...

That sucks.   It's almost over - hang in there.


----------



## pixmedic

Some shifts are like that.  Some are slower.  What hurts us most as a private company is when we have people call out and we are down trucks. Saturday we were supposed to have 17 trucks on the road....due to call outs we only had 12. So 12 trucks have to do the work of 17. The calls have to get run regardless of how long we've been up. There's no protocols in place to mandate down time if we've been running too long. They just keep giving us the calls


----------



## bribrius

you could unionize like all the nurses did..


----------



## bribrius

now they only work sixteen or twenty hour shifts.


----------



## pixmedic

Eh, I can't voice my opinion on unions since it would be political (which isn't allowed here) and because the system would probably crash trying to bleep out the bad words in my post.


----------



## limr

In other news, I just ordered forty 8x10 prints from Adoramapix because they are on sale for $1 each. Sale ends tonight and I almost forgot about it.

Mostly, I decided to start printing more images because I want to see how they differ from screen to print. I'm also considering putting a more cohesive portfolio together, maybe doing a photo book or something.

I've also got a vague idea for how to start writing consistently again and combining that with photography.


----------



## limr

Sorry, pix, that was not a clumsy way to change the subject from unions! Just a simulpost!


----------



## limr

Oh, and Charlie, later this week when it gets nice and chilly again, I'll wear my hipster fedora and get a selfie for you


----------



## bribrius

a buck a piece for 8x10s? what a freakn deal. They nail you on shipping or is shipping free?


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> a buck a piece for 8x10s? what a freakn deal. They nail you on shipping or is shipping free?



Free shipping over $39, though it does take longer. Estimated delivery is next Wednesday, but they usually are faster than that. But I'm also just 50 miles away from them 

You've still got an hour if you want to just throw a few pictures at them and see how you like their prints: Photo Prints - Online Digital Photo Printing, Professional Large Quality Prints - AdoramaPix


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> In other news, I just ordered forty 8x10 prints from Adoramapix because they are on sale for $1 each. Sale ends tonight and I almost forgot about it.
> 
> Mostly, I decided to start printing more images because I want to see how they differ from screen to print. I'm also considering putting a more cohesive portfolio together, maybe doing a photo book or something.
> 
> I've also got a vague idea for how to start writing consistently again and combining that with photography.


When I was taking the digital class, we did a test print.  We found that the print was about the same as 1/2 brightness of the screen (iMac), on average.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Oh, and Charlie, later this week when it gets nice and chilly again, I'll wear my hipster fedora and get a selfie for you


  Same outfit as the SCOTUS photo?  



limr said:


> Free shipping over $39, though it does take longer. Estimated delivery is next Wednesday, but they usually are faster than that. But I'm also just 50 miles away from them


I was going to say - you could almost drive there easily enough!


----------



## limr

Has anyone tried canvas prints? Do the pictures look similar to how they would on paper? I'm sort of playing with printing this on canvas because it kind of looks like a painting already:


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, and Charlie, later this week when it gets nice and chilly again, I'll wear my hipster fedora and get a selfie for you
> 
> 
> 
> Same outfit as the SCOTUS photo?
Click to expand...


Perhaps...if I can't find anything more hipstery 



limr said:


> Free shipping over $39, though it does take longer. Estimated delivery is next Wednesday, but they usually are faster than that. But I'm also just 50 miles away from them





> I was going to say - you could almost drive there easily enough!



When I ordered the Konstruktor from Lomography, it shipped from their Brooklyn site. It took FOR.EV.ER. I finally got a hold of someone in customer service and said, "Look. I can be there in about 2 hours. I'll come and pick up the damn thing myself. Or are you finally going to hitch up the mule and get your delivery up here like you said you would??"


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Perhaps...if I can't find anything more hipstery


Anything would be fine.



limr said:


> When I ordered the Konstruktor from Lomography, it shipped from their Brooklyn site. It took FOR.EV.ER. I finally got a hold of someone in customer service and said, "Look. I can be there in about 2 hours. I'll come and pick up the damn thing myself. Or are you finally going to hitch up the mule and get your delivery up here like you said you would??"


Well, if they were in St. Mary's County, they would be using the buggy (Amish).  If you run into any problems, send a PM or Conversation to Helen Oster.


----------



## bribrius

c





limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> a buck a piece for 8x10s? what a freakn deal. They nail you on shipping or is shipping free?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Free shipping over $39, though it does take longer. Estimated delivery is next Wednesday, but they usually are faster than that. But I'm also just 50 miles away from them
> 
> You've still got an hour if you want to just throw a few pictures at them and see how you like their prints: Photo Prints - Online Digital Photo Printing, Professional Large Quality Prints - AdoramaPix
Click to expand...

 crappola . i don't have time. still have to convert and search through.....fourty prints in fourty five minutes to convert and upload and find??


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> c
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> a buck a piece for 8x10s? what a freakn deal. They nail you on shipping or is shipping free?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Free shipping over $39, though it does take longer. Estimated delivery is next Wednesday, but they usually are faster than that. But I'm also just 50 miles away from them
> 
> You've still got an hour if you want to just throw a few pictures at them and see how you like their prints: Photo Prints - Online Digital Photo Printing, Professional Large Quality Prints - AdoramaPix
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> crappola . i don't have time. still have to convert and search through.....fourty prints in fourty five minutes to convert and upload and find??
Click to expand...

They have deals all the time.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Has anyone tried canvas prints? Do the pictures look similar to how they would on paper? I'm sort of playing with printing this on canvas because it kind of looks like a painting already:
> 
> View attachment 89168



I have one of this; it's not much different but you can tell it's fabric.  Make sure you leave enough space around it for a gallery wrap mount.  Mine was cropped too close.



cmw3_d40_portland_hd_lt1 by cmwrenn3, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

I've about had it for the night.  My back is killing me so I need to get out of this chair & lay down.
I'll catch you all in the morning, over coffee.

Good night, everyone.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I've about had it for the night.  My back is killing me so I need to get out of this chair & lay down.
> I'll catch you all in the morning, over coffee.
> 
> Good night, everyone.



Good night! Hope your back is better in the morning!

Mmmm, coffee...


----------



## bribrius

i have a crop and print question.  with the digital conversions can i make a 9x16 into a 8x10 or do i have to crop it to a 8x10?


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> crappola . i don't have time. still have to convert and search through.....fourty prints in fourty five minutes to convert and upload and find??



Like Charlie said, they do this deal once in a while so it will come up again. I think there is a mailing list or something, but if nothing else, I'll let you know when it pops up again. 8x10 for $1 and 11x14 for $2.


----------



## bribrius

usually i just crop to size i want, but noticed some seem to convert i am guessing this wont convert...


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> i have a crop and print question.  with the digital conversions can i make a 9x16 into a 8x10 or do i have to crop it to a 8x10?



They give you an option to crop to 8x10 proportions or you can do a full bleed and have the entire image on the paper. But that will mean you'd have to trim the extra white paper and it won't fit a standard mat. I did a full bleed because again, I am doing this less for framing and more for information or a possible portfolio. I'm also seriously considering at some point getting my own mat-cutting tools.


----------



## bribrius

i could use a portfolio, people ask me to see my work i have odd and ends to show them kicking around about it..  Most of my stuff isn't portfolio quality work anyway though i don't think..


----------



## bribrius

hey, i got asked to submit photos to be used in a calendar for a charity. i guess they are selling the calendars to raise money. should i do some kind of release with them when i give them the photos or just not worry about it? i wouldn't be making a dime off it just for a charity.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> hey, i got asked to submit photos to be used in a calendar for a charity. i guess they are selling the calendars to raise money. should i do some kind of release with them when i give them the photos or just not worry about it? i wouldn't be making a dime off it just for a charity.



Good question. I don't really know. I suppose it comes down to whether or not you care if they end up using the pictures for something else down the line.


----------



## limr

I'm off to bed, too. Going to see the kitties tomorrow morning! Well, I'll be seeing a little bit of the kitties and probably a lot of dirty litter boxes  But there's also work to be done in the big room where a lot of cats hang out, so I'll get to mingle a little, too.


----------



## mmaria

stopped by to say






I just got my coffee... going to read what you guys wrote so far


----------



## Rick50

Now thats darn funny!  I know the feeling.


----------



## mmaria

Rick50 said:


> Now thats darn funny!  I know the feeling.


hey!

someone is actually here at this hour  

what time is it for you Rick?


----------



## Rick50

10:20pm and getting close to bedtime. Been a good long day.


----------



## mmaria

Rick50 said:


> Been a good long day.


 lucky you!

Monday was a good long day for me also... we'll see how my Tuesday will turn out.

Right now, everything is good... drinking coffee, being on the net, waiting the phone to ring...

I don't wan't to work!

I want to be lazy!

But no.... the world just won't let me!!!!


----------



## Rick50

The world never waits for anyone. It's up to us to get up and enjoy it while we can.


----------



## mmaria

Rick50 said:


> The world never waits for anyone. It's up to us to get up and enjoy it while we can.


lol

that's not fair!


----------



## Rick50

Ain't that the truth. Have a good day, do what you want to do today! I'm off to bed!


----------



## mmaria

Good night Rick!


----------



## pixmedic

Well,supposed to be off shift at 0600.....still running.
Kid got his face broken and is going to the trauma center.


----------



## mmaria

pixmedic said:


> Kid got his face broken and is going to the trauma center.


 omg


----------



## pixmedic

mmaria said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Kid got his face broken and is going to the trauma center.
> 
> 
> 
> omg
Click to expand...

Well, you know how it is. 
Boys will be boys.


----------



## mmaria

pixmedic said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Kid got his face broken and is going to the trauma center.
> 
> 
> 
> omg
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well, you know how it is.
> Boys will be boys.
Click to expand...

How many years do you work on this job?
Can a person ever get used to seeing illnesses and traumas without affecting them?


----------



## pixmedic

mmaria said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Kid got his face broken and is going to the trauma center.
> 
> 
> 
> omg
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well, you know how it is.
> Boys will be boys.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> How many years do you work on this job?
> Can a person ever get used to seeing illnesses and traumas without affecting them?
Click to expand...

5 years now.
I'm pretty apethetic.
We take a lot of kids too.


----------



## sm4him

Good morning, folks!

I sat down last night to watch TV and read my book; didn't even make it through a chapter, I don't think. Woke up at 5:20 a.m.; at least that's what I THOUGHT. Got up, made my coffee, sat down at the computer...and that's when I realized it was only FOUR thirty.  But by that time, I'd had my morning coffee...


----------



## sm4him

pixmedic said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Kid got his face broken and is going to the trauma center.
> 
> 
> 
> omg
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well, you know how it is.
> Boys will be boys.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> How many years do you work on this job?
> Can a person ever get used to seeing illnesses and traumas without affecting them?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 5 years now.
> I'm pretty apethetic.
> We take a lot of kids too.
Click to expand...


I just don't know how you do it, really I don't. Working those long, long hours and dealing with events that change whole families' lives every day, I just wouldn't have the emotional stamina to keep doing that.  But I have great respect and appreciation for those who do. To me, you are doing as great a service as the police and military do. Thank you!


----------



## Warhorse

Indeed!

Good morning to all, just had two cups of black, and two "Everything" bagels w/margarine and preserves.


----------



## Warhorse

Forgot to add my thanks to all who've served.


----------



## sm4him

Veteran's Day Parade today. The parade "stages" (meaning, all the vehicles, groups, etc. meet and line up) right at the intersection where my work building is and then the parade starts from there and goes past our building, up to the "main" street through downtown (which is NOT, oddly enough, Main Street...).
I guess I'll at least take my camera--there's one picture in particular I want to try to get better than I have before. There's this one guy, older gentleman, who is out there every year, with his grandkids. He's in full uniform, and last year one of his grandkids was dressed in some kind of old colonial style costume. His grandkids wave their flags as he stands at attention and salutes every single group of veterans who goes by during the course of the parade. It brings tears to my eyes.

This is one shot I've gotten, but the shot I see in my head, I haven't gotten yet:


----------



## mmaria

*GOOD AFTERNOON!!!




*


----------



## mmaria

pixmedic said:


> I'm pretty apathetic.


 and I'm anything but that


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, sweet Marija.  How are you doing today?


----------



## limr

GOOD AFTERNOON MARIJA!! 

Good morning to everyone else in my time zone or earlier. How's this one for a cheery good morning:  


Spoiler: Bad words!


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Good afternoon, sweet Marija.  How are you doing today?


hm....hm..... a tough question.....let's leave it on hm..... shall we?


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> GOOD AFTERNOON MARIJA!!
> 
> Good morning to everyone else in my time zone or earlier. How's this one for a cheery good morning:
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Bad words!


Morning Leo!

Perfect!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Sharon.  I hope the parade goes well for you.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Lenny.  I think Marija needs a little cheering up.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Good morning, Lenny.  I think Marija needs a little cheering up.



Awww, how about a little silly walking to help?


----------



## snowbear

Well, no flowers today. I have some home made apple pie, but you better hurry because it's going fast!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, Lenny.  I think Marija needs a little cheering up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Awww, how about a little silly walking to help?
Click to expand...

I had to watch it a few times lol!


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Well, no flowers today. I have some home made apple pie, but you better hurry because it's going fast!


GIMMME ALL!!!

ME HUNGRY!


----------



## snowbear

A new "What is it??" has been posted.  Enjoy.

I made the little leaves out of dough; my lovely wife made the rest.


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, Lenny.  I think Marija needs a little cheering up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Awww, how about a little silly walking to help?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I had to watch it a few times lol!
Click to expand...


Here, you can watch the whole thing


----------



## runnah




----------



## runnah

Love this band


----------



## runnah




----------



## runnah




----------



## runnah




----------



## mmaria

I turned of my Jazz radio to see those


----------



## mmaria

Oh.... here we go again...!!!!!!!!!! 

a question.....


What do you do when you really dislike someone's behavior towards you?

and.... you already tried to explain that person that he/she needs to back of ... you explained that nicely a few times, then tried to ignore that person and then after a while tried not to be that nice...

nothing helps!


----------



## runnah

mmaria said:


> Oh.... here we go again...!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> a question.....
> 
> 
> What do you do when you really dislike someone's behavior towards you?
> 
> and.... you already tried to explain that person that he/she needs to back of ... you explained that nicely a few times, then tried to ignore that person and then after a while tried not to be that nice...
> 
> nothing helps!



I said I was sorry!


----------



## Designer

I don't think I've ever had that experience, but just guessing; that if you ignore her long enough, she will direct her anti-social behavior toward someone else.


----------



## runnah

Sleep with her husband/boyfriend.


----------



## pixmedic

finally home!
and for breakfast, macaroni and cheese with buffalo hot wing sauce.


----------



## mmaria

runnah said:


> Sleep with her husband/boyfriend.


I don't find his wife attractive enough


----------



## bribrius

mmaria said:


> Oh.... here we go again...!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> a question.....
> 
> 
> What do you do when you really dislike someone's behavior towards you?
> 
> and.... you already tried to explain that person that he/she needs to back of ... you explained that nicely a few times, then tried to ignore that person and then after a while tried not to be that nice...
> 
> nothing helps!


 plant drugs in their car then report them for trafficking with a  anonymous phone call. Always works.

works good  getting rid of bosses if you want to be promoted too.


----------



## runnah

mmaria said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sleep with her husband/boyfriend.
> 
> 
> 
> I don't find his wife attractive enough
Click to expand...


It's called proving a point.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Housers. Another cool overcast morning. 63F right now. Coffee is good.


----------



## Gary A.

A big Thank You to all you Vets out there. Thank you for your service and sacrifice.


----------



## snowbear

Here, if it is happening at work, you can usually tell the supervisor that they are interfering with you work or


mmaria said:


> Oh.... here we go again...!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> a question.....
> 
> 
> What do you do when you really dislike someone's behavior towards you?
> 
> and.... you already tried to explain that person that he/she needs to back of ... you explained that nicely a few times, then tried to ignore that person and then after a while tried not to be that nice...
> 
> nothing helps!




You want me to make a phone call?  I know people who will, well, let's just say this person won't bother anyone again.


----------



## Rick50

Morning Gary, I'm on my first cup. The rest of the world is well into their day by now. Thank you Vets.


----------



## astroNikon

its afternoon !!

hey .. we can change out subtitles now again !!


----------



## astroNikon

I just realized the guy at the camera shop ripped me off on the Nikon kit that I bought.

I bought a N80 and Manual lenses.  No AF lenses which were available at that time !!
What a rip-off !!

of course, this was probably over 10 years ago now.
live and learn.


----------



## snowbear

Go back and kick his @$$.  He's probably using a walker by now, so it might be pretty easy.


----------



## astroNikon

snowbear said:


> Go back and kick his @$$.  He's probably using a walker by now, so it might be pretty easy.


Lol .. yeah, I'll hit him with my cane


----------



## limr

Just got back from the shelter. I got to interact with the kitties more. I helped clean the cages in the intake room, where they keep cats separated from each other when they are first brought in (to make sure they aren't infected with any diseases), or a few of them who just have a cold or have kittens.

There was one little black kitten named Greebo...oh, I fell in love instantly! 
 We take the cat out of the cage and put it in a carrier or an empty cage while its cage is being cleaned. When I picked up little Greebo, he started purring louder than any kitten I've ever heard, and he snuggled right up to my neck. I kept hold of him as long as I could while cleaning his cage, and when he was back in his cage, he started chasing his tail. And he's still available for adoption. I can't handle a third cat and have serious doubts about if Zelda and Mrs Parker would share what small space they already have, but my mother might be ready for a new kitty...Hrmmmm...

All of the cats in that room just broke my heart in its own way. All of them were clambering for attention, just wanting a head scratch or a little play time. 

Oh, a lot of so much heart-borken!


----------



## snowbear

WE WANT PICS!!

Believe me, if I could, I'd come up and get him.  Two little girls are enough for us, right now.


----------



## limr

I took a video on my phone. I'll get some screen shots at least if I can't upload the video. I got some of the others, too, including this GORGEOUS little Bengal cat who had the cutest little meow!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I took a video on my phone. I'll get some screen shots at least if I can't upload the video. I got some of the others, too, including this GORGEOUS little Bengal cat who had the cutest little meow!



That's why I could not do that - I'd be tempted to bring them home.

We just have to get that big farm and start the refuge.


----------



## limr

When you feel a connection to one of them, it's so hard to walk away, but in some ways, it's easier than I thought it would be. It's one thing to know conceptually how difficult it is to properly care for so many animals, and it's a whole other thing to see it first hand. It makes me more aware of what my limits are. If I had a bigger place to live, I'd be willing to take on another cat or two, but right now, it just wouldn't be a good thing for the cats I already have and for the kitten.

And so I'm learning to just be with them, give them as much love and attention I can, and sort of be in that moment just like they are. It's all very zen


----------



## limr

But once I hit the Powerball, I am SO having a zoo!  And then I can hire people to help me!


----------



## Rick50

And NO Pomeranian's? Whats the world coming too!


----------



## limr

Rick50 said:


> And NO Pomeranian's? Whats the world coming too!



I would totally have Poms at my zoo! Just as long as they get along well with my cats, birds, other dogs, porcupines, goats, geese, and the donkey 

My best friend had a Pomeranian when we were growing up. He was a funny little thing, so I've always like them.

Edit: To be clear, I've only got the two cats at the moment! The other animals are on my wish list.


----------



## Rick50

That makes me feel better.  I'm not sure I want a zoo. I had 11 brothers and sisters. Now I'm off to lunch, maybe Mexican today.


----------



## limr

Testing...


----------



## limr

Nope. Let's try again...

No, it's not letting me upload the video. I'll try something else.


----------



## snowbear

The only file types you can upload are zip, txt, pdf, png, jpg, jpeg, jpe, and gif.  Embeded video has to be on Dailymotion, Facebook, Liveleak, Metacafe, Vimeo or YouTube.


----------



## snowbear

This is the wrong thread for that -- take it to the LB thread.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> But once I hit the Powerball, I am SO having a zoo!  And then I can hire people to help me!


A zoo sounds fun! Can I be involved?


limr said:


> Rick50 said:
> 
> 
> 
> And NO Pomeranian's? Whats the world coming too!
> 
> 
> 
> The other animals are on my wish list.
Click to expand...

Do they sell those on Amazon?


----------



## Rick50

I think you can literally buy anything on  Amazon these days. Why not animals.....


----------



## snowbear

How could anyone _not_ want a pair of these?
Steel toe bunny slippers


----------



## mmaria

first to say


----------



## mmaria

bribrius said:


> plant drugs in their car then report them for trafficking with a  anonymous phone call. Always works.
> 
> works good  getting rid of bosses if you want to be promoted too.


but they'll know it was me! He'd never do that!


----------



## mmaria

runnah said:


> It's called proving a point.


 funny, but NO!
and he'd probably approve...

oh no... not even kidding about this!

YUCKY!!!


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Here, if it is happening at work, you can usually tell the supervisor that they are interfering with you work or


 that would be nice but I really can't do it



> You want me to make a phone call?  I know people who will, well, let's just say this person won't bother anyone again.


Yes!!!
Please do that!

It'll be soooo interesting!


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> How could anyone _not_ want a pair of these?
> Steel toe bunny slippers


I, seriously, from the bottom of my heart, do not want these!


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> How could anyone _not_ want a pair of these?
> Steel toe bunny slippers



I just figured out what to give my youngest for Christmas--now I just gotta figure out where to find the men's size 15 bunny slippers to start with.

My youngest would seriously find this hilarious.


----------



## sm4him

Ahem...I have an important announcement to make...an incredible discovery...

a proud accomplishment...

a momentous occasion...

Drum roll please...

I.
Am. 
OFF the Leaderboard!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Ahem...I have an important announcement to make...an incredible discovery...
> 
> a proud accomplishment...
> 
> a momentous occasion...
> 
> Drum roll please...
> 
> I.
> Am.
> OFF the Leaderboard!!!!!!!!!!!!


OH MA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ahem...I have an important announcement to make...an incredible discovery...
> 
> a proud accomplishment...
> 
> a momentous occasion...
> 
> Drum roll please...
> 
> I.
> Am.
> OFF the Leaderboard!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> OH MA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Click to expand...


It's true, daughter dear!
Don't worry though; I have no intention of not posting and checking in on you. I gotta make sure things are going okay for my daughter!

Besides, the #10 spot has 169 posts for the month. I probably have 168.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Don't worry though; I have no intention of not posting and checking in on you. I gotta make sure things are going okay for my daughter!


Would you approve if I beat the hell of a guy I mentioned yesterday!?
Would you even help me?
I just can't stand him anymore!!! Today even more than yesterday! Can't look at his silly smile anymore! Can't be nice or even polite with him anymore! But he just doesn't care!

Oh God!


----------



## mmaria

Just realized I didn't reply on this



Designer said:


> I don't think I've ever had that experience,


 if you were a woman you probably would have a similar experience



> but just guessing; that if you ignore her long enough, she will direct her anti-social behavior toward someone else.


 it's he and ignoring didn't help... this lasts for a few months now


----------



## limr

Hi folks.

Congratulations on your accomplishment, Sharon! Apparently, I am third on the Leaderboard. I thought at first it was irony that I'm at a high position than I was when I was trying, but then again, I was also competing against people with some mad postwhoring skillz 

In other news, this netbook is a bit slow today and I need coffee...

Marija, maybe every time he smiles, fantasize about punching the smile off his face. Or kicking him in the nads. Creative visualization to help you tolerate him in the immediate moment


----------



## mmaria

Leo!




limr said:


> Marija, maybe every time he smiles, fantasize about punching the smile off his face. Or kicking him in the nads. Creative visualization to help you tolerate him in the immediate moment


I've been doing that kind of creative visualization for quite some time now!
Doesn't help!

I think I've never hated anyone, but I might just start to hate him.

he just don't get it


----------



## bribrius

The Truth About These Pictures is Terrifying, but it Used to Be Completely Normal - Likes


----------



## bribrius

goodmorning room! Liking my new coffee maker! First cup!


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't worry though; I have no intention of not posting and checking in on you. I gotta make sure things are going okay for my daughter!
> 
> 
> 
> Would you approve if I beat the hell of a guy I mentioned yesterday!?
> Would you even help me?
> I just can't stand him anymore!!! Today even more than yesterday! Can't look at his silly smile anymore! Can't be nice or even polite with him anymore! But he just doesn't care!
> 
> Oh God!
Click to expand...

Beating people up isn't cool. But I will happily, to use a term we use here sometimes, "rip him a new one" for you. I have been a mom to teenage boys--I know how to lecture someone to the point where they WISH you'd just beat them up instead. 

If I were you, and nothing else works, I'd just tear into him and then make myself so incredibly unpleasant every time he's around that even a oaf like him figures out it's better to be somewhere else.

We need to just make this guy disappear...


----------



## sm4him

Good morning, Leo and Bribrius!
New coffee makers are awesome, Bri! By the way, what's your first name? I'm wondering if it's easier to type pre-caffeine than Bribrius...I end up with Bibrius, Bribus, Bribis...evidently i's and u's are a challenge for me in the morning.


----------



## sm4him

Leo, I noticed you were third!  I don't know whether to say "Congratulations" or "I'm sorry." 
And Gary is STILL gonna blow through the first month's high post count, without even really trying.  I think he's just a natural-born postwhore.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> The Truth About These Pictures is Terrifying, but it Used to Be Completely Normal - Likes



The dolls in #5 are waaaaaaaaay creepier than the dead girl.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Leo, I noticed you were third!  I don't know whether to say "Congratulations" or "I'm sorry."
> And Gary is STILL gonna blow through the first month's high post count, without even really trying.  I think he's just a natural-born postwhore.



I'm also not really sure how to take the news of my current 3rd place bronze  And yeah, I think Garys's going to sail through November, too!

And Marija, I agree that with Sharon. Just read him the riot act and make yourself unpleasant to be around. Maybe he'll finally get the "hint" - and by hint, I mean the huge glaring neon sign that's about to crash into his face 

Oh, and good morning, bri! Congrats on the coffee


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> If I were you, and nothing else works, I'd just tear into him and then make myself so incredibly unpleasant every time he's around that even a oaf like him figures out it's better to be somewhere else..


 I am unpleasant... and even more than unpleasant but he just don't care!  
We had to do some stuff together yesterday and today...

So today....

 "Come with me in my office "
"No, you can say everything you have to me here in my office"
"Oh just come with me"
"No I won't... Just do that and when you're done with it bring it to me. I have lot's of other things to do"
"Let's go to my office and we'll do it together"
"No. I won't. Do it by yourself"


"Sit here next to me"
"No, I don't mind standing"
"Why are you like this, just sit here so we can do this"
"I'm in a hurry, don't want to sit. I can read what you wrote even if I'm standing"
"M, just sit here, it's easier"
"No I don't want to sit!!!"

"Oh looking good today"- insert stupid smile

"Would you like some chocolate, peanuts... whatever"
"No"
"But take some"
"No. You know I don't eat that"
"Just some"
"No. Take that out of my sight"

and much more



> We need to just make this guy disappear..


YUP!


----------



## Designer

Here's one for the "Did You Edit?" thread; 

"Aren't his eyes realistic? Sometimes photographers painted them into the image."


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> We need to just make this guy disappear...



Not so long ago, in this country at least, Marija's male relatives would have this guy eliminated.  Or at least teach him a lesson that he'll remember.


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> If I were you, and nothing else works, I'd just tear into him and then make myself so incredibly unpleasant every time he's around that even a oaf like him figures out it's better to be somewhere else..
> 
> 
> 
> I am unpleasant... and even more than unpleasant but he just don't care!
> We had to do some stuff together yesterday and today...
> 
> So today....
> 
> "Come with me in my office "
> "No, you can say everything you have to me here in my office"
> "Oh just come with me"
> "No I won't... Just do that and when you're done with it bring it to me. I have lot's of other things to do"
> "Let's go to my office and we'll do it together"
> "No. I won't. Do it by yourself"
> 
> 
> "Sit here next to me"
> "No, I don't mind standing"
> "Why are you like this, just sit here so we can do this"
> "I'm in a hurry, don't want to sit. I can read what you wrote even if I'm standing"
> "M, just sit here, it's easier"
> "No I don't want to sit!!!"
> 
> "Oh looking good today"- insert stupid smile
> 
> "Would you like some chocolate, peanuts... whatever"
> "No"
> "But take some"
> "No. You know I don't eat that"
> "Just some"
> "No. Take that out of my sight"
> 
> and much more
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We need to just make this guy disappear..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> YUP!
Click to expand...


Have you tried being more open about why you won't, for example, sit with him?

"Why won't you sit."
"Because you are being a jerk and making me uncomfortable and it's pissing me off. Would you like to lose a body part? Then don't piss me off."


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Have you tried being more open about why you won't, for example, sit with him?
> 
> "Why won't you sit."
> "Because you are being a jerk and making me uncomfortable and it's pissing me off. Would you like to lose a body part? Then don't piss me off."



I think he's a jerk for sure but I can't tell him that, I can't say something like that to a man that's older 20 years than me... or to threaten him with loosing body parts when he's much stronger physically than me...
I said something like I'm not comfortable a few times but nothing.

and what I wrote above is the shortest version of our conversations during the day


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> I think he's a jerk for sure but I can't tell him that, I can't say something like that to a man that's older 20 years than me... or to threaten him with loosing body parts when he's much stronger physically than me...
> I said something like I'm not comfortable a few times but nothing.



I think you _can_ say that no matter how old he is. He's doing this to you because he knows - no, he _thinks_ - you have no power. He's taking it away. But you DO have power. Now you need too figure out how to use it. Maybe this means breaking a social or cultural "rule" by talking to an older man that way, or by making his harassment explicit instead of letting him make it about you ("Why are you this way" he asks. So ask him back, "No, why are YOU this way? Constantly pushing, never hearing anything I say. Why won't you take the hint and leave me alone?")


----------



## KenC

I don't know where you are Marija - I gather not in the US.  Usually there are official channels for complaining about this sort of thing, and although no one really wants to go that route and then worry about retribution from the boss or even the company, sometimes just mentioning that if all else fails you would do that can get someone's attention.  Even in a culture where this sort of thing is more tolerated than it is here there probably is some mechanism that could be mentioned.


----------



## mishele

Maria, 
Go the opposite direction!! Tell him you love him and get clingy!! He'll run for the hills! hehe


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leo, I noticed you were third!  I don't know whether to say "Congratulations" or "I'm sorry."
> And Gary is STILL gonna blow through the first month's high post count, without even really trying.  I think he's just a natural-born postwhore.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm also not really sure how to take the news of my current 3rd place bronze  And yeah, I think Garys's going to sail through November, too!
> 
> And Marija, I agree that with Sharon. Just read him the riot act and make yourself unpleasant to be around. Maybe he'll finally get the "hint" - and by hint, I mean the huge glaring neon sign that's about to crash into his face
> 
> Oh, and good morning, bri! Congrats on the coffee
Click to expand...

i was thinking maybe she could just tell his wife that he keeps hitting on her. That might do it.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Rick50 said:
> 
> 
> 
> And NO Pomeranian's? Whats the world coming too!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would totally have Poms at my zoo! Just as long as they get along well with my cats, birds, other dogs, porcupines, goats, geese, and the donkey
> 
> My best friend had a Pomeranian when we were growing up. He was a funny little thing, so I've always like them.
> 
> Edit: To be clear, I've only got the two cats at the moment! The other animals are on my wish list.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the Bunny Farm with the Guinea Pig barn.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Housers.


----------



## Gary A.

61F this morning in La Mirada. Things are cooling off a bit.


----------



## runnah

sup bitches.


----------



## Designer

A sexual harassment lawsuit, a crazy cat lady's zoo fantasy, a new coffee maker, you know; the usual.


----------



## Gary A.

Just starting my day. Colombian Supremo mmmmhhh...mmh


----------



## runnah

mishele said:


> Maria,
> Go the opposite direction!! Tell him you love him and get clingy!! He'll run for the hills! hehe



I tired that and next thing I know i had a wife.


----------



## mishele

Don't shower for a few days and then sit next to him all day!! Or!! Or, wear too much perfume!! 
This is fun!! 
Sit next to him and accidentally spill your coffee on him...ouch!! Cough and sneeze a lot!! 

OR, you could sit next to him and let him take that next step of harassment and have **** to hangover his head!! 
Let me at him!! I want to mess with him!!


----------



## runnah

Mention how hard it is to remember to use the right bathroom after your surgery.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Rick50 said:
> 
> 
> 
> And NO Pomeranian's? Whats the world coming too!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would totally have Poms at my zoo! Just as long as they get along well with my cats, birds, other dogs, porcupines, goats, geese, and the donkey
> 
> My best friend had a Pomeranian when we were growing up. He was a funny little thing, so I've always like them.
> 
> Edit: To be clear, I've only got the two cats at the moment! The other animals are on my wish list.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't forget the Bunny Farm with the Guinea Pig barn.
Click to expand...


There will be many bunnies and guinea pigs. Amy and I will be the overseers of the zoo 

Oh and hamsters! All of hamlet's pictures of Poof have made me want a hamster, too.


----------



## Rick50

mishele said:


> Don't shower for a few days and then sit next to him all day!! Or!! Or, wear too much perfume!!
> This is fun!!
> Sit next to him and accidentally spill your coffee on him...ouch!! Cough and sneeze a lot!!
> 
> OR, you could sit next to him and let him take that next step of harassment and have **** to hangover his head!!
> Let me at him!! I want to mess with him!!


I'll stick my nose into this and give a very unusual analysis. Probably against better judgement. But here goes:
There are always two sides to relationships. For Marija.
Just from reading the posts you have written (and like I say I could be way off, so you are allowed to slap me if you ever find me) you have a luring characteristic to your personality that is rather attractive. I'm sure this isn't the first guy that saw it.
On the other side this poor guy has a need for that characteristic and it's acting as a magnetic attraction. He of course has no clue as to whats happening. Just goes goo-goo.
So for you, you need to discover what that is and change it in you. Then the magnetism drops out. But, don't fight the guy as you just tie it up.
What I'm trying to say is that you can change someone else by changing you if you do it right.
So mishele is on to something here but only you can discover what needs to reverse.
Well, enough of my jabber.


----------



## limr

Rick50 said:


> I'll stick my nose into this and give a very unusual analysis. Probably against better judgement. But here goes:
> There are always two sides to relationships. For Marija.
> Just from reading the posts you have written (and like I say I could be way off, so you are allowed to slap me if you ever find me) you have a luring characteristic to your personality that is rather attractive. I'm sure this isn't the first guy that saw it.
> On the other side this poor guy has a need for that characteristic and it's acting as a magnetic attraction. He of course has no clue as to whats happening. Just goes goo-goo.
> So for you, you need to discover what that is and change it in you. Then the magnetism drops out. But, don't fight the guy as you just tie it up.
> What I'm trying to say is that you can change someone else by changing you if you do it right.
> So mishele is on to something here but only you can discover what needs to reverse.
> Well, enough of my jabber.



It's the kavorka!


----------



## Rick50

Oh, that's funny.


----------



## runnah

limr said:


> It's the kavorka!



What show is that from? It looks funny.


----------



## limr

runnah said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's the kavorka!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What show is that from? It looks funny.
Click to expand...


You are not serious, are you?


----------



## runnah

limr said:


> You are not serious, are you?



I am runnah.


----------



## limr

runnah said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> You are not serious, are you?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am runnah.
Click to expand...


Hear you roar?


----------



## sm4him

runnah said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's the kavorka!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What show is that from? It looks funny.
Click to expand...


That? It was just some little show about absolutely nothing.


----------



## Designer

Rick50 said:


> What I'm trying to say is that you can change someone else by changing you if you do it right.



I disagree.  It is not Marija who needs to change.


----------



## runnah

Maria just needs to stop being so foxy.

I noticed I started to get less attention after I stopped stuffing my shorts.


----------



## limr

runnah said:


> Maria just needs to stop being so foxy.
> 
> I noticed I started to get less attention after I stopped stuffing my shorts.



Strangers stopped pointing and laughing at your crotch?


----------



## limr

I'm tired.


----------



## Rick50

I can tell. How cute is that....  You must be on the East Coast?


----------



## limr

Rick50 said:


> I can tell. How cute is that....  You must be on the East Coast?



Yup. 'Burbs of NYC.

So, we are practically on a diagonal from each other


----------



## Rick50

Can't get too much further apart and still be in US. I guess you could move to Maine.
I spent some time in New Jersey for work and I'm glad I'm here now.


----------



## limr

Rick50 said:


> Can't get too much further apart and still be in US. I guess you could move to Maine.
> I spent some time in New Jersey for work and I'm glad I'm here now.



I'd be glad to get out of Jersey, too 

If I move somewhere other than NY, it would likely be Maine, actually. It's gorgeous. And I've discovered I'm hopelessly East Coast. And I don't like heat so I would definitely avoid the South (it was bad enough being in Florida for college.) So yeah, I'm pretty much relegated to New England.

Are you from California?


----------



## Rick50

I'm from Minneapolis,Minnesota some 34 years ago. Now been here longer than home. I hate the heat too, so I stay close to the coast in the summer. My time is now through Easter. Love the winters here.  Got tired of the freezing cold in Mn and of Mosquitoes.
I would love to visit Maine, I've heard it's nice.


----------



## Gary A.

I am so tired. It's only 7:35 p.m. and I'm beat. Chinese tonight from the Golden Wall.


----------



## Rick50

I've noticed as I get older it doesn't take near as much to wear me out and I'm ready for bed by 8PM. But if do you'll be up at 3am. Damn!
But with the chinese you'll be hungry too!


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I am so tired. It's only 7:35 p.m. and I'm beat. Chinese tonight from the Golden Wall.



I used to work in a Chinese restaurant named the Great Wall Wok and Grill.


----------



## Rick50

I think you guys have something in common now.


----------



## limr

Rick50 said:


> I'm from Minneapolis,Minnesota some 34 years ago. Now been here longer than home. I hate the heat too, so I stay close to the coast in the summer. My time is now through Easter. Love the winters here.  Got tired of the freezing cold in Mn and of Mosquitoes.
> I would love to visit Maine, I've heard it's nice.



Though I love winter, I suppose one day...far in the future...I maybe could conceivably get tired of a harsh winter - not as harsh as MN, but NY ain't no slouch in the winter department.  But I don't see that happening for a long time. Honestly, the only thing that bothers me about winter is driving in the snow. But I'd still need enough of a winter to require good heavy sweaters or a wool coat. And I need to be near water, so it'll have to be a coast...god, I have a lot of requirements!  I swear, I know I am sounding high maintenance here, but I'm really not!


----------



## limr

Rick50 said:


> I think you guys have something in common now.



Buried deep deep deeeeeeep in the monster Leaderboard thread, Gary and I actually discovered we had so much in common that we decided to be long-lost relatives, so now I call him Tio


----------



## Rick50

Winter is high maintenance. You will never realize what it is like to live without it till you do. Once I moved here, I could never go back despite all the nice things I gave up to be here. I wear a long sleeve flannel shirt from now till the end of June and that's about it. Otherwise there are lots of places that have unique things I would love to have but only during the good days. OK, off the soap box.


----------



## limr

Rick50 said:


> Winter is high maintenance. You will never realize what it is like to live without it till you do. Once I moved here, I could never go back despite all the nice things I gave up to be here. I wear a long sleeve flannel shirt from now till the end of June and that's about it. Otherwise there are lots of places that have unique things I would love to have but only during the good days. OK, off the soap box.



Intellectually, I get it. I understand why people get frustrated with winter. But I just love it! I would feel seriously depressed if it never got colder than long-sleeve-flannel-shirt weather. I am very aware that I'm in the minority, but then again, I'm used to that  I tend to hold uncommon opinions on a lot of different things.


----------



## Rick50

And that is absolutely the most important thing. Making yourself happy. Do what you like I say. The rest will follow. You get to be you and life will blossom. Or something like that.


----------



## limr

Okay, fading fast and it's bedtime. Good night, Rick!


----------



## Rick50

Good night Leonore.


----------



## mmaria

first to say







coffee is in front of me...

... and it seems like you were gossiping about me, so I'll now reply on some posts


----------



## mmaria

KenC said:


> I don't know where you are Marija - I gather not in the US.  Usually there are official channels for complaining about this sort of thing, and although no one really wants to go that route and then worry about retribution from the boss or even the company, sometimes just mentioning that if all else fails you would do that can get someone's attention.  Even in a culture where this sort of thing is more tolerated than it is here there probably is some mechanism that could be mentioned.


This is a bit complicated... mentioning this out loud to anyone except you here (and of course the whole www ) is highly risky... Actually two people form tpf know about this because I sent them a pm on different occasions a while ago when I was highly frustrated with him.
One time he came to my office and just stayed here in silence for almost a half of hour. I was pissed off. Asked him: "Do you need anything?I'm busy." No he doesn't.
And ok, now I posted this here  because I'm highly frustrated with him again.

I don't want anyone from the real world to know about this. It would cause so much troubles to lots of people f.e my father works in the same institution, his office in right across mine and it's next to this guy's office. They've been working together for many years. I simply can't imagine that my father knows about this....  and there's no some actual way to "fix" this situation in terms of some legal actions.
I would like to be able to fix it by myself.



mishele said:


> Maria,
> Go the opposite direction!! Tell him you love him and get clingy!! He'll run for the hills! hehe


that's not an option! he'd love that



bribrius said:


> i was thinking maybe she could just tell his wife that he keeps hitting on her. That might do it.


... as I heard, his wife is a nice woman who tries to keep the family together. She went trough really difficult times because he's used to drink a lot.... and actually, I'm not sure I could ever tell a wife those things about her husband.


----------



## mmaria

mishele said:


> Let me at him!! I want to mess with him!!


with a pleasure!



runnah said:


> Mention how hard it is to remember to use the right bathroom after your surgery.


 he wouldn't mind


----------



## mmaria

ok Rick... I'm not sure how to reply on this in the best way but I hope we'll manage something. I'll reply first on this part of what you've said because it's about my personality, the other part is about this particular situation



Rick50 said:


> Just from reading the posts you have written (and like I say I could be way off, so you are allowed to slap me if you ever find me) you have a luring characteristic to your personality that is rather attractive. I'm sure this isn't the first guy that saw it.


Tbh I've never had troubles with getting attention from guys, and I'm aware that I have _"a luring characteristic to my personality that is rather attractive" _
That also means that I'm very well aware of my behavior towards men and "signals" I could give while interacting with people. I've been  interested in human behavior since I was young so I'm analyzing everyone and everything including myself.

I would never slap you, don't worry 



Rick50 said:


> I'll stick my nose into this and give a very unusual analysis. Probably against better judgement. But here goes:
> There are always two sides to relationships. For Marija....
> On the other side this poor guy has a need for that characteristic and it's acting as a magnetic attraction. He of course has no clue as to whats happening. Just goes goo-goo.
> So for you, you need to discover what that is and change it in you. Then the magnetism drops out. But, don't fight the guy as you just tie it up.
> What I'm trying to say is that you can change someone else by changing you if you do it right.
> So mishele is on to something here but only you can discover what needs to reverse.
> Well, enough of my jabber.



Now with what I've just said above...

Rick, thank you for carefully choosing your words   but you're wrong in terms of my behaving towards him


Just for things to be clearer... We know each other for a year or something. I have no idea when he changed his behavior because I really wasn't paying attention to it (or him) until he openly told me what he wants form me. We were alone in the car visiting some project site.
I told him that he should forget about it, that he made me highly uncomfortable and I wish that conversation never happened. Nothing will happen between us. Nothing and never!
He was just smiling and nodding, didn't really care what I was saying.
"Never."
"We'll see. This is how things are today but maybe tomorrow they'll be changed"
"No, they will never change. I don't want it. Stop talking about it."
"Ok for now... Tomorrow tomorrow"

I literary run from the car and him when we arrived to the workplace.

I've had a share of "men who were bothering me with their attention" but I think I've never had a man who acts like this for this long and don't hear when I say "No"

I was always nothing but polite with him and never, ever said anything or even smiled in a way that could give him some kind of a hint.
He backed off for a few days after that conversation but then just continued to behave even more sillier than before.
He's bringing me chocolate, asking silly questions just to talk something when he comes in the office, he's always checking me out whenever we meet in the hallway etc etc

I don't see any way I could change my behavior/personality or anything towards him. I'm pretty unpleasant around him but it seems like he just doesn't care.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> It's the kavorka!


 yup!

funny Leo!


----------



## mmaria

Designer said:


> Rick50 said:
> 
> 
> 
> What I'm trying to say is that you can change someone else by changing you if you do it right.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I disagree.  It is not Marija who needs to change.
Click to expand...

awwwwwwwwwww Thank you J


----------



## mmaria

runnah said:


> Maria just needs to stop being so foxy.


 You meant this in a bad way, did you? Yeah you did. 
Why oh why don't you like me!?


----------



## runnah

mmaria said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maria just needs to stop being so foxy.
> 
> 
> 
> You meant this in a bad way, did you? Yeah you did.
> Why oh why don't you like me!?
Click to expand...


This was a compliment


----------



## mmaria

runnah said:


> This was a compliment


 I know I know 


oh.... and I have a present just for you runnah


----------



## mmaria

*ok ...enough of sleeping people!!!




*


----------



## pixmedic

mmaria said:


> *ok ...enough of sleeping people!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *


Sleep? I'm on shift today.....sleep isn't an option. 

We barely got into the station today before getting sent out to take a 2 month old to the pediatric ER.

Nothing like starting your day with a kid in respiratory distress.
Of course, the parents started THEIR day pretty much the same way.


----------



## mmaria

pixmedic said:


> Sleep? I'm on shift today.....sleep isn't an option.
> 
> We barely got into the station today before getting sent out to take a 2 month old to the pediatric ER.
> 
> Nothing like starting your day with a kid in respiratory distress.
> Of course, the parents started THEIR day pretty much the same way.



Jason... posts about your job need to have "NSFMaria" tag 

I'm


----------



## Designer

I'm up, I'm up!

I had to get up anyway.

I hope you have a very nice day today!


----------



## runnah

I am always up early, just not always on the web


----------



## runnah

mmaria said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> This was a compliment
> 
> 
> 
> I know I know
> 
> 
> oh.... and I have a present just for you runnah
Click to expand...


Selfie?


----------



## mmaria

runnah said:


> Selfie?


No.

Unfortunately, I don't have blue eyes


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Rick50 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm from Minneapolis,Minnesota some 34 years ago. Now been here longer than home. I hate the heat too, so I stay close to the coast in the summer. My time is now through Easter. Love the winters here.  Got tired of the freezing cold in Mn and of Mosquitoes.
> I would love to visit Maine, I've heard it's nice.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Though I love winter, I suppose one day...far in the future...I maybe could conceivably get tired of a harsh winter - not as harsh as MN, but NY ain't no slouch in the winter department.  But I don't see that happening for a long time. Honestly, the only thing that bothers me about winter is driving in the snow. But I'd still need enough of a winter to require good heavy sweaters or a wool coat. And I need to be near water, so it'll have to be a coast...god, I have a lot of requirements!  I swear, I know I am sounding high maintenance here, but I'm really not!
Click to expand...


I know we've covered this territory before, but it bears repeating. I detest the cold. Truly despise it and have this deep sense of impending doom and gloom and despair about it.  
And by cold, I mean under 60F. 

Leo, when you tire of the really harsh winters, I think you could actually be pretty happy in some northern parts of NC. They get plenty of cold and snow, but not on the same level as NY and Maine and all those northern states. Actually, TN and KY get plenty of winter as well, but the nearest beach to me is 6.5 hours away--Charleston, SC.
This statistic saddens me.  (or perhaps it "boggles" me).

If I could have my East TN hills, my fall and spring and wonderful summer, and just be about 3 hours closer to a warm beach, I think I could survive the winters better. If I could get to a beach every few weekends and soak up enough life-giving warmth, maybe I could better deal with the awful cold.


----------



## limr

Okay, okay! I'm awake!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Okay, okay! I'm awake!


was I too loud? 

well I have to be loud! there are so many of you I need to wake up!!!!


----------



## sm4him

I'm awake too! Have been for about 3 hours now. Just been dealing with some family stuff. I love living close to a lot of my family. Mostly. But sometimes, I wish I lived many, many hours away.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> I'm awake too! Have been for about 3 hours now. Just been dealing with some family stuff. I love living close to a lot of my family. Mostly. But sometimes, I wish I lived many, many hours away.


hey!

you have some family stuff to deal with here too!


----------



## sm4him

Marija, honey (you're my daughter, so I can call you that--also, we southerners use that term for everybody), I seriously do hate that you are having to deal with this individual and I wish I had some advice for how to get them to stop.  Unfortunately, people like that DON'T stop--those sorts are the very reason that we established some harsh regulations about sexual harassment in the workplace here in the states. It's unfortunate you don't have that protection.

This is making you miserable though, and in the end, I fear you are only going to have three options:
1. Ignore as best you can, react when you have to, and keep dealing with it on a daily basis. This will continue to make you absolutely miserable, and NOBODY should have to dread going to work every day because of something like this.
2. Leave and find another job.
3. Find someone who is in authority over this guy and get some help in making it stop; get him moved elsewhere, or fired. This is just NOT okay, and it infuriates me that you feel so helpless to make him stop.

Would your dad be willing to listen and do anything? I know you want to "fix" this yourself, but from everything you've said about it, that is simply NOT going to happen.  Short of you doing something violent to the guy and ending up in jail. And we really don't want THAT, now do we?


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> I know we've covered this territory before, but it bears repeating. I detest the cold. Truly despise it and have this deep sense of impending doom and gloom and despair about it.
> And by cold, I mean under 60F.
> 
> Leo, when you tire of the really harsh winters, I think you could actually be pretty happy in some northern parts of NC. They get plenty of cold and snow, but not on the same level as NY and Maine and all those northern states. Actually, TN and KY get plenty of winter as well, but the nearest beach to me is 6.5 hours away--Charleston, SC.
> This statistic saddens me.  (or perhaps it "boggles" me).
> 
> If I could have my East TN hills, my fall and spring and wonderful summer, and just be about 3 hours closer to a warm beach, I think I could survive the winters better. If I could get to a beach every few weekends and soak up enough life-giving warmth, maybe I could better deal with the awful cold.



One minor correction: IF I get tired of harsh winters  Might I change my mind in 30-40 years? I suppose anything is possible. I'm just not placing any bets right now. 

If the only factors were 'milder winter, near the ocean, on the East Coast', NC would make sense. The problem is that the winters may be milder but the summers would be worse, and I despise summer with every fiber of my being the same way you feel about winter. If I ever decide to leave the northeast, I can't just go farther south on the East Coast because even right by the water, the summers will torture me.

Plus, I just...I'm like a fish out of water south of the Mason-Dixon. I don't fit. Well, there's a lot of places where I don't fit  But ultimately, I think I'd be better off either staying put in New England or the northen parts of the other coast - Northern Cali, Oregon (I could move to Portlandia!  - does anyone watch that show?)


----------



## bribrius

mmaria said:


> ok Rick... I'm not sure how to reply on this in the best way but I hope we'll manage something. I'll reply first on this part of what you've said because it's about my personality, the other part is about this particular situation
> 
> 
> 
> Rick50 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just from reading the posts you have written (and like I say I could be way off, so you are allowed to slap me if you ever find me) you have a luring characteristic to your personality that is rather attractive. I'm sure this isn't the first guy that saw it.
> 
> 
> 
> Tbh I've never had troubles with getting attention from guys, and I'm aware that I have _"a luring characteristic to my personality that is rather attractive" _
> That also means that I'm very well aware of my behavior towards men and "signals" I could give while interacting with people. I've been  interested in human behavior since I was young so I'm analyzing everyone and everything including myself.
> 
> I would never slap you, don't worry
> 
> 
> 
> Rick50 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'll stick my nose into this and give a very unusual analysis. Probably against better judgement. But here goes:
> There are always two sides to relationships. For Marija....
> On the other side this poor guy has a need for that characteristic and it's acting as a magnetic attraction. He of course has no clue as to whats happening. Just goes goo-goo.
> So for you, you need to discover what that is and change it in you. Then the magnetism drops out. But, don't fight the guy as you just tie it up.
> What I'm trying to say is that you can change someone else by changing you if you do it right.
> So mishele is on to something here but only you can discover what needs to reverse.
> Well, enough of my jabber.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Now with what I've just said above...
> 
> Rick, thank you for carefully choosing your words   but you're wrong in terms of my behaving towards him
> 
> 
> Just for things to be clearer... We know each other for a year or something. I have no idea when he changed his behavior because I really wasn't paying attention to it (or him) until he openly told me what he wants form me. We were alone in the car visiting some project site.
> I told him that he should forget about it, that he made me highly uncomfortable and I wish that conversation never happened. Nothing will happen between us. Nothing and never!
> He was just smiling and nodding, didn't really care what I was saying.
> "Never."
> "We'll see. This is how things are today but maybe tomorrow they'll be changed"
> "No, they will never change. I don't want it. Stop talking about it."
> "Ok for now... Tomorrow tomorrow"
> 
> I literary run from the car and him when we arrived to the workplace.
> 
> I've had a share of "men who were bothering me with their attention" but I think I've never had a man who acts like this for this long and don't hear when I say "No"
> 
> I was always nothing but polite with him and never, ever said anything or even smiled in a way that could give him some kind of a hint.
> He backed off for a few days after that conversation but then just continued to behave even more sillier than before.
> He's bringing me chocolate, asking silly questions just to talk something when he comes in the office, he's always checking me out whenever we meet in the hallway etc etc
> 
> I don't see any way I could change my behavior/personality or anything towards him. I'm pretty unpleasant around him but it seems like he just doesn't care.
Click to expand...

tell him you have herpes and aids, syphilis


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Marija, honey (you're my daughter, so I can call you that--also, we southerners use that term for everybody), I seriously do hate that you are having to deal with this individual and I wish I had some advice for how to get them to stop.  Unfortunately, people like that DON'T stop--those sorts are the very reason that we established some harsh regulations about sexual harassment in the workplace here in the states. It's unfortunate you don't have that protection.


 yup
and you can always call me honey without explanation 



> This is making you miserable though, and in the end, I fear you are only going to have three options:
> 1. Ignore as best you can, react when you have to, and keep dealing with it on a daily basis. This will continue to make you absolutely miserable, and NOBODY should have to dread going to work every day because of something like this.


I'm just hooping he'll get it over with and stop


> 2. Leave and find another job.


 not an option



> 3. Find someone who is in authority over this guy and get some help in making it stop; get him moved elsewhere, or fired. This is just NOT okay, and it infuriates me that you feel so helpless to make him stop.


 not an option. It just can't be done.



> Would your dad be willing to listen and do anything? I know you want to "fix" this yourself, but from everything you've said about it, that is simply NOT going to happen.  Short of you doing something violent to the guy and ending up in jail. And we really don't want THAT, now do we?


 My father would make a huge scene and probably beat the guy and get into trouble. not an option

oh...here he is again


----------



## limr

I know you feel like no one can ever find out about this, and I don't want to dismiss that feeling, but it might be the only way to get him to stop. Or at least the threat of telling someone might be enough to scare him off. I think embarrassment is the only way because right now, he thinks he's got you in a corner. He doesn't feel guilty and he thinks you're going to just tolerate it until you finally break down, and no one will ever be the wiser.

I say you make a scene one day. Don't make it about the sexual stuff - make it seem like you're upset about something else, something about work, or the chocolates he's trying to give you or something. And don't do it in an office. One day in the hallway when other people can hear, just start talking louder - say he's being too impatient about the project, or he's being too critical and that makes it difficult to do work, or "Why do you always have to check my work? I know how to do my job!" or something that will make other people look your way. "You know I can't eat that, are you trying to kill me?"

I think once he feels like other people are watching him, he'll stop bothering you. Keep interactions as public as possible. If he corners you in his office, walk out. Chances are, he'll follow you out and once people are around again, you can talk louder again, "I know you are faster at your work and have time to chat, but I need more time to get things done!"

In short, you need to embarrass him in front of other people.


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, okay! I'm awake!
> 
> 
> 
> was I too loud?
> 
> well I have to be loud! there are so many of you I need to wake up!!!!
Click to expand...


Well, I did wake up rather abruptly


----------



## bribrius

clearly the only logical solutions are the ones I have posted, short of that then maybe you should sleep with him and get it out of the way.


----------



## mmaria

bribrius said:


> then maybe you should sleep with him and get it out of the way.


 could you do it instead of me?

because I clearly can't do that


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> In short, you need to embarrass him in front of other people.


 he really doesn't care... trust me


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> In short, you need to embarrass him in front of other people.
> 
> 
> 
> he really doesn't care... trust me
Click to expand...


Then make it more suggestive. Slap him in front of a lot of other people. Tell him, "I'm not like that!"

Seriously - he is banking on the fact that you are going to keep this quiet. So don't keep it quiet anymore.


----------



## pixmedic

sm4him said:


> I'm awake too! Have been for about 3 hours now. Just been dealing with some family stuff. I love living close to a lot of my family. Mostly. But sometimes, I wish I lived many, many hours away.


I don't have much of any family left. 
No parents,  no grandparents.
2 out of 5 siblings left. (That I don't talk to much anymore) 

On the bright side,  driving distance isn't  a favor for me anymore and I save a lot of money during the holidays.


----------



## runnah

Guys like that seem to target women the know won't "fight" back. He knows he can push you much further than normal and he probably gets off on that.


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> I know we've covered this territory before, but it bears repeating. I detest the cold. Truly despise it and have this deep sense of impending doom and gloom and despair about it.
> And by cold, I mean under 60F.



What you need is to live in Chicago for a few years as I did - I don't think I've complained about the cold or the wind since I came back to the Northeast.

Ironically, the first year we were there, there were several days where the high was no more than 5 deg F, and then the next summer there was a heat wave where one day it hit 102 (an all-time record as I remember, not just for that day).  I remember thinking: "where the f*** am I and how do I get out of here?"


----------



## bribrius

mmaria said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> then maybe you should sleep with him and get it out of the way.
> 
> 
> 
> could you do it instead of me?
> 
> because I clearly can't do that
Click to expand...

LOL!
I don't go that way. And besides that I am married to a woman with a temper. Last time I jumped the fence I thought she would kill me and my fling had to put a restraining order on her. I been a good boy for eight years now I need positive encouragement!


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> What you need is to live in Chicago for a few years as I did - I don't think I've complained about the cold or the wind since I came back to the Northeast.
> 
> Ironically, the first year we were there, there were several days where the high was no more than 5 deg F, and then the next summer there was a heat wave where one day it hit 102 (an all-time record as I remember, not just for that day).  I remember thinking: "where the f*** am I and how do I get out of here?"



I have been to Chicago several times and always during the summer. It is not a pleasant place int he summer.

Too bad, because I liked it there.


----------



## bribrius

only time I have been to Chicago is on connector flights. And walking all the way through the airport back and forth to go out for a cigarette is about all I remember about it.


----------



## mishele

Maria...

You know, it's time to get down to business. You need to be as straight forward as possible. I would write him an e-mail giving examples of how he is making you uncomfortable. This does 2 things, 1. You tell him exactly how you feel and you don't have to be face to face. 2. It gives you a documented conversation. He is going to have to be very careful on the way he replies. He'll need to address the issue in a professional way. If he doesn't you'll have the proof of it.
(Just remember to keep emotions out the e-mail (anger). Be friendly but to the point.)

I know you keep turning down all the ideas being thrown at you but it's time to really do something if you want it to stop. <hugs>


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> What you need is to live in Chicago for a few years as I did - I don't think I've complained about the cold or the wind since I came back to the Northeast.
> 
> Ironically, the first year we were there, there were several days where the high was no more than 5 deg F, and then the next summer there was a heat wave where one day it hit 102 (an all-time record as I remember, not just for that day).  I remember thinking: "where the f*** am I and how do I get out of here?"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have been to Chicago several times and always during the summer. It is not a pleasant place int he summer.
> 
> Too bad, because I liked it there.
Click to expand...


It's a great city, and the summers are on average a little more temperate than they are here (Philly or NYC), but the winter is awful.  Once I could not get a sharp hand-held close-up on a city street because the wind off the lake actually made me rock back and forth.


----------



## limr

I lived in Pittsburgh for 4 years and I think the winters there are rougher than they are here. Pittsburgh sits in that 3 rivers bowl and weather systems seem to camp right over that bowl for a while, so there was a lot of snow, a lot of cold temperatures, and a lot of heat and humidity in the summer.

Coldest temperature I ever encountered was in Pittsburgh: -22F. That was the day after a blizzard. If I remember correctly, school was still open during the storm, but they sent everyone home halfway through that really cold day because the city ordered public buildings to close to institute a 'brown-out.' 

Of course I walked to school that day


----------



## sm4him

mishele said:


> Maria...
> 
> You know, it's time to get down to business. You need to be as straight forward as possible. I would write him an e-mail giving examples of how he is making you uncomfortable. This does 2 things, 1. You tell him exactly how you feel and you don't have to be face to face. 2. It gives you a documented conversation. He is going to have to be very careful on the way he replies. He'll need to address the issue in a professional way. If he doesn't you'll have the proof of it.
> (Just remember to keep emotions out the e-mail (anger). Be friendly but to the point.)
> 
> I know you keep turning down all the ideas being thrown at you but it's time to really do something if you want it to stop. <hugs>



^THIS. Lots of so much THIS.

This guy's actions are going to HAVE to come out into the light before anything happens. So you can either just continue to try to deal with it alone and be absolutely miserable for a very long time--because, as you've already discovered, NOTHING you say orally or do is going to dissuade him, OR you can decide it is bad enough to amp it up and make this an OFFICIAL complaint. Mish's idea is a good first step to that. Send an email; be polite and professional, but do NOT beat around the bush. State what is actually bothering you about his behavior. If he is making sexual advances, don't gloss over that. Call it sexual advances. Make it clear that you will not continue to tolerate it and he WILL STOP unless he wants you to "go public" with this problem.


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I know we've covered this territory before, but it bears repeating. I detest the cold. Truly despise it and have this deep sense of impending doom and gloom and despair about it.
> And by cold, I mean under 60F.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What you need is to live in Chicago for a few years as I did - I don't think I've complained about the cold or the wind since I came back to the Northeast.
> 
> Ironically, the first year we were there, there were several days where the high was no more than 5 deg F, and then the next summer there was a heat wave where one day it hit 102 (an all-time record as I remember, not just for that day).  I remember thinking: "where the f*** am I and how do I get out of here?"
Click to expand...


I could not physically survive a Chicago winter. I would either bail and go somewhere else, or I would…well, I just wouldn't make it through that kind of winter.  It is truly often ALL I can do to make it through the comparatively mild winters we have here. I get so depressed in the cold and gray and gloom that I just don't want to keep facing it.

My father always said the same thing about having been stationed in Alaska during WWII though, that he was never cold again after that.  And he wasn't either--he'd go out in the middle of an ice storm in his shorts and bare feet to get more wood for the fireplace so the rest of us would stay warm!
That changed in the last few years of his life though, when he had Parkinson's and dementia; it was really odd to see my dad sitting wrapped up in a blanket and still cold!


----------



## Rick50

Rick50 said:


> I would never slap you, don't worry



Thank you dear. 



Rick50 said:


> Rick, thank you for carefully choosing your words   but you're wrong in terms of my behaving towards him
> I don't see any way I could change my behavior/personality or anything towards him. I'm pretty unpleasant around him but it seems like he just doesn't care.



Well, the situation appears a bit more involved than I presumed. I was hoping maybe you wouldn't lock horns but it doesn't appear he will not allow that. I can't go any further into this on a public forum. Is there a way to get help from higher authorities? There are ways in the States to  get restraining orders and such. Wish I could help more. In the meantime.....

This is a great song but even for me it would get old after a while.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> I lived in Pittsburgh for 4 years and I think the winters there are rougher than they are here. Pittsburgh sits in that 3 rivers bowl and weather systems seem to camp right over that bowl for a while, so there was a lot of snow, a lot of cold temperatures, and a lot of heat and humidity in the summer.
> 
> Coldest temperature I ever encountered was in Pittsburgh: -22F. That was the day after a blizzard. If I remember correctly, school was still open during the storm, but they sent everyone home halfway through that really cold day because the city ordered public buildings to close to institute a 'brown-out.'
> 
> Of course I walked to school that day



The winter after I moved back here from Atlanta (this is my hometown, but we lived in Atlanta through my high school years and until I got married in my early 20s), it was the coldest winter on record. We had a record snowfall and the temperature dropped to -24F.  
If it EVER gets that cold here again, I will pack everything that I can fit into my little convertible, and I will simply disappear. Go hop on a ship to the Caribbean and make a living selling photos to tourists.


----------



## Rick50

This is where you want to get to:


----------



## mishele

sm4him said:


> mishele said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maria...
> 
> You know, it's time to get down to business. You need to be as straight forward as possible. I would write him an e-mail giving examples of how he is making you uncomfortable. This does 2 things, 1. You tell him exactly how you feel and you don't have to be face to face. 2. It gives you a documented conversation. He is going to have to be very careful on the way he replies. He'll need to address the issue in a professional way. If he doesn't you'll have the proof of it.
> (Just remember to keep emotions out the e-mail (anger). Be friendly but to the point.)
> 
> I know you keep turning down all the ideas being thrown at you but it's time to really do something if you want it to stop. <hugs>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ^THIS. Lots of so much THIS.
> 
> This guy's actions are going to HAVE to come out into the light before anything happens. So you can either just continue to try to deal with it alone and be absolutely miserable for a very long time--because, as you've already discovered, NOTHING you say orally or do is going to dissuade him, OR you can decide it is bad enough to amp it up and make this an OFFICIAL complaint. Mish's idea is a good first step to that. Send an email; be polite and professional, but do NOT beat around the bush. State what is actually bothering you about his behavior. If he is making sexual advances, don't gloss over that. Call it sexual advances. Make it clear that you will not continue to tolerate it and he WILL STOP unless he wants you to "go public" with this problem.
Click to expand...


Yep. It's nice because everything is still private. No one needs to know anything. He has a choice at this point to change his behavior and it's all over. If he doesn't, you have proof that you tried to take a high road and communicate with him about the issue.  This is a win, win option for you. It also helps if things get messy. You have something documented on the issue. He can't make **** up 2 months from now if it goes bad.


----------



## bribrius




----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee (postwhore)Housers.


----------



## Gary A.

63F this morning. Maybe hit the mid 70's today. Getting colder.


----------



## limr

Morning, Gary! It's 38F here right now.


----------



## mishele

PAGE 69!!!!! Woot!!!
Get naked!!


----------



## limr

Here's what I see from my office window as I attempt to get myself started on today's marathon grading session:


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> 63F this morning. Maybe hit the mid 70's today. Getting colder.



Gary, honey, are you just TRYING to make me hate you?? 
37 here, going to a whopping high of 41. Looks like we won't make back over 50 for at least the next week, in fact next Tuesday the current prediction is 35F for the HIGH.

I really have GOT to find me a beach.  I could get myself to Charleston, but I'd have to sleep in the car, because I don't think I could afford to pay for the gas and still get a hotel, and eat and all those silly little things. Still, I *would* be at the beach…it's tempting.


----------



## sm4him

mishele said:


> PAGE 69!!!!! Woot!!!
> Get naked!!



Since I'm at work, I just suspect that would not end well. 

On the other hand, once they fire me, I could head to the beach. So maybe that's a "win" for me after all.


----------



## limr

Sharon, we have the exact opposite reactions. We were in the 60s for the past few days and it was starting to really annoy me. It's finally gotten chilly again and I'm so much more comfortable!


----------



## Rick50

sm4him said:


> The winter after I moved back here from Atlanta (this is my hometown, but we lived in Atlanta through my high school years and until I got married in my early 20s), it was the coldest winter on record. We had a record snowfall and the temperature dropped to -24F.
> If it EVER gets that cold here again, I will pack everything that I can fit into my little convertible, and I will simply disappear. Go hop on a ship to the Caribbean and make a living selling photos to tourists.



I can tell you where the coldest place on earth is. It is at the bus stop on the corner of 35th and Bryant in So. Mpls. I spent a few mornings waiting for the bus in -30F temperatures.


----------



## Designer

It was 17 degrees F here this morning.  Supposed to stay chilly for another week.  I will probably snow on Saturday.  I seriously doubt if either of us will be up for skiing this year.  I cranked my knee a couple of weeks ago, and it barks at me once in a while.


----------



## Rick50

Designer said:


> It was 17 degrees F here this morning.  Supposed to stay chilly for another week.  I will probably snow on Saturday.  I seriously doubt if either of us will be up for skiing this year.  I cranked my knee a couple of weeks ago, and it barks at me once in a while.


And it is not Thanksgiving yet! Brrrrrrrrrr.


----------



## Rick50

Gary A. said:


> 63F this morning. Maybe hit the mid 70's today. Getting colder.


Good morning. I am up higher than you. At 1500 ft elevation. My thermometer outside says 53.


----------



## bribrius

still haven't got out the snow equipment.........


I been busy. seems it takes me 3 hours to watch a hour and half movie now as I keep pausing and rewinding looking at the perspective of how they are shooting it


----------



## Rick50

Snow equipment is something I don't miss but I do need to ride my mower around to knock down some weeds.


----------



## Rick50

I'm off to the garage. Finishing my Kitchen cabinets and am on the last one. Later.


----------



## astroNikon

snowbear said:


> How could anyone _not_ want a pair of these?
> Steel toe bunny slippers


my kids would take them from me .. like my current bunny slippers.


----------



## astroNikon

Selfies are hard to do .. missed focus on a bunch of them


----------



## astroNikon

snowbear said:


> Welcome.  Where, in Michigan are you?  My lovely wife is from Monroe.





Warhorse said:


> I live in the northern area of the lower peninsula, about 25 miles south of the Mackinaw bridge.
> 
> My bride was born in Monroe.


deja vu ... you two had this conversation last month.  lol


----------



## astroNikon

Gary would like this photo ... a rarely seen Campagnolo Cobalto brake caliper


----------



## Rick50

Oh dude! Don't be showing me any bike pics.  I have an Italian made Mondonico that looks similar to that. I bought in the 80's and rode for 15 years up and down the California coast. I have a few stories but not today. My bike has full Camponolo parts.
Now my knees are bad and my lungs are bad. No more riding for me but I still have the bike.


----------



## astroNikon

Rick50 said:


> Oh dude! Don't be showing me any bike pics.  I have an Italian made Mondonico that looks similar to that. I bought in the 80's and rode for 15 years up and down the California coast. I have a few stories but not today. My bike has full Camponolo parts.
> Now my knees are bad and my lungs are bad. No more riding for me but I still have the bike.


I had a mauve painted Mondonico for a few years.
you might enjoy these ==> Bike Stuff - an album on Flickr


----------



## Rick50

Great pics. Too bad I didn't carry a camera back then but I guess the digitals weren't out yet anyway. One of the best forms of exercise there is. Get great views and good cardio workout. I started from nothing and gradually worked my way up. I think my long day was 150 miles. I had a friend and we would meet every Sunday morning fro breakfast and ride all day. What a blast.


----------



## astroNikon

Rick50 said:


> Great pics. Too bad I didn't carry a camera back then but I guess the digitals weren't out yet anyway. One of the best forms of exercise there is. Get great views and good cardio workout. I started from nothing and gradually worked my way up. I think my long day was 150 miles. I had a friend and we would meet every Sunday morning fro breakfast and ride all day. What a blast.


I'm so much out of shape right now ... but I'm working on it.
I miss those days of riding all day long, for fun, not racing.


----------



## Rick50

Exactly, out for a good ride. We didn't go all day every time. Sometimes just short rides and sometimes others would join in. Sure took ones mind off of work.


----------



## astroNikon

Rick50 said:


> Great pics. Too bad I didn't carry a camera back then but I guess the digitals weren't out yet anyway. One of the best forms of exercise there is. Get great views and good cardio workout. I started from nothing and gradually worked my way up. I think my long day was 150 miles. I had a friend and we would meet every Sunday morning fro breakfast and ride all day. What a blast.


I used to carry one of those Kodak instant cameras in my pocket on trips.


----------



## limr

Well, it's not a road bike, but I've been riding the stationary bike I bought last week. If you missed it, in the interest of getting back into shape (and getting a head start on the holidays), I am putting $1 into a jar for every day I ride the bike and break a sweat. I've had it for 9 days and there's $6...no wait, $7 in the jar. I haven't put in today's yet. I reset the panel each time so I can track time, distance, and speed, but the odometer keeps track of total miles and I've got 73 on the bike so far. Yay!


----------



## Rick50

They make those stationary bikes with video screens so you can be riding through the Alps or somewhere and you won't get bored.


----------



## Rick50

astroNikon said:


> I used to carry one of those Kodak instant cameras in my pocket on trips.



I had used point and shoot film cameras way back in the 70's but I never did here for some stupid reason.


----------



## astroNikon

Rick50 said:


> They make those stationary bikes with video screens so you can be riding through the Alps or somewhere and you won't get bored.


yeah but those are expensive.

I use an android tablet, netflix and watch a movie or something.
I have enough hills on my brain that I can visualize tons of my training regimes on the trainer.


----------



## limr

astroNikon said:


> Rick50 said:
> 
> 
> 
> They make those stationary bikes with video screens so you can be riding through the Alps or somewhere and you won't get bored.
> 
> 
> 
> yeah but those are expensive.
> 
> I use an android tablet, netflix and watch a movie or something.
> I have enough hills on my brain that I can visualize tons of my training regimes on the trainer.
Click to expand...


Yup, they're too expensive for me right now for sure. It was a stretch even buying this one, but I knew I needed to get moving and my usual tapes and walks were starting to really bore me. I can't afford to pay for a piece of exercise equipment and then not use it, so that alone is motivation! 

I have it in my living room in front of the television so I can watch my stories while I ride.


----------



## Rick50

I would never get a stationary bike. Way too many places here to walk and the weather usually permits it. It's one reason I have this camera. I knew it would get me outside. That doesn't mean I  still couldn't do more.


----------



## astroNikon

Rick50 said:


> They make those stationary bikes with video screens so you can be riding through the Alps or somewhere and you won't get bored.


I still have my first SuperGo trainer from the mid 1980s  But use mostly a Cateye Cyclosimulator but also have a CycleOps fluid doohickie


----------



## astroNikon

Rick50 said:


> I would never get a stationary bike. Way too many places here to walk and the weather usually permits it. It's one reason I have this camera. I knew it would get me outside. That doesn't mean I  still couldn't do more.


I take pics of my bicycles inside


----------



## Designer

I rode my bike on snow and ice when I was attending college, but these days I put it away for the winter.


----------



## Rick50

Designer said:


> I rode my bike on snow and ice when I was attending college, but these days I put it away for the winter.


This is why I loved it here. My friend was from Toledo, Ohio and I'm from Mpls. It would be the middle of January and we are riding along the beach watching the girls and joking "Wonder what the people in Toledo are doing this morning?".


----------



## pixmedic

Crap crap crap.

Just finished taking another kid to the ER.
Active seizures. Bad ones.
Had to break out the narcotics to stop it. Nothing like a convulsing  child before dinner.

It's gonna be one of those shifts.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> Crap crap crap.
> 
> Just finished taking another kid to the ER.
> Active seizures. Bad ones.
> Had to break out the narcotics to stop it. Nothing like a convulsing  child before dinner.
> 
> It's gonna be one of those shifts.



I'm sorry I hope the kid is okay and that the rest of your shift is desperately boring with no more calls.


----------



## pixmedic

limr said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Crap crap crap.
> 
> Just finished taking another kid to the ER.
> Active seizures. Bad ones.
> Had to break out the narcotics to stop it. Nothing like a convulsing  child before dinner.
> 
> It's gonna be one of those shifts.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sorry I hope the kid is okay and that the rest of your shift is desperately boring with no more calls.
Click to expand...


Aaaaaaand that's a big cup of nope. 
Just got a call coming out for orlando going to Shands in Gainesville.
Emergency transport to the organ transport team. 

Good times.


----------



## astroNikon

Designer said:


> I rode my bike on snow and ice when I was attending college, but these days I put it away for the winter.


When I was in elementary school I used to ride on an outdoor ice rink.  That taught me alot about handling.  I used to ride all year long but after I stopped racing I only prefer nice weather.


----------



## mmaria

first to say


----------



## mmaria

and now I'll try to reply on some posts


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> I know you feel like no one can ever find out about this, and I don't want to dismiss that feeling, but it might be the only way to get him to stop. Or at least the threat of telling someone might be enough to scare him off. I think embarrassment is the only way because right now, he thinks he's got you in a corner. He doesn't feel guilty and he thinks you're going to just tolerate it until you finally break down, and no one will ever be the wiser.
> 
> I say you make a scene one day. Don't make it about the sexual stuff - make it seem like you're upset about something else, something about work, or the chocolates he's trying to give you or something. And don't do it in an office. One day in the hallway when other people can hear, just start talking louder - say he's being too impatient about the project, or he's being too critical and that makes it difficult to do work, or "Why do you always have to check my work? I know how to do my job!" or something that will make other people look your way. "You know I can't eat that, are you trying to kill me?"
> 
> I think once he feels like other people are watching him, he'll stop bothering you. Keep interactions as public as possible.
> 
> In short, you need to embarrass him in front of other people.


We were interacting in front of other people lots of time, and I was rude to him numerous times. I was the one criticizing his work and he's the one backing off, not me.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> we established some harsh regulations about sexual harassment in the workplace here in the states. It's unfortunate you don't have that protection.





mishele said:


> Maria...You know, it's time to get down to business. You need to be as straight forward as possible. I would write him an e-mail giving examples of how he is making you uncomfortable. This does 2 things, 1. You tell him exactly how you feel and you don't have to be face to face. 2. It gives you a documented conversation. He is going to have to be very careful on the way he replies. He'll need to address the issue in a professional way. If he doesn't you'll have the proof of it.
> (Just remember to keep emotions out the e-mail (anger). Be friendly but to the point.)
> . <hugs>





sm4him said:


> This guy's actions are going to HAVE to come out into the light before anything happens. So you can either just continue to try to deal with it alone and be absolutely miserable for a very long time--because, as you've already discovered, NOTHING you say orally or do is going to dissuade him, OR you can decide it is bad enough to amp it up and make this an OFFICIAL complaint. Mish's idea is a good first step to that. Send an email; be polite and professional, but do NOT beat around the bush. State what is actually bothering you about his behavior. If he is making sexual advances, don't gloss over that. Call it sexual advances. Make it clear that you will not continue to tolerate it and he WILL STOP unless he wants you to "go public" with this problem.





mishele said:


> Yep. It's nice because everything is still private. No one needs to know anything. He has a choice at this point to change his behavior and it's all over. If he doesn't, you have proof that you tried to take a high road and communicate with him about the issue.  This is a win, win option for you. It also helps if things get messy. You have something documented on the issue. He can't make **** up 2 months from now if it goes bad.





> I know you keep turning down all the ideas being thrown at you but it's time to really do something if you want it to stop



ok ladies... I'm turning down ideas just because things don't go like that here.

Sexual harassment here, in this particular case simply doesn't "officially" exist. He haven't done anything serious enough for calling this "sexual  harassment" here


----------



## mmaria

> 3. Find someone who is in authority over this guy and get some help in making it stop; get him moved elsewhere, or fired. This is just NOT okay, and it infuriates me that you feel so helpless to make him stop.


One of the authorities (he and I were sitting in the same office for about 5 years and he helped me a lot during those years and he's my "go to " person when ever I need something) was yesterday in my office, and while we chatted He came in the office.
Well, we changed the subject, He was talking about something and finally realized he interrupted us and He left the office.
After He left I told A that "He gets on my nerves, can't stand him etc" A tried to make a joke but I was not in a mood for joking and I said him again that I don't like He.
A said: "Oh M, maybe he likes you and wants your attention" and then I decided to tell him what's going on.
The comment from A (this is from someone who knows me and knows that I'm not a tolerant person, while he is a very tolerant person and he gets along with everyone. I don't get along with everyone. I can't smile fake)... so the comment was: "Oh M, don't be like that, the poor guy is probably in love, so what?"   and of course we continued to talk and A was explaining me that I will certainly have similar situations in my life not from him only but from other man...I agreed blah blah but I was explicit in saying that I want He to stop and I don't get it why He won't stop if I told him....
"You worry too much M (as usual he meant to add) just let it go. He's harmless, and he's enjoying, just let him enjoy a bit "

And that's really all I could get from my authorities. That's not a big deal here.


----------



## Rick50

Hi girl, How you doing today? I'm up a bit lat\e.


----------



## mmaria

ok one thing more needs to be explained

I got a pm where someone refereed the guy as a creep... and I'll quote runnah here



runnah said:


> Guys like that seem to target women the know won't "fight" back. He knows he can push you much further than normal and he probably gets off on that.



I was telling you about my feelings towards him. I hate the guy, can't stand him etc. I told you how he's pushy and annoying and all but I didn't say anything particularly bad about him as a person....

He's really not a creep and not a guy who can "victimize" me or any woman as a matter of fact. He's a man who really doesn't do this stuff usually. He's a hard worker and not womanizer. He doesn't have a power over me nor he tries to have it, he's more like an unwanted puppy hoping around and trying to get attention in a very clumsy way.
When I'm rude to him or telling him with my ugliest tone of voice that he didn't wrote something right he'll got angry a bit and then back off. After a few hours he'll come in the office bringing peanuts and smiling.

yeah... I know... here's me again feeling sorry for him...

But he is not a creep. I think he must be having a middle age crisis or something.

We have a creep here in this institution. And everyone knows what he's like. He had a several charges for sexual assault, he hits on everything that's female (teenage girls also) and he can buy everything he wants, like judges f.e. so none of the girls got anything from the case with him.
With him, I would do official complaint, e-mail, authorities and stuff... but, he's respectful towards me and he haven't tried anything with me.


----------



## mmaria

Rick50 said:


> Hi girl, How you doing today? I'm up a bit lat\e.


Hey Rick

I'm working a bit, replying a bit 


why not sleeping?


----------



## Rick50

Not Yet.


----------



## Rick50

mmaria said:


> Rick50 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi girl, How you doing today? I'm up a bit lat\e.
> 
> 
> 
> Hey Rick
> 
> I'm working a bit, replying a bit
> 
> 
> why not sleeping?
Click to expand...

Yes, I should be. But I'm up anyway. Was just checking in for final notices and you showed up. What can I say?


----------



## mmaria

and.........................

I just want to tell you all 






for trying to help me with this situation

let's move on to other subjects....

like 

me being adorable


----------



## Rick50

Yes, that is obvious. You are adorable.


----------



## mmaria

Rick50 said:


> Yes, I should be. But I'm up anyway. Was just checking in for final notices and you showed up. What can I say?


 

oh got to go

the real creep has just call me to his office. Doesn't sound happy.


----------



## Rick50

So sorry!


----------



## mmaria

Rick50 said:


> Yes, that is obvious. You are adorable.


see,  you can tell even with those sunglasses 



gone


----------



## Rick50

You got it.


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> and.........................
> 
> I just want to tell you all
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> for trying to help me with this situation
> 
> let's move on to other subjects....
> 
> like
> 
> me being adorable



You ARE adorable...but then, how could you not be? You're my daughter.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> You ARE adorable...but then, how could you not be? You're my daughter.


exactly ma!!!


----------



## mmaria

have a simple question for you girls

How much does the manicure cost there? Had my nails done last night
How much does the hair washing and straightening it cost? I do that every Monday after work


----------



## runnah

mmaria said:


> have a simple question for you girls
> 
> How much does the manicure cost there? Had my nails done last night
> How much does the hair washing and straightening it cost? I do that every Monday after work



I wash my hair every day.


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> have a simple question for you girls
> 
> How much does the manicure cost there? Had my nails done last night
> How much does the hair washing and straightening it cost? I do that every Monday after work



In my area, a basic manicure can go for about $10-20. For more specialized services are more. A gel manicure is around $30-40. Then there are tips and acrylic, airbrushing, jewelry...it can get close to $100 if not more in some salons (depending on where you go).

I don't know about the hair and blowout. I've never done it. A haircut in cheap salons is around $20-30 but in the nice salons it can again get over $100. There are bargain salon chains that do haircuts for $8 or $10, but then blow-drying is a couple dollars more, I think. I don't remember seeing any of them around here but there might be a few.


----------



## runnah

I've had the same haircut for the last 10 years.


----------



## limr

First snow (if you can call it that. Just a dusting.)


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> have a simple question for you girls
> 
> How much does the manicure cost there? Had my nails done last night
> How much does the hair washing and straightening it cost? I do that every Monday after work



I'm not a good person to ask that; maybe Leo will know!

I've had exactly THREE professional manicures in my entire life; two of them in the last three years, and all of them since I was in at least my 40s.  The two I've had recently aren't a good indication of price though, because one was at a super-fancy hotel (Gaylord Opryland Hotel) I took my mom to a couple of years ago as her Christmas present. The other was while on vacation in Charleston, SC. I think that one was around $40 USD, for a gel manicure and massage.
I've NEVER had a pedicure in my whole life--because I can't stand the idea of having someone else touch my feet.

I've also never had my hair straightened (which you can probably tell from my avatar, lol). I've never had it dyed, bleached, or anything other than just cut and styled.  And I only do THAT once in a blue moon. Seriously, the last hair cut I got was last December; I guess I'm about due for another? I don't though; before that, it had been about 3 years between haircuts.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> First snow.
> View attachment 89338



It started sleeting here yesterday afternoon, then turned into a sleet/snow mix. Nothing stuck, not here anyway. A little bit did stick in a county just to the north of us, and this morning, they had to shut down a portion of the interstate in that county due to a bunch of accidents caused by black ice on the road.


----------



## runnah

Got 5 inches last night.

And some snow too!!!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> have a simple question for you girls
> 
> How much does the manicure cost there? Had my nails done last night
> How much does the hair washing and straightening it cost? I do that every Monday after work
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In my area, a basic manicure can go for about $10-20. For more specialized services are more. A gel manicure is around $30-40. Then there are tips and acrylic, airbrushing, jewelry...it can get close to $100 if not more in some salons (depending on where you go).
> 
> I don't know about the hair and blowout. I've never done it. A haircut in cheap salons is around $20-30 but in the nice salons it can again get over $100. There are bargain salon chains that do haircuts for $8 or $10, but then blow-drying is a couple dollars more, I think. I don't remember seeing any of them around here but there might be a few.
Click to expand...


Oh, yeah, and when I *do* get my hair cut, I go to this place downtown that is a very exclusive school for hair stylists. Super inexpensive for some very quality work, AND they don't allow you to tip them. 
This is not just a regular beauty school, although we have those too, where you can sometimes get a cut for free or less than $10. This is an "institute" and it's where people go who want to be able to work in high-end salons.
I think I paid around $25 the last time I went; that was for a shampoo, cut, style and blow-dry.


----------



## limr

runnah said:


> Got 5 inches last night.
> 
> And some snow too!!!


----------



## runnah

Better than coffee...


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> In my area, a basic manicure can go for about $10-20. For more specialized services are more. A gel manicure is around $30-40. Then there are tips and acrylic, airbrushing, jewelry...it can get close to $100 if not more in some salons (depending on where you go).


that's just crazy!!!!

I did gel and tips and a gel detail last night. She took down my previous tips and gel because that girls didn't know what she was doing. She spent 3 hours on my nails and I payed 20$



> I don't know about the hair and blowout. I've never done it. A haircut in cheap salons is around $20-30 but in the nice salons it can again get over $100. There are bargain salon chains that do haircuts for $8 or $10, but then blow-drying is a couple dollars more, I think. I don't remember seeing any of them around here but there might be a few.


 and that's just crazy too!!!!

My hair is curly, and thick. I always pay the highest price in salons because I have a lot of hair, and it's not easy handle it. Since I have this haircut I'm in the salon once a week, the hairdresser spend more than an hour on my hair and I pay 6$ for that. Haircut and all that's been mentioned are 10$. Dying hair once a month with all this is 15$

When I go to USA I'll just toss my master degree and be a hairdresser!


----------



## mmaria

runnah said:


> Better than coffee...



nothing is better than coffee... 

... except some  in the early morning


----------



## runnah

mmaria said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> Better than coffee...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> nothing is better than coffee...
> 
> ... except some  in the early morning
Click to expand...


surprise buttsecks?


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> [
> Oh, yeah, and when I *do* get my hair cut, I go to this place downtown that is a very exclusive school for hair stylists. Super inexpensive for some very quality work, AND they don't allow you to tip them.
> This is not just a regular beauty school, although we have those too, where you can sometimes get a cut for free or less than $10. This is an "institute" and it's where people go who want to be able to work in high-end salons.
> I think I paid around $25 the last time I went; that was for a shampoo, cut, style and blow-dry.


will you go with me and Leo at that place?


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> In my area, a basic manicure can go for about $10-20. For more specialized services are more. A gel manicure is around $30-40. Then there are tips and acrylic, airbrushing, jewelry...it can get close to $100 if not more in some salons (depending on where you go).
> 
> 
> 
> that's just crazy!!!!
> 
> I did gel and tips and a gel detail last night. She took down my previous tips and gel because that girls didn't know what she was doing. She spent 3 hours on my nails and I payed 20$
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know about the hair and blowout. I've never done it. A haircut in cheap salons is around $20-30 but in the nice salons it can again get over $100. There are bargain salon chains that do haircuts for $8 or $10, but then blow-drying is a couple dollars more, I think. I don't remember seeing any of them around here but there might be a few.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> and that's just crazy too!!!!
> 
> My hair is curly, and thick. I always pay the highest price in salons because I have a lot of hair, and it's not easy handle it. Since I have this haircut I'm in the salon once a week, the hairdresser spend more than an hour on my hair and I pay 6$ for that. Haircut and all that's been mentioned are 10$. Dying hair once a month with all this is 15$
> 
> When I go to USA i'll just toss my master degree and be a hairdresser!
Click to expand...


And add to that, most places you are also expected to tip the hairdresser! But to be fair--the hairdresser usually doesn't get much of that fee the salon charges. They often just get minimum wage, or less, and their tips.


----------



## mmaria

runnah said:


> surprise buttsecks?


 you should be banned!!!!


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> Better than coffee...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> nothing is better than coffee...
> 
> ... except some  in the early morning
Click to expand...


Agreed. Sorry, that's a good sound and all, but it's not better than coffee.

(Also sorry, but I'm not a fan of  in the early morning. Early mornings are for sleep or coffee. Can't be bothered with anything else  )


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> Better than coffee...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> nothing is better than coffee...
> 
> ... except some  in the early morning
Click to expand...


I agreed, but really, I'd just leave it at "there is NOTHING better than coffee."


----------



## limr

runnah said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> Better than coffee...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> nothing is better than coffee...
> 
> ... except some  in the early morning
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> surprise buttsecks?
Click to expand...


Nah. Too rape-y.


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> [
> Oh, yeah, and when I *do* get my hair cut, I go to this place downtown that is a very exclusive school for hair stylists. Super inexpensive for some very quality work, AND they don't allow you to tip them.
> This is not just a regular beauty school, although we have those too, where you can sometimes get a cut for free or less than $10. This is an "institute" and it's where people go who want to be able to work in high-end salons.
> I think I paid around $25 the last time I went; that was for a shampoo, cut, style and blow-dry.
> 
> 
> 
> will you go with me and Leo at that place?
Click to expand...


Sure! I really need to go anyway, and you don't even need an appointment, so as soon as you all get here, we'll just go. And then we can go down to Market Square and have lunch at one of the awesome little restaurants down there. I'm thinking, for you and Leo, we'd probably go to Tomato Head, because they have LOTS and lots of delicious vegetarian and vegan options, including some vegan cupcakes that are seriously better than any regular cupcake I've ever had.


----------



## runnah

limr said:


> Nah. Too rape-y.



I know! I don't know what came over me.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> (Also sorry, but I'm not a fan of  in the early morning. Early mornings are for sleep or coffee. Can't be bothered with anything else  )



I used to be like that... didn't like it in the morning... but then one morning I woke up and decided I simply have to do it....
******there's more of the story but not for public *****

the point is...

I liked it! 

and even before the coffee


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> I used to be like that... didn't like it in the morning... but then one morning I woke up and decided I simply have to do it....
> ******there's more of the story but not for public *****
> the point is...
> I liked it!
> *and even before the coffee*



Is that even physically possible???


----------



## runnah

limr said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> I used to be like that... didn't like it in the morning... but then one morning I woke up and decided I simply have to do it....
> ******there's more of the story but not for public *****
> the point is...
> I liked it!
> *and even before the coffee*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is that even physically possible???
Click to expand...


Youth!

I've beat my body pretty good doing sports so even tho I am only 33 my joints sound like gunshots in the morning. A hot shower and coffee make me somewhat human.

The idea of having sexual intercourse first thing in the morning is appealing but would most likely end up in disappointment for all parties involved.


----------



## mmaria

runnah said:


> I've beat my body pretty good doing sports so even tho I am only 33 my joints sound like gunshots in the morning. A hot shower and coffee make me somewhat human.


oh no!



> The idea of having sexual intercourse first thing in the morning is appealing but would most likely end up in disappointment for all parties involved.


oh noooooooooooo!


----------



## runnah

mmaria said:


> oh noooooooooooo!



It normally ends that way anyways. But as I like to say, 2 minutes in heaven is better than no minutes!


----------



## mmaria

runnah said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> oh noooooooooooo!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It normally ends that way anyways. But as I like to say, 2 minutes in heaven is better than no minutes!
Click to expand...

please don't talk like this!!!

you're freaking me out!!!


----------



## mmaria

runnah said:


> I've beat my body pretty good doing sports so even tho I am only 33 my joints sound like gunshots in the morning. A hot shower and coffee make me somewhat human.


what sport? how long?

Somehow it's difficult to imagine you doing any sport 

I need some evidence


----------



## runnah

mmaria said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've beat my body pretty good doing sports so even tho I am only 33 my joints sound like gunshots in the morning. A hot shower and coffee make me somewhat human.
> 
> 
> 
> what sport? how long?
> 
> Somehow it's difficult to imagine you doing any sport
> 
> I need some evidence
Click to expand...


BMX and Snowboarding.


----------



## runnah

mmaria said:


> you're freaking me out!!!



How so?


----------



## bribrius

hey I remember those mornings. Then I had kids and haven't had that dilemma in about 15 years now.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> hey I remember those mornings. Then I had kids and haven't had that dilemma in about 15 years now.



I thought your kids were younger.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> hey I remember those mornings. Then I had kids and haven't had that dilemma in about 15 years now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I thought your kids were younger.
Click to expand...

which one. I have a teenager and they go down from there..

wife got pregnant when she was 18, she just graduated highschool. I was 23 and was visiting back at maine but planning on going back to vegas..
I am still in maine now with more kids...years later...


----------



## mmaria

bribrius said:


> hey I remember those mornings. Then I had kids and haven't had that dilemma in about 15 years now.



I have two kids

they like to play in one room and I like to play in another room 

that way we don't interrupt each other while playing 

problem solved


----------



## bribrius

mmaria said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> hey I remember those mornings. Then I had kids and haven't had that dilemma in about 15 years now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have two kids
> 
> they like to play in one room and I like to play in another room
> 
> that way we don't interrupt each other while playing
> 
> problem solved
Click to expand...

playing Is what got me in so much trouble!!!!!


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've beat my body pretty good doing sports so even tho I am only 33 my joints sound like gunshots in the morning. A hot shower and coffee make me somewhat human.
> 
> 
> 
> what sport? how long?
> 
> Somehow it's difficult to imagine you doing any sport
> 
> I need some evidence
Click to expand...


Would it surprise you to know that I was a goalkeeper in soccer (football for most of the world) for over a decade? A pretty good one too; the team I played for after high school won the state championship twice and came in second another year.  Then I started playing for a semi-competitive (meaning we were really good, not just recreational, but we didn't travel extensively and compete in any major tournaments) team, until I was pregnant with my eldest.

I also played fullback every now and then, and even played the sweeper position a few times, and got to play forward once in my whole career--but goaltending was the position I loved, and what I played 99%+ of the time.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Would it surprise you to know that I was a goalkeeper in soccer (football for most of the world) for over a decade? A pretty good one too; the team I played for after high school won the state championship twice and came in second another year.  Then I started playing for a semi-competitive (meaning we were really good, not just recreational, but we didn't travel extensively and compete in any major tournaments) team, until I was pregnant with my eldest.
> 
> I also played fullback every now and then, and even played the sweeper position a few times, and got to play forward once in my whole career--but goaltending was the position I loved, and what I played 99%+ of the time.


no way!!!

Ma, you rock


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee (postwhore)Housers.


----------



## Gary A.

61F this morning and it is drizzling.


----------



## Gary A.

I feel old. Last night I shot a high school play. When I got home my back was killing me. Sucks to be old.


----------



## mmaria

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee (postwhore)Housers.


hi Grumpy!

sorry you're old!


----------



## bribrius

pretty much what I am looking at here this morning. small dusting..


----------



## Gary A.

mmaria said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee (postwhore)Housers.
> 
> 
> 
> hi Grumpy!
> 
> sorry you're old!
Click to expand...

Hola Marija.

It is a shame that youth is wasted on the young. The excesses of my younger days are catching up to moi. Fortunately there is Tylenol and Advil and good wine.


----------



## runnah

We got a bit more...


----------



## bribrius

looks like a few inches there runnah. cheer up though when they tally the winters accumulation up I always end up with more than you. so you have that..


----------



## Gary A.

November in SoCal


----------



## limr

Getting older is tough on the body for sure, and I would looooove to have my 18-year-old body back, but only if I could have it while keeping my 43-year-old brain. I don't ever want to be that much of a dumbass ever again.


----------



## bribrius

why women should marry when they are young. When they get older it is harder to find any takers..


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> why women should marry when they are young. When they get older it is harder to find any takers..



I almost got married young. I was 21 when I got engaged. I came to my senses when I was 23.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> why women should marry when they are young. When they get older it is harder to find any takers..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I almost got married young. I was 21 when I got engaged. I came to my senses when I was 23.
Click to expand...

engaged at 19 , engaged again at 21. Engaged again at 31 and married at 32. Thank heavens I didn't get married in the first two my life would truly suck...


Guess it seemed the thing to do. Propose to them and give them a ring it made them happy, course after the thought sits for a while you wonder wth you just did.


----------



## Rick50

I married at 19. That was not a bright move. It was during the Vietnam war, all the guys went off to war and left me behind with the girls. Not very smart of them either.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> why women should marry when they are young. When they get older it is harder to find any takers..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I almost got married young. I was 21 when I got engaged. I came to my senses when I was 23.
Click to expand...

at that age I thought I'll never get married.... wasn't interested in marriage, kids and all

but got married at 27... pretty ok age for that


although I do think marriage is not a "natural" institution. People aren't monogamous by their nature but....... I might be completely wrong!


----------



## Rick50

I pretty much agree with you on the "natural part". It's not really that natural...


----------



## bribrius

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> why women should marry when they are young. When they get older it is harder to find any takers..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I almost got married young. I was 21 when I got engaged. I came to my senses when I was 23.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> at that age I thought I'll never get married.... wasn't interested in marriage, kids and all
> 
> but got married at 27... pretty ok age for that
> 
> 
> although I do think marriage is not a "natural" institution. People aren't monogamous by their nature but....... I might be completely wrong!
Click to expand...


Tough call. Not being married doesn't seem natural either. I actually despised dating. Living with the same person I find more troublesome than the monogamous part. If you could have separate residences but still near by I would go that route.


----------



## mmaria

bribrius said:


> Tough call. Not being married doesn't seem natural either. I actually despised dating. Living with the same person I find more troublesome than the monogamous part. If you could have separate residences but still near by I would go that route.


Not being married sounds ok

Getting old alone is the part that I wouldn't like.


eta: I've just decided that I'll be adorable even in my 80ies and capable to find a cute bf.
hey... that makes me a cougar!

Oh yeah!


----------



## bribrius

Rick50 said:


> I married at 19. That was not a bright move. It was during the Vietnam war, all the guys went off to war and left me behind with the girls. Not very smart of them either.





Rick50 said:


> I married at 19. That was not a bright move. It was during the Vietnam war, all the guys went off to war and left me behind with the girls. Not very smart of them either.


still with her? That is one thing I don't really regret. Figure I have been with mine on and off since she was eighteen and just graduated highschool. so I basically know a good portion of her life. Her college graduation, teaching her to drive a standard car. Just her learning to grocery shop and whatever we learned together. And omg the fights we had I remember when she took a hammer to the windshield of my truck. Think I threw her cellphone or something. she kicked me out of the car and made me walk home once. I repoed one of her cars when we broke up once (in my name), lol We were like off the wall! Must have had the police involved ten times (I remember once I was physically throwing her stuff out on to the front lawn) we would sit there on the side of the road fighting with eachother.  Lot of key years there and lots of memories. No matter how bad we fought (and boy did we fight) it always went back to we had a kid together though. The tie that binds. Somehow, a week or month later one would give in and call the other one or just show back up. still amazed she never shot me once I taught her how to use a gun.


----------



## limr

Nope, not natural. And started out essentially as a business agreement. None of this "love forever" stuff.

I clearly haven't made marriage a priority since I broke the engagement 20 years ago. Never been married. I'm not ruling it out, but if Buzz and I get married, I can guarantee it won't be a "traditional" marriage  We'll probably live together but we might have separate bedrooms. But there's no rush.


----------



## Rick50

limr said:


> Nope, not natural. And started out essentially as a business agreement. None of this "love forever" stuff.
> 
> I clearly haven't made marriage a priority since I broke the engagement 20 years ago. Never been married. I'm not ruling it out, but if Buzz and I get married, I can guarantee it won't be a "traditional" marriage  We'll probably live together but we might have separate bedrooms. But there's no rush.


I think that's the way to go. Find what works for both. Also defining what both wants is good too. Wants/dreams are important. Might not be doing then now but nice to have a future.


----------



## Rick50

still with her? 

No. Tried twice after and have now given up trying. I switched to friends and now have several, one being my last ex. 2nd  ex (after a while it's hard to keep them straight   ) is friendly but is now in Anchorage, Alaska and remarried. I don't call her anymore out of respect for him otherwise I would. 1st is sworn enemy - not my choice.

My best friend is a Russian woman I worked with 20 years ago. We have been going to movies together for 20 years minus the 5 during my last marriage. For some odd reason my wife didn't want me to go to movies with another woman so I didn't. Then after we separated I went back to movies.

I'm a little careful with who I keep as friends. Was up to 6 for awhile but now down to 3.


----------



## Designer

Did someone add whisky to the coffee?


----------



## Rick50

Designer said:


> Did someone add whisky to the coffee?


Why?


----------



## bribrius

oh you haven't heard anything yet. we have a chattel agreement on top of a prenup and our marriage;.


Designer said:


> Did someone add whisky to the coffee?


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> Did someone add whisky to the coffee?



No, but I'm thinking about adding some, just to avoid this whole conversation...


----------



## Designer

Rick50 said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did someone add whisky to the coffee?
> 
> 
> 
> Why?
Click to expand...

All this maudlin talk of marriage troubles made me think that some folks were well into the bottle.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> Rick50 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did someone add whisky to the coffee?
> 
> 
> 
> Why?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> All this maudlin talk of marriage troubles made me think that some folks were well into the bottle.
Click to expand...

no. But what a great idea!!!!


----------



## astroNikon

I was perusing old stuff that I had ....
you film buffs might like this
I had a Simmons Omega D2 B+W enlarger.

I never used it.  Sold it for like $50 back in 2009
I never was a coffee drinker, so I couldn't develop film  lmao


----------



## Gary A.

Hey Astro, my PhotoShop instructor used to ride for Chevrolet. Amongst his stable of bikes he has a Medici also. What was funny is that we had the same bike shop in Huntington Beach.


----------



## BillM

Went to bed too early now I am up too early. So guess what I am doing right now, you guess it, I'm having coffee


----------



## sm4him

Bill, me too. I went to bed early to snuggle up and read because it's so bloomin' cold, and also because my back was hurting.
Fell asleep off and on until about 2 a.m.
Now here I am at 6 a.m., already awake and having my coffee--on a Saturday, my ONE day to sleep in! 
But I never sleep in; my body just won't let me do it anymore. Last Friday, after working 40+ hours in the preceeding three days, I slept all the way until 7:30 a.m.!

At least I love coffee. If I woke up this early every morning and didn't like to drink coffee, this world would be a much, much uglier place.


----------



## sm4him

REALLY want to go birding somewhere this morning--but it's 20F, wind chill makes it feel like 12F. I just can't make myself do it.
Plus, my back is still hurting and I'm going to the football game this afternoon, which means walking about 3 miles or so to/from the stadium, plus all the standing we invariably do during the game. 
I suspect walking around with the Sigma 150-500 right now just wouldn't be my best plan.


----------



## BillM

I'm getting ready to go look for Snowy with Snowy. I hope I don't just find Snowy


----------



## sm4him

BillM said:


> I'm getting ready to go look for Snowy with Snowy. I hope I don't just find Snowy



Gotta admit, if there were a chance I could find EITHER Snowy or Snowy, I'd go out.


----------



## Warhorse

Looking out my window, I see more snowy than I care for at this time of the year.


----------



## sm4him

Warhorse said:


> Looking out my window, I see more snowy than I care for at this time of the year.



If I thought I might find THAT kind of Snowy, I'd hide under the covers!!


----------



## limr

Well, I did not wake up early this morning. In fact, I got out of bed half an hour late. I know 7:30 is late for a lot of you folks, but it's my normal waking time these days, and this morning I got out of bed at 8. I had a long day yesterday, went to bed late - about 12:45, and when I woke up, I had two purring kitties curled up right next to me. 

If you all don't already know this, it's nearly impossible to get out of bed when a cat is curled up and purring in the crook of your arm. And TWO cats? Snuggled right next to each other in the crook of your arm? Forget it. You're doomed. So I stayed in bed for an extra half hour 

And now coffee!


----------



## bribrius

sleep at midnight. wife got up with the kids and let me sleep in. Didn't wake up until almost nine. Most I think I have slept in months.
And go for coffee!


----------



## limr

Morning Bri.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Morning Bri.


Goodmorning fellow x lbdr!!


----------



## limr

I'm trying to figure out which camera to bring with me on a hike. 

What are you up to this Saturday?


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> I'm trying to figure out which camera to bring with me on a hike.
> 
> What are you up to this Saturday?


wife is going to someones baby shower, making a baby shower cake. I am trying to decide what I will do with the kids to keep them occupied...
I might play around the camera a little but I think I will pretty much be stuck house/kid bound.


----------



## limr

I say you get the better end of that deal. Baby showers are torturous.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> I say you get the better end of that deal. Baby showers are torturous.


never been to one, nor do I ever intend to go to one.  Seems like there is one or two a year. I would imagine they get kind of tiresome after a while.  Kind of like those candle parties and stuff. I don't get how people go to them things. Must be purely social.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Well, I did not wake up early this morning. In fact, I got out of bed half an hour late. I know 7:30 is late for a lot of you folks, but it's my normal waking time these days, and this morning I got out of bed at 8. I had a long day yesterday, went to bed late - about 12:45, and when I woke up, I had two purring kitties curled up right next to me.
> 
> If you all don't already know this, it's nearly impossible to get out of bed when a cat is curled up and purring in the crook of your arm. And TWO cats? Snuggled right next to each other in the crook of your arm? Forget it. You're doomed. So I stayed in bed for an extra half hour
> 
> And now coffee!



Oh yes, I also woke up to discover two cats snuggled against me.
And to add to the difficulty of resisting all that cuteness, my two cats don't even especially LIKE each other, so for them to be snuggled up like them means...it's TOO cold. Best to just hibernate under the covers a while longer.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> I'm trying to figure out which camera to bring with me on a hike.
> 
> What are you up to this Saturday?



Been to the store already this morning. Mostly for birdseed, cat food and litter.   And a heater because my heat in the house is just not keeping up with the cold.

I'm having lunch with some friends then heading to the TN/KY football game. I thought I was all prepared to be warm then I realized that my favorite, toasty-warm LL Bean coat could easily be mistaken for KY Blue! There goes THAT plan! I guess I'm going to wear my camo coat I wear when I go out birding instead. I'll have on plenty of orange, but not sure how much of it will show under all the warm outerwear. Well, I can probably take the coat off for the game, until the sun goes down anyway.

Hoping to see my Vols move one game closer to bowl eligibility. It would be tremendous to see these seniors, who have been through so much adversity and coaching changes, finally get a bowl game experience. 
This is the longest I can ever remember us going without getting to a bowl game. Really hoping the drought ends this year!


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I say you get the better end of that deal. Baby showers are torturous.
> 
> 
> 
> never been to one, nor do I ever intend to go to one.  Seems like there is one or two a year. I would imagine they get kind of tiresome *after a while*.  Kind of like those candle parties and stuff. I don't get how people go to them things. Must be purely social.
Click to expand...


If by "after a while" you mean "the instant you stepped foot into your first baby shower" then yes, they get tiresome after a while. I can't stand them. I've thankfully not had to go to a lot of them. I don't know what candle parties are. Sound like they'd be super boring.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Housers. 61F so far. Supposed to get to 70F today. I've been wearing warm up pants lately on our walks (as opposed to shorts).


----------



## Gary A.

A couple of days ago I thought a turtle took off. I could only find two. A bit of a scare as I've had the turtle for more than a decade. But there are a few places in the pond where a good size turtle can hide ... so I was crossing my fingers.


----------



## Gary A.

I married later at 37. I kinda thought it was time, so I did.


----------



## Gary A.

No 'real' football for me today ... SC beat Cal earlier on Thursday this week.


----------



## limr

At the trail head waiting for Buzz who for


----------



## limr

Stupid finger slip.

...who forgot his water bottle in the car. Got the Rollei 35 with me.

Trail head:


----------



## Rick50

Looks like snow to me.
If anyone here decides to get into the whiskey as a supplement to their coffee this stuff ain't bad.


----------



## limr

I would rather not corrupt either coffee or bourbon by mixing them   Knob Creek is nice. It's on of the bourbons in my rotation.

Which reminds me. I need bourbon.


----------



## limr

Wow, this was the tree two days ago:







This was the tree yesterday:


That was about 7:45 am. The snow was gone an hour later but everything else looked the same.

Here's the tree now, one day later, 3:30 pm:


----------



## bribrius

they drop like flies, especially with some snow and wind. This is actually becoming a good time of year to shoot though. If you can stand the cold, exposing for snow and maybe snow shoes.

I like this time of year because all this great foliage we shoot is mostly IN THE WAY. ONce it gets off the branches and you can actually see between the limbs there is a lot more shots to have with less of the stuff IN THE WAY.
Now, if we could get rid of other obstacles, street signs, that kind of thing we would really be getting somewhere.


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, peeps.  Just stopping in to say "hi."


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> they drop like flies, especially with some snow and wind. This is actually becoming a good time of year to shoot though. If you can stand the cold, exposing for snow and maybe snow shoes.
> 
> I like this time of year because all this great foliage we shoot is mostly IN THE WAY. ONce it gets off the branches and you can actually see between the limbs there is a lot more shots to have with less of the stuff IN THE WAY.
> Now, if we could get rid of other obstacles, street signs, that kind of thing we would really be getting somewhere.



I can not only stand the cold, but I enjoy the cold. I shot roll of 24 while hiking today. 

I dunno, I kind of like things in the way:



Mural by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Good afternoon, peeps.  Just stopping in to say "hi."



Hey Charlie!

I'm hanging out for a while for the first half of my semi-stand development. During the semi part, I need to keep track of the time for agitation, but then for the stand part, I'll be on my exercise bike.


----------



## Rick50

Yes, the colors don't last long. I think even shorter in the cold climates. I drove up to a  small town called Julian today to see some colors. 4,000 ft elev.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good afternoon, peeps.  Just stopping in to say "hi."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey Charlie!
> 
> I'm hanging out for a while for the first half of my semi-stand development. During the semi part, I need to keep track of the time for agitation, but then for the stand part, I'll be on my exercise bike.
Click to expand...


Keep on ridin', hon.
I'll be in and out of consciousness for the next couple of days -- I'm on muscle relaxerssssssssssssssss and   they 


make me



sleeeeeepyyyyyyyyy.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Keep on ridin', hon.
> I'll be in and out of consciousness for the next couple of days -- I'm on muscle relaxerssssssssssssssss and   they
> 
> 
> make me
> 
> 
> 
> sleeeeeepyyyyyyyyy.



I hear those muscle relaxers are goooooooood 

In January, I'm finally getting my wisdom teeth and I'm hoping they give me the good painkillers for the next couple of days.


----------



## sm4him

I took one of them muscle relaxers before I left for the game today. My back is really bothering me and I was afraid it would seize up on me after sitting in the cold stadium for 3 hours and then having to walk a mile or so back to the car (I wasn't driving, some friends picked me up!).

It definitely helped. But now it's starting to wear off and I'm starting to feel the effects of sitting on that hard, cold stadium seat for so long. Hoping I can still move tomorrow morning.

Might take another one before bed. Or I might substitute some Fireball Whisky instead.  Decisions, decisions.


----------



## sm4him

Also...WOOT!!! Tennessee ROLLED over Kentucky! Which shouldn't even be anything to "crow" about, but I'm just so excited that we finally not only WON an SEC game, but really took control of it! 
That was fun to watch! But I won't lie--I'm pretty glad to be home, warmed up and into my jammies. I think it's time to go crawl under the covers, snuggle with the kitties and watch some more football.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou crock-potted a slab of pork, heavily seasoned. It was wonderful. Presently, watching a NetFlick, a Tommy Lee Jones movie, sipping a fine wine and eating popcorn. Life is good.


----------



## Warhorse

Snowed in the early A.M. here. Just some crappy snapshots through dirty windows and screens, but you will get the idea.


----------



## mmaria

just stopped by to say 







and yeah... this is a selfie I've snapped just now.... except.... I'm in my leggings and hoodie, don't drink alcohol and I would never wore white socks


----------



## limr

Good morning to you, Marija!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Good morning to you, Marija!


hey Leo, I have a picture of you too


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning to you, Marija!
> 
> 
> 
> hey Leo, I have a picture of you too
Click to expand...


Oh good, you shared one of the safe ones


----------



## mmaria

and here's my ma a few years ago


----------



## snowbear

Good morning & afternoon.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Oh good, you shared one of the safe ones


 I could post the other ones also, just say you wouldn't mind


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh good, you shared one of the safe ones
> 
> 
> 
> I could post the other ones also, just say you wouldn't mind
Click to expand...



Oh now, those weren't meant for just anyone!


----------



## limr

Morning, Charlie!

TPF is making me wait 16 more seconds before I say good morning to you.


----------



## snowbear

Jammin' delay.

My lovely wife got an ERO ticket, Friday night for a burned out headlight.  We discovered it on the way home and picked up a new bulb, but it was too dark to see so I planned on changing it yesterday.  She had to take LL to a thing later that night and got stopped by MSP.


----------



## limr

Hey Marija, Ma and I gave you serious answers to your USA/Canada question. Did ya see them? Huh huh??? Didja??

Here's one advantage that I didn't write there: you can report sexual harassment in the work place and your boss won't just dismiss you by telling you to "give the poor guy a break."


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hey Marija, Ma and I gave you serious answers to your USA/Canada question. Did ya see them? Huh huh??? Didja??
> 
> Here's one advantage that I didn't write there: you can report sexual harassment in the work place and your boss won't just dismiss you by telling you to "give the poor guy a break."



And if the boss does, then you go to HIS or HER boss and get both of them.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Jammin' delay.
> 
> My lovely wife got an ERO ticket, Friday night for a burned out headlight.  We discovered it on the way home and picked up a new bulb, but it was too dark to see so I planned on changing it yesterday.  She had to take LL to a thing later that night and got stopped by MSP.



So wait, she got a ticket after you got the bulb?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Jammin' delay.
> 
> My lovely wife got an ERO ticket, Friday night for a burned out headlight.  We discovered it on the way home and picked up a new bulb, but it was too dark to see so I planned on changing it yesterday.  She had to take LL to a thing later that night and got stopped by MSP.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So wait, she got a ticket after you got the bulb?
Click to expand...


It hadn't been installed yet.  It's no big deal - no fine, no points, just a repair order.  All we have to do now is get a trooper or police officer to verify it works.  They sign off on the ticket & we mail it in.  If we wait beyond 30 days, they suspend the tags until it's done.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Hey Marija, Ma and I gave you serious answers to your USA/Canada question. Did ya see them? Huh huh??? Didja??
> 
> Here's one advantage that I didn't write there: you can report sexual harassment in the work place and your boss won't just dismiss you by telling you to "give the poor guy a break."


LOL first!!!!

yeah I saw what you wrote of course... and thank you really because you give the best answers

but replying on your posts demand a bit time and I don't know if I'll be able to finish my reply now, that's why I didn't reply... but I'm going to reply now or later!!!


----------



## bribrius

cant photograph birds to save my life. Almost every morning I look out the window and see birds. change lenses. Go outside and they are gone. wth..


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> cant photograph birds to save my life. Almost every morning I look out the window and see birds. change lenses. Go outside and they are gone. wth..



They do that to deliberately taunt you. Birds are assholes that way.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> cant photograph birds to save my life. Almost every morning I look out the window and see birds. change lenses. Go outside and they are gone. wth..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They do that to deliberately taunt you. Birds are assholes that way.
Click to expand...

well if they want to be that way I will put down the camera and get the bb gun or the 12 gauge.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> well if they want to be that way I will put down the camera and get the bb gun or the 12 gauge.



Yeah, they'll be gone by the time you get back with the gun


----------



## Designer

Rick50 said:


> I drove up to a  small town called Julian today to see some colors. 4,000 ft elev.



Oh, yeah!  Who was it that wanted to drive south?  I can't remember who, but I was thinking of Julian when he wrote that.  We drove through Julian on our way to Anza-Borrego State Park.  Do this anytime from November to April for the best color and weather.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Jammin' delay.
> 
> My lovely wife got an ERO ticket, Friday night for a burned out headlight.  We discovered it on the way home and picked up a new bulb, but it was too dark to see so I planned on changing it yesterday.  She had to take LL to a thing later that night and got stopped by MSP.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So wait, she got a ticket after you got the bulb?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It hadn't been installed yet.  It's no big deal - no fine, no points, just a repair order.  All we have to do now is get a trooper or police officer to verify it works.  They sign off on the ticket & we mail it in.  If we wait beyond 30 days, they suspend the tags until it's done.
Click to expand...

sounds like communism. They pull me over they are usually ecstatic that I was nice enough to stop.


----------



## Rick50

Designer said:


> Rick50 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I drove up to a  small town called Julian today to see some colors. 4,000 ft elev.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, yeah!  Who was it that wanted to drive south?  I can't remember who, but I was thinking of Julian when he wrote that.  We drove through Julian on our way to Anza-Borrego State Park.  Do this anytime from November to April for the best color and weather.
Click to expand...

You got it. I like going this way whenever I go East and have learned several ways through the desert. More scenic than the freeway.


----------



## limr

This week's crock pot meal: winter squash soup. Squashes used: butternut, acorn, and delicata. Also sweet potato, great northern beans, and quinoa. Spiced with, among other things, turmeric, paprika, sage, pumpkin seed oil, and smoked salt. When it's all cooked, I'll blender it up to be nice and smooth. Going to try it with some aged shaved goat cheese, or maybe a bit of orange or lemon zest, and of course one night I'll have to use a drizzle of white truffle oil.


----------



## Designer

You know....White truffle oil will get you chopped every time....Just sayin'


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> You know....White truffle oil will get you chopped every time....Just sayin'



Will it? I've only seen that show once or twice. I don't care, I love me some truffle oil!


----------



## limr

Holy shnikes! I'm scanning the film I shot on Hallowe'en night. The first roll came out like crap and I decided that I should never ever go night shooting again. This second roll is so much better, though! Like, seriously better. Does HP5 push better than Tri-X, or did I just suck through the whole first roll before I remembered how to take a picture?


----------



## Gary A.

I pushed Tri-X probably every other day for more than a decade. What are you developing it in?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I pushed Tri-X probably every other day for more than a decade. What are you developing it in?



Caffenol. Did a semi-stand for 75 minutes.

I think part of it was that we started out in the park and that probably was just way too dark to be taking shots. And sometimes the light meter in the K1000 shuts down so there were probably a few that I took thinking the exposure was right when really it was stuck in the middle. I was also testing to see how very low light shots would come out. 

I mean, there are some things that might be interesting with the right cropping or processing, so there's definitely material to work with. It was just startling how many more pictures came out better in the second roll, and it's hard to figure out how much of it was conditions, my choice of shots, or the film.


----------



## mmaria

*I don't want to talk over my first coffee!!!
Could you not talk anymore!

GOOD MORNING CRAZIES!!!
*
*the woman that sits in the office with me just won't stop. Make her stop talking!*


*: )))*


----------



## sm4him

Wow, Marija, you must have scared everyone! I don't know about the woman in your office, but everyone here stopped posting for the next 7 hours!!


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Wow, Marija, you must have scared everyone! I don't know about the woman in your office, but everyone here stopped posting for the next 7 hours!!


See... I can be pretty scary when I want!!!

That's a warning! 


oh LOL!!!


----------



## sm4him

So, how's your afternoon?

I'm starting my second cup of coffee, which automatically makes everything just a teeny bit better than it was before.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> So, how's your afternoon?
> 
> I'm starting my second cup of coffee, which automatically makes everything just a teeny bit better than it was before.


 just finished my second coffee 

Preparing myself for a business trip I'm going tomorrow. 

I have a training related to some project management (and it's paid by your country ) I won't be around for a few days because I won't bring my laptop. I want to get rest from TPF 
ok... well... I might say a thing or two on while on the phone.... maybe...


----------



## limr

And here I am, just getting to my first cup of coffee.


----------



## mmaria

morning Leo!


----------



## limr

Afternoon, Marija!


----------



## limr

Somebody needs to put pictures in the gallery so this thing on the right side of the screen that shows the latest additions will no long show the bug pictures someone posted yesterday


----------



## mmaria

I cut my thumb a couple of days ago. The cut can't heal because I won't let it heal. I'm not that careful.

There's a bit of blood on it now so I can't work anymore. Can't touch papers or type anything work related on the keyboard 

Have a bit time here and then the hairdresser. Have to be nice looking for tomorrow


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> I cut my thumb a couple of days ago. The cut can't heal because I won't let it heal. I'm not that careful.
> 
> There's a bit of blood on it now so I can't work anymore. Can't touch papers or type anything work related on the keyboard
> 
> Have a bit time here and then the hairdresser. Have to be nice looking for tomorrow



Yes. Blood. Absolutely no way you can do any work. Nope. Clearly you must go home.

See, if you lived int he U.S., we'd say, "Put a Band-aid on that thing and get back to work, slacker!"


----------



## mmaria

10 more minutes of not working....

what's with you today?
plans?


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> 10 more minutes of not working....



Funny - I also have 10 more minutes of not working. Or at least of not getting ready for work. I am giving myself until 9 and then I have to move my butt and get out of the house by 10. My students have their first exam today so I have to make sure I'm in the classroom a little early.

Four more weeks of teaching!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Four more weeks of teaching!


envy


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Somebody needs to put pictures in the gallery so this thing on the right side of the screen that shows the latest additions will no long show the bug pictures someone posted yesterday


I was wide awake for much of the night thinking about a certain kind of bug.  I have a novel stuck in my head and so I was imagining another chapter (in my head).  Maybe I should just start writing it.  I'd probably sleep more.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> I was wide awake for much of the night thinking about a certain kind of bug.  I have a novel stuck in my head and so I was imagining another chapter (in my head).  Maybe I should just start writing it.  I'd probably sleep more.



Or sleep less because you can't stop writing!  Or maybe that is just me...I write better at night and I get so involved in it that I can't really stop. Next thing I know, it's 2 a.m. It's one of the reasons that I'm not writing so much these days - I need sleep!


----------



## limr

Crap, and now I need to take a shower and go to work.

See you folks later!


----------



## KenC

Designer said:


> I was wide awake for much of the night thinking about a certain kind of bug.  I have a novel stuck in my head and so I was imagining another chapter (in my head).  Maybe I should just start writing it.  I'd probably sleep more.



I think that one's been done: The Metamorphosis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Did you feel strange when you woke up?


----------



## Msteelio91

Figured I'd post a picture of what the coffee is fueling - SQL coding and flickr/TPF browsing!


----------



## limr

Yes, but the real question is...is that a troll doll on the shelf??


----------



## Msteelio91

Haha nope that's my Gandalf plush that my boss gave me


----------



## bribrius

Msteelio91 said:


> Figured I'd post a picture of what the coffee is fueling - SQL coding and flickr/TPF browsing!


should you really be doing this when you are monitoring a nuclear reactor? Or is this normal protocol?


----------



## limr

Msteelio91 said:


> Haha nope that's my Gandalf plush that my boss gave me
> 
> View attachment 89516



Well, that is just awesome, then!

(Not that there would be something wrong with a troll doll. My sister is in IT and whenever I visited her at work, I noticed an oddly high proportion of troll dolls on the desks in her department  )


----------



## Msteelio91

bribrius said:


> should you really be doing this when you are monitoring a nuclear reactor? Or is this normal protocol?



Multi-tasking is my specialty


----------



## mmaria

evening people!

how are we tonight?


----------



## bribrius

replying to the monitor thread. Because I really don't know a damn thing about it. Don't even know how to calibrate a monitor or the purpose. I just turn on mine and hit auto and it kind of does whatever it does.


----------



## Msteelio91

bribrius said:


> replying to the monitor thread. Because I really don't know a damn thing about it. Don't even know how to calibrate a monitor or the purpose. I just turn on mine and hit auto and it kind of does whatever it does.



How to Calibrate Your Monitor | PCWorld


----------



## limr

Hey Marija!

Got yer hair did? 

(Sorry - I'm employing a bit of American slang that you might have to get used to if you move here  )


----------



## Designer

Oh, man!  She might have to learn several new dialects of English.


----------



## bribrius

my default on my monitor is 9300k. should I change that to 6500k? Also I just went through the calibration, and it looks like chit now. real dim.


----------



## bribrius

hmm never mind. I picked the middle and went with it. I guess calibration is a little different redid it again. I cant really tell how it isn't that different than hitting auto but somehow it seems to be. Did it in the monitor through the windows 8 calibration and the monitor settings. I am a little confused over which rbg to pick but just went with default.


----------



## limr

It occurs to me that laptops have finally given men a socially-accepted way to carry a purse. Disguised as a messenger bag, of course.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> It occurs to me that laptops have finally given men a socially-accepted way to carry a purse. Disguised as a messenger bag, of course.


a purse is nothing more than a renamed satchel. Havent men carried satchels in history anyway?


----------



## bribrius

needs coffee still..... ughhh.  wake up to a purse convo.


----------



## limr

That wasn't a purse conversation. That was a random thought in my head that actually made it out of my head. You didn't have to respond to it. THAT made it a conversation.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> That wasn't a purse conversation. That was a random thought in my head that actually made it out of my head. You didn't have to respond to it. THAT made it a conversation.


true. all set now I have coffee.


----------



## limr

In about 3 minutes, I will also have coffee and then all will be right in the world again.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> In about 3 minutes, I will also have coffee and then all will be right in the world again.


I am just tossing more crap on 1x. I am so out of my league it isn't even funny I think I need to raise the bar A LOT. But at least if someone asks me what I shoot it gives me a place to send them and I can get a idea weeding out for a portfolio. I really just have no direction and have no idea what people seem to like. what I like, they hate. so there ya go. what I don't like, they like....


----------



## bribrius

most of the crap I shoot and post I don't even like... Probably should figure it out and step it up though I post too much garbage they might kick me off the site...


----------



## limr

This bar that you have to raise? What is it? I mean, if the bar is "posting on 1x" then raising that bar means it shouldn't get posted unless it's good enough. But if everything gets dumped there, then what other bar do you have? Printing? Photo book?


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> I really just have no direction and have no idea what people seem to like. what I like, they hate. so there ya go. what I don't like, they like....



That may be the most important aspect of photography "as art". 

 We should develop our own critical eye to the point that when we see something good, we recognize it as good, and vice-versa.  Nowhere does that skill mean more than in being able to pick out the good stuff from the not-so-good in our own work.  

Well, unless you are being asked to judge a competition.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> This bar that you have to raise? What is it? I mean, if the bar is "posting on 1x" then raising that bar means it shouldn't get posted unless it's good enough. But if everything gets dumped there, then what other bar do you have? Printing? Photo book?


would like to make it through curated. But beyond that, my primary goal is personal portfolio. I suffer from mediocrity. I can turn out good photos, consistently. But they aren't great photos. And are a far cry from amazing photos. I don't like waterfalls, landscapes, animals, abstracts, photos of bugs (least for me to do)  etc. I want something else. Cant seem to find it yet so they all just kind of go together in shots I don't really care about..


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> I really just have no direction and have no idea what people seem to like. what I like, they hate. so there ya go. what I don't like, they like....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That may be the most important aspect of photography "as art".
> 
> We should develop our own critical eye to the point that when we see something good, we recognize it as good, and vice-versa.  Nowhere does that skill mean more than in being able to pick out the good stuff from the not-so-good in our own work.
> 
> Well, unless you are being asked to judge a competition.
Click to expand...

yeah and you know, I really cant even tell the difference it all just seems to blend together...


----------



## Designer

There is probably some way to get that missing component free online.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> There is probably some way to get that missing component free online.


well. I am re-evaluating my dislike of processing as I wonder if it will become my fatal flaw in the end and I am being hard headed for no reason. Other thing is I may need to start looking through others work more. Not so much what gets posted on here but some of the more serious stuff. I thought about following along with landscapes to try to get better at that but really, if you don't like it you don't like it. What do I know though I am just a hick that lives by a river...


----------



## Designer

Think of processing as a way of making your photograph more in tune with what you had envisioned when you took the photograph.  

And my earlier comment was intended to spark an interest in taking an online art appreciation course.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> Think of processing as a way of making your photograph more in tune with what you had envisioned when you took the photograph.
> 
> And my earlier comment was intended to spark an interest in taking an online art appreciation course.


could be a key component right there. I have been to galleries but am far from a learned man.


Art Appreciation - understanding the qualities of great art.


----------



## bribrius

large variance. look through the above it is all painting. I found another one for art appreciation and photography and it isn't even along the same lines. Photography seems to have much more watered down principles (lower standards?).  Art Appreciation-Chapter7


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> This bar that you have to raise? What is it? I mean, if the bar is "posting on 1x" then raising that bar means it shouldn't get posted unless it's good enough. But if everything gets dumped there, then what other bar do you have? Printing? Photo book?


I have a sports bar I go to ... great gourmet-ish hamburgers, like five peppers, blue cheese and homemade potato chips. On Mondays they have a tofer-one special.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> This bar that you have to raise? What is it? I mean, if the bar is "posting on 1x" then raising that bar means it shouldn't get posted unless it's good enough. But if everything gets dumped there, then what other bar do you have? Printing? Photo book?
> 
> 
> 
> I have a sports bar I go to ... great gourmet-ish hamburgers, like five peppers, blue cheese and homemade potato chips. On Mondays they have a tofer-one special.
Click to expand...

you can afford that you are a much better photographer imo... lol


----------



## Designer

Keep looking.  The same principles apply in painting and photography.  Things like; line, texture, contrast, balance, etc. apply to both.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias all you Coffee Housers! 55F right now ... should hit the mid 70's today. The coffee is hitting the spot.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> Keep looking.  The same principles apply in painting and photography.  Things like; line, texture, contrast, balance, etc. apply to both.


look what I found. this could be interesting....

Photography project |


----------



## Designer

Yup, looks good.  I should remind you that this journey will take some time, so enjoy!


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> Yup, looks good.  I should remind you that this journey will take some time, so enjoy!


lol. well yeah because I am not a big reader it is more hands on, adhd and I get bored to tears..
 And you keep saying that. But you are probably right. All together I only have about three or so years maybe in doing this. And a year of that was twenty years ago...just a newbie. sure, I took photography 20 years ago but really didn't learn a damn thing.
so maybe in like, another ten years......
I know full well some on this site have been doing this for DECADES.


----------



## Designer

Ayuh!


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> Ayuh!


picking on my maine hick accent now?


----------



## Designer

Ayuh!


----------



## bribrius

Ayuh
A word used commonly in Maine as a positive affirmation. Pretty much, it means "yes".


----------



## Designer

Here is one that I know nothing about.  Says it's free, but I only viewed the first page, so let me know if it's any good.

Free online Course on Art Appreciation Basics - Open Learning World.com


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> Here is one that I know nothing about.  Says it's free, but I only viewed the first page, so let me know if it's any good.
> 
> Free online Course on Art Appreciation Basics - Open Learning World.com


Thanks. will do. I am on a break right now from winter preparation. Pulled fence down. Put boat away and stacking cement blocks in the truck for weight. Got the friggn plow out too but I have yet to go through that for its yearly maint either... Like 32 degrees out not really having much fun with it .still need to plastic the windows. suppose the temps are only going lower..


----------



## Designer

Yeah, winter always hits me way too fast around here.


----------



## limr

Good morning with the kitties at the shelter. Got to snuggle with a little orange tabby named Nash, my little black kitten Greebo was still there, and then there was Rocky, a tabby kitten so small that he could sit in one hand. His little face killed me dead!


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> Yeah, winter always hits me way too fast around here.



  really nothing spectacular but some thought went into it I been doing this for years. they are held with threaded rod. Good part of it is I can add or take away blocks as needed. The wood runs right to the front of the bed and is bracket and cut to fit between the bed sides. ON the sides of the rows of block it leaves room for my ramps and shovels. The ramps are for the snowblower which actually fits between the blocks and gets locked in by the tailgate. Ahead of the blocks and the boards that cross it leaves about a 35 or so inch space. Purpose of that is for the little blower to go in but also doubles for a small pile of sand or salt. I don't know what it all weighs fully loaded down with everything (almost never have had to do it) but between that and the Detroit locker in the rear axle it don't get stuck too often.


----------



## Designer

That shows good thinking on your part.  

My winter load is 15 of those sand tubes stacked against the front wall of the bed.  This places about 900 lbs at the optimum leverage to load *both* axels fairly evenly.  I get pretty good tire flex with that setup.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Record breaking cold, record breaking snow. Shad'up Gary! 

Nice thing about an early retirement now is on a day like this I can stretch the morning coffee til lunchtime. And set up and do some lumen prints on a table in the window. 

Bri seems like you're looking for something, maybe photography is it, maybe not, maybe it's a matter of figuring out what kind of photography you love. You could try looking up famous photographers and see if you find anything you connect with. Kertesz is my favorite, I just 'get' him.  

You could try searching 'elements of composition in art', that should bring up some sites that have info. for students; might be helpful for someone who never took art, for me those are refreshers, I took all the art I could as electives. I think a lot of what you find online just brushes the surface and doesn't necessarily teach you a whole lot of anything.

For Leonore.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> That shows good thinking on your part.
> 
> My winter load is 15 of those sand tubes stacked against the front wall of the bed.  This places about 900 lbs at the optimum leverage to load *both* axels fairly evenly.  I get pretty good tire flex with that setup.


yeah, I could see how that might be important if you want to steer. Motor is in front , but I still bet you ware pretty close to balanced. I really should just have mine closer to the tailgate but with this kind of setup the pros outweighs the cons. Just more stress on the front end which it don't need but it will live. Not sure on the tires, I run nothing but ten plys on that and usually run 55 in front (saves the power steering pump) and 50 in back. Give or take the load it is pretty close. I got to the point of putting down white sheets of paper once and driving over them to look for even tread contract. Not a science, but pretty close. and saves from killing tires and makes more sense traction wise. Really nothing great, but when there is two feet of snow and you are out in a blizzard it suddenly all kind of seems to make a difference. Sand tubes are great too. Nothing wrong with that.


----------



## bribrius

vintagesnaps said:


> Record breaking cold, record breaking snow. Shad'up Gary!
> 
> Nice thing about an early retirement now is on a day like this I can stretch the morning coffee til lunchtime. And set up and do some lumen prints on a table in the window.
> 
> Bri seems like you're looking for something, maybe photography is it, maybe not, maybe it's a matter of figuring out what kind of photography you love. You could try looking up famous photographers and see if you find anything you connect with. Kertesz is my favorite, I just 'get' him.
> 
> You could try searching 'elements of composition in art', that should bring up some sites that have info. for students; might be helpful for someone who never took art, for me those are refreshers, I took all the art I could as electives. I think a lot of what you find online just brushes the surface and doesn't necessarily teach you a whole lot of anything.
> 
> For Leonore.


yeah I never did much art.. I did take art and creative writing in college but it was more of filler and easy credits. Actually, for the longest time I pretty much hated most art and thought it was a waste of time.. Except dali, for some reason I liked dali. Never quite figured out why. I still went through the occasional gallery but it was with a pretty negative outlook just on walking through the front door. Lot of it is mentality too. You get brought up with certain pretenses. in my case, my family were not arts people. People that did art couldn't find a job, people that did art couldn't make it through the business program for bas so had to go the less preferred root. People that did art did it for lack of other options and capability. Even the guy that played the guitar, you know, get a real job. it was a stigma. If I said i was going to go to school for art i probably would have been slapped. So when someone called me a artist a couple times from photography it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth to be honest. As the artists were thought of as the jokers. I still don't take most art seriously, lack of knowledge and mentality. My sister first did photography before me, but it was easily accepted as none of us considered photography art. she shot celtic games etc. it wasn't art it was photography.  some stuff I see, I am just like "wtf is that and why on earth would they bother?" so I am a huge art critic, probably one of the biggest because my first assumption is 90 percent of it is futile trash.   I like taking photographs though, tried painting as a adult, I suck at it. clay pottery I found entertaining. wouldn't want to do it full time but once in a while for chits and giggles. I make some of my own cups and plates etc.


----------



## astroNikon

limr said:


> Wow, this was the tree two days ago:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This was the tree yesterday:
> View attachment 89431
> 
> That was about 7:45 am. The snow was gone an hour later but everything else looked the same.
> 
> Here's the tree now, one day later, 3:30 pm:
> View attachment 89432



This morning there was ONE leaf on one of my trees.  I was going to take a picture and call it "Solitairy".  But it was too cold & windy out to go outside.  I wonder if it's still there?


----------



## bribrius

astroNikon said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, this was the tree two days ago:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This was the tree yesterday:
> View attachment 89431
> 
> That was about 7:45 am. The snow was gone an hour later but everything else looked the same.
> 
> Here's the tree now, one day later, 3:30 pm:
> View attachment 89432
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This morning there was ONE leaf on one of my trees.  I was going to take a picture and call it "Solitairy".  But it was too cold & windy out to go outside.  I wonder if it's still there?
Click to expand...

you should go look. no other way to find out.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> Here is one that I know nothing about.  Says it's free, but I only viewed the first page, so let me know if it's any good.
> 
> Free online Course on Art Appreciation Basics - Open Learning World.com


thanks. Really helpful. And it says I don't even have to like art just learn how to bullshit it better!


----------



## limr

Yay, little Greebo was adopted! I'm glad I got to see him one last time this morning. 

Here's a screen shot from the video I shot last week on my phone.




And then there was this little Bengal girl. SO sweet and gorgeous. She'd had kittens that were in the adoption room for the day. They were all adopted and today when I cleaned her cage, she was feeling a little down 





Finally was Nash. He was there this week as well and he was acting like a little nut. He had such a loud purr and he clearly needed attention, so I kept him out for a little bit and played with him a bit in his cage before I went on to clean the next one. And I kept coming back to pet him.


----------



## pgriz

bribrius said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here is one that I know nothing about.  Says it's free, but I only viewed the first page, so let me know if it's any good.
> 
> Free online Course on Art Appreciation Basics - Open Learning World.com
> 
> 
> 
> thanks. Really helpful. And it says I don't even have to like art just learn how to bullshit it better!
Click to expand...


The nice thing about learning about "art" (and notice that it is not "ART"), is that it teaches one to see in a deeper way, the relationships between light and dark, between texture and form, between tone and depth.  It allows us to see the medium as a way of framing the content.  It allows us to ask about the artist's intent, and even perhaps a comment on the culture from which that art emerged.  

My wife teaches art to people ranging from 2-3 years to teenagers, to middle-aged, to seniors.  With each group, she tries to get them to notice something they haven't paid attention to before.  Today, she did a workshop for a group with emotional difficulties (depression, anxiety, etc.), and she took them through exercises which calm and relax, then got them to explore the boundaries.  Negative spaces, the shadows, the tone transition from light to dark... are places where the eye can learn to see deeper.

Art is about opening the eye, the heart, and the mind.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Yay, little Greebo was adopted! I'm glad I got to see him one last time this morning.
> 
> Here's a screen shot from the video I shot last week on my phone.
> View attachment 89614
> 
> And then there was this little Bengal girl. SO sweet and gorgeous. She'd had kittens that were in the adoption room for the day. They were all adopted and today when I cleaned her cage, she was feeling a little down
> 
> View attachment 89617
> 
> Finally was Nash. He was there this week as well and he was acting like a little nut. He had such a loud purr and he clearly needed attention, so I kept him out for a little bit and played with him a bit in his cage before I went on to clean the next one. And I kept coming back to pet him.
> 
> View attachment 89618




Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.  I want (but can't have)!  Gotta go hug Bell & Zoe, now.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.  I want (but can't have)!  Gotta go hug Bell & Zoe, now.



I know! My girls always get spoiled rotten on Tuesdays.

Actually, right now I'm scanning some more shots that I took on film. I took some more today but I didn't finish the roll so they'll have to wait a while.


----------



## Gary A.

That must be a great experience for you ... (not particularly the cage cleaning ... but that is part of the whole beneficial experience) ... I will contribute to yours and Amy's Zoo/Farm with the Guinea Pig Barn


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Did I tell you that The Cook purrs?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> PS- Did I tell you that The Cook purrs?



Oh!


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> That must be a great experience for you ... (not particularly the cage cleaning ... but that is part of the whole beneficial experience) ... I will contribute to yours and Amy's Zoo/Farm with the Guinea Pig Barn



It's definitely been good for me to be there, even if it involves tasks that aren't always so pleasant. It's nice to be able to help.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- Did I tell you that The Cook purrs?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh!
Click to expand...

She likes to have her stomach rubbed. After a bit she'll start making heavy breathing sounds which sounds like purring. Amy swears that she's not a dog.


----------



## limr

Aw, sweet silly pup!

I know Buzz doesn't want a dog, but if I already have a zoo, what's a couple of dogs?  Someone has to guard the bunnies and guinea pigs!


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here is one that I know nothing about.  Says it's free, but I only viewed the first page, so let me know if it's any good.
> 
> Free online Course on Art Appreciation Basics - Open Learning World.com
> 
> 
> 
> thanks. Really helpful. And it says I don't even have to like art just learn how to bullshit it better!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The nice thing about learning about "art" (and notice that it is not "ART"), is that it teaches one to see in a deeper way, the relationships between light and dark, between texture and form, between tone and depth.  It allows us to see the medium as a way of framing the content.  It allows us to ask about the artist's intent, and even perhaps a comment on the culture from which that art emerged.
> 
> My wife teaches art to people ranging from 2-3 years to teenagers, to middle-aged, to seniors.  With each group, she tries to get them to notice something they haven't paid attention to before.  Today, she did a workshop for a group with emotional difficulties (depression, anxiety, etc.), and she took them through exercises which calm and relax, then got them to explore the boundaries.  Negative spaces, the shadows, the tone transition from light to dark... are places where the eye can learn to see deeper.
> 
> Art is about opening the eye, the heart, and the mind.
Click to expand...

life interests me. How people live it. whether they are pounding a sledgehammer or sitting in a cubicle, kids single. Working three jobs to make ends meet or just one. The sun shining over the hill or the clouds reaching down in rain. Whatever it is right then and whoever I am looking at. I have some photos of streets, cars going by. I wonder of each person and where they might be going. The drastics of  the new born baby to the dying of old age not so much, but everything in between. The looks on peoples faces I wonder how they see the world more than I wonder how I see it. couple photos of kids in innocence on here yesterday, one I think was a beach photo, I liked that a reminder of the simpler and untattered. Then you might have people who appear beaten by life. you wonder what they have seen. But it isn't a drama thing and very real. some people try to make things seem better than they were, or more than they were. Glorify it or romanticize it.  I might be more of a study of how they actually are.

And everyday life I just find a endless study. The humdrum of it. The smiles and sun but the grit and darkness too and mostly the grey. Mostly it is grey..  Course I am into these old historic photographs, graveyard photos, that kind of thing but still have young kids myself so my mind crosses a great spectrum along these lines. Anyway, I bummed a cigarette off a guy last week. I had run out. lit the cigarette and started talking to him. Turns out he was standing there because his wife was inside the building in hospice care dying. They expected she only had a few more days to live. But it wasn't dramatic, or processed, it wasn't some impressionistic, or someones communication of whatever inane b.s. concept they had.  it was just very dry, very real, and very unromantic. We spoke  for probably fifteen minutes and I carried on my way. He was very accepting of the fact of what had been happening, or at least appeared so. Just like that. Few moments in time? But that is how I see things. It has its happy and sad moments, but mostly it is just very real and constantly going. Not clean, or neat, pretty or usually organized. Life is something else.  Isn't that what life is? And isn't it amazing, just how it is? The realness I don't avoid. I absorb it. I think about that as I was just looking at a photo I took of a street with people and cars going down it, church in background. What is the subject? I dunno. I think it is just life. I might fall into the realism category of the art world, least as far as train of thought.


----------



## pgriz

Some think they are writing the script of their life, others seem to be acting out a script of other's making.  We have the illusion of purpose and control, until unforeseen events reveal the randomness of it all.  So much of what we perceive as reality, is actually us seeing things through a lens of our prejudices, ignorance, and lack of awareness, and coloured by whatever ideology we happen to believe in.  A "crazy" person is perfectly logical within the framework of their own thinking.  It is probably healthier to be suspicious of one's own certainties, and to check the solidity of the bedrock on which we build our house of beliefs.  

Bribrius, you seem to have the knack of seeing beyond the superficial surfaces that we all construct around us.  Life is not, as you've pointed out, either very organized, or very pretty.  It's probably better than a random walk, but certainly not as clear or certain as a straight path.  Seeing life without its "spin" of what we think life is, is not an ability that many have.  Hone it.  It may be good to see it in its unvarnished form.  I think you can show us some of that through your images.


----------



## Derrel

bribrius said:
			
		

> [View attachment 89579



At least you've got a Nikon...


----------



## Designer

pgriz said:


> Some think they are writing the script of their life, others seem to be acting out a script of other's making.  We have the illusion of purpose and control, until unforeseen events reveal the randomness of it all.  So much of what we perceive as reality, is actually us seeing things through a lens of our prejudices, ignorance, and lack of awareness, and coloured by whatever ideology we happen to believe in.  A "crazy" person is perfectly logical within the framework of their own thinking.  It is probably healthier to be suspicious of one's own certainties, and to check the solidity of the bedrock on which we build our house of beliefs.
> 
> Bribrius, you seem to have the knack of seeing beyond the superficial surfaces that we all construct around us.  Life is not, as you've pointed out, either very organized, or very pretty.  It's probably better than a random walk, but certainly not as clear or certain as a straight path.  Seeing life without its "spin" of what we think life is, is not an ability that many have.  Hone it.  It may be good to see it in its unvarnished form.  I think you can show us some of that through your images.


That's heavy, man.


----------



## bribrius

][/QUOTE]

At least you've got a Nikon...[/QUOTE]
I heard it is what all the nutcases have. So I bought two. some people on this site have three or four or more!


----------



## limr

A quick hello, Coffee Housers!

Heh...I almost wrote 'Hosers.' You hosers. 

It's 20F this morning and I have to find my warmer coats. I've only needed my faux pea coat up until now.

I think I might be one of the only ones who isn't depressed by this.

And now I have to go get ready for work. Just a hit-and-run good morning, though I'm heading towards my admin job, which means I'll mostly likely be stalking TPF again in an hour or so


----------



## KenC

"Hosers" - anyone would wear it proudly.

I don't know about you, but I needed the heavy coat yesterday.  It wasn't quite as cold in the morning, but the wind chill was unpleasant.  One of those days where it feels colder at lunch when it's actually the same temp as in the morning, but your brain was expecting it to be a little warmer.


----------



## bribrius

Photography and Realism
interesting read.  I am tempted to side with Campbell and plato and argue that the less subjective photography is toward being a art the more realistic it is. However I also noticed the author apparently contradicts himself by first suggesting objective over subjective in realism but then suggesting emotional or subjective influence of the photographer increases the realism in a photo. I also wonder why he chooses such extreme examples of war time.
Nothing great but food for thought.

yeah, I woke up it was about twenty degrees too. Put one of the kids on the school bus. winter almost seems to be here doesn't it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Housers. It is 52F right now. The warm coffee cup feels good against my hands. Tastes pretty good too. Supposed to get up to 72F today ... so a long sleeve shirt. Last week I shot a play for the high school I get volunteered.  The last few months I haven't been shooting much. At the beginning of the event I felt very awkward, not confident of which lens to use or where I should be. After an hour or so I sorta out back into the groove, but it hard ... I had to really think about what I was doing. Typically, it is somewhat semi-automatic. I just sorta start shooting and I see all these 'previsualized' shots and I react accordingly. But this time it took a while for my previsualization to warm up. 

So who wants to go shooting?

Gary


----------



## Designer

Wind is up, so I zipped my jacket to my neck this morning.  Doggie took care to stop at least 4 times, so she's good for a while.  I need to test my INR this morning, as usual on Wednesdays.  Yesterday was the first day in 12 days that I didn't feel something begin to tear apart in my abdomen.    I have an appointment with the sturgeon on Friday.  He'll no doubt tell me that I really haven't been tearing anything loose down there, and it's all in my imagination.  But I DO feel better!  (cue the Doc McStuffins song)  So I guess that means I get to resume my remodeling project soon.  

My son has been on the "road" for a month.  Mostly Europe and Asia.  He'll start planning our Thanksgiving when he gets home.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> So who wants to go shooting?


I DO, I DO!  ME, ME, Pick Me!!!!

Or did you mean photography?  Well, either way.  

Say, was it you who was considering a drive South into the desert?  Rick50 reminded me of a cool drive East from San Diego through Julian, and into Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.  The Imperial Valley is right there too.  This is the time to go, or maybe around March to get the best colors.


----------



## KenC

I always have trouble with essays on photography written by non-photographers.  He defines something called "fantastic photography" (a term I've never seen) and states that it started in the 1960's.  However, according to his definition it existed long before that, as photographers have been experimenting with perception and reality as long as photography has existed.  I find it more useful to just read about art in general, which generally means reading about painting.  You have to throw out some of it that obviously doesn't apply, at least to most photography, but the principles of art are the same, imo, whatever it is you're putting in a frame.

Some of the photographers on the other hand, seem to be unaware of anything else and have made up all kinds of "rules" which don't really apply a good deal of the time, just creating confusion among beginners.


----------



## Gary A.

Weather doesn't mentally affect me. I get cold easily, but I have this 'it is what it is' mentality. I do what I can, as in I dress appropriately, then go out and do what do I have to do. I've worked above the Arctic Circle, in the hottest deserts on Earth and steamy rain forests and the weather doesn't really bother me.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> So who wants to go shooting?
> 
> 
> 
> I DO, I DO!  ME, ME, Pick Me!!!!
> 
> Or did you mean photography?  Well, either way.
> 
> Say, was it you who was considering a drive South into the desert?  Rick50 reminded me of a cool drive East from San Diego through Julian, and into Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.  The Imperial Valley is right there too.  This is the time to go, or maybe around March to get the best colors.
Click to expand...

Yep, it was Rick who reminded me of Anza-Borrego area. I'm not a landscape shooter, but I'm willing to try. Just say when and I'll be there. I hope you're willing to teach me some stuff on landscapes.

Gary


----------



## Designer

Well, if not landscapes, then some closeups of the flowers when the desert blooms in the early spring.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius- Maybe I missed a few posts, but what I get is that you're looking to improve your photography. That is great. What helped me in my early years were teacher/mentors who took me under their wings and kicked my butt. They kick my butt hard, they taught me to recognise and accept all forms of constructive criticism and ultimately they taught me how to be self-critical. How to objectively analyze my own stuff and then kick my own butt. 

That is only half. The other half to to shoot. Shoot tons of stuff. Shoot everyday, think about what you're shooting. Don't just toss the camera up to your eye and think "yeah, that looks good", click. Toss the camera up to your eye and say "Yeah, that look good ... but what can I do to make it looks better ...". Other times don't toss the camera up to your eye at all ... mentally capture the scene ... mentally take a picture. Don't mentally take a picture of what you see, take a mental picture of what you want the final image to be. Mentally see the image at 200mm, or at 20mm, at 1/30 or 1/2000. at f/2.8 or at f/16. After you have mentally composed and found the settings to capture the image ... in the best light ... then emulate your mental image onto the camera and do it for real. That is called Ansel Adams called previsualization. It is a very powerful tool. Take that mental image with you into the electronic darkroom and take what you captured and polish your captured image into your previsualized image.

The closer your SOOC captured image is to your previsualized image the better photographer you are becoming.

Gary


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Well, if not landscapes, then some closeups of the flowers when the desert blooms in the early spring.


I'm packing up the car. Let's do it.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius- Maybe I missed a few posts, but what I get is that you're looking to improve your photography. That is great. What helped me in my early years were teacher/mentors who took me under their wings and kicked my butt. They kick my butt hard, they taught me to recognise and accept all forms of constructive criticism and ultimately they taught me how to be self-critical. How to objectively analyze my own stuff and then kick my own butt.
> 
> That is only half. The other half to to shoot. Shoot tons of stuff. Shoot everyday, think about what you're shooting. Don't just toss the camera up to your eye and think "yeah, that looks good", click. Toss the camera up to your eye and say "Yeah, that look good ... but what can I do to make it looks better ...". Other times don't toss the camera up to your eye at all ... mentally capture the scene ... mentally take a picture. Don't mentally take a picture of what you see, take a mental picture of what you want the final image to be. Mentally see the image at 200mm, or at 20mm, at 1/30 or 1/2000. at f/2.8 or at f/16. After you have mentally composed and found the settings to capture the image ... in the best light ... then emulate your mental image onto the camera and do it for real. That is called Ansel Adams called previsualization. It is a very powerful tool. Take that mental image with you into the electronic darkroom and take what you captured and polish your captured image into your previsualized image.
> 
> The closer your SOOC captured image is to your previsualized image the better photographer you are becoming.
> 
> Gary


fruck ansel adams. If he had preconceived it so well he wouldn't have spent so much time in the dark room fixing it.
studying right now.
"Transparent Pictures: On the Nature of Photographic Realism"


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, if not landscapes, then some closeups of the flowers when the desert blooms in the early spring.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm packing up the car. Let's do it.
Click to expand...

Don't wait for me, I live in Iowa and it would be difficult for me to go there now.


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> .. ansel adams. If he had preconceived it so well he wouldn't have spent so much time in the dark room fixing it.



Your assumption about Adams' method is ill-founded.  Adams preconceived the shot as finished, but he knew it would not convey his intent simply by shooting and straight printing.  In order to fully convey his intent he had to manipulate the print.

That he could preconceive something that wasn't there is a testament to his artistic vision.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius-

Film is much different than digital (duh). With film you exposed and developed with the final image in mind knowing that your exposure would take you only so far ...the development will take you further and then the printing would bring you home.

With digital, it can all be done in PhotoShop or equal ... but you still need to manipulate to a preconceived image, (if for nothing else than for your own consistency rate and later style).

These are both pretty similar images, the top is film the bottom is digital. While the previsualization is similar the workflow was much different.












Gary

PS- Until you can at least equal someones skill and talent in the same genre you are working in (in this case photography), you probably shouldn't be bad mouthing them.
G


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> ansel adams. If he had preconceived it so well he wouldn't have spent so much time in the dark room fixing it.



Your assumption about Adams' method is ill-founded.  Adams preconceived the shot as finished, but he knew it would not convey his intent simply by shooting and straight printing.  In order to fully convey his intent he had to manipulate the print.

That he could preconceive something that wasn't there is a testament to his artistic vision.[/QUOTE]
could be a reflection of what I am reading. I just flipped from photo realism to what I just quoted above.
it seems oddly profound that from the renaissance and davinci there was a purpose of recreating the exact seen image. Once that became available through photography (which later spilled to photos becoming film, and then straight film) people again took that medium and decided to spin it back to subjective personal vision. The only medium as close to delivering reality as we had been able to achieve. so it starts going through a period of photography starting to be used for artistic interpretation. Then it gets reversed again, to the point of photo realism (copying photos using painting to establish reality in painting). Then reversed again back to visual conception and artistic intent. When the greatest achievement of photography was probably the long sought after want to deliver the closest to reality interpretation available. The artistic vision is exactly what photography in its point of fact delivery was monumental in its ability to avoid, and move the work to realism rather than subjective interpretation or just likeness. The same thing that was trying to be achieved in painting and sculpting but never quite was able to. wasn't it?
I am still reading, don't claim to know everything.
seems that once he started playing the darkroom, he crossed over to nolonger achieving realism but his personal vision. Not a bad thing, but not really along the lines of what I am reading. I read something about a half hour ago, said the doubts in photographys beginning were the conclusion that the photos could still be manipulated and not achieving reality. As in, It nolonger became the trusted method as first thought. But this would all have to do with ones perception of photography and purpose, and the photographers intent whether it be a reproduction of what is seen or a conceptualized vision of what is seen. so was his intent accurate reproduction? likeness? or his own personal vision?
If someone were to choose a medium in which to communicate personal vision why would the choose photography? The medium most known for being the most accurate depiction of unsubjective reality? This of course becomes easier now though with digital imaging and manipulation but you still wonder why they don't pick up a paint brush as a preferred method.
hey, what do I know I am just reading and learning ya know?


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius-
> 
> Film is much different than digital (duh). With film you exposed and developed with the final image in mind knowing that your exposure would take you only so far ...the development will take you further and then the printing would bring you home.
> 
> With digital, it can all be done in PhotoShop or equal ... but you still need to manipulate to a preconceived image, (if for nothing else than for your own consistency rate and later style).
> 
> These are both pretty similar images, the top is film the bottom is digital. While the previsualization is similar the workflow was much different.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary
> 
> PS- Until you can at least equal someones skill and talent in the same genre you are working in (in this case photography), you probably shouldn't be bad mouthing them.
> G


good point. no doubt more reactionary as i keep reading comments on ansel adams around the web like there is a cult following and he is jesus. i try to put his work into more of a period of relevant time and influence rather than a be end all of the entire thing. i have looked through it, but then i looked through davinci too. i think i would give more credit to davinci and question if ansel adams is overrated like Tolstoy quotes.. i should still watch my mouth, undoubtedly i lack tact. And i do hold respect for adams don't get me wrong.


----------



## limr

This is all way too deep for me right now. I need another cup of coffee. 

Seriously, I usually love this kind of discussion and I am enjoying reading, but I'm kind of out of it today. Been getting to bed too late in the past few days but still waking up at the same time, and it's starting to catch up to me. Brain isn't going too fast right now.


----------



## Gary A.

Reading about photography and art is great and fine and wonderful and all that. Remember to put all that reading into practice and always self-critique to the point where you are your own worse critic. You need to:

1) shoot; 
2) shoot again; and 
3) at the end of the day when you think you're done ... shoot some more.


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> If someone were to choose a medium in which to communicate personal vision why would the choose photography? The medium most known for being the most accurate depiction of unsubjective reality?



Some of us are into photography because we think it is fun.  

You can be a realism purist if you want to, and I'm not going to be critical.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> If someone were to choose a medium in which to communicate personal vision why would the choose photography? The medium most known for being the most accurate depiction of unsubjective reality?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some of us are into photography because we think it is fun.
> 
> You can be a realism purist if you want to, and I'm not going to be critical.
Click to expand...

lol. it is fun. Don't mind me, i am foundation building..Right now i should probably have a better philosophical understanding of what i am even doing so working on that..
really neither here nor there. 
Does a purest exist? Even if shooting for realism the photo doesn't come out that way on its own, it has to be tweaked to look as real in actual depiction of what was there. I am really just reading, tis all.

_Helmut Gernsheim " the camera intercepts images, the paintbrush reconstructs them"

Andre Bazin  "Only a photographic image is capable of giving us the kind of image of a object that is satisfying the deep need a man has to substitute for it something more than a mere approximation, a kind of decal or transfer"

Stanley cavell "photograph is of the world while a painting is a world"_


really just interesting, philosophical wise.


----------



## limr

Painting and photography require different skill sets (thus leading someone to choose one over the other), but the end result can be exactly the same: a visual representation of what we see. Some people will want that representation to be more faithful to what they believe to be an objective reality. Others want their representation to be more fantastical, to represent what could be rather than what is. And many are somewhere in between. Even if you're shooting/painting to express feelings, you're still representing how you _see_ those feelings.

I believe this to be true of any art - visual art, sculpture, dance, music, writing... The artist is expressing themselves in a way that more closely represents the world as most of us know it, or that strays drastically from that world. We are all just trying to interpret the world in our own way, and some people do that through their art, whatever art they choose.

Edit: I got coffee


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Painting and photography require different skill sets (thus leading someone to choose one over the other), but the end result can be exactly the same: a visual representation of what we see. Some people will want that representation to be more faithful to what they believe to be an objective reality. Others want their representation to be more fantastical, to represent what could be rather than what is. And many are somewhere in between. Even if you're shooting/painting to express feelings, you're still representing how you _see_ those feelings.
> 
> I believe this to be true of any art - visual art, sculpture, dance, music, writing... The artist is expressing themselves in a way that more closely represents the world as most of us know it, or that strays drastically from that world. We are all just trying to interpret the world in our own way, and some people do that through their art, whatever art they choose.
> 
> Edit: I got coffee


welcome back. Bazin with criticism.
here ya go. Theory and criticism: The Ontology of the Photographic Image (André Bazin, 1945) | L'avventura di Gwen


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> welcome back. Bazin with criticism.
> here ya go. Theory and criticism: The Ontology of the Photographic Image (André Bazin, 1945) | L'avventura di Gwen



And there you have the problem of trying to read about art without having to wade through that crappy writing.

Here, now you too can write badly! PIXMAVEN - The Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator

Just enter a 5-digit number and get your very own "Critical Response to Art Product" (CRAP) sentence. I entered my zip code and it gave me this: "With regard to the issue of content, the internal dynamic of the purity of line notates the exploration of montage elements."


----------



## KenC

Now that is funny.  I don't even want to say what my zip code brought up.


----------



## limr

I remember it being passed around as an actual sheet of paper in grad school many moons ago. I'm quite delighted that it found its way online


----------



## Designer

O.K., here's mine:  "Although I am not a painter, I think that the internal dynamic of the biomorphic forms seems very disturbing in light of the accessibility of the work."


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> welcome back. Bazin with criticism.
> here ya go. Theory and criticism: The Ontology of the Photographic Image (André Bazin, 1945) | L'avventura di Gwen
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And there you have the problem of trying to read about art without having to wade through that crappy writing.
> 
> Here, now you too can write badly! PIXMAVEN - The Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator
> 
> Just enter a 5-digit number and get your very own "Critical Response to Art Product" (CRAP) sentence. I entered my zip code and it gave me this: "With regard to the issue of content, the internal dynamic of the purity of line notates the exploration of montage elements."
Click to expand...

i followed the majority of it.  some of the word reference i skipped over (didn't feel like looking it up)  but i don't think i missed enough to detract from the general image.



The general gist is art attempted to depict reality, Photography replaced the other arts from having to depict reality. But photography still falls short because of the human element in it.
still says it is the closest to "sharing reality" with the actual subject.
And carries on to cinema depiction and the evolution of realism.

The critique part is the failures of photography to depict reality because of the human component.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> i followed the majority of it.  some of the word reference i skipped over (didn't feel like looking it up)  but i don't think i missed enough to detract from the general image.
> 
> 
> 
> The general gist is art attempted to depict reality, Photography replaced the other arts from having to depict reality. But photography still falls short because of the human element in it.
> still says it is the closest to "sharing reality" with the actual subject.
> And carries on to cinema depiction and the evolution of realism.
> 
> The critique part is the failures of photography to depict reality because of the human component.



I didn't say I couldn't follow it  Just that it would be a LOT easier to read about art if critiques were not so often written in such willfully dense jargon. This article wasn't too bad overall, but it came close in a couple of places to something out of the CRAP generator.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i followed the majority of it.  some of the word reference i skipped over (didn't feel like looking it up)  but i don't think i missed enough to detract from the general image.
> 
> 
> 
> The general gist is art attempted to depict reality, Photography replaced the other arts from having to depict reality. But photography still falls short because of the human element in it.
> still says it is the closest to "sharing reality" with the actual subject.
> And carries on to cinema depiction and the evolution of realism.
> 
> The critique part is the failures of photography to depict reality because of the human component.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't say I couldn't follow it  Just that it would be a LOT easier to read about art if critiques were not so often written in such willfully dense jargon. This article wasn't too bad overall, but it came close in a couple of places to something out of the CRAP generator.
Click to expand...

you should try the one i posted before that. Good read but fairly long. Requires a membership but membership is free. similar to the article above but much more in depth.


----------



## bribrius

JSTOR: An Error Occurred Setting Your User Cookie
here it is.

link is messed up from cookies but still works, least for me.


----------



## limr

Ah, JSTOR. I have access to that in the academic databases at my school.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Ah, JSTOR. I have access to that in the academic databases at my school.


i have a account but since it is a free version i am only allowed three books on my shelf at once. lol


----------



## limr

I have access to it ALL!!! Mwahahahahaha...


----------



## snerd

I'm surprised that no one's mentioned yet that the optical suggestions of the purity of line verges on codifying the distinctive formal juxtapositions.


----------



## Designer

That is EXACTLY what I was going to say.


----------



## limr

Cool, look what I found! It's a video of where I lived in Portugal.






Around 0.30 they show the Jardim Santa Barbara. That was a couple of blocks from my school and I'd often have lunch there. I think the building was a convent at some point. Wasn't sure what it was used for now.

From around 2:00 - 3:20, they showed a bunch of scenes from Bom Jesus, a cathedral on a hill just outside of own. I used to  walk there every Sunday. There is a funicular that goes up the hill or you can go up the stairs. I always went up the stairs. If I remember correctly, there were 575.

At 3:30-ish, they switch to the other big cathedral, Sameiro, which is on the top of a different hill out of town. That's where my parents got married.

Aww, I miss it there sometimes.


----------



## bribrius

looks like a decent place for photography. just skimming the video i saw a few shots i wouldn't mind having.


----------



## limr

There's a lot of good photo opportunities there. It's a beautiful little city. I don't have many pictures scanned in, but I have a few of the town. I wasn't taking nearly as many pictures then, though, so when I go back for a visit, I'm sure I'll take more pictures in a week or two than I did my whole two years there!


----------



## Didereaux

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, JSTOR. I have access to that in the academic databases at my school.
> 
> 
> 
> i have a account but since it is a free version i am only allowed three books on my shelf at once. lol
Click to expand...



A complete non sequiter:  What the he double L does Bribris standfor, or is derived from.  On the whole internet I was able to find only one reference a Rutherford s. Bribrius who did some obscure treatise on some biblical stuff.  Now my curiousity is piqued....please scratch it!  lol


----------



## bribrius

Didereaux said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, JSTOR. I have access to that in the academic databases at my school.
> 
> 
> 
> i have a account but since it is a free version i am only allowed three books on my shelf at once. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> A complete non sequiter:  What the he double L does Bribris standfor, or is derived from.  On the whole internet I was able to find only one reference a Rutherford s. Bribrius who did some obscure treatise on some biblical stuff.  Now my curiousity is piqued....please scratch it!  lol
Click to expand...

never tried that. i did a search and it came up as one of my online personalities, someone elses, and some twenty year old female. i can assure you i am not a twenty year old female. Unfortunately i had another one i favored more but as time went on it became more and more unavailable wherever i went online. Since my name is Brian bribrius made sense as it is my nickname and the us for united states as i frequented overseas sites. Or you consider bri bri is two so it would be "us" even if it is rather me. That wouldn't be the original thinking on it though. More like kenyuk for united kingdom.
i think it came from a old English proverb meaning "internet troll post foolish stuff"


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Housers. Weather check., 54F right now, should reach 70F ... another long sleeve day. I'm still in my PhotoShop class and I'm learning a lot, nothing applicable for my photographic workflow, but all the stuff is good to know.


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Housers. Weather check., 54F right now, should reach 70F ... another long sleeve day. I'm still in my PhotoShop class and I'm learning a lot, nothing applicable for my photographic workflow, but all the stuff is good to know.



You and your temperate climate!  Long sleeves indeed!  Here the cold snap is letting up.  It was in the mid-thirties and pretty still this morning and it seems to be 42 right now.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Housers. Weather check., 54F right now, should reach 70F ... another long sleeve day. I'm still in my PhotoShop class and I'm learning a lot, nothing applicable for my photographic workflow, but all the stuff is good to know.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You and your temperate climate!  Long sleeves indeed!  Here the cold snap is letting up.  It was in the mid-thirties and pretty still this morning and it seems to be 42 right now.
Click to expand...

But it gets cold at night ... and you have real Phili Cheese Steak to keep you warm.


----------



## limr

Here's the winner from today's exam scoring session:

"There are a few reason why police should stop and frisk someone one of them it's because they are just trying to make New York City safe. I agree with this because people think cop are just stop and searching someone because they are Hispanic or black that absolutely not true it's about their beaver."

Ah, spell check. Good times.


----------



## Gary A.

If a Hispanic or black has a beaver I would hope the cop frisks them. I think that possession of a beaver is probable cause.


----------



## snowbear

Punctuation is nice to have, too.


----------



## sm4him

Hey everyone! What's up?
I haven't been on much this week. It's been a really hard week. 
One of my sweet, sweet ladies in my Sunday School class ( I teach an older ladies' class, most of them are 75 years old and older) passed away very suddenly, less than a week after one of her sons had passed away.

Then the mom of a very close friend (the friend's name is Wanda) passed away on Tuesday, one day before Wanda's birthday. 
Another good friend's mom (this is the friend whose husband died on Memorial Day) ended up in the hospital. Fortunately, she is back home now and doing better. 
ALL of these people are about the age of my own mom, so it always just makes me so aware that we aren't promised tomorrow--and yet, ironically, because of all the things going on this week, I've not gotten to spend any time with MY mom.

Glad it's finally Friday, but tonight's the funeral for the first woman I mentioned, so a bummer way to start a weekend.

On a brighter note, it's warmed up here a bit; tomorrow should be sunny and close to 60 for a high, so I'm hoping to actually get out and do some photography, if I can still remember how.


----------



## limr

That's a tough week, Sharon


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> If a Hispanic or black has a beaver I would hope the cop frisks them. I think that possession of a beaver is probable cause.



Except when it's a different kind of beaver 



snowbear said:


> Punctuation is nice to have, too.



Not everyone on this forum would agree


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> Hey everyone! What's up?
> I haven't been on much this week. It's been a really hard week.
> One of my sweet, sweet ladies in my Sunday School class ( I teach an older ladies' class, most of them are 75 years old and older) passed away very suddenly, less than a week after one of her sons had passed away.
> 
> Then the mom of a very close friend (the friend's name is Wanda) passed away on Tuesday, one day before Wanda's birthday.
> Another good friend's mom (this is the friend whose husband died on Memorial Day) ended up in the hospital. Fortunately, she is back home now and doing better.
> ALL of these people are about the age of my own mom, so it always just makes me so aware that we aren't promised tomorrow--and yet, ironically, because of all the things going on this week, I've not gotten to spend any time with MY mom.
> 
> Glad it's finally Friday, but tonight's the funeral for the first woman I mentioned, so a bummer way to start a weekend.
> 
> On a brighter note, it's warmed up here a bit; tomorrow should be sunny and close to 60 for a high, so I'm hoping to actually get out and do some photography, if I can still remember how.


Religion is good. Gives a person justification for their existence if they need more than Darwin.


----------



## bribrius

up late last night watching the documentary about polaroid on Netflix.  Paying for it this morning...


----------



## oldhippy

Well the next time my wife says " Don't eat that, I think it's spoiled." 
Ya major food poison.  Tuesday till now.  Still a little weak.  Can't sneeze my sides hurt so much from the onslaught. Yep that's a good word.  Well mending is something this old bird has learned to do.  Later Ed


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Here's the winner from today's exam scoring session:
> 
> "There are a few reason why police should stop and frisk someone one of them it's because they are just trying to make New York City safe. I agree with this because people think cop are just stop and searching someone because they are Hispanic or black that absolutely not true it's about their beaver."
> 
> Ah, spell check. Good times.



This is just too good.  It took me a couple of minutes to figure out that "beaver" was supposed to be "behavior" - my first thought was "demeanor" but that didn't seem quite right and also seemed like a word this person might not know.  There should be a dictionary or translator from illiterate English to regular English.


----------



## bribrius

time for me to go. Things to do and my wife is yelling at me that we are going to be late...


----------



## Gary A.

Sharon- Hang in there. Our condolences . 60F is good shooting weather.

Ed- Food poisoning is tough. Hopefully you'll be 100% by Thanksgiving and you can replenish all that you lost.


----------



## limr

oldhippy said:


> Well the next time my wife says " Don't eat that, I think it's spoiled."
> Ya major food poison.  Tuesday till now.  Still a little weak.  Can't sneeze my sides hurt so much from the onslaught. Yep that's a good word.  Well mending is something this old bird has learned to do.  Later Ed



Oh Ed! You need a hug, too!   (Not too hard, though, so I don't hurt your sides!)


----------



## pgriz

oldhippy said:


> Well the next time my wife says " Don't eat that, I think it's spoiled."
> Ya major food poison.  Tuesday till now.  Still a little weak.  Can't sneeze my sides hurt so much from the onslaught. Yep that's a good word.  Well mending is something this old bird has learned to do.  Later Ed



Get better Ed.  And next time, listen to the missus.  She obviously has some smarts.  Now you're going to have to work at getting you instestinal microflora back to where they need to be to protect you from any more incidences.  My wife works on the rule of threes:  3 hours on the counter, or 3 days in the fridge, and it's gone.  So, as you can imagine, leftovers don't last long.


----------



## snowbear

oldhippy said:


> Well the next time my wife says " Don't eat that, I think it's spoiled."
> Ya major food poison.  Tuesday till now.  Still a little weak.  Can't sneeze my sides hurt so much from the onslaught. Yep that's a good word.  Well mending is something this old bird has learned to do.  Later Ed


Get better soon, Ed.



sm4him said:


> Hey everyone! What's up?
> I haven't been on much this week. It's been a really hard week.
> One of my sweet, sweet ladies in my Sunday School class ( I teach an older ladies' class, most of them are 75 years old and older) passed away very suddenly, less than a week after one of her sons had passed away.
> 
> Then the mom of a very close friend (the friend's name is Wanda) passed away on Tuesday, one day before Wanda's birthday.
> Another good friend's mom (this is the friend whose husband died on Memorial Day) ended up in the hospital. Fortunately, she is back home now and doing better.
> ALL of these people are about the age of my own mom, so it always just makes me so aware that we aren't promised tomorrow--and yet, ironically, because of all the things going on this week, I've not gotten to spend any time with MY mom.
> 
> Glad it's finally Friday, but tonight's the funeral for the first woman I mentioned, so a bummer way to start a weekend.
> 
> On a brighter note, it's warmed up here a bit; tomorrow should be sunny and close to 60 for a high, so I'm hoping to actually get out and do some photography, if I can still remember how.


Sorry to hear the bad news, Sharon.

I can relate about work.  The pressure is on to get my fire box project done.  The county is getting a new dispatch system and my chief wants to take this opportunity to "cut over" to the new boxes.  If I work through the weekend, I should have most of it completed.  Then I can spend the next few weeks going over my scribble notes and getting the documentation in order.


----------



## limr

Good thing you don't have to postwhore anymore!


----------



## Gary A.

I just EBayed a Fuji GX 680III ... A film camera!


----------



## limr

EBayed as in bought or sold?


----------



## minicoop1985

UGH I WANT A GX680 SO BADLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Hi, everyone. Sorry for the little outburst there. GIMME WANT OH MY FREAKING GERDDDDDD


----------



## bribrius

my life is complete. I got my print back of my beloved coffee cup. All is right with the world, least for this minute.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> UGH I WANT A GX680 SO BADLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
> 
> Hi, everyone. Sorry for the little outburst there. GIMME WANT OH MY FREAKING GERDDDDDD


okay, so I don't even know wtf this camera is I guess you just enticed me to look it up.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> UGH I WANT A GX680 SO BADLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
> 
> Hi, everyone. Sorry for the little outburst there. GIMME WANT OH MY FREAKING GERDDDDDD



I hear ya. Those bellows, man.


----------



## bribrius

medium format. they actually don't seem that expensive.
okay, what is the benefit of a medium format gs680?


----------



## minicoop1985

Other than the fact that they're absolutely faptacular? It the movements of the lens are what I really am after.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Good thing you don't have to postwhore anymore!



Yeah - I cleaned up my garbage in that thread!

This has been an interesting project - I am learning as I go and have become a so-called "expert" in the office on certain functions.  Unfortunately, every time I overcome one obstacle another one is close to revealing itself and I have to figure out how to get passed it.  When I do figure it out, potentially switching directions and trying a different approach, I realize the new way would have been better from the start.  I may get to present the whole thing to MSGIC (various GIS professionals from the State, County and Federal governments, utilities and a couple of Universities).


----------



## snerd

Wow! This thing looks like a locomotive coming down the track!!







Creative Commons photo by Viaissimo - Own work


----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


> Wow! This thing looks like a locomotive coming down the track!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Creative Commons photo by Viaissimo - Own work



How the heck to you fly it?


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Other than the fact that they're absolutely faptacular? It the movements of the lens are what I really am after.


okay. you freakn lost me. I guess a better explanation would help. Or you could just choose to keep me in the dark and confused. I am not a gear head or a antique film gear head. I don't think I have ever used one of these cameras so really, just no clue.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> okay. you freakn lost me. I guess a better explanation would help. Or you could just choose to keep me in the dark and confused. I am not a gear head or a antique film gear head. I don't think I have ever used one of these cameras so really, just no clue.



The lens. You can move it:





Here's a Flickr pool of shots people have taken with this camera:
Flickr: The Fuji 680 Pool


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> EBayed as in bought or sold?


A purchase.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> EBayed as in bought or sold?
> 
> 
> 
> A purchase.
Click to expand...


That thing is no joke. Can't wait to see pictures!


----------



## bribrius

good morning.  I liked your people looking out next to the snow man. Just one of those pics...


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> good morning.  I liked your people looking out next to the snow man. Just one of those pics...



Thanks. I liked how the snowman is also looking in the direction where the man is pointing. It seemed like a good time to take the shot


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Housers. I've snapping up little bits and pieces of the locomotive coming down the track. A 65mm from from my friends at KEH. A adjustable bellows type lens hood, AAA battery housing, (thinking that the battery may be dead or on it's last breath), an English camera manual (the camera is coming from Japan), et cetera.

I have a 120mm reel and tank, need to find a good source for film and most of all I need to figure out how to convert 120 to digital. I have a Plustek, but that is only good for 35mm.


----------



## The_Traveler

Secret Santa 2015 - opening today November Nov 22, closing  Dec 14 | Photography Forum


----------



## limr

Anyone home on a Sunday morning?


----------



## bribrius

me. staring at the capture nx2 trial version and thinking "crap. I don't know how to do this and really don't want to"


----------



## limr

Capture nx2? Is that photo editing software?


----------



## limr

Ah yes, I googled it.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Capture nx2? Is that photo editing software?


yeah.
I actually have like four free photo editing software programs now, this capture trial version, and a hdr program.

Don't use any of them. They seem like a great idea at first then I look at them and decide to do something else instead. I have never been very software proficient no patience I can replace hard drives or chips and reload a entire system easier than learning the software I am loading into it.


----------



## bribrius

this is my second time with a capture trial version. Downloaded it on another system a few months back and never even looked at it after.


----------



## limr

Years ago, my brother-in-law bought be a copy of Corel and I used it for a long time, just for minor edits. I think it was last year or late the year before, I upgraded to the latest version (which is no longer the latest version, of course!) and that's generally what I use. I'm thinking of trying Gimp. My boyfriend uses it and there are a few things that I like about it that Corel doesn't do - no major tools or anything, but just a few things about the interface. Plus, he already knows how to use it so I get a built-in teacher 

But yeah, I feel your pain. I find software photo editing to be a frustrating process.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Years ago, my brother-in-law bought be a copy of Corel and I used it for a long time, just for minor edits. I think it was last year or late the year before, I upgraded to the latest version (which is no longer the latest version, of course!) and that's generally what I use. I'm thinking of trying Gimp. My boyfriend uses it and there are a few things that I like about it that Corel doesn't do - no major tools or anything, but just a few things about the interface. Plus, he already knows how to use it so I get a built-in teacher
> 
> But yeah, I feel your pain. I find software photo editing to be a frustrating process.


I have gimp on here too. Don't really know how to use that either. I think my issue is I don't like to be ignorant. Kind of like traveler posted about not knowing processing. If I choose not to process that is a personal choice, or choose to limit what I process is a personal choice. But being totally ignorant is something else. so I am trying make myself get at least a basic working knowledge so am not ignorant. LMAO
But then then look at it and my first instinct is "fruck this"


----------



## bribrius

and yeah, find it extremely frustrating and boring.


----------



## limr

Getting used to the really basic tools isn't hard. Are you starting with those or going for the advanced stuff right away? 

Take it one tool at a time. First, the leveling tool. Next, the contrast adjuster. Then the whatever...There's a lot of stuff I don't know how to do yet either, but I knew I wasn't ready for more complicated stuff because I was still getting used to the basic stuff. And, you learn faster when it's something you need more often. I'm pretty good with the clone brush because my negatives always get dust one them, so I use the clone brush all the time.

You learn something when you have a need and when you're ready. I'd say look at your pictures and focus only on the tools that you need and are ready to deal with. I'd suggest some practice with contrast and white balance.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Getting used to the really basic tools isn't hard. Are you starting with those or going for the advanced stuff right away?
> 
> Take it one tool at a time. First, the leveling tool. Next, the contrast adjuster. Then the whatever...There's a lot of stuff I don't know how to do yet either, but I knew I wasn't ready for more complicated stuff because I was still getting used to the basic stuff. And, you learn faster when it's something you need more often. I'm pretty good with the clone brush because my negatives always get dust one them, so I use the clone brush all the time.
> 
> You learn something when you have a need and when you're ready. I'd say look at your pictures and focus only on the tools that you need and are ready to deal with. I'd suggest some practice with contrast and white balance.


do that in camera or if I shoot raw I can change the white balance in Nikon view nx. view nx I can do to a extent it is extremely simple just move the sliders for shadow highlight contrast etc. I can also pick bw filters in view nx and managed to set up a couple custom bw profiles to use. But view nx as I said is simple. It is good if I screw the exposure or white balance and have a raw file or want a yellow filter..
when you get to capture (or gimp) totally different worlds far as software, least seems to me.


----------



## limr

There are more tools, of course, but those more advanced programs still include the basic tools. If you use them to make those basic adjustments, then you can get used to the way they are set up. It might then be easier to learn the more advanced tools because you're more comfortable with the program.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> There are more tools, of course, but those more advanced programs still include the basic tools. If you use them to make those basic adjustments, then you can get used to the way they are set up. It might then be easier to learn the more advanced tools because you're more comfortable with the program.


good point. Aren't you smart. lol..


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Housers!


----------



## bribrius

good morning gary.


----------



## Gary A.

It is 57F at 8:00 a.m. 'm in the patio waiting for the day to warm up.  Mid 70's today. The coffee is still steaming a bit and the sun is just peaking over the rooftop and hitting some roses. Secret is this tallish rose with petals which are white on the inside and pink on the outside. Very impressive with ... mmmhhh ... 20 blooms on that one plant in various stage of sexual activity. I can hear the hummers buzzing about and the water falling into the pond. On Friday all four feeders went dry at the same time. On the front page, above the fold of the LA Times is a story on 'dry wine', not a dry taste but rather growing wine without irrigation. My morning should be pleasant, but a bit on the cool side.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> good morning gary.


Top-o-the-morn bribrius. How the hell are you?


----------



## limr

Morning, Tio!



Gary A. said:


> ... 20 blooms on that one plant *in various stage of sexual activity*. I can hear *the hummers* buzzing about and the water falling into the pond. ...



Interesting double entendre there that made me giggle


----------



## limr

Hey, Gary, my boyfriend just got a Fuji XE-1. We were looking at the pictures last night, comparing them to those taken with the Pentax K5 he got. You were right - I'll be happier with the Fuji. The K5 might be more intuitive for me to use, but when it comes to the final image, I definitely prefer the Fuji.

Edit: There wasn't anything wrong with the Pentax pictures. They are quite nice and it's a great camera. But my preferences run towards a look that the Fuji can capture better than a DSLR can.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Hey, Gary, my boyfriend just got a Fuji XE-1. We were looking at the pictures last night, comparing them to those taken with the Pentax K5 he got. You were right - I'll be happier with the Fuji. The K5 might be more intuitive for me to use, but when it comes to the final image, I definitely prefer the Fuji.
> 
> Edit: There wasn't anything wrong with the Pentax pictures. They are quite nice and it's a great camera. But my preferences run towards a look that the Fuji can capture better than a DSLR can.


Good for him. The AF on the 1st generation E1 sucks. It is terrible for non-stationary subjects and in low light. Fuji has been issuing firmware upgrades on a regular bases that actually improves the AF. The EVF in low light gets all smeary, not much you can do about that. In low light move the three position lever on the front of the camera to 'M' and focus with the AFL button. That reduces the smearing.

Tell him congrats! The E1 and the X-Trans sensor makes a very nice little, rangefinderesque package. PhotoNinja, Capture One, Lightroom and Aperture all do a pretty good job with the X-trans RAW images. If you want free look into LightZone.

Tio


----------



## Gary A.

I found the controls and menus on my Fuji's straight forward and quite simple.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> good morning gary.
> 
> 
> 
> Top-o-the-morn bribrius. How the hell are you?
Click to expand...

pretty good. I think we are in the thirties here. Better than the twenties of the last few days..


----------



## Gary A.

I was playing with a camera similar to my new film camera in the store yesterday. Man, it is big, it weighs around ten pounds.


----------



## limr

He bought just the body and is using it with legacy lenses (the ones he uses with his Canon P, so mostly Canon but he's also got a nice Voightlander...can't remember the focal length on that one) so he's manually focusing. The camera does have peak focusing which he is getting used to and says helps a lot. I won't be getting one for a while - have to save up for a bit - but when I do, I'll likely use my Pentax lenses on it, at least at first.


----------



## Gary A.

I recommend "Mastering the Fujifilm X-E1 and X-Pro1" by Rico Pfirstinger. He's a bit of an ass, but his books are very complete. He's on a few forums.


----------



## minicoop1985

Greetings, folks. Finally back from Illinois and man am I exhausted.


----------



## limr

What were you doing in Illinois?


----------



## snerd

minicoop1985 said:


> Greetings, folks. Finally back from Illinois and man am I exhausted.


I'm telling you!!! I just flew in from Chicago.................. and boy are my arms tired!!!



..................................


----------



## limr

GROAN!


----------



## bribrius

hey guys. just reading..posted a article I found from 97 just now.

interesting, how do they keep the digital manipulation photos out of the news?


----------



## limr

You want to give us some more context for that question?


----------



## minicoop1985

Maaaaaaaaaaagic.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> hey guys. just reading..posted a article I found from 97 just now.
> 
> interesting, how do they keep the digital manipulation photos out of the news?


There is a hard line that all reporters and photographers are painfully aware. That line is called accuracy. If you intentionally cross that line, for whatever reason ... you are gone, fired ... and the news organization will run the story of your transgression which will be picked up by other news organizations and you are instantly blackballed from ever working news again.

News is self-regulating. Typically, when someone crosses the line, when someone is fired for crossing the line of accuracy ... It is never pretty.

News, contrary to popular opinion, (usually by those who don't know the differenced between talk radio, blogging and news), bends over backwards to assure accuracy. Accuracy is the most important aspect for any legit news organization. Whenever a reporter/photog maliciously compromises the accuracy reputation of a news organization ... that person is gone, the news organization will self-report the problem and the corrective measures taken.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> You should get the X-Pro 1 body. It is built like a Nikon F, (ala a tank). It has both a optical and electronic viewfinder.
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> hey guys. just reading..posted a article I found from 97 just now.
> 
> interesting, how do they keep the digital manipulation photos out of the news?
> 
> 
> 
> There is a hard line that all reporters and photographers are painfully aware. That line is called accuracy. If you intentionally cross that line, for whatever reason ... you are gone, fired ... and the news organization will run the story of your transgression which will be picked up by other news organizations and you are instantly blackballed from working news again.
> 
> News is self-regulating. Typically, when someone crosses the line, when someone is fired for crossing the line of accuracy ... It is never pretty.
> 
> News, contrary to popular opinion, usually by those who don't know the differenced between talk radio, blogging and news, bend over backwards to assure accuracy. Accuracy is the most important aspect for any legit news organization. Whenever a reporter/photog maliciously compromises the accuracy reputation of a news organization ... that person is gone, the news organization will self-report the problem and the corrective measures taken.
Click to expand...

thank you for the explanation. I was wondering that. Did you read the article? It is in the photographic discussion section. Thanks again for the inside view.


----------



## Gary A.

Welcome back Appleton guy.


----------



## Gary A.

A Pulitzer Award winning AP photog was fired for cloning out a Tv crew in the corner of his Iraq War image. Interestingly enough, had he cropped the image instead of clone, he probably wouldn't have been fired.

I sorta remember, I think a St. Louis Dispatch photog, who cloned out some background legs behind some people lined up for a pre or post game award ceremony. Previously, he was a nominated numerous times for a Pulitzer Prize and was canned and banned for life because he cleaned up his image by cloning out some background legs. The editor had to blow up the image 800% in order to see/find the manipulation. 

Gary


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You should get the X-Pro 1 body. It is built like a Nikon F, (ala a tank). It has both a optical and electronic viewfinder.
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> hey guys. just reading..posted a article I found from 97 just now.
> 
> interesting, how do they keep the digital manipulation photos out of the news?
> 
> 
> 
> There is a hard line that all reporters and photographers are painfully aware. That line is called accuracy. If you intentionally cross that line, for whatever reason ... you are gone, fired ... and the news organization will run the story of your transgression which will be picked up by other news organizations and you are instantly blackballed from working news again.
> 
> News is self-regulating. Typically, when someone crosses the line, when someone is fired for crossing the line of accuracy ... It is never pretty.
> 
> News, contrary to popular opinion, usually by those who don't know the differenced between talk radio, blogging and news, bend over backwards to assure accuracy. Accuracy is the most important aspect for any legit news organization. Whenever a reporter/photog maliciously compromises the accuracy reputation of a news organization ... that person is gone, the news organization will self-report the problem and the corrective measures taken.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> thank you for the explanation. I was wondering that. Did you read the article? It is in the photographic discussion section. Thanks again for the inside view.
Click to expand...

Nope, I'll look for it.


----------



## Gary A.

Found it and I left some additional remarks. Interestingly enough, I was living in Paris when Princess Diane died. A friend and I were driving to breakfast talking about Diana. We were in a tunnel and we drove by a bunch of flowers ... I told Jerome "... Hey, that's where Princess Diana was killed ...". He swerved to get a better look behind us and almost lost control of the car. When we popped out of the tunnel we had to drive through a thong of people and press.


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> What were you doing in Illinois?



Thanksgiving at the dad's house. Such a boring drive.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> What were you doing in Illinois?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanksgiving at the dad's house. Such a boring drive.
Click to expand...


Smart move doing it early.


----------



## limr

Monday morning.


----------



## bribrius

limr.  on my tilted wall. lol 

yeah. it is Monday. the days seem to all run together for me though..

coffee and reading this morning..
Photography in the Age of Falsification - The Atlantic
if you decide to read it you might want to back up to page one. i am on page 8 currently in the link. wildlife photography, ansel adams etc.. basically is what it is about.


----------



## limr

Oh no, I'm sliding off the wall! 

For the record, I was asking you the question about the tilt because I think it's the kind of question you need to ask yourself when you are taking the shot. There should be reasons for why you shoot an image a certain way, and the more aware you are of those reasons, the more direction you'll find for future images. That's my theory anyway.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Oh no, I'm sliding off the wall!
> 
> For the record, I was asking you the question about the tilt because I think it's the kind of question you need to ask yourself when you are taking the shot. There should be reasons for why you shoot an image a certain way, and the more aware you are of those reasons, the more direction you'll find for future images. That's my theory anyway.


true. what I also did with that shot is took a in camera adjusted straight jpeg and took the raw file into capture as we were discussing yesterday for some basic adjustments to compare the two. The one posted is the basic adjusted raw file exported from capture. so it was about comparing in camera jpeg bw, getting a little more acquainted with capture, and I really was messing with the focus trying to decide how to shoot that one since I had two things going on opposite sides of the frame. I chose the subject because I really wanted to get a better idea of tonal range in capture just on a quick adjustment compared to my sooc jpeg.


----------



## limr

And I think that kind of deliberation is exactly what you need to do. Just being aware of your choices and what they mean for the final image is a big step.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> And I think that kind of deliberation is exactly what you need to do. Just being aware of your choices and what they mean for the final image is a big step.


something else I haven't quite wrapped my head around as well. Know it is there but really never cemented it. I did that yesterday. set my in camera adjustments for high contrast bw. shot a house at about 250 m. shot one of my kids at about 20 m. compared the two. same in camera settings for high contrast bw. The photo of my kid came out clearly high contrast. The house not so much. it is the way it processes me thinks. Before I would constantly try to change my in camera settings to account for this (when not shooting high contrast there is only so much you can go high contrast in camera). so I was accounting for it but never actually sat down and thought about it. Must have something to do with the wider the shot and distance the less ability the camera has to follow the profile you set.


----------



## KenC

Why is Monday obnoxious even in a three-day week?  I think I don't like what I need to do before the week is over - nothing really offensive, just irritating.  Oh well, coffee and cookies always help.


----------



## bribrius

KenC said:


> Why is Monday obnoxious even in a three-day week?  I think I don't like what I need to do before the week is over - nothing really offensive, just irritating.  Oh well, coffee and cookies always help.


vodka might help too. just sayn.


----------



## KenC

bribrius said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why is Monday obnoxious even in a three-day week?  I think I don't like what I need to do before the week is over - nothing really offensive, just irritating.  Oh well, coffee and cookies always help.
> 
> 
> 
> vodka might help too. just sayn.
Click to expand...


What would that be,  a Russian coffee?


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm mostly a stay at home dad. I work when the wife's home. I don't get days off.... unless someone takes the kid like today. YAY


----------



## limr

Vodka would be nice right about now.

Good afternoon, folks! It's 60 degrees today and humid. The air feels kinda gross even inside. I want my November temperatures back!


----------



## Gary A.

1:48 p.m. and 81F and dry as a bone. It is supposed to cool off by Thanksgiving.


----------



## Gary A.

I don't have any vodka. Some very good Tequila and Whiskies are available ... and of course a nice selections of vino. Come on by.


----------



## minicoop1985

I've got lots of vodka. I'm a beer drinker, so vodka and I don't generally mingle much. You're welcome to it.


----------



## snerd

It was 61 here today with a nice north breeze. Walked about 3 miles............ I'm out of shape again after last surgery!


----------



## KenC

No one is drinking any coffee this morning?  It's finally waking me up.  Cooling off here and supposed to be rather unpleasant tomorrow - rain turning to snow - will do my best to stay out of my car.


----------



## limr

I'm drinking my coffee but will have to run soon. I go to the cat shelter on Tuesday mornings. Then I'll probably run to school to do a few things just in case it snows tomorrow. It's tricky - I have my admin job during the day and I teach at 6pm. It's not supposed to snow until later so there's more of a chance that they'll cancel night classes (especially the night before T'giving!) than during the day, so if it looks like we'll be cancelled, I'd rather just not go in at all. But that means that a few of the things I needed to do tomorrow need to get done today.


----------



## Designer

The project that I've been working on for the last week is nearly finished.  I will paint it today and get it out of the garage so I can move on to other things. 

I have to go to the grocery store for our feast meal, and try to find my recipe for cranberry compote.  This year my son wants two; the usual sweet version and a savory version.  I will have to invent the savory version as I've not done one of those ever. 

Yesterday I picked up the heirloom turkey from my DIL's parent's house, and started the thawing. 

Oh, and I have to vacuum up the dog hair.


----------



## otherprof

Designer said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> ..just came back from a child's birthday... feel free to judge me but I don't like those... I also don't like to small talk with other mothers who are just talking about children
> 
> yes, I'm a bad person
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't be ridiculous.  You're not "a bad person" just because you don't like children's birthday parties.
Click to expand...

As W.C. Fields remarked, "Anyone who hates dogs and children can't be all bad." Disclosure: I love dogs.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Housers. 52F right now, going up to 80F. The coffee is hot and warming. I was in my camera store yesterday. The shopkeep spoke of declining sales. The only thing selling right now are the A7's he says. Everybody is shelling out discounts, even Leica is discounting their lenses.


----------



## minicoop1985

A nice warm mocha is great on a cold night like tonight. Then a beer because reasons.

Leica is discounting stuff? What the hell... Not exactly something they're known to do...


----------



## limr

There had better be a snow day tomorrow because I am ex.haus.ted. tonight. 2.5 hours with the kitties, home for a quick shower and bowl of soup, errands all afternoon, meeting with Buzz and another friend for a quick beer, then dinner, then putting snow tires on my car, then grocery shopping. Home now. Rapidly approaching a zombie-like state.


----------



## bribrius

discounts are go. i like discounts.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> There had better be a snow day tomorrow because I am ex.haus.ted. tonight. 2.5 hours with the kitties, home for a quick shower and bowl of soup, errands all afternoon, meeting with Buzz and another friend for a quick beer, then dinner, then putting snow tires on my car, then grocery shopping. Home now. Rapidly approaching a zombie-like state.


the weather guessers have us down for 8-10 or so inches of snow tomorrow afternoon into night. Doesn't really phase me either way suppose..


----------



## limr

Yeah, we're being told 6-8 inches and that the rain will turn into snow around 10 am. My school will either close first thing in the morning, at 11 or 12, and for evening classes, the decision is made at 3pm. The other parts of the equation for tomorrow in particular is that every Wednesday from 11-1, we have "Common Hour" when there are no scheduled classes and students can go to club meetings or faculty/admin can have meetings. So if they don't announce a closure at 6-7 am, then they very well might close campus at 11. I'm not going to drive in the snow to work for one friggin' hour.

Plus, it's the day before Thanksgiving, so even if they stay open until 3pm, they'd be crazy to stay open for evening classes because tomorrow night would be a ghost town even in good weather.


----------



## Rick50

Wow, I remember those times. I'm off to the Desert on T-Day for some sun and maybe a buggy ride.


----------



## limr

Meh. Doesn't bother me. If I don't have to drive, then it's really a non-issue. And even if I do have to drive, I've got my snow tires on and actually know what I'm doing, so it's just stressful staying away from the other idiots.

If the power goes out, it'll be inconvenient to be sure, but there's wood and a wood-burning stove, jugs of water in the basement for flushing the toilet, and a country store across the street that runs a generator and makes coffee and pizza. I'm pretty much set


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> ........... And even if I do have to drive, I've got my snow tires on and actually know what I'm doing, so it's just stressful staying away from the other idiots......


QFT! One inch of snow here and they close the schools! It's hilarious watching the idiots still driving the speed limit and losing it lol!!


----------



## limr

I'll never forget the night I was driving home on the parkway in terrible conditions. Couldn't even tell where the lanes were. And these are not flat, straight roads, either. I had gotten off the parkway to see if a side road was better, but it wasn't, so I got back at the same exit. I passed a minivan and a subaru outback (!!), both stuck on the entrance ramp. Once on the parkway again and heading up a hill, I passed 3 or 4 SUVs spinning their wheels or sideways on the side of the road. I just puttered past all of them in 2nd gear, low revs, keeping my tires as straight as possible.

The winters around here are a big part of why I still insist on driving a car with a manual transmission. It's not the only reason, but it makes such a difference in bad weather that even if I was fine with an auto transmission the rest of the year (which I'm not), I would still want a manual for the winter.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> I'll never forget the night I was driving home on the parkway in terrible conditions. Couldn't even tell where the lanes were. And these are not flat, straight roads, either. I had gotten off the parkway to see if a side road was better, but it wasn't, so I got back at the same exit. I passed a minivan and a subaru outback (!!), both stuck on the entrance ramp. Once on the parkway again and heading up a hill, I passed 3 or 4 SUVs spinning their wheels or sideways on the side of the road. I just puttered past all of them in 2nd gear, low revs, keeping my tires as straight as possible.
> 
> The winters around here are a big part of why I still insist on driving a car with a manual transmission. It's not the only reason, but it makes such a difference in bad weather that even if I was fine with an auto transmission the rest of the year (which I'm not), I would still want a manual for the winter.


so you are admitting you purposely ride the clutch and burn out the clutches in your cars?


----------



## limr

Who said I was riding the clutch? I'm not burning anything out. I'm at 165,000 miles and still on the original.

Of course, now you've made me jinx it! *knocks on wood*

My father was a European mechanic. If I treated a car poorly, he'd rise from the dead and beat me right into next week.


----------



## Gary A.

It was in the mid 80's today. 

59F right now.


----------



## snerd

61 here. Between 55-60 most days. Loving every minute of it!


----------



## Gary A.

Movie alert:

Nightcrawler 

Whiplash


----------



## Designer

Good morning, Hosers!  

We got a little snow this morning, and expecting more.  At some point, when it stops, I will have to get out and do my snow-removing ritual.  

I need to make another pilgrimage to the grocery store.  I went yesterday, but had no intention whatsoever of getting everything in one trip.


----------



## KenC

Raining pretty hard here and it's supposed to turn to snow sometime this afternoon/evening.  Estimates have varied wildly, but I wouldn't be surprised by anything from zero to four inches.  I can't remember getting snow before early December in NYC or Philly until the Halloween event last year, and now this.


----------



## limr

Morning, Hoser! 

It's already snowing here and my school has closed. I'm glad they were smart about it. Bad weather on the day before T'giving break - what's the point of opening?

So I have a lovely day to myself and cooking my share of T'giving dinner will be much less stressful. Unfortunately, I'm also at the start of one of my Jesus headaches


----------



## Rick50

Good morning - 6:30am here and I'm on my first cup. Work today for me. Hope everyone has a good one.
Gary - your seeing too many good movies. I'll need to see one soon.


----------



## limr

I don't see many movies at all. I rarely go to a movie theater. There's one artsy movie house that Buzz and I like to go to. I think the last time we went, they were showing the director's cut of The Blues Brothers (love that movie). And if I remember correctly, the last time I went to see a _new_ movie in a theater was the last Star Trek movie. Because that kind of movie needs the big screen.

Today's a good day for curling up on the couch with my kitties and watching some film noir, though.


----------



## Designer

Oh, sorry about those headaches.

I get to make two cranberry relishes (compotes?) this year, and of course I will be assisting my son the whole day.  He lays out the day's menu, including appetizers, which wines, etc.


----------



## bribrius

snow? too early yet to stick. it will just melt over the next couple weeks. Drive through it that is why they made 4x4.
i have already made up my mind i am not picking up a shovel and this is why i have four wheel drives hell with the snow....
But i already had two people call me and leave messages to see if i am plowing this year they want to be plowed. Even though i thought everyone understood i stopped plowing driveways? Just think of when they go to get in their driveway and realize they cant. One is a daycare. i guess they just don't "get it".
lmao.


----------



## limr

Thanksgiving is spent with Buzz's family. Each year, I try to take a little bit more of the load from his mother. I've been doing the pies for several years (one apple, one pumpkin), and I also do a piece of fish, usually salmon (that's mostly for me since I don't eat turkey, but I make enough so others can have some too). And I often bring some simple cranberry sauce. She makes her own traditional cranberry thing, which is actually cold and more of a cranberry-orange relish, but she likes the sauce too, and for me, something is missing if there's no cranberry sauce. No jellied crap, either. This year, I've added mashed potatoes as well.


----------



## bribrius

lol. i don't even cook or bring anything to thanksgiving. i go and eat. i have three sisters. my mother and one of them usually cooks (mostly my mother). The others do cleanup. i just kind of watch and play with the kids until they call us to come eat.
this year one of my sisters is working though she is a nurse and got stuck with working the holiday. Not sure how that shakes things up but i probably still wont have to do anything...

they call me "the spoiled baby boy" still even though i am almost forty.....


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> snow? *too early yet to stick. it will just melt over the next couple weeks.* Drive through it that is why they made 4x4.



If it takes _weeks_ to melt, then that kinda means it stuck, no?


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> *they call me "the spoiled baby boy" still even though i am almost forty..*...



Gee, I wonder why!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> snow? *too early yet to stick. it will just melt over the next couple weeks.* Drive through it that is why they made 4x4.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If it takes _weeks_ to melt, then that kinda means it stuck, no?
Click to expand...

well. couple weeks of snow vs. it being there all winter, is kind of what i am getting at.. It will melt. Nothing stays until mid December here.


----------



## limr

Ah, got it. Snow usually melts between storms around here, even later in the winter. Last winter was unusual in that sense - we had a lot of storms and it stayed on the ground all winter long.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Ah, got it. Snow usually melts between storms around here, even later in the winter. Last winter was unusual in that sense - we had a lot of storms and it stayed on the ground all winter long.


well, if it going to stay that is different. Then it changes to stacking and leaving room for later storms so pushing back the piles far enough to plan ahead so you don't run out of room for it. Also if it "stays" and you don't move it and decide to it isn't going anywhere as now it is two feet of ice. you cant plow ice well i have tried. Like people that call you three storms into winter to plow their drives, after is melts and refreezes forty times and they drive over it. Yeah, the trucks hate plowing frozen ice it don't work well that is how you break chit. so that is when you tell them no or three hundred bucks just to plow their drive and plan on bringing metal shovels and maybe a pick axe.


----------



## limr

Ayup...that's snow, all right.


 

Had to take this with the phone camera reversed, like when taking a selfie. Otherwise the picture was too big to upload. Interesting that there's that size difference. They clearly don't think selfies need the same kind of image quality  

And it's also through glass and a screen. I have to go get some wood soon but I am still in my jammies and didn't want to open the door yet


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 57F right now, should break 80F today. This weather is great, to bad the shorten daylight doesn't allow more time for daylight shooting.




November in Southern California. (Above the horizon is Catalina, not a dark cloud.)


----------



## bribrius

well yeah, because the entire sky is overexposed and washed out....


----------



## snerd

Grandson called and wants to go see Dumb & Dumber 2. I need to get out of bed and start waking up! Where's my coffee?! Actually, since quitting work, I've almost stopped drinking coffee entirely! Amazing, after 2 pots a day for nearly 30 years!


----------



## bribrius

I wish I could go to work. Cant find a doctor to sign off on me they have me banned for my stroke and tia's  still. Testing, testing, more testing... take this pill, that pill another evaluation blah blah blah. I have two neurologist now and rehab psyche and balance testing every week.
Quacks are driving me nuts they think I am a lab rat. supposedly I have a "rare" type of stroke. Like I figure out my place spatially and balance primarily from vision, as my cerebellum is shot. which fascinates them some how.
suppose this is the most time I have ever spent with my kids and that could be good I was always gone or running full tilt before. I need to start drinking more again..


----------



## limr

Fireplace is clean, wood has been gathered. Just killed a roll of film taking a few pictures of the back yard with my new-to-me Minolta. I'll have lunch and then start making the pies for tomorrow.

Yay snow day!


----------



## snerd

We have a gas fireplace, would never go back to wood now. It saved our bacon twice when electricity was off for a week or more after ice storms.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> We have a gas fireplace, would never go back to wood now. It saved our bacon twice when electricity was off for a week or more after ice storms.


I run generators. But it cost like thirty to forty bucks a day when we lose power. which sucks.


----------



## limr

I like making a fire in the stove. My father used to drag dead trees from the woods and chop it into firewood himself. We always had fires. I used to love watching him build up the fire in the stove. He built that, too. It's massive. Seriously, I could get rid of a body in that thing  He made special tools, too, with extra long handles.

I spent hours watching him to learn how to build and keep a fire going on that stove. Most of the time he'd keep the door open so I could watch the fire for a few minutes.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> well yeah, because the entire sky is overexposed and washed out....


That is called overcast. A thin marine layer of fog/cloud mix. I don't do HDR so I exposed for the most important element in the frame and overcast clouds isn't important to me.


----------



## Gary A.

We haven't used our fireplace in years. I haven't any provisions for a power outage. We get them occasionally, every few years when something in the neighborhood unexpectedly goes out. Usually, the outage will last a minute or two and rarely extends into hours.


----------



## Designer

When we lived on the farm, we had a wood stove in the basement.  We'd start a fire Friday after work, run it all weekend, and the LP furnace would not come on all weekend.  

I used mostly standing dead elm.  Plentiful, easy to drag up to the house, and easy to split. 

We don't have a fireplace in the current house because we have a high-efficiency ground-source heat pump, so I chose not to have a fireplace thinking that with all that efficiency, I would be defeating the purpose.


----------



## limr

Cranberry sauce is done, pies are done, salmon is marinating, and the potatoes are boiling for me to mash them. I'm really pleased with the pumpkin pie. I'd been wanting to do one from fresh pumpkins for a while now and this year I finally did, mostly because sugar pumpkins were easier to find this year for some reason. It really wasn't that hard and it tastes really good (I had extra filling and extra dough, so I made a mini pie and just cut into it to test.)

This means the only cooking prep I have to do tomorrow is throw the salmon in the oven. Otherwise I'll get a nice quiet morning to myself. 

My head is still pounding. The power is thankfully still on and I think the snow has stopped. I'm going to make a small fire because I feel like it.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> ......... This means the only cooking prep I have to do tomorrow is throw the salmon in the oven........


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Cranberry sauce is done, pies are done, salmon is marinating, and the potatoes are boiling for me to mash them. I'm really pleased with the pumpkin pie. I'd been wanting to do one from fresh pumpkins for a while now and this year I finally did, mostly because sugar pumpkins were easier to find this year for some reason. It really wasn't that hard and it tastes really good (I had extra filling and extra dough, so I made a mini pie and just cut into it to test.)
> 
> This means the only cooking prep I have to do tomorrow is throw the salmon in the oven. Otherwise I'll get a nice quiet morning to myself.
> 
> My head is still pounding. The power is thankfully still on and I think the snow has stopped. I'm going to make a small fire because I feel like it.


I should go plow at some point. Or no one will be getting in drives for thanksgiving. Or I can do it in the a.m.  Probably take a camera and get some more photos too... hmm.


----------



## snerd

Well, Dumb & Dumber 2 was a "terrible" flick! But don't tell my grandson........... he laughed his butt off lol!!


----------



## Rick50

limr said:


> My head is still pounding. The power is thankfully still on and I think the snow has stopped. I'm going to make a small fire because I feel like it.


Most of us have one thing or another to deal with. I'm just glad I don't get headaches (outside of an occasional hangover). When I was a kid I got them but no more. Sure wish you the best on this one.


----------



## limr

Rick50 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> My head is still pounding. The power is thankfully still on and I think the snow has stopped. I'm going to make a small fire because I feel like it.
> 
> 
> 
> Most of us have one thing or another to deal with. I'm just glad I don't get headaches (outside of an occasional hangover). When I was a kid I got them but no more. Sure wish you the best on this one.
Click to expand...


Thanks  It's bad this morning but I've got my cold pack, some coffee and a pair of dark sunglasses (light sensitivity). Advil helps a little bit. Won't really go away until tomorrow afternoon, but it gets manageable.


----------



## Rick50

Happy T-Day everyone. I'm headed out to the Desert today to meet some old friends. Should be in the upper 80's here today. Good luck with that Leonore.


----------



## limr

Headache is slowly easing enough to be manageable. Driveway is plowed so I don't have to shovel. Going to get on the stationary bike to start accounting for the day's gluttony. Then I'll cook the salmon, pack up all the food, and head on out to dinner.


----------



## Gary A.

Happy Thanksgiving all you Coffee Hosers. It is a bit cool right now. But I'm in the patio with my first cup reading the paper, watching the fish ... fish about.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Headache is slowly easing enough to be manageable. Driveway is plowed so I don't have to shovel. Going to get on the stationary bike to start accounting for the day's gluttony. Then I'll cook the salmon, pack up all the food, and head on out to dinner.


Sorry about the headache Leo. I hope you feel better sooner.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> .......... Thanks  It's bad this morning but I've got my cold pack, some coffee and a pair of dark sunglasses (light sensitivity). Advil helps a little bit. Won't really go away until tomorrow afternoon, but it gets manageable.


Wow! That really sucks!. So sorry, Lenny.


----------



## limr

Thank you, boys


----------



## snowbear

A Happy and a safe holiday for my US peeps!

Lenny, sorry to hear you're having a bad bad morning.  Lots of  to you.  We had a sprinkling of snow, yesterday, but mostly rain.

We are celebrating twice again.  My sister in law is working two double shifts (County Sheriff's Office as a civilian) tonight and tomorrow so we'll go mom-in-law's on Saturday.  Tonight is for the immediate family - son #1 will be down later.

For the past number of years, I've always tried to make one non-traditional dish; jambalaya, gumbo, sausage-cheddar pie, etc.  This year we've expanded that: the only traditional things we are having is Jeremy's sweet potato casserole and (from scratch) cranberry sauce.  We're going more surf and turf this year - I'm making a lobster (that's "lobstah" for all y'all way up Nawth) pot pie, Miriam is doing a pot-type roast, Jeremy's fried paneer, some kind of mushroom dish that Andrew is making, and  and Creme Brulee (with raspberry & blackberry garnish) for dessert.


----------



## Gary A.

GX 680 Update:

My camera came in yesterday from Japan. It appears new, complete with an unblemished box and Japanese instruction manual. (I smelled it expecting a new car smell ... got nothing but a faint hint of maguro.)

Still waiting for backs and fronts (lenses).

Gary


----------



## snowbear

And it begins . . .
Say "hello" to my little friends!


----------



## The_Traveler

Snowbear, that made me really hungry - and we don't eat until 4.

While I have your attention, let me point you to the link for the Secret Santa sign-up for this year in my signature.
Signup is slow so far, only about 10.
Last year we had >60.


----------



## limr

Yup, we got some snow.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> And it begins . . .
> Say "hello" to my little friends!
> 
> View attachment 90179


LOL ... nice! (What time is dinner ...)


----------



## Gary A.

In the 


limr said:


> Yup, we got some snow.
> View attachment 90184


72F right now. Should hit the mid 80's. Everything is green. The Cook and I ran into a short-sleeved cowboy riding his horse along the horse trail this morning. The Cook likes horses.


----------



## limr

No offense but I'll take mid-30s over mid-80s  Anything over 70 starts sucking the life out of me.


----------



## limr

But I do like horses too.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> No offense but I'll take mid-30s over mid-80s  Anything over 70 starts sucking the life out of me.


No offense at all. For me it is wonderful. (Remember we have low humidity ... I find wetness more offensive than heat.)


----------



## snowbear

The_Traveler said:


> Snowbear, that made me really hungry - and we don't eat until 4.
> 
> While I have your attention, let me point you to the link for the Secret Santa sign-up for this year in my signature.
> Signup is slow so far, only about 10.
> Last year we had >60.



Lew, I've been away for a few days trying to finish up my work project. but I sent you the information.  Sorry to agrivate the hunger -- we probably won't eat until around 7.

Lenny: looks nice and seasonal, though it is still Autumn.  I agree - I can't stand hot weather, hence our desire to retire to someplace like New England or the PNW.

Creme Brulees are in the oven and the lobsters are picked.  Jeremy's paneer (basically Asian farmer's cheese, not unlike mozzarella) is chilling in the fridge - he has made it from scratch, this time. 

My lovely wife ran back out to the store and will grab another small lobster two isn't enough.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> No offense but I'll take mid-30s over mid-80s  Anything over 70 starts sucking the life out of me.


BTW- You can't offend me, I come from a political family.


----------



## snowbear

The lobster pie just went into in the oven.  Miriam & Jeremy should be getting Andrew about now.  The roast got a later start than desired bit it should be fine; we may eat close to eight, but that gives us some time for conversation.


----------



## limr

We're done with dinner and dessert. Time to lie around like a bunch of elephant seals and moan softly in pain.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> We're done with dinner and dessert. Time to lie around like a bunch of elephant seals and moan softly in pain.


LOL! I ate only one plate full, purposely. I didn't want the painful moans this year!


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> We're done with dinner and dessert. Time to lie around like a bunch of elephant seals and moan softly in pain.



Um, I think the proper term is either "estivation" or if you're so inclined, "rumination".


----------



## bribrius

so much for black Friday camera lens deals I see nothing.....
well, at least nothing where I can get a eight hundred dollar lens for four hundred kind of nothing..


----------



## snowbear

We're going to have a Black Friday in full color -- 50% off sale at the DC Blick (formerly Utrecht) art store.  Jeremy needs a bunch of stuff and I could use a few tubes of acrylic and some canvas; you never know - Lenny or Marija might be like Mish and let me paint their things!


----------



## limr

You could totally paint my things if you'd like


----------



## Gary A.

Oh my aching back. Mary Lou and I must have washed every pot, pan, dish, glass and utensil thrice.


----------



## Gary A.

People were coming over in shifts. The last shift were three people who were working today. They bailed because they were just too tired ... there is a God. 99% of the cleaning up is finished and so am I. The wine was good, Fess Parker stuff.


----------



## limr

Since I cooked half the meal and all of the desserts, I was exempt from most of the cleaning duties. Whew!


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and I did it all.


----------



## limr

I just did 14 miles on the bike. I meant to just do a quick few miles because it helps the head and also the jimmy leg. Once I was on, though, and in a groove, I found that I couldn't bring myself to stop.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> ......... Once I was on, though, and in a groove, I found that I couldn't bring myself to stop.


I know exactly what you mean!!!

  
.............................


----------



## limr

D'oh!


----------



## limr

A little haiku for a rainy Monday evening at work...

Kind of hungry now.
I would like some bread and cheese.
Students type their work.


----------



## bribrius

hey look!  More photography nutcases!


----------



## snerd

Truly gross stuff!!

*21 Truly Upsetting Vintage Recipes*


----------



## e.rose

So... what... Is this like just... a neverending chat thread?


----------



## snerd

e.rose said:


> So... what... Is this like just... a neverending chat thread?


I think it's a thread for hosers and coffee drinkers. I'm not sure, as I don't really belong here. I just post a drive-by every now and then.


----------



## e.rose

snerd said:


> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> So... what... Is this like just... a neverending chat thread?
> 
> 
> 
> I think it's a thread for hosers and coffee drinkers. I'm not sure, as I don't really belong here. I just post a drive-by every now and then.
Click to expand...

I drink coffee!!


----------



## snowbear

e.rose said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> So... what... Is this like just... a neverending chat thread?
> 
> 
> 
> I think it's a thread for hosers and coffee drinkers. I'm not sure, as I don't really belong here. I just post a drive-by every now and then.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I drink coffee!!
Click to expand...

Welcome aboard, sweetums.  Don't let the mindless flirting bother ya - I'm really harmless,


----------



## e.rose

snowbear said:


> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> So... what... Is this like just... a neverending chat thread?
> 
> 
> 
> I think it's a thread for hosers and coffee drinkers. I'm not sure, as I don't really belong here. I just post a drive-by every now and then.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I drink coffee!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Welcome aboard, sweetums.  Don't let the mindless flirting bother ya - I'm really harmless,
Click to expand...

It's okay. I always forget your a dude anyway, until I see your signature.


----------



## limr

Everyone belongs here! 

Yup, it's a never-ending chat room. Remember the Leaderboard insanity? We didn't want to continue the postwhoring but we liked the company and the morning chats as we each started the day with coffee and TPF. Thus, the Coffee House was born.


----------



## e.rose

limr said:


> Everyone belongs here!
> 
> Yup, it's a never-ending chat room. Remember the Leaderboard insanity? We didn't want to continue the postwhoring but we liked the company and the morning chats as we each started the day with coffee and TPF. Thus, the Coffee House was born.



I never actually knew what the Leaderboard was. I don't think I ever clicked it. 

But this one said "coffee" on it. :lmao:


----------



## limr

e.rose said:


> I never actually knew what the Leaderboard was. I don't think I ever clicked it.
> 
> But this one said "coffee" on it. :lmao:



I'm not sure anyone knew what the Leaderboard thread was about  It all started with the software change and suddenly the top ten posters were being listed under the Leader board (which is now only seen on the front page). Then Stradi-whatshisname started it because he wanted to get on the leader board. Then it just spiraled out of control as we made a mockery of the whole idea of having a leader board.

Plus, there was flirting


----------



## bribrius

I like this room better than ldbrd me thinks, it seems a little more stress free without the posting every single second...


----------



## limr

Yup, that was the idea. Just friendly chatting without having to postwhore.

Not that we HAD to postwhore, of course*





















*But we kinda did. It was a temporary sickness. Don't judge.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Yup, that was the idea. Just friendly chatting without having to postwhore.
> 
> Not that we HAD to postwhore, of course*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *But we kinda did. It was a temporary sickness. Don't judge.


so I guess you don't want to buy a print of my high iso old farmhouse eh limr? lol!


----------



## bribrius

e.rose said:


> So... what... Is this like just... a neverending chat thread?


pretty much. usually a quick stop with morning coffee if one has time. or any time.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> so I guess you don't want to buy a print of my high iso old farmhouse eh limr? lol!



Not the black and white one!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> so I guess you don't want to buy a print of my high iso old farmhouse eh limr? lol!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not the black and white one!
Click to expand...

it is digital film grain...


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> so I guess you don't want to buy a print of my high iso old farmhouse eh limr? lol!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not the black and white one!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> it is digital film grain...
Click to expand...


Noise.

If I want a grainy picture, I'd rather have grain, not noise. And like I said, for that shot, I wouldn't want that much grain even if it were film. Sometimes I like grain:




Day 17 - Cyclist on cobblestone by limrodrigues, on Flickr

But not all the time.


----------



## bribrius

that shots worse than the high iso farmhouse!!


----------



## bribrius

we should all be out photographing right now, but, lack ambition. Real photographers and we would be out shooting night landscapes or stars or something.


----------



## Derrel

A SHOCKING 666 MEMBERS ON-LINE CURRENTLY!!!! Don't worry...many are robots.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> that shots worse than the high iso farmhouse!!



I wouldn't go that far.

The point is, sometimes grain adds to the image. Sometimes it doesn't. I wasn't fond of the noise in the barn shot.



bribrius said:


> we should all be out photographing right now, but, lack ambition. Real photographers and we would be out shooting night landscapes or stars or something.



Bullsh*t.


----------



## e.rose

bribrius said:


> we should all be out photographing right now, but, lack ambition. Real photographers and we would be out shooting night landscapes or stars or something.



HEY.

I might not be out shooting, but I'm working. Mkkay?

(And also drinking wine while I do so, but I'm the boss at this job so I can do what I want.)


----------



## bribrius

Derrel said:


> View attachment 90459 A SHOCKING 666 MEMBERS ON-LINE CURRENTLY!!!! Don't worry...many are robots.


I am really here. But I am a slacker I use the web to procrastinate..


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> that shots worse than the high iso farmhouse!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I wouldn't go that far.
> 
> The point is, sometimes grain adds to the image. Sometimes it doesn't. I wasn't fond of the noise in the barn shot.
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> we should all be out photographing right now, but, lack ambition. Real photographers and we would be out shooting night landscapes or stars or something.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Bullsh*t.
Click to expand...

lol. Most of the time I am not fond of noise either. I never said I liked the pic did I?


----------



## bribrius

e.rose said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> we should all be out photographing right now, but, lack ambition. Real photographers and we would be out shooting night landscapes or stars or something.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> HEY.
> 
> I might not be out shooting, but I'm working. Mkkay?
> 
> (And also drinking wine while I do so, but I'm the boss at this job so I can do what I want.)
Click to expand...

 cant help you there. I don't work now. I would drink wine though...


----------



## snowbear

e.rose said:


> It's okay. I always forget your a dude anyway, until I see your signature.


I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> I never actually knew what the Leaderboard was. I don't think I ever clicked it.
> 
> But this one said "coffee" on it. :lmao:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure anyone knew what the Leaderboard thread was about  It all started with the software change and suddenly the top ten posters were being listed under the Leader board (which is now only seen on the front page). Then Stradi-whatshisname started it because he wanted to get on the leader board. Then it just spiraled out of control as we made a mockery of the whole idea of having a leader board.
> 
> Plus, there was flirting
Click to expand...


And cinnamon buns.  Don't forget the cinnamon buns.


----------



## sm4him

Hey, everybody.  What's up?


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Sharon.  I've been mostly absent for the past week or so; trying to play catch-up.


----------



## sm4him

Me, too. Can't really remember the last time I posted.
I'm wavering between trying to get caught up and just saying "forget it" and disappearing into the shadows again.


----------



## snowbear

Yeah - my run card project is coming to an end, or at least the second stage.  I did the actual running order last night - the closest 56 stations to about 650 "blobs" of addresses.

Oh, you still owe me a bus photo.


----------



## sm4him

Ha! Yes, I do! I gotta find the one I'm thinking of; I might actually be using it for the front of our calendar this year (which I *still* haven't finished; more than a week past the original deadline, but it's okay, the bosses all knew it wasn't gonna happen this year), so I gotta find it anyway.
Watch for it today!


----------



## limr

Good morning, you two!


----------



## sm4him

Morning, Leonore. How's the weather up there?
It was pretty cold on Thanksgiving, but it's been fairly balmy since then. Hanging out around 60F--but rain the next two days. Blech.  Oh well, maybe the dreich weather will help motivate me to stay indoors and get some stuff done I gotta work on for Christmas.


----------



## bribrius

hello. go take photos you slackers!!! (pot calling kettle black)


----------



## limr

The weather...well, we had a big storm the day before Thanksgiving, and the temperatures have been slowly rising since then, so most of it is melted. Yesterday was about 55F, which might sound good to you, but temperatures like that around here on December 1st just feel yukky. It rained last night and it's still grey but down to 30F. Seems like it's going to be in the low 40s for next week or so.

Last winter was delightfully cold and the summer was mild, which probably means I'm going to get cheated out of a real winter this year


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> hello. go take photos you slackers!!! (pot calling kettle black)



I've got film loaded in four different cameras at the moment. There will surely be pictures taken.   Going to bring one to the cat shelter with me this morning.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> hello. go take photos you slackers!!! (pot calling kettle black)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've got film loaded in four different cameras at the moment. There will surely be pictures taken.   Going to bring one to the cat shelter with me this morning.
Click to expand...

don't know if cat snapshots count? 24 degrees here. snow and sleet tonight wouldn't surprise me if we lose power again.. ice...oh yay


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> don't know if cat snapshots count? 24 degrees here



Is this "just a cat snap"?



Three cats by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> don't know if cat snapshots count? 24 degrees here
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is this "just a cat snap"?
> d
> Three cats by limrodrigues, on Flickr
Click to expand...

that is pretty decent. usually people are into "look at my kitty! kind of snaps". I kind of like that one.


----------



## limr

I've got those, too, but I don't waste film with them. I'll take cat snaps on my phone or little digital p&s. If I'm bringing a film camera, it's because I'm trying to get something more than a snap


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Housers. The heat spell broke a few days ago. 63F right now, it will probably hit 70F+ today. It is raining. Glorious water is falling from the heavens. Maybe 1.5" today.






My Fuji GX 680III. Still waiting for me backs. (iPhone image)


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Housers. The heat spell broke a few days ago. 63F right now, it will probably hit 70F+ today. It is raining. Glorious water is falling from the heavens. Maybe 1.5" today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My Fuji GX 680III. Still waiting for me backs. (iPhone image)


That thing is sexy as hell!!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> That thing is sexy as hell!!



Yup. Meeeee-ow!


----------



## pgriz

There's something Darth-Vader-ish about it.  Probably needs a black cape.


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> There's something Darth-Vader-ish about it.  Probably needs a black cape.



I have a Vader Tater . . . will that work?


----------



## limr

In case you were ever wondering about it, driving home from LaGuardia during rush hour in the rain is NOT fun, no matter what others might tell you.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> There's something Darth-Vader-ish about it.  Probably needs a black cape.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have a Vader Tater . . . will that work?
Click to expand...


Cute!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> In case you were ever wondering about it, driving home from LaGuardia during rush hour in the rain is NOT fun, no matter what others might tell you.


I'm guessing that driving to or from LaGuardia during rush hour is ANY weather is not fun.


----------



## limr

No, it really isn't. But rush hour in the dark and in the rain with your mother in the car? Doubleplusungood.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> No, it really isn't. But rush hour in the dark and in the rain with your mother in the car? Doubleplusungood.


What?  No screaming little nieces and/or nephews?


----------



## limr

Oh dear god, no! Luckily my only nephews are old enough to vote! 

Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever had a child in that car.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> I don't think I've ever had a child in that car.



I think you'd remember if you did.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think I've ever had a child in that car.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think you'd remember if you did.
Click to expand...


Or I would have done some hardcore blocking of that memory


----------



## minicoop1985

Cccccccombo breaker

Just checking in with my evening cappucino. How is everyone?


----------



## snowbear

Good evening.  I just finished a bit of ice cream, I mean _gelato._


----------



## limr

Just had some popcorn and some rooibos chai.


----------



## limr

Did 15 miles on the bike. I needed that after spending 3+ hours in the car getting to and from LaGuardia


----------



## limr

I thought to add that second thought after I'd already posted and for some reason, didn't feel like editing so I just added a second post, And now I'm explaining in a third post. I'm having postwhoring flashbacks...


----------



## pgriz

Have another glass of wine, Leonore.  You're still too wound up.


----------



## snerd

Went to therapy (shoulder) for an hour and a half. Then went to mall for a little Christmas shopping. Then to other side of town to Target to pick up some ornaments for my nekkid Christmas tree. I'm worn out!


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Have another glass of wine, Leonore.  You're still too wound up.



I think the problem was that I never had a first!  I think a swig of vodka and then the evening toilette: brush teeth, wash face, heat up water for my hot water bottle, climb into bed, give kitties their night-night snack, and then head off to la-la land.


----------



## snowbear

Goodnight, Lenny.

My lovely wife has signed up for some Ops Center OT on Saturday (0600-1800).  That means she gets to feed the darling demons while I get the rare sleep in.


----------



## minicoop1985

Coffee time! Signing up for the craft sale this weekend. Hoping to finally sell some crap at one.


----------



## minicoop1985

Already had a bloody mary and it's 2 PM. What a shitty day so far.... Toddlers are stressful.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Already had a bloody mary and it's 2 PM. What a shitty day so far.... Toddlers are stressful.



One of the reasons why I don't have one


----------



## minicoop1985

Can't say I blame you, Leonore. Not today, that's for sure.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Can't say I blame you, Leonore. Not today, that's for sure.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Already had a bloody mary and it's 2 PM. What a shitty day so far.... Toddlers are stressful.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One of the reasons why I don't have one
Click to expand...


I've got a WAY different take on that today.  My kids are grown, the toddler days LONG since behind us and evidently, the days of grandmothering a little one still a bit in the future…but that's not the reason for my different take on the "toddlers are stressful" thought today.

Yesterday, we had a horrific school bus accident here in town, just about 5 miles or so from where I work. Three lives lost, two of them kids, ages 6 and 7.
One of the kids was a twin--her twin brother was sitting right next to the adult aide, who also died. He survived.
Those parents can never, ever get yesterday back, to hug those little ones just an extra minute longer. The proximity to Christmas just makes the pain that much more unimaginable to me.

Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer today, but…yeah. Pick that frustrating, stress-inducing toddler up tonight and give them an extra-long hug.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Already had a bloody mary and it's 2 PM. What a shitty day so far.... Toddlers are stressful.


Just wait . . . they get more sub-human the closer they get to 15, or so.  

Sharon is right.  When I was at the 9-1-1 center, there were many nights I couldn't get home to the family soon enough.


----------



## minicoop1985

Yeah, I definitely see your point. That's something I can't imagine by any stretch of the imagination.


----------



## minicoop1985

Where is everyone tonight? Been quiet around here.


----------



## bribrius

probably sleeping?????


----------



## Gary A.

My Nike activity tracker died. I just received a replacement ... a Garmin. Finally got it setup and communicating with computer and phone. I hope it's better than the Nike. It came with a heart monitor. That should be useful.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> My Nike activity tracker died. I just received a replacement ... a Garmin. Finally got it setup and communicating with computer and phone. I hope it's better than the Nike. It came with a heart monitor. That should be useful.


don't even know what that is??? activity tracker??


----------



## minicoop1985

bribrius said:


> probably sleeping?????



Why? They should be on TPF instead!


----------



## Gary A.

It's a wrist band that tracks your steps and stuff. You can plug in what you've eaten, set goals, all kinds of health/work out stuff. It transfers all the info to your phone and/or computer and tracks/graphs your activity day-in and day-out. Some will even track your sleep and you can see how well you sleep. I find the tracking and daily goals to be a big motivator for me to get get up on my butt and move.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> It's a wrist band that tracks your steps and stuff. You can plug in what you've eaten, set goals, all kinds of health/work out stuff. It transfers all the info to your phone and/or computer and tracks/graphs your activity day-in and day-out. Some will even track your sleep and you can see how well you sleep. I find the tracking and daily goals to be a big motivator for me get get up on my butt and move.


that sounds stressful! like big brother watching you! I bet it does motivate you though as you always know it is tracking you.  You still do a lot of shooting? Retired from it pro right but you still do a lot of hobby shooting?


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a wrist band that tracks your steps and stuff. You can plug in what you've eaten, set goals, all kinds of health/work out stuff. It transfers all the info to your phone and/or computer and tracks/graphs your activity day-in and day-out. Some will even track your sleep and you can see how well you sleep. I find the tracking and daily goals to be a big motivator for me get get up on my butt and move.
> 
> 
> 
> that sounds stressful! like big brother watching you! I bet it does motivate you though as you always know it is tracking you.  You still do a lot of shooting? Retired from it pro right but you still do a lot of hobby shooting?
Click to expand...

I am very goal oriented and competitive. At the end of the day if I haven't hit my goal of ... say ... 15,000 steps, I'll grab the pooch and take another walk, walk to dinner, do some jumping jacks ... gear up to hit my daily goal. I need a coach or a wrist band kicking my butt to keep my motivation engaged.   

I haven't shot news since the mid '80's, but I still shoot a lot. The stuff I shoot for publication, I do pro bono. I've never been serious about landscape but I've been gearing up to try my hand (and eye) at genre. I just need to find some time to shoot.


----------



## Gary A.

So bribrius, I remember you stating you were a veteran ... what service? what was your MO? where were you stationed?


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> So bribrius, I remember you stating you were a veteran ... what service? what was your MO? where were you stationed?


command and control/military intelligence. Airforce. just a peon enlisted. hill, Keesler, lackland. 1c331 got a ribbon from Iraq in 93 but It was all pretty much done by then.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a wrist band that tracks your steps and stuff. You can plug in what you've eaten, set goals, all kinds of health/work out stuff. It transfers all the info to your phone and/or computer and tracks/graphs your activity day-in and day-out. Some will even track your sleep and you can see how well you sleep. I find the tracking and daily goals to be a big motivator for me get get up on my butt and move.
> 
> 
> 
> that sounds stressful! like big brother watching you! I bet it does motivate you though as you always know it is tracking you.  You still do a lot of shooting? Retired from it pro right but you still do a lot of hobby shooting?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I am very goal oriented and competitive. At the end of the day if I haven't hit my goal of ... say ... 15,000 steps, I'll grab the pooch and take another walk, walk to dinner, do some jumping jacks ... gear up to hit my daily goal. I need a coach or a wrist band kicking my butt to keep my motivation engaged.
> 
> I haven't shot news since the mid '80's, but I still shoot a lot. The stuff I shoot for publication, I do pro bono. I've never been serious about landscape but I've been gearing up to try my hand (and eye) at genre. I just need to find some time to shoot.
Click to expand...

sounds like you are in better shape than me and probably twenty years older!


----------



## limr

Morning, Hosers.

After today's short class, I will have just one more week of teaching, and then Monday the 15th, both my classes take their final exams.

I am so ready for the semester to be done! This one went very fast and was really not too bad. Good classes. Also for the first time in 2.5 years, I wasn't taking classes at the same time. But it's time to be done already! I'm tired of grading!


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Morning, Hosers.
> 
> After today's short class, I will have just one more week of teaching, and then Monday the 15th, both my classes take their final exams.
> 
> I am so ready for the semester to be done! This one went very fast and was really not too bad. Good classes. Also for the first time in 2.5 years, I wasn't taking classes at the same time. But it's time to be done already! I'm tired of grading!



I haven't taught anything in a long time, but when I did I also found it was a lot more enjoyable when I wasn't a student at the same time.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a wrist band that tracks your steps and stuff. You can plug in what you've eaten, set goals, all kinds of health/work out stuff. It transfers all the info to your phone and/or computer and tracks/graphs your activity day-in and day-out. Some will even track your sleep and you can see how well you sleep. I find the tracking and daily goals to be a big motivator for me get get up on my butt and move.
> 
> 
> 
> that sounds stressful! like big brother watching you! I bet it does motivate you though as you always know it is tracking you.  You still do a lot of shooting? Retired from it pro right but you still do a lot of hobby shooting?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I am very goal oriented and competitive. At the end of the day if I haven't hit my goal of ... say ... 15,000 steps, I'll grab the pooch and take another walk, walk to dinner, do some jumping jacks ... gear up to hit my daily goal. I need a coach or a wrist band kicking my butt to keep my motivation engaged.
> 
> I haven't shot news since the mid '80's, but I still shoot a lot. The stuff I shoot for publication, I do pro bono. I've never been serious about landscape but I've been gearing up to try my hand (and eye) at genre. I just need to find some time to shoot.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> sounds like you are in better shape than me and probably twenty years older!
Click to expand...

I don't know about that ... but I want to be. I do 50 push-ups every morning and Cookie, (pooch), and I walk a couple of miles every day.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. You'll all be happy that we've been having bad weather out here. It's rained off and on Monday through Wednesday. It's 55F right now and may hit the mid 60's. Getting cold. This week we ran the heat for the first time this year. Sumatra this morning. Coffee is good. I really enjoy an espresso in the afternoon, taken on the patio. My skimmer came in on Wednesday. Now I gotta dig a big hole to install it.


----------



## minicoop1985

Yeah, about that. 30s feels warm here. It's 34 right now, and that feels much better than the teens we've been having lately.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Morning, Hosers.
> 
> After today's short class, I will have just one more week of teaching, and then Monday the 15th, both my classes take their final exams.
> 
> I am so ready for the semester to be done! This one went very fast and was really not too bad. Good classes. Also for the first time in 2.5 years, I wasn't taking classes at the same time. But it's time to be done already! I'm tired of grading!


It's like listening to me wife..... exactly!! LOL

Good luck with it. She's wore plumb out!!


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm alone with the kid all day today, and have a craft fair tomorrow. Oh boy, this is gonna drag on hardcore.


----------



## snerd

Got 1/8 of my Christmas shopping done this afternoon!!


----------



## limr

I taught my class, went to the holiday party at the tutoring center where I have my admin job, then dropped off 5 rolls of color film that need developed. Came home, had some tea (Harney and Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice - yum!), and had dinner with my boyfriend. Then we watched an episode of Mystery Science Theatre 3000. "The Day the Earth Froze." Oh.My.God. SO BAD!!! And so funny.


----------



## Gary A.

In the early morning I took Cook for a two mile walk, took care of some business via email and arrived late to my PhotoShop class. Conducted some more business via telephone as I drove south to my camera store in Orange County. At the camera store I picked up a new lens for my X series Fuji's, a Fujinon 50-140 f/2.8 and some film for the GX680III. Hopefully the backs will arrive soon. Then I rushed back to Cerritos to attend a Christmas party for Mary Lou's school. We were planning to hit a Silver Oak (one of my favorites) wine tasting party in Brea, but her school party lasted too long. So now I'm home and starting my own wine tasting with Mary Lou and the Cook.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> .......... then dropped off 5 rolls of color film......


Woot! We should get to see some good ones out of that many!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> .......... then dropped off 5 rolls of color film......
> 
> 
> 
> Woot! We should get to see some good ones out of that many!
Click to expand...


Here's hoping! If there aren't at least a few keepers, I don't deserve to use a camera ever again


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I hit my camera store and picked up a new lens for my X series Fuji's. A Fujinon 50-140 f/2.8 and some film for the GX680III. Hopefully the backs will arrive soon.



I hope they come soon too. Can't wait to see some of your shots with that beast!


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> ........ and some film for the GX680III. Hopefully the backs will arrive soon.


I can't wait!!!


----------



## Gary A.

You two are too funny ... I still need to pick a scanner. I hauled the beast, (GX 680III), into the camera store. It was a hit with the staff and the customers. So far 11,496 steps today. I deserve this Bridalwood that I'm sipping.


----------



## Gary A.

I am totally stoked about receiving the 50-140 f/2.8. This focal length (70-200 FF) was easily my most used lens for my 1D's. I have the Fuji 55-200 but at f/3.5-4.8 it's pretty slow. My photography will definitely improve with this new lens.


----------



## limr

Morning, Hosers!

Going to do a little shopping with my sister this morning, then lunch,then pick up my film. I have to grade some papers today, too  And get on the bike. Yesterday turned out to be a bit hectic so I didn't ride, but I'll make up for that today. Got $17 in the jar and 175 miles on the odometer!


----------



## Designer

Did some "un-plumbing".  I'm removing some of the old cast iron drains to make way for the new plastic pipe.  

Here is a piece of the cast iron that had to come out.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 57F right now, still early. The temp should hit 70F today. Sumatra again. On my todo list are mowing, vacuuming, maybe starting digging the hole for the skimmer. Mary Lou's granddaughter is coming over at 10:00 a.m. to help putting up the tree. I have a couple hundred images I need to finish processing for a school play I shot a week or so ago. Hopefully my backs arrive.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Did some "un-plumbing".  I'm removing some of the old cast iron drains to make way for the new plastic pipe.
> 
> Here is a piece of the cast iron that had to come out.
> 
> View attachment 90789


A bit of plumbing engineering went into that design.That's gotta weigh a ton. Whatcha doing ... adding a room ... upgrading some stuff?


----------



## Designer

It's all heavy.  I carted that chunk down the stairs on the two-wheeler.  

Remodeling an existing bathroom on the second floor.  I realize that C.I. is quieter, but nobody installs it anymore, so plastic it is then.  

That cast iron was down when the house was built, somewhere around 1900, and then somebody did some remodeling around 1965 or so and adapted quite a bit of it to copper, including the drains.


----------



## Rick50

I have worked on some old houses and find them interesting. Life was sure different back then.


----------



## Rick50

For Leonore - This was for sale on ebay. Might be the answer to those pesky headaches.


----------



## Gary A.

Rick50 said:


> I have worked on some old houses and find them interesting. Life was sure different back then.


I do construction management and 'discovery' on older buildings is always problematic. I converted the old, 1940-ish, Hollywood and Vine Jimmy Doolittle Theatre into the new and improved Ricardo Montalban Theatre. Talking about change-orders.


----------



## pgriz

As a contractor, figuring out what's there and what has to change is always an issue, especially if the previous "upgrades" were organic (the kind that kinda grew into that place, usually performed by homeowners that are light on building knowledge).  I've learned to quote fixed-price on the obvious stuff, and time-and-materials on the unknown stuff.  In fact, it is not uncommon to charge a consulting fee for doing some "exploratory surgery" to figure out what's actually there.  And then, once we know, there comes the question of whether to upgrade at least to code (usually expensive), or to figure out some other way that won't require getting a third mortgage.  Then there's the matter of unforseen consequences when you fix just part of the problem without taking a holistic or systems-wide approach.  Usually the best thing to do is do a proper investigation and with that knowledge come up with a game plan.  However often the cost of doing the investigation is almost equal to what other contractors would charge for doing the original job.  I do a lot of edukating of prospective clients.


----------



## bribrius

shot Christmas parade last night. 104 photos. ended up deleting the entire string.  freakn light sucked they all came out like chit.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> Did some "un-plumbing".  I'm removing some of the old cast iron drains to make way for the new plastic pipe.
> 
> Here is a piece of the cast iron that had to come out.
> 
> View attachment 90789


I still have the one running from the basement up the two stories but the part that crossed the basement floor was going to leak so I ripped that out and replaced with pvc.


----------



## Gary A.

Rick50 said:


> For Leonore - This was for sale on ebay. Might be the answer to those pesky headaches.


I want one. I need to prevent "WAR CRAZED SWELLED HEAD" and "DARK BROWN TASTE" ... (and probably "LOVE").


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> shot Christmas parade last night. 104 photos. ended up deleting the entire string.  freakn light sucked they all came out like chit.


I like the challenge of shooting in bad light. Often, getting something in bad light has more drama than a similar subject in good light.


----------



## bribrius

I get ya, but on a Christmas parade you kind of what people actually visible it wasn't really a drama kind of thing..


----------



## bribrius

either high iso noise or shutter blur. shooting f6 or less and still running +6400 iso at the lowest shutter speed I could go. you know the deal.


----------



## Gary A.

Firstly, why were you shooting at f/6? 


bribrius said:


> I get ya, but on a Christmas parade you kind of what people actually visible it wasn't really a drama kind of thing..


Now you're making an excuse why not  ... when you should be thinking of what you can do next time to make it work ... to make it happen. Remember, lemonade is pretty good stuff.

You did shoot 104 images ... so I'll give you credit for trying. When I was starting out ... can't even imagine how many hundreds or thousands of rolls were tossed. Even when I was on my game my keeper rate was around 1:36.

Gary


----------



## sashbar

bribrius said:


> either high iso noise or shutter blur. shooting f6 or less and still running +6400 iso at the lowest shutter speed I could go. you know the deal.



Just some things to bear in mind:  

1. Wide lenses will give you DoF at wide aperture. 
2. Street lamps, brightly lit shop windows and adverts, car lights etc are your friends.
3. Exposure compensation is your tool - think of stopping down if there is some side light - and you get your drama king. 
4. Topaz DeNoise is magic with Nikon files if you do not overdo it.


----------



## limr

Rick50 said:


> For Leonore - This was for sale on ebay. Might be the answer to those pesky headaches.



Yup, I think that ought to do the trick 

I also wonder what "dark brown taste" is.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Rick50 said:
> 
> 
> 
> For Leonore - This was for sale on ebay. Might be the answer to those pesky headaches.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...
> I also wonder what "dark brown taste" is.
Click to expand...

I've never encountered any substance properly identified as such ... but, I am reasonably sure that it would not be a delightful taste and the prevention of said taste, is most likely, a worthwhile endeavour.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I also wonder what "dark brown taste" is.


Coffee & beef gravy, burned beyond recognition?


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I also wonder what "dark brown taste" is.
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee & beef gravy, burned beyond recognition?
Click to expand...


Ewwwww...


----------



## bribrius

sashbar said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> either high iso noise or shutter blur. shooting f6 or less and still running +6400 iso at the lowest shutter speed I could go. you know the deal.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just some things to bear in mind:
> 
> 1. Wide lenses will give you DoF at wide aperture.
> 2. Street lamps, brightly lit shop windows and adverts, car lights etc are your friends.
> 3. Exposure compensation is your tool - think of stopping down if there is some side light - and you get your drama king.
> 4. Topaz DeNoise is magic with Nikon files if you do not overdo it.
Click to expand...

yeah, I dropped the ball here. I should have stood in better lighted section. About the only thing that came out was some really crappy hdr.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Firstly, why were you shooting at f/6?
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> I get ya, but on a Christmas parade you kind of what people actually visible it wasn't really a drama kind of thing..
> 
> 
> 
> Now you're making an excuse why not  ... when you should be thinking of what you can do next time to make it work ... to make it happen. Remember, lemonade is pretty good stuff.
> 
> You did shoot 104 images ... so I'll give you credit for trying. When I was starting out ... can't even imagine how many hundreds or thousands of rolls were tossed. Even when I was on my game my keeper rate was around 1:36.
> 
> Gary
Click to expand...

I was looking through them they all sucked pretty much.. About three hundred feet down was both a nice street lamp and a nice lit up sign, kind of like sashbar mentioned. That is where I SHOULD have stood and probably stayed right there. would have been shooting over peoples heads more as it was more crowded but probably ended up with more keepers. should have just brought the 50 mm too. Bringing out the lens i did was stupid.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Firstly, why were you shooting at f/6?
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> I get ya, but on a Christmas parade you kind of what people actually visible it wasn't really a drama kind of thing..
> 
> 
> 
> Now you're making an excuse why not  ... when you should be thinking of what you can do next time to make it work ... to make it happen. Remember, lemonade is pretty good stuff.
> 
> You did shoot 104 images ... so I'll give you credit for trying. When I was starting out ... can't even imagine how many hundreds or thousands of rolls were tossed. Even when I was on my game my keeper rate was around 1:36.
> 
> Gary
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I was looking through them they all sucked pretty much.. About three hundred feet down was both a nice street lamp and a nice lit up sign, kind of like sashbar mentioned. That is where I SHOULD have stood and probably stayed right there. would have been shooting over peoples heads more as it was more crowded but probably ended up with more keepers. should have just brought the 50 mm too. Bringing out the lens i did was stupid.
Click to expand...

Often, it is good to bring a selection of lenses because you just don't know. That's why camera bags were invented. It's only stupid if you do it a second time.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Your town looks very quaint. It's cool that all those people faced the cold for the parade. I like that ... your people have grit. (70F here today.)


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> PS- Your town look very quaint. It's cool that all those people faced the cold for the parade. I like that ... your people have grit. (70F here today.)


yeah It was fairly cold. maybe 18 degrees or so? Ended up dropping down to 10 degrees over night.


----------



## Gary A.

My friend Tom, is coming over to BBQ some Korean ribs. His mother makes them and they are delish.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> My friend Tom, is coming over to BBQ some Korean ribs. His mother makes them and they are delish.


must be nice


----------



## minicoop1985

It was mid 30s today.

In other news, I sold a print at the craft show today. Finally... grr. Been doing this too long to not make money at it, but still WAY behind.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> It was mid 30s today.
> 
> In other news, I sold a print at the craft show today. Finally... grr. Been doing this too long to not make money at it, but still WAY behind.


yeah.. seems like this is one of the weird kind of hobbies where either you choose to go big (pro) and make a swing at a home run or go home ( broke) and accept you will have some nice photos of your kids that will cost you dearly.


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm ahead on photography as a whole, but broke for the craft fair circuit.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> I'm ahead on photography as a whole, but broke for the craft fair circuit.


I just haven't done them. Don't want to buy or make frames or spend the dough out. Plus when I read them they have these "meet the artist" type things and I really dread the thought of meeting people who are looking at my work. I really am just not a people person. Kind of like when they want to fill out the "about the artist" section, and I really just don't want to tell people about me. Kind of like none of your business don't talk to me kind of guy which doesn't go over well. I could have stuff exhibited over the summer, never did. Didn't want to put up for frames. They had a contest show thing to I backed out of, didn't want to play the meet the artist entire thing. I was fine until I read about that..


----------



## bribrius

well. that and pricing work. I felt like saying I was going to price my three for the juried show at a hundred each but if I have to talk to them I want 500 each.


----------



## bribrius

I have too talk to them and fill out the "about the artist" section they don't have enough money.


----------



## minicoop1985

I can't stand people. This is why I shoot commercial stuff. It doesn't move on its own and it doesn't complain when you get it all contorted.


----------



## e.rose

minicoop1985 said:


> I can't stand people. This is why I shoot commercial stuff. It doesn't move on its own and it doesn't complain when you get it all contorted.



Yeah, but what do you mean by "commercial" stuff? Do you mean PRODUCT photography? Because my best friend is a commercial photographer and all he does is shoot people all day long, haha...


----------



## e.rose

Also, yes... I'm jumping into the middle of a conversation without reading the whole context. I'm bored... but I'm also lazy.


----------



## bribrius

product photography would be great unfortunately I don't know it, and I am guessing there is a lot of competition to do and may be hard to me money in it?


----------



## limr

e.rose said:


> Also, yes... I'm jumping into the middle of a conversation without reading the whole context. I'm bored... but I'm also lazy.



Really no reason to read. It's almost a requirement to just jump in without reading in the Coffee House!


----------



## limr

I have zero interest in trying to monetize photography. I might try to hang photos in a small gallery somewhere, or in one of the many cafes in artsy towns around here that often hang art for sale for people to peruse while eating, but otherwise, I'm fine keeping it a hobby. But if I had to go commercial, I would do product photography rather than portraits or weddings. There's no way I would be able to put up with the people.


----------



## Rick50

limr said:


> I have zero interest in trying to monetize photography. I might try to hang photos in a small gallery somewhere, or in one of the many cafes in artsy towns around here that often hang art for sale for people to peruse while eating, but otherwise, I'm fine keeping it a hobby. But if I had to go commercial, I would do product photography rather than portraits or weddings. There's no way I would be able to put up with the people.


I think I'm with you on this. No way I want a business.


----------



## e.rose

SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!!!


----------



## bribrius

Rick50 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have zero interest in trying to monetize photography. I might try to hang photos in a small gallery somewhere, or in one of the many cafes in artsy towns around here that often hang art for sale for people to peruse while eating, but otherwise, I'm fine keeping it a hobby. But if I had to go commercial, I would do product photography rather than portraits or weddings. There's no way I would be able to put up with the people.
> 
> 
> 
> I think I'm with you on this. No way I want a business.
Click to expand...

I do I just don't think I want it to be photography. suppose if I get REALLY DESPERATE maybe. kind of like when I did wholesale, I didn't mind it. Retail, freakn hated it. Higher margins but less through put so you really didn't make more just dealt with more azzholes. Photography seems kind of like that with senior portraits or baby portraits or all that type of stuff. just more people to deal with. I loved selling by large quantity with low markup. I hated high markup retail small quantity but a chit load of customers..  Kind of a deal by the tractor trailer load kind of guy with just a few people and bigger checks.


----------



## Rick50

I got it. Yes, I do have a business that is pretty much part time now and that is consulting. I do electronics engineering and do work when it comes up. I'm currently testing some circuit boards I designed over 10 years ago for a local company. This I don't mind. It's just photography would be a bad business for me. Ruin the fun.


----------



## bribrius

Rick50 said:


> I got it. Yes, I do have a business that is pretty much part time now and that is consulting. I do electronics engineering and do work when it comes up. I'm currently testing some circuit boards I designed over 10 years ago for a local company. This I don't mind. It's just photography would be a bad business for me. Ruin the fun.


well you are more educated than me. we jus wholesaled building supplies to retailers. which I was mostly the purchaser and check collector. Then one day my partner decides since we have a office on a main street anyway we should start doing retail and take walk ins from regular consumers. The only time I was happy about that idea was on REALLY REALLY DULL DAYS when things were totally dead. The rest of the time I would dread when someone walked in the door. And sometimes it worked out if they ordered something because we could finish filling a semi order to the truck on the road full. Other times it was  HUGE FREAKN HEADACHE because they were retail, they wanted delivery, they wanted a certain date they couldn't store it. blah blah blah. "my wife likes this one....." it would be only a two k order and they call over and over, compare shop, bring a spouse to look. they drove me freakn bananas!!!!!  Then I would get "well, can you deal with my contractor?"  "HELL YES!!! please, go home. don't EVER come back. and send your contractor!!!"


----------



## e.rose

Guys I need to quit my f***ing job.

I'm going to flip tables. It keeps getting in the way of my scheduling sh*t.

Ugh.


----------



## bribrius

e.rose said:


> Guys I need to quit my f***ing job.
> 
> I'm going to flip tables. It keeps getting in the way of my scheduling sh*t.
> 
> Ugh.


so quit if you can afford it..


----------



## e.rose

bribrius said:


> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> Guys I need to quit my f***ing job.
> 
> I'm going to flip tables. It keeps getting in the way of my scheduling sh*t.
> 
> Ugh.
> 
> 
> 
> so quit if you can afford it..
Click to expand...


That's the catch.

I can't afford to quit my full-time job, because I need to pay my rent.

I'm having trouble scheduling the things I need to schedule, in order to make more money, so I *can* quit my full time job... because I have a full time job.

I'm gonna cut someone.


----------



## Gary A.

I've never sold a photo in my life.


----------



## bribrius

e.rose said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> Guys I need to quit my f***ing job.
> 
> I'm going to flip tables. It keeps getting in the way of my scheduling sh*t.
> 
> Ugh.
> 
> 
> 
> so quit if you can afford it..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's the catch.
> 
> I can't afford to quit my full-time job, because I need to pay my rent.
> 
> I'm having trouble scheduling the things I need to schedule, in order to make more money, so I *can* quit my full time job... because I have a full time job.
> 
> I'm gonna cut someone.
Click to expand...

what is your full time job?


----------



## e.rose

bribrius said:


> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> Guys I need to quit my f***ing job.
> 
> I'm going to flip tables. It keeps getting in the way of my scheduling sh*t.
> 
> Ugh.
> 
> 
> 
> so quit if you can afford it..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's the catch.
> 
> I can't afford to quit my full-time job, because I need to pay my rent.
> 
> I'm having trouble scheduling the things I need to schedule, in order to make more money, so I *can* quit my full time job... because I have a full time job.
> 
> I'm gonna cut someone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> what is your full time job?
Click to expand...


I work for Apple.

You wanna know the f***ing retarded part?

I had been trying to get full time ALLLLLL YEAR.

And I interviewed one last time, and by the time I interviewed, I just didn't give a sh*t anymore, and didn't even really want to get it, but I did it, because I knew we needed the money, and then... I got it. And THAT'S when all my shoots picked up. 

I got full time... I got more shoots... and I'm at this REALLY awkward in between phase, where part time is not quite enough... but full time is too much.

I need semi-full time hours to balance things out.

I'm just trying to push a little harder to be able to drop down to part time to give myself more breathing room before I just outright quit... but it's hard making that happen when there's literally no time.

I'm so frustrated. 

like really, really, really f***ing frustrated.

RAWR.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> I've never sold a photo in my life.


could be a good thing.


----------



## bribrius

e.rose said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> Guys I need to quit my f***ing job.
> 
> I'm going to flip tables. It keeps getting in the way of my scheduling sh*t.
> 
> Ugh.
> 
> 
> 
> so quit if you can afford it..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's the catch.
> 
> I can't afford to quit my full-time job, because I need to pay my rent.
> 
> I'm having trouble scheduling the things I need to schedule, in order to make more money, so I *can* quit my full time job... because I have a full time job.
> 
> I'm gonna cut someone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> what is your full time job?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I work for Apple.
> 
> You wanna know the f***ing retarded part?
> 
> I had been trying to get full time ALLLLLL YEAR.
> 
> And I interviewed one last time, and by the time I interviewed, I just didn't give a sh*t anymore, and didn't even really want to get it, but I did it, because I knew we needed the money, and then... I got it. And THAT'S when all my shoots picked up.
> 
> I got full time... I got more shoots... and I'm at this REALLY awkward in between phase, where part time is not quite enough... but full time is too much.
> 
> I need semi-full time hours to balance things out.
> 
> I'm just trying to push a little harder to be able to drop down to part time to give myself more breathing room before I just outright quit... but it's hard making that happen when there's literally no time.
> 
> I'm so frustrated.
> 
> like really, really, really f***ing frustrated.
> 
> RAWR.
Click to expand...

apple sounds like a pretty good job with more prospects honestly. I don't know your situation or your boyfriend/husband employment status but the majority of photographers I know are women, with no money, who primarily live on their husbands support and do photography as a business that doesn't pay much but gives the hours they want to work around being a mother and kids schedules.. I  mean they have legit businesses, websites. But it really is mostly a smoke show they don't actually make enough to support themselves and family they are  primarily supported by the other spouse or other means.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've never sold a photo in my life.
> 
> 
> 
> could be a good thing.
Click to expand...

LOL ... the way I work.


----------



## e.rose

bribrius said:


> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> Guys I need to quit my f***ing job.
> 
> I'm going to flip tables. It keeps getting in the way of my scheduling sh*t.
> 
> Ugh.
> 
> 
> 
> so quit if you can afford it..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's the catch.
> 
> I can't afford to quit my full-time job, because I need to pay my rent.
> 
> I'm having trouble scheduling the things I need to schedule, in order to make more money, so I *can* quit my full time job... because I have a full time job.
> 
> I'm gonna cut someone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> what is your full time job?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I work for Apple.
> 
> You wanna know the f***ing retarded part?
> 
> I had been trying to get full time ALLLLLL YEAR.
> 
> And I interviewed one last time, and by the time I interviewed, I just didn't give a sh*t anymore, and didn't even really want to get it, but I did it, because I knew we needed the money, and then... I got it. And THAT'S when all my shoots picked up.
> 
> I got full time... I got more shoots... and I'm at this REALLY awkward in between phase, where part time is not quite enough... but full time is too much.
> 
> I need semi-full time hours to balance things out.
> 
> I'm just trying to push a little harder to be able to drop down to part time to give myself more breathing room before I just outright quit... but it's hard making that happen when there's literally no time.
> 
> I'm so frustrated.
> 
> like really, really, really f***ing frustrated.
> 
> RAWR.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> apple sounds like a pretty good job with more prospects honestly. I don't know your situation or your boyfriend/husband employment status but the majority of photographers I know are women, with no money, who primarily live on their husbands support and do photography as a business that doesn't pay much but gives the hours they want to work around being a mother and kids schedules.. I  mean they have legit businesses, websites. But it really is mostly a smoke show they don't actually make enough to support themselves and family they are  primarily supported by the other spouse or other means.
Click to expand...


Oh, yeah sure... cause I totally want to have to force a smile on my face, and continue to suck the tit of every f***ing entitled asshole who comes in waving their phone in my face, acting like it's *my* fault they dropped the damn thing in a puddle, but decided they were above making an appointment to see a tech, for the rest of my life.

Sounds great.

[No really... Apple is a fantastic company to work for and an EXCELLENT day job, which is why I'm still there... but that sh*t is not my passion.]

I know people living off of photography.

Are they millionaires?

No.

Can they pay their bills?

Yes.

Keith and I are very used to living... not very lavishly.

He's a musician. I'm a photographer.

Neither of us are planning on giving either of those things up and as a result, we've always lived very close to paycheck to paycheck for the last 5 years of our marriage.

That's not the problem.

The problems is I want to be doing that with *photography*... and not with whatever day job I have at the time, before I get bored and move onto something else.

Luckily Apple has been good enough to me as a company, and interesting enough in the fact that they allow us to develop ourselves and flex into different roles, that I haven't had the desire to *leave* them for "something else", because literally anything else would be worse than Apple. My only move from here is out... into photography.

And settling to be a career Specialist is not an option.

It's just not.

I'm SO CLOSE to being able to drop back down to part time, but something has got to give. More of my own shoots, or supplementing second shooting... SOMETHING.

I just don't have any time. I'm literally maxed out with hours.

I don't sleep.

I run on caffeine.

I've had people genuinely concerned, giving me talks about how I need to "slow down", but slowing down means staying at Apple forever, and I'm not doing that.


----------



## bribrius

e.rose said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> Guys I need to quit my f***ing job.
> 
> I'm going to flip tables. It keeps getting in the way of my scheduling sh*t.
> 
> Ugh.
> 
> 
> 
> so quit if you can afford it..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's the catch.
> 
> I can't afford to quit my full-time job, because I need to pay my rent.
> 
> I'm having trouble scheduling the things I need to schedule, in order to make more money, so I *can* quit my full time job... because I have a full time job.
> 
> I'm gonna cut someone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> what is your full time job?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I work for Apple.
> 
> You wanna know the f***ing retarded part?
> 
> I had been trying to get full time ALLLLLL YEAR.
> 
> And I interviewed one last time, and by the time I interviewed, I just didn't give a sh*t anymore, and didn't even really want to get it, but I did it, because I knew we needed the money, and then... I got it. And THAT'S when all my shoots picked up.
> 
> I got full time... I got more shoots... and I'm at this REALLY awkward in between phase, where part time is not quite enough... but full time is too much.
> 
> I need semi-full time hours to balance things out.
> 
> I'm just trying to push a little harder to be able to drop down to part time to give myself more breathing room before I just outright quit... but it's hard making that happen when there's literally no time.
> 
> I'm so frustrated.
> 
> like really, really, really f***ing frustrated.
> 
> RAWR.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> apple sounds like a pretty good job with more prospects honestly. I don't know your situation or your boyfriend/husband employment status but the majority of photographers I know are women, with no money, who primarily live on their husbands support and do photography as a business that doesn't pay much but gives the hours they want to work around being a mother and kids schedules.. I  mean they have legit businesses, websites. But it really is mostly a smoke show they don't actually make enough to support themselves and family they are  primarily supported by the other spouse or other means.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, yeah sure... cause I totally want to have to force a smile on my face, and continue to suck the tit of every f***ing entitled asshole who comes in waving their phone in my face, acting like it's *my* fault they dropped the damn thing in a puddle, but decided they were above making an appointment to see a tech, for the rest of my life.
> 
> Sounds great.
> 
> [No really... Apple is a fantastic company to work for and an EXCELLENT day job, which is why I'm still there... but that sh*t is not my passion.]
> 
> I know people living off of photography.
> 
> Are they millionaires?
> 
> No.
> 
> Can they pay their bills?
> 
> Yes.
> 
> Keith and I are very used to living... not very lavishly.
> 
> He's a musician. I'm a photographer.
> 
> Neither of us are planning on giving either of those things up and as a result, we've always lived very close to paycheck to paycheck for the last 5 years of our marriage.
> 
> That's not the problem.
> 
> The problems is I want to be doing that with *photography*... and not with whatever day job I have at the time, before I get bored and move onto something else.
> 
> Luckily Apple has been good enough to me as a company, and interesting enough in the fact that they allow us to develop ourselves and flex into different roles, that I haven't had the desire to *leave* them for "something else", because literally anything else would be worse than Apple. My only move from here is out... into photography.
> 
> And settling to be a career Specialist is not an option.
> 
> It's just not.
> 
> I'm SO CLOSE to being able to drop back down to part time, but something has got to give. More of my own shoots, or supplementing second shooting... SOMETHING.
> 
> I just don't have any time. I'm literally maxed out with hours.
> 
> I don't sleep.
> 
> I run on caffeine.
> 
> I've had people genuinely concerned, giving me talks about how I need to "slow down", but slowing down means staying at Apple forever, and I'm not doing that.
Click to expand...

 I don't think I can help you. I don't think along those lines. Never really have been much of a dreamer just make money, pay bills. about it. I know after I started having kids I did whatever endeavors on the side of a fulltime job as I wanted to keep benefits and health insurance for the family. It drove me nuts the idea of not having money or struggling to pay for family medical once I had my first kid so I opted to get a fulltime regular job for the benefits and guaranteed health insurance. Did whatever other endeavors I did on the side so I worked a crap load of hours kind of like you are.


----------



## e.rose

bribrius said:


> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> so quit if you can afford it..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's the catch.
> 
> I can't afford to quit my full-time job, because I need to pay my rent.
> 
> I'm having trouble scheduling the things I need to schedule, in order to make more money, so I *can* quit my full time job... because I have a full time job.
> 
> I'm gonna cut someone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> what is your full time job?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I work for Apple.
> 
> You wanna know the f***ing retarded part?
> 
> I had been trying to get full time ALLLLLL YEAR.
> 
> And I interviewed one last time, and by the time I interviewed, I just didn't give a sh*t anymore, and didn't even really want to get it, but I did it, because I knew we needed the money, and then... I got it. And THAT'S when all my shoots picked up.
> 
> I got full time... I got more shoots... and I'm at this REALLY awkward in between phase, where part time is not quite enough... but full time is too much.
> 
> I need semi-full time hours to balance things out.
> 
> I'm just trying to push a little harder to be able to drop down to part time to give myself more breathing room before I just outright quit... but it's hard making that happen when there's literally no time.
> 
> I'm so frustrated.
> 
> like really, really, really f***ing frustrated.
> 
> RAWR.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> apple sounds like a pretty good job with more prospects honestly. I don't know your situation or your boyfriend/husband employment status but the majority of photographers I know are women, with no money, who primarily live on their husbands support and do photography as a business that doesn't pay much but gives the hours they want to work around being a mother and kids schedules.. I  mean they have legit businesses, websites. But it really is mostly a smoke show they don't actually make enough to support themselves and family they are  primarily supported by the other spouse or other means.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, yeah sure... cause I totally want to have to force a smile on my face, and continue to suck the tit of every f***ing entitled asshole who comes in waving their phone in my face, acting like it's *my* fault they dropped the damn thing in a puddle, but decided they were above making an appointment to see a tech, for the rest of my life.
> 
> Sounds great.
> 
> [No really... Apple is a fantastic company to work for and an EXCELLENT day job, which is why I'm still there... but that sh*t is not my passion.]
> 
> I know people living off of photography.
> 
> Are they millionaires?
> 
> No.
> 
> Can they pay their bills?
> 
> Yes.
> 
> Keith and I are very used to living... not very lavishly.
> 
> He's a musician. I'm a photographer.
> 
> Neither of us are planning on giving either of those things up and as a result, we've always lived very close to paycheck to paycheck for the last 5 years of our marriage.
> 
> That's not the problem.
> 
> The problems is I want to be doing that with *photography*... and not with whatever day job I have at the time, before I get bored and move onto something else.
> 
> Luckily Apple has been good enough to me as a company, and interesting enough in the fact that they allow us to develop ourselves and flex into different roles, that I haven't had the desire to *leave* them for "something else", because literally anything else would be worse than Apple. My only move from here is out... into photography.
> 
> And settling to be a career Specialist is not an option.
> 
> It's just not.
> 
> I'm SO CLOSE to being able to drop back down to part time, but something has got to give. More of my own shoots, or supplementing second shooting... SOMETHING.
> 
> I just don't have any time. I'm literally maxed out with hours.
> 
> I don't sleep.
> 
> I run on caffeine.
> 
> I've had people genuinely concerned, giving me talks about how I need to "slow down", but slowing down means staying at Apple forever, and I'm not doing that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I don't think I can help you. I don't think along those lines. Never really have been much of a dreamer just make money, pay bills. about it. *I know after I started having kids* I did whatever endeavors on the side of a fulltime job as I wanted to keep benefits and health insurance for the family. It drove me nuts the idea of not having money or struggling to pay for family medical once I had my first kid so I opted to get a fulltime regular job for the benefits and guaranteed health insurance. Did whatever other endeavors I did on the side so I worked a crap load of hours kind of like you are.
Click to expand...


Reason #58,235,879,237,523,759,832,759,372 why I'm never having children. 

I don't have to worry about that.

I just have to worry about helping my husband pay our rent and other life necessities for the two of us.

I mean we have cats... but cats are not as expensive as humans.


----------



## bribrius

e.rose said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's the catch.
> 
> I can't afford to quit my full-time job, because I need to pay my rent.
> 
> I'm having trouble scheduling the things I need to schedule, in order to make more money, so I *can* quit my full time job... because I have a full time job.
> 
> I'm gonna cut someone.
> 
> 
> 
> what is your full time job?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I work for Apple.
> 
> You wanna know the f***ing retarded part?
> 
> I had been trying to get full time ALLLLLL YEAR.
> 
> And I interviewed one last time, and by the time I interviewed, I just didn't give a sh*t anymore, and didn't even really want to get it, but I did it, because I knew we needed the money, and then... I got it. And THAT'S when all my shoots picked up.
> 
> I got full time... I got more shoots... and I'm at this REALLY awkward in between phase, where part time is not quite enough... but full time is too much.
> 
> I need semi-full time hours to balance things out.
> 
> I'm just trying to push a little harder to be able to drop down to part time to give myself more breathing room before I just outright quit... but it's hard making that happen when there's literally no time.
> 
> I'm so frustrated.
> 
> like really, really, really f***ing frustrated.
> 
> RAWR.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> apple sounds like a pretty good job with more prospects honestly. I don't know your situation or your boyfriend/husband employment status but the majority of photographers I know are women, with no money, who primarily live on their husbands support and do photography as a business that doesn't pay much but gives the hours they want to work around being a mother and kids schedules.. I  mean they have legit businesses, websites. But it really is mostly a smoke show they don't actually make enough to support themselves and family they are  primarily supported by the other spouse or other means.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, yeah sure... cause I totally want to have to force a smile on my face, and continue to suck the tit of every f***ing entitled asshole who comes in waving their phone in my face, acting like it's *my* fault they dropped the damn thing in a puddle, but decided they were above making an appointment to see a tech, for the rest of my life.
> 
> Sounds great.
> 
> [No really... Apple is a fantastic company to work for and an EXCELLENT day job, which is why I'm still there... but that sh*t is not my passion.]
> 
> I know people living off of photography.
> 
> Are they millionaires?
> 
> No.
> 
> Can they pay their bills?
> 
> Yes.
> 
> Keith and I are very used to living... not very lavishly.
> 
> He's a musician. I'm a photographer.
> 
> Neither of us are planning on giving either of those things up and as a result, we've always lived very close to paycheck to paycheck for the last 5 years of our marriage.
> 
> That's not the problem.
> 
> The problems is I want to be doing that with *photography*... and not with whatever day job I have at the time, before I get bored and move onto something else.
> 
> Luckily Apple has been good enough to me as a company, and interesting enough in the fact that they allow us to develop ourselves and flex into different roles, that I haven't had the desire to *leave* them for "something else", because literally anything else would be worse than Apple. My only move from here is out... into photography.
> 
> And settling to be a career Specialist is not an option.
> 
> It's just not.
> 
> I'm SO CLOSE to being able to drop back down to part time, but something has got to give. More of my own shoots, or supplementing second shooting... SOMETHING.
> 
> I just don't have any time. I'm literally maxed out with hours.
> 
> I don't sleep.
> 
> I run on caffeine.
> 
> I've had people genuinely concerned, giving me talks about how I need to "slow down", but slowing down means staying at Apple forever, and I'm not doing that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I don't think I can help you. I don't think along those lines. Never really have been much of a dreamer just make money, pay bills. about it. *I know after I started having kids* I did whatever endeavors on the side of a fulltime job as I wanted to keep benefits and health insurance for the family. It drove me nuts the idea of not having money or struggling to pay for family medical once I had my first kid so I opted to get a fulltime regular job for the benefits and guaranteed health insurance. Did whatever other endeavors I did on the side so I worked a crap load of hours kind of like you are.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Reason #58,235,879,237,523,759,832,759,372 why I'm never having children.
> 
> I don't have to worry about that.
> 
> I just have to worry about helping my husband pay our rent and other life necessities for the two of us.
> 
> I mean we have cats... but cats are not as expensive as humans.
Click to expand...

well yeah I mean, I have been paying for my wife to stay home , three kids, house, cars, for YEARS. so I really just never dreamed at all just went to make money, and didn't turn down money either. worked regular job, still drove truck on the side. worked regular job, started mortgage business on side. worked regular job, subcontracted construction work on side, worked reg job did snow removal on the side worked regular job and almost did real estate appraisal on the side , worked reguar job and bought a apartment building on the side...

 when my first kid was real young I remember freaking out when I realized we ran out of baby food and I didn't get paid yet. told myself that would never happen again and I never let it happen again either..


----------



## e.rose

bribrius said:


> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> what is your full time job?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I work for Apple.
> 
> You wanna know the f***ing retarded part?
> 
> I had been trying to get full time ALLLLLL YEAR.
> 
> And I interviewed one last time, and by the time I interviewed, I just didn't give a sh*t anymore, and didn't even really want to get it, but I did it, because I knew we needed the money, and then... I got it. And THAT'S when all my shoots picked up.
> 
> I got full time... I got more shoots... and I'm at this REALLY awkward in between phase, where part time is not quite enough... but full time is too much.
> 
> I need semi-full time hours to balance things out.
> 
> I'm just trying to push a little harder to be able to drop down to part time to give myself more breathing room before I just outright quit... but it's hard making that happen when there's literally no time.
> 
> I'm so frustrated.
> 
> like really, really, really f***ing frustrated.
> 
> RAWR.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> apple sounds like a pretty good job with more prospects honestly. I don't know your situation or your boyfriend/husband employment status but the majority of photographers I know are women, with no money, who primarily live on their husbands support and do photography as a business that doesn't pay much but gives the hours they want to work around being a mother and kids schedules.. I  mean they have legit businesses, websites. But it really is mostly a smoke show they don't actually make enough to support themselves and family they are  primarily supported by the other spouse or other means.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, yeah sure... cause I totally want to have to force a smile on my face, and continue to suck the tit of every f***ing entitled asshole who comes in waving their phone in my face, acting like it's *my* fault they dropped the damn thing in a puddle, but decided they were above making an appointment to see a tech, for the rest of my life.
> 
> Sounds great.
> 
> [No really... Apple is a fantastic company to work for and an EXCELLENT day job, which is why I'm still there... but that sh*t is not my passion.]
> 
> I know people living off of photography.
> 
> Are they millionaires?
> 
> No.
> 
> Can they pay their bills?
> 
> Yes.
> 
> Keith and I are very used to living... not very lavishly.
> 
> He's a musician. I'm a photographer.
> 
> Neither of us are planning on giving either of those things up and as a result, we've always lived very close to paycheck to paycheck for the last 5 years of our marriage.
> 
> That's not the problem.
> 
> The problems is I want to be doing that with *photography*... and not with whatever day job I have at the time, before I get bored and move onto something else.
> 
> Luckily Apple has been good enough to me as a company, and interesting enough in the fact that they allow us to develop ourselves and flex into different roles, that I haven't had the desire to *leave* them for "something else", because literally anything else would be worse than Apple. My only move from here is out... into photography.
> 
> And settling to be a career Specialist is not an option.
> 
> It's just not.
> 
> I'm SO CLOSE to being able to drop back down to part time, but something has got to give. More of my own shoots, or supplementing second shooting... SOMETHING.
> 
> I just don't have any time. I'm literally maxed out with hours.
> 
> I don't sleep.
> 
> I run on caffeine.
> 
> I've had people genuinely concerned, giving me talks about how I need to "slow down", but slowing down means staying at Apple forever, and I'm not doing that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I don't think I can help you. I don't think along those lines. Never really have been much of a dreamer just make money, pay bills. about it. *I know after I started having kids* I did whatever endeavors on the side of a fulltime job as I wanted to keep benefits and health insurance for the family. It drove me nuts the idea of not having money or struggling to pay for family medical once I had my first kid so I opted to get a fulltime regular job for the benefits and guaranteed health insurance. Did whatever other endeavors I did on the side so I worked a crap load of hours kind of like you are.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Reason #58,235,879,237,523,759,832,759,372 why I'm never having children.
> 
> I don't have to worry about that.
> 
> I just have to worry about helping my husband pay our rent and other life necessities for the two of us.
> 
> I mean we have cats... but cats are not as expensive as humans.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> well yeah I mean, I have been paying for my wife to stay home , three kids, house, cars, for YEARS. so I really just never dreamed at all just went to make money, and didn't turn down money either. worked regular job, still drove truck on the side. worked regular job, started mortgage business on side. worked regular job, subcontracted construction work on side, worked reg job did snow removal on the side worked regular job and almost did real estate appraisal on the side , worked reguar job and bought a apartment building on the side...
> 
> when my first kid was real young I remember freaking out when I realized we ran out of baby food and I didn't get paid yet. told myself that would never happen again and I never let it happen again either..
Click to expand...


I knew what you meant.

And that's super admirable. You sound like a great husband and a fantastic father. 

I'm just saying that whole "stay at home mom" thing was never in the books for me. I respect it. I get it. It's not for me. So for me, whether it was audio before, or photography now, I've always had some sort of artisticly-inclined career planned out for myself and 0 kids in the forecast.

I'm almost 30 and my 0 child forecast has held true up until now, and I don't ever want that change. So we're able to be a little more risky with what we want to do.

I'd do the same exact thing as you if I had kids on the playing board. There's nothing wrong with that.


----------



## bribrius

no. they think i suck. i didn't give them enough attention. i was always gone or doing something...my life "revolved" around money according to my wife even though she dont mind spending it and was always saying the kids need that, I need this, we need this... blah blah blah blah. I guess i am not attentive and caring enough either I am told I don't pay attention.. lol. I thought I was better off not being totally self employed because then I was ALWAYS GONE but i guess not. don't do what I did. I dropped at work from stroke and worked a crap load of hours.. been living on retirement withdrawals for eight months now doc still wont release me to go to work, and will probably end up bankrupt in about a year or so if I don't get back to work as eventually the savings runs out. And my wife and oldest want iphones wtf??   so I may be starting over again anyway...LMAO 

oh hell yeah, you don't have kids who gives a crap do whatever the hell you want. go be a photographer . the worst that happens is you cant pay your rent and who cares it will take two months to evict you then you end up in a shelter and find another rent in a month it don't really matter..


----------



## e.rose

bribrius said:


> no. they think i suck. i didn't give them enough attention. i was always gone or doing something...my life "revolved" around money according to my wife even though she dont mind spending it and was always saying the kids need that, I need this, we need this... blah blah blah blah. I guess i am not attentive and caring enough either I am told I don't pay attention.. lol. I thought I was better off not being totally self employed because then I was ALWAYS GONE but i guess not. don't do what I did. I dropped at work from stroke and worked a crap load of hours.. been living on retirement withdrawals for eight months now doc still wont release me to go to work, and will probably end up bankrupt in about a year or so if I don't get back to work as eventually the savings runs out. And my wife and oldest want iphones wtf??   so I may be starting over again anyway...LMAO
> 
> oh hell yeah, you don't have kids who gives a crap do whatever the hell you want. go be a photographer . the worst that happens is you cant pay your rent and who cares it will take two months to evict you then you end up in a shelter and find another rent in a month it don't really matter..



Well... I don't have my kids, but my husband is a little less of a risk-taker than I am... so he won't let us get to the point of eviction. LOL


----------



## bribrius

e.rose said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> no. they think i suck. i didn't give them enough attention. i was always gone or doing something...my life "revolved" around money according to my wife even though she dont mind spending it and was always saying the kids need that, I need this, we need this... blah blah blah blah. I guess i am not attentive and caring enough either I am told I don't pay attention.. lol. I thought I was better off not being totally self employed because then I was ALWAYS GONE but i guess not. don't do what I did. I dropped at work from stroke and worked a crap load of hours.. been living on retirement withdrawals for eight months now doc still wont release me to go to work, and will probably end up bankrupt in about a year or so if I don't get back to work as eventually the savings runs out. And my wife and oldest want iphones wtf??   so I may be starting over again anyway...LMAO
> 
> oh hell yeah, you don't have kids who gives a crap do whatever the hell you want. go be a photographer . the worst that happens is you cant pay your rent and who cares it will take two months to evict you then you end up in a shelter and find another rent in a month it don't really matter..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well... I don't have my kids, but my husband is a little less of a risk-taker than I am... so he won't let us get to the point of eviction. LOL
Click to expand...

just explain to him that getting evicted from a apartment you don't own isn't really a financial loss and you can save money by living in a shelter for a month or two..


----------



## e.rose

bribrius said:


> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> no. they think i suck. i didn't give them enough attention. i was always gone or doing something...my life "revolved" around money according to my wife even though she dont mind spending it and was always saying the kids need that, I need this, we need this... blah blah blah blah. I guess i am not attentive and caring enough either I am told I don't pay attention.. lol. I thought I was better off not being totally self employed because then I was ALWAYS GONE but i guess not. don't do what I did. I dropped at work from stroke and worked a crap load of hours.. been living on retirement withdrawals for eight months now doc still wont release me to go to work, and will probably end up bankrupt in about a year or so if I don't get back to work as eventually the savings runs out. And my wife and oldest want iphones wtf??   so I may be starting over again anyway...LMAO
> 
> oh hell yeah, you don't have kids who gives a crap do whatever the hell you want. go be a photographer . the worst that happens is you cant pay your rent and who cares it will take two months to evict you then you end up in a shelter and find another rent in a month it don't really matter..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well... I don't have my kids, but my husband is a little less of a risk-taker than I am... so he won't let us get to the point of eviction. LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> just explain to him that getting evicted from a apartment you don't own isn't really a financial loss and you can save money by living in a shelter for a month or two..
Click to expand...


Somehow I don't think he's gonna go for that, hahaha


----------



## limr

Speaking as someone who is no longer almost 30, I say hold onto that job for a little while longer at least to build up some savings. You can fulfill your creativity at least part time, so it's not like you have no outlet at all, but give yourself a bigger cushion before you quit the job with the full-time salary and benefits. I'm not saying never quit that job - just suggesting you suck it up for a little while longer and _plan_ for it. Make it a more deliberate choice that you're prepared for. It's one thing to be living on a financial edge when you're still young and assume that things will get better when you're older, but then if they don't and you're still flying by the seat of your pants 20 years later, you'll kick yourself for not planning better.

And no, I'm not speaking from experience at all   And the thing that annoys me is that I'll probably have to move to a warmer climate because it will be impossible to heat my cardboard box that I will be living in for the winter. Well, I could light a fire but then I'd have to find a new box. And it's hard to find a good box that will fit me and my 57 cats.


----------



## limr

In other news, I'm going hiking today.


----------



## Warhorse

Just make sure you continue to save enough for retirement on a regular basis (IRA, 401K etc.), you will be surprised at how fast you will arrive at retirement.


----------



## bribrius

Warhorse said:


> Just make sure you continue to save enough for retirement on a regular basis (IRA, 401K etc.), you will be surprised at how fast you will arrive at retirement.


I think I would actually do this but not as a first priority.
1. liquid savings for three months in case of emergency minimum
2. buy a dwelling, something you can feasibly pay off on a ten o fifteen year note. controlling expenses is more Imporant than uncontrollable income.
3. start a stock portfolio after tax mixed with corporate bonds etc. things that pay dividends. Problem with 401ks is you cant withdraw them without penalty. Maybe look into a roth ira so you can at least withdraw the principal. The myth is that when you get old you can withdraw from your retirement at a lower tax rate and the tax shelter. This isn't always true. For one thing it assumes you make enough that the tax shelter is of huge consequence. it assumes you will have less income when you are older but if you do things correctly you should have more income. And it assumes you cant find another place for that money with a higher return. it also assumes nothing will happen in the interval wiping out that retirement.
4. look for passive income, such as the dividends mentioned, a pension, a rental anything.
5. hit your  401k retirement now.  stop taking out commercial loans. Build up your 401k and borrow against it. They say not to do that, but realistically I do all the time. if  have a choice of paying the bank 4 percent or taking a 401k loan and borrowing my own money at 3 percent which the rate gets paid back to myself. well I would rather use my own money. why borrow 30k from someone else when I have 30k I can borrow from myself? Just be cautious you can pay  back and remember as long as it is out you are losing market gains so stick with quick payoffs.

Think outside the box. Remember everyone goal is to make money and have you working to PAY THEM and to make money on what you work to save to PAY THEM. Bank, government, your landlord. Keep as much in your own control as possible. Their goal is to control your money and make money off you. Your goal is too control your money and make money off your money. They also want you reliant, to that car payment, to that money you saved you cant touch that barely or doesn't even keep up with inflation. When you stop becoming reliant the system doesn't make as much money off you. whatever it takes from you remember this is hours you work. I calculated once what it costs me just to wake up everyday in bank interest about a decade ago. Made me realize just how much they sucked from me. look at them all as leeches. They are.


----------



## minicoop1985

e.rose said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't stand people. This is why I shoot commercial stuff. It doesn't move on its own and it doesn't complain when you get it all contorted.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, but what do you mean by "commercial" stuff? Do you mean PRODUCT photography? Because my best friend is a commercial photographer and all he does is shoot people all day long, haha...
Click to expand...


That's exactly what I mean. Avoiding people! No posing! Stuff doesn't move on its own! I did have a lady trying to sell her pottery knock her vase over and shatter it once, though.


----------



## bribrius

oh. the above. I was self employed with my own mortgage business about a decade ago I did on the side. I was also a certified loan officer. so I was the one running your credit and loan application and getting your loan approved.  so take it from whence It comes. I would spend a lot of time watching notes go out for sale on the secondary market just to get a idea of what was out there. Contrary to popular belief too, people that I saw go through with great credit were often fairly poor, oddly enough. But then I saw people go through or attempt to that were trying to pull million dollar business loans and were millionaires that had credit scores in the high fives up to mid six hundreds (really not so good). so apparently your credit score doesn't mean jack in relation to what you are worth except if you have great credit it might mean you don't have a pot to piss in and spend all your money In debt and paying your bills on time. very odd....
Doesn't really effect the higher wealth too much as it just means they have to put down 200 or 500k and it isn't like they don't have it they just are trying not to put it down and tie up the capital.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't stand people. This is why I shoot commercial stuff. It doesn't move on its own and it doesn't complain when you get it all contorted.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, but what do you mean by "commercial" stuff? Do you mean PRODUCT photography? Because my best friend is a commercial photographer and all he does is shoot people all day long, haha...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's exactly what I mean. Avoiding people! No posing! Stuff doesn't move on its own! I did have a lady trying to sell her pottery knock her vase over and shatter it once, though.
Click to expand...

I wonder if you could get paid to take photos of trees and be a hermit...


----------



## e.rose

limr said:


> Speaking as someone who is no longer almost 30, I say hold onto that job for a little while longer at least to build up some savings. You can fulfill your creativity at least part time, so it's not like you have no outlet at all, but give yourself a bigger cushion before you quit the job with the full-time salary and benefits



Ehhhhhhhh... 

YOLO.

I'm not gonna quit until it's consistent enough, but the second that happens, I'm out.

Phase one is getting enough to drop back down to part time. I'm almost there.

Phase two: get enough shoots and second shooting work to quit.

I'm tired of being cautious. That had never gotten me anywhere.

They don't call it "risk" for nothing. Sometimes you take a chance and you fall flat on your face. Sometimes you take a chance and you succeed.

I'd rather risk it and find out which its gonna be.

Is it reckless? Sure. But that's kind of my staple at this point. 

It's now or never, baby.


----------



## bribrius

meh.. you only live once...


----------



## e.rose

bribrius said:


> meh.. you only live once...



That's what I said! YOLO!


----------



## Gary A.

Love this guy.

Crop Sensor v. FF - Crop or Crap


----------



## Rick50

Gary A. said:


> I've never sold a photo in my life.


Me either. In the film days I would print and frame my own and give away to friends and family. Now I just email them and print very little. I will get some printed for around the house though.


----------



## Gary A.

Rick50 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've never sold a photo in my life.
> 
> 
> 
> Me either. In the film days I would print and frame my own and give away to friends and family. Now I just email them and print very little. I will get some printed for around the house though.
Click to expand...

But, I used to be a pro.


----------



## limr

I really wish "yolo" would die a horribly fiery death, never to be seen again.

In other news, I hiked today. 4 miles in 2.5 hours, though total time was 3.5 hours (pictures, lunch, small breaks to catch my breath on the really steep, scrambly sections.) Highest point was about 1000 ft above our starting point.

And then there was beer.


----------



## Warhorse

limr said:


> And then there was beer.


That's an appropriate reward.


----------



## limr

Warhorse said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And then there was beer.
> 
> 
> 
> That's an appropriate reward.
Click to expand...


I thought so


----------



## limr

The view during lunch:


----------



## Gary A.

4 miles ... 1000 feet up ... good for you. What was your reward beer? Did you take the Fuji? I've been slumming it today. Trying to wrap up processing the WHS play I shot a week or so ago.

I just barely did the basics to, a walk with Cook and my push-ups. It's 4:00 p.m. and I'm only at 6200 steps. Maybe another walk after dinner.

But I am enjoying a Fes Parker Chardonnay while I process.


----------



## limr

I took the Spotmatic because I wanted to play with my 28mm prime (the widest lens I have). I never really responded to wide lenses too much because they always seemed like a lens for someone who just wanted to get everything in the frame and make something look just like a postcard. I learned how to take great postcard pictures long ago and got bored with it quickly. But then I realized that I just could shoot differently and still do my detail shots that I like, but with a funkier perspective. So I took one camera, one lens, and one roll of Tri-X to force myself to get creative 

My reward beer was a rare choice: A Dogfish Head IPA. I'm normally not an IPA drinker but I somehow had a taste for something sharp and hoppy.


----------



## pgriz

Leonore, let me guess...  you were in the Hudson Highlands, and the point in your image is West Point?


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Leonore, let me guess...  you were in the Hudson Highlands, and the point in your image is West Point?



Bingo! Get that man a prize 

I love the Hudson Valley.


----------



## pgriz

It IS beautiful.  I've got four sets of relatives living within about 10-15 miles of that spot.  Plus, NYC is in a world of its own.


----------



## limr

Well then, I live amongst your relatives!  I don't live far from that spot, either.


----------



## pgriz

It'll make visiting easy.  My wife and I usually stay at one of the cousins.  But it depends on who's having what event or activity going on.  One of the cousins has seven kids, and we're not sure she's not yet done with making more.  So it's usually a lot quieter at one of the other cousins.  I had four other sets of relatives there over the years (Demarest, Nyack, Valley Cottage, Congers), who either moved on or moved further south.


----------



## snerd

Walked 10 miles I bet shopping the malls! I am dead tired! Picked up grandson, went to main mall, then over to a new strip mall. Academy Sports, Dick's Sporting Goods, U.S. Patriot, Game Stop, Penny's are just a few of the stores we hit. Then there were benches and people-watching! Here's a cell pic of the ever-eating grandson.


----------



## limr

Ah, they were on the other side of the river from me. Not too far but still required a bridge.

And yes, it makes visiting me easy


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> Walked 10 miles I bet shopping the malls! I am dead tired! Picked up grandson, went to main mall, then over to a new strip mall. Academy Sports, Dick's Sporting Goods, U.S. Patriot, Game Stop, Penny's are just a few of the stores we hit. Then there were benches and people-watching! Here's a cell pic of the ever-eating grandson.



I definitely would rather climb a mountain than spend that much time in a mall during December!


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> I definitely would rather climb a mountain than spend that much time in a mall during December!


I don't do it because I like it lol!!


----------



## Warhorse

snerd said:


> Walked 10 miles I bet shopping the malls! I am dead tired! Picked up grandson, went to main mall, then over to a new strip mall. Academy Sports, Dick's Sporting Goods


Find any .22lr?


----------



## astroNikon

odd.
I found 3 rolls of film
Advantix film in it's odd shaped containers
I don't even remember having an Advantix camera.


----------



## Designer

Warhorse said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Walked 10 miles I bet shopping the malls! I am dead tired! Picked up grandson, went to main mall, then over to a new strip mall. Academy Sports, Dick's Sporting Goods
> 
> 
> 
> Find any .22lr?
Click to expand...

My local (?40 miles) Sportsman's Warehouse gets a case in every Tuesday morning, and they're all gone by lunchtime.  Limited to one 500-rd. carton per customer.


----------



## Warhorse

Designer said:


> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Walked 10 miles I bet shopping the malls! I am dead tired! Picked up grandson, went to main mall, then over to a new strip mall. Academy Sports, Dick's Sporting Goods
> 
> 
> 
> Find any .22lr?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My local (?40 miles) Sportsman's Warehouse gets a case in every Tuesday morning, and they're all gone by lunchtime.  Limited to one 500-rd. carton per customer.
Click to expand...

I wish there was a Sportsman's Warehouse around here. The last time I was able to find any .22's was in November 2013 at a Wal-Mart near by.


----------



## Designer

I can purchase the expensive target style Eley at Theisen's (a farm supply store chain).  Seems nobody wants to pay the premium.


----------



## Gary A.

.22 ... ??? I thought you guys would be shooting .223.


----------



## limr

astroNikon said:


> odd.
> I found 3 rolls of film
> Advantix film in it's odd shaped containers
> I don't even remember having an Advantix camera.



Weird.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> .22 ... ??? I thought you guys would be shooting .223.


Both.  I like to take the grandchildren to the range for plinking with the .22


----------



## limr

LAST WEEK OF CLASSES!!


----------



## astroNikon

limr said:


> LAST WEEK OF CLASSES!!


don't get so down
there's always next semester !!


----------



## limr

astroNikon said:


> don't get so down
> *there's always next semester !!*



Shhhhhhh! We don't speak those words until First Day of Class Eve!


----------



## snerd

Warhorse said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Walked 10 miles I bet shopping the malls! I am dead tired! Picked up grandson, went to main mall, then over to a new strip mall. Academy Sports, Dick's Sporting Goods
> 
> 
> 
> Find any .22lr?
Click to expand...

Heehee.......... I could give you my grandson's number, you could call him, and ask him what's the first thing I said we'd go look for at both places. He'd tell you................ 22 lr lol!!! And no, didn't see any! 

I usually buy online, but it's been a couple of years. I like the Federal Tactical HST for my G-21SF 45ACP, and mostly Gold Dots in my G-19 9mm. The CCI Blazers are a good price for practice ammo. Aluminum. Clean and never had one fail to fire! My photography has lessened the funds for my shooting lately. Although, my dentist told me about a new public range 30 miles east of here, and they're hosting some bowling pin matches in a couple of weeks. Now those are just plain FUN!!


----------



## minicoop1985

Been a long time since I've been shooting, since I got rid of all my guns (mental health stuff... probably a good idea). I still have some .22lr laying around upstairs. If anyone's around this area (Green Bay, Oshkosh, etc) I'll give it away.


----------



## pgriz

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> .22 ... ??? I thought you guys would be shooting .223.
> 
> 
> 
> Both.  I like to take the grandchildren to the range for plinking with the .22
Click to expand...


Isn't it against the law to plink your grandchildren, even if you only using the .22?  Can't see the parents approving.


----------



## Gary A.

The final missing piece came in. A film back was finally delivered ... The Beast is complete. I battery-ied up, (five batteries mixed amongst two types), pulled the dark slide, depressed the shutter release and Viola!






It lives!


----------



## bribrius

i have guns. don't really seem to shoot much anymore. Pretty much save them for a potential zombie attack...   Good morning coffee drinkers!!


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Been a long time since I've been shooting, since I got rid of all my guns (mental health stuff... probably a good idea). I still have some .22lr laying around upstairs. If anyone's around this area (Green Bay, Oshkosh, etc) I'll give it away.


yeah I will probably be denied my cwp next time around once I check off the mental health box from the stroke. Bastards will use anything to mess with you and make you appeal.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> The final missing piece came in. A film back came in ... The Beast is complete. I battery-ied up, (five batteries mixed amongst two types), pulled the dark slide, depressed the shutter release and Viola!
> (img)
> It lives!



I must say; that is ONE TALENTED CAMERA!  It managed to take a selfie!


----------



## KenC

Morning Hosers!  Coffee and home-made brownie snapping me out of my daze.

I don't believe that thing Gary photographed is actually a camera - I think it's a fancy cat condo.


----------



## bribrius

what I am wondering about the thing gary photographed is if it works as good as it looks. waiting for pics to see if it is all show and no go...


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Morning Hosers!  Coffee and home-made brownie snapping me out of my daze.
> 
> I don't believe that thing Gary photographed is actually a camera - I think it's a fancy cat condo.


LOL ...


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> what I am wondering about the thing gary photographed is if it works as good as it looks. waiting for pics to see if it is all show and no go...


I now need to get a scanner. Probably a Epson 850. I have some Tmax, but no chemicals ... maybe I'll run a roll of color through the beast.


----------



## Gary A.

Today I'm gonna RTFM.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary, that thing is fap worthy.

I've got a roll of TMax in the Blad. Tmax 100, too. gonna play with flash today, I think. Still have to get my 220 developed.



bribrius said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Been a long time since I've been shooting, since I got rid of all my guns (mental health stuff... probably a good idea). I still have some .22lr laying around upstairs. If anyone's around this area (Green Bay, Oshkosh, etc) I'll give it away.
> 
> 
> 
> yeah I will probably be denied my cwp next time around once I check off the mental health box from the stroke. Bastards will use anything to mess with you and make you appeal.
Click to expand...


I never applied for one, and there's no exclusion from buying in this state other than dv and felonies (as usual). I didn't HAVE to give them up, but I'd likely be dead if I didn't.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Gary, that thing is fap worthy.
> 
> I've got a roll of TMax in the Blad. Tmax 100, too. gonna play with flash today, I think. Still have to get my 220 developed.
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Been a long time since I've been shooting, since I got rid of all my guns (mental health stuff... probably a good idea). I still have some .22lr laying around upstairs. If anyone's around this area (Green Bay, Oshkosh, etc) I'll give it away.
> 
> 
> 
> yeah I will probably be denied my cwp next time around once I check off the mental health box from the stroke. Bastards will use anything to mess with you and make you appeal.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I never applied for one, and there's no exclusion from buying in this state other than dv and felonies (as usual). I didn't HAVE to give them up, but I'd likely be dead if I didn't.
Click to expand...

it is on the federal form as one of the questions. treated or known mental condition or something or other blah blah blah.  Basically it flags it and kicks it back so chances are there will be a interview or a necessity to appeal...


----------



## bribrius

least I am guessing,  Haven't gone through it yet..


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, I probably won't go through it again. Probably a good idea I don't have them.

I forgot how much I love using a Hasselblad. Ugh, this thing is inspiring as f**k.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Today I'm gonna RTFM.



I had to google that


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today I'm gonna RTFM.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had to google that
Click to expand...

OMG! Really?! Just a senior moment?!


----------



## snerd

Thinking about finishing up my Christmas shopping today. I have 3 left to buy for. I have a doctor's appointment next Monday, then I'm contemplating driving over to Little Rock to spend the Holidays with old friends. Decisions decisions..............


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today I'm gonna RTFM.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had to google that
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> OMG! Really?! Just a senior moment?!
Click to expand...


Totally!


----------



## limr

I think it's definitely time for coffee.

It's snowing a little bit at the moment. It's not supposed to be very much but it will continue for a while, and I'm here on campus until 8pm, so I'll be driving home in the snowy dark. I know how to do it but it's always a little unnerving.


----------



## snerd

I hate driving in the rain at night. I'll do it if I have to, but it's not my cup of tea.


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> I hate driving in the rain at night. I'll do it if I have to, but it's not my cup of tea.



It's not really lots of fun, is it?


----------



## Designer

Hey, good lunchtime, folks!

Here's some chunks of old floor joist that had to come out.


----------



## bribrius

looks like good times...


----------



## limr

Just walked to the caf for my salad and coffee. It's the half-assed kind of snow that looks like snow in the air but doesn't stick to anything.


----------



## minicoop1985

Urgh. So tired today. Can't wake up...


----------



## snowbear

My lovely wife and I are taking off tomorrow and going to the Downtown Holiday Market in DC with lazy_lobster.  We might take in a museum since we're in the area, and a likely side trip to Dolcezza if Andy's working.  Hopefully I'll see something worthwhile to shoot for the Secret Santa Photo-swap.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Urgh. So tired today. Can't wake up...



Run around outside wearing just a smile - the cold air should do it.


----------



## minicoop1985

I went outside and... let's put it this way. Glass would have been cut. Wow does it get cold fast when you're outside in pajamas.


----------



## pgriz

Been snowing all day up here.  Not a lot, but it's slowly accumulating.  This is the view of one of the bushes in front of the house.




 

Sticky stuff, just right for snowmen and snow women, snowball fights, and snow castles.  And not so much that you'll get a heart attack shovelling the stuff.


----------



## snowbear

40s F & very windy today.  Potential flurries overnight and possibly a few tomorrow.  I'm glad we'll be taking the train because there are too many non-driving SOBs here that panic when they see the first flake.



pgriz said:


> And not so much that you'll get a heart attack shovelling the stuff.


That, my friend, is why you have kids.


----------



## Designer

That bush is worth another shot.  Can you get it closer?


----------



## Gary A.

It was another 70F day ... slight breeze from the Pacific. Supposed to rain tomorrow night. Came home and cleaned out the filters on the pond. Gonna read the 680 manual and the installation instructions for my new skimmer. 

Now the question is tea or wine ... a hot tea, I'm still a bit wet from the pond ... don't want to catch a chill.


----------



## pgriz

Designer said:


> That bush is worth another shot.  Can you get it closer?


Sure.  Just came back from driving my wife to a friend's house.  Driving's kinda slippery, but most people are being sensible and driving conservatively and without heroics.  I've come back by the lakeshore drive looking for interesting possibilities, but pretty much everything potentially interesting is bathed in the yellow light of the sodium lamps.  Can try to do the white balance trick in post, but didn't see anything REALLY compelling.  After I have some of my wife's stew, I'll pull the camera out again and (hopefully) make Designer happy.


----------



## snerd

60 degrees today with light breeze. Went and walked my 3 miles. Did rope pulley workout on shoulder, as usual. Started weights at therapy 2 weeks ago. Slowly getting all movement back, now for the strength.


----------



## limr

Our "snow" was really much ado about nothing. As usual, they're getting it so much worse upstate, but though it's been snowing off and on all day, just a dusting stuck on the grass and there was nothing on the roads.


----------



## KenC

You hosers are drinking too much coffee if you're still on here now.  Hey, wait, what am I doing here ...


----------



## snowbear

The ladies (Sharon, Leonore & Marija) and I own the joint, so that's our excuse.


----------



## limr

Heyyyyyyyy.....


----------



## limr

Wasuuuuuuup?


----------



## snowbear

Ok, sorry, Lenny . . . The *hotties* and I own the joint . . .


----------



## bribrius

thinking,  really should be doing....something....

but


naaaaaaaaaaa


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> Ok, sorry, Lenny . . . The *hotties* and I own the joint . . .


you can have it what a dive..  lmao


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, sorry, Lenny . . . The *hotties* and I own the joint . . .
> 
> 
> 
> you can have it what a dive..  lmao
Click to expand...


And yet, you can't stay away.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, sorry, Lenny . . . The *hotties* and I own the joint . . .
> 
> 
> 
> you can have it what a dive..  lmao
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And yet, you can't stay away.
Click to expand...

(tail between legs.)  I have no life... lol


----------



## snowbear

It's cool.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> It's cool.


I look at art online, follow this somewhat, take photos and go through photos. oddly enough it seems to keep me somewhat occupied.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Ok, sorry, Lenny . . . The *hotties* and I own the joint . . .



Heh...that actually wasn't an annoyed "heyyyyyy" but rather a slow surfer-dude greeting  

I'm apparently a little fried and punchy right now


----------



## snerd

I'm claiming squatters rights.


----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


> I'm claiming squatters rights.



You're a regular, like on Cheers.  What'll ya have, Cliff?


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm squatting on the crapper. Does that count?


----------



## limr

Is he Cliff or Norm? I think he's got a good one-syllable name for all of us to say "Sneeeeeeeeerd!" when he comes in.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> I'm squatting on the crapper. Does that count?



Ahhh, YOU'RE Cliff!


----------



## minicoop1985

Got a cliffhanger going on right now. Might have to wipe for it to finally give up. Damned Mexican food.


----------



## snowbear

<ignore>


----------



## limr

Um. Good luck?


----------



## snerd

Ack lol!!!


----------



## bribrius

take photos and post them in the just for fun section


----------



## bribrius

well... unless they are hdr.


----------



## snowbear

Gawd I hope you don't draw my name for the photo exchange.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> Gawd I hope you don't draw my name for the photo exchange.


 me or pooper up there? if you are worried about me I haven't signed up...yet


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gawd I hope you don't draw my name for the photo exchange.
> 
> 
> 
> me or pooper up there? if you are worried about me I haven't signed up...yet
Click to expand...


You'd be fine.  You should sign up.  Heck, Gary could get your name and you'd end up with a dozen shots instead of one!


----------



## snerd

The turns and back roads this thread has taken lol!!


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gawd I hope you don't draw my name for the photo exchange.
> 
> 
> 
> me or pooper up there? if you are worried about me I haven't signed up...yet
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You'd be fine.  You should sign up.
Click to expand...

I thought about it, but I really don't want any of your photos


----------



## bribrius




----------



## snowbear

And I am done with it.


----------



## bribrius

oh stop. you have to admit that was funny...


----------



## snerd

Not really. I kind of cringed when I read it


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Not really. I kind of cringed when I read it


well it wasn't meant to be a insult geez.  i was lmao i thought it was hysterical, course internet you cant see that.


----------



## snerd

Your delivery was off just a bit. Or I'm getting sappy in my old age.


----------



## minicoop1985

Yeah, she was a doozy. Oh well.


----------



## limr

Aaaaaaand yup, that's my time folks! You've been great! I'll be here all week. Be sure to try the veal...

Time to get me a little oblivion, baby...


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Your delivery was off just a bit. Or I'm getting sappy in my old age.


my sense of humor is off.  i have one of those dry sarcastic humors. Like adams family style.


----------



## snowbear

'night Lenny.


----------



## limr

'Night Charlie. Sleep well!

Night Snerdy snerd!

Night Bri!

'Night John Boy!


----------



## bribrius

night limr!


----------



## minicoop1985

night Leonore.

Ugh, wife won't let me go to bed yet... Boo.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> night Leonore.
> 
> Ugh, wife won't let me go to bed yet... Boo.


didn't even know you were married


----------



## snowbear

Marija - are you lurking around out there?


----------



## minicoop1985

bribrius said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> night Leonore.
> 
> Ugh, wife won't let me go to bed yet... Boo.
> 
> 
> 
> didn't even know you were married
Click to expand...


Yup, 5 years now. She's photographically inclined too, which makes gifts easy.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary, your GX645 got me thinking how much I want a Hasselblad Flexbody. UUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> night Leonore.
> 
> Ugh, wife won't let me go to bed yet... Boo.
> 
> 
> 
> didn't even know you were married
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup, 5 years now. She's photographically inclined too, which makes gifts easy.
Click to expand...

there ya go..


----------



## snerd

Nytol.


----------



## pixmedic

Wooo! Might get to catch a nap before shift is over at 0600!


----------



## KenC

Just caught up with that exchange last night.  Very colorful and made me glad it wasn't in Sensurround.

Today I have to deal with the fact that the construction we've been having done on our house seems to have gone off the tracks.  I'm hoping it doesn't escalate to lawyers being involved.  I have a headache already, but then I know the cure for that - Advil and COFFEE.  I'd better go make some.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, everyone.  I have my coffee in hand and will be heading out after the traffic dies down a bit.

Edit:  Yeah, it'll be a little while:  overturned construction equipment on US-301, northbound; where we gotta go.


----------



## limr

I'm about to start at my first cup this morning and then I too have to head out in just under an hour to do placement readings.

On Tuesday I had the pleasure of reading an essay so good that I was still thinking about it hours later (she was placed into honors classes). The only problem with these rare treats is that they are usually followed up with an essay that starts like this:

"People should sometimes do things that they do not enjoy doing. I agree with this statement for many reasons. First off, one reason I agree with this statement is because it's 100% true in my opinion. Another reason I agree with this statement is because I personally know a few people that has jobs and they do not enjoy their jobs at all but they continue to work at that job. Also, I agree because there are many people that doesn't like going to school but they do because it will be beneficial to them in the future. Still another reason I agree is because I myself and others such as my family and friends don't like paying bills but we do."


----------



## Warhorse

Just finished my first of three cups of Maxwell House Colombian, when finished with the coffee who knows what I will do today.

Still learning how to be retired.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I'm about to start at my first cup this morning and then I too have to head out in just under an hour to do placement readings.
> 
> On Tuesday I had the pleasure of reading an essay so good that I was still thinking about it hours later (she was placed into honors classes). The only problem with these rare treats is that they are usually followed up with an essay that starts like this:
> 
> "People should sometimes do things that they do not enjoy doing. I agree with this statement for many reasons. First off, one reason I agree with this statement is because it's 100% true in my opinion. Another reason I agree with this statement is because I personally know a few people that has jobs and they do not enjoy their jobs at all but they continue to work at that job. Also, I agree because there are many people that doesn't like going to school but they do because it will be beneficial to them in the future. Still another reason I agree is because I myself and others such as my family and friends don't like paying bills but we do."


That's a winner -- real T/A material.


----------



## bribrius

uhh. woke up. before i even returned back from the kitchen with my coffee cup my darling wife told me she had a list of things waiting on the table she needed money for and asked me why i hadn't done the family photo Christmas pic yet and if i would do it this afternoon so she can mail out Christmas cards... Am i really running that late?


----------



## snowbear

There are three weeks left in the year.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Warhorse, congrats on the retirement!
Limr, how do you begin to grade something like that? I still remember those nuns teaching us to 'diagram' the sentence. 
Am about done with my coffee and on to my orange juice soon 
Nancy


----------



## snowbear

NancyMoranG said:


> . . . 'diagram' the sentence.



X through the whole thing?


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> There are three weeks left in the year.


so maybe i should shoot for 2015?


----------



## snowbear

Well, Lenny, I didn't see any there/their/they're or to/too/two errors, and the words are spelled correctly.  They may not go well with each other, but they are spelled correctly.


----------



## limr

I didn't have to actually grade that one. In addition to teaching and my admin job at the college, I also am one of the groups that reads the essays that new applicants write for their placement exam.

(It's an open-admission community college, and new students have to take an exam to check the level of their math, reading, and writing skills. If they score below a certain threshold, they take remedial classes.)

That student was placed in remedial writing classes. 

Having said that, some of those students end up in my classes (these days I'm teaching the remedial writing classes for international students) so I do eventually have to figure out how to grade things like that. 

This is one reason there's always bourbon in the house


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Well, Lenny, I didn't see any there/their/they're or to/too/two errors, and the words are spelled correctly.  They may not go well with each other, but they are spelled correctly.



True - she (or he - can't even remember) did use 'their' correction. Of course, people 'has' jobs and 'doesn't' like them, 50% of the words were unnecessary, and the first 'reason' is a stellar example of circular logic, but hey! She or he can spell


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> She or he can spell


More likely they know what the red underlines mean.

...................
I'm sorry, Nancy - good morning.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, Lenny, I didn't see any there/their/they're or to/too/two errors, and the words are spelled correctly.  They may not go well with each other, but they are spelled correctly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> True - she (or he - can't even remember) did use 'their' correction. Of course, people 'has' jobs and 'doesn't' like them, 50% of the words were unnecessary, and the first 'reason' is a stellar example of circular logic, but hey! She or he can spell
Click to expand...

So you caught the circular logic ... good. lol


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 59F right now at 6:53 a.m. It may reach the mid 60's today. Rain is a-coming. You can feel it, the air is heavy. I gotta dig a hole approximately 3'x2'x3' for the new skimmer. I think I wait until after the rain. Colombian Supremo today, rich and flavorful, like a good enchilada.


----------



## Gary A.

I've been reading all this stuff about wifi and remotely shooting from your computer and stuff. My Fuji cameras have all that capabilities, I even downloaded the wifi Fuji iPhone app, but I haven't synced anything. This morning it just dawned on me that with my recent film acquisition, I'm going the opposite direction ... I am simplifying my photography. It feels good. (But I did just order a scanner.)


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> I've been reading all this stuff about wifi and remotely shooting from your computer and stuff. My Fuji cameras have all that capabilities, I even downloaded the wifi Fuji iPhone app, but I haven't synced anything. This morning it just dawned on me that with my recent film acquisition, I'm going the opposite direction ... I am simplifying my photography. It feels good. (But I did just order a scanner.)


be nice to remote shoot from your phone, especially on long shutters in winter you can sit in your car where it is warm and let the camera and tripod bare the cold.

oh wait, you don't have such concerns i forgot......lol


----------



## snerd

KenC said:


> .................. I have a headache already, but then I know the cure for that - Advil and COFFEE.  I'd better go make some.


Mine's better................ Percocet and a cold beer!!


----------



## snerd

Warhorse said:


> Just finished my first of three cups of Maxwell House Colombian, when finished with the coffee who knows what I will do today.
> 
> Still learning how to be retired.


I hear you, and suffer right along with you!!


----------



## minicoop1985

Made myself a ghetto mocha today. Was actually pretty good, surprisingly.


----------



## limr

What is a ghetto mocha?


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> What is a ghetto mocha?


I had to look it up on Urban Dictionary.............

ghetto mocha
Powdered hot cocoa mix added to drip (or sometimes even instant) coffee. 

Can be made for free in many company breakrooms.
Forget Starbucks, I'm going to go make a ghetto mocha!
by Shizbang Lewis March 09, 2004


----------



## snowbear

If any of the ladies are into shoes, these are sweet!
From the Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institute.






Detail of bead work


----------



## Gary A.

Hell, even I would wear those!


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> What is a ghetto mocha?
> 
> 
> 
> I had to look it up on Urban Dictionary.............
> 
> ghetto mocha
> Powdered hot cocoa mix added to drip (or sometimes even instant) coffee.
> 
> Can be made for free in many company breakrooms.
> Forget Starbucks, I'm going to go make a ghetto mocha!
> by Shizbang Lewis March 09, 2004
Click to expand...

About a decade ago, I decided to quit putting crap into my life and body. I'll pass on a ghetto mocha.


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> About a decade ago, I decided to quit putting crap into my life and body. I'll pass on a ghetto mocha.



Is it the coffee or the cocoa mix you object to?  Or both?


----------



## snowbear

I have used the General Foods "International" instant coffee as creamer in real coffee.


----------



## KenC

I don't put creamer in real (brewed) coffee, but I've put Ovaltine, cocoa mixes and even just straight cocoa powder into instant coffee.  I didn't know until now that many others have done it or that anyone named it.


----------



## snowbear

If I'm in a real hurry in the morning, I'll just take a spoon of instant coffee crystals and wash them down with a Mountain Dew . . . instant buzz.


----------



## snerd

snowbear said:


> If I'm in a real hurry in the morning, I'll just take a spoon of instant coffee crystals and wash them down with a Mountain Dew . . . instant buzz.


Good lord........... you're a tough old buzzard! Ack!!


----------



## limr

Got my bike on Nov 4th. I've got 212 miles on it and $21 in my jar. Woot!


----------



## snerd

I went to therapy again today. Upped weights again, they're fast-tracking me, I think! LOL!!

I've walked my 3 miles every other day, along with the rope-pulley shoulder workout at home.  I'm starting to miss my photography! That must mean I'm slowly getting there!!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> I went to therapy again today. Upped weights again, they're fast-tracking me, I think! LOL!!
> 
> I've walked my 3 miles every other day, along with the rope-pulley shoulder workout at home.  I'm starting to miss my photography! That must mean I'm slowly getting there!!



Good for you! Are you able to carry your camera with you on your walk?


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Good for you! Are you able to carry your camera with you on your walk?


Thanks, Lenny. I guess I could, but my walk is meant to be fast-paced. No stopping or slowing down. So I wouldn't use it while walking. I can hold it okay when I do try a little snapping, I'm just mainly waiting on all of my strength to return. Getting really close!


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> About a decade ago, I decided to quit putting crap into my life and body. I'll pass on a ghetto mocha.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is it the coffee or the cocoa mix you object to?  Or both?
Click to expand...

I would put instant coffee in the crap category. The cocoa is okay, if it's not the stuff that tastes like it came out of a vending machine, you know the type, Coffee, Hot Chocolate and Chicken Flavored Soup.


----------



## limr

Instant coffee is great, I love it!*



















*for developing film


----------



## minicoop1985

^^^ Just shot more film. I'm up to damn near a roll a day. This is as bad as smoking, but without the whole cancer thing.


----------



## Gary A.

I've been exceeding the daily goal that has been set on my Vivofit. I can set the goal (steps per day) manually or let the Vivofit set the goal. I decided to let the Vivofit figure it all out.  The Vivofit originally set the goal pretty low, probably based on my weight (lol), at 7500 steps. I've been averaging somewhere between 11,000 to 12,000 step per day. I've been kicking the Vivofit's butt since strapping it on.  Two days ago the Vivofit automatically raised my daily goal by 1000 steps. Yesterday it increased my goal by another 1200 steps.  At this rate, the thing will bury me in a week. Today, 14,197 steps, so far.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Instant coffee is great, I love it!*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *for developing film


Do you use cream or sugar?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Do you use cream or sugar?



Fixer


----------



## Gary A.

Which reminds me I gotta get some chemicals for the weekend.


----------



## limr

Yes! So we can has pikchurz!!!!


----------



## minicoop1985

I gotta see what you do with this thing, Gary. That's a hell of a machine there.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Yes! So we can has pikchurz!!!!


Hopefully the rain will pass through SoCal leaving Sunday available to shoot.


----------



## snerd

The rain in Spain, falls mainly on the plain.


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> The rain in Spain, falls mainly on the plain.



Now repeat that until you can say it properly!


----------



## Gary A.

The rain in Southern California falls mainly on my house.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 55F and it raining cats & dogs. No paper yet. I hate LA when the sky falls. People here think its the end of the world. The phone buzzed at 5:00 a.m. with an emergency text message warning everybody with a cell phone to beware of flash floods.


----------



## pgriz

Gary, that is useful advice if you're camping in a dry riverbed.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Gary, that is useful advice if you're camping in a dry riverbed.


Au contraire ... our foothills and deserts are a wonderland of flash flooding. You're right that a riverbed is an obvious choice of where not to be, but once a flash flood begins it no longer follows the laws of nature ... ala the path of least resistance. Most flash floods are more mud-like than water, filled with rocks, trees, et al. Once it starts moving ... it makes it's own path.  The mountains which create the LA Basin are quite steep. The 60 mile long San Gabriel River is one of the steepest (fall off) rivers in the country, starting in the 10,000' high San Gabriel Mountains, transversing through the middle of the LA Basin until it empties into the Pacific. The foothills have been hit hard by fires leaving the ground void of vegetation to slow the runoff and roots to hold the soil. All/most of the communities in the foothills are potentially in danger, many have already been evacuated and a few have already been hit by flash floods with loss of homes and property.

The problem with our rain, what little we get, it that it tends to come all at once. Combine that with heavy fires and 10,000' mountains acting like a launching ramp ... flash floods can occur almost anywhere along the foothills. It takes an hour or less to drive from the ocean to the foothills.


----------



## Warhorse

Sounds like you're going to need your surfboard!


----------



## limr

In other news, I just finished teaching my last class for the semester. Exams for both classes are on Monday, and departmental scoring of those exams are on Thursday.

Almost done with this one, beeyotches!!


----------



## minicoop1985

Wow. been shooting a LOT of film lately. Clearing out my fridge pretty quick.


----------



## snerd

Awake at 10 this morning. Still laying here surfing the Interwebs!


----------



## minicoop1985

Sheesh, I had to restock the fridge.

Time for more coffee, methinks.


----------



## Gary A.

Too much of that ghetto mocha.


----------



## Warhorse

How are you doing with that storm Gary? It sure is a doozy, from what I saw on the television.


----------



## sm4him

Hey there, girls and guys...and monkeys...and the assorted other lifeforms that lurk about in the TPF primordial ooze. 

I feel out of touch with the TPF world. What's up? Anything I need to know?  No? That's what I thought. It's like a TV daytime soap opera. You can stop watching for months on end and then pick right back up where you left off!

It'll probably be after Christmas, maybe after the new year, before I really get back online very much, but I will try to check in now and then.


----------



## pgriz

Sharon,

You missed a few episodes.

Manaheim has run off with Mish.  Neither has been seen for a while.  We don't think it is a coincidence.

Marija decided to emigrate.  Unfortunately, she got onto the slow boat.  Without internet access.  We haven't hear from her either.

Pixelrabbit went down the proverbial rabbit hole.  But she popped up recently. 

No-one has recently questioned the inverse square law, so perhaps that is due.

Nor have we revisited the question of why the night sky is dark.

And "Post-whoring" has entered the internet lexicon.  officially.

Mleeks is still missing.

So is Invisible.

Oldhippy posted another bread photo and 435 people gained weight.  That too was not a coincidence.

No-one of note got banned.  Perhaps we are due.

Other than that... same old, same old.


----------



## snowbear

Hey, hon.  

I tried a preliminary sketch of your photo . . . you sure handed me a wild one!  I've got an idea for it, and will try to email you a sketch early, next week.

Keep warm.


----------



## Gary A.

Warhorse said:


> How are you doing with that storm Gary? It sure is a doozy, from what I saw on the television.


I am fine. I don't live in a high risk area. The backyard is flooded out a bit.


----------



## snerd

Walked today, then stopped for lupper at Chili's again. I'm getting hooked on their rib-eye!!








Home, showered and cleaned up, son dropped off grandson to spend the night. Life is good.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> I am fine. I don't live in a high risk area. The backyard is flooded out a bit.


Kayak on Sale - Save on Kayaks | DICK'S Sporting Goods

Just in case the wind & tides shift a little.


----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


> Walked today, then stopped for lupper at Chili's again. I'm getting hooked on their rib-eye!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Home, showered and cleaned up, son dropped off grandson to spend the night. Life is good.


Yesterday was nice -- lunch at the American Indian Museum; cedar plank salmon & buffalo chili.


----------



## limr

Good night, Coffee Hosers! Catch youse in the morning with our coffee


----------



## snowbear

'night, sweetie.


----------



## minicoop1985

Night, Leonore.

Waiting for the film to dry. New TK episode and some other fun stuff with some unexpired film for once.


----------



## minicoop1985

Scratch that. Totally screwed everything up with that... Will try again tomorrow.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am fine. I don't live in a high risk area. The backyard is flooded out a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> Kayak on Sale - Save on Kayaks | DICK'S Sporting Goods
> 
> Just in case the wind & tides shift a little.
Click to expand...

What's funny is the storm brought these winds ranging from 71mph at Reno Tahoe airport and up to 147mph at Mt. Lincoln. The winds were generating these 7' waves at Lake Tahoe. On the evening news, a few stations broadcast video of surfers riding the waves at Lake Tahoe. I just cannot phantom why anyone at Lake Tahoe would have a surfboard. Just crazy.


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> Walked today, then stopped for lupper at Chili's again. I'm getting hooked on their rib-eye!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Home, showered and cleaned up, son dropped off grandson to spend the night. Life is good.


Hey, Mary Lou and I ate at Chili's Thursday night. lol


----------



## minicoop1985

We had Chili's yesterday too. Small world.

I made this specifically for this thread.




Good morning by longm1985, on Flickr

TRYING to capture that coffeehouse mood without the coffeehouse. Dunno if I did it or not, but I made this so here it is. SUFFER WITH ME.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## Warhorse

Gary A. said:


> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> How are you doing with that storm Gary? It sure is a doozy, from what I saw on the television.
> 
> 
> 
> I am fine. I don't live in a high risk area. The backyard is flooded out a bit.
Click to expand...

That's good news, stay safe.


----------



## Warhorse

Up early today, have to take our two ShiTzu's into the barber. We are heading downstate next week for the Christmas holidays with our son and daughter in-law, and get introduced to the "new" granddaughter.


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> Sharon,
> 
> You missed a few episodes.
> 
> Manaheim has run off with Mish.  Neither has been seen for a while.  We don't think it is a coincidence.
> .
> .
> .
> Other than that... same old, same old.



*I've "seen" Manny. But I'm not telling where. But now that you mention it, I think I may have seen Mish there too....hmmm...



pgriz said:


> No-one of note got banned.  Perhaps we are due.



Ah. Er. Uh-oh. So, perhaps I've come just "for such a time as this?"
Well, getting banned from TPF would at least assuage the guilt when I leave for weeks and don't check in!


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Hey, hon.
> 
> I tried a preliminary sketch of your photo . . . you sure handed me a wild one!  I've got an idea for it, and will try to email you a sketch early, next week.
> 
> Keep warm.


Cool! I'm in no rush but I *am* eager to see what you come up with!


----------



## sm4him

Warhorse said:


> Up early today, have to take our two ShiTzu's into the barber. We are heading downstate next week for the Christmas holidays with our son and daughter in-law, and get introduced to the "new" granddaughter.



I'm up--not "early" for me, I'm usually awake by 6 a.m.--but out the door early. Heading out in just a minute or two to take my mom and sister and a little shopping road trip today--I've discovered a couple of potentially photo-worthy little country-type stores about 45 minutes from here so I thought it would be a fun outing for my mom, who complains about never getting to go anywhere, and hopefully net a few interesting photographs. 

Or it may just net me a migraine and a nearly overwhelming desire to put my mother out at the side of the road. 

We shall see.


----------



## limr

Have fun, Sharon! Good luck with your mother. I know what it's like 

Morning, hosers! I'm up late this morning. I was a little wound up last night so I didn't get into bed until 12:30, and I decided to read a little to stop the spinny thoughts (my mind is not a fun place sometimes...okay, most times...). It's the book for next week's book club. I'd started it a few days ago and so far it had been kind of boring me, so I thought it would be perfect the make me all drowsy.

Well. That didn't happen. I apparently had left off at the point when it starts to get more interesting, and I ended up just finishing the whole book. Finally turned off the light at 3:00.

The alarm rang at 7:30 and I knew it wasn't happening.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, folks.  Got up at six to feed kitties, then went back to bed. 

My lovely wife got a nice pair of boots, last night for $29, regularly $89.  We are supposed to go looking for new tennies, today, so no more excuses for not hitting the gym!  We are also going to help mom-in-law with her card address list - she's having a hard time holding pens and can't write.  In the meantime, I'm looking for circles for the Photo Challenge.


----------



## limr

Oh yeah, the challenge! Every month I decide that I'm going to submit something and every month, I forget until the first day of the following month.

Mrs.Parker was getting desperate for me to put the food out this morning since I got up later than usual. She even started licking my face to get my butt out of bed. It's really annoying when she gets this way, but it's also hard to be mad at her for very long. Just too damned cute.


----------



## snowbear

I found a subject the other day, but the lighting was a bit tricky and I screwed them all up.  I'm going to try to get back next week (cutting it close).  Otherwise, I'll wait and see what January's theme is.


----------



## BillM

high school hockey starts today, 3 games at my local rink. My blackberry doesnt get a signal in there so I can't get any calls from work, that alone makes it worth staying for all 3 games


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 48F right now. The heavens are full of sunshine. Should hit the low 60's.  I played with the beast last night. The remote shutter release works. I loaded some film in a cassette. I think I'm ready. Maybe today I'll hit some place photogenic and take a picture.


----------



## Gary A.

BillM said:


> high school hockey starts today, 3 games at my local rink. My blackberry doesnt get a signal in there so I can't get any calls from work, that alone makes it worth staying for all 3 games


Doesn't your Blackberry have an on-off switch?


----------



## BillM

SHutting it off isn't a good excuse for not answering, but if you don't have a signal there isn't much you can do about that


----------



## limr

minicoop's coffee picture reminded me to find one of my favorite shots of a coffee cup. Gary, you would like this cafe. They roast their own beans and encourage folks to hang out with their dogs there  You could have good coffee and the Cook could make some friends!





I drank this yummy coffee there:





These were from the Mamiya 645, an early roll from the first few months I had the camera. At that point, I wasn't developing or scanning my own film, so these were scanned by the lab. Big files but they were noisy. I should find the negatives and rescan them myself to see the difference between scanning in 2005 in scanning in 2015 (because it will be next year by the time I get around to it...not that 'next year' is that far off  )


----------



## limr

And Charlie, I just saw this picture and thought you'd like it 
Wonderful animal pictures of 2014

Edit: Oooh, there's a second one! Wonderful animal pictures of 2014


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> .............. Mrs.Parker was getting desperate for me to put the food out this morning since I got up later than usual. She even started licking my face to get my butt out of bed. It's really annoying when she gets this way, but it's also hard to be mad at her for very long. Just too damned cute.


KeeKat never licks my face............ she just sticks her butt in it!! I don't know why cats love sticking their butts in your faces lol!!

Up at 9, grandson insisting we go to iHop for breakfast. Guess I should get up out of bed and get ready!


----------



## limr

Mmmmm, pancakes.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Mmmmm, pancakes.
















Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

Hosers, this is some really good coffee!!!










Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snowbear

Will a spoon stand upright in it without leaning?


----------



## KenC

I haven't had I-Hop coffee in a while.  I remember it being pretty good, but not good enough to hold up spoons.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Will a spoon stand upright in it without leaning?


Depends on the time of day and the temp of the coffee. The later in the day and the colder the coffee the greater the chance of standing upright.


----------



## Gary A.

Just came back from the yard. A bunch of Monarch caterpillars were not where they're supposed to be. I think that maybe they leave pheromones as a trail to where they've been feeding and the rains may have washed the trail away. So I've been scooping them up and moving them to Milkweed plants.


----------



## bribrius

well this place died. jeez, maybe we have to go back to ldrbrd.


----------



## Gary A.

Shot two rolls of film today with the 680III. Shooting this baby is a lot more interesting than shooting miniature formats. I only have 12 frames per roll. So you gotta be careful. The camera weights a ton, so it is initially easier to walk around without the camera to size up shots. Then drag the tripod, camera and backpack full of stuff up. Setup the camera on the tripod, select a lens, fine tune camera position via lens, take a light reading, dial in reading into the camera, focus, pull the dark slide, lock the mirror up and finally release the shutter.

Took a quick trip to the Palos Verdes Peninsula for some shots of the Korean Bell and Royal Palms cove, (the only parking lot on the Peninsula which is at water level).

I'm really enjoying the experience. This is the way to shoot landscapes. I need to jimmy up something to get my Lee Filters operational on these lenses.

Gotta still get some chemicals to develop the film.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Shot two rolls of film today with the 680III. Shooting this baby is a lot more interesting than shooting miniature formats. I only have 12 frames per roll. So you gotta be careful. The camera weights a ton, so it is initially easier to walk around without the camera to size up shots. Then drag the tripod, camera and backpack full of stuff up. Setup the camera on the tripod, select a lens, fine tune camera position via lens, take a light reading, dial in reading into the camera, focus, pull the dark slide, lock the mirror up and finally release the shutter.
> 
> Took a quick trip to the Palos Verdes Peninsula for some shots of the Korean Bell and Twin Palms cove, (the only parking lot on the Peninsula which is at water level).
> 
> I'm really enjoying the experience. This is the way to shoot landscapes. I need to jimmy up something to get my Lee Filters operational on these lenses.
> 
> Gotta still get some chemicals to develop the film.


sounds like a interesting experience. I actually wouldn't mind trying that some time. something different. sounds fun really.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Shot two rolls of film today with the 680III. Shooting this baby is a lot more interesting than shooting miniature formats. I only have 12 frames per roll. So you gotta be careful. The camera weights a ton, so it is initially easier to walk around without the camera to size up shots. Then drag the tripod, camera and backpack full of stuff up. Setup the camera on the tripod, select a lens, fine tune camera position via lens, take a light reading, dial in reading into the camera, focus, pull the dark slide, lock the mirror up and finally release the shutter.
> 
> Took a quick trip to the Palos Verdes Peninsula for some shots of the Korean Bell and Twin Palms cove, (the only parking lot on the Peninsula which is at water level).
> 
> I'm really enjoying the experience. This is the way to shoot landscapes. I need to jimmy up something to get my Lee Filters operational on these lenses.
> 
> Gotta still get some chemicals to develop the film.
> 
> 
> 
> sounds like a interesting experience. I actually wouldn't mind trying that some time. something different. sounds fun really.
Click to expand...

It really slows things down, makes you take a really hard look at what you're about to take. It was fun to hear people talk about the "professional camera" and "Medium format".


----------



## Gary A.

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Shot two rolls of film today with the 680III. Shooting this baby is a lot more interesting than shooting miniature formats. I only have 12 frames per roll. So you gotta be careful. The camera weights a ton, so it is initially easier to walk around without the camera to size up shots. Then drag the tripod, camera and backpack full of stuff up. Setup the camera on the tripod, select a lens, fine tune camera position via lens, take a light reading, dial in reading into the camera, focus, pull the dark slide, lock the mirror up and finally release the shutter.
> 
> Took a quick trip to the Palos Verdes Peninsula for some shots of the Korean Bell and Twin Palms cove, (the only parking lot on the Peninsula which is at water level).
> 
> I'm really enjoying the experience. This is the way to shoot landscapes. I need to jimmy up something to get my Lee Filters operational on these lenses.
> 
> Gotta still get some chemicals to develop the film.
> 
> 
> 
> sounds like a interesting experience. I actually wouldn't mind trying that some time. something different. sounds fun really.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It really slows things down, makes you take a really hard look at what you're about to take. It was fun to hear people talk about the "professional camera" and "Medium format".
Click to expand...

If you want to get warm and play ... come on out here. You're a big guy, you can carry the beast.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Shot two rolls of film today with the 680III. Shooting this baby is a lot more interesting than shooting miniature formats. I only have 12 frames per roll. So you gotta be careful. The camera weights a ton, so it is initially easier to walk around without the camera to size up shots. Then drag the tripod, camera and backpack full of stuff up. Setup the camera on the tripod, select a lens, fine tune camera position via lens, take a light reading, dial in reading into the camera, focus, pull the dark slide, lock the mirror up and finally release the shutter.
> 
> Took a quick trip to the Palos Verdes Peninsula for some shots of the Korean Bell and Twin Palms cove, (the only parking lot on the Peninsula which is at water level).
> 
> I'm really enjoying the experience. This is the way to shoot landscapes. I need to jimmy up something to get my Lee Filters operational on these lenses.
> 
> Gotta still get some chemicals to develop the film.
> 
> 
> 
> sounds like a interesting experience. I actually wouldn't mind trying that some time. something different. sounds fun really.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It really slows things down, makes you take a really hard look at what you're about to take. It was fun to hear people talk about the "professional camera" and "Medium format".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If you want to get warm and play ... come on out here. You're a big guy, you can carry the beast.
Click to expand...

i don't even like carrying  dslr i prefer smaller convenience cameras.   if i had one of them though i would pull it out now and again it would be worth carrying for the print difference and novelty/change of pace.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, people.


----------



## Warhorse

Good morning, on my second cup of java already.


----------



## limr

Monring, boys! Still on my first. Went to bed at 10:30 and got out at 8:30. I guess I needed to catch up! I do feel nice and rested, though.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> It really slows things down, makes you take a really hard look at what you're about to take. It was fun to hear people talk about the "professional camera" and "Medium format".



Had you never shot medium format before, Gary?

Funny, I just had a dream last night about tilt lenses


----------



## pgriz

I'm thinking Gary is touching on an aspect of photography that is important.  To make it "easy", the equipment makers took much of the thinking out of the process.  We don't have to worry our little minds about the technical aspects (exposure, focus, etc), and concentrate (if we concentrate at all) on the composition.  But because it's so easy to press the shutter, we're really not benefiting from the thinking that used to be required to make a decent image.  Medium format puts enough obstacles into the process to require some planning and thought.  It takes a lot more effort to take a snapshot with a medium format film camera, so it becomes almost necessary to put some work in to make the image worthy of the effort.

I've more or less forced myself to take almost all my images on a tripod, mainly because it forces me to slow down and actually think about what I want the image to show.  Obviously, this doesn't work for street and casual shooting, but for much of what I do, it's a contributor to good habits.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I, like Leo, slept in. It's 8:24 a.m. right now and 50F, chilly for here. I'm having my first sips of Colombian Supremo, steaming away in my Christmas mug. Life is good. Today I hope to finish installing my skimmer filter. I dug out about 1/3 of the hole yesterday, kept running into roots. I just worked around them yesterday, today I'll cut them and get to work in earnest.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It really slows things down, makes you take a really hard look at what you're about to take. It was fun to hear people talk about the "professional camera" and "Medium format".
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Had you never shot medium format before, Gary?
> 
> Funny, I just had a dream last night about tilt lenses
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had a Hasselblad. But the Hasselblad is significantly smaller. I used to handhold the Hasselblad most of the time. No way with this ten pound beast. (Actually, I'm thinking of taking the 680 into the street, but after I get a bit more proficient.) Here are some handheld Hasselblad snaps:

#1






#2





#3





#4





#5





#6





#7




Moi and my 500 C/M.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> I'm thinking Gary is touching on an aspect of photography that is important.  To make it "easy", the equipment makers took much of the thinking out of the process.  We don't have to worry our little minds about the technical aspects (exposure, focus, etc), and concentrate (if we concentrate at all) on the composition.  But because it's so easy to press the shutter, we're really not benefiting from the thinking that used to be required to make a decent image.  Medium format puts enough obstacles into the process to require some planning and thought.  It takes a lot more effort to take a snapshot with a medium format film camera, so it becomes almost necessary to put some work in to make the image worthy of the effort.
> 
> I've more or less forced myself to take almost all my images on a tripod, mainly because it forces me to slow down and actually think about what I want the image to show.  Obviously, this doesn't work for street and casual shooting, but for much of what I do, it's a contributor to good habits.



In the last year or two, I've moved away from dSLR's and exploring different camera formats and camera systems. I stumbled upon the Fuji P-Pro1. It was such a sexy looking camera. It was great to hold and great to look at ... so I purchased it on a whim. When I walked out the store I felt like I was back in college dating the cutest cheerleader on campus. After shooting the XP1 it dawned on me that this cheerleader had brains and personality too. The Fujinon lenses are, at a minimum, equal to my 'L' lenses. The IQ coming out of the X-Trans sensor was different, much closer to film than my MFT and even closer than my FF sensors. But, (the big but), the camera was slow. It did everything slow, it focused slow ... it wrote to the card slow ... that fraction of a second of molasses was like night and day in how I shot. My 1D's and EM5/1's were very fast, lightning fast and I could shoot in nearly a reactionary style. I see something and boom-boom-boom ... I got it. The XP1 was too slow for that way of shooting. I had to re-educate my way of thinking and shooting back to my film days. Now I have to shoot in an anticipatory methodology. I have to see the shoot before it happens, I have to get into position with enough time to focus and wait for the peak of action ... then boom. All that re-education was painful, but it sharpened my old skills of previsualization and made me less wasteful. (Having unlimited and free film in my youth made me a very wasteful photographer.) 

Shooting with the XP1 has been very helpful in preparing me for the 680III. I was still wasteful, instead of waiting for people to clear out at the Korean Bell, I took some shots knowing I can clean it up in PhotoShop. And I was not very selective down at Royal Palms shooting the waves crashing against the rocky outcroppings. I still need to learn patience. Maybe next time.

The sites I shot with the Fujifilm 680III: 





The Korean Bell (Panasonic GF1)   





Basketball at the Korean Bell - arguable the best basketball court in the world, lol. (Panasonic GF1) 





The Royal Palms Cove (Panasonic GF1)


----------



## pgriz

> I had to re-educate my way of thinking and shooting back to my film days. Now I have to shoot in an *anticipatory* methodology. I have to* see the shoot* before it happens, I have to *get into position* with enough time to focus and *wait for the peak of action*



Isn't THAT the skill of photography?  Any dam fool can point the camera and press the shutter.  To see an image before it happens, to put yourself in the proper place, to set the camera up to capture your vision...  those are skills that require practice, and experience. 

However, in many ways those processes are the same that make for good drivers, and good tradespeople, and safe workers:  be aware of the surroundings and context, anticipate the actions of those around you, and the things THEY will react to, and place yourself where the proper result will be achieved.


----------



## snerd

pgriz said:


> ....... Any dam fool can point the camera and press the shutter.......


Hello?! Someone call my name?!


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> I'm thinking Gary is touching on an aspect of photography that is important.  To make it "easy", the equipment makers took much of the thinking out of the process.  We don't have to worry our little minds about the technical aspects (exposure, focus, etc), and concentrate (if we concentrate at all) on the composition.  But because it's so easy to press the shutter, we're really not benefiting from the thinking that used to be required to make a decent image.  Medium format puts enough obstacles into the process to require some planning and thought.  It takes a lot more effort to take a snapshot with a medium format film camera, so it becomes almost necessary to put some work in to make the image worthy of the effort.
> 
> I've more or less forced myself to take almost all my images on a tripod, mainly because it forces me to slow down and actually think about what I want the image to show.  Obviously, this doesn't work for street and casual shooting, but for much of what I do, it's a contributor to good habits.


cant comment on medium format but just on shooting polaroid and 35mm I knew I had less shots to play with and was more likely to make them count.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> I had to re-educate my way of thinking and shooting back to my film days. Now I have to shoot in an *anticipatory* methodology. I have to* see the shoot* before it happens, I have to *get into position* with enough time to focus and *wait for the peak of action*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Isn't THAT the skill of photography?  Any dam fool can point the camera and press the shutter.  To see an image before it happens, to put yourself in the proper place, to set the camera up to capture your vision...  those are skills that require practice, and experience.
> 
> However, in many ways those processes are the same that make for good drivers, and good tradespeople, and safe workers:  be aware of the surroundings and context, anticipate the actions of those around you, and the things THEY will react to, and place yourself where the proper result will be achieved.
Click to expand...

Yes and no. It depends on the genre, those skills always come to play, but in some genres they are more important than in others. In Street, for example, speed is a very valuable asset, sometimes more valuable to react than to anticipate ... more valuable to shoot than get into position ... waiting for peak of action in landscape can be tedious in landscape, usually time of day and lighting is more important than peak of action.

The are many skills of photography. Each skill's importance to a particular shot is determined by the content of the shot. Example, in most of Ansel Adams photographs, composition is a paramount factor in creating the exceptional image (yes, exposure and processing skill are fundamentally important as well, but were not addressing that end of the photographic spectrum) ... as opposed to Eddie Adams Pulitzer award winning shot of the ARVN general shooting the VC suspect in the streets of Saigon. That shot and genre, composition and lighting is of little concern, it is all about timing and the peak of action. 

To an Ansel Adams type of photographer, shooting Street is more of "any damn [sic] fool can point the camera and press the shutter" ... and vice versa, ad infinitum between genres.

You made a general remark, which I actually do agree with, but the degree of importance to shooting in an anticipatory fashion as opposed to a reactionary fashion is dependant upon the the genre, the particular shot and the equipment being used.  Even if I was using a slow camera like the XP1, I would have shot many many more images, different angles, different exposures, different lenses knowing that I can cull out the best in post. With only 12 frames per roll, I have to mentally perform all that culling before I release the shutter.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had to re-educate my way of thinking and shooting back to my film days. Now I have to shoot in an *anticipatory* methodology. I have to* see the shoot* before it happens, I have to *get into position* with enough time to focus and *wait for the peak of action*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Isn't THAT the skill of photography?  Any dam fool can point the camera and press the shutter.  To see an image before it happens, to put yourself in the proper place, to set the camera up to capture your vision...  those are skills that require practice, and experience.
> 
> However, in many ways those processes are the same that make for good drivers, and good tradespeople, and safe workers:  be aware of the surroundings and context, anticipate the actions of those around you, and the things THEY will react to, and place yourself where the proper result will be achieved.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes and no. It depends on the genre, those skills always come to play, but in some genres they are more important than in others. In Street, for example, speed is a very valuable asset, sometimes more valuable to react than to anticipate ... more valuable to shoot than get into position ... waiting for peak of action in landscape can be tedious in landscape, usually time of day and lighting is more important than peak of action.
> 
> The are many skills of photography. Each skill's importance to a particular shot is determined by the content of the shot. Example, in most of Ansel Adams photographs, composition is a paramount factor in creating the exceptional image (yes, exposure and processing skill are fundamentally important as well, but were not addressing that end of the photographic spectrum) ... as opposed to Eddie Adams Pulitzer award winning shot of the ARVN general shooting the VC suspect in the streets of Saigon. That shot and genre, composition and lighting is of little concern, it is all about timing and the peak of action.
> 
> To an Ansel Adams type of photographer, shooting Street is more of "any damn [sic] fool can point the camera and press the shutter" ... and vice versa, ad infinitum between genres.
> 
> You made a general remark, which I actually do agree with, but the degree of importance to shooting in an anticipatory fashion as opposed to a reactionary fashion is dependant upon the the genre, the particular shot and the equipment being used.  Even if I was using a slow camera like the XP1, I would have shot many many more images, different angles, different exposures, different lenses knowing that I can cull out the best in post. With only 12 frames per roll, I have to mentally perform all that culling before I release the shutter.
Click to expand...

never even developed my own film accept for in class. I do kind of miss film though even dropping it off to get developed. I don't miss the cost and limitations. But in a weird way the excitement of going to pick it up and the happiness of what came out and the dismay of what didn't I kind of miss. My images are much better now, but digital isn't the same as using my old cheap Kodak or land camera. They don't seem worth anything even though they are mostly higher quality and I have lots more of them. I still have negatives kicking around from before, not many though as over the years they seemed to have gotten lost. i think eventually i will start shooting film again too, money prevailing shooting film costs a lot more. Part of it could be a mental thing too. i have trouble taking digital as serious.


----------



## minicoop1985

I agree that film has slowed me down and made me think each image through. I intentionally limit myself when shooting digital now. It's definitely had an impact on how I shoot.

Someone told me yesterday that shooting film is for wannabe hipsters. Considering most of the most expensive shots ever sold are shot on film, I think he's an idiot.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had to re-educate my way of thinking and shooting back to my film days. Now I have to shoot in an *anticipatory* methodology. I have to* see the shoot* before it happens, I have to *get into position* with enough time to focus and *wait for the peak of action*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Isn't THAT the skill of photography?  Any dam fool can point the camera and press the shutter.  To see an image before it happens, to put yourself in the proper place, to set the camera up to capture your vision...  those are skills that require practice, and experience.
> 
> However, in many ways those processes are the same that make for good drivers, and good tradespeople, and safe workers:  be aware of the surroundings and context, anticipate the actions of those around you, and the things THEY will react to, and place yourself where the proper result will be achieved.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes and no. It depends on the genre, those skills always come to play, but in some genres they are more important than in others. In Street, for example, speed is a very valuable asset, sometimes more valuable to react than to anticipate ... more valuable to shoot than get into position ... waiting for peak of action in landscape can be tedious in landscape, usually time of day and lighting is more important than peak of action.
> 
> The are many skills of photography. Each skill's importance to a particular shot is determined by the content of the shot. Example, in most of Ansel Adams photographs, composition is a paramount factor in creating the exceptional image (yes, exposure and processing skill are fundamentally important as well, but were not addressing that end of the photographic spectrum) ... as opposed to Eddie Adams Pulitzer award winning shot of the ARVN general shooting the VC suspect in the streets of Saigon. That shot and genre, composition and lighting is of little concern, it is all about timing and the peak of action.
> 
> To an Ansel Adams type of photographer, shooting Street is more of "any damn [sic] fool can point the camera and press the shutter" ... and vice versa, ad infinitum between genres.
> 
> You made a general remark, which I actually do agree with, but the degree of importance to shooting in an anticipatory fashion as opposed to a reactionary fashion is dependant upon the the genre, the particular shot and the equipment being used.  Even if I was using a slow camera like the XP1, I would have shot many many more images, different angles, different exposures, different lenses knowing that I can cull out the best in post. With only 12 frames per roll, I have to mentally perform all that culling before I release the shutter.
Click to expand...


I "used to" think that street shooting is mostly reactionary, but a very good street shooter explained to me the amount of preparation he did/does to make his images work.  He'd scout out an area, see where the shadows were, see the kind of people and patterns that were there, figure out where he'd have to be to get the right background, then wait for the opportunity to show up.  Another photographer whose work is featured almost daily in our local papers told me that despite the appearance that his shots are "grab shots", there's quite a bit of planning that he does between the time he learns about an "event", and when he gets to shoot it.  The "event" could be an accident, a fire, a celebrity sighting, etc.  You've been a press photographer, and I'm sure you didn't start thinking about what or how you would shoot only after you go to the place.  To me, that was the major revelation, that even in reactive shooting situations, there's quite a bit of stuff that gets thought about prior to pressing that shutter.

I'm certainly not disagreeing with your point that each genre has its own skill set and requirements, but wanted to emphasize that anticipation, previsualization, and preparation are just as important in reactionary situations as with the ones where you have the time to set things up.  I know that my own keeper rate improves when I take the time to think about the shot, what I'm trying to do, and how I intend to go about capturing it.


----------



## snerd

We have Sonic Drive-Ins down here. Their coffee is just so-so. But I laid in bed until after noon! Eating a SuperSonic Breakfast Burrito........ eggs, sausage, onion, tomatoes and jalapeños. 









Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## limr

Excuse me, but I am not a wannabe hipster! I am a full-blown card-carrying hipster, thankyouverymuch! 

I shoot film because I think the process makes my own personal results more interesting. I can achieve my objective more easily with film than with digital, partly because perfect image quality is NOT one of my objectives, and partly because the limitations of the equipment and the film force me to be more creative and careful with my shots.

Plus, I like to wear fedoras and piss off people who don't like hipsters


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Plus, I like to wear fedoras and piss off people who don't like hipsters


I don't care for _ugly male_ hipsters -- you are neither.


----------



## limr

Awwww!


----------



## snowbear

I will also admit tht I used to  drink PBRs, back in the day.  But then, they weren't "hip," more redneck.


----------



## limr

PBR is a hipster beer now? *shudder*  I thought they were all over the microbrews these days.

Mmmm, microbrew. Just had a Smutty Nose Robust Porter for lunch today.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> PBR is a hipster beer now? *shudder*  I thought they were all over the microbrews these days.
> 
> Mmmm, microbrew. Just had a Smutty Nose Robust Porter for lunch today.



I think, since micros have become mainstream, they were scared away.  Or maybe it's a regional choice.

I had a Winter Ale from http://www.gearybrewing.com/ at the AIM on Thursday.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Yeah, I had a Hasselblad. But the Hasselblad is significantly smaller. I used to handhold the Hasselblad most of the time. No way with this ten pound beast. (Actually, I'm thinking of taking the 680 into the street, but after I get a bit more proficient.) Here are some handheld Hasselblad snaps:



Oh yeah, duh. I knew deep in the recesses of my addled brain you shot with a Blad. But yes, I imagine using the Fuji is a very different sort of experience.


----------



## bribrius

i wonder what it would take to get into large format... Probably out of my league but curious...


----------



## snerd

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/images/tachihara_4495.jpg


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/images/tachihara_4495.jpg



Gorgeous!

I'm definitely planning on going large format, hopefully not too far in the future.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/images/tachihara_4495.jpg


yeah, probably a lot of money too....


----------



## Gary A.

I am done digging for the day. After working a bit on the first hole, I decided the location of near a tree was too difficult, so I patched everything up and moved literally across the pond and started a new excavation. The second hole is 90% completed. I just have to fine tune the last few inches in depth and against the liner in order to place the filter per the instructions. Man, what a pain in the back this was. The hole was too small to fit into and dig, yet too deep to easily dig from the top. Tomorrow, if I get home with a couple hours of sunlight, I should have the filter installed and running.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> I am done digging for the day. After working a bit on the first hole, I decided the location of near a tree was too difficult, so I patched everything up and moved literally across the pond and started a new excavation. The second hole is 90% completed. I just have to fine tune the last few inches to place the filter per the instructions. Man, what a pain in the back this was. The hole was too small to fit into and dig, yet too deep to easily dig from the top. Tomorrow, if I get home with a couple hours of sunlight, I should have the filter installed and running.


post hole digger? auger? just throwing this out there i walked in without even knowing what is going on... Back hoe? lol..


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> i wonder what it would take to get into large format... Probably out of my league but curious...


or The Mammoth Camera of George R. Lawrence


----------



## Rick50

I have a 4x5 with lens I would easily sell. I haven't used it in years.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am done digging for the day. After working a bit on the first hole, I decided the location of near a tree was too difficult, so I patched everything up and moved literally across the pond and started a new excavation. The second hole is 90% completed. I just have to fine tune the last few inches to place the filter per the instructions. Man, what a pain in the back this was. The hole was too small to fit into and dig, yet too deep to easily dig from the top. Tomorrow, if I get home with a couple hours of sunlight, I should have the filter installed and running.
> 
> 
> 
> post hole digger? auger? just throwing this out there i walked in without even knowing what is going on... Back hoe? lol..
Click to expand...

I'm digging a 2.0'x2.5'x3.0' in order to install a new skimmer filtration system for the pond. The first couple feet went like a hot knife through butter ... then I ran out of room for the last foot. The filter butts directly against the pond liner so the last few inches to the liner has to be hand troweled.  One of those little Kubota's would have been nice for the rough work.


----------



## bribrius

Rick50 said:


> I have a 4x5 with lens I would easily sell. I haven't used it in years.


how much $ is easy? lol


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had to re-educate my way of thinking and shooting back to my film days. Now I have to shoot in an *anticipatory* methodology. I have to* see the shoot* before it happens, I have to *get into position* with enough time to focus and *wait for the peak of action*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Isn't THAT the skill of photography?  Any dam fool can point the camera and press the shutter.  To see an image before it happens, to put yourself in the proper place, to set the camera up to capture your vision...  those are skills that require practice, and experience.
> 
> However, in many ways those processes are the same that make for good drivers, and good tradespeople, and safe workers:  be aware of the surroundings and context, anticipate the actions of those around you, and the things THEY will react to, and place yourself where the proper result will be achieved.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes and no. It depends on the genre, those skills always come to play, but in some genres they are more important than in others. In Street, for example, speed is a very valuable asset, sometimes more valuable to react than to anticipate ... more valuable to shoot than get into position ... waiting for peak of action in landscape can be tedious in landscape, usually time of day and lighting is more important than peak of action.
> 
> The are many skills of photography. Each skill's importance to a particular shot is determined by the content of the shot. Example, in most of Ansel Adams photographs, composition is a paramount factor in creating the exceptional image (yes, exposure and processing skill are fundamentally important as well, but were not addressing that end of the photographic spectrum) ... as opposed to Eddie Adams Pulitzer award winning shot of the ARVN general shooting the VC suspect in the streets of Saigon. That shot and genre, composition and lighting is of little concern, it is all about timing and the peak of action.
> 
> To an Ansel Adams type of photographer, shooting Street is more of "any damn [sic] fool can point the camera and press the shutter" ... and vice versa, ad infinitum between genres.
> 
> You made a general remark, which I actually do agree with, but the degree of importance to shooting in an anticipatory fashion as opposed to a reactionary fashion is dependant upon the the genre, the particular shot and the equipment being used.  Even if I was using a slow camera like the XP1, I would have shot many many more images, different angles, different exposures, different lenses knowing that I can cull out the best in post. With only 12 frames per roll, I have to mentally perform all that culling before I release the shutter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I "used to" think that street shooting is mostly reactionary, but a very good street shooter explained to me the amount of preparation he did/does to make his images work.  He'd scout out an area, see where the shadows were, see the kind of people and patterns that were there, figure out where he'd have to be to get the right background, then wait for the opportunity to show up.  Another photographer whose work is featured almost daily in our local papers told me that despite the appearance that his shots are "grab shots", there's quite a bit of planning that he does between the time he learns about an "event", and when he gets to shoot it.  The "event" could be an accident, a fire, a celebrity sighting, etc.  You've been a press photographer, and I'm sure you didn't start thinking about what or how you would shoot only after you go to the place.  To me, that was the major revelation, that even in reactive shooting situations, there's quite a bit of stuff that gets thought about prior to pressing that shutter.
> 
> I'm certainly not disagreeing with your point that each genre has its own skill set and requirements, but wanted to emphasize that anticipation, previsualization, and preparation are just as important in reactionary situations as with the ones where you have the time to set things up.  I know that my own keeper rate improves when I take the time to think about the shot, what I'm trying to do, and how I intend to go about capturing it.
Click to expand...

I think we're basically on the same page, yes every image requires anticipation, previsualization and preparation ... I think my message was meant to be more of a measurement of degree than of omission.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had to re-educate my way of thinking and shooting back to my film days. Now I have to shoot in an *anticipatory* methodology. I have to* see the shoot* before it happens, I have to *get into position* with enough time to focus and *wait for the peak of action*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Isn't THAT the skill of photography?  Any dam fool can point the camera and press the shutter.  To see an image before it happens, to put yourself in the proper place, to set the camera up to capture your vision...  those are skills that require practice, and experience.
> 
> However, in many ways those processes are the same that make for good drivers, and good tradespeople, and safe workers:  be aware of the surroundings and context, anticipate the actions of those around you, and the things THEY will react to, and place yourself where the proper result will be achieved.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes and no. It depends on the genre, those skills always come to play, but in some genres they are more important than in others. In Street, for example, speed is a very valuable asset, sometimes more valuable to react than to anticipate ... more valuable to shoot than get into position ... waiting for peak of action in landscape can be tedious in landscape, usually time of day and lighting is more important than peak of action.
> 
> The are many skills of photography. Each skill's importance to a particular shot is determined by the content of the shot. Example, in most of Ansel Adams photographs, composition is a paramount factor in creating the exceptional image (yes, exposure and processing skill are fundamentally important as well, but were not addressing that end of the photographic spectrum) ... as opposed to Eddie Adams Pulitzer award winning shot of the ARVN general shooting the VC suspect in the streets of Saigon. That shot and genre, composition and lighting is of little concern, it is all about timing and the peak of action.
> 
> To an Ansel Adams type of photographer, shooting Street is more of "any damn [sic] fool can point the camera and press the shutter" ... and vice versa, ad infinitum between genres.
> 
> You made a general remark, which I actually do agree with, but the degree of importance to shooting in an anticipatory fashion as opposed to a reactionary fashion is dependant upon the the genre, the particular shot and the equipment being used.  Even if I was using a slow camera like the XP1, I would have shot many many more images, different angles, different exposures, different lenses knowing that I can cull out the best in post. With only 12 frames per roll, I have to mentally perform all that culling before I release the shutter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I "used to" think that street shooting is mostly reactionary, but a very good street shooter explained to me the amount of preparation he did/does to make his images work.  He'd scout out an area, see where the shadows were, see the kind of people and patterns that were there, figure out where he'd have to be to get the right background, then wait for the opportunity to show up.  Another photographer whose work is featured almost daily in our local papers told me that despite the appearance that his shots are "grab shots", there's quite a bit of planning that he does between the time he learns about an "event", and when he gets to shoot it.  The "event" could be an accident, a fire, a celebrity sighting, etc.  You've been a press photographer, and I'm sure you didn't start thinking about what or how you would shoot only after you go to the place.  To me, that was the major revelation, that even in reactive shooting situations, there's quite a bit of stuff that gets thought about prior to pressing that shutter.
> 
> I'm certainly not disagreeing with your point that each genre has its own skill set and requirements, but wanted to emphasize that anticipation, previsualization, and preparation are just as important in reactionary situations as with the ones where you have the time to set things up.  I know that my own keeper rate improves when I take the time to think about the shot, what I'm trying to do, and how I intend to go about capturing it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I think we're basically on the same page, yes every image requires anticipation, previsualization and preparation ... I think my message was meant to be more of a measurement of degree than of omission.
Click to expand...

naaa. in this day and age someone could click off fifty thousand images on auto and somewhere in there come up with ten amazing photos.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> I will also admit tht I used to  drink PBRs, back in the day.  But then, they weren't "hip," more redneck.


I used to drink PBR in college. There was a bar in Long Beach, Joe Jost, been around since the 1920's and has the dust to prove it. For a few bucks, something like $3.50, you could get a sausage sandwich (hot dog), a sliced pickle, a fistful of pretzels and an ice cold schooner of PBR. Those were the days.

Mary Lou buys PBR to kill slugs.


----------



## jsecordphoto

1 good photo for every 5,000 taken....I would pick up a new hobby.


----------



## pgriz

Bribrius, who has the time to work through 50,000 images to find the 10 winners?


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> Bribrius, who has the time to work through 50,000 images to find the 10 winners?


not me that is for sure.  i do think between digital being so more forgiving and the technology in cameras making even auto shots pretty damn good that a lot of the photography skills are fairly easily ignored by some, and they can still turn the occasional pretty damn good image amongst all the crap.


----------



## snowbear

Yo, Lenny!  If it ever comes up, don't try this with Buzz, or let him try it with you!
Buildings evacuated after marriage proposal flop - WTOP.com


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had to re-educate my way of thinking and shooting back to my film days. Now I have to shoot in an *anticipatory* methodology. I have to* see the shoot* before it happens, I have to *get into position* with enough time to focus and *wait for the peak of action*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Isn't THAT the skill of photography?  Any dam fool can point the camera and press the shutter.  To see an image before it happens, to put yourself in the proper place, to set the camera up to capture your vision...  those are skills that require practice, and experience.
> 
> However, in many ways those processes are the same that make for good drivers, and good tradespeople, and safe workers:  be aware of the surroundings and context, anticipate the actions of those around you, and the things THEY will react to, and place yourself where the proper result will be achieved.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes and no. It depends on the genre, those skills always come to play, but in some genres they are more important than in others. In Street, for example, speed is a very valuable asset, sometimes more valuable to react than to anticipate ... more valuable to shoot than get into position ... waiting for peak of action in landscape can be tedious in landscape, usually time of day and lighting is more important than peak of action.
> 
> The are many skills of photography. Each skill's importance to a particular shot is determined by the content of the shot. Example, in most of Ansel Adams photographs, composition is a paramount factor in creating the exceptional image (yes, exposure and processing skill are fundamentally important as well, but were not addressing that end of the photographic spectrum) ... as opposed to Eddie Adams Pulitzer award winning shot of the ARVN general shooting the VC suspect in the streets of Saigon. That shot and genre, composition and lighting is of little concern, it is all about timing and the peak of action.
> 
> To an Ansel Adams type of photographer, shooting Street is more of "any damn [sic] fool can point the camera and press the shutter" ... and vice versa, ad infinitum between genres.
> 
> You made a general remark, which I actually do agree with, but the degree of importance to shooting in an anticipatory fashion as opposed to a reactionary fashion is dependant upon the the genre, the particular shot and the equipment being used.  Even if I was using a slow camera like the XP1, I would have shot many many more images, different angles, different exposures, different lenses knowing that I can cull out the best in post. With only 12 frames per roll, I have to mentally perform all that culling before I release the shutter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I "used to" think that street shooting is mostly reactionary, but a very good street shooter explained to me the amount of preparation he did/does to make his images work.  He'd scout out an area, see where the shadows were, see the kind of people and patterns that were there, figure out where he'd have to be to get the right background, then wait for the opportunity to show up.  Another photographer whose work is featured almost daily in our local papers told me that despite the appearance that his shots are "grab shots", there's quite a bit of planning that he does between the time he learns about an "event", and when he gets to shoot it.  The "event" could be an accident, a fire, a celebrity sighting, etc.  You've been a press photographer, and I'm sure you didn't start thinking about what or how you would shoot only after you go to the place.  To me, that was the major revelation, that even in reactive shooting situations, there's quite a bit of stuff that gets thought about prior to pressing that shutter.
> 
> I'm certainly not disagreeing with your point that each genre has its own skill set and requirements, but wanted to emphasize that anticipation, previsualization, and preparation are just as important in reactionary situations as with the ones where you have the time to set things up.  I know that my own keeper rate improves when I take the time to think about the shot, what I'm trying to do, and how I intend to go about capturing it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I think we're basically on the same page, yes every image requires anticipation, previsualization and preparation ... I think my message was meant to be more of a measurement of degree than of omission.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> naaa. in this day and age someone could click off fifty thousand images on auto and somewhere in there come up with ten amazing photos.
Click to expand...

Is that any better than clicking off ten images and ending up ten amazing images? Sure, a lot less post processing but you end up in the same place.

I was shooting President Ford. We were all lined up in our designated press area. Every time the President flinched the motordrives opened up. Except the guy next to me. He was from Time/Life. He was using a tripod and a manually advanced Nikon. For every ten of my frames, he went click. He watched and waited, he wasn't faked by the flinches or sneezes, every frame was probably equal to the best anybody was shooting. I was impressed with the guy. Not enough to change my way of shooting, but enough to still remember him.


----------



## bribrius

jsecordphoto said:


> 1 good photo for every 5,000 taken....I would pick up a new hobby.


just one of those things. you look through someones images on facebook or somewhere, crap, crap, crap, soso, crap cap. so so.

And then you come across this one particular image and you are like wth? how did they pull that off?


----------



## limr

Meh, just shoot less, man! Just because you can shoot 5,000 shots in an hour doesn't mean you have to. If you can't force yourself to stop hitting the shutter, then carry a super small SD card so you know you're going to run out of space soon. 



snowbear said:


> Yo, Lenny!  If it ever comes up, don't try this with Buzz, or let him try it with you!
> Buildings evacuated after marriage proposal flop - WTOP.com



Saw that earlier - pretty damn funny!  Luckily, both of us have more sense than that


----------



## Rick50

bribrius said:


> Rick50 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have a 4x5 with lens I would easily sell. I haven't used it in years.
> 
> 
> 
> how much $ is easy? lol
Click to expand...

Let me think about it. But I will sell cheap.....


----------



## minicoop1985

Evening, hosers. The ol spray and pray, eh? i've done that with a Nikon F before because I can.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Morning, almost done with my coffee. Off to the accountants office at 10. Hubby always makes sure we are all set for April and doing the right moves now.
Maybe get to the library and actually post a photo! 
Boy, there's A LOT of Canon gear for sale on the forum! Maybe some coming over to the dark side next year?
Nancy


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Coffee. Yum.

Last night I made two kinds of candied nuts that I give out at school this week. Not to a lot of people - for the bosses at work, I usually find some cheap receptacle (there's 6 of them and I am poor) and fill them with the nuts and hand one to each boss. Well, 5 bosses and one receptionist because they always forget her and it's pretty shitty of them. This year it's mismatched "antique" teacups.

Today I give the final exam to both classes so I don't have to actually teach - just make sure they're not cheating. So that means I hope some of you hosers will keep me company around here while I'm proctoring


----------



## KenC

Oh, God, proctoring!  Probably the worst thing about teaching and there are some pretty bad things about it.  I haven't taught in a long while so when I last did this I didn't have any kind of phone or other internet device to keep me amused.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> .. I hope some of you hosers will keep me company around here while I'm proctoring



Probably not me.  I just decided yesterday that I need to demolish one more wall before I can get into rebuilding.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 7:09 a.m. and 47F this crisp morning. Gotta get some work in, get a walk into the Cook, off to my PhotoShop class, then a meeting with a School Board member, she wants me to run her re-election campaign. Then wrapping up the filter before the rains come this evening. 

@ Leo, tossing the nuts in those cups was quite clever. But now the recipients gotta figure out what to do with the cups, I'm sure they're too nice to throw away, but who wants to add one mismatched antique cup to their existing collection of drinking vessels ... I like the dilemma you created. I guess they can always leave the cups on their desks for paper clips and things.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> .. I hope some of you hosers will keep me company around here while I'm proctoring
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Probably not me.  I just decided yesterday that I need to demolish one more wall before I can get into rebuilding.
Click to expand...

Look for those bearing walls, they come down real easy.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Oh, God, proctoring!  Probably the worst thing about teaching and there are some pretty bad things about it.  I haven't taught in a long while so when I last did this I didn't have any kind of phone or other internet device to keep me amused.



It's not too bad. This is an essay exam, so the only way they can cheat is if they have access to the internet, which they don't. And I have the computer at the teacher's console to amuse me and also to watch them (there's a program that allows me to monitor all the student computers.) All cell phones are on a shelf in the back of the room.



Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> .. I hope some of you hosers will keep me company around here while I'm proctoring
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Probably not me.  I just decided yesterday that I need to demolish one more wall before I can get into rebuilding.
Click to expand...


Now, that just sounds fun!



Gary A. said:


> @ Leo, tossing the nuts in those cups was quite clever. But now the recipients gotta figure out what to do with the cups, I'm sure they're too nice to throw away, but who wants to add one mismatched antique cup to their existing collection of drinking vessels ... I like the dilemma you created. I guess they can always leave the cups on their desks for paper clips and things.



That's what I figure - they can use the cup however they want. They're also good as candle holders for votives or tea lights. We've also been tossing around the idea of splitting the cost of a Keurig machine to keep in one of their offices so we can have coffee without having to go to the cafeteria, so they can also keep the cups in their offices and use them for that. 

I personally like having mismatched cups and mugs


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I need to demolish one more wall before I can get into rebuilding.
> 
> 
> 
> Now, that just sounds fun!
Click to expand...


Heh, heh.  It's fun smashing stuff, for sure, but then comes the hard work.  This is not a load-bearing wall.  Just a wall between the bathroom and a large closet that is not square with the world.


----------



## Rick50

Hey Designer, Hope it all works out with the remodeling. I have done that a couple of times in old houses and it's a job. In one I had to live in it too. Then it is no fun at all. But the result can be rewarding.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I need to demolish one more wall before I can get into rebuilding.
> 
> 
> 
> Now, that just sounds fun!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Heh, heh.  It's fun smashing stuff, for sure, but then comes the hard work.  This is not a load-bearing wall.  Just a wall between the bathroom and a large closet that is not square with the world.
Click to expand...


Yeah, destruction can be a lot of fun  When my brother was re-doing the bathroom in my mother's house, he asked me to help out. He was putting new tile on the floor, so I offered to take the old tile out. That tile was horrible. I swear it looked like a plate with a hamburger in the middle and french fries arrayed like sunbeams around the hamburger, and then with onion rings lining the rim of the plate. All in those awful 1970s colors. I took such pleasure smashing and ripping that tile out. I think it took me about ten minutes flat. My brother had gone out of the room to do something else and he came back to check how I was doing. "Holy crap, that was fast!" he said when he saw I was finished


----------



## limr

Wow, this tile has been in production since the 1970s. The green version was in the upstairs bathroom in our house. Just the large splotchy tiles, not the smaller ones. I have grown to hate it a lot of so very much.
Bathroom floor tile in production since the 1970s - 6 colors - and you can order from Home Depot - Retro Renovation


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> ........... Today I give the final exam to both classes so I don't have to actually teach - just make sure they're not cheating. So that means I hope some of you hosers will keep me company around here while I'm proctoring


I've done that a few times with wife, on the SAT tests, I think. Just sit there and look mean. It's an easy $100 bill for 4 hours.


----------



## Gary A.

Those tiles look like a murder scene. The upper left is freshly murdered the others are in different stages of a rotting murder scene.


----------



## snerd

Morning, Hosers. I have a doctor's appointment at 1:30, then counseling at 4:00. It's not funny, but almost is (funny), as we seem to swap between marriage counseling and exit counseling. Mine today is solo with my guy. She has her gal. We've both went duo to the other's. I think they may have a pretty good racket going on here!!

Remember............... only 10 days until Christmas!!!


----------



## snowbear

Demo = fun.  I remember the thrill I had at an auto extrication class - removing doors and cutting the pillars to peel back the top!


----------



## snerd

Demolition is my specialty! Can't hammer a nail straight, but I can sure tear things up!


----------



## minicoop1985

I love demolishing. I hate cleanup.


----------



## limr

In other news, my boss (for the teaching, not the admin job) told me today that there's a good chance I could get a section of Intro to Linguistics in the Fall. SO JAMMIN' STOKED!!!!


----------



## snowbear

Congrat's, Lenny.  I'd take your course, but I think the commute would be a killer.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Congrat's, Lenny.  I'd take your course, but I think the commute would be a killer.



Kinda, yeah - but I can send you the lectures and homework and you can submit your homework by email


----------



## minicoop1985

I'd let Leonore teach me. Wait a second... that didn't come out right.


----------



## pgriz

so, it is going to be LTL or LDL?  (Lenny The Linguist) or (Lenny Da Linguist)?  Think the latter is more appropriate, especially if a fedora is involved.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congrat's, Lenny.  I'd take your course, but I think the commute would be a killer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Kinda, yeah - but I can send you the lectures and homework and you can submit your homework by email
Click to expand...

That works; I'll take it as Audit.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> I'd let Leonore teach me. Wait a second... that didn't come out right.



Oh I'll learn ya! 



pgriz said:


> so, it is going to be LTL or LDL?  (Lenny The Linguist) or (Lenny Da Linguist)?  Think the latter is more appropriate, especially if a fedora is involved.



LDL, for sure. Everything is better with a fedora!


----------



## limr

Cases in point:


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Everything is better with a fedora!


A-choo!


----------



## Rick50

Saw "Interstellar" last week and didn't think it was McConauhey's best. Tomorrow it's "Hunger Games:Mocking Jay W/ Jennifer Lawrence".
Somehow I don't think she will disappoint...


----------



## Designer

Rick50 said:


> Hey Designer, Hope it all works out with the remodeling. I have done that a couple of times in old houses and it's a job. In one I had to live in it too. Then it is no fun at all. But the result can be rewarding.


Hey, Rick!  Yeah, living in a remodeling project mostly sucks.  Trying to make some progress in energy efficiency with a 100-yr-old house is mostly an exercise in futility.  I'm lucky to occasionally make something more sturdy than it was before.


----------



## Designer

Got the wall out today.  Broke a faucet in the sink below when a stud fell down to the floor below.  Laundering my grubbies.  Now I can start putting things back together.  Got half a pickup load of demolition.  Will try to fill it up to make the trip worth what they charge me.


----------



## snerd

Went to 2 doctor appointments today, then counseling. Therapy tomorrow. My PCP informed me that my emergency gall bladder surgery was way more serious than anyone told me. Is there a doctor in the house? The diagnosis read thusly...................

Acute hemorrhagic and necrotizing cholecystitis with cholelithiasis

Okay, off to read the boards!


----------



## Gary A.

Managed to install the filter before the rains. Now all that's left is to cut a hole in the liner, drop in a pump (which I have), connect a hose (which I have) then plug in the pump ... and viola!


----------



## limr

All kinds of things accomplished today! 

I got a bottle of wine (looks like a good one, too!) and a nice card from one of my students in my evening class as a thank you for the semester. Sweet


----------



## snerd

What makes a bottle of wine look good or bad? From a non-wine drinker's perspective, I might add.


----------



## Rick50

snerd said:


> What makes a bottle of wine look good or bad? From a non-wine drinker's perspective, I might add.


You need to be an insider to comprehend I think. 
Glad everyone made some steps forward today. I even did, which for me these days is a good thing. Retirement changes things. I have settled on my design for my house thermostat. I have all the parts on order for my buggy throttle control. I get to go to a Movie tomorrow. What else do I need?


----------



## snerd

Rick50 said:


> ........  What else do I need?


Something on a Ritz cracker?!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> What makes a bottle of wine look good or bad? From a non-wine drinker's perspective, I might add.



Well, my first hint is that it's not Yellowtail


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> What makes a bottle of wine look good or bad? From a non-wine drinker's perspective, I might add.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, my first hint is that it's not Yellowtail
Click to expand...

Or Boones Farm?!


----------



## Rick50

In my very young days I drank some cheap wine and I think Boones Farm was around once. Not a very happy memory.


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> What makes a bottle of wine look good or bad? From a non-wine drinker's perspective, I might add.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, my first hint is that it's not Yellowtail
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Or Boones Farm?!
Click to expand...


I get a headache just reading those two brands!

The bottle I got is a 2009 Brunello di Montalcino, which is in Tuscany, an area that is known for good red wines. The bottle also has the DOCG (Italian quality control and guarantee organization) seal on the neck, which is a good sign - it means it got a seal of meeting quality standards for the regulated regions in Tuscany.

These things aren't guarantees, but it suggests it's more likely that the wine will be good.

I just looked it up. The winery is Col d'Orcia and its 2009 Brunello di Montalcino was rated 92, which is really high.

I must be an awesome teacher!


----------



## Rick50

See, I told you,you had to be an insider.


----------



## limr

Rick50 said:


> See, I told you,you had to be an insider.



I was raised by Europeans - I was drinking wine when I was barely out of diapers!


----------



## Rick50

I think that's what it takes. I was raised by the neighbor boys and they did not have my best interest at heart so thus the Boones Farm and other stuff we could get. Oh, well, I have lerrned the hard way and now enjoy a good Bourbon. It just took a while.


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm more of a crafty beer type, and I don't mean the ULTRA ERMAGERD HOPS crap. All this wine stuff makes my head spin.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> I'm more of a crafty beer type, and I don't mean the ULTRA ERMAGERD HOPS crap. All this wine stuff makes my head spin.



You beer types are soooo crafty! 

This is going to make me sound like a total lush, but I like beer too. And I like liquor, too. And I' picky about all three - wine, beer, and spirits. I very rarely drink enough to be even 'buzzed' but I do enjoy wine with dinner, a lunch beer, or an after-dinner cocktail on the weekends, and when I do drink, I want it to be good stuff.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> ..... I must be an awesome teacher!


Not a doubt among anyone here!!


----------



## Gary A.

I have a wine app on the phone. I just snap an image of the bar code and instant insider info.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> I have a wine app on the phone. I just snap an image of the bar code and instant insider info.



Jesus, there really is an app for everything.

We need an app like that for film.


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ..... I must be an awesome teacher!
> 
> 
> 
> Not a doubt among anyone here!!
Click to expand...

 
Awwwww, shucks


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I have a wine app on the phone. I just snap an image of the bar code and instant insider info.



Hmmm, might need to look into an app like that.


----------



## sashbar

Russian currency - Rouble - is in a freefall. The major Russian news website switched to English.


----------



## mmaria

just to say 

*GOOD AFTERNOON CRAZIES!!!!

*
*hope you still remember me? *


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, Marija!  How could we forget you?


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Good afternoon, Marija!  How could we forget you?


Good morning!!!


----------



## mmaria

I find this very disturbing!



sashbar said:


> Russian currency - Rouble - is in a freefall. The major Russian news website switched to English.
> 
> View attachment 91313


----------



## limr

Mariiiiiiiiiiiija!!!!!


----------



## limr

sashbar said:


> Russian currency - Rouble - is in a freefall. The major Russian news website switched to English.
> 
> View attachment 91313



Yikes! That can't be good!


----------



## sashbar

mmaria said:


> I find this very disturbing!
> 
> 
> 
> sashbar said:
> 
> 
> 
> Russian currency - Rouble - is in a freefall. The major Russian news website switched to English.
> 
> View attachment 91313
Click to expand...



Wow, where you have been ?


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Mariiiiiiiiiiiija!!!!!


Leo 





it's a bit strange being here after a while....


----------



## bribrius

good morning. went shooting last night. Not all the pics came out to great but I got to say been a long time since I was out shooting until after midnight. Felt good.


----------



## limr

It will be like riding a bike - you'll get used to us again in no time


----------



## mmaria

sashbar said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> I find this very disturbing!
> 
> 
> 
> sashbar said:
> 
> 
> 
> Russian currency - Rouble - is in a freefall. The major Russian news website switched to English.
> 
> View attachment 91313
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, where you have been ?
Click to expand...

Would you believe me if I say that I was somewhere else trying to save rouble  

.... but.... it's a tough job so why not save TPF a bit... I kind of figure out that TPF is more interesting when I'm around


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> It will be like riding a bike - you'll get used to us again in no time


promise?


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It will be like riding a bike - you'll get used to us again in no time
> 
> 
> 
> promise?
Click to expand...


Of course! We're adorable and you know you love us


----------



## limr

My teeth hurt this morning. I think I'm clenching in my sleep again.

At least I have coffee now.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> My teeth hurt this morning. I think I'm clenching in my sleep again.
> 
> At least I have coffee now.



oh I'm avoiding my dentist for a month now... I need to get a tooth out and I'm scared!

and.... I'm thinking to stop drinking coffee! Yes.  and Noooooooooooooo 
and.... I'm hungry!!!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It will be like riding a bike - you'll get used to us again in no time
> 
> 
> 
> promise?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Of course! We're adorable and you know you love us
Click to expand...

completely true!


----------



## limr

I need to get teeth out too. It's really one wisdom tooth that is causing trouble but the other ones will need to come out eventually, and I only want to go through this once, so I'm getting all four out at the same time. The dentist agrees that this is the best course. I have an appointment in January and I've already been freaking out about it for about 2 weeks


----------



## mmaria

oh no....

I'm scared about getting one out....

I actually googled the name for the tooth- 3rd molar. I don't get why they even grow when they don't have any function (dentist explained)...


----------



## snerd

My dentist wants to put a crown on a tooth. My part is $550. I've been avoiding his calls lol!!


----------



## limr

Yeah, I guess 3rd molar is the technical name for it. We always call them wisdom teeth because they don't really come in until a person is older.

I'm planning on being asleep for the extractions. There is no way I can be awake for this. But I'm still freaking out because I've never had any kind of surgery at all and I have no idea what to expect.


----------



## mmaria

snerd said:


> My dentist wants to put a crown on a tooth. *My part is* *$550*. I've been avoiding his calls lol!!


That's crime!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> My dentist wants to put a crown on a tooth. My part is $550. I've been avoiding his calls lol!!



I know how you feel but just go ahead and do it. If you put it off too long, it will be a root canal and crown, which will be more work and more money!


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> My dentist wants to put a crown on a tooth. My part is $550. I've been avoiding his calls lol!!
> 
> 
> 
> That's crime!
Click to expand...


Oh, you don't want to know the cost of dental work here in the States. My last root canal+crown was $2000, and that was with my dental discount plan, so it would have been at least double without the plan. Dental insurance is available but I end up paying less overall by buying a discount plan and paying out of pocket.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> I'm planning on being asleep for the extractions. There is no way I can be awake for this. But I'm still freaking out because I've never had any kind of surgery at all and I have no idea what to expect.


 you'll be fine...
you'll have no idea.... 

I was so curious what and how it will happen that I wasn't scared when they put me to sleep.
It's interesting experience for sure.

But... Snerd knows more about that


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Oh, you don't want to know the cost of dental work here in the States. My last root canal+crown was $2000, and that was with my dental discount plan, so it would have been at least double without the plan. Dental insurance is available but I end up paying less overall by buying a discount plan and paying out of pocket.


every time I hear about medical expenses in USA I get mad!


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> every time I hear about medical expenses in USA I get mad!



Imagine how you'd feel if you had to pay those expenses!


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> I'm still freaking out because I've never had any kind of surgery at all and I have no idea what to expect.



Don't freak.  Dental work these days is really no big deal.  It has a bad reputation I think from the days of poor equipment and no anesthetic, or at least not good anesthetic, or maybe from the leeches, but I don't think they use very many anymore.  Sorry, now I'm just messing with you.  Blame the real coffee I went out of the building to get.  Anyhow, it really is very easy and you'll probably just be a little sore after.


----------



## Designer

Tooth extractions don't hurt a lot after the local wears off.  More like a dull ache.  The novocaine injection hurts the most, depending on where the injection site is.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 

And a BIG "How the hell are you to Marija?" I just finished making coffee and some tea ... Colombian Supremo and Sencha "Matsuri".  Matija, a mug of tea for you, (_)]

54F right now and drizzling, should be raining in a few hours. Yesterday was busy, today I have time to pick up some chemicals so I can develop my two rolls of 120mm film. I am almost excited. I haven't developed film in decades.


----------



## limr

I'm not too worried about the pain afterwards - especially if they send me home with the good drugs!  - but get scared of the "during" because my imagination is far far too active and vivid. I've had a lot of dental work ever since I was a kid - even had the Novocaine needle in my jaw when I had fillings in my wisdom teeth. It was a long time ago so it makes me wonder why that dentist just didn't take my teeth out then, but it was a combination of him just wanting to fill the cavities and be done with and me not having money to take the teeth out at the time. Not that I really have money now, but I also don't have a choice.


----------



## limr

Oscar Bean

 

Digit


----------



## snerd

Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## KenC

A few years ago, my wife's cousin, a veterinarian who typically has about eight animals, mostly cats, gave my wife a "crazy cat lady action figure"  which came with little cats which would stick to the figure.  I guess this cousin and her daughter were welcoming us into the club - I forget how many we had at the time, probably about 6-7.


----------



## Braineack

so this isnt how you guys watch tv?








they make good foremen too:


----------



## snowbear

I got my present from our local TSA office.
Miss Airport Calendar


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers!

That calendar is pretty funny, Charlie.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks -- my lovely wife pointed it out to me.

Shouldn't that be "Hey, hosers, eh!"?


----------



## limr

More shelter kitties:

Fuzzy was adopted so I didn't get to seem him this morning, but I'm glad someone took his sweet little self home!
 

And Anabella, who was also adopted. She, like Fuzzy, was one of the really friendly "free-range" cats that roamed around and liked to greet people at the front:


----------



## snerd

snowbear said:


> ........ Shouldn't that be "Hey, hosers, eh!"?


Lenny's a Canuck, 'eh?!


----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> ........ Shouldn't that be "Hey, hosers, eh!"?
> 
> 
> 
> Lenny's a Canuck, 'eh?!
Click to expand...

Honorary, I think.


----------



## pgriz

We'll gladly make Leonore a Canuck.  She has smarts, looks, gumption, spirit and a taste for adventure.  And she likes winter.  She'll feel right at home here.


----------



## minicoop1985

You Canucks and your Maker a Laker and kindness and crap. Sheesh.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## limr

I'd be proud to be a Canuck! I spent much of my childhood with some Frenchy Canucks - my best friend from childhood is from a Quebecois family and I spent so much time there that I became their second 'daughter.' And when the relatives came for the holidays, they would make fun of my French accent while I made fun of theirs  

Another good friend had a Canadian mother and they moved back to Toronto when her parents got divorced, so I've spent time there as well. Even spent New Year's Eve once on a party boat on Lake Ontario. Damn, that was cold! And awesome!!  

In fact, the closest thing I ever had to a family vacation was when my parents took three of us on a whirlwind tour of New England and Canada. The two oldest sisters stayed home, but my brother helped drive the pick-up truck and my sister and I were thrown in the back with a cap over the pick-up bed and two bucket seats my father had gotten from the junk yard. I think I was 9 year old. If anything explains all that is "off" with my personality, it is probably all the diesel fumes I breathed in during that trip  Anyway, I vividly remember going to the top of the CN Tower. Even remember my outfit: a white terrycloth sundress with a racer back and red string straps


----------



## limr

This is the best Christmas song ever, eh.


----------



## Warhorse

Good morning all you hosers!


----------



## mmaria

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.
> 
> And a BIG "How the hell are you to Marija?" I just finished making coffee and some tea ... Colombian Supremo and Sencha "Matsuri".  Marija, a mug of tea for you, (_)]


awwwww Grumpy.... you missed me  

Thank you!


----------



## mmaria

Warhorse said:


> Good morning all you hosers!


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


>



Hello, sweetie!  



Warhorse said:


> Good morning all you hosers!



*Hoser:*


----------



## limr

Morning Warhorse (2 hours later...) and Charlie (only 45 minutes later)

Good afternoon, Marija!

Today's my last day at the admin job for the semester. This is a good thing. I don't like this job.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Today's my last day at the admin job for the semester. This is a good thing. I don't like this job.


30 minutes more and I'm not working Thursday and Friday.

Reason is something that can't be translated in English nor I could explain in short... "a familly holliday" let's say. We get a couple of days off for that.

I was thinking about New York last night... My brother is there so he was sending me pictures... I miss him  He's a great person.


----------



## KenC

Morning, Hosers.  I'm using up a couple of vacation days and going out to take actual photographs (I know, what a concept, right?).  GTG, next train in about 15 minutes (later than my usual start).


----------



## limr

Ken...what are these pic...tures...you speak of? 

Marija - is he just visiting NY? He lives in Chicago, right? Either way, you need to visit New York!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Marija - is he just visiting NY? He lives in Chicago, right? Either way, you need to visit New York!


Yeah, he's just visiting NY for a few days.... and no, he isn't in Chicago any more. After Chicago he moved to Boston, and currently he's on Martha's Vineyard

And *YEAH*  I need to visit NY!


----------



## limr

Oooh, I like Boston a lot. Martha's Vineyard, eh? What does he do that brings him there??


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Oooh, I like Boston a lot. Martha's Vineyard, eh? What does he do that brings him there??


I have a feeling that I would like Boston too, but don't know really why.... except he told me everything good about Boston and Sleist post pictures of Boston... 

MV, well... a long and complicated story


----------



## limr

I think you would like it, too. I almost moved there at one point - sometimes I wish I had, but other times I'm convinced it would have been a mistake. At least at that point in time. But that's a different long story! 

For the moment, I don't have time for long OR short stories - have to get ready for work. Ew.


----------



## Braineack

Where's Derrel been?


----------



## limr

Braineack said:


> Where's Derrel been?



Good question. I was just thinking the same thing yesterday.


----------



## minicoop1985

I have noticed his absence too. Odd.


----------



## snerd

I miss Derrel too. I think it was one of my responses in a couple of threads that pissed him off. I'm sorry Derrel!! I apologize!! Please come back!!


----------



## bribrius

Braineack said:


> Where's Derrel been?


hopefully all is okay with him. I haven't met too many that love photography more than he does. I like derrel.


----------



## snerd

Well, seems quiet in here lately. Everybody getting busy with the Holidays! I did nothing today......... awake at 8am, got out of bed at noon, iHop for breakfast, since it was raining all day I laid on bed and watched a couple episodes of Californication on Netflix, cleaned up, showered and now back in bed. You thought YOU had no life? LOL!!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, everyone.  Today's coffee special is Starbuck's caramel with a splash of Bailey's Chocolatini.


----------



## Warhorse

Good morning!

Folger's 100% Columbian, served black here.


----------



## snowbear

My second round is without the creamer.  We're heading out to play in traffic.


----------



## Warhorse

I have about 4 inches of snow outside that needs to be taken care of with my snow blower.

Another one of the joys of being retired is that I can just take care of that chore when I feel like it, no rush anymore.


----------



## Designer

I know what you mean about choosing the time to do your snow removal, but I try to maximize the sun's warming effect at melting/drying up the residual snow by clearing it as early in the day as I can (within reason) and after the snow has stopped, thereby allowing as much time for the sun to work its magic after I'm finished.


----------



## Warhorse

Designer said:


> I know what you mean about choosing the time to do your snow removal, but I try to maximize the sun's warming effect at melting/drying up the residual snow by clearing it as early in the day as I can (within reason) and after the snow has stopped, thereby allowing as much time for the sun to work its magic after I'm finished.


The sun... you got sun? Me want sun too!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

I've got my Eight O'Clock Dark Italian Roast as usual this morning. Got some of my spiced roasted pecans cooling on the counter. I make candied nuts for the holidays and give out little bags to co-workers and bring them to whatever social things I have to deal with.

I have no kids and very few social obligations for the holidays and yet, it's still exhausting 

Today's agenda: scoring final exams. We do this as a department since each essay needs to be read by two people (to ensure objectivity, since it's a departmental exam and a school-mandated gate-keeping test.) This sounds boring, but it's kind of fun. Our department is small and we all like each other. We actually have fun at these scoring sessions.

Students are alreadyemailing me for their grades. Um, what part of Thursday EVENING did they not understand? Oh yes, it seems that EVENING is the word that tripped them up.  

Le sigh.


----------



## pgriz

Leonore, just let them know that every inquiry prior to the posted announcement time will be rated an automatic 10% reduction.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Students are alreadyemailing me for their grades. Um, what part of Thursday EVENING did they not understand? Oh yes, it seems that EVENING is the word that tripped them up.
> 
> Le sigh.



Tell them you'll grade their requests for correctness, grammatical and temporal, and factor that in to the final grade.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Leonore, just let them know that every inquiry prior to the posted announcement time will be rated an automatic 10% reduction.



Oooh, I'll have to try that one!


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leonore, just let them know that every inquiry prior to the posted announcement time will be rated an automatic 10% reduction.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oooh, I'll have to try that one!
Click to expand...

What they hear:

10% reduction
announcement
inquiry

What they do:

Inquire 
argue against the reduction
wait for any announcement


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Students are alreadyemailing me for their grades. Um, what part of Thursday EVENING did they not understand? Oh yes, it seems that EVENING is the word that tripped them up.
> 
> Le sigh.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tell them you'll grade their requests for correctness, grammatical and temporal, and factor that in to the final grade.
Click to expand...


Oh lord, do you know how many of them would fail? 

Here is a recent email:


> Hey teacher why I get 0 in my reader. Response
> 
> Sent from my iPhone



But the sometimes, I'm pleasantly surprised:


> Respected Professor,
> Can you please tell me the best available time to sign the progress report for me.
> 
> Yours Faithfully
> [Full name]
> Academic Writing 2



Most are somewhere in between.


----------



## KenC

I suppose the ones who send messages like the first one can't be doing very well in any case.

Someone told me a couple of years ago that he refused to answer texts from his teenage kids unless they wrote complete sentences and didn't use internet abbreviations.  Since they inevitably wanted something from him, they got their act together.


----------



## snerd

Evening, Hosers. Skipped coffee today! I've been guzzling bottled water by the butt-load, probably 6 bottles a day! Had shoulder therapy today, new exercises and a new machine workout. Wanted to walk, but it's rained for 2 days now. Supper at Chili's, rib-eye, medium rare. I get a haircut tomorrow, then Monday I'm off to Little Rock for a couple of weeks. Taking cameras, hope the weather cooperates.


----------



## limr

Watcha doing in Little Rock?

In a little over an hour, I'll be on the train heading into Grand Central. Going to see a couple of photo exhibitions and take some of those picture thingies that Ken was talking about the other day. Seemed interesting, so I thought I'd give it a try


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday I went to two little camera stores for some chemicals. One had D-76 and Fixer but no Photoflo ... so I said forget it ... the other had nada, but was willing to order it for me and I could drop by the next day ... another forget it. Today I'll drive down to Samy's in Costa Mesa and get everything at one time. 

Yeah snerd, what's in Little Rock. ,,, Maybe Leo and I should go too...

Leo, tell Buzz there is a firmware upgrade for the XE1:

Digital Camera Firmware : Interchangeable Camera Body / Lens | Fujifilm Global

G


----------



## Designer

I thought PhotoFlo was no big deal.  Unless I'm way off base, just a drop of liquid soap should do it.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Watcha doing in Little Rock?


Friends. Talked me into coming out there for Christmas. And, the Bill Clinton Library is there, if you want to really be bored  lol!!


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> I thought PhotoFlo was no big deal.  Unless I'm way off base, just a drop of liquid soap should do it.


While I've heard that ... I've never tried it. I don't want to find out I used too big of a drop or too little of a drop and now I have dried on soapy residue or a ton of regular, vanilla residue.


----------



## Gary A.

The Cook and I are back from out walk. 48F this morning ... I even shrouded my hand with gloves. Should hit the mid 60's later.


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I thought PhotoFlo was no big deal.  Unless I'm way off base, just a drop of liquid soap should do it.
> 
> 
> 
> While I've heard that ... I've never tried it. I don't want to find out I used too big of a drop or too little of a drop and now I have dried on soapy residue or a ton of regular, vanilla residue.
Click to expand...


I always hated PhotoFlo.  What I did was to soak the film in distilled water for a minute after it was washed and then hang and squeegee off the excess water.  The distilled water contains no minerals (or anything other than water, pretty much), so there are no spots when it dries.  You can get distilled water in most supermarkets.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I thought PhotoFlo was no big deal.  Unless I'm way off base, just a drop of liquid soap should do it.
> 
> 
> 
> While I've heard that ... I've never tried it. I don't want to find out I used too big of a drop or too little of a drop and now I have dried on soapy residue or a ton of regular, vanilla residue.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I always hated PhotoFlo.  What I did was to soak the film in distilled water for a minute after it was washed and then hang and squeegee off the excess water.  The distilled water contains no minerals (or anything other than water, pretty much), so there are no spots when it dries.  You can get distilled water in most supermarkets.
Click to expand...

I am used to working fast, so it was always photoflo ... I have an RO system installed here at the house, that should work almost as well as distilled, except for the dissolved solids. I gotta think about this ... a drop of soap and distilled ...


----------



## limr

Tio, I use distilled water and one small drop of Jet Dry in the final rise and don't squeegee. Never had issues.


----------



## snowbear

My photos turn out about the same whether I use distilled water or old dishwater.


----------



## snowbear

I have been thinking about this song  all day.  Maybe it was because we had kielbasa for dinner last night.


----------



## pgriz

Want some beer with that?


----------



## snowbear

Sure, but I want one of these:


----------



## Gary A.

Film update:

I've just finished transferring film from spool to stainless steel reel. I turned the Tv onto news, before I plunged my hands into the changing bag. I excepted a 20 to 30 minute job with numerous and frustrating re-dos. It was smooth as silk all performed in less than a minute. I was completely surprised. I felt I was back at the Times when I was doing this everyday. I am now eating an empanada, sipping wine and waiting for the developer to cool down to developing temperature. 

@ Leo:

Wine update - That Portuguese wine I told you a while back. I finally opened it tonight. It is absolutely wonderful. For the record-
Jose Maria da Fonseca / Domini / 2010. It is so good it could have come from California.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- I always squeegee with my fingers, it speeds up the drying process.

PPS- My scanner should be here Monday or Tuesday.


----------



## minicoop1985

I also squeegee with my fingers. It really speeds sh*t up.


----------



## limr

I had a lovely day, hosers.

Buzz and I took a train into Grand Central this morning and made our way over to the Moma to see the Brown Sisters exhibit - 40 portraits in 40 years: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/03/magazine/01-brown-sisters-forty-years.html  I'm not really into portraits, but these pictures are so beautiful. They are impressive on a computer screen, but they are astounding in person, laid out on the wall.

We then went up to see what else they had in their photography galleries. Some stuff was good, some was meh, some of it very early experimental.

After that was lunch at a pub (Harp ale for me) and then over to the west side to see a Eugene Atget exhibit at the Pace Macgill gallery: Pace/MacGill Gallery | Selected Works | Eugene Atget: A Quiet Calling Gorgeous photos.

Then wandered around the south end of the park for a little bit, back to the station and a train home. After dinner, I went to my book club and had some interesting conversations - some of them were even about the book! 

I am sooooo staying in my pj's tomorrow morning and will probably indulge in a 3rd cup of coffee!


----------



## Rick58

Just my nickels worth, but I always used Photo-flo prep'ed in distilled with no squeegee...Your welcome


----------



## limr

Oh yeah, and I went through two rolls of film.


----------



## Rick58

Two weeks ago I bought supplies to build my wife a large pantry in the kitchen. Yep, thats how far THAT project has gotten. I should drink my third cup tomorrow morning with a hammer in the other hand, but we'll see how much energy I have.


----------



## minicoop1985

Tonight's dinner was fantastic. Peppered Filet Mignon, medium rare, with cheesy garlic smashed potatoes... mmmmmm. And to top it off, my favorite beer (Samuel Smith's organic Chocolate Stout) AFTER dinner. Had a nice nut brown ale with dinner.


----------



## Rick58

More simple grub here tonight. Homemade meatloaf, baked 'taters, corn, homemade biscuits and wash it down with a couple glasses of homemade iced tea. ..and she wonders why her pantry isn't built. After that meal I needed a nap...lol

oh yeah, better not forget her homemade apple crisp for dessert


----------



## snowbear

We had chicken tacos the quick & easy way -- Perdue Southwest Chicken short cuts and I cut up a couple of tomatoes, some lettuce and a couple of jalapenos.


----------



## limr

Had fish and chips for lunch, and dinner was very simple: some gnocchi sauteed in oil and wine, some green beans with garlic, and two eggs over-medium.

Gary, I'm glad you liked the wine. The Douro is producing some really great table wines, not just port. There are a few places that carry Portuguese wines around here and I'm going to go look for that one now. I've had wines from the Fonseca winery but it's been a while.

Edit: Sometimes I can really be on board with this technology stuff. Just found where I can find that wine after a <1 second search on Google. I know exactly where the store is. Gonna go get me some wine! Just not now. Right now, I'm going to go study the insides of my eyelids for about 8 hours.


----------



## Rick58

Sounds good Charlie


----------



## snowbear

Y'all's sounded pretty good too.  Tuesdays and Fridays are usually fairly quick dinners.  We often don't get home until 7 or later and there's an ongoing thing we have on those nights.

There's a pork roast thawing in the sing, getting ready for the crock pot in the morning.  I just need to get a beer to place in there with it (I have the onions & garlic).


----------



## Rick58

Yep, time to hit the hay here also. I think I may head over to Lancaster County tomorrow morning and pick up some chemicals so I can take that Rollei for a spin. Lancaster has the closest film supply shack around, and that's 30 miles from here...that sucks, but it is what it is I guess.


----------



## snowbear

Rick58 said:


> Yep, time to hit the hay here also. I think I may head over to Lancaster County tomorrow morning and pick up some chemicals so I can take that Rollei for a spin. Lancaster has the closest film supply shack around, and that's 30 miles from here...that sucks, but it is what it is I guess.


Oh, how was your trip to St. Michaels (iirc)?


----------



## minicoop1985

Mmm I discovered sea salt caramels hanging around here. Bad, bad idea.


----------



## snowbear

My lovely wife got an 8-pack of Godiva from someone at work; they lasted 10 minutes.


----------



## pgriz

I'm heading out.  There's an aurora sighting possible tonight.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good night coffee hosers. Time for this guy to pass the hell out.


----------



## Gary A.

Tamales tonight.


----------



## Gary A.

I am wrapping up developing my first roll in decades. My first look is that it came out okay.


----------



## pgriz

Just got back.  Nice clear cold night.  No aurora borealis.  However, the Pleiades were there, saw the Andromeda galaxy, checked out Orion and Capella and Gemini, had a good look at Jupiter...  Took inventory and it seems the shrinkage was minimal.  So can now go to bed.


----------



## Rick58

snowbear said:


> Rick58 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep, time to hit the hay here also. I think I may head over to Lancaster County tomorrow morning and pick up some chemicals so I can take that Rollei for a spin. Lancaster has the closest film supply shack around, and that's 30 miles from here...that sucks, but it is what it is I guess.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, how was your trip to St. Michaels (iirc)?
Click to expand...

I put two shots up here from the trip. One desent shot of a buy boat and another of a builder  while working on her boat. The second could have been better. I went down with the promise of a nice sunny day, only to find a dark, cloudy dreary one. The clouds pretty much set my mood for the day and I came home with a camera full of junk. The funny thing is, I drove the 4 hours for a retake becuase the first trip was a wash out. I'm not done 3 trips should do it


----------



## sashbar

We can not decide what to cook for Xmas.  We do not want turkey and kids do not eat meat. Fish? Does not sound really Xmacy.


----------



## Rick58

sashbar said:


> We can not decide what to cook for Xmas.  We do not want turkey and kids do not eat meat. Fish? Does not sound really Xmacy.


Wouldn't be for me, but hey... The kids are all doing the in-law thing this year so the wife and I are eatting out at the local buffet. Let someone else clean up for a change.


----------



## snowbear

Rick58 said:


> went down with the promise of a nice sunny day, only to find a dark, cloudy dreary one.


Welcome to SoMD.  If the weather is bad, wait a few minutes.

I haven't seen the shots - I'll look for them.[/QUOTE]


----------



## limr

sashbar said:


> We can not decide what to cook for Xmas.  We do not want turkey and kids do not eat meat. Fish? Does not sound really Xmacy.



Interesting. Fish is the traditional Christmas dinner in Portugal. Bacalhau. When I was growing up, we always had fish, but my mother often cooked a turkey, too. She was always presenting us with traditional Portuguese fare combined with whatever American dishes she thought were traditional. Sometimes we got it right (Thanksgiving turkey) and sometimes not (Christmas lasagne?)

But there was always fish for Christmas. The preparation we tend to follow is called Bacalhau a Gomes de Sa. Each region puts a slightly different spin on it, but it is essentially dried cod layered with sliced potatoes, with olive oil, salt and pepper, and hard-boiled eggs added towards the end of cooking.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> and sometimes not (Christmas lasagne?)


One of the traditions in my family at Thanksgiving was my Grandmother's ravioli.




limr said:


> essentially dried cod layered with sliced potatoes, with olive oil, salt and pepper, and hard-boiled eggs added towards the end of cooking.


This sounds interesting.


----------



## pgriz

Ah yes.  Fish for Christmas.  One of my brothers-in-law is of Portuguese origin (by way of the Azores), and we were often invited to his family's Christmas meals.  Quite different from traditional western fare, with lots of fish and other things (calamari in tomato sauce, breaded calamari, and things I wasn't sure about but they all tasted delicious) that "normally" wouldn't show up on our tables.  Oh, and lots of various types of baked goods (sorry Leonore, I was told the various names of what we ate, but being the cultural heathen that I was, all I can say is that it was all delicious).  And about ten times more food than people available to eat it.  My brother-in-law is a very good cook, and occasionally he still makes some of the stuff his mother used to make, but he considers it "home" food and not good enough to entertain the guests with.  Much to our disappointment.


----------



## sashbar

limr said:


> sashbar said:
> 
> 
> 
> We can not decide what to cook for Xmas.  We do not want turkey and kids do not eat meat. Fish? Does not sound really Xmacy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting. Fish is the traditional Christmas dinner in Portugal. Bacalhau. When I was growing up, we always had fish, but my mother often cooked a turkey, too. She was always presenting us with traditional Portuguese fare combined with whatever American dishes she thought were traditional. Sometimes we got it right (Thanksgiving turkey) and sometimes not (Christmas lasagne?)
> 
> But there was always fish for Christmas. The preparation we tend to follow is called Bacalhau a Gomes de Sa. Each region puts a slightly different spin on it, but it is essentially dried cod layered with sliced potatoes, with olive oil, salt and pepper, and hard-boiled eggs added towards the end of cooking.
Click to expand...


Ok, that changes everything . I will google that Bacalhau stuff.


----------



## limr

It's very simple and really delicious. Oh, and I forgot the onions! They get layered in there, too. For the past 5 years or so, it seems that I am the one who has taken over bacalhau duty. My sister hosts Christmas Eve dinner and she varies what she serves, but I always bring the fish.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Ah yes.  Fish for Christmas.  One of my brothers-in-law is of Portuguese origin (by way of the Azores), and we were often invited to his family's Christmas meals.  Quite different from traditional western fare, with lots of fish and other things (calamari in tomato sauce, breaded calamari, and things I wasn't sure about but they all tasted delicious) that "normally" wouldn't show up on our tables.  Oh, and lots of various types of baked goods (sorry Leonore, I was told the various names of what we ate, but being the cultural heathen that I was, all I can say is that it was all delicious).  And about ten times more food than people available to eat it.  My brother-in-law is a very good cook, and occasionally he still makes some of the stuff his mother used to make, but he considers it "home" food and not good enough to entertain the guests with.  Much to our disappointment.



"Ten times more food than people available to eat it." Yup, that's a Portuguese dinner  The food is wonderful and then come the desserts, which are more wonderful! The one we always had was a sponge cake called Pao de lo. (There are squigglies and accents over some of those letters but it's a pain in the ass to add them on an American keyboard). There were also rebanadas, which is basically French toast. And Bolo Rei, a kind of fruit cake. Oh, and the pudim - flan, but the caramelized sugar is done until it's almost burnt, so the flavor and texture is different from a typical Spanish flan.


----------



## Designer

I've cooked a crown roast a couple of times.  Probably too late to get one ordered for Christmas now.  It usually takes at least a week.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> "Ten times more food than people available to eat it." Yup, that's a Portuguese dinner  The food is wonderful and then come the desserts, which are more wonderful! The one we always had was a sponge cake called Pao de lo. (There are squigglies and accents over some of those letters but it's a pain in the ass to add them on an American keyboard). There were also rebanadas, which is basically French toast. And Bolo Rei, a kind of fruit cake. Oh, and the pudim - flan, but the caramelized sugar is done until it's almost burnt, so the flavor and texture is different from a typical Spanish flan.


OK, now I'm hungry.


----------



## Gary A.

sashbar said:


> We can not decide what to cook for Xmas.  We do not want turkey and kids do not eat meat. Fish? Does not sound really Xmacy.


Tamales ... here you can get tamales of every flavor including veggie. If you can find tamales in London, typically there will be pork, chicken, beef and chili-cheese ... the chili-cheese is meatless. (Tamales are the traditional Christmas feast in Mexico.)


----------



## Rick58

Great shots!


----------



## Gary A.

I just louped my film ... came out pretty good. I am getting excited about the MF camera.


----------



## sashbar

OK, now I have an easy choice between bacalhau and tamales...emmm...wait a minute..


----------



## pgriz

sashbar said:


> OK, now I have an easy choice between bacalhau and tamales...emmm...wait a minute..



Do both.  And start a tradition.


----------



## Designer

One of those girls looks just like my granddaughter.


----------



## sashbar

Rick58 said:


> Great shots!



Yes, I would love to have such an ability to fill the frame perfectly.


----------



## snowbear

Roast is in the crock pot.  Sauteed an onion and chopped garlic in EVOO, then deglazed the pan with Jim Beam.  Rubbed the roast with a spice mix and seared it, and deglazed the pan with Jim Beam.  Put the onion and garlic into the crock pot, then added the roast, beef stock and some more Jim Beam.  This is one drunk pig!


----------



## Gary A.

Rick58 said:


> Great shots!


Than you.


sashbar said:


> Rick58 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Great shots!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, I would love to have such an ability to fill the frame perfectly.
Click to expand...

Tamales ... eat some tamales then go shooting.


----------



## limr

Grades are calculated and entered. DONE!!! 

Most semesters, a few students will email and ask me to explain their grade. For the most part, the answer is, "You got a C because I gave you a gift, so you might not want to question this further." Hopefully this nonsense will be kept to a minimum this semester and they'll leave me alone until next semester.

Oh how I love being done with a semester!


----------



## Gary A.

Salud!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Grades are calculated and entered. DONE!!!
> 
> Most semesters, a few students will email and ask me to explain their grade. For the most part, the answer is, "You got a C because I gave you a gift, so you might not want to question this further." Hopefully this nonsense will be kept to a minimum this semester and they'll leave me alone until next semester.
> 
> Oh how I love being done with a semester!




so . . . what grade did I get?


----------



## limr

You got an A, baby, thanks to those extra-credit cinnamon buns


----------



## Rick58

limr said:


> Most semesters, a few students will email and ask me to explain their grade. For the most part, the answer is, "You got a C because I gave you a gift, so you might not want to question this further."



But, but, but...


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> You got an A, baby, thanks to those extra-credit cinnamon buns


----------



## Designer

Mug of coffee.  I usually drink tea, but today after lunch, wifey had made coffee, and it smelled good, so I'm having one too.  Green Mountain Dark Magic.


----------



## limr

Ooh, I like that mug! Do you like to listen to those stories?


----------



## Designer

I listen sporadically.


----------



## Designer

My son is going to cook sauerbraten.  He gave me his shopping list.  I will begin brining on Monday.


----------



## Gary A.

The pond is finished!!! (... more or less.) The skimmer has been fully installed and working, the waterfall thingie has been install, both filters are pumping to the waterfall. And I am an exhausted, muddy, mess. But at least I hit my goal on my activity tracker. I'm also pretty cold, so I've off to the shower.


----------



## Gary A.

Out of the shower. Still filling up the pond. The waterfall is very nice, Doubling the volume of water has make a significant difference. Just finished some pasta and drinking tea, 'Darleeling The Second Flush' ... it's okay, not nearly as good as that Sencha Matsuri I had the other day.


----------



## Designer

Your pond/waterfall reminds me of a time when I worked for a fellow who designed the large end at the top and the small end at the bottom.  

I asked him; "what happens when the pump shuts off?"  

He said: "It never shuts off."

So then I asked him: "What about a power failure?"  

He had nothing to say, but continued with his stupid design.  

About a month after I quit working there, he told me that they had to rebuild the pond/waterfall system to make the lower end larger than the top end.  

I don't think he ever understood why.


----------



## pgriz

Ah yes, the pouring of 1 gallon of liquid into one quart of volume trick.  Just a matter of a little visualization and positive thinking.  Right?


----------



## Designer

You got it.


----------



## pgriz

Designer said:


> You got it.



Early in my career, I was hired as a Software QA manager for a large multinational, the third QA manager they hired to try and get a showcase project delivered (it was a year behind schedule and something like 20M$ over budget (on an original budget of $30M).  Over a hundred Ph.D level developers working on it.  After a while I realized what the problem was - the chip design they were using (this was in the 1980's) had a limited memory space, and they were swapping out memory in segments.  The problem was, after looking at all the data and code allocation, they were trying to get 5 memory slots into a design that could only accomodate 2.  Just could not be done.  But for some reason, until I came along, no-one worked through exactly how the memory allocation and swapping would work.  The company ended up writing off all the development costs on that project, AND paying penalties to the customers to whom they presold the technology.


----------



## Gary A.

I do construction management for government jobs on a consulting basis. "RFI" is my middle name.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Ahhh, a pond. We had one at our house before we sold everything in '07 and bought the RV.
It was soooo peaceful. We put Koi in it and they grew big time. Then 1 night we found all the fish in 1 end and couldn't figure out what the heck....then, an otter appeared in the deep end!!! 
It came up,from a nearby creek and was eating our koi 
Anyway, we had the power go out a couple of times, but hubby is a fisherman so he had a small pump for keeping bait alive. Worked out til we could fix regular pump.


----------



## Designer

pgriz said:


> .. they were trying to get 5 memory slots into a design that could only accomodate 2.



I don't know why, but for some reason that does not surprise me.

Looking for the "duh" emoticon.  I guess this one will do.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> I do construction management for government jobs on a consulting basis. "RFI" is my middle name.


I've inspected job sites where the contractor had apparently NEVER OPENED the specifications.  When I asked to see the book, he didn't know where it was.  

Another contractor left his on the floor of his pickup, covered in mud.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Your pond/waterfall reminds me of a time when I worked for a fellow who designed the large end at the top and the small end at the bottom.
> 
> I asked him; "what happens when the pump shuts off?"
> 
> He said: "It never shuts off."
> 
> So then I asked him: "What about a power failure?"
> 
> He had nothing to say, but continued with his stupid design.
> 
> About a month after I quit working there, he told me that they had to rebuild the pond/waterfall system to make the lower end larger than the top end.
> 
> I don't think he ever understood why.





pgriz said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> You got it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Early in my career, I was hired as a Software QA manager for a large multinational, the third QA manager they hired to try and get a showcase project delivered (it was a year behind schedule and something like 20M$ over budget (on an original budget of $30M).  Over a hundred Ph.D level developers working on it.  After a while I realized what the problem was - the chip design they were using (this was in the 1980's) had a limited memory space, and they were swapping out memory in segments.  The problem was, after looking at all the data and code allocation, they were trying to get 5 memory slots into a design that could only accomodate 2.  Just could not be done.  But for some reason, until I came along, no-one worked through exactly how the memory allocation and swapping would work.  The company ended up writing off all the development costs on that project, AND paying penalties to the customers to whom they presold the technology.
Click to expand...


These are your versions of my quotes from student essays, aren't they?


----------



## pgriz

Yeah, I guess they are.  Prior to that career, I spent a year being a teaching assistant in one of the university labs.  The job was to demonstrate how to do various experiments (mostly physiological), assist the students in the performance of the lab, and then grade the resulting lab reports.  Basic structure of the reports was:  1) objective of the lab, 2) description of the experimental setup and procedure, 3)  hypothesis being tested,  4)  table of experimental data, 5) analysis, 6) conclusions.  Simple enough.  Despite this being a 3rd-year course (of a four-year program), it was not uncommon to have 80-90% of the first two or three lab reports achieve a mark of 20-40%.  I would mark up the report with red ink, and sometimes there was more red ink than original writing.  Of course, after one or two of such evaluations, people got serious, and by the end of the course, most were getting marks in the 80-90% range.  Still, given that many of these students were going on to med school, you had to wonder what they were thinking, in submitting work that was abysmal in its quality.


----------



## snerd

Evening, Hosers! Today I bought new wiper blades for my car, bought a clothes rack for the back seat, checked all fluids and tires, then started to pack for my road trip. Breakfast at iHop, 3 cups of their coffee, around 2:00pm. About ready to hit the hay. Be safe, everybody............ the last minute shopping rush has hit!!


----------



## Gary A.

Bon Voyage snerd. (You sure there's no room for Leo and me?)


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Bon Voyage snerd. (You sure there's no room for Leo and me?)



Yeah, I've never been to Little Rock before!


----------



## Gary A.

NancyMoranG said:


> Ahhh, a pond. We had one at our house before we sold everything in '07 and bought the RV.
> It was soooo peaceful. We put Koi in it and they grew big time. Then 1 night we found all the fish in 1 end and couldn't figure out what the heck....then, an otter appeared in the deep end!!!
> It came up,from a nearby creek and was eating our koi
> Anyway, we had the power go out a couple of times, but hubby is a fisherman so he had a small pump for keeping bait alive. Worked out til we could fix regular pump.


Ponds are all about relaxation. We have Koi, turtles and schools of minnows. A glass of wine while watching the koi cruise about goes a long way in unwinding.

No otters around here, but I've had smaller ponds cleaned out by raccoons and egrets. The new pond has a deep end a little under four feet, safe from both bird and beast.


----------



## snerd

Gary & Lenny are more than welcome to join me! But only if ya can meet me there, I think you're both further away than me! It's a 7 hour drive from my house to there.


----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


> Evening, Hosers! Today I bought new wiper blades for my car, bought a clothes rack for the back seat, checked all fluids and tires, then started to pack for my road trip. Breakfast at iHop, 3 cups of their coffee, around 2:00pm. About ready to hit the hay. Be safe, everybody............ the last minute shopping rush has hit!!


Safe trip.


----------



## Warhorse

Good morning all, enjoy your visit snerd.

My bride and I are hopefully taking a four hour drive downstate to spend Christmas with family. I say "hopefully" because we were supposed to have left last Wednesday, but postponed it instead.


----------



## snerd

Warhorse said:


> Good morning all, enjoy your visit snerd.
> 
> My bride and I are hopefully taking a four hour drive downstate to spend Christmas with family. I say "hopefully" because we were supposed to have left last Wednesday, but postponed it instead.


Better late than never!!


----------



## snerd

Evening, Hosers. I'm all packed, car is full of gas, and I'm turning in early tonight. Oh, who am I kidding?! I'll be up until 1 or 2 as usual lol!!

There are some angry members about, handing out reality sandwiches. Don't let them scare you off!!!


----------



## limr

Monday morning, hosers.


----------



## mmaria

I have a confession to make.... 


You could easily shun me for what I have to tell...

ok... here we go....

I'm 
not 
one 
of
you 
anymore
.....




I

don't 

drink

coffee

!!!!!





yeah... it's true! but that's not the reason for me not to say 


GOOD AFTERNOON!!!



WAKE UP  YOU LAZIES!


----------



## KenC

mmaria said:


> WAKE UP  YOU LAZIES!



We lazies is awake (as Leonore's students might say).  No coffee yet for me - off today but have a million errands, so I figure it'll be 10:30 or so until I can get a cup.  I hope my head doesn't explode.


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> I have a confession to make....
> 
> 
> You could easily shun me for what I have to tell...
> 
> ok... here we go....
> 
> I'm
> not
> one
> of
> you
> anymore
> .....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I
> 
> don't
> 
> drink
> 
> coffee
> 
> !!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> yeah... it's true! but that's not the reason for me not to say
> 
> 
> GOOD AFTERNOON!!!
> 
> 
> 
> WAKE UP  YOU LAZIES!


It's OK, we still love you!  
You can drink tea, water or nothing at all and still be one of us.


----------



## limr

Good morning, Marija! We serve many lovely hot beverages at the Coffee House, so you can still be a hoser 

Ugh, first cup not until 10:30, Ken? Good luck to your head. Mine would certainly explode.


----------



## mmaria

Green tea for me then 

I'm drinking it right now... coffee time is tea time for me now


----------



## Designer

Black tea for me, thanks.  Three cups per day.


----------



## mmaria

Designer said:


> Black tea for me, thanks.  Three cups per day.


oh... I can't drink black tea...  green and other but not black


----------



## mmaria

ok.... another confession...

I was looking to c&c something... then I started to write my c&c on one photo and deleted it, then I started to c&c another photo.. and deleted it...

I'm not that much polite anymore! It became boring. This break from tpf did that!!!

No, really. I'll start to argue with someone over something. I want to argue over something!

I think this diet is doing this to me!

Yeah, it's not my fault, it's never my fault


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> ok.... another confession...
> 
> I was looking to c&c something... then I started to write my c&c on one photo and deleted it, then I started to c&c another photo.. and deleted it...
> 
> I'm not that much polite anymore! It became boring. This break from tpf did that!!!
> 
> No, really. I'll start to argue with someone over something. I want to argue over something!
> 
> I think this diet is doing this to me!
> 
> Yeah, it's not my fault, it's never my fault



Green tea sux! So there! How do you like that?


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Green tea sux! So there! How do you like that?


oh girl you're soooo wrong! 

you have no idea what are you talking about!


----------



## Rick58

Whoa...Green tea sucks? I think not.


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Green tea sux! So there! How do you like that?
> 
> 
> 
> oh girl you're soooo wrong!
> 
> you have no idea what are you talking about!
Click to expand...


I do, too! Coffee rulez and green tea droolz!

(Hey, you were the one who wanted to argue - me, I'm just making crap up    )


----------



## Designer

Let's see...politics, religion, and tea are right out, so how about we argue over diets?

Paleo all the way!

Your turn.


----------



## Rick58

limr said:


> Coffee rulez and green tea droolz!


oh man, you can tell she's a teacher


----------



## Gary A.

The world suks right now, the whole enchidlada. I'm getting sick. I think the other day has dragged me down after spending a couple of hours in the very cold, 4' deep pond working on stuff. Good Suckie morning Coffee Hosers. I just finished a cup of EmergenC. My physician tells me that there isn't any proof that Vitamin C provides any benefit for a cold, but I figured it could hurt.

I've been getting into teas of late. For my palette, I found teas to encompass a broader taste spectrum than coffee. The difference between a Sumatra and a Colombian Supremo isn't nearly as wide as the difference between an Oolong and a Sencha Matsuri. 

I have tons of driving today and I gotta get my day going ... so you Coffee Hosers ... Carry-On.


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> Yeah, it's not my fault, it's never my fault


Sure it is.  It's always your fault!


----------



## limr

Dude, Paleo? PALEO? 

Mediterranean, all day long!

Anyone who disagrees is clearly insecure and trying to make up for laziness and incompetence. 

(See what I did there? I made it almost impossible to argue back! It's a little trick I learned from bullies that are now on my Ignore list  )


----------



## pgriz

Ah, arguing is over-rated.  

Don't think the advocates of the Paleo diet really have thought about what the paleo diet was really like:  berries, roots, greens, occasional chunks of semi-spoiled scavenged gristle.  We owe our ideas of the paleo diet to Hollywood.  Reality was a lot less glamorous.  (Plus, the females didn't all wear fur bikinis.)


----------



## Designer

Does the Mediterranean include pasta?  If so, then it sux.  Maybe it sux anyway.  I do like olive oil, though.  But not if it's in a Mediterranean diet.


----------



## Designer

No fur bikinis?


----------



## pgriz

Designer said:


> No fur bikinis?



Well, if they had them, they were projecting into the future the western male obsession with mammaries.


----------



## pgriz

Designer said:


> Does the Mediterranean include pasta?  If so, then it sux.  Maybe it sux anyway.  I do like olive oil, though.  But not if it's in a Mediterranean diet.



Well, "pasta" covers a lot of ground.  Poorly cooked (usually overcooked) industrial pasta could be compared to industrial paste.  Properly-cooked fresh pasta, on the other hand, is probably one step removed from ambrosia.  We're fortunate to have several friends of italian background, and their pasta dishes are just amazing.  Plus they have introduced us to several shops where the real stuff is made and sold, and in photographic terms, you're comparing a Leica M9 to a Brownie with a busted hinge.  There's a reason why you can say "amazing" at least 20 different ways in Italian.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Mediterranean, all day long!



Yes to that!  I grew up on a modified version of it, and look at me, uh, wait maybe I'm not the best poster for it ...


----------



## snowbear

I like turtles.


----------



## limr

For the record, green tea is fine, you can eat whatever you want, and arguing is a silly endeavor, especially on the Internet.

Marija wanted a fight and I just wanted to make her happy and feel welcome even though she doesn't drink coffee anymore


----------



## Designer

Sorry I tried to interject some humor.


----------



## Rick58

snowbear said:


> I like turtles.


 
I like green turtles better then black turtles  Argument in 5,4,3,2,....


----------



## snowbear

I like these turtles.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> I like turtles.


I have turtles, lately, they have been getting trapped in the newly installed skimmer filter. Hopefully, and soon, they develop a learning pattern of not to enter the skimmer weir door,


----------



## pgriz

Designer said:


> Sorry I tried to interject some humor.



That can lead to seizures and convulsions if you don't use the right concentration.  Sheesh!


----------



## Gary A.

They're pretty good sized turtles too, around a foot or so in length. The girls, (my daughters), got them when they were about the size of a quarter.


----------



## limr

Everyone knows that tortoises are better


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Everyone knows that tortoises are better


Sounds like an offroad forum -- rock crawlers (tortoises) vs. mud boggers (turtles).  We can toss the beach riders (terrapins) in with the turtles.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Everyone knows that tortoises are better


 You really are looking for an argument.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Everyone knows that tortoises are better
> 
> 
> 
> You really are looking for an argument.
Click to expand...


I kid, I kid! I kid because I love

























..to kid!


----------



## snowbear

I LOVE the FitBit ad - the part toward the end ("Wheeeee").

Ah - found it.  I never noticed the "Holy $*!" at the very end.


----------



## BillM

I just skimmed through this and to sum it up someone is making turtle pasta salad and Maria is drinking green coffee, did I get it right ???


----------



## BillM

Have I mentioned how much I love my job ? Probably not. And for good reason. I like the big bags of money they send me but sometimes I'd like to sleep.


----------



## sashbar

Yes, Xmas Turtle stuffed with coffee beans. That's what I need.


----------



## BillM

then it looks like my speed reading courses were worth every penny


----------



## mmaria

I've just given dozens of likes! 


me happy! 

but I also want to argue!!!

so...


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> I do, too! Coffee rulez and green tea droolz!
> (Hey, you were the one who wanted to argue - me, I'm just making crap up    )


If you want to argue with me then don't make me smile!!!!


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, it's not my fault, it's never my fault
> 
> 
> 
> Sure it is.  It's always your fault!
Click to expand...

you Sir, want to argue with me!!!!??? 

I'll win, just so you know!


----------



## mmaria

Designer said:


> Let's see...politics, religion, and tea are right out, so how about we argue over diets?
> 
> Paleo all the way!
> 
> Your turn.


Are you sure you're going that way dude!!?

With me and Leo on the same side you're already loosing in arguing 

I'm on a diet similar to Paleo, I'm hungry and mad at Paleo and almost every food actually because I can eat MEAT and I DON'T EAT MEAT and eggs and green vegetables! 
That's it!!!! 


PALEO SUX!
BIG TIME!
AND I KNOW IT!!!!!


----------



## mmaria

pgriz said:


> Ah, arguing is over-rated.





limr said:


> For the record, green tea is fine, you can eat whatever you want, and arguing is a silly endeavor, especially on the Internet.


WHAT!? to hear that from you two!
over-rated, silly!!!!!!!!


But but I enjoyed every minute of this "arguing." Don't take that from me!!!!



limr said:


> Marija wanted a fight and I just wanted to make her happy and feel welcome even though she doesn't drink coffee anymore


awwww I knew I can count on you


----------



## mmaria

BillM said:


> I just skimmed through this and to sum it up someone is making turtle pasta salad and Maria is drinking green coffee, did I get it right ???


don't know about the turtle salad part but NO! I don't drink green coffee!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## mmaria

and..............

you're not going to hear a GOOD AFTERNOON from me today!!!


NO!!!!

























instead....


----------



## snowbear

Hello, argumentative sweetie.


----------



## mmaria

Good morning Charlie! 

This whole arguing thing was really nice... I'm done arguing for today. Must do this regularly. It's good for my health, you know, to let everything out....


----------



## snowbear

I understand; it's a way to relieve stress.  It's certainly better than smashing your computer screen with a big stick.


----------



## sm4him

Good morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

I keep going away, and waiting for someone to miss me. It doesn't seem to be working. 

I have just been trying to spend a lot more time with my mom right now--plus I have a lot of Christmas stuff left to do.  In fact, I have quite a long list still to finish up today (not shopping, except some groceries--but wrapping, finishing a couple of projects, baking, delivering some gifts to people, cleaning, packing stuff to take to Mom's...)--and so of course, I thought instead I'd get some coffee and get on TPF to join the hosers!


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> I keep going away, and waiting for someone to miss me. It doesn't seem to be working.



Hey I missed you 

TRUE!!!


----------



## sm4him

Thanks, Marija! It's always nice to be missed!!


----------



## sm4him

My last day of work for the YEAR was last Thursday! I don't go back until Jan. 5--had some vacation time that I had to use up or else I'd lose it.

I *was* going to take a trip to Florida after Christmas, but right now, I'm not sure if it's going to happen. My little convertible is sick and so far, I can't seem to find anywhere to take it that can look at it before I'd have to be leaving!  I didn't realize that Christmas was when everyone in my little city leaves their cars at the mechanic--or how many repair shop close for up to a week at Christmas!


----------



## snowbear

Of course we miss you, hon, but ya gotta post once in a while to get those messages!


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Thanks, Marija! It's always nice to be missed!!


Yeah it is.
I was gone also. 

Some people contacted me, some said some nice words when I came back. It's niceeee


----------



## snowbear

We took off today to get the shopping done -- my lovely wife got paid early, since she normally gets the check on Thursday.  We are back to work tomorrow and Friday.  We're taking off on the 30th because son #1's girlfriend is coming in from Oklahoma and we have to get her from the airport.


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, Marija! It's always nice to be missed!!
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah it is.
> I was gone also.
> 
> Some people contacted me, some said some nice words when I came back. It's niceeee
Click to expand...


I would have said nice words when you came back too--if I hadn't been gone.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> We took off today to get the shopping done -- my lovely wife got paid a day early, since she normally gets the check on Thursday.  We are back to work tomorrow and Friday.  We're taking off on the 30th because son #1's girlfriend is coming in from Oklahoma and we have to get her from the airport.




I still haven't even heard what eldest son's plan is; I know he'll be here on Christmas Day, but I'm really HOPING he is off tomorrow and maybe even the 26th so he'll actually have a little time here.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> I would have said nice words when you came back too--if I hadn't been gone.


awwwwwwwwwww


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> We took off today to get the shopping done -- my lovely wife got paid early, since she normally gets the check on Thursday.  We are back to work tomorrow and Friday.  We're taking off on the 30th because son #1's girlfriend is coming in from Oklahoma and we have to get her from the airport.



So, what do you do when your son's #2 girlfriend wants to be picked up as well?  We're still talking about the same son, right?


----------



## snowbear

I think you misplaced the apostrophe.   Any others can take the Metro & he can sort it out later.


----------



## pgriz

I kid, Charlie.  This kinda came up yesterday, as we (me, my wife and the daughters) were going through old boxes of "memories" and we were sorting out what to keep, what to throw out, and what (if any) the daughters wanted to hold on to.  We came across a box of letters my wife had from a number of suitors about the time that we started dating, and I think she had four or five in ardent pursuit.  Fortunately for me, she dropped the rest once she made her choice.  However, the daughters were surprised/agast/bemused/amused of thinking of their mom as an object of desire.  At the time though, I was kinda oblivious, and found out over time how many were after her, from the messages that her mom would give her:  "oh, so-and-so called again.  Wants to know why you're not calling back".


----------



## limr

SHARON!!!!!  

Good morning to the rest of you hosers!

Turtle soup? Green coffee? Coffee beans in a stuffed turtle? Y'all have been smoking the good stuff this morning, ain'tcha?


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> SHARON!!!!!
> 
> Good morning to the rest of you hosers!
> 
> Turtle soup? Green coffee? Coffee beans in a stuffed turtle? Y'all have been smoking the good stuff this morning, ain'tcha?



Morning, Lenny; I've missed our chats!

I read just enough of the last few pages (I'm no longer making myself read EVERY single missed post, but I still read a LOT of them) to make me kinda wonder if some of these folks have dropped down the rabbit hole.


----------



## pgriz

Morning, Leonore.  Morning, Sharon, if you're reading this.  Good afternoon, Marija - we missed you.  And your photography.  Morning Charlie.  Morning, Gary (that is, when you'll wake up and catch up with the banter on the east(ish) coast.  Morning Brian.  

Last night the home crowd was up till a ridiculous time talking, reminiscing, wrapping, sorting out old stuff, and are still sleeping.  I'm about to start my second cup of coffee.  And then, since it's still a work day, get busy with the stuff that needs to be taken care of today (invoicing, collecting, etc.).  We've also one roofing job partly completed, and the weather is not cooperating with snow, changing to freezing rain, changing to rain, changing to heavy rain (yep, all in the same day) in the forecast.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Morning, Lenny; I've missed our chats!



Me too! 



> I read just enough of the last few pages (I'm no longer making myself read EVERY single missed post, but I still read a LOT of them) to make me kinda wonder if some of these folks have dropped down the rabbit hole.



They were pushed


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> Morning, Leonore.  Morning, Sharon, if you're reading this.  Good afternoon, Marija - we missed you.  And your photography.  Morning Charlie.  Morning, Gary (that is, when you'll wake up and catch up with the banter on the east(ish) coast.  Morning Brian.
> 
> Last night the home crowd was up till a ridiculous time talking, reminiscing, wrapping, sorting out old stuff, and are still sleeping.  I'm about to start my second cup of coffee.  And then, since it's still a work day, get busy with the stuff that needs to be taken care of today (invoicing, collecting, etc.).  We've also one roofing job partly completed, and the weather is not cooperating with snow, changing to freezing rain, changing to rain, changing to heavy rain (yep, all in the same day) in the forecast.



That weather sounds dreadful!  Nice here yesterday; today and tomorrow it'll be grey and basically winter dreich, but at least it'll all be rain. Temperature of almost 60 today!
Colder by Christmas Day but clearing by then too. I can stand the cold a little better if there is no precipitation to go with it.

Well, about time to head out. Gotta go play Santa and bring a few gifts to a friend who has been out of town, then up to my church to collect a few things, deliver some photos to a "client" (friend for whom I took some photos), grocery shopping then back home to bake and work on finishing up some DIY gifts.


----------



## limr

Today's activities: cat shelter, then home to change clothes, then several errands to do in the afternoon before everyone gets out of work and things start going crazy in stores and on the roads. I did some shopping yesterday and meant to get all the errands done but my brother showed up unexpectedly (he lives in North Carolina) and I went to lunch with him and my mother. 

His wife, of course, wasn't there. She's decided that we're all devils. I can't even get started on that story. It's long and boring and would involve many many curse words - unless I start getting more creative and using terms like "shrieking harpy" - and it can all be boiled down to my brother getting just one afternoon with his mother and one sister as his entire allotted Christmas family time. Some of this is his own unwillingness to stand up to her, so it's not like it has to be this way, but it doesn't change the fact that he's in a tough spot.

Man, did I somehow get an Irish coffee this morning? I normally don't get this chatty about family stuff - or anything, really - unless I'm drinking!


----------



## KenC

Just kind of wet and dreary here, actually a little warm for the season, but the dampness makes it feel cold (at least to me).  It's supposed to be 60 tomorrow, so everyone is getting weird weather.

I have to figure out a Christmas Eve dinner for five people (it's an extremely long story - we never do this).  I have recipes but need to get ingredients, which should be crazy today.  I'm hoping to do it this afternoon.  For now, I'm at work (with coffee of course) - decided to save some vacation for next year so I'm in a few days from now til January.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> unless I start getting more creative and using terms like "shrieking harpy"



This almost made me spit coffee at work, which I do feel like doing at times, but that's a different thing ...


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> unless I start getting more creative and using terms like "shrieking harpy"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This almost made me spit coffee at work, which I do feel like doing at times, but that's a different thing ...
Click to expand...


Glad I could help 

I find that the word 'harpy' is woefully under-utilized these days.


----------



## snerd

Greetings from Arkansas!! A friend lost a tooth last night, so we're sitting in the dentist office this morning!! It's rained for 2 days now.  People drive funny out here......... Idiots lol!!!

Back to you guys!



Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## bribrius

out Christmas shopping last night again. Strange because at first you are concentrating on the money aspect and being a good consumer for your dollar. But after a few hours of stores and people you stop caring and just whip out the visa because you want to get the hell out of there and go home.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> out Christmas shopping last night again. Strange because at first you are concentrating on the money aspect and being a good consumer for your dollar. But after a few hours of stores and people you stop caring and just whip out the visa because you want to get the hell out of there and go home.



This is why early online shopping is your friend!

I despise being in the stores at this time of year. I will avoid it at any cost and if I must do it, I will not go in the evening or weekends.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> This is why early online shopping is your friend!.


This!!! It's what I've done the last few years. This year I hit the stores just for the exercise!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Today's activities: cat shelter, then home to change clothes, then several errands to do in the afternoon before everyone gets out of work and things start going crazy in stores and on the roads. I did some shopping yesterday and meant to get all the errands done but my brother showed up unexpectedly (he lives in North Carolina) and I went to lunch with him and my mother.
> 
> His wife, of course, wasn't there. She's decided that we're all devils. I can't even get started on that story. It's long and boring and would involve many many curse words - unless I start getting more creative and using terms like "shrieking harpy" - and it can all be boiled down to my brother getting just one afternoon with his mother and one sister as his entire allotted Christmas family time. Some of this is his own unwillingness to stand up to her, so it's not like it has to be this way, but it doesn't change the fact that he's in a tough spot.
> 
> Man, did I somehow get an Irish coffee this morning? I normally don't get this chatty about family stuff - or anything, really - unless I'm drinking!



Oh my goodness, your brother is married to the SAME WOMAN *my* brother is married to!!  "Shrieking harpy" would be about the kindest thing I could say about my brother's wife. This is his second wife; the first one is crazy and bipolar (AND is intentional. I consider being bipolar to simply be a medical condition. But she is Crazy AND Bipolar). But she is at least nice, for the most part, and made efforts to fit in to the family, and still reaches out and communicates with us.
His second wife has no medical condition as an excuse, she is just crazy and hateful. She is an absolutely miserable example of a human being.


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> Just kind of wet and dreary here, actually a little warm for the season, but the dampness makes it feel cold (at least to me).  It's supposed to be 60 tomorrow, so everyone is getting weird weather.
> 
> I have to figure out a Christmas Eve dinner for five people (it's an extremely long story - we never do this).  I have recipes but need to get ingredients, which should be crazy today.  I'm hoping to do it this afternoon.  For now, I'm at work (with coffee of course) - decided to save some vacation for next year so I'm in a few days from now til January.



We don't do a "traditional" dinner for Christmas Eve; we never have. We do Potato soup and Chili, with bread and some other fixings. Delicious, filling, and easy!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> out Christmas shopping last night again. Strange because at first you are concentrating on the money aspect and being a good consumer for your dollar. But after a few hours of stores and people you stop caring and just whip out the visa because you want to get the hell out of there and go home.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is why early online shopping is your friend!
> 
> I despise being in the stores at this time of year. I will avoid it at any cost and if I must do it, I will not go in the evening or weekends.
Click to expand...


I'm not a shopper anyway, at any time of the year, and I *despise* crowds, so I'd rather have a dozen root canals at once than go shopping at Christmas time. 

I do most of my shopping online. But, I do also like to support some of our smaller, local stores so once it's this close to Christmas, I get up and go out as early as the stores are open, and get done before the buy-crazy hordes have even gotten out of bed.


----------



## limr

Sharon, I think our brothers really did marry the same woman! The last time they spent Christmas with us, we were all being nice very nice, probably even extra nice because we knew she was giving my brother a hard time and we didn't want to make things harder for him. Her response was to go into another room after dinner and cry for an hour because, as she told my brother, "they're being horrible! They even got us presents even when I specifically said not to because we aren't giving them gifts!"


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Running late, I got hit with a cold last night. Doin' better today. Presently, at 11:00 a.m. it is 70F here. Okay, we have horrific traffic and housing is extremely expensive ... but I think it's all worthwhile. Gotta wrap the last presents, adios hosers.


----------



## Designer

Reading about those sisters-in-law I realize that my immediate family is in pretty good shape. (After a few bumpy years long past.)

My DIL's family is nearly completely dysfunctional however.  

So God Bless Us Everyone!

Merry Christmas!  

Happy Hanukah!

Namaste!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Sharon, I think our brothers really did marry the same woman! The last time they spent Christmas with us, we were all being nice very nice, probably even extra nice because we knew she was giving my brother a hard time and we didn't want to make things harder for him. Her response was to go into another room after dinner and cry for an hour because, as she told my brother, "they're being horrible! They even got us presents even when I specifically said not to because we aren't giving them gifts!"



Yep, definitely the same one!

M.A. (my brother's wife) basically just refuses to acknowledge our presence. She refused to even marry my brother until his second-oldest daughter had left home, because she "hates" her (her own words, not mine). Seems like you'd get a CLUE and not marry a woman who HATES one of your children...

Two years ago at Christmas, she got p.o.'ed at one of my nieces so she made manipulated things so that on Christmas morning, there was something for everyone EXCEPT this one niece. Not just from her, but period.  It was not long after that, we ended up letting that niece move up here and live with a brother here. She and the other niece who lives here (who also left home, about 8 or 9 years ago, partly because of this woman) don't even go there for Christmas now.
THEN M.A. had the NERVE to scream at my mother, when she came to visit, because she says my mother "doesn't appreciate" all the many wonderful things she's supposedly done to help raise my brother's children.  Well, if that includes singling a child out to leave out of Christmas, no I don't really appreciate that sort of "help" raising a kid.  

Oh, she also took the same kid's car keys away and SOLD the car, because she was "doing drugs." She was taking the PRESCRIPTION medication her doctor had given her, AS he had prescribed it.


----------



## limr

The one consolation is that there are no kids involved. That would have made things so much worse and those kids would have been screwed.

There was a time a few years back that she and my brother moved into my mother's house when I was also living there. This woman took over and started bossing everyone around as if it were her house. She also started getting really passive-aggressive. For example, if I left something of mine somewhere that she didn't approve of, she'd throw it to the floor. 

One day I finally snapped. I had some espresso cups I'd brought back from Portugal and they needed to be hand washed. She didn't like that I didn't wash the cup immediately after using it and kept putting the cup in the dishwasher. Whenever I came back to wash the cup, I had to keep taking it out of the dishwasher. One day, the dishwasher had already been run and my cup was chipped really bad and I went off on her. She started getting really nasty, talking about how I kept breaking "house rules."

That fight ended when she crossed a line and I threw coffee in her face. It is one of the high points of my life. And no, the coffee wasn't hot, but I made it clear to her that if she ever talked to me that way again, the cup would be hitting her instead of just the liquid.


----------



## oldhippy

Open up a can of woo pass on her. Did ya .  Lol. Ed


----------



## minicoop1985

I can has the cold. Hot cocoa and nap kinda day.


----------



## pgriz

Oh man.  After reading Sharon's and Leonore's experiences am I ever glad I married the woman I did.  She has four siblings, and we have lots of help and support from all of them.  I love my mother-in-law, and my mom considers my wife to be "her" daughter.  When we're travelling, we're usually staying at one or the other's houses.  Before the kids were grown up, our wills had the kids looked after one of the other couples.  So this animosity that I'm reading about is really alien.  Reason #5,398 why marrying my wife was a good idea.


----------



## limr

oldhippy said:


> Open up a can of woo pass on her. Did ya .  Lol. Ed



You know it!


----------



## BillM

I just bought a big bag of really good chocolate to take to my sisters house on Christmas day. You know that old saying about you can pick your friends but you can't pick your family. If I did get to pick my family I don't think I could have done better than what I have. Well I would have made room for a Cowboys cheerleader or 3, i'm not greedy, but that's a whole nother story for another day. Merry Christmas everyone


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> Oh man.  After reading Sharon's and Leonore's experiences am I ever glad I married the woman I did.  She has four siblings, and we have lots of help and support from all of them.  I love my mother-in-law, and my mom considers my wife to be "her" daughter.  When we're travelling, we're usually staying at one or the other's houses.  Before the kids were grown up, our wills had the kids looked after one of the other couples.  So this animosity that I'm reading about is really alien.  Reason #5,398 why marrying my wife was a good idea.



This woman is really the first and only instance of this kind of strained relationship we've ever had to deal with in our family as well.  My other two sister-in-laws are/were (one passed away) truly like sisters. There's five of us kids, plus two cousins who grew up next door to us, all the spouses and then the nieces/nephews, etc. 
In my family, there are staunch liberals, ultra conservatives, Christians, Agnostics, New Age, country-loving, city-loving, highly educated and barely-got-through high school sorts. Some of us have ADHD, OCD, Bipolar disorder, depression--we pretty much embody the saying about the South, "we don't hide the crazy in our family, we sit it out on the front porch, give it iced tea and let it wave at everybody."
And in ALL of that diversity and dysfunction, we have NEVER have any issues getting along and just loving each other.

That's what makes this one particular woman all the worse. I truly do not understand how my brother came to the conclusion that marrying her would be a good plan. 

Honestly, I basically just completely ignore the exist of M.A. for the most part. On the rare occasion where I have to deal with her (she usually just refuses to even come to family gatherings), I am polite and try to make it a point to talk to her, but it's always short and sweet, and then she finds some way to disappear.

Life is just too short to let her bitterness affect me, so I just enjoy the time I have with the rest of my family, and let her choose her own path, and my brother too.


----------



## sm4him

BillM said:


> I just bought a big bag of really good chocolate to take to my sisters house on Christmas day. You know that old saying about you can pick your friends but you can't pick your family. *If I did get to pick my family I don't think I could have done better than what I have*. Well I would have made room for a Cowboys cheerleader or 3, i'm not greedy, but that's a whole nother story for another day. Merry Christmas everyone



With the exception of the crazy, mean *itch, I would definitely say the same. And I wouldn't even add a Cowboys cheerleader or 3. But I might add the Mannings.


----------



## bribrius

high point of my day. Bought a little infrared heater at a local mardens for 49.99 marked down from a hundred and something. Not sure how well it works but for now at least i can say i managed to have a good moment of glee. i know, how pathetic..


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just kind of wet and dreary here, actually a little warm for the season, but the dampness makes it feel cold (at least to me).  It's supposed to be 60 tomorrow, so everyone is getting weird weather.
> 
> I have to figure out a Christmas Eve dinner for five people (it's an extremely long story - we never do this).  I have recipes but need to get ingredients, which should be crazy today.  I'm hoping to do it this afternoon.  For now, I'm at work (with coffee of course) - decided to save some vacation for next year so I'm in a few days from now til January.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We don't do a "traditional" dinner for Christmas Eve; we never have. We do Potato soup and Chili, with bread and some other fixings. Delicious, filling, and easy!
Click to expand...


Yeah, sounds like it would be all three.  As far as "traditional" that could be an interesting exercise, considering that the five people are from four different traditions.  I'll go with some nice salmon and some interesting sides and we'll be good.


----------



## Gary A.

BillM said:


> I just bought a big bag of really good chocolate to take to my sisters house on Christmas day. You know that old saying about you can pick your friends but you can't pick your family. If I did get to pick my family I don't think I could have done better than what I have. Well I would have made room for a Cowboys cheerleader or 3, i'm not greedy, but that's a whole nother story for another day. Merry Christmas everyone


My college G/F's were cheerleaders. Probably should have married them.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> high point of my day. Bought a little infrared heater at a local mardens for 49.99 marked down from a hundred and something. Not sure how well it works but for now at least i can say i managed to have a good moment of glee. i know, how pathetic..


My oldest daughter and her family came over for some early celebrations, We had dinner in the patio ... in shirt sleeves. Tamales, enchiladas, rice, beans and a great pinot noir. I sorta wish all you hosers were here to share in the good weather, fine food and drink.


----------



## limr

My SIL is the only one who has ever caused this much tension. There was a little bit of friction with my sister's husband, but that was different. He's not a a bad person but just has a personality that sometimes clashed until folks started understanding him a little better. Otherwise, all five of us kids have always gotten along well with each other. My oldest sister's husband is pretty awesome and fit in right from the first, and everyone seems to like Buzz. My other sister has been with her boyfriend for 10+ years and he gets along fine. But my SIL - she was friends with my sister first (same college major) and that's how my brother met her. 

As for cheerleaders...meh, they're overrated 

Gary, your pre-holiday dinner sounds lovely! We were there in spirit


----------



## pgriz

Found out today that there are two Christmas dinners (maybe even 3).  One at our house tomorrow (16 people), another at my sister/brother-in-laws house (18 people) on Christmas, and I think we may have still another in Ontario at my other sister/brother-in-laws house on Saturday.  Then there's another Christmas dinner for those who celebrate Christmas using the Julian calendar.  This of course, will be followed by one month of fasting and boot-camp exercise regime.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> As for cheerleaders...meh, they're overrated


Well, there was Kirsten Dunst, in _Bring It On!_


----------



## minicoop1985

I dated a former college cheerleader. Most tattooed woman I've known, I think. Was an.... interesting experience. Batsh*t crazy.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Found out today that there are two Christmas dinners (maybe even 3).  One at our house tomorrow (16 people), another at my sister/brother-in-laws house (18 people) on Christmas, and I think we may have still another in Ontario at my other sister/brother-in-laws house on Saturday.  Then there's another Christmas dinner for those who celebrate Christmas using the Julian calendar.  This of course, will be followed by one month of fasting and boot-camp exercise regime.



That's a lot of dinners!

We spend Christmas Eve at my sister's house. There are usually...damn, I have to count now...9 people there. When my brother and harpy were coming, that made 11. Then I usually spend Christmas Day with Buzz's family. There are 8 people involved, though 2 of those people are small children and so it always feels a lot more crowded and chaotic than it really is.

In both places, there will be wine. Oh yes, there will be wine.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> In both places, there will be wine. Oh yes, there will be wine.


MIL's here.  Pretty traditional type of meal with the nieces, nephews and a few other in-laws. And we will have _whine_.


----------



## tirediron

The best Christmas Dinner (especially when eaten alone)!


----------



## bribrius

i never have Christmas with my wife It is great. since I cant stand her family and they hate me, and she cant stand my family and my family despises her. we separate every holiday and split the kids and go our separate ways. it is freakn great though she doesn't seem to like it. Been doing it ever since we separated from before. I really like having the day with my family without having her around. And well, my family pretty much hates her guts.  I am thinking of making my birthday a holiday too.


----------



## snowbear

Well, I caused enough damage in a couple other threads, so . . . g'nite.


----------



## mmaria

[QUOTE="pgriz, post: 3395629, member: 68030"Good afternoon, Marija - we missed you.  And your photography.  [/QUOTE]
awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
just aaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww


----------



## mmaria




----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


>



And to you too, Marija!

Already had 3 cups of coffee (or maybe 4, I've lost count), made two batches of Ha' Penny snacks (they are a delicious little cheesy cookie kind of thing that my mom has made since forever), two batches of caramel corn, started a couple of vegan batches of the Ha' Pennies for my son, and started some Cheesy Potato Bread, which is now starting its first rise.

Still need to wrap presents, start the potato soup, cook at least one more batch of caramel corn, bake the vegan Ha' Pennies, pack up everything that has to go to my mom's AND somewhere in there try to practice the song we are singing in our Christmas Eve service at church. 

Eldest son headed here this morning sometime.
After I go sing at the church service, we'll head to my mom's--Christmas Eve there, and then we'll have Christmas Day at what we call the Crystal Palace--it's my brother's house, but my brother doesn't live there, lol. My niece and her husband, and my son and his girlfriend live there.

Just 11 people this year. We used to have 20+, but after my dad passed and then my sister-in-law just a couple of years ago, we have had to reinvent our Christmas traditions.

We used to gather on Christmas Eve and sing carols. I don't really know why, because most of my family cannot stay on key or in rhythm, so it wasn't always pretty. But we loved it.  Each person, starting with the youngest and moving to the oldest, picked what they wanted to sing. I had a book printed with a bunch of songs to choose from and we pulled this out every year.
Of course, there was also a lot of talking, reminiscing, and drinking. LOTS of drinking. Because when my family starts singing, you WANT to be drunk. 

In the last three years, we've struggled to find the "right" new tradition.  This year, we're going to have dinner, then play some games.  And talk. And drink.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> My SIL is the only one who has ever caused this much tension. There was a little bit of friction with my sister's husband, but that was different. He's not a a bad person but just has a personality that sometimes clashed until folks started understanding him a little better. Otherwise, all five of us kids have always gotten along well with each other. My oldest sister's husband is pretty awesome and fit in right from the first, and everyone seems to like Buzz. My other sister has been with her boyfriend for 10+ years and he gets along fine. But my SIL - she was friends with my sister first (same college major) and that's how my brother met her.
> 
> As for cheerleaders...meh, they're overrated
> 
> Gary, your pre-holiday dinner sounds lovely! We were there in spirit



It was very pleasant. Young Luke, (5 y/o), played around the pond and went fishing, helped me move Monarch caterpillars from spent Milkweed to Milkweed with more leaves. We discovered a number of chrysalis. All in all a very pleasant and enjoyable day ... even though it started badly. Sarah and family live in St. Louis and brought out a bottle of St. Louis wine and a Luke and Claire hand painted coffee mug as part of the Christmas gifts. Luke accidently knocked them out of the car and both items shattered on the driveway. But, we survived and the rest of the day went well. I managed to get through the day on over the counter cold medicines but I paying the price today.

As to your cheerleader comment ... after giving it some thought .... naahhhhh.


----------



## BillM




----------



## otherprof

limr said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leonore, let me guess...  you were in the Hudson Highlands, and the point in your image is West Point?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bingo! Get that man a prize
> 
> I love the Hudson Valley.
Click to expand...

Does anyone remember the Bolderburg Manor, which was a restaurant in an old mansion, the first poured concrete building in NY State? I believe the first owner/builder made a fortune in concrete at that spot. It was a lovely spot, and the restaurant bathrooms were the old mansion's bathrooms, so I guess you could take a bath in a claw-footed tub in a number of them.


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm stuck in the hospital over Christmas. Yay. The coffee here is terrible.


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, all.  I got to work this morning and I had presents waiting for me -- a new computer, and four 24" monitors!  Of course, I have to put everything together, but that's minor.  They let us go early, so I'll play with everything on Friday.



sm4him said:


> In the last three years, we've struggled to find the "right" new tradition.


Maybe you can come up with something that involves black ink, dishwashing detergent, and the b@ts#!t b!tc#s in your life - the boss and the SIL.


----------



## snowbear

Hello Marija (if you're still here - it's probably 10 or 11 where you are).


----------



## BillM

minicoop1985 said:


> I'm stuck in the hospital over Christmas. Yay. The coffee here is terrible.



Sorry to hear that, here's hoping the new year is better for you


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> I'm stuck in the hospital over Christmas. Yay. The coffee here is terrible.


Yes, sorry to hear this.  Nothing too serious, I hope.


----------



## pgriz

First dinner, Christmas Eve...  Good food, good company.  Sang carols, took turns doing readings.  Told stories, played some more music.Talked deep stuff, talked humorous stuff, talked nonsense.  Merry Christmas to all.


----------



## snowbear

Merry Christmas / Joyeux Noël.  A very hectic day, started bad, ended fine, emailed my TPF Secret Santa photo out; waiting for the Benadryl to kick in.  Peace to all - stay safe and keep warm if you're in the colder areas.


----------



## mmaria




----------



## snowbear

Merry Christmas & good afternoon, Marija!


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Merry Christmas & good afternoon, Marija!



Good Morning Charlie!

Merry Christmas to you!  (it's not my Christmas )

... but anyway, I'm kind of immune on holiday joy, emotions and similar. I don't catch Holiday's spirit.

I'm joyful, nice to others and such trough the whole year


----------



## limr

Merry Christmas, Marija and Charlie! 

And to the rest of you hosers!


----------



## snowbear

LENNY!!!!!  Same to you and Buzz.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Merry Christmas, Marija and Charlie!
> 
> And to the rest of you hosers!


Merry Christmas to you and A and mother and sisters and...!  (Oh you haven't seen my previous post)


----------



## snowbear

January 7?


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> January 7?


yup


----------



## limr

Well, still a Merry Christmas to you, Marija - I'm just saying it really really early


----------



## snowbear

Yes.  And we will catch you again in two weeks.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Well, still a Merry Christmas to you, Marija - I'm just saying it really really early



How could I not see that!!!!???

It's the diet! I blame the diet!
Me hungry!


About the diet, like seriously... I lost some weight (don't want to be skinny but I'll be skinny in a few days/weeks), I look good (yeah, I look good ) I feel better than I ever felt during these past few years!
I'm going to beat this monstrous little thing!


but... I'm hungry


----------



## mmaria

and... 
look what Ron Evers posted!!! 
Let it rise overnight | Photography Forum

He just hates me!


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, still a Merry Christmas to you, Marija - I'm just saying it really really early
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How could I not see that!!!!???
> 
> It's the diet! I blame the diet!
> Me hungry!
> 
> 
> About the diet, like seriously... I lost some weight (don't want to be skinny but I'll be skinny in a few days/weeks), I look good (yeah, I look good ) I feel better than I ever felt during these past few years!
> I'm going to beat this monstrous little thing!
> 
> 
> but... I'm hungry
Click to expand...




I almost wish I were hungry, but I think I'm still a little full from last night!  Though to be fair, it was less about the quantity and more about the kind of food my sister served. Heavy. Good, but heavy.


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> and...
> look what Ron Evers posted!!!
> Let it rise overnight | Photography Forum
> 
> He just hates me!


 
Let's hope Ed doesn't post a picture of his bread today, too!

In other news....OMG I finally sneezed!!! All day yesterday, it kept teasing me, and finally, just now...WHEW! Merry Christmas to me!


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> About the diet, like seriously... I lost some weight (don't want to be skinny but I'll be skinny in a few days/weeks), I look good (yeah, I look good ) I feel better than I ever felt during these past few years!
> I'm going to beat this monstrous little thing!



I promise that I will NOT post photos of food today - none of the pies, none of cookies, not even the drinks.  I will not post any of that today.

So you might want to stay offline tomorrow.  



limr said:


> In other news....OMG I finally sneezed!!!


I'm not going there.  I was already sent to the corner once, this week.


----------



## fotomonkey

Anyone else's head hurt from staying up too late wrapping? Come on coffee, do your thing!

Merry Christmas!


----------



## snowbear

We didn't wrap last night.  Since we are not "having" Christmas here (we don't have little kids) we are wrapping this morning before we head out to MIL's.

I'm on cup number two - trying to recover from last night's Benadryl coma.


----------



## limr

fotomonkey said:


> Anyone else's head hurt from staying up too late wrapping? Come on coffee, do your thing!
> 
> Merry Christmas!



Merry Christmas! 

I also don't have little kids...or any kids, for that matter  ...so I didn't wrap last night. Too tired and kind of headachy. We do Christmas Eve at my sister's with my family, so I wrapped their presents in the afternoon. Today, I spend with my boyfriend's family, so I'll wrap theirs in a little while. I had every intention of wrapping days ago to get it done early. Alas!


----------



## snowbear

Oh, and Marija.  For you and the other ladies here on TPF:  I think you look pretty good with or without a diet.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> fotomonkey said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone else's head hurt from staying up too late wrapping? Come on coffee, do your thing!
> 
> Merry Christmas!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Merry Christmas!
> 
> I also don't have little kids...or any kids, for that matter  ...so I didn't wrap last night. Too tired and kind of headachy. We do Christmas Eve at my sister's with my family, so I wrapped their presents in the afternoon. Today, I spend with my boyfriend's family, so I'll wrap theirs in a little while. I had every intention of wrapping days ago to get it done early. Alas!
Click to expand...


Lenny - we actually didn't get any real shopping done until last night; it's been a less than ideal year.  We won't see the nieces and their families until New Years (too much drama in that story to go in to it) so we'll catch theirs this weekend.


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> - trying to recover from last night's Benadryl coma.



How many do you take?

I take two at bedtime.


----------



## snowbear

A good swig of the liquid.


----------



## Designer

Oh, I didn't know it came in liquid form.

Hey, maybe that is why I can't seem to get going until around 09:00.


----------



## bribrius

Christmas morning. kids dragged me out of bed. lol  Can tell it is Christmas because I cant see the floor it is filled with ripped up wrapping paper mess and oddly quiet as they check out their new stuff..... LOL.


----------



## Gary A.

Feliz Navidad Coffee Hosers ... I am sick. Yesterday I was so sick I thought about dying but decided I wasn't up to it. Today I am better.


----------



## snowbear

Feliz Navidad, Gary. Get better.


----------



## sashbar

Get well soon Gary.


----------



## tirediron

mmaria said:


> and...
> look what Ron Evers posted!!!
> Let it rise overnight | Photography Forum
> 
> He just hates me!


He's also this close >< to getting banned!


----------



## fotomonkey

The mayhem is over! I have a 9-y-o son who I surprisingly beat waking up this morning. He loaded up on Legos and is bowling with his new Wii right now.

Keurig to the rescue. More coffee!

The happiest boy.






Btw, is the world supposed to dim and you feel lightheaded after playing Wii boxing?


----------



## minicoop1985

Merry Christmas hosers! So glad to be saying that from somewhere other than the blasted hospital.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> Merry Christmas hosers! So glad to be saying that from somewhere other than the blasted hospital.


And to you; glad you're out of there!


----------



## snerd

fotomonkey said:


> .......... I have a 9-y-o son who I surprisingly beat waking up this morning.........


You should be fully awake before beating any child.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Feliz Navidad Coffee Hosers ... I am sick. Yesterday I was so sick I thought about dying but decided I wasn't up to it. Today I am better.



Oh, get better, Tio! I wasn't sick, but I've had a headache since last night. Not _too _bad, but not really pleasant either. It's the kind that's only on the left side.



fotomonkey said:


> The mayhem is over! I have a 9-y-o son who I surprisingly beat waking up this morning. He loaded up on Legos and is bowling with his new Wii right now.
> 
> Keurig to the rescue. More coffee!
> 
> The happiest boy.



Happy pup!  What's his name?



> Btw, is the world supposed to dim and you feel lightheaded after playing Wii boxing?



Sounds like you're doing it right 



minicoop1985 said:


> Merry Christmas hosers! So glad to be saying that from somewhere other than the blasted hospital.



Glad you're out of there!


----------



## limr

So, hosers, how'd you do? Any fun photo toys?

I got some film, including a pack of Impossible Project film so I can finally test out my SX-70 folder. Got a bio of Robert Capa and realized that he is buried in a cemetery only about 15 minutes from my house! So I'll be visiting that soon. And I got a Colormunki Smile to calibrate my monitor.

I also got a Polaroid back (peel-apart, even!) for my 645....sooooooo jammin' excited about that!

And speaking of Polaroids, Buzz got me a book on the Polaroids of Andre Kertesz. Here are some images: andre kertesz polaroids - Google Search

They were taken starting in about 1979 - 2 years after his wife died - and continued until his death in 1985. He was devastated by his wife's death and finally worked through his grief through photographing with an SX-70, which was apparently given to him by Graham Nash. The photos are just so so beautiful and heartbreaking. It's the kind of photography that I find inspiring.


----------



## snowbear

Good evening, peeps.  We are back home.  It was a decent evening without any stress or drama.  I took one snap, but I have to go over it in LR, first so I'll toss it up tomorrow night, after work.

Hoping everyone had a good day.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Good evening, peeps.  We are back home.  It was a decent evening without any stress or drama.  I took one snap, but I have to go over it in LR, first so I'll toss it up tomorrow night, after work.
> 
> Hoping everyone had a good day.



Always good to be drama free! My day was also pretty low key and pleasant. Rushed a little bit getting the pie cooked in time and presents wrapped, but it wasn't too bad and by 1:30, all I had to do was open presents and eat 

By the way, tomorrow is officially declared "Floppage Day" in my house. My only obligation? Flop. Preferably with kittens and hot chocolate. Feel free to celebrate it at your own houses if you can!


----------



## snowbear

We will go in tomorrow.  I don't have a lot scheduled: I'll get the running order of my fire stations to 600 "boxes" or locations.  While that is working on the laptop, I'll finish putting together the new desktop and start testing that.  After tomorrow, we are off four days.  Next week, I'll work Wednesday and Friday.

I got a few Amazon gift cards so I'm window shopping.  I have one duplicate that I'll exchange tomorrow night.  Lazy Lobster got me good -- I have a print of a kitty looking into the TARDIS, and a set of buttons with kitties depicting all the Doctors!


----------



## snerd

I'm still out in Hog country! Have seen lots of old friends and ex family members....... having a good time! I got an Amazon gift card, a few boxes of .45 plinking ammo, 3 great Christmas dinners and a Tactical 5.11 XBT A2 flashlight, among other things......






Merry Christmas, Hosers!


----------



## pgriz

Dinner #2 done.  Morning started with - no, not gifts.  Apparently all three daughters crawled back home 5-ish Thursday morning, and weren't exactly bright-eyed and bush-tailed.  So first order of business was to get sleeping bodies sufficiently awake to navigate hallways and doorways.  Kinda succeeded.  Plus at least one (admitted) wicked hangover.  For which the antidote was... bacon.  Funny how bacon is the answer to those questions.  Anyways, after bacon, gift-opening could happen, and apparently everyone got more than they expected/or felt that they deserved.  Lunch was french toast and fruit salad.  More family came.  More gift-giving and opening.  Then we went to my sister/brother-in-law...  more gift giving/opening... and food and drink.  Lots of.  Then charades.  Then deep discussions.  Then dinner.  Then more deep discussions.  Yep, Christmas this year has been good.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Oh, and Marija.  For you and the other ladies here on TPF:  I think you look pretty good with or without a diet.


awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

soooooooooo true! 

but still... I look gooood


----------



## mmaria

ok... so I see you all had a great time! Glad for you!


Meanwhile, I'm still hungry and I didn't get anything yesterday!


----------



## snowbear

Awwwww.  Here you go, Marija.


----------



## snowbear

A quick snap from yesterday: Amber and Lance made it in from Ohio.  Lance is our (actually Miriam's) nephew.  He is an artist and amateur magician, and has designed a few decks of playing & magician's cards for Bicycle.  Amber is an interior designer and general artist.  It was really good seeing them this year.  We will catch up to the nieces on Jan. 1.


----------



## pgriz

Hi Marija!  Since we have a mixed-faith marriage, we as a family celebrate Christmas on both calendars (gregorian and julian).  It gets a bit complicated when fasting is involved, but we've managed to adapt without too many issues.  So on January 7th, I will wish you a Merry Christmas, and join you in its celebration.  

I've an staff party to preside over today (it was going to be too complicated to do it before the holidays, so we all decided it was easier AFTER, once we got family obligations out of the way).  Then there are relatives to visit in Ontario, and then there's the organizing for the New Year's celebrations.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Awwwww.  Here you go, Marija.
> 
> View attachment 91824


Thanks! Now I'm happy again 




pgriz said:


> Hi Marija!  Since we have a mixed-faith marriage, we as a family celebrate Christmas on both calendars (gregorian and julian).  It gets a bit complicated when fasting is involved, but we've managed to adapt without too many issues.  So on January 7th, I will wish you a Merry Christmas, and join you in its celebration.


and somehow, now I'm even happier


----------



## mmaria

on a serious note... I'm in the commission for inventory.

Extremely boring job, but this year is even more complicated because we moved in the new building and bought tones of new stuff, while on the other hand, tones of other stuff are lost in the process. So me no happy at all.

But but but but... I work with a woman I've never worked before but she kind of liked me because I finally got her a new computer (she was begging her bosses for years and nothing, until I came) 

so.... I'm working on a very boring and complicated task with M. Why I'm telling you all this? Because it turned out that we are great together. it's a pleasure to work with her. Effectively, efficiently and with a smile! 
I was going to tell her that she made this task much easier for me. Instead, an hour earlier, she told me similar! And she told me bunch of nice things and asked me did I feel the same.

I'm just .... aaaawwwwwwwwwww

That's very rare for me to happen. Usually I don't have the patience needed when working with someone. Me managing things is ok.

But she is everything I would like my coworker to be. Thanks M!


----------



## pgriz

So, Marija, you DID get a Christmas present.  A friendly, capable co-worker.


----------



## mmaria

pgriz said:


> So, Marija, you DID get a Christmas present.  A friendly, capable co-worker.


yeah... I was going to write that but I forgot.

It's interesting how these little things can make your day better.


----------



## KenC

Morning, Hosers!  Back to work for a day that feels like Monday even though it's Friday (or something).  Christmas Eve dinner went well, got stuffed, have lots of leftovers, etc.  Working on my morning coffee and snack now and waiting to hear from the people who are going to unclog my drain at home - no connection to the dinner, I think.


----------



## Designer

Hey, good morning everyone!  This is Friday, Dec. 26, before breakfast.

I received a LED "speedlight" attachment, for which I thanked "Santa", but will return it.  

I was informed yesterday that I am expected to make some photographs during the family gathering today, so I put the batteries on the charger and carried a couple of armloads of stuff into the dining room.  I need to take a few practice shots to see how it is all going to work.  

Today is our family thing, including a feast co-prepared by me, my wife, our son, and DIL.  

Later.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, Hosers. I got nothing photo related, but my son got a ton of stuff. Wife and I don't get each other anything, so that works. My big present was being home for the holiday after all.


----------



## limr

Floppage Day is off to a very solid start. It's 10:42 and I'm still in my pyjamas. I might be forced out of the house later to get cat food, and I probably should do laundry, or at least start it, but these things aren't bad enough to ruin Floppage Day for me. The headache is a bit more problematic, though it also gives me a good excuse for the Floppage so I can avoid any lingering feelings of guilt over my planned lack of productivity.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Floppage Day...........


No bra, huh?!  

I'm still laying in bed at the Hotel. It's almost 10am!! I can hear the cleaning people headed this way, I'd better get up and at it!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Floppage Day...........
> 
> 
> 
> No bra, huh?!
Click to expand...


D'oh!


----------



## minicoop1985

LOL floppage day. I got my bra on, not sure what you guys do. Wait... crap.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Hosers. I and The Appleton Guy are still around and kicking. For me it was 50:50 for a while there.  My scanner arrived, it is still in the box. Soon I'll be digitizing my prints. I gave my daughter a bunch of old Canon stuff to sell for a new computer. So if any body wants a 5D, 20D, a Bigma, 50mm f/1.8, 60mm EFS macro, et al, let me know.


----------



## fotomonkey

Man, slept in till 10 after a full day of Wii Sports and Call of Duty. I feel like I could use a nap.  Hoping to hook up with some friends tonight for some night shooting.


----------



## minicoop1985

Dammit Gary, if you would have told me a week ago that you were selling a 50 1.8, I would have bought it.


----------



## KenC

50/1.8's are a dime a dozen, well not quite, but you know what I mean ...


----------



## snowbear

Marija:  I'm glad things are working out and that you have a good co-worker. 

Leonore: Happy flopping or floppaging or bouncing or whatever you're doing up there - just don't hurt yourself or anyone else. 

I'm still at work, waiting for the second batch of running order (119 stations/600 locations) calculations to complete.  The new deskto (Xeon E5) and the four monitors are installed and the rat's nest of cabling under the cube desk is straightened out.  Unfortunately, there is only one GPU in the box so I can only use two monitors for the time being.  I have the top pair hooked up to the laptop for now.

Happy Friday, y'all.


----------



## minicoop1985

snowbear said:


> I'm still at work, waiting for the second batch of running order (119 stations/600 locations) calculations to complete.  The new deskto (Xeon E5) and the four monitors are installed and the rat's nest of cabling under the cube desk is straightened out.  Unfortunately, there is only one GPU in the box so I can only use two monitors for the time being.  I have the top pair hooked up to the laptop for now.
> 
> Happy Friday, y'all.



The definition of first world problem...


----------



## snerd

Evening Hosers! I'm having so much fun here in Arkansas, I've decided to stay an extra day! I haven't eaten so many home-cooked meals since 2005!! Ran into an ex-wife, we had a good visit. Her sister demanded I let her cook supper for me, now I'm so stuffed I can hardly move! Her sons both have grown kids that I met for the first time. Made me realize how OLD I'm getting!! 

Hope you all haven't eaten too much, or OD'd on coffee. See you all later!


----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


> Evening Hosers! I'm having so much fun here in Arkansas, I've decided to stay an extra day! I haven't eaten so many home-cooked meals since 2005!! Ran into an ex-wife, we had a good visit. Her sister demanded I let her cook supper for me, now I'm so stuffed I can hardly move! Her sons both have grown kids that I met for the first time. Made me realize how OLD I'm getting!!
> 
> Hope you all haven't eaten too much, or OD'd on coffee. See you all later!



Enjoy.  Have a safe trip back.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Dammit Gary, if you would have told me a week ago that you were selling a 50 1.8, I would have bought it.


Man, I would have just given it to you had I known.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. A cold front moved in, at 7:00 a.m. it was 37F here. Should warm up to the mid 60's.


----------



## minicoop1985

My house is inexplicably warm this morning. It's like my control panel went haywire or something, but my furnace isn't doing anything out of the ordinary. Huh.


----------



## pgriz

minicoop1985 said:


> My house is inexplicably warm this morning. It's like my control panel went haywire or something, but my furnace isn't doing anything out of the ordinary. Huh.



I assume your smoke alarm is working?


----------



## minicoop1985

Last I checked it is, thankfully. Though the open flame in the dining room might have something to do with this... OH CRAP



Gary A. said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dammit Gary, if you would have told me a week ago that you were selling a 50 1.8, I would have bought it.
> 
> 
> 
> Man, I would have just given it to you had I known.
Click to expand...


I appreciate it, Gary. Oh well.

How's that GX680 working out?


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> My house is inexplicably warm this morning. It's like my control panel went haywire or something, but my furnace isn't doing anything out of the ordinary. Huh.





minicoop1985 said:


> Last I checked it is, thankfully. Though the open flame in the dining room might have something to do with this... OH CRAP
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dammit Gary, if you would have told me a week ago that you were selling a 50 1.8, I would have bought it.
> 
> 
> 
> Man, I would have just given it to you had I known.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I appreciate it, Gary. Oh well.
> 
> How's that GX680 working out?
Click to expand...

I've only had a chance to go out once with it so far. The exposures are good and the negs sharp. My scanner just came in on Wednesday, I haven't had time to unpack it. Maybe tomorrow I figure out how to scan the negs, But the thing looks really good, very impressive. Everybody who has come over for Christmas has had to make numerous comments. (BTW- I friend sent me a link to the little study that showed a MF neg had greater resolution than a a 800E file.)


----------



## minicoop1985

Well GET ON WITH IT!  I wanna see what you do with those movements and stuff. I have plans to use one for automotive photography.


----------



## snowbear

Good Morning, Leonore!
Are you still with us, Marija?


----------



## mishele

Fine, don't say good morning to me.


----------



## snowbear

Well hello there, sunshine.  Sorry, I din't see you lurking around -- the others have posted a couple things.

You know you're my favorite mod of all time.


----------



## limr

Morning, folks! Yup, I'm still around. Trying to figure out this monitor calibration thing.


----------



## snowbear

Lenny, I know laptop monitors are hard to get & keep calibrated.  I wish I could help - I've only been able to use the built-in calibration; luckily it seems to be close.  Try posting an image you edited with the previous calibration an edit with the new calibration - the actual images, not a screen shot.  The other thing that might help is to download and view an image of one of the color checker cards (like the X-Rite)


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Lenny, I know laptop monitors are hard to get & keep calibrated.  I wish I could help - I've only been able to use the built-in calibration; luckily it seems to be close.  Try posting an image you edited with the previous calibration an edit with the new calibration - the actual images, not a screen shot.  The other thing that might help is to download and view an image of one of the color checker cards (like the X-Rite)



I just posted an example of a photo I edited before and after calibration. 

The biggest PITA at the moment is that the calibrated settings go away whenever the laptop "wakes up" from sleeping. I found an article that supposedly explained the fix and I tried it, but it doesn't seem to be working.

Honestly, if the difference is barely noticeable (like in the examples I just posted in my thread) then it's just not worth it. I have been thinking very seriously about getting an external monitor and keyboard anyway, so I doubt I'll spend much more time on this. When I've posted color pictures here, as far as I remember, I haven't gotten any comments that claim the color is way off, so I might be trying to solve a problem that didn't even exist.


----------



## mishele

snowbear said:


> Well hello there, sunshine.  Sorry, I din't see you lurking around -- the others have posted a couple things.
> 
> You know you're my favorite mod of all time.


Now I can start my day!! Thank you, sweets!!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lenny, I know laptop monitors are hard to get & keep calibrated.  I wish I could help - I've only been able to use the built-in calibration; luckily it seems to be close.  Try posting an image you edited with the previous calibration an edit with the new calibration - the actual images, not a screen shot.  The other thing that might help is to download and view an image of one of the color checker cards (like the X-Rite)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just posted an example of a photo I edited before and after calibration.
> 
> The biggest PITA at the moment is that the calibrated settings go away whenever the laptop "wakes up" from sleeping. I found an article that supposedly explained the fix and I tried it, but it doesn't seem to be working.
> 
> Honestly, if the difference is barely noticeable (like in the examples I just posted in my thread) then it's just not worth it. I have been thinking very seriously about getting an external monitor and keyboard anyway, so I doubt I'll spend much more time on this. When I've posted color pictures here, as far as I remember, I haven't gotten any comments that claim the color is way off, so I might be trying to solve a problem that didn't even exist.
Click to expand...


I see a difference in them, but I don't know if I would realize the coolness of the one if both weren't posted side-by-side.


----------



## limr

And I think I only noticed the warmth in the first version because I've been so concentrated on it. I mean, it's not like I didn't realize the colors were generally warm in that image, but they never seemed _too_ warm (and honestly, they still don't) but they were also very faithful to the scene I was shooting. When I open it now on the calibrated monitor, I doubt I would make any changes to it at all.


----------



## snowbear

Part of it is the foreground shadow - that first boat(and the dock) are going to look cooler, anyway.  You just have to decide what you think is the more important part of the scene and adjust accordingly.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. This morning I brewed Colombian Supremo, Jasmine-Passion tea and Muscat tea ... so I'm set for the day. I'm planning to set up my scanner this afternoon and attack my 680 negatives.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. This morning I brewed Colombian Supremo, Jasmine-Passion tea and Muscat tea ... so I'm set for the day.



I've already had my morning coffee, but thinking of you having your first cup makes me want to have another one myself


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. This morning I brewed Colombian Supremo, Jasmine-Passion tea and Muscat tea ... so I'm set for the day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've already had my morning coffee, but thinking of you having your first cup makes me want to have another one myself
Click to expand...

LOL ... salud!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning Gary.  My second cup is done and we are out.  We'll be heading to the store, very shortly.


----------



## Gary A.

I am sorta making a mental list for the 680 ... I also have these Lee Filters for the Fuji's that I have used yet either ... just trying to figure out how many mules I'll need to get around. I did get another back for the 680, so now it is easier to shoot color and B&W of the same thing. Still not 100% yet but well on the road to recovery. But Mary Lou is fighting my cold as well. She still has a week off. The moment she's up to it, we're gonna make a run to the Wine Ghetto in Lompoc (near Santa Barbara) with the 680 and the Fujis.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Good morning Gary.  My second cup is done and we are out.  We'll be heading to the store, very shortly.


Top of the Morn Charlie. We haven't chatted in a bit, I hope your holiday was pleasant. Which store?


----------



## snowbear

Just the local supermarket.  We generally get a variety of the K-Cups that are on sale -- nothing special.


----------



## Designer

Wifey has taken to ordering her K-cups online.  

I finally gave up on finding my eyedrops at a local retailer and ordered them online.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good old Maxwell House here. I'm cheap and drink a lot of coffee flavored sugar milk.


----------



## Designer

An honest cheapskate!


----------



## Gary A.

The scanner is unpacked and sitting on my desk ... to the left of my monitor.


----------



## Designer

Next is to plug it in.


----------



## Gary A.

I just printed out the 105 page manual. I just scanned a photo (per the instructions) ... next is to RTFM and scan my 680 negs.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> I just printed out the 105 page manual. I just scanned a photo (per the instructions) ... next is to RTFM and scan my 680 negs.



Oh come on, be a real noob.  Log into the scanner forum, tell them you want to know what to charge as a professional scanning archivist, then start asking a bunch of questions on how to use the scanner.


----------



## Gary A.

That's exactly why I'm on this forum ... only for pro photography.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> That's exactly why I'm on this forum ... only for pro photography.


Yeah, right -- you were an "old pro" long before this forum was made.  Probably before the Internet was created (by the REAL creators - USDoD ARPA, not Al Gore) in the 1960s.


----------



## mmaria

GOOD MORNING!!!

Guess what?

In about a half of hour I'll be photographing Santa and kids 







I'm telling myself, it'll be fun, it'll be quick, it'll be interesting, it'll pass as soon as I press a shutter or two 

And what's more fun?.... There will also be one "pro" photographer there.


----------



## Designer

Have fun!


----------



## mmaria

Designer said:


> Have fun!


It's all over, thanks God!
I just photographed my kids.
 

There was a father pro and his son. His son was taking pictures.
They placed Santa in a very bad spot, with windows behind him. So if you properly expose Santa a half of the bg is blown out but with some lines from another window.. I didn't have much chance to do what I wanted so I just gave up. It wasn't worthy. I snapped a few pictures for the family album and put the camera away


----------



## KenC

Morning, Hosers!  At work today and had to step out for an appointment, so I came back with real coffee and a cinnamon bun from one of the four coffee places I passed.  Pretty soon I'll be hyperactive and incoherent, well at least more than usual ...


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

I'm in a different time zone this morning


----------



## snowbear

Hello, all.

I've been up, but spending the time window shopping  researching weather sensor circuits.  I have to head up to DC is a little while to collect #1 at work, then to DCA to collect #1's girlfriend.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Just a lazy Tuesday around here. So freaking cold it's not worth doing anything.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. A cold front is sweeping down from Canada ... so it is cold today. Snow is down to 2,000 feet. It may not hit 60F and tonight the inland valleys will drop below freezing. I suspect an overcast and unsunny Rose Parade.


----------



## pgriz

Sunny but very cold up here.  My sweetheart is handing me a shopping list, which means I will have to venture out.  On the other hand, she's heading out as well on family business, so this is known as delegation and load sharing.  Oh, well. Yo ho, yo ho, it's off to work we go...


----------



## Gary A.

Back ... my Mary Lou is up in San Francisco ... meanwhile I've managed to walk Cook, mow and trim before any rain.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I'm in a different time zone this morning


Donde?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I'm in a different time zone this morning
> 
> 
> 
> Donde?
Click to expand...


Arizona. Currently Cottonwood.


----------



## Designer

I've known people who are perpetually in another time zone.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I'm in a different time zone this morning
> 
> 
> 
> Donde?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Arizona. Currently Cottonwood.
Click to expand...

Hey, you're next door. Wanna go shoot the Rose Parade?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I'm in a different time zone this morning
> 
> 
> 
> Donde?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Arizona. Currently Cottonwood.
Click to expand...


 Did you offer to take Sharon to the warm place with you?


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I'm in a different time zone this morning
> 
> 
> 
> Donde?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Arizona. Currently Cottonwood.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Hey, you're next door. Wanna go shoot the Rose Parade?
Click to expand...

e.rose has her own parade?


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I'm in a different time zone this morning
> 
> 
> 
> Donde?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Arizona. Currently Cottonwood.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Did you offer to take Sharon to the warm place with you?
Click to expand...

All of my post whoring buds are welcome to partake in God's Country, land of sunshine, waves, no parking (except on the freeways) and high housing costs. Even bears. 

PS- There's a bear on our flag.
G


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> PS- There's a bear on our flag.
> G


Yes, there is - a big brown one.  I've been to San Fran.  Went to an aquarium at a restaurant and saw some striped bass (MD State fish).  It made me homesick.

Late dinner, tonight:  Homemade crab cakes and NE style clam chowder.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- There's a bear on our flag.
> G
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, there is - a big brown one.  I've been to San Fran.  Went to an aquarium at a restaurant and saw some striped bass (MD State fish).  It made me homesick.
> 
> Late dinner, tonight:  Homemade crab cakes and NE style clam chowder.
Click to expand...

mmmmhhhhh ... leftovers for me (Mary Lou is still in San Francisco so no need to cook). Enchiladas, brisket, eggs, backyard salad and the Mandarin Oranges I picked this morning.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I'm in a different time zone this morning
> 
> 
> 
> Donde?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Arizona. Currently Cottonwood.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Hey, you're next door. Wanna go shoot the Rose Parade?
Click to expand...


One of these days, I SO want to go shooting with you! This trip is all about me and Buzz wandering around as close to the middle of nowhere as we can find, but one day, I will be visiting for sure 



snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I'm in a different time zone this morning
> 
> 
> 
> Donde?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Arizona. Currently Cottonwood.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Did you offer to take Sharon to the warm place with you?
Click to expand...


It's actually not that warm. Got a sweater and coat on tonight and snow is predicted for tomorrow! Oh, and I saw these and thought of you, Charlie:


----------



## limr

Hotel lobby this morning:


----------



## Gary A.

Burrrrr ... with a dash of enchantment.


----------



## KenC

Cold here as well.  I went out for a while with camera but only stayed out about an hour.  About 28F when I was out, I think.  According to my phone it's 31 now, but who knows where they measure it.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Burrrrr ... with a dash of enchantment.



By NY standards, it doesn't feel that cold and we have the clothes to deal with it. It's a small but interesting little old town section that we're in. About 2 miles away is a state park and there's a path that runs there, so we're heading out with cameras soon. In town, there are three winery stores with tastings, a book store, and a huge antiques store ("two acres of antiques!"), all within about 3-4 blocks, so we have plenty to do today  And it's pretty neat to see snow in the desert.


----------



## JacaRanda

I drink coffee.  (my first post in here I think).

Pretty cool seeing snow very low on the mountains this morning.  I may have to do that landscapy thingy before it all melts down here.

Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

JacaRanda said:


> I drink coffee.  (my first post in here I think).
> 
> Pretty cool seeing snow very low on the mountains this morning.  I may have to do that landscapy thingy before it all melts down here.
> 
> Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!!


Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers, especially to our latest ... customer. I'm on my second cup. First cup before Cook and my walk and now my second upon our return. About a three mile walk around regional park's lake. Cook had fun chasing all the ducks and geese into the water. 52F right now ... maybe it'll hit 60F today. While at the park I looked up and north to see the local mountains dusted with snow. (Probably the same mountains Jaca saw.)


----------



## minicoop1985

Hola coffee hosers. It's a lovely [/sarcasm] 5* Fahrenheit right now. What looks like an inviting, sunny day is in fact so cold it hurts your face. Why do I live where the air hurts your face?


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Hola coffee hosers. It's a lovely [/sarcasm] 5* Fahrenheit right now. What looks like an inviting, sunny day is in fact so cold it hurts your face. Why do I live where the air hurts your face?


That is an interesting point. It's not like we don't need air and you can avoid it. FYI- Nearby the lake is a water park that Cook and I walked past on our morning walk. There was a guy doing laps in the pool.

PS- Most all the pools here, including the one above, are outside.


----------



## minicoop1985

Most pools are here too. Why is beyond me. My grandparents had an indoor pool with diving board and everything, and that made sense.


----------



## Gary A.

Just finishing a ghetto mocha.


----------



## JacaRanda

Gary A. said:


> Just finishing a ghetto mocha.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL


----------



## limr

Went for a walk and took a few pictures. Here's a cell phone snap of the Arizona desert today:



 

It's apparently the most snow they've had in this town in about 10 years. 

I know it's a little early, but Happy New Year's, hosers!


----------



## oldhippy

Back at ya.   Hope you and the rest of all my crazy buds on here have a great new year.


----------



## KenC

Happy New Year, Hosers!  Now it really is the new year, at least here.


----------



## medic2230

Happy New Year everyone!


----------



## Gary A.

I packed up the 680 plus my Fuji's and headed down to the Seal Beach Pier for my last snaps of 2014. Decided to shoot the 680 and left the Fuji's in the car ... tomorrow I develop.


----------



## limr

medic2230 said:


> Happy New Year everyone!



You, too!



KenC said:


> Happy New Year, Hosers!  Now it really is the new year, at least here.



It already felt like New Year's to me when it turned midnight on the East Coast, though technically where I am, I still have almost half an hour.

And to celebrate my rockin' New Year's Eve, I'm already in my pyjamas and am just waiting for midnight so I can go to sleep!


----------



## snowbear

Happy new year.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> And to celebrate my rockin' New Year's Eve, I'm already in my pyjamas and am just waiting for midnight so I can go to sleep!



I knew someone a long time ago who hated the whole New Year's thing, so he would leave any gathering at 11 PM and go home to sleep.


----------



## Designer

Good morning, or good afternoon, whichever applies!  

I turned in around 21:30, my usual bedtime.


----------



## bribrius

well, I made it until about 2 a.m..    slow riser this morning.  seems it was easier when I was a little younger.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> Happy new year.


Happy New year!


----------



## snerd

Happy New Years Hosers!! Drank 3 beers last night, asleep at 11:30!! Breakfast at iHop this morning with lots of hot, black, strong, wonderful coffee!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

¡Prospero año nuevo!

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is a crisp and chilly morning. I am watch the Rose Parade, a local event of marching bands and floats dressed up in flowers. Pretty inspiring for a local Pasadena event. The B-2 and a Marine Marching Band, sipping coffee, eating the last of the tamales, wrapped up in a blanket ... what a great start for the new year.


----------



## limr

Happy January 1st, hosers.

Today we had to switch hotels, but we're in the same area and now we have a little kitchenette so we don't have to eat out for every meal. The "two acres of antiques" finally opened today and I got myself a ring. Had some lunch and checked out some of the neighboring towns. Got a few pictures. We drove towards Sedona to see how the roads are and we got some more pictures. Oh my GOD, it's so beautiful! And still with a layer of snow over the landscape. Just gorgeous! We're going back tomorrow earlier so we have more daylight to work with.

Now we're in the hotel, relaxing a little before dinner and watching the football game. Oregon just scored against Florida State. YES!!

The only downside is that I think I might be coming down with a little cold


----------



## Gary A.

Being a Pac 12 kinda guy I felt guilty about the game and was reluctantly rooting for FSU . But now ... knowing now that my Sobrinha is from Florida (not State) I can root with full abandonment. Go Ducks!


----------



## Gary A.

I've shoot a few Rose Bowl games. Even being a seasoned photojournalist, it is still special and you get a bit hyped for the event.


----------



## Gary A.

Ducks score again!


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Being a Pac 12 kinda guy I felt guilty about the game and was reluctantly rooting for FSU . But now ... knowing now that my Sobrinha is from Florida (not State) I can root with full abandonment. Go Ducks!



Gracias, Tio!



Gary A. said:


> Ducks score again!



Go Ducks! Another turnover!

Too bad Derrel hasn't been around lately.


----------



## Gary A.

Ducks score again!


----------



## Gary A.

Too bad that Derrel is MIA.


----------



## Gary A.

Sipping some Windstream Chardonnay watching the game. After the game some Chinese for dinner. I love the Rose Bowl.


----------



## Gary A.

WOW!! What a wild play. Ducks defense score!


----------



## Gary A.

Ducks 45
FSU 20

Oregon intersects.


----------



## Gary A.

Six more points for the Ducks. (Sorry, I'm a bit excited ... and I'm a Trojan, lol.)


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Too bad that Derrel is MIA.


Derrel is a Ninja; he's in the shadows, watching.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Too bad that Derrel is MIA.
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel is a Ninja; he's in the shadows, watching.
Click to expand...

Was he banned ... or maybe run over by a bus?


----------



## Gary A.

Ducks recover another fumble.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Was he banned ... or maybe run over by a bus?


Not that I can see.  It seems he has recently logged in, though he didn't post.  Maybe he's taking a little TPF vacation -- they can be nice at times.


----------



## Gary A.

Ducks score again. Welcome to West Coast football FSU.


----------



## Gary A.

FSU's defense is like Swiss Cheese against the run.


----------



## Gary A.

FSU recovers Oregon fumble.


----------



## snerd

Yeah, I think Derrel is a big-time ducks fan. You gotta know he's sitting back smiling tonight!


----------



## Gary A.

Tonight the Ducks didn't wear their fancy feathered uniforms ... just their basic green. I guess they're saving the fancy stuff for the big game.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Tonight the Ducks didn't wear their fancy feathered uniforms ... just their basic green. I guess they're saving the fancy stuff for the big game.



I hope they do, because this Ohio State vs Bama matchup for me is just torture. Why can't they both lose???

As the game goes on, I find myself hating Ohio State only marginally less than Bama, so I suppose I'm looking for an Ohio State vs Oregon pairing for the big game.

Either way, the Ducks need to take this all. Any other outcome is something I just don't want to know about.


----------



## Gary A.

What's all the negative vibes about Ohio State? (I understand not liking 'Bama ... but Ohio is just a bunch of annually overrated, big ol', corn fed, guys ...


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> What's all the negative vibes about Ohio State? (I understand not liking 'Bama ... but Ohio is just a bunch of annually overrated, big ol', corn fed, guys ...



Well, it started because Buzz is from a Michigan family. His mother grew up outside of Detroit and went to UMich. Many members of her family also went there. Buzz's brother went there. So I sort of inherited the loyalty for Michigan in that rivalry.

Then, Florida played them for the championship in 2007. There was such a fuss over Florida getting the spot in the game and Ohio State was sooooo confident they were going to stop all over us. That just annoyed me. It's one thing to be the favored team, but I remember them being so arrogant and dismissive, even moreso than your usual trash talk.

Ohio State returned the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown and as far as they were concerned, the game was over. Of course, then we swatted them around like flies for the rest of the 4 quarters and won 41-14.

So yes, we won, but they're still on my sh** list. Oh, and of course Urban Meyer left UF to go coach there. He'd had that heart scare and said he was going to quit coaching all together, and instead, he took a job at Ohio State. Granted, I know he started out there, but it felt like when you're dating a guy for a long time and help him fulfill his dream, then he dumps you and says "It's not you - I don't want to marry anyone at all" but then turns right around and marries his ex-girlfriend. That's just a douche move.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... gotcha. I remember year after year in the 60's and 70's of SC playing Ohio in the Rose Bowl. All these big, slow ... but big dudes come across the line ... then when SC would put the ball in the air ... they'd all stand around with WTF looks on their faces wondering if a forward pass was legal.


----------



## Rick50

Well, I can't say much about all this but Ohio State just won!


----------



## Gary A.

Yep ... Ducks versus Bucks.


----------



## snerd

Sorry, Derrel. Go Bucks!!!


----------



## KenC

Morning, Hosers!  I'm off to a good start here, taking my first sick day of the year on the first working day of the year.  Came down with a nasty cold that made me spend most of yesterday in bed.  This morning I felt like my head would explode but that passed, leaving me just a little run down.  I think I was out sick maybe two days last year, if that.


----------



## limr

Rick50 said:


> Well, I can't say much about all this but Ohio State just won!



Actually, as far as I am concerned, Not-Bama won.



Gary A. said:


> Yep ... Ducks versus Bucks.



Ah, this pleases my inner word geek. And the outer one, too! 



snerd said:


> Sorry, Derrel. Go Bucks!!!



Boooooo!


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Morning, Hosers!  I'm off to a good start here, taking my first sick day of the year on the first working day of the year.  Came down with a nasty cold that made me spend most of yesterday in bed.  This morning I felt like my head would explode but that passed, leaving me just a little run down.  I think I was out sick maybe two days last year, if that.



Ugh, sorry about that, Ken  I'm sick, too.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, Hosers!  I'm off to a good start here, taking my first sick day of the year on the first working day of the year.  Came down with a nasty cold that made me spend most of yesterday in bed.  This morning I felt like my head would explode but that passed, leaving me just a little run down.  I think I was out sick maybe two days last year, if that.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh, sorry about that, Ken  I'm sick, too.
Click to expand...

Not good.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Another chilly day here. There is a layer of frost on the grass this morning. The front yard orchids and Plumeria are somewhat protected ... but the backyard Plumeria gonna take a hit. Sipping my first cup, waiting for a bit of sun and warmth before Cook's morning constitutional, when I got a call from my physician friend and an invite from him for dim sum. So I gotta hurry everything up, stop sipping and gulp down the coffee, run instead of walk and take some stuff with me to dim sum to get it all done. Also coming is Moon, you've probably seen her work. She cuts hair for the movie stars. If you've watched the Academy Awards, you've seen her work. She's an ol' friend and is thinking of dumping her 5DIII and going Fuji. So I'm taking my Fuji's to dim sum also. After dim sum gotta rush down to Cerritos for a political campaign kick-off ... then get back home to start up a BBQ with some friends. You peoples get well, I gotta run.


----------



## mmaria

*HAPPY NEW YEAR BOYS AND GIRLS*


----------



## mmaria

Oh yeah.... I forgot to tell you!

I can drink alcohol again!!! and I can drink vine! (I haven't been drinking for 5 years because I couldn't tolerate any amount of alcohol)

Me happy!


----------



## Gary A.

That can be the start for a great new year. Happy New Year Marija. Now that you can drink wine, you need to explore California.


----------



## Gary A.

Just finishing developing another roll of 120mm. That element of angst ... waiting so see what you have is very juicy. One roll to go.


----------



## Gary A.

Second roll ... fini.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Second roll ... fini.


Well??????


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Second roll ... fini.


ahhhh. the excitement of developing your film. The anticipation... I think you even have me excited with you!


----------



## limr

PICTURES!


----------



## bribrius

anyone figure out what happened to Derrel?  Geesh , kind of wondering if he Is all right.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> anyone figure out what happened to Derrel?  Geesh , kind of wondering if he Is all right.



I'm wondering about that, too. He posted a picture on Flickr two days ago, so maybe he's just taking a little break from here.


----------



## limr

As for me, it's time for decongestants.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> anyone figure out what happened to Derrel?  Geesh , kind of wondering if he Is all right.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm wondering about that, too. He's posted a picture on Flickr two days ago, so maybe he's just taking a little break from here.
Click to expand...

thanks. guess he is alright then


----------



## minicoop1985

Sup all you fellow hosers?

Yeah, whatever happened to Derrel?

GARY SHOW US SOME DAMN PICTURES ALREADY

In other news, my Hasselblad Zeiss 80mm Planar T* showed up today.


----------



## limr

Hey there, Appleton hoser! 

I was shooting Sedona landscape with the K1000 and Lubitel with Portra and Ektar today. Also did some Tri-X in the Lubitel.


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm gonna do some street photography in Milwaukee tomorrow with the 500EL/M. Clunky, but with the Planar, not nearly as heavy.


----------



## pgriz

I'm seeing the bottom of the Tylenol Sinus bottle.  Time to get another.  Rather amazing, the powers of the human body (to produce yucky stuff).


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> I'm seeing the bottom of the Tylenol Sinus bottle.  Time to get another.  Rather amazing, the powers of the human body (to produce yucky stuff).



Oh no, you too, Paul?? Sorry  

One silver lining is that I've been sneezing all willy-nilly for the past two days. Much less frustrating than the days-long build-up to one sneeze.

I've also discovered Puffs Plus Lotion with Vicks tissues. They are my new most favoritest thing in the world.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, one thing at a time. The film looks good ... now I gotta figure out the scanner. Actually I did scan a pix and a neg and the scanner works ... so now I have to install Silverfast and figure it out.


----------



## pgriz

Hey, we're generous people.  We share... everything.  Pretty much everybody in our extended family is sneezing, coughing, retching, moaning, or otherwise letting us know we're still among the living.  My sweetheart nudged me last night, saying, "You didn't cough for at least a half-hour, so I had to make sure that you were alive".  At 3 am.  Guess I was keeping HER awake.  

One more dinner to make tomorrow night, before my daughter flies back to Vancouver.  And her best friend (I think we adopted her at some point) is giving birth tonight.  So that will be another thing to celebrate.  The third part of that triplet, has cut her hair today, in the presence of the other two, donating her hair to those people who do cancer wigs.  And she's booked with my middle daughter at her salon to make it look presentable.  I still have no idea what to make for supper tomorrow, or just how many people we'll be feeding.  Maybe... make a hearty stew.  I've been eyeing Ron's and Ed's culinary skills and will have to do something.  Will sleep on it, assuming I don't keep my sweetheart awake all night again.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ungh, my ear's plugged and my throat's sore... Looks like everyone here's sick.


----------



## Gary A.

Not moi (knock on wood). Not completely anyway. I've recover sufficiently that on December 31 I backpacked the 680 down to the Seal Beach Pier, then after some shooting dinner in Seal Beach. I was pretty down for a long count on Christmas and surrounding days. Nasty head cold but managed to keep it out of my lungs.


----------



## Gary A.

BTW- Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I gots a ton of stuff to do this morning, but tonight I'm planning to install SilverFast and scan away. Yesterday I had dim sum with friends and sold a Fuji XT1. I love dim sum.


----------



## sashbar

I need a seriously big enchilada to sell my XT1


----------



## KenC

Finally kicking whatever it is I have.  It seemed like a bad cold, but I think I've had a little fever as well because every time I've taken Advil for a headache I've felt less weird (less dizzy, skin hurt less, etc.) - makes me wonder if this is a touch of the flu.  I had the vaccine, but I heard they didn't get this year's quite right and that people have had some relatively mild cases.  I hope all of you who've had stuff lately are doing better.


----------



## Designer

Hey, the good news is that only 15 children have died from the flu this year.

*National and Regional Summary of Select Surveillance Components*
*HHS Surveillance Regions** *Data for Current Week* *Data Cumulative Since September 28, 2014 (Week 40)
Out-patient ILI†* *Number of jurisdictions reporting regional or widespread activity§* *% Respiratory specimens positive for flu‡* *A(H1N1)pdm09* *A (H3)* *A(Subtyping not performed)* *B* *Pediatric Deaths;* *15
*
please note; I tried to copy and paste a table from the CDC website, but got mainly the headings, so I scrubbed most of the table and highlighted the pediatric deaths.


----------



## Gary A.

sashbar said:


> I need a seriously big enchilada to sell my XT1


I didn't sell my XT1. Louise, (my friend), was  thinking of dumping her 5DIII for a XT1. After playing with my XT1 (at dim sum) and seeing some of my images, she decided to purchase a Fuji.


----------



## snerd

A friend here in AR has a nasty cold, told me it's been hanging on for over 2 weeks. I wound up getting it, but shut it down after only 2 days. She smokes and isn't in the best of shape. I don't smoke, walk 3 miles a day, do a "little" workout with shoulder therapy, and started chugging Airborne tabs at the first sniffle. I realized how it all pays off when you expend even a little effort at health!


----------



## sashbar

Gary A. said:


> sashbar said:
> 
> 
> 
> I need a seriously big enchilada to sell my XT1
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't sell my XT1. Louise, (my friend), was  thinking of dumping her 5DIII for a XT1. After playing with my XT1 (at dim sum) and seeing some of my images, she decided to purchase a Fuji.
Click to expand...


OK,  you sold *A* XT1. I had to read twice. My English sucks.


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers. I'm getting a little bit better. All things considered, this cold isn't too bad. I was still able to go out and do things, albeit slower and with more rests than usual. Slept better last night. I think it's slowly moving into my chest, which is pretty typical for me.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Evening, hosers. I'm getting a little bit better. All things considered, this cold isn't too bad. I was still able to go out and do things, albeit slower and with more rests than usual. Slept better last night. I think it's slowly moving into my chest, which is pretty typical for me.


Sounds like a reason to drink more rum!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening, hosers. I'm getting a little bit better. All things considered, this cold isn't too bad. I was still able to go out and do things, albeit slower and with more rests than usual. Slept better last night. I think it's slowly moving into my chest, which is pretty typical for me.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like a reason to drink more rum!
Click to expand...


I will go with "medicinal bourbon" but I tend to agree with your point 

In the meantime, more shots of the snowy desert:


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay Appleton Guy ... I am not very happy with these photos ... not sure it its my exposure and development ... the old camera and lenses not up to par ... or the scanning ... but just to quiet you down here's a couple from the Seal Beach Pier.

#1




Fujifilm 680III w/ Tri-X @ ASA 400

#2




Fujifilm 680III w/ Tri-X @ ASA 400


----------



## sm4him

Hey Hosers!! How is everybody? I haven't gotten to talk to y'all since last year! 

I rang in the new year sitting at the beach! Spent a week in Florida, doing bird photography and sitting on warm beaches. Left the Saturday after Christmas and just got home yesterday afternoon. Boy, do I have a LOT of photos to start going through!  I have processed one picture so far, not because it's the best one, by a long shot, but just to do a teaser thread here in a minute.

I was really quite pleased with myself; I have never done anything remotely like that all by myself. I hate to drive, and I really, really hate to drive in a lot of traffic or unknown places, so that aspect alone almost made me decide not to go. But I did it and it was absolutely awesome; I think I've found a new tradition for my new year's in the future.

I've returned home to mild weather today (60ish) that will change to a low of 9 degrees F and a high of 25 on Wednesday. That's just East TN's little way of saying "welcome home!" HAHA.

I'll post a link to my thread when I create it, because I did do one other interesting thing besides chase birds around and sit on beaches... ;-)


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> here's a couple from the Seal Beach Pier.



I didn't know that was closed in.  When did that happen?


----------



## minicoop1985

Evening, fellow Hosers.

Gary, they look mighty sharp. I think it's kind of a dynamic exposure thing. In that composition with that light, you're either going to overexpose one part or underexpose another. At least that's what it looks like to me.

Cold seems to be subsiding, thankfully. Been a long day-drove up from Illinois back home, stopped and fired half a roll of HP5+ with the Blad in Milwaukee.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> here's a couple from the Seal Beach Pier.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't know that was closed in.  When did that happen?
Click to expand...

??? Are you speaking of the chain-link fence? The fence only extends to where the pier is adjacent to the sand. I guess as a safety measure. When the water meets the pier it is only railings.


----------



## limr

Welcome back, Sharon!

The pictures look nice, Gary. What are you not satisfied with?

Buzz and I drove through the Prescott National Forest today. Took some pictures. Got to our next hotel and hit some antique stores. I got myself a portrait kit for my Land Camera for $6 - am super stoked! I can finally take some close-up shots on instant film.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Welcome back, Sharon!
> 
> The pictures look nice, Gary. What are you not satisfied with?
> 
> Buzz and I drove through the Prescott National Forest today. Took some pictures. Got to our next hotel and hit some antique stores. I got myself a portrait kit for my Land Camera for $6 - am super stoked! I can finally take some close-up shots on instant film.


You don't find portrait kits for Polaroids everyday. Good for you. 

It took a lot of work to get those images ... much of it is moi being low on the scanner learning curve ... but still it was a lot of work and I'm not satisfied with the end product. Ansel Adams it isn't. Much may be being rough at ever step from exposure to development to scanning. Good and consistent photography is about taking care of all the little details at every step and maybe I'm so used to digital that I'm not as detailed as I should be. But I'm not giving up until Ansel Adams rolls over in his grave. (I actually met Adams.)


----------



## limr

Really? What was he like?


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Really? What was he like?


He was quite likable. It was the late 70's and he was still giving workshops. A few of us photogs decided it would be cool to go do a story on the guy, so we all went up to Yosemite. He was very gracious and we, (the collective group of three news photogs), chatted off and on with him for a few days and we shared some meals. He did reveal/admitted that when he was younger he was a real a$$hole. He was shooting Hasselblad when we were there.


----------



## mmaria

Gary A. said:


> That can be the start for a great new year. Happy New Year Marija. *Now that you can drink wine, you need to explore California.*


Happy happy Grumphy!

You're totally right! I sooo neeeed to explore California!!!


----------



## mmaria




----------



## snerd

Morning hosers! Home Sweet Home, at last!! Unpacking as I type! Like Sharon said, a solo vacation can be a wonderful idea!!


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


>



Well, it's certainly MORNING, and it's certainly Monday, I'll give it that.


----------



## minicoop1985

Guten morgen fellow Hosers. Gary, that's pretty freaking awesome. I would have loved to do one of his workshops.

As for me, it's a balmy -7* F here. Random nosebleeds FTW!


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Guten morgen fellow Hosers. Gary, that's pretty freaking awesome. I would have loved to do one of his workshops.
> 
> As for me, it's a balmy -7* F here. Random nosebleeds FTW!


I didn't do a workshop. Just went up and chatted with him and did a story.


----------



## minicoop1985

Still, either would have been an awesome experience, I imagine.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Still, either would have been an awesome experience, I imagine.


Much of the time was spent in Yosemite. Which in and of itself is spectacular. So Adams in Yosemite you've just hit a grand slam.


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm quite jealous. I've seen Peter Lik in person, but didn't get to talk to him at all. Someday maybe I'll catch him and get a chance to talk to him.

In other news, developing a roll of film that I apparently half ruined. Horribly overexposed or something. I think the fact that the camera's battery was almost dead has something to do with that.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

The only photographer of note that I know is a Slovenian - Joco Znidarsic. He was Tito's official photographer. He doesn't have too much of a web presence but look him up on Google images. Most of the pictures are of him or by him.

In the meantime, here's a picture of our hotel's porch cat!


----------



## limr

Andrej's got a print of the first picture on this site:
Izložba: Joco Žnidaršič – I feel Slovenia | Fotografija.hr

I have a signed copy of his book on the Lipizzan horses and one of his book called Bohinj (a lake in NW Slovenia where he lives). They're outstanding. I'm fairly certain he was still shooting with his Hassy for both of the books, though he does shoot digital now.


----------



## minicoop1985

Dammit, I screwed up half my roll. Still got some shots from the first half.


----------



## sashbar

6 am and I am on the bus. To get up at 5.15 and have a cup of coffee or to sleep for 5 more min and drink it in the office? This is the question


----------



## sm4him

Overslept this morning. Highly unusual for me. Woke up at 6:12 a.m., already about 30 minutes later than usual but not "late." But I just couldn't do it; I felt like I hadn't slept at all and was just really groggy. So I decided, "Ah, scr*w it, I'll call in if I have to" and went back to sleep. 
Up now, but really dragging.

Doesn't bode well for the next few days when we are in for our coldest weather so far this winter.  I think my body is going into hibernation mode.


----------



## sm4him

I would LOVE to have met Ansel Adams!  When I was a teenager, just getting into photography seriously he was one of the main reasons I really wanted to pursue it.

You got any pictures of you with Adams, Gary?


----------



## KenC

Hey, Hosers.  Back at work today, finally having shed the plague I had (at least 95% of it), and looking forward to a cold week (highs mid-20's).  While I was out I kept hearing stories about lots of people out sick around here.  I never met any famous photographers so I guess I'll just get back to work.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> I would LOVE to have met Ansel Adams!  When I was a teenager, just getting into photography seriously he was one of the main reasons I really wanted to pursue it.
> 
> You got any pictures of you with Adams, Gary?


Somewhere there is a group shot ... I'll look for it.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Morning all. 
Had dinner over the holidays with a friend. She said she had done a photography outing with Adams grandson at Yosemite last year. They actually took you to the exact spots of his photos and you 'recreated' it. 
(I think she said grandson, it was loud)
Sounded like a great opportunity 
Nancy


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Woke up with no voice today. Yay!


----------



## pgriz

With apologies to Mike, the weather here is definitely bipolar.  Over Christmas, the weather was about 10 degrees (celsius) above normal, in the 2-6C(35-42F) range, and we had a green Christmas, with all the snow cover melted.  Then on new year's day, we've had a snowfall, and temperatures fell to about -5-7C (19-23F).  On Saturday, we had another snowfall, which then overnight went into freezing rain (0C, 32F).  By Sunday morning, the accumulating ice started breaking tree branches and power wires, and we lost power at about 10:30am, along with another 30,000 people.  By 2pm Sunday, the figure climbed to about 120,000.  By 6pm, the number was closer to 160,000.  Then the temperature started to drop from just above freezing to well below (-14C/7F at the moment, and forecast to be -22C/-8F tonight).  We didn't get our power back until about 6 am Monday morning, and the house temperature was cool enough to see your breath.  That wasn't the worse tho - a house down the block had the alarm going off all night announcing that the power was off.  The homeowners were away on vacation.  They will have a nice welcome back.

Wind has been blowing last night and today in the 30-50kmh range with gusts to 80 kmh (50 mph).  The roads are slick with ice, and if someone didn't shovel their drive yesterday, then today it has cast-iron ruts.  Oh, and the virus going around decided to really let me know who's boss.  I think I may have my first solid foods in a while today.  Yay!


----------



## limr

Oh man, Paul, what the hell?


----------



## pgriz

Yeah.  I answered the phone today.  The person on the other end wanted to call the police because they thought it was a mass murderer answering the phone.  I convinced them that it was, alas, only me, and the police would probably just slap a quarantine sign on the door.  My wife, trooper that she is, went off to work as usual, despite the fact that the temperature outside seemed to be approaching absolute zero.  

So Leonore, if you were thinking about it, this would NOT be a good time to visit. 
But thanks for the virtual hug.  They work.  Maybe I need to drown the virus.  Would tequila or vodka work better?


----------



## Designer

I'm discombobulated this morning.  That occurs whenever something forces a change in my routine.  Like snow removal.  I've been out three times and still not finished.  It will take at least two more attempts to get it mostly done, maybe three or four to be all done.  

Rather cold today, my outdoor thermometer registered -12 F.


----------



## limr

Whiskey, Paul.


----------



## Gary A.

Right now it is 77F ... thinking of maybe dinner at the beach.


----------



## minicoop1985

The air hurts my face. Why do I live where the air hurts my face?


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> The air hurts my face. Why do I live where the air hurts my face?



I keep reminding myself that, as bad as it is going to be here, there are people up north who would think this was practically springtime.
We are heading to a low of about 9 and a high of 25 by Thursday--we don't get many days THAT cold, and normally don't even get into the single digits unless there is snow on the ground (which there's not, THANK goodness!).
By next Monday, we'll at least be back to mid-40s, but even that is too cold for my taste.

One of these days, I really might just up and move to Florida.  I love my family, and my friends here…but…DANG!! I hate winter.


----------



## Designer

I've started thinking that it might be time to move to a milder climate.  Because of the snow removal thing. 

I was out for almost an hour and a half, and BOY, are my Haines COLD!!!!  

If it weren't for my hands getting cold, I could have stayed out even longer.


----------



## tirediron

Mehhh... 49, overcast, light breeze.  Just logged 12.5 miles on the bike trails.


----------



## minicoop1985

It's a balmy -3 F here. This winter is going to be brutal.


----------



## Rick50

NancyMoranG said:


> Morning all.
> Had dinner over the holidays with a friend. She said she had done a photography outing with Adams grandson at Yosemite last year. They actually took you to the exact spots of his photos and you 'recreated' it.
> (I think she said grandson, it was loud)
> Sounded like a great opportunity
> Nancy


Back in the 80's I did a lot of B&W and studied Adams work. He took this photo in Tucson, AZ at the San Xavier Mission with an 8x10 view camera he used. So when I got my 4x5 view camera I drove to Tucson and took the same shot. This isn't it but it's close from a recent trip. I still have my framed B&W from 1988.


----------



## Rick50

78 degrees here in San Diego right now. I love these warm periods during winter although I generally like the cooler days as then I can go out to the desert.


----------



## snowbear

Quiz of the day: What do you get when you mix snow (range = 3 flakes to 1") with a DC Metropolitan morning rush hour?

Yes, you in the back . . . did you say "morons?"  You are partially correct.  You get a commute that's 100% to 200% longer than normal _because_ of the morons.  If you don't like to drive in the snow, and don't have to go anywhere, stay the he!! home.  If you want to be extra cautious and drive 20 MPH (32 km/H) in a 45 MPH zone (72 km/H), even when the street is clear and dry, be my guest: just *stay in the &^$%*@ right lane *(it's the law)!
</rant>

I'm going to go have a drink, now.  Stay warm.


----------



## snerd

minicoop1985 said:


> The air hurts my face. Why do I live where the air hurts my face?


Does your face hurt? It's killing me!!!



Thank you, I'll be here all week!

............................


----------



## limr

Y'know, it was about 78 where we were in Arizona today (just north of Phoenix.) I didn't like it one single bit. No shade, nowhere to hide from the sun. Even in January, the sun was strong enough to feel like I was burning. And the sun would be out all the time. I could never live here. I like my Northeast winters, thankyouverymuch.


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> Quiz of the day: What do you get when you mix snow (range = 3 flakes to 1") with a DC Metropolitan morning rush hour?
> 
> Yes, you in the back . . . did you say "morons?"  You are partially correct.  You get a commute that's 100% to 200% longer than normal _because_ of the morons.  If you don't like to drive in the snow, and don't have to go anywhere, stay the he!! home.  If you want to be extra cautious and drive 20 MPH (32 km/H) in a 45 MPH zone (72 km/H), even when the street is clear and dry, be my guest: just *stay in the &^$%*@ right lane *(it's the law)!
> </rant>
> 
> I'm going to go have a drink, now.  Stay warm.



You have to consider that most people in your area probably don't have real snow tires.  These things do make a difference.  I drove one rural road recently before I changed from all-weather to winter, after a snowfall, and even with careful driving, it was difficult to keep a line on curves and stop when you wanted to.  Same road, with winter tires, and under similar conditions - huge difference in control and ability to stop.  Of course, if people people drive in the passing lane at 20 mph, then they deserve the vitriol they get.


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> You have to consider that most people in your area probably don't have real snow tires.  These things do make a difference.  I drove one rural road recently before I changed from all-weather to winter, after a snowfall, and even with careful driving, it was difficult to keep a line on curves and stop when you wanted to.  Same road, with winter tires, and under similar conditions - huge difference in control and ability to stop.  Of course, if people people drive in the passing lane at 20 mph, then they deserve the vitriol they get.



No - we just can't handle the stuff.  We really are a southern city and don't get that much snow.  Our counties run out of salt before the season is over; our schools decide to open, then decide to close while many of the kids are still in transit; and when we decide to close things (government offices) early due to weather, we close them all at the same time so everyone can play in the same slushbox at the same time.


----------



## Rick50

Saw Nightcrawler w/ Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo tonight. Really good!!!!!
Nightcrawler - Rotten Tomatoes


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> You have to consider that most people in your area probably don't have real snow tires.  These things do make a difference.  I drove one rural road recently before I changed from all-weather to winter, after a snowfall, and even with careful driving, it was difficult to keep a line on curves and stop when you wanted to.  Same road, with winter tires, and under similar conditions - huge difference in control and ability to stop.  Of course, if people people drive in the passing lane at 20 mph, then they deserve the vitriol they get.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No - we just can't handle the stuff.  We really are a southern city and don't get that much snow.  Our counties run out of salt before the season is over; our schools decide to open, then decide to close while many of the kids are still in transit; and when we decide to close things (government offices) early due to weather, we close them all at the same time so everyone can play in the same slushbox at the same time.
Click to expand...


It could always be worse--you could live in my neck of the woods when it starts to snow!  DC drivers are "old pros" at it compared to the majority of Knoxvillians.
And, I'll admit it, I am one of the snow weanies--I don't really like driving anyway, and I HATE to drive in the snow. As soon as it starts sticking to the road, I want to be at home and STAY at home.
But, in my defense, I do just that instead of contributing to the problems with all the rest of the snowdiots on the road (that's idiots in the snow, in case you missed it...).
My brother and my sister don't mind driving in it, so I can always get one of them to pick me up if I really need to do something (OR I can take the bus, if they're running!).


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> And, I'll admit it, I am one of the snow weanies--I don't really like driving anyway, and I HATE to drive in the snow. As soon as it starts sticking to the road, I want to be at home and STAY at home.
> But, in my defense, I do just that instead of contributing to the problems with all the rest of the snowdiots on the road (that's idiots in the snow, in case you missed it...).
> My brother and my sister don't mind driving in it, so I can always get one of them to pick me up if I really need to do something (OR I can take the bus, if they're running!).



And there's nothing wrong with that - you know your limitations and respond accordingly.  That's much better than adding to the congestion or risking an accident.  That's how we are with ice -- I don't "do" ice.

I worked as an "essential" employee in public safety for 20 years.  That meant I had to be at work, no excuses.  The first snow we had, after I got my license at 16, I went to an empty parking lot and practiced recovering from skids until the maneuver was second nature.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> It's a balmy -3 F here. This winter is going to be brutal.


8 degrees. Guessing it was near zero last night. Running the new little infrared heater so the oil burner in the basement isn't kicking on as much. course without the oil burner kicking on the basement is getting less heat.  I woke up to my wife complaining the kitchen sink water didn't work (kitchen sink water froze in basement).......Another yummy day...


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> You have to consider that most people in your area probably don't have real snow tires.  These things do make a difference.  I drove one rural road recently before I changed from all-weather to winter, after a snowfall, and even with careful driving, it was difficult to keep a line on curves and stop when you wanted to.  Same road, with winter tires, and under similar conditions - huge difference in control and ability to stop.  Of course, if people people drive in the passing lane at 20 mph, then they deserve the vitriol they get.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No - we just can't handle the stuff.  We really are a southern city and don't get that much snow.  Our counties run out of salt before the season is over; our schools decide to open, then decide to close while many of the kids are still in transit; and when we decide to close things (government offices) early due to weather, we close them all at the same time so everyone can play in the same slushbox at the same time.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It could always be worse--you could live in my neck of the woods when it starts to snow!  DC drivers are "old pros" at it compared to the majority of Knoxvillians.
> And, I'll admit it, I am one of the snow weanies--I don't really like driving anyway, and I HATE to drive in the snow. As soon as it starts sticking to the road, I want to be at home and STAY at home.
> But, in my defense, I do just that instead of contributing to the problems with all the rest of the snowdiots on the road (that's idiots in the snow, in case you missed it...).
> My brother and my sister don't mind driving in it, so I can always get one of them to pick me up if I really need to do something (OR I can take the bus, if they're running!).
Click to expand...

why I set  this up years ago (and it is still going). Lot of time (thought) and some money went into this. Doesn't look like much but this is pretty much setup just for snow. It was my main driveway plow rig. 90k miles fifteen years old it comes out when the snow flys.  lockers, rv tranny coolers, front suspension beefed up, high output alternator, 10 ply tires, the black on the sides is rhino liner keeps the metal from creasing. After blowing the ujoints and transmission issue i had those feefed up too.  Every year it gets dented in along the bottom from going through snow and ice banks and i bang the dents out with a rubber mallet  (rhino liner saves that creasing in the metal).  in the tool box is recovery straps , chain, spare hydraulic hoses, fluid, sockets, pry bars, pretty much anything  i think i might need.


----------



## Designer

Nice-looking rig!


----------



## sm4him

bribrius said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> You have to consider that most people in your area probably don't have real snow tires.  These things do make a difference.  I drove one rural road recently before I changed from all-weather to winter, after a snowfall, and even with careful driving, it was difficult to keep a line on curves and stop when you wanted to.  Same road, with winter tires, and under similar conditions - huge difference in control and ability to stop.  Of course, if people people drive in the passing lane at 20 mph, then they deserve the vitriol they get.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No - we just can't handle the stuff.  We really are a southern city and don't get that much snow.  Our counties run out of salt before the season is over; our schools decide to open, then decide to close while many of the kids are still in transit; and when we decide to close things (government offices) early due to weather, we close them all at the same time so everyone can play in the same slushbox at the same time.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It could always be worse--you could live in my neck of the woods when it starts to snow!  DC drivers are "old pros" at it compared to the majority of Knoxvillians.
> And, I'll admit it, I am one of the snow weanies--I don't really like driving anyway, and I HATE to drive in the snow. As soon as it starts sticking to the road, I want to be at home and STAY at home.
> But, in my defense, I do just that instead of contributing to the problems with all the rest of the snowdiots on the road (that's idiots in the snow, in case you missed it...).
> My brother and my sister don't mind driving in it, so I can always get one of them to pick me up if I really need to do something (OR I can take the bus, if they're running!).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> why I set  this up years ago (and it is still going). Lot of time (thought) and some money went into this. Doesn't look like much but this is pretty much setup just for snow. It was my main driveway plow rig. 90k miles fifteen years old it comes out when the snow flys.  lockers, rv tranny coolers, front suspension beefed up, high output alternator, 10 ply tires, the black on the sides is rhino liner keeps the metal from creasing. After blowing the ujoints and transmission issue i had those feefed up too.  Every year it gets dented in along the bottom from going through snow and ice banks and i bang the dents out with a rubber mallet  (rhino liner saves that creasing in the metal). View attachment 92695 in the tool box is recovery straps , chain, spare hydraulic hoses, fluid, sockets, pry bars, pretty much anything  i think i might need.
Click to expand...


Yeah, but the thing is…I do not WANT to live anywhere where it makes sense to HAVE something like that.
Or where the air hurts my face. 

I want to live where I get spring, fall and summer. Mostly spring and summer. Maybe two weeks of winter, and ONE snow, 2 inches would be plenty. And I'd prefer to only have it around for two days, max. Then back to 60s or 70s. 
I don't want to move as far away as California, so moving in with Gary and his wife (or Jacaranda and his wife) isn't an option. Florida is really my best bet.  But they have cockroaches there the size of a small dog.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> Nice-looking rig!


It is old now.
i had a couple when i was really into the snow removal thing. It isn't so much nice looking it isn't setup for looks just a boring looking truck. Doesn't even have power windows. I really don't even care how many dents are even in it it has been dented, gone through a couple windshields from tree branches, snapped the gear linkage, blow universals, blown rear end etc. etc. etc. totally about utility. Put the money where it mattered. week after i bought that thing i had it in and stripped right down to the frame with the local rhino liner dealer going to town on it and undercoat. 2k just in rhino and undercoat and that was back THEN. Add up everything else probably 8k in it just in making sure when the snow flies it works. It was for commercial resi plowing and small access roads though. When other people are counting on you to get out you kind of have to think a certain way. It is retired now. Just plows my driveways and some immediate family.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers.  Feeling almost 100% by now, fortunately, because it's 22 F out, which is supposed to be the high for tomorrow.  I know, it's nothing compared to the northern Midwest or much of Canada, and it's not even that unusual for here in January, but we haven't had a week of 20-something highs yet, so we get to gripe.  Otherwise, things are pretty slow at work.  I think everyone is just back from holidays and not geared up to throw much at me.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> You have to consider that most people in your area probably don't have real snow tires.  These things do make a difference.  I drove one rural road recently before I changed from all-weather to winter, after a snowfall, and even with careful driving, it was difficult to keep a line on curves and stop when you wanted to.  Same road, with winter tires, and under similar conditions - huge difference in control and ability to stop.  Of course, if people people drive in the passing lane at 20 mph, then they deserve the vitriol they get.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No - we just can't handle the stuff.  We really are a southern city and don't get that much snow.  Our counties run out of salt before the season is over; our schools decide to open, then decide to close while many of the kids are still in transit; and when we decide to close things (government offices) early due to weather, we close them all at the same time so everyone can play in the same slushbox at the same time.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It could always be worse--you could live in my neck of the woods when it starts to snow!  DC drivers are "old pros" at it compared to the majority of Knoxvillians.
> And, I'll admit it, I am one of the snow weanies--I don't really like driving anyway, and I HATE to drive in the snow. As soon as it starts sticking to the road, I want to be at home and STAY at home.
> But, in my defense, I do just that instead of contributing to the problems with all the rest of the snowdiots on the road (that's idiots in the snow, in case you missed it...).
> My brother and my sister don't mind driving in it, so I can always get one of them to pick me up if I really need to do something (OR I can take the bus, if they're running!).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> why I set  this up years ago (and it is still going). Lot of time (thought) and some money went into this. Doesn't look like much but this is pretty much setup just for snow. It was my main driveway plow rig. 90k miles fifteen years old it comes out when the snow flys.  lockers, rv tranny coolers, front suspension beefed up, high output alternator, 10 ply tires, the black on the sides is rhino liner keeps the metal from creasing. After blowing the ujoints and transmission issue i had those feefed up too.  Every year it gets dented in along the bottom from going through snow and ice banks and i bang the dents out with a rubber mallet  (rhino liner saves that creasing in the metal). View attachment 92695 in the tool box is recovery straps , chain, spare hydraulic hoses, fluid, sockets, pry bars, pretty much anything  i think i might need.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, but the thing is…I do not WANT to live anywhere where it makes sense to HAVE something like that.
> Or where the air hurts my face.
> 
> I want to live where I get spring, fall and summer. Mostly spring and summer. Maybe two weeks of winter, and ONE snow, 2 inches would be plenty. And I'd prefer to only have it around for two days, max. Then back to 60s or 70s.
> I don't want to move as far away as California, so moving in with Gary and his wife (or Jacaranda and his wife) isn't an option. Florida is really my best bet.  But they have cockroaches there the size of a small dog.
Click to expand...

That's not entirely true. Moving in with JacaRanda is always an option.


----------



## snerd

Norther moving through this morning. 25 degrees, but the wind is gusting to 40mph. I'm driving up to OKC in it to see my orthopedic surgeon today for my shoulder. Heading to fire up the coffee maker right now!


----------



## bribrius

heat wave. we just hit 12 degrees. says we are going down to minus 13 tonight. suppose it doesn't really matter though not like i am going anywhere tonight. i cant picture myself doing night time ocean pics at minus 13 (probably -40 with wind chill)  i really don't have that type of dedication.


----------



## snerd

Damn! -13 is a tad chilly! Keep the fires stoked!


----------



## Gary A.

Actually Sharon, you'll would love California. Firstly, cool nights, 20 and sometimes as much as 30 degree difference between day and night. In winter, snow is an hour away. Today will be in the 70's and if I want snow ... an hour away. No tropical sized insects. In California is the tallest peak in the CONUS, Mt. Whitney. From Mt. Whitney you can you look down to the lowest spot in North America, Death Valley. The most beautiful spot in the world is (arguably of course) Yosemite, the most scenic highway in the world is California's Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway). The oldest trees in the world live in California, Bristlecone Pines and the tallest/largest trees, Sequoias are here. (There is an entire valley overflowing with Sequoias, in the early morning shrouded by fog, a walk amongst these giants, hundreds of feet tall, brings a whole new meaning to life and self awareness.) The largest creature ever to roam our Earth swims off California coasts, (Blue Whale) and largest bird in North America soars in our skies (California Condor). There are glaciers in our mountains and sand dunes in our deserts and possible the best weather in the world. Usually, the only place you can park is on a freeway, good luck finding affordable housing and our taxes are close to the highest in our union.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 52F right now at 7:00 a.m. ... supposed to hit 79F today. Kona coffee this morning.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Actually Sharon, you'll would love California. Firstly, cool nights, 20 and sometimes as much as 30 degree difference between day and night. In winter, snow is an hour away. Today will be in the 70's and if I want snow ... an hour away. No tropical sized insects. In California is the tallest peak in the CONUS, Mt. Whitney. From Mt. Whitney you can you look down to the lowest spot in North America, Death Valley. The most beautiful spot in the world is (arguably of course) Yosemite, the most scenic highway in the world is California's Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway). The oldest trees in the world live in California, Bristlecone Pines and the tallest/largest trees, Sequoias are here. (There is an entire valley overflowing with Sequoias, in the early morning shrouded by fog, a walk amongst these giants, hundreds of feet tall, brings a whole new meaning to life and self awareness.) The largest creature ever to roam our Earth swims off California coasts, (Blue Whale) and largest bird in North America soars in our skies (California Condor). There are glaciers in our mountains and sand dunes in our deserts and possible the best weather in the world. Usually, the only place you can park is on a freeway, good luck finding affordable housing and our taxes are close to the highest in our union.



Oh, I *would* love California (other than that whole cost of living thing, and the taxes, and the traffic, I mean). I've visited Santa Cruz and San Diego before, quite a few years ago.  The reason California is "out" for me is because it is just too far away from family. We are a very close family, and while we don't all live in the same city anymore, we do all live within a day's drive. One brother and s-i-l in DC are the furthest away.
As long as my mom is living and my two sons are reasonably close to here, I won't entertain the notion of moving. But who knows? One of these years, the boys could easily be in more remote parts of the country (my oldest is seriously considering Oregon after he graduates next year) and at that point, I really might just up and retire to somewhere warmer.


----------



## bribrius

probably stay in maine for me and be planted here. i have already lived around the country. Maine is like a hole. you always come back.


----------



## limr

I would move to Maine.


----------



## Gary A.

I had a friend from Maine who used to spend a few winters with me. We were driving up the coast around Santa Cruz and he said, "... you know we have cliffs and pine trees in Maine ... but not cliffs a 100 feet high with trees a hundred feet tall on top."


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Our HIGH today is -3. Uuuuugh. It's soooo damned cold... I'm moving in with you, Gary.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Our HIGH today is -3. Uuuuugh. It's soooo damned cold... I'm moving in with you, Gary.


Uhh... Dude... ANYTHING with a "-" in front of it is NOT a high!


----------



## Gary A.

Just for the record hosers, it is unseasonably warm ... it should be in the 60's.


----------



## minicoop1985

That's it, Gary, I hope you have a spare bedroom.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL


----------



## minicoop1985

I just spent 3 minutes outside plugging in my engine block heater. I can't feel my thumbs yet, and that was 15 minutes ago.


----------



## Gary A.

Dude, if the air hurts your face, I think you'd be happy with a sofa.


----------



## minicoop1985

At this point, you're damned right I would be.


----------



## Gary A.

What's a engine block heater?


----------



## minicoop1985

It's a heater for your engine block.


----------



## limr

Just so you know, y'all are going to hear just as much bitching from me in the summer about the heat. 

I'm looking forward to some nice cold temps when I get back to NY later today!

(Airports are boring but at least I'm not trapped in the plane yet.)


----------



## oldhippy

Colder than a well digger's ass here.  And gettin colder.


----------



## minicoop1985

I thought I broke my Hasselblad (the working one) today. Turned out there was a popcorn kernel husk in the barn door on the rear of the barn door. Oops. Heart attack: avoided.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> Just for the record hosers, it is unseasonably warm ... it should be in the 60's.


Troublemaker.


----------



## snowbear

It's currently 17° F and windy  It might be time to rethink going out to get the mail while wearing only a t-shirt, gym shorts & flip-flops.


----------



## minicoop1985

Now it's -6* with a wind chill of -27. I'm pretty sure my genitalia would be inside my body if I were to go out in shorts.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Now it's -6* with a wind chill of -27. I'm pretty sure my genitalia would be inside my body if I were to go out in shorts.



I traded the shorts for sweatpants.  I still had the t-shirt and flip-flops, though.


----------



## pgriz

minicoop1985 said:


> Now it's -6* with a wind chill of -27. I'm pretty sure my genitalia would be inside my body if I were to go out in shorts.



That sounds almost as something that needs to be tested.  right?


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now it's -6* with a wind chill of -27. I'm pretty sure my genitalia would be inside my body if I were to go out in shorts.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That sounds almost as something that needs to be tested.  right?
Click to expand...


But . . . pics not necessary.


----------



## minicoop1985

Oh if I'm forced to test this, you get pics of it. It's only fair.


----------



## snerd

snowbear said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now it's -6* with a wind chill of -27. I'm pretty sure my genitalia would be inside my body if I were to go out in shorts.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That sounds almost as something that needs to be tested.  right?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> But . . . pics not necessary.
Click to expand...

Thank god someone said it lol!!


----------



## Gary A.

I'm in Oceanside, it is 6:16 p.m. and 59F at the harbor. Just walked up from the ocean after watching some surfers at sunset. People are dining outside (albeit with outdoor heaters ...  But outside nonetheless). I'm wearing a windbreaker.


----------



## limr

Back in NY. Temp is 8. This I understand and tolerate much better than 78 in January.

Okay, people, quit yer kvetching and go shoot some pictures!   I'll be developing for a few days. I shot approximately 500 frames on film (combo of 35mm and 120).


----------



## pgriz

Minicoop, do you have access to a hot tub?  because it is a lot easier to test this IF you can then retreat to the hot-tub to unthaw.  Appropriate beverage and partner optional, but highly recommended.  I speak from experience.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Now it's -6* with a wind chill of -27. I'm pretty sure my genitalia would be inside my body if I were to go out in shorts.



How accurate is your thermometer?  I have it on good authority that -6.0738759487 degrees is the "point of no return" for retreating gen's.


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now it's -6* with a wind chill of -27. I'm pretty sure my genitalia would be inside my body if I were to go out in shorts.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How accurate is your thermometer?  I have it on good authority that -6.0738759487 degrees is the "point of no return" for retreating gen's.
Click to expand...


Your authority probably has not figured in the redemptive qualities of appropriately-configured hot tubs.

Not to mention the temperature point accurate to 12 significant figures.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> ......... Okay, people, quit yer kvetching and go shoot some pictures!....


I just LOVE a take-charge type gal!!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ......... Okay, people, quit yer kvetching and go shoot some pictures!....
> 
> 
> 
> I just LOVE a take-charge type gal!!
Click to expand...


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> Minicoop, do you have access to a hot tub?  because it is a lot easier to test this IF you can then retreat to the hot-tub to *unthaw*.  Appropriate beverage and partner optional, but highly recommended.  I speak from experience.


----------



## snerd

tirediron said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Minicoop, do you have access to a hot tub?  because it is a lot easier to test this IF you can then retreat to the hot-tub to *unthaw*.  Appropriate beverage and partner optional, but highly recommended.  I speak from experience.
Click to expand...

Really?!  One nekked man, one nekked woman (edited to add "or another man"), streaking through the snow, into a hot tub for lots of alcoholic beverages! I think!!


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now it's -6* with a wind chill of -27. I'm pretty sure my genitalia would be inside my body if I were to go out in shorts.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How accurate is your thermometer?  I have it on good authority that -6.0738759487 degrees is the "point of no return" for retreating gen's.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Your authority probably has not figured in the redemptive qualities of appropriately-configured hot tubs.
> 
> Not to mention the temperature point accurate to 12 significant figures.
Click to expand...

I was simplifying:  -6.07387594877456387586872222 . . .

And as Robert noted: _un_thaw?

OK - time to go to work.


----------



## pgriz

"unthaw".  See how the cold affects the the thinking process?  Case in point.


----------



## Designer

Well, there's "refreeze", so why not "unthaw"?


----------



## pgriz

Well, in my defence, the Oxford dictionary does support my use of "unthaw" as being equivalent to "thaw" in North American usage.  see:  unthaw: definition of unthaw in Oxford dictionary (British & World English)

Although I'll admit, it's an awkward way of expressing the idea.  Probably should have used "defrost".  Unless that too has a linguistic booby-trap built in.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Back in NY. Temp is 8. This I understand and tolerate much better than 78 in January.
> 
> *Okay, people, quit yer kvetching and go shoot some pictures!*   I'll be developing for a few days. I shot approximately 500 frames on film (combo of 35mm and 120).



Nope. Not gonna happen. I have a valid excuse though; I'm a southern girl, born and bred. I was not created to be subjected to these kinds of temps!!  So, you take your pictures while I commence kvetching and then come about June, we'll switch places. 

This is just. Too. Cold. I hate it. I hate everything about it.  My body wants to hibernate.  I find it a nearly insurmountable task just to get out of bed and drag myself through the day. Actually being productive will have to wait until March.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers.  It's 10 F here, or at least was when I came in.  It's kind of slow at work so I wonder why I went out in that just to get here - oh, yeah, I got paid this week - I need constant reminders.  I don't go out shooting in these conditions anymore.  I never did much, but now I'm content to skip it and wait for a warmer day, which here in the Mid-Atlantic area is usually not far away.  There's always the option of still-life indoors, but with work being done on the house that's not really practical right now.  Going to finish my coffee and look for something productive to do, at least for a little while.


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## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I had a wonderful dinner at Dominics at Oceanside Harbor last night, chicken carciofini and a Fez Parker riesling. I took a few snaps of the sunset and the pier. 7:00 a.m. and 52F right now ... supposed to hit the low 70's. Isn't refreeze and unthaw the same thing? If thaw is to go from from frozen to unfrozen ... then unthaw is to go from unfrozen to frozen ... no wait ... unfrozen is thaw ... so unthaw is frozen ... no wait ... thaw is to frozen what unthaw is to unfrozen ... or is unthaw to unfrozen what thaw is to frozen ... no wait ...


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## Gary A.

At least my coffee is hot, unthaw and not refrozen ... fresh Kona. mmmmmhhh ... not the freeze-dried kind.


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## minicoop1985

Guten morgen hosers. We've hit 0F! It's a not christmas day miracle! We're supposed to break out of this frigid spell this Saturday or Sunday.


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## minicoop1985

On a side note, I don't have a hot tub, though with all these random naked women around my house I probably should.


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## bribrius

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers.  It's 10 F here, or at least was when I came in.  It's kind of slow at work so I wonder why I went out in that just to get here - oh, yeah, I got paid this week - I need constant reminders.  I don't go out shooting in these conditions anymore.  I never did much, but now I'm content to skip it and wait for a warmer day, which here in the Mid-Atlantic area is usually not far away.  There's always the option of still-life indoors, but with work being done on the house that's not really practical right now.  Going to finish my coffee and look for something productive to do, at least for a little while.


i was up in the white mountains last night with my daughter (daddy daughter time). Got back this morning. still recovering. -10 degrees or so. i would like to tell you how many great pics i have but truth is i was so cold i think i only took two decent ones and those i didnt even want to really deal with. Just too freakn cold especially with the wind chill factor.


----------



## bribrius

to put it another way, i was afraid to take a crap in the woods i didnt want frostbite on my but and instead of pitching a tent i opted for the  just drive back home option. Getting to old for such things me thinks. scooted up to northern vermont near the border and decided that was enough fun. we are going home. lol  But it was still a good little excursion. Good quality time.


----------



## sm4him

bribrius said:


> to put it another way, i was afraid to take a crap in the woods *i didnt want frostbite on my but* and instead of pitching a tent i opted for the  just drive back home option. Getting to old for such things me thinks. scooted up to northern vermont near the border and decided that was enough fun. we are going home. lol  But it was still a good little excursion. Good quality time.



Aaaannnddd…that was TMI.  Now I gotta get THAT image out of my head.


----------



## minicoop1985

Seriously, I need that hot tub. There's so many naked models here, and they don't all fit in my shower.


----------



## sashbar

We may expect some big news from Cuba tomorrow.


----------



## snerd

Morning, hosers. Sipping my Folgers Classic Roast as I type. It's 14° F here, north winds blowing at 20mph, 7° windchill. Yes, I'm getting cabin fever! It's too cold and windy to do much of anything outdoors. I'm thinking a half hour in the steaming hot whirlpool, then changing to the steaming hot shower, is what's for breakfast this morning! Shoulder therapy at 3pm. Then maybe Chili's for a juicy rib-eye!! Stay warm out there!!


----------



## Gary A.

FYI Hosers- Not that I'm rubbing it in ... but this week I've planted a new raspberry (Jewel), a new Blueberry, a Boysenberry, Purple Sage, Cilantro, Spinach, Peppers and a flat of Thyme (I'm using Thyme as a ground cover around the pond. This week I've harvested the last of the persimmons, Mandarin Oranges, Valencia Oranges, Meyer Lemons, Mexican Limes and broccoli. In a couple of days a few strawberries will be good to go. I've had a pleasant time watching Monarch caterpillars, eat, create chrysalis and emerge as butterflies. I love winter, less tourists ... more parking.


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> Well, in my defence, the Oxford dictionary does support my use of "unthaw" as being equivalent to "thaw" in North American usage.  see:  unthaw: definition of unthaw in Oxford dictionary (British & World English)...


One more nail in the coffin of the English language... right up there with the use of "facebook" as a verb!


----------



## JacaRanda

Gary A. said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> You have to consider that most people in your area probably don't have real snow tires.  These things do make a difference.  I drove one rural road recently before I changed from all-weather to winter, after a snowfall, and even with careful driving, it was difficult to keep a line on curves and stop when you wanted to.  Same road, with winter tires, and under similar conditions - huge difference in control and ability to stop.  Of course, if people people drive in the passing lane at 20 mph, then they deserve the vitriol they get.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No - we just can't handle the stuff.  We really are a southern city and don't get that much snow.  Our counties run out of salt before the season is over; our schools decide to open, then decide to close while many of the kids are still in transit; and when we decide to close things (government offices) early due to weather, we close them all at the same time so everyone can play in the same slushbox at the same time.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It could always be worse--you could live in my neck of the woods when it starts to snow!  DC drivers are "old pros" at it compared to the majority of Knoxvillians.
> And, I'll admit it, I am one of the snow weanies--I don't really like driving anyway, and I HATE to drive in the snow. As soon as it starts sticking to the road, I want to be at home and STAY at home.
> But, in my defense, I do just that instead of contributing to the problems with all the rest of the snowdiots on the road (that's idiots in the snow, in case you missed it...).
> My brother and my sister don't mind driving in it, so I can always get one of them to pick me up if I really need to do something (OR I can take the bus, if they're running!).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> why I set  this up years ago (and it is still going). Lot of time (thought) and some money went into this. Doesn't look like much but this is pretty much setup just for snow. It was my main driveway plow rig. 90k miles fifteen years old it comes out when the snow flys.  lockers, rv tranny coolers, front suspension beefed up, high output alternator, 10 ply tires, the black on the sides is rhino liner keeps the metal from creasing. After blowing the ujoints and transmission issue i had those feefed up too.  Every year it gets dented in along the bottom from going through snow and ice banks and i bang the dents out with a rubber mallet  (rhino liner saves that creasing in the metal). View attachment 92695 in the tool box is recovery straps , chain, spare hydraulic hoses, fluid, sockets, pry bars, pretty much anything  i think i might need.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, but the thing is…I do not WANT to live anywhere where it makes sense to HAVE something like that.
> Or where the air hurts my face.
> 
> I want to live where I get spring, fall and summer. Mostly spring and summer. Maybe two weeks of winter, and ONE snow, 2 inches would be plenty. And I'd prefer to only have it around for two days, max. Then back to 60s or 70s.
> I don't want to move as far away as California, so moving in with Gary and his wife (or Jacaranda and his wife) isn't an option. Florida is really my best bet.  But they have cockroaches there the size of a small dog.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's not entirely true. Moving in with JacaRanda is always an option.
Click to expand...


True - True


----------



## JacaRanda

Gary A. said:


> What's a engine block heater?



When my wife first drove down from Canada, I told her she was lucky she had no mechanical problems.  There was a big cable hanging out from under her hood.  Then I got the lesson about battery heater thingies.  WTH?


----------



## tirediron

JacaRanda said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What's a engine block heater?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When my wife first drove down from Canada, I told her she was lucky she had no mechanical problems.  There was a big cable hanging out from under her hood.  Then I got the lesson about battery heater thingies.  WTH?
Click to expand...

Mehh... try running a bigger diesel truck with block heater, battery blankets, trans  & diff heaters and circulating coolant heater!


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## JacaRanda

tirediron said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What's a engine block heater?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When my wife first drove down from Canada, I told her she was lucky she had no mechanical problems.  There was a big cable hanging out from under her hood.  Then I got the lesson about battery heater thingies.  WTH?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mehh... try running a bigger diesel truck with block heater, battery blankets, trans  & diff heaters and circulating coolant heater!
Click to expand...


Isn't life too short to deal with all that?  I side with the Canada Geese that decided to live here year-round.
However, I could handle BC winters.


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## sm4him

JacaRanda said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What's a engine block heater?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When my wife first drove down from Canada, I told her she was lucky she had no mechanical problems.  There was a big cable hanging out from under her hood.  Then I got the lesson about battery heater thingies.  WTH?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mehh... try running a bigger diesel truck with block heater, battery blankets, trans  & diff heaters and circulating coolant heater!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Isn't life too short to deal with all that?  I side with the Canada Geese that decided to live here year-round.
> However, I could handle BC winters.
Click to expand...


My motto: If it's too cold outside for my car to start, it's too cold for ME to start.  If you need heaters and blankets for your car, it's a clear indication that you need to move further south.


----------



## tirediron

JacaRanda said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What's a engine block heater?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When my wife first drove down from Canada, I told her she was lucky she had no mechanical problems.  There was a big cable hanging out from under her hood.  Then I got the lesson about battery heater thingies.  WTH?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mehh... try running a bigger diesel truck with block heater, battery blankets, trans  & diff heaters and circulating coolant heater!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Isn't life too short to deal with all that?  I side with the Canada Geese that decided to live here year-round.
> However, I could handle BC winters.
Click to expand...

You might want to check that...  There's a narrow band from Cape Caution to Victoria, west of the Coast Range that has "mild" winters; as soon as you get east of the Coast Range, you're into the s**t!  Even 100 miles north of Victoria, there's a LOT more snow and colder weather...


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## minicoop1985

My dog **** all over herself today. Was constipated and I had to help her along with it (yes, I had to pull out the poop with a baby wipe). She hates baths, but with how much **** she had in her fur, she needed it.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> My dog **** all over herself today. Was constipated and I had to help her along with it (yes, I had to pull out the poop with a baby wipe). She hates baths, but with how much **** she had in her fur, she needed it.


While I appreciate the discomfort for all involved, and as strange as it may seem, I could actually have gone quite happily to my grave never knowing of that particular event!


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## pgriz

Uh oh.  Does not sound like fun.  Hopefully, doggie incontinence doesn't require you to adapt Depends to her needs. Keep in mind as well that constipation MAY be a sign of insufficient water drinking.


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## limr

sashbar said:


> We may expect some big news from Cuba tomorrow.



About...? I've been under a rock lately and would like to hear some news of the world, please!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> While I appreciate the discomfort for all involved, and as strange as it may seem, I could actually have gone quite happily to my grave never knowing of that particular event!



Preach, brother.


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## minicoop1985

I know I know. I just needed to vent.


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## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> I know I know. I just needed to vent.


I thought it was your dog that vented...


----------



## sashbar

limr said:


> sashbar said:
> 
> 
> 
> We may expect some big news from Cuba tomorrow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> About...? I've been under a rock lately and would like to hear some news of the world, please!
Click to expand...


Fidel


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## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> My dog **** all over herself today. Was constipated and I had to help her along with it (yes, I had to pull out the poop with a baby wipe). She hates baths, but with how much **** she had in her fur, she needed it.


just wait until you get old and it is your turn...


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## JacaRanda

tirediron said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What's a engine block heater?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When my wife first drove down from Canada, I told her she was lucky she had no mechanical problems.  There was a big cable hanging out from under her hood.  Then I got the lesson about battery heater thingies.  WTH?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mehh... try running a bigger diesel truck with block heater, battery blankets, trans  & diff heaters and circulating coolant heater!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Isn't life too short to deal with all that?  I side with the Canada Geese that decided to live here year-round.
> However, I could handle BC winters.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You might want to check that...  There's a narrow band from Cape Caution to Victoria, west of the Coast Range that has "mild" winters; as soon as you get east of the Coast Range, you're into the s**t!  Even 100 miles north of Victoria, there's a LOT more snow and colder weather...
Click to expand...


Exactly.  I should have been more specific.  Beautiful Vancouver is where I could live.  Similiar to So-Cal, I can drive up a big hill to get to snow.  
I did experience a nice fluffly white snow in Vancouver about 5 or 6 years ago.  It was great and the first time I had been in it since I moved from the Midwest to Cali.


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## bribrius

tirediron said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What's a engine block heater?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When my wife first drove down from Canada, I told her she was lucky she had no mechanical problems.  There was a big cable hanging out from under her hood.  Then I got the lesson about battery heater thingies.  WTH?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mehh... try running a bigger diesel truck with block heater, battery blankets, trans  & diff heaters and circulating coolant heater!
Click to expand...

i dont like having  a diesel up here. To me vehicles and machinery are tools i dont want to marry the things. some people love diesels.  i am lucky enough to not have to pull anything with heavy loads any more. i can avoid owning a diesel. Really just dont need or want the added headache. suppose it isnt much different than plugging in a electric car but i really dont want to do that either. i had a moment once trying to get a international started in montreal one winter. yeah, i finally got it running. But it was SOOOOOOO loud i looked under it for any parts that might have spit out of the motor. And if it gels you are pretty much screwed messing with that in zero degree weather on top of it.  i had no where to plug it in. suppose i could have just left it running for three days until i went back to get it maybe? But really why deal with that unless you have too.


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## tirediron

bribrius said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What's a engine block heater?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When my wife first drove down from Canada, I told her she was lucky she had no mechanical problems.  There was a big cable hanging out from under her hood.  Then I got the lesson about battery heater thingies.  WTH?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mehh... try running a bigger diesel truck with block heater, battery blankets, trans  & diff heaters and circulating coolant heater!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> i dont like having  a diesel up here. To me vehicles and machinery are tools i dont want to marry the things. some people love diesels.  i am lucky enough to not have to pull anything with heavy loads any more. i can avoid owning a diesel. Really just dont need or want the added headache. suppose it isnt much different than plugging in a electric car but i really dont want to do that either. i had a moment once trying to get a international started in montreal one winter. yeah, i finally got it running. But it was SOOOOOOO loud i looked under it for any parts that might have spit out of the motor. And if it gels you are pretty much screwed messing with that in zero degree weather on top of it.  i had no where to plug it in. suppose i could have just left it running for three days until i went back to get it maybe? But really why deal with that unless you have too.
Click to expand...

You didn't have the optional cold-weather starting kit?


----------



## limr

sashbar said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sashbar said:
> 
> 
> 
> We may expect some big news from Cuba tomorrow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> About...? I've been under a rock lately and would like to hear some news of the world, please!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Fidel
Click to expand...


Really? Has he bought the farm or is about to? How do you know the news and we don't?


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> sashbar said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sashbar said:
> 
> 
> 
> We may expect some big news from Cuba tomorrow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> About...? I've been under a rock lately and would like to hear some news of the world, please!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Fidel
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Really? Has he bought the farm or is about to? How do you know the news and we don't?
Click to expand...

They're not embargoed over there.  Just the US.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> Nope. Not gonna happen. I have a valid excuse though; I'm a southern girl, born and bred. I was not created to be subjected to these kinds of temps!!  So, you take your pictures while I commence kvetching and then come about June, we'll switch places.
> 
> This is just. Too. Cold. I hate it. I hate everything about it.  My body wants to hibernate.  I find it a nearly insurmountable task just to get out of bed and drag myself through the day. Actually being productive will have to wait until March.





sm4him said:


> My motto: If it's too cold outside for my car to start, it's too cold for ME to start.  If you need heaters and blankets for your car, it's a clear indication that you need to move further south.



Sharon:


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nope. Not gonna happen. I have a valid excuse though; I'm a southern girl, born and bred. I was not created to be subjected to these kinds of temps!!  So, you take your pictures while I commence kvetching and then come about June, we'll switch places.
> 
> This is just. Too. Cold. I hate it. I hate everything about it.  My body wants to hibernate.  I find it a nearly insurmountable task just to get out of bed and drag myself through the day. Actually being productive will have to wait until March.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> My motto: If it's too cold outside for my car to start, it's too cold for ME to start.  If you need heaters and blankets for your car, it's a clear indication that you need to move further south.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Sharon:
Click to expand...


YES!!!


----------



## limr

Bah, what fun would that be??


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Bah, what fun would that be??



It's for Sharon.  I will venture out into the cold -- heck, I want to migrate to Maine (or Nova Scotia, if the Canadians would have me.)  My screen name is revealing.


----------



## limr

I enjoyed the weather today. I think the high was about 14, and it was sunny and dry. I could wear my favorite wool cable knit sweater and parka and enjoy the sun without bursting into flames. I forgot to bring a touque so my ears got cold but the rest of me was very comfortable.


----------



## snerd

My front porch faces the south, so on cold days I sit out there, it's kind of out of the wind, and enjoy the heat of the sun.


----------



## Gary A.

I also enjoyed the weather. 70+F today. Squeezed in some yard work, mowed the back and worked on the liner around the skimmer in preparation for a party on Saturday.


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## sm4him

Morning, hosers!

Not nearly as cold here this morning as yesterday. 7°F about this time yesterday with a wind chill in the negative somethings. Negative temperatures should NOT be allowed south of the Mason-Dixon line.
A practically balmy 26° now. I still hate it but I'm grateful for what I can get at this point.
I am literally counting down the days until March--we still sometimes get cold weather then too (the last time we had a snowfall of more than 12" was in the middle of March in 1993) but we'll start to see a few 60° days and I'll know I'm going to survive another winter. Right now, it could go either way.


----------



## KenC

I feel for you, Sharon.  We have exactly the same temperature as you today and had the same yesterday, and we're more used to it here.  It's supposed to be cold here again on Saturday.  Meanwhile, I'm indoors at work with my coffee and snack, so what, me worry?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. As Randy Newman sings ... "Another perfect day, I love LA." It is 6:30 a.m. and 55F, it is predicted to cool off to the mid 60's maybe it'll hit 70F today. A hint of an ocean breeze, soft and caressing. Kona again today, The cup is back lighted by the monitor and I can see waves of steam rising. It's a white, oversized rounder cup with this giant lower case 'g' painted on the side.


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. As Randy Newman sings ... "Another perfect day, I love LA." It is 6:30 a.m. and 55F, it is predicted to cool off to the mid 60's maybe it'll hit 70F today. A hint of an ocean breeze, soft and caressing. Kona again today, The cup is back lighted by the monitor and I can see waves of steam rising. It's a white, oversized rounder cup with this giant lower case 'g' painted on the side.



What we have here is a photographer describing a cup of coffee.   Pictures, man, pictures!


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. As Randy Newman sings ... "Another perfect day, I love LA." It is 6:30 a.m. and 55F, it is predicted to cool off to the mid 60's maybe it'll hit 70F today. A hint of an ocean breeze, soft and caressing. Kona again today, The cup is back lighted by the monitor and I can see waves of steam rising. It's a white, oversized rounder cup with this giant lower case 'g' painted on the side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What we have here is a photographer describing a cup of coffee.   Pictures, man, pictures!
Click to expand...

LOL ... the coffee is gone. Maybe tomorrow I'll replicate this morning.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. It's 22F according to the thermometer outside of the kitchen window, and it snowed overnight. Doesn't seem to be too much - more than a dusting but no more than half a foot at most.

Buzz and I brought in our color film to be developed yesterday. Got them back in the afternoon. I have 4 rolls of 120 and 7 rolls of 35mm to scan. Don't know how much I'll get to today but I should get at least a few rolls done.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> ........... more than a dusting but no more than half a foot at most..


That's a very liberal spread for a snow measurement lol!! Somewhere between a dusting and 6" inches?! I guess if you live where it snows regularly, it might work. Down here in southern Oklahoma, it could mean the difference between life and death!!!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ........... more than a dusting but no more than half a foot at most..
> 
> 
> 
> That's a very liberal spread for a snow measurement lol!! Somewhere between a dusting and 6" inches?! I guess if you live where it snows regularly, it might work. Down here in southern Oklahoma, it could mean the difference between life and death!!!
Click to expand...


Around here, a 'dusting' is probably like an inch and barely even worth mentioning. More than half a foot is a more serious snowfall. Anything in between is enough to notice and possibly delay school openings, but nothing major to worry about.


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## snerd

2-3 inches pretty much shuts everything down, here!


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## limr

It snowed on New Year's Eve where I was in Arizona. In that area, they get _some_ snow _sometimes_ but apparently this was the heaviest snowfall they'd had in 10+ years. It wasn't much snow at all, but they just didn't have the resources to handle it. No salt or sand on the roads and as far as I could tell, no snow plows. People don't even own shovels to clear out their own driveways or storefronts.


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## snerd

Snow shovel?! What is that?! Lol!!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

There are always a few enterprising souls who hit the town with that type of equipment. They make a killing, actually! 


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## limr

I bet they do!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> It snowed on New Year's Eve where I was in Arizona. In that area, they get _some_ snow _sometimes_ but apparently this was the heaviest snowfall they'd had in 10+ years. It wasn't much snow at all, but they just didn't have the resources to handle it. No salt or sand on the roads and as far as I could tell, no snow plows. *People don't even own shovels* to clear out their own driveways or storefronts.




You say that like it's a freak of nature--folks not even owning a simple snow shovel!! The horror! 

I have never owned a snow shovel in my life. As far as I know, nobody I know around here owns a snow shovel.  I probably know about a dozen people who do own chains for their tires though.  But they are all guys, and they are all transplants from the North.


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## limr

What I meant was that not only did the city itself have no resources, but not even the individuals had what they needed to deal with it, so much of the snow was left uncleared even on sidewalks and driveways. 

It does seem a little strange to me that in an area that does get snow, even if infrequently (and I don't mean the "once every 25 years" type of infrequency), that people wouldn't just keep a shovel - any kind of shovel - in a corner somewhere so they do have one if they need it. I mean, it's not like there aren't other uses for shovels  

As for me, I've had my own snow shovel since I was about 5!


----------



## Designer

As one who is prepared for nearly anything, I don't understand that either.  

And what about those people getting ready for a hurricane?  I mean doesn't anybody keep the plywood they used last year?  I guess they just remove it and haul it to the dump after every hurricane.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> What I meant was that not only did the city itself have no resources, but not even the individuals had what they needed to deal with it, so much of the snow was left uncleared even on sidewalks and driveways.
> 
> It does seem a little strange to me that in an area that does get snow, even if infrequently (and I don't mean the "once every 25 years" type of infrequency), that people wouldn't just keep a shovel - any kind of shovel - in a corner somewhere so they do have one if they need it. I mean, it's not like there aren't other uses for shovels
> 
> As for me, I've had my own snow shovel since I was about 5!



We get, on average, probably one snowfall a year of more than 2 or 3 inches. For you that's a "dusting" but for us, it's fairly significant. If we get as much as six inches, everything shuts down, usually for at least two days.  Some years--like last year--we may have three or four 3"+ snowfalls (even had two of more than 6" last year), but then we may go a year, or two, with no more than an inch all winter long.
The city does have at least SOME equipment; they'll treat most of the roads if we have enough warning and they are pretty good about being able to get main roads and some secondary roads cleared--but snow shovels?  Meh, we just all figure if you need to shovel your way out of the driveway, you ought to just stay put!! LOL

I do have *a* shovel though. Just a regular dirt shovel, not a flat one. I once even tried to shovel snow with it (probably during the blizzard of 93)--that was an exercise in futility.


----------



## pixmedic

Omg..we are freezing down here...

Highs of...make sure your sitting down. ...68.

HIGHS of 68!
Oh the humanity...


----------



## sm4him

pixmedic said:


> Omg..we are freezing down here...
> 
> Highs of...make sure your sitting down. ...68.
> 
> HIGHS of 68!
> Oh the humanity...


I remember those days like they were just last week…


----------



## minicoop1985

I live in Wisconsin. It's cold as t*ts here. A foot of snow and only some of the schools close.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> As one who is prepared for nearly anything, I don't understand that either.
> 
> And what about those people getting ready for a hurricane?  I mean doesn't anybody keep the plywood they used last year?  I guess they just remove it and haul it to the dump after every hurricane.


Not having lived in the Midwest or East Coast ... it is only recently that I've realized that you guys are prepared and expect that the power grid will shut down for a day or so numerous times over the winter. On the West Coast, as the grid rarely is down, nobody has these expectations, and thusly, very few people have generators or firewood or a back up food supply, et al. All that backup stuff is quite odd to us.


----------



## Designer

You might start thinking about accumulating some backup water, food, & gasoline.  You know, just in case.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> As one who is prepared for nearly anything, I don't understand that either.
> 
> And what about those people getting ready for a hurricane?  I mean doesn't anybody keep the plywood they used last year?  I guess they just remove it and haul it to the dump after every hurricane.
> 
> 
> 
> Not having lived in the Midwest or East Coast ... it is only recently that I've realized that you guys are prepared and expect that the power grid will shut down for a day or so numerous times over the winter. On the West Coast, as the grid rarely is down, nobody has these expectations, and thusly, very few people have generators or firewood or a back up food supply, et al. All that backup stuff is quite odd to us.
Click to expand...

a day or so.... lol....   couple years back i ran two weeks with no power. If it was only a day or so i wouldnt need the backups.... lol
so far this season i have only gone one day with no power. Generator. 
we keep gas for the grill in the winter. not so much because we are entertaining company for out door cookouts but because if we lose power we cook on the grill a lot more.. Electric stove isnt even wired into the generator hookups just not worth supplying. We run the fridge on generator now but when we just had a small generator we put the food outside in sealed containers. Figure it is winter time not like it wont stay frozen . just have to keep it high or preferably sealed to keep the animals away. My problem is i actually maintain another property seven miles away. when i only had one generator and they both went out of power at the same time i had to drain all the pipes there and hope for the best. Now i have two generators so i am not put in that position of if they both lose power at once. The main thing with power is to keep the pipes from freezing in forced hot water systems, as mine are. It isnt so much heat for yourself there are plenty of ways around that, but forced hot water cant  freeze the pipes burst and their goes much dollars and time, and mess. so you either run the boilers or drain the pipes.

 you can put additive in them to like antifreeze, to avoid freezing so easy. But if you lose power for any real length of time you are basically screwed no matter what and you arent actually supposed to leave the additives in they are meant to be with anything but straight water... Easier just to run generators and keep the forced hot water system running and warm or drain them.  Dont even know why we used forced hot water systems up here in the northeast it really is quite stupid as you are always worried about frozen pipes.  so it isnt so much keeping yourself warm that you are concerned with , but keeping the maze of pipes in the dwelling warm enough to prevent freezing which is much more involved. And yeah, spare fuel, spare food now we use a larger capacity single freezer too now, spare batteries, camping lights, camping stove, we pretty much utilize whatever we have we need at the time. Losing electricity at all isnt really a big deal, except for keeping all that forced hot water warm. you can live fine with no electricity.


----------



## JacaRanda

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. As Randy Newman sings ... "Another perfect day, I love LA." It is 6:30 a.m. and 55F, it is predicted to cool off to the mid 60's maybe it'll hit 70F today. A hint of an ocean breeze, soft and caressing. Kona again today, The cup is back lighted by the monitor and I can see waves of steam rising. It's a white, oversized rounder cup with this giant lower case 'g' painted on the side.


 
Anybody hate you yet?


----------



## limr

JacaRanda said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. As Randy Newman sings ... "Another perfect day, I love LA." It is 6:30 a.m. and 55F, it is predicted to cool off to the mid 60's maybe it'll hit 70F today. A hint of an ocean breeze, soft and caressing. Kona again today, The cup is back lighted by the monitor and I can see waves of steam rising. It's a white, oversized rounder cup with this giant lower case 'g' painted on the side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anybody hate you yet?
Click to expand...


I don't


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> As one who is prepared for nearly anything, I don't understand that either.
> 
> And what about those people getting ready for a hurricane?  I mean doesn't anybody keep the plywood they used last year?  I guess they just remove it and haul it to the dump after every hurricane.
> 
> 
> 
> Not having lived in the Midwest or East Coast ... it is only recently that I've realized that you guys are prepared and expect that the power grid will shut down for a day or so numerous times over the winter. On the West Coast, as the grid rarely is down, nobody has these expectations, and thusly, very few people have generators or firewood or a back up food supply, et al. All that backup stuff is quite odd to us.
Click to expand...


Yup, being prepared for dealing with the effects of storms is something I grew up with and is second nature to me. And whatever lessons I learned here in the Northeast, I had them reinforced when I lived in Istanbul, where power or water would disappear completely randomly, regardless of weather. Never knew when they'd come back, either. Often it was just a few hours, but a few times, we'd be without water for up to 2 days with no explanation. Having large reserves of potable water is a no-brainer for me.

And on a related note, since living overseas, I also carry a package of tissues with me at all times because I still don't trust that there will be toilet paper in public bathrooms!


----------



## JacaRanda

Anyone own a windshield scraper?  I actually needed one a couple of weeks ago.


----------



## Designer

JacaRanda said:


> Anyone own a windshield scraper?  I actually needed one a couple of weeks ago.


Shipping address and $5 + S&H

Actually, if it's just soft frost, which I suspect it was, a credit card will do it.  (that was free, BTW)


----------



## bribrius

JacaRanda said:


> Anyone own a windshield scraper?  I actually needed one a couple of weeks ago.


i have five.


----------



## Designer

JacaRanda said:


> Anybody hate you yet?



Nah.  You guys are welcome to it.  I lived in LA county for 10 years.  I don't have any desire to move there again.


----------



## JacaRanda

Designer said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone own a windshield scraper?  I actually needed one a couple of weeks ago.
> 
> 
> 
> Shipping address and $5 + S&H
> 
> Actually, if it's just soft frost, which I suspect it was, a credit card will do it.  (that was free, BTW)
Click to expand...

 
Crap, I wasted my favorite Average White Band cd.    Pick Up The Pieces


----------



## Designer

You used a CD?  I presume it is now beyond normal use.  See?  You could have bought a scraper from me and you'd still have that CD.


----------



## JacaRanda

Designer said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anybody hate you yet?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nah.  You guys are welcome to it.  I lived in LA county for 10 years.  I don't have any desire to move there again.
Click to expand...

 
Come back to the OC or North County San Diego for winters only.  Sammys are waiting for you


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> As one who is prepared for nearly anything, I don't understand that either.
> 
> And what about those people getting ready for a hurricane?  I mean doesn't anybody keep the plywood they used last year?  I guess they just remove it and haul it to the dump after every hurricane.
> 
> 
> 
> Not having lived in the Midwest or East Coast ... it is only recently that I've realized that you guys are prepared and expect that the power grid will shut down for a day or so numerous times over the winter. On the West Coast, as the grid rarely is down, nobody has these expectations, and thusly, very few people have generators or firewood or a back up food supply, et al. All that backup stuff is quite odd to us.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup, being prepared for dealing with the effects of storms is something I grew up with and is second nature to me. And whatever lessons I learned here in the Northeast, I had them reinforced when I lived in Istanbul, where power or water would disappear completely randomly, regardless of weather. Never knew when they'd come back, either. Often it was just a few hours, but a few times, we'd be without water for up to 2 days with no explanation. Having large reserves of potable water is a no-brainer for me.
> 
> And on a related note, since living overseas, I also carry a package of tissues with me at all times because I still don't trust that there will be toilet paper in public bathrooms!
Click to expand...

the water is something else, with a well it was just a matter of keeping the well pump running. with town water it depends on if it goes down which hasnt happend often but has happend. It doesnt just stop flowing though it just isnt really that clean, even though supposedly it is sand and charcoal filtered they lose power over there it makes a difference. . Ours is pumped from a spring but a town spring, filtered town charcaol. so if it goes down you are better off not drinking it. My most recent experience with that is the water was brown out of the tap, to make it worse we have a spare water tank that fills off that town supply too. So recently even after the water situation was sorted out on the town level and safe to drink again i had this crap in the bottom of the water tank settled at that point. It ran somewhat brown, mostly some extra minerals and dirts for a week. we drink bottled water in such cases. It really isnt harmful for showers so much, no different than jumping in the river Just a little questionable on drinking. i also heat it if need be and use water purifcation tabs. but mostly it is just excess iron and minerals in it, no so much that it is totally unsafe. That almost never happens though


----------



## limr

JacaRanda said:


> Anyone own a windshield scraper?  I actually needed one a couple of weeks ago.



You want one with attached glove? A long handle? Handle with brush on the other side? Rubber grip or regular?

Yes. Yes, I have windshield scrapers.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> the water is something else, with a well it was just a matter of keeping the well pump running. with town water it depends on if it goes down which hasnt happend often but has happend. It doesnt just stop flowing though it just isnt really that clean, even though supposedly it is sand and charcoal filtered they lose power over there it makes a difference. . Ours is pumped from a spring but a town spring, filtered town charcaol. so if it goes down you are better off not drinking it. My most recent experience with that is the water was brown out of the tap, to make it worse we have a spare water tank that fills off that town supply too. So recently even after the water situation was sorted out on the town level and safe to drink again i had this crap in the bottom of the water tank settled at that point. It ran somewhat brown, mostly some extra minerals and dirts for a week. we drink bottled water in such cases. It really isnt harmful for showers so much, no different than jumping in the river Just a little questionable on drinking. i also heat it if need be and use water purifcation tabs. but mostly it is just excess iron and minerals in it, no so much that it is totally unsafe.



We're on well water, so no power=no water.

We have jugs for drinking water and other jugs to use for flushing the toilet or bathing.


----------



## Designer

JacaRanda said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anybody hate you yet?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nah.  You guys are welcome to it.  I lived in LA county for 10 years.  I don't have any desire to move there again.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Come back to the OC or North County San Diego for winters only.  Sammys are waiting for you
Click to expand...

That sounds perfect!  I actually love that area.  I had an Aunt and Uncle who lived in Vista.  My son #2 and DIL lived in the SF Valley, so we've been back for short visits.  They now live in AZ.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> the water is something else, with a well it was just a matter of keeping the well pump running. with town water it depends on if it goes down which hasnt happend often but has happend. It doesnt just stop flowing though it just isnt really that clean, even though supposedly it is sand and charcoal filtered they lose power over there it makes a difference. . Ours is pumped from a spring but a town spring, filtered town charcaol. so if it goes down you are better off not drinking it. My most recent experience with that is the water was brown out of the tap, to make it worse we have a spare water tank that fills off that town supply too. So recently even after the water situation was sorted out on the town level and safe to drink again i had this crap in the bottom of the water tank settled at that point. It ran somewhat brown, mostly some extra minerals and dirts for a week. we drink bottled water in such cases. It really isnt harmful for showers so much, no different than jumping in the river Just a little questionable on drinking. i also heat it if need be and use water purifcation tabs. but mostly it is just excess iron and minerals in it, no so much that it is totally unsafe.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We're on well water, so no power=no water.
> 
> We have jugs for drinking water and other jugs to use for flushing the toilet or bathing.
Click to expand...

i'd rather have well water but i'd have it hooked to the transfer box for the generators


----------



## JacaRanda

limr said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone own a windshield scraper?  I actually needed one a couple of weeks ago.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You want one with attached glove? A long handle? Handle with brush on the other side? Rubber grip or regular?
> 
> Yes. Yes, I have windshield scrapers.
Click to expand...

 
E) All of above   A brother has to be prepared next time.   This Southwest weather is extremely unpredictable as you just discovered.


----------



## bribrius

JacaRanda said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone own a windshield scraper?  I actually needed one a couple of weeks ago.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You want one with attached glove? A long handle? Handle with brush on the other side? Rubber grip or regular?
> 
> Yes. Yes, I have windshield scrapers.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> E) All of above   A brother has to be prepared next time.   This Southwest weather is extremely unpredictable as you just discovered.
Click to expand...

in california i would consider earthquakes, kind of duck cover, then get out of dodge on foot region before the looting starts.   you lose power for extended periods in southern cali it would be a war zone.  if not the gangs then the beverly hills people pissed off....


----------



## limr

Not just Cali. After Hurricane Sandy, people were looting like crazy. New Jersey took the brunt of it and NYC had more problems than we did in the 'burbs, but even by me, people were starting to freak out after just a few days, especially about getting gasoline and internet access..


----------



## Designer

JacaRanda said:


> E) All of above   A brother has to be prepared next time.   This Southwest weather is extremely unpredictable as you just discovered.



You can usually make do with some unconventional tools (a CD frost scraper, for instance) but some things are just not negotiable.  

I once had a car with summer tires, and did not realize it until snow and ice covered the roads.


----------



## bribrius

one thing i like about where i live. tshtf i can pretty much grab the bug out bag and disappear. i am not in a large city area, where they end up trapped like sardines feeding off eachother in turmoil and panic.


limr said:


> Not just Cali. After Hurricane Sandy, people were looting like crazy. New Jersey took the brunt of it and NYC had more problems than we did in the 'burbs, but even by me, people were starting to freak out after just a few days, especially about getting gasoline and internet access..


that isnt too bad. the fun part is when the nations food supply runs out in three days if everything gets shut down. The in between time between that and when the govt kicks in dropping and assigning food rations trying to organize under martial law from area to area is when the cannibals come out. Personally, i think it is wrong to eat your neighbors. But if the kids gotta eat they gotta eat. so joe and sally might have be cooked up with some good barbecue sauce.

but in all seriousness, the risk of such things is increasing. Not sure if anyone noticed but here in the u.s. the government has really been pushing citizen survival initiatives for the last decade.  we are almost back to fifties levels if not there. 












Food Storage and Preparedness | Homeland Security News

CDC Emergency Preparedness and You | Gather Emergency Supplies | Disaster Supplies Kit

http://www.fema.gov/pdf/areyouready/areyouready_full.pdf

Home | Ready.gov

for a while they were even running the occasional govt. sponsored tv ad.


----------



## JacaRanda

Stop scaring Man.  In every Friday 13th, Jason seemed to be out away from the city terrorizing folks.  I'm sticking with the safety in numbers type of deal. 

Pick your poison on the mother nature side as Lady L mentioned; hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, blizzards, forest fires, mudslides etc.


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm about as prepared as I'm not prepared for anything ever. Our power nearly never goes out, and we're on city water, so we're OK ish. Only thing to worry about is heat...


----------



## pgriz

Preparedness:
1)  4000W generator.  Check
2)  Fuel for generator.  Check.
3)  Patch for home electrical panel.  Check.
4  7 days of water.  Check.
5)  Propane BBQ.  Check
6)  extra propane tanks.  Check.
7)  Water purifier.  Check
8)  Canned food for 7 days.  Check.
9)  Candles, flashlights, and spare batteries.  Check.
10)  Battery-powered  radios.  Check.
11)  Extra gas for car.  Check.
12)  First aid kits and prescription medicines.  Check.
13) Sense of humour.  Check.
14) Board games and card games.  Check.
15)  enough books to keep us going for at least a week?  We've got that covered for at least for several months worth.

When we had the ice storm in 1998, we were without power for about 9 days.  Some places were without power for up to 30 days, as the distribution network had to be rebuilt extensively.  Last Sunday's ice storm had us lose power for almost 20 hours - not a very big deal, but rather inconvenient.  Snowstorms are usually no big deal, up to about 15-18inches.  More than that and stuff starts grinding to a halt as the snowplows working on the main roads start to fall behind.  Apparently we are also in a seismic zone, with potential for a moderate to moderately-severe earthquake.  Windstorms are not very common, although we've had some small twisters do some damage in the past 10 years.

We get annual zombie invasions in mid-October, but they seem to be good to the downtown merchants, so heavy artillery doesn't seem to be needed.  We're a little low on alien invasions.  Maybe that means we're due, or maybe we have enough "interesting" people that they just blend in.   What else?  Floods - happen from time to time, but since we're sitting on an island in the middle of the main drainage from the Great Lakes, we're kinda used to water flowing around us.


----------



## snerd

pgriz said:


> Preparedness:
> 1)  4000W generator.  Check
> 2)  Fuel for generator.  Check.
> 3)  Patch for home electrical panel.  Check.
> 4  7 days of water.  Check.
> 5)  Propane BBQ.  Check
> 6)  extra propane tanks.  Check.
> 7)  Water purifier.  Check
> 8)  Canned food for 7 days.  Check.
> 9)  Candles, flashlights, and spare batteries.  Check.
> 10)  Battery-powered  radios.  Check.
> 11)  Extra gas for car.  Check.
> 12)  First aid kits and prescription medicines.  Check.
> 13) Sense of humour.  Check.
> 14) Board games and card games.  Check.
> 15)  enough books to keep us going for at least a week?  We've got that covered for at least for several months worth.
> 
> When we had the ice storm in 1998, we were without power for about 9 days.  Some places were without power for up to 30 days, as the distribution network had to be rebuilt extensively.  Last Sunday's ice storm had us lose power for almost 20 hours - not a very big deal, but rather inconvenient.  Snowstorms are usually no big deal, up to about 15-18inches.  More than that and stuff starts grinding to a halt as the snowplows working on the main roads start to fall behind.  Apparently we are also in a seismic zone, with potential for a moderate to moderately-severe earthquake.  Windstorms are not very common, although we've had some small twisters do some damage in the past 10 years.
> 
> We get annual zombie invasions in mid-October, but they seem to be good to the downtown merchants, so heavy artillery doesn't seem to be needed.  We're a little low on alien invasions.  Maybe that means we're due, or maybe we have enough "interesting" people that they just blend in.   What else?  Floods - happen from time to time, but since we're sitting on an island in the middle of the main drainage from the Great Lakes, we're kinda used to water flowing around us.


My preparedness plan................. I come take all of your stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> You might start thinking about accumulating some backup water, food, & gasoline.  You know, just in case.


In six decades of living here, I've never been faced "needing" any backup water, food and/or gasoline. Plenty of earthquakes and an occasional blackout, but on average the blackouts last no more than a few hours ... if that.


----------



## Gary A.

JacaRanda said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. As Randy Newman sings ... "Another perfect day, I love LA." It is 6:30 a.m. and 55F, it is predicted to cool off to the mid 60's maybe it'll hit 70F today. A hint of an ocean breeze, soft and caressing. Kona again today, The cup is back lighted by the monitor and I can see waves of steam rising. It's a white, oversized rounder cup with this giant lower case 'g' painted on the side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anybody hate you yet?
Click to expand...

I'm trying, lol. Everybody is talkin' about their weather ... so I'm just tossing in my $.02 and talkin' about what we (you and I) have to face.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> As one who is prepared for nearly anything, I don't understand that either.
> 
> And what about those people getting ready for a hurricane?  I mean doesn't anybody keep the plywood they used last year?  I guess they just remove it and haul it to the dump after every hurricane.
> 
> 
> 
> Not having lived in the Midwest or East Coast ... it is only recently that I've realized that you guys are prepared and expect that the power grid will shut down for a day or so numerous times over the winter. On the West Coast, as the grid rarely is down, nobody has these expectations, and thusly, very few people have generators or firewood or a back up food supply, et al. All that backup stuff is quite odd to us.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup, being prepared for dealing with the effects of storms is something I grew up with and is second nature to me. And whatever lessons I learned here in the Northeast, I had them reinforced when I lived in Istanbul, where power or water would disappear completely randomly, regardless of weather. Never knew when they'd come back, either. Often it was just a few hours, but a few times, we'd be without water for up to 2 days with no explanation. Having large reserves of potable water is a no-brainer for me.
> 
> And on a related note, since living overseas, I also carry a package of tissues with me at all times because I still don't trust that there will be toilet paper in public bathrooms!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> the water is something else, with a well it was just a matter of keeping the well pump running. with town water it depends on if it goes down which hasnt happend often but has happend. It doesnt just stop flowing though it just isnt really that clean, even though supposedly it is sand and charcoal filtered they lose power over there it makes a difference. . Ours is pumped from a spring but a town spring, filtered town charcaol. so if it goes down you are better off not drinking it. My most recent experience with that is the water was brown out of the tap, to make it worse we have a spare water tank that fills off that town supply too. So recently even after the water situation was sorted out on the town level and safe to drink again i had this crap in the bottom of the water tank settled at that point. It ran somewhat brown, mostly some extra minerals and dirts for a week. we drink bottled water in such cases. It really isnt harmful for showers so much, no different than jumping in the river Just a little questionable on drinking. i also heat it if need be and use water purifcation tabs. but mostly it is just excess iron and minerals in it, no so much that it is totally unsafe. That almost never happens though
Click to expand...

I have an RO system in the kitchen that I use for drinking. More for taste than necessity.


----------



## Gary A.

Not only am I not prepared ... over the course of some 60 years I have not faced a reality stemming from not being prepared ... I am not worried at all, not one iota by my lack of preparedness. (I do have a small solar panel that will recharge my phone and flashlight. As for water, I am surrounded by pools and I have my pond.)


----------



## bribrius

Goodmorning coffee housers!    It is a balmy 14 degrees here. Just checked my outdoor temp sensor. 65 inside 14 out. considering a morning margarita and a sit down my the river.. The sun has made it through the trees now and is lighting up the snow covered field out back. Drinking my first cup of coffee right now, went out for my morning cigarette while it brewed. A certain quietness with the glistening of the ice and snow under this mornings sun rays.


----------



## sm4him

Morning all!  14 degrees here too, bribrius, which just seems really wrong to me, for us to be as cold as it is up there!
No snow or ice though, so at least we've got that going for us.  In fact, it's a beautiful, clear sky kind of day.  If it weren't so bloomin' cold, I'd be headed out to a nearby dam to see if there's any eagle activity, but I just can't get motivated to go out. I'm planning to stay inside instead and start learning how to use Lightroom--I've had it for over a year and have yet to start trying to use it, but it's time.

More coffee first, though, and maybe some pancakes.


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> Morning all!  14 degrees here too, bribrius, which just seems really wrong to me, for us to be as cold as it is up there!
> No snow or ice though, so at least we've got that going for us.  In fact, it's a beautiful, clear sky kind of day.  If it weren't so bloomin' cold, I'd be headed out to a nearby dam to see if there's any eagle activity, but I just can't get motivated to go out. I'm planning to stay inside instead and start learning how to use Lightroom--I've had it for over a year and have yet to start trying to use it, but it's time.
> 
> More coffee first, though, and maybe some pancakes.


oh yes, post processing. Seems to be my achilles heel.  i now have three programs, dont know how to use any to much degree of proficiency and noticed most anything i try to post process looked better before i touched it straight out of cam. While i try to force myself to learn my attention span for it is seriously lacking.  Looking for that eagle in your case sounds much more fun.


----------



## limr

It seems that all the cool kids are at 14 degrees this morning 

I have to start processing photos today, too, but it's a messier process than sitting at a computer  I am figuring at least 3 batches of Caffenol will be required, probably 4 to be safe.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> It seems that all the cool kids are at 14 degrees this morning
> 
> I have to start processing photos today, too, but it's a messier process than sitting at a computer  I am figuring at least 3 batches of Caffenol will be required, probably 4 to be safe.



I can't tell you how many times in the last two years I've been tempted to delve back into darkroom processing--find me some cheap equipment, and start using some of these film cameras again.

But then I remember, that really, I was never all that great at darkroom processing. I think I enjoy the "thought" of doing it again more than I would actually enjoy the process.



bribrius said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning all!  14 degrees here too, bribrius, which just seems really wrong to me, for us to be as cold as it is up there!
> No snow or ice though, so at least we've got that going for us.  In fact, it's a beautiful, clear sky kind of day.  If it weren't so bloomin' cold, I'd be headed out to a nearby dam to see if there's any eagle activity, but I just can't get motivated to go out. I'm planning to stay inside instead and start learning how to use Lightroom--I've had it for over a year and have yet to start trying to use it, but it's time.
> 
> More coffee first, though, and maybe some pancakes.
> 
> 
> 
> oh yes, post processing. Seems to be my achilles heel.  i now have three programs, dont know how to use any to much degree of proficiency and noticed most anything i try to post process looked better before i touched it straight out of cam. While i try to force myself to learn my attention span for it is seriously lacking.  Looking for that eagle in your case sounds much more fun.
Click to expand...


I'm pretty comfortable with my PP skills in Photoshop (although there IS a lot of the more advanced stuff I really need to work on), but for me it's about organization, and I'm convinced LR really is the way toward getting a handle on that. My current organization system still involves looking at my unprocessed photos and writing down on a sheet of paper which ones I want to process. Trying to FIND a particular photo a year or two later--well, good luck!!


----------



## limr

In some ways, I have it easier when it comes to organization. I can only "upload" 12, 24, or 36 pictures at a time 

When I scan a roll of film, I save the pictures in their own folder, labeled by date and film type. Those folders are organized by camera type. So, I've got one file for each type of camera I have, and inside those folders are the rolls I took with that camera. It can sometimes be tricky to find a picture after time has passed, but usually I just have to remember what I was shooting and then go look in that folder. I can usually do that pretty quickly.

When the pictures are unedited, they are named by whatever the scanning program automatically names them (usually some combination numbers). When I open them in Corel to edit them, I save a copy under a different name, so when I see file with an actual word name, I know that I have edited it. If I ever want to re-edit starting from scratch, I still have the original unedited scan.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> It seems that all the cool kids are at 14 degrees this morning
> 
> I have to start processing photos today, too, but it's a messier process than sitting at a computer  I am figuring at least 3 batches of Caffenol will be required, probably 4 to be safe.



The only problem with a high degree of caffeination before processing is having to run to the bathroom when you should be agitating the developer.


----------



## limr

Ah, but the caffeine isn't for me; it's for the filmz


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Ah, but the caffeine isn't for me; it's for the filmz



Gotcha - I just Googled it and found out what it was.  I just used HC-110 or TMax developer myself.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Diaz Coffee Hosers. It is 8:00 a.m. and 54F at City Hall right now. Should hit the mid 60's. Gotta run ... I'm running a little city council campaign and suddenly my life is all cramped up.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, but the caffeine isn't for me; it's for the filmz
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gotcha - I just Googled it and found out what it was.  I just used HC-110 or TMax developer myself.
Click to expand...


I have nothing against the traditional developers, but at least for the moment, I prefer to use Caffenol. It's not toxic - I suppose it's technically drinkable in the sense that if you ingested some, it wouldn't kill you or burn the sh*t out of your esophagus, but it certainly would taste nasty as hell   The house has a private septic tank and I don't want to be pouring chemicals into it. Plus, there are town laws about not doing it. I know I could just pour the exhausted developer into a jug and dispose of it properly, but that's a lot of developer and a major PITA. It's fine for fixer since I can reuse it a lot more often than I can developer. Definitely can't pour fixer down the drain.

But it's also a really effective developer, so it's not like I'm settling for something substandard.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Diaz Coffee Hosers. It is 8:00 a.m. and 54F at City Hall right now. Should hit the mid 60's. Gotta run ... I'm running a little city council campaign and suddenly my life is all cramped up.



Morning, Tio!

Running a campaign, eh? So you're starting to put your plan for world domination into play?  40 acres and a camera for everyone?


----------



## Gary A.

I use D-76.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Diaz Coffee Hosers. It is 8:00 a.m. and 54F at City Hall right now. Should hit the mid 60's. Gotta run ... I'm running a little city council campaign and suddenly my life is all cramped up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, Tio!
> 
> Running a campaign, eh? So you're starting to put your plan for world domination into play?  40 acres and a camera for everyone?
Click to expand...

Yes ... and a chicken in every pot. This will be my 20th campaign. I've only lost one.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> It seems that all the cool kids are at 14 degrees this morning
> 
> I have to start processing photos today, too, but it's a messier process than sitting at a computer  I am figuring at least 3 batches of Caffenol will be required, probably 4 to be safe.


"Caffenol"  *snrrk*


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Yes ... and a chicken in every pot. This will be my 20th campaign. I've only lost one.



Wait . . . you're in Cali . . . isn't it "Pot in every chicken?"


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It seems that all the cool kids are at 14 degrees this morning
> 
> I have to start processing photos today, too, but it's a messier process than sitting at a computer  I am figuring at least 3 batches of Caffenol will be required, probably 4 to be safe.
> 
> 
> 
> "Caffenol"  *snrrk*
Click to expand...


I see your snrrk, sir, and raise you a harrumph!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It seems that all the cool kids are at 14 degrees this morning
> 
> I have to start processing photos today, too, but it's a messier process than sitting at a computer  I am figuring at least 3 batches of Caffenol will be required, probably 4 to be safe.
> 
> 
> 
> "Caffenol"  *snrrk*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I see your snrrk, sir, and raise you a harrumph!
Click to expand...

Harrumph...harrumph!


----------



## limr

And a pshaw!

Call!


----------



## tirediron

House folds!


----------



## snowbear

What -- nobody has a "Pbbbbbllllltttttt?"


----------



## limr




----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes ... and a chicken in every pot. This will be my 20th campaign. I've only lost one.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wait . . . you're in Cali . . . isn't it "Pot in every chicken?"
Click to expand...

Only in San Francisco ... or any musical event ... of any kind. (Which isn't entirely true ... but in San Francisco there is legislation mandating said chicken and pot.)


----------



## minicoop1985

EVERYBODY MUST GET STONED ON CHICKEN AND CAFFENOL AND POT WHILE NAKED IN SAN FRANCISCO. there, I mixed all the most recent topics.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> In some ways, I have it easier when it comes to organization. I can only "upload" 12, 24, or 36 pictures at a time
> 
> When I scan a roll of film, I save the pictures in their own folder, labeled by date and film type. Those folders are organized by camera type. So, I've got one file for each type of camera I have, and inside those folders are the rolls I took with that camera. It can sometimes be tricky to find a picture after time has passed, but usually I just have to remember what I was shooting and then go look in that folder. I can usually do that pretty quickly.
> 
> When the pictures are unedited, they are named by whatever the scanning program automatically names them (usually some combination numbers). When I open them in Corel to edit them, I save a copy under a different name, so when I see file with an actual word name, I know that I have edited it. If I ever want to re-edit starting from scratch, I still have the original unedited scan.


Watching Sparky's video tweaked my interest in film just a tad bit. But alas, I think my GAS is pretty well quenched for now. I need to pay the piper for my shopping "happy feet" over the last couple of years. Been waiting for the new year so it won't haunt me tax-wise until next year lol!!

It's 34° here on the way to a high of 39°. Tomorrow is supposed to hit 50°!! Coffee has been absorbed and I'm off to fill up the car at $1.79 gallon!!


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and I are hosting a 9 y/o birthday party. I am about to go postal ... or at least justifiable suicide.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou and I are hosting a 9 y/o birthday party. I am about to go postal ... or at least justifiable suicide.


 
Gah! What were you thinking? I'd sooner have another root canal than host a kid's birthday party.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and I are hosting a 9 y/o birthday party. I am about to go postal ... or at least justifiable suicide.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gah! What were you thinking? I'd sooner have another root canal than host a kid's birthday party.
Click to expand...

Mary Lou's granddaughter ... sorta didn't have any choice.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ugh, can't get warm. Still. Tomorrow should hit 20s. HEAT WAAAAVE WOOHOO


----------



## limr

Fair enough. Hey, at least you've got wine, right?


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and I are hosting a 9 y/o birthday party. I am about to go postal ... or at least justifiable suicide.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gah! What were you thinking? I'd sooner have another root canal than host a kid's birthday party.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mary Lou's granddaughter ... sorta didn't have any choice.
Click to expand...

Really?  You couldn't have come down with the Swine Flu for the day?


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Fair enough. Hey, at least you've got wine, right?


Not enough ...


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and I are hosting a 9 y/o birthday party. I am about to go postal ... or at least justifiable suicide.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gah! What were you thinking? I'd sooner have another root canal than host a kid's birthday party.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mary Lou's granddaughter ... sorta didn't have any choice.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Really?  You couldn't have come down with the Swine Flu for the day?
Click to expand...

It would have been better if all the kids would have come down with the swine flu or at least laryngitis ...


----------



## snerd

Wow! Talk about a bunch of old grumpy people who don't like kids!!


----------



## snowbear

"OK kids, lets all go to the zoo . . . sure, you can pet the lions & bears."


----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


> Wow! Talk about a bunch of old grumpy people who don't like kids!!


There is an age range where they are sub-human.


----------



## bribrius

God made kids cute because otherwise you would kill them.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow! Talk about a bunch of old grumpy people who don't like kids!!
> 
> 
> 
> There is an age range where they are sub-human.
Click to expand...

Dunno about sub-human ... more like little savages.


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> Wow! Talk about a bunch of old grumpy people who don't like kids!!



Hey, I didn't like kids when I was younger and grumpy either!

And WHO YOU CALLIN' OLD???


----------



## Gary A.

I quit counting after a dozen kids ... after the little savages all arrived ... it started raining ... not hard, but enough for all the savages to track half the backyard onto the carpets.

It is over, the only bloodshed was between same aged savages. Cookie had a great time dancing with everybody. I am deep into my wines.


----------



## minicoop1985

You know, there's little more rewarding than seeing a perfectly exposed and developed roll of film exit the tank... Wish I knew what that felt like.


----------



## tirediron

bribrius said:


> God made kids cute because otherwise you would kill them.


They're nae that cute!


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> God made kids cute because otherwise you would kill them.
> 
> 
> 
> They're nae that cute!
Click to expand...

Some are downright ugly - just take a stroll through fb.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> God made kids cute because otherwise you would kill them.
> 
> 
> 
> They're nae that cute!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Some are downright ugly - just take a stroll through fb.
Click to expand...

LOL. i don't stroll facebook much. Not really a facebook kinda guy.


----------



## sm4him

Having a regular heat wave this morning, up to 19°F.  Should start seeing temps moderate into the 40s this week though...along with clouds and rain moving in. Blech. Rain and 38°, my least favorite weather.

Yesterday was a bit of a bust in terms of my determination to start using Lightroom. I watched several segments of a Lightroom Crash Course video I have (which came with the software, a year ago), then confidently delved in.  Made three ill-fated attempts to start importing photos from last year into the catalog.  First two attempts were aborted by user error; the third time was going great until my computer suddenly decided to freeze up and force a restart.

Gave up. May try again this afternoon, but first--more coffee, then gotta get ready for church. Wondering how many of my little old ladies will actually show up in this cold (I teach Sunday School to women in their 70s and 80s).


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> Having a regular heat wave this morning, up to 19°F.  Should start seeing temps moderate into the 40s this week though...along with clouds and rain moving in. Blech. Rain and 38°, my least favorite weather.
> 
> Yesterday was a bit of a bust in terms of my determination to start using Lightroom. I watched several segments of a Lightroom Crash Course video I have (which came with the software, a year ago), then confidently delved in.  Made three ill-fated attempts to start importing photos from last year into the catalog.  First two attempts were aborted by user error; the third time was going great until my computer suddenly decided to freeze up and force a restart.
> 
> Gave up. May try again this afternoon, but first--more coffee, then gotta get ready for church. Wondering how many of my little old ladies will actually show up in this cold (I teach Sunday School to women in their 70s and 80s).


9 degrees. snow showers tonight and tomorrow shouldnt be much accumulation.  suppose to bring the kids sledding at some point, maybe I will do that later today.


----------



## limr

It's Sunday, hosers. Teaching doesn't start next week, but prepping for the new semester does. And the week after next is when I get my teeth pulled


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> It's Sunday, hosers. Teaching doesn't start next week, but prepping for the new semester does. And the week after next is when I get my teeth pulled


sounds fun!!!! Enjoy!!


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's Sunday, hosers. Teaching doesn't start next week, but prepping for the new semester does. And the week after next is when I get my teeth pulled
> 
> 
> 
> sounds fun!!!! Enjoy!!
Click to expand...


----------



## pgriz

Leonore, give yourself as easy a schedule as you can following the teeth extraction.  Each of my daughters, and my mother have had this done, and discomfort varied from one day to a week.  In all cases, after two weeks things were back to normal.  The actual procedure is no-one's idea of fun, but then you wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't necessary.  Good luck and you have our wishes for a blissful day or two after.


----------



## limr

Thanks, Paul! The oral surgeon at the office I use only works one or two Wednesdays a month, so I have to do it on a Wednesday. Unfortunately, it's one of my teaching days, but I figured that I need to get it done soon and it's better to get a sub for the first day of class rather than in the middle of the semester. I also have Thursdays and Fridays off this semester, so my appointment is for Wed morning and I don't have to be anywhere until Monday.

I've got some soup in the freezer and I'll break that out on Tuesday, make sure it's blended nice and smooth. And I'll also be making some homemade pudding beforehand because lord knows I'm going to need some nice smooth comfort food!


----------



## pgriz

Leonore, that's a good schedule.  Oh, and don't forget to moan a little so that Buzz can have the excuse for spoiling you.


----------



## limr

Oh, he is so going to spoil me! I can totally do pathetic when I need to


----------



## bribrius

hey I thought of another good reason for post processing. I was just thinking I take way to many photos while I am driving. And taking photos while driving is bad enough but when you are doing it in manual with in camera adjustments I guess there is a point where it really isn't very safe. so shooting raw then post processing saves in camera adjustments and supports safe driving.


----------



## limr

You know what else supports safe driving? Not taking any pictures


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> You know what else supports safe driving? Not taking any pictures


well, sometimes I do pull over. But where is the challenge and fun in that?  It is really fun when someone looks at you and you flash them (with the camera of course).  They get the strangest most confused looks.


----------



## pgriz

Brian, if someone decided that the "flash" was a gun flash, you'll have more than confused looks.

There are enough people out there with all kinds of paranoid tendencies that an innocent action by you may have all kinds of unanticipated reactions.  Plus, driving is dangerous enough as it is without adding camera manipulation, texting, etc., to the sensory load mix.  You travel 88 ft./second when driving at 60 mph.  On average, people have a reaction time of about 2.5 seconds between noticing something and reacting to it when driving (that varies by driver - some react in under 1 second, but about 90% react in 2.5 seconds) so they will have travelled 220 ft. before they react.  If people are tired or bored or even slightly inebriated, the reaction time becomes longer.  Please don't do this.  Or if you really have to, be the passenger.


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> so shooting raw then post processing saves in camera adjustments ..



I've often thought some people believed that, but this is the first time I've seen it in writing.


----------



## minicoop1985

I shoot in RAW because I suck at taking pictures and editing them so I need all the help I can get.  OK fine, I'm not that horrible, but my Canons don't like to get white balance right on their own, so I shoot in raw so I can correct it reasonably well afterwards.


----------



## pgriz

Gotta go.  The sweetest one is calling my name.  Calling me to a hanging.  










(of wall paper, so don't get your hopes up.)


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> so shooting raw then post processing saves in camera adjustments ..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've often thought some people believed that, but this is the first time I've seen it in writing.
Click to expand...

well, if you are going to shoot raw why not take full advantage of it? why worry about those little things, like exposure, framing, you know the small stuff....


----------



## tirediron

bribrius said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> so shooting raw then post processing saves in camera adjustments ..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've often thought some people believed that, but this is the first time I've seen it in writing.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> well, if you are going to shoot raw why not take full advantage of it? why worry about those little things, like exposure, framing, you know the small stuff....
Click to expand...

Ex-spose-sher?


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> Brian, if someone decided that the "flash" was a gun flash, you'll have more than confused looks.
> 
> There are enough people out there with all kinds of paranoid tendencies that an innocent action by you may have all kinds of unanticipated reactions.  Plus, driving is dangerous enough as it is without adding camera manipulation, texting, etc., to the sensory load mix.  You travel 88 ft./second when driving at 60 mph.  On average, people have a reaction time of about 2.5 seconds between noticing something and reacting to it when driving (that varies by driver - some react in under 1 second, but about 90% react in 2.5 seconds) so they will have travelled 220 ft. before they react.  If people are tired or bored or even slightly inebriated, the reaction time becomes longer.  Please don't do this.  Or if you really have to, be the passenger.


you know, you guys have zero sense of humor...


----------



## sm4him

Fair warning:  ahead...



limr said:


> You know what else supports safe driving? Not taking any pictures



I have never wished more that I could hit the "agree" button multiple times.
My sister does this--takes pictures while driving--and it just infuriates me.
It is easy enough for a split-second of inattention to cause an accident; doing something like this is just asking for trouble.

In MY opinion, operating a camera in manual, auto or on your cellphone, while driving is basically saying that your picture is more important than someone's life, or the life of someone else's loved one.
Same for texting, etc.

And for the record, no, I don't text while driving, I don't talk on my phone while driving, and for the most part, I don't pick up fast food and try to eat it while driving either.  It's all a distraction, and *I* for one do not ever want to be faced with living the rest of my life knowing that someone's mother or daughter or son or nephew is no longer here because I was eating a hamburger or taking a picture and it slowed my reaction time by 1/100 of a second.

< /end >


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> Fair warning:  ahead...
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> You know what else supports safe driving? Not taking any pictures
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have never wished more that I could hit the "agree" button multiple times.
> My sister does this--takes pictures while driving--and it just infuriates me.
> It is easy enough for a split-second of inattention to cause an accident; doing something like this is just asking for trouble.
> 
> In MY opinion, operating a camera in manual, auto or on your cellphone, while driving is basically saying that your picture is more important than someone's life, or the life of someone else's loved one.
> Same for texting, etc.
> 
> And for the record, no, I don't text while driving, I don't talk on my phone while driving, and for the most part, I don't pick up fast food and try to eat it while driving either.  It's all a distraction, and *I* for one do not ever want to be faced with living the rest of my life knowing that someone's mother or daughter or son or nephew is no longer here because I was eating a hamburger or taking a picture and it slowed my reaction time by 1/100 of a second.
> 
> < /end >
Click to expand...

i dont text while driving it is against the law and not safe.


----------



## minicoop1985

And now, for something completely different. 

I think I want to buy a rig for car shots. And I need milk/creamer for my coffee.


----------



## bribrius

hey i posted something for cc, how often does that happen. Like never.  Had to though i dont usually shoot ap priority for city scape and i am trying to understand the difference better between crop/composition looking at it on a screen and crop/composition looking at it on a wall.  Also still trying to understand and fix diffraction etc. focus point seemed a little out of whack too and for the life of me i couldnt figure out why when i looked at it.


----------



## minicoop1985

I gave you some CC all right.


----------



## pgriz

It's coming back to me why I "love" hanging wallpaper.  I live in an older house where "vertical" and "straight" and "level" is more aspirational than factual.  And my sweetest, having tasked me with the job, is escaping to a movie theatre.  She DOES remember what the last time was like.  Just finished setting things up and putting down the plumb lines.  Time to get wet.  and sticky.  and YOU, git yer mind outta da gutter.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> I gave you some CC all right.


yeah but it wasn't helpful..... geez, and people wonder why i dont ask or post for cc.


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> Fair warning:  ahead...
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> You know what else supports safe driving? Not taking any pictures
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have never wished more that I could hit the "agree" button multiple times.
> My sister does this--takes pictures while driving--and it just infuriates me.
> It is easy enough for a split-second of inattention to cause an accident; doing something like this is just asking for trouble.
> 
> In MY opinion, operating a camera in manual, auto or on your cellphone, while driving is basically saying that your picture is more important than someone's life, or the life of someone else's loved one.
> Same for texting, etc.
> 
> And for the record, no, I don't text while driving, I don't talk on my phone while driving, and for the most part, I don't pick up fast food and try to eat it while driving either.  It's all a distraction, and *I* for one do not ever want to be faced with living the rest of my life knowing that someone's mother or daughter or son or nephew is no longer here because I was eating a hamburger or taking a picture and it slowed my reaction time by 1/100 of a second.
> 
> < /end >
Click to expand...


I once heard someone say that the most distracting thing they ever so anyone do while driving was eating Chinese food out of containers with chopsticks.


----------



## snowbear

KenC said:


> I once heard someone say that the most distracting thing they ever so anyone do while driving was eating Chinese food out of containers with chopsticks.



Nope.  "Government Warning: Attempting to get pregnant while operating machinery can be hazardous to your health."


----------



## KenC

snowbear said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> I once heard someone say that the most distracting thing they ever so anyone do while driving was eating Chinese food out of containers with chopsticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope.  "Government Warning: Attempting to get pregnant while operating machinery can be hazardous to your health."
Click to expand...


What, a fork lift?


----------



## snerd

Annoying? There are people actually marketing this thing!!


----------



## snowbear

KenC said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> I once heard someone say that the most distracting thing they ever so anyone do while driving was eating Chinese food out of containers with chopsticks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope.  "Government Warning: Attempting to get pregnant while operating machinery can be hazardous to your health."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> What, a fork lift?
Click to expand...


Any machinery . . . car, truck, forklift, continuous mining machine.


----------



## pgriz

Hanging's done.  Wasn't pretty.  Wallpaper expects corners to be 90 degrees, walls to be vertical, floor horizontal, and so forth.  Instead of Eucidian space we have a combination of elliptic and hyperbolic geometries, sometimes on the same wall.  So some adaptive measures were taken, thereby preventing a warp forming in space time (in case you need to know where it is, it's in our closet).  Sweetest approved the end result.  As well as the movie she went to see (The Imitation Game).   So.  How was your day?


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> Hanging's done.  Wasn't pretty.  Wallpaper expects corners to be 90 degrees, walls to be vertical, floor horizontal, and so forth.  Instead of Eucidian space we have a combination of elliptic and hyperbolic geometries, sometimes on the same wall.  So some adaptive measures were taken, thereby preventing a warp forming in space time (in case you need to know where it is, it's in our closet).  Sweetest approved the end result.  As well as the movie she went to see (The Imitation Game).   So.  How was your day?



Ah - an irregular polygon!  I deal with them every day.

I pretty much didn't do anything all day but a couple loads of dishes.  My lovely wife is working a 12-hour shift at the Op's Office tonight, so I was trying to keep quiet while she slept.  She has a consultation with the surgeon on Tuesday, so we are hopeful her wrists will be better soon.


----------



## snowbear

Playing "fetch" with Zoe while watching "Worst Cooks"


----------



## limr

Finally scanned some film! Will post a few soon.


----------



## Gary A.

I started my day at 7:30 a.m. at the campaign HQ. Took a break in the afternoon to entertain some friends with their newborn, fortunately the father like wines ... just finished writing a response to a PAC questionnaire. Now I have to work on a synopsis of my 7:30 meeting.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> I started my day at 7:30 a.m. at the campaign HQ. Took a break in the afternoon to entertain some friends with their newborn, fortunately the father like wines ... just finished writing a response to a PAC questionnaire. Now I have to work on a synopsis of my 7:30 meeting.


 running for governor???  i must have missed something...


----------



## snerd

Our forecast called for 50 degrees today. At noon I loaded up my stuff and headed out to refuge. At 1:00pm it was only 36 degrees and drizzling! Turned around and came home...... it was freezing!!


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Our forecast called for 50 degrees today. At noon I loaded up my stuff and headed out to refuge. At 1:00pm it was only 36 degrees and drizzling! Turned around and came home...... it was freezing!!


uhhh. i think we had a high today of like 25 and i had my kids out sledding when it was 20.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ah, highs in the teens this week. That, I can tolerate.


----------



## snerd

The cold has frozen you guys brains.


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I started my day at 7:30 a.m. at the campaign HQ. Took a break in the afternoon to entertain some friends with their newborn, fortunately the father like wines ... just finished writing a response to a PAC questionnaire. Now I have to work on a synopsis of my 7:30 meeting.
> 
> 
> 
> running for governor???  i must have missed something...
Click to expand...

I'm running a City Council campaign for a very nice lady. I just started a couple of weeks ago ... I should have started a couple of months ago ... so I'm playing catch-up.  Even now I'm writing a round of issues pieces and responding to a PAC's questionnaire. When I get a brain fart, I click on TPF for some breathing room.  I come from a political family and I personally have an extensive political background ... so I know what I have to do to win ... it is all a matter of cramming in more crap into an already full schedule ... the proverbial ten pounds of crap into a five pound bag thingie.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our forecast called for 50 degrees today. At noon I loaded up my stuff and headed out to refuge. At 1:00pm it was only 36 degrees and drizzling! Turned around and came home...... it was freezing!!
> 
> 
> 
> uhhh. i think we had a high today of like 25 and i had my kids out sledding when it was 20.
Click to expand...




minicoop1985 said:


> Ah, highs in the teens this week. That, I can tolerate.



It rained here today. Didn't get any warmer than the low 60's.


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> The cold has frozen you guys brains.



I think the heat has melted yours


----------



## minicoop1985

My brain's been in a deeeeep freeze lately.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> The cold has frozen you guys brains.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think the heat has melted yours
Click to expand...

It wasn't the heat, sweetie!!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> The cold has frozen you guys brains.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think the heat has melted yours
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It wasn't the heat, sweetie!!
Click to expand...


I can't possibly imagine what you mean!


----------



## minicoop1985

You guys are nuts.


----------



## snerd

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> The cold has frozen you guys brains.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think the heat has melted yours
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It wasn't the heat, sweetie!!
Click to expand...

Dave Bowman: You see, something's going to happen. You must leave.

Heywood Floyd: What? What's going to happen?

Dave Bowman: Something wonderful.

Heywood Floyd: What?

Dave Bowman: I understand how you feel. You see, it's all very clear to me now. The whole thing. It's wonderful.

<More info as it all falls into place.>


----------



## limr

In other news...

I will probably start a thread to show a few of my Arizona pictures, but I need to finish scanning and then go in and clean up the dust off of the ones that are worth viewing. (And that's just the color! I still have to develop my black and white films.) There is one that I've done so far to post on a weekend thread we always have on another forum, and I thought I'd also share it here especially for my Coffee House peeps, before I start the other thread.

This was on New Year's Eve, and yes, it really was the desert:

 
(Edit: In case anyone cares about following the ensuing discussion on this photo, this is the original green one. The Flickr link is broken because I replaced it with the color-corrected version.)


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> In other news...
> 
> I will probably start a thread to show a few of my Arizona pictures, but I need to finish scanning and then go in and clean up the dust off of the ones that are worth viewing. (And that's just the color! I still have to develop my black and white films.) There is one that I've done so far to post on a weekend thread we always have on another forum, and I thought I'd also share it here especially for my Coffee House peeps, before I start the other thread.
> 
> This was on New Year's Eve, and yes, it really was the desert:
> 
> 
> 
> rs green bridge by limrodrigues, on Flickr



Wow, that looks so much like a spot right down at the end of my street!  I don't think I have any pictures of it from that sort of angle in a big snow--and I'm hoping not to GET a big snow anytime soon--or I'd post it to show you.

It's a beautiful scene, well done. But for me personally, I kinda preferred the scenery I had to start the year out.


----------



## sm4him

It's Monday.

It's 34°F.

It's raining.

A hat trick of awful.

I have a headache from trying to remember exactly WHY I came back from Florida.


----------



## limr

My school has a delayed opening. I was supposed to go in for placement readings but now I'm not sure what time I'm supposed to go in. There are complicated details I won't bore you with, but conceivably I won't have to go in until 2pm Or I have to leave in about 1.5 hours. I have no idea. I will just have to wait for someone to respond to my email or answer the phone.

Until then...more coffee, please!


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> This was on New Year's Eve, and yes, it really was the desert:



Is it supposed to be that green?


----------



## KenC

Designer said:


> Is it supposed to be that green?



I thought it was just my work monitor, which I know is a bit on the green side.


----------



## KenC

Around freezing here, with some mist and slippery sidewalks, but supposed to be high thirties by the afternoon.  Break out the beach chairs!

I'm having my coffee and brownie before going to see what happened in that train wreck of a thread called "knowing enough."  The brownie is from a mix, but used coffee instead of water and also added vanilla (can't leave a recipe alone).


----------



## bribrius

i suck at shooting,  snow. i dont even know if i dare to comment. i hate it blown out and detail lost. so i underexpose everything with snow. then i suffer from underexposed photos. no win. looking through a string of snow river pics i took a couple weeks ago. do i want them under exposed or blown out? seems the general concensus with snow is let it blow, forget the details at least it is exposed correctly.


----------



## limr

Is the picture green? It doesn't look green on my monitor. Just the bridge is green.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Is the picture green? It doesn't look green on my monitor. Just the bridge is green.


Yes, there is a green cast to the entire frame.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is the picture green? It doesn't look green on my monitor. Just the bridge is green.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, there is a green cast to the entire frame.
Click to expand...


Balls.  Well, it's going to have to wait until I figure out whether or not I'm driving in the freezing rain today...


----------



## bribrius

how would it even get green? i run into blue quite a bit, not so much green


----------



## limr

I have no idea. I did nothing to that photo other than clone out dust spots and crop the tiniest sliver off the side and bottom where a little bit of the edge of the negative was showing. I'm almost positive this was a straight scan. Sometimes I'll correct a bit of overexposure by removing the cyan cast with a "fade correction" tool on the scanning software (this is before it scans) but I don't remember doing that for this frame.

And it still doesn't look green to me, but I'll look at it on a different monitor.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> I have no idea. I did nothing to that photo other than clone out dust spots and crop the tiniest sliver off the side and bottom where a little bit of the edge of the negative was showing. I'm almost positive this was a straight scan. Sometimes I'll correct a bit of overexposure by removing the cyan cast with a "fade correction" tool on the scanning software (this is before it scans) but I don't remember doing that for this frame.
> 
> And it still doesn't look green to me, but I'll look at it on a different monitor.



It didn't really look green at all on my desktop at home, but yeah, here at work, on my Mac, it's got a green tinge to it.
On the other hand, my eyesight stinks and WB is pretty challenging to me anyway, so what do I know?


----------



## KenC

Color negatives often are developed so that they have a color cast relative to "standard" settings.  I found that having them developed at the same place gave me a predictable cast which I could correct easily by color filtration changes on an enlarger or color balance changes during scanning.  It only gets difficult when the cast is unpredictable and you have to figure it out again for each roll.


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> Around freezing here, with some mist and slippery sidewalks, but supposed to be high thirties by the afternoon.  Break out the beach chairs!
> 
> I'm having my coffee and brownie before going to see what happened in that train wreck of a thread called "knowing enough."  The brownie is from a mix, but used coffee instead of water and also added vanilla (can't leave a recipe alone).



Hmmm…brownies with coffee instead of water. How were they?  Might have to try that.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> In other news...
> 
> I will probably start a thread to show a few of my Arizona pictures, but I need to finish scanning and then go in and clean up the dust off of the ones that are worth viewing. (And that's just the color! I still have to develop my black and white films.) There is one that I've done so far to post on a weekend thread we always have on another forum, and I thought I'd also share it here especially for my Coffee House peeps, before I start the other thread.
> 
> This was on New Year's Eve, and yes, it really was the desert:
> 
> 
> 
> rs green bridge by limrodrigues, on Flickr


That is very beautiful ... you gots some odd colorations in the snow below the bridge ... but that image has much more character than most digital.


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Around freezing here, with some mist and slippery sidewalks, but supposed to be high thirties by the afternoon.  Break out the beach chairs!
> 
> I'm having my coffee and brownie before going to see what happened in that train wreck of a thread called "knowing enough."  The brownie is from a mix, but used coffee instead of water and also added vanilla (can't leave a recipe alone).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm…brownies with coffee instead of water. How were they?  Might have to try that.
Click to expand...


I've been doing this for a little while and liking it.  I find the mixes a little on the sweet side, so the coffee takes the edge off and also adds a flavor and aroma that work with chocolate.  Of course it helps to start with a good mix like Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Brownie Mix.  Their directions for "cake-like" brownies only call for two tablespoons of water, so it really isn't a lot of coffee, but I'm not sure I wouldn't replace larger amounts of water with coffee - hard to get too much, don't you think?


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Around freezing here, with some mist and slippery sidewalks, but supposed to be high thirties by the afternoon.  Break out the beach chairs!
> 
> I'm having my coffee and brownie before going to see what happened in that train wreck of a thread called "knowing enough."  The brownie is from a mix, but used coffee instead of water and also added vanilla (can't leave a recipe alone).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm…brownies with coffee instead of water. How were they?  Might have to try that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've been doing this for a little while and liking it.  I find the mixes a little on the sweet side, so the coffee takes the edge off and also adds a flavor and aroma that work with chocolate.  Of course it helps to start with a good mix like Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Brownie Mix.  Their directions for "cake-like" brownies only call for two tablespoons of water, so it really isn't a lot of coffee, but I'm not sure I wouldn't replace larger amounts of water with coffee - hard to get too much, don't you think?
Click to expand...


I'm a big fan of Dark Chocolate, largely because it's not as sweet as milk chocolate. I don't actually even care for most milk chocolate much.
And I'm a very big fan of coffee. Seems like the perfect combination, in fact, I'm wondering if there's some way to get more than just a couple of tablespoons in there. I'll have to think about that, sometime when I don't have a headache.


----------



## Gary A.

I see it as like blue in the corners and shadows ... you do have this vertical band of like blue running down the middle of the image.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is foggy and 55F. It should hit the mid 60's. Colombian Supremo today.  I'm so tired I think I been a gallon of the stuff to get me through the day,


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Around freezing here, with some mist and slippery sidewalks, but supposed to be high thirties by the afternoon.  Break out the beach chairs!
> 
> I'm having my coffee and brownie before going to see what happened in that train wreck of a thread called "knowing enough."  The brownie is from a mix, but used coffee instead of water and also added vanilla (can't leave a recipe alone).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm…brownies with coffee instead of water. How were they?  Might have to try that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've been doing this for a little while and liking it.  I find the mixes a little on the sweet side, so the coffee takes the edge off and also adds a flavor and aroma that work with chocolate.  Of course it helps to start with a good mix like Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Brownie Mix.  Their directions for "cake-like" brownies only call for two tablespoons of water, so it really isn't a lot of coffee, but I'm not sure I wouldn't replace larger amounts of water with coffee - hard to get too much, don't you think?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm a big fan of Dark Chocolate, largely because it's not as sweet as milk chocolate. I don't actually even care for most milk chocolate much.
> And I'm a very big fan of coffee. Seems like the perfect combination, in fact, I'm wondering if there's some way to get more than just a couple of tablespoons in there. I'll have to think about that, sometime when I don't have a headache.
Click to expand...


You could always brew extra-strong coffee for that purpose, maybe espresso.  The chemist in me wonders about the acids in the coffee neutralizing some of the baking soda, but in a couple of cases I've also added a little extra baking soda without much obvious effect, but with larger amounts/concentrations of coffee, who knows...


----------



## Gary A.

I have an activity tracker. Somehow it keeps putting me into these week long challenges with other peoples. In the past three weeks I've won two challenges. This time with 107,000 steps. The tracker also gives me daily goals. Yesterday was the first day I didn't hit my daily goal. The goal was 13,070 steps, much of the day was spent at the computer working on the campaign plus I didn't walk the dog due to rain, then company came over, I only managed 9,679 steps. The tracker lower my goal today down to 12,900 steps.

I find the activity tracker very motivating.


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> I'm wondering if there's some way to get more than just a couple of tablespoons in there. I'll have to think about that, sometime when I don't have a headache.



Try adding some dry instant coffee.


----------



## limr

How's this?

 

There's still a band along the bottom (which might actually just be the snow - it wasn't flat and part of the coloring might just be picking up on the variations in the level of the snow?) and I see a band on the right of the frame as well. This camera vignettes a bit, too.

Crap, I'm totally procrastinating. I have to go brave the roads now...


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news...
> 
> I will probably start a thread to show a few of my Arizona pictures, but I need to finish scanning and then go in and clean up the dust off of the ones that are worth viewing. (And that's just the color! I still have to develop my black and white films.) There is one that I've done so far to post on a weekend thread we always have on another forum, and I thought I'd also share it here especially for my Coffee House peeps, before I start the other thread.
> 
> This was on New Year's Eve, and yes, it really was the desert:
> 
> 
> 
> rs green bridge by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> That is very beautiful ... you gots some odd colorations in the snow below the bridge ... but that image has much more character than most digital.
Click to expand...


Thanks!


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm wondering if there's some way to get more than just a couple of tablespoons in there. I'll have to think about that, sometime when I don't have a headache.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Try adding some dry instant coffee.
Click to expand...


That might work, but I'm more inclined to think along the lines Ken mentioned, a really strong espresso or something along that line.  I hadn't thought about the potential of neutralizing the baking soda though. Might be time to grab some brownie mixes, do a little Google searching and see what happens!


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm wondering if there's some way to get more than just a couple of tablespoons in there. I'll have to think about that, sometime when I don't have a headache.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Try adding some dry instant coffee.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That might work, but I'm more inclined to think along the lines Ken mentioned, a really strong espresso or something along that line.  I hadn't thought about the potential of neutralizing the baking soda though. Might be time to grab some brownie mixes, do a little Google searching and see what happens!
Click to expand...

i liked your set the other day


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> How's this?



It is better, but not quite right.  I adjusted the WB a bit, and a few other tweaks (small adjustments).

I don't know what could cause the dark band at the bottom.


----------



## sm4him

bribrius said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm wondering if there's some way to get more than just a couple of tablespoons in there. I'll have to think about that, sometime when I don't have a headache.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Try adding some dry instant coffee.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That might work, but I'm more inclined to think along the lines Ken mentioned, a really strong espresso or something along that line.  I hadn't thought about the potential of neutralizing the baking soda though. Might be time to grab some brownie mixes, do a little Google searching and see what happens!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> i liked your set the other day
Click to expand...

Thanks, bribrius! Gotta find time to get some more posted, but I think the first two days were the best shots, since the weather turned on me and I didn't have much light to work with for the next few days.


----------



## snerd

Designer said:


> View attachment 93023
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> How's this?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It is better, but not quite right.  I adjusted the WB a bit, and a few other tweaks (small adjustments).
> 
> I don't know what could cause the dark band at the bottom.
Click to expand...

You edited Lenny's photo?! Oh no's!!!! (Ducking for cover)


----------



## minicoop1985

BEWARE THE WRATH OF LEONORE or something like that.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> BEWARE THE WRATH OF LEONORE or something like that.



Indeed!

(For the record, I'm fine with someone offering to make minor tweaks on a case-to-case basis. But don't tell anyone else - I've get a reputation to uphold, after all   )


----------



## otherprof

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I had a wonderful dinner at Dominics at Oceanside Harbor last night, chicken carciofini and a Fez Parker riesling. I took a few snaps of the sunset and the pier. 7:00 a.m. and 52F right now ... supposed to hit the low 70's. Isn't refreeze and unthaw the same thing? If thaw is to go from from frozen to unfrozen ... then unthaw is to go from unfrozen to frozen ... no wait ... unfrozen is thaw ... so unthaw is frozen ... no wait ... thaw is to frozen what unthaw is to unfrozen ... or is unthaw to unfrozen what thaw is to frozen ... no wait ...


What bothers me is that "slow up" and "slow down" mean the same thing. Likewise, "burn up" and "burn down". Could have something to do with relativity.


----------



## sm4him

otherprof said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I had a wonderful dinner at Dominics at Oceanside Harbor last night, chicken carciofini and a Fez Parker riesling. I took a few snaps of the sunset and the pier. 7:00 a.m. and 52F right now ... supposed to hit the low 70's. Isn't refreeze and unthaw the same thing? If thaw is to go from from frozen to unfrozen ... then unthaw is to go from unfrozen to frozen ... no wait ... unfrozen is thaw ... so unthaw is frozen ... no wait ... thaw is to frozen what unthaw is to unfrozen ... or is unthaw to unfrozen what thaw is to frozen ... no wait ...
> 
> 
> 
> What bothers me is that "slow up" and "slow down" mean the same thing. Likewise, "burn up" and "burn down". Could have something to do with relativity.
Click to expand...


I wonder what happens if you "slow up" the process of "unthawing?"


----------



## Gary A.

Sorta like odds ... Slim Chance is similar to Fat Chance.


----------



## Designer

But I understand "fat chance" as being sarcastic.


----------



## KenC

otherprof said:


> What bothers me is that "slow up" and "slow down" mean the same thing. Likewise, "burn up" and "burn down". Could have something to do with relativity.



flammable/inflammable  -  or did someone bring that up already?


----------



## minicoop1985

Their once was a men who liked to misspel thing's and, grammar badly.

Typing that gave me a headache.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> How's this?
> View attachment 93021
> 
> There's still a band along the bottom (which might actually just be the snow - it wasn't flat and part of the coloring might just be picking up on the variations in the level of the snow?) and I see a band on the right of the frame as well. This camera vignettes a bit, too.
> 
> Crap, I'm totally procrastinating. I have to go brave the roads now...


looks better than mine.


----------



## limr

Hey, that's not bad. The thing that's throwing me is that it seems off level, though the tree is straight so it's probably an illusion caused by the angle and the slope. Maybe a bit of perspective correction.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Their once was a men who liked to misspel thing's and, grammar badly.
> 
> Typing that gave me a headache.



As did it me just reading it, considering the work I have to start doing again soon!



Seriously, though, if y'all really do have any oddball language questions, let me know! I have been wanting to fire up my blog again this year, and I also want to start preparing for the section of Intro to Linguistics that I'll hopefully be teaching this Fall, so the ideas for blog posts as well as the practice for teaching would be really helpful to me!


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Their once was a men who liked to misspel thing's and, grammar badly.
> 
> Typing that gave me a headache.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As did it me just reading it, considering the work I have to start doing again soon!
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously, though, if y'all really do have any oddball language questions, let me know! I have been waiting to fire up my blog again this year, and I also want to start preparing for the section of Intro to Linguistics that I'll hopefully be teaching this Fall, so the ideas for blog posts as well as the practice for teaching would be really helpful to me!
Click to expand...

Count me in! I LOVE Italian food!!


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously, though, if y'all really do have any oddball language questions, let me know! I have been waiting to fire up my blog again this year, and I also want to start preparing for the section of Intro to Linguistics that I'll hopefully be teaching this Fall, so the ideas for blog posts as well as the practice for teaching would be really helpful to me!
> 
> 
> 
> *Count me in! I LOVE Italian food!!*
Click to expand...


THAT took me a minute.


----------



## limr

Took me a minute, too, until I remembered that my brother-in-law always asks me how the Linguini business is doing. He's a pediatrician, so in return, I usually ask how people's feet are doing (podiatry, of course  )


----------



## Designer

Oh, I do have a question that you might enjoy.  I have to remember the exact word/statement.  It will come to me soon.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Oh, I do have a question that you might enjoy.  I have to remember the exact word/statement.  It will come to me soon.



Bring it on!


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Took me a minute, too, until I remembered that my brother-in-law always asks me how the Linguini business is doing. He's a pediatrician, so in return, I usually ask how people's feet are doing (podiatry, of course  )


And I remembered you telling us that!


----------



## limr

Wow, someone's paying attention to me! I'm a teacher, I'm not used to that 

Okay, here's my last version. What do we think of the color now?


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Seriously, though, if y'all really do have any oddball language questions, let me know! I have been wanting to fire up my blog again this year, and I also want to start preparing for the section of Intro to Linguistics that I'll hopefully be teaching this Fall, so the ideas for blog posts as well as the practice for teaching would be really helpful to me!



Here Leonore.  The little mess I started with "unthaw".  And then the various riffs off that: flammable/inflammable, slow up/slowdown, slim chance/fat chance. Courtesy of your fellow inmates (Otherprof, Sharon, Gary, Ken).  I think Designer was on the verge of burbing up another example, but apparently it didn't get out.  I'm sure it will come, once he has a bit of time to ruminate.


----------



## snowbear

My favorite word is "zygodactyl."


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously, though, if y'all really do have any oddball language questions, let me know! I have been wanting to fire up my blog again this year, and I also want to start preparing for the section of Intro to Linguistics that I'll hopefully be teaching this Fall, so the ideas for blog posts as well as the practice for teaching would be really helpful to me!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here Leonore.  The little mess I started with "unthaw".  And then the various riffs off that: flammable/inflammable, slow up/slowdown, slim chance/fat chance. Courtesy of your fellow inmates (Otherprof, Sharon, Gary, Ken).  I think Designer was on the verge of burbing up another example, but apparently it didn't get out.  I'm sure it will come, once he has a bit of time to ruminate.
Click to expand...


I'll get cracking on those


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> My favorite word is "zygodactyl."



Had to look that one up.  So how many times a day do YOU drop that word into everyday conversation?


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> My favorite word is "zygodactyl."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Had to look that one up.  So how many times a day do YOU drop that word into everyday conversation?
Click to expand...

Only among people considering getting a parrot - it's a sleeper word.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Okay, here's my last version. What do we think of the color now?


That's it!  All the snow looks white, and the colors in the bridge and the trees is very subtle, but it's there.


----------



## pgriz

Oh, OK.  I envisaged that any use of that word in human company that is not versed in its meaning, would get you either a slap across the face, or a punch in the nose.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Wow, someone's paying attention to me! I'm a teacher, I'm not used to that
> 
> Okay, here's my last version. What do we think of the color now?
> View attachment 93070


I like that.  A LOT; very "Currier & Ives".


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, someone's paying attention to me! I'm a teacher, I'm not used to that
> 
> Okay, here's my last version. What do we think of the color now?
> View attachment 93070
> 
> 
> 
> I like that.  A LOT; very "Currier & Ives".
Click to expand...


Thanks! I had to Google what 'Currier and Ives' were, and you're right. It's a quite similar style!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, someone's paying attention to me! I'm a teacher, I'm not used to that
> 
> Okay, here's my last version. What do we think of the color now?
> View attachment 93070
> 
> 
> 
> I like that.  A LOT; very "Currier & Ives".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks! I had to Google what 'Currier and Ives' were, and you're right. It's a quite similar style!
Click to expand...

Good gawd you make a person feel old!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks! I had to Google what 'Currier and Ives' were, and you're right. It's a quite similar style!
> 
> 
> 
> Good gawd you make a person feel old!
Click to expand...


Or, my ignorance makes a person feel worldly and cultured!


----------



## Designer

That's what I'm going for; worldly and cultured.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks! I had to Google what 'Currier and Ives' were, and you're right. It's a quite similar style!
> 
> 
> 
> Good gawd you make a person feel old!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Or, my ignorance makes a person feel worldly and cultured!
Click to expand...

Have you met me?


----------



## limr

Hey, I was trying to put a good spin on it for ya!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Hey, I was trying to put a good spin on it for ya!


I assume then, that "Quixote" is your family name, and Don was a distant relative?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, I was trying to put a good spin on it for ya!
> 
> 
> 
> I assume then, that "Quixote" is your family name, and Don was a distant relative?
Click to expand...


Well, there is an Iberian connection, I suppose...


----------



## snowbear

A number of years ago, I walked into a local office supply store (not a chain) and asked the young lady behind the counter if they had a slide rule.  I was rewarded with a blank stare.

Lenny, please don't tell me you'll have to Google it.


----------



## limr

Oh please! I am still a nerd, after all, and have an engineer brother


----------



## KenC

snowbear said:


> A number of years ago, I walked into a local office supply store (not a chain) and asked the young lady behind the counter if they had a slide rule.  I was rewarded with a blank stare.
> 
> Lenny, please don't tell me you'll have to Google it.



When I was in graduate school way back I had a calculator stolen from my desk.  This was a little before calculators became really cheap, at least by graduate student standards, so I brought in an old slide rule and left that on my desk.  Funny that no one ever stole it ...

Reminds me that when I bought a car a few years ago after not having bought one for about ten years I discovered that manual transmissions were not that easy to get anymore.  I did find one, but then I did some searching about the trend, and discovered that cars with stick shifts are now stolen much less than other cars because many of the car thieves (the more amateur variety I suppose) don't know how to drive one.


----------



## limr

Just one more reason I insist on driving a manual for as long as my left foot can handle a clutch.

And now...Go Ducks!!


----------



## pgriz

Hmmm.  I still have mine (slide-rule that is).  Bamboo core, and bees-wax to allow fast sliding action.  Although it's been years since I've used it, and probably forgot most of the calculations I used it for.  However, it was fun remembering that the slide rule would usually give three significant figures of accuracy, whereas the calculators which were replacing them were giving 12 significant figures.  We knew from the answers who used the slide rule and who used the calculator.


----------



## tirediron

There's one in the bottom drawer of my desk..  with a little effort I could probably still add 2.2 + 2.2 on it!


----------



## pgriz

John, wrong tool.  For that you need an abacus.


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> John, wrong tool.  For that you need an abacus.


Middle drawer!


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> ........ And now...Go Ducks!!


Oh, Leonore, I'm so sorry!


----------



## minicoop1985

Had a camera club meeting tonight. Was a good time, actually. I have a feeling I was the youngest one there (29)...


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> And now...*Geoducks*!!



FIFY


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ........ And now...Go Ducks!!
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, Leonore, I'm so sorry!
Click to expand...


Don't be sorry yet, they're still in the game


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ........ And now...Go Ducks!!
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, Leonore, I'm so sorry!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't be sorry yet, they're still in the game
Click to expand...

I'm actually rooting for the Bucks, being the underdog and all. Good game so far!!


----------



## limr

I can't root for the Bucks. Just can't. Only if they are playing Georgia because no one's lower than Georgia. And okay, maybe Bama. But I think I'd even root for FSU over OSU! That's saying something. Even Zelda is shocked:

 

Aaand it's a one point game.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Just one more reason I insist on driving a manual for as long as my left foot can handle a clutch.
> 
> And now...Go Ducks!!


what is good about manual is you can push it and pop the clutch if the battery dies. About all i can think of...


----------



## snerd

Turn out the lights, the party's over..............


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> Turn out the lights, the party's over..............



Party? What party? There was no party! Nothing at all happened tonight! Nothing!

I have to go pet a cat or something...


----------



## snerd

Kick Buzz and hug the cat! Oh, wait.......


----------



## limr

No kicking will be necessary...unless possibly I'm near a wall...it'll be okay, I know how to patch holes in sheetrock...pretty good at it, actually...there will just be the question of how my foot will take it...


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> No kicking will be necessary...unless possibly I'm near a wall...it'll be okay, I know how to patch holes in sheetrock...pretty good at it, actually...there will just be the question of how my foot will take it...


LOL!! Crack me up! Sorry about the loss, I know you were looking forward to a big night from Oregon. I pretty much quit following sports for a similar reason......... just too damn stressful!!


----------



## bribrius

i know i am real stressed. sitting here watching cartoons with my two year old who cant seem to sleep through the night.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Turn out the lights, the party's over..............
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Party? What party? There was no party! Nothing at all happened tonight! Nothing!
> 
> I have to go pet a cat or something...
Click to expand...


HIGHLY disappointed in the Ducks' performance during the second half.  Not a fan of the Ducks really, but even less a fan of OSU. Plus, my awful, hateful boss is a Buckeye fan, so I really, really wanted Oregon to kick some tail.


----------



## pgriz

bribrius said:


> i know i am real stressed. sitting here watching cartoons with my two year old who cant seem to sleep through the night.



I can relate.  My first born didn't really sleep the night until she was about 2 or 2-1/2.  My wife and I used to do shift-sleeping.  We used to read a lot to my daughter.  Fortunately, when the second one came along, she was much less demanding and slept through the night quite early on.  And some semblance of normality settled on our household (except for the nightly sneaks into our beds...  that went on with all of the kids until they were about five or so).  How single parents manage to live through this period on their own, without support from a partner, is almost beyond my ability to comprehend.


----------



## Designer

Good morning, everyone, and good afternoon to Maria!  

Well, the Buckeyes made history last night, and they did it with their third-string quarterback, who, if my recollection is correct, didn't throw an interception the entire game.  The one that bounced off his receiver went into the record as an interception, but I don't count that.


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i know i am real stressed. sitting here watching cartoons with my two year old who cant seem to sleep through the night.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I can relate.  My first born didn't really sleep the night until she was about 2 or 2-1/2.  My wife and I used to do shift-sleeping.  We used to read a lot to my daughter.  Fortunately, when the second one came along, she was much less demanding and slept through the night quite early on.  And some semblance of normality settled on our household (except for the nightly sneaks into our beds...  that went on with all of the kids until they were about five or so). * How single parents manage to live through this period on their own, without support from a partner, is almost beyond my ability to comprehend*.
Click to expand...

dont know. one of the reasons i am happy to be married. couple times we were separated i had a small taste of it when i had the kids on my days. i can say with kids and working it was a lot to handle. But then she would pick them up and i got some breaktime. Together is much easier, as she basically stayed home and watched the kids and i just concentrated on work. so if a kid woke up she would usually be the one up watching cartoons as i had to wake up and go to work.   i think we all just make adjustments to our circumstances best we can. If i had to guess, it is totally about pure resolve to do it. My mother, parents being divorced when i was young, raised all of us kids virtually on her own, held a career, traveled with us. A seriously strong willed and determined woman. Where she moved (we moved to a few different states) and her need for employment in her career took her. we all went with her, set up shop, new town , new house, new state. As i said, a very strong willed and determined woman.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Good morning, everyone, and good afternoon to Maria!
> 
> Well, the Buckeyes made history last night, and they did it with their third-string quarterback, who, if my recollection is correct, didn't throw an interception the entire game.  The one that bounced off his receiver went into the record as an interception, but I don't count that.



SHHHHHHH! Let's not speak of such things!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

The storm blew through yesterday and it's 16F this morning. Up around my house, it was sleet/freezing rain all day long, though by work it was all rain. Luckily the roads stayed slushier rather than icier. Ice was building up on trees and there was some concern of breakages and power outages, but luckily nothing seemed to come of it.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> The storm blew through yesterday and it's 16F this morning. Up around my house, it was sleet/freezing rain all day long, though by work it was all rain. Luckily the roads stayed slushier rather than icier. Ice was building up on trees and there was some concern of breakages and power outages, but luckily nothing seemed to come of it.


ice on trees?  sounds like good pics.


----------



## Designer

Seems like every time I have tried to capture the beauty of ice or rime frost on trees, or even sticky snow, the photograph doesn't convey the feeling of seeing it in person.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> Seems like every time I have tried to capture the beauty of ice or rime frost on trees, or even sticky snow, the photograph doesn't convey the feeling of seeing it in person.


i could say that with about anything i shoot. There is a large divide between what i see and feel and what comes out for a photograph. Like trying to cross the grand canyon and how to get from here to there.


----------



## pgriz

Our region is being bombarded by light from thermonuclear fusion.  Despite that, temperatures were -22C overnight, and rising to a high (now there's a misnomer) of -17C.  Winds, fortunately, are light.  However equipment failure in the power distribution has left 250,000 without power this morning.  The local Tim Horton coffee shops must be making a fortune, assuming they have power.  This time, we didn't lose power, but the candles and related supplies are kept close at hand.

Leonore, the dividing line between ice on trees being pretty and being destructive seems to be between 1/8" and 1/4" radius.  If I was in charge of the weather systems, I'd forbid the use of freezing rain, except for those who really need to experience misery (maybe it should be added to the list of the 7 plagues).


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> ice on trees?  sounds like good pics.



It would have been, but I was driving and the light was pretty dull yesterday. Today the sun is bright and there's still some ice on the trees, but only a thin layer that makes them look kinda shiny. Not enough to give the trees that sort of crystal look


----------



## bribrius

ice on snow makes for some hard photography. what is even more reflective than snow? ice covering snow.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Leonore, the dividing line between ice on trees being pretty and being destructive seems to be between 1/8" and 1/4" radius.  If I was in charge of the weather systems, I'd forbid the use of freezing rain, except for those who really need to experience misery (maybe it should be added to the list of the 7 plagues).



Definitely true. We had a a lot of power outages a few winters ago, including some from ice breaking branches. They've been a lot better since then about clearing branches from around the power lines throughout the rest of the year. Of course, in a few more years we'll get lax again


----------



## bribrius

i took this a few weeks back right after a freezing rain. everything covered in a quarter inch of ice. Doesnt look like much but everything i shot that day was work. Reflective in the sun isnt even funny. But i figured if it was so bright it was hard to look at it would make for some challenge.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leonore, the dividing line between ice on trees being pretty and being destructive seems to be between 1/8" and 1/4" radius.  If I was in charge of the weather systems, I'd forbid the use of freezing rain, except for those who really need to experience misery (maybe it should be added to the list of the 7 plagues).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Definitely true. We had a a lot of power outages a few winters ago, including some from ice breaking branches. They've been a lot better since then about clearing branches from around the power lines throughout the rest of the year. Of course, in a few more years we'll get lax again
Click to expand...


I lived in Atlanta for a little over a decade, through my high school years and very early 20s. One thing we dealt with a LOT was ice. The winter after we moved there, they had the worst ice storm in their history. Our power was out for over a week and my dad hung blankets over all the doors and stairs, etc, blocking in everything except the LR/DR area, where we all basically lived for that week.  What I really remember about that was Dad going out every so often to get more wood for the fireplace--in his swimtrunks and bare feet, lol!! When I asked him if he wasn't freezing like that he said, "I was in Alaska in the war (WWII); I haven't been cold since." 

I once played a soccer game in an ice storm, although we didn't realize that at first. It was nasty, cold and drizzling rain, but there we were, playing soccer. I had a one-on-one with a forward taking a shot on goal (I played keeper), and when I dove for the ball (which I did stop, by the way), I slid and slammed my nose into the goalpost. Hurt worse than just about anything I've ever felt.  That's when someone realized that the goalposts were covered with about 1/4" of ice, as were the trees and everything else.
The game was called at that point--but it was about two minutes too late for my poor, broken nose. That deviated septum still causes me problems every winter!


----------



## limr

Ouch! I say that as I'm rubbing my own nose.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 7:30 and 57F right now. It should hit the low 70's today. Mary Lou just turned off the heater. Ducks suck. I am very disappointed. The principle reason the Ducks lost is that Meyers fella. He got them perfectly prepared for this one time special game. Oregon lost the game at the defensive line of no pass rush or containment of Ohio's running game.

I think Derrel knew the Ducks sucked and left the forum because of the humiliation he would have endured.


----------



## KenC

Just got out of an hour-and-a-half department meeting.  I need something stronger than the coffee I was drinking to stay awake in there.

Weather better than I expected today.  It's 30 F and sunny now and they were predicting a high of only 31 - makes me think we'll beat the forecast.


----------



## snerd

Morning hosers! Sipping my Folgers Classic Roast as I type. Today begins a long, stressful period for me.............. selling the house. I'm sure we'll take a beating on it, what with the market being soft down here. Realtors, showings, strangers wandering through my house (shudders). Weather is 25*° *and still damn cold! I'm officially tired of Winter!!


----------



## minicoop1985

Dad&#x27;s back yard by longm1985, on Flickr

Since we're sharing winter pictures, I suppose. Just a little shot from my dad's back yard.

Some Maxwell House today. It's a balmy 13* F out, which could be worse. In a surprisingly good mood today for some reason.


----------



## limr

For the record, I "liked" your picture and your good mood, but I'm sorry, I can't "like" the Maxwell House


----------



## minicoop1985

It was cheap.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Their once was a men who liked to misspel thing's and, grammar badly.
> 
> Typing that gave me a headache.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As did it me just reading it, considering the work I have to start doing again soon!
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously, though, if y'all really do have any oddball language questions, let me know! I have been wanting to fire up my blog again this year, and I also want to start preparing for the section of Intro to Linguistics that I'll hopefully be teaching this Fall, so the ideas for blog posts as well as the practice for teaching would be really helpful to me!
Click to expand...


Okay, Lenny, a friend just posted something on FB that reminded me of one of my favorite language oddities.

Explain to me why you can be discombobulated, but nobody is ever combobulated to start with.
For that matter, I've never heard of anyone being gruntled or gusted either. 

Is combobulated a word? Or gruntled? Gusted might be a word, but if so, it would likely have to do with wind, not mood.


----------



## minicoop1985

In Milwaukee's Mitchell Airport, just past security, there's a sign that says "Combobulation Area". It's pretty brilliant.


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Their once was a men who liked to misspel thing's and, grammar badly.
> 
> Typing that gave me a headache.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As did it me just reading it, considering the work I have to start doing again soon!
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously, though, if y'all really do have any oddball language questions, let me know! I have been wanting to fire up my blog again this year, and I also want to start preparing for the section of Intro to Linguistics that I'll hopefully be teaching this Fall, so the ideas for blog posts as well as the practice for teaching would be really helpful to me!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Okay, Lenny, a friend just posted something on FB that reminded me of one of my favorite language oddities.
> 
> Explain to me why you can be discombobulated, but nobody is ever combobulated to start with.
> For that matter, I've never heard of anyone being gruntled or gusted either.
> 
> Is combobulated a word? Or gruntled? Gusted might be a word, but if so, it would likely have to do with wind, not mood.
Click to expand...

 I make a point of using "gruntled" whenever I can, just for the looks it gets.  I hadn't thought of "gusted", but I will use it from now on!


----------



## pgriz

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Their once was a men who liked to misspel thing's and, grammar badly.
> 
> Typing that gave me a headache.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As did it me just reading it, considering the work I have to start doing again soon!
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously, though, if y'all really do have any oddball language questions, let me know! I have been wanting to fire up my blog again this year, and I also want to start preparing for the section of Intro to Linguistics that I'll hopefully be teaching this Fall, so the ideas for blog posts as well as the practice for teaching would be really helpful to me!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Okay, Lenny, a friend just posted something on FB that reminded me of one of my favorite language oddities.
> 
> Explain to me why you can be discombobulated, but nobody is ever combobulated to start with.
> For that matter, I've never heard of anyone being gruntled or gusted either.
> 
> Is combobulated a word? Or gruntled? Gusted might be a word, but if so, it would likely have to do with wind, not mood.
Click to expand...


Combobulation IS a word.  As in:  Urban Dictionary: Combobulation.  First, you combobulate, then you discombobulate, then you can recombobulate.


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Their once was a men who liked to misspel thing's and, grammar badly.
> 
> Typing that gave me a headache.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As did it me just reading it, considering the work I have to start doing again soon!
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously, though, if y'all really do have any oddball language questions, let me know! I have been wanting to fire up my blog again this year, and I also want to start preparing for the section of Intro to Linguistics that I'll hopefully be teaching this Fall, so the ideas for blog posts as well as the practice for teaching would be really helpful to me!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Okay, Lenny, a friend just posted something on FB that reminded me of one of my favorite language oddities.
> 
> Explain to me why you can be discombobulated, but nobody is ever combobulated to start with.
> For that matter, I've never heard of anyone being gruntled or gusted either.
> 
> Is combobulated a word? Or gruntled? Gusted might be a word, but if so, it would likely have to do with wind, not mood.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Combobulation IS a word.  As in:  Urban Dictionary: Combobulation.  First, you combobulate, then you discombobulate, then you can recombobulate.
Click to expand...


Can you spontaneously combobulate?
If you are incapable of combobulation, are you incombobulable?


----------



## sm4him

tirediron said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Their once was a men who liked to misspel thing's and, grammar badly.
> 
> Typing that gave me a headache.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As did it me just reading it, considering the work I have to start doing again soon!
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously, though, if y'all really do have any oddball language questions, let me know! I have been wanting to fire up my blog again this year, and I also want to start preparing for the section of Intro to Linguistics that I'll hopefully be teaching this Fall, so the ideas for blog posts as well as the practice for teaching would be really helpful to me!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Okay, Lenny, a friend just posted something on FB that reminded me of one of my favorite language oddities.
> 
> Explain to me why you can be discombobulated, but nobody is ever combobulated to start with.
> For that matter, I've never heard of anyone being gruntled or gusted either.
> 
> Is combobulated a word? Or gruntled? Gusted might be a word, but if so, it would likely have to do with wind, not mood.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I make a point of using "gruntled" whenever I can, just for the looks it gets.  I hadn't thought of "gusted", but I will use it from now on!
Click to expand...


You and I would get along just fine. I even use "combobulated" now and then, just to make people wonder.
Like they don't wonder about me enough as it is.


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Their once was a men who liked to misspel thing's and, grammar badly.
> 
> Typing that gave me a headache.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As did it me just reading it, considering the work I have to start doing again soon!
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously, though, if y'all really do have any oddball language questions, let me know! I have been wanting to fire up my blog again this year, and I also want to start preparing for the section of Intro to Linguistics that I'll hopefully be teaching this Fall, so the ideas for blog posts as well as the practice for teaching would be really helpful to me!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Okay, Lenny, a friend just posted something on FB that reminded me of one of my favorite language oddities.
> 
> Explain to me why you can be discombobulated, but nobody is ever combobulated to start with.
> For that matter, I've never heard of anyone being gruntled or gusted either.
> 
> Is combobulated a word? Or gruntled? Gusted might be a word, but if so, it would likely have to do with wind, not mood.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Combobulation IS a word.  As in:  Urban Dictionary: Combobulation.  First, you combobulate, then you discombobulate, then you can recombobulate.
Click to expand...

 The Urban Dictionary is NOT a dictionary!  The *Oxford English Dictionary* doesn't list, ergo... t'isn't a word!


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Combobulation IS a word.  As in:  Urban Dictionary: Combobulation.  First, you combobulate, then you discombobulate, then you can recombobulate.



Hmmm, if it IS a recognized word, it's a newly-formed one, possibly through the process of what is called back-formation. "Combobulated" is not in the 1933 OED. Neither is "discombobulated" for that matter. So both words are less than 100 years old.

Huh, although etymonline.com puts it at 1834: Online Etymology Dictionary  A quick search puts both words at mid-century.

Anyway, back-formation. Normally we have words that can take affixes (the general term for prefixes or suffixes) and we create new words that way. Sometimes, we have a word that has an affix and we remove it to create a new word. Someone who is "addicted" becomes an "addict" for example. Sometimes this is done even if a word already exists: 'conversation' becomes 'conversate' even though a perfectly good verb already exists. I hate the word but I have to admit that obnoxious as it is, it's still a product of valid and generative grammatical processes of English.

So what came first, combobulate or discombobulate? Not really sure. I'll do some more digging.


----------



## limr

A friend of mine wanted to know why 'horrendous' could be used to describe the object, but there wasn't any form of the word to describe how someone was feeling, so she coined 'horrended' and I have loved and used that word ever since


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm horrended that you're horrended. Wait, what?


----------



## pgriz

Lessee.  Bulls produce bullate (think of condensate), and a bunch of that could be though of a "combo" so combobullate would be a collection of bull by-products, and then someone missed the double EL so it became combobulate.  Yeah - I think that's it.


----------



## pgriz

And as for "horrended" - is it a receiver or giver or horror?  As in "I was horrended that I lost my wallet" or "I horrended him with my gaunt visage".  Leonore - what's the accepted usage if we're going to be promulgating your invention?


----------



## pgriz

Does anyone even remember the original meaning of "google"?  As in the number 1 followed by one hundred zeros?  Which sounds uncomfortably like a political convention that one strayed into.


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> Lessee.  Bulls produce bullate (think of condensate), and a bunch of that could be though of a "combo" so combobullate would be a collection of bull by-products, and then someone missed the double EL so it became combobulate.  Yeah - I think that's it.



I am horrended by that extraordinarily elaborate etymological extrapolation!


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> Does anyone even remember the original meaning of "google"?  As in the number 1 followed by one hundred zeros?  Which sounds uncomfortably like a political convention that one strayed into.


 Was it only 100 zeros?  For some reason, I thought it was a million.


----------



## pgriz

tirediron said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does anyone even remember the original meaning of "google"?  As in the number 1 followed by one hundred zeros?  Which sounds uncomfortably like a political convention that one strayed into.
> 
> 
> 
> Was it only 100 zeros?  For some reason, I thought it was a million.
Click to expand...


Nah.  But it was the largest named number that you could write out without using too many pages of paper.


----------



## limr

"Horrend" can be used transitively or intransitively.

I horrend easily.
You horrend me with your shenanigans!


----------



## pgriz

Why not use "horrify" instead "horrend"?  They seem equivalent to me, unless I'm being dense.  There must be a nuance that is flitting above my head like an unreachable butterfly.


----------



## limr

I don't think it was meant to fill a semantic hole. It was a silly conversation amongst tired language teachers and the result was us cackling like loons at the word horrend and it's variant, horrended.  I think it started when my friend was musing about how it's 'horrify' and 'horrified' but then 'horrendous' instead of something like 'horrifous'. Or, if -ify is a verbal suffix, shouldn't it be 'horrous'? Was the root horr- or horrif-? If the root is horr- then where did the -endous come from instead of just the -ous? Maybe the root is horrend?

And so on.


----------



## bribrius

hey kids....     while i was contemplating the meaning of life earlier i noticed my wife bought a chocolate cake. while i am wondering why she didn't just bake one i have realized life just became a whole lot better suddenly.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> I don't think it was meant to fill a semantic hole. It was a silly conversation amongst tired language teachers and the result was us cackling like loons at the word horrend and it's variant, horrended.  I think it started when my friend was musing about how it's 'horrify' and 'horrified' but then 'horrendous' instead of something like 'horrifous'. Or, if -ify is a verbal suffix, shouldn't it be 'horrous'? Was the root horr- or horrif-? If the root is horr- then where did the -endous come from instead of just the -ous? Maybe the root is horrend?
> 
> And so on.


oh no, what did i walk in to. grammar, vocabulary? The things i fear the most ?


----------



## limr

Yes. There will be a quiz.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Yes. There will be a quiz.


----------



## limr

Don't worry, I'll make it open-book.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Don't worry, I'll make it open-book.


great. i pick the teacher edition..


----------



## sm4him

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't worry, I'll make it open-book.
> 
> 
> 
> great. i pick the teacher edition..
Click to expand...


Sure, you can have it. But when we start conjugating words like combobulate and horrend, somehow I don't think that teacher's edition is gonna help you much.


----------



## Gary A.

I seriously do not need this ... I just spend the afternoon writing speeches and debate reports.


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> i am wondering why she didn't just bake one.



That's why God gave us bakeries.


----------



## limr

Teacher's edition wouldn't do much good anyway. When I do take questions from the book, I don't put them in the same order. Or even from the same quiz.

I give quizzes in my lower level writing class - usually about 4 per semester. I always give them a chance to retake any or all quizzes at the end of the semester. I tell them that it will be the same exact quiz, just with rearranged questions, so they can study their old quizzes but just don't bother memorizing the order of the answers because they will be different. Some students still failed the retake.

Frankly, I would let them take the quiz over and over again until they get 100%. It's not about the grade - it's about them learning something. If it takes them 5 times, it doesn't matter - it means they've learned the material on that quiz and some of the sentences might very well be burned into their brains. This is good. It gives them context and a reference point for the next time they are struggling with writing a sentence that requires that grammatical structure.

For example, I still remember this sentence from high school French: J'espere que je ne me suis pas casse la jambe! (Sorry, no accent marks easily available on my keyboard.) And it will always remind me that when using a reflexive verb in French, use the definite article, not the possessive pronoun (_la_ jambe, not _ma_ jambe.)

But then again, I'm a language geek


----------



## minicoop1985

I see Leonore as a stereotypical Catholic nun teaching, minus the whole headdress thing. Whipping kids with rulers, throwing things at them, YOU WILL LEARN THIS OR YOU'LL GET BEATEN AGAIN kinda deal.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> I see Leonore as a stereotypical Catholic nun teaching, minus the whole headdress thing. Whipping kids with rulers, throwing things at them, YOU WILL LEARN THIS OR YOU'LL GET BEATEN AGAIN kinda deal.


Not exactly, but I do have a scary teacher voice when I choose to deploy it


----------



## snerd

sm4him said:


> ...... But when we start conjugating.....


Wait! I thought you were both married?! Did you mean that for a PM?!!

  

.....................................


----------



## pgriz

Snerd, conjugation is like copulation only for bacteria.  For more complex living things, the conjugation thing takes more effort.


----------



## snerd

Wasn't going for copulation lol


----------



## snerd

I seem to be off form tonight. It's the cold I tell ya!!


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't worry, I'll make it open-book.
> 
> 
> 
> great. i pick the teacher edition..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Sure, you can have it. But when we start conjugating words like combobulate and horrend, somehow I don't think that teacher's edition is gonna help you much.
Click to expand...


Don't forget lerp, whatchwhozits, zingafreedle, and bestaboo.


----------



## Rick50




----------



## snerd

*Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious*


----------



## limr

Antidisestablishmentarianism.


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...... But when we start conjugating.....
> 
> 
> 
> Wait!* I thought you were both married*?! Did you mean that for a PM?!!
> 
> 
> 
> .....................................
Click to expand...


Yep. WERE. I conjugated THAT right into past tense over a decade ago.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Antidisestablishmentarianism.



So what does that combobulation of letters actually mean?


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> Don't forget lerp, whatchwhozits, zingafreedle, and bestaboo.



We're still talking english, right?  I must not be running in the right circles (or left circles for that matter), because I've not tripped across any of these.  But then again, "bae" was apparently in fashion for a while and after the corporate take-over, has been jettisoned by the literati.


----------



## KenC

pgriz said:


> We're still talking english, right?



I just tuned in here for the first time in about 18 hours and I have no idea what y'all are talking.  It could be just that I'm only partway through my coffee or it's that this is a tough thread where one has to do a lot of reading to catch up.  Well, maybe after the coffee ...


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're still talking english, right?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just tuned in here for the first time in about 18 hours and I have no idea what y'all are talking.  It could be just that I'm only partway through my coffee or it's that this is a tough thread where one has to do a lot of reading to catch up.  Well, maybe after the coffee ...
Click to expand...


You never know in this thread. Sometimes, we just talk about your normal everyday stuff--what kind of coffee we're having (about to make a cup of Green Mountain Three Continent Blend, myself), what the weather is like (Dreich. That's what the weather is like--33 degrees and rain)…

Other times, somebody tumbles down the Rabbit Hole and pretty soon, several of us just leap right in behind them.  It's pretty weird down here, but honestly, the Queen of Hearts isn't as mean as Alice made her out to be. The Mad Hatter is definitely as crazy as he's purported to be though.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Antidisestablishmentarianism.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So what does that combobulation of letters actually mean?
Click to expand...


Opposition to not having (or disestablishing) a state-sponsored Church of England.


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're still talking english, right?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just tuned in here for the first time in about 18 hours and I have no idea what y'all are talking.  It could be just that I'm only partway through my coffee or it's that this is a tough thread where one has to do a lot of reading to catch up.  Well, maybe after the coffee ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You never know in this thread. Sometimes, we just talk about your normal everyday stuff--what kind of coffee we're having (about to make a cup of Green Mountain Three Continent Blend, myself), what the weather is like (Dreich. That's what the weather is like--33 degrees and rain)…
> 
> Other times, somebody tumbles down the Rabbit Hole and pretty soon, several of us just leap right in behind them.  It's pretty weird down here, but honestly, the Queen of Hearts isn't as mean as Alice made her out to be. The Mad Hatter is definitely as crazy as he's purported to be though.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I've tumbled down some rabbit holes and met all the characters, but sometimes I'm just a little surprised to find myself there.

The coffee is kicking in, probably because it's real coffee from outside, which I picked up on the way from having blood drawn.  I try to have my annual physical about once every two years, which is why I found myself walking a few extra blocks and freezing my butt off (20 F), so I deserved the real coffee.


----------



## limr

Oh yeah, and good morning, hosers!


----------



## sm4him

Morning, Lenny and Ken and whoever else drops in in the next little bit!


----------



## limr

I'll be back. Gotta motor to get myself ready for work!


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> Morning, Lenny and Ken and whoever else drops in in the next little bit!



Yes, morning, hosers!  (awake now)


----------



## sm4him

I'm very excited today because I found out (but, SHHHH!! It's a secret!!) that a friend of mine who's pregnant is going to be induced tomorrow, so I'm about to be an honorary Aunt!  This is my pastor's son and daughter-in-law; I've always been good friends with my pastor's family, beyond just a ministerial role, and I've become VERY good friends with his daughter-in-law. This is the couple who were pregnant about 18 months ago and lost the baby, very late in the pregnancy, and very suddenly and inexplicably. We were all just crushed--so the impending birth of their daughter is extra special. This will be the first (surviving) grandchild for my pastor and his wife.

I'll be heading up to the hospital tomorrow afternoon--they are trying to keep it under wraps because they don't want a church full of people there! But I'm special, and get invited--because of my relationship with the mom-to-be, and also because…I have a camera.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Teacher's edition wouldn't do much good anyway. When I do take questions from the book, I don't put them in the same order. Or even from the same quiz.
> 
> I give quizzes in my lower level writing class - usually about 4 per semester. I always give them a chance to retake any or all quizzes at the end of the semester. I tell them that it will be the same exact quiz, just with rearranged questions, so they can study their old quizzes but just don't bother memorizing the order of the answers because they will be different. Some students still failed the retake.
> 
> Frankly, I would let them take the quiz over and over again until they get 100%. It's not about the grade - it's about them learning something. If it takes them 5 times, it doesn't matter - it means they've learned the material on that quiz and some of the sentences might very well be burned into their brains. This is good. It gives them context and a reference point for the next time they are struggling with writing a sentence that requires that grammatical structure.
> 
> For example, I still remember this sentence from high school French: J'espere que je ne me suis pas casse la jambe! (Sorry, no accent marks easily available on my keyboard.) And it will always remind me that when using a reflexive verb in French, use the definite article, not the possessive pronoun (_la_ jambe, not _ma_ jambe.)
> 
> But then again, I'm a language geek


The only French I remember of late is "Je suis Charlie".


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Antidisestablishmentarianism.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So what does that combobulation of letters actually mean?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Opposition to not having (or disestablishing) a state-sponsored Church of England.
Click to expand...


Oh.  Silly of me not to have figured it out.  Kinda like the "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" idea.  I have problems with double negatives and permutations thereof.  Lacking sufficient mental wit I end up doing little decision diagrams to figure out what the options really are.  But thank you, Leonore.  Another item to add to my quiver of words that tend to obfuscate rather than clarify.


----------



## Gary A.

Does a double negative make a right?


----------



## Gary A.

BTW - Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 7:21 and 48F. It should hit 72F by the afternoon.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Does a double negative make a right?



My favorite story about that (the short version):

A professor was explaining to his students about double negatives and that they actually ended up meaning a positive. "Not no way" really means there IS a way, etc.
Then he said, "But in no instance does a double positive create a negative."
At which point a student in the back spoke up and said, "Yeah, _right_."
(You have to hear this with the right inflection for it to work.)


----------



## Gary A.

Very good ... lol ... All this professor stuff reminds me of a Chemistry class. It was one of those large theatre type classrooms. This chem professor had these surprise "quizzes", as he called them, once or twice a week. After a few "quizzes" we were all getting pissed-off. So he hits us again with a "quizzie" and this wonderful little girl was the first to finish and walks down to the stage/front of the classroom to turn in her test and loudly announces that if these were his "quizzes she'd hate to see his testies". That ended the quizzes for the semester.


----------



## Designer

Doesn't this sentence contain a double negative?

Je ne parle pas français.

But in French, is it not correct?


----------



## pgriz

Ah yes, the exception that proves the rule.  That's the problem with absolutes - hard to state it so an exception can't be figured out.


----------



## pgriz

Designer said:


> Doesn't this sentence contain a double negative?
> 
> Je ne parle pas français.
> 
> But in French, is it not correct?



The "ne" and "pas" go together (a little like the slash commands in Html, with a start and end).  In fact, if you skip the "pas" it is usually clear that you're an anglophone (or at least not a francophone).


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does a double negative make a right?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My favorite story about that (the short version):
> 
> A professor was explaining to his students about double negatives and that they actually ended up meaning a positive. "Not no way" really means there IS a way, etc.
> Then he said, "But in no instance does a double positive create a negative."
> At which point a student in the back spoke up and said, "Yeah, _right_."
> (You have to hear this with the right inflection for it to work.)
Click to expand...


In the NYC version of the story, the student says "yeah, yeah"  (inflection critical as always).


----------



## bribrius

i should go shooting today. randomly go around and take photos. did that the other day for two hours. just because...


----------



## Designer

I don't intend to skip any important part of the sentence, (at least not on purpose) but when my grandson was learning French, he thought it contained a double negative, and because he had learned to not do that in English, he wondered why it was o.k. in French. 

Is all.


----------



## limr

But a double negative can make a positive. In my other silly thread I started last night, I wrote: a gorn is never not funny. (Two negatives) That means a gorn is always funny. (Positive. Also truth.)


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> But a double negative can make a positive. In my other silly thread I started last night, I wrote: a gorn is never not funny. (Two negatives) That means a gorn is always funny. (Positive. Also truth.)


you guys are starting to give me a headache here. This is all way beyond me. i did understand Hemingway. i also did suck at grammar.


----------



## limr

Hemingway is my favorite author. He was an absolute master of the language. His writing was deceptively simple because he was so precise with his words, layering meaning upon meaning into his sentences. If I could read no other books for the rest of my life except his, I would probably still be finding new meanings and interpretations of stories I've read dozens of times.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> I don't intend to skip any important part of the sentence, (at least not on purpose) but when my grandson was learning French, he thought it contained a double negative, and because he had learned to not do that in English, he wondered why it was o.k. in French.
> 
> Is all.



I used to teach remedial writing classes in the English department as well as my current department (Modern Languages), so these students were native speakers of English. Sometimes students who are bilingual but would probably have been better off in the ESL classes were placed in those English dept along the native speakers. Most of the teachers were able to handle it just fine, but some teachers just couldn't figure out what to do with students who also spoke another language. 

I was scoring exams one semester and another adjunct sitting at the table with me just blurts out, "What is with these ESL students? Can't they learn vocabulary?" I asked him what he meant. "Well, they have the same grammar, why can't they just learn the English words to put in the sentence?"

Dude thought that every language in the world had the same grammar, just different words. I think I did a decent enough job at not being too witheringly sarcastic, but I don't think I was able to entirely keep the "you're a moron" tone out of my voice.


----------



## Designer

Well even I know there are differences in grammar among languages.  I wish I had studied some other language in school.  Probably too late now.  Never mind.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't intend to skip any important part of the sentence, (at least not on purpose) but when my grandson was learning French, he thought it contained a double negative, and because he had learned to not do that in English, he wondered why it was o.k. in French.
> 
> Is all.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I used to teach remedial writing classes in the English department as well as my current department (Modern Languages), so these students were native speakers of English. Sometimes students who are bilingual but would probably have been better off in the ESL classes were placed in those English dept along the native speakers. Most of the teachers were able to handle it just fine, but some teachers just couldn't figure out what to do with students who also spoke another language.
> 
> I was scoring exams one semester and another adjunct sitting at the table with me just blurts out, "What is with these ESL students? Can't they learn vocabulary?" I asked him what he meant. "Well, they have the same grammar, why can't they just learn the English words to put in the sentence?"
> 
> Dude thought that every language in the world had the same grammar, just different words. I think I did a decent enough job at not being too witheringly sarcastic, but I don't think I was able to entirely keep the "you're a moron" tone out of my voice.
Click to expand...

schools don't know what they are doing anyway. They tried to put me in remedial classes when i was young. My mother pulled the b.s. card and made them give me a iq test. suddenly i was transferred to gifted and talented and graduated early. Pulled one of the highest sat scores ever from my state. And they had wanted to put me in remedial classes!  i still don't know a damn thing though. One of my sons, just starting school came back with a list of "below proficiency" or something. Basically things he below standard with. According to them. My wife was concerned about it. i just through it in the trash, where it belonged.


----------



## limr

Students are miplaced at times for sure, but remedial classes aren't a joke. For some they are very necessary. And remember that I teach at a college. These are students who allegedly graduated from college and can barely put a sentence together. They are not ready for college work.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Well even I know there are differences in grammar among languages.  I wish I had studied some other language in school.  Probably too late now.  Never mind.



Most people do realize that, even if they don't know _what_ the differences are. I was astounded to hear that idea, though, from a fellow English professor!

Never too late to learn! Probably harder to learn it fluently and certainly too late to have a native-like accent, but learning even a little bit of a foreign language has massive cognitive benefits, especially as we get older.


----------



## Designer

Yes, we had to fight with our boys' schools too, over a variety of issues.  Plus, we fought for some other children's rights as well, such as a Type 1 diabetic girl, and a disciplinary problem in one boy.  That diabetic girl basically skipped high school altogether at the urging of my wife.  Our DIL skipped her final year of HS as well.  WAY too much BS in our school system.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> .. remedial classes aren't a joke.


As a nearly 40-year-old returning adult student, I was happy to take Math 90 my first semester.  Then I took Math 140 and aced it.  I needed that remedial math class.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Never too late to learn! Probably harder to learn it fluently and certainly too late to have a native-like accent, but learning even a little bit of a foreign language has massive cognitive benefits, especially as we get older.


I'll do it!  Wifey wants to travel to Europe in a few years to explore our families' roots.  I have to go along to pull her luggage.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Students are miplaced at times for sure, but remedial classes aren't a joke. For some they are very necessary. And remember that I teach at a college. These are students who allegedly graduated from college and can barely put a sentence together. They are not ready for college work.


Granted. And some people, just aren't cut out for school. square peg, round hole. you must mean they graduated from high school. Think i will give my children a option. Either go to college or start your own business. i wont push education, but i will push self sufficiency. If they want to work at mcdonalds fine. But they better have a plan in place to own one of the franchises. And if they want to go to college, that is fine too. i am actually thinking of a way to buy a apartment building for each one of them. They can collect rents, learn responsibility. Use whatever they make (assuming the make something) on either their education or getting themselves a start in the world. i have one so far, i can give to my daughter. Not worth much. i need to come up with a couple more.


----------



## pgriz

My 92-year old mother decided to take written French lessons because she didn't want her brain to get complacent.  Same lady who still speaks about seven languages.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well even I know there are differences in grammar among languages.  I wish I had studied some other language in school.  Probably too late now.  Never mind.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Most people do realize that, even if they don't know _what_ the differences are. I was astounded to hear that idea, though, from a fellow English professor!
> 
> Never too late to learn! Probably harder to learn it fluently and certainly too late to have a native-like accent, but learning even a little bit of a foreign language has massive cognitive benefits, especially as we get older.
Click to expand...

while that sounds great, in my case i have a problem just with english. And that is my native language. LMAO i had those learn french tapes once. Played them in the car. Didnt get far. which is kind of too bad since i spent so much time in quebec and a lot of people i couldnt communicate with. other than pointing .


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> .. remedial classes aren't a joke.
> 
> 
> 
> As a nearly 40-year-old returning adult student, I was happy to take Math 90 my first semester.  Then I took Math 140 and aced it.  I needed that remedial math class.
Click to expand...

Thats great! you are the same age as me?  it is important to keep learning, anything. i took some real estate appraisal quite a while ago, just for the sake of it. Took classes for mortgages and became registered with the state, stuff like that. Nothing like getting a phd but enough to keep me busy. Long as you are learning SOMETHING.  i would like to go back and get my commercial drivers license again. It bugs me that i cant drive a dump truck. i dont own a dump truck right now. But it still bugs me i dont have the option. I rented a backhoe and had to find someone to tow it for me. It was annoying..


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't forget lerp, whatchwhozits, zingafreedle, and bestaboo.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We're still talking english, right?  I must not be running in the right circles (or left circles for that matter), because I've not tripped across any of these.  But then again, "bae" was apparently in fashion for a while and after the corporate take-over, has been jettisoned by the literati.
Click to expand...


They are from the Wrenn Dictionary of Homegrown English.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Does a double negative make a right?


I'm pretty sure I read that it does in Russian.


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't forget lerp, whatchwhozits, zingafreedle, and bestaboo.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We're still talking english, right?  I must not be running in the right circles (or left circles for that matter), because I've not tripped across any of these.  But then again, "bae" was apparently in fashion for a while and after the corporate take-over, has been jettisoned by the literati.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> They are from the Wrenn Dictionary of Homegrown English.
Click to expand...


Couldn't find that reference.  Any idea how these words would be used?



snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does a double negative make a right?
> 
> 
> 
> I'm pretty sure I read that it does in Russian.
Click to expand...


And that would be correct.  "ya nechevo ne viju" is literally "I don't see nothing" but meaning "I don't see anything".


----------



## minicoop1985

In Soviet Russia, double negative make YOU!!!!!








Sorry


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> Couldn't find that reference.  Any idea how these words would be used?



Lerp - someone who gets overly excited in mid- to high-pressure situations.
Lerpy - resembling a lerp.
Lerp out - the act of being lerpy. The voice is usually raised several octaves and the arms tend to flap around like bird wings, as if attempting flight.

Whatchawhoozit - any non-specific small item.  Sorry for the misspelling in original post.

Zingafreedle - An exclamation used to replace profanity in the company of children. 

Bestaboo - a title of affection, similar to "Sweet Baboo" (Linus, to Sally) of the Charlie Brown TV specials from the 1960s.


----------



## pgriz

So don't hire a person with lerpy tendencies as the fire chief.  Got it.

Whatchawhoozit seems to be very close to whatchamacallit or thingamajig.  So it can act as a synonym.  Ok, got it too.

Zingafreedle seems overly complicated given the circumstances in which its synonym would be uttered. Fiddle-Faddle could be used, as demonstrated by one of our more colourful Prime Ministers (Pierre Elliot Trudeau), but "fiddlesticks" is also known to be used.

Bestaboo...  You know that Linus would always remonstrate that he wasn't Sally's "sweet Baboo".  And Sally would totally ignore his protestations.  I dunno.   Bestaboo just doesn't roll off the tongue as smoothly as "sweetums" or "lollylips" or many other terms of endearment that should never be over-heard.


----------



## bribrius

dunno. just nominated philmar for potm. seems a lot of great shooters get bipassed on here and i think i am getting tired of it. lmao


----------



## bribrius

seems the best photographers on the site, barely ever post as well.  on the other hand though, i guess if you dont need cc you have no reason to post.


----------



## snerd

Maybe warm enough to get out the next few days woot!!


----------



## bribrius

you dont have a winter jacket?


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> you dont have a winter jacket?


Sure! I used to listen to some here say that when it got hot out, they stayed indoors drinking iced tea. I'm a little different............... I went out in a lot of that heat, but can't stand to go shoot in really cold temps. So I stay home and drink hot coffee or hot tea.  Another thing that makes it seem much colder is the never ending WINDS. An "average" day here is windy 10-20mph with gusts to 30mph. Always. Most every day. But 60's I can handle with the wind!


----------



## minicoop1985

It's gonna be 32* this weekend. I'm going to go shoot some pictures of eagles around here with the local camera club. Just glad to be able to shoot something...


----------



## Gary A.

OOOOOOkla-homa where the wind comes sweeping down the plain ...


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> OOOOOOkla-homa where the wind comes sweeping down the plain ...



Someone had to say it 

Morning, hosers.

I've rescheduled my wisdom teeth surgery for next month. Turns out, if I want to arrange for a substitute to cover my class, I have to pay for that sub myself. The appointment was for the first day of classes and I can't just cancel (well, technically I could, but it's not how I operate) so I rescheduled for a later date.


----------



## runnah

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> OOOOOOkla-homa where the wind comes sweeping down the plain ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Someone had to say it
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> I've rescheduled my wisdom teeth surgery for next month. Turns out, if I want to arrange for a substitute to cover my class, I have to pay for that sub myself. The appointment was for the first day of classes and I can't just cancel (well, technically I could, but it's not how I operate) so I rescheduled for a later date.
Click to expand...


That sucks.

I've had to go back to wearing glasses for the next month. Damn eyes keeps rejecting my contacts.


----------



## Designer

snerd said:


> But 60's I can handle with the wind!



Not me.

Oh, good morning, everyone!  Except Maria, then good afternoon!

I can't take the wind for very long.  It wears me out.  So even at 70 degrees F, I can't be out all day.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> I have to pay for that sub myself.


----------



## limr

That sucks too. Is this a new thing, the contract rejecting? How long have you worn contacts?

I got lucky with my eyes (not so much with my teeth  ). I wear glasses to drive and I'm just starting to kinda sorta need the weakest drug store readers for some close-up work (I can still read fine without them, but sometimes it's just easier if my eyes are already tired). But most of the time, I don't need any correction.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have to pay for that sub myself.
Click to expand...


Yeah. I get one paid sick day per semester (technically - one day per class per semester. If my class meetings fall on different days, then I could theoretically have two or three sick days, depending on how many classes I teach and when they meet).

So if I call in sick, the college will pay me, but they won't pay for someone else to cover the class. I would either have to pay the sub out of pocket or make some arrangement to cover his/her class if needed.

I never really understood this policy because I am never absent unless I'm sick, in which case classes are cancelled. This is the first time in 10 years that I've thought, "Maybe just this once I could get a sub."  So much for that thought.


----------



## pixmedic

Ive thought about getting a sub a few times. Wife didn't think I needed one tho.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Having my coffee and brownie.  Tried to do some work, but can't because they screwed up the database I'm supposed to work from.  Oh, well, they'll get their s*** together eventually (or not).  There's a meeting in half an hour to explain the latest organizational changes to anyone who cares and also to the rest of us.  It won't affect me or anyone I work with or see every day.  All I can say is it's a good thing I'm not cynical.


----------



## Gary A.

Top-of-the-Morn Coffee Hosers. 54F at 7:30 a.m. should hit 72F today with a gentle wind tiptoeing across the basin off the Pacific. Colombian Supremo today.


----------



## Gary A.

Paying for your own sub sucks ... your union sucks. What ever happened to collective bargaining?


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> 54F at 7:30 a.m. should hit 72F today with a gentle wind tiptoeing across the basin off the Pacific.



Ah, yes, perfect weather.  If you could just solve the traffic problems and decrease the taxes, I could live there again.  Let me know when you've taken care of those items.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 54F at 7:30 a.m. should hit 72F today with a gentle wind tiptoeing across the basin off the Pacific.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, yes, perfect weather.  If you could just solve the traffic problems and decrease the taxes, I could live there again.  Let me know when you've taken care of those items.
Click to expand...

There are plenty of places with no traffic ... but those places won't be at 70F and/or those places don't have much economy (like the Central Coast). No economy = no jobs.

The older I get the more I appreciate the simple stuff like pleasant weather and growing my own food. What really bugs me as much as traffic is the price of admission. I have family in St. Louis and they spend about $10 a head for tickets to the Rams and Cardinals. When Sir Paul performed at Dodger Stadium this past summer, the on-site, non-prepaid parking alone was $50 a car. If you're not on the computer at the moment tickets become available all the tickets get scooped up by the scalpers. I'd say three minutes after the tickets open up, all the affordable tickets for the big venus are gone.


----------



## bribrius

25 degrees going down to 13 degrees and show showers this afternoon and tonight.  same ole, same ole......


----------



## minicoop1985

25* here and warming up a bit. Yissss. About time we got close to freezing.


----------



## sm4him

For the last THREE days, they keep saying that the clouds are going to be moving out and we'll see a warming trend.
Well, three days later, there are STILL clouds, intermittent rain/sleet and just generally dreariness.

It's currently 28 degrees and cloudy, but there is evidently a system that will move through this afternoon, bringing us--NOT the clearing and warming they keep talking about--but more rain and possibly some icing on the roads.  Oh. Joy.

They're still calling for a pretty day and mid-50s by Saturday. We shall see.


----------



## pixmedic

We're at a frigid 65 degrees here. Had to put on the jacket this morning at 48


----------



## sm4him

pixmedic said:


> We're at a frigid 65 degrees here. Had to put on the jacket this morning at 48



Where's the "harumph" button?


----------



## bribrius

pixmedic said:


> We're at a frigid 65 degrees here. Had to put on the jacket this morning at 48


but you dont have snow to shoot. Dont you feel left out?


----------



## KenC

pixmedic said:


> We're at a frigid 65 degrees here. Had to put on the jacket this morning at 48



My parents lived in S. Fla. for a while and I've seen people there put on a jacket on a 70 degree day in January.  I'm not sure it means anything when Floridians put on a jacket.


----------



## pgriz

I picked up my wife from work a half-hour ago.  As she came out, she said "Feels pretty warm today!".  It was, only -10C.  Was -21 to -23 C overnight.  If it gets up to freezing, we'll have guys in shorts and t-shirts.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ungh. I envy you guys with your 60s and 70s.


----------



## tirediron

Happy CC Coffee-Hosers!


----------



## KenC

tirediron said:


> Happy CC Coffee-Hosers!



Canadian Club?


----------



## tirediron

KenC said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy CC Coffee-Hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Canadian Club?
Click to expand...

 Keep thinking...


----------



## KenC

tirediron said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy CC Coffee-Hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Canadian Club?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Keep thinking...
Click to expand...


Why, could it be something better - that sounds pretty good to me at this point in the day.


----------



## tirediron

KenC said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy CC Coffee-Hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Canadian Club?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Keep thinking...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Why, could it be something better - that sounds pretty good to me at this point in the day.
Click to expand...

 Different, not necessarily better (Unless you actually wanted to drink it; I wouldn't clean my worst enemy's paint-brushes in Canadian Club!).


----------



## pixmedic

tirediron said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy CC Coffee-Hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Canadian Club?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Keep thinking...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Why, could it be something better - that sounds pretty good to me at this point in the day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Different, not necessarily better (Unless you actually wanted to drink it; I wouldn't clean my worst enemy's paint-brushes in Canadian Club!).
Click to expand...

I'm a crown royal guy


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Paying for your own sub sucks ... your union sucks. What ever happened to collective bargaining?



Having one sick day IS actually the work of our union. Took them a long time even to get that much blood from the stone. Before that, we had diddly. The faculty union here certainly has its moments of crapitude but they haven't outlived their usefulness yet.

Just fyi, I am ignoring all the posts about how great warm weather is and how sucky cold weather is. Y'all are harshing my winter buzz!


----------



## snerd

Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

I'm not bad mouthing cold weather.  It is 75F where I am and everywhere I turn there is green and blooms are poppin'.  In less than an hour I could be in snow ... if that is what I desire. Takes that long to get 3-5,000 feet up to the snow level. Plenty of snow for a days fun. The local mountains are pretty crappy though compared to the Sierra Nevada. the San Gabriels only get up to 10,000' and the adjoining San Bernardinos hit 11,500'.  if I really wanted snow then a half days drive and I'm in world class snow like Mammoth or Squaw Valley (the site of the first US Winter Olympics). If I really really wanted snow, a full days drive to the northern Sierra Nevada ... up to the glaciers ... up to where snow and ice hangs around all year long.


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> View attachment 93278
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


Story of my life.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> I'm not bad mouthing cold weather.  It is 75F where I am and everywhere I turn there is green and blooms are poppin'.  In less than an hour I could be in snow ... if that is what I desire. Takes that long to get 3-5,000 feet up to the snow level. Plenty of snow for a days fun. The local mountains are pretty crappy though compared to the Sierra Nevada. the San Gabriels only get up to 10,000' and the adjoining San Bernardinos hit 11,500'.  if I really wanted snow then a half days drive and I'm in world class snow like Mammoth or Squaw Valley (the site of the first US Winter Olympics). If I really really wanted snow, a full days drive to the northern Sierra Nevada ... up to the glaciers ... up to where snow and ice hangs around all year long.


would you mind running up to sierra and taking some photos? i have only been up there once and didnt take a single photo when i was there. would like to see some.


----------



## Gary A.

Actually, I've been planning my next trip in a couple of weeks to go Napa. Then maybe to the Southern Sierra to shoot the Bristlecone Pines (oldest living things in the world) when the snows somewhat melts (I want patches of snow on the ground). I also want to shoot some sand dunes down at Anza-Borrego.  I'll see about working in Tahoe or Yosemite or Kings Canyon.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I'm not bad mouthing cold weather.  It is 75F where I am and everywhere I turn there is green and blooms are poppin'.  In less than an hour I could be in snow ... if that is what I desire. Takes that long to get 3-5,000 feet up to the snow level. Plenty of snow for a days fun. The local mountains are pretty crappy though compared to the Sierra Nevada. the San Gabriels only get up to 10,000' and the adjoining San Bernardinos hit 11,500'.  if I really wanted snow then a half days drive and I'm in world class snow like Mammoth or Squaw Valley (the site of the first US Winter Olympics). If I really really wanted snow, a full days drive to the northern Sierra Nevada ... up to the glaciers ... up to where snow and ice hangs around all year long.



I know you weren't


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> I'm not bad mouthing cold weather..



*I* am!! I will always bad mouth cold weather. I whine about it, moan about it, and am just generally depressed about the whole winter thing every year. But--assuming I survive another winter--one of these days March will come, and with it, enough days that are warm enough to suit me. After that, hope will begin to well up within me again, and the whining and complaining will cease, until about next October. 

But for now...ick. It's SNOWING here. I don't like that.
Trying to hold on to the promise of mid-50s by Saturday.


----------



## sm4him

Actually, right now I'm in a pretty good mood, because, as of 4:18 EST this afternoon...the baby was born!! She is absolutely adorable. Gorgeous dark eyes, not much more than a bit of fuzz on her head, blondish I think, and a look that just draws you in the minute you see her. I am already in love with her and have only seen pictures so far!

(If you have no idea what I'm talking about, it's back a few pages. A dear, dear friend, who is also my pastor's daughter-in-law, had a baby girl after suffering a tragic miscarriage less than two years ago)

I'm an honorary Aunt...who happens to be old enough to be a grandmother!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Awww... hope you get to see her in person soon!

Geez Leonore you need a better job! crikey I mean, it's not like I ever had a job as an educator that paid a lot but your benefits must suck beyond sucking. lol


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> Actually, right now I'm in a pretty good mood, because, as of 4:18 EST this afternoon...the *baby* was born!! She is absolutely *adorable*.....


  Cannot.  Reconcile.  Use.  Of.  Those.  Words.  In.  Same.  Sentence.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Awww... hope you get to see her in person soon!
> 
> Geez Leonore you need a better job! crikey I mean, it's not like I ever had a job as an educator that paid a lot but your benefits must suck beyond sucking. lol



No kidding. Note the change in my signature below


----------



## bribrius

good evening hosers.......   
in a good mood today. Wifes lawyer gave us some good news. wife is getting out of a good portion of a lawsuit. not to get into it, but it amounts to saving me thousand and thousands i really cant pay right now,  and lots and lots of headache i dont want...There are still a couple smaller implications involved that MAY come to something. But for the most part my wallet and mind are safe on this one now.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> good evening hosers.......
> in a good mood today. Wifes lawyer gave us some good news. wife is getting out of a good portion of a lawsuit. not to get into it, but it amounts to saving me thousand and thousands i really cant pay right now,  and lots and lots of headache i dont want...There are still a couple smaller implications involved that MAY come to something. But for the most part my wallet and mind are safe on this one now.



Congrats!

Do you need a paralegal?


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> good evening hosers.......
> in a good mood today. Wifes lawyer gave us some good news. wife is getting out of a good portion of a lawsuit. not to get into it, but it amounts to saving me thousand and thousands i really cant pay right now,  and lots and lots of headache i dont want...There are still a couple smaller implications involved that MAY come to something. But for the most part my wallet and mind are safe on this one now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats!
> 
> Do you need a paralegal?
Click to expand...

the stuff i get into seems to be way beyond a paralegal... Plus i couldn't afford to pay you.  But thanks for asking! lol


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> the stuff i get into seems to be way beyond a paralegal...



I'm really smart.



> *Plus i couldn't afford to pay you.*  But thanks for asking! lol



Then never mind!


----------



## limr

I kid, I kid. 

I kid because I'm broke.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> I kid, I kid.
> 
> I kid because I'm broke.


I saw a kid on GoFundMe asking for $35K for his dream car. Just an idea.


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I kid, I kid.
> 
> I kid because I'm broke.
> 
> 
> 
> I saw a kid on GoFundMe asking for $35K for his dream car. Just an idea.
Click to expand...


Don't think I haven't considered it!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> I kid, I kid.
> 
> I kid because I'm broke.


long as you have your cameras and your mind you will never be broke.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I kid, I kid.
> 
> I kid because I'm broke.
> 
> 
> 
> long as you have your cameras and your mind you will never be broke.
Click to expand...


Awww, that actually made me feel better


----------



## sm4him

tirediron said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, right now I'm in a pretty good mood, because, as of 4:18 EST this afternoon...the *baby* was born!! She is absolutely *adorable*.....
> 
> 
> 
> Cannot.  Reconcile.  Use.  Of.  Those.  Words.  In.  Same.  Sentence.
Click to expand...


I know, John! I am NOT one of those women who just gushes over the little babies all the time. I barely thought my OWN babies were all that adorable, at least not as newborns.

But this baby is special. And she really IS adorable.  The fact that I think so does worry me--I'm afraid I may be turning into a...a...a...GRANDmother type!


----------



## sm4him

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I kid, I kid.
> 
> I kid because I'm broke.
> 
> 
> 
> long as you have your cameras and your mind you will never be broke.
Click to expand...


Wellllll...I have my cameras anyway.


----------



## sm4him

Morning hosers!!!!!!!!

Just finished first cup of coffee. Got up LATE for me this morning, about 7:15 a.m.
Have a massive sinus headache. Trying to settle it down to a dull roar before I have to head to work.  Hoping to get to see that baby today.

Rain has moved out, skies are clear!! Headed into the 40s today, mid- or even upper 50s tomorrow.  These little respites from the cold and dreariness are what help me hang on until spring.  Hoping to go out and find some eagles at a nearby dam tomorrow morning.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Got my book club tonight. We're reading a book that I've been wanting to read on my own anyway, so that worked out nicely. It's called Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain.

It's really quite fascinating. Lots of really interesting things about how the brain works.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Got my book club tonight. We're reading a book that I've been wanting to read on my own anyway, so that worked out nicely. It's called Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain.
> 
> It's really quite fascinating. Lots of really interesting things about how the brain works.



Oh, I've seen that book; I think I might have even purchased it on my Kindle, but haven't read it yet. Thanks for the reminder, gonna find it and put it in the queue. 

I just finished reading Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, the book upon which the movie was based. I wasn't sure I wanted to see the movie, but it did intrigue me, so I picked up the book. It was good, but it was a HARD read. Not hard in an intellectual sense, but hard to keep reading through all the horrible things that the POWs dealt with on a daily basis. Every fiber of my being wanted to just skip ahead to the end of the war, but I felt like I "owed" it to them to stick with it and read on.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Sorry about the headache Sharon.  Mine hurts too, but the Advil kicked it pretty hard and I expect the coffee sitting in front of me now will finish the job.  I was worried at first because it's one of the common symptoms of some of the bugs that have been going around in this area.  Relatively warm today, started in the low thirties, supposed to go up a few degrees.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain.



What, no hyperlink?  Now I have to copy and paste it to do a search!  Harrumph!


----------



## Designer

"..who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion.."

I put it on my wish list.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What, no hyperlink?  Now I have to copy and paste it to do a search!  Harrumph!
Click to expand...


Sorry!
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking: Susan Cain: 9780307352156: Amazon.com: Books
or
Quiet: The Power of Introverts - By Susan Cain

I so love the word harrumph!


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> "..who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion.."
> 
> I put it on my wish list.



Definitely read it. I mean, I didn't need it to tell me that I'm an introvert - this fact has been clear to me my whole life. But it's well-written and really informative about the whys and hows of the introversion/extroversion split.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Oh, I've seen that book; I think I might have even purchased it on my Kindle, but haven't read it yet. Thanks for the reminder, gonna find it and put it in the queue.
> 
> I just finished reading Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, the book upon which the movie was based. I wasn't sure I wanted to see the movie, but it did intrigue me, so I picked up the book. It was good, but it was a HARD read. Not hard in an intellectual sense, but hard to keep reading through all the horrible things that the POWs dealt with on a daily basis. Every fiber of my being wanted to just skip ahead to the end of the war, but I felt like I "owed" it to them to stick with it and read on.



I've got Unbroken on my shelf and want to read that next. I have no desire to see the movie, especially after reading a few reviews. I read Seabiscuit and was very impressed with her writing.


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, right now I'm in a pretty good mood, because, as of 4:18 EST this afternoon...the *baby* was born!! She is absolutely *adorable*.....
> 
> 
> 
> Cannot.  Reconcile.  Use.  Of.  Those.  Words.  In.  Same.  Sentence.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I know, John! I am NOT one of those women who just gushes over the little babies all the time. I barely thought my OWN babies were all that adorable, at least not as newborns.
> 
> But this baby is special. And she really IS adorable.  The fact that I think so does worry me--I'm afraid I may be turning into a...a...a...GRANDmother type!
Click to expand...

 I'll say a prayer for you!


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I kid, I kid.
> 
> I kid because I'm broke.
> 
> 
> 
> long as you have your cameras and your mind you will never be broke.
Click to expand...

I lost my mind long ago. I'm renting right now.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I've seen that book; I think I might have even purchased it on my Kindle, but haven't read it yet. Thanks for the reminder, gonna find it and put it in the queue.
> 
> I just finished reading Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, the book upon which the movie was based. I wasn't sure I wanted to see the movie, but it did intrigue me, so I picked up the book. It was good, but it was a HARD read. Not hard in an intellectual sense, but hard to keep reading through all the horrible things that the POWs dealt with on a daily basis. Every fiber of my being wanted to just skip ahead to the end of the war, but I felt like I "owed" it to them to stick with it and read on.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've got Unbroken on my shelf and want to read that next. I have no desire to see the movie, especially after reading a few reviews. I read Seabiscuit and was very impressed with her writing.
Click to expand...

He was a Trojan.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 50F at 6:45 a.m. Should hot 75F again today. Yesterday was so pleasant it was absolutely glorious. 75F, not a cloud could be seen, "Blue skies, Smiling at me, Nothing but blue skies, Do I see." and a warm, sunny and a gentle breeze. 

Sadly, a friend of mine, he calls me Uncle, owns a doughnut shop in a poorer part of Los Angeles. Two days ago his brother was working the shop and was stabbed and died during the course of a robbery. It is all very sad. Yesterday, a rally/march for peace was organized by LAPD and the indigenous population. It was tough watching watching the grieving family in the lead ... but moving as well as the neighborhood people came together in memorial to Andy and to say enough is enough. Hopefully, something good would come from his passing.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 50F at 6:45 a.m. Should hot 75F again today. Yesterday was so pleasant it was absolutely glorious. 75F, not a cloud could be seen, "Blue skies, Smiling at me, Nothing but blue skies, Do I see." and a warm, sunny and a gentle breeze.
> 
> Sadly, a friend of mine, he calls me Uncle, owns a doughnut shop in a poorer part of Los Angeles. Two days ago his brother was working the shop and was stabbed and died during the course of a robbery. It is all very sad. Yesterday, a rally/march for peace was organized by LAPD and the indigenous population. It was tough watching watching the grieving family in the lead ... but moving as well as the neighborhood people came together in memorial to Andy and to say enough is enough. Hopefully, something good would come from his passing.



Wow, sorry to hear about that Gary. Sad indeed and the circumstances make it so much harder to work through that grief. I've had two friends lose a loved one (parent in both cases) to similar violence; one was an older woman who was stabbed during a home invasion, but she was also…well, the robbers didn't just rob her and stab her, I'll put it that way. Her son never did get over it and ended up committing suicide about a decade later.


----------



## bribrius

three year anniversary was last week of a friend of mine hanging himself in the basement.  But on another topic, looks like a nice day other there today!


----------



## pgriz

Waiting to be called as an expert witness in a court case involving a contractor and a homeowner.  A cautionary tale of how good intentions coupled with lack of attention to details, results in an unsavoury mess.  Not my first such appearance.  Checking all my ducks.  They seem to present, accounted for, and in a row.  Woops.  There's a phone call.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Got my book club tonight. We're reading a book that I've been wanting to read on my own anyway, so that worked out nicely. It's called Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain.
> 
> It's really quite fascinating. Lots of really interesting things about how the brain works.


I love it!!! Got it awhile back in paperback (waits on big hug),  but have read more on my Kindle or Kindle. App!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Waiting to be called as an expert witness in a court case involving a contractor and a homeowner.  A cautionary tale of how good intentions coupled with lack of attention to details, results in an unsavoury mess.  Not my first such appearance.  Checking all my ducks.  They seem to present, accounted for, and in a row.  Woops.  There's a phone call.



Do you need a paralegal?


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 50F at 6:45 a.m. Should hot 75F again today. Yesterday was so pleasant it was absolutely glorious. 75F, not a cloud could be seen, "Blue skies, Smiling at me, Nothing but blue skies, Do I see." and a warm, sunny and a gentle breeze.
> 
> Sadly, a friend of mine, he calls me Uncle, owns a doughnut shop in a poorer part of Los Angeles. Two days ago his brother was working the shop and was stabbed and died during the course of a robbery. It is all very sad. Yesterday, a rally/march for peace was organized by LAPD and the indigenous population. It was tough watching watching the grieving family in the lead ... but moving as well as the neighborhood people came together in memorial to Andy and to say enough is enough. Hopefully, something good would come from his passing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, sorry to hear about that Gary. Sad indeed and the circumstances make it so much harder to work through that grief. I've had two friends lose a loved one (parent in both cases) to similar violence; one was an older woman who was stabbed during a home invasion, but she was also…well, the robbers didn't just rob her and stab her, I'll put it that way. Her son never did get over it and ended up committing suicide about a decade later.
Click to expand...


It is always a shock when the violence hits home.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Waiting to be called as an expert witness in a court case involving a contractor and a homeowner.  A cautionary tale of how good intentions coupled with lack of attention to details, results in an unsavoury mess.  Not my first such appearance.  Checking all my ducks.  They seem to present, accounted for, and in a row.  Woops.  There's a phone call.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a paralegal?
Click to expand...


I just need a legal. I don't need a pair of them.


----------



## snerd

sm4him said:


> I just need a legal. I don't need a pair of them.


How about a sick bird? An illeagle?


----------



## pgriz

Leonore, if I had legal matter in your area, you'd be the first person I'd call.  But fortunately for me (if not for you), I don't have any legal issues going on in that part of the world.

Plus, one of my in-laws in the New York area is a lawyer.  Maybe I need to ask him if he needs an assistant?  But I don't know how you'll fit with his style, which is full of hot air and BS, and you, on the other hand, come across as someone with a low tolerance for such behaviour.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Leonore, if I had legal matter in your area, you'd be the first person I'd call.  But fortunately for me (if not for you), I don't have any legal issues going on in that part of the world.
> 
> Plus, one of my in-laws in the New York area is a lawyer.  Maybe I need to ask him if he needs an assistant?  But I don't know how you'll fit with his style, which is full of hot air and BS, and *you, on the other hand, come across as someone with a low tolerance for such behaviour.*



Well that last part is definitely true!  I do appreciate the sentiment, though!


----------



## bribrius

right after that last post, i lost power. so i did what any photographer would do and hunted down the power company trucks and took a photo of them.


----------



## waday

bribrius said:


> right after that last post, i lost power. so i did what any photographer would do and hunted down the power company trucks and took a photo of them.



Do you know what they like more than people taking their picture? People asking them how long it'll be until the power comes back on.


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a paralegal?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just need a legal. I don't need a pair of them.
Click to expand...


Sharon channels Groucho - who saw that coming?


----------



## snerd

KenC said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Do you need a paralegal?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just need a legal. I don't need a pair of them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Sharon channels Groucho - who saw that coming?
Click to expand...

I once shot an elephant in my pajamas............. how it got into my pajamas I'll never know!!





.......................


----------



## NancyMoranG

Snerd, that is still funny every time I hear it. Maybe because I picture Groucho doing it with the cigar in his mouth.


----------



## snerd

NancyMoranG said:


> Snerd, that is still funny every time I hear it. Maybe because I picture Groucho doing it with the cigar in his mouth.


Yep, and his eyebrows just working up and down lol!!


----------



## bribrius

waday said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> right after that last post, i lost power. so i did what any photographer would do and hunted down the power company trucks and took a photo of them.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you know what they like more than people taking their picture? People asking them how long it'll be until the power comes back on.
Click to expand...

well they had it coming. Back to shooting 70 random frames a day again. so whats one extra.


----------



## snerd

63 degrees today and I had to wait around for the realtor! Oh well, I still have Sat. and Sun that are supposed to be around 60. It's like a heavenly Spring reprieve in the middle of Winter!!


----------



## minicoop1985

23* here today. Yay! Above 0!


----------



## Gary A.

In the high 70's.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> In the high 70's.


sounds a little chilly. You going to make it alright?


----------



## limr

High 70s is the upper limit of what I find comfortable, and in the height of the day, can feel too warm for me.

Today was cold but bright and the air was dry and crisp. I had to be inside for much of the afternoon, but I wish I could have taken a walk. I find days like this to be so invigorating, like I'm really _awake.
_
Book club was interesting. As I predicted, only one person other than me considered herself a true introvert. A few realized that they had more introverted qualities than they had previously thought, and a few others thought they might be introverted but realized they probably weren't. And there are two Chinese women (one from China, one from Taiwan) and an Ethiopian woman in the group so we also discussed the different perceptions of these introverted/extroverted qualities in different cultures. (We did have an Indian woman but her husband took a job in California and she left a few months ago, which is a shame because I think she would have had a lot to say about this book.)

And I also expected that a certain person in the group would be shocked - SHOCKED - to hear me say I'm an introvert. Sure enough, "What are you talking about? You're social and friendly and you talk in front of your classes all the time!" Oh well, at least I wasn't surprised at it


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> High 70s is the upper limit of what I find comfortable, and in the height of the day, can feel too warm for me.
> 
> Today was cold but bright and the air was dry and crisp. I had to be inside for much of the afternoon, but I wish I could have taken a walk. I find days like this to be so invigorating, like I'm really _awake.
> _
> Book club was interesting. As I predicted, only one person other than me considered herself a true introvert. A few realized that they had more introverted qualities than they had previously thought, and a few others thought they might be introverted but realized they probably weren't. And there are two Chinese women (one from China, one from Taiwan) and an Ethiopian woman in the group so we also discussed the different perceptions of these introverted/extroverted qualities in different cultures. (We did have an Indian woman but her husband took a job in California and she left a few months ago, which is a shame because I think she would have had a lot to say about this book.)
> 
> And I also expected that a certain person in the group would be shocked - SHOCKED - to hear me say I'm an introvert. Sure enough, "What are you talking about? You're social and friendly and you talk in front of your classes all the time!" Oh well, at least I wasn't surprised at it


yeah, but perception of you is not of a introvert.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> In the high 70's.
> 
> 
> 
> sounds a little chilly. You going to make it alright?
Click to expand...

I have a sweater.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> High 70s is the upper limit of what I find comfortable, and in the height of the day, can feel too warm for me.
> 
> Today was cold but bright and the air was dry and crisp. I had to be inside for much of the afternoon, but I wish I could have taken a walk. I find days like this to be so invigorating, like I'm really _awake.
> _
> Book club was interesting. As I predicted, only one person other than me considered herself a true introvert. A few realized that they had more introverted qualities than they had previously thought, and a few others thought they might be introverted but realized they probably weren't. And there are two Chinese women (one from China, one from Taiwan) and an Ethiopian woman in the group so we also discussed the different perceptions of these introverted/extroverted qualities in different cultures. (We did have an Indian woman but her husband took a job in California and she left a few months ago, which is a shame because I think she would have had a lot to say about this book.)
> 
> And I also expected that a certain person in the group would be shocked - SHOCKED - to hear me say I'm an introvert. Sure enough, "What are you talking about? You're social and friendly and you talk in front of your classes all the time!" Oh well, at least I wasn't surprised at it


But remember that the heat out here is largely dry. Which makes a big difference in comfort.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I saw American Sniper last night. Well worth seeing. The audience applauded at the end.


----------



## Gary A.

Today I'm gonna finishing designing a brochure, a door hanger, put up some issues on the web page and start trimming the roses and grapes and maybe start processing photos of the Peace March.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Today I'm gonna finishing designing a brochure, a door hanger, put up some issues on the web page and start trimming the roses and grapes and maybe start processing photos of the Peace March.


Is that all?  Yeesh... I was going to hold at, "Getting off of the couch to refill my coffee-mug"!


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, fellow hosers. Business has slowed to a crawl here... Thankfully, I found someone who's busy enough to second shoot for.  Stable employment for the win!!!


----------



## snerd

Almost 60 already! At iHop for breakfast, then off to refuge to see what's up. One problem............. Wind is blowing 21mph gust to 28mph!!! Oh well, I've lived with it all my life. Onward!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today I'm gonna finishing designing a brochure, a door hanger, put up some issues on the web page and start trimming the roses and grapes and maybe start processing photos of the Peace March.
> 
> 
> 
> Is that all?  Yeesh... I was going to hold at, "Getting off of the couch to refill my coffee-mug"!
Click to expand...

Deadlines is the only reason. Gotta prune because my much better half will be undergoing a foot operation and she's the brains behind the pruning I'm just the muscle. We have more than 60 roses and I don't want to kill 'em. I'm probably gonna squeeze in Selma in the weekend also.


----------



## Gary A.

Back from walking the pooch. About to dive into the roses. Also yanking up a ton of nasturtiums that go nuts about this time of year. The going is slow because prior to every cut or yank I gotta inspect the plants for chrysalis, we have a lot of Monarchs in the backyard.


----------



## snerd

It's so windy out here, the buffalo and longhorn are blowing past me! Wind now 25-35 up in the mountains a bit. Too much, not staying much longer. 


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

Cell pic......









Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## tirediron

I don't see any wind...


----------



## Gary A.

Took a break from yard crap. Planted a Princess bush. Having a bit of lunch on the patio. 75F, picked some Mandarin Oranges which are as large as my fist and about to pick some Meyer Lemons ... just a very pleasant day ... sipping this minty iced tea and watching turtles and koi mess around in the pond.


----------



## Designer

Gary, the mods have their finger poised above the ban hammer.


----------



## Designer

Snerd, the lake picture doesn't look windy.


----------



## bribrius

see the ripples on the water. Good pic for a cell phone.


----------



## Gary A.

Missed a Monarch emerging by a few minutes. The chrysalis was in the roses that we by-passed and after our lunch the butterfly was standing near its chrysalis with the wings still dripping.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Missed a Monarch emerging by a few minutes. The chrysalis was in the roses that we by-passed and after our lunch it was standing near its chrysalis with the wings still dripping.


wheres the pic?


----------



## limr

It's true that a dry 75 is easier to handle than a humid 75, but don't discount the relative strength of the sun. When it hit 70-something in Arizona, that sun felt very intense and burny. And that was January sun. I'm a Northern girl; I'm not used to that at all.

Went for a walk today. 4.5 miles and a 24-exposure roll of color.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> It's true that a dry 75 is easier to handle than a humid 75, but don't discount the relative strength of the sun. When it hit 70-something in Arizona, that sun felt very intense and burny. And that was January sun. I'm a Northern girl; I'm not used to that at all.
> 
> Went for a walk today. 4.5 miles and a 24-exposure roll of color.


geez. i go through 24 exposures in less than a block (sd card type)


----------



## Rick50

Reading this thread reminds me of a real coffee house. 6 people all talking to themselves.


----------



## bribrius

Rick50 said:


> Reading this thread reminds me of a real coffee house. 6 people all talking to themselves.


i know right!!   i think a lot of it is usually people aren't all here at the same time like in a chat room. so it is leaving, trying to keep up a convo . Forgetting or not knowing what was going on. just starting again, over and over.


----------



## limr

Rick50 said:


> Reading this thread reminds me of a real coffee house. 6 people all talking to themselves.


 
In my defense, I was responding to Gary but didn't quote the post. I'm on my phone and can't be bothered


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's true that a dry 75 is easier to handle than a humid 75, but don't discount the relative strength of the sun. When it hit 70-something in Arizona, that sun felt very intense and burny. And that was January sun. I'm a Northern girl; I'm not used to that at all.
> 
> Went for a walk today. 4.5 miles and a 24-exposure roll of color.
> 
> 
> 
> geez. i go through 24 exposures in less than a block (sd card type)
Click to expand...


Shooting film slows you down, remember


----------



## Rick50

limr said:


> Rick50 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Reading this thread reminds me of a real coffee house. 6 people all talking to themselves.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In my defense, I was responding to Gary but didn't quote the post. I'm on my phone and can't be bothered
Click to expand...

Not a problem just makes this thread a little different to post in.


----------



## minicoop1985

Shooting film means you're slow and old... wait a minute...


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Missed a Monarch emerging by a few minutes. The chrysalis was in the roses that we by-passed and after our lunch it was standing near its chrysalis with the wings still dripping.
> 
> 
> 
> wheres the pic?
Click to expand...

I have Monarchs all year round ... sorta like childbirth ... while it happens everyday ... it is still amazing. I was too busy gardening to bother.


----------



## Rick50

bribrius said:


> Rick50 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Reading this thread reminds me of a real coffee house. 6 people all talking to themselves.
> 
> 
> 
> i know right!!   i think a lot of it is usually people aren't all here at the same time like in a chat room. so it is leaving, trying to keep up a convo . Forgetting or not knowing what was going on. just starting again, over and over.
Click to expand...

That's about it. We all have lives. But real coffee houses are like that. You never know who will be there when you go in.


----------



## Gary A.

Taking another break ... eating a Mandarin Orange ... yummy.


----------



## Rick50

I bought some Twinkies today. Haven't had real health food for a while. Mmmmmmm gooood!
I also bought some Medjool dates (the best). You know us old people. 
Get up to the checkout lane and tell the checkout girl "This is the only way I can get a date these days." She laughs and says "I though of something, but I waited for you to go first". A laugh is always the best medicine....


----------



## limr

Feeling sleepy.

Got a new camera today. Well, new to me. When I say "new camera", it's safe to assume that it's a film camera from the 50s or 60s. So today's acquisition is a 1959 Yashica-D, grey leatherette on dark grey metal. I'll post a picture aftet I get it cleaned up.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou just shrieked ... she accidentally pruned off a chrysalis in a rose. We saved it and hung in the Pencil tree. Photos later. I brought Nary Lou a Pacifico and I'm sipping a "Golden Road 329 Days of Sun Lager." It's made in Los Angeles, very foamy and not too bad. Being buzzed by some hummers ... I guess we're too close to their feeder. Still in the patio, the stereo is floating out a solo violin song combined with the sounds from the waterfall ... very pleasant. I wish you all were here.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou just shrieked ... she accidentally pruned off a chrysalis in a rose. We saved it and hung in the Pencil tree. Photos later. I brought Nary Lou a Pacifico and I'm sipping a "Golden Road 329 Days of Sun Lager." It's made in Los Angeles, very foamy and not too bad. Being buzzed by some hummers ... I guess we're too close to their feeder. Still in the patio, the stereo is floating out a solo violin song combined with the sounds from the waterfall ... very pleasant. I wish you all were here.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> Taking another break ... eating a Mandarin Orange ... yummy.


My soon-to-be-ex-brother-in-law lives out in Bakersfield. Every Christmas he sends a crate of oranges, hybrid I guess. You can peel them with one finger placed correctly. Just woosh!! Peeled!! I've never seen anything like them around here.


----------



## snerd

One of the Wildlife officers out at the refuge posted on their FB page that their weekly Saturday morning hike started so nice, then the wind hit and liked to have blown them off the mountain. He was NOT exaggerating!!


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Taking another break ... eating a Mandarin Orange ... yummy.
> 
> 
> 
> My soon-to-be-ex-brother-in-law lives out in Bakersfield. Every Christmas he sends a crate of oranges, hybrid I guess. You can peel them with one finger placed correctly. Just woosh!! Peeled!! I've never seen anything like them around here.
Click to expand...

The cold weather, (in California that would be the nights), thickens the peel making them easier to peel. Many oranges out here peel that way, Valencias, Navels, et cetera, it all sorta depends where they are grown. That's why Florida citrus is mainly used for juice ... the thin skins makes handling messy. Mandarin Oranges are more like giant tangerines, very thin skinned but the skin is loosely attached. They're very sweet.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> Gary, the mods have their finger poised above the ban hammer.


At least one mod does!


----------



## bribrius

da da da....


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary, the mods have their finger poised above the ban hammer.
> 
> 
> 
> At least one mod does!
Click to expand...

I just opened a bottle of Bogle Chardonnay, toss some salmon on this over-sized George Foreman I have in the patio, that's been marinading in this combo of orange, lemon and lime juices and seasoned with some spices and herbs (from the garden). Come on over! mmmhhh The Chardonnay is quite good.


----------



## Gary A.

I just flipped the salmon ... it smells and looks amazing ... the George Foreman is a mess from all the juices ... but I'll worry about that later.


----------



## limr

OH MY GOD! There's a channel that shows a bunch of old television shows and the GORN EPISODE IS ON!!!  I'm unreasonably excited 

Kirk just figured out the sulfur.


----------



## limr




----------



## bribrius

going through more photos........


----------



## Gary A.

Saltpeter is next ... lol


----------



## limr

The Gorn was so slow, I don't understand why Kirk had such a hard time staying away from him. And the way they were grappling so seductively, you'd think they were falling in love


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> View attachment 93457


Leo, I gave you images from the actual location in you other thread???


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> The Gorn was so slow, I don't understand why Kirk had such a hard time staying away from him. And the way they were grappling so seductively, you'd think they were falling in love


Bromance.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> The Gorn was so slow, I don't understand why Kirk had such a hard time staying away from him. And the way they were grappling so seductively, you'd think they were falling in love


Shatner always had a love scene in every episode.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 93457
> 
> 
> 
> Leo, I gave you images from the actual location in you other thread???
Click to expand...


They're in progress on my other computer. I had access to this one because I had sent it to a friend so I grabbed it from email.



Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Gorn was so slow, I don't understand why Kirk had such a hard time staying away from him. And the way they were grappling so seductively, you'd think they were falling in love
> 
> 
> 
> Shatner always had a love scene in every episode.
Click to expand...


It's true. Actually, it was a wonder that his shirt stayed on in this one.


----------



## limr

Kirk saved us all with his mercy for his enemy! That is so hawt!


----------



## bribrius

oops. wrong thread....


----------



## minicoop1985

Oh god, Kirk and Gorn. I can't forget their grappling if I tried... and believe me I've tried.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 93457
> 
> 
> 
> Leo, I gave you images from the actual location in you other thread???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> They're in progress on my other computer. I had access to this one because I had sent it to a friend so I grabbed it from email.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Gorn was so slow, I don't understand why Kirk had such a hard time staying away from him. And the way they were grappling so seductively, you'd think they were falling in love
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Shatner always had a love scene in every episode.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's true. Actually, it was a wonder that his shirt stayed on in this one.
Click to expand...

It was in his contract, the more sex he had with aliens, the less his per episode salary.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> oops. wrong thread....


This was actually the funniest thing you've written.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> oops. wrong thread....
> 
> 
> 
> This was actually the funniest thing you've written.
Click to expand...

i mixed up this thread and the crap i am throwing in the untitled thread i shot today. so posted a photo here by accident. it was legit i wasn't joking.


----------



## limr

It was pretty funny, though. In a thread that was just lauded for its random nature, your post was even MORE random


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> It was pretty funny, though. In a thread that was just lauded for its random nature, your post was even MORE random


true.. glad i could help the cause..


----------



## Gary A.

Gary A. said:


> I just flipped the salmon ... it smells and looks amazing ... the George Foreman is a mess from all the juices ... but I'll worry about that later.


Tireiron ... it was delish, salmon marinated in citrus, steamed rice, steamed broccoli and peppers, kale and mango salad all paired with this wonderful Chardonnay which had undertones of citrus to match the salmon. You missed it.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It was pretty funny, though. In a thread that was just lauded for its random nature, your post was even MORE random
> 
> 
> 
> true.. glad i could help the cause..
Click to expand...

You took one for the team.


----------



## bribrius

i think i figured out one of my photographic problems. i like to take photos but i dont actually give a chit about them.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> oops. wrong thread....
> 
> 
> 
> This was actually the funniest thing you've written.
Click to expand...

Agreed.   




........................


----------



## Gary A.

That actually is a problem. When I was working, I was so into what I was doing that when I snapped an exceptional image my finger woud get a slight tingle.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> That actually is a problem. When I was working, I was so into what I was doing that when I snapped an exceptional image my finger woud get a slight tingle.


Are you related to Chris Matthews?!


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> That actually is a problem. When I was working, I was so into what I was doing that when I snapped an exceptional image my finger woud get a slight tingle.


that was supposed to be funny


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> That actually is a problem. When I was working, I was so into what I was doing that when I snapped an exceptional image my finger woud get a slight tingle.
> 
> 
> 
> that was supposed to be funny
Click to expand...

Not at all ... I was so zoned in that I developed a reflex which responded when I got something really good.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> That actually is a problem. When I was working, I was so into what I was doing that when I snapped an exceptional image my finger woud get a slight tingle.
> 
> 
> 
> that was supposed to be funny
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not at all ... I was so zoned in that I developed a reflex which responded when I got something really good.
Click to expand...

Being a doc photog probably beats walking around hoping a photo shows up.


----------



## Gary A.

I gave Cook some of the burnt edges of the salmon ... she removed them from her food dish and set them nicely on the floor. What a great dog.


----------



## minicoop1985

I get a slight twinge in my pants when I get a good one. I think. Haven't had that happen yet.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> I get a slight twinge in my pants when I get a good one. I think. Haven't had that happen yet.


Maybe your pants are too tight.


----------



## bribrius

i screwed up today shooting. a. forgot my white balance. b. for got my exposure a couple times. c. didnt walk enough i should have walked more. d. got trapped into friggn with abstracts again, which i am trying to break myself out of.   i am over it though. 89 frames so that means tomorrow i only have to do 51.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I get a slight twinge in my pants when I get a good one. I think. Haven't had that happen yet.
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe your pants are too tight.
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> i screwed up today shooting. a. forgot my white balance. b. for got my exposure a couple times. c. didnt walk enough i should have walked more. d. got trapped into friggn with abstracts again, which i am trying to break myself out of.   i am over it though. 89 frames so that means tomorrow i only have to do 51.


Why are you counting frames?


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i screwed up today shooting. a. forgot my white balance. b. for got my exposure a couple times. c. didnt walk enough i should have walked more. d. got trapped into friggn with abstracts again, which i am trying to break myself out of.   i am over it though. 89 frames so that means tomorrow i only have to do 51.
> 
> 
> 
> Why are you counting frames?
Click to expand...

Trying to do 70 a day. That is what is in that untitled thread. i am pulling out randomly from what i shot that day.


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> i think i figured out one of my photographic problems. i like to take photos but i dont actually give a chit about them.


You're making progress.  

Now try to care about the image BEFORE you snap a photo.  

The step following that one is to care about the image after you have taken the photo.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> That actually is a problem. When I was working, I was so into what I was doing that when I snapped an exceptional image my finger woud get a slight tingle.


Your finger?


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> OH MY GOD! There's a channel that shows a bunch of old television shows and the GORN EPISODE IS ON!!!  I'm unreasonably excited
> 
> Kirk just figured out the sulfur.



There should really be an "all Star Trek, all the time" channel. I'd watch that.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> That actually is a problem. When I was working, I was so into what I was doing that when I snapped an exceptional image my finger woud get a slight tingle.
> 
> 
> 
> Your finger?
Click to expand...

Yes, lol, back when I was shooting everyday for keeps, my shutter release finger would sorta tingle when it all came together ... when I snapped something worth publishing.


----------



## Gary A.

7:00 a.m. and 54F this morn, off to my 7:30 campaign meeting ... Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.


----------



## limr

Morning, Tio!

I ain't going nowhere today. Freezing rain at the moment. My sister's birthday lunch is postponed, so I'll spend the day cleaning and developing my black and white vacation film.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i think i figured out one of my photographic problems. i like to take photos but i dont actually give a chit about them.
> 
> 
> 
> *You're making progress.  *
> 
> Now try to care about the image BEFORE you snap a photo.
> 
> The step following that one is to care about the image after you have taken the photo.
Click to expand...

That made me chuckle. Everything is sorta looking the same to me at this point.  Hard to find a image worth caring about at all.  Not worried about it. The minimum shutters gives me incentive to at least keep my camera skills up. And putting through seventy frames of seventy things within a couple to a few hours pretty much guarantees i am not spending much time on each one. Not sure on making progress. I was probably better at this 20 years ago. I am coming back into my own again.


----------



## limr

So...this question is going to sound rude, but I don't mean it to be:

If you don't care about the photos, why are you trying so hard to get better at taking them? Is it to maintain a sense of purpose since you're being told that you shouldn't work anymore?


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> So...this question is going to sound rude, but I don't mean it to be:
> 
> If you don't care about the photos, why are you trying so hard to get better at taking them? Is it to maintain a sense of purpose since you're being told that you shouldn't work anymore?


to a extent, it gives me something to do. i could also do it for work (maybe). There was a time i was shooting nude models in my hay day. Also it puts me back on track on a track i was on before. something i can relate too as i have been down this road once. When they went through my lists of occupations, education and history, even hobby interests. Photography is about the only thing left they are willing to permit me to do. least right now. I am to frucked up to do anything else. LMAO. Basically, i flipped out and said "so wtf you expect me to do?"  And they said "well you started photography 22 years ago so go back and do that. we aren't recommending you return to regular employment. "


----------



## limr

You've mentioned a few times that you thought about getting back into film. Maybe that will make you more invested in the pictures? Give you a different sort of intellectual challenge that might help?

It seems like you're working at the photography without actually have a direction to that work. Maybe a specific assignment, if you could get paid work, would help keep you focused.

Sorry you're "all frucked up" 

Edit: And sorry for the unsolicited advice. I'd like things to be better for you, but I'm sure everyone is throwing suggestions and recommendations at you, so my throwing more things at you may not be helpful.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> You've mentioned a few times that you thought about getting back into film. Maybe that will make you more invested in the pictures? Give you a different sort of intellectual challenge that might help?
> 
> It seems like you're working at the photography without actually have a direction to that work. Maybe a specific assignment, if you could get paid work, would help keep you focused.
> 
> Sorry you're "all frucked up"
> 
> Edit: And sorry for the unsolicited advice. I'd like things to be better for you, but I'm sure everyone is throwing suggestions and recommendations at you, so my throwing more things at you may not be helpful.


Actually it might help. Advice much appreciated. Thinking of renewing my registration with the state for loans as well. They changed the regs since i did them last so i have about fifteen hours of classroom to catch up on. I let my registration slide. That kept me busy before with some mild interest figuring out what loan product matched the loan for underwriting. Not often stressful just pulling credit reports, seeing if the new construction was on target for the next release of funds and pulling the occasional tax map or zoning. Kind of interesting going to look at properties sometimes and verifying things for underwriting guidelines. Something i can basically do on my own in my own time as well and just cut my percentage at closing.


----------



## minicoop1985

Hmm. Bribrius, you need a storm trooper, I think.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Hmm. Bribrius, you need a storm trooper, I think.


imagine how the above would go together.  "no really, the construction is at thirty percent completion. I will email you a abstract photo of it"... or  "yep, the trailer isn't on its own foundation this is going to have to go through as a land deal. But hey, here is a great landscape pic of the land"

i am sure they would love it.


----------



## bribrius

well hey, i thought it was funny. Guess you have to have been there...The thought of sending a abstract photo to a lender cracks me up.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just flipped the salmon ... it smells and looks amazing ... the George Foreman is a mess from all the juices ... but I'll worry about that later.
> 
> 
> 
> Tireiron ... it was delish, salmon marinated in citrus, steamed rice, steamed broccoli and peppers, kale and mango salad all paired with this wonderful Chardonnay which had undertones of citrus to match the salmon. You missed it.
Click to expand...


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> That actually is a problem. When I was working, I was so into what I was doing that when I snapped an exceptional image my finger woud get a slight tingle.
> 
> 
> 
> that was supposed to be funny
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not at all ... I was so zoned in that I developed a reflex which responded when I got something really good.
Click to expand...

I know exactly what you mean; there's that "Hell yeah!" moment, and after that, all you can think of is seeing that negative for the first time!


----------



## pixmedic

Wow. Cold today.
Highs of 70


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> Wow. Cold today.
> Highs of 70


"This member is in a protected user-group.  You cannot use the Quick-Ban feature".

Damn!!!!!!!!


----------



## minicoop1985

Not too bad today-high of about 40. I can live with this.


----------



## snerd

72 degrees here!! On the phone and can't find a darn thing as far as the forums here! I was looking for the Cell Phone Pics thread. Anyway.......... here's a cell phone moonscape. 







They've been doing some controlled burns getting ready for Spring!




Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## limr

Where's the Gorn??


----------



## beachrat

snerd said:


> 72 degrees here!! On the phone and can't find a darn thing as far as the forums here! I was looking for the Cell Phone Pics thread. Anyway.......... here's a cell phone moonscape.
> 
> 
> View attachment 93520
> 
> They've been doing some controlled burns getting ready for Spring!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


That view would give me a legit excuse to start drinking again.


----------



## snerd

beachrat said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 72 degrees here!! On the phone and can't find a darn thing as far as the forums here! I was looking for the Cell Phone Pics thread. Anyway.......... here's a cell phone moonscape.
> 
> 
> View attachment 93520
> 
> They've been doing some controlled burns getting ready for Spring!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
> 
> 
> 
> That view would give me a legit excuse to start drinking again.
Click to expand...

We'll, just down the trail a bit..............







Always something neat to find out here! My wildlife shooting has been kind of ignored lately, and the few landscapesi have I need to get them processed. It just hurts so bad to sit at the computer, I'm WAY behind on them!




Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

Sustained winds 20mph, gust to 27mph where I'm sitting now at top of small lake. IS is "essential" 'round these parts!!








Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

I hope you took a kite. Kites are fun.


----------



## beachrat

snerd said:


> beachrat said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 72 degrees here!! On the phone and can't find a darn thing as far as the forums here! I was looking for the Cell Phone Pics thread. Anyway.......... here's a cell phone moonscape.
> 
> 
> View attachment 93520
> 
> They've been doing some controlled burns getting ready for Spring!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
> 
> 
> 
> That view would give me a legit excuse to start drinking again.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We'll, just down the trail a bit..............
> 
> 
> View attachment 93521
> 
> 
> Whew. Much much better.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...


Much,MUCH better.


----------



## shefjr

snerd said:


> Sustained winds 20mph, gust to 27mph where I'm sitting now at top of small lake. IS is "essential" 'round these parts!!
> 
> View attachment 93523
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


It was windier than that on Council Rd and SW 9th or something like that. Either way we had to stop laying block due to the sustained winds at 30 mph for a few hours. Really need to catch a break. I miss my wife and son.


----------



## bribrius

shefjr said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sustained winds 20mph, gust to 27mph where I'm sitting now at top of small lake. IS is "essential" 'round these parts!!
> 
> View attachment 93523
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
> 
> 
> 
> It was windier than that on Council Rd and SW 9th or something like that. Either way we had to stop laying block due to the sustained winds at 30 mph for a few hours. Really need to catch a break. I miss my wife and son.
Click to expand...

sorry to hear that sucks. sounds totally blue collar persons life. ..


----------



## snerd

shefjr said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sustained winds 20mph, gust to 27mph where I'm sitting now at top of small lake. IS is "essential" 'round these parts!!
> 
> View attachment 93523
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
> 
> 
> 
> It was windier than that on Council Rd and SW 9th or something like that. Either way we had to stop laying block due to the sustained winds at 30 mph for a few hours. Really need to catch a break. I miss my wife and son.
Click to expand...

Yep! I'm about 90 miles southwest of there. At least you'll finish that job eventually and get to return home lol!


----------



## snerd

Evening, hosers! It was great being able to get out to the refuge today. Tomorrow, Monday, shows one more day of upper 60's. I'll be out there about noon! I hiked/walked, snapped a few, and just thoroughly enjoyed the weather! It was fairly crowded, being a weekend, so tomorrow will be much more sparse on people doing what I was doing. My coffee consumption was only 3 cups at iHop this morning. Well, closer to noon, I reckon. This semi-retirement could grow on me!


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Evening, hosers! It was great being able to get out to the refuge today. Tomorrow, Monday, shows one more day of upper 60's. I'll be out there about noon! I hiked/walked, snapped a few, and just thoroughly enjoyed the weather! It was fairly crowded, being a weekend, so tomorrow will be much more sparse on people doing what I was doing. My coffee consumption was only 3 cups at iHop this morning. Well, closer to noon, I reckon. This semi-retirement could grow on me!


still on vacation? when you due back?


----------



## KenC

What, am I really the first one awake and drinking coffee around here?  MORNING, HOSERS!!  There, was that loud enough to wake you?

Things are kind of slow here so far, which is good for me.  I may go out with camera at lunch if the weather cooperates.  I haven't been out shooting for more than a week now and the twitching is getting pretty bad.


----------



## Designer

Good morning everybody!  

I've been up for 3 hours, walked the dog, had breakfast, and now ready to get going on my current project.


----------



## limr

Morning, Ken! Woke up late this morning - 8:20 - but now I've got my coffee, trying to figure out what to do with my day. I've got a few things to do to prepare for the first day of classes on Wednesday, and then just a lot of puttering. Some cleaning, a few things to mail. And I really need to develop all that black and white film finally.

I think I need to put the cameras down for a week or two and just sort through all the rolls I shot in December but haven't really processed. Last night I just remembered some rolls I took before Christmas that are scanned but I haven't done anything with them yet. So I'm kind of in the opposite - I've shot too much! 

NO NEW PICTURES* until I clear my backlog! 



*Except the four that are left on the roll of Tri-X in the K1000...


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Good morning everybody!
> 
> I've been up for 3 hours, walked the dog, had breakfast, and now ready to get going on my current project.



How's it coming along? You've been working on the bathroom, right? Or above the bathroom?


----------



## bribrius

good morning. Late getting motivated this morning was out late last night.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> NO NEW PICTURES* until I clear my backlog!



Morning, Leonore.  So, you have the opposite of my problem - I would prefer having too many.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> good morning. Late getting motivated this morning was out late last night.



Gallivanting again?


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> NO NEW PICTURES* until I clear my backlog!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, Leonore.  So, you have the opposite of my problem - I would prefer having too many.
Click to expand...


It is an easier problem to have, granted


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> good morning. Late getting motivated this morning was out late last night.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gallivanting again?
Click to expand...

thought i would go night shooting. i am still paying for it.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> How's it coming along? You've been working on the bathroom, right? Or above the bathroom?



Yes, it's a bathroom remodel directly above another bathroom/laundry room.  The plumber will arrive next week, and I'm nearly ready, I just have to build the alcoves for the tub and shower, which should take only one day.  (LOL) With me doing it, it will take longer.

However; my cruet project is adding a light bar (flashing amber warning lights) to my tractor.  Going out into the street in the dark is very nerve-wracking, because the tractor lights are simply forward and backward, with very little light showing to the sides.

Last week I bought one that I have been wanting/needing for years.  Yesterday I made a bracket to mount the light on the ROPS, and today I'm going to get power to it.  I have purchased the parts to make a 12-volt power point socket and in-line fuse, so simply a matter of figuring out where to mount the thing and fabricate a mounting bracket.

I need to be finished with it today so I can get the cars back into the garage.

Sincerely; 

Designer.


----------



## limr

Ooh, I want a picture of the tractor! I love tractors. My father had one and I used to love riding around on it when I was a girl. He even let me control the boom sometimes  He used it to create an access "road" to the woods behind our house so he could drag up dead trees (again, with the tractor, of course!) for firewood.

I don't know why I was so fascinated with it. It was like a big bug and it had all these moving parts and huge wheels in the back. Sometimes I think I have the soul of an engineer


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> still on vacation? when you due back?


Never due back. They approved my SS disability in record time. 1 neurosurgeon, 1 orthopedic surgeon and 1 MD showed them my records, and it took 6 months to the day to be approved. No appeals, no interviews, nothing. My back will never improve, and my shoulder hurts all the time. I paid into it for 42 years, so I basically took early retirement, with a little better payout than early retirement.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> still on vacation? when you due back?
> 
> 
> 
> Never due back. They approved my SS disability in record time. 1 neurosurgeon, 1 orthopedic surgeon and 1 MD showed them my records, and it took 6 months to the day to be approved. No appeals, no interviews, nothing. My back will never improve, and my shoulder hurts all the time. I paid into it for 42 years, so I basically took early retirement, with a little better payout than early retirement.
Click to expand...

thats what they are trying to push me too do. But i have serious problems with admitting i am washed up at 39


----------



## limr

Not being forced back into the rat race does not equal washed up.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Ooh, I want a picture of the tractor!



Here's one from a few months ago.




 

I've owned other tractors, but the photos are all analog.  (I know, right?)

So I should find them and scan them.

If everything goes well today, I should be able to get a photo of the light bar.


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> still on vacation? when you due back?
> 
> 
> 
> Never due back. They approved my SS disability in record time. 1 neurosurgeon, 1 orthopedic surgeon and 1 MD showed them my records, and it took 6 months to the day to be approved. No appeals, no interviews, nothing. My back will never improve, and my shoulder hurts all the time. I paid into it for 42 years, so I basically took early retirement, with a little better payout than early retirement.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> thats what they are trying to push me too do. But i have serious problems with admitting i am washed up at 39
Click to expand...

My back "is" washed up. I can't deny it. But with better living through modern chemistry, and regular exercise, I can still do most everyday things. Albeit with much (much) pain. It's just something you and your mind have to deal with to continue on. One day at a time, mostly.


----------



## Designer

Sorry to hear about your back, snerd.


----------



## snerd

Designer said:


> Sorry to hear about your back, snerd.


Aw, thanks. I didn't mean to solicit sympathy, though. Everybody dealing with their own problems. We all do what we have to do. I'm happy enough to wake up each day!


----------



## runnah

snerd said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear about your back, snerd.
> 
> 
> 
> Aw, thanks. I didn't mean to solicit sympathy, though. Everybody dealing with their own problems. We all do what we have to do. I'm happy enough to wake up each day!
Click to expand...


If it makes you feel better I didn't give you any sympathy.


----------



## limr

So pretty!


----------



## snerd

runnah said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear about your back, snerd.
> 
> 
> 
> Aw, thanks. I didn't mean to solicit sympathy, though. Everybody dealing with their own problems. We all do what we have to do. I'm happy enough to wake up each day!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> If it makes you feel better I didn't give you any sympathy.
Click to expand...

Actually, it does! Thanks! But I knew I could count on you!!


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> still on vacation? when you due back?
> 
> 
> 
> Never due back. They approved my SS disability in record time. 1 neurosurgeon, 1 orthopedic surgeon and 1 MD showed them my records, and it took 6 months to the day to be approved. No appeals, no interviews, nothing. My back will never improve, and my shoulder hurts all the time. I paid into it for 42 years, so I basically took early retirement, with a little better payout than early retirement.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> thats what they are trying to push me too do. But i have serious problems with admitting i am washed up at 39
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My back "is" washed up. I can't deny it. But with better living through modern chemistry, and regular exercise, I can still do most everyday things. Albeit with much (much) pain. It's just something you and your mind have to deal with to continue on. One day at a time, mostly.
Click to expand...

..


----------



## runnah

snerd said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear about your back, snerd.
> 
> 
> 
> Aw, thanks. I didn't mean to solicit sympathy, though. Everybody dealing with their own problems. We all do what we have to do. I'm happy enough to wake up each day!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> If it makes you feel better I didn't give you any sympathy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Actually, it does! Thanks! But I knew I could count on you!!
Click to expand...


If disregarding feelings is what you are after, I am your man!


----------



## runnah

limr said:


> So pretty!



Thank's I've been working out.


----------



## limr

runnah said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So pretty!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thank's I've been working out.
Click to expand...


I could tell!


----------



## limr

Here's my father's tractor in the back. The pickup with the cap was his. The red truck was either something he was working on for someone or a friend stopping by. It's also blocking the boom. There is a better picture of the tractor but I have to dig around for it. Oh, and that's me picking flowers with my mother.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ooh, I want a picture of the tractor!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here's one from a few months ago.
> 
> View attachment 93575
> 
> I've owned other tractors, but the photos are all analog.  (I know, right?)
> 
> So I should find them and scan them.
> 
> If everything goes well today, I should be able to get a photo of the light bar.
Click to expand...

 I'll see yours and raise you mine*:





Bigger view:





*Disclaimer:  While I don't actually own it, it's mine in that at our club (which does own it) I am the mainttaniner and the only one with the necessary boiler ticket and experience to operate it.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Here's my father's tractor in the back. The pickup with the cap was his. The red truck was either something he was working on for someone or a friend stopping by. It's also blocking the boom. There is a better picture of the tractor but I have to dig around for it. Oh, and that's me picking flowers with my mother.
> View attachment 93577


nice family photo right there..


----------



## limr

Wow, check out that thing! A tractor with a roof and a chimney!


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Wow, check out that thing! A tractor with a roof and a chimney!


LOL!! Those really are some cool pieces of history! 


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## minicoop1985

AUGH I'm waiting for a reply from the guy who runs the studio I applied to. THIS IS AGONIZING.

In other news, good morning hosers. It's going to be a nice 30 some degrees.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Wow, check out that thing! A tractor with a roof and a chimney!


Yep!   And...  it makes lunch too!


----------



## Designer

I'm familiar with Case, of course, but the Sawyer-Massey is a new one on me.  

Any relation to Massey-Ferguson?


----------



## pixmedic

im up, im up!


----------



## Designer

Those big steam tractors are good for cooking lunch and smashing down grass. 

Do you ever hook it up to a thresher?

Here in Iowa they have an annual event "Old Thresher's Reunion".


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> I'm familiar with Case, of course, but the Sawyer-Massey is a new one on me.
> 
> Any relation to Massey-Ferguson?


Yes, M-F was a later iteration  of Sawyer-Massey.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> Those big steam tractors are good for cooking lunch and smashing down grass.
> 
> Do you ever hook it up to a thresher?
> 
> Here in Iowa they have an annual event "Old Thresher's Reunion".


 Yep...  those are pictures are from our spring show, but at our fall fair we belt it up to one of our threshers.


----------



## bribrius

tirediron said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Those big steam tractors are good for cooking lunch and smashing down grass.
> 
> Do you ever hook it up to a thresher?
> 
> Here in Iowa they have an annual event "Old Thresher's Reunion".
> 
> 
> 
> Yep...  those are pictures are from our spring show, but at our fall fair we belt it up to one of our threshers.
Click to expand...

really interesting. thanks for sharing.


----------



## otherprof

limr said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't intend to skip any important part of the sentence, (at least not on purpose) but when my grandson was learning French, he thought it contained a double negative, and because he had learned to not do that in English, he wondered why it was o.k. in French.
> 
> Is all.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I used to teach remedial writing classes in the English department as well as my current department (Modern Languages), so these students were native speakers of English. Sometimes students who are bilingual but would probably have been better off in the ESL classes were placed in those English dept along the native speakers. Most of the teachers were able to handle it just fine, but some teachers just couldn't figure out what to do with students who also spoke another language.
> 
> I was scoring exams one semester and another adjunct sitting at the table with me just blurts out, "What is with these ESL students? Can't they learn vocabulary?" I asked him what he meant. "Well, they have the same grammar, why can't they just learn the English words to put in the sentence?"
> 
> Dude thought that every language in the world had the same grammar, just different words. I think I did a decent enough job at not being too witheringly sarcastic, but I don't think I was able to entirely keep the "you're a moron" tone out of my voice.
Click to expand...

That brings to mind an observation  by Mark Twain, somewhere in "A Tramp Abroad." He noticed that foreigners all over the world had a very difficult time understanding what he was saying, and concluded that most foreigners were hard of hearing. He also pointed out that most of us have concluded the same thing, as seen by our repeating ourselves much more loudly when we are not understood by someone who speaks another language.  Important Note: This book also includes the essay, "The Awful German Language," which includes a story from German translated_ literally_ into English. E.g. (from memory) "The English governess, he fell into the fire. The fire she burned him." If you haven't read that essay, she's there for him to be read!


----------



## Designer

Alright, Leonore, here is the lightbar installed: 






The cable is about 3 feet too short, so it's not tied up exactly where i would want it.  someday if I've got nothing else to do I will splice on more length and get it tied down where it should be.


----------



## tirediron

That tractor is wayyyyyyyyyyy too clean to be respectable!


----------



## bribrius

tirediron said:


> That tractor is wayyyyyyyyyyy too clean to be respectable!


and geez. talk about framing..............


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Alright, Leonore, here is the lightbar installed:
> 
> View attachment 93617
> The cable is about 3 feet too short, so it's not tied up exactly where i would want it.  someday if I've got nothing else to do I will splice on more length and get it tied down where it should be.



Nice!!



tirediron said:


> That tractor is wayyyyyyyyyyy too clean to be respectable!



I did notice that there was no mud in the treads...


----------



## Warhorse

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> still on vacation? when you due back?
> 
> 
> 
> Never due back. They approved my SS disability in record time. 1 neurosurgeon, 1 orthopedic surgeon and 1 MD showed them my records, and it took 6 months to the day to be approved. No appeals, no interviews, nothing. My back will never improve, and my shoulder hurts all the time. I paid into it for 42 years, so I basically took early retirement, with a little better payout than early retirement.
Click to expand...

I feel your pain, (pun intended). Long story short, I had my left hip totally replaced in June 2013, and convalesced till November, ( I did a lot of physical things while working as a technician in the natural gas industry, not a desk job). After five months of being back it was pretty much obvious I could not perform my job anymore after working there for 28 years. Five more months of sick pay, and bada bing, I was awarded a TPD retirement, (Total and Permanent Disability). Applied for SS disability, and seven weeks later it too was awarded, I also had no appeals, no interviews, no physical, the medical board just looked at all of my medical records. I also have no problems retiring early, after paying into SS for the same 42 years as you snerd.


----------



## Designer

No mud currently because the last operation was snow removal.  That cleans the tires quite well.


----------



## mmaria

Is there anyone here who still says GOOD MORNING!!!?


----------



## mmaria




----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  (There you go, maria!)  I have a pointless meeting at the time I usually sign on, so I am getting on here early today.  I'll run out soon and get a real cup of coffee first because I'm going to need it.

Not bad here today, supposed to be well over 40, a little damp now, but not terrible. Some snow expected tomorrow and no one seems willing to commit to an amount, which is not surprising considering their usual success rate.  Oh, I know, it's a difficult area to predict because systems moving with the jet stream collide with systems coming up the coast, blah, blah, blah, but we have the technology (old tv reference), don't we?


----------



## mmaria




----------



## mmaria

oh... I just found a pict of Sharon, Leo and me doing some usual stuff... y'a know...


----------



## bribrius

Warhorse said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> still on vacation? when you due back?
> 
> 
> 
> Never due back. They approved my SS disability in record time. 1 neurosurgeon, 1 orthopedic surgeon and 1 MD showed them my records, and it took 6 months to the day to be approved. No appeals, no interviews, nothing. My back will never improve, and my shoulder hurts all the time. I paid into it for 42 years, so I basically took early retirement, with a little better payout than early retirement.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I feel your pain, (pun intended). Long story short, I had my left hip totally replaced in June 2013, and convalesced till November, ( I did a lot of physical things while working as a technician in the natural gas industry, not a desk job). After five months of being back it was pretty much obvious I could not perform my job anymore after working there for 28 years. Five more months of sick pay, and bada bing, I was awarded a TPD retirement, (Total and Permanent Disability). Applied for SS disability, and seven weeks later it too was awarded, I also had no appeals, no interviews, no physical, the medical board just looked at all of my medical records. I also have no problems retiring early, after paying into SS for the same 42 years as you snerd.
Click to expand...

congrats to both of you! imagine your outlook is a little different than mine as you are both sooooooo old.....


----------



## snowbear

MARIJA!!  Good afternoon!


----------



## Designer

mmaria said:


> Is there anyone here who still says GOOD MORNING!!!?


Good morning!


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> MARIJA!!  Good afternoon!





Designer said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is there anyone here who still says GOOD MORNING!!!?
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning!
Click to expand...

awwww how nice of you to say Good morning!


----------



## limr

Good morning! Got a few more quiet moments with my coffee before I have to get ready for work.


----------



## limr

*Mariiiiiiiiijaaaaaaaaaa!*


----------



## snowbear

Well, folks, I have to take the truck to the shop - getting a misfire in one cylinder.  I'll catch y'all later today.


----------



## tirediron

mmaria said:


> Is there anyone here who still says GOOD MORNING!!!?


 WHAT is good about mornings?


----------



## Designer

I'm a morning person.  I'm no good past 21:00.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> Alright, Leonore, here is the lightbar installed:
> 
> View attachment 93617
> 
> The cable is about 3 feet too short, so it's not tied up exactly where i would want it.  someday if I've got nothing else to do I will splice on more length and get it tied down where it should be.


now it just needs a enclosed cab, hideaways and a blower. Never seen hide aways on a tractor that could amount to a entertaining project. And the reflective triangle sign.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 54F and a bit foggy right now. It should hit 70F today. I've three out of four "Challenges" that my Garmin Activity Tracker tossed on me. This past week I had 120,000 steps. But its killing me on time. Anybody have a stand-up desk? I'm thinking of getting one.


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> now it just needs a enclosed cab, hideaways and a blower. Never seen hide aways on a tractor that could amount to a entertaining project. And the reflective triangle sign.


I'm not familiar with the term "hideaways".  What is that?

I would dearly love an enclosed cab, but they're too expensive.  

If you mean a snowblower, then I'm not planning to get one.  We don't get that much snow very often.  Hardly ever.

The "Slow Moving Vehicle" sign is on the back.


----------



## snowbear

Blower (or what I think of):







Then you can get rid of that slo-mo sign.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> now it just needs a enclosed cab, hideaways and a blower. Never seen hide aways on a tractor that could amount to a entertaining project. And the reflective triangle sign.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not familiar with the term "hideaways".  What is that?
> 
> I would dearly love an enclosed cab, but they're too expensive.
> 
> If you mean a snowblower, then I'm not planning to get one.  We don't get that much snow very often.  Hardly ever.
> 
> The "Slow Moving Vehicle" sign is on the back.
Click to expand...





 hideaways are strobe kit lingo for the snow and construction industry. Hideaway strobe kits. 

They do make reasonably priced after market cab enclosures but probably still not worth the money to you. Nice bracket.


----------



## snowbear

Because I have a meeting in Baltimore (OK, Catonsville) tomorrow, my lovely wife decided to get a rental, just in case we don't get the truck back today.  They should be done with the misfire diagnostics soon.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> Because I have a meeting in Baltimore (OK, Catonsville) tomorrow, my lovely wife decided to get a rental, just in case we don't get the truck back today.  They should be done with the misfire diagnostics soon.


check your wires and plugs?


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Because I have a meeting in Baltimore (OK, Catonsville) tomorrow, my lovely wife decided to get a rental, just in case we don't get the truck back today.  They should be done with the misfire diagnostics soon.
> 
> 
> 
> check your wires and plugs?
Click to expand...

Live in an apartment where I'm not allowed to work on them.  P0307 code so it could be plug, wire, coil, sensor . . . I really miss my old cars ('62, '68 & '69)


----------



## bribrius

yeah. could be a 02 sensor. i changed a couple in the exhaust that read the exhaust gas and relay the info back for air/ fuel. o2 sensor goes it throws a code and make it run rough. unlikely. hopefully just plug/ wire.  worst case scenario (maybe) head gasket. That could suck.


----------



## snowbear

We had the same problem last year and new plugs fixed it; I'm hoping it's fairly simple.


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> hideaways are strobe kit lingo for the snow and construction industry. Hideaway strobe kits.



Putting strobes in the lights would surely get me a huge violation.  



bribrius said:


> Nice bracket.


Thank you!


----------



## Braineack

snowbear said:


> Well, folks, I have to take the truck to the shop - getting a misfire in one cylinder.  I'll catch y'all later today.


you'd take it in for that?

at least figure out if it's a coil, plug, wire, or injector first.  then replace.  then not go to shop.


----------



## snowbear

Braineack said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, folks, I have to take the truck to the shop - getting a misfire in one cylinder.  I'll catch y'all later today.
> 
> 
> 
> you'd take it in for that?
> 
> at least figure out if it's a coil, plug, wire, or injector first.  then replace.  then not go to shop.
Click to expand...


The Coffee House | Page 215 | Photography Forum.  I also know nothing about the modern stuff;  I almost cried when I discovered my '85 pickup didn't have traditional timing marks.


----------



## Braineack

It's still all the same.  Nothing spectacular has happened since eletronic timing and EFI.


----------



## snowbear

There are more puzzle pieces now. Even if I were allowed to work on vehicles, most of my stuff is in storage.  We are hoping to be moved into at least a bigger place (if not our own) next year.


----------



## snerd

Help! I've fallen and I can't get up! It's 2:30pm and I'm still laying here in bed........... called and cancelled my shoulder therapy today and Thursday because, well, I just don't feel like going! Hmmmmm................... what would be something to motivate me to get up and about?! Just as I typed that, a light bulb went on over my head..................... Shrimp Fried Rice!!! I'm starving!!


----------



## snerd




----------



## tirediron

It's a good start, but the proprotions of shrimp and rice are reversed.


----------



## snerd

It's an Internet pic lol


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> It's an Internet pic lol
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


 Nothing to do with the photo... WAY too much rice and wayyy too little shrimp.


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> It's an Internet pic lol
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro



I wondered how you'd made shrimp fried rice, AND taken such a nice picture of it, within two minutes of posting the idea!
But, yeah, I agree with John. Perhaps add some shrimp. Reduce the amount of rice. Oh heck, just skip the rice altogether.


----------



## snerd

tirediron said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's an Internet pic lol
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
> 
> 
> 
> Nothing to do with the photo... WAY too much rice and wayyy too little shrimp.
Click to expand...

Everything to do with the photo......... If I took a pic of some that "I" made, it would appear as you like!  


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's an Internet pic lol
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
> 
> 
> 
> Nothing to do with the photo... WAY too much rice and wayyy too little shrimp.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Everything to do with the photo......... If I took a pic of some that "I" made, it would appear as you like!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...

 Well then...  whatterya'waitin'fer?


----------



## Designer

Oh, and a beer.


----------



## snerd

I'm backwards. Just finished a beer, now heading to local Chinese drive-thru!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snowbear

Ditch the been sprouts too.  Or anything called "sprouts."

And add some bacon for Pete's sake.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mmm Chinese food.


----------



## Designer

I really like Chinese food, but they use so much sugar that I need to limit myself to maybe once a month or so.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> I really like Chinese food, but they use so much sugar that I need to limit myself to maybe once a month or so.


Really ... I haven't noticed that.


----------



## snerd

Scarfed up a big plate of Shrimp Fried Rice and 2 Egg Rolls. Didn't even take a pic! Thinking of an ice cold brewsky before settling in for the night.


----------



## Gary A.

Still windy out there?


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> Still windy out there?


Not "as bad". Around 10-15mph yesterday and today. Normal.


----------



## Gary A.

That's good.


----------



## snerd

It reached 72 day before out at the refuge. It was a welcome relief from all the cold, even though it was very windy. Now we have snow coming tomorrow night and Thursday. In my lifetime, I've seen many temperature changes here of +/-  50° in a single day!


----------



## pixmedic

Omg!
52 degrees this morning!
I almost had to put my jacket on!


----------



## Warhorse

Good morning everyone, Maxwell house is brewing.

1* F this morning, brrr.


----------



## bribrius

15 degrees here. it's a heat wave. time to put the little one on the bus.


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> It reached 72 day before out at the refuge. It was a welcome relief from all the cold, even though it was very windy. Now we have snow coming tomorrow night and Thursday. In my lifetime, I've seen many temperature changes here of +/-  50° in a single day!



61 and beautiful here yesterday. Should be close to that today, but cloudier, then we head into several days of highs in the 40s and rain, possibly a few snow flurries overnight.  Back to the 50s by Sunday, and then a high of 39 by the following Tuesday. This is the time of year when East TN weather actually tries to kill us before spring, luring us in with several beautiful warm days and then SNAP!--trying to freeze us to death with a 30-40 degree drop in temps.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I really like Chinese food, but they use so much sugar that I need to limit myself to maybe once a month or so.
> 
> 
> 
> Really ... I haven't noticed that.
Click to expand...

Sometimes while standing around waiting for my order I have watched the cook make something.  LOTS of sugar, and it's in nearly everything.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> hideaways are strobe kit lingo for the snow and construction industry. Hideaway strobe kits.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Putting strobes in the lights would surely get me a huge violation.
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nice bracket.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thank you!
Click to expand...

violation? Usually people like them to ensure insurance cases having to do with visibility and liability. "he must have saw me my equipment lights up like a christmas tree". lol


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> We had the same problem last year and new plugs fixed it; I'm hoping it's fairly simple.


if you are changin plugs every year something is up. Let me know how you make out i am curious. Hopefully nothing major.


----------



## KenC

Morning, Hosers!  (first typed "Howsers" but that's a different thing entirely)

Having the morning coffee and pastry (from outside) and feeling like I may be having a minor relapse of the respiratory bug that everyone has had here.  It feels like it may subside if I take it easy and don't get aggravated (good luck to me on that, being at work).

Weather OK so far - something about snow in the forecast, but just overcast for now.


----------



## bribrius

morning ken. i think something is going around. we were all sick for a week here. Seems when i drank a lot i never got sick. suddenly i dont drink much and i get sick every time my kids bring home a new cold or flu from the school system.


----------



## Rick50

Found a tip that may help out you cat lovers. 

*1. Put both lids of the toilet up and add 1/8 cup of pet shampoo to the water in the bowl ...

2. Pick up the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.

3. In one smooth movement put the cat in the toilet and close the lid. You may need to stand on the lid.

4. At this point the cat will self-agitate and make ample suds. Never mind the noises that come from the toilet, the cat is actually enjoying this!

5. Flush the toilet three or four times. This provides a "Power-Wash" and "Rinse”

6. Have someone open the front door of your home. Be sure that there are no people between the bathroom and the front door.

7. Stand well back, behind the toilet if possible, and quickly lift the lid.

8. The cat will rocket out of the toilet, streak through the bathroom, and run outside where he will dry himself off.

9. Both the toilet and the cat will be sparkling clean.

Yours truly,

The Dog*


----------



## Designer

That's funny, Rick50, but I edited it for clarity.


1. Put the lid of the toilet up and add 1/8 cup of pet shampoo to the water in the bowl ...

2. Pick up the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.

3. In one smooth motion put the cat in the toilet and close the lid. You may need to stand on the lid.

4. At this point the cat will self-agitate and make ample suds. Never mind the noises that come from the toilet, the cat is actually enjoying this!

5. After a few minutes, flush the toilet three or four times. This provides a "Power-Wash" and "Rinse”

6. Have someone open the front door of your home. Be sure that there are no people between the bathroom and the front door.

7. Stand well back, behind the toilet if possible, and quickly lift the lid.

8. The cat will rocket out of the toilet, streak through the house, and run outside where he will dry himself off.

9. Both the toilet and the cat will be sparkling clean.

Yours truly,

The Dog


----------



## limr

Ah, The Dog has forgotten Step 10: Sleep with one eye open and never leave throat exposed.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Ah, The Dog has forgotten Step 10: Sleep with one eye open and never leave throat exposed.



Indeed.
Actually, my favorite step is #3; In one smooth motion, put the cat in the toilet and close the lid.

BWAHAHAHAHA…right. As if!!  

 One does not simply PUT the cat in the toilet. There are not fast enough reflexes to keep that cat from becoming the equivalent of an entire set of Ninja knives come to life, seeking to rip you to shreds.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, Hosers! So glad I don't have a cat now... I like my doge just fine. She won't put up a fight if I try to give her a bath...

Gaaah my weekend's full already. Offer photoshoots for free (portfolio) then EVERYONE comes out of the woodwork...


----------



## bribrius

After you shoot the free photo shoot tell them the actual photos cost money.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> After you shoot the free photo shoot tell them the actual photos cost money.



Because that will *surely* generate business from good word-of-mouth recommendations.


----------



## Designer

minicoop1985 said:


> Offer photoshoots for free (portfolio) then EVERYONE comes out of the woodwork...



Do any of them know how to pose?


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> After you shoot the free photo shoot tell them the actual photos cost money.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Because that will *surely* generate business from good word-of-mouth recommendations.
Click to expand...


Free photoshoot! Now that will be $47,000 to get the photos. That will go over GREAT. I will recommend a printer, though, so I don't have to shell out anything.



Designer said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Offer photoshoots for free (portfolio) then EVERYONE comes out of the woodwork...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do any of them know how to pose?
Click to expand...


No, but I'm learning how to do it. One of the moms is an aspiring model/fashionista and wants her daughter to follow along, so there is that. That could be good or bad. We'll see.


----------



## Designer

minicoop1985 said:


> That could be good or bad. We'll see.



Good luck!


----------



## minicoop1985

Thanks, I'll need it. The guy I'm hoping to work for has been voted the best in the area for the past 6 years (out of the 10 years he's had his shop open). So there's a bit of pressure to get this right.


----------



## Designer

If you haven't already done so, do a quick study on posing so when it looks as if the model doesn't know what to do, you can give direction.


----------



## bribrius

it is true. People get dumber every year. Just went to the bank to pay on a credit line. Teller tells me i didnt have one she didnt see it in the system. Gives me one of my kids savings account numbers.." uhhhhhh no....That is my kids savings account"  Called over the manager told the manager i didnt feel safe giving this girl money and to stay during the transaction. Manager shows her the line of credit in the system and explains to her what it is.  Then tells me the woman is fine she just didnt know what it was. i told the manager "exactly. she works in a bank and doesnt know what a credit line is. That not only makes me nervous giving her money it scares the **** out of me"


----------



## sm4him

Well, I'm about to wrap up another work day here--headed to church for supper, then choir practice, so won't be home for several hours yet.

Since I live alone now, I'm hoping that at least when I get home, there will BE a home there…unlike THIS GUY's wife experienced. 

Are you kiddin' me???!?!?! Not only did the guy not check with any officials (gas, utilities, etc), he also didn't bother to pack first, just tore it down!
He told police he did it because "it had a bad foundation."


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We had the same problem last year and new plugs fixed it; I'm hoping it's fairly simple.
> 
> 
> 
> if you are changin plugs every year something is up. Let me know how you make out i am curious. Hopefully nothing major.
Click to expand...


OEM spec is 100k miles for plugs, which was very close to when we had the problem the first time.  This time, the #7 plug was apparently bad, and they changed the plug wire harness (not available as a single wire).  They also found low compression; so far we had a hairline crack in a valve spring.  They were checking the rings this evening when I talked to them.


----------



## snowbear

Went to Catonsville this morning (a bit west of Baltimore) to the USGS water quality facility (MD, DE, DC) for a state geographic group meeting.  Two inches of snow on the grass and vehicles when I left; streets were just wet.


----------



## Warhorse

Morning all, Keurig Coffee today (Newmans Own), and instant oatmeal. 

Just feeling lazy, instant stuff is easy.


----------



## Designer

Warhorse said:


> Morning all, Keurig Coffee today (Newmans Own), and instant oatmeal.
> 
> Just feeling lazy, instant stuff is easy.


I get that.  I have two microwaves in my kitchen.


----------



## bribrius

morning coffee housers!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.


Morning limr...... Good day for you to go shoot! you, not me. I feel like crap. lol


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> Morning limr...... Good day for you to go shoot! you, not me. I feel like crap. lol
Click to expand...


Oh, except I feel like crap today too. Got my Jesus headache. (Comes on one evening and sends spikes through my brain until it lifts on the afternoon of the third day.) Left side of my head is pounding. Seems to have gotten a bit to my stomach today.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> Morning limr...... Good day for you to go shoot! you, not me. I feel like crap. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, except I feel like crap today too. Got my Jesus headache. (Comes on one evening and sends spikes through my brain until it lifts on the afternoon of the third day.) Left side of my head is pounding. Seems to have gotten a bit to my stomach today.
Click to expand...

Real photographers suck it up for the sake of their art.   i just dont happen to be one of those...


----------



## limr

Well, Buzz did just patch up the pinhole leaks in the bellows of my Land Camera. And I DID just get a close-up lens kit for it...

Or I can just develop my damn film already 

Have to go into work for readings this afternoon, and then I have to go make hell in the registrar's office or counselor's office or whatever for still not awarding me my paralegal certificate. I found out yesterday that one of my classes is not being credited to the certificate requirements so they are saying I have to take one more class. I will be telling them a very emphatic hellz no.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ... I will be telling them a very emphatic hellz no.


 Can we get tickets, or is it a 'first come, first seated' event?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... I will be telling them a very emphatic hellz no.
> 
> 
> 
> Can we get tickets, or is it a 'first come, first seated' event?
Click to expand...


If you can get to suburban NY in the next few hours, you're welcome to come with and watch  It will probably be very entertaining. I'm quite mild-mannered and polite - sometimes to a fault - but when it's time to blow, the New York comes out full force. You should have been there in college in Florida when I had to sort out a similar mess with the very Southern staff of the UFlorida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Well, Buzz did just patch up the pinhole leaks in the bellows of my Land Camera. And I DID just get a close-up lens kit for it...
> 
> Or I can just develop my damn film already
> 
> Have to go into work for readings this afternoon, and then I have to go make hell in the registrar's office or counselor's office or whatever for still not awarding me my paralegal certificate. I found out yesterday that one of my classes is not being credited to the certificate requirements so they are saying I have to take one more class. I will be telling them a very emphatic hellz no.


requirements are a good thing. They set standards of accreditation which makes your certificate worth something.


----------



## tirediron

N'Yawker V. Florida Liberal Arts... Hmmm... I can see where that might have been good for a giggle!


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> requirements are a good thing. They set standards of accreditation which makes your certificate worth something.



I'm not suggesting that they ignore the requirements. I'm saying that they are randomly applying them. The requirements are clear:
--30 credits total
  --4 required courses
  --6 electives (choose any from the list)

I took the 4 required courses. I took 6 electives from the list. They are now saying that one of my electives doesn't count, even though there was never any indication that it would not count.

What muddies things is that the director of the program died suddenly a year after I started, so there was a bit of a mess afterwards trying to find a new director. The interim director (who originally started the program many years ago but was now semi-retired) is quite flaky and we just got a new director last semester (when I was already finished). I'm sure there are some administrative things that fell through the cracks. I just now need to make sure that I am not one of those things that fell through.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> requirements are a good thing. They set standards of accreditation which makes your certificate worth something.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not suggesting that they ignore the requirements. I'm saying that they are randomly applying them. The requirements are clear:
> --30 credits total
> --4 required courses
> --6 electives (choose any from the list)
> 
> I took the 4 required courses. I took 6 electives from the list. They are now saying that one of my electives doesn't count, even though there was never any indication that it would not count.
> 
> What muddies things is that the director of the program died suddenly a year after I started, so there was a bit of a mess afterwards trying to find a new director. The interim director (who originally started the program many years ago but was now semi-retired) is quite flaky and we just got a new director last semester (when I was already finished). I'm sure there are some administrative things that fell through the cracks. I just now need to make sure that I am not one of those things that feel through.
Click to expand...

i guess i just don't understand why you think basket weaving should count as a election toward being a paralegal. .


----------



## limr

Hey, that basket is my intellectual property! If that's not legal, I don't know what is!


----------



## sm4him

bribrius said:


> requirements are a good thing. They set standards of accreditation which makes your certificate worth something.





bribrius said:


> i guess i just don't understand why you think basket weaving should count as a election toward being a paralegal. .





limr said:


> Hey, that basket is my intellectual property! If that's not legal, I don't know what is!



Are you absolutely sure that bribrius isn't the new flaky director??


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. How the hell is everybody (except Leo, we know how you are.) Colombian Supremo this morning. Great dinner last night, chicken marinated in orange, lemon and lime juices, herbed up a bit, seasoned with that pink salt, fresh ground pepper and a dash of my homemade chili pepper. Tossed on the giant George Foreman and basted with all the left-over juices. It was very good, a freshly plucked kale and mango salad, brown rice, steamed broccoli and mushrooms and washed good with a Meridian Chardonnay. After dinner I had a 9:00 p.m. meeting at the campaign office ... that sucked.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. How the hell is everybody (except Leo, we know how you are.) Colombian Supremo this morning. Great dinner last night, chicken marinated in orange, lemon and lime juices, herbed up a bit, seasoned with that pink salt, fresh ground pepper and a dash of my homemade chili pepper. Tossed on the giant George Foreman and basted with all the left-over juices. It was very good, a freshly plucked kale and mango salad, brown rice, steamed broccoli and mushrooms and washed good with a Meridian Chardonnay. After dinner I had a 9:00 p.m. meeting at the campaign office ... that sucked.


how are you involved in this campaign stuff again? you keep mentioning it but i am totally lost at what it is you are actually doing or why.


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> requirements are a good thing. They set standards of accreditation which makes your certificate worth something.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i guess i just don't understand why you think basket weaving should count as a election toward being a paralegal. .
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, that basket is my intellectual property! If that's not legal, I don't know what is!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Are you absolutely sure that bribrius isn't the new flaky director??
Click to expand...

i think all my credits long expired. There must be a statute of limitations on them. Probably couldnt transfer or re-use a single one. If i ever went back i would probably be starting out with basic core courses again.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> You should have been there in college in Florida when I had to sort out a similar mess with the very Southern staff of the UFlorida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences


Yup. I would have paid money to watch that.


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> i think all my credits long expired. There must be a statute of limitations on them. Probably couldnt transfer or re-use a single one. If i ever went back i would probably be starting out with basic core courses again.


It is mostly up to the institution that you are trying to enter.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. How the hell is everybody (except Leo, we know how you are.) Colombian Supremo this morning. Great dinner last night, chicken marinated in orange, lemon and lime juices, herbed up a bit, seasoned with that pink salt, fresh ground pepper and a dash of my homemade chili pepper. Tossed on the giant George Foreman and basted with all the left-over juices. It was very good, a freshly plucked kale and mango salad, brown rice, steamed broccoli and mushrooms and washed good with a Meridian Chardonnay. After dinner I had a 9:00 p.m. meeting at the campaign office ... that sucked.
> 
> 
> 
> how are you involved in this campaign stuff again? you keep mentioning it but i am totally lost at what it is you are actually doing or why.
Click to expand...

I am running the city council campaign for a very nice lady. I am running the campaign, (designing, writing, developing strategies and tactics, budgets and schedules) to improve the chances for the very nice lady to win. And, I like democracy and I like exercising my democratic rights. (I think my level of electoral involvement actually expands/increases my vote proportionally to the level of participation.)


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i think all my credits long expired. There must be a statute of limitations on them. Probably couldnt transfer or re-use a single one. If i ever went back i would probably be starting out with basic core courses again.
> 
> 
> 
> It is mostly up to the institution that you are trying to enter.
Click to expand...

Some places will give you some credit just living ... I hear that community college is free.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i think all my credits long expired. There must be a statute of limitations on them. Probably couldnt transfer or re-use a single one. If i ever went back i would probably be starting out with basic core courses again.
> 
> 
> 
> It is mostly up to the institution that you are trying to enter.
Click to expand...

Pretty much what i was thinking. If i applied to get a certificate in basket weaving at the local community college they might accept my calculus credits. If i applied for anything of a degree program at a real school i would be starting from scratch maybe.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. How the hell is everybody (except Leo, we know how you are.) Colombian Supremo this morning. Great dinner last night, chicken marinated in orange, lemon and lime juices, herbed up a bit, seasoned with that pink salt, fresh ground pepper and a dash of my homemade chili pepper. Tossed on the giant George Foreman and basted with all the left-over juices. It was very good, a freshly plucked kale and mango salad, brown rice, steamed broccoli and mushrooms and washed good with a Meridian Chardonnay. After dinner I had a 9:00 p.m. meeting at the campaign office ... that sucked.
> 
> 
> 
> how are you involved in this campaign stuff again? you keep mentioning it but i am totally lost at what it is you are actually doing or why.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I am running the city council campaign for a very nice lady. I am running the campaign, (designing, writing, developing strategies and tactics, budgets and schedules) to improve the chances for the very nice lady to win. And, I like democracy and I like exercising my democratic rights. (I think my level of electoral involvement actually expands/increases my vote proportionally to the level of participation.)
Click to expand...

i don't even vote anymore. i went on strike. Lol


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. How the hell is everybody (except Leo, we know how you are.) Colombian Supremo this morning. Great dinner last night, chicken marinated in orange, lemon and lime juices, herbed up a bit, seasoned with that pink salt, fresh ground pepper and a dash of my homemade chili pepper. Tossed on the giant George Foreman and basted with all the left-over juices. It was very good, a freshly plucked kale and mango salad, brown rice, steamed broccoli and mushrooms and washed good with a Meridian Chardonnay. After dinner I had a 9:00 p.m. meeting at the campaign office ... that sucked.
> 
> 
> 
> how are you involved in this campaign stuff again? you keep mentioning it but i am totally lost at what it is you are actually doing or why.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I am running the city council campaign for a very nice lady. I am running the campaign, (designing, writing, developing strategies and tactics, budgets and schedules) to improve the chances for the very nice lady to win. And, I like democracy and I like exercising my democratic rights. (I think my level of electoral involvement actually expands/increases my vote proportionally to the level of participation.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> i don't even vote anymore. i went on strike. Lol
Click to expand...

Good, that increases the value of my vote.


----------



## limr

Fight the good fight, Gary! I've never been involved in a campaign but I always vote. I missed the '88 presidential election by just a few months - didn't turn 18 until March of '89 - but I've only missed one national election since '92. I missed the entire '00 Gore/Bush debacle because I was living overseas and somehow screwed up my application for an absentee ballot. Never got one. Since recently, I've never stayed in one place to feel invested in local politics, but for the past 8 years or so, I also vote in all local elections.

The voter turnout in this country is disgraceful.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Have to go into work for readings this afternoon, and then I have to go make hell in the registrar's office or counselor's office or whatever for still not awarding me my paralegal certificate. I found out yesterday that one of my classes is not being credited to the certificate requirements so they are saying I have to take one more class. I will be telling them a very emphatic hellz no.


That sucks!!!   Give 'em hell - hopefully it's something that can be worked out.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Fight the good fight, Gary! I've never been involved in a campaign but I always vote. I missed the '88 presidential election by just a few months - didn't turn 18 until March of '89 - but I've only missed one national election since '92. I missed the entire '00 Gore/Bush debacle because I was living overseas and somehow screwed up my application for an absentee ballot. Never got one. Since recently, I've never stayed in one place to feel invested in local politics, but for the past 8 years or so, I also vote in all local elections.
> 
> The voter turnout in this country is disgraceful.



I've only missed one presidential election, must have been 88, because I got horribly ill with food poisoning the night before the election. I'm pretty sure my mother or one of my brothers--all of whom are of a different political bent than I--must have poisoned my food to keep me from getting to the polls. 
Nearly missed it in '84--I got married in Jan. of that year, and then the ex- and I had moved from Atlanta back to my hometown in East TN in October, but too late in the month to change my voter registration. But I just took the day off, drove down to Atlanta and voted, had lunch with a friend, and drove back.
My ex, on the other hand, hadn't even bothered to change HIS from a year prior when he was still living on the West Coast.  His apathy about it should've been a sign…


----------



## Designer

I've volunteered for several campaigns, was a delegate to county, district and state a few years, served on committees, put up yard signs, passed out flyers, worked a booth at the fair for years, showed videos at the public library, and all seemingly for naught.  Nobody I ever worked for ever got elected.  I could LOL here, but I don't much feel like it.


----------



## sm4him

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fight the good fight, Gary! I've never been involved in a campaign but I always vote. I missed the '88 presidential election by just a few months - didn't turn 18 until March of '89 - but I've only missed one national election since '92. I missed the entire '00 Gore/Bush debacle because I was living overseas and somehow screwed up my application for an absentee ballot. Never got one. Since recently, I've never stayed in one place to feel invested in local politics, but for the past 8 years or so, I also vote in all local elections.
> 
> The voter turnout in this country is disgraceful.
> 
> 
> 
> some of just dont like our options. The candidates we would vote for never make it through the races, often aren't even getting to them and the larger elections pretty much comes down to dem vs. republican. None of that falls into my belief system. so i hope the government just goes under so i can call it a day. last person i voted for was ron paul, years ago. And of course he will never win. But at the time he was about the only candidate i even remotely liked and wasnt even a huge fan of him. so let us not waste our time yes?
Click to expand...


I do understand that sentiment, and I agree that unfortunately, the "best" candidates rarely make it to the actual election. In fact, I daresay the best ones never end up running in the first place. I've said for many, many years that I think actually WANTING to be POTUS should automatically disqualify a person for the position. 

But I do persist in voting; I vote in the primaries, I vote in general elections and I vote in the local elections. ESPECIALLY in the local elections.  People get that backwards--the numbers are always much higher in a presidential election than in the locals, but the local elections are the ones far more likely to have a direct, immediate impact.

And yeah, I get fed up sometimes at the choices we sometimes have (let's see, shall I vote for Bozo for Prez, or Bozo's evil twin brother?), but I vote because I still can. Far, far too often lately, I do find myself voting AGAINST someone instead of FOR someone, but at least I vote. And then, when my guy/woman loses, at least I have the right to moan and complain for another 2/4/6 years depending on their election term.


----------



## minicoop1985

You know what I like? Turtles. I like turtles.


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> You know what I like? Turtles. I like turtles.



But I don't care much for turtle soup.  Turtles are better to look at than to eat.


----------



## sm4him

Speaking of voting…I'd like to vote that we quit mucking about with how TPF looks. It's gone from just fine to wonky to ridiculous to nearly unreadable in less than a year's time now.


----------



## limr

Yes, that was weird...

Anyway, the good news is that I not only got my graduation info sorted out, but I also got a lead on a part-time job! We are loving this new director  

She's also gorgeous. Seriously, it flustered me for a second or two when I first walked in. Good thing I'm having a good hair day


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Yes, that was weird...
> 
> Anyway, the good news is that I not only got my graduation info sorted out, but I also got a lead on a part-time job! We are loving this new director
> 
> She's also gorgeous. Seriously, it flustered me for a second or two when I first walked in. Good thing I'm having a good hair day



Of course, after that we want pics so that we can decide which one of you is more gorgeous.  

Not that we're swayed by appearance.  No siree.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Yes, that was weird...
> 
> Anyway, the good news is that I not only got my graduation info sorted out, but I also got a lead on a part-time job! We are loving this new director
> 
> She's also gorgeous. Seriously, it flustered me for a second or two when I first walked in. Good thing I'm having a good hair day


Now I'm curious.  Pictures or she doesn't exist.  

Same damn emoticons, though.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> You know what I like? Turtles. I like turtles.


turtles are really cool


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> She's also gorgeous. Seriously, it flustered me for a second or two when I first walked in. Good thing I'm having a good hair day



No candle to you, hon. 

Glad you didn't have to go postal on their sterns.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> She's also gorgeous. Seriously, it flustered me for a second or two when I first walked in. Good thing I'm having a good hair day
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No candle to you, hon.
> 
> Glad you didn't have to go postal on their sterns.
Click to expand...


Awwwww!  

Yes, it was nice that I didn't have to cut a beeyotch.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Yes, it was nice that I didn't have to cut a beeyotch.


heehee........... an oft-quoted saying on another forum............. I would have bladed!


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> You know what I like? Turtles. I like turtles.


I have turtles.


----------



## Warhorse

Good morning everyone, just enjoying a Mrs. Field's chocolate chip cookie with my first cup of black coffee today.


----------



## sm4him

Cookie! That sounds good, Warhorse.
I'm finishing the first cup of coffee. No cookie here, yet--I can't even begin to think about eating anything until the first cup of coffee starts coursing through the veins.

I think I might just have to be bad this morning and stop at the new Dunkin' Donuts that they so rudely constructed right in between my house and my workplace.
I've been really good--it opened over the Christmas holidays (while I was on vacation) and since I've been back, I've only given in and stopped ONE time. But even last night, I was thinking that today might have to be #2.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> I think I might just have to be bad this morning and stop at the new Dunkin' Donuts that they so rudely constructed right in between my house and my workplace.


Yeah - we have anew one here in wallytown as well.  The only saving grace is that it's on the southbound side and we go north in the AM (and I hate u-turns.)


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think I might just have to be bad this morning and stop at the new Dunkin' Donuts that they so rudely constructed right in between my house and my workplace.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah - we have anew one here in wallytown as well.  The only saving grace is that it's on the southbound side and we go north in the AM (and I hate u-turns.)
Click to expand...


Yeah, if this was even on the other side of the road, it would help greatly to deter me, because I would NOT really want to try to turn back across lanes of traffic on that stretch of road in the morning. But no, it's even on the right side of the road--curses!


----------



## Designer

Good morning, folks!  Time to make breakfast.  Catch you all later.


----------



## mmaria

Designer said:


> Good morning, folks!  Time to make breakfast.  Catch you all later.


GOOD AFTERNOON!!!! 

EAT SOMETHING HEALTHY!


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> Good morning, folks!  Time to make breakfast.  Catch you all later.



But you didn't even tell us WHAT you're making for breakfast!!


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, folks!  Time to make breakfast.  Catch you all later.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But you didn't even tell us WHAT you're making for breakfast!!
Click to expand...

HI maaaaaaaaaaaaaaa


MISSSED YOU!!!!!


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, folks!  Time to make breakfast.  Catch you all later.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But you didn't even tell us WHAT you're making for breakfast!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> HI maaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
> 
> 
> MISSSED YOU!!!!!
Click to expand...


Hey sweet daughter! I've missed you too. Seems like neither of us is here a lot anymore, and we seem to always be on at different times.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> ...Seems like neither of us is here a lot anymore....



yeah.... 
why is that?

did you also started to hate tpf? 

kidding


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Seems like neither of us is here a lot anymore....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> yeah....
> why is that?
> 
> did you also started to hate tpf?
> 
> kidding
Click to expand...


I think I'm just devoting my time to a lot of other stuff.
Of course, now with the "Change 2.0" I may actually start to hate TPF, lol. Time will tell. Right now, I've switched back to "red" skin, so all is well again, except for my attitude about it. 

What are you doing these days? Same job still? Gonna move to Canada, or the US, anytime soon? There's a TPF meetup in New York this spring. Start packing now and you could be there in plenty of time! ;-)


----------



## sm4him

Guess I can't avoid it any more; I gotta head on in to work.
Besides, those donuts are calling my name; I can hear them from here!


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> I think I'm just devoting my time to a lot of other stuff.


 same here!

Did you send me the photo!???? Secret Santa photo...

Please don't say you forgot all about it....  



> Of course, now with the "Change 2.0" I may actually start to hate TPF, lol. Time will tell. Right now, I've switched back to "red" skin, so all is well again, except for my attitude about it.


 yeah, I'm on the red skin also... hate the newest version like I hate Windows 8 



> What are you doing these days? Same job still? Gonna move to Canada, or the US, anytime soon? There's a TPF meetup in New York this spring. Start packing now and you could be there in plenty of time! ;-)


Oh there's lots of so much going on on this side of life for me....

But yes, definitely packing my stuff and coming to New York!


----------



## Designer

mmaria said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, folks!  Time to make breakfast.  Catch you all later.
> 
> 
> 
> GOOD AFTERNOON!!!!
> 
> EAT SOMETHING HEALTHY!
Click to expand...

Probably not your "cup of tea", considering it's all animal all the time.

Two eggs over medium in butter, and a slice of ham lightly caramelized in a separate pan.

Black tea afterward.


----------



## Designer

mmaria said:


> But yes, definitely packing my stuff and coming to New York!


Wow!  O.k., then.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. 

Afternoon,Marija, ya hoser


----------



## mmaria

Designer said:


> Probably not your "cup of tea", considering it's all animal all the time.
> 
> Two eggs over medium in butter, and a slice of ham lightly caramelized in a separate pan.
> 
> Black tea afterward.



you know... since I'm on this stupid diet... I'm eating three eggs!

(I didn't even like eggs before...)


----------



## mmaria

Designer said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> But yes, definitely packing my stuff and coming to New York!
> 
> 
> 
> Wow!  O.k., then.
Click to expand...

oh... I wish...


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Afternoon,Marija, ya hoser


awwwwwwwwwwww c'mon


----------



## NancyMoranG

Why did you have to mention Dunkin Donuts! Was just about to have my Total cereal with low fat milk! 
AAAAHHH, now I want a cinnamon donut 
Nancy


----------



## limr

I can't eat sweet things in the morning, and as I get older, it seems easier to resist the doughnuts even when I'm going in for coffee later in the day. Sometimes someone will bring in Munchkins and it will be hard to resist those because it's just a bite or two and I do like the taste. The good thing is, though, if I give in and have one (okay two - my stupid neurosis always wants even numbers), then I'm good - I've had the taste that I wanted and I know any more and it will start bothering my stomach.

Now if only I could feel the same way about salty snacks


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think I'm just devoting my time to a lot of other stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> same here!
> 
> Did you send me the photo!???? Secret Santa photo...
> 
> Please don't say you forgot all about it....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Of course, now with the "Change 2.0" I may actually start to hate TPF, lol. Time will tell. Right now, I've switched back to "red" skin, so all is well again, except for my attitude about it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> yeah, I'm on the red skin also... hate the newest version like I hate Windows 8
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What are you doing these days? Same job still? Gonna move to Canada, or the US, anytime soon? There's a TPF meetup in New York this spring. Start packing now and you could be there in plenty of time! ;-)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh there's lots of so much going on on this side of life for me....
> 
> But yes, definitely packing my stuff and coming to New York!
Click to expand...


Haven't forgotten it!! But sadly, I also haven't done it yet. I *promise* I will have it out to you within the next week, though!! Forgive me, I am a very old, slow Santa.


----------



## sm4him

NancyMoranG said:


> Why did you have to mention Dunkin Donuts! Was just about to have my Total cereal with low fat milk!
> AAAAHHH, now I want a cinnamon donut
> Nancy



You're welcome.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Time to go burn some film and some coffee.


----------



## snerd

Morning Hosers! On my second cup 'o Joe. Looking at new laptops and maybe adding one to my wish list. Real Estate agent coming at 4pm with a market analysis on the house. Fun fun!! /not!!

Weather heading back to mid-to-upper 60's by Sunday! May clean the family up tonight and head out to refuge tomorrow. Later people!



Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd




----------



## limr

Queen of the mountain!

 

Edit: Yikes! That doesn't need to be full sized


----------



## limr

That's the Hudson River many feet below me. Today's hike was up Storm King mountain. Shot an entire roll of Portra 160 in the Minotla Maxxum 7000.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> That's the Hudson River many feet below me. Today's hike was up Storm King mountain. Shot an entire roll of Portra 160 in the *Minotla *Maxxum 7000.


 Is that a Sovier-era Minolta clone?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's the Hudson River many feet below me. Today's hike was up Storm King mountain. Shot an entire roll of Portra 160 in the *Minotla *Maxxum 7000.
> 
> 
> 
> Is that a Sovier-era Minolta clone?
Click to expand...


Yup, short for Minotlavski.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Queen of the mountain!
> 
> View attachment 93878
> 
> Edit: Yikes! That doesn't need to be full sized


Nice half-selfie! How'd ya keep the line so straight lol


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Queen of the mountain!
> 
> View attachment 93878
> 
> Edit: Yikes! That doesn't need to be full sized
> 
> 
> 
> Nice half-selfie! How'd ya keep the line so straight lol
Click to expand...

nice photo you just posted. That with the d800?


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> nice photo you just posted. That with the d800?



d800? I wouldn't even know one of those if I tripped over it on my way to the darkroom.


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Queen of the mountain!
> 
> View attachment 93878
> 
> Edit: Yikes! That doesn't need to be full sized
> 
> 
> 
> Nice half-selfie! How'd ya keep the line so straight lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> nice photo you just posted. That with the d800?
Click to expand...

Moi? The pond? Canon 5DIII, Canon 16-35L f/4 IS. My new landscape lens and go-to for much other, with its IS!


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Queen of the mountain!
> 
> View attachment 93878
> 
> Edit: Yikes! That doesn't need to be full sized
> 
> 
> 
> Nice half-selfie! How'd ya keep the line so straight lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> nice photo you just posted. That with the d800?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Moi? The pond? Canon 5DIII, Canon 16-35L f/4 IS. My new landscape lens and go-to for much other, with its IS!
Click to expand...

ahhhh.  thats right. canon shooter. my bad. Memory sucks.


----------



## limr

What picture?


----------



## minicoop1985

The picture. Sheesh, Leonore...


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> The picture. Sheesh, Leonore...



Ohhhhhhhh, the picture!! I got it now


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The picture. Sheesh, Leonore...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ohhhhhhhh, the picture!! I got it now
Click to expand...

yeah, there really isn't much posted i figure you could figure it out.... it is a lake, pond, something..... no ice shacks on it though it looks funny.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The picture. Sheesh, Leonore...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ohhhhhhhh, the picture!! I got it now
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> yeah, there really isn't much posted i figure you could figure it out.... it is a lake, pond, something..... no ice shacks on it though it looks funny.
Click to expand...


But why are you posting about that picture in this thread?


----------



## snerd

Because this is the Coffee House thread! Geez, Lenny! You all right today?!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The picture. Sheesh, Leonore...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ohhhhhhhh, the picture!! I got it now
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> yeah, there really isn't much posted i figure you could figure it out.... it is a lake, pond, something..... no ice shacks on it though it looks funny.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> But why are you posting about that picture in this thread?
Click to expand...

because i can


----------



## sm4him

Long, hard work week, couldn't have been happier to see it end. Didn't help that the week has ended on a very cold, rainy note. Yech. I hate 35-degree rain.

Celebrated by going to my favorite little Mexican spot for dinner, where I had the Enchiladas Suprema special and giant Margarita.  Now I'm home, wasting a little time on the internets and contemplating a nice early bedtime, curled up under the covers to read for a while and wake up whenever I want to in the morning.


----------



## snerd

sm4him said:


> Long, hard work week, couldn't have been happier to see it end. Didn't help that the week has ended on a very cold, rainy note. Yech. I hate 35-degree rain.
> 
> Celebrated by going to my favorite little Mexican spot for dinner, where I had the Enchiladas Suprema special and giant Margarita.  Now I'm home, wasting a little time on the internets and contemplating a nice early bedtime, curled up under the covers to read for a while and wake up whenever I want to in the morning.


Mmmmm......... Mexican food! Over the last 2 weeks I've eaten steaks at Texas Roadhouse and Chili's, Spaghetti at Olive Garden, breakfast at iHop and fast food at Popeyes. I've forgotten our great mom & pop Mexican place, Tres Amigos!! Thanks!


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> But why are you posting about that picture in this thread?
> 
> 
> 
> because i can
Click to expand...


Well then I can give you a hard time about it


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Long, hard work week, couldn't have been happier to see it end. Didn't help that the week has ended on a very cold, rainy note. Yech. I hate 35-degree rain.
> 
> Celebrated by going to my favorite little Mexican spot for dinner, where I had the Enchiladas Suprema special and giant Margarita.  Now I'm home, wasting a little time on the internets and contemplating a nice early bedtime, curled up under the covers to read for a while and wake up whenever I want to in the morning.
> 
> 
> 
> Mmmmm......... Mexican food! Over the last 2 weeks I've eaten steaks at Texas Roadhouse and Chili's, Spaghetti at Olive Garden, breakfast at iHop and fast food at Popeyes. I've forgotten our great mom & pop Mexican place, Tres Amigos!! Thanks!
Click to expand...


Yeah, that's what this little place is too, just a little local spot owned by some local Mexicans. Good, authentic food, margaritas that aren't just made from a mix--what more can I ask for?
Like you, I'd let myself "forget" about this place until a few months ago (during the deranged TPF Leaderboard thread period of my life, lol), but since I rediscovered it, I've really enjoyed eating there once a week or so.  Hadn't been since before the New year started though.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> But why are you posting about that picture in this thread?
> 
> 
> 
> because i can
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well then I can give you a hard time about it
Click to expand...

i thought you were promoted from hall monitor to linguistics teacher?


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Long, hard work week, couldn't have been happier to see it end. Didn't help that the week has ended on a very cold, rainy note. Yech. I hate 35-degree rain.
> 
> Celebrated by going to my favorite little Mexican spot for dinner, where I had the Enchiladas Suprema special and giant Margarita.  Now I'm home, wasting a little time on the internets and contemplating a nice early bedtime, curled up under the covers to read for a while and wake up whenever I want to in the morning.
> 
> 
> 
> Mmmmm......... Mexican food! Over the last 2 weeks I've eaten steaks at Texas Roadhouse and Chili's, Spaghetti at Olive Garden, breakfast at iHop and fast food at Popeyes. I've forgotten our great mom & pop Mexican place, Tres Amigos!! Thanks!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, that's what this little place is too, just a little local spot owned by some local Mexicans. Good, authentic food, margaritas that aren't just made from a mix--what more can I ask for?
> Like you, I'd let myself "forget" about this place until a few months ago (during the deranged TPF Leaderboard thread period of my life, lol), but since I rediscovered it, I've really enjoyed eating there once a week or so.  Hadn't been since before the New year started though.
Click to expand...

new bird shooter posted with a 5200 could prolly use your expert advice


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> i thought you were promoted from hall monitor to linguistics teacher?



I still have my policing authority.


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> i thought you were promoted from hall monitor to linguistics teacher?


I love Italian food!!!


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i thought you were promoted from hall monitor to linguistics teacher?
> 
> 
> 
> I love Italian food!!!
Click to expand...


And...it just doesn't stop being funny.

Or possibly, that's just the margarita.


----------



## snerd

sm4him said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i thought you were promoted from hall monitor to linguistics teacher?
> 
> 
> 
> I love Italian food!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And...it just doesn't stop being funny.
> 
> Or possibly, that's just the margarita.
Click to expand...

I'm kinda like Pavlov's dog............. I just see that word, salivate and react with that line lol!! I think it's Lenny's BIL that started it.


----------



## limr

Hey snerd...linguistics!


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Hey snerd...linguistics!


I know!! You-a like-a Italian too?!


----------



## snerd

Yeah, Sharon is getting tipsy. Keeps rating my posts funny lol!!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey snerd...linguistics!
> 
> 
> 
> I know!! You-a like-a Italian too?!
Click to expand...


Atta, boy!


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey snerd...linguistics!
> 
> 
> 
> I know!! You-a like-a Italian too?!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Atta, boy!
Click to expand...

Another 3 hours and I can enjoy a cold beer!!


----------



## minicoop1985

Who's got a hard on?


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Who's got a hard on?



For what? Or just in general?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> linguistics!


A-choo!


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Who's got a hard on?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For what? Or just in general?
Click to expand...


EVERYBODY HAVE FUN TONIGHT
everybody have fun tonight

EVERYBODY WANG CHUNG TONIGHT
everybody wang chung tonight


----------



## bribrius

today is friday? no chit......


----------



## snerd

minicoop1985 said:


> Who's got a hard on?


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Who's got a hard on?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For what? Or just in general?
Click to expand...


And there we have the ages of "man".  Starts what "What", followed by "Who" which bring up "Where", and after enough practice, comes the question of "why" and eventually, ends with "when".

Scrolling to the bottom, for some reason, the search tag for this page included "YUP session of spanking".  Google algorithms are weird.


----------



## limr

Hosers, my hosers!

Still have my headache. I'm curled around my big Maine coffee mug looking at the gorgeous snow outside.


----------



## snowbear

Finish your coffee, take a kitty & grab some sleep.  Hope you feel better quickly.


----------



## limr

Here's the view:

 

Isn't it beautiful?


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Finish your coffee, take a kitty & grab some sleep.  Hope you feel better quickly.



I already slept in late. Kitties were all snuggled up with me this morning. Heat leeches


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Hosers, my hosers!
> 
> Still have my headache. I'm curled around my big Maine coffee mug looking at the gorgeous snow outside.



My condolences (on the headache).  My wife gets a headache in the morning when she doesn't get her coffee, so it's a ritual that on Saturdays, she gets to sleep in a little, I bring her a cup of coffee and the morning paper, and she gets a little quiet time before having to go forth and rescue the world from whatever it has gotten into lately.  Today, the pattern's a little off in that she's getting ready to do a bridal shower for the daughter who's getting married soon, and there's still a lot of prep to finish before mid-day.  I'm the gaffer, go-to guy, driver, and (occasional) photographer.  Just charging the batteries (both on camera and self) as we speak... er.. write.


----------



## limr

Ugh, good luck to her! Showers of any sort ain't my bag, man.


----------



## bribrius

snow.  . 4-8 inches. Not to bad.


----------



## snowbear

Just rain, today.  We had a little sleet & rain mix when we left work last night, then got into a little snow & rain mix on the way home.   I'm hoping tomorrow's/Monday's Clipper will be more snow, less rain.


----------



## sm4him

Snowed here too.  For about 20 minutes. 
Rained all day yesterday; about three degrees too warm for snow--as much as I detest a cold rain like that, I'm kinda grateful, because that much rain would have translated to enough snow for my yard to look like Lenny's, and THAT would not make me happy.

Sorry about the headache, Len. I had one all night last night; up about every two hours. It's *nearly* gone now, just lurking back there enough to remind me that it could come roaring back at any moment.


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> Hosers, my hosers!



I'm your captain, I'm your captain, though I'm feeling... Mighty sick... I've been lost now, days uncounted...


----------



## minicoop1985

Dammit now I have that stuck in my head. TO THE YOUTUBE


----------



## sm4him

I'm being kinda lazy today. Too cloudy to bother going anywhere to do photography; I *might* go out later if the sun ever comes out.
I need to do some cleaning, and organizing, maybe do a little work in the room I want to make my photography "studio." But instead I'm sitting here at the computer, looking at TPF and FB, and playing jigsaw puzzles.

Maybe I should google "where did I put my motivation?" because I do seem to have misplaced it. 

EDIT: I actually DID google it. But all the results seem to require putting some sort of EFFORT into getting it back, and that would require motivation...


----------



## Warhorse

Since retiring last October, I have been extremely lazy, and so has my wife.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Hosers, my hosers!
> 
> Still have my headache. I'm curled around my big Maine coffee mug looking at the gorgeous snow outside.


thats funny. I live in maine and have a nevada coffee mug... Hardly ever use it though i make my own mugs i generally use.  They break i go with the kids down to the local pottery place (make your own) and make myself new mugs again. Have you considered getting into pottery? There is something really neat about drinking your coffee from a coffee mug you made yourself.  We made cookie jars, plates, candy dishes, couple vases etc. etc.


----------



## limr

I would love to learn pottery. When I was a little girl, I actually had a little throwing wheel that I got for Christmas one year. I didn't get to play with it much - it never really spun fast enough to do anything good, plus my mother was always yelling about how messy it was (then why did she buy it for me??). But it's definitely a goal of mine to learn.

And I live in New York but don't care about having a NY mug


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee hosers. I was so tired last night that I nearly started yelling at everybody for being so bloody stupid ... starting with the candidate. But I did manage to get free robocalling.


----------



## Gary A.

Today should be another perfect day ... 75F. Unfortunately, I have to attend a funeral.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> I would love to learn pottery. When I was a little girl, I actually had a little throwing wheel that I got for Christmas one year. I didn't get to play with it much - it never really spun fast enough to do anything good, plus my mother was always yelling about how messy it was (then why did she buy it for me??). But it's definitely a goal of mine to learn.
> 
> And I live in New York but don't care about having a NY mug


we don't do it in the house. Geesh no, too much mess, not enough room, no kiln, no materials, nada.  I am perfectly happy going else where. Go there with the kids it could ring up to a hundred or more, think we hit two hundred a couple times. But i leave the mess there and don't have to buy anything.  They shelve it , throw them in the kiln and call me when it is cooked.  And they clean up the mess. And about anything you could possibly want to work with they have it. If you are willing to spend fifteen dollars to make your own coffee mug at least.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would love to learn pottery. When I was a little girl, I actually had a little throwing wheel that I got for Christmas one year. I didn't get to play with it much - it never really spun fast enough to do anything good, plus my mother was always yelling about how messy it was (then why did she buy it for me??). But it's definitely a goal of mine to learn.
> 
> And I live in New York but don't care about having a NY mug
> 
> 
> 
> we don't do it in the house. Geesh no, too much mess, not enough room, no kiln, no materials, nada.  I am perfectly happy going else where. Go there with the kids it could ring up to a hundred or more, think we hit two hundred a couple times. But i leave the mess there and don't have to buy anything.  They shelve it , throw them in the kiln and call me when it is cooked.  And they clean up the mess. And about anything you could possibly want to work with they have it. If you are willing to spend fifteen dollars to make your own coffee mug at least.
Click to expand...


We had a kiln. I don't know why and I don't remember if we ever used it. It's still actually in a corner of the garage. I plan on keeping it. And this little throwing wheel, as I said, was very small and plastic - a kid's toy. Whenever I used it, I had to be outside, but even then it was apparently too messy. Mind you, this was coming from my mother, a woman who puts three garbage bags into the trash can before she puts in the bag that she uses for the actual garbage. Because she wants to protect the garbage can. She doesn't layer the bags so she can use the top one, take it out, then use the next one, etc. No. Those three bags are always there. To protect the garbage can.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would love to learn pottery. When I was a little girl, I actually had a little throwing wheel that I got for Christmas one year. I didn't get to play with it much - it never really spun fast enough to do anything good, plus my mother was always yelling about how messy it was (then why did she buy it for me??). But it's definitely a goal of mine to learn.
> 
> And I live in New York but don't care about having a NY mug
> 
> 
> 
> we don't do it in the house. Geesh no, too much mess, not enough room, no kiln, no materials, nada.  I am perfectly happy going else where. Go there with the kids it could ring up to a hundred or more, think we hit two hundred a couple times. But i leave the mess there and don't have to buy anything.  They shelve it , throw them in the kiln and call me when it is cooked.  And they clean up the mess. And about anything you could possibly want to work with they have it. If you are willing to spend fifteen dollars to make your own coffee mug at least.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We had a kiln. I don't know why and I don't remember if we ever used it. It's still actually in a corner of the garage. I plan on keeping it. And this little throwing wheel, as I said, was very small and plastic - a kid's toy. Whenever I used it, I had to be outside, but even then it was apparently too messy. Mind you, this was coming from my mother, a woman who puts three garbage bags into the trash can before she puts in the bag that she uses for the actual garbage. Because she wants to protect the garbage can. She doesn't layer the bags so she can use the top one, take it out, then use the next one, etc. No. Those three bags are always there. To protect the garbage can.
Click to expand...

that is a good idea. cleaning out the garbage can when a bag leaks or rips sucks. usually i haul it out in the yard with a gallon of bleach and spray it down with a hose.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> When I was a little girl, I actually had a little throwing wheel that I got for Christmas one year.


Not exactly my scenario, but I did try throwing some clay on a wheel when I was little.  Unfortunately it was more mud, than clay and the wheel was the family hi-fi.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> that is a good idea. cleaning out the garbage can when a bag leaks or rips sucks. usually i haul it out in the yard with a gallon of bleach and spray it down with a hose.



Would you really need three bags, though? And I can tell you with absolute certainty that a garbage bag broke in our house maybe once in 30 years.


----------



## bribrius

i really should be out shooting right now. But instead i am surfing the web and playing one of the Grand Theft Auto games with my five year old. Yeah, i know , the content isn't appropriate for children. My wife yells at me for playing them with him but she is upstairs right now.  Terri just locked a thread, could be a good thing. Give me more ambition to go actually get out a camera and do something with it. snowing, nice overcast too, sure i can find something out there to shoot. 

 I am down about thirty pics for the week. Today is the last day. so technically i should be shooting all day to come up with hopefully a hundred shots of something. considering it is already afternoon i blew that.  I might have to go shoot tonight for makeup. Still haven't cleaned my sd cards from yesterday for keepers. i am slacking....


----------



## Warhorse

Gary A. said:


> But I did manage to get free robocalling.


I HATE those calls, and hang up immediately.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Today should be another perfect day ... 75F. Unfortunately, I have to attend a funeral.



I don't know how I missed this post! Sorry about the funeral


----------



## tirediron

Warhorse said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> But I did manage to get free robocalling.
> 
> 
> 
> I HATE those calls, and hang up immediately.
Click to expand...

Agree!  If a candidate doesn't care enough to have a real, live human call at my door, NO VOTE!  Ever!


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> I would love to learn pottery......


----------



## snerd

Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, considering I have no thumbs.... 

Kidding. I have thumbs.


----------



## oldhippy

*here's one for ya
When people ask what you learned today .....
Manure... An interesting fact
Manure :  In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be transported by ship and it was also before the invention of commercial fertilizers, so large shipments of manure were quite common.* *

It was shipped dry, because in dry form it weighed a lot less than when wet, but once water (at sea) hit it, not only did it become heavier, but the process of fermentation began again, of which a by product is methane gas of course. As the stuff was stored below decks in bundles you can see what could (and did) happen. 
Methane began to build up below decks and the first time someone came below at night with a lantern, BOOOOM!
Several ships were destroyed in this manner before it was determined just what was happening 

After that, the bundles of manure were always stamped with the instruction ' Stow high in transit ' on them, which meant for the sailors to stow it high enough off the lower decks so that any water that came into the hold would not touch this volatile cargo and start the production of methane.* 
*
Thus evolved the term ' S.H.I.T ' , (Stow High In Transit) which has come down through the centuries and is in use to this very day. 

You probably did not know the true history of this word. 

Neither did I. *


----------



## snowbear

I don't know . . . that story kinda smells.


----------



## limr

Charlie, you're a Gorn!!!


----------



## sm4him

Well, the weather cleared up this afternoon--although it was still way too bloomin' cold--so I went back up to one of the local dams for a while. Saw four eagles, got ONE semi-decent shot that I'm still trying to decide whether or not to even post here on TPF. At least I didn't get entirely skunked today, like last week. I also got, I think, some decent shots of some backyard birds while sitting outside at my fire pit.

Gonna get me a nice, hot cup of coffee and settle under some warm covers for the evening. And take something for the headache that is increasing in strength, kinda like a tropical depression threatening to reach hurricane strength.


----------



## limr

Hey, that reminds me, I owe Gary a Gorn picture:


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Charlie, you're a Gorn!!!


Isn't he cool??   I saw that earlier and wondered how I would recognize Bear!!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Charlie, you're a Gorn!!!


That's just for you, sweetheart!



terri said:


> I saw that earlier and wondered how I would recognize Bear!!


By my very average quality posts?  I'll probably change it tomorrow.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> Well, the weather cleared up this afternoon--although it was still way too bloomin' cold--so I went back up to one of the local dams for a while. Saw four eagles, got ONE semi-decent shot that I'm still trying to decide whether or not to even post here on TPF. At least I didn't get entirely skunked today, like last week. I also got, I think, some decent shots of some backyard birds while sitting outside at my fire pit.
> 
> Gonna get me a nice, hot cup of coffee and settle under some warm covers for the evening. And take something for the headache that is increasing in strength, kinda like a tropical depression threatening to reach hurricane strength.



There's a swampy area with a lot of dead trees nearby that I'm going to try and hit tomorrow.  I saw an eagle there a couple of weeks ago.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Hey, that reminds me, I owe Gary a Gorn picture:
> 
> View attachment 93953


You gotta admit it's pretty cool to walk around where Kirk and Gorn duked it out. (There really is sulphur under that tree.)


----------



## snowbear

G'night all.


----------



## limr

Night Charlie!


----------



## Gary A.

G'night Gorn.


----------



## snerd

Gorns. Only in the Coffee House.


----------



## bribrius

hey hosers.....  i am probably the only one here not drinking, or drunk already, tonight. just a guess...lol


----------



## snerd

Nope, I'm stone cold sober. Ran out of beer last night!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, everyone!  Coffee and Zoe.

Avatar reset.


----------



## limr

Good morning, hosers. Having my coffee, going to finish doing my hair (all-over color last night, highlights this morning) and then I'm off to have lunch with my sisters. One had her birthday on the 16th and we were supposed to go to lunch last Sunday but the ice storm sort of put the kibosh on that.


----------



## snerd

Morning all! I have enough coffee left to make about a third of a pot. Will have to do. Then I'm thinking of breaking in the new strap with either a stroll downtown or out at the wildlife refuge.

Here is my weather for the next 4 days.....................







WooHoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## limr

In June, I would be ecstatic about that weather. In January? Ew. But then, this is one reason I don't live in Oklahoma


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> In June, I would be ecstatic about that weather. In January? Ew. But then, this is one reason I don't live in Oklahoma


Oh, it's no problem, really. Don't like the weather in Oklahoma?! Just wait a few minutes....... it'll change!!  We could get a severe ice storm and be back at 15 degrees on any one of those days lol!!


----------



## pgriz

This was outside this morning.  



Yesterday, it was just at freezing (0C, 32F) with a light snow shower.  This morning it is -14C.  

Icicle is pretty.  For some reason, I'm hearing "Bird on a wire" by Leonard Cohen.  Looking for some freedom from the persistent cold...


----------



## limr

Yeah, I don't think that would sit well with me, either - I like my seasons, but I'd prefer not to have them all in one day


----------



## snerd

pgriz said:


> This was outside this morning.  View attachment 94013....


That's cool.

Get it?! Cool. An icicle.






.................


----------



## pgriz

Yeah, yeah....    It's cool.  My wife whacks me on the back of the head when she hears me make those kind of puns.  On principle, of course.  She's trying to get me to elevate my sense of humour.


----------



## bribrius

sense of humour? whats that?


----------



## pgriz

bribrius said:


> sense of humour? whats that?



Apparently something that is under-developed in the male.  I dunno, I think my slap-stick, and punnery senses are very healthy.


----------



## snerd

pgriz said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> sense of humour? whats that?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently something that is under-developed in the male.  I dunno, I think my slap-stick, and punnery senses are very healthy.
Click to expand...

Take my wife. Please!!


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> hey hosers.....  i am probably the only one here not drinking, or drunk already, tonight. just a guess...lol


 I haven't been drunk ... probably since my college days. Decades ...


----------



## pgriz

Thanks Snerd, but the one I have is just fine.  At least, she puts up with me and all my characteristics.  Well, most of them anyways.  The simple truth is that I lucked out in the lottery of life when I met and married her.  I've seen lots of marriages go sour.  Somehow we've found ways to work through the rough patches (and they always are there, no matter what people say), and yet, after thirty-plus years, we still find things to surprise each other with.


----------



## bribrius




----------



## bribrius

oops. wrong thread again..


----------



## Rick58

Same here Paul. I was single for 13 years between wife "A" and wife "B". We have our moments, but I have no regrets. We been together 18 years and married 15 of those. We're still best friends


----------



## bribrius

what is weird is, they get older. i still remember my wife being 18, but now she is 33. Course she reminds me i am getting a little belly and starting a bald spot so i ain't sayn nothing....


----------



## snerd

I'll relate something wonderful in the relationship department.......... but maybe later,  not right now. 

Dave Bowman: You see, something's going to happen. You must leave. 
Heywood Floyd: What? What's going to happen? 
Dave Bowman: Something wonderful. 
Heywood Floyd: What? 
Dave Bowman: I understand how you feel. You see, it's all very clear to me now. The whole thing. It's wonderful. 
Heywood Floyd: What? What's going to happen? 
Dave Bowman: Something wonderful. 




Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> This was outside this morning.  View attachment 94013
> 
> Yesterday, it was just at freezing (0C, 32F) with a light snow shower.  This morning it is -14C.
> 
> Icicle is pretty.  For some reason, I'm hearing "Bird on a wire" by Leonard Cohen.  Looking for some freedom from the persistent cold...


As a matter of a daily routine ... I don't think I'd like to wake up to icicles on a wire. Yesterday we hit 80F, a lovely day. Presently, the Sun is out, not a cloud in the sky, a slight breeze moving the trees. I can hear the sounds of the backyard waterfall and kids playing ball at the regional park a block or two away ... sipping on my coffee and reading the paper ... today is starting off to be another prefect day.

In my youth, weather was weather ... but now I truly appreciate not fighting the elements ... I appreciate being caressed by the Sun the breezes and not pistol whipped or held hostage by the outdoors. In winter I look out to the yard and it is still lush with green and blossoms and fruits, veggies, butterflies and hummers. Yeah, traffic sucks, unbelievably sucks and taxes are high and housing is expensive ...

I'm back from a little walk in the backyard. I performed my daily chrysalis watch, inspecting a few Monarch chrysalis looking for signs of emerging butterflies ... the chrysalis hanging on the back of a chair is very close, the chrysalis is no longer smooth and is gentling conforming to the shape of the butterfly's wings and body ... then Mary Lou says "Look at that...". On the shady cold patio concrete was a Monarch not moving, just standing there. I picked it up, its wings were still damp and I placed it in the sun on a Flowering Maple. Instantly, it unfurled it wings and we watched them slowly stretch and flap. There's a wrinkle in one of the wings, I hope it can pump it out.

I recognize that there are Hummers and Monarchs all over ... but I have them year round ... and I have Orchids blooming in the front, apples popping away in the back, I'm less than 30 minutes from the Pacific, less than 30 minutes from Hollywood and the Coliseum and less than an hour to snow.

The Cook and I are off for our morning constitutional. Usually I let her choose our path ... but today I think we'll head south to the regional park, around the little lake and watch the girls play some fast-pitch.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> View attachment 94017


Is that your home? Very nice.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Thanks Snerd, but the one I have is just fine.  At least, she puts up with me and all my characteristics.  Well, most of them anyways.  The simple truth is that I lucked out in the lottery of life when I met and married her.  I've seen lots of marriages go sour.  Somehow we've found ways to work through the rough patches (and they always are there, no matter what people say), and yet, after thirty-plus years, we still find things to surprise each other with.



"If you took all the girls I knew
When I was single
And brought them all together for one night
I know they'd never match
my sweet imagination
Everything looks worse in black and white"

_Paul Simon - Kodakchrome_


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> Thanks Snerd, but the one I have is just fine.  At least, she puts up with me and all my characteristics.  Well, most of them anyways.  The simple truth is that I lucked out in the lottery of life when I met and married her.  I've seen lots of marriages go sour.  Somehow we've found ways to work through the rough patches (and they always are there, no matter what people say), and yet, after thirty-plus years, we still find things to surprise each other with.


Ain't easy. you grow up, you change. Grow apart, grow together, grow apart. Do stupid things.  Every time you go through it though, and the marriage is tested, the loyalties tested and commitment tested.  And if you get through it. The marriage gets stronger. If you can't get through it, it is over. Some people don't want the marriage. They destroy it themselves. It didn't fail, it was destroyed. And that is their choice too.  Two cents.


----------



## snerd

Once again.......... Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain!!! 17mph regular, gusts to 25. Will get breezier as the day progresses.









Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 94017
> 
> 
> 
> Is that your home? Very nice.
Click to expand...

no. i live here. 




(just kidding).. Actually i wish i lived in the first one. Not only is it nicer looking than where i live now but the taxes and cost of ownership would probably be cheaper. Further out in the sticks you get, the cheaper it gets. That would be cheaper than the dive i live in now.


----------



## Gary A.

"Oh, oh, oh!
Let's go fly a kite
Up to the highest height!
Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring
Up through the atmosphere
Up where the air is clear
Oh, let's go fly a kite!"

from _Mary Poppins_


----------



## Gary A.

The Monarch I moved to the sun has flown to a new plant!


----------



## snerd

Real Estate Agent didn't have much good news. The market really sucks right now. We paid $255K in ought 7, we'd be very lucky to get $230K today. Minus $184K mortgage, plus agent commissions, and we wouldn't see much left over. A few homes across town have been listed for over 6 months now! 


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## tirediron

Make sure your insurance is paid up and send me a 'plane ticket!


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Real Estate Agent didn't have much good news. The market really sucks right now. We paid $255K in ought 7, we'd be very lucky to get $230K today. Minus $184K mortgage, plus agent commissions, and we wouldn't see much left over. A few homes across town have been listed for over 6 months now!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


i am surprised mine is worth anything honestly. It started off as a post and beam carriage house for a farm in the 1800's.  I took a pic of the original old foundation and posted it here a while back. it was up on the hill out back across the field. A carriage house. Somewhere around 1900 they put it on logs and rolled it down the hill, built a rock foundation and put it on the rock foundation. Decided to convert it into a house. Then around 1920 or so the actual road went in (dirt of course before that it was sitting in the woods) and somewhere between 1920 and 1930 they converted it to a apartment building. I am guessing to rent rooms or something to the weavers that tracked down to the textile mills to rent.  i bought it condemned in 2000. Knocked out a wall, converted it to more of a house with a inlaw apartment. Ripped a lot of it apart and found all sorts of odds and ends dating way back people had somehow shoved in the walls.  

At some point i will probably knock down the rest of the dividing walls and make it back into a large single house again. Or maybe just sell it. Not sure.   The house on the next parcel is considered being knocked down (bank owned) as they couldnt sell it. I am wondering if i want to try to make a offer on it to expand the land i have with this one a little. Not sure if it is worth paying the tax rate on it though. The original farm house my house came off from was up for sale about ten years ago, but with the road they put in around 1900 it left the farm house right on the edge of the road. So i didnt want the house. I had contemplated buying it for just the land but for what they wanted for it then it wouldnt have been feasible. Because i really just wanted the land not the farmhouse. i tried to get them to subdivide it and just sell me the land and keep the house to sell to someone else but they wouldnt do it.


----------



## bribrius

oh, the other problem i am having with it is zoning. At one point i leased out the inlaw apartment space to a construction company a friend of mine owned for office space. we did a couple deals together it made sense.. But the town started giving me chit for all the construction trucks parked there.   After i booted the construction company i used it for my mortgage business, but the town wouldnt let me put up a sign because of the zoning. Just one on the building i wasn't allowed a separate sign. The zoning is a pita.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Real Estate Agent didn't have much good news. The market really sucks right now. We paid $255K in ought 7, we'd be very lucky to get $230K today. Minus $184K mortgage, plus agent commissions, and we wouldn't see much left over. A few homes across town have been listed for over 6 months now!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


Everyone is worried about fed interest rates increasing i think. Fed increases rates again the prices will drop lower. Cheap financing is what holds up prices to a extent. Why they kept them so low, so long, to stop the real estate crash or at least soften it.  If you want out, you  may not be seeing higher prices for quite a while.They already bumped up from the lows.  Valuations could start dropping again. Lot of what pushed up prices were cheap credit, easy approvals, govt backed financing, and everyone and their brother thinking they were a real estate "playa" pushing up the market. Most of those wannabees have lost their azz now, and well deserved they had it coming. I am also speaking of in general, i have no idea of your localized area. Things are getting a little better but a lot of people are sitting on the fence, holding cash. Not quite sure which way this is going to go. Most of the real money and players pulled out of the market and are holding. What is up right now, still is foreclosure listings. The market is still weeding through the trash to a extent through the auction market.


----------



## snowbear

Back from a little ride.  Took my lovely wife for a pre-op physical then went looking to shoot some birds.  No eagles but I got some snaps of some geese.

No snow for SoMD (rain) but that's not supposed to start until about 22:00.  It's currently 51 degrees so I had to open the sunroof.  Now it's lunch - tacos from La Tolteca.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Actually Snerd, you're not as bad off as others who have lost most-all of their value. That you would have anything left would be a gift to a lot of people!
As a former Realtor (don't hate me), you mention homes on the market 6 months. That means the buyers who are looking to buy, have seen those and rejected them. Now you come on the market and you will get your greatest surge of buyers come look that first - 2nd week. 
DO NOT go nuts on your price! Put it at a price that more than 1 buyer will say, 'we better jump on this before the other buyers. You may get more than 1 offer?.
If Realtor says, 'try '$233,900, you may run.. They should give you the facts of the market and let you make an educated and realistic price. Yes, they can advise you, but you make the decision. 
I would go $229,000 in that case. 

I can hear the 'natives" now...oh she just gave away 4k of your money. No, I didn't. If it makes a buyer BUY now, you save mortgage payment, taxes, insurance etc. 
If you don't garner attention RIGHT off, then you become one of the ones on the market for 6 months! Obviously if your market supports a few buyers you could end up over your price or AT your price without negotiating down from your $233k, to a lower than your $229.
Just my 15 yrs experience in a nutshell and yes as free advice, it's worth what you paid 
Pm if you want.
Good luck.
Nancy


----------



## bribrius

NancyMoranG said:


> Actually Snerd, you're not as bad off as others who have lost most-all of their value. That you would have anything left would be a gift to a lot of people!
> As a former Realtor (don't hate me), you mention homes on the market 6 months. That means the buyers who are looking to buy, have seen those and rejected them. Now you come on the market and you will get your greatest surge of buyers come look that first - 2nd week.
> DO NOT go nuts on your price! Put it at a price that more than 1 buyer will say, 'we better jump on this before the other buyers. You may get more than 1 offer?.
> If Realtor says, 'try '$233,900, you may run.. They should give you the facts of the market and let you make an educated and realistic price. Yes, they can advise you, but you make the decision.
> I would go $229,000 in that case.
> 
> I can hear the 'natives" now...oh she just gave away 4k of your money. No, I didn't. If it makes a buyer BUY now, you save mortgage payment, taxes, insurance etc.
> If you don't garner attention RIGHT off, then you become one of the ones on the market for 6 months! Obviously if your market supports a few buyers you could end up over your price or AT your price without negotiating down from your $233k, to a lower than your $229.
> Just my 15 yrs experience in a nutshell and yes as free advice, it's worth what you paid
> Pm if you want.
> Good luck.
> Nancy


what would you think of him waiting for the prime time (right before the kids get out of school) so he can put it on as a new listing, keeping the price high and tossing in closing costs for fha buyers and trying to skim by the appraisal.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Depends on his market. If FHA buyers are a big part, than yeah, he may have to analyze that. But he really would be better with a strong buyer, 20% down payment, and a sales price fitting into his area. If he waits 2 weeks to find out appraisal didn't fly, he may have lost another  buyer who was chomping at the bit when he came on market and moved on. (Emotionally or financially)
If personal issues aren't in the mix and he can wait, the Florida market was busiest May-June, but then you're also competing with the influx of everyone else who waited. If he can be a couple of weeks ahead of them, great..
Hopefully Snerd is interviewing now and finding out what repairs or fix up will help in the sale and he is giving time for that. 
Nancy


----------



## snerd

Actually, the best that could happen is the soon-to-be-ex decided  to keep it and buys off my interest in it!! I think she can swing it, I'm rooting for her lol!!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## bribrius

NancyMoranG said:


> Depends on his market. If FHA buyers are a big part, than yeah, he may have to analyze that. But he really would be better with a strong buyer, 20% down payment, and a sales price fitting into his area. If he waits 2 weeks to find out appraisal didn't fly, he may have lost another  buyer who was chomping at the bit when he came on market and moved on. (Emotionally or financially)
> If personal issues aren't in the mix and he can wait, the Florida market was busiest May-June, but then you're also competing with the influx of everyone else who waited. If he can be a couple of weeks ahead of them, great..
> Hopefully Snerd is interviewing now and finding out what repairs or fix up will help in the sale and he is giving time for that.
> Nancy


Makes sense. I always advised realtors i dealt with to set up everything for fha or state financing programs, first time home buyers assistance. Reason being around here straight conventional is a small percentage of the market. Most first or second home purchasers do govt. backed. After enough rejections i started telling realtors i dealt with to just plan on telling their customers to pay points and towards closing. As it opened up the house for more buyers and a larger base. But that its here. i have no clue what the ratio is for conventional financing where he is.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Actually, the best that could happen is the soon-to-be-ex decided  to keep it and buys off my interest in it!! I think she can swing it, I'm rooting for her lol!!!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


there ya go. save you a lot of headache....


----------



## Gary A.

The housing market has come back big-time here.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> The housing market has come back big-time here.


Maybe he should move the house there. I am hoping it crashes here. It was going down hill, little come back. i am praying for a all out crash.  I hope the fed jacks rates. There is things i want, i don't have the money for. i need to figure out some finances but i also need things to go on wholesale pricing.  Some more banks going under would make my day...


----------



## bribrius

wow.  That sounded really bad. Maybe my wife is right and i am a dick.


----------



## snerd

Banks going under?! I thought they all got bailed out?!


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Banks going under?! I thought they all got bailed out?!


They bailed out the large ones. But the smaller and locals have been going under inadvertently.  I think is slowed down now, unfortunately.  i used to follow the bank hit list, which was basically a list of the banks closing the doors. haven't checked it lately. since the local here just built a new branch i am guessing the banks shutting is slowing down.


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Banks going under?! I thought they all got bailed out?!
> 
> 
> 
> They bailed out the large ones. But the smaller and locals have been going under inadvertently.  I think is slowed down now, unfortunately.  i used to follow the bank hit list, which was basically a list of the banks closing the doors. haven't checked it lately. since the local here just built a new branch i am guessing the banks shutting is slowing down.
Click to expand...

I think the precedent has been set........... there are no repercussions to buying bad paper. They've been proven 'too big to fail', hence, there is simply no deterrent to dissuade them from that lucrative practice. Continue buying it, make your money, then when all fails cry to uncle sugar. Ingenious racket! I want my money back! Did you get any money from the bailouts? I didn't get any money from the bailouts! Crooks and liars all.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Banks going under?! I thought they all got bailed out?!
> 
> 
> 
> They bailed out the large ones. But the smaller and locals have been going under inadvertently.  I think is slowed down now, unfortunately.  i used to follow the bank hit list, which was basically a list of the banks closing the doors. haven't checked it lately. since the local here just built a new branch i am guessing the banks shutting is slowing down.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I think the precedent has been set........... there is no repercussions to buying bad paper. They've been proven 'too big to fail', hence, there is simply no deterrent to dissuade them from that lucrative practice. Continue buying it, make your money, then when all fails cry to uncle sugar. Ingenious racket! I want my money back! Did you get any money from the bailouts? I didn't get any money from the bailouts! Crooks and liars all.
Click to expand...

bingo.
they should have let the lot go under. Sure, it would trickle down to us more average joes to a extent. But i would have no problem taking a little hit to see the majors flop and end the racket..


----------



## limr

OH MY GOD, MY STUPID STUPID BRAIN!

So yeah, there's going to be a blizzard. Fair enough - we've got wood, jugs of water, plenty of food, a working grill, and a country store across the street in a pinch. If school isn't closed on Tuesday, I'll eat my hat.

Tomorrow is the issue. I have to be on campus all day. I think the morning class will run - snow isn't supposed to start until 1pm and my class ends at 12. But the snow will get worse. If school doesn't close, then I am on campus until 8pm. Blizzard conditions start at 10pm. If evening classes are cancelled, I will be able to go home, but the last two times the campus closed in the afternoon, it was an *absolute clusterjam. *Takes people at least an hour just to get off campus. I have class until 12 and then my admin job, and then readings at 2pm. With luck, I'll be able to get myself off campus before they cancel (they usually announce around 3pm) and just camp myself out at a diner or something to wait to see if they cancel evening classes.

The forecast keeps changing and now they're saying snow showers starting at 10am.

And so my stupid brain is freaking out, expecting it all to be a massive clusterjam again, and still having vivid memories of the last two, my nerves are all jangly. And maybe it will all be fine. I have good snow tires and a manual transmission, and I know how to drive in the snow. And anticipation of the event is almost always worse than the event itself. But dear lord, there's just going to be so much stupid out on the roads tomorrow!


----------



## pgriz

Pack your backpack (you do have one, right?) with the appropriate survival gear.  And don't forget, people who act like zombies in a snowstorm aren't really zombies - just cold.  But the lack of brain function is about the same.  On the plus side, they move very slowly.  So you don't need to use a shotgun - just sidestep them.

How are your cross-country skills?  Or even better, know any red-necks with snowmobiles?  These guys will go through anything.  And go anywhere.  And if they think you're "one of them", they'll get you home in time for the evening news.  Might have to serve them hot chocolate as a thank-you though.


----------



## snerd

I'll be thinking of you, Lenny! Be careful and watch out for all of the buffoonery!!


----------



## limr

Yup, keep your fingers crossed for minimal buffoonery and friendly rednecks on quads!  I'll keep y'all posted when I can!


----------



## sm4him

Yeah, I saw where NY is supposed to get 2'+ of snow--better you than me!  Originally, that same system was forecast to bring us our first "significant" snow of the year (significant being relative, of course--more like 3 or 4 inches, not 2 feet). Now it's just supposed to be cold with some snow showers but no accumulation.

I do hope that things work out just right for you! Paul's suggestion to give those rednecks some hot chocolate is a good one, but in my experience, blizzard or no, the rednecks around here would just as soon warm up with a cold beer.


----------



## limr

I've got beer, too!

The thing is, by the time I find rednecks, I'm already in my town. My school is in the middle of the county where I'm more likely to be dealing with accountants in their Audis, and I ain't getting squat out of them!


----------



## mmaria

for L


I'm going to the dentist... need to take an x-ray of my wisdom tooth. It needs to be gone forever! 

I hope I said that correctly, if I didn't well, sorry, my English sucks lately!.... I'm also learning English because I need to take a test


----------



## pgriz

Hi Marija,

Wisdom tooth extraction isn't pretty, but for some it goes really easily and let's hope you're in that group.  My youngest daughter (22) had all four extracted a few months ago, and she was bouncing around after the third day already.  My 92-year old mother had one extracted recently as well, and she couldn't believe how easy it went.  So.  Not to worry.

As for your English, if you didn't make a point of noting that it's not your first language, I'd be hard pressed to know otherwise.  Your command of the language is better than some people speaking English as their mother tongue. 

Missing your photography.  Or should I be looking for you on Flickr?


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> I've got beer, too!
> 
> The thing is, by the time I find rednecks, I'm already in my town. My school is in the middle of the county where I'm more likely to be dealing with accountants in their Audis, and I ain't getting squat out of them!



Well, good luck.  Let's hope that all the accountant-like road obstacles have the sense to get outta YOUR way.  We'll be at the edge of the system as it churns up the eastern seaboard, so we'll probably get only an inch or two.  Continues to be darn cold though.  -21C this morning, "warming" up to -13C, and then down again overnight.


----------



## KenC

Yeah, mess today.  Just a little dusting so far.  My intention is to take my computer home and hunker down tomorrow.  I'll keep looking out my window and as soon as I see any real snow I'm outta here.  I can pick up where I ended once my a** is safe in the house.  I've had a couple of long driving commutes in my life and always managed to get home OK even in heavy snow, although it sometimes took a while, but I am done with that.  Even though I take the train now it is just easier to not be here and working from home is much easier than it used to be.


----------



## Warhorse

Good morning all you hosers, I feel sorry for all of you in the storms path. Slept late today, so I'm on my second cup of java, it's -5* F here. Staying in today is my plan for the day, although it is "supposed" to get up to a balmy 23*F.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Good luck Limr and anyone else!
I was thinking of a backpack with supplies also but Pgriz beat me. I was in the Boston area fro blizzard of '78. We were newly weds in a very old building and we swore the building was moving in the wind!
I know a few us our members in Boston area too...stay safe!
Nancy


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers! It is raining here. A light shower was pelting the Cook and I when we retrieved the paper. I'd call it a six inch rain ... that's where a drop hits every six inches. Mid 70's and showers ... I guess I can join the crappy weather club. I just finish brewing a pot o' coffee, a carafe of peach passion tea and a bottle of hummingbird nectar ... so I'm set for the day.


----------



## Designer

NancyMoranG said:


> .. we swore the building was moving in the wind!


Yup, buildings move.  Tall ones sway in the wind.


----------



## limr

Well, I'm on campus and my students are writing their diagnostic essays. When I got to school, I got the official text message notification my school is now doing. We're closing at noon - just enough time to finish my class. It will still be tricky to get off campus, but at least it will happen before any real snow is on the ground, when there's still plenty of daylight, and before there's too much early rush hour traffic. Keeping my fingers crossed that it won't be too bad.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay Leo ... you got it licked!


----------



## Gary A.

I attended a Chinese funeral on Saturday. It was all very interesting. Monks chanting, burning stuff, special foods, facing away for the entombment ... all very interesting, sad but interesting.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Okay Leo ... you got it licked!



Yup, here's hoping!

Now I just hope that Buzz gets out early, too. He's probably on his way to class right now. He's got two back-to-back classes ending a little after 5, so I'm hoping he gets out early. He's a very good driver and I'm not worried about him being able to handle himself. As always, I worry much more about the countless idiots who _don't_ know how to handle their cars in bad weather.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay Leo ... you got it licked!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, here's hoping!
> 
> Now I just hope that Buzz gets out early, too. He's probably on his way to class right now. He's got two back-to-back classes ending a little after 5, so I'm hoping he gets out early. He's a very good driver and I'm not worried about him being able to handle himself. As always, I worry much more about the countless idiots who _don't_ know how to handle their cars in bad weather.
Click to expand...

i love this kind of stuff. Going to go out and plow a little and maybe drive around and take some pics. Already have the generator ready to go, assuming we will lose power again we usually do. Blowing wind, could get some nice 3 or 4 foot drifts. 

...BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO
4 AM EST WEDNESDAY...

* HAZARD TYPES...HEAVY SNOW AND STRONG WINDS.

* ACCUMULATIONS...SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 18 TO 24 INCHES.

* TIMING...SNOW WILL BEGIN LATE MONDAY IN SOUTHERN NEW
HAMPSHIRE...AND BY EARLY TUESDAY FOR COASTAL MAINE. BLIZZARD
CONDITIONS WILL BE MOST LIKELY DURING THE DAY TUESDAY. SNOW
WILL WIND DOWN LATE TUESDAY...BUT LINGER INTO WEDNESDAY.

* IMPACTS...WHITEOUT CONDITIONS WILL MAKE TRAVEL EXTREMELY
DANGEROUS..IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE. STRONG WINDS MAY LEAD TO
SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES. TEMPERATURES IN THE TEENS AND SINGLE
DIGITS COMBINED WITH WINDS WILL LEAD TO BITTERLY COLD WIND
CHILLS. IF YOU ARE STRANDED OUTDOORS IT COULD BE POTENTIALLY
LIFE THREATENING.

* WINDS...NORTH 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH.

* TEMPERATURES...8 TO 17 ABOVE.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A BLIZZARD WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE
EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. FALLING AND BLOWING SNOW WITH STRONG WINDS
AND POOR VISIBILITIES ARE LIKELY. THIS WILL LEAD TO WHITEOUT
CONDITIONS...MAKING TRAVEL EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. DO NOT TRAVEL. IF
YOU MUST TRAVEL...HAVE A WINTER SURVIVAL KIT WITH YOU. IF YOU GET
STRANDED...STAY WITH YOUR VEHICLE.


----------



## bribrius

i usually end up pulling someone back on the road that went off. Might want to pack up some extra tow straps.


----------



## limr

I'm home. Snow hasn't really started yet. There have been intermittent showers, enough to put a maybe 1/2 inch layer on the driveway, though the roads are still all clear. They've been laying down a ton of salt and pre-treat. And Buzz is on his way home. His school closed at 1pm.

Going to have a cup of coffee and then set about making sure there's wood in the house and the tank is hooked up to the grill properly.

I'm so glad I got my hand-crank burr grinder!! Don't have to worry about pre-grinding the coffee.


----------



## pgriz

Leonore, next after checking the wood, water, and znow sombie (yes, it's spelled that way) countermeasures, hopefully you have the camera all loaded and ready to go.  Because a "disaster" needs documentation.  Plus, you might get to put it on a T-shirt as in "I survived the great storm of January 27, 2015!", or some such.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> I'm home. Snow hasn't really started yet. There have been intermittent showers, enough to put a maybe 1/2 inch layer on the driveway, though the roads are still all clear. They've been laying down a ton of salt and pre-treat. And Buzz is on his way home. His school closed at 1pm.
> 
> Going to have a cup of coffee and then set about making sure there's wood in the house and the tank is hooked up to the grill properly.
> 
> I'm so glad I got my hand-crank burr grinder!! Don't have to worry about pre-grinding the coffee.



A 1/2-inch?!?!?! We'd already be freaking out down here!! 

Seriously, I hope that this storm provides the snow you want, without loss of electricity, and I certainly hope it doesn't do damage anywhere that results in loss of property or lives!  And I hope that somebody goes to check on all the old people…


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> Leonore, next after checking the wood, water, and znow sombie (yes, it's spelled that way) countermeasures, hopefully you have the camera all loaded and ready to go.  Because a "disaster" needs documentation.  Plus, you might get to put it on a T-shirt as in "I survived the great storm of January 27, 2015!", or some such.


"documentation"   yep. love these kinds of things.


----------



## tirediron

Mainly sunny, high of 52 (11C)... going to be a rough one in Victoria too!


----------



## sm4him

tirediron said:


> Mainly sunny, high of 52 (11C)... going to be a rough one in Victoria too!



Good grief, John, that's better weather than we've got down here in the "sunny south!!" That just ain't right.


----------



## pgriz

Don't get too complacent, John.  You're sitting on a sleeping giant.  But I'm sure you know that.  And whenever "it" does come, I'm selfishly hoping that it would be at least a century away, because one daughter is rather close to your location, and I'm rather fond of her.


----------



## pgriz

Oh, and you're a nice guy too.  Not to mention one of my wife's good friends is practically in your town.


----------



## limr

Documentation is certainly on the agenda. I have to put a test roll through the Yashica, after all 

I've had a little lunch and am going to fortify with some coffee, and then I'll get down to business.


----------



## Designer

One of the worst bosses I ever worked for kept me late while a blizzard was dumping on us.  He would go to the window and comment on how bad it was getting, but did not suggest that I leave early.  

Wifey and I rode together, and we had a 45-mile commute, and by the time we got to our highway, we were the only vehicle still on the road, everything else was in the ditch.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Documentation is certainly on the agenda. I have to put a test roll through the Yashica, after all
> 
> I've had a little lunch and am going to fortify with some coffee, and then I'll get down to business.


honestly lmr, depending on what you are getting where you are you might be better off staying home. i go out in this kind of stuff but i have a little different set up in what i drive and a tool box of emergency gear. Also i am pretty used to such conditions and even i tread carefully in case i come upon fallen trees and such. I won't be staying out in it either, but rather probably do some short travels through the local back roads and see if anyone is stranded. I would hate to find out you were one of the ones stranded where you are.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> One of the worst bosses I ever worked for kept me late while a blizzard was dumping on us.  He would go to the window and comment on how bad it was getting, but did not suggest that I leave early.
> 
> Wifey and I rode together, and we had a 45-mile commute, and by the time we got to our highway, we were the only vehicle still on the road, everything else was in the ditch.



Yuk! This is the kind of thing that worries me when/if I have a job that doesn't have built-in snow days.

As I said, I only went to the worst-case scenario in my head because I've already lived through a couple of them because of decisions the school has made in similar circumstances. I'm very relieved they decided to be more cautious than usual today.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Documentation is certainly on the agenda. I have to put a test roll through the Yashica, after all
> 
> I've had a little lunch and am going to fortify with some coffee, and then I'll get down to business.
> 
> 
> 
> honestly lmr, depending on what you are getting where you are you might be better off staying home. i go out in this kind of stuff but i have a little different set up in what i drive and a tool box of emergency gear. Also i am pretty used to such conditions and even i tread carefully in case i come upon fallen trees and such. I won't be staying out in it either, but rather probably do some short travels through the local back roads and see if anyone is stranded.
Click to expand...


Oh hell no, I'm not going out in this mess. I'm hunkering down good and solidly until it's over.

When I say "business" I just mean making sure all my ducks are in a row at the house. Got to run across the street to get a full tank of propane for the grill and then bring some wood in. There are some very big logs that I might have to split. I already stopped at the grocery store yesterday and then briefly on my way home from work today for a couple of things I forgot. My car has a full tank of gas and my electronics are charged.

And after all the chores are done, "business" means some serious kitty time 

You be careful, though, even if your jaunts are short and you're used to it!


----------



## snerd

Morning hosers. I was awakened at 6:30am by the answering machine, it was my doc's office telling me my 1:30 appt was being rescheduled for a month later. What?! A month?! No way, Jose!! This is refill day on my meds!!! Had to get up, go down at 7:00am for sick call to get them filled. Doc had something come up and was having to leave early. Office girls were mad, I usually bring a bag of candy. I didn't have time this morning lol!!

70 degrees today, 74 tomorrow and 75 Wednesday............. I'm out there baby!!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Documentation is certainly on the agenda. I have to put a test roll through the Yashica, after all
> 
> I've had a little lunch and am going to fortify with some coffee, and then I'll get down to business.
> 
> 
> 
> honestly lmr, depending on what you are getting where you are you might be better off staying home. i go out in this kind of stuff but i have a little different set up in what i drive and a tool box of emergency gear. Also i am pretty used to such conditions and even i tread carefully in case i come upon fallen trees and such. I won't be staying out in it either, but rather probably do some short travels through the local back roads and see if anyone is stranded.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh hell no, I'm not going out in this mess. I'm hunkering down good and solidly until it's over.
> 
> When I say "business" I just mean making sure all my ducks are in a row at the house. Got to run across the street to get a full tank of propane for the grill and then bring some wood in. There are some very big logs that I might have to split. I already stopped at the grocery store yesterday and then briefly on my way home from work today for a couple of things I forgot. My car has a full tank of gas and my electronics are charged.
> 
> And after all the chores are done, "business" means some serious kitty time
> 
> You be careful, though, even if your jaunts are short and you're used to it!
Click to expand...

i won't be out much. i used to have to be out during the entire things plowing. In my semi retired stage i plan to spend family time and worry about the homestead and just do some little traveling. Couple drives to sweep nothing really major unless i get some calls. .  oh, and pics. i will take some pics..


----------



## SquarePeg

They have already announced that the buses and trains (MBTA) will not run tomorrow and declared a state of emergency as of midnight tonight.  Daughter's school is canceled for tomorrow and likely Wednesday too. 

The only downside to my flexible work at home whenever you want job is that I don't get snow days (unless we lose power of course).  I have moved the gas grill up onto the covered deck in case we lose power for any length of time and want hot food.   We have a fireplace and plenty of firewood.  Lots of food and "refreshments" on hand, gas for the snowblower and plenty of shovelers...  we're ready.   

Nancy - I was 13 during the blizzard of 78 and I remember it well.  As a kid I thought it was great.  As an adult now I am much more aware of all the possible problems that this brings.  As long as the tv is back on by Sunday...


----------



## sm4him

I'm feeling extremely fortunate right now that this front decided to slide on north of us! We've got colder weather than I'd like, but the forecast is for nothing more than some flurries, maybe an inch or two up in the mountains.

Last "blizzard" we had was in March 1993. Two feet of snow this far south is an EPIC event! Even more epic when you have a two-year-old and a four-MONTH-old at the time.  I'll be happy if I never, ever experience that again for the rest of my life, and at least a decade beyond that.


----------



## NancyMoranG

3 pm and looks like snow is starting to get serious in some areas. It reminds me of approaching Hurricanes in Florida. You have 3 days notice, but at some point you see stores starting to board up windows, and the bread and milk aisles busiest, but are the most empty of supplies. 
Then, you say 'oh, oh, I better get my ass in gear,  it's coming"
I call it a quiet pandemonium that sets in..
Stay safe all,
Nancy


----------



## SquarePeg

Have you seen this?  Hilarious.


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mainly sunny, high of 52 (11C)... going to be a rough one in Victoria too!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good grief, John, that's better weather than we've got down here in the "sunny south!!" That just ain't right.
Click to expand...

 Well... if it makes you feel any better, the 'sunny' part of the 'mainly sunny' has yet to materialize... pretty much overcast, so it's not all roses and sunshine.


----------



## bribrius

thanks for the reminder. i should get some extra beer and cigarettes just in case.


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> Oh, and you're a nice guy too.  Not to mention one of my wife's good friends is practically in your town.


 All-righty then...  I think...


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Have you seen this?  Hilarious.



That's hysterical! 

The funniest thing about the general panic that sets in is to see what people stock up on. Back when Hurricane Sandy was about to hit, the grocery stores were clean out of pretzels, plain potato chips, and original Doritos. The fancy flavors were all fully stocked. Apparently in an emergency, you want the old standards 

And before the last big snowstorm a few months ago, I stopped in briefly at a "health food" store to pick up some of my bulk foods, and there were tons of people all scrambling to stock up on their organic ginger snaps and chocolate.

It's nice to have snacks and all, but you'd think something more nutritious might also be in the carts.

The good news: wood is inside.
The bad news: full tank is attached but grill isn't working. I think there's a hole in the line 

The sort-of good news that helps temper the bad news: the store across the street has a generator and always has hot coffee and pizza during power outages. It will be less convenient, but I can just go across the street for some hot water in the morning and make my own coffee at home.

Hope for the best but prepare for the worst!


----------



## limr

I think it's time for a beer.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Leonore, next after checking the wood, water, and znow sombie (yes, it's spelled that way) countermeasures, hopefully you have the camera all loaded and ready to go.  Because a "disaster" needs documentation.  Plus, you might get to put it on a T-shirt as in "I survived the great storm of January 27, 2015!", or some such.


Yes, avoid the jinx.


----------



## NancyMoranG

limr said:


> I think it's time for a beer.



Limr, steady girl, remember 'rationing' ...it's just starting!
Nancy


----------



## SquarePeg

I stop in the local grocery store 3 or 4 times a week right after dropping my daughter off at school about 740am.  I pick up whatever meat and veggies we need for that night's dinner instead of doing a big weekly shopping.  Typically I will see 5 or 6 others shopping and 1 cashier open with never a wait.  Today it was chaos.  Full parking lot, all registers open (about 10 of them I'd say) with at least 4 carts in each lane, crowded aisles and half empty shelves.  The senior in front of me in line had 4 bags of Hershey's kisses, tp and a gallon of milk.  He made a joke about just the necessities.  It was pretty funny.


----------



## sm4him

Big news!!
I have just…

made it through an ENTIRE day without my cellphone. 

I accidentally left it at home this morning. I am so terribly addicted to the thing that it feels like I am missing an arm when I go off without it, instead of just a stupid electronic device.  I decided about 12 times during the day to take a quick drive back home and retrieve it, but talked myself out of it every time.

So now here it is quitting time. And I made it!! 
I don't need that silly cell phone. 
I can do JUST FINE without it, thank you very much.



Spoiler



But--I am gonna stop and get it on my way to meet some friends for a birthday celebration tonight (not MY bday, a friend's bday).


----------



## pgriz

SquarePeg said:


> Have you seen this?  Hilarious.



Kinda reminds me of the last time there was a solar eclipse, (some) teachers told their kids to look only on the ground and avoid looking anywhere near the sun...  The kids were moving around the recess yard with their hands cupped over their eyes in case the solar radiation blinded them.    Ummm, teach?  that thermonuclear light that you're avoiding is present for 12 hours or more every single clear day, and you don't have a plague of blinded kids resulting from that.  Or am I expecting too much that they would understand that a solar eclipse does NOT cause a death ray effect?

Anyways... back to our regularly scheduled panic.  How's the snow so far?


----------



## SquarePeg

Just spitting here.  We are just north of Boston, less than 2 miles to the coast.


----------



## limr

It's getting steady here but still not so heavy that the ploughs can't keep ahead of it. I can still see the roads.

AND...I got the grill working! Woot!!


----------



## snerd

78 degrees here!! Oh, and first selfie stick pic lol!!!!










Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## bribrius

SquarePeg said:


> Just spitting here.  We are just north of Boston, less than 2 miles to the coast.


thanks for letting me know it was coming. lol   started the generators up for a test run. Kind of knew they would start but if they weren't going to i would rather figure out that now rather than later. May not even need them. i am wondering if this is one of them situations it sounds a lot worse than it ends up being. i will get extra beer though...


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> The bad news: full tank is attached but grill isn't working. I think there's a hole in the line



It might not be that.  Make sure the regulator is level.  So it is screwed into the fitting at the tank, right?  The input and output fittings of the regulator must be level with each other.   Then let the gas flow for a bit.  If you can hear or smell the gas, then turn off the valve and let the wind blow the excess gas away, then you can light the burner.


----------



## Designer

NancyMoranG said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think it's time for a beer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Limr, steady girl, remember 'rationing' ...it's just starting!
> Nancy
Click to expand...

Nope, start drinking the beer now, because you don't want the zombies to have any.


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> 78 degrees here!! Oh, and first selfie stick pic lol!!!!
> 
> 
> View attachment 94137
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


 Huh... your nose looks much smaller than it does in your avatar!


----------



## snowbear

Bread and milk, my @$$.  If I'm going to get snowed in, I want steaks, coffee and cinnamon rolls.


----------



## minicoop1985

That sounds like my kinda party! Well, add some strippers and we're good.


----------



## NancyMoranG

minicoop1985 said:


> That sounds like my kinda party! Well, add some strippers and we're good.



Hate to ruin it, but the gyrating females will be the ones trying to keep warm :
And if you drink the stash too quick you will be seeing mirages, wake up!
Stay warm 
Nancy


----------



## beachrat

It's times like this that I wish I could still  have a cocktail.
Really.
I love blizzards and being snowed in,but I hate being stranded with no booze.


----------



## limr

beachrat said:


> It's times like this that I wish I could still  have a cocktail.
> Really.
> I love blizzards and being snowed in,but I hate being stranded with no booze.



Sorry  It is definitely nice to enjoy an adult beverage during a blizzard.


----------



## NancyMoranG

limr said:


> beachrat said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's times like this that I wish I could still  have a cocktail.
> Really.
> I love blizzards and being snowed in,but I hate being stranded with no booze.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry  It is definitely nice to enjoy an adult beverage during a blizzard.
Click to expand...


Right up until it runs out....then the drinkers go nuts and the non drinkers say 'chill out' . To each his own..


----------



## limr

Which, by the way, isn't much of a blizzard yet around where I live. (I'm knocking on wood to make sure I didn't just jinx myself.) Probably is just hitting a bit later than they were predicting. While I'm still glad I got out as early as I did because it gave me a chance to make sure things were prepared as well as possible at the house, I'm looking out at the roads and I don't think it would have been as bad as I'd feared even if I had to stay the entire day.

But then again, my town is pretty fantastic about keeping the roads in good shape. I can't say the same for other parts of the county, so it's entirely possible that it would have been a horrible drive...until I hit the town line where I live. It's hard to say. Google maps shows clear traffic on the highways but maybe because most people are home by now.


----------



## limr

NancyMoranG said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> beachrat said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's times like this that I wish I could still  have a cocktail.
> Really.
> I love blizzards and being snowed in,but I hate being stranded with no booze.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry  It is definitely nice to enjoy an adult beverage during a blizzard.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Right up until it runs out....then the drinkers go nuts and the non drinkers say 'chill out' . To each his own..
Click to expand...


Well, it depends. Not all of us drinkers are drinking to get drunk. Some of us like to enjoy a drink while it lasts, and when we're finished, it's enough. We don't just open another beer or pour another drink and keep going just because it's there.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Glad you are home safe and sound even if it might have been early (?).
They have millions to get out of harms way, so they have to start early in getting every one off the roads. 
My FIL is famous for this..."look it's nothing and they got everyone wvacuated for nothing" ...ugh! It's logistics and needs time, geez.


----------



## NancyMoranG

limr said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> beachrat said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's times like this that I wish I could still  have a cocktail.
> Really.
> I love blizzards and being snowed in,but I hate being stranded with no booze.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry  It is definitely nice to enjoy an adult beverage during a blizzard.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Right up until it runs out....then the drinkers go nuts and the non drinkers say 'chill out' . To each his own..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, it depends. Not all of us drinkers are drinking to get drunk. Some of use like to enjoy a drink while it lasts, and when we're finished, it's enough. We don't just open another beer or pour another drink and keep going just because it's there.
Click to expand...


----------



## beachrat

NancyMoranG said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> beachrat said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's times like this that I wish I could still  have a cocktail.
> Really.
> I love blizzards and being snowed in,but I hate being stranded with no booze.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry  It is definitely nice to enjoy an adult beverage during a blizzard.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Right up until it runs out....then the drinkers go nuts and the non drinkers say 'chill out' . To each his own..
Click to expand...

Right!


----------



## NancyMoranG

I tried to quote Limr, but wouldn't let me. I know what you mean and didn't mean Everyone...just some. And was addressing your comment..
Stay safe and warm and fully supplied with all your favorite needs 
N


----------



## limr

NancyMoranG said:


> I tried to quote Limr, but wouldn't let me. I know what you mean and didn't mean Everyone...just some. And was joking to your comment..
> Stay safe and warm and fully supplied with all your favorite needs
> N



Yeah, the quote thingy goes all wonky sometimes.

There are definitely those drinkers, though - professionals I think  - who get all panicky if they run out of beer. Me, I'm not worried. I've got a store right across the street if I need to make a beer run


----------



## NancyMoranG

Hope everyone has a great book to read in this snow break. I am between a political book and a 'pleasure book' .
Vince Flynn for pleasure, my 6 th Mitch Rapp character and then an educational book for politics. 
N


----------



## limr

NancyMoranG said:


> Hope everyone has a great book to read in this snow break. I am between a political book and a 'pleasure book' .
> Vince Flynn for pleasure, my 6 th Mitch Rapp character and then an educational book for politics.
> N



I've got enough books to get me through a hundred blizzards   I'll admit that I do miss the internet if the power goes out, but I also have so many things to keep me busy and/or entertained that it ultimately doesn't bother me much after the initial withdrawal period.

I just finished the book I'd been reading (_Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking)_ and am going to start reading a novel that a friend of mine just finished and she needs some first readers.


----------



## NancyMoranG

As 1 of 8 kids, we run the gamut on drinking ...


----------



## minicoop1985

Lemme see here, I think we're gonna get an inch? Don't even need to pull out the snowblower.


----------



## NancyMoranG

I saw your earlier post on that book. I may have to look into that. I have been told that I can walk into a room of 50 people and make conversation with everyone. But yet, I do not have a lot of close friends....?
Thinking of books, I am going to sign off and read..
Safety to all affected tonight.
N


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Bread and milk, my @$$.  If I'm going to get snowed in, I want steaks, coffee and cinnamon rolls.



And bacon.
And the makings for the adult beverage of my choice; preferably a Margarita, but at least some Fireball whiskey.

In fact, now that I think about it:
I think I'll go to the store and get steak, coffee, cinnamon rolls and bacon (I already have the adult beverage makings) and then spend a day or two just PRETENDING to be snowed in. 
Kinda like a "sympathy blizzard" for my fellow hosers in the NE.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hope everyone has a great book to read in this snow break. I am between a political book and a 'pleasure book' .
> Vince Flynn for pleasure, my 6 th Mitch Rapp character and then an educational book for politics.
> N
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've got enough books to get me through a hundred blizzards   I'll admit that I do miss the internet if the power goes out, but I also have so many things to keep me busy and/or entertained that it ultimately doesn't bother me much after the initial withdrawal period.
> 
> I just finished the book I'd been reading (_Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking)_ and am going to start reading a novel that a friend of mine just finished and she needs some first readers.
Click to expand...


I am in the process of reading the _Quiet_ book. I'm finding it to be a hard read; not hard, as in drudgery, but as in requiring requiring plenty of time to really think about what it's saying. 
I'm also finding it a hard read, because it is making me even more P.O.'ed about some stuff at work that's been going on recently, ,which I was already PLENTY P.O.'ed about.  It's kinda making me want to go marching into my boss' office and say, "See!! Look RIGHT HERE. I am NOT making this crap up!" But instead, so far, I'm still just seething silently. 

I will say that IF I had any doubt before (I didn't), I am absolutely confident now that I *am* an Introvert, with a capital I.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, it's actually raining here. Better run to the store for some bacon, flares and adult diapers.  Joking.


----------



## pgriz

Sharon, you may be an introvert in person, but on the internet you show a very gregarious personality.  Could you be (gasp!!!) a closet extrovert?


----------



## limr

I definitely knew I was in introvert before I read the book, without a doubt. Pretty hardcore, too. I did at one point think that I was more in the middle of the spectrum, at least when I was younger, but I think that was more about trying to be a way I was "supposed" to be rather than what I wanted. So I haven't become _more_ introverted - I'm just as much of one as I've always been - I just don't give a crap about "supposed to" anymore


----------



## Gary A.

But it is raining. Mary Lou doesn't want me outside in the rain. But ... I'm putting on a sweater and I just fired up the giant George Foreman in the patio and getting prepped for some more salmon tonight. Took another inspection of Monarch chrysalis, nada ... so the watch continues.


----------



## Gary A.

The brown rice is cooking away. I've been marinating the salmon for a few hours.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Sharon, you may be an introvert in person, but on the internet you show a very gregarious personality.  Could you be (gasp!!!) a closet extrovert?



The internet is a godsend for introverts. We often express ourselves better in writing, and there's less of an opportunity to be shouted over as there is in a group. Plus, we can avoid small talk if we want to.

There was a fascinating section on collaboration. It described how in-person group collaboration was _less_ effective than letting people work on their own. However, working in groups using email or a chatting platform yielded more productive results than working alone.


----------



## Gary A.

I'm about to head out directly into the rain to get some kale, celery, peppers, et al. I may just say to hell with it all and cross the wet yard and get some apples.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> I am in the process of reading the _Quiet_ book. I'm finding it to be a hard read; not hard, as in drudgery, but as in requiring requiring plenty of time to really think about what it's saying.
> I'm also finding it a hard read, because it is making me even more P.O.'ed about some stuff at work that's been going on recently, ,which I was already PLENTY P.O.'ed about.  It's kinda making me want to go marching into my boss' office and say, "See!! Look RIGHT HERE. I am NOT making this crap up!" But instead, so far, I'm still just seething silently.
> 
> I will say that IF I had any doubt before (I didn't), I am absolutely confident now that I *am* an Introvert, with a capital I.



I also found it hard in some ways. Almost like old wounds got opened up - years of people asking what was wrong with me, and of course of asking myself what was wrong with me. And all the time, these things that were "wrong" were just wired into me and could have been the source of achievement instead of embarrassment.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I'm about to head out directly into the rain to get some kale, celery, peppers, et al. I may just say to hell with it all and cross the wet yard and get some apples.



Now you're gettin' crazy!


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> Sharon, you may be an introvert in person, but on the internet you show a very gregarious personality.  Could you be (gasp!!!) a closet extrovert?



Nope. But actually, a lot of people who know me fairly well in person would think that too. But it's a LIE!!
Left completely to my own devices, I would be a hermit. Seriously.  The internet is awesome for introverts actually, because we can say all the stuff we think, and STILL kinda fade into the woodwork!

I used to ACT in a much introverted manner than I do now. But about a decade ago, I sensed a calling (treading on a possibly slippery slope here) to public speaking, specifically to leading retreats for women's ministries. It was a long, hard road for me to change enough to put myself out there enough to do that. I never minded the public speaking part--I'm good at it, it doesn't bother me a bit. But SMALLER groups, where I had to actually INTERACT with people, where I had to open up and SHARE myself with them in a more personal way? YIKES!!
Let's just say that my outer persona has changed significantly in the last decade...but sometimes the desire to just crawl back into my shell is pretty overwhelming. 
I require a LOT of "alone" time to stay charged up enough to deal with the public stuff.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> I definitely knew I was in introvert before I read the book, without a doubt. Pretty hardcore, too. I did at one point think that I was more in the middle of the spectrum, at least when I was younger, but I think that was more about trying to be a way I was "supposed" to be rather than what I wanted. So I haven't become _more_ introverted - I'm just as much of one as I've always been - I just don't give a crap about "supposed to" anymore



^Yes, that, exactly.  Plus, for me, there are some things that I've read and realized that I've worked very hard to be a different way, and some of that is good and necessary, but I also find myself wondering if perhaps some of the things I've "forced" myself to do to "fit in" more are really a detriment to being the best person I can be.  If that makes sense.


----------



## snowbear

Oh yes, Sharon - some rum and Bailey's.  Just went out toi get the mail . . . we have snow!  It's very fine (angel dandruff) but it's snow!


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, I have rain. I'm in a windbreaker in the patio, just tossed the salmon onto the George Foreman. Time-out ... mmmhhh ... a quick sip of Chardonnay then back to grilling.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Oh yes, Sharon - some rum and Bailey's.  Just went out toi get the mail . . . we have snow!  It's very fine (angel dandruff) but it's snow!



I "liked" that for the rum and Bailey's. Not for the snow. 
Although, I'll admit I am far, far happier about YOU getting the snow than I'd be about ME getting it.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Hey, I have rain. I'm in a windbreaker in the patio, just tossed the salmon onto the George Foreman. Time-out ... mmmhhh ... a quick sip of Chardonnay then back to grilling.


Well, we have much less a chance of the earth opening up and swallowing us.


----------



## Gary A.

Just flipped the fish and brushed/spooned more citrus/herb/wine marinate. Another sip of chardonnay.


----------



## Gary A.

Wow ... this Toasted Head has a bit of oak to it. Fruity at the end but some oak at the start.


----------



## Gary A.

If anybody's hungry ... come on by.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Wow ... this Toasted Head has a bit of oak to it. Fruity at the end but some oak at the start.



This Fireball whiskey has a bit of...fireball to it. Fireball at the start, and fireball at the end.  I like consistency.


----------



## Gary A.

Complexity will be man's undoing and salvation.


----------



## minicoop1985

Had some nice parmesan crusted chicken with spaghetti. Was delicious.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay ... it's getting rough out here ... I just turned on the lights.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Had some nice parmesan crusted chicken with spaghetti. Was delicious.


That does sound good. But Mary Lou is on a bit of a healthy eating thing right now. So fish is slightly better than chicken ... but tomorrow I'm planning on chicken. Either carbonara or Marsala. But parmesan sound pretty good also.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> I'm about to head out directly into the rain to get some kale, celery, peppers, et al. I may just say to hell with it all and cross the wet yard and get some apples.


  You feeding food?


----------



## Gary A.

What is annoying as it is kinda cool ... my neighbor has a pair of turbine roof fans, earlier today when the wind picked up the turbines started howling ... it sounded like a ship's fog horn. I could only hear it from the side yard ... so not too annoying.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had some nice parmesan crusted chicken with spaghetti. Was delicious.
> 
> 
> 
> That does sound good. But Mary Lou is on a bit of a healthy eating thing right now. So fish is slightly better than chicken ... but tomorrow I'm planning on chicken. Either carbonara or Marsala. But parmesan sound pretty good also.
Click to expand...


I'm on the opposite of a healthy eating thing right now.
I had dessert for dinner tonight. 
Met some friends for dessert to celebrate a birthday; didn't have time to eat dinner between work and our get-together, so I decided I'd just have dessert first and then see whether I had room for dinner. 
But it was a BIG piece of dessert. Turned out, of the five of us, only ONE had eaten dinner. LOL


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm about to head out directly into the rain to get some kale, celery, peppers, et al. I may just say to hell with it all and cross the wet yard and get some apples.
> 
> 
> 
> You feeding food?
Click to expand...

Apples for the salad. Kale's a bit plain so we spice it up with mango and apples and stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had some nice parmesan crusted chicken with spaghetti. Was delicious.
> 
> 
> 
> That does sound good. But Mary Lou is on a bit of a healthy eating thing right now. So fish is slightly better than chicken ... but tomorrow I'm planning on chicken. Either carbonara or Marsala. But parmesan sound pretty good also.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm on the opposite of a healthy eating thing right now.
> I had dessert for dinner tonight.
> Met some friends for dessert to celebrate a birthday; didn't have time to eat dinner between work and our get-together, so I decided I'd just have dessert first and then see whether I had room for dinner.
> But it was a BIG piece of dessert. Turned out, of the five of us, only ONE had eaten dinner. LOL
Click to expand...

When I was much younger, sometimes I just order a bottle of wine for dinner. Everybody else would eat and I just drank my dinner. The good ol' days.


----------



## Gary A.

The salmon is gorgeous ... a golden/reddish with caramelized lemon/orange/lime/wine juices ... just did a final flip to get the flip side a bit crunchy.


----------



## limr

I had my yellow pea and squash soup, some baby romaine and tomato salad, and edamame. 

Salmon takes marinade really well. It's hard to go wrong. Some nights I'll just throw random stuff into the marinade bag and it still comes out delicious. Honey almost always makes an appearance.


----------



## Gary A.

mmmmhhhh ... honey. Next time. Okay, soups-on, see you guys.


----------



## pgriz

Listened to an interview (on the radio, that anachronistic medium) of Nina Teicholtz on her book "The Big Fat Surprise", which then had me interested enough to look a bit into the evidence for and against her thesis that saturated fats work better for humans than complex carbohydrates.  Her idea is very seductive, but now I'm starting to dig into the background and the counter-arguements to see how much of her approach is journalistic license and how much is fact.  For those who are interested, her book is here: The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet: Nina Teicholz: 9781451624434: Amazon.com: Books


----------



## Gary A.

mmmmhhhh, butter, meat and cheese.


----------



## bribrius

hmmm. went to store. Got the last half gallon of almond milk, they were out of stock of bananas. No cream of corn left. ... Plenty of soda though go figure. Did get mangerine oranges though. .suppose that is something.


----------



## bribrius

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME
557 PM EST MON JAN 26 2015

...DANGEROUS COASTAL STORM TO AFFECT THE AREA TONIGHT INTO
TUESDAY NIGHT...

.AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE OFF THE DELMARVA PENINSULA WILL MOVE TO
JUST SOUTH OF CAPE COD BY TUESDAY MORNING...STRENGTHENING
SIGNIFICANTLY BY THAT TIME. SNOW WILL QUICKLY SPREAD INTO THE
AREA FROM SOUTH TO NORTH LATE TONIGHT INTO EARLY TUESDAY...AND
WILL LIKELY BE HEAVY AT TIMES TUESDAY. WINDS WILL BE STRONG ON
AND NEAR THE COAST...PRODUCING A PERIOD OF BLIZZARD CONDITIONS.

MEZ018>028-NHZ010-013-014-270900-
/O.CON.KGYX.BZ.W.0001.150127T0300Z-150128T0900Z/
INTERIOR YORK-INTERIOR CUMBERLAND-ANDROSCOGGIN-KENNEBEC-
INTERIOR WALDO-COASTAL YORK-COASTAL CUMBERLAND-SAGADAHOC-LINCOLN-
KNOX-COASTAL WALDO-STRAFFORD-INTERIOR ROCKINGHAM-
COASTAL ROCKINGHAM-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...SANFORD...BERWICK...NORTH WINDHAM...
GORHAM...BRIDGTON...LEWISTON-AUBURN...LIVERMORE FALLS...AUGUSTA...
WATERVILLE...WINTERPORT...UNITY...BIDDEFORD...SACO...
OLD ORCHARD BEACH...KITTERY...PORTLAND...SOUTH PORTLAND...
WESTBROOK...BATH...TOPSHAM...BOOTHBAY HARBOR...WISCASSET...
WALDOBORO...CAMDEN...ROCKLAND...THOMASTON...BELFAST...
LINCOLNVILLE...ROCHESTER...DOVER...SALEM...DERRY...EXETER...
PORTSMOUTH...HAMPTON
557 PM EST MON JAN 26 2015

...BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO
4 AM EST WEDNESDAY...

* HAZARD TYPES...HEAVY SNOW AND STRONG WINDS CREATING BLIZZARD
CONDITIONS.

* ACCUMULATIONS...SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 18 TO 24 INCHES.

* TIMING...SNOW WILL INTENSIFY FROM SOUTH TO NORTH AS THE NIGHT
GOES ON. BLIZZARD CONDITIONS WILL BE MOST LIKELY DURING THE DAY
TUESDAY. SNOW WILL WIND DOWN LATE TUESDAY...BUT MAY LINGER INTO
WEDNESDAY.

* WIND CHILL... WIND CHILL READINGS WILL EXCEED 10 BELOW ZERO AND
COULD APPROACH 20 BELOW ZERO AT TIMES.

* IMPACTS...WHITEOUT CONDITIONS WILL MAKE TRAVEL EXTREMELY
DANGEROUS..IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE. STRONG WINDS MAY LEAD TO
SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES. TEMPERATURES IN THE TEENS AND SINGLE
DIGITS COMBINED WITH WINDS WILL LEAD TO BITTERLY COLD WIND
CHILLS. IF YOU ARE STRANDED OUTDOORS IT COULD BE POTENTIALLY
LIFE THREATENING.

* WINDS...NORTH 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH.

* TEMPERATURES...FALLING INTO THE SINGLE DIGITS TO NEAR 10
DEGREES.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A BLIZZARD WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE
EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. FALLING AND BLOWING SNOW WITH STRONG WINDS
AND POOR VISIBILITIES ARE LIKELY. THIS WILL LEAD TO WHITEOUT
CONDITIONS...MAKING TRAVEL EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. DO NOT TRAVEL. IF
YOU MUST TRAVEL...HAVE A WINTER SURVIVAL KIT WITH YOU. IF YOU GET
STRANDED...STAY WITH YOUR VEHICLE.


----------



## bribrius

OvernightSnow with widespread blowing snow. The snow could be heavy at times. Low around 6. Wind chill values as low as -14. Blustery, with a north wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of 5 to 9 inches possible.
TuesdaySnow with widespread blowing snow. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 12. Wind chill values as low as -16. Blustery, with a north wind around 25 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 10 to 14 inches possible.
Tuesday NightSnow with widespread blowing snow before 11pm, then snow likely with widespread blowing snow between 11pm and 3am, then a chance of snow after 3am. Low around 12. Wind chill values as low as -8. Blustery, with a north wind 15 to 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.
WednesdayA 30 percent chance of snow showers before 10am. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 23. Wind chill values as low as zero. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph.
Wednesday NightMostly clear, with a low around 3. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
ThursdayMostly sunny, with a high near 28.
Thursday NightSnow showers likely. Cloudy, with a low around 18. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
FridaySnow likely. Cloudy, with a high near 32. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Friday NightA 30 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 9.
SaturdayMostly sunny, with a high near 18.
Saturday NightPartly cloudy, with a low around 3.
SundayPartly sunny, with a high near 18.
Sunday NightA 30 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around -1.
MondayPartly sunny, with a high near 15.


----------



## Gary A.

It's raining here.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> hmmm. went to store. Got the last half gallon of almond milk, they were out of stock of bananas. No cream of corn left. ... Plenty of soda though go figure. Did get mangerine oranges though. .suppose that is something.


You mean Mandarin Oranges ... those giant tangerines?


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> It's raining here.


i am happy i went to the store. My wife always buy the cheap bread, or italian bread. i can't stand it . bought some of the twelve grain bread while i was there. I don't even know how she eats that white italian bread chit, or expects me too.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> hmmm. went to store. Got the last half gallon of almond milk, they were out of stock of bananas. No cream of corn left. ... Plenty of soda though go figure. Did get mangerine oranges though. .suppose that is something.
> 
> 
> 
> You mean Mandarin Oranges ... those giant tangerines?
Click to expand...

yes. Mostly for one of my kids. I like the little tiny oranges clementines.  Those are my thing.


----------



## SquarePeg

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's raining here.
> 
> 
> 
> i am happy i went to the store. My wife always buy the cheap bread, or italian bread. i can't stand it . bought some of the twelve grain bread while i was there. I don't even know how she eats that white italian bread chit, or expects me too.
Click to expand...


Well you know the old saying "If you want something done right, do your own damn shopping."


----------



## pgriz

I pulled up the map of your area using WunderMap and overlaid the water temperature to the radar images of snow and rain precipitation.  It becomes very obvious where the energy for the storm is coming from.  The cyclonic rotation clear as well, so the current system has become a pretty classic Nor-easter.   The cyclonic center seems to be approximately at the intersection of a line south of Maine and east of North Carolina.  Well, let's home people are sensible and stay home or in a safe place until this system works itself out.


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> I pulled up the map of your area using WunderMap and overlaid the water temperature to the radar images of snow and rain precipitation.  It becomes very obvious where the energy for the storm is coming from.  The cyclonic rotation clear as well, so the current system has become a pretty classic Nor-easter.   The cyclonic center seems to be approximately at the intersection of a line south of Maine and east of North Carolina.  Well, let's home people are sensible and stay home or in a safe place until this system works itself out.


yeah someone told me we might be getting snow.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> hmmm. went to store. Got the last half gallon of almond milk, they were out of stock of bananas. No cream of corn left. ... Plenty of soda though go figure. Did get mangerine oranges though. .suppose that is something.
> 
> 
> 
> You mean Mandarin Oranges ... those giant tangerines?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> yes. Mostly for one of my kids. I like the little tiny oranges clementines.  Those are my thing.
Click to expand...

I have Mandarin in the back. I'm eating one now. The seedless are the best.


----------



## pgriz

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's raining here.
> 
> 
> 
> i am happy i went to the store. My wife always buy the cheap bread, or italian bread. i can't stand it . bought some of the twelve grain bread while i was there. I don't even know how she eats that white italian bread chit, or expects me too.
Click to expand...


I personally don't like white bread (unless it's just baked) - too bland and very little texture.  Fortunately, we have lots of local bakers (at least three in my neighbourhood, such as Products | Première Moisson, or Swiss Vienna Patisserie | Delicious Morsels For Every Taste., and my peference is for dark rye from Swiss Vienna, or sour-dough or "intergral" from Premiere Moisson.  We also have a local portuguese-style baker where we get various pastries, etc.  We like our food to be interesting.


----------



## bribrius

SquarePeg said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's raining here.
> 
> 
> 
> i am happy i went to the store. My wife always buy the cheap bread, or italian bread. i can't stand it . bought some of the twelve grain bread while i was there. I don't even know how she eats that white italian bread chit, or expects me too.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well you know the old saying "If you want something done right, do your own damn shopping."
Click to expand...

yeah no kiddn..... she will buy italian bread and soda.... .tell me she didnt buy the good bread because it costs two dollar more. Like the two dollars difference matters.

really?    Really?    Put the damn soda back if you are so worried about it. Get the real bread. why on earth would you want to drink soda and eat italian bread anyway?


----------



## bribrius

now in the morning. i can have a real piece of toast with jam and my coffee. instead of this white.... "stuff"  LMAO


----------



## Gary A.

I've been weening myself off bread. Love that stuff, but what little I eat, I sorta bake in the BBQ.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> I've been weening myself off bread. Love that stuff, but what little I eat, I sorta bake in the BBQ.


Generally speaking, i have never grocery shopped except for the times we had separated. i Hate to shop, even for food.  so i avoid it.  Can't really cook much either.  Around the time i see her drinking a soda (how do people drink that chit?? i can smoke cigarettes and cant get myself to drink soda) and me eating white bread is when i decide i need to make a trip to the store. i kinda wanted to go tonight anyway i was curious how empty the shelves were from storm shoppers. I have the same issue with icecream and reeses peanut butter cups. she will come home telling me she bought me cookies and cream ice cream and reeses peanut butter cups. I don't eat either. 

All i eat for icecream, which isn't often, is chocolate or black raspberry and OCCASIONALLY i will have a piece of simple chocolate for candy.  Not white chocolate though i cant eat that crap.  I think she likes to mess with me. But then she brought home new england french vanilla coffee, which i sorta like. so i never can tell.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> ........ We don't just open another beer or pour another drink and keep going just because it's there.


We don't?!


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ........ We don't just open another beer or pour another drink and keep going just because it's there.
> 
> 
> 
> We don't?!
Click to expand...

No we don't! lol


----------



## limr

A good proper loaf of crusty Euro bread is sheer heaven. The problem is that you just can't get it very easily on this side of the pond without making it yourself or living near Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. What passes for "Italian bread" here is just awful.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Haven't forgotten it!! But sadly, I also haven't done it yet. I *promise* I will have it out to you within the next week, though!! Forgive me, I am a very old, slow Santa.



You're a good mother but bad bad Santa!


----------



## mmaria

pgriz said:


> Hi Marija,
> Wisdom tooth extraction isn't pretty, but for some it goes really easily and let's hope you're in that group.  My youngest daughter (22) had all four extracted a few months ago, and she was bouncing around after the third day already.  My 92-year old mother had one extracted recently as well, and she couldn't believe how easy it went.  So.  Not to worry.


oh... I worry.... 



> As for your English, if you didn't make a point of noting that it's not your first language, I'd be hard pressed to know otherwise.  Your command of the language is better than some people speaking English as their mother tongue.


Oh that's so not true!  (but thanks anyway, it's nice to hear anything that seems like a compliment )

So, my first practicing material for the reading part of the test was titled "*Dang beetle*"  WTH is dang beetle!!!??? 
See, I don't know English!!! ... and who decided that the text should be about the dang beetles!




> Missing your photography.  Or should I be looking for you on Flickr?


 That's also nice of you to say.
You're nice Paul!

I miss photography. I haven't picked up the camera for quite some time...  
I don't have the time needed! Not even for processing or going trough the photos on my computer and doing selection...


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> A good proper loaf of crusty Euro bread is sheer heaven. The problem is that you just can't get it very easily on this side of the pond without making it yourself or living near Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. What passes for "Italian bread" here is just awful.



There are still a few Italian neighborhoods where you can get real Italian bread, but sadly it is a rare item now.


----------



## pgriz

"Dang" is english slang equivalent to "darn" or a way of expressing exasperation with something.  "Dang beetle" implies that the writer is annoyed at the beetle for some reason, which sets up the story and makes you want to know why.  

English is an interesting language in that it is rather "sloppy" about its structure, and it accumulates many expressions that convey meaning beyond the words used.  The meanings also evolve with time, so the same phrase changes its meaning with the years.  Each generation and subculture also evolve their own vocabulary to create a distinction of belonging and differentiation.  By reading a text, it is often possible to identify when it was written and by who, just from the expressions used and the implied meanings associated with them.

English is not my mother tongue, and I am very well aware of how the formal structure is often at odds with its colloquial usage.  However, it has an adaptability which is remarkable, and is one reason why other languages often import english words to express new ideas or concepts.  Sometimes a phrase in english is much more concise than the equivalent phrase in (say) French, or Spanish.


----------



## sm4him

ACK!! We got hit by the Monstrous Snowstorm of the Century!  It didn't go far enough north! Run for the hills!!  No, wait...Run for the Beach!!!
Or at least run for the covers, and hibernate until late March.

See...LOOK:



 

Gotta be very nearly 1/4 in. of snow there--and it's still coming down! We could end up with 5/16 of an inch before this is over!


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> "Dang" is english slang equivalent to "darn" or a way of expressing exasperation with something.  "Dang beetle" implies that the writer is annoyed at the beetle for some reason, which sets up the story and makes you want to know why.
> 
> English is an interesting language in that it is rather "sloppy" about its structure, and it accumulates many expressions that convey meaning beyond the words used.  The meanings also evolve with time, so the same phrase changes its meaning with the years.  Each generation and subculture also evolve their own vocabulary to create a distinction of belonging and differentiation.  By reading a text, it is often possible to identify when it was written and by who, just from the expressions used and the implied meanings associated with them.
> 
> English is not my mother tongue, and I am very well aware of how the formal structure is often at odds with its colloquial usage.  However, it has an adaptability which is remarkable, and is one reason why other languages often import english words to express new ideas or concepts.  Sometimes a phrase in english is much more concise than the equivalent phrase in (say) French, or Spanish.



1. I had NO idea English was not your native language!

2. I am also wondering if possibly the story is about a DUNG beetle.


----------



## mmaria

pgriz said:


> "Dang" is english slang equivalent to "darn" or a way of expressing exasperation with something.  "Dang beetle" implies that the writer is annoyed at the beetle for some reason, which sets up the story and makes you want to know why.
> 
> English is an interesting language in that it is rather "sloppy" about its structure, and it accumulates many expressions that convey meaning beyond the words used.  The meanings also evolve with time, so the same phrase changes its meaning with the years.  Each generation and subculture also evolve their own vocabulary to create a distinction of belonging and differentiation.  By reading a text, it is often possible to identify when it was written and by who, just from the expressions used and the implied meanings associated with them.
> 
> English is not my mother tongue, and I am very well aware of how the formal structure is often at odds with its colloquial usage.  However, it has an adaptability which is remarkable, and is one reason why other languages often import english words to express new ideas or concepts.  Sometimes a phrase in english is much more concise than the equivalent phrase in (say) French, or Spanish.


oh lmao!

I know about "dang" as slang but it didn't even cross my mind that "dang" would be "darn" in an official test! i mean, that they would use that word. 

Oh God, I'll fail!


----------



## KenC

Morning, Hosers!  Did everyone else in the Northeast get hosed by the forecast?  Last I heard last night we were getting close to ten inches, but it looks like not much more than one to me.  Of course it's still flurrying a bit, but I'll eat my hat if we end up with more than two.

However, I'm settled in here with my computer and will work from home anyhow.  I'll just need to go out later and sweep a bit and put down some salt.  For now, I need to check in with work, then make some coffee.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> 2. I am also wondering if possibly the story is about a DUNG beetle.


oh no! It is DUNG!

There's something wrong with me! 

I'm wrong!


----------



## mmaria

oh... at least I got a good laugh out of this! 

Sorry and thanks!


----------



## SquarePeg

KenC said:


> Morning, Hosers!  Did everyone else in the Northeast get hosed by the forecast?  Last I heard last night we were getting close to ten inches, but it looks like not much more than one to me.  Of course it's still flurrying a bit, but I'll eat my hat if we end up with more than two.
> 
> However, I'm settled in here with my computer and will work from home anyhow.  I'll just need to go out later and sweep a bit and put down some salt.  For now, I need to check in with work, then make some coffee.



Looks like we got about 8-10 inches so far.  It's still snowing like crazy though.  Very drifty.  My back yard about a foot and a half buried but there is no snow on my car above the tires, it's all blown away.


----------



## KenC

SquarePeg said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, Hosers!  Did everyone else in the Northeast get hosed by the forecast?  Last I heard last night we were getting close to ten inches, but it looks like not much more than one to me.  Of course it's still flurrying a bit, but I'll eat my hat if we end up with more than two.
> 
> However, I'm settled in here with my computer and will work from home anyhow.  I'll just need to go out later and sweep a bit and put down some salt.  For now, I need to check in with work, then make some coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like we got about 8-10 inches so far.  It's still snowing like crazy though.  Very drifty.  My back yard about a foot and a half buried but there is no snow on my car above the tires, it's all blown away.
Click to expand...


You were supposed to get about two feet up there, no?


----------



## pgriz

Sharon, we call that "hoarfrost".


----------



## SquarePeg

KenC said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, Hosers!  Did everyone else in the Northeast get hosed by the forecast?  Last I heard last night we were getting close to ten inches, but it looks like not much more than one to me.  Of course it's still flurrying a bit, but I'll eat my hat if we end up with more than two.
> 
> However, I'm settled in here with my computer and will work from home anyhow.  I'll just need to go out later and sweep a bit and put down some salt.  For now, I need to check in with work, then make some coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like we got about 8-10 inches so far.  It's still snowing like crazy though.  Very drifty.  My back yard about a foot and a half buried but there is no snow on my car above the tires, it's all blown away.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You were supposed to get about two feet up there, no?
Click to expand...


It's still coming down pretty hard.  Here's a cell phone snap of my garage side door.


----------



## mmaria

I haven't seen that much snow since my childhood!


----------



## SquarePeg

It's very drifty.  See how the cars have nothing on top?  So windy.  Went out to shovel the back stairs and an area for the dog to do his business and it was not pleasant to have the wind whipping it in my face.  Managed to get to one bird feeder because that area only had about a foot but the other one has about 3 because of the way the wind is blowing.  Originally they said it would snow for another 12 hours or so.  I hope not.


----------



## pgriz

mmaria said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 2. I am also wondering if possibly the story is about a DUNG beetle.
> 
> 
> 
> oh no! It is DUNG!
> 
> There's something wrong with me!
> 
> I'm wrong!
Click to expand...


Well "Dung Beetle" is pretty descriptive.  But "Dang Beetle" has much more promise as a writer's title.  Other variations (Ding, Deng, Dong) all evoke very different ideas.  Probably appropriate for a creative writing class theme.  



sm4him said:


> 1. I had NO idea English was not your native language!


  Shhh.  Let's keep it our little secret.  On the other hand, it is my adopted language, and probably the one I use most often.  In the multi-lingual city environment, it is not unusual to have two or three different languages used in the same conversation, depending on who's more comfortable in which language.  I have one friend who's of Italian origin, and her Mom speaks Italian first, French second, and English third.  So when we're having a conversation, she'd speak to her Mom in italian when it's personal, and switch to either french or english (depending on who's being included in the conversation) to say the things that are of interest to a wider group.  I do the same with my Mom (different language tho), and since my wife doesn't speak that language, we switch to english for common conversation.  With a bilingual francophone neighbour, I'd speak in French mainly because he's slightly more comfortable in french than english.  And so it goes.


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> Gotta be very nearly 1/4 in. of snow there--and it's still coming down! We could end up with 5/16 of an inch before this is over!



GASP!


----------



## Warhorse

Nice drifts SquarePeg.


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> Sharon, we call that "hoarfrost".



You know what we call it?
We call it a two-hour delay for most school systems.

Seriously!! Schools were delayed TWO hours today, because of THAT! And that was just in the yards; the streets are barely even wet, and certainly don't have any snow on them!! It's kinda hilarious.


----------



## sm4him

Oh, and in case anyone missed it: I used a BIT of "artistic license" there. That ain't no 1/4 inch of snow on the ground! There was barely a 1/4 inch on top of my car.
Which is, actually, my favorite kind of snow--if it absolutely MUST bring us the white winter precipitation, I'll take as little as possible, just enough to cover the ground and look pretty, but not enough to start sticking to the roads.


----------



## minicoop1985

We got just enough to cover the roads. Yay.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. You'll be happy that it has quit raining here. No drops hit me when I retrieved my morning paper. The rains brought some wind and chill ... not enough to fire up the furnace/heat pump. I'm learning how to create 3D objects in my PhotoShop class. Very interesting stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

Is that white stuff that's on the ground snow? I've heard about snow.


----------



## limr

Yikes, Square Peg is definitely getting hit harder than we did. The forecast for this area changed a lot - they couldn't quite get a handle on if we were going to fall closer to the center or stay on the fringe. It seems were more on the fringe. I'm seeing _maybe_ half a foot? Hard to tell because we had snow on Saturday, too. It's still snowing steadily but very lightly and it's windy. Forecast says we're essentially done with accumulation. There will be snowy air but less than 1 inch of it will be on the ground. The roads are still a bit messy in places but mostly cleared.

So I'd say we got off very easy. Because it's still windy, I'm not yet discounting a power outage. Because that would totally jinx me!


----------



## limr

Oh yeah, and good morning, American and Canadian hosers! Good afternoon, European hosers!  I don't know what to say to any Australian hosers that might be lurking.


----------



## Gary A.

Front page photo in today's LA Times is of snow in NYC.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Oh yeah, and good morning, American and Canadian hosers! Good afternoon, European hosers!  I don't know what to say to any Australian hosers that might be lurking.


G'Day.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> Front page photo in today's LA Times is of snow in NYC.



I think the correct term for that usage would be "schadenfreude".


----------



## Gary A.

Top-O'-the-Morn Leo. You ever change your coffee type?


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Front page photo in today's LA Times is of snow in NYC.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think the correct term for that usage would be "schadenfreude".
Click to expand...

LOL ... Yes, the Deutsche can capture much in a single word.


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Front page photo in today's LA Times is of snow in NYC.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think the correct term for that usage would be "schadenfreude".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... Yes, the Deutsche can capture much in a single word.
Click to expand...


True, if you count those crazy compound nouns as single words.  I have a German-English technical dictionary (somewhere) of post-WWII vintage that has some amazingly long words for various rocket parts.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Front page photo in today's LA Times is of snow in NYC.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think the correct term for that usage would be "schadenfreude".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... Yes, the Deutsche can capture much in a single word.
Click to expand...

 Yes, but to be fair, some of those words are 40+ letters long, so when you do a comparitive analysis of impact per letter in English and German, it's not such a big deal.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Front page photo in today's LA Times is of snow in NYC.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think the correct term for that usage would be "schadenfreude".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... Yes, the Deutsche can capture much in a single word.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> True, if you count those crazy compound nouns as single words.  I have a German-English technical dictionary (somewhere) of post-WWII vintage that has some amazingly long words for various rocket parts.
Click to expand...

LOL!!!! For some reason this has made my morning. (It probably wouldn't be as funny if I were an Englander.)


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Front page photo in today's LA Times is of snow in NYC.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think the correct term for that usage would be "schadenfreude".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... Yes, the Deutsche can capture much in a single word.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, but to be fair, some of those words are 40+ letters long, so when you do a comparitive analysis of impact per letter in English and German, it's not such a big deal.
Click to expand...

Germans are very efficient, why use superfluous spaces and waste paper. Quite unlike the English who have a fondness to overuse the letter 'U'.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Top-O'-the-Morn Leo. You ever change your coffee type?



Sometimes. I usually do blends, not single-origin beans. My main coffee is Eight O'Clock Dark Italian Roast, but sometimes I'll buy Peet's, usually a French Roast. My sister got me some beans from a local roaster...can't remember the name...but it reminds me that there are some nice local roasters around here that I want to try. I tend to prefer darker roasts but I'm willing to go medium sometimes.

I think I mentioned one of the local roasters - you'd like them because Cook would be welcome and could make some friends while you drink yummy coffee. It's called Coffee Lab Roasters. There are always dogs hanging out in that place.


----------



## limr

This picture was from Coffee Labs about 9-10 years ago when I first got my 645.


----------



## mmaria

At the dentist...just got my shot.... waiting...scared....


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Top-O'-the-Morn Leo. You ever change your coffee type?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sometimes. I usually do blends, not single-origin beans. My main coffee is Eight O'Clock Dark Italian Roast, but sometimes I'll buy Peet's, usually a French Roast. My sister got me some beans from a local roaster...can't remember the name...but it reminds me that there are some nice local roasters around here that I want to try. I tend to prefer darker roasts but I'm willing to go medium sometimes.
> 
> I think I mentioned one of the local roasters - you'd like them because Cook would be welcome and could make some friends while you drink yummy coffee. It's called Coffee Lab Roasters. There are always dogs hanging out in that place.
Click to expand...

I much prefer single to blends ... must be the purest in me. Cook would love to have her morning cup with other four-legged friends. This morning Cook was over here and her blanket was over there ... Mary Lou picks up the blanket and before she rewraps Cook up, Cook lets out this low and long moan of contentment.

I am planning on planting a coffee and tea bush for that extra kick of freshness. (Been thinking about it for a couple of years ... I have best get around to it.)


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> At the dentist...just got my shot.... waiting...scared....



It'll be over soon, darlin'  Let us know how it goes! 

All four of mine are being yanked on 25 Feb


----------



## Gary A.

mmaria said:


> At the dentist...just got my shot.... waiting...scared....


Think happy thoughts and it will all be over before you can say schadenfreude.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I much prefer single to blends ... must be the purest in me. Cook would love to have her morning cup with other four-legged friends. This morning Cook was over here and her blanket was over there ... Mary Lou picks up the blanket and before she rewraps Cook up, *Cook lets out this low and long moan of contentment.*







> I am planning on planting a coffee and tea bush for that extra kick of freshness. (Been thinking about it for a couple of years ... I have best get around to it.)



I hadn't thought of planting my own coffee bush, but I have played with the idea of buying green beans and roasting them myself. A bit too much else going on at the moment to attempt that project but it's there in my brain now, and that means it's never going away


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> At the dentist...just got my shot.... waiting...scared....


 You can do it!!  Don't be scared; think about how good it's going to be to have this all over with!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I much prefer single to blends ... must be the purest in me. Cook would love to have her morning cup with other four-legged friends. This morning Cook was over here and her blanket was over there ... Mary Lou picks up the blanket and before she rewraps Cook up, *Cook lets out this low and long moan of contentment.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am planning on planting a coffee and tea bush for that extra kick of freshness. (Been thinking about it for a couple of years ... I have best get around to it.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I hadn't thought of planting my own coffee bush, but I have played with the idea of buying green beans and roasting them myself. A bit too much else going on at the moment to attempt that project but it's there in my brain now, and that means it's never going away
Click to expand...


I have an Ethiopian friend who sometimes does a full Ethiopian coffee ritual. They start with green beans that they get from a friend who travels to Ethiopia a good bit, and move through the whole process of roasting, grinding, brewing, all done in a very ritualistic, ceremonial manner. It's fascinating to watch, and the result is pretty delicious too.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> At the dentist...just got my shot.... waiting...scared....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It'll be over soon, darlin'  Let us know how it goes!
> 
> All four of mine are being yanked on 25 Feb
Click to expand...




Gary A. said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> At the dentist...just got my shot.... waiting...scared....
> 
> 
> 
> Think happy thoughts and it will all be over before you can say schadenfreude.
Click to expand...

Awwwww you're nice...thank you!
And L you have my support for your molars!

I don't like typing on the phone.

Don't mind me if you hear me scream,cry,curse and similar!


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> At the dentist...just got my shot.... waiting...scared....
> 
> 
> 
> You can do it!!  Don't be scared; think about how good it's going to be to have this all over with!
Click to expand...

It would be better if I got your picture!!!!!!!






no... I'm serious! It would be better!!!!


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> At the dentist...just got my shot.... waiting...scared....
> 
> 
> 
> You can do it!!  Don't be scared; think about how good it's going to be to have this all over with!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It would be better if I got your picture!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> no... I'm serious! It would be better!!!!
Click to expand...


I am working on the order, RIGHT now.  Does that help?


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I much prefer single to blends ... must be the purest in me. Cook would love to have her morning cup with other four-legged friends. This morning Cook was over here and her blanket was over there ... Mary Lou picks up the blanket and before she rewraps Cook up, *Cook lets out this low and long moan of contentment.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am planning on planting a coffee and tea bush for that extra kick of freshness. (Been thinking about it for a couple of years ... I have best get around to it.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I hadn't thought of planting my own coffee bush, but I have played with the idea of buying green beans and roasting them myself. A bit too much else going on at the moment to attempt that project but it's there in my brain now, and that means it's never going away
Click to expand...

Home style coffee roasters are available on Amazon, gotta weed them out from all the Keurig capsules.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> At the dentist...just got my shot.... waiting...scared....
> 
> 
> 
> You can do it!!  Don't be scared; think about how good it's going to be to have this all over with!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It would be better if I got your picture!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> no... I'm serious! It would be better!!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I am working on the order, RIGHT now.  Does that help?
Click to expand...

How can I believe you in this state ma? how!?

I believe you and it helps


----------



## Gary A.

Hey Marija, how the hell are you? You know you've been missed.


----------



## mmaria

Gary A. said:


> Hey Marija, how the hell are you? You know you've been missed.


Oh Gary, that's nice to hear! 

I'm busy,I'm sorting all sorts of stuff in my life 

and in the process, I forgot about TPF and how interesting is to be here...

Ok I'm in    scared!!!!


----------



## snerd

pgriz said:


> "Dang" is english slang equivalent to "darn" or a way of expressing exasperation with something.  "Dang beetle" implies that the writer is annoyed at the beetle for some reason, which sets up the story and makes you want to know .


I was thinking dung beetle lol!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## mmaria

The sucker is gone!!!!


It went better than I thought...

I'm home...I took a shower and I'm relaxing a bit...

And and and how much did I pay for the xray and the tooth?


8$


----------



## mmaria

And thank you guys!


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> The sucker is gone!!!!
> 
> 
> It went better than I thought...
> 
> I'm home...I took a shower and I'm relaxing a bit...
> 
> And and and how much did I pay for the xray and the tooth?
> 
> 
> 8$



If you get it done in America, you'd probably add a couple of zeros to that 8...


----------



## pgriz

mmaria said:


> At the dentist...just got my shot.... waiting...scared....







mmaria said:


> The sucker is gone!!!!
> 
> 
> It went better than I thought...
> 
> I'm home...I took a shower and I'm relaxing a bit...
> 
> And and and how much did I pay for the xray and the tooth?
> 
> 
> 8$





Yay! 

Now.  You'll look like a chipmunk for a day or three, but once the swelling goes down, it'll be fine.  It seems that in most case the anticipation of how bad it COULD be is actually worse than the experience itself.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> The sucker is gone!!!!
> 
> 
> It went better than I thought...
> 
> I'm home...I took a shower and I'm relaxing a bit...
> 
> And and and how much did I pay for the xray and the tooth?
> 
> 
> 8$
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you get it done in America, you'd probably add a couple of zeros to that 8...
Click to expand...

That's why I could hardly wait to tell you about it! 

xray costed 1,25$
tooth extraction was 6,75$


----------



## mmaria

I'll be seeing her privately also,and then the price will be about 13$ for fixing/filling a tooth


----------



## bribrius

hi hosers! what is the topic? teethe?


----------



## mmaria

pgriz said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> At the dentist...just got my shot.... waiting...scared....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> The sucker is gone!!!!
> 
> 
> It went better than I thought...
> 
> I'm home...I took a shower and I'm relaxing a bit...
> 
> And and and how much did I pay for the xray and the tooth?
> 
> 
> 8$
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yay!
> 
> Now.  You'll look like a chipmunk for a day or three, but once the swelling goes down, it'll be fine.  It seems that in most case the anticipation of how bad it COULD be is actually worse than the experience itself.
Click to expand...

Chipmunk!? niceeeeeee 



I need to be pretty in about a week because I'm going to  business trip,until then, a chipmunk it is


----------



## limr

Oh please...teeth...and how much it costs to fix them...I just can't even.


----------



## pgriz

Hey!  Chipmunks are cute!  Although when my daughter had it done (all 4 at the same time) she did swell up quite a bit, and decided that she looked like Marlon Brando in the Godfather.  Painted on a mustache and talked in a husky voice.  I think I have a photo of her somewhere, but I'm not going to post it without her permission.


----------



## Designer

mmaria said:


> I need to be pretty in about a week because I'm going to  business trip,until then, a chipmunk it is



This might be an interesting time to mention that I have heard some high-fashion models will get their molars pulled to give their cheeks a "sunken" look.  

Someone should fact-check this.


----------



## snerd

Wanted: Single female looking for a relationship. Requirements............ good teef and a nice fishing boat. Send pics of boat.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Oh please...teeth...and how much it costs to fix them...*I just can't even*.



Ah, but NOW you can!




 

And yeah, I know I've posted this before--but I am JUST juvenile enough to think that it never stops being funny!


----------



## bribrius

biggest expense i have had its my daughters braces and my wifes crowns. But in both cases i had decent insurance that covered a good portion of it, thankfully.


----------



## snerd

Upper 70's again today! I'm on 2nd cup of joe, then heading out to try some long exposures with the Lee Big Stopper. I'll be thinking about you snowed in folks!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

Oh! A heads up for you app lovers........ I've downloaded and bought PhotoPills for my iPhone. Holy crap!! This thing is incredible! There is just WAY too much to list here. Go check it out for complete list of things it will do. Expensive at $10, but well worth it once you see its potential!'


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> Oh! A heads up for you app lovers........ I've downloaded and bought PhotoPills for my iPhone. Holy crap!! This thing is incredible! There is just WAY too much to list here. Go check it out for complete list of things it will do. Expensive at $10, but well worth it once you see its potential!'
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


 Hmmm... methinks I might just have to buy that!


----------



## SquarePeg

What is it?  I don't have an iPhone... but I'm curious.


----------



## snerd

SquarePeg said:


> What is it?  I don't have an iPhone... but I'm curious.


PhotoPills | Shoot legendary photos



Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

One of MANY MANY tools in it......

How To Plan The Milky Way Using The 2D Map-Centric Planner | PhotoPills



Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## NancyMoranG

Holy stars Batman, that's cool!


----------



## tirediron

Yep... I can actually see this app getting a LOT of use!


----------



## pgriz

Wow...  I want one too!     But I don't have eyefone.


----------



## snerd

pgriz said:


> Wow...  I want one too!     But I don't have eyefone.


Nikon too? Poor thing!! Lol!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

Happy cell phone pics for those of you who are snow-bound.














Yes, a duck pulling a sleigh. Don't ask.


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> Happy cell phone pics for those of you that are snow-bound.
> 
> Yes, a duck pulling a sleigh. Don't ask.



Too late, because in my head I already thought, "Wait. What?  Is that a giant DUCK pulling Santa's sleigh?"


----------



## snerd

I had to come back to town to refuel. The car and ME!!! 








Heading back out to try and catch some sunset colors.









Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy cell phone pics for those of you that are snow-bound.
> 
> Yes, a duck pulling a sleigh. Don't ask.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Too late, because in my head I already thought, "Wait. What?  Is that a giant DUCK pulling Santa's sleigh?"
Click to expand...

Santa's reindeer were otherwise occupied.


----------



## snerd

First Red Bull I've ever drank. Not bad. Okay, I'm going! Gotta go! Gonna run now!! What?! Yes! Gotta go!!! What what yes yes yes okay gotta go now!!!!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

Trying to learn this PhotoPills app........





There's some good stuff here if I can just figure it out lol!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## pgriz

snerd said:


> There's some good stuff here if I can just figure it out lol!!


\

It says...


At 5:33pm, the sun's about to set, and is maybe 5 degrees above the horizon (that's the thin orange line).  At that moment, the moon is about 90 degrees towards the east, at about 50 degrees above the horizon (that's the thin blue line).  The thick blue line is the direction you need to look at to see the moon break the horizon (moonrise), and that would occur at about 12:30 pm.  The thick dark blue line is the direction of the moonset which would occur at approximately 2am.  The thick yellow line is the direction of the sun rise, which would occur at 7:45am-ish, and the thick orange line is the direction of the sunset, which would occur at 545pm-ish.


----------



## pgriz

TPE is the other application that allows you to figure out the sun and moon positions, while you drag the pin around a google map.  It's really good to help you figure out where you need to be to get a particular alignment.  Say you want to get the full moon in the "V" formed between two mountains.  You'd go to the day before full moon, figure out how high the moon has to be to clear the "V", then find the corresponding time.  To figure out where you need to put yourself, you'd drag the pin around so that the thin blue line points between the two mountains, and then you look to see where you need to stand in order to get that alignment.  Easy-peasy.


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> There's some good stuff here if I can just figure it out lol!!
> 
> 
> 
> \
> 
> It says...
> 
> 
> At 5:33pm, the sun's about to set, and is maybe 5 degrees above the horizon (that's the thin orange line).  At that moment, the moon is about 90 degrees towards the east, at about 50 degrees above the horizon (that's the thin blue line).  The thick blue line is the direction you need to look at to see the moon break the horizon (moonrise), and that would occur at about 12:30 pm.  The thick dark blue line is the direction of the moonset which would occur at approximately 2am.  The thick yellow line is the direction of the sun rise, which would occur at 7:45am-ish, and the thick orange line is the direction of the sunset, which would occur at 545pm-ish.
Click to expand...




pgriz said:


> TPE is the other application that allows you to figure out the sun and moon positions, while you drag the pin around a google map.  It's really good to help you figure out where you need to be to get a particular alignment.  Say you want to get the full moon in the "V" formed between two mountains.  You'd go to the day before full moon, figure out how high the moon has to be to clear the "V", then find the corresponding time.  To figure out where you need to put yourself, you'd drag the pin around so that the thin blue line points between the two mountains, and then you look to see where you need to stand in order to get that alignment.  Easy-peasy.



Ah. So it's official, then.
I actually *am* just not very bright. 

Because I've had TPE for over a year but I quit even TRYING to understand it.  Even after you just explained it, it just befuddles me. I really need someone who can stand right next to me, with the app open and really SHOW me what in the world it all means.


----------



## bribrius

just got here. No idea what you are talking about. Clearly it must be over my head.


----------



## snowbear

Good evening folkses.  I had a busy morning -- went with my lovely wife to train some of our firefighters in computer stuff.
Marija - I'm sorry I wasn't able to get on earlier to give you some support, but it looks like everyone else had it covered.  I'm glad it went well.

We had about 2" of snow on the grass, a little bit of frozen slush in the parking lot, but the roads were just wet.  This was the local story of the day:  Family's car swallowed by giant sinkhole after Bladensburg water main break | WJLA.com

My new project.  I am involved in this: New program helps donate more smoke detectors
In a nutshell, the department is getting businesses to "adopt" a neighborhood and fund new smoke detectors.  I am working with one of the senior GIS programmers (he is project lead) to develop an online mapping application that will help the department track which neighborhoods have been adopted and which residences have gotten the smoke detectors installed.  Teddy (the programmer) and I are slated to give a demo at the state GIS conference at Towson Univ. next month.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> Ah. So it's official, then.
> I actually *am* just not very bright.
> 
> Because I've had TPE for over a year but I quit even TRYING to understand it.  Even after you just explained it, it just befuddles me. I really need someone who can stand right next to me, with the app open and really SHOW me what in the world it all means.



The sun and moon come up on the right and set on the left.  The intersection of the lines is where you are, or want to be.


----------



## pgriz

Sharon, open up TPE and follow these pointers:

Let's start with the Sun/Moon curves on the bottom part of the screen.  Put the calendar to "today" which is Tuesday, January 27, 2015.  Sharon, I'm putting the pin on Nashville, TN. 


The bottom line (with the cursor) is the time of the day.  Drag it over to 6.51am, which is the sunrise.  The yellow line (representing the sun) is about to rise above the horizon (the 0.0 degree horizontal line).  If you now look at the map graphic, you'll see a thick yellow line pointing to the East-South east (or 112.3°).


Drag the time cursor (bottom line) and move it to 9:00 am.  The little table next to the vertical line says the sun is 20.7° above the horizon, and in the direction of 134.0° (North being 0.0, due east being 90.0°, due south being 180.0°, and so on) on the thin orange line.  The moon (blue line) is below the horizon.  Did you notice that as you dragged the time cursor from 6:51am to 9am, the thin yellow line moved as well?  Well that line is pointing towards the sun.


Drag the time cursor to the time of 11:30am.  That is when moonrise will happen (it crosses above the horizon line), and you need to be looking in the direction of 35.0° to see it.  However, practically speaking, the moon needs to clear the horizon by at least 5° and usually 10° to be easily visible.  So, keeping an eye on the blue square (representing the moon), drag it over so the vertical distance is now 10.0°.  That will happen at 12:27pm.  If you now look at the map, you'll see the direction (thin blue line) you will need to look to see the moon 10° above the horizon, namely 81° (which is just slightly north of due East).


As you drag the time cursor towards the right, notice that both the sun and moon projection lines (the thin orange and blue lines) also move.


Now drag the time cursor to 17:08 (5:08pm).  This is the sunset, when the sun dips below the horizon (represented by the 0.0° line).  Notice that the thin orange line disappears into the thick line.  The thick orange line represents the direction you need to look to see the sunset (247° or a little south of due west).  If you now look at the moon information, it is 62° above the horizon, and in the direction of 138° (which is almost exactly south-east).


Now...  let's say you want to catch the new moon setting just after the sun.  You want a very thin cresent, and if you go to the calendar (upper left) and advance to February 20, 2015, you'll have a cresent of 3.7% full.  Let's also assume that you're going to the J Percy Priest Resevoir, and you will go to the Cook Public Use area, at the end of Old Hickory boulevard so tha you can have a good look over the reservoir towards the west.  Drag your pin over to that location and plunk it down.  At the time of sunset (occurs at 17:32), the moon will be about 25° in the sky, in the direction of 250° which is 20°south of due west.  Right after sunset, the sky is still kinda bright, so let's wait until civil twilight end which is at 17:58.  So grab the time cursor along the bottom and drag it over to 17:58.  The moon square says that the moon will still be about 21° degrees above the horizon.  Perfect.  So take a shot.

Now, wasn't that easy?


----------



## Gary A.

It was gorgeous today. 70F+, bright blue skies w/ nice clouds scattered here and there. No rain, no winds ... just a gorgeous day. Snow is down to 6,000', a bit higher than halfway up the mountain.  Nothing to report on the Chrysalis Watch, still waiting. I should break 20,000 steps on my Activity Tracker today.


----------



## Warhorse

[QUOTE="sm4him, post: 3418459
I have an Ethiopian friend who sometimes does a full Ethiopian coffee ritual. They start with green beans that they get from a friend who travels to Ethiopia a good bit, and move through the whole process of roasting, grinding, brewing, all done in a very ritualistic, ceremonial manner. It's fascinating to watch, and the result is pretty delicious too.[/QUOTE]
I thought they fed those beans to cats first, then harvested them?


----------



## Gary A.

Warhorse said:


> [QUOTE="sm4him, post: 3418459
> I have an Ethiopian friend who sometimes does a full Ethiopian coffee ritual. They start with green beans that they get from a friend who travels to Ethiopia a good bit, and move through the whole process of roasting, grinding, brewing, all done in a very ritualistic, ceremonial manner. It's fascinating to watch, and the result is pretty delicious too.


I thought they fed those beans to cats first, then harvested them?[/QUOTE]

Ethiopians actually invented coffee. Ethiopian shepherds noticed that their herds/sheep would get all hyped up when they ate the coffee cherries ... so after a bit the shepherds started poppin' coffee too.

The cat business is actually from the greater Sumatra/Indonesia/Philippines area. The cat is actually a civet. That coffee which has passed through the civet's digestive system and collected after being pooped is called kopi luwak. Interesting stuff, the civets digestive fluids alters the taste of the beans ... adds a bit of chocolate-like flavoring ... which ... after thinking about it isn't very surprising as well as gross.


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> Sharon, open up TPE and follow these pointers:
> 
> Let's start with the Sun/Moon curves on the bottom part of the screen.  Put the calendar to "today" which is Tuesday, January 27, 2015.  Sharon, I'm putting the pin on Nashville, TN.
> 
> 
> *The bottom line (with the cursor) is the time of the day.  Drag it over to 6.51am, which is the sunrise*.  The yellow line (representing the sun) is about to rise above the horizon (the 0.0 degree horizontal line).  If you now look at the map graphic, you'll see a thick yellow line pointing to the East-South east (or 112.3°).



I don't see a line with a cursor at all, or anything that I can drag anywhere.

Here's my screen when I open it:



 

What am I missing? I looked at settings, but there wasn't much there I could change.


----------



## mmaria

pgriz said:


> Hey!  Chipmunks are cute!  Although when my daughter had it done (all 4 at the same time) she did swell up quite a bit, and decided that she looked like Marlon Brando in the Godfather.  Painted on a mustache and talked in a husky voice.  I think I have a photo of her somewhere, but I'm not going to post it without her permission.


I am not a chipmunk today!

I'm not swollen at all 

and I posted some of the pictures in the fb thread


----------



## mmaria

oh yeah


----------



## pgriz

Ok, the mobile app is somewhat different from the web app.  I'll put up the Web app screenshot.



 

That's what I see when I go to the TPE website using Chrome.


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> Ok, the mobile app is somewhat different from the web app.  I'll put up the Web app screenshot.
> 
> View attachment 94263
> 
> That's what I see when I go to the TPE website using Chrome.



Ah, okay. Maybe what I'll do, when I get a chance, is to go to the web app and see if it makes more sense using your explanations. Then perhaps that will translate over to where I can figure out the phone app.  Thanks, Paul!


----------



## pgriz

mmaria said:


> I am not a chipmunk today!
> 
> I'm not swollen at all
> 
> and I posted some of the pictures in the fb thread if you want to see



Exellent!  I would expect the swelling would be less if you only had one taken out.  My mother's operation was also quite uneventful, but each daughter's operations were for the removal of four wisdom teeth at once, so maybe that was what was the key difference.


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> I am not a chipmunk today!
> 
> I'm not swollen at all
> 
> and I posted some of the pictures in the fb thread if you want to see



Good morning sweet daughter!  So glad to hear you're not a chipmunk, that's good news; means you'll likely recover pretty quickly! 

A little something-something should be getting to my house tomorrow, and then I'll be sending it on to your house Friday...along with maybe a little "extra" for being so patient! ;-)


----------



## mmaria

Designer said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> I need to be pretty in about a week because I'm going to  business trip,until then, a chipmunk it is
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This might be an interesting time to mention that I have heard some high-fashion models will get their molars pulled to give their cheeks a "sunken" look.
> 
> Someone should fact-check this.
Click to expand...


that's very interesting even without checking it

I believe it!


----------



## mmaria

pgriz said:


> Exellent!  I would expect the swelling would be less if you only had one taken out.  My mother's operation was also quite uneventful, but each daughter's operations were for the removal of four wisdom teeth at once, so maybe that was what was the key difference.


I really expected to be swollen, but nothing, I mean nothing happened 

I feel soooo much better now, I'm not feeling any pain at all... It's a bit unusual situation in my mouth but that's nothing serious, it'll pass.

I should have done it earlier!


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> A little something-something should be getting to my house tomorrow, and then I'll be sending it on to your house Friday...along with maybe a little "extra" for being so patient! ;-)








awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Just be sure that something -something is singed! Handwriting!


awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

can't wait!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers! Afternoon, Marija!

Delayed opening at school so I don't have to teach my morning class.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  (It's always morning on here)  Having my coffee and snack - back at work today, one pointless meeting already, another soon.


----------



## Warhorse

Good morning all, having coffee, and a piece of coffee cake.


----------



## tirediron

Warhorse said:


> Good morning all, having coffee, *and a piece of coffee cake*.


 There BETTER be enough for everyone!


----------



## Warhorse

Gary A. said:


> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> [QUOTE="sm4him, post: 3418459
> I have an Ethiopian friend who sometimes does a full Ethiopian coffee ritual. They start with green beans that they get from a friend who travels to Ethiopia a good bit, and move through the whole process of roasting, grinding, brewing, all done in a very ritualistic, ceremonial manner. It's fascinating to watch, and the result is pretty delicious too.
> 
> 
> 
> I thought they fed those beans to cats first, then harvested them?
Click to expand...


Ethiopians actually invented coffee. Ethiopian shepherds noticed that their herds/sheep would get all hyped up when they ate the coffee cherries ... so after a bit the shepherds started poppin' coffee too.

The cat business is actually from the greater Sumatra/Indonesia/Philippines area. The cat is actually a civet. That coffee which has passed through the civet's digestive system and collected after being pooped is called kopi luwak. Interesting stuff, the civets digestive fluids alters the taste of the beans ... adds a bit of chocolate-like flavoring ... which ... after thinking about it isn't very surprising as well as gross.[/QUOTE]

Gary, thanks for schooling me up on that, my geography skills lack in that area.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin Hosers. Looks like today's gonna be another quiet one around here.


----------



## Warhorse

tirediron said:


> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning all, having coffee, *and a piece of coffee cake*.
> 
> 
> 
> There BETTER be enough for everyone!
Click to expand...


Sure is, just walk right in when you get here, doors always open.


----------



## Gary A.

mmaria said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey!  Chipmunks are cute!  Although when my daughter had it done (all 4 at the same time) she did swell up quite a bit, and decided that she looked like Marlon Brando in the Godfather.  Painted on a mustache and talked in a husky voice.  I think I have a photo of her somewhere, but I'm not going to post it without her permission.
> 
> 
> 
> I am not a chipmunk today!
> 
> I'm not swollen at all
> 
> and I posted some of the pictures in the fb thread
Click to expand...

Allright Marija.


----------



## Gary A.

Warhorse said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> [QUOTE="sm4him, post: 3418459
> I have an Ethiopian friend who sometimes does a full Ethiopian coffee ritual. They start with green beans that they get from a friend who travels to Ethiopia a good bit, and move through the whole process of roasting, grinding, brewing, all done in a very ritualistic, ceremonial manner. It's fascinating to watch, and the result is pretty delicious too.
> 
> 
> 
> I thought they fed those beans to cats first, then harvested them?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ethiopians actually invented coffee. Ethiopian shepherds noticed that their herds/sheep would get all hyped up when they ate the coffee cherries ... so after a bit the shepherds started poppin' coffee too.
> 
> The cat business is actually from the greater Sumatra/Indonesia/Philippines area. The cat is actually a civet. That coffee which has passed through the civet's digestive system and collected after being pooped is called kopi luwak. Interesting stuff, the civets digestive fluids alters the taste of the beans ... adds a bit of chocolate-like flavoring ... which ... after thinking about it isn't very surprising as well as gross.
Click to expand...


Gary, thanks for schooling me up on that, my geography skills lack in that area.[/QUOTE]

I did a story on coffee. Great time.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. In my spare time I've been working on this 'Peace March' that I shot a week ago. I think I'm gonna string the images together into an iMovie. 

Last night Mary Lou's phone got all screwed up and after a few hours with Verizon and Apple she was directed to the Apple store. (The closest one being in the Brea Mall.)  I'm not a big mall shopper and detest crowds and parking lots. I walked around the mall a bit while Mary Lou's phone was worked on. I played with the $3,000+ computers at Apple, I checked out the $250+ tea sets at Teavana, bought a book on bread at the expensive Williams-Sonoma ... when I left Williams-Sonoma I look up and I see a Tesla dealership directly across from me. Is all this normal? I remember when the big goto stores were Sears and JC Penny ... where did all this money come from?


----------



## pgriz

tirediron said:


> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning all, having coffee, *and a piece of coffee cake*.
> 
> 
> 
> There BETTER be enough for everyone!
Click to expand...


You know, John, exchanging sweet and sticky things over the internet is really causing my modem and router to be a little... sticky.  I feel I need to throw it into the diswasher, just to get it sparkly clean again.  Don't worry - there's a button saying "sanitation clean", which I guess is to be used for disinfecting electronics.  Wonder if it works on computer viruses as well???


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. In my spare time I've been working on this 'Peace March' that I shot a week ago. I think I'm gonna string the images together into an iMovie.
> 
> Last night Mary Lou's phone got all screwed up and after a few hours with Verizon and Apple she was directed to the Apple store. (The closest one being in the Brea Mall.)  I'm not a big mall shopper and detest crowds and parking lots. I walked around the mall a bit while Mary Lou's phone was worked on. I played with the $3,000+ computers at Apple, I checked out the $250+ tea sets at Teavana, bought a book on bread at the expensive Williams-Sonoma ... when I left Williams-Sonoma I look up and I see a Tesla dealership directly across from me. Is all this normal? I remember when the big goto stores were Sears and JC Penny ... where did all this money come from?



I read that Tesla was trying to do direct-to-customer selling, but the dealer networks put a lot of pressure on the legislatures to prevent that, making Tesla open up "dealerships" to fit into the existing framework of commercial regulation.  I think that this is different from state to state and province to province.


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. In my spare time I've been working on this 'Peace March' that I shot a week ago. I think I'm gonna string the images together into an iMovie.
> 
> Last night Mary Lou's phone got all screwed up and after a few hours with Verizon and Apple she was directed to the Apple store. (The closest one being in the Brea Mall.)  I'm not a big mall shopper and detest crowds and parking lots. I walked around the mall a bit while Mary Lou's phone was worked on. I played with the $3,000+ computers at Apple, I checked out the $250+ tea sets at Teavana, bought a book on bread at the expensive Williams-Sonoma ... when I left Williams-Sonoma I look up and I see a Tesla dealership directly across from me. Is all this normal? I remember when the big goto stores were Sears and JC Penny ... where did all this money come from?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I read that Tesla was trying to do direct-to-customer selling, but the dealer networks put a lot of pressure on the legislatures to prevent that, making Tesla open up "dealerships" to fit into the existing framework of commercial regulation.  I think that this is different from state to state and province to province.
Click to expand...

 Tesla dealership????  WTF?


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning all, having coffee, *and a piece of coffee cake*.
> 
> 
> 
> There BETTER be enough for everyone!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You know, John, exchanging sweet and sticky things over the internet is really causing my modem and router to be a little... sticky.  I feel I need to throw it into the diswasher, just to get it sparkly clean again.  Don't worry - there's a button saying "sanitation clean", which I guess is to be used for disinfecting electronics.  Wonder if it works on computer viruses as well???
Click to expand...

 Only one way to find out!


----------



## pgriz

tirediron said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. In my spare time I've been working on this 'Peace March' that I shot a week ago. I think I'm gonna string the images together into an iMovie.
> 
> Last night Mary Lou's phone got all screwed up and after a few hours with Verizon and Apple she was directed to the Apple store. (The closest one being in the Brea Mall.)  I'm not a big mall shopper and detest crowds and parking lots. I walked around the mall a bit while Mary Lou's phone was worked on. I played with the $3,000+ computers at Apple, I checked out the $250+ tea sets at Teavana, bought a book on bread at the expensive Williams-Sonoma ... when I left Williams-Sonoma I look up and I see a Tesla dealership directly across from me. Is all this normal? I remember when the big goto stores were Sears and JC Penny ... where did all this money come from?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I read that Tesla was trying to do direct-to-customer selling, but the dealer networks put a lot of pressure on the legislatures to prevent that, making Tesla open up "dealerships" to fit into the existing framework of commercial regulation.  I think that this is different from state to state and province to province.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Tesla dealership????  WTF?
Click to expand...


Yeah, you know... these guys:  Tesla Motors | Premium Electric Vehicles


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. In my spare time I've been working on this 'Peace March' that I shot a week ago. I think I'm gonna string the images together into an iMovie.
> 
> Last night Mary Lou's phone got all screwed up and after a few hours with Verizon and Apple she was directed to the Apple store. (The closest one being in the Brea Mall.)  I'm not a big mall shopper and detest crowds and parking lots. I walked around the mall a bit while Mary Lou's phone was worked on. I played with the $3,000+ computers at Apple, I checked out the $250+ tea sets at Teavana, bought a book on bread at the expensive Williams-Sonoma ... when I left Williams-Sonoma I look up and I see a Tesla dealership directly across from me. Is all this normal? I remember when the big goto stores were Sears and JC Penny ... where did all this money come from?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I read that Tesla was trying to do direct-to-customer selling, but the dealer networks put a lot of pressure on the legislatures to prevent that, making Tesla open up "dealerships" to fit into the existing framework of commercial regulation.  I think that this is different from state to state and province to province.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Tesla dealership????  WTF?
Click to expand...

Tesla is inside the mall. They have a few cars on display. When you're ready, you order from a computer and they drop the car off at your home or work, whatever.


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. In my spare time I've been working on this 'Peace March' that I shot a week ago. I think I'm gonna string the images together into an iMovie.
> 
> Last night Mary Lou's phone got all screwed up and after a few hours with Verizon and Apple she was directed to the Apple store. (The closest one being in the Brea Mall.)  I'm not a big mall shopper and detest crowds and parking lots. I walked around the mall a bit while Mary Lou's phone was worked on. I played with the $3,000+ computers at Apple, I checked out the $250+ tea sets at Teavana, bought a book on bread at the expensive Williams-Sonoma ... when I left Williams-Sonoma I look up and I see a Tesla dealership directly across from me. Is all this normal? I remember when the big goto stores were Sears and JC Penny ... where did all this money come from?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I read that Tesla was trying to do direct-to-customer selling, but the dealer networks put a lot of pressure on the legislatures to prevent that, making Tesla open up "dealerships" to fit into the existing framework of commercial regulation.  I think that this is different from state to state and province to province.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Tesla dealership????  WTF?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, you know... these guys:  Tesla Motors | Premium Electric Vehicles
Click to expand...

 Nope.... I didn't, but I do now.  Intereskin'


----------



## waday

There's a similar dealership in the King of Prussia Mall near Philadelphia. In the past few years, Tesla has exploded in that area.


----------



## Gary A.

I see a Tesla on the road nearly everyday.


----------



## waday

When I lived in Philly, it was the same thing. Would pass at least one whenever I was out and about. They're nice cars!


----------



## snerd

Morning hosers! I've decided I spend way too much time on here.............. and I'm heading out to actually shoot some photos! I know......... radical!! First stop, iHop! Then back out to refuge for some more landscapes using the Big Stopper. So don't even look for me on here much anymore. Well, until, maybe............... 8pm tonight?!


----------



## pgriz

tirediron said:


> Nope.... I didn't, but I do now.  Intereskin'



Even more interesting is the guy behind the company:  Elon Musk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

His ideas are audacious, and yet, he's making them real.  He plans to go to Mars with the first batch of colonizers.  Before he goes, he is building (with Panasonic) the world's largest battery factory, is one of the private companies (Space-X) pushing space exploration, may end up revolutionizing mass transport with his Hyperloop, and may also be weening us off carbon-based energy with his SolarCity company.  You don't want to bet against him.


----------



## minicoop1985

Tesla's got a great product going. I'm hoping to see a dealer around here sometime soon.


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nope.... I didn't, but I do now.  Intereskin'
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Even more interesting is the guy behind the company:  Elon Musk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> 
> His ideas are audacious, and yet, he's making them real.  He plans to go to Mars with the first batch of colonizers.  Before he goes, he is building (with Panasonic) the world's largest battery factory, is one of the private companies (Space-X) pushing space exploration, may end up revolutionizing mass transport with his Hyperloop, and may also be weening us off carbon-based energy with his SolarCity company.  You don't want to bet against him.
Click to expand...

Quite the mover and shaker!


----------



## snerd

My gorgeous day! 80 degrees, warm and not too windy. Went out to the wildlife refuge, stayed most of the day. No wildlife....... just naturescapes. I'll post some up tomorrow. Just got back into town, at Texas Roadhouse for a big, fat juicy rib-eye!!


Starter salad, Italian dressing and a cold beer......






Warning!!!!! Pics of steak to follow!!  Bahahaha!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

Now that's good eatin'!!!!







It's like Farris Bueller's Day Off, only every day lol!!




Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

That does look good. Grilling some chicken tonight. Chicken is marinading away ... swimming in orange, lemon, Toasted Head Chardonnay and seasoning, (including but not limited to my home made chili powder for bite). I'll be heading out to the yard and pluck some herbs to augment the marinade.

On the chrysalis front, the one on the back of the chair is starting to darken up ... so maybe tomorrow it will emerge.


----------



## pgriz

You said "beer".  Where are you hiding it?


----------



## SquarePeg

yummmm Texas Roadhouse has those awesome hot rolls with the cinnamon butter.  Drat, now I'm hungry.  Off to the kitchen to see if we have anything sweet.


----------



## Gary A.

Grabbed a fistful of herbs ... basil, thyme, sage, parsley and oregano chopped and tossed them on the chicken.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Grabbed a fistful of herbs ... basil, thyme, sage, parsley and oregano chopped and tossed them on the chicken.


A fistful of Herb's what?


----------



## minicoop1985

Ungh. I hate being sick. I really really hate it.


----------



## pgriz

Gary, I think you're missing rosemary....  Here, have some:


----------



## snerd

pgriz said:


> You said "beer".  Where are you hiding it?


"Everyone" says that about my favorite brew. A pox on them!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Grabbed a fistful of herbs ... basil, thyme, sage, parsley and oregano chopped and tossed them on the chicken.
> 
> 
> 
> A fistful of Herb's what?
Click to expand...

ahhh ... that be a lower case 'h'.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Gary, I think you're missing rosemary....  Here, have some:


No, the omission was intentional ... I do have rosemary ... just didn't want to go there.


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> You said "beer".  Where are you hiding it?



It's right th....oh. I see what you did there.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary, I think you're missing rosemary....  Here, have some:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No, the omission was intentional ... I do have rosemary ... just didn't want to go there.
Click to expand...


And yet, here we are!!
I like Simon & Garfunkel.  Better than I like rosemary, actually.


----------



## sm4him

It's been a loooonnnnggg day.

I should've known how it was gonna go. I'd been at work about an hour when my boss emailed me with a job she needed done, and then added, "oh and I'm sure you're already on top of it, but keep an eye on FB. I want to nip any negative stuff in the bud."

I had NO idea why that seemed more likely today than any other day--we do have a route change proposal that could stir some negative sentiment, but that's been out since last Thursday.  So, I emailed and said as much.  Her response was to look at the paper.

The TOP, above the fold, headline in our local newspaper was "KAT Promotes Felon to Safety Supervisor Position."





And, even better? It's true.

He was once a police officer. Then he committed a "little" felon; he confessed to it and served time.  After serving his time, he moved back to Knoxville and got hired as a bus driver a few years ago. He was promoted last year to Supervisor and now to Safety Supervisor. He's a great guy, has been a stellar employee, and is, imo, deserving of the second chance he's gotten.

But...yeah. Made for an interesting day.
I must say, though, that FB and Twitter were FAR less filled with stupid redneck comments than I'd anticipated.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary, I think you're missing rosemary....  Here, have some:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No, the omission was intentional ... I do have rosemary ... just didn't want to go there.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And yet, here we are!!
> I like Simon & Garfunkel.  Better than I like rosemary, actually.
Click to expand...

Me too, I divorced rosemary.


----------



## Gary A.

Firing up the George Foreman. Grilled chicken coming up. Anybody coming over? Thinking about poppin' some wine.


----------



## pgriz

snerd said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> You said "beer".  Where are you hiding it?
> 
> 
> 
> "Everyone" says that about my favorite brew. A pox on them!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...


Don't know about poxes, but this is one of my current favourites :

La Vache Folle - Milk Stout Microbrasserie Charlevoix Baie-Saint-Paul QC Canada BeerAdvocate

If you read the reviews on that site, they give a pretty good description of this beer.  It's strong (9%) but silky smooth with multiple flavours that announce themselves during the course of one swallow.  You don't want this one ice-cold.

Gary:  I'll be right over.  Sounds delicious.


----------



## snerd

pgriz said:


> Don't know about poxes, but this is one of my current favourites :
> 
> La Vache Folle - Milk Stout Microbrasserie Charlevoix Baie-Saint-Paul QC Canada BeerAdvocate
> 
> If you read the reviews on that site, they give a pretty good description of this beer.  It's strong (9%) but silky smooth with multiple flavours that announce themselves during the course of one swallow.  You don't want this one ice-cold.


Trust me................. you don't want me drinking anything stronger than our 3.2 beer.


----------



## Gary A.

Chicken's done and it smells wonderful.


----------



## bribrius

hey, i just gave a restaurant free photos for their web page. You guys think i charged too much?


----------



## limr

Hosers.


----------



## oldhippy

Managed to knock out my wife's Facebook. Did a settings update on her iPad. She has no idea what her password was. And the email address that was used is discontinued, years ago. Needless to say I'm in the dog house.  Any ideas on a bail out.  Thanks. Ed


----------



## bribrius

no.   well, there must be a contact place to contact facebook or something in the commonly asked questions section of it. Other than that, no.


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> hey, i just gave a restaurant free photos for their web page. You guys think i charged too much?


Did they give you a kiss?


----------



## snerd

oldhippy said:


> Managed to knock out my wife's Facebook. Did a settings update on her iPad. She has no idea what her password was. And the email address that was used is discontinued, years ago. Needless to say I'm in the dog house.  Any ideas on a bail out.  Thanks. Ed


All I have is.................

I can t reset my password because I can t access the email address listed on my account. Facebook Help Center Facebook


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> hey, i just gave a restaurant free photos for their web page. You guys think i charged too much?
> 
> 
> 
> Did they give you a kiss?
Click to expand...

no. Just said thank you. They aren't high res just for their web page. And since they asked me i realized i really didn't give a chit so....


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> hey, i just gave a restaurant free photos for their web page. You guys think i charged too much?
> 
> 
> 
> Did they give you a kiss?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> no. Just said thank you.....
Click to expand...

Well, that's something lol!!


----------



## Gary A.

And it was wonderful (the chicken).


----------



## snerd

Oh lord........... the meds are wearing off, everything hurts, I got a sunburn...............


----------



## mmaria




----------



## sm4him

Good morning, Hosers!! Gonna be a long day for me today!!
I have a women's ministry event after work today, so my day won't end until after 9 p.m.

Just finished the first cup of coffee. Bought something new, a Costa Rican fair trade coffee from a local store. It's okay; not as good as I'd hoped. Fresh Costa Rican coffee is incredible--but this stuff is just okay.

Well, I've got some oranges, and some cinnamon rolls (alas, NOT homemade) to warm up for breakfast, so that will take the edge of my disappointment with the coffee.


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


>



Hey, Marija! Wow, that's really...purple. And sparkly. 
Not a very purple, sparkly day for me yet. But that's a good thing.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, Marija! Wow, that's really...purple. And sparkly.
> Not a very purple, sparkly day for me yet. But that's a good thing.
Click to expand...

exactly what I was thinking... but the boss was in the office and I couldn't search for more appropriate non purple non sparkly elegant fine and nice and looks like me 

Bare with it now Santa!


----------



## mmaria

in 20 minutes I'm conducting an interview with some young people.

I'm nice on interviews when I see they're nervous and such.. they look soooo cute.

They applied for the membership in some kind of youth board- don't know how to properly describe it in English. That Youth board will be doing some projects in the town... They're young and motivated.... and I'm the youth representative in my town. (old and bitter )


----------



## Warhorse

mmaria, you is waz up!

Me is jus' waking up, coffee is brewing.


----------



## SquarePeg

Did you hear that?  No?  Well it was the sound of nothing.  Everyone is back at school and work.  Yeay!  My quiet time has returned!  Just me and the dog til 2.


----------



## Gary A.

mmaria said:


> in 20 minutes I'm conducting an interview with some young people.
> 
> I'm nice on interviews when I see they're nervous and such.. they look soooo cute.
> 
> They applied for the membership in some kind of youth board- don't know how to properly describe it in English. That Youth board will be doing some projects in the town... They're young and motivated.... and I'm the youth representative in my town. (old and bitter )



Old and bitter ... sounds like a job for moi.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers! y Buenas Tardes senorita Marija. Up early today. Mary Lou is getting a foot operation and we gotta leave by 6:00 a.m.


----------



## limr

Ouch! Good luck to her!

Good morning, hosers. Bom dia. Günaydın.

And for Marija: Good afternoon! Boa tarde. İyi günler.


----------



## Designer

mmaria said:


>


I'm up.

I'm UP!

Dog woke me up at 05:00.


----------



## Gary A.

I thought maybe Marija woke you with her sparkly, purple thingie.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> I thought maybe Marija woke you with her sparkly, purple thingie.




I didn't think Marija was that kinda girl.


----------



## KenC

Morning, Hosers!  Having my coffee and snack.  Costa Rican coffee, or so it says on the packet by the coffee machine.

I missed the "sparkly, purple thingie" but I'm not going back to look - I think it's too early for me to see anything like that.  Not much happening here, which is always a good thing.

Last night I judged a camera club competition (with two others) and tried to fight the forces of darkness once again.  One of the others is an old-timer with the club and stuck fast in all of the camera club cliches.  I didn't disagree with his judgment that much, but his comments weren't that helpful, imo.


----------



## SquarePeg

Tell us more.


----------



## Gary A.

I hope you had a good time. So who won and why?


----------



## bribrius

"hey bri i think i lost the transmission in my dodge yesterday plowing"

"did it overheat?"

"Not sure i think so"

"that sucks, does it have a tranny cooler?"

"yeah i think so"

"how big is it?"

"i don't know"

"when is the last time you changed your transmission fluid?"

blank stare...........

"i think i am going to have to send it to a shop but can you look at it first?"

"yeah, whatever. wtf..."

nice enough guy but some people just don't cease to amaze me.


----------



## KenC

Yeah, I always enjoy talking about images.  Unfortunately, they only had us critique part of the competition (about a third), saving time instead to go over some images a second time to break ties.  In my view, if they come out tied, that's the way it is and forcing them not to be tied (without explaining why) is a waste of time.  I could go on with other complaints about how these things are run, but it's a long story.  This time I didn't disagree that much with the images that did well, although sometimes I just can't believe how they reject really interesting stuff.


----------



## bribrius

KenC said:


> Yeah, I always enjoy talking about images.  Unfortunately, they only had us critique part of the competition (about a third), saving time instead to go over some images a second time to break ties.  In my view, if they come out tied, that's the way it is and forcing them not to be tied (without explaining why) is a waste of time.  I could go on with other complaints about how these things are run, but it's a long story.  This time I didn't disagree that much with the images that did well, although sometimes I just can't believe how they reject really interesting stuff.


i have never entered one, or been to one.  sounds like something i would rather avoid. Although your take on it is interesting.  i do follow some juried art shows. But they aren't separated out for photography. For instance "best in show" i have never seen go to a photograph.


----------



## Gary A.

I am at the hospital, waiting for Mary Lou to get out of surgery. Next to me is this big fat guy snoring away ...I find it very rude. I can't move because I next to the only plug in the waiting room.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> I am at the hospital, waiting for Mary Lou to get out of surgery. Next to me is this big fat guy snoring away ...I find it very rude. I can't move because I next to the only plug in the waiting room.



Go get some popcorn or something like that out of the vending machine. Then sit and eat a piece, and discreetly toss a piece on the big snoring dude…eat a piece, toss a piece. And then get rid of the evidence and hope you're there when he wakes up.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> I am at the hospital, waiting for Mary Lou to get out of surgery. Next to me is this big fat guy snoring away ...I find it very rude. I can't move because I next to the only plug in the waiting room.


 Sounds to me like it would be a good time to re-assign all of the ring tones on your 'phone (after of coursre you listen to them a few times each a full volume so as to best determine which ring is most appropriate for which contact).  Failing that, the sailor in me would simply pick up a magazine, poke him a couple of times and say, "Shut the ****  up, you fat sack of ****!"


----------



## sm4him

Oh, and I hope her surgery goes well? What's she having done; foot surgery, I know, but what's wrong with it? 
I have a place on my foot that has been really aggravating me, since July. The pain would only happen once in a while, but now it's happening more and more and seems like it's more intense. But I haven't gone to the Dr. about it because…reasons.


----------



## sm4him

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am at the hospital, waiting for Mary Lou to get out of surgery. Next to me is this big fat guy snoring away ...I find it very rude. I can't move because I next to the only plug in the waiting room.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds to me like it would be a good time to re-assign all of the ring tones on your 'phone (after of coursre you listen to them a few times each a full volume so as to best determine which ring is most appropriate for which contact).  Failing that, the sailor in me would simply pick up a magazine, poke him a couple of times and say, "Shut the ****  up, you fat sack of ****!"
Click to expand...


Clearly, I am FAR more passive-aggressive than you are. 
I did think about maybe suggesting a really loud, annoying cell phone game…but I thought the hospital might just nix that one.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> I am at the hospital, waiting for Mary Lou to get out of surgery. Next to me is this big fat guy snoring away ...I find it very rude. I can't move because I next to the only plug in the waiting room.


Now, I don't know the situation, and not to be all whompy, but I try not to judge people--especially in the waiting rooms of hospitals. You never know how long he has been there and why he is there. What if he's waiting for a loved one just as you are? What if he was up all night worrying, and he finally got some shuteye?

Sorry, I'll be quiet now.


----------



## Gary A.

He gurgled himself awake and left. I don't know anything about passive-aggressive ... but mentally, I killed him horrible but creatively ... repeatedly.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am at the hospital, waiting for Mary Lou to get out of surgery. Next to me is this big fat guy snoring away ...I find it very rude. I can't move because I next to the only plug in the waiting room.
> 
> 
> 
> Now, I don't know the situation, and not to be all whompy, but I try not to judge people--especially in the waiting rooms of hospitals. You never know how long he has been there and why he is there. What if he's waiting for a loved one just as you are? What if he was up all night worrying, and he finally got some shuteye?
> 
> Sorry, I'll be quiet now.
Click to expand...

Man, you are far kinder than I.   This is not the emergency room, this is scheduled hospital out-patient type place. I just have this strong desire to live a nice, peaceful and perfect life and he was the road bump from hell. It is a large and nearly empty waiting room and he moves from a farther away chair to a chair much closer to me, stretches his legs into the aisle, flops his fat bald head back, his lower jaw drops and he starts gurgling these low and loud toilet flushing sounds. I need to stop expecting a perfect life.


----------



## SquarePeg

No plug is worth that.  Unplug and move somewhere less gross.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Man, you are far kinder than I.   This is not the emergency room, this is scheduled hospital out-patient type place. I just have this strong desire to live a nice, peaceful and perfect life and he was the road bump from hell. It is a large and nearly empty waiting room and he moves from a farther away chair to a chair much closer to me, stretches his legs into the aisle, flops his fat bald head back, his lower jaw drops and he starts gurgling these low and loud toilet flushing sounds. I need to stop expecting a perfect life.



Glad to hear it was an outpatient facility and hope all goes well.

I try to keep a positive outlook. Everyone is battling something. Some people have deep inner struggles that never get conveyed to the outside world.

I try to put it into perspective: 

Your battle: annoying sounds coming from someone heavier than you are. That is a road bump from hell? Not likely. 

What about his battle? Unknown. But, don’t forget, his battle could be people making fun of his weight and/or looks.

Everyone has quirky features that can be easily mocked. We all just hope that people are kind enough not to point them out.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> ...Everyone has quirky features that can be easily mocked. We all just hope that people are kind enough not to point them out.


 There's *no* excuse for rude behaviour in public.


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Everyone has quirky features that can be easily mocked. We all just hope that people are kind enough not to point them out.
> 
> 
> 
> There's *no* excuse for rude behaviour in public.
Click to expand...

Understood, but there's also no excuse to personally attack him.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Everyone has quirky features that can be easily mocked. We all just hope that people are kind enough not to point them out.
> 
> 
> 
> There's *no* excuse for rude behaviour in public.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Understood, but there's also no excuse to personally attack him.
Click to expand...

 Don't think of it as an attack, think of it as correcting a socially inappropriate action!


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Everyone has quirky features that can be easily mocked. We all just hope that people are kind enough not to point them out.
> 
> 
> 
> There's *no* excuse for rude behaviour in public.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Understood, but there's also no excuse to personally attack him.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't think of it as an attack, think of it as correcting a socially inappropriate action!
Click to expand...

It's an attack, because @Gary A. never said he actually addressed the issue with the man. Nicely asking the man to be quieter would have helped correct the issue. If he didn't correct the issue, then I can understand the anger.

However, sitting there stewing in anger, "killing someone mentally", over something that could be easily remedied by reaching out to someone is silly.


----------



## tirediron

Toe-may-toe... Ta-mat-toe!


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> Toe-may-toe... Ta-mat-toe!


Let's call the whole thing off.


----------



## sm4him

waday said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Everyone has quirky features that can be easily mocked. We all just hope that people are kind enough not to point them out.
> 
> 
> 
> There's *no* excuse for rude behaviour in public.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Understood, but there's also no excuse to personally attack him.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't think of it as an attack, think of it as correcting a socially inappropriate action!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's an attack, because @Gary A. never said he actually addressed the issue with the man. Nicely asking the man to be quieter would have helped correct the issue. If he didn't correct the issue, then I can understand the anger.
> 
> However, sitting there stewing in anger, "killing someone mentally", over something that could be easily remedied by reaching out to someone is silly.
Click to expand...


I do get what you're saying, but in this instance, actually addressing the man at all would also have meant waking him up, and I find it to Gary's credit that he didn't do that. He let the guy sleep even though it was getting on his last nerves.  I think Gary was just venting to us, his Hoser buds, to release some frustration.


----------



## waday

sm4him said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Everyone has quirky features that can be easily mocked. We all just hope that people are kind enough not to point them out.
> 
> 
> 
> There's *no* excuse for rude behaviour in public.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Understood, but there's also no excuse to personally attack him.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't think of it as an attack, think of it as correcting a socially inappropriate action!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's an attack, because @Gary A. never said he actually addressed the issue with the man. Nicely asking the man to be quieter would have helped correct the issue. If he didn't correct the issue, then I can understand the anger.
> 
> However, sitting there stewing in anger, "killing someone mentally", over something that could be easily remedied by reaching out to someone is silly.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I do get what you're saying, but in this instance, actually addressing the man at all would also have meant waking him up, and I find it to Gary's credit that he didn't do that. He let the guy sleep even though it was getting on his last nerves.  I think Gary was just venting to us, his Hoser buds, to release some frustration.
Click to expand...

Understood. I know it was just a vent of frustration, and I don't think Gary is a bad person or anything.

Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread. Normally I just ignore stuff that bothers me. Maybe I'm coming down with something.


----------



## sm4him

waday said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Everyone has quirky features that can be easily mocked. We all just hope that people are kind enough not to point them out.
> 
> 
> 
> There's *no* excuse for rude behaviour in public.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Understood, but there's also no excuse to personally attack him.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't think of it as an attack, think of it as correcting a socially inappropriate action!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's an attack, because @Gary A. never said he actually addressed the issue with the man. Nicely asking the man to be quieter would have helped correct the issue. If he didn't correct the issue, then I can understand the anger.
> 
> However, sitting there stewing in anger, "killing someone mentally", over something that could be easily remedied by reaching out to someone is silly.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I do get what you're saying, but in this instance, actually addressing the man at all would also have meant waking him up, and I find it to Gary's credit that he didn't do that. He let the guy sleep even though it was getting on his last nerves.  I think Gary was just venting to us, his Hoser buds, to release some frustration.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Understood. I know it was just a vent of frustration, and I don't think Gary is a bad person or anything.
> 
> Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread. Normally I just ignore stuff that bothers me. Maybe I'm coming down with something.
Click to expand...


Sounds kinda like a bad case of human decency.
Go eat one of the burritos down in the TPF Cafe, they'll knock any of that compassion nonsense right out of you!


----------



## minicoop1985

Sheesh, go away for an hour and this thread turns into Fight Club or something...


----------



## snerd

waday said:


> I try to keep a positive outlook. Everyone is battling something. Some people have deep inner struggles that never get conveyed to the outside world.......
> .


I . Don't. Care. Get your fat snoring ass away from me.  That's what shrinks are for.


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

Yeah ... maybe I didn't want to wake him up ... I endured immeasurable displeasure just so the fat guy could get some beauty sleep.


----------



## Warhorse

See...you are way more considerate than you let on.


----------



## Gary A.

Home, just finished tucking Mary Lou in ... the surgery apparently went well.


----------



## minicoop1985

That's good. Glad it went well.


----------



## Gary A.

Thank you Appleton Guy. We now have a few months of recovery.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Home, just finished tucking Mary Lou in ... the surgery apparently went well.


Glad to hear it went well.  Miriam is scheduled for her right wrist & hand on Monday, pending results of a minor pre-test (tomorrow).


----------



## Gary A.

Man, the world is falling apart. I hope all goes well with Miriam. (I'll keep my fingers crossed.)


----------



## limr

No more surgeries, please! 



waday said:


> However, sitting there stewing in anger, "killing someone mentally", over something that could be easily remedied by reaching out to someone is silly.



I get this and totally applaud you for your compassion, I truly do.

Having said this, sometimes the anger is not always controllable. I'm not speaking for Gary or anyone other than myself.

I have something called misophonia. Marija can tell you about it, too. Misophonia is a neurological...thing...not sure if it's classified as a disorder? Syndrome? ... Whatever it's called, it comes down to having an extreme negative reaction to certain sounds. For me, the most common trigger is someone eating. It's not just being annoyed that someone is making noise or being upset at the break in social convention. It's an intense fight-or-flight kind of reaction. When I find myself stuck next to someone who is snapping gum or audibly chewing (especially with their mouths open!), my heart starts pounding, I get intensely angry, and I want to scream, punch someone, throw something, run away...anything to get it to stop. Sometimes, like when a student is at the support center and music is bleeding from his or her earbuds, I can tell them to turn it town and address the situation directly before I get too agitated and bitchy.

But how do you tell someone at the next table at Starbucks to stop chewing like a cow? Or how do you tell your friend that you never want to eat lunch with her because the way she chews makes you want to slap her until she cries? I've finally resorted to just carrying earbuds with me at all times so if I can't say anything or get away from the noise, I play some music to drown it out.

So to "normal" people it might seem silly to get so upset over something like chewing or snoring or a wheezing laugh, but some of us are tortured by these sounds and can't do much about it. I can't even tell you the anxiety it causes me when I have to be, for example, on a bus or plane, or stuck on line somewhere, and I don't know if someone is going to trigger the miso or not.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> ......... I have something called misophonia. Marija can tell you about it, too. Misophonia is a neurological...thing...not sure if it's classified as a disorder? Syndrome? ... Whatever it's called, it comes down to having an extreme negative reaction to certain sounds. For me, the most common trigger is someone eating. It's not just being annoyed that someone is making noise or being upset at the break in social convention. It's an intense fight-or-flight kind of reaction. When I find myself stuck next to someone who is snapping gum or audibly chewing (especially with their mouths open!), my heart starts pounding, I get intensely angry, and I want to scream, punch someone, throw something, run away...anything to get it to stop. Sometimes, like when a student is at the support center and music is bleeding from his or her earbuds, I can tell them to turn it town and address the situation directly before I get too agitated and bitchy.
> 
> But how do you tell someone at the next table at Starbucks to stop chewing like a cow? Or how do you tell your friend that you never want to eat lunch with her because the way she chews makes you want to slap her until she cries? I've finally resorted to just carrying earbuds with me at all times so if I can't say anything or get away from the noise, I play some music to drown it out.
> 
> So to "normal" people it might seem silly to get so upset over something like chewing or snoring or a wheezing laugh, but some of us are tortured by these sounds and can't do much about it. I can't even tell you the anxiety it causes me when I have to be, for example, on a bus or plane, or stuck on line somewhere, and I don't know if someone is going to trigger the miso or not.


That sounds horrible! Is there any treatment for it?


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> No more surgeries, please!
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> However, sitting there stewing in anger, "killing someone mentally", over something that could be easily remedied by reaching out to someone is silly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I get this and totally applaud you for your compassion, I truly do.
> 
> Having said this, sometimes the anger is not always controllable. I'm not speaking for Gary or anyone other than myself.
> 
> I have something called misophonia. Marija can tell you about it, too. Misophonia is a neurological...thing...not sure if it's classified as a disorder? Syndrome? ... Whatever it's called, it comes down to having an extreme negative reaction to certain sounds. For me, the most common trigger is someone eating. It's not just being annoyed that someone is making noise or being upset at the break in social convention. It's an intense fight-or-flight kind of reaction. When I find myself stuck next to someone who is snapping gum or audibly chewing (especially with their mouths open!), my heart starts pounding, I get intensely angry, and I want to scream, punch someone, throw something, run away...anything to get it to stop. Sometimes, like when a student is at the support center and music is bleeding from his or her earbuds, I can tell them to turn it town and address the situation directly before I get too agitated and bitchy.
> 
> But how do you tell someone at the next table at Starbucks to stop chewing like a cow? Or how do you tell your friend that you never want to eat lunch with her because the way she chews makes you want to slap her until she cries? I've finally resorted to just carrying earbuds with me at all times so if I can't say anything or get away from the noise, I play some music to drown it out.
> 
> So to "normal" people it might seem silly to get so upset over something like chewing or snoring or a wheezing laugh, but some of us are tortured by these sounds and can't do much about it. I can't even tell you the anxiety it causes me when I have to be, for example, on a bus or plane, or stuck on line somewhere, and I don't know if someone is going to trigger the miso or not.
Click to expand...


ME too! And oddly, as uncommon as a misophonia diagnosis is, there are FOUR people in my family who have it. (I say "diagnosis" because I think it's a little more common than we know, but not that many people get diagnosed--because what kind of crazy person actually TELLS their doctor, "oh, when people chew around me, I want to slit their throat.")

Mine is actually milder than the other three people in my family--my niece and an aunt have it the worst. The niece often can't even stand people chewing NORMALLY, with their mouths closed.
My sister has it pretty bad as well.

Mine is hardly ever about chewing--but I think that, AND the "mildness" of mine is really because I have bad hearing, so thankfully I simply don't HEAR a lot of what would otherwise trigger it.

Almost any repetitive noise, or people talking just far enough away that you just hear sound, not actual words make me want to just go right over the edge and scream at them...or worse.

And NOW, our ridiculous GM has decided we have to all leave our office doors open--then they proceed to hold these long conversations out in the hall. Between that, the bathroom hand dryers going off all the time and the copier gearing up to print...I cannot function half the time.
I tend to get up, close the door in a manner that is JUST shy of a full "slam," and then just DARE someone to come tell me to open it.


----------



## mmaria

SquarePeg said:


> Did you hear that?  No?  Well it was the sound of nothing.  Everyone is back at school and work.  Yeay!  My quiet time has returned!  Just me and the dog til 2.


envy


----------



## mmaria

hey... I missed something here... got to go to read what happened yesterday...


----------



## waday

limr said:


> No more surgeries, please!
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> However, sitting there stewing in anger, "killing someone mentally", over something that could be easily remedied by reaching out to someone is silly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I get this and totally applaud you for your compassion, I truly do.
> 
> Having said this, sometimes the anger is not always controllable. I'm not speaking for Gary or anyone other than myself.
> 
> I have something called misophonia. Marija can tell you about it, too. Misophonia is a neurological...thing...not sure if it's classified as a disorder? Syndrome? ... Whatever it's called, it comes down to having an extreme negative reaction to certain sounds. For me, the most common trigger is someone eating. It's not just being annoyed that someone is making noise or being upset at the break in social convention. It's an intense fight-or-flight kind of reaction. When I find myself stuck next to someone who is snapping gum or audibly chewing (especially with their mouths open!), my heart starts pounding, I get intensely angry, and I want to scream, punch someone, throw something, run away...anything to get it to stop. Sometimes, like when a student is at the support center and music is bleeding from his or her earbuds, I can tell them to turn it town and address the situation directly before I get too agitated and bitchy.
> 
> But how do you tell someone at the next table at Starbucks to stop chewing like a cow? Or how do you tell your friend that you never want to eat lunch with her because the way she chews makes you want to slap her until she cries? I've finally resorted to just carrying earbuds with me at all times so if I can't say anything or get away from the noise, I play some music to drown it out.
> 
> So to "normal" people it might seem silly to get so upset over something like chewing or snoring or a wheezing laugh, but some of us are tortured by these sounds and can't do much about it. I can't even tell you the anxiety it causes me when I have to be, for example, on a bus or plane, or stuck on line somewhere, and I don't know if someone is going to trigger the miso or not.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear you have this, and if someone has that, I feel for them.

However, that's not to say there weren't three options available if Mr. Gary found this man that off putting : (1) ask him to wake up, (2) move to another seat in the waiting room, or (3) wait in the car.

But, I will apologize for taking this as far as I did. No more out of me on this topic.


----------



## mmaria

waday said:


> Your battle: annoying sounds coming from someone heavier than you are. That is a road bump from hell? Not likely.





waday said:


> However, sitting there stewing in anger, "killing someone mentally", over something that could be easily remedied by reaching out to someone is silly.



waday... Leo explained it well and I just have to mention that maybe it's the time for you to find out about something new...

If you have some time you can go on my  blog and maybe read this first ... it's about Misophonia and why annoying sounds _are_ "a road bump from hell"



limr said:


> I get this and totally applaud you for your compassion, I truly do......Having said this, sometimes the anger is not always controllable.....
> 
> I have something called misophonia. Marija can tell you about it, too. Misophonia is a neurological...thing...not sure if it's classified as a disorder? Syndrome? ... Whatever it's called, it comes down to having an extreme negative reaction to certain sounds.....


For the rest of you, I actually found about Miso from Leo here on TPF  



snerd said:


> That sounds horrible! Is there any treatment for it?


Nope and it is horrible


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> ME too! And oddly, as uncommon as a misophonia diagnosis is, there are FOUR people in my family who have it. (I say "diagnosis" because I think it's a little more common than we know, but not that many people get diagnosed--because what kind of crazy person actually TELLS their doctor, "oh, when people chew around me, I want to slit their throat.")
> 
> Mine is actually milder than the other three people in my family--my niece and an aunt have it the worst. The niece often can't even stand people chewing NORMALLY, with their mouths closed.
> My sister has it pretty bad as well.
> 
> Mine is hardly ever about chewing--but I think that, AND the "mildness" of mine is really because I have bad hearing, so thankfully I simply don't HEAR a lot of what would otherwise trigger it.
> 
> Almost any repetitive noise, or people talking just far enough away that you just hear sound, not actual words make me want to just go right over the edge and scream at them...or worse.
> 
> And NOW, our ridiculous GM has decided we have to all leave our office doors open--then they proceed to hold these long conversations out in the hall. Between that, the bathroom hand dryers going off all the time and the copier gearing up to print...I cannot function half the time.
> I tend to get up, close the door in a manner that is JUST shy of a full "slam," and then just DARE someone to come tell me to open it.


hey ma... 
didn't know you understand this... I'm glad you do, really... Not sure why I'm that glad but I am


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> I have something called misophonia.



I don't have that miso - thing, but there are definitely some sounds that annoy me.  

The local news reader's voice (it sounds like the screeching of chalk on a chalkboard).
A whistling sound coming out of a certain politician's mouth while speaking. (mute button)
The background noise of most TV commercials. (I have to mute commercials)


----------



## mmaria

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have something called misophonia.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't have that miso - thing, but there are definitely some sounds that annoy me.
> 
> The local news reader's voice (it sounds like the screeching of chalk on a chalkboard).
> A whistling sound coming out of a certain politician's mouth while speaking. (mute button)
> The background noise of most TV commercials. (I have to mute commercials)
Click to expand...

see... you have it also 


not much but still have it


----------



## Designer

Oh, I just figured it was part of growing old.


----------



## mmaria

Designer said:


> Oh, I just figured it was part of growing old.


nah....


how old are you anyway?


----------



## limr

There are some commercials I always have to mute as well. That woman who says "SC Johnson, a family company"...want to punch her. Mimicking helps take the edge off, so if I find myself unable to get to the mute button fast enough I just say the line at the same time and it helps drown out the sound.

I also couldn't really take certain voices on NPR anymore and I haven't listened to it in a while. It was actualy mostly the voice of the woman who did the public station announcements "WNYC is supported by..." Oooohh how I hated her voice!


----------



## limr

And good morning/afternoon, hosers!


----------



## SquarePeg

Hmmm - I didn't realize this was such a wide spread problem, thought it was just me.  My "thing" is white noise.  Any type of background humming or fan really stresses me out.  When I'm cooking and I have the exhaust fan on, I actually sigh with relief and can feel the stress leaving my body when I'm done and can turn it off.  Commercials don't bother me but I have noticed that certain tv shows or movies will use a high pitched whine very subtly in the background to build tension (TWD in particular) and it really bothers me.


----------



## mmaria

I'm  very very very pissed off right now! 

My boss just told me I'm moving to another office, a half of hour before I leave my work! I have to go home and return in the office for moving!
...and I'm going to an office where three woman sits and they have lots of people/clients coming every day, they also snack a lot during the day...

He is the main boss N, and the boss of my department G doesn't agree where the main N wants me to go.. but G is not here at the moment and I can't call her to tell her because she's at a funeral now... she told me not to listen him but her...

OH!!!!
I don't have time now to explain or vent more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the woman from that office just called me


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> There are some commercials I always have to mute as well. That woman who says "SC Johnson, a family company"...want to punch her. Mimicking helps take the edge off, so if I find myself unable to get to the mute button fast enough I just say the line at the same time and it helps drown out the sound.
> 
> I also couldn't really take certain voices on NPR anymore and I haven't listened to it in a while. It was actualy mostly the voice of the woman who did the public station announcements "WNYC is supported by..." Oooohh how I hated her voice!



There used to be a commercial where some guy talked about something that would help with "dry mouth." The way he said "dry mouth" just sent me completely around the bend--and he said about 46 times during the commercial (okay, maybe it just seemed like that!). Even if I muted it or left the room, I'd hear that over and over again in my head, "dry mouth, dry mouth, dry mouth," and want to hunt the guy down and punch him.

Wednesday night at choir practice, our choir director was sitting on a stool during one piece, and his leg was "twitching," (something I do ALL the time, but of course, it doesn't bother me when *I* do it). Anyway, it wasn't so much the leg *movement* but the fact that his shoe was squeaking, just a tiny little bit, with Every. Single. Bounce. of the leg. I'm trying really hard to just keep singing, but I'm just staring at his leg. I can't hear the music anymore, all I can hear is "squeak, squeak." I looked around and nobody else seemed to notice it all and here I am so completely consumed by this squeaking that I can't think about anything else.  Finally, we made eye contact, and I mouthed the words "STOP IT" and pointed at his leg. I think the look in my eyes suggested that I was about to lose it, lol. 
At least he did stop doing it.


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> I'm  very very very pissed off right now!
> 
> My boss just told me I'm moving to another office, a half of hour before I leave my work! I have to go home and return in the office for moving!
> ...and I'm going to an office where three woman sits and they have lots of people/clients coming every day, they also snack a lot during the day...
> 
> He is the main boss N, and the boss of my department G doesn't agree where the main N wants me to go.. but G is not here at the moment and I can't call her to tell her because she's at a funeral now... she told me not to listen him but her...
> 
> OH!!!!
> I don't have time now to explain or vent more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> the woman from that office just called me



Uh-oh.  Hope this works out okay, Marija!


----------



## Designer

mmaria said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I just figured it was part of growing old.
> 
> 
> 
> nah....
> 
> 
> how old are you anyway?
Click to expand...

68


----------



## limr

Oh no, Marija! I hope you can get that worked out so you don't have to move   Being in an office with other people...snacking...awful...and here's us talking right now about that very thing and how it can be stressful. 



SquarePeg said:


> Hmmm - I didn't realize this was such a wide spread problem, thought it was just me.  My "thing" is white noise.  Any type of background humming or fan really stresses me out.  When I'm cooking and I have the exhaust fan on, I actually sigh with relief and can feel the stress leaving my body when I'm done and can turn it off.  Commercials don't bother me but I have noticed that certain tv shows or movies will use a high pitched whine very subtly in the background to build tension (TWD in particular) and it really bothers me.



This is kinda finny to me since white noise is pretty much my savior in a lot of cases. Every once in a while, the air circulation at work stops and suddenly it goes all quiet. I have to get up and leave if it goes on too long. I can hear *everything* and I can't concentrate on anything.

Sometimes I wish I could just go deaf and be done with it all!


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> This is kinda finny to me since white noise is pretty much my savior in a lot of cases. Every once in a while, the air circulation at work stops and suddenly it goes all quiet. I have to get up and leave if it goes on too long. I can hear *everything* and I can't concentrate on anything.
> 
> Sometimes I wish I could just go deaf and be done with it all!



Yes, many people need white noise, I am definitely the opposite.  My sister-in-law travels for work and brings a small noisy fan with her to create white noise because she can't sleep without it.  I don't mind other noises, tvs in the background, people chatting in the hall (although it's rude of them to stop outside someone else's door and have a conversation), even snoring doesn't really bother me but if my neighbor is running his leaf blower, I run for my headphones.


----------



## KenC

I can ignore white noise or other sounds, as long as they're not really loud, like the aforementioned leaf blowers, which make me want to kill someone.  Meetings here at work are sort of white noise to me.  I guess I don't care enough about most of what gets discussed at them.

Right now I've got my coffee and snack and no one is bothering me, so all is well.  Oh, and I haven't had to move to a new office for a few years now.


----------



## Designer

SquarePeg said:


> .. a high pitched whine ..



Oh, there's another one!  A certain TV "personality" has a very whiny voice.  I cannot stand to listen to her.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> .. so if I find myself unable to get to the mute button fast enough ..


I watch with my finger right next to the mute button.


----------



## KenC

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> .. so if I find myself unable to get to the mute button fast enough ..
> 
> 
> 
> I watch with my finger right next to the mute button.
Click to expand...


In election season, I train my finger so that when I see any politician move his/her lips, I'm on another channel before I actually hear any sound.


----------



## limr

Oh man, we're all broken in our own little ways, aren't we?  

I have a coworker who alternates between a loud cackle and a long wheeze when she laughs. And she laughs a lot. a LOT. At everything - even things that aren't funny."Where's the conference again?" "In Oswego! *Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze CACKLE* can you believe it? *CACKLE CACKLE Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeze*"


----------



## KenC

We're all just posting incriminating evidence in case someone else takes out one of these people.


----------



## limr

Relax, any of you Feds that are reading! We're just venting! I'm much more likely to just smash through my eardrums with a knitting needle than use it on someone else!


----------



## KenC

Oh, good, now it's the psychiatrists you have to worry about ...


----------



## limr

Meh...I accept my brokenness. Sometimes even embrace it


----------



## KenC

Agree - definitely the way to go


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Oh no, Marija! I hope you can get that worked out so you don't have to move   Being in an office with other people...snacking...awful...and here's us talking right now about that very thing and how it can be stressful.
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm - I didn't realize this was such a wide spread problem, thought it was just me.  My "thing" is white noise.  Any type of background humming or fan really stresses me out.  When I'm cooking and I have the exhaust fan on, I actually sigh with relief and can feel the stress leaving my body when I'm done and can turn it off.  Commercials don't bother me but I have noticed that certain tv shows or movies will use a high pitched whine very subtly in the background to build tension (TWD in particular) and it really bothers me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is kinda finny to me since white noise is pretty much my savior in a lot of cases. Every once in a while, the air circulation at work stops and suddenly it goes all quiet. I have to get up and leave if it goes on too long. I can hear *everything* and I can't concentrate on anything.
> 
> Sometimes I wish I could just go deaf and be done with it all!
Click to expand...


I am sitting here in my office right now, with the door open, like I've been pretty much ORDERED to do--and earphones in, with white noise being pumped in.  I have a white noise app on my tablet, so I can create mixes and playlists to keep one noise from playing so long that IT becomes annoying.

It *helps* greatly, but it doesn't eliminate the surrounding noises. I think I'm going to invest in a pair of really good earphones and see if it helps. Headphones, maybe--because one of the problems I have is that earbuds, even the smallest size they have, hurt my ears. I can only keep them in for so long before I can't stand it anymore.

And of course, the whole time, I just get really irritated by the fact that I'm having to do this AT ALL, since the REAL solution would be to let me SHUT my freakin' door.

When my immediate boss had to relay this new stupid directive from the GM, she said "let's remember that we are lucky to even HAVE offices with doors, since a lot of places only have work carrels." Well, I completely fail to see how it is LUCKY to have a door that I'm not allowed to use.
My response to her statement (and yes, I DID say this to her, lol): Well, that may be true, but on the other hand, perhaps there is a very good reason why *I* do not WORK at those places. I would not last long in that environment. It's no coincidence that the jobs I've held the longest were ALL jobs where I had an office…with a DOOR…one I could actually USE.


----------



## limr

Sharon, maybe you should make your boss read the chapter in Quiet about how UNproductive it is for an introvert to have the door open at work.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Oh man, we're all broken in our own little ways, aren't we?
> 
> I have a coworker who alternates between a loud cackle and a long wheeze when she laughs. And she laughs a lot. a LOT. At everything - even things that aren't funny."Where's the conference again?" "In Oswego! *Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze CACKLE* can you believe it? *CACKLE CACKLE Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeze*"



The guy in the office next to me is LOUD. He can't help it, really, it's just his nature. But he is also on the phone ALL THE TIME. Not an exaggeration. He has one of those bluetooth earsets--he comes in every morning, TALKING into his earpiece, he talks ALL DAY LONG, and when he leaves, he often stands down in the lobby for who knows how long, talking on that infernal earpiece.

He feeds my rage. It was bad before, with both our doors closed--now, well it's truly unbearable. Sometimes I have to just get up and leave, before I hurt someone.

But the WORST of it? His laugh. Because when he laughs, he goes FALSETTO. Really, really LOUD falsetto.  
I have absolutely NO idea how I've managed to refrain from murdering him.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Sharon, maybe you should make your boss read the chapter in Quiet about how UNproductive it is for an introvert to have the door open at work.



Oh, believe me, I plan to. This all happened after I came back from vacation at Christmas. Well, actually we were told in late November, but I ignored it and kept my door shut anyway. 
When I came back to work, I had an email stating that I *had* to keep my door OPEN, not just cracked open, but OPEN. I kind of went off about it, and my boss basically said, "well, let's try it this way."  I know what she MEANT was "tough cookies," but I am gathering evidence to present my case further. My plan is to basically call it what it is--discrimination. To say that because keeping her door open works well for ONE person, the GM, means that it MUST be done by all of us, is pure and simple discrimination, and it puts me in a position where I feel like what they are doing is ENSURING that I cannot do my job well.  That just doesn't seem like what they should want to set as their goal.

My plan was to give it two months, to show that I really did TRY to work this way. At this point, I'm just trying to hold out for the six-week mark, because every day, I think I just can't take any more. There are days when I am so emotionally spent from trying to control the emotions about the distractions, that I have just cancelled any plans I had for the evening, gone home and melted into an emotional puddle for a while.


----------



## limr

These are all reasons that I probably would have been better off as a farmer or something.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sharon, maybe you should make your boss read the chapter in Quiet about how UNproductive it is for an introvert to have the door open at work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, believe me, I plan to. This all happened after I came back from vacation at Christmas. Well, actually we were told in late November, but I ignored it and kept my door shut anyway.
> When I came back to work, I had an email stating that I *had* to keep my door OPEN, not just cracked open, but OPEN. I kind of went off about it, and my boss basically said, "well, let's try it this way."  I know what she MEANT was "tough cookies," but I am gathering evidence to present my case further. My plan is to basically call it what it is--discrimination. To say that because keeping her door open works well for ONE person, the GM, means that it MUST be done by all of us, is pure and simple discrimination, and it puts me in a position where I feel like what they are doing is ENSURING that I cannot do my job well.  That just doesn't seem like what they should want to set as their goal.
> 
> My plan was to give it two months, to show that I really did TRY to work this way. At this point, I'm just trying to hold out for the six-week mark, because every day, I think I just can't take any more. There are days when I am so emotionally spent from trying to control the emotions about the distractions, that I have just cancelled any plans I had for the evening, gone home and melted into an emotional puddle for a while.
Click to expand...




Because I SO know what it's like.


----------



## SquarePeg

My personal office pet peeve is people who use speakerphone to dial their phone.  THAT drives me nuts.  Pick up the phone or use your headset but the rest of us do not need to hear you dialing in to your conference call! 

Sharon (also my real name btw   ), I too have a loud coworker who is on the phone most of the day (as am I).  Fortunately he does close his door when asked.  Not sure why I have to ask every time but ok sure.  I find it difficult to pay attention to my call when I can hear his going on.


----------



## sm4him

SquarePeg said:


> *My personal office pet peeve is people who use speakerphone to dial their phone.  THAT drives me nuts.*  Pick up the phone or use your headset but the rest of us do not need to hear you dialing in to your conference call!


^YES. That. Lots of so much THAT. 



SquarePeg said:


> Sharon (also my real name btw   ), I too have a loud coworker who is on the phone most of the day (as am I).  Fortunately he does close his door when asked.  Not sure why I have to ask every time but ok sure.  I find it difficult to pay attention to my call when I can hear his going on.


Wow, there are at least THREE Sharons on TPF, then. That's quite a concentration of them!

My loud coworker USED to always have his door shut. Even then, sometimes, I had to go and knock on his door and ask him to please tone it down. 
But now he, like the rest of us, are REQUIRED to keep the doors open. I just can't even fully process what a stupid rule this is!


----------



## sm4him

In other news: 

I had oatmeal for breakfast this morning. With raisins in it. 

I haven't had oatmeal all winter long. Sometimes I forget how much I love it.

But…really, that just leads me back to the same topic. Sometimes, about halfway through a bowl of oatmeal, the way the excess oatmeal plops off the spoon back into the bowl gets on my nerves so bad that I can't stand to eat any more of it.


----------



## Designer

I'm sharin' too!

Speaking of wearing headphones, that reminds me of my experience in design studio.  All of my classmates liked that "Top 40" crap, and played it all the time.

ALL THE TIME!!!!!

My poor attempt at coping was a set of over-the-ear headphones coupled to a portable CD player with something classical.


----------



## Warhorse

A lot of whining going on here today...sheesh!


----------



## limr

I always hated pop music, even when I was younger. There was some barely-alternative stuff in the 80s that probably counts as "pop" that I liked a lot (Brit pop electronic type stuff, for example) but for the most part, my music tastes have always been...eclectic to say the least  So when I can't stand hearing whatever rap or hip hop crap is bleeding out of students' headphones, I put on my own and listen to something good. Sometimes it's classical or opera, sometimes it's heavy metal or punk, sometimes it's international music or folk music or "easy listening"...oh, how I love shutting out the world!


----------



## limr

Warhorse said:


> A lot of whining going on here today...sheesh!



Boooooooo! I'm now going to complain about people who tell me to stop complaining!


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> what they are doing is ENSURING that I cannot do my job well.



There is probably some HR reason they want all the doors open.  And they will not level with you to tell you the real reason.

Your post reminds me of another anecdote:

I once had a co-worker who speculated that the bosses did everything with the goal of making our jobs harder, but as yet had been unable to make them impossible.


----------



## Designer

I probably wouldn't mind the Top 40 if it was just one selection in the midst of many other types, but that constant mono-themistic stuff with no break was simply way too much for me.  

Actually, now that I think about it, practically anything that is repetitive in nature is irritating.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> A lot of whining going on here today...sheesh!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Boooooooo! I'm now going to complain about people who tell me to stop complaining!
Click to expand...

Yeah!

Let us have our gripe session!

Venting is good for one's health.


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> what they are doing is ENSURING that I cannot do my job well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There is probably some HR reason they want all the doors open.  And they will not level with you to tell you the real reason.
> 
> Your post reminds me of another anecdote:
> 
> I once had a co-worker who speculated that the bosses did everything with the goal of making our jobs harder, but as yet had been unable to make them impossible.
Click to expand...


No, I'm pretty sure I know exactly what it's about, and it is the sole decision of the new-ish General Manager.  I won't get into it, but it basically boils down to a matter of control. She likes to be able to look in as she walks down the hall and see what we're doing…

So, cut a big freakin' hole in my door and put in an insulated glass panel!! I don't CARE if you can SEE me, I don't care if you want to come in--I just want all the noise OUT THERE to STAY out there.

Oh, and LOL at the last statement!!


----------



## sm4him

Warhorse said:


> A lot of whining going on here today...sheesh!



I guess it's a good thing I brought cheese for lunch.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> No more surgeries, please!
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> However, sitting there stewing in anger, "killing someone mentally", over something that could be easily remedied by reaching out to someone is silly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I get this and totally applaud you for your compassion, I truly do.
> 
> Having said this, sometimes the anger is not always controllable. I'm not speaking for Gary or anyone other than myself.
> 
> I have something called misophonia. Marija can tell you about it, too. Misophonia is a neurological...thing...not sure if it's classified as a disorder? Syndrome? ... Whatever it's called, it comes down to having an extreme negative reaction to certain sounds. For me, the most common trigger is someone eating. It's not just being annoyed that someone is making noise or being upset at the break in social convention. It's an intense fight-or-flight kind of reaction. When I find myself stuck next to someone who is snapping gum or audibly chewing (especially with their mouths open!), my heart starts pounding, I get intensely angry, and I want to scream, punch someone, throw something, run away...anything to get it to stop. Sometimes, like when a student is at the support center and music is bleeding from his or her earbuds, I can tell them to turn it town and address the situation directly before I get too agitated and bitchy.
> 
> But how do you tell someone at the next table at Starbucks to stop chewing like a cow? Or how do you tell your friend that you never want to eat lunch with her because the way she chews makes you want to slap her until she cries? I've finally resorted to just carrying earbuds with me at all times so if I can't say anything or get away from the noise, I play some music to drown it out.
> 
> So to "normal" people it might seem silly to get so upset over something like chewing or snoring or a wheezing laugh, but some of us are tortured by these sounds and can't do much about it. I can't even tell you the anxiety it causes me when I have to be, for example, on a bus or plane, or stuck on line somewhere, and I don't know if someone is going to trigger the miso or not.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sorry to hear you have this, and if someone has that, I feel for them.
> 
> However, that's not to say there weren't three options available if Mr. Gary found this man that off putting : (1) ask him to wake up, (2) move to another seat in the waiting room, or (3) wait in the car.
> 
> But, I will apologize for taking this as far as I did. No more out of me on this topic.
Click to expand...

Why should I move to another seat or wait in the car? It was he that came over and sat by me and it was he that started snoring at a level that far exceeded his personal space. This is something I don't get ... shouldn't he be the one that should move or wait in the car. Regardless of what private matter he may be going through, it doesn't give him the right to be rude. Waking him up and telling him that he is being rude ... can be construed as equally rude. But that is probably what I should have done as all the other options just enables him to continue his rudeness. But I didn't interrupt his beauty sleep because he kept waking up and I'm thinking that maybe he stay awake this time.

In this world it seems that people with better manners are the ones that are abused by those with lesser manners.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Day two for Mary Lou. She has a knee scooter and is getting around quite well. steps notwithstanding.  On the Chrysalis Watch, the Monarch on the chair emerged. It was large and strong and beautiful and absolutely wonderful. I picked it up and let it walk on my hand and arm before depositing it on a flowering plant where it can feed.


----------



## limr

Well, if our venting is quieting down for the moment, I've got something to tell.

I, um...got myself a part-time paralegal job. I start next week. And I can keep teaching my classes.


----------



## SquarePeg

Congrats!  Is that something you can do from home?


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Well, if our venting is quieting down for the moment, I've got something to tell.
> 
> I, um...got myself a part-time paralegal job. I start next week. And I can keep teaching my classes.


Woo-Hoo!

Drinks are on you!


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Congrats!  Is that something you can do from home?



At the moment, no, though there might be a possibility of it in the future. I'll be there 3 days a week. It's a one-man show so there's more flexibility than if I were in a big corporate office or something.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Well, if our venting is quieting down for the moment, I've got something to tell.
> 
> I, um...got myself a part-time paralegal job. I start next week. And I can keep teaching my classes.


----------



## snerd

Designer said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I just figured it was part of growing old.
> 
> 
> 
> nah....
> 
> 
> how old are you anyway?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 68
Click to expand...

OMG!!! 68?! How are you even still posting?! Don't you old people nap like 'most' of the day?! Lol!!

I feel ya, though. I'll be 60 in September. 

In other psychology news....... my sister decided that because I post my goings-on and meals and such on social media, that she feels sorry for me being lonely and all alone. WTH?! I told her I'm 'never' alone, and to read the book "Quiet". On days when I really want solitude, I don't indulge in the Polo Red or Acqua Di Geo. Not a minute's peace, I tell ya!!! One has no idea the sheer numbers of cougars out there until one smells that good!!!

Morning Hosers!!



Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Designer

I've been getting up with the D dog at 05:00, and then I fall asleep in the recliner after supper.  

I'll now hobble back to my park bench with my bag of pigeon food.


----------



## SquarePeg

hilarious


----------



## Gary A.

I've seen all you old people, with your pigeon food, white sneakers and adult diapers ... I ignore you when I walk by.


----------



## Designer

We're secretly photographing your backside as you pass.  HA!


----------



## snerd

Designer said:


> We're secretly photographing your backside as you pass.  HA!


TRUTH!! Lol!!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## minicoop1985

God damn, I am the young one around here... I'm 29. For the first time.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> We're secretly photographing your backside as you pass.  HA!


I am not surprised .... I get a lot of comments regarding my backside.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats!  Is that something you can do from home?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At the moment, no, though there might be a possibility of it in the future. I'll be there 3 days a week. It's a one-man show so there's more flexibility than if I were in a big corporate office or something.
Click to expand...

so you are working two part time jobs basically?


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats!  Is that something you can do from home?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At the moment, no, though there might be a possibility of it in the future. I'll be there 3 days a week. It's a one-man show so there's more flexibility than if I were in a big corporate office or something.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> so you are working two part time jobs basically?
Click to expand...


Basically. And actually, though my admin job is on the same school campus, it's paid by a different depatment and considered a separate line. As is the job of reading placement essays. So considering 3 separate paychecks from school and now a paralegal position, I am working 4 part-time jobs.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats!  Is that something you can do from home?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At the moment, no, though there might be a possibility of it in the future. I'll be there 3 days a week. It's a one-man show so there's more flexibility than if I were in a big corporate office or something.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> so you are working two part time jobs basically?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Basically. And actually, though my admin job is on the same school campus, it's paid by a different depatment and considered a separate line. As is the job of reading placement essays. So considering 3 separate paychecks from school and now a paralegal position, I am working 4 part-time jobs.
Click to expand...

well it seemed you wanted that parlegal position. i gathered you just weren't getting enough hours to pay the bills at the school. will the paralegal job on top of school give you at least forty hours?


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> well it seemed you wanted that parlegal position. i gathered you just weren't getting enough hours to pay the bills at the school. will the paralegal job on top of school give you at least forty hours?



No, I couldn't get enough income from even the 3 jobs at school. The admin job pays $15 and only gives me 8 hours a week. And that kept getting cut back. The placement readings paid well but they don't go on all semester long, so that gave me a burst of work/pay at the beginning and the end of a semester. They go on all summer long, but again, I'd only get readings in bursts (I'm not the only reader, so I have to share hours with other ESL readers). And my teaching hours are capped by the school - no adjunct is allowed to teach more than 10 classroom hours per week, which essentially works out to three classes. I've been teaching two classes - one class at 3 hours and the other at 5, so I have 8 classroom hours. Can't take a third class without going to 11 hours.

I had basically plateaued at the college. They hardly ever add full-time faculty lines and when they do, 9 times out of 10, they hire from outside the school. Adjuncts get screwed 6 ways to Sunday on a regular basis, so I knew it wasn't viable to keep the college as my sole source of income. I did my Paralegal Certificate at the college (one of the few perks I have for sticking around so long is that I get free tuition) and I figured at the very least, I can get a part-time job to supplement my income. It might turn into full time, which will then become my main income and I can supplement it by continuing to teach one class at the college (because I don't _really_ want to leave teaching. Not yet. Despite what I say every time I have to grade papers!)

So let's see...24 hours as a paralegal, 8 hours as a teacher, 8 hours as lackey in the support center...yup, I guess that adds up to exactly 40 hours a week.

Well, except the teaching work really involves a lot more hours than what I do in the classroom, but I'm only committed to 40 hours of being somewhere specifically to work. The rest of it happens at home or in a coffeehouse.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> well it seemed you wanted that parlegal position. i gathered you just weren't getting enough hours to pay the bills at the school. will the paralegal job on top of school give you at least forty hours?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No, I couldn't get enough income from even the 3 jobs at school. The admin job pays $15 and only gives me 8 hours a week. And that kept getting cut back. The placement readings paid well but they don't go on all semester long, so that gave me a burst of work/pay at the beginning and the end of a semester. They go on all summer long, but again, I'd only get readings in bursts (I'm not the only reader, so I have to share hours with other ESL readers). And my teaching hours are capped by the school - no adjunct is allowed to teach more than 10 classroom hours per week, which essentially works out to three classes. I've been teaching two classes - one class at 3 hours and the other at 5, so I have 8 classroom hours. Can't take a third class without going to 11 hours.
> 
> I had basically plateaued at the college. They hardly ever add full-time faculty lines and when they do, 9 times out of 10, they hire from outside the school. Adjuncts get screwed 6 ways to Sunday on a regular basis, so I knew it wasn't viable to keep the college as my sole source of income. I did my Paralegal Certificate at the college (one of the few perks I have for sticking around so long is that I get free tuition) and I figured at the very least, I can get a part-time job to supplement my income. It might turn into full time, which will then become my main income and I can supplement it by continuing to teach one class at the college (because I don't _really_ want to leave teaching. Not yet. Despite what I say every time I have to grade papers!)
> 
> So let's see...24 hours as a paralegal, 8 hours as a teacher, 8 hours as lackey in the support center...yup, I guess that adds up to exactly 40 hours a week.
> 
> Well, except the teaching work really involves a lot more hours than what I do in the classroom, but I'm only committed to 40 hours of being somewhere specifically to work. The rest of it happens at home or in a coffeehouse.
Click to expand...

so basically. You shoot bw film. Don't make any money.. so you are the starving artist type.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> so basically. You shoot bw film. Don't make any money.. so you are the starving artist type.



I suppose. I don't give a crap about money except for having enough to keep me off the streets and do some traveling. Money is never the point.


----------



## Warhorse

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> so basically. You shoot bw film. Don't make any money.. so you are the starving artist type.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I suppose. I don't give a crap about money except for having enough to keep me off the streets and do some traveling. Money is never the point.
Click to expand...


It is never the point...till it is time to pay the bills.


----------



## limr

Warhorse said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> so basically. You shoot bw film. Don't make any money.. so you are the starving artist type.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I suppose. I don't give a crap about money except for having enough to keep me off the streets and do some traveling. Money is never the point.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It is never the point...till it is time to pay the bills.
Click to expand...


For some people it is. Money is the goal so they can buy the things that will make them "better." They can have a bigger house than they need, drive a more powerful car than they need, make sure their kids can fail out of the very best private schools and get quietly bailed out of any trouble they get into.

I understand wanting to make enough money to be comfortable. I want to be comfortable, of course I do. But I know that it probably will take less for me to be comfortable than it would for a lot of other people. I live simply and don't care too much about "stuff." I also know that there are limits to what I will do just for the sake of more money. I could have had a different career by now. I had a chance to get into banking when I first got back to the U.S. Some people - including members of my family - told me that it would be the smarter move, that it doesn't matter if banking would kill my soul because the point of working is for money, and I should make as much as I can.

I can't do that. I can't spend so much of my life doing work that means nothing to me simply for the paycheck. And so I work at something that is meaningful but doesn't pay me enough. I tried to make it work better for me financially but it didn't happen. It was time for something new that would be more profitable, _but it still has to have meaning for me._ Otherwise I just would have gone back to bartending and made a killing.


----------



## minicoop1985

I'd just like to make some money again... but not sacrifice my soul to do it. My wife always wanted to work in a medical field, so she's living her dream. It's my turn, dammit.


----------



## minicoop1985

In other news.... DOOKIE!!!! Best. Album. Evar.


----------



## Warhorse

Kudos!

Now I understand, no "bourgeoisie" lifestyle for you.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> . I can't spend so much of my life doing work that means nothing to me simply for the paycheck. And so I work at something that is meaningful but doesn't pay me enough.



Boy, do I understand that!
All my life, I really wanted to be a teacher. Even through most of high school, that's what I thought I'd do in college, study to become a teacher. But by the time I was a senior, I'd seen all the cr*p teachers had to put up with, all the NON-teaching stuff they had to do, and decided it wasn't worth for what they got paid.  Hearing all the teachers complain about their jobs didn't help.
So, then, I decided I might as well pick a college major that could put me in a career to MAKE money.  So, I got a business administration degree, with a major in marketing (and about three minors, lol). Well, actually, the decision was a much longer story than that, but that's what it boiled down to. My plan was to go to grad school and get a masters in statistics and do market research. 
After graduating, I got a job at a publishing company locally with a great market research department. I was just a "runner," but figured I'd get in the door and then take off from there. Well, I did. But not with market research. I fell in love with the publishing process, and ended up on the production side, as a Production Manager.  When the firm folded several years later, I got a sweet deal that allowed me to stay home with my little ones for a while.

After that, I took a job at a non-profit, and LOVED the sense of doing something that was actually worthwhile to somebody. I've been in non-profits of one sort or another ever since, making next to nothing.

The irony of the whole situation is that I didn't go into teaching, in large part, because the pay was so lousy. But if I *had*, I'd almost certainly be making more as a teacher NOW, than my current salary. But I like what I do (I don't like the environment in which I do it right now, but that's another story), I like being part of making a difference, AND I get to satisy my teaching urge by teaching adult Sunday School classes and doing conferences and retreats for women.

It was a real struggle for years, being a single parent who worked non-profit jobs. But now that the kids are older--I make "enough" to get by, and am starting to be able to do a little travel, and dream of retiring...in 30 years or so, lol. (And yes, I'm in my 50s...  )


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

Y'know what's funny, Sharon? I never really had the intention of being a teacher. When I decided that I would major in linguistics and then get a PhD, I thought I wanted to be an academic. In grad school, I realized that maybe I didn't want to do that after all. Amazingly full of politics - some people handled that well. I hated it. But I was also teaching the ESL classes for my TAship and was finding myself much more satisfied by being in the classroom. So I thought I could just get a degree and teach for a small college or community college so I didn't have to deal with the whole publish-or-perish crap, or the strategizing to get tenure, or all the other crap that would take up so much time away from the actual work that made me interested in the academic life in the first place.

Eventually, that's what happened. At one point I tried to get certified for the public schools, only because the money would be better. I ended up not finishing the certification because once again, I started to see that being a teacher in K-12 would require more effort into dealing with administration and parents rather than, you know, _teaching. _(Plus, when the Board or Ed told me I had to take another class on literacy but had misspelled literacy every single time in the letter, I knew I couldn't ever take orders from them.) The job of an adjunct at a community college doesn't pay well at all, but the work is relatively undiluted.

In the Fall, I have a chance to teach an Intro to Linguistics class. I've been wanting to do this for more than 20 years. The paralegal job is part-time for the undetermined future, so if the class gets the enrollment, I'll be able to teach it. And I am just as excited about that as I am about the fact that I can finally pay off the last lingering bit of debt I've been trying to pay for the past several years.

I think I will enjoy the paralegal work - I never would have trained for it if I thought it wouldn't suit me. Parts of the job will be boring, to be sure, but I get to do research and write, and sometimes I will go to court to help take notes...that's the stuff that gets me excited. But to be perfectly honest, if I ever get offered full-time at the college, I'd take it in a heartbeat.


----------



## limr

Warhorse said:


> Kudos!
> 
> Now I understand, no "bourgeoisie" lifestyle for you.



Not even close  For example: my car will be 10 years old in June. It's a base model Chevy Cobalt. Even has manual windows and locks. When I bought it, I had the chance to buy one with more bells and whistles for about $2K more, with monthly payments that I could have made, though close to my limit. I decided against it. I wanted monthly payments that were lower than my limit so I could pay extra when I had money during the semesters, but also so I wouldn't miss the payment between semesters or in the summer when my income dropped. I never missed a payment and the note was paid off a year early.

I could have gotten a new car at some point in the past 10 years, increasing my debt but who cares if I have a new car? Or I could be leasing and getting a new car every 2-3 years, even though I'd be paying money every month for something I'll never own. But I just don't work that way. I like cars a lot, but I don't care about always upgrading. My car is still reliable, gas efficient, and a lot of fun to drive. She's got 167,000 miles and as I said, is almost 10 years old, so I know that I'm probably getting much closer to the time when I'll be forced to replace her, but I don't feel like I have to get something new just to have something new.

Oh and yes, my car is a "she" and her name is Lucille  (She's a blue Cobalt, so naturally I had to name her after the most famous blues guitar ever  )


----------



## SquarePeg

Well, I respect you all for your principles and your desire to live meaningful lives.  I confess that I am someone who has a boring "soul sucking" but very well paying job doing something that I'm great at but has no deeper meaning and is not emotionally satisfying (think spreadsheets).

I don't live extravagantly but my house is in a nice neighborhood where my daughter can get a good education in the public school and we have everything we need and more.

The best thing about having a good income and lots of paid vacation time is that I can usually find the time and money to do the things I love.

It's a choice most people have to make and everyone has different needs and responsibilities to consider when choosing their path.

I don't judge those who make a different choice, but i do sometimes envy them.

Edit to add that my car is a 2007.


----------



## Warhorse

My 2001 Ford Excursion (which I purchased new), will be sold this spring. 

15 years is long enough to keep a vehicle in my opinion.


----------



## SquarePeg

I always by used.  Cars and photo equipmentioned!


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## Warhorse

I bought my first car used in 1972.

It was such a money pit, I swore off buying used cars to this day.


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## bribrius

hey hosers!!!!!!!


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## minicoop1985

I got my first NEW car three years ago now. Hard to imagine I've had the damned thing for three years. 2nd longest I've had a car, but I'm going to have it for quite a while.


----------



## snerd

Warhorse said:


> My 2001 Ford Excursion (which I purchased new), will be sold this spring.
> 
> 15 years is long enough to keep a vehicle in my opinion.


Finally sold my little Nissan Sentra in 2011. Bought it brand shiny new in 1994. 17 years!! One heck of a reliable car! Got me a 2 year old Nissan Altima. Not having a car payment for all those years was simply wonderful!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## sm4him

I bought my first car back in 1979. It was a beautiful 1962 VW Beetle. Man, I loved that car!  
In the ensuing years, I have NEVER bought a new car. I like to buy them used, drive them until they either get wrecked or just wear out, and then go to the next one. I have also never just sold a car--if I buy it, I'm keeping it until it won't go anymore. 

My current car is a 2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible. It is my first convertible, and also the "newest" car I've ever owned!
Oh wait, no, it's not. I had a black hard-top Sebring that was "only" 8 years old when I got it.

I've thought about buying a newer car, and one of these days, I might do that.  But I like being able to just BUY a car and not make monthly payments.  I've only had to make payments on a car once in my life.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dios Coffee Hosers. Cars, cars, cars ... in my youth, being in Los Angeles, cars were terribly important. I like fast food, fast women and fast cars.  Mustangs and BMW's was what I bought. I few years ago, my consulting job had me traveling two hours, one way, three days a week to Ft. Irwin, the middle of the Mojave desert and two hours, one way, two days a week to San Diego. I sold my Cherokee and picked up a Crown Vic. It was the most comfortable, useful, long haul vehicle I've ever own. (The Scorpio is neck and neck to the Crown Vic, but for long hauls the bigger Crown Vic wins.) I still have it. It won't break and it is still big and comfy and unsexy and gets 26mph and gets a lot of respect on the road (people think it's a police vehicle) and in a pinch, I can do side jobs as a Coyote and stuff an entire undocumented family in the trunk and spirit them across the border.  Granted, it has absolutely zero sex appeal ... but at my age ... (et al ... lol), but I can probably park in handicap and nobody will give it a second thought and  look for a placard.

It's like driving from my living room.


----------



## bribrius

no preference for new or used. . just factor in all associated costs and need of vehicle. . Have bought both.


----------



## Gary A.

But for the past few years I have been seriously looking at something fun ... like a last production run T-Bird ... or a Tesla ... something sorta classic and somewhat unique.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dios Coffee Hosers. Cars, cars, cars ... in my youth, being in Los Angeles, cars were terribly important. I like fast food, fast women and fast cars.  Mustangs and BMW's was what I bought. I few years ago, my consulting job had me traveling two hours, one way, three days a week to Ft. Irwin, the middle of the Mojave desert and two hours, one way, two days a week to San Diego. I sold my Cherokee and picked up a Crown Vic. It was the most comfortable, useful, long haul vehicle I've ever own. (The Scorpio is neck and neck to the Crown Vic, but for long hauls the bigger Crown Vic wins.) I still have it. It won't break and it is still big and comfy and unsexy and gets 26mph and gets a lot of respect on the road (people think it's a police vehicle) and in a pinch, I can do side jobs as a Coyote and stuff an entire undocumented family in the trunk and spirit them across the border.  Granted, it has absolutely zero sex appeal ... but at my age ... (et al ... lol), but I can probably park in handicap and nobody will give it a second thought and  look for a placard.
> 
> It's like driving from my living room.


had a old oldsmobile delta rocket 88. miss that car... thing just floated down the highway.


----------



## Gary A.

On jobs ... when I was working news ... I loved that job. It was a job of extremes, one minute I'd be filling out crossword puzzles (in pen) the next minute I'm running to a fire with all my gear bouncing around me. One week I'm shooting a high school game around the corner ... the next week I could be Africa or Central America or Paris or Rome.

Extremely stressful, extremely competitive, equally and extremely frustrating as it was extremely rewarding.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> (Plus, when the Board or Ed told me I had to take another class on literacy but had misspelled literacy every single time in the letter, I knew I couldn't ever take orders from them.)



I never liked to deal with the politics either.

And your anecdote is all too familiar with me as well.  It was incredible the amount of time utterly wasted arguing with the nincompoops at the office.  People who should have known what to do and how to do it simply didn't have any desire to do something the right way.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> so basically. You shoot bw film. Don't make any money.. so you are the starving artist type.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I suppose. I don't give a crap about money except for having enough to keep me off the streets and do some traveling. Money is never the point.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It is never the point...till it is time to pay the bills.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For some people it is. Money is the goal so they can buy the things that will make them "better." They can have a bigger house than they need, drive a more powerful car than they need, make sure their kids can fail out of the very best private schools and get quietly bailed out of any trouble they get into.
> 
> I understand wanting to make enough money to be comfortable. I want to be comfortable, of course I do. But I know that it probably will take less for me to be comfortable than it would for a lot of other people. I live simply and don't care too much about "stuff." I also know that there are limits to what I will do just for the sake of more money. I could have had a different career by now. I had a chance to get into banking when I first got back to the U.S. Some people - including members of my family - told me that it would be the smarter move, that it doesn't matter if banking would kill my soul because the point of working is for money, and I should make as much as I can.
> 
> I can't do that. I can't spend so much of my life doing work that means nothing to me simply for the paycheck. And so I work at something that is meaningful but doesn't pay me enough. I tried to make it work better for me financially but it didn't happen. It was time for something new that would be more profitable, _but it still has to have meaning for me._ Otherwise I just would have gone back to bartending and made a killing.
Click to expand...

I would just be happy to get released back to work. Boss man wants me back. If I could get doc man to release me I would be back and most likely up for promotion (and pay increase).   I guess I am being missed..i was probably one of the more dedicated ones in the place.  Course my wife hated me for it.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> so basically. You shoot bw film. Don't make any money.. so you are the starving artist type.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I suppose. I don't give a crap about money except for having enough to keep me off the streets and do some traveling. Money is never the point.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It is never the point...till it is time to pay the bills.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For some people it is. Money is the goal so they can buy the things that will make them "better." They can have a bigger house than they need, drive a more powerful car than they need, make sure their kids can fail out of the very best private schools and get quietly bailed out of any trouble they get into.
> 
> I understand wanting to make enough money to be comfortable. I want to be comfortable, of course I do. But I know that it probably will take less for me to be comfortable than it would for a lot of other people. I live simply and don't care too much about "stuff." I also know that there are limits to what I will do just for the sake of more money. I could have had a different career by now. I had a chance to get into banking when I first got back to the U.S. Some people - including members of my family - told me that it would be the smarter move, that it doesn't matter if banking would kill my soul because the point of working is for money, and I should make as much as I can.
> 
> I can't do that. I can't spend so much of my life doing work that means nothing to me simply for the paycheck. And so I work at something that is meaningful but doesn't pay me enough. I tried to make it work better for me financially but it didn't happen. It was time for something new that would be more profitable, _but it still has to have meaning for me._ Otherwise I just would have gone back to bartending and made a killing.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I would just be happy to get released back to work. Boss man wants me back. If I could get doc man to release me I would be back and most likely up for promotion (and pay increase).   I guess I am being missed..i was probably one of the more dedicated ones in the place.  Course my wife hated me for it.
Click to expand...

If the Doc is reluctant ... work out a deal ... like part-time, or limited activity/responsibilities ... whatever. Most Docs will work with you on that.


----------



## bribrius

2


Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> so basically. You shoot bw film. Don't make any money.. so you are the starving artist type.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I suppose. I don't give a crap about money except for having enough to keep me off the streets and do some traveling. Money is never the point.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It is never the point...till it is time to pay the bills.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For some people it is. Money is the goal so they can buy the things that will make them "better." They can have a bigger house than they need, drive a more powerful car than they need, make sure their kids can fail out of the very best private schools and get quietly bailed out of any trouble they get into.
> 
> I understand wanting to make enough money to be comfortable. I want to be comfortable, of course I do. But I know that it probably will take less for me to be comfortable than it would for a lot of other people. I live simply and don't care too much about "stuff." I also know that there are limits to what I will do just for the sake of more money. I could have had a different career by now. I had a chance to get into banking when I first got back to the U.S. Some people - including members of my family - told me that it would be the smarter move, that it doesn't matter if banking would kill my soul because the point of working is for money, and I should make as much as I can.
> 
> I can't do that. I can't spend so much of my life doing work that means nothing to me simply for the paycheck. And so I work at something that is meaningful but doesn't pay me enough. I tried to make it work better for me financially but it didn't happen. It was time for something new that would be more profitable, _but it still has to have meaning for me._ Otherwise I just would have gone back to bartending and made a killing.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I would just be happy to get released back to work. Boss man wants me back. If I could get doc man to release me I would be back and most likely up for promotion (and pay increase).   I guess I am being missed..i was probably one of the more dedicated ones in the place.  Course my wife hated me for it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If the Doc is reluctant ... work out a deal ... like part-time, or limited activity/responsibilities ... whatever. Most Docs will work with you on that.
Click to expand...

They won't work with me on anything. Except they want to take away my drivers license again. I keep failing the neuro testing. They defer to rehab, which basically tells me to go fly a kite it ain't happening until I score better, or like never. More referrals for more testing. About it. They pass the buck between eachother, rehab refers me back to neurology. Round and round we go.  My reg doc is the one that first put me out. Who says no too and refers me back to neurology, which refers back to rehab, which refers back to neurology. Which reviews my tests. And they just say no.  Really not getting very far here. kinda like they shut me down whether like it or not.


----------



## bribrius

........


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> 2
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> so basically. You shoot bw film. Don't make any money.. so you are the starving artist type.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I suppose. I don't give a crap about money except for having enough to keep me off the streets and do some traveling. Money is never the point.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It is never the point...till it is time to pay the bills.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For some people it is. Money is the goal so they can buy the things that will make them "better." They can have a bigger house than they need, drive a more powerful car than they need, make sure their kids can fail out of the very best private schools and get quietly bailed out of any trouble they get into.
> 
> I understand wanting to make enough money to be comfortable. I want to be comfortable, of course I do. But I know that it probably will take less for me to be comfortable than it would for a lot of other people. I live simply and don't care too much about "stuff." I also know that there are limits to what I will do just for the sake of more money. I could have had a different career by now. I had a chance to get into banking when I first got back to the U.S. Some people - including members of my family - told me that it would be the smarter move, that it doesn't matter if banking would kill my soul because the point of working is for money, and I should make as much as I can.
> 
> I can't do that. I can't spend so much of my life doing work that means nothing to me simply for the paycheck. And so I work at something that is meaningful but doesn't pay me enough. I tried to make it work better for me financially but it didn't happen. It was time for something new that would be more profitable, _but it still has to have meaning for me._ Otherwise I just would have gone back to bartending and made a killing.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I would just be happy to get released back to work. Boss man wants me back. If I could get doc man to release me I would be back and most likely up for promotion (and pay increase).   I guess I am being missed..i was probably one of the more dedicated ones in the place.  Course my wife hated me for it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If the Doc is reluctant ... work out a deal ... like part-time, or limited activity/responsibilities ... whatever. Most Docs will work with you on that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They won't work with me on anything. Except they want to take away my drivers license again. I keep failing the neuro testing. They defer to rehab, which basically tells me to go fly a kite it ain't happening until I score better, or like never. More referrals for more testing. About it. They pass the buck between eachother, rehab refers me back to neurology. Round and round we go.  My reg doc is the one that first put me out. Who says no too and refers me back to neurology, which refers back to rehab, which refers back to neurology. Which reviews my tests. And they just say no.  Really not getting very far here. kinda like they shut me down whether like it or not.
Click to expand...

I think everybody is taking the easy way out and passes the buck. Do some research and get another opinion(s). I'd start with a teaching hospital if nothing comes up via searching the internet.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> ......... I like fast food, fast women and fast cars........


Say no more, you hard-living man!!


----------



## minicoop1985

ARGH I hate waiting for stuff to get shipped. I WANT MY FLASHESSSSSS


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 2
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I suppose. I don't give a crap about money except for having enough to keep me off the streets and do some traveling. Money is never the point.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It is never the point...till it is time to pay the bills.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For some people it is. Money is the goal so they can buy the things that will make them "better." They can have a bigger house than they need, drive a more powerful car than they need, make sure their kids can fail out of the very best private schools and get quietly bailed out of any trouble they get into.
> 
> I understand wanting to make enough money to be comfortable. I want to be comfortable, of course I do. But I know that it probably will take less for me to be comfortable than it would for a lot of other people. I live simply and don't care too much about "stuff." I also know that there are limits to what I will do just for the sake of more money. I could have had a different career by now. I had a chance to get into banking when I first got back to the U.S. Some people - including members of my family - told me that it would be the smarter move, that it doesn't matter if banking would kill my soul because the point of working is for money, and I should make as much as I can.
> 
> I can't do that. I can't spend so much of my life doing work that means nothing to me simply for the paycheck. And so I work at something that is meaningful but doesn't pay me enough. I tried to make it work better for me financially but it didn't happen. It was time for something new that would be more profitable, _but it still has to have meaning for me._ Otherwise I just would have gone back to bartending and made a killing.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I would just be happy to get released back to work. Boss man wants me back. If I could get doc man to release me I would be back and most likely up for promotion (and pay increase).   I guess I am being missed..i was probably one of the more dedicated ones in the place.  Course my wife hated me for it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If the Doc is reluctant ... work out a deal ... like part-time, or limited activity/responsibilities ... whatever. Most Docs will work with you on that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They won't work with me on anything. Except they want to take away my drivers license again. I keep failing the neuro testing. They defer to rehab, which basically tells me to go fly a kite it ain't happening until I score better, or like never. More referrals for more testing. About it. They pass the buck between eachother, rehab refers me back to neurology. Round and round we go.  My reg doc is the one that first put me out. Who says no too and refers me back to neurology, which refers back to rehab, which refers back to neurology. Which reviews my tests. And they just say no.  Really not getting very far here. kinda like they shut me down whether like it or not.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> *I think everybody is taking the easy way out and passes the buck*. Do some research and get another opinion(s). I'd start with a teaching hospital if nothing comes up via searching the internet.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. I am not even asking for them to get me better at this point. I got a pretty good idea of what the deal is, hundred k in insurance payouts later or some obscene thing (good thing for insurance).  Not like I cant walk and talk. Wife tells me no doc in the world would sign off on me because of liability/risks.  But if push comes to shove I bet I could find one under a rock in a third world country. Realistically I think I am going back to self employed. No other choice.


----------



## Gary A.

Last time I was self-employed, I fired myself.


----------



## snerd

minicoop1985 said:


> ARGH I hate waiting for stuff to get shipped. I WANT MY FLASHESSSSSS


Oh stop! My GAS has been under control for....................... about a week now!!!


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Last time I was self-employed, I fired myself.


being self employed takes a lot of discipline. Some people are cut out for it, some aren't . I can do either but working for someone else is much less headache and stress.


----------



## minicoop1985

snerd said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ARGH I hate waiting for stuff to get shipped. I WANT MY FLASHESSSSSS
> 
> 
> 
> Oh stop! My GAS has been under control for....................... about a week now!!!
Click to expand...


Mine... is going crazy. All I want is some damned TTL flashes and triggers. All I want. But nooooooo, gotta order them.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Last time I was self-employed, I fired myself.
> 
> 
> 
> being self employed takes a lot of discipline. Some people are cut out for it, some aren't . I can do either but working for someone else is much less headache and stress.
Click to expand...

The guy who wants you bad can hire you as an independant contractor ... involves a 1099, but the owner will have a ton of liability as he is aware of you present disability.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> No more surgeries, please!
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> However, sitting there stewing in anger, "killing someone mentally", over something that could be easily remedied by reaching out to someone is silly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I get this and totally applaud you for your compassion, I truly do.
> 
> Having said this, sometimes the anger is not always controllable. I'm not speaking for Gary or anyone other than myself.
> 
> I have something called misophonia. Marija can tell you about it, too. Misophonia is a neurological...thing...not sure if it's classified as a disorder? Syndrome? ... Whatever it's called, it comes down to having an extreme negative reaction to certain sounds. For me, the most common trigger is someone eating. It's not just being annoyed that someone is making noise or being upset at the break in social convention. It's an intense fight-or-flight kind of reaction. When I find myself stuck next to someone who is snapping gum or audibly chewing (especially with their mouths open!), my heart starts pounding, I get intensely angry, and I want to scream, punch someone, throw something, run away...anything to get it to stop. Sometimes, like when a student is at the support center and music is bleeding from his or her earbuds, I can tell them to turn it town and address the situation directly before I get too agitated and bitchy.
> 
> But how do you tell someone at the next table at Starbucks to stop chewing like a cow? Or how do you tell your friend that you never want to eat lunch with her because the way she chews makes you want to slap her until she cries? I've finally resorted to just carrying earbuds with me at all times so if I can't say anything or get away from the noise, I play some music to drown it out.
> 
> So to "normal" people it might seem silly to get so upset over something like chewing or snoring or a wheezing laugh, but some of us are tortured by these sounds and can't do much about it. I can't even tell you the anxiety it causes me when I have to be, for example, on a bus or plane, or stuck on line somewhere, and I don't know if someone is going to trigger the miso or not.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sorry to hear you have this, and if someone has that, I feel for them.
> 
> However, that's not to say there weren't three options available if Mr. Gary found this man that off putting : (1) ask him to wake up, (2) move to another seat in the waiting room, or (3) wait in the car.
> 
> But, I will apologize for taking this as far as I did. No more out of me on this topic.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Why should I move to another seat or wait in the car? It was he that came over and sat by me and it was he that started snoring at a level that far exceeded his personal space. This is something I don't get ... shouldn't he be the one that should move or wait in the car. Regardless of what private matter he may be going through, it doesn't give him the right to be rude. Waking him up and telling him that he is being rude ... can be construed as equally rude. But that is probably what I should have done as all the other options just enables him to continue his rudeness. But I didn't interrupt his beauty sleep because he kept waking up and I'm thinking that maybe he stay awake this time.
> 
> In this world it seems that people with better manners are the ones that are abused by those with lesser manners.
Click to expand...

Okay. Sounds good.


----------



## Gary A.

I suspect waday ... being that you are a very very nice person ... that people are always taking advantage of you. Which is okay, if it is okay with you ... as in ... you don't mind. If you were snoring by me, because you are such a nice person, I'd go to the car and let you sleep.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ah, thank goodness. My stuff will be here Monday.


----------



## Gary A.

Appleton guy, if you lived out here I'd let you teach me lighting.


----------



## Gary A.

But then you wouldn't be Appleton Guy.


----------



## bribrius

damn it. i was the top poster of the month, now it flipped back to "been spending a lot of time on here".... so much for the new leaderboard...


----------



## bribrius

oh wait. nevermind. still there...lol


----------



## beachrat

bribrius said:


> oh wait. nevermind. still there...lol


Regular media whore.
Now,THAT i'm not apologizing for. Just breaking your balls.


----------



## snerd

beachrat said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> oh wait. nevermind. still there...lol
> 
> 
> 
> Regular media whore.
> Now,THAT i'm not apologizing for. Just breaking your balls.
Click to expand...

You yanks lol! It "busting" your balls.   What, do ya'll say "get out of this city!"


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> But then you wouldn't be Appleton Guy.



This is true. I'll happily teach you how to screw up any lighting project. That's my real skill.


----------



## Designer

Speaking of Appleton, WI, I need to make a pilgrimage up there someday.


----------



## minicoop1985

If you do, you've got an invitation to a cup o coffee and some terrible stories.


----------



## limr

Happy Sunday, hosers.

Got four strips hanging and another batch of Caffenol brewing for the 4 rolls of 120 and the last 2 rolls of 35mm (one of which is still in my K1000!  Guess I'll have to shoot that up.)  Will do some scanning later.

Anyone going to watch the Kitten Bowl?


----------



## Designer

minicoop1985 said:


> If you do, you've got an invitation to a cup o coffee and some terrible stories.


Terrible stories?  Oh, no!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Happy Sunday, hosers.
> 
> Got four strips hanging and another batch of Caffenol brewing for the 4 rolls of 120 and the last 2 rolls of 35mm (one of which is still in my K1000!  Guess I'll have to shoot that up.)  Will do some scanning later.
> 
> Anyone going to watch the Kitten Bowl?


how are you liking the k1000? seen a few of them relatively cheap they are so common.


----------



## Designer

Cheap and common.  !!!


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Sunday, hosers.
> 
> Got four strips hanging and another batch of Caffenol brewing for the 4 rolls of 120 and the last 2 rolls of 35mm (one of which is still in my K1000!  Guess I'll have to shoot that up.)  Will do some scanning later.
> 
> Anyone going to watch the Kitten Bowl?
> 
> 
> 
> how are you liking the k1000? seen a few of them relatively cheap they are so common.
Click to expand...


I adore my K1000. I bought in new in 1993 from Service Merchandise and it has been with me ever since, though 2 ex-boyfriends, 6 countries, and a whole bunch of states. You'll have to pry it out of my cold dead hands to ever get it away from me. The thing is a tank. It took a tumble off a stone wall and landed on concrete on the top plate and this didn't affect the operation at all. It feels balanced in the hand, just a solid camera. Oh and that mirror thwap 

It's bare bones. There is nothing automated about it. It does have a light meter that runs on a battery, but the camera works without the battery. And the Pentax 50mm f1.7 is a fantastic lens.


----------



## minicoop1985

Designer said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you do, you've got an invitation to a cup o coffee and some terrible stories.
> 
> 
> 
> Terrible stories?  Oh, no!
Click to expand...


I'm a horrible storyteller.


----------



## Designer

It's snowing here, supposed to continue all day.  I'm dragging my feet against the snow removal chores.  I took my camera out this morning in early light, but the falling snow was reflecting the flash pretty bad, so the pics did not turn out the way I had envisioned them.  

This is a very sticky snow that is covering almost every possible surface.  I'll go out and see what photographs I can get now that it's daylight.


----------



## snerd

No Super Bowl here............. don't really keep up with pro football anymore


----------



## limr

We're supposed to get snow starting tonight around 10 or so. Heavy snow overnight and then freezing rain in themorning and afternoon.

I suspect I'll be having another snow day tomorrow.


----------



## bribrius

well it is tax season. And  i am wondering if i dare to write off my camera expenses, on something.   I haven't been keeping track of my vehicle mileage either. And i probably shouldn't be guessing since i just had to pay the i.r.s back some a couple years ago.


----------



## bribrius

okay, wife is telling me no. Don't start more chit. LMAO.


----------



## Warhorse

limr said:


> Anyone going to watch the Kitten Bowl?



Hell yeah, go Seahawks!!!


----------



## bribrius

another 10-15 inches of snow tonight/tomorrow. Geez, i am really getting practice in snow shooting. I think sometimes i could use more though as designer posted about shooting in the snow i can relate, and  a lot of my snow pics look horrible. Too dark and i don't want to use the flash.  Or it is just landscape so the flash is useless.


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> .. as designer said a lot of my snow pics look horrible.



I don't recall having written that.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> .. as designer said a lot of my snow pics look horrible.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't recall having written that.
Click to expand...

Phrasing. i suck. i was referring to your previous post. sorry. corrected (i think)


----------



## limr

I said KITTEN Bowl. 

I suppose I should be rooting for New England, but Tom Brady is a massive tool, so I really don't give a crap who wins this one. I'm only watching it to get one last football fix until August.

At least there's still hockey for a while.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Last time I was self-employed, I fired myself.


Hell... I almost didn't hire myself!


----------



## SquarePeg

Love him but I can see how a NY'er would feel differently!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> I adore my K1000. I bought in new in 1993 from Service Merchandise and it has been with me ever since, though 2 ex-boyfriends, 6 countries, and a whole bunch of states. You'll have to pry it out of my cold dead hands to ever get it away from me. The thing is a tank. It took a tumble off a stone wall and landed on concrete on the top plate and this didn't affect the operation at all. It feels balanced in the hand, just a solid camera. Oh and that mirror thwap
> 
> It's bare bones. There is nothing automated about it. It does have a light meter that runs on a battery, but the camera works without the battery. And the Pentax 50mm f1.7 is a fantastic lens.


The K1000 is without a doubt the best non "pro" 35mm body ever built.


----------



## bribrius

since i am from new england . i have to go with the patriots. Not that i really care much but it is a regional thing.  If i had money on the game i would probably care more. i might watch for the commercials.


----------



## bribrius

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I adore my K1000. I bought in new in 1993 from Service Merchandise and it has been with me ever since, though 2 ex-boyfriends, 6 countries, and a whole bunch of states. You'll have to pry it out of my cold dead hands to ever get it away from me. The thing is a tank. It took a tumble off a stone wall and landed on concrete on the top plate and this didn't affect the operation at all. It feels balanced in the hand, just a solid camera. Oh and that mirror thwap
> 
> It's bare bones. There is nothing automated about it. It does have a light meter that runs on a battery, but the camera works without the battery. And the Pentax 50mm f1.7 is a fantastic lens.
> 
> 
> 
> The K1000 is without a doubt the best non "pro" 35mm body ever built.
Click to expand...

i am just really wanting a new toy. I keep resisting because i haven't had a income in like eight months and am living off savings. So technically i am poor. But it is really tempting to not be responsible and just buy stuff anyway.


----------



## Designer

SquarePeg said:


> Love him but I can see how a NY'er would feel differently!


We in this household still call the coach by his nickname: Bill Belicheat.


----------



## bribrius

we all know who is going to win. Lets cut to the chase...


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> i might watch for the commercials.


Many people do.  It's almost considered mandatory viewing by some.  

Personally, I think it's about 50/50 between winners and losers in the commercials.  Any by "winners" I don't mean that I actually LIKE them, just that they're not completely obnoxious.  

We regularly DON'T watch the halftime show because it's just more dumbness piled on top of dumbness.

And the level of football is not always great either.  My son calls it the "Stupid Bowl".


----------



## tirediron

That's the game with the brown, pointy ball?


----------



## SquarePeg

Designer said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Love him but I can see how a NY'er would feel differently!
> 
> 
> 
> We in this household still call the coach by his nickname: Bill Belicheat.
Click to expand...


Ahhh the lovely flavor of sour grapes.


----------



## limr

For the record, my dislike of Tom Brady has nothing to do with me being from NY. He's got a very unattractive personality. Like I said, he's a tool.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> For the record, my dislike of Tom Brady has nothing to do with me being from NY. He's got a very unattractive personality. Like I said, he's a tool.


i am surprised he is still at it. Getting a little old and beat up to be playing ball isn't he?


----------



## Designer

tirediron said:


> That's the game with the brown, pointy ball?


Yes, unfortunately.  It might have been a good game once upon a time, but it is just ridiculous these days.


----------



## Designer

Here's a shot of the snow this morning. 




 

If the roads weren't poopy I might have gone to the local ski hill today.  I don't have a season pass this year, so I won't be going even though I like skiing in falling snow.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> That's the game with the brown, pointy ball?


Yeah, pointy on both ends. For important games it may appear smaller than normal.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Here's a shot of the snow this morning.
> 
> View attachment 94555
> 
> If the roads weren't poopy I might have gone to the local ski hill today.  I don't have a season pass this year, so I won't be going even though I like skiing in falling snow.


Nice snow ... it will be another perfect day here.


----------



## Warhorse

Gary A. said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here's a shot of the snow this morning.
> 
> View attachment 94555
> 
> If the roads weren't poopy I might have gone to the local ski hill today.  I don't have a season pass this year, so I won't be going even though I like skiing in falling snow.
> 
> 
> 
> Nice snow ... it will be another perfect day here.
Click to expand...

Perfect for you "Valley Boys".


----------



## Designer

Gary, do you live in the Valley?  What part?


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary, do you live in the Valley?  What part?


No. Presently I live in La Mirada, a sleepy burg about 20 miles southeast of Los Angeles. (West of Fullerton and south of Whittier.) I've never lived in the Valley. Most of my adult life I've lived a few blocks from the beach, (Huntington, Manhattan and Palos Verdes).


----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


> No Super Bowl here............. don't really keep up with pro football anymore



Is that _today_?  I've got to go to the grocery store so it won't be crowded id I wait until it's started.


----------



## Designer

We lived in Bell Gardens for a few months then Norwalk about 5 years then Downey for another three years.  I worked for LA Water & Power for about 8 years.  I don't think I ever went into La Mirada.


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> I've got to go to the grocery store so it won't be crowded id I wait until it's started.



We get that here on "game days".  Actually, it's still an inconvenience because the grocery store parking lot is filled with the cars of people who park there and walk to the stadium.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> We lived in Bell Gardens for a few months then Norwalk about 5 years then Downey for another three years.  I worked for LA Water & Power for about 8 years.  I don't think I ever went into La Mirada.


I bet you have. La Mirada butts up to Norwalk on the east. Norwalk ends and La Mirada begins around Valley View Blvd. If you traveled on Imperial Highway or Rosecrans or Alondra east of Valley View you're in La Mirada. (West of Beach and East of Valley View down to the 5 is La Mirada.)


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> We lived in Bell Gardens for a few months then Norwalk about 5 years then Downey for another three years.  I worked for LA Water & Power for about 8 years.  I don't think I ever went into La Mirada.


My construction company had an annual contract with DWP (water side). Everything they torn up, we repaired (the paving part, DWP would backfill and we would pave).


----------



## Designer

You're right, I certainly could have.  We lived a block off of Imperial Highway in Norwalk.
(edit) Then when we moved to Downey, we were one block off Firestone Blvd.


----------



## Designer

I worked in Overhead Distribution, power line clearance tree trimmer.  I think I may have worked out of every OHDist. office they had.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> You're right, I certainly could have.  We lived a block off of Imperial Highway in Norwalk.


Howdy Neighbor.


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> i am just really wanting a new toy. ...........


I'm out looking for a flatbed scanner. Our Staples doesn't even carry them anymore. Office Depot only had one Epson V550, no V600's at all. Guess I'll have to wait til Tuesday for one to be delivered by Amazon. Although, I'm at Walmart now...... I "DO" need a new computer chair!! Mine is broken after 5 years! 








Only $139 on sale!!!

.............



Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

What's the scanner for?


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i am just really wanting a new toy. ...........
> 
> 
> 
> I'm out looking for a flatbed scanner. Our Staples doesn't even carry them anymore. Office Depot only had one Epson V550, no V600's at all. Guess I'll have to wait til Tuesday for one to be delivered by Amazon. Although, I'm at Walmart now...... I "DO" need a new computer chair!! Mine is broken after 5 years!
> 
> 
> View attachment 94563
> 
> 
> Only $139 on sale!!!
> 
> .............
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...

geesh. i dunno. i bought my computer chair at staples actually. Think it was 88 dollars or something.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> What's the scanner for?


For the Halibut. Lol!! I found a bunch of old family photos and want to get them scanned and archived. I had already ordered the Epson V600, but 480Sparky just got a Canon 9000F MK II, and I thought I might see if there was one local. Then I could compare them side-by-side!! Then return the other one. But, alas, it wasn't meant to be.


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i am just really wanting a new toy. ...........
> 
> 
> 
> I'm out looking for a flatbed scanner. Our Staples doesn't even carry them anymore. Office Depot only had one Epson V550, no V600's at all. Guess I'll have to wait til Tuesday for one to be delivered by Amazon. Although, I'm at Walmart now...... I "DO" need a new computer chair!! Mine is broken after 5 years!
> 
> 
> View attachment 94563
> 
> 
> Only $139 on sale!!!
> 
> .............
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> geesh. i dunno. i bought my computer chair at staples actually. Think it was 88 dollars or something.
Click to expand...

$88?!?! What a cheapskate, man lol!!! I like a GOOD quality chair. They'll cost more that $88! The last one I paid $259 for, leather and nice support and good rollers. I'm hard on them and need the good ones.


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i am just really wanting a new toy. ...........
> 
> 
> 
> I'm out looking for a flatbed scanner. Our Staples doesn't even carry them anymore. Office Depot only had one Epson V550, no V600's at all. Guess I'll have to wait til Tuesday for one to be delivered by Amazon. Although, I'm at Walmart now...... I "DO" need a new computer chair!! Mine is broken after 5 years!
> 
> 
> View attachment 94563
> 
> 
> Only $139 on sale!!!
> 
> .............
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> geesh. i dunno. i bought my computer chair at staples actually. Think it was 88 dollars or something.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> $88?!?! What a cheapskate, man lol!!! I like a GOOD quality chair. They'll cost more that $88! The last one I paid $259 for, leather and nice support and good rollers. I'm hard on them and need the good ones.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...

it was on sale. i bought two.  And yes, i am a wicked cheap skate. I just got upset i couldn't find a wiper blade cheaper than 8 dollars


----------



## minicoop1985

I need a new office chair. You reminded me. And I need an office...

Family photoshoot went pretty well, I'd say. They're happy, which makes me happy.


----------



## SquarePeg

Designer said:


> Here's a shot of the snow this morning.
> 
> View attachment 94555
> 
> If the roads weren't poopy I might have gone to the local ski hill today.  I don't have a season pass this year, so I won't be going even though I like skiing in falling snow.



Lovely winter scene.  I'm afraid we're in for more of that tonight.  School already canceled for tomorrow.  It's expected to hold off until after midnight.


----------



## sm4him

Hey hosers. My day has not been what I expected. Had a family lunch to celebrate a niece's birthday. But my mom and sister didn't quite make it. Mom had an "episode" while at the drug store.  Passed out,  then her defib. Pacemaker Kicked in. Problem is,  it still hasn't gone back off. So we're camped out at the ER. She looks much better and is way more responsive than when they brought her in.  Just waiting on tests to see what's going on. They'll keep her overnight.  She seems to be doing pretty good at this point though.


----------



## SquarePeg

Will keep her in my thoughts and prayers.


----------



## snerd

Okay, Pizza Hut commercial. Guy with the selfie stick is me lol!!









Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> Hey hosers. My day has not been what I expected. Had a family lunch to celebrate a niece's birthday. But my mom and sister didn't quite make it. Mom had an "episode" while at the drug store.  Passed out,  then her defib. Pacemaker Kicked in. Problem is,  it still hasn't gone back off. So we're camped out at the ER. She looks much better and is way more responsive than when they brought her in.  Just waiting on tests to see what's going on. They'll keep her overnight.  She seems to be doing pretty good at this point though.



Sorry to hear this -- glad it's going well.


----------



## Designer

snerd said:


> Okay, Pizza Hut commercial. Guy with the selfie stick is me lol!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


I don't get it.


----------



## limr

Sharon


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. Slowly scanning through the first four rolls from my Arizona vacation. There are three more strips hanging (dry by now, I'm sure) and three more rolls of 120mm to develop. As long as I have power, it seems I know what I'll be doing for my probable snow day tomorrow.


----------



## snowbear

Have fun, Leonore, looking forward to the results.  We have to get up about 03:30 - 04:00, leave about 04:45 to get to the operation place by 6.  For once, I'm glad we are not getting snow.

Grocery store was excellent - I doubt there were more than a dozen other customers.


----------



## pgriz

Charlie, don't you risk losing citizenship or something if you're not watching "The Game"?


----------



## sm4him

SquarePeg said:


> Will keep her in my thoughts and prayers.





snowbear said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers. My day has not been what I expected. Had a family lunch to celebrate a niece's birthday. But my mom and sister didn't quite make it. Mom had an "episode" while at the drug store.  Passed out,  then her defib. Pacemaker Kicked in. Problem is,  it still hasn't gone back off. So we're camped out at the ER. She looks much better and is way more responsive than when they brought her in.  Just waiting on tests to see what's going on. They'll keep her overnight.  She seems to be doing pretty good at this point though.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear this -- glad it's going well.
Click to expand...




limr said:


> Sharon



Thanks, folks!  She's feeling better, seems "perkier", but keeps mentioning pain in her left arm, which of course can be one of the signs of heart trouble in women.
I came on home; my sister is at the hospital and a brother will be there later this evening.  I'll go back up early in the morning.

Looks like she'll be okay, so the big question now is whether something has changed with her heart function recently and whether this could be an indication of something more serious about to happen.

In 1988, my mom had her first heart "episode", at 62 years old. She almost died--they did the shock to her chest EIGHT times, with no response by the time they got her to the ER. No response. They finally stopped, and started to record the time of death when the ER Dr. saw her blink and insisted they try again. One more shock did the trick, and she's last another quarter century!

This was the first time she's had a heart event since they put in a new ICD unit a few years ago. They told us that if it did ever go off, it might feel like a horse kicked her in the chest! Fortunately, she experienced no pain from it going off today, but the ER doctor was very concerned about how long it had to keep going, and how long she was unresponsive, or very nearly.

Still, things are looking pretty good--just gotta get to the bottom of what's going on.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Have fun, Leonore, looking forward to the results.  We have to get up about 03:30 - 04:00, leave about 04:45 to get to the operation place by 6.  For once, I'm glad we are not getting snow.
> 
> Grocery store was excellent - I doubt there were more than a dozen other customers.



I'll be thinking about ya'll, as I head up to the hospital myself tomorrow! Well, I won't go up quite THAT early, but I'll be up about 5 or so.


----------



## minicoop1985

Leonore, you reminded me. I need to get out and shoot some film again. I think it's time. Got a roll of Ektar loaded up in the Hasselblad ready to go, been like that for a damn week.


----------



## sm4him

Mom's memory is...well, it's BAD.  She'll tell you the exact same thing, the same way, or ask the same question, literally as much as a dozen times in just the span of a few minutes.

And yet--when they asked her the basic "are you with it" questions, she got every one of them right, INCLUDING what month it is!!

But then she proceeded to say to me, at least 516 times in the last 4 hours, "Well, I didn't expect to end up HERE today."

Like people wake up and say to themselves, "I have a feeling that I'll end up in the ER later today. But first, I think I'll get dressed and do some shopping."


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> Charlie, don't you risk losing citizenship or something if you're not watching "The Game"?



No . . . they'll just make sit in a room with women.  I can think of worse things. 

Come to think of it, there are enough new Americans here, I think Futball is a close second or third.  We also have a minor league baseball stadium a few minutes away.


----------



## snerd

Designer said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, Pizza Hut commercial. Guy with the selfie stick is me lol!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
> 
> 
> 
> I don't get it.
Click to expand...


I bought a selfie stick a few weeks ago, and posted about it. It's more or less just a fun thing, and I was enjoying the banter about being a dumb-ass for getting it. But there are folks among us who 'detest' such things. I got reamed by a few, and made fun of by most. Over on my firearms forum, I may as well have stated that I had started wearing dresses lol! One guy here said I was dead to him (of course, it was meant as a 'somewhat' funny statement, with some underlying truth. But man, you either like the thought of using one or you hate it). So when I saw this video, I just cracked up! Because I realized that's how most folks view those of us who use them. Really, I was laughing so hard I vomited in my mouth a little! 

Selfie!!!


----------



## snowbear

Hope your mom gets better soon, Sharon, and thank you for your thoughts, as well as the others (Gary, etc).

Miriam's getting the right side done tomorrow, then the left side done in March.  She'll be home a week or two, then six-hour days for a couple of weeks.  She won't be allowed to type, but can do her other duties.  She should see some real relief in a month or two, but maximum recovery is expected to be about one year.  She's been in the process of getting things fixed fot just over a year now.


----------



## snerd

Sorry to hear about your mom., Sharon! Adding her to my prayer list!


----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, Pizza Hut commercial. Guy with the selfie stick is me lol!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
> 
> 
> 
> I don't get it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I bought a selfie stick a few weeks ago, and posted about it. It's more or less just a fun thing, and I was enjoying the banter about being a dumb-ass for getting it. But there are folks among us who 'detest' such things. I got reamed by a few, and made fun of by most. Over on my firearms forum, I may as well have stated that I had started wearing dresses lol! One guy here said I was dead to him (of course, it was meant as a 'somewhat' funny statement, with some underlying truth. But man, you either like the thought of using one or you hate it). So when I saw this video, I just cracked up! Because I realized that's how most folks view those of us who use them. Really, I was laughing so hard I vomited in my mouth a little!
> 
> Selfie!!!
Click to expand...


Well, you can always turn the camera around and claim you need the distance in order to see the screen since you can't see so good.


----------



## snerd

Can't I just use the Analog film choices in the NIK software to make my B&W work look like Sparky's and Lenny's do?!









.........................................


----------



## Creeker5

snerd said:


> I bought a selfie stick a few weeks ago, and posted about it. It's more or less just a fun thing, and I was enjoying the banter about being a dumb-ass for getting it.



The reviews for this product on Amazon had me rolling on the ground. 

Amazon.com Selfie Pink Brush Beauty


----------



## snerd

Creeker5 said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> I bought a selfie stick a few weeks ago, and posted about it. It's more or less just a fun thing, and I was enjoying the banter about being a dumb-ass for getting it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The reviews for this product on Amazon had me rolling on the ground.
> 
> Amazon.com Selfie Pink Brush Beauty
Click to expand...

LOL! If they make one in a hair pick, I may grow my afro back!


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary, do you live in the Valley?  What part?
> 
> 
> 
> No. Presently I live in La Mirada, a sleepy burg *about 20 miles southeast of Los Angeles*. (West of Fullerton and south of Whittier.) I've never lived in the Valley. Most of my adult life I've lived a few blocks from the beach, (Huntington, Manhattan and Palos Verdes).
Click to expand...

Last time I was in LA (2006) "20 miles southeast of Los Angeles" was still Los Angeles!


----------



## limr

Selfie!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Selfie!
> 
> View attachment 94573


OK . . . Selfie:


----------



## snowbear

I have a question for the football fans & experts:  If the footballs were intentionally under-inflated at whatever game it was, wouldn't both teams get the benefit?  I've seen them swap the ball in between plays but doesn't each team use the same set?

I think I've been up too long & I get up in a few hours.  Goodnight everyone.  I'll check in later


----------



## bribrius

who da winnas??????


----------



## tirediron

bribrius said:


> who da winnas??????


Those of us who didn't watch it!


----------



## minicoop1985

Agreed. I think it was the team that scored the most points, but I've been wrong before.


----------



## snerd

The losers showed no class at the end with the brawl they mostly instigated. That's the only part I saw............. saw it trending on the web everywhere I went, and had to go watch it!


----------



## limr

I guess New England squeaked it out. It was surprisingly a close game.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> I have a question for the football fans & experts:  If the footballs were intentionally under-inflated at whatever game it was, wouldn't both teams get the benefit?  I've seen them swap the ball in between plays but doesn't each team use the same set?
> 
> I think I've been up too long & I get up in a few hours.  Goodnight everyone.  I'll check in later



No.  Each team plays with their own footballs that they provide.  A ridiculous way to do things for sure.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks.  I never knew that.


----------



## snowbear

_Marija_ - I know you're out here, somewhere!  Good Morning!


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> _Marija_ - I know you're out here, somewhere!  Good Morning!


awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

just logged in... haven't been here for a few days

wanted to say....


----------



## mmaria

I found another sparkly  purple thingy


----------



## snowbear

Hope the move went well.


----------



## mmaria

sitting in my new office....

what did I miss?

How are you all?


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Hope the move went well.


oh well... not bad...

This morning, early in the morning I told the rest of the girls: "Just so you know me... I'm not nice, I don't like to talk much (me no likey small talks) ... and I'll probably ignore people who come to you ( lots of people every day work related)... so just so you know"
They seem fine with it.... so we'll see 

Sorry about your mom Ma! and Snowbear, a  for Miriam...  I missed posts about the problem but I saw something about the recovery and something is also happening with Gary's Mary Lou ... a 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 for her...


----------



## mmaria

Designer said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I just figured it was part of growing old.
> 
> 
> 
> nah....
> 
> 
> how old are you anyway?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 68
Click to expand...

impressed!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Oh no, Marija! I hope you can get that worked out so you don't have to move   Being in an office with other people...snacking...awful...and here's us talking right now about that very thing and how it can be stressful.
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm - I didn't realize this was such a wide spread problem, thought it was just me.  My "thing" is white noise.  Any type of background humming or fan really stresses me out.  When I'm cooking and I have the exhaust fan on, I actually sigh with relief and can feel the stress leaving my body when I'm done and can turn it off.  Commercials don't bother me but I have noticed that certain tv shows or movies will use a high pitched whine very subtly in the background to build tension (TWD in particular) and it really bothers me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is kinda finny to me since white noise is pretty much my savior in a lot of cases. Every once in a while, the air circulation at work stops and suddenly it goes all quiet. I have to get up and leave if it goes on too long. I can hear *everything* and I can't concentrate on anything.
> 
> Sometimes I wish I could just go deaf and be done with it all!
Click to expand...

I asked them if they mind my jazz... they said they don't mind... so that's nice... listening my jazz radio...


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  It's not bad for a Monday at work.  Had a busy weekend but managed to shoot a few things yesterday afternoon.  I'm sitting with my usual coffee and snack and resigning myself to being here.  I think tomorrow will be a day to work from home.


----------



## SquarePeg

I'm home today (and so is everyone else  no school or work for the rest of the family).  We're in the middle of another storm.  Expecting about 10" by the time this ends later tonight.  We are certainly all caught up on our Nov - Jan "snow drought".


----------



## KenC

Snow turned to rain overnight here so I walked to the train in about two inches of slush.  It should be gone by tonight when it gets very cold (I hope).


----------



## SquarePeg

By gone you mean frozen into ice!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers! 

Our snow was overnight and now we're into sleet. Allegedly will turn back into some light snow in the afternoon.

I've got a snow day. I'm SO glad I didn't start my other job today! That starts tomorrow. I'll have to hope that future big storms fall on Mondays, Wednesdays, or weekends.


----------



## limr

Good afternoon, Marija!! Glad you worked out something with the officemates


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, Hosers. It's a balmy 6* here. Didn't get much snow, but the drifts were impressive. Serious winds yesterday, which led me to move the photoshoot indoors.

Speaking of, I submitted my revised portfolio to the photographer I'm hoping to work for. Here's to hoping he says yes, since I could really use the experience.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee hosers. Yesterday was another perfect day and I expect more of the same today. Mary Lou and I visited an old friend of Mary Lou's for a Superbowl party. Huge house in Yorba Linda. They had a Tv outside and we watch from the patio. There were a ton of grandkids who ran back and forth between the pool and trampoline. I thought it was a pretty good game with a Hollywood ending.


----------



## snerd

Morning cafe Hosers! Cold here this morning! 21 degrees!! Need to do more packing, for those who didn't know, it's a fair and equitable divorce, and we're on good speaking terms. That saved us a LOT of headache!! 

In off-the-wall-news................. Happy Valentines  to me! Was in Walmart yesterday and saw these, and remembered the "chocolate" inside lol!!!












Yes, it's about half empty this morning!!!



Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

@ Appleton guy ... crossing my fingers for that Yes!


----------



## bribrius

6 degrees. Blowing snow might get 15 inches.   Gorgeous out (not really)


----------



## Gary A.

You know you're newly divorced when you're buying your own Valentine chocolates. lol  I am glad that it isn't contentious.


----------



## Gary A.

54F right now, should hit 75F today.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> You know you're newly divorced when you're buying your own Valentine chocolates. lol  I am glad that it isn't contentious.


see i could never do that. Who would make me dinner? I can't even cook.


----------



## Warhorse

-7 degrees here, but at least there has been no new snow to speak of for sometime.


----------



## limr

Seems pretty quiet out there at the moment. The weather gurus say that we're likely to get a bit more snow between noon and one or so, and then the chance for "light snow" drops below 50%.

Buzz's school announced that they would open at 11 (he teaches two classes today) and then at about 9:45, they announced they will open at 4pm for evening classes. He was running around, shoveling his car out, getting his school stuff ready, and then suddenly he had a snow day. I thought it was crazy that they waited so long. They clearly wrote the original announcement last night (it said "open at 11:00 am tomorrow, Monday Feb 2nd") The roads are crap, there was snow piling up (which means no parking unless they clear the lots before 11:00), and this was all obvious earlier than 9:45 when some people might already have left to go to school/work, just to have to turn around and go back home.

Buzz and I were talking about this new paralegal job. It's close enough to the train station that I can walk to the office. If it works out well and I think I'll be there for a while (either full- or part-time), I'll probably move to another town up the train line and find a place close enough to walk to the station from home. Then I won't have to worry about driving in snow. I like this plan because a) I love trains, and b) I also love being near water, and this plan would put me in a river town, possibly even close enough to actually see the river from where I live.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You know you're newly divorced when you're buying your own Valentine chocolates. lol  I am glad that it isn't contentious.
> 
> 
> 
> see i could never do that. Who would make me dinner? I can't even cook.
Click to expand...

Firstly, who would want to make you dinner? and secondly, that's what Ihop and Roadhouse are are about.


----------



## Gary A.

You know Leo, I think you'll do well as a paralegal ... but I think you should chuck everything, (say in a year or so), and just go for your JD.


----------



## Gary A.

Warhorse said:


> -7 degrees here, but at least there has been no new snow to speak of for sometime.


What's the point of -7, if there isn't any snow?


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> that's what Ihop and Roadhouse are are about.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> You know Leo, I think you'll do well as a paralegal ... but I think you should chuck everything, (say in a year or so), and just go for your JD.



People keep telling me that. I'm not ruling out law school, but I'll only go if it's free and if there's a clear, concrete benefit for me after it's over. It took me far too long to pay off my undergrad debt and I'm not going to saddle myself with another huge student debt bill when I'm already in my 40s. By the time I get out of law school - assuming I go relatively soon and full time - I'd be in my late 40s and I don't think I have it in me to do all the humping new lawyers have to do to break even and start making money. Plus, the most interesting, exciting area of law for me is criminal and I'd want to be a prosecutor; they are not the lawyers who are making all that legendary lawyer money. This is pretty typical of me - the things that I get passionate about are not the things that make money 

Besides, I've had the lead role in classrooms for 20+ years. I don't mind taking a supporting role and letting the lawyer be in charge and take the blame for a while  I might get tired of that eventually, but by then I might be better able to maneuver a free ride to law school + job out of someone!


----------



## limr

And apparently, law schools enrollments are dropping and they're getting antsy, more willing to give free tuition to someone whose LSAT scores are high enough and who commit to that school.  If that's the case in a few years and if I decide it's something worth doing, I might give it a try.


----------



## snerd

I think that whatever you decide to do, you'll be very successful at it. Good luck and congrats!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> I think that whatever you decide to do, you'll be very successful at it. Good luck and congrats!



Aww, thanks Snerd baby!


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> Snowbear, a  for Miriam...


Thanks.  She said "awwwww" and "thank you."  She has carpal tunnel syndrome, where the nerves in her wrists are twisted up.  She has been in a lot of pain for a number of years.

We got home a little while ago. Miriam's nerves were really bound up (we're going to call her "Slinky") but it went well and she's doing fine. She has no control over her right arm since they did a nerve block, but that will pass in the next 10-16 hours.

Just waiting for her pain meds (the good stuff) to be put together at the pharmacy.   They'll get the left arm in a few weeks.

Now I get to play nurse & secretary for my sweetheart.


----------



## limr

Awww, you're a good egg, Charlie


----------



## waday

limr said:


> And apparently, law schools enrollments are dropping and they're getting antsy, more willing to give free tuition to someone whose LSAT scores are high enough and who commit to that school.  If that's the case in a few years and if I decide it's something worth doing, I might give it a try.


Congrats and good luck at the paralegal position! That's exciting! 

Before applying and going the JD route, keep a good eye on the job market. The field right now is supersaturated with both recent grads and recently laid-off, experienced attorneys. This is most likely one reason enrollment is down.. there are no jobs.

My wife is in a situation where she couldn't get a typical job with a firm, and after several years doing the whole 'doc review' thing, she couldn't stand it. She left the field, but is still doing some pro-bono work on the side. Doc review (i.e., "contract attorney") is quite horrible. Working conditions are usually terrible, and the pay depends. Sometimes the jobs are a month long, sometimes more. Sometimes only a few days.

This New Low For Document Review Will Surprise You Above the Law

One of her friends found a full-time job, but it only paid $35,000. Not much considering the promise of a high salary when accepting school loans in the $160,000-range and living just outside NYC. Another found a $40,000 job with similar debt in Philly. My wife was 'lucky' to have less than $100,000 debt.

If you graduate from a top-tier, ivy league law school or if you have family in the business, you won't have an issue finding a job (assuming your family will hire you). If you don't, it may take you a long while. Unfortunately, it's probably better to be a paralegal than an attorney, at least at the current time.

Search the web and read the articles.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And apparently, law schools enrollments are dropping and they're getting antsy, more willing to give free tuition to someone whose LSAT scores are high enough and who commit to that school.  If that's the case in a few years and if I decide it's something worth doing, I might give it a try.
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats and good luck at the paralegal position! That's exciting!
> 
> Before applying and going the JD route, keep a good eye on the job market. The field right now is supersaturated with both recent grads and recently laid-off, experienced attorneys. This is most likely one reason enrollment is down.. there are no jobs.
> 
> My wife is in a situation where she couldn't get a typical job with a firm, and after several years doing the whole 'doc review' thing, she couldn't stand it. She left the field, but is still doing some pro-bono work on the side. Doc review (i.e., "contract attorney") is quite horrible. Working conditions are usually terrible, and the pay depends. Sometimes the jobs are a month long, sometimes more. Sometimes only a few days.
> 
> This New Low For Document Review Will Surprise You Above the Law
> 
> One of her friends found a full-time job, but it only paid $35,000. Not much considering the promise of a high salary when accepting school loans in the $160,000-range and living just outside NYC. Another found a $40,000 job with similar debt in Philly. My wife was 'lucky' to have less than $100,000 debt.
> 
> If you graduate from a top-tier, ivy league law school or if you have family in the business, you won't have an issue finding a job (assuming your family will hire you). If you don't, it may take you a long while. Unfortunately, it's probably better to be a paralegal than an attorney, at least at the current time.
> 
> Search the web and read the articles.
Click to expand...

 Sounds like yet one more reason to go into the trades...  I don't know too many unemployed or under-paid plumbers!


----------



## snowbear

Leonore - I just thought of something.  You could market your paralegal services to all the new fauxtographers in NY; make them _such a deal_ on contracts and releases and copyright transfers (they won't have a clue).


----------



## KenC

tirediron said:


> Sounds like yet one more reason to go into the trades...  I don't know too many unemployed or under-paid plumbers!



There's been some controversy lately about whether college is "worth it" or not.  I'd say it's always worthwhile for what you learn and the enjoyment you get from that (assuming you feel that way about it), but the case for running up a lot of debt to do it is much harder to make.  I would imagine in the current economy that jobs in the trades might be pretty hard to get.


----------



## snowbear

KenC said:


> There's been some controversy lately about whether college is "worth it" or not.  I'd say it's always worthwhile for what you learn and the enjoyment you get from that (assuming you feel that way about it), but the case for running up a lot of debt to do it is much harder to make.  I would imagine in the current economy that jobs in the trades might be pretty hard to get.


This depends a lot on the type of job you are looking for.  I am seeing entry-level positions that are requiring a master's degree plus 2-3 years experience.


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And apparently, law schools enrollments are dropping and they're getting antsy, more willing to give free tuition to someone whose LSAT scores are high enough and who commit to that school.  If that's the case in a few years and if I decide it's something worth doing, I might give it a try.
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats and good luck at the paralegal position! That's exciting!
> 
> Before applying and going the JD route, keep a good eye on the job market. The field right now is supersaturated with both recent grads and recently laid-off, experienced attorneys. This is most likely one reason enrollment is down.. there are no jobs.
> 
> My wife is in a situation where she couldn't get a typical job with a firm, and after several years doing the whole 'doc review' thing, she couldn't stand it. She left the field, but is still doing some pro-bono work on the side. Doc review (i.e., "contract attorney") is quite horrible. Working conditions are usually terrible, and the pay depends. Sometimes the jobs are a month long, sometimes more. Sometimes only a few days.
> 
> This New Low For Document Review Will Surprise You Above the Law
> 
> One of her friends found a full-time job, but it only paid $35,000. Not much considering the promise of a high salary when accepting school loans in the $160,000-range and living just outside NYC. Another found a $40,000 job with similar debt in Philly. My wife was 'lucky' to have less than $100,000 debt.
> 
> If you graduate from a top-tier, ivy league law school or if you have family in the business, you won't have an issue finding a job (assuming your family will hire you). If you don't, it may take you a long while. Unfortunately, it's probably better to be a paralegal than an attorney, at least at the current time.
> 
> Search the web and read the articles.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sounds like yet one more reason to go into the trades...  I don't know too many unemployed or under-paid plumbers!
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more!


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Congrats and good luck at the paralegal position! That's exciting!
> 
> Before applying and going the JD route, keep a good eye on the job market. The field right now is supersaturated with both recent grads and recently laid-off, experienced attorneys. This is most likely one reason enrollment is down.. there are no jobs.
> 
> My wife is in a situation where she couldn't get a typical job with a firm, and after several years doing the whole 'doc review' thing, she couldn't stand it. She left the field, but is still doing some pro-bono work on the side. Doc review (i.e., "contract attorney") is quite horrible. Working conditions are usually terrible, and the pay depends. Sometimes the jobs are a month long, sometimes more. Sometimes only a few days.
> 
> This New Low For Document Review Will Surprise You Above the Law
> 
> One of her friends found a full-time job, but it only paid $35,000. Not much considering the promise of a high salary when accepting school loans in the $160,000-range and living just outside NYC. Another found a $40,000 job with similar debt in Philly. My wife was 'lucky' to have less than $100,000 debt.
> 
> If you graduate from a top-tier, ivy league law school or if you have family in the business, you won't have an issue finding a job (assuming your family will hire you). If you don't, it may take you a long while. Unfortunately, it's probably better to be a paralegal than an attorney, at least at the current time.
> 
> Search the web and read the articles.



Thanks! Everything you say is exactly what I'm keeping in mind and is why I decided to take advantage of my meager 'perks' as an adjunct and do my Paralegal Certificate for free. Health care, insurance coding, and paralegal are some of the very FEW job markets that are still expanding. I imagine one reason paralegal jobs are growing is because fewer lawyer positions are available and companies would rather pay a paralegal salary. I bet many new lawyers are getting paralegal jobs, so _why _exactly would I want to have law school debt for doing the same work I'd be doing with a free Certificate? 

I'm as far from a 'legacy' family as one can be and the only lawyer in the family is my brother-in-law who is an in-house patent attorney for a pharmaceutical company. For him to use nepotism to get me a job, I'd have to get my JD plus a Bachelor's in chemistry, and I'd have to do it before he retires in just a couple of years! Oh well  

I've got Columbia Law School near me, and if they offer me a free ride, then hell yeah, I'll go to an Ivy League school, but chances are I'd end up at Pace University Law School, which is where many of the area lawyers went to school. And it would still need to be free.



snowbear said:


> Leonore - I just thought of something.  You could market your paralegal services to all the new fauxtographers in NY; make them _such a deal_ on contracts and releases and copyright transfers (they won't have a clue).



Yeah...I think that's kinda illegal 



KenC said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like yet one more reason to go into the trades...  I don't know too many unemployed or under-paid plumbers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There's been some controversy lately about whether college is "worth it" or not.  I'd say it's always worthwhile for what you learn and the enjoyment you get from that (assuming you feel that way about it), but the case for running up a lot of debt to do it is much harder to make.  I would imagine in the current economy that jobs in the trades might be pretty hard to get.
Click to expand...


It's true that a college degree can be very valuable. I just see a lot students come through my school that would be SO much better off if they went to a trade school, and I think we do them a disservice by allowing them to think that college is the only way to make a decent living and have a comfortable lifestyle. They all say they want to "be someone" but scratch the surface and what that really means is they just want to make enough money so they can have a nice house and car, and provide for their families. Some of them would be more likely to achieve this if they went into a trade.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats and good luck at the paralegal position! That's exciting!
> 
> Before applying and going the JD route, keep a good eye on the job market. The field right now is supersaturated with both recent grads and recently laid-off, experienced attorneys. This is most likely one reason enrollment is down.. there are no jobs.
> 
> My wife is in a situation where she couldn't get a typical job with a firm, and after several years doing the whole 'doc review' thing, she couldn't stand it. She left the field, but is still doing some pro-bono work on the side. Doc review (i.e., "contract attorney") is quite horrible. Working conditions are usually terrible, and the pay depends. Sometimes the jobs are a month long, sometimes more. Sometimes only a few days.
> 
> This New Low For Document Review Will Surprise You Above the Law
> 
> One of her friends found a full-time job, but it only paid $35,000. Not much considering the promise of a high salary when accepting school loans in the $160,000-range and living just outside NYC. Another found a $40,000 job with similar debt in Philly. My wife was 'lucky' to have less than $100,000 debt.
> 
> If you graduate from a top-tier, ivy league law school or if you have family in the business, you won't have an issue finding a job (assuming your family will hire you). If you don't, it may take you a long while. Unfortunately, it's probably better to be a paralegal than an attorney, at least at the current time.
> 
> Search the web and read the articles.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks! Everything you say is exactly what I'm keeping in mind and is why I decided to take advantage of my meager 'perks' as an adjunct and do my Paralegal Certificate for free. Health care, insurance coding, and paralegal are some of the very FEW job markets that are still expanding. I imagine one reason paralegal jobs are growing is because fewer lawyer positions are available and companies would rather pay a paralegal salary. I bet many new lawyers are getting paralegal jobs, so _why _exactly would I want to have law school debt for doing the same work I'd be doing with a free Certificate?
> 
> I'm as far from a 'legacy' family as one can be and the only lawyer in the family is my brother-in-law who is an in-house patent attorney for a pharmaceutical company. For him to use nepotism to get me a job, I'd have to get my JD plus a Bachelor's in chemistry, and I'd have to do it before he retires in just a couple of years! Oh well
> 
> I've got Columbia Law School near me, and if they offer me a free ride, then hell yeah, I'll go to an Ivy League school, but chances are I'd end up at Pace University Law School, which is where many of the area lawyers went to school. And it would still need to be free.
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leonore - I just thought of something.  You could market your paralegal services to all the new fauxtographers in NY; make them _such a deal_ on contracts and releases and copyright transfers (they won't have a clue).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah...I think that's kinda illegal
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like yet one more reason to go into the trades...  I don't know too many unemployed or under-paid plumbers!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> There's been some controversy lately about whether college is "worth it" or not.  I'd say it's always worthwhile for what you learn and the enjoyment you get from that (assuming you feel that way about it), but the case for running up a lot of debt to do it is much harder to make.  I would imagine in the current economy that jobs in the trades might be pretty hard to get.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's true that a college degree can be very valuable. I just see a lot students come through my school that would be SO much better off if they went to a trade school, and I think we do them a disservice by allowing them to think that college is the only way to make a decent living and have a comfortable lifestyle. They all say they want to "be someone" but scratch the surface and what that really means is they just want to make enough money so they can have a nice house and car, and provide for their families. Some of them would be more likely to achieve this if they went into a trade.
Click to expand...

Bachelor's in chemistry and a JD? No problem. How many protons are there in a deposition?


----------



## limr

To be a patent attorney, you need a degree in a hard science - physics, engineering, chemistry, biology...Because you will need to have at least a basic understanding of the patent application you are helping your client file. There aren't many linguistics patents


----------



## SquarePeg

KenC said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like yet one more reason to go into the trades...  I don't know too many unemployed or under-paid plumbers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There's been some controversy lately about whether college is "worth it" or not.  I'd say it's always worthwhile for what you learn and the enjoyment you get from that (assuming you feel that way about it), but the case for running up a lot of debt to do it is much harder to make.  I would imagine in the current economy that jobs in the trades might be pretty hard to get.
Click to expand...


Seems that a 4 yr. degree is the minimum requirement these days for many companies that used to hire non college graduates.  Our company will no longer hire anyone without a degree, even for the union customer service and technician jobs.  Those in management who were already with the company and didn't have degrees have been gradually eliminated through lay offs and attrition.  Fortunately for me, I took advantage or the tuition reimbursement that was offered and finished my degree shortly before the new policies went into effect.

I agree that the trades are a good and often overlooked option but it seems you usually need an "in" to get an apprenticeship.


----------



## snerd

I don't agree with the current political talking point that "everybody" deserves a college degree. It makes no sense to me, and it's just used as a vote-getter or a feel-good measure. There will always be those of us that work in the trades or some other line of employment not requiring college. We'll always need the 'garbageman' and the plumber and those doing the day-to-day mundane tasks that need to be done. So face it, not "everyone" should go to college. Yeah, it can make one feel good saying it, but it's not actually the truth.

So there.


----------



## snerd

Decided to clean up my desktop tower today. OMG! Can you say dust storm?! Finally had to go get a trash bag there was so much of it! Pulled out the video card and all 4 memory sticks, sprayed 'em all off, sprayed down all fans in the box and on the video card, then the inside of the box. Holy cow, Batman! It's a wonder things were running at all! And that anything was getting cooled at all! 

Thought about upgrading my memory, just adding some more, but I have 12gb and read that this Dell will only do 16gb total. Bummer. Not adding only another 4gb. I was going to double the ram and upgrade the video card from a 1gb to a 4gb or so, but since I can't do the ram, I'll just forget the video card too. Looks like I'm back to laptop shopping!


----------



## Gary A.

Or Miss Leo, you look for a specialized niche ... like you learn Signing and become the mouth-piece for the those that have no voice????


----------



## Gary A.

PS- It actually is another perfect, gorgeous day today. 75F, slight breeze off the Pacific, blue skies ... perfect.


----------



## snerd

Cleaned my desktop off today. It was filthy nasty and crowded. Now it's clean and roomy!













No selfie stick was used in the production of these images.





Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, look at that ... a place for everything and everything is in its place. (Is that a 3-D mouse?)


----------



## snowbear

Someday I may brave a photo of my desk/drawing table.  Not tonight (or tomorrow).


----------



## bribrius

hey, i got a letter from my long term disability insurer today. seems they finally are approving my claim and backtracking a few months. i think they owe me like ten k. A check will be nice. i have spent a lot more than that and it is already gone. But hey, ten k is tenk k.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> ........ (Is that a 3-D mouse?)


I don't know. What's a 3D mouse?!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## bribrius

did i happen to mention they have been total pricks about sending me a check? About freakn time.


----------



## snerd

Oh, no. Just a Dell wireless mouse.


----------



## snerd

I have looked high and low to turn off auto-syncing photos on Facebook from my phone. Both on the FB site and on my phone preferences. No joy. Can anyone take pity on a brother?


----------



## bribrius

throw away the phone and get a new one...?


----------



## SquarePeg

Heading out to clear the latest round of snow.  "Once more unto the breach..."


----------



## snerd

SquarePeg said:


> Heading out to clear the latest round of snow.  "Once more unto the breach..."


What does that mean, clear the snow? I've got one of these.........................


----------



## snerd

Looking at one of these.....................


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Or Miss Leo, you look for a specialized niche ... like you learn Signing and become the mouth-piece for the those that have no voice????



You do know my Master's was in Deaf Ed, right? 



bribrius said:


> hey, i got a letter from my long term disability insurer today. seems they finally are approving my claim and backtracking a few months. i think they owe me like ten k. A check will be nice. i have spent a lot more than that and it is already gone. But hey, ten k is tenk k.



Good news for you!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or Miss Leo, you look for a specialized niche ... like you learn Signing and become the mouth-piece for the those that have no voice????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You do know my Master's was in Deaf Ed, right?
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> hey, i got a letter from my long term disability insurer today. seems they finally are approving my claim and backtracking a few months. i think they owe me like ten k. A check will be nice. i have spent a lot more than that and it is already gone. But hey, ten k is tenk k.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Good news for you!
Click to expand...

yeah, i could use it. I am running in the red and bleeding like a stuck pig.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> yeah, i could use it. I am running in the red and bleeding like a stuck pig.



I've been running like that for years.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> yeah, i could use it. I am running in the red and bleeding like a stuck pig.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've been running like that for years.
Click to expand...

can't do it too long. It gets worse and worse. thirty k out, twenty k in, not really balancing. LMAO  The difference rolls, and rolls, and keeps rolling. The savings dwindle, and dwindle, and dwindle, then the debt increases increases increases. The payments on the debt increases , increases, increases.  Lot like a slow motion drawn out train wreck. It is the big picture i look at. I don't really worry about a grand or few grand or whatever long as it is one time things. But the yearly i really pay attention too. If i run negative for a while it doesn't really phase me? I start to run negative for longer periods i start getting really pissed though..  Because that means at the end of that year or two years i went backwards x amount of thousands. Too much of that you end up bk. Not really a good thing.


----------



## limr

Oh I get it. My numbers are much smaller, but it's the same thing: more going out than is coming in. And I can guarantee you that in my case, it's not because of my extravagant lifestyle  Not that it is for you, either, but I've seen plenty of people who get themselves in trouble because of unnecessary debt or expense.


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Heading out to clear the latest round of snow.  "Once more unto the breach..."
> 
> 
> 
> What does that mean, clear the snow? I've got one of these.........................
Click to expand...

What is that? I don't even have one of those. Looks like a BBQ thingie.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Oh I get it. My numbers are much smaller, but it's the same thing: more going out than is coming in. And I can guarantee you that in my case, it's not because of my extravagant lifestyle  Not that it is for you, either, but I've seen plenty of people who get themselves in trouble because of unnecessary debt or expense.


it is the same thing. My budget might be a little bigger, but it is just money in money out. In one hand out the other. Doesn't mean i will have more money, just that i have more coming in and more going out.   It isn't my money, i just collect it for the people i owe money too. If i collect less than i probably should be, the difference comes out of what i shoved away.  Then i start really crunching corners and buy eight dollar windshield wipers and forty dollar old camera lenses.


----------



## limr

Hey, don't knock $40 old lenses  They can hold their own!


----------



## limr

I'm scanning more film from Arizona tonight. All the black and white stuff.

Right now I'm doing a roll of 35mm HP5. First, it is wonderfully flat, as opposed to Tri-X, which curls up like a mother jammer. Second...I am starting to like this just as much as Tri-X. Not as contrasty, but sometimes that allows for better tones in an image.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Heading out to clear the latest round of snow.  "Once more unto the breach..."
> 
> 
> 
> What does that mean, clear the snow? I've got one of these.........................
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What is that? I don't even have one of those. Looks like a BBQ thingie.
Click to expand...

That's an ice scraper lol!! But I've used 'em for "clearing snow" off the windshield. All .25 inches of it!


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> ........  I've seen plenty of people who get themselves in trouble because of unnecessary debt or expense.


Unnecessary? My GAS is directly related to my artistic ability. Yes, I have to buy a clue!


----------



## table1349

Can I get a Double Chocolaty Chip Crème Frappuccino and a couple Almond Croissant Blossoms please?


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> Can I get a Double Chocolaty Chip Crème Frappuccino and a couple Almond Croissant Blossoms please?



I'm sorry, sir. This is a _coffee_ house. If you'd like something that claims to be coffee but only includes a tiny bit of coffee flavor mixed in with an over-sized cup of pure refined sugar, then I'm sure you can find another place to provide you with that. We will not.

We serve coffee. Sometimes cinnamon buns.


----------



## snowbear

^ What she said!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Hey, don't knock $40 old lenses  They can hold their own!


yeah and i dont think i paid that much. i think the 105 was like 31 dollars including shipping.


----------



## minicoop1985

YOUR MOM WAS $31!!!!!! oh, yeah, wrong place. Sorry. Carry on.


----------



## snowbear

Lenny - you can translate that to "one double strength dark roast, black, no sugar, and a graham cracker"


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Lenny - you can translate that to "one double strength dark roast, black, no sugar, and a graham cracker"



Yeah, that's pretty much what people get, no matter what they order 

(I'll admit that I tend to take milk in my coffee - whole milk is my preference. We just got a Keurig machine at work and even the strongest brew is a bit watery for me, so I drink that black. Never sugar in any of it. Blech. And yeah - dark roast is the way to go!)


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can I get a Double Chocolaty Chip Crème Frappuccino and a couple Almond Croissant Blossoms please?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sorry, sir. This is a _coffee_ house. If you'd like something that claims to be coffee but only includes a tiny bit of coffee flavor mixed in with an over-sized cup of pure refined sugar, then I'm sure you can find another place to provide you with that. We will not.
> 
> We serve coffee. Sometimes cinnamon buns.
Click to expand...


Very well may I have a Death Wish Expresso?    Out of curiosity, why would you put cinnamon on you BUNS???   Must be uncomfortable when you sit down.  

Perhaps this is where the term "Sweet Cheeks" comes from.


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> Very well may I have a Death Wish Expresso?    Out of curiosity, why would you put cinnamon on you BUNS???   Must be uncomfortable when you sit down.



Only if you pronounce it properly. It's eSpresso. And buMs.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Very well may I have a Death Wish Expresso?    Out of curiosity, why would you put cinnamon on you BUNS???   Must be uncomfortable when you sit down.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Only if you pronounce it properly. It's eSpresso. And buMs.
Click to expand...

So do you have Glazed buns, Iced buns or Sticky buns?


----------



## snerd

gryphonslair99 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Very well may I have a Death Wish Expresso?    Out of curiosity, why would you put cinnamon on you BUNS???   Must be uncomfortable when you sit down.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Only if you pronounce it properly. It's eSpresso. And buMs.
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> So do you have Glazed buns, Iced buns or Sticky buns?
Click to expand...

By cracky! Jolly good post, 'ole bean!!


----------



## limr

Hot crossed buns?


----------



## Karsyn Taelyr

Hahaha this is awesome! I love gnomes, I have a bunch! They could be fransss


----------



## limr

Karsyn Taelyr said:


> Hahaha this is awesome! I love gnomes, I have a bunch! They could be fransss



Um. Hello and welcome, of course, but also a little...huh?


----------



## Karsyn Taelyr

"frans" = "friends"


----------



## limr

Karsyn Taelyr said:


> "frans" = "friends"



But where did the gnomes comment come from? Am I missing something?


----------



## snerd

Gnome ………







Selfie lol!!!! Messing around with fisheye app I just d/l.


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## limr

Funky.

Morning, hosers. I'm up early, getting ready for my first day. Hoping the roads aren't bad after yesterday's storm. Traffic seems to be okay so far.

I feel like the "Working Girl" theme should be playing when I get into the car and drive off.


----------



## mmaria

GOOD MORNING LEO!

Want some chocolate, cookies and some more chocolate? I have it all in the office


----------



## pgriz

mmaria said:


> GOOD MORNING LEO!
> 
> Want some chocolate, cookies and some more chocolate? I have it all in the office



Sounds like the kind of office I could work in.


----------



## mmaria

pgriz said:


> Sounds like the kind of office I could work in.


oh there's plenty for you also!

good you don't have miso 

How are you today Paul?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> But where did the gnomes comment come from? Am I missing something?



Excuse my co-worker here, folks.  It seems that the stress of working five or six different jobs has taken it's toll and she has gotten a little forgetful of the origins of The Coffee House, found in post #1.

Welcome Karsyn.

Good afternoon, Marija!  Of course you can have hot chocolate and cookies.  What kind of other chocolate: mil or dark, with or without chili pepper bits?


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Good afternoon, Marija!  Of course you can have hot chocolate and cookies.  What kind of other chocolate: mil or dark, with or without chili pepper bits?


Charlie... I haven't eaten _any kind_ of chocolate or chocolate cookies for about two months now ..... 

eta: still on the diet I mentioned back then... I've just started to include some fruits..  that's my sugar intake


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good afternoon, Marija!  Of course you can have hot chocolate and cookies.  What kind of other chocolate: mil or dark, with or without chili pepper bits?
> 
> 
> 
> Charlie... I haven't eaten _any kind_ of chocolate or chocolate cookies for about two months now .....
> 
> eta: still on the diet I mentioned back then... I've just started to include some fruits..  that's my sugar intake
Click to expand...

OK.  Would you like an apple, a peach or some strawberries?


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> OK.  Would you like an apple, a peach or some strawberries?


don't do that to me!!!!





don't mention peach and strawberries!

an sour apple could be fine I guess... 

peach and strawberries


----------



## snowbear

I'm not trying to be mean.   Sour apples, check.  What else am I allowed to mention?


----------



## Designer

Karsyn Taelyr said:


> Hahaha this is awesome! I love gnomes, I have a bunch! They could be fransss


The rest of the gnomes are here in dis tread.

Minding everyone's business but our own.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> But where did the gnomes comment come from? Am I missing something?


They're in the OP.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> I'm not trying to be mean.   Sour apples, check.  What else am I allowed to mention?


NOTHING!!!

kidding... the truth is that I'm starting to be used to this food.

fruits are my desert 

what is good about this diet (although I highly doubt I could live 100% this way) is that the sour apple is actually too sweet for me now. any small amount of any kind of sugar has a strong taste


----------



## mmaria

In other news... I got myself a nice dress  I look good in it  and I'm going to a 4 day conference on Friday

Actually, last year on that conference I met Leo, Chris and Lew via Skype

YES!!!!


----------



## pgriz

mmaria said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like the kind of office I could work in.
> 
> 
> 
> oh there's plenty for you also!
> 
> good you don't have miso
> 
> How are you today Paul?
Click to expand...


Well, winter in the north-east corner of the continent is not so much fun, with very cold temperatures and dumps of snow.  Last night, the temperature was -23C, it "might" rise to a high of -13C today.  We've been spared most of the snow that passed to the west (30cm+) and east (40-60cm) of us, but the very cold temperatures mean that tire adhesion is minimal on dry pavement, and practically non-existent with a layer of snow.  The "rush" hour was more of a "crawl at walking pace" and the "hour" stretched into all evening.  Lots of cars spung out even with the slow pace, so every major highway had two or three single-vehicle accidents that needed extracting, further slowing things down.  Normally, I'd be out cross-country skiing but -19C temperatures and -30C+ windchill really makes it difficult to make it enjoyable.

Also, it's tax time.  Another fun activity.  Heading over to the accountant this morning with the official financials for the company I run.  There's something perverse about a system that makes one work so hard just to give justification for the government to take a larger share of whatever income one can come up with.  On the other hand, it's probably better than them just deciding they want what we have and helping themselves to it.  I do like the form of government we have, but I get grumpy at tax time.  Sorry. 

As for miso...  it's kinda funny, but I'm quite deaf and hearing annoying noises is not one of my life's complaints.  However, my wife's hearing is perfect as she can hear me thinking two rooms away.  Fortunately, I have not been smothered in my sleep, given the number of noises a human body can make especially when sleeping, and her saintly tolerance of all my idiosyncrasies.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Working home today and hiding out from the cold.  No coffee yet as I haven't been up that long.  Need to check in with work (in progress on work computer) and then see about coffee.  Should be a pretty slow day, so a good day to be home and take care of some other things.


----------



## snerd

Morning hoser crew............................ awake at 6:30, still laying in bed at 8:15. Need to get up and go look at a couple of apartments. Even though our divorce is 'cordial', it's just time to get my own place.  Now go out there and have a great day!!!


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> In other news... I got myself a nice dress  I look good in it  and I'm going to a 4 day conference on Friday


  Pics, or it didn't happen.



mmaria said:


> Actually, last year on that conference I met Leo, Chris and Lew via Skype


I guess I'll have to get Skype, now.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. I'm sitting here waiting for my flashes, trigger, book, and batteries... and waiting for the photographer I want to work for to get back to me about my portfolioliolio. This is pure AGONYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY


----------



## SquarePeg

minicoop1985 said:


> Morning, hosers. I'm sitting here waiting for my flashes, trigger, book, and batteries... and waiting for the photographer I want to work for to get back to me about my portfolioliolio. This is pure AGONYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY



Hang in there.


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm trying. It's hard. Once I get my stuff (sometime within the hour I think) I'll feel better. For now.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Just finished some more campaign crap and my first cup of coffee. Time to saddle up the pooch and get a walk into the dog. 54F right now ... should hit 75F ... again ... this is getting boring, lol.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> 54F right now ... should hit 75F ... again ... this is getting boring, lol.


Go to Boston.


----------



## snerd

Some folks are always waiting on the UPS man......... I'm always enjoying what he just delivered lol!!!



























I can't hear you! You'll have to speak louder lol!!!




Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

I know nothing about headphones or headphone amps ... but I wish I had one. Enjoy snerd.


----------



## Warhorse

Gary A. said:


> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> -7 degrees here, but at least there has been no new snow to speak of for sometime.
> 
> 
> 
> What's the point of -7, if there isn't any snow?
Click to expand...

See what you did here...3" new snow over night.

Now hush about snow!


----------



## otherprof

NancyMoranG said:


> Good luck Limr and anyone else!
> I was thinking of a backpack with supplies also but Pgriz beat me. I was in the Boston area fro blizzard of '78. We were newly weds in a very old building and we swore the building was moving in the wind!
> I know a few us our members in Boston area too...stay safe!
> Nancy


So you were newlyweds, and you felt the building swaying.  Coincidence? I think not.


----------



## minicoop1985

IMG_20150203_113752032 by longm1985, on Flickr


It CAME! But it doesn't all work together! Sorta yay!


----------



## Gary A.

I'm sure all you need is a little duct tape and a butter knife to bring it all together.


----------



## snowbear

Glad you got it all.  BTW, your WB kinda sux.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> I know nothing about headphones or headphone amps ... but I wish I had one. Enjoy snerd.


I have a pair of the Audio Technica's in "white",  I use them in the bedroom. Got these black ones for the study and/or mobile. They're sweet sounding cans for sure! Hook that little amp inline from my iPhone and it's like having studio sound! Well, "almost". 


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## rexbobcat

All I know is the bigger the driver the bigger the bass and really that's the most important thing.

Or at least that's what the trendiness of Dre Beats tells me.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 54F right now ... should hit 75F ... again ... this is getting boring, lol.
> 
> 
> 
> Go to Boston.
Click to expand...

I'm not into self-afflicted pain. I'll just have to put up with mowing the yard, playing with the butterflies and hummers, relax by the pond and drink wine in the patio.


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> As for miso...  it's kinda funny, but I'm quite deaf and hearing annoying noises is not one of my life's complaints.  However, my wife's hearing is perfect as she can hear me thinking two rooms away.  Fortunately, I have not been smothered in my sleep, given the number of noises a human body can make especially when sleeping, and her saintly tolerance of all my idiosyncrasies.



I have miso. AND significant hearing loss. It's truly what keeps me from probably going postal on someone due to the miso. 

Completely off-topic (not that there is ever quite a "topic" in the Coffee House!"), but your comment about your wife for some reasons reminded me of a little story.

During the last several months of his life, my dad broke his hip and had to be hospitalized. Because of 1) his dementia and 2) his obstinance, someone had to be in the room with him 24/7 to keep them from "restraining" him, because he would CONSTANTLY pick at his IV and try to pull it out, or try to get up out of bed (usually because, if you asked him, it was "time to go home.").
So, we took turns and whoever's turn it was to spend the night could look forward to pretty much NOT sleeping.

I went in one morning to start my "shift," after my sister had stayed the night with him.  I asked her how it had gone and she said:

"You see all those pillows? (there were about SIX pillows all piled up on the couch from where we kept getting nurses to bring us more)  The ONLY reason we made it through the night is because I kept staring at those pillows, but I couldn't decide whether to smother HIM or ME."


----------



## snowbear

Y'all need to stop mentioning Miso; I keep thinking about fermented soybeans and soup!

Unrelated:  My lovely wife (aka "Slinky") has control of her arm back.  She also has gotten some sleep and is feeling better, some of which I'm sure is due to the narcs she's been prescribed.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Since we're talking beans and Boston among other things, I'm watching the Beanpot tonight on NESN. BU and Harvard in OT and there's still another game to go.

When I saw yesterday that the Beanpot of all things got rescheduled I knew something must've frozen over.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Looks like it might be a late night, but as one of the guys doing color for NESN said, college hockey is alive and well.



BU scored to win game #1. Jack Parker in the house. They've zammed the ice, refs coming out, players warming up, almost time for BC and Northeastern, go Huskies (and whoever plays BC next Monday! lol).


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> But where did the gnomes comment come from? Am I missing something?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Excuse my co-worker here, folks.  It seems that the stress of working five or six different jobs has taken it's toll and she has gotten a little forgetful of the origins of The Coffee House, found in post #1.
Click to expand...


Oh. 

What, I am supposed to remember 4,100 posts, 275 pages, and 3 months ago??? What the hell, I can't do magic or anything!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

A player named Rodrigues (sp?) got the assist on the gamewinner. Hmm, very interesting... a TPF psychic connection??


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> But where did the gnomes comment come from? Am I missing something?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Excuse my co-worker here, folks.  It seems that the stress of working five or six different jobs has taken it's toll and she has gotten a little forgetful of the origins of The Coffee House, found in post #1.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh.
> 
> What, I am supposed to remember 4,100 posts, 275 pages, and 3 months ago??? What the hell, I can't do magic or anything!!
Click to expand...



Yep, the first sign of old age it memory loss.  Or was it hearing loss?  I don't remember now.  Oh well, time for me to take my Geritol. Limr, you want some in your coffee?


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> As for miso...  it's kinda funny, but I'm quite deaf and hearing annoying noises is not one of my life's complaints.  However, my wife's hearing is perfect as she can hear me thinking two rooms away.  Fortunately, I have not been smothered in my sleep, given the number of noises a human body can make especially when sleeping, and her saintly tolerance of all my idiosyncrasies.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have miso. AND significant hearing loss. It's truly what keeps me from probably going postal on someone due to the miso.
> 
> Completely off-topic (not that there is ever quite a "topic" in the Coffee House!"), but your comment about your wife for some reasons reminded me of a little story.
> 
> During the last several months of his life, my dad broke his hip and had to be hospitalized. Because of 1) his dementia and 2) his obstinance, someone had to be in the room with him 24/7 to keep them from "restraining" him, because he would CONSTANTLY pick at his IV and try to pull it out, or try to get up out of bed (usually because, if you asked him, it was "time to go home.").
> So, we took turns and whoever's turn it was to spend the night could look forward to pretty much NOT sleeping.
> 
> I went in one morning to start my "shift," after my sister had stayed the night with him.  I asked her how it had gone and she said:
> 
> "You see all those pillows? (there were about SIX pillows all piled up on the couch from where we kept getting nurses to bring us more)  The ONLY reason we made it through the night is because I kept staring at those pillows, but I couldn't decide whether to smother HIM or ME."
Click to expand...


I would looooove to be hard-of-hearing. I rarely admit this out loud because 9 times out of 10, this is met with, "Oh, you don't mean that!" First of all, don't ever tell me what I do or do not mean. Second of all, you have no idea how much easier my life would be if my hearing were worse. I don't need to be completely deaf - just enough that I can hear with a hearing aid...and then be able to turn that jamming thing off when I don't want to hear anymore! 

Sharon, when my father was in the hospital for his last hip replacement, he got all loopy from the anesthesia because it aggravated the dementia he was already experiencing. He too got antsy and irritated and just wanted out of there. He actually ripped out his own catheter at one point.  It was the beginning of a bad time, but we still think of that and we have to laugh. It was just so typical of him - this man was not one to mess around!


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> A player named Rodrigues (sp?) got the assist on the gamewinner. Hmm, very interesting... a TPF psychic connection??



Well, if his name is Rodrigues, then it's possible. If it is Rodriguez, then probably not


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> Yep, the first sign of old age it memory loss.  Or was it hearing loss?  I don't remember now.  Oh well, time for me to take my Geritol. Liar, you want some in your coffee?



Calling me a liar, are ya? I really CAN'T do magic, no matter what anyone says!


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep, the first sign of old age it memory loss.  Or was it hearing loss?  I don't remember now.  Oh well, time for me to take my Geritol. Liar, you want some in your coffee?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Calling me a liar, are ya? I really CAN'T do magic, no matter what anyone says!
Click to expand...

Actually no.  It's my new iMac and Safari.  Apparently it doesn't like Limr and it changed it to Liar.   I rest my case:


----------



## limr

Isn't technology supposed to be helping us? Disable the Auto Correct! Put your computer away and use the Force!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Thought it was an s.
Official Men s Ice Hockey Roster - GoTerriers.com - Official Home of Boston University Athletics


*He made the highlights, keep seeing his name and the back of his sweater.


----------



## Gary A.

I took Mary Lou into the hospital for a check-up on her foot. A change of bandages and so far so good. We celebrated with dinner at Mexico 1900. I had tamales ... love tamales. Came home, got Mary Lou foot above her heart and took off to the market. I was low on my activity tracker, so I walked. I am about to embark on making bread ... old school ... all natural ... no added yeast. I'm going to get the starter going tonight.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> But where did the gnomes comment come from? Am I missing something?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Excuse my co-worker here, folks.  It seems that the stress of working five or six different jobs has taken it's toll and she has gotten a little forgetful of the origins of The Coffee House, found in post #1.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh.
> 
> What, I am supposed to remember 4,100 posts, 275 pages, and 3 months ago??? What the hell, I can't do magic or anything!!
Click to expand...


But you are one of the founding members!  Maybe you just need some warm hugs.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Isn't technology supposed to be helping us? Disable the Auto Correct! Put your computer away and use the Force!


I try to write my posts with pen & ink (or crayons) but the paper keeps clogging up the vent slots in the router &  the bugger overheats.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> But you are one of the founding members!  Maybe you just need some warm hugs.



I know, I know! I just forgot about the picture. I mean, the post was straight of the blue, and it was late, I was getting all verklempt about the roads in the morning...more hugs please!    

Edit: Oh hey, did you see porch kitty? 
Hotel porch kitty Photography Forum


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> But you are one of the founding members!  Maybe you just need some warm hugs.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know, I know! I just forgot about the picture. I mean, the post was straight of the blue, and it was late, I was getting all verklempt about the roads in the morning...more hugs please!
Click to expand...

                       
                   




limr said:


> Edit: Oh hey, did you see porch kitty?
> Hotel porch kitty Photography Forum


Awwwww.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Goal with a minute and a half left, thank - you! Been watching hockey for like 6+ hours, thought this was headed to another OT.

Duck boats in the streets of Boston?? maybe I should watch NESN more often. or, maybe not.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> I would looooove to be hard-of-hearing. I rarely admit this out loud because 9 times out of 10, this is met with, "Oh, you don't mean that!" First of all, don't ever tell me what I do or do not mean. Second of all, you have no idea how much easier my life would be if my hearing were worse. I don't need to be completely deaf - just enough that I can hear with a hearing aid...and then be able to turn that jamming thing off when I don't want to hear anymore!



Honestly, my hearing loss is WAY more problematic for those around me than it is for me.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> I would looooove to be hard-of-hearing. I rarely admit this out loud because 9 times out of 10, this is met with, "Oh, you don't mean that!" First of all, don't ever tell me what I do or do not mean. Second of all, you have no idea how much easier my life would be if my hearing were worse. I don't need to be completely deaf - just enough that I can hear with a hearing aid...and then be able to turn that jamming thing off when I don't want to hear anymore!



You know, Leonore, there are such things as earplugs.  There are those polymer ones that look like wax and you mould them to fit into your ear - used by swimmers to keep the water out, or the foam ones that many workers use in noisy environments.  They will work to keep the noisy universe out or at least much less present.  But that presents a problem, because all those sounds anchor you in the here and now.  Without them, it's a cocoon of silence, and often one discovers the noisiness of one own's mind.  And that's assuming one doesn't have a case of tinnitus.

If the ambient environment is too noisy for your comfort, consider the earplugs, or perhaps some ear buds on which you can play whatever masking sound which works for you (white noise, or gregorian chants, or birds chirping, or even Wagner, if that's what works for you).  My wife often sleeps with the radio on - something that works for her, but would drive me nuts if I could hear it.  On the other hand, having hearing loss is a little like walking around in the dark with a rather dim flashlight illuminating the area close to you - not recommended if there are things in the dark that you need to know about.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news... I got myself a nice dress  I look good in it  and I'm going to a 4 day conference on Friday
> 
> 
> 
> Pics, or it didn't happen.
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, last year on that conference I met Leo, Chris and Lew via Skype
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I guess I'll have to get Skype, now.
Click to expand...

why not!?


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> Without them, it's a cocoon of silence, and often one discovers the noisiness of one own's mind.  *And that's assuming one doesn't have a case of tinnitus*.
> .



Which I do.  My ears ring pretty much ALL the time.  But thankfully, it is NOT one of the noises that triggers my misophonia--wow, that would make me kill myself!!  Sometimes, I don't even notice the ringing, although if I stop and pay attention, it is *always* there. There are a few times when it does get on my last nerve, though--when it's otherwise really quite but I still hear the ringing, especially if I'm trying to get to sleep and the ringing gets particularly bad.

Your statement about discovering the noisiness of one's own mind is true--I hadn't especially thought about it I guess. I am already an extremely introspective, analytical sort of person. Not being able to hear well, I guess, does sort of leave me in my own little "cone of silence" to ponder all those things that chase about in my head constantly.
But I've had hearing loss for quite some time, so I don't really know what it would be like to NOT be that way, and therefore it doesn't especially strike me as bothersome.


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, Marija.

Why not?  Because we need evidence and we just want to see you. 

This morning's breakfast is coffee and ********** and some ********* with a little *********.


Spoiler: Notice



Food items have been censored due to your diet


----------



## mmaria

oh I meant... why not getting skype?


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> oh I meant... why not getting skype?


I think it's already installed on the computer - I haven't had a need for it so I just haven't set it up.


----------



## mmaria

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would looooove to be hard-of-hearing. I rarely admit this out loud because 9 times out of 10, this is met with, "Oh, you don't mean that!" First of all, don't ever tell me what I do or do not mean. Second of all, you have no idea how much easier my life would be if my hearing were worse. I don't need to be completely deaf - just enough that I can hear with a hearing aid...and then be able to turn that jamming thing off when I don't want to hear anymore!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You know, Leonore, there are such things as earplugs.  There are those polymer ones that look like wax and you mould them to fit into your ear - used by swimmers to keep the water out, or the foam ones that many workers use in noisy environments.  They will work to keep the noisy universe out or at least much less present.  But that presents a problem, because all those sounds anchor you in the here and now.  Without them, it's a cocoon of silence, and often one discovers the noisiness of one own's mind.  And that's assuming one doesn't have a case of tinnitus.
> 
> If the ambient environment is too noisy for your comfort, consider the earplugs, or perhaps some ear buds on which you can play whatever masking sound which works for you (white noise, or gregorian chants, or birds chirping, or even Wagner, if that's what works for you).  My wife often sleeps with the radio on - something that works for her, but would drive me nuts if I could hear it.  On the other hand, having hearing loss is a little like walking around in the dark with a rather dim flashlight illuminating the area close to you - not recommended if there are things in the dark that you need to know about.
Click to expand...



I can't wear earplugs. 

I had been wearing them for several years while sleeping (is this part of the sentence grammatically correct?) but my ears can't stand them anymore. They hurt.


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> I had been wearing them for several years while sleeping (is this part of the sentence grammatically correct?)


It looks fine to me.

I have used ear plugs a few times when I was using the table saw or band saw, but not as much as I should have.  I also have near constant tinnitus.  It probably hasn't helped that I had an earphone in one side when I was a dispatcher and frequently use ear buds (though the volume is set pretty low.)


----------



## bribrius

bwah..... Good morning coffee housers!!!!   so far i see a decent low key portrait (pretty decent), a underwater wave something...unlevel landscape shot....what else we got going on?  Anything good i am missing?


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> bwah..... Good morning coffee housers!!!!   so far i see a decent low key portrait (pretty decent), a underwater wave something...unlevel landscape shot....what else we got going on?  Anything good i am missing?



A couple of click bait posts, unless they've been removed.
We are patiently waiting for Marija to post a selfie in her new nice, pretty dress.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> We are patiently waiting for Marija to post a selfie in her new nice, pretty dress.




don't expect much, it's a dress for work but I really like it

maybe no one else will like it .... different tastes


----------



## bribrius

we sat in circle groups in highschool. All the boys tried to get the chairs on the opposite side of the circle from a certain girl that wore short dresses and never crossed her legs in group.


----------



## pgriz

Sharon, I've had hearing loss from about 6 months of age, but it was discovered only when I started going to school, when a teacher remarked that I paid attention when she was in front of me, and I totally ignored her when she was out of my vision.  After a battery of tests, it was decided that despite my "disability" I was coping with it well enough that I should just continue with normal school.  By high school, those coping methods were not enough, and I got hearing aids.  I've been wearing various models ever since.  Most people don't clue in that I'm "hearing impaired" and sometimes it takes people a few months before they notice them. 

In my case, our medicare system pays for my hearing aids (there's a list of criteria that are used to decide this, and fortunately for me, my situation checks most of the checkboxes), AND I've found a company that is very focused on doing the right thing for its clients (again, many companies in this field are just about maximizing their revenues and client needs are very low down on their priority list), so I consider myself very fortunate.   There is a huge difference in what I can perceive when I wear them, compared to when I don't.  So if you've had hearing loss for a while, have it tested, and then find a local company who can give you advice and support.  How much of a difference is it?  In photographic terms, it's the the difference between a two-setting Brownie, and a prosumer DSLR with a "L" or gold lens on it.  You say it doesn't strike you as bothersome, but you may be surprised at how much of a difference it can make.


----------



## pgriz

bribrius said:


> we sat in circle groups in highschool. All the boys tried to get the chairs on the opposite side of the circle from a certain girl that wore short dresses and never crossed her legs in group.


 And her family name was "Stone", right?


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> we sat in circle groups in highschool. All the boys tried to get the chairs on the opposite side of the circle from a certain girl that wore short dresses and never crossed her legs in group.
> 
> 
> 
> And her family name was "Stone", right?
Click to expand...

No. Everyone always wondered if she didn't know any better or she did it on purpose. She seemed rather oblivious but i was just so so obvious. It added some mystery and excitement to class.


----------



## pgriz

mmaria said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would looooove to be hard-of-hearing. I rarely admit this out loud because 9 times out of 10, this is met with, "Oh, you don't mean that!" First of all, don't ever tell me what I do or do not mean. Second of all, you have no idea how much easier my life would be if my hearing were worse. I don't need to be completely deaf - just enough that I can hear with a hearing aid...and then be able to turn that jamming thing off when I don't want to hear anymore!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You know, Leonore, there are such things as earplugs.  There are those polymer ones that look like wax and you mould them to fit into your ear - used by swimmers to keep the water out, or the foam ones that many workers use in noisy environments.  They will work to keep the noisy universe out or at least much less present.  But that presents a problem, because all those sounds anchor you in the here and now.  Without them, it's a cocoon of silence, and often one discovers the noisiness of one own's mind.  And that's assuming one doesn't have a case of tinnitus.
> 
> If the ambient environment is too noisy for your comfort, consider the earplugs, or perhaps some ear buds on which you can play whatever masking sound which works for you (white noise, or gregorian chants, or birds chirping, or even Wagner, if that's what works for you).  My wife often sleeps with the radio on - something that works for her, but would drive me nuts if I could hear it.  On the other hand, having hearing loss is a little like walking around in the dark with a rather dim flashlight illuminating the area close to you - not recommended if there are things in the dark that you need to know about.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I can't wear earplugs.
> 
> I had been wearing them for several years while sleeping (is this part of the sentence grammatically correct?) but my ears can't stand them anymore. They hurt.
Click to expand...


Earplugs CAN hurt if they apply pressure to your ear canal.  However, you may want to check out the "wax" that some swimmers use to block the water out.  They are made from a polymer material (probably silicone-based) and are soft, intended to be inserted into the ear canal and take its shape.  However, these tend to be throw-away.  Another method is to have a soft mold made at a hearing aid place, that fits your ear, and is "permanent" in that you can take it out and wash it as needed.


----------



## bribrius

Big changes going on at tpf. People seem to have left, lot of new people coming in. It is like a graduating class being replaced by the next. Since i am still here i wonder if i got held back.


----------



## mmaria

pgriz said:


> Earplugs CAN hurt if they apply pressure to your ear canal.  However, you may want to check out the "wax" that some swimmers use to block the water out.  They are made from a polymer material (probably silicone-based) and are soft, intended to be inserted into the ear canal and take its shape.  However, these tend to be throw-away.  Another method is to have a soft mold made at a hearing aid place, that fits your ear, and is "permanent" in that you can take it out and wash it as needed.




trust me, I tried them all, but just can't stand anything in my ears anymore... The last time I used them was about 3 years ago I think.

I'll just mention here that the best earplugs were the ones I got from an USA soldier serving in Iraq. After them, nothing was helpful anymore... They were so good


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> People seem to have left . . .


There are a couple that I wish would take that train out, but they haven't.  Oh, well.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> People seem to have left . . .
> 
> 
> 
> There are a couple that I wish would take that train out, but they haven't.  Oh, well.
Click to expand...

who?  Am i one of them? I have a suspicion my involvement will slowly decrease.  Other than tech questions i am running out of reason to log in. suppose it is nice to just say hi.


----------



## snowbear

No, you are not one.


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> Sharon, I've had hearing loss from about 6 months of age, but it was discovered only when I started going to school, when a teacher remarked that I paid attention when she was in front of me, and I totally ignored her when she was out of my vision.  After a battery of tests, it was decided that despite my "disability" I was coping with it well enough that I should just continue with normal school.  By high school, those coping methods were not enough, and I got hearing aids.  I've been wearing various models ever since.  Most people don't clue in that I'm "hearing impaired" and sometimes it takes people a few months before they notice them.
> 
> In my case, our medicare system pays for my hearing aids (there's a list of criteria that are used to decide this, and fortunately for me, my situation checks most of the checkboxes), AND I've found a company that is very focused on doing the right thing for its clients (again, many companies in this field are just about maximizing their revenues and client needs are very low down on their priority list), so I consider myself very fortunate.   There is a huge difference in what I can perceive when I wear them, compared to when I don't.  So if you've had hearing loss for a while, have it tested, and then find a local company who can give you advice and support.  How much of a difference is it?  In photographic terms, it's the the difference between a two-setting Brownie, and a prosumer DSLR with a "L" or gold lens on it.  You say it doesn't strike you as bothersome, but you may be surprised at how much of a difference it can make.



Oh, I've had it tested. The last time I had it done was when my sister-in-law was still alive. She was a social worker at the Tennessee School for the Deaf here, and so I was able to get good, independent (i.e. not trying to sell you anything) and FREE testing. But I could kinda kick myself now, because back then I was way too obstinate to pursue it any further as far as getting hearing aids. I could have gotten a better deal through my s-i-l; but I was a struggling single mom, and even though she would have gladly just PAID for the things, I wouldn't hear of it (see what I did there??)…but on the other hand, I couldn't afford them on my own either.
Now that I might actually acquiesce, she's not here any longer and we can't get the sweet deals we got through TSD.  And I'm STILL too obstinate to pay the outrageous prices they charge.

I'm sure it really would make a difference. Might even make me a (ever-so-slightly) more pleasant person to be around.   One of these days.

I still remember when I got my eyeglasses, which was a LONG time ago, when I was in second grade. I'd needed them for years, but nobody realized it.  Anyway, the single thing I really remember after getting my first pair of glasses was walking outside and realizing that, even standing there on the sidewalk, I could see the actual LEAVES on the tree, not just a general mess of green on a brown trunk.  I truly had NO idea you were supposed to be able to see things like that!


----------



## pgriz

Occasional histrionics aside, there's much to be learned by taking part in the discussions.  Sometimes it's something technical.  Sometimes I get a feeling that my mind as not as open as I thought it was.  And sometimes, it's the same fascination as a train wreck - it's awful, but you can't look away.


----------



## KenC

My eyes and ears aren't working that well, but that's just a coffee deficit right now (as long as I don't lose my glasses, which I've worn since I was about eight).  Back at work today and fortunately no trouble so far.


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Earplugs CAN hurt if they apply pressure to your ear canal.  However, you may want to check out the "wax" that some swimmers use to block the water out.  They are made from a polymer material (probably silicone-based) and are soft, intended to be inserted into the ear canal and take its shape.  However, these tend to be throw-away.  Another method is to have a soft mold made at a hearing aid place, that fits your ear, and is "permanent" in that you can take it out and wash it as needed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> trust me, I tried them all, but just can't stand anything in my ears anymore... The last time I used them was about 3 years ago I think.
> 
> I'll just mention here that the best earplugs were the ones I got from an USA soldier serving in Iraq. After them, nothing was helpful anymore... They were so good
Click to expand...


Marija, you really ARE my daughter!
I can't wear 'em either. Even the smallest little earbuds hurt my ears after just a short time. I've worn earplugs sometimes when really necessary, but I just can't do it for very long, certainly not overnight.  I used to be on the swim team in high school and didn't even like that wax in my ears!

P.S. I am NOT nearly as messed up an individual as it is starting to sound like I am. Yes, I'm an introvert with ADHD, OCD, misophonia, hearing loss and very sensitive ears. Oh, and diverticulitis, might as well throw that one out there too. And bad knees. And horrible eyesight, and more "floaters" than my eye doctor has ever seen in one individual. And OCD, did I mention that??   Oh, and chronic depression, though that's been almost completely under control for several years now--except when it's winter, because then I have SAD on top of the depression (Seasonal Affective Disorder). And the occasional anxiety attack.
But other than that, I am a PERFECTLY normal individual.


----------



## pgriz

Sharon, you're human AND a perfectly normal individual.  It's the "perfect" ones you have to worry about because anyone who's "perfect" is just stage-managing their appearance/perception, and you have to wonder about what they are really hiding.


----------



## KenC

I suppose we all have some numbers to press when we call the hotline ...

Funny Jokes Mental Health Hotline


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Earplugs CAN hurt if they apply pressure to your ear canal.  However, you may want to check out the "wax" that some swimmers use to block the water out.  They are made from a polymer material (probably silicone-based) and are soft, intended to be inserted into the ear canal and take its shape.  However, these tend to be throw-away.  Another method is to have a soft mold made at a hearing aid place, that fits your ear, and is "permanent" in that you can take it out and wash it as needed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> trust me, I tried them all, but just can't stand anything in my ears anymore... The last time I used them was about 3 years ago I think.
> 
> I'll just mention here that the best earplugs were the ones I got from an USA soldier serving in Iraq. After them, nothing was helpful anymore... They were so good
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Marija, you really ARE my daughter!
> I can't wear 'em either. Even the smallest little earbuds hurt my ears after just a short time. I've worn earplugs sometimes when really necessary, but I just can't do it for very long, certainly not overnight.  I used to be on the swim team in high school and didn't even like that wax in my ears!
> 
> P.S. I am NOT nearly as messed up an individual as it is starting to sound like I am. Yes, I'm an introvert with ADHD, OCD, misophonia, hearing loss and very sensitive ears. Oh, and diverticulitis, might as well throw that one out there too. And bad knees. And horrible eyesight, and more "floaters" than my eye doctor has ever seen in one individual. And OCD, did I mention that??   Oh, and chronic depression, though that's been almost completely under control for several years now--except when it's winter, because then I have SAD on top of the depression (Seasonal Affective Disorder). And the occasional anxiety attack.
> But other than that, I am a PERFECTLY normal individual.
Click to expand...


And there's that Volly football thing, too!


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Earplugs CAN hurt if they apply pressure to your ear canal.  However, you may want to check out the "wax" that some swimmers use to block the water out.  They are made from a polymer material (probably silicone-based) and are soft, intended to be inserted into the ear canal and take its shape.  However, these tend to be throw-away.  Another method is to have a soft mold made at a hearing aid place, that fits your ear, and is "permanent" in that you can take it out and wash it as needed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> trust me, I tried them all, but just can't stand anything in my ears anymore... The last time I used them was about 3 years ago I think.
> 
> I'll just mention here that the best earplugs were the ones I got from an USA soldier serving in Iraq. After them, nothing was helpful anymore... They were so good
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Marija, you really ARE my daughter!
> I can't wear 'em either. Even the smallest little earbuds hurt my ears after just a short time. I've worn earplugs sometimes when really necessary, but I just can't do it for very long, certainly not overnight.  I used to be on the swim team in high school and didn't even like that wax in my ears!
> 
> P.S. I am NOT nearly as messed up an individual as it is starting to sound like I am. Yes, I'm an introvert with ADHD, OCD, misophonia, hearing loss and very sensitive ears. Oh, and diverticulitis, might as well throw that one out there too. And bad knees. And horrible eyesight, and more "floaters" than my eye doctor has ever seen in one individual. And OCD, did I mention that??   Oh, and chronic depression, though that's been almost completely under control for several years now--except when it's winter, because then I have SAD on top of the depression (Seasonal Affective Disorder). And the occasional anxiety attack.
> But other than that, I am a PERFECTLY normal individual.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And there's that Volly football thing, too!
Click to expand...


Haha, that's probably the worst of it right there!! 
In fact, it's so bad, that even TODAY, I am wearing my UT orange. Why? Because it's National Signing Day! And YES, I am keeping track of when our commits actually sign, and how we're doing in the national rankings.

Even *I* realize how crazy THAT is.   And WHY isn't there a Big Orange emoticon?? There's a peach…and a lemon (okay, I thought there was a lemon, but can't find it now), but no orange??? That ain't right!


:govols:
:vfl:

EDIT: Well, lookie there…there IS an orange!! Okay, now I'm happy. er.


----------



## bribrius

what would be the reason my brand new nikon battery only charges to 99%?  i charge it, put it in camera, it says condition new (of course). But it doesnt charge past 99%


----------



## bribrius

i have only used it twice. First time it went to 99%, second  98% but the second i probably didnt leave it on long enough... First time it was plugged in all night.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> Even *I* realize how crazy THAT is.   And WHY isn't there a Big Orange emoticon?? There's a peach…and a lemon (okay, I thought there was a lemon, but can't find it now), but no orange??? That ain't right!
> 
> 
> :govols:
> :vfl:
> 
> EDIT: Well, lookie there…there IS an orange!! Okay, now I'm happy. er.



It's not orange, but I could probably fix that . . .


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> what would be the reason my brand new nikon battery only charges to 99%?


Dude, do we really have to clue you in?! Being a Nikon and all?!




Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

Bahahahahaha!!!!!!!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> But that presents a problem, because all those sounds anchor you in the here and now.  Without them, it's a cocoon of silence, and often one discovers the noisiness of one own's mind.  And that's assuming one doesn't have a case of tinnitus.



Oh, trust me, I know all about how noisy my brain is It never stops. Really. And it sounds counter-intuitive, but my head is noisIER when there's too much happening around me. It makes things a cluttered mess and I can't concentrate on anything, so I just spin from one thing to the next, and once the spinny starts, it goes to bad bad places. So shutting out the world? Yes, please. I LOVE that cocoon! It's when I can finally _hear_ myself and talk reason to the spinny part. This is when I can think clearly and differentiate between the brain noise and the productive thoughts. 

Being anchored in here and now is all well and good, and I do know how to do that when I'm not overwhelmed. I just get overwhelmed fairly easily.



> If the ambient environment is too noisy for your comfort, consider the earplugs, or perhaps some ear buds on which you can play whatever masking sound which works for you (white noise, or gregorian chants, or birds chirping, or even Wagner, if that's what works for you).  My wife often sleeps with the radio on - something that works for her, but would drive me nuts if I could hear it.  On the other hand, having hearing loss is a little like walking around in the dark with a rather dim flashlight illuminating the area close to you - not recommended if there are things in the dark that you need to know about.



I do wear noise-cancelling ear buds and listen to music in situations that are particularly bad for me. Last week it was the Allman Brothers. At this very moment, it's the Foo Fighters that are saving me. And I need my white noise machine at night. I used to listen to music to fall asleep too, but I slowly weaned myself off of that because Buzz is fine with the white noise, but the music bothers him.

Basically, if I can avoid a situation that I know is going to be bad for me, I'll avoid it if I can, but sometimes it's just not possible. Traveling, for example, stresses me out - being stuck in a moving vehicle so close to so many people? It's a wonder I don't break out in hives. But I love to travel and I don't to stop doing it. Even going down into the city - I hate driving there so I take the train, but I need to have my earphones with me to deal with the noise and chatter on the train.

The real problem is that I can't always control this (just now, a woman was standing near my desk chewing gum loud enough to be heard in space. I wanted to scream, jump across the desk and throttle her), and sometimes, avoiding the situation means not spending time with people. A friend/co-worker sometimes asks me to have lunch with her in her office, but her chewing triggers me big time and her office has no ambient noise whatsoever to block it out. How do you tell a friend that you don't want to spend time with her because the noises her mouth makes when she chews makes me want to tear my hear out?


----------



## snerd

You know who really bugs me?! The coffee drinkers who take a nice sip and then let out the smacking lips sound then a drawn out Ahhhhhhhh whisper thing!!!!! Gnome sayin'?! Was an episode of Seinfeld where Elaine was making fun of them lol!!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> You know who really bugs me?! The coffee drinkers who take a nice sip and then let out the smacking lips sound then a drawn out Ahhhhhhhh whisper thing!!!!! Gnome sayin'?! Was an episode of Seinfeld where Elaine was making fun of them lol!!



That was the episode when she was dating Joel Rifkin and they were trying to think of a different name for him so he wouldn't be confused for the serial killer. She didn't like the name Alex because a guy in her college class kept doing that with his coffee.

Did I not tell you that my brain is noisy?  The only detail I had forgotten was the name "Alex" and had to look that part up.


----------



## snerd

Sipping strong black java at iHop as we speak. And speaking of reaching into the vault.………… 





Another scan, circa 1979. When I tell you I have kinky hair, well....……………




Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

Jared Polin has "nothing" on me lol!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## limr

Nice 'fro, man


----------



## snerd

Fro knows photo!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Designer

Oh, say, that reminds me that I need to go burn some old photographs.


----------



## snerd

Designer said:


> Oh, say, that reminds me that I need to go burn some old photographs.


Chicken!!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> Fro knows photo!!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


 Dude, you gots to get your em-pha-sis on the correct sylllllllable:  Fro... knows... FO------TOE!


----------



## snerd

Since coming off a couple of meds, I have to really concentrate on not overthinking life. Know what I mean? 


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Tardes Coffee Hosers. I had a meeting in San Diego today. What a gorgeous day ... from LA to San Diego and back. I had to get up at 5:00 a.m. and the early morning was foggy. But after the Sun rose ... 75F and gorgeous. Just finished making my 'starter' batch for my bread ... the journey has begun ... da-da-da daaaaaa. I'm going old school so no yeast. The starter will grab airborne spores and after three days it should start showing signs of fermentation. Time for some wine.


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> View attachment 94778
> 
> Since coming off a couple of meds, I have to really concentrate on not overthinking life. Know what I mean?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


I hope you rethink your barber.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 94778
> 
> Since coming off a couple of meds, I have to really concentrate on not overthinking life. Know what I mean?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
> 
> 
> 
> I hope you rethink your barber.
Click to expand...

The attachment you quoted has nothing to do with a barber or hair. But I think I know what you're referring to.       

ETA: with that kind of do, you didn't see a barber, you went to a stylist lol!!


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... I was low on the activity tracker so I walked to the store. I plucked some kale and parsley for salad and now relaxing and having some wine before dinner.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers...it's been a long day...


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Hey hosers...it's been a long day...


At least you didn't have to go to San Diego.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Hey hosers...it's been a long day...


Sorry. How about a nice long steaming hot soaker bath, a glass of wine, and a really funny joke?!

Q. Where do animals go when their tails fall off?

A. The retail store, of course.

Ackakakakakak!!!

Get better and refuel, for tomorrow is another day!


----------



## minicoop1985

Snerd.... 


Anyone else in here like old school Green Day? Like Dookie? After that it was all downhill for them, in my opinion. Dookie freaking RIPS.


----------



## snerd

minicoop1985 said:


> ......  Anyone else in here like old school Green Day?......


Sorry, old school for me is Schoolhouse Rock.


----------



## minicoop1985

snerd said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ......  Anyone else in here like old school Green Day?......
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, old school for me is Schoolhouse Rock.
Click to expand...


Much Success!


----------



## Warhorse

Mornin' everyone, just sitting here perusing the interwebs with my first cup of Colombian.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.  Just a cup of "Donut Shop" or something before getting ready to head into DC with my lovely wife.


----------



## limr

Good morning to you two gentlemen and the rest of you hosers.

Coffee 
Have to go upstairs and get ready for work.


----------



## mmaria




----------



## mmaria

going to the conference tomorrow morning 

just me! me! me! 

no office... no kids... no hb.... no cooking... 

peace in the hotel room... a book... swimming pool..... theater.... shoping...


did I mention PEACE!!!!!?

4 days

(no I don't think about the actual obligations there, they'll pass )


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Marija, you really ARE my daughter!
> I can't wear 'em either. Even the smallest little earbuds hurt my ears after just a short time. I've worn earplugs sometimes when really necessary, but I just can't do it for very long, certainly not overnight.  I used to be on the swim team in high school and didn't even like that wax in my ears!
> 
> P.S. I am NOT nearly as messed up an individual as it is starting to sound like I am. Yes, I'm an introvert with ADHD, OCD, misophonia, hearing loss and very sensitive ears. Oh, and diverticulitis, might as well throw that one out there too. And bad knees. And horrible eyesight, and more "floaters" than my eye doctor has ever seen in one individual. And OCD, did I mention that??   Oh, and chronic depression, though that's been almost completely under control for several years now--except when it's winter, because then I have SAD on top of the depression (Seasonal Affective Disorder). And the occasional anxiety attack.
> But other than that, I am a PERFECTLY normal individual.



ok Santa, did you send me..... something?

and  for the quoted post


----------



## Designer

I've been up over three hours.  Had breakfast, did the dishes, walked the dog, read part of a magazine, the whole 9 yards!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Having the usual AM coffee/snack.  Things really slow here, so planning to bring the computer home and keep track of everything in comfort, especially because it will be getting really cold later today.

I really need to get out and take some pictures - maybe this weekend.


----------



## DoctorDino

I want to take some pictures today...

But I also want to stay in the warm house and eat...

Tough decisions.


----------



## tirediron

mmaria said:


>


 NO!   Now be quiet and leave me alone!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Good morning to you two gentlemen and the rest of you hosers.
> 
> Coffee
> Have to go upstairs and get ready for work.


Good morning, Leonore.


mmaria said:


>





mmaria said:


> going to the conference tomorrow morning
> 
> just me! me! me!
> 
> no office... no kids... no hb.... no cooking...
> 
> peace in the hotel room... a book... swimming pool..... theater.... shoping...
> 
> 
> did I mention PEACE!!!!!?
> 
> 4 days
> 
> (no I don't think about the actual obligations there, they'll pass )


Good afternoon, Marija. We came into DC this morning for a doctor's appointment.   Have a nice time on your trip.  I can pm my Skype ID if you want it.

edit: fixed one typo and Android's insistence on changing things that don't need changing.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. My usual Colombian is Don Jose. Today I'm trying Coffee Bean Colombian. The Coffee Bean has a bit more roast ... I think I like the Don Jose better.


----------



## Gary A.

Just finished my pushups and I'm still breathing hard, but at least that's over. I arranged for free robo calling for my candidate. Last night I get this text telling me to record a message and start calling tomorrow. What the hell ... it is way too early the election is March 3. What is the message? I haven't spoken to Mr. RoboCall in a week. I'm a bit ticked.


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> ok Santa, did you send me..... something?
> 
> and  for the quoted post



on the sleigh…on its way…


----------



## snerd

Morning all Hosers! Coffee later at iHop. Doing my ironing at the moment, mainly tees that I'll then hang up. I hate wrinkled tees!!! Gotta call and cancel shoulder therapy for awhile, until my crazy schedule returns to somewhat normal. I need to go see the leasing agent at the dumpy apartment I'm going to rent this afternoon. Then off to drugstore for refill on stickers. 

Here's a funny............... I needed to replace my old, beat up shotgun. It's seen its better days. Got online and ordered from my favorite gun dealer. Looked through the FFL's (Federal Firearms License), they only ship to them. Guess who's name I saw?! That's right........ my dentist lol!!!!! He's always trying to get me to go out and shoot full-autos with them, I never have the time. So, now I can get that new crown I need, and then on the way out, get the new shotgun I need!!! How cool is that?!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Warhorse

I like that!

Which shotgun did you order?


----------



## Designer

snerd said:


> He's always trying to get me to go out and shoot full-autos with them,


Is shotgunning part of your shoulder therapy?


----------



## snerd

Warhorse said:


> I like that!
> 
> Which shotgun did you order?


A Mossy 500 12ga Persuader. Sweet shotgun!





That's Mossberg for those that didn't know.


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

Designer said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> He's always trying to get me to go out and shoot full-autos with them,
> 
> 
> 
> Is shotgunning part of your shoulder therapy?
Click to expand...

Good thing I'm right-handed!! The butt/stock is agin my right shoulder. But no, haven't gotten to plink any since the surgery. 



Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like that!
> 
> Which shotgun did you order?
> 
> 
> 
> A Mossy 500 12ga Persuader. Sweet shotgun!
> 
> View attachment 94827
> 
> That's Mossberg for those that didn't know.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...

i like my ak-47's. Kind of like photography theories. Spray and pray.


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> Morning all Hosers! Coffee later at iHop. Doing my ironing at the moment, mainly tees that I'll then hang up. I hate wrinkled tees!!! Gotta call and cancel shoulder therapy for awhile, until my crazy schedule returns to somewhat normal. I need to go see the leasing agent at the dumpy apartment I'm going to rent this afternoon. Then off to drugstore for refill on stickers.
> 
> Here's a funny............... I needed to replace my old, beat up shotgun. It's seen its better days. Got online and ordered from my favorite gun dealer. Looked through the FFL's (Federal Firearms License), they only ship to them. Guess who's name I saw?! That's right........ my dentist lol!!!!! He's always trying to get me to go out and shoot full-autos with them, I never have the time. So, now I can get that new crown I need, and then on the way out, get the new shotgun I need!!! How cool is that?!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


... And if your get two 'Crowns', your dental insurance will cover the new gun.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Just finished my pushups and I'm still breathing hard, but at least that's over. I arranged for free robo calling for my candidate. Last night I get this text telling me to record a message and start calling tomorrow. What the hell ... it is way too early the election is March 3. What is the message? I haven't spoken to Mr. RoboCall in a week. I'm a bit ticked.


i just finished my third cup of coffee.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, we got rid of our Mini. For another Mini. Meet the new Mini:




The new Beep Beep by longm1985, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Enjoy. Most of the cars I've owned, I'd probably get another.


----------



## bribrius

going down to minus 8 tonight. Good thing i don't have to sleep outside.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Well, we got rid of our Mini. For another Mini. Meet the new Mini:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The new Beep Beep by longm1985, on Flickr


That is just confusing. They are great cars. A mini is more of a girls car though. But this one is a boys color. It has split personality the stripes should be going down the center.


----------



## limr

I totally disagree that a Mini is a "girl's" car. First of all, it's "women." Second, just as many men as women are likely to own/drive a Mini. Finally, even if it were associated with women, who cares???


----------



## bribrius

can't believe snowbear disagreed with that . I though everyone knew minis were girls cars..  For good or ill some cars scream male or female - NWautos


----------



## minicoop1985

It's actually the wife's car in this instance. I'd totally rock a Mini, even though they have that "chick car" reputation. Doesn't bother me in the least. In fact, I loved driving her old one more than my Focus...


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> It's actually the wife's car in this instance. I'd totally rock a Mini, even though they have that "chick car" reputation. Doesn't bother me in the least. In fact, I loved driving her old one more than my Focus...


They are fun cars.


----------



## runnah

limr said:


> I totally disagree that a Mini is a "girl's" car. First of all, it's "women." Second, just as many men as women are likely to own/drive a Mini. Finally, even if it were associated with women, who cares???




What about a Jetta?

That is a females car, mostly likely an Ugg boot wearing female.


----------



## runnah

The old school minis were sweet. Especially the rally spec versions.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> I totally disagree that a Mini is a "girl's" car. First of all, it's "women." Second, just as many men as women are likely to own/drive a Mini. Finally, even if it were associated with women, who cares???


Makes no sense. You females like to hide your ages and pretend you are younger than you are.  Then you get upset over being called a girl.


----------



## Warhorse

snerd said:


> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like that!
> 
> Which shotgun did you order?
> 
> 
> 
> A Mossy 500 12ga Persuader. Sweet shotgun!
Click to expand...

Great choice IMHO.
I keep the exact same model fully loaded in my bedroom closet.


----------



## bribrius

Warhorse said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like that!
> 
> Which shotgun did you order?
> 
> 
> 
> A Mossy 500 12ga Persuader. Sweet shotgun!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Great choice IMHO.
> I keep the exact same model fully loaded in my bedroom closet.
Click to expand...

bugs and such?


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> It's actually the wife's car in this instance. I'd totally rock a Mini, even though they have that "chick car" reputation. Doesn't bother me in the least. In fact, I loved driving her old one more than my Focus...


Just to be clear, if it's not made by BMC, it's NOT a Mini!  All those are is BMWs that were washed in hot water and dried on the "Industrial" cycle, causing them to shrink a little.


----------



## Warhorse

You never know.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I totally disagree that a Mini is a "girl's" car. First of all, it's "women." Second, just as many men as women are likely to own/drive a Mini. Finally, even if it were associated with women, who cares???
> 
> 
> 
> Makes no sense. You females like to hide your ages and pretend you are younger than you are.  Then you get upset over being called a girl.
Click to expand...

 
Some women are idiots. Don't assume we all are. The men who do are also idiots.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I totally disagree that a Mini is a "girl's" car. First of all, it's "women." Second, just as many men as women are likely to own/drive a Mini. Finally, even if it were associated with women, who cares???
> 
> 
> 
> Makes no sense. You females like to hide your ages and pretend you are younger than you are.  Then you get upset over being called a girl.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Some women are idiots. Don't assume we all are. The men who do are also idiots.
Click to expand...

you just called a large percentage of your sisters idiots.. That isn't very nice. geez, i just called them girls.


----------



## limr

runnah said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I totally disagree that a Mini is a "girl's" car. First of all, it's "women." Second, just as many men as women are likely to own/drive a Mini. Finally, even if it were associated with women, who cares???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What about a Jetta?
> 
> That is a females car, mostly likely an Ugg boot wearing female.
Click to expand...


I don't know what the hell is up with Maine. A Jetta? I see both men and women driving Jettas all the time.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I totally disagree that a Mini is a "girl's" car. First of all, it's "women." Second, just as many men as women are likely to own/drive a Mini. Finally, even if it were associated with women, who cares???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What about a Jetta?
> 
> That is a females car, mostly likely an Ugg boot wearing female.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't know what the hell is up with Maine. A Jetta? I see both men and women driving Jettas all the time.
Click to expand...

i thought jetta was unisex...


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I totally disagree that a Mini is a "girl's" car. First of all, it's "women." Second, just as many men as women are likely to own/drive a Mini. Finally, even if it were associated with women, who cares???
> 
> 
> 
> Makes no sense. You females like to hide your ages and pretend you are younger than you are.  Then you get upset over being called a girl.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Some women are idiots. Don't assume we all are. The men who do are also idiots.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> you just called a large percentage of your sisters idiots.. That isn't very nice. geez, i just called them girls.
Click to expand...


I also called a lot of men idiots.

Idiocy doesn't discriminate. It's found equally in both sexes.


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> bugs and such?


Vermin, all kinds.     





.....................


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I totally disagree that a Mini is a "girl's" car. First of all, it's "women." Second, just as many men as women are likely to own/drive a Mini. Finally, even if it were associated with women, who cares???
> 
> 
> 
> Makes no sense. You females like to hide your ages and pretend you are younger than you are.  Then you get upset over being called a girl.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Some women are idiots. Don't assume we all are. The men who do are also idiots.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> you just called a large percentage of your sisters idiots.. That isn't very nice. geez, i just called them girls.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I also called a lot of men idiots.
> 
> Idiocy doesn't discriminate. It's found equally in both sexes.
Click to expand...

you should work on your blog instead of debating sexual idiocy with me.  I have been waiting for a new update and didnt see one last i looked.


----------



## snerd

Has the convo turned to sex? I'll have to depart, heart can't take it!!!


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know what the hell is up with Maine. A Jetta? I see *both men and women* driving Jettas all the time.
> 
> 
> 
> i thought jetta was unisex...
Click to expand...


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> you should work on your blog instead of debating sexual idiocy with me.  I have been waiting for a new update and didnt see one last i looked.



Maybe I'll write about idiocy and the sexes


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> bugs and such?
> 
> 
> 
> Vermin, all kinds.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .....................
Click to expand...

yeah,. someone broke in my house once. I was pissed i didn't catch them. They didn't get to far i guess the dog gave them a run for their money.


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> Has the convo turned to sex? I'll have to depart, heart can't take it!!!



Silly Snerd


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> debating sexual idiocy with me......


I Googled that................. got nuttin'!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know what the hell is up with Maine. A Jetta? I see *both men and women* driving Jettas all the time.
> 
> 
> 
> i thought jetta was unisex...
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...

oh. You mean men and girls?


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know what the hell is up with Maine. A Jetta? I see *both men and women* driving Jettas all the time.
> 
> 
> 
> i thought jetta was unisex...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> oh. You mean men and girls?
Click to expand...


Okay fine. How about the ghetto Civics with black hoods and sawed off exhausts? Boy racer car. Totes.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> ..... Totes.


I know that one!!! I think it was e.rose that edumacated me!


----------



## runnah

limr said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I totally disagree that a Mini is a "girl's" car. First of all, it's "women." Second, just as many men as women are likely to own/drive a Mini. Finally, even if it were associated with women, who cares???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What about a Jetta?
> 
> That is a females car, mostly likely an Ugg boot wearing female.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't know what the hell is up with Maine. A Jetta? I see both men and women driving Jettas all the time.
Click to expand...


What's wrong with a certain gender liking a certain car more than another?

Are we no longer allowed to point out differences between men and women?


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know what the hell is up with Maine. A Jetta? I see *both men and women* driving Jettas all the time.
> 
> 
> 
> i thought jetta was unisex...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> oh. You mean men and girls?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Okay fine. How about the ghetto Civics with black hoods and sawed off exhausts? Boy racer car. Totes.
Click to expand...

i don't care what you call them. I never had a civic.


----------



## tirediron

WHY do so many people use the word "sex" when they mean "gender"??????


----------



## limr

runnah said:


> What's wrong with a certain gender liking a certain car more than another?
> 
> Are we no longer allowed to point out differences between men and women?



No, it's not just the association; it's the disdain that comes along with that association that is bothersome. It's the attitude that it is shameful to be seen driving a car that is typically driven by a woman. And yet, a woman drives, say, a pick-up truck and she's suddenly all sexy and cool. Double standards are stupid.

But seriously, a Jetta is totally neutral, dude.


----------



## bribrius

runnah said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I totally disagree that a Mini is a "girl's" car. First of all, it's "women." Second, just as many men as women are likely to own/drive a Mini. Finally, even if it were associated with women, who cares???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What about a Jetta?
> 
> That is a females car, mostly likely an Ugg boot wearing female.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't know what the hell is up with Maine. A Jetta? I see both men and women driving Jettas all the time.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> What's wrong with a certain gender liking a certain car more than another?
> 
> Are we no longer allowed to point out differences between men and women?
Click to expand...

It isn't even reality. Manufacturers make things to a extent gender oriented as part of design and sales strategy.  she just got upset over the truth. SHE CANT HANDLE THE TRUTH! (a few good men)


tirediron said:


> WHY do so many people use the word "sex" when they mean "gender"??????


more fun. We like that word.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> WHY do so many people use the word "sex" when they mean "gender"??????



I didn't use it incorrectly. Sex is biological. Gender is cultural.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> What's wrong with a certain gender liking a certain car more than another?
> 
> Are we no longer allowed to point out differences between men and women?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No, it's not just the association; it's the disdain that comes along with that association that is bothersome. It's the attitude that it is shameful to be seen driving a car that is typically driven by a woman. And yet, a woman drives, say, a pick-up truck and she's suddenly all sexy and cool. Double standards are stupid.
> 
> But seriously, a Jetta is totally neutral, dude.
Click to expand...

i don't think women driving pickups are cool.  I think they must have a farm.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> What's wrong with a certain gender liking a certain car more than another?
> 
> Are we no longer allowed to point out differences between men and women?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No, it's not just the association; it's the disdain that comes along with that association that is bothersome. It's the attitude that it is shameful to be seen driving a car that is typically driven by a woman. And yet, a woman drives, say, a pick-up truck and she's suddenly all sexy and cool. Double standards are stupid.
> 
> But seriously, a Jetta is totally neutral, dude.
Click to expand...

The Jetta (like the Miata) is definitely a feminine car; I don't think that means it's necessarily a "girls" car.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> It isn't even reality. Manufacturers make things to a extent gender oriented as part of design and sales strategy.  she just got upset over the truth. SHE CAN
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> WHY do so many people use the word "sex" when they mean "gender"??????
> 
> 
> 
> more fun. We like that word.
Click to expand...


Yes. I was upset over the truth. The truth that discrimination still exists.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> WHY do so many people use the word "sex" when they mean "gender"??????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't use it incorrectly. Sex is biological. Gender is cultural.
Click to expand...

Right....  and aren't we discussing cultural stereotypes?


----------



## runnah

tirediron said:


> WHY do so many people use the word "sex" when they mean "gender"??????





limr said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> 
> What's wrong with a certain gender liking a certain car more than another?
> 
> Are we no longer allowed to point out differences between men and women?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No, it's not just the association; it's the disdain that comes along with that association that is bothersome. It's the attitude that it is shameful to be seen driving a car that is typically driven by a woman. And yet, a woman drives, say, a pick-up truck and she's suddenly all sexy and cool. Double standards are stupid.
> 
> But seriously, a Jetta is totally neutral, dude.
Click to expand...


1. I don't find women in pickup truck sexy, now in a race car is a different story.

2. Jettas are known for being bought mostly by well off fathers for their daughters as they go to college as the cars are very safe and are German. Heck my college had at least a dozen Jettas, all driven by women. Does it make it a bad car? No. Would I be seen in one? No, cause they are boring.


----------



## runnah

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> It isn't even reality. Manufacturers make things to a extent gender oriented as part of design and sales strategy.  she just got upset over the truth. SHE CAN
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> WHY do so many people use the word "sex" when they mean "gender"??????
> 
> 
> 
> more fun. We like that word.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes. I was upset over the truth. The truth that discrimination still exists.
Click to expand...


How is discrimination to gear a product towards a particular market?


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> It isn't even reality. Manufacturers make things to a extent gender oriented as part of design and sales strategy.  she just got upset over the truth. SHE CAN
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> WHY do so many people use the word "sex" when they mean "gender"??????
> 
> 
> 
> more fun. We like that word.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes. I was upset over the truth. The truth that discrimination still exists.
Click to expand...

oh sure...diversion tactic.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> WHY do so many people use the word "sex" when they mean "gender"??????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't use it incorrectly. Sex is biological. Gender is cultural.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Right....  and aren't we discussing cultural stereotypes?
Click to expand...


We are, but I used the word in regards to idiocy. I said it exists in both sexes. I meant 'sexes' and not 'genders.' I wasn't talking about cultural stereotypes; I was talking about biology.

Though, the statement holds even if we change it to 'gender.' It just changes the meaning to something I did not intend to say.


----------



## limr

runnah said:


> 1. I don't find women in pickup truck sexy, now in a race car is a different story.
> 
> 2. Jettas are known for being bought mostly by well off fathers for their daughters as they go to college as the cars are very safe and are German. Heck my college had at least a dozen Jettas, all driven by women. Does it make it a bad car? No. Would I be seen in one? No, cause they are boring.



Jettas are known _to you_ to have that association. No such thing exists where I live. Not that I know of. My sister had a Jetta (that she bought herself.) So did my brother (as well as four different Rabbits.) My father (a European mechanic) LOVED them. I had both male and female friends who have driven Jettas.

My father did buy my sister a VW, though. A diesel mint metallic green Dasher. Thing was a piece of crap but it was fun to drive.


----------



## limr

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> WHY do so many people use the word "sex" when they mean "gender"??????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't use it incorrectly. Sex is biological. Gender is cultural.
Click to expand...


How do you disagree with a definition?

_noun_

*1*.
the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones).
"traditional concepts of gender"


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> How do you disagree with a definition?


Usually I grab it by the collar, shake it a couple of times and shout, "I disagree with you!" in it's face.


----------



## snerd

I think Cabin Fever is upon us. A lot of emotion hanging in the air around here................ just waiting to explode on some poor sap! Someone pop open that emergency bottle of chill pills. That's it........... relax. Breathe deep. Exhale. Hmmmmmm........... I always knew that crap didn't work!!!

What's red, and bad for your teeth?

A brick.

Acackackack!!!!

  

................


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> WHY do so many people use the word "sex" when they mean "gender"??????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't use it incorrectly. Sex is biological. Gender is cultural.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> How do you disagree with a definition?
> 
> _noun_
> 
> *1*.
> the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones).
> "traditional concepts of gender"
Click to expand...

whats the best and cheapest place for me to send rolls of film to get developed.....


----------



## tirediron

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> WHY do so many people use the word "sex" when they mean "gender"??????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't use it incorrectly. Sex is biological. Gender is cultural.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> How do you disagree with a definition?
> 
> _noun_
> 
> *1*.
> the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones).
> "traditional concepts of gender"
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> whats the best and cheapest place for me to send rolls of film to get developed.....
Click to expand...

Lenny's!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.  Hopefully everyone got a nice, restful sleep and we can leave the bickering in the noob section  
Green Mountain _Dark Magic_ this morning.  I have to go into the office today - meeting with the Chief on the smoke detector program.

Later.


----------



## sm4him

Well, those last few pages were some heavy reading for a first cup of coffee!

All I know is, I drive a Chrysler Sebring convertible, in sort of a goldish color, and it would simply not be possible for me to care any less whether women or boys drive it more. ;-)  *I* drive mine, and I love it!


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Good morning.  Hopefully everyone got a nice, restful sleep and we can leave the bickering in the noob section
> Green Mountain _Dark Magic_ this morning.  I have to go into the office today - meeting with the Chief on the smoke detector program.
> 
> Later.



Good morning, Charlie!!
Hey, you didn't tell us you'd been to London lately:
 Is it real Polar bear roams through streets of London - WFLA News Channel 8


----------



## sashbar

Is it me, February or this forum got really exceedingly boring dull?  I think we urgently need some holy war about some pointless image or something. Can someone stir it up please?  Throw some **** at the fan?  Start a thread about paedophile photogs talking images other peoples' kids? Moronic street shooters with consideration for others privacy? Canon being ****? 85 mm being too short for a portrait?  Another thread about d750? People, do something, do not let us rot in mutual appreciation. Photography is fun after all. Guys, this forum is seriously underperforming atm.


----------



## sm4him

sashbar said:


> Is it me, February or this forum got really exceedingly boring dull?  I think we urgently need some holy war about some pointless image or something. Can someone stir it up please?  Throw some **** at the fan?  Start a thread about paedophile photogs talking images other peoples' kids? Moronic street shooters with consideration for others privacy? Canon being ****? 85 mm being too short for a portrait?  Another thread about d750? People, do something, do not let us rot in mutual appreciation. Photography is fun after all. Guys, this forum is seriously underperforming atm.



'kay. You go first.  Then, when you get banned, we'll get some excitement going talking about you.


----------



## bribrius

tirediron said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> WHY do so many people use the word "sex" when they mean "gender"??????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't use it incorrectly. Sex is biological. Gender is cultural.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> How do you disagree with a definition?
> 
> _noun_
> 
> *1*.
> the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones).
> "traditional concepts of gender"
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> whats the best and cheapest place for me to send rolls of film to get developed.....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Lenny's!
Click to expand...

excellent idea!


----------



## Designer

tirediron said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> whats the best and cheapest place for me to send rolls of film to get developed.....
> 
> 
> 
> Lenny's!
Click to expand...


Sure, she will be happy to process your film.  

She'll develop it, dry it, and trim it into neat little trapezoids before returning it to you.


----------



## sm4him

My morning coffee being brewed:



 

This was the second cup. Wouldn't have been able to focus before the first cup.


----------



## bribrius

that is a great photo. And here i thought all bird shooters could shoot was birds..


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> whats the best and cheapest place for me to send rolls of film to get developed.....
> 
> 
> 
> Lenny's!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Sure, she will be happy to process your film.
> 
> She'll develop it, dry it, and trim it into neat little trapezoids before returning it to you.
Click to expand...

no no no no NO NO !!!!


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> whats the best and cheapest place for me to send rolls of film to get developed.....



Not sure what the prices are, but you can try Dwayne's A trusted name in photo processing for over 50 years - Dwayne s Photo  or Darkroom Film Developing Scans by Mail - Only 11 The Darkroom

There's also this place in Portland: Photo Market Maine s Largest Camera Store Home  Film developing services: http://photomarketmaine.com/files/onepageprices.pdf


----------



## limr

Morning hosers!

I left my breakfast on the counter so I'm eating edamame at my desk at my new job. I'm here before my boss. Wish I had more coffee


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> whats the best and cheapest place for me to send rolls of film to get developed.....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure what the prices are, but you can try Dwayne's A trusted name in photo processing for over 50 years - Dwayne s Photo  or Darkroom Film Developing Scans by Mail - Only 11 The Darkroom
> 
> There's also this place in Portland: Photo Market Maine s Largest Camera Store Home  Film developing services: http://photomarketmaine.com/files/onepageprices.pdf
Click to expand...

yeah. i am thinking about doing it myself, but it looks gay the do it at home thing and i really dont get into baking cakes kind of stuff. in school we had a actual darkroom, which my instructor usually got on my azz to get me motivated and pay attention. i can't picture me friggin around with a little canister in my bathroom.  Did i mention i can't cook? i am scared of the dark too. I want a safe light. still watching c41 videos bringing back flashbacks.


----------



## limr

Found this for you, too: Price List B W Photo Lab

The prices all generally seem to be $15-20 for develop and scan (sometimes print). This is one big reason why I develop it myself and scan. It _would _be cheaper to send it to me!


----------



## bribrius

thinking about it.............................


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> whats the best and cheapest place for me to send rolls of film to get developed.....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure what the prices are, but you can try Dwayne's A trusted name in photo processing for over 50 years - Dwayne s Photo  or Darkroom Film Developing Scans by Mail - Only 11 The Darkroom
> 
> There's also this place in Portland: Photo Market Maine s Largest Camera Store Home  Film developing services: http://photomarketmaine.com/files/onepageprices.pdf
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> yeah. i am thinking about doing it myself, but it looks gay the do it at home thing and i really dont get into baking cakes kind of stuff. in school we had a actual darkroom, which my instructor usually got on my azz to get me motivated and pay attention. i can't picture me friggin around with a little canister in my bathroom.  Did i mention i can't cook? i am scared of the dark too. I want a safe light. still watching c41 videos bringing back flashbacks.
Click to expand...


You don't need a darkroom to develop. Use a changing bag to load the film and the rest can be done with regular lights on. 

I'll be ignoring the rest of your statements


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Found this for you, too: Price List B W Photo Lab
> 
> The prices all generally seem to be $15-20 for develop and scan (sometimes print). This is one big reason why I develop it myself and scan. It _would _be cheaper to send it to me!


you do colour? money back guarantee?  LMAO


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Found this for you, too: Price List B W Photo Lab
> 
> The prices all generally seem to be $15-20 for develop and scan (sometimes print). This is one big reason why I develop it myself and scan. It _would _be cheaper to send it to me!
> 
> 
> 
> you do colour? money back guarantee?  LMAO
Click to expand...


Nope, no color, sorry. I still bring my color film to a local camera store. They've been around since 1939. Since we scan our own, we only get the film developed, so it's cheap. Plus, we go in a lot and the guys that work there are grumpy film-loving old timers, so they love us!  We get color 35mm developed for $2-3. 120 is $3-4.


----------



## limr

I like being in the office alone. It's so much easier to concentrate and just nicer. Even if it is a petition for probate that I'm working on


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Found this for you, too: Price List B W Photo Lab
> 
> The prices all generally seem to be $15-20 for develop and scan (sometimes print). This is one big reason why I develop it myself and scan. It _would _be cheaper to send it to me!
> 
> 
> 
> you do colour? money back guarantee?  LMAO
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nope, no color, sorry. I still bring my color film to a local camera store. They've been around since 1939. Since we scan our own, we only get the film developed, so it's cheap. Plus, we go in a lot and the guys that work there are grumpy film-loving old timers, so they love us!  We get color 35mm developed for $2-3. 120 is $3-4.
Click to expand...

WELL. I asked the wife "hey hunny, want to earn to develop film? it is a lot like baking a cake" .   she said she took horticulture not photography.  But i think i can get her on board with the idea she likes crafty things..  Especially if i start going through $$$$ sending it out she is going to start getting annoyed i can see it coming.....


----------



## bribrius

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> whats the best and cheapest place for me to send rolls of film to get developed.....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure what the prices are, but you can try Dwayne's A trusted name in photo processing for over 50 years - Dwayne s Photo  or Darkroom Film Developing Scans by Mail - Only 11 The Darkroom
> 
> There's also this place in Portland: Photo Market Maine s Largest Camera Store Home  Film developing services: http://photomarketmaine.com/files/onepageprices.pdf
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> yeah. i am thinking about doing it myself, but it looks gay the do it at home thing and i really dont get into baking cakes kind of stuff. in school we had a actual darkroom, which my instructor usually got on my azz to get me motivated and pay attention. i can't picture me friggin around with a little canister in my bathroom.  Did i mention i can't cook? i am scared of the dark too. I want a safe light. still watching c41 videos bringing back flashbacks.
Click to expand...

dwaynes is still in business?  no way...


----------



## limr

I just had a dream that Rodinal was being sold in CVS. Wouldn't that be nice?


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> dwaynes is still in business?  no way...



Not only is it still in business, but I think that's where a lot of drug stores (the ones that still do photo processing) send their film for developing. At least the black and white.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> whats the best and cheapest place for me to send rolls of film to get developed.....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure what the prices are, but you can try Dwayne's A trusted name in photo processing for over 50 years - Dwayne s Photo  or Darkroom Film Developing Scans by Mail - Only 11 The Darkroom
> 
> There's also this place in Portland: Photo Market Maine s Largest Camera Store Home  Film developing services: http://photomarketmaine.com/files/onepageprices.pdf
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> yeah. i am thinking about doing it myself, but it looks gay the do it at home thing and i really dont get into baking cakes kind of stuff. in school we had a actual darkroom, which my instructor usually got on my azz to get me motivated and pay attention. i can't picture me friggin around with a little canister in my bathroom.  Did i mention i can't cook? i am scared of the dark too. I want a safe light. still watching c41 videos bringing back flashbacks.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You don't need a darkroom to develop. Use a changing bag to load the film and the rest can be done with regular lights on.
> 
> I'll be ignoring the rest of your statements
Click to expand...

so.... 5x7's cd, film cost and shipping about 20 bucks a roll...  save money if i sent out a lot at once...


----------



## bribrius

dont know about that place in portland. Used to drop off at konica but they closed down. what ever happened to konica i wonder if they are still in business at all...

Konica building morphing into offices - The Portland Press Herald Maine Sunday Telegram


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> so.... 5x7's cd, film cost and shipping about 20 bucks a roll...  save money if i sent out a lot at once...



I'd skip the prints and just get scans. Remember, even for the best photographer, the hit rate isn't going to be 100%, so you'd be paying for a bunch of prints you're just going to throw away anyway. Get the scans, check them out on the computer, and then decide what you might want printed and send them to a place that will probably deliver better quality prints. I use Adoramapix.com and have been pleased with what I've gotten so far.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> so.... 5x7's cd, film cost and shipping about 20 bucks a roll...  save money if i sent out a lot at once...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd skip the prints and just get scans. Remember, even for the best photographer, the hit rate isn't going to be 100%, so you'd be paying for a bunch of prints you're just going to throw away anyway. Get the scans, check them out on the computer, and then decide what you might want printed and send them to a place that will probably deliver better quality prints. I use Adoramapix.com and have been pleased with what I've gotten so far.
Click to expand...

true......


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> sashbar said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it me, February or this forum got really exceedingly boring dull?  I think we urgently need some holy war about some pointless image or something. Can someone stir it up please?  Throw some **** at the fan?  Start a thread about paedophile photogs talking images other peoples' kids? Moronic street shooters with consideration for others privacy? Canon being ****? 85 mm being too short for a portrait?  Another thread about d750? People, do something, do not let us rot in mutual appreciation. Photography is fun after all. Guys, this forum is seriously underperforming atm.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 'kay. You go first.  Then, when you get banned, we'll get some excitement going talking about you.
Click to expand...

 I know someone who can help with that!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> so.... 5x7's cd, film cost and shipping about 20 bucks a roll...  save money if i sent out a lot at once...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd skip the prints and just get scans. Remember, even for the best photographer, the hit rate isn't going to be 100%, so you'd be paying for a bunch of prints you're just going to throw away anyway. Get the scans, check them out on the computer, and then decide what you might want printed and send them to a place that will probably deliver better quality prints. I use Adoramapix.com and have been pleased with what I've gotten so far.
Click to expand...

called the portland place. 25$ a roll develop and pro scans, no prints. They do color/c41 in house anything else they send out 1-2 weeks return time. wonder where they send it....   I seem stuck on this, this morning. I think i am on a mini mission...


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> wonder where they send it....


A trusted name in photo processing for over 50 years - Dwayne s Photo


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> wonder where they send it....
> 
> 
> 
> A trusted name in photo processing for over 50 years - Dwayne s Photo
Click to expand...

probably...


----------



## limr

At least irony is amusing 

"_*You must find a Notary to Notarize your New York Notary application when applying to become a New York State Notary. "*_


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 54F this morning should hit 70+ by afternoon. Don Jose Colombian is better than Coffee Bean Colombian. Hey Brian, try Richards for you developing. That's where most of the pros go in LA. (Richard's is in Hollywood and they have mail-in/mail-out service.) You deserve the best.


----------



## Gary A.

My oldest daughter's first car was a Camaro.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, fellow Hosers. It's a balmy cold as F*&K out with a high of only COLD AS BALLS.

My first car was a 1992 Cutlass Supreme. It died an honorable death-by fire.


----------



## sm4him

15ºF here this morning, but might hit 60º by tomorrow afternoon. 
It's a wonder I haven't cracked from these drastic temperature changes around here…oh…wait…


----------



## limr

I learned to drive on a VW Rabbit, then had a 10-year-old hand-me-down Chevy Chevette as my first car when I went to college. Then I had a VW Fox. That also died prematurely when some piece of crap ran into me and messed up the frame. Car was totalled. I cried for days.


----------



## limr

It was 6F when I drove to work. It's quite invigorating.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> It was 6F when I drove to work. It's quite invigorating.


I imagine that at 6F, a lack of invigoration would equal death.


----------



## Gary A.

BTW Leo, I could see you driving a pick-up. Yippee ki-yay!!!


----------



## sm4him

I learned to drive, stick shift at least, on my brother's MG. If you've ever driven an MG, you know that the seat is pretty much just on the floor of the car, and your legs stick straight out toward the pedals. I couldn't really adjust the seat much (because the adjuster bar didn't work well) and my brother was about a foot taller than me.  So…yeah…that was fun!  But it did make learning to drive pretty much ANY other car a breeze. 

My first car was a 1965 VW Beetle. My brothers taught me how to do pretty much any routine repair job on it myself. It was in pristine condition, and man, I loved that thing!!
Had it for several years before it lost control on a wet interstate off ramp (one of those where you end up doing a 360º about-face). It must have spun around about six times, hitting the guard rail in a different place with every spin, and dropping parts as it went. But thank God for guard rails, because on the other side of that rail was a nice 50- or 60-foot dropoff back down to the interstate below!
But after it finally stopped, I just sat there and cried. Not because I was hurt--neither my sister or I had so much as a single scratch!--but because I loved that little car.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> BTW Leo, I could see you driving a pick-up. Yippee ki-yay!!!



I've driven trucks. I wouldn't want one as a daily driver, though.

My first driving lesson was from the passenger seat. My father was driving me to school or work or something in the Rabbit. He turns to me and says, "You want to learn how to drive, huh?" I'd just turned 16. "Yes!" I said. "Good. I'll do the pedals and tell you when to shift." and then he took his hands off the wheel. I steered and shifted for about a mile or so before he took over again. "Not bad." was his only feedback.

My dad was a little nutty


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ...My dad was a little nutty


 So... you come by it honestly then?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...My dad was a little nutty
> 
> 
> 
> So... you come by it honestly then?
Click to expand...


I am absolutely my father's daughter


----------



## Gary A.

I just picked up five packs of Tri-X, TMAX 100 and Porta 160 for the 6x8. I just need to find some time to use it.


----------



## snerd

Look what's coming my way!!!!!!






 


    


.............................


----------



## tirediron

Tri-X?    What happened?  You lose a bet?


----------



## limr

I want more coffee!


----------



## Gary A.

Come on over and I'll make you a fresh pot. You can park your truck in the drive.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Come on over and I'll make you a fresh pot. You can park your truck in the drive.



Got some nosh, too? I'm peckish.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Come on over and I'll make you a fresh pot. You can park your truck in the drive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Got some nosh, too? I'm peckish.
Click to expand...

Gee, I love that kind of talk.


----------



## Designer

Time for lumps, folks.  

Later.


----------



## minicoop1985

Fresh pot on the burner, time for another cup.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning.  Hopefully everyone got a nice, restful sleep and we can leave the bickering in the noob section
> Green Mountain _Dark Magic_ this morning.  I have to go into the office today - meeting with the Chief on the smoke detector program.
> 
> Later.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, Charlie!!
> Hey, you didn't tell us you'd been to London lately:
> Is it real Polar bear roams through streets of London - WFLA News Channel 8
Click to expand...



That's cousin Percy, or rather a 'bot that he modeled for.  We look alike.


----------



## snowbear

sashbar said:


> Is it me, February or this forum got really exceedingly boring dull?  I think we urgently need some holy war about some pointless image or something. Can someone stir it up please?  Throw some **** at the fan?  Start a thread about paedophile photogs talking images other peoples' kids? Moronic street shooters with consideration for others privacy? Canon being ****? 85 mm being too short for a portrait?  Another thread about d750? People, do something, do not let us rot in mutual appreciation. Photography is fun after all. Guys, this forum is seriously underperforming atm.



Be patient . . . more fauxtogs and super-noobs should start showing up with the fruits of their tax refunds very soon.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Come on over and I'll make you a fresh pot. You can park your truck in the drive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Got some nosh, too? I'm peckish.
Click to expand...

How about a Fry-up to go with that coffee?


----------



## bribrius

i wonder if they can kick me off 500px for putting too much crap on there.............not that i suppose it matters. Are we supposed to be selling images on that or something? Don't even know how. i sort just dump stuff on it from time to time.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Come on over and I'll make you a fresh pot. You can park your truck in the drive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Got some nosh, too? I'm peckish.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> How about a Fry-up to go with that coffee?
Click to expand...

No way ... How did you know? I have some Cod swimming around in a lemon/orange/basil/rosemary marinade. Gonna fry-her up later. Come on over we can invade the wine frig.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> I want more coffee!





Gary A. said:


> Come on over and I'll make you a fresh pot. You can park your truck in the drive.





minicoop1985 said:


> Fresh pot on the burner, time for another cup.



Y'all just come on by here, because I just made about 5 cups, while I was playing around with some more "coffee art" shots. And now, I've got all this coffee and only me here to drink it. 

Well, I guess sometimes we just gotta sacrifice for our art, right?


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Come on over and I'll make you a fresh pot. You can park your truck in the drive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Got some nosh, too? I'm peckish.
Click to expand...

Nosh is my middle name. I have a good friend who owns a doughnut/fried chicken/ice cream shoppe ... he's always ready to make a home delivery.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I want more coffee!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Come on over and I'll make you a fresh pot. You can park your truck in the drive.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fresh pot on the burner, time for another cup.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Y'all just come on by here, because I just made about 5 cups, while I was playing around with some more "coffee art" shots. And now, I've got all this coffee and only me here to drink it.
> 
> Well, I guess sometimes we just gotta sacrifice for our art, right?
Click to expand...

LOL ... that's like me and my bread journey. I am skimping on buying food so I can use that monies for my homemade bread experimentation.


----------



## limr

Mmmm, doughnuts.


----------



## limr

Well, y'all. I survived my first week as a paid paralegal.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Mmmm, doughnuts.


He makes the best too. Unlike most shops that use frozen dough, he makes his dough fresh everyday. The sucker melts in your mouth.


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> i wonder if they can kick me off 500px for putting too much crap on there.............not that i suppose it matters. Are we supposed to be selling images on that or something? Don't even know how. i sort just dump stuff on it from time to time.


Shouldn't you ask these questions "before" joining places lol!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

Firing up the giant George Foreman in the patio. I usually cook with wine ... but tonight I may have a beer.


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> i wonder if they can kick me off 500px for putting too much crap on there.............not that i suppose it matters. Are we supposed to be selling images on that or something? Don't even know how. i sort just dump stuff on it from time to time.



Maybe they'll write a guide on what _not_ to do and give you some free extra space or something for providing examples.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i wonder if they can kick me off 500px for putting too much crap on there.............not that i suppose it matters. Are we supposed to be selling images on that or something? Don't even know how. i sort just dump stuff on it from time to time.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe they'll write a guide on what _not_ to do and give you some free extra space or something for providing examples.
Click to expand...

... yeah ... like a hall pass.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Well, y'all. I survived my first week as a paid paralegal.



so...  did it go as expected?  Provide more material for your future novel?  Gives you a fresh perspective on humanity, or just reinforces your previous observations?


----------



## bribrius

we have a foot or more snow coming.......Pretty and all but, i could use a week without a storm.


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> we have a foot or more snow coming.......


Oh! Did I tell you what's coming my way?!





 





Cameras and all gear cleaned, packed and ready to go!!


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mmmm, doughnuts.
> 
> 
> 
> He makes the best too. Unlike most shops that use frozen dough, he makes his dough fresh everyday. The sucker melts in your mouth.
Click to expand...

My mom used to make donuts like that. They don't taste anything like store-bought doughnuts. Mmmmmm... sweet memories.


----------



## snowbear

Having a cup of hazelnut cookie tea that sons 1 & 2 picked up in DC yesterday.


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> we have a foot or more snow coming.......
> 
> 
> 
> Oh! Did I tell you what's coming my way?!
> 
> 
> View attachment 94856
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cameras and all gear cleaned, packed and ready to go!!
Click to expand...

Only about 60 here tomorrow,  but I'll take it,  especially after waking up this morning and it was still about 15F.


----------



## snowbear

Upper 40s tomorrow, then a coiuple of days in the 50s.

Zoom . . . ambulance from 12 (MWCOG #1012) rolling east.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, y'all. I survived my first week as a paid paralegal.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> so...  did it go as expected?  Provide more material for your future novel?  Gives you a fresh perspective on humanity, or just reinforces your previous observations?
Click to expand...


It went well overall,  I think. There were some adjustment pains and I'm sure more are to come, but I'm doing this for clear reasons and keeping these reasons in mind helped me through a couple of rough patches.

It's uncomfortable and new, which understandably makes me want to hide under the covers, but I have been known to make myself uncomfortable with new situations on many prior occasions so this is conceptually familiar ground, even if the details are new. And having just learned more things about my introverted self, I know now why this kind of newness can be more stressful than it probably needs to be, and that it might take me a while to become more comfortable.

So no, I didn't really have any insights on humanity that I hadn't had before, though I did clearly reflect on a few I've had about myself recently, so that was useful


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, y'all. I survived my first week as a paid paralegal.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> so...  did it go as expected?  Provide more material for your future novel?  Gives you a fresh perspective on humanity, or just reinforces your previous observations?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It went well overall,  I think. There were some adjustment pains and I'm sure more are to come, but I'm doing this for clear reasons and keeping these reasons in mind helped me through a couple of rough patches.
> 
> It's uncomfortable and new, which understandably makes me want to hide under to hide under the covers, but I have been known to make myself uncomfortable with new situations on many prior occasions so this is conceptually familiar ground, even if the details are new. And having just learned more things about my introverted self, I know now why this kind of newness can be more stressful than it probably needs to be, and that it might take me a while to become more comfortable.
> 
> So no, I didn't really have any insights on humanity that I hadn't had before, though I did clearly reflect on a few I've had about myself recently, so that was useful
Click to expand...

Focus! You have it! Keep your eye on the prize! You'll do fine, I reckon.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, y'all. I survived my first week as a paid paralegal.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> so...  did it go as expected?  Provide more material for your future novel?  Gives you a fresh perspective on humanity, or just reinforces your previous observations?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It went well overall,  I think. There were some adjustment pains and I'm sure more are to come, but I'm doing this for clear reasons and keeping these reasons in mind helped me through a couple of rough patches.
> 
> It's uncomfortable and new, which understandably makes me want to hide under to hide under the covers, but I have been known to make myself uncomfortable with new situations on many prior occasions so this is conceptually familiar ground, even if the details are new. And having just learned more things about my introverted self, I know now why this kind of newness can be more stressful than it probably needs to be, and that it might take me a while to become more comfortable.
> 
> So no, I didn't really have any insights on humanity that I hadn't had before, though I did clearly reflect on a few I've had about myself recently, so that was useful
Click to expand...


I know what you mean.  As you do it more, you'll become more comfortable with it.
You'll do fine.


----------



## limr

And when all else fails, there are cute animals!

A lot of so very much win!!


----------



## Gary A.

Remember the farm with the guinea pig barn.


----------



## Warhorse

Good morning, on my first cup of Maxwell House, love that new Android commercial.


----------



## limr

Morning Warhorse! I love it too. It gives me a big goofy smile whenever it comes on 

On my first cup of coffee this morning, too. Buzz and I are driving north today for pizza and pictures of an icy Hudson River.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Remember the farm with the guinea pig barn.



I couldn't possibly forget - I think about it all the time. Some want to retire to Florida? I want to retire to a farm and be around animals all day long


----------



## bribrius

Good morning coffee housers. So we got our snow coming,  like 19 degrees. Charging up the bridge camera. Been a couple weeks i think the dslr needs to go away for a break and the bridge camera looks like it wants to go play.


----------



## limr

You're getting snow today or tomorrow? We have snow forecast for tomorrow into Monday. Wondering if I'm going to have a 3rd Monday snow day in a row. I have no idea. Forecast says 3-5 inches but very slowly and intermittently. Seems like the plows should easily keep ahead of that. I have a feeling I'll be going in for at least part of the day. But whatever, I don't find out until Monday.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Remember the farm with the guinea pig barn.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I couldn't possibly forget - I think about it all the time. Some want to retire to Florida? I want to retire to a farm and be around animals all day long
Click to expand...

Hold on there a bit City Girl!!!  Everybody loves the country when the visit.  That's cause the visit for a few days as someones guest and then leave.  

Country is heat and dust and snow where the winters get down to forty below
And the works is hard and the pay sure low and it ain't all roses being country.
So hang in there folks don't do nothin' foolish now
You got yourself a nice high paying job, air conditioned offices.
Yea you got movie theaters right on down the street there.
You got yourself a city park too, now that's country,
and there you don't have to worry about no rattle snakes biting you on your leg,
Or no abominable snowman coming down and tearing off your head or nothing like that there.

Just keep in mind them things don't feed themselves, milk themselves, saddle or break themselves, nor bring you the eggs in a basket, on the bacon on a plate and all of God's green earth is their toilet.  They don't clean their toilet either.  Home to them is where they pooped last or dropped the last egg and they sure as all get out love to wander around and see new things and poop in new places if they get the chance to get away.  Especially if it is outside the fence, barn, corral or pen.  They dearly love to play hide and seek by the highway at 3:00 a.m.


----------



## snowbear

Oh, Lenny and Sharon and I are going to start an animal refuge.  It's going to look like Ellie May Clampett went wild.

Heading into town today to get some matboard and ink - I have a few things to frame.  The quality and selection at the local chains is really bad; besides, the checker at AC Moore really pi$$ed me off the last time I was there.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Gary, I have got to get some of these recipes! They always sound great. We have striped bass from Cape Cod in freezer ready to go!
Since I joined the health club last week, I will have to stay away from the wine tho.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> You're getting snow today or tomorrow? We have snow forecast for tomorrow into Monday. Wondering if I'm going to have a 3rd Monday snow day in a row. I have no idea. Forecast says 3-5 inches but very slowly and intermittently. Seems like the plows should easily keep ahead of that. I have a feeling I'll be going in for at least part of the day. But whatever, I don't find out until Monday.


saying tonight through tuesday now.   Guessing the kids are getting monday off again.   What is sucking is i signed my five year old up for this robotics build your own robot thing and they have canceled two weeks in the row from the storms. KInd of a kids science activity. They keep canceling i hope they plan on giving me my money back.


----------



## table1349

*Seared Wild Striped Bass with Sauteed Spring Vegetables*

Ingredients
Salt
1 bunch asparagus, snapped where it wants to naturally break
2 cups sugar snap peas, tips and strings removed
1 cup shelled fava beans
Extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1 cup morel mushrooms, cleaned and cut lengthwise in 1/2
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock
4 (6-ounce) wild striped bass fillets, with skin
Directions
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, fill a large bowl with ice water and salt it well. Place the asparagus in the boiling water and cook until the water comes back to a rolling boil. Remove and place it immediately in the salted ice water. When the asparagus has cooled completely, remove it from the water and reserve. Repeat this process with the sugar snap peas and then the fava beans. You can use the same blanching water for all of the veggies, just be sure to always do the fava beans last. Fava beans have very high iron content and will turn the blanching water black. After the beans are blanched and cooled, remove the tough outer skin to reveal a lovely spring green fava bean.

For the veggies:
Coat a large saute pan with olive oil. Smash the three garlic cloves with the heel of your hand and add to the saute pan. Bring the pan to a medium high heat. When the garlic has become golden brown and very aromatic remove it from the pan and discard it. It has fulfilled its garlic destiny. Add the mushrooms and stock, season generously with salt, and saute for 1 minute. Add the prepared veggies, season with salt and saute until all the ingredients are coated with oil and hot and almost all the stock has evaporated. Serve immediately or later at room temperature.

For the fish:
Take the fish out of the refrigerator about 10 to 15 minutes before using. Pat the skin dry with a paper towel and season the fish on both sides with salt. Heat a large saute pan coated generously with extra virgin olive oil over high heat. Coat the bottom of another slightly smaller saute pan with olive oil. Gently place the fish fillets skin side down in the saute pan and place the other saute pan directly on top of the fish. The purpose of this is to gently press the skin of the bass onto the bottom of the saute pan to create a lovely crispy fish skin. Be sure to oil the bottom of the top saute pan or the fish will stick to it. After a couple of minutes remove the top saute pan from the fish, this will allow the steam to escape and the skin to become very crispy. As fish cooks it turns from translucent to opaque. The idea is to cook the fish 2/3's of the way on the skin side and flip it over for the last 1/3 of the cooking time. The rule for fish is about 7 to 8 minutes per inch of thickness, a little less if you like your fish more on the rare side.

Serve the fish over the sauteed spring veggies.

FYI a glass of wine is good for you.  A whole bottle of wine is not.  Specially if it is something like Mad Dog 20/20.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Wow, thank you! Sounds delicious.
N


----------



## Warhorse

Mmmmmm...Morel mushrooms.


----------



## snowbear

Rockfish (Striped Bass to those outside of Maryland) is really good when stuffed with crab meat (Atlantic Blue Crab) and baked.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Remember the farm with the guinea pig barn.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I couldn't possibly forget - I think about it all the time. Some want to retire to Florida? I want to retire to a farm and be around animals all day long
Click to expand...

i wouldn't fit in in florida. People just look at me they will know i am from Maine. i definitely have the mainah attitude and if you heard me talk i have some serious mainah accent.


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> They keep canceling i hope they plan on giving me my money back.


Your chances are FAT and SLIM.

I took a semester class at a community college some years ago.  Half the classes were cancelled, and I was royally miffed.  It was after the semester had ended I found out the some of my classmates received a refund, but I asked "too late" to receive a refund.

ROYALLY!!!!

And I'm STILL mad!


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> They keep canceling i hope they plan on giving me my money back.
> 
> 
> 
> Your chances are FAT and SLIM.
> 
> I took a semester class at a community college some years ago.  Half the classes were cancelled, and I was royally miffed.  It was after the semester had ended I found out the some of my classmates received a refund, but I asked "too late" to receive a refund.
> 
> ROYALLY!!!!
> 
> And I'm STILL mad!
Click to expand...

Begs the question too... if they keep canceling, how is he going to have time to build his robot in the remaining classes? I think i will give them a call.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Remember the farm with the guinea pig barn.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I couldn't possibly forget - I think about it all the time. Some want to retire to Florida? I want to retire to a farm and be around animals all day long
Click to expand...

Netflix "We just bought a zoo" or maybe "I just bought a zoo".


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 54F right now should hit 72F or so later when the Sun get up a bit.
@ Nancy- Most of my recipes come from the back yard. I start with the entre from the store then check the yard to see what's available and then mix stuff up for flavoring. Right now I have a boatload of oranges, lemons and a few limes ... so I'm marinating stuff in that and then I chop and add herbs. With the cod I wanted some more earthy so it stuck with basil and rosemary. Other stuff cilantro, or sage, I have a ton of thyme, mint, tarragon, verbena, lemon balm, lemongrass, oregano, peppers, so I just select what I think may taste good. I don't think cooking with wine adds many calories as the heat burns off the alcohol. Don't use olive oil with high heat (400F+), it changes into a carcinogen. For high heat cooking I use grapeseed oil, colorless and tasteless.


----------



## Gary A.

I gotta get going, I have to shoot a dog show today. Should be fun. Adios.

G


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Remember the farm with the guinea pig barn.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I couldn't possibly forget - I think about it all the time. Some want to retire to Florida? I want to retire to a farm and be around animals all day long
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Hold on there a bit City Girl!!!  Everybody loves the country when the visit.  That's cause the visit for a few days as someones guest and then leave.
> 
> Country is heat and dust and snow where the winters get down to forty below
> And the works is hard and the pay sure low and it ain't all roses being country.
> So hang in there folks don't do nothin' foolish now
> You got yourself a nice high paying job, air conditioned offices.
> Yea you got movie theaters right on down the street there.
> You got yourself a city park too, now that's country,
> and there you don't have to worry about no rattle snakes biting you on your leg,
> Or no abominable snowman coming down and tearing off your head or nothing like that there.
> 
> Just keep in mind them things don't feed themselves, milk themselves, saddle or break themselves, nor bring you the eggs in a basket, on the bacon on a plate and all of God's green earth is their toilet.  They don't clean their toilet either.  Home to them is where they pooped last or dropped the last egg and they sure as all get out love to wander around and see new things and poop in new places if they get the chance to get away.  Especially if it is outside the fence, barn, corral or pen.  They dearly love to play hide and seek by the highway at 3:00 a.m.
Click to expand...




Me? A city girl???

Not even close. Closest movie theater is about 6 miles away but there are chickens running around yards of houses within walking distance. I grew up playing in the woods and helping my father split wood. 

And the job means I am making more money but it would still be a gross overstatement to consider me "high paid."

And don't forget - I'm the "freak" who loves winter. 

So just relax with the lecture about the country.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ahh, so quiet around here today without the kid. He's at the grandparents' for the day. Nice and peaceful around here.


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> Begs the question too... if they keep canceling, how is he going to have time to build his robot in the remaining classes? I think i will give them a call.


The short answer is; he can't.  I hope they can work in enough class time for him to get it all done.  Maybe suggest another session at no extra cost.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> .. there are chickens running around yards of houses within walking distance.



I had chickens and rabbits when I was a kid.  My dad had cows, although I didn't help with the milking.  I actually miss the smell of chicken manure.  We get a whiff of it now and then here in town when the wind is coming from the direction of the closest poultry farm.


----------



## Warhorse

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 54F right now should hit 72F or so later when the Sun get up a bit.


No "Pineapple Express" in your neighborhood?


----------



## snerd

So I just noticed Bribius's badge............ Poster of the Month!! What's that all about?! Most posts? Most interesting? Is it a numbers thing?! What did I miss?! 

Oh, and congrats! I guess?! Surely it's a good thing? Unless it's just a sheer numbers thing. Then, you just get a meh from me.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> So I just noticed Bribius's badge............ Poster of the Month!! What's that all about?! Most posts? Most interesting? Is it a numbers thing?! What did I miss?!
> 
> Oh, and congrats! I guess?! Surely it's a good thing? Unless it's just a sheer numbers thing. Then, you just get a meh from me.


Just numbers i believe. Like wally world. It is quantity not quality. I post a lot of useless chit.....


----------



## sashbar

sm4him said:


> sashbar said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it me, February or this forum got really exceedingly boring dull?  I think we urgently need some holy war about some pointless image or something. Can someone stir it up please?  Throw some **** at the fan?  Start a thread about paedophile photogs talking images other peoples' kids? Moronic street shooters with consideration for others privacy? Canon being ****? 85 mm being too short for a portrait?  Another thread about d750? People, do something, do not let us rot in mutual appreciation. Photography is fun after all. Guys, this forum is seriously underperforming atm.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 'kay. You go first.  Then, when you get banned, we'll get some excitement going talking about you.
Click to expand...


OK then. This is window shopping London style.


----------



## snerd

They're doing more prescribed burns out here at the refuge. Hmmmm...... I wonder what a long exposure with the Lee Big Stopper (Black Ice) would look like?! Parking and setting up now lol!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## pgriz

Sashbar, how long did you wait until that particular group of people walked by the window?  Because I could interpret that shot as "culture clash".


----------



## Gary A.

Warhorse said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 54F right now should hit 72F or so later when the Sun get up a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> No "Pineapple Express" in your neighborhood?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately we're too far south. They're getting pummeled up north.


----------



## sashbar

pgriz said:


> Sashbar, how long did you wait until that particular group of people walked by the window?  Because I could interpret that shot as "culture clash".



Probably 40 seconds   Just took 6 or 7 shots, did not expect anything special,  this woman was actually wearing burka,  but she turned away and that spoiled it all.  Could have been a decent shot, here it is not even clear what she is wearing.  It was on my way home after work.


----------



## pgriz

I think you are under-estimating your shot.  It is clear (at least to me) what she is wearing, and I found that juxtaposition of what her clothes represent about her and that of the printed message to be quite evocative.  In fact that fact that she is facing away actually makes the shot resonate with me more.


----------



## Gary A.

Man ... I was sitting on the ground or on my knees all freakin' day. I am sore. Opened the frig and it smells of fish ... guess what we're having for dinner ... tossed a Pacifico ana Stella w/some seasoning on the Mahi Mahi ... tossed a beer in me and stretched my legs trimming and mowing the backyard.

Everybody won a ribbon. This was a JACA event and today was Shiba's tomorrow is Akita's. The dogs were beautiful, but were the opposite of my faithful Cook. They were shedding like a banshee, extremely vocal and wouldn't listen. This was so much different from the Westminster Dog Show you see on Tv. Hell, a judge was nearly bitten by one of the beasts.  There were a couple of dogs that were well behaved, but overall they were quite the unruly crowd. I don't know if it was the breed's basic temperament, (or rather distemperment - I just made up that word ... I think it fits.), or upbringing. Okay done with my whine, time for some wine.


----------



## Gary A.

Fess Parker 2013 Chardonnay. Salud.


----------



## Gary A.

With Mary Lou on the injured list, were not going anywhere. So I just sit here, download my pooch pictures, drink wine and post ... sorta like the thread that started this whole mess.


----------



## Gary A.

I tells Mary Lou "... maybe we should go to some Wheaten events ... like this Shiba thing. I thing it might be fun and the Cook would certainly love it." Mary Lou looks around on the internet and finds a club thing and then she starts looking at a Wheaten rescue site ... and she starts laughing ... only one dog on the entire site looks like it may have some Wheaten genes ... too funny.


----------



## Gary A.

This Fess Parker is quite good.


----------



## Gary A.

You know Brian is at the top of the Leaderboard ... again. But he's a wuss ... he's not insane enough to do what we did. lol ... la vida loca.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> You know Brian is at the top of the Leaderboard ... again. But he's a wuss ... he's not insane enough to do what we did. lol ... la vida loca.



No one can postwhore like a Leaderboarder


----------



## limr

I'm 5 miles away from 400 miles on my bike. Just taking a small break for my feet. We were walking quite a bit today and sometimes that aggravates a spot on my right foot that also hits the pedal so I just need to take the pressure off for a minute.


----------



## minicoop1985

So far, I'm liking the new Mini. Punchy little thing, especially considering it's a turbo 3 banger.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> I'm 5 miles away from 400 miles on my bike. Just taking a small break for my feet. We were walking quite a bit today and sometimes that aggravates a spot on my right foot that also hits the pedal so I just need to take the pressure off for a minute.


You really should get some toe clips for the bike, it will up your mileage and the workout.


----------



## Gary A.

At Fess Parker's winery, they sell, (at a premium), these little raccoon caps that fit on top of a wine bottle.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm 5 miles away from 400 miles on my bike. Just taking a small break for my feet. We were walking quite a bit today and sometimes that aggravates a spot on my right foot that also hits the pedal so I just need to take the pressure off for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> You really should get some toe clips for the bike, it will up your mileage and the workout.
Click to expand...


Don't knoe if they even make toe clips for this thing. It has straps though, so my foot is anchored on the pedal.


----------



## Gary A.

... I think Brian may be right ... we lost a senior class which has been replaced with freshmen. Man a lot of the new stuff is garbage.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm 5 miles away from 400 miles on my bike. Just taking a small break for my feet. We were walking quite a bit today and sometimes that aggravates a spot on my right foot that also hits the pedal so I just need to take the pressure off for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> You really should get some toe clips for the bike, it will up your mileage and the workout.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't knoe if they even make toe clips for this thing. It has straps though, so my foot is anchored on the pedal.
Click to expand...

If it has straps .. then that should be equal to toe clips ... can you pull up with the straps?


----------



## snowbear

The DC trip was a success, even if parking was troublesome.  My lovely wife even got me an early Valentine's present!  It's red, too:


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm 5 miles away from 400 miles on my bike. Just taking a small break for my feet. We were walking quite a bit today and sometimes that aggravates a spot on my right foot that also hits the pedal so I just need to take the pressure off for a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> You really should get some toe clips for the bike, it will up your mileage and the workout.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't knoe if they even make toe clips for this thing. It has straps though, so my foot is anchored on the pedal.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If it has straps .. then that should be equal to toe clips ... can you pull up with the straps?
Click to expand...


I can and I do. I alternate between spinning at a lighter resistance and a little mashing at higher resistance. 

1 more mile!


----------



## Gary A.

To properly ride a bike you push down with one pedal and simultaneously pull up with the other. That way you have power from both legs 100% of the time.


----------



## Gary A.

Just fired up the giant George Foreman. Anybody for some fish?


----------



## limr

Done!


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> To properly ride a bike you push down with one pedal and simultaneously pull up with the other. That way you have power from both legs 100% of the time.



No, to properly ride a bike, you work the clutch with the left hand and the throttle with the right.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> At Fess Parker's winery, they sell, (at a premium), these little raccoon caps that fit on top of a wine bottle.


I'd buy that for a dollar!!


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> At Fess Parker's winery, they sell, (at a premium), these little raccoon caps that fit on top of a wine bottle.
> 
> 
> 
> I'd buy that for a dollar!!
Click to expand...

A Fess Parker 'coonskin cap for a buck ... no way Jose.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> At Fess Parker's winery, they sell, (at a premium), these little raccoon caps that fit on top of a wine bottle.
> 
> 
> 
> I'd buy that for a dollar!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> A Fess Parker 'coonskin cap for a buck ... no way Jose.
Click to expand...


----------



## bribrius

good morning !!!!!!!!


----------



## tirediron

bribrius said:


> good morning !!!!!!!!


Prove it!


----------



## sashbar

tirediron said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> good morning !!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> Prove it!
Click to expand...


Exactly. It is 4 pm mate! And I am lying flat with gastroenteritis. Or whatever it is. Feels like food poisoning! But with fever. My tyre got a giant bulge and I need to drive today.


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> good morning !!!!!!!!





tirediron said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> good morning !!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> Prove it!
Click to expand...

It's above the freezing mark so I can actually go out and spray paint a frame; my new fountain pen is filled with ink and ready to use; I have a kitty lying at (well, sort of on) my foot.


----------



## minicoop1985

My kid let me sleep in this morning. That's a good morning if you ask me. Hell, he just got up around 15 minutes ago.


----------



## bribrius

snowing. whats new...... oh. the dog threw up on the carpet. i guess that doesn't happen to often. Still a good morning. Hanging out reading up on lenses....trying to learn SOMETHING.    I suck at gear. Not one of those gear nerds...


----------



## sashbar

bribrius said:


> snowing. whats new...... oh. the dog threw up on the carpet. i guess that doesn't happen to often. Still a good morning. Hanging out reading up on lenses....trying to learn SOMETHING.    I suck at gear. Not one of those gear nerds...


I understand your dog


----------



## bribrius

sashbar said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> snowing. whats new...... oh. the dog threw up on the carpet. i guess that doesn't happen to often. Still a good morning. Hanging out reading up on lenses....trying to learn SOMETHING.    I suck at gear. Not one of those gear nerds...
> 
> 
> 
> I understand your dog
Click to expand...

your sick too eh?  don't throw up on the carpet....


----------



## snerd

My cat hurls her food after eating it about 50/50 percent of the time. Keep a bottle of a Resolve on hand all of the time!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> My cat hurls her food after eating it about 50/50 percent of the time. Keep a bottle of a Resolve on hand all of the time!!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


i am not much of a animal lover. I seem to get suckered into them. The dog has grown on me though. I ended up with it about four years ago when someone we knew had to move to a apartment that didn't allow pets. Theoretically it was supposed to be temporary until other arrangements could be made. But it is still here..


----------



## otherprof

bribrius said:


> can't believe snowbear disagreed with that . I though everyone knew minis were girls cars..  For good or ill some cars scream male or female - NWautos


"Not that there's anything wrong with that . . . " (Seinfeld)


----------



## Gary A.

What a great day.  Mid 70's slight breeze ... just talkin' to friends and drinking wine in the patio. Everything is super green and pleasant.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> What a great day.  Mid 70's slight breeze ... just talkin' to friends and drinking wine in the patio. Everything is super green and pleasant.


Ah yes, I completely concur.  Upper 60's yesterday.  Mid 70'w today.  Got all the chores done yesterday and took the dogs for a nice long walk.  Today was a lazy day.  Got up, went and had coffee and a doughnut while I read the paper as is my normal Sunday morn.  Got groceries for the week and came home.  Took the dogs to the dog park for an hour so they could run and play with their friends.  All in all a wonderful weekend.


----------



## bribrius

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What a great day.  Mid 70's slight breeze ... just talkin' to friends and drinking wine in the patio. Everything is super green and pleasant.
> 
> 
> 
> Ah yes, I completely concur.  Upper 60's yesterday.  Mid 70'w today.  Got all the chores done yesterday and took the dogs for a nice long walk.  Today was a lazy day.  Got up, went and had coffee and a doughnut while I read the paper as is my normal Sunday morn.  Got groceries for the week and came home.  Took the dogs to the dog park for an hour so they could run and play with their friends.  All in all a wonderful weekend.
Click to expand...

it's still snowing...


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What a great day.  Mid 70's slight breeze ... just talkin' to friends and drinking wine in the patio. Everything is super green and pleasant.
> 
> 
> 
> Ah yes, I completely concur.  Upper 60's yesterday.  Mid 70'w today.  Got all the chores done yesterday and took the dogs for a nice long walk.  Today was a lazy day.  Got up, went and had coffee and a doughnut while I read the paper as is my normal Sunday morn.  Got groceries for the week and came home.  Took the dogs to the dog park for an hour so they could run and play with their friends.  All in all a wonderful weekend.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> it's still snowing...
Click to expand...

LOL ...


----------



## limr

Snowing here too. 

Still don't understand why people around here (the area, not TPF) get so incredulous when we have snow. Have they forgotten that snow is what happens in winter in the north? Seriously, what the hell do they expect?


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Snowing here too.
> 
> Still don't understand why people around here (the area, not TPF) get so incredulous when we have snow. Have they forgotten that snow is what happens in winter in the north? Seriously, what the hell do they expect?


i have a few more shots i would like to get before winter is over. I like the storms, but dont like the physical activity i have to do after them in clean up.  After i get the shots i want i am ready for spring..


----------



## snerd

It was a photogs paradise out here today....... 81 degrees! I ran across several of them out at the refuge. Two ladies were carrying Canons and walking along the shoreline looking for happen-chance shots, then I ran across 2 more gals and a young guy, hung heavy with Nikon gear and long lenses doing portraits and headshots at another stop. I stopped and watched them a bit, asked if they were working or playing, they said practicing. I could tell me watching subdued them somewhat, so I moved on. About all I caught was a sunburn....... forgot my hat! Maybe 20 or so shots to download, but not this week. In the process of packing and moving starting tomorrow!


----------



## sm4him

My weekend was a bit of a mixed bag: Beautiful weather, about 60F Saturday and Sunday. Spent the morning on Saturday at one of my favorite birding spots, a location I hadn't been to all winter (and probably shouldn't have gone to on Saturday, as there is a lot of hiking involved, and I've been having some foot problems).
Saw some cool stuff, took a few pictures, don't know if I even got anything worth processing.
From there, I went back to the dam to check for eagles--nothing. Then, my sister called to tell me they were headed back to the ER with my mom.  So, photography-outing day was cut short.
Mom's okay, back home and recovering (again), hopefully found the issue this time.
Sunday afternoon, more bad news. One of the ladies in the Sunday School class I teach passed away, and then a big drama over a Great Horned Owl's nest nearby. I may say more about that later, but it's a long story.
Sunday night, went to dinner with good friends--nice end to an up-and-down kind of weekend!

Finished the first cup of coffee, about to brew the second--then I gotta get ready for work. Taking my car to the mechanic this morning, then I'll hop on the bus to get to work. Here's hoping the repairs are quick and inexpensive!


----------



## limr

Morning hosers.

Delayed opening at school so my morning class is cancelled. Supposedly we're opening at 12 but it's coming down pretty hard at the moment and not supposed to let up until after 8pm. 

The message on their website included a "Check back for further updates" phrase which is never part of their normal delayed-opening message. I'll plan for going in for my evening class, but I'll also be hoping they close for the rest of the day.

I can understand why they're trying to salvage something out of this. This is our third Monday in a row that would be closed. My class should have met six times as of today, but instead I've only seen them three. I'll be spending the morning updating the course schedule. The students are going to love me - I'm eliminating one of the essay assignments. There's no way - the 1st essay rough draft is due on Wed and I haven't had a chance to teach them anything yet!

Time for a little more coffee...


----------



## limr

Aaaaaaand, school is closed.

I'll be working from home today then. I have grading, rescheduling, planning, and resetting assignments on our online shell. I'll probably be back and forth with a few students. There are always nervous types who keep in touch regularly and more often during snow days.

I'll also be doing some developing. Got a roll of HP5 I just put through the new Yashica.

A friend tagged me in a Facebook game. I normally ignore these things, but this one just asks me to post a song a day for 5 days. Here was today's song:


----------



## bribrius

it's snowing.


----------



## bribrius

The film camera i bought no worky. Light meter no worky. Ebay seller is offering me a different camera instead. I think i am just going to ask for my money back.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  I've been gone a few days - did I miss anything good?  Sitting here at work with my usual coffee/snack.  I'm thinking about going out with my camera at lunch - nicely overcast out there, although a bit cold - not too bad for a stroll around Old City Philadelphia.  I guess I'll get some work done ...


----------



## bribrius

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  I've been gone a few days - did I miss anything good?  Sitting here at work with my usual coffee/snack.  I'm thinking about going out with my camera at lunch - nicely overcast out there, although a bit cold - not too bad for a stroll around Old City Philadelphia.  I guess I'll get some work done ...


real camera or cellphone?


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> The film camera i bought no worky. Light meter no worky. Ebay seller is offering me a different camera instead. I think i am just going to ask for my money back.



What camera? Is it just the light meter that doesn't work? Are you being offered the same camer, just one with a working light meter, or a different camera altogether?


----------



## KenC

bribrius said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  I've been gone a few days - did I miss anything good?  Sitting here at work with my usual coffee/snack.  I'm thinking about going out with my camera at lunch - nicely overcast out there, although a bit cold - not too bad for a stroll around Old City Philadelphia.  I guess I'll get some work done ...
> 
> 
> 
> real camera or cellphone?
Click to expand...


I always have my Canon G11 with me, which is a big step up from the cell phone.  I was considering bringing the DSLR to work, but I was lugging my computer so I got lazy.


----------



## bribrius




----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> The film camera i bought no worky. Light meter no worky. Ebay seller is offering me a different camera instead. I think i am just going to ask for my money back.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What camera? Is it just the light meter that doesn't work? Are you being offered the same camer, just one with a working light meter, or a different camera altogether?
Click to expand...

fm  same camera offer but with working meter.


----------



## limr

Why not just take the working camera?


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> it's snowing.


LOL ... see Leo's snow statement above.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Just swallowed my first sip of coffee. It tastes like morning. Overcast today. But then 70% of the mornings in SoCal are overcast. The marine layer the weather peoples call it.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  I've been gone a few days - did I miss anything good?  Sitting here at work with my usual coffee/snack.  I'm thinking about going out with my camera at lunch - nicely overcast out there, although a bit cold - not too bad for a stroll around Old City Philadelphia.  I guess I'll get some work done ...


When I worked downtown LA, sometimes I would shoot on my lunchtime.

 On Broadway ... - GaryAyala

I want to see a 'Lunch with Ken' gallery.


----------



## Gary A.

I was so worn out yesterday, that I started to take a nap, but slept straight through it. Shooting the dog show, then cleaning up the house and prepping for company just plumb wore me out. At 7:30 p.m. I decided to get 20 and wake up for the Grammy's ... never made it to the Grammy's.


----------



## minicoop1985

AUGH. Trying to decide where to go on a road trip this March is freaking HARD.


----------



## DoctorDino

Anyone else see Beyonce get screwed out of Album of the Year?


----------



## limr

DoctorDino said:


> Anyone else see Beyonce get screwed out of Album of the Year?



If you're asking if anyone watched the Grammy Awards, then no, I didn't watch it. As for Beyonce, I don't give a crap.


----------



## sm4him

I was *going* to watch the Grammy Awards, but then I remembered something:

I couldn't care less.


----------



## Designer

DoctorDino said:


> Anyone else see Beyonce get screwed out of Album of the Year?


I didn't watch, and what makes you say she was "screwed out of Album of the Year"?

Is that one of those "a shoo-in for the win" kind of thing?


----------



## Designer

I was going to watch, but my toenails needed a trim.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> DoctorDino said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone else see Beyonce get screwed out of Album of the Year?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you're asking if anyone watched the Grammy Awards, then no, I didn't watch it. As for Beyonce, I don't give a crap.
Click to expand...

 What's a 'Beyonce'?


----------



## Designer

tirediron said:


> What's a 'Beyonce'?


That's something that is farther away than the "ce".  

Whether we know her or not, she is getting the "Beyonce Bounce" in this thread.


----------



## DoctorDino

Designer said:


> DoctorDino said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone else see Beyonce get screwed out of Album of the Year?
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't watch, and *what makes you say she was "screwed out of Album of the Year*"?
> 
> Is that one of those "a shoo-in for the win" kind of thing?
Click to expand...


Beyonce's album was great, and literally everyone in the entire universe who follows the Grammys thought she would win.

And she like, you know, didn't.

The Grammys went with a safer choice (Beck) instead of giving the award to who really deserved it.

Beck deserved it in 2002 though, so Beyonce will win it in another 10 years or so.


----------



## limr

I still don't care. Frankly, if she HAD won, she probably would have screwed over someone else who was more deserving but just doesn't have the same PR machine that she does. So did she get screwed? Not even close.


----------



## limr

Okay, so I looked up the winners.

Sam Smith won a friggin' award for a song he plagiarized from Tom Petty?


----------



## oldhippy

They are calling it the Grannies, now I wish I had watched.


----------



## DoctorDino

limr said:


> I still don't care. Frankly, if she HAD won, she probably would have screwed over someone else who was more deserving but just doesn't have the same PR machine that she does. So did she get screwed? Not even close.





limr said:


> Okay, so I looked up the winners.
> 
> Sam Smith won a friggin' award for a song he plagiarized from Tom Petty?



Not sure if serious.


----------



## tirediron

DoctorDino said:


> Beyonce's album was great, and literally everyone in the entire universe who follows the Grammys thought she would win.


That seems statistically improbable to me; do you have supporting evidence?



DoctorDino said:


> And she like, you know, didn't.


She "like" didn't win, as in, "She participated in an activity that was similar to not winning", or "She would like me to know she didn't win"?



DoctorDino said:


> The Grammys went with a safer choice (Beck) instead of giving the award to who really deserved it.


Since I assume that these awards are conferred by committee, wouldn't the fact that a person won, regardless of public opinion, mean that they were the "right" person to win?


----------



## limr

DoctorDino said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I still don't care. Frankly, if she HAD won, she probably would have screwed over someone else who was more deserving but just doesn't have the same PR machine that she does. So did she get screwed? Not even close.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, so I looked up the winners.
> Sam Smith won a friggin' award for a song he plagiarized from Tom Petty?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> *Not sure if serious.*
Click to expand...


Why wouldn't I be?


----------



## DoctorDino

tirediron said:


> DoctorDino said:
> 
> 
> 
> Beyonce's album was great, and literally everyone in the entire universe who follows the Grammys thought she would win.
> 
> 
> 
> That seems statistically improbable to me; do you have supporting evidence?
> 
> 
> 
> DoctorDino said:
> 
> 
> 
> And she like, you know, didn't.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> She "like" didn't win, as in, "She participated in an activity that was similar to not winning", or "She would like me to know she didn't win"?
> 
> 
> 
> DoctorDino said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Grammys went with a safer choice (Beck) instead of giving the award to who really deserved it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Since I assume that these awards are conferred by committee, wouldn't the fact that a person won, regardless of public opinion, mean that they were the "right" person to win?
Click to expand...


There's a website out there which takes the 24 most accurate Grammy predictors and smashes their reviews together.

Anyway, 22 of the 24 picked Beyonce to win AOTY.

She was the clear favorite and had the highest rated album of the nominees.


----------



## DoctorDino

limr said:


> DoctorDino said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I still don't care. Frankly, if she HAD won, she probably would have screwed over someone else who was more deserving but just doesn't have the same PR machine that she does. So did she get screwed? Not even close.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, so I looked up the winners.
> Sam Smith won a friggin' award for a song he plagiarized from Tom Petty?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> *Not sure if serious.*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Why wouldn't I be?
Click to expand...

The whole Tom Petty thing made me lol so I wasn't sure if you were serious or not.


----------



## limr

Sam Smith has to pay Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne writing credit and list them as co-writers.
Update Tom Petty awarded songwriting royalties for Sam Smith 8217 s 8220 Stay With Me 8221 Consequence of Sound


----------



## waday

I personally think the whole Tom Petty / Sam Smith thing should be forgotten. Since Petty and Lynne are now being credited and Petty came out with this statement:



> About the Sam Smith thing. Let me say I have never had any hard feelings toward Sam. All my years of songwriting have shown me these things can happen. Most times you catch it before it gets out the studio door but in this case it got by. Sam’s people were very understanding of our predicament and we easily came to an agreement. The word lawsuit was never even said and was never my intention. And no more was to be said about it. How it got out to the press is beyond Sam or myself. Sam did the right thing and I have thought no more about this. A musical accident no more no less. In these times we live in this is hardly news. I wish Sam all the best for his ongoing career. Peace and love to all.



If we had heartbreak over the number of songs and covers and whatever else they call it that people took from one another, we'd have a lot less music these days. As long as the original songwriters are ok with it and properly credited, it's ok with me.


----------



## minicoop1985

I gotta say, I find it entirely amusing that Beyonce got overlooked for Beck. Everyone knows Beck is better than Beyonce anyway.


----------



## Designer

minicoop1985 said:


> I gotta say, I find it entirely amusing that Beyonce got overlooked for Beck. Everyone knows Beck is better than Beyonce anyway.


But, but...Didn't Beyonce perform at a halftime show or something like that?

That gives her cred.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> If we had heartbreak over the number of songs and covers and whatever else they call it that people took from one another, we'd have a lot less music these days. *As long as the original songwriters are ok with it and properly credited, it's ok with me*.



They weren't originally.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> If we had heartbreak over the number of songs and covers and whatever else they call it that people took from one another, we'd have a lot less music these days. *As long as the original songwriters are ok with it and properly credited, it's ok with me*.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They weren't originally.
Click to expand...

They are now.


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> I want to see a 'Lunch with Ken' gallery.



I don't think there'd be much of an audience for that.  It was cold and damp so I felt more like walking and staying warm than stopping to take pictures, but I did take some and will post whatever I think is interesting.

Your link wouldn't work here (company IT security) but I'll take a look from home later.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I want to see a 'Lunch with Ken' gallery.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think there'd be much of an audience for that.  It was cold and damp so I felt more like walking and staying warm than stopping to take pictures, but I did take some and will post whatever I think is interesting.
> 
> Your link wouldn't work here (company IT security) but I'll take a look from home later.
Click to expand...

Cold, damp and photography often don't mix.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> If we had heartbreak over the number of songs and covers and whatever else they call it that people took from one another, we'd have a lot less music these days. *As long as the original songwriters are ok with it and properly credited, it's ok with me*.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They weren't originally.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They are now.
Click to expand...


True, but they wouldn't have been had the lawyers not done something about it. Smith didn't give Petty and Lynne credit because it was the right thing to do; he did it because he got caught.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> If we had heartbreak over the number of songs and covers and whatever else they call it that people took from one another, we'd have a lot less music these days. *As long as the original songwriters are ok with it and properly credited, it's ok with me*.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They weren't originally.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They are now.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> True, but they wouldn't have been had the lawyers not done something about it. Smith didn't give Petty and Lynne credit because it was the right thing to do; he did it because he got caught.
Click to expand...

Water under the bridge.


----------



## limr

I never said there needed to be a big deal made over it. Obviously, the matter has been settled. That's not going to stop me from being annoyed at the lack of integrity. Just because it's in the past doesn't mean it's de facto ethical.


----------



## sm4him

I actually know a couple of Tom Petty songs.
Who the other people are ya'll are talking about, I have no idea.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> I actually know a couple of Tom Petty songs.
> Who the other people are ya'll are talking about, I have no idea.



To be honest, I never heard of Sam Smith until last week.


----------



## waday

I get annoyed at the lack of integrity, as well. 

But, I'm not saying that because it's in the past it's ethical. All I'm saying is that the big man (not Santa) said it's ok and has been credited to his liking. He got what he wanted and everything was straightened out. Water under the bridge.

If you don't like Sam Smith, don't listen to him. That's what I do to a lot of music.


----------



## limr

This all makes me even less likely to ever listen to his music, and that possibility was already razor thin. And you're still not quite getting what I'm saying, so before this goes into another circle, I'm just going to say whatever and go away.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> And you're still not quite getting what I'm saying, so before this goes into another circle, I'm just going to say whatever and go away.


I guess things got lost in translation from thought to text to someone else's brain. Didn't mean any hard feelings.


----------



## limr

I never had any. I was just trying to figure out how you thought I did!


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> This all makes me even less likely to ever listen to his music, and that possibility was already razor thin. And you're still not quite getting what I'm saying, so before this goes into another circle, I'm just going to say whatever and go away.


When some breach of polite society is exposed, we probably should start thinking about what other possible - no, likely, breaches have been occurring below the radar. 

What we're seeing exposed can be likened to the scum on top of a swamp:

A thin visible layer of depravity floating on top of a whole swamp of corruption.

Senator Daniel Patrick Moynahan called it "defining deviancy down".


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I never had any. I was just trying to figure out how you thought I did!


Sorry! I've been extremely busy lately, so I may not have been reading things as well as I thought!


----------



## bribrius

z


limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> The film camera i bought no worky. Light meter no worky. Ebay seller is offering me a different camera instead. I think i am just going to ask for my money back.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What camera? Is it just the light meter that doesn't work? Are you being offered the same camer, just one with a working light meter, or a different camera altogether?
Click to expand...

told them no .  Looking around ebay . way too many nikonians. Never really had nikons until a few years back.  Bought two konicas instead. I could be a konica boy.  Now i have to go sell those nikon lenses i bought i wont need them.....such a headache........
Happy to getting another konica again. Never really did get over that x girlfriend that took mine. Call me holding a grudge it has been like sixteen years but...
Knowing i have two old konicas coming makes me somehow feel a little better. lmao  Going to have to clean them up, change seals, etc. etc.   i was trying to stay in the nikon line for interchangable lenses but really, i dont even see the point as i dont want to use ais lenses on my digtal nikons anyway.  i do still have a offer in on a nikkormat but doubt they will take it, so need to probably start planning on dumping those couple lenses i bought.   blah blah blah...


----------



## bribrius

and yes, i did do something today. not much but....


----------



## Designer

You made food!  Thank you!


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> You made food!  Thank you!


oh geesh no...lol


----------



## Gary A.

About time you learned to cook ... I hope you have a big family.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> About time you learned to cook ... I hope you have a big family.


i can't even make macaroni and cheese.  For some reason though i make a pretty good omelette and know how to throw steaks on the grill.


----------



## limr

I made some awesome pureed roasted cauliflower with garlic and truffle oil yesterday. Had some for dinner tonight with peas and a tuna burger. Yum.


----------



## Gary A.

Cod tacos tonight then off to a candidates forum at city hall. I'm prepping myself with a glass or two of Lincourt Chardonnay ... smells like apples taste like a tart.


----------



## Gary A.

I like tuna burgers. There's a place around the corner call The Habit. They serve grilled ahi steak burgers.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> I made some awesome pureed roasted cauliflower with garlic and truffle oil yesterday. Had some for dinner tonight with peas and a tuna burger. Yum.


Blech!!!  Even food wouldn't eat that!


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> When I worked downtown LA, sometimes I would shoot on my lunchtime.
> 
> On Broadway ... - GaryAyala



A lot of really nice stuff in there.  Not the sort of thing I do, and I'm not as familiar with street photography as with some genres, but I don't think I've seen any that was better.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I made some awesome pureed roasted cauliflower with garlic and truffle oil yesterday. Had some for dinner tonight with peas and a tuna burger. Yum.
> 
> 
> 
> Blech!!!  Even food wouldn't eat that!
Click to expand...


I can't possibly take this comment seriously coming from someone who eats haggis.

My dinner was delicious


----------



## bribrius

KenC said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> When I worked downtown LA, sometimes I would shoot on my lunchtime.
> 
> On Broadway ... - GaryAyala
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A lot of really nice stuff in there.  Not the sort of thing I do, and I'm not as familiar with street photography as with some genres, but I don't think I've seen any that was better.
Click to expand...

have you seen my in the store  bw collection i took today?


----------



## limr

I find that second one intriguing.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> I can't possibly take this comment seriously coming from someone who eats haggis.
> 
> My dinner was delicious


Mehhhh... you probably shoot Kodak film too...


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> I find that second one intriguing.


Might be the lights. The way the two lined up with the balloons then the row going accross the bottom. That is what i saw anyway. Couldn't spend too much time on it i was in the middle of the store by the checkouts. People start staring..... lol


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> When I worked downtown LA, sometimes I would shoot on my lunchtime.
> 
> On Broadway ... - GaryAyala
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A lot of really nice stuff in there.  Not the sort of thing I do, and I'm not as familiar with street photography as with some genres, but I don't think I've seen any that was better.
Click to expand...

Thanks Ken. That's my old stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

I like #2 as well. Commercializing Love.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> When I worked downtown LA, sometimes I would shoot on my lunchtime.
> 
> On Broadway ... - GaryAyala
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A lot of really nice stuff in there.  Not the sort of thing I do, and I'm not as familiar with street photography as with some genres, but I don't think I've seen any that was better.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks Ken. That's my old stuff.
Click to expand...

i know when i was following your stuff before i was really impressed Gary.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't possibly take this comment seriously coming from someone who eats haggis.
> 
> My dinner was delicious
> 
> 
> 
> Mehhhh... you probably shoot Kodak film too...
Click to expand...


And it's delicious too!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I can't possibly take this comment seriously coming from someone who eats haggis.



Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies:
But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis!


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> I like #2 as well. Commercializing Love.


i'll test it out then. through it on 500px see if it scores above a 80 at least. lol   The quality of the photo actually really sucks other than a abstract perspective.


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> View attachment 95081


Oh, the tilt.  Lemme guess - ya hit the liquor store, first?


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 95081
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, the tilt.  Lemme guess - ya hit the liquor store, first?
Click to expand...

i ain't scared of no tilt.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> I made some awesome pureed roasted cauliflower with garlic and truffle oil yesterday. Had some for dinner tonight with peas and a tuna burger. Yum.


----------



## limr

Philistines.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Philistines.


What... ya' new here or sumfin?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Philistines.
> 
> 
> 
> What... ya' new here or sumfin?
Click to expand...


I should disagree with that, just for revenge.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Philistines.


I much prefer knuckle-dragging troglodyte.


----------



## pgriz

Leonore, let's not tell them about aubergine in avocado oil, with a little parmesan on top...  they will not understand.  (shakes head in sorrow)  You know the saying "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."


----------



## tirediron

Does anyone actually steak any more?????


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Leonore, let's not tell them about aubergine in avocado oil, with a little parmesan on top...  they will not understand.  (shakes head in sorrow)  You know the saying "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."


You're my people, Paul 

Dorothy Parker once said when asked to use 'horticulture' in a sentence: "You can lead a whore to culture, but you can't make her think."


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Does anyone actually steak any more?????



How does one 'steak'? Can't be vampires. That's 'stake.'

I haven't had a steak in 25 years.


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> Leonore, let's not tell them about aubergine in avocado oil, with a little parmesan on top...  they will not understand.  (shakes head in sorrow)  You know the saying "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."


what does that mean?


----------



## tirediron

bribrius said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leonore, let's not tell them about aubergine in avocado oil, with a little parmesan on top...  they will not understand.  (shakes head in sorrow)  You know the saying "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."
> 
> 
> 
> what does that mean?
Click to expand...

I think it's a secret code.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does anyone actually steak any more?????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How does one 'steak'? Can't be vampires. That's 'stake.'
> 
> I haven't had a steak in 25 years.
Click to expand...

One carves off a large section of the back half of a cow, fires up the barbecue and loosens one's waist-band!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Philistines.
> 
> 
> 
> What... ya' new here or sumfin?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I should disagree with that, just for revenge.
Click to expand...


----------



## snerd

Just bought 2 new e-books on my Kindle............

The Forgotten Depression: 1921: The Crash That Cured Itself [Kindle Edition]

American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History [Kindle Edition]

Some troglodytes are slowly evolving.


----------



## pgriz

bribrius said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leonore, let's not tell them about aubergine in avocado oil, with a little parmesan on top...  they will not understand.  (shakes head in sorrow)  You know the saying "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."
> 
> 
> 
> what does that mean?
Click to expand...

This:  Martha Stewarts Baked Eggplant Aubergine Parmesan Recipe - Food.com, replacing olive oil with avocado oil.  But the simplest is usually the best.


----------



## snerd

What do "I" like to hear of a mornin'?!










Now yer talkin'!!!








Y U M   Y U M !!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.

My usual K-Cup (Black Magic, again) then off to DC for the second day of the ESRI Federal Users' GIS Conference.  I have a full schedule of workshops planned.


----------



## sm4him

tirediron said:


> Does anyone actually steak any more?????



 *I* steak. I steaked for dinner on Sunday night. If I could afford it, financially and physically, I'd steak several times a week!  Just nothing quite like a big slab of red meat for dinner.
(Sorry, Lenny and Marija--but if it helps at all, I do also like some of that stuff that meat eats. Veggies are yummy, as long as they are served next to a hunk of meat).


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Good morning, peeps.
> 
> My usual K-Cup (Black Magic, again) then off to DC for the second day of the ESRI Federal Users' GIS Conference.  I have a full schedule of workshops planned.



Costa Rican something or other here.  Just finished cup #1. Thinking about frying up some bacon to go along with cup #2.  Then off to work.

Got my car back from the mechanic yesterday; hooray!! Replaced a $20 part (oil pressure switch), then charged me 3 times that in labor.  But since I would have had no idea HOW to replace that part, it was well worth it. Driving around with the oil light constantly coming on was starting to make me develop a nervous tic.


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> Replaced a $20 part (oil pressure switch), then charged me 3 times that in labor.  But since I would have had no idea HOW to replace that part, it was well worth it.



Getting the wrench to the pressure switch is the hard part.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers.  I see I missed an interesting food discussion last night, although "discussion" may not be the correct term.  I'll eat anything, although I usually avoid beef just because it disagrees with me - I don't really miss it.

Having the morning coffee now.  It doesn't seem to be improving my attitude towards work, but that may be asking too much even of coffee - you think?


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 95081
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, the tilt.  Lemme guess - ya hit the liquor store, first?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> i ain't scared of no tilt.
Click to expand...

If you call it a Dutch Tilt ... it would be considered art.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> Good morning, peeps.
> 
> My usual K-Cup (Black Magic, again) then off to DC for the second day of the ESRI Federal Users' GIS Conference.  I have a full schedule of workshops planned.


what does this mean?


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 95081
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, the tilt.  Lemme guess - ya hit the liquor store, first?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> i ain't scared of no tilt.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If you call it a Dutch Tilt ... it would be considered art.
Click to expand...

i don't even worry about it. Now if i couldn't take a straight photo and didn't know the difference then i would worry. Start worrying about every photo and getting each square you kind of miss the point of shooting.  I like the idea of being free floating with a camera in my hand, not shoved in a imaginary box.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Replaced a $20 part (oil pressure switch), then charged me 3 times that in labor.  But since I would have had no idea HOW to replace that part, it was well worth it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Getting the wrench to the pressure switch is the hard part.
Click to expand...

Yep, with newer cars you gotta start at the top and work your way down. After replacing the part and working your way back up again, you gotta hide all the extra leftover pieces because you forgot where they went.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 95081
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, the tilt.  Lemme guess - ya hit the liquor store, first?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> i ain't scared of no tilt.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If you call it a Dutch Tilt ... it would be considered art.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> i don't even worry about it. Now if i couldn't take a straight photo and didn't know the difference then i would worry. Start worrying about every photo and getting each square you kind of miss the point of shooting.  I like the idea of being free floating with a camera in my hand, not shoved in a imaginary box.
Click to expand...

That's how my five year old grandson shoots. The trick to get as much right in the camera and do minimal in post ... including squares and horizons.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 95081
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, the tilt.  Lemme guess - ya hit the liquor store, first?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> i ain't scared of no tilt.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If you call it a Dutch Tilt ... it would be considered art.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> i don't even worry about it. Now if i couldn't take a straight photo and didn't know the difference then i would worry. Start worrying about every photo and getting each square you kind of miss the point of shooting.  I like the idea of being free floating with a camera in my hand, not shoved in a imaginary box.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's how my five year old grandson shoots. The trick to get as much right in the camera and do minimal in post ... including squares and horizons.
Click to expand...

he must be a good shot like his grandfather.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It's beginning to warm up here this week. In the 70's today should hit 80F+ by the end of the week. Santa Ana conditions where the winds come off the deserts instead of the ocean. At the dog show on Saturday, I was chatting with a guy from San Francisco who wanted to take his dog to the beach. I gave him directions to Dog Beach in Huntington. If it hits 80F maybe I'll take Cook on Friday. She loves the beach.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It's beginning to warm up here this week. In the 70's today should hit 80F+ by the end of the week. Santa Ana conditions where the winds come off the deserts instead of the ocean. At the dog show on Saturday, I was chatting with a guy from San Francisco who wanted to take his dog to the beach. I gave him directions to Dog Beach in Huntington. If it hits 80F maybe I'll take Cook on Friday. She loves the beach.


nice...    when you go to the beach you aren't one of them ones that leaves the dog poo are you?


----------



## limr

Hosers.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, Hosers. More Maxwell house here. Hey, it's caffeine.


----------



## snerd

tirediron said:


> Does anyone actually steak any more?????


3 times a week! Rib-eye, medium-rare, usually at Texas Roadhouse, sometimes Chili's. Yum Yum!!


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It's beginning to warm up here this week. In the 70's today should hit 80F+ by the end of the week. Santa Ana conditions where the winds come off the deserts instead of the ocean. At the dog show on Saturday, I was chatting with a guy from San Francisco who wanted to take his dog to the beach. I gave him directions to Dog Beach in Huntington. If it hits 80F maybe I'll take Cook on Friday. She loves the beach.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> nice...    when you go to the beach you aren't one of them ones that leaves the dog poo are you?
Click to expand...

Please, even on our daily walks, one of which I shall start immediately after finishing this message, I clean up both her and my poo.


----------



## limr

There's a Keurig machine at the new job. I bought a box of Starbucks Sumatra. The coffee is good; I'm just not a big fan of the Keurig machines. It makes coffee a bit more watery than I'm used to and I drink it black, so at least I don't have to worry about bringing in milk.


----------



## bribrius

last year we had the dog at the beach. It poo.  My wife decides covering it with sand would be okay... I just kept thinking if some poor little kid starts digging to build a sand castle ......   "hey mommy look what i found!"


----------



## snerd

Heading to iHop for coffee............... then off to the refuge. I'm going to get pix of a fish ladder on one of the lakes out there. The work was done during the depression era, under the WPA program. As usual when .gov gets involved, there are some truly ghastly blunders made. You see, in Oklahoma, there are NO species of fish that swim upstream to spawn. The fish ladder was totally unneeded. A boondoggle. So, avoiding the politics of it (heeheehee), I'm going to get pix, because I've heard folks talk about it for years, but have never seen it.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> There's a Keurig machine at the new job. I bought a box of Starbucks Sumatra. The coffee is good; I'm just not a big fan of the Keurig machines. It makes coffee a bit more watery than I'm used to and I drink it black, so at least I don't have to worry about bringing in milk.



I don't use the pre-packaged K-Cups. I use the refillable cups you can buy, and then fill them with my own coffee. I don't like coffee all that strong, but one of the benefits of the refillable cups is that when my oldest son comes home for a visit, we can use the bolder coffee grounds and really pack the refillable cup to the brim, then use the medium water setting, so he gets a stronger cup of coffee.


----------



## minicoop1985

Blarb. Don't know if I want to do anything today. No motivation. So sick of gray, cold days... Where you go sun?


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> last year we had the dog at the beach. It poo.  My wife decides covering it with sand would be okay... I just kept thinking if some poor little kid starts digging to build a sand castle ......   "hey mommy look what i found!"


During Cook's morning walks she gets all of it out ... all of it ... multiple poo-ings. When we hit the beach she's as light as she can be.


----------



## snerd

minicoop1985 said:


> Blarb. Don't know if I want to do anything today. No motivation. So sick of gray, cold days... Where you go sun?


Go make your own sunshine, sunshine.   : - D



Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

Dog poo and fish ladders........ yep, must be in The Coffee House thread lol!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

Breakfast & Coffee





Yum Yum!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> Dog poo and fish ladders........ yep, must be in The Coffee House thread lol!!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro



We should've made our mascot a Walrus instead of a Gnome. 

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."


----------



## snerd

This too shall pass........


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> This too shall pass........
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro



If you're talking about that iHop breakfast…yeah, trust me, it certainly will!!


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> This too shall pass........


 Your breakfast or Sharon's Lewis Caroll quotes?


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> This too shall pass........
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you're talking about that iHop breakfast…yeah, trust me, it certainly will!!
Click to expand...

And ... God willing ... quickly. (Something about a goose comes to mind.)


----------



## Gary A.

"But wait a bit," the Oysters cried,
"Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!"
"No hurry!" said the Carpenter.
They thanked him much for that."


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> "But wait a bit," the Oysters cried,
> "Before we have our chat;
> For some of us are out of breath,
> And all of us are fat!"
> "No hurry!" said the Carpenter.
> They thanked him much for that."




I really wanted to add that to my original post, and state that I mostly identify with the oysters.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> "But wait a bit," the Oysters cried,
> "Before we have our chat;
> For some of us are out of breath,
> And all of us are fat!"
> "No hurry!" said the Carpenter.
> They thanked him much for that."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I really wanted to add that to my original post, and state that I mostly identify with the oysters.
Click to expand...

I'm an oyster.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> This too shall pass........
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you're talking about that iHop breakfast…yeah, trust me, it certainly will!!
Click to expand...


Or maybe not


----------



## limr

CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP.

New boss chews loud enough that I hear it in the next office. Mouth.Wide.Open. Smacking and slurping.

I'm in hell.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP.
> 
> New boss chews loud enough that I hear it in the next office. Mouth.Wide.Open. Smacking and slurping.
> 
> I'm in hell.



OH NO!!!!!!!!

Where's the "I agree with this post, in the sense that I agree this really, really sucks wind" icon?


----------



## limr

Time to buy some ear plugs for lunchtime. 

Luckily, I'm only here 3 times a week and he's not always here.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> This too shall pass........
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you're talking about that iHop breakfast…yeah, trust me, it certainly will!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Or maybe not
Click to expand...

LOL ... what's with all the negative vibes ...


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Time to buy some ear plugs for lunchtime.
> 
> Luckily, I'm only here 3 times a week and he's not always here.


Look online for pro-level earplugs.


----------



## Gary A.

The oyster in me is wondering what's he eating ...?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> The oyster in me is wondering what's he eating ...?



Soup and egg salad.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The oyster in me is wondering what's he eating ...?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Soup and egg salad.
Click to expand...

There are times like this I hate the oyster in me.


----------



## Gary A.

The Cook and I are in the patio taking in this perfect winter day. She's a bit tuckered out from chasing all the geese at the park. There's a turtle on the island in the pond sticking her head in the water ... a flight of four Monarchs are spiraling upwards and I just tossed the waste dough from my bread starter kit onto the George Foreman just to see what happens ... meanwhile I'm sip a spot of Lemon-Mango tea, and working on my Peace March photos.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> The Cook and I are in the patio taking in this perfect winter day. She a bit tuckered out from chasing all the geese at the park. There's a turtle on the island in the pond sticking she head in the water ... a flight of four Monarchs are spiraling upwards and I just tossed the waste dough from my bread starter kit onto the George Foreman just to see what happens while I sip a spot of Lemon-Mango tea, while also working on my Peace March photos.


----------



## limr

I'm listening to a conversation about a rent dispute, working on a probate case, and looking longingly out the window.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> I'm listening to a conversation about a rent dispute, working on a probate case, and looking longingly out the window.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP.
> 
> New boss chews loud enough that I hear it in the next office. Mouth.Wide.Open. Smacking and slurping.
> 
> I'm in hell.


OMG!!! LOL!!!!! Sorry Lenny, I imagine that's hell for you for sure. What were the odds?!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## minicoop1985

O noes. Poor Leonore.

Have I mentioned how much I love off camera TTL flash?


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP.
> 
> New boss chews loud enough that I hear it in the next office. Mouth.Wide.Open. Smacking and slurping.
> 
> I'm in hell.


If you sometimes wonder whatever happened to the person who was in this job?  Where did she go?  Why did she leave?  

Oh.  Now I know.


----------



## bribrius

bought a cheap lighting kit. tired of my portraits looking like crap. i dunno though, triggers, sync,   sounding over my head and it isn't even here yet. Gotta do something though. My portrait attempts are looking like crap...

just a cheap one. im not really into it enough to spend serious money and the higher ones well, i cant spend a grand or two on a lighting kit...


----------



## bribrius

im going to be able to put away my work lights now though and stop using flashlights and tinfoil.. should help...


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> O noes. Poor Leonore.
> 
> Have I mentioned how much I love off camera TTL flash?


i dont even have a off camera flash. ...


----------



## tirediron

bribrius said:


> im going to be able to put away my work lights now though and stop using flashlights and tinfoil.. should help...


And if you have problems, I understand there are places called "Four-ems" (or something like that) where you can find all sorts of helpful people to offer assistance!


----------



## bribrius

tirediron said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> im going to be able to put away my work lights now though and stop using flashlights and tinfoil.. should help...
> 
> 
> 
> And if you have problems, I understand there are places called "Four-ems" (or something like that) where you can find all sorts of helpful people to offer assistance!
Click to expand...

honestly i am going to need it. i ordered the studio kit plus two speedlights with remote triggers in a package deal....     I had to do something though i am hanging out blankets for backdrops and using work lights, had no off camera flash . i was going nuts.....  really hoping the studio kit works out it is the square something  entry level kit.


----------



## minicoop1985

You're gonna love off camera flash. If you're using TTL, even better.


----------



## bribrius

actually that is still near six hundred or so, add to the other stuff this week i am over a grand somewhere. My wife is going to kill me...I think my hobby became a addiction..


minicoop1985 said:


> You're gonna love off camera flash. If you're using TTL, even better.


My wife is going to kill me. I spent a grand this week on camera stuff. i think i left the hobbyist phase at this point..  she is already telling me to start earning money back it is becoming too expensive...


----------



## bribrius

wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...   But i had too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> bought a cheap lighting kit. tired of my portraits looking like crap. i dunno though, triggers, sync,   sounding over my head and it isn't even here yet. Gotta do something though. My portrait attempts are looking like crap...
> 
> just a cheap one. im not really into it enough to spend serious money and the higher ones well, i cant spend a grand or two on a lighting kit...


You need to see the light. KISS it in the beginning (Keep It Simple Stupid).






Window lighting. No flash, no reflectors, no triggers, no digital ... just a camera and a window.


----------



## bribrius




----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> bought a cheap lighting kit. tired of my portraits looking like crap. i dunno though, triggers, sync,   sounding over my head and it isn't even here yet. Gotta do something though. My portrait attempts are looking like crap...
> 
> just a cheap one. im not really into it enough to spend serious money and the higher ones well, i cant spend a grand or two on a lighting kit...
> 
> 
> 
> You need to see the light. KISS it in the beginning (Keep It Simple Stupid).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Window lighting. No flash, no reflectors, no triggers, no digital ... just a camera and a window.
Click to expand...

yeah i have done them. But it is different when i am trying to shoot portraits without having that perfect window light.  That is more a casual shot than a background portrait type shot.


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> actually that is still near six hundred or so, add to the other stuff this week i am over a grand somewhere. My wife is going to kill me...I think my hobby became a addiction..
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You're gonna love off camera flash. If you're using TTL, even better.
> 
> 
> 
> My wife is going to kill me. I spent a grand this week on camera stuff. i think i left the hobbyist phase at this point..  she is already telling me to start earning money back it is becoming too expensive...
Click to expand...

Wifey smifey!!!! Good for you!!!

Me- running off to hide cause I'm scared and it's not even me lol!!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> You're gonna love off camera flash. If you're using TTL, even better.


i think so....   All i know is i was going nuts. Remember i was trying to do the digital backgrounds too?  i basically did everything i could trying to get out of buying the stuff but there really isn't any way around it. And i could use the off camera flash for outside as well.


----------



## Designer

Good luck!

Tell us when you get the stuff.  

If you're still alive.


----------



## minicoop1985

My wife has the camera bug too. I show yup with new TTL flash triggers and she asks "Can I borrow them?" She always gets mad when I tell her that her dumb Sony hot shoe won't work with them.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> Good luck!
> 
> Tell us when you get the stuff.
> 
> If you're still alive.


speedlights says three more days. studio kit says a week........  And thanks. I really want my konica film cameras too but u.p.s. says they havent left yet. Oddly enough i have filters that already came in.  I will never understand the mail.


----------



## minicoop1985

Post some pics so we know what we got.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 95081
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, the tilt.  Lemme guess - ya hit the liquor store, first?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> i ain't scared of no tilt.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If you call it a Dutch Tilt ... it would be considered art.
Click to expand...

And still an overdone cliche technique.  </rant>


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> We should've made our mascot a Walrus instead of a Gnome.
> 
> "The time has come," the Walrus said,
> "To talk of many things:
> Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
> Of cabbages--and kings--
> And why the sea is boiling hot--
> And whether pigs have wings."





Gary A. said:


> "But wait a bit," the Oysters cried,
> "Before we have our chat;
> For some of us are out of breath,
> And all of us are fat!"
> "No hurry!" said the Carpenter.
> They thanked him much for that."



I am the egg man, I am the egg man
I am the walrus
goo goo goo joob


----------



## snowbear

Second day of the GIS conference.  It was cold going in, this morning.  I had to scrape ice off of the car and there was a little bit of snow mixed in with the freezing rain.

Former Governor of MD, Martin O'Malley was one of the keynote speakers, along with Robert Cardillo, Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.  O'Malley certainly is champion of GIS as a management tool in government, but his talk was, at times, leaning towards campaigning.

Please, no political responses.  If you're interested in MO'M's support of GIS, just Google Citistat (Baltimore City), Statestat or BaysStat (State of MD)


----------



## LakeFX

snowbear said:


> Good morning, peeps.
> 
> My usual K-Cup (Black Magic, again) then off to DC for the second day of the ESRI Federal Users' GIS Conference.  I have a full schedule of workshops planned.


Hey, another GIS professional! I don't get to go to many of the fun conferences though.


----------



## bribrius

what is gis?


----------



## snowbear

LakeFX said:


> Hey, another GIS professional! I don't get to go to many of the fun conferences though.


Wow - there's two of us!  I just started - I'm the world's oldest intern.  The only reason I got to go to this is because our ESRI rep gave us tickets.



bribrius said:


> what is gis?


Geographic (or Geospatial) Information Systems (or Science).  Computer drawn maps and so much more.  Basically it's using geographic information to make decisions.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> LakeFX said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, another GIS professional! I don't get to go to many of the fun conferences though.
> 
> 
> 
> Wow - there's two of us!  I just started - I'm the world's oldest intern.  The only reason I got to go to this is because our ESRI rep gave us tickets.
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> what is gis?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Geographic (or Geospatial) Information Systems (or Science).  Computer drawn maps and so much more.  Basically it's using geographic information to make decisions.
Click to expand...

examples?


----------



## snowbear

https://www.arcgis.com/home/

My current projects are rebuilding the Fire-EMS Department's "Run Cards" (what stations go to what calls) on a system based on driving times, instead of linear distances; and a geographic system that will allow businesses to "Adopt a Neighborhood" and provide money for smoke detectors, tracking which homes have had them installed by the department.

I also interned at NOAA, preparing the road and railroad databases to be placed on the Electronic Navigation Charts (ENCs).

Google "citistat' or 'statestat' as well.


----------



## LakeFX

snowbear said:


> Wow - there's two of us!  I just started - I'm the world's oldest intern.  The only reason I got to go to this is because our ESRI rep gave us tickets.



Welcome to the profession! I've been in GIS for almost 15 years now. I currently work for the state and also teach GIS and computer science at the local community college. 

I did get to go to the ESRI education users conference one year to present a Web based teaching tool I developed and it was one of the better organized conferences I've been to.


----------



## bribrius

i get the point of it. But it actually sounds incredibly  boring. suppose it could be more interesting with a first hand experience.


----------



## LakeFX

bribrius said:


> i get the point of it. But it actually sounds incredibly  boring. suppose it could be more interesting with a first hand experience.


It's boring in the way that photo editing suites are boring. Software is inherently boring. It's a tool that you can do really fun stuff with.


----------



## snerd

snowbear said:


> ...... Please, no political responses......


LOL! You learned that from Lew, didn't you?! Get your political statement in, then say this isn't a political post so no one else can say anything political! Good show, old chap!!

If I had any idea what you were talking about, I might challenge you with something political. Alas....... I haven't a clue what you're on about!!


----------



## snowbear

LakeFX said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow - there's two of us!  I just started - I'm the world's oldest intern.  The only reason I got to go to this is because our ESRI rep gave us tickets.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Welcome to the profession! I've been in GIS for almost 15 years now. I currently work for the state and also teach GIS and computer science at the local community college.
> 
> I did get to go to the ESRI education users conference one year to present a Web based teaching tool I developed and it was one of the better organized conferences I've been to.
Click to expand...


Thanks.

I retired from County government in 2009.  I had been going to Univ of MD, part time for about 6 years working on a BS in Geography/GIS. When I retired, I went full time for three semesters and graduated in December 2010.

Bri: It's boring to some, but I really enjoy it, especially the cartography.  I've made wall maps for fire stations, maps that my boss uses to show citizens why we are building a new station at the site we've chosen, routing and coverage maps that are being used to determine the best places to house an ambulance, maps showing mock tornado tracks for a table-top emergency management exercise, and maps used to settle disputes over which station goes on a call to a certain location.  I also get to play around with Python programming which I'm really getting to like (I was a COBOL programmer a number of years ago).  One side project I'm working on is collecting the addresses (and thus the lat-long coordinates) of all fire station in the state of MD and surrounding counties in  DE, VA, WV and PA, including Federal installations (bases, etc.)

I've actually started a blog on my main project (roads network and the run cards) as a guide to other newcomers.


----------



## pixmedic

Omg.....it's 44 degrees out this morning.  Where's my jacket?!?


----------



## snowbear

pixmedic said:


> Omg.....it's 44 degrees out this morning.  Where's my jacket?!?


27F now.  Going up to 43F.  It's supposed to get cold, later in the week.


----------



## sm4him

Our county TPO (Transit Planning Organization) uses GIS to create the background maps for our schedules. They create the base map and then send it to me and I create the actual schedules.
We also use their GIS information for a lot of our planning and development work.


----------



## sm4him

It's 26°F right now, but going up to about 56°.  Then the bottom drops out and we'll barely make it above freezing (32°) tomorrow.  But it's nearly the middle of February, so it becomes a LITTLE easier to tell myself this won't last forever so that maybe I won't give up and go crawl in a hole somewhere.  If I lived in Boston, I'd have done myself in by now.

But, my whole being is weary of winter, of cold, and dreariness and grey.  Winter just sucks the life out of me.  I NEED to be able to put the top down on the little convertible!


----------



## limr

Ooooh, 7 degrees out right now. High of 28. it's going to be a cold weekend with lows in the negative numbers and highs in the teens.

It's about time I've had a proper winter. I know what this means, of course. I'm going to be punished with a hot summer. Though really, any summer is too hot for me. I wish I could hibernate through it.


----------



## mmaria




----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Ooooh, 7 degrees out right now. High of 28. it's going to be a cold weekend with lows in the negative numbers and highs in the teens.
> 
> It's about time I've had a proper winter. I know what this means, of course. I'm going to be punished with a hot summer. Though really, any summer is too hot for me. I wish I could hibernate through it.



Pretty cold here this weekend as well, although not quite as bad.  I've had enough winter about now, although I too dislike hot summer weather.  Hibernating through it would be OK if we got the time back later, say by not having to sleep in the Spring and Fall - no one's offered me that deal though.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Ooooh, 7 degrees out right now. High of 28. it's going to be a cold weekend with lows in the negative numbers and highs in the teens.
> 
> It's about time I've had a proper winter. I know what this means, of course. I'm going to be punished with a hot summer. Though really, any summer is too hot for me. I wish I could hibernate through it.


meh. eleven degrees I noticed something.  Since I am not working winter doesn't seem so bad. I don't really HAVE to be out in cold temps much. Kinda optional .   No cleaning off the truck and scraping the windshield to run to work at 5 a.m.  winter isn't so bad when you can decide more when you want to go out in it. Like when it snows. I can take my time more. No running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Kind of happy I am not plowing commercially anymore too. That was a rat race. I am in a weird habit. I left the truck running for three  hours straight the other day. Normally I would just leave it running for extended periods so It was dethawed and ready to go.  I thought about it three hours later and remembered I don't have to do that anymore. .I have time to warm it up again and scrape the window if need be.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> LakeFX said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow - there's two of us!  I just started - I'm the world's oldest intern.  The only reason I got to go to this is because our ESRI rep gave us tickets.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Welcome to the profession! I've been in GIS for almost 15 years now. I currently work for the state and also teach GIS and computer science at the local community college.
> 
> I did get to go to the ESRI education users conference one year to present a Web based teaching tool I developed and it was one of the better organized conferences I've been to.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> I retired from County government in 2009.  I had been going to Univ of MD, part time for about 6 years working on a BS in Geography/GIS. When I retired, I went full time for three semesters and graduated in December 2010.
> 
> Bri: It's boring to some, but I really enjoy it, especially the cartography.  I've made wall maps for fire stations, maps that my boss uses to show citizens why we are building a new station at the site we've chosen, routing and coverage maps that are being used to determine the best places to house an ambulance, maps showing mock tornado tracks for a table-top emergency management exercise, and maps used to settle disputes over which station goes on a call to a certain location.  I also get to play around with Python programming which I'm really getting to like (I was a COBOL programmer a number of years ago).  One side project I'm working on is collecting the addresses (and thus the lat-long coordinates) of all fire station in the state of MD and surrounding counties in  DE, VA, WV and PA, including Federal installations (bases, etc.)
> 
> I've actually started a blog on my main project (roads network and the run cards) as a guide to other newcomers.
Click to expand...

Hey Charlie, I found these interesting:
10 Interesting Maps


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 55F right now but the wind in coming in from the northeast. Supposed to hit 80F+ today. I turned on the front sprinklers. My allergies have been kicking in big time, making me miserable and grumpy as opposed to being merely grumpy.


----------



## SquarePeg

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ooooh, 7 degrees out right now. High of 28. it's going to be a cold weekend with lows in the negative numbers and highs in the teens.
> 
> It's about time I've had a proper winter. I know what this means, of course. I'm going to be punished with a hot summer. Though really, any summer is too hot for me. I wish I could hibernate through it.
> 
> 
> 
> meh. eleven degrees I noticed something.  Since I am not working winter doesn't seem so bad. I don't really HAVE to be out in cold temps much. Kinda optional .   No cleaning off the truck and scraping the windshield to run to work at 5 a.m.  winter isn't so bad when you can decide more when you want to go out in it. Like when it snows. I can take my time more. No running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Kind of happy I am not plowing commercially anymore too. That was a rat race. I am in a weird habit. I left the truck running for three  hours straight the other day. Normally I would just leave it running for extended periods so It was dethawed and ready to go.  I thought about it three hours later and remembered I don't have to do that anymore. .I have time to warm it up again and scrape the window if need be.
Click to expand...


That's it exactly.  When I worked in Boston I HATED the cold and winter was torture.  Waiting outside for the bus/train, walking 6 windy bitterly cold blocks, slipping and slushing  to the office and back...  just thinking about it makes me cold.  Now that I work from home or drive to my local office, it's not so bad.  

Of course it still feels like a lost 10 weeks from New Year's to mid March.  Expecting more snow later this week - actually it's snowing g right now but the sun is peeking through.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ugh, I agree. Winter here's too damned cold.


----------



## limr

Hey bri, you're just poking the angry bear over in that film thread, aren't you?


----------



## minicoop1985

So I'm going to be giving up sort of on the photographer I was most hoping to second shoot for and branch out a little, try networking a bit. He hasn't gotten back to me and it's been a week now, so I'm guessing either he's on vacation or doesn't want me on board. Either way, I'll just try some other places. Can't hurt.


----------



## minicoop1985

Just as I was saying I'll give up on him, he emails me back.  he hasn't had a chance to see my portfolio, but when he does he wants to meet over a beer.  AND I've got a second studio that wants me to try shooting for them if I haven't found anything by April. YAY!


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Just as I was saying I'll give up on him, he emails me back.  he hasn't had a chance to see my portfolio, but when he does he wants to meet over a beer.  AND I've got a second studio that wants me to try shooting for them if I haven't found anything by April. YAY!



Yay!!


----------



## sm4him

Just got back from a social media conference. Speaker spent two hours talking, delivered about 45 seconds of actual useful content.
To his credit, that was 30 seconds more of useful content than I'd expected. I went because my boss, and her boss, decided I should go, not because it sounded at all interesting to me.

They did serve lunch--it was okayish. I had a Greek salad because I didn't trust them to not have slathered mayo on all the sandwiches.
But they didn't have coffee--definite points off for that. They did have bottled water, but it wasn't cold. Barely even room temp. Blech. The only other beverage choices were Pepsi (which I hate) and some kind of energy drink.
So I got the energy drink.  Then after the seminar I went to a nearby coffee shop and had a cup of coffee. Or two. Possibly three.

Energy drink. Three cups of coffee. Should be an interesting afternoon.


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> Just as I was saying I'll give up on him, he emails me back.  he hasn't had a chance to see my portfolio, but when he does he wants to meet over a beer.  AND I've got a second studio that wants me to try shooting for them if I haven't found anything by April. YAY!



I'd wondered if you'd heard anything. Hope he "gets a chance" to look at it SOON. Nothing much worse than the waiting.


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> Just got back from a social media conference. Speaker spent two hours talking, delivered about 45 seconds of actual useful content.
> To his credit, that was 30 seconds more of useful content than I'd expected. I went because my boss, and her boss, decided I should go, not because it sounded at all interesting to me.
> 
> They did serve lunch--it was okayish. I had a Greek salad because I didn't trust them to not have slathered mayo on all the sandwiches.
> But they didn't have coffee--definite points off for that. They did have bottled water, but it wasn't cold. Barely even room temp. Blech. The only other beverage choices were Pepsi (which I hate) and some kind of energy drink.
> So I got the energy drink.  Then after the seminar I went to a nearby coffee shop and had a cup of coffee. Or two. Possibly three.
> 
> Energy drink. Three cups of coffee. Should be an interesting afternoon.



Lunch at a conference without coffee?!  Criminal!!  You have to find better conferences to attend - maybe this is why your boss sent you instead of going herself (assuming she didn't go - not clear to me).

Now that you've been to the coffee shop I suppose no one will see you this afternoon because you're moving too fast.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Hey bri, you're just poking the angry bear over in that film thread, aren't you?


just making friendly conversation   Really just pissed my konica isn't in yet i wanna go shoot some film


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Just as I was saying I'll give up on him, he emails me back.  he hasn't had a chance to see my portfolio, but when he does he wants to meet over a beer.  AND I've got a second studio that wants me to try shooting for them if I haven't found anything by April. YAY!


you can.t just hang your shingle?  Or you trying to work for someone else to learn more? what is the objective? thought you worked in a camera store now.


----------



## minicoop1985

I tried operating my own business but with no advertising budget it wasn't working out. I was working on getting a job in a camera store, but they don't have the budget to hire someone to replace the person that left. So now I'm working on getting a job as a photographer at a local studio, and now I have two that are interested in having me work for them.


----------



## snerd

My fish ladder cell pics are up, here...................

Fish Ladder Photography Forum


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Hey Charlie, I found these interesting:
> 10 Interesting Maps


I've seen a couple opf those; thanks.  Here's one pf my favorites, ever since seeing it in the 1970s: http://odtmaps.com/images/products/WUS-36x56-LT.jpg


----------



## snerd

Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> View attachment 95174
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


 Cool!!!  Snerd's buying new cameras for everyone!


----------



## pgriz

snerd said:


> View attachment 95174
> 
> Now you see, right there's the problem.  If you had been sober, you'd have had 8 million!
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> he hasn't had a chance to see my portfolio, but when he does he wants to meet over a beer.


That's how you do it - get him drunk, first!


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> he hasn't had a chance to see my portfolio, but when he does he wants to meet over a beer.
> 
> 
> 
> That's how you do it - get him drunk, first!
Click to expand...

What blaspheme.  You should meet over a cup of Coffee.


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> he hasn't had a chance to see my portfolio, but when he does he wants to meet over a beer.
> 
> 
> 
> That's how you do it - get him drunk, first!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What blaspheme.  You should meet over a cup of Coffee.
Click to expand...

Not at all -- it's the tradition method to social events: first get loaded then drink black coffee.  Of course, all that produces is a wide-awake drunk, but, hey.


----------



## mmaria

I just wanted to send a  or even  to my ma and Leo 


I kind of miss you guys... this thread became difficult for me to follow and I'm not on tpf that often anymore


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> he hasn't had a chance to see my portfolio, but when he does he wants to meet over a beer.
> 
> 
> 
> That's how you do it - get him drunk, first!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What blaspheme.  You should meet over a cup of Coffee.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not at all -- it's the tradition method to social events: first get loaded then drink black coffee.  Of course, all that produces is a wide-awake drunk, but, hey.
Click to expand...

he really just want to see what kind of beer minicoop. Drinks. If Minicoop gets a miller lite he wont be hired.


----------



## bribrius

mmaria said:


> I just wanted to send a  or even  to my ma and Leo
> 
> 
> I kind of miss you guys... this thread became difficult for me to follow and I'm not on tpf that often anymore


you quit photography. Understood though. If you dont like it why do it.


----------



## mmaria

bribrius said:


> you quit photography. Understood though. If you dont like it why do it.


who? what? when? where? why?


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> I just wanted to send a  or even  to my ma and Leo
> 
> 
> I kind of miss you guys... this thread became difficult for me to follow and I'm not on tpf that often anymore



Miss you too, darlin!  You've been busy, I've been busy, Sharon's been busy...it happens.


----------



## Designer

mmaria said:


> this thread became difficult for me to follow and I'm not on tpf that often anymore



It hasn't been easy to follow even checking in on a daily basis.


----------



## Designer

On any given day there are multiple conversations going that have nothing to do with each other.  Best not to overthink it.


----------



## sm4him

HEY, Marija!!! I miss you too!! 

Did  and  show up at your house yet?  I had the feeling it could take quite a while.




limr said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just wanted to send a  or even  to my ma and Leo
> 
> 
> I kind of miss you guys... this thread became difficult for me to follow and I'm not on tpf that often anymore
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Miss you too, darlin!  You've been busy, I've been busy, Sharon's been busy...it happens.
Click to expand...


And Sharon's about to get even busier--about to pick up an extra contract job, doing all the ads for a local Office On Aging's Senior Service Directory. I did this for them three years ago (the last time they did it; new edition every three years), so I'm excited that they want me to do it again. It's some pretty decent money for not a whole lot of work, but it DOES mean an hour or two most every night, after my regular job.

And, if things REALLY pan out, I may also get a one-time job doing some photography for a local non-profit. I don't expect to get it, because I'm putting in a pretty high bid, but it's my "if you just really WANT to pay me a boatload of money, I'd do this" price.  I'd say there's about a .5% chance I'd actually get the job.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> he hasn't had a chance to see my portfolio, but when he does he wants to meet over a beer.
> 
> 
> 
> That's how you do it - get him drunk, first!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What blaspheme.  You should meet over a cup of Coffee.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not at all -- it's the tradition method to social events: first get loaded then drink black coffee.  Of course, all that produces is a wide-awake drunk, but, hey.
Click to expand...

Charlie, while I agree with your remark about the proper climate to conduct business is drunk ... I think gryphonslair99 may be making reference to an alcoholic beverage in a Coffee House. (ala here)


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Charlie, while I agree with your remake about the proper climate to conduct business is drunk ... I think gryphonslair99 may be making reference to an alcoholic beverage in a Coffee House. (ala here)



I'd be okay with serving booze in the Coffee House  
A little Scotch goes nicely with an espresso.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Charlie, while I agree with your remake about the proper climate to conduct business is drunk ... I think gryphonslair99 may be making reference to an alcoholic beverage in a Coffee House. (ala here)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd be okay with serving booze in the Coffee House
> A little Scotch goes nicely with an espresso.
Click to expand...


I'll take an Irish Coffee, please!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The Santa Ana's have kicked in and warmed the place up. I planted a few tomatoes, peppers and spinach yesterday. Last night on slug patrol, it was quite cool, then a breeze would slide into the yard and I could feel a significant difference in temp. Santa Ana's are sorta like Chinooks or Sciroccos. Hey Sharon, my monies on you for the photo gig. The best doesn't come cheap. I'm almost finished with my Peace March images. Probably today, then I'll iMovie them.


----------



## Gary A.

Brandy in my coffee ....


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> HEY, Marija!!! I miss you too!!
> 
> Did  and  show up at your house yet?  I had the feeling it could take quite a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just wanted to send a  or even  to my ma and Leo
> 
> 
> I kind of miss you guys... this thread became difficult for me to follow and I'm not on tpf that often anymore
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Miss you too, darlin!  You've been busy, I've been busy, Sharon's been busy...it happens.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And Sharon's about to get even busier--about to pick up an extra contract job, doing all the ads for a local Office On Aging's Senior Service Directory. I did this for them three years ago (the last time they did it; new edition every three years), so I'm excited that they want me to do it again. It's some pretty decent money for not a whole lot of work, but it DOES mean an hour or two most every night, after my regular job.
> 
> And, if things REALLY pan out, I may also get a one-time job doing some photography for a local non-profit. I don't expect to get it, because I'm putting in a pretty high bid, but it's my "if you just really WANT to pay me a boatload of money, I'd do this" price.  I'd say there's about a .5% chance I'd actually get the job.
Click to expand...

i should be charging. Some of these businesses or restaurants i shoot end up wanting a image for their web pages or facebook or whatever and i have given a few away. Same with churches. I guess i just don't think i am "pro" enough to charge and they probably wouldn't pay for the images anyway. i mostly shoot this stuff for my personal collection as business and buildings seem to come and go so i keep sort records of them.


----------



## Gary A.

When I first started purchasing whole beans, back in the *shutter*  70's ... my purveyor had beans that were soaked in brandy ... that made for a splendid cup morning or night. I think I'll experiment with that today.


----------



## bribrius

It has gotten to the point a couple have emailed me asking me to shoot their place, and send them images. Perhaps that is the line where i should be saying no or asking for them to cough up money. I did say no to one a month back.


----------



## Gary A.

It's been a week or so and I haven't baked a loaf of bread yet ... still messing with cultures and starters ... but I think my starter is noticeably raising and falling with feedings. Maybe tomorrow I'll toss the dough into the BBQ.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> It has gotten to the point a couple have emailed me asking me to shoot their place, and send them images. Perhaps that is the line where i should be saying no or asking for them to cough up money. I did say no to one a month back.


When they call you is definitely a good starting point to begin charging.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> When I first started purchasing whole beans, back in the *shutter*  70's ... my purveyor had beans that were soaked in brandy ... that made for a splendid cup morning or night. I think I'll experiment with that today.



Yum!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> When I first started purchasing whole beans, back in the *shutter*  70's ... my purveyor had beans that were soaked in brandy ... that made for a splendid cup morning or night. I think I'll experiment with that today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yum!
Click to expand...

I'll google for a recipe (times for soaking and drying methodologies) ... if it works I'll send you a kilo.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> It has gotten to the point a couple have emailed me asking me to shoot their place, and send them images. Perhaps that is the line where i should be saying no or asking for them to cough up money. I did say no to one a month back.
> 
> 
> 
> When they call you is definitely a good starting point to begin charging.
Click to expand...

Don't know if they would be willing to pay for them anyway. And if it was only a couple hundred bucks would rather not have the money and not have the obligations of the commercial work.  something to think about i suppose.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> It has gotten to the point a couple have emailed me asking me to shoot their place, and send them images. Perhaps that is the line where i should be saying no or asking for them to cough up money. I did say no to one a month back.
> 
> 
> 
> When they call you is definitely a good starting point to begin charging.
Click to expand...


I've actually had requests for a couple of years now, but I've actively *avoided* charging--not because I'm not "good enough" but because I really just don't want to deal with the hassle of being "in business." IF I start charging, then I *will* get a business license, make sure it's all legit and taxes are paid to the proper places (I already HAVE insurance). And so far, the sheer thought of all that bookkeeping keeps me from accepting jobs for pay.
But, this is one that I guess would cross that line. They ARE going to pay somebody, to take pictures of about 25 local businesses, inside and out.  If they are willing to pay what I'm going to charge to do it (and based on what I know they paid for a logo design, they ARE willing to pay a decent amount), then it would probably turn the tide for me and make it worth it for me to start an actual business. 
The money would be really nice--but the hassle wouldn't, so I find myself not caring much whether I get the job or not.


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> It has gotten to the point a couple have emailed me asking me to shoot their place, and send them images. Perhaps that is the line where i should be saying no or asking for them to cough up money. I did say no to one a month back.
> 
> 
> 
> When they call you is definitely a good starting point to begin charging.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've actually had requests for a couple of years now, but I've actively *avoided* charging--not because I'm not "good enough" but because I really just don't want to deal with the hassle of being "in business." IF I start charging, then I *will* get a business license, make sure it's all legit and taxes are paid to the proper places (I already HAVE insurance). And so far, the sheer thought of all that bookkeeping keeps me from accepting jobs for pay.
> But, this is one that I guess would cross that line. They ARE going to pay somebody, to take pictures of about 25 local businesses, inside and out.  If they are willing to pay what I'm going to charge to do it (and based on what I know they paid for a logo design, they ARE willing to pay a decent amount), then it would probably turn the tide for me and make it worth it for me to start an actual business.
> The money would be really nice--but the hassle wouldn't, so I find myself not caring much whether I get the job or not.
Click to expand...

Entire thing is weird. I was talking to the lady that shot for one of the ymca.   She took the job as a one time photo shoot to pay for her 5dIII.   She isn't even a business or a pro. just wanted to pay off her camera.


----------



## bribrius

oh that was near a year ago. Haven't really talked to her since. But she works a reg job i don't think she intended on even doing another shoot. Just wanted to pay off her camera. How she got it to start with i am guessing she new someone that new someone.......


----------



## minicoop1985

White Russians will work, I think. Coffee and booze!

In other news, it's going to be a balmy 8 degrees here today. Yay. It's sunny and inviting, but the moment you open that door it's NOPE


----------



## tirediron

bribrius said:


> It has gotten to the point a couple have emailed me asking me to shoot their place, and send them images. Perhaps that is the line where i should be saying no or asking for them to cough up money. I did say no to one a month back.


 "Come to my house, work for me and give me the product"  Damn right they should pay.  Would they expect the local handyman to comer over and clean their gutters free of charge?


----------



## bribrius

tirediron said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> It has gotten to the point a couple have emailed me asking me to shoot their place, and send them images. Perhaps that is the line where i should be saying no or asking for them to cough up money. I did say no to one a month back.
> 
> 
> 
> "Come to my house, work for me and give me the product"  Damn right they should pay.  Would they expect the local handyman to comer over and clean their gutters free of charge?
Click to expand...

yeah. It is tough though. I am not a pro. Most of my work doesn't equal pro level. YOU on the other hand are.  So hell yah, if i were you i would charge.  I am trying to bring myself up the the point of being able to shoot anything anywhere (commercial or not) just not there yet. You probably noticed i shoot about anything in any conditions but the quality of my work is meh, mediocre at times.  And it takes me a few tries to nail something. Kind of like people shooting portraits for free for experience. I kinda think i am in that stage with commercial work in general. I compare my commercial like work to real pros. And i ain't there.  Forget i said anything i am stressing out over this now i think i will stick to shooting photos of my dog.


----------



## tirediron

bribrius said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> It has gotten to the point a couple have emailed me asking me to shoot their place, and send them images. Perhaps that is the line where i should be saying no or asking for them to cough up money. I did say no to one a month back.
> 
> 
> 
> "Come to my house, work for me and give me the product"  Damn right they should pay.  Would they expect the local handyman to comer over and clean their gutters free of charge?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> yeah. It is tough though. I am not a pro. Most of my work doesn't equal pro level. YOU on the other hand are.  So hell yah, if i were you i would charge.  I am trying to bring myself up the the point of being able to shoot anything anywhere (commercial or not) just not there yet. You probably noticed i shoot about anything in any conditions but the quality of my work is meh, mediocre at times.  And it takes me a few tries to nail something. Kind of like people shooting portraits for free for experience. I kinda think i am in that stage with commercial work in general. I compare my commercial like work to real pros. And i ain't there.  Forget i said anything i am stressing out over this now i think i will stick to shooting photos of my dog.
Click to expand...

 Fair enough.


----------



## table1349

Recipe for Irish Coffee.

1 large coffee mug
1 bottle of Kilbeggan Irish whiskey
1 pot of coffee (any kind you want, it doesn't matter)

Fill coffee mug with the Kilbeggan and drink while smelling the aroma of the coffee in the air.


----------



## bribrius

would i get tar and feathered for posting this in the professional gallery? The date stamp is level.


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> IF I start charging, then I *will* get a business license, make sure it's all legit and taxes are paid to the proper places ..



I don't know about your state, but as far as the fedgov is concerned, it isn't terribly difficult to file another page.  The cool thing is; you get to deduct expenses, therefore paying little to no taxes.  The downside is; it may trigger a closer look.


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> IF I start charging, then I *will* get a business license, make sure it's all legit and taxes are paid to the proper places ..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know about your state, but as far as the fedgov is concerned, it isn't terribly difficult to file another page.  The cool thing is; you get to deduct expenses, therefore paying little to no taxes.  The downside is; it may trigger a closer look.
Click to expand...


The closer look really isn't a problem for me. No matter how closely you look at "almost nothing" it's STILL almost nothing, lol!! Seriously, I am NOT a risk taker. I'm probably guilty sometimes of NOT claiming a deduction or credit somewhere that I *could* have, but if I'm not absolutely certain it's legit, I don't claim it.
No state income tax here, so it would just be sales tax and licensing I'd be dealing with on a state level.
And yeah, then I could deduct things, and all that…but I'd *also* then have to actually starting giving a rat's behind whether I make any money at it, since the IRS isn't happy if you claim a business that never, ever makes any money. 

I haven't had to pay any taxes for years, actually, because I'm a poor single parent. Tax time is the one time that is a great benefit!  But this will be the last year I get to benefit from that, so maybe this is the time to look for other ways to reduce my taxes.
I don't know it just has always seemed like a giant PITA to me.


----------



## sm4him

bribrius said:


> would i get tar and feathered for posting this in the professional gallery? The date stamp is level.
> 
> View attachment 95200



First, go sell it to somebody…for like, a nickel.
THEN they can't argue with it being posted in the Pro gallery, right?


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, peeps.
Today's adventure was a Metro rail ride to DC where my lovely wife had her stitches removed, followed by a nice (OK, cold and windy) walk to the art store, lunch at Firehouse subs (where else?) and a trip to Risk Management to turn in her paperwork.  She'll be returning to work at the end of next week.



Gary A. said:


> Charlie, while I agree with your remark about the proper climate to conduct business is drunk ... I think gryphonslair99 may be making reference to an alcoholic beverage in a Coffee House. (ala here)





limr said:


> I'd be okay with serving booze in the Coffee House
> A little Scotch goes nicely with an espresso.





sm4him said:


> I'll take an Irish Coffee, please!


On my first trip to Stone Mountain (outside of Atlanta for those not knowin') Highland Festival, dad and I arrived at the tent fairly early in the morning.  Someone from the neighboring tent saw us with out coffee cups and asked if we wanted "a wee bit o' sweetener."  Explaining that we already had cream and sugar, he shook his head and pulled out a bottle of single malt.

We took him up on his offer.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> Good afternoon, peeps.
> Today's adventure was a Metro rail ride to DC where my lovely wife had her stitches removed, followed by a nice (OK, cold and windy) walk to the art store, lunch at Firehouse subs (where else?) and a trip to Risk Management to turn in her paperwork.  She'll be returning to work at the end of next week.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Charlie, while I agree with your remark about the proper climate to conduct business is drunk ... I think gryphonslair99 may be making reference to an alcoholic beverage in a Coffee House. (ala here)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'd be okay with serving booze in the Coffee House
> A little Scotch goes nicely with an espresso.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'll take an Irish Coffee, please!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> On my first trip to Stone Mountain (outside of Atlanta for those not knowin') Highland Festival, dad and I arrived at the tent fairly early in the morning.  Someone from the neighboring tent saw us with out coffee cups and asked if we wanted "a wee bit o' sweetener."  Explaining that we already had cream and sugar, he shook his head and pulled out a bottle of single malt.
> 
> We took him up on his offer.
Click to expand...

i bought two more old konicas off ebay today. That makes 4. I might have a "problem". SShhhhh. Don't say nothn okay?


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> I don't know it just has always seemed like a giant PITA to me.


Yes, it certainly can be.  The important thing is to keep meticulous records.  Keep your receipts, record your mileage, etc.  I think your home-based business can lose money for a couple of years, but at some point they begin to look at it as a hobby, so be sure to show some income.  I always kind of "balanced" my income and expenses so there may be some legitimate expenses that you don't charge just because you don't want them coming for a visit.

(edit) we've had two IRS site audits, and each time there was additional tax credit in our favor.  LOL


----------



## bribrius

i got a letter in saying i have to test for radon. State govt here is full of ninny commies


----------



## tirediron

bribrius said:


> i got a letter in saying i have to test for radon. State govt here is full of ninny commies


 Study hard!


----------



## bribrius

tirediron said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i got a letter in saying i have to test for radon. State govt here is full of ninny commies
> 
> 
> 
> Study hard!
Click to expand...

Really just paying more money. All it is. Had to pay for a lead paint inspection ten years back and it cost me 10k to make it go away. No lead even inside the place i guess they were worried about someones kid chewing on the clap board siding.  People complain about their kid being down syndrome or something and lead levels i just wonder why they let their kid chew on window sills but the govt. steps in to make window sills edible.  The radon is about ledge and its release of radon (you know from underground)...  Like i control what god put in the ground.


----------



## bribrius

oh . Called the inspector on the phone. Told them this is why i was getting out rentals. For the amount of headache, costs, evictions, water sewer and b.s. it wasn't worth it. She just said "oh dont say that, it puts me out of a job i inspect them. "

yeah, and fruck you too....


----------



## vintagesnaps

Konicas? oh so that's what you were looking at in Popular Photography. I have a couple of Konicas, one was my first rangefinder.

I've worked with kids with lead poisoning, can be from old paint, one I had was from old varnish. Once kids chew on something with it, they crave it, so chew on it more, and it literally can cause problems in development to a child. I've unfortunately seen the effects first hand.


Now after that serious note, I was watching some ol' 50's B&W movie where some guy was running all over the city with some radioactive whatever and he about hacked up a lung. At the end he keeled over in the street and somebody just tossed a blanket over him and then tossed on one of those radioactive signs! geez it wasn't supposed to be funny but it was, it was so bad. So I guess you don't want radon in your house either. Not exactly an Oscar winner there.


----------



## bribrius

vintagesnaps said:


> Konicas? oh so that's what you were looking at in Popular Photography. I have a couple of Konicas, one was my first rangefinder.
> 
> I've worked with kids with lead poisoning, can be from old paint, one I had was from old varnish. Once kids chew on something with it, they crave it, so chew on it more, and it literally can cause problems in development to a child. I've unfortunately seen the effects first hand.
> 
> 
> Now after that serious note, I was watching some ol' 50's B&W movie where some guy was running all over the city with some radioactive whatever and he about hacked up a lung. At the end he keeled over in the street and somebody just tossed a blanket over him and then tossed on one of those radioactive signs! geez it wasn't supposed to be funny but it was, it was so bad. So I guess you don't want radon in your house either. Not exactly an Oscar winner there.


yeah that is why i was looking at popular photography.  Far as the kids. I have been on the "other" end of this. And in case no one noticed i am far from rich.  water district wants their money. sewer district wants their money. Banks wants their money. Insurance company wants their money. And the state just passes more and more laws making it harder to evict a tenant and more things to pay. Really a double standard though. Because years ago they got upset i pulled myself off the section 8 housing list. They sent a girl with her baby to see me for a place to live. I had enough, i yanked myself right off it. They didnt pay market rates anyway. so on one hand, they want you to "do them favors" and then on the other they shove it right up your azz. Forgive the language. ...


----------



## sm4him

Well, the seed was planted, early this morning.

It was inevitable after that, really.

Just couldn't be avoided.

I made myself an Irish Coffee.


----------



## bribrius

well plus the drug dealer guy they were paying me to give a place to live. First state, then city with vouchers they were cutting me for his rent. Three months into the city cutting me vouchers i refused it. They called me up and were upset with me ...  i was like "hello???????????????????????? You are paying to house a drug dealer. I DON'T EVEN WANT TO RENT TO A DRUG DEALER".
So the lady says "well how do you know he is a drug dealer?"  
"well, because him and his girlfriend are dealing out on the side of the road and told me they bought their christmas presents from him dealing."

"well you can't just throw them out. have you served a eviction notice yet? How come you didnt take the voucher this month?"



"ARE YOU FREAKN KIDN ME???????"


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> Well, the seed was planted, early this morning.
> 
> It was inevitable after that, really.
> 
> Just couldn't be avoided.
> 
> I made myself an Irish Coffee.


what seed?


----------



## minicoop1985

I think that's the route I'll go at the bar once he gets back... IF he gets back before April.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> I think that's the route I'll go at the bar once he gets back... IF he gets back before April.


I just hope something comes through for you. Seems you could really use it.


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> Well, the seed was planted, early this morning.



Hmmm?


----------



## bribrius

vintagesnaps said:


> Konicas? oh so that's what you were looking at in Popular Photography. I have a couple of Konicas, one was my first rangefinder.
> 
> I've worked with kids with lead poisoning, can be from old paint, one I had was from old varnish. Once kids chew on something with it, they crave it, so chew on it more, and it literally can cause problems in development to a child. I've unfortunately seen the effects first hand.
> 
> 
> Now after that serious note, I was watching some ol' 50's B&W movie where some guy was running all over the city with some radioactive whatever and he about hacked up a lung. At the end he keeled over in the street and somebody just tossed a blanket over him and then tossed on one of those radioactive signs! geez it wasn't supposed to be funny but it was, it was so bad. So I guess you don't want radon in your house either. Not exactly an Oscar winner there.


oh i have another reason for the konicas too. I have nikon dslr, nikon bridge cameras, adding konica ar..... Here is my end thinking.    i will take the konica stuff, pick out what i need and resell the rest. Take the money from reselling the rest and buy a micro 4/3.
The konica lenses i can use on whatever konicas i keep plus get me started in micro glass for like a nex7 or olympus or something.  I dont have the funds to go full frame right now. But that will give me film to shoot, a nice little portable micro 4/3 with less gear because the lenses are interchangeable, still have my bridge and nikon crop sensor. i havent figured out what to do about full frame. i am kind of getting ready for it picking up a couple used full frame lenses within my budget but i really just cant swing it now and wonder if maybe i would like mirrorless better anyway.

so far for konica (none is really worth much) i have a tc, t4, t3, ft1   
Konica 52MM F1.8
Konica Zoom 35 - 70MM F 3.5 - 4.5
MaKinon Auto 80 - 200MM 1:45 f Zoom with Macro
Konica Haxanon AR 24MM F 2.8
Konica Hexanon AR 50MM F 1.7  (two of them)
Tokina AT-X 28-85mm 1:3.5-4.5

i have almost wondered if i can find a adaptor and get rid of a couple of the nikon ais lenses and just use konica on the nikon. so i have less lenses.


----------



## bribrius

i might just not know what i am doing at all.


----------



## sm4him

bribrius said:


> what seed?





Designer said:


> Hmmm?


What, doesn't everybody have Irish Coffee seeds? They grow really fast! Plant 'em in the morning, and in the evening you have a fresh cup of good ole' Irish Coffee!! 

Or--I might just mean the "seed" was planted, as in "the thought was had." There was an A.M. conversation here about serving booze with our coffee here in the TPF Coffee House:


sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Charlie, while I agree with your remake about the proper climate to conduct business is drunk ... I think gryphonslair99 may be making reference to an alcoholic beverage in a Coffee House. (ala here)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd be okay with serving booze in the Coffee House
> A little Scotch goes nicely with an espresso.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'll take an Irish Coffee, please!
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

Brian, I recommend you stick with one system and master it until you try something else. This isn't the most fun way, but certainly the quickest way climb up the learning curve. MFT, can be a lot of fun if you keep it small.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Brian, I recommend you stick with one system and master it until you try something else. This isn't the most fun way, but certainly the quickest way climb up the learning curve. MFT, can be a lot of fun if you keep it small.


Kinda what i ran into with nikon. Already have over 4k in nikon stuff. Seems a lot to me i am not one to spend a grand or two grand on a lens.  To move up again in nikon full frame and more lenses is another 5k... Really just didnt want to, least right now. Too much $$$$$$$ For a fraction of that i decided i would have more fun going back to shooting film and going micro 4/3 plus buy my lighting equipment and flashes.


----------



## bribrius

or i could just be wrong. Been known to happen................


----------



## vintagesnaps

My dad used to own rental property, eventually got out of it, and that was without the problem tenants you seem to have had. It just seems like it got to be a lot of taking care of problems and he was just ready to sell the property and be done w/it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Aw c'mon, you can't have too many kinds of cameras can ya? I started out with Ricoh/Pentax screwmount, later Konica, then some Canon, then rangefinders and Polaroids and other midcentury what nots - but I'm talking old mechanical film cameras! 

Then back to Ricoh for a digital camera, what goes around comes around I guess.

Irish coffee beans!?! what a great idea! that ought to save a step in the coffee making process shouldn't it? lol


----------



## bribrius

vintagesnaps said:


> My dad used to own rental property, eventually got out of it, and that was without the problem tenants you seem to have had. It just seems like it got to be a lot of taking care of problems and he was just ready to sell the property and be done w/it.


i liked renting to a business. Business people know the deal, make sense and i can talk with them. I don't like renting to people or individual families.  Originally my goal was to go all commercial leases and just doing store fronts etc. For whatever reason, i never made it. I got stuck dealing with people, i really didn't want to deal with. so have pretty much got out of it for the most part already.   I still might buy a commercial at some point, lease out a store front, let the wife and kids run a separate store front selling whatever if the building allows for it. (if i can figure out how to afford it).  Far as residential i think i really just am all set. It would have to be a really REALLY good deal on a REALLY REALLY nice building for me to even consider it.


----------



## bribrius

vintagesnaps said:


> Aw c'mon, you can't have too many kinds of cameras can ya? I started out with Ricoh/Pentax screwmount, later Konica, then some Canon, then rangefinders and Polaroids and other midcentury what nots - but* I'm talking old mechanical film cameras! *
> 
> Then back to Ricoh for a digital camera, what goes around comes around I guess.
> 
> Irish coffee beans!?! what a great idea! that ought to save a step in the coffee making process shouldn't it? lol


Not sure what you mean. All these are mechanical except the ft1. .


----------



## snerd

Anyone for a good lawyer story? I was trying to be nice and work with the ex on splitting up everything. She's going to try to keep the house. That's okay with me, actually kind of happy for her. But I'm letting her keep a quarter million dollar home, I have to get something for my 7 years. I thought we had decided on an equitable solution, so I went to meet with her and her lawyer today. Yeah............. foolish thing to do lol!! They tried to hustle me! Ganged up on me! I feel so violated.  

I took my leave, went 2 blocks over and put a retainer down for "The Shark". The "Shark" has a somewhat colorful reputation 'round these parts in divorce cases. So I called her back and told her I was now represented by "The Shark". Never belittle 'reputations'...................... within an hour, she called back and said she would settle on our original terms, and she would pay all attorney fees. I said, of course! Thank you.

Coffee all around! It's on me tonight!!


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Brian, I recommend you stick with one system and master it until you try something else. This isn't the most fun way, but certainly the quickest way climb up the learning curve. MFT, can be a lot of fun if you keep it small.
> 
> 
> 
> Kinda what i ran into with nikon. Already have over 4k in nikon stuff. Seems a lot to me i am not one to spend a grand or two grand on a lens.  To move up again in nikon full frame and more lenses is another 5k... Really just didnt want to, least right now. Too much $$$$$$$ For a fraction of that i decided i would have more fun going back to shooting film and going micro 4/3 plus buy my lighting equipment and flashes.
Click to expand...

There is nothing magical about FF. I have a complete FF system, a complete APS-C system and a complete MFT system. I'm giving away the FF and MFT systems and keeping the APS-C stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey Charlie ... my much much better half had her stitches removed today as well. She was having her foot de-bandaged when I read your post. Just kinda weird.


----------



## limr

Weird! But glad to hear both ladies are on the mend!


----------



## pixmedic

OMG high of 62 today!  I'm going to have to wear a jacket this morning...


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> *I'm giving away the FF* and MFT systems and keeping the APS-C stuff.



You need my address to ship that to?


----------



## minicoop1985

GIVING AWAY YOUR FUJI???????$#@? NOOOOOOOOOOO


----------



## snowbear

Yeah, but radon is just in the air.


sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> *I'm giving away the FF* and MFT systems and keeping the APS-C stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You need my address to ship that to?
Click to expand...


No need - he already has mine!


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> *I'm giving away the FF* and MFT systems and keeping the APS-C stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You need my address to ship that to?
Click to expand...

No. lol ... I'm having my oldest sell the stuff and she can keep the monies to help with the overhead for my grandkids. You haven't a need for a Bigma anyway.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> GIVING AWAY YOUR FUJI???????$#@? NOOOOOOOOOOO


LOL ... nah my Fuji's are APS-C ... that the system I'm keeping. But it is hard getting rid of my 1Ds and the L lenses.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I think it may have hit 90F yesterday. Hot and dry with the Santa Ana's. The winds have ceased and it is already cooling off. I have some coffee beans soaking in brandy. Couldn't find a recipe so I'm winging it for soaking times. Cook and I are off for a walk.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I think it may have hit 90F yesterday. Hot and dry with the Santa Ana's. The winds have ceased and it is already cooling off. I have some coffee beans soaking in brandy. Couldn't find a recipe so I'm winging it for soaking times. Cook and I are off for a walk.



Yuk to the 90 degrees. 
Good to the cooling off, the coffee beans, and the Cook


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... Still gonna be a warm day, upper 70's at the beaches.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> GIVING AWAY YOUR FUJI???????$#@? NOOOOOOOOOOO
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... nah my Fuji's are APS-C ... that the system I'm keeping. But it is hard getting rid of my 1Ds and the L lenses.
Click to expand...


I meant your GX680... GIVING away a 1DS? L lenses???????


----------



## vintagesnaps

Opened a fresh bag of Salty Caramel coffee this morning, mmm nice on a cold snowy morning.

Brian,_ *my*_ collection of different brands of cameras are all mechanical - and cheap!


----------



## minicoop1985

Most of my cameras are mechanical, one's got an electric winder (500EL/M), then I have my DSLRs.


----------



## limr

Most of mine are mechanical, too. I have one that has auto advance/rewind and can switch from manual to auto focus, but that's the only one and I haven't had it long. Still kinda freaks me out a little 

Well, this doesn't include the instant cameras, which do have auto-exposure functions, though you can mess with it a little. The Pola has a rangefinder but the Fuji is scale focus.

Oh, and I just loaded my SX-70 with some Impossible Project film I got for Christmas! Hope it works 

The rest of my gear doesn't get fancier than the OM-2 with an aperture priority mode and the Oly 35RC with a shutter-priority mode.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> GIVING AWAY YOUR FUJI???????$#@? NOOOOOOOOOOO
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... nah my Fuji's are APS-C ... that the system I'm keeping. But it is hard getting rid of my 1Ds and the L lenses.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I meant your GX680... GIVING away a 1DS? L lenses???????
Click to expand...

Yep, to my oldest daughter for her to sell and keep the proceeds. I'm giving her MFT to shoot. (EM5)

I'm keeping the 680II.


----------



## bribrius




----------



## bribrius

it's like luggage..


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I'm keeping the 680II.



You'd better damn well keep that beauty! Want more pictures, please!


----------



## Gary A.

I was in the camera shoppe and the owner told me if I wanted to sell the 680, he had a few people ready to purchase. lol


----------



## minicoop1985

Somehow I'm not surprised.  I want one so badly, but no moneys for one.


----------



## pgriz

pixmedic said:


> OMG high of 62 today!  I'm going to have to wear a jacket this morning...



Pardon me while I shed some crocodile tears.  It's going to be -26C tonight, and the wind is picking up, and we're expecting wind chills of -40C (coincidentally, also -40F).  Gonna have to get really, really close to my better half tonight - because she is (puns aside) one very hot lady.  And no, she doesn't have a fever.  Tho I might.


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG high of 62 today!  I'm going to have to wear a jacket this morning...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pardon me while I shed some crocodile tears.  It's going to be -26C tonight, and the wind is picking up, and we're expecting wind chills of -40C (coincidentally, also -40F).  Gonna have to get really, really close to my better half tonight - because she is (puns aside) one very hot lady.  And no, she doesn't have a fever.  Tho I might.
Click to expand...

 Please keep that on YOUR side of the Rocky Moutains thankyouverymuch!  +13, and mostly sunny here...


----------



## Gary A.

I checked on the brandy-coffee thing. Either the beans are really soaking up the brandy ... or the brandy is evaporating away. I added more brandy and a lid.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> I checked on the brandy-coffee thing. Either the beans are really soaking up the brandy ... or the brandy is evaporating away. I added more brandy and a lid.


Are you sure it's the beans and not the Gary soaking up the brandy?


----------



## bribrius

vintagesnaps said:


> Opened a fresh bag of Salty Caramel coffee this morning, mmm nice on a cold snowy morning.
> 
> Brian,_ *my*_ collection of different brands of cameras are all mechanical - and cheap!


oh i am not looking to collect. Going through them to find a regular shooter. I bet you do have a nice collection though. .Cameras are very neat, very historical in their own development.  Interesting. Definitely worth collecting. If you get bored post some of your collection.


----------



## limr

I'll post pictures of my old cameras for you, too, bri. 

In other news, good night, hosers! It's time to fire this day.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good evening, hosers! Time for a nice Sam Smith's Organic Chocolate Stout, I think.


----------



## pgriz

tirediron said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG high of 62 today!  I'm going to have to wear a jacket this morning...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pardon me while I shed some crocodile tears.  It's going to be -26C tonight, and the wind is picking up, and we're expecting wind chills of -40C (coincidentally, also -40F).  Gonna have to get really, really close to my better half tonight - because she is (puns aside) one very hot lady.  And no, she doesn't have a fever.  Tho I might.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Please keep that on YOUR side of the Rocky Moutains thankyouverymuch!  +13, and mostly sunny here...
Click to expand...


And so, John, what's it worth to you for us to make sure that you DON'T get our weather?


----------



## snerd

Evening, hosers. I didn't even have 1 cup of joe today! Moved a few small items over to the new apt. Good lord, I'm too old for this crap! Hurt like hell, everywhere! My son will help move the bigger items and furniture on Monday. Busy busy cancelling/transferring utilities and such. Those are stories in themselves. Welcome back, Derrel!


----------



## Derrel

Yeah...I leave for two months and eight days and...this thread has only spiraled to *a mere 315 pages?* What is this world coming to?


----------



## sashbar

Derrel said:


> Yeah...I leave for two months and eight days and...this thread has only spiraled to *a mere 315 pages?* What is this world coming to?



they were all busy with this:
Things we always wanted to ask Derrel Page 5 Photography Forum


----------



## sm4him

Derrel said:


> Yeah...I leave for two months and eight days and...this thread has only spiraled to *a mere 315 pages?* What is this world coming to?



Hey, *I* was busy most of that time, out looking for YOU. When you didn't even surface after those Ducks got into the title game, I was just sure you'd run afowl (see what I did there?) of something horrible. 
After the way the Ducks PLAYED in the title game, I was pretty sure the whole state had run "afowl" of something pretty awful.


----------



## snowbear

Big D - don't confuse THIS thread with that damned LB thread!

And welcome back.


----------



## snowbear

Happy Valentine's Day!
       

yes, I posted a new thread for this for those that don't drop by here.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Happy Valentine's Day!
> 
> 
> yes, I posted a new thread for this for those that don't drop by here.



Bah, humbug!  I'm a Valentine's Day Scrooge.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Valentine's Day!
> 
> 
> yes, I posted a new thread for this for those that don't drop by here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bah, humbug!  I'm a Valentine's Day Scrooge.
Click to expand...


OK . . . happy "Middle of February, so Warmer Weather is on the Way" day!

Actually, one of the bar/restaurants here is having an "Anti-Valentine's Day"


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> OK . . . happy "Middle of February, so Warmer Weather is on the Way" day!
> 
> Actually, one of the bar/restaurants here is having an "Anti-Valentine's Day"



We have some of those here too. But I'm such an introvert, the idea of going to something like that makes me want to go hide in a hole somewhere.
I know a young lady who went to one of those four years ago with a couple of her single friends. When she got home, VERY late, she had a message on FB from a guy (she didn't know him, but they had a number of mutual friends), who'd seen a picture of her at the restaurant and said he "really wanted to find out about the girl behind that beautiful smile.")  The guy was the son of a good friend of mine; wonderful young man.
They were married in October 2013. 
So her anti-Valentine celebration actually played a direct part in her meeting her husband!


----------



## snowbear

Hon, this is just for you:







Photo: joeb, Morguefile Free Photo (CC Licensing)


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Hon, this is just for you:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Photo: joeb, Morguefile Free Photo (CC Licensing)



If I had THOSE, I would LOVE Valentine's Day!


----------



## snowbear

I'll see what I can do.

"Hey sweetie, can I take some chocolate & strawberries to Sharon, in Knoxville?"
She must be reading a funny book, she's laughing hysterically.  I'll check back with her when she's done and let you know."


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> I'll see what I can do.
> 
> "Hey sweetie, can I take some chocolate & strawberries to Sharon, in Knoxville?"
> She must be reading a funny book, she's laughing hysterically.  I'll check back with her when she's done and let you know."



Tell her I'd meet you at the TN/VA line. 
She can even come with you--a little Valentine's Day road trip. 
Okay, maybe not that LITTLE.


----------



## bribrius

i am in a huge self debate. Do i want to fix up these konicas i purchased or just use them even if they function incorrectly. Like should i change light seals or just cover with tape? should i fix the exposure in one or just sunny 16? Do i want to ignore all that dust in the viewfinder or should i actually just take it apart and clean it.... Decisions, decisions...


----------



## bribrius

spent a hour yesterday cleaning them, cue tip time. The view finders are kind of driving me nuts. Not so sure enough to pull them apart though and go looking for a maint. manual. Ordered 1.35 batteries in the meantime using 1.5 v. so i am putting in 800 speed in dialing in around 600 to make up for the volt difference.


----------



## limr

Good that you cleaned them. You should do the light seals, too. That's quite easy - not a big deal. As for exposure, it depends. While it's nice to have the meter, I also like not having to rely on it, so maybe you hold off on fixing it so you can practice your Sunny 16. Or you can get a light meter app on your phone and use that. I tend not to meter every shot - just take a general reading at the start of whatever excursion I'm on and go from there.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Good that you cleaned them. You should do the light seals, too. That's quite easy - not a big deal. As for exposure, it depends. While it's nice to have the meter, I also like not having to rely on it, so maybe you hold off on fixing it so you can practice your Sunny 16. Or you can get a light meter app on your phone and use that. I tend not to meter every shot - just take a general reading at the start of whatever excursion I'm on and go from there.


light meter application on phone?????????????????????????huh???


----------



## limr

Do you have an android or iphone?


----------



## bribrius

n


limr said:


> Do you have an android or iphone?


droid. Real tempted to wing exposures but i would kind of like to separate camera quality from user screw up winging it on the first few rolls to actually know how they do.


----------



## limr

Go to Google Play Store and search...hang in, let me check to be sure...

LightMeter Free by David Quiles.


----------



## Gary A.

Setting your exposure by eye is a great way to see light. I still use a meter to double check what my eye sees and what I cream cheese brain tries to figure out.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Today ... is the day I stall finally bake my first handmade loaf of bread. (After a week or so of making cultures and starters.)


----------



## snowbear

My Minolta used the old Hg cells that are no longer available, so I just lug the D40 around to meter.  It hasn't been that far off.


----------



## snowbear

Rental while we wait for the TrailBlazer repairs to be finished.  Gotta love those seven grille slots and round headlights!


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> My Minolta used the old Hg cells that are no longer available, so I just lug the D40 around to meter.  It hasn't been that far off.


trying to find batteries for the t3 right now. New batteries in the ft1 it fired right up. i seriously think i am in love. i could meter with a different camera no doubt. kind of ruins the point but yeah....  ft1 and t3 came from someone in state, prior military (tend to take care of their stuff) original owner.  The cameras are pretty damn near immaculate.  Did i mention i think i am in love?


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG high of 62 today!  I'm going to have to wear a jacket this morning...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pardon me while I shed some crocodile tears.  It's going to be -26C tonight, and the wind is picking up, and we're expecting wind chills of -40C (coincidentally, also -40F).  Gonna have to get really, really close to my better half tonight - because she is (puns aside) one very hot lady.  And no, she doesn't have a fever.  Tho I might.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Please keep that on YOUR side of the Rocky Moutains thankyouverymuch!  +13, and mostly sunny here...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And so, John, what's it worth to you for us to make sure that you DON'T get our weather?
Click to expand...

We'll just send it back, postage due, and you know Canada Post; all that snow will arrive back at your door step around... August!


----------



## minicoop1985

I have one on my MotoX.


----------



## otherprof

limr said:


> There's a Keurig machine at the new job. I bought a box of Starbucks Sumatra. The coffee is good; I'm just not a big fan of the Keurig machines. It makes coffee a bit more watery than I'm used to and I drink it black, so at least I don't have to worry about bringing in milk.


We have a new Keurig 2.o machine, which can make a carafe at at time. It has an option on the touch screen for "strong," which might help with the watery coffee.


----------



## snowbear

Have you had issues with using non-Keurig cups?


----------



## bribrius

spending a romantic valentine tonight with the wife, with all the kids. Yep, no sitter....


----------



## Gary A.

Finished and posted The Peace March.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, tonight should be interesting. Gonna do some wine and a movie with the wife after the kid goes to bed.


----------



## astroNikon

snowbear said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Valentine's Day!
> 
> 
> yes, I posted a new thread for this for those that don't drop by here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bah, humbug!  I'm a Valentine's Day Scrooge.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> OK . . . happy "Middle of February, so Warmer Weather is on the Way" day!
> 
> Actually, one of the bar/restaurants here is having an "Anti-Valentine's Day"
Click to expand...

we just had a blizzard hit with temps in the -25 range ....
not exactly warmer weather. I was much warmer in December


----------



## Gary A.

I mowed the front and wore little boy shorts all day.


----------



## snowbear

astroNikon said:


> we just had a blizzard hit with temps in the -25 range ....
> not exactly warmer weather. I was much warmer in December


We had a very light dusting of snow that lasted about 15 minutes.  It has been very windy over the past couple of days, though.


----------



## astroNikon

snowbear said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> we just had a blizzard hit with temps in the -25 range ....
> not exactly warmer weather. I was much warmer in December
> 
> 
> 
> We had a very light dusting of snow that lasted about 15 minutes.  It has been very windy over the past couple of days, though.
Click to expand...

now that I think of it ... it was 75+ degrees warmer in December ....


----------



## Gary A.

astroNikon said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> we just had a blizzard hit with temps in the -25 range ....
> not exactly warmer weather. I was much warmer in December
> 
> 
> 
> We had a very light dusting of snow that lasted about 15 minutes.  It has been very windy over the past couple of days, though.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> now that I think of it ... it was 75+ degrees warmer in December ....
Click to expand...

LOL!!!!!!!!


----------



## minicoop1985

We had a dusting here too, which turned into drifts. It's just too damned cold out there now, with a low of -11 tonight. Should have bought more supplies and crap. I'm so sick of these near and below zero temps...


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Have you had issues with using non-Keurig cups?



Haven't tried them yet. I've thought about getting one and I still might, but the issue with that might be having to keep ground coffee at work and even in an air-tight container, it'll probably get stale-ish and end up tasting just like the pre-filled cups anyway!  I could just grind some each morning to bring with me, but that's one more task to do in the morning, and I already rush around as it is. I'd forget half the time.  I might just stick to the pre-filled cups.



otherprof said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> There's a Keurig machine at the new job. I bought a box of Starbucks Sumatra. The coffee is good; I'm just not a big fan of the Keurig machines. It makes coffee a bit more watery than I'm used to and I drink it black, so at least I don't have to worry about bringing in milk.
> 
> 
> 
> We have a new Keurig 2.o machine, which can make a carafe at at time. It has an option on the touch screen for "strong," which might help with the watery coffee.
Click to expand...


Yours sounds much fancier than the ones I have access to, but I can at least control how much water is used for a cup, so I've managed to make it stronger the way I like it. IT'll never be as good as the stuff I make at home in my French press, but it'll do for keeping me awake at work


----------



## limr

Snow. We got a few inches here - nothing bad enough to keep me from having dinner with Buzz 

The cold really doesn't bother me that much. I do get tired of worrying about driving in snow, but otherwise, the biggest complaint I have about February is that everyone around me is so negative. It's already hard to hear negative things about something I like, but more than that, I tend to absorb whatever energy is in the room, so it makes me feel bad and lonely when everyone else is miserable. Sometimes this ruins it all for me just a little. Plus, it is getting closer to spring, which just means that summer is next, and I despise summer with the same exact intensity as some of you who hate winter.


----------



## Derrel

I feel bad for you North Easty-types....all those negative temps, snow, etc.. Out here on the left coast the weathr has been wonderful. Unseasonably warm. A Facebook friend who works as a snow-cat groomer for the sking area at Mt. Hood Meadows is posting daily IG pics with the hashtag *#prayingforsnow*....even on Oregon's highest volcanic peak, Mt. Hood, we have very little snow...the trees are already budding now...meanwhile, y'all are _freezing nuts off._..Bwah-hahh-hahhh!


----------



## sm4him

astroNikon said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> we just had a blizzard hit with temps in the -25 range ....
> not exactly warmer weather. I was much warmer in December
> 
> 
> 
> We had a very light dusting of snow that lasted about 15 minutes.  It has been very windy over the past couple of days, though.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> now that I think of it ... it was 75+ degrees warmer in December ....
Click to expand...


Heck, it was nearly 50º warmer here less than a week ago!  We are evidently headed into a week of the coldest weather we've had all winter! -13º for a low by Wednesday.
I live in the South, dagnabit!!! It's not supposed to BE like this!

And we haven't even gotten any snow to go with the cold. But we might just get some lovely ice in the next few days. 

Just shoot me now.


----------



## bribrius

it's snowing.


----------



## bribrius

Good morning coffee housers......


----------



## NancyMoranG

OMGOSH..just saw Weather Channel LIVe from Boston and Plymouth!,
You poor people! Be safe and warm!!
Nancy


----------



## bribrius

NancyMoranG said:


> OMGOSH..just saw Weather Channel LIVe from Boston and Plymouth!,
> You poor people! Be safe and warm!!
> Nancy


yeah. i got it rough. sitting here watching the snow out the window drinking my coffee....


----------



## snowbear

As far as the Keurig 2.0 cups: Miriam's boss brought one into the office but it would not work with the non-Keurig (or non-licensed, I guess) cups.  He found that there is a small bar code on the cups and apparently the machine has a reader built in.  He simply photocopied the bar code and tapes it to a new cup; works like a charm.

We got a light dusting of snow last night and some rain, but it's been pretty windy the passed few days.  The snow that stuck to the ground lasted about 15 minutes, and within an hour or two, the wet pavement from the rain had been blasted dry by the wind.  Temps have been all over the place but this week they are supposed to stay around freezing.

As where Sharon is, we don't typically get this cold.  We still grow tobacco (picture hot, steamy, stick days where you can see the humidity hanging in the air.)


----------



## limr

Ah, you mean pre-filled cups that aren't Keurig brand? I've had no problem with them. One office has a Mini - you put water if for the cup you are brewing, so I just put less water - and at the colelge admin job, we just got the basic brewer but which has a water reservoir. I always hit the "short" coffee setting, so that makes it stronger. I buy my own cups since I'm working with people who drink crappy coffee. The stuff at the lawyer's office is decaf (what's the point?) and at the other job, I'm dealing with people who like very weak or flavored coffee (blech!). So far I've tried Starbucks cups and they're acceptable. Next I'm going to try Peet's. I tried the Eight O'Clock Dark Italian Roast, which is what I drink at home (whole beans) but I wasn't all that impressed with the K-cup interpretation.

It's amazing how fussy it can be to get just a simple cup of strong flavorful black coffee!


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> It's amazing how fussy it can be to get just a simple cup of strong flavorful black coffee!


Also amazing to realize how many people don't appreciate the differences between good coffee and dishwater.

Years ago I learned that making good coffee is a skill that relatively few people had mastered.  When and if I experienced a really good cup of coffee, I would make a mental note about what restaurant or whose kitchen produced that excellent cup.


----------



## Gary A.

I did a story about coffee ... Great time. This guy in the Caribbean tossed beans into an old sock, crushed the beans with a small sledge hammer then dipped the whole mess into a boiling can of water. Came out great. But then he lived in the jungle and his water was from a fresh spring up the trail.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> I did a story about coffee ... Great time. This guy in the Caribbean tossed beans into an old sock, crushed the beans with a small sledge hammer then dipped the whole mess into a boiling can of water. Came out great. But then he lived in the jungle and his water was from a fresh spring up the trail.


Yeah, but what about the sock?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The Santa Ana's are gone. It will be a much cooler day, mid 70's, a bit of normal dampness in the air, but not nearly as dry as with the desert winds.  (I imagine somewhere around single digit humidity with the Santa Ana's.) Okay, today it is finally time for me to bake my first handmade loaf of bread. Yesterday was all about making the starter ... today is bake day.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I did a story about coffee ... Great time. This guy in the Caribbean tossed beans into an old sock, crushed the beans with a small sledge hammer then dipped the whole mess into a boiling can of water. Came out great. But then he lived in the jungle and his water was from a fresh spring up the trail.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, but what about the sock?
Click to expand...

It was a nice sock, a Gold Toe, if my memory doesn't fail me.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> It was a nice sock, a Gold Toe, if my memory doesn't fail me.


They make the best coffee.


----------



## bribrius

is 1200x1800 a decent scan?


----------



## minicoop1985

Your mom is a decent scan. 

Morning, hosers. It's a balmy -2 here in Appleton, sun is shining, and my nipples feel like they're gonna cut through my shirt.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Your mom is a decent scan.
> 
> Morning, hosers. It's a balmy -2 here in Appleton, sun is shining, and my nipples feel like they're gonna cut through my shirt.


oh geez. you got the guy boob problem?   sorry dude. some guys have that. i don't know maybe it is genetics..  Saw a guy once that once absolutely stacked. well maybe not double d but he could have used some support..


----------



## Gary A.

There a lot to say about cold weather.


----------



## minicoop1985

Actually, I don't, but I am seriously cold.


----------



## snerd

Designer said:


> ...... amazing to realize how many people don't appreciate the differences between good coffee and dishwater.......


I resemble that remark.   

Coffee, food, beer, whiskey, whatever the subject, I consume the sneaker-priced options. Oh! But I am a Canon Snob!! That count?!


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> Saw a guy once that once absolutely stacked. well maybe not double d but he could have used some support..


Which one? The Bro or the Manssiere?


----------



## snerd

What's happened to The Coffee House?! No interest anymore? I reserved a u-haul truck for tomorrow. However, it's sleeting outside at the moment! May have to postpone the move. Grrr....


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> What's happened to The Coffee House....


Closed early on Sunday evening?


----------



## snerd

tirediron said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> What's happened to The Coffee House....
> 
> 
> 
> Closed early on Sunday evening?
Click to expand...

Yeah, church and all.


----------



## Gary A.

I am busy making bread, rating my dog show images and watching SNL while sucking down a Stella.


----------



## snerd

I was able to use my car to move a few smaller items. But my desk is not there, and the desktop computer is. So I'm using a redneck setup for a way to use it. Not so good on the back though!








Hope to have the chance to get it all done by tomorrow, if the sleet takes a break!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> HEY, Marija!!! I miss you too!!
> 
> Did  and  show up at your house yet?  I had the feeling it could take quite a while.


nope...

he hasn't arrived yet!!! 

... waiting... 

the main thing is tat you finally sent it!!!


----------



## limr

Morning hosers. Afternoon Marija.


----------



## mmaria




----------



## limr

That's pretty much how I feel!


----------



## mmaria

going to shred something... oh..I meant, c&c something  

I forgot how to do that and that's simply unacceptable !


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> That's pretty much how I feel!


 

WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!

THERE'S SNOW AND SUN AROUND YOU!

YOU LOVE THAT!

HAVE A SMILE OR TWO AND 

WAKE UP!!!!!


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's pretty much how I feel!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!
> 
> THERE'S SNOW AND SUN AROUND YOU!
> 
> YOU LOVE THAT!
> 
> HAVE A SMILE OR TWO AND
> 
> WAKE UP!!!!!
Click to expand...


Oh, I'm not feeling grumpy - just bleary-eyed. It takes me a while to wake up fully, even when I'm out of bed and drinking my coffee. During the week, I get up at 6:30 now. It's a struggle.


----------



## limr

Below zero this morning.


----------



## pgriz

Yeah.  About the same here, 360 miles north of you.  more or less.  We've got some outside work to do today.  Not looking forward to it.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Oh, I'm not feeling grumpy - just bleary-eyed. It takes me a while to wake up fully, even when I'm out of bed and drinking my coffee. During the week, I get up at 6:30 now. It's a struggle.



hm.... I have a confession to make....

I don't drink coffee anymore... and I feel so much better... my blood pressure is fine now ( it's been low for whole of my life and that's why I needed coffee)

I miss coffee but I'm not taking it soon 

and... I get up at 6:27. I've never set the clock on 30,15,10,5,45,00 etc


----------



## Designer

mmaria said:


> and... I get up at 6:27. I've never set the clock on 30,15,10,5,45,00 etc



O.K., you take the cake for having OCD.  (obsessive compulsive disorder)

Although for you, it's NOT a disorder, just a quirk.


----------



## mmaria

it's sunny here and snow is melting.. of course, still in the office


----------



## mmaria

oh... I just realized you can see my home in the picture


----------



## astroNikon

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The Santa Ana's are gone. It will be a much cooler day, mid 70's, a bit of normal dampness in the air, but not nearly as dry as with the desert winds.  (I imagine somewhere around single digit humidity with the Santa Ana's.) Okay, today it is finally time for me to bake my first handmade loaf of bread. Yesterday was all about making the starter ... today is bake day.


One of these days I AM going to show up on your doorstep for a mini-vacation !!  It's just that my car is frozen in the driveway right now.


----------



## snowbear

I see it!


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


>



Oh wow. I completely forgot I'd sent you that picture of me in the morning!


----------



## astroNikon

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I'm not feeling grumpy - just bleary-eyed. It takes me a while to wake up fully, even when I'm out of bed and drinking my coffee. During the week, I get up at 6:30 now. It's a struggle.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> hm.... I have a confession to make....
> 
> I don't drink coffee anymore... and I feel so much better... my blood pressure is fine now ( it's been low for whole of my life and that's why I needed coffee)
> 
> I miss coffee but I'm not taking it soon
> 
> and... I get up at 6:27. I've never set the clock on 30,15,10,5,45,00 etc
Click to expand...

I've never drank coffee !!


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> I was able to use my car to move a few smaller items. But my desk is not there, and the desktop computer is. So I'm using a redneck setup for a way to use it. Not so good on the back though!
> 
> 
> View attachment 95431
> 
> 
> Hope to have the chance to get it all done by tomorrow, if the sleet takes a break!!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


At least you've got the essentials!! 

I sure HOPE the sleet lets up for you today--because it's about to hit here, and I really don't want to think about it stretching all the way from here to OK!


----------



## sm4him

astroNikon said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I'm not feeling grumpy - just bleary-eyed. It takes me a while to wake up fully, even when I'm out of bed and drinking my coffee. During the week, I get up at 6:30 now. It's a struggle.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> hm.... I have a confession to make....
> 
> I don't drink coffee anymore... and I feel so much better... my blood pressure is fine now ( it's been low for whole of my life and that's why I needed coffee)
> 
> I miss coffee but I'm not taking it soon
> 
> and... I get up at 6:27. I've never set the clock on 30,15,10,5,45,00 etc
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I've never drank coffee !!
Click to expand...


That explains a lot.


----------



## mmaria

Designer said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> and... I get up at 6:27. I've never set the clock on 30,15,10,5,45,00 etc
> 
> 
> 
> 
> O.K., you take the cake for having OCD.  (obsessive compulsive disorder)
> 
> Although for you, it's NOT a disorder, just a quirk.
Click to expand...

Firstly, I KNOW very well what OCD is  

Secondly, I like your definition... quirks rocks!!!!!

From now on.......... I'm full of quirks!

Not OCD, nope!


----------



## sm4him

Gonna be a nasty day here. If you believe the weather reports (which is generally a bad idea here), we are gonna have a very icy, snowy, rainy, icy, sleety, snowy day and night ahead of us.  "Lucky" us--we are JUST below the "all snow" line, so we get to deal with the ice and sleet instead!

Ugh. Shoot me. Just shoot me now.
No, wait. Don't shoot me--send me to the beach!!


----------



## mmaria

astroNikon said:


> I've never drank coffee !!


I think that's impossible!!!!

Not calling you a lair or something else but...yeah...


----------



## astroNikon

mmaria said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've never drank coffee !!
> 
> 
> 
> I think that's impossible!!!!
> 
> Not calling you a lair or something else but...yeah...
Click to expand...

I've never liked the smell of it.
Plus I'm part mexican.  I eat beans, I don't drink 'em


----------



## mmaria

astroNikon said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've never drank coffee !!
> 
> 
> 
> I've never liked the smell of it.
> Plus I'm part mexican.  I eat beans, I don't drink 'em
Click to expand...

here we go again 


mmaria said:


> I think that's impossible!!!!
> 
> Not calling you a lair or something else but...yeah...


----------



## astroNikon

mmaria said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've never drank coffee !!
> 
> 
> 
> I've never liked the smell of it.
> Plus I'm part mexican.  I eat beans, I don't drink 'em
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> here we go again
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think that's impossible!!!!
> 
> Not calling you a lair or something else but...yeah...
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...



whatever ... 
I've also never flown to the moon and back.


----------



## mmaria

astroNikon said:


> whatever ...
> I've also never flown to the moon and back.


....oh.... THAT I believe!!!  


you're better off without coffee, we agree on that.... and.... I've also never flown to the moon and back


----------



## limr

So, I got one of those fitness tracker doohickeys. Found a really good sale on one that my sister has, so I knew what it would do. So far it's interesting, although this morning it notified me that I was idle for a total 3 hours yesterday and how I should probably set an alert to remind me to get off my ass. Seems a little judgy to me. It doesn't know why I was idle. What's it going to say about how much time I spend in the car during the week? It's not like I'm going to stop on the side of the highway and take a few steps just to satisfy this rubber thing on my wrist.

I am curious, however, how many "steps" I take during a typical class session.

I like data.


----------



## Designer

Wifey has one of those things.  I can live without it.  Every now and then her doohickey won't sync with her iPhone, as it is supposed to do.  

It supposedly measures the quality of her sleep, which is the main reason she bought it.


----------



## mmaria

I changed my avatar

me likey... no one else will I'm sure 


oh God I can't!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> So, I got one of those fitness tracker doohickeys. Found a really good sale on one that my sister has, so I knew what it would do. So far it's interesting, although this morning it notified me that I was idle for a total 3 hours yesterday and how I should probably set an alert to remind me to get off my ass. Seems a little judgy to me. It doesn't know why I was idle. What's it going to say about how much time I spend in the car during the week? It's not like I'm going to stop on the side of the highway and take a few steps just to satisfy this rubber thing on my wrist.
> 
> I am curious, however, how many "steps" I take during a typical class session.
> 
> I like data.


Better you than me........


----------



## pgriz

Collecting the data is easy.  Connecting the dots... a little harder.  Interpreting the lines in a meaningful way - that's the tricky part.  Partly due to selection bias, partly due to us seeing what we want to see (confirmation bias).  Then there's the issue of correlating performance (or lack of) with any number of things that could be affecting it - diet, sleep, stress, body cycle, weather, the phase of mars, etc.


----------



## mmaria

changed it again...


----------



## pgriz

mmaria said:


> I changed my avatar
> 
> me likey... no one else will I'm sure
> 
> 
> oh God I can't!!!!!!!!!!!!



Your latest avatar is, um, different.  I have a different mental image of you.


----------



## mmaria

pgriz said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> I changed my avatar
> 
> me likey... no one else will I'm sure
> 
> 
> oh God I can't!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Your latest avatar is, um, different.  I have a different mental image of you.
Click to expand...

the dude is gone forever!!!

I wanted him to be my avatar but I couldn't ... I just couldn't!!!


me ... too nice for that


----------



## pgriz

Ok, that's somewhat better.  But you're still better looking than that.  Come on - WE know what Marija looks like.


----------



## bribrius

mmaria said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> I changed my avatar
> 
> me likey... no one else will I'm sure
> 
> 
> oh God I can't!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Your latest avatar is, um, different.  I have a different mental image of you.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> the dude is gone forever!!!
> 
> I wanted him to be my avatar but I couldn't ... I just couldn't!!!
> 
> 
> me ... too nice for that
Click to expand...

something is different.  Did you get a new cell phone?


----------



## mmaria

pgriz said:


> Ok, that's somewhat better.  But you're still better looking than that.  Come on - WE know what Marija looks like.



awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

I don't have the time to write anything else


----------



## Designer

mmaria said:


> changed it again...


OMG!  LOL!  Keep it!


----------



## pgriz

Writing the speech I get to give as the father of the bride.  Both wife and daughter have told me to keep it short.  Runs against my principles.  But daughter reminds me I'm speaking before the food is served, and hungry stomachs can be a little impatient.  So.  Three paragraphs max.  And at least one toast.


----------



## snerd

Mona Maria. I like it.


----------



## astroNikon

limr said:


> So, I got one of those fitness tracker doohickeys. Found a really good sale on one that my sister has, so I knew what it would do. So far it's interesting, although this morning it notified me that I was idle for a total 3 hours yesterday and how I should probably set an alert to remind me to get off my ass. Seems a little judgy to me. It doesn't know why I was idle. What's it going to say about how much time I spend in the car during the week? It's not like I'm going to stop on the side of the highway and take a few steps just to satisfy this rubber thing on my wrist.
> 
> I am curious, however, how many "steps" I take during a typical class session.
> 
> I like data.


I have one.  last summer whilst using it while jogging I forgot to turn it off.  After my run, I had to run a bunch of driving errands all over the place.

The good news

That day I jogged over 160 miles at an incredibly high pace.
Best workout day EVER !!


----------



## snerd

pgriz said:


> Writing the speech I get to give as the father of the bride.  Both wife and daughter have told me to keep it short.  Runs against my principles.  But daughter reminds me I'm speaking before the food is served, and hungry stomachs can be a little impatient.  So.  Three paragraphs max.  And at least one toast.


Are they insinuating that you can be long-winded?! Hmmmmm............ I don't think we've seen any evidence of that around here. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, though!


----------



## Designer

astroNikon said:


> I've never liked the smell of it.
> Plus I'm part mexican.  I eat beans, I don't drink 'em



My DIL doesn't drink coffee or tea either.  She doesn't like chocolate either.  Nor peanut butter.  Doesn't eat some other foods that are common to my family.


----------



## pgriz

Yeah, I've done that too.  


snerd said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Writing the speech I get to give as the father of the bride.  Both wife and daughter have told me to keep it short.  Runs against my principles.  But daughter reminds me I'm speaking before the food is served, and hungry stomachs can be a little impatient.  So.  Three paragraphs max.  And at least one toast.
> 
> 
> 
> Are they insinuating that you can be long-winded?! Hmmmmm............ I don't think we've seen any evidence of that around here. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, though!
Click to expand...


Some call it "long-winded".  I call it stamina!


----------



## Designer

pgriz said:


> So.  Three paragraphs max.  And at least one toast.


My advice is to resist the temptation to tell a joke or try to be funny.  Save that for the "Best Man".


----------



## astroNikon

astroNikon said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, I got one of those fitness tracker doohickeys. Found a really good sale on one that my sister has, so I knew what it would do. So far it's interesting, although this morning it notified me that I was idle for a total 3 hours yesterday and how I should probably set an alert to remind me to get off my ass. Seems a little judgy to me. It doesn't know why I was idle. What's it going to say about how much time I spend in the car during the week? It's not like I'm going to stop on the side of the highway and take a few steps just to satisfy this rubber thing on my wrist.
> 
> I am curious, however, how many "steps" I take during a typical class session.
> 
> I like data.
> 
> 
> 
> I have one.  last summer whilst using it while jogging I forgot to turn it off.  After my run, I had to run a bunch of driving errands all over the place.
> 
> The good news
> 
> That day I jogged over 160 miles at an incredibly high pace.
> Best workout day EVER !!
Click to expand...

here it is .. a nice walk ..


----------



## astroNikon

mmaria said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> whatever ...
> I've also never flown to the moon and back.
> 
> 
> 
> ....oh.... THAT I believe!!!
> 
> 
> you're better off without coffee, we agree on that.... and.... I've also never flown to the moon and back
Click to expand...

_'ll make you a deal.
I'll drink a cup of coffee on my first flight to the moon and back!!_


----------



## astroNikon

snerd said:


> Mona Maria. I like it.


Didn't Billy Idol sing a song with that title ??  Mona Maria


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> Yeah, I've done that too.
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Writing the speech I get to give as the father of the bride.  Both wife and daughter have told me to keep it short.  Runs against my principles.  But daughter reminds me I'm speaking before the food is served, and hungry stomachs can be a little impatient.  So.  Three paragraphs max.  And at least one toast.
> 
> 
> 
> Are they insinuating that you can be long-winded?! Hmmmmm............ I don't think we've seen any evidence of that around here. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, though!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Some call it "long-winded".  I call it stamina!
Click to expand...


I'm *sometimes* (okay, often) told the same thing. It's why I hate Twitter--140 characters?? Seriously? I can't say "hello" in 140 characters!!

But, I prefer it to call it "thorough."


----------



## Designer

astroNikon said:


> here it is .. a nice walk ..


LOL!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Having my coffee at work after working home the last part of last week.  I would pick the day when it's 3 degrees in the morning to come back.  At least I stayed out of the wind for the most part.  This sort of thing is just not that common around here.  Definitely hinders getting out with the camera.


----------



## bribrius

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Having my coffee at work after working home the last part of last week.  I would pick the day when it's 3 degrees in the morning to come back.  At least I stayed out of the wind for the most part.  This sort of thing is just not that common around here.  Definitely hinders getting out with the camera.


i have only taken 5 photos this week. But it has nothing to do with the weather i seem to be spending a lot of time dealing with snow and my photography seems more involved in buying and cleaning those old film cameras/gear and research more than actually taking photos at the moment.  I am overdue for getting out and shooting.


----------



## astroNikon

bribrius said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Having my coffee at work after working home the last part of last week.  I would pick the day when it's 3 degrees in the morning to come back.  At least I stayed out of the wind for the most part.  This sort of thing is just not that common around here.  Definitely hinders getting out with the camera.
> 
> 
> 
> i have only taken 5 photos this week. But it has nothing to do with the weather i seem to be spending a lot of time dealing with snow and my photography seems more involved in buying and cleaning those old film cameras/gear and research more than actually taking photos at the moment.  I am overdue for getting out and shooting.
Click to expand...

I wanted to go out this past weekend. I had some items on my list .. but the blizzard kinda changed my mind.  
I readjusted my thinking to also include warm weather.


----------



## KenC

You could photograph the old cameras.


----------



## bribrius

My wife wants me to buy her a canon sl1.  I am trying to resist.


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> My wife wants me to buy her a canon sl1.  I am trying to resist.


Why resist?! Seems you 2 need something to bring you together more. I would have given my left male-member if mine would have taken even a slight interest in ANYTHING I was interested in!


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> My wife wants me to buy her a canon sl1.  I am trying to resist.
> 
> 
> 
> Why resist?! Seems you 2 need something to bring you together more. I would have given my left male-member if mine would have taken even a slight interest in ANYTHING I was interested in!
Click to expand...

she doesn't even like photography. She won't even use my cameras off auto. She just wants one to say she has a camera. Her last camera she has "somewhere" i don't recall her ever really using it.  She does take some nice cellphone pics though.


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> My wife wants me to buy her a canon sl1.  I am trying to resist.
> 
> 
> 
> Why resist?! Seems you 2 need something to bring you together more. I would have given my left male-member if mine would have taken even a slight interest in ANYTHING I was interested in!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> she doesn't even like photography. She won't even use my cameras off auto. She just wants one to say she has a camera. Her last camera she has "somewhere" i don't recall her ever really using it.  She does take some nice cellphone pics though.
Click to expand...

So get her the camera, then schedule some "lessons". Yeah, that's the ticket! Lessons!!


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> My wife wants me to buy her a canon sl1.  I am trying to resist.
> 
> 
> 
> Why resist?! Seems you 2 need something to bring you together more. I would have given my left male-member if mine would have taken even a slight interest in ANYTHING I was interested in!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> she doesn't even like photography. She won't even use my cameras off auto. She just wants one to say she has a camera. Her last camera she has "somewhere" i don't recall her ever really using it.  She does take some nice cellphone pics though.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> So get her the camera, then schedule some "lessons". Yeah, that's the ticket! Lessons!!
Click to expand...

yeah.....  I have like eight cameras now.  I bring her out shooting, she leaves it in auto and just takes a couple photos of me. That is it for three hours out shooting. She takes two photos of me shooting. The sl1 would just end up lost, misplaced, or sitting in the box somewhere.


----------



## astroNikon

bribrius said:


> yeah.....  I have like eight cameras now.  I bring her out shooting, she leaves it in auto and just takes a couple photos of me. That is it for three hours out shooting. She takes two photos of me shooting. The sl1 would just end up lost, misplaced, or sitting in the box somewhere.


if she enjoys spending time with you and only takes 3 pictures, then all is fine.


----------



## snerd

astroNikon said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> yeah.....  I have like eight cameras now.  I bring her out shooting, she leaves it in auto and just takes a couple photos of me. That is it for three hours out shooting. She takes two photos of me shooting. The sl1 would just end up lost, misplaced, or sitting in the box somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> if she enjoys spending time with you and only takes 3 pictures, then all is fine.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. Also, try spicing it up a little............... go for some nudies!!!   Ya never know........ it could open up a whole new relationship!!     

.................................


----------



## snowbear

NWS saying 5 to 9 inches of snow for my area, overnight.


----------



## pgriz

Designer said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> So.  Three paragraphs max.  And at least one toast.
> 
> 
> 
> My advice is to resist the temptation to tell a joke or try to be funny.  Save that for the "Best Man".
Click to expand...


Good advice.   Already was told - no jokes, no reminiscing, no embarrassing disclosures, no sound effects.  My 30-minute photo montage was nixed as well.  Sigh.  I'll have to console myself with eating, drink, dancing, and socializing.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> yeah.....  I have like eight cameras now.  I bring her out shooting, she leaves it in auto and just takes a couple photos of me. That is it for three hours out shooting. She takes two photos of me shooting. The sl1 would just end up lost, misplaced, or sitting in the box somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> if she enjoys spending time with you and only takes 3 pictures, then all is fine.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Pretty much. Also, try spicing it up a little............... go for some nudies!!!   Ya never know........ it could open up a whole new relationship!!
> 
> .................................
Click to expand...

i already have piles of nudes. Not just her, women i have shot in the past i did portraits with. I haven't shot nudes now in quite a while. Couple months. Before that it had been years. I am contemplating shooting a friend of hers but she isn't inclined to go full nude just partial. She also isn't incredibly attractive so i would have to go more on the dirt/grit side to get much for photos. I don't think she would appreciate the light i would paint her in. But other than that she really has nothing to offer from a photography standpoint other than putting her on her knees on the ground somewhere with a outlook of producing shocking material not beauty.  I could have fun with the shoot though, just not sure if she would like the results.


----------



## bribrius

strange thing when unattractive people are willing to let you shoot them but you have reservations, just by the nature of their appearance. Start to wonder what you could possibly even have to work with.  She isn't fat, just not exactly pretty. Maybe i could put a bag over her head i dunno......LOL


----------



## astroNikon

this is scary ..


----------



## bribrius

astroNikon said:


> this is scary ..


THAT one isn't too bad. They have had a growing problem apparently with people trying to out do eachother free climbing obstacles and being extremely risky for the sake of putting up videos. (you know like hanging on with one hand and balancing a thousand feet up). Quite a few deaths. Seems i read a article on that a while back. They just try to out do each other and some inevitably end up dead.


----------



## bribrius

Quest to impress Social media thrill-seekers high price for likes PHOTOS RT News

These Guys Are Now the Craziest Climbing Russians of All Craziest Climbing Russians


better them than me. I can do heights but not fond enough of them to volunteer...


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Collecting the data is easy.  Connecting the dots... a little harder.  Interpreting the lines in a meaningful way - that's the tricky part.  Partly due to selection bias, partly due to us seeing what we want to see (confirmation bias).  Then there's the issue of correlating performance (or lack of) with any number of things that could be affecting it - diet, sleep, stress, body cycle, weather, the phase of mars, etc.



Luckily, one of my favorite things is analyzing data and finding the patters 

This thing tracks sleep, as well, which is interesting to me, and it allows me to input my mood as well.



pgriz said:


> Writing the speech I get to give as the father of the bride.  Both wife and daughter have told me to keep it short.  Runs against my principles.  But daughter reminds me I'm speaking before the food is served, and hungry stomachs can be a little impatient.  So.  Three paragraphs max.  And at least one toast.



KISS, baby, KISS!


----------



## pgriz

Yes.  Kissing will be involved.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Luckily, one of my favorite things is analyzing data and finding the patters
> 
> This thing tracks sleep, as well, which is interesting to me, and it allows me to input my mood as well.


What are _patters_, Lenny?


----------



## astroNikon

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Luckily, one of my favorite things is analyzing data and finding the patters
> 
> This thing tracks sleep, as well, which is interesting to me, and it allows me to input my mood as well.
> 
> 
> 
> What are _patters_, Lenny?
Click to expand...

It's when she bends over and her BF ..... 
oh wait .. don't wanna get censored ...


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Luckily, one of my favorite things is analyzing data and finding the patters
> 
> This thing tracks sleep, as well, which is interesting to me, and it allows me to input my mood as well.
> 
> 
> 
> What are _patters_, Lenny?
Click to expand...

 Usually of little feet as far as I know.  Somethin' you're not sharing with us Lenny?


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Luckily, one of my favorite things is analyzing data and finding the patters
> 
> This thing tracks sleep, as well, which is interesting to me, and it allows me to input my mood as well.
> 
> 
> 
> What are _patters_, Lenny?
Click to expand...


That's the sound it makes when lots and lots of little data, with their tiny little feet, are sneaking around in your fitbit bracelet.


----------



## Designer

No, you guys are thinking of "pitter-patter".  

Not what she meant at all.  

"Patters", donchaknow, are those bits of data that seem to repeat themselves.  Kinda like reproducing themselves.  Which is kinda like "pitter-patter".  So it really is "pitter-patter" then.


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> No, you guys are thinking of "pitter-patter".
> 
> Not what she meant at all.
> 
> "Patters", donchaknow, are those bits of data that seem to repeat themselves.  Kinda like reproducing themselves.  Which is kinda like "pitter-patter".  So it really is "pitter-patter" then.



"donchaknow" . . . Have you spent time in Bawlmer?


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Luckily, one of my favorite things is analyzing data and finding the patters
> 
> This thing tracks sleep, as well, which is interesting to me, and it allows me to input my mood as well.
> 
> 
> 
> What are _patters_, Lenny?
Click to expand...


That's linguist talk for learnin' stuff 



tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Luckily, one of my favorite things is analyzing data and finding the patters
> 
> This thing tracks sleep, as well, which is interesting to me, and it allows me to input my mood as well.
> 
> 
> 
> What are _patters_, Lenny?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Usually of little feet as far as I know.  Somethin' you're not sharing with us Lenny?
Click to expand...


YOU HUSH! There will be none of that, thankyouverymuch.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> No, you guys are thinking of "pitter-patter".
> 
> Not what she meant at all.
> 
> "Patters", donchaknow, are those bits of data that seem to repeat themselves.  Kinda like reproducing themselves.  Which is kinda like "pitter-patter".  So it really is "pitter-patter" then.



Bing! That's what I meant to say...really...I swear...


----------



## limr

Class from 10 - 11:50. 1,478 steps.


----------



## sm4him

Well, the precipitation has started. It's been going for about 20 minutes, and has already changed form three times--started as sleet, then rain, now it's snowing.

Oh wait. I had to take a quick phone call while I was typing. Now it's changed back to sleet again.

This is not gonna be fun.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Class from 10 - 11:50. 1,478 steps.



My, you do a lot of pacing.  How much of that is back-pedaling and how much is forward charging?  Because not all steps are created equal.  I know from experience that back-pedaling steps cost me much more in energy than the reckless abandon forward charging steps.  There may also be a relation between the two (mind you, I'm speaking of personal experience.  your "mileage" may vary).


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> yeah.....  I have like eight cameras now.  I bring her out shooting, she leaves it in auto and just takes a couple photos of me. That is it for three hours out shooting. She takes two photos of me shooting. The sl1 would just end up lost, misplaced, or sitting in the box somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> if she enjoys spending time with you and only takes 3 pictures, then all is fine.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Pretty much. Also, try spicing it up a little............... go for some nudies!!!   Ya never know........ it could open up a whole new relationship!!
> 
> .................................
Click to expand...

something else snerd, is i need stuff i can put in a portfolio, competitions maybe, online. At the least I need to up the quality. And clearly i can't use my wife for that i have some tact.  Also i really am at the beginner level with portraits. I know very little. I need to work on simple professional portraiture. Then maybe work my way into fine art with it.  So i need usable material in which to improve. The stuff i shot from before was before i was married with children, years ago, and had a very different element to it. I didn't even consider off camera flash, had little to no model releases. Hardly knew some of their names. A lot of it was who i knew, drugs they were into. Tv stayed on the playboy channel pretty much 24 hours a day. 

People in and out all the time. Going to party houses occasionally. So you see some stuff, and me always being the reserved one sitting back having some drinks with a camera i managed to photograph some interesting stuff. But shooting a blond on a dirty carpet on her hands and knees in someones apartment and doing classical professional portraiture are very different things. Although not everything i shot was quite that bad (some actually pretty decent)  I need to work on more professional classical type stuff now.  At a professional level.  I also don't want that element around my family.  It was fine then, things are a much different now.  I don't need drunk people banging on my door at 2 a.m. Hell, there were times i woke up in the morning and people were crashed out in my house and i wasn't even sure who they were. Different times. And plus i have off camera flash now i just need to learn how to use it effectively.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Class from 10 - 11:50. 1,478 steps.


That's a lot of steps!  Do you pace when you talk?  I do when speaking on the telephone.


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> "donchaknow" . . . Have you spent time in Bawlmer?


No, but I've heard people from there.


----------



## bribrius

i really should get off my but and go run errands at least.... zero ambition. You all with your walking computers clearly have more ambition than i do.


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> [...........


Dude............ I was just trying to spice up ya'll's relationship, is all. I guess it went over your head. Kinda like my soon-to-be-ex wife......... she would listen, but never heard a word I said. Oh well.

ETA: Well, that didn't sound like I meant it. I wasn't criticizing you. Just pointing out what I meant to do. Sorry!


----------



## snerd

The ice stopped after an hour last night, and we pretty much missed it completely! Heading for moving truck as we speak!!


----------



## astroNikon

snerd said:


> ... Kinda like my soon-to-be-ex wife......... she would listen, but never heard a word I said. Oh well.



Wish you the best of luck in that situation too, especially since all your recent ailments.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> [...........
> 
> 
> 
> Dude............ I was just trying to spice up ya'll's relationship, is all. I guess it went over your head. Kinda like my soon-to-be-ex wife......... she would listen, but never heard a word I said. Oh well.
Click to expand...

We don't have a romantic relationship anyway, closer to a contract or business arrangement. . Like 1950's.  We aren't like most couples.  I really could care less what she does long as it doesn't undermine the house and finances to any large extent.


snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> [...........
> 
> 
> 
> Dude............ I was just trying to spice up ya'll's relationship, is all. I guess it went over your head. Kinda like my soon-to-be-ex wife......... she would listen, but never heard a word I said. Oh well.
> 
> ETA: Well, that didn't sound like I meant it. I wasn't criticizing you. Just pointing out what I meant to do. Sorry!
Click to expand...

You shouldn't worry yourself about it. I don't. Couldn't care less.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Class from 10 - 11:50. 1,478 steps.
> 
> 
> 
> That's a lot of steps!  Do you pace when you talk?  I do when speaking on the telephone.
Click to expand...


I never sit down when I'm teaching. I walk around as I talk, back and forth so that I am "addressing" different parts of the room. While they are doing an activity, I'm walking around checking on them or answering questions. And yes, sometimes they're doing their activity, I've already checked on them all and they're doing fine, and I just am waiting for them to finish...I do pace quite a bit.

These classes can be long and I understand that not all people find grammar and writing quite as fascinating as I do. If I talked at them while standing still - or worse! sitting at a desk - I would lose these students in less than a minute. I am the one responsible for setting an energetic tone so they can follow along and remain engaged in the material, so if I am static, they will be, too.

Plus, I've got that whole Southern-European-talking-with-my-hands nervous energy thing going on  I'm also fidget a lot when I'm sitting.


----------



## bribrius

its a reely nice day out rite now.  i wunder wat the temprachure is.


----------



## sm4him

Well, my plan for the day has not worked out.  I was going to go home about 1 p.m., take a nap, relax a while, in anticipation of roads getting bad later this afternoon, and having to work late into the evening (I'm the one who has to update our website, social media and all other media outlets when our transit system operating status changes due to bad weather).

I *am* at least at home, but I didn't get my nap. We had to go to snow routes at 12:15 p.m. because the roads are really icing over quickly. 
What REALLY stinks is--the air temperature is 25F, so HOW do we end up with sleet and freezing rain instead of SNOW, which would be much easier to deal with???

Well, I am home, keeping all my electronics charged up, listening to the dispatch radio, updating FB and Twitter, answering questions...drinking coffee....

and suddenly realizing that in all the flurry of activity, I kinda didn't get to eat lunch!  Gotta remedy that.


----------



## minicoop1985

19* here. Actually, it's a damned heat wave compared to the last week


----------



## bribrius

we just hit 15.  i took a photo of the snow out back earlier. Had chinese for lunch.  About it.   LOL


----------



## limr

Mmmm, hadn't had Chinese in a long time. Could really go for some mu chu.


----------



## snowbear

I've got the camera tethered to the laptop, waiting for the snow to start.  I'm going to sign off now - Jeremy is sick and I am waiting to be; trying to decide of it's the flu or mild food poisoning.  I'll catch y'all much later.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I've got the camera tethered to the laptop, waiting for the snow to start.  I'm going to sign off now - Jeremy is sick and I am waiting to be; trying to decide of it's the flu or mild food poisoning.  I'll catch y'all much later.



Hope it's just a mild cold and nothing more!


----------



## astroNikon

The snow the other week was blowing so much it created a new awning over the back of my house


----------



## KenC

No snow awnings here and it's up to a sweltering 15 degrees.


----------



## minicoop1985

Odd patterns there. Surprised it didn't just fall off.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Odd patterns there. Surprised it didn't just fall off.



Me too. Sure do look neato, though!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Class from 10 - 11:50. 1,478 steps.


You have a Fitbit?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Class from 10 - 11:50. 1,478 steps.
> 
> 
> 
> You have a Fitbit?
Click to expand...


Jawbone UP.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 68F right now ... nearly noon. Been busy this morning walking the pooch, pulling out a ton of Nasturtium ... it's nice and all, red, yellow and orange flowers, but it's just too much and it's blocking the Sun from the stuff we really want. All in all I'm at 13,110 steps.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Class from 10 - 11:50. 1,478 steps.
> 
> 
> 
> You have a Fitbit?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Jawbone UP.
Click to expand...

I looked at that. It's a good looking band.


----------



## Gary A.

Costco?


----------



## astroNikon

minicoop1985 said:


> Odd patterns there. Surprised it didn't just fall off.


I had to use my manual tree branch saw to reach and literally cut chunks out of it to take it down.
It was still snow just well packed snow.  Really odd, especially the part over the back porch .. it was LONG and curved down.  really odd.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Costco?



Actually, I got it at Kohl's (just checked - you don't have that store in Cali. It's only in the NE.) It was on sale for $70. Even on Amazon, I never saw it cheaper that $90-100. So I decided to jump on it. I had to exchange it - I ordered a medium online going by their wrist measurement guide, but when I got it, it was huge. I've got weirdly small wrists


----------



## astroNikon

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Costco?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, I got it at Kohl's (just checked - you don't have that store in Cali. It's only in the NE.) It was on sale for $70. Even on Amazon, I never saw it cheaper that $90-100. So I decided to jump on it. I had to exchange it - I ordered a medium online going by their wrist measurement guide, but when I got it, it was huge. I've got weirdly small wrists
Click to expand...

we have Kohl's in Michigan
all over the place

oh .. NE .. NorthEast .. not Nebraska


----------



## minicoop1985

We have lots of Kohl's stores here in Wisconsin and in Illinois.


----------



## Gary A.

Appleton Guy- I'm glad you sawed that thing down. It was gonna hurt someone.

We have Kohl's here. $70 is pretty good.


----------



## minicoop1985

I think you mean Astro, Gary. lol


----------



## limr

Y'know what's funny? I checked the Kohl's store locator thingy and the map only shows stores in the Northeast, even though they ask you what state. So I only checked the map. Didn't realize it was all over the country.

Bet you didn't have Caldor, though


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Y'know what's funny? I checked the Kohl's store locator thingy and the map only shows stores in the Northeast, even though they ask you what state. So I only checked the map. Didn't realize it was all over the country.
> 
> Bet you didn't have Caldor, though


Shuck's now there girlie girl.  We'uns here in the sticks even gots one of them there Kohl's stores.  We even gots us a Sears & Roebucks and they still gots catalogs which is a real good thing to help keep you occupied and provide some paperwork when you are in the little house out back down the path. 






I hear tell that we'uns may even be getting one of them there Cosco places some day.   My won't we be uptown then.  Ma & me will have to put on our Sunday go to meeting clothes and visit that there place when she get here
.


----------



## Gary A.

What's a Caldor? I betcha you don't have good Mexican food. On to more pressing matters, the bread is in its final rise, in a few hours It'll be into the BBQ.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> What's a Caldor? I betcha you don't have good Mexican food. On to more pressing matters, the bread is in its final rise, in a few hours It'll be into the BBQ.



Caldor was a department store that went out of business years ago. Kohl's is what moved in to all the old Caldor locations, so the two stores are always linked in my head.

Mexican food - granted, you are much closer to Mexico and surely have excellent options for food, but remember that there's not exactly a shortage of Mexicans in the New York area  Though having said that, we're still better known for our pizza and bagels.


----------



## astroNikon

astroNikon said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Costco?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, I got it at Kohl's (just checked - you don't have that store in Cali. It's only in the NE.) It was on sale for $70. Even on Amazon, I never saw it cheaper that $90-100. So I decided to jump on it. I had to exchange it - I ordered a medium online going by their wrist measurement guide, but when I got it, it was huge. I've got weirdly small wrists
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> we have Kohl's in Michigan
> all over the place
Click to expand...




minicoop1985 said:


> I think you mean Astro, Gary. lol


No. Pretty sure Gary means Lenny for the Kohl's thing

but me for the Rooftop Snow Drifts ...


----------



## sm4him

astroNikon said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Costco?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, I got it at Kohl's (just checked - you don't have that store in Cali. It's only in the NE.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> we have Kohl's in Michigan
> all over the place
> 
> oh .. NE .. NorthEast .. not Nebraska
Click to expand...


Plenty of them here in the SE too. Or at least in TN. One of my favorite places! (Which in shopping terms means that I might actually go there MORE than one time a year!)


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> What's a Caldor? I betcha you don't have good Mexican food. On to more pressing matters, the bread is in its final rise, in a few hours It'll be into the BBQ.



Ooooh...if I get to/have to work from home tomorrow, I might just make me a batch of bread. Not from homemade starter yeast, but my grandmother's recipe of bread, so...yummy!  But that means I'll also have to clean up the kitchen. It's kind of a mess because I've been playing with water drops for a few days.


----------



## sm4him

Well, "sort of" good news for me! Our buses are going to stop running completely after their 7:15 p.m. lineup from the transit center. That means that I'll be able to quit working by about 8 p.m. instead of 11:30 p.m.!  I'll have to get UP and start working again at about 4 a.m. though.
Of course, the reason WHY isn't so good. Somewhere between 1-2" of ICE currently on the roads and still falling.  We *might* get a dusting to an inch or snow on the back end of the storm, late tonight.

Just hoping that the power stays on, with all this ice on the lines!


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What's a Caldor? I betcha you don't have good Mexican food. On to more pressing matters, the bread is in its final rise, in a few hours It'll be into the BBQ.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ooooh...if I get to/have to work from home tomorrow, I might just make me a batch of bread. Not from homemade starter yeast, but my grandmother's recipe of bread, so...yummy!  But that means I'll also have to clean up the kitchen. It's kind of a mess because I've been playing with water drops for a few days.
Click to expand...

It's been a week+ since I started my culture, then starter and now ... in about 30 minutes I will bake in the BBQ. (No sense to heat up the house.) Everyday I had to mess with the dough. I'm cooking the waste starter right now just for the heck of it.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hope it's just a mild cold and nothing more!


Oh, it is definitely more than a cold.  The apartment next door had a pipe burst so the water for the building (it's a quad) is shut off.  We went up top the local warehouse store and got 12 gallons of water to handle things until they turn the pipes back on.

There's maybe an inch to an inch-and -one-half on the roads; not enough for 4WD.  It looks like the county got a grant for plows because I saw more than two, and none were agricultural tractors.  Picked up dinner while we were out - plain chicken stock.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> Well, "sort of" good news for me! Our buses are going to stop running completely after their 7:15 p.m. lineup from the transit center. That means that I'll be able to quit working by about 8 p.m. instead of 11:30 p.m.!  I'll have to get UP and start working again at about 4 a.m. though.
> Of course, the reason WHY isn't so good. Somewhere between 1-2" of ICE currently on the roads and still falling.  We *might* get a dusting to an inch or snow on the back end of the storm, late tonight.
> 
> Just hoping that the power stays on, with all this ice on the lines!



Stay safe.


----------



## limr

Both of you stay safe and warm!


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hope it's just a mild cold and nothing more!
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, it is definitely more than a cold.  The apartment next door had a pipe burst so the water for the building (it's a quad) is shut off.  We went up top the local warehouse store and got 12 gallons of water to handle things until they turn the pipes back on.
> 
> There's maybe an inch to an inch-and -one-half on the roads; not enough for 4WD.  It looks like the county got a grant for plows because I saw more than two, and none were agricultural tractors.  Picked up dinner while we were out - plain chicken stock.
Click to expand...


Well, UGH! That sounds even worse than what I'm dealing with, Charlie! At least I'm not sick. And I have water. And...I'm about to go make sure the faucets are all dripping.


----------



## pgriz

Going to have to get that wormhole generator thing figured out.  I wanna drop in on Gary just as the bread is coming out of the BBQ.  Ok, maybe 10 minutes after - need to let the bread cool down a bit.  And I don't fancy paying for a hypersonic flight from here to there.  Plus, with all the ice on the roads south of us, can't really depend on ground transport either.  So, where did I put the wormhole generator instructions?  Last I looked they were on top of the microwave, but my wife's been cleaning the kitchen, so who knows where they ended up.  Dang.  Gotta be careful with the knobs.  Last time I wasn't paying attention, and next we know Sanduleak went supernova.  Fortunately, it was far enough away, but still...


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, Lenny.  I've already notified the bosses that I will likely not be in.  I think it's going to be a long night.
The water is back on.  The main cut-off for the building is in our unit . . . hmmm, I might be able to make a couple of bucks!
Anyway, the valves could stand to be replaced (not tonight) -- maybe in a few days.

Paul; didn't you lend that to Derrel?


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> Paul; didn't you lend that to Derrel?



I think he may have been an innocent bystander.  I was trying to dial in the coordinates for Vancouver so that I could pop in and visit my daughter, and at an inopportune moment a sneeze happened.  Got some salt water spashed back as the hole closed, so I'm pretty sure it was on the coast, just not sure where the other end ended up.  And it was, coincidentally, when Derrel went AWOL.  So could be.   And then again it kinda resnapped again, and by another coincidence, Derrel reappears.  I really hope he doesn't remember anything.  So don't tell him.


----------



## snowbear

(No problem.)  <-- whisper


----------



## limr

Almost 2,000 steps in my evening class. I'm up over 9,000 for the day. Should hit 10,000 no problem.

The days I'm at the lawyer's office might be more problematic. Very small office, not as many chances to move around much. I'll see what I can do, though.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Almost 2,000 steps in my evening class. I'm up over 9,000 for the day. Should hit 10,000 no problem.
> 
> The days I'm at the lawyer's office might be more problematic. Very small office, not as many chances to move around much. I'll see what I can do, though.


 Whose turn was it to feed Lenny her Prozac today?


----------



## table1349

Perhaps we should take a more scientific approach to helping Lenny.


----------



## limr

So y'all think I'm broken or something, eh? 

Tip of the iceberg, my friends


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> So y'all think I'm broken or something, eh?
> 
> Tip of the iceberg, my friends


No......no..................It's just that this sounds like a good philosophy for you.  





It's not that your Crazy..... We like to think of you as being Mentally Unrestricted.


----------



## limr

I like it. Mentally Unrestricted. I also am okay with Non-Linear.


----------



## pgriz

I like "unbounded and unrestrained".


----------



## bribrius

Evening peeps...Looks like we are still talking about the walk a thon you all got going. So who is winning?


----------



## pgriz

We all are, Brian.  We all are.  And some of us more than others.  But we are all "winners".


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> Evening peeps...Looks like we are still talking about the walk a thon you all got going. So who is winning?



Gary will surely win 

Ooh, that reminds me. Let me sync up and see where I'm at. I'm going to be in bed soon, so the total now will be close enough...


----------



## limr

Dude, seriously? Only 9,751. I thought I'd be over 10,000. Bastards.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Dude, seriously? Only 9,751. I thought I'd be over 10,000. Bastards.


i dont even know why you are doing it. Go shovel some snow, chop some wood. Get out the snow shoes. who needs a tracking device...


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dude, seriously? Only 9,751. I thought I'd be over 10,000. Bastards.
> 
> 
> 
> i dont even know why you are doing it. Go shovel some snow, chop some wood. Get out the snow shoes. who needs a tracking device...
Click to expand...


It's measurable and gives me a tangible goal. And now I'm doing office work 32 hours a week, so it helps give me motivation to remain active during those hours.

Mostly, though, I was interested in the sleep data. Ever since I started taking the magnesium and realizing how crappy the quality of my sleep must have been, I've been paying close attention to it. I have restless leg syndrome, so sleep quality is problematic, and my crappy sleep effed me over in a lot of ways. I don't want to go back to that.

It's taken me over a year to get to the point where I actually give a crap about anything and have enough energy to finally fight to feel better again. Data and step numbers will help me do that, so that's what I'm getting for myself.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dude, seriously? Only 9,751. I thought I'd be over 10,000. Bastards.
> 
> 
> 
> i dont even know why you are doing it. Go shovel some snow, chop some wood. Get out the snow shoes. who needs a tracking device...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's measurable and gives me a tangible goal. And now I'm doing office work 32 hours a week, so it helps give me motivation to remain active during those hours.
> 
> Mostly, though, I was interested in the sleep data. Ever since I started taking the magnesium and realizing how crappy the quality of my sleep must have been, I've been paying close attention to it. I have restless leg syndrome, so sleep quality is problematic, and my crappy sleep effed me over in a lot of ways. I don't want to go back to that.
> 
> It's taken me over a year to get to the point where I actually give a crap about anything and have enough energy to finally fight to feel better again. Data and step numbers will help me do that, so that's what I'm getting for myself.
Click to expand...

i couple night caps before bed and you will sleep like a baby..........


----------



## limr

Not so much. Don't get me wrong - I love me some booze, but I can't drink before bed because it makes the jimmy leg worse, which means I wake up crying and cranky. So yeah, maybe I will sleep like a baby ; )


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Dude, seriously? Only 9,751. I thought I'd be over 10,000. Bastards.


I'm at 21,710 right now. But this is an exceptionally high day. My daily goal is 12,000 steps and usually I have to take an afternoon walk to the store to hit my goal. Perfect weather helps.


----------



## sm4him

No way I'm telling ANY of you overachievers how many steps *I* probably take in a day.
Actually, most of the year, I do pretty good. But winter?? In the wintertime, I generally take only as many steps as necessary to get to the coffee maker.


----------



## sm4him

gryphonslair99 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So y'all think I'm broken or something, eh?
> 
> Tip of the iceberg, my friends
> 
> 
> 
> No......no..................It's just that this sounds like a good philosophy for you.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's not that your Crazy..... We like to think of you as being Mentally Unrestricted.
Click to expand...


Oh my goodness...I resemble this remark!!


----------



## sm4him

Oh yeah...good morning Hosers!! Up since 4:30 a.m. this morning, working. 
SO grateful that at least I can do this part of my job from home. Our safety supervisor, who is the one who calls me at 4:30 a.m. to tell me what our operating status is going to be, was out when he called, salting the area around one of the bus stops. And he doesn't even make as much as *I* do!!


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Oh yeah...good morning Hosers!! Up since 4:30 a.m. this morning, working.



Ma, I find a picture of you doing stuff since 4:30 am 


you look goooood!


----------



## snowbear

Happy Mardi Gras / Bonne Mardi Gras, Sharon.
Felling a bit better, but I refuse to eat food - only crackers and liquids today.  Everything is closed, including the local and Federal governments.  It looks like we have 3" on the little patio fence so the actual accumulation would be a bit higher.


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, Marija.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Good afternoon, Marija.


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh yeah...good morning Hosers!! Up since 4:30 a.m. this morning, working.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ma, I find a picture of you doing stuff since 4:30 am
> 
> 
> you look goooood!
Click to expand...


Yep, that's me alright...coffee by my side, eyes closed because I'm still half-asleep while I'm typing on the computer.    Only the wardrobe is wrong...since I have on...well...


----------



## sm4him

THIS:
 

 

And no, I haven't brushed my hair yet. Or showered. The ONLY thing that happens before I start working on a snow day is making coffee.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Yep, that's me alright...coffee by my side, eyes closed because I'm still half-asleep while I'm typing on the computer.  *Only the wardrobe is wrong...since I have on...well..*.


 hm.... something more sexy?


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep, that's me alright...coffee by my side, eyes closed because I'm still half-asleep while I'm typing on the computer.  *Only the wardrobe is wrong...since I have on...well..*.
> 
> 
> 
> hm.... something more sexy?
Click to expand...


WAY more sexy...


----------



## mmaria

I should wait...


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep, that's me alright...coffee by my side, eyes closed because I'm still half-asleep while I'm typing on the computer.  *Only the wardrobe is wrong...since I have on...well..*.
> 
> 
> 
> hm.... something more sexy?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> WAY more sexy...
Click to expand...

I really like your sense of humor!!!

LOLed at the office... they're wondering why I'm laughing so much


----------



## snowbear

I'm not posting any selfies.  I don't want to get the thread closed.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> I'm not posting any selfies.  I don't want to get the thread closed.



My first attempt at that selfie (trying for one overall shot) would have slammed the door on the entire internets.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> I'm not posting any selfies.  I don't want to get the thread closed.





sm4him said:


> My first attempt at that selfie (trying for one overall shot) would have slammed the door on the entire internets.


oh shush you two!!!!!!!!!



now.. go and make us some more selfies!!!


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not posting any selfies.  I don't want to get the thread closed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> My first attempt at that selfie (trying for one overall shot) would have slammed the door on the entire internets.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> oh shush you two!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> now.. go and make us some more selfies!!!
Click to expand...

No.  You owe us one in your new dress!


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> No.  You owe us one in your new dress!


oh yeah... 

but no

you first


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> No.  You owe us one in your new dress!
> 
> 
> 
> oh yeah...
> 
> but no
> 
> you first
Click to expand...


----------



## mmaria

oh ok....


----------



## mmaria

here's mine then


----------



## snowbear

Oh, you colored your hair!  Nice.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

I stumbled out of bed at 6:30 and eventually looked out a window. Huh. Snow. Not much, though. Roads are clear mostly. But my town is at the north edge of the storm and I'd be driving south. Might be a slow commute and roads might be worse where I work that what I see outside my window, so I'd better get moving.

Then I get a text from my boss saying I don't have to come in until 11 if I don't want to. I'm taking that!


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Oh, you colored your hair!  Nice.


I've been doing that since I was 14 yo 

all shades of red and purple


----------



## limr

Afternoon, Marija!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Afternoon, Marija!


morning beauty


----------



## limr

Oh, let me put my face on before anyone calls me a beauty


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Oh, let me put my face on before anyone calls me a beauty


oh... c'mon... 

here we go again 


b e a u t y


----------



## limr

I had a dream that I made some post...can't remember what the topic of the thread was but I said something about "dot-commers" after the bubble burst, and people were hitting the disagree button. I had racked up 6 of them before I woke up. 

Maybe I _should_ be on something. Or _off_ something else!


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, let me put my face on before anyone calls me a beauty
> 
> 
> 
> oh... c'mon...
> 
> here we go again
> 
> 
> b e a u t y
Click to expand...


----------



## mmaria

hey...

I'm going somewhere after the work to experience something interesting....

I have the ear inflammation and I can't take antibiotics because of a long story... so... an acquaintance came in the office today, noticed my behavior and before I realized he called his mil and told her that I'm coming to her this afternoon. She'll be doing some I don't know what... flaming/burning  what next to my ear... 

It sounds interesting and we'll see


----------



## limr

Ah, to pull wax out, I think. Interesting. I've heard of the technique (if it is what I think it is). Let us know how it turns out.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Ah, to pull wax out, I think. Interesting. I've heard of the technique (if it is what I think it is). Let us know how it turns out.


yeah, I will...

I didn't understand exactly what she'll be doing except that she needs beeswax for that 

funny, interesting, why not!

I'm taking some painkillers which I don't like to do but it's been a very strong pain, my whole right side of the head and a bit neck went dumb out of pain. I'll try anything.

Some coworkers brought to me a plant to use its juice as drops but the trouble is.. it's winter and that plant has no juice in it


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> I had a dream that I made some post...can't remember what the topic of the thread was but I said something about "dot-commers" after the bubble burst, and people were hitting the disagree button. I had racked up 6 of them before I woke up.
> 
> Maybe I _should_ be on something. Or _off_ something else!


Lol! I actually DO stuff like that! Ambien Posting. 

First pot of coffee in the new place!!









Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> No way I'm telling ANY of you overachievers how many steps *I* probably take in a day.
> Actually, most of the year, I do pretty good. But winter?? In the wintertime, I generally take only as many steps as necessary to get to the coffee maker.


Move the coffee maker down the street a mile or two.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Happy Mardi Gras / Bonne Mardi Gras, Sharon.
> Felling a bit better, but I refuse to eat food - only crackers and liquids today.  Everything is closed, including the local and Federal governments.  It looks like we have 3" on the little patio fence so the actual accumulation would be a bit higher.


Sick sucks. Get better.


----------



## Gary A.

Afternoon Marija. Some 'experts' will stick a paper cone in your ear then light it on fire to melt and draw out the excess ear wax. I hope that's not what the mil is planning to do. I read somewhere that it is dangerous. I don't think that an over abundance of wax will cause an infection. Is your ear warm?


----------



## bribrius

Good morning coffee housers!!!!!!!!


----------



## bribrius

geez. i show up and everyone is gone. And here i was thinking i was the life of the party...


----------



## limr

I'm sure it was just something you said


----------



## snerd




----------



## astroNikon

Did I miss something ?


----------



## astroNikon

just in ...

Marquette, Michigan (WFRV/WJMN) --While the Northeast is getting all of the attention, it's really Marquette, Michigan that's getting all the snow- according to the National Weather Service.* Just shy of 150 inches of snow has fallen in Marquette* so far this winter - the most in the nation.

The season started with a mid-November snowfall that dropped up to 40 inches in part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. And winter still has a strong grip on the region.

Says Todd Kluber of the National Weather Service, "Up here, we're used to seeing lots of snow. 100, 200, sometimes 300 inches of snow per year along Lake Superior or even more across portions of Upper Michigan."

While Marquette has the most snowfall this winter, Buffalo, New York comes in second with just under a hundred inches of snow, and Boston is actually third, with about 90 inches of snow.


----------



## snowbear

astroNikon said:


> Did I miss something ?


Not at all . . . this is the Coffee House.


----------



## bribrius

astroNikon said:


> just in ...
> 
> Marquette, Michigan (WFRV/WJMN) --While the Northeast is getting all of the attention, it's really Marquette, Michigan that's getting all the snow- according to the National Weather Service.* Just shy of 150 inches of snow has fallen in Marquette* so far this winter - the most in the nation.
> 
> The season started with a mid-November snowfall that dropped up to 40 inches in part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. And winter still has a strong grip on the region.
> 
> Says Todd Kluber of the National Weather Service, "Up here, we're used to seeing lots of snow. 100, 200, sometimes 300 inches of snow per year along Lake Superior or even more across portions of Upper Michigan."
> 
> While Marquette has the most snowfall this winter, Buffalo, New York comes in second with just under a hundred inches of snow, and Boston is actually third, with about 90 inches of snow.


geez.  We get all the attention because we matter.. Hello....????? Who cares about Marquette? It even sounds like a canadian name...


----------



## pgriz

bribrius said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> just in ...
> 
> Marquette, Michigan (WFRV/WJMN) --While the Northeast is getting all of the attention, it's really Marquette, Michigan that's getting all the snow- according to the National Weather Service.* Just shy of 150 inches of snow has fallen in Marquette* so far this winter - the most in the nation.
> 
> The season started with a mid-November snowfall that dropped up to 40 inches in part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. And winter still has a strong grip on the region.
> 
> Says Todd Kluber of the National Weather Service, "Up here, we're used to seeing lots of snow. 100, 200, sometimes 300 inches of snow per year along Lake Superior or even more across portions of Upper Michigan."
> 
> While Marquette has the most snowfall this winter, Buffalo, New York comes in second with just under a hundred inches of snow, and Boston is actually third, with about 90 inches of snow.
> 
> 
> 
> geez.  We get all the attention because we matter.. Hello....????? Who cares about Marquette? It even sounds like a canadian name...
Click to expand...


Well, if you want to give it back to Canada, I think we'll be ok with that.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good afternoon, Coffee Hosers. Going to the Professional Photographers' Association convention here in Madison on Saturday to meet with a prospective employer, who happens to be on the board. Sounds like a great opportunity to me, really.


----------



## Derrel

limr said:


> Below zero this morning.
> View attachment 95448



LOVE that high-tech wind gauge on the weather station instrument's mounting arm!!!!


----------



## snowbear

Good luck!


----------



## Designer

minicoop1985 said:


> Sounds like a great opportunity to me, really.


Good luck!


----------



## Gary A.

Break a leg.


----------



## table1349

sm4him said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So y'all think I'm broken or something, eh?
> 
> Tip of the iceberg, my friends
> 
> 
> 
> No......no..................It's just that this sounds like a good philosophy for you.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's not that your Crazy..... We like to think of you as being Mentally Unrestricted.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh my goodness...I resemble this remark!!
Click to expand...


----------



## table1349

astroNikon said:


> Did I miss something ?


What, they didn't tell you about the hot fresh blueberry pecan muffins sprinkled with Bacon that lenny baked?   Mmmmmmm...... They were goooooooooooood!!!!!!


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did I miss something ?
> 
> 
> 
> What, they didn't tell you about the hot fresh blueberry pecan muffins sprinkled with Bacon that lenny baked?   Mmmmmmm...... They were goooooooooooood!!!!!!
Click to expand...


Bacon?  Lenny? 
No, you misread that.  It was pecan, not bacon.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did I miss something ?
> 
> 
> 
> What, they didn't tell you about the hot fresh blueberry pecan muffins sprinkled with Bacon that lenny baked?   Mmmmmmm...... They were goooooooooooood!!!!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Bacon?  Lenny?
> No, you misread that.  It was pecan, not bacon.
Click to expand...

No it was blueberry pecan with bacon. We're dragging Lenny into the world of gooooooooood food i.e. BACON!!!


----------



## astroNikon

gryphonslair99 said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did I miss something ?
> 
> 
> 
> What, they didn't tell you about the hot fresh blueberry pecan muffins sprinkled with Bacon that lenny baked?   Mmmmmmm...... They were goooooooooooood!!!!!!
Click to expand...

now I'm hungry .... guess I'll have to drive over the Lenny's house for breakfast tomorrow.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, yesterday baked my first load of bread, (actually two loafs), came out good ... different but still very good. I even capture free range yeast in lieu of store bought.


----------



## Gary A.

I had to teach my dog to eat bacon. She wouldn't eat it. ... What man or beast doesn't like bacon?


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


>



First, I am _always_ a smartass.



gryphonslair99 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bacon?  Lenny?
> No, you misread that.  It was pecan, not bacon.
> 
> 
> 
> No it was blueberry pecan with bacon. We're dragging Lenny into the world of gooooooooood food i.e. BACON!!!
Click to expand...


Second, if you think for one damn second that you or anyone else can drag me anywhere that I don't want to go, then you are sorely mistaken. Emphasis on the sore_. _


----------



## minicoop1985

A feisty one, eh?


----------



## snowbear

51% sweetheart, 49% B!tch; watch it.


----------



## limr

I am very sweet and mild-mannered. So long as I'm not pushed


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I am very sweet and mild-mannered. So long as I'm not pushed



Hence the importance of keeping the balance.


----------



## limr

Exactly


----------



## snerd




----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. At the start of one of my Jesus headaches. And next week, my teeth get yanked.

This next week or two is going to be ouchy


----------



## astroNikon

btw, where does someone actually buy coffee beans ?
I don't see them next to the Pinto beans and stuff ...


----------



## Designer

astroNikon said:


> btw, where does someone actually buy coffee beans ?
> I don't see them next to the Pinto beans and stuff ...


There is a local entrepreneur with his own roaster.  He buys "fair trade" beans from odd places in the world and blends and roasts them right there.


----------



## astroNikon

Designer said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> btw, where does someone actually buy coffee beans ?
> I don't see them next to the Pinto beans and stuff ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There is a local entrepreneur with his own roaster.  He buys "fair trade" beans from odd places in the world and blends and roasts them right there.
Click to expand...

Ooh.
Lenny said to look for this ...






But I can only find bags of Wax, Lima & Black beans next to the Pinto Beans.
Is Lima beans a good alternative ?


----------



## sm4him

astroNikon said:


> But I can only find bags of Wax, Lima & Black beans next to the Pinto Beans.
> Is Lima beans a good alternative ?



Yes, I think Lima beans would be a delicious alternative. You go ahead and try it first, and report back to us. ;-)

I mean, why not? They used Peas during the Great Depression...that's PEAS, not Pee. 


They also used chicory, which is still very popular in New Orleans, but my mom and g'mother said the chicory coffee they made during the Great Depression was disgusting.


----------



## Designer

She's pulling your chain, LOL!  

You have to look in the floor wax aisle to find that.


----------



## Designer

I'm not sure, but I think the modern store-bought chicory is blended with a little bit of actual coffee.

(running over to the computer now to google chicory)

Oh, right, I'm already here, so it'll save me a few steps!


----------



## Designer

Found this:

COFFEE PARTNER Ground Chicory

and this:

Is Chicory Coffee Any Good Or Just a Way to Stretch Coffee Serious Eats

So in the case of that one offering, yes, it is a blend of chicory and coffee.  To taste something like "coffee", I presume.


----------



## Designer

Goodness!  This well-known blend is still $10 a pound!  GAaaa!!!!

Cafe Du Monde Coffee and Chicory World Market


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> Goodness!  This well-known blend is still $10 a pound!  GAaaa!!!!
> 
> Cafe Du Monde Coffee and Chicory World Market



^Yeah, THAT is the "world famous" New Orleans stuff. At least it's cheaper than Kopi Luwak coffee...or THIS STUFF, which I didn't know existed. I wish I still didn't know.


----------



## KenC

Well, here I am drinking a regular coffee from the coffee shop, made from beans that hadn't seen the inside of any mammal.  Sometimes it's so hard to keep up with trends.

I'm having that coffee with a piece of brownie from a modified mix.  In addition to replacing the water with coffee and adding some vanilla, this time I added a dash of brandy - worked out well.


----------



## Designer

That elephant story is hilarious!  

".. there's no bitterness; and it's very soft, like tea. So it's kind of like a cross between coffee and tea."

So for us tea-drinkers, there is hope that we can finally get back to the good stuff.

""I'm not looking to produce a lot of this," Dinkin says.

Good thing, too.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I'd love a cup of Crappacino. Brandy works well with coffee. 






My first loaf of bread. (iPhone image)


----------



## bribrius

just normal coffee from the supermarket here....  i am not even drinking the french vanilla this morning.  some days i wonder if i taste the difference anyway as i pretty much inhale coffee in the morning.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I'd love a cup of Crappacino. Brandy works well with coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My first loaf of bread. (iPhone image)


you should shoot with your iphone. That is better than a lot of your camera pics.


----------



## Designer

It looks great, Gary!  

Remember; toasted and buttered!


----------



## astroNikon

sm4him said:


> ^Yeah, THAT is the "world famous" New Orleans stuff. At least it's cheaper than Kopi Luwak coffee...or THIS STUFF, which I didn't know existed. I wish I still didn't know.


I thought all coffee tasted like that stuff before they pulled the bean out ..


----------



## sm4him

astroNikon said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> ^Yeah, THAT is the "world famous" New Orleans stuff. At least it's cheaper than Kopi Luwak coffee...or THIS STUFF, which I didn't know existed. I wish I still didn't know.
> 
> 
> 
> I thought all coffee tasted like that stuff before they pulled the bean out ..
Click to expand...


Actually, it might. I can't really argue the point, because...I've never actually TRIED that stuff. 

Although, I suspect *somebody* has tried it, most likely an adolescent male...so I'm guessing we'd have hear about it by now if poop were actually tasty.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> I had to teach my dog to eat bacon. She wouldn't eat it. ... What man or beast doesn't like bacon?


 I'd get a new dog; that one's defective!


----------



## Designer

Our long-ago neighbor's dog ate avocados that fell into his back yard.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had to teach my dog to eat bacon. She wouldn't eat it. ... What man or beast doesn't like bacon?
> 
> 
> 
> I'd get a new dog; that one's defective!
Click to expand...

I would break up the bacon into pieces and toss them into her food dish. Then she would very nicely pick up the pieces out of her food and stack the bacon next to her dish. She's 11 y/o. A couple of years ago I got fed up and stuck a piece of bacon in her mouth and held her mouth shut. After that taste test she discovered she liked bacon. But now when I give her a piece she chews and chews and chews the hell out of it ... savoring every morsel as opposed to most dogs who just wolf down the food without chewing.






Cookie (aka The Cook)


----------



## tirediron

Oh... well...  that's different.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had to teach my dog to eat bacon. She wouldn't eat it. ... What man or beast doesn't like bacon?
> 
> 
> 
> I'd get a new dog; that one's defective!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I would break up the bacon into pieces and toss them into her food dish. Then she would very nicely pick up the pieces out of her food and stack the bacon next to her dish. She's 11 y/o. A couple of years ago I got fed up and stuck a piece of bacon in her mouth and held her mouth shut. After that taste test she discovered she liked bacon. But now when I give her a piece she chews and chews and chews the hell out of it ... savoring every morsel as opposed to most dogs who just wolf down the food without chewing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cookie (aka The Cook)
Click to expand...

should have used the iphone on that one. Highlights blew out.


----------



## astroNikon

tirediron said:


> Oh... well...  that's different.


she probably uses a fork and knife too


----------



## tirediron

astroNikon said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh... well...  that's different.
> 
> 
> 
> she probably uses a fork and knife too
Click to expand...

 Prolly... no accounting for some peoplepooches.


----------



## limr

Man, this place is even more random than usual this morning!


----------



## limr

astroNikon said:


> Ooh.
> Lenny said to look for this ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But I can only find bags of Wax, Lima & Black beans next to the Pinto Beans.
> Is Lima beans a good alternative ?


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Man, this place is even more random than usual this morning!


who are you?


----------



## astroNikon

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Man, this place is even more random than usual this morning!
> 
> 
> 
> who are you?
Click to expand...

No

Who's on First


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> who are you?


(I really want to know)


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ooh.
> Lenny said to look for this ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But I can only find bags of Wax, Lima & Black beans next to the Pinto Beans.
> Is Lima beans a good alternative ?
Click to expand...

what is it with people always post cat photos and clips. They are all over the internet i can't get away from them.  I am afraid to go on facebook now. Every day someone posts a photo of their damn cat.          It is even worse than kid photos every day...


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> what is it with people always post cat photos and clips. They are all over the internet i can't get away from them.  I am afraid to go on facebook now. Every day someone posts a photo of their damn cat.          It is even worse than kid photos every day...



You're not JUST noticing this NOW, are you? 

Here are pictures of my cats, just for you!


----------



## KenC

OK, why not?


----------



## limr

Kitteh likes da yogurtz!


----------



## minicoop1985

I have a love/hate relationship with Craigslist...


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> I have a love/hate relationship with Craigslist...



Because...?


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> what is it with people always post cat photos and clips. They are all over the internet i can't get away from them.  I am afraid to go on facebook now. Every day someone posts a photo of their damn cat.          It is even worse than kid photos every day...



Kitties seem to be covered.  Film scan, from several years ago:


----------



## astroNikon

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> what is it with people always post cat photos and clips. They are all over the internet i can't get away from them.  I am afraid to go on facebook now. Every day someone posts a photo of their damn cat.          It is even worse than kid photos every day...
Click to expand...



Some people BOUGHT a camera just to photograph their cat(s).
Ask Braineck about that ... he needed a FF & 24-70/2.8 just to take better cat photos !!


----------



## astroNikon

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have a love/hate relationship with Craigslist...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Because...?
Click to expand...

He gets his "new" Hasselblads from there, after his other  cameras break.


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have a love/hate relationship with Craigslist...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Because...?
Click to expand...


Some people are absolute idiots, but there's some great stuff on there one in a while.


----------



## snowbear

astroNikon said:


> Some people BOUGHT a camera just to photograph their cat(s).
> Ask Braineck about that ... he needed a FF & 24-70/2.8 just to take better cat photos !!


Nothing wrong with that . . . a bunch of people buy cameras just to take pics of their kids, and a trip to any toy or candy store will reveal that many of the cats are much better behaved.


----------



## Designer

Bribrius; this one is for you:


----------



## astroNikon

Is there a "censor" button ?


----------



## snowbear

At least it's not in mid lick.


----------



## bribrius

i think it is missing something i cant quite put my finger on.... Like i dunno, maybe a subject or something...


----------



## limr

Or something...


----------



## minicoop1985

It's missing a cat.


----------



## limr

I can add a cat to that, bri. Or a Gorn.


----------



## snowbear

What about that smiley thing in the background?


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> What about that smiley thing in the background?


one of my kids stuffed animals. he was supervising me.  i still have a extra part, and haven't quite figured out if the  flashes will go off with my film cameras. running fine on the digital though...  The new off camera flashes say nikon only. So i am guessing linking them to a 35 year old konica is a no go. i still might give it a shot though..
i dont even understand how it knows the difference. i figure the remotes sync so how can it know what kind of camera it is on . i dont get it. hot shoe is a hot shoe. So maybe it will work anyway.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> I can add a cat to that, bri. Or a Gorn.


you are getting good at pp aren't you?  seems you had been practicing. i should be , but honestly i really haven't been so still pretty much suck at it. lol  just sidetracked though. i will get back to it eventually. And i would take a gorn over a cat any day.


----------



## minicoop1985

bribrius said:


> one of my kids stuffed animals. he was supervising me.  i still have a extra part, and haven't quite figured out if the  flashes will go off with my film cameras. running fine on the digital though...  The new off camera flashes say nikon only. So i am guessing linking them to a 35 year old konica is a no go. i still might give it a shot though..
> i dont even understand how it knows the difference. i figure the remotes sync so how can it know what kind of camera it is on . i dont get it. hot shoe is a hot shoe. So maybe it will work anyway.



What flashes did you buy? What triggers are you using? If it's not TTL you may be right, but if it's TTL then that does matter.


----------



## pgriz

I think Leonore likes Gorns (assuming there's more than one) because it means that Captain Kirk will be somewhere nearby, and that gives Leonore the opportunity to correct Kirk's misogynistic world-view.  Not to mention that Gorns are 1960s kitch.  Almost as good as the gnomes at the beginning of this thread.


----------



## snerd

Because cats are the cat's meow! Remember my cat's puking thing? I kept spray cleaner on hand all the time. Just a part of it for a long time. She and I have been in new apt for 3 days now........... not a puke a one!! I'm thinking it was the stress of living with that, that woman.


----------



## mmaria

gooooooood morning!






enough of glitter for you Sharon?


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> gooooooood morning!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> enough of glitter for you Sharon?



LOL. Good afternoon, Marija!
I've worked so much over the last three days, that shimmering glitter kinda feels like the way my eyes are seeing things anyway...


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> I've worked so much over the last three days, that shimmering glitter kinda feels like the way my eyes are seeing things anyway...


oh...I understand... 

Doing some boring stuff /inventory stuff and....this is how I feel


----------



## limr

Ooooh, way too much glitter for 6:53 a.m. and a headache...


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Ooooh, way too much glitter for 6:53 a.m. and a headache...


here you go


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> one of my kids stuffed animals. he was supervising me.  i still have a extra part, and haven't quite figured out if the  flashes will go off with my film cameras. running fine on the digital though...  The new off camera flashes say nikon only. So i am guessing linking them to a 35 year old konica is a no go. i still might give it a shot though..
> i dont even understand how it knows the difference. i figure the remotes sync so how can it know what kind of camera it is on . i dont get it. hot shoe is a hot shoe. So maybe it will work anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What flashes did you buy? What triggers are you using? If it's not TTL you may be right, but if it's TTL then that does matter.
Click to expand...

they are all ttl.  The strobes are square perfect from that studio kit. synch flash studio kit. The off camera flashes are altura (for nikons only) apparently. I haven't gotten around to it but since i am shooting film now too then yea, i kind of want to put one of my film cameras on the tripod and give it a go as well.  with the nikon digital though these are working like clockwork. Triggers? Two sets, whatever came with them no name brand i would guess. And it has a two four channel and a two channel.. i just turned them all on.


----------



## bribrius

My wife said photography has become a addiction for me. I told her i just want to go back to shooting nude women. she didn't find me amusing and got kind of mad. She did help me fold up the cloths from the light boxes though and repack everything when i put it away though. I couldnt get it to fit back in the bags right. And i realized watching her folding up the light box clothes and backrops that studio work must be more a girls thing.  Lot like folding towels and blankets.


----------



## mmaria

bribrius said:


> .... She did help me fold up the cloths from the light boxes though and repack everything when i put it away though. I couldnt get it to fit back in the bags right......And i realized watching her folding up the light box clothes and backrops that studio work must be more a girls thing.  Lot like folding towels and blankets.


did you say what I think you said? folding something is girls thing


----------



## bribrius

mmaria said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> .... She did help me fold up the cloths from the light boxes though and repack everything when i put it away though. I couldnt get it to fit back in the bags right......And i realized watching her folding up the light box clothes and backrops that studio work must be more a girls thing.  Lot like folding towels and blankets.
> 
> 
> 
> did you say what I think you said? folding something is girls thing
Click to expand...

yeah. Good thing i have a assistant.   Such a troll aren't i?


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> folding up the light box clothes and backrops that studio work must be more a girls thing.  Lot like folding towels and blankets.


It's just one more thing you can learn to do.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> folding up the light box clothes and backrops that studio work must be more a girls thing.  Lot like folding towels and blankets.
> 
> 
> 
> It's just one more thing you can learn to do.
Click to expand...

i got a list already...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. My soaking beans in brandy worked. Just took a long time to dry the beans. I air dried them. But I wasn't in a rush. Halfway through I realized that all I have to do is add some brandy to the coffee for pretty much the same taste. doh! I still have my bread culture bubbling away. I feed it everyday. In a few more days I'll make more bread. 57F right now and overcast, should hit about 73F today.


----------



## astroNikon

pgriz said:


> I think Leonore likes Gorns (assuming there's more than one) because it means that Captain Kirk will be somewhere nearby, and that gives Leonore the opportunity to correct Kirk's misogynistic world-view.  Not to mention that Gorns are 1960s kitch.  Almost as good as the gnomes at the beginning of this thread.


I think Leonore may actually be Leonard Nimoy in disguise


----------



## limr

astroNikon said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think Leonore likes Gorns (assuming there's more than one) because it means that Captain Kirk will be somewhere nearby, and that gives Leonore the opportunity to correct Kirk's misogynistic world-view.  Not to mention that Gorns are 1960s kitch.  Almost as good as the gnomes at the beginning of this thread.
> 
> 
> 
> I think Leonore may actually be Leonard Nimoy in disguise
Click to expand...


I AM quite logical. Though that would make me Spock in disguise. I have no idea how logical Leonard Nimoy is.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> I AM quite logical. Though that would make me Spock in disguise.


That is logical.


----------



## limr

See? Told you I was logical


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, coffee hosers. Looks like I'm going absolutely nowhere today, considering it's -15 F out.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. My soaking beans in brandy worked. Just took a long time to dry the beans. I air dried them. But I wasn't in a rush. Halfway through I realized that all I have to do is add some brandy to the coffee for pretty much the same taste. doh! I still have my bread culture bubbling away. I feed it everyday. In a few more days I'll make more bread. 57F right now and overcast, should hit about 73F today.



If you took our high temp for the last three days, and added them all together, they wouldn't be your high today. Heck, they would BARELY add up to your current temp!
*I LIVE IN THE SOUTH, DAGNABIT!!! It is NOT supposed to be like this!!!*


----------



## astroNikon

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. My soaking beans in brandy worked. Just took a long time to dry the beans. I air dried them. But I wasn't in a rush. Halfway through I realized that all I have to do is add some brandy to the coffee for pretty much the same taste. doh! I still have my bread culture bubbling away. I feed it everyday. In a few more days I'll make more bread. 57F right now and overcast, should hit about 73F today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you took our high temp for the last three days, and added them all together, they wouldn't be your high today. Heck, they would BARELY add up to your current temp!
> *I LIVE IN THE SOUTH, DAGNABIT!!! It is NOT supposed to be like this!!!*
Click to expand...

that's it !!

Let's all pack up our bags and head over to Gary's until Spring time !!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> One or more grandparents or the issue of grandparents (as hereinafter defined), and no spouse, issue, parent or issue of parents, one-half to the surviving paternal grandparent or grandparents, or if neither of them survives the decedent, to their issue, by representation, and the other one-half to the surviving maternal grandparent or grandparents, or if neither of them survives the decedent, to their issue, by representation; provided that if the decedent was not survived by a grandparent or grandparents on one side or by the issue of such grandparents, the whole to the surviving grandparent or grandparents on the other side, or if neither of them survives the decedent, to their issue, by representation, in the same manner as the one-half. For the purposes of this subparagraph, issue of grandparents shall not include issue more remote than grandchildren of such grandparents. - See more at: N.Y. EPT. LAW 4-1.1 NY Code - Section 4-1.1 Descent and distribution of a decedent s estate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm wondering how long I can do this for.
Click to expand...



What do my grandparents and their issues have to do with anything??


----------



## bribrius

oh good, 1.35 volt batteries came in. i dont have to lie to my camera about the film speed now...


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> I'm wondering how long I can do this for.



How's the pay?


----------



## limr

That's what I want to know! Who DOESN'T have issues??


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> One or more grandparents or the issue of grandparents (as hereinafter defined), and no spouse, issue, parent or issue of parents, one-half to the surviving paternal grandparent or grandparents, or if neither of them survives the decedent, to their issue, by representation, and the other one-half to the surviving maternal grandparent or grandparents, or if neither of them survives the decedent, to their issue, by representation; provided that if the decedent was not survived by a grandparent or grandparents on one side or by the issue of such grandparents, the whole to the surviving grandparent or grandparents on the other side, or if neither of them survives the decedent, to their issue, by representation, in the same manner as the one-half. For the purposes of this subparagraph, issue of grandparents shall not include issue more remote than grandchildren of such grandparents. - See more at: N.Y. EPT. LAW 4-1.1 NY Code - Section 4-1.1 Descent and distribution of a decedent s estate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm wondering how long I can do this for.
Click to expand...


A clear case of why more words does not help.  Why can't lawyers write laws using mathematics?  Or at least algebra?  Those who love splitting hairs will do well with differentials.  Those who live with "notwithstanding" clauses could express the ideas more clearly with a few Venn diagrams.  For the people who love summations, there's calculus.  And for multi-generational issues, there are tree diagrams and matrix math.  Surely a clear case of symbology trumping verbology.


----------



## waday

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One or more grandparents or the issue of grandparents (as hereinafter defined), and no spouse, issue, parent or issue of parents, one-half to the surviving paternal grandparent or grandparents, or if neither of them survives the decedent, to their issue, by representation, and the other one-half to the surviving maternal grandparent or grandparents, or if neither of them survives the decedent, to their issue, by representation; provided that if the decedent was not survived by a grandparent or grandparents on one side or by the issue of such grandparents, the whole to the surviving grandparent or grandparents on the other side, or if neither of them survives the decedent, to their issue, by representation, in the same manner as the one-half. For the purposes of this subparagraph, issue of grandparents shall not include issue more remote than grandchildren of such grandparents. - See more at: N.Y. EPT. LAW 4-1.1 NY Code - Section 4-1.1 Descent and distribution of a decedent s estate
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm wondering how long I can do this for.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> A clear case of why more words does not help.  Why can't lawyers write laws using mathematics?  Or at least algebra?  Those who love splitting hairs will do well with differentials.  Those who live with "notwithstanding" clauses could express the ideas more clearly with a few Venn diagrams.  For the people who love summations, there's calculus.  And for multi-generational issues, there are tree diagrams and matrix math.  Surely a clear case of symbology trumping verbology.
Click to expand...

Lawyers and math don't mesh well, unless you're talking about fees or how many billable hours they need.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm wondering how long I can do this for.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How's the pay?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not as much per hour as I hoped, but more hours per week than I expected. And enough that it is making a difference for my finances at the moment.
> 
> Truth is I will likely find a way to suck it up for about 6 months or so, and then look for something better. It'll be better if I can manage until the end of the year, really, but I'm giving myself an "out" after 6 months to make it a little bit easier to mentally deal.
> 
> And yes, the work itself is boring and I would like to be doing something more interesting for me, but I also can handle boring-ish work depending on the work environment. It's just me and the lawyer and our personalities don't really mesh all that well, but he's also not in the office probably half the time that I am here, so that helps. I just have to figure out how to keep the existential ennui to a minimum during the hours he IS here at the same time.
Click to expand...

geez.... you just started and are already planning on quitting?????

sorry, i am laughing with you not at you..


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> .. existential ennui ..


Now, see, you made me go to the dictionary.  Again.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> It's just me and the lawyer and our personalities don't really mesh all that well, but he's also not in the office probably half the time that I am here, so that helps. I just have to figure out how to keep the existential ennui to a minimum during the hours he IS here at the same time.


My wife started at a firm and quit after a week and a half because the guy was such a douche.

To explain douche, he KNEW they would settle for what the complainant was asking for, but actually liked creating more annoyances by having them fill out unneeded paperwork and take time off work. Evil.


----------



## Designer

waday said:


> To explain douche, he KNEW they would settle for what the complainant was asking for, but actually liked creating more annoyances by having them fill out unneeded paperwork and take time off work. Evil.


Do the term "billable hours" ring a bell?

I worked for a "designer" like that once.  He couldn't actually design his way out of a paper bag, but he always got a signed contract up front.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Yeah, I'd quit in that situation, too. This guys isn't evil - just really disorganized and random. He'll, for example, take 5 minutes to tell me how to address an envelope, but give me NO direction at something that needs it. "Put this in the blah-blah file." Except that "file" is really half a drawer, could be any one of 4 different cases that each have 10 or so folders to them, none of which are labeled consistently. Or "Write a letter for this" but give no example of how he wants it.
> 
> Just frustrating and difficult to keep the boredom off my face. And so I post threads about cacti!


For your own mental health, suggest he pay you overtime to get things organized.  Some people are incredibly intelligent, and incredibly flighty and disorganized. he sounds like one of those potential a.d.d cases with such attributes.  Since you just started, you are also trying to probably get to know your way around. i would suggest just talking to him. instead of us, and some organizing. Even though i realize all women think men are mind readers..  otherwise he will start wondering why things are wrong, without realizing you dont know how to do it and he never explained it. Honesty up front is a great principle.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Yeah, I'd quit in that situation, too. This guys isn't evil - just really disorganized and random. He'll, for example, take 5 minutes to tell me how to address an envelope, but give me NO direction at something that needs it. "Put this in the blah-blah file." Except that "file" is really half a drawer, could be any one of 4 different cases that each have 10 or so folders to them, none of which are labeled consistently. Or "Write a letter for this" but give no example of how he wants it.
> 
> Just frustrating and difficult to keep the boredom off my face. And so I post threads about cacti!



Oh, that's frustrating. Take bribius' idea and ask him if he wants you to organize the files. Also, ask him if he has any templates/boilerplates to work from. If not, just wing it. That sounds a lot like what he's doing. 



Designer said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> To explain douche, he KNEW they would settle for what the complainant was asking for, but actually liked creating more annoyances by having them fill out unneeded paperwork and take time off work. Evil.
> 
> 
> 
> Do the term "billable hours" ring a bell?
> 
> I worked for a "designer" like that once.  He couldn't actually design his way out of a paper bag, but he always got a signed contract up front.
Click to expand...

Yeah, as a consultant and having an attorney wife, yeah, billable hours ring a small bell. 

Ethics also ring a bell. If you're doing something that isn't helping your client (or frankly not requested by your client--i.e., unneeded paperwork and meetings), and billing for it, definitely unethical and out of scope.


----------



## waday

Whenever I hit a wall, I shift gears into something else for the moment.

Just like when I get a nasty/annoying email from someone. Instead of responding right away (when emotions are highest), I close the email and don't open it up for an hour or so. Sometimes, a day. haha


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> To explain douche, he KNEW they would settle for what the complainant was asking for, but actually liked creating more annoyances by having them fill out unneeded paperwork and take time off work. Evil.
> 
> 
> 
> Do the term "billable hours" ring a bell?
> 
> I worked for a "designer" like that once.  He couldn't actually design his way out of a paper bag, but he always got a signed contract up front.
Click to expand...

Friend of mine was like that. Zero organization. i would go to the bank and it would be over drafted while he had fifty k in customer checks sitting in his drawer he hadn't gotten around to depositing. So i started grabbing the checks and depositing them instead of him collecting them.  Payroll on index cards. i learned to pretty much deal with it. The office was more his thing, i was more a buyer. Despite his lack of organization he was a genius at sales. He wanted us to start a new franchise in vermont, then newyork. wanted to send me. uhhh fruck no... We had two customers in new york, i didnt want to go. But intelligent wise, he wasn't incorrect. That is how you expand... He couldnt remember to register his car, but in some ways he was a straight genius.


limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I'd quit in that situation, too. This guys isn't evil - just really disorganized and random. He'll, for example, take 5 minutes to tell me how to address an envelope, but give me NO direction at something that needs it. "Put this in the blah-blah file." Except that "file" is really half a drawer, could be any one of 4 different cases that each have 10 or so folders to them, none of which are labeled consistently. Or "Write a letter for this" but give no example of how he wants it.
> 
> Just frustrating and difficult to keep the boredom off my face. And so I post threads about cacti!
> 
> 
> 
> For your own mental health, suggest he pay you overtime to get things organized.  Some people are incredibly intelligent, and incredibly flighty and disorganized. he sounds like one of those potential a.d.d cases with such attributes.  Since you just started, you are also trying to probably get to know your way around. i would suggest just talking to him. instead of us, and some organizing. Even though i realize all women think men are mind readers..  otherwise he will start wondering why things are wrong, without realizing you dont know how to do it and he never explained it. Honesty up front is a great principle.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm not doing overtime to organize. I'm doing _time_ to organize. That's most of what I've been doing.
> 
> And don't you dare pull that "all women think..." b.s. with me. You should know better by now! I don't expect him to read my mind - in fact, I would really rather he didn't read my mind. If I need him to explain something better, I tell him. If I don't know how to do something, I let him know. If I need him to do X so I can better understand his files or system, I let him know. I've actually asked him for several things to help me get better organized and he hasn't provided them yet. I barely know this office yet and I'm already behaving somewhat like Radar from MASH. So, no, I'm not just twiddling my thumbs around here.
> 
> I'm just venting here, because there's no one else in the office to hear it in person!
Click to expand...



well i dunno. My filing system exists as a four foot high six foot long stacked along the floor. Once in a while a pile gets to tall, topples over. kids get it and color on it. Get thrown back in, mis matched. someone picks it up again. Pieces end up on the kitchen table, Daughter cleans off the table for dinner. Gets tossed on top of the pile somewhere.  Then say "hunny do you know where the ....... is?" And if looks could kill i would be dead right there. She has been asking me to go through stuff and get filing cabinets for four years. We also have a shredder, printer, laser printer, whatever else tossed in the papers too with the stacks. When i need one i kinda pull it out, the files of course fall to the floor. What to do, what to do....


----------



## waday

limr said:


> it would be nice if he'd bring me the friggin' hanging files I asked for, y'know?


He won't. I wonder if you could ask for petty cash, and while on COMPANY time, go to Staples/Office Depot/etc?


----------



## Designer

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> it would be nice if he'd bring me the friggin' hanging files I asked for, y'know?
> 
> 
> 
> He won't. I wonder if you could ask for petty cash, and while on COMPANY time, go to Staples/Office Depot/etc?
Click to expand...

This might be your best route.  If he doesn't want to go shopping for hanging folders, tell him you'll be happy to do it.  Be sure to charge him for the mileage.  When I worked for my slimeball, he would send me to get his lunch.  I always charged him for my mileage.


----------



## waday

Designer said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> it would be nice if he'd bring me the friggin' hanging files I asked for, y'know?
> 
> 
> 
> He won't. I wonder if you could ask for petty cash, and while on COMPANY time, go to Staples/Office Depot/etc?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> This might be your best route.  If he doesn't want to go shopping for hanging folders, tell him you'll be happy to do it.  Be sure to charge him for the mileage.  When I worked for my slimeball, he would send me to get his lunch.  I always charged him for my mileage.
Click to expand...

Good point on the mileage! I hated getting lunch for people, but I did the same thing! That, or, I'd use a company car if one was available.


----------



## limr

Oh, and fyi, I'll be deleting all these messages soon given that I was dumb enough to post them in the first place   

Edit: Damnit, now y'all are going to have to go and delete the quoted messages!


----------



## minicoop1985

IT HIT 0 DEGREES! IT'S A MOTHERF*@(ING HEAT WAVEEEEE!!!!!


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Edit: Damnit, now y'all are going to have to go and delete the quoted messages!


----------



## table1349

Sorry long day at work so I am just now responding to this mornings missives. 




















FYI.. the cat is staring at me with a "I know where you sleep" look while the dogs are chuckling.  The cat will get over it.  With out me he doesn't get fed.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Edit: Damnit, now y'all are going to have to go and delete the quoted messages!
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 95678
Click to expand...


Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?





C'mon...someone? Help? Hey @tirediron  you're a mod! You can go in and clean up my mess, can't ya? I shoot Ilford, remember? You like Ilford!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> One or more grandparents or the issue of grandparents (as hereinafter defined), and no spouse, issue, parent or issue of parents, one-half to the surviving paternal grandparent or grandparents, or if neither of them survives the decedent, to their issue, by representation, and the other one-half to the surviving maternal grandparent or grandparents, or if neither of them survives the decedent, to their issue, by representation; provided that if the decedent was not survived by a grandparent or grandparents on one side or by the issue of such grandparents, the whole to the surviving grandparent or grandparents on the other side, or if neither of them survives the decedent, to their issue, by representation, in the same manner as the one-half. For the purposes of this subparagraph, issue of grandparents shall not include issue more remote than grandchildren of such grandparents. - See more at: N.Y. EPT. LAW 4-1.1 NY Code - Section 4-1.1 Descent and distribution of a decedent s estate
Click to expand...

Careful there, Lenny.  You'll give me flashbacks and I'll start posting 30-year old police calls.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> IT HIT 0 DEGREES! IT'S A MOTHERF*@(ING HEAT WAVEEEEE!!!!!


We're supposed to have some drizzle here on Sunday.


----------



## minicoop1985

EVERYONE LET'S MOVE IN WITH GARYYYY!


----------



## snowbear

I'll pass.  I like seasons and don't think a cat's digestive system should be part of coffee bean processing.


----------



## bribrius

cats are good for catching mice. That is it.


----------



## limr

Don't make me drive up there and slap you upside the head.


----------



## snowbear

When Zoe was still a kitten, she held a snake that got into the apartment, at bay.


----------



## minicoop1985

My dog is incredibly cat like. For a doge, that is. 

Fine then, I'll move in with Gary uninvited. I hate winter so hard that I wouldn't miss it.


----------



## limr

Good girl, Zoe!

My girls always alert me to bugs so I can kill them. If it's a harmless thing that I don't mind, I'll let them play with it for a while, but if it's a stinkbug or something gross, then I have to kill it immediately. Then I feel bad that I've just killed their toy. But not too bad. And they get treats.


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> cats are good for catching mice. That is it.


Well, that's something! My cat is being extra friendly lately. She knows the score lol!!


----------



## snerd

I just recalled hearing what a great blue heron sounded like for the first time, last summer. I had half-slid down an embankment to take a photo of a dam............... it saw me before I saw it, not 10 feet in front of me. If it thinks I surprised and scared it, it never saw the load I dropped in my pants!! A horrible sound............. like a strangling duck or the like. Loud, gurgly and I don't ever want to hear that sound again!!


----------



## mmaria

yeah you're sleeping, but it's my morning!!!






Oh no! Simply not enough of glitter here... 


Let's do something to fix that problem...


----------



## limr

I can get behind a little Friday glitter.


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon Marija.  Good morning to the rest of the crowd.
Halfax, NS is warmer than Waldorf, MD by 20*F.  Whoda thunk!

The plumber is coming back today to get his under-carpet-jet-fan.  After the pipe burst next door, we had a sewage/storm drain backup through the utility room drain.  The plumber put in a fan to dry out the carpet & pad and is coming back to pick it up.  The cats hated it -- It was noisy (to them) and it make the rest of the rug "blow up" -- they hated walking on it.


----------



## snowbear

". . . glitter . . . so much glitter."  From one of my favorite commercials -- Tania Gunadi as the second grade teacher in a Target back to school ad.


----------



## limr

Yuk, Charlie. Hope you get that good and dry so you don't have to deal with mold. 

Poor kitties. Both of mine despise the vacuum cleaner. And Zelda loves to hang out with me in the bathroom whenever I'm getting ready to go somewhere, but if I pull out the hair dryer, she'll shoot me a dirty look and run to the hallway, then sit there just outside the bathroom and glare at me while I'm using the hair dryer. Sometimes if she's wandering into the bathroom just as I'm about to start, she sees the hair dryer in my hand and just backs up slowly, keeping her eye on the thing the whole time.

Silly little creatures


----------



## bribrius

I never ran over a cat. I accidentally ran over a porcupine once. I put him in the trunk to show my friends. we never saw one close up.


----------



## sm4him

Well…I might just be looking for work soon. 

Probably fueled by a lack of sleep (snow events generally mean I start work at 4:30 a.m. and have to stay at it in some capacity until the last buses finish their runs, generally around midnight, unless we have to stop service sooner because of road conditions), I just sent a long email to my boss about some things going on around here that I am just completely DONE putting up with, ONE of which is the stupid "open door" thing. I am really, really sick and tired of being required to keep my door open just because ONE person who happens to be in charge likes to be able to look in on people and speak to them as she passes in the hallway.  It's been pointed out that we are lucky to even HAVE doors. Well…NO, we're not, not if we're not allowed to actually USE that to shut out distractions.

Anyway…I just discovered that she's leaving for a conference and then vacation, so she won't be back until March 9, and I didn't want to wait that long to get this stuff out in the open.  Plus, at least I should have until March 9 to find a new career.


----------



## snerd

Heehee............... the airing of grievances. I have a bone to pick with you!!! Festivus!!


----------



## limr

Good for you, Sharon!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Good for you, Sharon!



We'll see if I think it was a good plan later on in the day. 

Oh, I did also tell her that if she wants to try to understand where I'm coming from, to read the "Quiet" book.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, fellow hosers. Sharon, I look forward to reading your bosses' response... This should be interesting. Hopefully you don't get fired.

It's supposed to reach a high of 16 today. This is a 30 degree swing from last night.


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> Morning, fellow hosers. Sharon, I look forward to reading your bosses' response... This should be interesting. Hopefully you don't get fired.
> 
> It's supposed to reach a high of 16 today. This is a 30 degree swing from last night.



Yeah, I'm hoping she HAS a response, and that it's not a Donald Trump reply…"You're Fired!!"  
Seriously, I don't think I said anything in terms that would get me fired…at least, not immediately. But it could put me on an even faster track to forced retirement… 

We're nearly at your projected high already…15 here and it's not even noon yet!! Record low for this date this morning though, 3 degrees.
Another nasty system headed our way--calling right now for sleet to begin around 1 a.m. Saturday, turning to snow with possible 2-4" accumulation, then back to some more sleet, before changing to all rain sometime Saturday afternoon. Could mean another 4:30 a.m. wake-up call for me and a Saturday work day.  On the other hand, it's so cold I'm not interested in doing anything ELSE with my Saturday, might as well get paid. Oh, wait. I'm salaried, and already over 40 hours for the week. Oh joy.


----------



## limr

So last night I went for a teeth cleaning. Since I have never gone in the evening before, I had a hygienist who had never worked with me before. And if I have my way, she will never touch my teeth again. She was so rough and my gums are still a little sore today. I should have said something, or at least asked to floss myself when she got to that stage, but I will definitely say something to the dentist when I am there on Wednesday for the extractions. I don't know if she's new or I just never was there when she was working.

It made me appreciate just how good my normal hygienist is. It was really just a matter of scheduling that almost always paired me with him, but having dealt now with a couple of the others - and now with the worst one - I realize now that he's probably the best one in the office. And from now on, I will be making my appointments specifically to work with him only.

This is just what I needed - a bad experience at the dentist for a routine procedure less than a week before a more major procedure! Way to help my mental state on this one


----------



## snowbear

Sharon - is that Bat$hit?  Maybe she'll get lost coming back from the conference.
Lenny - sorry to hear about your painful visit.  Let's try to link your dental sadist up with Sharon's bat$hit boss.

The living room rug seems top be nice and dry, and the noise box is gone.  I've been working from home, today, while my lovely recovering wife returned to work (partial duties) for the first time in a few weeks.  I'm working on two maps, one of which will be placed into a competition next month.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> So last night I went for a teeth cleaning. Since I have never gone in the evening before, I had a hygienist who had never worked with me before. And if I have my way, she will never touch my teeth again. She was so rough and my gums are still a little sore today. I should have said something, or at least asked to floss myself when she got to that stage, but I will definitely say something to the dentist when I am there on Wednesday for the extractions. I don't know if she's new or I just never was there when she was working.
> 
> It made me appreciate just how good my normal hygienist is. It was really just a matter of scheduling that almost always paired me with him, but having dealt now with a couple of the others - and now with the worst one - I realize now that he's probably the best one in the office. And from now on, I will be making my appointments specifically to work with him only.
> 
> This is just what I needed - a bad experience at the dentist for a routine procedure less than a week before a more major procedure! Way to help my mental state on this one


I hate cleanings! Yes, some do get way too rough. I'm a sensitive guy, ya know!!


----------



## snowbear

Nat. Weather Svc:


> MDZ016>018-VAZ055>057-210445-
> /O.NEW.KLWX.WW.Y.0016.150221T1700Z-150222T0800Z/
> CHARLES-ST. MARYS-CALVERT-STAFFORD-SPOTSYLVANIA-KING GEORGE-
> INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...*WALDORF*...ST MARYS CITY...
> FREDERICKSBURG
> 337 PM EST FRI FEB 20 2015
> 
> ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM NOON SATURDAY TO 3 AM
> EST SUNDAY...
> 
> THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON HAS
> ISSUED A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW...SLEET...AND FREEZING
> RAIN...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON SATURDAY TO 3 AM EST SUNDAY.
> 
> * PRECIPITATION TYPE...A MIX OF SNOW...SLEET...AND FREEZING RAIN
> SATURDAY THROUGH EARLY SUNDAY MORNING.
> 
> * ACCUMULATIONS...1 TO 2 INCHES OF SNOW. ICE ACCUMULATIONS OF A
> TRACE TO A FEW HUNDREDTHS OF AN INCH.
> 
> * TIMING...SNOW STARTING EARLY SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND THE EVENING
> HOURS...THEN MIXING WITH SLEET AND THEN CHANGING TO FREEZING
> RAIN LATE SATURDAY NIGHT.
> 
> * TEMPERATURES...UPPER TEENS TO LOWER 20S EARLY SATURDAY...
> INCREASING TO THE UPPER 20S AND LOWER 30S DURING EVENING HOURS.
> TEMPERATURES STEADY OR SLOWLY RISING LATE SATURDAY NIGHT.
> 
> * WINDS...WINDS SOUTH 10 TO 20 MPH SATURDAY INTO SATURDAY NIGHT.
> WEST 5 TO 10 MPH EARLY SUNDAY MORNING.
> 
> * IMPACTS...SNOW AND ICE WILL CAUSE HAZARDOUS TRAVELLING
> CONDITIONS SATURDAY THROUGH EARLY SUNDAY MORNING.


----------



## limr

Mmmm, Friday evening, at home with a beer already down the gullet. Good times.


----------



## Derrel

Still 3 in the afternoon here...I envy you easterners, at home, drinking beer when it's still afternoon out here on the left coast. No fair! No fair! 

Tomorrow and Sunday it's supposed to be sunny and warm at the coast, at a predicted high temperature of 57 on both days this weekend, then 59 on Monday. It's an early spring here...already bulbs are popping up, and yesterday I saw a business with six blooming trees with beauuuuutiful pink blossoms.


----------



## limr

Well, just think of how envious I am of you guys when I'm fighting rush hour traffic while you still get to stay in bed for another couple of hours!


----------



## snowbear

I actually feel sorry for you guys out west.  Just think, while we get to play in snow & ice and enjoy sub freezing temperatures, you are stuck in an extremely temperate climate.  No thanks.  



Derrel said:


> yesterday I saw a business with six blooming trees with beauuuuutiful pink blossoms.



Cool.  I got to see some wicked water pipe breaks - like indoor fountains!!


----------



## limr

Today I took a walk on my lunch break. I had brought my lunch with me, so I didn't need to leave, but I went into town anyway. I like parking at the top of Main Street, walking down to the river/train station at the bottom of the hill, and then walking back up to my car. I like walking on days when it's cold and sunny like today. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts because lord knows I will not be taking these walks in the summer. But it depresses me to think about summer, so I'm going to stop doing it now.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Sharon - is that Bat$hit?  Maybe she'll get lost coming back from the conference.
> Lenny - sorry to hear about your painful visit.  Let's try to link your dental sadist up with Sharon's bat$hit boss.
> 
> The living room rug seems top be nice and dry, and the noise box is gone.  I've been working from home, today, while my lovely recovering wife returned to work (partial duties) for the first time in a few weeks.  I'm working on two maps, one of which will be placed into a competition next month.



No, not THAT one. Well, she's the one who came up with the stupid open door policy. But she's not the one leaving for a conference and vacation. This is my immediate boss--whom, for 9 years, I had an absolutely splendid working relationship with, but ever since B*tsh$t Boss came on the scene, it has changed the entire atmosphere. 

Honestly, I feel sorry for my immediate boss, B. She was already probably the hardest working, most conscientious person there. Then B*tsh$t comes along, and dumps this ridiculous extra amount of work on her...on the whole administration, but B is the only one who feels the stress because she takes it personally to make sure everything gets done. So, basically, the new Director has just caused B's stress level to rise astronomically, and it has really affected how she manages...or doesn't manage.

I'm left in the cold somewhat because...I suck at office politics. I *could* be good at it, if I wanted to be. But I simply REFUSE. I'd honestly rather be asking people if they want fries with that order than to play the office politics game. So, I seem to be the only one who doesn't give much a sh*t with B*sh$t Boss is "pleased" with my efforts to assuage her ego. And that's not really a very secure position to be in.  

It's taken basically six months to pretty much destroy a great 9-year working relationship. 

Anyway...she didn't really address a lot of what I said...kind of did a "we'll talk more when I get back" thing, which I suppose I expected.

I'm not fired...on the contrary, most of her response was to say that I'm an absolutely essential part of the team. She DID take some ownership of the fact that SHE has been largely responsible for the fact that I have not felt valued or included in anything lately.

After that, she basically just sort of tried to distract me, I think.  Called me and went on about what a great job I've done on the snow event, and why didn't I go ahead and leave for the day, and if I have to work again tomorrow (which is looking likely, with sleet and snow and freezing rain forecast overnight), that I should take some time off next week, blah blah blah.
But she should know that I will NOT be distracted from something that I feel the need to get resolved, like this "open door" thing.

I will probably just keep my door closed about 80% of the time while she's gone, see if B*tsh$t actually calls me on it.  

But right now, I'm gonna go get some coffee. With a little whiskey in it. Or maybe some whiskey, with a little coffee in it.  Ahh, scr*w the coffee...


----------



## snowbear

My lovely wife is getting a new boss.  I am getting a new (Fire Department) boss.  My boss, (Assistant Fire Chief, formerly called "Major") has been promoted to Deputy Fire Chief (formerly called "Colonel").  As usually happens in this type of organization, transfers occur when promotions at this level are made: Miriam's DFC is being transferred from Operations to Special Services.

My lovely wife's DFC has the option of requesting she go with him to his new assignment.  If she stays in Operations, my old AFC will become her new boss.  I have no idea whom I will get as an AFC.  This could be interesting.


----------



## sm4him

Derrel said:


> Still 3 in the afternoon here...I envy you easterners, at home, drinking beer when it's still afternoon out here on the left coast. No fair! No fair!
> 
> Tomorrow and Sunday it's supposed to be sunny and warm at the coast, at a predicted high temperature of 57 on both days this weekend, then 59 on Monday. It's an early spring here...already bulbs are popping up, and yesterday I saw a business with six blooming trees with beauuuuutiful pink blossoms.



You do not get to speak to me of FAIR, when you, up there in the NORTH...Northwest maybe, but still far north of me, are enjoying sun and 50s, while I, down here in the by goodness freakin' SOUTH, am putting up with weather that belongs at the North Pole.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> My lovely wife is getting a new boss.  I am getting a new (Fire Department) boss.  My boss, (Assistant Fire Chief, formerly called "Major") has been promoted to Deputy Fire Chief (formerly called "Colonel").  As usually happens in this type of organization, transfers occur when promotions at this level are made: Miriam's DFC is being transferred from Operations to Special Services.
> 
> My lovely wife's DFC has the option of requesting she go with him to his new assignment.  If she stays in Operations, my old AFC will become her new boss.  I have no idea whom I will get as an AFC.  This could be interesting.



But you'll still both be able to go to work together, I take it?


----------



## Derrel

Yeah, the weather there is INSANE! A friend of mine was in Nashville very recently, and she and her party had to rent a car and drive to Atlanta to get to "a functional airport" as she put it so they could fly back to Or-E-gun. They were in TN for a big farming-related convention. This unseasonable Arctic cold snap is just so WEIRD!!!!! And to think it has affected the south terribly...just...weird, no other way to put it.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sharon - is that Bat$hit?  Maybe she'll get lost coming back from the conference.
> Lenny - sorry to hear about your painful visit.  Let's try to link your dental sadist up with Sharon's bat$hit boss.
> 
> The living room rug seems top be nice and dry, and the noise box is gone.  I've been working from home, today, while my lovely recovering wife returned to work (partial duties) for the first time in a few weeks.  I'm working on two maps, one of which will be placed into a competition next month.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No, not THAT one. Well, she's the one who came up with the stupid open door policy. But she's not the one leaving for a conference and vacation. This is my immediate boss--whom, for 9 years, I had an absolutely splendid working relationship with, but ever since B*tsh$t Boss came on the scene, it has changed the entire atmosphere.
> 
> Honestly, I feel sorry for my immediate boss, B. She was already probably the hardest working, most conscientious person there. Then B*tsh$t comes along, and dumps this ridiculous extra amount of work on her...on the whole administration, but B is the only one who feels the stress because she takes it personally to make sure everything gets done. So, basically, the new Director has just caused B's stress level to rise astronomically, and it has really affected how she manages...or doesn't manage.
> 
> I'm left in the cold somewhat because...I suck at office politics. I *could* be good at it, if I wanted to be. But I simply REFUSE. I'd honestly rather be asking people if they want fries with that order than to play the office politics game. So, I seem to be the only one who doesn't give much a sh*t with B*sh$t Boss is "pleased" with my efforts to assuage her ego. And that's not really a very secure position to be in.
> 
> It's taken basically six months to pretty much destroy a great 9-year working relationship.
> 
> Anyway...she didn't really address a lot of what I said...kind of did a "we'll talk more when I get back" thing, which I suppose I expected.
> 
> I'm not fired...on the contrary, most of her response was to say that I'm an absolutely essential part of the team. She DID take some ownership of the fact that SHE has been largely responsible for the fact that I have not felt valued or included in anything lately.
> 
> After that, she basically just sort of tried to distract me, I think.  Called me and went on about what a great job I've done on the snow event, and why didn't I go ahead and leave for the day, and if I have to work again tomorrow (which is looking likely, with sleet and snow and freezing rain forecast overnight), that I should take some time off next week, blah blah blah.
> But she should know that I will NOT be distracted from something that I feel the need to get resolved, like this "open door" thing.
> 
> I will probably just keep my door closed about 80% of the time while she's gone, see if B*tsh$t actually calls me on it.
> 
> But right now, I'm gonna go get some coffee. With a little whiskey in it. Or maybe some whiskey, with a little coffee in it.  Ahh, scr*w the coffee...
Click to expand...


Sharon - it could be that her hands are tied and can't do much.  I had a division director that refused to tell us anything about some rumors flying about.  We eventually found out that a reorganization was in the works and he was told by the agency head not to breath a word about anything.  Meanwhile, more rumors flowed and everyone got upset about his "inaction."   Hopefully, it will work out.

Things can go one of three ways for me - either nothing will change, I could get REAL lucky and "moved" to Operations and (potentially, hopefully) actually get paid as a contractor (not likely), or have it decided that the department doesn't need it's own GIS Analyst (even though I don't cost them a dime.)

If the last happens, and you get the boot, let's start our own GIS/Graphic Design/Photo thing, at least on paper.  Not that I have any idea on how to run a business!


----------



## sm4him

Derrel said:


> Yeah, the weather there is INSANE! A friend of mine was in Nashville very recently, and she and her party had to rent a car and drive to Atlanta to get to "a functional airport" as she put it so they could fly back to Or-E-gun. They were in TN for a big farming-related convention. This unseasonable Arctic cold snap is just so WEIRD!!!!! And to think it has affected the south terribly...just...weird, no other way to put it.



I have to keep reminding myself that, at least, this IS highly unusual. And, at least we don't have so much snow, like Boston, that we literally run out of room to put it.
Of course, on the other hand, we also do not have nearly as much equipment or manpower to deal with this stuff--AND we've been dealing this past week more with ice than snow. Monday afternoon and evening, we got freezing rain that put over an inch, and in some places nearly two inches, of ICE everywhere. Trees, yards, AND roads. Then we got a nice 1-2" of snow to lay on top of the ice and keep it in place!  And then the plummeting temps so the ice won't melt.  
We ARE weather wimps here in the South, but as I saw someone mention recently, this ice is different...Northern cars slide on the ice just the same as southern cars do. 
Usually, when we DO get snow or ice, it's completely gone in a couple of days.  This time, not so much.

For someone who already battles depression in the winter...this just blows. I. Need. Spring!!


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> My lovely wife is getting a new boss.  I am getting a new (Fire Department) boss.  My boss, (Assistant Fire Chief, formerly called "Major") has been promoted to Deputy Fire Chief (formerly called "Colonel").  As usually happens in this type of organization, transfers occur when promotions at this level are made: Miriam's DFC is being transferred from Operations to Special Services.
> 
> My lovely wife's DFC has the option of requesting she go with him to his new assignment.  If she stays in Operations, my old AFC will become her new boss.  I have no idea whom I will get as an AFC.  This could be interesting.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But you'll still both be able to go to work together, I take it?
Click to expand...


Oh, sure.  If she moves, it's only two cube-offices away.


----------



## snowbear

Yes - ice will give four wheel drive vehicles the same acrobatics as two wheel drive vehicles!


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Sharon - it could be that her hands are tied and can't do much.  I had a division director that refused to tell us anything about some rumors flying about.  We eventually found out that a reorganization was in the works and he was told by the agency head not to breath a word about anything.  Meanwhile, more rumors flowed and everyone got upset about his "inaction."   Hopefully, it will work out.
> 
> Things can go one of three ways for me - either nothing will change, I could get REAL lucky and "moved" to Operations and (potentially, hopefully) actually get paid as a contractor (not likely), or have it decided that the department doesn't need it's own GIS Analyst (even though I don't cost them a dime.)
> 
> If the last happens, and you get the boot, let's start our own GIS/Graphic Design/Photo thing, at least on paper.  Not that I have any idea on how to run a business!



Actually, you are almost certainly right in some aspects, and that was one of the things I went off about today. A certain individual who DOES play the game has been promoted, and is now going to this conference with my boss, AND went to the social media conference that I went to last week. 
My boss had sent an email yesterday afternoon, saying she'd wanted to have a meeting before she left but ran out of time, and then wording the "new duties" of this other person in a way that kinda sounded like about half of MY job. She also used the "department will be evolving in other ways" which is the vague kind of "things are happening that are out of my control" crap that just drives me over the edge.

If things go badly here, yeah, we'll team up!! But...on top of neither of us knowing how to run a business, we'll have to also handle it all long distance. Unless you wanna move here, because there is NO WAY I am moving even ONE DEGREE further north. Ever.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> If things go badly here, yeah, we'll team up!! But...on top of neither of us knowing how to run a business, we'll have to also handle it all long distance. Unless you wanna move here, because there is NO WAY I am moving even ONE DEGREE further north. Ever.


Funny you should mention that.  We have been wanting to "retire" to either the PNW or New England but with taxes what they are, Tennessee would certainly be a consideration.  I actually applied for a position in Oak Ridge a couple of years ago.


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> I'm left in the cold somewhat because...I suck at office politics.


Me too.  You have my most sincere sympathy.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, folks.  I am patiently awaiting the new snowfall.  In the meantime, for your viewing pleasure:





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153109834536661


----------



## limr

Morning hosers. It's Saturday so I got to sleep past 6:30. I was still tired, though, so I checked my tracking bracelet thingy and apparently I got more overall sleep, but less sound sleep last night. Good times.

Buzz is in the first stages of a cold so we're staying away from each other today - I can't risk catching his cold right before my wisdom teeth surgery. But now I don't get to see him today. Stupid logic


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning hosers. It's Saturday so I got to sleep past 6:30. I was still tired, though, so I checked my tracking bracelet thingy and apparently I got more overall sleep, but less sound sleep last night. Good times.
> 
> Buzz is in the first stages of a cold so we're staying away from each other today - I can't risk catching his cold right before my wisdom teeth surgery. But now I don't get to see him today. Stupid logic



Well, you could come on down here to stay warm . . . hold on . . . (What was that, sweetie?  Uh-huh.  OK) . . . never mind.

Seriously - I hope he gets over i quickly.


----------



## bribrius

Father needs to go out for errands (he dont drive needs a ride), one kid still with a sleep over so extra teenager i should probably figure out if is going home at some point, another supposed to be brought to movies (wifes sitting through sponge bob i guess) need hair cut, another kid needs hair cut, have to go get a piece of plexi glass (damn door glass broke again in the wind), and i really just want to go shoot. wth...

and my wife spent 70 bucks getting her hair done yesterday. And to me it doesnt even look much different than before. wth do i know. i go to ten dollar hair cuts or shave my head myself or have her cut my hair.  could be a busy day, but geez, i think i would rather just do nothing or go shoot.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning hosers. It's Saturday so I got to sleep past 6:30. I was still tired, though, so I checked my tracking bracelet thingy and apparently I got more overall sleep, but less sound sleep last night. Good times.
> 
> Buzz is in the first stages of a cold so we're staying away from each other today - I can't risk catching his cold right before my wisdom teeth surgery. But now I don't get to see him today. Stupid logic
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, you could come on down here to stay warm . . . hold on . . . (What was that, sweetie?  Uh-huh.  OK) . . . never mind.
> 
> Seriously - I hope he gets over i quickly.
Click to expand...


Thanks anyway 

I hope he gets over it quickly too. He's already champing at the bit because of winter, and often the thing that helps him deal with things is going out to do something. So he's already feeling trapped and being sick means resting when he doesn't want to rest...yeah, I hope he gets over it fast, and not just for his sake! He's not exactly easy to deal with when he's like this


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Things are cooling off here. @ 8:00 a.m. it is 61F. It may not even hit 70F today. I had meetings with some guys from Birmingham yesterday. They said they left a land of ice and sleet. One of the guys stayed with friends in the Los Feliz area of LA. He told me his friends were selling the house for $2M. I looked at him and said the house must be about 2500sf to 3000sf. He said, about that ... and we both just shook our heads. Just crazy around here. It like I'll trade you two $25,000 cats for one $50,000 dog. Just doesn't make sense. There is a big move for Silicon Valley type companies to settle down in Playa del Rey area ... by the beach. That is boosting housing even more ... it is all crazy.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Good morning, folks.  I am patiently awaiting the new snowfall.



It's a-comin'!  Since about 10 p.m. last night, we've had sleet, snow, freezing rain, more sleet, back to snow, topped off with a little more sleet.  We are finally in a lull now with no precipitation right at this moment...but the rains are coming next!

So much ice that road crews haven't been able to do much of anything about the roads. I've been up working since 5 a.m., but we still haven't been able to start running any buses at all, even on extreme conditions routing.  I'm actually hoping for the rain to start soon, because I can't quit work and get some more sleep until we get back on regular routing. It sounds like that could be late this afternoon.

Oh, well. More coffee, please. 
Do you know how much coffee the average person drinks in one week?
Me neither...but I am pretty sure that I have singlehandedly upped that average this week. 

Ah, there's the call!! Finally going to start running some buses! Extreme Conditions, so just five routes, and only on main roads, but at least that's improvement! Gets me one step closer to a nap!


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Things are cooling off here. @ 8:00 a.m. it is 61F. It may not even hit 70F today. I had meetings with some guys from Birmingham yesterday. They said they left a land of ice and sleet. One of the guys stayed with friends in the Los Feliz area of LA. He told me his friends were selling the house for $2M. I looked at him and said the house must be about 2500sf to 3000sf. He said, about that ... and we both just shook our heads. Just crazy around here. It like I'll trade you two $25,000 cats for one $50,000 dog. Just doesn't make sense. There is a big move for Silicon Valley type companies to settle down in Playa del Rey area ... by the beach. That is boosting housing even more ... it is all crazy.


sounds like another bubble in the making.  History repeats itself...


----------



## bribrius

okay, wife gone, three kids gone. off to the movies. .. one kid left, i gotta run some errands. Maybe, i might have time to actually take a photo... Maybe...


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, folks.  I am patiently awaiting the new snowfall.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's a-comin'!  Since about 10 p.m. last night, we've had sleet, snow, freezing rain, more sleet, back to snow, topped off with a little more sleet.  We are finally in a lull now with no precipitation right at this moment...but the rains are coming next!
> 
> So much ice that road crews haven't been able to do much of anything about the roads. I've been up working since 5 a.m., but we still haven't been able to start running any buses at all, even on extreme conditions routing.  I'm actually hoping for the rain to start soon, because I can't quit work and get some more sleep until we get back on regular routing. It sounds like that could be late this afternoon.
> 
> Oh, well. More coffee, please.
> Do you know how much coffee the average person drinks in one week?
> Me neither...but I am pretty sure that I have singlehandedly upped that average this week.
> 
> Ah, there's the call!! Finally going to start running some buses! Extreme Conditions, so just five routes, and only on main roads, but at least that's improvement! Gets me one step closer to a nap!
Click to expand...


Nothing here, yet.  Hopefully it won't get too bad for you.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Things are cooling off here. @ 8:00 a.m. it is 61F. It may not even hit 70F today. I had meetings with some guys from Birmingham yesterday. They said they left a land of ice and sleet. One of the guys stayed with friends in the Los Feliz area of LA. He told me his friends were selling the house for $2M. I looked at him and said the house must be about 2500sf to 3000sf. He said, about that ... and we both just shook our heads. Just crazy around here. It like I'll trade you two $25,000 cats for one $50,000 dog. Just doesn't make sense. There is a big move for Silicon Valley type companies to settle down in Playa del Rey area ... by the beach. That is boosting housing even more ... it is all crazy.
> 
> 
> 
> sounds like another bubble in the making.  History repeats itself...
Click to expand...

I don't think so. That last housing bubble burst because the banks were making bad loans, left and right, to unqualified peoples. Now the banks are super vetting and qualifying all their loans. The guy told me that the realtor told his friends that they better be ready to move. The homeowners said oh, we are ... that's why we're putting the house on the market. The realtor shot back ... I mean move ... this will be sold in a few days. Los Feliz is by Griffith Park, not even near the beach where the homes held their values even during the crash.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> I can get behind a little Friday glitter.


Mehhh... Friday's nothing more than the last Monday of the week!


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> ... I will probably just keep my door closed about 80% of the time while she's gone, see if B*tsh$t actually calls me on it.


Two words:  Beaded curtain!  Seriously, leave the door open and take a trip back to '72 or so with a nice beaded curtain.  You know, just to keep the flies out?  That might get the message across.


----------



## otherprof

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dude, seriously? Only 9,751. I thought I'd be over 10,000. Bastards.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm at 21,710 right now. But this is an exceptionally high day. My daily goal is 12,000 steps and usually I have to take an afternoon walk to the store to hit my goal. Perfect weather helps.
Click to expand...

My pedometer reads 37,000 steps, but it went into the washing machine and drier this morning.


----------



## bribrius

tirediron said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... I will probably just keep my door closed about 80% of the time while she's gone, see if B*tsh$t actually calls me on it.
> 
> 
> 
> Two words:  Beaded curtain!  Seriously, leave the door open and take a trip back to '72 or so with a nice beaded curtain.  You know, just to keep the flies out?  That might get the message across.
Click to expand...

i haven't seen a beaded curtain in years. I miss them. No one has them anymore..


----------



## snowbear

Just got back home from a small shopping expedition.  Surprisingly, the grocery store was not crazy-crowded (no, we are not in the bread-milk-toilet paper crowd).  We had light  snow when we went out, a bit heavier & covered streets a couple of hours ago, and now we are into the mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain.


----------



## Gary A.

I just got home from taking Mary Lou to the salon and then I hit the wine store. Pick enough good stuff to restocked the shelves and grab a smaller Dutch Oven for my bread. The first Dutch Oven was too large for the size of my bread. Picked up my fav beer Hangar 24 Orange-Wheat and a 750ml corked bottle of some Canadian beer. (We'll see how that goes down.) 67F right now, a good breeze from the Pacific keeping everything cool.


----------



## sm4him

bribrius said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... I will probably just keep my door closed about 80% of the time while she's gone, see if B*tsh$t actually calls me on it.
> 
> 
> 
> Two words:  Beaded curtain!  Seriously, leave the door open and take a trip back to '72 or so with a nice beaded curtain.  You know, just to keep the flies out?  That might get the message across.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> i haven't seen a beaded curtain in years. I miss them. No one has them anymore..
Click to expand...


Actually, I know exactly where I could get one! We have this cool little local shop that has some. 

I would be really tempted to do this, except for the fact that a beaded curtain would not reduce my sense of irritation at all the noises and activity in the hallway. It *would* absolutely irritate the stuffing out of...errr. certain "higher up" individuals, so it does have that in its favor.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Just got back home from a small shopping expedition.  Surprisingly, the grocery store was not crazy-crowded (no, we are not in the bread-milk-toilet paper crowd).  We had light  snow when we went out, a bit heavier & covered streets a couple of hours ago, and now we are into the mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain.



According to the radar, we are just about to hit the heavy rain portion of this storm.
Since the rain didn't materialize until so late, and the temperature didn't get quite as high as they forecasted, we are just now about to go from extreme conditions routing to regular snow routes. It'll be tomorrow morning, I guess, before we return to regular routing.

That means I did not get my nap, because I've had to monitor social media, email and media contacts all day long.

I am SO

Very

Very

Very

VERY

extremely

t i r e d...

I'm so tired that in one post, I said a particular route would serve start from a particular mall at 7 p.m.--which was correct, only I called the mall by its previous name, a name that was changed probably 20 years ago.


----------



## snowbear

Sharon - you wanna really take care of things, just say so . . . I know _people_.


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> I'm so tired that in one post, I said a particular route would serve start from a particular mall at 7 p.m.--which was correct, only I called the mall by its previous name, a name that was changed probably 20 years ago.


Ah, think nothing of it.  The readers will just assume you're tired.

Consider the phantom sympathy button to have been clicked again.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## bribrius

i wonder if you could use a beaded curtain for a shower curtain and how well that would work..


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> i wonder if you could use a beaded curtain for a shower curtain and how well that would work..



Do you _really _have to think very hard to figure out if it would be a good idea or not?


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i wonder if you could use a beaded curtain for a shower curtain and how well that would work..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you _really _have to think very hard to figure out if it would be a good idea or not?
Click to expand...

well sorta.   It might depend on how close the beads are together and how big they are...


----------



## bribrius

there is no point in going on ebay on a saturday night i guess. Too many drunk people driving up the pricing..


----------



## snerd

snowbear said:


> Just got back home from a small shopping expedition.  Surprisingly, the grocery store was not crazy-crowded (no, we are not in the bread-milk-toilet paper crowd).  We had light  snow when we went out, a bit heavier & covered streets a couple of hours ago, and now we are into the mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain.


Went into Walmart.com this morning for groceries too. Tab was $199.98. I think it was rigged to under $200. We have ice headed this way tomorrow night and Monday. Forgot salt, pepper and beer!! Won't starve, anyway, if we get iced in. Topped off car tank, too. Grandson here playing PS4. Oh, Jaca! That was him messaging you about playing a game lol!!


----------



## snowbear

How awesome is this?


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> How awesome is this?
> 
> View attachment 95825



WANT!


----------



## snerd

snowbear said:


> How awesome is this?
> 
> View attachment 95825


I bought a plain baking sheet in Walmart yesterday............... $20!!! Kind of steep to me, but what do I know about baking sheets?!


----------



## bribrius

i just bought some rolls of film. 55 dollars. This camera hobby stuff is adding up..


----------



## DinoThePhotoGuy

snowbear said:


> Welcome to _The Coffee House_, where there is no competition, no Leaderboard, no C&C, and no stress. It was started by small group of TPF gnomes who not only like photography, but also like to share coffee, cinnamon buns, poems, and stories.
> 
> Pull up a seat, grab a cup, and unwind!
> 
> View attachment 88454
> _© Copyright Lewis Clarke and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons License_


what is C&C First time I see it.


----------



## snowbear

DinoThePhotoGuy said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Welcome to _The Coffee House_, where there is no competition, no Leaderboard, no C&C, and no stress. It was started by small group of TPF gnomes who not only like photography, but also like to share coffee, cinnamon buns, poems, and stories.
> 
> Pull up a seat, grab a cup, and unwind!
> 
> View attachment 88454
> _© Copyright Lewis Clarke and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons License_
> 
> 
> 
> what is C&C First time I see it.
Click to expand...


Comments & Critique, Comments & Criticism - take your pick.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gotta love Peeps! are those the first sign of spring?? Got several inches of snow, at least the hockey game I was planning to go to was televised.


----------



## DinoThePhotoGuy

snowbear said:


> DinoThePhotoGuy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Welcome to _The Coffee House_, where there is no competition, no Leaderboard, no C&C, and no stress. It was started by small group of TPF gnomes who not only like photography, but also like to share coffee, cinnamon buns, poems, and stories.
> 
> Pull up a seat, grab a cup, and unwind!
> 
> View attachment 88454
> _© Copyright Lewis Clarke and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons License_
> 
> 
> 
> what is C&C First time I see it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Comments & Critique, Comments & Criticism - take your pick.
Click to expand...

ok. Thanks


----------



## limr

I had a little all-yellow parakeet named Macoco, and those yellow Peeps look exactly like her. So they're my favorites 

I miss having birds. Their cage was never closed so they could fly around all they wanted and then go back to their cage for night time. Macoco was a very acrobatic flyer, very spirited. My other bird, Cosmo Brown, however, was a puttering old cargo plane that crash landed a lot. He was such an awkward little thing


----------



## bribrius

asked to shoot a birthday party today. No money. Family. I think i am going to skip it. Just not really interested in doing it...bored with them.   i will stay home instead.


----------



## oldhippy

Iced in. About 7 days now. Melting snow for coffee, dog water and cleaning. No shortage of snow. Roads are pure ice. Water broke at the county tank. Will be days before we get water. Come on spring. Have plenty of food, heat, and electric.   Sounds like something an old hippy can handle.  Later. Ed


----------



## limr

oldhippy said:


> Iced in. About 7 days now. Melting snow for coffee, dog water and cleaning. No shortage of snow. Roads are pure ice. Water broke at the county tank. Will be days before we get water. Come on spring. Have plenty of food, heat, and electric.   Sounds like something an old hippy can handle.  Later. Ed



Sorry you've been iced in for so long, Ed! I'm glad you're in good shape, though, and have what you need. Hang in there


----------



## snowbear

oldhippy said:


> Iced in. About 7 days now. Melting snow for coffee, dog water and cleaning. No shortage of snow. Roads are pure ice. Water broke at the county tank. Will be days before we get water. Come on spring. Have plenty of food, heat, and electric.   Sounds like something an old hippy can handle.  Later. Ed



We have faith you'll get there.  Stay warm.


----------



## snerd

They moved back our ice to Monday night - Tuesday night. Cold today, 32 but with north wind blowing about 30mph. Cuts like a knife!!


----------



## pgriz

Daughter and (new) son got married yesterday.  Snow held off until after the ceremony at the tiny church we used, and the trip to the reception hall about 10 minutes away was uneventful.  Reception started at 4:30-ish, and all the important things one does during such events got done.  As the family photographer, I  DID NOT TAKE A SINGLE PHOTO.  I did, however, talk with everyone there, and danced with every woman at least once, and probably a few of the guys as well (memory's kinda hazy there).  It was talk, dance, eat, dance, drink, dance, speechify, dance, eat, dance, drink, dance...

The photographic duties were amply covered by two photographers who had at least four cameras between them, a ton of lighting gear, and incredible stamina.  Plus pretty much everyone had smartphone or P&S or mirrorless or whatever, so no shortage of image-making.  Major revelation of the evening?  I really, really love the new in-laws - interesting, funny, generous, hard-working, and just really nice people.  

The negative is that there are now about thirty boxes of stuff in our dining room that we carted out of the reception area that have to be sorted and either put away or thrown out, or recycled.  We'll start on that after lunch, which we should get going shortly.  And I get to catch up with a little TPF browsing.


----------



## snowbear

36, mostly sunny, still have snow (and I suspect some ice) on the ground.  Waiting for the CATV folks to show up and install or switch systems.  We just got the confirmation robo-call.


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> Daughter and (new) son got married yesterday.  Snow held off until after the ceremony at the tiny church we used, and the trip to the reception hall about 10 minutes away was uneventful.  Reception started at 4:30-ish, and all the important things one does during such events got done.  As the family photographer, I  DID NOT TAKE A SINGLE PHOTO.  I did, however, talk with everyone there, and danced with every woman at least once, and probably a few of the guys as well (memory's kinda hazy there).  It was talk, dance, eat, dance, drink, dance, speechify, dance, eat, dance, drink, dance...
> 
> The photographic duties were amply covered by two photographers who had at least four cameras between them, a ton of lighting gear, and incredible stamina.  Plus pretty much everyone had smartphone or P&S or mirrorless or whatever, so no shortage of image-making.  Major revelation of the evening?  I really, really love the new in-laws - interesting, funny, generous, hard-working, and just really nice people.
> 
> The negative is that there are now about thirty boxes of stuff in our dining room that we carted out of the reception area that have to be sorted and either put away or thrown out, or recycled.  We'll start on that after lunch, which we should get going shortly.  And I get to catch up with a little TPF browsing.



Congratulations to your daughter and son-in-law, and to you.


----------



## pgriz

oldhippy said:


> Iced in. About 7 days now. Melting snow for coffee, dog water and cleaning. No shortage of snow. Roads are pure ice. Water broke at the county tank. Will be days before we get water. Come on spring. Have plenty of food, heat, and electric.   Sounds like something an old hippy can handle.  Later. Ed



Ed, good to know you're in good shape to hunker down.  Hopefully the water will come back soon.  The cold has been popping water mains up here almost on a daily basis - and if your car is anywhere near the break, it's encased in ice, so it might have to stay that way until the next thaw.  So people are getting really careful about listening to the radio and learning when and where the next break happens.


----------



## pgriz

Oh, and lest I forget....  The father/daughter dance was supposed to go to the tune of "My Girl" by the Temptations.  Just as that moment, the sound system had a glitch.  No matter, the entire audience started singing the song, and we danced to that.


----------



## snowbear

Well, not the same, but dedicated to you & your daughter:


----------



## Derrel

oldhippy said:
			
		

> Iced in. About 7 days now. Melting snow for coffee, dog water and cleaning. No shortage of snow. Roads are pure ice. Water broke at the county tank. Will be days before we get water. Come on spring. Have plenty of food, heat, and electric.   Sounds like something an old hippy can handle.  Later. Ed



This is just almost beyond belief!!! I can hardly imagine how much the weather situation there...totally sucks! This just ain't right! You'd think you were in North Dakota or something, not Kentucky. What the heck man!


----------



## minicoop1985

Hey guys, what's happening? 

Being iced in for that long must drive you insane. I go nuts after a day or two.

Getting closer to my goals. So close I can taste it.


----------



## limr

I dunno, I'm such a homebody that being iced in for a week sounds lovely.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I dunno, I'm such a homebody that being iced in for a week sounds lovely.


Desirability is dependent on whom else is iced in with me.


----------



## oldhippy

Old zen saying.  "If you want to gain enlightenment, chop wood, carry water". I'm so enlightened I can't freekin stand it.  Lol. Ed


----------



## snowbear

"The man that chops his own wood gets warmed twice"


----------



## Gary A.

Buneos Dias Coffee Hosers. I like ice. I dump plenty into my Margaritas.


----------



## snerd

They changed the forecast again! Tonight, ice turning to snow, maybe 3" inches. Piece of cake! Well, not for the masses.................. they will shut down everything for 3" inches.


----------



## minicoop1985

snowbear said:


> "The man that chops his own wood gets warmed twice"




Holy innuendo...


----------



## snerd

minicoop1985 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> "The man that chops his own wood gets warmed twice"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Holy innuendo...
Click to expand...

In and out your window!


----------



## minicoop1985

Hey Snowbear, I disagree with your disagreement!


----------



## limr

Few things are as motivating to pedal harder on the stationary bike than watching even 5 minutes of "My 600-lb Life."

5 miles away from 500 miles on my bike.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, duh, them, but how can you leave Snerd out of the party?


----------



## minicoop1985

He's everyone's type.


----------



## limr

It's a disagree fest! 

Okay boys, enough bickering. I just hit 500 miles! Hit me with some Likes!!!


----------



## limr

Yay, I'm a winner!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Yay, I'm a winner!


always.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> Well, duh, them, but how can you leave Snerd out of the party?


Throw a banana out the window?


----------



## Gary A.

Just a FYI ... it is raining like hell here.


----------



## Warhorse

-11 degree's here.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> Just a FYI ... it is raining like hell here.



That "should" help with the drought, as long as it doesn't immediately all run out into the ocean.  But according to this article, the relief may be temporary:  Worst Megadroughts in 1 000 Years Threaten US.


----------



## Designer

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just a FYI ... it is raining like hell here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That "should" help with the drought, as long as it doesn't immediately all run out into the ocean.  But according to this article, the relief may be temporary:  Worst Megadroughts in 1 000 Years Threaten US.
Click to expand...

What they really need is 12 feet or more of snowpack in the Sierra-Nevada Range.

They're nowhere near that for several years in a row now.

Sierra snowpack dismal for January fourth year of drought looks likely The Sacramento Bee The Sacramento Bee

Winter s first measurement of the Sierra Nevada snowpack shows more snow this year than last Fox News


----------



## pgriz

Designer said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just a FYI ... it is raining like hell here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That "should" help with the drought, as long as it doesn't immediately all run out into the ocean.  But according to this article, the relief may be temporary:  Worst Megadroughts in 1 000 Years Threaten US.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What they really need is 12 feet or more of snowpack in the Sierra-Nevada Range.
Click to expand...


That and the rethinking of precipitation => drainage to precipitation => catchment.


----------



## bribrius

good morning peeps! Looking like i have it better than at least one of you it is a phenomenal 12 degrees or so here. i think we are about to go back into the zero degrees or less area though...  Good thing i live in a house i always think how much it would suck to sleep outside!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Having my coffee at work.  Got in later than usual because when I left the house I almost slid down the sidewalk to the next corner (all downhill), so I went into the basement, got salt and sand and dealt with the sidewalk and parts of the front steps.  I checked last night and it looked OK and at that point everything was freezing over - there must have been some water that managed to seep out just before everything froze completely.  After I was done salting/sanding I walked to the train and almost fell on a couple of other sidewalks.


----------



## bribrius

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Having my coffee at work.  Got in later than usual because when I left the house I almost slid down the sidewalk to the next corner (all downhill), so I went into the basement, got salt and sand and dealt with the sidewalk and parts of the front steps.  I checked last night and it looked OK and at that point everything was freezing over - there must have been some water that managed to seep out just before everything froze completely.  After I was done salting/sanding I walked to the train and almost fell on a couple of other sidewalks.


you don't drive to work? That must be kind of nice. Best i had it is when i lived across from where i worked once so i could just walk across the street. It was great. No commute.


----------



## KenC

bribrius said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Having my coffee at work.  Got in later than usual because when I left the house I almost slid down the sidewalk to the next corner (all downhill), so I went into the basement, got salt and sand and dealt with the sidewalk and parts of the front steps.  I checked last night and it looked OK and at that point everything was freezing over - there must have been some water that managed to seep out just before everything froze completely.  After I was done salting/sanding I walked to the train and almost fell on a couple of other sidewalks.
> 
> 
> 
> you don't drive to work? That must be kind of nice. Best i had it is when i lived across from where i worked once so i could just walk across the street. It was great. No commute.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I like it.  I've had many years of driving commutes, some of them pretty long, but for the past few years I've been walking distance from a train.  When there's a lot of snow sometimes I take a few days to clear my car off.


----------



## limr

Best commute I ever had was downstairs and across the courtyard.. In Istanbul, I lived on the top floor of the elementary school/admin offices of the school. The other building across a small courtyard was for the middle school, high school, and teachers' room, and that's where I taught.


----------



## sm4him

When I first starting work for public transit, I actually still took my car quite a bit, because the closest bus stop to me was about 3/4 mile, and there was a pretty steep hill included in that. Plus it was a route along a main road, which meant lots of stops. Took about 20 minutes, AFTER the walk to the stop for a commute I could drive in about 7 minutes.

But a couple of years ago we started a new neighborhood route. The stop is just about two houses away from me. And because I'm really at the beginning (or end, depending on which way you're headed) of the route, and most of the riders live further out, there are usually very few passengers, if any at all, between my stop and the transit center, so the whole trip takes at most a couple of minutes longer than if I drove. BUT, really, it's faster, because if I drive, I have to park in the garage across the street then walk in. The bus takes me right up to the platform, I hop off walk across the platform (which only employees can do), in through the second-floor door and I'm about 15 feet from my office.

Oh, and then there's the fact that, since I'm an employee, the ride is also free. 

The only reason I drive to work now is if I have plans for after work that I can't get to on the bus.


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon, hosers. It's a miserable -12 here, and the kid is sick. Barfed all over and is just out of sorts. Poor little guy.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Afternoon, hosers. It's a miserable -12 here, and the kid is sick. Barfed all over and is just out of sorts. Poor little guy.


i caught mine spitting out windex earlier. some how he manage to get on the counter top and get a hold of a windex bottle. He seems okay though, must not of tasted good i dont think he ingested any just spent about ten minutes trying to spit the taste out. First time i have seen him on the counter. I guess he graduated from climbing up on the kichen table the tv stand to counter tops now. Going to have to be more careful what we leave out.


----------



## Derrel

I feel bad for you hosers in the south, southwest, and northeast/Atlantic seaboard areas....all that coooooold, awful weather, with ice, snow, snow and ice, ice and ice and ice and ice, and so on...her in Or-EEE-gun, in my area it' blue skies, bloinding sunshine, and currently 50 degrees, headed for an estimate 58 here, perhaps as high at 63 at the Oregon coast....cam ocean, 3-4 foot waves offshore most places from California to Washington...very little wind, just a mere breeze.

I went out yesterday for a 2-hour photo walk at a wildlife refuge in Washougal, Washington, at a place next to the mighty Columbia River...had a rather annoying wind from the east there. Got a few pics of a hawk hovering and hunting, a few frames of a pair of bald eagles  circling and then perching in the trees, nothing really great. Was hoping to see some turtles sunning themselves in a spot they normally frequent, but the turtles were a total no-show.


----------



## snerd

Don't weep for me....................... look what I got coming Wednesday!!








 .


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Don't weep for me....................... look what I got coming Wednesday!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .


okay, um.... A screen?


----------



## Designer

snerd said:


> Don't weep for me....................... look what I got coming Wednesday!


It looks like ridiculously fast internet coming from an ancient pyramid.

Good luck with that!


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't weep for me....................... look what I got coming Wednesday!
> 
> 
> 
> It looks like ridiculously fast internet coming from an ancient pyramid.
> 
> Good luck with that!
Click to expand...


No, I think it's the poor little Google guy getting sucked INTO a pyramid, using ridiculously fast internet.


----------



## sm4him

Derrel said:


> I feel bad for you hosers in the south, southwest, and northeast/Atlantic seaboard areas....all that coooooold, awful weather, with ice, snow, snow and ice, ice and ice and ice and ice, and so on...her in Or-EEE-gun, in my area it' blue skies, bloinding sunshine, and currently 50 degrees, headed for an estimate 58 here, perhaps as high at 63 at the Oregon coast....cam ocean, 3-4 foot waves offshore most places from California to Washington...very little wind, just a mere breeze.
> 
> I went out yesterday for a 2-hour photo walk at a wildlife refuge in Washougal, Washington, at a place next to the mighty Columbia River...had a rather annoying wind from the east there. Got a few pics of a hawk hovering and hunting, a few frames of a pair of bald eagles  circling and then perching in the trees, nothing really great. Was hoping to see some turtles sunning themselves in a spot they normally frequent, but the turtles were a total no-show.



Well, I'm glad that y'all are at least getting decent weather! 50 is our normal average this time of year. I'd feel like I'd died and gone to Florida if we could get back to those temps!  We've had ONE day above 32F in about the last two weeks.  And possibly more snow headed this way tonight! I'm hoping it misses us this time!


----------



## limr

Yeah, don't feel sorry for me, either.


----------



## snerd

No................ you see that little guy? He just took a photo of that pyramid. Another guy standing there had just taken a photo of the pyramid too. He seems to think that my little guy was stealing his creative genius, and kicked him and launched him into space! He will be reentering at 60-65mb per second speed, and my connection will be insanely fast! Woot!!


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> No................ you see that little guy? He just took a photo of that pyramid. Another guy standing there had just taken a photo of the pyramid too. He seems to think that my little guy was stealing his creative genius, and kicked him and launched him into space! He will be reentering at 60-65mb per second speed, and my connection will be insanely fast! Woot!!



Huh. Something that fast, you'd think it would arrive LAST Wednesday.


----------



## oldhippy

snerd said:


> No................ you see that little guy? He just took a photo of that pyramid. Another guy standing there had just taken a photo of the pyramid too. He seems to think that my little guy was stealing his creative genius, and kicked him and launched him into space! He will be reentering at 60-65mb per second speed, and my connection will be insanely fast! Woot!![/QUOTE
> 
> I want what he's smoking. S##t Ya.   Ed


----------



## snerd

oldhippy said:


> I want what he's smoking. S##t Ya.   Ed


Aw, I was just spoofing off of another thread. You had to have been there.


----------



## minicoop1985

Poor kid's awake, but still out of it.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> oldhippy said:
> 
> 
> 
> I want what he's smoking. S##t Ya.   Ed
> 
> 
> 
> Aw, I was just spoofing off of another thread. You had to have been there.
Click to expand...

i think it was closed down. Can't imagine why.


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> No................ you see that little guy? He just took a photo of that pyramid. Another guy standing there had just taken a photo of the pyramid too. He seems to think that my little guy was stealing his creative genius, and kicked him and launched him into space! He will be reentering at 60-65mb per second speed, and my connection will be insanely fast! Woot!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Huh. Something that fast, you'd think it would arrive LAST Wednesday.
Click to expand...

i have been waiting for more lighting and a couple more backdrops for a week. tracking said it is just now leaving california, the origin.  i can't say that is lightning fast.  At this rate i should get them sometime in april.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Poor kid's awake, but still out of it.


Tylenol for children or anything? Fever?


----------



## sm4him

Another storm system...another 4:30 a.m. start to my workday. This is getting really old.

On the 11 o'clock news last night, they said we'd probably get a dusting. MAYBE an inch, they said. Most of the snow would be south of us, they said.

We've got 2.5" now and it's still snowing. This morning, their new estimate is between 3-5".

Crappy cell phone pics:

 

My poor little convertible. It really, really wants me to take it to Florida...
 


February is trying to kill me.


----------



## minicoop1985

bribrius said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Poor kid's awake, but still out of it.
> 
> 
> 
> Tylenol for children or anything? Fever?
Click to expand...


No fever, fortunately. I think he's better now for the most part.


----------



## pgriz

Sharon, February is trying to get all of us.  Except for the people on the west coast.  They're getting much better weather and temperatures.  My daughter and her boyfriend from Vancouver, in town because of the other daughter's wedding, are trying to play tourist, dressed as Vancouverites, and totally freezing in -23C temperatures and wind.  I think they will be really, really happy to be home when they go back.  Family love and warmth may warm the heart, but toes and fingers like real warmth.


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> Family love and warmth may warm the heart, but toes and fingers like real warmth.



^Amen!


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> Another storm system...another 4:30 a.m. start to my workday. This is getting really old.
> 
> On the 11 o'clock news last night, they said we'd probably get a dusting. MAYBE an inch, they said. Most of the snow would be south of us, they said.
> 
> We've got 2.5" now and it's still snowing. This morning, their new estimate is between 3-5".
> 
> Crappy cell phone pics:
> View attachment 95997
> 
> My poor little convertible. It really, really wants me to take it to Florida...
> View attachment 95998
> 
> 
> February is trying to kill me.


3-5 is a dusting around here.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Poor kid's awake, but still out of it.
> 
> 
> 
> Tylenol for children or anything? Fever?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No fever, fortunately. I think he's better now for the most part.
Click to expand...

yeah well you sent all your stuff my way. Now my littlest one is running around snotty nose. And when i just dropped my oldest off at school the temp said -6. i stopped to take a couple photos and inside of five minutes i couldnt feel my fingers. Forget that. went back to the car.


----------



## sm4him

bribrius said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Another storm system...another 4:30 a.m. start to my workday. This is getting really old.
> 
> On the 11 o'clock news last night, they said we'd probably get a dusting. MAYBE an inch, they said. Most of the snow would be south of us, they said.
> 
> We've got 2.5" now and it's still snowing. This morning, their new estimate is between 3-5".
> 
> Crappy cell phone pics:
> View attachment 95997
> 
> My poor little convertible. It really, really wants me to take it to Florida...
> View attachment 95998
> 
> 
> February is trying to kill me.
> 
> 
> 
> 3-5 is a dusting around here.
Click to expand...


I realize that isn't much for northern states, but...and I really cannot stress this enough...
There is a REASON I LIVE IN THE SOUTH!!!!!!!!!


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Another storm system...another 4:30 a.m. start to my workday. This is getting really old.
> 
> On the 11 o'clock news last night, they said we'd probably get a dusting. MAYBE an inch, they said. Most of the snow would be south of us, they said.
> 
> We've got 2.5" now and it's still snowing. This morning, their new estimate is between 3-5".
> 
> Crappy cell phone pics:
> View attachment 95997
> 
> My poor little convertible. It really, really wants me to take it to Florida...
> View attachment 95998
> 
> February is trying to kill me.
> 
> 
> 
> 3-5 is a dusting around here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I realize that isn't much for northern states, but...and I really cannot stress this enough...
> There is a REASON I LIVE IN THE SOUTH!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

true. Like if it hits 90 degrees here in the summer. i think "well there is a reason i live in the north!"


----------



## pgriz

The climate models predicted that the north-east and central areas (of North America) will have below normal temperatures, and the east will be "wetter" (ie, more precipitation) than normal, while the west coast will be both warmer and drier (the pineapple express being an exception to the trend).  That seems to have happened.  The longer-term forecasts show the north-east to continue having below-normal temperatures, while the west will be both warmer and drier.  It also looks like the south of Florida will be much wetter.  One thing for certain, with the atmosphere warming up, and the oceans continuing to absorb the added heat, there is more energy in the overall system, and there will be more variation with stronger extremes.  At least locally, there is much more wind, and fewer days of relative calm.


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Another storm system...another 4:30 a.m. start to my workday. This is getting really old.
> 
> On the 11 o'clock news last night, they said we'd probably get a dusting. MAYBE an inch, they said. Most of the snow would be south of us, they said.
> 
> We've got 2.5" now and it's still snowing. This morning, their new estimate is between 3-5".
> 
> Crappy cell phone pics:
> View attachment 95997
> 
> My poor little convertible. It really, really wants me to take it to Florida...
> View attachment 95998
> 
> 
> February is trying to kill me.
> 
> 
> 
> 3-5 is a dusting around here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I realize that isn't much for northern states, but...and I really cannot stress this enough...
> There is a REASON I LIVE IN THE SOUTH!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

 Clearly not south enough.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The past five days I've been entertaining some potential business partners here in LA. They're Southern boys one from Sarasota and the other from Birmingham. The Birmingham guy is gonna move to California. He's been here a few times, but now he says this is it ... he's moving. He was quite serious.  45F right now, should hit 70F+ a degree or two higher. 

@ pgriz regarding water containment: The rainfall helps ... every little bit helps. But there is very little land in the LA basin to capture sufficient water to match our population. From the 10,000' high San Gabriel Mountains on the east to the Pacific Ocean on the west is approximately 30 miles. So not a lot of land, and what land is available is relatively steep producing conditions that are more inclined for runoff than seepage. But, local water authorities have been seepage field of gravel beds along our flood control channels and basins. Every little bit helps. Most of LA's water comes via aqueduct from the snowpack in the southern Sierra Nevada a few hundred miles away.


----------



## pgriz

@ Gary:  I'm thinking that the drought situation will force the civil engineers to rethink their approach to run-off management.  Just as we're starting to "harvest" solar energy, we'll have to be a lot smarter about using the precipitation water as a resource.  It doesn't mean that the water capture HAS to be in the LA basin area, but there are many areas where the precipitation is just dumped into channels and directed to the ocean.  That will have to change.  Furthermore, the depletion of the water in the underground aquifiers means that somehow that water will have to be replaced.  Run-off channeling into underground formations may help this.


----------



## minicoop1985

bribrius said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Poor kid's awake, but still out of it.
> 
> 
> 
> Tylenol for children or anything? Fever?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No fever, fortunately. I think he's better now for the most part.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> yeah well you sent all your stuff my way. Now my littlest one is running around snotty nose. And when i just dropped my oldest off at school the temp said -6. i stopped to take a couple photos and inside of five minutes i couldnt feel my fingers. Forget that. went back to the car.
Click to expand...


Probably not. He puked and had a sore stomach all day yesterday, no runny nose.


----------



## minicoop1985

My GAS has kicked in again. I played with a 1D X and now I need a battery grip. Dammit.


----------



## waday

pgriz said:


> @ Gary:  I'm thinking that the drought situation will force the civil engineers to rethink their approach to run-off management.  Just as we're starting to "harvest" solar energy, we'll have to be a lot smarter about using the precipitation water as a resource.  It doesn't mean that the water capture HAS to be in the LA basin area, but there are many areas where the precipitation is just dumped into channels and directed to the ocean.  That will have to change.  Furthermore, the depletion of the water in the underground aquifiers means that somehow that water will have to be replaced.  Run-off channeling into underground formations may help this.


Logistically speaking, it's a little harder to 'harvest and store' water than it is solar energy. Water storage requires considerable infrastructure and land. And pipelines and conveyance structures are darn expensive. 

Trying to infiltrate considerable amounts of precipitation/run-off into underground formations will be hard, unless planned (i.e., correct geology, infiltration methods) and executed well. Doesn't mean that little bits can't help.

Can't really build dams, unless you have the land and permits/approvals, which would likely take years to decades. Try to get that past the NGO's and taxpayers.

Desalination of ocean water is expensive, but it could help.

We're starting to reuse water, but we need to do it on a larger scale by utilizing both precipitation AND treated wastewater. The public won't like it, but it's what we need to do. People don't like the idea of drinking treated wastewater, but if they are downstream of another city, they already are. I remember reading an article awhile back (I think it was in California?) how they are injecting treated wastewater underground for eventual infiltration into drinking water aquifers (with the thought process that the soil will aid in removing some of the stigma of drinking treated wastewater). Sounds like a good plan. Hope it works.

Water availability is a big issue. Even in a 'water rich area' (no area is technically 'water rich') such as Pennsylvania, we are noticing the effects of such issues and climate change. Warmer water temperatures, more drought. It hurts.

It's funny, because through all of this, people 'expect' that water is a common right. No, it's a privilege. Water costs money. So does treating it. If costs start to rise, people will be more willing to conserve.

Then again, we also have aging infrastructure with leaks. Some facilities that I've dealt with have had considerable leaks in their distribution systems, where they were essentially wasting tens of thousands of gallons of water a day. Fix the aging infrastructure.

Who is going to pay for all of this? Taxpayers.

Sorry for the mini rant.


----------



## pgriz

@ waday, that's not a rant.  Just a basic statement of facts.  But we as a civilization are rather poor at facing what we don't want to see.  How we deal with water is one of those.


----------



## Derrel

California is in the middle of a three-year drought. The multiple large lakes and reservoirs seen while flying to San Diego from Portland, OR? Tiny puddles in the middle of vast expanses of lake bottom. The "shores" of these bodies of water are in some cases a half mile or more from the edge of the puddles. According to a study released by NASA in mid-December of 2014, California needs 11 trillion gallons of water, or 1.5x the volume of the largest U.S. reservoir, to recover from this drought. Like Oregon, California stores MUCH of its water in the form of mountain snowpack, and CA's snowpack is seriously depleted. Let's hope and pray for a WET March and April and May to help replenish the snowpack!

California has a serious problem on its hands. Needed 11 Trillion Gallons to Replenish California Drought - NASA Science

What's frightening is that mega-El Nino events, which occur something like every 500 years or so, can cause EPIC droughts. Droughts of a degree of severity that literally forced people to abandon all civilization in northern Mexico centuries ago. LONG-term droughts are a part of the historical record, but in modern times the American west has not experienced any of the long-term weather patterns that destroyed the northern Mexico civilization...we literally have not been living here long enough to have encountered such a long-term drought, and I pray that this is not the start of a drought that lasts 15 to 20 seasons, as was the case in the northern Mexico abandonment of centuries ago.


----------



## sm4him

Wow, it's getting really DEEP and serious in here this morning.  And it's hard to change direction and just be silly, because then it sounds like you are THAT person, who just doesn't care about something as vital as our water supply.

Fortunately for me, I am so sleep deprived at this point, that I am not capable of serious thought, and perfectly willing to be THAT person. 

So...anyway...

We've ended up with about 4 inches of snow. I think it's finally tapering off.
The ONE good thing about it--at least I got to have Chocolate Peppermint Snow Cream for breakfast:


----------



## waday

sm4him said:


> Wow, it's getting really DEEP and serious in here this morning.  And it's hard to change direction and just be silly, because then it sounds like you are THAT person, who just doesn't care about something as vital as our water supply.
> 
> Fortunately for me, I am so sleep deprived at this point, that I am not capable of serious thought, and perfectly willing to be THAT person.
> 
> So...anyway...
> 
> We've ended up with about 4 inches of snow. I think it's finally tapering off.
> The ONE good thing about it--at least I got to have Chocolate Peppermint Snow Cream for breakfast:
> View attachment 96014


Snow cream is a perfectly good use of water.


----------



## pgriz

sm4him said:


> Wow, it's getting really DEEP and serious in here this morning.



Well, the stuff we're "deep" in matters.  If it's brown, then it's not so nice.  Unless it's chocolate.  And chocolate with peppermint sounds really nice.


----------



## bribrius

waday said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Gary:  I'm thinking that the drought situation will force the civil engineers to rethink their approach to run-off management.  Just as we're starting to "harvest" solar energy, we'll have to be a lot smarter about using the precipitation water as a resource.  It doesn't mean that the water capture HAS to be in the LA basin area, but there are many areas where the precipitation is just dumped into channels and directed to the ocean.  That will have to change.  Furthermore, the depletion of the water in the underground aquifiers means that somehow that water will have to be replaced.  Run-off channeling into underground formations may help this.
> 
> 
> 
> Logistically speaking, it's a little harder to 'harvest and store' water than it is solar energy. Water storage requires considerable infrastructure and land. And pipelines and conveyance structures are darn expensive.
> 
> Trying to infiltrate considerable amounts of precipitation/run-off into underground formations will be hard, unless planned (i.e., correct geology, infiltration methods) and executed well. Doesn't mean that little bits can't help.
> 
> Can't really build dams, unless you have the land and permits/approvals, which would likely take years to decades. Try to get that past the NGO's and taxpayers.
> 
> Desalination of ocean water is expensive, but it could help.
> 
> We're starting to reuse water, but we need to do it on a larger scale by utilizing both precipitation AND treated wastewater. The public won't like it, but it's what we need to do. People don't like the idea of drinking treated wastewater, but if they are downstream of another city, they already are. I remember reading an article awhile back (I think it was in California?) how they are injecting treated wastewater underground for eventual infiltration into drinking water aquifers (with the thought process that the soil will aid in removing some of the stigma of drinking treated wastewater). Sounds like a good plan. Hope it works.
> 
> Water availability is a big issue. Even in a 'water rich area' (no area is technically 'water rich') such as Pennsylvania, we are noticing the effects of such issues and climate change. Warmer water temperatures, more drought. It hurts.
> 
> It's funny, because through all of this, people 'expect' that water is a common right. No, it's a privilege. Water costs money. So does treating it. If costs start to rise, people will be more willing to conserve.
> 
> Then again, we also have aging infrastructure with leaks. Some facilities that I've dealt with have had considerable leaks in their distribution systems, where they were essentially wasting tens of thousands of gallons of water a day. Fix the aging infrastructure.
> 
> Who is going to pay for all of this? Taxpayers.
> 
> Sorry for the mini rant.
Click to expand...

Let me darken it even more. LMAO Mother earth is over populated. The tech and govt. can only delay the eventual die off. The earth is profoundly adept at species and population control.  Human species are leaches on the ecosystem. So don't worry about any of it. Eventually the earth will self correct on it's own..  There is a science to animals that run out of food and drinking water. They adapt, relocate, or die. HAHAHAHAHA


----------



## Designer

Lighten up, Francis.


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers. Been lurking. Landlord - Tenant stuff is so boring that I'd rather be grading!


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, it's getting really DEEP and serious in here this morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, the stuff we're "deep" in matters.  If it's brown, then it's not so nice.  Unless it's chocolate.  And chocolate with peppermint sounds really nice.
Click to expand...


Oh, I know it matters. That's why I said it's the kind of conversation that is difficult to divert from. If people were just spouting to hear themselves, that's EASY to do a "Well, on to other topics" sort of post. 

But when people are talking, seriously, about something as important as our dwindling water resources, and our complete mismanagement of those resources...well, it's hard to just come in and say,
"So, I had some yummy snow cream this morning." 
And yet, I did it anyway. 

I just needed some lightheartedness.


----------



## pgriz

And while we're on light-hearted stuff, I am adding another orbit round the sun to my history.  On the weekend, dancing with all the ladies (wife and daughters included) made me feel 18 again.  Yesterday, my body told me what it thought of all that tom-foolery.  Today, my Vancouverite daughter and BF are cooking up a feast.  Might have to get back into the craft beer again.  Ah, life can be hard.


----------



## oldhippy

To quote my wife

My husband is making a home made pizza with, onion, shiitake mushroom, provolone and mozzarella cheese. We've not been to the grocery store for days.but he can always find good food.
Fast snap, no second shots available.


----------



## tirediron

I could probably choke down a slice if I had to....


----------



## sm4him

oldhippy said:


> View attachment 96024 To quote my wife
> 
> My husband is making a home made pizza with, onion, shiitake mushroom, provolone and mozzarella cheese. We've not been to the grocery store for days.but he can always find good food.
> Fast snap, no second shots available.



That looks Gooooood.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Hey, hosers. Been lurking. Landlord - Tenant stuff is so boring that I'd rather be grading!



You could grade the Landlord-Tenant contracts.  You know, something like:

"Your reference to subclause 3.1a as reason to terminate the lease shows a lack of imagination and unwillingness to think outside the box.  For one thing, having more than one pet does not constitute a force-majeur, unless perhaps it's the demon cat from Hades, and the tenant will surely agree with you if that was the case.  Four points off for that.

Clause 8.3 may be legal, but shows you in a bad light as a grasping low-life with poor social skills.  Having a party and making noise is what humans do.  Especially the fun kind of humans that would bring new people to your rentals.  If hiring good-looking models to attract people to retail stores is an effective strategy, think about how having a place that attracts hip and perceptive rentors would do for your rental property desireability.  It's not like you're operating a nursing home for dementia sufferers.  Ten points off.

Clause 19.1 is clearly a violation of basic human rights.   If cleanliness is next to godliness, then surely access to the washing machine outside of the hours of 4pm to 8pm is something that you don't want to forbid.  Five points off."


----------



## pgriz

oldhippy said:


> My husband is making a home made pizza with, onion, shiitake mushroom, provolone and mozzarella cheese. We've not been to the grocery store for days.but he can always find good food.



So, you haven't been to the grocery store in days, and scrounging around, you managed to find a few things to throw together.  Ed, when things start to go hell-in-a-handbasket, I'm moving close to you so I can feast the last days away.  Because I don't think you'll be doing saltines and plain water.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I hate to tell you Sharon but I wouldn't have known that was chocolate snow... lol

Sounds good, but isn't it about time for chocolate bunnies instead of snow?? wishful thinking.


----------



## oldhippy

pgriz said:


> oldhippy said:
> 
> 
> 
> My husband is making a home made pizza with, onion, shiitake mushroom, provolone and mozzarella cheese. We've not been to the grocery store for days.but he can always find good food.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So, you haven't been to the grocery store in days, and scrounging around, you managed to find a few things to throw together.  Ed, when things start to go hell-in-a-handbasket, I'm moving close to you so I can feast the last days away.  Because I don't think you'll be doing saltines and plain water.
Click to expand...

We've been snowed in for 9 days.  Tomorrow I go to town as the road was salted today. Most needing pet feed. Dogs, cats, goats and chickens.
Wouldn't trade for anyplace.  Come on down, the coffee is always on.  Ed


----------



## Gary A.

Me too Ed. The clouds have dissipated and I can see the San Gabriel's ... the snow is down to 4,000' ... so the top half of the mountains are white and pristine. I made more bread today, came out pretty good. It is a hardy bread, nothing quite like it at the store or eateries, with an underscore of sourdough. I started with butter but now have switched to olive oil and balsamic with glasses of Toasted Head Chardonnay. Delish ... !

PS- Like you I make my own pizza ... I cook it in the BBQ. Typically, I cook the meat separate, then add it at the end ... so the pizza is relatively greaseless. Blue Cheese on pizza is grand.


----------



## Gary A.

Back to water, I remember hearing or reading a report when I was an environmental commissioner ... is stated that surface water was infinitely replaceable but subsurface water should be considered in the same realm as oil for replenishment. Recharging aquifers is a slow and difficult process requiring beaucoup surface area for seepage. The primary storage for most of the water for the City of Los Angeles is not stored in the above ground reservoirs that Derrel spoke of ... but under the San Fernando Valley in a huge underground lake.

In California, 2/3rds of the water is in Northern California while 2/3rds of the population is in Southern California. California has succeeded to bring the excess water hundreds of miles from Northern California all they way down to San Diego the southern tip. I was entertaining a group of water experts from Senegal. Senegal has a similar problem as California that the water isn't near the population centers. We were having a meeting in the State Water Resources conference room when the gentlemen from Senegal asked how California could make the water available so cheaply in San Diego after traveling some 600+ miles and most of that travel is uphill. I pointed to an old map on the wall of the conference room ... "this map is more than a 100 year old," I said. The gentlemen examined the map of the State Water Project ... the system of aqueducts which brings water from the north to the south. "Planning," I said, and they all nodded.

Just a side note ... the aqueducts start from dams in northern California through the Central Valley, up the Tehachapi Mountains then down to Southern California. Okay, Google a map of California ... the lowest spot in the Central Valley is the delta area between Sacramento and San Francisco. Both ends of the Central Valley empty into this wetland. So from Tracy (the delta) south it is essentially uphill. The power for the pumps to move the water hundreds of miles uphill is generated by the dams at the start of the aqueduct.

Unfortunately, this drought has hit the Northern California harder than Southern California. Northern California, because generally it has a huge surplus of water, isn't nearly as prepared as Southern California for the drought, which has a huge reservoir of reservoirs and has been implementing water reduction policies for decades. Yards and public areas planted with native/drought tolerant plants are common, recycling water is common (especially in newly constructed areas) and desalting plants are springing up along our coast.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

I'm less than 12 hours away from losing my wisdom. Or at least my wisdom teeth.

I made soup with sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, pinto beans, and silken tofu (for some extra protein.) Cooked it up in the crock pot then blended it really really smooth with a wand blender. I used a crap ton of turmeric - science has proven it to be an effective anti-inflammatory agent, among other health benefits. And it's yummy. Will probably throw in some cumin, too. There's been a lot of hard science these days looking at properties of spices, and I'm starting to look at them as daily medicine. Though when I'm choosing spices for their effect and not just their taste, I can't tell if I'm acting like a pharmacist or a witch  I'm going with witch, actually.

So, I've got soup with carbs, veggies, spices, and protein. I also made pudding tonight - vanilla, one batch with eggs, the other without. Finally, I made yogurt, though I might have messed it up by letting it cool a little too much. Nothing to do but wait until tomorrow morning to see if the cultures took or not. If not, I'll have Buzz go get me some yogurt, plus another half gallon of milk so I can make more.

I had some popcorn to celebrate the last crunchy food I'll be able to have for a little while. And I've got a finger of Elijah Craig bourbon to take the edge off my nerves. Going to spend a little time with the singing bowl before Buzz picks me up tomorrow.

I just hope I don't get all loopy and drunk dial TPF tomorrow after I'm done


----------



## Gary A.

Don't worry, I'm sure everything will go well. (Just don't over think stuff.) I'll send you some of my bread. Tonight Mary Lou and I started with some Chardonnay, butter and bread ... then Chardonnay and olive oil w/ balsamic and bread. If we didn't have some salmon marinating away, we'd still be eating the bread.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> I'm less than 12 hours away from losing my wisdom. Or at least my wisdom teeth.



I'll be thinking about you today! Hope all goes well. Be sure to ask the Dr. to put those teeth in a container for you, so you can take them home and squeeze the wisdom out of them, maybe stir it up into your soup.


----------



## mmaria

LEO


----------



## mmaria

here's a selfie


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> I'm less than 12 hours away from losing my wisdom. Or at least my wisdom teeth.
> 
> I made soup with sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, pinto beans, and silken tofu (for some extra protein.) Cooked it up in the crock pot then blended it really really smooth with a wand blender. I used a crap ton of turmeric - science has proven it to be an effective anti-inflammatory agent, among other health benefits. And it's yummy. Will probably throw in some cumin, too. There's been a lot of hard science these days looking at properties of spices, and I'm starting to look at them as daily medicine. Though when I'm choosing spices for their effect and not just their taste, I can't tell if I'm acting like a pharmacist or a witch  I'm going with witch, actually.
> 
> So, I've got soup with carbs, veggies, spices, and protein. I also made pudding tonight - vanilla, one batch with eggs, the other without. Finally, I made yogurt, though I might have messed it up by letting it cool a little too much. Nothing to do but wait until tomorrow morning to see if the cultures took or not. If not, I'll have Buzz go get me some yogurt, plus another half gallon of milk so I can make more.
> 
> I had some popcorn to celebrate the last crunchy food I'll be able to have for a little while. And I've got a finger of Elijah Craig bourbon to take the edge off my nerves. Going to spend a little time with the singing bowl before Buzz picks me up tomorrow.
> 
> I just hope I don't get all loopy and drunk dial TPF tomorrow after I'm done


We're _pulling_ for you.  _Ouch_, I didn't really mean to put it that way.  

The soup sounds good.


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon Marija.  Is that rain, snow or birds dropping things on you?


----------



## mmaria

well... I thought it's funny


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Good afternoon Marija.  Is that rain, snow or birds dropping things on you?


today is an ok day actually, but the rain is really annoying. I usually like the rain, but just not today.
I'm going to the hairdresser after the work and this kind of wet weather messes up my hair.

..and no, this isn't the only reason for not liking the rain today


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> I'm less than 12 hours away from losing my wisdom. Or at least my wisdom teeth.


Good luck!  I'm hoping for the best possible recovery for you!


----------



## pgriz

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good afternoon Marija.  Is that rain, snow or birds dropping things on you?
> 
> 
> 
> today is an ok day actually, but the rain is really annoying. I usually like the rain, but just not today.
> I'm going to the hairdresser after the work and this kind of wet weather messes up my hair.
> 
> ..and no, this isn't the only reason for not liking the rain today
Click to expand...


Can I borrow those sentiments for the cold snap (more like eternity) that we've been experiencing?  Winter has overstayed its welcome, and it's not taking hints that it should move on.


----------



## mmaria

pgriz said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good afternoon Marija.  Is that rain, snow or birds dropping things on you?
> 
> 
> 
> today is an ok day actually, but the rain is really annoying. I usually like the rain, but just not today.
> I'm going to the hairdresser after the work and this kind of wet weather messes up my hair.
> 
> ..and no, this isn't the only reason for not liking the rain today
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Can I borrow those sentiments for the cold snap (more like eternity) that we've been experiencing?  Winter has overstayed its welcome, and it's not taking hints that it should move on.
Click to expand...


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> I'm less than 12 hours away from losing my wisdom. Or at least my wisdom teeth.
> 
> I made soup with sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, pinto beans, and silken tofu (for some extra protein.) Cooked it up in the crock pot then blended it really really smooth with a wand blender. I used a crap ton of turmeric - science has proven it to be an effective anti-inflammatory agent, among other health benefits. And it's yummy. Will probably throw in some cumin, too. There's been a lot of hard science these days looking at properties of spices, and I'm starting to look at them as daily medicine. Though when I'm choosing spices for their effect and not just their taste, I can't tell if I'm acting like a pharmacist or a witch  I'm going with witch, actually.
> 
> So, I've got soup with carbs, veggies, spices, and protein. I also made pudding tonight - vanilla, one batch with eggs, the other without. Finally, I made yogurt, though I might have messed it up by letting it cool a little too much. Nothing to do but wait until tomorrow morning to see if the cultures took or not. If not, I'll have Buzz go get me some yogurt, plus another half gallon of milk so I can make more.
> 
> I had some popcorn to celebrate the last crunchy food I'll be able to have for a little while. And I've got a finger of Elijah Craig bourbon to take the edge off my nerves. Going to spend a little time with the singing bowl before Buzz picks me up tomorrow.
> 
> I just hope I don't get all loopy and drunk dial TPF tomorrow after I'm done



You know, Leonore, that you're not officially a witch unless you have a cauldron bubbling somewhere, containing at the very least chicken entrails and lizard gizzards.  I think the bat wings are optional.  So your preparations would indicate to me that you're closer to the wise women of lore with their poutices and grass compresses.  Good luck with the extraction, and have a smooth recovery after.  If you're like my Mom, you'll be up and about in 12 hours.


----------



## oldhippy

Lenny
Good lock, fast healing, and some comforting hugs.  Ed


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> I'm less than 12 hours away from losing my wisdom. Or at least my wisdom teeth.
> 
> I made soup with sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, pinto beans, and silken tofu (for some extra protein.) Cooked it up in the crock pot then blended it really really smooth with a wand blender. I used a crap ton of turmeric - science has proven it to be an effective anti-inflammatory agent, among other health benefits. And it's yummy. Will probably throw in some cumin, too. There's been a lot of hard science these days looking at properties of spices, and I'm starting to look at them as daily medicine. Though when I'm choosing spices for their effect and not just their taste, I can't tell if I'm acting like a pharmacist or a witch  I'm going with witch, actually.
> 
> I just hope I don't get all loopy and drunk dial TPF tomorrow after I'm done



All will go well.  These things always do these days.  If throwing a lot of cumin and turmeric in food (and garlic) makes one a witch, then I suppose I must be one as well.  Go ahead and drunk dial us and let us know how it's going - we won't hold any delusional comments against you.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Good luck. I am sure you will be fine. As Sharon stated, save the teeth. I heard the Fairy Godmother is giving an average of $4.32 for each tooth these days. Geez, I think I used to get quarters..

As far as the drought...I read Dan Browns 'Inferno' recently and it dealt with a crazed person trying to fix the worlds overpopulation/ and it's lack of resources for 7 billion people...great book.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I'm sipping on the last of the brandy coffee. Tonight I have to shoot a musical at the high school I get volunteered, Urinetown, I believe.


----------



## bribrius

urine town?


----------



## bribrius

sounds like a pissy event


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> sounds like a pissy event


I dunno, most think it's No. 1.


----------



## limr

Well, it's done. I am on the couch with a cold pack that isn't very cold. I've had pudding, my first antibiotic and my first pain medication. Tylenol with codeine. Zelda is settled on my leg. Buzz bought me some sunflowers and got me some Coke and ginger ale in case the medication upsets my stomach. AND he got me the Mexican coke with cane sugar in the glass bottle! Buzz rocks.

There might have been a light case of the giggles and while in the pharmacy, I may have been busting a move when Cher started playing. But to be fair, these things happen even when I'm not under lingering effects of sedation.

During the procedure - which felt much faster to me than it actually took - I was vaguely aware of things and I seem to remember starting to whimper a little bit. I remember at one point the doctor saying "It's okay, it's not pain, just pressure." I must have been whimpering a little extra at whatever he was doing. And I do distinctly remember trying to sign language to tell them that I wanted it to be over. I kept signing "Finish! Finish!" When I was starting to come out of sedation, I heard the nurse talking about her hair and I signed to her that it looked very good and started fingerspelling some name I had just heard. For some reason I felt like I could only sign one handed.


----------



## tirediron

Glad it's over and done with Lenny...  hopefully the recovery is quick and uneventful.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Glad it's over and done with Lenny...  hopefully the recovery is quick and uneventful.



Thanks!

I've just discovered why people go straight for ice cream when they get this done. Sure, it tastes good, but oh how cool and soothing!


----------



## minicoop1985

Speaking of ice cream, I really want some now.


----------



## limr

Yeah, I want some more. 

They gave me Tylenol with codeine. I took one when I got home and it didn't do A whole lot. Got a bit drowsy. Took another one at about 1 and I just woke up half an hour ago. Knocked me flat. Good times.

Now I want more ice cream.


----------



## Designer

I had a prescription for that last fall.  I think I only took one tablet.


----------



## limr

I'll take another one before bed. In the meantime I'll try taking regular Tylenol. This hurts too much to go without painkillers.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> I'll take another one before bed. In the meantime I'll try taking regular Tylenol. This hurts too much to go without painkillers.


well this should make you laugh. I took that phone application for a light meter out today. Took my old capitol junk light meter out too (1.5 volts bat instead of the 1.35), and one of the film cameras.   Got three separate readings.. which one is right... huh...


----------



## limr

Did you point them all at the exact same thing? Was it a contrasty kind of scene? I'd probably not trust the meter with the incorrect voltage, but the app meter and the camera could have been taking in different parts of the scene, resulting in a different reading. How off were they?


----------



## limr

I'll often take several readings with the phone app meter - highlights, shadows for sure, and depending on what I'm shooting, I might meter snow if it's there, sky if I want it in the frame, light surfaces, dark surfaces...


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Did you point them all at the exact same thing? Was it a contrasty kind of scene? I'd probably not trust the meter with the incorrect voltage, but the app meter and the camera could have been taking in different parts of the scene, resulting in a different reading. How off were they?


Hard to tell. Seemed to mostly go near 2 off. Going to bring out another camera and try it again, one i know works.. And yeah, dont know how far the light meter is off. Can't imagine it would be that far off but who knows.  Probably swap them out. i took it for granted the camera was the right one..


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> I'll often take several readings with the phone app meter - highlights, shadows for sure, and depending on what I'm shooting, I might meter snow if it's there, sky if I want it in the frame, light surfaces, dark surfaces...


find out when i get some back from the film. Just dropped some in the mailbox actually. Don't know yet on the phone ap meter. i dont trust it. Not sure if it works. will play with it again though. It could come in handy. Right now i am thinking it is crap but don't want to be too quick to jump. On another note. had some kodak porta and bw pro come in today. But boy is that chit expensive. Holy begeezus.  what is that like 7-8 bucks a roll? Forgot what i paid for it. Saw the invoice and got that lump in my throat. chit adds up dont it? won't be snap shooting that stuff. Be like dumping out good beer.


----------



## limr

Portra is pricey, yes, but it's beautiful:



 Day 211 - Boats in Strunjan cropped by limrodrigues, on Flickr




Day 211 - Rowboat Strunjan by limrodrigues, on Flickr




Day 210 - Reeds and Piran by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## minicoop1985

I basically just point the meter at what I'm shooting, dial it in, and hope to hell I got it right because I'm just winging it really.

I'm so freaking pumped for my orientation tomorrow. This is gonna ROCK.


----------



## snowbear

I'm glad it went well for you, Leonore.  Get better


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I'm glad it went well for you, Leonore.  Get better



Thanks, sweetie!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Portra is pricey, yes, but it's beautiful:
> 
> 
> 
> Day 211 - Boats in Strunjan cropped by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Day 211 - Rowboat Strunjan by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Day 210 - Reeds and Piran by limrodrigues, on Flickr


pretty.  i am going to try to use it on portraits, maybe the occasional shot otherwise. The "really good" stuff is like 11 bucks a roll. Hoped the porta would be good enough.  Designate a camera just with that. Another with bw film. the other two with fuji 400 and 800.  Pretty much all i have been shooting is fuji 400 and 800. Figure if i keep them separate i will be more organized, not waste porta on snapshots and have a couple different speed choices or bw if i want it.  I have enough film to last me a while now. Figure i am still shooting digital too so that will take the brunt of the snappy shots.  When one of the fujis runs dry i want to try that agfa vista .. I have enough now to last me a while though.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> I basically just point the meter at what I'm shooting, dial it in, and hope to hell I got it right because I'm just winging it really.
> 
> I'm so freaking pumped for my orientation tomorrow. This is gonna ROCK.


what orientation?   i keep losing track in this room.


----------



## sm4him

Good morning, Hosers!

What's going on?

Just another typical winter day in the South around here...NOT.



Another 6 inches or so of snow last night.  I feel like someone picked up my little Southern town, whirled us around, and threw us into the cold, harsh North!
And further south, they got even more--some places in Northern Alabama got 10" to a FOOT of snow. IN THE BYGOSH FREAKIN' SOUTH. That's just wrong.
It's pretty.
But it's wrong.

EDIT: I know the snow is blue.  This was taken before sunrise. On a cell phone. And I've had no sleep. So I just don't care.


----------



## sm4him

Lenny, I hope you're already well on the road to recovery and have little or no pain today!

A funny:
Yesterday, I had to go into the office to work for a while, because of stupid mandatory meetings. I left with several hours to spare before the next system dumped the North's snow on us, so I went by the store to get a few needs/wants...mostly wants.

There was plenty of milk, bread, eggs and TP, a bit to my surprise.
But the items that were just completely GONE? Birdseed, and Diet Dr. Pepper.

Which, of course, were the two main things I was there for.
They did still have some Caffeine-free DDP. But what's the point of that?

So I had to stop at another store on the way home. They were also out of 12-packs of DDP, but had some of the six-pack bottles. They had a few small bags of seeds left, so I'm hoping I've got enough to get through until this stuff melts now.
The second store was the one in the same shopping center as my current favorite little Mexican place. So, I also took a little work break and had some dinner. And a margarita. At least.


----------



## snowbear

It started here between 5 and 7 this morning.  Calling for 1"-3" in town, 2"-4" south & east and 4"-8" in extreme south (Richmond, etc).  Getting ready to head into work, now.

Sending you some warm hugs.  Stay safe.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> It started here between 5 and 7 this morning.  Calling for 1"-3" in town, 2"-4" south & east and 4"-8" in extreme south (Richmond, etc).  Getting ready to head into work, now.
> 
> Sending you some warm hugs.  Stay safe.



That tells you how big this system is, because 5-7 a.m. was about the time it was finally tapering off here, so you were starting to get the front edge just as the back edge was finally passing us.

The good news, for us, is that this looks like it for a while now, FINALLY.  We've had snow every day for two weeks. THAT has not happened here in over two decades.
And by Tuesday, we may just hit 60F.  A rainy Monday and Tuesday are forecast, but at least the temps will be better!


----------



## KenC

Nothing here in Philly yet.  Do I feel cheated?  Nah.


----------



## bribrius

Goodmorning peeps!  I woke up, and yep, still winter........          One kid late for school missed bus... seems this house is very hectic in the mornings....


----------



## Warhorse

No snow here, just clear sunny sky, -9 degree!


----------



## limr

It's my second morning without coffee, hosers 

Yesterday because I couldn't eat or drink anything and this morning because I can't drink or eat hot things for 24 hours after the surgery. It took me a while to realize that I could drink iced coffee, though, so I'm making some now.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> It's my second morning without coffee, hosers
> 
> Yesterday because I couldn't eat or drink anything and this morning because I can't drink or eat hot things for 24 hours after the surgery. It took me a while to realize that I could drink iced coffee, though, so I'm making some now.


hope things are looking up for you. None of that stuff is fun...


----------



## minicoop1985

bribrius said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I basically just point the meter at what I'm shooting, dial it in, and hope to hell I got it right because I'm just winging it really.
> 
> I'm so freaking pumped for my orientation tomorrow. This is gonna ROCK.
> 
> 
> 
> what orientation?   i keep losing track in this room.
Click to expand...


I have an orientation for the studio I'm going to work for today. He's gonna show me around and I'm gonna show him my triggers and just BS about gear and how we're going to do the whole employment thing.


----------



## snerd

Hey Lenny! Sorry to hear of your ailment! Here's hoping for a speedy recovery and less pain!!    


  


.............................


----------



## limr

Thanks, boys. Doing better today. Yesterday, the Tylenol made the pain more manageable. Today, it's making things feel almost normal. Well, as long as I'm not talking or opening my mouth. It still hurts to swallow and I'm still using ice to help the swelling.


----------



## minicoop1985

Glad you're better, Leonore.

Yay, my Canon 7D grip came in today, in time to use it for my orientation!


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I basically just point the meter at what I'm shooting, dial it in, and hope to hell I got it right because I'm just winging it really.
> 
> I'm so freaking pumped for my orientation tomorrow. This is gonna ROCK.
> 
> 
> 
> what orientation?   i keep losing track in this room.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have an orientation for the studio I'm going to work for today. He's gonna show me around and I'm gonna show him my triggers and just BS about gear and how we're going to do the whole employment thing.
Click to expand...

i'm jealous


----------



## vintagesnaps

Glad you're feeling better today Leonore. Geez I had my wisdom teeth done when I was a kid/teenager, whatever, didn't think they did those with adults. That doesn't sound fun to say the least. Glad it's over with and you're better.

But no coffee!! I don't think I'd make it! lol then I saw you went with iced coffee. My aunt drinks cold coffee, Not iced, she just lets it sit til it's cold. Can't say I find it too appealing, it needs to be hot or ice cold not this in between stuff! lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

Were supposed to get snow overnight but it didn't get this far.

It has made for some nice pictures, been doing some cyan (tried magenta but pink snow is pretty weird looking!). Also Chocolate and Blue Polaroid, Choc is a nice dark sepia but the Blue is tricky with developing times (realized some of this film is10 years old).

Sun peeking out now and supposed to be clear and sunny tomorrow so I've got some Portra here ready to hop into a camera.


----------



## oldhippy

Checking in.  Water still froze off.  Looking at Monday or Tuesday.  Carried 9 gallon of drinking water from my neighbors. Then another 40 gallon from the creek.  Cristal clear.  Got settled and the low pressure regulator up the hill about 25 ft.  Now that's a chore. Cleets on my shoes and a good rope to pull up the snow covered,  well you get it.  Wife said I could slide on washing dishes.  Bless her.
Been up that hill about 5 of the last seven days.  Just one time fixes it.  The gas is free ( we have a gas/oil well on the property) so I consider it a cheap price, also lots of exercise.  Going to be 60 here next Tuesday. Wake me up when it gets here.   Ed


----------



## Rick58

Tough winter Ed. I've had enough about 2 months ago.


----------



## minicoop1985

Orientation went swimmingly.


----------



## Derrel

Rick58 said:
			
		

> Tough winter Ed. I've had enough about 2 months ago.



Oh man, Rick, I saw one of mishele's Instagram pics...screen cap of the local weather forecast in your state,with temp readings in the -5 range with wind chill that dropped the apparent feel to -26...that was last week! Uhhhhh, no thank you! Hope spring arrives there, STAT!


----------



## Rick58

Thanks Derrel. As a Maintenance Supervisor for the Parking Authority, much of my time is spent outdoors. We have 2.1 miles of sidewalks to clear around our facilities and these 1-2 inch nuisance snowfalls keep rolling in, wave after wave. It seems more of the same next week. 2 miles of sidewalks at 4am with those windchills is no treat for my guys. My first 15 years there, I was one of "those guys". Now I have a office with a coffee maker, but when it comes to sending them out in the sh*t, I don't forget those years.


----------



## bribrius

Rick58 said:


> Thanks Derrel. As a Maintenance Supervisor for the Parking Authority, much of my time is spent outdoors. We have 2.1 miles of sidewalks to clear around our facilities and these 1-2 inch nuisance snowfalls keep rolling in, wave after wave. It seems more of the same next week. 2 miles of sidewalks at 4am with those windchills is no treat for my guys. My first 15 years there, I was one of "those guys". Now I have a office with a coffee maker, but when it comes to sending them out in the sh*t, I don't forget those years.


good man with some character here...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers. It's been a long day. Mary Lou has been working hard on planning our summer entertainment at the Hollywood Bowl. Looks like eight events this summer, starting with a duet of Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga. (I love the Bowl. It's my favorite music venue.) I am sorry for all you people who are being battered by Winter. Winter just keeps going on and on for you people. Spring has got to be around the corner.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Thanks, boys. Doing better today. Yesterday, the Tylenol made the pain more manageable. Today, it's making things feel almost normal. Well, as long as I'm not talking or opening my mouth. It still hurts to swallow and I'm still using ice to help the swelling.


how are you feeling this morning?


----------



## limr

The swelling is probably at its worst this morning, which is that they told me would happen. The pain is lessening and my energy is better. I'm going in soon to have them check things quickly because last night the top right side - not the pocket but the tooth next to it - was extremely painful, and pain meds weren't helping. Well, regular pain meds - Tylenol or Advil. The prescription stuff they gave me with codeine did work when I took one at night. The pain is now gone on that side, although now the left side hurts. But it's a different pain - I think it's just sore from sleeping on it.

I was afraid the pain last night might have been dry pocket, even though I didn't have any other symptoms, so even though that pain is gone, I still want them to check things out to make sure it's all starting to heal the way it's supposed to.


----------



## mmaria

let us know how it went.


it'll pass soon!


----------



## oldhippy

Good morning, breakfast is finished. Country platter.  Veggie style.  
Potatoes, onions, mushrooms, green pepper. Fried in garlic infused oil. Seasoned with Spanish paprika, and a little hot sauce. Topped with 2 easy over free range eggs,   Buddy you can't sit still and eat this.  Ed


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. This has been an extremely busy week ... so some catch-up. Leo, I am glad it is over. Soon the pain will be over also. Don't be afraid to double up on the Tylenol or Advil if required. Tylenol and Advil work differently, mixing them is very effective. (That's what my physician friend does.)  This has been a beautiful week. We had clouds with definition, snow in the mountains and temps in the 70's. This weekend it is supposed to rain.


----------



## Gary A.

@ bribrius- Meter off a gray card and double check your meters using the Sunny 16 rule.
@ Appleton guy- Are you serious that you just center the needle on all your subjects?


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary, I adjust a little for highlights and shadows, but yeah. I don't have the most advanced meter (it's a Weston Master from 1939) by any stretch of the imagination, but it works. I'm pretty good at guessing.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> The swelling is probably at its worst this morning, which is that they told me would happen. The pain is lessening and my energy is better. I'm going in soon to have them check things quickly because last night the top right side - not the pocket but the tooth next to it - was extremely painful, and pain meds weren't helping. Well, regular pain meds - Tylenol or Advil.



Did they tell you to take Advil regularly even if you didn't need it for pain?  I had some gum surgery a couple of years ago and they wanted me to do that just to lessen the swelling (ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory) even if I didn't need it for pain.  Tylenol and codeine don't help with inflammation.


----------



## sm4him

@oldhippy Ed, you all at least escaped this last round, which ended up being our biggest snowfall so far, about 6" here, more to the south of where I am and in the mountains, just about 40 minutes east of me.  But y'all just got smacked around by every other storm these past two weeks! I hope you get running water again soon and that we BOTH have seen the last of the snow storms for the year!  60 here by Tuesday--pouring rain, by at least not snow!

@limr Let us know what the Doc says; hoping it's not a dry pocket, sounds like just normal pain. Hoping that by tomorrow you're through the worst of it!

@Everyone: I've been reading, but not commenting much lately. These 4:30 a.m. until 11 p.m. workdays have taken their toll! Hoping this morning was my LAST 4:30 a.m. wakeup call for a while!!  We are back to regular service today. Still about 3 inches of snow on the ground but roads are clear (except the back roads).  I'm usually awake by 5:30 a.m. anyway, but I *don't* usually have to get right to work that early, and I'm rarely EVER still up and actually functional at 11 p.m.

Probably working about half a day today. Already blew through 40 hours this week before the day ever started, but couldn't take the day off unfortunately.

Looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow!


----------



## minicoop1985

Yeesh, Sharon. That's a LONG day.


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> Yeesh, Sharon. That's a LONG day.



Well, in the interest of full disclosure, I at least get to do my work from home during the snow/ice (as long as I have power and internet), and I don't really "work" that whole time.  I'll take breaks and read for a while, watch TV, go sit at my "viewing" window and watch my birds or take some photos of them…or go out and run off all the starlings!
But I have the dispatch radio on the entire time, and I keep all our social media and my emails checked at least once every 30 minutes the entire day, and I'm never more than a walk inside away from the computer--which means, no long photo walks in the snowy scene.

But, it is a really, really long day. And I'm very hopefully that I just had the last one for this winter!


----------



## minicoop1985

Either way, that's insane. I can't stay awake that long, let alone WORK that long!

In other news, I love my new battery grip. Turns my 7D into an APS-C 1D.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Gary, I adjust a little for highlights and shadows, but yeah. I don't have the most advanced meter (it's a Weston Master from 1939) by any stretch of the imagination, but it works. I'm pretty good at guessing.


Centering the needle on an incident meter works.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeesh, Sharon. That's a LONG day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, in the interest of full disclosure, I at least get to do my work from home during the snow/ice (as long as I have power and internet), and I don't really "work" that whole time.  I'll take breaks and read for a while, watch TV, go sit at my "viewing" window and watch my birds or take some photos of them…or go out and run off all the starlings!
> But I have the dispatch radio on the entire time, and I keep all our social media and my emails checked at least once every 30 minutes the entire day, and I'm never more than a walk inside away from the computer--which means, no long photo walks in the snowy scene.
> 
> But, it is a really, really long day. And I'm very hopefully that I just had the last one for this winter!
Click to expand...

And working from home means you can close your door!


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeesh, Sharon. That's a LONG day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, in the interest of full disclosure, I at least get to do my work from home during the snow/ice (as long as I have power and internet), and I don't really "work" that whole time.  I'll take breaks and read for a while, watch TV, go sit at my "viewing" window and watch my birds or take some photos of them…or go out and run off all the starlings!
> But I have the dispatch radio on the entire time, and I keep all our social media and my emails checked at least once every 30 minutes the entire day, and I'm never more than a walk inside away from the computer--which means, no long photo walks in the snowy scene.
> 
> But, it is a really, really long day. And I'm very hopefully that I just had the last one for this winter!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And working from home means you can close your door!
Click to expand...



You got THAT right!!  I came in to the office on…umm…Wednesday, I think (the days have all kinda blurred together, lol). Had a couple of meetings I had to attend.
I'd only been here about 10 minutes when the guy next to me started talking on his phone, and I thought "that's it then. THIS is the day I'm gonna finally just go postal."


----------



## limr

oldhippy said:


> Good morning, breakfast is finished. Country platter.  Veggie style.
> Potatoes, onions, mushrooms, green pepper. Fried in garlic infused oil. Seasoned with Spanish paprika, and a little hot sauce. Topped with 2 easy over free range eggs,   Buddy you can't sit still and eat this.  Ed



Ed, you're killing me! Solid foods feel like a dream to me. In all honesty, I probably could start on some more solid but still soft foods like scrambled eggs. I'm just too freaked out by anything getting stuck back there that I'm sticking to the pudding and soups and jello for another day or so.

Still, I'm dying for some pizza!



Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. This has been an extremely busy week ... so some catch-up. Leo, I am glad it is over. Soon the pain will be over also. Don't be afraid to double up on the Tylenol or Advil if required. Tylenol and Advil work differently, mixing them is very effective. (That's what my physician friend does.)  This has been a beautiful week. We had clouds with definition, snow in the mountains and temps in the 70's. This weekend it is supposed to rain.





KenC said:


> Did they tell you to take Advil regularly even if you didn't need it for pain?  I had some gum surgery a couple of years ago and they wanted me to do that just to lessen the swelling (ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory) even if I didn't need it for pain.  Tylenol and codeine don't help with inflammation.



The prescription they gave me for pain was Tylenol with codeine. I've taken a total of four of those - once before the Novocaine wore off, once about 2 hours after that, and then one each before bed last night and the night before. Because I didn't want to keep knocking myself out, I used regular Tylenol on Wed and yesterday. Advil is better for swelling, but it can also have an anticoagulant effect, and I didn't want it to possibly interfere with the formation of the blood clots that protect the pockets. Last night I did start taking some Advil, though, and today I'll probably alternate it with the Tylenol if I need to. Honestly, I try to keep the pain meds to a minimum whatever they are. I've taken more medication in the past 2 days than I have in months! Probably helps keep them effective, too, so I don't have to take as much.

The dentist said everything is fine. No dry pocket. Because my teeth are crowded, he said the bones around the other teeth were sort of traumatized as well, and that could cause the kind of localized pain I was feeling. He said considering the surgery was only 2 days ago, I'm doing really well. The top left pocket is already closed up almost all the way. I still need to be careful with the bottom ones - keep them clean, wash with salt water, etc. He said the swelling is really minimum.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> The dentist said everything is fine. No dry pocket. Because my teeth are crowded, he said the bones around the other teeth were sort of traumatized as well, and that could cause the kind of localized pain I was feeling. He said considering the surgery was only 2 days ago, I'm doing really well. The top left pocket is already closed up almost all the way. I still need to be careful with the bottom ones - keep them clean, wash with salt water, etc. He said the swelling is really minimum.



Good to hear!! That means that pizza IS in your near future!


----------



## sm4him

NOOOOOOOOOO….


SPOCK DIED?!?!? 
That just does not compute.

Live long and prosper.
Rest well in peace, Nimoy.


----------



## JacaRanda

sm4him said:


> NOOOOOOOOOO….
> 
> 
> SPOCK DIED?!?!?
> That just does not compute.
> 
> Live long and prosper.
> Rest well in peace, Nimoy.


 
Ughhh.  Yes, RIP Leonard Nimoy.


----------



## limr

Just heard that, too. Sucks hard


----------



## Rick58

Hey Leonore, I normally don't poke around in here and had to scroll all the way back to message 5255 to find out what was going on. See, I didn't know you were having them pulled, so it didn't hurt me a bit...LOL
Seriously...Take care of yourself. At least the worst part is over.


----------



## limr

Rick58 said:


> Hey Leonore, I normally don't poke around in here and had to scroll all the way back to message 5255 to find out what was going on. See, I didn't know you were having them pulled, so it didn't hurt me a bit...LOL
> Seriously...Take care of yourself. At least the worst part is over.



Thanks, Rick! And I'm glad it didn't hurt you, too!


----------



## pgriz

Leonore, good to hear that you're doing well (as well as can be hoped for, that is).

Leonard Nimoy is going where lots have gone before.  I don't know what his belief system was, but I hope it was as he expected.  He defined the role of Spock, and in turn it defined him.  Fortunately, it appears he made his peace with both his creation, and what it made of him.


----------



## sm4him

Rick58 said:


> Hey Leonore, I normally don't poke around in here and had to scroll all the way back to message 5255 to find out what was going on. See, I didn't know you were having them pulled, so it didn't hurt me a bit...LOL
> Seriously...Take care of yourself. At least the worst part is over.



Lol. That's what my Dad always said when he had to do something, like rip a bandaid off one of us kids, or smear merthiolate all over our gaping wounds (that was his panacea for all physical injuries; it's a wonder any of us lived to adulthood!). We'd cry and complain that it hurt and he'd say, "Really? I didn't feel a thing." 

And by the way, in the future,  just realize that this thread is such an olio of stream-of-consciousness, disjointed postings that it's not worth trying to go back and figure anything out. Just pipe in and say "Wait, what did I miss? What happened to limr?" You got lucky this time, and actually found your answer by going back. Sometimes, though, it's more like falling down the rabbit hole. The more you try to make sense of it, the more non-sensical it all becomes!!


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Lol. That's what my Dad always said when he had to do something, like rip a bandaid off one of us kids, or smear merthiolate all over our gaping wounds (that was his panacea for all physical injuries; it's a wonder any of us lived to adulthood!). We'd cry and complain that it hurt and he'd say, "Really? I didn't feel a thing."
> 
> And by the way, in the future,  just realize that this thread is such *an olio of stream-of-consciousness*, disjointed postings that it's not worth trying to go back and figure anything out. Just pipe in and say "Wait, what did I miss? What happened to limr?" You got lucky this time, and actually found your answer by going back. Sometimes, though, it's more like falling down the rabbit hole. The more you try to make sense of it, the more non-sensical it all becomes!!



And that's why we love it! 

(Plus, extra points for using 'olio'!)


----------



## Gary A.

RIP Mr. Spock.


----------



## pgriz

Added "olio" to my vocabulary - thanks, Sharon!  And to Leonore for gently pointing it out to the heathens.


----------



## minicoop1985

Leonard Nimoy....


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> Added "olio" to my vocabulary - thanks, Sharon!  And to Leonore for gently pointing it out to the heathens.



Woot! Any day I can help add a word to someone's vocabulary is a good day. Especially a word as useful as "olio."
Even if it comes at the end of the week from Hell, and on the day that Spock died.


----------



## Gary A.

It is starting to rain. One of those six inch rains (where drops hit every six inches). It was a race between the rain and moi mowing the front. It was neck and neck to the finish line.


----------



## snowbear

Glad you're getting better, sweetie.


limr said:


> Still, I'm dying for some pizza!


That was tonight's dinner.  I would certainly save you some (and since it's a weekend, I'd even contemplate delivering it) but I don't think you'd want these: Standard pizza #1 (pepperoni, sausage & mushrooms) and standard pizza #3 (pepperoni, pineapple & bacon); you'd probably like standard #2 (roasted bell peppers, fire roasted tomatoes & basil) but we didn't get that tonight.

Later, we're off to collect our GSCs


----------



## limr

Mmm, standard pizza #2 sounds delish! I like pineapple on a pizza, too, and will sometimes through some on with onions and smoked fresh mozzarella.

I got tired of the soup that I made for myself. There's still probably a week's worth left so I'm going to have to freeze that. I still think it tastes good, but I'm just tired of it. Not tired of pudding yet, though  And I'll probably make more mashed potatoes tomorrow. I also have Jell-o.

Ooh, a friend of mine on Facebook just suggested Udon soup.


----------



## oldhippy

limr said:


> Mmm, standard pizza #2 sounds delish! I like pineapple on a pizza, too, and will sometimes through some on with onions and smoked fresh mozzarella.
> 
> I got tired of the soup that I made for myself. There's still probably a week's worth left so I'm going to have to freeze that. I still think it tastes good, but I'm just tired of it. Not tired of pudding yet, though  And I'll probably make more mashed potatoes tomorrow. I also have Jell-o.
> 
> Ooh, a friend of mine on Facebook just suggested Udon soup.


How about some yogurt, especially after the antibiotic.  Ed


----------



## Gary A.

Udon sounds good ... or wonton!


----------



## limr

Got plenty of yogurt. Homemade even 

Tomorrow I think I will venture into some solid but still very soft foods.


----------



## snowbear

Back with the GSCs: ten boxes.  

My map for the competition is shaping up.  I have to work on the layout of key elements a bit.


----------



## bribrius

evening coffee housers...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good evening to you too.

GSCs?? you got what Charlie, am I just too tired?

Going down a rabbit hole is right.

Good you got checked out Leonore and I'm glad your recovery is progressing. If you can't have pizza yet maybe some minestrone?


Golly I started every sentence with a G. And wasn't even trying (well, at first...).


----------



## snowbear

GSC - Girl Scout Cookies!


----------



## snowbear

Oh. My. Gawd.  Zoe either found a large bug to eat or Jasper's ghost goosed her: her tail has poofed up, her eyes are twice the normal size and she's running around like a maniac.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh, Girl Scout cookies!

I hope Zoe's your cat.


----------



## snowbear

She finally calmed down.  Now she's had her bath, even tried to give my finger one, and is laying beside my chair, resting.  My girl!


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> I hope Zoe's your cat.



Yes - she's one of the two cats.  My lovely wife can't move that fast.


----------



## bribrius

more cat photos? really?


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> more cat photos? really?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Did you take your cats to a photo booth??


----------



## tirediron

That's a lot of annoyed in one photo!


----------



## pgriz

What Charlie didn't say is that there is one difference between each of the photos.  Go find them.


----------



## snowbear

Not my kitties - public domain photo.  They are for bri since he loves them so much.  (hehehe)


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> What Charlie didn't say is that there is one difference between each of the photos.  Go find them.


Oooo - I like this idea.  I'll see what I can do.


----------



## sm4him

Morning Hosers!!
I went to sleep at 9 p.m. last night, and slept until 6 a.m. this morning!! It was heaven!

That's only the second time in the last two weeks I've gotten to sleep past 4:30 a.m.; the first time was last Sunday, because we don't start bus service that early on Sundays anyway.
It's not so much getting up that early--I'm usually awake by 5:30 or 6 anyway--it's getting up and having to IMMEDIATELY be in work mode before the first cup of coffee is even finished.

I am enjoying sitting here this morning doing absolutely nothing of import.  I do have a contract job I've got to get working on today, but first I intend to fully enjoy my morning.


----------



## bribrius

hey, when you do a portrait  (in this case one of my kids) and the eyes come out darker than the skin, to dark (especially in the bw conversion) how do you stop that? I even tried taking off the diffuser to brighten the eyes and it just made the skin worse changing it to hard light, but the eyes still stayed darker. she looks like a raccoon.


----------



## bribrius

oh, And good morning coffee housers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> .. but the eyes still stayed darker. she looks like a raccoon.


"Racoon eyes" is probably caused by excessive shadowing in the eye sockets.  It can be minimized by a different placement of the light.  If your light was coming mostly from above; (i.e.: the ceiling), then if you lower the position of the light, more light will go deeper into the eye sockets.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> .. but the eyes still stayed darker. she looks like a raccoon.
> 
> 
> 
> "Racoon eyes" is probably caused by excessive shadowing in the eye sockets.  It can be minimized by a different placement of the light.  If your light was coming mostly from above; (i.e.: the ceiling), then if you lower the position of the light, more light will go deeper into the eye sockets.
Click to expand...

would it help if i have them stare directly at the softbox? (not that i would want to stare at such a thing)


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I know nothing about raccoon eyes.


----------



## limr

All Zelda knows is that she loves her new box. This was taken about 2.3 seconds after I put the box on the floor.



 
I thought Bri especially would enjoy it.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> I know nothing about raccoon eyes.


Zoe sort of has them




cmw3_d40_DSC_4297-72

but not Bell:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/dAcuzj]
	

cmw3_d40_silverbell01[/URL]


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> All Zelda knows is that she loves her new box. This was taken about 2.3 seconds after I put the box on the floor.
> View attachment 96248
> I thought Bri especially would enjoy it.



And bags - big paper bags.


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> would it help if i have them stare directly at the softbox? (not that i would want to stare at such a thing)


Probably not.  The issue is the placement of the light relative to the person's face.  

Also; staring at a softbox wouldn't be uncomfortable unless you are using continuous lighting.


----------



## Designer

Bell has leopard eyes.


----------



## minicoop1985

Why cats love boxes so much is beyond me.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. No rain other than the six inch rain which was attempting to electrocute me while I mowed the lawn. It is a beautiful morning. It is 59F right now ... I suspect it my hit 70F today. When I retrieved I noticed tons of wonderful distinct clouds with sharp edges and shades as opposed to the hazy, soupy unicolor Marine Layer we usually have in the mornings. Cook and I or off for our walk. Tata.


----------



## pgriz

Read in the paper today that February 2015 has been the coldest on record in Montreal.  Almost every night has been between -18C and -23C, with occasional lows at -27C.  Daytime highs were between -10C and -15C.  Not a single day when the temperature went above freezing (the highest for the month was one afternoon at -2C).  Winds were higher than normal as well, winds averaging out about 15 km/h, with some days having steady winds of about 30 km/h and gusting to 60+km/h.  So with the wind-chill, perceived temperatures were consistenly in the -30C to -40C range.  Ugh. 

I'm getting lots of calls from people with humongous ice dams (roofing is one of the things my contracting company does), looking for solutions.  And I tell them that at these temperatures, any deficiencies in the house envelope are amplified (heat loss, drafts, insufficient water-proofing).  Not looking forward to the end-of-March thaw that usually REALLY shows up the roofing deficiencies.


----------



## Gary A.

BTW- The LA Times has a huge article, front page above the fold with photos and illustration, continued to the inside. Mr. Spock was active in our community contributing to the arts, publishing his photo books, attending many Star Trek conventions, et al. He meant a lot to many people, he will be missed.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> .. but the eyes still stayed darker. she looks like a raccoon.
> 
> 
> 
> "Racoon eyes" is probably caused by excessive shadowing in the eye sockets.  It can be minimized by a different placement of the light.  If your light was coming mostly from above; (i.e.: the ceiling), then if you lower the position of the light, more light will go deeper into the eye sockets.
Click to expand...

^This^^  I also often use a small reflector right under the chin to bring  light back up into the face, especially with prominent noses and/or deep eye sockets.


----------



## minicoop1985

Then there's the EyeLighter. I discovered that this past weekend. Makes for some spectacular catch lights in the eyes.


----------



## Gary A.

Holy Crap ... it is raining its brains out right now.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Last night was the first night when I didn't have to take more painkillers in the middle of the night. I've been taking one prescription pill right before bed to reduce the pain and help me sleep, and every night, I would wake up at about 4am and have to take something (just regular Advil or Tylenol - not another one with codeine). Last night I did wake up but didn't hurt enough to need more pain killers. During the day, I think I only took 2 Advil. Haven't taken anything yet this morning. Jaw is still sore to be sure, but not bad enough at the moment to need anything. 

I think I'm healing. Which is good, because I'll be out of my house for 12 hours tomorrow


----------



## bribrius

tirediron said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> .. but the eyes still stayed darker. she looks like a raccoon.
> 
> 
> 
> "Racoon eyes" is probably caused by excessive shadowing in the eye sockets.  It can be minimized by a different placement of the light.  If your light was coming mostly from above; (i.e.: the ceiling), then if you lower the position of the light, more light will go deeper into the eye sockets.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ^This^^  I also often use a small reflector right under the chin to bring  light back up into the face, especially with prominent noses and/or deep eye sockets.
Click to expand...

how do you hold the reflector?   I am trying to figure out setups. Weird i know, but i shoot 15 thousand photos a year and some things i know jack about. go figure


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Supposed to rain again today. The snow is down to 3500' or so. Can't see the mountains yet because of the low/hazy clouds. But it should be a pleasant sight. Out of the kitchen window, there is a little finch, just slightly larger than a Hummingbird, which drinks from the Hummingbird feeder. The Hummers are very territorial constantly guard and buzzing off intruders. But they just stare at the finch ... and the finch just stares back. Quite entertaining actually.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Last night was the first night when I didn't have to take more painkillers in the middle of the night. I've been taking one prescription pill right before bed to reduce the pain and help me sleep, and every night, I would wake up at about 4am and have to take something (just regular Advil or Tylenol - not another one with codeine). Last night I did wake up but didn't hurt enough to need more pain killers. During the day, I think I only took 2 Advil. Haven't taken anything yet this morning. Jaw is still sore to be sure, but not bad enough at the moment to need anything.
> 
> I think I'm healing. Which is good, because I'll be out of my house for 12 hours tomorrow


well that's good news!


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> ..how do you hold the reflector?


Use a VALS (voice-activated light stand).  Ask someone else to hold it, and direct the person to turn, tilt, higher, lower, etc.


----------



## pgriz

Leonore, healing time for soft tissues is about 2 weeks.  Cartilage is about 4 months and bone is about 6 months (yes, fractures do "heal" in 2 months, but it takes about 6 months for the strength to return).  Looks like you're well on the way.  If you haven't had additional swelling or fever, then you're probably past the danger period for infection.  Don't forget to get good, quality sleep - that's when the body does the majority of its rebuilding and renewing.  Doesn't work for everyone, but a glass of warm milk can really help as a nightcap.  Works for me, but not at all for my wife, so, YMMV.


----------



## Gary A.

The Cook and I are back from our walk. A quick shower and then off for dim sum.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> The Cook and I are back from our walk. A quick shower and then off for dim sum.


That's a rough life, Gary.


----------



## minicoop1985

Hola, hosers. Had a productive day here. I got to adult for once instead of ALL KID ALL THE TIME. I love my son, but sometimes it's nice to get some time to myself.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Leonore, healing time for soft tissues is about 2 weeks.  Cartilage is about 4 months and bone is about 6 months (yes, fractures do "heal" in 2 months, but it takes about 6 months for the strength to return).  Looks like you're well on the way.  If you haven't had additional swelling or fever, then you're probably past the danger period for infection.  Don't forget to get good, quality sleep - that's when the body does the majority of its rebuilding and renewing.  Doesn't work for everyone, but a glass of warm milk can really help as a nightcap.  Works for me, but not at all for my wife, so, YMMV.



Warm milk has helped me in the past. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to use one last prescription med tonight - if I do, it will probably be the last one. I've definitely been getting sleep, and this whole thing has actually helped me get used to going to bed earlier.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Hola, hosers. Had a productive day here. I got to adult for once instead of ALL KID ALL THE TIME. I love my son, but sometimes it's nice to get some time to myself.



Good for you!


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> ..how do you hold the reflector?
> 
> 
> 
> Use a VALS (voice-activated light stand).  Ask someone else to hold it, and direct the person to turn, tilt, higher, lower, etc.
Click to expand...

^^This^^... BUT...  in order to get the most out of the reflector it has to be held at the right angle in the right place.  Think of light as a stream of water.  That is, look at the direction of the source (old Sol) and imagine that it's a stream of water out of a hose.  Now, imagine where you would have hold the reflector in order for that stream of water to hit the model right in the face.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Cook and I are back from our walk. A quick shower and then off for dim sum.
> 
> 
> 
> That's a rough life, Gary.
Click to expand...

Yeah, dim sum was great. Ocean Star in Monterey Park, a very large restaurant with a million carts, filled with savory tins, darting all about. A nice treat. But clouds are closing up and it looks like rain.


----------



## Warhorse

Yawwwwwn...good morning, first cup of coffee tasting goood. I'm up early today taking another Excursion load down to the new house downstate. I hate moving, but this ones going to be a long slow move by choice. it will take months.


----------



## mmaria

I apologize for the language.. (well not really because we're all adults here and I'm angry)


----------



## limr

Warhorse said:


> Yawwwwwn...good morning, first cup of coffee tasting goood. I'm up early today taking another Excursion load down to the new house downstate. I hate moving, but this ones going to be a long slow move by choice. it will take months.



Have fun! 

I've moved a lot. I had it down to a science. It can definitely be stressful, but I actually like it because it gives me the perfect excuse to spend a couple of days doing nothing but culling the crap and reorganizing.


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> I apologize for the language.. (well not really because we're all adults here and I'm angry)



Preachin' to the choir, sister!


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> I've moved a lot. I had it down to a science. It can definitely be stressful, but I actually like it because it gives me the perfect excuse to spend a couple of days doing nothing but culling the crap and reorganizing.


Only if we ever had the time to do that.  Usually the schedule does not permit such a luxury of time, so our crap just get shoved into boxes and we find stuff years later.  I've got duplicate crap as a result.


----------



## mmaria

It just crossed my mind... My birthday was yesterday 

I'm officially 32 years YOUNG!!!!
.... and I'm still angry so


----------



## Designer

Happy birthday!


----------



## KenC

Designer said:


> I've got duplicate crap as a result.



I think in some areas we've attained triplicate crap - won't really be sure until we get a chance to unpack the rest ...


----------



## Gary A.

Warhorse said:


> Yawwwwwn...good morning, first cup of coffee tasting goood. I'm up early today taking another Excursion load down to the new house downstate. I hate moving, but this ones going to be a long slow move by choice. it will take months.


That's the way to move!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yawwwwwn...good morning, first cup of coffee tasting goood. I'm up early today taking another Excursion load down to the new house downstate. I hate moving, but this ones going to be a long slow move by choice. it will take months.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have fun!
> 
> I've moved a lot. I had it down to a science. It can definitely be stressful, but I actually like it because it gives me the perfect excuse to spend a couple of days doing nothing but culling the crap and reorganizing.
Click to expand...

i ever move it is going to surely suck. i have a decade of stuff kicking around. Dreadful...  Goodmorning coffee housers!


----------



## Gary A.

Happy Birthday Marija!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Since no one in this general area has complained about the weather I feel compelled to do it.  Everything is coated with ice here.  I somehow managed to get to work without leaving my feet, although it was close a couple of times.  It should start to melt later when it gets into the mid-thirties, but who knows what might happen tonight.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is a cold wet morning, 50F right now. I'm guessing not much higher than the low 60's today. It seems it rains mostly at night around these parts. No rain to speak of yesterday, but this morning a trash can that was set at curbside yesterday, (those large suckers with wheels the trash company provides), was pushed by the water and was standing in front of my neighbor's house. Finally finished my JACA Dog Show pixs (260 images) so now onto my Urinetown crap (about 2500 RAW files to start culling ... major league culling).


----------



## Gary A.

Oh ... and some very good news. Yesterday I BBQ-ed in the evening and I wore my lucky jacket, as it's winter. I found four ... count 'em ... four, crisp $100 bills nicely folded in the inside pocket!!!!


----------



## pgriz

Hey!  How'd you get my jacket?!!!


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Hey!  How'd you get my jacket?!!!


What jacket?


----------



## Warhorse

Happy B'Day mmaria!


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> Hey!  How'd you get my jacket?!!!


 The one where he left his four $100.00 bills last year!  (Actually, it was the jacket that I lent Paul, so if you'd just put that money in the mail to me Gary...)


----------



## snowbear

$100 bills?  I don't believe those really exist.  You'll have to send them my way and I will run to the Bureau of Engraving & Printing and verify the authenticity of the alleged currency.


----------



## snowbear

And a happy f*ing birthday to you, Marija.


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> It just crossed my mind... My birthday was yesterday
> 
> I'm officially 32 years YOUNG!!!!
> .... and I'm still angry so



HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
You're a March baby, too, huh? 



Gary A. said:


> Oh ... and some very good news. Yesterday I BBQ-ed in the evening and I wore my lucky jacket, as it's winter. I found four ... count 'em ... four, crisp $100 bills nicely folded in the inside pocket!!!!



When the weather starts getting warm enough that I know I won't need my heavy coats anymore, I slip a $5 or $10 bill into the pockets. I do the same with my early spring/late fall jackets. That way, November comes along, I pull the jacket out of the closet, and by then I've forgotten about the money, so I put my hand in the pocket, find the money, and yell, "SCORE!" It's no $400, but it still makes me happy


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey!  How'd you get my jacket?!!!
> 
> 
> 
> What jacket?
Click to expand...

The one with the 400 bucks!  I was looking for it everywhere...

(edit:  because John wanted it back, and if I didn't he's sic his navy buddies on me, so yeah, it's kinda pressing...)


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> It just crossed my mind... My birthday was yesterday
> 
> I'm officially 32 years YOUNG!!!!
> .... and I'm still angry so
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
> You're a March baby, too, huh?
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh ... and some very good news. Yesterday I BBQ-ed in the evening and I wore my lucky jacket, as it's winter. I found four ... count 'em ... four, crisp $100 bills nicely folded in the inside pocket!!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> When the weather starts getting warm enough that I know I won't need my heavy coats anymore, I slip a $5 or $10 bill into the pockets. I do the same with my early spring/late fall jackets. That way, November comes along, I pull the jacket out of the closet, and by then I've forgotten about the money, so I put my hand in the pocket, find the money, and yell, "SCORE!" It's no $400, but it still makes me happy
Click to expand...

i forget how much money i have on me anyway. wife will ask "how much money do you have on you?" 
 "i dunno. Let me check"
i hardly ever shop or use money. so really don't remember.............................


----------



## minicoop1985

Happy motherf\/cking birthday, Marija! 32? You're still one of the younger ones on this forum.

I just farted so loud I scared the dog. Oops. All those taquitos were a bad idea after all.


----------



## pgriz

Happy Birthday, Marija!  I am hoping the cause for your anger is now "solved", and you can enjoy the warm and pleasant sunshine that nature bestows upon us.  And I'm kinda hoping you'll post some more of your photos - I enjoyed seeing them, and your unique perspective.


----------



## snerd

Happy Birthday to Maria woohoo!!!










On another note................ put a new PCI Express network card in my desktop this morning...............




 


WooHoo!!!!!!!!!!!


    

.......................................................


----------



## mmaria

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww guys 



Designer said:


> Happy birthday!






Gary A. said:


> Happy Birthday Marija!






Warhorse said:


> Happy B'Day mmaria!






snowbear said:


> And a happy f*ing birthday to you, Marija.


how f*cking nice of you Charlie  



limr said:


> Happy motherf\/cking birthday, Marija! 32? You're still one of the younger ones on this forum.


 f*cking motherf*cking thank you Michael!!! here's a  for you
It never crossed my mind that I actually am one of the younger here. That's nice!



snerd said:


> Happy Birthday to Maria woohoo!!!


awwwwww Thanks Snerd!
really liked the cake


----------



## mmaria

Oh guys... I've never said "f*cking" this many times before...

It's sooooo therapeutic!!!!!!!!!!!!




Thank you guys!!!


----------



## mmaria

pgriz said:


> Happy Birthday, Marija!  I am hoping the cause for your anger is now "solved", and you can enjoy the warm and pleasant sunshine that nature bestows upon us.  And I'm kinda hoping you'll post some more of your photos - I enjoyed seeing them, and your unique perspective.


aaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww 

compliments for my b'day! thank you. it's really nice to hear that!

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

as for the photos... no can do yet...  I almost forgot how to operate the camera 

the cause for my anger... we'll try to do something with that today ....job related, some people form the project team/finance related did something that they didn't suppose to do, and they were specifically said numerous times that they shouldn't  be doing that under any circumstances.... but they still did... and now the realization of 52 000$ project is not certain
So who wouldn't be angry!?

I'm delaying going in their office for just a few minutes more... I'm nervous


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> Oh guys... I've never said "f*cking" this many times before...
> 
> It's sooooo therapeutic!!!!!!!!!!!!



It really is, isn't it? 

It's probably all over by now, but good luck with the work stuff that's making you angry!


----------



## oldhippy

Do really late birthday count, well if not.  Happy Birthday anyway Mmaria.
Spent yesterday repairing broken water lines.   Water lines thawed outside, but inside lines took a bad hit with the 15* below 0. All fixed and even hot running water. Later. Ed


----------



## mmaria

oldhippy said:


> Do really late birthday count, well if not.  Happy Birthday anyway Mmaria.


Ed, you could never be late  Thanks


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh guys... I've never said "f*cking" this many times before...
> 
> It's sooooo therapeutic!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It really is, isn't it?
> 
> It's probably all over by now, but good luck with the work stuff that's making you angry!
Click to expand...

It's not f*cking over yet!!!

Oh yeah! 

Still helps!!!


----------



## mmaria

oldhippy said:


> Do really late birthday count, well if not.  Happy Birthday anyway Mmaria.
> Spent yesterday repairing broken water lines.   Water lines thawed outside, but inside lines took a bad hit with the 15* below 0. All fixed and even hot running water. Later. Ed


Ed, I feel the need to say: Sorry for my language


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. And A Happy Post F**king B-Day to you Marija. Hey Ed, not having to personally experience broken water lines due to ice expansion ... How do you fix those pipes? Does it break at the joint? It's 45F right now, may hit the mid 60's.


----------



## terri

I'm late, too - but happy effing birthday, Maria!         Hope it was lovely!   

Oh, Ed - sorry about the burst pipes.   That's no joke.   My mom lives in Michigan and we've been crossing our fingers nothing happens this winter!!


----------



## sm4him

@mmaria Oh, no, dear daughter of mine, how did I miss THAT??  I don't say that word that's getting tossed around a lot (my sister says it enough for BOTH of us, though…lol), but I do hope you had a mostly happy birthday, with significantly decreased levels of anger!!
You deserve a wonderful, happy day!! Don't let the turkeys out there rob you of that!! 
32, eh? I don't even remember being that young! 

@oldhippy Boo to burst pipes!! Yay to fixing them and having running, HOT water!! I just really hope that this NEXT system that's about to hit us both doesn't result in any more calamities for you!

Last year, when the "polar vortex" hit in January, my mom's water pipes froze and then burst.  It'd gotten so cold the night before, and her heat wasn't working (her less than month-old new heating unit!! because the company installed a faulty unit!!), so she'd stayed at my brother's house that night. They went to get her a few things late the next afternoon, because she was going to have to stay at his house again that night--only to discover that overnight, the pipes had frozen and then burst.
The REALLY bad part of this was…her pipes were IN THE ATTIC!! Who builds a house with the pipes in the durn attic?!?!?  Well, it's a 50-60 year old house, so there's that.

Anyway…water was cascading down through the roof like a waterfall!! What a mess!  She didn't get to move back into her house until MAY.


----------



## terri

sm4him said:


> @mmaria Oh, no, dear daughter of mine, how did I miss THAT??  I don't say that word that's getting tossed around a lot (my sister says it enough for BOTH of us, though…lol), but I do hope you had a mostly happy birthday, with significantly decreased levels of anger!!
> You deserve a wonderful, happy day!! Don't let the turkeys out there rob you of that!!
> 32, eh? I don't even remember being that young!
> 
> @oldhippy Boo to burst pipes!! Yay to fixing them and having running, HOT water!! I just really hope that this NEXT system that's about to hit us both doesn't result in any more calamities for you!
> 
> Last year, when the "polar vortex" hit in January, my mom's water pipes froze and then burst.  It'd gotten so cold the night before, and her heat wasn't working (her less than month-old new heating unit!! because the company installed a faulty unit!!), so she'd stayed at my brother's house that night. They went to get her a few things late the next afternoon, because she was going to have to stay at his house again that night--only to discover that overnight, the pipes had frozen and then burst.
> The REALLY bad part of this was…her pipes were IN THE ATTIC!! Who builds a house with the pipes in the durn attic?!?!?  Well, it's a 50-60 year old house, so there's that.
> 
> Anyway…water was cascading down through the roof like a waterfall!! What a mess!  She didn't get to move back into her house until MAY.



I remember that, Sharon!!    It was a major disaster.    ugh!!    Wouldn't wish that on anyone.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> How do you fix those pipes? Does it break at the joint?



No, typically they split longitudinally.  You then have to cut out the ruptured piece of pipe, and repair it with new pipe.  The way it happens is ice forms inside, but as it expands, it splits the pipe.  Then usually liquid water begins to flow from the split, so you get water damage to ceilings, walls, floors, furniture, appliances, computers, precious family photographs, your camera gear, etc.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I am reading about the UCC and financing statements.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> I am reading about the UCC and financing statements.


 I hope you have your caffine pump set to 'Max'... that sounds like some exciting chit!


----------



## bribrius

fourth up of coffee........ almost awake.    I am sure i have stuff to do today, i just am ignoring it right this second. I got to pay out 4k to the town yesterday in property taxes and bs..  so i was feeling a bit dickish yesterday. Starting to get over it, slowly....


----------



## bribrius

i should move further north up my runnah. Be a hell of a lot cheaper than living around here. Property tax out in the northern sticks is probably only a grand a year or less.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> How do you fix those pipes? Does it break at the joint?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No, typically they split longitudinally.  You then have to cut out the ruptured piece of pipe, and repair it with new pipe.  The way it happens is ice forms inside, but as it expands, it splits the pipe.  Then usually liquid water begins to flow from the split, so you get water damage to ceilings, walls, floors, furniture, appliances, computers, precious family photographs, your camera gear, etc.
Click to expand...

That is a pretty ugly scenario.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> I am reading about the UCC and financing statements.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hope you have your caffine pump set to 'Max'... *that sounds like some exciting chit!*
Click to expand...


Thus the "emptiness" emoji.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin ya hosers. It's a pleasant 26* here for once. Got an appointment to get my transmission fixed... with only 26,000 miles on it. Greeeat.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin ya hosers. It's a pleasant 26* here for once. Got an appointment to get my transmission fixed... with only 26,000 miles on it. Greeeat.


too many reversed cookies?   I am in the dog house again. Just bought that panasonic lumix on the deal of the day on b&h. Wife in a tizzy.....   But i needed it. I have nothing to beat the crap out of and i cant put any of the others under water. I live near the ocean and next to a river. with nothing that goes under water. Plus we have a pool at the cottage up north. so really, i got nothing for any of this stuff. This was obviously a necessity.


----------



## bribrius

did i complain when she spent 70 bucks getting her hair done? No. Did i complain when she wrecked the car with no insurance on it so i ate thousands? well yeah. But i am slowly getting over that...


----------



## snerd

Better to ask forgiveness than permission, they say.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Better to ask forgiveness than permission, they say.


she will thank me in the end. The day i drop my dslr out of the boat or canoe wont be good. We lost a tablet out of the boat a couple years back. And it didn't even fall out, i just spun the boat around and the waves came over the bow. Buh bye tablet.....


----------



## limr

Y'know, bri, the more I hear about the things you have going on, and the more I work at this paralegal job and see what kind of mess people get into, the more I strive to simplify my life even more than I already have.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Y'know, bri, the more I hear about the things you have going on, and the more I work at this paralegal job and see what kind of mess people get into, the more I strive to simplify my life even more than I already have.



"KISS".  It's not just for the amorous. 

But you already know that.


----------



## pgriz

bribrius said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Better to ask forgiveness than permission, they say.
> 
> 
> 
> she will thank me in the end. The day i drop my dslr out of the boat or canoe wont be good. We lost a tablet out of the boat a couple years back. And it didn't even fall out, i just spun the boat around and the waves came over the bow. Buh bye tablet.....
Click to expand...


Bri, you need a waterproof P&S, with a float attached.  I've dropped mine more than a few times (while on boat or kayak), and I still have it, in full working order.


----------



## minicoop1985

I need one of those too. A float is definitely a good idea.

In other news, no, I didn't do reverse donuts. The clutches in my DCT were bad.


----------



## limr

Well that was an interesting evening commute.

  

And yes, I was at a full and complete stop when I took half a second to snap these.


----------



## limr

And my super doubleplus awesome reward? A box from Amazon with my new little turntable. First thing I am playing? Damn straight it's Rush, b!tches!!



 

It was the first album I loved. Used to sneak this very copy out of my brother's room when I was 7 or 8 years old. Listened to it so many damn times, every note and lyric was permanently burned into my brain before I was even double digits.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Well that was an interesting evening commute.
> View attachment 96440 View attachment 96441
> 
> And yes, I was at a full and complete stop when I took half a second to snap these.


What's all the white s**t all over the road?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well that was an interesting evening commute.
> View attachment 96440 View attachment 96441
> 
> And yes, I was at a full and complete stop when I took half a second to snap these.
> 
> 
> 
> What's all the white s**t all over the road?
Click to expand...


Coke.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well that was an interesting evening commute.
> View attachment 96440 View attachment 96441
> 
> And yes, I was at a full and complete stop when I took half a second to snap these.
> 
> 
> 
> What's all the white s**t all over the road?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Coke.
Click to expand...

Huh...  up here it's a brown liquid.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well that was an interesting evening commute.
> View attachment 96440 View attachment 96441
> 
> And yes, I was at a full and complete stop when I took half a second to snap these.
> 
> 
> 
> What's all the white s**t all over the road?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Coke.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Huh...  up here it's a brown liquid.
Click to expand...


----------



## minicoop1985

We got the same white sh!t too. You would think people in Wisconsin could DRIVE in WINTER. However, they don't, of course, and it's pretty much pointless to try and go anywhere since everyone's high as hell on all that cocaine on the roads.

In other news, I get to go to work this Thursday! Yay! (it's a good thing)


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> We got the same white sh!t too. You would think people in Wisconsin could DRIVE in WINTER. However, they don't, of course, and it's pretty much pointless to try and go anywhere since everyone's high as hell on all that cocaine on the roads.
> 
> In other news, I get to go to work this Thursday! Yay! (it's a good thing)



You'd think they knew how to drive in winter here in NY, too! I stopped to have a quick dinner with Buzz since I haven't seen him since Saturday, and by the time I was driving home, the roads were terrible. Really slippery. I saw some astoundingly stupid moves on the way home. 

When I was under a mile from home, I was coming up on a tricky uphill section, but before the hill is a long straight flat that allows you to gather some speed that you need to get up the hill. Well, there was a car halfway up the hill stopped. I slowed down. Then the reverse lights came on. I pulled over. There was plenty of room on the shoulder and I left myself a good distance to still get up to speed for the hill. Then I just waited. I'd see a big line of cars behind me, and now they were all barreling up to the hill. Some of them clearly did not notice the reversing car because they had to swerve at the last minute, nearly spinning out in the process. A few other cars almost got stuck. It was amazing to see how close they were all driving to each other, or how they'd brake going up the hill, or wait too long before having to swerve around the cars on the side of the road or stuck in front of them. It was a holy mess, for no reason other than idiocy.

Finally, there was a break in the traffic and now two cars were slowly backing down the hill. They got to the bottom and turned into the parking lot of the town hall. One more car came, started puttering up the hill and nearly got stuck too. When it finally started making progress and was out of sight, I pulled back onto the road and went up the hill. I don't think I had solid traction the entire way up, but no one was around me, I knew how to maintain speed and keep my wheels generally facing forward, and I got up the hill with no problem. 30 seconds later, I was home. 30 seconds after that as I was backing into the garage, a big plow passed the house, leaving the road much nicer and cleaner than it had been when I was driving on it. Of course.


----------



## limr

In other news...oh my friggin' god, I feel like I'm 15 years old again!

I dragged out the albums I'd saved for all these years. Some were mine, and some belonged to my sisters or brothers and are now mine by default because they never claimed the records. I have (in no particular order):
Pet Shop Boys
Spandau Ballet
Grease soundtrack
Creedence Clearwater Revival, featuring John Fogerty, Greatest Hits
Yes, Close to the Edge
Rush, Permanent Waves/Hold Your Fire (and of course 2112)
Moody Blues, The Other Side of Life
Huey Lewis and the News
The B-52's
Bryan Adams - 4 albums (I had a huge crush on him when I was 14)
Michael Jackson, Thriller (!!)
Hit Explosion - this was my first record ever! I think it was for my 12th birthday or something like that. It's just a compilation of hits. It's got Joe Jackson, Rod Steward, Stevie Miller Band, Pat Benatar, Joan Jett Santana, ooh, A Flock of Seagulls!...

Damnit! It's a school night and all I want to do is stay up and listen to records!! But I still have some homework to do and then I have to get to bed


----------



## pgriz

Leonore, hack the local radio station and call in an all-night snowstorm.  They'll cancel school and you can chill out (in a good way).  Easy peasy.  It might be illegal, but we won't say a thing.


----------



## KenC

Actual records!  Like made of actual vinyl!  Wow!  We got rid of ours in 2004 when we had to move a long distance and when I heard what it cost per pound to move stuff I decided they had to go, especially since we knew we would come back and so the cost would be double.  I picked the 2 or 3 most obscure things I had (mostly old jazz recordings) and found them in five minutes on CD on Amazon.  We've since replaced a small fraction of them with CD's and haven't missed the rest.


----------



## oldhippy

Ordered my first ever canvas wrap.  20x30 landscape.  Going to place on a pale green wall.  Just really excited.   Ed


----------



## limr

Oh, I can get all of the music digitally if I wanted, and it wouldn't cost much. 

I love how accessible music is these days, and how much of it I can carry around with me on my cell phone or stream on any computer with my Pandora account.

But...it's just different. Playing these records tonight has made me realize that listening to music just isn't as much of an occasion as it used to be. It was a thing to do, not just to have music in the background or to drown out the sounds on the bus or whatever. We used to set aside time to just listen to music and talk about it, look at all the liner notes and artwork.  We couldn't listen whenever we wanted to, so when we did get to hear the albums on the record player, we paid attention and really listened. It felt more special somehow.

At least that was my experience with music while I was growing up.


----------



## pgriz

That's quite a tapestry you've got there, Ed.  Very nice.


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Better to ask forgiveness than permission, they say.
> 
> 
> 
> she will thank me in the end. The day i drop my dslr out of the boat or canoe wont be good. We lost a tablet out of the boat a couple years back. And it didn't even fall out, i just spun the boat around and the waves came over the bow. Buh bye tablet.....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Bri, you need a waterproof P&S, with a float attached.  I've dropped mine more than a few times (while on boat or kayak), and I still have it, in full working order.
Click to expand...

so that is what i forgot. I need to get a floaty...


----------



## Gary A.

The tickets for the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl went on sale today. Mary Lou scored four tickets! My day is complete.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> In other news...oh my friggin' god, I feel like I'm 15 years old again!
> 
> I dragged out the albums I'd saved for all these years. Some were mine, and some belonged to my sisters or brothers and are now mine by default because they never claimed the records. I have (in no particular order):
> Pet Shop Boys
> Spandau Ballet
> Grease soundtrack
> Creedence Clearwater Revival, featuring John Fogerty, Greatest Hits
> Yes, Close to the Edge
> Rush, Permanent Waves/Hold Your Fire (and of course 2112)
> Moody Blues, The Other Side of Life
> Huey Lewis and the News
> The B-52's
> Bryan Adams - 4 albums (I had a huge crush on him when I was 14)
> Michael Jackson, Thriller (!!)
> Hit Explosion - this was my first record ever! I think it was for my 12th birthday or something like that. It's just a compilation of hits. It's got Joe Jackson, Rod Steward, Stevie Miller Band, Pat Benatar, Joan Jett Santana, ooh, A Flock of Seagulls!...
> 
> Damnit! It's a school night and all I want to do is stay up and listen to records!! But I still have some homework to do and then I have to get to bed


I have this one around here, somewhere.


----------



## snerd

Congrats on the turntable, Lenny!  I still remember a Kenwood I had back in the early '80's, thing had a base of marble and weighed 31lbs!! Because you didn't want any vibration, of course!! Negative on Rush, though. One of the few bands I could just never take a liking to.


----------



## mmaria

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. And A Happy Post F**king B-Day to you Marija


awww that's so sweet of you Grumpy  Here's a post for you



terri said:


> I'm late, too - but happy effing birthday, Maria!         Hope it was lovely!


 It's never too late Terri for effing bday  



sm4him said:


> @mmaria Oh, no, dear daughter of mine, how did I miss THAT??  I don't say that word that's getting tossed around a lot (my sister says it enough for BOTH of us, though…lol), but I do hope you had a mostly happy birthday, with significantly decreased levels of anger!!
> You deserve a wonderful, happy day!! Don't let the turkeys out there rob you of that!!
> 32, eh? I don't even remember being that young!


Oh ma! Really, how could you missed THIS??

No problem for that word, I've said it plenty of times this time for both of us  

And... I chose to think that 32 is really young, best years (all next numbers will be best years from now)... and what's really weird... I think I look better than I did in my 20ies! 

Anyway ma, Santa still hasn't delivered the present  Stupid postal service!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning peeps.

The ice/rain storm last night was mostly rain for us, HOWEVER we are patiently awaiting the next storm that is supposed to bring us a "significant accumulation" of snow.

Off to work!


----------



## Designer

This is the one I expected: 





limr said:


>


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Slushy here, but melting.  Like Charlie, we are waiting to see what we get tomorrow.  This morning one channel actually admitted they have no idea by showing four different models which predicted anywhere from almost zero to ten inches!  They ended up averaging them and getting something like 6-8.  A good day to work at home in any event.


----------



## snerd

We're waiting on a wintry mix to start around noon today. They canceled school last night, so the grandson and I will be stuck inside today.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Hosers. 46F right now at 6:43. It should get into the 70's today. Things are warming up a bit.


----------



## bribrius

i think 37 degrees now. Going up to 41 degrees. But then the weather link says tomorrow night we are back to negative 6...  who knows.......41 degrees is the warmest it has been here though in MONTHS.


----------



## bribrius

READY for spring............


----------



## limr

And I'm ready to stop hearing about the weather. Seriously, people, is there nothing else to talk about??


----------



## sm4him

It's 66F here right now, and pretty nice, if a bit windy. We didn't get nearly as much rain yesterday as they were predicting, but the rain is supposed to move back in this afternoon. May just hit 70 degrees.

Then tomorrow…rain overnight changing to sleet, ice and then finally snow. Like Ken, models show anything from .01" ice and a dusting of snow, to an inch of ice and several inches of snow.  And a low temp by tomorrow night of 14F.
I mean, seriously??? 70 degrees and sunny one day, to 14 degrees and snow the next??? 

WHY is winter trying to kill me?? What have I ever done to it?
Well, I mean, besides loathe it with every fiber of my being, complain about it constantly and bitterly, and wish it were a living thing just so I could stab it a thousand times with a sharp knife and then set it on fire….other than that, what have I ever done to make Winter hate me??


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> And I'm ready to stop hearing about the weather. Seriously, people, is there nothing else to talk about??



Well, there's my depression. But that's caused by the weather.
There's my job. But that's even MORE depressing than the weather.
There's photography…but I haven't done much of that lately…because of the weather.

I did a read a book. But it wasn't that good, and I don't even remember the name of it. I'm pretty sure you would have hated it, just a silly mystery/crime thriller sort of book--I only read it because it was free, and it was something to do while curled up under the blankets, because of the Weather. LOL


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> This is the one I expected:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
Click to expand...


Geddy Lee and Neil Peart are so friggin' amazing, which sometimes makes me feel bad because it means that Alex Lifeson's guitar skills are overlooked.


----------



## minicoop1985

My wife's a huge Rush fan. I'm kinda surprised she doesn't drive a red convertible with Red Barchetta as her plate number.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> My wife's a huge Rush fan. I'm kinda surprised she doesn't drive a red convertible with Red Barchetta as her plate number.



Your wife is awesome, then  But actually, I already knew this when I learned she likes vintage film cameras!


----------



## minicoop1985

My camera collection and obsession is her fault. So is my photography career...


----------



## sm4him

Oh. My. Stars.

THIS is apparently a real Thing:

 

50 Shades of Wrong.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Oh. My. Stars.
> 
> THIS is apparently a real Thing:
> View attachment 96471
> 
> 50 Shades of Wrong.


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> Oh. My. Stars.
> 
> THIS is apparently a real Thing:
> View attachment 96471
> 
> 50 Shades of Wrong.



(speechless)


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> And I'm ready to stop hearing about the weather. Seriously, people, is there nothing else to talk about??


Read any good books lately?!


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And I'm ready to stop hearing about the weather. Seriously, people, is there nothing else to talk about??
> 
> 
> 
> Read any good books lately?!
Click to expand...

read fifty shades of grey last year. All i kept thinking was "boy, this guy is a amateur"


----------



## minicoop1985

Been reading the Speedliters Handbook. Pretty decent actually.


----------



## limr

I'm re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird in anticipation of the release of Harper Lee's second novel, called Go Set a Watchman. It was actually written before she wrote Mockingbird, but it is set 20 years after the events of that book.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> And I'm ready to stop hearing about the weather. Seriously, people, is there nothing else to talk about??


Sex?  Religion??  Politics???


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> I'm re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird in anticipation of the release of Harper Lee's second novel, called Go Set a Watchman. It was actually written before she wrote Mockingbird, but it is set 20 years after the events of that book.


One of my trips was a bit extensive, (about a year on the road), I started rereading the old classics. (I found English bookstores in Korea and Paris.) They were much better the second time around.


----------



## minicoop1985

gryphonslair99 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And I'm ready to stop hearing about the weather. Seriously, people, is there nothing else to talk about??
> 
> 
> 
> Sex?  Religion??  Politics???
Click to expand...



Sex and politics? Don't those go hand in... um... somewhere?


----------



## snowbear

It has been raining all day.  Expected to turn over to freezing rain after midnight, then to snow.  The general consensus is 4" - 8" in immediate DC metro area (includes me), 8" - 12" to the north, 2" - 5" in extreme south region.

I get to accompany my lovely wife into DC for another surgeon's visit in the morning.  This should be a fun train ride (a portion of the Metro subway system has above-ground tracks.)



limr said:


> And I'm ready to stop hearing about the weather. Seriously, people, is there nothing else to talk about??


 I finished my map for the competition.


----------



## bribrius

morning peeps.   waiting for the mail man. i should have some pics coming back today..........


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 48F right now, should hit the mid 70's. The solid wall of clouds shrouding the mountains broke yesterday and it was a beautiful sight with snow reaching about halfway down and the local green hills reach halfway up.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> morning peeps.   waiting for the mail man. i should have some pics coming back today..........


Good luck with that. I hope 90% of the peeps like 'em.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> morning peeps.   waiting for the mail man. i should have some pics coming back today..........
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck with that. I hope 90% of the peeps like 'em.
Click to expand...

LOL. Don't matter. This set is the ones from the ft-1. Snow pics, kid pics, dog pic. Mostly i am looking at them for light seal leaks, focus exposure. I am separating out the orders by camera, logging which rolls came from which camera and exposure. Mostly family, b.s. pics which account to camera checks. I have some landscape/ocean/ pics but haven't sent that batch out yet. That goes out when i send out from the other two cameras and separate, again so i can log what came from what and when..


----------



## Gary A.

You need to start developing at home.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> You need to start developing at home.



Totes.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> You need to start developing at home.


agreed. Reason i stopped shooting film in the first place is it was costing me too much $$$$$. This time around i would like to find avenues to cut costs so i can afford to keep shooting it. It would be cheaper to go buy a d810 than consistently shoot film.


----------



## minicoop1985

Developing at home can be fun. I feel like a mad scientist when I do it.

Waiting on a call from the boss to see when I go in today. Gotta inventory some stuff to see about selling some.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Developing at home can be fun. I feel like a mad scientist when I do it.
> 
> Waiting on a call from the boss to see when I go in today. Gotta inventory some stuff to see about selling some.


meh. For me it is really just the money. I used to drop off two rolls a week at the drugstore or save up a bunch and drive straight down to konica, cost me under thirty dollars for the two rolls with prints at konica closer to 20. Now the same thing i either have to drive forty minutes away to get done or mail out and it costs 60 dollars for two rolls and small prints. seems the price doubled somewhere here.....  so if i shoot two rolls a week that is 240 a month. That really ain't that funny... I will still be shooting quite a bit of digital too me thinks...


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You need to start developing at home.
> 
> 
> 
> agreed. Reason i stopped shooting film in the first place is it was costing me too much $$$$$. This time around i would like to find avenues to cut costs so i can afford to keep shooting it. It would be cheaper to go buy a d810 than consistently shoot film.
Click to expand...

In the long run, depending how how much you shoot ... digital is cheaper, cleaner, faster and for the less skilled/inspired better. I think film is turning from an anachronism into something of an elitist cult.  (Not that I have anything against anachronisms or elitist cults ... just sayin'.)


----------



## limr

Or at least digitize part of the process and get a scanner instead of paying for scans and prints. Most of the prints will be a waste anyway.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You need to start developing at home.
> 
> 
> 
> agreed. Reason i stopped shooting film in the first place is it was costing me too much $$$$$. This time around i would like to find avenues to cut costs so i can afford to keep shooting it. It would be cheaper to go buy a d810 than consistently shoot film.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> In the long run, depending how how much you shoot ... digital is cheaper, cleaner, faster and for the less skilled/inspired better. I think film is turning from an anachronism into something of an elitist cult.  (Not that I have anything against anachronisms or elitist cults ... just sayin'.)
Click to expand...

i like the look of it and using a 35 year old camera. Even the way the light is in them is different. I compare a simple digital image of my son next to a window with the light shining through to a similar film image. I see a difference. The digital might be more clear and crisp, but it doesn't look the same aesthetically. It looks digital.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's what a lot of people like, the different look or quality.

Try another lab, I've sent out to the The Darkroom in San Clemente, it's $11 a roll I think for developing, and maybe a basic scan (more for higher res scans, prints, etc.). Or there's Dwayne's or Blue Moon etc. (Hasn't anybody stickied a list of labs?? I know this has come up before.)

Film's not messy if you send it out! lol Neither is digital necessarily faster, not with the amount of time some people seem to spend post processing... I think I could get more done in a darkroom in a couple of hours than some people do on the computer.  

It depends on what you're doing, obviously shooting film isn't for everyone.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leonore they're showing To Kill a Mockingbird this weekend on Turner Classic, weren't you just talking about reading the book? 

What record player did you get? I need one, still have my old stereo but it was fritzing out years ago (which is why it's in the basement). Still have on old 8 track player down there too, but it can stay there. lol


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Or at least digitize part of the process and get a scanner instead of paying for scans and prints. *Most of the prints will be a waste anyway.*


 Kind of the point. You mess up you eat it. That is what separates the ten thousand shutter digital shooters with the film shooters. There is no delete. Pay more attention next time. I lost five in these ones just on missed focus (split prism low light slamming manual shutters = bad combination). Will only improve though.  My keeper rate was higher on film than digital. Perhaps my standards are lower. If it is in focus, decently framed and exposure fairly close i am content. I am looking at scanners though..


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm a huge film fan. Haven't had the ability to shoot what I want to with color film lately (hell, any film), so I still have a roll of Ektar in the Blad, but probably am not going to shoot it for a while yet.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or at least digitize part of the process and get a scanner instead of paying for scans and prints. *Most of the prints will be a waste anyway.*
> 
> 
> 
> Kind of the point. You mess up you eat it. That is what separates the ten thousand shutter digital shooters with the film shooters. There is no delete. Pay more attention next time. I lost five in these ones just on missed focus (split prism low light slamming manual shutters = bad combination). Will only improve though.  My keeper rate was higher on film than digital. Perhaps my standards are lower. If it is in focus, decently framed and exposure fairly close i am content. I am looking at scanners though..
Click to expand...


I don't mean just the frames, but the actual prints. You're paying for 24 or 36 prints in addition to scanning, and most of those prints will be trashed, so why bother paying for any prints? Just get a scanner, ask for develop only and scan the pictures yourself, and from those scans, if you want to print, you pay only for the ones you feel are good enough to print.


----------



## beachrat

limr said:


> Oh, I can get all of the music digitally if I wanted, and it wouldn't cost much.
> 
> I love how accessible music is these days, and how much of it I can carry around with me on my cell phone or stream on any computer with my Pandora account.
> 
> But...it's just different. Playing these records tonight has made me realize that listening to music just isn't as much of an occasion as it used to be. It was a thing to do, not just to have music in the background or to drown out the sounds on the bus or whatever. We used to set aside time to just listen to music and talk about it, look at all the liner notes and artwork.  We couldn't listen whenever we wanted to, so when we did get to hear the albums on the record player, we paid attention and really listened. It felt more special somehow.
> 
> At least that was my experience with music while I was growing up.


Oh God do I miss sitting around a turntable with a few friends and actually LISTENING to music. 
It all seems to be in the background these days because it's so easy to access, and requires no effort.
I'm also pretty sure that if I opened up my last 2 copies of Eat A Peach,Waiting For Columbus,or The Allman Brothers Live At Fillmore East,there'd be some evidence of some cleaning and straining. Man do I miss those days.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or at least digitize part of the process and get a scanner instead of paying for scans and prints. *Most of the prints will be a waste anyway.*
> 
> 
> 
> Kind of the point. You mess up you eat it. That is what separates the ten thousand shutter digital shooters with the film shooters. There is no delete. Pay more attention next time. I lost five in these ones just on missed focus (split prism low light slamming manual shutters = bad combination). Will only improve though.  My keeper rate was higher on film than digital. Perhaps my standards are lower. If it is in focus, decently framed and exposure fairly close i am content. I am looking at scanners though..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't mean just the frames, but the actual prints. You're paying for 24 or 36 prints in addition to scanning, and most of those prints will be trashed, so why bother paying for any prints? Just get a scanner, ask for develop only and scan the pictures yourself, and from those scans, if you want to print, you pay only for the ones you feel are good enough to print.
Click to expand...

I dunno, i always printed everything i shot up until digital. When i scanned off negatives it was for reprints. Never had a disk. And well, they won't all be trashed. I actually just asked the wife to pick up a new tote just to throw photos and negatives in. Get some more family photo albums going too. I will end up doing what you suggest. You are right.  Logically, i don't need prints of everything i shoot. And can save a lot of money by not printing everything. If i don't plan on printing it, why not just shoot digital though?


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> I dunno, i always printed everything i shot up until digital. When i scanned off negatives it was for reprints. Never had a disk. And well, they won't all be trashed. I actually just asked the wife to pick up a new tote just to throw photos and negatives in. Get some more family photo albums going too. I will end up doing what you suggest. You are right.  Logically, i don't need prints of everything i shoot. And can save a lot of money by not printing everything. If i don't plan on printing it, why not just shoot digital though?



Yeah, back when film was the only game in town, the point was to get the prints. How else would we see the pictures, unless we had our own darkrooms. These days, though, scans are more practical.

As for why shoot film if it will be digitized anyway? If the final image is the only thing you care about, and if you don't find any differences in the quality/feel of the image that are important to you, then sure, just shoot digital to begin with. If the process is important to you for whatever reason, or if you prefer the look of film, then that's the reason to shoot it.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> I dunno, i always printed everything i shot up until digital. When i scanned off negatives it was for reprints. Never had a disk. And well, they won't all be trashed. I actually just asked the wife to pick up a new tote just to throw photos and negatives in. Get some more family photo albums going too. I will end up doing what you suggest. You are right.  Logically, i don't need prints of everything i shoot. And can save a lot of money by not printing everything. If i don't plan on printing it, why not just shoot digital though?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, back when film was the only game in town, the point was to get the prints. How else would we see the pictures, unless we had our own darkrooms. These days, though, scans are more practical.
> 
> As for why shoot film if it will be digitized anyway? If the final image is the only thing you care about, and if you don't find any differences in the quality/feel of the image that are important to you, then sure, just shoot digital to begin with. If the process is important to you for whatever reason, or if you prefer the look of film, then that's the reason to shoot it.
Click to expand...

i think i might just like having the actual photo in my hand. Little more substance than a digital file on a computer screen. Like i said, i agree with you though, and will probably end up going more that route. Out of all the photos i took last year, only maybe 300 went to print. The rest is all just digital files on a screen. They aren't real photos. They don't really exist. That bothers me.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Little Feat! Now I gotta get that CD! And I'm getting a new record player. And maybe a typewriter. Or get the Tom Hanks app he was talking about on Letterman. lol Nah, an app wouldn't do it.

I usually get 4x6s if I get prints but The Darkroom just prints from scans so I'm going to look into other options especially for B&W, maybe the Ilford lab they share space with. But I don't always, especially doing experimental stuff, I'll get a CD and  wait and see what I got.


----------



## bribrius

vintagesnaps said:


> Little Feat! Now I gotta get that CD! And I'm getting a new record player. And maybe a typewriter. Or get the Tom Hanks app he was talking about on Letterman. lol Nah, an app wouldn't do it.
> 
> I usually get 4x6s if I get prints but The Darkroom just prints from scans so I'm going to look into other options especially for B&W, maybe the Ilford lab they share space with. But I don't always, especially doing experimental stuff, I'll get a CD and  wait and see what I got.


another question...Does it matter if they are printing off the scan or the negative? How much. I am pretty sure all these from mpix they printed off the scans. I find it hard to believe they are printing off the negatives. Really no idea maybe i should call and ask them.


----------



## snowbear

A good 4" to 5" on the roadway so I got to play with the 4wd a little bit. The biggest problem is the how quickly the windows fog up.

The trip downtown was pretty uneventful.  We got there at 10:09, got out at 10:26, the office closed at 11:00.  For those not in the area, the Feds and most local governments closed today.


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Better to ask forgiveness than permission, they say.
> 
> 
> 
> she will thank me in the end. The day i drop my dslr out of the boat or canoe wont be good. We lost a tablet out of the boat a couple years back. And it didn't even fall out, i just spun the boat around and the waves came over the bow. Buh bye tablet.....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Bri, you need a waterproof P&S, with a float attached.  I've dropped mine more than a few times (while on boat or kayak), and I still have it, in full working order.
Click to expand...


----------



## limr

I didn't say "Don't bother printing." I said wait to see what you have and then decide what is worth printing. If it's not worth printing, who cares if you think it exists or not? You'll have the prints you want without having to pay for the prints you don't want.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> I didn't say "Don't bother printing." I said wait to see what you have and then decide what is worth printing. If it's not worth printing, who cares if you think it exists or not? You'll have the prints you want without having to pay for the prints you don't want.


oh yeah, that is right.   I remember now i was going to start listening to you because you are frugal and will help me shoot film on a better budget. Yes um ma'am.  Will do...


----------



## limr

I'll try to remember to let you know when there are sales at Adoramapix.com. When they have print sales, it's usually 8x10 for $1 and 11x14 for $2.


----------



## pgriz

bribrius said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Better to ask forgiveness than permission, they say.
> 
> 
> 
> she will thank me in the end. The day i drop my dslr out of the boat or canoe wont be good. We lost a tablet out of the boat a couple years back. And it didn't even fall out, i just spun the boat around and the waves came over the bow. Buh bye tablet.....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Bri, you need a waterproof P&S, with a float attached.  I've dropped mine more than a few times (while on boat or kayak), and I still have it, in full working order.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> View attachment 96518
Click to expand...


Excellent!  Now the float...  The floats that are used to secure boat keys may work - although you may need a larger one for the camera.  Oh, and the rubber ducky ones also work.


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Better to ask forgiveness than permission, they say.
> 
> 
> 
> she will thank me in the end. The day i drop my dslr out of the boat or canoe wont be good. We lost a tablet out of the boat a couple years back. And it didn't even fall out, i just spun the boat around and the waves came over the bow. Buh bye tablet.....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Bri, you need a waterproof P&S, with a float attached.  I've dropped mine more than a few times (while on boat or kayak), and I still have it, in full working order.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> View attachment 96518
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Excellent!  Now the float...  The floats that are used to secure boat keys may work - although you may need a larger one for the camera.  Oh, and the rubber ducky ones also work.
Click to expand...

i really like this thing, granted i just got it. Wonder how long the battery lasts if i turn off the gps and wifi.   16 mb card or 32 mb?


----------



## bribrius

keep in mind my other point and shoots are like 3mp, 5 mp, 10 mp. This is like luxury in the point and shoot category for me. smaller than my bridge camera too for a carry around...


----------



## bribrius

think i just answered my own question. Maybe 8mb card. Thing already has a dead battery. Guessing it doesn't like to use its flash. More of a casual user type camera...


----------



## snowbear

Found this guy in an adjoining neighborhood.  Friendly little guy!




SnowbearDorchester by cmwrenn3, on Flickr


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> Found this guy in an adjoining neighborhood.  Friendly little guy!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SnowbearDorchester by cmwrenn3, on Flickr


cute guy! someone has a little creativity in them..


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> Found this guy in an adjoining neighborhood.  Friendly little guy!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SnowbearDorchester by cmwrenn3, on Flickr



Snowbear, they love you!


----------



## snowbear

They did a good job.  There was a snow cave to the left with a blue light in it and a small tree with lights between them.  The bear even has a Coke bottle.


----------



## pgriz

bribrius said:


> think i just answered my own question. Maybe 8mb card. Thing already has a dead battery. Guessing it doesn't like to use its flash. More of a casual user type camera...


Turn off Wifi, Flash unless you really need them.  I also got a spare battery for my camera.  My P&S (Canon D10) goes a week or so & maybe 50-100 pics per day, without running out of juice.  I've also used mine to record hour-long video to document my kayak paddling strokes and rolling practices, also without running out of juice.


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> think i just answered my own question. Maybe 8mb card. Thing already has a dead battery. Guessing it doesn't like to use its flash. More of a casual user type camera...
> 
> 
> 
> Turn off Wifi, Flash unless you really need them.  I also got a spare battery for my camera.  My P&S (Canon D10) goes a week or so & maybe 50-100 pics per day, without running out of juice.  I've also used mine to record hour-long video to document my kayak paddling strokes and rolling practices, also without running out of juice.
Click to expand...

yeah. i can't imagine it will always die that quick. Combination of me trying to link it up to the computers/network/phone etc. while going trigger happy with the flash on. It didn't like it.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> I dunno, i always printed everything i shot up until digital. When i scanned off negatives it was for reprints. Never had a disk. And well, they won't all be trashed. I actually just asked the wife to pick up a new tote just to throw photos and negatives in. Get some more family photo albums going too. I will end up doing what you suggest. You are right.  Logically, i don't need prints of everything i shoot. And can save a lot of money by not printing everything. If i don't plan on printing it, why not just shoot digital though?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, back when film was the only game in town, the point was to get the prints. How else would we see the pictures, unless we had our own darkrooms. These days, though, scans are more practical.
> 
> As for why shoot film if it will be digitized anyway? If the final image is the only thing you care about, and if you don't find any differences in the quality/feel of the image that are important to you, then sure, just shoot digital to begin with. If the process is important to you for whatever reason, or if you prefer the look of film, then that's the reason to shoot it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> i think i might just like having the actual photo in my hand. Little more substance than a digital file on a computer screen. Like i said, i agree with you though, and will probably end up going more that route. Out of all the photos i took last year, only maybe 300 went to print. The rest is all just digital files on a screen. They aren't real photos. They don't really exist. That bothers me.
Click to expand...

No need for prints, purchase a $20 loupe and learn how to read negatives. That how we did it at the paper. We only made proof sheets for feature type articles that weren't timely for the editors to review.  Photos for hard news and sports were all selected by loupe or if you couldn't find a loupe you reversed a 50mm, tossed it up to your eye and used that as a loupe.


----------



## limr

CCR is so hittin' the spot tonight.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> CCR is so hittin' the spot tonight.


going through pics of the kids. The fun part is trying to get them to stay still..well, and make sure they are clean.. Looks like i missed some food on the shirt here anyway. LOL


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> ...No need for prints, purchase a $20 loupe and learn how to read negatives. That how we did it at the paper. We only made proof sheets for feature type articles that weren't timely for the editors to review.  Photos for hard news and sports were all selected by loupe or if you couldn't find a loupe you reversed a 50mm, tossed it up to your eye and used that as a loupe.


There's a trip down memory lane!


----------



## bribrius

you guys are old...

off subject i know. But is there any reason a manual film camera wouldn't work under water.


----------



## luckychucky

Is this to old?  Mechanically the manual camera will probably work at least once under water!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> you guys are old...
> 
> off subject i know. But is there any reason a manual film camera wouldn't work under water.


I imagine a number of reasons ... one of which is the water between the rear element and the film will alter the focus ... if it's a slr, the additional water drag on the mirror and the shutter will probably adversely affect the shutter.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> you guys are old...
> 
> off subject i know. But is there any reason a manual film camera wouldn't work under water.
> 
> 
> 
> I imagine a number of reasons ... one of which is the water between the rear element and the film will alter the focus ... if it's a slr, the additional water drag on the mirror and the shutter will probably adversely affect the shutter.
Click to expand...

you should try it. Just because. Or i should. Someone should.  Maybe we can get limr to do it...


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> you guys are old...


Yes, but we are not ugly!  



bribrius said:


> off subject i know. But is there any reason a manual film camera wouldn't work under water.



Of course -- underwater  photography didn't magically start in 1990.  I'd think the trick would be finding (or making) the right case for it and lighting (since your ISO options are limited).


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> you should try it. Just because. Or i should. Someone should.  *Maybe we can get limr to do it...*



Think again, Jack.

Just use one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Fujifilm-7025227-Waterproof-Single-Camera/dp/B00004TWM6


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...No need for prints, purchase a $20 loupe and learn how to read negatives. That how we did it at the paper. We only made proof sheets for feature type articles that weren't timely for the editors to review.  Photos for hard news and sports were all selected by loupe or if you couldn't find a loupe you reversed a 50mm, tossed it up to your eye and used that as a loupe.
> 
> 
> 
> There's a trip down memory lane!
Click to expand...

Ain't it ... *sigh*


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 46F right now, should hit 80F or so. It feels great just to walk around in the sunshine. People out here don't appreciate the everyday stuff of nice days all year long. I'll just drink my morning cup and think about it.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> CCR is so hittin' the spot tonight.


My son treated me to a John Fogarty concert once.  (BFD?)


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Here at work again (sigh) with my coffee after working at home yesterday.  It snowed all day yesterday and I think where I am there was about eight inches, followed by 10 degree temps overnight.  I had to shovel quite a bit to deal with cars, walks, etc. so I am a little sore today.  I did, however get a couple of nice snow pictures from my window while I was nice and warm in the house.  The new 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS L is working really well for me.  1/60 at 300 is just fine and I can even get away with 1/30 in a pinch.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> People out here don't appreciate the everyday stuff of nice days all year long.


Our boys grew up in SoCal.  

We couldn't understand why they didn't go outside to play when it was such a nice day.  

(answer)  "It's a nice day every day."


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> you should try it. Just because. Or i should. Someone should.  Maybe we can get limr to do it...



You first.


----------



## Gary A.

The words were written by Andy Rooney, a man who had the gift of saying so much with so few words.


*I've learned* *...... That the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.*

*I've learned* *...... That when you're in love, it shows.*

*I've learned* *...... That just one person saying to me, 'You've made my day!' makes my day.*

*I've learned* *...... That having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world.*

*I've learned* *...... That being kind is more important than being right.*

*I've learned* *...... That you should never say no to a gift from a child.*

*I've learned* *...... That I can always pray for someone when I don't have the strength to help him in some other way.*

*I've learned* *...... That no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with..*

*I've learned* *...... That sometimes all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand. *

*I've learned* *...... That simple walks with my father around the block on summer nights when I was a child did wonders for me as an adult.*

*I've learned* *...... That life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.*

*I've learned* *...... That we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for.*

*I've learned* *...... That money doesn't buy class.*

*I've learned* *...... That it's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.*

*I've learned* *..... That under everyone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.*

*I've learned* *...... That to ignore the facts does not change the facts.*

*I've learned* *...... That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.*

*I've learned* *...... That love, not time, heals all wounds.*

*I've learned* *...... That the easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.*

*I've learned* *..... That everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile.*

*I've learned* *........ That no one is perfect until you fall in love with them.*

*I've learned* *..... That life is tough, but I'm tougher.*

*I've learned* *...... That opportunities are never lost, someone will take the ones you miss.*

*I've learned* *...... That when you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.*

*I've learned* *...... That I wish I could have told my Mom that I love her one more time before she passed away.*

*I've learned* *...... That one should keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may have to eat them.*

*I've learned* *...... That a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.*

*I've learned* *...... That when your newly born grandchild holds your little finger in his little fist, that you're hooked for life.*

*I've learned* *...... That everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.*

*I've learned* *...... That the less time I have to work with, the more things I get done.*


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Here at work again (sigh) with my coffee after working at home yesterday.  It snowed all day yesterday and I think where I am there was about eight inches, followed by 10 degree temps overnight.  I had to shovel quite a bit to deal with cars, walks, etc. so I am a little sore today.  I did, however get a couple of nice snow pictures from my window while I was nice and warm in the house.  The new 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS L is working really well for me.  1/60 at 300 is just fine and I can even get away with 1/30 in a pinch.


IS is wonderful. I have a EM5 and an EM1 with IBIS ... it is even better than regular IS. I guess mowing is better than shoveling.


----------



## NancyMoranG

vintagesnaps said:


> Leonore they're showing To Kill a Mockingbird this weekend on Turner Classic, weren't you just talking about reading the book?l


[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the heads up! That is my all time favorite movie. My son and hubby don't know why, but Gregory Peck and crew are terrific.
How many 'Mockingbirds' do you perceive in the movie?


----------



## Gary A.

Peck as MacArthur, studying his lines between scenes.


----------



## minicoop1985

Suddenly I want a Coca-Cola... Damned subliminal advertising. Thanks, Snowbear...

Finished my homework for the bossman. I think he'll be happy with that.


----------



## limr

I had a Coke last week after my wisdom teeth were yanked. It was a small bottle, traditional glass, made with cane sugar. It tasted really good. I haven't had a real Coke in lord knows how many years. That one bottle lasted me 3 days. Just sipped at it a little here and there. And not just because of the surgery - I almost never drink soda, and when I do, it's some ginger ale mixed with whiskey


----------



## Designer

For some reason, Coke or any other thing that you haven't had in a while just tastes better than perhaps even your memory of it.


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm a Pepsi guy, when I do drink soda, which isn't often.


----------



## table1349

Where I come from, everything was a Coke no matter what it was.  The conversation with the waitress usually went something like......

_What will ya have hon?_

Gimme a coke.

_What kind?_

Pepsi.


----------



## Derrel

I'm from a place where the generic term is still "pop". Not soda, but pop. I had never heard it referred to as *soda* until I heard the word used by a migrant worker from Mexico, using SO-thuh (aka _soda, pronounced in Spanglish_) to refer to the can of pop he was handed by the cocinero at lunchtime, back in the early mid-1980's.


----------



## tirediron

Derrel said:


> I'm from a place where the generic term is still "pop". Not soda, but pop. I had never heard it referred to as *soda* until I heard the word used by a migrant worker from Mexico, using SO-thuh (aka _soda, pronounced in Spanglish_) to refer to the can of pop he was handed by the cocinero at lunchtime, back in the early mid-1980's.


The only soda of which I am aware...


----------



## table1349

The Pop vs. Soda Page


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I had a Coke last week after my wisdom teeth were yanked. It was a small bottle, traditional glass, made with cane sugar. It tasted really good. I haven't had a real Coke in lord knows how many years. That one bottle lasted me 3 days. Just sipped at it a little here and there. And not just because of the surgery - I almost never drink soda, and when I do, it's some ginger ale mixed with whiskey



I've started seeing the cane sugar Cokes from Mexico.  A number of years ago, I was introduced to Kosher Coke, made with sugar, available around Passover.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 46F right now, should hit 80F or so. It feels great just to walk around in the sunshine. People out here don't appreciate the everyday stuff of nice days all year long. I'll just drink my morning cup and think about it.



It's supposed to hit the 50s on Sunday and the 60s next week.  I guess we'll have to crank up the air conditioner!


----------



## Derrel

Yes, the cane sugar pop from Mexico is popping up here in a lot of stores; people really seem to like the idea of real, granulated sugar being their sweetener, as opposed to high fructose corn sweetener. Mexico is actually not all that far, here on the left coast, and we have a pretty significant population here that is of Mexican descent, or directly from Mexico this generation, so I think the buyers cross multiple nationalities and demographics.


----------



## sm4him

gryphonslair99 said:


> Where I come from, everything was a Coke no matter what it was.  The conversation with the waitress usually went something like......
> 
> _What will ya have hon?_
> 
> Gimme a coke.
> 
> _What kind?_
> 
> Pepsi.



I didn't just come from a place like that, I'm still there!  

My parents had a mixed marriage--Mom was a born and bred southerner, and Dad was from Brooklyn, NY.  When I was maybe 4, we drove from TN to New Jersey to visit relatives. I still remember getting to their house, and the first conversation with my aunt:

Aunt: Would youse girls like a soder?

My sister (I didn't really talk much, especially to people who were speaking a foreign language): Um, what?

Aunt: Would youse like a soder?  Maybe a cream soder?

My sister: <insert blank stare here>
At this point, we both look to my father for some translation assistance.  We had NO idea what a soder was, and the descriptive "cream" didn't help matters at all, since at that time, cream soda wasn't even a thing in the south, at least not in our part of it.

Finally, my dad says, "Do you girls want a coke?" 
OH. Yes. Absolutely. Cream flavored coke??? Man, the taste of that stuff opened up whole new worlds in our understanding of carbonated beverages. 

Drinking the cream soda, however, did not really make it any easier to understand my aunts.


----------



## table1349

sm4him said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Where I come from, everything was a Coke no matter what it was.  The conversation with the waitress usually went something like......
> 
> _What will ya have hon?_
> 
> Gimme a coke.
> 
> _What kind?_
> 
> Pepsi.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't just come from a place like that, I'm still there!
> 
> My parents had a mixed marriage--Mom was a born and bred southerner, and Dad was from Brooklyn, NY.  When I was maybe 4, we drove from TN to New Jersey to visit relatives. I still remember getting to their house, and the first conversation with my aunt:
> 
> Aunt: Would youse girls like a soder?
> 
> My sister (I didn't really talk much, especially to people who were speaking a foreign language): Um, what?
> 
> Aunt: Would youse like a soder?  Maybe a cream soder?
> 
> My sister: <insert blank stare here>
> At this point, we both look to my father for some translation assistance.  We had NO idea what a soder was, and the descriptive "cream" didn't help matters at all, since at that time, cream soda wasn't even a thing in the south, at least not in our part of it.
> 
> Finally, my dad says, "Do you girls want a coke?"
> OH. Yes. Absolutely. Cream flavored coke??? Man, the taste of that stuff opened up whole new worlds in our understanding of carbonated beverages.
> 
> Drinking the cream soda, however, did not really make it any easier to understand my aunts.
Click to expand...

Hell boy, you need to grab a case of RC Cola and mess of Goo Goo Clusters and Moon pies and  head my way.  Bring a few bottle of Orange Neihi as well.


----------



## sm4him

Derrel said:


> Yes, the cane sugar pop from Mexico is popping up here in a lot of stores; people really seem to like the idea of real, granulated sugar being their sweetener, as opposed to high fructose corn sweetener. Mexico is actually not all that far, here on the left coast, and we have a pretty significant population here that is of Mexican descent, or directly from Mexico this generation, so I think the buyers cross multiple nationalities and demographics.



It's pretty popular here too, Derrel. Especially my side of town, which has a pretty high Hispanic population--hahaha, if I were saying that instead of typing it, I couldn't have done it with a straight face. My city is probably about 80% whites, 15% blacks/African Americans--doesn't leave much room for a "pretty high" population of anyone else, does it?  But at any rate, the 4% or so who are Hispanics mostly live in my area, and they evidently shop a LOT because our local grocery store has a big Hispanic section, including the real-sugar Cokes.


----------



## table1349

Derrel said:


> Yes, the cane sugar pop from Mexico is popping up here in a lot of stores; people really seem to like the idea of real, granulated sugar being their sweetener, as opposed to high fructose corn sweetener. Mexico is actually not all that far, here on the left coast, and we have a pretty significant population here that is of Mexican descent, or directly from Mexico this generation, so I think the buyers cross multiple nationalities and demographics.


Best thing about mexican coke, if you go an ole time coke machine, them mexican cokes will dispense from it.


----------



## snowbear

I too, am in a mixed marriage.  I am from DC which is, geographically and culturally, a bit further south than most expect.  Many of my roots are firmly in the south (Virginia and North Carolina).  My lovely wife is from about 45 minutes out of Detroit.  When we first met, she did not realize that damnyankee is one word.


----------



## Derrel

I just looked at a bottle of Shasta brand creme soda...their web address is listed on the label as [ www-shastapop-dot-com ]The Flavor to your Family Fun Since 1889 Shasta Beverages


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> Hell boy, you need to grab a case of RC Cola and mess of Goo Goo Clusters and Moon pies and  head my way.  Bring a few bottle of Orange Neihi as well.



RC - check.  Moonpies - check.  Not so much with the Goo Goo clusters and I prefer the peach Nehis.

One thing I seem to have inherited from the Philly group of kin - my love of this stuff:


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hell boy, you need to grab a case of RC Cola and mess of Goo Goo Clusters and Moon pies and  head my way.  Bring a few bottle of Orange Neihi as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> RC - check.  Moonpies - check.  Not so much with the Goo Goo clusters and I prefer the peach Nehis.
> 
> One thing I seem to have inherited from the Philly group of kin - my love of this stuff:
> View attachment 96574
Click to expand...


Goo Goo clusters, Moon pies, RC and Nehi are in abundant supply around here! But Charlie--peach Nehi is WRONG. Just wrong. Nehi should only be Orange or Grape. Anything else should be banned.

As for the scrapple--just be glad you didn't develop an affinity for my grandfather's favorite food: scrambled pig brains.   Pickled pig's feet are still evidently quite popular around here, judging by their easy availability at the stores.
And chitlins, of course. EVERYBODY eats chitlins, right?? Right?
(Actually, I think I've had chitlins once in my life--and fortunately, I don't remember it. But they really are sold everywhere around here).


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> ...One thing I seem to have inherited from the Philly group of kin - my love of this stuff:
> View attachment 96574


Looks like a US version of haggis, just made with squealer instead of wooly!


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...One thing I seem to have inherited from the Philly group of kin - my love of this stuff:
> View attachment 96574
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like a US version of haggis, just made with squealer instead of wooly!
Click to expand...



Yep - everything but the oink.  More localized though - pretty much mid-Atlantic (Southern NJ, Eastern PA, DE, MD, DC, Northern VA)


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> But Charlie--peach Nehi is WRONG. Just wrong. Nehi should only be Orange or Grape. Anything else should be banned.
> 
> As for the scrapple--just be glad you didn't develop an affinity for my grandfather's favorite food: scrambled pig brains.   Pickled pig's feet are still evidently quite popular around here, judging by their easy availability at the stores.
> And chitlins, of course. EVERYBODY eats chitlins, right?? Right?
> (Actually, I think I've had chitlins once in my life--and fortunately, I don't remember it. But they really are sold everywhere around here).



I'll blame the peach Nehi on my grandfather's side of the family - he was raised in Baltimore.
Pigs brains -- nope but my grandmother made ravioli out of calf brains.  I never knew if that was more an Italian (my grandfather) thing or a Fredericksburg, VA country thing.


----------



## Gary A.

We used to call it Soda-Pop. I guess LA is sort of a cross-roads. Other-wise it was specific ... as in "I'd like a 7-Up, Please".


----------



## snowbear

When we visited my great grandparents (Mimmie & Daddy Shake), about 3:00 we'd have to leave for the ride back to DC (a couple of hours up US 1).  Mimmie would say "Oh, can't you stay for a few more minutes? supper will be ready in a bit."   In the time she said those few words she had run out to the coup, grabbed a chicken, prepared it, and threw it in the fry pan.


----------



## Designer

I sort of picked up the "soda" name from my DIL, who is from Mexico, but when I went to England, I made the mistake of ordering a "soda".  Should have asked for a Coke.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> When we visited my great grandparents (Mimmie & Daddy Shake), about 3:00 we'd have to leave for the ride back to DC (a couple of hours up US 1).  Mimmie would say "Oh, can't you stay for a few more minutes? supper will be ready in a bit."   In the time she said those few words she had run out to the coup, grabbed a chicken, prepared it, and threw it in the fry pan.


Fresh is hard to beat.


----------



## pixmedic

snowbear said:


> I too, am in a mixed marriage.  I am from DC which is, geographically and culturally, a bit further south than most expect.  Many of my roots are firmly in the south (Virginia and North Carolina).  My lovely wife is from about 45 minutes out of Detroit.  When we first met, she did not realize that damnyankee is one word.




Mixed marriage here too. 
Im Jewish and the Wife is Roman Catholic


----------



## Gary A.

There are a few stores out here which specializes in Soda-Pop from around the country.  My kids loved to look at all the brands and flavors.


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> Where I come from, everything was a Coke no matter what it was.  The conversation with the waitress usually went something like......
> 
> _What will ya have hon?_
> 
> Gimme a coke.
> 
> _What kind?_
> 
> Pepsi.



That totally threw me off the first time it happened to me in college in Florida. I couldn't understand why they kept asking me what kind when I'd clearly just specified Coke!

Scrapple is horrifying, for the record. And a big fat no to the chitlins, too. I was always grossed out by white gravy, too, and I couldn't really deal with grits until one night after getting drunk and going for breakfast at 3am. Evertyhing tastes good when you're drunk and hungry, so I finally got the hang of grits. But I liked them with sugar. They nearly kicked me out of the South right then and there. Which would have been fair, I suppose. I really don't belong there.

And 'soder' is a New Jersey thing. We say "soda" over here on the proper side of the border.


----------



## KenC

Oh, yeah, white gravy!  When I first got to the Chicago area I ordered I think a quarter of a chicken and it came with white gravy on it.  I almost couldn't eat it - just reminded me of glue.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Where I come from, everything was a Coke no matter what it was.  The conversation with the waitress usually went something like......
> 
> _What will ya have hon?_
> 
> Gimme a coke.
> 
> _What kind?_
> 
> Pepsi.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That totally threw me off the first time it happened to me in college in Florida. I couldn't understand why they kept asking me what kind when I'd clearly just specified Coke!
> 
> Scrapple is horrifying, for the record. And a big fat no to the chitlins, too. I was always grossed out by white gravy, too, and I couldn't really deal with grits until one night after getting drunk and going for breakfast at 3am. Evertyhing tastes good when you're drunk and hungry, so I finally got the hang of grits. But I liked them with sugar. They nearly kicked me out of the South right then and there. Which would have been fair, I suppose. I really don't belong there.
> 
> And 'soder' is a New Jersey thing. We say "soda" over here on the proper side of the border.
Click to expand...

Darlin, it's only coke the second time ya say it.


----------



## table1349

Chicken fried steak, mashed taters with lots of white gravy, greens and cornbread and a big ole glass of tea.  Finish it off with some gooey butter cake.  Now that's good eating.


----------



## table1349

KenC said:


> Oh, yeah, white gravy!  When I first got to the Chicago area I ordered I think a quarter of a chicken and it came with white gravy on it.  I almost couldn't eat it - just reminded me of glue.


It ain't good white gravy unless there is plenty of pepper in it.


----------



## snowbear

No chitterlings (yes, pronounced chitlins) for me.  As a kid I remember a neighbor cooking them - they smelled like an electrical fire.


----------



## Gary A.

I used to travel a lot ... and to places which wouldn't be considered very touristy. For one meal a day I would check into a local-only type of eatery ... and order the longest name on the menu ... and then eat it. It was a game I played ... I lost a lot of the time.


----------



## Gary A.

But tonight it is homemade pizza, with garden fresh herbs, peppers and a slab of bourdon rubbed salmon.


----------



## KenC

gryphonslair99 said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, yeah, white gravy!  When I first got to the Chicago area I ordered I think a quarter of a chicken and it came with white gravy on it.  I almost couldn't eat it - just reminded me of glue.
> 
> 
> 
> It ain't good white gravy unless there is plenty of pepper in it.
Click to expand...


Well, pepper does help everything, but in this case I think not enough for me.  I grew up on a more or less Mediterranean diet, so white gravy (or even brown gravy) was always sort of a mystery to me.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> I used to travel a lot ... and to places which wouldn't be considered very touristy. For one meal a day I would check into a local-only type of eatery ... and order the longest name on the menu ... and then eat it. It was a game I played ... I lost a lot of the time.



I threw up in my mouth a little thinking of what you could have ordered...


----------



## Derrel

I'm gonna cook myself a side of crinkle cut, home-made French fried potatoes. I cut medium spuds into halves or thirds, then use a simple cutter to make crinkle-cut "coins", or strips, depending on what orientation the spud is positioned in in relation to the blade. I then microwave plate full of them for about three minutes, then deep fry them in hot oil, season with some seasonings I like, then enjoy them with either ketchup, or a homemade fry sauce. Mmmm....one of my guilty pleasures.

When making a good fry, it's necessary to pre-cook the potatoes, at least a little bit, to prevent a soggy,greasy final product.


----------



## snerd

My guilty pleasure...............................















If I have any................... a load of zesty bread and butter chips on the side.


----------



## shefjr

Gary A. said:


> I used to travel a lot ... and to places which wouldn't be considered very touristy. For one meal a day I would check into a local-only type of eatery ... and order the longest name on the menu ... and then eat it. It was a game I played ... I lost a lot of the time.


I think this would be cool. Sounds a little like "Anthony Bourdain: parts unknown". His show inspired me to try new things, not that there is a whole heck of a lot to branch out and try around these parts. Sushi and sushimi  (which I love now) is about it for non American type food. 

Was there anything you regretted eating and anything you were pleasantly surprised about?


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Damn, that was a long week I had. Feeling kinda rough and headachy this morning. I'm thinking I might need an extra cup of coffee today.

Going up to New Paltz with Buzz for some lunch and a little walking and picture taking.


----------



## sm4him

I'm off to a bit of a rough start too, Lenny. I think I'm still kind of "decompressing" from two really long, rough weeks.  Headache is starting to lift a bit.

It is an ABC day here--Absolutely Beautiful and Clear. Temps will be in the 60s, there are crocuses blooming in my yard, and winter is DYING.
It's the kind of day that is just BEGGING me to spend the day outside at a wildlife refuge somewhere.
Alas, I'm working a contract job right now and I got way behind because of working my primary job so much during all the snow, so now I'm bearing down hard on the deadline and gotta start crackin' the whip.

But...I got a feeling I'll be sneaking out for a while this afternoon, deadline or no.


----------



## snowbear

It's supposed to be warming up here, as well; fifties and sixtiess for the next few days.  Today's agenda includes mailing off the old set-top boxes (we've switched carriers), and the phone store (Miriam's Android is jammed up).


----------



## Designer

Iowa is in "Mud" season.  Starting to feel like spring.  The car washes will be jammed.


----------



## table1349

Up at 5:30 fed the critters, did breakfast, washed the dirt off the car, now I'm sitting waiting to get my hair cut. Then it's off to buy groceries, then do a couple of loads of laundry before having lunch out with family.  Just another lazy Saturday.

This is my guilty Saturday morning pleasure.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Mud season reminds me of a 'story'. In 1976 for Valentines Day, one sister got a pearl ring from soon-to-be hubby, another sister got 'mud' boots from her soon-to-be hubby for Vermont spring..
As 1 of 8 kids, we say we run from Rodeo Dr (LA)  to campers.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Sipping my first sip of coffee. The Cook just came in to remind me of our morning walk. A friend called me up. She just purchased a XT1 and she's finding the image 'soft'. So we decided to shoot some stuff together and check out her XT1 softness against my XT1 sharpness. We're heading to the Palos Verdes Peninsula where has the Port of Los Angeles, tidepools, 100' high cliffs, views of Catalina, et al. I feel sad, Mary Lou had foot surgery a few weeks ago and still cannot walk and decided to stay home. (She on a knee scooter.)


----------



## minicoop1985

My guilty pleasure: Cheese curds. Mmmmm


----------



## table1349

minicoop1985 said:


> My guilty pleasure: Cheese curds. Mmmmm


MMMmmmmmmmmm........


----------



## table1349

Sixties all week until Friday, then in the low seventies through the weekend.  Sunny most days, chance of showers on Wednesday, but hey, we can always use the rain.

Just hanging around the house till the little woman gets done with her meeting.  Then it's off to meet her sister, brother-in-law and kids for lunch.


----------



## Designer

gryphonslair99 said:


> This is my guilty Saturday morning pleasure.


Dang! I love those things.  Also the hash browns and coffee!


----------



## minicoop1985

Getting ready to go to Memphis. Any photography related things going on between here and there?


----------



## snowbear

Sadness.

LODD Prince George's County Police Officer.  Less than 2 years on department, has 3-year old.  Trying to make a traffic stop and lost control of vehicle.


----------



## table1349

Designer said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> This is my guilty Saturday morning pleasure.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dang! I love those things.  Also the hash browns and coffee!
Click to expand...

This is my Sunday guilty pleasure......





Well that, a cup of coffee and the Sunday funnies.


----------



## Designer

Pencil me in for next Sunday!


----------



## table1349

Designer said:


> Pencil me in for next Sunday!


Will do, bring your own paper though.  Mines a digital subscription on my iPad.  Hard to hand you the sports section.   I get there early though to beat the hallelujah crowd.  They make quite a line trying to get their pastries either before or after service.  Some of them from the more radical churches I suspect are there during half time, since they can go for hours and hours.


----------



## Designer

gryphonslair99 said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pencil me in for next Sunday!
> 
> 
> 
> Will do, bring your own paper though.  Mines a digital subscription on my iPad.  Hard to hand you the sports section.   I get there early though to beat the hallelujah crowd.  They make quite a line trying to get their pastries either before or after service.  Some of them from the more radical churches I suspect are there during half time, since they can go for hours and hours.
Click to expand...

I haven't subscribed to any newspaper for years, but our local Mickey-D's used to put out a couple of copies for the customers.  They have discontinued that practice.


----------



## table1349

Designer said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pencil me in for next Sunday!
> 
> 
> 
> Will do, bring your own paper though.  Mines a digital subscription on my iPad.  Hard to hand you the sports section.   I get there early though to beat the hallelujah crowd.  They make quite a line trying to get their pastries either before or after service.  Some of them from the more radical churches I suspect are there during half time, since they can go for hours and hours.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I haven't subscribed to any newspaper for years, but our local Mickey-D's used to put out a couple of copies for the customers.  They have discontinued that practice.
Click to expand...

Our Mickey-Ds has tv's on the wall.  Fast food experience all the way.


----------



## limr

Had a day in New Paltz. Lunch at Bacchus, walked around and took a few pictures. The light got dull and grey so we weren't feeling inspired. Had Chickadee the Yashica D with me. Stopped in the record store and bought the first Rush album and The Misfits. Stopped at an antiques market on the way home and Buzz got himself a Leica IIIc. I got free coffee and a piece of Irish soda bread.

Good day.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ... Buzz got himself a Leica IIIc. I got free coffee and a piece of Irish soda bread...


Seems fair...


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... Buzz got himself a Leica IIIc. I got free coffee and a piece of Irish soda bread...
> 
> 
> 
> Seems fair...
Click to expand...

Only if he got a couple of lenses with the Leica.


----------



## Derrel

Wait,wait,wait...you got a couple of albums and some nosh, and Buzzmeister got hizzself a LEICA IIIc??? What kind of _reciprocity failure_ is this?


----------



## limr

Well, it's not like I paid for his Leica! 

Really, he's always been the bigger rangefinder fan out of the both of us. Me, I lust after a Hassy, not a Leica. Besides, I bet I can borrow it if I want.


----------



## Derrel

You've probably got him twisted around that little finger...
Hassy....yeah, sure...they do have an aura. When I was a boy I dreamed of a 500 C! Then the C/M came out. Closest I ever got were Bronicas.


----------



## tirediron

Derrel said:


> You've probably got him twisted around that little finger...
> Hassy....yeah, sure...they do have an aura. *When I was a boy* I dreamed of a 500 C! Then the C/M came out. Closest I ever got were Bronicas.


Hassy made Daguerreotypes?


----------



## Gary A.

It has been a glorious day ... absolutely California perfect weather. Moon, just purchased an XT1 and I spent the day helping her with her first mirrorless. (Moon is a hair stylist, last night she made a house call to cut Steph Macfarlane's hair.)  

We hit San Pedro and shot the harbor, than The Korean Bell, this huge bronze bell with pagoda gifted to the City of Los Angeles from Korea. It is on a knoll overlooking LA Harbor, Catalina and the southern portion of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. We explored old gun emplacements at Fort MacArthur and we watched windsurfers, surfers, kayakers, divers, snorkelers  all playing in the the surf. We hit some tide pools at Twin Palms and we watched whales and official whale watchers watch whales at the Interpretative Center in Rancho Palos Verdes, (next to Pt. Vicente Lighthouse). We saw at least six whales (four Gray, two Fin) and a pod of Dolphins. Spotting whales is always very special.


----------



## sm4him

Derrel said:


> Wait,wait,wait...you got a couple of albums and some nosh, and Buzzmeister got hizzself a LEICA IIIc??? What kind of _reciprocity failure_ is this?



She got FREE coffee!
AND Irish Soda bread.

Buzz got the short end of that stick, if you ask me.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Stopped at an antiques market on the way home and Buzz got himself a Leica IIIc.


Now that right there has made me feel old.  Something that I thought was at the top of the heap in my youth is now sold at an antiques market.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Stopped at an antiques market on the way home and Buzz got himself a Leica IIIc.
> 
> 
> 
> Now that right there has made me feel old.  Something that I thought was at the top of the heap in my youth is now sold at an antiques market.
Click to expand...


I see stuff even from the 70s in antiques places. I think the rule needs to be revised: to be called an "antique" it needs to be at least 100 years old. From 50-100, it can be called "vintage." Less than 50, and it should be called "crap that someone didn't want anymore."


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I see stuff even from the 70s in antiques places. I think the rule needs to be revised: to be called an "antique" it needs to be at least 100 years old. From 50-100, it can be called "vintage." Less than 50, and it should be called "crap that someone didn't want anymore."



At least that takes me out of the "crap that someone didn't want anymore" category.


----------



## pgriz

When the daughters were teen-agers, we (my wife and I) certainly had moments when we got the feeling that we were in the "crap that no-one wanted" pile.  Then somehow, through some kind of mysterious alchemy, we find ourselves in the "revered elder" grouping, and we get asked for our opinions and suggestions much more frequently.  I'm pretty sure we didn't change all that much, other than needing more coffee in the morning to get going, so something else is at play.

As for "crap that no-one wants" and "vintage", we are trying to de-stuff our house and are every week deciding whether something is in the "prized heirloom" or "stuff we should have thrown out years ago" pile.  For instance, we have a perfectly functional VHS tape machine that hasn't been used in... probably ten years.  AND we have a library of VHS tapes that we haven't looked at for maybe ten years.  So, ditch the lot, or play the family VHS tapes one more time, while transferring to digital?  Heck, I don't even remember what we have on those tapes.  And yet, at the last family gathering (during my daughter's wedding), the DVD's with transferred VHS recordings were hauled out and viewed.  So, I guess I'm going to have to set aside some time for VHS to DVD transfer.  When I find the time.

And in the meantime, there's a circa 1890 sofa frame that my dear wife has been holding on to to re-upholster, for maybe 15 years now, that (in my opinon) needs to be thrown out, or (in her opinion) be given a new life, since it's such a beautiful wood frame...  Ah, decisions, decisions.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Sadness.
> 
> LODD Prince George's County Police Officer.  Less than 2 years on department, has 3-year old.  Trying to make a traffic stop and lost control of vehicle.


That is very sad.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I woke up to the sounds of baseball/softball this morning. Cheering from the ballparks at regional park, a few blocks south, brought a smile to my face. Spring and baseball ... what a great combination. So Cook and I will take our morning constitutional southward. I think we'll watch a few innings. I'll take some coffee with me. 54F right now, should hit the hit 70's today. Sun, blue skies, baseball and man's best friend ... that sounds about right.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> When the daughters were teen-agers, we (my wife and I) certainly had moments when we got the feeling that we were in the "crap that no-one wanted" pile.  Then somehow, through some kind of mysterious alchemy, we find ourselves in the "revered elder" grouping, and we get asked for our opinions and suggestions much more frequently.  I'm pretty sure we didn't change all that much, other than needing more coffee in the morning to get going, so something else is at play.
> 
> As for "crap that no-one wants" and "vintage", we are trying to de-stuff our house and are every week deciding whether something is in the "prized heirloom" or "stuff we should have thrown out years ago" pile.  For instance, we have a perfectly functional VHS tape machine that hasn't been used in... probably ten years.  AND we have a library of VHS tapes that we haven't looked at for maybe ten years.  So, ditch the lot, or play the family VHS tapes one more time, while transferring to digital?  Heck, I don't even remember what we have on those tapes.  And yet, at the last family gathering (during my daughter's wedding), the DVD's with transferred VHS recordings were hauled out and viewed.  So, I guess I'm going to have to set aside some time for VHS to DVD transfer.  When I find the time.
> 
> And in the meantime, there's a circa 1890 sofa frame that my dear wife has been holding on to to re-upholster, for maybe 15 years now, that (in my opinon) needs to be thrown out, or (in her opinion) be given a new life, since it's such a beautiful wood frame...  Ah, decisions, decisions.


It is interesting how kids think their parents get smarter as they, (the kids), get older.


----------



## Derrel

Just got up...am making the first coffee of the day, which I blame on this thread's stupid coffee house title. I quit coffee in early December, and had not bought any until this week...I went without coffee, drinking only tea, for 13 weeks...until this week. Seeing that coffee in coffee house has led me back to...coffee. Weather is looking nice, supposed to hit 68 to 70 degrees...beautiful blue sky already, many trees are in bloom, daffodils and other bulby things have sprouted and are bloomin', and there is unusually, absolutely no wind.


----------



## minicoop1985

1st cup of the day. Gonna be leaving for Illinois later, then Memphis tomorrow. Take a wild guess what I packed first. If you guessed my camera bag, you would be right.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Mini coop, I hope long underware is next on the list!


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> 1st cup of the day. Gonna be leaving for Illinois later, then Memphis tomorrow. Take a wild guess what I packed first. If you guessed my camera bag, you would be right.


Have a great trip.

Cook and I just came back from our walk. Cook chased geese into the lake, watched some softball (female fastpitch), we picked up some kettle corn for Mary Lou, (she loves kettle corn), at the Snack Bar and I hit half my daily step goal. Good morning so far.


----------



## minicoop1985

NancyMoranG said:


> Mini coop, I hope long underware is next on the list!



Nancy, it's been in the negatives here within the past week. If it's 40 I'll be in shorts and a t-shirt. 

Thanks, Gary!


----------



## otherprof

limr said:


> Oh, I can get all of the music digitally if I wanted, and it wouldn't cost much.
> 
> I love how accessible music is these days, and how much of it I can carry around with me on my cell phone or stream on any computer with my Pandora account.
> 
> But...it's just different. Playing these records tonight has made me realize that listening to music just isn't as much of an occasion as it used to be. It was a thing to do, not just to have music in the background or to drown out the sounds on the bus or whatever. We used to set aside time to just listen to music and talk about it, look at all the liner notes and artwork.  We couldn't listen whenever we wanted to, so when we did get to hear the albums on the record player, we paid attention and really listened. It felt more special somehow.
> 
> At least that was my experience with music while I was growing up.


I once had a friend play a 78 rpm recording of "Hernando's Hideaway" at 16 rpm. He told me it was a recording of a trained lion roaring on cue. And I believed it. I can't do that with my iPhone.


----------



## sm4him

Derrel said:


> Just got up...am making the first coffee of the day, which I blame on this thread's stupid coffee house title. I quit coffee in early December, and had not bought any until this week...I went without coffee, drinking only tea, for 13 weeks...until this week. *Seeing that coffee in coffee house has led me back to...coffee. *Weather is looking nice, supposed to hit 68 to 70 degrees...beautiful blue sky already, many trees are in bloom, daffodils and other bulby things have sprouted and are bloomin', and there is unusually, absolutely no wind.



You're welcome.


----------



## Derrel

sm4him said:
			
		

> You're welcome.


Wassup, girl! I hope the decent weather has finally found you and made you happy, after all of that door-open,early-to-bed/early-to-rise/early-to-work/snow-and-ice nonsense! MAN, what a sucky February it must have been down there! Yeah...I am now on *Cup Three* of fresh, home-brewed coffee! Feeling a bit..._caffeinated_ this morning!


----------



## sm4him

Derrel said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You're welcome.
> 
> 
> 
> Wassup, girl! I hope the decent weather has finally found you and made you happy, after all of that door-open,early-to-bed/early-to-rise/early-to-work/snow-and-ice nonsense! MAN, what a sucky February it must have been down there! Yeah...I am now on *Cup Three* of fresh, home-brewed coffee! Feeling a bit..._caffeinated_ this morning!
Click to expand...


Three cups!! Way to go, Derrel! Re-acclimation complete, I'd say. 
Speaking of which, I think I'll go get my first cup.  Okay...my first cup since noon today. 

Yesterday was GORGEOUS and about 58--about the same today. MIGHT just have to get brave and put the top down this afternoon on the way back to church!  Rain will set in this week, but temperatures staying MUCH, MUCH milder, staying around 60.
We'll get some more cold snaps here and there, but hopefully winter has breathed its last for this season, and the beautiful warm Southern Spring is about to burst forth!  I can feel it in my very spirit--in just two days, I've gone from being about to ready to succumb to the depression, to feeling more energized and ready to tackle life again!

On the subject of our sucky February--this is cute. It's from the same family that did the "Christmas Jammies" parody a couple of years ago.


----------



## minicoop1985

Getting mighty close to leaving. Last cup of coffee for a while. Argh.


----------



## snerd




----------



## snerd

Seems really slow lately, here in the Coffee House. I have to admit............... I've barely drank 2 cups over the last 2 weeks! Getting settled into the new digs, and not having to get up for work, has put my coffee drinking into a death spiral. I used to drink 2 pots a day when working, but there is just not the need for it now. Maybe time to try some of the more fancy ones that taste so much more like coffee was intended to taste?! Go ahead, drop a few names. I'll try to sample some of the more popular ones.


----------



## snowbear

We just grab whatever is on sale.

Heading out to collect my lovely wife from her overnight-overtime gig at the Fire-EMS Watch Office.  Catch y'all this evening.


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> Seems really slow lately, here in the Coffee House. I have to admit............... I've barely drank 2 cups over the last 2 weeks! Getting settled into the new digs, and not having to get up for work, has put my coffee drinking into a death spiral. I used to drink 2 pots a day when working, but there is just not the need for it now. Maybe time to try some of the more fancy ones that taste so much more like coffee was intended to taste?! Go ahead, drop a few names. I'll try to sample some of the more popular ones.



I usually get Eight O'Clock, but recently I've been trying Peet's and I really like that too. It's more expensive, though, so I only get it on sale. I like dark roasts, but if you've been accustomed to Folger's (if I am remembering correctly?) then go for the medium roasts. 

Is Eight O'Clock an East Coast thing? It used to be sold just in A&P stores, which I've never seen outside of the Northeast, but it's in other stores now. Any of these stores look familiar to you? Retail Outlets for buying Premium Coffee - Order Coffee Online Eight O Clock


----------



## KenC

Eight O'Clock coffee was a big thing when I was growing up in NYC.  I have no idea whether it's available outside the NE.

I've been getting Mellita coffee.  To my taste it's a little better than the regular supermarket brands and it's barely more expensive.  They also have a "fancier" line in bags instead of cans, which tastes even better, but is significantly more expensive, so I pick it up on sale sometimes.

At times I've done the coffee store beans and grinding thing but I just don't enjoy it enough to make it worth it to me.  I get my "good" coffee buzz in coffee shops now and then.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Seems really slow lately, here in the Coffee House. I have to admit............... I've barely drank 2 cups over the last 2 weeks! Getting settled into the new digs, and not having to get up for work, has put my coffee drinking into a death spiral. I used to drink 2 pots a day when working, but there is just not the need for it now. Maybe time to try some of the more fancy ones that taste so much more like coffee was intended to taste?! Go ahead, drop a few names. I'll try to sample some of the more popular ones.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I usually get Eight O'Clock, but recently I've been trying Peet's and I really like that too. It's more expensive, though, so I only get it on sale. I like dark roasts, but if you've been accustomed to Folger's (if I am remembering correctly?) then go for the medium roasts.
> 
> Is Eight O'Clock an East Coast thing? It used to be sold just in A&P stores, which I've never seen outside of the Northeast, but it's in other stores now. Any of these stores look familiar to you? Retail Outlets for buying Premium Coffee - Order Coffee Online Eight O Clock
Click to expand...


We used to use Eight O'Clock coffee a lot, and bought it at the A&P. That was my dad's favorite grocery store when I was growing up. But A&P pretty much disappeared from around here in the late 70s or so, I think. Haven't seen one in years and didn't realize they were still in business elsewhere.

I use JFG a lot, because it was traditionally a "local" brand, but also because it strikes a decent balance for me between taste and cost.

When I'm feeling extravagant, I go to a local specialty coffee place and get either Tanzanian Peaberry coffee, which my oldest son turned my onto, or just about any blend of Costa Rican coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I've never heard of Eight O'Clock coffee. I get my Don Jose Colombian Supremo at Costco, most beans for the buck. If I spy something interesting I'll pick it up to augment my usual. I rarely drink blends of any kind (coffee/whiskey/wine). But lately I've been purchasing and enjoying whiskey (Maker's Mark) and wine blends ... so maybe with coffee ... nahhh ... I'll keep my coffee pure. Coffee is like 99.999% water, so good tasting water goes a long way to making a good cup of coffee. (None of that yellow snow stuff.)


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> Seems really slow lately, here in the Coffee House. I have to admit............... I've barely drank 2 cups over the last 2 weeks! Getting settled into the new digs, and not having to get up for work, has put my coffee drinking into a death spiral. I used to drink 2 pots a day when working, but there is just not the need for it now. Maybe time to try some of the more fancy ones that taste so much more like coffee was intended to taste?! Go ahead, drop a few names. I'll try to sample some of the more popular ones.


Snerd, start with a coffee grinder and a bag of whole beans. $25 - $30 tops for the whole mess.

Amazon.com KRUPS F203 Electric Spice and Coffee Grinder with Stainless Steel Blades Black Power Blade Coffee Grinders Kitchen Dining
One of these works fine. Toss the results into your drip Mr. Coffee or whatever you're using now.  If you like the new flavor ... then you can toss the drip and get a French Press.  If you like the French Press ... then we can talk about espresso ... now were talking coffee. But Baby steps ... get a $20 grinder and a bag of medium roast beans (no blends, no French roast).
If you just want ground coffee, most stores carry ground speciality coffees ... but once you break up the coffee the spirit leaks out over time and all you have is a dead bean with no spirit.


----------



## snerd

I've seen Eight O'Clock coffee in Walmart, will give it a try. If I like it, I may try Gary's suggestions and begin the espresso quest. I need to get a few of my images printed and on the bare walls, then I can sit and drink espresso while admiring my work. This artist thing seems to be fairly easy!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> I've seen Eight O'Clock coffee in Walmart, will give it a try. If I like it, I may try Gary's suggestions and begin the espresso quest. I need to get a few of my images printed and on the bare walls, then I can sit and drink espresso while admiring my work. This artist thing seems to be fairly easy!



Well, there's two ways to do get used to espresso: build yourself up to it, or dive into the deep end. Espresso is a dark roast, yes, but it's more about the process than the roast. 

And I absolutely agree - get a coffee grinder and buy whole beans. The pre-ground stuff is already less flavorful even before you open the bag.


----------



## Derrel

Espresso coffee has lower caffein levels than "wet-brewed" methods like French press, filter, single brew, etc..

The old-fashioned Italian stovetop espresso pots (moka pot) are actually a very easy, affordable way to get into brewing espresso, with minimal hassles. I have owned two different sizes...I prefer the bigger ones!
How to prepare a good italian espresso with moka - YouTube


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Seems really slow lately, here in the Coffee House. I have to admit............... I've barely drank 2 cups over the last 2 weeks! Getting settled into the new digs, and not having to get up for work, has put my coffee drinking into a death spiral. I used to drink 2 pots a day when working, but there is just not the need for it now. Maybe time to try some of the more fancy ones that taste so much more like coffee was intended to taste?! Go ahead, drop a few names. I'll try to sample some of the more popular ones.
> 
> 
> 
> Snerd, start with a coffee grinder and a bag of whole beans. $25 - $30 tops for the whole mess.
> 
> Amazon.com KRUPS F203 Electric Spice and Coffee Grinder with Stainless Steel Blades Black Power Blade Coffee Grinders Kitchen Dining
> One of these works fine. Toss the results into your drip Mr. Coffee or whatever you're using now.  If you like the new flavor ... then you can toss the drip and get a French Press.  If you like the French Press ... then we can talk about espresso ... now were talking coffee. But Baby steps ... get a $20 grinder and a bag of medium roast beans (no blends, no French roast).
> If you just want ground coffee, most stores carry ground speciality coffees ... but once you break up the coffee the spirit leaks out over time and all you have is a dead bean with no spirit.
Click to expand...

French press? Now we're talking. My wife bought me a 4-cup french press for when I'm at work. Can't get enough (except for when I'm lazy and don't feel like cleaning it out). I also have a travel mug/french press thingy that someone got me from Starbucks. I don't like that the grounds stay in with the coffee. The seal isn't the best around the strainer, so too many grounds get into the coffee.


----------



## limr

I love my stovetop espresso maker. Bialetti. This is the exact one that I have:





Amazon.de Bialetti Kona 2 Tassen Mokka-Kocher blau


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I love my stovetop espresso maker. Bialetti. This is the exact one that I have:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Amazon.de Bialetti Kona 2 Tassen Mokka-Kocher blau


I would buy that, but it's "derzeit nicht verfügbar."

Darn.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> French press? Now we're talking. My wife bought me a 4-cup french press for when I'm at work. Can't get enough (except for when I'm lazy and don't feel like cleaning it out). I also have a travel mug/french press thingy that someone got me from Starbucks. I don't like that the grounds stay in with the coffee. The seal isn't the best around the strainer, so too many grounds get into the coffee.



A French press is usually how I make my morning coffee. I have a 2-cup press and it's perfect. I also got one of those travel mug/press things and was all excited about it, but it really is better in theory than in practice.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I also got one of those travel mug/press things and was all excited about it, but it really is better in theory than in practice.


It really is better in theory, unfortunately. It had so much promise.


----------



## Derrel

limr said:
			
		

> A French press is usually how I make my morning coffee. I have a 2-cup press and it's perfect. I also got one of those travel mug/press things and was all excited about it, but it really is better in theory than in practice.



I got tired of breaking the glass French press vessels, so I invested in a Thermos brand, insulated, double-walled stainless steel French press. Oh, the joy!!! Suuuuch a rugged piece of kitchen equipment. With the glass ones, I'd had lifespans ranging from a week, to a little over a year, before...CRACK! I've been just super-happy with the Thermos brand stainless steel French press. But truth be told, after about five years, the steel filter at the bottom wore through, so now, I just put the coffee in the pitcher, and pour in my boiling water, stir,stir,stir,stir for about 45 seconds, then allow a few minutes' time to pass, then filter the coffee through a reusable, synthetic filter, which allows a LOT LESS sediment into the brew, which I feel is better for my body.


----------



## tirediron

Apparently I don't put enough effort into my coffee; I use the same $12.95 12 cup drip machine I bought from Zellers at least 15 years ago, along with whatever the cheapest coffee on sale is at the time...


----------



## Derrel

tirediron said:
			
		

> Apparently I don't put enough effort into my coffee; I use the same $12.95 12 cup drip machine I bought from Zellers at least 15 years ago, along with whatever the cheapest coffee on sale is at the time...



Okay--that's IT for you buddy!!! You are hereby ordered to be sent to New Brunswick to begin serving a six-month exile!!! Tomorrow...8:00 AM, out front of the house, at the curb, the officers will be there to pick you up. You're allowed one suitcase and one personal carry-on bag.


----------



## tirediron

Derrel said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently I don't put enough effort into my coffee; I use the same $12.95 12 cup drip machine I bought from Zellers at least 15 years ago, along with whatever the cheapest coffee on sale is at the time...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Okay--that's IT for you buddy!!! You are hereby ordered to be sent to New Brunswick to begin serving a six-month exile!!! Tomorrow...8:00 AM, out front of the house, at the curb, the officers will be there to pick you up. You're allowed one suitcase and one personal carry-on bag.
Click to expand...

 Mehh... I could live with that.  I like potatoes.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Is Eight O'Clock an East Coast thing? It used to be sold just in A&P stores, which I've never seen outside of the Northeast, but it's in other stores now. Any of these stores look familiar to you? Retail Outlets for buying Premium Coffee - Order Coffee Online Eight O Clock


A&P - I haven't seen one of those in years.!


----------



## oldhippy

Old hippy  didn't die. Came in with a ruptured gangrenous Gaul bladder. Will be here the best part of a week.


----------



## tirediron

oh dang Ed, that sucks HUGE!!!!  Get better soon dude!


----------



## snowbear

Get better, Ed..


----------



## limr

ED!  Get better soon!!!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Apparently I don't put enough effort into my coffee; I use the same $12.95 12 cup drip machine I bought from Zellers at least 15 years ago, along with whatever the cheapest coffee on sale is at the time...


_*I  just shuttered*_


----------



## Gary A.

Damn Ed ... get well soon. Losing a gall bladder sucks.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> _*I  just shuttered*_


Isn't that what photographers do?


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _*I  just shuttered*_
> 
> 
> 
> Isn't that what photographers do?
Click to expand...

Actually ... that's what photographer's cameras do. Many years ago I decided to attempt/try to only put good stuff down my craw, (taste, quality and health). One of those little things that makes life enjoyable on a daily basis. Right now I am sipping a Castle Rock Pinot Noir ... delish.


----------



## snowbear

Being one with the camera!
Crystal Light (liquid) and tap water.  It's been a long day.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Get better soon Ed!

John you're hopeless. I had Buckeye something... well whatever it was called it was good, from my shiny red and chrome coffee maker. And it was sunny today and not 0 degrees. I shot a bunch of Polaroids of hopefully the last of the snow, it was pretty for awhile but March is March dadgummit!


----------



## tirediron

vintagesnaps said:


> Get better soon Ed!
> 
> John you're hopeless. I had Buckeye something... well whatever it was called it was good, from my shiny red and chrome coffee maker. And it was sunny today and not 0 degrees. I shot a bunch of Polaroids of hopefully the last of the snow, it was pretty for awhile but March is March dadgummit!


Mehhh... food is fuel.  The less time and effort it requires, the better I like it.  You wouldn't believe the number of 'one bowl microwave meals' I can make.   The only reason I don't stop at the chippy three meals a day is because the only thing I hate more than the time and effort food requires is spending money on it!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Get better soon Ed!
> 
> John you're hopeless. I had Buckeye something... well whatever it was called it was good, from my shiny red and chrome coffee maker. And it was sunny today and not 0 degrees. I shot a bunch of Polaroids of hopefully the last of the snow, it was pretty for awhile but March is March dadgummit!
> 
> 
> 
> Mehhh... food is fuel.  The less time and effort it requires, the better I like it.  You wouldn't believe the number of 'one bowl microwave meals' I can make.   The only reason I don't stop at the chippy three meals a day is because the only thing I hate more than the time and effort food requires is spending money on it!
Click to expand...

Negatory Grasshopper. Food is a substance to delight one of our senses. We should delight all of our senses as much as we can as often as we can. Life is too short for anything less.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mehhh... food is fuel.  The less time and effort it requires, the better I like it.  You wouldn't believe the number of 'one bowl microwave meals' I can make.   The only reason I don't stop at the chippy three meals a day is because the only thing I hate more than the time and effort food requires is spending money on it!
> 
> 
> 
> Negatory Grasshopper. Food is a substance to delight one of our senses. We should delight all of our senses as much as we can as often as we can. Life is too short for anything less.
Click to expand...


And to that, may I add that crappy food is crappy fuel. Pay closer attention to the quality of food that you put down your gullet and you'll find your engines will be running more smoothly and efficiently.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> And to that, may I add that crappy food is crappy fuel. Pay closer attention to the quality of food that you put down your gullet and you'll find your engines will be running more smoothly and efficiently.


Some of you need high-test, me?  I'm fine with #2 diesel.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And to that, may I add that crappy food is crappy fuel. Pay closer attention to the quality of food that you put down your gullet and you'll find your engines will be running more smoothly and efficiently.
> 
> 
> 
> Some of you need high-test, me?  I'm fine with #2 diesel.
Click to expand...


I'm a finely-tuned machine


----------



## KenC

Best wishes to you, Ed.

On the food front, I was brought up to eat good food and enjoy it and I'm glad for that.  I can grab something quick when I need to, but usually I like to eat well and savor the experience.


----------



## pgriz

Ed, best wishes for a quick recovery.


----------



## snerd

Best wishes, Ed! Get well soon! That's exactly what happened to me a few months ago!! Did they do laprascopic or have to cut you open?!


----------



## limr

Blerg.


----------



## Warhorse

Ed, I hope you have a complete and speedy recovery.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Blerg.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Blerg.
Click to expand...


Monday after daylight's savings change sucks. When that Monday lasts 12 hours and then Tuesday starts with waking up at 6 to get to work at 8:30? Well then, Tuesday sucks even more. Especially when 24 essays need to be graded after I'm finished with a full day's work.

Thus...blerg.


----------



## sm4him

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Blerg.
Click to expand...


Not sure, but at least in MY little world, "Blerg" is shorthand for "There are so very many things that I could whine and moan and complain about right now that I just don't even know where to start."


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Blerg.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not sure, but at least in MY little world, "Blerg" is shorthand for "There are so very many things that I could whine and moan and complain about right now that I just don't even know where to start."
Click to expand...


Can't rate as funny and agree at the same time, so I'll just write them both out myself


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Blerg.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Monday after daylight's savings change sucks. When that Monday lasts 12 hours and then Tuesday starts with waking up at 6 to get to work at 8:30? Well then, Tuesday sucks even more. Especially when 24 essays need to be graded after I'm finished with a full day's work.
> 
> Thus...blerg.
Click to expand...

 Tuesday's nothing more than the second Monday of the week.  Don't expect too much from it.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Get well Ed. Looking forward to some introspective photos of a hospital thru the eyes of an old hippy


----------



## KenC

Yeah, Tuesdays are not usually the best days.  I can't complain too much because I'm working at home.  Just had my coffee a little while ago so I'm getting down to business now that I can focus.  Fairly warm again today here, with a lot of rain later on.  That may get rid of the rest of the ice on the driveway out there (or not).


----------



## sm4him

Tuesdays. Just Monday's second chance to kick you while you're down.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Monday after daylight's savings change sucks. When that Monday lasts 12 hours and then Tuesday starts with waking up at 6 to get to work at 8:30? Well then, Tuesday sucks even more. Especially when 24 essays need to be graded after I'm finished with a full day's work.
> 
> Thus...blerg.



Consider the sympathy button (if we had one) as having been pressed.


----------



## Derrel

I've got my Grumpy & Groggy Daylight Savings Time Dude button on my shirt today...


----------



## snowbear

I'm glad I no longer have to work midnights for the DST-off, when you add an hour (or worse, a 12 hour shift).


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> Tuesdays. Just Monday's second chance to kick you while you're down.


There are only three named days in the week - Saturday, Sunday & everything else.  Though, sometimes, Sunday is just "the day before Monday."


----------



## limr

I find Sunday is sometimes more stressful than even Monday is. Sunday is filled with anticipation for Monday. And when I'm teaching on Monday mornings, it's worse because Sunday often means actually doing work to make sure I'm prepared for Monday. Sundays are much easier, though, when my first class of the week is at least Monday evening or later.


----------



## pgriz

Leonore, have you graduated to solid foods yet?  (and this isn't a blatant example of ageism...)


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Leonore, have you graduated to solid foods yet?  (and this isn't a blatant example of ageism...)



I have! Well, still soft, but solid. Bread with non-crunchy crusts or veggies that can survive more cooking. Nothing with small grains, like rice or quinoa yet. Tried a bite or two of salad and I'm not quite there yet either.

All of this is less about discomfort and more about my paranoia about getting anything stuck in the sockets as they heal. I'm a little OCD about keeping them clean.


----------



## snerd




----------



## snerd

Enjoyed 3 cups of coffee earlier today! Ran a few errands, ironed my T's, paid a few bills. Tomorrow off to Norman, OK to see my Orthopedic Surgeon for shoulder. Weather is forecasted lower 70's rest of week!!


----------



## mmaria

I got the present 
I got the present 
I got the present 
I got the present 
I got the present 
I got the present 
I got the present 





Thank you Ma!
So let s see those Secret Santa photos Page 2 Photography Forum


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> I got the present
> I got the present
> I got the present
> I got the present
> I got the present
> I got the present
> I got the present
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you Ma!
> So let s see those Secret Santa photos Page 2 Photography Forum



YAY!!! Glad they did actually get there--I hope they were still in decent shape, and I hope you like them!


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> I got the present
> I got the present
> I got the present
> I got the present
> I got the present
> I got the present
> I got the present
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you Ma!
> So let s see those Secret Santa photos Page 2 Photography Forum
> 
> 
> 
> 
> YAY!!! Glad they did actually get there--I hope they were still in decent shape, and I hope you like them!
Click to expand...

Of course I like them!!!

Everything was just perfect. It was very nicely packed.

Did I say Thank you!? And thank you for your words in the card, thank you for the card


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> YAY!!!


@sm4him Ma, why don't you like my new picture?  Diesel nsfw I guess Photography Forum


I thought you will say something funny there, but you ignored it


----------



## limr

Morning hosers.

Nothing says Happy Birthday quite like finding my first plagiarist at 7:15 a.m.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Morning hosers.
> 
> Nothing says Happy Birthday quite like finding my first plagiarist at 7:15 a.m.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning hosers.
> 
> Nothing says Happy Birthday quite like finding my first plagiarist at 7:15 a.m.


Happy birthday!


----------



## pgriz

Happy Birthday, Leonore!  May you find that diamond in the rough, the student essay that both pleases and amazes you.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Morning hosers.
> 
> Nothing says Happy Birthday quite like finding my first plagiarist at 7:15 a.m.



It's your Birthday??? Well, congratulations on the successful completion of another trip around the sun!!


----------



## sm4him

We need a birthday tradition here in the Coffee House. Maybe photos just for the Bday celebrant. I propose we all post kitty photos for Leonore today.

Here's mine: A very rare photo of my two cats actually getting along.


----------



## mmaria

I don't have any cat photos 

but, I hope you'll like this


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Morning hosers.
> 
> Nothing says Happy Birthday quite like finding my first plagiarist at 7:15 a.m.


Happy birthday!


----------



## KenC

Happy Birthday Leonore!


----------



## Designer

Muffin as "Electric Kitten"


----------



## Warhorse

Happy B'Day limr!

Sorry, no cat pics here.


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> Enjoyed 3 cups of coffee earlier today! Ran a few errands, ironed my T's, paid a few bills. Tomorrow off to Norman, OK to see my Orthopedic Surgeon for shoulder. Weather is forecasted lower 70's rest of week!!


Spring has sprung. Oklahoma is OK.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Morning hosers.
> 
> Nothing says Happy Birthday quite like finding my first plagiarist at 7:15 a.m.


Hoo-ra! And H A P P Y  B I R T H D A Y ! ! !


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## KenC

Looks like a bad hair day


----------



## tirediron

Happy Day Lenore!


----------



## pgriz

KenC said:


> Looks like a bad hair day



Ok, YOU tell him that.


----------



## snerd




----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Looks like a bad hair day


Not if you're Don - King of the Jungle. (Savana actually ...)


----------



## Gary A.

Another B-Day gift Leo, an 18% gray cat. (But don't look at the eyes ...)


----------



## limr

Thank you, my darling Coffeehouse crazies!!! 

I love my kitty day!



tirediron said:


> Happy Day *Lenore*!



If you really want be to have a happy day, you'll call me Le*o*nore  (I gave you a Like, anyway!)


----------



## waday

Happy Birthday!


----------



## Derrel

Happy,happy,happy birthday to you, dear lady! I hope your special day gets better and better as the day goes along.

Here's a photo celebrating both cats, and fancy stemware. I shot this one way back in 2002. This was Austen. And even though he had a drinking problem, we loved him. If you look closely, you can see the daffodils in the image formed by the glass and water as lens. So, there you go--a cat AND flowers on your birthday.


----------



## oldhippy

Happy Birthday Leonore. I like you and wish you a great day. Ed


----------



## tirediron

oldhippy said:


> Happy Birthday Leonore. I like you and wish you a great day. Ed


 How are you doing, Ed?


----------



## snowbear

I don't think I've posted this one, or if I have, it's been a long time.
For you, Leonore:


----------



## Gary A.

Grilling some orange marinaded chicken in the patio. It is very pleasant tonight. Sipping some wine, checking out all the blooming succulents and the first of the poppies ... the sweet peas are on the edge of bursting ... a very red and purple sunset ...  a very pleasant evening to grill.


----------



## Gary A.

And we just hit 165F ... time for dinner.


----------



## limr

Bom apetite! Or in Turkish, Afiyet Olsun! (May it be healthy.)


----------



## limr

Done with my day, no teaching for a week and a half because of Spring Break next week, so it's a nice peaceful feeling in the air tonight. Have a finger of birthday bourbon and Rush's Permanent Waves on the turntable. "Spirit of Radio" is the song that launched every single road trip I took throughout most of my 20s. The song makes me happy.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Bom apetite! Or in Turkish, Afiyet Olsun! (May it be healthy.)


Merci. Dinner was delish, Spanish rice, asparagus, slaw w/oranges on top (all from the garden) and all washed down with Line 39 Sauvignon Blanc. The orange marinaded chicken with herbs and spices was ... well ... perfect. Next year Leo, I'll host your birthday dinner.


----------



## limr

Deal!


----------



## snerd

2 cups of java this morning! Then off to near OKC for my sawbones appt. He said there is some fluid buildup around the area, that's why the recent pain. Said it may come and go, but is normal. If it gets worse they can drain it. Back home in time to watch my OKC Thunder get whipped by the LA Clippers.............. grrrrr. Big day tomorrow.................. sign divorce papers. Yay!!


----------



## limr

Uh-oh, watch out, Snerd will be on the loose starting today!


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> 2 cups of java this morning! Then off to near OKC for my sawbones appt. He said there is some fluid buildup around the area, that's why the recent pain. Said it may come and go, but is normal. If it gets worse they can drain it. Back home in time to watch my OKC Thunder get whipped by the LA Clippers.............. grrrrr. Big day tomorrow.................. sign divorce papers. Yay!!


I was wondering how all of it as going ... I hope it is for the better.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Today has started out very oddly ... my morning paper was a combo of the the LA Times and the Orange County Register ... really really odd as they are competitors. Presently, I'm waiting for Mary Lou so I can take her to work. She still cannot walk or drive after her foot surgery.


----------



## Gary A.

55F right now, should hit the mid 80's here, 10 degrees less along the coast. I've been working on some theatre pics ... I love my Fuji cameras.


----------



## sm4him

I think I should've taken today off. I told my boss that I was not coming in whenever we had the first day that was pretty AND warm enough for me to put the top down on the convertible. Well, the weatherman has been saying this whole week was going to be rainy and mild…but so far this morning it is absolutely beautiful, and is supposed to get up to about 70F today. It IS starting to cloud up just a bit, though, and the weatherman is still saying "mostly cloudy" today, so maybe I wouldn't have gotten a full day of awesomeness if I'd tried for a Ragtop kind of day today.

It still would have beat being at work though.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I should have stayed home from work, too, though then I wouldn't get paid and that's kind of the whole purpose of putting myself through this shleck.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> I should have stayed home from work, too, though then I wouldn't get paid and that's kind of the whole purpose of putting myself through this shleck.



I'd get paid, BUT I'd be using a personal or vacation day, and I'm pretty cautious about how I "budget" those days.   I'm very stingy with mine; I get it all in one lump at the beginning of the calendar year, and I generally already have a basic "plan" for how I'm going to use it. I might not know exactly when or where I'm going to go on vacation, but I'll "allot" x number of days to actual vacations, x number of days to just having a random day off here and there, and then I make sure I save enough so that I get at least the week between Christmas and New Year's off.  I love that end of the year "down" time.
My sister and my oldest brother are terrible about budgeting their paid time off. If those two got theirs in a lump sum like I do, it would all be gone before May!


----------



## limr

At school, I get one paid sick day per class per semester. I think I took a sick day last semester, but otherwise, I haven't taken one in years. This semester, I was going to take one for my teeth, but we missed so many days at the start of the semester because of snow, I couldn't take a sick day and cancel class. I had to get a sub. If I took that sick day and got paid, the school would not pay the sub and I would have to pay her. Either way, I'd be out of the money, so I decided to not claim the sick day and have the school simply deduct my pay and give it to the sub.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> I was wondering how all of it as going ... I hope it is for the better.


Going good. It's an amicable situation. She knows she's selfish and heartless, so she's not contesting anything lol!! We agreed on most things, divied up the loot and signed on the dotted line. She'll be happier alone, and I get rid of the most negative thing in my life! Win/Win!!


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was wondering how all of it as going ... I hope it is for the better.
> 
> 
> 
> Going good. It's an amicable situation. She knows she's selfish and heartless, so she's not contesting anything lol!! We agreed on most things, divied up the loot and signed on the dotted line. She'll be happier alone, and I get rid of the most negative thing in my life! Win/Win!!
Click to expand...

geez snerd. That sounds like about what my wife says about me. I am selfish, heartless, and should go live on a island somewhere with no one around. LOL

i think i am more on this side..


----------



## KenC

Happy late morning, hosers!  I just spent all morning in meetings, a fate I almost always manage to avoid, and which I wouldn't wish on anyone.  Coffee kept me going so I didn't slump onto the table, the appropriate response to most of what I heard.  I was tempted to work from home today and I'm sorry I didn't.

I still have all of my vacation days, so now that it's not so cold and snowy out I think it may be time to use a couple to go out and take pictures.  I need something to keep me sane.


----------



## pgriz

KenC said:


> I need something to keep me sane.



You know, sanity is over-rated.  In my opinion, you need just enough to make sure "they" don't come after you, but not enough that you can't laugh at the absurdity of everyday life.  As I remind my daughters from time to time:  Your "solid ground beneath your feet" is a moving slag pile floating on molten rock, whizzing through space filled with rather large debris.  So an ability to laugh is a prerequisite for enjoying the life we do have.


----------



## sm4him

I just found out that I have an extra THREE days I get to take off, as "recognition" time for all the extra hours I put in during our snow events. It's not "comp time" mind you, because the new General Mgr., the 5-Star B*tch, has decided that salaried employees do not GET comp time, at all (despite the fact that the Employee Handbook says differently). I have to give it to my immediate boss, she really did go to bat for me on this one--I didn't expect to get anything at all, so getting three days was a HUGE deal, and I know she had to fight for it.  
Actually, it's more like 3-1/2 days, because we've also decided that this afternoon would be a good time for me to go out and take some pictures…possibly while driving around with the top down on the little convertible.  As long as I get about six bus-related pictures during the course of the afternoon, we can call it working away from the office.

I also found out yet more reasons to despise 5-star B*tch boss (which I shall simply call 5*B from this point forward). She's also informed our Chief Administrative Officer that full-time for a salaried employee is NOT in fact 40 hours a week; a full-time salaried employee should actually be putting in between 48-56 hours a week. 
Um.
No.
Not just NO, but…well, you know.


----------



## pgriz

Sharon, someone with that kind of attitude may not last very long.  For starters, that's a circa-1910 management approach (controlling the inputs - hours, work conditions, etc.), which in 2015 means that she's going to get the output from staff (due to her attitude) of maybe 60% productivity, so she thinks compensating by increasing the hours will allow "more" production.  Smart bosses nowadays control the output (timeliness and quality), and generally leave it to the employee to figure out how to get the job done.


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> Sharon, someone with that kind of attitude may not last very long.  For starters, that's a circa-1910 management approach (controlling the inputs - hours, work conditions, etc.), which in 2015 means that she's going to get the output from staff (due to her attitude) of maybe 60% productivity, so she thinks compensating by increasing the hours will allow "more" production.  Smart bosses nowadays control the output (timeliness and quality), and generally leave it to the employee to figure out how to get the job done.


the principle makes sense to me. control timeliness, quality and the amount of time spent. Salary is free work after 40. Not 1.5 time.  Increase hours and production per hour at no extra cost and cut payroll expense. It is the new more efficient america. People will *****, but eventually they adjust and adapt. Those that dont get replaced at lower pay scales so it is a win/win. Attrition saves a lot of money as well, long as training costs are not excessive.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> I need something to keep me sane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You know, sanity is over-rated.  In my opinion, you need just enough to make sure "they" don't come after you, but not enough that you can't laugh at the absurdity of everyday life.  As I remind my daughters from time to time:  Your "solid ground beneath your feet" is a moving slag pile floating on molten rock, whizzing through space filled with rather large debris.  So an ability to laugh is a prerequisite for enjoying the life we do have.
Click to expand...


I read that again and had to change my rating from a measly Like to Winner. It's just so very right on!


----------



## pgriz

bribrius said:


> the principle makes sense to me. control timeliness, quality and the amount of time spent.


  It really depends on the nature of the work.  If the work is mechanical and production-oriented (simple task, repetitive, and reproducible), then controlling the inputs (the time and work environment) generally gives you control over the results.  If, on the other hand, the work is more creative, requiring judgement and decision-making by the worker, then controlling the inputs usually makes the result more variable and less predictable.  

When I was managing software development, I knew that the best developers were up to 5x more productive than the "average" developers in terms of effective, efficient and debugged code.  Plainly put, they could do in one day what the others took a whole week.  In terms of deployment, I gave them the trickier stuff to carry out, with much more flexibility of how they got it done, than the "average" developers.  If they turned their work in after 2 days of work, and decided to take time off, that was fine by me.  I kept track of whose work gave the best performance and the least maintenance (debugging), and they got the benefits (assignment to more interesting projects, time off as requested, etc.).  

In my contracting business, the dynamics are somewhat different, but the basic principles still apply.  Here, however, since the workers are usually part of a team, timeliness is important as safe work usually requires the full team to be present.  But if the team gets their assigned work done in less time than I budgetted for, I still pay them the "full" day's work, as long as I can verify that they didn't cut any corners.  In an industry where schedule over-runs are common, my stuff is almost always completed on time or even earlier.  So the idea (as management) is to keep the eye on the goal, not on the path immediately in front of our feet.


----------



## snerd

pgriz said:


> You know, sanity is over-rated.  In my opinion, you need just enough to make sure "they" don't come after you, but not enough that you can't laugh at the absurdity of everyday life.  As I remind my daughters from time to time:  Your "solid ground beneath your feet" is a moving slag pile floating on molten rock, whizzing through space filled with rather large debris.  So an ability to laugh is a prerequisite for enjoying the life we do have.


It's amazing just how many do not understand that. Life should be more fun than a barrel of humans.


----------



## KenC

pgriz said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> I need something to keep me sane.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You know, sanity is over-rated.  In my opinion, you need just enough to make sure "they" don't come after you, but not enough that you can't laugh at the absurdity of everyday life.  As I remind my daughters from time to time:  Your "solid ground beneath your feet" is a moving slag pile floating on molten rock, whizzing through space filled with rather large debris.  So an ability to laugh is a prerequisite for enjoying the life we do have.
Click to expand...


Oh, I laugh plenty, and many people I'm sure would not consider me completely sane, although none of them are coming after me, so I guess I'm where I need to be.  However, not enough photography is never a good thing.


----------



## limr

So, Buzz and his parents are taking me out to dinner tonight for my birthday. We're going to a very nice restaurant down county. I get off work earlier and am closer to the restaurant than they do/are, so I will have some time to kill. I'm planning on going to the restaurant and hanging out at the bar with a drink and a book. I'll have about an hour there by myself, drinking and reading. Heaven!


----------



## pgriz

....  and fending off the would-be literati (I started spelling them "wood-be" which might be more accurate  ) who "really like the book" and want to discuss "hidden meanings" with you, although I don't think you'd have much difficulty with them.


----------



## limr

It's a good thing I have perfected the, "Don't even jammin' THINK of talking to me right now" face and vibe and can employ it at will


----------



## pgriz

Yeah, unless you get a really obtuse one like me who can't read the signals unless they're being pounded in atop the head.  I think my would-be wife figured that if I could be that oblivious, I might be some fun.


----------



## limr

Oh my god, I was so jammin' happy!!

 

The view from my bar seat...


----------



## Gary A.

BON APPETIT!


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Oh my god, I was so jammin' happy!!
> View attachment 96962
> 
> The view from my bar seat...
> View attachment 96963


Good book, good drink, good view, good company....  Yes, Happy Birthday!  Life is good.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> So, Buzz and his parents are taking me out to dinner tonight for my birthday. We're going to a very nice restaurant down county. I get off work earlier and am closer to the restaurant than they do/are, so I will have some time to kill. I'm planning on going to the restaurant and hanging out at the bar with a drink and a book. I'll have about an hour there by myself, drinking and reading. Heaven!


Okay, I realize I am just being nosy here, but where the hell is "down country?"   I've been down town and up town and even out of town but never down country.    By the way......Happy Birthday!!!


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, Buzz and his parents are taking me out to dinner tonight for my birthday. We're going to a very nice restaurant down county. I get off work earlier and am closer to the restaurant than they do/are, so I will have some time to kill. I'm planning on going to the restaurant and hanging out at the bar with a drink and a book. I'll have about an hour there by myself, drinking and reading. Heaven!
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, I realize I am just being nosy here, but where the hell is "down country?"   I've been down town and up town and even out of town but never down country.    By the way......Happy Birthday!!!
Click to expand...


Thank you for the birthday wishes!

And I wrote "down county" not "down country." Farther down in the county. In fact, it was all the way down at the bottom of the county. If you click on the second picture to view it larger, you'll see the NYC skyline.


----------



## limr

I'm bored, hosers.


----------



## waday

Me, too.


----------



## limr

It's Friday and time to watch the clock until 4:30...


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> I'm bored, hosers.



If you were about 8 years old, that would be a recipe for trouble.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm bored, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you were about 8 years old, that would be a recipe for trouble.
Click to expand...


Well, I'm 44 as of Wednesday, so that means it's a recipe for 5.5 times the trouble!


----------



## bribrius

morning coffee, afternoon coffee. Go for coffee..


----------



## pgriz

The difference being that by now you'd have learned how to channel that energy.  Or not.  Or you may know how to, but choose not to.  I'm almost never bored.  But the last time, I think it took emergency services half a day to restore order.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> The difference being that by now you'd have learned how to channel that energy.  Or not.  Or you may know how to, but choose not to.  I'm almost never bored.  But the last time, I think it took emergency services half a day to restore order.



Well, it is actually true that I am rarely bored when left to my own devices. When I'm semi-trapped, however, with limited resources or ability to cause mayhem, then some boredom creeps in.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> It's Friday and time to watch the clock until 4:30...


I've been doing that since Monday at 8:00 AM.


----------



## pgriz

Brian, your shadows are too harsh.  Go set up your softbox, background, etc., brew another pot, and then impress us with your lighting prowess.


----------



## rexbobcat

I channeled my boredom yesterday into exercising for the first time in several years and now it's just like






I think I might have channeled it poorly.


----------



## pgriz

I think you'll be fine.  It's when you can't raise them that you know you've gone overboard.  Or if you've laid down and can't get back up again - that's another hint.  Plus if your roommates tell you to stop moaning.


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> Brian, your shadows are too harsh.  Go set up your softbox, background, etc., brew another pot, and then impress us with your lighting prowess.


 quick and (sl)ea(z)sy on camera flash..


----------



## snowbear

Y'all are lucky.  I had the pleasure of driving through both the DC and the Baltimore rush hours yesterday morning.


----------



## bribrius

I seen a flying saucer once.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Y'all are lucky.  I had the pleasure of driving through both the DC and the Baltimore rush hours yesterday morning.



Gosh, that stinks, Charlie.

Have I mentioned my 2-mile commute lately?


----------



## snowbear

I had to drop off my map for the comp.  I get to go back on Tuesday for the conference, but otherwise, I'm off for a week.  My lovely wife is off for the next month (surgery on the other wrist/elbow on Monday).



sm4him said:


> Have I mentioned my 2-mile commute lately?


I hope it jammin' snows.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> I had to drop off my map for the comp.  I get to go back on Tuesday for the conference, but otherwise, I'm off for a week.  My lovely wife is off for the next month (surgery on the other wrist/elbow on Monday).
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have I mentioned my 2-mile commute lately?
> 
> 
> 
> I hope it jammin' snows.
Click to expand...


I hope it snows too.

In Switzerland.  

Hope the Surgery Redux goes well! Will you take time off with her?
I'm probably taking the first of my "in recognition of" days off on Monday, if the weather forecast holds. Supposed to be sunny and mid-70s--the rest of the week looks a bit milder and wetter...but still a whole lot better than the 32 with drizzle and sleet we had a week ago!


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had to drop off my map for the comp.  I get to go back on Tuesday for the conference, but otherwise, I'm off for a week.  My lovely wife is off for the next month (surgery on the other wrist/elbow on Monday).
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have I mentioned my 2-mile commute lately?
> 
> 
> 
> I hope it jammin' snows.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I hope it snows too.
> 
> In Switzerland.
> 
> Hope the Surgery Redux goes well! Will you take time off with her?
> I'm probably taking the first of my "in recognition of" days off on Monday, if the weather forecast holds. Supposed to be sunny and mid-70s--the rest of the week looks a bit milder and wetter...but still a whole lot better than the 32 with drizzle and sleet we had a week ago!
Click to expand...

Yes. I'll be off next week.  She made me register for the conference since we are giving a presentation on our "Adopt-a-Neighborhood" smoke detector program.  lazy_lobster will be here to help her out and I'll be here Wedneday through the following Monday, plus other days for doctor visits.


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday, Mary Lou's doctor gave her the green light to start walking ... so after six weeks her foot is healed. She's still on the scooter and a crutch, but at least she's putting weight on the foot.  Yesterday, was the second time she made it to the back yard. I had to pull up a ton of nasturtiums and sweet peas that had overgrown the succulents.


----------



## KenC

All this talk of surgery on here lately makes me feel really lucky.  I hope everyone recovers quickly and well.

Today I worked home again, which cuts the stress some.  After spending half the day in meetings yesterday it was better to be away for a bit.

I ran out to bring some files to a local photo print shop.  It's run by a really nice couple who know their stuff.  They have one of those industrial Epson printers that I think they said was five feet wide - hard to get my brain around that.  I used to think the Epson 2400 I had was big and it was 13 inches wide.  Anyhow, since I haven't had a printer set up for a couple of years, I needed to get some prints.  Some are just for tacking up on my board at work and a few are for framing.  Somewhat against my better judgment I'm entering some stuff in a mixed photo show at a local gallery.  It's a non-profit so I figure it's for a good cause.  I don't know if they'll want my semi-abstract minimalist nonsense because I don't know if that sells, but I do have some other stuff.  We'll see.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> All this talk of surgery on here lately makes me feel really lucky.  I hope everyone recovers quickly and well.
> 
> Today I worked home again, which cuts the stress some.  After spending half the day in meetings yesterday it was better to be away for a bit.
> 
> I ran out to bring some files to a local photo print shop.  It's run by a really nice couple who know their stuff.  They have one of those industrial Epson printers that I think they said was five feet wide - hard to get my brain around that.  I used to think the Epson 2400 I had was big and it was 13 inches wide.  Anyhow, since I haven't had a printer set up for a couple of years, I needed to get some prints.  Some are just for tacking up on my board at work and a few are for framing.  Somewhat against my better judgment I'm entering some stuff in a mixed photo show at a local gallery.  It's a non-profit so I figure it's for a good cause.  I don't know if they'll want my semi-abstract minimalist nonsense because I don't know if that sells, but I do have some other stuff.  We'll see.


Good luck on the contest. I think most contests are political and end up being a popularity contest as opposed to an objective judgement of photography. But, what the hell ... I hope there are no politics and you win.


----------



## bribrius

KenC said:


> All this talk of surgery on here lately makes me feel really lucky.  I hope everyone recovers quickly and well.
> 
> Today I worked home again, which cuts the stress some.  After spending half the day in meetings yesterday it was better to be away for a bit.
> 
> I ran out to bring some files to a local photo print shop.  It's run by a really nice couple who know their stuff.  They have one of those industrial Epson printers that I think they said was five feet wide - hard to get my brain around that.  I used to think the Epson 2400 I had was big and it was 13 inches wide.  Anyhow, since I haven't had a printer set up for a couple of years, I needed to get some prints.  Some are just for tacking up on my board at work and a few are for framing.  Somewhat against my better judgment I'm entering some stuff in a mixed photo show at a local gallery.  It's a non-profit so I figure it's for a good cause.  I don't know if they'll want my semi-abstract minimalist nonsense because I don't know if that sells, but I do have some other stuff.  We'll see.


good luck. I thought of entering one here but i am not allowed to. They have it listed in the rules no professionals to include anyone that has sold or has work for sale. Pretty much bans anyone with even a flikr.
I hardly consider myself a professional but am not allowed to enter. All good though i really don't care anyway. LOL I didn find their separation of amateur and professional interesting.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> All this talk of surgery on here lately makes me feel really lucky.  I hope everyone recovers quickly and well.
> 
> Today I worked home again, which cuts the stress some.  After spending half the day in meetings yesterday it was better to be away for a bit.
> 
> I ran out to bring some files to a local photo print shop.  It's run by a really nice couple who know their stuff.  They have one of those industrial Epson printers that I think they said was five feet wide - hard to get my brain around that.  I used to think the Epson 2400 I had was big and it was 13 inches wide.  Anyhow, since I haven't had a printer set up for a couple of years, I needed to get some prints.  Some are just for tacking up on my board at work and a few are for framing.  Somewhat against my better judgment I'm entering some stuff in a mixed photo show at a local gallery.  It's a non-profit so I figure it's for a good cause.  I don't know if they'll want my semi-abstract minimalist nonsense because I don't know if that sells, but I do have some other stuff.  We'll see.
> 
> 
> 
> good luck. I thought of entering one here but i am not allowed to. They have it listed in the rules no professionals to include anyone that has sold or has work for sale. Pretty much bans anyone with even a flikr.
> I hardly consider myself a professional but am not allowed to enter. All good though i really don't care anyway. LOL I didn find their separation of amateur and professional interesting.
Click to expand...

I have never sold a print.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Sooo...it turns out Buzz has a chance to win a Leica IIIc...which is the same camera he just bought. But now he could have a second one. Which means he'll have a spare... *hint hint*...which maybe a certain TPF member...*cough cough ME cough cough*... could use...*nudge nudge*...if he wins...*saynomore saynomore*...after some kind, generous, wonderful hosers go to this website and vote for him
> 
> (Vote for #6. Andrej! Leica iiic Competition - Vote on the final 10 - 35mmc)


think my order would go shelly, tim, damien.  which one is he?


----------



## bribrius

does anyone know what janet was shooting at???


----------



## Gary A.

He needs more votes.


----------



## limr

The rules were that pictures had to be taken with a point and shoot. The idea was to see who could get a shot using a cheap camera that was good enough to have come from any decent camera.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> He needs more votes.



I agree!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> does anyone now what janet was shooting at???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope.
> 
> The rules were that pictures had to be taken with a point and shoot. The idea was to see who could get a shot using a cheap camera that was good enough to have come from any decent camera.
Click to expand...

i took this with like a 6mp point and shoot. think it was a general electric.


----------



## Gary A.

Oly 2020


----------



## Gary A.

Oly 2020


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> He needs more votes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I agree!
Click to expand...

he is screwed. no camera for you. LOL  sorry. Least he made the top ten.


----------



## limr

Holga:



rs Jumping horse by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> He needs more votes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I agree!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> he is screwed. no camera for you. LOL  sorry. Least he made the top ten.
Click to expand...


Voting is open until the 20th. He ain't screwed yet! 

The top ten were chosen by the author from 200 entries. Then he put those ten to the vote.

For the record, I also think his picture is awesome, and I probably would have voted for his even if I had no idea who he was.


----------



## limr

Konstruktor:



Driveway by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## bribrius

general electric again i think. I dunno. I am pulling these from like ten years ago..


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> He needs more votes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I agree!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> he is screwed. no camera for you. LOL  sorry. Least he made the top ten.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Voting is open until the 20th. He ain't screwed yet!
> 
> The top ten were chosen by the author from 200 entries. Then he put those ten to the vote.
> 
> For the record, I also think his picture is awesome, and I probably would have voted for his even if I had no idea who he was.
Click to expand...

really cool contest. Love seeing people shoot good photos on not so great cameras.  The disposable camera one i liked too on there.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Sooo...it turns out Buzz has a chance to win a Leica IIIc...which is the same camera he just bought. But now he could have a second one. Which means he'll have a spare... *hint hint*...which maybe a certain TPF member...*cough cough ME cough cough*... could use...*nudge nudge*...if he wins...*saynomore saynomore*...after some kind, generous, wonderful hosers go to this website and vote for him
> 
> (Vote for #6. Andrej! Leica iiic Competition - Vote on the final 10 - 35mmc)


done


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> He needs more votes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I agree!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> he is screwed. no camera for you. LOL  sorry. Least he made the top ten.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Voting is open until the 20th. He ain't screwed yet!
> 
> The top ten were chosen by the author from 200 entries. Then he put those ten to the vote.
> 
> For the record, I also think his picture is awesome, and I probably would have voted for his even if I had no idea who he was.
Click to expand...


It pretty much rocks that he is at least one of the 10 finalists from that many entries.

I voted for him--his photo would have been one of my top 3 picks anyway; it's a tossup as to which one I would have picked if I didn't have a particular reason to pick him.

He's gonna have a tough time overtaking that Timothy Arrowtop, and that last guy, Harman, is close on Buzz's heels.  But neither of those guys have TPF to help out.
At least I don't think they do.


----------



## pgriz

Voted.  Good luck.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Sooo...it turns out Buzz has a chance to win a Leica IIIc...
> (Vote for #6. Andrej! Leica iiic Competition - Vote on the final 10 - 35mmc)


I just voted for the best photograph, which coincidentally was the one by Andrej.  

Good luck, Buzz!

Only 23 more votes and he would be in the lead!  

We could do that!


----------



## Designer

So you're saying that *cough* we could *cough* vote more than once? *cough * cough*

(edit) I returned to the site to see if I could vote again, and no, it does not offer me a second chance.  

Timothy Arrowtop has more friends, because his photograph is not the best one.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Buzz is a very good photographer. Most days I feel I can compete and then some days I feel like he's a lot better and I get pouty



I'm like that with...well, everybody.  Seriously.
Some days I really think I'm getting pretty dang good at this photography thing. Other days, I seriously look at photos from my fellow photography friends here or on FB, and I think, "I should just quit, take up basket weaving..."


----------



## limr

Yeah, pretty much nature of the beast, I suppose. The beasts being us, of course


----------



## limr

If anyone is interested, here's Buzz's post about the camera he used:
Meet the Camera Yashica J-Mini Filmosaur


----------



## Gary A.

I'm not like that ... when I see a photo which I admire ... which is better than anything I could take ... it motivates me to work harder. Back in the day, we used to call the real good photogs "Shooters".  As in, we're hanging around somewhere on assignment and Larry Burrows walks by, someone would say "hey ... there goes Burrows." Then someone else would chime in with respect and awe in their voice "... yeah, he's a shooter."


----------



## limr

Oh, it's pi day! 3.14. AND, take pi out to another two places, and it's 3.1415, so it's an extra special pi day this year that won't happen again until 2115.

Make sure you have some pi(e) today!


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I'm not like that ... when I see something which I admire ... which is better than anything I could take ... it motivates me to work harder. Back in the day, we used to call the real good photogs "Shooters".  As in, we're hanging around somewhere on assignment and Larry Burrows walks by, someone would say "hey ... there goes Burrows." Then someone else would chime in with respect and awe in their voice "... yeah, he's a shooter."



Well, it doesn't mean I don't try harder to get better. It just means I get a little pouty first, and then get to work


----------



## Gary A.

BTW- Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It gonna be warm today. Mary Lou is walking ... sorta. She wants to go to the nursery today. So I'm off to get a walk into the Cook, then off to the groomers, toss Mary Lou into the car and off to Blue Hills for some tomatoes, peppers, et al.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> He needs more votes.


Chicago-style!!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ...For the record, I also think his picture is awesome, and I probably would have voted for his even if I had no idea who he was.


It is indeed an excellent image; I do not for the life of me understand why #1 is out in front.  IMO, the only competition he has is the image immediately above him, and there probably aren't that many of us that find a big, old Lodge & Shipley all that sexy...


----------



## mmaria

voted

tried twice, phone and computer, couldn't do it


----------



## Gary A.

So why isn't Buzz a member of this fine establishment?


----------



## bribrius

voted for tim damien and james


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> voted for tim damien and james


Of course you did.  They look like your photographs.  You're keeping it all in the family.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Thank you, my dears!
> 
> That first guy definitely took a big lead early on. As for voting twice, it's not possible from the same computer or wireless connection. When I was at Buzz's last night, he voted for himself on his computer, and that's when we realized that voting for only one person gives that person all three votes. So I tried to vote on my phone, but it said I had already voted because it recognized the wireless network or something. When I got home after my book club and was on my home connection, I voted on my phone and it worked fine. So I'm going to try to vote again from my school computer and from the lawyer's office, just to see.
> 
> Buzz is a very good photographer. Most days I feel I can compete and then some days I feel like he's a lot better and I get pouty


In racing, we call that cheap early speed ... don't worry you have the power of TPF behind him. (Too bad we're going through all this effort for a non-member ...)


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> voted for tim damien and james
> 
> 
> 
> Of course you did.  They look like your photographs.  You're keeping it all in the family.
Click to expand...

i don't play favorites. If someone had a photo i thought was better than my own i would vote against myself. But hey, if they look like my photographs and all made it to the top ten i'll take that.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> So why isn't Buzz a member of this fine establishment?



We're both on Filmwasters, but we both also like to have some space that's just sort of our "own" - he gets more into the gear talk over at Rangefinders, and though I'm registered there, I think I've posted just a handful of times.  And TPF is sorta mine.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> And TPF is sorta mine.


----------



## pgriz

Oh, so THAT's where we need to go to talk about you behind your back...




Just kidding.  But I think it would be interesting to hear his opinions here.  On the other hand, if this space separation works for you two, then who are we to comment?


----------



## Derrel

Driving home last night, an elderly man in a Jeep Wagoneer drove by me slowly. On the right rear window was a Rush 2112 bumper sticker. I was amused.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Oh, so THAT's where we need to go to talk about you behind your back...
> 
> Just kidding.  But I think it would be interesting to hear his opinions here.  On the other hand, if this space separation works for you two, then who are we to comment?



Well he certainly has opinions!  I'm not sure how much critique he'd post here, though. We never really explicitly chose our corners, but just settled into places that we suited our particular interests better. We do shoot very similar things in some ways, but we definitely go about it differently.



Derrel said:


> Driving home last night, an elderly man in a Jeep Wagoneer drove by me slowly. On the right rear window was a Rush 2112 bumper sticker. I was amused.



Party on, Garth!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, so THAT's where we need to go to talk about you behind your back...
> 
> Just kidding.  But I think it would be interesting to hear his opinions here.  On the other hand, if this space separation works for you two, then who are we to comment?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well he certainly has opinions!  I'm not sure how much critique he'd post here, though. We never really explicitly chose our corners, but just settled into places that we suited our particular interests better. We do shoot very similar things in some ways, but we definitely go about it differently.
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> Driving home last night, an elderly man in a Jeep Wagoneer drove by me slowly. On the right rear window was a Rush 2112 bumper sticker. I was amused.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Party on, Garth!
Click to expand...

Great you are with someone with a similar interest as you. Probably helps learning as well as you can teach each other and grow in photography aspects. congrats


----------



## limr

Plus, he can fix my cameras when they break! 

In truth, we are remarkably suited to each other in a lot of ways. Photography is a common interest and we have found a way to make it work without stepping on each other's toes.


----------



## Designer

Derrel said:


> Driving home last night, an elderly man in a Jeep Wagoneer drove by me slowly. On the right rear window was a Rush 2112 bumper sticker. I was amused.


I'm clueless.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> Driving home last night, an elderly man in a Jeep Wagoneer drove by me slowly. On the right rear window was a Rush 2112 bumper sticker. I was amused.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm clueless.
Click to expand...


That was the album I was playing the other night, the first one I put on my new turntable:


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buzz is a very good photographer. Most days I feel I can compete and then some days I feel like he's a lot better and I get pouty
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm like that with...well, everybody.  Seriously.
> Some days I really think I'm getting pretty dang good at this photography thing. Other days, I seriously look at photos from my fellow photography friends here or on FB, and I think, "I should just quit, take up basket weaving..."
Click to expand...

i have accepted the fact my photos will diminish in quality as i learn new things. If i stuck with film, only film. I would gain a high level of proficiency. Stuck with even a point and shoot. My eye would be keen and akin to that camera and type of shooting. Stuck with a dslr and maybe specialized in either landscape or portraiture. I would have gained a level of profiency. But now, i basically do everything at once. My learning curve i steep. But in the end i think i become knowledgable all around (maybe). course i started as basically a film/jpeg snap shooter and when it is all said and done will probably go back to concentrating on primarily that again. I find the freedom of it uplifting. I gotta trudge through some mud though for now.  My little niece had a nice photo a couple weeks ago. She doesn't even know what a dslr is. Maybe the idea is to balance the tech/learning while still being able to go back to the creativity. I think a LOT of my stuff does suck. But the goal is to know at least proficient knowledge of most aspects of photography.  To be able to shoot about anything anywhere with about any photographic medium. My biggest concern is losing or not gaining creativity. My second is becoming too dependent on gear or post processing. Have to learn it though. Even if i will toss it out after and not use it. Just like i am trying to learn some lighting. Even if i have every intention of going back to being a snap shooter. I don't, want to become camera reliant. I am shooting with a point and shoot more recently (well i snuck a couple photos otherwise). I grounded myself from the dslr for a week.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> That was the album I was playing the other night, the first one I put on my new turntable:


Oh, thank you!


----------



## Derrel

I like side two of 2112 better than the opening side. 
Anywayyyyyyy, I just looked up 2112 on Wikipedia and lo and behold there's been an update release of 2112, done in 2012, with thee bonus cuts added to side two: 
*2012 Deluxe Edition bonus tracks
No.* *Title* *Length*
7. "I. Overture" (Live at Northlands Coliseum, 1981) 4:31
8. "II. The Temples of Syrinx" (Live at Northlands Coliseum - Edmonton, AB, Canada, June 25, 1981) 2:19
9. "A Passage to Bangkok" (Live at Manchester Apollo - Manchester, England, June 17, 1980) 3:57


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, Coffee Hosers!

My wife's a big Rush fan. She's got I think the entire discography on her iPod.

Potty training the kid. This is taking far less time and paper towels than I thought it would.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Howdy, Coffee Hosers!
> 
> My wife's a big Rush fan. She's got I think the entire discography on her iPod.
> 
> Potty training the kid. This is taking far less time and paper towels than I thought it would.


just set my two youngest at the kitchen table with play dough. so i might have five minutes until one of them is throwing the playdough or eating it. Good time to start a movie i might be able to finish it within a week (little increments)


----------



## Derrel

Designer said:
			
		

> *I'm clueless.*



Well, yeah...but we STILL love you!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Today has been hot ... dry and hot. Leo would have hated it, but it doesn't bother me. Busy day and Mary Lou can finally walk ... not well ... but she is walking. We purchased tons of tomatoes, peppers and herbs at Blue Hills Nursery (about 80 plants). I also picked up a container of Red Worms for my little vermiculture operation.  Now we're relaxing, drinking some Etude Chardonnay (good stuff), watching a Netflix "The Good Lie", (well worth watching) and enjoying the warmth of this day and the sounds of the wind chimes and watching the butterflies. Tomorrow I plant.


----------



## Designer

Derrel said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *I'm clueless.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, yeah...but we STILL love you!!!!
Click to expand...

I wondered if anyone would hit that hanging curve ball.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *I'm clueless.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, yeah...but we STILL love you!!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I wondered if anyone would hit that hanging curve ball.
Click to expand...

The high one ? .... (Man, I am so ready for baseball.)


----------



## minicoop1985

Potty training is going much better than anticipated. Muuuch better. Yay!


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Potty training is going much better than anticipated. Muuuch better. Yay!


Good, then pretty soon we can see you in big boy undies.


----------



## minicoop1985

^^^ What you did there... I sees it.


----------



## snerd




----------



## minicoop1985

Just think for a minute: that man is a US senator... (DON'T START A POLITICAL WAR)


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ...


----------



## minicoop1985

Sooo tired... can barely function...


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, folks.
We've been at the surgery center since 06:30,  My lovely wife has been "in the back" for about an hour.  Just killing time until I can go see her.


----------



## KenC

Best wishes on the surgery, Charlie.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Good morning, folks.
> We've been at the surgery center since 06:30,  My lovely wife has been "in the back" for about an hour.  Just killing time until I can go see her.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Good morning, folks.
> We've been at the surgery center since 06:30,  My lovely wife has been "in the back" for about an hour.  Just killing time until I can go see her.



Hope all goes smoothly and you get to see her soon!


----------



## Gary A.

I hope all goes well with the surgery ... keeping my fingers crossed.


----------



## limr

It's Spring Break this week, hosers, so that means it's Monday at 9:55 a.m. and I'm still in my pyjamas!  I still have to work for lawyer man T,Th, and F, but my two longest days are free this week. I can't tell you how much I need it, too. Last week especially was hectic and I was just catching a few hours of sleep. Then I crashed HARD this weekend. Today I'm planning on getting a lot of little things done, but it's very nice to be able to do these things more at my own pace.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> .... it's Monday at 9:55 a.m. and I'm still in my pyjamas!


Heathen!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> .... it's Monday at 9:55 a.m. and I'm still in my pyjamas!
> 
> 
> 
> Heathen!
Click to expand...


And proud of it! 

But don't worry - next Monday at this time, I'll be fully dressed and beginning my 10-hour work day.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was more shopping. We hit another nursery ... so more jammin' stuff to plant.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was more shopping. We hit another nursery ... so more jammin' stuff to plant.



Gardening is something I like in theory but never liked in practice. Probably because it forces me to be outdoors during the time of year I'd generally rather be indoors.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was more shopping. We hit another nursery ... so more jammin' stuff to plant.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gardening is something I like in theory but never liked in practice. Probably because it forces me to be outdoors during the time of year I'd generally rather be indoors.
Click to expand...

Mehh... it's just too darn much like work!  I can drive 5 minutes to the grocery store, and all the vegetables I could ever want (none, really) are there, cleaned, packaged and frozen.


----------



## waday

I love the outside part of gardening. That's the best part!

In a past life, I worked at a nursery. I used to count how many tons (literally) of mulch I'd place in people's cars. Each bag weighed ~40 pounds, and on busy days (specifically the weekend of Mother's day and those few weekends after it), I'd put hundreds of bags of mulch in people's cars. The place would get so overwhelmed with people that we had to direct traffic and parking. It was nuts.

Some people surprised me. They'd back their Mercedes sedan up to the gate and tell me to put 25 bags in the trunk. After filling the trunk with about 8 bags, they told me to just put the rest of it in the back seat. Dirty mulch on their spotless leather interior? I never understood why they didn't just buy it in bulk and have it delivered?

One couple came in and spent ~$1,000 on two smallish ornamental trees. Lots of money for odd looking plants. Anyways, wasn't my place to judge. Just to get the forklift and place the trees on the bed of a truck.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was more shopping. We hit another nursery ... so more jammin' stuff to plant.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gardening is something I like in theory but never liked in practice. Probably because it forces me to be outdoors during the time of year I'd generally rather be indoors.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mehh... it's just too darn much like work!  I can drive 5 minutes to the grocery store, and all the vegetables I could ever want (none, really) are there, cleaned, packaged and frozen.
Click to expand...


Veggies fresh from a garden taste ten times better than store-bought, and if I ever have a garden, it will be a vegetable garden. But I'd rather hire someone to do the actual gardening for me. If pushed, I suppose I could suck it up for the sake of fresh veggies, but I don't give a hoot about the flowers and decorative stuff. In the meantime, I buy my veggies from the farmers' markets when I can. And I make friends with people who have gardens because there's always more food than they can eat themselves


----------



## Designer

My son and DIL purchase a share in a local farm.  The farmers deliver a box of stuff every two weeks or so (IIRC). They usually don't know what will be in the box until it arrives, which adds another level of connection to the farm.  

They also purchase their Thanksgiving turkey from the same farm.  They have to order it in the spring.


----------



## bribrius

we usually do a garden every year.  Last year was a little small not a lot planted. We had fun with it three years back as we did his and hers gardens and made a competition of which would grow more. I lost, i planted everything to close and somewhat unorganized. My wifes nice neat rows perfectly spaced faired much better.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> I love the outside part of gardening. That's the best part!
> 
> In a past life, I worked at a nursery. I used to count how many tons (literally) of mulch I'd place in people's cars. Each bag weighed ~40 pounds, and on busy days (specifically the weekend of Mother's day and those few weekends after it), I'd put hundreds of bags of mulch in people's cars. The place would get so overwhelmed with people that we had to direct traffic and parking. It was nuts.
> 
> Some people surprised me. They'd back their Mercedes sedan up to the gate and tell me to put 25 bags in the trunk. After filling the trunk with about 8 bags, they told me to just put the rest of it in the back seat. Dirty mulch on their spotless leather interior? I never understood why they didn't just buy it in bulk and have it delivered?
> 
> One couple came in and spent ~$1,000 on two smallish ornamental trees. Lots of money for odd looking plants. Anyways, wasn't my place to judge. Just to get the forklift and place the trees on the bed of a truck.


I used to live next to a very very upscale city. (I think they're #1 on per capita cost of dwelling.) Many of the soccer and softball teams were composed of kids from the rich side ... and my side. I vividly remember the coach for Amy's softball team dumping the filthy baseball duffly into the trunk of his Rolls. (One would think that a person who can afford a Rolls would have a second car for dirty stuff.)


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was more shopping. We hit another nursery ... so more jammin' stuff to plant.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gardening is something I like in theory but never liked in practice. Probably because it forces me to be outdoors during the time of year I'd generally rather be indoors.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mehh... it's just too darn much like work!  I can drive 5 minutes to the grocery store, and all the vegetables I could ever want (none, really) are there, cleaned, packaged and frozen.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Veggies fresh from a garden taste ten times better than store-bought, and if I ever have a garden, it will be a vegetable garden. But I'd rather hire someone to do the actual gardening for me. If pushed, I suppose I could suck it up for the sake of fresh veggies, but I don't give a hoot about the flowers and decorative stuff. In the meantime, I buy my veggies from the farmers' markets when I can. And I make friends with people who have gardens because there's always more food than they can eat themselves
Click to expand...

it is a few hundred a year we proably spend on a garden all said and done. Between having cowchit and soil brought in, seeds, water, adding nutrients, spraying around it to stop bugs, landscape liners.  Adds up. We probably spend almost as much on the garden as if we just bought it from a store. But out of your own garden food is much better than buying it from a store. Our biggest thing is keeping it fenced off so the kids and dog don't go running through it or the animals dont get to it.


----------



## Gary A.

I have fresh veggies all year round. This morning Mary Lou pack her lunch, an orange and apple salad (from the yard), a turkey sandwich with kale she picked this morning. But we loved the colors of the flowers. We've been planting plants that attract hummingbirds and butterflies ... and they have established themselves so we have them all year round. On any given day, during any afternoon we have butterflies. Just sorta relaxing and nice to see these splashes of color floating across the yard. Last year two of my nearly planted grapes didn't make it threw the winter. So I traded the dead ones for new grapes, a Flame and a Merlot. And we picked up this wonderful red rose with these huge blooms. We have a little rose garden with 40+ roses. We've been planting succulents as a ground cover under them and various mints around the edges. Most of my veggies are in pots on a concrete slab in a side yard. The herbs are scattered amongst the ornamental stuff and I have Thyme as a ground cover around the koi/turtle pond.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was more shopping. We hit another nursery ... so more jammin' stuff to plant.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gardening is something I like in theory but never liked in practice. Probably because it forces me to be outdoors during the time of year I'd generally rather be indoors.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mehh... it's just too darn much like work!  I can drive 5 minutes to the grocery store, and all the vegetables I could ever want (none, really) are there, cleaned, packaged and frozen.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Veggies fresh from a garden taste ten times better than store-bought, and if I ever have a garden, it will be a vegetable garden. But I'd rather hire someone to do the actual gardening for me. If pushed, I suppose I could suck it up for the sake of fresh veggies, but I don't give a hoot about the flowers and decorative stuff. In the meantime, I buy my veggies from the farmers' markets when I can. And I make friends with people who have gardens because there's always more food than they can eat themselves
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> it is a few hundred a year we proably spend on a garden all said and done. Between having cowchit and soil brought in, seeds, water, adding nutrients, spraying around it to stop bugs, landscape liners.  Adds up. We probably spend almost as much on the garden as if we just bought it from a store. But out of your own garden food is much better than buying it from a store. Our biggest thing is keeping it fenced off so the kids and dog don't go running through it or the animals dont get to it.
Click to expand...

I'm always calculating actually cost versus spending the cost on store food. But most of my veggies are hard to get at stores, heirloom tomatoes, all the different peppers, fresh herbs, wine grapes, et al. I don't use pesticides and I fertilize with homemade compost and worm castings.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I love the outside part of gardening. That's the best part!
> 
> In a past life, I worked at a nursery. I used to count how many tons (literally) of mulch I'd place in people's cars. Each bag weighed ~40 pounds, and on busy days (specifically the weekend of Mother's day and those few weekends after it), I'd put hundreds of bags of mulch in people's cars. The place would get so overwhelmed with people that we had to direct traffic and parking. It was nuts.
> 
> Some people surprised me. They'd back their Mercedes sedan up to the gate and tell me to put 25 bags in the trunk. After filling the trunk with about 8 bags, they told me to just put the rest of it in the back seat. Dirty mulch on their spotless leather interior? I never understood why they didn't just buy it in bulk and have it delivered?
> 
> One couple came in and spent ~$1,000 on two smallish ornamental trees. Lots of money for odd looking plants. Anyways, wasn't my place to judge. Just to get the forklift and place the trees on the bed of a truck.
> 
> 
> 
> I used to live next to a very very upscale city. (I think they're #1 on per capita cost of dwelling.) Many of the soccer and softball teams were composed of kids from the rich side ... and my side. I vividly remember the coach for Amy's softball team dumping the filthy baseball duffly into the trunk of his Rolls. (One would think that a person who can afford a Rolls would have a second car for dirty stuff.)
Click to expand...

Very true. At least he is using the car to it's full potential.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was more shopping. We hit another nursery ... so more jammin' stuff to plant.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gardening is something I like in theory but never liked in practice. Probably because it forces me to be outdoors during the time of year I'd generally rather be indoors.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mehh... it's just too darn much like work!  I can drive 5 minutes to the grocery store, and all the vegetables I could ever want (none, really) are there, cleaned, packaged and frozen.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Veggies fresh from a garden taste ten times better than store-bought, and if I ever have a garden, it will be a vegetable garden. But I'd rather hire someone to do the actual gardening for me. If pushed, I suppose I could suck it up for the sake of fresh veggies, but I don't give a hoot about the flowers and decorative stuff. In the meantime, I buy my veggies from the farmers' markets when I can. And I make friends with people who have gardens because there's always more food than they can eat themselves
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> it is a few hundred a year we proably spend on a garden all said and done. Between having cowchit and soil brought in, seeds, water, adding nutrients, spraying around it to stop bugs, landscape liners.  Adds up. We probably spend almost as much on the garden as if we just bought it from a store. But out of your own garden food is much better than buying it from a store. Our biggest thing is keeping it fenced off so the kids and dog don't go running through it or the animals dont get to it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm always calculating actually cost versus spending the cost on store food. But most of my veggies are hard to get at stores, heirloom tomatoes, all the different peppers, fresh herbs, wine grapes, et al. I don't use pesticides and I fertilize with homemade compost and worm castings.
Click to expand...

we started using garden spray because we lost a lot one year from snails and whatever else was in there. And became very unhappy. so yeah. We caved. lol


----------



## bribrius

The interesting thing about me and the wifes competition was the difference in mentality. She turned out more food in the end from her garden. You know, she did real gardening. weeding, planning etc. Much more effort. ON my side the mentality was a little different. I think my production mentality came into play. Least amount of dollars and time for most amount of product. so Basically i put in one day on the entire thing, and didnt touch it after. I did no seedlings. Missed watering it regularly. Did no row planning or labeling. I just bought three times the amount of seeds and planted them with every intention of 1/3 not making it. As it was quicker.  so for amount produced. she won. For amount of money and time invested for amount produced. i won. Totally different mentalities between us. Which is probably a interesting case study in its own right. I actually took photos of her doing her garden instead of working in my own. For harvesting, it was such a random mix of what i put in we were looking stuff up on line trying to figure out what was what. Where as she knew what she planted and had them all labeled.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> The interesting thing about me and the wifes competition was the difference in mentality. She turned out more food in the end from her garden. You know, she did real gardening. weeding, planning etc. Much more effort. ON my side the mentality was a little different. I think my production mentality came into play. Least amount of dollars and time for most amount of product. so Basically i put in one day on the entire thing, and didnt touch it after. I did no seedlings. Missed watering it regularly. Did no row planning or labeling. I just bought three times the amount of seeds and planted them with every intention of 1/3 not making it. As it was quicker.  so for amount produced. she won. For amount of money and time invested for amount produced. i won. Totally different mentalities between us. Which is probably a interesting case study in its own right. I actually took photos of her doing her garden instead of working in my own. For harvesting, it was such a random mix of what i put in we were looking stuff up on line trying to figure out what was what. Where as she knew what she planted and had them all labeled.



Kinda sounds like you're talking about having children.


----------



## NancyMoranG

So how do the worms help?


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was more shopping. We hit another nursery ... so more jammin' stuff to plant.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gardening is something I like in theory but never liked in practice. Probably because it forces me to be outdoors during the time of year I'd generally rather be indoors.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mehh... it's just too darn much like work!  I can drive 5 minutes to the grocery store, and all the vegetables I could ever want (none, really) are there, cleaned, packaged and frozen.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Veggies fresh from a garden taste ten times better than store-bought, and if I ever have a garden, it will be a vegetable garden. But I'd rather hire someone to do the actual gardening for me. If pushed, I suppose I could suck it up for the sake of fresh veggies, but I don't give a hoot about the flowers and decorative stuff. In the meantime, I buy my veggies from the farmers' markets when I can. And I make friends with people who have gardens because there's always more food than they can eat themselves
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> it is a few hundred a year we proably spend on a garden all said and done. Between having cowchit and soil brought in, seeds, water, adding nutrients, spraying around it to stop bugs, landscape liners.  Adds up. We probably spend almost as much on the garden as if we just bought it from a store. But out of your own garden food is much better than buying it from a store. Our biggest thing is keeping it fenced off so the kids and dog don't go running through it or the animals dont get to it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm always calculating actually cost versus spending the cost on store food. But most of my veggies are hard to get at stores, heirloom tomatoes, all the different peppers, fresh herbs, wine grapes, et al. I don't use pesticides and I fertilize with homemade compost and worm castings.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> we started using garden spray because we lost a lot one year from snails and whatever else was in there. And became very unhappy. so yeah. We caved. lol
Click to expand...

I used a combo of mechanical and chemical for snail/slug. I toss what I can find into the pond for the koi and turtles ... chemically I make a 3:1 solution of ammonia/water and just spray them. More work than spreading pesticides but I figure the ammonia is a plus for the plants. The solution sorta melts the little bastards.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gardening is something I like in theory but never liked in practice. Probably because it forces me to be outdoors during the time of year I'd generally rather be indoors.
> 
> 
> 
> Mehh... it's just too darn much like work!  I can drive 5 minutes to the grocery store, and all the vegetables I could ever want (none, really) are there, cleaned, packaged and frozen.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Veggies fresh from a garden taste ten times better than store-bought, and if I ever have a garden, it will be a vegetable garden. But I'd rather hire someone to do the actual gardening for me. If pushed, I suppose I could suck it up for the sake of fresh veggies, but I don't give a hoot about the flowers and decorative stuff. In the meantime, I buy my veggies from the farmers' markets when I can. And I make friends with people who have gardens because there's always more food than they can eat themselves
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> it is a few hundred a year we proably spend on a garden all said and done. Between having cowchit and soil brought in, seeds, water, adding nutrients, spraying around it to stop bugs, landscape liners.  Adds up. We probably spend almost as much on the garden as if we just bought it from a store. But out of your own garden food is much better than buying it from a store. Our biggest thing is keeping it fenced off so the kids and dog don't go running through it or the animals dont get to it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm always calculating actually cost versus spending the cost on store food. But most of my veggies are hard to get at stores, heirloom tomatoes, all the different peppers, fresh herbs, wine grapes, et al. I don't use pesticides and I fertilize with homemade compost and worm castings.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> we started using garden spray because we lost a lot one year from snails and whatever else was in there. And became very unhappy. so yeah. We caved. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I used a combo of mechanical and chemical for snail/slug. I toss what I can find into the pond for the koi and turtles ... chemically I make a 3:1 solution of ammonia/water and just spray them. More work than spreading pesticides but I figure the ammonia is a plus for the plants. The solution sorta melts the little bastards.
Click to expand...

didn't know that. Someone else told me at the time to put some beer in a dish and supposedly they will crawl in and die or something. Didn't seem to work. Wasted some beer about it. Thanks for the tidbit.


----------



## Gary A.

NancyMoranG said:


> So how do the worms help?


Without worms, the world would have little topsoil and what soil there is, would be pretty crappy. Worms turn out two factions, one solid and one liquid, both are very rich for plants. Essentially, the worms create this micro-environment enabling the plants (root system) to easily absorb all the nutrients the plants require. The chemicals (potassium, nitrogen, et cetera), peoples dump under the heading of fertilizers, are difficult for the plants to utilize because they are in this pure/raw form. It is the micro-environment that is based upon the worm castings which facilitates the absorption and utilization of nutrients.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mehh... it's just too darn much like work!  I can drive 5 minutes to the grocery store, and all the vegetables I could ever want (none, really) are there, cleaned, packaged and frozen.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Veggies fresh from a garden taste ten times better than store-bought, and if I ever have a garden, it will be a vegetable garden. But I'd rather hire someone to do the actual gardening for me. If pushed, I suppose I could suck it up for the sake of fresh veggies, but I don't give a hoot about the flowers and decorative stuff. In the meantime, I buy my veggies from the farmers' markets when I can. And I make friends with people who have gardens because there's always more food than they can eat themselves
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> it is a few hundred a year we proably spend on a garden all said and done. Between having cowchit and soil brought in, seeds, water, adding nutrients, spraying around it to stop bugs, landscape liners.  Adds up. We probably spend almost as much on the garden as if we just bought it from a store. But out of your own garden food is much better than buying it from a store. Our biggest thing is keeping it fenced off so the kids and dog don't go running through it or the animals dont get to it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm always calculating actually cost versus spending the cost on store food. But most of my veggies are hard to get at stores, heirloom tomatoes, all the different peppers, fresh herbs, wine grapes, et al. I don't use pesticides and I fertilize with homemade compost and worm castings.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> we started using garden spray because we lost a lot one year from snails and whatever else was in there. And became very unhappy. so yeah. We caved. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I used a combo of mechanical and chemical for snail/slug. I toss what I can find into the pond for the koi and turtles ... chemically I make a 3:1 solution of ammonia/water and just spray them. More work than spreading pesticides but I figure the ammonia is a plus for the plants. The solution sorta melts the little bastards.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> didn't know that. Someone else told me at the time to put some beer in a dish and supposedly they will crawl in and die or something. Didn't seem to work. Wasted some beer about it. Thanks for the tidbit.
Click to expand...

A few days a week, after you put the kids to bed, grab a flashlight and go hunting, armed with a spritzer bottle. (After what slugs/snails to the plants you get some real satisfaction watching them melt.)  IIRC, I read that if you make the soil acidity (ala pH), the acid offends the slugs and snail and they will seek out more comfy housing elsewhere. I think the article spoke of spreading your fireplace ashes to increase the pH of the soil. Easy-Pezy.


----------



## snerd

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out...................

Morning, Hosers! Sipped down 2 cups of joe this morning. Then went down to Cable office and cancelled year plan I just signed up for. Their signal is hideous! I am so used to Dish, that I could not get used to the signal or the terrible software and channel guide. They look just plain pathetic compared to Dish's! So then I got on phone and moved my Dish service from old address to the new apartment here. Called the soon-to-be ex-wife and informed her of this, she'll have to get her own account now. She had somehow convinced them to start billing her name for the service that was in my name! I was still financially responsible for the equipment, so I just did a move to make it the easiest for everyone. Gives her a few days to get her account ready. I'm such a nice simian!


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> So how do the worms help?
> 
> 
> 
> Without worms, the world would have little topsoil and what soil there is, would be pretty crappy. Worms turn out two factions, one solid and one liquid, both are very rich for plants. Essentially, the worms create this micro-environment enabling the plants (root system) to easily absorb all the nutrients the plants require. The chemicals (potassium, nitrogen, et cetera), peoples dump under the heading of fertilizers, are difficult for the plants to utilize because they are in this pure/raw form. It is the micro-environment that is based upon the worm castings which facilitates the absorption and utilization of nutrients.
Click to expand...

i think i am getting screwed on my cow chit mix i buy. (granted it isn't just cow chit). Last time i paid like 60/yard from a semi local nursery. Which of course is buying it from farmers and mixing it. The biggest thing around here now is buying local seeds and organic seedlings.  i just can't see the point in paying three times the price for them though. In a green house environment it seems easier to grow organic as you are dealing with a closed environment that is more controllable.  I have this feeling if i tried to go totally organic and spent more money i would end up using a pesticide of some sort by the end of the growing season anyway. As it is out doors and i can't control pests as well. But what do i know about gardening? Not much. Is there a point in buying organic seedlings if you might end up pesticiding them anyway?


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out...................
> 
> Morning, Hosers! Sipped down 2 cups of joe this morning. Then went down to Cable office and cancelled year plan I just signed up for. Their signal is hideous! I am so used to Dish, that I could not get used to the signal or the terrible software and channel guide. They look just plain pathetic compared to Dish's! So then I got on phone and moved my Dish service from old address to the new apartment here. Called the soon-to-be ex-wife and informed her of this, she'll have to get her own account now. She had somehow convinced them to start billing her name for the service that was in my name! I was still financially responsible for the equipment, so I just did a move to make it the easiest for everyone. Gives her a few days to get her account ready. I'm such a nice simian!


i keep cable because i have phone/internet/tv all on one bill. I had dish before which worked well (except for it going out in the occasional storm or some hemisphere issue lol) but really just like the convenience and saving of having one bill. If i buy the box for free internet phone so i dont pay for phone then i might consider going back to dish as then i would at least only have two bills not three and only two carriers not three to deal with. so far i just like paying the cable and having it all in one, less headache. I also dont pay for the added boxes/receivers. Just a modem. Not into tv enough for dvrs and receivers and all set with paying the cable companies rental fee. I think with dish they hold you liable for the receivers. My kids break everything. i dont need that..  Last i heard dish internet pretty much sucked too, so there is that.


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon, hosers. 

Our theory on gardening: less garden, more grass. Our garden is a mess of weeds. We need to just mow it over and get it over with.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> Afternoon, hosers.
> 
> Our theory on gardening: less garden, more grass. Our garden is a mess of weeds. We need to just* mow* it over and get it over with.


Again, sounds like an awful lot of work.  There is an easier way...


----------



## bribrius

can't believe i am even in a gardening discussion when i still have two or three feet of snow out there.


----------



## KenC

I favor this myself - you don't have to clean up after it:

SYNLawn artificial grass never looked more natural.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks for the thoughts & words.  We've been home for a while; everything went well. The nerves in the left arm were a bit more twisted up than the right side.  They used a nerve block so she's good until about 02:00.  I've picked up ice, her meds and a few little things for her (ice cream, crackers).  She'll have something light for dinner while the lobster and I just order a pizza -- too tired to really cook.


----------



## limr

What up, hoserrrrrrrrs?


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> What up, hoserrrrrrrrs?


I'm stalling (again).  I did the dishes and carried out the trash, but I am finishing my tea while thinking about jumping into the drywall.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> What up, hoserrrrrrrrs?
> 
> 
> 
> I'm stalling (again).  I did the dishes and carried out the trash, but I am finishing my tea while thinking about jumping into the drywall.
Click to expand...

 Sounds painful...  maybe just kick it instead?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> What up, hoserrrrrrrrs?
> 
> 
> 
> I'm stalling (again).  I did the dishes and carried out the trash, but I am finishing my tea while thinking about jumping into the drywall.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sounds painful...  maybe just kick it instead?
Click to expand...


*snark*


----------



## Designer

I'm glad to know someone is reading my posts! 

I may not jump in immediately, but when I do, I jump in with both feet!


----------



## Derrel

First cup of coffee just served up...annnnnd...it's not very good.


----------



## limr

Derrel said:


> First cup of coffee just served up...annnnnd...it's not very good.



What the hell??

Speaking of which, I need another cup right about now.


----------



## limr

Hey, check out the coffee cup! (Plus, that should really be changed to "cat"... )


----------



## Derrel

And *suscessful*'s spelling ought to be corrected...


----------



## limr

Derrel said:


> And *suscessful*'s spelling ought to be corrected...



Ha! You're right! I was distracted by the Coffee House on the cup.


----------



## Derrel

You must be drawn to _the fine print_ these days...probably due to all of that legal eagle training you've recently undergone...


----------



## limr

Derrel said:


> You must be drawn to _the fine print_ these days...probably due to all of that legal eagle training you've recently undergone...



It's amazing I can still read at all, given how cross-eyed I've been lately


----------



## pgriz

Ah, you're not cross-eyed.  It's the side effect of trying to get two or three completely irreconcilable ideas into the same legal document.  Usually caused by close reading of the actual clauses and then trying to piece out the logic, out of the over-reaching language. Sometimes, it just can't be done.  I speak from experience.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Ah, you're not cross-eyed.  It's the side effect of trying to get two or three completely irreconcilable ideas into the same legal document.  Usually caused by close reading of the actual clauses and then trying to piece out the logic, out of the over-reaching language. Sometimes, it just can't be done.  I speak from experience.



This really is my big problem with reading legal stuff. My brain is pretty good at clearing through crap to get to the meaning of something as long as something resembling logic is being employed in what I'm reading. There's just very little that resembles logic in most legal code. Some is worse than others.

This is why I prefer criminal law. Well, another reason. I had to wade through probate law and business law in the past week or so, and it's a friggin' nightmare. The penal code is soooooo much easier.


----------



## pgriz

Most legal drafts are weapons, set to "stupify".  Sadly, they succeed.  But I realize that there's a good reason for that.  Lawyers write legal documents to ensure themselves lots of work after the fact, in "interpreting" (for a fee, of course) what was meant.  If it was clear, what's the need for that service?   This follows the business model for consultants, that you charge a client the full rate to understand and solve their problem, and then you charge all subsequent clients the same full loaded rate, even though you now have 80% of the work already done.


----------



## minicoop1985

Speaking legalese isn't the easiest thing on earth. I'm lucky in that I have lawyers for parents. They interpret what I don't understand.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, Happy St. Paddy's Day!


----------



## bribrius

just started watching 3 days of condor.  I think i seen this once, and i liked it.


----------



## snowbear

Long day number two.  The TUgis (Towson University GIS conference) is now a memory.  The conference was good, our presentation went well, but my map didn't win anything.  Two out of three is OK, though.


----------



## Gary A.

It was fixed. I think you were robbed.


----------



## limr

I agree. You was robbed, man. Robbed!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. What a rough night ... my allergies are killing me. I am so miserable ... on top of my everyday old man grumpiness ... I am no fun right now so stay the jammin' away.


----------



## Gary A.

On another note, Smugmug, who hosts my photos, came out with a notice that they are using a different server provider and that the stats will now include your visits to the site.  Usually I get about 100,000 hits in any given 30 day period, so I decided to take a look at the stats .... more than 250,000 hits. I'm thinking ... naahhh that extra 150,000 can't be me. I received 50,000+ for the Peace March and 30,000+ the JACA Dog Show ... I'm guessing the remaining 2/3rds must be me checking myself out. 

I think 100,000 hits per month is good, but I haven't anything for a comparison. What are you guys/gals getting on your photosites?


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> On another note, Smugmug, who hosts my photos, came out with a notice that they are using a different server provider and that the stats will now include your visits to the site.  Usually I get about 100,000 hits in any given 30 day period, so I decided to take a look at the stats .... more than 250,000 hits. I'm thinking ... naahhh that extra 150,000 can't be me. I received 50,000+ for the Peace March and 30,000+ the JACA Dog Show ... I'm guessing the remaining 2/3rds must be me checking myself out.
> 
> I think 100,000 hits per month is good, but I haven't anything for a comparison. What are you guys/gals getting on your photosites?


 You know what... I've never looked!  I get a daily e-mail from my service provider with all the stats on it, and I've never bothered to check it out.  I'm friggin' horrible at all that stuff. I'd say 100K is very good however.


----------



## NancyMoranG

bribrius said:


> just started watching 3 days of condor.  I think i seen this once, and i liked it.


I really like that movie! Enjoy.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> On another note, Smugmug, who hosts my photos, came out with a notice that they are using a different server provider and that the stats will now include your visits to the site.  Usually I get about 100,000 hits in any given 30 day period, so I decided to take a look at the stats .... more than 250,000 hits. I'm thinking ... naahhh that extra 150,000 can't be me. I received 50,000+ for the Peace March and 30,000+ the JACA Dog Show ... I'm guessing the remaining 2/3rds must be me checking myself out.
> 
> I think 100,000 hits per month is good, but I haven't anything for a comparison. What are you guys/gals getting on your photosites?


i think i have 10 hits a month on 500px. Pretty much right after a pic posts it gets a few hits then disappears into oblivion within a hour and goes unnoticed. so i would say you are doing quite well compared to me.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, everyone.



Gary A. said:


> It was fixed. I think you were robbed.





limr said:


> I agree. You was robbed, man. Robbed!


No - popular voting.  It isn't a flashy map - just a wall map for a fire station.  Maybe I came in third.



Gary A. said:


> I think 100,000 hits per month is good, but I haven't anything for a comparison. What are you guys/gals getting on your photosites?


Sounds like a good number to me.  My numbers - maybe one or two a week?


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> Good morning, everyone.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It was fixed. I think you were robbed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I agree. You was robbed, man. Robbed!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No - popular voting.  It isn't a flashy map - just a wall map for a fire station.  Maybe I came in third.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think 100,000 hits per month is good, but I haven't anything for a comparison. What are you guys/gals getting on your photosites?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sounds like a good number to me.  My numbers - maybe one or two a week?
Click to expand...

i like the black car photo.


----------



## bribrius

but my taste is a little eccentric.. so everyone else probably hates it


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, everyone.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It was fixed. I think you were robbed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I agree. You was robbed, man. Robbed!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No - popular voting.  It isn't a flashy map - just a wall map for a fire station.  Maybe I came in third.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think 100,000 hits per month is good, but I haven't anything for a comparison. What are you guys/gals getting on your photosites?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sounds like a good number to me.  My numbers - maybe one or two a week?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> i like the black car photo.
Click to expand...

My first car - '62 Fairlane.  My grandfather was the first owner, then my mother had it.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, everyone.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It was fixed. I think you were robbed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I agree. You was robbed, man. Robbed!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No - popular voting.  It isn't a flashy map - just a wall map for a fire station.  Maybe I came in third.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think 100,000 hits per month is good, but I haven't anything for a comparison. What are you guys/gals getting on your photosites?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sounds like a good number to me.  My numbers - maybe one or two a week?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> i like the black car photo.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My first car - '62 Fairlane.  My grandfather was the first owner, then my mother had it.
Click to expand...

nice. I like the oldness and flaws in it. Makes it look authentic. I am into authentic looking images that don't look like they are trying to hard.. I would put something as simple as that on one of my walls. seriously.


----------



## snowbear

Oldness - yes.  That was taken about 1973; possibly with a Kodak Instamatic 126 - I don't remember.  It's a scanned print.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> Oldness - yes.  That was taken about 1973; possibly with a Kodak Instamatic 126 - I don't remember.  It's a scanned print.


yeah i kind of figured it was scanned it said scanned.


----------



## minicoop1985

Speaking of scanning, I need to scan my shots from the Memphis trip. Been too damned lazy to do it.


----------



## limr

Well, I woke up with a case of post-modern malaise, so I did the only thing I could do: put on my hipster sneakers, loaded the K1000, and headed to Brooklyn.


----------



## oldhippy

What beautiful juxtaposition on two fronts. The blue in the sky and umbrella.  Secondly the casual with the urbane. Beside I like the comp, and I feel this is one of the best you have posted.  Later Ed


----------



## limr

oldhippy said:


> What beautiful juxtaposition on two fronts. The blue in the sky and umbrella.  Secondly the casual with the urbane. Beside I like the comp, and I feel this is one of the best you have posted.  Later Ed



Awww, thanks, Ed!


----------



## KenC

Well, Brooklyn is a great place.

I agree with Ed, but I'd crop just enough too get rid of that stuff sticking out of the water along the right edge.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Well, Brooklyn is a great place.
> 
> I agree with Ed, but I'd crop just enough too get rid of that stuff sticking out of the water along the right edge.



How's this? I also straightened it a bit and bumped contrast just a tiny bit. A phone can only do so much


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, Brooklyn is a great place.
> 
> I agree with Ed, but I'd crop just enough too get rid of that stuff sticking out of the water along the right edge.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How's this? I also straightened it a bit and bumped contrast just a tiny bit. A phone can only do so much
> View attachment 97297
Click to expand...

if you are going to do that though, you might as well have shot it in digital. It is nolonger the film and film developing. so you say it was shot film. But it was actually still digitally manipulated. which even your first version i wondered if it was to be honest. it is a nice photo.


----------



## limr

It IS a digital photo. Never said it was film, only that I had my K1000 with me. I haven't had time to develop the rolls of film I shot. That was just a phone snap.

And though I digitize my negatives and do post processing on them digitally, that doesn't mean that I should just start shooting digital.


----------



## Warhorse

Nice cell phone pic!

Which phone were you using there.


----------



## limr

Warhorse said:


> Nice cell phone pic!
> 
> Which phone were you using there.



Thanks  It's a Samsung Galaxy S4.


----------



## NancyMoranG

It's been a year since I was in Brooklyn, but when did they put those tables and umbrellas up?


----------



## KenC

Nice edit, Leonore.

I'm having my coffee and a raisin croissant and warming up.  It's cold out there this morning - about 29 when I left the house.


----------



## limr

NancyMoranG said:


> It's been a year since I was in Brooklyn, but when did they put those tables and umbrellas up?



It was fairly recent. This was in Brooklyn Bridge Park, and they've apparently put HUGE amounts of money into pretty-fying the area. There is the promenade and walking path, landscaping, a picnic/bbq area, a big soccer field, even a 'fishing station' or something that has stainless steel sinks to gut your fish.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> It IS a digital photo. Never said it was film, only that I had my K1000 with me. I haven't had time to develop the rolls of film I shot. That was just a phone snap.
> 
> And though I digitize my negatives and do post processing on them digitally, that doesn't mean that I should just start shooting digital.


that totally through me off with the k1000 comment in your o.p and the pic. You wouldnt believe how many times i went back to look at that last night with a wth? trying to figure that out. I thought i had been drinking but i don't even drink much anymore.


----------



## pgriz

Leonore, I think you're showing that the tools matter less than the person using them.  Cellphone or not, that is a well seen, well composed image.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Leonore, I think you're showing that the tools matter less than the person using them.  Cellphone or not, that is a well seen, well composed image.





I did take the same shot on film. Now I'm really curious to see how it comes out.


----------



## limr

Speaking of gutted, that's how I feel right now. I forgot to stop at the grocery store last night and now I have no K-cups at the lawyer's office. The only ones in the kitchen area are Green Mountain decaf. There's just no point to that.

I pout


----------



## NancyMoranG

Anybody have a minute to look at my post in the Graphics Forum? I posted a problem with my panorama but everyone seems to be here or looking at Maria's NSFW topic 
Thanks.


----------



## tirediron

NancyMoranG said:


> Anybody have a minute to look at my post in the Graphics Forum? I posted a problem with my panorama but everyone seems to be here or looking at Maria's NSFW topic
> Thanks.


 Well... d'uhh...


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Speaking of gutted, that's how I feel right now. I forgot to stop at the grocery store last night and now I have no K-cups at the lawyer's office. The only ones in the kitchen area are Green Mountain decaf. There's just no point to that.
> 
> I pout


 Being the cheap proll that I am, I use one of these when I'm forced to get my go-juice from one of those infernal machines.  Much, much, MUCH cheaper, and you can get exactly what you want.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Speaking of gutted, that's how I feel right now. I forgot to stop at the grocery store last night and now I have no K-cups at the lawyer's office. The only ones in the kitchen area are Green Mountain decaf. There's just no point to that.
> 
> I pout
> 
> 
> 
> Being the cheap proll that I am, I use one of these when I'm forced to get my go-juice from one of those infernal machines.  Much, much, MUCH cheaper, and you can get exactly what you want.
Click to expand...


I can't be fussed with that. If I had a Keurig machine at home, I probably would get one, but I don't and have no interest in getting one. I only started buying the K-cups recently because we got a machine at my admin job on campus. When I started at the lawyer's, I realized they have one in the kitchen, too, so I starting buying the cups to have coffee at work. It's cheaper than having to buy a coffee at the cafeteria (and at the lawyers, I'd have to drive into town). I used to bring a Thermos, but the coffee just doesn't hold up as well as I'd like it to and I ended up not drinking it anyway. 

But I can't be bothered to keep ground coffee at work so I can stuff one of those fillable cups. Plus, the coffee would get stale and that's just as gross as the Green Mountain decaf cups


----------



## waday

limr said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's been a year since I was in Brooklyn, but when did they put those tables and umbrellas up?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was fairly recent. This was in Brooklyn Bridge Park, and they've apparently put HUGE amounts of money into pretty-fying the area. There is the promenade and walking path, landscaping, a picnic/bbq area, a big soccer field, even a 'fishing station' or something that has stainless steel sinks to gut your fish.
Click to expand...

Brooklyn has been exploding.. well, certain sections, at least. My in-laws live (own) in Bushwick. It used to be an often overlooked area, and quite scary to boot. Now, hipsters everywhere. Open air bars. Fancy bike racks have been installed. Trash cans have been placed. (Litter was a huge problem before.)

And prices are skyrocketing.

A condo just down the street from my in-laws, 2 bedroom, around 900-square feet, is starting at ~$700,000. A 1-bedroom apartment will cost you about $2,000 in rent. My in-laws are happy, but they are committed to not selling.


----------



## snowbear

NancyMoranG said:


> Anybody have a minute to look at my post in the Graphics Forum? I posted a problem with my panorama but everyone seems to be here or looking at Maria's NSFW topic
> Thanks.


Where the heck is the Graphics Forum?

Never mind - I found it.


----------



## minicoop1985

Augh, long day at work. Still feels good, but a long day nonetheless.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anybody have a minute to look at my post in the Graphics Forum? I posted a problem with my panorama but everyone seems to be here or looking at Maria's NSFW topic
> Thanks.
> 
> 
> 
> Where the heck is the Graphics Forum?
> 
> Never mind - I found it.
Click to expand...


Ha! I cheated--I just went to her profile page and found her recent threads. Much easier than hunting for the right forum.


----------



## snerd

Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## limr

WHYYYYYYYYYYYY???


----------



## pgriz

Because, Leonore.  Classic case of pouring 2 litres (cups in your case) into a 1 liter (cup) vessel.


----------



## bribrius

damn it. Remember the photo of the guy sitting in a room with a coffee table and record player? Kind of dark? i just went looking for it, can't find it. Anyone got a idea on where it is or the thread title?


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Because, Leonore.  Classic case of pouring 2 litres (cups in your case) into a 1 liter (cup) vessel.



It cannot be unseen!


----------



## snerd

Evening, hosers! Saw bones drained off almost 20ml fluid from shoulder today. It's been swelling up for the past few weeks and hurting pretty bad. It's either an infection or a reaction to the artificial joint. They sent the fluid off for testing. Had 2 hollow nails for needles in shoulder at one point........... ouch!! It's helped a lot, but it's still somewhat swollen. He also said there is some inflamed tissue in there. Sorry for above pic Lenny................ I think I was still still a little flakey from procedure.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Evening, hosers! Saw bones drained off almost 20ml fluid from shoulder today. It's been swelling up for the past few weeks and hurting pretty bad. It's either an infection or a reaction to the artificial joint. They sent the fluid off for testing. Had 2 hollow nails for needles in shoulder at one point........... ouch!! It's helped a lot, but it's still somewhat swollen. He also said there is some inflamed tissue in there. Sorry for above pic Lenny................ I think I was still still a little flakey from procedure.


yeah. That sounds like wicked fun (not really). HOpe you are dOinG betTEr.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Pleeeeasseee, tell me that is NOT a real photo!!
Ugh, and I have only had 1 sip of my coffee!! Maybe it's a nightmare since I am not awake yet :{

Going to the gym and meeting trainer at 7:30. This is my 5 th time with him. I have learned to squat correctly still working on anything else. Oh, I went from 1 push-up to 6....geez.


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> damn it. Remember the photo of the guy sitting in a room with a coffee table and record player? Kind of dark? i just went looking for it, can't find it. Anyone got a idea on where it is or the thread title?


The thread title is: "Dark Room"


----------



## sm4him

GUESS what day it is??
Guess WHAT day it is!!
Do you know? Huh? Huh?

It's SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Glorious Spring!





Well, at least at 6:45 p.m. EST, it will be.


----------



## KenC

snerd said:


> Evening, hosers! Saw bones drained off almost 20ml fluid from shoulder today. It's been swelling up for the past few weeks and hurting pretty bad. It's either an infection or a reaction to the artificial joint. They sent the fluid off for testing. Had 2 hollow nails for needles in shoulder at one point........... ouch!! It's helped a lot, but it's still somewhat swollen. He also said there is some inflamed tissue in there. Sorry for above pic Lenny................ I think I was still still a little flakey from procedure.



Don't they use leeches anymore?  That probably would have hurt less.  I hope it continues to improve.


----------



## KenC

Yeah, Spring, well it's snowing here and about 33 degrees.  Fortunately I am working at home.  Now, about that coffee so I can actually get some work done ...


----------



## limr

First day of spring and it's going to snow today, they say. I love it that winter always goes down fighting.  One more reason I love it.

For the record, I have nothing against spring, except that it leads to the hated summer season. Well, and the headaches.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> damn it. Remember the photo of the guy sitting in a room with a coffee table and record player? Kind of dark? i just went looking for it, can't find it. Anyone got a idea on where it is or the thread title?
> 
> 
> 
> The thread title is: "Dark Room"
Click to expand...

Thank you sir. It was on my potm potential list and i "lost" track of it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It has cooled off a bit here going from hot back down to perfect. Yesterday was tough. Steven, Mary Lou's youngest son had his car stolen. He's a student, works at BJ's as a server ... and someone, (most probably a junkie), stole his 1992 Acura. What else ticks me off you ask ...??? The Boston Marathon trial ticks me off. At the beginning of the trial I thought about how I would feel if one of my kids or family were severely injured or murdered by the Tsarnaev's ... the more I placed myself in that position ... the more angry I became. I know, if I was to testify, I know I would be found in contempt ... I would really cut loose on the remaining effin' coward ... regardless of consequences to myself.


----------



## Designer

The perps's lawyer is no doubt jumping for joy at the incompetence of the prosecutor.  Whose idea was it to bring in the injured to testify in the guilty phase of the trial?  This has the stink of collusion on it.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It has cooled off a bit here going from hot back down to perfect. Yesterday was tough. Steven, Mary Lou's youngest son had his car stolen. He's a student, works at BJ's as a server ... and someone, (most probably a junkie), stole his 1992 Acura. What else ticks me off you ask ...??? The Boston Marathon trial ticks me off. At the beginning of the trial I thought about how I would feel if one of my kids or family were severely injured or murdered by the Tsarnaev's ... the more I placed myself in that position ... the more angry I became. I know, if I was to testify, I know I would be found in contempt ... I would really cut loose on the remaining effin' coward ... regardless of consequences to myself.


meh. Nevermind the bombers the biggest infringement was the freedom lock down, million dollars spent trying to find one guy, the ineptitude and infringement on civil liberties in the after math. Apparently any time a bomb goes off you can spend a couple million and tromp all over everyones rights and still can't find a guy hiding in a boat a couple blocks away.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> First day of spring and it's going to snow today, they say. I love it that winter always goes down fighting.  One more reason I love it.
> 
> For the record, I have nothing against spring, except that it leads to the hated summer season. Well, and the headaches.



We are complete opposites in that, but I can empathize because it's exactly the same for me with fall and winter. I love Spring BECAUSE it leads to summer, my absolute favorite time of the year. 
On the other hand, even though fall is beautiful, and even the fall weather around here is usually quite nice, I can just never fully appreciate Fall because it leads to winter. And winter makes me want to just give up.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay ... sipping my coffee ... calming down ... breathe Gary ... on the flip side ... My Bose Cinemate GS series II speakers came in ... it sounds great. If Leo was closer I'd invite her and her turntable over for a spin ... (but then she'd want to play Rush ...). Along with the speakers came along a pair of Bose, noise canceling headphones. A lens came in from B&H that they want me to review. IIRC, it's a 40mm, f/1.8, Fuji X mount, made by some third party lens maker. So now I have to make time for that. But the weather is back to perfect and the backyard is blooming. Yesterday, a friend came over to help install the Bose. (I really didn't need any help but it was easier with him. He did the demo and installation and I poured the wine.) He calls himself a photographer but ... he's a collector. He likes the latest and greatest equipment ... but doesn't really understand photography beyond the basics. He has the Sony A7S ... that is one camera I am tempted to get.


----------



## bribrius

55-70 degrees works for me. This planet needs some climate control it is ridiculous.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Okay ... sipping my coffee ... calming down ... breathe Gary ... on the flip side ... My Bose Cinemate GS series II speakers came in ... it sounds great. If Leo was closer I'd invite her and her turntable over for a spin ... (but then she'd want to play Rush ...). Along with the speakers came along a pair of Bose, noise canceling headphones. A lens came in from B&H that they want me to review. IIRC, it's a 40mm, f/1.8, Fuji X mount, made by some third party lens maker. So now I have to make time for that. But the weather is back to perfect and the backyard is blooming. Yesterday, a friend came over to help install the Bose. (I really didn't need any help but it was easier with him. He did the demo and installation and I poured the wine.) He calls himself a photographer but ... he's a collector. He likes the latest and greatest equipment ... but doesn't really understand photography beyond the basics. He has the Sony A7S ... that is one camera I am tempted to get.


how do you get into the gig of reviewing equipment? That sounds fun (albeit time consuming)


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Okay ... sipping my coffee ... calming down ... breathe Gary ... on the flip side ... My Bose Cinemate GS series II speakers came in ... it sounds great. If Leo was closer I'd invite her and her turntable over for a spin ... (but then she'd want to play Rush ...). Along with the speakers came along a pair of Bose, noise canceling headphones. A lens came in from B&H that they want me to review. IIRC, it's a 40mm, f/1.8, Fuji X mount, made by some third party lens maker. So now I have to make time for that. But the weather is back to perfect and the backyard is blooming. Yesterday, a friend came over to help install the Bose. (I really didn't need any help but it was easier with him. He did the demo and installation and I poured the wine.) He calls himself a photographer but ... he's a collector. He likes the latest and greatest equipment ... but doesn't really understand photography beyond the basics. He has the Sony A7S ... that is one camera I am tempted to get.



I'd totally bring my turntable, and I don't _have _to play Rush. My taste in music is quite eclectic.

Last night, Buzz came over and we listened to records like we were teenagers  We played Devo and The Misfits. I want to go find some jazz records. And it seems my local Barnes and Noble has started carrying vinyl. I found a copy of "Cold Fact" by Rodriguez (the subject of the documentary "Looking for Sugar Man." Seriously folks, watch it! It's awesome.) I didn't buy it but I've been thinking about it ever since, and I think I'll go tomorrow to pick it up. They have it on Amazon for a few dollars cheaper, but I think I'll spend my money more locally so I can help that Barnes and Noble stay in business. I know it's a chain, but I want to keep my local branch of that chain open!

And I think I need some Zeppelin!


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> GUESS what day it is??
> Guess WHAT day it is!!
> Do you know? Huh? Huh?
> 
> It's SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Glorious Spring!
> 
> View attachment 97377
> 
> Well, at least at 6:45 p.m. EST, it will be.



And we had a dusting of snow on the grassy areas when I got up.  It's pretty much gone, washed away by the rain.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> GUESS what day it is??
> Guess WHAT day it is!!
> Do you know? Huh? Huh?
> 
> It's SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Glorious Spring!
> 
> View attachment 97377
> 
> Well, at least at 6:45 p.m. EST, it will be.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And we had a dusting of snow on the grassy areas when I got up.  It's pretty much gone, washed away by the rain.
Click to expand...


Yeah, my brother in DC was lamenting on FB this morning about winter's refusal to just Let It Go. 
Oh Lord…I've never even SEEN "Frozen," and I'm starting to make jokes about it. 

Actually, my  brother's exact words were: "Okay, winter, let me just say this: you're being a dick. You've long overstayed your welcome. And snow on the first day of spring? Well, you're just giving us the finger. We don't want you around here anymore. Go away."


----------



## sm4him

In other news: My youngest son got a haircut last night.

That might not seem like "news" but THIS was S before:



And THIS is S this morning:


I had NO idea he was planning to cut it, and those two photos were the first thing I saw on FB this morning, just as I was about to sip my first coffee of the morning. It's a wonder I didn't drop the coffee cup!

He has not had hair that short in, I'd say, just over a decade.

EDIT: Oh, and that artwork behind him in the second photo--that one of HIS pieces. He's quite talented!


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It has cooled off a bit here going from hot back down to perfect. Yesterday was tough. Steven, Mary Lou's youngest son had his car stolen. He's a student, works at BJ's as a server ... and someone, (most probably a junkie), stole his 1992 Acura. What else ticks me off you ask ...??? The Boston Marathon trial ticks me off. At the beginning of the trial I thought about how I would feel if one of my kids or family were severely injured or murdered by the Tsarnaev's ... the more I placed myself in that position ... the more angry I became. I know, if I was to testify, I know I would be found in contempt ... I would really cut loose on the remaining effin' coward ... regardless of consequences to myself.
> 
> 
> 
> meh. Nevermind the bombers the biggest infringement was the freedom lock down, million dollars spent trying to find one guy, the ineptitude and infringement on civil liberties in the after math. Apparently any time a bomb goes off you can spend a couple million and tromp all over everyones rights and still can't find a guy hiding in a boat a couple blocks away.
Click to expand...

Brian ... if that effin' low life, piece of crap, coward hadn't set off the bombs ... there wouldn't have been any "infringement".


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Soooooo, if anyone didn't vote yet, or if you can vote again on a different machine (don't forget phones!) can y'all go vote one more time for Buzz? He was in 1st place for a little while, but he's falling behind today  Voting ends tonight.
> 
> Leica iiic Competition - Vote on the final 10 - 35mmc



Oh, thanks for the reminder!! And I just happened to have voted at home last time, so I just did it again from work. 

Ooooh, I bet I can go downstairs to the lobby sometime today, pick up the public wifi on my phone and vote again that way!! That's a different wifi connection than the one I use in my office.
I MIGHT even be able to vote again from my PC, in fact. I think it's a different connection too, because it's connected to our city network, and they won't connect my Mac to the network, so I had to get it setup with a separate internet connection!


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay ... sipping my coffee ... calming down ... breathe Gary ... on the flip side ... My Bose Cinemate GS series II speakers came in ... it sounds great. If Leo was closer I'd invite her and her turntable over for a spin ... (but then she'd want to play Rush ...). Along with the speakers came along a pair of Bose, noise canceling headphones. A lens came in from B&H that they want me to review. IIRC, it's a 40mm, f/1.8, Fuji X mount, made by some third party lens maker. So now I have to make time for that. But the weather is back to perfect and the backyard is blooming. Yesterday, a friend came over to help install the Bose. (I really didn't need any help but it was easier with him. He did the demo and installation and I poured the wine.) He calls himself a photographer but ... he's a collector. He likes the latest and greatest equipment ... but doesn't really understand photography beyond the basics. He has the Sony A7S ... that is one camera I am tempted to get.
> 
> 
> 
> how do you get into the gig of reviewing equipment? That sounds fun (albeit time consuming)
Click to expand...

I dunno really ... just sorta evolved.


----------



## Gary A.

I think we have three seasons out here. Windy, Fire and Earthquake. (We used to have a Flood season, but that's gone.)


----------



## tirediron

Done!


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> In other news: My youngest son got a haircut last night.
> 
> That might not seem like "news" but THIS was S before:
> View attachment 97378
> 
> And THIS is S this morning:
> View attachment 97379
> 
> I had NO idea he was planning to cut it, and those two photos were the first thing I saw on FB this morning, just as I was about to sip my first coffee of the morning. It's a wonder I didn't drop the coffee cup!
> 
> He has not had hair that short in, I'd say, just over a decade.
> 
> EDIT: Oh, and that artwork behind him in the second photo--that one of HIS pieces. He's quite talented!


Wow, he probably had an entire and sustainable ecosystem in all that hair. I am jealous ... I use bowling ball wax on my head.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It has cooled off a bit here going from hot back down to perfect. Yesterday was tough. Steven, Mary Lou's youngest son had his car stolen. He's a student, works at BJ's as a server ... and someone, (most probably a junkie), stole his 1992 Acura. What else ticks me off you ask ...??? The Boston Marathon trial ticks me off. At the beginning of the trial I thought about how I would feel if one of my kids or family were severely injured or murdered by the Tsarnaev's ... the more I placed myself in that position ... the more angry I became. I know, if I was to testify, I know I would be found in contempt ... I would really cut loose on the remaining effin' coward ... regardless of consequences to myself.
> 
> 
> 
> meh. Nevermind the bombers the biggest infringement was the freedom lock down, million dollars spent trying to find one guy, the ineptitude and infringement on civil liberties in the after math. Apparently any time a bomb goes off you can spend a couple million and tromp all over everyones rights and still can't find a guy hiding in a boat a couple blocks away.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Brian ... if that effin' low life, piece of crap, coward hadn't set off the bombs ... there wouldn't have been any "infringement".
Click to expand...


And not fer nothin' but taking someone's life or crippling someone for life is really the ultimate infringement on their freedom. That is always going to be a bigger deal.

At this point, the defense team's job is to keep a needle out of his arm. I don't support the death penalty, so I believe in the defense's mission right now to avoid a judgement for capital punishment.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It has cooled off a bit here going from hot back down to perfect. Yesterday was tough. Steven, Mary Lou's youngest son had his car stolen. He's a student, works at BJ's as a server ... and someone, (most probably a junkie), stole his 1992 Acura. What else ticks me off you ask ...??? The Boston Marathon trial ticks me off. At the beginning of the trial I thought about how I would feel if one of my kids or family were severely injured or murdered by the Tsarnaev's ... the more I placed myself in that position ... the more angry I became. I know, if I was to testify, I know I would be found in contempt ... I would really cut loose on the remaining effin' coward ... regardless of consequences to myself.
> 
> 
> 
> meh. Nevermind the bombers the biggest infringement was the freedom lock down, million dollars spent trying to find one guy, the ineptitude and infringement on civil liberties in the after math. Apparently any time a bomb goes off you can spend a couple million and tromp all over everyones rights and still can't find a guy hiding in a boat a couple blocks away.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Brian ... if that effin' low life, piece of crap, coward hadn't set off the bombs ... there wouldn't have been any "infringement".
Click to expand...

Agreed. Suppose i expect the occasional nut to spend a week studiously assembling a explosive in their basement or a back room in their apartment. Unfortunate and sad as that sounds. It is the leviathan that bothers the chit out of me more.  I consider that more a threat than the occasional table top bomb maker.  You know that "never trade freedom for security. Live free or die stuff"


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news: My youngest son got a haircut last night.
> 
> That might not seem like "news" but THIS was S before:
> View attachment 97378
> 
> And THIS is S this morning:
> View attachment 97379
> 
> I had NO idea he was planning to cut it, and those two photos were the first thing I saw on FB this morning, just as I was about to sip my first coffee of the morning. It's a wonder I didn't drop the coffee cup!
> 
> He has not had hair that short in, I'd say, just over a decade.
> 
> EDIT: Oh, and that artwork behind him in the second photo--that one of HIS pieces. He's quite talented!
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, he probably had an entire and sustainable ecosystem in all that hair. I am jealous ... I use bowling ball wax on my head.
Click to expand...


Lol. Yeah, sometimes I half expected something to come crawling out of there, grab a crumb out of his beard, and hurry back inside that mass of hair!
My oldest son also has quite the headful of hair, and a much bigger, more out-of-control beard. But R does cut his every now and then and he doesn't wear it in dreadlocks.
At least that's what S called them. I called it a matted mess.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> I think we have three seasons out here. Windy, Fire and Earthquake. (We used to have a Flood season, but that's gone.)


 As opposed to the two of central Canada:  Ice and Mosquito.


----------



## limr

Hmmmm.

So I've been finding a few plagiarists here and there. Some of the students are a bit more adept at trying to hide their cheating.

Others...well, it's kind of obvious when they're copying from Francis Bacon.


----------



## tirediron

Plagarism, truly, the most sincere form of flattery.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Plagarism, truly, the most sincere form of flattery.



Neither of which will get you very far in my class


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Plagarism, truly, the most sincere form of flattery.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Neither of which will get you very far in my class
Click to expand...

 Perhaps, but if I'm skilled enough at them, I won't need your class!


----------



## Derrel

tirediron said:
			
		

> Plagarism, truly, the most sincere form of flattery.



Speaking of flattery....Cape Flattery is not that far from you, John, and might be one of the most scenic locations in the greater Washington/Vancouver areas...

Cape Flattery - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia


----------



## tirediron

Derrel said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Plagarism, truly, the most sincere form of flattery.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Speaking of flattery....Cape Flattery is not that far from you, John, and might be one of the most scenic locations in the greater Washington/Vancouver areas...
> 
> Cape Flattery - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
Click to expand...

Yep..  I'm hoping to make a road trip to a few of those sooner rather than later.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Plagarism, truly, the most sincere form of flattery.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Neither of which will get you very far in my class
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Perhaps, but if I'm skilled enough at them, I won't need your class!
Click to expand...


Fair point


----------



## rexbobcat

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Plagarism, truly, the most sincere form of flattery.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Neither of which will get you very far in my class
Click to expand...


Man they have a lot to learn. You have to be subtle with that stuff. Change the font size of periods and the kerning/margins just slightly.

Outright plagiarism, pssssh, amateurs.


----------



## limr

rexbobcat said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Plagarism, truly, the most sincere form of flattery.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Neither of which will get you very far in my class
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Man they have a lot to learn. You have to be subtle with that stuff. Change the font size of periods and the kerning/margins just slightly.
> 
> Outright plagiarism, pssssh, amateurs.
Click to expand...


Another dead giveaway is coming out with a sentence like, "...but no receipt to open the heart but a true friend, to whom you may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the heart to oppress it, in a kind of civil shrift or confession."


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> rexbobcat said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Plagarism, truly, the most sincere form of flattery.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Neither of which will get you very far in my class
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Man they have a lot to learn. You have to be subtle with that stuff. Change the font size of periods and the kerning/margins just slightly.
> 
> Outright plagiarism, pssssh, amateurs.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Another dead giveaway is coming out with a sentence like, "...but no receipt to open the heart but a true friend, to whom you may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the heart to oppress it, in a kind of civil shrift or confession."
Click to expand...

that is beautiful. They should get a A


----------



## limr

I would certainly be willing to give Francis Bacon an A in my class. If he weren't, y'know, dead and all.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> I would certainly be willing to give Francis Bacon an A in my class. If he weren't, y'know, dead and all.


don't be so prejudice


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> I would certainly be willing to give Francis Bacon an A in my class. If he weren't, y'know, dead and all.




THAT'S RACIST


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hmmmm.
> 
> So I've been finding a few plagiarists here and there. Some of the students are a bit more adept at trying to hide their cheating.
> 
> Others...well, it's kind of obvious when they're copying from Francis Bacon.



The first time it's written, it's originality.
The second time, it's plagiarism.
The third time, it's research.
The fourth time, it's folklore.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I would certainly be willing to give Francis Bacon an A in my class. If he weren't, y'know, dead and all.



Just having the name "Bacon" would give one a 30% advantage


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would certainly be willing to give Francis Bacon an A in my class. If he weren't, y'know, dead and all.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just having the name "Bacon" would give one a 30% advantage
Click to expand...

 I should hope so!


----------



## Derrel

limr said:
			
		

> Another dead giveaway is coming out with a sentence like, "...but no receipt to open the heart but a true friend, to whom you may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the heart to oppress it, in a kind of civil shrift or confession."



Me thinks the lady doth show suspicions and doubts too readily voiced, for it is known, and known well that all of the learned people of today speak in such a manner. Whilst shopping, or whilst amusing themselves with Droids and Samsungs and Apples, such words often, lo, daily, do emanate from their throats, like the words of angels from on high, but yet of Earthly origins.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmmm.
> 
> So I've been finding a few plagiarists here and there. Some of the students are a bit more adept at trying to hide their cheating.
> 
> Others...well, it's kind of obvious when they're copying from Francis Bacon.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The first time it's written, it's originality.
> The second time, it's plagiarism.
> The third time, it's research.
> The fourth time, it's folklore.
Click to expand...

i heard it if gets plagiarized enough it falls under free use.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> rexbobcat said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Plagarism, truly, the most sincere form of flattery.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Neither of which will get you very far in my class
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Man they have a lot to learn. You have to be subtle with that stuff. Change the font size of periods and the kerning/margins just slightly.
> 
> Outright plagiarism, pssssh, amateurs.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Another dead giveaway is coming out with a sentence like, "...but no receipt to open the heart but a true friend, to whom you may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the heart to oppress it, in a kind of civil shrift or confession."
Click to expand...


Huh.  Just said that the other day.  My wife then stared at me.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well apparently my ass is blind... A blind photographer. Go figure. I suppose it isn't THAT bad since all I need is a pair of glasses, but how bad my vision is was shocking.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> I would certainly be willing to give Francis Bacon an A in my class. If he weren't, y'know, dead and all.



Pffft.  Details.  If people can get awards posthumously, then why not marks?  For all we know, each such recognition may boost his celestial standing another cloud level or two.


----------



## pgriz

minicoop1985 said:


> Well apparently my ass is blind..



It would be (much) more disturbing if it could see.  Let us me thankful for the tender mercies.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would certainly be willing to give Francis Bacon an A in my class. If he weren't, y'know, dead and all.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pffft.  Details.  If people can get awards posthumously, then why not marks?  For all we know, each such recognition may boost his celestial standing another cloud level or two.
Click to expand...


I do like to think my class is critical enough and important enough to have an effect on a person's afterlife


----------



## pgriz

So maven of words, should it be effect or affect?


----------



## bribrius

you guys all talk like em' rich peoples i seen outside the da park once.


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> Well apparently my ass is blind... A blind photographer. Go figure. I suppose it isn't THAT bad since all I need is a pair of glasses, but how bad my vision is was shocking.



Yeah, mine is too. And my eyes don't see much better than my arse.  But at least it ain't because my head is stuck up there, like some people I've met.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> So maven of words, should it be effect or affect?



So I saw the notification and clicked on it, and it brought me to my post. As I reread, I saw in abject horror that I'd made the mistake of writing "affect" instead of "effect." I fixed it and then realized there were more messages to read in the thread on the next page. That's when I saw the above post.

Does that answer your question? 

I want my class to have an effect on someone. I can't abide affects, however


----------



## bribrius

i never want to teach again. kids suck. And they grow up and suck even more as adults.


----------



## bribrius

My wife married me for my great charm, kind heart, and deep sense of humanity.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> So maven of words, should it be effect or affect?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So I saw the notification and clicked on it, and it brought me to my post. As I reread, I saw in abject horror that I'd made the mistake of writing "affect" instead of "effect." I fixed it and then realized there were more messages to read in the thread on the next page. That's when I saw the above post.
> 
> Does that answer your question?
> 
> I want my class to have an effect on someone. I can't abide affects, however
Click to expand...


Touché!


----------



## Gary A.

I finally unpacked the lens for review.  It is a HandeVision IBELUX, 40mm, manual focus ... f/.85. The thing is huge ... the thing weights a ton ... I think it is solid glass or Kryptonite or dwarf star ... I'm not kidding about it weighting an effin' ton.  The aperture ring has solid full clicks and the focus ring feels nearly frictionless ... like ice.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> It is a HandeVision IBELUX, 40mm, manual focus ... f/.85. .


Any chance that we could see a photograph of it?


----------



## NancyMoranG

Limr, what do you write on the plagiarized papers? Do you say, 'wow, Francis Bacon, etc " to let them know you know waaaayyyy toooo much to be fooling you


----------



## pgriz

NancyMoranG said:


> Limr, what do you write on the plagiarized papers? Do you say, 'wow, Francis Bacon, etc " to let them know you know waaaayyyy toooo much to be fooling you



Probably "that would have been a nice phrase IF Francis Bacon hadn't done it a few centuries ago.  What a coincidence that you came up with the exact same wording!"


----------



## Designer

NancyMoranG said:


> Limr, what do you write on the plagiarized papers? Do you say, 'wow, Francis Bacon, etc " to let them know you know waaaayyyy toooo much to be fooling you


I'm not the teacher, but I wouldn't.  Just a plain ol' zero.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Soooooo, if anyone didn't vote yet, or if you can vote again on a different machine (don't forget phones!) can y'all go vote one more time for Buzz? He was in 1st place for a little while, but he's falling behind today  Voting ends tonight.
> 
> Leica iiic Competition - Vote on the final 10 - 35mmc



WOOT!! It looks like he won!! By ONE vote!! That was totally MY extra vote yesterday!


----------



## bribrius

first cup a joe. 29 degrees. good morning peeps!


----------



## limr

I just highlight the copied part, attach the printout of the website where I found it (with the copied part highlighted), and write "Plagiarized" on the top. Then I talk to the student and gauge their reaction. If they own up to it immediately and apologize, I tell them that they will get a zero for the moment, but if the rest of their work is squeaky clean ("and you can be sure I will be watching like a hawk"), I'll give them a chance to rewrite the plagiarized paper for a grade. If they try to deny it, they just get a zero and I tell them the next time it happens, they get kicked out of the class. 

And yes, I have kicked students out of my class and assigned an F for plagiarism.

But no - no snarky comments written on the paper. Though I suppose I _have_ been known to get a little snarky at times when talking to a student who tries to deny a clear-cut case of plagiarism.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Soooooo, if anyone didn't vote yet, or if you can vote again on a different machine (don't forget phones!) can y'all go vote one more time for Buzz? He was in 1st place for a little while, but he's falling behind today  Voting ends tonight.
> 
> Leica iiic Competition - Vote on the final 10 - 35mmc
> 
> 
> 
> 
> WOOT!! It looks like he won!! By ONE vote!! That was totally MY extra vote yesterday!
Click to expand...


I think it was!  

Though I'm afraid it might just be frozen again. Buzz told me at dinner last night that the guy extended the voting until tonight, but the page has been stuck like that since before I went to bed. I don't mind if it stays stuck right where it is


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Soooooo, if anyone didn't vote yet, or if you can vote again on a different machine (don't forget phones!) can y'all go vote one more time for Buzz? He was in 1st place for a little while, but he's falling behind today  Voting ends tonight.
> 
> Leica iiic Competition - Vote on the final 10 - 35mmc
> 
> 
> 
> 
> WOOT!! It looks like he won!! By ONE vote!! That was totally MY extra vote yesterday!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think it was!
> 
> Though I'm afraid it might just be frozen again. Buzz told me at dinner last night that the guy extended the voting until tonight, but the page has been stuck like that since before I went to bed. I don't mind if it stays stuck right where it is
Click to expand...

I don't get this. How is plagiarism much different than faking votes. And if he did win this would he really feel okay getting the camera knowing a portion of the votes he received were double, triple, quadruple voting? i hate to be rude. But the more you bring this up the more it is irking me that you seem okay with b.s. ing the voting system for a fake win.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Soooooo, if anyone didn't vote yet, or if you can vote again on a different machine (don't forget phones!) can y'all go vote one more time for Buzz? He was in 1st place for a little while, but he's falling behind today  Voting ends tonight.
> 
> Leica iiic Competition - Vote on the final 10 - 35mmc
> 
> 
> 
> 
> WOOT!! It looks like he won!! By ONE vote!! That was totally MY extra vote yesterday!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think it was!
> 
> Though I'm afraid it might just be frozen again. Buzz told me at dinner last night that the guy extended the voting until tonight, but the page has been stuck like that since before I went to bed. I don't mind if it stays stuck right where it is
Click to expand...


I'd be pretty peeved if I was ahead at the end and then voting was extended and I lost. Almost makes it seem like the organizer of it is just jonesing for a different outcome?
Definitely to B's advantage that it's stuck...unless it just prolongs the agony because the guy then decides to extend voting until TOMORROW night!


----------



## sm4him

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Soooooo, if anyone didn't vote yet, or if you can vote again on a different machine (don't forget phones!) can y'all go vote one more time for Buzz? He was in 1st place for a little while, but he's falling behind today  Voting ends tonight.
> 
> Leica iiic Competition - Vote on the final 10 - 35mmc
> 
> 
> 
> 
> WOOT!! It looks like he won!! By ONE vote!! That was totally MY extra vote yesterday!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think it was!
> 
> Though I'm afraid it might just be frozen again. Buzz told me at dinner last night that the guy extended the voting until tonight, but the page has been stuck like that since before I went to bed. I don't mind if it stays stuck right where it is
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I don't get this. How is plagiarism much different than faking votes. And if he did win this would he really feel okay getting the camera knowing a portion of the votes he received were double, triple, quadruple voting? i hate to be rude. But the more you bring this up the more it is irking me that you seem okay with b.s. ing the voting system for a fake win.
Click to expand...


The difference is in the RULES. I saw absolutely NOTHING in the rules that stated a person could vote only once.  And if Lenny's friends are voting multiple times, you can bet that the other guy has his friends doing the exact same thing. NO, I'm not saying that it makes it okay because others are doing it too--what makes it OK is that the rules do not prohibit it.
In contrast, generally speaking, in an English class, it is a RULE that your submitted writing must be your own original work.


----------



## limr

I find it very unlikely that the others in that top ten weren't also stuffing the ballot box. Once the system allows loopholes, everyone is going to take advantage of it, and if one person doesn't, then it's to that person's distinct disadvantage. It's not exactly a level playing field. And no, it's not the same as plagiarizing.

Sharon: The guy running the contest has said he likes Buzz's picture the best. I posted a link to the contest on my blog, and he actually commented, saying it was also his favorite. (Well, he's English so he said favourite  )  I think it's because the website had been frozen a couple of times, he just wanted to make sure that everyone who wanted to vote got a chance to do so.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Soooooo, if anyone didn't vote yet, or if you can vote again on a different machine (don't forget phones!) can y'all go vote one more time for Buzz? He was in 1st place for a little while, but he's falling behind today  Voting ends tonight.
> 
> Leica iiic Competition - Vote on the final 10 - 35mmc
> 
> 
> 
> 
> WOOT!! It looks like he won!! By ONE vote!! That was totally MY extra vote yesterday!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think it was!
> 
> Though I'm afraid it might just be frozen again. Buzz told me at dinner last night that the guy extended the voting until tonight, but the page has been stuck like that since before I went to bed. I don't mind if it stays stuck right where it is
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'd be pretty peeved if I was ahead at the end and then voting was extended and I lost. Almost makes it seem like the organizer of it is just jonesing for a different outcome?
> Definitely to B's advantage that it's stuck...unless it just prolongs the agony because the guy then decides to extend voting until TOMORROW night!
Click to expand...

Then never run for an elected office in Chicago.


----------



## minicoop1985

Rules are meant to be broken. Or is that records? Well, whatever it is...


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is a HandeVision IBELUX, 40mm, manual focus ... f/.85. .
> 
> 
> 
> Any chance that we could see a photograph of it?
Click to expand...

Of course ... I'll post a bit of the review in here.


----------



## limr

Did I read correctly that the lens is an f .85? Point 85?
That thing must cost a fortune.

Edit: Looked at it on B&H - normally $1,900, on sale for $1,200. I still consider that a small fortune. I paid $75 for my last camera (the Yachica D).


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 61F right now, should hit 75F today. Today I am planning on gardening. The majority of plants from last week are still untouched and today, hopefully I'll get them into their new homes. The Cook and I are off for our walk.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Did I read correctly that the lens is an f .85? Point 85?
> That thing must cost a fortune.
> 
> Edit: Looked at it on B&H - normally $1,900, on sale for $1,200. I still consider that a small fortune. I paid $75 for my last camera (the Yachica D).


Yep, F/.85. After my review it will probably shoot up to $2400 ...


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> I find it very unlikely that the others in that top ten weren't also stuffing the ballot box. *Once the system allows loopholes, everyone is going to take advantage of it, and if one person doesn't, then it's to that person's distinct disadvantage. *It's not exactly a level playing field. And no, it's not the same as plagiarizing.
> 
> Sharon: The guy running the contest has told Buzz outright that he wants Buzz's picture to win. I posted a link to the contest on my blog, and he actually commented, saying it was also his favorite. (Well, he's English so he said favourite  )  I think it's because the website had been frozen a couple of times, he just wanted to make sure that everyone who wanted to vote got a chance to do so.


OMG!!


----------



## limr

Oh sorry, did I offend your firm principles and strong sense of fair play?


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Oh sorry, did I offend your firm principles and strong sense of fair play?


I teach my kids better than that. But, moving along now....


----------



## limr

This from the man who has suggested at various times that he's cheated on his wife, on his taxes, and purposely screws with the doctors? And now you're clutching your pearls?  Please.  You're right. Just move along.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Oh sorry, did I offend your firm principles and strong sense of fair play?


I think you shocked him by liking "Buzz's" photograph.  Remember; bribrius voted for three other photos, not Buzz's.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> This from the man who has suggested at various times that he's cheated on his wife, on his taxes, and purposely screws with the doctors? And now you're clutching your pearls?  Please.  You're right. Just move along.


no, and relationships are complicated, totally different. no, i can assure you i pay more than my fair share (if there is a discrepancy there is also plenty of things i dont claim i could for deductions and that is what audits are for), and yes. i hate doctors which has zero to do with ethics. This from a man that just paid back six k he could have gotten out of on a "loop hole" but thought his name and reputation was worth more than that. There is a reason even the people that hate me trust me.   Hell, even my wife you just spoke of tells people "if he said he is going to do it he will do it".   There isn't anyone i know that doesn't trust me. I make a phone call i can borrow 5k with no contract and no questions asked. It takes a certain reputation to achieve that.  One of not looking for loopholes and being a straight shooter. The way you think, i just dunno. My word, reputation, is everything it has opened a lot of doors for me with a lot of people. i can't even think like you. Yea, if someone ticks me off i will push back. I do play straight up though.


----------



## sm4him

I will say this, and then I am moving on...

I *DO* have a very strong set of principles and a (probably over-heightened) sense of ethics.
I have a very strong sense of "playing by the rules," regardless of what others are doing.

If this contest had STATED that an individual was expected to vote only one time, that's what I would have done. EVEN if I were the one IN the contest, and I stood to lose because of that, I'd still adhere to the stated rules and vote only once, and while I couldn't control what others did, I certainly wouldn't ENCOURAGE others to vote more than once...IF the rules stated to vote only once.

But the rules DO NOT state that.  NOTHING in the contest indicates that it is somehow "unethical" to do that.

One of the "litmus" tests I use for my personal ethics is this: Would I would to ADMIT I'd done this publicly? In this case, I can absolutely say I'd have no trouble saying that I voted three separate times, if I were asked.

The thing is, the organizers of these online contests--they are not idiots (not most of them). They understand that people are GOING to vote multiple times given the ability to do so. There ARE ways he could have made it much harder to do so, or he could have at least stated "please vote only once."  The fact that he made NO effort to state this as a rule or make it happen strongly suggests to me that he DOES NOT CARE how many times an individual votes.  And THAT makes it okay.

Now, Imma go out in the backyard for a bit and see if I can find anything interesting. I've got too much to do this weekend to really GO anywhere, but it is way too sunny and warm to stay indoors the WHOLE day.


----------



## snerd




----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh sorry, did I offend your firm principles and strong sense of fair play?
> 
> 
> 
> I think you shocked him by liking "Buzz's" photograph.  Remember; bribrius voted for three other photos, not Buzz's.
Click to expand...

no. The mentality i think shocked me. If i thought that way no one i deal with would touch me with  ten foot pole. Contract or no contract. I think it is time i get out of this conversation. Again... moving along now...


----------



## pgriz

It is March 21.  And there's a snowstorm outside.  With temperatures falling to -13C tonight, and -15C tomorrow night.  Longer-range forecast doesn't have temperatures rising above 0C (32F) for a week.  Normally I admire people who have no "quit" in them, but this winter is getting beyond ridiculous.

On the more positive side, I was driving my daughter to work and along the way we made a few detours.  The first was to Patisserie Polonaise Wawel where we picked up a box of ponki (donuts with prune filling - http://www.patisseriewawel.com/#!Ponki aux Prunes/zoom/c24og/image8bs) which never last more than a few minutes once the box is open.  Of course at least two didn't even make it into the box.  

Then we went to a "hole-in-the-wall" pizzeria where we ordered a "super sub" from Manzo Pizzeria (Manzo Pizzeria - 1033 90E Avenue. Montreal) where we split a 14" Special (#15 on their menu).  Half an hour later, my daughter texted me "That sub is almost a religious experience on its own".  I'm glad she enjoyed her lunch.  Steve, the owner, is of Greek origin, and is found (every time I've been there) sitting at the end of the counter keeping an eye on the countermen and talking with the customers in French, English, Greek, and Italian.  He may speak other languages, but I have not witnessed them.

There are certainly benefits to living in a multi-cultural city.

On another front, I noticed a story that LA is now building "porous" sewers and sidewalks to catch rainwater and return it to the ground (Drought-ravaged L.A. looking to sponge up every bit of rainwater - World - CBC News).  There is a similar story about another person using a similar technique to replenish groundwater in India (2015 Stockholm International Water Institute.  So it seems "we" as human society are starting to see value in water as a resource that needs to be managed, as opposed to just being exploited.

Photography-wise, not a heck of a lot going on.  Cold, windy, snowing and getting dark fast.  I went out for a while yesterday and the city and area are in that transition between winter and spring where there's lot of dirty snow on the ground, with some of the melt revealing garbage that has been in the snow over the winter, and the occasionally-bare sidewalks dirtied by the sand and grit that were spread over the winter to reduce the slippage rate.  Everyone's  still bundled up, and even the dogs on walks, hurry to do their business and then scoot back to warmer places.  My wife's curled up in her favourite chair with a warm laptop, watching a movie she downloaded (legally).  It's been a very long, cold and rather unpleasant winter.  Of course, we didn't get all the snow dumped along the eastern seaboard (Boston, Maine, and the Atlantic provinces), for which I'm personally grateful.  I just hope this isn't a pattern that we can expect in the future.


----------



## Derrel

It's Saturday afternoon here...white-and-gray skies, or overcast...I'm enjoying coffee with vanilla ice cream plopped on top, and then melted in the microwave, then stirred in...temp outside is a pleasant 59 degrees Farenheit...looks like it might sprinkle a bit at some time within the next half hour or so...


----------



## tirediron

Derrel said:


> It's Saturday afternoon here...white-and-gray skies, or overcast...I'm enjoying coffee with vanilla ice cream plopped on top, and then melted in the microwave, then stirred in...temp outside is a pleasant 59 degrees Farenheit...looks like it might sprinkle a bit at some time within the next half hour or so...


Damn... only; 52 up here, and showering for a good part of the day, but it's stopped now and skies are bright and blue for the most part.


----------



## bribrius

32 degrees, rain/snow mix.  Tomorrow is:

*MAPLE SYRUP SUNDAY!!!!!*


----------



## Designer

We were Blessed with another beautiful day.  Not warm of course, but sunny with fairly light wind.  No jacket required when out in the sun.


----------



## limr

It was a grey day here, mid-40s, which meant that the 4-5 inches of snow we got yesterday is all gone. I was taken to lunch for my birthday by my mother and my sisters. We always have lunch, go to Target and then to Starbucks. Almost without fail, by the time we get to the checkout at Target, we're punchy and feeding off of each other, and apparently we are entertaining when we get this way because the cashier ends up joking and laughing with us (at us?) Today, the woman behind us got sucked in too, and commented "We're having fun in this line!" It was a nice day


----------



## minicoop1985

It was super sunny here today. One of those days where it looks like it should be 75* and nice, but in reality, it's freezing. I hate that-like being hoodwinked.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> It was super sunny here today. One of those days where it looks like it should be 75* and nice, but in reality, it's freezing. I hate that-like being hoodwinked.



See, I love those days. It's the only time I can actually enjoy being in the sun without feeling like I'm going to burst into flames. Bright sun and warm temperatures means I seek shade at all times.


----------



## Gary A.

Ahhh ... "another perfect day."

Made a sizable dent in my plantings. Then Mary Lou's brother came over and slowed me down ... the wine and all. I am a bit sad. One of my turtles has become very aggressive and is attacking the koi. It bites and holds on until I knock it off with a pole. I just came back from the park after releasing the offending turtle into the park's lake. Sad because I've had that turtle for about 15 years.


----------



## Derrel

How are the new eyeglasses treatin' you, 'coop???


----------



## Gary A.

Leo, you mention seeing "Searching for Sugarman". After seeing the movie I downloaded both of Rodriguez's albums. Well worth the downloads.


----------



## limr

Yup, so did I. I love them both, though lean towards the first album. And now I want it on vinyl  Will probably swing by the book store to buy it tomorrow since I want to go there to pick something up for Buzz's birthday next week.


----------



## bribrius

meh, i have a cousin i am very jealous of right now. i am sitting up here in the snow and she is posting pics from hawaii.


----------



## tirediron

bribrius said:


> meh, i have a cousin i am very jealous of right now. i am sitting up here in the snow and she is posting pics from hawaii.


Yeah, but unless she lives there, she probably had to take a 'plane to get there, and NO amount of ice, snow and/or freezing rain makes that a fair trade.


----------



## bribrius

tirediron said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> meh, i have a cousin i am very jealous of right now. i am sitting up here in the snow and she is posting pics from hawaii.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, but unless she lives there, she probably had to take a 'plane to get there, and NO amount of ice, snow and/or freezing rain makes that a fair trade.
Click to expand...

Perhaps. Plus if i was in Hawaii i would miss that maple syrup sunday and we just can't have that.


----------



## minicoop1985

Derrel said:


> How are the new eyeglasses treatin' you, 'coop???



I can finally see! I didn't realize how horribly blind I was, actually. The difference is astounding. The only issue I have is that they get caught up with my camera strap. I'll need a new strap sooner or later to take care of that.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is overcast this morning. Another sip or two of coffee and The Cook and I are off for our morning walk and poop. (Yes, we both poop on our walks ... one of those bonding things.) The morning topic is getting rid of the 15 y/o turtle. Mary Lou and I are both sad ...but there wasn't anything else really that we could do short of installing a separate pond. The turtle's shell probably measured a foot long. She was an impressive beast. We still have two turtles remaining. Another 15 y/o, one footer and a smaller turtle we inherited about a year ago.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> How are the new eyeglasses treatin' you, 'coop???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I can finally see! I didn't realize how horribly blind I was, actually. The difference is astounding. The only issue I have is that they get caught up with my camera strap. I'll need a new strap sooner or later to take care of that.
Click to expand...

I think that vision, especially good vision is a benefit to photography and photographers. I don't understand how eyeglasses get caught up in camera straps. Either your wearing your glasses wrongly or using the camera strap incorrectly.


----------



## minicoop1985

I use a sling strap. When I use the camera in portrait orientation, the strap likes to knock my glasses off a bit. I need a real camera strap, like a BlackRapid or a Heavy Leather.


----------



## snerd

I never got used to shooting with my glasses on. They come off and the diopter is adjusted. Works for me.


----------



## Derrel

minicoop said:
			
		

> I use a sling strap. When I use the camera in portrait orientation, the strap likes to knock my glasses off a bit. I need a real camera strap, like a BlackRapid or a Heavy Leather.



For some reason, your description reminds me of the official Nikon instruction manual warning: "*When using the viewfinder*

_When operating the diopter adjustment control with your eye to the viewfinder, care should be taken not to put your finger in your eye accidentally_."

Nikon D70 instruction manual, page iii, available from http://cdn-10.nikon-cdn.com/pdf/manuals/dslr/D70_en.pdf


----------



## Designer

Derrel said:


> _When operating the diopter adjustment control with your eye to the viewfinder, care should be taken not to put your finger in your eye accidentally_."


Yes, I thought that was funny too.  

BTW: taking my glasses off and back on is something of a PITA for me, so I just leave them on all day.  Yes, I miss some things in the viewfinder, but I avoid the hassle.


----------



## Gary A.

I have contacts for shooting ... but 90% of the time I shoot with glasses ... I don't think I'm missing much. With my present glasses, when I shoot, the lens opposite the viewfinder lens gets messed up with moisture.


----------



## sashbar

Looks like Spring is finally coming.  I shoot with glasses too.


----------



## sashbar




----------



## minicoop1985

I don't have issues with my non-finder lens. With my glasses, I can see the whole finder. Works for me.


----------



## Derrel

My biggest eyeglass gripe is the rubber "bumpers" that both Canon and Nikon use on their eyepiece covers...the soft, rectangular, squishy ones Canons have leave big, wide smeary marks...the hard round rubber ones Nikons use leave "doughnuts" on my right eyeglass lens!!!


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is overcast this morning. Another sip or two of coffee and The Cook and I are off for our morning walk and poop. (Yes, we both poop on our walks ... one of those bonding things.) The morning topic is getting rid of the 15 y/o turtle. Mary Lou and I are both sad ...but there wasn't anything else really that we could do short of installing a separate pond. The turtle's shell probably measured a foot long. She was an impressive beast. We still have two turtles remaining. Another 15 y/o, one footer and a smaller turtle we inherited about a year ago.



Sorry you had to give up your turtle  For the best, but still sad.


----------



## Gary A.

Another day of gardening. 80% of the stuff is planted, melons, legumes, peppers, tomatoes, herbs and a few succulents. I also cleaned out a pond pump which had been clogged with algae.  And I cleaned out a side yard which has been jungle-ize by Pineapple Sage and was impassable.  Now I'm kicking back, tossing down some Chinese and sucking up a Pacifico. After I hit post, I gotta repair an irrigation line.  A Praying Mantis pod much have hatched nearby because there are these tiny, 1/4" long Mantises all over the table. I gotta go cut me some PVC.


----------



## Gary A.

HA! The irrigation line is fixed. Easiest job of the day.


----------



## Gary A.

Moi and my aching back are finished for the day ... it was evening and I thought I'd take one more inspection of the newly planted darlings ... and there were slugs on many of them. I couldn't believe it. The little bastards could have at least waited until dark. I plucked about ten of the slimey devils and fed them to the koi.


----------



## rexbobcat

I despise glasses...but I'm too poor for contacts. #firstworldproblem

There is never a day that they don't impede my picture-taking, because when I put my eye up to the viewfinder my periphery is blurry. As such, I often can't see the scene as a whole and have to take more shots because of framing that is slightly off or objects on the edge of the frame.


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> I never got used to shooting with my glasses on. They come off and the diopter is adjusted. Works for me.



There is no diopter adjustment strong enough to allow me to shoot without my glasses; heck, I'd barely be able to see the camera without my glasses!
I put my glasses on first thing in the morning--in fact, they go in one particular place on my bedside table so that I can find them, because I won't be able to actually SEE where they are without them on.
They stay on until I go to bed at night.
Without them on, I can only clearly see things that are about 3-6" in front of me. By the time an object is 12" away, it's just a colorful (or perhaps NOT colorful) blob.

Even WITH my glasses on, I actually really struggle with focus, because the glasses only correct my vision to about 20/80.  Plus, I have a really massive number of "floaters" so there are always little things "swimming" around in my vision while I'm looking through the viewfinder.

Seems like I would have picked something less sight-dependent for a hobby, huh?


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Moi and my aching back are finished for the day ... it was evening and I thought I'd take one more inspection of the newly planted darlings ... and there were slugs on many of them. I couldn't believe it. The little bastards could have at least waited until dark. I plucked about ten of the slimey devils and fed them to the koi.



I'd love to see some pictures of your yard, Gary!


----------



## sm4him

Morning, hosers!! Busy week ahead for me! Kinda behind on a couple of projects at work, so I gotta focus on getting back on track with those.
Have to go to a funeral after work today, next-to-last choir practice for our Easter music on Wednesday evening (with lots and LOTS of practice on my own beforehand; I'm not only in the choir, but I'm also doing the narration that runs through the entire presentation and trying to memorize it--I hate when the narrator stares at their book!), Women's Ministry event I'm in charge of on Thursday evening, and a fundraiser banquet to go to Friday evening. Oh, and a fundraiser BBQ next Saturday, but whether I actually GO to that will depend on whether I've got any "juice" left at all at the end of the week.
Nothing wears me out more than having to go DO stuff, especially social stuff, after a long day of work. If I don't get "alone" time, it just physically and emotionally wears me out.

At least it's supposed to be in the 70s all week and reasonably decent. Rain on Thursday I think.
Then all of a sudden, next Saturday, they are calling for temps below freezing...and precipitation...they'd BETTER be wrong!


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> I never got used to shooting with my glasses on. They come off and the diopter is adjusted. Works for me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There is no diopter adjustment strong enough to allow me to shoot without my glasses; heck, I'd barely be able to see the camera without my glasses!
> I put my glasses on first thing in the morning--in fact, they go in one particular place on my bedside table so that I can find them, because I won't be able to actually SEE where they are without them on.
> They stay on until I go to bed at night.
> Without them on, I can only clearly see things that are about 3-6" in front of me. By the time an object is 12" away, it's just a colorful (or perhaps NOT colorful) blob.
> 
> Even WITH my glasses on, I actually really struggle with focus, because the glasses only correct my vision to about 20/80.  Plus, I have a really massive number of "floaters" so there are always little things "swimming" around in my vision while I'm looking through the viewfinder.
> 
> Seems like I would have picked something less sight-dependent for a hobby, huh?
Click to expand...

you make me smile Sharon 
really...

you should write something... other than posts i mean


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Winter here again - high twenties this morning going up (briefly, mid-afternoon) to about 43 - so back to the winter coat.  But here I am warm in my office with coffee and snacks.  I really need to get out with my camera, but that should be easier later this week.


----------



## bribrius

13 degree. It was cold for maple syrup sunday yesterday. Like 18 with killer windchill. Had to leave after a couple hours kids were looking like icicles...


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Moi and my aching back are finished for the day ... it was evening and I thought I'd take one more inspection of the newly planted darlings ... and there were slugs on many of them. I couldn't believe it. The little bastards could have at least waited until dark. I plucked about ten of the slimey devils and fed them to the koi.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd love to see some pictures of your yard, Gary!
Click to expand...

Here is some old stuff, mainly close-ups of flowers. I'm waiting for the ground cover (thyme) to fill in the last expansion of the pond.

Backyard Series - GaryAyala






My morning coffee spot.
An old pix of the smaller pond. The new and improved pond is 2x this size.


----------



## Gary A.

California Snow


----------



## bribrius

gorgeous. What a perfect spot for morning coffee. You have a lot of work into this!


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Moi and my aching back are finished for the day ... it was evening and I thought I'd take one more inspection of the newly planted darlings ... and there were slugs on many of them. I couldn't believe it. The little bastards could have at least waited until dark. I plucked about ten of the slimey devils and fed them to the koi.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd love to see some pictures of your yard, Gary!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Here is some old stuff, mainly close-ups of flowers. I'm waiting for the ground cover (thyme) to fill in the last expansion of the pond.
> 
> Backyard Series - GaryAyala
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My morning coffee spot.
> An old pix of the smaller pond. The new and improved pond is 2x this size.
Click to expand...


Oh, wow, that's BEAUTIFUL!  Even better than I thought it would be!


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> I never got used to shooting with my glasses on. They come off and the diopter is adjusted. Works for me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There is no diopter adjustment strong enough to allow me to shoot without my glasses; heck, I'd barely be able to see the camera without my glasses!
> I put my glasses on first thing in the morning--in fact, they go in one particular place on my bedside table so that I can find them, because I won't be able to actually SEE where they are without them on.
> They stay on until I go to bed at night.
> Without them on, I can only clearly see things that are about 3-6" in front of me. By the time an object is 12" away, it's just a colorful (or perhaps NOT colorful) blob.
> 
> Even WITH my glasses on, I actually really struggle with focus, because the glasses only correct my vision to about 20/80.  Plus, I have a really massive number of "floaters" so there are always little things "swimming" around in my vision while I'm looking through the viewfinder.
> 
> Seems like I would have picked something less sight-dependent for a hobby, huh?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> you make me smile Sharon
> really...
> 
> you should write something... other than posts i mean
Click to expand...


Thank you, my dear!! I write plenty…I just never let anyone actually SEE any of it. LOL. And I never actually finish anything. I could never write an actual book or anything, because my ADHD kicks in after about two pages and my little brain just starts wandering around thinking of all sorts of OTHER stuff but refuses to ever come back and tend to the actual topic at hand.  I thought blog writing would be perfect for me, because essay length is much more my strength--but blogs require too much consistency, and so all my blogs have eventually died a horrible death from neglect.
Really, forum posts are just about perfect…I can write what I want, pretend people are being entertained by it, and feel absolutely NO guilt about it when I haven't written anything in two weeks!


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. I'm reading this with squinty eyes. It's day three of the headache.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Hey hosers. I'm reading this with squinty eyes. It's day three of the headache.



So sorry to hear it.  I get some bad ones sometimes, but nothing like this.  What do you usually do for it?


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers. I'm reading this with squinty eyes. It's day three of the headache.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So sorry to hear it.  I get some bad ones sometimes, but nothing like this.  What do you usually do for it?
Click to expand...


First I try to imitate the Excedrin Migraine formulation, which is essentially aspirin, Tylenol, and caffeine, so I take one pill each with a cup of coffee. And for every cup of coffee, I try to drink two cups of water, though I confess I'm not always good about that. Advil helps a little, and so does a decongestant. Ideally, I'd have a cold pack and dark glasses on, but if I have to work, then I have to do a lot of squinting. I haven't tried any prescription medications. Can't really afford them. My doctor gave me samples of one called Frovia or something, but it really only works if you catch them before they start, like if you have migraines with an aura. I generally don't have an aura. 

This one got my stomach a little, too. Get nauseated pretty easily today. Luckily they don't always get bad enough to reach the stomach.

I'll never be sure if my migraines aren't quite as bad as others' are, or if I have just learned better than others how to function with the headache. 

Not to get too detailed, but the headaches are tied to hormones, they come every month. They are also worse because of the kind of birth control that I use, but that brand is also what is responsible for alleviating the cramps i used to have, which were 10 times worse than the headaches. Being squinty and head-throbby for three days is no fun, but neither was being doubled over in pain for the same amount of time.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers. I'm reading this with squinty eyes. It's day three of the headache.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So sorry to hear it.  I get some bad ones sometimes, but nothing like this.  What do you usually do for it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> First I try to imitate the Excedrin Migraine formulation, which is essentially aspirin, Tylenol, and caffeine, so I take one pill each with a cup of coffee. And for every cup of coffee, I try to drink two cups of water, though I confess I'm not always good about that. Advil helps a little, and so does a decongestant. Ideally, I'd have a cold pack and dark glasses on, but if I have to work, then I have to do a lot of squinting. I haven't tried any prescription medications. Can't really afford them. My doctor gave me samples of one called Frovia or something, but it really only works if you catch them before they start, like if you have migraines with an aura. I generally don't have an aura.
> 
> This one got my stomach a little, too. Get nauseated pretty easily today. Luckily they don't always get bad enough to reach the stomach.
> 
> I'll never be sure if my migraines aren't quite as bad as others' are, or if I have just learned better than others how to function with the headache.
> 
> Not to get too detailed, but the headaches are tied to hormones, they come every month. They are also worse because of the kind of birth control that I use, but that brand is also what is responsible for alleviating the cramps i used to have, which were 10 times worse than the headaches. Being squinty and head-throbby for three days is no fun, but neither was being doubled over in pain for the same amount of time.
Click to expand...


Oh wow, Lenny, I can completely empathize! I get them ALL the time.  I get regular migraines, ocular migraines, as well as what are called "atypical migraines" which may, or may not, actually involve my head hurting.
The worst in severity are usually the regular migraines. The nausea, vertigo and light sensitivity can be anywhere from irritating to debilitating.
But the ocular ones are my least favorite, because with them, I get these jagged lines of light in my vision--usually just one eye, and it starts in the corner, moves to the center of my vision, then off to the other corner before disappearing. The jagged light lines might last 15 minutes, or three hours. THEN comes the fun part, wherein I get to GUESS which migraine med to take and just HOPE that it's the right one to keep the actual headache from ever happening! The headache doesn't usually happen until hours later, so it's the waiting and dreading it that I hate with those.

But I've only ever had a few that lasted more than two days. Okay, only a few that kept me from being able to work for more than two days.

I'd say 80% of mine are mild to medium in nature. Bad, but not bad enough to keep me from at least stumbling my way through a day.
Of the other 20%, almost all of them are massive, but only for about a day. Only that remaining little bit, maybe 2% of the worst 20% are horrible AND last more than a day.

Might I ask why you don't actually USE Exedrin migraine, instead of just using the aspirin/caffeine/Tylenol combo? Just curious if it's a cost issue or a theory that the individual three ingredients together are more potent.

Hope your headache clears up completely before the day's end!


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Oh wow, Lenny, I can completely empathize! I get them ALL the time.  I get regular migraines, ocular migraines, as well as what are called "atypical migraines" which may, or may not, actually involve my head hurting.
> The worst in severity are usually the regular migraines. The nausea, vertigo and light sensitivity can be anywhere from irritating to debilitating.
> But the ocular ones are my least favorite, because with them, I get these jagged lines of light in my vision--usually just one eye, and it starts in the corner, moves to the center of my vision, then off to the other corner before disappearing. The jagged light lines might last 15 minutes, or three hours. THEN comes the fun part, wherein I get to GUESS which migraine med to take and just HOPE that it's the right one to keep the actual headache from ever happening! The headache doesn't usually happen until hours later, so it's the waiting and dreading it that I hate with those.



Huh. I think I have those ocular headaches, too. I'll get a flashing semi-circle that starts in the center of one eye and then eventually gets bigger and eventually moves its way towards the edge of my eye and then disappears. That's when I too make sure I take some pain medication and it will often be in time to prevent the headache or at least keep it mild.

The others are pretty typical migraines - almost always one-sided (always the left with me), light-headedness and dizziness, often but not always nausea (mild, thankfully), and definitely light-sensitive. My eyes are already very light sensitive, to the point that light, especially from computer screens, can trigger a headache.



> But I've only ever had a few that lasted more than two days. Okay, only a few that kept me from being able to work for more than two days.



These are the headaches that I've described as my Jesus headaches. They'll usually come on in the evening as a vague tension that turns into a headache by bedtime. Then they lift on the afternoon of the third day. In between, there is much suffering :/



> I'd say 80% of mine are mild to medium in nature. Bad, but not bad enough to keep me from at least stumbling my way through a day.
> Of the other 20%, almost all of them are massive, but only for about a day. Only that remaining little bit, maybe 2% of the worst 20% are horrible AND last more than a day.
> 
> Might I ask why you don't actually USE Exedrin migraine, instead of just using the aspirin/caffeine/Tylenol combo? Just curious if it's a cost issue or a theory that the individual three ingredients together are more potent.
> 
> Hope your headache clears up completely before the day's end!



I can't really say why I didn't just buy the bottle of Excedrin. I think I figured it as more of a cost efficiency thing. I already keep bottles of Tylenol and aspirin in the house, and I will take any excuse that lets me have more cups of coffee, so why pay money to buy yet another bottle of pills when I already have the same ingredients?


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Huh. I think I have those ocular headaches, too. I'll get a flashing semi-circle that starts in the center of one eye and then eventually gets bigger and eventually moves its way towards the edge of my eye and then disappears. That's when I too make sure I take some pain medication and it will often be in time to prevent the headache or at least keep it mild.



Yep, sounds like an ocular migraine all right!! I've always wondered what I'd do if I was driving somewhere and one started, because generally within just a few minutes, I can't see squat until it goes away--I definitely would NOT be safe to drive. I guess I'd have to pull over somewhere and just pray like crazy it wasn't one that took three hours for my vision to clear!



limr said:


> I can't really say why I didn't just buy the bottle of Excedrin. I think I figured it as more of a cost efficiency thing. I already keep bottles of Tylenol and aspirin in the house, and I will take any excuse that lets me have more cups of coffee, so why pay money to buy yet another bottle of pills when I already have the same ingredients?



I hear ya!! I usually take my Exedrin Migraine WITH coffee…sort of an extra little boost to the caffeine portion of the meds! 
I never have Tylenol on hand anyway, so for me, just buying the Exedrin is worth it.  Back a few years ago, there was some sort of problem--can't remember what--and they pulled all the Exedrin migraine off the shelves. All Exedrin products in general, I think.
Well, I was fit to be tied!! NO other OTC migraine med works for me like Exedrin Migraine. The recall dragged on for months and months, and eventually I ran out of my supply. I was lamenting this one day on FB, and a friend who lives in Arizona said she was almost sure they had it there. Well, next thing I know, a box shows up at my house with SIX bottles of Exedrin Migraine!! 
Now, THAT is a true friend!!



limr said:


> These are the headaches that I've described as my Jesus headaches. They'll usually come on in the evening as a vague tension that turns into a headache by bedtime. Then they lift on the afternoon of the third day. In between, there is much suffering :/


----------



## sm4him

Doin' the Rebel Forces Happy Dance!

Even though it's going to be a busy, stressful week, I just found out some awesome information. The Dark Lord (aka our general manager) is out of town until Thursday!!!!!  And THAT means….NO OPEN DOORS for THIS chick for at least THREE whole days!!
Not that I'm much abiding by the whole "open door" thing anyway. I NEVER keep it WAY open like I'm supposed to, and I find absolutely every excuse I can come up with to close it for however long I can. Headache? Oh, I gotta close my door. Guy in the next office on the phone? Gotta close the door? Drafty out in the hallway?  Gee, I think I'm cold and need my heater on--better shut the door so I don't waste the heat… 
But for these next three days, I don't have to come up with lame excuses just in case someone calls me on it. And that makes me feel every so slightly less right-on-the-verge-of-going-postal-without-a-weapon.


----------



## limr

Woot!

That's how I feel when I know I'll have the office to myself.


----------



## bribrius

Fioricet 
been taking it for near a year every four hours as needed since my stroke. Makes the pain go away. Ask your doctor.


----------



## Designer

There's a fairly decent OTC PR available in the UK, called paracetamol.  

for reference only, I don't think it is available in the US.

Painkillers Paracetamol - NHS Choices


----------



## limr

Yeah,  I used to use that when I was overseas. Hard to say if it would work because I wasn't having these headaches then, so I didn't have the chance to test it. Might ask one of my sisters to bring me some the next time she's there on business.

What I do know is you could buy tablets of up to 800mg of ibuprofen without a prescription and I was taking a LOT of them over the course of 3 days of cramps,  and finally I figured my liver wouldn't be happy about that soon. That's when I was put on the hormones.


----------



## Derrel

sm4him said:
			
		

> Doin' the Rebel Forces Happy Dance!
> 
> ….NO OPEN DOORS for THIS chick for at least THREE whole days!!



Ahhhhh, so glad to hear you'll be enjoying the _*no open door policy*_ soon!!!

And for limr...hope you're feeling back to full strength very soon, if not already!

Gary: good luck in the turtle biz!!


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers. I'm reading this with squinty eyes. It's day three of the headache.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So sorry to hear it.  I get some bad ones sometimes, but nothing like this.  What do you usually do for it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> First I try to imitate the Excedrin Migraine formulation, which is essentially aspirin, Tylenol, and caffeine, so I take one pill each with a cup of coffee. And for every cup of coffee, I try to drink two cups of water, though I confess I'm not always good about that. Advil helps a little, and so does a decongestant. Ideally, I'd have a cold pack and dark glasses on, but if I have to work, then I have to do a lot of squinting. I haven't tried any prescription medications. Can't really afford them. My doctor gave me samples of one called Frovia or something, but it really only works if you catch them before they start, like if you have migraines with an aura. I generally don't have an aura.
> 
> This one got my stomach a little, too. Get nauseated pretty easily today. Luckily they don't always get bad enough to reach the stomach.
> 
> I'll never be sure if my migraines aren't quite as bad as others' are, or if I have just learned better than others how to function with the headache.
> 
> Not to get too detailed, but the headaches are tied to hormones, they come every month. They are also worse because of the kind of birth control that I use, but that brand is also what is responsible for alleviating the cramps i used to have, which were 10 times worse than the headaches. Being squinty and head-throbby for three days is no fun, but neither was being doubled over in pain for the same amount of time.
Click to expand...


I sometimes have a little of the ocular effects when it's really bad and often a little nausea.  They usually "only" last a day, although that can really be a whole day until I sleep off the residue of it.  I use Advil (the actual brand name, which I've found works better for me) - I think my record is six, but I don't worry about toxicity because it's only that bad once every 2-3 months and the rest of the time I don't need to take much.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> I sometimes have a little of the ocular effects when it's really bad and often a little nausea.  They usually "only" last a day, although that can really be a whole day until I sleep off the residue of it.  I use Advil (the actual brand name, which I've found works better for me) - I think my record is six, but I don't worry about toxicity because it's only that bad once every 2-3 months and the rest of the time I don't need to take much.



That's what was worrying about me when I was taking the ibuprofen. It was taking probably the equivalent of at least 8 Advil a day for 2-3 days every month, and the dosage was getting higher because it was taking more medication to achieve the same affect. I remember one night I woke up from the pain and reached out to the nightstand to get a pill. I had a package of 800mg and was only taking one at a time (like taking 4 Advil at once.) Since I was so accustomed to taking 2 at a time, and I was all groggy and in pain, I unthinkingly took 2 pills. 1600mg. Freaked me out. I know it would take more than that to OD on Advil, but it couldn't really be a good thing regardless (at least it finally worked, though, and I could get back to sleep!)


----------



## Designer

Get that liver checked.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Get that liver checked.



Oh, this was years ago. More than 10 years. Since then I've become someone who takes pain meds only when absolutely necessary and in the smallest dose possible.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Get that liver checked.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, this was years ago. More than 10 years. Since then I've become someone who takes pain meds only when absolutely necessary and in the smallest dose possible.
Click to expand...

We have been taking a liver de-toxifier every morning.  Among other supplements.


----------



## bribrius




----------



## Gary A.

Hang in the Leo. I wish there was something I could do to help. If you need anything stronger ... my best friend is a physician.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> gorgeous. What a perfect spot for morning coffee. You have a lot of work into this!


Thank you Brian. The sounds of the waterfall adds a great background sound to the yard. 


sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Moi and my aching back are finished for the day ... it was evening and I thought I'd take one more inspection of the newly planted darlings ... and there were slugs on many of them. I couldn't believe it. The little bastards could have at least waited until dark. I plucked about ten of the slimey devils and fed them to the koi.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd love to see some pictures of your yard, Gary!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Here is some old stuff, mainly close-ups of flowers. I'm waiting for the ground cover (thyme) to fill in the last expansion of the pond.
> 
> Backyard Series - GaryAyala
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My morning coffee spot.
> An old pix of the smaller pond. The new and improved pond is 2x this size.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, wow, that's BEAUTIFUL!  Even better than I thought it would be!
Click to expand...

Thank you Sharon.


----------



## Gary A.

Got more stuff in the ground. I'm left with only two tomatoes, a rosemary and a grape (Merlot) to go. I have one large pot left for the tomatoes ... the grape is gonna be tough. I bought it to replace a Cabernet ... but it came back. I am pretty much ... out of room.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Hang in the Leo. I wish there was something I could do to help. If you need anything stronger ... my best friend is a physician.



Thanks, Tio!

It's my fourth morning waking up with this headache. The migraine would normally be over by now, but I suspect I'm also having some sinus issues. The weather this week is getting warmer but rainy, leading up to almost 60 degrees on Friday and then dry, sunny, and cooler on Saturday. Spring storm/pressure systems wreak havoc on my sinuses, and sinus headaches can trigger a migraine at any time of the month, regardless of hormone levels.


----------



## bribrius

i might have to play cashier. I can't imagine it can be that hard though. I dunno.


----------



## bribrius

i am like wicked good with the public. (not)


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hang in the Leo. I wish there was something I could do to help. If you need anything stronger ... my best friend is a physician.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, Tio!
> 
> It's my fourth morning waking up with this headache. The migraine would normally be over by now, but I suspect I'm also having some sinus issues. The weather this week is getting warmer but rainy, leading up to almost 60 degrees on Friday and then dry, sunny, and cooler on Saturday. Spring storm/pressure systems wreak havoc on my sinuses, and sinus headaches can trigger a migraine at any time of the month, regardless of hormone levels.
Click to expand...


I wish there was a "dislike, but not in a way that should affect the user's "rating" in any way, shape or form" button. Then I wouldn't have had to type all this.


----------



## sm4him

bribrius said:


> i might have to play cashier. I can't imagine it can be that hard though. I dunno.



Cashiering is easy peasy. Until the first irrationally irate customer comes along. That usually takes at least five minutes into your shift, though. 
Just make sure there's nothing heavy close enough to you that you could actually pick up and beat them with…


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i might have to play cashier. I can't imagine it can be that hard though. I dunno.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cashiering is easy peasy. Until the first irrationally irate customer comes along. That usually takes at least five minutes into your shift, though.
> Just make sure there's nothing heavy close enough to you that you could actually pick up and beat them with…
Click to expand...

bahhh. It is for the art association. I guess i am suppose to donate x amount of hours babysitting a gallery and playing cashier every so often. Since they are non profit. Just received notice this morning. If nobody buys anything i don't have to worry about it.


----------



## bribrius

Trying to talk my wife into filling in for me but she said she doesn't want to sit there for eight hours and knows nothing about art (she is lying to a extent on the latter).


----------



## limr

Well, the good news is that though my head isn't completely pain-free at the moment, it seems that this morning was more sinus than migraine since it got a lot better after coffee alone. That's usually a clue to me since sometimes these headaches feel similarly or occur together. Usually the migraine only gets slightly better after coffee AND pain meds. Sinus headaches, however, are often helped with coffee and no pain meds. Seems the sinus headache is better, leaving me with just the last lingering bits of the migraine.


----------



## sm4him

With the Dark Lord in a far country (or at least, a far-enough state), my immediate boss has decided our team should take a field trip on this beautiful sunny, warm spring day.
So we're gonna pile FIVE of us in my little convertible, which is quite comfy for 3--go get some shakes from Sonic and take a drive to a nearby park for a "meeting."
Only downside is that we have to be back by 2 p.m. for an actual not-fun meeting.
AND, this is no way helps me get caught up on all my projects. But one must sacrifice for the team, right?


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Well, the good news is that though my head isn't completely pain-free at the moment, it seems that this morning was more sinus than migraine since it got a lot better after coffee alone. That's usually a clue to me since sometimes these headaches feel similarly or occur together. Usually the migraine only gets slightly better after coffee AND pain meds. Sinus headaches, however, are often helped with coffee and no pain meds. Seems the sinus headache is better, leaving me with just the last lingering bits of the migraine.



I often have to call in and be about an hour late, waiting to see whether a headache is sinus, in which case I generally just keep right on moving, miserable or not, or migraine, in which case I tend to try to stop in my tracks and try to nip it in the bud before it gets to be a Migraine with a capital M.   Unless the sinus headache also comes with sinus drainage, in which case I'm generally throwing up as well, and I tend to not go to work when I'm hurling.


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon, Hosers. How y'all doin today?

Finally getting used to my glasses, particularly now that they stay on my damned head. Had them adjusted yesterday.


----------



## tirediron

Does this mean we can't pick on you any more?


----------



## snerd




----------



## limr

I'm going to get hipster glasses.


----------



## Derrel

limr said:
			
		

> I'm going to get hipster glasses.



Annnnnd while you're at that, make sure to drop $300 to $595 or so on a hipster-style, russet leather satchel!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> I'm going to get hipster glasses.



I thought the mere fact that YOU were wearing them would automatically MAKE them "hipster."


----------



## minicoop1985

You're gonna stop picking on me? I didn't think that was possible... lol.

When I first came here, I posted up some of my stuff that at the time I thought was good. Someone (I don't remember who) told me I needed to get glasses.... lol two years later and they were right.


----------



## minicoop1985

These are what I got. They're kinda hipster.

Oakley Servo Prescription Eyeglasses Free Shipping


----------



## limr

Derrel said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm going to get hipster glasses.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Annnnnd while you're at that, make sure to drop $300 to $595 or so on a hipster-style, russet leather satchel!
Click to expand...


Totally got one already, dude.



sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm going to get hipster glasses.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I thought the mere fact that YOU were wearing them would automatically MAKE them "hipster."
Click to expand...


This is true, of course. _*I*_ make the glasses; the glasses don't make me!






minicoop1985 said:


> These are what I got. They're kinda hipster.
> 
> Oakley Servo Prescription Eyeglasses Free Shipping



Yeah, those are kinda hipstah.


----------



## Designer

I wear nerd glasses.


----------



## snerd

I can't get outa the funk. Although the divorce was mutual and best, there's still the sense of loss and the realization of another failed marriage. Sigh. Went out to the refuge today........... couldn't get inspired enough to pull the camera out of the trunk. Right now I'm at the Old Plantation, a restaurant out here, enjoying a nice, ice-cold beer. 














Cell pics.




Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Derrel

Let's see the BEER!!!!!


----------



## snerd

Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

I can never drink more than one. Well, on very rare occasion, maybe 2. Lightweight. 


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> I can't get outa the funk. Although the divorce was mutual and best, there's still the sense of loss and the realization of another failed marriage. Sigh. Went out to the refuge today........... couldn't get inspired enough to pull the camera out of the trunk. Right now I'm at the Old Plantation, a restaurant out here, enjoying a nice, ice-cold beer.
> 
> View attachment 97635
> 
> View attachment 97636
> 
> View attachment 97637
> 
> Cell pics.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


kinda personal, i know. But why did either on of them fail? nice pics for a cell


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> I can't get outa the funk. Although the divorce was mutual and best, there's still the sense of loss and the realization of another failed marriage. Sigh. Went out to the refuge today........... couldn't get inspired enough to pull the camera out of the trunk. Right now I'm at the Old Plantation, a restaurant out here, enjoying a nice, ice-cold beer.
> 
> View attachment 97635
> 
> View attachment 97636
> 
> View attachment 97637
> 
> Cell pics.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro



Sorry, Snerd baby  
Even when it was for the best, it's normal to mourn the loss of what could have been.


----------



## table1349

snerd said:


> View attachment 97638
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


To quote Derrel....*Let's see the BEER!!!!!*
Cause Coors ain't beer even in Oklahoma, and they got lots of thing in Oklahoma that they pass off as beer.


----------



## minicoop1985

Poor Snerd.  You'll find something that fills that hole. Maybe a new hobby, maybe a new woman, maybe one of those RealDoll things. You never know.


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> kinda personal, i know. But why did either on of them fail? nice pics for a cell


Last one started going down hill after my first surgery in 2008. She said I was not a good patient, and she would not take care of me like that again. Well, I had a run of bad luck, health-wise, and wound up having four more surgeries over the next few years. I cannot begin to tell you how hard it is to recover from major surgeries by yourself. I grew to dislike her very much, and it manifested in anger. I should not have stayed half as long as I did. Been asking my counselor why I did, he says I'm an idiot lol!!


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> kinda personal, i know. But why did either on of them fail? nice pics for a cell
> 
> 
> 
> Last one started going down hill after my first surgery in 2008. She said I was not a good patient, and she would not take care of me like that again. Well, I had a run of bad luck, health-wise, and wound up having four more surgeries over the next few years. I cannot begin to tell you how hard it is to recover from major surgeries by yourself. I grew to dislike her very much, and it manifested in anger. I should not have stayed half as long as I did. Been asking my counselor why I did, he says I'm an idiot lol!!
Click to expand...

Makes sense. some people are natural "caregivers". Other people aren't,  Just isn't in their D.N.A. 
 Health and finance issue, both VERY stressful on a relationship.


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> kinda personal, i know. But why did either on of them fail? nice pics for a cell
> 
> 
> 
> Last one started going down hill after my first surgery in 2008. She said I was not a good patient, and she would not take care of me like that again. Well, I had a run of bad luck, health-wise, and wound up having four more surgeries over the next few years. I cannot begin to tell you how hard it is to recover from major surgeries by yourself. I grew to dislike her very much, and it manifested in anger. I should not have stayed half as long as I did. Been asking my counselor why I did, he says I'm an idiot lol!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Makes sense. some people are natural "caregivers". Other people aren't,  Just isn't in their D.N.A.
> Health and finance issue, both VERY stressful on a relationship.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but the vows said for better or worse.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> kinda personal, i know. But why did either on of them fail? nice pics for a cell
> 
> 
> 
> Last one started going down hill after my first surgery in 2008. She said I was not a good patient, and she would not take care of me like that again. Well, I had a run of bad luck, health-wise, and wound up having four more surgeries over the next few years. I cannot begin to tell you how hard it is to recover from major surgeries by yourself. I grew to dislike her very much, and it manifested in anger. I should not have stayed half as long as I did. Been asking my counselor why I did, he says I'm an idiot lol!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Makes sense. some people are natural "caregivers". Other people aren't,  Just isn't in their D.N.A.
> Health and finance issue, both VERY stressful on a relationship.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah, but the vows said for better or worse.
Click to expand...

so what happend to the first wife? I have a buddy that is on number 4. He has you beat i bet.


----------



## snerd

This was #3 for me. I won't bore the forum with the first 2. Now go take pics!!

ETA: although, the lengths were 7 years, 14 years and 7 years.


----------



## bribrius

not mine.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> This was #3 for me. I won't bore the forum with the first 2. Now go take pics!!
> 
> ETA: although, the lengths were 7 years, 14 years and 7 years.


First or second wife single? you could always marry them again.


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> This was #3 for me. I won't bore the forum with the first 2. Now go take pics!!
> 
> ETA: although, the lengths were 7 years, 14 years and 7 years.
> 
> 
> 
> First or second wife single? you could always marry them again.
Click to expand...

First wife still in prison.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> This was #3 for me. I won't bore the forum with the first 2. Now go take pics!!
> 
> ETA: although, the lengths were 7 years, 14 years and 7 years.
> 
> 
> 
> First or second wife single? you could always marry them again.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> First wife still in prison.
Click to expand...

hmmm. when she get out? 2 wife is interesting. 14 years is pretty long.


----------



## NancyMoranG

[QUOTE
First wife still in prison.[/QUOTE]

!! Does that mean you are saving on alimony?
Sorry that's callous...


----------



## sm4him

Good morning, Hosers! Another beautiful day here in East TN! 
I actually slept in a bit this morning. I don't use an alarm clock, just generally wake up between 5:30-6:00 a.m.  This morning I managed to sleep until 7 a.m.! It was glorious.
But as a consequence, I was already running late for work when I realized I'd only had the ONE cup of coffee. Hmmm…get to work something like on time, or get my second cup of coffee?
Well, THAT's a no-brainer!
So, after finishing the coffee,  I got another beautiful top-down drive in to work.

Now I'm trying to figure out how I can possibly manage to get away from work for a while this afternoon and go enjoy this weather, since it sounds like things are about to take a little return to the winter for a few days.
Rain tomorrow, a high of only about 47F on Saturday and a low of 26--after temps in the upper 70s (and lows near 50), that's going to seem pretty rude.
But I can take a cold snap once my soul has been revitalized by the return of spring. Spring is EVERYWHERE here--hyacinths, daffodils, and the true sign that spring has arrived in East TN--the Redbud trees are blooming!!  Of course, the flowers are purple. There is NO part of the Redbud tree, including their buds, that are red--but I guess Purplebud tree just didn't have the same ring to it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 55F right now, may hit 80F today. Hey Sharon, I have two Redbuds in the backyard ... mine certainly have red in them when the leaves first pop and then the leaves start to fall.






Forest Pansy Redbud

My Poppies are popping.


----------



## limr

Headache lifted yesterday in the evening! 

It was a doozy this time.


----------



## Derrel

Drinking yesterday-made coffee this morning...which is interesting...here in the Pacific Northwest there's an old coffee house name, Alan Brothers, which offers a coffee drink that is basically a French press brew which was made the day before, and the grounds allowed to steep literally overnight. The change in flavor is significant. As long as the roast was good, the extra oils that seep out after a 12 to 16 hour "soak" in the French press are interestingly different than when the same grind has been made, brewed, and pressed within minutes. Basically, I would say that the overnight soak has a bit more of a "nutty" flavor..a little bit more of a "roasted" aroma... I know the coffee snobs will tell you that the oils that express after only four minutes of brewing are a thing to be reviled and feared--but that's actually B.S.. 

Anywayyyyy, not that this day-old coffee is all that...I'm OUT of beans....this is all I have!!


----------



## snerd

NancyMoranG said:


> Does that mean you are saving on alimony?
> ...


I paid her child support in early '80's that she stuck in her arm. I finally got my son after 6 years and raised him. 


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 55F right now, may hit 80F today. Hey Sharon, I have two Redbuds in the backyard ... mine certainly have red in them when the leaves first pop and then the leaves start to fall.
> 
> 
> Forest Pansy Redbud
> 
> My Poppies are popping.



That's interesting! Maybe I've just never paid any attention to the leaves, then. Of course, it still seems like that would make them RedLEAF trees, not red buds.  

And btw, that B&W poppy photo is especially lovely!!


----------



## Gary A.

Derrel said:


> Drinking yesterday-made coffee this morning...which is interesting...here in the Pacific Northwest there's an old coffee house name, Alan Brothers, which offers a coffee drink that is basically a French press brew which was made the day before, and the grounds allowed to steep literally overnight. The change in flavor is significant. As long as the roast was good, the extra oils that seep out after a 12 to 16 hour "soak" in the French press are interestingly different than when the same grind has been made, brewed, and pressed within minutes. Basically, I would say that the overnight soak has a bit more of a "nutty" flavor..a little bit more of a "roasted" aroma... I know the coffee snobs will tell you that the oils that express after only four minutes of brewing are a thing to be reviled and feared--but that's actually B.S..
> 
> Anywayyyyy, not that this day-old coffee is all that...I'm OUT of beans....this is all I have!!


I agree. I often will drink a coffee brewed in the morning, in the evening without any unpleasantness. But I use very good beans.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 55F right now, may hit 80F today. Hey Sharon, I have two Redbuds in the backyard ... mine certainly have red in them when the leaves first pop and then the leaves start to fall.
> 
> 
> Forest Pansy Redbud
> 
> My Poppies are popping.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's interesting! Maybe I've just never paid any attention to the leaves, then. Of course, it still seems like that would make them RedLEAF trees, not red buds.
> 
> And btw, that B&W poppy photo is especially lovely!!
Click to expand...

Thank you ... yeah, I don't get the redbud thing also. In the photo of my morning coffee station you can see the pink buds of the Redbud. Between being new and old, the leaves turn that purplish green color. 





Here's my fountain that's in with the roses.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- As noted above ... it is Poppy Season.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> PS- As noted above ... it is Poppy Season.


Thanks for posting the pics. Gorgeous. Nice to see. Everything around here is pretty blah and grey still. so these pics are a welcomed sight.


----------



## KenC

Poppy Season!?  When's the opium harvest?


----------



## limr




----------



## pgriz

Temperature  today has risen above freezing.  It's a cloudless sky, so the sun is warming the snow.  We are also getting colour, but unlike Gary, ours is generally brown as the snow melts away.  Still a ways to go before we can see where the "lawn" is.  However, we know it is spring, just from the amount of road splash being worn by every car on the road.  Which leads me to muse that we really have six seasons.  There's summer, followed by fall, followed by cold mud season, followed by winter, and then warming mud season, followed by spring...


----------



## Gary A.

Got the final two and remaining tomatoes potted! One Merlot grape to go. My grapes all have a ton of these tiny little baby grapes ... looks like a bumper year.


----------



## minicoop1985

All this talk about botany-I have about the blackest thumb you can have. I killed a cactus for cripe's sake.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> All this talk about botany-I have about the blackest thumb you can have. I killed a cactus for cripe's sake.


um . . . we've killed bamboo.  Bamboo is indestructible, but we've unintentionally killed it.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> All this talk about botany-I have about the blackest thumb you can have. I killed a cactus for cripe's sake.





snowbear said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> All this talk about botany-I have about the blackest thumb you can have. I killed a cactus for cripe's sake.
> 
> 
> 
> um . . . we've killed bamboo.  Bamboo is indestructible, but we've unintentionally killed it.
Click to expand...


Yup, me too. On both counts. I'm terrible with plants. It's too bad, because I like them in the house, but


----------



## limr

Hey, I didn't hit Post Reply! What the hell?

Anyway, the rest of that sentence was supposed to be, "...but then again, the cats would just eat them even if I could keep them alive, so it's just as well."


----------



## sm4him

I've killed Aloe plants before. You can go, like six months, without watering an Aloe plant with little ill effect...yet I've managed to kill them.

Outdoor stuff I can do--although I'm better with vegetable gardens than flower gardens, but if you give me an indoor plant, you are essentially signing its death warrant.


----------



## snerd

Evening, hosers. I'll be out for awhile............. infection in new shoulder. He wants to do surgery asap, tomorrow afternoon. Just damn.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Evening, hosers. I'll be out for awhile............. infection in new shoulder. He wants to do surgery asap, tomorrow afternoon. Just damn.


This is NOT good news.  Hopefully not major surgery.


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening, hosers. I'll be out for awhile............. infection in new shoulder. He wants to do surgery asap, tomorrow afternoon. Just damn.
> 
> 
> 
> This is NOT good news.  Hopefully not major surgery.
Click to expand...

Don't know about major, but no hospital this time. I will be put under, though, and I consider that major. I dread it. He going to reopen the big scar and go in and clean it all out. Then I'm going to an infectious disease specialist the next day for treatment. This will be my 6th surgery in 7 years. I'm quite tired of it.


----------



## limr

Oh no! We'll be thinking of you, Snerd baby!   Be well and come back to us soon.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening, hosers. I'll be out for awhile............. infection in new shoulder. He wants to do surgery asap, tomorrow afternoon. Just damn.
> 
> 
> 
> This is NOT good news.  Hopefully not major surgery.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't know about major, but no hospital this time. I will be put under, though, and I consider that major. I dread it. He going to reopen the big scar and go in and clean it all out. Then I'm going to an infectious disease specialist the next day for treatment. This will be my 6th surgery in 7 years. I'm quite tired of it.
Click to expand...

yeah sounds like he is getting some of the nasties out...  have you seen the infectious disease specialist before?


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening, hosers. I'll be out for awhile............. infection in new shoulder. He wants to do surgery asap, tomorrow afternoon. Just damn.
> 
> 
> 
> This is NOT good news.  Hopefully not major surgery.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't know about major, but no hospital this time. I will be put under, though, and I consider that major. I dread it. He going to reopen the big scar and go in and clean it all out. Then I'm going to an infectious disease specialist the next day for treatment. This will be my 6th surgery in 7 years. I'm quite tired of it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> yeah sounds like he is getting some of the nasties out...  have you seen the infectious disease specialist before?
Click to expand...

No. That's what's so aggravating........... the shlouder replacement has gone SO well for 8 months now! He's baffled as to why an infection would appear so long after surgery.


----------



## snerd

Anyway, thanks Lenny and Brian. I'll get off the pity party now. Maybe go look for a camera to swipe!!


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening, hosers. I'll be out for awhile............. infection in new shoulder. He wants to do surgery asap, tomorrow afternoon. Just damn.
> 
> 
> 
> This is NOT good news.  Hopefully not major surgery.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't know about major, but no hospital this time. I will be put under, though, and I consider that major. I dread it. He going to reopen the big scar and go in and clean it all out. Then I'm going to an infectious disease specialist the next day for treatment. This will be my 6th surgery in 7 years. I'm quite tired of it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> yeah sounds like he is getting some of the nasties out...  have you seen the infectious disease specialist before?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No. That's what's so aggravating........... the shlouder replacement has gone SO well for 8 months now! He's baffled as to why an infection would appear so long after surgery.
Click to expand...

The treatment, little i know my wife saw one of them couple years ago. They gave her two options. Either stay in the hospital and get one drug intravenous over a course of days or week. Or get a pill of two different drugs with outpatient care and shots etc. etc. Vancomycin and something else. 
Not wanting to stay in the hospital for a few days or week she chose the latter outpatient program  which turned out costs me 250 dollars every two days between the drug and the outpatient. which i had no idea because she put it on one of my credit cards. LMAO But as she said, she was able to be home for easter (at the cost of 4k maybe higher).  i THINK they will let you go home though. Just the cost depends on what the insurance will pick up and in my case the insurance covered hospital stay but not pill form of the particular drug and the outpatient.  And if it bad enough they may want to have you at least one day overnight just to have you on the antibiotic intravenous for a least a day.


----------



## snerd

Workers Comp pays for everything. Company I worked for for 25 years was good about paying for 2 back surgeries and now 2 shoulder surgeries. I gave them my back and arms.............. doesn't seem quite worth it now.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Workers Comp pays for everything. Company I worked for for 25 years was good about paying for 2 back surgeries and now 2 shoulder surgeries. I gave them my back and arms.............. doesn't seem quite worth it now.


nope. Doesn't seem worth it.  Hopefully it goes well for you.


----------



## Gary A.

Snerd, I hope all goes according to plan.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and I just upgraded to iPhone 6's.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou and I just upgraded to iPhone 6's.


you won't need a camera anymore.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou and I just upgraded to iPhone 6's.


Love mine! I have the Plus+.


----------



## Gary A.

I have the '+', Mary Lou has the standard. I'm downloading all my songs now while listening to 'Rodriguez' on my headphones. He is quite good.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> I have the '+', Mary Lou has the standard. I'm downloading all my songs now while listening to 'Rodriguez' on my headphones. He is quite good.


I got the 128gb model. Lots of room! But I only have about 800-900 of my songs on it, the rest are on the Cloud and I stream them. Then I also have Spotify, which is great! Tons of pics, too.


----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening, hosers. I'll be out for awhile............. infection in new shoulder. He wants to do surgery asap, tomorrow afternoon. Just damn.
> 
> 
> 
> This is NOT good news.  Hopefully not major surgery.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't know about major, but no hospital this time. I will be put under, though, and I consider that major. I dread it. He going to reopen the big scar and go in and clean it all out. Then I'm going to an infectious disease specialist the next day for treatment. This will be my 6th surgery in 7 years. I'm quite tired of it.
Click to expand...

Keeping you in our thoughts.


----------



## sm4him

@snerd Hope the surgery goes extremely well, and this is the end of all the rough stuff for you. You deserve some smooth sailing!

@Gary A. and snerd: I just got my first-ever iPhone. No, I didn't switch to the dark side--I'm still an Android girl, but my workplace finally bought me a phone to use for THEIR stuff (AFTER all the snow was over, which is 90% of what I need it for).
"Just" an iPhone 5 though.

We just had this big "reorganization" of our comapny cellphones. What's funny is that several of the people who actually USE their company phone way more than me just got older phones, nothing "smart" and defnitely nothing new.  But *I* got a brand new iPhone 5.

I don't really care that much for it, so far. I like my Samsungs much better.  Just a matter of familiarity I suppose, although I do use an iMac at work (AND a PC, at work and at home), and I have an iPod--but I have recently started using my Samsung more and more for my music too.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Snerd, sorry to hear of your issues. Hoping you get better soon.
Medical stuff is such a downer. Hubby has a lot if issues the last few years and it is draining.
Happy thoughts for you..


----------



## bribrius

morning. Looks like it will be a little warmer today. Two kids off to school. cup of coffee. Looking through pics from the other day. i was so lacking something to shoot the other day i ended up shooting cars off a overpass bridge.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> @Gary A. and snerd: I just got my first-ever iPhone. No, I didn't switch to the dark side--I'm still an Android girl, but my workplace finally bought me a phone to use for THEIR stuff (AFTER all the snow was over, which is 90% of what I need it for).
> "Just" an iPhone 5 though.



You don't like winter or the Gators, but you're just as introverted as I am and also and Android girl, so you're still my people 



> I don't really care that much for it, so far. I like my Samsungs much better.  Just a matter of familiarity I suppose, although I do use an iMac at work (AND a PC, at work and at home), and I have an iPod--but *I have recently started using my Samsung more and more for my music too*.



Me too. I bought a Nano...well, probably a while ago at this point. I never bring it with me anymore. I have a little speaker/docking station and I'll use it to play music sometimes at home, but when I'm out and listening on headphones, it's always my phone now. I've got a bunch of stuff loaded, but I also have the Amazon Prime Music app and I can add music to my "Library" without actually buying it.

Oh, and good morning, hosers! 

Snerd, good luck today!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A. and snerd: I just got my first-ever iPhone. No, I didn't switch to the dark side--I'm still an Android girl, but my workplace finally bought me a phone to use for THEIR stuff (AFTER all the snow was over, which is 90% of what I need it for).
> "Just" an iPhone 5 though.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You don't like winter or the Gators, but you're just as introverted as I am and also and Android girl, so you're still my people
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't really care that much for it, so far. I like my Samsungs much better.  Just a matter of familiarity I suppose, although I do use an iMac at work (AND a PC, at work and at home), and I have an iPod--but *I have recently started using my Samsung more and more for my music too*.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Me too. I bought a Nano...well, probably a while ago at this point. I never bring it with me anymore. I have a little speaker/docking station and I'll use it to play music sometimes at home, but when I'm out and listening on headphones, it's always my phone now. I've got a bunch of stuff loaded, but I also have the Amazon Prime Music app and I can add music to my "Library" without actually buying it.
> 
> Oh, and good morning, hosers!
> 
> Snerd, good luck today!
Click to expand...


That Gator thing is the hardest one for me--you know that I must like you an awful lot to look past you being a Gator fan!! 

The iPod--well, I bought it from my sister. She uses hers a lot, and it always SEEMED like a great idea. So when she upgraded, I bought her old one. It's an iPod Touch, but not sure which version.  I went to all the trouble of figuring out how to get rid of most of her music (the real trouble there was that I wanted to keep SOME of it, but not all--because there was no room left on there for MY music!), then uploading MY music…and I've probably used it three times in the year or so I've had it.  I just find it a hassle, really.
The whole reason I wanted it is because I've always had this "thing" about putting my music on my phone.  I'm an old person, and I hold firmly and doggedly to the concept that phones are for calling people, not for listening to music.
Every time my eldest was home, he'd try to get me to just TRY using my phone for my music. It never took.
But when I got my last phone, he took it on himself to just set up Google Play, so that now everything I download on my home computer goes to the Google Music Manager and is instantly available at home, on my phone, and on my tablet. It is GLORIOUS. 
I have absolutely NO use for the iPod now--in fact, I really need to just sell it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 55F right now, but supposed to hit 90F ... so Leo stay away. Doesn't bother me any, hot and dry ... I have to work hard to break into a sweat.

@ snerd- Hopefully everything will be fixed and this is the last operation. I've only had one operation and that was voluntary. I got the 64gb, I've loaded my music and still have about 30gb left.

@ Sharon- I have an old iPod Touch. I use it to play music around the house. I have Bose systems set up off the Tv and in the patio, I just plug the Touch into the receivers. When I travel/drive/walk it is much easier to have everything on one instrument. I had to dump the music on my old iPhone due to lack of space. I share your pain of having to overlook that Gator-in-the-living-room thing. (Mary Lou's son is a Gator, but a Golden Gator, ala SFSU.) I was thinkin', as we're in a drought, if you lived out here you could have driven around topless all winter.

I'm not an Apple fanatic, but I appreciate that the system nearly never goes down, add programs, subtract programs, add devices, upgrade, et al and no hiccups whatsoever. I like how easy it is to integrate all the Apple devices ... easy-pezy. I have a small Android tablet that is pocketable, with the size of the 6+, I'm dumping the small 8" tablet.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 55F right now, but supposed to hit 90F ... so Leo stay away. Doesn't bother me any, hot and dry ... I have to work hard to break into a sweat.



At 90F - dry or not - all I have to do to break into a sweat is exist.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 55F right now, but supposed to hit 90F ... so Leo stay away. Doesn't bother me any, hot and dry ... I have to work hard to break into a sweat.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At 90F - dry or not - all I have to do to break into a sweat is exist.
Click to expand...

You do sorta get used to it. When i lived in nevada it became something you just adapted too.  leather in the car can be ouch though.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 55F right now, but supposed to hit 90F ... so Leo stay away. Doesn't bother me any, hot and dry ... I have to work hard to break into a sweat.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At 90F - dry or not - all I have to do to break into a sweat is exist.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You do sorta get used to it. When i lived in nevada it became something you just adapted too.  leather in the car can be ouch though.
Click to expand...


No, I don't. I lived in Florida for 3.5 years (very humid), I lived in Turkey for 3 years (mildly humid in summer), and I lived in Portugal (fairly low humidity in summer) for 2 years. These were all much hotter climates than I am used to, and after living in these places, I am less tolerant of the heat. I never got used to it.


----------



## Gary A.

Just finished getting the Honeysuckle out and the Merlot grape in. I'm pretty much done with my Spring plantings. So I'm gonna celebrate with some beer and dogs for dinner, (Hanger 24 and Turkey Dogs).


----------



## Gary A.

@ Sharon- You actually are right ... I'm looking at the Redbud ... the leaves turn red when backlighted, otherwise, yeah, redish-purple.


----------



## Gary A.

Just sat down, Chicken Dogs stuff with apple, Pacifico and Rodriguez playing in the background.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Just sat down, Chicken Dogs stuff with apple, Pacifico and Rodriguez playing in the background.



Afiyet olsun, Amca! 

(That last word is "Uncle" in Turkish and is pronounced "Ahm-ja")

Meanwhile on the East Coast, I'm about to start getting ready for bed. Trying to be lights out by 11:30 these days. Ultimately, I'd like to work it down to 11:00-ish, at least for the nights before going to work at the lawyer's.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou found a little tub of Philippe Mustard. Great stuff ... really really spicy. It will clear your sinuses at arms length. (Philippe is the self-proclaimed inventor of the French Dip.) I usually take visitors to Philippe's and invariably I get "This is one of the best, or the very best sandwich I've ever eaten".)


----------



## snerd

Evening hosers!



sm4him said:


> @snerd Hope the surgery goes extremely well, and this is the end of all the rough stuff for you. You deserve some smooth sailing!


Thank you sweet lady! I'm claiming that and standing on it!

Surgery went well, cleaned out most if not all infection. Have to drive to OKC tomorrow for infectious disease specialist, then back to Norman on Monday for shoulder follow-up, and if he thinks so, he may want to open and clean again Tuesday! 

Thanks all for the thoughts and prayers. You all are like a little family to me!


----------



## snerd

Nice kitty.................


----------



## limr

Dude, what is with you and posting gross things while you're still loopy??


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Just finished my A.M. pushups, checking my mail then off with my best friend for a walk. My allergies are extremely bad. During the day I'm pretty much okay. I take a pill and I'm done. At night I take a pill, turn on the air filter next to my bed, but after a few hours of being horizontal the back of my throat sorta clogs up and I find myself awake, sitting upright in the dark livingroom, drinking water and petting Cook. It wipes me out. Tonight I'm gonna try an extra pillow or two. Anybody have similar problem or a solution?


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Tonight I'm gonna try an extra pillow or two. Anybody have similar problem or a solution?


My (now deceased) MIL had to sleep sitting up.  Are your allergies seasonal, or all the time?


----------



## limr

Ever try breathe-right strips? They help me more than medications do when I have colds.

It might be too late now that you are already in allergy season, but I've heard that eating local honey for several weeks before any allergy symptoms start showing up helps ease the severity. The idea is that you're slowly building a tolerance for the allergens, which are often present in the honey. It's important that it's local honey, of course. Not sure how readily available that is.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tonight I'm gonna try an extra pillow or two. Anybody have similar problem or a solution?
> 
> 
> 
> My (now deceased) MIL had to sleep sitting up.  Are your allergies seasonal, or all the time?
Click to expand...

Purely seasonal, usually an over-the-counter allergy pill solves all. I'm gonna try that nasal spray by physician recommends. I'm a very light sleeper. It takes me awhile to get to sleep. Then I go deep really fast, then come up to a very light sleep where I'm semi-conscience of sounds and stuff. Probably, goes back to my news days when I often had to wake up running.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Ever try breathe-right strips? They help me more than medications do when I have colds.
> 
> It might be too late now that you are already in allergy season, but I've heard that eating local honey for several weeks before any allergy symptoms start showing up helps ease the severity. The idea is that you're slowly building a tolerance for the allergens, which are often present in the honey. It's important that it's local honey, of course. Not sure how readily available that is.


That is a good idea! Plenty of local honey at all the farmer markets out here.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Ever try breathe-right strips? They help me more than medications do when I have colds.
> 
> It might be too late now that you are already in allergy season, but I've heard that eating local honey for several weeks before any allergy symptoms start showing up helps ease the severity. The idea is that you're slowly building a tolerance for the allergens, which are often present in the honey. It's important that it's local honey, of course. Not sure how readily available that is.


He lives in LA - that would mean the honey would need to be made with automobile exhaust as a main ingredient!


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Dude, what is with you and posting gross things while you're still loopy??


But but but............... I thought we liked cats?!


----------



## AvianStewardess

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ever try breathe-right strips? They help me more than medications do when I have colds.
> 
> It might be too late now that you are already in allergy season, but I've heard that eating local honey for several weeks before any allergy symptoms start showing up helps ease the severity. The idea is that you're slowly building a tolerance for the allergens, which are often present in the honey. It's important that it's local honey, of course. Not sure how readily available that is.
> 
> 
> 
> That is a good idea! Plenty of local honey at all the farmer markets out here.
Click to expand...

To super charge that honey, take 2 tablespoons of it mix with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1 teaspoon ground ginger.  It is an extreme taste bud experience; add to hot water as a tea if you can't take it.  All three ingredients are immune system boosters, always helpful for those susceptible to allergies.  Works great to minimize cold symptoms, too.


----------



## snowbear

AvianStewardess said:


> To super charge that honey, *add rum.*



FIFY


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dude, what is with you and posting gross things while you're still loopy??
> 
> 
> 
> But but but............... I thought we liked cats?!
Click to expand...


We do, we do! But not snot!


----------



## minicoop1985

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy today I'm going to our local speed shop and hopefully shooting some exotic cars!        I think there's a Lamborghini waiting for a photoshoot... 

Cat snot. Something I've never thought about before.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy today I'm going to our local speed shop and hopefully shooting some exotic cars!        I think there's a Lamborghini waiting for a photoshoot...
> 
> Cat snot. Something I've never thought about before.


test drive could be more fun. see if you can snatch the keys.


----------



## sm4him

Absolutely gorgeous outside today! Nothing but blue skies!
Too bad it's 30 degrees colder than it was on Thursday. Winter is such a psycho-stalker of a season; it just doesn't know when to quit.

Tempted to go somewhere anyway, but definitely won't have the top down on the convertible today!
It's not even ALL that cold, to most of you, but once I've gotten a taste of the 60s and 70s, I find it even worse when it drops below 50 again.  It'll be about 45 today, I think.  
Back to about 60 tomorrow, and 70s by later next week, so it's all good--but I still feel a teeny bit whiney because my Saturday is not perfect. Boohoo.


----------



## bribrius

snow flurries here this a.m. Some birds out moving around. They looked a little out of place. Maybe they hatched a little early. I should get some bird food. I am kind of wondering what they are eating with snow still covering most of the ground.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> but I still feel a teeny bit whiney because my Saturday is not perfect. Boohoo.


Better than a day at a door-less office with B5.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dios Coffee Hosers. The Hummers are going through the nectar like a hot knife through butter. It will be in the 80's today. I'm finally getting around to testing that lens. I think I'll head out to the beach, (which will be in the 70's).

Still haven't figured out my sinus/drip problem. I tried the Flonase, it didn't help much. It is so odd, when I initially go horizontal, after an hour or two, the top of my throat feels uncomfortable and sorta clogged ... so I get up, move to the living room resting with my back upright (sitting position), drink some water and try to grab some rest. After an hour or so the clogged feeling is gone and I go back to bed with no discomfort for the rest of the night. I'm taking Zyrtec, which is the Costco equivalent of Claritin (I think), once in the morning and again before I go horizontal for the night.

I live about 15 miles to the beach, I guess I need to move closer, more like 15 feet.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dios Coffee Hosers. The Hummers are going through the nectar like a hot knife through butter. It will be in the 80's today. I'm finally getting around to testing that lens. I think I'll head out to the beach, (which will be in the 70's).
> 
> Still haven't figured out my sinus/drip problem. I tried the Flonase, it didn't help much. It is so odd, when I initially go horizontal, after an hour or two, the top of my throat feels uncomfortable and sorta clogged ... so I get up, move to the living room resting with my back upright (sitting position), drink some water and try to grab some rest. After an hour or so the clogged feeling is gone and I go back to bed with no discomfort for the rest of the night. I'm taking Zyrtec, which is the Costco equivalent of Claritin (I think), once in the morning and again before I go horizontal for the night.
> 
> I live about 15 miles to the beach, I guess I need to move closer, more like 15 feet.


try a few shots of southern comfort or jim beam


----------



## limr

Grrrrrr, I'm annoyed today.

My internet connection is flaky on my laptop ever since I hooked up the external monitor. Now I can't seem to get the computer to read an SD card. I sometimes scan prints on a scanner I have - it's actually a wireless 3-in-1 contraption, but I have never been able to get the wireless to work reliably, and the printer isn't that great, so I just use it to scan things onto an SD card that I then transfer to the computer. Except now the computer isn't reading the card. Grrrrrrr.

Zelda is obsessed with the scanner, and today she has apparently learned that pressing the touch tone screen gets the scanner to make the noises she likes.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Grrrrrr, I'm annoyed today.
> 
> My internet connection is flaky on my laptop ever since I hooked up the external monitor. Now I can't seem to get the computer to read an SD card. I sometimes scan prints on a scanner I have - it's actually a wireless 3-in-1 contraption, but I have never been able to get the wireless to work reliably, and the printer isn't that great, so I just use it to scan things onto an SD card that I then transfer to the computer. Except now the computer isn't reading the card. Grrrrrrr.[?QUOTE]
> Have you tried reading the card without the monitor connected?  Maybe one has nothing to do with the other.
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Zelda is obsessed with the scanner, and today she has apparently learned that pressing the touch tone screen gets the scanner to make the noises she likes.
> 
> 
> 
> Funny kitty.
Click to expand...


----------



## minicoop1985

Dammit, the shop's manager's kid had a kid, so the shop was closed. Urgh. I was steps away from that Lamborghini too...


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Dammit, the shop's manager's kid had a kid, so the shop was closed. Urgh. I was steps away from that Lamborghini too...



One more reason to avoid children.
Sledgehammer the door? 
Brick through window?

>>Just kidding on at least two of above.  Still contemplating one of them


----------



## luckychucky

Me too, the weather was in the 70s now dipping into the 30s!' Really ready for a tropical vacation!!! Just hanging out inside. Blah


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dios Coffee Hosers. The Hummers are going through the nectar like a hot knife through butter. It will be in the 80's today. I'm finally getting around to testing that lens. I think I'll head out to the beach, (which will be in the 70's).
> 
> Still haven't figured out my sinus/drip problem. I tried the Flonase, it didn't help much. It is so odd, when I initially go horizontal, after an hour or two, the top of my throat feels uncomfortable and sorta clogged ... so I get up, move to the living room resting with my back upright (sitting position), drink some water and try to grab some rest. After an hour or so the clogged feeling is gone and I go back to bed with no discomfort for the rest of the night. I'm taking Zyrtec, which is the Costco equivalent of Claritin (I think), once in the morning and again before I go horizontal for the night.
> 
> I live about 15 miles to the beach, I guess I need to move closer, more like 15 feet.
> 
> 
> 
> try a few shots of southern comfort or jim beam
Click to expand...

I prefer Scotch.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Have you tried reading the card without the monitor connected?  Maybe one has nothing to do with the other.



I never had a problem with it before hooking up the monitor. I think it somehow has to do with running the computer with the lid closed. I have the laptop tucked under my desk so it's kind of a pain in the butt to pull it out to get to the card reader. I might just put it in the netbook, then save it to a flash drive.



snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Zelda is obsessed with the scanner, and today she has apparently learned that pressing the touch tone screen gets the scanner to make the noises she likes.
> 
> 
> 
> Funny kitty.
Click to expand...


She is quite silly


----------



## Gary A.

Off to mow the front.


----------



## limr

It's snowing. Not heavy, but it's been snowing since about 10.

And no, it doesn't bother me.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have you tried reading the card without the monitor connected?  Maybe one has nothing to do with the other.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I never had a problem with it before hooking up the monitor. I think it somehow has to do with running the computer with the lid closed. I have the laptop tucked under my desk so it's kind of a pain in the butt to pull it out to get to the card reader. I might just put it in the netbook, then save it to a flash drive.
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Zelda is obsessed with the scanner, and today she has apparently learned that pressing the touch tone screen gets the scanner to make the noises she likes.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Funny kitty.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> She is quite silly
Click to expand...

You could get a card reader with a cord.


----------



## Gary A.

Mowing bothers me. I rather it snow than mow.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Mowing bothers me. I rather it snow than mow.



I always hated mowing, too. It used to be one of my chores as a child. We didn't have a riding mower, either. I was lucky it was at least motorized and not one of those old manual rotary mowers! I rescued many a toad from those blades.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mowing bothers me. I rather it snow than mow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I always hated mowing, too. It used to be one of my chores as a child. We didn't have a riding mower, either. I was lucky it was at least motorized and not one of those old manual rotary mowers! I rescued many a toad from those blades.
Click to expand...

i graduated from being a youngster. Started with a manual (no engine) push to a lawn tractor with a cup holder. It isn't so bad now.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mowing bothers me. I rather it snow than mow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I always hated mowing, too. It used to be one of my chores as a child. We didn't have a riding mower, either. I was lucky it was at least motorized and not one of those old manual rotary mowers! I rescued many a toad from those blades.
Click to expand...


I love the actual process of mowing. I just hate the amount of time it takes. It was one of the few tasks I even really enjoyed as a teen--but my brothers usually "got" to mow.


----------



## pgriz

The goat union wants to have a talk with youse people.  You're taking sustenance away from a hard-working patriotic goat.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Mowing bothers me. I rather it snow than mow.


Get a goat or two.  Problem solved.


----------



## snowbear

Haha - pgriz posted while I was typing -- we're on the same path.


----------



## snowbear

Lenny - Poke around the Control Panel for "What closing the lid does" option.  I can see it in Power Options on Windows 8.  I don't know it will fix your issue, but it's worth a shot.  I know the county laptop is fine as long as it's in the docking bay, but it sounds like your just plugged into the monitor port.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Grrrrrr, I'm annoyed today.
> 
> My internet connection is flaky on my laptop ever since I hooked up the external monitor. Now I can't seem to get the computer to read an SD card. I sometimes scan prints on a scanner I have - it's actually a wireless 3-in-1 contraption, but I have never been able to get the wireless to work reliably, and the printer isn't that great, so I just use it to scan things onto an SD card that I then transfer to the computer. Except now the computer isn't reading the card. Grrrrrrr.
> 
> Zelda is obsessed with the scanner, and today she has apparently learned that pressing the touch tone screen gets the scanner to make the noises she likes.



I have a similiar issue with the card reader on my desktop, but it's not related to a monitor or scanner, it's just a slightly screwy refurb desktop.
If I plug in one of my external drives first, then put a card in the sd card reader, it will NOT read it. But as long as I put the card in FIRST, then I can plug in external drives too, and it will read from both.


----------



## Gary A.

No goat or sheep. They take the grass down to the root so there is little chance of regrowth. I prefer something more along the lines of a Bison. Bisons leave enough of the plant where's there's a chance to grow back. What I should do is remove the grass and toss in native plants and succulents, little to no watering and no mowing (or snowing).


----------



## Gary A.

Sharon- if you move to sunny, warmy, droughty California, sorta near to me ... you can mow my lawns all year round. 'lectric mower and trimmer so you feel green while destroying the environment.  (I won't even charge you for the fun.)


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Sharon- if you move to sunny, warmy, droughty California, sorta near to me ... you can mow my lawns all year round. 'lectric mower and trimmer so you feel green while destroying the environment.  (I won't even charge you for the fun.)



The other option I can think of what the 'necks do here -- cover that nasty old grass with parked 4x4 trucks and junked cars.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Sharon- if you move to sunny, warmy, droughty California, sorta near to me ... you can mow my lawns all year round. 'lectric mower and trimmer so you feel green while destroying the environment.  (I won't even charge you for the fun.)




Oh, that sounds great, Gary, thanks! That's just what I'll....oh, wait. Crap. I can't do that. I just checked--and it turns out, I wasn't born yesterday. 

Besides, WHEN I move to sunnier, warmer climes...it'll likely be coastal South Carolina or Florida. I'm just too much of an East Coast kinda girl...


----------



## snowbear

I'll come mow your lawn.  But you'll have to provide one of these set-ups:
https://www.deere.com/common/media/...y_rotary_cutters/496301_hd_rotary_762x458.jpg


----------



## limr

Still snowing. Flurries but big flakes, all dancing around. It's fun to watch.


----------



## Gary A.

Lovely day. 70F as we hit San Pedro and Palos Verdes shooting with the 40mm for my review. I hate MF lenses and I hate this lens. It better be sharper than a Ginzu knife 'cuz it is a pain and slow to use.

Sipping on some Marimar Albarino, watching the Wildcats and the Irish duking it out. A very nice day. Stopped into the Interpretive Center in Palos Verdes and watched the whale watchers chalk up their sightings.


----------



## tirediron

Musta missed it... which 40mm lens are you reviewing?


----------



## Gary A.

The HandleVision 40mm, f/.85, Fuji FX mount, manual focus, APS-C. This seems like it would be much more practical for the studio as a short-ish portrait lens, than a general purpose, slightly longish from normal FOV type lens.


----------



## snerd

Howdy, hosers. I'm still among the living! Saw the infectious disease specialist and he had them insert a PICC IV catheter in  my arm. I have to run 2 jugs of antibiotics through it a day, with a saline flush before and after. Grrr.......... probably 6 weeks of this! Shoulder doc probably wants to go back in on Tuesday to clean out rest of the infection. I'm all for it............ it's draining the most vile crap and I have to change the dressing 2-3 times a day! Very hard to do by myself.......... I'm going to check on a home-health nurse tomorrow. No coffee last 2 days for me, only guzzling water and Gatorade. Happy to be able to post again!


----------



## snowbear

Get better.


----------



## Gary A.

I guess people's have quit drinking coffee... what'zup people's?  Sent the entire day in the backyard gardening. The back looks very nice. Everything is in bloom. Roses, Sweet Peas, Poppies, Clematis, et al. I even dove into the pond to fine-tune the rocks for the waterfall, It sounds and looks much better. The fish seem more relaxed since I removed the aggressive turtle. We have a bumper crop of oranges, lemons ... looks like I'm gonna drown in grapes this year, the strawberries are looking good, we even had a few with our breakfast. I'm using Thyme as a ground cover around the pond and it is finally getting established. It has the little blueish-white bloom, Cookie likes to roll her back in it. The Basil thinks its King Kong and I cut it back it this morning ... man, wallowing in all the branches ... did it smell heavenly.  Man, if you guys were local I'd do an invite for BBQ, macro shooting and vino. Which I'm sipping right now, a very very nice Pinot from the Santa Rita Hills. Gotta go get the George Foreman fired up and the rice going. See ya, I do wish you guys were here to enjoy this California perfect evening, with the Hummers and butterflies and the Beach Boys on the stereo ... "Catch a Wave and you're sitting on top of the world ...".


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> Howdy, hosers. I'm still among the living! Saw the infectious disease specialist and he had them insert a PICC IV catheter in  my arm. I have to run 2 jugs of antibiotics through it a day, with a saline flush before and after. Grrr.......... probably 6 weeks of this! Shoulder doc probably wants to go back in on Tuesday to clean out rest of the infection. I'm all for it............ it's draining the most vile crap and I have to change the dressing 2-3 times a day! Very hard to do by myself.......... I'm going to check on a home-health nurse tomorrow. No coffee last 2 days for me, only guzzling water and Gatorade. Happy to be able to post again!


Man that sucks. The ex was a type one diabetic, she got some horrendous infections ... almost went into the details ... caught myself ...


----------



## AvianStewardess

Gary A. said:


> I guess people's have quit drinking coffee...


Trying.  Word on the street is excessive coffee contributes to dense breasts.  Dense breasts are a hassle.  Trust me on this.

Anyways...so do you put-up/preserve from that garden, or *simply* fresh-eating?  Sounds like you've got quite a bit going...


----------



## Gary A.

Just fresh eating. Anything more than we can eat I give away. Being California, we have stuff ready for picking all year-round. We've been taking dozens of Valencia Oranges a few times a week for the peoples at work for the last month.

We have a ton of herbs, so nearly everything we eat is herbed upped. Just a walk to the backyard and a few snipes and viola ... instant flavor.

(Even though you tossed me a softball with the dense breasts ... I won't take a swing.)


----------



## AvianStewardess

In my 3-year experience with it, the microclimate of the Eastern Shore gives me near year-round growing; I've got a greenhouse to keep a few citrus trees and tomatoes/peppers alive and producing, and can keep cold-weather vegetables and greens growing through most of the winter.  I put up a lot of fruit and the vegetables I must have year-round - either canned, frozen or dehydrated/dried.  I grow a lot of garlic.  No, even more than that.  I am trying to come up with a variety *naturalized* to my growing environment, which means I'm growing an excess for seed for the following year to keep picking the best for seed year-over-year.  This year I am doing an experiment on which onion types will be best for this longitude, since the Eastern Shore is such a in-betweener of the three.  Some might call me serious about food...


----------



## limr

I'm sorry about all the trouble you're going through, Snerd, but it's good that it's helping you. Hope it all goes quickly and then you never have to deal with it again!


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Howdy, hosers. I'm still among the living! Saw the infectious disease specialist and he had them insert a PICC IV catheter in  my arm. I have to run 2 jugs of antibiotics through it a day, with a saline flush before and after. Grrr.......... probably 6 weeks of this! Shoulder doc probably wants to go back in on Tuesday to clean out rest of the infection. I'm all for it............ it's draining the most vile crap and I have to change the dressing 2-3 times a day! Very hard to do by myself.......... I'm going to check on a home-health nurse tomorrow. No coffee last 2 days for me, only guzzling water and Gatorade. Happy to be able to post again!
> 
> 
> 
> Man that sucks. The ex was a type one diabetic, she got some horrendous infections ... almost went into the details ... *caught myself ...*
Click to expand...


Thank you. Really. THANK YOU!


----------



## snowbear

AvianStewardess said:


> In my 3-year experience with it, the microclimate of the Eastern Shore gives me near year-round growing; I've got a greenhouse to keep a few citrus trees and tomatoes/peppers alive and producing, and can keep cold-weather vegetables and greens growing through most of the winter.  I put up a lot of fruit and the vegetables I must have year-round - either canned, frozen or dehydrated/dried.  I grow a lot of garlic.  No, even more than that.  I am trying to come up with a variety *naturalized* to my growing environment, which means I'm growing an excess for seed for the following year to keep picking the best for seed year-over-year.  This year I am doing an experiment on which onion types will be best for this *longitude*, since the Eastern Shore is such a in-betweener of the three.  Some might call me serious about food...


I think you might mean latitude (north-south).
Things that definitely taste better from the shore - SQ corn & 'lopes.  

Oh, and chickens.


----------



## pgriz

Reading Gary's posts... and today is another day of temperatures below freezing.  With snow in the forecast overnight.  Drove to a friend's art show that she curated, and snow's everywhere.  I'm putting the calendar on the window, with the hope that nature get's with the program.  It's almost April fer """ shake!


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> Reading Gary's posts... and today is another day of temperatures below freezing.  With snow in the forecast overnight.  Drove to a friend's art show that she curated, and snow's everywhere.  I'm putting the calendar on the window, with the hope that nature get's with the program.  It's almost April fer """ shake!


Twelfth corollary to Murphy's third law of engineering: Mother Nature is a b!tch.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good evening, hosers. Apparently mother nature is quite the hussy. Almost April and it's cold as t!ts here. Uuuuuunnnnnnnnggggggghhhhhhhh


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Reading Gary's posts... and today is another day of temperatures below freezing.  With snow in the forecast overnight.  Drove to a friend's art show that she curated, and snow's everywhere.  I'm putting the calendar on the window, with the hope that nature get's with the program.  It's almost April fer """ shake!
> 
> 
> 
> Twelfth corollary to Murphy's third law of engineering: Mother Nature is a b!tch.
Click to expand...


I'm thinking Mother Nature's quite annoyed at us.  As in "So, you want to play Masters of the Universe, eh?  Lemme show you who REALLY makes things go."

Oh, and I'm leafing through my copy of the Engineering Handbook, and the pages on Murphy's Law seem to have been torn out.  This can't be good.


----------



## Gary A.

I have garlic and onions ... I just grow 'em and sometimes I eat 'em. No Luther Burbank here. No greenhouse, but I do have orchids and Plumeria. Sometimes they take a beating in winter, but they come back. Apples, Avocados, Meyer Lemons, Mandarin Oranges, Naval Oranges, Artichokes, Persimmons, Lime, Pomegranate, berries, legumes, veggies (about 20 different varieties of tomatoes), melons, squash, peppers, et al.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- and grapes. A few table grapes, Thompson, Flame, Concord ... but better than that, I have Chardonnay, Cabernet, Merlot, Zin and Pinot Noir. No, I don't make wine ... but if you can put up with the seeds... they have a ton more  flavor than table grapes.


----------



## AvianStewardess

snowbear said:


> AvianStewardess said:
> 
> 
> 
> *longitude*
> 
> 
> 
> I think you might mean latitude (north-south).
> Things that definitely taste better from the shore - SQ corn & 'lopes.
> 
> Oh, and chickens.
Click to expand...

Yep, latitude.  

Silver Queen corn is so awesome; pure sugar on a stalk.  We grow our own; debating if we want to put in another plot to grow even more.  I am also getting pretty good growing the 'lopes and 'melons.  It is cool to watch the commercial growers harvest the 'melons!  As for all those chickens around here: no, thanks, I'll pass.    I've got my own hens for eggs, and an organic farmer *nearby* for the meat.  



Gary A. said:


> PS- and grapes. A few table grapes, Thompson, Flame, Concord ... but better than that, I have Chardonnay, Cabernet, Merlot, Zin and Pinot Noir. No, I don't make wine ... but if you can put up with the seeds... they have a ton more  flavor than table grapes.


I've got grapes, too; nine varieties total - early-, mid-, and late-harvest; red, white and blue.  All are meant for fresh eating plus a secondary purpose - juice, raisins, wine.  

As for the weather that seems to be driving the entire forum nuts, the winter and spring thus far has been a nearly identical repeat to last year for these parts.  Not that I like that observation.  I didn't bank on this, given that last year, we were having a Pollllllarrrrr Vorrrrtexxxx.  Y'all remember that, right?  Well, whatever, because the coldest cold this winter was five degrees colder than last!


----------



## limr

AvianStewardess said:


> As for the weather that seems to be *driving the entire forum nuts*, the winter and spring thus far has been a nearly identical repeat to last year for these parts.  Not that I like that observation.  I didn't bank on this, given that last year, we were having a Pollllllarrrrr Vorrrrtexxxx.  Y'all remember that, right?  Well, whatever, because the coldest cold this winter was five degrees colder than last!



Not the entire forum! 

I adore winter.


----------



## snowbear

Enjoying another cup of coffee with my lovely wife's latest baking adventure: Tres leches cake with Kahlua.


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm so ready for winter to be over. So ready.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> AvianStewardess said:
> 
> 
> 
> As for the weather that seems to be *driving the entire forum nuts*, the winter and spring thus far has been a nearly identical repeat to last year for these parts.  Not that I like that observation.  I didn't bank on this, given that last year, we were having a Pollllllarrrrr Vorrrrtexxxx.  Y'all remember that, right?  Well, whatever, because the coldest cold this winter was five degrees colder than last!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not the entire forum!
> 
> I adore winter.
Click to expand...

For everyone else, a drive.  For Lenny?  A short putt!


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> Tres leches cake with Kahlua.


That sounds interesting!


----------



## Designer

tirediron said:


> For everyone else, a drive.  For Lenny?  A short putt!



I'm already here, waiting for you all to catch up.


----------



## KenC

Designer said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> For everyone else, a drive.  For Lenny?  A short putt!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm already here, waiting for you all to catch up.
Click to expand...


Are we actually going to try to discuss who's crazier than who on this forum?


----------



## limr

Define "crazy."


----------



## Designer

KenC said:


> Are we actually going to try to discuss who's crazier than who on this forum?


LOL


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Define "crazy."



Don't ask me - I'm not the one who started this.


----------



## limr

I don't even know _what _got started!


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I don't even know _what _got started!


And so..


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> I don't even know _what _got started!



What's on second


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't even know _what _got started!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What's on second
Click to expand...


Apparently, an antiques store in Birmingham, Alabama:  Whats on 2nd Online 

Clevah.


----------



## AvianStewardess

"whom" to be precise


----------



## sm4him

AvianStewardess said:


> "whom" to be precise



No, no, NOT "whom" is the most precise…who is the craziest!!

WHAT is the most precise…or maybe…I don't know.


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> For everyone else, a drive.  For Lenny?  A short putt!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm already here, waiting for you all to catch up.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Are we actually going to try to discuss who's crazier than who on this forum?
Click to expand...


Leaves me out…I mean, really:
<<Do I *look* crazy to you…uh…well…wait…
never mind.  I'll need to change my avatar if I'm going with the whole "I'm perfectly sane" persona.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> I'll need to change my avatar


Maybe Michael will let you use #3.  Oh, and, um, no need to um, read the whole thread.
Ossy enjoying his first snow storm Photography Forum


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> I'll need to change my avatar if I'm going with the whole "I'm perfectly sane" persona.



You and me both


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm not even going to pretend I'm sane.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## limr

It's Monday and it's 10pm. I worked from 10am to 8 am and got back to my house at 9. Since I've been home, I've answered some emails from a panicked student who couldn't figure out how to submit her essay on our online shell. Except the essay that was due today was a rough draft, and rough drafts are always due in class. This is our 3rd essay and our 10th week. The students have all known about this since the beginning.

Today 5 students (who knew the policy perfectly well the other times) conveniently "forgot" this and asked at various times of the day if they could give me the essay tomorrow. This student was the latest one.

Can I stop working now please?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I worked from *10am* to *8 am* and got back to my house at 9. Since I've been home, I've answered some emails from a panicked student who couldn't figure out how to submit her essay on our online shell. Except the essay that was due today was a rough draft, and rough drafts are always due in class. This is our 3rd essay and our 10th week. The students have all known about this since the beginning.
> 
> Today 5 students (who knew the policy perfectly well the other times) conveniently "forgot" this and asked at various times of the day if they could give me the essay tomorrow. This student was the latest one.
> 
> Can I stop working now please?


Wow - you worked 22 hours!  You definitely need a break.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Can't remember the theme of the festival, but one *move* they showed was "This is Spinal Tap,"



OK, Lenny - you have two typos in two posts.  Go. To. Bed.  We will talk to you in the morning.


----------



## limr

Oh my GOD! 

I'm going to bed.


----------



## Derrel

Make that, "I'm going to bed _*at eleven*_!"  (which will be in just 10 minutes!)


----------



## Gary A.

I remember talking to a guy who was sleeping standing up. It was really weird.


----------



## limr

This bedtime goes to 11.

And Charlie, I meant to give that first post a Funny and instead I hit Agree and didn't even notice.

Yup, that's it. My "one last pass" through the Internet is definitely ending right here and now!

See you in the morning, folks. With coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I remember talking to a guy who was sleeping standing up. It was really weird.



I once dozed off while standing up. In fact, I was in front of a class teaching. True story. I'll tell y'all tomorrow.


----------



## Gary A.

Sweet Dreams Leo.


----------



## minicoop1985

Yeah, Leonore, go pass out. It's about time.


----------



## sm4him

Morning, Hosers! Lenny, I hope you got some rest last night!
I was sound asleep by 11. Yesterday at work was definitely a Monday with a capital M.  Topped it off with a 2.5 hour meeting--and what were we meeting about? No kidding; the meeting was to make a list of all the things each of us in the Communications/Marketing dept. is working on, because my boss is TRYING to convince the Dark Lord to STOP MAKING UP crap for us to do.
So, we met for 2.5 hours to TALK about all the work we have to do. GAH.

I went straight from the meeting to my favorite little Mexican place (with the top down on the convertible!), had dinner and a margarita out on the patio. By the time I got home, my head was about to split open. Took some meds and went to bed, to "read." I might have read two pages before I fell asleep.

Today is definitely a closed-door kinda day.  If they don't like it, they can...never mind what they can do.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'll need to change my avatar
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe Michael will let you use #3.  Oh, and, um, no need to um, read the whole thread.
> Ossy enjoying his first snow storm Photography Forum
Click to expand...


I've got a 2-for-1 special on those:


----------



## sm4him

By the way, @snowbear, did you see the photo I posted yesterday in my Smoke and Mirrors thread? I created it just for you! It was going to just be a funny, but I actually really liked how it turned out.
Check it out here! And the rest of you Hosers too...because it died a quick death of neglect yesterday...


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> By the way, @snowbear, did you see the photo I posted yesterday in my Smoke and Mirrors thread? I created it just for you! It was going to just be a funny, but I actually really liked how it turned out.
> Check it out here! And the rest of you Hosers too...because it died a quick death of neglect yesterday...



No, I missed it.  Thank you - I love it.


----------



## limr

Okay, let's try this again in the right thread.

Morning hosers!

*trots off for more clearly-needed coffee*


----------



## sm4him

Hey, good morning, Lenny!! How YOU doin'?


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Hey, good morning, Lenny!! How YOU doin'?



It appears I'm not doing as well as I thought I was  And that's a problem because I didn't think I was doing so hot! 

I had trouble getting to sleep last night, and my fitness tracker tells me I got just under 6 hours of sleep, but only about 2.5 of that was deep sleep. And it then tells me that my sleep sucks compared to other women in their 40s. Now even my bracelets are judging me. I need to turn off the "helpful" tips settings!

Enjoying your closed door today?


----------



## limr

Apparently I need a mid-morning snack as well, because my stomach sounds like a hound dog right now. Seriously. It literally just howled.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ugh, my glasses were stretched beyond repair. Had to get new ones. I liked the old ones more, I think.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 61F right now, should top out at 75F today. I think Leo is sleep keyboarding. Yesterday, The Cook and I went to the Pet Store and picked up two more Koi for the pond. Now that Kujo-Jaws is out of the pond, the occupants seem much more relaxed. I'm likin' the improved waterfall, sounds more soothing, less splash. I'm doing some serious thinking about starting my own coffee house ... a fer-reals 3-D one ... coffees, teas, beers and wines.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, good morning, Lenny!! How YOU doin'?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It appears I'm not doing as well as I thought I was  And that's a problem because I didn't think I was doing so hot!
> 
> I had trouble getting to sleep last night, and my fitness tracker tells me I got just under 6 hours of sleep, but only about 2.5 of that was deep sleep. And it then tells me that my sleep sucks compared to other women in their 40s. Now even my bracelets are judging me. I need to turn off the "helpful" tips settings!
> 
> Enjoying your closed door today?
Click to expand...


Well, while it might get me in hot water, the closed door is likely to help me stay employed today--if I had to leave it open today, SOMEONE on this floor might just not survive the workday, at least not with all their parts intact. 

My headache is still there--it's just one of those "stalker" headaches. It's not ACTIVELY a "bad" headache, just hangs out in the shadows, surges now and then to remind you it's still there and at any moment, it might leap out and kill you.

Also, I almost met my demise on the way to work. Well, that's a bit of an overstatement, as the truck that almost hit me wasn't really going fast enough to kill me. Might have done in my little convertible though!
I was pulling out from my street onto the main road. There's a Hardee's across the road, so on top of watching the traffic ON the road, I always have to watch to see if there is anyone about to pull out of the Hardee's going south. It's a 4-lane road with a turn lane, so if they pull out at the same time I do, we both end up in the same spot in the turn lane, and that doesn't tend to work out well.
So, there IS a truck at the Hardee's exit, but he's just sitting there and his wheels are pointed to indicate he's going to turn right (north). I see my break in oncoming traffic, take a quick glance to be sure he isn't moving and pull out into the turn lane. 
Only I don't get all the way TO the turn lane before HE pulls out too--headed SOUTH, not north, and he pulls out FAST, really making a break for it.
No problem--he obviously sees me, since I'm already IN the turn lane by now…but NO, he does NOT see me, because he ISN'T looking! ALL he's looking at is the traffic on the other side of the road, the direction he's headed to.
And I can't get OUT of the turn lane, because if I do, I will either hit HIM, or the car in the far right lane.
I try to honk, but my horn doesn't always cooperate with this endeavor, and that's the case this morning.  All I can do is sit and watch him slam into me. 
He finally looked…and managed to stop. Literally about an INCH from my car.

In other news, for some "odd" reason, my hand tremor seems to be a bit worse than usual this morning.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Ugh, my glasses were stretched beyond repair. Had to get new ones. I liked the old ones more, I think.


Why does one stretch glasses? One wears glasses, perched upon ears and nose ... glasses are not to be stretched.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 61F right now, should top out at 75F today. I think Leo is sleep keyboarding. Yesterday, The Cook and I went to the Pet Store and picked up two more Koi for the pond. Now that Kujo-Jaws is out of the pond, the occupants seem much more relaxed. I'm likin' the improved waterfall, sounds more soothing, less splash. I'm doing some serious thinking about starting my own coffee house ... a fer-reals 3-D one ... coffees, teas, beers and wines.



DO IT!
You should name it for us--TPF Hosers House of Coffee.  AND, you can feature OUR photos on the walls.   I mean, pictures we've taken, NOT pictures OF us. Don't wanna do that to anyone before they've even had a good dose of caffeine. Or liquor.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, good morning, Lenny!! How YOU doin'?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It appears I'm not doing as well as I thought I was  And that's a problem because I didn't think I was doing so hot!
> 
> I had trouble getting to sleep last night, and my fitness tracker tells me I got just under 6 hours of sleep, but only about 2.5 of that was deep sleep. And it then tells me that my sleep sucks compared to other women in their 40s. Now even my bracelets are judging me. I need to turn off the "helpful" tips settings!
> 
> Enjoying your closed door today?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, while it might get me in hot water, the closed door is likely to help me stay employed today--if I had to leave it open today, SOMEONE on this floor might just not survive the workday, at least not with all their parts intact.
> 
> My headache is still there--it's just one of those "stalker" headaches. It's not ACTIVELY a "bad" headache, just hangs out in the shadows, surges now and then to remind you it's still there and at any moment, it might leap out and kill you.
> 
> Also, I almost met my demise on the way to work. Well, that's a bit of an overstatement, as the truck that almost hit me wasn't really going fast enough to kill me. Might have done in my little convertible though!
> I was pulling out from my street onto the main road. There's a Hardee's across the road, so on top of watching the traffic ON the road, I always have to watch to see if there is anyone about to pull out of the Hardee's going south. It's a 4-lane road with a turn lane, so if they pull out at the same time I do, we both end up in the same spot in the turn lane, and that doesn't tend to work out well.
> So, there IS a truck at the Hardee's exit, but he's just sitting there and his wheels are pointed to indicate he's going to turn right (north). I see my break in oncoming traffic, take a quick glance to be sure he isn't moving and pull out into the turn lane.
> Only I don't get all the way TO the turn lane before HE pulls out too--headed SOUTH, not north, and he pulls out FAST, really making a break for it.
> No problem--he obviously sees me, since I'm already IN the turn lane by now…but NO, he does NOT see me, because he ISN'T looking! ALL he's looking at is the traffic on the other side of the road, the direction he's headed to.
> And I can't get OUT of the turn lane, because if I do, I will either hit HIM, or the car in the far right lane.
> I try to honk, but my horn doesn't always cooperate with this endeavor, and that's the case this morning.  All I can do is sit and watch him slam into me.
> He finally looked…and managed to stop. Literally about an INCH from my car.
> 
> In other news, for some "odd" reason, my hand tremor seems to be a bit worse than usual this morning.
Click to expand...


Yikes! Glad you're okay!

I know all about those stalker headaches :/

And yes, I think I am sleep keyboarding  I wouldn't put it past me. I once fell asleep in a class in college and woke up to find notes in my notebook that I didn't remember writing. Well, the last word or two wasn't exactly legible, but the rest of the sentence was!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, good morning, Lenny!! How YOU doin'?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It appears I'm not doing as well as I thought I was  And that's a problem because I didn't think I was doing so hot!
> 
> I had trouble getting to sleep last night, and my fitness tracker tells me I got just under 6 hours of sleep, but only about 2.5 of that was deep sleep. And it then tells me that my sleep sucks compared to other women in their 40s. Now even my bracelets are judging me. I need to turn off the "helpful" tips settings!
> 
> Enjoying your closed door today?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, while it might get me in hot water, the closed door is likely to help me stay employed today--if I had to leave it open today, SOMEONE on this floor might just not survive the workday, at least not with all their parts intact.
> 
> My headache is still there--it's just one of those "stalker" headaches. It's not ACTIVELY a "bad" headache, just hangs out in the shadows, surges now and then to remind you it's still there and at any moment, it might leap out and kill you.
> 
> Also, I almost met my demise on the way to work. Well, that's a bit of an overstatement, as the truck that almost hit me wasn't really going fast enough to kill me. Might have done in my little convertible though!
> I was pulling out from my street onto the main road. There's a Hardee's across the road, so on top of watching the traffic ON the road, I always have to watch to see if there is anyone about to pull out of the Hardee's going south. It's a 4-lane road with a turn lane, so if they pull out at the same time I do, we both end up in the same spot in the turn lane, and that doesn't tend to work out well.
> So, there IS a truck at the Hardee's exit, but he's just sitting there and his wheels are pointed to indicate he's going to turn right (north). I see my break in oncoming traffic, take a quick glance to be sure he isn't moving and pull out into the turn lane.
> Only I don't get all the way TO the turn lane before HE pulls out too--headed SOUTH, not north, and he pulls out FAST, really making a break for it.
> No problem--he obviously sees me, since I'm already IN the turn lane by now…but NO, he does NOT see me, because he ISN'T looking! ALL he's looking at is the traffic on the other side of the road, the direction he's headed to.
> And I can't get OUT of the turn lane, because if I do, I will either hit HIM, or the car in the far right lane.
> I try to honk, but my horn doesn't always cooperate with this endeavor, and that's the case this morning.  All I can do is sit and watch him slam into me.
> He finally looked…and managed to stop. Literally about an INCH from my car.
> 
> In other news, for some "odd" reason, my hand tremor seems to be a bit worse than usual this morning.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yikes! Glad you're okay!
> 
> I know all about those stalker headaches :/
> 
> And yes, I think I am sleep keyboarding  I wouldn't put it past me. I once fell asleep in a class in college and woke up to find notes in my notebook that I didn't remember writing. Well, the last word or two wasn't exactly legible, but the rest of the sentence was!
Click to expand...

Maybe it's time to knock-off the Ambien.


----------



## pgriz

sm4him said:


> Literally about an INCH from my car.


  Well the world is full of people who look left while moving right.  So I try to make eye contact to get a sense of what they are thinking/contemplating.  But occasionally, I get one of those who's obviously asleep with the eyes open.   If I'm lucky enough to notice them, I usually give them as wide a berth as I can.  Then again, maybe I'm missing my opportunity to meet someone possessed, or co-hosting a alien species.


----------



## Gary A.

I was in an enlisted man's club on a base. There was a sergeant I knew at the end of the bar standing up, eyes open with one hand grasping a beer. I grab a beer and mosey down to chat. But his eyes were vacant and his responses were slow and seemed to come from somewhere else ... a different time-zone or dimension. It was all rather spooky. The next day I asked about it ... he just laughed and said he was asleep ... and he does that all the time, weird.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Maybe it's time to knock-off the Ambien.



I quit cold turkey. So cold, in fact, that I never even started!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe it's time to knock-off the Ambien.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I quit cold turkey. So cold, in fact, that I never even started!
Click to expand...


I could never just QUIT cold turkey.
Because I LOVE turkey, warm OR cold.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 61F right now, should top out at 75F today. I think Leo is sleep keyboarding. Yesterday, The Cook and I went to the Pet Store and picked up two more Koi for the pond. Now that Kujo-Jaws is out of the pond, the occupants seem much more relaxed. I'm likin' the improved waterfall, sounds more soothing, less splash. I'm doing some serious thinking about starting my own coffee house ... a fer-reals 3-D one ... coffees, teas, beers and wines.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DO IT!
> You should name it for us--TPF Hosers House of Coffee.  AND, you can feature OUR photos on the walls.   I mean, pictures we've taken, NOT pictures OF us. Don't wanna do that to anyone before they've even had a good dose of caffeine. Or liquor.
Click to expand...

LOL ... Maybe a TPF table. You guys can all have chairs/stools with your names on them.


----------



## Gary A.

You women with all your headaches ... maybe you females really do get headaches ... and all this time I thought it was just me ...


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I was in an enlisted man's club on a base. There was a sergeant I knew at the end of the bar standing up, eyes open with one hand grasping a beer. I grab a beer and mosey down to chat. But his eyes were vacant and his responses were slow and seemed to come from somewhere else ... a different time-zone or dimension. It was all rather spooky. The next day I asked about it ... he just laughed and said he was asleep ... and he does that all the time, weird.



Mine wasn't that obvious.

My first job out of grad school was at a language school on the Upper West Side. I taught two 2-hour classes back to back from 6pm-10pm on M-Th and one 4-hour class on Sunday from 10-2. Weekdays, I took the 4pm train to Grand Central and came home on the 11:03 express that got into my station exactly an hour later. For the Sunday class, I had to take the 8am train.

Shortly afterwards, I got a class at the college that I'm teaching at now. It was an all-day Saturday ESL program. I technically had two separate classes - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I was teaching from 9-3:30 with a 45-minute break.

After the first evening session was over at the language school, I quit because it was a horrible job, though I did still have Sunday classes, and for some reason I'd agreed to do a second Sunday session. I also was going to start evening classes at the college. And I started waitressing. So at one point, I was teaching M-Th evenings 6-9:30, waitressing Friday and Saturday, 5-11, and teaching on Sunday 10-2.

One Sunday, I was standing at the front of the classroom, writing something on the board. Suddenly, I woke up with a start to see words on the board I didn't remember writing (there's that secret talent again!) Luckily it was only for a couple of seconds and I was facing away from the class.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh, my glasses were stretched beyond repair. Had to get new ones. I liked the old ones more, I think.
> 
> 
> 
> Why does one stretch glasses? One wears glasses, perched upon ears and nose ... glasses are not to be stretched.
Click to expand...


I have no idea how it happened. Must have been too small for my face.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh, my glasses were stretched beyond repair. Had to get new ones. I liked the old ones more, I think.
> 
> 
> 
> Why does one stretch glasses? One wears glasses, perched upon ears and nose ... glasses are not to be stretched.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have no idea how it happened. Must have been too small for my face.
Click to expand...

Washed 'em in hot water again?


----------



## limr

I want new glasses.

I'm also hoping that sometime this year, I can finally see about getting some Invisilign braces.


----------



## otherprof

limr said:


> Hmmmm.
> 
> So I've been finding a few plagiarists here and there. Some of the students are a bit more adept at trying to hide their cheating.
> 
> Others...well, it's kind of obvious when they're copying from Francis Bacon.


Doesn't sound kosher!


----------



## limr

otherprof said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmmm.
> 
> So I've been finding a few plagiarists here and there. Some of the students are a bit more adept at trying to hide their cheating.
> 
> Others...well, it's kind of obvious when they're copying from Francis Bacon.
> 
> 
> 
> Doesn't sound kosher!
Click to expand...


Talked to the student yesterday. It is not the kind of thing that I normally expect from him, and sure enough, he said he didn't realize he needed to quote because he thought anything over 100 years was public domain. And that wasn't a line of bs from him - I can tell when someone is trying too hard, but this guy is not like that. I said yes it was public domain, in the sense that he didn't have to ask permission and he could get his work for free, but he still had to give credit when using a quote. He was very apologetic and asked if he would have a chance to fix it. It was kind of the typical response I'd expect from someone who was sophisticated enough to know he was quoting Francis Bacon but just didn't know how to do it properly.


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, peeps.
I'm certainly glad you are still in one piece, Sharon, and the rag top, as well.  I hope you get better rest tonight, Leonore.  My lovely wife get headaches but they miraculously go away if I leave the apartment!  I guess my opening the door brings in some fresh air and that fixes it for her.

Went to pick up the truck from the shop - it is a beautiful day, though we are expecting heavy rain later on.  We picked up some plastic eggs so the kitties can have an Easter egg roll.

Well, got to head back out in a few and pick up a couple of picture frames.  Groceries are just about put away.

Later.


----------



## limr

Well, if March is going out like a lamb, then that is one pissed off, bada$$, mother-jammin' lamb.





It's not bothering me, of course, but it is certainly an odd thing. And yes, not that clear but that is definitely snow.


----------



## Gary A.

For a different forum-

This is the first report on my hands-on review of the HandleVision, 40mm, f/.85.  The lens is designed in Germany and manufactured in China. This review will be coming in pieces as I am extremely underwater with work. But, I want to get this started. Firstly, I'd like to thank B&H for sharing this lens for a review.

Quick Specs:
Fujifilm X Mount
Aperture Range: *f/0.85* to f/22
60mm (35mm Equivalent)
For APS-C Image Sensors
*Concave* Front Lens Element
250° Manual Focus Throw
Ten-Blade Circular Diaphragm
Metal Lens Barrel & Integrated Lens Hood
Minimum Focus Distance: 2.5'
Filter Thread: 67mm


----------



## Gary A.

First impressions:

*The lens is a beast.*

I am a guy who is more concern with the IQ than camera size. In a different life I used to walk around all day with a pair of 1Ds and a bag full of lenses and not complain ... but the first thing I noticed was the heft. It is heavy, it feels like a solid piece of glass ... or maybe Kryptonite, whichever is heavier.

The HandleVision 40mm, (with rear cap, hood and no filter), at 1156g or 2.55lbs, is heavier than the Fujinon 50-140 which comes in at 1096g or 2.42lbs, (with rear cap, lens hood, tripod ring, filter and AF motor).

I will be comparing the HandleVision 40mm to the Fujinon 35mm ... as those two lenses share a similar focal length ... so I think a comparison is fair. The Fujinon 35mm, f/1.4 weights in at a mere 208g/.46lbs (with rear cap and hood).

The HandleVision 40mm is approx. 5-1/2 inches, with rear cap and the hood retracted (139.7mm).
The Fujinon 35mm is approx. 2-5/8 inches, with rear cap and sans hood (64.8mm).
HandleVision takes a 67mm filter and the Fujinon filter size is 52mm.

The Fujinon's aperture is indexed in 1/3rd stops.
The HandleVision aperture is indexed in full stops.

Equally as important as the specs, I'd like to make this perfectly clear ... I am not the right person to review this lens. This lens is, by my estimates, best used in a studio and should be reviewed by a studio type photographer. As a former photojournalist ... I hate this lens.


----------



## Derrel

Cripes on a cracker--that thing is monstrously sized for a 40mm...I bet the optical performance was the overriding design parameter, because "compactness" was clearly nowhere on the list of parameters! Looking forward to hearing more about this exciting optic! And,well, just wow--f/0.85!!! SMOKING FAST!!!


----------



## Gary A.

This is a Manual Focus lens only. No lens information (as in aperture) is saved in the EXIF. In a studio environment, shooting stationary subjects, it will be slow but quite manageable. Critical focus is best attain wide open then the photog has to manually readjust the aperture to the desired f/stop. This adds significant time when shooting non-stationary subjects. When not using a tripod, keeping the camera to your eye and counting clicks helps retain the focus.


----------



## tirediron

What friggin' monster!!!!   What's the sticker price on that beast for us mere mortals who have to pay for our glass?    I honestly can't say it looks very appealing; it would have to have IQ out the wazoo for me to even consider it....  looking forward to seeing you put it through it's paces.


----------



## Gary A.

Derrel said:


> Cripes on a cracker--that thing is monstrously sized for a 40mm...I bet the optical performance was the overriding design parameter, because "compactness" was clearly nowhere on the list of parameters! Looking forward to hearing more about this exciting optic! And,well, just wow--f/0.85!!! SMOKING FAST!!!



I was thinking the same thing about not making compromises in optical performance ... but in my initial tests I don't see a significant differences between Fujinon and HandleVision.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> What friggin' monster!!!!   What's the sticker price on that beast for us mere mortals who have to pay for our glass?    I honestly can't say it looks very appealing; it would have to have IQ out the wazoo for me to even consider it....  looking forward to seeing you put it through it's paces.


The puppy is $1200USD.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> What friggin' monster!!!!   What's the sticker price on that beast for us mere mortals who have to pay for our glass?    I honestly can't say it looks very appealing; it would have to have IQ out the wazoo for me to even consider it....  looking forward to seeing you put it through it's paces.
> 
> 
> 
> The puppy is $1200USD.
Click to expand...

It better make me lunch and sing O Canada!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  No activity today - either everyone is taking off early or just asleep.  I'm off starting tomorrow, but just sitting here at work with coffee/snack now.  It's cold again, but getting warmer after today.  As for work, it's still work, with its usual pluses/minuses.


----------



## sm4him

I'm here, just haven't posted this morning. Woke up with some stomach issues, so I'm running late to work. I'd just take a sick day, but I've got a meeting this afternoon. A meeting that I'd LOVE to avoid by being sick, but I really just can't.  
We don't even get Good Friday off--even though we are government. It's weird; the City employees get Friday, but we don't.  I usually just use a personal day and take it off anyway.
This year I wasn't going to take it, because it's supposed to be really rainy here Friday--but I have got SO much stuff to do, that I'm really needing a day off to do it anyhow.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It should be another jammin' perfect day. I have to travel to San Juan Capistrano today, about 35 miles south. If I have time I'll hit the mission.


----------



## Gary A.

More from the review:

Again, to qualify these opening images ... I am not a manual focus guy. I hate manual focus. I have decades of manual focus experience, shooting everyday for my newspaper(s). I found all three methodologies offered by the XT1 for manual focus, does not measure up by any standard, to the vastly easier and faster split-image focus w/ auto aperture reset of a SLR.

Here are some snaps from walking the dog and attempting to adjust to MF.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers! Gotta get my car back today. Having the clutches in the DCT automatic replaced. Also gotta pick up my prints to put together my automotive portfolio. Yay!


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> More from the review:
> 
> Again, to qualify these opening images ... I am not a manual focus guy. I hate manual focus. I have decades of manual focus experience, shooting everyday for my newspaper(s). I found all three methodologies offered by the XT1 for manual focus, does not measure up by any standard, to the vastly easier and faster split-image focus w/ auto aperture reset of a SLR.
> 
> Here are some snaps from walking the dog and attempting to adjust to MF.


looks pretty good to me. I like it. I still shoot manual focus half the time.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> More from the review:
> 
> Again, to qualify these opening images ... I am not a manual focus guy. I hate manual focus. I have decades of manual focus experience, shooting everyday for my newspaper(s). I found all three methodologies offered by the XT1 for manual focus, does not measure up by any standard, to the vastly easier and faster split-image focus w/ auto aperture reset of a SLR.
> 
> Here are some snaps from walking the dog and attempting to adjust to MF.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> looks pretty good to me. I like it. I still shoot manual focus half the time.
Click to expand...

I have nearly zero expertise with manual focusing on a Fuji X camera ... so I'm low on the learning curve with all these shots.











I've never seen a concave front element either. Typically, the front element is designed for light gathering and not focus ... I guessing ... really guessing, that being concave may help with edge sharpness at the larger apertures. Anybody with some optical knowledge can jump right in and provide an answer better than a guess, (please).


----------



## Designer

Good morning everyone!

I just returned from the post office to mail a necklace to our granddaughter.

I put teh little envelope on the scale, and the clerk started out at something OVER $27!!!!!  GASP!!!  WHA????

I choked out the words; "uh, no,"  And then "why can't we just put a stamp on it?"

Because it's "parcel post" is why.  So eventually she got down to $2.40, which I agreed to.  

So it accosted me $2.40 to send a $0.50 necklace, but I've just made two females happy.  

Whew!


----------



## limr

$27 is just crazy talk, man.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

I'm in a massively pissy mood today. I totally need to punch something. Why don't I have a punching bag at home???


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> I'm in a massively pissy mood today. I totally need to punch something. Why don't I have a punching bag at home???


You need a spouse.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> I'm in a massively pissy mood today. I totally need to punch something. Why don't I have a punching bag at home???
> 
> 
> 
> You need a spouse.
Click to expand...


I don't think Buzz would appreciate that being part of his duties


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> I'm in a massively pissy mood today. I totally need to punch something. Why don't I have a punching bag at home???


I tried that; punching at inanimate objects all all, but then I discovered internet forums, and my life has new meaning now.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> I'm in a massively pissy mood today. I totally need to punch something. Why don't I have a punching bag at home???



I took some time thinking about my response to this because I wanted to really be helpful to you and lift your spirits.  So, I thought what I'd do is share with you what works for ME when I'm in massively pissy moods.

But after some reflection, I've realized that when I'm that pissy, NOTHING snaps me out of it. Pretty much everything in life just makes me even more pissed off. 
Even people trying to "cheer me up." Actually, make that ESPECIALLY people trying to cheer me up. Just leave me the *%!@ alone and let me be P.O.'ed for a while. Please. Thank you.

In one hour, I have to go to a meeting that I do NOT want to go to.  For one thing, the people who will be there make for a guarantee that it will be one of those meetings where people just throw stupid ideas out and I'll have to try to somehow keep my mouth shut, so I don't say something like "WHO ties your shoelaces for you?" in response to some of their thoughts and ideas. 
But for another thing, the Dark Lord will be there. And, as hard as I try to just sit there and keep my mouth shut, at some point, the Dark Lord WILL ask me "what are you thinking?" She doesn't actually want to know, she just wants to stir the pot.  

So, by about 2:30, I'll be in a massively pissy mood too.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> I'm in a massively pissy mood today. I totally need to punch something. Why don't I have a punching bag at home???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I took some time thinking about my response to this because I wanted to really be helpful to you and lift your spirits.  So, I thought what I'd do is share with you what works for ME when I'm in massively pissy moods.
> 
> But after some reflection, I've realized that when I'm that pissy, NOTHING snaps me out of it. Pretty much everything in life just makes me even more pissed off.
> Even people trying to "cheer me up." Actually, make that ESPECIALLY people trying to cheer me up. Just leave me the *%!@ alone and let me be P.O.'ed for a while. Please. Thank you.
> 
> In one hour, I have to go to a meeting that I do NOT want to go to.  For one thing, the people who will be there make for a guarantee that it will be one of those meetings where people just throw stupid ideas out and I'll have to try to somehow keep my mouth shut, so I don't say something like "WHO ties your shoelaces for you?" in response to some of their thoughts and ideas.
> But for another thing, the Dark Lord will be there. And, as hard as I try to just sit there and keep my mouth shut, at some point, the Dark Lord WILL ask me "what are you thinking?" She doesn't actually want to know, she just wants to stir the pot.
> 
> So, by about 2:30, I'll be in a massively pissy mood too.
Click to expand...


Thank you, Sharon! 

I hope you're meeting goes better than you hope. I think we should have synchronized margaritas tonight!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> I'm in a massively pissy mood today. I totally need to punch something. Why don't I have a punching bag at home???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I took some time thinking about my response to this because I wanted to really be helpful to you and lift your spirits.  So, I thought what I'd do is share with you what works for ME when I'm in massively pissy moods.
> 
> But after some reflection, I've realized that when I'm that pissy, NOTHING snaps me out of it. Pretty much everything in life just makes me even more pissed off.
> Even people trying to "cheer me up." Actually, make that ESPECIALLY people trying to cheer me up. Just leave me the *%!@ alone and let me be P.O.'ed for a while. Please. Thank you.
> 
> In one hour, I have to go to a meeting that I do NOT want to go to.  For one thing, the people who will be there make for a guarantee that it will be one of those meetings where people just throw stupid ideas out and I'll have to try to somehow keep my mouth shut, so I don't say something like "WHO ties your shoelaces for you?" in response to some of their thoughts and ideas.
> But for another thing, the Dark Lord will be there. And, as hard as I try to just sit there and keep my mouth shut, at some point, the Dark Lord WILL ask me "what are you thinking?" She doesn't actually want to know, she just wants to stir the pot.
> 
> So, by about 2:30, I'll be in a massively pissy mood too.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thank you, Sharon!
> 
> I hope you're meeting goes better than you hope. I think we should have synchronized margaritas tonight!
Click to expand...


YES! Great idea. But it'll have to be after 8:30, since I've got choir practice first. Last practice before our Easter presentation--I'm doing all the female narration as well as singing, so it's been a LOT of memorizing! I can think of nothing much more appropriate today than going directly from choir practice to get a margarita.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> YES! Great idea. But it'll have to be after 8:30, since I've got choir practice first. Last practice before our Easter presentation--I'm doing all the female narration as well as singing, so it's been a LOT of memorizing! I can think of nothing much more appropriate today than going directly from choir practice to get a margarita.



Definitely after 8:30 since I'll be teaching until 8:10 (though the temptation would be to start before then!  )


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> In one hour, I have to go to a meeting that I do NOT want to go to.  For one thing, the people who will be there make for a guarantee that it will be one of those meetings where people just throw stupid ideas out and I'll have to try to somehow keep my mouth shut, so I don't say something like "WHO ties your shoelaces for you?" in response to some of their thoughts and ideas.
> But for another thing, the Dark Lord will be there. And, as hard as I try to just sit there and keep my mouth shut, at some point, the Dark Lord WILL ask me "what are you thinking?" She doesn't actually want to know, she just wants to stir the pot.
> 
> So, by about 2:30, I'll be in a massively pissy mood too.



I hope you're still here because your head did not explode during the meeting.  I have one like that occasionally.  If you can't zone out and stare at the wall, but are dragged unwillingly into the morass, there's not much anyone can say or do to help.


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> In one hour, I have to go to a meeting that I do NOT want to go to.  For one thing, the people who will be there make for a guarantee that it will be one of those meetings where people just throw stupid ideas out and I'll have to try to somehow keep my mouth shut, so I don't say something like "WHO ties your shoelaces for you?" in response to some of their thoughts and ideas.
> But for another thing, the Dark Lord will be there. And, as hard as I try to just sit there and keep my mouth shut, at some point, the Dark Lord WILL ask me "what are you thinking?" She doesn't actually want to know, she just wants to stir the pot.
> 
> So, by about 2:30, I'll be in a massively pissy mood too.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hope you're still here because your head did not explode during the meeting.  I have one like that occasionally.  If you can't zone out and stare at the wall, but are dragged unwillingly into the morass, there's not much anyone can say or do to help.
Click to expand...


It wasn't fun, but it wasn't as awful as it could've been. I hate meetings in general--fortunately, my boss knows that, and she also knows that I have a very low tolerance for incompetence and political whooha, she she doesn't make me go to very many meetings.  
She felt like I needed to be at this one, but I'm still not sure why. An hour of my life I'll never get back--and an hour that I wasn't actually DOING the work that needs to be done (she says, as she sits typing on a photography forum…okay, I see the irony of that…).

Anyway…at least, where I was sitting was in between my boss and another co-worker, and when the Dark Lord came in, she sat on the same side of the table, down two seats (right NEXT to where I *almost* sat!)--which means, she couldn't really see me without making an effort to do so, so I could just sit there and sort of "fly under the radar" as it were.  AND she didn't do the "what are you thinking" thing to me either…so today, EVERY body gets to live a little longer. 
Also, THEY are all in yet another meeting now, so I have an hour where I know I won't have to deal with any of the cr*p.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> In one hour, I have to go to a meeting that I do NOT want to go to.  For one thing, the people who will be there make for a guarantee that it will be one of those meetings where people just throw stupid ideas out and I'll have to try to somehow keep my mouth shut, so I don't say something like "WHO ties your shoelaces for you?" in response to some of their thoughts and ideas.
> But for another thing, the Dark Lord will be there. And, as hard as I try to just sit there and keep my mouth shut, at some point, the Dark Lord WILL ask me "what are you thinking?" She doesn't actually want to know, she just wants to stir the pot.
> 
> So, by about 2:30, I'll be in a massively pissy mood too.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hope you're still here because your head did not explode during the meeting.  I have one like that occasionally.  If you can't zone out and stare at the wall, but are dragged unwillingly into the morass, there's not much anyone can say or do to help.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It wasn't fun, but it wasn't as awful as it could've been. I hate meetings in general--fortunately, my boss knows that, and she also knows that I have a very low tolerance for incompetence and political whooha, she she doesn't make me go to very many meetings.
> She felt like I needed to be at this one, but I'm still not sure why. An hour of my life I'll never get back--and an hour that I wasn't actually DOING the work that needs to be done (she says, as she sits typing on a photography forum…okay, I see the irony of that…).
> 
> Anyway…at least, where I was sitting was in between my boss and another co-worker, and when the Dark Lord came in, she sat on the same side of the table, down two seats (right NEXT to where I *almost* sat!)--which means, she couldn't really see me without making an effort to do so, so I could just sit there and sort of "fly under the radar" as it were.  AND she didn't do the "what are you thinking" thing to me either…so today, EVERY body gets to live a little longer.
> Also, THEY are all in yet another meeting now, so I have an hour where I know I won't have to deal with any of the cr*p.
Click to expand...


Into each life some snow must fall.


----------



## sm4him

@Designer: That dude just got a permanent vacation, so you might want to delete your post too, so we can all just forget about him completely.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> In one hour, I have to go to a meeting that I do NOT want to go to.  For one thing, the people who will be there make for a guarantee that it will be one of those meetings where people just throw stupid ideas out and I'll have to try to somehow keep my mouth shut, so I don't say something like "WHO ties your shoelaces for you?" in response to some of their thoughts and ideas.
> But for another thing, the Dark Lord will be there. And, as hard as I try to just sit there and keep my mouth shut, at some point, the Dark Lord WILL ask me "what are you thinking?" She doesn't actually want to know, she just wants to stir the pot.
> 
> So, by about 2:30, I'll be in a massively pissy mood too.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hope you're still here because your head did not explode during the meeting.  I have one like that occasionally.  If you can't zone out and stare at the wall, but are dragged unwillingly into the morass, there's not much anyone can say or do to help.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It wasn't fun, but it wasn't as awful as it could've been. I hate meetings in general--fortunately, my boss knows that, and she also knows that I have a very low tolerance for incompetence and political whooha, she she doesn't make me go to very many meetings.
> She felt like I needed to be at this one, but I'm still not sure why. An hour of my life I'll never get back--and an hour that I wasn't actually DOING the work that needs to be done (she says, as she sits typing on a photography forum…okay, I see the irony of that…).
> 
> Anyway…at least, where I was sitting was in between my boss and another co-worker, and when the Dark Lord came in, she sat on the same side of the table, down two seats (right NEXT to where I *almost* sat!)--which means, she couldn't really see me without making an effort to do so, so I could just sit there and sort of "fly under the radar" as it were.  AND she didn't do the "what are you thinking" thing to me either…so today, EVERY body gets to live a little longer.
> Also, THEY are all in yet another meeting now, so I have an hour where I know I won't have to deal with any of the cr*p.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Into each life some snow must fall.
Click to expand...


Really. Seriously, some days I find myself thinking, "You know, if THIS is all you have to complain about, you're doing pretty durn good."
Other days, I think, "Oh, right. THIS is why I hate them all."


----------



## snowbear

Yep.  I'm about to go postal on my lovely wife's office.  She is still on IOJ for a couple more weeks and a couple (not the boss) insists on sending her emails (she hasn't replied), phone calls (not answered) and even a FB message about memos that need to go out, etc.  WTF - there are other people there that can do that crap. They have someone filling in for her (and getting acting pay) but _she_ can't type a jammin' memo?   Sounds like time for a career change, to me.

<end rant>

On the good side of life, a trip to the art store in DC tomorrow (yay!) and a trip to Wilmington (lazy_lobster was asked to sign a photo book he did and was placed in the library) & Philly (art show with l_l's friends' work) on Friday.  That also means dinner at Ubon Thai restaurant (also yay!)


----------



## tirediron

"IOJ"?


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> "IOJ"?


Injury On Job.  It's a worker's compensation case.  According to her contract (and Departmental policy) she is not _allowed_ to do any county work.


----------



## snowbear

Oh, Sharon.  I have given up on trying to paint/draw that photo; it doesn't want to lend it's self to that media very well (at least not for me).  I might try again later.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Oh, Sharon.  I have given up on trying to paint/draw that photo; it doesn't want to lend it's self to that media very well (at least not for me).  I might try again later.


Well, I had completely and utterly forgotten all about it anyway, so no worries!
Maybe I'll see if I can find another one for you to try…oh, I know. I've got a couple of more "artsy" shots around the station--not vehicles, but still transit-related. Maybe I'll send you one of those.


----------



## limr

Our college has just been evaluated for reaccreditation. Today was their report to the college and anyone could come to the presentation.

One recommendation was that adjuncts need to be more involved.

This was reported to me by the 5 administrators who didn't ask if I wanted to go to the presentation but just told me that I had to stay. They also no longer offer to pay me the higher and appropriate compensation when they all leave and put me in charge.


----------



## snowbear

@sm4him: I had an idea of . . . brace yourself . . . selective coloring!  I thought about a monochromatic bus scene with the (don't know the real term) route board and the KATS logo in color - either the yellow or the snot lime green of the logo.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Our college has just been evaluated for reaccreditation. Today was their report to the college and anyone could come to the presentation.
> 
> One recommendation was that adjuncts need to be more involved.
> 
> This was reported to me by the 5 administrators who didn't ask if I wanted to go to the presentation but just told me that I had to stay. They also no longer offer to pay me the higher and appropriate compensation when they all leave and put me in charge.


Don't you just love the way governments (including community and state colleges) do things?  "Here, we need you to do this, this and this.  Oh, no, we can't pay you more."  I'm sure it's the same in private industry, too.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Don't you just love the way governments (including community and state colleges) do things?  "Here, we need you to do this, this and this.  Oh, no, we can't pay you more."  I'm sure it's the same in private industry, too.



I'm sure it's the same. We just do it slower. We're both academia AND government. I'm jammin' screwed. Slowly, of course. 

And sometimes you just want to get it over with and go to sleep already, amiright?


----------



## snowbear

"iloveyouahchoo. g'nite honey"


----------



## limr

This is the music that matches my mood right now:
(Tried to put it in a Spoiler but it didn't work. She's in her underwear but not doing anything sexual or anything, but I thought it might be slightly NSFW. Well, y'all have been warned  )


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> Don't you just love the way governments (including community and state colleges) do things?  "Here, we need you to do this, this and this.  Oh, no, we can't pay you more."  I'm sure it's the same in private industry, too.


Wifey is the only one doing her job now.  She used to have two employees, but they both have moved on, and the stupidvisors will not replace them.  She's now trying to do the work of three people and can't get it all done in 40 hours, but they will not authorize any overtime for her either.

She says she will stay another three years.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't you just love the way governments (including community and state colleges) do things?  "Here, we need you to do this, this and this.  Oh, no, we can't pay you more."  I'm sure it's the same in private industry, too.
> 
> 
> 
> Wifey is the only one doing her job now.  She used to have two employees, but they both have moved on, and the stupidvisors will not replace them.  She's now trying to do the work of three people and can't get it all done in 40 hours, but they will not authorize any overtime for her either.
> 
> She says she will stay another three years.
Click to expand...

There has been a huge crackdown in corporate (and now govt. i guess) cutting costs and pushing for efficiency. I can't say i agree or disagree. That is tough though. Squeeze every penny they can get out of a person.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and I took our wine to the backyard and looked around. Very enjoyable to smell the roses and see all the budding fruit. We found a baby Praying Mantis on the Persimmon tree. The Sweet Peas are blooming and are a force to be reckoned with.







Mary Lou ate the first raspberry of the season.


----------



## tirediron

Purdy!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> I hope you're meeting goes better than you hope. I think we should have synchronized margaritas tonight!



Well, I didn't get my margarita tonight. Maybe tomorrow.
I didn't get home from practice until later than usual, and then I had to deal with some family "issues" about Easter plans...all the while, my stalker headache was creeping out of the shadows, considering a strike.

If I drink anything now, I'll almost guarantee a migraine tomorrow, so instead it's a little coffee and some meds and off to bed.  Tomorrow is my Friday, so that's good at least.


----------



## Gary A.

Thanks.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hope you're meeting goes better than you hope. I think we should have synchronized margaritas tonight!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, I didn't get my margarita tonight. Maybe tomorrow.
> I didn't get home from practice until later than usual, and then I had to deal with some family "issues" about Easter plans...all the while, my stalker headache was creeping out of the shadows, considering a strike.
> 
> If I drink anything now, I'll almost guarantee a migraine tomorrow, so instead it's a little coffee and some meds and off to bed.  Tomorrow is my Friday, so that's good at least.
Click to expand...

Yes, it will be a Good Friday.

We're off to one of our favorite Mexican eateries tonight. We'll have a Margarita for you.


----------



## snowbear

Maybe I'll join y'all tomorrow for a virtual 'rita.  I can drop a gummy worm in my iced tea.


----------



## snerd

Evening, hosers. They finished my shoulder surgery at 10am yesterday morning. I waited in hospital room until 7pm for workers comp to approve the vac pump they installed so I could leave!! Grrrr!!!!!! To be fair, it was a quickly-decided surgery. The infection hasn't reached the joint yet, and that must be stopped at all costs. If it gets into the titanium hardware, it will all have to be yanked out and redone. NO!!!!!! 

They have me on 2 bags of Vancomycin a day through the catheter they installed in the other arm. I just learned tonight it's some seriously powerful antibiotic with nasty side effects. So far, 3 days, none have occurred, knock on wood! Driving back up tomorrow for appts with both docs, the infection guy and the saw bones. Again, no coffee today.  Overall, I'm not feeling too bad. Managed to get out in the sun for an hour or so today with my kitty cat. Still eating well, and drinking lots of water and Gatorade. Hanging in there!!


----------



## pgriz

Snerd, are you sure that you're not a test-bed for new medical technologies that they haven't told you about yet?


----------



## Gary A.

The worm is actually found in Mezcal not Tequila. Both are made from the Agave plant, (Maguey for Mezcal and Blue Agave for Tequila).  Traditionally, Tequila is used in Margaritas. Tequila only comes from the region around Tequila, Mexico, (like some wines are name per region). The worm in Mezcal is a moth larva found in the Maguey plant. By the time you get to the worm at the bottom of the bottle, if you're like me, you'll find it to be tasteless.


----------



## oldhippy

snerd said:


> Evening, hosers. They finished my shoulder surgery at 10am yesterday morning. I waited in hospital room until 7pm for workers comp to approve the vac pump they installed so I could leave!! Grrrr!!!!!! To be fair, it was a quickly-decided surgery. The infection hasn't reached the joint yet, and that must be stopped at all costs. If it gets into the titanium hardware, it will all have to be yanked out and redone. NO!!!!!!
> 
> They have me on 2 bags of Vancomycin a day through the catheter they installed in the other arm. I just learned tonight it's some seriously powerful antibiotic with nasty side effects. So far, 3 days, none have occurred, knock on wood! Driving back up tomorrow for appts with both docs, the infection guy and the saw bones. Again, no coffee today.  Overall, I'm not feeling too bad. Managed to get out in the sun for an hour or so today with my kitty cat. Still eating well, and drinking lots of water and Gatorade. Hanging in there!!


Gosh darn, sorry yo here you been through all this.  I've missed a lot. Is this part of your Gall Bladder surgery.  If not what.  Damm man I feel bad about this **** happening to you. Ed


----------



## Gary A.

I bet some Mezcal in one of your antibiotic bags with cure all your ills. (I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you and I hope all turns out well.)


----------



## snerd

oldhippy said:


> Gosh darn, sorry yo here you been through all this.  I've missed a lot. Is this part of your Gall Bladder surgery.  If not what.  Damm man I feel bad about this **** happening to you. Ed


Thanks Ed! No, the gall bladder was emergency surgery while I was recovering from the first shoulder replacement surgery last year. Sometimes, when it rains it pours! I'll beat this one too........... don't like the alternative lol!!


----------



## snerd

pgriz said:


> Snerd, are you sure that you're not a test-bed for new medical technologies that they haven't told you about yet?


I can tell you that I hope I don't get pulled over while driving the 130 mile round trip each time. With everything attached to both arms, I look like a rolling laboratory lol!!!


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> The worm is actually found in Mezcal not Tequila. Both are made from the Agave plant, (Maguey for Mezcal and Blue Agave for Tequila).  Traditionally, Tequila is used in Margaritas. Tequila only comes from the region around Tequila, Mexico, (like some wines are name per region). The worm in Mezcal is a moth larva found in the Maguey plant. By the time you get to the worm at the bottom of the bottle, if you're like me, you'll find it to be tasteless.


po-*tay*-to / po-*tah*-to . . . da worm be in da alcohol.    I'm more of a rum & bourbon person if I drink distilled spirits, though I have enjoyed some single malt once or twice.

Put some kitty treats in a plastic egg and rolled it to Zoe (Belle doesn't care for them).  She's pushing it around with her nose, trying to get to them.  LOL


----------



## snowbear

Glad it's going (relatively) well, Snerd.  Miriam has had some minor issues with the insurance company handling her case but when she asked to use the surgeon they sent her to for the second IME (Independent Medical Examination), they haven't questioned anything.  Her stitches come out tomorrow.


----------



## snerd

snowbear said:


> Glad it's going (relatively) well, Snerd.  Miriam has had some minor issues with the insurance company handling her case but when she asked to use the surgeon they sent her to for the second IME (Independent Medical Examination), they haven't questioned anything.  Her stitches come out tomorrow.


Ya'll are lucky to have each other to lean on. Don't ever take it for granted.


----------



## snowbear

31 years in about 60 days.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hope you're meeting goes better than you hope. I think we should have synchronized margaritas tonight!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, I didn't get my margarita tonight. Maybe tomorrow.
> I didn't get home from practice until later than usual, and then I had to deal with some family "issues" about Easter plans...all the while, my stalker headache was creeping out of the shadows, considering a strike.
> 
> If I drink anything now, I'll almost guarantee a migraine tomorrow, so instead it's a little coffee and some meds and off to bed.  Tomorrow is my Friday, so that's good at least.
Click to expand...


Sorry no margarita for you tonight  I didn't have one either, though a _am_ drinking the hell out of a finger (or two) of Elijah Craig bourbon.

I have realized that today was just a massive April Fool's joke on me. The universe has quite the sense of humor. There were bright spots in the day: my evening class, a great conversation with some colleagues with a date to do it again over drinks, and of course, my awesome and supportive TPF hosers, whom I adore! 

Snerd, baby, you get yourself well! Glad to hear they got the infection and are taking care of you. I know it's not the same as a real one, but we're sending you hugs! (Not too tight, though, so they don't hurt your shoulder!)

Though it's ending on a better note than the one it started on, I am still sooooooo firing this day soon.


----------



## snowbear

I don't know, Lenny; titanium is some high class stuff -- like carbon fiber!

Here's to a restful night, tonight and a better day, tomorrow. 
Later, peeps.


----------



## limr

It's true - titanium is classy!  My father's hip replacements were steel. Though, he _was _quite proud to have parts made of, as he said, "stanley steel." Lord, I think there's still his first steel hip joint around my mother's house soemwhere. You see, he had one hip done, then several years later, he had the second one done. Some years after that, the first one was going wrong - worn out or being rejected or something - so they had to re-do the first hip. So they took the first steel hip joint out, replaced it, and he wanted to keep the first one.

Rest his soul, he was a loony one, my father.   (And yes, that's where I get it from, shaddap.)


----------



## pgriz

Glad to see your day getting better, Leonore.  And you too, Snerd.  

As for the April 1 tomfoolery...  Today was a (relatively) warm day, plenty of sunshine.  However, yesterday was very cold, and tomorrow they are promising a delivery of 2-4 inches of snow with wind.  So today was a way for Nature to say "hey chumps, let me tease you a little, because tomorrow you're back to the salt mines!".

Also, yesterday I was out with a 24-hour flu (or whatever name that collection of bugs have), with migrane-like headache, aching joints, deep fatigue, a digestive system on misbehaviour mode  and no energy.  Ended up sleeping a good portion of the day.  But it was all gone this morning.  However, my better half got the same bug, and she's been down pretty much all day today.  Kinda worrying to see the perpetual ball of energy hit like that.  Hoping that she'll be back to normal by tomorrow.

Out-of-town relatives are supposed to be showing up Friday for the Easter Weekend festivities.  Major housecleaning starts tomorrow.  Not because it needs it, but on principle.  Somehow, I'm more relaxed about these things compared to my "ball of energy" but she said I just have lower standards.  Eh.


----------



## limr

Oh man, the universe is hitting all of us!! I'm glad you're better, Paul, and I hope your ball of energy is better tomorrow too!


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Evening, hosers. They finished my shoulder surgery at 10am yesterday morning. I waited in hospital room until 7pm for workers comp to approve the vac pump they installed so I could leave!! Grrrr!!!!!! To be fair, it was a quickly-decided surgery. The infection hasn't reached the joint yet, and that must be stopped at all costs. If it gets into the titanium hardware, it will all have to be yanked out and redone. NO!!!!!!
> 
> They have me on 2 bags of Vancomycin a day through the catheter they installed in the other arm. I just learned tonight it's some seriously powerful antibiotic with nasty side effects. So far, 3 days, none have occurred, knock on wood! Driving back up tomorrow for appts with both docs, the infection guy and the saw bones. Again, no coffee today.  Overall, I'm not feeling too bad. Managed to get out in the sun for an hour or so today with my kitty cat. Still eating well, and drinking lots of water and Gatorade. Hanging in there!!


so you went out patient with intravenous vanco? Did they assign you a visiting r.n or home health care nurse? Or they making you get rides back and forth?


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening, hosers. They finished my shoulder surgery at 10am yesterday morning. I waited in hospital room until 7pm for workers comp to approve the vac pump they installed so I could leave!! Grrrr!!!!!! To be fair, it was a quickly-decided surgery. The infection hasn't reached the joint yet, and that must be stopped at all costs. If it gets into the titanium hardware, it will all have to be yanked out and redone. NO!!!!!!
> 
> They have me on 2 bags of Vancomycin a day through the catheter they installed in the other arm. I just learned tonight it's some seriously powerful antibiotic with nasty side effects. So far, 3 days, none have occurred, knock on wood! Driving back up tomorrow for appts with both docs, the infection guy and the saw bones. Again, no coffee today.  Overall, I'm not feeling too bad. Managed to get out in the sun for an hour or so today with my kitty cat. Still eating well, and drinking lots of water and Gatorade. Hanging in there!!
> 
> 
> 
> so you went out patient with intravenous vanco? Did they assign you a visiting r.n or home health care nurse? Or they making you get rides back and forth?
Click to expand...

They're in process of setting up home health nurse visits. Yes, I'm outpatient with iv vanco. In one arm. The other has vac pump attached to shoulder, and I tote it around. Still able to drive to appts until they get home health approved. Not a problem.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening, hosers. They finished my shoulder surgery at 10am yesterday morning. I waited in hospital room until 7pm for workers comp to approve the vac pump they installed so I could leave!! Grrrr!!!!!! To be fair, it was a quickly-decided surgery. The infection hasn't reached the joint yet, and that must be stopped at all costs. If it gets into the titanium hardware, it will all have to be yanked out and redone. NO!!!!!!
> 
> They have me on 2 bags of Vancomycin a day through the catheter they installed in the other arm. I just learned tonight it's some seriously powerful antibiotic with nasty side effects. So far, 3 days, none have occurred, knock on wood! Driving back up tomorrow for appts with both docs, the infection guy and the saw bones. Again, no coffee today.  Overall, I'm not feeling too bad. Managed to get out in the sun for an hour or so today with my kitty cat. Still eating well, and drinking lots of water and Gatorade. Hanging in there!!
> 
> 
> 
> so you went out patient with intravenous vanco? Did they assign you a visiting r.n or home health care nurse? Or they making you get rides back and forth?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They're in process of setting up home health nurse visits. Yes, I'm outpatient with iv vanco. In one arm. The other has vac pump attached to shoulder, and I tote it around. Still able to drive to appts until they get home health approved. Not a problem.
Click to expand...

hope it works out for you. Glad you were able to go home. Keep your chin up!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Snerd, continued best wishes.
Question for you...if titanium is like carbon fibre, do you weigh less now?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I am trying to avoid a very busy day by postwhoring here. Biggest news out here is that the Governor has imposed 25% water usage reduction for residential users. That hits hard for those of us which are already implementing water conservation. Maybe I'll paint the front yard grass green (seriously). 

Hey Snerd, how are you doin'?

55F right now, should reach the mid 70's ... I have appointments in Chino and Pasadena today. Better get going and walk the pooch. Mary Lou starts her Spring Break tomorrow ... gotta figure out a quick trip. Wine country is always good ... but I think I'd like to try and get up to the Bristlecone Pines in the southern Sierra Nevada.


----------



## limr

Morning hosers.

I'm trying to figure out how to use mail merge to print a list of 30 address labels.

My life is so jammin' exciting right now.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Morning hosers.
> 
> I'm trying to figure out how to use mail merge to print a list of 30 address labels.
> 
> My life is so jammin' exciting right now.



My wife asks me to do that routinely.  I'm her unpaid (but with great benefits!) secretary.  Easiest way with Word is to make a table in Excell, then use the mail-merge wizard in Word to set up the labels.  I usually store both the Excell spreadsheet, and the Word form for easy access the next time around.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I am trying to avoid a very busy day by postwhoring here. Biggest news out here is that the Governor has imposed 25% water usage reduction for residential users. That hits hard for those of us which are already implementing water conservation. Maybe I'll paint the front yard grass green (seriously).
> 
> Hey Snerd, how are you doin'?
> 
> 55F right now, should reach the mid 70's ... I have appointments in Chino and Pasadena today. Better get going and walk the pooch. Mary Lou starts her Spring Break tomorrow ... gotta figure out a quick trip. Wine country is always good ... but I think I'd like to try and get up to the Bristlecone Pines in the southern Sierra Nevada.


Look for a fake grass grant. We got one in nevada years back during a water restriction. They actually gave a grant to put in fake grass (turf) to replace your lawn to avoid people running sprinklers. Most people didn't even know about it. But it was out there. NO more mowing. And it looked better than about anything you could grow out there anyway.


----------



## limr

I am irrationally angry every time my sister uses "wut" in a text instead of "what."

Now you know.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> I am irrationally angry every time my sister uses "wut" in a text instead of "what."
> 
> Now you know.



The one that gets me, and my youngest son as well, is "K" instead of OK. Honestly, how hard IS it to go the extra inch and type that additional letter?


----------



## bentcountershaft

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am irrationally angry every time my sister uses "wut" in a text instead of "what."
> 
> Now you know.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The one that gets me, and my youngest son as well, is "K" instead of OK. Honestly, how hard IS it to go the extra inch and type that additional letter?
Click to expand...


My wife does the K thing too so I feel your pain.


----------



## limr

Yup, my sister does that.


----------



## sm4him

A little "Throwback Thursday," Easter Edition:

Me and my sibs, Easter 1965. My two oldest brothers in the back, then in front, L to R, the third brother, me and my sister.
This is a pretty typical Easter photo for us, as my mother had a special gift for positioning us in the perfect spot for maximum sun glare.  My sister says she remembers this photo shoot as a particularly horrible one, as Mom kept us there forever, saying "Everyone just KEEP your eyes open for just a few seconds!" but we were all evidently far too bent on keeping our retinas from actually catching on fire. 
Only the middle brother (the one who didn't get the memo about the suave plaid jackets) seems completely oblivious to the sun trying to scorch its way right through his orbital sockets.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> I am irrationally angry every time my sister uses "wut" in a text instead of "what."
> 
> Now you know.



Oh.  I thought that was normal Neeyauk spelling.  'kay?


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am irrationally angry every time my sister uses "wut" in a text instead of "what."
> 
> Now you know.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh.  I thought that was normal Neeyauk spelling.  'kay?
Click to expand...


Not fuh nuthin', but gawd no!


----------



## pgriz

Gotcha.  Any texts I send your way will have full and proper grammatical usage.  The 140-character limit may be a minor irritation, but I've been known to write multi-text messages before.  Which begs the question - what is more annoying - reading abbreviations, or long multi-text posts?  I know for my wife it's the long texts.  Her note to me is a version of KISS: keep it SHORT, silly!


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Gotcha.  Any texts I send your way will have full and proper grammatical usage.  The 140-character limit may be a minor irritation, but I've been known to write multi-text messages before.  Which begs the question - what is more annoying - reading abbreviations, or long multi-text posts?  I know for my wife it's the long texts.  Her note to me is a version of KISS: keep it SHORT, silly!



Interesting. See, both Buzz and I text the way we would type in an email anyway - in other words, with full punctuation and grammar. Sometimes they are long but they never seem long enough to be split into more than one text. However, if the text were long for a reason and were well-written, it wouldn't bother me.

BUT...there are a few people who send multiple texts using abbreviations but no punctuation, and leaving in the confusing auto-correct mistakes . The texts are short - they just send one, then think of the next thing to say and then send that, and so on, and so on... One night I picked up my phone and saw a group text from my sisters. We were trying to set a time and place for a sisters' lunch. I put my phone down, went out of the room for a few minutes, came back and saw there were almost 30 new texts. THAT drives me insane.


----------



## limr

In other news, this is my first time using chunky peanut butter in a sandwich since my teeth came out.

I'm once again feeling illogically strong feelings about this. At least this time it's excitement.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gotcha.  Any texts I send your way will have full and proper grammatical usage.  The 140-character limit may be a minor irritation, but I've been known to write multi-text messages before.  Which begs the question - what is more annoying - reading abbreviations, or long multi-text posts?  I know for my wife it's the long texts.  Her note to me is a version of KISS: keep it SHORT, silly!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting. See, both Buzz and I both text the way we would type in an email anyway - in other words, with full punctuation and grammar. Sometimes they are long but they never seem long enough to be split into more than one text. However, if the text were long for a reason and were well-written, it wouldn't bother me.
> 
> BUT...there are a few people who send multiple texts and using abbreviations but no punctuation, and leaving in the confusing auto-correct mistakes . The texts are short - they just send one, then think of the next thing to say and then send that, and so on, and so on... One night I picked up my phone and saw a group text from my sisters. We were trying to set a time and place for a sisters' lunch. I put my phone down, went out of the room for a few minutes, came back and saw there were almost 30 new texts. THAT drives me insane.
Click to expand...

 NOTHING annoys me more than people who can't speak (or type) basic English.  First of all, it's a TEXT MESSAGE, NOT a F**king "text", and text is NOT, under ANY circumstance a verb, the words/phrases are "okay", "yes", "I don't know", et cetera (or for those of a more formal turn of mind "et hoc genus omne".  The English language isn't difficult and suffers enough with the insults of such things as rap "music" and the average teenager's inability to use even basic punctuation...  be kind to it.  Use it correctly!


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> Gotcha.  Any texts I send your way will have full and proper grammatical usage.  The 140-character limit may be a minor irritation, but I've been known to write multi-text messages before.  Which begs the question - what is more annoying - reading abbreviations, or long multi-text posts?  I know for my wife it's the long texts.  Her note to me is a version of KISS: keep it SHORT, silly!



My sons and I are quite "correct" in our texts. Informal (much like most of my posts here) and so not necessarily completely proper grammar in terms of punctuation. For instance, I use a LOT of ellipses when typing informally, and I would almost never use them in a "grammatically correct" work.
I remember one of the first texts I ever got from my youngest son, who was in his early teens at the time. He used the word "perseverate" in his text, and I remember thinking, "I'm pretty sure his peers aren't texting words like that…" 

Multi-text posts don't bother me at all, because my phone just creates a single multimedia file out of them, so I just hit "download" and then see the whole thing as one long text.


----------



## sm4him

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gotcha.  Any texts I send your way will have full and proper grammatical usage.  The 140-character limit may be a minor irritation, but I've been known to write multi-text messages before.  Which begs the question - what is more annoying - reading abbreviations, or long multi-text posts?  I know for my wife it's the long texts.  Her note to me is a version of KISS: keep it SHORT, silly!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting. See, both Buzz and I both text the way we would type in an email anyway - in other words, with full punctuation and grammar. Sometimes they are long but they never seem long enough to be split into more than one text. However, if the text were long for a reason and were well-written, it wouldn't bother me.
> 
> BUT...there are a few people who send multiple texts and using abbreviations but no punctuation, and leaving in the confusing auto-correct mistakes . The texts are short - they just send one, then think of the next thing to say and then send that, and so on, and so on... One night I picked up my phone and saw a group text from my sisters. We were trying to set a time and place for a sisters' lunch. I put my phone down, went out of the room for a few minutes, came back and saw there were almost 30 new texts. THAT drives me insane.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> NOTHING annoys me more than people who can't speak (or type) basic English.  First of all, it's a TEXT MESSAGE, NOT a F**king "text", and text is NOT, under ANY circumstance a verb, the words/phrases are "okay", "yes", "I don't know", et cetera (or for those of a more formal turn of mind "et hoc genus omne".  The English language isn't difficult and suffers enough with the insults of such things as rap "music" and the average teenager's inability to use even basic punctuation...  be kind to it.  Use it correctly!
Click to expand...


I will admit to using "texting" as a verb.   To my mind, words like that, while they can be difficult to adapt to, are an inevitable part of dealing with a LIVING, evolutionary language.
Otherwise, I agree with you wholeheartedly.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gotcha.  Any texts I send your way will have full and proper grammatical usage.  The 140-character limit may be a minor irritation, but I've been known to write multi-text messages before.  Which begs the question - what is more annoying - reading abbreviations, or long multi-text posts?  I know for my wife it's the long texts.  Her note to me is a version of KISS: keep it SHORT, silly!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting. See, both Buzz and I both text the way we would type in an email anyway - in other words, with full punctuation and grammar. Sometimes they are long but they never seem long enough to be split into more than one text. However, if the text were long for a reason and were well-written, it wouldn't bother me.
> 
> BUT...there are a few people who send multiple texts and using abbreviations but no punctuation, and leaving in the confusing auto-correct mistakes . The texts are short - they just send one, then think of the next thing to say and then send that, and so on, and so on... One night I picked up my phone and saw a group text from my sisters. We were trying to set a time and place for a sisters' lunch. I put my phone down, went out of the room for a few minutes, came back and saw there were almost 30 new texts. THAT drives me insane.
Click to expand...


I hate group texts…umm, text messages (in deference to John) worse than ANY of the rest of it, because I never know who's talking to whom or, half the time, what they are even discussing.

The single most epic group message I ever got happened while I was in Florida last winter after Christmas. I finally DID figure out it was in reference to a football-game-watching party I'd been invited to, although the odd thing is that I never actually GOT that text, only the responses. And I didn't have ANY of the respondent's phone numbers in my contact list, evidently, so no names showed up with their comments. I still have NO idea who most of these comments even came from. 
I am fairly certain, however, that the Popcorn Sutton remark came from either our youth minister or his wife.


----------



## bentcountershaft

So all we need to do is develop of app that gives us the option of sending a nonlethal, but stout electric shock through the phone automatically when we receive these intellectually offending text messages.


----------



## tirediron

bentcountershaft said:


> So all we need to do is develop of app*lication* that gives us the option of sending a nonlethal, but stout electric shock through the phone automatically when we receive these intellectually offending text messages.


 FTFY - actially, if lethality is acheivable, I see nothing wrong with that.  The people who "speak" this way are not those with whom I would normally voluntarily share my planet.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> NOTHING annoys me more than people who can't speak (or type) basic English.  First of all, it's a TEXT MESSAGE, NOT a F**king "text", and text is NOT, under ANY circumstance a verb, the words/phrases are "okay", "yes", "I don't know", et cetera (or for those of a more formal turn of mind "et hoc genus omne".  The English language isn't difficult and suffers enough with the insults of such things as rap "music" and the average teenager's inability to use even basic punctuation...  be kind to it.  Use it correctly!



Awww, grumpy 



sm4him said:


> I will admit to using "texting" as a verb.   To my mind, words like that, while they can be difficult to adapt to, are an inevitable part of dealing with a LIVING, evolutionary language.
> Otherwise, I agree with you wholeheartedly.



It's true that language is a living thing and it changes, and sometimes in ways we don't like. I don't have problems with words jumping ship and being used as a different part of speech because that is a very generative part of the English language. There are a lot of words that we use as, say, a noun that started life out as a verb or an adjective, but it happened long enough ago that we're not aware of its original usage. I can understand the truncating of "text message" to "text" and that of "sending a text message" for "texting." It's efficiency (I know, some will say laziness, but hey, tomato, tomahto... )

Other things bug me more, like artificial business jargon that does the same thing and tries to explain it away as "but it's a different meaning" when it's not. For example - using 'ask' as a noun. "I've got an ask for you." "That's a big ask the client is making." OH MY GOD, I want to punch them in their throats!

This just shows how a lot of these reactions to changes are pretty irrational in that they are based solely on how we feel about that particular phrase and not because of any reasonable objection to the rule itself. One example drives us insane while another example of the same process doesn't bother us at all.

Having said all that, "wut" needs to jammin' GO AWAY!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Having said all that, "wut" needs to jammin' GO AWAY!



I'd NEVER heard "ask" used that way--good thing, too!  But I do know what you mean; can't think of an example right now, but market-speak is full of them!

I will help you in your campaign against "wut" if you will help me rid the world of the world "utilize." I hate that word SO jammin' much!!  It's just not even necessary, anytime the word "utilized" appears, "used" would work just fine in its place.
And yes, I know it's hardly the ONLY word that means the same thing as some other word, but for some reason, I've just always had a particular vitriolic reaction to that one. I think it's because, to my mind, the SOLE reason for the word "utilize" is try to sound "smarter" about saying "used." And that's not smart, it's stupid.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Having said all that, "wut" needs to jammin' GO AWAY!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd NEVER heard "ask" used that way--good thing, too!  But I do know what you mean; can't think of an example right now, but market-speak is full of them!
> 
> I will help you in your campaign against "wut" if you will help me rid the world of the world "utilize." I hate that word SO jammin' much!!  It's just not even necessary, anytime the word "utilized" appears, "used" would work just fine in its place.
> And yes, I know it's hardly the ONLY word that means the same thing as some other word, but for some reason, I've just always had a particular vitriolic reaction to that one. I think it's because, to my mind, the SOLE reason for the word "utilize" is try to sound "smarter" about saying "used." And that's not smart, it's stupid.
Click to expand...


I'll do what I can!

I wish I could also eradicate all the errors people make when they are trying to sound smarter. I hate it when people use "myself" as a subject, or say "individual" instead of "person" or insist on "I" everywhere, even when the correct pronoun really is "me."


----------



## bentcountershaft

I don't know wut the problem is, but I think it's time we all utilize a little restraint when it comes to texting.


----------



## limr

bentcountershaft said:


> I don't know wut the problem is, but I think it's time we all utilize a little restraint when it comes to texting.



That's too big of an ask.


----------



## sm4him

In other news: A teeny-tiny, miniscule bit of progress has been made here in the Open-Door world of Death Star Public Transit where the Dark Lord reigns. 

My boss stopped by at 1 to see if I was going to join her and a few others in our dept. on an outing to the UT Art Gallery (for a specific purpose, not just for fun). My door was actually open--as open as I *ever* have it, anyway, which is to say, it was slightly ajar.
I begged off of the excursion, first saying I had a lot to get done if I was gonna be off tomorrow, and then I hesitated and said, "and to be honest--I've about bagged my sociability limit for the week anyway."
She said she understood, got the camera from me, and left…
…
…and CLOSED the door behind her!! Like, completely CLOSED it!! YES!! 
Unspoken permission to leave the door closed the rest of the day? OH, Yes, I think so.


----------



## limr

Yay, Sharon!!! I know how good it must feel


----------



## Designer

"Stop bugging me!  Can't you see I'm texting?" he audibleized.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> A little "Throwback Thursday," Easter Edition:
> 
> Me and my sibs, Easter 1965. My two oldest brothers in the back, then in front, L to R, the third brother, me and my sister.
> This is a pretty typical Easter photo for us, as my mother had a special gift for positioning us in the perfect spot for maximum sun glare.  My sister says she remembers this photo shoot as a particularly horrible one, as Mom kept us there forever, saying "Everyone just KEEP your eyes open for just a few seconds!" but we were all evidently far too bent on keeping our retinas from actually catching on fire.
> Only the middle brother (the one who didn't get the memo about the suave plaid jackets) seems completely oblivious to the sun trying to scorch its way right through his orbital sockets.
> View attachment 98064


Aww - so cute!



bentcountershaft said:


> So all we need to do is develop of app that gives us the option of sending a nonlethal, but stout electric shock through the phone automatically when we receive these intellectually offending text messages.


Does it have to be nonlethal?  Can it be, at least, permanently debilitating?


----------



## snerd

Can you borrow me a couple dollars? Grrr!!!!!!! Off with their heads!!


----------



## Derrel

sm4him said:
			
		

> A little "Throwback Thursday," Easter Edition:
> 
> Me and my sibs, Easter 1965.
> View attachment 98064



I love antique photos! 

Got any more?


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ...I wish I could also eradicate all the errors people make when they are trying to sound smarter. I hate it when people use "myself" as a subject, or say "individual" instead of "person" or insist on "I" everywhere, even when the correct pronoun really is "me."


That would leave most of the English-speaking world without a police force!


----------



## sm4him

Derrel said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A little "Throwback Thursday," Easter Edition:
> 
> Me and my sibs, Easter 1965.
> View attachment 98064
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I love antique photos!
> 
> Got any more?
Click to expand...

Yep, got plenty of antique...HEY, wait a minute!!


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A little "Throwback Thursday," Easter Edition:
> 
> Me and my sibs, Easter 1965.
> View attachment 98064
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I love antique photos!
> 
> Got any more?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yep, got plenty of antique...HEY, wait a minute!!
Click to expand...

I would say "matured like a fine, expensive single malt scotch."


----------



## snerd




----------



## minicoop1985

Evening, hosers. Had a nice long day at work today. I have to say I'm incredibly fortunate to have a job I absolutely love. I worked my ass off for this, and now it's paying off.


----------



## Gary A.

Comparing the Fujinon 35mm to the HandleVision 40mm.






The HandleVision comes with a metal screw in front lens cap and a leather lens bag.





Left: HandleVision 40mm / Lens hood retracted.
Right: Fujinon 35mm / No lens hood.





Left: HandleVision 40mm / Lens hood extended.
Right: Fujinon 35mm / with Lens hood.


----------



## limr

That's quite a, um, lens!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!


----------



## Designer

Good morning!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. How is everybody? This should be another typical, cool morning and warm afternoon.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> That's quite a, um, lens!








40mm @ f/.85





40mm @ f/5.6





40mm @ f/22


----------



## limr

Nice!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Nice!


Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon ... mixing pleasure with work.


----------



## pgriz

So now, I can definitely say that Nature has a sense of humour.  Twisted, perhaps, and with some dark undertones, but humour nevertheless.  

Yesterday, we had temperatures in the (gasp!) PLUS 16C, sun was rapidly melting the snow and I could see the lawn again (along with all the usual debris that accumulates over the winter), the neighbourhood kids were skateboarding and biking on the roads while dodging the puddles (or going through them, as some so joyously did), and in general if actually felt like spring.  That was yesterday.

Today, the temperature is -3C, there is a snowstorm going on, expected to dump 5-10 cm (2-4 inches), the wind is blowing pretty hard, and everything is white.  If it was the first snowfall of the season, I'd even call it pretty.  As it is now officially spring, it's looking more like a deathly white shroud.  

And if I listen very, very carefully, I am hearing "heh, heh, heh" being whispered, almost below the ability to perceive.  

Yep.  Nature does have a sense of humour.
Not sure the bunnies are laughing, though.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I had a minor triumph this morning. I am finally able to return to my normal breakfast, which is a bowl of Kashi GoLean with almond milk. It was way too crunchy for me after the extractions. I probably could have returned to it maybe a week or so ago, but I've been testing my limits slowly. Didn't want to screw anything up.

I missed my cereal.


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> So now, I can definitely say that Nature has a sense of humour.  Twisted, perhaps, and with some dark undertones, but humour nevertheless.
> 
> Yesterday, we had temperatures in the (gasp!) PLUS 16C, sun was rapidly melting the snow and I could see the lawn again (along with all the usual debris that accumulates over the winter), the neighbourhood kids were skateboarding and biking on the roads while dodging the puddles (or going through them, as some so joyously did), and in general if actually felt like spring.  That was yesterday.
> 
> Today, the temperature is -3C, there is a snowstorm going on, expected to dump 5-10 cm (2-4 inches), the wind is blowing pretty hard, and everything is white.  If it was the first snowfall of the season, I'd even call it pretty.  As it is now officially spring, it's looking more like a deathly white shroud.
> 
> And if I listen very, very carefully, I am hearing "heh, heh, heh" being whispered, almost below the ability to perceive.
> 
> Yep.  Nature does have a sense of humour.
> Not sure the bunnies are laughing, though.



I feel your pain. Well, I mean, I "feel" it, from down here in the South, where the trees are all blooming, the crocuses have already bloomed and faded away, dandelions and tulips have sprung up and the birds and the bees are getting busy. 
A little "cold" snap here today too. It won't even quite make it to 60F/15C today.  And may get down to about 35F/2C tonight.
80F/27C by Wednesday though.  I expect this weekend will be our last true "cold" snap for the season. Dogwood winter is what we call it here.
Then a bit later in the spring, we'll also have Blackberry winter, another cold snap that will happen in late April or even early May.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> I had a minor triumph this morning. I am finally able to return to my normal breakfast, which is a bowl of Kashi GoLean with almond milk. It was way too crunchy for me after the extractions. I probably could have returned to it maybe a week or so ago, but I've been testing my limits slowly. Didn't want to screw anything up.
> 
> I missed my cereal.


Congrats! I love cereal.................... Peanut Butter Cheerios, Post Grape Nuts, Honey Bunches with Almonds, Rice Krispies, etc., etc. I need to get up out of this bed to run my antibiotics, and I think a few cups of coffee are in order today!


----------



## sm4him

Morning, Leonore and whoever else is hanging around! Glad to hear you're pretty much back to normal with what you can eat!
I am having some serious "stomach issues" this morning (started last night actually). This is a BAD thing, because I am supposed to do all the female narration for our choir presentation tomorrow morning! 
Hoping it improves quickly!


----------



## snowbear

Yesterday was a long day.  MLW had therapy in the AM, then back home (I forgot my wallet), then off to Wilmington.  After visiting for a while (LL had to sign two of his class project photo books that the school purchased for the library) we drove up to Philly for an art reception, then back to Wilmington for dinner at Ubon Thai.  Traffic on the highways was jammin' headachy.  Not too bad coming home, but it was just late (got in a little before midnight.)  The worst part was that it pretty much rained the whole day, though I did get a couple of shots of the fog down at the Wilmington waterfront.

I'm heading up to one of the state parks in a few so I can get some more LAA-4 shots.  But first, I need some coffee to help recover from yesterday.


----------



## snowbear

Glad things are getting better, Leonore.  There's a cinnamon cereal we all like but have a hard time finding now - I guess someone found it has a result when fed to mice or something.

Hope it works out for you, Sharon (maybe an intended pun, I'm not awake enough to decide)


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> So now, I can definitely say that Nature has a sense of humour.  Twisted, perhaps, and with some dark undertones, but humour nevertheless.
> 
> Yesterday, we had temperatures in the (gasp!) PLUS 16C, sun was rapidly melting the snow and I could see the lawn again (along with all the usual debris that accumulates over the winter), the neighbourhood kids were skateboarding and biking on the roads while dodging the puddles (or going through them, as some so joyously did), and in general if actually felt like spring.  That was yesterday.
> 
> Today, the temperature is -3C, there is a snowstorm going on, expected to dump 5-10 cm (2-4 inches), the wind is blowing pretty hard, and everything is white.  If it was the first snowfall of the season, I'd even call it pretty.  As it is now officially spring, it's looking more like a deathly white shroud.
> 
> And if I listen very, very carefully, I am hearing "heh, heh, heh" being whispered, almost below the ability to perceive.
> 
> Yep.  Nature does have a sense of humour.
> Not sure the bunnies are laughing, though.


I've been picking strawberries the past few weeks and now some tomatoes have ripened. (We're in a drought so no puddlies to splash.)


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> I had a minor triumph this morning. I am finally able to return to my normal breakfast, which is a bowl of Kashi GoLean with almond milk. It was way too crunchy for me after the extractions. I probably could have returned to it maybe a week or so ago, but I've been testing my limits slowly. Didn't want to screw anything up.
> 
> I missed my cereal.
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats! I love cereal.................... Peanut Butter Cheerios, Post Grape Nuts, Honey Bunches with Almonds, Rice Krispies, etc., etc. I need to get up out of this bed to run my antibiotics, and I think a few cups of coffee are in order today!
Click to expand...

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Sned, what are the particulars on your home brew coffee?


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Yesterday was a long day.  MLW had therapy in the AM, then back home (I forgot my wallet), then off to Wilmington.  After visiting for a while (LL had to sign two of his class project photo books that the school purchased for the library) we drove up to Philly for an art reception, then back to Wilmington for dinner at Ubon Thai.  Traffic on the highways was jammin' headachy.  Not too bad coming home, but it was just late (got in a little before midnight.)  The worst part was that it pretty much rained the whole day, though I did get a couple of shots of the fog down at the Wilmington waterfront.
> 
> I'm heading up to one of the state parks in a few so I can get some more LAA-4 shots.  But first, I need some coffee to help recover from yesterday.


Sounds like a great day! (Except for the early rise, the therapy, the wallet, the traffic and the rain.)


----------



## Gary A.

Sipping on my first cup of coffee. I'm not a big breakfast cereal eater. It's been decades since I've eaten cereal for breakfast (other than oatmeal). Today is a dim sum breakfast with friends in Monterey Park. Louise cuts movie stars hair and Tom is a physician. The other night I called Louise up, about 8:00 p.m. and we were laughing because I was just getting in from work and she was just leaving to cut Seth McFarlane's hair. Tonight, we have tickets for Maroon 5.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Leo- Good for you!
@ Sharon- Hope you get better.


----------



## limr

Is that fourth picture in Ogunquit?


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Is that fourth picture in Ogunquit?


yeah it is perkins cove


----------



## Derrel

Coffffffeeeee! With milk and fake sugar. Made it this morning around 7 o'clock. Ehhhhh...
Making some cinnamon rolls for the neighbors and their visiting sister-in law and two kids, from Mexico by way of China. Or would it be from China, by way of Mexico? Born in China, but currently running a Chinese restaurant in Guadalajara, Mexico.


----------



## limr

So I see most of us in various stages of recovery today 

Except Derrel who is running a little UN breakfast!


----------



## Designer

Good morning!

I just had one of the more disappointing cups of coffee.  Normally I can count on McDonald's for fairly decent coffee, (except at the three stores in Ames, of course) and this morning I had need to visit Menard's in Ankeny.  So when I left there, I turned into McDonald's and bought a cup of coffee.  It didn't have any coffee taste to speak of.  Very odd, it's as if they forgot to put the coffee in, or something.  Tasted like water, although it had the right color, so I'm at a loss as to why no flavor.  Maybe somebody made a pot without using fresh coffee.  Just run it through the same grinds again?  

Oh, well, I will now have to verify each and every item that I purchase there before I leave the counter.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> So now, I can definitely say that Nature has a sense of humour.  Twisted, perhaps, and with some dark undertones, but humour nevertheless.
> 
> Yesterday, we had temperatures in the (gasp!) PLUS 16C, sun was rapidly melting the snow and I could see the lawn again (along with all the usual debris that accumulates over the winter), the neighbourhood kids were skateboarding and biking on the roads while dodging the puddles (or going through them, as some so joyously did), and in general if actually felt like spring.  That was yesterday.
> 
> Today, the temperature is -3C, there is a snowstorm going on, expected to dump 5-10 cm (2-4 inches), the wind is blowing pretty hard, and everything is white.  If it was the first snowfall of the season, I'd even call it pretty.  As it is now officially spring, it's looking more like a deathly white shroud.
> 
> And if I listen very, very carefully, I am hearing "heh, heh, heh" being whispered, almost below the ability to perceive.
> 
> Yep.  Nature does have a sense of humour.
> Not sure the bunnies are laughing, though.
> 
> 
> 
> I've been picking strawberries the past few weeks and now some tomatoes have ripened. (We're in a drought so no puddlies to splash.)
Click to expand...


Tell you what.  You're welcome to come up here for a week and do all the puddle-splashing you want, plus experiencing the delightful feeling of the fresh, Canadian air on your cheeks, and we'll swap and take care of your garden and excess produce.  I'm quite sure my wife won't protest much.  And you'll have the pleasure of being in a multicultural city where half the neighbours will greet you with "Bonjour! (tabernace!)" and "Comment allez vous? (p'tit chien anglais)" or "Buenos Dias" or "Morning...".  The signs will give your many pleasurable moments of discovery, such as "Reculez" and "Passage interdit" which translate roughly to "Do a 180 because you're going to hit someone head-on" and "you're not supposed to be here".  Also, there are plenty of bagels, croissants, samosas, souvlakis and other foods to keep you happy.  And we will try and get used to warmth and dryness.  Gotta make sacrifices.


----------



## limr

Ah hell, Tio is fine right where he is. I am the one who wants to live where you live! Your description sounds heavenly! Well, to me anyway.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... get used to this ...











But my house is small. You won't like it. Trust me ...

Los Angeles is the melting pot of the world. Granted not many French, but there are about 180 languages spoken is the LA Unified School District ... the allure of diversification ain't gonna cut it. Soooo ... merde ... Quoi d'autre avez-vous?

PS- La cour n'est que couleur et parfumee des senteurs ... l'epouse aimeraient avoir son cafe du matin entourees de roses, papillons et hummers. Vous etes bienvenue a arreter par ... mais pas un commerce.


----------



## pgriz

Leonore, you (and Buzz) are always welcome up here.  At the moment, your money will go 20% further (due to exchange rates), and festival season usually starts mid-June and runs to mid-September.  If we, the locals, actually went to all the festivals, the city would grind to a halt as there are no breaks between festivals, and many even overlap.  But we know they are there, and we sample this or that.  The Jazz festival's good.  It's gotten into world music more than before, but it's still a neat experience to be shoulder to shoulder with about 250,000 in front of the outdoor stages, and everyone's behaving even though there's plenty of beer and spirits being consumed.  There's enough local flavour to make a NeeuYawker feel pretty at home.  But you might hate our bagels.


----------



## pgriz

Je vois, Gary, que vous avez toutes les utiles de language pour d'être bienvenue ici.  Vous avez raison, c'est difficile a comparer avec LA.  Mais si vous aimez la biere, il y a plusieres artisants qui broue un vraiment mechant biere.  

So I'll have to come up with something that you DON'T have.  Lemme think a bit.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... get used to this ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But my house is small. You won't like it. Trust me ...
> 
> Los Angeles is the melting pot of the world. Granted not many French, but there are about 180 languages spoken is the LA Unified School District ... the allure of diversification ain't gonna cut it. Soooo ... merde ... Quoi d'autre avez-vous?
> 
> PS- La cour n'est que couleur et parfumee des senteurs ... l'epouse aimeraient avoir son cafe du matin entourees de roses, papillons et hummers. Vous etes bienvenue a arreter par ... mais pas un commerce.


pwetty


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Je vois, Gary, que vous avez toutes les utiles de language pour d'être bienvenue ici.  Vous avez raison, c'est difficile a comparer avec LA.  Mais si vous aimez la biere, il y a plusieres artisants qui broue un vraiment mechant biere.
> 
> So I'll have to come up with something that you DON'T have.  Lemme think a bit.


Beer ... now we're talking. 

Si vous venez ici, vous aurez a regler pour le vin ... Vin de Californie. J'ai deux petits frigs vin, l'une a l'interieur et l'autre dans le patio ... il reduit la promenade.


----------



## pgriz

Les vins de Californie sont toujours quelque chose speciale.  I'd live in California just for the wine.   My wife and took a 4-week trip from San Diego to Vancouver in the mid 80's where we meandered between the coast and the desert/mountains spending a day here, a day there...  In the Napa Valley we had one of the best wines I've ever tasted.  Diamond Creek Winery, and I think it was the Volcanic Hill version.  Don't know how they compare now, but the one I had back then still is pleasurable enough to almost bring tears to my eyes.


----------



## Gary A.

Sigh ... man ... I'd love to chat some more. especially about wines ... but I gotta run to dim sum.


----------



## otherprof

limr said:


> Our college has just been evaluated for reaccreditation. Today was their report to the college and anyone could come to the presentation.
> 
> One recommendation was that adjuncts need to be more involved.
> 
> This was reported to me by the 5 administrators who didn't ask if I wanted to go to the presentation but just told me that I had to stay. They also no longer offer to pay me the higher and appropriate compensation when they all leave and put me in charge.


----------



## otherprof

limr said:


> Our college has just been evaluated for reaccreditation. Today was their report to the college and anyone could come to the presentation.
> 
> One recommendation was that adjuncts need to be more involved.
> 
> This was reported to me by the 5 administrators who didn't ask if I wanted to go to the presentation but just told me that I had to stay. They also no longer offer to pay me the higher and appropriate compensation when they all leave and put me in charge.


My guess is you don't have a union, or don't have a union that represents adjuncts. For years I was an officer of the oldest higher education union in the country, the United College Employees of Fashion Institute of Technology, in N.Y.C. We (as a retired prof. I still teach one course a year as an adjunct) have a wall-to-wall contract, meaning we represent the full- and part-time faculty, full- and part-time staff, techs, etc. - everyone but administrators. The contract is available through a Google search, and can be an eye opener, particularly about adjunct rights - voting in departments, part-time equivalent of tenure, health insurance reimbursement, possibility for promotions, etc. Depending on where your college is located, there are a number of powerful groups that would love to help you organize, including the United Auto Workers and NYSUT.


----------



## limr

otherprof said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our college has just been evaluated for reaccreditation. Today was their report to the college and anyone could come to the presentation.
> 
> One recommendation was that adjuncts need to be more involved.
> 
> This was reported to me by the 5 administrators who didn't ask if I wanted to go to the presentation but just told me that I had to stay. They also no longer offer to pay me the higher and appropriate compensation when they all leave and put me in charge.
> 
> 
> 
> My guess is you don't have a union, or don't have a union that represents adjuncts. For years I was an officer of the oldest higher education union in the country, the United College Employees of Fashion Institute of Technology, in N.Y.C. We (as a retired prof. I still teach one course a year as an adjunct) have a wall-to-wall contract, meaning we represent the full- and part-time faculty, full- and part-time staff, techs, etc. - everyone but administrators. The contract is available through a Google search, and can be an eye opener, particularly about adjunct rights - voting in departments, part-time equivalent of tenure, health insurance reimbursement, possibility for promotions, etc. Depending on where your college is located, there are a number of powerful groups that would love to help you organize, including the United Auto Workers and NYSUT.
Click to expand...


I wish I could say that you were right, but we actually DO have a faculty union on campus and adjuncts are represented (Said administrators are very active in the union, actually. That's either more irony or more salt...) They have certainly gotten us a few things that are helpful, but in the past few years, they've been too busy fighting amongst themselves. We've also been going through major changes on campus and there's still dust flying everywhere. Our college president finally retired last year. He'd been president literally since I was born (and I just turned 44) - the longest sitting college president in the country. To say things were stale is an understatement. It took forever to find a new president. One of the candidates was a woman who'd been brought in the year before as VP and Dean of Academic Affairs. She was making really great changes, but didn't get the president's job and she's just left for another college. We have a permanent president now who took over in Sept, and an interim VP.

Some people on campus are excited that things are finally changing, while others are shaking in their boots.

And there's been some news that the faculty union might finally be getting around to dealing with adjunct contracts. And as I said, the college was told that they need to involve adjuncts more and pay more attention to adjunct affairs. Overall, I'm going to remain very cautiously optimistic, despite last week's slap in the face (which I did not let pass without expressing my feelings clearly - calmly, but very _very_ clearly.)

I've realized that being an adjunct makes me feel kind of like someone's long-term mistress. Sometimes I'm glad I don't have all the responsibilities of the wife, but other times I feel like a dirty little secret, especially when I'm treated like some kind of prostitute who's willing to do the work but gets no respect or acknowledgement. Sure, I might get paid for the services, but there's no security like the wife has, and I get no other benefits, like tax breaks or health insurance. And throughout the years, there have been hints dropped that maybe he'll leave his wife and marry me instead, but it never happens.

Le sigh.


----------



## Derrel

Ohhhhhhh, maybe a Coffee House union organizing party will happen soon. Gawd, I hope to hell there are bagels at this event. Bagels, bagels, bagels....When I was in college, I used to rent a house with a guy who worked at Humble Bagel in Eugene, Oregon. We never needed to buy bread....one of the perks of the menial pay was sacks of day-olds...I think I've had just abut every kind of bagel concoction known to mankind....bagel French toast anybody? Bagel eggs benedict. Bagel tuna fish sammiches. Bagel croutons. Diced bagels and ____________. Bagel hamburger buns.


----------



## Designer

pgriz said:


> Je vois, Gary, que vous avez toutes les utiles de language pour d'être bienvenue ici.  Vous avez raison, c'est difficile a comparer avec LA.  Mais si vous aimez la biere, il y a plusieres artisants qui broue un vraiment mechant biere.


I envy you guys for your French.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Leonore, you (and Buzz) are always welcome up here.  At the moment, your money will go 20% further (due to exchange rates), and festival season usually starts mid-June and runs to mid-September.  If we, the locals, actually went to all the festivals, the city would grind to a halt as there are no breaks between festivals, and many even overlap.  But we know they are there, and we sample this or that.  The Jazz festival's good.  It's gotten into world music more than before, but it's still a neat experience to be shoulder to shoulder with about 250,000 in front of the outdoor stages, and everyone's behaving even though there's plenty of beer and spirits being consumed.  There's enough local flavour to make a NeeuYawker feel pretty at home.  But you might hate our bagels.



The idea of being shoulder to shoulder with a quarter million people kinda sorta makes me break out in hives. But if they are mild-mannered and polite Canadians, I might be able to actually enjoy the music  There is actually a slight possibility that we will go to visit my friend at her parents' house in Quebec in August. I'll keep ya posted 

And yeah, the bagels. But don't take it personally! It's just that no place in the world has bagels that measure up to what I'm used to.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Le sigh.



Phantom sympathy button click.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Je vois, Gary, que vous avez toutes les utiles de language pour d'être bienvenue ici.  Vous avez raison, c'est difficile a comparer avec LA.  Mais si vous aimez la biere, il y a plusieres artisants qui broue un vraiment mechant biere.
> 
> 
> 
> I envy you guys for your French.
Click to expand...


I can definitely still read well enough to have followed the conversation, but I share your envy at their ability to write that well so quickly. I can still write in French but it would take me a lot longer and it would be full of mistakes!


----------



## minicoop1985

Leonore, the last couple summers here have been rather on the cool side. You might like it here, but the political landscape for unions is... without trying to start a war... not good, so there's that.

Coffee is not helping me today. So tired.

I go back to the studio on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to it. I feel like the only person who actually WANTS to go to work...


----------



## bribrius

i never supported the idea of unions in govt or civil service and education anyway, tbh.


----------



## tirediron

bribrius said:


> i never supported the idea of unions in govt or civil service and education anyway, tbh.


Nor I; in fact that was one of the factors that was key in my decision to join the navy many years ago.  It was non-union and I knew it would stay that way.


----------



## snowbear

I'm back from my little drive.  Here's the start; no editing yet, except the crop.  The farm house is historic: April 15, 1865.


----------



## tirediron

Cool - I like the 'small', 'medium' and 'large'.  Is that all original structure, or two distinct additions?


----------



## bribrius

tirediron said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i never supported the idea of unions in govt or civil service and education anyway, tbh.
> 
> 
> 
> Nor I; in fact that was one of the factors that was key in my decision to join the navy many years ago.  It was non-union and I knew it would stay that way.
Click to expand...

with me it is just a matter of citizens pay the govt. for services.  The govt is elected to provide those services. The purpose isn't to support payroll or unions. Since it borders on a constitutional/election capacity in providing services i never thought ethically unions should be involved. As it isn't even for profit, but elected officials trying to provide services. Other problem is these positions exist in a bubble. A union existing in private industry with a company both have to conform to basic market competition. There are non union competitors which balance it. Free market.  

All these civil service positions are closed loop if you know what i mean. They exist unto themselves. There is no free market to counter act.   So you can being paying twice as much being a taxpayer for less services. And it don't matter how much you complain because your elected officials hands are pretty much tied. It is hard to fire the entire fire department, police force, or in the school systems the mentality is atrocious with unions on firing poor teachers. And these are all people whose only purpose is to follow govt elected direction in providing services. You cant fire them all, and outsource everything you will end up court and lose.

Governments are mandated to provide these services by law. They have no choice. The unions and employees have the upper hand as they can't be legally easily replaced. Nor do they have to operate in a free market like unions do in private industry that keep the balances in check.  You can fire a union in private industry and outsource. That is the leverage. In civil, there isn't any. No leverage to balance. you cant fire the entire cities employees and decide to outsource. or the fed govts. They are slowly trying to get rid of this type of b.s. archaic thinking though.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> Cool - I like the 'small', 'medium' and 'large'.  Is that all original structure, or two distinct additions?


I doubt it; it was typical to add on pieces as time went.  In larger plantation (manor) homes, they would build symmetrically. Some call those "telescope" houses.

As to the date, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated the previous day, at Ford's Theater in DC, by John Wilkes Booth.   Booth and his accomplice, Davy Herold, escaped south through Maryland with a stop in Clinton (then Surrattsville) where he picked up weapons that had been hidden at the home of John and Mary Surratt.  In the early hours of April 15, they arrived at the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd (my photo) where Booth's broken leg was set.  Booth had broken his leg sometime during his escape.  The popular story is that it was done when he jumped from the Presidential box to the stage, though it's more likely that he fell from his horse later that night.


----------



## Gary A.

Back from dim sum.  It was great. We ate our brains out at our usual dim sum place, Ocean Star ... this huge restaurant in Monterey Park, with probably 50+ little carts being bustled between tables filled with tins of steamed goodness. Louise the barber, Tom the doctor, Aimee the engineer, Jay the cyclist, Mary Lou and I.  Aimee is great, she works at JPL as a rocket scientist. Presently, she's working on a mechanical arm for a Mars rover, sorta like Wolowitz.


----------



## Gary A.

It is warm today, warm and dry, in the 80's. Mary Lou and I are relaxing in the back sipping on our first pitcher of home brewed Sangria. Lemons, oranges, apples, strawberries, watermelon and cantaloupe from the yard. There is a little sparrow in the bird bath, Vivaldi on the stereo, the ceiling fans for a breeze ... resting for Maroon 5.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Les vins de Californie sont toujours quelque chose speciale.  I'd live in California just for the wine.   My wife and took a 4-week trip from San Diego to Vancouver in the mid 80's where we meandered between the coast and the desert/mountains spending a day here, a day there...  In the Napa Valley we had one of the best wines I've ever tasted.  Diamond Creek Winery, and I think it was the Volcanic Hill version.  Don't know how they compare now, but the one I had back then still is pleasurable enough to almost bring tears to my eyes.


Les vins de Californie sont les meilleures dans le monde. Lorsque j'ai vecu en France, je soutiens avec mes amis entre la Californie et la France. Une bonne fois dans Paris.

Mary Lou and I often take weekend trips to wine country. Napa/Sonoma in the north, Edna Valley/San Luis Obispo in Central California and Paso Robles/Santa Rita Hills in the south. I love Pinot Noir and the Santa Rita Hills produces the finest Pintos in the world. We like to hang at 'The Wine Ghetto."


----------



## Gary A.

Hey pgriz, one of the opening bands for Maroon 5 is 'Magic', a Canadian reggae band. You know them? They're Canadian ...


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Les vins de Californie sont toujours quelque chose speciale.  I'd live in California just for the wine.   My wife and took a 4-week trip from San Diego to Vancouver in the mid 80's where we meandered between the coast and the desert/mountains spending a day here, a day there...  In the Napa Valley we had one of the best wines I've ever tasted.  Diamond Creek Winery, and I think it was the Volcanic Hill version.  Don't know how they compare now, but the one I had back then still is pleasurable enough to almost bring tears to my eyes.
> 
> 
> 
> Les vins de Californie sont les meilleures dans le monde. Lorsque j'ai vecu en France, je soutiens avec mes amis entre la Californie et la France. Une bonne fois dans Paris.
> 
> Mary Lou and I often take weekend trips to wine country. Napa/Sonoma in the north, Edna Valley/San Luis Obispo in Central California and Paso Robles/Santa Rita Hills in the south. I love Pinot Noir and the Santa Rita Hills produces the finest Pintos in the world. We like to hang at 'The Wine Ghetto."
Click to expand...


And here I am, having some cheap Arbor Mist Mango Moscato. Fortunately, I'm also a complete wine illiterate, so drinking cheap moscato is about my speed.

I don't actually even like many wines; okay, I've probably never even HAD a really fancy-schmancy wine. I don't care for reds at all; only certain whites, but I don't drink wine enough to have ever even pegged what I do really like. Except this Arbor Mist Moscato. I like it just fine...


----------



## Gary A.

Si jamais vous chance sur chene argente, Grab It. Ils ne font que des rouges et seulement quelques-uns d'entre eux ... mais ce qu'ils font est extraordinaire.





Silver Oak






The Cook sneaking into Silver Oak.





The Cook and I at Silver Oak, before they tossed us out.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> ......Sned, what are the particulars on your home brew coffee?


Oh, I haven't even started on that journey yet! Can't seem to stay out from under anesthesia!! It's still just Folgers Classic Roast. But I swear, one day soon.................................


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Les vins de Californie sont toujours quelque chose speciale.  I'd live in California just for the wine.   My wife and took a 4-week trip from San Diego to Vancouver in the mid 80's where we meandered between the coast and the desert/mountains spending a day here, a day there...  In the Napa Valley we had one of the best wines I've ever tasted.  Diamond Creek Winery, and I think it was the Volcanic Hill version.  Don't know how they compare now, but the one I had back then still is pleasurable enough to almost bring tears to my eyes.
> 
> 
> 
> Les vins de Californie sont les meilleures dans le monde. Lorsque j'ai vecu en France, je soutiens avec mes amis entre la Californie et la France. Une bonne fois dans Paris.
> 
> Mary Lou and I often take weekend trips to wine country. Napa/Sonoma in the north, Edna Valley/San Luis Obispo in Central California and Paso Robles/Santa Rita Hills in the south. I love Pinot Noir and the Santa Rita Hills produces the finest Pintos in the world. We like to hang at 'The Wine Ghetto."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And here I am, having some cheap Arbor Mist Mango Moscato. Fortunately, I'm also a complete wine illiterate, so drinking cheap moscato is about my speed.
> 
> I don't actually even like many wines; okay, I've probably never even HAD a really fancy-schmancy wine. I don't care for reds at all; only certain whites, but I don't drink wine enough to have ever even pegged what I do really like. Except this Arbor Mist Moscato. I like it just fine...
Click to expand...

 LOL ... that even sounds terrible. Sharon, I know you're a Califphobia ... but a few days in wine country and you'll regret every ounce of Fireball that you ever put into your system. Wine has been made into this upper class oriented, snob drink ... but it isn't. I was taught by Robert Mondavi, that wine is simply to be enjoyed (period). Wine is this heavenly combination of sunlight and water. It is nothing more ... and yet ... it is also nothing less. 

I purchase nothing but 90+ vintages ... but today I mixed wine with lemon juice, orange juice, brandy, apples, oranges, strawberries and melons ... then tossed some ice into the mix and a sprig of lavender. On a warm day, it is delish. It is quenching and yet it still dances on the tongue to delight the taste buds.


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ......Sned, what are the particulars on your home brew coffee?
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I haven't even started on that journey yet! Can't seem to stay out from under anesthesia!! It's still just Folgers Classic Roast. But I swear, one day soon.................................
Click to expand...

LOL ... when you're ready ... I'll be your guide.


----------



## snerd

I managed to crawl out to the car today and retrieve my camera backpack. I thought about putting these in the Just For Fun forum, but it really wasn't that much fun. As a matter of fact, it's been a few hours ago I snapped these, and I'm not sure just how much I remember of it lol!!





 




 


There were no narcotics used in the making of these horrible snapshots! The only drugs are my antibiotics and a saline flush before and after. Hmmm......... well, I "may" have had a couple Percocets earlier in the day. Maybe. Maybe not.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


>



^LOVE that picture!



Gary A. said:


> I purchase nothing but 90+ vintages ... but today I mixed wine with lemon juice, orange juice, brandy, apples, oranges, strawberries and melons ... then tossed some ice into the mix and a sprig of lavender. On a warm day, it is delish. It is quenching and yet it still dances on the tongue to delight the taste buds.



Oh my goodness, that sounds incredible! But it seems like it's hardly wine any more, after you've mixed all that other delightful stuff in.


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> I managed to crawl out to the car today and retrieve my camera backpack. I thought about putting these in the Just For Fun forum, but it really wasn't that much fun. As a matter of fact, it's been a few hours ago I snapped these, and I'm not sure just how much I remember of it lol!!
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 98173
> 
> 
> View attachment 98174
> 
> 
> There were no narcotics used in the making of these horrible snapshots! The only drugs are my antibiotics and a saline flush before and after. Hmmm......... well, I "may" have had a couple Percocets earlier in the day. Maybe. Maybe not.



THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!...
...
...for at least having pants on.


----------



## snerd

It actually looks like a hospital room more than an apartment, what with all the stuff they are sending me for home treatment. Boxes of catheters, a vac pump, tubing, dressings, etc. But as Papillon said............... I'm still here, you bastyrds!


----------



## snerd

sm4him said:


> THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!...
> ...
> ...for at least having pants on.


At the last minute...........................





............


----------



## Gary A.

It's not ... is is Sangria, a drink of Summer.


----------



## Gary A.

The best thing about today isn't the dim sum, or the summer temps, or Maroon 5 (tonight), or the Sangria ... it is a book, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child arrived today. I have it in my greasy hands. It is a wonderful book. I told Mary Lou to pick two recipes a week from its contents.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Sharon, BTW- Robert Mondavi is considered the Godfather of California wine ... they guy who put California on the wine map.


----------



## Gary A.

Note to all wine drinkers:

When wine tasting, you'll get longer pour if you photograph the pour.


----------



## Gary A.

I am thumbing through my new book ... it is Fantastic ... you-all are invite over for dinner.


----------



## Gary A.

Dunno if I should continue my monologue.


----------



## Gary A.

Gotta get going for tonight. Adios.


----------



## Designer

I enjoy reading what you write.  

I am intrigued by the new book.  

Be sure to snap off a few pics now and then.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> I enjoy reading what you write.
> 
> I am intrigued by the new book.
> 
> Be sure to snap off a few pics now and then.


LOL ... thank you. Better yet, pick a page and just come on over. (I actually am a pretty good cook.) We, Mary Lou and I, watched a NetFlix, Julia and Julie, (Meryl Streep was a great Julia Child.), I was inspired to purchase the book. Entertaining movie ... great book.


----------



## Gary A.

I'm off.


----------



## minicoop1985

hey Gary, start using that GX680 some more. 

I'm buying a Lumedyne setup this Tuesday: head, pack, and cable, for all of $50. $50 for a portable strobe. I think so. lol


----------



## pgriz

Sorry Gary, have been off the net much of the day due to... well, life.  There's a little matter of Easter, feeding the family group, transport for various reasons, shopping, (besides Easter, three, or maybe even four birthdays to be celebrated tomorrow), check on the cottage (about an hour away), a little over-the-border shopping, and then back home for dinner and planning for tomorrow.

You've also answered my unasked question on how you acquired the fluency in French.  Living in France will do that.  I spent a month in the mid-70's riding my bike (the 10-speed kind) solo in Normandy, Brittany, the Loire and Seine valleys, and learned more French in that month than I did after 14 years in school.

@sm4hm: Sharon, while there is a lot of snobbery about wine, it's really not that complicated.  Since much of our "taste" actually is smell, it truly helps to have a proper wine glass (and the wine at the right temperature) to fully sample all the tastes and aromas a good wine can convey.  There are different ways to let the wine vapours reach the nose, and since our taste buds are also not all at the same place, it helps to have the wine circulate in our mouths a little.  Good beers also share many characteristics with wine in that a good beer will give a rather complex series of sensations, with a number of individual elements or notes.

@Gary A. :  Gary, if the opportunity presents itself, I would be delighted to visit and spend a little time investigating what your wines can reveal to a relatively uncultivated palate like mine.  And I suspect, a cook-off or two may not be remiss either.


----------



## Gary A.

I'm at the forum.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> hey Gary, start using that GX680 some more.
> 
> I'm buying a Lumedyne setup this Tuesday: head, pack, and cable, for all of $50. $50 for a portable strobe. I think so. lol


I know. I've just been terribly busy. Soon.


----------



## limr

Happy Easter and/or Passover, hosers!


----------



## Designer

Thank you! 

The same back atcha!


----------



## pgriz

We double up on Easter (and most holidays) as we have a mixed-faith household.  Today is the family-gettogether Easter.  Next week is the go-to-church Easter.

So, Happy Easter everyone, and Happy Passover too!


----------



## snowbear

Yes, Happy Easter & Passover.




cmw3_d40_5890 by cmwrenn3, on Flickr


----------



## limr

Mmmm, Jelly Bellies!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Mmmm, Jelly Bellies!


Come on down - I'll share.


----------



## Gary A.

Happy Easter and Passover to everyone.


----------



## Gary A.

I'm having my coffee and paper in the patio, then off for a walk with The Cook. It is cool and very pleasant. I hear birds and the waterfall. There is a wedge of soft sunlight hitting the roses and the succulents beneath the roses ... and finally a hint of a breeze and the wheezing of hummers. A smaller calico koi just breached, flashing a bit of orange, black and white into the air and a turtle with its head raised above the waterline is floating towards a favorite spot where the Nasturtiums flow into the water.


----------



## Gary A.

And it gets better ... I just watched this tiny little finch, no bigger than three fingers, who chirps as loud as a lion, hopping in and out of the plants on the patio, no more the a couple feet away ... it dived into a blueberry bush and came out with a lime-green caterpillar ... it took a look me, then, with the caterpillar dangling down from its beak, it flicked its head back and slurped it all down.


----------



## pgriz

Your words paint the images as well as your camera does.


----------



## Gary A.

BTW- Maroon 5 was ... well they are Maroon 5 and they performed to expectation. We were standing for most of the performance. Unfortunately, the two warm up acts ... were disappointingly sad. Rozzi Crane ... meh and Magic was just terrible. Throughout the performance Adam Levine kept referring to Los Angeles being a bitchin' city ... and I'm thinking yeah, yeah, yeah ... I'm sure he says that wherever he's performing ... insert name of venue here. At the end of the show he was wearing an actual Laker Basketball jersey ... #32, Magic Johnson, (you could tell he was actually worn by Johnson as it was all faded), and told the crowd that "LA was the best effin' city in the world" and that he had a special guest. The stage hands wheeled out a white piano. Mary Lou asked if I knew who the special guest would be ... I took a wild guess and said Randy Newman. And it was Randy Newman.  The last song was Levine and Newman singing "I Love LA" ... then a couple dozen dancing girls came out and trotted down the runway in white GoGo Boots, gold sequined mini skirts, while a thousand or so red balloons drifted down from the rafters.

I love LA!


----------



## Gary A.

FYI- Magic Johnson took the Lakers to a ton of NBA Championships. In a city full of celebrities, Magic is one of the most well-like, beloved and most civically involved local celeb. Last night Maroon 5 performed at the Forum, the same arena that Magic and the Lakers used to call home.


----------



## minicoop1985

Happy whatever you celebrate today! We're not religious, so we celebrate the spring equinox here.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> Happy whatever you celebrate today! We're not religious, so we celebrate the spring equinox here.


I wait until tomorrow and celebrate 'cheap chocolate' day!


----------



## oldhippy

minicoop1985 said:


> Happy whatever you celebrate today! We're not religious, so we celebrate the spring equinox here.


We also celebrate the vernal equinox, get together with some Druid and Wicken friends. After much wine we dance naked in the forest at night. Seeing that most are in their seventies. Our community was forced to make this nocturnal with out fire light.  Lol. Ed


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy whatever you celebrate today! We're not religious, so we celebrate the spring equinox here.
> 
> 
> 
> I wait until tomorrow and celebrate 'cheap chocolate' day!
Click to expand...

Yes! Peeps and Chocolate Bunnies 50% off.


----------



## snowbear

The photo of my little friend here was picked to be used on Google Earth, from Panoramio.  It is one of my entries from the third round of "Lens Across America."


----------



## snowbear

I just found out my Tidal Basin panorama (Cherry Blossoms) was also picked!


----------



## Gary A.

Hey Charlie you're on a roll!


----------



## snowbear

No roll . . . they were digital.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay ... one day you'll get there.


----------



## snowbear

Oh, I shoot film.  There are more film bodies here than digitals.


----------



## limr

I spent the first part of the day channeling my father. He never went to church so while we were off getting preached to, he'd stay home and work in the garage.

I haven't been to church in years. This morning while Buzz changed my oil, I switched the snows over to regular tires. Then we worked on the hole in my exhaust so Lucille didn't sound like a boy racer car anymore. And we managed to get it done before the rain started (which turned out to be just a sprinkling instead of a thunderstorm.)

I still feel proud when my hands are covered in car grease and dirt (they somehow look cleaner in the picture than they actually were.) Reminds me of when my dad let me help in the garage. When it was time to go inside, we'd use this stuff called Goop to get the first layer of dirt off. Then it was off to the bathroom to use Lava soap and a nail brush. My hands would eventually get cleaned, but his were almost permanently stained.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I spent the first part of the day channeling my father. He never went to church so while we were off getting preached to, he'd stay home and work in the garage.
> 
> I haven't been to church in years. This morning while Buzz changed my oil, I switched the snows over to regular tires. Then we worked on the hole in my exhaust so Lucille didn't sound like a boy racer car anymore. And we managed to get it done before the rain started (which turned out to be just a sprinkling instead of a thunderstorm.)
> 
> I still feel proud when my hands are covered in car grease and dirt (they somehow look cleaner in the picture than they actually were.) Reminds me of when my dad let me help in the garage. When it was time to go inside, we'd use this stuff called Goop to get the first layer of dirt off. Then it was off to the bathroom to use Lava soap and a nail brush. My hands would eventually get cleaned, but his were almost permanently stained.
> 
> View attachment 98233


One hyphenated word: Go-Jo.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> I spent the first part of the day channeling my father. He never went to church so while we were off getting preached to, he'd stay home and work in the garage.
> 
> I haven't been to church in years. This morning while Buzz changed my oil, I switched the snows over to regular tires. Then we worked on the hole in my exhaust so Lucille didn't sound like a boy racer car anymore. And we managed to get it done before the rain started (which turned out to be just a sprinkling instead of a thunderstorm.)
> 
> I still feel proud when my hands are covered in car grease and dirt (they somehow look cleaner in the picture than they actually were.) Reminds me of when my dad let me help in the garage. When it was time to go inside, we'd use this stuff called Goop to get the first layer of dirt off. Then it was off to the bathroom to use Lava soap and a nail brush. My hands would eventually get cleaned, but his were almost permanently stained.
> 
> View attachment 98233


It is IMPOSSIBLE to overstate the value of good gloves when you're mechanic'ing!


----------



## limr

This was the stuff he used: GOOP Get Goop

He even had a dispenser on the wall and he'd buy the huge bucket so he didn't have to open the lid to use it. I still remember the smell of that stuff.

It worked really well, but being a mechanic and having his hands in engines all day, every day, it was impossible to get everything off his hands.

It still makes me a little sad to think of how clean his hands were in his last years.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> This was the stuff he used: GOOP Get Goop
> 
> He even had a dispenser on the wall and he'd buy the huge bucket so he didn't have to open the lid to use it. I still remember the smell of that stuff.
> 
> It worked really well, but being a mechanic and having his hands in engines all day, every day, it was impossible to get everything off his hands.
> 
> It still makes me a little sad to think of how clean his hands were in his last years.


I use a similar product myself, but the problem with it is, it don't protect your knuckles when that bolt lets go, the ratchet swings like Tarzan and your hand comes against the engine block at something approaching warp speed!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> It is IMPOSSIBLE to overstate the value of good gloves when you're mechanic'ing!



Not saying it's not important, but my father never ever wore gloves while working. I think he would have scoffed at them (no offense - he scoffed at just about everything!) but also, his hands were huge - it would have been very difficult to find gloves that fit him. I mean, they were unnaturally large - literally. He'd had a tumor in his pituitary gland that caused both his pancreas and his thyroid to malfunction. He developed diabetes and acromegaly (giantism). They diagnosed him when I was probably about 10 or so and they took the tumor out. No more diabetes and no more acromegaly, though the damage from the latter couldn't really be undone. It wasn't as bad as it could have been - he wasn't Andre the Giant or anything, but his hands were larger than they should have been, his hip joints outgrew the socket (thus the hip replacements I'd already mentioned), and his facial features were also slightly exaggerated.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is IMPOSSIBLE to overstate the value of good gloves when you're mechanic'ing!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not saying it's not important, but my father never ever wore gloves while working. I think he would have scoffed at them (no offense - he scoffed at just about everything!)...
Click to expand...

None taken (You're welcome to try and offend me; I doubt you will succeed).  Most old school mechanics didn't.  I have to now, too many years of being a shade-tree wrench-turner and getting my hands soaked in grease, fuel and solvent...  I can break out in a rash just looking at raw gasoline now.  If I'm not wearing Mechanix-style gloves, then I have plain old nitrile gloves on.  I buy them buy the 100-count box.


----------



## limr

Oh yeah, there's all sorts of nasty stuff that mechanics work with. Today's antics only included an oil change and a bit of anti-seize that we put on the lug nuts, but yeah, other stuff is really not something I'd want on my skin. My father's skin was probably thicker than leather and I have no idea what chemicals he used regularly, but he was a tubborn old goat. As for cuts and bruises? Yeah. This is a man who pulled his own tooth out with a pair of pliers. Plonked it on the table in front of me as I was doing my homework and gave me a big bloody smile.

I wish I could get Buzz to wear gloves but he's a stubborn old goat, too   And funnily enough, he was actually cut this morning doing something on his own car. And it was a cut in the middle of his palm. Like he has a stigmata


----------



## minicoop1985

Man, I don't know how you DON'T wear gloves when working on a car. Since mine's been under warranty, it's been a while since I've had my hands dirty working on something. One of these days, I'll find something to fix.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Man, I don't know how you DON'T wear gloves when working on a car. Since mine's been under warranty, it's been a while since I've had my hands dirty working on something. One of these days, I'll find something to fix.


I use gloves (sometimes). when i don't i usually end up bleeding or getting a scratch somehow. Depends on what i am doing on the car i suppose. I have sometimes washed my hands with a little gasoline first to get the grease off. Not really good for the skin though.


----------



## Gary A.

Old school is no gloves. Now, gloves are mandated on all government sites, except when performing fine work. Gloves are no different than tools ... a man without his tools is a man without a job. 

In my youth I used to rebuild all my cars. In college I remember scavenging six cylinder BMW parts, modifying and installing them on my four cylinder BMW to make the four banger faster. The toughest car I rebuilt was my '84 Mustang SVO. I blew the engine. It only went back together in a certain order ... took me three times and a ton of beer to get the order right.


----------



## limr

My father and his paws.


----------



## limr

And with my bird Macoco, who looked just like a yellow Peep.


----------



## Gary A.

Your Dad didn't wear gloves because no glove made would fit his hands. I bet he was one hell of a mechanic.


----------



## limr

Last one. The big ole hands (with the Bandaid, natch) and the bad comb-over. But the devilish look? Yup, that was him.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Your Dad didn't wear gloves because no glove made would fit his hands. I bet he was one hell of a mechanic.



His name was known around the county. He was a large machinery mechanic and after he retired, he still had constant work. He'd do a lot of the work in the back yard. We had well-drillers, flatbeds, cement mixers, cars, trucks...and no grass for years!   If it had moving parts, my dad could fix it. Seriously, it's been 20-25 years since he was working regularly and some people still know his name.


----------



## Gary A.

Sadly, it seems that those days of respect for honest labor is behind us. Good for your Dad!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I can't be the first one up today.  57F right now, don't think it will hit 70F, things are cooling off a bit. Perfect Leo weather. Last night after our early Easter dinner we retired to the patio to finish our coffee and wine. After an hour or so it just started getting too cold without a jacket or firing up the heater, so we came back inside.  I played some Rodriguez and told everybody about the movie. I think I sold some albums for Sixto.


----------



## sm4him

Hey, hosers!! Haven't posted much the last few days…busy, busy Easter Weekend. The choir program went off without a hitch and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. I did the female narration, so it was a pretty extensive speaking part and ran through the entire presentation, between each song. Public speaking is not something that's hard for me, but I *did* unexpectedly get a bit of a case of nerves Sunday morning. Could barely keep with the music through the first song because I was uber-focused on whether I could remember my narration part and whether I could remember when to come in on the narration…but of course, once I actually started TALKING, all was fine and I enjoyed doing it.
But I'm also glad it's over--it was a LOT of work, not only memorizing the music but all that narration too.

I'm looking forward to what I hope will be a week without a whole lot to do, finally. I've been WAY too busy lately, between second jobs and working on Easter music and narration, so I could stand a little down time.
Well, I do have to finish up an invitation I'm designing for a friend (for her parent's 50th anniversary). Oh, and there's the little matter of doing my taxes. And the taxes for both my sons. I usually have that done by mid-February, and I haven't even started…le sigh.

We've entered the rainy season, I think--cloudy today, rain tonight, more rain tomorrow, and Wednesday. Then Thursday and Friday, some more rain.  But not raining all the time, except maybe tomorrow. And warm--into the 80s maybe by Thursday and Friday.
Calling for a pretty and warm weekend right now…but I don't bother to even listen to the forecast that far out; it'll be sure to change several times between now and then.


----------



## sm4him

@pgriz 
For Paul, John (although I'm not sure it applies where he is) and our other Canadian friends--saw this today and it made think of you!


----------



## tirediron

Hey...  we had a couple of days where the temps got below 0!!!!!


----------



## snowbear

Glad the program went well, Sharon.

I left you a "present" in the LAA-4 thread.


----------



## pgriz

sm4him said:


> @pgriz
> For Paul, John (although I'm not sure it applies where he is) and our other Canadian friends--saw this today and it made think of you!
> 
> View attachment 98313



Well, John's sitting pretty.  Further east, however...  We're getting another snowstorm right now.  I'd take a shot to share with you, but my hand would be shaking.  And no, a tripod won't help.

We've got work signed that needs to start NOW.  We're opening up the roof to fix the insulation, ventilation, and redeck.  Weather for the weeks is filled with periods of rain and/or other stuff.  May have to wait a full week before we can actually start.  Grrrr.

Oh, and congrats on a good Easter/choir session.  For some reason, I had no doubt that you'd ace it.

edit:  Looks like I'm not the only one complaining.  see: The spring that never sprung - Trending - CBC News


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> @pgriz
> For Paul, John (although I'm not sure it applies where he is) and our other Canadian friends--saw this today and it made think of you!
> 
> View attachment 98313
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, John's sitting pretty.  Further east, however...  We're getting another snowstorm right now.  I'd take a shot to share with you, but my hand would be shaking.  And no, a tripod won't help.
> 
> We've got work signed that needs to start NOW.  We're opening up the roof to fix the insulation, ventilation, and redeck.  Weather for the weeks is filled with periods of rain and/or other stuff.  May have to wait a full week before we can actually start.  Grrrr.
> 
> Oh, and congrats on a good Easter/choir session.  For some reason, I had no doubt that you'd ace it.
> 
> edit:  Looks like I'm not the only one complaining.  see: The spring that never sprung - Trending - CBC News
Click to expand...

Insulation Prodex Insulation Insulation For Less Metal Building Insulation Pole Barn Insulation Home Insulation  Ever use prodex? Used to be somewhat a fan of it. Don't get into that stuff any more. Can use it for attic foil too. I actually used it for house wrap as well. (wrapped my own house in it before i sided it). Bulk heads.  Little extra money but seems worth the cost. Thoughts? Oh, and i also did my own blown in insulation. No idea what you are doing but if you dont want the risk of the roof open too long laying blown is quick as pie and usually more efficient than laid anyway. Just a couple thoughts, mileage may vary.


----------



## pgriz

bribrius said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> @pgriz
> For Paul, John (although I'm not sure it applies where he is) and our other Canadian friends--saw this today and it made think of you!
> 
> View attachment 98313
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, John's sitting pretty.  Further east, however...  We're getting another snowstorm right now.  I'd take a shot to share with you, but my hand would be shaking.  And no, a tripod won't help.
> 
> We've got work signed that needs to start NOW.  We're opening up the roof to fix the insulation, ventilation, and redeck.  Weather for the weeks is filled with periods of rain and/or other stuff.  May have to wait a full week before we can actually start.  Grrrr.
> 
> Oh, and congrats on a good Easter/choir session.  For some reason, I had no doubt that you'd ace it.
> 
> edit:  Looks like I'm not the only one complaining.  see: The spring that never sprung - Trending - CBC News
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Insulation Prodex Insulation Insulation For Less Metal Building Insulation Pole Barn Insulation Home Insulation  Ever use prodex? Used to be somewhat a fan of it. Don't get into that stuff any more. Can use it for attic foil too. I actually used it for house wrap as well. (wrapped my own house in it before i sided it). Bulk heads.  Little extra money but seems worth the cost. Thoughts? Oh, and i also did my own blown in insulation. No idea what you are doing but if you dont want the risk of the roof open too long laying blown is quick as pie and usually more efficient than laid anyway. Just a couple thoughts, mileage may vary.
Click to expand...


We're fixing a bunch of things that went wrong.  Original builder didn't install the ventilation correctly - soffits blocked.  Insufficient insulation - about a third of what is currently required.  Last roof was installed with poor waterproofing.  So we've got to take it all apart and rebuild it the way it should have been done at the beginning.  This roof has been "fixed" before, and everyone did only a portion of the job.  So, the thing has to be redone taking the whole system into account.  

Prodex looks interesting.  will look into it some more.

Blown-in insulation is quite cheap, but not appropriate in all cases.  It has a place under specific circumstances.  In other cases, other products work better.  It always depends on the totality of needs.  Cost is one.  Effectiveness is another.  Maintainability is still another.  and so on.


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> @pgriz
> For Paul, John (although I'm not sure it applies where he is) and our other Canadian friends--saw this today and it made think of you!
> 
> View attachment 98313
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, John's sitting pretty.  Further east, however...  We're getting another snowstorm right now.  I'd take a shot to share with you, but my hand would be shaking.  And no, a tripod won't help.
> 
> We've got work signed that needs to start NOW.  We're opening up the roof to fix the insulation, ventilation, and redeck.  Weather for the weeks is filled with periods of rain and/or other stuff.  May have to wait a full week before we can actually start.  Grrrr.
> 
> Oh, and congrats on a good Easter/choir session.  For some reason, I had no doubt that you'd ace it.
> 
> edit:  Looks like I'm not the only one complaining.  see: The spring that never sprung - Trending - CBC News
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Insulation Prodex Insulation Insulation For Less Metal Building Insulation Pole Barn Insulation Home Insulation  Ever use prodex? Used to be somewhat a fan of it. Don't get into that stuff any more. Can use it for attic foil too. I actually used it for house wrap as well. (wrapped my own house in it before i sided it). Bulk heads.  Little extra money but seems worth the cost. Thoughts? Oh, and i also did my own blown in insulation. No idea what you are doing but if you dont want the risk of the roof open too long laying blown is quick as pie and usually more efficient than laid anyway. Just a couple thoughts, mileage may vary.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We're fixing a bunch of things that went wrong.  Original builder didn't install the ventilation correctly - soffits blocked.  Insufficient insulation - about a third of what is currently required.  Last roof was installed with poor waterproofing.  So we've got to take it all apart and rebuild it the way it should have been done at the beginning.  This roof has been "fixed" before, and everyone did only a portion of the job.  So, the thing has to be redone taking the whole system into account.
> 
> Prodex looks interesting.  will look into it some more.
> 
> Blown-in insulation is quite cheap, but not appropriate in all cases.  It has a place under specific circumstances.  In other cases, other products work better.  It always depends on the totality of needs.  Cost is one.  Effectiveness is another.  Maintainability is still another.  and so on.
Click to expand...

i like blown in because it gets into places other things cant go. Cracks and crevices. Ease to put down. Less ripping down sheetrock for interior. what i dont like about it is you have to use more than suggested amount as the more you fill the more it settles, and going in again after it is there becomes somewhat a mess. There is the spray foam too, but i never had much experience with that other than buying lots of the little bottles. The expansion quality of it comes in handy.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I can't be the first one up today.  57F right now, don't think it will hit 70F, things are cooling off a bit. Perfect Leo weather. Last night after our early Easter dinner we retired to the patio to finish our coffee and wine. After an hour or so it just started too cold without a jacket or firing up the heater, so we came back in.  I played some Rodriguez and told everybody about the movie. I think I sold some albums for Sixto.



I was thinking about this as I drove home tonight and had Rodriguez playing on the radio. I remember when I saw that movie. I got out of work, stopped at a little bookstore and bought a book, took myself to dinner at a pub half a block down from the movie theater and ate while I read, then went to the movie. I was riveted throughout the entire film and the tears were streaming by the ending scenes. I tell everyone about that movie. 

It also made me realize that I need to take myself out on date nights more often. It's very nice to have date night with Buzz, but there's also something really great about a nice dinner and movie all to myself.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I can't be the first one up today.  57F right now, don't think it will hit 70F, things are cooling off a bit. Perfect Leo weather. Last night after our early Easter dinner we retired to the patio to finish our coffee and wine. After an hour or so it just started too cold without a jacket or firing up the heater, so we came back in.  I played some Rodriguez and told everybody about the movie. I think I sold some albums for Sixto.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was thinking about this as I drove home tonight and had Rodriguez playing on the radio. I remember when I saw that movie. I got out of work, stopped at a little bookstore and bought a book, took myself to dinner at a pub half a block down from the movie theater and ate while I read, then went to the movie. I was riveted throughout the entire film and the tears were streaming by the ending scenes. I tell everyone about that movie.
> 
> It also made me realize that I need to take myself out on date nights more often. It's very nice to have date night with Buzz, but there's also something really great about a nice dinner and movie all to myself.
Click to expand...

If you're not comfortable with yourself ... et cetera.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey ... the waiting is over ... Spring and Baseball are here!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> @pgriz
> For Paul, John (although I'm not sure it applies where he is) and our other Canadian friends--saw this today and it made think of you!
> 
> View attachment 98313
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, John's sitting pretty.  Further east, however...  We're getting another snowstorm right now.  I'd take a shot to share with you, but my hand would be shaking.  And no, a tripod won't help.
> 
> We've got work signed that needs to start NOW.  We're opening up the roof to fix the insulation, ventilation, and redeck.  Weather for the weeks is filled with periods of rain and/or other stuff.  May have to wait a full week before we can actually start.  Grrrr.
> 
> Oh, and congrats on a good Easter/choir session.  For some reason, I had no doubt that you'd ace it.
> 
> edit:  Looks like I'm not the only one complaining.  see: The spring that never sprung - Trending - CBC News
Click to expand...

It may rain here tomorrow as well.


----------



## minicoop1985

Time to myself is barely a thing. Barely. All I get is when I'm at work. I love my kid and my wife, but having me time is absolutely necessary and I look forward to it. Very much look forward to it.


----------



## Gary A.

Go Dodgers!


----------



## snerd

Hmmmmmmmm.................... my deep thought for today........................... those that want to be alone, have someone. Those that want someone, are alone. Hmmmmmm..................


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> It also made me realize that I need to take myself out on date nights more often. It's very nice to have date night with Buzz, but there's also something really great about a nice dinner and movie all to myself.



It's funny. So many of my friends who have entered into their empty nest years, especially those who are, like me, divorced (or widowed), constantly bemoan being "alone." They will post on FB with stuff like, "would love to go to (name a restaurant) but I hate eating alone," "wish I had someone to go on vacation with/go to the movie with/..." and while I feel for them, I actually LOVE how much alone time I have now that the kids aren't at home.  I enjoy going out to eat alone, or hiking, doing photography, etc. alone. In fact, I like it so much, that it gets harder and harder to make myself LEAVE home and do things with other people. In the back of my mind, I am always weighing the "fun" of being with friends against the satisfaction of being by myself.

I've been like that since I was a kid really, though. There were five of us siblings, plus two cousins next door, so it was really like a family with 7 kids and 4 adults.  I was the youngest--and while I did play with all the rest of them a lot, there were plenty of times that nobody could find me for a while, because I'd wandered off to find someplace to be by myself, and was happily playing all alone.


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> Hmmmmmmmm.................... my deep thought for today........................... those that want to be alone, have someone. Those that want someone, are alone. Hmmmmmm..................



Profound. My thought for the morning:
Those who are about to read deep thoughts for the day should get another cup of coffee first.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Go Dodgers!



Braves!! Good start to the year, 1-0!  Only 161 games to go, lol!
Being a Braves fan this year is kinda tough--it's really like rooting for a whole new team, since they basically traded or released their entire roster.


----------



## Designer

I don't have a favorite, but Linda's team has always been the Dodgers.  I do have favorites among the players though.  I was addicted to the Braves some years ago when I think I watched nearly every game on TV.  I've attended only a handful of games in person; Dodgers (2 or 3), Royals, Sox, one each.


----------



## limr

Morning hosers!

Go...um...oh wait, I don't care about baseball. 



snerd said:


> Hmmmmmmmm.................... my deep thought for today........................... those that want to be alone, have someone. Those that want someone, are alone. Hmmmmmm..................



I agree with Sharon...I think it's time to switch from the Folgers to the real stuff  

Apparently, according to my mother, one day when I was a small child, I was sitting alone in the house somewhere and she felt bad because no one was playing with me. She came over to see what was up, see if I wanted to play or something, and I told her to go away because I was making up stories and she was interrupting me.


----------



## Designer

Linda was a "loner" as a child and still is.  She is quite happy with a book and quiet.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  It's tough to be a baseball fan around here as well.  It's remarkable how fast a team can decline with all the trading.  I suppose some come out ahead, but not here in Mudville.


----------



## bribrius

i just never got over the fact someone can get paid a million dollars a year to hit and catch a ball......... But what do i know.


----------



## KenC

bribrius said:


> i just never got over the fact someone can get paid a million dollars a year to hit and catch a ball......... But what do i know.



When you boil it down, they're actually paid to help sell advertising time, since lots of us are willing to sit and watch the games (and maybe the ads).


----------



## Designer

Several million.

Because they can do it better than nearly anyone else.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It also made me realize that I need to take myself out on date nights more often. It's very nice to have date night with Buzz, but there's also something really great about a nice dinner and movie all to myself.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's funny. So many of my friends who have entered into their empty nest years, especially those who are, like me, divorced (or widowed), constantly bemoan being "alone." They will post on FB with stuff like, "would love to go to (name a restaurant) but I hate eating alone," "wish I had someone to go on vacation with/go to the movie with/..." and while I feel for them, I actually LOVE how much alone time I have now that the kids aren't at home.  I enjoy going out to eat alone, or hiking, doing photography, etc. alone. In fact, I like it so much, that it gets harder and harder to make myself LEAVE home and do things with other people. In the back of my mind, I am always weighing the "fun" of being with friends against the satisfaction of being by myself.
> 
> I've been like that since I was a kid really, though. There were five of us siblings, plus two cousins next door, so it was really like a family with 7 kids and 4 adults.  I was the youngest--and while I did play with all the rest of them a lot, there were plenty of times that nobody could find me for a while, because I'd wandered off to find someplace to be by myself, and was happily playing all alone.
Click to expand...

There are some things I prefer not to do alone. But most activities I could go either way, either alone or with others. Saturday, at the Maroon 5 concert, a young lady took the seat directly in front of me. She was alone. It was obvious she came only for the music. She was slim and cute, but she wasn't dressed to kill ... jeans, a warm-up type jacket zipped to the top, her hair was pulled back and no make-up. I thought to myself ... "Good for you!" ... but conversely "Sad for you," too. There is a lot to say for sharing.

I realize that we should all be able to stand on our own two feet and that we shouldn't have to have others in our lives in order to feel 'complete'. But I enjoy sharing. When I'm alone, the world is just fine. When I'm with others the world is fine.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Several million.
> 
> Because they can do it better than nearly anyone else.


Pro athletics are nothing more than entertainers. It is hard to sing like Bocelli ... it is hard to act like Meryl Streep ... and it is very hard to hit a round ball, with a round bat, coming at you at 90mph more than once per every three occasions.


----------



## Gary A.

(I am so glad baseball has started ... if, for no other reason than to get this Laker season behind me.)


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> (I am so glad baseball has started ... if, for no other reason than to get this Laker season behind me.)



They're STILL playing Basketball, eh?  For me, Basketball season ENDS with the NCAA tournament. I am a sports fanatic, and love a wide variety of sports--football, both pro and college (and high school); soccer/futbol, from amateur leagues on up, both American and International; baseball, both college and pro; and on and on. But while I enjoy college Bball, I simply cannot force myself to watch the NBA.


----------



## limr

I never followed baseball. Bores me. I'm happy in the fall because it's football season, and I have hockey to watch in the winter and spring. Summer is a great big sports dead zone for me. But then again, it's a big dead zone for me in a lot of ways  The fact that there's only baseball going on is just another nail in the coffin.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> (I am so glad baseball has started ... if, for no other reason than to get this Laker season behind me.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They're STILL playing Basketball, eh?  For me, Basketball season ENDS with the NCAA tournament. I am a sports fanatic, and love a wide variety of sports--football, both pro and college (and high school); soccer/futbol, from amateur leagues on up, both American and International; baseball, both college and pro; and on and on. But while I enjoy college Bball, I simply cannot force myself to watch the NBA.
Click to expand...


The last time I followed the NBA, Larry Byrd was still playing. It's too much of a show now.


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> I don't have a favorite, but Linda's team has always been the Dodgers.  I do have favorites among the players though.  I was addicted to the Braves some years ago when I think I watched nearly every game on TV.  I've attended only a handful of games in person; Dodgers (2 or 3), Royals, Sox, one each.



I became a Braves fan in 1972, the year we moved to Atlanta. Well, that's not precisely true. I was a fan of going to Braves games; didn't really ever much care about the outcome--it was just a really fun, cheap thing to be able to do back then. My family didn't have a lot of money, plus my Dad was incredibly Cheap, AND he loved baseball, so it was the ONE thing he would actually TAKE us to. We got hot dogs and fireworks shows after the game (and our choice of seating, since there were usually a vast number of empty seats in the stadium back then!).  The ONLY thing of interest about watching the Braves back then was the uncertainty of whether they could make it OUT of the cellar before the end of the season. 

Then came 1974, and Hank Aaron's pursuit of the Babe's home-run record. I got wrapped up in watching him, and still remember watching him hit #715 (41 years ago tomorrow!)--and somewhere along the way, I became a fan of Baseball.  After that year, I really did become a fan of the game and loved my Braves, even though they STILL stunk. They had a few good years, off and on, but mostly they were just bad.

Then came the early 90s. In 1990, they had the worst record in baseball. In 1991, they went from "worst to first" and ended up playing the Twins in the Series, which of course, they lost.  But what I remember is being so STUNNED by the fact that MY Braves were in the playoffs! My sister had moved to Texas the year before--so we would call each other and "watch" the playoff games together. YES, long-distance calls that lasted the ENTIRE game. It was on HER bill though, so what did I care? 

I keep hoping for a return to those "glory days." But I'm not thinking it's horribly likely this year.  I do also have a soft spot in my heart for the Nats, because that's my oldest brother's "team" and he is the biggest fan of baseball you're ever likely to meet.

And now you all know way more than you ever wanted to about why I am a fan of baseball.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> I never followed baseball. Bores me. I'm happy in the fall because it's football season, and I have hockey to watch in the winter and spring. Summer is a great big sports dead zone for me. But then again, it's a big dead zone for me in a lot of ways  The fact that there's only baseball going on is just another nail in the coffin.



I will admit, while I DO love baseball, for me baseball season ENDS:
1. When the Braves are eliminated from the playoffs,
OR
2. When football season starts.
Whichever comes last.


----------



## Gary A.

BTW - Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is a lovely day. The Cook and I are on our walk.


----------



## Gary A.

Baseball is an acquired taste.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> BTW - Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is a lovely day. The Cook and I are on our walk.



Rain, rain, rain here right now. Rain most of the day, I think. But at least it's not cold!
And I'm working anyway, so I wouldn't have time to go out and enjoy it if it were pretty out. I'll trade a few rainy workdays for a pretty weekend, which so far is the prediction!


----------



## limr

I do enjoy going to minor league games from time to time. And I did go to see one of the last Yankee games that was played in the original stadium, though to be fair, that really was more about being in a historical stadium than giving four flying frogs about the Yankees. (For the record, if I had to choose a NY team, it would be the Mets. When I was a little girl, I loved that we had rhyming teams - Mets, Jets, Nets...Then the Jets moved to Jersey...booo!...and I was left with just the Mets and Jets.)

I also saw a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. And I've been to Fenway, too, though for an employment fair, not a baseball game  I'm honestly more interested in baseball as a historical and cultural phenomenon than as an actual sport, so it was fun to have been in three famous, historical stadiums.


----------



## KenC

I have a friend who (like me) is only interested in baseball.  He says he loves the Super Bowl - not that he would watch it, but when it occurs it is a sign that spring training is about to begin.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Baseball is an acquired taste.


Going to a game is lots of fun. Watching it on TV... well... not so much.


----------



## oldhippy

Here it's Kentucky Basketball on TV, and when that done its garden time.


----------



## DoctorDino

So something weird happened on Saturday.

It was my first day of wedding cinematography training. I didn't really know what I was doing (I'm a Nikon photographer who's switching to Canon cinematography), so my instructor and I decided to grab the camera he's lending me and head off to the alley in between their studio and the building next to it, because what else would two teenage boys be doing on a beautiful Saturday afternoon besides standing in an alley filming a brick wall?

So we're in this alley and these two guys walk up. One was holding a camera, a T5i specifically. They asked if we're photographers, and I said that "[my instructor] is a wedding photographer, and I'm trying to be a wedding photographer". Then they started asking questions about the camera we were using, the Canon 5d mkii, and asked how much it costs. 

When my instructor hesitantly answered, one of them pulls a freaking sharpie out of his pocket and starts coloring all over the camera.

So I grab his arm, which seemed like the natural thing to do at the time, and my instructor says something I won't post on this family-friendly forum. They then proceed to laugh, say they're filming us trying to capture our reaction, the sharpie was fake, and then they just ran off. I look at the camera, and there was nary a sharpie-mark on it.

Weird.


----------



## Gary A.

Boys will be boys.


----------



## snowbear

The only think I like about basketball is that the ball is orange (I like orange & purple). 

I've been to home games of the Washington *Senators*, the Orioles, the *Baltimore* Colts (beat the defending SB Champion Dolphins), the Ravens, The Capitols (season tickets for the first five years) and the Washington Diplomats (soccer, not sure what league).  I haven't made it to see the Nationals or the DC United.  I will never spend a dime or a minute to see the DC football team (the Washington Snyders).


----------



## limr

I like turtles.

I really do.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> I like turtles.
> 
> I really do.


??


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I like turtles.
> 
> I really do.



Me too.  One of my favorites


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like turtles.
> 
> I really do.
> 
> 
> 
> ??
Click to expand...


Just a break from baseball talk


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> I like turtles.
> 
> I really do.


Until they get aggressive and start attacking the koi.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like turtles.
> 
> I really do.
> 
> 
> 
> Until they get aggressive and start attacking the koi.
Click to expand...

That"s just not feeding them enough


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like turtles.
> I really do.
> 
> 
> 
> Until they get aggressive and start attacking the koi.
Click to expand...


Or your co-workers!


----------



## Gary A.

It is finally raining. I beat it home. Fired up some tea and now waiting for The Voice. Mary Lou's son had his car stolen a couple of weeks ago.  If was found and we had it towed to our mechanic in Pomona. Pomona is near where I grew up and Mary Lou wanted to go to my favorite spaghetti place. Vinces Spaghetti ... all they serve is spaghetti and beef dips. Nobody orders the beef dip (except my Mom, she is the only person I know who has ordered one).

Vinces first opened in 1945 ... all they ever served over all these decades is spaghetti. You know ... when you only serve one dish ... it gotta be good. And it is, delish. Toss in some hot garlic bread and one is easily sated. My father loved Vinces. I remember always bugging my father for a box  of Junior Mints, which were next to the lollipops at the check out counter. The Mints were still there, but now a buck. Mary Lou said it was okay to get a box.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I remember always bugging my father for a box Junior Mints which were next to the lollipops at the check out counter. The Mints were still there, but now a buck. Mary Lou said it was okay to get a box.



They're remarkably refreshing. </kramer>


----------



## minicoop1985

Feed them worms and you can play Turtle Yo-Yo. It's fun until the worm rips in half.

Work was great today. More science! Found that we can actually sync a Lumedyne at 1/8000th of a second, but myy god is it a pain in the ass to get right.


----------



## snerd

24 hours without a post in The Coffee House?! Anyone want to see a pic of the wound I'm nursing?!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> 24 hours without a post in The Coffee House?! Anyone want to see a pic of the wound I'm nursing?!



Noooooooooooooooo!


----------



## snerd

Well, okay then. It's really gross, but kind of cool at the same time.


----------



## limr

Morning hosers.

It was a long day yesterday. On Monday, my evening class, through one avenue or another, got to talking about how we still say "filming" something even though there's no film involved. One kid said something about "old school" and I told him that he should see some of my "old school" cameras. He looked like he thought I was just kidding, so last night, I brought in the Yashica. I also happened to have the Land Camera in the car, so I brought that in and took a class picture with it. 

They were fascinated. I pulled out the bellows on the Land Camera and they all went, "Ooooooooh!" in unison. It was fairly amusing 



snerd said:


> Well, okay then. It's really gross, but kind of cool at the same time.



Sorry, I don't think I can get past the "gross" part to appreciate the "kind of cool" part


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> On Monday, my evening class, through one avenue or another, got to talking about how we still say "filming" something even though there's no film involved.



I've been wondering about "dialing" a number.  I'm sure there are already a lot of young adults who've never seen a phone with a dial, yet we still use this term, and my Android phone even has a tab in the phone function that says "dialer."  Does anyone under a certain age (whatever that may be) wonder why we use that term?


----------



## pgriz

Then there's "getting it on tape", when no tape is involved.

And how to make sense of "operator" when we haven't needed operators to get us a number for maybe 80 years now?  But I still love Manhattan Transfer's version of "operator".


----------



## limr

It's true - there are a lot of people who have never seen a rotary dial phone in real life.

I brought one of those to a different class last semester  It took them a few minutes to figure out how to work it.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> It's true - there are a lot of people who have never seen a rotary dial phone in real life.
> 
> I brought one of those to a different class last semester  It took them a few minutes to figure out how to work it.



I didn't know you taught The History of Technology.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> It's true - there are a lot of people who have never seen a rotary dial phone in real life.
> 
> I brought one of those to a different class last semester  It took them a few minutes to figure out how to work it.


 Okay... quick, informal poll:  How many others have their mobile set to ring as a traditional old rotary 'phone from childhood?


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's true - there are a lot of people who have never seen a rotary dial phone in real life.
> 
> I brought one of those to a different class last semester  It took them a few minutes to figure out how to work it.
> 
> 
> 
> Okay... quick, informal poll:  How many others have their mobile set to ring as a traditional old rotary 'phone from childhood?
Click to expand...

I do!


----------



## KenC

tirediron said:


> Okay... quick, informal poll:  How many others have their mobile set to ring as a traditional old rotary 'phone from childhood?



I use what I suppose is called an "electronic ring" - for some reason I find the imitation bell ring jarring -  perhaps it's conditioning and someone who didn't grow up with it would not have that reaction.


----------



## Gary A.

On Monday, I was chatting with some guys who wanted to team-up with us in a business concern.  Very nice offices. I spied a black plastic cover ... and I asked "Is that a typewriter?". He pulled back the cover to reveal an IMB Selectamatic.  I'm thinking what a wonderful pile of crap. He was real proud of it.


----------



## Gary A.

When it's not on silent, I have sonar pings.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Okay... quick, informal poll:  How many others have their mobile set to ring as a traditional old rotary 'phone from childhood?



*raises hand* (Is it any great surprise?  )


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 54F right now, should get to the mid 70's. Mary Lou is on her Spring Break right now. We haven't had any time to go anywhere. Today she's having some of her high school classmates over for some luncheon. Gotta pick up and hide all my dirty underwear (I thought about dropping a photo ... but it's sorta like snerd's wound). Fortunately the yard is blooming and looks great.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> When it's not on silent, I have sonar pings.


 Gary hate whales!!!!


----------



## minicoop1985

There's not enough coffee in the world to wake me up this morning. I need a nap... hard core.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> There's not enough coffee in the world to wake me up this morning. I need a nap... hard core.



Preach, brother. I'm tired. I'd really love to be curled up on the couch with my cats right now. Instead, I'm preparing more certified letters and studying for the notary public exam.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> When it's not on silent, I have sonar pings.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary hate whales!!!!
Click to expand...


Yeah I know. I like to use it when I drive ... it the scare whales off the road.

Actually, I've swam with whales in the wild. It was an incredible experience.


----------



## limr

This is quite meditative:


----------



## minicoop1985

YAY I GOT MY NAP!!!!!! Yisss


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou has her high school buds over ... so I'm out here pouring wine and giving tours instead of working. I like the wine part ... but my work is stacking up.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Mat Lou has her high school buds over so I'm out here pouring wine and giving tours instead of working. I like the wine part ... but my work is stacking up.


 Have some more wine; the work will be significantly less important after that.


----------



## NancyMoranG

so how many schools are on break this week? I thought they were all last weeK?
And as far as the old rotary phones....wait til you tell them you're number was Adams 2-3320 !! they'll really be confused.


----------



## Gary A.

I am back.  The best thing that occurred today was the delivery of a package from my wine club. 

So if anybody is in the neighborhood ... come-on by.


----------



## minicoop1985

I'll be in your neighborhood... unfortunately not for a long time.

Nabbed a great client today. Things are looking up.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

It's Friday 

Book club tonight. We're reading Proof: The Science of Booze.


----------



## sm4him

A nice start to my day--just sold an 11x14 print of one of my Osprey photos without even trying!  Shared it on a private FB group and some guy messaged me wanting to buy the print. Sweet!
Now…if I can just sell about 99 more of those, I'll have that D750 upgrade in the bag!


----------



## Warhorse

sm4him said:


> A nice start to my day--just sold an 11x14 print of one of my Osprey photos without even trying!  Shared it on a private FB group and some guy messaged me wanting to buy the print. Sweet!
> Now…if I can just sell about 99 more of those, I'll have that D750 upgrade in the bag!


Congratulations!!


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> A nice start to my day--just sold an 11x14 print of one of my Osprey photos without even trying!  Shared it on a private FB group and some guy messaged me wanting to buy the print. Sweet!
> Now…if I can just sell about 99 more of those, I'll have that D750 upgrade in the bag!


 If you need to sell a hundred 11x14s to buy a D750 you need to raise your prices Sharon!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Hey snerd, how the hell are you doing?


----------



## Designer

Snerd?




Snerd?








Snerd?


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> Snerd?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Snerd?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Snerd?



Y'all reckon we need to call out the Air National Guard yet to go hunt him down and make sure he's not lying half-dead in a ditch somewhere?

Oh, sorry. That's just the worried mom in me coming out.

But I *do* think perhaps we need to make a Snerd rule: He needs to check in with us at least once a day, just so we know all is okay.


----------



## sm4him

tirediron said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> A nice start to my day--just sold an 11x14 print of one of my Osprey photos without even trying!  Shared it on a private FB group and some guy messaged me wanting to buy the print. Sweet!
> Now…if I can just sell about 99 more of those, I'll have that D750 upgrade in the bag!
> 
> 
> 
> If you need to sell a hundred 11x14s to buy a D750 you need to raise your prices Sharon!
Click to expand...


Well, that was an exaggeration. I actually only need to sell about 92 11x14s to fund a D750. 

My prices could probably use a little adjustment, yeah.  But goodness, I find charging people difficult!  It's all I can do to not just let them have it at cost.


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> A nice start to my day--just sold an 11x14 print of one of my Osprey photos without even trying!  Shared it on a private FB group and some guy messaged me wanting to buy the print. Sweet!
> Now…if I can just sell about 99 more of those, I'll have that D750 upgrade in the bag!
> 
> 
> 
> If you need to sell a hundred 11x14s to buy a D750 you need to raise your prices Sharon!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, that was an exaggeration. I actually only need to sell about 92 11x14s to fund a D750.
> 
> My prices could probably use a little adjustment, yeah.  But goodness, I find charging people difficult!  It's all I can do to not just let them have it at cost.
Click to expand...

 You... me... we' gonna talk sister!


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> But goodness, I find charging people difficult!  It's all I can do to not just let them have it at cost.


You mean people PAY YOU?  

Here all this time I've been paying my family to take my photos off my hands.  

Huh! 

Huuuuhh!


----------



## snerd

Hey! I'm here! I get busy 3 days a week having to drive up to Oklahoma City and Norman, OK for doctor appointments. The orthopedic surgeon, the infectious disease doc and now the wound care center. These antibiotics seem to make me really tired much earlier........... I'm usually out of steam by 6pm or so. I'm usually in bed by 8 or 9pm and asleep by 11pm. I didn't think it has been more than a day since I posted? But thanks for the concern anyway........... I'll take it!! Feel a little better today, and wound doc said it looked maybe just a little better today. First non-negative remark I've heard in 3 weeks! I still have 3-4 more weeks to go on antibiotics through IV, though. A pain in the arse having all of this stuff connected to me. It's fairly mobile, though, which is great because I've had to go to grocery store, and tomorrow I really need to get some laundry done.

Oh! I'm brewing up 2 cups of coffee as I type!


----------



## snerd

BTW.................. I'm missing some gorgeous weather being cooped up like this!! It's killing me!!


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> Hey! I'm here! I get busy 3 days a week having to drive up to Oklahoma City and Norman, OK for doctor appointments. The orthopedic surgeon, the infectious disease doc and now the wound care center. These antibiotics seem to make me really tired much earlier........... I'm usually out of steam by 6pm or so. I'm usually in bed by 8 or 9pm and asleep by 11pm. I didn't think it has been more than a day since I posted? But thanks for the concern anyway........... I'll take it!! Feel a little better today, and wound doc said it looked maybe just a little better today. First non-negative remark I've heard in 3 weeks! I still have 3-4 more weeks to go on antibiotics through IV, though. A pain in the arse having all of this stuff connected to me. It's fairly mobile, though, which is great because I've had to go to grocery store, and tomorrow I really need to get some laundry done.
> 
> Oh! I'm brewing up 2 cups of coffee as I type!



It's probably NOT been more than a day since you posted. It's just that...well, let's just say that there is a several tiered system at work here:
Hoser Regulars with no significant medical issues (other than mental ones, we ALL have those in the Coffee House) get several days, even up to a week before the alarm bells sound;
Those WITH significant medical issues, but who live with a spouse or other family or a friend or at least a nice-seeming stranger they met under the bridge--they get at least a few days without posting before we worry.
Those with huge, gaping wounds that are infectious (okay, the huge and gaping may be a bit of creative license) who have only the Hosers looking out for them--those people are to report daily so we know they are still okay.


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> But goodness, I find charging people difficult!  It's all I can do to not just let them have it at cost.
> 
> 
> 
> You mean people PAY YOU?
> 
> Here all this time I've been paying my family to take my photos off my hands.
> 
> Huh!
> 
> Huuuuhh!
Click to expand...


Kinda all depends on the picture, I guess. 
Although I gotta say, if you even have to pay FAMILY to take your pictures...man, you need a new family!
Families are supposed to love you so much that they willingly let you spend HOURS taking pictures of them, editing them all and giving them to them, for absolutely FREE!


----------



## sm4him

tirediron said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> A nice start to my day--just sold an 11x14 print of one of my Osprey photos without even trying!  Shared it on a private FB group and some guy messaged me wanting to buy the print. Sweet!
> Now…if I can just sell about 99 more of those, I'll have that D750 upgrade in the bag!
> 
> 
> 
> If you need to sell a hundred 11x14s to buy a D750 you need to raise your prices Sharon!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, that was an exaggeration. I actually only need to sell about 92 11x14s to fund a D750.
> 
> My prices could probably use a little adjustment, yeah.  But goodness, I find charging people difficult!  It's all I can do to not just let them have it at cost.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You... me... we' gonna talk sister!
Click to expand...


We really do need to, because:


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Snerd?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Snerd?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Snerd?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Y'all reckon we need to call out the Air National Guard yet to go hunt him down and make sure he's not lying half-dead in a ditch somewhere?
> 
> Oh, sorry. That's just the worried mom in me coming out.
> 
> But I *do* think perhaps we need to make a Snerd rule: He needs to check in with us at least once a day, just so we know all is okay.
Click to expand...


I'd be more concerned with him lying half (or fully) *naked*  in a ditch.


----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


> Hey! I'm here!


Good, but my ditch concerns is still valid.


----------



## table1349

snerd said:


> BTW.................. I'm missing some gorgeous weather being cooped up like this!! It's killing me!!


Shame you are cooped up.  Went out to the range today to put a few rounds down range and qualify.  Calm, sunny 71 degrees.  Perfect day all in all.  Hope you get out soon and can enjoy the weather while it is this nice.


----------



## snerd

sm4him said:


> .......... Those with huge, gaping wounds that are infectious (okay, the huge and gaping may be a bit of creative license)........


Huge gaping wound is very accurate. Wanna see?!

ETA: Oh! I have green stuff coming out now! I'm excited! I think it means the antibiotic is starting to kill off the infection!

PSS: I don't see any reason I can't post my photo of my huge, gaping wound in the Just For Fun section! With disclaimer way above photo, of course. I mean, it "is" a photo!


----------



## snerd

gryphonslair99 said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> BTW.................. I'm missing some gorgeous weather being cooped up like this!! It's killing me!!
> 
> 
> 
> Shame you are cooped up.  Went out to the range today to put a few rounds down range and qualify.  Calm, sunny 71 degrees.  Perfect day all in all.  Hope you get out soon and can enjoy the weather while it is this nice.
Click to expand...

I've got a brand new Mossy 12ga I haven't even been able to shoot yet!


----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> .......... Those with huge, gaping wounds that are infectious (okay, the huge and gaping may be a bit of creative license)........
> 
> 
> 
> Huge gaping wound is very accurate. Wanna see?!
> 
> ETA: Oh! I have green stuff coming out now! I'm excited! I think it means the antibiotic is starting to kill off the infection!
> 
> PSS: I don't see any reason I can't post my photo of my huge, gaping wound in the Just For Fun section! With disclaimer way above photo, of course. I mean, it "is" a photo!
Click to expand...


Ebola.


----------



## snerd

snowbear said:


> Ebola.


*Staphylococcus epidermidis*


----------



## limr

Chicken ebola.


----------



## tirediron

Snerdbola?


----------



## Warhorse

Happy Saturday morning ya hoser's!


----------



## limr

Happy Saturday, Warhorse!

I know The Grand Council of They say that it's not good to sleep in more than, say, an hour past your normal waking up time. Otherwise it makes it hard to go back to that time come Monday morning.

Well, I ignored Them and I slept in 2 hours extra, and by golly, did it feel awesome!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Happy Saturday, Warhorse!
> 
> I know The Grand Council of They say that it's not good to sleep in more than, say, an hour past your normal waking up time. Otherwise it makes it hard to go back to that time come Monday morning.
> 
> Well, I ignored Them and I slept in 2 hours extra, and by golly, did it feel awesome!


The Grand Council of They obviously never worked rotating shifts where there is no such thing as a "normal waking hour."


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Saturday, Warhorse!
> I know The Grand Council of They say that it's not good to sleep in more than, say, an hour past your normal waking up time. Otherwise it makes it hard to go back to that time come Monday morning.
> Well, I ignored Them and I slept in 2 hours extra, and by golly, did it feel awesome!
> 
> 
> 
> The Grand Council of They obviously never worked rotating shifts where there is no such thing as a "normal waking hour."
Click to expand...


"They" can be pretty dumb.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 54F right now, should get to the lower 70's today. I have to shoot a parade down the street, in a little community named Hawaiian Gardens. It is a lower scale community with nothing Hawaiian or Gardenish about it. What I do appreciate is that the City sponsors a significant number of scholarships for their college bound citizens. I know their official photographer/videographer and he asked me to give him a hand.

Yesterday, Mary Lou took her 9 y/o granddaughter to the movies. They went to the El Capitan in Hollywood. This was a day of many firsts for Ava. The El Capitan is owned by Disney, it is one of those old historic theaters, elaborate and gilted to the max. A huge, huge screen, with those tapestry-like curtains, a balcony, the whole enchilada. It is in the middle of Hollywood on Hollywood Blvd, nearly across the street from the Chinese Theater. The kids dress up for the El Capitan, Ava wore her Princess Anna from Frozen dress. They watch Cinderella. Disney makes a production of the show, actors walk across the stage in costume, Cinderella's gown is on display, et cetera. Right before the movie starts, confetti ... a ton of it ... floats down for the ceiling, not just paper but glittery stuff is mixed it. After the movie they went across the street to the Hard Rock for a bite.


----------



## snowbear

I have found that, almost no matter what time I go to bed, I inevitably wake up about 6:00 AM every morning.

Oh, wait. Kitties.  Nevermind.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I have found that, almost no matter what time I go to bed, I inevitably wake up about 6:00 AM every morning.
> 
> Oh, wait. Kitties.  Nevermind.



If it's a weekday, I'll let the kitties wake me up. If it's a weekend at 6:00 a.m.? Kitties get thrown out of room and I go back to sleep 

But mine aren't on a morning feeding regimen, so they generally leave me alone and stay all nice and curled up next to my legs until I start moving around. Mrs.Parker likes to roll over for a belly rub, or sometimes give her tail a quick chase, and then she runs off to play. Zelda takes a little bit longer, like me, to get moving. She yawns a few times, dozes off once or twice, then stretches and jumps off the bed. If I give her head scritches while she's doing all this, she usually has just a little bit of huff to her when she finally jumps off the bed. Brat.


----------



## limr

Gary, that sounds like a fun time for a 9-year-old girl! I would have liked it when I was that age. Of course, adult me would probably have a migraine by the end of it


----------



## limr

Having said that, I would love to see a movie at El Capitan. Just not a Disney movie.


----------



## Designer

I'd be miffed if someone dropped glitter on me.  I've been cut by it.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have found that, almost no matter what time I go to bed, I inevitably wake up about 6:00 AM every morning.
> 
> Oh, wait. Kitties.  Nevermind.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If it's a weekday, I'll let the kitties wake me up. If it's a weekend at 6:00 a.m.? Kitties get thrown out of room and I go back to sleep
> 
> But mine aren't on a morning feeding regimen, so they generally leave me alone and stay all nice and curled up next to my legs until I start moving around. Mrs.Parker likes to roll over for a belly rub, or sometimes give her tail a quick chase, and then she runs off to play. Zelda takes a little bit longer, like me, to get moving. She yawns a few times, dozes off once or twice, then stretches and jumps off the bed. If I give her head scritches while she's doing all this, she usually has just a little bit of huff to her when she finally jumps off the bed. Brat.
Click to expand...


Bell will _sometimes_ let me go until 7.  I will get up, feed the little demons, then go back to bed.  Bell is the one that has to walk all over you; Zoe just sits on the floor and encourages her ("meow, go sit on daddy's chest. Walk on mommy's head")


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary, that sounds like a fun time for a 9-year-old girl! I would have liked it when I was that age. Of course, adult me would probably have a migraine by the end of it


Let's see ... quotes of the day "I love Hollywood." ... "I will never forget this day Grandma."

(She working the system.)

Remember that the Stars are embedded in the sidewalk and that there are beggars in costume walking the sidewalks ... so lots of entertainment value.











Death Takes a Holiday


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> I'd be miffed if someone dropped glitter on me.  I've been cut by it.


LOL ... wimp.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Having said that, I would love to see a movie at El Capitan. Just not a Disney movie.


There are a number of old/historic/restored theaters in Hollywood, The Egyptian comes to mind, all art deco-ed out with the big screens.


----------



## limr

I do love me some Art Deco.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'd be miffed if someone dropped glitter on me.  I've been cut by it.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... wimp.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wondered how that would be perceived.  LOL!  

Lil' wimp got hisself cuttted! Awww!  Kiss my owie!  

My point is that someone else (a child?) could also get cut.


----------



## Gary A.

Selling Hollywood


----------



## Derrel

Uggg...a light rain occurred overnight. Coffee this Saturday AM, fresh brewed, out of milk, so a bit of vanilla ice cream splashed on top and nuked, and a nice frothy, rich foam on top! Looks like the weather will be one of those sun-chases-clouds-away-then-reverses-all-day kinda' days. Who knows. Comic convention or a drive around town? Steampunk shoot or kicking back and downing a six pack for a change? I dunno...


----------



## pixmedic

Derrel said:


> Uggg...a light rain occurred overnight. Coffee this Saturday AM, fresh brewed, out of milk, so a bit of vanilla ice cream splashed on top and nuked, and a nice frothy, rich foam on top! Looks like the weather will be one of those sun-chases-clouds-away-then-reverses-all-day kinda' days. Who knows. Comic convention or a drive around town? Steampunk shoot or kicking back and downing a six pack for a change? I dunno...



steampunk, from what i have seen,  seems to be a haven for hot chicks in low cut outfits....
so....
yea....


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Selling Hollywood


How much?  Did you buy it?


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'd be miffed if someone dropped glitter on me.  I've been cut by it.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... wimp.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah, I wondered how that would be perceived.  LOL!
> 
> Lil' wimp got hisself cuttted! Awww!  Kiss my owie!
> 
> My point is that someone else (a child?) could also get cut.
Click to expand...

Disney attorneys use large, tissue paper type of confetti.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Disney attorneys use large, tissue paper type of confetti.


Tissue paper is non-threatening.  Glitter is harmful!  LOL!


----------



## minicoop1985

Urgh. I feel like I got hit by a truck. Or car. Or train.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Selling Hollywood
> 
> 
> 
> How much?  Did you buy it?
Click to expand...

$40.  Nahh, I used to live in Hollywood. It's fun for about a day. ... maybe less.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Urgh. I feel like I got hit by a truck. Or car. Or train.


Pourquoi?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. What a day, yesterday. Rush, rush, rush. It was a perfect day for the parade. Lower 70's, slight breeze. Unfortunately, the noon Sun made the light suck. I have looked at the images yet, but I know I have some very nice 'color' shots of kids with bubbles. Standard stuff, but always good to grab. After the parade, Mary Lou's elementary school bud, wanted to bring over her aunts and mom to inspect our backyard. So rushing home to meet them. Then the elected official whose campaign I ran kept calling, insisting that I attend her little campaign thank you party. 

Thank goodness for Fuji. A couple years ago I would have shoot the parade with my 1Ds ... yesterday I shot with my little XT1's, less that half the weight. My back, (old football injury), was still killing me, some Tylenol and Advil before bed.  

Today I'm planning to do nothing.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey peoples, I'm planning to get a juice extractor blender thingie. I've done some research and I recognize that the food processor sized/looking ones are the best. I understand that the crushing types are better than the blending types ... but ... I've pretty much decided on the bullet/rocket type due to size. Are those types significantly worse than the food processor types? Would I be drinking worthless green crap as opposed to beneficial, healthy green crap?

If the smaller type is okay, is there one I should get or avoid?


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Urgh. I feel like I got hit by a truck. Or car. Or train.
> 
> 
> 
> Pourquoi?
Click to expand...


Yard work, unfortunately. Nothing fun.


----------



## pgriz

minicoop1985 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Urgh. I feel like I got hit by a truck. Or car. Or train.
> 
> 
> 
> Pourquoi?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yard work, unfortunately. Nothing fun.
Click to expand...


Ok, I get that.  I'm always sore after the first few weekends of yard duty.  My wife expects a thorough raking of the lawn to dislodge the matted winter debris, and after a few hours of that, my arms are ready to fall off.  Then there's the earth-turning for the garden (too small for a mechanical device), and a bunch of rock rearrangements (frost heave tends to move them around), and my back tells me in no uncertain terms what it thinks of all that activity.  And then, we get to do it all at the cottage.  If you don't understand the concept of entropy, you obviously don't live in a house.


----------



## oldhippy

pgriz said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Urgh. I feel like I got hit by a truck. Or car. Or train.
> 
> 
> 
> Pourquoi?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yard work, unfortunately. Nothing fun.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ok, I get that.  I'm always sore after the first few weekends of yard duty.  My wife expects a thorough raking of the lawn to dislodge the matted winter debris, and after a few hours of that, my arms are ready to fall off.  Then there's the earth-turning for the garden (too small for a mechanical device), and a bunch of rock rearrangements (frost heave tends to move them around), and my back tells me in no uncertain terms what it thinks of all that activity.  And then, we get to do it all at the cottage.  If you don't understand the concept of entropy, you obviously don't live in a house.
Click to expand...


Finally got the tiller going. Worked a small plot yesterday, today repeat, and tomorrow last.  Then fence to keep out free range chicken, who like my veggies as much as me.  Planting about a week or two.  But no break as I have an acre to weed wack.  Keeps me young.  Ed


----------



## snerd

oldhippy said:


> ....... Then fence to keep out free range chicken, who like my veggies as much as me.....


----------



## Gary A.

90% of my veggies are in pots. Much easier on water, weeds and slug/snail control.


----------



## Gary A.

Just finished digging up and potting a random celery plant. (For my daughter's Guinea Pig.) I also transferred to bigger pots an Oregano and a Tarragon plant. With no real winter, I have to keep up with things all year round.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Just finished digging up and potting a random celery plant. (For my daughter's Guinea Pig.) I also transferred to bigger pots an Oregano and a Tarragon plant. *With no real winter, I have to keep up with things all year round*.


Awww.... poor muffin!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just finished digging up and potting a random celery plant. (For my daughter's Guinea Pig.) I also transferred to bigger pots an Oregano and a Tarragon plant. *With no real winter, I have to keep up with things all year round*.
> 
> 
> 
> Awww.... poor muffin!
Click to expand...

... And sometimes I break a nail.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just finished digging up and potting a random celery plant. (For my daughter's Guinea Pig.) I also transferred to bigger pots an Oregano and a Tarragon plant. *With no real winter, I have to keep up with things all year round*.
> 
> 
> 
> Awww.... poor muffin!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ... And sometimes I break a nail.
Click to expand...

Nothing your weekly manicure won't sort out, I'm sure!


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> ... And sometimes I break a nail.


Gasp!  

But oh, those glitter cuts are the worst!


----------



## Derrel

In reply to GaryA's post, # 6661:

I have one of the actual "Bullet" brand deals....ehhhh...I dunno...the 4-bladed chopper works okay, but honestly, I think a larger counter-standing model might really be a better performer. I've made a few smoothies with it with fruit and ice and milk...it's "okay". It makes a decent milkshake, I often blend a few peanuts into those shakes. I DO very much like the small blender-cups with the screw-on drinking glass "lips" concept--that's what's handy about the Bullet brand mini-mixer/juicer. I use mine mostly to make shakes and iced coffees.


----------



## Gary A.

Derrel said:


> In reply to GaryA's post, # 6661:
> 
> I have one of the actual "Bullet" brand deals....ehhhh...I dunno...the 4-bladed chopper works okay, but honestly, I think a larger counter-standing model might really be a better performer. I've made a few smoothies with it with fruit and ice and milk...it's "okay". It makes a decent milkshake, I often blend a few peanuts into those shakes. I DO very much like the small blender-cups with the screw-on drinking glass "lips" concept--that's what's handy about the Bullet brand mini-mixer/juicer. I use mine mostly to make shakes and iced coffees.


Sounds like the 'Magic Bullet", which is a step below the power required to effectively extract juice. Those bullet people also make a 'NutriBullet" which has 650 watts (I think the Magic is around 250 watts ... and there is the NutriBullet Pro with 900 watts.)

I'm just wondering how the NutriBullet compares to say the Bella Rocket, et al.


----------



## Derrel

Yes, Magic Bullet....my neighbor moved out, and asked me if I wanted the whole boxed kit...I said sure, why not...I just looked, 250 Watt....it also has a multi-port "sound exhaust" port...no wonder it's so damned loud and whiny-sounding!


----------



## pixmedic

Derrel said:


> Yes, Magic Bullet....my neighbor moved out, and asked me if I wanted the whole boxed kit...I said sure, why not...I just looked, 250 Watt....it also has a multi-port "sound exhaust" port...no wonder it's so damned loud and whiny-sounding!



Wow.
My wife had a magic bullet, but it ran on a handful of AA batteries, which I'm pretty sure weren't 250 watts. 
It must have been the model below yours derrel.


----------



## limr

Hyde Park selfie. It wasn't on purpose but Buzz and I went up to walk the grounds on the 70th anniversary of FDR's death.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hyde Park selfie. It wasn't on purpose but Buzz and I went up to walk the grounds on the 70th anniversary of FDR's death.
> 
> View attachment 98715



I wasn't going to, but I can't help it:


----------



## Derrel

Damn...FDR's death anniversary...I totally forgot about that! Damn--I was gonna bake a cake! How dumb of me to have forgotten it. Oh well...I'll have to make an impromptu celebration...get a bunch of Roosevelt dimes together, drop seven of them into seven shot glasses, then fill them all with whiskey, and then shoot 'em all in a row, one after another after another!


----------



## Designer

Derrel said:


> Yes, Magic Bullet....my neighbor moved out, and asked me if I wanted the whole boxed kit...I said sure, why not...I just looked, 250 Watt....it also has a multi-port "sound exhaust" port...no wonder it's so damned loud and whiny-sounding!


I never noticed the sound port.  We have the small one.  I use it every workday to make a protein shake for Linda's breakfast.

I've noticed that one blade head is quieter than the other one.  Maybe because I oiled it.  The blades unscrew from the driveshaft and I used a drop of vegetable oil.


----------



## Derrel

Attach image: Magic Bullet_where the screaming whine emanates from.jpg


----------



## Gary A.

wooo-woo Okay, I just came back from Costco with the Ninja XL!


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> wooo-woo Okay, I just came back from Costco with the Ninja XL!


Why, hell, the name alone will juice anything you put in it!


----------



## Gary A.

Man, what a weekend. People's kept coming over with little or no notice.  My physician-photographer friend came over also, but that was planned. He brought some home made Korean Ribs to BBQ. They were great ... especially being paired with a Castle Rock Pinot. I am so glad that the weekend in over and I can get back to work.


----------



## snerd

Evening hosers. Went to laundromat today. Then watched the Masters for awhile. Have a 10am appointment in the morning with infectious doc........... I have some nasty green discharge from wound and want to make sure it's not something to worry about. Enjoyed 2 cups of coffee this afternoon! My second ex-wife called today! Just wanted to chat. She was the BEST wife evah! I screwed that one up........... grass always looks greener somewhere else. We may meet for coffee if I ever heal up.


----------



## Warhorse

Good morning all. Just finished breakfast (ham & eggs), and three cups of black coffee.

Life is good, and I like it better now that I am retired.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Back at work today and trying to drown my thoughts in a cup of coffee and a snack - probably a good thing I don't gain weight that easily.  Some days I envy you, Warhorse.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, yo! It's been more and more difficult to wake up lately... Coffee doesn't seem to be helping anymore.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Y'all Coffee Hosers. Aaaahhh, my first sip of Colombian Supremo.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> Good morning, yo! It's been more and more difficult to wake up lately... Coffee doesn't seem to be helping anymore.


 Try liquor!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

Had coffee at home. Am now at work (students are taking a practice exam.) I need more coffee. I'm also hungry. I would also like to have trouble gaining weight. Ken, can I switch places with you?


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> I would also like to have trouble gaining weight. Ken, can I switch places with you?



From the photos you've posted you certainly don't look like you have a problem in that area.  In any case, even if we could it would be dangerous for people to switch places.  You'd get rid of some things that annoy you, but get others that you aren't accustomed to managing, so it seems like it would be a bad idea.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would also like to have trouble gaining weight. Ken, can I switch places with you?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From the photos you've posted you certainly don't look like you have a problem in that area.  In any case, even if we could it would be dangerous for people to switch places.  You'd get rid of some things that annoy you, but get others that you aren't accustomed to managing, so it seems like it would be a bad idea.
Click to expand...


Oh sure, go ahead and be _logical_ about it! Sheesh! 

But as it is, the point is moot since I now have coffee and my tuna sandwich, so I'm good!

As for the weight...well, I've had my struggles. I've never needed to be on the Biggest Loser or anything, but I'm certainly not currently in fighting shape. I'm working on it, though.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would also like to have trouble gaining weight. Ken, can I switch places with you?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From the photos you've posted you certainly don't look like you have a problem in that area.  In any case, even if we could it would be dangerous for people to switch places.  You'd get rid of some things that annoy you, but get others that you aren't accustomed to managing, so it seems like it would be a bad idea.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh sure, go ahead and be _logical_ about it! Sheesh!
> 
> But as it is, the point is moot since I now have coffee and my tuna sandwich, so I'm good!
> 
> As for the weight...well, I've had my struggles. I've never needed to be on the Biggest Loser or anything, but I'm certainly not currently in fighting shape. I'm working on it, though.
Click to expand...


I'm in GREAT fighting shape.
As long as I'm battling the Pillsbury Doughboy.


----------



## sm4him

I never had to worry about my weight growing up--well, except for how to manage to eat enough, Keeping weight ON was harder than keeping it off. I just had a metabolism that worked overtime. If I overate, I could literally FEEL it burning off--my forehead would get hot!  I did fine gaining weight when I was pregnant (but did it by literally eating what I wanted, when I wanted, as much as I wanted)--but then really had no trouble getting it back off. In fact, with my firstborn, I lost too much weight (due to an illness) after he was born and thought I'd NEVER get it back on.
A number of people thought I might be anorexic--they had no idea that I just ate like a horse and my metabolism burned it all off!

Even into my 40s, I had no weight problems except sometimes being underweight.  THEN, at about age 46, I had an ovarian tumor and hence, surgery to remove said tumor and all the rest of my female parts (which I was long since done with anyway).  Instant Menopause! Instant Metabolism slowdown! 
Since I'd never had problems with being overweight, I'd never had to learn to truly control what I ate.  Trying to learn that in your late 40s ain't easy!  I went from 10-15 pounds underweight to about 40 lbs OVERweight over the next few years.
Starting in 2013, I started taking control. Took off 40 lbs. in about 13 months--mostly by cutting out a lot of my snacking, drinking water and walking every day.

I've now found about 15 lbs. of that weight again--did I mention it was a HARD winter??? 
Time to take control again!

EDIT: OH MY GOODNESS, I just got the jammin' "you're posting too fast" message!! That message always gives me throwbacks to the Leaderboard thread--PTSD!


----------



## sm4him

In other news:

It is officially Spring here.  Had to pull the first tick off me today!
I was really quite surprised, as I haven't really been out anywhere that made me feel like a tick-checking session was in order. I did go to Cades Cove Saturday, but didn't really do any hiking.
Oh wait…I guess I did walk a little ways through a bit of wooded area. Maybe that was it.

Anyway--I didn't do my tick check. This morning, I'm sitting at the computer at work, and went to scratch my head. I knew the second I felt it.  UGH!!
It was attached, but from the looks of it, it hadn't been attached for long at all.

I sent it into the Eternal Abyss where they all belong.


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> In other news:
> 
> It is officially Spring here.  Had to pull the first tick off me today!
> I was really quite surprised, as I haven't really been out anywhere that made me feel like a tick-checking session was in order. I did go to Cades Cove Saturday, but didn't really do any hiking.
> Oh wait…I guess I did walk a little ways through a bit of wooded area. Maybe that was it.
> 
> Anyway--I didn't do my tick check. This morning, I'm sitting at the computer at work, and went to scratch my head. I knew the second I felt it.  UGH!!
> It was attached, but from the looks of it, it hadn't been attached for long at all.
> 
> I sent it into the Eternal Abyss where they all belong.



TMI, but it's good to know you took it in stride and weren't too ticked off about it ...


----------



## snerd

A tick on your head?! Ewwwwww!!!!!! 

(I'm just trying to get the gross label off of me, onto you!)

 


.....................


----------



## snowbear

Tick could be good or bad, depending on the context.  It's a nickname (at least in this area) for a volunteer firefighter.  The bug kind - burn it or flush it.


----------



## snowbear

Went for a nice walk around the Tidal Basin with lazy_lobster today, taking in the sights and sounds amid the Cherry Blossoms.  I'm dying, but had a good time.  Ended up at Teaism (tea shop & restaurant).

Passed this place and thought to remind any U.S. slackers out there, you have two more days.


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> In other news:
> 
> It is officially Spring here.  Had to pull the first tick off me today!
> I was really quite surprised, as I haven't really been out anywhere that made me feel like a tick-checking session was in order. I did go to Cades Cove Saturday, but didn't really do any hiking.
> Oh wait…I guess I did walk a little ways through a bit of wooded area. Maybe that was it.
> 
> Anyway--I didn't do my tick check. This morning, I'm sitting at the computer at work, and went to scratch my head. I knew the second I felt it.  UGH!!
> It was attached, but from the looks of it, it hadn't been attached for long at all.
> 
> I sent it into the Eternal Abyss where they all belong.


Are you sure it was a tick?  Tocks look very similar and are actually quite beneficial!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Are you sure it was a tick?  Tocks look very similar and are actually quite beneficial!



Not sure it's time for the tocks yet. The ticks usually come out first.


----------



## Gary A.

The Ninja kicks ass. I had to move a bunch of stuff around in the kitchen to make room for the sucker. It's like a blender on steroids. Tonight I am sucking down my first attempt ... pulverized oranges, celery, carrots with some ice tossed in. 

The base is metal/plastic and the uppers are all plastic. But it is really good, thick plastic. Like a football helmet ... heavy duty stuff. The entire unit is very well thought out. The containers and the container lids lock in, the base has a lever actuated suction feet. The single portion sized containers with sipping lids seem to be terribly convenient and useful.


----------



## snerd

Just checking in. Still kickin'!


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> Just checking in. Still kickin'!


Checking in ... or checking out?
What's going on with the inflection and your appointment? Are the antibiotics working?


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just checking in. Still kickin'!
> 
> 
> 
> Checking in ... or checking out?
> What's going on with the inflection and your appointment? Are the antibiotics working?
Click to expand...

No idea, can't get answers from anyone! It's still draining, nasty green stuff. I see the actual wound 'doctor' tomorrow. So far, it's just been techs/RN's changing the dressing. Hopefully I'll get answers tomorrow, but it's supposed to be 6 weeks on the antibiotics, and it's only been 2 1/2 weeks, so it may be too early to know if they're working.


----------



## Gary A.

We're all in your corner ...


----------



## pgriz

Kicking is good.  Just make sure there are no cans around.

Snerd, I hope you're eating well.  Fighting infections and rebuilding tissues is pretty energy - intensive stuff, and this is the time when good nutrition is really important.

As for the weight discussions - it's not the BMI or the mass you carry, but your heath.  Our fixation of "weight" is a by-product of our rather twisted relationship to food, AND our adoption of living habits that are quite contrary to the lifestyles we lived for most of our evolutionary history.  The true measure of what we are is revealed through our biochemistry and our ability to do activities without restriction (other than jumping over tall buildings in a single bound - that one is still a little tough).  Sorry.  Ranting again.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Tick could be good or bad, depending on the context.  It's a nickname (at least in this area) for a volunteer firefighter.  The bug kind - burn it or flush it.



I never heard it as a name for volunteer firefighters.
But either way--it's probably still bad to have one that has attached itself to your head. 

I always opt for the burning method--I prefer the certainty of watching them go up in flames. If I have to flush one, then I have to stop using that particular commode for fear it'll come crawling back out and...never mind.



tirediron said:


> Are you sure it was a tick?  Tocks look very similar and are actually quite beneficial!



Tick, tock. Either way, it was just a matter of time before it became a problem.


----------



## snowbear

Well, you could burn - crush - flush (in that order).


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> Kicking is good.  Just make sure there are no cans around.


Cans are fine.  Buckets, on the other hand . . .


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> Kicking is good.  Just make sure there are no cans around.
> 
> Snerd, I hope you're eating well.  Fighting infections and rebuilding tissues is pretty energy - intensive stuff, and this is the time when good nutrition is really important.
> 
> As for the weight discussions - it's not the BMI or the mass you carry, but your heath.  Our fixation of "weight" is a by-product of our rather twisted relationship to food, AND our adoption of living habits that are quite contrary to the lifestyles we lived for most of our evolutionary history.  The true measure of what we are is revealed through our biochemistry and our ability to do activities without restriction (other than jumping over tall buildings in a single bound - that one is still a little tough).  Sorry.  Ranting again.



+1.  No, that should get at least +20.
What the doctors term "obese" these days is absurd. The reason there has been such a rise in obesity is because they are setting the bar so low you can't help but fit into their definition of obese. Seriously, if I weighed what the charts say my "ideal" weight is, I'd look anorexic!

My need to lose 15 lbs. is based on where *I* know my ideal weight is--it is the weight at which my metabolism does the best job, and where I find it easiest to maintain my weight and feel better. 
Right now, I have just barely edged into that place where it is starting to affect my ability to do what I should be able to do.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Kicking is good.  Just make sure there are no cans around.
> 
> Snerd, I hope you're eating well.  Fighting infections and rebuilding tissues is pretty energy - intensive stuff, and this is the time when good nutrition is really important.
> 
> As for the weight discussions - it's not the BMI or the mass you carry, but your heath.  Our fixation of "weight" is a by-product of our rather twisted relationship to food, AND our adoption of living habits that are quite contrary to the lifestyles we lived for most of our evolutionary history.  The true measure of what we are is revealed through our biochemistry and our ability to do activities without restriction (other than jumping over tall buildings in a single bound - that one is still a little tough).  Sorry.  Ranting again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> +1.  No, that should get at least +20.
> What the doctors term "obese" these days is absurd. The reason there has been such a rise in obesity is because they are setting the bar so low you can't help but fit into their definition of obese. Seriously, if I weighed what the charts say my "ideal" weight is, I'd look anorexic!
> 
> My need to lose 15 lbs. is based on where *I* know my ideal weight is--it is the weight at which my metabolism does the best job, and where I find it easiest to maintain my weight and feel better.
> Right now, I have just barely edged into that place where it is starting to affect my ability to do what I should be able to do.
Click to expand...


Agreed, many times over. 

There IS a point at which being too heavy affects health, though there is also the corresponding point on the other end of the spectrum. But for the most part, "healthy" encompasses a much wider range of sizes than is generally accepted. There's a good long rant bouncing around in my brain right now, but fear not - I'll spare y'all  I don't feel like getting myself all worked up when I still have so much grading to do.

I know I don't feel as good as I did when I was at a smaller size. It doesn't affect my daily functioning, but I _am_ feeling it when Buzz and I go for hikes, and I'm less active than I'd like. Granted, part of it is my schedule, but part of it is feeling more wiped out by that schedule and feeling like if I go hiking or something on the weekend, I'll have no energy left over for chores or teaching "homework."

Oh, and Good morning, hosers!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers. Gray and a little rainy here today - makes it harder to wake up fully, at least for me.  Sitting here with coffee and waiting for signs of brain activity.

My only contribution to the weight discussion (at least at this level of wakefulness) is that lately doctors are given so little time with each patient that they fall back on indexes and averages instead of fully assessing the condition of that particular patient and whether changes in weight or other parameters might be beneficial or not.


----------



## Warhorse

Morning everyone, finished a pot of coffee already. No use putting it off any longer, I need to hook up the garden trailer to the ATV and pick up all the branches that have come down in the yard over the winter. Then rake up all the Shi'Tsu droppings that have also occurred over the winter. Finally last but not least, spread the grub and weed killer around.

Hopefully I can get it done today, but if it stretches into tomorrow so be it.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tick could be good or bad, depending on the context.  It's a nickname (at least in this area) for a volunteer firefighter.  The bug kind - burn it or flush it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I never heard it as a name for volunteer firefighters.
> But either way--it's probably still bad to have one that has attached itself to your head.
> 
> I always opt for the burning method--I prefer the certainty of watching them go up in flames. If I have to flush one, then I have to stop using that particular commode for fear it'll come crawling back out and...never mind.
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Are you sure it was a tick?  Tocks look very similar and are actually quite beneficial!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Tick, tock. Either way, it was just a matter of time before it became a problem.
Click to expand...

My physician/photographer friend comes over for food a couple times a week. I often quiz him on unusual cases that walk into his office. He once told me about a parent who brought his child in for a tick bite ... and he brought the tick in for testing. The tick was alive in a ziplock baggie with all six legs moving like one of those hand puppets with a string attached and when you pull the string the arms rise up ... but with six arms.

Ticks are not an everyday commodity out here. I've hiked a ton and I've never seen any in Southern California except when they're clinging onto recently killed large animals (deer, coyotes). Haven't you any concerns with Lyme Disease? Or has Lyme been overly hyped by the media?


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tick could be good or bad, depending on the context.  It's a nickname (at least in this area) for a volunteer firefighter.  The bug kind - burn it or flush it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I never heard it as a name for volunteer firefighters.
> But either way--it's probably still bad to have one that has attached itself to your head.
> 
> I always opt for the burning method--I prefer the certainty of watching them go up in flames. If I have to flush one, then I have to stop using that particular commode for fear it'll come crawling back out and...never mind.
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Are you sure it was a tick?  Tocks look very similar and are actually quite beneficial!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Tick, tock. Either way, it was just a matter of time before it became a problem.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My physician/photographer friend comes over for food a couple times a week. I often quiz him on unusual cases that walk into his office. He once told me about a parent who brought his child in for a tick bite ... and he brought the tick in for testing. The tick was alive in a ziplock baggie with all six legs moving like one of those hand puppets with a string attached and when you pull the string the arms rise up ... but with six arms.
> 
> Ticks are not an everyday commodity out here. I've hiked a ton and I've never seen any in Southern California except when they're clinging onto recently killed large animals (deer, coyotes). Haven't you any concerns with Lyme Disease? Or has Lyme been overly hyped by the media?
Click to expand...


Lyme disease is vile…but really rare. More than 99.99% of tick bites do NOT result in Lyme disease (that is a completely unscientific statement on my part). Only certain kinds of ticks cause LD, and the prevalence of infected ticks is far greater in the NE and some parts of the Great Lakes area than it is here.  So, no, I don't really concern myself with it.
But I DO make it a practice to check for ticks after being outdoors during the spring, summer and early fall, and I do know what to watch for if I do get a tick bite to know if I should be consult a doctor.
Ticks can cause other illnesses too, tick-bite fever, lockjaw, etc--so it is ALWAYS a good idea to try to check for them and remove them BEFORE they attach themselves to your skin and start feeding on you.
Plus, they're just gross. So there's that.

But they are just another fact of life around here--you go outside, you're gonna get ticks. In fact, a friend of mine who has a 3-month-old says she's found TWO already, one actually ON her child (but still crawling) and the other on her car seat. So, you just really can't avoid them! On average, I probably have anywhere between 10-20 ON me in a year, but only 2-3 per year that have attached themselves.  It's been years since I had one that I missed long enough for it to get engorged, because I'm pretty diligent about checking for them.


----------



## limr

We worry about Lyme's up here.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> We worry about Lyme's up here.



I just looked up the stats; in 2013, NY had the third highest number of reported Lyme Disease cases, behind only PA and MA. There were 4,615 reported cases in NY that year, and they estimate the ACTUAL number of cases tend to be about 10x what is actually reported. So that's 46,150 cases in your state alone in one year. THAT would be reason for concern.
By contrast, Tennessee had 25 cases that year.


----------



## limr

Yup. Around here, finding a tick on you pretty much means a trip to the doctor to get the antibiotic equivalent of the morning-after pill. A one-shot intense dose.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was a long long day dealing with work issues. I did eventually get the Ninja fired up. I am still impressed with the machine. It even kneads dough. So I may say adios to Trader Joe's pizza dough. The food processor I've been using is a mocahete. Cook and I are off for a walk.


----------



## snerd

pgriz said:


> ......... Snerd, I hope you're eating well.  Fighting infections and rebuilding tissues is pretty energy - intensive stuff, and this is the time when good nutrition is really important.......


Yes, I'm stocked up on good food, fruits and veggies, Gatorade and water, plus I'm doubling my  protein intake with whey shakes and power bars. This makes my surgery count 7 over the last 7 years. I've learned a few things over the years.


----------



## Gary A.

Back, it is the usual overcast day ... cool, overcast gray skies. We ran into Jim and Lola (Yorkie). Cook and I walked with Jim and Lola most of the way. Fired up the single serving Ninja.  Oranges, carrots and ice. This time I didn't peel the oranges ... just to see/taste what happens. A bit on the bitter side of the scale. The single serving size containers are very nice. A lot less cleaning, just unscrew the blades and replace with a sipper top ... and viola! Gotta find some recipe books.


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> ......... Snerd, I hope you're eating well.  Fighting infections and rebuilding tissues is pretty energy - intensive stuff, and this is the time when good nutrition is really important.......
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, I'm stocked up on good food, fruits and veggies, Gatorade and water, plus I'm doubling my  protein intake with whey shakes and power bars. This makes my surgery count 7 over the last 7 years. I've learned a few things over the years.
Click to expand...

If you lived out here, I'd bring you a casserole.


----------



## limr

I love fresh orange and carrot juice. They used to sell that from street carts in Istanbul. I like a little taste of bitter so maybe just a few peels would add enough without getting too overwhelming.

I've been intrigued by the super food processor products that have been coming out lately. I've got other priorities at the moment, but maybe at some point down the road I'll get something. In the meantime, I've got a wand blender thing that has different attachments and serves my purposes for now.

Glad you're enjoying the new kitchen toy, Gary!

I envy your morning walks with the Cook.


----------



## sm4him

Today's little work rant:

Our CFO emailed me to say that she'd been down in the lobby and noticed that the flyer about our board meeting was still up from last month, and could I take it down.

I wanted to email back and say--"Do you mean could I STOP whatever else I'm working on, get up and go downstairs JUST to pull a jammin' sign down--the same jammin' sign that YOU just saw, meaning you were already IN the jammin' lobby and could have simply REMOVED the sign and then emailed me to let me know it had been there?  Sure, I could do that."

Instead, I did something just as passive-aggressive: I replied to her email, and cc'ed the person who is actually *supposed* to put those flyers up AND take them down when I send them--the person who, by the way, works IN THE LOBBY, about 15 feet from where the sign was posted, a person whom the CFO would have to have gone right PAST to come upstairs--and said, "Dear XX, could you please make sure the old meeting flyer gets taken down, and in the future, please remove it on the "remove on" date included at the bottom of the flyer?  Thanks!"


So…between that, and kinda blowing off a meeting this afternoon (I had "reasons" but the truest, unspoken reason was that I just could NOT do a stupid meeting today)…I am probably in hot water with at least three different people today.
In other words, nothing new here.


----------



## Designer

FWIW: I just finished making split-pea soup with little chunks of ham in it.  I couldn't find my notes from the last couple of times that I made it, so I just invented.


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> FWIW: I just finished making split-pea soup with little chunks of ham in it.  I couldn't find my notes from the last couple of times that I made it, so I just invented.



I LOVE me some split-pea soup! Haven't had in a very long time.


----------



## tirediron

See... I woulda walked down, carefully removed the notice and then nailed it to her door with 60d bridge spikes.  I mean she must want it awfully bad, right?


----------



## Gary A.

Conversely Sharon, I'm working from home today ... in the patio, 72F, a nice breeze setting off the wind chimes, snacking on humus and crackers, listening to the waterfall and classical on the stereo, while designing some logos for my company. I am on the verge of popping open some vino just to top all off. (Could use some of that pea soup though.)


----------



## snowbear

It's cold & rainy here, today.  I'm glad we went to see the cherry blossoms yesterday, even though I got an overdose of allergens.  Tonight is grilled cheese with leftover homemade potato-leek soup.


----------



## oldhippy

Tomorrow soup beans cooked in the pot,  sour kraut,  and home made cornbread.  The cornmeal is from a local mill.  Can't hardly sit still and eat that.  Later. Ed.  BTW.  All veggie.  Also beans and cornbread combine the amino acids necessary to make a suitable protein.  Later. Ed


----------



## minicoop1985

Dangit, it's 60* here and there's really nothing going on. I feel like doing something but man am I feeling lazy today. In other news, it's taco night! Yisss!


----------



## pgriz

oldhippy said:


> Tomorrow soup beans cooked in the pot,  sour kraut,  and home made cornbread.  The cornmeal is from a local mill.  Can't hardly sit still and eat that.  Later. Ed.  BTW.  All veggie.  Also beans and cornbread combine the amino acids necessary to make a suitable protein.  Later. Ed



Corn (maize) is deficient in the amino acids lysine and tryptophan.  Legumes (beans) supply these two missing amino acids.  However, the relative proportion is also important.  a 50/50 mix is usually recommended, with the corn content ranging from 25-50% and the bean content ranging from 50-75%.  The mixtures of 90% corn, 10% bean did not have enough of the two amino acids to prevent deficiency.  

One of the other nutritional challenges of a vegetarian diet is to supply enough essential fatty acids (Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids which are plentiful in meat/fish) and that means including oils from plants like hemp, canola, flaxseed, soya and seeds (chia, pumkin, sunflower) & nuts (walnuts especially).  

I was listening today to a radio program that discussed research into fats and the link to obesity, heart disease and metabolic disorders, and the work over the past three decades is indicating that our obsession with "fat" was misdirected.  Some fats (like trans-fats) were definitely bad, but lots of fats were found to be good, even essential.  The food industry replaced the fats by sugars, with the result that sugar-related disorders skyrocketed.  We as a society have to start being more sophisticated about what we eat and learn more about nutrition.  Our tendency is to make everything into a binary choice that something is either good or bad.  The truth is that there is a range that is beneficial, and outside of that range we get into problems.

Sorry Ed, I tend to get carried away with this stuff.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> oldhippy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tomorrow soup beans cooked in the pot,  sour kraut,  and home made cornbread.  The cornmeal is from a local mill.  Can't hardly sit still and eat that.  Later. Ed.  BTW.  All veggie.  Also beans and cornbread combine the amino acids necessary to make a suitable protein.  Later. Ed
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Corn (maize) is deficient in the amino acids lysine and tryptophan.  Legumes (beans) supply these two missing amino acids.  However, the relative proportion is also important.  a 50/50 mix is usually recommended, with the corn content ranging from 25-50% and the bean content ranging from 50-75%.  The mixtures of 90% corn, 10% bean did not have enough of the two amino acids to prevent deficiency.
> 
> One of the other nutritional challenges of a vegetarian diet is to supply enough essential fatty acids (Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids which are plentiful in meat/fish) and that means including oils from plants like hemp, canola, flaxseed, soya and seeds (chia, pumkin, sunflower) & nuts (walnuts especially).
> 
> I was listening today to a radio program that discussed research into fats and the link to obesity, heart disease and metabolic disorders, and the work over the past three decades is indicating that our obsession with "fat" was misdirected.  Some fats (like trans-fats) were definitely bad, but lots of fats were found to be good, even essential.  The food industry replaced the fats by sugars, with the result that sugar-related disorders skyrocketed.  We as a society have to start being more sophisticated about what we eat and learn more about nutrition.  Our tendency is to make everything into a binary choice that something is either good or bad.  The truth is that there is a range that is beneficial, and outside of that range we get into problems.
> 
> Sorry Ed, I tend to get carried away with this stuff.
Click to expand...


Please, carry away!


----------



## limr

I ate a very low-fat diet for a long time. These days, I focus on whole foods and as little processed as possible. I still am wary of fat and after so long, I can't eat too much without feeling negative physical effects. And my idea of "too much" is still probably a lot lower than most.

Having said that, I've been trying to make peace with a more balanced proportion of good fats. I love nuts (shut up) and my latest obsession is with fresh avocado.


----------



## pgriz

Add to that avocado some chia seeds, drizzle with olive oil, and you got a really good complement of the good fats.  The stuff we should keep an eye on are the simple sugars (mono- and di-saccharides).  Those are used to replace the fat in most "low-fat" formulations, and have a high glycemic index AND that zoom in sugar turns on the fat-making metabolism.  Whereas dietary fat takes time to be absorbed and assimilated, and has no effect on the glycemic index.  If you ingest the same caloric value of fats and sugars, the sugars will have a much stronger effect on fat production.  Also, certain vitamins are fat-soluble (A, D, E & K), so if you don't have enough fat in the diet, you may not absorb these  vitamins from your food as effectively.


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> I love nuts (shut up)




You're bringin it on yoself, lady...


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> ..........  I love nuts (shut up) .......


I thought you yanks would say "shaddup!". I love me some cashews! And almonds, unsalted peanuts and goobers. Shaddup!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ..........  I love nuts (shut up) .......
> 
> 
> 
> I thought you yanks would say "shaddup!". I love me some cashews! And almonds, unsalted peanuts and goobers. Shaddup!
Click to expand...


We do! I wasn't sure if you johnny rebs would know that


----------



## snerd

Evening hosers. Saw doc today, wound looks better. Posted update pic in other thread. Made two cups of coffee this morning before leaving..................... totally forgot and left without it!!


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> Evening hosers. Saw doc today, wound looks better. Posted update pic in other thread. Made two cups of coffee this morning before leaving..................... totally forgot and left without it!!


I guess you had other things on your mind besides coffee. Good coffee doesn't go bad over time. After you finally heal yourself you need to work on the stuff that you dump into your body through that hole under your nose.


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> Evening hosers. Saw doc today, wound looks better. Posted update pic in other thread. *Made two cups of coffee this morning before leaving..................... totally forgot and left without it!!*


----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


> Evening hosers. Saw doc today, wound looks better. Posted update pic in other thread. Made two cups of coffee this morning before leaving..................... totally forgot and left without it!!


Just throw some ice in it when you get home to celebrate warmer weather.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> . . . (shut up)


I missed this post on the last time through.  I won't be worth a darn today.


----------



## snerd

snowbear said:


> Just throw some ice in it when you get home to celebrate warmer weather.


Ack!!   

Coffee has only ONE way to be served............. very hot and very black.


----------



## Warhorse

[QUOTE="snerd, post: 3463306
Coffee has only ONE way to be served............. very hot and very black.[/QUOTE]
I agree!

Just finished my third cup of the day as a matter of fact.

Glad you're healing up snerd, follow the doctors orders to a "T".


----------



## Designer

On Monday, Linda was teaching a seminar in another city, so she did not have access to her Keurig.  Drank a cup of "work" coffee.  Regretted it.


----------



## limr

Pouring my first right now. Woke up a little late this morning. I am glad this semester is finally on its last legs because this schedule is really catching up to me. I am pretty tired these days and it's hard to get enough sleep. 

Now, about that coffee...


----------



## Designer

I've tried leftover coffee many times, and each time I have been hugely disappointed.  Fresh is best.


----------



## pgriz

Designer said:


> I've tried leftover coffee many times, and each time I have been hugely disappointed.  Fresh is best.



Well, it depends on the coffee.  I've tested the idea of reheating day-old coffee to see if it was drinkable.  Same coffee, same proportions of coffee to water, same serving method, but one cup was 1 day old (and nuked to warm up) and one was freshly brewed.  There was a difference, but not as much as I would have thought.  Mind you, we use ground coffee from a local roaster, and they make a very good blend/roast.  So in a pinch, at least for the coffee I make, 1 day old is quite decent.  I've also done this test with store-bought coffee grounds, and 1-day old coffee is NOT pleasant.


----------



## KenC

pgriz said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've tried leftover coffee many times, and each time I have been hugely disappointed.  Fresh is best.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, it depends on the coffee.  I've tested the idea of reheating day-old coffee to see if it was drinkable.  Same coffee, same proportions of coffee to water, same serving method, but one cup was 1 day old (and nuked to warm up) and one was freshly brewed.  There was a difference, but not as much as I would have thought.  Mind you, we use ground coffee from a local roaster, and they make a very good blend/roast.  So in a pinch, at least for the coffee I make, 1 day old is quite decent.  I've also done this test with store-bought coffee grounds, and 1-day old coffee is NOT pleasant.
Click to expand...


I save it and reheat sometimes and haven't noticed an appreciable difference.  I mostly do it in the summer so I can have iced coffee with turning on the range and messing with lots of ice.  The cold coffee in a jar in the fridge plus one ice cube is perfect.


----------



## sm4him

Generally speaking, if I am reduced to drinking "old" coffee is it because I am desperate for the sweet elixir of life and that is the only source of it available.
So while old coffee may not be as good as freshly brewed, I figure if I'm even considering drinking it, it's probably a sight better than my alternative, which is no coffee at all.

Sadly, this morning I have had only ONE cup. Not getting my second cup of coffee is NOT a good way to get this already very dreich day started.
Couldn't sleep last night, and today is one of my long days, since I go straight from work to church and then choir practice. I may have to find some day-old coffee around here.


----------



## KenC

Oh, yeah - morning, hosers!

Trying to wake up at work again.  Why is work sometimes so un-stimulating?


----------



## Designer

KenC said:


> Why is work sometimes so un-stimulating?


Why do you think they call it "work"?

For me, it was stultifying, frustrating, unrewarding, and dangerous to my health.


----------



## KenC

Designer said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why is work sometimes so un-stimulating?
> 
> 
> 
> Why do you think they call it "work"?
> 
> For me, it was stultifying, frustrating, unrewarding, and dangerous to my health.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I know.  It's really not all that bad, considering.  For one thing, I feel lucky never to have been out of work.  That's probably becoming more and more rare the way things are going.


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why is work sometimes so un-stimulating?
> 
> 
> 
> Why do you think they call it "work"?
> 
> For me, it was stultifying, frustrating, unrewarding, and dangerous to my health.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, I know.  It's really not all that bad, considering.  For one thing, I feel lucky never to have been out of work.  That's probably becoming more and more rare the way things are going.
Click to expand...


Up until recently--when the Dark Lord came to rule over our battle station--I'd really been fairly content with my job. It had its good parts and bad parts, but I enjoyed what I did and worked well with nearly everyone (and managed to minimize contact with the few exceptions to that).

For the past few months, I've had a return to long-ago days I'd forgotten about--days where you wake up in the morning absolutely dreading having to face the day at work. Days when you spend your lunch break looking at want ads.  
Where you come home physically and mentally exhausted from the sheer effort of not managing to get yourself fired for another day. 

Usually, my little "mantra" when I get a bit whiney about work is "at least I have a job. At least I don't have to live under a bridge." And it's usually quite effective. Lately, though--I've also been trying to remind myself that despite the presence of the Dark Lord, for the most part, I *DO* still enjoy the actual work that I do.
And it really could be worse--at least I don't have a job digging ditches, or doing other manual labor outside when it's pouring rain or freezing cold (or not getting paid because it's TOO rainy or cold to work). At least I'm not flipping burgers and asking irritable, "I want it now" customers if they want fries with that.  At least I'm not working at the recycling plant, picking through people's garbage to pull out the stuff that can be recycled (yes, there is a nearby county that actually does it this way!).
(Disclaimer: NOT that there is anything "wrong" with those jobs, should you happen to enjoy that sort of thing.  It's just that those are examples of work that would suck the very soul from my being)


----------



## sm4him

Also, I got Bonus Bacon this morning!!!!!
Only one cup of coffee, but surprise bacon--that almost levels the playing field!

I stopped at a fast-food place right by my house and got an order of biscuits and gravy (yeah, yeah--don't judge me!).  As I drove on to work, I kept thinking that something didn't smell quite right for sausage gravy, and hoping they hadn't given me a ham biscuit or something like that instead.
When I got to my office, I opened the container--the biscuit and the gravy were there, along with what I'll just call a "scrambled egg patty"…and BACON!! Two strips of bacon!  SCORE!!!!!!
Tossed the nasty little egg thing and ate the rest.

But I do feel bad for the poor schmuck who got to work (or wherever they were going) only to discover they did NOT have the bacon or the flattened scrambled egg patty they evidently specifically requested.


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> Also, I got Bonus Bacon this morning!!!!!
> Only one cup of coffee, but surprise bacon--that almost levels the playing field!
> 
> I stopped at a fast-food place right by my house and got an order of biscuits and gravy (yeah, yeah--don't judge me!).  As I drove on to work, I kept thinking that something didn't smell quite right for sausage gravy, and hoping they hadn't given me a ham biscuit or something like that instead.
> When I got to my office, I opened the container--the biscuit and the gravy were there, along with what I'll just call a "scrambled egg patty"…and BACON!! Two strips of bacon!  SCORE!!!!!!
> Tossed the nasty little egg thing and ate the rest.
> 
> But I do feel bad for the poor schmuck who got to work (or wherever they were going) only to discover they did NOT have the bacon or the flattened scrambled egg patty they evidently specifically requested.


 Bonus bacon makes any day a winner!


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've tried leftover coffee many times, and each time I have been hugely disappointed.  Fresh is best.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, it depends on the coffee.  I've tested the idea of reheating day-old coffee to see if it was drinkable.  Same coffee, same proportions of coffee to water, same serving method, but one cup was 1 day old (and nuked to warm up) and one was freshly brewed.  There was a difference, but not as much as I would have thought.  Mind you, we use ground coffee from a local roaster, and they make a very good blend/roast.  So in a pinch, at least for the coffee I make, 1 day old is quite decent.  I've also done this test with store-bought coffee grounds, and 1-day old coffee is NOT pleasant.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I save it and reheat sometimes and haven't noticed an appreciable difference.  I mostly do it in the summer so I can have iced coffee with turning on the range and messing with lots of ice.  The cold coffee in a jar in the fridge plus one ice cube is perfect.
Click to expand...

I feel it is totally dependant upon the quality of the ingredients. Preground can stuff, cans which mix crappy beans with some good beans, typically goes south after an hour ... good beans don't have a bitter taste when they're freshly brewed or later. Old good coffee, after some time, loses some zest and pop ... freshness I guess would be a good descriptor ... but it still retains it's rich taste ... coffeeness doesn't go bad. People use cream and sugar in their coffee to mask the bitterness of bad beans ... good beans really don't require any cream or sugar to mask the offending flavors.

(As water is the principle ingredient in coffee ... I rarely use tap water. I have a little RO system in the kitchen that feeds the sink and ice maker.)


----------



## Gary A.

Good Morning Coffee Hosers. It is 55F right now but should hit 80F around these parts. I have to travel to Oceanside today, so I'll never see 80F. My quickie logo will be finished today ... I think I'll add a '." between SDV and Corp and viola! Fini. 

Whenever I wake up and say ... I hate work ... is when I start looking for another job. Fortunately, I've only said that a few times in my life ... typically after years of doing the same thing I sorta get bored and move on.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou doesn't like gadgets ... I am the opposite. But, surprisingly, she seems to have quickly adapted to and appreciates the Ninja. Yesterday she was looking up smoothie recipes, we made a trip to the store for smoothie stuff and last night, we were out in the back with flashlights harvesting some parsley and kale for the smoothie she took with her to work. We'll see how long this lasts. I'm torn between a tamales and eggs for breakfast or an orange/banana/kale/yogurt shake?


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> ... I'm torn between a tamales and eggs for breakfast or an orange/banana/kale/yogurt shake?


 That's not breakfast.....  eggs, sausage, kippers, bacon, beans, fried potatoes, toast (or better yet, fried bread), gobs of marmalade, and a pot of coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... I'm torn between a tamales and eggs for breakfast or an orange/banana/kale/yogurt shake?
> 
> 
> 
> That's not breakfast.....  eggs, sausage, kippers, bacon, beans, fried potatoes, toast (or better yet, fried bread), gobs of marmalade, and a pot of coffee.
Click to expand...

Agreed .. but I'm cutting down on my consumption and I'm having a luncheon meeting in Oceanside ... which answers my question. A quick smoothie to go and I'll sip on my drive. But tamales/eggs/beans/rice and a mug o' coffee does sound infinitely better.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Generally speaking, if I am reduced to drinking "old" coffee is it because I am desperate for the sweet elixir of life and that is the only source of it available.
> So while old coffee may not be as good as freshly brewed, I figure if I'm even considering drinking it, it's probably a sight better than my alternative, which is no coffee at all.
> 
> Sadly, this morning I have had only ONE cup. Not getting my second cup of coffee is NOT a good way to get this already very dreich day started.
> Couldn't sleep last night, and today is one of my long days, since I go straight from work to church and then choir practice. I may have to find some day-old coffee around here.



You and I are sharing lives today. Didn't sleep too well, woke up tired, had only one cup of coffee, and at work for 12 hours.



KenC said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've tried leftover coffee many times, and each time I have been hugely disappointed.  Fresh is best.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, it depends on the coffee.  I've tested the idea of reheating day-old coffee to see if it was drinkable.  Same coffee, same proportions of coffee to water, same serving method, but one cup was 1 day old (and nuked to warm up) and one was freshly brewed.  There was a difference, but not as much as I would have thought.  Mind you, we use ground coffee from a local roaster, and they make a very good blend/roast.  So in a pinch, at least for the coffee I make, 1 day old is quite decent.  I've also done this test with store-bought coffee grounds, and 1-day old coffee is NOT pleasant.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I save it and reheat sometimes and haven't noticed an appreciable difference.  I mostly do it in the summer so I can have iced coffee with turning on the range and messing with lots of ice.  The cold coffee in a jar in the fridge plus one ice cube is perfect.
Click to expand...


I've found that microwaved coffee tastes differently even half an hour after I've made it, but it doesn't get worse necessarily. I usually make a French press pot that gives me two cups of coffee. I kind of nurse my coffee so by the time I pour the second cup, it's not hot enough anymore, so I just give it 30 seconds in the microwave. The second cup always tastes differently than the first cup. But if I waited until the afternoon or the next day and microwaved the second cup, it wouldn't taste even more differently, so I suppose ultimately, half an hour or half a day doesn't really make a difference to me. And in the summer, I will sometimes make the larger pot so I can have some for iced coffee later in the day.

What I do NOT like is drinking coffee that has been sitting on heat for any amount of time. That's why I won't use drip coffee machines.

But even though the reheated coffee is acceptable, nothing ever tastes as heavenly as that first cup of fresh, hot coffee!



Gary A. said:


> I feel it is totally dependant upon the quality of the ingredients. Preground can stuff, cans which mix crappy beans with some good beans, typically goes south after an hour ... good beans don't have a bitter taste when they're freshly brewed or later. Old good coffee, after some time, loses some zest and pop ... freshness I guess would be a good descriptor ... but it still retains it's rich taste ... coffeeness doesn't go bad. People use cream and sugar in their coffee to mask the bitterness of bad beans ... good beans really don't require any cream or sugar to mask the offending flavors.



Y'know what's funny? If I get coffee in a restaurant or something, I have to taste it first without milk (I never use sugar). If it's got a nice strong taste, I'll add some milk (never cream unless there's no option.) If it's weak or kind of bitter, I won't use milk but drink it black. A little bit of milk in good strong coffee can add a complexity and balance the 'bite' nicely, but milk in weak or bad coffee just tastes like weird milk. I have to eliminate any distractions to be able to appreciate any slight coffee-ness there might be.

Heat also disguises bad coffee, which is why I don't always mind nursing the coffee even after it's gone lukewarm. Professional coffee tasters don't taste hot coffee. I think it's usually room temperature. That's when the flavors really come out.

In Portugal, as in most of Europe, each cafe serves only one brand of coffee. How you felt about each brand determined which cafe you hung out at, My favorite was Segafredo, followed by Christina coffee. Buondi was acceptable. Delta was to be avoided at all costs (funnily enough, Delta cafes were all over the place.) To this day, if I get an espresso that tastes like Delta coffee, I have to drink it very fast while it's still very hot. Once it cools even a little bit, more of the bitterness comes out. Adding sugar just made it even more disgusting. Adding milk made it taste like disgusting milk.


----------



## limr

And now, after writing my coffee manifesto, it's time to go get a cup and walk over to my other campus job.


----------



## oldhippy

Leonore.   Just found a recipe for Portuguese sweet bread.  In my book. 
The Bread Baker's Apprentice.. Willing to share.  Ed


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> People use cream and sugar in their coffee to mask the bitterness of bad beans ... good beans really don't require any cream or sugar to mask the offending flavors.
> 
> (As water is the principle ingredient in coffee ... I rarely use tap water. I have a little RO system in the kitchen that feeds the sink and ice maker.)



I gave up cream and sugar a long time ago once I realized that I actually liked the taste of coffee, even coffee that's only slightly better than average.

As for water, I use Brita-filtered water, which works well for me.  In NYC the water is actually quite good, as it comes from reservoirs upstate, so it works pretty well as is, but not so much in Philly ...


----------



## sm4him

Well, just had a bit of excitement here. Heard a loud "thump" sound like a low-impact car crash. Jumped up and looked out the window. There was a trolley stopped at the curb across the street, and a guy down IN the street, behind the trolley. No other cars around. People already starting to come to his aid. I realized pretty quickly that someone ELSE had hit the guy, not the trolley, and had then taken off--grabbed the camera and took a picture of the license plate of the only car headed the right direction--but there was a second car, a smaller black car, that was already too far past the scene for me to get a picture of.
Well, it turns out that a witness outside also took some pics with her cellphone. Her photos aren't very clear, and don't show the license plate well enough to read--but they DO show the same car that I took pictures of  and *I* got a very clear shot of the license plate!
So--maybe I'll have helped catch the guy!  Nothing much more inhumane than hitting a pedestrian and then just driving away…

Looks like the guy who got hit is not badly hurt, by the way. The way the paramedics had him splinted up, it looks like he injured his left ankle or tibia.  He did have a neck brace as well, but that's pretty standard procedure, and he seemed to be moving other parts okay.


----------



## limr

Awesome, Sharon! Well, not that the guy was hit, but that you were quick to act and get some good evidence.



oldhippy said:


> Leonore.   Just found a recipe for Portuguese sweet bread.  In my book.
> The Bread Baker's Apprentice.. Willing to share.  Ed



Definitely share! Is the recipe for the kind of sweet bread that are shaped like croissants? Those are super yummy delish.

As for coffee, I just read this article about some really hardcore folks:
How AeroPress Fans Are Hacking Their Way To A Better Cup Of Coffee The Salt NPR


----------



## Derrel

Way to go Sharon! Hit and run is a serious, despicable offense. Glad you were on the spot with the cam!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sharon now I have this mental image of your boss as Darth Vader walking thru your building whooshing thru that mask thingy. Our longtime director retired a few years before I did and the result, well, it wasn't good. Some of us used to talk about looking elsewhere but the only districts hiring were the kind that have to pay a lot to get anybody to work there so it would have been the frying pan into the fire. Hang in there!

Leonore I'm finding that one of the nice perks of early retirement is being able to enjoy coffee in the morning and not have to rush.

Do they still make the coffee that comes in something like tea bags that you just heat up water to make? maybe better than nothing...


----------



## sm4him

vintagesnaps said:


> *Sharon now I have this mental image of your boss as Darth Vader walking thru your building whooshing thru that mask thingy.* Our longtime director retired a few years before I did and the result, well, it wasn't good. Some of us used to talk about looking elsewhere but the only districts hiring were the kind that have to pay a lot to get anybody to work there so it would have been the frying pan into the fire. Hang in there!



It is EXACTLY like that. 






More seriously: I've had jobs that were so stressful (almost always because of other people, not the job itself) that it literally affected my health. After the last such job, I swore I'd never stay at a place again if it was causing that kind of stress.
And I have really been tempted to leave. To the point that I *have* been looking. Trouble is, I'm at "that age"--not nearly old enough (or rich enough) to retire, but not nearly young enough to have my choice of jobs set before me anymore either.  I've got some pretty marketable skills, but it's a sad truth that ageism DOES exist and it makes it tough sometimes.
Plus, I've been here a LONG time. I've got good benefits, a good retirement plan, a lot of vacation time built up--all those "extras" beyond just income that make it much tougher to just leave.

AND, in the time I've been here, this is our third director/general manager.  As I told my immediate boss, my plan for now is to outlast her.  We're a medium-sized transit system, so the people who land here as top dog are often looking to move on to bigger systems ultimately.  I don't believe for a minute that the Dark Lord plans to make THIS transit system her career.  She came from a bigger system, Nashville. So this was only a small step up for her really, from a Chief at a larger system to the Director of a smaller system. I don't believe she'll be here for 3 years before she moves on to a bigger system.  I just have to figure out how I'm going to survive the next two of those years (since we are closing in on year one now).  But I find it easier to dig in and determine to outlast someone than it is to try to adapt thinking this is just the way it's always going to be now.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> More seriously: I've had jobs that were so stressful (almost always because of other people, not the job itself) that it literally affected my health. After the last such job, I swore I'd never stay at a place again if it was causing that kind of stress.



This is kind of how I feel about the job at the lawyer's for many reasons - I don't like the work OR the environment. I could deal with not liking one of those things as long as the other was good, but this unfortunately I'm really not getting much from this job other than money. And that is exactly why I need to stay for now: I need the money and I need the line on my resume. Quitting might relieve the stress of doing that job, but then I launch myself right back into the stress of barely keeping my financial head above water.

In fact, this email just came from our faculty union today:
"Professors in Poverty
Recent data demonstrate that faculty across the country are
unable to make ends meet. Despite ever-rising tuition, nearly
a third of part-time faculty are living below or near poverty.

Below Poverty

Part-time faculty are more likely to be in poverty than the average Americans, ranging from 9% in Nevada to 43% in Maine.
1 in 5 part-time faculty members live below the poverty line.
22% of part-time faculty live below the poverty line, while 14.5% of Americans live in poverty (2013). 
1 in 10 part-time faculty live below the poverty line in 44 states and the District of Columbia.
1 in 5 part-time faculty live below the poverty line in 31 states and the District of Columbia. 
1 in 4 part-time faculty live below the poverty line in 16 states.
Near or Below Poverty

31% of part-time faculty have an income that is less than 150% of the federal poverty level.
14% of all faculty (including full-time) live below or near the poverty line.
The percentage of part-time faculty living near or below the poverty line ranges from 14% in New Jersey to 51% in Utah.


----------



## snerd

sm4him said:


> Also, I got Bonus Bacon this morning!!!!!
> Only one cup of coffee, but surprise bacon--that almost levels the playing field!
> 
> I stopped at a fast-food place right by my house and got an order of biscuits and gravy (yeah, yeah--don't judge me!).  As I drove on to work, I kept thinking that something didn't smell quite right for sausage gravy, and hoping they hadn't given me a ham biscuit or something like that instead.
> When I got to my office, I opened the container--the biscuit and the gravy were there, along with what I'll just call a "scrambled egg patty"…and BACON!! Two strips of bacon!  SCORE!!!!!!
> Tossed the nasty little egg thing and ate the rest.
> 
> But I do feel bad for the poor schmuck who got to work (or wherever they were going) only to discover they did NOT have the bacon or the flattened scrambled egg patty they evidently specifically requested.


If we would just pay those poor souls $20 hr all of the mixups would finally end!!


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> More seriously: I've had jobs that were so stressful (almost always because of other people, not the job itself) that it literally affected my health. After the last such job, I swore I'd never stay at a place again if it was causing that kind of stress.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is kind of how I feel about the job at the lawyer's for many reasons - I don't like the work OR the environment. I could deal with not liking one of those things as long as the other was good, but this unfortunately I'm really not getting much from this job other than money. And that is exactly why I need to stay for now: I need the money and I need the line on my resume. Quitting might relieve the stress of doing that job, but then I launch myself right back into the stress of barely keeping my financial head above water.
> 
> In fact, this email just came from our faculty union today:
> "Professors in Poverty
> Recent data demonstrate that faculty across the country are
> unable to make ends meet. Despite ever-rising tuition, nearly
> a third of part-time faculty are living below or near poverty.
> 
> Below Poverty
> 
> Part-time faculty are more likely to be in poverty than the average Americans, ranging from 9% in Nevada to 43% in Maine.
> 1 in 5 part-time faculty members live below the poverty line.
> 22% of part-time faculty live below the poverty line, while 14.5% of Americans live in poverty (2013).
> 1 in 10 part-time faculty live below the poverty line in 44 states and the District of Columbia.
> 1 in 5 part-time faculty live below the poverty line in 31 states and the District of Columbia.
> 1 in 4 part-time faculty live below the poverty line in 16 states.
> Near or Below Poverty
> 
> 31% of part-time faculty have an income that is less than 150% of the federal poverty level.
> 14% of all faculty (including full-time) live below or near the poverty line.
> The percentage of part-time faculty living near or below the poverty line ranges from 14% in New Jersey to 51% in Utah.
Click to expand...

Just, damn! Looks like a good time for a career change!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> Just, damn! Looks like a good time for a career change!



And now you know why I've trained as a paralegal and taken a second job! Well, fourth job if you consider the three separate jobs I do at the college. (And yes, I get three separate paychecks.)


----------



## Designer

vintagesnaps said:


> Sharon now I have this mental image of your boss as Darth Vader walking thru your building whooshing thru that mask thingy.


The nickname was "The Dark Lord" as in; Voldemort.

That is my image anyway.


----------



## snowbear

Good evening folks.  It's been busy for the PGFD.  A few of days ago we had two engines burn up when the wind shifted on a fire outside of an industrial building (three alarms).  Luckily, nobody was seriously hurt but the damage is around $1.5 million.  Today, a pedestrian bridge was struck by a piece of construction equipment (a crane).  A section of concrete slab fell from the bridge to railroad and Metrorail tracks below.  Interestingly enough, this was a short distance down-rail from the Greenbelt Metro station, where the WMATA (Washington Metro Area Transit Auth) will be holding a regional disaster exercise this weekend.  Again, luckily nobody was injured.

The good news - The PGFD ice hockey team has won the Burn Foundation Tournament!

I got in to the office this morning and immediately got to make two quick maps (mainly aerial images with some labels) for the WMATA exercise.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> AND, in the time I've been here, this is our third director/general manager.  As I told my immediate boss, my plan for now is to outlast her.  We're a medium-sized transit system, so the people who land here as top dog are often looking to move on to bigger systems ultimately.  I don't believe for a minute that the Dark Lord plans to make THIS transit system her career.  She came from a bigger system, Nashville. So this was only a small step up for her really, from a Chief at a larger system to the Director of a smaller system. I don't believe she'll be here for 3 years before she moves on to a bigger system.  I just have to figure out how I'm going to survive the next two of those years (since we are closing in on year one now).  But I find it easier to dig in and determine to outlast someone than it is to try to adapt thinking this is just the way it's always going to be now.



Miriam is on her 13th Deputy Chief in 12 years.  I know three are now Department Chiefs (our own, Portland, ME and York, PA)


----------



## Derrel

Damn you all...with all of your constant talk of bacon, and biscuits and gravy...I just got back from the grocery store, and for the first time in two whole, entire years or so, returned home with bacon. And of course, some Jimmy Dean sausage. Three rolls of that stuff...and of course some jumbo eggs...and coffee, milk, bread, a couple fine cantaloupes, some bananas, and a few other miscellaneous food items. SO...this week I am gonna actually have the first bacon I've had since, well, two whole summers ago. I've been buying hams for the past couple years, bypassing the bacon entirely, but it's just been too much reading about bacon here, bacon there, bacon everywhere. So...kind of looking fwd. to tomorrow...


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sharon now I have this mental image of your boss as Darth Vader walking thru your building whooshing thru that mask thingy.
> 
> 
> 
> The nickname was "The Dark Lord" as in; Voldemort.
> 
> That is my image anyway.
Click to expand...


Actually, it's a purposeful mix of Darth Vader and Voldemort--I started calling her "She Who Must Not be Named" first, but that was too hard to say every time, plus when she talks, especially during meetings, I  really do get this very "Darth" sense about her, like if you openly dare disagree, you'll suddenly find it very difficult to breathe.


----------



## sm4him

Derrel said:


> Damn you all...with all of your constant talk of bacon, and biscuits and gravy...I just got back from the grocery store, and for the first time in two whole, entire years or so, returned home with bacon. And of course, some Jimmy Dean sausage. Three rolls of that stuff...and of course some jumbo eggs...and coffee, milk, bread, a couple fine cantaloupes, some bananas, and a few other miscellaneous food items. SO...this week I am gonna actually have the first bacon I've had since, well, two whole summers ago. I've been buying hams for the past couple years, bypassing the bacon entirely, but it's just been too much reading about bacon here, bacon there, bacon everywhere. So...kind of looking fwd. to tomorrow...



You're welcome.


----------



## Designer

I usually pick up several packs of bacon when they're on sale, but I'm out of stock ATM. 

I used to go for the thick-sliced, and have bought "ends and pieces" several times, but lately I prefer the thin-sliced.


----------



## limr

There's a place about 5 minutes down the road from me. It's an 8th-generation maple syrup...farm? Not sure what to call it. The family runs a small store on the property where they sell their own products and some from other local farms. They sell maple bacon which Buzz has gotten in the past. Don't know what it tastes like but it smells delish!


----------



## oldhippy

Had some bacon for breakfast, but it was 40 years ago.  So I tried that Morningstar wanna be fake veggie, taste like cardboard.  Guess I'll stick 
with eggs and toast.  And oh Ya Coffee.


----------



## Derrel

I thought maple syrup producin' farms was call't _plantations_? But I might be wrong.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> There's a place about 5 minutes down the road from me. It's an 8th-generation maple syrup...farm? Not sure what to call it. The family runs a small store on the property where they sell their own products and some from other local farms. They sell maple bacon which Buzz has gotten in the past. Don't know what it tastes like but it smells delish!



When we're up in San Francisco, we always cross the bay to Sausalito for breakfast at Fred's. Fred serves Millionaire Bacon, bacon drenched in maple syrup.


----------



## snowbear

Derrel said:


> I thought maple syrup producin' farms was call't _plantations_? But I might be wrong.


It looks like they are called _sugarhouses_ in Vermont.  We visited a creamery (cheese) which also made maple syrup on our last trip to VT.


----------



## limr

Just checked their website and they call themselves a farm. I do like the term _sugarhouse _ though.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Just checked their website and they call themselves a farm. I do like the term _sugarhouse _ though.


I found that on the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association.  Maybe some distinguish between the property and the operation.  

First cup of coffee is almost gone.  Put up another blog page last night - the end of the project is in sight, so I'll have to look for something else to do.


----------



## sm4him

First cup of coffee IS gone.  Went out to kitchen to get another cup. I don't quite recall what happened after that, but here I am, back at the computer, WITHOUT a second cup of coffee. So easily called away...lol.

As much as I love bacon, I am very particular about it. I don't like it when it's too thin. I don't like it when it's too thick. And I *especially* do not like it when it is maple-flavored or has maple syrup or anything else sweet poured on top of it.

And as long as I putting together random thoughts in one post--I seem to have discovered a patch of poison ivy somewhere. 
Probably wherever the tick was.
At least it's a very small area, so far. But it's on my right wrist, which means it gets aggravated every time I type or write--which I do pretty much all day, every day.

Gonna quit whining now and go see if a second attempt at getting more coffee is more successful than the first.


----------



## limr

First sip of first cup of coffee 

Morning, hosers. Lawyer man is off to a family wedding in Arizona today, so I get to knock off early and drive to Lake George with Buzz for the weekend.


----------



## sm4him

Ah...success! Got back with coffee this time!

Sounds like a fun trip, Leo! 
We've had a rainy, rainy week here--and things could still change, but for now, it's looking like Saturday might just shape up to be dry enough for a photo trip somewhere.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Working home today, so I feel a little separated from the usual aggravations.  They still reach me by e-mail, but somehow it's not as bad as being there.  I am not looking forward to a meeting this afternoon where I know someone who is not qualified or knowledgeable will try to tell me how to do my job.  He doesn't have actual authority to do that, but could really make himself a nuisance if he chose to do so.  I just need to figure out where to draw the line.  There are some things that are nonsense, but are not unethical or really detrimental to the company that I could go along with to keep peace.  Since I am stubborn and accustomed to everyone (almost) trusting my judgment and allowing me to do my job, I tend to draw the line to exclude all of the nonsense from what I produce, even the stuff that, although it doesn't help, really isn't harmful.  I'll adjust that line a little and hope for the best.


----------



## Gary A.

Good luck with that. Mary Lou brought up to me that my workplace suggests do not accommodate local politics. I realize that most of my life I've sorta been working on my own, I am solely responsible for the end product ... and that I've never really have had to work in and with a team and integrate my work with others. I think it's all stressful ... being solely responsible is one type of stress and working with others is a different kind of stress.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Another busy day today. Hell, its been a busy morning getting all my morning duties finished so I can just start my day. The first thing I do is tell Cookie good morning and give her a good rub down. She ends up turning over on her back, exposing her stomach for some good scratching, stretching her legs into the air, often she'll dive a paw or two into my arm, with this silly grim exposing her bottom teeth and then she starts purring. Then I fill Cook's dry food dish. Next I put away the dishes from yesterday and wash the odd cup or dish from our post dinner snack. Once the dishes are cleared I fill the electric tea pot and turn it on. I grab yesterday's coffee/grounds fill the carafe with water and dump the contents into a potted veggie. While the water heats up I rinse out the carafe, hand grind up the coffee, toss the boiling water into the French Press. When the water hits boiling the pot turns itself off with a ding of a single bell. Cook waits for that ding and runs in from the back at waits at the front door knowing that after I pour the water into the carafe we go get the paper. Before I open the paper, I open the kitchen windows and blinds and toss yesterday's paper into the recycling bin. Today I had to make some hummingbird nectar, refill Cook's kibble container, tossed a load into the washer and start the front sprinklers. Next, I'm ready to pour a cup of coffee, pump out some push-ups, turn on the computer ... Now I can open the paper, take my first sip while watching this wedge of sunlight reflect off the koi pond. As of this moment, I'm about to grab my phone, a camera, some plastic bags and ... The Cook and I are off for our walk, down to the horse trail, the creek and the park.


----------



## limr

Hell is other people.

Edit: Uh, that was in reference to the prior conversation about working with people, _not_ to Gary's morning routine


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Hell is other people.
> 
> Edit: Uh, that was in reference to the prior conversation about working with people, _not_ to Gary's morning routine


I think I am considered by most to be 'other people' ... lol


----------



## limr

Hey, I totally recognize that I too am people and probably cause some people hell


----------



## minicoop1985

Introverts unite! Quietly! Alone, at home!


----------



## snowbear

Busy today.  Picked up a muffin & coffee on the way into the office; I was driving so I decided to wait until we got there.  I didn't even touch the coffee until almost noon.


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> Busy today.  Picked up a muffin & coffee on the way into the office; I was driving so I decided to wait until we got there.  I didn't even touch the coffee until almost noon.



So was that a sign of amazing self-control, or incipient senility?


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Busy today.  Picked up a muffin & coffee on the way into the office; I was driving so I decided to wait until we got there.  I didn't even touch the coffee until almost noon.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So was that a sign of amazing self-control, or incipient senility?
Click to expand...


Yes.  I'm two for two.


----------



## KenC

minicoop1985 said:


> Introverts unite! Quietly! Alone, at home!



Yes, that was my yesterday, if you don't count the plumber who came to fix something.  Now I'm back at work with a real cup of coffee (not one from the machine with the little packets) trying to get going.  At least the meeting yesterday was not bad - the guy I expected to be a PITA didn't show!

Morning, hosers!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers! Coming atcha from Lake George. Woke up with a headache and hoping it's not going to be one of my bad ones. Going out for a walk and some photos soon. Looks like it's going to be kinda rainy so we'll probably hit the outlet stores in the afternoon. Tomorrow we'll head into Saratoga.

The hotel coffee is weaker than I prefer but surprisingly good in terms of flavor, so that was a nice surprise, especially sonce coffee can help manage my headache so I tend to drink a little bit more when I have one.


----------



## tirediron

Yuck... "woken up with" are the worst flavour of headache in my experience.  If the coffee doesn't do it, add a shot (and by 'shot' I mean a half-mug or so) of darm rum to the brew.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, Hosers! It's a full day here. Client meeting at 11, then shooting a dance studio, then helping set up for the local camera club's contest tomorrow. Whew.


----------



## Gary A.

Kuala works also. The good thing about Kuala is that it doesn't show up on your breath. I learned that little trick from an attorney as he was about to enter a courthouse drinking coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Morning, Hosers! It's a full day here. Client meeting at 11, then shooting a dance studio, then helping set up for the local camera club's contest tomorrow. Whew.


Good for you! Appleton will never be the same.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 54F right now, but it should hit 80F.  Gonna wrap up an initial installment of Hawaiian Garden Parade images this morning, my new company logo and get some billing done. I'd rather be at Lake George. On our evening walk, Mary Lou, Cook and I ran into JoJo. JoJo is this wonderful standard dark-gray poodle. JoJo and Cook ran, and jumped, spun and wrestled together. Just plan fun and good entertainment for all. JoJo owner asked about Cook's age, we told her 11, and the owner was amazed ... "Oh My...". Of course Cook went to bed the instant she got home. But she's a trooper. Okay, the Cook and I are off on our morning walk ... usually I let Cook choose our path, but today maybe we'll walk through BIOLA University.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Woke up with a headache and hoping it's not going to be one of my bad ones. Going out for a walk and some photos soon. Looks like it's going to be kinda rainy



Do you use Sudafed on rainy days?  I find it helps because part of the problem on those days is in the sinuses.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Woke up with a headache and hoping it's not going to be one of my bad ones. Going out for a walk and some photos soon. Looks like it's going to be kinda rainy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you use Sudafed on rainy days?  I find it helps because part of the problem on those days is in the sinuses.
Click to expand...


Yup, I found this to be more of a sinus headache than migraine. A sinus can of course trigger a migraine, but so far, it's gotten a LOT better with coffee and Advil, but I also take a decongestant.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Woke up with a headache and hoping it's not going to be one of my bad ones. Going out for a walk and some photos soon. Looks like it's going to be kinda rainy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you use Sudafed on rainy days?  I find it helps because part of the problem on those days is in the sinuses.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup, I found this to be more of a sinus headache than migraine. A sinus can of course trigger a migraine, but so far, it's gotten a LOT better with coffee and Advil, but I also take a decongestant.
Click to expand...


You have my sympathies.  I just got over the OD of allergens I got Monday - just in time for a trip to the Botanical Gardens, tomorrow.


----------



## Gary A.

I've been using Flonase and found it works better than anything else I've used for allergies.


----------



## Gary A.

I shot a parade ...


----------



## NancyMoranG

Road trip today... We are leaving in our Rv from Florida to Ohio for a family wedding then on to Cape Cod for the summer.
Hope the headache subsides Limr. 
Good coffee to all....


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> I shot a parade ...



Well, there's the answer to when you need some extra hands...


----------



## oldhippy

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Woke up with a headache and hoping it's not going to be one of my bad ones. Going out for a walk and some photos soon. Looks like it's going to be kinda rainy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you use Sudafed on rainy days?  I find it helps because part of the problem on those days is in the sinuses.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup, I found this to be more of a sinus headache than migraine. A sinus can of course trigger a migraine, but so far, it's gotten a LOT better with coffee and Advil, but I also take a decongestant.
Click to expand...


Lived with sinus for more year than some of you are old.  Came on a cure for me.  So here it is.
Buy a saline spray,  go home and dump it out.  
Make you own, mighty germ fighter spray.
10 parts sterile water
1.  part hydrogen peroxide
Pinch of sea salt.  Don't use to much, as it makes this uncomfortable.
Pinch of baking soda.
Use several times daily at first.  Then a few time daily after.
It will take up to a month to kill off the persistent and recurring germs.
I have taken maybe a thousand doses of some sinus cure that never worked.  This worked for me. BTW. Fairly fast relief at first use.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Here, it's currently 47, heading for a high of 63. Was a very productive day yesterday. Meeting with the client couldn't have gone better-the guy is going to network FOR us! And he had a Lamborghini. And he was trying to sell US the job instead of us selling him anything. To say the least, I'm quite thrilled at what happened there.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Ed, that's awesome, thank you! Definitely going to try it. Derrel told me me about a similar recipe to wash out sinuses. I have to be more consistent about it.

Buzz and I just finished having breakfast at one of the last two remaining Howard Johnson's in the entire country.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey Leo, try a neti pot.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 57F as I keyboard ... should hit the upper 70's today. A clam chowder was highly recommended to us yesterday. So Mary Lou and I had dinner at the Original Fish Company in Los Alamitos. It was delish, one of the best I've ever consumed. I thought it was gonna be this hole in the wall ... but it turned out to be a large and very nice eatery. I ordered a Yellowfin Tuna steak and this was the first time I've been asked how I wanted a fish cooked ... ala rare or medium rare. We came back stuffed to the gills and enjoyed a glass of wine to top off a pleasant evening. Mary Lou wants my citrus marinated chicken for dinner. If anybody doesn't have dinner plans, come on over.


----------



## minicoop1985

Compared with yesterday, it's kinda chilly here. MIGHT hit 60. Total letdown compared with mid 70s yesterday.

I just learned how to do panoramas! Yay! This will be a massive help for the client I just acquired.


----------



## Gary A.

Busy busy today ... mowed front and back, planted a couple more tomatoes and peppers then lunch. Mary Lou made some breakfast tacos, sausage, eggs, cheese, spinach and herbs from the yard and our first real tomato. (Some yellow pear tomatoes have been ripe, but they're small and don't count.) The instant you bite it, it says tomato ... very very yummy. Store tomatoes say water or meh when you bite into them. Tom's coming over and we decided to BBQ. Picked some oranges and basil, rosemary and thyme and toss the entire batch into the Ninja and with a few pulses made the marinade for the chicken.  Usually I'm squeezing the citrus by hand and chopping up the herbs. And, I've been busy turning my starter into leven and in a couple hours I'll be baking some bread. Okay, back to work.


----------



## snerd

Evening hosers. Laid around the apt today. Well, that's all I've done for 4 weeks now! Feel a little better, that makes these tubes and hoses all the more frustrating. I'll leave you with the crew of Star Trek shaking a leg.


----------



## bribrius

shooting with my daughter today. She is a young teen. All i can say is she is taking after her Daddy.  Total attitude. LOL   I have to say i think it is great. She won't be one of those cookie cutter shooters. she just shoots whatever the **** she wants to.  Even me.


----------



## Gary A.

Another snap from the parade.


----------



## minicoop1985

Another panorama, now with 100% more GODZIRRA. Still not perfect, hence the GODZIRRA.




Panorama Experiment 2 by longm1985, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

What is that ... a baby Godzilla ... a hatchling?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The start of another lovely day. Yesterday was long and busy. Tom came over for dinner and a movie. We wanted to see Ex Machina ... but couldn't find it locally, so we just drank wine, ate my orange marinated chicken, worked on my bread, relaxed in the patio and later NetFlixed Jersey Boys. All in all nice evening. I toss my dough into the frig for a slow long rise overnight ... firing up the oven now to bake. I've altered the formulation of the Starter and Leven ... we'll see how it goes.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- I got a new cooking thermometer. It has two probes, one goes into whatever you're cooking and the second affixes to the inside of the cooking chamber. Wires lead out of the cooking chamber and hook into a base unit. Then the base unit syncs with your phone and displays all the readouts. I'm in the office typing away and I can see that my oven is at 372F. I don't like the wires ... but it works. Last night I didn't have to keep opening up the BBQ to get a temperature ... just looked at my phone.


----------



## Gary A.

388F


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> PS- I got a new cooking thermometer. It has two probes, one goes into whatever you're cooking and the second affixes to the inside of the cooking chamber. Wires lead out of the cooking chamber and hook into a base unit. Then the base unit syncs with your phone and displays all the readouts. I'm in the office typing away and I can see that my oven is at 372F. I don't like the wires ... but it works. Last night I didn't have to keep opening up the BBQ to get a temperature ... just looked at my phone.


That's some high-tech s**t!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- I got a new cooking thermometer. It has two probes, one goes into whatever you're cooking and the second affixes to the inside of the cooking chamber. Wires lead out of the cooking chamber and hook into a base unit. Then the base unit syncs with your phone and displays all the readouts. I'm in the office typing away and I can see that my oven is at 372F. I don't like the wires ... but it works. Last night I didn't have to keep opening up the BBQ to get a temperature ... just looked at my phone.
> 
> 
> 
> That's some high-tech s**t!
Click to expand...

LOL ... yeah ... got it at Target.


----------



## Derrel

Who needs an Apple Watch when you've got dual-probe thermometer readouts on yer phone!!!!

My Sunday so far has been well, like this...

Yes, I did want to mop the bathroom floor, I did. But NO, no I did NOT want to mop the bathroom floor in a panic, with every towel I own, after having overflowed the sink while I was taking a shower...no...not the way I had envisioned it...


----------



## Gary A.

Derrel said:


> Who needs an Apple Watch when you've got dual-probe thermometer readouts on yer phone!!!!


Exactly! The first loaf came out delish. Much more substantial than you normal store/bakery bread. Working on second loaf now. Gonna clip some Rosemary and toss it in the dough.


----------



## tirediron

Derrel said:


> Who needs an Apple Watch when you've got dual-probe thermometer readouts on yer phone!!!!
> 
> My Sunday so far has been well, like this...
> 
> Yes, I did want to mop the bathroom floor, I did. But NO, no I did NOT want to mop the bathroom floor in a panic, with every towel I own, after having overflowed the sink while I was taking a shower...no...not the way I had envisioned it...


Well...  at least it's mopped!


----------



## Gary A.

Derrel, some of my bread and a Hangar 24 would cheer you up.


----------



## Derrel

I'm sick...can't taste anything...your delicious home-baked bread with fresh herbs sounds delicious...but I can't taste a damned thing...I made a few loaves of bread last month...turned out alright. What kind of yeast are you using? Fancy and rare? Or plain old American brands? I've been using Red Star the last three years...wondering if there might be something much better that I am unaware of...


----------



## sm4him

Derrel said:


> I'm sick...can't taste anything...your delicious home-baked bread with fresh herbs sounds delicious...but I can't taste a damned thing...I made a few loaves of bread last month...turned out alright. What kind of yeast are you using? Fancy and rare? Or plain old American brands? I've been using Red Star the last three years...wondering if there might be something much better that I am unaware of...



I'm not much on cooking (I'm perfectly capable, I just don't enjoy it), but I LOVE baking bread! Learned from my grandmother before I was even a teen; still use a lot of her recipes, just the way she did them (a bit of this, a pinch of that, knead it until it "feels right").

I use Fleischmann's Yeast, and only that. And not the Rapid-Rise stuff, the good old-fashioned yeast.
As long as they remain in business, that is the ONLY yeast I will ever use, because it reminds me of my grandmother. If they ever go OUT of business...I might just stop making bread.


----------



## Gary A.

Derrel said:


> I'm sick...can't taste anything...your delicious home-baked bread with fresh herbs sounds delicious...but I can't taste a damned thing...I made a few loaves of bread last month...turned out alright. What kind of yeast are you using? Fancy and rare? Or plain old American brands? I've been using Red Star the last three years...wondering if there might be something much better that I am unaware of...


"Free Range Yeast". I make a Starter and feed the starter over the course of days until it rises and falls with regularity ... then use the Starter to make my leven. It takes about a week to get the dough ready to bake. No big deal, just a minute or two everyday to remove the exhausted Starter material and then feed the Starter. I'm in no rush.


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers!!!

I'm back from Lake George. I'm unpacked, fed, and sitting here with a bourbon and ginger ale, about to get started on some grading. I've got Rodriguez on the turntable and the windows are open for some air. I've heard stink bugs are repelled by certain scents that are actually nice for humans to smell, so I've got some scented oil lamps burning near all the windows: peppermint, cedarwood, and basil.

Tomorrow my students have their first chance to pass a departmental "exit exam" that they need to pass in order to meet minimal standards to take Eng 101. I could do some grading then, but I am taking a notary test on Tuesday morning and I forgot to bring my materials with me this weekend, so while my students are taking their tests tomorrow, I'll be cramming for mine. Good times.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> so while my students are taking their tests tomorrow, I'll be cramming for mine.



I admire your dedication to understanding what your students are feeling.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> so while my students are taking their tests tomorrow, I'll be cramming for mine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I admire your dedication to understanding what your students are feeling.
Click to expand...


Some of their assignments can be submitted on our online course shell, and I always set the deadline for midnight. I would so be one of the students submitting at the last minute


----------



## minicoop1985

Argh. A crappy looking day out there. High in the low 50s and all kinds of rain. Blah. Nap time, methinks.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 61F right now and it's supposed to creep above 70F today. This was a good food weekend. My bread, my citrus chicken, the clam chowder and tuna steak and all the tomatoes, greens and herbs from the garden. Lake George would have been nice, but it is also nice to relax in the patio surrounded by roses, classical or some jazz on the stereo, sipping wine with the sounds of the waterfall in the background. Mockingjays have been binging on the blueberries ... Mary Lou stormed off to Home Depot and came home with a plastic hawk.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 61F right now and it's supposed to creep above 70F today. This was a good food weekend. My bread, my citrus chicken, the clam chowder and tuna steak and all the tomatoes, greens and herbs from the garden. Lake George would have been nice, but it is also nice to relax in the patio surrounded by roses, classical or some jazz on the stereo, sipping wine with the sounds of the waterfall in the background. Mockingjays have been binging on the blueberries ... Mary Lou stormed off to Home Depot and came home with a plastic hawk.


 Wouldn't a real one be more effective?  Personally, I've always wanted an excuse to install a propane canon in the yard and that sounds perfect!


----------



## Gary A.

Any excuse for any type of cannon is a damn good excuse. There are plenty of hawks in the area, they just have a problem sitting on the blueberry all day. I tried duct tape, but after a few hours they always manage to bite through the tape and escape.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

Torrential rains here.  I got soaked walking a short distance from car to train (I usually walk the three blocks, but not today) - no umbrella because of high wind gusts.

Oh well, dried out and drinking coffee, but then I'm at work ...


----------



## Gary A.

I wish it would rain here.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> I wish it would rain here.



I wish we could send you all a little of OUR rain.  Poured buckets last night; had some really severe storms with hail just to our south, but at least the hail never quite made it to my house!
It has rained here for far more days in April than it's been dry. Rained every day last week--long, soaking rains.
Today is FINALLY looking like things are clearing out a bit. I took the day off work, but not to go have fun in the sun. Got some business to tend to, then lunch with my Sunday School class to celebrate the 94th birthday of one of my ladies, then planning to meet some friends at 4:30 to go walking for a bit.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Yup, lots of rain today. Good thing I just bought a brand new raincoat from the outlets in Lake George 
I have this one in boysenberry (yes, the retailer is Wilson's Leather, but my raincoat is not leather) Black Rivet Full Skirted Trench Coat - New Arrivals - Women s - Wilsonsleather - Categories - Wilsons Leather
I luuuurhves it.

Students have 45 minutes left for their exam. I'm studying for my exam. Not sure if I'm ready for it. There's not a lot of material to study, but it's all in dense legalese. Kind of slow going. I'm trying, though. I bought an e-book on Amazon that gives the notary public license law in plainer English and I'll have that up on my computer at my admin job later today. We'll see how it goes.

All I know is that I'll feel incredibly stupid if I fail this exam


----------



## limr

Also, I'm hungry, I need the bathroom, and I need more coffee, but I'm stuck here for another...probably 30 minutes by the time it's all said and done.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Also, I'm hungry, I need the bathroom, and I need more coffee, but I'm stuck here for another...probably 30 minutes by the time it's all said and done.



These certainly don't sound like conditions conducive to studying boring material - my sympathies.


----------



## Derrel

66 degrees now, with a predicted high temp of 81 degrees. We usually have a couple days in the 80's in April. We're coming off of three straight, sunny, windless, gorgeous, 70-something days. I've been thinking about doing some spring salmon fishing for the first time in years. May is the best month of the season for spring chinook. As in California, and Washington, our rivers are low, and we don't have much snowpack in the mountains, so that means lower water, which is my favorite for the spinner fishing I prefer.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Warm here too over the weekend and unseasonably so, but today's more like it, cool and rainy, gloom and doom, cats and dogs... Over the weekend went to our local college hockey team's end of the season banquet. Booster club supporters and whatnot get seated at a player's table and ours just signed with an NHL team, great rejoicing for him (and his mom).

Getting nothin' done today, sitting here listening to the dryer and trying to motivate to do something productive. Or not.
.


----------



## Gary A.

Another long day ... but I'm a hero ... I just surprised Mary Lou with an iPad Air. (I'm a hero until I open my mouth and say something stupid... so the clock is ticking.)


----------



## Gary A.

Chinese tonight.






Another from the parade.


----------



## bribrius

bringing my younger daughter out shooting with me the other day. Good times.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. I'm off to take my exam this morning. I've got my four freshly-sharpened #2 pencils! Wish me luck!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. I'm off to take my exam this morning. I've got my four freshly-sharpened #2 pencils! Wish me luck!



You don't NEED luck!!  You've got smarts on your side!  You'll rock this!


----------



## sm4him

Well, this is shaping up to be a very good week--despite a sick day yesterday because of a headache.  I did still go to the gathering to celebrate the 94th birthday of one of my Sunday School ladies, but I ended up begging off from meeting some friends for walking. It was really windy and a bit cool, and I felt like it had too much potential to make my head hurt more instead of less.

Head still hurts, but not nearly as much.  Not even a stalker headache now; more of a lurker headache--you know it's still there, but it doesn't really show itself.

So why is it a good week? Well--I experimented with formal studio portrait work for the first time ever--I'm selecting photos for possible display at two new exhibit/shows.  AND I've got two new-to-me pieces of gear headed my way; one of them is particularly exciting to me. I'll tell you more when it gets here!!  Expecting both items on Thursday. Might have to take Friday off...


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. I'm off to take my exam this morning. I've got my four freshly-sharpened #2 pencils! Wish me luck!


Good luck!


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. I'm off to take my exam this morning. I've got my four freshly-sharpened #2 pencils! Wish me luck!



As Sharon said, you don't need luck when you have smarts on you side.  But just in case, I'm crossing my fingers and toes on your behalf.  You understand, I hope, that this is a sacrifice, as it makes both typing and walking rather difficult.  But one has to make sacrifices for one's friends.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

Finish that exam quickly Leonore so Paul can walk normally again.  You'll pass of course but we must take into consideration his twisted digits.

Sitting here waking up at work with my coffee.  I can't tell yet if this is a day that I want to be awake for, but I suppose we'll see won't we?


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. I'm off to take my exam this morning. I've got my four freshly-sharpened #2 pencils! Wish me luck!


With four freshly sharpened #2 pencils, you won't need luck. (Kick some exam butt.)


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Well, this is shaping up to be a very good week--despite a sick day yesterday because of a headache.  I did still go to the gathering to celebrate the 94th birthday of one of my Sunday School ladies, but I ended up begging off from meeting some friends for walking. It was really windy and a bit cool, and I felt like it had too much potential to make my head hurt more instead of less.
> 
> Head still hurts, but not nearly as much.  Not even a stalker headache now; more of a lurker headache--you know it's still there, but it doesn't really show itself.
> 
> So why is it a good week? Well--I experimented with formal studio portrait work for the first time ever--I'm selecting photos for possible display at two new exhibit/shows.  AND I've got two new-to-me pieces of gear headed my way; one of them is particularly exciting to me. I'll tell you more when it gets here!!  Expecting both items on Thursday. Might have to take Friday off...


Now if you get a drive in with the top down ... you'll have this week made.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> Finish that exam quickly Leonore so Paul can walk normally again.  You'll pass of course but we must take into consideration his twisted digits.
> 
> Sitting here waking up at work with my coffee.  I can't tell yet if this is a day that I want to be awake for, but I suppose we'll see won't we?


Ahhh ... that's a lot of poppycock from Paul. You can walk just fine with your toes crossed, you just gonna walk backwards.


----------



## limr

Thanks, y'll! 

I am at the test center and just got my card to save my seat (it's a walk-in so I wanted to nake sure I was here early enough to get a spot.) I have about 45 minutes before I go back in to the test room, so I'm studying in the car a bit more. I did well on the practice exams so hopefully this will go quickly. Max time allowed in an hour but I don't think I'll take that long. Gotta think of the fingers and toes!


----------



## tirediron

Good luck Lenny!


----------



## limr

Soooo sharp. My geek ocd is sooooooooo happy right now.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Soooo sharp. My geek ocd is sooooooooo happy right now.
> View attachment 99383


 Can't be very OCD, the pencils are all different lengths!


----------



## Designer

Well, I couldn't help but notice that the labels are not facing the same direction.  

That would drive me crazy!


----------



## limr

Well, I'm not still at home turning light switches on and off 162 times, so no, the OCD isn't _that _strong. And it's hard to hold the pencils still and take a picture.

Better? Facing the same way, same length. Plus bonus random empty film cannister!


----------



## limr

Damnit, not facing the same way!

Okay, I have to eat my pb&j and go take this test, already! No more of these shenanigans!


----------



## sm4him

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Soooo sharp. My geek ocd is sooooooooo happy right now.
> View attachment 99383
> 
> 
> 
> Can't be very OCD, the pencils are all different lengths!
Click to expand...




limr said:


> Well, I'm not still at home turning light switches on and off 162 times, so no, the OCD isn't _that _strong. And it's hard to hold the pencils still and take a picture.
> 
> Better? Facing the same way, same length. Plus bonus random empty film cannister!
> 
> View attachment 99384



At first glance, in the smaller image, I thought it was okay, because they looked like they were the same length but each was offset from the previous a bit--but it was in a nice descending order so it was all good. But after John's comment, I made the mistake of clicking to see the full image--I should NOT have done that!

Second picture is much improved--my OCD thanks you.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, this is shaping up to be a very good week--despite a sick day yesterday because of a headache.  I did still go to the gathering to celebrate the 94th birthday of one of my Sunday School ladies, but I ended up begging off from meeting some friends for walking. It was really windy and a bit cool, and I felt like it had too much potential to make my head hurt more instead of less.
> 
> Head still hurts, but not nearly as much.  Not even a stalker headache now; more of a lurker headache--you know it's still there, but it doesn't really show itself.
> 
> So why is it a good week? Well--I experimented with formal studio portrait work for the first time ever--I'm selecting photos for possible display at two new exhibit/shows.  AND I've got two new-to-me pieces of gear headed my way; one of them is particularly exciting to me. I'll tell you more when it gets here!!  Expecting both items on Thursday. Might have to take Friday off...
> 
> 
> 
> Now if you get a drive in with the top down ... you'll have this week made.
Click to expand...


Looks like it's going to be pretty enough the next few days that I just MIGHT get that in as well!
Although--it is unseasonably cool here. Not cold, not even uncomfortably cool, just cooler than what I'm used to at this time of year. Highs this week look to be consistently in the upper 60s.
I must admit, as much as I love summer--it's sort of nice to be having an actual by-god Spring.
Usually, we pretty much jump from winter right into summer weather. We get a few weeks of spring weather and rain in March and early April, and by this time, we've usually settled into a drier, warmer weather. In fact, by the middle or end of April, we usually start hearing the familiar chorus, "GAH, it's SO hot; I can't stand this heat!" as if they were somehow unaware that They. Live. In. The. South!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Well, I'm not still at home turning light switches on and off 162 times, so no, the OCD isn't _that _strong. And it's hard to hold the pencils still and take a picture.
> 
> Better? Facing the same way, same length. Plus bonus random empty film cannister!
> 
> View attachment 99384


 Similar lengths....


----------



## minicoop1985

I was trying to think of some innuendo here, but nothing seems to be coming to mind. Which is rare.


----------



## Warhorse

Good luck on the exam!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was a good day. I had a successful meeting with a potential client, Mary Lou was extremely surprised and my oldest daughter was thrilled with her birthday gift. (Three for three ... me and Alex Gonzalez are ripping 'em up.) 61F right now, don't think we even hit 70F today. Maybe, hopefully, some rain today or tomorrow. Initially, the State Water Resources Board implemented a mandatory 25% water usage reduction across the entire state. After the protests the State is personalizing the plan, the cities of San Bernardino and Beverly Hills and Newport Beach are highest with 35%-36% reductions. On the other end of the spectrum are some Northern California coastal cities that are doing okay water-wise and only have to restrict by 16%.  Fast facts, California is in the fourth year of a drought. California uses more water than any state on our union. California grows more than half of the nations fruits, nuts and veggies. California's agriculture sales generate $44.6 billion annually. Last year, due to the drought, 400,000 acres went fallow resulting in the loss of 17,000 jobs.  

This is serious stuff.


----------



## pgriz

minicoop1985 said:


> I was trying to think of some innuendo here, but nothing seems to be coming to mind. Which is rare.



Cmon.  Long, pointy things.  With rubbers on the end.  Surely something will come to mind...


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was a good day. I had a successful meeting with a potential client, Mary Lou was extremely surprised and my oldest daughter was thrilled with her birthday gift. (Three for three ... me and Alex Gonzalez are ripping 'em up.) 61F right now, don't think we even hit 70F today. Maybe, hopefully, some rain today or tomorrow. Initially, the State Water Resources Board implemented a mandatory 25% water usage reduction across the entire state. After the protests the State is personalizing the plan, the cities of San Bernardino and Beverly Hills and Newport Beach are highest with 35%-36% reductions. On the other end of the spectrum are some Northern California coastal cities that are doing okay water-wise and only have to restrict by 16%.  Fast facts, California is in the fourth year of a drought. California uses more water than any state on our union. California grows more than half of the nations fruits, nuts and veggies. California's agriculture sales generate $44.6 billion annually. Last year, due to the drought, 400,000 acres went fallow resulting in the loss of 17,000 jobs.
> 
> This is serious stuff.


sounds like the prices of cucumbers are going up. But i dunno, i was in a store last week and saw "product of mexico" on some of the cucumbers and veges...


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was trying to think of some innuendo here, but nothing seems to be coming to mind. Which is rare.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cmon.  Long, pointy things.  With rubbers on the end.  Surely something will come to mind...
Click to expand...

Don't forget they are identified as #2 ... not #1.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was a good day. I had a successful meeting with a potential client, Mary Lou was extremely surprised and my oldest daughter was thrilled with her birthday gift. (Three for three ... me and Alex Gonzalez are ripping 'em up.) 61F right now, don't think we even hit 70F today. Maybe, hopefully, some rain today or tomorrow. Initially, the State Water Resources Board implemented a mandatory 25% water usage reduction across the entire state. After the protests the State is personalizing the plan, the cities of San Bernardino and Beverly Hills and Newport Beach are highest with 35%-36% reductions. On the other end of the spectrum are some Northern California coastal cities that are doing okay water-wise and only have to restrict by 16%.  Fast facts, California is in the fourth year of a drought. California uses more water than any state on our union. California grows more than half of the nations fruits, nuts and veggies. California's agriculture sales generate $44.6 billion annually. Last year, due to the drought, 400,000 acres went fallow resulting in the loss of 17,000 jobs.
> 
> This is serious stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> sounds like the prices of cucumbers are going up. But i dunno, i was in a store last week and saw "product of mexico" on some of the cucumbers and veges...
Click to expand...

Mexico ... California ... same thing. (California used to be Mexico before it had a revolution and became a sovereign state.)


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was a good day. I had a successful meeting with a potential client, Mary Lou was extremely surprised and my oldest daughter was thrilled with her birthday gift. (Three for three ... me and Alex Gonzalez are ripping 'em up.) 61F right now, don't think we even hit 70F today. Maybe, hopefully, some rain today or tomorrow. Initially, the State Water Resources Board implemented a mandatory 25% water usage reduction across the entire state. After the protests the State is personalizing the plan, the cities of San Bernardino and Beverly Hills and Newport Beach are highest with 35%-36% reductions. On the other end of the spectrum are some Northern California coastal cities that are doing okay water-wise and only have to restrict by 16%.  Fast facts, California is in the fourth year of a drought. California uses more water than any state on our union. California grows more than half of the nations fruits, nuts and veggies. California's agriculture sales generate $44.6 billion annually. Last year, due to the drought, 400,000 acres went fallow resulting in the loss of 17,000 jobs.
> 
> This is serious stuff.



You might want to consider renaming  the state "Arrakis", and starting the cultivation of melange.  Apparently it's a good cash crop.  At least for intergalactic pilots.


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was a good day. I had a successful meeting with a potential client, Mary Lou was extremely surprised and my oldest daughter was thrilled with her birthday gift. (Three for three ... me and Alex Gonzalez are ripping 'em up.) 61F right now, don't think we even hit 70F today. Maybe, hopefully, some rain today or tomorrow. Initially, the State Water Resources Board implemented a mandatory 25% water usage reduction across the entire state. After the protests the State is personalizing the plan, the cities of San Bernardino and Beverly Hills and Newport Beach are highest with 35%-36% reductions. On the other end of the spectrum are some Northern California coastal cities that are doing okay water-wise and only have to restrict by 16%.  Fast facts, California is in the fourth year of a drought. California uses more water than any state on our union. California grows more than half of the nations fruits, nuts and veggies. California's agriculture sales generate $44.6 billion annually. Last year, due to the drought, 400,000 acres went fallow resulting in the loss of 17,000 jobs.
> 
> This is serious stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You might want to consider renaming  the state "Arrakis", and starting the cultivation of melange.  Apparently it's a good cash crop.  At least for intergalactic pilots.
Click to expand...

should we take this serious? I don't even know. Both on your comment and the drought. Seems i see news of droughts on tv or in the news media somewhere every three years or so. It is almost seemingly normal occurrence at this point. Unless this is different than all the other droughts over the last decades. We talking dust bowl here ? Or just another drought.  And why on earth would millions of people congregate in a area with lack of water supply is anyones guess.


----------



## Gary A.

I actually have a little vermiculture operation going on in the back with my leftover food stuff. I could expand on it ... turn the worm castings into Spice ...


----------



## pgriz

bribrius said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was a good day. I had a successful meeting with a potential client, Mary Lou was extremely surprised and my oldest daughter was thrilled with her birthday gift. (Three for three ... me and Alex Gonzalez are ripping 'em up.) 61F right now, don't think we even hit 70F today. Maybe, hopefully, some rain today or tomorrow. Initially, the State Water Resources Board implemented a mandatory 25% water usage reduction across the entire state. After the protests the State is personalizing the plan, the cities of San Bernardino and Beverly Hills and Newport Beach are highest with 35%-36% reductions. On the other end of the spectrum are some Northern California coastal cities that are doing okay water-wise and only have to restrict by 16%.  Fast facts, California is in the fourth year of a drought. California uses more water than any state on our union. California grows more than half of the nations fruits, nuts and veggies. California's agriculture sales generate $44.6 billion annually. Last year, due to the drought, 400,000 acres went fallow resulting in the loss of 17,000 jobs.
> 
> This is serious stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You might want to consider renaming  the state "Arrakis", and starting the cultivation of melange.  Apparently it's a good cash crop.  At least for intergalactic pilots.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> should we take this serious? I don't even know. Both on your comment and the drought. Seems i see news of droughts on tv or in the news media somewhere every three years or so. It is almost seemingly normal occurrence at this point. Unless this is different than all the other droughts over the last decades. We talking dust bowl here ? Or just another drought.  And why on earth would millions of people congregate in a area with lack of water supply is anyones guess.
Click to expand...


The settlement of California happened during one of the "wettest" period in that region's history.  Plus, "free" resources such as water, are always undervalued in economic theory, until the resource is no longer "free".  If we assume (for sake of argument, so bear with me here) that the price of a bottle of water is a "fair" price, then we can assign a cost to every toilet flush, every shower, and every laundry run.  That makes the cost of our habitual use of water quite stark.  Frank Sinatra's song "Pennies from Heaven" may be the new paradyme if we start seeing water as being valuable.


----------



## limr

All done, you can uncross, Paul 

Test took me about 15-30 minutes. Checked it 3 times. Results in 2 weeks.


----------



## limr

Oh, and I couldn't even use my own pencils! Had to use the state-issued pencil to guarantee the Scantron could read the carbon. At least it was a nice pencil. I still sharpened it a bit extra, though. Because of COURSE I always have a sharpener with me!


----------



## sm4him

Oh, I HATE the "results in two weeks" thing!! Two weeks of nervous waiting…such torment!


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was a good day. I had a successful meeting with a potential client, Mary Lou was extremely surprised and my oldest daughter was thrilled with her birthday gift. (Three for three ... me and Alex Gonzalez are ripping 'em up.) 61F right now, don't think we even hit 70F today. Maybe, hopefully, some rain today or tomorrow. Initially, the State Water Resources Board implemented a mandatory 25% water usage reduction across the entire state. After the protests the State is personalizing the plan, the cities of San Bernardino and Beverly Hills and Newport Beach are highest with 35%-36% reductions. On the other end of the spectrum are some Northern California coastal cities that are doing okay water-wise and only have to restrict by 16%.  Fast facts, California is in the fourth year of a drought. California uses more water than any state on our union. California grows more than half of the nations fruits, nuts and veggies. California's agriculture sales generate $44.6 billion annually. Last year, due to the drought, 400,000 acres went fallow resulting in the loss of 17,000 jobs.
> 
> This is serious stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You might want to consider renaming  the state "Arrakis", and starting the cultivation of melange.  Apparently it's a good cash crop.  At least for intergalactic pilots.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> should we take this serious? I don't even know. Both on your comment and the drought. Seems i see news of droughts on tv or in the news media somewhere every three years or so. It is almost seemingly normal occurrence at this point. Unless this is different than all the other droughts over the last decades. We talking dust bowl here ? Or just another drought.  And why on earth would millions of people congregate in a area with lack of water supply is anyones guess.
Click to expand...

It is quite serious. Millions (38) come here for a combo of reasons. Jobs, we have the seventh largest economy in the world and our gnp is similar to Italy or Canada. Climate, the drought notwithstanding, we have nearly every climate/environments one can imagine, from rain forests in the north to deserts in the south, from glaciers in the Sierra Nevada Mountains to hundreds of miles of continuous farmlands in the Central Valley. From the tallest mountain in the CONUS, (Mt. Whitney), you can look straight down into the lowest point in North America (Death Valley). The pluses are that concentrated in this one state are some of, if not the finest, schools, cities, cultural centers, forests, deserts, coasts, et al. The largest trees in world live here (Sequoia), the oldest living organism lives here (Bristlecone Pine), the largest bird in North America is the California Condor, the largest creature that ever inhabited our Earth lives off our shores (Blue Whale). Our Yosemite Valley is considered to be the most beautiful spot on Earth and our State Highway One (Pacific Coast Highway) is arguable the most scenic road in the world. Weather ... (I don't think we even need to dive into weather).

I had a friend from Maine who would live with me in winter, (for obvious reasons). He was a man of few words, but when we drove up PCH from LA to San Francisco, he did admit that Maine has cliffs and pines trees along its coast "... but not 100 foot high cliffs with trees another 100 feet tall on top ...".

Winston Churchill toured the United States and wrote a book about his discoveries. He devoted an entire chapter to California.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> All done, you can uncross, Paul
> 
> Test took me about 15-30 minutes. Checked it 3 times. Results in 2 weeks.



Whew.  I was getting cramps in them digits. I'm thinking that you're going to ace it.  Just a feeling.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was a good day. I had a successful meeting with a potential client, Mary Lou was extremely surprised and my oldest daughter was thrilled with her birthday gift. (Three for three ... me and Alex Gonzalez are ripping 'em up.) 61F right now, don't think we even hit 70F today. Maybe, hopefully, some rain today or tomorrow. Initially, the State Water Resources Board implemented a mandatory 25% water usage reduction across the entire state. After the protests the State is personalizing the plan, the cities of San Bernardino and Beverly Hills and Newport Beach are highest with 35%-36% reductions. On the other end of the spectrum are some Northern California coastal cities that are doing okay water-wise and only have to restrict by 16%.  Fast facts, California is in the fourth year of a drought. California uses more water than any state on our union. California grows more than half of the nations fruits, nuts and veggies. California's agriculture sales generate $44.6 billion annually. Last year, due to the drought, 400,000 acres went fallow resulting in the loss of 17,000 jobs.
> 
> This is serious stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You might want to consider renaming  the state "Arrakis", and starting the cultivation of melange.  Apparently it's a good cash crop.  At least for intergalactic pilots.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> should we take this serious? I don't even know. Both on your comment and the drought. Seems i see news of droughts on tv or in the news media somewhere every three years or so. It is almost seemingly normal occurrence at this point. Unless this is different than all the other droughts over the last decades. We talking dust bowl here ? Or just another drought.  And why on earth would millions of people congregate in a area with lack of water supply is anyones guess.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It is quite serious. Millions (38) come here for a combo of reasons. Jobs, we have the seventh largest economy in the world and our gnp is similar to Italy or Canada. Climate, the drought notwithstanding, we have nearly every climate/environments one can imagine, from rain forests in the north to deserts in the south, from glaciers in the Sierra Nevada Mountains to hundreds of miles of continuous farmlands in the Central Valley. From the tallest mountain in the CONUS, (Mt. Whitney), you can look straight down into the lowest point in North America (Death Valley). The pluses are that concentrated in this one state are some of, if not the finest, schools, cities, cultural centers, forests, deserts, coasts, et al. The largest trees in world live here (Sequoia), the oldest living organism lives here (Bristlecone Pine), the largest bird in North America is the California Condor, the largest creature that ever inhabited our Earth lives off our shores (Blue Whale). Our Yosemite Valley is considered to be the most beautiful spot on Earth and our State Highway One (Pacific Coast Highway) is arguable the most scenic road in the world. Weather ... (I don't think we even need to dive into weather).
> 
> I had a friend from Maine who would live with me in winter, (for obvious reasons). He was a man of few words, but when we drove up PCH from LA to San Francisco, he did admit that Maine has cliffs and pines trees along its coast "... but not 100 foot high cliffs with trees another 100 feet tall on top ...".
> 
> Winston Churchill toured the United States and wrote a book about his discoveries. He devoted an entire chapter to California.
Click to expand...


You "could" be considered a California fan-boy, but you're absolutely right.  California is a marvelous place.  The problem is that the human animal doesn't often live within its means, or within the capability of the ecosystem we inhabit.  We're brilliant at short-term stuff.  We suck at the long-term vision thing.  If our economic system could be rejigged to reflect the true cost of the resources , the environment, and the (current) intangibles, we'd be much better at making intelligent decisions.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Results in 2 weeks.



I never understood why many exams are either on machine-readable sheets or are taken directly on a computer and yet the results still take a while to come back.  Not that you have anything to worry about of course, but it still would be nice to know right away.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was a good day. I had a successful meeting with a potential client, Mary Lou was extremely surprised and my oldest daughter was thrilled with her birthday gift. (Three for three ... me and Alex Gonzalez are ripping 'em up.) 61F right now, don't think we even hit 70F today. Maybe, hopefully, some rain today or tomorrow. Initially, the State Water Resources Board implemented a mandatory 25% water usage reduction across the entire state. After the protests the State is personalizing the plan, the cities of San Bernardino and Beverly Hills and Newport Beach are highest with 35%-36% reductions. On the other end of the spectrum are some Northern California coastal cities that are doing okay water-wise and only have to restrict by 16%.  Fast facts, California is in the fourth year of a drought. California uses more water than any state on our union. California grows more than half of the nations fruits, nuts and veggies. California's agriculture sales generate $44.6 billion annually. Last year, due to the drought, 400,000 acres went fallow resulting in the loss of 17,000 jobs.
> 
> This is serious stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You might want to consider renaming  the state "Arrakis", and starting the cultivation of melange.  Apparently it's a good cash crop.  At least for intergalactic pilots.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> should we take this serious? I don't even know. Both on your comment and the drought. Seems i see news of droughts on tv or in the news media somewhere every three years or so. It is almost seemingly normal occurrence at this point. Unless this is different than all the other droughts over the last decades. We talking dust bowl here ? Or just another drought.  And why on earth would millions of people congregate in a area with lack of water supply is anyones guess.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It is quite serious. Millions (38) come here for a combo of reasons. Jobs, we have the seventh largest economy in the world and our gnp is similar to Italy or Canada. Climate, the drought notwithstanding, we have nearly every climate/environments one can imagine, from rain forests in the north to deserts in the south, from glaciers in the Sierra Nevada Mountains to hundreds of miles of continuous farmlands in the Central Valley. From the tallest mountain in the CONUS, (Mt. Whitney), you can look straight down into the lowest point in North America (Death Valley). The pluses are that concentrated in this one state are some of, if not the finest, schools, cities, cultural centers, forests, deserts, coasts, et al. The largest trees in world live here (Sequoia), the oldest living organism lives here (Bristlecone Pine), the largest bird in North America is the California Condor, the largest creature that ever inhabited our Earth lives off our shores (Blue Whale). Our Yosemite Valley is considered to be the most beautiful spot on Earth and our State Highway One (Pacific Coast Highway) is arguable the most scenic road in the world. Weather ... (I don't think we even need to dive into weather).
> 
> I had a friend from Maine who would live with me in winter, (for obvious reasons). He was a man of few words, but when we drove up PCH from LA to San Francisco, he did admit that Maine has cliffs and pines trees along its coast "... but not 100 foot high cliffs with trees another 100 feet tall on top ...".
> 
> Winston Churchill toured the United States and wrote a book about his discoveries. He devoted an entire chapter to California.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You "could" be considered a California fan-boy, but you're absolutely right.  California is a marvelous place.  The problem is that the human animal doesn't often live within its means, or within the capability of the ecosystem we inhabit.  We're brilliant at short-term stuff.  We suck at the long-term vision thing.  If our economic system could be rejigged to reflect the true cost of the resources , the environment, and the (current) intangibles, we'd be much better at making intelligent decisions.
Click to expand...

Yes and no. The obvious observation is overpopulation. But, a lesser population would undermine our economy. In a 'free' society ... restriction on residency is intolerable. Increasing the price of housing, gas for vehicles (the primary transportation) and water is a free market tool which is already in play. Yes, to we are a Democratic state (as opposed to a Republican state) and liberally tax and liberally overspend. Our present governor, Jerry Brown, (Governor Moonbeam in another life), has balanced or nearly balanced the budget from our recent national economic disaster/recession. But he is battling the legislature to attain this goal. But, Public Water is not priced as a commodity. It is priced upon the costs associated with collection, transport, treatment and delivery to the tap. The actual market value of ... say a gallon of water in not included. So the cost of the water is nearly the same as it was five years ago prior to the drought ... new legislation is required to determine and add the actual value of a gallon into the pricing structure. Typically, the average citizen or business in California cannot own water, but merely rent it. Hence the pricing structure. You are absolutely correct, California was populated during the wettest time of it's existence (in particular the mid 1900's). I remember reading somewhere that the best time and the best place to have lived on this Earth was around the 1800's in California ... during the El Zorro time period. Nobody, since the first scientific study of the West by Hayden and Powell during the mid 1800's, clearly stated that water was scarce in the west and irrigation was a necessity. In California, 2/3rds of the water is in Northern California while 2/3rds of the population is in Southern California. In the 1950's the California started construction of the State Water Project, a series of aqueducts, canals, reservoirs, pump stations, et al channeling water from the north some 700+ miles to the south. The State Water Project is the largest water project constructed by any state in the nation. What few realize is that the lowest point in the Central Valley is the delta area which feeds San Francisco Bay, (reportedly the finest natural harbor in the world). From this point south, up to the crossing of the Tehachapi Mountains through 10 miles of tunnels. the water is running upstream. The huge dams at Lake Oroville generate the power to operate the pumps to convey the water through the Tehachapi Mountains and into Southern California. In the Water Resources Board room in Sacramento, hanging on the wall is an early map of the State Water Project dating back to the 1800's. (So nyet to the lack of long term vision.) (The State Water Project is not to be confused with the City of Los Angeles' water, which come from the snowpack of the southern Sierra Nevada and travels only a few hundred miles across the desert to the City.) 

Two things that always seem to play during times of crisis are our upper education system and our lack (when compared to other geographical areas) of traditional old school thinking. 

California's UC system of universities up and down the entire state is second to none ... in the world, by most any significant measurement. California has always valued public education and the legislature has consistently and adequately funded our state colleges during good times and lean times. The brilliancy streaming from these schools hasn't failed California in the past and hopefully they can address and adapt-to and overcome this crisis. Secondly, is the California culture. Publically, California is a rule-by-law state. Yes, technically, all states are, but from what I have personally seen and experienced there is much more rule-by-decree and corruption in other states than in California. (i.e, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Texas, Nevada to name a few of rule-by-decree states.  To me, any public sector deals made, which bypass a fair, openly vetted and openly consummated bidding process, are symptoms of a corrupt, rule-by-decree, deal making state. I am speaking in generalities, but there seems to be a cultural difference between the west and other regions. In other regions and states, who you are is more important than what you can do. (Who you are, as in ethnicity, alma mater, social class, et al.) In California, we are much more open to accept and advance people based upon what they can do as opposed to who they are. When I was a Los Angeles City Commissioner, I would entertain individuals and delegations from around the world who come here just to get a grasp on how and why we are so successful ... how we can not just survive but actually thrive, with such a diverse population base without marshall law or open warfare.

I am looking at these factors, a lot of smart people and a collective/cultural, above-board, private-public teamanship, to pull us out or at least minimize this crisis.

But then again all we really need is a few good El Nino years to get us back on track.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Our $44.6 billion agribusiness accounts for 80% of our water usage. Not filling swimming pools, won't have much impact on the State's economy. Not watering an almond crop will have a significant economic effect.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Results in 2 weeks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I never understood why many exams are either on machine-readable sheets or are taken directly on a computer and yet the results still take a while to come back.  Not that you have anything to worry about of course, but it still would be nice to know right away.
Click to expand...


I don't understand either. I get that it's a state test and they have to figure in time to send the test papers to a central location, score them from around the state, and send out results.

BUT...what I don't understand is why each test center can't just score their own and then send the scores to the central location for the state for their records. It's a friggin' 40-question Scantron. And the test center is a school. They could scan it and record the score in a database in minutes. But then again, this is government - nothing is going to ever be done that quickly.


----------



## Designer

Think; "Central Control".


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I am at the test center and just got my card to save my seat (it's a walk-in so I wanted to nake sure I was here early enough to get a spot.) I have about 45 minutes before I go back in to the test room, so I'm studying in the car a bit more. I did well on the practice exams so hopefully this will go quickly. Max time allowed in an hour but I don't think I'll take that long. Gotta think of the fingers and toes!


I sure hope you did better on the test.   

Of course, I know you did fine.


----------



## sm4him

Okay Hosers...I need to vent a bit...this might be long...and uninteresting. Sorry!  If it's too dull, just pretend you care, okay? 

So--the background story: I have a friend in Nashville who lives about a mile from a lake. She's been there 10 years, and this year, for the first time ever, she had some ducks visit her yard...specifically, her pool. Now, it's not that she *dislikes* ducks, she just likes her pool more--so she covered it, hoping they'd go away.  They didn't. Then she called TWRA (our wildlife resource agency) to see if someone would come get them, but of course, they wouldn't, because they don't really have the manpower to go chasing after every harmless waterfowl that lands somewhere unwanted.  So she posted on FB and asked if anyone would come get the ducks for her.

Okay, so I told her I'd post it on a state birding page I'm on and see if maybe someone who KNEW about catching ducks and lived close to her could help.

Instead, I've got comment after comment that is really getting my Irish up!  One person said she shouldn't live close to a lake if she doesn't want ducks to live in her yard, and another just posted that she needs to move to a condo. I pointed out to both of them that if a person lives in a place for TEN years without a single duck visit, I don't think it's that unreasonable that they would be surprised when it happens.

I've had one person tell me she should "stop feeding them." WHAT??? Where on earth did I say she was feeding them?!?! She is trying to make them go AWAY, and she ain't STOOPID.

My personal favorite was the guy who said "Does she not have a fence around her pool? As required by most home insurance?" To which I replied, "Yes, she does, but it turns out...ducks can FLY." 

The last straw, the one that has moved me from bemused to actively irritated, is the guy who commented and told me that my "snide comment" about TWRA was completely inappropriate.
I'd said, in my original post, that she had called them hoping they'd get the ducks, but (as I'd expect) they said they don't do that.  Meaning that I would not expect TWRA to be in the business of duck-gathering. Somehow, he decided that was a slam against TWRA.
Even after I explained that it was NOT a snide comment, and explained why, he came back with more snarkiness about how I wasn't clear. Interesting that not ONE single person in the numerous comments before that had a problem with my clarity, or with my wording.

So, while there was nothing the least bit snide in my original post, there was *definitely* a little snarkiness in some of my recent replies, lol.

OH, and the best part: Somewhere along the way, I posted and told them that it is ALL a moot point, because it turns out that Mama already has a nest, so there's nothing to be done until the baby ducklings arrive now.  But still they keep at it.

People are just twerps sometimes.  Usually when FB posts (or online stuff in general) gets me irritated, I just ignore it, but in this case, I started the thread, so I feel compelled to respond to people who post on it.
Okay, vent over. Maybe nobody else will post on the thing tonight and the post will finally fade into obscurity.  If they DO, perhaps I should forewarn them that I am about to drink some Fireball, and then SNIDE might just become the order of the evening. 

I've never been banned from a page--first time could be coming soon.


----------



## snowbear

@$$#0le$ are the same, everywhere.  I'd post once more, then cancel my account with that forum.  My last post would be "Never mind, the ducks are gone.  They were deliciously wrapped in bacon."

As far as the real birds, I don't know if the hanging pie plate trick would work, or not. Maybe someone would know how to rig up a noise-maker, like the CO2 "cannons" at some airports.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am at the test center and just got my card to save my seat (it's a walk-in so I wanted to nake sure I was here early enough to get a spot.) I have about 45 minutes before I go back in to the test room, so I'm studying in the car a bit more. I did well on the practice exams so hopefully this will go quickly. Max time allowed in an hour but I don't think I'll take that long. Gotta think of the fingers and toes!
> 
> 
> 
> I sure hope you did better on the test.
> 
> Of course, I know you did fine.
Click to expand...


Hey man, I was typing on my little phone keyboard


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> @$$#0le$ are the same, everywhere.  I'd post once more, then cancel my account with that forum.  My last post would be "Never mind, the ducks are gone.  They were deliciously wrapped in bacon."
> 
> As far as the real birds, I don't know if the hanging pie plate trick would work, or not. Maybe someone would know how to rig up a noise-maker, like the CO2 "cannons" at some airports.



LOL.
The guy who said "quit feeding them," when I explained that she definitely was NOT feeding them, posted again and said, "Eat them."  

Now that we know she's nesting, I think that NOTHING will work while Mama has eggs. I think it's quite possible that once the babies arrive, Mama will waddle them all off to the lake on her own.  My friend is afraid that they will then lay complete claim on her pool. If THAT happens, we'll figure something out, but it will NOT be to ask Birders on Facebook for help!!


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> @$$#0le$ are the same, everywhere.  I'd post once more, then cancel my account with that forum.  My last post would be "Never mind, the ducks are gone.  They were deliciously wrapped in bacon."
> 
> As far as the real birds, I don't know if the hanging pie plate trick would work, or not. Maybe someone would know how to rig up a noise-maker, like the CO2 "cannons" at some airports.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LOL.
> The guy who said "quit feeding them," when I explained that she definitely was NOT feeding them, posted again and said, "Eat them."
> 
> Now that we know she's nesting, I think that NOTHING will work while Mama has eggs. I think it's quite possible that once the babies arrive, Mama will waddle them all off to the lake on her own.  My friend is afraid that they will then lay complete claim on her pool. If THAT happens, we'll figure something out, but it will NOT be to ask Birders on Facebook for help!!
Click to expand...

Well, there you go -- breakfast (eggs) AND dinner!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am at the test center and just got my card to save my seat (it's a walk-in so I wanted to nake sure I was here early enough to get a spot.) I have about 45 minutes before I go back in to the test room, so I'm studying in the car a bit more. I did well on the practice exams so hopefully this will go quickly. Max time allowed in an hour but I don't think I'll take that long. Gotta think of the fingers and toes!
> 
> 
> 
> I sure hope you did better on the test.
> 
> Of course, I know you did fine.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hey man, I was typing on my little phone keyboard
Click to expand...


Yes, dear.


----------



## limr

That's better, sweetheart


----------



## snowbear

MLW has given me skilz!


----------



## sm4him

Are they KIDDING me?!?!?!
Seriously, someone just wrote THIS:
"As a babtist woman (yes I looked), maybe you should go back and read the part about being a steward for God's creatures. I'm still at a loss why you thought this huge duck debacle (laughing) would be well received in any wildlife group."

Let's ignore the fact that she can't spell Baptist.  How did she get from me asking if anyone would help my friend get the ducks out  of her yard to THIS crap???  

Oh my. I need some Holy Fireball.


----------



## snowbear

Gotta love the 22.6%


----------



## sm4him

I just asked an administrator to delete the whole thread.  I'm not leaving the FB page, just yet--because honestly, I've used it quite a bit and NEVER had this kind of hostile responses, and it's a great resource for hearing about unusual bird sightings in our area, so I don't want to act out of haste and leave the group then regret.

I'll just avoid going to the page for a while, remove it from my news feed, and see how I feel in a week.


----------



## tirediron

Wow...  just wow!!!!  Remind to pass on that group!!!!


----------



## pgriz

Sharon, it's a well known fact (1) that most people drop their intelligence level at least 20 points when they log onto the internet, and another 40 points when they interact on Facebook(2).  Some are discrete about this phenomenon, others are oblivious and prove it with every post they make.  I log in from time to time, mainly to disprove the rumors of my demise(3).  The best way to NOT have problems on Facebook is to make sure that a) there is no logic used in making the post and b) your post follows the image of a cute furry and large-eyed animal(4).


_(1)  Society Letters of the Arthenian association, vol.23 pg 4:  Ibid ribid et al:  Factmaking as a necessary skill in the modern world. (  Preferably delivered in a Morgan Freeman voice. )
(2) Annals of the Factoid processing Review, June 1901 edition, Shlum, Frum et al:  Intelligence degradation with future platforms.
(3)  personal communication.  Just because I am not present in the Facebook world, doesn't mean I'm dead.
(4)  Redditt.com:  things that make you go awww, and forget whatever it was you wanted to say..._


----------



## Gary A.

After they hatch, call Animal Control not TWA. Animal Control (or equal) is a local agency (city or county). Tell them of the problem.  They should be able to easily herd the family and take them to a safe location. And/or call the SPCA, they may also be able to help. If there is any hesitancy, tell them you have a cat and as a Baptist you fear for the lives of "all God's creatures". You been keeping the cat cooped up during the incubation but you can't keep it cooped up forever.

After they've "flown" the coop, go online or to Home Depot and get a plastic hawk and mount it in the backyard. Just for kicks, get one of those can-o'-air-horns and keep it handy if more ducks arrived next season.

Or, if you renounce your present religion, instead of the SPCA call the NRA.


----------



## o hey tyler

Wow Charlie, this thread has an obscene amount of posts. You started a revolution!


----------



## pgriz

I think we're witnessing a smart duck that observed how people adopt stray cats (feeding them, making sure they are safe), and decided that if it works for cats, surely it would work for a cute duck.


----------



## pgriz

o hey tyler said:


> Wow Charlie, this thread has an obscene amount of posts. You started a revolution!



Hah!  You missed the whole leaderboard episode.  THAT spawned THIS.


----------



## o hey tyler

pgriz said:


> o hey tyler said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow Charlie, this thread has an obscene amount of posts. You started a revolution!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hah!  You missed the whole leaderboard episode.  THAT spawned THIS.
Click to expand...

Okay, good sir. Now you must elaborate. Leaderboard? Seems frivolous.


----------



## tirediron

o hey tyler said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> o hey tyler said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow Charlie, this thread has an obscene amount of posts. You started a revolution!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hah!  You missed the whole leaderboard episode.  THAT spawned THIS.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Okay, good sir. Now you must elaborate. Leaderboard? Seems frivolous.
Click to expand...

Entirely!


----------



## snowbear

o hey tyler said:


> Wow Charlie, this thread has an obscene amount of posts. You started a revolution!


This is mild.  You should have been here for the leaderboard thread  (I deleted all of my crap).
This was born out of that trainwreck.

OBTW, still trying to get to ME - possibly summer.  We had way too much going on here to think about it earlier.


----------



## o hey tyler

snowbear said:


> o hey tyler said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow Charlie, this thread has an obscene amount of posts. You started a revolution!
> 
> 
> 
> This is mild.  You should have been here for the leaderboard thread  (I deleted all of my crap).
> This was born out of that trainwreck.
Click to expand...


Sounds like I should be glad I was absent for this period. Hey, I noticed that you don't have FB anymore Charlie. I looked back through an image you commented on and it looks like I was talking to myself.


----------



## snowbear

o hey tyler said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> o hey tyler said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow Charlie, this thread has an obscene amount of posts. You started a revolution!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hah!  You missed the whole leaderboard episode.  THAT spawned THIS.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Okay, good sir. Now you must elaborate. Leaderboard? Seems frivolous.
Click to expand...

Someone noticed "top posters" on the main page.  A core group tried to break it.  It started out as a "I wonder if we can get on it" and went out of control.  The best part was when I woke up "under" Sharon, Mish, Leonore & Marija!


----------



## snowbear

o hey tyler said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> o hey tyler said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow Charlie, this thread has an obscene amount of posts. You started a revolution!
> 
> 
> 
> This is mild.  You should have been here for the leaderboard thread  (I deleted all of my crap).
> This was born out of that trainwreck.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Sounds like I should be glad I was absent for this period. Hey, I noticed that you don't have FB anymore Charlie. I looked back through an image you commented on and it looks like I was talking to myself.
Click to expand...


I went back in with a different email address -- I'll send you a request, though I'm hardly there.  Glad to see in another post that Gabby is well.


----------



## o hey tyler

snowbear said:


> o hey tyler said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> o hey tyler said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow Charlie, this thread has an obscene amount of posts. You started a revolution!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hah!  You missed the whole leaderboard episode.  THAT spawned THIS.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Okay, good sir. Now you must elaborate. Leaderboard? Seems frivolous.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Someone noticed "top posters" on the main page.  A core group tried to break it.  It started out as a "I wonder if we can get on it" and went out of control.  The best part was when I woke up "under" Sharon, Mish, Leonore & Marija!
Click to expand...

I also noticed that "Top Posters" thing, and I have my own thoughts on it that I will keep outside of the general forum populous. If you want to know my thoughts, there's always the private message. ;-)


----------



## pgriz

The thing is, Tyler, the people who were post-whoring (a word invented for that episode, I think, by either Leonore (limr) or Sharon (sm4hm), were actually not too much  into the leaderboard thing, as they were in seeing how far they could push the boundaries.  There were quite a few one-word, and in some cases, one-emoticon posts.  Pretty much all the participants in that knew full well how silly it was, but since it had momentum, it had to be kept up.  Now that "we" got it out of the system, we could relax a bit and just shoot the breeze... and so the coffeehouse thread was born.


----------



## o hey tyler

I like the backstory. The plot thickens. Thanks Paul!


----------



## snowbear

We were to the point of posting what was on put iPods - every song. I think it ended up at about 1000 pages before I cleaned house.  It doesn't sound like much but the thread was only active for about 6 weeks.

Did you know there is a minimum waiting time before you can post another thread?  We found that out - over and over.


----------



## pgriz

For the really curious, you'll find it here... Leaderboard Photography Forum


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> For the really curious, you'll find it here... Leaderboard Photography Forum


 Noooooooo !!


----------



## pgriz

I said, for the "curious".  Besides, I think you accounted for at least 200 pages that are now missing from the official thread.  And those shenanigans got the leaderboard moved to the main page so that it would not disturb the children too much.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> For the really curious, you'll find it here... Leaderboard Photography Forum
> 
> 
> 
> Noooooooo !!
Click to expand...


Yessssssssssss! 

It was Stradawhovious who started it and I think he introduced "postwhoring."

I know I was, and pretty sure Sharon was too, basically in it to give a big middle finger to the Leaderboard (they subsequently changes it to "Top Posters") to show how meaningless it was.

Gary upped the game when he joined in and started posting 5 pages of photos each night.


----------



## snowbear

Actually, previously ran into the term "postwhoring" on a couple of automotive-related forums.
Yes, I was responsible for about 200 pages.


----------



## snowbear

I will apologize now.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> For the really curious, you'll find it here... Leaderboard Photography Forum
> 
> 
> 
> Noooooooo !!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yessssssssssss!
> 
> It was Stradawhovious who started it and I think he introduced "postwhoring."
> 
> I know I was, and pretty sure Sharon was too, basically in it to give a big middle finger to the Leaderboard (they subsequently changes it to "Top Posters") to show how meaningless it was.
> 
> Gary upped the game when he joined in and started posting 5 pages of photos each night.
Click to expand...


I think Gary's photographic contribution was the redeeming feature in this little exercise.  Although after a while you really got the sense that you were tapping into people's thinking processes, as it because a stream-of-consciousness experience.

I'm waiting for when the leaderboard actually tracks something useful, like "informative" or "useful" posts.  And I suspect Tim Campbell will probably be right up there.


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> I will apologize now.



Hey, you got to be a teenager again!  And what made it bearable, is that the main culprits didn't take it seriously.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, my new light meter arrived.


----------



## tirediron

Which one?


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> Hey, my new light meter arrived.



?


----------



## snerd

I could have sworn I saw a post by Derrel! Now it's gone!


----------



## pgriz

snerd said:


> I could have sworn I saw a post by Derrel! Now it's gone!



The "other" thread.


----------



## snerd

pgriz said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> I could have sworn I saw a post by Derrel! Now it's gone!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The "other" thread.
Click to expand...

Doh!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Which one?


Sekonic L-758DR


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> I could have sworn I saw a post by Derrel! Now it's gone!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The "other" thread.
Click to expand...

We need never to say the name of the 'Other' thread ... ever again.   Pinkie swear ...


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, my new light meter arrived.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ?
Click to expand...

Comment pouvez-vous dire ... "Mais que diable est-ce que cela veut dire", en francais?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> I could have sworn I saw a post by Derrel! Now it's gone!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The "other" thread.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We need never to say the name of the 'Other' thread ... ever again.   Pinkie swear ...
Click to expand...


That's why it was revived - I think we said the name three times!


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I will apologize now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, you got to be a teenager again!  And what made it bearable, is that the main culprits didn't take it seriously.
Click to expand...

No, not for the past; for the resurrection.
I think I'll make a bump post every other month or so.


----------



## minicoop1985

Crap. I can't sleep and I have a client meeting tomorrow. Great. Too much coffee?


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, my new light meter arrived.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Comment pouvez-vous dire ... "Mais que diable est-ce que cela veut dire", en francais?
Click to expand...


On cherche les  photos de cette merveilleuse appareille, parce que sans photos, il n'y a de preuve...  Mais pas grave, vous avez nommé le photomètre.  C'est vraiement un bon utile.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Crap. I can't sleep and I have a client meeting tomorrow. Great. Too much coffee?


Sorry - I was sleeping soundly when you posted.  Yes, either too much coffee or too little rum.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Paul.


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> Good morning, Paul.



Good morning, Charlie.  I'm trying to decide the prudent course of action for today.  We have several roofing projects going on, and all have been stopped due to the one continuous week of rain that was forecast for this week.  Except that I'm now looking outside at brilliant sunshine and no clouds.  According to the radar map, there is a line of rain and potential thunderstorms ranging from Indiannapolis to Platsburg.  If it continues on its current predicted path, it will pass maybe 50 miles to the south of us, and we'll have good weather.  If it blips upwards, we're in for a soaking.  Prudence says wait.  But then the forecast for the next week or so is filled with this "variable" stuff.  So if we wait, we may not get any work done (outside) till June.  I think I'm in the market for a house-sized umbrella.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Results in 2 weeks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I never understood why many exams are either on machine-readable sheets or are taken directly on a computer and yet the results still take a while to come back.  Not that you have anything to worry about of course, but it still would be nice to know right away.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't understand either. I get that it's a state test and they have to figure in time to send the test papers to a central location, score them from around the state, and send out results.
> 
> BUT...what I don't understand is why each test center can't just score their own and then send the scores to the central location for the state for their records. It's a friggin' 40-question Scantron. And the test center is a school. They could scan it and record the score in a database in minutes. *But then again, this is government - nothing is going to ever be done that quickly.*
Click to expand...


Yep


----------



## snowbear

Start with the quickest one, if there is such a thing.  My project (fire response zones and sequence, AKA "run cards") is on a short hold until it's decided if some neighboring jurisdictions will be included.  We are also going to get a real idea of the response delay from outside stations.

It gives me some time to work on a couple of other things and properly document what I've done, so far.


----------



## pgriz

And the prudent course of action, at least at this hour, is to pour myself a good cup of coffee.  Even if it doesn't make the future any better, at the very least it make ME feel better.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

It's another long Wednesday that's ahead of me. I actually have no idea what I'm doing in class this morning. They just had their exams and today's class is just 50 minutes (Monday's class meeting is a double period.) They don't get their results until Thursday (that's when the department meets to read all the essays - see, WE can get ESSAY scores back in less than a week. Not like we're giving Scantron tests or anything... ) In my experience, the students are usually distracted and antsy, and there's very little that I can get done in only 50 minutes with antsy students.

I think I'll play grammar Jeopardy with them.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> It's another long Wednesday that's ahead of me. I actually have no idea what I'm doing in class this morning. They just had their exams and today's class is just 50 minutes (Monday's class meeting is a double period.) They don't get their results until Thursday (that's when the department meets to read all the essays - see, WE can get ESSAY scores back in less than a week. Not like we're giving Scantron tests or anything... ) In my experience, the students are usually distracted and antsy, and there's very little that I can get done in only 50 minutes with antsy students.
> 
> I think I'll play grammar Jeopardy with them.



Field trip.  Take them trough the parking lot and give points for every vanity car tag that is a poor example of English.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Sharon.  Oh, sorry Leonore, I forgot the "Good morning" and just started yabbering.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Field trip.  Take them trough the parking lot and give points for every vanity car tag that is a poor example of English.



Or just have them punctuate some of gsgary's posts 

Morning, Charlie! You yabberer, you.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> For the really curious, you'll find it here... Leaderboard Photography Forum
> 
> 
> 
> Noooooooo !!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yessssssssssss!
> 
> It was Stradawhovious who started it and I think he introduced "postwhoring."
> 
> I know I was, and pretty sure Sharon was too, basically in it to give a big middle finger to the Leaderboard (they subsequently changes it to "Top Posters") to show how meaningless it was.
> 
> Gary upped the game when he joined in and started posting 5 pages of photos each night.
Click to expand...


Yes, "the thread that must not be named" was, in its entirety, a great big metaphoric "finger" towards the Leaderboard and the absurdity of even having such a stat.

And, while I admit that I often develop a slight tic when people mention "that" thread, I have to say that several really good things came of it:
1. The word "jamming."
2. The phrase "lots of so much."
3. "Friendships: I didn't "know" Lenny, Charlie, Marija, or Gary in a way that would have made me seek them out for conversation before the Leaderboard.
4. The Coffee House. If we hadn't had "that" thread, we wouldn't have this one.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Yes, "the thread that must not be named" was, in its entirety, a great big metaphoric "finger" towards the Leaderboard and the absurdity of even having such a stat.
> 
> And, while I admit that I often develop a slight tic when people mention "that" thread, I have to say that several really good things came of it:
> 1. The word "jamming."
> 2. The phrase "lots of so much."
> 3. "Friendships: I didn't "know" Lenny, Charlie, Marija, or Gary in a way that would have made me seek them out for conversation before the Leaderboard.
> 4. The Coffee House. If we hadn't had "that" thread, we wouldn't have this one.



A big YES on all points!

That Word was mentioned once in this post. Twice more and we'll have to bump the Leade----  oops, almost wrote it a second time!


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Good morning, Sharon.  Oh, sorry Leonore, I forgot the "Good morning" and just started yabbering.



Good morning!  I ended up just walking away from the computer after that last FB comment last night; went to bed and read a while, had some mango sherbet (not in bed, though I'm not saying that hasn't happened).
This morning, I've thrown that whole post into the "no good deed goes unpunished" pile.

I think one of my new pieces of camera gear came yesterday!  I didn't expect it until Thursday, so didn't even bother to look. I just finished my first cup of coffee, so now I'll get dressed and go check the porch for packages...


----------



## snowbear

Well, it's a bit of a delay but we are finally off to play in the traffic.  I'll check in this evening, sometime.


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> Sharon, it's a well known fact (1) that most people drop their intelligence level at least 20 points when they log onto the internet, and another 40 points when they interact on Facebook(2).  Some are discrete about this phenomenon, others are oblivious and prove it with every post they make.  I log in from time to time, mainly to disprove the rumors of my demise(3).  The best way to NOT have problems on Facebook is to make sure that a) there is no logic used in making the post and b) your post follows the image of a cute furry and large-eyed animal(4).
> 
> 
> _(1)  Society Letters of the Arthenian association, vol.23 pg 4:  Ibid ribid et al:  Factmaking as a necessary skill in the modern world. (  Preferably delivered in a Morgan Freeman voice. )
> (2) Annals of the Factoid processing Review, June 1901 edition, Shlum, Frum et al:  Intelligence degradation with future platforms.
> (3)  personal communication.  Just because I am not present in the Facebook world, doesn't mean I'm dead.
> (4)  Redditt.com:  things that make you go awww, and forget whatever it was you wanted to say..._



This was the perfect post to read first thing this morning; thank you!!
You know, in regards to point 4: Last night, one of the things that was getting me was that I've posted on that page many, many times and always been met with kindness, or at least, a complete absence of the sort of vitriole that was suddenly flying. That made me wonder if somehow I really was an awful, evil person for daring to commit the crime of wanting to help my friend have a duck-free yard. I mean, I never said a word about SHOOTING the dang ducks, and people do that Every. Single. Day.
But then I realized--pretty much ALL my other posts on that page have involved posting pictures of things that make you go awww.... 



Gary A. said:


> After they hatch, call Animal Control not TWA. Animal Control (or equal) is a local agency (city or county). Tell them of the problem.  They should be able to easily herd the family and take them to a safe location. And/or call the SPCA, they may also be able to help. If there is any hesitancy, tell them you have a cat and as a Baptist you fear for the lives of "all God's creatures". You been keeping the cat cooped up during the incubation but you can't keep it cooped up forever.
> 
> After they've "flown" the coop, go online or to Home Depot and get a plastic hawk and mount it in the backyard. Just for kicks, get one of those can-o'-air-horns and keep it handy if more ducks arrived next season.
> 
> Or, if you renounce your present religion, instead of the SPCA call the NRA.



Fortunately for me, my present religion is QUITE embracing of the NRA.


----------



## snerd

Morning hosers! Off to get IV line dressing changed. Saw wound doc yesterday, the wound has closed about 80% now! I'm a believer in this negative pressure stuff! Maybe 2 more weeks to get off the vac pump woohoo!! 3 more weeks on the IV line. If I can just hang on.................


----------



## oldhippy

Sad day, have to bury one beautiful and sweet family pet Dora. She blessed us with many years of her company. I honor her memory.  Ed


----------



## limr

Oh, Ed  

Sweet dreams, Dora!


----------



## sm4him

Aww, I'm sorry to hear that Ed.  Never easy to lose a pet. Love that picture of her!


----------



## sm4him

Might not be on much today.  The modem went out on the internet connection for my work Mac yesterday, so I'm waiting for someone to come "troubleshoot" it (although I've already told them the problem--it's DEAD, Jim...) and then replace it.
In the meantime, I still have internet on my PC, but I don't use that for anything except email and website maintenance, because it's on the City network and there is NO telling what they'd decide to block.


----------



## pgriz

A sad day indeed.  Peace to her, and to her human companions.


----------



## Warhorse

Ed, all I can offer is my condolences.

Fur kids...they become family.


----------



## Gary A.

I am sorry to hear that Ed. My condolences. Unfortunately, we humans tend to have longer life spans then our best friends. Rest in Peace Dora.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Which one?
> 
> 
> 
> Sekonic L-758DR
Click to expand...

 Nice... I'd like to upgrade, but my wallet won't let me when my Minolta Flash V still works perfectly!


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> Crap. I can't sleep and I have a client meeting tomorrow. Great. *Too much coffee?*


 Thassa' an oxymoron!


----------



## tirediron

I'm sorry Ed - take heart in the fact that with you she had a good home and a great life.  Love those ears!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 57F right now ... may top out at 70F. There may be some sprinkles tonight. I'm watering the front just to assure some rain ... maybe I'll wash the car too. Along with my light meter, two blender cookbooks arrived. We use the Ninja everyday. I don't use pesticides, so the Ninja removes any blemishes from my thin skinned home grown stuff. Gotta go to Burbank today, about a 40 minute drive. Gotta get a walk into The Cook. Adios.


----------



## oldhippy

tirediron said:


> I'm sorry Ed - take heart in the fact that with you she had a good home and a great life.  Love those ears!



Cicada
This is in my mind
Her great heart still beats
On wings demure.

in the peaceful place
Just the Cicada shell
We lay to rest

Hearts keepsakes
my butterfly memories
Old friend adieu

Thank you all for being the great folks you are.  Ed


----------



## snerd

Condolences, Ed. My cat is 18........... I'm soooooooo not looking forward to it.


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> Condolences, Ed. My cat is 18........... I'm soooooooo not looking forward to it.


My oldest cat is 17 or 18. She's doing very well, no real health problems to this point, other than being a fat, worthless (but adorable and cuddly) ball of fur.  Her sister had a series of strokes and passed away a couple of years ago, so...

The pet I had that was hardest on me when he died was a cat I got as a just-weaned kitten, when I was 13 years old. I was 36, with two young boys of my own, when he died. Jaspar was actually in great health even at age 23, other than being a bit hard of hearing, which is what led to his demise.  He was taking a little nap in the yard, when some neighborhood dogs evidently discovered him--dogs were never much of a match for Jaspar, but because his hearing was so bad, he didn't wake up in time to realize they were there.
He almost made it through even that, but the internal injuries were just too much for his heart.  I'll never forget that the vet was so vested in trying to see him through the injuries that he would take Jaspar home with him at night to keep an eye on him.
Only time in my life I've ever called in to work because of the death of a pet, and I couldn't even explain to them at the time what had happened.  That was well over a decade ago now, and it is still bringing tears to my eyes!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> Condolences, Ed. My cat is 18........... I'm soooooooo not looking forward to it.



My girls are only 5, but I already dread the day when they'll have to pass. I had Gomer for 6 years and I was devastated when he died. When these girls go, I'm just going to be broken 

Buzz has two cats, the older of which is about 18. She seems to be in perfectly good health, though she's very skinny these days. It's hard to keep the thought out of my head, and I'm hoping she keeps motoring on for a few more years, but that's going to be hard. 

Kinzie - also known as The Koot.



Day 74 - McKenzie by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## KenC

Condolences, Ed.  We've lost four cats over the last four years or so and it seems to get more difficult each time.  Two of the four we have now were born just about at the same time as the last one we lost.


----------



## snowbear

Sorry to hear about Dora, Ed.


----------



## snowbear

We brought Mexican from La Tolteca, and an extra son home for dinner!


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> We brought Mexican from La Tolteca, and an extra son home for dinner!



How was it? Was the son still pretty tender, or had he aged enough to get kinda tough?


----------



## snerd

My 18 year old is in fairly good health, and has outlasted 2 marriages.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We brought Mexican from La Tolteca, and an extra son home for dinner!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How was it? Was the son still pretty tender, or had he aged enough to get kinda tough?
Click to expand...


Chewy.  He has a beard, so . . .


----------



## Gary A.

Salmon tonight, it's on the George Foreman, marinated in citrus, slathered in herbs and smells wonderful.


----------



## Gary A.

Listening to Yoyo Ma while I grill and sip on Simi Sauvignon Blanc ... Life is good.


----------



## snerd

For Lenny...........










Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## minicoop1985

Coffee and industrial electro-it's a good morning here.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. 

Today is exam scoring day. All essays are anonymous. I give the first read to my classes' essays and then when we all meet at noon, I hand them off to someone else to do a second read. I am exactly halfway through my students' essays. There's no marking up or commenting - just read and put a score, so they go faster than regular grading. I've got 17 more to go.

The best parts of this day are how much fun we have when we're all scoring together, and we are getting paid for it (rare for an adjunct to get paid for anything other than actual class time.) Oh and the really best part? It's not preparing real estate contracts!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I have about 500 image to run through a final processing phase (polishing I call it). I want to get them all done today so the project fini. No rain yesterday ... so disappointedly ... no rain. It is just cool and cloudy/overcast. Cook is ready for her walk, so I best get going.


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> My 18 year old is in fairly good health, and has outlasted 2 marriages.


 Two marriages and he's just 18?  Wow...


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Today is exam scoring day. All essays are anonymous. I give the first read to my classes' essays and then when we all meet at noon, I hand them off to someone else to do a second read. I am exactly halfway through my students' essays. *There's no marking up or commenting - just read and put a score*, so...


Out of curiosity Lenny, what's the reasoning for that?  Seems kind of like saying, "Your image didn't make the exhibition" but not telling the person why.


----------



## Designer

Marks and comments might influence the next reader, who might actually see something differently.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Today is exam scoring day. All essays are anonymous. I give the first read to my classes' essays and then when we all meet at noon, I hand them off to someone else to do a second read. I am exactly halfway through my students' essays. *There's no marking up or commenting - just read and put a score*, so...
> 
> 
> 
> Out of curiosity Lenny, what's the reasoning for that?  Seems kind of like saying, "Your image didn't make the exhibition" but not telling the person why.
Click to expand...




Designer said:


> Marks and comments might influence the next reader, who might actually see something differently.



^^^ This is definitely one reason. The second reader even tries to avoid seeing the first reader's score before determining their own.

Also, the sheer volume of essays that have to be scored in one day is daunting enough without having to add in the time for commenting as well.

Finally, we do give the students feedback when we get our own students' essays back, just not for the initial scoring. I tend to have ono-on-one meeting with each student to go over the exam itself and their overall course performance. Most of us have the students re-write the essay to submit as an extra course grade (they're generally not figured into final course grades as they are because even the best students will score lower on a timed essay than they do at home, so it would artificially lower their final course grades). The feedback, then, is done _after_ the scoring and the students who failed will then work on those issues to prepare them for their second chance at the exam.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Today is exam scoring day. All essays are anonymous. I give the first read to my classes' essays and then when we all meet at noon, I hand them off to someone else to do a second read. I am exactly halfway through my students' essays. *There's no marking up or commenting - just read and put a score*, so...
> 
> 
> 
> Out of curiosity Lenny, what's the reasoning for that?  Seems kind of like saying, "Your image didn't make the exhibition" but not telling the person why.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Marks and comments might influence the next reader, who might actually see something differently.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> ^^^ This is definitely one reason. The second reader even tries to avoid seeing the first reader's score before determining their own.
> 
> Also, the sheer volume of essays that have to be scored in one day is daunting enough without having to add in the time for commenting as well.
> 
> Finally, we do give the students feedback when we get our own students' essays back, just not for the initial scoring. I tend to have ono-on-one meeting with each student to go over the exam itself and their overall course performance. Most of us have the students re-write the essay to submit as an extra course grade (they're generally not figured into final course grades as they are because even the best students will score lower on a timed essay than they do at home, so it would artificially lower their final course grades). The feedback, then, is done _after_ the scoring and the students who failed will then work on those issues to prepare them for their second chance at the exam.
Click to expand...

 Seems way more complicated than it needs to be... 'this a gummint idea?


----------



## sm4him

I hate waiting.
I especially hate it when I'm at work, and what I'm waiting for is being delivered to my house.
And I *really* especially hate it when the package delivery service's tracking update still shows today as the expected delivery date, but hasn't been updated since 3:55 a.m. yesterday when the package was still somewhere in Massachusetts…

The next few hours are going to seem interminably long...


----------



## snerd

sm4him said:


> I hate waiting.
> I especially hate it when I'm at work, and what I'm waiting for is being delivered to my house.
> And I *really* especially hate it when the package delivery service's tracking update still shows today as the expected delivery date, but hasn't been updated since 3:55 a.m. yesterday when the package was still somewhere in Massachusetts…
> 
> The next few hours are going to seem interminably long...


Ordered a chronological Bible. Used regular shipping through CBD. 5-8 days!! Now I'm wishing I'd have paid for 2 day....... I hate waiting too!!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Derrel

5. How many megapixels does that thing have?


----------



## Gary A.

Watching '42' while I'm processing my images. Yeah, it is Hollywood romanticized ... but still ... what a great movie and story. Even though Robinson went to UCLA, he is still a my hero. Go Dodgers!


----------



## pixmedic

just got back from the doctor. 
3 new medications, more bloodwork, and more cardiologist appointments...
not much in the way of good news....unless you hate me.  if that's the case, Merry Christmas.


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> just got back from the doctor.
> 3 new medications, more bloodwork, and more cardiologist appointments...
> not much in the way of good news....unless you hate me.  if that's the case, Merry Christmas.


   It could be worse... you could be going in for a full stachectomy!


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> just got back from the doctor.
> 3 new medications, more bloodwork, and more cardiologist appointments...
> not much in the way of good news....unless you hate me.  if that's the case, Merry Christmas.


What's up?


----------



## Derrel

Gary A. said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> just got back from the doctor.
> 3 new medications, more bloodwork, and more cardiologist appointments...
> not much in the way of good news....unless you hate me.  if that's the case, Merry Christmas.
> 
> 
> 
> What's up?
Click to expand...


Yeah...wassup with you? We're not gonna be sitting for a reading of the _mustache comb bequeathment arrangements,_ or any such nonsense, are we??


----------



## snowbear

pixmedic said:


> just got back from the doctor.
> 3 new medications, more bloodwork, and more cardiologist appointments...
> not much in the way of good news....unless you hate me.  if that's the case, Merry Christmas.



Here's hoping it's just gas, or something really minor.  We need all the good AEMS people we can get.


----------



## pixmedic

Derrel said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> just got back from the doctor.
> 3 new medications, more bloodwork, and more cardiologist appointments...
> not much in the way of good news....unless you hate me.  if that's the case, Merry Christmas.
> 
> 
> 
> What's up?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah...wassup with you? We're not gonna be sitting for a reading of the _mustache comb bequeathment arrangements,_ or any such nonsense, are we??
Click to expand...

Do you want the comb or the Moose Stache Wax?


----------



## Derrel

Hmmmmm...I'd like the comb I guess...and that small Persian rug (the good one, damnit!)...and the Nikon stuff...


----------



## sm4him

pixmedic said:


> just got back from the doctor.
> 3 new medications, more bloodwork, and more cardiologist appointments...
> not much in the way of good news....unless you hate me.  if that's the case, Merry Christmas.



Getting older is definitely not for wimps!
Hope nothing serious is going on with your health!


----------



## sm4him

Just so you know...I have my sad face on tonight. 
No delivery happened today.

Supposed to be 2-day delivery.  Tracking information STILL hasn't been updated since 3:55 a.m. yesterday. Still says delivery expected today, but also says the package is still in Mass. ONE of these things is NOT true. Actually, I suspect NEITHER statement is true. I bet the package is not longer in MA, AND it is not being delivered today.

But, I did get to go walking with some friends tonight--beautiful weather this evening, perfect for a long walk. So I'll try to cling to that happy thought instead of being whiny. But to be honest, I'll probably go back and forth. Whine a little, then remind myself of the grand scheme of things...then whine a little more.  Maybe I should "wine" a little.


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers!

Six hours of grading today. In both of my classes, 50% of the students passed the exam.



tirediron said:


> Seems way more complicated than it needs to be... 'this a gummint idea?



Actually, it is in the sense that I work for the state university system. (It's an open-enrollment community college.) But worse than that: it's an _English department_ idea. Have you ever sat in a room full of English professors trying to get something decided? I have.  

But again, another piece of the puzzle that might help explain the process is that this is...
(a) a skills course (academic writing) and so a test of that skill is necessary, and 
(b) a developmental course, meaning in their placement test when they first enrolled, they placed below the skill level of basic Eng 101 and they need to get up to speed.

So, this means that they need to meet a departmentally-determined minimal standard of a skill, not content. The anonymity and the second reader is to help ensure objectivity in determining whether or not the standard has been met. 

There's actually talk of eliminating these exit exams and going to a portfolio assessment. 

And remember, it's the English department making these decisions, so there is going to be a LOT of talk. Dear lord, do they love to hear themselves talk! 

(I am not actually teaching for the English department. These classes are split into two tracks - one for native speakers who just suck at writing, and one for non-native speakers. I teach the non-native speakers and we are technically part of the Modern Languages department, but we follow the policies of the English department for these exams. I used to teach in the English department. I've taught the native-speaker developmental writing classes, and man, they are depressing! I've also taught Eng 101 and 102, but they've made very annoying changes to those courses and I haven't taught them in about 3 years.)


----------



## pgriz

@sm4him :  Sharon, we hear that absence makes the heart grow fonder.  Maybe they are trying to get your expectations to rise to a crescendo, and then get the release of gratitude when it finally shows up (I was going to write "comes" but that may be misconstrued, and we can't have that).

@pixmedic :  Jason, if all that is related to your avatar, all I can say is get better soon , buddy.  

@limr:  Leonore, so is a 50% pass rate good or bad?  How does it compare with other years?  And what are the consequences of failing the test?  Something dire, like requiring memorization of pages 4-10 of Ulysses?


----------



## pgriz

Oh, and I had my day in court today.  I was testifying for the defence (homeowner being sued by contractor for breach of contract), along the lines that the implementation by the contractor needlessly complicated a certain design, and chose inappropriate materials to achieve a dubious objective.  In essence, the homeowners fired the contractor partly because they really did not trust his technical judgement on various issues, and partly because the newly constructed house (which should have taken no more than 6 months to build), was still incomplete (and without a final roof) after 18 months.  The opposing attorney spent over an hour trying to prevent my testimony.  I don't think he liked what he heard, when the judge took his objections under advisement, and told me to go ahead.  But between the delays due to prior witnesses, and the stalling tactics, I ended up spending most of the day in court instead of having a 1 hour testimony session.  There's a reason why lawyers insist on getting paid by the hour.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Blech! I only had to go to court once (job related) for a mom adopting a child she had in foster care. So it was mostly procedural and necessary but boring and driving clear downtown to the courthouse and lots of sitting around being bored waiting.

Paul between the days you and Leonore had I'm shaking my head going, makes me glad I'm retired! Since I worked with babies and toddlers 'tests' were developmental assessments that were actually useful and worth doing, a way to see how they were progressing etc. But then we had county and state rules and regs and much of that seemed like whoever came up with it threw any common sense out the window!


----------



## Gary A.

Four hours of continuous shooting and 2100 images later ... I am tired but at least I'm home.  This was the Whitney High School Talent Show. I've been shooting these for about eight years ... and year after year all the acts are repetitive ... different students ... same act.


----------



## Designer

We really need a sympathy button.

Please consider the phantom sympathy button to have been clicked several times over the past couple of days.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

There is going to be a lot of coffee today


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> There is going to be a lot of coffee today



But…why the frowny face? Lots of coffee is a marvelous thing!! 

I think I'm going to go work at home for a while today…so that when my package comes, I'll be there!
They did finally update the tracking info this morning, so it's here in town somewhere...


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> @limr:  Leonore, so is a 50% pass rate good or bad?  How does it compare with other years?  And what are the consequences of failing the test?  Something dire, like requiring memorization of pages 4-10 of Ulysses?



It's pretty good. And for my higher level class, it's probably a little better because 4 of those tests were written by students that have barely shown up to class at all and have done no work, so of course they failed. So of the students who have actually been trying to improve, I'd say the proportion is closer to 61%. Also considering that there are always about 3-4 students who won't pass either exam (they have two chances and only have to pass one,) then for half the class to pass the first time through is good.

Though, not to take away from their accomplishment, but it was a reeeeeeaaaaally easy topic/set of questions they had for this first exam. 



pgriz said:


> Oh, and I had my day in court today.  I was testifying for the defence (homeowner being sued by contractor for breach of contract), along the lines that the implementation by the contractor needlessly complicated a certain design, and chose inappropriate materials to achieve a dubious objective.  In essence, the homeowners fired the contractor partly because they really did not trust his technical judgement on various issues, and partly because the newly constructed house (which should have taken no more than 6 months to build), was still incomplete (and without a final roof) after 18 months.  The opposing attorney spent over an hour trying to prevent my testimony.  I don't think he liked what he heard, when the judge took his objections under advisement, and told me to go ahead.  But between the delays due to prior witnesses, and the stalling tactics, I ended up spending most of the day in court instead of having a 1 hour testimony session.  There's a reason why lawyers insist on getting paid by the hour.



Seems about right.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> There is going to be a lot of coffee today
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But…why the frowny face? Lots of coffee is a marvelous thing!!
> 
> I think I'm going to go work at home for a while today…so that when my package comes, I'll be there!
> They did finally update the tracking info this morning, so it's here in town somewhere...
Click to expand...


It's the "fatigue" face, actually. But you're right - the silver lining to being so tired is that I get lots of coffee!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Yes, coffee the order of the day, but it's at least a Friday.  I can't really complain because I used a vacation day yesterday and went about the city with camera and lenses.  I missed you all, but hey, I was busy.  Here's one shot, one of my more conventional ones, others to be posted later:


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gotta go downtown this morning and face the jammin' traffic. Yesterday, a dancer ran into me when I was shooting. The first time in about a decade of shooting the talent show that someone hit me. I shoot the dress rehearsals and I shoot from the stage. I like adding drama to the image with back lighting. This time the dancer started running backwards right into me, I was using the fish and didn't have time to get out of the way.  I hate losing my consistency record.


























This time the dancer started running backwards right into me, I was using the fish and didn't have time to get out of the way.  I hate losing my consistency record. Mary Lou, Jodi (the drama teacher) and I were laughing about it after the rehearsal. I remembered my only other theatre incident ... falling off the stage while shooting Miss America. (That one hurt.) The Cook and I are off for our walk. This is a cool morning, I think I'll take some coffee with me.


----------



## KenC

Fish??


----------



## Designer

KenC said:


> Fish??


-eye lens, I presume.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Fish??


LOL ... a Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens. So I was pretty close to the dancer.

The fish:


----------



## tirediron

KenC said:


> Fish??


 Just a run-of-the-mill adaptor so that you can mount a standard Brook Trout on either a Nikon or Canon system.


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fish??
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... a Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens. So I was pretty close to the dancer.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the clarification - no need to go into what someone not familiar with the slang might have thought ...


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fish??
> 
> 
> 
> Just a run-of-the-mill adaptor so that you can mount a standard Brook Trout on either a Nikon or Canon system.
Click to expand...

This is specialized for Big Mouth Bass on a Fuji.


----------



## KenC

tirediron said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fish??
> 
> 
> 
> Just a run-of-the-mill adaptor so that you can mount a standard Brook Trout on either a Nikon or Canon system.
Click to expand...


I assume the optical quality would stink?


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fish??
> 
> 
> 
> Just a run-of-the-mill adaptor so that you can mount a standard Brook Trout on either a Nikon or Canon system.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I assume the optical quality would stink?
Click to expand...

 ... Only after three days.


----------



## limr

I was just asked to call someone about a contract.

I hate calling people.

Like most teenagers (at least "back in the day"...god, I hate that phrase), I spent a lot of time on the phone. I spent less and less time talking on the phone as I got older. At this point in my life, I really hate being on the phone unless it's with Buzz, and even then, we don't talk that long. We just like checking in.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> I was just asked to call someone about a contract.
> 
> I hate calling people.
> 
> Like most teenagers (at least "back in the day"...god, I hate that phrase), I spent a lot of time on the phone. I spent less and less time talking on the phone as I got older. At this point in my life, I really hate being on the phone unless it's with Buzz, and even then, we don't talk that long. We just like checking in.


 Any telephone conversation that can't be completed in less than three minutes is pointless.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> I was just asked to call someone about a contract.
> 
> I hate calling people.
> 
> Like most teenagers (at least "back in the day"...god, I hate that phrase), I spent a lot of time on the phone. I spent less and less time talking on the phone as I got older. At this point in my life, I really hate being on the phone unless it's with Buzz, and even then, we don't talk that long. We just like checking in.



I absolutely LOATHE talking on the phone. I won't do it unless it is just absolutely necessary, and then I want to just say what needs to be said, and be done with it.
My friend who lost her husband last Memorial Day would FAR prefer a phone call though, rather than a text or email. So, for her, I try to MAKE myself call once in a while, but I still send daily texts.

Even as a teenager, I really wasn't a fan of talking on the phone.  I want to either write it down, or talk face-to-face.

My father used to be the same way. Back when we only had phones that were actually attached to the wall, Dad would let the phone ring and ring, even though he was the person closest to it. Finally someone would yell, "Are you going to answer that?" and Dad would say, "What for? There's not anybody I want to talk to."


----------



## snerd

sm4him said:


> .......  "Are you going to answer that?" and Dad would say, "What for? There's not anybody I want to talk to."


I used to tell the ex, you don't have to jump and run every time the phone rings! If it's important, they will leave a message. Or call back. But no, we're like Pavlov's dog................... hear a ring and we instinctively jump and run. Yes, the machines are winning lol!!


----------



## Designer

I fellow I once worked with was going through anxiety amelioration therapy.  His therapist told him to "just let it ring".


----------



## limr

I have no problems whatsoever letting the phone ring.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ring ring ring ring ring BANANAPHONE


----------



## vintagesnaps

One ringy dingy... Me either, especially during the day, seems to go in spurts but jeez some of the telemarketing... Used to make calls scheduling home visits or calling service coordinators etc. but mostly was leaving messages, often a surprise when someone actually answers.

Think I might go do some lumen prints while it's sunny and run some thru fixer tomorrow while it rains. Or on second thought maybe some cyanotypes, just remembered there's paper in my box from Freestyle that arrived yesterday!


----------



## sm4him

It came! It came!! It came!!!

So, I've been thinking about getting a D7100, making my D7000 the backup and selling my D5100.
Then, I started thinking, maybe I should buy a D600 or 610 instead? Maybe it's time to go FF. All but one of my lenses are FF anyway, and I'd still be keeping the D7000 too.  And while I love the crop-body for bird photography, I am working hard on my portrait skills, and I do a lot of other stuff as well for which FF might just be a bit better.
For MONTHS, I've gone back and forth, back and forth. Almost bought a used D7100 at least three different times, twice from TPFers, but never pulled the trigger. Almost bought a D600 once, but the timing didn't work out.

But then…all creation smiled on me.  The planets aligned with my checkbook, and…





I bought a D800! And not just ANY D800…this one is special; more about that in a minute.



This was not EVEN on my radar screen.  It, and the D750, were just pipe dreams. Hadn't looked at them, other than very briefly to verify that they were so far beyond my budget as to not warrant any more attention.
A couple of weeks ago, I decided I was ready to buy and it was TIME to settle on the D7100 or the D600--enough dithering.
I contacted @coastalconn, because I wanted his opinion about the D600 for bird photography.  And that's when everything changed. SPECtacular timing!
Kris had decided to sell a bunch of his Nikon gear--including the Tammy 150-600 and the D800. For funsies, I asked him what he'd want for the D800.

Let's just say…this was a deal I could NOT pass up. 
So now I am the proud owner of the limited edition Kris Rowe D800.  I figure maybe some of his magic bird photo fairy dust has remained on the camera…


----------



## tirediron

Cool!!!  You can now sit at the big kid's table!


----------



## limr

Nice!


----------



## sm4him

tirediron said:


> Cool!!!  You can now sit at the big kid's table!



Sweet!
Full disclosure, though…sometimes, I still spill my milk…


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Cool!!!  You can now sit at the big kid's table!



Does that mean I'll forever be relegated to the kids' table? Or maybe I'm at the old-timers' table!


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cool!!!  You can now sit at the big kid's table!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sweet!
> Full disclosure, though…sometimes, I still spill my milk…
Click to expand...

 No problem, you get one of these!


----------



## Warhorse

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cool!!!  You can now sit at the big kid's table!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Does that mean I'll forever be relegated to the kids' table? Or maybe I'm at the old-timers' table!
Click to expand...

Congratulations on your new camera!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cool!!!  You can now sit at the big kid's table!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Does that mean I'll forever be relegated to the kids' table? Or maybe I'm at the old-timers' table!
Click to expand...


No, no…that's the Esteemed Elders table Lenny!   Me, I'll end up at the Crazy Old Coot's table.

I think currently you are at the teenager's table--bunch of rebels that just don't know what's good for them, so they keep right on shooting film


----------



## oldhippy

Congrat Sharon, having pixel envy as I type.  Ed


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> No, no…that's the Esteemed Elders table Lenny!   Me, I'll end up at the Crazy Old Coot's table.
> 
> I think currently you are at the teenager's table--bunch of rebels that just don't know what's good for them, so they keep right on shooting film



I think we should all sit at the Lovable Eccentrics table and not divide ourselves up.


----------



## sm4him

I had to head back in to work, so I didn't have time to truly test-drive my new beast--but man, I love the way that thing feels in my hands!

I did have a real D'oh! moment…well, more like 5 minutes…

Put my 50mm on the D800, turned it on, took a test shot…or tried to. Nothing happened. Shutter wouldn't actuate.  Tried again. 
Checked to be sure camera WAS on.
Then realized my 50mm was still on MF from something I was doing earlier in the week. Switched it back to AF…still nothing.
Checked to be sure the CAMERA was on AF. Still couldn't get the shutter to activate.
Switched lenses, tried again. Same results.

I was about to give up when it finally came to me--Kris uses back-button focusing! Pushed the little button on the back and THEN the shutter…MUCH better results!


----------



## tirediron

KenC said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> No, no…that's the Esteemed Elders table Lenny!   Me, I'll end up at the Crazy Old Coot's table.
> 
> I think currently you are at the teenager's table--bunch of rebels that just don't know what's good for them, so they keep right on shooting film
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think we should all sit at the Lovable Eccentrics table and not divide ourselves up.
Click to expand...

 Are any of us really wealthy enough to be eccentric?  I thought we were in the 'poor weirdo' category.


----------



## KenC

tirediron said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> No, no…that's the Esteemed Elders table Lenny!   Me, I'll end up at the Crazy Old Coot's table.
> 
> I think currently you are at the teenager's table--bunch of rebels that just don't know what's good for them, so they keep right on shooting film
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think we should all sit at the Lovable Eccentrics table and not divide ourselves up.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Are any of us really wealthy enough to be eccentric?  I thought we were in the 'poor weirdo' category.
Click to expand...


I guess that could be a connotation of "eccentric" but I've always used it for anyone off the beaten path, regardless of income.  Not only that, but if you have to be wealthy to be eccentric, then what's our excuse?


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cool!!!  You can now sit at the big kid's table!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Does that mean I'll forever be relegated to the kids' table? Or maybe I'm at the old-timers' table!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No, no…that's the Esteemed Elders table Lenny!   Me, I'll end up at the Crazy Old Coot's table.
> 
> I think currently you are at the teenager's table--bunch of rebels that just don't know what's good for them, so they keep right on shooting film
Click to expand...


No, no, no, that's the table of folks who rescued the baby before throwing away the bath water


----------



## limr

I'm fine sitting at the Weirdos table. I don't need to be called eccentric. I just need to be around interesting people, and as far as I'm concerned, the weirdos are the interesting people!


----------



## Designer

I don't always sit at the "weirdo's table", but when I do, I'm considered weird.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> We just like checking in.



Much better than checking out.  At least for most people.


----------



## pgriz

And it's not the "weirdo" table.  It's for those unconstrained by mere reality and/or convention.  The "normal" table is where the true mental pathologies are found.


----------



## minicoop1985

I'd be all for the weirdo table. I'd fit right in...


----------



## Gary A.

Congrats on the new to you camera!!!!!!


----------



## limr

This day needs fired, y'all.

Going to make some popcorn and tea, take a shower,  and go to bed.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> This day needs fired, y'all.
> 
> Going to make some popcorn and tea, take a shower,  and go to bed.



Well, before you toddle off to bed...here's something to make you smile at the end of the day.
This showed up in my backyard while I was outside testing the D800 in lowlight.



 

Not my kitty--mine are strictly indoor cats. But she's pretty. She's also stalking my birds, which is a problem.


----------



## limr

Kitteh!


----------



## pgriz

Uh oh.  Sharon's going soft (focus) on us.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Kitteh!


Animal recognition 101... very good Lenny!


----------



## coastalconn

sm4him said:


> It came! It came!! It came!!!
> 
> So, I've been thinking about getting a D7100, making my D7000 the backup and selling my D5100.
> Then, I started thinking, maybe I should buy a D600 or 610 instead? Maybe it's time to go FF. All but one of my lenses are FF anyway, and I'd still be keeping the D7000 too.  And while I love the crop-body for bird photography, I am working hard on my portrait skills, and I do a lot of other stuff as well for which FF might just be a bit better.
> For MONTHS, I've gone back and forth, back and forth. Almost bought a used D7100 at least three different times, twice from TPFers, but never pulled the trigger. Almost bought a D600 once, but the timing didn't work out.
> 
> But then…all creation smiled on me.  The planets aligned with my checkbook, and…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I bought a D800! And not just ANY D800…this one is special; more about that in a minute.
> View attachment 99578
> 
> This was not EVEN on my radar screen.  It, and the D750, were just pipe dreams. Hadn't looked at them, other than very briefly to verify that they were so far beyond my budget as to not warrant any more attention.
> A couple of weeks ago, I decided I was ready to buy and it was TIME to settle on the D7100 or the D600--enough dithering.
> I contacted @coastalconn, because I wanted his opinion about the D600 for bird photography.  And that's when everything changed. SPECtacular timing!
> Kris had decided to sell a bunch of his Nikon gear--including the Tammy 150-600 and the D800. For funsies, I asked him what he'd want for the D800.
> 
> Let's just say…this was a deal I could NOT pass up.
> So now I am the proud owner of the limited edition Kris Rowe D800.  I figure maybe some of his magic bird photo fairy dust has remained on the camera…



I did leave a little extra bird magic dust on the camera   What table do I have to sit at?  Or do I have to sit in the corner with my new Canon gear?    The timing was actually pretty amazing as I had been contemplating selling the D800 for several weeks, and I had just happened to try out a 7DM2 the day Sharon emailed me.  Amazing how the stars aligned...


----------



## snowbear

coastalconn said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It came! It came!! It came!!!
> 
> So, I've been thinking about getting a D7100, making my D7000 the backup and selling my D5100.
> Then, I started thinking, maybe I should buy a D600 or 610 instead? Maybe it's time to go FF. All but one of my lenses are FF anyway, and I'd still be keeping the D7000 too.  And while I love the crop-body for bird photography, I am working hard on my portrait skills, and I do a lot of other stuff as well for which FF might just be a bit better.
> For MONTHS, I've gone back and forth, back and forth. Almost bought a used D7100 at least three different times, twice from TPFers, but never pulled the trigger. Almost bought a D600 once, but the timing didn't work out.
> 
> But then…all creation smiled on me.  The planets aligned with my checkbook, and…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I bought a D800! And not just ANY D800…this one is special; more about that in a minute.
> View attachment 99578
> 
> This was not EVEN on my radar screen.  It, and the D750, were just pipe dreams. Hadn't looked at them, other than very briefly to verify that they were so far beyond my budget as to not warrant any more attention.
> A couple of weeks ago, I decided I was ready to buy and it was TIME to settle on the D7100 or the D600--enough dithering.
> I contacted @coastalconn, because I wanted his opinion about the D600 for bird photography.  And that's when everything changed. SPECtacular timing!
> Kris had decided to sell a bunch of his Nikon gear--including the Tammy 150-600 and the D800. For funsies, I asked him what he'd want for the D800.
> 
> Let's just say…this was a deal I could NOT pass up.
> So now I am the proud owner of the limited edition Kris Rowe D800.  I figure maybe some of his magic bird photo fairy dust has remained on the camera…
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I did leave a little extra bird magic dust on the camera   What table do I have to sit at?  Or do I have to sit in the corner with my new Canon gear?    The timing was actually pretty amazing as I had been contemplating selling the D800 for several weeks, and I had just happened to try out a 7DM2 the day Sharon emailed me.  Amazing how the stars aligned...
Click to expand...

Welcome, oh raptorish one! Sit anywhere. Are you still at Bee & Thistle?


----------



## snerd

Congrats Sharon!! In celebration..............................


----------



## coastalconn

snowbear said:


> Welcome, oh raptorish one! Sit anywhere. Are you still at Bee & Thistle?


 It's quite funny you asked today.  I had actually left there last July.  The owner contacted me this week and I will be making a return back to my Exec chef status at the Bee in about 2 weeks...  My world is upside down, switching jobs, buying a Canon WTH is going on with the world today?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The Cook and I are back from our walk. Cook foraged along the muddy creek banks and came out looking like a pig sty. I made her walk in the water until we hit some grass. You just can't take your eye off of kids for one second. The Ninja comes with a dough makes and a recipe for pizza dough. So tonight I may try out that feature. When I BBQ my pizza, I cook the meat separately and we individually toss the meat on the pizza. This makes for a greaseless pizza. I have enough tomatoes for the sauce ... so maybe. Hold on Mary Lou is interrupting me ... I guess the pizza is on hold ... we're going to hit some wineries in Malibu. There are three and the locals call the area Napabu.

So tomorrow, pizza and wine ... y'all welcome to drop in.


----------



## pgriz

Interesting to see the instructions on how to appreciate the wine on the wall behind the lady.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Interesting to see the instructions on how to appreciate the wine on the wall behind the lady.


That was shot in a tourist trap town called Solvang. Solvang is patterned after a Danish village.  Carivintas is probably on the tourist bus route. What is most interesting is that a large percentage of Carivintas profits goes to rescue animals. Carivintas displays many of their rescued on the label.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Swirl and Niff? lol

Ed sorry to hear about you losing a pet, meant to say so earlier. Sharon have fun with the new camera.

Lazy drizzly day here, been contemplating getting out my black box and seeing how many more batches of lumen prints still need to be fixed. And doing that. But it seems to be more of a watch a movie take a nap kind of day.


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers.

I was invited by a member of my book club to attend her daughter's Bat Mitzvah. I decided to go because I'm fascinated with rituals of all kinds, and I thought it would be interesting to witness this one. It was very crowded at the temple but there was a balcony with some room and I had a much better view, so I camped up there. That's also where all the photographers happened to be set up as well. So I watched the ceremony and it was interesting to note how familiar it felt in some ways because of similarities to a Catholic mass. It's pretty clear these two religions share a common origin, not just spiritually but culturally.

When I got bored, I stared hard at the cameras to figure out what they were. Knowing next to nothing about how DSLR models, I most I could tell was that one guy had a Canon. It had a big white lens and I also finally saw the brand name. The others were shooting video and their cameras were, um, black. (From the side, I couldn't see the brand and I would have no clue how to tell if it was Canon or Nikon. Because who are we kidding, of course it was either a Canon or Nikon.)

When I got bored with that, I opened up the service book in the pews and started teaching myself the Hebrew alphabet. I can now reliably identify the Hebrew symbols for the sounds /b/, /v/, /sh/, and /ch/. the last being that guttural sound made in the back of the throat, not the /ch/ of our word 'cheese.' I also started picking out when they were using certain words in prayers. 

When they put the Ark back into its fancy cabinet, I figured it was about over and it was time to skeedaddle before I got stuck in a mass of big black Escalades all trying to leave at the same time.


----------



## minicoop1985

Greetings, hosers. Been rather busy around here lately. Today, though, no amount of coffee could have kept me awake all day, I think.


----------



## Gary A.

I am back from Malibu. This was a fun day, driving around the Santa Monica Mountains and drinking wine. At only 3,000' high, the Santa Monica Mountains are pretty weak for mountains. But they are wild (Mountain Lions) and very very steep with cliffs around every corner. I hit three wineries. Two are in the mountains and the third is at sea level on Pacific Coast Highway.  The wines ranged from okay to good and all were overpriced. But it was fun and the venues were very different from each other with lots of charm.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


>



I was looking at this image and then it hit me - the lady in this image looks so very much like my first girlfriend some 45 years ago.  It was a rather short relationship, sadly, mainly because I was so clued out about so many things (that I thought I understood).  I have heard that she married well, had four kids, and moved to the west coast.  In retrospect, no regrets.  I had to do a lot of growing up before I could be a decent partner in a relationship.


----------



## sm4him

Morning, hosers!

I spent yesterday on "Mom Duty." My sister needed to get Mom out of the house for a while (because she was going through boxes and getting rid of stuff and Mom doesn't cope well with that!), so I picked her up, took her to breakfast, ran a couple of errands and then we went for a long drive out in the country. Ended up at one of my favorite birding spots. Wished I could have shown her more of it, but it's a spot where you have to park at the entrance and then hike in. We "hiked" over to the barn next to the parking lot and sat for a while enjoying the beautiful view.  She seemed to really enjoy it.
I'm struggling with my attitude towards her increasing dementia.  It's funny--I was generally really patient with my Dad, and was able to handle his dementia much better. When Mom says the exact same thing for the fifth time in the last 90 seconds, it just about drives me over the edge.

Got home, and was too tired to do some of what I'd needed to get done yesterday, so figured I'd get to bed early and then do it today. The weather had other plans--woke up at midnight to a horrible storm; howling winds, hail and buckets of rain coming down.  Didn't get back to sleep until about 2 a.m.

So, here I am, drinking copious amounts of coffee this morning and hoping I stay awake through church!
I'll either head out somewhere to play with the D800 after church...or come home and take a long nap.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Evening, hosers.
> 
> I was invited by a member of my book club to attend her daughter's Bat Mitzvah. I decided to go because I'm fascinated with rituals of all kinds, and I thought it would be interesting to witness this one. It was very crowded at the temple but there was a balcony with some room and I had a much better view, so I camped up there. That's also where all the photographers happened to be set up as well. So I watched the ceremony and it was interesting to note how familiar it felt in some ways because of similarities to a Catholic mass. It's pretty clear these two religions share a common origin, not just spiritually but culturally.
> 
> When I got bored, I stared hard at the cameras to figure out what they were. Knowing next to nothing about how DSLR models, I most I could tell was that one guy had a Canon. It had a big white lens and I also finally saw the brand name. The others were shooting video and their cameras were, um, black. (From the side, I couldn't see the brand and I would have no clue how to tell if it was Canon or Nikon. Because who are we kidding, of course it was either a Canon or Nikon.)
> 
> When I got bored with that, I opened up the service book in the pews and started teaching myself the Hebrew alphabet. I can now reliably identify the Hebrew symbols for the sounds /b/, /v/, /sh/, and /ch/. the last being that guttural sound made in the back of the throat, not the /ch/ of our word 'cheese.' I also started picking out when they were using certain words in prayers.
> 
> When they put the Ark back into its fancy cabinet, I figured it was about over and it was time to skeedaddle before I got stuck in a mass of big black Escalades all trying to leave at the same time.


Oh, I _love_ to experience different cultures through things like food, ceremonies, art and music.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was looking at this image and then it hit me - the lady in this image looks so very much like my first girlfriend some 45 years ago.  It was a rather short relationship, sadly, mainly because I was so clued out about so many things (that I thought I understood).  I have heard that she married well, had four kids, and moved to the west coast.  In retrospect, no regrets.  I had to do a lot of growing up before I could be a decent partner in a relationship.
Click to expand...

She was more attractive than in this image. She was friendly and a college student. Reflections are a two edged sword.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I have a First Communion I have to rush off to. I hope y'all have a good day. (BTW- Wine Tasting in Malibu was a good day.)


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, where is everyone? After First Communion, Mary Lou and I, moseyed down to Seal Beach for breakfast. Old Town Cafe, tasty stuff. I had a Country Benedict, biscuits, eggs, bacon with gravy. Mary Lou had eggs, chili relleno, rice and beans. After breakfast we walked to the little nursery up the street and picked up some succulents and a new type of basil.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> Hey, where is everyone?


I was right here!  Well, not on the forum, but in my little bubble of reality, which from time to time intersects with that other bubble of theatre called TPF.  

Sunday (yesterday) was getting out of Dodge time.  In this case, down the highway to our cottage, so see what winter left us, and to check on the annual flooding level (we're on a river that floods every year, but the level varies from minimal to disastrous).  The water level this year was quite low, which meant that the annual flooding in our basement didn't happen, and I could reconnect the water.  Lots of things look like they need serious maintenance - the roof is starting to lose its shingles, the ground is slumping in several areas, the sea-wall has some damage due to frost-heave, and the wind seems to have left us with a bonus crop of leaves and winter debris.  So I started reversing Nature's entropy, while my wife concentrated on some administrative writing that she needed to get out of the way.  No internet at the cottage (deliberately), so she worked on the laptop.

Today has started with a rain shower, continuing the theme from the previous week, but the forecasts predict a rain-free day once this system passes, and that means we can resume our outdoor work.  My daughter has asked me to photography her in her salon business, and she lined up some styling models.  It's a bright studio with lots of light, but I'm going to bring some umbrellas and flash, just in case.  So we'll see what I can come up with.  Wish me luck.  Or even better, wish me the ability to channel one of your guys who do this routinely.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.
Leaving for the office very soon, so I have time for one more cup.

Can't wait to see your results, Paul.  I have faith that they will turn out fine.


----------



## sm4him

Morning. Good?  Let me get another cup of coffee and get back to you on that. 

Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day--too bad I'll be inside, working.
Going to get another cup of coffee, get ready for work then try to spend a few minutes in the yard--hoping to get pictures of my first hummers of the season. They showed up on Friday, but between their contrariness and the weather, I have yet to actually get a decent picture. One male and one female Ruby-Throated (the only ones that are really common here).


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> Good morning, peeps.
> Leaving for the office very soon, so I have time for one more cup.
> 
> Can't wait to see your results, Paul.  I have faith that they will turn out fine.



Thank you, Charlie, for your confidence.  "Faith" is the operative word here, as this is not something I do often, so getting results that are better than the usual cell-phone image "may" require some skill on my part.  I "believe" that I can apply the lessons of proper lighting as illustrated by so many of you, but we'll see.  In any case, the batteries are getting charged up, and I'm testing the off-camera triggers before we actually have to do the shoot.  The natural light from the windows will be mainly from a rather heavy overcast, so while on one hand I won't be getting contrasty beams of sunlight bouncing off the floor, I also may not have enough light to shoot without adding flash.  Got my grey card to get the white balance more-or-less right, but I'm going to need probably a half hour before the models how up to see how to arrange the lighting.  Again, not something I do often, so all of this is a learning exercise.  Fortunately, my daughter has set the bar reasonably low for me, since the photos she's been using have been mainly from her cell phone, and she said that if I can improve on those, she'll be quite happy.  So, no pressure, other than that of pride.


----------



## snowbear

Well, you could always be shooting film and not know exactly what you have until after you leave.  Test shots are always a good idea.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. *YAWN*



snowbear said:


> Well, you could always be shooting film and not know exactly what you have until after you leave.  Test shots are always a good idea.



That's what Polaroid backs were for on studio MF cameras.

Yesterday, Buzz and I headed north along the river, past Hyde Park, so walk on the grounds of a different big ole mansion and take some pinhole shots for World Pinhole Day. I had my Ondu pinhole (ONDU Pinhole Cameras - ONDU Pinhole Cameras - and no, I didn't pay 90 euros for it. I got it when they were doing their Kickstarter campaign and they're a Slovenian company so we wanted to support them) I hadn't had my OM-2 out in a while so I brought that too.

That walk was about 14,000 steps - just about 5.5 miles.

I'm soooo not feeling the whole "going to work" thing today. Only two weeks left in the semester, though!


----------



## Designer

pgriz said:


> The natural light from the windows will be mainly from a rather heavy overcast, so while on one hand I won't be getting contrasty beams of sunlight bouncing off the floor, I also may not have enough light to shoot without adding flash.


I'm envisioning the need to control that window light.


----------



## limr

Paul, you're going to do great! Will you be able to share some of the images?

In other news, I just had a close call and it kind of freaked me out. Okay, maybe not quite that dramatic, but it did kinda spook me.

I was cutting into a whole avocado to slice some up for my sandwich I was making for lunch. I cut it in half, twistedone half off, and was doing the trick where you smack the knife into the pit and twist to get it out of the second half. Well, it was a recalcitrant little bugger, so I pressed and twisted a little harder. The knife suddenly cut through a layer of pit and then continued slicing through the avocado right towards my thumb. I felt it hit hard on the side of my thumb, so I dropped the whole thing onto the counter and immediately threw on the cold water in the sink to get ready for the onslaught. I was convinced I'd just gotten myself out of work for the day to spend it instead in the emergency room.

Nothing. Didn't even leave a mark. I kept searching and searching, thinking it might be one of those sleepers that doesn't start bleeding right away, but the skin wasn't even scratched, much less broken. I wondered how in the hell did I not slice my thumb open to the bone? I looked at the avocado. The knife sliced through a wedge but didn't break the skin on the bottom, the part that had been pressing against my thumb.

My thumb is intact because of the thick skin of an avocado. That's the spooky part, to see just how close I came to such a nasty gash. Because of course in my mind, I've already imagined the worst case scenario: the tip of the thumb going flying, having to find it and pack it in ice, driving to the ER still in my pyjamas, not being able to reattach, living with half a thumb and paying off the medical bills for the rest of my life.

But the avocado skin saved me


----------



## pgriz

Designer said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> The natural light from the windows will be mainly from a rather heavy overcast, so while on one hand I won't be getting contrasty beams of sunlight bouncing off the floor, I also may not have enough light to shoot without adding flash.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm envisioning the need to control that window light.
Click to expand...


Yeah.  The walls facing the client chairs are all mirrored, and the in-studio lighting is a combination of fluorescent and mini-light tungsten.  So, the more I think about it, the more it's obvious that I'll have to use flash to overpower the light contribution from the other sources.  The tricky part that I'm envisaging is to show her working on a model, facing the mirror, without any hot spots showing up in the mirror, while at the same time providing enough directional light to separate them from the background.  I'm thinking that I'll probably be shooting wide open (which with my lenses is f/4).  At 10 ft. subject distance this gives me a DOF of 1.8 ft., and at 6 ft. distance, I have 0.6 ft.  I do also have the 90mm Tamron macro lens (f/2.8), which "could" be pressed into service, which at 10 ft. gives me about 5" of DOF.  

I've got 3 flashes to work with, several umbrellas, several reflectors, a bunch of stands.  Maximum working distance is probably about 15 ft. (it's not a very large salon).  Ceiling and walls (except for the mirrored one) are more or less white, so that will help.  I have about an hour before the models show up to figure out the light setup, so there's time.  Already found that the battery is dead in one of the triggers, fortunately I have extras.  No soft-boxes or strip lights, but I should be Ok.  The weak spot is probably my brain, but I'll prime it with at least another cup of coffee.


----------



## pgriz

Leonore, your story reminded me of my adventure when I was in seventh grade and was whittling wood for fun.  I was holding the stick in my hand and had a very sharp penknife with which, at the time, I was cutting towards me.  The knife hit a knot and I gave it a little more force.  That succeeded, and the knife blade completed its job and kept going down the length of my thumb, slicing maybe 1-2 inches of skin and down to the bone.  Fortunately it missed blood vessels and tendons, but the resulting spurt of blood was both impressive and scary.  I remember grossing out the other kids in school as I would from time to time peel back the bandages to show them the carnage (the grosser it was, the more social status points you got, at least in seventh grade).  In the end, it all healed just fine and I have a long but thin scar to remind myself to point the knife away from the body.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Paul, you're going to do great! Will you be able to share some of the images?
> 
> In other news, I just had a close call and it kind of freaked me out. Okay, maybe not quite that dramatic, but it did kinda spook me.
> 
> I was cutting into a whole avocado to slice some up for my sandwich I was making for lunch. I cut it in half, twistedone half off, and was doing the trick where you smack the knife into the pit and twist to get it out of the second half. Well, it was a recalcitrant little bugger, so I pressed and twisted a little harder. The knife suddenly cut through a layer of pit and then continued slicing through the avocado right towards my thumb. I felt it hit hard on the side of my thumb, so I dropped the whole thing onto the counter and immediately threw on the cold water in the sink to get ready for the onslaught. I was convinced I'd just gotten myself out of work for the day to spend it instead in the emergency room.
> 
> Nothing. Didn't even leave a mark. I kept searching and searching, thinking it might be one of those sleepers that doesn't start bleeding right away, but the skin wasn't even scratched, much less broken. I wondered how in the hell did I not slice my thumb open to the bone? I looked at the avocado. The knife sliced through a wedge but didn't break the skin on the bottom, the part that had been pressing against my thumb.
> 
> My thumb is intact because of the thick skin of an avocado. That's the spooky part, to see just how close I came to such a nasty gash. Because of course in my mind, I've already imagined the worst case scenario: the tip of the thumb going flying, having to find it and pack it in ice, driving to the ER still in my pyjamas, not being able to reattach, living with half a thumb and paying off the medical bills for the rest of my life.
> 
> But the avocado skin saved me



I'm glad you missed yourself.  A while back I heard a story about a famous violinist who was chopping onions and cut off the tip of her left pinky (that of course is the hand that goes on the violin neck) so she had to relearn everything to accommodate the shorter finger.  I suppose we amateur chefs have to be really careful.


----------



## sm4him

Well, ugh.  Just remembered that I have an awful, two-hour meeting that starts in about 20 minutes. On a MONDAY.
Two hours, and what are we spending two hours of our workday doing? Discussing all the things we have that we need to be working on.

Shoot me. Just shoot me now.


----------



## Designer

O.K.,    BANG!  

An extra day off!  Whoo-Hoo!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Paul, you're going to do great! Will you be able to share some of the images?
> 
> In other news, I just had a close call and it kind of freaked me out. Okay, maybe not quite that dramatic, but it did kinda spook me.
> 
> I was cutting into a whole avocado to slice some up for my sandwich I was making for lunch. I cut it in half, twistedone half off, and was doing the trick where you smack the knife into the pit and twist to get it out of the second half. Well, it was a recalcitrant little bugger, so I pressed and twisted a little harder. The knife suddenly cut through a layer of pit and then continued slicing through the avocado right towards my thumb. I felt it hit hard on the side of my thumb, so I dropped the whole thing onto the counter and immediately threw on the cold water in the sink to get ready for the onslaught. I was convinced I'd just gotten myself out of work for the day to spend it instead in the emergency room.
> 
> Nothing. Didn't even leave a mark. I kept searching and searching, thinking it might be one of those sleepers that doesn't start bleeding right away, but the skin wasn't even scratched, much less broken. I wondered how in the hell did I not slice my thumb open to the bone? I looked at the avocado. The knife sliced through a wedge but didn't break the skin on the bottom, the part that had been pressing against my thumb.
> 
> My thumb is intact because of the thick skin of an avocado. That's the spooky part, to see just how close I came to such a nasty gash. Because of course in my mind, I've already imagined the worst case scenario: the tip of the thumb going flying, having to find it and pack it in ice, driving to the ER still in my pyjamas, not being able to reattach, living with half a thumb and paying off the medical bills for the rest of my life.
> 
> But the avocado skin saved me



Oh, wow, I already liked avocadoes, but now I like them even more! 

Your story reminded me of my late sister-in-law. She was an incredible, awesome, wonderful person--but if that woman got a hold of a knife, you might as well go ahead and call 911, because the odds were against a favorable outcome.  It's an absolute wonder that she didn't ever actually lose any digits, but she sure did slice plenty of them bad enough to require stitches.  She also holds the distinction of being the only person I know who actually managed to crack a cast-iron skillet while cooking--and not even campfire type cooking; regular in-the-oven cooking!


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> In other news, I just had a close call and it kind of freaked me out. Okay, maybe not quite that dramatic, but it did kinda spook me.


I believe I have mentioned Linda's lack of balance and coordination before. 

Last week she cut the end of one finger off using a mandolin.  

My fault, really.  I usually do the cooking, especially if it involves using anything sharp.  Well, I was grouting tile, and couldn't stop to make supper, so she took it upon herself to make scalloped potatoes.  

Now just looking at a mandolin gives her the willies.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> O.K.,    BANG!
> 
> An extra day off!  Whoo-Hoo!


 *Crosses Desinger off of Christmas Card list*


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, I just had a close call and it kind of freaked me out. Okay, maybe not quite that dramatic, but it did kinda spook me.
> 
> 
> 
> I believe I have mentioned Linda's lack of balance and coordination before.
> 
> Last week she cut the end of one finger off using a mandolin.
> 
> My fault, really.  I usually do the cooking, especially if it involves using anything sharp.  Well, I was grouting tile, and couldn't stop to make supper, so she took it upon herself to make scalloped potatoes.
> 
> Now just looking at a mandolin gives her the willies.
Click to expand...

 Those 'E' strings can be really sharp!


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> Shoot me. Just shoot me now.



My sympathies - my wife says exactly this in connection with work on a regular basis.


----------



## oldhippy

Beautiful day, on close inspection I see foot high grass/weeds calling my name.  Weed wackin Monday.  Best part of an acre.  What don't kill you makes you stronger.  Ed


----------



## Designer

tirediron said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, I just had a close call and it kind of freaked me out. Okay, maybe not quite that dramatic, but it did kinda spook me.
> 
> 
> 
> I believe I have mentioned Linda's lack of balance and coordination before.
> 
> Last week she cut the end of one finger off using a mandolin.
> 
> My fault, really.  I usually do the cooking, especially if it involves using anything sharp.  Well, I was grouting tile, and couldn't stop to make supper, so she took it upon herself to make scalloped potatoes.
> 
> Now just looking at a mandolin gives her the willies.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Those 'E' strings can be really sharp!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wondered about the spelling of that when I wrote above.  

(corr.) Mandoline 

The thing with sharp bits.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. My toddler granddaughter is in the hospital. I call the call later yesterday. She is having trouble breathing and is on a ventilator just to give her little body a rest. The tests just came back and the hospital found three serious viruses. So I am here in LA hoping for the best in St. Louis.

@ Paul- We'll all sure you'll do fine. Approach it like you would construction ... one piece at a time. Use the gray car and take a reading every five feet or so from the window(s) just to get a mental image of the light falloff. Then toss up a light and position it until perfect ... then another. Adjusting the strobes all at the same time gets mind boggling. 

@ Leo- 14,000 steps ... aren't those activity tracker great. I was low yesterday, so in the afternoon I took a walk to Home Depot just to hit my daily goal.

Interestingly enough, a few days ago while slicing some bread, (my bread has a thin but very hard crust), I gave an extra umph to the knife to get through the bottom crust and it made a nice slice deeply into my index finger. The damn thing wouldn't stop bleeding. We had guests over, so Mary Lou covered for me as I took a break to find something to plug the gash and stop the bleeding. Interestingly, Mary Lou has had so much practice at covering for me that the guests never noticed the bloody towels by the cutting board. Possibly my best self-inflicted cut was when I had a fight with a circular saw a few years back. The circular saw won ... they always do. What was most interesting that blood was squirting about eight inches in a nice arch ... but the squirts were timed to my heart beat. Quite interesting. Mary Lou has decided not to let me play with any sharp objects.

PS- We have a Mandoline Slicer also. It is a wonder that I still have all my finger joints or that my nickname isn't Lefty or Stubby.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou has decided not to let me play with any sharp objects.


 Mary Lou sounds like an intelligent lady!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou has decided not to let me play with any sharp objects.
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou sounds like an intelligent lady!
Click to expand...

Yes, but how smart can she be if she's with moi?


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou has decided not to let me play with any sharp objects.
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou sounds like an intelligent lady!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, but how smart can she be if she's with moi?
Click to expand...

 I said "intelligent"...


----------



## pgriz

Gary, now you have me worried.  How am I going to get a grey car into the salon?  and which grey do I get?  Uhoh.  gotta go.  Will update after.


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, I just had a close call and it kind of freaked me out. Okay, maybe not quite that dramatic, but it did kinda spook me.
> 
> 
> 
> I believe I have mentioned Linda's lack of balance and coordination before.
> 
> Last week she cut the end of one finger off using a mandolin.
> 
> My fault, really.  I usually do the cooking, especially if it involves using anything sharp.  Well, I was grouting tile, and couldn't stop to make supper, so she took it upon herself to make scalloped potatoes.
> 
> Now just looking at a mandolin gives her the willies.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Those 'E' strings can be really sharp!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah, I wondered about the spelling of that when I wrote above.
> 
> (corr.) Mandoline
> 
> The thing with sharp bits.
Click to expand...


I was seriously wondering what sort of cooking one DOES with a mandolin!  Pretty sure it likely involves string cheese though.


----------



## Designer

ok very funny  typing with one hand, i should have checked the spelling


----------



## Designer

You people have missed your calling.  Should have been spelling police.


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> You people have missed your calling.  Should have been spelling police.



Actually, I didn't miss my calling. I *am* the Spelling Police, or--as I prefer to call myself--a Professional Nitpicker. 
Among my many job duties, one of the more official titles I have is that of copy editor. I'm the person that has to proof everything that goes out to the public.

I am convinced that the best copy editors are not proofers by profession, but rather by birth. I have always been THAT person--the one who notices the mistake in the church bulletin, or on the sign, or in the newspaper article.  Or on Facebook posts. Oh my goodness, the Facebook posts!!! Over the years, I have finally learned that not everyone appreciates having this (often tiny) little errors pointed out, and even more, not everyone actually CARES that they spelled something wrong.  I have become much, much better in recent years at keeping these notations to myself. Unless I find them hilarious, and then I just can't help myself.

And I'm sorry, but the visual of cooking with a mandolin…that's just funny!


----------



## sm4him

My absolute favorite typo ever though was the one on the sheet that our choir director gives us every Sunday morning, so that we have the order of songs, words (in case the screen goes out), etc.  Thankfully, this is NOT a sheet that everyone in the congregation gets.
One day a few years ago, I picked up the sheet, flipped it over, and there it was…evidently we were singing "When We All Get to Heave"


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> You people have missed your calling.  Should have been spelling police.



I did get the calling! I'm literally the grammar and spelling police for my students! 

Okay, I have to tell this story. When I was at the notary public exam last week, I was in the restroom washing my hands and saw signs hanging over each sink. They said something about not washing hair or brushes...? in the sink because "pipe will clog and sink will back up." I took out my pen and inserted 'the' in front of 'pipe' and 'sink.'

No, I couldn't just let it go.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> My absolute favorite typo ever though was the one on the sheet that our choir director gives us every Sunday morning, so that we have the order of songs, words (in case the screen goes out), etc.  Thankfully, this is NOT a sheet that everyone in the congregation gets.
> One day a few years ago, I picked up the sheet, flipped it over, and there it was…evidently we were singing "When We All Get to Heave"



From the paper of one of Buzz's history students a few years ago:

"The Spanish-American War was moistly fought by the U.S. Navy."


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> My absolute favorite typo ever though was the one on the sheet that our choir director gives us every Sunday morning, so that we have the order of songs, words (in case the screen goes out), etc.  Thankfully, this is NOT a sheet that everyone in the congregation gets.
> One day a few years ago, I picked up the sheet, flipped it over, and there it was…evidently we were singing "When We All Get to Heave"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From the paper of one of Buzz's history students a few years ago:
> 
> "The Spanish-American War was moistly fought by the U.S. Navy."
Click to expand...


Another favorite from a few years back was an obit in our local paper (Yes, I read the obits. I have since I was a teenager. Yes, it's weird.)  I read this one and was absolutely stunned.
It said, "John Smith died unrepentantly on Monday, April 6, 20XX…"  WHAT??  Who would write such a thing about a family member??!?!  Or about ANYone who had just passed away, for that matter.  I half expected to see that followed up with "…and went straight to he**." 
I've met some families with some pretty bad blood between them, but I'd never met anyone who would put such a thing in someone else's obit.

The next day, I looked for that obituary again. Sure enough, it was there. Only this time it said, in large, bolded letters, "John Smith died *UNEXPECTEDLY* on Monday, April 6, 20XX…"


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ..."The Spanish-American War was moistly fought by the U.S. Navy."


 Well, given that the navy's natural environment is at sea, and the ocean is generally wet, and that humidity on old warships, especially ironclads in the era before HVAC was implement was a huge issue, is that necessarily incorrect?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ..."The Spanish-American War was moistly fought by the U.S. Navy."
> 
> 
> 
> Well, given that the navy's natural environment is at sea, and the ocean is generally wet, and that humidity on old warships, especially ironclads in the era before HVAC was implement was a huge issue, is that necessarily incorrect?
Click to expand...


Well, it _was_ technically correct, but it was also not intentional, which is what made it funny


----------



## sm4him

@limr Lenny, you'd appreciate this one! I took a picture of a sign in the gift shop area of the restaurant I took my Mom to on Saturday.  
The sign read "Bring in the magic and tranquility of the outdoors and create your own _*fresh air-inspired retreat.*_" (Bolding and emphasis added)


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> @limr Lenny, you'd appreciate this one! I took a picture of a sign in the gift shop area of the restaurant I took my Mom to on Saturday.
> The sign read "Bring in the magic and tranquility of the outdoors and create your own _*fresh air-inspired retreat.*_" (Bolding and emphasis added)


 It's amazing how much difference a little punk-chew-ayshun can make, izzn't?


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> @limr Lenny, you'd appreciate this one! I took a picture of a sign in the gift shop area of the restaurant I took my Mom to on Saturday.
> The sign read "Bring in the magic and tranquility of the outdoors and create your own _*fresh air-inspired retreat.*_" (Bolding and emphasis added)



This might make up for your unexpected meeting this morning: The 20 Best Suspicious Quotation Marks


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr Lenny, you'd appreciate this one! I took a picture of a sign in the gift shop area of the restaurant I took my Mom to on Saturday.
> The sign read "Bring in the magic and tranquility of the outdoors and create your own _*fresh air-inspired retreat.*_" (Bolding and emphasis added)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This might make up for your unexpected meeting this morning: The 20 Best Suspicious Quotation Marks
Click to expand...



I must say though, based on the picture, in #13 it seems entirely appropriate to put "Security Guard" in quotes.

One of my life rules is that I never eat anywhere that has to put quotations around the word "food" or "fresh." 

Here's one I took a number of years ago--the entire sign is really pretty much FULL of awesomeness.  Dun yer way, lol!


----------



## sm4him

Okay, enough of this. I have to go get some "work" done.


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> I'm the person that has to proof everything that goes out to the public.


I used to do that as well.  We all were supposed to check the building specifications before they went to printing, but I was the only one who caught the mistakes.  I think the others just moved it from the in-box to the out-box without opening it. Seriously.

I could get completely through an entire specification in one afternoon with time to spare.  When I was finished with it, there would be about 30 or 40 sticky note flags sticking out of it marking the pages that needed fixing.


----------



## snerd

Afternoon, hosers! Raining very hard today. We've had many thundershowers over the last few weeks. It's really helping to refill our dry lakes and ponds. I have 3 cups 'o joe brewing, then off to laundromat. Keeping a low profile for the next two weeks................. then hopefully they will get me off of all these damn tubes and IV's!! WooHoo!!!


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> And I'm sorry, but the visual of cooking with a mandolin…that's just funny!


I can see how it might help:  

See a duck and whack it out of the air by smacking it with a mandolin.

Then use the mandolin to stir the soup.  

Then use the mandolin to silence the critics.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> "The Spanish-American War was moistly fought by the U.S. Navy."


A little dry humor there.


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> *UNEXPECTEDLY*


Ohhh....


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> This might make up for your unexpected meeting this morning: The 20 Best Suspicious Quotation Marks


Slow website there.

I don't know how many people noticed what I did a couple of days ago:  I purposely added apostrophes where they shouldn't be, and apparently nobody caught it, or just didn't mention it.  

I was so proud of my 8th-grade-humor joke that I felt the need to tell my wife about it.

I crack me up!


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> Here's one I took a number of years ago--the entire sign is really pretty much FULL of awesomeness.  Dun yer way, lol!


Good Lord!  Horseshoe "A" on a food sign?


----------



## Designer

snerd said:


> Keeping a low profile for the next two weeks................


Uh.. don't keep so low that uh.. somebody mistakes your low profile for being, uh.. you know, uh.. not uh.. needing those tubes anymore.


----------



## KenC

Designer said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here's one I took a number of years ago--the entire sign is really pretty much FULL of awesomeness.  Dun yer way, lol!
> 
> 
> 
> Good Lord!  Horseshoe "A" on a food sign?
Click to expand...


The shoes were the only part left after they made lunch, so they had to go somewhere.


----------



## KenC

My favorite language error from work is in a document that concerned certain water-based formulations that were thickened, i.e., "rheologically modified" (rheology describes fluid flow), but in fact referred to them as "theologically modified."  My guess is that someone wasn't paying attention when using the spell checker, which probably doesn't know the word "rheologically" (I've taught mine lots of funny technical words, but not everyone bothers.


----------



## Designer

It helps to pray attention.


----------



## pgriz

Designer said:


> It helps to pray attention.



It certainly does.  Especially the praying part.


----------



## limr

Hee, this just showed up on my Facebook feed, posted by one of the grammar pages I follow:


----------



## Designer

Kitteh rites gooder than me.


----------



## pgriz

Ok.  So I don't have a chinese fan, or a hussier jacket.  I don't have a sextant or an astroblade.  But I do have a few umbrellas, stands and one camera.  For my unprofessional debut, see the following The unprofessional photographer. Photography Forum.  Daughter says they are better than her cell phone.  So based on that low standard, I guess I succeeded.  And as far as youse guys are concerned, should I turn the camera back in, or is there hope?


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> Ok.  So I don't have a chinese fan, or a hussier jacket.  I don't have a sextant or an astroblade.  But I do have a few umbrellas, stands and one camera.  For my unprofessional debut, see the following The unprofessional photographer. Photography Forum.  Daughter says they are better than her cell phone.  So based on that low standard, I guess I succeeded.  And as far as youse guys are concerned, should I turn the camera back in, or is there hope?


 There's hope!


----------



## vintagesnaps

You got me laughing over hussier jacket, haven't even gotten to your link yet! lol Hendrix, now I get it. And too late to be IBTL I found a photo of the real thing from the 1850s (and the soldier has this gigantic feather on top of his hat).

Anyway, besides wasting time now I'll go look at your un-pro thread Paul. Which I imagine will be better than you seem to think.


----------



## snowbear

Bad spelling and grammar?  Hang out at a Jeep (or almost any 4x4) forum for a while.


----------



## snowbear

Leonore - they actually can put thumbs back on, now, though I'm real glad you didn't get to experience it first hand.
I am sorry for the pun . . . well, maybe I'm not.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> Here's one I took a number of years ago--the entire sign is really pretty much FULL of awesomeness.  Dun yer way, lol!
> View attachment 99790



OK, Sharon - is this place in the Big-K (Knoxville) or in 'lanta?


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here's one I took a number of years ago--the entire sign is really pretty much FULL of awesomeness.  Dun yer way, lol!
> View attachment 99790
> 
> 
> 
> 
> OK, Sharon - is this place in the Big-K (Knoxville) or in 'lanta?
Click to expand...

Neither, technically.  Which is another part to the awesomeness of it all.  The sign was right here in Knoxvegas.  However, somehow--amazingly--the store never actually opened. The sign hung in the window for about two years but the shop never saw opening day.

I know, you are probably as stunned as I that someone who come up with THAT sign somehow never quite got their business mojo swinging quite far enough to make a success of such a stellar business concept.  Maybe their supplier for "right" ingredients got caught while trying to steal the horses for the Opening Day "Special."


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> I know, you are probably as stunned as I that someone who come up with THAT sign somehow never quite got their business mojo swinging quite far enough to make a success of such a stellar business concept.  Maybe their supplier for "right" ingredients got caught while trying to steal the horses for the Opening Day "Special."


Maybe they became CL photographers.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!


----------



## pgriz

Morning, Leonore, Sharon, Gary, Charlie, and all other esteemed and respected colleagues.  Please cancel the Ark.  The rains have stopped.  At least for the next two-three days.  As rains go, they weren't torrential, more of an intermittent spit and drizzle variety, but enough to prevent any outdoor work.  Now that the weather is nicer, and warmer (although "warmer" is relative), I'm expecting the explosion of leafery (correct term: foliage, but we TPF's can be occasionally creative, even if we're not all wearing hussar jackets) and the bare twigs will be clothed again.

Two trouble-shooting appointments today, one site visit, one quote presentation.  And a pile of invoicing/bookkeeping that I've been avoiding.  

I think I need another coffee.


----------



## limr

Sounds like a full day of paper cuts, Paul. I'm sure mine will involve some as well since I'll be at the lawyer's and also grading papers today.

And speaking of cuts, that avocado incident seems to have yielded an injury after all. The skin was not broken, as I said, but this morning I woke up with a tiny bruise on my thumb - just a small line and a little redness, as if the skin _had_ been broken but had a few days to heal and close up but you can still see the mark. 

Bodies are weird.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  I hope all your bruises heal and everyone's weather improves.  Here it's pretty nice, predicted high in the high 60's, which I'll take over hot weather any time.  There's a beer garden next door to work which opened Friday and attracted only a few hardy souls in coats, as it was cool and breezy.  Yesterday they didn't open at all, but I think today they might.  It always helps morale around here when it does open.


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  I hope all your bruises heal and everyone's weather improves.  Here it's pretty nice, predicted high in the high 60's, which I'll take over hot weather any time.  There's a beer garden next door to work which opened Friday and attracted only a few hardy souls in coats, as it was cool and breezy.  Yesterday they didn't open at all, but I think today they might.  It always helps morale around here when it does open.



Wow, y'all GROW beer up there? Man, my brother would think he'd died and gone to heaven with a Beer Garden, he'd be out there picking the harvest all day long!


----------



## Designer

It's strictly a "Northern" thing.  you see, when nice weather does come around, we get so excited that we try to do absolutely everything outside.  

Because we can.  

Even drink beer. LOLs 

I know, right?


----------



## snerd

I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date!! Have to be in Oklahoma City at 11am, and I overslept! I'll have to stop for coffee on the way! Another shoulder dressing change................ hopefully the 3rd to last one!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date!! Have to be in Oklahoma City at 11am, and I overslept! I'll have to stop for coffee on the way! Another shoulder dressing change................ hopefully the 3rd to last one!



Good luck!

Hey, anyone want a funky Tuesday morning optical illusion? Just read this article and the main picture totally feels like it's moving when you look just to the side or above/below it. Kewl!

(Oh, plus it might be an interesting article, but who reads for the articles?  )

Maybe You Should Rethink That Daily Aspirin Shots - Health News NPR


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date!! Have to be in Oklahoma City at 11am, and I overslept! I'll have to stop for coffee on the way! Another shoulder dressing change................ hopefully the 3rd to last one!


 Why don't you just leave the shoulder there?


----------



## snerd

tirediron said:


> Why don't you just leave the shoulder there?


Not sure they can shoulder the burden.


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why don't you just leave the shoulder there?
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure they can shoulder the burden.
Click to expand...


Bwahahaha!

Now…what are you doing still posting on TPF????  GET OUT OF HERE and get to Oklahoma City!!!


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why don't you just leave the shoulder there?
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure they can shoulder the burden.
Click to expand...

 Groan......


----------



## bribrius

just sent another one hour order in for walmart. Just a 8x10 film print for someone. Hate to do it as they never look the same. when i order out i always check "do not color correct" etc. This is a bw. It just never looks the same. Almost like whatever walmart uses for electronic process tries to clean it up some how anyway. In which i don't want it clean up i want it as is. I asked them about it once, they said there is nothing they can do. Just how the software and machine is made. Fuji machine they print off i think.


----------



## bribrius

you know the orders come in electronic, assigned numbers, machine spits them off. The system and machine really don't give a rats azz it just follows code and your photo is just another number.


----------



## bribrius

i'll get it and part of the film grain look will be frucked prolly, shadows amiss as it electronically does whatever the fruck it does.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> It's strictly a "Northern" thing.  you see, when nice weather does come around, we get so excited that we try to do absolutely everything outside.
> 
> Because we can.
> 
> Even drink beer. LOLs
> 
> I know, right?


We have a ton of indoor/outdoor eateries here. All kinds and everywhere. People really like the outdoor seating so they can bring their dogs with them. Many of the restaurants will serve the dogs. The wineries we hit over the weekends all had outdoor areas.






iPhone image. The wind was blowing making jackets and blankets a necessity. This was Rosenthal, on PCH. The 'garden' part ran into the Santa Monica Mountains and literary across the street was the Pacific.





iPhone image.

The Santa Monica Mountains. Not very tall, but still on the wild side with a population of Mountain Lions and bears.





iPhone image.

A wider view of the 'garden'. There was entertainment, a acoustical guitar and an 'lectric violin. Even in summer the nights get very very cool and the heaters come into play.





iPhone image.

The winery also brought in a food truck. Aztec Catering or somethin'. The food was quite good. Under all the toppings was a huge slab of perfectly grill Salmon, with a crust of seasonings. Mary Lou had tacos which came with this creamy chipotle sauce that was to die for. That yellow stuff is mango and in the background are the Santa Monica Mountains. Looking south we could see the parachutes of wind surfers. The musicians were very entertaining.


----------



## bribrius

your iphone images are better than most of my camera images. And your camera images are crystal clear. Cant figure out if it is the camera or lens or you post process them to perfection. Just know it is better than most of what my lenses and me turn out.


----------



## limr

There is yet another variable that has not been mentioned: the operator.


----------



## Designer

He's got skilzzzz....

And he knows how to use them.


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> He's got skilzzzz....
> 
> And he knows how to use them.


he does, but nope. It just isn't the operator. Nice try.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I can emphasize with Paul ... a ton of paperwork today. My ten o'clock appointment has been canceled so The Cook and I may take a longer walk. See ya.


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> He's got skilzzzz....
> 
> And he knows how to use them.
> 
> 
> 
> he does, but nope. It just isn't the operator. Nice try.
Click to expand...


Bullsh$t. Gary is that good and we all know it.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> He's got skilzzzz....
> 
> And he knows how to use them.
> 
> 
> 
> he does, but nope. It just isn't the operator. Nice try.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Bullsh$t. Gary is that good and we all know it.
Click to expand...

he is very good, but there is no discounting proper lighting and equipment and post process..


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> Wow, y'all GROW beer up there? Man, my brother would think he'd died and gone to heaven with a Beer Garden, he'd be out there picking the harvest all day long!



We get it any way we can.


----------



## sm4him

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> He's got skilzzzz....
> 
> And he knows how to use them.
> 
> 
> 
> he does, but nope. It just isn't the operator. Nice try.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Bullsh$t. Gary is that good and we all know it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> he is very good, but there is no discounting proper lighting and equipment and post process..
Click to expand...


But understanding how to USE the lighting and equipment and post processing to produce great results is what MAKES a good "operator."
I could take my best friend out to a beautiful spot, with good light. I could give her my best equipment and then give her access to my processing software. 
I could instead use my cell phone and we could then both take pictures of the same thing. My results will be better than hers. She had the proper lighting, equipment and post-processing software, but *I* had a better understanding of how to USE them.

Gary is a master because he knows how to best work with what he has.


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> He's got skilzzzz....
> 
> And he knows how to use them.
> 
> 
> 
> he does, but nope. It just isn't the operator. Nice try.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Bullsh$t. Gary is that good and we all know it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> he is very good, but there is no discounting proper lighting and equipment and post process..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> But understanding how to USE the lighting and equipment and post processing to produce great results is what MAKES a good "operator."
> I could take my best friend out to a beautiful spot, with good light. I could give her my best equipment and then give her access to my processing software.
> I could instead use my cell phone and we could then both take pictures of the same thing. My results will be better than hers. She had the proper lighting, equipment and post-processing software, but *I* had a better understanding of how to USE them.
> 
> Gary is a master because he knows how to best work with what he has.
Click to expand...

what kind of cell phone? It makes a world of difference..


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> But understanding how to USE the lighting and equipment and post processing to produce great results is what MAKES a good "operator."
> I could take my best friend out to a beautiful spot, with good light. I could give her my best equipment and then give her access to my processing software.
> I could instead use my cell phone and we could then both take pictures of the same thing. My results will be better than hers. She had the proper lighting, equipment and post-processing software, but *I* had a better understanding of how to USE them.
> 
> Gary is a master because he knows how to best work with what he has.



Yup.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> But understanding how to USE the lighting and equipment and post processing to produce great results is what MAKES a good "operator."
> I could take my best friend out to a beautiful spot, with good light. I could give her my best equipment and then give her access to my processing software.
> I could instead use my cell phone and we could then both take pictures of the same thing. My results will be better than hers. She had the proper lighting, equipment and post-processing software, but *I* had a better understanding of how to USE them.
> 
> Gary is a master because he knows how to best work with what he has.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yup.
Click to expand...

you guys are preaching to the choir here. You forget i shoot without about everything. I made a simple statement. wow.


----------



## minicoop1985

CHILDREN! SETTLE DOWN!

Anyway, I'm about to imbibe my third cup today. Only got three hours of sleep last night... Long story.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, Appleton Guy ... not so fast ... I love that peoples are fighting over me.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Hey, Appleton Guy ... not so fast ... I love that peoples are fighting over me.



I gots ya, Tio


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Hey, Appleton Guy ... not so fast ... I love that peoples are fighting over me.



Just your "Hoser Homies" looking out for you!


----------



## pgriz

So what drama did I miss?  (That was a more-or-less rhetorical question, if you're getting primed to write a 2,000 word answer).

My two trouble-shooting appointments became an all -day thing.  So my presentation appointment got moved to Friday, and my book-keeping will have to wait until I can rest a little.  Now, three more requests for quotations came in over the past hour.  I'm going to have to look into cloning technology.


----------



## snowbear

I only saw part of the drama - some posts are apparently invisible.

Not sure what the heck was going on this morning, about 5:00 . . .
 "quack, quack ,quack"
 "*thud*"
 "quack, quack, quack, quack"
No fur or feathers lying around when we left this morning.  FM (freakin' mystery.)


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> So what drama did I miss?  (That was a more-or-less rhetorical question, if you're getting primed to write a 2,000 word answer).
> 
> My two trouble-shooting appointments became an all -day thing.  So my presentation appointment got moved to Friday, and my book-keeping will have to wait until I can rest a little.  Now, three more requests for quotations came in over the past hour.  I'm going to have to look into cloning technology.


I used to do estimating ...


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> I'm going to have to look into cloning technology.



"Baaaahhhh."
Hello, Dolly!


----------



## Gary A.

@ Paul & Charlie ...

Nothing much. Brian was wondering why my iPhone images seem better/sharper than his camera images. He mentions post, and type of camera phone, et al. My posse got mad because he neglected to mention 'operator'. When my posse brought up 'operator', Brian slightly poo-poo them by saying it was more than the operator. When, in turn, garnered a response. No big deal actually. And Brian is right, it is more than the operator, it is eye, camera, experience, skill and post. Good photography is paying attention to and to the details in all those categories.


----------



## Designer

And luck. 

Don't forget about the occasional lucky shot.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> And luck.
> 
> Don't forget about the occasional lucky shot.


Forget?  Hell... I rely on them!


----------



## snowbear

Bribery.  Bribery works when trying to scrounge up "models."  Especially with @$*#^*!% kids.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> And luck.
> 
> Don't forget about the occasional lucky shot.


 ... and luck ... copious amounts of luck.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, just finished processing my first pizza dough with the Ninja. Looks pretty good ... it was terribly easy. Just dumped everything into the bowl and turn on the mixer.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Hey, just finished processing my first pizza dough with the Ninja. Looks pretty good ... it was terribly easy. Just dumped everything into the bowl and turn on the mixer.


That's how Miriam makes pie crusts -put butter & dry ingredients in the food processor and pulse a bit.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> So what drama did I miss?  (That was a more-or-less rhetorical question, if you're getting primed to write a 2,000 word answer).
> 
> My two trouble-shooting appointments became an all -day thing.  So my presentation appointment got moved to Friday, and my book-keeping will have to wait until I can rest a little.  Now, three more requests for quotations came in over the past hour.  I'm going to have to look into cloning technology.



Hey Paul, guess what I got today? A paper cut! 



Gary A. said:


> @ Paul & Charlie ...
> 
> Nothing much. Brian was wondering why my iPhone images seem better/sharper than his camera images. He mentions post, and type of camera phone, et al. My posse got mad because he neglected to mention 'operator'. When my posse brought up 'operator', Brian slightly poo-poo them by saying it was more than the operator. When, in turn, garnered a response. No big deal actually. And Brian is right, it is more than the operator, it is eye, camera, experience, skill and post. Good photography is paying attention to and to the details in all those categories.



Yes, it's a combination of many factors, which he did mention, but seemed to be discounting the role that the operator plays, which _is_ a big part of the equation. It seemed akin to the "Those are good pictures; you must have a good camera!" comment that we all love to hate


----------



## pgriz

@Gary A. :  You know estimating?  Yer hired!

As for the photography, it may be luck, but luck favours the prepared.


----------



## pgriz

@limr:  Leonore, There's something perverse about something so small hurting so much.  I'll send you a bottle of pain reliever. Or we can share.  My angel of a wife decided I was a little tired, so she helped me to a nice glass of wine with dinner.   Think there's more.  But it's having its way with me.  Going to find a horizontal surface to study....


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> @limr:  Leonore, There's something perverse about something so small hurting so much.  I'll send you a bottle of pain reliever. Or we can share.



Well, they say that it's the little things that can bring so much joy, so I suppose it's only natural for the reverse to be true. Because physics, y'know 



> My angel of a wife decided I was a little tired, so she helped me to a nice glass of wine with dinner.   Think there's more.  But it's having its way with me.  *Going to find a horizontal surface to study....*



Try the inside of your eyelids. Works pretty well for me. Just as long as nothing spins.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Well, they say that it's the little things that can bring so much joy.......


If I had a nickle for every time I've been told that over the years.............................

   

.....................


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, they say that it's the little things that can bring so much joy.......
> 
> 
> 
> If I had a nickle for every time I've been told that over the years.............................
> 
> 
> 
> .....................
Click to expand...


As they say, it ain't the size of the boat...!


----------



## snerd

Good news!! They took the vac pump off today!! WooHoo!!!!! Freedom!!! They said to try a week without it, and if it looks good I can send it back. Damn it's nice not being tied down with that thing!! Coffee for everyone, on me!!!


----------



## limr

Woot! That's awesome, Snerd baby!


----------



## minicoop1985

Yeah boyee! You go Snerd!


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> @Gary A. :  You know estimating?  Yer hired!
> 
> As for the photography, it may be luck, but luck favours the prepared.


I know CPM also.


----------



## Gary A.

That is great snerd. Unfortunately, my granddaughter is still in the hospital. But she, like snerd, has turned a corner and seems to be on her way to recovery.


----------



## snerd

Prayers for your granddaughter, Gary.


----------



## snerd

Out of respect for the more than a few members who think I shouldn't be using the monkey avatar, I'm changing it. Although we may have a right to do something, it may not always be the most prudent thing to do. So, enough of that! C O F F E E !!!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Thank you snerd. I already miss the monkey.


----------



## limr

Awww, bye monkey


----------



## vintagesnaps

As long as Snerd's still here and doing better. But yeah, that monkey grin was fun...

Gary I didn't see anything about your granddaughter being in the hospital, hope she keeps getting better.


----------



## Gary A.

My pizza turned out well. My crust was a 50:50 mix of wheat and white with cheddar & herbs. Trader Joe's pizza sauce. Cheddar, Mozz, Blue, herbs (Mexican Oregano, Marjoram and Basil), onion, peppers and 'shrooms. The final topping was lemon chicken, grilled on the George Foreman. Mary Lou made a great salad, kale, tomatoes, peppers, strawberries with a pomegranate vinaigrette.  All washed down with a Robert Mondavi Fume Blanc.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> As long as Snerd's still here and doing better. But yeah, that monkey grin was fun...
> 
> Gary I didn't see anything about your granddaughter being in the hospital, hope she keeps getting better.


Thank you. She is still a toddler ... and was severely hit with three respiratory viruses. She, like snerd, has turned a corner, she's not out of the woods, but I think she's at least on the right path.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Aw, sorry she's sick, hope she feels better soon. I worked with babies and toddlers as an EI specialist for 20+ years, although of course that's not the same as when it's your family. Glad at least she's improving.


----------



## minicoop1985

Yeah, Gary, keep us updated. Hope she's alright.

In other news, it looks like it's gonna be another great, but long, night tonight.


----------



## Gary A.

What so great about your night(s)?


----------



## minicoop1985

It's a long story, but I'll sum it up quick. My wife and I are a little different; we're a polyamorous couple. I've met someone new and exciting and it's all those great feelings all over again. Keep in mind that polyamory is NOT like being a swinger-it's about  developing and maintaining multiple relationships. Some people just have an ability to love more than one person, and there's nothing really wrong with that.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay.


----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


> Out of respect for the more than a few members who think I shouldn't be using the monkey avatar, I'm changing it. Although we may have a right to do something, it may not always be the most prudent thing to do. So, enough of that! C O F F E E !!!!!!!



Use a monkey butt (or butt monkey?) and tell them to kiss it!

Hey, maybe we should ALL use the monkey avatar for a week, or so.  Solidarity!


----------



## snowbear

<--  New avi through weekend.  Support monkey-boy Snerd!

OK, enough pseudo-political ranting.


----------



## sm4him

^No, sorry. I can't go there. I *do* support Snerd in all his monkieness, but I cannot use that avatar. Nothing to do with copyright and everything to do with creeping me out just a little bit.


----------



## snowbear

No worries.

I wonder what the monkey would look like in clown makeup?


----------



## pgriz

Man, it's difficult staying current with this community.

@snerd:  May the pump be history, and your shoulder heal without any more drama.  As for the simian... it appears there's a waiting list for people who want to use that winning smile.
@Gary A:  Sorry to hear the challenges your grand-daughter is going through.  When the little ones get sick (really sick) it can be a frightening experience.
@snowbear:  Charlie... this is going to cause identity issues.  Your username and avatar don't match.  Maybe you need to get up north and persuade one of the polar bears to take a selfie?  and document the process while you're at it?

And I better get off TPF and actually do some work.


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> Man, it's difficult staying current with this community.
> 
> @snerd:  May the pump be history, and your shoulder heal without any more drama.  As for the simian... it appears there's a waiting list for people who want to use that winning smile.
> @Gary A:  Sorry to hear the challenges your grand-daughter is going through.  When the little ones get sick (really sick) it can be a frightening experience.
> @snowbear:  Charlie... this is going to cause identity issues.  Your username and avatar don't match.  Maybe you need to get up north and persuade one of the polar bears to take a selfie?  and document the process while you're at it?
> 
> And I better get off TPF and actually do some work.



Temporary change, I assure you, but I like to cause a little confusion every so often. 
Work? Oh, yeah.  I'll do that this afternoon -- MLW has therapy in a while so we have short days three times each week.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> That is great snerd. Unfortunately, my granddaughter is still in the hospital. But she, like snerd, has turned a corner and seems to be on her way to recovery.


Gary, I missed this, too - not enough coffee, I guess.  She is in our thoughts and hoping things get better for her quickly.


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> Man, it's difficult staying current with this community.
> 
> @snerd:  May the pump be history, and your shoulder heal without any more drama.  As for the simian... it appears there's a waiting list for people who want to use that winning smile.
> @Gary A:  Sorry to hear the challenges your grand-daughter is going through.  When the little ones get sick (really sick) it can be a frightening experience.
> @snowbear:  Charlie... this is going to cause identity issues.  Your username and avatar don't match.  Maybe you need to get up north and persuade one of the polar bears to take a selfie?  and document the process while you're at it?
> 
> And I better get off TPF and actually do some work.



I remember one time that a bunch of people did something similar with an avatar that I especially loathed in the first place. Not only could I not tell who was who anymore, I was developing a tic from seeing that image on every jammin' page--I think I finally had to take a break from TPF for a few days while they got it out of their systems.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> That is great snerd. Unfortunately, my granddaughter is still in the hospital. But she, like snerd, has turned a corner and seems to be on her way to recovery.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary, I missed this, too - not enough coffee, I guess.  She is in our thoughts and hoping things get better for her quickly.
Click to expand...


Definitely in our prayers, Gary!!  It does sound encouraging that she's turned a corner.
Worst 10 days of my life were when my eldest son, then 7 years old, ended up at the hospital (after a week of being horribly sick, and being MISdiagnosed TWICE by the children's hospital ER--long story) with a burst appendix. His appendix had probably already burst when we took him to the ER the second time--it was truly a miracle he survived. After a doctor friend finally correctly diagnosed him, and sent him to another hospital, they did an ultrasound--the membranes in that area of his little body had literally formed a fortress of sorts around all the toxins, keeping the majority of them all constrained within that one little area, which is the only reason he didn't die.  It was still VERY touch-and-go for about 10 days.
He'll be 25 years old this year.  My prayers that your granddaughter will have the same sort of story to tell in a couple of decades!


----------



## pgriz

@sm4him:  Sharon, I seem to recall bunnies.  And a profusion of bunnies.  Then a plague of them.  And then, people more or less came to their senses.  That episode?

As for what your son went through... that's really scary.  One of our nephews had something similar about two years ago.  First time, mis-diagnosed, second time they found the burst appendix and it took him almost six months to kinda recover.  He still hasn't completely come back health-wise due some complications.


----------



## sm4him

pgriz said:


> @sm4him:  Sharon, I seem to recall bunnies.  And a profusion of bunnies.  Then a plague of them.  And then, people more or less came to their senses.  That episode?
> 
> As for what your son went through... that's really scary.  One of our nephews had something similar about two years ago.  First time, mis-diagnosed, second time they found the burst appendix and it took him almost six months to kinda recover.  He still hasn't completely come back health-wise due some complications.



OH, the bunnies! I'd forgotten about the bunnies! That one was epic!  And epically confusing!
No, the one I was thinking of was on a smaller scale, but involved...I don't want to say it...clowns.  Clowns are bad.

The "rest" of the story on my son's illness--he was in the hospital 10 days, the FIRST time (and it was over the Thanksgiving holidays!  But I didn't care...I was pretty immensely thankful he was still here!). That was just to get the infection under control. Then, they sent him home, on three different antibiotics, all of them adult-strength meds, one so strong we had to go to a compounding pharmacy to have it made, as none of the regular pharmacies stocked it). Then after the first of the year, he had to go back to have the actual appendectomy done.
He is a reasonably healthy adult. However, he did have a LOT of stomach issues and little illnesses all his life, that I believe are a result of having so much infection all over his body for so long when he was young.


----------



## snowbear

@sm4him, @pgriz:  Bunnies . . oh, yeah.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Gary: lots of good energy being sent to your granddaughter.

Sharon: You're right. Clowns are bad. Bunnies are good. Your son's recovery was also good.

Charlie: You are confusing my poor addled brain. I need more coffee.

This semester needs to die. I know it's only another couple of weeks, but it just needs to stop! I am fried.


----------



## snowbear

I couldn't keep the monkey up . . . I kept confusing myself, thinking the Alerts was telling me when someone replied or liked one of Snerd's posts. 

@limr . . . edit: fixed grammatical errors before Leonore kicked my butt.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Charlie: You are confusing my poor addled brain. I need more coffee.


Fixed.  It was screwing me up too.  It might have worked had I changed it, somehow.



limr said:


> This semester needs to die. I know it's only another couple of weeks, but it just needs to stop! I am fried.


----------



## pgriz

Yes, bad clowns are...  nightmares.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Charlie: You are confusing my poor addled brain. I need more coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> Fixed.  It was screwing me up too.  It might have worked had I changed it, somehow.
Click to expand...


Here ya go:


----------



## snowbear

Oh! Here's a thought: TPF monkey memes.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Out of respect for the more than a few members who think I shouldn't be using the monkey avatar, I'm changing it. Although we may have a right to do something, it may not always be the most prudent thing to do. So, enough of that! C O F F E E !!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Use a monkey butt (or butt monkey?) and tell them to kiss it!
> 
> Hey, maybe we should ALL use the monkey avatar for a week, or so.  Solidarity!
Click to expand...

Some monkey images ... first the butt:










Solidarity!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Firstly, thank you for you well wishes and prayers. Having your children hospitalize is the worst.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning hosers. I don't have any monkey pics to support Snerd, but I support Snerd anyway. Here's to hoping for him!

Ugh, I dunno if coffee will be enough this morning.

Gary, still hoping for the best.


----------



## pgriz

@Gary A:  Those are power images of the chimps.  Very powerful.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> Oh! Here's a thought: TPF monkey memes.


 Here's a thought... random banninations!


----------



## sm4him

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh! Here's a thought: TPF monkey memes.
> 
> 
> 
> Here's a thought... random banninations!
Click to expand...


I would really like to see a new monthly contest--each month, the members of TPF get to vote and select the one most annoying person that month to "vote off the island." 
I actually have two contenders right now…it'd be tough to pick which one should go!


----------



## Designer

pgriz said:


> @sm4him:  Sharon, I seem to recall bunnies.  And a profusion of bunnies.  Then a plague of them.  And then, people more or less came to their senses.  That episode?


The worst IMO was the GIF avatars.  

Everybody had one except me.


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> I couldn't keep the monkey up . . .


Charlie!  

Keep that to yourself, please.


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh! Here's a thought: TPF monkey memes.
> 
> 
> 
> Here's a thought... random banninations!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I would really like to see a new monthly contest--each month, the members of TPF get to vote and select the one most annoying person that month to "vote off the island."
> I actually have two contenders right now…it'd be tough to pick which one should go!
Click to expand...

 I.  Am.  NOT.  Banning.  Myself!


----------



## pgriz

Only two?  Well, I guess that's a good thing that you're so tolerant.  As for the voting, I'd suggest that the vote be done on a proportional system, with the vote being weighted by some criteria (post count, Likes, # of images, or some other adhoc measurement).  Then to make it really fun, the ticket back in for the prospective ban-ee would be to do a public service (article of interest, some stellar photos, or doing a good deed in the real world) that the voters can judge and decide if it is adequate.  All kind of possibilities suggest themselves.  And in this newly minted soap opera, we can all be bit players!


----------



## snerd

sm4him said:


> I have two contenders right now…it'd be tough to pick which one should go!












Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have two contenders right now…it'd be tough to pick which one should go!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 99888
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...

Aww…he's too cute. Even though I also find him slightly disturbing.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> @Gary A:  Those are power images of the chimps.  Very powerful.


Merci Paul. Je suis assez bon au tir les animaux en cage.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh! Here's a thought: TPF monkey memes.
> 
> 
> 
> Here's a thought... random banninations!
Click to expand...

Sounds like a cool idea; a TPF version of "whack-a-mole"


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh! Here's a thought: TPF monkey memes.
> 
> 
> 
> Here's a thought... random banninations!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sounds like a cool idea; a TPF version of "whack-a-mole"
Click to expand...

   Uber-cool!!!!   Where's my mallet?


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I couldn't keep the monkey up . . .
> 
> 
> 
> Charlie!
> 
> Keep that to yourself, please.
Click to expand...


That one made me GOL (guffaw out loud  )



snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh! Here's a thought: TPF monkey memes.
> 
> 
> 
> Here's a thought... random banninations!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sounds like a cool idea; a TPF version of "whack-a-mole"
Click to expand...


Or "whack-a-wackadoodle"


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A:  Those are power images of the chimps.  Very powerful.
> 
> 
> 
> Merci Paul. Je suis assez bon au tir les animaux en cage.
Click to expand...

C'est vraie.  Mais, par contre, ça prende un peu de talent de les montrer en façon qui nous donne l'emotion (ou ennuie) des animeaux.  
It's true. But, on the other hand, it takes some talent to show the images in a way that communicates the emotion (or boredom) of the animals.


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A:  Those are power images of the chimps.  Very powerful.
> 
> 
> 
> Merci Paul. Je suis assez bon au tir les animaux en cage.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> C'est vraie.  Mais, par contre, ça prende un peu de talent de les montrer en façon qui nous donne l'emotion (ou ennuie) des animeaux.
> It's true. But, on the other hand, it takes some talent to show the images in a way that communicates the emotion (or boredom) of the animals.
Click to expand...

 You mind punching new-day crypto please?


----------



## pgriz

tirediron said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A:  Those are power images of the chimps.  Very powerful.
> 
> 
> 
> Merci Paul. Je suis assez bon au tir les animaux en cage.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> C'est vraie.  Mais, par contre, ça prende un peu de talent de les montrer en façon qui nous donne l'emotion (ou ennuie) des animeaux.
> It's true. But, on the other hand, it takes some talent to show the images in a way that communicates the emotion (or boredom) of the animals.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You mind punching new-day crypto please?
Click to expand...


Hey!  we did the simultaneous translation thing!  Shall I muddy the waters and introduce yet another language, you know, just for shits and giggles???

Ponemaish, Tovarish?


----------



## Gary A.

<<<<<<<<<<

Solidarity!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A:  Those are power images of the chimps.  Very powerful.
> 
> 
> 
> Merci Paul. Je suis assez bon au tir les animaux en cage.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> C'est vraie.  Mais, par contre, ça prende un peu de talent de les montrer en façon qui nous donne l'emotion (ou ennuie) des animeaux.
> It's true. But, on the other hand, it takes some talent to show the images in a way that communicates the emotion (or boredom) of the animals.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You mind punching new-day crypto please?
Click to expand...

For an official language of your country? S'IL VOUS PLAIT!


----------



## pgriz

@ Gary A:  We're still trying to figure out the "official language" thing.  Trudeau tried to make it so, didn't work.  The PQ (Parti Quebecois) tried to limit it to French only, and it still doesn't really work.  New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province, and they're kinda making it work.  But it really is a shame, because knowing several languages is a benefit, not a hindrance.  When I worked for Philips, it was quite humbling to participate in meetings over there, since while the company's official language was English, the off-premises conversations would proceed in four or five languages and pretty much everyone (except for the North American crowd) could follow.  My direct boss was fluent in Dutch, English, French, German and had a working knowledge of Italian and Spanish.  Many of the other managers, directors and team leaders that I worked with had to be able to pass their exams in four languages just to graduate from college.  In some ways, we in North America should be fluent in English, French and Spanish, with additional knowledge of Mandarin and perhaps Russian or German.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Hey!  we did the simultaneous translation thing!  Shall I muddy the waters and introduce yet another language, you know, just for shits and giggles???
> 
> Ponemaish, Tovarish?



Yes, yes, yes, please! And you know I'm totally being serious, too, says the woman who tries to teach herself to read Hebrew when she's bored...


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey!  we did the simultaneous translation thing!  Shall I muddy the waters and introduce yet another language, you know, just for shits and giggles???
> 
> Ponemaish, Tovarish?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, yes, yes, please! And you know I'm totally being serious, too, says the woman who tries to teach herself to read Hebrew when she's bored...
Click to expand...


I have to say, I admire your effort. 

(translated from pidgin russian to pidgin english "kapish???")


----------



## KenC

pgriz said:


> to pidgin english "kapish???")



It's "capisce" to a lot of us.


----------



## limr

So, I have a student that I'm pretty sure is using Google Translate to write her essays. This got Buzz and I thinking of a fun game to play: enter a sentence in English and translate it into some other language. Then take what the program gives you and translate from that language into another language. Lather, rinse, repeat. Like the telephone game.

(As a side note to admit my geekiness, we used to do this in college with a group of friends that were bilingual in different languages. Kind of like that famous "I Love Lucy" episode when she leaves her passport in Italy on their way to France  )

So, I started with a MLK Jr. quote: "I look to a day when people are judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." I translated from English to Finnish, then to Portuguese, then to Afrikaans, to Croatian, to Swahili, and then back to English. I tried to mix up language groups but stick to languages that use the same script to eliminate the variable of non-standard phonetic renderings.

The sentence that I ended up with when I translated back into English was: "
I look forward to the day that people arvosteleeihonvärinsä , but the nature of the product."

Machine translation still needs a little work.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> So, I have a student that I'm pretty sure is using Google Translate to write her essays. This got Buzz and I thinking of a fun game to play: enter a sentence in English and translate it into some other language. Then take what the program gives you and translate from that language into another language. Lather, rinse, repeat. Like the telephone game.
> 
> (As a side note to admit my geekiness, we used to do this in college with a group of friends that were bilingual in different languages. Kind of like that famous "I Love Lucy" episode when she leaves her passport in Italy on their way to France  )
> 
> So, I started with a MLK Jr. quote: "I look to a day when people are judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." I translated from English to Finnish, then to Portuguese, then to Afrikaans, to Croatian, to Swahili, and then back to English. I tried to mix up language groups but stick to languages that use the same script to eliminate the variable of non-standard phonetic renderings.
> 
> The sentence that I ended up with when I translated back into English was: "
> I look forward to the day that people arvosteleeihonvärinsä , but the nature of the product."
> 
> Machine translation still needs a little work.



I've done that before! Lots of so much geeky fun!


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> I've done that before! Lots of so much geeky fun!



I knew you'd get it!


----------



## sm4him

So. I was having a pretty cr*ppy day today. 
I sent some flyers over to our other facility yesterday, to the person I *always* send them to. Her job is to make copies of them and give to the maintenance dept. to post on all the buses.  Last night, the director of maintenance texts me and asks about them,  saying shop hadn't gotten any flyers lately, and someone said there was supposed to be one. I texted him back and told him to check with J., whom I'd sent them to.
This morning, my boss asks me about them, and I told HER I'd sent them yesterday. She says they aren't on the buses and a particular PITA of a passenger is making a big deal of it.  So, I call J. to see if she got the copies to shop like she was supposed to.
She claims she never GOT any flyers. Even though I have the copy of the email I sent with the flyer attached.
I forward that email to my boss, and then she replies to the maintenance director by saying "The flyers didn't get over there as planned…" which makes it look like *I'm* the one who didn't do my job, and also makes it look like I *lied* to the maintenance director when I TOLD him I'd sent them to J.

I HATE getting my butt chewed on, for something that SOMEBODY ELSE didn't do!! And it's not the first time this has happened with this person. Usually, I copy two other people on the email just in case, but this time I didn't because I already knew both of those people were out of the office. Evidently, THAT was a wrong decision too, as my boss says I need to include them regardless. It's all just So. Stupid.
Now, every time I send flyers, I need to include MY boss on the email as well. Meaning that FOUR people have to be notified about a flyer--instead of just getting ONE person to do her jammin' job!!

But then…somebody that I was about to buy a Black Rapid strap from decided to just GIVE it to me instead. 
What a nice thing to do!
And what a good reminder that we never know how one small kindness on our part might just make someone else's entire day!


----------



## Gary A.

Claire's breathing tube has been removed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> So. I was having a pretty cr*ppy day today.
> I sent some flyers over to our other facility yesterday, to the person I *always* send them to. Her job is to make copies of them and give to the maintenance dept. to post on all the buses.  Last night, the director of maintenance texts me and asks about them,  saying shop hadn't gotten any flyers lately, and someone said there was supposed to be one. I texted him back and told him to check with J., whom I'd sent them to.
> This morning, my boss asks me about them, and I told HER I'd sent them yesterday. She says they aren't on the buses and a particular PITA of a passenger is making a big deal of it.  So, I call J. to see if she got the copies to shop like she was supposed to.
> She claims she never GOT any flyers. Even though I have the copy of the email I sent with the flyer attached.
> I forward that email to my boss, and then she replies to the maintenance director by saying "The flyers didn't get over there as planned…" which makes it look like *I'm* the one who didn't do my job, and also makes it look like I *lied* to the maintenance director when I TOLD him I'd sent them to J.
> 
> I HATE getting my butt chewed on, for something that SOMEBODY ELSE didn't do!! And it's not the first time this has happened with this person. Usually, I copy two other people on the email just in case, but this time I didn't because I already knew both of those people were out of the office. Evidently, THAT was a wrong decision too, as my boss says I need to include them regardless. It's all just So. Stupid.
> Now, every time I send flyers, I need to include MY boss on the email as well. Meaning that FOUR people have to be notified about a flyer--instead of just getting ONE person to do her jammin' job!!
> 
> But then…somebody that I was about to buy a Black Rapid strap from decided to just GIVE it to me instead.
> What a nice thing to do!
> And what a good reminder that we never know how one small kindness on our part might just make someone else's entire day!


 Boo.
 Yay!


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> enter a sentence in English and translate it into some other language. Then take what the program gives you and translate from that language into another language.



I once heard that someone had done this with "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" (English->Russian->English) and got back "the liquor is OK, but the meat has spoiled"


----------



## pixmedic

Gary A. said:


> Claire's breathing tube has been removed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



weaned off or...something else?


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> enter a sentence in English and translate it into some other language. Then take what the program gives you and translate from that language into another language.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I once heard that someone had done this with "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" (English->Russian->English) and got back "the liquor is OK, but the meat has spoiled"
Click to expand...


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> enter a sentence in English and translate it into some other language. Then take what the program gives you and translate from that language into another language.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I once heard that someone had done this with "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" (English->Russian->English) and got back "the liquor is OK, but the meat has spoiled"
Click to expand...


Okay, so I just tried it and got this: "The spirit is willing, but weak noplot."


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> I HATE getting my butt chewed on, for something that SOMEBODY ELSE didn't do!!


Welcome to; "Been there, done that".


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Claire's breathing tube has been removed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> weaned off or...something else?
Click to expand...

Claire, a toddler and granddaughter, was hospitalized for severe breathing problems, she caught three respiratory viruses causing a croup cough, which, everything combined, swelled her throat causing the need for a breathing tube and ventilator. The swelling has been reduced to the point that the doctors feel safe to remove the breathing tube.


----------



## Gary A.

So keep those prayers coming ... they seem to be working.


----------



## pixmedic

Gary A. said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Claire's breathing tube has been removed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> weaned off or...something else?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Claire, a toddler and granddaughter, was hospitalized for severe breathing problems, she caught three respiratory viruses causing a croup cough, which, everything combined, swelled her throat causing the need for a breathing tube and ventilator. The swelling has been reduced to the point that the doctors feel safe to remove the breathing tube.
Click to expand...


an ET tube or did they trach her?
glad shes off the vent now. the longer someone is on a vent, the harder it is to get them off. 
for some reason, the body gets very very lazy when it doesn't have to breath for itself.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> an ET tube or did they trach her?
> glad shes off the vent now. the longer someone is on a vent, the harder it is to get them off.
> for some reason, the body gets very very lazy when it doesn't have to breath for itself.



You'd think of all the things we are lazy about in this life, breathing would be one thing the body would want to keep doing!


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Claire's breathing tube has been removed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> weaned off or...something else?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Claire, a toddler and granddaughter, was hospitalized for severe breathing problems, she caught three respiratory viruses causing a croup cough, which, everything combined, swelled her throat causing the need for a breathing tube and ventilator. The swelling has been reduced to the point that the doctors feel safe to remove the breathing tube.
Click to expand...


Now THAT is a bad day turned good!! Very good news! Will continue to pray for her complete and speedy recovery!


----------



## sm4him

I couldn't get anything very funny out of "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."

"I like gravy with my biscuits" > Russian > Japanese > Chinese = "I want to use a biscuit source."


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> I couldn't get anything very funny out of "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."
> 
> "I like gravy with my biscuits" > Russian > Japanese > Chinese = "I want to use a biscuit source."



OOOOOOH, I just hit pay dirt!!

Original sentence: "We have no badgers, would you like a wolverine?"

Languages it went through: English-->Italian-->Japanese-->Esperanto->English (I think...I've done too many of these today and forgot if there was another step in this last chain.)

Final translation back into English: "We want your gluttonous not assess?"


----------



## Designer

Badgers?  We don't need no stinking Badgers!


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> Badgers?  We don't need no stinking Badgers!



AND…using the same languages Lenny used…we have:
"We are what the smell fee is not required."


----------



## KenC

Since I was last on TPF, THAT OTHER THREAD finally met a merciful end.  Now we can all concentrate on our more productive activities in this one.


----------



## limr

I've been trying to post some pictures I took on my phone yesterday, but the college's wi-fi has been uncooperative, so maybe later I'll finally be able to post them.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> It's a long story, but I'll sum it up quick. My wife and I are a little different; we're a polyamorous couple. I've met someone new and exciting and it's all those great feelings all over again. Keep in mind that polyamory is NOT like being a swinger-it's about  developing and maintaining multiple relationships. Some people just have an ability to love more than one person, and there's nothing really wrong with that.


so how did it go? Hey, i want one of them!


Oh, wait. No. I don't think i do. One nagging on me is enough...


----------



## sm4him

Sometimes it's fun just to do ONE language.

"If wishes were horses, beggars would ride."

English > Belrusian > English: Coulda, woulda, beggars would ride. 
English > Igbo > English: If you want the horses, beggars would bears.

And a few more steps added--
English > Kazakh > Czech > Japanese > English: I hope the horses beggars go.

I *am* having little productive spurts of actual work, in between this nonsense.


----------



## Designer

I'm not.  I hurt my stomach this morning, and can't do much.


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> I'm not.  I hurt my stomach this morning, and can't do much.



I can sympathize. I fractured my motivation… 

Seriously though, you HURT your stomach? I've had my stomach hurt, but I don't think I've ever hurt it. How did you do that? Pull something maybe?


----------



## Designer

I think it was something I ate.


----------



## minicoop1985

bribrius said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a long story, but I'll sum it up quick. My wife and I are a little different; we're a polyamorous couple. I've met someone new and exciting and it's all those great feelings all over again. Keep in mind that polyamory is NOT like being a swinger-it's about  developing and maintaining multiple relationships. Some people just have an ability to love more than one person, and there's nothing really wrong with that.
> 
> 
> 
> so how did it go? Hey, i want one of them!
> 
> 
> Oh, wait. No. I don't think i do. One nagging on me is enough...
Click to expand...


LOL. So far my other relationship (a few years ago) was pretty awesome. We got to just have a blast without the pressures of a normal relationship. We had an agreement that if she met someone and ended up wanting to go further into a relationship with them, we'd just cut it off and remain friends, which worked out pretty well actually. She's married now, and we're all good friends too.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh! Here's a thought: TPF monkey memes.
> 
> 
> 
> Here's a thought... random banninations!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sounds like a cool idea; a TPF version of "whack-a-mole"
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Uber-cool!!!!   Where's my mallet?
Click to expand...


Here, use mine:


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A:  Those are power images of the chimps.  Very powerful.
> 
> 
> 
> Merci Paul. Je suis assez bon au tir les animaux en cage.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> C'est vraie.  Mais, par contre, ça prende un peu de talent de les montrer en façon qui nous donne l'emotion (ou ennuie) des animeaux.
> It's true. But, on the other hand, it takes some talent to show the images in a way that communicates the emotion (or boredom) of the animals.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You mind punching new-day crypto please?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hey!  we did the simultaneous translation thing!  Shall I muddy the waters and introduce yet another language, you know, just for shits and giggles???
> 
> Ponemaish, Tovarish?
Click to expand...


ᐃᓄᑦᑎᑑᖅᐳᖅ


----------



## snowbear

KenC said:


> Since I was last on TPF, THAT OTHER THREAD finally met a merciful end.  Now we can all concentrate on our more productive activities in this one.


I've decided to resurrect it every month or so with a bump, at least until it gets locked.


----------



## minicoop1985

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh! Here's a thought: TPF monkey memes.
> 
> 
> 
> Here's a thought... random banninations!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sounds like a cool idea; a TPF version of "whack-a-mole"
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Uber-cool!!!!   Where's my mallet?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Here, use mine:
> 
> View attachment 99941
Click to expand...


----------



## snowbear

@limr: I remember a web site that would do the translation loop thing for seven different languages, IIRC.  I thought it was babblefish, but apparently not.  I'll see of I can find it.


----------



## minicoop1985

@snowbear here it is.

How do you say.. BabelFish Free Online Translator


----------



## minicoop1985

@snowbear @limr ok it WAS Babelfish, but now that's a legit translating site


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> @snowbear @limr ok it WAS Babelfish, but now that's a legit translating site


Yeah - that's the first place I went, too.


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Claire's breathing tube has been removed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> weaned off or...something else?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Claire, a toddler and granddaughter, was hospitalized for severe breathing problems, she caught three respiratory viruses causing a croup cough, which, everything combined, swelled her throat causing the need for a breathing tube and ventilator. The swelling has been reduced to the point that the doctors feel safe to remove the breathing tube.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> an ET tube or did they trach her?
> glad shes off the vent now. the longer someone is on a vent, the harder it is to get them off.
> for some reason, the body gets very very lazy when it doesn't have to breath for itself.
Click to expand...


ET. The vent was use because she was struggling with breathing for so, so long that the doc wanted to give her body a break and a rest in the struggle. It was set on low, so every few breaths, the machine would take over.

Claire resting in the arms of her mother. The breathing tube removed and off the vent.



Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes. Somehow ... you all helped and contributed to Claire's improvements.

Gary


----------



## snowbear

Awwwwwww.  Sleep well, little princess.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a long story, but I'll sum it up quick. My wife and I are a little different; we're a polyamorous couple. I've met someone new and exciting and it's all those great feelings all over again. Keep in mind that polyamory is NOT like being a swinger-it's about  developing and maintaining multiple relationships. Some people just have an ability to love more than one person, and there's nothing really wrong with that.
> 
> 
> 
> so how did it go? Hey, i want one of them!
> 
> 
> Oh, wait. No. I don't think i do. One nagging on me is enough...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> LOL. So far my other relationship (a few years ago) was pretty awesome. We got to just have a blast without the pressures of a normal relationship. We had an agreement that if she met someone and ended up wanting to go further into a relationship with them, we'd just cut it off and remain friends, which worked out pretty well actually. She's married now, and we're all good friends too.
Click to expand...

how is your wife dealing with it? she have her own relationships? Pretty sure mine would slit my throat or something in my sleep.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Claire's breathing tube has been removed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> weaned off or...something else?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Claire, a toddler and granddaughter, was hospitalized for severe breathing problems, she caught three respiratory viruses causing a croup cough, which, everything combined, swelled her throat causing the need for a breathing tube and ventilator. The swelling has been reduced to the point that the doctors feel safe to remove the breathing tube.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> an ET tube or did they trach her?
> glad shes off the vent now. the longer someone is on a vent, the harder it is to get them off.
> for some reason, the body gets very very lazy when it doesn't have to breath for itself.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> ET. The vent was use because she was struggling with breathing for so, so long that the doc wanted to give her body a break and a rest in the struggle. It was set on low, so every few breaths, the machine would take over.
> 
> Claire resting in the arms of her mother. The breathing tube removed and off the vent.
> View attachment 99943
> Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes. Somehow ... you all helped and contributed to Claire's improvements.
> 
> Gary
Click to expand...

poor kid. what a way to go at such a young age. Hopefully things continue to improve.


----------



## minicoop1985

bribrius said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a long story, but I'll sum it up quick. My wife and I are a little different; we're a polyamorous couple. I've met someone new and exciting and it's all those great feelings all over again. Keep in mind that polyamory is NOT like being a swinger-it's about  developing and maintaining multiple relationships. Some people just have an ability to love more than one person, and there's nothing really wrong with that.
> 
> 
> 
> so how did it go? Hey, i want one of them!
> 
> 
> Oh, wait. No. I don't think i do. One nagging on me is enough...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> LOL. So far my other relationship (a few years ago) was pretty awesome. We got to just have a blast without the pressures of a normal relationship. We had an agreement that if she met someone and ended up wanting to go further into a relationship with them, we'd just cut it off and remain friends, which worked out pretty well actually. She's married now, and we're all good friends too.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> how is your wife dealing with it? she have her own relationships? Pretty sure mine would slit my throat or something in my sleep.
Click to expand...


It was her idea to begin with, but I've always believed that monogamy is a choice, so when she asked it was a bit of a no brainer here. She still may slit my throat in my sleep for something I'm bound to get in trouble for, like buying a new lens instead of an anniversary present or something stupid like that.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Working my way backwards from where the end of the thread was I got worried there for a minute, I'm glad Gary that she's doing better. (I got on here just to see if there was any update.) I've worked with lots of preemies who were teeny tiny and hooked up to all kinds of tubes etc., they can be amazing sometimes in how well they do.

How sweet she looks. I like that pacifier with the star on it too! cute.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Working my way backwards from where the end of the thread was I got worried there for a minute, I'm glad Gary that she's doing better. (I got on here just to see if there was any update.) I've worked with lots of preemies who were teeny tiny and hooked up to all kinds of tubes etc., they can be amazing sometimes in how well they do.
> 
> How sweet she looks. I like that pacifier with the star on it too! cute.


And the bear.  The bear is _almost_ as cute as her.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> She still may slit my throat in my sleep for something I'm bound to get in trouble for, like buying a new lens instead of an anniversary present or something stupid like that.


So getting her a new set of steak knives is probably not a good idea.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> She still may slit my throat in my sleep for something I'm bound to get in trouble for, like buying a new lens instead of an anniversary present or something stupid like that.
> 
> 
> 
> So getting her a new set of steak knives is probably not a good idea.
Click to expand...


Or, it's a way to ensure that you'll at least go quickly. You don't want your throat slit with dull knives.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Or, it's a way to ensure that you'll at least go quickly. You don't want your throat slit with dull knives.


or paper.


----------



## snowbear

Mini marshmallows, chocolate chips and a box of graham cracker crumbs.  Can I possibly get anything like a s'more if I put this stuff in the microwave?


----------



## vintagesnaps

OK now I went back even further... Sharon what is it with your job and flyers??!!! lol jeez, you don't work for a county agency do you?? A coworker of mine used to call ours the Department of Redundancy Department (too bad she couldn't work another Redundancy in there).

Paul I thought some parts of Canada were bilingual. So why are they singing O Canada in English and French? and doing announcements in both? Of course I don't know what's official just what they do in hockey. lol 

Leonore (or anyone) else have you ever seen the movie with William Shatner in it that's filmed entirely in Esperanto? (or did I ask about this before?) It was quite unusual to say the least (the plot more than the language and subtitles) but I found myself starting to pick up the language watching the movie.

If you all keep it up you might end up with something like the opening credits to Monty Python's Holy Grail.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I doubt it. You don't need to ever use the microwave again do you?? lol You might end up chipping off chunks of petrified goo.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a long story, but I'll sum it up quick. My wife and I are a little different; we're a polyamorous couple. I've met someone new and exciting and it's all those great feelings all over again. Keep in mind that polyamory is NOT like being a swinger-it's about  developing and maintaining multiple relationships. Some people just have an ability to love more than one person, and there's nothing really wrong with that.
> 
> 
> 
> so how did it go? Hey, i want one of them!
> 
> 
> Oh, wait. No. I don't think i do. One nagging on me is enough...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> LOL. So far my other relationship (a few years ago) was pretty awesome. We got to just have a blast without the pressures of a normal relationship. We had an agreement that if she met someone and ended up wanting to go further into a relationship with them, we'd just cut it off and remain friends, which worked out pretty well actually. She's married now, and we're all good friends too.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> how is your wife dealing with it? she have her own relationships? Pretty sure mine would slit my throat or something in my sleep.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It was her idea to begin with, but I've always believed that monogamy is a choice, so when she asked it was a bit of a no brainer here. She still may slit my throat in my sleep for something I'm bound to get in trouble for, like buying a new lens instead of an anniversary present or something stupid like that.
Click to expand...

well that is neat. so you dont care if she is sleeping with someone else either. sounds like you too have a relationship that seems to work for both of you.


----------



## snowbear

When I was interning at NOAA, I asked if there was any kind of joint publishing with the Canadian government (NOAA equivalent) of navigation charts for the Great Lakes.  I was advised there wasn't and likely would not be, as the US wouldn't have the charts printed bilingually as required by Canada.  Apparently it would cost too much.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> I doubt it. You don't need to ever use the microwave again do you?? lol You might end up chipping off chunks of petrified goo.



That's what I figured.  Maybe s'more soup, prepared stove-top with a nice dose of rum to maintain moisture.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Mini marshmallows, chocolate chips and a box of graham cracker crumbs.  Can I possibly get anything like a s'more if I put this stuff in the microwave?



Dunno, why don't you try it and report back to us?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mini marshmallows, chocolate chips and a box of graham cracker crumbs.  Can I possibly get anything like a s'more if I put this stuff in the microwave?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dunno, why don't you try it and report back to us?
Click to expand...

"Sweetie, do you want microwaved s'mores?  I can use the chips and crumbs and mini-mallows.   What?  Uh-huh.  OK"
She said I should come up to your place and make it.  Maybe later.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Leonore (or anyone) else have you ever seen the movie with William Shatner in it that's filmed entirely in Esperanto? (or did I ask about this before?) It was quite unusual to say the least (the plot more than the language and subtitles) but I found myself starting to pick up the language watching the movie.



Never saw it all the way through, but I did know it existed. I wrote a couple of posts about invented languages on my blog a few years back. The language itself is kind of interesting, but the real Esperanto devotees are a bit wackadoo (Apparently this is my word of the week. Buzz has started calling me Regis  )



> If you all keep it up you might end up with something like the opening credits to Monty Python's Holy Grail.



Fetchez la vache!

In case anyone was curious, Shatner is just as bad in Esperanto as he is in English


----------



## snowbear

Well, good night folks.  I've got to actually get to work on time, tomorrow: there's an "all-hands" meeting (IT Department where I physically sit) that "might" also affect me.  Furloughing, or even RIFfing me won't accomplish anything since I'm unpaid.

Catch y'all tomorrow, sometime.


----------



## limr

'Night, Charlie!


----------



## minicoop1985

bribrius said:


> well that is neat. so you dont care if she is sleeping with someone else either. sounds like you too have a relationship that seems to work for both of you.



I am, but it's so much more than just that for us. And it's great. There's no guilt about being attracted to someone else.


----------



## minicoop1985

Night, Charlie!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Have a good day tomorrow Charlie.

Yeah, that's it, and maybe it should've stayed in a vault in France... I actually watched the whole thing. It was on TCM Underground, which I don't stay up for but record it sometimes, they dig up some odd stuff.


----------



## bribrius

bad night shooting. Drove around a little. saw some people, naaa. Don't feel like shooting people. well thought, maybe if i sit for a bit i will see a street shot worth shooting. Ten minutes goes by, frig this. Not in the mood. Drove down the lake, sunset starting, maybe a sunset photo? naa, not in the mood. Get back in the car. Drive down a bit, river? Maybe one of the waterfalls? Nice blue shot? Naa i have enough rivers and waterfalls. Saw a interesting trail, wonder what is down there? Pull over, start walking, there is a no trespassing sign. Hmmm. More curious. Getting dark now though. Frig this, whatever it is isn' t worth it.  Back in the car. Drove into the city a bit, got a coffee, looked around. Guy on a harley in the parking lot? maybe. .. naa frig that. Dont really want that shot either.  

Then it started sprinkling, rain starting. started thinking about rain photos. Rain photos are cool on the streets, people with umbrellas different reflections. Thought for a minute about it. Do i feel like getting wet tonight? well, suppose it dont matter. Got out for a minute, sipping my coffee. Kind of looking around while it sprinkled. naaa frig this. Back in the car and went home. had my dslr, two film cameras and never took a single shot.


----------



## bribrius

Thought about going down the ocean too.  But yeah, i turned the other way, homeward bound. Just nada, nada. nothing i wanted to shoot. nada. Nothing i saw, nothing i felt like going to find. nada.


----------



## pgriz

vintagesnaps said:


> Paul I thought some parts of Canada were bilingual. So why are they singing O Canada in English and French? and doing announcements in both? Of course I don't know what's official just what they do in hockey. lol



In principle, any Canadian francophone or anglophone should be able to get federal services in the language of his or her choice, anywhere in Canada.  So things that are the jurisdiction of the federal government (navigation, defense, standards, federal taxation, the federal courts, *broadcasting*, etc.) are supposed to be provided in a bilingual fashion.  Since consumer labeling falls under federal jurisdiction, all packaging is supposed to be bilingual.

Provincial jurisdiction extends to education, roads, health care, certain regulatory bodies, and the applicable language policies in the province extend to those services.  So in New Brunswick which is officially bilingual, either language can be used to request and receive those services.  In Quebec, only the French language is considered official, so provincial services in Quebec are delivered in French with certain exceptions.  In provinces such as Alberta, the provincial services are delivered (as far as I know) only in English.  However, there are substantial pockets of francophones in nominally anglophone regions of the country, and provincial services in those areas are also usually provided in French (on the principle of sufficient numbers warranting the investment of effort).

In Quebec, despite the official unilingual policy, there are still substantial pockets of anglophones living in predominantly francophone areas, and there too, it is possible to receive services in English.  In a region like the greater Montreal area, it is quite possible to carry on conversations in both languages, simultaneously, much to the annoyance of some francophone hardliners, but it really is about common courtesy and mutual respect.  In most Montreal establishments, the usual greating is "Bonjour-Hi!", and the conversation then follows whatever language the person responds in.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Interesting, I never knew all that. Someone I know had her wedding in Ottawa, being the capital are things there bilingual? (She wore a hockey jersey over her wedding dress, at least for some of the pictures.) My high school French doesn't get me too far, although I could figure out you were saying something about the animals' emotion. Then I saw the translation...

But as long as the Habs are still in the playoffs, that's the important thing.


That's the way it can go I think Bri, sometimes I may not get anything too spectacular, other times things seem to flow and next thing I know I'm at the end of a roll. Let it happen or if it doesn't, it doesn't. Or I try something different if I feel in a rut, I get out a different camera, grab a Polaroid or something.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, everyone.  Today's starter is coffee and toast with cin-a-nomnom!


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Mini marshmallows, chocolate chips and a box of graham cracker crumbs.  Can I possibly get anything like a s'more if I put this stuff in the microwave?



One more ingredient: Pillsbury (or whatever brand) Crescent Rolls.
Unroll the crescent roll dough and separate the triangles. Put some marshmallows and chocolate chips in each (you could probably even add a few of those graham cracker crumbs), roll it up and bake.

Not quite s'mores, but oh man...deliciousness!


----------



## sm4him

Bad headache this morning. Tempted to stay home. Probably won't though--got stuff that needs to get done.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> Bad headache this morning. Tempted to stay home. Probably won't though--got stuff that needs to get done.


Hope you feel better.  I will try the crescent rolls - we have to hit the store tonight.

Does your (work) email client have a "read receipt" feature?  If so, use that when you send your flyers so you'll know (most of the time) if the other person got them or not.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bad headache this morning. Tempted to stay home. Probably won't though--got stuff that needs to get done.
> 
> 
> 
> Hope you feel better.  I will try the crescent rolls - we have to hit the store tonight.
> 
> Does your (work) email client have a "read receipt" feature?  If so, use that when you send your flyers so you'll know (most of the time) if the other person got them or not.
Click to expand...


It does, BUT--it gives the reader the *option* of whether to allow it for that email or not, so it's pointless.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bad headache this morning. Tempted to stay home. Probably won't though--got stuff that needs to get done.
> 
> 
> 
> Hope you feel better.  I will try the crescent rolls - we have to hit the store tonight.
> 
> Does your (work) email client have a "read receipt" feature?  If so, use that when you send your flyers so you'll know (most of the time) if the other person got them or not.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It does, BUT--it gives the reader the *option* of whether to allow it for that email or not, so it's pointless.
Click to expand...

Well, it might catch half.  Many people won't bother to configure settings.    (Raising coffee cup to the screen") Here's to a finished yesterday and a better today!


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bad headache this morning. Tempted to stay home. Probably won't though--got stuff that needs to get done.
> 
> 
> 
> Hope you feel better.  I will try the crescent rolls - we have to hit the store tonight.
> 
> Does your (work) email client have a "read receipt" feature?  If so, use that when you send your flyers so you'll know (most of the time) if the other person got them or not.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It does, BUT--it gives the reader the *option* of whether to allow it for that email or not, so it's pointless.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well, it might catch half.  Many people won't bother to configure settings.    (Raising coffee cup to the screen") Here's to a finished yesterday and a better today!
Click to expand...


Oh no, it's way more idiotic than that! It actually has a little pop-up that comes up when you open a read-receipt email and ASKS you if you want to send the read-receipt!
So, if you know full well you intend to pretend you simply didn't GET that, you just hit "don't send" and voila!

How stupid is that?

But I'll certainly raise the coffee cup to the hope of a good day! Headache is already at about half what it was, so there are signs of promise!


----------



## snowbear

Micro$oft Outlook?


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Micro$oft Outlook?



An online, network version of it.


----------



## KenC

snowbear said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Since I was last on TPF, THAT OTHER THREAD finally met a merciful end.  Now we can all concentrate on our more productive activities in this one.
> 
> 
> 
> I've decided to resurrect it every month or so with a bump, at least until it gets locked.
Click to expand...


sadist!


----------



## pgriz

KenC said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Since I was last on TPF, THAT OTHER THREAD finally met a merciful end.  Now we can all concentrate on our more productive activities in this one.
> 
> 
> 
> I've decided to resurrect it every month or so with a bump, at least until it gets locked.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> sadist!
Click to expand...


Unless, of course, we prevail on one of the mods to put it out of its prolonged misery.  Actually, it wasn't that bad.  Kinda like the kind of stuff one does in college, and looking back at it, is grateful that THAT  period is over.  Or having kids.  I love my kids, I loved the whole experience (no really, I did!), but I'm also glad I don't have to do this again, except as a grandparent.


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> So, if you know full well you intend to pretend you simply didn't GET that, you just hit "don't send" and voila!
> 
> How stupid is that?
> 
> But I'll certainly raise the coffee cup to the hope of a good day! Headache is already at about half what it was, so there are signs of promise!



I agree - that's pretty stupid.  The way Outlook is configured here at work is the same, and it works for me because on what looks like something close to spam (but not so close that I don't even open it) I click "don't send," otherwise I let it be sent.

Glad there's progress on the headache.  Mine usually start here and on good days they dissipate on the way to the train station.


----------



## KenC

pgriz said:


> Unless, of course, we prevail on one of the mods to put it out of its prolonged misery.



These things have a way of coming back no matter what.  It's sort of like we're living in a "B" horror movie.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Paul-

The United States hasn't any government sanctioned official language. English is the official language de facto but not by law. In SoCal, ballots are printed in multiple languages. I've seen ballots with English (of course), Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Tagalog. Most State and local services come in many flavors, ala ... Department of Motor Vehicles, County Health Services, court interpretive services, et cetera.  (Purpose no French.)


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Unless, of course, we prevail on one of the mods to put it out of its prolonged misery.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> These things have a way of coming back no matter what.  It's sort of like we're living in a "B" horror movie.
Click to expand...

 ... and the zippers on the costumes.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The best news of the day is CLAIRE IS OUT OF ICU AND OFF THE OXYGEN!!! So a day or so of observation then hopefully home.


----------



## Gary A.

Grandpa is doing the happy dance.


----------



## tirediron

Excellent news indeed, Gary!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Excellent news indeed, Gary!


Thank you John and yes and indeed it is good news. A great way to start the day. Even better than coffee.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Excellent news indeed, Gary!
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you John and yes and indeed it is good news. A great way to start the day. Even better than coffee.
Click to expand...


This is about the ONLY thing I can think of that would make me agree that something is better than coffee! Awesome, awesome news!


----------



## limr

Awesome!! So happy for you guys 

Oh, and...



Gary A. said:


> Grandpa is doing the happy dance.



...video or it didn't happen


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Awesome!! So happy for you guys
> 
> Oh, and...
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Grandpa is doing the happy dance.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...video or it didn't happen
Click to expand...

I do not perform.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Awesome!! So happy for you guys
> 
> Oh, and...
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Grandpa is doing the happy dance.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...video or it didn't happen
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I do not perform.
Click to expand...


At least, apparently, not on camera. We'll have to go backchannel (to your wife) to find out how you REALLY do.  


And regarding your grand-daughter, excellent news!


----------



## limr

Stills will be acceptable


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Stills will be acceptable


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Stills will be acceptable
Click to expand...

 NICE pins Gary!


----------



## limr

Wow, you're limber, Tio!


----------



## bribrius

vintagesnaps said:


> Interesting, I never knew all that. Someone I know had her wedding in Ottawa, being the capital are things there bilingual? (She wore a hockey jersey over her wedding dress, at least for some of the pictures.) My high school French doesn't get me too far, although I could figure out you were saying something about the animals' emotion. Then I saw the translation...
> 
> But as long as the Habs are still in the playoffs, that's the important thing.
> 
> 
> That's the way it can go I think Bri, sometimes I may not get anything too spectacular, other times things seem to flow and next thing I know I'm at the end of a roll. Let it happen or if it doesn't, it doesn't. Or I try something different if I feel in a rut, I get out a different camera, grab a Polaroid or something.


yeah thanks, sometimes i go out knowing what i am looking for. Other times i just go out and look. Want something different, just dont see it.


----------



## Gary A.

Not bad for an ol' man ... diet and exercise.





and a little peroxide for the hair.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good! hope she gets home soon.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sharon I think we've worked in alternate universes. Hope your headache gets better.


----------



## snowbear

Glad to hear the excellent news, Gary!


----------



## snowbear

Well, we had out "All Hands" meeting this morning.  The stuff the IT Director talked about was mixed - some good, some bad.

I got a _thing_, there.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers, check it out:


----------



## pgriz

Watching the drama elsewhere in TPF.  Is there a record for the percentage of started threads that are locked?  At the moment it is at 100%.  Which is rather astounding.  Did a little searching for the background to "Captain Lamat".  Not a lot of information, but seems to have been an underground phenomenon that gained a cult-like status.  In common with a few other cults, there's lots of statements about how amazing and revolutionary the "movement" is, without touching on just exactly what is being proposed that is different.  Maybe I just lack the correct mindset to appreciate, or maybe I've listened to too many cultists trying to convince me that THEY have it all figured out and I should join them.  It's been said that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.  

Aside from that circus, life goes on.  The announcement by Elon Musk of home batteries is a pretty gutsy and potentially revolutionary advance.  The problem has been that the energy density of most battery technologies was quite low, so you needed a lot of batteries to provide even a modest store of energy, and the maintenance associated with the batteries was generally too much for the domestic market, but his innovations appear to both boost the energy density AND reduce the maintenance requirement.  The per-unit cost is a function of volume, so as production ramps up, the costs should drop pretty dramatically.

What these batteries provide, if they are successful, is the ability to store energy during the low-use part of the cycle, and provide it as needed during the peaks.  This allows all kinds of energy sources to contribute to the energy collection - solar panels, wind (small windmills, not the huge landscape-altering beasts), and water (small turbines now available).  Combined with intelligent design, insulation, use of thermal mass in building, etc., it should be possible to greatly reduce he power we pull from the grid, even in cities.  I'm pretty excited about this.  When coupled with intelligent home automation, it should be possible to adjust energy consumption to be much more cost effective.  In my contracting work, I see too often the stupidities in modern construction, and the relatively minimal efforts at making truly efficient and effective homes.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Hey hosers, check it out:
> 
> View attachment 99990



Congrats!  But...  where are the gold stars?  They should have stuck on at least a cute smilie.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers, check it out:
> 
> View attachment 99990
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats!  But...  where are the gold stars?  They should have stuck on at least a cute smilie.
Click to expand...


I know, right??


----------



## snowbear

Way to go, Leonore!  I knew you wouldn't have any problems.

I got a picture too.


----------



## limr

Cool statue thing!

And I must say also that I am loving that pen/pencil holder. So neat and clean, easy to keep things organized! 

God, I'm such a geek


----------



## snowbear

Thank you.  The pencil holder is a bit sparse - I took out the fountain pens and the regular pencils are in the drawer.

I am sharing the "Employee of the Month" with one of my team members, Teddy.  We got this because of the fast work we did on the Fire Department's "Adopt-a-Neighborhood" program.  Teddy built a web app that the Chief uses when he meets with business leaders and convince them to purchase smoke alarms for the residents that can't afford them.  I built a smartphone app that the station crews will use to track when the alarms are installed or inspected. I also had a hand in creating the geographic database and some of the background program scripts in the web app.  A really nice surprise.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Way to go Charlie! 

And great Leonore! So what exactly did you pass? Oh, is that related to being a paralegal? I thought at first it was something about the tests your students had been taking...

Paul, I tell ya, that dude... I don't know, seems like a need for attention but yet some of it seemed purposeful to get followers or whatever. I did some looking too, it was a fictional character in a late '90s video game (by a now defunct company so I guess there's no one to care if someone's using the name of a character from one of their video games for whatever purpose). And that purpose is beyond me. But I wondered if it was something created by one person or if there are others out there that are into it. (And I don't know if I want to know! lol)

Interesting project you were discussing, sounds like great potential there.


----------



## minicoop1985

Evening, coffee hosers. Today was freaking awesome. Got to shoot at a Mexican restaurant near lunchtime, along with FREE MARGARITAS!!!! The best kind!!!! Then got to hang around with some other sarcastic assholes as we moved a piano. Then set up a date with that awesome new girl too-going to a drive in theater. Yay!


----------



## limr

Sharon, it was the notary public exam for NY. I just have to send the pass slip, application, and of course the fee, and then I'll be all official! Gonna get me a cool stamp and embosser, which is the real reason I decided to do this anyway


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Sharon, it was the notary public exam for NY. I just have to send the pass slip, application, and of course the fee, and then I'll be all official! Gonna get me a cool stamp and embosser, which is the real reason I decided to do this anyway



Exam!  Heck, all I had to do was fill out the application, get a letter of recommendation from someone who knew me, and pay the $20 fee.  Unfortunately, the State neglected to send me my change of address confirmation so it expired, but, oh well.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I see, it's all about the perks (like a cool embossing thingy! lol) Congrats! sounds like you've put in a good bit of work to achieve that. 

I guess Charlie you deserve a whole bunch of these. 

Or for both of you and just for the heck of it why not a bunch of these?


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> I see, it's all about the perks (like a cool embossing thingy! lol) Congrats! sounds like you've put in a good bit of work to achieve that.
> 
> I guess Charlie you deserve a whole bunch of these.
> 
> Or for both of you and just for the heck of it why not a bunch of these?



Awww.  Thank you.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Hey hosers, check it out:
> 
> View attachment 99990


Yeah, and... was it supposed to be a surprise?


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Hey hosers, check it out:
> 
> View attachment 99990



Woot!!!  There was never a doubt in my mind!
Congratulations, Lenny!


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Way to go, Leonore!  I knew you wouldn't have any problems.
> 
> I got a picture too.



Congratulations, Charlie!
But...where exactly are they aiming that thumb???


----------



## snowbear

Yeah - glad I don't work in a proctology office?  When I first saw one of those, I thought it was a particular finger.


----------



## snowbear

The crab cakes are cooked and packed for lunch.  We're heading out, so I'll check back this evening.  Stay silly.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> The crab cakes are cooked and packed for lunch.  We're heading out, so I'll check back this evening.  Stay silly.



Sounds yummy! Have a good day!

Morning, the rest of you hosers. Happy May 1st! I feel like I should be protesting or spreading chaos or something today. 

It is very very very good that it's Friday and there's only one week left of classes. I've got practice exams and one last bit of review next week and then I'm giving my final exams on the 11th.

Buzz is going to Lime Rock tomorrow to take pictures of some race cars. I like Lime Rock and cars and pictures, even pictures _of_ cars, but this is usually Buzz's gig and I'm pretty fried, so I'll be sitting this one out.

Buzz at racing school at Lime Rock:




In the car by limrodrigues, on Flickr




Sam Posey by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## minicoop1985

BTW, I should have mentioned this, but congrats Charlie! Awesome award! And if you did work in a proctology office, that would make that award that much more epic.

In other news, good morning hosers. I have a feeling it's going to be a great day.


----------



## limr

How are we feeling about these glasses? They looked good in the store but they look too big in the picture. Can't decide.



Edit: Might have to look at it a bit larger. I won't share the picture of the other glasses because a) my eyes are half closed and I look kinda drugged, and b) they're the same size and mostly the same shape, so if the ones above look too big, the other ones look too big too.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> How are we feeling about these glasses? They looked good in the store but they look too big in the picture. Can't decide.
> 
> View attachment 100010
> 
> Edit: Might have to look at it a bit larger. I won't share the picture of the other glasses because a) my eyes are half closed and I look kinda drugged, and b) they're the same size and mostly the same shape, so if the ones above look too big, the other ones look too big too.



Too big. But not by much at all. Just a tad--and it's more the width of them than the height.


----------



## limr

That's what I thought. I'm going to have to take a bunch of selfies while checking glasses, then, because they didn't look nearly as big when I was just looking in the mirror. Harrumph.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> How are we feeling about these glasses? They looked good in the store but they look too big in the picture. Can't decide.
> 
> View attachment 100010
> 
> Edit: Might have to look at it a bit larger. I won't share the picture of the other glasses because a) my eyes are half closed and I look kinda drugged, and b) they're the same size and mostly the same shape, so if the ones above look too big, the other ones look too big too.



Yeah, a little wide, but not bad at all.

Oh, and congrats on the exam.  How much havoc are you able to wreak now?


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> The crab cakes are cooked and packed for lunch.  We're heading out, so I'll check back this evening.  Stay silly.


 Chocolate or vanilla icing?


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> How are we feeling about these glasses? They looked good in the store but they look too big in the picture. Can't decide.
> 
> View attachment 100010
> 
> Edit: Might have to look at it a bit larger. I won't share the picture of the other glasses because a) my eyes are half closed and I look kinda drugged, and b) they're the same size and mostly the same shape, so if the ones above look too big, the other ones look too big too.


 Mehhh... they're glasses.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  My usual morning routine. I always pour the unused coffee and grounds on my potted veggies and today I found a slug, (hate those bastards), on the edge of the Ficus Tree pot. I attempted to squish it, but all that happened was that it was squeezed this way or that ... somewhat comical as it was frustrating. So I grabbed the sprayed bottle and tossed some anti-slug juice on it. So far, that has been the highlight of my morning ... and I feed my bread starter.

Go Clips!!! I think basketball is about two to months too long. But I guess the NBA doesn't want their playoffs to overlap with the NCAA playoffs. I enjoy the playoffs ... but man, the season just goes on and on.


----------



## KenC

Do coffee and grounds encourage or discourage slugs?  If  the latter, you may not be drinking enough coffee, if the former, well, never mind ...


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Sharon, it was the notary public exam for NY. I just have to send the pass slip, application, and of course the fee, and then I'll be all official! Gonna get me a cool stamp and embosser, which is the real reason I decided to do this anyway


Good job. A Notary in Europe is like an attorney and a real big deal. But walking around with a stamp and a ledger is cool also.


----------



## sm4him

The ONLY NBA games I ever watch are the playoffs, and this year I haven't even been doing much of that, even though my Hawks are in them. Guess maybe I'll try to catch the game tonight.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Do coffee and grounds encourage or discourage slugs?  If  the latter, you may not be drinking enough coffee, if the former, well, never mind ...


I dunno, hopefully it keeps them awake so I can spray them with my anti-slug juice when I get up in the mornings.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Leo, yeah a tad large. I like the color.


----------



## Warhorse

Congrats limr on passing your public notary exam.

Now you will be making the big bucko's!!


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Yeah, a little wide, but not bad at all.
> 
> Oh, and congrats on the exam.  *How much havoc are you able to wreak now?*



As much as I possibly can!


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> How are we feeling about these glasses? They looked good in the store but they look too big in the picture. Can't decide.
> 
> View attachment 100010
> 
> Edit: Might have to look at it a bit larger. I won't share the picture of the other glasses because a) my eyes are half closed and I look kinda drugged, and b) they're the same size and mostly the same shape, so if the ones above look too big, the other ones look too big too.



Too big, in my humble opinion.


----------



## oldhippy

limr said:


> That's what I thought. I'm going to have to take a bunch of selfies while checking glasses, then, because they didn't look nearly as big when I was just looking in the mirror. Harrumph.


I thought these we standard issue 
Amazon.com Sexy School Teacher Narrow Rectangular Nerdy Geek Eye Glasses - Black Clothing


----------



## limr

oldhippy said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's what I thought. I'm going to have to take a bunch of selfies while checking glasses, then, because they didn't look nearly as big when I was just looking in the mirror. Harrumph.
> 
> 
> 
> I thought these we standard issue
> Amazon.com Sexy School Teacher Narrow Rectangular Nerdy Geek Eye Glasses - Black Clothing
Click to expand...


I'll probably end up with something like that


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> oldhippy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's what I thought. I'm going to have to take a bunch of selfies while checking glasses, then, because they didn't look nearly as big when I was just looking in the mirror. Harrumph.
> 
> 
> 
> I thought these we standard issue
> Amazon.com Sexy School Teacher Narrow Rectangular Nerdy Geek Eye Glasses - Black Clothing
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'll probably end up with something like that
Click to expand...


I wonder what it says about me that I really LIKE those glasses. 

Never mind. I don't REALLY wonder--I'm pretty sure what it says about me.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I agree a little smaller might suit your face better. The hardest thing is trying on frames when you can't see without your glasses to tell what you look like in them. Things might look OK blurry but not so good later in focus! lol


----------



## limr

I'm lucky, it's a very light prescription so I can actually see myself 

For reference, here are the ones I wear now. I had another pair but they broke amd these are my older ones that I keep as a backup. I feel like getting new frames instead of putting the new lenses in these frames, though I might do that as well. The prescription really hasn't changed much.


----------



## pgriz

@limr: Leonore, my wife had glasses quite similar to the ones you have now, and when she changed them to somewhat more rectangular frames, she amped up the hotness another couple of degrees.  Not that she ever has difficulty getting (and keeping ) my attention. 

And snapping selfies on your cell phone while trying on frames is a perfectly good use of this technology.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The more rectangular ones actually look cute on you (had to go back and compare) but a slightly more narrow rectangular pair might be nicer. Go try on some more and let us see... lol

And I like those earrings!


----------



## snerd

Lenny........................ been looking at glasses for you. I found THESE on sale!!!!!!!!!!!!!













   



.....................


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> How are we feeling about these glasses? They looked good in the store but they look too big in the picture. Can't decide.
> 
> View attachment 100010
> 
> Edit: Might have to look at it a bit larger. I won't share the picture of the other glasses because a) my eyes are half closed and I look kinda drugged, and b) they're the same size and mostly the same shape, so if the ones above look too big, the other ones look too big too.



Something between what you have and these, I think.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> oldhippy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's what I thought. I'm going to have to take a bunch of selfies while checking glasses, then, because they didn't look nearly as big when I was just looking in the mirror. Harrumph.
> 
> 
> 
> I thought these we standard issue
> Amazon.com Sexy School Teacher Narrow Rectangular Nerdy Geek Eye Glasses - Black Clothing
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'll probably end up with something like that
Click to expand...



And you'll be hot (like all of the coffeehouse ladies), regardless of which ones you choose.


----------



## Gary A.

Poor Claire didn't make it home today. The hospital tried solid food and it came back up. So maybe tomorrow.


----------



## limr

Och, the wee dote   (as my friend Bridin from Northern Ireland would say)


----------



## pgriz

Oh, she's a cutie!  Not a very happy cutie, but still.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Poor Claire didn't make it home today. The hospital tried solid food and it came back up. So maybe tomorrow.


Still in our thoughts.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Oh, she's a cutie!  Not a very happy cutie, but still.



She is, isn't she? And this is from a woman who really isn't into babies and thinks most of them kinda sorta look like Winston Churchill  So if I say she's cute, then you can take that to the jammin' bank!


----------



## minicoop1985

Poor girl. Here's to hoping she bounces back soon.


----------



## Gary A.

She is on her way to a full recovery ... but you just can't rush Mother Nature. Claire is one of most delightful toddlers I've met. She is the best, she isn't fussy, only complains if there something truly requiring attention ... 90% of the time she is all smiles. She doesn't sweat the small stuff.

Thank you for all the well wishes and prayers. As to her cuteness ... I agree, (I am also one who thinks infants look like Churchill), she takes after her Grandpa.

Presently, Mary Lou and I are in the patio, sipping on a Carnivor Cabernet Sauvignon, listening to the waterfall and some jazz ... 81F and dropping ... waiting for the big Koi to breach ... then off to The Golden Wall for some Chinese.


----------



## Gary A.

Forget Golden Wall ... we're going to Mexico 1900, truly authentic and great Mexican Food. I am Latino, my forefathers came from Mexico. (I am like fifth generation Californian.) It took a trip to Espana, for me to realize that Mexican food ... the stuff I grew up on ... wasn't Spanish. Mexican food, tacos, enchiladas, tamales, et cetera, are actually what the indigenous peoples of Mexico and Mesoamerica, (the Aztecs, et al), feasted upon.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Forget Golden Wall ... we're going to Mexico 1900, truly authentic and great Mexican Food. I am Latino, my forefathers came from Mexico. (I am like fifth generation Californian.) It took a trip to Espana, for me to realize that Mexican food ... the stuff I grew up on ... wasn't Spanish. Mexican food, tacos, enchiladas, tamales, et cetera, are actually what the indigenous peoples of Mexico and Mesoamerica, (the Aztecs, et al), feasted upon.



Yup - it was all about the maize, which was a New World plant.

It's funny how even my students from Mexico, South and Central America will often refer to "Spanish" people or food when that technically should be reserved for people or food from Spain. 

I've got the scanner for the weekend and 10 rolls of developed color film ready to go! Hope something comes out good :/ I'm in the middle of a "MY PICTURES SUUUUUUCK!" phase. Everyone is better than me. I am a hack. But maybe out of......*stops and does math* *gets headache*....... something like 250 pictures, I'll have a few keepers.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I'm in the middle of a "MY PICTURES SUUUUUUCK!" phase. Everyone is better than me. I am a hack. But maybe out of......*stops and does math* *gets headache*....... something like 250 pictures, I'll have a few keepers.


I've been in that phase since 1978, which means it's not a phase.


----------



## Gary A.

I've made many purchases from Japan, as I assembled my Fujifilm 680 III, a medium format film camera. I'm sharing an email I've received from one my Japanese vendors.

Dear SakuraDo Family,

It has been 10 days since Nepal was hit by devastating earthquake.
Everyday, new harsh reality is revealed, and collapsed buildings, villages
and historical structures remind us how long the road to recovery would go.

Casualties rose over 5,000 and still rising, and even more people are injured.
Because their original houses are too dangerous to live under ongoing earthquakes,
most of them are forced to live in tents, if lucky, or under roof of plastic sheets just to hide from rain.

Outside temperature is as cold as 10(C)/50(F) degrees at night, and reaches 30(C)/86(F) during the day.
Water, food, clothes, medicine and many others are hopelessly insufficient.
Even worse, due to the chaotic situation following the earthquake,
the government is unable to take control and distribute help from international community.

This is current status Nepal is in.
When I was in college in the US, I had so many friends from Nepal.
They are one of the nicest people I have met, and all are proud of their country.
From my experience from another massive earthquake in 2011,
I feel I am obligated to offer whatever I can, and this is part of my plan.

Please, please join the activity, and let's bring smile on Nepali friends once again!

Best regards,





Kazu
P.S.  This is an exclusive email letter to SakuraDo customers.
If you prefer not to receive one, please reply with a word "Cancel."

What a great gesture from half way around the world. Everyday, I wonder if I was still working news, if I would have made the trip to Katmandu?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I woke up to Claire eating and asking for food. It has been nearly a week since she has had any solid food.



 
And her first hint of a smile in the same time.


----------



## limr

Awww, that's great!

Suddenly, I want scrambled eggs...


----------



## pgriz

Sweet progress!


----------



## Gary A.

Okay, I've moved to the patio and just fed the Koi and turtles. 63F right now, a bit on the cool side. Yesterday, the Cook went with me on some errands. We got some keys made at the locksmith's, some Cookie food at the pet and a few more tiny Koi for the pond. I used to go to Koi Shoppes and buy medium sized, expensive fish. But I'm not a collector, so I'm fine with getting the cheap tiny Koi with no special markings. I just like seeing them lazily slice through the water, adding bright color to the pond like a moving kaleidoscope. The morning light is moving around the edge of the house ... it was hitting the island but now has angled to the waterfall and rocks at the back of the pond. After I enlarged the pond I planted Thyme as a ground cover along the edges. It is finally getting established. I'd say about 50% Thyme and 50% barren. Yesterday, I kneeled in the thyme to release the koi and this wonderful thyme fragrance just up my nose ... I wanted to roll through it on my back like The Cook.

Today, Mary Lou and I are backyard hunting today. The is a tour of yards sponsored by a cancer 501(c)(3). We used to spend all weekend visiting the yard and taking notes. After many years, we've seen most of them. This year we're only going to a few with native drought-tolerant plants and gardens. For the past few years, Mary Lou and I have discussed ripping out the grass in front and installing native plants ... now we are committed, (at the very least I should probably be committed), to doing so. We're just waiting for the water district to impose their mandatory reduction before we rip out the grass. We irrigate the front twice a week and the back every other day (3-4 times a week). Gotta go and get a walk in the dog. See ya.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay ... update ... remember that this child is smiling 90% of the time, when she's not smiling she's sleeping. Claire's first real smile in a week ...



This is the real Claire. When she smiles she claps her chubby little hands.


----------



## pgriz

Claire is a beauty.  And it's great that she's able to express her personality.  May she continue to improve.

My Mom had a very rough childhood as far as sickness was concerned.  Malaria, tuberculosis, pneumonia, and a few other potentially fatal diseases.  In her adult life, she almost never gets sick, maybe the cold or the flu one a year or a couple of years.  She's on her 93rd year, still living independently and still making her rounds (shopping, church, friends) either on foot or by public transit pretty much every day.  So, getting sick as a child doesn't need to keep a person down, not if my Mom's example holds.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, hosers. In a fantastic mood today. Life is just good at the moment. 

Gary, best of luck to your granddaughter, may she continue to improve.


----------



## vintagesnaps

She looks much happier! Glad she's perking up and feeling better, maybe it won't be too much longer before she gets to go home.


----------



## snowbear

It's been a long day.   My phone doesn't like TPF very much so I'll have to read through this when I get to a computer.

Sitting in the local minor care clinic waiting for lazy-lobster to get his ouch fixed.

There was one really cute thing I saw today:


----------



## Gary A.

How does one upload from phone direct to TPF?


----------



## snowbear

Upload file then go to the gallery on the phone to pick the file.

EDIT:
Now I have a real keyboard, so let's try this again.
When you select the "Upload File" in the post editor, just select the folder, on the phone, where your photos are saved to.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay ... I'll remember that.


----------



## Gary A.

Claire is home! 
<<< Does the happy dance.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Claire is home!
> <<< Does the happy dance.


----------



## Gary A.

Exactly ... (actually, Cook was my partner).


----------



## minicoop1985

Yay!


----------



## Gary A.

I have a MOV file of Claire I want to share. But I can't seem to load a MOV file.  If you have kids, this will melt your heart. I'll set the scene, Claire just finished a bath and is draped in her owl towel. Sarah, (her Mom and my daughter), asks  " ... are you an owl"? Click on last image.

Claire Imitates Owl


----------



## Gary A.

Claire is home and Elvis has left the building.


----------



## snerd

Ordered me an iPad Air 2 today! I have an Android, Samsung Tab 3, the 8" screen size, but just do not really like it. I've gotten so used to iOS on my iPhone 6+ that I much prefer it! That is all.


----------



## limr

Okie dokie


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> Claire is home and Elvis has left the building.



Happy dances all around!  Sorry Gary, we're adopting her.  She's precious.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Okie dokie


I was gonna say, smile when you say that, but you did!


----------



## minicoop1985

Nothing like a good Sam Smith's and Maury. lol


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> Ordered me an iPad Air 2 today! I have an Android, Samsung Tab 3, the 8" screen size, but just do not really like it. I've gotten so used to iOS on my iPhone 6+ that I much prefer it! That is all.


Today Mary Lou and I hit Fry's on the way home and picked up a case/stand with a keyboard for her iPad Air.


----------



## sm4him

@Gary A. that's AWESOME!! So glad she's home.


----------



## sm4him

I was out all day yesterday, from before sunrise (although not quite as far before it as I'd hoped) to about 8 p.m. last night, visiting a couple of my favorite birding spots and just generally driving with the top down and enjoying a day all to myself.

Came home last night, too tired to spend time on the computer, but saw that I had left my browser open with my FB and TPF (good thing I live alone!), so I went to close them out and felt...a disturbance in the force...

Sure enough...I see that someone has revived the Thread Which Must Not Be Named.  That was evil. I refuse to even open it and post there to point out how evil that was...but it was E.V.I.L.


----------



## minicoop1985

Sharon, now I'm intrigued. Thread that shall not be named? I wanna ask which one that is, but that kinda goes against the whole "shall not be named" thing.


----------



## Designer

minicoop1985 said:


> Sharon, now I'm intrigued. Thread that shall not be named? I wanna ask which one that is, but that kinda goes against the whole "shall not be named" thing.


Here ya go:

Leaderboard Photography Forum

Let me know when you've read all 878 pages.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Sharon, now I'm intrigued. Thread that shall not be named? I wanna ask which one that is, but that kinda goes against the whole "shall not be named" thing.



You know the thread. Starts with an L? Ends with a D? Where the postwhores hung out for a while?


----------



## limr

Quiet morning around here. 

Hey hosers.

I'm nursing my coffee. I've had a low-grade headache since Friday morning. Got laundry, grading, and film scanning on deck for today.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sharon, now I'm intrigued. Thread that shall not be named? I wanna ask which one that is, but that kinda goes against the whole "shall not be named" thing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You know the thread. Starts with an L? Ends with a D? Where the postwhores hung out for a while?
Click to expand...

it is tempting.... the leaderboard thing.... you all had a head start though i would never have won. lol


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Ordered me an iPad Air 2 today! I have an Android, Samsung Tab 3, the 8" screen size, but just do not really like it. I've gotten so used to iOS on my iPhone 6+ that I much prefer it! That is all.


i want a new point an shoot. Like i don't already have enough low end cameras. The last one though, shock waterproof whatever it is is blowing out the highlights on 1 in 20 photos during the day. sunlight is killing it the dynamic range isn't there.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Today, we have a few more backyards to hit. Mary Lou wanted to stay home and putz around in the garden ... but said it's only once a year. So we'll pitz around someone else's garden. Like Leo, gonna start the wash and get some chores done. I am surprised that Mayweather won ... and the Clips and Spurs was one helluva game.


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday, we tried out a _new deli_ in Huntington Beach. It was good, great rye bread, okay pastrami. Across the street was a camera store that I've never new existed. So I checked it out ... I almost purchased a Nikon FTn with a 50mm f/1.4 for $130. The camera was just a bit too beat up, nothing unusual, just a few too many rub marks and scratches ... but it was really tempting.


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> Let me know when you've read all 878 pages.


And be thankful that it's not longer.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Let me know when you've read all 878 pages.
> 
> 
> 
> And be thankful that over 200 pages were removed.
Click to expand...

why were pages removed?


----------



## Gary A.

I'm having my coffee in the back.

Trying out Charlie's instructions for loading directly from phone to TPF. (iPhone images.)


Some peppers.


----------



## limr

Nice place to have coffee.

Speaking of coffee, I think I need some more, y'all. I had my 2 cups already but I'm dragging this morning. I slept okay but probably not quite enough. This is also the time of the semester when I get really drained and am tired all the time. Almost done and exhausted, but still need enough energy for the last little push.


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> why were pages removed?


What pages?  Where?  I don't know what you are talking about.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> why were pages removed?
> 
> 
> 
> What pages?  Where?  I don't know what you are talking about.
Click to expand...

Hell, you don't even know the name of the thread.


----------



## Gary A.

Back from our walk. Back in the back sipping my cold coffee ... reading the paper ... fixing some stuff. Mary Lou reading the paper and checking out some new places to hit in Santa Barbara. Cook is lying beside me making sure were all safe from squirrels. The center of this place in Santa Barbara which we will explore has 21 wine tasting rooms.


----------



## Gary A.

Gonna slow cook a pork roast while we snoop some backyards. Gonna toss some of those green chillies (above) in with the pork.  Hey, a pair of bright yellow and black Orioles just appeared in the back. Mary Lou ran off to get them some jelly. Cook is all excited.


----------



## Gary A.

Yes! ... the female Oriole landed and had some breakfast.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou is concerned because the only jar of jelly (grape) we have is pretty old. She says it smells like wine.


----------



## Gary A.

Some of my artichokes...


(iPhone image)


----------



## limr

All this gardening talk reminds me that I have to start hitting the farmers' markets. They are usually ramping up just about now.


----------



## bribrius

haven't even barely started our garden. wife started putting seedlings in pots. About it. still have to finish some landscaping before we go to far on the garden Thinking of having another 20 yards brought in. about sick of the unlevel yard and barely any grass. It used to be a ravine. I must have hauled in 15 dump truck loads at this point over the years.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Boy does she look like she's feeling better! (Claire that is, I'm catching up.) Such good news Gary.


----------



## snerd

Just brewed my 3 cups, laying here reading various forums. Think I may drive out to the refuge and see how the lakes and ponds have filled up. They were getting really low last time I was out there, but judging from here in town, I bet they are all full now!

Oh, my iPad purchase was deemed necessary as a vital link in the purchase of a drone later this month!


----------



## Gary A.

Back from our backyard outing. Three home were very nice and we gleaned some ideas on drought tolerant yards. We're drinking wine in the patio. A breeze is picking up and delivering cool ocean air ... time to go inside. We polished off the remaining Mondavi Fume Blanc from the other day and now working on a Marimar Estate Syrah. The Syrah is clean and delightful.


----------



## bribrius

rototiller, rototiller when will we be done.   still rototilling, getting there. still laying grass seed, getting there.still leveling, getting there. Wife doing it too.   She started roping off this years garden today...  Getting there.


----------



## bribrius

small problem. Cant get the trucks out back, plows out back and the boat out without running over the new lawn. Probably should have moved things around BEFORE we started laying seed. Could stick with the canoe i suppose..


----------



## minicoop1985

Holy crap, active shooter in our area on a trail I frequently visit too...


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Holy crap, active shooter in our area on a trail I frequently visit too...


huh???


----------



## minicoop1985

Apparently someone shot and killed three to five people on a trail I actually frequent. Glad I didn't go there tonight...


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Apparently someone shot and killed three to five people on a trail I actually frequent. Glad I didn't go there tonight...


you could have got pics!!!

i hear ya though. Safety first.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Apparently someone shot and killed three to five people on a trail I actually frequent. Glad I didn't go there tonight...



Yikes! Glad you weren't out there!


----------



## pgriz

Sunday was a gorgeous, summer-like day.  My wife and I went to the cottage to start reclaiming it from nature's grasp.  Taking care of the winter-fall took the better part of four hours, then trimming the various overgrown bushes, trees, and shrubbery, took another two.  The compost pile needed some TLC - too dry and needed aeration.  Installed a new (well, used but mostly new) stove, as the old one was literally rusting out, and discovered that the wiring had to be redone as it was 1960's era.  Took care of a few other things, and got home quite late.  This morning, the back told me what it thought of yesterday's activities, complaining like a really crotchety old man.  Another weekend or two and the place will be livable again.  I had high hopes of doing some photography, since some of the trees were just beginning to have the first leaves emerging from their buds, and  the rest had their branches rimmed with a reddish tone, as the buds and first tree blossoms opened up.  But by the time we finished up what had to be done, the sun had already set and the light was fading.  Ah well.  Maybe today.


----------



## KenC

I hope your back recovers quickly Paul and you find some photos.  Mine complains sometimes when I get involved in the sort of stuff you describe, but generally it gives me very little trouble, for which I am grateful.

I'm having my coffee at work - it seems a little slow on here this morning - it is a Monday after all.  I just tried to sign onto a new company communication medium and it told me that I needed a newer version of IE.  Of course the one I have is the one everyone has, as far as I know - these things are updated automatically - so I'm confused.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I processed 150 or so additional images of the Hawaiian Garden Parade. Still not done, now I have to run them through PS for polishing, (cropping, straightening, selective dodging & burning, B&W conversion). I promised The City the final images today so I best get to work.

@ Paul, it's nice to have a place away from home for a retreat. I have a condo in Palm Springs that I haven't used in decades, so I'm dumping it. Yesterday Mary Lou was making a smoothie for work. The recipe called for mango (which we had in the frig) and celery, cucumber, basil, mint, kale and lettuce ... and we had all that in the yard. It was nice not having to run to the store. My physician takes Tylenol and Advil prior to any heavy activity.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> I hope your back recovers quickly Paul and you find some photos.  Mine complains sometimes when I get involved in the sort of stuff you describe, but generally it gives me very little trouble, for which I am grateful.
> 
> I'm having my coffee at work - it seems a little slow on here this morning - it is a Monday after all.  I just tried to sign onto a new company communication medium and it told me that I needed a newer version of IE.  Of course the one I have is the one everyone has, as far as I know - these things are updated automatically - so I'm confused.


I have a chromic old lower back football injury. Usually I just ignore it and plow on ... but lately, I've found I sleep much better if I take Tylenol/Advil at night. 

59F right now, should hit 72F by the afternoon. With all these aches, this place seems more like an ol' farts home than a photo forum.


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> Sunday was a gorgeous, summer-like day.  My wife and I went to the cottage to start reclaiming it from nature's grasp.  Taking care of the winter-fall took the better part of four hours, then trimming the various overgrown bushes, trees, and shrubbery, took another two.  The compost pile needed some TLC - too dry and needed aeration.  Installed a new (well, used but mostly new) stove, as the old one was literally rusting out, and discovered that the wiring had to be redone as it was 1960's era.  Took care of a few other things, and got home quite late.  This morning, the back told me what it thought of yesterday's activities, complaining like a really crotchety old man.  Another weekend or two and the place will be livable again.  I had high hopes of doing some photography, since some of the trees were just beginning to have the first leaves emerging from their buds, and  the rest had their branches rimmed with a reddish tone, as the buds and first tree blossoms opened up.  But by the time we finished up what had to be done, the sun had already set and the light was fading.  Ah well.  Maybe today.





Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I processed 150 or so additional images of the Hawaiian Garden Parade. Still not done, now I have to run them through PS for polishing, (cropping, straightening, selective dodging & burning, B&W conversion). I promised The City the final images today so I best get to work.
> 
> @ Paul, it's nice to have a place away from home for a retreat. I have a condo in Palm Springs that I haven't used in decades, so I'm dumping it. Yesterday Mary Lou was making a smoothie for work. The recipe called for mango (which we had in the frig) and celery, cucumber, basil, mint, kale and lettuce ... and we had all that in the yard. It was nice not having to run to the store. My physician takes Tylenol and Advil prior to any heavy activity.


one of the things i could do without is the amount of editing. I like to shoot. I hate to edit, but everytime i go shoot i end up having things to be edited. Since i shoot a lot, i end up editing a lot. Even trying to stick with jpegs. I probably spend ten hours a week just on freakn editing. It like sucks the life out of me. LOL That is usually what i am doing while i post on here, is editing at the same time. Never ends. Wish i could get all that time back others things i would much prefer to be doing. But instead of doing whatever, i end up with the "crap i really should started going through photos". I was keeping about pretty good. Right now i have stuff from a couple weeks ago i haven't gotten to yet. Some photos of the kids, about fifty landscape pics. And i skipped out on that track thing i didnt even go through all them. It is like a list, with the ughh, i have to edit. I should be editing right now my wife is asking me for pics of the kids from the last week from family outings. Time adds up though, and then its just like "what a waste of life" sitting in front of a computer. I shoot a lot too though, more than the average person i would guess.


----------



## Gary A.

I have years of stuff that requires processing, all of it in RAW. I keep thinking all that backlog will give me something to do when I retire.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> I have years of stuff that requires processing, all of it in RAW. I keep thinking all that backlog will give me something to do when I retire.


there ya go. I think part of my editing is just posting on websites like this. If i limited it down to just what was going to print and what i absolutely had to edit for whatever reason it would be reduced drastically. Shooting seems like great practice (and it can be fun) but mostly they just sit on a back up drive. Editing pics that just sit on a backup drive i am starting to think is really pointless. I don't do a lot of hard edits either, i don't know enough about editing to do hard edits like composites. I am speaking of the simple crop/level/sat/contrast. Keeping up with in camera settings better would help me too with the jpegs. I had to edit some last week just because of the in camera settings, never put it back. Had to go through all the photos and fix them.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

Gary, I've been told by doctors that "pre-dosing" is often a good idea when you're expecting pain.


----------



## Designer

I thought pain was your body's way of telling you to "slow down" or "don't do that".


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> I have years of stuff that requires processing, all of it in RAW. I keep thinking all that backlog will give me something to do when I retire.


I see other people in retirement who seem to have nothing better to do than play golf.  Where do they find the time for that?


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> I thought pain was your body's way of telling you to "slow down" or "don't do that".


Pain = Don't do that.

Death is the body's way of telling you to slow down.


----------



## limr

Hey! Can't believe it took me until 2:17 p.m. to remember this, but Happy Star Wars Day! May the 4th be with you hosers!


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> "pre-dosing" is often a good idea when you're expecting pain.



You mean I should drink before I go to work?  Yeah, that seems even better now that I've typed it.


----------



## bribrius

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> "pre-dosing" is often a good idea when you're expecting pain.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You mean I should drink before I go to work?  Yeah, that seems even better now that I've typed it.
Click to expand...

don't forget the "touch up" on lunch. Be horrid if that buzz you have going dissipated before quitting time.


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> Hey! Can't believe it took me until 2:17 p.m. to remember this, but Happy Star Wars Day! May the 4th be with you hosers!



And may the 4th be with you!


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> "pre-dosing" is often a good idea when you're expecting pain.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You mean I should drink before I go to work?  Yeah, that seems even better now that I've typed it.
Click to expand...

Yes and also during. I can get you a prescription from Dr. Walker. (Remember that Kuala is undetectable in coffee.)


----------



## Gary A.

Stars Wars celebratory crap is all over the radio waves out here.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Yes and also during. I can get you a prescription from Dr. Walker. (*Remember that Kuala is undetectable in coffee*.)


Really?  Pour a couple of ounces in my coffee and I'll detect it every time!


----------



## Gary A.

lol ... okay ... Undetectable by others (short of a taste test).


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.  *blink blink*  I think I'm awake. I mean, I made it to work, so I'm awake or a very good sleep-driver.


----------



## Designer

Good morning!  I'm feeling pretty good today, so I should get to working on my project.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I am beat. I was up all night finishing the Hawaiian Gardens Parade.  ahhhh ... my first sip of coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Good morning!  I'm feeling pretty good today, so I should get to working on my project.


What are you working on?


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Good morning!  I'm feeling pretty good today, so I should get to working on my project.



Still the bathroom or are you on a new room?


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Here at work, with coffee, more or less awake.  It's suddenly hot here, mid-80's yesterday, today and a couple of more days later this week.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Here at work, with coffee, more or less awake.  It's suddenly hot here, mid-80's yesterday, today and a couple of more days later this week.



Yup, it is going to be a bit toasty this week up here, too. We hates it, precious. We hates it forever.


----------



## KenC

Yeah, these would be pretty comfortable days in the middle of the summer, but at this point my body is screaming that it's not ready.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning!  I'm feeling pretty good today, so I should get to working on my project.
> 
> 
> 
> What are you working on?
Click to expand...

The second floor remodeling of our house.  Completely new bathroom and new interior walls to increase the bedroom count.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning!  I'm feeling pretty good today, so I should get to working on my project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Still the bathroom or are you on a new room?
Click to expand...

Heh, yes, still the same bathroom.  Linda is getting nervous about it not getting done in time.  I've lost some days due to illness, but back at it today.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Yeah, these would be pretty comfortable days in the middle of the summer, but at this point my body is screaming that it's not ready.



Exactly. It's too hot in the sun but there's still a breeze and it's pleasant in the shade - this would be fine if it were July or August. But May? Nope. I hate the years when spring happens on a Thursday and then it is summer.


----------



## snerd

Morning Hosers! Sitting in the big chair at the wound care center. A cleanup and new dressing. It closing quite well still. Off the vac pump for a week now. Hopefully the catheter comes out Friday! Had 2 cups of coffee on the drive up here. Hope you all have a great day!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> Morning Hosers! Sitting in the big chair at the wound care center. A cleanup and new dressing. It closing quite well still. Off the vac pump for a week now. Hopefully the catheter comes out Friday! Had 2 cups of coffee on the drive up here. Hope you all have a great day!!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


The body is pretty amazing. (Not necessarily your body ... just in general ... but I do remember some particularly amazing bodies from way back when...)


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> The body is pretty amazing. (Not necessarily your body ... just in general ... but I do remember some particularly amazing bodies from way back when...)


I've had no complaints about my fine body. Well, perhaps the hairy nipples thing. 


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

Yes = Yes

No = No

Silence = Hell No!


----------



## limr

Still waaaaaaay too early for that kind of information, hoser!



(Sorry, that was for Snerd baby.)


----------



## Gary A.

Happy Cinco de Mayo.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers, we're on page 500


----------



## KenC

Your post is on page 501.  Catch up.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Here at work, with coffee, more or less awake.  It's suddenly hot here, mid-80's yesterday, today and a couple of more days later this week.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, it is going to be a bit toasty this week up here, too. We hates it, precious. We hates it forever.
Click to expand...


This is probably THE major difference in us, limr. Well, that and the fact that you are a young person and I…am not. 

I REVEL in this weather. It is FINALLY warm enough to drive TO work with the top down on the convertible and no heat on in the car.  It is starting to turn into the sort of weather that I really THRIVE on. The truly HOT days of summer are as soul-satisfying to me as the snow and winter chill is to you. I just wish there were some way for me to store up enough of this life-giving heat in my soul to be able to make it through the winter. But for now, I shall just be glad that the heatwaves are upon us!


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Your post is on page 501.  Catch up.



Well, I _was_ on page 500 when I wrote it  And we still did get to page 500.
Here is my revised post:

"Hey hosers, mine is the first post of page 501!"


----------



## sm4him

Random:

Have you ever reported a post, secretly HOPING it would be the proverbial "last straw" that would get someone banned?  

Because I have. But it wasn't.


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> Random:
> 
> Have you ever reported a post, secretly HOPING it would be the proverbial "last straw" that would get someone banned?
> 
> Because I have. But it wasn't.


 I can be bought....


----------



## sm4him

tirediron said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Random:
> 
> Have you ever reported a post, secretly HOPING it would be the proverbial "last straw" that would get someone banned?
> 
> Because I have. But it wasn't.
> 
> 
> 
> I can be bought....
Click to expand...


So…John…just wondering…do you have a particular FAVORED brand of bacon?


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Random:
> 
> Have you ever reported a post, secretly HOPING it would be the proverbial "last straw" that would get someone banned?
> 
> Because I have. But it wasn't.
> 
> 
> 
> I can be bought....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> So…John…just wondering…do you have a particular FAVORED brand of bacon?
Click to expand...

 All kinds!


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Here at work, with coffee, more or less awake.  It's suddenly hot here, mid-80's yesterday, today and a couple of more days later this week.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, it is going to be a bit toasty this week up here, too. We hates it, precious. We hates it forever.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> This is probably THE major difference in us, limr. Well, that and the fact that you are a young person and I…am not.
> 
> I REVEL in this weather. It is FINALLY warm enough to drive TO work with the top down on the convertible and no heat on in the car.  It is starting to turn into the sort of weather that I really THRIVE on. The truly HOT days of summer are as soul-satisfying to me as the snow and winter chill is to you. I just wish there were some way for me to store up enough of this life-giving heat in my soul to be able to make it through the winter. But for now, I shall just be glad that the heatwaves are upon us!
Click to expand...


I understand this intellectually, but my body will never understand. It just can't handle heat. It's hard to describe just how uncomfortable it is, how hard it is to breathe and how all the energy just leaves my body in an instant.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Here at work, with coffee, more or less awake.  It's suddenly hot here, mid-80's yesterday, today and a couple of more days later this week.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, it is going to be a bit toasty this week up here, too. We hates it, precious. We hates it forever.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> This is probably THE major difference in us, limr. Well, that and the fact that you are a young person and I…am not.
> 
> I REVEL in this weather. It is FINALLY warm enough to drive TO work with the top down on the convertible and no heat on in the car.  It is starting to turn into the sort of weather that I really THRIVE on. The truly HOT days of summer are as soul-satisfying to me as the snow and winter chill is to you. I just wish there were some way for me to store up enough of this life-giving heat in my soul to be able to make it through the winter. But for now, I shall just be glad that the heatwaves are upon us!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I understand this intellectually, but my body will never understand. It just can't handle heat. It's hard to describe just how uncomfortable it is, how hard it is to breathe and how all the energy just leaves my body in an instant.
Click to expand...


It may be hard to describe, but it's not hard to understand, because it is precisely the way MY body responds to cold. It just wants to literally shut down and hibernate. In the winter, I feel like it takes every last ounce of energy I can drain from my body just to somehow muddle through from one day to the next.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> It may be hard to describe, but it's not hard to understand, because it is precisely the way MY body responds to cold. It just wants to literally shut down and hibernate. In the winter, I feel like it takes every last ounce of energy I can drain from my body just to somehow muddle through from one day to the next.



Did I ever tell you the story of my Maine meltdown?


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> It may be hard to describe, but it's not hard to understand, because it is precisely the way MY body responds to cold. It just wants to literally shut down and hibernate. In the winter, I feel like it takes every last ounce of energy I can drain from my body just to somehow muddle through from one day to the next.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did I ever tell you the story of my Maine meltdown?
Click to expand...


If you did, I've forgotten it.  I've forgotten more things than some people will ever KNOW.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> It may be hard to describe, but it's not hard to understand, because it is precisely the way MY body responds to cold. It just wants to literally shut down and hibernate. In the winter, I feel like it takes every last ounce of energy I can drain from my body just to somehow muddle through from one day to the next.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did I ever tell you the story of my Maine meltdown?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> If you did, I've forgotten it.  I've forgotten more things than some people will ever KNOW.
Click to expand...


Okay, long story short...or so I say before I start telling it  ...

Buzz and I were in Maine and it was unseasonably hot. Like August weather in April. We were walking along the ocean so there at least was a breeze for a while, but then the trail ended and it started winding through the woods to get back to the town. You'd think it would be cool under the trees, but the breeze was gone and it felt stifling. When we got to town, there was no shade and it just hurt to be in the sun.

We started looking for a place with air conditioning to have a drink, maybe a bite to eat, and cool down. We just couldn't find anything that was open, or open and had air conditioning working. A few places satisfied both requirements but were really fancy and there was no way I would past muster in a fancy place at that point! I was red and sweaty and miserable and foul-mouthed.

We finally found a Mexican place that said they had air conditioning in the inside portion of the roof bar. We went up there and it wasn't very powerful a/c but it was still better. And it was Happy Hour. Half-price margaritas. The bartender asked what kind of tequila we wanted, and we saw they had an interesting array so we just asked him to make a recommendation. He described a few and we narrowed it down to two choices and he asked us if we wanted a sample. Well, uh, yeah!

He poured out shots of each kind and we chose one. He made our margaritas and we started chatting. The owner passed by and the bartender told us that he was the real tequila connoisseur.  The owner heard and decided to join the conversation. The next thing we knew, we had not only our margaritas in front of us, but also shot glass after shot glass of samples the owner poured for us. We had probably 6-7 shots each. *Free*. 

THEN he tells us to wait a second...he comes back with a bottle of $100+ tequila from his private stash that a friend had given him from Mexico. Poured us each a shot.

In no time at all, the meltdown was over, the bar was littered with empty shot glasses, we ordered food, and we were flying hiiiiiiigh 

Best.Mexican.Restaurant.Ever.


----------



## oldhippy

Wasted away in margarita-ville.  Lol. Ed


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> It may be hard to describe, but it's not hard to understand, because it is precisely the way MY body responds to cold. It just wants to literally shut down and hibernate. In the winter, I feel like it takes every last ounce of energy I can drain from my body just to somehow muddle through from one day to the next.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did I ever tell you the story of my Maine meltdown?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> If you did, I've forgotten it.  I've forgotten more things than some people will ever KNOW.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Okay, long story short...or so I say before I start telling it  ...
> 
> Buzz and I were in Maine and it was unseasonably hot. Like August weather in April. We were walking along the ocean so there at least was a breeze for a while, but then the trail ended and it started winding through the woods to get back to the town. You'd think it would be cool under the trees, but the breeze was gone and it felt stifling. When we got to town, there was no shade and it just hurt to be in the sun.
> 
> We started looking for a place with air conditioning to have a drink, maybe a bite to eat, and cool down. We just couldn't find anything that was open, or open and had air conditioning working. A few places satisfied both requirements but were really fancy and there was no way I would past muster in a fancy place at that point! I was red and sweaty and miserable and foul-mouthed.
> 
> We finally found a Mexican place that said they had air conditioning in the inside portion of the roof bar. We went up there and it wasn't very powerful a/c but it was still better. And it was Happy Hour. Half-price margaritas. The bartender asked what kind of tequila we wanted, and we saw they had an interesting array so we just asked him to make a recommendation. He described a few and we narrowed it down to two choices and he asked us if we wanted a sample. Well, uh, yeah!
> 
> He poured out shots of each kind and we chose one. He made our margaritas and we started chatting. The owner passed by and the bartender told us that he was the real tequila connoisseur.  The owner heard and decided to join the conversation. The next thing we knew, we had not only our margaritas in front of us, but also shot glass after shot glass of samples the owner poured for us. We had probably 6-7 shots each. *Free*.
> 
> THEN he tells us to wait a second...he comes back with a bottle of $100+ tequila from his private stash that a friend had given him from Mexico. Poured us each a shot.
> 
> In no time at all, the meltdown was over, the bar was littered with empty shot glasses, we ordered food, and we were flying hiiiiiiigh
> 
> Best.Mexican.Restaurant.Ever.
Click to expand...


Well, your meltdown had a FAR better ending than mine generally do!! 

You know those Snickers commercials where the person is some celebrity diva and then someone hands them a Snickers bar and they change back to themselves, with the line, "You're not you when you're hungry."
Well--those truly describe me when I go on vacation with my sister and she goes and goes and goes and doesn't let me eat on a regular basis. I'm not a diabetic, not even borderline (ironically, she IS now, though she wasn't a few years ago)--but when my blood sugar gets low, EVERYBODY knows it. I'm like one of those commercials, only instead of a diva, I become more of a Freddie Krueger.


----------



## Designer

I'm more like that at bedtime.  When bedtime is put off for some reason.  Family cannot understand why I don't want to play table games with them until 02:00.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> The next thing we knew, we had not only our margaritas in front of us, but also shot glass after shot glass of samples the owner poured for us. We had probably 6-7 shots each. *Free*.


I would not be able to do that.  

Not at all.


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> I'm more like that at bedtime.  When bedtime is put off for some reason.  Family cannot understand why I don't want to play table games with them until 02:00.



Come to think of it, I'm like that at bedtime too.  Well, not QUITE as bad as when I don't eat in time, but I get really, really cranky.  And if they keep me up too far past my bedtime AND I'm hungry?? Hide the knives and axes!!


----------



## limr

When I'm hungry or tired, I'll mostly just shut down. It's when I'm all those things AND hot that I turn into some sort of raging harpy.  Except I don't need to be hungry or tired to get that way. Just hot.



To be clear, though, I don't actually start yelling at Buzz or being mean to him, or family or whoever. I start bitching about _other_ people, though  I try my best to keep a sense of humor and not be too intolerable, but at some point, I have to put my foot down and stop being "a trooper" so I can get what I need to feel better.


----------



## limr

Let's see if I can do this. I was playing with the pano mode on the Galaxy S4 during my lunch walk.

...Nope,  can't upload it directly. Guess it's too big. Here's a "vintage" one instead!


----------



## Gary A.

I'm not terribly affected by weather. I don't like cold weather more than I don't like hot weather ... but it is what it is.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Random:
> 
> Have you ever reported a post, secretly HOPING it would be the proverbial "last straw" that would get someone banned?
> 
> Because I have. But it wasn't.
> 
> 
> 
> I can be bought....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> So…John…just wondering…do you have a particular FAVORED brand of bacon?
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> All kinds!
Click to expand...

I have a list.  Do you want that bacon in pounds or kilos?


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Random:
> 
> Have you ever reported a post, secretly HOPING it would be the proverbial "last straw" that would get someone banned?
> 
> Because I have. But it wasn't.
> 
> 
> 
> I can be bought....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> So…John…just wondering…do you have a particular FAVORED brand of bacon?
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> All kinds!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I have a list.  Do you want that bacon in pounds or kilos?
Click to expand...

 Yes.


----------



## minicoop1985

Went past the site of that shooting today. Park's closed off still. Wonder how long it will be before it reopens. Seeing it was a pretty solemn event. Here's a shot I took a while ago of that very bridge.




Recycling by longm1985, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Random:
> 
> Have you ever reported a post, secretly HOPING it would be the proverbial "last straw" that would get someone banned?
> 
> Because I have. But it wasn't.
> 
> 
> 
> I can be bought....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> So…John…just wondering…do you have a particular FAVORED brand of bacon?
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> All kinds!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I have a list.  Do you want that bacon in pounds or kilos?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes.
Click to expand...

Done. Lulu Bell is on her way northwest.


----------



## limr

That'll do, Pig. That'll do.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> That'll do, Pig. That'll do.


That pig'll do.  That pig'll do!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> That'll do, Pig. That'll do.
> 
> 
> 
> That pig'll do.  That pig'll do!
Click to expand...


That'll work, John. That'll work.


----------



## snowbear

It might take her a while -- she doesn't walk that fast and has trouble crossing the Interstates on occasion.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> It may be hard to describe, but it's not hard to understand, because it is precisely the way MY body responds to cold. It just wants to literally shut down and hibernate. In the winter, I feel like it takes every last ounce of energy I can drain from my body just to somehow muddle through from one day to the next.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did I ever tell you the story of my Maine meltdown?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> If you did, I've forgotten it.  I've forgotten more things than some people will ever KNOW.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Okay, long story short...or so I say before I start telling it  ...
> 
> Buzz and I were in Maine and it was unseasonably hot. Like August weather in April. We were walking along the ocean so there at least was a breeze for a while, but then the trail ended and it started winding through the woods to get back to the town. You'd think it would be cool under the trees, but the breeze was gone and it felt stifling. When we got to town, there was no shade and it just hurt to be in the sun.
> 
> We started looking for a place with air conditioning to have a drink, maybe a bite to eat, and cool down. We just couldn't find anything that was open, or open and had air conditioning working. A few places satisfied both requirements but were really fancy and there was no way I would past muster in a fancy place at that point! I was red and sweaty and miserable and foul-mouthed.
> 
> We finally found a Mexican place that said they had air conditioning in the inside portion of the roof bar. We went up there and it wasn't very powerful a/c but it was still better. And it was Happy Hour. Half-price margaritas. The bartender asked what kind of tequila we wanted, and we saw they had an interesting array so we just asked him to make a recommendation. He described a few and we narrowed it down to two choices and he asked us if we wanted a sample. Well, uh, yeah!
> 
> He poured out shots of each kind and we chose one. He made our margaritas and we started chatting. The owner passed by and the bartender told us that he was the real tequila connoisseur.  The owner heard and decided to join the conversation. The next thing we knew, we had not only our margaritas in front of us, but also shot glass after shot glass of samples the owner poured for us. We had probably 6-7 shots each. *Free*.
> 
> THEN he tells us to wait a second...he comes back with a bottle of $100+ tequila from his private stash that a friend had given him from Mexico. Poured us each a shot.
> 
> In no time at all, the meltdown was over, the bar was littered with empty shot glasses, we ordered food, and we were flying hiiiiiiigh
> 
> Best.Mexican.Restaurant.Ever.
Click to expand...


Nice story, pretty picture, BUT WHAT'S THE RESTAURANT'S NAME & ADDRESS ????


----------



## limr

Lemme see if I can remember...

Well, it appears there are only two Mexican restaurants in Ogunquit, so looking at the pictures on Google maps, I'm going to say it was Bandito's.

Not sure if you can become the very essence of patheticness as I did that night, which surely contributed to the owner's willingness to give us so much free tequila, but hey, ya never know


----------



## Gary A.

Feliz Cinco de May0.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Lemme see if I can remember...
> 
> Well, it appears there are only two Mexican restaurants in Ogunquit, so looking at the pictures on Google maps, I'm going to say it was Bandito's.
> 
> Not sure if you can become the very essence of patheticness as I did that night, which surely contributed to the owner's willingness to give us so much free tequila, but hey, ya never know



Oooo - that's on the way to Portland, so it is certainly a possibility.  Do I need to stop by and grab you 



Spoiler



as a tour guide


?


----------



## Gary A.

BTW-  That was Margaritas, chips and guacamole on the table. Mary Lou is working on a dinner of pork tacos and homemade salsa. Life is good.


----------



## minicoop1985

I wish I could have had some margaritas, but noooo my wife got too trashed. Augh.


----------



## Gary A.

I ran out of frozen lime juice, so I plucked fresh limes from our tree ... man what a difference. Two rounds of Margaritas, the first were very good, silver tequila, frozen lime juice and Patron orange liqueur. For round two I ran out of Patron liqueur and frozen lime ... so I substituted Grand Mariner and fresh limes. Delish ... wish you guys were here!


----------



## Gary A.

I have a little Hawaiian ice maker ... so I use this snow like ice for my Margaritas. (I gave my traditional Margarita glasses to my oldest daughter and now I use my martini glasses.)


----------



## limr

I always used fresh lime for margaritas when I was a bartender. I absolutely refused to use the mix. If the customer just asked for bar pour, they'd still get a fresh drink but with Triple Sec. The customers who ordered a call liquor got Cointreau (for Cuervo) or Grand Marnier (for Patron) instead.

Mmmmm, I am SO having margaritas this weekend.


----------



## Gary A.

I'm out of Cointreau as well.  I have a ton of oranges ... I should make my own.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I'm out of Cointreau as well.  I have a ton of oranges ... I should make my own.



Yum! How do you make your own? What is the base liquor?


----------



## Gary A.

Dunno ... I imagine cognac.


----------



## Gary A.

I have plenty of Hennessy and Courvoisier ... but hate to use XO ... maybe some Christen Bros. brandy.


----------



## limr

Methinks there will be some experimenting this summer 

Buzz and I have a 1-liter oak barrel that we use to age cocktails. I'm wondering how it will come out if we infuse some brandy or cognac with oranges and then age it for a month.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I have plenty of Hennessy and Courvoisier ... but hate to use XO ... maybe some Christen Bros. brandy.



Yeah you don't want to waste the really good stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have plenty of Hennessy and Courvoisier ... but hate to use XO ... maybe some Christen Bros. brandy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah you don't want to waste the really good stuff.
Click to expand...

Yeah ... hell of a way to treat XO.


----------



## Gary A.

I think I'll use a stainless steel container ... like Sterling wines.


----------



## limr

If I weren't exhausted and about to climb into bed, I'd be pouring a drink now


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I think I'll use a stainless steel container ... like Sterling wines.



We'll have to compare notes!


----------



## pgriz

And in other news, there is an earthquake going on in Canada's oil patch.  The new colour is orange.


----------



## Gary A.

You and Buzz need to come out and try my inspiration. BTW- The 'A' in Gary A. is Ayala ... there is actually an Ayala Champagne and it is usually ranked very very high. Had it at my wedding.


----------



## Gary A.

We have tickets for Ed Sheeran at the Hollywood Bowl!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.

Getting ready to go play in traffic.  The "big" project at work is on hold until we age given some more data.  Additionally, someone has decided they don't want to "enter" all of the stations I solve (find routing times) for unless those stations have previously run calls into the county.  Though there's some merit in that, I'd rather solve for every station and let them filter out what they don't want.  So I've been working on another web/smart-phone based application for the Liquor Control Board's inspectors.

I get to give another presentation in July, this time on the run-card project.  I actually volunteered to do this one (I am extremely uncomfortable in public speaking situations).

Time for cup #2, then get MLW to the truck.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. Going through practice exam essays students wrote for me on Monday. Two of my favorite unintentionally funny mistakes are "giving the obesity in the belly" and "sweat potatoes."

Gonna need more coffee.


----------



## limr

Gah! Sitting here at the kitchen table, reading papers, minding my own business, and a wasp drops down on the table right next to me. Starts crawling up the can of Coleman Insect Repellent I just bought. Now if it's one thing I will not abide, it's irony from an insect. Killed that sucker dead.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is only gonna hit the mid 60's today. Gotta break out my winter clothing. 






Another from the parade.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gah! Sitting here at the kitchen table, reading papers, minding my own business, and a wasp drops down on the table right next to me. Starts crawling up the can of Coleman Insect Repellent I just bought. Now if it's one thing I will not abide, it's irony from an insect. Killed that sucker dead.


How many tables do you have in your kitchen?


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Overcast and damp here, so I woke up with a slight headache.  Fortunately working home today so I had an aspirin and a strong cup of Joe and now I feel fine.  As a break from work I've been working on some photos, and of course spending some time on here.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Now if it's one thing I will not abide, it's irony from an insect. Killed that sucker dead.



This made my day - thanks.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> And in other news, there is an earthquake going on in Canada's oil patch.  The new colour is orange.


Pourquoi? (pas le tremblement de terre mais pourquoi la couleur ?)


----------



## Gary A.

I like parades.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I thought Edmonton was already out of the playoffs. You said orange...

(Wait, is there something really going on??)

Charlie just paint over the lines and let everyone have at it! lol (I'm kidding of course. Maybe.)


----------



## tirediron

The reference is to the fact that for the first time in 45 years, Alberta has a party in power other than the Progressive Conservatives (an oxymoron if I've ever heard one).  The New Democratice Party (somewhat left of center) won the provincial election yesterday.


----------



## pgriz

Progressive Conservative colours are blue, NDP (New Democratic Party) are orange.  In the political spectrum, the Progressive Conservatives are considered right of center, the Wild Rose Party of Alberta is even more to the right, the Liberals are (usually) considered center or slightly left of center, the Greens are to the left of the Liberals and the NDP are considered "left".  Alberta is also considered to be a conservative (small "c" conservative) in general inclination, it was thought that if the current party gets turfed out by the voters, that the "natural" move would be a bit further to the right, to the Wild Rose party.  However, the voters gave a majority to the left-leaning party.  Hence, the earthquake.  It will be interesting how Rachel Notley (the NDP leader) reconciles her party's general political inclinations with the need to represent ALL Albertans.


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> ... It will be interesting how Rachel Notley (the NDP leader) reconciles her party's general political inclinations with the need to represent ALL Albertans.


 I'm guessing 'quickly', because I've got a box of day-old Timbits that says she's only got one term in which to do it!


----------



## limr

My favorite funny error from the batch of papers from the evening class:

"They hope to elect someone that coukd lead the society out of puberty."

(He meant poverty, of course  )


----------



## Gary A.

I dunno ... puberty works for a society as young as ours ... I wish we had an elected official who coukd do that.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Gah! Sitting here at the kitchen table, reading papers, minding my own business, and a wasp drops down on the table right next to me. Starts crawling up the can of Coleman Insect Repellent I just bought. Now if it's one thing I will not abide, it's irony from an insect. Killed that sucker dead.



One of my jobs is to remove insects and spiders from inside the apartment.  Most get the opportunity to complete their natural lives outside, but there are a few exceptions: Stingey-bitey types (hornets, wasps, 'skeeters), spiders with red markings, silverfish, the roach that stowed away in Jeremy's stuff from Wilmington -- those b'st'rds get squished on sight.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> My favorite funny error from the batch of papers from the evening class:
> 
> "They hope to elect someone that coukd lead the society out of puberty."
> 
> (He meant poverty, of course  )



Well, it could have been "erect someone . . . "


----------



## snowbear

Sad day - DC Fire-EMS lost a firefighter today on a multiple alarm fire.  Ironically, his cousin was the last LODD on the department, in 2007.
DC Lt. Kevin McRae dies after collapsing at 2-alarm fire - Statter911


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> My favorite funny error from the batch of papers from the evening class:
> 
> "They hope to elect someone that coukd lead the society out of puberty."
> 
> (He meant poverty, of course  )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, it could have been "erect someone . . . "
Click to expand...


I've gotten that one before. I've also gotten an essay about the joys of cooking, except "cooking" was misspelled every time, creating a word that would never make it past TPF's censors.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Sad day - DC Fire-EMS lost a firefighter today on a multiple alarm fire.  Ironically, his cousin was the last LODD on the department, in 2007.
> DC Lt. Kevin McRae dies after collapsing at 2-alarm fire - Statter911


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> My favorite funny error from the batch of papers from the evening class:
> 
> "They hope to elect someone that coukd lead the society out of puberty."
> 
> (He meant poverty, of course  )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, it could have been "erect someone . . . "
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've gotten that one before. I've also gotten an essay about the joys of cooking, except "cooking" was misspelled every time, creating a word that would never make it past TPF's censors.
Click to expand...



(use a zero instead of the letter "o", if you must.)  I can see it happening; I frequently hit the "o" instead of the "i" when I try to type "anything"


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I've gotten that one before. I've also gotten an essay about the joys of cooking, except "cooking" was misspelled every time, creating a word that would never make it past TPF's censors.


(use a zero instead of the letter "o", if you must.)  I can see it happening; I frequently hit the "o" instead of the "i" when I try to type "anything"[/QUOTE]

It's not an "o" that I would be typing in that space. Co_k. Think about it..

Edit: Wait, let me think about it. Replace the _other_ 'o' with a 0. Ahhhh...

Nah, I still feel weird typing it all out


----------



## snowbear

I knew what you were referring to.  I tend to use punctuation to represent letters (@=a, #=H, etc).
Along that note, I actually used "jammin'" in an email, today.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> My favorite funny error from the batch of papers from the evening class:
> 
> "They hope to elect someone that coukd lead the society out of puberty."
> 
> (He meant poverty, of course  )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, it could have been "erect someone . . . "
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've gotten that one before. I've also gotten an essay about the joys of cooking, except "cooking" was misspelled every time, creating a word that would never make it past TPF's censors.
Click to expand...

"Roostering"?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> "Roostering"?



Yes, roostering! 

She wrote several paragraphs about how much she loved to...rooster. She'd rooster in the kitchen all day long, sometimes with her friends and sometimes alone. 

That was one of the exams we read a few years back. I remember that scoring session - we were dead from laughing so hard. My abs were sore for days.


----------



## snowbear

Wasn't that a song?
"Rooster in the morning, rooster in the evening, rooster at supper time"


----------



## Gary A.

Charlie, sorry to read about firefighter.

For your home duties you need one of these:







Bug-A-Salt The Original Salt Gun


----------



## snowbear

Nah - some folks like to shoot film, some drive old cars, and I use one of these.


----------



## Designer

How much harder would it have been to make a salt gun with more power?  I mean; one little pump?  C'mon, man!  

If I ever started messing with something like that, it would have to have a high-pressure air tank on it at least.


----------



## Gary A.

I have one and it kills flies and spiders quite well. It will knock a fly out of the sky.


----------



## minicoop1985

I need one of those things.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey Leo I found a few recipes for orange liqueur ... mostly calling for a base of vodka, vodka & brandy or Evergreen.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry to hear about the firefighter Charlie.

Thanks for the explanation John and Paul, I did look it up today but didn't read too much about it because, well, it wasn't about hockey. But hey you've got blue and orange, and throw in some green and you've got the fans in the stands at an Oilers game. (Of course then there's the rose which doesn't fit in so that didn't really work...)

Leonore when are you going to be done grading papers? aren't those students about done for the summer??

So Gary how's your granddaughter doing since she got home?


----------



## Gary A.

She is doing great ... thanks for asking Sharon.  Eating up a storm and milking all the extra attention she can get.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Charlie, sorry to read about firefighter.
> 
> For your home duties you need one of these:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bug-A-Salt The Original Salt Gun


These are VERY cool.  Bought one for my brother.  He loves it!


----------



## Gary A.

They work on slugs too.


----------



## oldhippy

Good morning youngins.  Back in the garden today. Cucumber Hills to set.
Potatoes in the ground yesterday.  Now if I can just keep the chickens out.
Have a great morning.  Ed


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, hosers. How is everyone?

Gonna be a nice day here, it looks like. I have to work tonight to set up for our trip to a dance studio on Friday. Got a date with the girlfriend this Saturday, got some plans for the wife for Mother's Day. Looking like it's gonna be a great weekend.


----------



## snowbear

Waiting for MLW to finish PhTh then off to the (extremely hot 80* F) office.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.









vintagesnaps said:


> Leonore when are you going to be done grading papers? aren't those students about done for the summer??



Sharon, it's my own damn fault, really. I usually give 5 essays over the course of the semester and they go through 2 drafts of each. (This is in addition to shorter, more informal reaction journals that they write when we start a new reading.) This semester we got slammed with snow days at the beginning of the semester, causing me to miss at least 3 sessions in each class in the first 4 weeks. In one class because of the way the sessions are organized, that meant I had a total of 1.5 hours of instruction time in the first 4 weeks to teach them anything. So I cut one essay and adjusted due dates for the rest. That last essay was graded and returned last week, but of course they also had to take their essay exams, so I also gave in-class practice essays and had to grade those. The students who didn't pass the first exam have a chance to retake it next week, so for those students, I gave an additional practice exam.

I know I give them a lot of work and not all the teachers who teach these classes give quite as many writing assignments or practice exams, so as I said, it's my own damn fault for assigning them so much work. But I can't see how I can teach a skill unless the students practice that skill as much as possible. I've been told by former students that all the writing made them a little crazy when they were in my class but after they went on to other classes and had to write longer research essays or even lab reports, that's when they realized how much they'd learned and were thankful I'd pushed them as I did.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Another cool and overcast day. It may not hit 65F today. So I guess the overcast is too thick to burn off. The tomatoes are coming in strength so I'm planning some meals around them ... ala ... a tomato salad or pasta. The tomato salads are interesting because we have ... about 16 different varieties. So the salads are colorful, flavorful and textureful. I've only been gardening veggies for the last few years, so I am still amazed at everything. The artichokes will be ready to pick any day now. The Ninja blender was a good purchase. We've been using it nearly everyday. Mary Lou made a very tasty smoothie last night for her breakfast. Orange, kale, mint, spinach and celery. Tasted nice, looked like crap.

Hey Leo, you ought have us Coffee Hosers complete the same assignments to help our writing skills. I think you would relish in the extra attention and grading.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Hey Leo, you ought have us Coffee Hosers complete the same assignments to help our writing skills. I think you would relish in the extra attention and grading.



I'm sure everyone would appreciate that!


----------



## Gary A.

The appreciation would come at the end of the semester, lol.


----------



## snerd

Morning hosers. We've had about 7" inches of rain here over the last few weeks! Lakes are full and waiting on me to show up to photograph! Brewing my 3 cups now, then get cleaned up and head to Oklahoma City for a 3pm appointment with the infectious disease doctor. I'm hoping this damn catheter comes out today!! I'm glad they called to verify yesterday............. I had them down for Friday!! We've been dodging the tornadoes, my sister in Tuttle said the animals had escaped from a local zoo! So they're dodging tornadoes and tigers!! Carry on.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Morning hosers. We've had about 7" inches of rain here over the last few weeks! Lakes are full and waiting on me to show up to photograph! Brewing my 3 cups now, then get cleaned up and head to Oklahoma City for a 3pm appointment with the infectious disease doctor. I'm hoping this damn catheter comes out today!! I'm glad they called to verify yesterday............. I had them down for Friday!! We've been dodging the tornadoes, my sister in Tuttle said the animals had escaped from a local zoo! So they're dodging tornadoes and tigers!! Carry on.


no pics? wtfh!!!!   You say things like this on a photography forum and don't cough up a single photo?


----------



## snerd

Of the lakes or the tornadoes?! Can't get out to have fun yet, with this catheter still in. There are tons of tornado photos from down here on the web. 


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

Dozens of homes destroyed by tornadoes in central Oklahoma

http://www.kswo.com/story/29002337/

dozens-of-homes-destroyed-by-tornadoes-in-central-oklahoma


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## waday

snerd said:


> ...my sister in Tuttle said the animals had escaped from a local zoo! So they're dodging tornadoes and tigers!!


It's not Sharknado.. it's Tigernado?


----------



## snerd

If that link didn't work, try this one 

KFOR.com Oklahoma s News Channel 4




Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

Throwing my camera in trunk for the trip to OKC this afternoon. If I see one, I'll snap a few. If I don't run like a sissy!!! I've been in 2, they're scary as hell!!

Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## waday

snerd said:


> Throwing my camera in trunk for the trip to OKC this afternoon. If I see one, I'll snap a few. If I don't run like a sissy!!! I've been in 2, they're scary as hell!!
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


If you spot a Tigernado, please do snap pictures. I'd like to see it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Still finishing up the last of my Buckeye blast or whatever this coffee is called. Been feeling sort of under the weather but a little perkier today (seems to be something going around). At least I have the Worlds (hockey) to watch today but USA is losing - nice scenery of Belarus they just showed.

I've done that, where it was my own fault I didn't get something done sooner. Bad study habits early I think! lol all nighters in college...

Now Coop I don't really get the point of an open marriage, I mean, why get married and - date? I guess the other person's okay with dating someone who's married, but it seems to have no future, what if the relationship develops? would just be too complicated for me to juggle more than one relationship at a time I guess.

Show us some pictures when you get back Snerd.


----------



## limr

Be careful, Snerd!


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Be careful, Snerd!


Thanks. But I'd climb the highest mountain, swim the deepest sea, and even dodge tornadoes to get this damn thing out of my arm!! It's been like PRISON for the last 6 weeks!


----------



## bribrius

vintagesnaps said:


> Still finishing up the last of my Buckeye blast or whatever this coffee is called. Been feeling sort of under the weather but a little perkier today (seems to be something going around). At least I have the Worlds (hockey) to watch today but USA is losing - nice scenery of Belarus they just showed.
> 
> I've done that, where it was my own fault I didn't get something done sooner. Bad study habits early I think! lol all nighters in college...
> 
> *Now Coop I don't really get the point of an open marriage, I mean, why get married and - date? I guess the other person's okay with dating someone who's married, but it seems to have no future, what if the relationship develops? would just be too complicated for me to juggle more than one relationship at a time I guess.*
> 
> Show us some pictures when you get back Snerd.


something new, something interesting. Tempting. Like  allowed affair. Not so sure the potential complications would be worth it......more headaches. Probably not my thing personally.

on the other hand, i can vouch that monogamy is rather dull.


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Throwing my camera in trunk for the trip to OKC this afternoon. If I see one, I'll snap a few. If I don't run like a sissy!!! I've been in 2, they're scary as hell!!
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


Pretend you are like a war zone doc photographer. Get pics or die trying! Lets see some dedication you slacker!!! Are you a photographer or not!!

(just kidding)


----------



## astroNikon

I just saw a gigantic blue heron take off from a small lake (large pond) here near my office.

Where's my (*&$% camera .... oh at home.  
I was still too slow to pull out my cell phone.


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> Throwing my camera in trunk for the trip to OKC this afternoon. If I see one, I'll snap a few. If I don't run like a sissy!!! I've been in 2, they're scary as hell!!
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


I'd love to shoot a tornado ... never had the opportunity.


----------



## snerd

astroNikon said:


> I just saw a gigantic blue heron take off from a small lake (large pond) here near my office.
> 
> Where's my (*&$% camera .... oh at home.
> I was still too slow to pull out my cell phone.


On the way up here to OKC, I passed some really bad storm damage alongside either side of the turnpike I was on. So when I got here, I opened the trunk to get the camera out to possibly get some pics on the way back......... that's when I remembered I had pulled both cards out and left them on the computer to import some photos!! So, I'm going to have to buy a card up here before heading back. Good grief!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Throwing my camera in trunk for the trip to OKC this afternoon. If I see one, I'll snap a few. If I don't run like a sissy!!! I've been in 2, they're scary as hell!!
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
> 
> 
> 
> I'd love to shoot a tornado ... never had the opportunity.
Click to expand...

It's not something I long to do, but I've gone out a time or two in storms that are not too severe to get shots. I saw the tornado intercept car heading south a few minutes ago, along with a couple storm chaser support trucks. I don't know if it was that Casey guy or not.







Welcome to Facebook




Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

I've shot plenty of storms and storm damage ... rescues ... mudslides ... et cetera ... but never an actual tornado or hurricane.


----------



## snerd

Damn! Stopped to buy a card, took long enough to to get caught in the rush hour traffic up here. Took over an hour to get through OKC! then it started the second round of thunderstorms, couple of gusts moved my car a good 6 inches, 2 times! It's pouring so hard I had to pull over. Made it to the Mickey D's on the turnpike, halfway home. Sitting here eating donuts and drinking coffee. It's a frog-drowner for sure! We're already soaked and soppy. Gonna be lots of flooding now. 






I'll wait for a lull in the storm, then head out again!!



Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Designer

They sell Little Debbie at McDonalds?  I love Little Debbie stuff.


----------



## snerd

Designer said:


> They sell Little Debbie at McDonalds?  I love Little Debbie stuff.


It's a combo McDonald's and an EZ Go convenience store. Made it home, no pics, but no catheter either. Woohoo!!!


----------



## limr

Glad things are getting better for you, Snerd!

Morning, hosers. Mornings are still for the Coffee House. I'll postwhore in The Other Thread later when I'm bored and not quite as bleary-eyed.

I'm soooo taking naps tomorrow when this week is finally done! It's going to be one lazy Saturday.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, sweetie.  We are off, today.
LB - meh; I got it out of my system for now.


----------



## snowbear

We are going downtown again, tomorrow - lazy_lobster's last painting class.  The Susan B. Kohmen DC Race fir the Cure is also going on tomorrow, though it will be well under way y the time we get there.  I might try some "street" shooting - lots of pink.


----------



## limr

Coffee




Turkish coffee by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Coffee
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Turkish coffee by limrodrigues, on Flickr


This reminds me of a coffee cup/saucer that the wife and I bought for my father-in-law. He loves miniature things, as well as small coffee/tea cups. We found a 'metal' one at Crate and Barrel, so we got it for him thinking he'd use it. No. He has it sitting beside his computer, but never drinks anything out of it.


----------



## limr

Maybe it looks too pretty to use 

This was a cup of yummy Turkish coffee that I had in Lake George a few weeks ago.


----------



## sm4him

So, am I the only one left who steadfastly refuses to even LOOK at THAT thread, never mind actually posting in it again?  I am just NOT getting anywhere near that black hole of postwhoredom again.  

Busy, busy, busy the next few days. Taking today and Monday off but probably won't get to do much photography. Well, much "fun, just for me" stuff anyway. I've got a graduation to attend/take pictures for tomorrow in upper East TN--he's the son of my best friend. He's in his early 20s and specifically asked me if I'd come and take some pictures of him, so yeah, I'm there! 
Then Monday is the 5oth Anniversary party for the parents of the same friend. So today, I'm finishing up some of the decorations for that, then doing some experimenting with the backdrop we got for pictures that evening, because it's not as big as I'd hoped so I'm thinking I'm going to have to do waist-up shots instead of full-body.
Sunday is Mother's Day, but my mom and sister are heading to GA today for my niece's graduation tomorrow and they won't be back until late Sunday, so I celebrated Mother's Day with my mom last night. Took her out for dinner--in my convertible. With the top down. There are not a lot of 88-year-olds out there who are willing to ride around in a convertible!! Especially when they just got their hair "done" that day!! But my mom is pretty much one of a kind!

Gonna go sit out in the backyard for a bit, in hopes of seeing my hummingbird. Then  it's off to get busy on all these pesky last-minute details!


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Coffee
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Turkish coffee by limrodrigues, on Flickr


That's a wonderful shot, L.


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> .. doing some experimenting with the backdrop we got for pictures that evening, because it's not as big as I'd hoped so I'm thinking I'm going to have to do waist-up shots instead of full-body.


Try moving the backdrop way back.  You might get the angle you need, even though it will most likely be OOF.


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> So, am I the only one left who steadfastly refuses to even LOOK at THAT thread, never mind actually posting in it again?



No, rest assured, there are others who aren't interested.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Coffee
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Turkish coffee by limrodrigues, on Flickr



I love it - I can almost taste the grounds.


----------



## limr

Thanks, boys


----------



## snowbear

I got the other thread out of my system, now.  No need to go back.


----------



## limr

Suuuuuure


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Suuuuuure


----------



## Gary A.

My new cookbook. Yesterday was barbacoa tomorrow I'm making Cafe de Olla.


----------



## Gary A.

Tonight it is salmon soaked in sweet bourbon.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## pgriz

Hey Leonore!  Your hockey team needs your help!  Oh, never mind.  They just scored the OT winner.  Unless you kinda willed that to happen.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Hey Leonore!  Your hockey team needs your help!  Oh, never mind.  They just scored the OT winner.  Unless you kinda willed that to happen.



I did that with my mind.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey Leonore!  Your hockey team needs your help!  Oh, never mind.  They just scored the OT winner.  Unless you kinda willed that to happen.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I did that with my mind.
Click to expand...


Well then, keep it rested.  I think the Rangers may need your services again.  At least two more times.


----------



## limr

I will reserve the rest of my powers for the next two games


----------



## pgriz

If the Rangers survive being down 3-1, they will be the 4th team in NHL history to come back from such a deficit.  The Habs are also with a 3-1 deficit, and have to win the next three games in order to advance.  It'll be kinda neat if BOTH the Rangers and the Habs make it through.  Of course, the chances of that happening are kinda tiny.  But we can hope.


----------



## limr

I am now going to go hope with my eyes closed while lying in a horizontal position for hopefully the next 8 hours.

Night, hosers!


----------



## vintagesnaps

So that's why they won, good!

Habs' series goes back to Montreal Saturday, what a blowout last game. I remember seeing Guy LaFleur and the flying Frenchman on TV when I was  young, been a fan since.

Our local team back in the days of chicken wire was a farm club for the Canadiens, then for the Rangers. Before my time!


----------



## minicoop1985

Ugh is it hot in my house. Dammit, I need to install the A/C... I'm so lazy though and it's heavy...


----------



## sm4him

Good morning, Hosers!
I gotta try to get my second cup of coffee in the next few minutes then get out the door to head to the very top corner of East TN for graduation. Batteries have been charged--AND put back in the cameras, cards have been emptied, AND put back in the cameras. Bringing a flash just in case I need it and a tripod. I'll probably take the D800 and 70-200 f/2.8 into the arena with me, since I'm assuming it'll be low light. I'd take the Sigma 150-500, but it kinda stinks in low light.

Sat outside yesterday morning way longer than I should have waiting to spot a hummer. Not a single hummer!!  I've seen them in my yard but I think so far I only have passers-by, not any that have taken up residence.  Put out two more hummer feeders to try to attract more.

I *did* get THIS though:



 
I'd heard the crow, even took some pictures of the crow, sitting up on a branch in this tree. I kept wondering why he'd been up there for so long; they don't usually stay in one place like that unless they're harassing something. And that's when I saw the Red-Shouldered, just  a few branches below, almost completely camouflaged by the tree bark.  You can see the wing tip of the crow as it did a fly-by on the poor hawk here.

The hawk took off but eventually came back and landed on this post probably just about 30 feet in front of me.  More fun ensued, but I'll save that for a separate thread. Besides, these are the only two photos I've had time to process.


----------



## Gary A.

My first cup of home made Cafe de Olla. Delish. This was more trial ... so tomorrow I'm gonna refine the recipe and take another crack ... pretty simple to make actually. Today, lawns, some vacuuming, lightbulbs for the garage and bread making.


----------



## limr

I'm having a lazy lazy day. It's a recovery day. Will take a walk in a little while then have some dinner with Buzz. Until then, it's lounging, reading, and then more of the same.


----------



## Kane Adams

I just found out my cheapo cell phone has manual focus and can do pretty decent macro/bokeh shots. Well, looks like it's time to ditch the dslr in the river and get a different hobby. fml xD


----------



## Gary A.

Kane Adams said:


> I just found out my cheapo cell phone has manual focus and can do pretty decent macro/bokeh shots. Well, looks like it's time to ditch the dslr in the river and get a different hobby. fml xD


Ready ... what cheapo cell phone has manual focus?


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou is all excited ... She just finished making a green chili salsa from our last years tomatillos (from the freezer), tomatoes, peppers, limes and cilantro from the yard. While she was busy doing that ... I replaced all the fluorescent in the garage ... "This is better than day light".  (One of those things you tend to do tomorrow.)


----------



## Gary A.

When I was at Home Depot for the bulbs, I also picked up some hooks to screw into the fascia so I can start winding the grapes around the house.


----------



## Kane Adams

Gary A. said:


> Ready ... what cheapo cell phone has manual focus?



Huawei Ascend g6. Got it for like $140. I'm amazed... the last phone I bought 2 years ago for the same price barely had manual iso and WB control, let alone letting me to chose a focus point. And this thing... it has 8mp camera with hdr and panorama, and then some decent enough photo editing software. 

Perhaps cheapo wasn't the term I was looking for. Maybe it was shady/dodgy. I am pretty far off with technology these days, it was the first time I heard of this brand. Up till then I only knew about nokia sony and samsung. The store recommended it highly and I'm glad I took it.


----------



## Gary A.

You've never heard of Apple?


----------



## pgriz

Sure we know about "apples".  Rustic, courtland, mckintosh, lobo, royal gala, fuji...  One of my daily pleasures.  Takes a crappy picture though.


----------



## pgriz

And in other news, the Habs survived another elimination game.  Both the Lightning and Habs played hard, goal tenders were superb, but in the end the home crowd cheered.  I'm expecting that the outcome of this series will be decided in 7th game, double overtime.


----------



## bribrius

i went to a store.

Met a couple girlfriends.


----------



## bribrius

these guys became my new buds. we had man talk while the ladies shopped...


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> And in other news, the Habs survived another elimination game.  Both the Lightning and Habs played hard, goal tenders were superb, but in the end the home crowd cheered.  I'm expecting that the outcome of this series will be decided in 7th game, double overtime.


And my Ducks ... what are they chopped liver? They're 3-1 over Calgary.


----------



## Gary A.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there. It is a perfect morning here in LA. No overcast, a sunny warm day. I have having my first sip of Cafe de Olla ... in honor of Mary Lou. She's wanted Cafe de Olla.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> And in other news, the Habs survived another elimination game.  Both the Lightning and Habs played hard, goal tenders were superb, but in the end the home crowd cheered.  I'm expecting that the outcome of this series will be decided in 7th game, double overtime.
> 
> 
> 
> And my Ducks ... what are they chopped liver? They're 3-1 over Calgary.
Click to expand...


Chopped liver?  No.  And yes they are 3-1 over Calgary.  I have no opinions on which team is the better one, but certainly the regular season was very good for the Ducks. 

In the East, the Habs are coming back from a 3-0 deficit to 3-2 (Lightning leading).  Rangers are also at 3-2 against the Capitals.  The odds are against any team with a 3-1 deficit from being able to win 3 games in a row, but it has happened 4 times so far.  For the Ducks to advance, they have to get past Calgary (odds are good, but not a given), and then past Chicago.  For the Habs to advance, they have to win two more against Lightning (again, odds are against them, but they DID win the last two games), and then past either the Rangers or Capitals.  Any team who wins this year's cup will have worked hard for the privilege, and had some luck on their side as well.


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> And in other news, the Habs survived another elimination game.  Both the Lightning and Habs played hard, goal tenders were superb, but in the end the home crowd cheered.  I'm expecting that the outcome of this series will be decided in 7th game, double overtime.
> 
> 
> 
> And my Ducks ... what are they chopped liver? They're 3-1 over Calgary.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Chopped liver?  No.  And yes they are 3-1 over Calgary.  I have no opinions on which team is the better one, but certainly the regular season was very good for the Ducks.
> 
> In the East, the Habs are coming back from a 3-0 deficit to 3-2 (Lightning leading).  Rangers are also at 3-2 against the Capitals.  The odds are against any team with a 3-1 deficit from being able to win 3 games in a row, but it has happened 4 times so far.  For the Ducks to advance, they have to get past Calgary (odds are good, but not a given), and then past Chicago.  For the Habs to advance, they have to win two more against Lightning (again, odds are against them, but they DID win the last two games), and then past either the Rangers or Capitals.  Any team who wins this year's cup will have worked hard for the privilege, and had some luck on their side as well.
Click to expand...


I've watched the Caps since day one (we had season tickets for the first five years) though nowhere as close as I used to. Have no fear, they will be able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as they have every time they get into the playoffs.  I think they get a good lead, then get jammin' lazy.

BTW, I was enjoying listening to the Habs during the Scotty Bowman era.


----------



## bribrius

Well. On the iPad. First time. It has been sitting in the box sorta like the last one did for three years I never used. I dunno. It is different. Think I still prefer the laptop. Wife had to show me how to turn it on and get online.


----------



## bribrius

And yes. Happy mothers day


----------



## bribrius

It's a slum it day. Got the General Electric 8mp ps out. Which oddly enough has turned out some photos I really like over the years


----------



## bribrius




----------



## tirediron

bribrius said:


> It's a slum it day. Got the General Electric 8mp ps out. Which oddly enough has turned out some photos I really like over the years


Love that mannequin series!!!!


----------



## bribrius

tirediron said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a slum it day. Got the General Electric 8mp ps out. Which oddly enough has turned out some photos I really like over the years
> 
> 
> 
> Love that mannequin series!!!!
Click to expand...

I had time while the girls shopped. I have lots of them. But I came close to being kicked out of a couple stores


----------



## tirediron

bribrius said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a slum it day. Got the General Electric 8mp ps out. Which oddly enough has turned out some photos I really like over the years
> 
> 
> 
> Love that mannequin series!!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I had time while the girls shopped. I have lots of them. But *I came close to being kicked out of a couple stores*
Click to expand...

Yeah... but did that actually have anything to do with you photographing the mannequins?


----------



## bribrius

I just tell them I am a photographic artist and it confuses them for a minute


----------



## bribrius

tirediron said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a slum it day. Got the General Electric 8mp ps out. Which oddly enough has turned out some photos I really like over the years
> 
> 
> 
> Love that mannequin series!!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I had time while the girls shopped. I have lots of them. But *I came close to being kicked out of a couple stores*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah... but did that actually have anything to do with you photographing the mannequins?
Click to expand...

If I dressed nicer it might help. I actually have lots of nice preppy clothes I just don't bother


----------



## bribrius

Strangest thing. Paid out 1700 yesterday in wife and kids clothes. Only do big clothes shopping once or twice a year. And the one cutting the check ,me, always looks like a bum


----------



## vintagesnaps

Used to have a connection to the Ducks, they still have a couple of players, Perry and Getzlaf, who were here for a cup of coffee. But they play too late at night! don't see them much.

Parenteau who scored the game winner last night played here too, but he went by Pierre then. We see them in college, minor pro, before they're anybody. lol

College lacrosse all day, four games back to back to veg out and watch. Should work on a submission but then I'd have to do some actual work on a Sunday. So I'll put it off til tomorrow! and kick myself then.


----------



## bribrius

bribrius said:


> View attachment 100812


i guess that isn't too bad for a ipad photo. Strange i couldnt figure out how to turn it on or off but managed to figure out how to take photos with it.


----------



## tirediron

bribrius said:


> Strangest thing. Paid out 1700 yesterday in wife and kids clothes. Only do big clothes shopping once or twice a year. And the one cutting the check ,me, always looks like an bum arteest!


FTFY


----------



## bribrius

tirediron said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> Strangest thing. Paid out 1700 yesterday in wife and kids clothes. Only do big clothes shopping once or twice a year. And the one cutting the check ,me, always looks like an bum arteest!
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY
Click to expand...

yeah. that is it. e850 ge shot i just took. Not the greatest example. But each camera seems to have its own different aesthetic.  This junky e850 has giving me some shocking amazing photos over the years for what it is. I shot niagra falls with the thing once. Maybe i should get out the old 3 mp point and shoot. Notice the color rendition is near dead on too sooc. I have trouble pulling that off with my dslr. Wonder why i hardly even shoot with a dslr. Dslr = over rated p.o.s.  unless what you are shooting really requires the need for one.


----------



## snerd

tirediron said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> Strangest thing. Paid out 1700 yesterday in wife and kids clothes. Only do big clothes shopping once or twice a year. And the one cutting the check ,me, always looks like an bum arteest!
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY
Click to expand...

The term "Starving Artist" is more PC I think.


Sent from my iPad Air 2 using Tapatalk Pro 3


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> Strangest thing. Paid out 1700 yesterday in wife and kids clothes. Only do big clothes shopping once or twice a year. And the one cutting the check ,me, always looks like an bum arteest!
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The term "Starving Artist" is more PC I think.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad Air 2 using Tapatalk Pro 3
Click to expand...

hey, i am losing weight. Health condition ya know. But i'll be down to 190 and strong as a ox again in no time. Steps, steps...


----------



## bribrius

The earlier digitals, seem to have processing that really tried to mimic film. To bad the sensors were such low dynamic range it took a lot of work to make one work.


----------



## bribrius

vintagesnaps said:


> Used to have a connection to the Ducks, they still have a couple of players, Perry and Getzlaf, who were here for a cup of coffee. But they play too late at night! don't see them much.
> 
> Parenteau who scored the game winner last night played here too, but he went by Pierre then. We see them in college, minor pro, before they're anybody. lol
> 
> College lacrosse all day, four games back to back to veg out and watch. Should work on a submission but then I'd have to do some actual work on a Sunday. So I'll put it off til tomorrow! and kick myself then.


i pretty much just watch rally, desert racing, occasionally soccer (occasionally).  Rally racing it my thing. And baja racing. Always wanted to enter one but, for some reason never managed to get around to it. I have done local drags etc. And a few "unauthorized" type road racing when i was younger. Basically running the clock from here to there at 3 a.m (when there was less traffic). Used to run from berwick to portland dennys, i think my best time was 26 minutes and i jumped two curbs, went down a side walk, and landed in the parking lot sideways to do it. We all grow up some day though....  do the math though, that is a average of about 103 mph. Keep in mind some of that is city. So the mph cruising down the backroads and the turnpike...... usually about 145 mph. i used to be a nut with stuff like that (when i was much younger). There was a few of us that engaged in these types of "things". No doubt, i lost my license more than once. Serious challenge though, watching the clock ticking away, wondering where the others are if you dont see them....Fun as hell. Not to safe or smart though.


----------



## bribrius

here we go. this was my dream growing up. Not quite sure i have given up on it yet....(though i am a tad older and probably too smart to do it now it is tempting)


----------



## minicoop1985

I love the old movie Cannonball Run. I wanna do it someday so badly.


----------



## limr

Final exams tomorrow!


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> I love the old movie Cannonball Run. I wanna do it someday so badly.


think the gold rush is the cheapest to enter. But they have it so closed down in the states now it almost seems you have to pay the big bucks to enter the gumball and go overseas. They were cracking down on the gumball since they had some deaths, but more liberal overseas than here. There is the bull run too. Again though, because they advertise and announce everything in advance they get cracked right down on. They shouldn't announce anything until AFTER it is over.  And the decals on the cars man, nothing like attracting attention. Same with running during the day, but they want the advertising money and the entrance fees. So they kinda commercialized it.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> I love the old movie Cannonball Run. I wanna do it someday so badly.


better off doing it yourself in a way. less attention, and the entrance fee money can pay for some serious car upgrades...
Atlanta man shatters coast-to-coast Cannonball Run speed record - CNN.com

not that i am seriously contemplating this of course....


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  So, a little Monday morning slowness on here.  I guess I'm the first one to get to his coffee.  Not too bad for a Monday here, so far.  It's still unseasonably hot, although we're supposed to go back to normal mid-week.  Nice bright overcast light outside now - wish I were out in it with a camera instead of in here at work, but what can you do?


----------



## bribrius

Thunder showers last night, probably 65 degrees right now.  But mostly, it rained. So i don't have to water the grass hoping it will grow. The rain probably just saved me a dollar fifty on my water bill and forty minutes of my time.

life is good.

wondering where that used f100 might be i bought....somewhere in a brown truck i imagine.


----------



## limr

Morning, Ken! I'm at work with coffee, too, though unlike you, I don't mind being inside at work today. First, I hate this kind of humid weather. Second, it's final exam day, so it's nice and easy at work today 

Morning, the rest of you hosers.


----------



## Designer

Good morning!


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> I love the old movie Cannonball Run. I wanna do it someday so badly.


It used to be an annual event sponsored by Car & Driver magazine. The movies pales when compared to the articles.  I believe the record for "The Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash" was about 33 hours to go from New York City to Redondo Beach. The Finish Line was at the Portofino Inn, which literally has the Pacific waves rolling against its foundation.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> Good morning!


I don't agree with your assertion.  Prove it!


----------



## pgriz

tirediron said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning!
> 
> 
> 
> I don't agree with your assertion.  Prove it!
Click to expand...


It's Monday.  So that goes against "good".

On the other hand, we are alive.  That's good.  And we don't live in a place like Syria or Libya or the Gaza strip (or any number of other places where humans make misery for other humans).  From my own perfectly selfish point-of-view, that's very good.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I love the old movie Cannonball Run. I wanna do it someday so badly.
> 
> 
> 
> It used to be an annual event sponsored by Car & Driver magazine. The movies pales when compared to the articles.  I believe the record for "The Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Dash" was about 33 hours to go from New York City to Redondo Beach. The Finish Line was at the Portofino Inn, which literally has the Pacific waves rolling against its foundation.
Click to expand...

meh, they kind of ruined it with the entrance fee imo, which seems to still keep be going up. And way to much publicity. If they could lower the fee and dump the publicity it would be far more competitive. Watching the bullrun vids, they basically had a police escort and observation for a good part of the run. D.O.A.
Became more a mobile car show than a run. So basically you get a lot of wealthy people showing off cars, and not to many actual "runners"


----------



## bribrius

They should start another one (yeah i know they already have three). Two thousand dollar entrance fee, tracking device on each car, no publicity until after the fact. No decals. Straight shot. Get the D/A celebrities out of it and put it up for the runners...


----------



## Gary A.

I went to Bob Bondurant driving school when he was at Ontario Motor Speedway. We used to race from the speedway to the airport backwards.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was a perfect day. Extremely busy ... but it was a perfect day. We have family over and we hosted. The restaurants all had a two hour wait ... so we cooked and cleaned our Mother's Day brains out. Hell, even The Cook got a bath. The yard looked great, everything was in bloom or had low hanging fruit. We even dusted the furniture and shoo-ed out most of the chickens and goats out of the house.  We grilled citrus marinated chicken, citrus marinated salmon and sweet bourbon marinated salmon (breaded). The citrus chicken and salmon came heavily seasoned with a layer of herbs on top. I made fresh Rosemary and Sage infused bread and wrapped up with a grilled veggie medley and white rice.  Steven, Mary Lou's son, works at BJ's Restaurant. He came in tired and his back was killing him. One of our guests was a physician ... so the doc cracked Steven's back and neck and made him all well. Pretty funny.  

The Cook and I just finished our morning walk and today looks to be another perfect day, temps in the 70's ... warm, dry with a nice cool breeze coming off the Pacific.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> I don't mind being inside at work today. First, I hate this kind of humid weather.



Yeah, me too, but a day out with a camera on a humid, stinky day is still better than a good day at work.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't mind being inside at work today. First, I hate this kind of humid weather.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, me too, but a day out with a camera on a humid, stinky day is still better than a good day at work.
Click to expand...


If I were at the lawyer's, I'd agree with you. But a good day in the classroom feels pretty awesome


----------



## snerd

Morning, hosers. Vac pump, gone. Catheter, gone. Brewing my 3 cups of coffee as I type. Then laundromat. Then I'm going to go walk, finally!! I'm so out of shape since I've done absolutely nothing for almost 2 months now. I'll try to do my usual 3 miles. Lakes are full and it's going to be a good summer!!


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> I went to Bob Bondurant driving school when he was at Ontario Motor Speedway. We used to race from the speedway to the airport backwards.


What a coincidence - I went to the Li.Lo. Drinking & Driving School.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... we didn't need no special private schooling for that ... that was a curriculum requirement at my high school.


----------



## Gary A.

You gotta watch this.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

(I know that Other Thread needs more pages, but I reserve the right to say my good mornings here  )


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Leonore!


----------



## pgriz

Gary, that's "unbelievable"!  Funny, sad and infuriating, all at the same time.


----------



## pgriz

Good murning all.  Yep, that's the correct spelling.  I think this will require three coffees to make it right.


----------



## snowbear

You did, however, misspell "y'all!"


----------



## pgriz

Well, when it's "murning", then "y'all" slide all over the place and lose a few letters along the way.  Kinda like tripping over the cat, as you make your way to the bathroom.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Gary.  How are Mary Lou & the Cook?


----------



## bribrius

i think i have become too camera obsessive. One of the kids birthdays was yesterday, not only did i set up video i shot stills in both digital and film on top of it.


----------



## bribrius

My wife remarked to my mother that i already have a hundred thousand photos. She appeared a little annoyed. Maybe i need to go to a photography anonymous group.


----------



## bribrius

or just not concern my self with it.........  

that is always a option. Life is good behind a lens.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Good morning, Gary.  How are Mary Lou & the Cook?


Top-o'-the-Morn Charlie. Mary Lou is in good spirits, but she is struggling with her foot post surgery. She made an appointment to see her doctor today because of the pain. She expects a painful recovery ... but the pain isn't diminishing since she's been off the crutches. And The Cook is wonderful. I gave her a bath on Saturday and now she looks like this plush-teddybear-dog thing.







This morning, when The Cook and I went out to get the newspaper ...I was thinking that dogs are the best. Thank you for asking. How is you wife and cats? (I read that she's getting some PT today. I hope that goes well.)


----------



## tirediron

bribrius said:


> or just not concern my self with it.........
> 
> that is always a option. Life is good behind a lens.


 Yes, yes, and yes.


----------



## bribrius

tirediron said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> or just not concern my self with it.........
> 
> that is always a option. Life is good behind a lens.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, yes, and yes.
Click to expand...

lol.


----------



## Gary A.

Y aqui esta mi diario Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. (I should have spelled Coffee Hosers in Espanol but I don't know how 'hosers' translates.)


----------



## pgriz

Same as in esperanto.  "hosers"


----------



## pgriz

Just like trying to translate the Canadian "eh".  Zactly the same in all languages.


----------



## snowbear

Her strength is still sub-par but she's doing fine.  She has therapy for her hands & arms three times each week.  When they do the arm massage she can actually feel where the nerves are regrowing.


----------



## Gary A.

I was thinking more of pendejo ... in terms of lenguaje soez.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Her strength is still sub-par but she's doing fine.  She has therapy for her hands & arms three times each week.  When they do the arm massage she can actually feel where the nerves are regrowing.


That nerve thing is a killer. Best of luck on her recovery.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Her strength is still sub-par but she's doing fine.  She has therapy for her hands & arms three times each week.  When they do the arm massage she can actually feel where the nerves are regrowing.
> 
> 
> 
> That nerve thing is a killer. Best of luck on her recovery.
Click to expand...

Thanks.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Y aqui esta mi diario Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. (I should have spelled Coffee Hosers in Espanol but I don't know how 'hosers' translates.)



Los josers?


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Y aqui esta mi diario Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. (I should have spelled Coffee Hosers in Espanol but I don't know how 'hosers' translates.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Los josers?
Click to expand...

JAJAJA!


----------



## bribrius

i don't get it. Call me what you will. But there is no asa dial, i figured out the manual adjustments. i don't now what the iso button does as it is film. And what is cms? It didn't come with a manual. The focus, seems to keep putting in red the far box on the left, no matter which way i point the camera or what at. I don't know how to change that. And i can't figure out how to get it off matrix. Also, putting on my old lenses, seems to work. but i don't get if i need to dial in something for them or just put it on and go.
huh.....

seems like a nice camera though. World apart from my other film cameras it is closer to a dslr kind of button thing.


----------



## bribrius

i have a 24-120, 18-140 dx. Wondering if either or will fruck my photos...Or if i should just go back to the ais like the 35-105 or something. 1.8 g dx? will that fruck my photos? Seems nice, just somewhere in between my old film cameras and a modern dslr. Seems closer to a modern dslr. No dials, auto film, buttons. that kind of thing.....Like a misfit hybrid. I think i will like it though, sorta. For higher speed shooting anyway... It does have a nice big clear viewfinder. view finder isn't a hundred percent coverage though i guess. Something to keep in mind when framing shots..


----------



## bribrius

probably should have put this in the nikon section..... that would have been a better idea...


----------



## snowbear

The roasted garlic (a whole head) is out of the oven - mmmmmmmm, smells so good!


----------



## Gary A.

mmmhhhh ... I can smell it from here. Mary Lou just served some homemade guac and salsa. I trade you some for roasted garlic.


----------



## snowbear

It's gone, now - rubbed all over the tenderloin.  Which is (was) good.


----------



## Gary A.

Oh man ... we're having left over salmon .


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Oh man ... we're having left over salmon .


 Leftover salmon?  I'm sorry, I've never heard of such a thing.


----------



## pgriz

Just finished setting up tomorrow's schedule.  One inspection (1.5 hr.), two consultations (2 hrs each), two quotation presentations (about 1 hour each).  Going to bed early tonight.  Doesn't look like the Canadians are going to make it out of Tampa with a win.  Ah well.


----------



## snowbear

Good night, Paul.


----------



## snowbear

I'm going to back out, myself.  Goodnight peeps.


----------



## limr

Sorry, hosers, no postwhoring for me tonight. Too tired and the Jesus headache seems to be starting.

It was a difficult day but I had two nice surprises after I was finally done at work:
1) Buzz found a baby painted turtle! It's so cute I could die. We let him (who knows?) romp a little bit and then put him back in the little bowl Buzz has him in for now. He's got water and a nice rock. We're calling him Bob for the moment. Buzz says he hasn't decided yet, but I'm making a push to keep him. 

2) I got two lovely prints from a print exchange going on over at Filmwasters. And it came with a hand-written letter and an envelope decorated with imprints this guy made himself. 

AND...this isn't a surprise, but still a nice thing for me tomorrow...I don't have to teach tomorrow!   Imagine that! I still go do my admin job at the college, but I will come back home only about 5 hours after leaving it instead of 12! Woot!


----------



## limr

Night Charlie!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.  The cinnamon rolls are excellent this morning.
I'll try to finish up the Liquor Board's data files today, then start working on my presentation or July.


----------



## bribrius

50 degrees. woke at at 430. Little tv.  watered the lawn i am attempting to grow. woke up the oldest for school. went out and listened to the birds starting up. couple cigarettes, coffee brewed . On first cup.


----------



## bribrius

kid number two up for school, second cup of coffee. Seeing whats new on tfp...


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Off for a few days, so I've been running around and not here much.  No coffee yet today, but that's not an emergency because I'm not at work .  Found a little time to wander around the city yesterday - here's a little something from that -


----------



## bribrius

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Off for a few days, so I've been running around and not here much.  No coffee yet today, but that's not an emergency because I'm not at work .  Found a little time to wander around the city yesterday - here's a little something from that -
> 
> 
> View attachment 100947


this is better than the one you posted i was just looking at.


----------



## limr

Love that, Ken!


----------



## Gary A.

Interesting Ken. I like your eye.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Just my regular cup of Colombian Supremo this morning. It is 59F right now. But it is this more humid than normal 59F and it feels much colder. Supposed to rain Thursday and Friday! I'm excited about that. Usually we don't get rain this late in the year. What is interesting is that the ski slopes at Mammoth are still opened for business. On Sunday, I over-harvested some of the herbs and I stuck the extra sprigs of sage and basil into vases which are affixed to the cabinets above the sink. While I was making coffee I could smell their fragrance ... it was a nice way to start my day.


----------



## pgriz

Long day.  Things went more or less as planned, except for each taking more time, and a few surprises popped up.  Wife took one look at me after I came home and ordered a rest evening.  Who am I to argue?   Need to upload the work photos, write some reports, make some invoices...  tomorrow.

Yawn.  See you all later.  Don't forget to say how YOUR day went.


----------



## Designer

pgriz said:


> Don't forget to say how YOUR day went.


Today was way better than yesterday.  Yesterday they thought I might have cancer, and today they changed their minds about that.  So just a simple operation next week.  My poor veins have been punctured 6 or 7 times in the last 11 days.


----------



## bribrius

pgriz said:


> Don't forget to say how YOUR day went.


it was real rough.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't forget to say how YOUR day went.
> 
> 
> 
> Today was way better than yesterday.  Yesterday they thought I might have cancer, and today they changed their minds about that.  So just a simple operation next week.  My poor veins have been punctured 6 or 7 times in the last 11 days.
Click to expand...


Oh!!!  I'm glad they changed their minds! And sorry about the puncture holes


----------



## limr

My day was...meh. Went in only for my admin job since classes are over. I didn't have much to do but I had a few rough moments...nothing I need to go into here so I'll just say they were due to long-standing struggles with some hypocritical and insensitive people I work with.

Then I was going to stop at the eye doctor's store to order my new glasses but they were closed, so I went to pick up a few things at the store instead and then went to see Buzz for dinner.

He'd been working on his car all day and was feeling pretty wiped out. After dinner I played with Bob for a little while and watched the 1st period of the Rangers game.

Now I'm home, I have made my lunch for tomorrow, and am about to take a shower and go to bed.

The headache is still lingering. It will probably be a little worse tomorrow and then better on Friday.


----------



## snowbear

Don't worry, Leonore - the Caps still can screw it up (going by past practices).


----------



## Gary A.

More from the PAD Gallery:


----------



## Gary A.

Oops wrong thread. lol


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Don't worry, Leonore - the Caps still can screw it up (going by past practices).



You were right!!


----------



## minicoop1985

Sorry, been away for a bit here. Life's been rather hectic between work and social life.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

At work. Got coffee, oatmeal, grunge station, TPF, and headache.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Sorry, been away for a bit here. Life's been rather hectic between work and social life.


you have a social life? what is that?

i think i just bounced through twenty pic threads trying to give people a comment at least and see what is new. I thought the place was slowing down, i guess not.


----------



## oldhippy

Coffee break, been cutting grass/weeds.  Hill side cutting is like going io the gym.  Couple power bars and back to work.  Later. Ed


----------



## bribrius

oldhippy said:


> Coffee break, been cutting grass/weeds.  Hill side cutting is like going io the gym.  Couple power bars and back to work.  Later. Ed


lol.
Little john deere rider has a flat tire, dead battery. Avoiding fixing it until the grass is high enough i have to worry about it.  I just put one tire on it a couple years ago. cost me like sixty bucks or some stupid amount for a little round rubber turf tire. You would think it was a car tire or something... But it has a cup holder.


----------



## bribrius

i might be too nice. Just occurred to me i was friggn with my buddys lawn tractor last week because he couldnt get it running and they wanted to charge him.


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday, I tasked myself to do a quick back flush on one of my pond filters. When I moved the valve to 'Clean', nothing came out ... nada, zilch. So I spend the next couple hours disassembling both pumps and filters and giving all the hardware a complete cleaning. I ended up soaked to the bone and somewhat muddy and pretty cold. I warmed myself up with a mug of black tea with white chocolate shavings in it. I hate all this Spring cleaning crap.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Yesterday, I tasked myself to do a quick back flush on one of my pond filters. When I moved the valve to 'Clean', nothing came out ... nada, zilch. So I spend the next couple hours disassembling both pumps and filters and giving all the hardware a complete cleaning. I ended up soaked to the bone and somewhat muddy and pretty cold. I warmed myself up with a mug of black tea with white chocolate shavings in it. I hate all this Spring cleaning crap.


when i get your age i will be living in a condo, on a boat, or just let my house go to hell. Oh wait, i sorta am already doing that.  Someone told me once "you don't own a house, it owns you"
i get that now.....
Amazing you can apply the same philosophy across the spectrum of many things you thing you own.


----------



## bribrius

ordered another 35-105 nikon. This one is afd (used). needed it i think. I need something with less distortion af to put on the f100.


My email is full of camera spam chit from this hobby in general.  Everytime you do anything, they put you on another email list. I need to go opt out out. I just cleaned out three hundred emails and it is already filling up again.


----------



## minicoop1985

Argh, I think I need more coffee this morning. Dragging so hard.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Argh, I think I need more coffee this morning. Dragging so hard.



Me too. Headache is not helping.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yesterday, I tasked myself to do a quick back flush on one of my pond filters. When I moved the valve to 'Clean', nothing came out ... nada, zilch. So I spend the next couple hours disassembling both pumps and filters and giving all the hardware a complete cleaning. I ended up soaked to the bone and somewhat muddy and pretty cold. I warmed myself up with a mug of black tea with white chocolate shavings in it. I hate all this Spring cleaning crap.
> 
> 
> 
> when i get your age i will be living in a condo, on a boat, or just let my house go to hell. Oh wait, i sorta am already doing that.  Someone told me once "you don't own a house, it owns you"
> i get that now.....
> Amazing you can apply the same philosophy across the spectrum of many things you thing you own.
Click to expand...


Nahhh ... the backyard brings us a lot of pleasure. It is colorful all year long, there are butterflies and hummingbirds all year long. The sounds of moving water, the wind chimes, the water features all create a restful, relaxing environment. Temp-wise, outdoors is quite comfortable all year long with minimal biting and sucking inspects. The most annoying thing are flies, while we don't have a lot, but even one or two are annoying. We have ceiling fans in the patio which keeps the flies out. The fresh foods taste amazing good, so much better than the bland, watered down versions found in stores. We have plants ranging from tropical orchids and plumeria to colder climates apples, blueberries and persimmons to dry environment succulents and cacti.  While I wouldn't call the yard spectacular, it has this combination of color, fragrances and sounds that is very soothing. I put in less than an hour a day to water and for upkeep and most of that time is for hand watering my potted veggies. I should install a drip system.

When the back was nothing but grass, we would travel a lot, weekend day trips here and there ... all year long there is much to see and do in California. But now, we often debate about the benefits of heading out or just relaxing in the backyard drinking our coffee in the morning and homemade Sangria in the afternoon, reading the paper, working on our computers, listening to the stereo, watching the red and green leaves shimmer in the sun, the koi weightlessly and effortlessly skimming across the pond, running one's hand across the herbs ... thyme, sage, basil, lavender, rosemary, oregano, tarragon, all bring up a rich bloom of fragrance, the roses displaying splashes of wild color flowing with the breezes ... harmonizing with the wind chimes ... like a moving Jackson Pollock painting put to music.

I guess it has been a lot of work, five years plus or so in the making ... but it has been well worth the effort.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yesterday, I tasked myself to do a quick back flush on one of my pond filters. When I moved the valve to 'Clean', nothing came out ... nada, zilch. So I spend the next couple hours disassembling both pumps and filters and giving all the hardware a complete cleaning. I ended up soaked to the bone and somewhat muddy and pretty cold. I warmed myself up with a mug of black tea with white chocolate shavings in it. I hate all this Spring cleaning crap.
> 
> 
> 
> when i get your age i will be living in a condo, on a boat, or just let my house go to hell. Oh wait, i sorta am already doing that.  Someone told me once "you don't own a house, it owns you"
> i get that now.....
> Amazing you can apply the same philosophy across the spectrum of many things you thing you own.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nahhh ... the backyard brings us a lot of pleasure. It is colorful all year long, there are butterflies and hummingbirds all year long. The sounds of moving water, the wind chimes, the water features all create a restful, relaxing environment. Temp-wise, outdoors is quite comfortable all year long with minimal biting and sucking inspects. The most annoying thing are flies, while we don't have a lot, but even one or two are annoying. We have ceiling fans in the patio which keeps the flies out. The fresh foods taste amazing good, so much better than the bland, watered down versions found in stores. We have plants ranging from tropical orchids and plumeria to colder climates apples, blueberries and persimmons to dry environment succulents and cacti.  While I wouldn't call the yard spectacular, it has this combination of color, fragrances and sounds that is very soothing. I put in less than an hour a day to water and for upkeep and most of that time is for hand watering my potted veggies. I should install a drip system.
> 
> When the back was nothing but grass, we would travel a lot, weekend day trips here and there ... all year long there is much to see and do in California. But now, we often debate about the benefits of heading out or just relaxing in the backyard drinking our coffee in the morning and homemade Sangria in the afternoon, reading the paper, working on our computers, listening to the stereo, watching the red and green leaves shimmer in the sun, the koi weightlessly and effortlessly skimming across the pond, running one's hand across the herbs ... thyme, sage, basil, lavender, rosemary, oregano, tarragon, all bring up a rich bloom of fragrance, the roses displaying splashes of wild color flowing with the breezes ... harmonizing with the wind chimes ... like a moving Jackson Pollock painting put to music.
> 
> I guess it has been a lot of work, five years plus or so in the making ... but it has been well worth the effort.
Click to expand...

well i can verify by your pics your yard is nicer than mine. I seemed to go through a phase, so we have some things. holly, lilacs, had a japanese maple that cost me a hundred fifty bucks but the damn thing died. we have some flowers around my wife plants. Pretty standard though, nothing really extravagant.  couple archives. I have more somewhere, if i could narrow down exactly when i took them. 
   

oh, had blue berries too. i think only one is still left though. combination of kids running over them with their little battery cars and then i accidently hit one with the mower. they  weren't that big. Might still have raspberry, not sure. Wife is still full tilt on the home thing flowers/garden. i think i petered out with it in one season. lol I do like the fresh veges though.


----------



## Gary A.

It rained today ... yeah! A good rain, a real rain, not the light-weight, put your wipers on delay type of rain. Right now it's snowing in the local mountains. It is supposed to rain again tomorrow. (more Yeahs!)


----------



## snowbear

I am happy I got to see him perform, live, a few years ago.
Rest in Peace, _Blues Boy_


----------



## limr

Just heard that on the news when my radio alarm clock went off this morning


----------



## Gary A.

One of the great guitar players of all time. RIP BB.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 57F right now, cloudy with more rain expected. Last night the news had videos of snow flurries up at Big Bear and Arrowhead ... pretty funny to have snow in the local mountains so late in the year.


----------



## snerd

Rest in peace, Riley King. Probably my first exposure to blues in my youth.......... The Thrill Is Gone and Lucille. 


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## limr

I named my car Lucille after his guitar.




Day 54 - lucille by limrodrigues, on Flickr




Day 54 - Lucille trunk by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## limr

Time for afternoon coffee!


----------



## snowbear

Heading home early, today.  MLW has extra hours on her time sheet, so . . .


----------



## snerd




----------



## snowbear

I couldn't let this one rot away in the LB thread.
One of my all-time favorite songs, _Rider_ by the Seldom Scene.  They never play it exactly the same way twice.  It's been said that Bluegrass is to County music as Dixieland is to other forms of Jazz, in that each instrument, in turn, is given the lead and improvises with a theme variation.

This is an example of that.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, everyone.  I went back to bed after feeding the demons so I'm on First cup.
Wegmans brand medium roast with Bailey's Mudslide creamer.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It isn't even 6:00 a.m. yet and I'm showered and about to partake of my first cup of coffee. Mary Lou is a judge for a US Foods sponsored food truck rodeo ... and she has to be there by 7:00 a.m. I'm gonna shoot it.


----------



## Gary A.

I leaving to get a quick walk in the pooch. I'll be back.


----------



## pgriz

Good morning, all.  (oh wait, y'all!)  Yesterday, got home from my last appointment 9:30-ish, and went to bed shortly after.  However, also have a contract and deposit in hand.  So, success.  Today's activities include doing measurements for a new prospect, delivering samples to a signed contract (but colours not yet chosen), buying a lot of compost for my Mom's city garden, and gathering the stuff we need to continuing reclaiming the cottage from nature.  Might even get some kayaking in, if the weather cooperates. Then again, there are at least four prospects waiting patiently (so far) for their estimates, so might have to deal with that.  Each of the four has quite complicated situations (including disassembly & discovery, then corrective rebuilding, and bringing structure up to code), so I need to put some careful thought into how to structure the proposed workflow.  In one case it was owner neglect of required maintenance, but in the others is was failure to do the necessary details in a proper manner.  The money "saved" by the former contractors is now costing many times more than had it been done correctly in the first place.  Too many cases of wishful thinking and deliberate ignorance.  Ok, rant over.  I feel a little better.  And a second coffee before I go out will be better still.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Paul.
A second cup is always better.


----------



## snowbear

I am afraid summer is here - it's hot and looks like it's going to stay that way.  At least Sharon will be happy.


----------



## pgriz

On a photographic aspect of our work - having photographs of in-process work to illustrate the processes we follow is a powerful tool in showing prospective clients what they can expect to see when the usual disassembly happens, what the corrective action looks like, and what difference the persnickety details mean when done poorly or correctly.  As well, it builds confidence with clients when they can see the actual steps taken on their project - most do not and should not get into the various nooks and crannies that we often have to work in.  Plus, the end-of-job photos are wonderful to show the transformation from "before" to "after".  So the photography is an important tool in our general approach.  And much of it is done with P&S on "program" setting.


----------



## Gary A.

Whenever I run a project, I or the project manager always takes a photo at the end of every work day to document the progress (or lack thereof).


----------



## bribrius

looking at my konica t4, inside of viewfinder is cruddy. Trying to decide if i dare attempt take it apart to clean it, or if it is worth the headache i could just keep using it anyway.. be nice to find a simplified youtube video. Tempting to just throw the entire camera in the kitchen sink. Cant be too many electronics in there.


----------



## snowbear

On a break with my third or fourth cup (I've lost count), then off to do some more housework.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> On a break with my third or fourth cup (I've lost count), then off to do some more housework.


why i got married. so i don't have to do housework..    She even lays out my clothes. She broke her hand once, it sucked. i had to do laundry. It was just horrendous.   I never did quite recover from that experience and still have some trauma.


----------



## snowbear

I'm trying to decide if I want to attempt making some Hamantaschen.


----------



## minicoop1985

AUGH. I lost a speedlite only to find it under my car's back seat. How that happened is completely beyond me.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> AUGH. I lost a speedlite only to find it under my car's back seat. How that happened is completely beyond me.


Maybe tossed it back there with some other stuff and it got ticked between the cushion and the back?


----------



## snowbear

I want one of these!


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> I want one of these!


me too.


----------



## EIngerson

Father and daughter spectators. 




Father and daughter watching the surfers. by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

Nice one.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, what matters is I found it. Came in handy since today was my first senior portrait/prom session... ever. And the kids are happy, so I did well enough for my first time, at least. There's a lot more to learn and I'll get better as time goes on, of course.


----------



## snowbear

The Black Hole of a thread is finally to 1,000 pages - over 15,000 posts.  Time for it to go back to sleep.


----------



## snerd




----------



## snowbear




----------



## Gary A.

G'Night Charlie.


----------



## bribrius

night all.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, folks.
The kitties have been fed but I woke up with a raging headache so I'm heading back to bead in a minute (waiting for an email).


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. 

Sorry about your headache, Charlie


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The thread, whose name we cannot speak, has hit 1,000 pages and 15,000 posts. So leave the jammin' thing alone Charlie.  It is very cool this morning. I'm in the patio moving images from a small USB hard drive to a larger hard drive ... freeing up space. Front page story is on homeowners ripping out their front yards and replacing the grass with drought tolerant stuff like cacti and rocks. Some say SoCal will end up looking like Palm Springs or Vegas. That will be sad ...


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Take care of that headache Charlie.


----------



## vintagesnaps

What a night/early morning... big tree limb came down, hit the house but seems to have gotten just the gutter. A lot of small branches and clean up, not sure what I'll get done on a Sunday but a lot of waiting by the phone.


Called my best friend and she asked what window was it near, the one I shot the Polaroid out of? and I said yes... And I mean, literally, had the screen open and leaned out to take some pictures of the irises blooming the other day and shot a picture right out the window into the flower bed. lol And discovered that impossible Project film laying out in the sun goes redscale.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Well, what matters is I found it. Came in handy since today was my first senior portrait/prom session... ever. And the kids are happy, so I did well enough for my first time, at least. There's a lot more to learn and I'll get better as time goes on, of course.


tough.
have to decide if you have a niche
decide if you want to make money on this to start with
have to decide if your niche will make any money.
Might end up shooting everything and having to learn everything just to make a dollar.
Seems there are people that make a good living on this, i just don't know how they get to that point and assume they are far better at this than me.


----------



## bribrius

art thing is something else entirely. Little involvment i have here people aren't really making any money on it (especially considering time and money invested). They seem more into it to show their work and like the idea of someone buying it. So i GUESS if you like to show work and have someone buy it then showing and trying to sell is the way to go. But they really don't make much money, might even lose money in some instances.  Seems commercial and publication is the way to make any money. But that puts you into a entirely different type of professionalism with paid shoots and skills than "doing what you want". But what do i know. Still trying to figure it out myself. Pretty sure i can make more doing a few senior photos than i can putting stuff in the local gallery here though. By the time you pay for printing and hanging and time in taking the shots to start with and gear you are probably losing money.


----------



## Gary A.

From my Urinetown stuff:


----------



## snowbear

I am back.  The headache is gone.
Last night's storm just skirted by us; there was some rain but the lightning never got that close.
MLW had a very busy night (fatal fire and some other stuff), so she is getting her sleep now.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> The thread, whose name we cannot speak, has hit 1,000 pages and 15,000 posts. So leave the jammin' thing alone Charlie.


It was the voices, I tell you; the voices told me to do it.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> What a night/early morning... big tree limb came down, hit the house but seems to have gotten just the gutter. A lot of small branches and clean up, not sure what I'll get done on a Sunday but a lot of waiting by the phone.
> 
> 
> Called my best friend and she asked what window was it near, the one I shot the Polaroid out of? and I said yes... And I mean, literally, had the screen open and leaned out to take some pictures of the irises blooming the other day and shot a picture right out the window into the flower bed. lol And discovered that impossible Project film laying out in the sun goes redscale.



Glad to hear there was no real damage and, more importantly, no one was hurt.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> From my Urinetown stuff:


i love plays. i need to get to one. Haven't been to one in over a year.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> From my Urinetown stuff:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> i love plays. i need to get to one. Haven't been to one in over a year.
Click to expand...

I find all live performances very entertaining and fun.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mowed my lawn. So sore... ugh. I'm horribly out of shape


----------



## Gary A.

Hey I mowed my yard as well.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Mowed my lawn. So sore... ugh. I'm horribly out of shape





Gary A. said:


> Hey I mowed my yard as well.



We have landscapers.


----------



## Gary A.

You East Coasters know how to live ... landscapers and crab cakes.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> You East Coasters know how to live ... landscapers and crab cakes.


Landscapers: hired by the apartment office.
Crabcakes: Guilty.


----------



## snowbear

Something else that's good: crab-stuffed rockfish (that's striped bass to the rest of the world.)


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> You East Coasters know how to live ... landscapers and crab cakes.


You guys have really cool stuff too, like a really long growing season and earthquakes (more than we are blessed with), and a close proximity to volcanoes.


----------



## Gary A.

We call 'em Rockfish out here also.


----------



## Gary A.

Volcanos are cool. We had to climb through a few of them in geology.


----------



## EIngerson

I don't mow lawns, but here's some entertainment from a dive I did in Hawaii. enjoy and good evening.


----------



## Donde

Hope I'm not remiss in chiming in. I happen to be in the land where a lot of good coffee comes from. My favorite is an organic "boutique" (or at least that's what I call it) coffee branded Mulato (like a lot of the people here) that is cultivated near a village called Restrepo about an hours drive from the big city.  They offer two versions regular and dark and I always order a pound of the dark. Schools here are never closed for weather but not infrequently for protests.


----------



## snowbear

Welcome.  Anyone and anytime.


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers! Evening and welcome, Donde!

I spent the day wandering around with four other filmwasters. It was hot. I was not happy about that. I was happy about the beer, though. Mmmm, beer.


----------



## snerd

Evening, Hosers! I ventured out yesterday and today for a few hours each. Took my grandson fishing. After coffee, of course! Still watching shoulder for signs of infection, so far so good. Get final dressing changed next Friday!





















All iPhone pics.


----------



## Gary A.

Donde said:


> Hope I'm not remiss in chiming in. I happen to be in the land where a lot of good coffee comes from. My favorite is an organic "boutique" (or at least that's what I call it) coffee branded Mulato (like a lot of the people here) that is cultivated near a village called Restrepo about an hours drive from the big city.  They offer two versions regular and dark and I always order a pound of the dark. Schools here are never closed for weather but not infrequently for protests.


Todos son bienvenidos en este cafe. Colombia Supremo es mi habitual cafe. Tierra fresca cada manana y fabricada en una prensa francesa. Me gustaria probar el Mulato.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.
Getting cup #2 while MLW gets ready for work.  With the Friday and Monday holidays, we have two short weeks!  We will be running downtown (LL is participating in a small art show) but it's not too bad.


----------



## limr

Morning hosers.

First cup of coffee. Giving my exams a first read. In an hour, I'll go down to campus for our department meeting where we all give each other's exams a second read to determine who passes the exam or not.

Then I'll look at the straggler papers that I allowed people to submit (there's not too many) and figure out course grades.

And then I'll be done for the summer!


----------



## oldhippy

Good morning to the caffeine dependent group.  Have a fun day.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias all you Coffee Hosers. Wrapping up my first cup of Colombian Supremo. Checking out Fuji's firmware updates. Making sure I have the latest.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  I've been scarce on here because I've had a few days off (last one today ) and have been running around, unfortunately more for errands than pictures.  Sometimes I manage to combine the two, as in this shot from my MIL's basement in Brooklyn.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sitting here waiting for the phone to ring, in the meantime maybe will go thru and organize some Polaroids. That and watching and listening to the birds, no sooner did babies leave the nest than there was another robin in there; thought I saw a little head or beak sticking up and sure enough round two has hatched.

That's some 'aquarium' you've got there, Eric! Looks beautiful and peaceful under the sea.


----------



## snerd




----------



## vintagesnaps

Pavlov was right. lol I think that dog knows what fridge means.

Well insurance claim in, adjuster scheduled, will be glad to get it all taken care of and not cringe every time I go in the room and see branches outside the window that are supposed to be up in the sky.

The robins apparently have their own HoJo out here on the downspout.


----------



## snowbear

Running a Python script I wrote to convert data types and copy data from one file to another.  The original (imported from M$ Access) has TRUE/FALSE field values and I need "Y"  or "N" as well as some odd things like floating-point (like 5886.77) for phone number.

We will be going home soon, though, then off to the gym, tonight.


----------



## snerd




----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


>



We will . . .


----------



## snowbear

Storm's fixin' to hit.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We will . . .
Click to expand...


I'm already in the North and I have every intention of staying that way. In fact, I'd go further north if I could!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I'm already in the North and I have every intention of staying that way. In fact, I'd go further north if I could!


Ah-yuh.


----------



## snowbear

And we has lightning (God's monolights)


----------



## snowbear

And we never made it to the gym. MLW had to work late, and we had to drop off an item at DMIL's.  It was too late by the time we got home . . . maybe Wednesday.


----------



## vintagesnaps

North for the hockey if nothing else...

Let's go, Rangers! We need to hear - oh o o ohhh... at least two more times tonight.


----------



## vintagesnaps

We're done with storms (I hope) for the week. I got the message from above not to shoot Polaroids out the window anymore (since a big chunk of a tree came down there the next day - OK, OK, I won't do it again!).

Yeah I will.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> North for the hockey if nothing else...
> 
> Let's go, Rangers! We need to hear - oh o o ohhh... at least two more times tonight.



Potvin sucks!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Which one? Denis? Felix?


DMILs? Floating points? Charlie, what _are_ you talking about?


Crap..... darn Bolts.


And the last of Dave this week.


OK! Rangers are back in it.


----------



## snowbear

_I Want to Hold Your Hand_
The Bea . . .

CRAP

Sorry, folks, flashbacks.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Which one? Denis? Felix?
> 
> 
> DMILs? Floating points? Charlie, what _are_ you talking about?
> 
> 
> Crap..... darn Bolts.
> 
> 
> And the last of Dave this week.




DMIL = "Dear Mother in Law"
Floating Point = a number with digits on both sides of the decimal point. -- I was at work and had to take an Access Database table and convert it to another software's format.
We are creating a phone app for the Liquor Control Board inspectors so they can easily enter report data,  Things need to be simple, so I made a number of the items drop-down "Yes" or "No" boxes.  The problem is, the original Access database uses "True"/"False" so I had to write a little program that goes through the data and converts it.

All so we can put some dots on a map.


----------



## snowbear

. . .
Think of the adapter ring that lets you use a 72" CPL on a lens with a 52" filter thread; I made the ring from scratch.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Which one? Denis? Felix?



I dunno, all of them?   (I believe Denis is the one who has inspired the chant, however.)








> OK! Rangers are back in it.



Woot!


----------



## pgriz

Ok, back online.  Spent the weekend battling with Nature.  I think, at least for this weekend,  it was a tie. Cut enough of the greenery on the "lawn" that we can pretend it IS a lawn.  At least until next weekend.  There's some serious tree-cutting that needs to be done, but for that I think I will call on the army (of son-in-laws, almost son-in-laws, and prospective son-in-laws).  Wife and daughters are to tackle the so-called bushes (which are well over 20 ft. in some cases).  Also tried to do some photography at sunset, and discovered that the 20 million mosquitos that hatched in the late spring we've had, have not yet been fed, and I was apparently the convenient food source.  Note to self - sheer numbers and persistence overcomes any defense.  So after initial success at destroying the first twenty or so waves of airborn attackers, the ammunition was running low, and a retreat had to be sounded.


----------



## snowbear

We just park our monster trucks and lifted jeeps over the bushes.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I believe so... (Denis that is)

Stay in Paul and watch some hockey. Doc Emrick just said, good night nurse! after that last flurry.

Liquor control inspectors + things need to be simple, well isn't that interesting...


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Liquor control inspectors + things need to be simple, well isn't that interesting...


Not going there, but when I used to dispatch the police, I put a little sign over my radio: "Be patient - they are only children."


----------



## pgriz

Well, unless I'm watching the wrong channel, the Rangers are getting pummelled by Lightning.   Montreal lost the series to the Lightning because too many clearing passes were being intercepted, and Montreal passing game was not as crisp as the Lightning passing game.  I'm seeing the Rangers do the same (and I've only watched ten minutes or so).  Leonore!  Get that wax doll out of the closet!  Its services are needed!


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Well, unless I'm watching the wrong channel, the Rangers are getting pummelled by Lightning.   Montreal lost the series to the Lightning because too many clearing passes were being intercepted, and Montreal passing game was not as crisp as the Lightning passing game.  I'm seeing the Rangers do the same (and I've only watched ten minutes or so).  Leonore!  Get that wax doll out of the closet!  Its services are needed!



Voodoo doll engaged! 

Crap.


----------



## snowbear

goodnight folks.  Catch ya in the AM


----------



## limr

Good night, Charlie!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Game went downhill in a hurry Paul - 'night Charlie.


----------



## limr

Ugh, I don't want to know   At least it's only Game 2 and we won the first game. I just hope this lights a fire under their asses and they just swat Tampa Bay around for the next three games.

Did Lundqvist get pulled? I haven't been watching because my course grades are due at midnight and I was working on those. I posted grades about an hour ago but saw where the game was heading and couldn't bear to watch it.

The good news is that I'm officially done with the semester! Well, except for the possible emails from students asking why they "only" got whatever grade they got. Usually my answer to that question is, "Because I was feeling generous!"


----------



## vintagesnaps

That'll teach 'em! lol Glad you're done for the semester.

I was only half watching/listening but I think they left him in (I wondered that too when I left the room and came back).

Switched to a movie with Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone being quite medieval while I'm waiting for Dave.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.

Just a quick post while MLW is getting ready for work.  Dinner at DMIL, and the usual Tuesday 21:30 thing so probably not much time here.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Back to work today, at least in the sense that I am physically present at work, no guarantees beyond that.  The coffee is helping as always, but the boring, pointless meeting in a little while may negate the positive effects.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

I've had my coffee and I'm at work, but now I want more coffee and to be back home


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is another cool morning. Yesterday it may have hit 70F.  Yesterday, I was in Costco picking up stock of Colombian Supremo and I walked past the iPads. Mary Lou, the Cook and I have a trip coming up and I'm thinking ... Man, an iPad might be convenient for travel. ... Yeah, I picked one up.


----------



## limr

T minus 10 minutes to more coffee and pb&j.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> T minus 10 minutes to more coffee and pb&j.


----------



## limr

It was a really good sammich


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> It was a really good *sammich*


Did you _really _ say that?


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It was a really good *sammich*
> 
> 
> 
> Did you _really _ say that?
Click to expand...


I did, I did!


----------



## snowbear

mmm, mmm, mmm. Y'all ought to be 'shamed o' yo'self.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> mmm, mmm, mmm. Y'all ought to be 'shamed o' yo'self.



Yo dude, no harshin' my buzz! I'ma say what I wants!


----------



## snowbear

It be cool.


----------



## minicoop1985

It be what it do.


----------



## limr

Mrs Parker hanging out about 5 seconds before she got "the voices."


----------



## Gary A.

My keyboard came in for the iPad ... and it seems to work.


----------



## Gary A.

Had my first backyard artichoke of the season tonight. It was excellant.


----------



## snerd

I felt well enough today to start cleaning up the apartment. Did the bedroom and closet, vacuumed it and the hall/living room. Tomorrow the bathroom and kitchen!


----------



## snowbear

Cinnamon-raisin muffin and coffee.


----------



## KenC

snowbear said:


> Cinnamon-raisin muffin and coffee.



Not bad!  I have a Bear Naked Nutty Double Chocolate bar and a coffee.  Of course having any of these things and being home would be better, but you know ...


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. I have coffee but no baked goods


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> I felt well enough today to start cleaning up the apartment. Did the bedroom and closet, vacuumed it and the hall/living room. Tomorrow the bathroom and kitchen!


 Since it's been a little while, and you may have forgotten some of the finer points, feel free to practice on my place until you get your skills where they need to be.


----------



## limr

I've got the day off today!  

Doing some cleaning and scanning some film. Then I'll probably start developing the every-growing back log of black and white.

And I'm totally taking a nap, y'all!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I just finished a bunch of paperwork, sipping my now cold coffee and Cook just came in and gave me a hard stare to remind me of her walk. Yesterday, I picked up some LG stereo wireless ear-thingies. You can download additional software to fine tune the sound, but ... the software is only for Android phones. So I thinking of taking them back. Maybe I'm just being a grumpy old man, but LD's refusal to make the software available to other platforms is pissy ... so I'm gonna be equally pissy. I'm probably over reacting ... what would youse guys do?


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I just finished a bunch of paperwork, sipping my now cold coffee and Cook just came in and gave me a hard stare to remind me of her walk. Yesterday, I picked up some LG stereo wireless ear-thingies. You can download additional software to fine tune the sound, but ... the software is only for Android phones. So I thinking of taking them back. Maybe I'm just being a grumpy old man, but LD's refusal to make the software available to other platforms is pissy ... so I'm gonna be equally pissy. I'm probably over reacting ... what would youse guys do?


I would take it back. You can't fully utilize the product because it is not compatible with most phones, just Android phones. I don't think you're being pissy, at all. I've returned products for less.


----------



## limr

Take them back. They'll just end up being more annoying than they are worth.


----------



## bribrius

huh... okay, the section of lawn i reseeded is growing in stripes of grass. I get this feeling because of the rototiller blades the grass seed just made its way down to where the blades cut in and grew there. so i have stripes of grass. Literally.


----------



## bribrius

made this a couple weeks ago. Isn't looking to healthy so brought it outside to put it in the sun for a couple days. Course it is windy and more stormy than sunny right now. Hope it makes it..


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. I have coffee but no baked goods


Well, if you can manage to make your way in a southwesterly direction about 285 miles, I know for a fact, there will be some cinnamon buns being manufactured in the snowbear abode this evening.


----------



## limr

I think there needs to be some synchronized cinnamon bun baking


----------



## vintagesnaps

Mmm cinnamon anything.

Gee Bri you should've made crop circles instead of stripes. lol

Week so far mostly waiting for calls back... (is this only Wednesday??) but at least got the roof checked and there appears to be no damage, just the gutter's a little out of whack from being whacked. The limb has so many branches spread out it seems like the force spread, which may have minimized the damage. Just need to get this gigundus 1/2 a tree (seems like it!) off the roof and outta the yard.  

You know you live in a small town when the mayor stops by, this is how exciting it gets in small town America. Of course if I want excitement I can watch the local news, there's always shootings and drug busts and I'm always going yeah, such 'n such street, I've been there...


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I think there needs to be some synchronized cinnamon bun baking


We can try that!

And some synchronized rum consumption, tomorrow night; Friday is a holiday for us.  Heck, so is Monday!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think there needs to be some synchronized cinnamon bun baking
> 
> 
> 
> We can try that!
> 
> And some synchronized rum consumption, tomorrow night; Friday is a holiday for us.  Heck, so is Monday!
Click to expand...


That one I might pass on. As far as I know, I have to work on Friday and I am not really a big rum drinker 

The good thing about having a Wednesday off is that it feels like of like Sunday: I don't have to work today but I know I have to go in tomorrow. But then I remember that tomorrow is NOT Monday, and I only have to work 2 days before the real weekend. Woot!


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Mmm cinnamon anything.
> 
> Week so far mostly waiting for calls back... (is this only Wednesday??) but at least got the roof checked and there appears to be no damage, just the gutter's a little out of whack from being whacked. The limb has so many branches spread out it seems like the force spread, which may have minimized the damage. Just need to get this gigundus 1/2 a tree (seems like it!) off the roof and outta the yard.



Come on down.  We are easy to find - US 301 south towards Virginia.  Go straight at the turnoff for MD Amish Country, take a right at the mall - we're across from the gas station.

A couple of rednecks and a case of beer (give it to them afterwards, not before) and that tree will be cut up, split and burning on the fire in no time!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think there needs to be some synchronized cinnamon bun baking
> 
> 
> 
> We can try that!
> 
> And some synchronized rum consumption, tomorrow night; Friday is a holiday for us.  Heck, so is Monday!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That one I might pass on. As far as I know, I have to work on Friday and I am not really a big rum drinker
> 
> The good thing about having a Wednesday off is that it feels like of like Sunday: I don't have to work today but I know I have to go in tomorrow. But then I remember that tomorrow is NOT Monday, and I only have to work 2 days before the real weekend. Woot!
Click to expand...


Rum, beer, coffee, tea; whatever ya got!


----------



## bribrius

think it is time to start recoating. About five years ago we needed outside patio like furniture so i went though my wood scraps left over from other jobs and made chairs/picnic tables etc. PRetty much just from what i had for scraps and just did it. While all are still strong and VERY heavy it seems some recoating is in order. That one chair probably weighs eighty pounds. But i has sat outside year round for about five years now. same with the picnic tables. For scrap wood,  and utility. Sure beats buying furniture from lowes. I think the picnic table weighs 300 lbs. but would probably support a small car. seems most i build from teh top of my head without any plans isn't very pretty but definatley sturdy.


----------



## snerd

Please! Make the rains stop!


----------



## bribrius

trying to figure out what is next. Made the swingset a few years ago. wife wants me to either build onto that or make the kids a tree house. Swing set is kinda neat just because i put on the little kids picnic table and gave it a roof so they can eat on it even in the rain. Even cut out cup holders for them.  Problem is, i haven't done any jobs lately so am running real low on scrap wood. Probably have to buy most of the stuff for a tree house. with the swing set i had most everything, just had to buy the cheap little slide a few brackets and the swings. what to do , what to do... just thinking out loud... I should look around and see what i actually have kickn around for wood.


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner time. Chicken tacos, stuff with cheddar, a veggie medely, a cilantro-caesar sauce, another backyard artichoke with a mayo-balsamic dip all washed  down with a yummie Laetitia Chardonnay.


----------



## Gary A.

I just inherited a very odd avatar.


----------



## Gary A.

The artichoke was wonderful. I'll probaly have one nearly every day for the next month. After a couple of weeks artichokes get old.


----------



## minicoop1985

Argh, so much yardwork to do here. I look at it and just cringe.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Argh, so much yardwork to do here. I look at it and just cringe.


yep.
it sucks

never ends

year after year


kids get older i am selling this chit hole and living on a boat.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## Gary A.

Odd, on the iPad it displays Vintagesnaps as my avatar. But on a real computer it displays my monkey (in snerds honor).


----------



## snowbear

Having an identity crises, eh?


----------



## snowbear

G'night, peeps.  Catch ya in the AM.


----------



## Gary A.

I'm okay with myself ... it is others who think I am underachieving.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> G'night, peeps.  Catch ya in the AM.


'Night Charlie. Save a cinnamon bun pour moi.


----------



## limr

Night Charlie! Love the geese 

I didn't think I'd care about it but for some reason, I find myself unwilling to miss David Letterman's last show as it is aired. Even in this age when everything can be found the next day on the Internet, it still feels different to watch something when it is aired at it's assigned time. It still feels like a more communal activity - we are all in our separate spaces still sharing the same thing at the same time.


----------



## Gary A.

It is only 8:30 p.m. ... but I am beat. No Letterman for me.


----------



## snowbear

@sm4him: Warning!


----------



## bribrius

38 degrees last night. back up to 56 now.  
first cup of coffee, kids off to school.  And i open a thread to a guy with a big rubber nose sticking his tongue out at me.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I watched Letterman last night. It was a good show. Unfortunately it also made it harder than usual to wake up this morning 

But that's what lots and lots of coffee is for!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 60F right now ... I doubt if we'll hit 70F today.


----------



## Gary A.

Sipping my usual fare of Colombian Supremo. Dodgers at San Francisco today. Man, I hate the Giants. Over the ages it seems the Giants only play well when they play the Dodgers.


----------



## limr

Dodgers never shoulda left Brooklyn.

Sorry...I hear the name "Dodgers" and it's just a knee-jerk reaction


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Dodgers never shoulda left Brooklyn.
> 
> Sorry...I hear the name "Dodgers" and it's just a knee-jerk reaction


LOL ...


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> @sm4him: Warning!


Thanks for the reminder ... I gotta make a stop at Walgreens today.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Dodgers never shoulda left Brooklyn.
> 
> Sorry...I hear the name "Dodgers" and it's just a knee-jerk reaction



Did you get this from your dad?  Mine was a Yankees fan so he didn't care.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dodgers never shoulda left Brooklyn.
> 
> Sorry...I hear the name "Dodgers" and it's just a knee-jerk reaction
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did you get this from your dad?  Mine was a Yankees fan so he didn't care.
Click to expand...


Actually, I just got it from random people over the years. My father didn't care one tiny little bit about any sport, and no one in my family has ever really followed baseball, so it definitely didn't come from my family. I have just heard it so often, both in earnest and in jest, and it just stuck


----------



## Gary A.

I used to hear it all the time ... but only when they lost. (Followed by a "... 'em Bums.)


----------



## snowbear

Had two engines and a truck here, at the office a little while ago; not a social visit.  Apparently someone in the basement smelled something they thought was gasoline.  Seems it was diesel for the generator; it's not leaking but you can get the odor pretty strong, sometimes.

About three hours left in the week!


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> Had two engines and a truck here, at the office a little while ago; not a social visit.  Apparently someone in the basement smelled something they thought was gasoline.  Seems it was diesel for the generator; it's not leaking but you can get the odor pretty strong, sometimes.
> 
> About three hours left in the week!


 They smelled fuel, and instead of looking around they called the fire department???? Wow...


----------



## snowbear

Not really a bad thing since there would be a potential for fire, not to mention the hazmat possibility.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> Not really a bad thing since there would be a potential for fire, not to mention the hazmat possibility.


 Ehhh... seems a little over-reactive to me.  You know there's a generator in the building, wouldn't it be reasonable that is associated with the fuel odour?


----------



## snowbear

Unfortunately, not everyone puts things together.  The majority of our calls are EMS so sending (typically) a couple pieces for "investigation" is not a big deal under normal conditions.

Of course, I am at HQ, so that might have had something to do with three pieces.


----------



## limr

People are exhausting.


----------



## limr

That last post was apropos of nothing, sorry.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Tomorrow's Friday at least.

A vat of coffee wouldn't have been enough today. I haven't watched Letterman so much in recent years, and usually mostly on Fridays til it was reruns, but hockey more likely wins out.

But it was a great show, been watching him since late late night in the early years. Glad they showed early clips, the Top Ten was great, the day in the life segment was a nice behind the scenes look at the show. Will be weird that he won't be on anymore after he's been on like, my entire adult life.

And it continued on into the late late show. I'm not used to this getting up early stuff anymore! lol and I'm so tired I keep thinking it's like an hour later than it is. Waiting for yet another phone call all day, but at least the adjuster called and emailed the estimate and I'll be getting a check. Now if I can just get the giant chunk of a tree off my house. Looking out those two windows my best friend said it was like being in a tree house!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> People are [mostly] exhaustingmorons.


 FTFY


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> People are [mostly] exhaustingmorons.
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY
Click to expand...


Why do you think they are so exhausting!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> That last post was apropos of nothing, sorry.


 My correction to the last post was apropos of Snowbear's post.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> People are [mostly] exhaustingmorons.
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Why do you think they are so exhausting!
Click to expand...

 Trust me... I know!


----------



## snowbear

The sum of intelligence on the planet is a constant; the population is growing.
-- Cole's Axium


----------



## vintagesnaps

Not a bad idea from yesterday Charlie! lol But this sucker goes from the tree across the side yard to my roof like some kind of natural bridge. Maybe I can make it into a tourist attraction and charge admission.


----------



## minicoop1985

People don't ALWAYS suck. I scored a FREE Polaroid back for my Hasselblad today! Even bought film and fired some through it!


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Not a bad idea from yesterday Charlie! lol But this sucker goes from the tree across the side yard to my roof like some kind of natural bridge. Maybe I can make it into a tourist attraction and charge admission.



Get the neighborhood kids to dress up like elves and you've got a winner.  Sell Keebler cookies on the side.


----------



## sm4him

Hey hosers! Did anybody miss me, or do I need to be gone longer? 
I actually have no idea how long I've *been* gone--probably just a week. Maybe less. Possibly just a day and it only FELT like forever. LOL

I've been busy, busy, busy with work, some shoots, and family stuff. Especially family stuff.

@snowbear I know this will shock you, but I decided to participate in Red Nose day.  I'll post my pic in your thread here in just a minute.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> Hey hosers! Did anybody miss me, or do I need to be gone longer?
> I actually have no idea how long I've *been* gone--probably just a week. Maybe less. Possibly just a day and it only FELT like forever. LOL
> 
> I've been busy, busy, busy with work, some shoots, and family stuff. Especially family stuff.
> 
> @snowbear I know this will shock you, but I decided to participate in Red Nose day.  I'll post my pic in your thread here in just a minute.



You were gone?  We never noticed. 

Of course we missed you.  Looking forward to the photo & getting ready to watch the show.

Oh, and that other thread ended, much like a bad movie with a worse sequel, open ended for future abominations.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Hey hosers! Did anybody miss me, or do I need to be gone longer?
> I actually have no idea how long I've *been* gone--probably just a week. Maybe less. Possibly just a day and it only FELT like forever. LOL
> 
> I've been busy, busy, busy with work, some shoots, and family stuff. Especially family stuff.
> 
> @snowbear I know this will shock you, but I decided to participate in Red Nose day.  I'll post my pic in your thread here in just a minute.



SHAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRON!


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> People are exhausting.



You forgot a few words:  infuriating, exasperating, irritating...

And then IF you get lucky, you might also add:  interesting, engaging, stimulating, exciting...  

But the number of people in the first group is roughly 10x that in the second group, for some obscure reason.


----------



## Gary A.

What a long day. Unfortunately, it's still going.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> What a long day. Unfortunately, it's still going.


Mine too.  It's 12:43 am on Friday morning and I'm still sitting here writing an inspection report for house buyer, because he either makes the offer on the house on Friday or decides he's walking away.  And it's a heritage property in an upscale part of town, on the water...  yeah.  No pressure.


----------



## waday




----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers! Did anybody miss me, or do I need to be gone longer?
> I actually have no idea how long I've *been* gone--probably just a week. Maybe less. Possibly just a day and it only FELT like forever. LOL
> 
> I've been busy, busy, busy with work, some shoots, and family stuff. Especially family stuff.
> 
> @snowbear I know this will shock you, but I decided to participate in Red Nose day.  I'll post my pic in your thread here in just a minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SHAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRON!
Click to expand...



LENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. 

Can this week be over already??


----------



## limr

Was just informed that "we" might not be in the office all day, so I might be getting out around 2 or 3.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Was just informed that "we" might not be in the office all day, so I might be getting out around 2 or 3.



Yeah, same here.  They usually take pity on us before a holiday weekend.  I'm just having my coffee and snack and considering how much work I really need to do before then.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps!

I got up st 6 to feed the little fuzz-demons, then wen't back to bed.  I got back up a little while ago as MLW was getting ready to go to her physical therapy.  My first cup is gone, and I'm ready for number two.  In a little while, I'll cut some mats for the lobster (very small art show in DC tomorrow).  

Man, I love 4-day weekends!


----------



## KenC

snowbear said:


> Man, I love 4-day weekends!



[jealous]


----------



## snowbear

KenC said:


> [jealous]


The department has "Firefighter Appreciation Day" as a holiday.  I don't think it is a national day of recognition, just in our county; I'll take it either way.


----------



## limr

I wish I had remembered to bring my book with me.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I wish I had remembered to bring my book with me.


Free ebooks - Project Gutenberg  - maybe you can find something to hold you over


----------



## snowbear

Cup number two done - K-cup of Starbucks' Naked-@$$ Blonde, or something like that.  Time to cut some mats and foam board.


----------



## limr

I usually get the French Roast or Sumatra Starbucks K-cups when they are on sale. I only get the K-cups to bring to work. At home it's still the Eight O'Clock Dark Italian Roast or Peet's Dark Roast, always whole bean.


----------



## limr

Oh man, I feel so brain dead right now!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Been up since 4:00a.m. Presently, Mary Lou, the Cook and I just traveled through rain, (Yeah!), in Bakersfield on route to Northern California.


----------



## limr

ROAD TRIP!

God, I love a road trip. Buzz and I will be on one of our own in 2 weeks. Can.Not.Wait!

Where you going, Tio? For how long? Huh, huh, huh? Going to do some wine tasting?


----------



## snerd

snowbear said:


> ............. Man, I love 4-day weekends!


All of those to who, like me, every day is a weekend day, raise your hand!  

  

(me) raising hand!!

This retirement is kind of rough. Well, not really. 



.........................


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> ............. Man, I love 4-day weekends!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> All of those to who, like me, every day is a weekend day, raise your hand!
> 
> 
> 
> (me) raising hand!!
> 
> This retirement is kind of rough. Well, not really.
> 
> 
> 
> .........................
Click to expand...



Shaddup.


----------



## limr

I am so bored at this job that I spend most of the day in a total fugue state.


----------



## limr

Fugue state. I iz in one.

Fugue. Fugue. Fugue. Funny word. I like it. Fugue.


----------



## limr




----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Shaddup.


 
Oh, and I did bring work home - I just haven't decided to do it, yet.

Posting like it's the LB, Lenny.  This should help:


----------



## Gary A.

Northern California. I am meeting up with another TFPer who lives in the foothills of the northen Sierra Nevada. Tonight we're staying in Placerville, in the Mother Lode country. Then up to Quincy. After Quincy we're headed to Ft. Bragg and the Skunk Train. Then some Sonoma wine tasting.  BTW- we'll be wine tasting around Placerville and Ft. Bragg.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Shaddup.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, and I did bring work home - I just haven't decided to do it, yet.
> 
> Posting like it's the LB, Lenny.  This should help:
Click to expand...


Yeah, baby, postin' like a boss.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Northern California. I am meeting up with another TFPer who lives in the foothills of the northen Sierra Nevada. Tonight we're staying in Placerville, in the Mother Lode country. Then up to Quincy. After Quincy we're headed to Ft. Bragg and the Skunk Train. Then some Sonoma wine tasting.  BTW- we'll be wine tasting around Placerville and Ft. Bragg.



We will be demanding pictures, you know


----------



## Gary A.

Change in travel plans. We have decided to hit the southern end of the Mother Lode country and work our way through the foothills and mountains to Placerville. We'll be following the Stanislaus River, through the Gold Country and Mark Twain, including  Angels Camp, San Andreas, up to Murphy's, Sutter Creek, El Dorado, et al.


----------



## limr

Okay, time for a little informal linguistic research: Who knows what a shmear is?


----------



## snowbear

It sounds like "smear" but I'm guessing it means something like "a little."  I believe it's Yiddish.
And, no, I haven't looked it up . . . yet.


----------



## snowbear

OK - Wikipedia to the rescue.
Not Yiddish but "Germanic."  smear is closer to the meaning than "a little."

I'm zero and two.


----------



## Gary A.

A shmeer of cream cheese on my locs and bagles?


----------



## snowbear

My  turn: Zygodactyl.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> A shmeer of cream cheese on my locs and bagles?



Yes!! Now my next question: is that something you hear in LA or do you know it from exposure to NY-isms?

I'm curious about how regional this usage is.

*lox


----------



## KenC

and bagels

Oh, these West Coast Types [shakes head]


----------



## Gary A.

The is a large Jewish population in LA. Finally arrive in Placerville after having a beer in Drytown.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I know what a schmear is, can't say I necessarily use the term. There are a number of words I used to hear growing up that I thought were German but later found out were apparently Yiddish. Don't ask me how my German-Irish-English & whatnot relatives picked it up considering there isn't a particularly large population where I'm from that would have spoken Yiddish.

However I am on the outskirts of a metropolitan area with a rather smallish Jewish population and I could find some kosher food if I took a bit of a drive (I know where to go, it's just not real close).

You know, they all came out of the Depression and gadzooks we all heard about it enough so I guess the languages blended into one big schmear.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Zygo-what?? let's see, it was a zebra striped dinosaur. No wiki anything, I just made up my answer/wild guess.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> My  turn: Zygodactyl.



Something about fingers. A polydactyl is having extra toes/fingers. Zygodactyl...hmmm...unformed or underdeveloped fingers or toes?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> The is a large Jewish population in LA. Finally arrive in Placerville after having a beer in Drytown.



Kinda funny that a town called Drytown serves alcohol


----------



## vintagesnaps

So then what was a pterodactyl? wasn't that a flying dinosaur? what do I know? Barney, that's what I know.


C'mon Rangers.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey they heard me! lol This is more like it...


Wow, they just scored again! awright!!


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Hey they heard me! lol This is more like it...
> 
> 
> Wow, they just scored again! awright!!



Okay, now yell, "Don't blow your lead this time, ya hosers!" and maybe they'll hear that, too!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Okey dokey.

Hey we sent you Dan Boyle... well, and Sean Avery. And Mess played here a season. Hockey's a small world.


----------



## snowbear

A pterodactyl is a flying dinosaur.  A zygodactyl is a bird with two toes in the front of the foot and two toes in the back of the foot -- a parrot is a zygodactyl.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> A pterodactyl is a flying dinosaur.  A zygodactyl is a bird with two toes in the front of the foot and two toes in the back of the foot -- a parrot is a zygodactyl.



Hey, I got the toes part right! 



vintagesnaps said:


> Okey dokey.
> 
> Hey we sent you Dan Boyle... well, and Sean Avery. And Mess played here a season. Hockey's a small world.



Sean Avery is a massive tool and he was a pain in the ass. He was also quite entertaining when he was using his evil powers for the Rangers 

And speaking of the Rangers....wooo hoooooooo!!!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

OMG!!!!! Goin' back to MSG!!!!!!!!!!!!

Avery was a fan fave and a PITA. Friend of mine named one of her dogs after him. 

Who knew, Charlie. (And I gave you that carrot in jest, I don't know if it will be all that useful in my life.) Do I even want to ask why you know that or how Leonore knows about the toes??

Nash with 2 goals, we sent you him too. OK that's a bit of a stretch.


----------



## pgriz

Well, well, well.  There some life in those Rangers, yet.  How many pins did you use in the doll this time, Lenny?  

As for Avery, I agree he is/was a tool.  Both on and off the ice.  Was the reason for the Avery rule, and reviled for the sloppy seconds comments.  Hear he's now building homes in the Hamptons.  Wonder how the trades working with him think of him.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Okay, time for a little informal linguistic research: Who knows what a shmear is?


I knew, but can't quite say how. I can assure you it's not a word ever heard down here in my neck of the woods.

My father was born and raised in Brooklyn, lived in NY or NJ until he got married to a southern girl and moved down here.  So, it COULD be something I heard from him or a relative, but it doesn't strike me that way.  More likely, I came across it in something I read over the years.


----------



## sm4him

Good Morning, Hosers!

I should have gotten up early this morning and headed out somewhere to do some photography. But I didn't.
Going to be a beautiful day here, so I'll have to try to get out and some point, just to drive around with the top down for a bit.

Meeting my sister tonight for vacation planning. I've already planned two vacations for this year, but they haven't taken.  The first was to take my mom to Ozarks, a place of her youth that she wants to see one more time. How THAT one blew up in my face is way too long a story for TPF--probably even too long for a therapy session, lol--but we'll just say that there are 3 boys and 2 girls in my family. My mothers like boys better. 
She wanted to go with my oldest brother--he can't go until at least October (and maybe not then), so my sister and I offered to take her (her dementia is getting worse by the day, so sooner is better) and she loved the idea. Then, suddenly, she didn't. Now she won't go without Rusty. Don't ask me why. I just know that it seems like God is saying, "Go to the Beach!!" instead. 

So then, I planned a beach trip. But my sister couldn't go. I have two days I have to use before the end of May, so everything hinged on that.  Until I realized how much it was gonna COST for me to take the trip alone.

So NOW, we are heading to the beach later in June.  I'm hoping my boss will let me push the deadline for those two days until then (it would be to her benefit, since there are approximately six small boatloads of work she needs me to accomplish next week, and is it is right now, I'd have exactly two days to do it all. And one of those days already has two meetings scheduled.)
Either way, I *will* use those two days rather than lose them, and either way, I *will* be at a beach before June is over...


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Today started too early with a crabby kid.... :/


----------



## bribrius

eh.
kids want to go up north to camp.
sounds great, except it was just down in the thirties last night. i dunno


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Except for the rain around the Grapevine and Bakersfield, it was a perfect day. Perfect in the 70's temps, low humidity very scenic drive. Still in Placerville. We'll hit a few wineries around here today, then off to Quincy to meet up with Jim McCain. The Cook was a hit in Placerville, everybody wanted to say hello to her and touch her. In Drytown, the barkeep invited her in and she joined us for beer and tacos.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. I believe I have started my post-semester crash. It's been a laaaaaaazy morning.

Will probably get some laundry done. Might return some shoes I bought online (there's a brick and mortar store I can return them to), and I might develop some film. I might.

Y'know what I WON'T do? Grade papers!!!


----------



## Gary A.

We are in the smallest damn room in California. The Cook and Mary Lou are anxious to leave. There is a dog show in Sacramento and the place is full of dogs. 



IPhone photo

We've just crossed the Stanislaus River and entered Calavaras County. Every other store front is owned by Mark Twain or a Jumping a Frog. I amazed how little water is in the lake.


----------



## snowbear

Mmmm ffffrrrggtzzzzzz.zzzzzzz

&%#^ cats, &%# four AM.


----------



## limr

Bob wishes everyone a happy World Turtle Day!


----------



## Gary A.

All the towns up here are very small. 4000 people would be a big town in this neck of the woods. Drytown had a population of 200. 


 
IPhone photo

This is Angels Camp. But every little town has a "historic" downtown built in the 1850's or so. Lots of antique store and over priced eateries. Quaint, but small.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, Bob is welcomed to hang out in the pond with my turtles. (As long as he doesn't chase the koi.)


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Hey, Bob is welcomed to hang out in the pond with my turtles. (As long as he doesn't chase the koi.)



Bob is a feisty little thing and likes exploring, though I think he's too small to chase anything right now. Such a tiny little thing


----------



## pgriz

Leaving the house in a few minutes to ponder deep thoughts, as I clean up the gravesites of my father and grandparents, planting flowers and generally making them look like they "belong".  Sometimes my deep thoughts play in the babies pool, sometimes they venture into the shallow end.  Very occasionally, they work their way to the deep end.  However, my deep-thinking skills need still need waterwings.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, Bob is welcomed to hang out in the pond with my turtles. (As long as he doesn't chase the koi.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bob is a feisty little thing and likes exploring, though I think he's too small to chase anything right now. Such a tiny little thing
Click to expand...

My turtles started out as these tiny, illegal turtles we purchased ten+ years ago in the Garment District of LA. Now they are huge, at least five pounds ... when we got them they were no bigger than a quarter.


----------



## otherprof

limr said:


> Evening, hosers!
> 
> Six hours of grading today. In both of my classes, 50% of the students passed the exam.
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Seems way more complicated than it needs to be... 'this a gummint idea?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, it is in the sense that I work for the state university system. (It's an open-enrollment community college.) But worse than that: it's an _English department_ idea. Have you ever sat in a room full of English professors trying to get something decided? I have.
> 
> But again, another piece of the puzzle that might help explain the process is that this is...
> (a) a skills course (academic writing) and so a test of that skill is necessary, and
> (b) a developmental course, meaning in their placement test when they first enrolled, they placed below the skill level of basic Eng 101 and they need to get up to speed.
> 
> So, this means that they need to meet a departmentally-determined minimal standard of a skill, not content. The anonymity and the second reader is to help ensure objectivity in determining whether or not the standard has been met.
> 
> There's actually talk of eliminating these exit exams and going to a portfolio assessment.
> 
> And remember, it's the English department making these decisions, so there is going to be a LOT of talk. Dear lord, do they love to hear themselves talk!
> 
> (I am not actually teaching for the English department. These classes are split into two tracks - one for native speakers who just suck at writing, and one for non-native speakers. I teach the non-native speakers and we are technically part of the Modern Languages department, but we follow the policies of the English department for these exams. I used to teach in the English department. I've taught the native-speaker developmental writing classes, and man, they are depressing! I've also taught Eng 101 and 102, but they've made very annoying changes to those courses and I haven't taught them in about 3 years.)
Click to expand...


I think the catalog description of the course should read, "For native speakers who just suck at writing." How refreshing would that be? I can imagine (and remember) those department meetings.  One of my colleagues, with even less patience that I have, used to enter the room and say, "Move the question!" One good thing about those meetings - the students don't seem too bad in comparison with some of one's colleagues.


----------



## Braineack

This morning I was staring out my back window drinking my coffee deciding if I should take picture of birds.
I see a blue jay flapping around and I thought maybe it was injured.  Suddenly, a fox jumps out and snatches it up.  

I turned around to grab my camera, as I usually keep it by the back door--but I had it packed up downstairs.  By the time I grabbed it and got my 600mm attached, the fox was gone


----------



## snerd

Morning hosers. Drinking coffee and pondering the rain that is headed our way. Again! Flood watches are out for many areas of the state. I'm thinking about taking my little camcorder out to the refuge and getting some footage of the lakes and ponds. I've lived here all of my life, and I've "never" seen them this full! It's wonderful! Well, except for any more rain. It can stop now. That's enough.


----------



## Gary A.

The American River.


 iPhone photo


----------



## Gary A.

iPhoto

Relaxing at Gold Hill Winery.


----------



## Gary A.

Fruity with overtones of raspberry and squirrel.


----------



## pgriz

I think Cook is saying:  "gimme another one.  I can't decide if it's squirrelly or chipmunky"   And after this one, you may carry me to the car."


----------



## pgriz

Gary, you need to refill the glass.  Very hard to see the colour of the wine when it's so low.


----------



## snowbear

9th & N Street NW for a small, informal art show with the family.  They are still setting up.  Phone snap.


----------



## Derrel

The steelheader in me is salivating at the sight of that big riffle on the American River...


----------



## limr

I finally got my number from the NY Dept of State. I'm officially a notary public.

Now I can order my fancy stamp and seal


----------



## pgriz

Congratulations!   So what is the official honorific that we should be using?    Is there any protocol with respect to curtsying or bowing?


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Congratulations!   So what is the official honorific that we should be using?    Is there any protocol with respect to curtsying or bowing?



Oh, I'm sure averting your eyes and kissing my hand would be suitable


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> Congratulations!   So what is the official honorific that we should be using?    Is there any protocol with respect to curtsying or bowing?


Your notorious.


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congratulations!   So what is the official honorific that we should be using?    Is there any protocol with respect to curtsying or bowing?
> 
> 
> 
> Your notorious.
Click to expand...


You mean Lenny, I think.  Or maybe Leonore.  Or maybe Mme. Leonore, Notary Public.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congratulations!   So what is the official honorific that we should be using?    Is there any protocol with respect to curtsying or bowing?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I'm sure averting your eyes and kissing my hand would be suitable
Click to expand...


Well, any good Montreal boy would be doing the latter anyways.  As for the first,  why would we want to deny our eyes the pleasure of seeing you?


----------



## pgriz

That's a barn-burner game going on in Chicago.  Looks like both teams want this one badly.

4-4 tie going into the first overtime.  Even the goaltenders are getting into the physical play.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> kissing my hand


At least, your hand.


----------



## snowbear

Back home.   LL hadn't eaten so we stopped by an interesting semi-fast food establishment  - fried chicken & kabob house.  he got a lamb kabob, I grabbed a small chickpea side dish.  It is very spicy; we will be going back.


----------



## JimMcClain

Gary A. said:


> ...off to Quincy to meet up with Jim McCain.


So happy to meet up with a TPFer. Had dinner this evening with Gary, Mary Lou and Cookie. Cookie was very subdued, Mary Lou lovely and Gary very entertaining. Although we've never met, I got the distinct feeling he was telling stories about me to our waitress.  I shoulda been paying closer attention.






I enjoyed the evening and am looking forward to doing a little picture hunting with Gary in about 4 hours.

Jim


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> I think Cook is saying:  "gimme another one.  I can't decide if it's squirrelly or chipmunky"   And after this one, you may carry me to the car."


Nope, Cook is the designated driver.


----------



## bribrius

yeah okay. Left yesterday to go to camp, ended up jumping out of the car (wife was driving) and  chasing a firetruck rolling down a hill  on foot, (didn't catch up to it until it crashed into a guardrail and bridge abutment). Driver was dying. Actually i am pretty sure when i got in the passenger seat and took the truck out of gear he was dead. Rescue showed up a few minutes later and i told them he didnt appear to be breathing. I was basically sitting next to what i was pretty sure was a dead man. They pulled him out, gave him the shock a couple times, cpr, then said they had a faint pulse. In the ambulance he went (not sure if he made it or not hopefully he did). Had to fill out witness statement as first on scene and questioning. About a hour.  Back on the road to camp. Get up here the pipe froze over the winter, oh yeah. Messing with that in the dark last night with the wife, trying to get the water turned on.

woke up this morning freezing my azz off (went down to 34 degrees last night). so here is my coffee on the stove and i ran the oven to get some heat in the place. The little electric wall heater i wouldnt consider "safe" to run all night and dont keep up anyway. stove works better than than the wall heater. so chattering teethe i turned on the oven this morning to get some heat going.


----------



## bribrius




----------



## Gary A.

Some of my home made bread and more vino.


 
Ana brown apple.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone photo

California is Cool.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone photo. 

Another bridge.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone photo. 

Lots of rain at the 7000'+ high Donner Pass.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone photo. 

Some trees from the car.


----------



## snerd

We're getting flooding here now, after all the rain. I had to take a 101 mile detour to get to the west side of town. Really!! It's rained so much, these are the hottest new fashion in Oklahoma this Spring!!!











Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

I don't think that's your color ... you're more of a winter.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.

Have a happy and safe holiday, especially if you are travelling home.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> I don't think that's your color ... you're more of a winter.


Oh, I don't know.  I matches his avatar.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. We're leaving the quaint town of Quincy and Jim McClain. We went shooting yesterday early early morning and in the afternoon. Jim is a wonderfully nice guy with tons of stories. We're now about to depart down the hill to Ft. Bragg in Mendicino and the Pacific.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, coffee hosers. May your memorial day be a good one, but one that we remember the real reason for the holiday. 28 veterans commit suicide per day, and that has killed far more vets than have died in war. Don't forget them too.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhoto photo. 

Up in the Sierra Nevada.


----------



## JimMcClain

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. We're leaving the quaint town of Quincy and Jim McClain. We went shooting yesterday early early morning and in the afternoon. Jim is a wonderfully nice guy with tons of stories. We're now about to depart down the hill to Ft. Bragg in Mendicino and the Pacific.


I really enjoyed your visit, Gary. But you are too kind - I prattle. Comes from having so little company (people are uncomfortable around "sick" people) and I don't have employees anymore that are paid to listen to me go on, and on, and...

I did so enjoy it though. I've only gone on one photo trek with another person. I should do that more often. Thanks to you and Mary Lou for putting up with me for a couple of days and all the changing of the o2 tanks and my chatter. And thanks to Cookie for letting me pet her (I love teh doggies). Be safe and enjoy the rest of your trip.

Jim


----------



## limr

Bob got new digs.


----------



## limr

I don't know why, but every time this thread shows up in the Active Topics list, I read it as "Child pornography for doting mamas"
Child photography for doting mamas Photography Forum


----------



## vintagesnaps

Maybe I shouldn't post a funny emoticon but why your mind went to porno instead of photography is what I find funny... (because obviously there's nothing at all funny about that topic for real). Before I dig myself in any deeper I think I'm done! I'm tired out after the weekend and an early night in sounds good right about now.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Maybe I shouldn't post a funny emoticon but why your mind went to porno instead of photography is what I find funny... (because obviously there's nothing at all funny about that topic for real). Before I dig myself in any deeper I think I'm done! I'm tired out after the weekend and an early night in sounds good right about now.



That's exactly it, though - why the heck would I keep parsing that as "pornography" on a photography forum?? Once, maybe, because of seeing it out of the corner of my eye or something, but all the time? I think I watch too much Law and Order


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> I don't know why, but every time this thread shows up in the Active Topics list, I read it as "Child pornography for doting mamas"
> Child photography for doting mamas Photography Forum


That is so odd ... me too.


----------



## Gary A.

JimMcClain said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. We're leaving the quaint town of Quincy and Jim McClain. We went shooting yesterday early early morning and in the afternoon. Jim is a wonderfully nice guy with tons of stories. We're now about to depart down the hill to Ft. Bragg in Mendicino and the Pacific.
> 
> 
> 
> I really enjoyed your visit, Gary. But you are too kind - I prattle. Comes from having so little company (people are uncomfortable around "sick" people) and I don't have employees anymore that are paid to listen to me go on, and on, and...
> 
> I did so enjoy it though. I've only gone on one photo trek with another person. I should do that more often. Thanks to you and Mary Lou for putting up with me for a couple of days and all the changing of the o2 tanks and my chatter. And thanks to Cookie for letting me pet her (I love teh doggies). Be safe and enjoy the rest of your trip.
> 
> Jim
Click to expand...

No putting up at all. Jim is a great guy living in the middle of incrediably beautiful country.


----------



## Gary A.

All iPhone photos:





From the mountains ...




To the prairie ...




To the ocean white with foam ...

Made it from Quincy to Ft. Bragg.


----------



## KenC

OK, I see I'm going to have to start this off today.  Ran around alternately socializing and doing errands all weekend, but took a few photos, one of which I'll post elsewhere.

Back at work with coffee and snack.  Who else is back at work and grumpy about it?


----------



## tirediron

I'm grumpy... does that count?


----------



## Gary A.

Grumpy is my middle name.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 50F this morning in Ft. Bragg. It is a bit foggy with very heavy mist ... the kind you can see. Typical Northern California coastal weather ... Leo weather. She would absolutely love it here all year round. Today we're off to introduce ourselves to a select few Mendicino County wineries.


----------



## Gary A.

Found a Starbucks ... so some real coffee this morning. Not that I'm a fan of Starbucks, but it's significantly better than the hot brown water crap that comes with a room.


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> OK, I see I'm going to have to start this off today.  Ran around alternately socializing and doing errands all weekend, but took a few photos, one of which I'll post elsewhere.
> 
> Back at work with coffee and snack.  Who else is back at work and grumpy about it?



I'm back at work this morning, AND had one of our monthly two-hour meetings to talk about how much work we all have to do already.  Who schedules a meeting like that the day after a holiday??!?
And on top of that, my mother spent the night in the ER. They were going to admit her but didn't have a room so my 88-year-old mother spent the entire night on a gurney. She's home now, though, and okay. Ish.

AND on top of that--I *should* be headed to the beach for vacation on Thursday…but now, I'm not.

Y'all can have "grumpy." I'm downright cantankerous.


----------



## sm4him

I just saw this on a FB page and had to share. I really don't know whether to laugh about it, or cry.

As Sheldon Cooper said, (Being Stupid) "is no reason to cry. One cries because one is sad. For example, I cry because other people are stupid, and that makes me sad." 

Anyway, this is a page for birders and bird photographers. This individual--evidently new to the world of digital cameras (at least I sincerely hope so)--posted the following:
"If one re-uses their memory cards, will the photos come as just as good, clear? I shot so many photos over the weekend, I'm out of memory. Should I buy new, or reuse? curious"



I really wanted to post and say "Never, ever reuse a memory card. It's very dangerous and could potentially cause your camera to malfunction" just for kicks--but the fear that someone would either believe me, or think that *I* actually believe me, was just too great.


----------



## snowbear

I go back to work Thursday.  I'll be grumpy at home since it's hot enough for the A/C


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> I just saw this on a FB page and had to share. I really don't know whether to laugh about it, or cry.
> 
> As Sheldon Cooper said, (Being Stupid) "is no reason to cry. One cries because one is sad. For example, I cry because other people are stupid, and that makes me sad."
> 
> Anyway, this is a page for birders and bird photographers. This individual--evidently new to the world of digital cameras (at least I sincerely hope so)--posted the following:
> "If one re-uses their memory cards, will the photos come as just as good, clear? I shot so many photos over the weekend, I'm out of memory. Should I buy new, or reuse? curious"
> 
> 
> 
> I really wanted to post and say "Never, ever reuse a memory card. It's very dangerous and could potentially cause your camera to malfunction" just for kicks--but the fear that someone would either believe me, or think that *I* actually believe me, was just too great.


There is another board where a number of people seem to think that 1) pulling memory cards out of the camera can cause major problems with things being broken or corrupted or 2) it's best to just buy a new card every time one fills up. .


----------



## snowbear

Oooo; the landscapers are here to scythe the meadow, I mean mow the grass.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> OK, I see I'm going to have to start this off today.  Ran around alternately socializing and doing errands all weekend, but took a few photos, one of which I'll post elsewhere.
> 
> Back at work with coffee and snack.  Who else is back at work and grumpy about it?



*raises hand* Back at work. Kinda grumpy but not as bad as I'll be tomorrow. Today at least I'm on campus and working with people I like. Tomorrow...not so much


----------



## snowbear

Come to think of it, I guess I can put my hand up half-way.  I am home, but I'm doing some work from here.


----------



## KenC

tirediron said:


> I'm grumpy... does that count?



Well, OK, if you insist, but I don't like it ...


----------



## JimMcClain

You guys may be grumps, but I got the website. There's not much there anymore because I don't want to be a grump any longer, but until I can move the rest of the content to my other site, I have this page that might entertain you. Grump's Place About Grump - Grump's Place


----------



## snowbear

You know I had to,


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.

I got to watch a few cars get towed this morning while enjoying cup number one.  Now I can enjoy seeing the parking lot get milled, brushed off, then repaved and striped.  All of this from the comfort of my desk chair.  It's true - all of the brochures were right: Waldorf certainly is a modern day entertainment hub.

I decided this excitement was so grand, I decided to take off the rest of the week.

Time for another cup of coffee.


----------



## oldhippy

10 days bachelor break.  D W. and Grand off to Florida.   Made large bowl of cereal,  then some coffee.   Ready for the day.  Ed


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I had my coffee at home and then I picked up Buzz so he could ride to work with me. This building is a 20-minute walk from a train station so he hopped a train into Manhattan for a photo walk. I'll pick him up from the station when I'm done.

The good news is that I have the office to myself for a little while. The bad news is that I forgot to bring more K-cups, so I'm settling for tea instead of more coffee today   I like tea very much, but mornings are for coffee, and now that I can't have any, it's all I can think of.


----------



## limr

oldhippy said:


> 10 days bachelor break.



Watch out, ladies!


----------



## oldhippy

limr said:


> oldhippy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 10 days bachelor break.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Watch out, ladies!
Click to expand...

Lots of energy for the chase, to winded at catch to do anything.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The Cook and I just came back from our walk. We're still in Northern California, Santa Rosa. Today we are attacking Sonoma County wineries. Yesterday was simply grand. We inspected Glass Beach at Ft. Bragg. We have sea glass down south ... but nothing like that. Then we hit an old lighthouse down the street a bit. Lunch in Mendocino ... great food and a lovely town. Everything is just so radically different from the hustle and bustle of SoCal. On are way south to Sonoma County, we drove through the Mendocino Redwoods. Breathtaking and wonderfully incredible. Sure the forests of Ponderosa Pines and Firs are dense and beautiful in the Sierra Nevada ... but the Redwoods ... 100's of feet tall with these massive trunks and fragile ferns growing beneath ... are simply breathtaking.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sounds wonderful Gary...

Buckeye buzz (or blitz or blast or whatever it's called) and I want more but am trying to hold off til lunch and a Diet Coke. Another morning of up early and wait, but at least men with saws and other assorted equipment are in my not too distant future.

So how about coffee and 'then there's the schmear....'
George Wallace Carl Reiner Mel Brooks Sarah Silverman Ali Wentworth and Bob Einstein Jewish Food - Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee by Jerry Seinfeld


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> I'm settling for tea instead of more coffee today   I like tea very much, but mornings are for coffee, and now that I can't have any, it's all I can think of.



My sympathies - coffee withdrawal is never a good thing.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  I'm working home today and simultaneously transferring files from my old 500 GB portable drive that I keep at work to a new 2 TB drive.  Wait a minute - now I'm doing those things and on TPF as well - Aaaack!  If it weren't for the coffee on my desk my brain would probably short out.  Oh, good, it went from two hours to transfer my 124 GB of PS and tiff files to one hour (after only ten minutes - go figure).


----------



## minicoop1985

Argh. hi peeps. So hard to wake up today. Stupid meds.


----------



## limr

That's it, y'all. I'm going for coffee.


----------



## limr

Coffee! I haz it!


----------



## snowbear

Apple Pie-Cheesecake-Crumble-Something-or-other Cake from the weekend.


----------



## snowbear

And from the _Apartments at St. Charles_ entertainment committee, our own version of Dancing With the Stars.


----------



## snowbear

. . . of course, the fun really begins now as the poor bas****s that had to go to work shuffle around looking for a parking space.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone photo

A few Redwoods.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone photo
The Cook at Glass Beach.


----------



## Fred Berg

Hello Leute, I'm just sitting down to my first coffee for heute. A very nice full-flavoured beverage from the Kagera region of Tanzania, bought in my local fair-trade shop. It's about double the price of a product such as Nescafé Classic but it's worth it for the taste alone, and, of course, getting my first caffeine kick of the day from conscientious coffee feels twice as good.


----------



## minicoop1985

The day has come. I will be selling my Hasselblad 500C/M. I love that damned camera and I'm horribly sad to see it go, but it's time to move on. It's but a toy, nothing that has net me any money, and nor will it. A digital back for that thing just isn't feasible for what I can afford.

The good news: What am I selling my beloved Hasselblad for? Why, another Hasselblad, of course! I'll be picking up an H1, 80mm 2.8, and film back. Will be going digital later.


----------



## limr

Hey Fred! Your mornings of course start a lot earlier than mine  Oddly, this is making me nostalgic for Europe...

Michael, what's wrong with a toy?? Do you need to sell it to fund the new Hassy?


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Back at work today, but with coffee and snack, so what's so bad?  (I won't attempt to answer that)


----------



## snowbear

The parking lot rehab continues.  This time it's in the lot we use, as well as the entryway to this side of the development, so I moved the truck at 6:45.

MLW is taking her sister to IKEA.  I'm going to pass on this field trip - she _might_ be back by dark.


----------



## sm4him

Busy day today!
About to head uptown (I'm already DOWNtown, and headed UP the hill to the main downtown area, so I guess that's UPtown…) for a reception at the Mayors' offices (Mayors, plural--both city and county). I have a photo in an art exhibit that spans between the two mayors' office and we're doing a meet and greet. 
THEN, I've got to get another photo packaged up and ready to deliver to the Art Council headquarter (also UPtown, but east of the Mayors' offices) that will be going to a gallery in upper East Tennessee for an exhibit in June.

Then, I *should* have been on my way to the beach, but plans changed, and alas, instead, I'll be on my way back to work, with a boatload of stuff to get done the next two days.  Even sadder, there may just not be a beach vacation in my immediate future. Tried to reschedule for mid-June but it is looking like it's just not in the cards right now.


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> Michael, what's wrong with a toy?? Do you need to sell it to fund the new Hassy?



Yeah, I need it to fund the new one. The new one is a more responsible toy, I suppose. lol


----------



## sm4him

So…

The photo I have displayed at the Mayor's office (mine is at the City Mayor's office)…
…
…
SOLD.
AT the opening reception.

That pretty much rocks. 

It was this one (the same one I sent to @mmaria for a secret santa photo!):


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. We're in Benicia this morning. Benicia is east of San Francisco but is still on the bay.  No coffee yet ... but soon. The Cook and I have just finished our morning constitutional. We are downtown, in the historic Union Hotel built in the 1850's. We walked along the marina and a bit of the waterfront. This place, reportedly, has ghosts. Yesterday was an exceptionally pleasant day. Cookie was tossed from the first winery ... so Mary Lou, the Cook and I all peed in their parking lot before heading out to a different vintner. The second place was great, everything about it was great, the grounds were great, the people there were great, the wines were great and the food was great. We spent the entire afternoon at The Russian River Vineyard, signed up for club membership and wrapped the day up with a fabulous dinner of salad, soup and scallops.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sharon, I guess you're getting the bad with the good as you go uptown, downtown, all around the town... Bummer about vacation but great that your photo got displayed and sold!! it's a beauty.

Another day of hurry up and wait, sometime between 9-1, if I start doing something they'll show up, if I sit here that proverbial 'kettle' will never boil! lol

Was watching a fairly early 'talkie' where you could tell they came out of the silent era, long pauses, lights go out and then the guy flicks the switch! lol But TCM doing Friday night noir this summer, something good to fill in for the upcoming lack of hockey.


----------



## limr

I got my first quotable of this summer's placement readings:

"Everyone pleasures themselfs differently."


----------



## vintagesnaps

Well that sounds like some interesting reading...

I just saw a chicken on top of the world... an old RKO Pathe' (which used a rooster as its symbol and this one barely out of the 1920s had a film clip of an actual rooster before the credits - wonder was this before the MGM lion or imitating it?? lol).


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. We're in Benicia this morning. Benicia is east of San Francisco but is still on the bay.  No coffee yet ... but soon. The Cook and I have just finished our morning constitutional. We are downtown, in the historic Union Hotel built in the 1850's. We walked along the marina and a bit of the waterfront. This place, reportedly, has ghosts. Yesterday was an exceptionally pleasant day. Cookie was tossed from the first winery ... so Mary Lou, the Cook and I all peed in their parking lot before heading out to a different vintner. The second place was great, everything about it was great, the grounds were great, the people there were great, the wines were great and the food was great. We spent the entire afternoon at The Russian River Vineyard, signed up for club membership and wrapped the day up with a fabulous dinner of salad, soup and scallops.



Mmmm, scallops!! One of my absolute favorite seafood items, and you just cannot get them around here. Very few places even bother to serve them at all anymore, and the few places that do, charge a King's ransom for an extremely stingy portion of them.


----------



## tirediron

Congrats Sharon - that's a great image!


----------



## snowbear

Beautiful shot, Sharon; congratulations.


----------



## Gary A.

No coffee today ... Went for a cup of Ghirardelli Chocolate.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## Gary A.

On the way home through the Central Valley. Hundreds of miles of nothing but this.


----------



## Gary A.

And sometimes this ...


----------



## Gary A.

Home.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Home.


What?  No pictures?????


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Home.
> 
> 
> 
> What?  No pictures?????
Click to expand...

LOL ... Dude I'm beat. I hit LA rush hour, after work traffic. An hour plus of bumper-to-bumper, 5mph traffic.


----------



## Gary A.

Just finished unpacking ... wrapping up a light dinner of turkey meatload, fresh tomatoes from the garden, home made bread, some wierd cheese Mary Lou wanted to try, store grapes (no bonafide taste whatsoever) and a bottle of Coquelicot Sangiovese (2009, #2396 of 5464) from the Santa Yenez Valley ... while listening to the fireworks from Disneyland.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. We're in Benicia this morning. Benicia is east of San Francisco but is still on the bay.  No coffee yet ... but soon. The Cook and I have just finished our morning constitutional. We are downtown, in the historic Union Hotel built in the 1850's. We walked along the marina and a bit of the waterfront. This place, reportedly, has ghosts. Yesterday was an exceptionally pleasant day. Cookie was tossed from the first winery ... so Mary Lou, the Cook and I all peed in their parking lot before heading out to a different vintner. The second place was great, everything about it was great, the grounds were great, the people there were great, the wines were great and the food was great. We spent the entire afternoon at The Russian River Vineyard, signed up for club membership and wrapped the day up with a fabulous dinner of salad, soup and scallops.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mmmm, scallops!! One of my absolute favorite seafood items, and you just cannot get them around here. Very few places even bother to serve them at all anymore, and the few places that do, charge a King's ransom for an extremely stingy portion of them.
Click to expand...

Sharon, you would have been in heaven ... these were large with this amazingly light, slightly tangy-mushroomy sauce over a bed of blanced greens picked that day from the vineyard's garden. Scallops are common here, as the state has about 900 miles of coastline. I've eaten and even harvested a ton of Scallops ... but you could tell these were cooked with love and care. Sounds odd but that is how I felt. Chris, the owner, stopped by to chat. (We've been chtting all afternoon.) Chris said he had the Scallops the day before and they were great. If anybody is in Sonoma ... go to the Russian River Vineyard.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning peeps.
Cold pizza (sausage, pepperoni & mushrooms, chicken BBQ) for breakfast with the usual cup.  The parking lots and roadway have been paved so there's not much going on.


----------



## sm4him

Morning, Charlie and the rest of you Hosers!  First time all week I've had time for my second cup of coffee.

Cold pizza, ick. My boys both love it--I can't stand it.  I can barely tolerate warmed-up leftover pizza.
Ironically, warmed-up pizza is exactly what I'll be having for lunch today.

Which brings me to a cautionary tale about complaining. A couple of weeks ago, I stopped and got a pizza after church on Sunday. A meat pizza--sausage, bacon and...I don't know, some other meat I think. Oh, Pepperoni.
I got home only to discover that it seemed to actually be a Pepperoni pizza that someone had tried to turn into a meat pizza, but they didn't put much effort into the task. They had taken the bacon and sausage and dumped it smack in the center of the pizza. So the very center, probably the first bite of each piece had bacon and sausage--the entire rest of the pizza had only pepperoni and not much of that. 

Hardly the worst thing in the world, just kinda annoying. So, I sent an email to the pizza place, along with a picture of my pizza.

The manager replied, apologized and said that he'd like to offer me a free meat pizza, which I could pick up "everyday this week."  I emailed back and thanked him, and also pointed out that he likely meant "ANY day this week."

Well. No. He meant EVERY day. He wanted to offer me a pizza every single day for a week! Good grief; what would he give someone whose pizza was actually BAD?
I explained that there is only one of me, and that eating a pizza every single day seems like a very BAD plan unless my goal is weigh 300 pounds by the end of the summer. 
So now, he wants me to just come in seven different times for a free pizza.

I can't decide if this is truly just the most generous "let us make this up to you" response I've ever had--or if this is the guy's way of saying, "Just watch. I'll make you so sick of meat pizzas, you'll never complain again, because you'll never be able to stand to even LOOK at one again." 

I had my first free pizza yesterday--hence the leftovers today.  I'll probably take him up on one or two more of them, and then call it a wrap.


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> I can't decide if this is truly just the most generous "let us make this up to you" response I've ever had--..


Apparently I don't know how to complain.  I've complained many times, and have NEVER been offered a complimentarily anything.  Not even a cup of coffee.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't decide if this is truly just the most generous "let us make this up to you" response I've ever had--..
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently I don't know how to complain.  I've complained many times, and have NEVER been offered a complimentarily anything.  Not even a cup of coffee.
Click to expand...


Me too. I also don't complain very much. It's not that I am never dissatisfied, but I have a hard time asserting myself.


----------



## limr

Oh yeah! Morning, hosers.  

Buzz just texted me a picture of a snapping turtle laying eggs in his lawn. It doesn't happen every year, but often enough that it isn't a surprise. Around Labor Day, we start looking for the babies so we can relocate them to a nice big pond before they get eaten up.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

Sounds like a good deal, Sharon, and that you've met a smart business owner, which seems to be an increasingly rare thing.

I'll complain on occasion when something really ticks me off.  I'm always polite about it, but results still are mixed - everything from trying to make it right and please the customer to arguments and denial.  I wonder how business owners who favor the latter approach manage to stay in business.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't decide if this is truly just the most generous "let us make this up to you" response I've ever had--..
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently I don't know how to complain.  I've complained many times, and have NEVER been offered a complimentarily anything.  Not even a cup of coffee.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Me too. I also don't complain very much. It's not that I am never dissatisfied, but I have a hard time asserting myself.
Click to expand...


I used to NEVER complain when I got bad service, or a bad meal, or anything like that. No matter what. Because I hated confrontation so much that I'd rather just put up with whatever I was dealt than to have to assert myself.

But, I don't know--somewhere along the way, I just decided that I'm worth it. And that if I have PAID for something, and I don't get what I believe I should get for that money, I am actually doing a disservice by keeping my mouth shut, because I'm basically saying it's okay to keep doing that to other people.

I still don't complain much--it really just all depends on the situation. And I try to NEVER, ever be rude or mean when I do complain.
I also never complain with the expectation of getting something in return.  I complain when I feel like the situation really called for it. For example, in this situation, I really did feel like the person was probably routinely slacking at their job--instead of working to keep up with demand, they were just grabbing another pizza and dumping just enough other ingredients on it to technically CALL it a meat pizza. And I suspected they would continue to do so, unless they were called out for it.

But I have to admit, I must be quite effective when I do complain, because I have gotten quite a few things. Coupons for free products, entirely free meals (in fact, I once somehow managed to get an entirely free meal for our ENTIRE dinner party, about 6 people, all because something was wrong with mine. In that case, something was BAD wrong with mine, though. Like spoiled meat bad.)  I've gotten free drinks (alcoholic drinks, I mean, not like iced tea!).
I even got the hotel bill reduced by 1/3 for a week's stay because of an email I sent about our stay there. 

I've gotten enough free stuff, in fact, that sometimes it actually makes me hesitate when I'm thinking about complaining, because like I said, I don't ever want to complain in ORDER to get something. There are people who will do just that, and I think those people are kinda scummy.


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> Sounds like a good deal, Sharon, and that you've met a smart business owner, which seems to be an increasingly rare thing.
> 
> I'll complain on occasion when something really ticks me off.  I'm always polite about it, but results still are mixed - everything from trying to make it right and please the customer to arguments and denial.  I wonder how business owners who favor the latter approach manage to stay in business.



Yeah, I've also had the responses that make you wonder why they ARE in business, if that's what they think of their customers! One that I particularly remember was a local restaurant that I went to with my boys when they were younger. It was nearly 30 minutes before anyone even brought us water (and they were NOT busy, at all). Only reason I stayed was because it became a game to see just how long it would take.  The dinner kinda went downhill from there.  When I finally complained, the manager first made excuses. When he ran out of excuses, he "offered" us our NEXT meal free, not that one. And he didn't even give us anything in order to GET that meal; he said, next time you come in just "tell them" your meal is free. 
Right. Because THAT's always effective. 

They were out of business about a year later.


----------



## Warhorse

Morning everybody, I am wasting my morning sitting in line at the Secretary of State's office to change my address on my drivers license.


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> One that I particularly remember was a local restaurant that I went to with my boys when they were younger. It was nearly 30 minutes before anyone even brought us water (and they were NOT busy, at all).



I once walked out of a restaurant because they seated me (I was alone) and then no one came near my table for a good 15 minutes (also not busy there).  I was sitting a few feet from the bar and considered going over there or calling out to the bartender for a beer, but instead I walked out.  They chased me out the door apologizing and asking me what I wanted, but I told them it was too late.

I went next door.  That neighborhood had a lot of restaurants, so you might think they would go out of business operating like that, but this was an exception to their normally good service, so they're still there.


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> I try to NEVER, ever be rude or mean when I do complain.


I'm not rude to begin with, but I can become that way in a hurry.

Once my wife found egg shell in her scrambled eggs.  We talked to the manager, who said "It looks like you have already eaten two thirds of the eggs, so I'll discount your meal by 1/3.  

We haven't been back.


----------



## limr

I am living in my head this morning.

It's not good when I'm in my head to long. It messes me up. 

But I have a fresh cup of coffee, so that's a plus.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I am living in my head this morning.
> 
> It's not good when I'm in my head* to* long. It messes me up.
> 
> But I have a fresh cup of coffee, so that's a plus.



No, apparently it is not.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am living in my head this morning.
> 
> It's not good when I'm in my head* to* long. It messes me up.
> 
> But I have a fresh cup of coffee, so that's a plus.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No, apparently it is not.
Click to expand...




Maybe I should have stayed in bed.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is equally good as it is sad to be home. I'm not a complainer, but when I do it is for something significant. Usually I just registar my complaint with my pocketbook ... as in ... I'm not going back. I really expect reasonable service ... but I also over tip. While I'm okay just keeping it all just between and establishment and myself ... there are times when I think of creating a blog of places I will not patronize, just to increase the sense of satisfaction. I think I'll call it "I've been Kicked Out of Better Places than This", which doesn't really fit ... but I can relate to the quote. 

It is a cool, overcast morning. I started on the patio with the paper enjoying all the greenery and the sounds of moving falling water. I employeed the youngster next door to water the potted plants. The lawns are on a timed sprinkler system ... but day two into the road trip we received a notice from Edison, (the electrical power purveyor), that the power for the block was to be turned off for eight hours while they worked on the local grid. So the sprinkler settings were wipped out. 

I guess I'm rambling, but I was concerned about returning home to find everything dead. It is nice having to walk to the kitchen instead of waking up in a single room. I am sipping my usual morning fare of Colombian Supremo and The Cook has arrived to remind me that it is time for a morning walk. So we are off ...


----------



## Gary A.

PS- @ Leo- Charlie beat me to the correction. I had my red pen out when I saw he beat me to the glaring mistake. You know Leo, your expertise of the English language, makes it a much harder task submitting to this thread.

@ Sharon- that is simply a stunning image conveyed in a very subtle fashion.

G


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> PS- @ Leo- Charlie beat me to the correction. I had my red red out when I saw he beat me to the glaring mistake. You know Leo, your expertise of the English language, makes it a much harder task submitting to this thread.
> 
> @ Sharon- that is simply a stunning image conveyed in a very subtle fashion.
> 
> G



If it makes you feel better, unless you are my student or gsgary, I am not judging anyone's language


----------



## NancyMoranG

I am watching the NY Rangers vs the Tampa Bay Lightning in a few minutes....game 7!!
I was born in NY but lived Tampa/St Pete for 35 yrs, so I am torn :{


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- @ Leo- Charlie beat me to the correction. I had my red red out when I saw he beat me to the glaring mistake. You know Leo, your expertise of the English language, makes it a much harder task submitting to this thread.
> 
> @ Sharon- that is simply a stunning image conveyed in a very subtle fashion.
> 
> G
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If it makes you feel better, unless you are my student or gsgary, I am not judging anyone's language
Click to expand...

How can you not judge? ( and cringe ...)


----------



## limr

NancyMoranG said:


> I am watching the NY Rangers vs the Tampa Bay Lightning in a few minutes....game 7!!
> I was born in NY but lived Tampa/St Pete for 35 yrs, so I am torn :{



Oh c'mon, you know the NY loyalties win out *hint hint nudge nudge*

The game is on tv but I can barely watch. Too tense.



Gary A. said:


> If it makes you feel better, unless you are my student or gsgary, I am not judging anyone's language


How can you not judge? ( and cringe ...)[/QUOTE]

Meh, most errors I see in this thread are likely just typos or the result of not enough coffee   It happens. Though there are some posters who seem to be aggressively and willfully careless. The lack of any sort of punctuation in gsgary's posts drives me insane, for example. The other annoying error that I see often from various people (though no one who regularly posts here) is the use of the apostrophe for plurals.


----------



## Fred Berg

limr said:


> The other annoying error that I see often from various people (though no one who regularly posts here) is the use of the apostrophe for plurals.



You should see them over on the forum of greengrocer's - just terrible!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am watching the NY Rangers vs the Tampa Bay Lightning in a few minutes....game 7!!
> I was born in NY but lived Tampa/St Pete for 35 yrs, so I am torn :{
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh c'mon, you know the NY loyalties win out *hint hint nudge nudge*
> 
> The game is on tv but I can barely watch. Too tense.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If it makes you feel better, unless you are my student or gsgary, I am not judging anyone's language
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> How can you not judge? ( and cringe ...)
Click to expand...


Meh, most errors I see in this thread are likely just typos or the result of not enough coffee   It happens. Though there are some posters who seem to be aggressively and willfully careless. The lack of any sort of punctuation in gsgary's posts drives me insane, for example. The other annoying error that I see often from various people (though no one who regularly posts here) is the use of the apostrophe for plurals.[/QUOTE]
I overuse ellipses. I agree, gsgary, needs a ton of corrective measures.

Man, I leave for a week and look what happened in the garden. 




 
This thing is huge. The photo isn't doing it justice.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay, a more dramatic perspective, with a strawberry for scale.


----------



## limr

Oh my!


----------



## Gary A.

A part of it has been seasoned and on the George Foreman as I type.


----------



## Gary A.

And now the apples ...


----------



## Gary A.

The salmon marinating away ...


----------



## Gary A.

And now the salmon ...


----------



## limr

Looks good!

Unlike the Rangers.  It's bad enough, but to FLORIDA? They have no business having an ice hockey team.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Looks good!
> 
> Unlike the Rangers.  It's bad enough, but to FLORIDA? They have no business having an ice hockey team.


Yes, like a bobsled team from Bermuda.


----------



## limr

Yeah!


----------



## Gary A.

The backyard salad ...


----------



## Gary A.

All put together ...


----------



## limr

Looks absolutely delish!

Is that gorgonzola on the salad? LOVE gorgonzola.


----------



## Gary A.

It was wonderful. The only thing processed was the Blue Cheese and wine. Everything else, (sans salmon), was from the yard. Mary Lou called the meal "free" ... But around here salmon isn't exactly free.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> The backyard salad ...
> View attachment 102319


You have a cheese bush?  Wow!


----------



## Gary A.

The cheese came from Cookie.


----------



## Fred Berg

limr said:


> The lack of any sort of punctuation in gsgary's posts drives me insane, for example





Gary A. said:


> I agree, gsgary, needs a ton of corrective measures.



Oh, you are fighting a losing battle there: he crossed the _Lexicon_ long ago and there's no going back!


----------



## JimMcClain

Jeez @Gary A., I am salivating all over my keyboard thinking, if any of that is half as good as the bread you gave me... De-_LISH_-us!

Thanks for the phone call. Glad you're home safe. I'm really looking forward to seeing some of the pictures you took.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> PS- @ Leo- Charlie beat me to the correction. I had my red pen out when I saw he beat me to the glaring mistake. You know Leo, your expertise of the English language, makes it a much harder task submitting to this thread.
> 
> @ Sharon- that is simply a stunning image conveyed in a very subtle fashion.
> 
> G



Wow, thank you for that compliment, Gary!  When someone as skilled as you says something that positive about my work, it carries a lot of weight.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Man, I leave for a week and look what happened in the garden.



Zucchini! Man, those things can really trick you! Even if you aren't gone for a week, that can happen. I've had times where I've been out every day, checking the plants, pulling normal-sized zucchini. Then you go out one day and here's one that looks like a jammin' yule log!  And you're left wondering HOW on earth you missed something that big all those previous days. I think some of them are mutants and capable of growing into trees overnight.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Jim and Gary, enjoyed your trip updates and photos.
Hubby and I were camp host at Meadow Lake (7800' elevation on a lake with trout !) near Truckee in 2012. 
It is beautiful country!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Looks good!
> 
> Unlike the Rangers.  It's bad enough, but to FLORIDA? They have no business having an ice hockey team.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, like a bobsled team from Bermuda.
Click to expand...


So, I guess we know how you feel about the Anaheim Ducks? Great game if you were Tampa...poor St. Louis leaving us last year and now we are going to the Cup !

Great looking meal Gary.


----------



## limr

NancyMoranG said:


> So, I guess we know how you feel about the Anaheim Ducks? Great game if you were Tampa...poor St. Louis leaving us last year and now we are going to the Cup !
> 
> Great looking meal Gary.



No Ducks. The Oregon Ducks I have no problem with, but a California ice hockey team named after a Disney movie? Oh lord no. Go Blackhawks! If the Rangers can't win at least let an Original 6 team win.


----------



## oldhippy

Chicago born and raised


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. This is how the frig looks.


----------



## bribrius

My wife is wondering why i don't make money in photography. I think it has something to do with this.
a. i really have nothing up for sale
b. i am antisocial and not much of a people person. Me shooting senior portaits or baby photos is a funny thought.
c. look at what i like to shoot. Not entirely fascinating.


----------



## Gary A.

Go Ducks! (Born, raised, schooled and I still live in SoCal.)


----------



## Fred Berg

Life's a piece of cake as a British expat at coffee time:





I was banished from the kitchen by my wife and daughter this morning and surprised by this delicious confection this afternoon


----------



## Gary A.

I love blueberries, but wouldn't the flag of St. George, (as opposed to the Union Jack), been easier to make?


----------



## Fred Berg

Gary A. said:


> I love blueberries, but wouldn't the flag of St. George, (as opposed to the Union Jack), been easier to make?



Probably, but I'm Welsh! I might try and surprise the girls with a Red Dragon cake, myself. Will need to have a think what could be used for the green green grass of home.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Your fridge looks like a Godzilla cucumber towering over the fleeing eggs and yogurt.

Go Ducks! now that the NYR are out of it, guess I'll have to stay up later. Anyway still a couple of Ducks players that came thru here so I'll take that.

Nothing but buzz saws going today, can't wait til I get an entire day of it in my own yard! lol I've done nothing but hurry up and wait all week but at least things moving along in getting rid of the natural bridge the squirrels seem to have discovered between the tree and my house. Gadzooks I'll be glad when it's all done and gone!


----------



## limr

Developing. I does it. Finally!

The Caffenol needs to be a few degrees cooler.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Looks absolutely delish!
> 
> Is that gorgonzola on the salad? LOVE gorgonzola.


Yes.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, I guess we know how you feel about the Anaheim Ducks? Great game if you were Tampa...poor St. Louis leaving us last year and now we are going to the Cup !
> 
> Great looking meal Gary.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No Ducks. The Oregon Ducks I have no problem with, but a California ice hockey team named after a Disney movie? Oh lord no. Go Blackhawks! If the Rangers can't win at least let an Original 6 team win.
Click to expand...

Oh please ... they were originally owned by the Walt Disney Company.


----------



## limr

Even worse!


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Your fridge looks like a Godzilla cucumber towering over the fleeing eggs and yogurt.
> 
> Go Ducks! now that the NYR are out of it, guess I'll have to stay up later. Anyway still a couple of Ducks players that came thru here so I'll take that.
> 
> Nothing but buzz saws going today, can't wait til I get an entire day of it in my own yard! lol I've done nothing but hurry up and wait all week but at least things moving along in getting rid of the natural bridge the squirrels seem to have discovered between the tree and my house. Gadzooks I'll be glad when it's all done and gone!


LOL ... we've got to cut it up and give some to the neighbors. We were lucky that the skin isn't leather tough and it still have good flavor. Maybe soup ... tomato, carrot and squash soup.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Even worse!


LOL ... I love Disney films.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Even worse!
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... I love Disney films.
Click to expand...


Hey man, I cried at Bambi and totally related to Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Ice hockey is different.


----------



## limr

Two minutes before pouring the developer. About 7-8  minutes from pulling my first roll out of the tank in months.


----------



## oldhippy

They ain't pretty, but their the best.


----------



## limr

Go Hawks!!


----------



## limr

Ah, the smell of fixer, how I have missed you!


----------



## minicoop1985

I've got a roll of Tri-X loaded into the back for the Hasselblad H. The back and prism came today, and the camera and lens arrive Tuesday....  Currently I'm without a work camera because just after I ordered it, the goddamned AF motor in my Tamron 17-50 f2.8 for my Canon died. So I have that being sent in, and will use the Blasselblad for now.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Two minutes before pouring the developer. About 7-8  minutes from pulling my first roll out of the tank in months.


Go girl.


----------



## Gary A.

A summer supper.


----------



## limr

Four strips of 120 hanging. First two had some bad base fog. Figured out I hadn't put enough salt as restrainer. Second two are much better. They are all Arista EDU 200, which is to say rebranded Fomapan, and it's kinda foggy anyway. Mixed up more to start making a dent in the TriX 35mm but taking a break first.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Whaddya mean they ain't pretty?? lol They're wearing hockey jerseys, what more could anyone want?

Dammit Gary, that looks too good!!

Now Leonore you got me wanting to go run some lumen prints thru some fixer. I should catch up before I start any more, I'm waiting anyway for the giant tree limb obscuring the sun to get off my house and out of my way! lol it's interfering with where I set up and do sun prints, taking up the best window. I look out and all I see is leaves...


Ducks like rain, ducks like rain...


----------



## snowbear

Fred Berg said:


> Probably, but I'm Welsh! I might try and surprise the girls with a Red Dragon cake, myself. Will need to have a think what could be used for the green green grass of home.


Kiwi fruit?


----------



## limr

That there would be 8 rolls of film drying. Four rolls of 120 and four of 35mm. I have another...hmmm, I think three rolls of 120 left and two or three rolls of 35mm. Probably won't get to all of it tomorrow as I would like to start scanning it as well.

Feels good to be back, though 
 

Zelda watched for one entire roll and then got bored.


----------



## limr

Blackhawks win!!


----------



## oldhippy

Heading for Tampa next.  Way to go Hawks.


----------



## limr

oldhippy said:


> Heading for Tampa next.  Way to go Hawks.



I hope the Hawks poop all over Tampa!


----------



## minicoop1985

I got the first parts to my H1-the prism and back, so naturally I loaded the back in anticipation of the body and lens arriving Tuesday... Man I wish I'd got overnight shipping on all of this stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Blackhawks win!!


It was fixed.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Blackhawks win!!
> 
> 
> 
> It was fixed.
Click to expand...


Wow, you know your Chicago history !!
Go Bolts, zap those Hawks in mid_flight!


----------



## Gary A.

NancyMoranG said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Blackhawks win!!
> 
> 
> 
> It was fixed.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Wow, you know your Chicago history !!
> Go Bolts, zap those Hawks in mid_flight!
Click to expand...

I'm not anti-Chicago, just pro Ducks. Yesterday attended a Pacific Symphony concert in tribute to Andrea Pravin. He spoke about his music. It was a very pleasant evening. 



 
iPhone image.


----------



## Gary A.

BTW- Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. On my second cup of coffee. The first was before Cookie's walk. The second was upon our return. It is cold but still good.


----------



## limr

Starting to scan the film from yesterday. The first two rolls of 120, as I said, were really really dense with a lot of base fog because I messed up and read the recipe wrong. It calls for 1 gram of potassium bromide, or 6 grams of salt as a substitute. I always use salt, but I somehow reversed the numbers and put only one gram of salt. 

Just scanned the first roll and it was all bunged up - images are visible and even recognizable, but just not usable. Too dark, too muddy, and weird spots.

Damnit, my best shot ever was on that roll! (says everyone who has ever messed up a roll of film...)

The second roll seems to be slightly better, but still not really usable. Luckily, I figured out the problem before I did any more developing. Added salt and did two more rolls of 120 that look much much better. Still base fog, but Foma is always a little foggy. Usually it still scans fine. Here's hoping!


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Damnit, my best shot ever was on that roll!


Rats!

I was SO looking forward to seeing it.


----------



## Gary A.

And it always happens to your best stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image
Some homemade Sangria for the afternoon.


----------



## Gary A.

A wonderfully perfect day. 72f with a slight breeze. Perfect for drinking Sangria and relaxing by the pond.


----------



## Gary A.

The Sangria is pretty good.


----------



## snowbear

Good evening, peeps.  It's been a busy weekend, especially today.
I've had to recreate some maps for my boss as he has to make some staffing decisions due to upcoming budget cuts.  We went to his place today for a barbecue.  On the way back (about an hour from home) we bought a new sofa and love seat (1/2 off sale).


----------



## minicoop1985

Good evening, yo hizzle fo shizzle.

Those responsible for that last comment have been sacked.

Anyway, TUESDAY IS SO FAR AWAYYYY


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Those responsible for that last comment have been sacked.



??

Odd message with no point of reference given . . . sounds like one of our nieces.


----------



## minicoop1985

Have you never seen Monty Python's flying circus? Ugh, kids these days. 

Got a batch of fresh developer made today in anticipation of the rest of my camera getting here Tuesday.


----------



## limr

A møøse once bit my sister.


----------



## Gary A.

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga at the Hollywood Bowl. 



iPhone image (dunno who's owns the foot.)


----------



## limr

I can't think of the Hollywood Bowl without thinking of this scene from _Anchors Aweigh_:


----------



## limr

I also love watching Oscar Levant playing.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Ugh, *kids* these days.


Why thank you (I'm over 50)!  I love it when I go to a restaurant, order a drink and the waiter (who's easily half my age) cards me!

I remember the line, now.  It's been quite a while since I've seen it.

Ni  ni  ni.


----------



## limr




----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image
A great performance.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Moose bites Kan be pretti nasti..


----------



## vintagesnaps

Also a great performance...


----------



## vintagesnaps

This doesn't even take 20 seconds to get NSFW (language) for anyone who needs to know. (Hurry, hit mute! lol)






Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowel


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.


----------



## bribrius

well. It is morning. sixty degrees. rain. Been raining for two days. I left my potted cactus outside. I don't think a cactus is meant to float so it doesn't look happy.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Getting some much needed rain here.  I didn't even mind getting wet walking to the train (hate carrying big umbrellas).  This also means it is getting cooler, highs in the low 70's to about 80 instead of about ten degrees warmer.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga at the Hollywood Bowl. View attachment 102421



Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga? That's one of the most random pairings I've seen in quite a while.


----------



## sm4him

Morning, Hosers.  It's been a rough week this past week in my world. My calendar says Memorial Day was just a week ago, but it feels like a month!!
My mom spent Memorial Day evening/night at the ER (they "admitted" her, but never actually got her into a room--my sister ended up sleeping on the floor of the ER room).
They sent her home the next day with an antibiotic for a bladder infection (she'd already been on one, and the infection HAD gotten better--but they decided that was still the problem) and some medication for diverticulosis.

She was miserable all week. Nothing seemed to help.  By Friday morning, she was in agony. Back to the ER she went, Friday morning.
By 4 p.m., they had "admitted" her again. This time, she did finally get into an actual hospital room. At 9:30 p.m. 
She was either completely knocked out on pain meds, or else at a 10 on the pain scale--no in-between.
CT scans looked okay, ultrasound all looked normal. All they were finding was the bladder infection. Finally, after much cajoling/pestering/general-nuisance-making, we got them to send a surgeon to do a consult. He looked at all the test results, pressed around on her, and decided that he thought it was her gall bladder, despite the fact that it looked okay on the ultrasound.  So, they did surgery Saturday, and it was indeed infected.

Now, it's just proving to be a very long, slow process to get her back to a point where she's eating and aware enough for them to talk about sending her home.


----------



## sm4him

My mother can be quite entertaining, though.  At one point, while still in the ER, she woke momentarily from one of her drug-induced periods, rolled toward me and said, "I wish I was at the Garth Brooks concert instead of here."

Now, the interesting thing is--Garth Brooks actually WAS in town, doing 4 sold-out concerts this past weekend (because I live in redneck country).
But my mother LITERALLY didn't know what day it was--she has some dementia, and could not dredge up the date when she was asked. Couldn't even manage to come up with the correct month.  But she knew Garth Brooks was in town?!?! 

The second interesting thing about that is: So far as I know, my mother has never heard a single Garth Brooks song in her life.  She doesn't even listen to country music in general.  I asked her if she could name a SINGLE thing he sings, which of course, she couldn't.

Yesterday, I asked her if she remembered telling me that. She said, "Sure. And it's still true." 
But she still couldn't name any of his music.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Morning, Hosers.  It's been a rough week this past week in my world. My calendar says Memorial Day was just a week ago, but it feels like a month!!
> My mom spent Memorial Day evening/night at the ER (they "admitted" her, but never actually got her into a room--my sister ended up sleeping on the floor of the ER room).
> They sent her home the next day with an antibiotic for a bladder infection (she'd already been on one, and the infection HAD gotten better--but they decided that was still the problem) and some medication for diverticulosis.
> 
> She was miserable all week. Nothing seemed to help.  By Friday morning, she was in agony. Back to the ER she went, Friday morning.
> By 4 p.m., they had "admitted" her again. This time, she did finally get into an actual hospital room. At 9:30 p.m.
> She was either completely knocked out on pain meds, or else at a 10 on the pain scale--no in-between.
> CT scans looked okay, ultrasound all looked normal. All they were finding was the bladder infection. Finally, after much cajoling/pestering/general-nuisance-making, we got them to send a surgeon to do a consult. He looked at all the test results, pressed around on her, and decided that he thought it was her gall bladder, despite the fact that it looked okay on the ultrasound.  So, they did surgery Saturday, and it was indeed infected.
> 
> Now, it's just proving to be a very long, slow process to get her back to a point where she's eating and aware enough for them to talk about sending her home.


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> My mother can be quite entertaining, though.  At one point, while still in the ER, she woke momentarily from one of her drug-induced periods, rolled toward me and said, "I wish I was at the Garth Brooks concert instead of here."
> 
> Now, the interesting thing is--Garth Brooks actually WAS in town, doing 4 sold-out concerts this past weekend (because I live in redneck country).
> But my mother LITERALLY didn't know what day it was--she has some dementia, and could not dredge up the date when she was asked. Couldn't even manage to come up with the correct month.  But she knew Garth Brooks was in town?!?!
> 
> The second interesting thing about that is: So far as I know, my mother has never heard a single Garth Brooks song in her life.  She doesn't even listen to country music in general.  I asked her if she could name a SINGLE thing he sings, which of course, she couldn't.
> 
> Yesterday, I asked her if she remembered telling me that. She said, "Sure. And it's still true."
> But she still couldn't name any of his music.


 I can't abide heavy metal music, but I'd much rather be at  <Insert appropriate band's name here>'s concert than in the hospital!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> I can't abide heavy metal music, but I'd much rather be at  <Insert appropriate band's name here>'s concert than in the hospital!



I'd even rather be at a Justin Bi---  oh hellz, what am I saying? I'd rather be in the hospital!


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga at the Hollywood Bowl. View attachment 102421
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga? That's one of the most random pairings I've seen in quite a while.
Click to expand...

I'm not a Lady Gaga fan ... but ... as I was quite impressed with her singing the Sound of Music at the Academy Awards, (Disney Leo), she did a very very good job at the Bowl. It was all about Tony Bennett and she pretty much followed his lead and sang the old Tony Bennett stuff both singularly and as a duet. She in her flashy costumes and Bennett in a cream blazer singing effortlessly with one hand in his pocket. Damn, I love the old stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 64F right now, may climb up to the mid 70's. Heavy marine layer, you could see and feel it last night at the bowl. Sorry about your mother Sharon. To be fair, I can't name a single Garth Brooks song either.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 64F right now, may climb up to the mid 70's. Heavy marine layer, you could see and feel it last night at the bowl. Sorry about your mother Sharon. To be fair, I can't name a single Garth Brooks song either.



She'll be alright; just takes much longer to bounce back when you're very nearly 89 years old.

To be honest, after I asked her if she could even name a Garth Brooks song, I realized that if she named any song at all, I'd have NO idea whether she was right or not.


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> My mother can be quite entertaining, though.  At one point, while still in the ER, she woke momentarily from one of her drug-induced periods, rolled toward me and said, "I wish I was at the Garth Brooks concert instead of here."



Glad to hear she's on the mend.

I suppose this is her version of the quote W.C. Fields reportedly wanted as his epitaph: "All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."  (he actually was born here)


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> My mother can be quite entertaining, though.  At one point, while still in the ER, she woke momentarily from one of her drug-induced periods, rolled toward me and said, "I wish I was at the Garth Brooks concert instead of here."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glad to hear she's on the mend.
> 
> I suppose this is her version of the quote W.C. Fields reportedly wanted as his epitaph: "All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."  (he actually was born here)
Click to expand...


Well, it was an escalation really. EVERY time she "came to" she'd tell me something she'd rather be doing than lying there in the ER. As if it were possible that she might actually WANT to be there. 
It's just that the previous 956 times, she'd either said she'd rather be playing cards (which is, in fact, what she usually does on Fridays) or that she'd rather be home with her cats. Then the 957th time, suddenly she comes up with Garth Brooks. Makes you wonder which wires were crossing.


----------



## sm4him

She also said she hurt so bad, it made her want to throw things. So my sister and I looked around the room and found something we figured she could safely throw that wouldn't do any damage. We handed it to her and told her she could throw that, and she said, "I'll wait til the nurse comes in."


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> She also said she hurt so bad, it made her want to throw things. So my sister and I looked around the room and found something we figured she could safely throw that wouldn't do any damage. We handed it to her and told her she could throw that, and she said, "I'll wait til the nurse comes in."



Aww, she's a feisty one, isn't she? I like her!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> She also said she hurt so bad, it made her want to throw things. So my sister and I looked around the room and found something we figured she could safely throw that wouldn't do any damage. We handed it to her and told her she could throw that, and she said, "I'll wait til the nurse comes in."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Aww, she's a feisty one, isn't she? I like her!
Click to expand...


She is that. They may have removed her gall bladder, but my guess is, she's still got PLENTY of gall. 

Up until recently, most people would never guess that she was even in her 80s, never mind nearing 89 now. She was still driving until a couple of episodes earlier this year where she passed out (NOT at the wheel, thank goodness!).
She has, in the past ten years:
Gone white-water rafting
Gone on a helicopter ride
Gone on a motorcycle ride (for this one, she drove herself to a motorcycle shop, walked in and announced that she wanted to ride a motorcycle. Some complete stranger/biker dude took her for a ride on his big Harley, out to the senior center so she could "prove" to all her friends she'd been on a motorcycle!)
Went on a cruise (a first for her)

She REALLY wants to go skydiving but so far hasn't been able to get final approval to do so.  She also wanted to do a zipline, but that one apparently got nixed quite quickly by her eye doctor.  She's had some different eye surgeries that evidently make the whole zip-lining thing a more dangerous affair.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good for your mom - go girl! Hope she gets out of the hospital soon.

'I got friends in looow places...' - don't you guys at least know that Garth Brooks tune? I like bluegrass more than most country, and not a fan of Lady Gaga's music but she has a wonderful voice.

Isn't there some song about a granny on a motorcycle? go granny, go granny, go granny - go! What song am I thinking of?? lol


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Good for your mom - go girl! Hope she gets out of the hospital soon.
> 
> 'I got friends in looow places...' - don't you guys at least know that Garth Brooks tune? I like bluegrass more than most country, and not a fan of Lady Gaga's music but she has a wonderful voice.
> 
> Isn't there some song about a granny on a motorcycle? go granny, go granny, go granny - go! What song am I thinking of?? lol



You're sure you're not thinking of Go Johnny Go?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Could be! but wasn't there a spoof of it? I don't know, it's something from some dim recess of my mind...


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Could be! but wasn't there a spoof of it? I don't know, it's something from some dim recess of my mind...



This isn't it, but it's still pretty damn funny


----------



## vintagesnaps

OK now I had to go and look it up... 






And there's the Hollywood Bowl again... Maybe Gary knows her.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Here's a good one, with Dean Martin! how did Jan and Dean ever have a career after this? particularly about 2 min. in.






Watched this twice and been laughing so hard I can't even type I'm cryin' and hackin' up a lung! lol


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, I've lived in Pasadena ...


----------



## Designer

I've driven on Whittier Boulevard!


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> I've driven on Whittier Boulevard!


LOL ... I drive on Whittier as least three times a week.


... in my Chevy.


----------



## sm4him

vintagesnaps said:


> Here's a good one, with Dean Martin! how did Jan and Dean ever have a career after this? particularly about 2 min. in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Watched this twice and been laughing so hard I can't even type I'm cryin' and hackin' up a lung! lol



Oh my GOODNESS, it's the original Milli Vanilli!! That is some serious lip sync fail going on right there--to their credit, by the end, they aren't even trying to keep up.

I confess, though, that I always loved this song in particular, and Jan & Dean in general. I just had NO IDEA how it was all going to look to us 50 years later…


----------



## minicoop1985

OMG IT GETS HERE TOMORROWWWWWWW I'M SO EXCITED I CAN'T CONTAIN IT ANYMORE


----------



## snowbear

.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> .



Watch your language!


----------



## snowbear

I was trying to reply to (the other) Sharon but didn't scroll down far enough to see she had her answer.

Now I can't think of anything smart@$$ed to say.


----------



## bribrius

meh. watching the movie "charade". (1963)
seems i have a real vintage addiction.


----------



## snowbear

Oh crap - I just noticed my notoriety (I enter the site at New Posts)

OK Leonore - you get to be the June bug


 .


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> Oh crap - I just noticed my notoriety (I enter the site at New Posts)
> 
> OK Leonore - you get to be the June bug
> 
> View attachment 102496 .


you are the top post of the month!!!!!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Oh crap - I just noticed my notoriety (I enter the site at New Posts)
> 
> OK Leonore - you get to be the June bug
> 
> View attachment 102496 .


----------



## snowbear

I really need to go move some furniture around.  Uncle-in-law (father of the very lovely but sometimes irritating nieces) is coming to pick up the old love seat in the AM and we have to get it around and between the sofa and the dining room table and to the patio door.


----------



## Gary A.

At least you have a plan.


----------



## snowbear

Not so much a plan as a concept in it's most general form.  

'Tis done.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone photo

At the Bowl, looking straight up you'll see an X in the sky. Last night the X was diffused due to a heavy marine layer. During a performance the Bowl becomes an FAA No Fly area. 




iPhone photo


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.  Cup number two.

Thirty-one years ago, today!


----------



## KenC

Awww ...  She married you despite all that dandruff.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  I'm trying to catch up to Charlie with my first cup.  Not much happening here.  Rained like crazy yesterday and still getting a little now - people are wet, but gardens are happy.


----------



## bribrius

first cup here. kids off too school. watching "the graduate" and going through photos. Thinking i need something new to shoot.
whats new...


----------



## bribrius

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  I'm trying to catch up to Charlie with my first cup.  Not much happening here.  Rained like crazy yesterday and still getting a little now - people are wet, but gardens are happy.


yeah,, been raining here for three days i think. Pretty sure my potted cactus should have been brought in.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

We're getting lots of rain, too. Cooled off quite a bit and we're back to some nice chilly sleeping temps at night. We were actually back to some chilly weather during the day, too. Didn't get past the mid-50s. I will take that any day over the almost-90 degrees last week.


----------



## KenC

bribrius said:


> Pretty sure my potted cactus should have been brought in.





bribrius said:


> Thinking i need something new to shoot.
> whats new...



Abstract close-ups of drowned cactus.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, folks. Second cup here too.

Impatiently awaiting everyone else to wake up as well as waiting for my Hasselblad to arrive.  I'm not a patient person when it comes to ordering things


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, folks. Second cup here too.
> 
> Impatiently awaiting everyone else to wake up as well as waiting for my Hasselblad to arrive.  I'm not a patient person when it comes to ordering things


thats pretty exciting. I have a hoya nd filter i think coming in today. About it.


----------



## snowbear

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  I'm trying to catch up to Charlie with my first cup.  Not much happening here.  Rained like crazy yesterday and still getting a little now - people are wet, but gardens are happy.


On number three, now.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. First cup after getting off some work emails and stuff. Congrats Charlie on the anniversary. 61F right now. Not a cloud in the sky ... (not one from my vantage point anyway). Should hit 75F today. Nights here are always cool, lower 60's, upper 50's. (But there's no parking.) Gotta get going, I have some early appointments.


----------



## sm4him

There is not enough coffee in this entire city to keep me going today. I got the fun job of night duty with Mom at the hospital last night.
Between about 3:15 a.m. and 5 a.m. was the only uninterrupted sleep I got. I got no sleep at all before 3 a.m.--well, that's not quite true. I did manage to fall asleep for about 20 minutes around midnight.


The nurse and CNA both came in at one point, I think around 5 a.m. Poked and prodded on mom, then asked her if she was in any pain. She said, "Not when you aren't around." BWAHAHAHA!!


----------



## sm4him

When you come off the elevator on mom's floor of the hospital, this sign is there to greet you.




 

This explains why she's been in there for 5 days now--they only let her do any actual healing for two hours a day!


----------



## snowbear

Hoping she gets better and out of there quickly.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Hoping she gets better and out of there quickly.



Thanks, Charlie. She's definitely getting there--it's just a VERY long, slow process to recovery when you're 88 years old (nearly 89; her birthday is in August).  Last night, her temp dropped below 100 and she didn't want any pain medication all night, so we are headed in the right direction!  She still doesn't eat more than two or three bites of her meals and she is still napping as much as she's awake, but honestly, I don't think that's a whole lot different than when she was at home.


----------



## bribrius

KenC said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty sure my potted cactus should have been brought in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thinking i need something new to shoot.
> whats new...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Abstract close-ups of drowned cactus.
Click to expand...

not a bad idea. i should be doing something more productive right now but instead i am messing with random junk photos.  There was a woman running pushing this stroller (i cropped her out). where does someone get the ambition to go running pushing two kids i couldn't tell ya.


----------



## minicoop1985

IT CAMEEEEEE

Best camera I've ever owned. Hands down. And I know that even at this point. Glass is offensively sharp. Screen is insanely bright and big. Focus is stupid fast. Oh man this is the camera I've waited a looong time for.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers! I'm going to need so much coffee today.

One day until vacation...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Only eight hours and then you're free ... free as a Lark. You ought to retrace my recent footsteps. Explore the Mother Lode country with Samuel Clemens. Then up to the Sierra Nevada and eat at the Donner Picnic Grounds (swear to God we past that spot). Down through the Central Valley, with crops stretching as far as the eye can see. Then to the Northern California, rugged coasts, cliffs a hundred feet plus high, Redwood forests stretching upwards hundreds of feet, blocking out the harsh sun and wind ('tis like walking into an empty cathedral, cool, quiet and still). The last lap is a race around Sonoma/Napa wine country, eating and drinking some of the best food and drink in the world. We really had a good time.


----------



## limr

That does sound lovely, Tio. I do want to visit California at some point. Ideally, Buzz and I will be driving across the country together. Until then, I'll be enjoying views of the Atlantic instead of the Pacific


----------



## Gary A.

Still on my first cup of Costco Colombian Supremo. Typical overcast morning today. June gloom we call it out here. Should hit the mid 70's today.

My biggest event from yesterday was Animal Control. I just arrived home from some appoints when Animal Control come knocking on my door. I've been having a problem with my neighbor's dogs. They keep digging under the fence and getting into Cookie's yard. Normally, I wouldn't mind ... I wouldn't even mind picking up their dumps ... if the dogs were properly socialized and would come over, say hi and play with Cookie. But the dogs haven't any interest in interacting with others regardless of species. This has been going on for a few months. This guy, ( Mary Lou has dubbed a$$hole), moves in behind me with these two little dogs. I welcome him to the neighborhood, I give him a bottle of wine, I tell him that any fruit he can grab he can have (lemons, oranges and avocados). I go out of my way to be friendly.  Then his dogs start to dig under the fence and come over. I really wouldn't mind, there's plenty to explore in the yard ... but when they see me they bark and run back home. I tell him and he says that he'll do something it (the guy is a contractor ... so he knows how to hold a hammer). I register a complaints for about six weeks and nada. I even plug up the holes on my side and he does nothing. Finally, the last straw, Mary Lou is in the yard and the dogs start snarling and growling at her. So no more mister nice guy and the a$$hole starts arguing with me when I confront him with the problem. He started using the 'F' word at me and I end the conversation with "okay, I have no choice but to call Animal Control." And he yells back "Go ahead, call Animal Control." So Mary Lou did. Animal Control came out and the following day after Animal Control came out I hear him pounding away on his side.

That resolved the problem for a few months. But now the dogs have dug under his fix. Mary Lou goes over and complains to a$$hole and his g/f, (she enjoys doing such). Then came back and calls Animal Control. Yesterday, Animal Control come over to investigate my side of the story. Cookie greets her at the door with her tail wagging. We climb up the retaining wall incline to the fence, guided the whole way by Cookie. She sees how I have attempted to block the dogs from coming over and she sees and photographs were a$$holes dogs have dug under the fence. She pops her head up over the fence to take a look at a$$holes yard and his dogs go nuts ... they start barking and growling ... each dog ramping up the other dog back and forth until they're screaming. (It was like a movie ... "Cue the mad dogs ...".)  I look at her and said "They're not socialized." She nods her head in agreement. She was eyeing my lemons so I picked a few for her. We walk out to the front with Cookie leading the way. She tells Cookie what a nice dog she is and pets her. She tells me she'll take care of the problem.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Good luck with all,of this! What a shame.


----------



## limr

Just under three hours left...

Have to hit the grocery store on the way home, and then pack. So friggin' excited to get away. I am fried.

Plus, I get really antsy if I haven't traveled in a while.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Are ya done?? Can the rejoicing begin?


----------



## limr

All done! Rejoice!  

Now I just have to pack...


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> She tells me she'll take care of the problem.


Believe it when (if) the problem is resolved.


----------



## Gary A.

My carrot and tomato soup. 




iPhone image


----------



## oldhippy




----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> My carrot and tomato soup.
> 
> View attachment 102622iPhone image


Didn'tcha' mean carrot, tomato and _*BACON*_ soup?


----------



## minicoop1985

Coop and Mama by Michael Long, on Flickr

My day yesterday.


----------



## sm4him

Hey, Hosers!!

I'm tired. 
So very, very tired.

G'night, Hosers. I think I'll go crawl into bed.


----------



## limr

G'night! Enjoy your sleeps


----------



## EIngerson

There is not enough coffee in the world today. Just so you all know, moving from Japan back to the US is EXHAUSTING!!! And I haven't even left yet!

Okay, I'm done, thanks for hearing me vent.


----------



## sm4him

EIngerson said:


> There is not enough coffee in the world today. Just so you all know, moving from Japan back to the US is EXHAUSTING!!! And I haven't even left yet!
> 
> Okay, I'm done, thanks for hearing me vent.



Moving ANYwhere is exhausting, even if you only go across town (when I was a kid, we once moved from Jonesboro, TN to Johnson City, TN--but actually, we just moved about a mile down the same road we were already on). Moving to another country? Gah...I think I'd pick a box or two of stuff to ship, leave everything else and just buy it when I get where I'm going.


----------



## sm4him

Oh, and there's not enough coffee for me today, either.
I've got early duty at the hospital with mi madre, then off to work by at least lunchtime, and then a funeral tonight for a sweet old man who passed away this week, but in truth, stopped living nearly a year ago when his wife passed away.


----------



## limr

EIngerson said:


> There is not enough coffee in the world today. Just so you all know, moving from Japan back to the US is EXHAUSTING!!! And I haven't even left yet!
> 
> Okay, I'm done, thanks for hearing me vent.



I remember moving back to the States after 5 years abroad. Brutal. I feel your pain 

Also feeling the pain of Not Enough Coffee In The World.  But at least now I have some and in one hour...road trip!! 

Oh lord, even seeing the dancing smiley makes me tired. No way I'm actually dancing. On the inside, maybe. I have a feeling that the beginning of the road trip is going to be a road nap


----------



## snowbear

My only moving is shuffling stuff around so the furniture can be delivered sometime this morning; then a meeting this afternoon.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Welcome back Elngerson!


----------



## EIngerson

Now that I'm settling down for the evening, I hope there's enough beer.


----------



## EIngerson

NancyMoranG said:


> Welcome back Elngerson!



Thank you very much Nancy.


----------



## EIngerson

limr said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> There is not enough coffee in the world today. Just so you all know, moving from Japan back to the US is EXHAUSTING!!! And I haven't even left yet!
> 
> Okay, I'm done, thanks for hearing me vent.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I remember moving back to the States after 5 years abroad. Brutal. I feel your pain
> 
> Also feeling the pain of Not Enough Coffee In The World.  But at least now I have some and in one hour...road trip!!
> 
> Oh lord, even seeing the dancing smiley makes me tired. No way I'm actually dancing. On the inside, maybe. I have a feeling that the beginning of the road trip is going to be a road nap
Click to expand...



Yeah, I'll live. Just been one of those days. Tomorrow should be the same. lol.


----------



## EIngerson

I did have my daily "Vente Iced Americano" today. So it's not a total loss.


----------



## minicoop1985

Welcome back!

I have a lot of pictures of my two favorite subjects i want to share.




Mama and Coop by Michael Long, on Flickr

There's more, but I need to scan them.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Trying to wake up and hoping the coffee and chocolate snack will do it, and that the Advil will take care of the headache.  Coming back to work after a day at home isn't the best for my head.  I get to take over some work from someone who's on leave and I know some of it is a mess.


----------



## snowbear

Furniture has been delivered and (mostly) in place.
Welcome back (when you finally get here), Eric.  Is this a state-side assignment or are you getting out?


----------



## snowbear

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Trying to wake up and hoping the coffee and chocolate snack will do it, and that the Advil will take care of the headache.  Coming back to work after a day at home isn't the best for my head.  I get to take over some work from someone who's on leave and I know some of it is a mess.



Good luck.  I've been there.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Man, did I have a rough evening. I ate way too much. Mary Lou said I need to learn portion control. She simply stopped eating ... I decided I needed to finish the meal ... and to my credit I did so ... but my body sorta shut down and gave my brain the finger.  After dinner I felt so crappy that I just went to bed.


----------



## Gary A.

A BIG welcome back to the world Eric. Where will you be stationed?


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Oh, and there's not enough coffee for me today, either.
> I've got early duty at the hospital with mi madre, then off to work by at least lunchtime, and then a funeral tonight for a sweet old man who passed away this week, but in truth, stopped living nearly a year ago when his wife passed away.



My father was like that. After Mom died, he just checked out from the world and waited for the time when they would be together again. It took a few years.


----------



## Gary A.

I still don't feel 100%. It was just soup and salad, but it took me down. 



 iPhone image
This was the salad. 

This was the soup.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> There is not enough coffee in the world today. Just so you all know, moving from Japan back to the US is EXHAUSTING!!! And I haven't even left yet!
> 
> Okay, I'm done, thanks for hearing me vent.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I remember moving back to the States after 5 years abroad. Brutal. I feel your pain
> 
> Also feeling the pain of Not Enough Coffee In The World.  But at least now I have some and in one hour...road trip!!
> 
> Oh lord, even seeing the dancing smiley makes me tired. No way I'm actually dancing. On the inside, maybe. I have a feeling that the beginning of the road trip is going to be a road nap
Click to expand...

Okay, so where are you going? We expect and deserve pictures.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Buzz saws are buzzing... an early morning for me (not that I'm the one doing the buzz sawing!) but I'm not used to this get up early crap anymore! lol But at least this is going faster than I would've thought, I'll just be glad to have this done and get estimates for the rest of the gutter damage etc. Which could have been worse than it was. School's out and my neighbors went on vacation, good move on their part!

Oh Sharon my family did the same thing, we moved up the street... Then many years later when I was away (well not that far away) in college the joke was about them telling me (or not!?!) where they were moving, har de har. Bunch of smart asses is my family. Not me though.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay ... I'm gonna try the Paleo Diet. That's it.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> I still don't feel 100%. It was just soup and salad, but it took me down.
> This was the salad.



Ah. Chicken.
It's ALWAYS the chicken.

Sure does LOOK good though. A sight better than hospital food, for sure. Well, except for that making you sick thing.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I still don't feel 100%. It was just soup and salad, but it took me down.
> This was the salad.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ah. Chicken.
> It's ALWAYS the chicken.
> 
> Sure does LOOK good though. A sight better than hospital food, for sure. Well, except for that making you sick thing.
Click to expand...

LOL ... It was the quantity ... not the quality. Most of the stuff I cook is more par with upper scale eateries.


----------



## sm4him

vintagesnaps said:


> Buzz saws are buzzing... an early morning for me (not that I'm the one doing the buzz sawing!) but I'm not used to this get up early crap anymore! lol But at least this is going faster than I would've thought, I'll just be glad to have this done and get estimates for the rest of the gutter damage etc. Which could have been worse than it was. School's out and my neighbors went on vacation, good move on their part!
> 
> Oh Sharon my family did the same thing, we moved up the street... Then many years later when I was away (well not that far away) in college the joke was about them telling me (or not!?!) where they were moving, har de har. Bunch of smart asses is my family. Not me though.



Well, on top of that, it was actually Christmas Eve when we moved. Why did my parents pick Christmas Eve?!?!
My sister was about 6, I was 5. We were TERRIFIED that Santa would not be able to find us.
When he managed to bring us what we wanted anyway, it had different effects. For my sister, it cemented her belief in the Jolly Old Elf for some time to come. For me, it was the beginning of the end because even at 5, I could figure out that there was just something not quite right about that whole thing.

Later, we DID up and move away from my brothers. The two oldest boys were 9 and 10 years older than me. So when we moved to Atlanta, they were in their early 20s. They stayed here, we moved. We made all those same jokes, because we are a bunch of smart @sses too. Every now and then, we STILL remind them that their parents up and left them.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I still don't feel 100%. It was just soup and salad, but it took me down.
> This was the salad.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ah. Chicken.
> It's ALWAYS the chicken.
> 
> Sure does LOOK good though. A sight better than hospital food, for sure. Well, except for that making you sick thing.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... It was the quantity ... not the quality. Most of the stuff I cook is more par with upper scale eateries.
Click to expand...


Oh, good. It just sounded like you were saying it had made you sick! Your cooking always looks amazing!


----------



## bribrius

just ordered another 178 4x6 prints. We just keep putting them in a big box. I stopped buying albums, as they albums were taking up too much room and cost more than some of the prints. But now i am wondering if tossing photos in a box is really that smart a idea (been doing it for years though).   Checking out photolabs, received some samples. some color corrected/some labeled not color corrected.  Thing is they labeled them on bw film prints i sent out. I can't tell the difference. why even bother labeling them?  Paper samples, half i can't tell the difference. They look the same to me..  some i can tell, good majority, look the same. 
Comparing prints between labs. I can say the walmart store onsight version is drastically inferior to some of the labs. I ordered through the fuji lab via walmart. Waiting to compare them. Basically just lining up 8x10's on the kitchen table and staring at them with the wife. see if we can tell the difference.  I heard mpix was a division of miller labs. But i did compare them.  I can tell the difference between what i ordered from miller labs and mpix. So they aren't quite the same.  Miller labs is weird though. I have this pro whatever account there now.  And it says they nolonger do bw film developing. I thought they were a pro lab. But mpix does bw film developing. So much for the same company.


----------



## bribrius

i never realized how actually bad the walmart prints were. Until we lined them up on the kitchen table the other night comparing them. The walmart prints really do suck.


----------



## bribrius

considered adorama for trying too. But another photographer here just told me to skip right over them unless it is low quality stuff. He suggested nations photo, i guess that is what he uses, then he uses adorama for the stuff he doesn't really care too much about..


----------



## bribrius

started framing stuff for the house again. Pretty much all going to be bw film with black frames and matte.


----------



## minicoop1985

Walmart prints are kinda rubbery and weird. I hate them so much.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Walmart prints are kinda rubbery and weird. I hate them so much.


The send out ones go to fuji labs i think. The ones done in store are a fuji machine (least here i believe). so it seems a choice of really bad fuji in store or not quite as bad fuji (if you send it out).  For most people they probably don't know or see the difference. It is putting them side by side with other labs i really seem to notice. It is actually cheaper to send out through walmart than do it in store in the one hour. So if you are willing to wait, you save money plus the prints seems a little better that get sent out.


----------



## bribrius

The miller lab prints i just got back are really nice, course, they aren't exactly cheap.....


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nice picture but hey that kid's sideways!  Discount stores and drugstores have always been awful in my area for developing. Since one place after another went out of business I send out to The Darkroom in San Clemente but they do digital prints from the color film, which are real nice but I'd like some done in wet chemistry, just a different quality to me (and I mean, I can print my own digital prints from the scans). Ilford's lab for B&W is in with The Darkroom and they do wet prints so I'm going to try them.

All quiet, no buzz saws, no chopper, so now here comes the grass cutting. Glad to get it all done in one day and tomorrow I ain't doin' nuttin'! Nuttin' I say! Of course it's not like I'm doing the actual work... lol


----------



## Gary A.

Relish in the quiet.


----------



## bribrius

vintagesnaps said:


> Nice picture but hey that kid's sideways!  Discount stores and drugstores have always been awful in my area for developing. Since one place after another went out of business I send out to The Darkroom in San Clemente but they do digital prints from the color film, which are real nice but I'd like some done in wet chemistry, just a different quality to me (and I mean, I can print my own digital prints from the scans). Ilford's lab for B&W is in with The Darkroom and they do wet prints so I'm going to try them.
> 
> All quiet, no buzz saws, no chopper, so now here comes the grass cutting. Glad to get it all done in one day and tomorrow I ain't doin' nuttin'! Nuttin' I say! Of course it's not like I'm doing the actual work... lol


i couldn't find any portrait orientation frames just landscape.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Okay, so where are you going? We expect and deserve pictures.



I will report that information when we arrive


----------



## minicoop1985

What a nice day for a nature/picture walk. Unfortunately I won't get the film done until Monday (shot Provia, not B&W), so nothing until then. I really, really need a digital back or to get my DSLR up and running again...


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> What a nice day for a nature/picture walk. Unfortunately I won't get the film done until Monday (shot Provia, not B&W), so nothing until then. I really, really need a digital back or to get my DSLR up and running again...


It does help having digital if for no other reason just to beat on it.. I like the freedom of my point and shoots and the challenge of the really crappy ones (i like the look but they make me work harder). Dslr for the more particular stuff or just to randomly shoot whatever. Nice to be able to fire off shots without a care.  Sometimes what i will actually do is shoot the same shot twice, once with digital and take a look at it in live view and check exposure. Think about it for a sec, if it is worth shooting in film.  Then shoot the same shot again for real with the film.  So i sort use the digital as a pre film shot tool. Not all the times, but i have caught myself doing it a few.   shoot digital, think about it...   Then kind of a "ahh hell, i think i will go film". I usually carry both, fear of coming across something i want in film but not having a film camera with me. For a buck a shot too, the majority of stuff i just dont think is worth the buck of shooting it film. Or i just dont have a purpose for film for that shot.


----------



## bribrius

Other thing i will do, oddly enough, is take a crap load of digital shots. (i basically just dont worry about digital to much).  Flip through them to a extent. Again like PRE-shooting but i am actually taking the shots.   If i see something i think i will take more serious or interests me for a shot i will make a note of it and return to that location to shoot it for "real" persay.  Sort of, pre planning. "scouting". so i guess i basically rack up shutters counts on digital, go home, take my time sipping my coffee/beer or whatever flipping through them. See if there is anything i really care enough about to actually re-shoot better or with film or with more thought put into it. I hardly ever find something i have enough interest in to go back and reshoot. But it has happend. As of now most all i shoot is with a point and shoot. Find something i care more about the dslr (might) come out. I really get serious i might actually decide to go for a certain lens or go film. Totally depends on what i am doing, looking at it or want to do. So i guess i use digital not just for friggn off but for sort of a personal log to, what is where. what could be shot that might have some more interest for me..   I have totally crappy digitals saved now just as a "log" of kind of  "hmm, at some point i think i might go back and re do this one ". If i delete them i will forget the location and shot and probably never do it.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, so where are you going? We expect and deserve pictures.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I will report that information when we arrive
Click to expand...

Carry on.


----------



## limr

Three Pines, baby! Hancock, Maine. It's glorious. The view from our room.


----------



## EIngerson

snowbear said:


> Furniture has been delivered and (mostly) in place.
> Welcome back (when you finally get here), Eric.  Is this a state-side assignment or are you getting out?




Yup, Assignment. Just another place to do my job.


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> There is not enough coffee in the world today. Just so you all know, moving from Japan back to the US is EXHAUSTING!!! And I haven't even left yet!
> 
> Okay, I'm done, thanks for hearing me vent.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I remember moving back to the States after 5 years abroad. Brutal. I feel your pain
> 
> Also feeling the pain of Not Enough Coffee In The World.  But at least now I have some and in one hour...road trip!!
> 
> Oh lord, even seeing the dancing smiley makes me tired. No way I'm actually dancing. On the inside, maybe. I have a feeling that the beginning of the road trip is going to be a road nap
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Okay, so where are you going? We expect and deserve pictures.
Click to expand...


I'll be back in sunny San Diego for a few years. I know, I know….the sacrifices I make for my country. lol

And you can definitely bank on photos. I'll be at the motocross tracks VERY soon after getting back.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Three Pines, baby! Hancock, Maine. It's glorious. The view from our room.
> 
> View attachment 102717


hey, who let you in?


----------



## bribrius

damn tourists..... lol


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  (even those of you who are off on vacation and having fun).

Having much needed coffee after worthless, but harmless meeting.  Last night I just started processing images from a trip to an arboretum (Swarthmore) W night.  I'll post the first one soon in the General Gallery.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Been up long enough to have moved on to my O.J. Hubby went fishing, of course, and I am making b'fast for his return.
Baked potato will turn in to hash browns, then some turkey sausage, green onions and eggs in a spinach veggie tortilla.
He will add salsa!!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

Had my coffee and some breakfast along with some kitties and little pug. 

Last night, I slept the sleep of the dead. Seriously. Normally, even when I'm very tired, the first night at a hotel is kind of rough because it's hard to sleep in a new place. And I was definitely tired! It was a long drive, but I've also come off of a week during which I had very little or very poor quality sleep.

This morning I woke up in the same position. I had barely moved at all. I slept hard, y'all. It was fantastic!


----------



## limr

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Three Pines, baby! Hancock, Maine. It's glorious. The view from our room.
> 
> View attachment 102717
> 
> 
> 
> hey, who let you in?
Click to expand...


Snuck in.



bribrius said:


> damn tourists..... lol



Don't worry, we'll quietly spend our money and then leave 

Even when we are the tourists, we stay away from them, too. Don't like crowds. We find out where all the hot tourist spots are and then drive an hour in the other direction.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Three Pines, baby! Hancock, Maine. It's glorious. The view from our room.
> 
> View attachment 102717
> 
> 
> 
> hey, who let you in?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Snuck in.
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> damn tourists..... lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't worry, we'll quietly spend our money and then leave
> 
> Even when we are the tourists, we stay away from them, too. Don't like crowds. We find out where all the hot tourist spots are and then drive an hour in the other direction.
Click to expand...

what a odd thought. That means when you drove through you were only sixteen miles from my house.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Should be in the 70's today. Mary Lou asked me if I had any plans for the weekend. I replied "No". Good she said, I just want to stay home and do nothing.


----------



## EIngerson

Ohayo Gozaimasu! Yoiichinichiwo sugoshimasu Errrrbody.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Should be in the 70's today. Mary Lou asked me if I had any plans for the weekend. I replied "No". Good she said, I just want to stay home and do nothing.



Mary Lou is a wise lady.  Purposeful sloth is a gift in this age of frenetic activity.  All that action gets in the way of reflection, retrospection, and introspection.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ah, to have a weekend devoid of doing anything would be fantastic. I could really use one of those, but a toddler commands every bit of energy one has....


----------



## NancyMoranG

Limr, wow what a great sleep you had! Waking up in the same position means you were dead to the world.
I usually can't sleep well away from home either. Usually pillow, blankets, temp, or something is just wrong :{
Enjoy.


----------



## minicoop1985

Coffee time, Hosers!


----------



## snerd

Howdy do, Hosers. I've been slowly acclimating to the world again. Taking short walks, being outside in the sun, Loving every minute of it! I received my quad copter last week, and have been busy learning to fly it. It's a lot of fun! I should get some sweet video and stills soon. On my second cup of coffee as I type................ need to get up and clean apartment, them head out for more flying practice.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Coffee time, Hosers!


Si! Es hora del cafe. Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Working on my to do list. Mary Lou and I decided that the remaining two turtles gotta go. The turtles are just too aggressive turning a tranquil pond into a pen of fear. So this morning my 15 year old turtle and five year old turtle will be release in the lake at the regional park. The Cook and I will let them go on our morning walk. Sorta sad, but the koi will be better off and now I can have plants in the pond. My previous attempts with plants failed because the turtles destroyed them.


----------



## limr

Good to see you feeling better, Snerd baby! 

Morning, hosers.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee time, Hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> Si! Es hora del cafe. Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Working on my to do list. Mary Lou and I decided that the remaining two turtles gotta go. The turtles are just too aggressive turning a tranquil pond into a pen of fear. So this morning my 15 year old turtle and five year old turtle will be release in the lake at the regional park. The Cook and I will let them go on our morning walk. Sorta sad, but the koi will be better off and now I can have plants in the pond. My previous attempts with plants failed because the turtles destroyed them.
Click to expand...


Say goodbye to the turtles for me!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee time, Hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> Si! Es hora del cafe. Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Working on my to do list. Mary Lou and I decided that the remaining two turtles gotta go. The turtles are just too aggressive turning a tranquil pond into a pen of fear. So this morning my 15 year old turtle and five year old turtle will be release in the lake at the regional park. The Cook and I will let them go on our morning walk. Sorta sad, but the koi will be better off and now I can have plants in the pond. My previous attempts with plants failed because the turtles destroyed them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Say goodbye to the turtles for me!
Click to expand...

They should be okay. There are other Red Eared Sliders in the lake, plus a nice sized island where they can bask without being harassed by passersbys. It is just a tough decision because my girls choose them on one of our excursions and they've been with me forever ... longer than Cookie (11 y/o). Mary Lou even thought of a separate pond for them ... but figured they'd make their way back and attack the koi.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Ah, to have a weekend devoid of doing anything would be fantastic. I could really use one of those, but a toddler commands every bit of energy one has....


no doubt.. And when they start getting older forget keeping grass in your yard.  They have four power wheels.  I have three bags of grass seed down and two in reserve (50 bucks a bag). I keep thinking of moving them up to go karts but i am not sure i can afford the grass seed and buying more dirt..


----------



## Gary A.

I had St. Augustine in the backyard for the girls, it can take a licking and still keep ticking. It was so thick that it was like walking on a wrestling mat, great for all the falls. Dunno if St. Augustine can take your winters though.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> I had St. Augustine in the backyard for the girls, it can take a licking and still keep ticking. It was so thick that it was like walking on a wrestling mat, great for all the falls. Dunno if St. Augustine can take your winters though.


----------



## tirediron

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had St. Augustine in the backyard for the girls, it can take a licking and still keep ticking. It was so thick that it was like walking on a wrestling mat, great for all the falls. Dunno if St. Augustine can take your winters though.
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 102774
Click to expand...

Make them a track, and have your lawn too... the best of both worlds.


----------



## bribrius

tirediron said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had St. Augustine in the backyard for the girls, it can take a licking and still keep ticking. It was so thick that it was like walking on a wrestling mat, great for all the falls. Dunno if St. Augustine can take your winters though.
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 102774
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Make them a track, and have your lawn too... the best of both worlds.
Click to expand...

looks expensive and they probably wouldn't stay on it anyway. Suffer through it for a few more years and they will have atv's and i can send them to the trails.


----------



## bribrius

There is actually a LOT of atv and snowmobile trails around here. You can cross through towns one town to another on them. I know most of them just from when i was young. Road a atv about everywhere, church, school, wherever. And crossing between trails you can always jump on the powerlines and follow them. Pretty much all that stops you is if you run out of gas.


----------



## Gary A.

Relaxing in the patio drinking and eating the last of the Sangria I made last week. The fruit I tossed into the Sangria is heaven. Mary Lou picked an artichoke and set it to steam. 


 iPhone pix


----------



## Gary A.

At this very moment ...life is very good. It is 77F with a pleasant breeze swaying the trees. Sipping some great Sangria, my feet are up and the evening light is back lighting the shimmering leaves and blossums and the yard is filled with birds from Hummers to Mockingbirds, butterflies, music and the yard is lush and blooming.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ah. Much better. Toddler is actually calm, I've got some caramel ice cream, it's in the mid 60s outside... It's just a good day.


----------



## limr

There was no time, no light, no truth or beauty, no war or pestilence. There was silence and floating and pure essence. And then, there was light again.

That was one hell of a nap.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> There was no time, no light, no truth or beauty, no war or pestilence. There was silence and floating and pure essence. And then, there was light again.
> 
> That was one hell of a nap.


I tried to take a nap ... but slept right through it.


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner is served.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> There was no time, no light, no truth or beauty, no war or pestilence. There was silence and floating and pure essence. And then, there was light again.
> 
> That was one hell of a nap.


Can't over-value a good nap!


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 102804
> Dinner is served.


i went to moms and she made me dinner. I am still a mommas boy. Gave the wife a break from cooking.


----------



## Gary A.

The end of that artichoke...


----------



## minicoop1985

Today was a good day, but man do I wish my wife was here with me instead of out partying. Would be nice to spend some damned time with her... lol


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Today was a good day, but man do I wish my wife was here with me instead of out partying. Would be nice to spend some damned time with her... lol


sounds like she is having a lot of fun! Good for her!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah, but... he's home and wishing she was there. But I can't say I get the whole open relationship kind of thing, guess I just don't see the point of it.

Kind of a do nothing weekend, which after a tiring week is about all I want to do. Had lasagna that I didn't have to cook, works for me.


----------



## Gary A.

Just Netflix-ed Selma. Five Star. I remember those days ... I remember running into people later in life who participated in the march.


----------



## EIngerson

Packing………

It makes me feel like this "AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!   &%$*#)()*$&*^$&^&$%^&$^&*&#*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## sm4him

Good coffee, Hosers!
I just finished my second cup of morning.

Um.
Wait.
I mean...

Maybe I'd better go have a third cup.


----------



## EIngerson

So all in all this move is a pain, but I'm pretty excited about it. Getting settled "home" again will be good.

Looking forward to motocross and surf photography again. Might even hit the San Diego zoo soon after getting back. Oh yeah, I'll find some hosers to have some coffee with too. 13 days and counting!!!!


----------



## limr

EIngerson said:


> So all in all this move is a pain, but I'm pretty excited about it. Getting settled "home" again will be good.
> 
> Looking forward to motocross and surf photography again. Might even hit the San Diego zoo soon after getting back. Oh yeah, I'll find some hosers to have some coffee with too. 13 days and counting!!!!



How long have you been away?


----------



## EIngerson

limr said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> So all in all this move is a pain, but I'm pretty excited about it. Getting settled "home" again will be good.
> 
> Looking forward to motocross and surf photography again. Might even hit the San Diego zoo soon after getting back. Oh yeah, I'll find some hosers to have some coffee with too. 13 days and counting!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How long have you been away?
Click to expand...


4 years now.


----------



## limr

EIngerson said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> So all in all this move is a pain, but I'm pretty excited about it. Getting settled "home" again will be good.
> 
> Looking forward to motocross and surf photography again. Might even hit the San Diego zoo soon after getting back. Oh yeah, I'll find some hosers to have some coffee with too. 13 days and counting!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How long have you been away?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 4 years now.
Click to expand...


Welcome home! It'll feel really good to be back. There will definitely be some "reverse" culture shock, though.


----------



## EIngerson

limr said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> So all in all this move is a pain, but I'm pretty excited about it. Getting settled "home" again will be good.
> 
> Looking forward to motocross and surf photography again. Might even hit the San Diego zoo soon after getting back. Oh yeah, I'll find some hosers to have some coffee with too. 13 days and counting!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How long have you been away?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 4 years now.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Welcome home! It'll feel really good to be back. There will definitely be some "reverse" culture shock, though.
Click to expand...



lol, Yeah I know. I'll be turning my wipers on every time I turn in my car. It only last a couple days, but it's fun when it happens. I'm sure I'll have a couple close calls driving down the wrong side of the street too. It's the little things you have to get used to again.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Gary, there really is something to be said about a peaceful home environment. Yours is the pond, yard, garden etc. Others may have an apt with great music playing etc. we all need a refuge sometimes....case in point...
I am off today to my volunteer job which I love doing. BUT, because I am this seemingly, unflappable personality, I am paired with someon that others would rather NOT work with. I said it was ok, but it's starting to catch up with me.
I am at the Corps of Engineer (COE) visitor center ON the water. When I came in yesterday, Ranger asked me to put the flags up on the pole. Windy day, did my best 3 times without letting US flag touch the ground. Decided, I couldn't do it alone or at least not in this wind.

Came in and she said, 'uh, what's the problem?' Said, 'after 3 tries, and the flag hitting the ground,  it's too windy to do alone' , and was refolding the flag.
She says, 'the weatherman says it's only 16 mph wind'
Ok, I am the kind of person that if someone asks if it's cold, I open a window and check...
I said, ' I am open to help or I can let the flag drag on the ground, or wait until it is less windy'. She thought a moment and said she would do it.

The whole day was like that...
Was nice to get home...


----------



## bribrius

vintagesnaps said:


> Yeah, but... he's home and wishing she was there. But I can't say I get the whole open relationship kind of thing, guess I just don't see the point of it.
> 
> Kind of a do nothing weekend, which after a tiring week is about all I want to do. Had lasagna that I didn't have to cook, works for me.


Me either but he signed up for it too and goes out as well. I get it, but i don't really get it beyond casual sex boyfriend/girlfriend/friend with benefits type thing.  Being married and doing it i think might mess with my head a tad.

"oh where is your wife?"
"out with some other guy"
"oh you separated?"
"no, we just date other people"


you know, it seems a little "off".
to each their own though.


----------



## minicoop1985

vintagesnaps said:


> Yeah, but... he's home and wishing she was there. But I can't say I get the whole open relationship kind of thing, guess I just don't see the point of it.
> 
> Kind of a do nothing weekend, which after a tiring week is about all I want to do. Had lasagna that I didn't have to cook, works for me.



It's just that our schedules kinda have been prohibiting us from seeing each other much for the past couple weeks. She was out for a coworker's so long you're moving to Thailand party last night.


----------



## minicoop1985

bribrius said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, but... he's home and wishing she was there. But I can't say I get the whole open relationship kind of thing, guess I just don't see the point of it.
> 
> Kind of a do nothing weekend, which after a tiring week is about all I want to do. Had lasagna that I didn't have to cook, works for me.
> 
> 
> 
> Me either but he signed up for it too and goes out as well. I get it, but i don't really get it beyond casual sex boyfriend/girlfriend/friend with benefits type thing.  Being married and doing it i think might mess with my head a tad.
> 
> "oh where is your wife?"
> "out with some other guy"
> "oh you separated?"
> "no, we just date other people"
> 
> 
> you know, it seems a little "off".
> to each their own though.
Click to expand...


It's not for everyone. In fact, most people just plain don't understand it. Besides, something close to 80% of couples deal with infidelity (60% of men, 40% of women) according to a few recent studies, so perhaps just being open and honest about desires isn't so bad after all.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, but... he's home and wishing she was there. But I can't say I get the whole open relationship kind of thing, guess I just don't see the point of it.
> 
> Kind of a do nothing weekend, which after a tiring week is about all I want to do. Had lasagna that I didn't have to cook, works for me.
> 
> 
> 
> Me either but he signed up for it too and goes out as well. I get it, but i don't really get it beyond casual sex boyfriend/girlfriend/friend with benefits type thing.  Being married and doing it i think might mess with my head a tad.
> 
> "oh where is your wife?"
> "out with some other guy"
> "oh you separated?"
> "no, we just date other people"
> 
> 
> you know, it seems a little "off".
> to each their own though.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's not for everyone. In fact, most people just plain don't understand it. Besides, something close to 80% of couples deal with infidelity (60% of men, 40% of women) according to a few recent studies, so perhaps just being open and honest about desires isn't so bad after all.
Click to expand...

it's all good. To each their own. Me personally, i think i just wouldn't get married then or file for a divorce. But everyone is different whatever floats your boat.


----------



## bribrius

some people really just aren't cut out for marriage either.  For real.  I make it by the skin of my teethe.


----------



## Gary A.

NancyMoranG said:


> Gary, there really is something to be said about a peaceful home environment. Yours is the pond, yard, garden etc. Others may have an apt with great music playing etc. we all need a refuge sometimes....case in point...
> I am off today to my volunteer job which I love doing. BUT, because I am this seemingly, unflappable personality, I am paired with someon that others would rather NOT work with. I said it was ok, but it's starting to catch up with me.
> I am at the Corps of Engineer (COE) visitor center ON the water. When I came in yesterday, Ranger asked me to put the flags up on the pole. Windy day, did my best 3 times without letting US flag touch the ground. Decided, I couldn't do it alone or at least not in this wind.
> 
> Came in and she said, 'uh, what's the problem?' Said, 'after 3 tries, and the flag hitting the ground,  it's too windy to do alone' , and was refolding the flag.
> She says, 'the weatherman says it's only 16 mph wind'
> Ok, I am the kind of person that if someone asks if it's cold, I open a window and check...
> I said, ' I am open to help or I can let the flag drag on the ground, or wait until it is less windy'. She thought a moment and said she would do it.
> 
> The whole day was like that...
> Was nice to get home...


Yep, it is nice to be home. Like Eric and Leo, I've lived abroad ... hell, at one time I could have picked, practicually any major city in the world to work. But I keep coming back to Los Angeles. When the kids were young, every single weekend was soccer or softball or swimming or ...

Now that the kids have grown and left the nest ... the nest is quiet and comfy and restful. Now we debate between going somewhere and doing something or just staying home and enjoy the backyard. The yard wins half the time.


----------



## bribrius

in the back yard now. coffee, laptop, watching the kids kill the grass. Occasional flying bug that finds the bug zapper... "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz". Hopefully the other kid is inside cleaning their room or i see a groundation coming again.

Need to bring them to pick up some clothes later "clothes shopping". I dread stores i am in no rush.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Slept in today, so I'm behind. Cafe de Olla this morning. Soooo good. It is warming up arleady, 67F, The Cook prefers a cool walk to a warm walk. Supposed to break 80F today. I like it warm and best of all, a prefect day for Sangria ... what may add to that perfection is today is the day that my homemade orange liqueur is ready to decanter. (I use orange liqueur in my Sangria.) Tata ... off to get a walk in the pooch.


----------



## bribrius

hey is this exposed correctly? i really can't tell. Never figured out how to shut off the laptop powersaver feature so everytime i am mobile everything looks dim anyway.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, but... he's home and wishing she was there. But I can't say I get the whole open relationship kind of thing, guess I just don't see the point of it.
> 
> Kind of a do nothing weekend, which after a tiring week is about all I want to do. Had lasagna that I didn't have to cook, works for me.
> 
> 
> 
> Me either but he signed up for it too and goes out as well. I get it, but i don't really get it beyond casual sex boyfriend/girlfriend/friend with benefits type thing.  Being married and doing it i think might mess with my head a tad.
> 
> "oh where is your wife?"
> "out with some other guy"
> "oh you separated?"
> "no, we just date other people"
> 
> 
> you know, it seems a little "off".
> to each their own though.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's not for everyone. In fact, most people just plain don't understand it. Besides, something close to 80% of couples deal with infidelity (60% of men, 40% of women) according to a few recent studies, so perhaps just being open and honest about desires isn't so bad after all.
Click to expand...

There is another possibility. How many truly great artists or photographers had successful personal relations? It is hard to have more than one love you are devoted to. I wonder if you are devoted to arts you can be devoted equally to other external relationships. I wonder how many of the great artists were able to maintain a relationship at all. Just throwing this out there for consideration. I haven't really any idea.. seems to be truly great at something it would be all encompassing and consume you, leaving little else for other things.


----------



## Gary A.

I got two bottles of this bathtub stuff. 


 
iPhone image


----------



## bribrius

GO iphone. The images come out better than most dslrs with cheap lens kits.


----------



## Gary A.

Done with the yard. Mowed and trimmed, cut down this huge Pineapple Sage which has taken over a side yard, emptied- bucket by bucket, a unused preformed pond that was filled with stagnant rain water and finally I transplanted this huge succulent, a Flame Tree to a larger pot. 



 
Now I'm relaxing with some lemon water.


----------



## Gary A.

The Flame Tree. 


 In its new pot.


----------



## minicoop1985

bribrius said:


> There is another possibility. How many truly great artists or photographers had successful personal relations? It is hard to have more than one love you are devoted to. I wonder if you are devoted to arts you can be devoted equally to other external relationships. I wonder how many of the great artists were able to maintain a relationship at all. Just throwing this out there for consideration. I haven't really any idea.. seems to be truly great at something it would be all encompassing and consume you, leaving little else for other things.



Most creative types seem to struggle with fidelity more than anything else. Hell, Einstein was known to have had multiple... um... yeah.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Had an afternoon beer today. It was good.


----------



## limr

And this is where we stopped for lunch yesterday:


----------



## bribrius

i couldnt take it anymore. I always had feather pillows. Last few years we been buying these "other " type pillows.  they suck. I had it.  i just ordered four feather pillows. I Grew up with goose feather pillows, always had feather pillows. I dont want any other kind of pillows.  Wife kind of gawked at the price but ya know what? i had a feather pillow when i was eight so i sure as hell deserve to have them now.


----------



## bribrius

I dont know what they put in these "other" pillows now. But they just SUCK. Micro synthetic blah blah blah GARBAGE.


----------



## Gary A.

My orange liqueur is a success. Much different from Grand Mariner ... which is cognac based, mine is voldka based. Next time I'll try cognac. I am now sipping away at Sangria make with my very own orange liqueur. It tastes much different from Grand Mariner ... not as harsh as a cognac.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Had an afternoon beer today. It was good.


I like beer.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> My orange liqueur is a success. Much different from Grand Mariner ... which is cognac based, mine is voldka based. Next time I'll try cognac. I am now sipping away at Sangria make with my very own orange liqueur. It tastes much different from Grand Mariner ... not as harsh as a cognac.


geesh. I usually always just bought a bottle of johnny walker or jim beam and called it a day. Never liked vodka. Hate that chit...


----------



## Gary A.

We have guests for dinner. Chicken sausages, Salmon w/ my famous citrus marinade and a chutney of herbs on top, rice pilaf, grilled veggies from the garden and my equally famous Sangria, now even more homemade with bathtub orange liqueur.


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> My orange liqueur is a success. Much different from Grand Mariner ... which is cognac based, mine is vodka based. Next time I'll try cognac. I am now sipping away at Sangria make with my very own orange liqueur. It tastes much different from Grand Mariner ... not as harsh as a cognac.
> 
> 
> 
> geesh. I usually always just bought a bottle of johnny walker or jim beam and called it a day. Never liked vodka. Hate that chit...
Click to expand...

Dude, it is a liqueur. It isn't vodka or orange flavored vodka. It is a bunch of stuff w/ in a vodka base which has been sitting in my garage curing for the past 30 days.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> My orange liqueur is a success. Much different from Grand Mariner ... which is cognac based, mine is voldka based. Next time I'll try cognac. I am now sipping away at Sangria make with my very own orange liqueur. It tastes much different from Grand Mariner ... not as harsh as a cognac.
> 
> 
> 
> geesh. I usually always just bought a bottle of johnny walker or jim beam and called it a day. Never liked vodka. Hate that chit...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Dude, it is a liqueur. It isn't voldka or orange flavored voldka. It is a bunch of stuff w/ in voldka base which has been sitting in my garage curing for the past 30 days.
Click to expand...

lol. 
How many proof? send me a sample. Unless it is fruity. I can't do fruity.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ah, today was a fantastic day. Spent most of it outside. Got some actual yardwork done.


----------



## snerd

Evening, Hosers. Gary.................. that's some nice yard work. I miss taking care of a yard. The mowing, edging, trimming, manicuring, then sitting back and enjoying it with a cold beer afternoon, or coffee early morning. I just can't do it anymore since all of the back and shoulder surgeries.

Brian............ I've got a Tempur-Pedic pillow that I bought when I got the bed 7 years ago. You'll only get it from my cold, dead hands.

I've walked a little more over the past week, but with temps already in the mid-90's, my walking is about over unless I join a gym. I have found a couple of nice, shady spots to sit and fly my new quad copter, though. Once I get better at it, I'll be trying out the camera on it for stills and video.


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> Evening, Hosers. Gary.................. that's some nice yard work. I miss taking care of a yard. The mowing, edging, trimming, manicuring, then sitting back and enjoying it with a cold beer afternoon, or coffee early morning. I just can't do it anymore since all of the back and shoulder surgeries.
> 
> Brian............ I've got a Tempur-Pedic pillow that I bought when I got the bed 7 years ago. You'll only get it from my cold, dead hands.
> 
> I've walked a little more over the past week, but with temps already in the mid-90's, my walking is about over unless I join a gym. I have found a couple of nice, shady spots to sit and fly my new quad copter, though. Once I get better at it, I'll be trying out the camera on it for stills and video.


I hate starting, but when I'm finished, the relaxing part is great, when you're done, and you soak in all that you've done, the improvements and a beer, makes it all worth while.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Morning all. Actually been up since 6:30. Cape Cod is pretty light at 5:30 a.m.
Did my volunteer gig yesterday with the gal who moans when we are busy, moans when slow, moans 'cause her kids don't come to see her, moans when they do, etc....I don't work with her til next weekend 

Will get in a bike ride, some fishing, and I really need new glasses!
Maybe the library for some photo uploading. I pay for every gig I use, so library is a life- saver..


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers! Morning, Nancy!

It gets light really early up here in Maine, too. The first morning I woke up with sunlight blaring directly into my eyes from the east-facing window. It wasn't even 6:00 yet. I turned and faced west at that point.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

Tough morning, Leonore, with having the sun wake you up early on your vacation, but not sure if it's worse than waking up knowing you have to go to work.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> Tough morning, Leonore, with having the sun wake you up early on your vacation, but not sure if it's worse than waking up knowing you have to go to work.



Sorry   If it makes you feel any better, this time next week, I'll be bitching about going back to work.

Of course, that doesn't make ME feel better!


----------



## Gary A.

NancyMoranG said:


> Morning all. Actually been up since 6:30. Cape Cod is pretty light at 5:30 a.m.
> Did my volunteer gig yesterday with the gal who moans when we are busy, moans when slow, moans 'cause her kids don't come to see her, moans when they do, etc....I don't work with her til next weekend
> 
> Will get in a bike ride, some fishing, and I really need new glasses!
> Maybe the library for some photo uploading. I pay for every gig I use, so library is a life- saver..


Good morning NancyMoranC. If you have a prescription, the internet is a remarkably inexpensive place to purchase glasses.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday's dinner was a success. After dinner we turned off the stereo. Our guests, Mary Lou and I, all conversed just with the background sounds of the waterfall. All-in-all a very pleasant dinner and time.

Finished opening up the house to accommodate the temp. It is 63F right now, but today will be warm, upper 80's.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Riding the struggle bus pretty hard this morning. Had to clean up dog crap in the playroom today... Dry heaves like crazy. Then I LOST MY COFFEE. The struggle. It's real.


----------



## bribrius

ah, lets see.  woke up. went over buddys house. Course his dog starts barking and shoves its head through one of their screens out the window to look at me.. His wife looked pretty upset at me for disturbing her i guess. Said he was sleeping still. It was 9 oclock. i am guessing he was drinking last night.  Walked around a little and took a couple photos with my coffee in hand. Now on third cup of coffee and lounging in the back yard. I said i should take a photo of the dog with its head out the window and she looked kind of annoyed. I am sure he will hear something about it when he wakes up.
lol


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> There is another possibility. How many truly great artists or photographers had successful personal relations? It is hard to have more than one love you are devoted to. I wonder if you are devoted to arts you can be devoted equally to other external relationships. I wonder how many of the great artists were able to maintain a relationship at all. Just throwing this out there for consideration. I haven't really any idea.. seems to be truly great at something it would be all encompassing and consume you, leaving little else for other things.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Most creative types seem to struggle with fidelity more than anything else. Hell, Einstein was known to have had multiple... um... yeah.
Click to expand...

yeah, i always thought about having a harem but wasn't creative enough.


----------



## minicoop1985

LOL Brian.

Today's been miserable. All kinds of anxiety making me want to rip through my own skin... ugh.


----------



## Gary A.

Finally finished some bookkeeping. Trying to make order where there isn't any. I was a bit hungry so I make a fruit smoothie ... made it from all the fruit that was soaking in yesterday's Sangria. (I did toss in a couple of carrots.) It was pretty good.


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers.

It was kinda cold and rainy today. Buzz came down with a minor bug so we've been taking it easy. Went out and took some pictures at a small local beach, then hit a few antique stores. Came back, had a little nap, went to dinner at a Japanese restaurant. We went there a couple of nights ago because our first choice restaurant was all booked up. Turned out to be fantastic and we were glad the first choice place didn't work out. It was so good and there aren't a lot of choices around here anyway, so we went back. Had some udon soup and a spicy yellowtail roll. It's good to eat sushi in a coastal area. Suuuuuuper fresh and yummy!

We came back to the B&B and walked down the little path to the beach. Tide was going out. Four pinhole shots took me almost 15 minutes. There's a lot of hoping with pinhole photography. I'm hoping I get at least a few good ones from this roll. Now we're relaxing and having a little wine.

Forecast for tomorrow is for chilly temps and some rain showers, and it is a Tuesday, which means the tourists will probably be staying away from Bar Harbor or Acadia, so that's exactly where we are heading.


----------



## minicoop1985

Evening, you hosers, you. it's about time the anxiety wore off. In a muuuuch better mood and not feeling like jumping out of my own skin.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> So…
> 
> The photo I have displayed at the Mayor's office (mine is at the City Mayor's office)…
> …
> …
> SOLD.
> AT the opening reception.
> 
> That pretty much rocks.
> 
> It was this one (the same one I sent to @mmaria for a secret santa photo!):
> View attachment 102033


ok.... long time no see.. just got the notification 
MA


----------



## sm4him

Hey, Marija! How you doin', daughter?


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> Hey, Marija! How you doin', daughter?


oh Ma... IDK... I guess I'm ok... 

I'm sorting all these things in my head, in my life, in photography... getting on the right track... feel sorry I have no much time for myself... etc...
Kind of forgot about tpf, but on the other hand, I miss it, I miss some people here 

How are you?


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, Marija! How you doin', daughter?
> 
> 
> 
> oh Ma... IDK... I guess I'm ok...
> 
> I'm sorting all these things in my head, in my life, in photography... getting on the right track... feel sorry I have no much time for myself... etc...
> Kind of forgot about tpf, but on the other hand, I miss it, I miss some people here
> 
> How are you?
Click to expand...

I'm good. And when I'm not good, I mostly enjoy it. 

I sure know what you mean about no time for yourself though! My mom has been in the hospital for 11 days now; much of that time, the 3 "kids" here in town have split staying with her so someone could be there 24/7. Between that, working full-time, and now a friend whose adult daughter (whom I also know) with cancer has been given probably less than a month to live. Those things are taking so much of my time, that there is precious little time to work on photography, and even less to actually work on processing any photos I do take, or work on some more "business" aspects.

But, it's the way of life. Soon enough, there will be time for photography again.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> I'm good. And when I'm not good, I mostly enjoy it.
> 
> I sure know what you mean about no time for yourself though! My mom has been in the hospital for 11 days now; much of that time, the 3 "kids" here in town have split staying with her so someone could be there 24/7. Between that, working full-time, and now a friend whose adult daughter (whom I also know) with cancer has been given probably less than a month to live. Those things are taking so much of my time, that there is precious little time to work on photography, and even less to actually work on processing any photos I do take, or work on some more "business" aspects.
> 
> But, it's the way of life. Soon enough, there will be time for photography again.


oh ...





as for photography, I'm stuck with what I want to shoot? how I want to shoot? what I must to shoot in order to shoot what I want later? and so on....
In the positive sense, it's ok because it keeps my head thinking about that not about lousy situation on job f.e...

oh... It's already nice being here 

go to go and do some c&c before I forgot how to do that


----------



## bribrius

Grandfather (on the horse) and his brothers. Never new him died long before i was born. Have some old photos from my mother ( no negatives unfortunately). I took a photo of the photo..


----------



## bribrius

They had a little trucking company too, which my uncles carried on. Some of the photos are in real rough shape though.


----------



## bribrius

might be a good excuse to buy a decent flatbed scanner..


----------



## minicoop1985

Brian, of course you should, particularly if you shoot film.

Welcome back, Marija!


----------



## minicoop1985

Riding the struggle bus pretty hard this morning. Kid woke me up waaaay too early. Can barely function. Argh. Moar coffee


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Hosers. It is 68F but feel much cooler. I'm in the patio sipping my first cup. It is raining. It's a six inch rain ... in California a 6" rain is when a drop hits every six inches. Yesterday it was hot, upper 80's and today it's raining ... very odd weather. I think the rain has stopped, most likely unmeasurable. Last night I had a bad night. It was uncomfortably warm, in the middle of the night I changed my bed clothing from flannel to cotton. A tough night. Cook was up chasing 'possums ... I called her inside and we had a nice long chat and pet. I am losing a ton of grapes everyday to the Mockingbirds. There's a nest in the Valencia orange tree and the damn birds are being very selective only picking the ripe fruit. Sunday, while in the patio, Mary Lou asks, "What that, it's huyge." I look up and there's a Coopers Hawk, ten yards away in the orange tree. There was an erie silence as all the birds ... every single one ... went completely silent.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Brian, of course you should, particularly if you shoot film.
> 
> Welcome back, Marija!


Yeah, so far i have just been scanning photos on my epson "all in one".  I had a cannon that did 35mm scans but it died a few years ago. Taking a photo of it probably works about as good as the epson all in one.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

MARIIIIIIIIIJAAAAAAAAA! 

Not sure what we're doing today. It's rainy, as expected, but not as cool as we thought it would be. All I know right now is that I want more coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

We all miss you Marija. (Maybe not as much as Leo, but we certainly miss you. lol) So when are you coming to California?


----------



## Gary A.

bribrius said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Brian, of course you should, particularly if you shoot film.
> 
> Welcome back, Marija!
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, so far i have just been scanning photos on my epson "all in one".  I had a cannon that did 35mm scans but it died a few years ago. Taking a photo of it probably works about as good as the epson all in one.
Click to expand...

I read somewhere that scanning is more software than hardware. So make sure you get good software. While I haven't used them much, I have a plustek for 35mm negs and an Epson v850 flatbed. I am pleased with the results from both.


----------



## Gary A.

Today, on my todo list is to contact a company that will remove my grass and replace the grass with gravel and some crappy succulents (per their website). The good part is that the company will take all the credits and incentives offered by the the water district and other jurisdiction and essentially do all the backbreaking grass removal for free. Sadly, the guests on Sunday did mention how good the lawn looked. *sigh* We are in a drought and on water restrictions. Presently, I am over my allotment so I'll sacrifice the front in order to save the back. For the past year, Mary Lou and I have been taking garden tours and taking notes on drought tolerant plants and yards. The gravel isn't what I want, I plan on it to only be a placeholder until I build everything up and probably install DG.  I am planning to install a drip system for my potted veggies. (I have a lot of potted veggies.)


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Brian, of course you should, particularly if you shoot film.
> 
> Welcome back, Marija!
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, so far i have just been scanning photos on my epson "all in one".  I had a cannon that did 35mm scans but it died a few years ago. Taking a photo of it probably works about as good as the epson all in one.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I read somewhere that scanning is more software than hardware. So make sure you get good software. While I haven't used them much, I have a plustek for 35mm negs and an Epson v850 flatbed. I am pleased with the results from both.
Click to expand...

yeah, one thing at a time i guess. Right now the wife is trying to talk me into buying electric mini bikes for the boys today. Considering the ride around toys they already have i might have to set up a parking lot.


----------



## bribrius

i should have photos coming in today, assuming the fed ex truck ever arrives.....


----------



## bribrius

In a couple more years, i get to sell all these electric toys and move them up to go karts or four wheelers.   Kids,  are expensive. I never realized how expensive until i had some. Different now too. When i was younger i was buying four and three wheelers for a few hundred bucks. Now the same ones twenty five years later are a thousand dollars (used). wtf happend there.


----------



## minicoop1985

I really need new software. I'll start a different thread to ask about it.


----------



## Designer

bribrius said:


> Now the same ones twenty five years later are a thousand dollars (used). wtf happend there.


The Feral Reserve System inflated our money.


----------



## Gary A.

Busy, busy day. The most pressing call was from my daughter, a pre-school teacher. One of the chrysalis in her room fell and she needed instructions what to do.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Today we went around Acadia...literally _around_ Acadia. Didn't feel the need to spend $25 on a car pass on a foggy rainy day, so we just poked around in the towns around the park. Ended up in Bar Harbor, of course, but as we had hoped, the weather kept most people away so it wasn't that crowded. It was still raining and quite windy, so we stopped in for a leisurely beer and eventually ordered some food. Haddock tacos...yummy! Went well with my local draft beer - first one called Wanderlust (appropriate for me) and I ordered an Allagash White with my food.

Stopped at a little used book store in Northeast Harbor. Really nicely maintained, interesting books in really good condition. Since it's impossible for Buzz and I to avoid book stores and bringing home at least one book, I'm now the proud owner of a 1959 collector's edition of _The Brothers Karamazov. 
_
Edit: I meant to type 1949 edition.


----------



## pgriz

I think you need some rain and fog to appreciate New England.  Makes it real.  

BTW, was the collector's edition in Russian?  Because you lose a little nuance in the translation.  On the other hand, if you don't read Russian, it might be hard to pick up the nuance anyways.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> I think you need some rain and fog to appreciate New England.  Makes it real.



Oh, absolutely. I love me some fog shots. I even took a bunch of them. I just don't need to pay no stinkin' 25 bucks to take pictures of fog 



> BTW, was the collector's edition in Russian?  Because you lose a little nuance in the translation.  On the other hand, if you don't read Russian, it might be hard to pick up the nuance anyways.



Most certainly NOT in Russian. Nuances are overrated


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Nuances are overrated



... spoken by a teacher of language.  Uh huh.  I actually know that you don't believe that.  We'll need to argue that point over some nice ale and a few oysters.  


Right now, I'm scheming to get my wife and I over to Vancouver sometime this summer to visit my daughter.  The last time I was in "Van" it was 'way too short.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nuances are overrated
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ... spoken by a teacher of language.  Uh huh.  I actually know that you don't believe that.  We'll need to argue that point over some nice ale and a few oysters.
Click to expand...


Yeah, you caught me in a fib   But it still warrants discussion - over ale, for sure. The oysters, I'll leave to you, however. I'm not so fond of the bivalves. I'll figure out a suitable seafood substitute for myself.


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> Right now, I'm scheming to get my wife and I over to Vancouver sometime this summer to visit my daughter.  The last time I was in "Van" it was 'way too short.


If you make it that far Paul, give me a call; I'm only a short (albeit pricey) ferry-ride away!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Take pictures!


----------



## pgriz

Hi John!  We've got some friends in Sooke, and extended family in Nanaimo, and we're not crossing the continent without dropping in on them!  So a meetup with you may actually work out really well.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, how about moi? If you're hopping on a ferry just go a bit south.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> Hey, how about moi? If you're hopping on a ferry just go a bit south.



You know, Gary, that's awfully tempting.  But I also have relatives in Laguna Beach and Palm Springs.   And the last time I surfed at Laguna Beach I was 16 years old, I think.  So  a visit to your part of the world would be nice.  Unfortunately, there's only so much time I can take away from the business...


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> Hi John!  We've got some friends in Sooke, and extended family in Nanaimo, and we're not crossing the continent without dropping in on them!  So a meetup with you may actually work out really well.


I'm a Sooke hill-billy myself, so yeah, it will definitely work out.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> it's impossible for Buzz and I to avoid book stores and bringing home at least one book



Yeah, I'm there.  I suppose we should be tied to the mast ...


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Here at work with my coffee and snack.  I inherited some work from someone on leave, and today I found something with a fairly short timeline that had been inherited in turn from someone else.  I convinced him to deal with it for the person on leave because it looked like a mess and he knows more about it than I do (not to mention that it's his mess!).  Could be a decent day at this rate.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers! Not gonna lie, yesterday was rough. I started off with some anxiety that blew up into a full depressive episode. I hate not having control over this. It sucks so much.


----------



## EIngerson

10 days and counting!!!!! House get's packed out tomorrow. Hope your coffees good this morning. Almost bed time for me. Cheers all you hosers and mericans!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Really odd weather here. 70F right now, but shouldn't hit 80F today. The nights have been warmer than normal and humid. Fortunately, it isn't getting too warm during the day. I've been thinking of getting a 50mm for the GX680III. I think I'm gonna squeeze the trigger today.


----------



## Gary A.

A buenas noches to you Eric. I've been thinking Eric ... I think that for the security of the country and my own personal safety ... it would probably be better if you stayed in Okinawa. (That way you're closer to react to any threat ... better to fight them over there than over here, reasoning.)


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry to hear about that Minicoop, sounds like time for a trip to the doctor. Seriously. Take care of yourself.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Got the tree off the roof, no more feeling like I'm living in a tree house when I'd look out the bedroom window. My best friend asked was it the window that I shot the Polaroid out of and I said yeah.... gee that was a message from above?? lol

Today going to work on an assignment for an online class on film noir, just for fun but still, I haven't taken a class in awhile and, it's sort of almost actual work! lol


----------



## bribrius

vintagesnaps said:


> Got the tree off the roof, no more feeling like I'm living in a tree house when I'd look out the bedroom window. My best friend asked was it the window that I shot the Polaroid out of and I said yeah.... gee that was a message from above?? lol
> 
> Today going to work on an assignment for an online class on film noir, just for fun but still, I haven't taken a class in awhile and, it's sort of almost actual work! lol


a film noir class sounds like much fun! what is the assignment?


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> A buenas noches to you Eric. I've been thinking Eric ... I think that for the security of the country and my own personal safety ... it would probably be better if you stayed in Okinawa. (That way you're closer to react to any threat ... better to fight them over there than over here, reasoning.)




lol, I wouldn't mind staying. But it'll still be in good hands.


----------



## Gary A.

When you have time, drop me a note and I'll buy you a coffee (or a beer). (Having lived in Japan ... there are much much worse places. Tokyo is like Santa Monica.)


----------



## minicoop1985

Good evening, hosers. Today's been as rough as yesterday, if not a bit worse. Considering ways to spare my wife and kid from dealing with my issues forever, but coming up empty on how. Every few months I need to change medications, and when that happens, all hell breaks loose. That's what I'm in the middle of right now.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Don't know how long it takes to adjust to new medications but I hope you start doing better. If you get to feeling worse or keep feeling lousy, find someplace to get help if you need it. It's probably good to talk about it, even if people here don't know how to help, at least I guess we can listen.


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> Good evening, hosers. Today's been as rough as yesterday, if not a bit worse. Considering ways to spare my wife and kid from dealing with my issues forever, but coming up empty on how. Every few months I need to change medications, and when that happens, all hell breaks loose. That's what I'm in the middle of right now.



Don't like the sound of that, Coop.  Please hang in there. I've been there, on both sides--thinking that the world would be just a little better without me in it, AND dealing with the aftermath of a loved one who made that choice. Removing yourself NEVER EVER, spares those left behind. They will believe they could have "done more" they will believe it was because of them, they will have issues forever that are the direct result of you trying to "spare" them from dealing with yours.  
Because, here's the thing: They LOVE you. YOU. Not who you could be. They love YOU.  And the best thing in this world you can do is keep plugging away, one day at a time, through medications that stop working, through depressive episodes and anxiety that feels like it might just choke you to death--just KEEP plugging away, get through one more day, until they find the new med that DOES work, and get you back to where you can cope better.

I don't know you, Coop, except for what I read in your posts. But just that little bit makes me know that the world is a better place with you in it.  It really is.


----------



## bribrius




----------



## bribrius

yep, it's morning.


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## bribrius

oops. wrong forum...


----------



## waday

bribrius said:


> View attachment 103101


Nice poster on the wall. The wife and I are excited for the new X-Files episodes...


----------



## bribrius

waday said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 103101
> 
> 
> 
> Nice poster on the wall. The wife and I are excited for the new X-Files episodes...
Click to expand...

yeah, i was on kid duty.


----------



## minicoop1985

sm4him said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good evening, hosers. Today's been as rough as yesterday, if not a bit worse. Considering ways to spare my wife and kid from dealing with my issues forever, but coming up empty on how. Every few months I need to change medications, and when that happens, all hell breaks loose. That's what I'm in the middle of right now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't like the sound of that, Coop.  Please hang in there. I've been there, on both sides--thinking that the world would be just a little better without me in it, AND dealing with the aftermath of a loved one who made that choice. Removing yourself NEVER EVER, spares those left behind. They will believe they could have "done more" they will believe it was because of them, they will have issues forever that are the direct result of you trying to "spare" them from dealing with yours.
> Because, here's the thing: They LOVE you. YOU. Not who you could be. They love YOU.  And the best thing in this world you can do is keep plugging away, one day at a time, through medications that stop working, through depressive episodes and anxiety that feels like it might just choke you to death--just KEEP plugging away, get through one more day, until they find the new med that DOES work, and get you back to where you can cope better.
> 
> I don't know you, Coop, except for what I read in your posts. But just that little bit makes me know that the world is a better place with you in it.  It really is.
Click to expand...


Thanks a lot, Sharon. I appreciate your kind words. For the record, I meant I have no idea how to spare them from these issues. Suicide isn't an option, but with the wrong choice of medications, it unfortunately could very easily become reality. Add mania to suicidal thoughts and I'm cooked. I don't really want to do that, but it's an unfortunate possibility. I've had suicidal reactions to antidepressants before, so this is possible in the future. The worst part of this is that if suicide doesn't get me, the stress of this will catch up. It'll be a damned miracle if I make it to 50.


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good evening, hosers. Today's been as rough as yesterday, if not a bit worse. Considering ways to spare my wife and kid from dealing with my issues forever, but coming up empty on how. Every few months I need to change medications, and when that happens, all hell breaks loose. That's what I'm in the middle of right now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't like the sound of that, Coop.  Please hang in there. I've been there, on both sides--thinking that the world would be just a little better without me in it, AND dealing with the aftermath of a loved one who made that choice. Removing yourself NEVER EVER, spares those left behind. They will believe they could have "done more" they will believe it was because of them, they will have issues forever that are the direct result of you trying to "spare" them from dealing with yours.
> Because, here's the thing: They LOVE you. YOU. Not who you could be. They love YOU.  And the best thing in this world you can do is keep plugging away, one day at a time, through medications that stop working, through depressive episodes and anxiety that feels like it might just choke you to death--just KEEP plugging away, get through one more day, until they find the new med that DOES work, and get you back to where you can cope better.
> 
> I don't know you, Coop, except for what I read in your posts. But just that little bit makes me know that the world is a better place with you in it.  It really is.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks a lot, Sharon. I appreciate your kind words. For the record, I meant I have no idea how to spare them from these issues. Suicide isn't an option, but with the wrong choice of medications, it unfortunately could very easily become reality. Add mania to suicidal thoughts and I'm cooked. I don't really want to do that, but it's an unfortunate possibility. I've had suicidal reactions to antidepressants before, so this is possible in the future. The worst part of this is that if suicide doesn't get me, the stress of this will catch up. It'll be a damned miracle if I make it to 50.
Click to expand...


Okay, good, glad to hear that's not where you are. It was just the same sort of vague statements *I* might have once used to refer to an ultimate decision to remove myself from this spinning globe, so I was concerned.
You are in my prayers, Coop.  Hang in there; I hope that truly better days are ahead for you. I once didn't even see myself making it to 45. Today, I'm nearly 54 and have a passion for life that I honestly never, even as a teenager, believed I could ever have.  Just keep trying; it's worth every effort it takes!


----------



## bribrius

hey, point being coop. Careful with what they try to dish out to you. It IS possible to go through ten years of med school and be iq smart and common sense stupid.  lmao.


----------



## pgriz

minicoop1985 said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good evening, hosers. Today's been as rough as yesterday, if not a bit worse. Considering ways to spare my wife and kid from dealing with my issues forever, but coming up empty on how. Every few months I need to change medications, and when that happens, all hell breaks loose. That's what I'm in the middle of right now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't like the sound of that, Coop.  Please hang in there. I've been there, on both sides--thinking that the world would be just a little better without me in it, AND dealing with the aftermath of a loved one who made that choice. Removing yourself NEVER EVER, spares those left behind. They will believe they could have "done more" they will believe it was because of them, they will have issues forever that are the direct result of you trying to "spare" them from dealing with yours.
> Because, here's the thing: They LOVE you. YOU. Not who you could be. They love YOU.  And the best thing in this world you can do is keep plugging away, one day at a time, through medications that stop working, through depressive episodes and anxiety that feels like it might just choke you to death--just KEEP plugging away, get through one more day, until they find the new med that DOES work, and get you back to where you can cope better.
> 
> I don't know you, Coop, except for what I read in your posts. But just that little bit makes me know that the world is a better place with you in it.  It really is.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks a lot, Sharon. I appreciate your kind words. For the record, I meant I have no idea how to spare them from these issues. Suicide isn't an option, but with the wrong choice of medications, it unfortunately could very easily become reality. Add mania to suicidal thoughts and I'm cooked. I don't really want to do that, but it's an unfortunate possibility. I've had suicidal reactions to antidepressants before, so this is possible in the future. The worst part of this is that if suicide doesn't get me, the stress of this will catch up. It'll be a damned miracle if I make it to 50.
Click to expand...


Probably a dumb question on my part, but I have a habit of asking dumb questions, so bear with me.  How does meditation work with someone with bipolar disorder?  Is it one of the tools that can help?


----------



## Designer

Meditation over medication, IMO.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good question Paul. You sound better today Coop, last night I was concerned.

I had a coworker whose husband had been thru bouts of depression and she had a feeling something was up the last time he was supposed to go to the doctor. She stopped at home to check on him and found him, she lost not only her husband but her best friend and their twin little girls lost their daddy. I know she'd rather him be here with her regardless of the condition than what happened, to have him gone.

I think it's OK talking about it here, and if you don't already maybe think about talking to someone who knows how to help. I feel like I've been picking up on something in your comments lately, not being completely happy or something not going so great or feeling out of sorts or something. Hang in there and I hope it keeps getting a little better each day.


----------



## minicoop1985

Medication can mitigate the ups and downs to manageable states, sometimes removing the suicidal ideations and keeping me somewhat manic as opposed to being constantly fluctuating on a more serious basis. The problem is that sometimes antidepressants can completely backfire and cause suicidal thoughts and worsen depression, and there's no way to know what's going to happen until you try a different class.

Both Sharons, your words are appreciated more than you know. I've been through hell lately, and knowing people out there care helps a lot.

Designer, it's an unfortunate truth that in my case, that doesn't work. I've tried it, I've tried just about everything that isn't meds and it flat out has done nothing for me. I'll still find myself curled up on the couch, crying my eyes out, not able to function or properly take care of my son. All I can do is just sit there and cry. The rational part of me sometimes still can question why I'm doing this, what the hell is going on, etc, but despite all the rationality of that side of my brain, there's absolutely nothing I can do except wait it out. When that rational part doesn't work is when I'm in serious danger.

Today, starting out a little better, but there's some anxiety probably caused by what's been going on recently. I'd rather have it turn into a panic attack than have it go into depression. I can handle a panic attack better than I can depression. In any case, I know it's going to get worse, but how, we'll have to see.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Medication can mitigate the ups and downs to manageable states, sometimes removing the suicidal ideations and keeping me somewhat manic as opposed to being constantly fluctuating on a more serious basis. The problem is that sometimes antidepressants can completely backfire and cause suicidal thoughts and worsen depression, and there's no way to know what's going to happen until you try a different class.
> 
> Both Sharons, your words are appreciated more than you know. I've been through hell lately, and knowing people out there care helps a lot.
> 
> Designer, it's an unfortunate truth that in my case, that doesn't work. I've tried it, I've tried just about everything that isn't meds and it flat out has done nothing for me. I'll still find myself curled up on the couch, crying my eyes out, not able to function or properly take care of my son. All I can do is just sit there and cry. The rational part of me sometimes still can question why I'm doing this, what the hell is going on, etc, but despite all the rationality of that side of my brain, there's absolutely nothing I can do except wait it out. When that rational part doesn't work is when I'm in serious danger.
> 
> Today, starting out a little better, but there's some anxiety probably caused by what's been going on recently. I'd rather have it turn into a panic attack than have it go into depression. I can handle a panic attack better than I can depression. In any case, I know it's going to get worse, but how, we'll have to see.


geez. that doesn't sound very cheerful. Any chance you are thinking to much about this? Becoming a self fulfilling prophecy? Are you working? something to keep you pre-occupied?I really know nothing about disorders. You think getting naked and riding on a carousel drunk might help? You ever thrown a toga party? Been sky diving or bungee jumping? Maybe climb a mountain or something? sometimes you have to "get outside of your life" to see your life and self.
But hey, what do i know. i know i walked around the desert drunk once. That seemed to help me. On the other extreme, you could sell all your possessions, even your bed. Sleep on the floor or a blow up mattress. Live like a monk for a year. I know someone that did that once. Not sure why, but it seemed to work for him. Simplification.  Perhaps forcing oneself into facing oneself, taking away all the distractions and complications to achieve clarity. Starting new.  Don't mind me, just pondering... You could get a job at a grave yard digging graves. If you have any romantic notions of death that would probably fix it.


----------



## waday

@minicoop1985, I'm sorry to hear about this.

9 Things Only People With Depression Can Truly Understand
21 Things Nobody Tells You About Being Depressed

I remember reading those last year, and I could definitely relate to a few of them.



bribrius said:


> Any chance you are thinking to much about this? Becoming a self fulfilling prophecy? Are you working? something to keep you pre-occupied?I really know nothing about disorders. You think getting naked and riding on a carousel drunk might help? You ever thrown a toga party? Been sky diving or bungee jumping? Maybe climb a mountain or something?


Sorry bribrius, but that made me think of this link... Worst Things to Say to Someone Who s Depressed - Wing of Madness Depression GuideWing of Madness Depression Guide


----------



## minicoop1985

Here's the problem. I get manic when I'm enjoying something new. What goes up, must come down, so once that activity is over, it's right back to depression and anxiety. I've gotten outside my life to see what it is I am and what I deal with, but I still can't do anything about it but hope the next iteration of medications helps. 

Waday, I think you nailed it on the head. So many people tell me to "suck it up you nancy" or that I'm a loser for not working... Hell my dad didn't understand, my mom thinks I'm dishonoring her family, my wife isn't always the most understanding person, my kid's 3 and I can see how much damage my depression does to him and how he worries when he shouldn't have to... It just makes me more and more depressed. In fact, I think I'm bordering on the next depressive episode now, but if I am, it's too late to do anything but just hug a pillow and hope for the best. Those articles are so spot on it's scary.

Thanks for hearing me out. It's great to have somewhere to vent and people who actually understand my problems. Thank you all so much.


----------



## bribrius

waday said:


> @minicoop1985, I'm sorry to hear about this.
> 
> 9 Things Only People With Depression Can Truly Understand
> 21 Things Nobody Tells You About Being Depressed
> 
> I remember reading those last year, and I could definitely relate to a few of them.
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any chance you are thinking to much about this? Becoming a self fulfilling prophecy? Are you working? something to keep you pre-occupied?I really know nothing about disorders. You think getting naked and riding on a carousel drunk might help? You ever thrown a toga party? Been sky diving or bungee jumping? Maybe climb a mountain or something?
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry bribrius, but that made me think of this link... Worst Things to Say to Someone Who s Depressed - Wing of Madness Depression GuideWing of Madness Depression Guide
Click to expand...




waday said:


> @minicoop1985, I'm sorry to hear about this.
> 
> 9 Things Only People With Depression Can Truly Understand
> 21 Things Nobody Tells You About Being Depressed
> 
> I remember reading those last year, and I could definitely relate to a few of them.
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any chance you are thinking to much about this? Becoming a self fulfilling prophecy? Are you working? something to keep you pre-occupied?I really know nothing about disorders. You think getting naked and riding on a carousel drunk might help? You ever thrown a toga party? Been sky diving or bungee jumping? Maybe climb a mountain or something?
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry bribrius, but that made me think of this link... Worst Things to Say to Someone Who s Depressed - Wing of Madness Depression GuideWing of Madness Depression Guide
Click to expand...

i actually agree with a good part of that link. Having known people with potential mental issues i try to be nice, and have some sympathy. But i do get to the point where i am pretty much "look dude, we all have our issues. Your issues are not MY fukn issues".
I don't usually get to that point, but i have known a few people in my life personally i started to wish they would just go ahead and do it so i wouldn't have to hear about it anymore. So sick of it i really just nolonger gave a chit. Not really a online thing, coop is fine. I mean in real life. Worst i knew was a woman, on ssdi or some chit. From her twenties, spent the next twenty years threatening suicide. At one point she called me and i think i answered "Thats great!" (and hung up on her). she stopped discussing it with me after that.


----------



## bribrius

My wifes mother goes through little bouts of depression. "no one cares if i live or die" that sort of thing. Started blowing her off after knowing her a few years. Friend of mine used to have serious ups and downs. He was just too unpredictable (unsafe).  After a few years i ditched him. Got to live your own life and not around others. Plus he started showing up at my house that way .  All freakn set, i got kids i don't need it.  Wifes friend was suicidal since her daughter died in a car accident (she was driving). Told her not to come around anymore. I didn't want hysterical messed up people around my children. She would show up balling in tears threatening. I have kids. Go do it if you are going to but get the frig away from my family they don't need the mess. 

I THINK my old friend is still alive. so i guess he didn't need me. So yep, understanding. Sympathy, but only to a point and i draw this line in the sand. Figure if they are that bad of they shouldn't be talking to me over and over they should be committed. (i know one that was but they let him out two weeks later). Had a couple people i knew that did commit suicide. Just thankful they didn't take their family or anyone else out with them.  Same with my old friend there. Divorced, wife got custody of the kids (like he is in the right frame of mind for it). I don't get it, but i see the effect on those around. 
Someone else i knew shot himself in the head after his wife said she wanted a divorce. He was a little messed up to start with. Another guy i worked with went through a divorce, wife had a boyfriend she left him for. Moved out of state with the kids and wouldn't let him see the kids. He drove cross country shot her, her boyfriend, then killed himself. Another shot himself in the face, blew his head off pretty much in his brothers front yard (i worked with him too).
so yep, i think i had my fill. Now i am more of the mindset of hopefully they just don't take anyone out with them.


----------



## waday

bribrius said:


> i actually agree with a good part of that link. Having known people with potential mental issues i try to be nice, and have some sympathy. But i do get to the point where i am pretty much "look dude, we all have our issues. Your issues are not MY fukn issues".



The old adage of "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" comes to mind in certain situations. One of my favorite phrases is: if someone throws you a ball, you don't have to catch it.



bribrius said:


> Worst i knew was a woman, on ssdi or some chit. From her twenties, spent the next twenty years threatening suicide. At one point she called me and i think i answered "Thats great!" (and hung up on her). she stopped discussing it with me after that.


Short story long: When I was in my teens, I wanted to be psychiatrist (that didn't pan out, haha). But I remember one of my friends (they lived across the country) who was going through depression called me out of the blue one night. Our conversation went something like this: 

Friend: I don't know what to do. I've been feeling really bad lately, just terrible. I just swallowed an entire bottle of Tylenol.
Me: You need to get medical attention now! Tell your parents or call 911. 
Friend: That's all your going to tell me?
Me: I'm across the country, can't visit you or stop by. You just swallowed a bottle of Tylenol. You have to go to the doctor.
Friend: <overly sarcastic> Gee, what a good psychiatrist you're going to be!

Then the friend hung up. Umm.. thanks? Long story short, friend was fine in the end. We don't talk much anymore.


----------



## bribrius

oh yeah, kid in highschool killed himself, guy down the street his son hung himself. Friend of mine hung himself a few years ago. My little nephew killed himself some years back (very unfortunate). In the military we had a guy take a swan dive off the fourth floor, he didnt make it. The more i think about this, the more i realize how many people i know that killed themself. wtf.

on another note....

my feather pillows came in. YAY!!!!!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Only you Bri would come up with riding a carousel drunk and naked, lol I don't think I need that kind of mental image! (you know we're photographers, we tend to visualize things...) Well a little levity sometimes doesn't hurt.

Coop I wonder if your anxiety would be somewhat lessened if you felt like it wasn't affecting your son so much. I worked in EI with kids birth to 3 and I can't offhand think of a family situation with a parent going thru what you are, but I wonder what resources or support might be available in your area. Maybe if someone could help you check into some possibilities to support him would be of help. Kids can pick up on things but are also pretty resilient, it can often help for them to understand something and feel like it's okay to talk about it.


----------



## bribrius

waday said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i actually agree with a good part of that link. Having known people with potential mental issues i try to be nice, and have some sympathy. But i do get to the point where i am pretty much "look dude, we all have our issues. Your issues are not MY fukn issues".
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The old adage of "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" comes to mind in certain situations. One of my favorite phrases is: if someone throws you a ball, you don't have to catch it.
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> Worst i knew was a woman, on ssdi or some chit. From her twenties, spent the next twenty years threatening suicide. At one point she called me and i think i answered "Thats great!" (and hung up on her). she stopped discussing it with me after that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Short story long: When I was in my teens, I wanted to be psychiatrist (that didn't pan out, haha). But I remember one of my friends (they lived across the country) who was going through depression called me out of the blue one night. Our conversation went something like this:
> 
> Friend: I don't know what to do. I've been feeling really bad lately, just terrible. I just swallowed an entire bottle of Tylenol.
> Me: You need to get medical attention now! Tell your parents or call 911.
> Friend: That's all your going to tell me?
> Me: I'm across the country, can't visit you or stop by. You just swallowed a bottle of Tylenol. You have to go to the doctor.
> Friend: <overly sarcastic> Gee, what a good psychiatrist you're going to be!
> 
> Then the friend hung up. Umm.. thanks? Long story short, friend was fine in the end. We don't talk much anymore.
Click to expand...

well, i have sympathy. I think i just got to the point that it is more fleeting than it once was. Probably to be expected considering now that i am realizing how many people i knew that threatened to kill themselves or actually did.

In the meantime, the rest struggle to stay alive. STrange, strange world.  The u.s. must be one of the highest in statistics for suicides. someone should do some research and figure out why that is. I know prior military has a huge increase statistically in suicides. Since we have a large military force maybe that accounts for some of it.


----------



## minicoop1985

I've tried that, swallowing a whole bottle of tylenol. Didn't do much. Went to sleep thinking I'm free of this crap, and woke up the next morning like well, ****.

I've tried killing myself so many times. I've stared at the bullet at the other end of the barrel, seeing that pretty little chunk of copper I intended to lodge in my skull. I've sharpened the knife so many times with the intent of driving it into my chest. I've jumped from a bridge once, only to realize there was a platform about 5 feet below the bridge... Woke up rather sore the next day.

No offense, Brian, but I gotta say that really isn't the way to handle a suicidal person. You need to get them in front of the help they need. Sure, some assholes threaten to do it with no intention of actually pulling it off-they only want attention. Frankly they're terrible people. But the vast majority of people that are going through that are REACHING OUT FOR HELP. Get them in front of a doctor. Get them into a hospital. Sure, it sucks ass and you may lose them as a friend, but knowing you did the right thing for them is more important, and hopefully they will see it that way.


----------



## bribrius

vintagesnaps said:


> Only you Bri would come up with riding a carousel drunk and naked, lol I don't think I need that kind of mental image! (you know we're photographers, we tend to visualize things...) Well a little levity sometimes doesn't hurt.
> 
> Coop I wonder if your anxiety would be somewhat lessened if you felt like it wasn't affecting your son so much. I worked in EI with kids birth to 3 and I can't offhand think of a family situation with a parent going thru what you are, but I wonder what resources or support might be available in your area. Maybe if someone could help you check into some possibilities to support him would be of help. Kids can pick up on things but are also pretty resilient, it can often help for them to understand something and feel like it's okay to talk about it.


well, that is one of the things i never understood about suicide. If you are on the verge of it anyway, might as well do whatever you want. worst case scenario you might get committed (could do you some good) or you end up dead (which one is contemplating anyway).
I don't get why they aren't all free climbing or riding carousels naked..


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> I've tried that, swallowing a whole bottle of tylenol. Didn't do much. Went to sleep thinking I'm free of this crap, and woke up the next morning like well, ****.
> 
> I've tried killing myself so many times. I've stared at the bullet at the other end of the barrel, seeing that pretty little chunk of copper I intended to lodge in my skull. I've sharpened the knife so many times with the intent of driving it into my chest. I've jumped from a bridge once, only to realize there was a platform about 5 feet below the bridge... Woke up rather sore the next day.
> 
> No offense, Brian, but I gotta say that really isn't the way to handle a suicidal person. You need to get them in front of the help they need. Sure, some assholes threaten to do it with no intention of actually pulling it off-they only want attention. Frankly they're terrible people. But the vast majority of people that are going through that are REACHING OUT FOR HELP. Get them in front of a doctor. Get them into a hospital. Sure, it sucks ass and you may lose them as a friend, but knowing you did the right thing for them is more important, and hopefully they will see it that way.


I am going to go out on a limb here, i could be wrong. But knowing people (one who methodically planned his own suicide for weeks) that went through with it. If you really wanted to be dead you already would be. It isn't that hard. I agree you might need help, but i have yet to meet anyone determined to be dead who didn't manage to pull it off. What do i know though, they have docs. I am not one.


----------



## minicoop1985

You have it about as wrong as you possibly can. Through all of my suicide attempts (I'm really bad at killing myself) I NEVER actually WANTED to die. I was being compelled to by my fvcked up brain. Believe me, I tried and tried and tried and tried and didn't tell anyone until recently. Sometimes people are being compelled to try and ARE SCARED that they are going to, so THEY REACH OUT TO PEOPLE. I know lots of people who were determined to die because of their various illnesses that legitimately tried and failed, but ended up getting the help they needed.

One thing that pisses me off beyond belief is that a lot of people INCLUDING MY OWN MOM think suicide is a cowardly act. it takes serious strength to stave off suicidal thoughts. When someone with a mental illness kills themselves, it's because they LOST THEIR BATTLE, just like someone losing a battle to cancer. If anyone has anything to say about that, I dare you to, because I'll dismantle that argument in seconds. I've lost friends to suicide, and dammit, I know full well what they went through.


----------



## bribrius

Hey coop, if you get to that point, go check yourself in. Sure, they will take your shoe laces. But if you have that many doubts maybe a controlled environment is where you should be until you get your head straight.


----------



## minicoop1985

I have done that. I even got locked up on Christmas Eve/Christmas last year. Merry ****ing Christmas, I suppose. Anyway, I'm not suicidal now, just going between horribly anxious and horribly depressed.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> I have done that. I even got locked up on Christmas Eve/Christmas last year. Merry ****ing Christmas, I suppose. Anyway, I'm not suicidal now, just going between horribly anxious and horribly depressed.


Getting laid could help, (where is the wife?) and a good drunk... Amazing what sex can do for a anxiety reliever. 
(clearly, i am not qualified for this conversation).
If i ever meet you in person i am going to bring you out and get you totally stinking drunk until you pass out on the beach and wake up with the seagulls flying around.  Hopefully timed so the tide isn't coming in...  Not to worry though, i won't take advantage of you sexually and hopefully the seagulls don't either.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. 

Hey Appleton Guy ... Brian made an interesting point of checking yourself in. My point, spinning off his point, is to always seek help when things get tough. When the meds aren't cutting it ... find some professional help. I have nothing but respect for those who have identified a problem and have taken pro-active action to address said problem. I think the world of my friends who ... say ... have a drinking problem and now have stopped drinking. That must be hard to do and in many ways they are better than those of us who haven't had to undertake such personal accounting and change how we do day-to-day business. That is strength. 

Remember this, that the worst thing with suicide is that there isn't any do-overs, no reversals, no second chances to change anything.

Good Luck to you, man. I hope you work everything out.


----------



## Gary A.

On a different note ... After seeing BullDurham's Chasing the Light image ... I just ordered a 50mm for the GX 680III. I gotta get serious about landscapes.


----------



## bribrius

i think i might go out and look for photos, any photos. I am kinda bored. Half hour till dinner is done. Later in the day maybe a shadow shot of something. Or...anything....


----------



## minicoop1985

Alcohol is about the worst thing for anxiety or depression, but getting laid actually helps with depression.

Gary, I know I have a problem, but I'm not a danger to myself at the moment. If I was I'd probably check myself in.


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> When you have time, drop me a note and I'll buy you a coffee (or a beer). (Having lived in Japan ... there are much much worse places. Tokyo is like Santa Monica.)




Thanks Gary. I've loved it over here. I'm going to miss it a ton.


----------



## minicoop1985

I should also iterate that I am under the care of professionals. We are in constant contact, and I'm just going through another phase of medication rejections. It happens every 3-6 months and probably will for life.


----------



## minicoop1985

Today's off to a much better start. Some mild anxiety, but nothing I can't handle.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Today's off to a much better start. Some mild anxiety, but nothing I can't handle.


spend some time with the wife last night did ya? lol


----------



## terri

minicoop1985 said:


> Today's off to a much better start. Some mild anxiety, but nothing I can't handle.


----------



## snerd

Morning, hosers. I'm off to get a little walking in. I've discovered that laying in bed for 2 months can allow your body to waste away. Walking half what I used to, my legs hurt so bad at night I can't hardly stand it. I'm going to have to slow down and approach this a little smarter. I'm so used to getting the job done, no matter what, that I'm overreaching my body's limits. I knew I had gotten out of shape, but goodness!!


----------



## Designer

snerd said:


> I knew I had gotten out of shape, but goodness!!


Sure does happen fast!  

Oddly, one day a couple of months ago, I felt the best I had in a long time.  That same day I was told that I may have cancer.  

Got the ol' gall bladder out, and I feel much better now.


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> getting laid actually helps with depression


Helps with a lot of other things, as well.


----------



## minicoop1985

It indeed does. Today's gonna be a muuuuuch better day, I'm thinking.


----------



## oldhippy

Lunch   Grilled Veggies


----------



## pgriz

Yes, that does look yummy.


----------



## waday

I never pat myself on the back, but... I received notice earlier this week that I passed my professional engineer exam! No more stressing out about it!


----------



## limr

waday said:


> I never pat myself on the back, but... I received notice earlier this week that I passed my professional engineer exam! No more stressing out about it!



Woot! Congrats!


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I never pat myself on the back, but... I received notice earlier this week that I passed my professional engineer exam! No more stressing out about it!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Woot! Congrats!
Click to expand...

Thank you!


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I never pat myself on the back, but... I received notice earlier this week that I passed my professional engineer exam! No more stressing out about it!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Woot! Congrats!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thank you!
Click to expand...

 Which railroad?


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I never pat myself on the back, but... I received notice earlier this week that I passed my professional engineer exam! No more stressing out about it!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Woot! Congrats!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Which railroad?
Click to expand...

Not the cool kind. The boring kind where you sit at a desk, fill out forms, and "design" things.


----------



## Designer

I just finished "designing" supper.  Midwestern style chili and cornbread muffins.


----------



## pgriz

Good design is grossly under-rated.  Good design gets the job done  with the minimum of fuss, efficiently, and discreetly.  Bad design is a loud, obnoxious, space-wasting and time-wasting buffoon.  Engineers who do good design deserve their own Pantheon.  My dad was a civil engineer.  His stuff (some of it over 60 years old), still works, without needing patchups and workarounds.  @waday, may your design be "good", in all the ways "good" can be good.


----------



## waday

pgriz said:


> Good design is grossly under-rated.  Good design gets the job done  with the minimum of fuss, efficiently, and discreetly.  Bad design is a loud, obnoxious, space-wasting and time-wasting buffoon.  Engineers who do good design deserve their own Pantheon.  My dad was a civil engineer.  His stuff (some of it over 60 years old), still works, without needing patchups and workarounds.  @waday, may your design be "good", in all the ways "good" can be good.


Thanks @pgriz! I'm an environmental engineer, so I mainly work with water and wastewater. I've done some conceptual designs for portions of various industries and power plants. It's pretty neat stuff when you strip away the bureaucracy and politics.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> I never pat myself on the back, but... I received notice earlier this week that I passed my professional engineer exam! No more stressing out about it!


^5


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I never pat myself on the back, but... I received notice earlier this week that I passed my professional engineer exam! No more stressing out about it!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Woot! Congrats!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Which railroad?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not the cool kind. The boring kind where you sit at a desk, fill out forms, and "design" things.
Click to expand...


----------



## tirediron

pgriz said:


> *Good design is grossly under-rated.  Good design gets the job done  with the minimum of fuss, efficiently, and discreetly.  Bad design is a loud, obnoxious, space-wasting and time-wasting buffoon.  *Engineers who do good design deserve their own Pantheon.  My dad was a civil engineer.  His stuff (some of it over 60 years old), still works, without needing patchups and workarounds.  @waday, may your design be "good", in all the ways "good" can be good.


Sort of like classic portraiture and selective colour?


----------



## limr

Evening hosers.

Judgy bracelet says I walked 18,000+ steps today. We are in Portland and we walked...a LOT.

Sadly, one of our favorite places has closed


----------



## minicoop1985

Congrats @waday!

Today has been quite a good day, as I'd hoped it would.


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> Congrats @waday!
> 
> Today has been quite a good day, as I'd hoped it would.


Thanks!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Congrats Waday! Engineering of any sort is over my head, so I am really glad for people like you


----------



## NancyMoranG

Yesterday at my volunteer gig at the Cape Cod Canal, I had to re-group on short notice. Usually, our scheduled tours are 4-5 th graders and we do a talk. With 30 minutes notice they told me it was a group of STEM (science,tech, engineering and science) program kids from 12 grade.
Yikes, just when I had my speech down to almost no notes...

Went well.  I told them they were a tough crowd and my usual is 5 th graders. They came in all shapes, sizes and religions AND about 1/2 of each sex! Nice to see.


----------



## sm4him

Well, hosers...

It's been a long week. One of the longest I recall in the past decade.

Mom was finally moved to the rehab facility last Tuesday evening. She was doing great, mentally, and the incisions from the gall bladder surgery were healing up great. All that remained was really just getting some physical strength back so she could go back home. We figured a week, two at the most, in the rehab facility.

She was there less than 90 minutes before she had sudden intense chest and back pain. Back to the hospital.

She has been diagnosed with something called an intramural hematosis of the ascending aorta.
In most cases, this diagnosis would indicate the need for immediate surgery. But the surgery is extensive, more so than even bypass surgery. Mom is not in the condition to survive the surgery.

Therefore, the sole course of action available is to keep her blood pressure as low as safely possible and *hope* that the hematoma heals itself. It COULD happen, but there is probably very little actual likelihood of that.  If it doesn't heal itself, it will likely at some point dissect or rupture. Both of those possibilities would be fatal in her case, since again, surgery is out of the question.

A week? 3 weeks? Six months? We don't know.  Right now, we just focus on keeping the BP low and hoping for the best, I guess.

Mom is 88 years old, would be 89 in late August.  She's a fighter, and quite stubborn. But she also has already spent two weeks in the hospital fighting after the gall bladder surgery. I'm afraid she's about plum out of fight.


----------



## limr

Oh Sharon  

I'm not really the praying type so it would be dishonest to say that anyone is in my prayers. But I _am_ the meditating type, and I will send thoughts and energy for y'all.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, hosers! I think today's gonna be juuuust fine!


And consider yourself in my thoughts too, Sharon.


----------



## bribrius

last night....lol


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. aaaaahhh .... my first sip of coffee. It's been cooling off lately. Down from the 80's into the 70's. The weather peoples are saying El Nino is back and sticking around for possibly the rest of the year. Texas and Oklahoma notwithstanding, I hope it rains and rains. But I am still hell-bent on digging up the front and sculpting out a drought tolerant yard. Tired of mowing. Chili and cornbread always sounds good. I suppose it's comfort food. Last night we had sushi ... I guess if i was Japanese that would be comfort food. This is another busy day, gotta prep up food and drink for the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Well, hosers...
> 
> It's been a long week. One of the longest I recall in the past decade.
> 
> Mom was finally moved to the rehab facility last Tuesday evening. She was doing great, mentally, and the incisions from the gall bladder surgery were healing up great. All that remained was really just getting some physical strength back so she could go back home. We figured a week, two at the most, in the rehab facility.
> 
> She was there less than 90 minutes before she had sudden intense chest and back pain. Back to the hospital.
> 
> She has been diagnosed with something called an intramural hematosis of the ascending aorta.
> In most cases, this diagnosis would indicate the need for immediate surgery. But the surgery is extensive, more so than even bypass surgery. Mom is not in the condition to survive the surgery.
> 
> Therefore, the sole course of action available is to keep her blood pressure as low as safely possible and *hope* that the hematoma heals itself. It COULD happen, but there is probably very little actual likelihood of that.  If it doesn't heal itself, it will likely at some point dissect or rupture. Both of those possibilities would be fatal in her case, since again, surgery is out of the question.
> 
> A week? 3 weeks? Six months? We don't know.  Right now, we just focus on keeping the BP low and hoping for the best, I guess.
> 
> Mom is 88 years old, would be 89 in late August.  She's a fighter, and quite stubborn. But she also has already spent two weeks in the hospital fighting after the gall bladder surgery. I'm afraid she's about plum out of fight.


Oh man ... that is so tough. My thoughts and prayers are with you and Mom. I'm hoping for the best.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Sharon, bring her some her favorite old movies to watch or family home movies? That always brings a smile in my family 
Energized thoughts coming your way..


----------



## bribrius

third cup of coffee, 
do i dare bring the boys to the car races later.... will they sit still that long...
decisions, decisions......


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, hosers...
> 
> It's been a long week. One of the longest I recall in the past decade.
> 
> Mom was finally moved to the rehab facility last Tuesday evening. She was doing great, mentally, and the incisions from the gall bladder surgery were healing up great. All that remained was really just getting some physical strength back so she could go back home. We figured a week, two at the most, in the rehab facility.
> 
> She was there less than 90 minutes before she had sudden intense chest and back pain. Back to the hospital.
> 
> She has been diagnosed with something called an intramural hematosis of the ascending aorta.
> In most cases, this diagnosis would indicate the need for immediate surgery. But the surgery is extensive, more so than even bypass surgery. Mom is not in the condition to survive the surgery.
> 
> Therefore, the sole course of action available is to keep her blood pressure as low as safely possible and *hope* that the hematoma heals itself. It COULD happen, but there is probably very little actual likelihood of that.  If it doesn't heal itself, it will likely at some point dissect or rupture. Both of those possibilities would be fatal in her case, since again, surgery is out of the question.
> 
> A week? 3 weeks? Six months? We don't know.  Right now, we just focus on keeping the BP low and hoping for the best, I guess.
> 
> Mom is 88 years old, would be 89 in late August.  She's a fighter, and quite stubborn. But she also has already spent two weeks in the hospital fighting after the gall bladder surgery. I'm afraid she's about plum out of fight.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh man ... that is so tough. My thoughts and prayers are with you and Mom. I'm hoping for the best.
Click to expand...

What Gary said!


----------



## minicoop1985

AGH I CAN'T WATCH THE 24 HOURS OF LEMANS AGAIN UNTIL 6??? The hell kinda crap is THAT?


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> AGH I CAN'T WATCH THE 24 HOURS OF LEMANS AGAIN UNTIL 6??? The hell kinda crap is THAT?



Check the Interwebz. Buzz found it streaming earlier today.


----------



## minicoop1985

But I wanna watch it on my TV so I don't have to watch kids' shows...


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> But I wanna watch it on my TV so I don't have to watch kids' shows...



Dude, you're the parent. Tell the kid he's had enough TV for one day and it's time to go get some fresh air!


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> But I wanna watch it on my TV so I don't have to watch kids' shows...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dude, you're the parent. Tell the kid he's had enough TV for one day and it's time to go get some fresh air!
Click to expand...

yeah, but from personal experience giving the kid fresh air usually means you are going to get some fresh air too. So either way he isn't watching it. LOL


----------



## bribrius

i told her to make them sit at the table with the watermelon, like i do with everything else. Now it is scattered all over the living room. Now she is going to complain and i am going to refuse to pick it up.


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> Well, hosers...
> 
> It's been a long week. One of the longest I recall in the past decade.
> 
> Mom was finally moved to the rehab facility last Tuesday evening. She was doing great, mentally, and the incisions from the gall bladder surgery were healing up great. All that remained was really just getting some physical strength back so she could go back home. We figured a week, two at the most, in the rehab facility.
> 
> She was there less than 90 minutes before she had sudden intense chest and back pain. Back to the hospital.
> 
> She has been diagnosed with something called an intramural hematosis of the ascending aorta.
> In most cases, this diagnosis would indicate the need for immediate surgery. But the surgery is extensive, more so than even bypass surgery. Mom is not in the condition to survive the surgery.
> 
> Therefore, the sole course of action available is to keep her blood pressure as low as safely possible and *hope* that the hematoma heals itself. It COULD happen, but there is probably very little actual likelihood of that.  If it doesn't heal itself, it will likely at some point dissect or rupture. Both of those possibilities would be fatal in her case, since again, surgery is out of the question.
> 
> A week? 3 weeks? Six months? We don't know.  Right now, we just focus on keeping the BP low and hoping for the best, I guess.
> 
> Mom is 88 years old, would be 89 in late August.  She's a fighter, and quite stubborn. But she also has already spent two weeks in the hospital fighting after the gall bladder surgery. I'm afraid she's about plum out of fight.




All the best to you and your family.  It's a really difficult situation.


----------



## Gary A.

At the Bowl ... and the festivities begin.


----------



## limr

Looks like fun, Tio!

It's our last night of vacation. We've had such a great time. The week we spent in downeast Maine was so relaxing. I haven't slept that solidly in...probably in years. Portland is a little less relaxing, mostly because it's the weekend of the Old Port Festival, so there are a bit more people around and there is too much outdoor music for my tastes. But the hotel is comfortable and far enough away from the Old Port so we don't have to deal with it too much.

I have shot I think 5 rolls of 120 and maybe 10 rolls of 35mm. I bought a few things here and there (still have to decide on my t-shirt. I always like to come home from Maine with a moose t-shirt of some sort.) We also found a great old record store and I've got some new music for the turntable. And of course we're both going home with more books than we left with.

It will suck rocks to go back to work on Monday, but I miss my cats so at least getting to snuggle with them tomorrow night will take away the sting of vacation being over.


----------



## Gary A.

The vino is sparkling and from our trip to NorCal. The winery where we tasted and purchased the wine only makes sparkling wine. This one was their Brut Rose (with the funny mark over the e).


----------



## bribrius

okay, so i think we are going to the night races. Probably wont have much for photos though kids in tow. Bringing camera but not sure it will even make it out or not.


----------



## Gary A.

Round two, (there are four of us), home made Sangria, (w/ homemade bathtub orange liqueur). I made a tomato salad, goat cheese with about eight different types of tomatoes, some kale, basil, Mexican Oregano, mint all I a bed of lettuce... From the garden. 


 
The fruit is all from the yard.


----------



## minicoop1985

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> But I wanna watch it on my TV so I don't have to watch kids' shows...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dude, you're the parent. Tell the kid he's had enough TV for one day and it's time to go get some fresh air!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> yeah, but from personal experience giving the kid fresh air usually means you are going to get some fresh air too. So either way he isn't watching it. LOL
Click to expand...


Exactly. And it's been raining here all day, so fresh air is a nope.


----------



## Gary A.

I love California ... I love LA ... Morgan James.


----------



## NancyMoranG

I remember them using The Bowl in an old Columbo episode 

Made a turkey/ mashed potatoes/ stuffing today to last us a few days. I volunteer the next couple of days, so it will make easy lunches and dinner....mmmm

GO BOLTS !!!!
As in the Tampa Bay Lightning vs Chicago somebody tonight....settling down to cheer! Tied at 2-2 series coming back to Tampa tonight.


----------



## limr

Screw Tampa. GO HAWKS!


----------



## limr

Just got back from dinner, dessert, and a little walk. Town's getting pretty crazy. Not only is it Saturday night, but it's a festival weekend, so we are just fine settling back in our hotel room for the night, having some wine and doing some reading. Yeah, we're party animals 

My new books: Nancy Drew #50 _The Double Jinx Mystery_, Dostoevsky _The Brothers Karamazov_, Jose Saramago _Raised from the Ground_, and Muriel Spark _Momento Mori_ and ... shoot, can't remember the name of the second book. It's one volume but contains two books.

My new vinyl: Devo _Q: Are We Not Men?_, Rush _Moving Pictures _(pretty sure I only ever had this on CD, not vinyl but it's also possible that I'll get home and realize that I already have it), The B-52s _Bouncing Off the Satellite_ and The Honey Drippers _Volume One. _ I also had gotten 2 albums whose names I can't remember by Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.  I came very close to also buying an Ike and Tina Turner album because I looooove the song "Proud Mary" but then we found the Devo album and that one won the bracket.


----------



## Gary A.

Herbie Hancock.


----------



## limr

HAWKS!! YES!


----------



## terri

My thrill for Saturday night...we're mainly unpacked from the recent move from TX back to Georgia...900 miles of moving a houseful of stuff, 2 cats, 1 geriatric pug (Odin continues to hang in there)....fairly hellish, but tonight I was rewarded by finally sitting down with a glass of wine on my new screened-in back porch, and seeing fireflies for the first time in three years.        Life is good!


----------



## minicoop1985

Spending Saturday night alone downstairs TRYING TO WATCH LEMANS BUT NOOO SOCCER HAD TO GO INTO EXTRA TIME WTF MATE


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image


----------



## NancyMoranG

Jeepers Gary, a Goblet for your drink at an out door venue?! 
My idea of fancy would be to NOT use the RED solo cup but maybe a different color..


----------



## bribrius

first cup of coffee, starting to go through pics. so far i can say the keeper rate will be extremely low and shooting motorsports at night through a fence is a pita


----------



## bribrius




----------



## Gary A.

NancyMoranG said:


> Jeepers Gary, a Goblet for your drink at an out door venue?!
> My idea of fancy would be to NOT use the RED solo cup but maybe a different color..


LOL ... the Bowl is great because, for some events, they allow you to bring your own food and drink. So people tend to do something special ... something better than pizza and a six pack. The Playboy Jazz Festival is just one big party ... people are sharing food and drink, Mary Lou had a bag of those Mardi Gra Bead neckaces she was tossing to everyone, others were giving away those chemical light necklaces ... and some had jello shots which they  threw into the bvegging crowds ... dancing in the aisles and the seats, under the stars on a weather perfect day.  It was just great to be there and to be alive listening to bands from around the world and to some of the greats (ala Herbie Hancock) in arguably the best, most historic outdoor music venue in the world. Just to be a part of it all.

As to the goblets, lol. Mary Lou spotted the stainless steel wine glasses on a trip to Solvang and immediately said "... the Hollywood Bowl!". All wine out of a Solo cup is not only a diservice to the wine but lowers the taste a notch ot three and it all tastes like the crap we used to drinbk n college. Sorta like using a shopping bag to carry your Leica. Not only are the wine glasses ... wine glasses ... if the glasses gets dropped or fall ... there is shattering glass flying everywhere. The glasses get a lot of remarks and looks and the help (attendants) always thank us becuse after the event they spend hours sweeping up broken glass. 

(I think it woud be a sin to empty Roederer Brute Rose, Stephen Ross Pinot Noir and my homemade bathtub Sangria into a Solo Cup. Speaking of Solo and cup ... good job USA moving into the next rounbd.)


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 103319
> Herbie Hancock.


How can you tell?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Another cool overcast June Gloom morning. I lost another Koi to the turtles ... this one coudn't recover from the damage. About two to three pounds. I burried it in the roses. Cook and I had a little ceremoney, some silence and wave some sage over the grave.  It was bright orange and very beautiful. I'm in the patio finishing my coffee, The cook is laying next to me, every so often she'll turn her head and look at me, reminding me of her walk or lack thereof. So I better get going.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Another cool overcast June Gloom morning. I lost another Koi to the turtles ... this one coudn't recover from the damage. About two to three pounds. I burried it in the roses. Cook and I had a little ceremoney, some silence and wave some sage over the grave.  It was bright orange and very beautiful. I'm in the patio finishing my coffee, The cook is laying next to me, every so often she'll turn her head and look at me, reminding me of her walk or lack thereof. So I better get going.


Bummer about the Koi!  Sounds like you need two ponds.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 103319
> Herbie Hancock.
> 
> 
> 
> How can you tell?
Click to expand...

I read the program. (iPhone image so it's sorta wide.) I did take the X100S, (again, sorta wide), and I tossed my 10x monocular up to the lens for a closeup ... haven't processed those. All the images are from the iPhone. Besides, I was there to listen ... not to see.  

Funny, in my old age, I don't feel compelled to sneak around the security to get close or sneak in a Bigma (or equal) ... I've already captured my fair share of world class performers, up-close and personal. Unless I have the same access as when I was working news ... what's the point ... so now, if I don't have the opp/access I want, I'm not gonna try sneakarounds, working hard for inferior images ... I'll just be lazy and not work hard for my inferior images and enjoy the show.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Another cool overcast June Gloom morning. I lost another Koi to the turtles ... this one coudn't recover from the damage. About two to three pounds. I burried it in the roses. Cook and I had a little ceremoney, some silence and wave some sage over the grave.  It was bright orange and very beautiful. I'm in the patio finishing my coffee, The cook is laying next to me, every so often she'll turn her head and look at me, reminding me of her walk or lack thereof. So I better get going.
> 
> 
> 
> Bummer about the Koi!  Sounds like you need two ponds.
Click to expand...

We thought about that, but figured the turtles would just make their way back to the koi pond so they can continue their mischief. We've had the turtles for more than 15 years and it wasn't an easy decision, but we took them to new home. The lake down the street at the regional park. There's a small Red Ear population there and they should do fine.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 103319
> Herbie Hancock.
> 
> 
> 
> How can you tell?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I read the program. (iPhone image so it's sorta wide.) I did take the X100S, (again, sorta wide), and I tossed my 10x monocular up to the lens for a closeup ... haven't processed those. All the images are from the iPhone. Besides, I was there to listen ... not to see.
> 
> Funny, in my old age, I don't feel compelled to sneak around the security to get close or sneak in a Bigma (or equal) ... I've already captured my fair share of world class performers, up-close and personal. Unless I have the same access as when I was working news ... what's the point ... so now, if I don't have the opp/access I want, I'm not gonna try sneakarounds, working hard for inferior images ... I'll just be lazy and not work hard for my inferior images and enjoy the show.
Click to expand...

no security for me to worry about at the track, pay a little extra or jump on with one of my friends that race and i could have gotten a inside vantage point. But i was there more with the kids for family time so we went and pretty much stuck to the spectator stands...


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon, Hosers! Been a great day so far. Got to watch the end of LeMans, watched Return of the Jedi, cleaned the house, got the wife a new camera body (Sony a65 to replace her a55)... all signs of a great day.


----------



## bribrius

what is strange i haven't shot is the bush family (president sr. jr). They been flying in the local airport for years, motorcade passes through. Pretty much duck shots they head out to walkers island. They just came through again last week i think for one of their birthdays. It didn't even occur to me to ever take a photo. I considered it last week when they came through, but didn't have the ambition to go down there. lol


----------



## bribrius

i could actually sit on the front lawn and shoot the motorcade, but there isn't much too it. I think over the years i kind of became immune to them. Ran into senior once in a shop in kennebunk. He seemed nice enough didn't really talk to him much.


----------



## Gary A.

My 50mm for the GX 680 has shipped from Japan!


----------



## Gary A.

The morning harvest.


----------



## bribrius

still going through pics, granted. I keep taking extended, and many breaks...


----------



## Gary A.

Just finished working on the yard. While mowing I discovered this jewel. It must have emerged this morning as it wasn't able to fly.
iPhone image

(Yes, that's my finger in the corner ... one day, if I shoot enough, I may be able to manage a decent shot.)


----------



## NancyMoranG

Careful Gary. With a harvest like that, someone will report you to the water police! 
A few years back we were near Pebble Beach and we did go see an area that was the stop off for migrating Monarchs. The trees looked like they had leaves but it was all Monarchs, just beautiful!


----------



## Gary A.

Yes, that's in Pacific Grove ... a Monarch Reserve ... One of God's special places.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

Found another huge zucchini hidden amongst the roses. (The glass is for scale.)


----------



## sm4him

^Could I have some of what's in the glass, please?


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> ^Could I have some of what's in the glass, please?


Of course, (rude of me not to offer), Sharon, please join us on the patio for an afternoon snack. We serving cheddar, crackers, salami, watermelon, canaloupe and the leftover fruit from yesterday's Sangria.  Would you like some Chardonnay?  It's 75F right now and we have the ceiling fans turning for a nice breeze.


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday's Sangria.



iPhone image


----------



## Gary A.

Humidity is 57%. (My weather app says that it is 75F and it feels like 75F.)


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> ^Could I have some of what's in the glass, please?
> 
> 
> 
> Of course, (rude of me not to offer), Sharon, please join us on the patio for an afternoon snack. We serving cheddar, crackers, salami, watermelon, canaloupe and the leftover fruit from yesterday's Sangria.  Would you like some Chardonnay?  It's 75F right now and we have the ceiling fans turning for a nice breeze.
Click to expand...


Thank you. Just what I needed tonight. 
Chardonnay would be just fine. The fruit, the temps, the view, and the company? That would just be divine.


----------



## Gary A.

You sorta beat to an addition to my reply. I truly wish you were here. After the long week(s) of dealing with your mother, a nice ... albeit, short retreat would be nice. It would be great to have been the one to provide such an option. Some fine wine, relaxing in the patio (no insects to speak of) and a bit of dinner. (We're having Jim Beam marinaded salmon ... but if you were in the neighborhood I'm change the menu to some sort of fancy scallops, (I'd even make a quick drive to the fisherman's market at the beach so they would be fresh, as in today fresh. You deserve a break.) And the chardonney is delightfully fruity but not too sweet with a slight tart kicker at the tail.


----------



## Gary A.

The fragrance from these are fantastic.











iPhone images

This one doesn't smell ... But it is visually nice.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou just reloaded the fruit, she has added grapes (red and green) to the watermelon and canaloupe. Life is good.


----------



## Gary A.

Is it just me ... or has the level of photography gone down on this forum?


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> You sorta beat to an addition to my reply. I truly wish you were here. After the long week(s) of dealing with your mother, a nice ... albeit, short retreat would be nice. It would be great to have been the one to provide such an option. Some fine wine, relaxing in the patio (no insects to speak of) and a bit of dinner. (We're having Jim Beam marinaded salmon ... but if you were in the neighborhood I'm change the menu to some sort of fancy scallops, (I'd even make a quick drive to the fisherman's market at the beach so they would be fresh, as in today fresh. You deserve a break.) And the chardonney is delightfully fruity but not too sweet with a slight tart kicker at the tail.



I truly do wish that were an option as well. I have a feeling the food, and the company, would indeed be just the sort of mini-retreat I could use.

This has all come at about the time I'd have been taken my THIRD stab at a vacation, the other two also being put on hold by either incidents with my mother or other issues related to her.  I'm actually GLAD we didn't get to take any of those vacations, in the sense that I hate to think this might have happened while we were travelling somewhere with her, or just as bad, that it might have happened TO her while I was sitting on a beach somewhere.  Still, I must admit that I am definitely feeling the effects of not having had a vacation--and now, wondering whether I'll get one this year at all, since I may well use up all my time before this plays out to its inevitable conclusion.
But, not gonna focus on any of that just now: Strength for each day, and an focus on appreciating the days we have left, especially the ones (or parts of them) where she is reasonably alert and "with it" as she was today.

I am blessed with some dear, dear friends who are faithful to check in on me and make me feel loved.  I texted one of them on Friday, told her I was sick of cafeteria food, sick of fast food, and just a little bit sick of my family just then too.   She texted back and said to meet her in the front parking circle at 1:00--picked me up and took me to lunch. It was just a little break, but it made my day!

I've got the night off from the hospital tonight, so I think I'll head on to bed and at least attempt to get some rest.

Gary, one of these days, I'll make it out there. But seriously, I can just about close my eyes right now and imagine that I'm there already...so get that Chardonnay out, and I'll see you in my dreams...


----------



## Gary A.

Screw the Chardonnay, I'll break out the good stuff when you arrive. 

Sometimes, one day at a time is the best you can hope for and often it works as well as anything else to get by. One step in front of the last step is no different as having a map. You just have to keep on moving forward.

Take care Sharon. Give your Mom a hug from all of us.

G


----------



## Gary A.

Fired up the giant George Foreman in preparation for the salmon. We polished off the Chardonnay and we'll probably have some herbal tea with dinner. It's beginning to cool off, so I'm killing the ceiling fans.


----------



## Gary A.

The start had started ...


----------



## limr

I am home.

My girls were very excited to see me. Every day whenever I come home, I always kneel down on the floor and lean over, so I am at cat level. Zelda is usually already waiting in the hallway and then Mrs.Parker trundles out. I say "Give me nose!" and first Zelda and then Mrs. Parker both come to my face and touch their noses to mine.

Today, Zelda actually squeaked when she saw me (she rarely meows) and after giving me nose, she spent a lot of time rubbing her face all over mine. Then Mrs.Parker did the same. They've both been hovering around me a lot.

The bad news is that tomorrow is Monday and I have to work! Waaaaah! 

Sharon, my dear..more hugs are coming your way


----------



## minicoop1985

OH MY GOOD GOD FALLOUT 4 IS COMING OH MY GOD OMG OMG OMGGGGGGGG

I feel like a teenage girl I'm so excited.


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner is served.


----------



## waday

As I walk into the office today, someone is propping the door open. The AC isn't working. It's 87 in the office at 8 AM and very stuffy.


----------



## bribrius

waday said:


> As I walk into the office today, someone is propping the door open. The AC isn't working. It's 87 in the office at 8 AM and very stuffy.
> 
> View attachment 103439


you are in for a rough day.
60 degrees here. Raining. Just got kid #2 off to school.


----------



## waday

bribrius said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> As I walk into the office today, someone is propping the door open. The AC isn't working. It's 87 in the office at 8 AM and very stuffy.
> 
> View attachment 103439
> 
> 
> 
> you are in for a rough day.
> 60 degrees here. Raining. Just got kid #2 off to school.
Click to expand...

Yes  I may try to work from home if the boss lets me..


----------



## bribrius

waday said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> As I walk into the office today, someone is propping the door open. The AC isn't working. It's 87 in the office at 8 AM and very stuffy.
> 
> View attachment 103439
> 
> 
> 
> you are in for a rough day.
> 60 degrees here. Raining. Just got kid #2 off to school.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes  I may try to work from home if the boss lets me..
Click to expand...

I have a job but i haven't been to it in over a year. I can't believe they still have me on the books i must be loved.


----------



## KenC

waday said:


> As I walk into the office today, someone is propping the door open. The AC isn't working. It's 87 in the office at 8 AM and very stuffy.
> 
> View attachment 103439



Sounds bad - I can barely tolerate work with functioning AC.  Great pooch pic by the way ...

Oh, and morning, hosers!  (whatever temperature you're at)


----------



## waday

KenC said:


> Sounds bad - I can barely tolerate work with functioning AC. Great pooch pic by the way ...


 Yeah, same here.  That pic is a meme... Can't take credit for it.


----------



## KenC

waday said:


> That pic is a meme... Can't take credit for it.



Well, then take credit for posting it - we won't argue


----------



## waday

KenC said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> That pic is a meme... Can't take credit for it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, then take credit for posting it - we won't argue
Click to expand...

I always meant to ask, whereabouts in Philly are you? The wife and I lived in the northwest suburbs for a while, then we moved back to central PA. We really miss Philly, both the city and the suburbs.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

Is there some sort of irony involved in reading a blog about foster cats while listening to Nine Inch Nails?


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> As I walk into the office today, someone is propping the door open. The AC isn't working. It's 87 in the office at 8 AM and very stuffy.
> 
> View attachment 103439


The dog melted ...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I won't get into specifics, but today will be like yesterday, which was like the day before yesterday ... et cetera.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't know if there's irony in it Leonore but NIN was on Austin City Limits over the weekend (and why isn't there a backwards N on the keyboard? lol). Good choice in records you got on your trip too.

I hope Waday didn't melt, and by now you're at home working.

I wondered at first Brian how you'd still be on their books at work. After I had a stroke I had up to maybe 6 mos.? leave, then since I had just over 30 years in I took an early retirement or I would have had to go on disability. I think... but I guess there was an option to have them hold 'a' position, not necessarily the one I left. Or something like that.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I won't get into specifics, but today will be like yesterday, which was like the day before yesterday ... et cetera.



Lol. I think I can safely say this is true in my neck of the woods as well.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> I hope Waday didn't melt, and by now you're at home working.


Still at the office.  Decided to sweat it out.

They fixed half of the office. So, I'm half as warm right now, haha. It's down to about 78 degrees, so it's bearable.


----------



## limr

Quiet around here today.


----------



## oldhippy

limr said:


> Quiet around here today.


BANG BANG.  Waking the coffee derelicts up.


----------



## limr




----------



## limr




----------



## limr

Why, coffee sounds like a lovely idea, thank you! 

I think I have reached full-on fugue.


----------



## minicoop1985

Need.... moar... coffeeeeeeeeeeee


----------



## waday




----------



## limr




----------



## limr




----------



## limr

Evening, folks. It's been somewhat of a non-day today. I'm ready to fire its ass.

But I did drop off 9 rolls of film at the lab for processing (6 rolls of 35mm and 3 rolls of 120). Should get them tomorrow or Wednesday and then I can start scanning. Should have some shots by the end of the week.


----------



## BillM

So you did make it back to civilization


----------



## snowbear

Spent the day property parcels with null-value fire box areas.  In other words, changing labels (field values in a database) from blanks to things like "3802" and "2404N" for mostly rectangular spaces on a map.  I'm hoping I'll be able to knock out the areas for three to five stations per day.  With 40 more stations this will be my work life for the next two or three weeks.

Oh, and this is round one of the edits.  After these are done, I'll run some more traffic analysis measurements to pinpoint the real problem children.

Then I get to create the maintenance procedure and pull all of the documentation together.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Spent the day property parcels with null-value fire box areas.  In other words, changing labels (field values in a database) from blanks to things like "3802" and "2404N" for mostly rectangular spaces on a map.  I'm hoping I'll be able to knock out the areas for three to five stations per day.  With 40 more stations this will be my work life for the next two or three weeks.
> 
> Oh, and this is round one of the edits.  After these are done, I'll run some more traffic analysis measurements to pinpoint the real problem children.
> 
> Then I get to create the maintenance procedure and pull all of the documentation together.


I'd ask for a raise.


----------



## oldhippy




----------



## limr

BillM said:


> So you did make it back to civilization



Didn't really want to return to civilization. It's really not civilized enough for my tastes.

This was more my speed:


----------



## limr

Here's the one with my feet that you asked for!


----------



## snerd

Cutting back on the coffee............... just 2 cups of weak joe today. Planning another week in the Ozarks in Arkansas if the doc says my shoulder is infection-free on Thursday.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Oh wait, this isn't a word association thread is it?


----------



## NancyMoranG

oldhippy said:


> View attachment 103509



Just wait till next year!! We are a young team and lots of young legs 
Wondering if this will rank as 1 of the lowest scoring finals ever? I mean, most games are in the 2-1 range...
Ugh..


----------



## oldhippy

My son Bob in his tower crane, ready to greet the Stanly Cup Winners


----------



## bribrius

lets see, woke up. Got suckered into going down the jail to bail someone out (drunk and fighting with his girlfriend again) so i got to sit around two hours waiting for the bail commissioner and paperwork. . All good it is his money coming out of his paycheck back to the construction site he goes...

Then to the store to get some money reversed back on a credit card because they double billed it, some how. I appreciate their putting it back on my card and all but it doesn't pay for my time and gas going there.
wonder why i hate people.


----------



## bribrius

third cup of coffee, and counting..


----------



## snerd

vintagesnaps said:


> Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Oh wait, this isn't a word association thread is it?


Never let it be said that us rednecks and hillbillies have not contributed much to the entertainment world.


----------



## shefjr

oldhippy said:


> My son Bob in his tower crane, ready to greet the Stanly Cup WinnersView attachment 103536


Your son has my dream job. I have operated almost every piece of heavy equipment out there except for the tower crane. For me it is the coolest job a person could have. I'm in awe of tower cranes everytime I see one.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I probably still have the album (but am not inclined to go hunt thru old records in the basement!). Hmm maybe should get the CD...

Well fellow hosers and hosettes, needed extra coffee today. Yesterday went to an eye specialist and now my shoulder hurts. lol So woke up early not too comfy, a couple of hours perched in various weirdo chairs did it. And having to sit with my arm out on this shelf thingy while they ran some dye in there, jeez. Will need to have a laser procedure that literally will take 2 min. And it's a half hour away. But at least it's fairly minor and preventive (history of eye problems in the fam).

I feel for Snerd, my shoulder at one point was frozen and I'm tellin' ya that's the most painful thing I ever had.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Looks like your son has the best seat in the house!!


----------



## minicoop1985

Whew. Can't wake up today. Wow, not enough coffee in my veins, I'm thinking. I can't drink too much though or I start to have panic attacks.


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> I can't drink too much though or I start to have panic attacks.


If I have more than ~12 oz, I start to get real jittery.


----------



## minicoop1985

I did one day and NEEDED a Xanax, but I don't have any. Ugh.


----------



## waday

That stinks


----------



## minicoop1985

Oh man does it. I think I may have overdone it today. We'll have to wait and see.


----------



## oldhippy

shefjr said:


> oldhippy said:
> 
> 
> 
> My son Bob in his tower crane, ready to greet the Stanly Cup WinnersView attachment 103536
> 
> 
> 
> Your son has my dream job. I have operated almost every piece of heavy equipment out there except for the tower crane. For me it is the coolest job a person could have. I'm in awe of tower cranes everytime I see one.
Click to expand...

Have Six sons. Bob is by far the most adventurous.  He attended  Formula 1 Driving school in leMans France.  Even did a month walking tour of Madrid Spain.  All these things on his own with no financial assistance.
Just a proud dad, living vicariously through my sons.  Ed


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Spent the day property parcels with null-value fire box areas.  In other words, changing labels (field values in a database) from blanks to things like "3802" and "2404N" for mostly rectangular spaces on a map.  I'm hoping I'll be able to knock out the areas for three to five stations per day.  With 40 more stations this will be my work life for the next two or three weeks.
> 
> Oh, and this is round one of the edits.  After these are done, I'll run some more traffic analysis measurements to pinpoint the real problem children.
> 
> Then I get to create the maintenance procedure and pull all of the documentation together.
> 
> 
> 
> I'd ask for a raise.
Click to expand...


I did.  They doubled my salary.


----------



## shefjr

oldhippy said:


> shefjr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> oldhippy said:
> 
> 
> 
> My son Bob in his tower crane, ready to greet the Stanly Cup WinnersView attachment 103536
> 
> 
> 
> Your son has my dream job. I have operated almost every piece of heavy equipment out there except for the tower crane. For me it is the coolest job a person could have. I'm in awe of tower cranes everytime I see one.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Have Six sons. Bob is by far the most adventurous.  He attended  Formula 1 Driving school in leMans France.  Even did a month walking tour of Madrid Spain.  All these things on his own with no financial assistance.
> Just a proud dad, living vicariously through my sons.  Ed
Click to expand...

Your son sounds like quite the accomplished man! I'm jealous of his adventures. I can certainly see why you would be proud.


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> Cutting back on the coffee............... just 2 cups of weak joe today. Planning another week in the Ozarks in Arkansas if the doc says my shoulder is infection-free on Thursday.



I should "hire" you to take some pictures. We were supposed to take Mom to the Ozarks at the end of May. She has many, many fond memories of growing up in that area, visiting her grandparents and her aunt and uncle who lived on a farm in...err...Jasper? Harrison? I don't remember, but somewhere in that area.  Her grandparents lived up on a hill in a place they homesteaded. I've got a picture of them in front of their "house." Looks more like a broken-down barn than a house.  The area where they homesteaded is now called McElroy Gap, named after them.

When it became clear that we likely will not be able to take her there now, we had the idea to "take" her there virtually, via Google Earth, but there are relatively few pictures available in the areas she was most interested in.  If I felt like I could leave for a week, I'd go out there myself and take pictures of the things she wanted to see. She was nervous anyway, about just how different it would all look and whether it would just depress her how much had changed, so if I went with a list of photos to take for her, I could simply pretend not to have gotten ones of any places that had changed too much for the worst!


----------



## Gary A.

USA!   USA!   USA!

Wombach ... scores right before halftime.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers. This has been a good day, I picked up my new grill today and I'm assembling it between plays.


----------



## Gary A.

USA! USA! USA! USA!

The women advance.


----------



## Gary A.

My new Kamado grill.


----------



## limr

That grill inexplicably reminds me of some kind of cartoon space ship. Marvin the Martian came to mind first.


----------



## snerd

sm4him said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cutting back on the coffee............... just 2 cups of weak joe today. Planning another week in the Ozarks in Arkansas if the doc says my shoulder is infection-free on Thursday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I should "hire" you to take some pictures..................
Click to expand...

Actually, my friends live in the south, Pine Bluff. We will usually make the drive back up north, because I love it up in the mountains there. I just don't know if I'll be wanting to this time, I'm still not quite 100% yet and the 7 hour first drive is gonna hurt. I've been pushing too hard and am getting really tired some days. But I don't know how to do much of anything slow. Tell ya what............ if we do decide to go up, I'll share any and all photos I take with you. Will that work?


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> That grill inexplicably reminds me of some kind of cartoon space ship. Marvin the Martian came to mind first.


It actually is. What looks like side tables are solar panels.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Here at work, but with coffee and brownie, so what could be so bad?

I've been trying to get out and shoot despite the recent heat wave here, not always with much success.  I need to take a day off and go out very early in the morning.  Meanwhile, I did get a couple of shots at lunch the other day, one of which I'll post today.


----------



## bribrius

64 degree, cup two. Hopefully today goes better than yesterday.....


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Just made a fresh cup of coffee for my mid-morning granola bar snack. Hoping I can pick up my film after work and start scanning it tomorrow. Haven't tucked into the black and white, yet, but I will NOT let that turn into a massive backlog again. It will all be done by or over the weekend.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is a cool, overcast morning. 64F right now but should break into the 80's. I've been looking around, off and on, for about a year seeking out the ideal smoker. Reading, reading ... reading trying to separate the wheat from the chaff, the real reviews from the manufacturer shills. While smoking was high on my list, I was looking for everything, but in particular great flavor and automation. I wanted to just toss a hunk of meat, or a chunk of cheese, set a few dials and walk away. Come back from golf or getting my nails done to a finished product and viola! ... dinner. In my quest for the perfect BBQ/Smoker I kept coming back to the Kamados ... these egg shaped ceramic grills. They do it all. They smoke, they cook at low temps and they cook at extremely high temps. A bit of a learning curve, but once you've dialed it in, you can cook low and slow for 20 hours on one load of charcoal. I am very apprehensive as I haven't cook with charcoal in decades ... but I am happy that my quest is over. Y'all are welcome to come over for some BBQ.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

We cook more outside than inside and we cook outside all year long. This puppy will be used extensively.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is a cool, overcast morning. 64F right now but should break into the 80's. I've been looking around, off and on, for about a year seeking out the ideal smoker. Reading, reading ... reading trying to separate the wheat from the chaff, the real reviews from the manufacturer shills. While smoking was high on my list, I was looking for everything, but in particular great flavor and automation. I wanted to just toss a hunk of meat, or a chunk of cheese, set a few dials and walk away. Come back from golf or getting my nails done to a finished product and viola! ... dinner. In my quest for the perfect BBQ/Smoker I kept coming back to the Kamados ... these egg shaped ceramic grills. They do it all. They smoke, they cook at low temps and they cook at extremely high temps. A bit of a learning curve, but once you've dialed it in, you can cook low and slow for 20 hours on one load of charcoal. I am very apprehensive as I haven't cook with charcoal in decades ... but I am happy that my quest is over. Y'all are welcome to come over for some BBQ.



This is the kind of thing Buzz and I would love. He grills year round, even in the Northeast winters. He'll go out with a coat and a headlamp (because it's already dark at 4:30) in just about any kind of weather. I love the idea of it being a smoker and slow-cooker as well, and using charcoal instead of gas.

I might have to start saving up for it so I can buy it for his birthday next year


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is a cool, overcast morning. 64F right now but should break into the 80's. I've been looking around, off and on, for about a year seeking out the ideal smoker. Reading, reading ... reading trying to separate the wheat from the chaff, the real reviews from the manufacturer shills. While smoking was high on my list, I was looking for everything, but in particular great flavor and automation. I wanted to just toss a hunk of meat, or a chunk of cheese, set a few dials and walk away. Come back from golf or getting my nails done to a finished product and viola! ... dinner. In my quest for the perfect BBQ/Smoker I kept coming back to the Kamados ... these egg shaped ceramic grills. They do it all. They smoke, they cook at low temps and they cook at extremely high temps. A bit of a learning curve, but once you've dialed it in, you can cook low and slow for 20 hours on one load of charcoal. I am very apprehensive as I haven't cook with charcoal in decades ... but I am happy that my quest is over. Y'all are welcome to come over for some BBQ.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is the kind of thing Buzz and I would love. He grills year round, even in the Northeast winters. He'll go out with a coat and a headlamp (because it's already dark at 4:30) in just about any kind of weather. I love the idea of it being a smoker and slow-cooker as well, and using charcoal instead of gas.
> 
> I might have to start saving up for it so I can buy it for his birthday next year
Click to expand...

From what I read, Kamados not only do everything ... they do everything extremely well. On this Kamado, the guts can be configured in a ton of different way to accommodate smoking to pizzas. You can set up one half for direct and the other half for indirect grilling. And, there are digital temp control devices for automation, fans and probes that will cook your food for hours without any human intervention or monitoring. Buzz will love it. They come in various sizes. (This puppy was on sale at Costco at a significant savings under the lowest internet price I could find. I think this was a special deal between a local Kamado dealer and a local Costco.)


----------



## limr




----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cutting back on the coffee............... just 2 cups of weak joe today. Planning another week in the Ozarks in Arkansas if the doc says my shoulder is infection-free on Thursday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I should "hire" you to take some pictures..................
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Actually, my friends live in the south, Pine Bluff. We will usually make the drive back up north, because I love it up in the mountains there. I just don't know if I'll be wanting to this time, I'm still not quite 100% yet and the 7 hour first drive is gonna hurt. I've been pushing too hard and am getting really tired some days. But I don't know how to do much of anything slow. Tell ya what............ if we do decide to go up, I'll share any and all photos I take with you. Will that work?
Click to expand...


Sounds like a deal, snerd!  But yeah, don't push yourself TOO hard, you really don't want to end up with a major setback again.


----------



## NancyMoranG

I have been twiddling my thumbs since 8 pm...where is the 7 th game of the Stamley Cup Finals??.
What do I do now that my Tampa Bay has given you the win?!! 
;(


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone images




The 50mm has arrived.


----------



## minicoop1985

Hey guys. Back after another anxiety attack that led to a depressive episode. Also having hallucinations AGAIN. I swear it's like I'm off my antidepressant entirely. This royally sucks.


----------



## limr

Shnikees!!


----------



## minicoop1985

Also had a bout of suicidal thoughts in said depressive episode. Today is just not my day.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hallucinations? good grief what is up with your medications? I hope this gets stabilized and tomorrow is better since today apparently sucked.



I was thinking the same thing this evening, that it was about time to flip on the game - then realized, oh wait, there isn't game on! lol

C'mon, September! local junior hockey starts by then.


----------



## Gary A.

Hang in there and ride this thing out until you get the meds dialed in. We're all in your corner Appleton Guy.


----------



## Gary A.

It is late ... it took me forever to partially figure out the vent controls on the damn Komado ... but I am final sitting down to my first meal ... and it is wonderful. It is a simple roasted chicken but it is moist and full of flavor with a crispy skin. I tossed in some taters, carrots and a loaf of garlic bread and it all came out so close to perfect that I want to call it perfect. I'm really low on the learning curve with this Komado puppy ... but I can taste the potential. I stuffed the insides of the chicken with orange and onion, the outside was seasoned with pepper, salt, lemons and it all rested on this thick bed of herbs, mostly rosemary and oregano ... and all these flavors plus the flavor of charcoal ... all came through with every bite. This may very well be the last bbq/grill I will ever own.


----------



## minicoop1985

I very much appreciate your support, guys.

Here's the deal. Every 6 months or so, my antidepressant decides to say oh hell no and stop working, then I go into a complete tailspin. Hallucinations are a real pain in the ass when you combine them with anxiety. This time, the hallucinations are absolutely freaky. They used to be fleeting motions in the corner of my eye, but this time they've evolved. One, I saw an entire person out of the corner of my eye. Two, saw a creature that really wasn't there (not just movement, but the whole creature) again out of the corner of my eye. Three, I saw a camera just off center of my vision. Reached for it, it disappeared completely. I can't trust my vision at this point, and being a photographer, that just ain't gonna work.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Wish there was someway to help you MiniCoop 
Could you switch to a medication at 5 months that you know works for you? Then, it could be a 'planned' thing you are prepared for? Hope that doesn't sound silly! 
We all have something....


----------



## minicoop1985

Thanks, Nancy.

I wish that would solve it, but when I switch, I'd have to deal with this regardless. There's pretty much no way out of this. Without an antidepressant, I'm batsh*t insane, basically, and I would have to taper down to nothing on one to taper up on the other.  There may be a right combination out there somewhere, but I'm not holding my breath.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Geez it sounds like that type medication interferes with brain function if it causes you to see things. Wonder if there's any way to help your mind figure out that something you're think you're seeing, you really aren't seeing?

Guess what I'm thinking about is after the stroke I had to 'tell' my foot what to do, or had to see what I was trying to do (they use mirrors a lot in therapy). I could tell when the message wasn't getting thru, my foot would be down there going - what? Still has its neurological goofy moments, I often would visualize and sometimes still have to think what I'm doing with motor functions that we just do without really thinking about it.

Not that it's at all the same thing, and I'm wandering off track, I just got interested in how my brain and nervous system was working (or not) so got to thinking... The brain can recover quite amazingly but it's not so great when it's interfered with. Hope this gets stabilized for you.


----------



## limr

First of all, Michael:   It's a terrible thing to have to deal with so frequently, and I admire how you keep fighting.

Second: Oh my god, ya'll, this day! This day...I don't even know what this day was.

It started off with me spilling coffee on one shirt, so I had to change clothes. As I was drying my hair, I noticed that my second shirt had a stain on it right in the front, so outfit change #2. After putting my make-up on, I looked down and realized I got a big glob of make-up on my white shirt on the front...outfit change #3.

Got to work doing placement readings. Big stack of blue books. There were three other readers already there and they'd only done a handful. We were a little chatty because one of the woman had just come back after an angioplasty, so we got a little backed up, but then started getting to the essays. One woman reads at a _glacial_ pace. We're scheduled from 10-12 but it was clear we wouldn't finish by 12. It was about 12:30 when we were given an additonal 30 essays to read. Two women had to leave, so it was just the two of us reading the backlog and then the new batch when another batch of 30 came in. I was there until 3:00. 5 straight hours of reading these essays left me slightly broken.







Then I had to go across the hall to my admin job at the support center which apparently had its very own full moon in operation. After half an hour, I still hadn't even turned my computer on and I hadn't done a thing. This one hadn't seen me in weeks and was catching me up, another one had a speeding ticket and was asking about court, we needed a box of tissues but the drawer was stuck...

Finally about 3:45 I was called to talk about some new thing we're doing for tutors and a simple idea took 20 minutes to talk about because these things always get unnecessarily complicated (I swear sometimes I think I should have been an engineer)...And it just went on like that until the place closed at 5. I barely stopped moving and yet, I didn't do a damn lick of work somehow. WTF?

Yeah, I'ma have a drink, y'all.


----------



## minicoop1985

Thanks, Leonore and Sharon. Strokes are serious business. I'm assuming they have you perfectly functional again, right? I hope?

The medication doesn't cause it. It's my particular brand of bipolar: extremely rapid cycling bipolar 1 with symptoms of psychosis. These are just symptoms that happen when my antidepressant fails, and right now I'm in between them. I've learned to recognize them and not buy into them, but when you see people that aren't there, it starts to wear on you.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I can't imagine Michael, keep hanging in there. Didn't realize there were different types of bipolar conditions.

I'm more or less functional. it's been a long slow process, the body has to relearn to walk. Funny thing was going thru some of the same skills the toddlers did that I'd worked with! What else do you do but laugh? Still using a cane (which is better than a walker which is better than a wheelchair...). I kept getting told I was lucky, could have been worse and apparently being relatively young for one (just into my 50s) it can often be much more debilitating. Just a matter of time, supposedly the foot is the last thing to 'come back' which is how I'm progressing so I'm getting there.

Leonore I couldn't help it, your day made me laugh! Probably the way you tell it, I doubt it was a fun day. Just looked and it's not even close to the full moon so I guess you're just in the crapper.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Leonore I couldn't help it, your day made me laugh! Probably the way you tell it, I doubt it was a fun day. Just looked and it's not even close to the full moon so I guess you're just in the crapper.



Y'know, by the time the readings were over, I was so punchy that I couldn't help but laugh at the whole thing. At one point, our receptionist just looked at me and said, "And what the hell happened to your hair?" I just couldn't stop laughing. Apparently my hair looked good before I started reading and then afterwards, all the hair pulling and clutching and propping up of my head in my hands had ruined my 'do


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Y'know, by the time the readings were over, I was so punchy that I couldn't help but laugh at the whole thing. At one point, our receptionist just looked at me and said, "And what the hell happened to your hair?" I just couldn't stop laughing. Apparently my hair looked good before I started reading and then afterwards, all the hair pulling and clutching and propping up of my head in my hands had ruined my 'do



Kudos to you for being able to do that job without going postal.  The little bit of teaching I did many years ago was at times very aggravating, even though it was only part-time, and I can't imagine what would have happened if I had to do it for an extended period of time.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Y'know, by the time the readings were over, I was so punchy that I couldn't help but laugh at the whole thing. At one point, our receptionist just looked at me and said, "And what the hell happened to your hair?" I just couldn't stop laughing. Apparently my hair looked good before I started reading and then afterwards, all the hair pulling and clutching and propping up of my head in my hands had ruined my 'do
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Kudos to you for being able to do that job without going postal.  The little bit of teaching I did many years ago was at times very aggravating, even though it was only part-time, and I can't imagine what would have happened if I had to do it for an extended period of time.
Click to expand...


It's funny - I think I might go crazy if I _don't_ get to do it for too long.

Both my "desk" jobs (the admin at school and the paralegal job) are ones that I tolerate for the moment. I regularly feel trapped and there are often moments when I just have to leave for a few minutes and take a walk or something because I would start screaming if I didn't get out of there. If these were my only jobs, I'd have totally given up by now. I'd probably be drinking and smoking like crazy because I just wouldn't care about self-destructing.

Teaching is different. As much as I bang my head against the desk when I'm grading or sometimes fielding aggravating emails from students, when I am actually _in_ the classroom, it all falls away. I almost never feel bored or trapped. Some days I might be tired or not in the mood and so I start the class watching the clock and wanting it to be over, but I tell you, within the first 10 minutes, I become so immersed in what we're doing that I don't notice the clock anymore until suddenly it's time to stop. And when I've had a really good class, I'm on cloud 9 for days.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> As much as I bang my head against the desk when I'm grading or sometimes fielding aggravating emails from students, when I am actually _in_ the classroom, it all falls away. I almost never feel bored or trapped. Some days I might be tired or not in the mood and so I start the class watching the clock and wanting it to be over, but I tell you, within the first 10 minutes, I become so immersed in what we're doing that I don't notice the clock anymore until suddenly it's time to stop. And when I've had a really good class, I'm on cloud 9 for days.



Yeah, I experienced this at times, but I also had a lot of resistance from students who claimed the course work was unreasonably difficult.  This was an introductory Chemistry course at the college level, which really was something overlapping HS and introductory college level.  On a couple of occasions when I got a little annoyed I pointed out that in many other countries all of this course would be HS level, and some of it even below that.


----------



## Gary A.

I haven't the patience to teach. I haven't the patience to learn. And I'm so broke I can't even pay attention. (Which hasn't any relevance to anything but digression.) I think that two of the the highest paid positions in our society should be cops and teachers. (But, but, but ... with a lot of caveats tossed in).


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Yeah, I experienced this at times, but I also had a lot of resistance from students who claimed the course work was unreasonably difficult.  This was an introductory Chemistry course at the college level, which really was something overlapping HS and introductory college level.  On a couple of occasions *when I got a little annoyed I pointed out that* in many other countries all of this course would be HS level, and some of it even below that.



I finish that sentence a little differently: "When I get annoyed, I point out that college is hard and it's also not compulsory, and there's the door should you decide to leave."


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, hosers. Another craptastic day here. More suicidal issues. More depressive issues. Can't move and go where I need to go today. All I can do is sit here and wallow in my misery, which makes me MORE miserable. Yay!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I experienced this at times, but I also had a lot of resistance from students who claimed the course work was unreasonably difficult.  This was an introductory Chemistry course at the college level, which really was something overlapping HS and introductory college level.  On a couple of occasions *when I got a little annoyed I pointed out that* in many other countries all of this course would be HS level, and some of it even below that.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I finish that sentence a little differently: "When I get annoyed, I point out that college is hard and it's also not compulsory, and there's the door should you decide to leave."
Click to expand...

When I run into college kids whining ... I just tell then that college isn't for everybody.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> When I run into college kids whining ... I just tell then that college isn't for everybody.



Ayup! 

In the meantime...


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, I'm alive and got to do the things I needed to get done, so there is that.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Michael you are having quite a week, aren't you? Glad you at least were able to get out and get done what you needed to do.

Leonore I love the teaching part, the working with kids part. It's all the other crap that gets in the way. I've thought I might want to teach a class at college level sometime... or nah, maybe not! lol I don't feel in any big hurry to get into that.

I'm doing (or supposed to be) a couple of different online courses, one on film noir and the other being two video courses on bookbinding and printing. I say supposed because instead of working on it yesterday I got to watching Annie Hall. Not my fav but it kept me from having to do any real work! lol Sleeper is more my kind of movie.


----------



## minicoop1985

Yeah, it's been a doozy, to say the least. Have a wedding tomorrow, so here's to hoping that goes well.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sometimes I think it can help to have work to focus on, to fall back on your skills and what you enjoy. Hope it's a good day.

Have watched the film that was for 'class' - and it was a good one! - this kind of 'homework' is fun! In every movie everybody is wandering around in the dark half the movie and there are windows with blinds or stair railings casting shadows... Well I like being in a darkroom so I guess this is right up my alley!


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Michael you are having quite a week, aren't you? Glad you at least were able to get out and get done what you needed to do.
> 
> Leonore I love the teaching part, the working with kids part. It's all the other crap that gets in the way. I've thought I might want to teach a class at college level sometime... or nah, maybe not! lol I don't feel in any big hurry to get into that.
> 
> I'm doing (or supposed to be) a couple of different online courses, one on film noir and the other being two video courses on bookbinding and printing. I say supposed because instead of working on it yesterday I got to watching Annie Hall. Not my fav but it kept me from having to do any real work! lol *Sleeper is more my kind of movie.*



Loved Sleeper! That class sounds fun. Do you get to watch The Third Man?


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't know... Sleeper isn't for the class, Woody Allen is what got me distracted instead of doing what I planned to get done! lol

It's thru Ball State (continuing ed.) and on TCM's site. Their 'Summer of Darkness'... ooh, spooky... I get emailed a Daily Dose of Darkness (dum da da dum), and there's a weekly quiz. But anyone can do as much or little as they'd like, just need to take the quizzes to get the certificate of completion.

Just looked and it's on next Friday night, late. The films for the class are on during the day and you're supposed to watch/record at least one or two. The evenings are just for fun, although the 8pm tonight was suggested. I'm trying to stay up for the later movie tonight, I've seen the one on now, but I don't know if 'll make it! already yawning.


----------



## minicoop1985

I think you're right, Other Sharon. I just have to relax and let my skills do their thing.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Just had my hair cut. Or, if you prefer, I just got my hair did. Now I am enjoying my second cup of coffee.


----------



## limr

He always prounounced the /l/ in would, could, and should, and insisted on giving the past tense -ed a full syllable. He worked his tail off as a manual laborer to support his wife and five children and make sure we all went to college, even though he didn't have a high school diploma himself and never had time to go to school. Not even to polish his English. He switched between his 3 other languages all the time and sometimes needed us to "translate" some of the subtleties of the language or accent that he didn't quite understand. People still tell me about how his name was known around the county as "the guy who could fix anything." He had a great sense of humor and a terrible temper; a vibrant though undisciplined intelligence; and a fierce love for his family.

I still miss him.


----------



## sm4him

I know it's Father's Day, so Happy Day to all the dads. It's been 10 years since my dad slipped the surly bonds of earth. He was my hero, and I miss him every day.

But TODAY...today was all about Mama. Well, and it was also my favorite holiday--the first day of Summer!

Today THIS happened:



 
^THAT is my Mama, sitting up in a wheelchair, AWAKE and alert and conversational!! Up until yesterday, it looked like she just didn't even have any more fight left in her. But she had a good day yesterday, and went out on the porch of the rehab facility last night--first time she'd been outside (other than in ambulances) since Memorial Day!  She repeated the feat this afternoon and we sat out on the porch for about 30 minutes.

The pain finally got the best of her, but this is such a huge improvement over the previous many days.  That hematoma is still as likely to be the death of her as not, but this was tremendously encouraging.  

My mother is tough as nails.


----------



## KenC

That's really terrific, Sharon.  Every moment is important.  I lost my dad 16 years ago, but my Mom is 85 and doing fairly well.  I think of my dad sometimes when something happens or I read something that I would like to tell him about and then I feel sad because I can't.


----------



## Gary A.

Dad, Mom and my oldest daughter Sarah.


----------



## Derrel

My dad, opening weekend of trout season,mid-April 1934. Negative restored. Old Kodak folder neg.


----------



## oldhippy

My Dad 1938.  He was born 100 years ago this coming October.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Monday has a face and it's an evil one indeed.


----------



## snerd

How thorough was that pre-flight check again?!


http://i.imgur.com/Z3fFFcj.webm


----------



## limr

Oh no, kitty! If that hadn't turned out okay, I would have hunted you down for posting it


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was nice and relaxing. Amy came over with her overly-active, hyper , adolescent Golden Retriever. (The dog's name is Holly-No.) Holly and Cook had fun. At the end of the day and their fun, we had to hose them off. Amy wanted to go here and go there ... fly kites ... and such ... but we ended up firing up the Kamado, drinking Sangria and watching Sharknado. A nice day.

PS- On Saturday Mary Lou and I watched the 3D version of Jurassic World ... extremely entertaining, well worth seeing. (But it is too scary for the youngsters.)


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, Hosers!

Was a great Father's day here. My wife and kid let me take a nap, went to a cookout... was a good time. Went to a wedding on Saturday and got a little on the drunk side. Still haven't been able to fully wake up though... Sheesh


----------



## limr

Afternoon, hosers.

Where's everyone been lately? I need to be entertained! 

Time for an afternoon coffee. Buzz is meeting with a fellow filmwaster today to go for a hike and some pictures. It's a distinct possibility that they will be done right around dinner time, which might take place at the Peekskill Brewery (so our friend can then hop the train back to the city where he lives.) So let's keep our fingers crossed that their timing coincides with me getting out of work so I can go enjoy dinner and a frothy beverage with them. I need something to look forward to.


----------



## tirediron

Derrel said:


> View attachment 103826 My dad, opening weekend of trout season,mid-April 1934. Negative restored. Old Kodak folder neg.


 Nice - '29 Ford?


----------



## Gary A.

USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

US 2 - Colombia 0


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Oh no, kitty! If that hadn't turned out okay, I would have hunted you down for posting it


Promises promises.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, Hosers! What a great way to start the day, cleaning up child and dog poop and my own vomit that resulted from cleaning up said poop! My day can't really get worse, so there's that.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Morning, Hosers! What a great way to start the day, cleaning up child and dog poop and my own vomit that resulted from cleaning up said poop! *My day can't really get worse, so there's that.*



DON'T JINX IT!


----------



## sm4him

Thanks, Coop, for making me feel a little better about MY day! 

Today is a sight better than yesterday anyway. Yesterday was a Monday in every aspect. The work day started with one of our pointless two-hour meetings to talk about all the work we have to do (rather than actually spending our time DOING said work). To make the excruciatingly horrible meeting EVEN worse, the Dark Lord decided to make an appearance for the first part of the meeting (for those who don't know, that's my moniker for our Director. I don't like her very much.  ).  At least she didn't stay very long.
Before the meeting, I had to deal with a problem with one of our electronic screens. By the time the meeting was over, it was time for lunch--and that was also when I suddenly realized that I had not eaten an actual meal since Saturday evening!
Went to lunch, came back, had a conversation with my boss (my direct boss, not the Dark Lord), basically somehow managed to piddle the day away on pointless things and by 4 p.m. had managed to get exactly ONE thing on my to-do list actually accomplished.
Gave up and left, went to see my Mama. She wasn't having nearly as good a day as she did on Sunday, but I won't go into all that.  
Left there WAY later than I'd planned, went and had dinner and a margarita with my sister, but I was so tired it was hard to even enjoy it.

No meetings today, and I've already TWO whole things on my to-do list--and it's not even lunchtime!! 

Supposed to be about 97F today. I think that's day #16 of a high in the 90s now. Several more days in the 90s on tap this week before a massive cold front moves in and puts the "big chill" on us--might not even get to 85 for a high by Saturday!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Supposed to be about 97F today. I think that's day #16 of a high in the 90s now. Several more days in the 90s on tap this week before a massive cold front moves in and puts the "big chill" on us--might not even get to 85 for a high by Saturday!



And that right there is my nightmare!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Supposed to be about 97F today. I think that's day #16 of a high in the 90s now. Several more days in the 90s on tap this week before a massive cold front moves in and puts the "big chill" on us--might not even get to 85 for a high by Saturday!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And that right there is my nightmare!
Click to expand...


LOL, right?
I've thought about you during this hot, steamy weather. As much as I thrive in this climate, I totally understand how you feel about it, because it's exactly how I feel about cold weather!
I'm just trying to suck up as much of this lovely heat as possible while I can!  Kinda hard though, when my office, along with most restaurants, seem to want to recreate the polar vortex inside their walls.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Kinda hard though, when my office, along with most restaurants, seem to want to recreate the polar vortex inside their walls.



That's why I LOVE going grocery shopping in the summer. Grocery stores are always a bit chilly anyway, but in the summer they are cranking the AC even more to make sure the produce stays cool. I love that it's cold enough that I need a sweater.  I wish I could go back in time and find the inventor of the air conditioner and give him a big wet sloppy kiss!


----------



## waday

Morning/Afternoon All!

Is there something in the water? People are freaking cranky today. The guy in front of me while driving must have used his horn 4 times over minor stuff, and multiple people in the office are being downright cruel to each other out in the open for all to see and hear.  Open and angry cursing in the office towards a coworker should never be tolerated.

I hope it doesn't get worse.


----------



## minicoop1985

I dunno, Wade. I've been pretty cranky today too. You may be onto something.

So far today hasn't ended up getting worse. In fact, it's ended up a bit better, actually. Got my Q Flash working with th ebattery packs it had.


----------



## limr

Hail watch for the next hour. Should be an interesting commute. Wish me luck, hosers!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Hail watch for the next hour. Should be an interesting commute. Wish me luck, hosers!



Well, Hail. 
Stay safe out there!!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers. Today was another boring ... perfect weather day. Pleasantly warm with no noticable humidity. My weather app says 75F and "It feels like 75F". Got stuck with the tab at lunch today. That sucked. A few minutes ago I discovered three (count 'em) three huge zucchinis ... it is getting absurd. Who wants a zucchini? I cut one and seat belted it in Mary Lou's car. She can give it to a co-worker. There is half a huge zucchini in the frig and two more in the rose garden (that's where the zuchini hangs out). Maybe soup ...


----------



## limr

Stuffed zucchini or zucchini bread. Or dehydrate and save until winter.

Morning hosers! Gotta finish getting ready for "work." Blech.


----------



## limr

Hey Gary, on my way to work, I saw a woman walking a dog that looked like a Wheaton and I yelled, "Cookiiiiiiiiieeeeee!"


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Hail watch for the next hour. Should be an interesting commute. Wish me luck, hosers!


Good Luck!


----------



## Designer

I'm back.

I'm back from Funny California.

Went to Sacramento for my nephew's wedding.  Left Iowa last Wednesday, returned yesterday.

Those Eastern Seaboard Amtrak riders are wimps.  

WIMPS!

Whining about a mere 5-hour delay. 

My ride westward presented me with a 14-hour delay, and the eastward journey with a 9-1/2 hour delay.

In total, I was on a train or waiting for a train for 108 hours over the past week.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> I'm back.
> 
> I'm back from Funny California.
> 
> Went to Sacramento for my nephew's wedding.  Left Iowa last Wednesday, returned yesterday.
> 
> Those Eastern Seaboard Amtrak riders are wimps.
> 
> WIMPS!
> 
> Whining about a mere 5-hour delay.
> 
> My ride westward presented me with a 14-hour delay, and the eastward journey with a 9-1/2 hour delay.
> 
> In total, I was on a train or waiting for a train for 108 hours over the past week.



Yowza!

Welcome back, though!


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> I'm back.
> 
> I'm back from Funny California.
> 
> Went to Sacramento for my nephew's wedding.  Left Iowa last Wednesday, returned yesterday.
> 
> Those Eastern Seaboard Amtrak riders are wimps.
> 
> WIMPS!
> 
> Whining about a mere 5-hour delay.
> 
> My ride westward presented me with a 14-hour delay, and the eastward journey with a 9-1/2 hour delay.
> 
> In total, I was on a train or waiting for a train for 108 hours over the past week.


Sacramento is like Iowa ... it isn't the funny part like San Francisco, or Los Angeles or Palm Springs or ... 
How did you entertain yourself during those long waits?


----------



## sm4him

Hey, Hosers!  Today should be fun. NOT.
I gotta go do video for our Customer Service "safety" meeting. We have these safety meetings once a month, on a variety of topics. This month is Customer Service, and the CS manager is doing some "case study" skits with "audience" participation, to demonstrate different scenarios with passengers on the bus and basically try to show operators how easy it can be to just BE NICE to people.  And you know, maybe even Helpful. Some of the operators seem to think their job is just driving that bus around all day, when in fact their job is helping people get where they need to go.

Anyway, what doesn't seem fun about that? First, there WILL be drama. Someone will get mad about what we're insinuating with a skit, or an argument will start over what someone says is "wrong" versus "right" in a given scenario. I don't DO drama.
But second: I also don't DO video.  I've done it exactly once before, with this particular camera (it's a bridge camera, noninterchangeable lens). Biggest problem I had was when I'd try to zoom in sometimes the camera would lose focus and it would take so long for it to refocus that I'd end up with a good 4-5 seconds of blurry in the video.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Apparently I threw out my back puking yesterday. Such a great start to a day...


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> How did you entertain yourself during those long waits?


Looking at all the scenery, talking with fellow passengers, napping, reading.

I made notes so I would remember some of the details and read them to my wife and DIL.  I did not take my DSLR 
but I had my P&S.  Did not take additional memory cards, so did not get a lot of snaps.  

Read 2-1/2 books, made some new friends, got TB, (tired butt) and learned quite a bit about US train travel.


----------



## snerd

Designer said:


> ............. In total, I was on a train or waiting for a train for 108 hours over the past week.


Wow! Sounds like a real.................... trainwreck!!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> ............. In total, I was on a train or waiting for a train for 108 hours over the past week.
> 
> 
> 
> Wow! Sounds like a real.................... trainwreck!!
Click to expand...



Well done! 

Also GROAN!!


----------



## Designer

snerd said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> ............. In total, I was on a train or waiting for a train for 108 hours over the past week.
> 
> 
> 
> Wow! Sounds like a real.................... trainwreck!!
Click to expand...

I saw the remnants of two train wrecks on the way back.  One of which looked like the same general body materials used in the Amtrak's cars.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Hmmm...  slow day today.  I'm having my coffee at work after a couple of days at home.  Someone I've known for a long time got laid off yesterday while I was out.  You leave for a couple of days and all kinds of trouble starts ...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I'm hoping for a warm day. The rocks around the waterfall are just piled up and the other day some slid into the pond. Today, I decided, is the day to take the plunge and re-pile the rocks. 

(This was supposed to have been posted yesterday ... but never made it, as it is today and it is still in the Reply box.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers (this is today). Things are cooling off a bit from the upper 80's down to the lower 80's.  (64F right now and should hit 82F.) Yesterday, I did jump into to pond to fix the rocks.  The rock slide was massive. Something large had jumped/fallen into the pond and apparently struggled all along the west side (the waterfall) and south of the pond bringing down a ton of rocks, (one probably weighing in 50 lbs). So yesterday afternoon I was in the pond for a couple of hours reconstructing the west and south side of the pond ... then tuning the look of the water (the fall part) and finally tuning the sound. In the deep end, by the waterfall the pond is about 4' deep. But it is done, I would like to know what the hell caused all the damage.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey Designer, why did you decide to take the train to California?


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Hey, Hosers!  Today should be fun. NOT.
> I gotta go do video for our Customer Service "safety" meeting. We have these safety meetings once a month, on a variety of topics. This month is Customer Service, and the CS manager is doing some "case study" skits with "audience" participation, to demonstrate different scenarios with passengers on the bus and basically try to show operators how easy it can be to just BE NICE to people.  And you know, maybe even Helpful. Some of the operators seem to think their job is just driving that bus around all day, when in fact their job is helping people get where they need to go.
> 
> Anyway, what doesn't seem fun about that? First, there WILL be drama. Someone will get mad about what we're insinuating with a skit, or an argument will start over what someone says is "wrong" versus "right" in a given scenario. I don't DO drama.
> But second: I also don't DO video.  I've done it exactly once before, with this particular camera (it's a bridge camera, noninterchangeable lens). Biggest problem I had was when I'd try to zoom in sometimes the camera would lose focus and it would take so long for it to refocus that I'd end up with a good 4-5 seconds of blurry in the video.



Don't zoom ... yell "Cut" and reposition the camera.


----------



## Gary A.

Quote of the morning, "I've been good. At the market yesterday, they had vinegar chips, three bags for $1.75. I didn't get any. But, I'm still thinking about them."


----------



## sm4him

Good morning, Hosers. Well, Morning anyway. And only for another 15 minutes in my neck of the woods.

Today is Performance Evaluation Day!! Woot! NOT.
I've never been in the least bit concerned about my performance evaluations, and I've never gotten one that was even remotely bad or even mediocre.  But this year...I don't know. It could be fine, or it could be horrible.  Kinda depends on how much the Dark Lord has had to say about it, I think.  
Doesn't help that it keeps getting moved. First it was scheduled for 11 a.m. today. Then it got moved to 1 p.m., to accommodate someone's else's schedule. Now it's been moved to 2 p.m.  I just want it done and over.
If she ends up moving it to the end of the day tomorrow, I'll just go ahead and starting packing my belongings, I guess.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Good morning, Hosers. Well, Morning anyway. And only for another 15 minutes in my neck of the woods.
> 
> Today is Performance Evaluation Day!! Woot! NOT.
> I've never been in the least bit concerned about my performance evaluations, and I've never gotten one that was even remotely bad or even mediocre.  But this year...I don't know. It could be fine, or it could be horrible.  Kinda depends on how much the Dark Lord has had to say about it, I think.
> Doesn't help that it keeps getting moved. First it was scheduled for 11 a.m. today. Then it got moved to 1 p.m., to accommodate someone's else's schedule. Now it's been moved to 2 p.m.  I just want it done and over.
> If she ends up moving it to the end of the day tomorrow, I'll just go ahead and starting packing my belongings, I guess.


I think you should reschedule in order to accommodate the schedule of your attorney.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. I have some terrible news. First, the suicidal thoughts are back big time. Second, I'm losing motivation in being a professional photographer. I'll continue being an assistant to my boss. I'll keep helping him, but I've lost all motivation to keep up the commercial side of things. Third, I'm filing for disability in November. I'll be compiling everything I need and contacting an attorney in the meantime. Today just plain sucks.


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> Morning, hosers. I have some terrible news. First, the suicidal thoughts are back big time. Second, I'm losing motivation in being a professional photographer. I'll continue being an assistant to my boss. I'll keep helping him, but I've lost all motivation to keep up the commercial side of things. Third, I'm filing for disability in November. I'll be compiling everything I need and contacting an attorney in the meantime. Today just plain sucks.



Really sorry, Coop. Just keep hanging in there.
You are in my prayers.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Hey Designer, why did you decide to take the train to California?


I could have decided to fly, but the train was cheaper.  Not by much, of course, but somewhat cheaper.

(edit) Also wifey has been wanting to do that, so I suppose she did it vicariously through me. 

In relating my experience, I think she has now decided that she would not like it after all.


----------



## waday

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey Designer, why did you decide to take the train to California?
> 
> 
> 
> I could have decided to fly, but the train was cheaper.  Not by much, of course, but somewhat cheaper.
Click to expand...

Honest question: were the delays worth the cheaper ticket?

In the past, my wife and I often considered trains in some instances, but we always opted for the higher price if it meant getting to the destination faster.


----------



## snerd

Morning hosers. On my 3rd cup. Laptop crashed last night and I spent until 3am restoring a backup. Flew my "drone" yesterday, in full sun, with a Kodak Wratten Gel 3-stop ND filter, and the video looked pretty good! I was able to keep the shutter speed around 160 which helps a lot with so-called jello effect that makes videos look weird at high shutter speeds when using Auto. Back from AR a couple days now....................... didn't do much of anything down there but sweat. With all the trees, there is no breeze. Ever. I will never again complain about the wind here in Oklahoma!


----------



## bribrius

snerd said:


> Morning hosers. On my 3rd cup. Laptop crashed last night and I spent until 3am restoring a backup. Flew my "drone" yesterday, in full sun, with a Kodak Wratten Gel 3-stop ND filter, and the video looked pretty good! I was able to keep the shutter speed around 160 which helps a lot with so-called jello effect that makes videos look weird at high shutter speeds when using Auto. Back from AR a couple days now....................... didn't do much of anything down there but sweat. With all the trees, there is no breeze. Ever. I will never again complain about the wind here in Oklahoma!


sounds like fun, seems like you are doing better then. Carry on, carry one.
SMILES


----------



## snerd

Yes, slowly getting my strength back. Felt better yesterday than I have in months.


----------



## Designer

waday said:


> Honest question: were the delays worth the cheaper ticket?


Some people think my time is not worth much.  If I divide the cost savings by the time overage, we would find out what some people think my time is worth.  

Considering Amtrak not as a mode of travel, but more of an adventure, then it begins to ease the pain, but not by much.


----------



## Designer

Train travel in Europe makes much more sense.

They adhere to the published time table.
Automobiles are more trouble than they are worth.
More trains going more places.


----------



## waday

Designer said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Honest question: were the delays worth the cheaper ticket?
> 
> 
> 
> Some people think my time is not worth much.  If I divide the cost savings by the time overage, we would find out what some people think my time is worth.
> 
> Considering Amtrak not as a mode of travel, but more of an adventure, then it begins to ease the pain, but not by much.
Click to expand...

Ok, that pretty much explained it. If we feel like going on an adventure, then we'll do Amtrak. Otherwise, we'll stick with air/automobile.


----------



## bribrius

twisted...maybe they just overdosed? probably not though
FBI Investigating After Six Women Disappear In Small Ohio Town - BuzzFeed News


----------



## sm4him

Well. Evaluation went better than I could have really hoped for. Clearly, the Dark Lord somehow didn't manage to influence it at all.
Exceeds Expectations or Outstanding in every category except two. One of those was "Safety." Not that I'm not safe, but my boss just does "meets expectations" for everybody on that one, because she doesn't really see how it applies to us. It's more for mechanics and operators.  The other category, which she also gave me "meets expectations" on was "Leadership," because it's supposed to reflect how to handle managing other people, and I don't manage other people, so there are really no expectations to meet.

Not too bad for someone who has had a pretty piss-poor attitude much of the year. 

Of particular note: No mention was made of the fact that I still steadfastly refuse to keep my door open.


----------



## sm4him

My boss asked me if I had any comments I wanted to add to the evaluation. I said, "Nothing that I think it would be very smart to actually put on paper."


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> One of those was "Safety." Not that I'm not safe, but my boss just does "meets expectations" for everybody on that one, because she doesn't really see how it applies to us.



Glad your attitude and door configuration didn't cause any trouble.

Today I had to sit through a safety meeting about walking.  Yeah, that's right.  What can I say?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Geez does your employer use the same eval that my former employer did?? lol Ours didn't use toooo many Exceeds because it was that or Meets and if it was all Exceeds there's nothing to write to work on for the next year! (Or some such nonsense!)

I swear you're in an alternate universe of my former work - and your posts about work make me glad I'm retired! I don't miss all that kind of nonsense.

Coop hope you get everything worked out, and take care of yourself.


----------



## sm4him

vintagesnaps said:


> Geez does your employer use the same eval that my former employer did?? lol Ours didn't use toooo many Exceeds because it was that or Meets and if it was all Exceeds there's nothing to write to work on for the next year! (Or some such nonsense!)
> 
> I swear you're in an alternate universe of my former work - and your posts about work make me glad I'm retired! I don't miss all that kind of nonsense.
> 
> Coop hope you get everything worked out, and take care of yourself.



Ours goes from Unsatisfactory --Below Expectations--Meets Expectations--Exceeds Expectations--Outstanding.
I had two "Meets Expectations," 4 "Exceeds" and 5 "Outstandings."
The ONLY thing listed as an area to improve was taking more employee photos throughout the year for the calendar.
If *I* were my boss, I can promise you there would be a LOT more areas I'd note as needing improvement!  Not the least of which would be, quit spending time on TPF when you should be working!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh well, must not be quite the same, we had Meet, Exceed or, I don't remember what was below that, hit the road jack I guess! 

Having to take more photos, well that's gonna be a tough one! lol Tell 'em you need plenty of practice time so you'll need to take some day trips to scenic places.


----------



## Gary A.

I'm at the Hollywood Bowl. 



 
Ed Sheeran.


----------



## limr

Have fun! I'm drinking some warm milk like an old lady and am about to tuck myself into bed.

Tomorrow's Friday, y'all!!


----------



## Gary A.

Ed Sheeran was great. What an entertainer. We brought my bathtub Sangria, stuffed with oranges, lemons, apples, grapes and peaches. All fresh from the backyard. Mary Lou picked up some teriyaki bowls both of which we consumed at the Bowl.


----------



## mmaria

today I posted more posts, replies, comments, critique... then I posted in a while... 

I feeeeel good!


----------



## mmaria

and I forgot 






WAKEEEE UPPPP!!!!

WITH A SMILE OF COURSE!




It's nice to be here again


----------



## Designer

I'm up.  I actually stayed in bed until 07:00, and I'm still the first one up.


----------



## limr

Nah, I was awake already but was too busy rushing around getting ready for work.


----------



## limr

Hi Marija!!! It's nice to have you back!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Hi Marija!!! It's nice to have you back!


YEAH 


it really is nice to have me back! 

I'll try to be around a bit more... I miss laughing with tpf


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers and happy Friday!  Having my coffee and snack.  Looks like not too bad a day at work.  I had to re-do something pretty complicated, not because of any mistake of mine I might add, but it seems to be under control now.

Last night I processed a couple of images from the previous evening when I went to a little arboretum.  I'll post them in the galleries soon.


----------



## oldhippy

Got the house mopped.  Now to have a cup of java.  Good morning.  Ed
Something to share this morning.  Keeping the artist in you alive.  Proust

For Proust, the great artists deserve acclaim because they show us the world in a way that is fresh, appreciative, and alive… The opposite of art, for Proust, is something he calls _habit_. For Proust, much of life is ruined for us by a blanket or shroud of familiarity that descends between us and everything that matters. It dulls our senses and stops us appreciating everything, from the beauty of a sunset to our work and our friends

Children don’t suffer from habit, which is why they get excited by some very key but simple things — like puddles, jumping on the bed, sand, and fresh bread. But we adults get ineluctably spoiled, which is why we seek ever more powerful stimulants, like fame and love. 

The trick, in Proust’s eyes, is to recover the powers of appreciation of a child in adulthood, to strip the veil of habit and therefore to start to look upon daily life with a new and more grateful sensitivity. 

This, for Proust, is what one group in the population does all the time: artists. Artists are people who strip habit away and return life to its deserved glory.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Thankfully I'm going to the studio today as an assistant to help distract me from my issues. It will be a welcome reprieve from being crazy... lol


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. As reported earlier, Ed Sheeran in person, is the real deal. A very pleasant evening ... Ed, Mary Lou and I. Wrapping up my coffee, sipping on the shallow remains, now cold after the Cook and I took our walk.

@ Marija WELCOME HOME!

@ Appleton Guy ... maybe you should help out around the studio everyday ... regardless of being on the clock.

This is beginning of the Japanese Beetle season. With all the soft fruits in the yard, Japanese Beetles are very harmful. In the past, I've skewered halved oranges as bait then net the beetles and dispose. But I'm not sure if this methodology does more harm than good. (As in, am I attracting more beetles to the yard than I would have without the bait ... and therefore, more beetles are attacking the fruit than normally would be attacking the fruit or are most of the beetles at the bait and while there are more total beetles, they're at the bait and netting significantly reduces total beetle population in my yard.)


----------



## limr

Gary, what about traps only around the perimeter so they never actually get into the garden? And maybe a liquid that the beetle will be attracted to and then drown in - like a homemade trap of some kind?


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> a liquid that the beetle will be attracted to and then drown in - like a homemade trap of some kind?



Beer works for slugs (and for me), but I don't know about beetles.


----------



## oldhippy

Vacation time next week.  Seven days in Chicago area.  Solo as DW will tend the homestead.  Might try some inner city.  Mostly family time.


----------



## Gary A.

Maybe Sake ... (or is that politically incorrect ... lol)


----------



## Gary A.

USA! USA! USA!

USA 1 - China 0


----------



## minicoop1985

'MURICA

Evening, hosers. Time for a nice pizza and a Stone Cellar Vanilla Porter to relax. Sometimes it's the little things.


----------



## Designer

minicoop1985 said:


> .. and a Stone Cellar Vanilla Porter ..


Uhh... are you supposed to be drinking?

Is your doctor o.k. with that?


----------



## bribrius

it's morning.  And good morning all!!


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> 'MURICA
> 
> Evening, hosers. Time for a nice pizza and a Stone Cellar Vanilla Porter to relax. Sometimes it's the little things.


for some reason vanilla wouldn't fit my fancy, but suppose after a few it wouldn't matter any more..


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I'm having a very unsatisfactory coffee experience this morning. It's very unsettling and I have to vent to my fellow coffeehouse hosers.

I had an appointment for my car to be inspected at 8am this morning. I woke up with enough time to throw some clothes on and make some coffee to bring with me. I put the kettle on and was puttering around when I realized it wasn't on. Sometimes I'm absent-minded and will fill the kettle but forget to flip the switch, so I figured that's what I'd done. Flipped the switch, continued to get the French press ready....and the kettle switches off automatically, but the water's not even close to boiling. Flipped it again...and once again, the kettle turned itself off after about 30 seconds.

Fine, fine, fine, kettle's dying. No time at this point to boil water on the stove, so I drive to the garage, leave the car, and walk across the street to the shopping center where there is a bagel shop. Have a bagel and half a cup of bad, weak drip coffee. At least it staved off any possible caffeine-withdrawal headache, but still...blech!

I got home and boiled water. The coffee was already ground and in the French press. When the water boiled, I let it sit for a few minutes (coffee generally wants water around 200 degrees, not right off the boil like tea.) Well, I got distracted reading an article about jurisprudence and possible longer term legal effects of yesterday's SCOTUS ruling, and suddenly I remembered the water. I poured it into the French press and out of curiosity, checked the temp: 150 degrees. So I let the coffee brew a couple minutes extra.

It didn't do the trick, though. Even with extra brewing time, the water was just too cool to get any good flavor out of the grounds. Plus, they'd been sitting in the press for 1.5-2 hours and had already lost some flavor. So once again, BLECH!

So I started all over again and now I finally have a decent cup of coffee in front of me, 3 hours after I should have had my first sip  Better late than never, though!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> I'm having a very unsatisfactory coffee experience this morning. It's very unsettling and I have to vent to my fellow coffeehouse hosers.
> 
> I had an appointment for my car to be inspected at 8am this morning. I woke up with enough time to throw some clothes on and make some coffee to bring with me. I put the kettle on and was puttering around when I realized it wasn't on. Sometimes I'm absent-minded and will fill the kettle but forget to flip the switch, so I figured that's what I'd done. Flipped the switch, continued to get the French press ready....and the kettle switches off automatically, but the water's not even close to boiling. Flipped it again...and once again, the kettle turned itself off after about 30 seconds.
> 
> Fine, fine, fine, kettles dying. No time at this point to boil water on the stove, so I drive to the garage, leave the car, and walk across the street to the shopping center where there is a bagel shop. Have a bagel and half a cup of bad, weak drip coffee. At least it staved off any possible caffeine-withdrawal headache, but still...blech!
> 
> I got home and boiled water. The coffee was already ground and in the French press. When the water boiled, I let it sit for a few minutes (coffee generally wants water around 200 degrees, not right off the boil like tea.) Well, I got distracted reading an article about jurisprudence and possible longer term legal effects of yesterday's SCOTUS ruling, and suddenly I remembered the water. I poured it into the French press and out of curiosity, checked the temp: 150 degrees. So I let the coffee brew a couple minutes extra.
> 
> It didn't do the trick, though. Even with extra brewing time, the water was just too cool to get any good flavor out of the grounds. Plus, they'd been sitting in the press for 1.5-2 hours and had already lost some flavor. So once again, BLECH!
> 
> So I started all over again and now I finally have a decent cup of coffee in front of me, 3 hours after I should have had my first sip  Better late than never, though!


A tragedy of the first water!


----------



## minicoop1985

Designer said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> .. and a Stone Cellar Vanilla Porter ..
> 
> 
> 
> Uhh... are you supposed to be drinking?
> 
> Is your doctor o.k. with that?
Click to expand...


It's only one. They never told be whether I could or not, really, so I suppose it's probably OK.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I found the same thing crossed my mind Designer, I don't know if that's a good assumption Coop (and you'd mentioned the wedding last weekend ya know...). We want you to take care of yourself!! I will try to refrain from giving you my teacher looking over my glasses look! lol Sometimes I think it can be easier to take care of other people, us human beings aren't always so good at taking care of ourselves.


Leonore even your coffee misadventures make me laugh! I shouldn't since it involved - coffee! but still... and you got distracted by reading an article on jurisprudence?! that just made me laugh even more, you are quite the hoser. lol

What a cloudy gloomy day! I'm watching the NHL Draft even though there's not much to actually watch, I have it on while I'm doing laundry and whatnot. Our local college team's coach was there last night sitting with the family of a 1st round Draft pick who he signed to play here next season! nice of him to go and bring us back a player. lol


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I found the same thing crossed my mind Designer, I don't know if that's a good assumption Coop (and you'd mentioned the wedding last weekend ya know...). We want you to take care of yourself!! I will try to refrain from giving you my teacher looking over my glasses look! lol Sometimes I think it can be easier to take care of other people, us human beings aren't always so good at taking care of ourselves.
> 
> 
> Leonore even your coffee misadventures make me laugh! I shouldn't since it involved - coffee! but still... and you got distracted by reading an article on jurisprudence?! that just made me laugh even more, you are quite the hoser. lol
> 
> What a cloudy gloomy day! I'm watching the NHL Draft even though there's not much to actually watch, I have it on while I'm doing laundry and whatnot. Our local college team's coach was there last night sitting with the family of a 1st round Draft pick who he signed to play here next season! nice of him to go and bring us back a player. lol



My freak flag is geek-colored


----------



## KenC

Wow, there are actually people on here on Saturday!  Morning/Afternoon, Hosers!  

I don't have any coffee horror stories today and I got out very early and did some shooting before it started to rain (expecting a couple of inches), so my day is not bad so far.  I'm now hunkered down in the house and working on photos.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. I'm at a Relay for Life event in Pomona. It is warm and humid out here. On the border of miserable.




iPhone image
Some entertainment.


----------



## Gary A.

Ed Sheeran told everyone to hold up a light. "I want to see 17,000 cell phones," he said. 


 
iPhone images


----------



## Gary A.

The Mexican Folkloric music, costumes and dances are so enjoyable to watch ...  So full of life ... Hope.


----------



## Gary A.

Mom's luminari at the Relay for Life.



iPhone image


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon, hosers. Aside from this crappy cold I have going (ugh), things seem to be stabilizing on the new medication line up. Getting there. Soon enough things will return to normal for a while.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Tardes Coffee Hosers.



iPhone


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers. 

I'm not drinking coffee at the moment, but I AM souping some film in Caffenol and about to start scanning two rolls that are already dry.

How are y'all doing?


----------



## Designer

We had a terrific supper of spaghetti, garlic cheese bread, and of course, wine.  Kids drank milk.


----------



## limr

Nice!


----------



## pgriz

Monday morning...
Haven't yet gone to bed.
Preparing contracts for tomorrow...
Ah yes, time to get some sleep.
Saturday was a quiet, warm day,
Did some grass-cutting, brush-trimming, and general maintenance at the cottage,-
followed by rainy Sunday,  where sane people sip coffee while reading books and watching the drips drip down,
followed by Monday, which by definition always is rainy even when the sky is clear.
Garfield knew that.  HIS calendars didn't have Mondays in them.
Took some photos this weekend.
What bees do.  Aftermath of a sunset.  and shadows on a lawn.
Processed the accumulated work photos (many) and some "art" stuff (too few).
And now it's time to visit the Sandman.
g'nite.


----------



## mmaria

Gary A. said:


> @ Marija WELCOME HOME!


aawwwwwwwwwwwwwww


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. 

Paul, I hope you get to sleep in a little bit this morning!

I've got placement readings on campus from 10-12 and then I have to go to the lawyer's. I normally am therefrom 8:30-4:30 on Mondays but readings have priority for 3 main reasons: first, I like the work much much better; second, there are only 2-3 ESL readers this summer and the other two couldn't make it, so if I didn't go in, there'd be no ESL specialist and probably a LOT of misplaced non-native speakers; and third, the hourly rate is three times what the lawyer pays me, so even though I'll miss 4 hours of work for him, I'll still be getting the equivalent of 6 hours of pay by doing the 2 hours of readings.


----------



## mmaria

I started to write this thread here in the Coffee house because I wanted to tell you guys about my experience, but I ended up posting a thread hm... social networks Photography Forum 
so,.. it was originally meant for you guys to read it  but If you have something to tell


----------



## sm4him

Good morning, Hosers! and Good whatever-it-is-where-you-are, Marija!

@limr Your coffee horror story was...horrific! And kinda funny.
I had my own coffee horror story Saturday morning.  I spent the night with my best friend on Friday. Saturday was her birthday, but we were planning a busy day of cooking and prepping for the benefit lunch we were hosting on Sunday (for some friends who just lost their 38-year-old daughter to cancer), so we planned a little time together Friday night, and then I just stayed there because her husband had to work and she hates being alone at night.

Anyway, I woke up at about 6 a.m., as usual.  And that's when I realized the horrible miscalculation I'd made.  I'd failed to take the coffee matter into consideration the night before and plan ahead.
She doesn't drink coffee!  Her daughter does, but only has a Keurig and some K-cups, usually. Plus, her daughter is in college now, so I had NO idea whether the Keurig was even still there.

Not that it mattered, because the REAL problem was that I knew her house alarm was set, so I was afraid I'd set it off if I went out to the kitchen.
She'd been going to leave the interior alarm off, but then said that her son would just turn it on anyway when he came home (he works a night shift on the weekends, gets home about 4 a.m.).
But Ryan wasn't there--he'd BEEN there, because his bedroom door had been closed and now it was open and some stuff had been tossed on his bed, but he'd evidently gone somewhere else--so now I didn't know whether he'd set the alarm for the interior or not.
Still, it seemed like a bad plan to test it and find out.

My friend is also a VERY late riser. She'd told me to wake her up at 9:30 if she wasn't up yet...so now, I have THREE and a HALF HOURS before I can even rummage around the kitchen for something that can at least pretend to be coffee!!
I thought about rousing her just enough to get her to turn the alarm off...but that just seemed TOO rude to do on someone's birthday!  So I had to just wait it out.

I finally woke her up at 9:30...only to discover that the Keurig machine was there, but NO K-cups.  So, STILL no coffee.

I didn't get any coffee until about 10:30, when I left to head up to the church and start prepping the food.

I get to church, with my FIRST cup of coffee in the morning, and the only two there so far are my two fellow early-rising, coffee-drinking friends. One of them greeted me WAY too cheerily, and I responded, "This is my first cup of coffee." She said, "OH NO. Sorry!" and backed away.

The other friend actually gasped and said, "why didn't you call me? I would have brought you some; that qualifies as an emergency!"   But of course, if she'd brought me some, I'd have had to set off the alarm to get to the door and get it.

Note to self: Never, ever again go to best friend's house without a morning Coffee Plan.


----------



## sm4him

This was a whirlwind of a weekend!! My eldest son came in from west TN, we had a huge family gathering on Saturday night, and then the women's ministry that I lead hosted a benefit lunch for a family on Sunday.

My son's car is acting up, so I didn't want him to try to drive it here and back. So someone went and picked him up on Friday, and my sister and I took him back yesterday.

Up way past bedtime on Friday, no coffee Saturday morning until way too late. Then spent most of the day Saturday at church, prepping food, decorating and otherwise getting ready for the benefit lunch.
Left about 3 p.m, ran some errands, then met BACK at the church to go to the visitation and funeral (for same friend's daughter). Left the funeral, went to see Mom, then over to my brother's for the family gathering.

Up at early thirty on Sunday to head back to church and make the last mad dash to getting everything cooked and ready for the lunch. Took a short break to go teach Sunday School, then up to sing our choir piece, then back to the kitchen. Two hours of serving food to about 130 people, and then helping clean it all up...
...and THEN it was off to meet up with my sister and son for the 3.5 hour trip back to his neck oof the woods. Ate some dinner once we got to over to M'boro where he lives, then dropped him off at his workplace (where his car was) and started the 3.5 hour drive home (with a time change, so it "seems" like longer somehow).
Got home about 1 a.m., collapsed into bed, too tired to sleep.

And now, here it is Monday, and I'm supposed to head in to work and somehow act as though I have the energy to do ANYthing but lift a cup of coffee?!?!?


----------



## mmaria

oh God... I keep pressing agree button instead of like


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> oh God... I keep pressing agree button instead of like



Well, if you like something, you probably also agree with it, so there's that.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> oh God... I keep pressing agree button instead of like
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, if you like something, you probably also agree with it, so there's that.
Click to expand...

problem solved!

I won't "undo rating" any more


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Note to self: Never, ever again go to best friend's house with a morning Coffee Plan.



Never go ANYWHERE without a coffee plan!


----------



## Designer

Wifey's K-cup supply ran out and I failed to notice before I went to the store.  The only kind she had left was (gulp) (grimace) decaff.

The horrors!

OF COURSE I returned to the store and picked up regular Green Mountain Dark LORD, or whatever.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  

If they ran out of the packets for the coffee machine here at work I would just quit.

At home I always  use funnel filters, either a 1-cup or one of the big ones.  Some stores don't stock as many as they used to because they have to make room for all those little cups.


----------



## bribrius

good morning coffee housers!! just one from the beach the other day. First cup of coffee, half awake. Don't take a cup out when you are half awake. somehow i managed to have a glass fall out of the cup board and shatter all over the floor. Must be morning..


----------



## oldhippy

3 cup of coffee, weed eating and checking out the garden

Hey I'm a green bean, well maybe in a few days.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning Hosers. This cold just will not go away... Usually they're gone in 24 hours or so. Hard to tell if things are stabilizing or not when this is going on. Grrr.


----------



## limr

Afternoon, hosers.

Did my readings this morning. My favorite error was from a girl who valiantly tried to spell "ostracize." Anyone want to take any guesses how she spelled it?


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Afternoon, hosers.
> 
> Did my readings this morning. My favorite error was from a girl who valiantly tried to spell "ostracize." Anyone want to take any guesses how she spelled it?



Gosh, the possibilities are endless! Ostrichize, Austerize, ahstirsize...


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon, hosers.
> 
> Did my readings this morning. My favorite error was from a girl who valiantly tried to spell "ostracize." Anyone want to take any guesses how she spelled it?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gosh, the possibilities are endless! Ostrichize, Austerize, ahstirsize...
Click to expand...


Oooh, you came really close with your first guess!

Ostrichsise. In the sentence: "People should be admired for their differences not judged, ridiculed and ostrichsised.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon, hosers.
> 
> Did my readings this morning. My favorite error was from a girl who valiantly tried to spell "ostracize." Anyone want to take any guesses how she spelled it?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gosh, the possibilities are endless! Ostrichize, Austerize, ahstirsize...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oooh, you came really close with your first guess!
> 
> Ostrichsise. In the sentence: "People should be admired for their differences not judged, ridiculed and ostrichsised.
Click to expand...


Ironically, if a person actually WERE ostrichsised, I suspect one almost couldn't HELP but judge and ridicule them. They'd just look so DARN goofy, with that long neck and those big, dreamy eyes. Not to mention the tailfeathers!


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Ironically, if a person actually WERE ostrichsised, I suspect one almost couldn't HELP but judge and ridicule them. They'd just look so DARN goofy, with that long neck and those big, dreamy eyes. Not to mention the tailfeathers!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Busy morning already. My coffee is cold, but still good. It's been hot and humid out here. Over 50%, which isn't high but I haven't really acclimated. Busy week culminating with American Cancer Society's Relay for life. I ended up grilling chicken for 400 of my closest friends. I haven't had time to process any images from the weekend so I'm posting a few images from past Relays.

#1





#2





#3





#4




This was a watermelon eating contest. The young man pictured is wearing a hat because he lost his hair to chemo.

#5




Mom's luminarie

#6


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Afternoon, hosers.
> 
> Did my readings this morning. My favorite error was from a girl who valiantly tried to spell "ostracize." Anyone want to take any guesses how she spelled it?


When did dictionaries become unavailable?


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon, hosers.
> 
> Did my readings this morning. My favorite error was from a girl who valiantly tried to spell "ostracize." Anyone want to take any guesses how she spelled it?
> 
> 
> 
> When did dictionaries become unavailable?
Click to expand...


It was a timed placement exam. I think they are allowed to use dictionaries but no one ever asks for one.


----------



## sm4him

I've already blathered on about my incredibly long, busy whirlwind of a weekend. In fact, I'd say I was only at home for about two hours from Friday morning when I left for work until THIS morning when left for work (and an hour of that was this morning), other than sleeping time, which I had precious little of.

However, that short period of time at home yielded two absolutely wonderful bright spots to my whole month!
On Sunday afternoon, I suddenly remembered I'd had a package that was supposed to be delivered on FRIDAY. It hadn't been on my doorstep, so I'd forgotten to check the porch on the other side of the house. Sure enough, the package was there--actually, TWO packages were there. One I knew was a birthday present I'd ordered for my sister. The other was this:



 

A second Black Rapid strap! I had a sport BR strap for my D7000, but when I bought the D800, I put the BR strap on it, so I needed another one for the now-backup D7000. 
But THIS BR strap was even better and more exciting than most:
When I decided to buy a second strap, the first place I started was, of course, TPF. Figured Id just throw it out there that I was looking for one and see if anyone had one they wanted to sell before I bought one new. Someone even pointed out in that "Wanted to Buy" thread that it was hard to find them used because once people buy a BR strap, they KEEP it.  But then, @BrightByNature came along and said he DID have one he'd sell.  He mentioned a price, which I readily agreed to...then he changed his mind.
About the price, not about the BR strap. 
He GAVE it to me instead. I am always just amazed and humbled by the generosity of people on here. Jamie has never met me, AND he has a new baby, so surely he is in the "every little bit helps" camp of finances these days--but yet, he just wanted to do something nice, and *I* somehow was blessed to be the recipient of that nice deed!!

Thanks, Bright!! I'll have to take a new selfie of me with all my "usual" camera gear for you now...it'll look a lot like your "visual image" of me, teehee!! 

Oh...and there's a REST of the story to this. It has to do with that FIRST package, the bday gift for my sister. I'll tell you all about that in just a few, after I get some more work done.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Might be a coffee afternoon, staying actually _cool, _and rainy. Was going to get something done on an online course but so far not so much. lol Although I did start going thru and sorting some fabric squares and fat quarters I got on clearance.

Now I'm thinking about ostriches...

Odd time of year for a cold Minicoop, but the weather has been so weird no wonder. Well guess I'll go make a pot and try to get something done.


----------



## sm4him

vintagesnaps said:


> Might be a coffee afternoon, staying actually _cool, _and rainy. Was going to get something done on an online course but so far not so much. lol Although I did start going thru and sorting some fabric squares and fat quarters I got on clearance.
> 
> Now I'm thinking about ostriches...
> 
> Odd time of year for a cold Minicoop, but the weather has been so weird no wonder. Well guess I'll go make a pot and try to get something done.


Oooh, a coffee afternoon sounds pretty delightful. Gotta go visit my mama for a while, but maybe when I get home, it'll be a coffee evening!
Awfully cool here too. Only hit the low 80s today.


----------



## sm4him

So, the rest of the story:

As I said, I knew the other package on my porch was one of the items I'd ordered for my sister's birthday. Only when I picked it up, it was a good bit heavier than I'd anticipated. I looked at the sender, expecting to see the information of the company I'd ordered from. Instead it was someone's personal name and address. Checked the recipient, thinking I must have gotten the wrong package--in the time it took to glance from the sender's name to mine, the little gears in my pea-sized brain begin to grind slowly, then pick up speed...yellow...bulldozer...(obscure reference unless you're a fan of the Hitchhiker's Guide series)...and suddenly...OH! The light dawns... @Gary A.!!!

Look at what an amazingly sweet, wonderful, thoughtful thing he did:


 

Gary, I can't even express to you how that lifted my spirits, and what a wonderful thing that was to do!

I'm going to save it for one of the following:
Really, REALLY good news about Mom
Really, really BAD news about Mom
My birthday

My birthday is only a couple of weeks away, so I'll probably have it then, unless one of the other two possibilities happens first.  Whenever I *do* open it, we shall plan to have an online Coffee House night, where we can make a toast and enjoy our drinks "together."


----------



## minicoop1985

Way to go, Gary! I'm sure that was a welcome present, Sharon.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think I've started to stabilize. Can't tell on the depression side due to being sick, but on the anxiety side things are MUCH better.


----------



## Gary A.

Enjoy Sharon.


----------



## vintagesnaps

What a nice thing to do!


----------



## oldhippy

Good morning, grab a first cup and go smile at something.
Maybe it will smile back.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. Mmmmmm, coffee...
No readings this morning so I don't have to go into the admin job until 12 today.

Tio: You pretty much rock, y'know that, right?  

Sharon: I'm totally down with a synchronized Coffee House round of drinks! 

Ed: I did indeed smile when I saw the daisy, but I'm afraid the computer didn't smile back at me. It's okay, though, because it totally would have freaked me out if it had  I'll try smiling at the cats instead.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. This is a hot day, upper 80'sF. A nice breeze helps. On my lunch I made some pizza dough for dinner. I dumped a bunch of basil leaves into the mix. Gotta go pull some lemons for ade.


----------



## Gary A.

Fired up the grill for the pizza and collected some lemons. Now need see if I can find a particularly good recipe for the ade.


----------



## Gary A.

The lemonade is great.


----------



## Gary A.

USA! USA! USA!

USA 2 - Germany 0


----------



## sm4him

That was a good game. Kinda hoping England wins the other semifinal game; I'd just as soon not face Japan yet again.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> That was a good game. Kinda hoping England wins the other semifinal game; I'd just as soon not face Japan yet again.


No, no, no ... We want Japan! Redemption Time ...


----------



## Gary A.

My first pizza on the Kamado. 




 
iPhone images


----------



## Gary A.

And for dessert a Klondike Bar.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> And for dessert a Klondike Bar.



Yes, but what did you have to do for it?


----------



## vintagesnaps

That is some tasty looking pizza, seriously! nice picture of it too. But when I first saw the second picture my thought was - the starship Enterprise was landing in your pizza. Then I realized it's some kind of pizza cutter... lol Maybe it's time to say good night hosers!


----------



## snerd

You should always cover your food before serving........................ looks like some leaves have blown up onto it!


----------



## oldhippy

Off to Chicago area for a week.  See my kids and friends.  Leave you a parting shot.  Ed


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> That was a good game. Kinda hoping England wins the other semifinal game; I'd just as soon not face Japan yet again.
> 
> 
> 
> No, no, no ... We want Japan! Redemption Time ...
Click to expand...


I know I *should* want that. I know the players want that.
But honestly, I'm not sure my heart can take it.


----------



## sm4him

vintagesnaps said:


> That is some tasty looking pizza, seriously! nice picture of it too. But when I first saw the second picture my thought was - the starship Enterprise was landing in your pizza. Then I realized it's some kind of pizza cutter... lol Maybe it's time to say good night hosers!



Whoa. That pizza cutter might just be the absolute most awesome way to cut a pizza I've ever seen!
Cutting pizza dough where no slice has been before.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Working at home again, which means decent coffee in the morning.  After I post a couple of photos I'll have to go see about that.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

I'm not working at home, which is not good, but I do have coffee, so that is good. 

Can't wait to get out of this place.


----------



## sm4him

1.32 cups of coffee for me this morning--had to leave the second cup unfinished because I really needed to get to work something like on time this morning. Mostly because it's my sister's birthday and I plan to take a REALLY long lunch "hour"!!


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers!

Went to an amusement park and nature center yesterday. Had a pretty good time for once in my life.

This cold has gone from cold to allergies. I haven't had allergies in years. WTF, body, why do you hate me so... In other news, was in some normally anxiety inducing situations, and had very little to no issues.


----------



## sm4him

The past two days, Mom has been more mentally aware than anytime in the last month.  Still having the pain, and of course, still has the intramural hematoma, still weak and doesn't DO much, but at least has been coming out of the "fog" a bit.
Funny thing is, on Sunday some of the grandkids visited her and the entire visit, all she could talk about was the fact that this was the most boring cruise she'd ever been on in her life!! 
The next day--well, the next evening at least--she was as mentally sharp as I've seen her in a while.

So, Monday evening she said something that I found pretty interesting.  My dad, in the early stages of Alzheimer's, would describe his "good" days as coming out of the fog.
Mom said it's like she's partly in two different worlds, and she's never really sure which one she's in, and she isn't ever REALLY completely in either one.

Then she said, "Sometimes when I wake up, it's like the wind blows, and I can see through the wind to HERE, but I can't get from wherever I am to here."

I suspect it's a pretty good way to describe someone who has dementia, yet is not fully disconnected to reality.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The world is cooling off a bit. It is overcast right now, so hopefully it will go from the upper 80's to the lower 80's. At the beach, it is always ten degrees cooler in summer. I am still full from the pizza. Mary Lou and I ate the entire pizza yesterday, sans one piece which Mary Lou took for lunch. I let the dough rise and the crust ended up being this wonderfully fluffy bread stuff with herbs. We have tickets for Smokey Robinson at the Hollywood Bowl tomorrow ... maybe I'll take pizza. 

@Sharon- I received the pizza cutter from Mary Lou as a Christmas gift. It is, beyond a doubt, the best pizza cutter in the universe. All metal and works like a champ.


----------



## minicoop1985

It's been a pretty good day, despite allergies. Got some work done on the car, finished some modifications, detailed it, and shot some pics of where it is now.




TIE FITR by Michael Long, on Flickr




TIE FITR by Michael Long, on Flickr


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers, if anyone is around this close to the holiday.  I'm at work and we're getting out early as we often do before holidays.  

I plan to have a fairly quiet weekend trying to avoid the madness that is Philly on July 4th weekend.  Hope you all enjoy and take some pictures.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Hi Ken. I am around but not working. Being lazy today.


----------



## sm4him

I'm here.  Trying to figure out when exactly I got transported from the hills of East TN to the Amazon rainforest.
Man, it has rained and rained and rained here lately. TORRENTIAL rains on occasion. Just rained so hard for about 20 minutes that I couldn't see the building across the street; when it finally started to ease off a bit, I could see that the parking lot of said building was completely flooded.  Starting to think I need to develop some gills. And buy a rowboat.

No getting off early for this chick. I have a meeting at the rehab facility early this afternoon, first big meeting with all the care staff and in-town family, to discuss Mom's status and any issues, etc.
Then back to work for a while and then back to the rehab for a visit with Mom.

I might just sleep in a bit tomorrow though. More likely I'll wake up like I always do, well before the sun comes up.  No plans this weekend except spending time at the rehab facility. Sounds like the weekend is going to be more of what we've already got anyway. Rain. Temps way too cool to suit me for the summertime. And more rain.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Rainy and in between cool and warm here, we seem to be really stuck in a weird weather pattern. Depends on the weather what I'll do this weekend, something indoors or out.

Glad Sharon your mom is making some progress and having some good moments.

Gary who knew cooking utensils could be that interesting! If they all looked like cool toys I might be inclined to cook more. Or not! lol


----------



## Buckster

Warhorse said:


> I live in the northern area of the lower peninsula, about 25 miles south of the Mackinaw bridge.


Hi there, neighbor!  I live in Alanson!


----------



## minicoop1985

Nose is doing a bit better today. Have a birthday party to go to later on, hence why the car got detailed.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The car gets to go to a birthday party? lol are you going to tie ribbons on it too? Have fun.


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

I'm around today. And tomorrow. And probably the weekend, too. We don't really do a whole lot for the 4th. Because people. I'm going to take it as a chance for a relaxing 3-day weekend to get some chores and reading and film developing done.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Hey, hosers.
> 
> I'm around today. And tomorrow. And probably the weekend, too. We don't really do a whole lot for the 4th. Because people. I'm going to take it as a chance for a relaxing 3-day weekend to get some chores and reading and film developing done.


Same here, Lenny. Relaxing with a cup of coffee. May go fly my drone later, may not. I have a lot of Family Guy and King of the Hill episodes recorded to catch up on, too.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Tardes Coffee Hosers. We are on our way to the Hollywood Bowl, via shuttle bus ... and the bus broke.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Oh no Gary! First, no water, now no buses !


----------



## Gary A.

The driver fixed the bus and we make it for Smokey Robinson. 


iPhone


----------



## limr

Smokey!


----------



## Gary A.

Smokey and the LA Phil ... A great way to celebrate America's Birthday.



iPhone


----------



## Gary A.

Shefalii said:


> Good Morning/Good Afternoon Everyone


Buenos Noches Shefalii.


----------



## limr

Shefalii said:


> Good Morning/Good Afternoon Everyone



I guess it was technically morning in my time zone when you posted this, but just barely. It was just past midnight for me! 

So now I would say Good morning but it's probably better to say Good evening or Good night?


----------



## Designer

Good "Whatever it is in your time zone", or "Choose your favored local expression".


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

My kettle crapped out a few days ago and I ordered a new one from Amazon. It's all fancy and has different temperature settings for different drinks, including one for exactly 200 degrees for a French press. This is Good.

On deck for today: not going to work!   Also doing my hair color, developing some film, doing a few errands, then dinner with Buzz, and a nice quiet evening of reading and listening to records


----------



## Warhorse

Buckster said:


> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> I live in the northern area of the lower peninsula, about 25 miles south of the Mackinaw bridge.
> 
> 
> 
> Hi there, neighbor!  I live in Alanson!
Click to expand...

We really ARE neighbors!


----------



## NancyMoranG

'Smooooth Smokey'....must have been great.
Today is our sons 37th birthday but we're not with him 
Born in Boston on July 4 th weekend. Always wondered if that made him so interested in history and being patriotic?! 

Enjoy a safe weekend everyone!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Smokey was great and very entertaining for an old guy. He really did put on a very very good show. He was warm, friendly, engaging, sounded good and he even moved around (not bad for a guy that must be around 100 y/o.) He didn't come back for an encore ... I figured he was backstage heaving in some oxygen. But that was fine because after his show the LA Phil fired up again with more patriotic songs and fireworks. The LA Phil started and ended the show.

When they played the Military Anthems Medley, the guy next to me, who had to be older than Smokey, stood up ... squared away ... elbows back and chest out, when he heard the Marine Corps Anthem. I chatted with him and shared my wine. I told him my father was in the first wave at Guadalcanal and my uncle was severely wounded at Bougainville. He told me he was on-board ship and when they passed Guadalcanal the Captain lowered the flag to half mast and saluted as they sailed up the slot. We spoke of Vietnam and places where he was stationed. I made him proud when I told him of an experienced I had in Africa. I was shooting a story on the French Foreign Legion and in the foot lockers of the soldiers were books and stories of the United States Marine Corps. His eyes looked far away, grinned and his shoulders snapped back a bit. Semper Fidelis.

What was very touching was when the LA Phil played God Bless America ... I swear, all 17,000 people at the Bowl sang the song. It brought a tear to many.




iPhone
The LA Phil played the Stars and Stripes Forever during the fireworks which were long and spectacular.

G


----------



## minicoop1985

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!!!! Or, in this case, Hosers.

Went to the ex GF's birthday party. Was a fantastic time, despite driving 4 hours round trip.

Been doing a lo better. The allergy fog has lifted, and all is well. Some minor anxiety as my meds wear off/time for the next dose, but other than that, pretty much under control for the time being.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- God Bless our Service Men and Women, our Veterans and our Country.


----------



## snowbear

*Peas in Guac?*
I need to turn off the news on slow days.


----------



## vintagesnaps

In between movies of another Friday of film noir. 'It was a dark and stormy night...' not quite but it's a gloomy rainy day, good day for watching old B&W movies with weirdo camera angles and long shadows. Although I forget I'm supposed to be keeping the course I'm taking in mind if the movie's really good! lol  

OK I have 3 minutes left...


----------



## bribrius

anyone else hoping greece photos hit the internet even more, and they vote no on the referendum? I have been hoping to see the euro collapse and the banks have to eat it up the wazoo for a few years now. Paying down this much debt just turns them into debt slaves anyway.  U.S. should be going a similar direction in the next decade or so. we should have plenty of our own photos to take too.


----------



## bribrius

vintagesnaps said:


> In between movies of another Friday of film noir. 'It was a dark and stormy night...' not quite but it's a gloomy rainy day, good day for watching old B&W movies with weirdo camera angles and long shadows. Although I forget I'm supposed to be keeping the course I'm taking in mind if the movie's really good! lol
> 
> OK I have 3 minutes left...


i have a habit of doing that too. Occasional rewind and pause of the movie to see still frame as i seem to be watching the camera and lighting as much as the story line.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The last one was good but oddly enough about a jail break, and they ended up in a cabin - crossed my mind hat prison breaks don't seem to have changed much since the '40s, a little too much like recent news. Except they showed them in a jalopy going along at like maybe all of 40 mph, all I could think was I don't think they're going to get too far in that thing! 

Now another prison break movie but a low budget one. Oh no they just got to a cabin, enough of this I think.


----------



## Gary A.

My Margarita for a warm day.




iPhone


----------



## sm4him

Hmm... I'm with Mom right now but I might just have to go have a virtual Margarita with you when I leave here. 

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Salud Sharon.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Salud Sharon.


well I took a pic of mine but can't figure out how to get it inserted in the post from my tablet.  I'll post when I get home. 

It was a very good day!


----------



## Gary A.

Some seven foot plus sunflowers in the yard.



iPhone image


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## bribrius




----------



## snerd

I've been flying my drone.............................


----------



## sm4him

Well, I never did post my margarita photo. I'd barely gotten on the interstate headed home when I got a pain between my shoulder blades and this weird kind of nausea/compression in my chest--it kept getting worse to the point that I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep driving. It crossed my mind that it could possibly be a heart attack though that didn't seem likely. By the time I pulled in the driveway, less than 10 minutes later, it hurt so bad I was moaning, and I decided I'd lie down for just a few minutes and if the pain didn't subside, I'd call an ambulance. (I do NOT go to doctors, and I certainly do NOT do ambulances. I was in PAIN).

Within two minutes of lying down, the pain was gone. But by then, I was in bed. And tired. So that was it for my night.

No pain this morning--well, there's a little soreness between my shoulder blades, but I think that's from how tensed up I was on the drive home.


----------



## sm4him

Now for why yesterday was such a good day:

Mom wouldn't eat breakfast, and it looked like another typical day.  But then, they had this 4th of July lunch in the dining room (well, 3rd of July lunch), and she actually got up into the wheelchair and joined them in the dining room for it! That's the FIRST time she's gone to eat in the dining room.
THEN, she had P.T.--about 90 minutes of it. 
By the time I got there, around 3, I expected she'd be done for the day--and she did doze off and on, from 3-5. But when she was awake, she was alert and making sense, mostly. Then dinner came and she chose to sit up in the wheelchair to eat (she usually stays in bed and props the bed up). She ate her entire dinner, and then we went outside on the porch. When I left at nearly 8 p.m. she was still out on the porch, with my sister.

That's over 3 hours of sitting up...and NO PAIN!! That is a glorious, wonderful first!! That's the thing I've been the most concerned about, was the fact that she couldn't sit up more than 30 min-1 hour without the pain getting bad.

Here's hoping today is a repeat of that!!


----------



## bribrius

decisions. decisions. should i go to the parade??, or just stay here .....


----------



## snerd

Sharon, do you still have your gall bladder? Those are pretty much the same symptoms I was having for weeks before having to have an emergency gall bladder surgery! It was just in time, they said.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. Happy Independence Day to the Americans! Happy regular old Saturday for the rest of ya! 

It's rainy here today. There were some vague thoughts of going to see fireworks somewhere, but now we have a better excuse than "can't be bothered." 

Sharon, I don't do doctors either other than a yearly physical, but given Snerd's comment, perhaps a quick check-up? Hmmmm?


----------



## Designer

Happy ID, everybody in the US.  

Happy 4th of July for our friends in other parts of the world. 

We've made plans to take the children to the train in Boone.  Yes, I'll be taking my camera.  

Of course, they're not up yet, but the Mrs. and I have had breakfast, and are just wondering when to wake the others.  

Our town is preparing for the annual ID parade, as are many other towns, I'm sure.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> It's rainy here today. There were some vague thoughts of going to see fireworks somewhere, but now we have a better excuse than "can't be bothered."


One of my pet gripes is having to put on mosquito repellant to watch the fireworks.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's rainy here today. There were some vague thoughts of going to see fireworks somewhere, but now we have a better excuse than "can't be bothered."
> 
> 
> 
> One of my pet gripes is having to put on mosquito repellant to watch the fireworks.
Click to expand...


I have to wear mosquito repellent practically every time I'm outside for more than a few minutes in the summer. I get eaten alive otherwise. My record is 52 bites in an hour, all of them from the knees down.

And they haven't made a people repellent yet  Well, I guess there's muttering to myself or not showering for days, or both really, but that can be fairly exhausting - and stinky - to keep up.


----------



## limr

Bob celebrated yesterday with his first outdoors romp through the "jungle"


----------



## Gary A.

Happy Independence Day Y'all. Even if you're not a U.S. citizen ... Happy Independance Day anyway. 

This will be our third day of fireworks. We celebrated The 4th on the 2nd with Smokey, the LA Phil and fireworks at the Bowl. Cook gets real real spooked by loud noises and fireworks. Spooked so badly that we have to sedate her. The park two blocks away is a large regional park which has a big Independence Day celebratory affair on the 3rd. (Booths of all kinds, bands, games, picnics, et cetera.) Dunno why on the 3rd, but that's what the city does. Over the years the crowds have getting larger and larger and the cars are now parking throughout our neighborhood to get to the park. On the news it was reported he 25,000 people attended the La Mirada celebration (the city only has 50,000).  Usually, we wait until evening, sedate The Cook, take our chairs and watch the bands and fireworks at the park. But last year, a bunch of RV's parked in the school across the street from our house and fired off a bunch of illegal fireworks. Cook was completely freaked out when we got home ... so this year we're staying with Cookie, watching movies, drinking Margaritas and eating smoked pork (off the Kamado) with Klondike Bars. 

Hey Sharon, still waiting for your Margarita. (Mine are made with Tequila, Lime juice, my bathtub Orange Liqueur over a snowball of shaved ice. 
Hey Sharon, what movies were you watching? If you have NetFlixs watch "Word & Pictures". 
Hey Designer and Leo ... what is mosquito repellant?
Hey Bob, looking good man ... (turtles always look like they have four wheel drive when they move).


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Sharon, great news about Mom. (Bad news about your pain.)


----------



## Gary A.

RVs started lining up along the park on the morning of the 2nd. The parking is so bad that the City feels compelled to remind stupid people what a red painted curb means. 


 
iPhone


----------



## bribrius

Designer said:


> Happy ID, everybody in the US.
> 
> Happy 4th of July for our friends in other parts of the world.
> 
> We've made plans to take the children to the train in Boone.  Yes, I'll be taking my camera.
> 
> Of course, they're not up yet, but the Mrs. and I have had breakfast, and are just wondering when to wake the others.
> 
> Our town is preparing for the annual ID parade, as are many other towns, I'm sure.


yeah, just finished the parade here. Next decision, barbecue/gathering i was invited too. should i go or should i stay here... hmmm.. I usually avoid such things.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey you bunch of hosers. Everybody have a good 4th and a good weekend. 

Designer, I had to think about what ID day meant! talk about a hoser.  It did finally dawn on me...
Gary what's Netflix? Jk I do actually know what it is (well more or less! lol) but don't have it. I was watching TCM's Friday night 'Summer of Darkness', will have to see if the film you mentioned is coming up. How is it that taking a course just for fun I still manage to get behind - no video lecture this past week so I blew off the assignment and now gotta catch up!

Sharon glad your mom is able to sit up more with less pain, hope she continues to improve. Seems like recovery for many things can often be one step forward and 10 steps back or maybe 100 steps, my stroke recovery has been like that. Minicoop glad your cold & allergies & meds adjustment seem to all be getting better for you.

Everybody enjoy your day.


----------



## bribrius

does that have  bluish tint or is it my imagination....


----------



## sm4him

bribrius said:


> does that have  bluish tint or is it my imagination....


How would we know if your imagination has a bluish tint? [emoji6] 

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk


----------



## snerd

bribrius said:


> ......should i go or should i stay here... hmmm.. I usually avoid such things.


----------



## bribrius

vintagesnaps said:


> Hey you bunch of hosers. Everybody have a good 4th and a good weekend.
> 
> Designer, I had to think about what ID day meant! talk about a hoser.  It did finally dawn on me...
> Gary what's Netflix? Jk I do actually know what it is (well more or less! lol) but don't have it. I was watching TCM's Friday night 'Summer of Darkness', will have to see if the film you mentioned is coming up. How is it that taking a course just for fun I still manage to get behind - no video lecture this past week so I blew off the assignment and now gotta catch up!
> 
> Sharon glad your mom is able to sit up more with less pain, hope she continues to improve. Seems like recovery for many things can often be one step forward and 10 steps back or maybe 100 steps,* my stroke recovery* has been like that. Minicoop glad your cold & allergies & meds adjustment seem to all be getting better for you.
> 
> Everybody enjoy your day.


stroke recovery? you too? Sucks.


----------



## bribrius

sm4him said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> does that have  bluish tint or is it my imagination....
> 
> 
> 
> How would we know if your imagination has a bluish tint? [emoji6]
> 
> Sent from mandy SCH-R970 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

good point.  I could probably go do a color adustment but dont have the ambition for it.


----------



## minicoop1985

Happy Murica day to all you other Muricans!


----------



## bribrius




----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> Sharon, do you still have your gall bladder? Those are pretty much the same symptoms I was having for weeks before having to have an emergency gall bladder surgery! It was just in time, they said.



My gall bladder and I parted company several years ago, things just weren't working out between us. 

So far, so good today.  If the pain comes back, I'll see about having it checked out.


----------



## sm4him

Well, lookie here!! I actually spent some time doing bird photography today!! And even processed a few just so I could post them, since I also haven't done a photo thread in what seems like forever.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Hey Sharon, still waiting for your Margarita. (Mine are made with Tequila, Lime juice, my bathtub Orange Liqueur over a snowball of shaved ice.



Yours sound MUCH better than what I had! Mine was Mango--it was good. Not great, but good. It wasn't from my favorite little Mexican place, but it was another little local spot that is right down the road from the rehab facility, so it's a convenient stop on the way home.

So, a day late and quite a few dollars short:


----------



## Gary A.

Hey that looks good ... commercial but good. We had a mango tree but Mary Lou had me move it because mangos are not very pretty. I told her it probably would die with the move, but she had me move it anyway ... it died.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Hey that looks good ... commercial but good. We had a mango tree but Mary Lou had me move it because mangos are not very pretty. I told her it probably would die with the move, but she had me move it anyway ... it died.



Aww. Dead mangos--mangoes?--makes me sad. The trees are definitely not winning beauty awards, but hey, they have mangos hanging from them!!  Makes 'em beautiful in MY book!


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey that looks good ... commercial but good. We had a mango tree but Mary Lou had me move it because mangos are not very pretty. I told her it probably would die with the move, but she had me move it anyway ... it died.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Aww. Dead mangos--mangoes?--makes me sad. The trees are definitely not winning beauty awards, but hey, they have mangos hanging from them!!  Makes 'em beautiful in MY book!
Click to expand...

It was replaced with a Plumeria.


----------



## Gary A.

Spent most/all of the day gardening and adjust the waterfall. I am beat. It's on 79F, but we just buttoned up the house and turned on the A/C to make it as quiet as possible for Cookie. There have been the pop of firecrackers all day and Cook is too spooked to eat her dinner. It is still quite bright outside but I tossed a pill down Cook's throat. Good night Cookie. Another sip of my Lemon Verbena water and I'm off to make a couple of Margaritas while Mary Lou works on marinating the steaks.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey that looks good ... commercial but good. We had a mango tree but Mary Lou had me move it because mangos are not very pretty. I told her it probably would die with the move, but she had me move it anyway ... it died.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Aww. Dead mangos--mangoes?--makes me sad. The trees are definitely not winning beauty awards, but hey, they have mangos hanging from them!!  Makes 'em beautiful in MY book!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It was replaced with a Plumeria.
Click to expand...


Plumeria are beautiful, no question. Still, I like a tree that produces stuff I can eat. 
Plus, Plumeria are deceptive. They trick their pollinators into helping them, without giving anything in return.  They smell good--and are more fragrant at night, in order to attract the sphinx moths that pollinate them. But those pretty flowers are a LIE--they have NO nectar!! So the unsuspecting moth pollinates them while flitting about from flower to flower, wondering why there is no nectar for its little moth tummy.

I know you probably already know all that. But maybe someone will find it fascinating. Nah, probably not.

Anyway...the mango tree was better. Because, mangos.

But I still like Mary Lou anyway.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- My favorite lemonade recipe.

8 cups of water
1.5 cups sugar
6 lemons/2 cup lemon juice (Meyers if you got 'em)

Get a cup of water to boil and toss in the sugar, stir into a syrup.
After you have the syrup, mix remaining ingredients together. Easy Pezy.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey that looks good ... commercial but good. We had a mango tree but Mary Lou had me move it because mangos are not very pretty. I told her it probably would die with the move, but she had me move it anyway ... it died.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Aww. Dead mangos--mangoes?--makes me sad. The trees are definitely not winning beauty awards, but hey, they have mangos hanging from them!!  Makes 'em beautiful in MY book!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It was replaced with a Plumeria.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Plumeria are beautiful, no question. Still, I like a tree that produces stuff I can eat.
> Plus, Plumeria are deceptive. They trick their pollinators into helping them, without giving anything in return.  They smell good--and are more fragrant at night, in order to attract the sphinx moths that pollinate them. But those pretty flowers are a LIE--they have NO nectar!! So the unsuspecting moth pollinates them while flitting about from flower to flower, wondering why there is no nectar for its little moth tummy.
> 
> I know you probably already know all that. But maybe someone will find it fascinating. Nah, probably not.
> 
> Anyway...the mango tree was better. Because, mangos.
> 
> But I still like Mary Lou anyway.
Click to expand...


I never thought that the Mango was all that ugly and mangos certainly increased its value. But we have Avocados, Apples, Naval Oranges, Valencia Oranges, Mandarin Oranges, Meyer Lemons, Persimmons, Blueberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, Artichokes, Grapes (Thompson, Zinfandel, Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Nior) and I would even get into the veggies and herbs ... the point is yes, Mangos would be nice ... but I don't really miss them.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone
To America! Happy Birthday.


----------



## Gary A.

Just discovered that the Ninja makes great crushed ice. Better than my little shaved ice machine. The Ninja's output is like snow and produces it in about half a second.


----------



## limr

Okay, now I want a cocktail!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Okay, now I want a cocktail!


LOL ... come on over. You can have a steak too ... okay, you don't eat meat ... we're gonna grill fresh zucchini, tomatoes, spinach, lettuce and whatever else you can pick. Oh yeah, and some apples, grilled apples are great.


----------



## Gary A.

And when the fireworks go off, you can pet Cookie.


----------



## Gary A.

(we're out of Klondikes ... )


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, now I want a cocktail!
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... come on over. You can have a steak too ... okay, you don't eat meat ... we're gonna grill fresh zucchini, tomatoes, spinach, lettuce and whatever else you can pick. Oh yeah, and some apples, grilled apples are great.
Click to expand...


Mmm, I loved grilled fruit. I'm sure you've tried grilled pineapple. Divine! I also like peaches on the grill. All that other stuff sounds good, too 



Gary A. said:


> And when the fireworks go off, you can pet Cookie.



I will totally take care of the poor thing! 



Gary A. said:


> (we're out of Klondikes ... )



'Sokay. They're a bit much for me. It's not very bad, but I'm a bit lactose intolerant and ice cream is one of those things that I can tolerate only in very small doses. I can handle one or two bites of the Klondike but the whole thing...well, that would be bad   Y'know how most ice cream containers tell you that a serving is half a cup? I actually follow that. Even if my mouth wants more, the rest of me knows it's really not a good idea.

Now, salty snacks? That's a different story...


----------



## Gary A.

We're snacking on humus and pita crackers.


----------



## Gary A.

You don't have to bring any mosquito repellant.


----------



## Gary A.

Grilling on gas tonight. The grill is by the Pinot grapes and some are purple ... Delish.


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner is served.


----------



## limr

Looks good! 

Enjoy your meal and your quiet night in. I hope the Cook doesn't get too freaked out tonight. We're still hearing a few stray fireworks here and there. The girls seem to be fine. They run to look out the window if there's a particularly loud one, but otherwise, they pretty much ignore the noise. Now if it was a vacuum cleaner out there, all bets are off 

As for me, I'm heading for bed. I'm trying to get to sleep earlier so mornings are easier for me. Some nights are very hard, but tonight I've gotten quite sleepy in the past 15 minutes or so, and I'm calling this one done!

Happy 4th, everyone!


----------



## Designer

I like grilled asparagus, but I'm not adventurous enough to try fruit.


----------



## Designer

We lost our Airedale years ago due in part to firecrackers.  The neighbor boys would toss firecrackers into our back yard which completely fried the dog.  Then whenever there was a thunderstorm, she would freak out.  The last time we ever saw her was during a storm.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> We lost our Airedale years ago due in part to firecrackers.  The neighbor boys would toss firecrackers into our back yard which completely fried the dog.  Then whenever there was a thunderstorm, she would freak out.  The last time we ever saw her was during a storm.



Oh! Poor thing


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> We're snacking on humus and pita crackers.


I tried pita crackers once............ a pain in the ass.





Thank you, thank you very much! I'll be here all week!!


----------



## Gary A.

Grilled apples tastes like apple pie. We grill or steam our veggies. Big stuff, like squash, goes directly on the grill, smaller stuff we toss on a grilling tray or grilling pan (the tray and pan have holes in them for some direct heat). We hop up lots of medleys with all kinds of seasonings. Off the top of my head, we don't grill citrus, grapes, melons or persimmons,  but most everything else is fair game.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> We lost our Airedale years ago due in part to firecrackers.  The neighbor boys would toss firecrackers into our back yard which completely fried the dog.  Then whenever there was a thunderstorm, she would freak out.  The last time we ever saw her was during a storm.


That is so sad. It is dusk now and the darker it gets the greater the noise level. If Cook wasn't sedated she would be running for a place to get away from the noise. Cook doesn't like thunder either. All dogs are special ... but Airedales just seem to have a touch more in the special department.


----------



## Gary A.

The Pinot Nior grapes.


----------



## terri

Those look beautiful!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

How'd the Cook fare last night?


----------



## Designer

Is Cookie hungry for breakfast now?

I'll bet you really ar-re!

Does Cookie want some delicious dog food?

Yes, you sure do-oo!

(See?  I know how to talk to a Dog.)


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Those look beautiful!


The grapes? Thank you. They are very tasty, (if you can put up with the seeds), much more flavor than you average table grape.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> How'd the Cook fare last night?


She has taken over a bathroom as her office. She stayed in her office all night with the occasional trip to make sure we were around when the noise got especially loud and close. She seems back to her ol' self this morning.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Is Cookie hungry for breakfast now?
> 
> I'll bet you really ar-re!
> 
> Does Cookie want some delicious dog food?
> 
> Yes, you sure do-oo!
> 
> (See?  I know how to talk to a Dog.)


Actually, Cook answers our questions, no need to answer for her.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone
Lemon Verbeana water along with our breakfast. 73F, it should be a very pleasant day.


----------



## limr

That looks lovely!

Buzz and I took a drive to a neighboring town for brunch, a walk along the river, some poking into some junk shops, and then an afternoon beer before coming home.

The town is a great little place - not much more than Main Street, really, but cute shops, a nice riverfront, and some good places to eat. It's also got a lot of little historical bits and pieces, being right across the river from West Point and the location of both gun platforms and then a bit later, an iron works and mines that supplied artillery after the War of 1812. In the past 2-3 years, it's been noticeably going more and more upscale, however, and while there were always folks from the city coming up on the weekend for a little "antiquing," it's been getting a bit out of hand lately. The train goes from Grand Central right to the bottom of Main Street, so it's always been accessible, but now there's a ferry and the crowds are getting worse. And the more upscale stores are starting to move in to serve these crowds. I'm afraid older stores will get pushed out and the whole character of the town will change. The kind of "city folks" that we're seeing now are the kinds who want to brag about finding some antique lamp or artisan cheese in "just the quaintest little town upstate!" instead of the kind we used to get - people who just wanted to get out of the city for a day and check out this cute little town that no one knows about yet.


----------



## Gary A.

USA! USA! USA!
USA 5 - Japan 2


----------



## Gary A.

USA Women World Champions!!!!!!!


----------



## sm4him

USA!! USA!! USA!! USA!! USA!! USA!!

Sorry, Japan. Turns out, this World Cup final also had a shootout--it just happened in the first 16 minutes and only the US participated. Japan could just never find a match for the crazy ninja skills of our women!!!

Also...I may have a girl-crush on Hope Solo. 
Actually, I just love good goaltending, having spent 15+ years doing it myself.


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> Also...I may have a girl-crush on Hope Solo.


Her name alone will sell a million teeshirts.


----------



## limr

It's too bad she's kinda cray-cray.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> It's too bad she's kinda cray-cray.


Most goaltenders tend to be just a little closer to the edge than most folks. Most of us have been kicked in the head a few to many times. [emoji12] 

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> It's too bad she's kinda *cray-cray*.


Ehhh? Whazzat?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's too bad she's kinda *cray-cray*.
> 
> 
> 
> Ehhh? Whazzat?
Click to expand...


Crazy.


----------



## limr

You want the height of absurdity?






James Earl Jones saying "Totes Magotes" slays me every time.


----------



## Gary A.

Final - Lloyd 3 - Japan 1-ish


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Doing fine so far, but when the coffee kicks in and all parts of my brain realize it's Monday, maybe not so much.


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Doing fine so far, but *when the coffee kicks in and all parts of my brain realize it's Monday*, maybe not so much.



It's WHAT?!?!?!?  Monday????? AGAIN?

Well, THANKS. Thanks a lot. 

Now I'm gonna have to either go to work or call in--maybe I can take a "holiday recovery" day. 

(I'm really already AT work. I'm just not already working. I did go through my emails. Now I'm trying to decide whether I should make my to-do list for the day, or just go find caffeine.)


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.






Apparently, this person's best did not include proper usage of the apostrophe.


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> It's WHAT?!?!?!?  Monday????? AGAIN?
> 
> Well, THANKS. Thanks a lot.
> 
> Now I'm gonna have to either go to work or call in--maybe I can take a "holiday recovery" day.
> 
> (I'm really already AT work. I'm just not already working. I did go through my emails. Now I'm trying to decide whether I should make my to-do list for the day, or just go find caffeine.)



Sorry about that, but well, someone was bound to burst the bubble.

As for what to do first, the first thing on the to-do list would be to get coffee, so you might as well do that, then make the list and cross off the first item.


----------



## limr

This is perfect for my coffee house hosers!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's too bad she's kinda *cray-cray*.
> 
> 
> 
> Ehhh? Whazzat?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Crazy.
Click to expand...

 A moment of silence in remembrance of the passing of the English language...


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, Hosers. Sh*t's been craycray over here this past weekend too. Holy crap.

I've made a seemingly dumb executive decision. Selling my Hasselblad H1. Haven't found the inspiration I thought I would, and with the lens it has, it's very limited in what it could do. Buying another lens wasn't an option since anything that would make it more flexible cost WAY too damned much.


----------



## sm4him

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's too bad she's kinda *cray-cray*.
> 
> 
> 
> Ehhh? Whazzat?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Crazy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> A moment of silence in remembrance of the passing of the English language...
Click to expand...



Couldn't agree more, John. Though it IS a bit ironic that you lament the passing of the English language because of "cray cray" and yet use "Whazzat?" to ask what it means.


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> Morning, Hosers. Sh*t's been craycray over here this past weekend too. Holy crap.
> 
> I've made a seemingly dumb executive decision. Selling my Hasselblad H1. Haven't found the inspiration I thought I would, and with the lens it has, it's very limited in what it could do. Buying another lens wasn't an option since anything that would make it more flexible cost WAY too damned much.



Wow. My camera flag would be flying at half-staff in memory of your Hassie today, if I actually had a camera flag.


----------



## limr

Meh, the English language isn't passing, just changing. Most "proper" usage these days would have horrified people even 100 years ago. There's a time and a place for everything, so while I would not approve of the use of slang in formal settings, it's still playful and often quite creative. "Cray" is actually a result of truncation, which is a very common generative practice in English. And things are often repeated for emphasis.


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's too bad she's kinda *cray-cray*.
> 
> 
> 
> Ehhh? Whazzat?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Crazy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> A moment of silence in remembrance of the passing of the English language...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Couldn't agree more, John. Though it IS a bit ironic that you lament the passing of the English language because of "cray cray" and yet use "Whazzat?" to ask what it means.
Click to expand...

 In my defence, at least you can interpret "What's that" from "Whazzat" based on the sound.  I don't think there's any way to get "Crazy" from "Cray cray" without knowing what it means.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Meh, the English language isn't passing, just changing. Most "proper" usage these days would have horrified people even 100 years ago. There's a time and a place for everything, so while I would not approve of the use of slang in formal settings, it's still playful and often quite creative. "Cray" is actually a result of truncation, which is a very common generative practice in English. And things are often repeated for emphasis.


Some might be, but this particular instance makes no sense.  Truncating one word into another serves no benefit other than to confuse; I should think if you used this expression in a Gulf Coast state, you'd have the local population on the lookout for a herd of stampeding shellfish, and repeating this word makes equally little sense in that "Crazy" isn't a word one normally repeats to emphasize.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Doing fine so far, but *when the coffee kicks in and all parts of my brain realize it's Monday*, maybe not so much.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's WHAT?!?!?!?  Monday????? AGAIN?
> 
> Well, THANKS. Thanks a lot.
> 
> Now I'm gonna have to either go to work or call in--maybe I can take a "holiday recovery" day.
> 
> (I'm really already AT work. I'm just not already working. I did go through my emails. Now I'm trying to decide whether I should make my to-do list for the day, or just go find caffeine.)
Click to expand...

Your list should read:

1) Get Coffee;
2) Start ToDo List;
3) Refill on Coffee;
4) Rework ToDo List; and
5) Goto #1


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Meh, the English language isn't passing, just changing. Most "proper" usage these days would have horrified people even 100 years ago. There's a time and a place for everything, so while I would not approve of the use of slang in formal settings, it's still playful and often quite creative. "Cray" is actually a result of truncation, which is a very common generative practice in English. And things are often repeated for emphasis.
> 
> 
> 
> Some might be, but this particular instance makes no sense.  Truncating one word into another serves no benefit other than to confuse; I should think if you used this expression in a Gulf Coast state, you'd have the local population on the lookout for a herd of stampeding shellfish, and repeating this word makes equally little sense in that "Crazy" isn't a word one normally repeats to emphasize.
Click to expand...


Language is not logical. And no, not all slang is going to be - or even meant to be - understood by the majority of the speakers of a language. It starts in a small community and sometimes it stays in that community, though these days, the Internet spreads slang a lot further than it would have gone 20 years ago. Language serves more purposes than just pure communication. It also helps define identity and inclusion in a group, for example.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Doing fine so far, but *when the coffee kicks in and all parts of my brain realize it's Monday*, maybe not so much.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's WHAT?!?!?!?  Monday????? AGAIN?
> 
> Well, THANKS. Thanks a lot.
> 
> Now I'm gonna have to either go to work or call in--maybe I can take a "holiday recovery" day.
> 
> (I'm really already AT work. I'm just not already working. I did go through my emails. Now I'm trying to decide whether I should make my to-do list for the day, or just go find caffeine.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Your list should read:
> 
> 1) Get Coffee;
> 2) Start ToDo List;
> 3) Refill on Coffee;
> 4) Rework ToDo List; and
> 5) Goto #1
Click to expand...


So, far that's pretty close.
Reality has been:
1. Check emails.
2. Get coffee.
3. Forward as many emails as possible to other people, so that replies are their problem and not mine. Reply to the three remaining emails.
4. Sit and drink coffee and start at to-do list blankly.
5. Remember ONE thing that needs to get done and write it on list.
6. Think about wanting more coffee.
7. Get water instead.
8. Email boss about something I need from someone else in order to accomplish the ONE thing on my to-do list so far (thereby effectively putting off the ability to actually DO that item for now).
9. Stare blankly at the list some more.
10. Decide the water isn't cutting it and go get more coffee.

So, I've completed TEN things already today. That seems like about enough for a Monday, don't you think?


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> *Language is not logical*. And no, not all slang is going to be - or even meant to be - understood by the majority of the speakers of a language. It starts in a small community and sometimes it stays in that community, though these days, the Internet spreads slang a lot further than it would have gone 20 years ago. Language serves more purposes than just pure communication. It also helps define identity and inclusion in a group, for example.


 Well, it should be!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> *Language is not logical*. And no, not all slang is going to be - or even meant to be - understood by the majority of the speakers of a language. It starts in a small community and sometimes it stays in that community, though these days, the Internet spreads slang a lot further than it would have gone 20 years ago. Language serves more purposes than just pure communication. It also helps define identity and inclusion in a group, for example.
> 
> 
> 
> Well, it should be!
Click to expand...


Well, it ain't! 

The reason is essentially two-fold: first, language is an organic, symbolic system and though it IS governed by limited "rules" (some linguistics say there are no 'rules' but just patterns of neurological processes), those rules and the application of those rules do not tend to coincide with those of formalized logic. Second, it's a living system that needs to adapt to ever-changing communicative and expressive needs while still being constrained by a limited number of generative "rules" (or processes).


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> *Language is not logical*. And no, not all slang is going to be - or even meant to be - understood by the majority of the speakers of a language. It starts in a small community and sometimes it stays in that community, though these days, the Internet spreads slang a lot further than it would have gone 20 years ago. Language serves more purposes than just pure communication. It also helps define identity and inclusion in a group, for example.
> 
> 
> 
> Well, it should be!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, it ain't!
> 
> The reason is essentially two-fold: first, language is an organic, symbolic system and though it IS governed by limited "rules" (some linguistics say there are no 'rules' but just patterns of neurological processes), those rules and the application of those rules do not tend to coincide with those of formalized logic. Second, it's a living system that needs to adapt to ever-changing communicative and expressive needs while still being constrained by a limited number of generative "rules" (or processes).
Click to expand...

 Blah, blah, blah.  Change is bad.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Blah, blah, blah.  Change is bad.



Don't worry, we still need grumps around to make sure the changes don't get too cray-cray


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Blah, blah, blah.  Change is bad.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't worry, we still need grumps around to make sure the changes don't get too cray-cray
Click to expand...


----------



## minicoop1985

sm4him said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, Hosers. Sh*t's been craycray over here this past weekend too. Holy crap.
> 
> I've made a seemingly dumb executive decision. Selling my Hasselblad H1. Haven't found the inspiration I thought I would, and with the lens it has, it's very limited in what it could do. Buying another lens wasn't an option since anything that would make it more flexible cost WAY too damned much.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow. My camera flag would be flying at half-staff in memory of your Hassie today, if I actually had a camera flag.
Click to expand...


It was bittersweet. I did, however, sell it for $400 more than I paid for it, so I can dry my tears with a few Benjamins.


----------



## EIngerson

UPDATE; finally in a house, 3 cars purchased, waiting on the shipment of our house hold goods and broke again. Lol coffees good though.


----------



## limr

Good that you're settled in. Welcome back!


----------



## bribrius

think i am getting lazy, i probably should have walked over to get better shots, but i couldn't think of a good enough reason too. Here others are climbing mountains, and i don't even want to walk around a pond.


----------



## limr

2.5 more hours at work today.


----------



## bribrius

wife referred someone to me to do their kids senior portraits. which i probably won't anyway as i think they just want to pay half price (you know instead of a REAL photographer) and not worth the headache (not to mention i generally dislike people).  what surprised me isn't that, but isn't it a little early to be doing senior portraits?


----------



## bribrius

I don't think they even become seniors until after summer and school starts. won't that make them junior portraits? LOL


----------



## minicoop1985

Alright, Hasselblad is gone, but I ordered a Canon 70-200 f4. yusss


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Alright, Hasselblad is gone, but I ordered a Canon 70-200 f4. yusss


nice.


----------



## tirediron

bribrius said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Alright, Hasselblad is gone, but I ordered a Canon 70-200 f4. yusss
> 
> 
> 
> nice.
Click to expand...

 A digital back for the Hassy would have been nicer!


----------



## minicoop1985

Yeah, it would have, but I would have needed to spend something like $4k on a lens to make it flexible enough  for my needs. This is my most logical option.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

Here's a little morning haiku for youse:

_I'm planning on a
pb&j for breakfast.
My coffee needs milk._

I know, right? You totes can't even tell that I composed that in less than a minute, right?

(Already feeling a little punchy this morning for whatever reason. Because Tuesday?)


----------



## waday

Agree, @limr. Definitely a Tuesday...

Yes, one of those days
I hope I can make it through
To the end unscathed.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, Hosers. Any day that starts with cleaning up poop is gonna suck, I can tell you that much.


----------



## terri

minicoop1985 said:


> Morning, Hosers. Any day that starts with cleaning up poop is gonna suck, I can tell you that much.


Follow the trend and make a haiku out of it!   Geez...

A dank and foul smell
marks the start of Coop's new day
And now he's whining

Look at that gem.   30 seconds, dude.


----------



## sm4him

Ah, so it's Haiku day in the Coffee House.

Tuesday, rise at dawn
This day is much like Monday
I need more coffee.


----------



## KenC

Working home Tuesday
Much better day than Monday
Still need coffee break


----------



## waday

When will this day be
Over Over Over O-
Ver Over Over?


----------



## Designer

minicoop1985 said:


> Any day that starts with cleaning up poop is gonna suck, I can tell you that much.


If you allow it to ruin your whole day, then it's not the poop.


----------



## minicoop1985

It was already going to be a horrible day. That just made it worse.


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> It was already going to be a horrible day. That just made it worse.



Poor Coop. Poor, sad Coop
Poop makes a bad day worse
But haiku brings smiles


----------



## limr

Coffee House hosers
You brighten up my Tuesday.
But readings were dull.


----------



## Designer

Coop he did see $**t
Coop he cleaned it up the poop
Tuesday started bad


----------



## waday

It's only 2:10.
How is it only 2:10?
Why not closing time?


----------



## limr

Want coffee, I said.
You had some before, she said.
Oh. So much to learn.


----------



## Claudillama

Im soo high, I have no idea what this thread is about, I read the first post. Still didn't understand..  *im being real with yall right now xp .


----------



## sm4him

Claudillama said:


> Im soo high, I have no idea what this thread is about, I read the first post. Still didn't understand..  *im being real with yall right now xp .



Claudillama's high
Flying like a bird so free
This thread makes no sense

 
Look what you've started @limr! Now I can't help but speak in haiku!!

Claudillama: You could read the entire thread, nearly 9000 posts now, and it would make no more sense to you than it does already. Imagine a local coffee house. Now, imagine taking all the conversations that happen in that coffee house, night and day, and recording them, then putting them in a book. AS they happen--so if four conversations are going on at once, the book switches back and forth between who is saying what in each conversation. With NO explanations or help to figure out the line of conversation. Now imagine reading that book. And there you have it, the TPF Coffee House!


----------



## Claudillama

so pretty much im doing it right. xp  that's cool !! whats the current topic!! is anyone else high xp


----------



## sm4him

Claudillama said:


> so pretty much im doing it right. xp  that's cool !! whats the current topic!! is anyone else high xp



There's no "current" topic around here, just come in, pull up a chair and start talking. Although, today IS Haiku day, so there's that.

I am, at the moment, approximately 35 feet above ground level, so I'm not terribly high, although I guess it depends on what you consider high. 

I don't get high. Well, not on drugs anyway. Haven't done that in many, many years.
Since I am clearly old enough to be your mother, let me give you some motherly advice though. Do not post, text, FB or email when you are high. The odds are great that it WILL end badly at some point. Like when you text someone and go off about what an idiotic dork your boss/teacher/mother is...and it turns out, you actually TEXTED your boss/teacher/mother. Because you're high. In fact, just remove batteries and plugs from all electronics before you get high. Seriously. Drugs and electronic communications--it's a recipe for social disasters.

You're welcome.


----------



## Claudillama

Oh man, Ive done that before without even being high ahahaha. Def I need to be super cautious about that!! Tho I wish posting about cannabis on facebook could be just as normal as someone posting about drinking in a bar!! Someday ahah!


----------



## minicoop1985

I end up feeling "high" (i've smoked pot in the past, I know what it feels like) without the use of drugs in general. It's rather disconcerting when that happens while driving. Have to pull over and wait for it to subside.


----------



## limr

Mind-altering drugs
do not mix with Internet.
Ceiling Cat proclaims.


----------



## limr

I lived in Turkey,
of course I have partaken.
Now brain recovers.


----------



## minicoop1985

My brain very hurt,
As high as I can be now,
I don't want to be.


----------



## minicoop1985

Roses are red, poetry is hard, I like turtles.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Y'all Coffee Hosers.  I am in a good mood ... I have a new Tv and finally got it up and running. One final hurdle to to hook up my speaker system (optical) to the interface box on the Tv (no optical inputs).


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Afternoon Claudillama and welcome to the Coffee House.

G


----------



## Claudillama

Ive shoot high a few times before, we were all friends so it wasn't a serious shoot or anything. I got some pretty good photos from it xp. That Final Fantasy 6 photoshoot, ya really high! xp


----------



## limr

What is 'xp'?


----------



## Claudillama

limr said:


> What is 'xp'?


 its an emotion icon!! if you tilt your head to the left you can see a face xp.  and I think I should stop using it , since I am starting to see that I use it a lot .... -.-


----------



## Gary A.

Claudillama said:


> Ive shoot high a few times before, we were all friends so it wasn't a serious shoot or anything. I got some pretty good photos from it xp. That Final Fantasy 6 photoshoot, ya really high! xp


Reportedly ... I've been told that news photogs used to get high in their darkrooms. Reportedly, they would go on assignments and come back without shooting anything.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, I am much much better ... got the sound system working off the cable box and the iTouch ... I think I need to figure out what cables I need to get it working off the Blue-ray.


----------



## Gary A.

Got the Blue-ray working.


----------



## bribrius

Greece voted no. Hee Hee




Hee


The starkest pictures that show the emotional effect of the Greece debt crisis - Telegraph


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> What is 'xp'?


windows 98' with 198 updates (assuming it is xp pro)


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner at the Hollywood Bowl.


----------



## snerd

Y I R?

For our high friend................... why I are?


----------



## Gary A.

Drops of Jupiter ... Delish.


----------



## Claudillama

just came back from Tyler State Park in Tyler , Tx. Me and my bf smoked a joint and just started walking the trail.  It was awesome, snagged some pics. Here is one of  a cool looking dragonfly! let me know what yall think!


----------



## Gary A.

Damn ... I just love The Bowl.


----------



## Gary A.

And ... there were firework above and beyond Wuja Wang.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- All iPhone images.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Looks like a great time, Gary! IT's no Hollywood Bowl, but I'm reminded that it's time to get tickets for the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, which is held on the lawn of an old Hudson River estate called Boscobel.

Here's the tent where they perform the play:



Day 237 - Tent by limrodrigues, on Flickr

And this is the view looking out from in front of the tent (so it's in view during much of the performance until it gets dark):



Day 237 - Picnic by limrodrigues, on Flickr

They're not metal goblets but the wine was tasty 



Day 246 - Wine over Hudson by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## Designer

Claudillama said:


> Here is one of  a cool looking dragonfly! let me know what yall think!


Very nice!


----------



## waday

So, no more haiku?
I guess I should just drink more
Delicious coffee.


----------



## terri

Haiku is dying
Here on TPF - it's sad
No inspiration


----------



## limr

Yesterday was Haikuesday. I'm not sure how to work that into Wednesday.


----------



## limr

Haiku will return
when the inspiration hits.
The truck outside roars.


----------



## KenC

What's happened to us?
We speak only in this form
One's head hurts so much


----------



## limr

Look what I started
all with a pb and j.
My work here is done.


----------



## waday

You say it is dead?
No no no no no no no
I don't believe it.

Wednaikuday. Haikudesday. Hmm.. that doesn't have the same ring as Haikuesday.


----------



## minicoop1985

Oh thank the universe the haiku thing is over. I can't poetry.

Morning, hosers. My lens comes today. Should be a decent day today, I hope... particularly after yesterday.


----------



## sm4him

I think we should do Haikuesday every week. But only once a week. That's all the haikuing my poor little pea-brain can handle.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> I think we should do Haikuesday every week. But only once a week. That's all the haikuing my poor little pea-brain can handle.



I agree!

(With Haikuesday, not with you having a pea brain  )


----------



## Designer

I don't like this style
Of writing that is Haiku
I think I shall quit


----------



## vintagesnaps

Trying to think now
What can I say in few words
Not a helluva lot!


----------



## minicoop1985

Wow, today's off to a good start. Take a look at my other thread and you'll see what I mean. Oh, and my lens should be here any minute now.


----------



## waday

People are fed up.
No more haikus for today.
Till we meet again...


----------



## Designer

I'm no good at limericks either.

Equally bad is he
Who can't write in limerick
I'd better quit now


----------



## bribrius

jack and jill went up the hill.......


----------



## Designer

Is that the one where they're riding on an elephant?


----------



## pixmedic

Breaking out the big guns today


----------



## vintagesnaps

Do we want to know who/what was on the receiving end of that? no we don't! at least I don't.


The coffee house is now hosting poetry readings.


----------



## pixmedic

vintagesnaps said:


> Do we want to know who/what was on the receiving end of that? no we don't! at least I don't.
> 
> 
> The coffee house is now hosting poetry readings.


We found this old lady at noon,
Who had slipped, fallen down, and went boom.
She had a big knot,
So she got a big shot,
And she's now at the ER in a room.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Do we want to know who/what was on the receiving end of that? no we don't! at least I don't.
> 
> 
> The coffee house is now hosting poetry readings.
> 
> 
> 
> We found this old lady at noon,
> Who had slipped, fallen down, and went boom.
> She had a big knot,
> So she got a big shot,
> And she's now at the ER in a room.
Click to expand...


LOVE IT!


----------



## Designer

Jason, you've missed your calling.  To heck with all that life-saving stuff, you need to be writing limericks.


----------



## pixmedic

Designer said:


> Jason, you've missed your calling.  To heck with all that life-saving stuff, you need to be writing limericks.


There once was a medic named 'Stache, 
Who tried to write poems for cash.
He wrote and he wrote, 
But still wound up broke,
So now he treats people for road rash.


----------



## Gary A.

In August, we attend Shakespeare By The Sea.  It is held at Pt. Fermin Park in San Pedro, (San Pedro is home to LA Harbor). The open air theatre is atop a cliff, 20 yards from a 100' drop straight down to the Pacific. Even though it is August, the influence of the Pacific lowers the night time temperatures well into the 50's. (It is freezing out there and we're bundled up in heavy coats, blankets and drinking hot chocolate.)

View from Pt. Fermin of the Palo Verdes Peninsula





A Midsummer's Night Dream


----------



## oldhippy

Good morning caffeine deprived individuals.   
Some Eye Candy


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Thanks for the eye candy, Ed!

Gary, this year's play is also A Midsummer Night's Dream. They're also doing The Tempest and I'm not sure which one I want to see. I like to try to see things I haven't gone to before, so that would be The Tempest, but I just love Midsummer and I want to see it again. Decisions, decisions...


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Decisions, decisions...


Can you do both?


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Decisions, decisions...
> 
> 
> 
> Can you do both?
Click to expand...


Depends on the schedule and how expensive the tickets are. I'm going to look into it this weekend.


----------



## KenC

oldhippy said:


> Good morning caffeine deprived individuals.
> Some Eye CandyView attachment 104792



Who you callin' caffeine deprived?  You talkin' to me?  Oh, sorry, I have the full cup of dark roast from a coffee shop sitting in front of me - better have some I guess ...

The photo is quite nice.  I think losing a little on the sides to make it square would add to its impact -maybe just me ...


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, Hosers. Expecting a couple new toys today. This should be a good day, I hope.


----------



## oldhippy

Met this guy on the Forth of July. Morning coffee buddy.


----------



## pgriz

Distinctly looks like one of my neighbors.  He's a little stiff too.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Hey Paul!! Long time no see! 

Speaking of which, where the hell are ya, Charlie??


----------



## otherprof

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon, hosers.
> 
> Did my readings this morning. My favorite error was from a girl who valiantly tried to spell "ostracize." Anyone want to take any guesses how she spelled it?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gosh, the possibilities are endless! Ostrichize, Austerize, ahstirsize...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oooh, you came really close with your first guess!
> 
> Ostrichsise. In the sentence: "People should be admired for their differences not judged, ridiculed and ostrichsised.
Click to expand...

..
I think she meant they should not be judged, ridiculed or have their heads put in the sand. And I wouldn't think of judging or ridiculing her statement.


----------



## limr

otherprof said:


> I think she meant they should not be judged, ridiculed or have their heads put in the sand. And I wouldn't think of judging or ridiculing her statement.



Okay, but I'm totally judging her for not using an Oxford comma


----------



## limr

Heh heh...


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Gonna be a rough start today... Slept like crap.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Heh heh...



Lots of so much truth!! Stealing this! Might have to make a sign with this to hang on my office door. You know, the one I keep closed despite orders to the contrary. ;-)


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> Lots of so much truth!! Stealing this! Might have to make a sign with this to hang on my office door. You know, the one I keep closed despite orders to the contrary. ;-)


Sharon; instead of stealing this verbatim, I would use the idea (steal) and improve it.  I've made signs for work too, only of my own design of course.  I have every confidence that you could make any much-needed improvements to the text, and naturally skip the graphic or get a better one.


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lots of so much truth!! Stealing this! Might have to make a sign with this to hang on my office door. You know, the one I keep closed despite orders to the contrary. ;-)
> 
> 
> 
> Sharon; instead of stealing this verbatim, I would use the idea (steal) and improve it.  I've made signs for work too, only of my own design of course.  I have every confidence that you could make any much-needed improvements to the text, and naturally skip the graphic or get a better one.
Click to expand...

[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that was kinda my thinking, especially the graphic. And the "freaks" part, although it's hilarious--I'm pretty sure it would be pushing my boundaries a little too far to post something that pretty much calls some of my co-workers freaks.   Besides, I like to be far more subtle in my disdain for certain colleagues.   Use big words they won't understand, and won't take the time to look up.


----------



## limr

Having more coffee already, hosers. I have woken up with sinus headaches for 2 days. It came on the other night and I thought it was going to be one of my monthly Jesus headaches, but I'm very sniffly when I wake up and the pain seems to respond to coffee and Advil, which means it's sinus and not migraine, though the sinus headache often triggers a migraine. 

I seem to have two patterns - either one 3-day intense headache that responds to nothing, or a less intense headache that does respond but which lingers for about 5 days, always worse in the morning.


----------



## Designer

My wife had sinus headaches for most of her life, then a few years ago had those sinuses reamed out, and now she seldom gets a headache.  

"Reamed out" hurts about like it sounds.


----------



## limr

Yikes, it does sound like it hurt!


----------



## minicoop1985

Speaking of reamed out...

Found a pair of kids locked in a hot, not running, windows up SUV just sitting in a parking lot yesterday. It was 84 out... Made preparations to break the window, and even acquired the tools to do it when the mom pops back out. She's about to get in her truck and I basically accosted her. I told her I was about to break her window and why, and she threatened to call police. I told her please do, as she will be the one in jail and losing custody of her children. I also threw in there that irresponsible f*cks like her don't deserve their children, got in my running, a/c on car (kid inside), and burned out of there in a fit of rage. As I was leaving, she was just stunned and had nothing to say as I left. People piss me off to no end.


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> Speaking of reamed out...
> 
> Found a pair of kids locked in a hot, not running, windows up SUV just sitting in a parking lot yesterday. It was 84 out... Made preparations to break the window, and even acquired the tools to do it when the mom pops back out. She's about to get in her truck and I basically accosted her. I told her I was about to break her window and why, and she threatened to call police. I told her please do, as she will be the one in jail and losing custody of her children. I also threw in there that irresponsible f*cks like her don't deserve their children, got in my running, a/c on car (kid inside), and burned out of there in a fit of rage. As I was leaving, she was just stunned and had nothing to say as I left. People piss me off to no end.


Should have called the police... let them do the breaking of the windows or instruct you to do the breaking of the window...


----------



## minicoop1985

They would have. I was getting ready to do it if necessary.


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> They would have. I was getting ready to do it if necessary.


Understood, but you don't want to get yourself in the situation where you are the one getting sued or you blew broken glass into a kid's eye or etc... Let the police do it or instruct you to do it. You don't want to be liable or responsible for anything...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah, call the police and let them handle it. Of course if it had appeared to be life threatening (such as if the kids seemed to be passed out or something) then you might have needed to try to act, but the sooner 911 is called the faster help could arrive.

Getting the police involved might lead to child protective services getting involved (or it could help to get the license no. to report it if need be, since she came out). Sounds like suspected neglect that could be reportable. There needs to be some follow up - since she did this you gotta wonder if she does this often or what other poor judgments she might be making. There's still what we used to call the 'paper' trail, if something should happen in the future it would show up that there was a police report for this incident. The more there are incidents reported the more authorities can intervene.

Can you tell what kind of work I've done? yeah, did a visit with a cop being called once which thankfully turned out to be the mom oversleeping and not hearing us banging on the door (we could see the kids thru the window and couldn't tell if an adult was there or what the situation might be). That was an adventure. 

What a way to end the week.


----------



## vintagesnaps

On a lighter note, going to a hockey game Sat. Yes, ice! Love a summertime hockey game even if it's just alumni.


----------



## Fred Berg

minicoop1985 said:


> Speaking of reamed out...
> 
> Found a pair of kids locked in a hot, not running, windows up SUV just sitting in a parking lot yesterday. It was 84 out... Made preparations to break the window, and even acquired the tools to do it when the mom pops back out. She's about to get in her truck and I basically accosted her. I told her I was about to break her window and why, and she threatened to call police. I told her please do, as she will be the one in jail and losing custody of her children. I also threw in there that irresponsible f*cks like her don't deserve their children, got in my running, a/c on car (kid inside), and burned out of there in a fit of rage. As I was leaving, she was just stunned and had nothing to say as I left. People piss me off to no end.



Um, OK. I have read some of your recent posts regarding your psychiatric condition and the problems you've been having due to the medication you are taking. Should you be driving, do you think?


----------



## JacaRanda

Gary A. said:


> In August, we attend Shakespeare By The Sea.  It is held at Pt. Fermin Park in San Pedro, (San Pedro is home to LA Harbor). The open air theatre is atop a cliff, 20 yards from a 100' drop straight down to the Pacific. Even though it is August, the influence of the Pacific lowers the night time temperatures well into the 50's. (It is freezing out there and we're bundled up in heavy coats, blankets and drinking hot chocolate.)
> 
> View from Pt. Fermin of the Palo Verdes Peninsula
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A Midsummer's Night Dream


 
I was just at Pt. Fermin twice last weekend shooting the foxes and the Peregrine.  Also spent a little time at Wayfarers Chapel in Palos Verdes.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Hey Paul!! Long time no see!
> 
> Speaking of which, where the hell are ya, Charlie??



Hi Lennie!  Yeah, gotta drop in some more.  But it's the busy season right now, so up at 5:30 or 6, and back home anywhere from 7pm to 10pm.  Doesn't leave a lot of time or energy to surf.  Or photograph.  Eh.  On the other hand, family is good, health is holding up, sanity is kinda ok, it's summer, and no bad stuff has happened in our neighbourhood.  Wife is disappearing for the next two weeks in a family trip (herself, her uncle and her sister) to visit scattered family members stateside.  Back in time for her birthday, which means I'll have time to plan something.  Or not.  I'm actually pretty terrible at planning family stuff.  Maybe I can draft one or several of the daughters.


----------



## Gary A.

JacaRanda said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> In August, we attend Shakespeare By The Sea.  It is held at Pt. Fermin Park in San Pedro, (San Pedro is home to LA Harbor). The open air theatre is atop a cliff, 20 yards from a 100' drop straight down to the Pacific. Even though it is August, the influence of the Pacific lowers the night time temperatures well into the 50's. (It is freezing out there and we're bundled up in heavy coats, blankets and drinking hot chocolate.)
> 
> View from Pt. Fermin of the Palo Verdes Peninsula
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A Midsummer's Night Dream
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was just at Pt. Fermin twice last weekend shooting the foxes and the Peregrine.  Also spent a little time at Wayfarers Chapel in Palos Verdes.
Click to expand...

That used to be my neck of the woods. I used to live up off Western. I could see Angel's gate from my house.


----------



## minicoop1985

Fred Berg said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Speaking of reamed out...
> 
> Found a pair of kids locked in a hot, not running, windows up SUV just sitting in a parking lot yesterday. It was 84 out... Made preparations to break the window, and even acquired the tools to do it when the mom pops back out. She's about to get in her truck and I basically accosted her. I told her I was about to break her window and why, and she threatened to call police. I told her please do, as she will be the one in jail and losing custody of her children. I also threw in there that irresponsible f*cks like her don't deserve their children, got in my running, a/c on car (kid inside), and burned out of there in a fit of rage. As I was leaving, she was just stunned and had nothing to say as I left. People piss me off to no end.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Um, OK. I have read some of your recent posts regarding your psychiatric condition and the problems you've been having due to the medication you are taking. Should you be driving, do you think?
Click to expand...


I'm fine to drive. I drive just about every day. When I know I can't drive, I don't.


----------



## minicoop1985

waday said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> They would have. I was getting ready to do it if necessary.
> 
> 
> 
> Understood, but you don't want to get yourself in the situation where you are the one getting sued or you blew broken glass into a kid's eye or etc... Let the police do it or instruct you to do it. You don't want to be liable or responsible for anything...
Click to expand...


That's what I meant. The kids were belted (!) into their carseats in the back seat. I wanted to have everything ready to crack it open if/when the cops told me to.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's too bad she's kinda *cray-cray*.
> 
> 
> 
> Ehhh? Whazzat?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Crazy.
Click to expand...


Oh!  I thought you were talking about (former) supercomputers and stuttered.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Hey Paul!! Long time no see!
> 
> Speaking of which, where the hell are ya, Charlie??



Been busy doing Fire-GIS stuff.   I'm about 90% done with the project.

Oh, and I'm giving a presentation on it to some other GISers in the state on Wednesday.  I have an outline that could easily cover a week's worth of class lectures but I have 30 minutes (including Q&A).  I am a terrible public speaker.  And I _volunteered_ to do this?  I need to get my jammin' head examined.

And the blog.  I need to update the blog thing.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Speaking of reamed out...
> 
> Found a pair of kids locked in a hot, not running, windows up SUV just sitting in a parking lot yesterday. It was 84 out... Made preparations to break the window, and even acquired the tools to do it when the mom pops back out. She's about to get in her truck and I basically accosted her. I told her I was about to break her window and why, and she threatened to call police. I told her please do, as she will be the one in jail and losing custody of her children. I also threw in there that irresponsible f*cks like her don't deserve their children, got in my running, a/c on car (kid inside), and burned out of there in a fit of rage. As I was leaving, she was just stunned and had nothing to say as I left. People piss me off to no end.



Our chief has told the public, in no uncertain terms, that the Fire/EMS Department *WILL *break open any vehicle windows under those circumstances.


----------



## Gary A.

Back at the Bowl ...



 
iPhone


----------



## Gary A.

Harry Connick, jr.


----------



## Gary A.

"This is my favorite place in the world to perform. This place is magical." Harry Connick, Jr.


----------



## limr

LOVE Harry Connick Jr.


----------



## Gary A.

This is crazy ... But a couple just got married during halftime. Wedding dress an' all.


----------



## Gary A.

Great show!


----------



## oldhippy

First cup of Hills Bros. Coffee.  Haven't seen that brand in years.  Oh it is good.   Here's a Saturday picture to lighten your morning.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary A. said:


> This is crazy ... But a couple just got married during halftime. Wedding dress an' all.


In the back of the seating ... not on stage. Everybody in the back was cheering for them, smoking weed or both.


----------



## vintagesnaps

At a concert, that's a new one - at a hockey game, been there photographed that! lol Just during intermission from the end of the rink, thankfully not actually being the photographer! Limo on the ice was a sight. Ceremony ran long and I've never seen Zambonis move so fast.

You go to the Bowl a lot.


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon, hosers. Been a decent day. So tired though... I wish I could have more coffee without causing a panic attack. That'd be great.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> This is crazy ... But a couple just got married during halftime. Wedding dress an' all.


Poor saps!


----------



## minicoop1985

Actually, today has taken a great turn, it would seem.


----------



## Designer

minicoop1985 said:


> Speaking of reamed out...
> 
> Found a pair of kids locked in a hot, not running, windows up SUV just sitting in a parking lot yesterday. It was 84 out... Made preparations to break the window, and even acquired the tools to do it when the mom pops back out. She's about to get in her truck and I basically accosted her. I told her I was about to break her window and why, and she threatened to call police. I told her please do, as she will be the one in jail and losing custody of her children. I also threw in there that irresponsible f*cks like her don't deserve their children, got in my running, a/c on car (kid inside), and burned out of there in a fit of rage. As I was leaving, she was just stunned and had nothing to say as I left. People piss me off to no end.


Saving a child's life is one thing, and you can go ahead and do that, but you crossed the line when you accosted the mother.  That woman is not your responsibility.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Speaking of reamed out...
> 
> Found a pair of kids locked in a hot, not running, windows up SUV just sitting in a parking lot yesterday. It was 84 out... Made preparations to break the window, and even acquired the tools to do it when the mom pops back out. She's about to get in her truck and I basically accosted her. I told her I was about to break her window and why, and she threatened to call police. I told her please do, as she will be the one in jail and losing custody of her children. I also threw in there that irresponsible f*cks like her don't deserve their children, got in my running, a/c on car (kid inside), and burned out of there in a fit of rage. As I was leaving, she was just stunned and had nothing to say as I left. People piss me off to no end.
> 
> 
> 
> Saving a child's life is one thing, and you can go ahead and do that, but you crossed the line when you accosted the mother.  That woman is not your responsibility.
Click to expand...

I think I'm going to have to respectfully disagree.  This woman is obviously not terribly bright, and perhaps MCs "accostation" might be the catalyst she needed to make sure that there's no repeat; obviously this time there was no real harm done, but  next time it could have been a pet!


----------



## snerd

tirediron said:


> I think I'm going to have to respectfully disagree..........


I think I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you. He opened himself up to a plethora of legal headaches that could have bankrupted him. We live in a VERY litigious society today.


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think I'm going to have to respectfully disagree..........
> 
> 
> 
> I think I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you. He opened himself up to a plethora of legal headaches that could have bankrupted him. We live in a VERY litigious society today.
Click to expand...

True, but he didn't actually do _anything... _


----------



## EIngerson

Had a couple friends over to the new house for coffee the other morning. 




My new house mates by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## snerd

tirediron said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think I'm going to have to respectfully disagree..........
> 
> 
> 
> I think I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you. He opened himself up to a plethora of legal headaches that could have bankrupted him. We live in a VERY litigious society today.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> True, but he didn't actually do _anything... _
Click to expand...

I see "possibly", verbal assault, attempted assault, attempted battery, with intent............................ dude, I'm not even a lawyer, I'm a redneck snerd lol!! You may be surprised at how many charges might have been filed against him. That is their bread and butter! Best scenario is he never hears anything from anyone regarding the matter.


----------



## minicoop1985

snerd said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think I'm going to have to respectfully disagree..........
> 
> 
> 
> I think I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you. He opened himself up to a plethora of legal headaches that could have bankrupted him. We live in a VERY litigious society today.
Click to expand...


Let her. My parents are attorneys. My dad is a partner in a rather well regarded and large law firm. To say the least, a legal entourage the size of mine (think minimum 5-6 attorneys accompanying me to arbitration) would easily nullify this. Also, there's such thing as the Good Samaritan law, which would cover an individual in a case like this. It actually DOES cover someone breaking a window in a car ON THEIR OWN without direction from the police. I would have CALLED them just to air on the side of caution for said litigation (I have all the time in the world, but would rather not spend it in court even if I could file a countersuit). Keep in mind I have a degree and specialized training to become a police officer, and that includes knowing how to bust through a window without your gun.


----------



## otherprof

minicoop1985 said:


> Actually, today has taken a great turn, it would seem.


I'm so glad to hear that. I haven't responded to your posts because I didn't know what would be appropriate or helpful to write, but you might like to know that more people than you know are wishing you well.


----------



## minicoop1985

Thanks, Otherprof! I really appreciate knowing that.

Today's looking up too. Besides Cooper's birthday, it's just a positive looking day. And for once, it looks positive WITHOUT being manic.


----------



## otherprof

oldhippy said:


> View attachment 104854 First cup of Hills Bros. Coffee.  Haven't seen that brand in years.  Oh it is good.   Here's a Saturday picture to lighten your morning.


I think your morning photos on mugs of good coffee would improve the daily outlook of many people.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

I would love one of Ed's flowers on a coffee mug - not just because his flower shots are beautiful, but because it would always make me smile knowing who took the shot. Ed is such a kind, good-hearted man and it would indeed be good to start the day being reminded that he is in the world.


----------



## limr

EIngerson said:


> Had a couple friends over to the new house for coffee the other morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My new house mates by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr



You put coffee in the hummingbird feeder??????


----------



## limr

And speaking of coffee, I think I'm going to make some more. Headache persisted until Friday afternoon, then lifted. Another one showed up this morning. Except this one has the hallmarks of a migraine instead of sinus


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The Cook and I have to run out to the store because we're out of coffee. See ya.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The Cook and I have to run out to the store because we're out of coffee. See ya.


  Da' horror!


----------



## oldhippy

Good morning, Thank you all for the flowery statements.  lol.  Here's one for a change. A practice in relaxation. 
Jack The Dog. Relax it's Sunday


----------



## tirediron

Hmmm... that looks more like a "Where's breakfast?" face that a "relax" face...


----------



## limr

Jack is sad and worried about Gary's lack of coffee this morning.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Jack is sad and worried about Gary's lack of coffee this morning.


Makes sense!


----------



## bribrius

meh. another day in the world. snapped the sunset last night. Not my normal thing but happened to be there and figured why not.


----------



## Designer

Why not indeed!


----------



## Gary A.

Back with a lazy Sunday breakfast. 


 
iPhone


----------



## EIngerson

limr said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a couple friends over to the new house for coffee the other morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My new house mates by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You put coffee in the hummingbird feeder??????
Click to expand...


You don't?!?!  lol


----------



## limr

EIngerson said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a couple friends over to the new house for coffee the other morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My new house mates by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You put coffee in the hummingbird feeder??????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You don't?!?!  lol
Click to expand...


Huh! I guess that's why mine fly slow and are sleepy all the time.


----------



## bribrius

it's morning. 
another day in the world.


----------



## bribrius

bank. dentist app., some phone calls.  ayuh, wicked exciting day....(sarcasm)


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a couple friends over to the new house for coffee the other morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My new house mates by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You put coffee in the hummingbird feeder??????
Click to expand...


I think I'll start doing this. Maybe end up with a new species, the Mocha-Throated Hummingbird, scientific name Mochas Caffeinatus.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The Cook and I have to run out to the store because we're *out of coffee*. See ya.



I can see that those are all perfectly legitimate English words, but strung together like that, they just make no sense to me.


----------



## pixmedic

Got called yesterday to assist a neonate team transporting a 28 week old baby from an emergency C-section due to an almost total placental abruption.  It took about 2 1/2 hours to stabilize the baby enough for transport to the pediatric hospitals NICU.  this is the isolet the neonate team transports the baby's in. built in ventilator, monitors, 02/med-air blender...
its a $200,000 setup.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

Back at work and trying to catch up.  Took my computer home Thursday and worked from home Friday A.M. until late morning when the software that allows us to connect from home crashed.  I was out of touch the entire weekend, normally something I prefer, but I was in the middle of a couple of things and wanted to finish them.  Well, back now and they don't seem to have missed me


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> Back at work and trying to catch up.  Took my computer home Thursday and worked from home Friday A.M. until late morning when the software that allows us to connect from home crashed.  I was out of touch the entire weekend, normally something I prefer, but I was in the middle of a couple of things and wanted to finish them.  Well, back now and they don't seem to have missed me


LOL ... sorta like if you quit or get fired and nobody replaces you.


----------



## table1349

Sitting here nursing a second cup of coffee while I wait for the alarm system service person to show up.  (Notice I used service person instead of service man??  I'm getting better aren't I Leonore? )

Long story short.  When our house was built the alarm system was put in during construction.  All hidden installation.  We replaced the back patio door Saturday.  It was at that point I realized that I forgot about the alarm system specifically for that door.  Needless to say the alarm system doesn't like to set with one of the zones missing. 

So now I sit and wait for someone to come fix my stupidity.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The near tragic coffeeless morning was avoided by a quick trip to the market. When I returned Mary Lou was sipping on something black. "Coffee?" I asked. She just glared at me, "Black Tea" was her reply. I just laughed because the lack of coffee was her fault. Saturday we had friends over for dinner, Louise and Tom. (Louise is the hairstylist who cuts celebrities hair and Tom is a physician. Tom and Louise both shoot. Louise recently acquired a XT1 and borrows my lenses in order to help determine her next acquisition.) Saturday was a busy morning, I cleaned up the house (shooshing out the goats and opening windows enough to get some fresh air but not enough so the chickens to escape), and started prepping the food (salmon and chicken on the Kamado). Mary Lou slept in and then attended her granddaughter's soccer match. On the way home she stops by the market to get stuff for the dinner. I tell her that we're out of coffee. To make a long story short ... she forgot to buy some coffee. We had this Red, White and Blue pie for dessert and I went to make some espresso and no coffee. After dinner we were too sated to get off our sated asses and get coffee.

But we did see a very interesting NetFlix, The Constant Gardner. It was a bit long, an odd plot, no so much twisting as hidden and slowly reveals. But a very good and well told story. It proprayed Africa very well and realistically. Four Stars. Yesterday we saw AMY, a documentary on Amy Winehouse. Mary Lou is a big fan and I've always appreciated her music. The movie just scratches the surface of a very talented but screwed up kid ... a sad movie, as one would expect with very poor IQ as much of the video came from cell phones or equal. If you liked her music, you should see the movie.

PS- I am still new to the Kamado, but dinner came out quite well. I roasted/poached the salmon and grilled/poached the chicken at the same time. I chopped up a bunch of fruit and made some Sangria with my bathtub orange liqueur. Mary Lou made a tomato salad with a dozen different colors from deep purple to bright yellow and flavors to match. We grilled some veggies, tossed some garlic bread on the barbie and viola!

@ Sharon- Mary Lou went overboard with Bowl tickets this year. Last week was crazy, last week alone we were at the Bowl on 7/2, 7/7 and 7/10. It's killing me.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers! Was a pretty good day yesterday. Cooper's birthday was a major success. This morning's looking pretty good too-no poop to clean up.


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> Sitting here nursing a second cup of coffee while I wait for the alarm system service person to show up.  (Notice I used service person instead of service man??  I'm getting better aren't I Leonore? )



It's a start


----------



## limr

Hey hosers!

My arms are sore from my workout last night. Haven't had sore muscles in a long time and it feels awesome! I've got 673 miles on my bike and about $75 in my jar. It's been a rough year so far and it's time to up the ante on my workouts and getting back into fighting shape. My arms are the last to really show any weight gain/loss of muscle tone, but they are the first to come back, so I'm hoping that once I see some results in my arms, I'll be even more motivated for the rest of this journey. I'll be really excited when the cuts in my shoulders come back


----------



## vintagesnaps

My arm's sore too, from the doctor messin' with it! lol No inflammation just tendonitis this time, so instead of a shot got an exercise to do. For having had a stroke he said the xray looks really good, range of motion is too. And yes Brian, recovering from a stroke is - well, no picnic, but I gradually keep getting better just a long road. And Advil works a lot better when you swallow it instead of leaving it in your pocket. lol So now pouring rain and between the sound of that and the dryer humming I could take a nap!

Gary I wondered if you had a season pass or something, the Bowl looks like the coolest place for a concert.

Jason I've seen isolettes but in a hospital not on the move. Whew. Those little preemies can often do amazingly well later on when you see pictures of how they started out all hooked up to tubes.


----------



## limr

Time for more coffee, hosers.

I finished my book (_Cutting for Stone_ by Abraham Verghese. It made me cry twice!) so now I get to go back to the Saramago book. And my copy of the new Harper Lee book should be on its way soon! (I pre-ordered it.)


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Hey hosers!
> 
> My arms are sore from my workout last night. Haven't had sore muscles in a long time and it feels awesome! I've got 673 miles on my bike and about $75 in my jar. It's been a rough year so far and it's time to up the ante on my workouts and getting back into fighting shape. My arms are the last to really show any weight gain/loss of muscle tone, but they are the first to come back, so I'm hoping that once I see some results in my arms, I'll be even more motivated for the rest of this journey. I'll be really excited when the cuts in my shoulders come back


Good for you! I've been working pretty hard on getting back in shape too. Walking (even with stick for support), flying drone, just getting outside 3-4 days a week, sometimes more. Been rough, I was a droopy mess after 2 months inside. But I lost 10 pounds, not good for me. I'm back to 180 now and feel better. 

However.................. I'm sitting at the sawbones office as I type. I think my shoulder may have gotten infected again. It's a little puffy and somewhat sore.  [emoji24]



Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> However.................. I'm sitting at the sawbones office as I type. I think my shoulder may have gotten infected again. It's a little puffy and somewhat sore.  [emoji24]



Oh no! I hope it's not anything bad   But good for you for the rest of it! You're inspiring!


----------



## oldhippy

Go afternoon, my friends with jangled nerves.  something soothing.
A moment in a meadow.


----------



## Gary A.

Finally finished my Whitney HS Talent show images. 






@ Sharon- Mary Lou purchased a package deal. Not everything we wanted was in the package, so she added a few more events.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Oh  no! I hope it's not anything bad   But good for you for the rest of it! You're inspiring!


Damn! Hollow nail needles to drain it and send off for testing. Said he's replaced hundreds of them, only 2 got infected. Me and another guy. Other guy got better and hasn't been back!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## limr

Oh noes!


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh  no! I hope it's not anything bad   But good for you for the rest of it! You're inspiring!
> 
> 
> 
> Damn! Hollow nail needles to drain it and send off for testing. Said he's replaced hundreds of them, only 2 got infected. Me and another guy. Other guy got better and hasn't been back!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...

 Well that sucks... 32" Hg worth!


----------



## snerd

Oh hell no!! Gonna have to go under knife again late tomorrow. Excuse me while I go cry.


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> Oh hell no!! Gonna have to go under knife again late tomorrow. Excuse me while I go cry.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## limr

snerd said:


> Oh hell no!! Gonna have to go under knife again late tomorrow. Excuse me while I go cry.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro







We're pulling for ya, Snerd baby!  Hang in there, you got this!


----------



## minicoop1985

snerd said:


> Oh hell no!! Gonna have to go under knife again late tomorrow. Excuse me while I go cry.



Holy crap, AGAIN? Man that sucks. Wishing you the best here, chief.


----------



## table1349

Well the verdict is in.  I'm an idiot.  Going to cost $200.00 to upgrade the alarm system on the house because of my stupidity when we replaced the door leading to the deck.


----------



## snerd

minicoop1985 said:


> Holy crap, AGAIN? Man that sucks. Wishing you the best here, chief.





> We're pulling for ya, Snerd baby!  Hang in there, you got this!



Thanks peeps. I know.................... no more pics of me shirtless, right?!


----------



## limr

Just as long as your wound is covered, please!


----------



## snowbear

Hang in there, Snerd.

The text for my Power Point is done, except for my notes.  I have eight slides plus the title and the "conacts" so it's going to be a tight fit (I have 30 minutes.)  I guess I'll go with my northern side and talk a bit fast, as opposed the old  d r a w n   o u t   s o u t h e r n   s i d e.

I bought myself a little early birthday present; I'll post pics when it all arrives.  No, it's not a camera or lens (or any photo-related items) -- I don't have that kind of budget.


----------



## Gary A.

Snerd ... this will be a cake-walk for you. Hang in there, life is just one rotten day at a time.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Sending good thoughts your way Snerd!
Snobear, god luck with your talk, you'll do fine. I was fearful of speeches also. Then, I thought about it. They wouldn't have asked if I didn't know what I was talking about, and I took the tone of , 'ok, I am being helpful'.
As a helpful person, it made me relax, I was just helping someone


----------



## mmaria

excuse my language but

*WTF!!!*

*AGAIN!!!*

@snerd


----------



## sm4him

Aw man, @snerd that stinks! We're all pulling for you though--hopefully, this will be the last of it for ever and ever!


----------



## sm4him

I slept late today. Well, I woke up about the same time as usual, but I just couldn't make myself even think about getting out of bed. So now it's after 8 a.m., I should be leaving for work soon, and instead I just finished my first cup of coffee. I'm still in my pajamas, haven't even thought about what to wear today.

I should probably try to move into hyperdrive and get moving so I'm not late...but I seem to have fractured my motivation. Maybe another cup of coffee will help.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Well, I'm actually at work and about to sit through about an hour and a half of stultifying department meeting.  There'll be lots of talk about counting how many items we completed and when (quarterly goals now because annual ones weren't sufficient somehow), and all of this without regard to quality or final outcomes.  All they know how to do here is count things and conclude that more is better.  Aaaargh!!!

OK, going to get coffee now.  I should probably skip it and just doze lightly during the meeting, but then I might wake up halfway through in a really bad mood.


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> .. haven't even thought about what to wear today.


One of the advantages of being a man; I wear the same thing every day.  It takes all the guesswork out of getting dressed.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> I slept late today. Well, I woke up about the same time as usual, but I just couldn't make myself even think about getting out of bed. So now it's after 8 a.m., I should be leaving for work soon, and instead I just finished my first cup of coffee. I'm still in my pajamas, haven't even thought about what to wear today.
> 
> I should probably try to move into hyperdrive and get moving so I'm not late...but I seem to have fractured my motivation. Maybe another cup of coffee will help.



I hear ya, Sharon.  Having a bit of a slow morning myself. I don't have to be anywhere until about 11:15-ish. I was going to get up at my normal time and get some things done. Instead I stayed in bed until 8. I was pretty tired. I definitely vote for a second cup for both of us! 



KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Well, I'm actually at work and about to sit through about an hour and a half of stultifying department meeting.  There'll be lots of talk about counting how many items we completed and when (quarterly goals now because annual ones weren't sufficient somehow), and all of this without regard to quality or final outcomes.  All they know how to do here is count things and conclude that more is better.  Aaaargh!!!
> 
> OK, going to get coffee now.  I should probably skip it and just doze lightly during the meeting, but then I might wake up halfway through in a really bad mood.



Well, that meeting sounds rather hellish. Most meetings do, really. I remember the teacher meetings we'd have periodically at the K-12 school I worked at in Istanbul. *Four hours. *On a Friday afternoon. Listening to the administrators talk in Turkish. They knew it didn't really have much to do with me, the only foreign teacher in the school, so they didn't bother having someone translate for me unless it directly affected my classes. Oh, but every teacher had to be there, so I had to sit through it whether I liked it or not. After a meeting or two, I realized it was safe to snooze, to pass notes, to doodle, to read a book...In a way, it was worse towards the end of the year when I could actually follow a lot of it. Understanding what they were talking about kept interrupting my reveries. 



Designer said:


> One of the advantages of being a man; I wear the same thing every day.  It takes all the guesswork out of getting dressed.



This is also an advantage of being a woman who works in different places on alternating days, and who can wear the same outfit two days in a row without anyone ever noticing


----------



## minicoop1985

Ugh. Woke up 4 times last night with intense stomach pain. Can barely function this morning. Need moar coffeeeeee


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> .. haven't even thought about what to wear today.
> 
> 
> 
> One of the advantages of being a man; I wear the same thing every day.  It takes all the guesswork out of getting dressed.
Click to expand...


I often kinda wish we had uniforms. Not ugly, gross polyester fast-food kind of uniforms, but like khakis and a solid color shirt. I could live with that. I'm not much of a fashionista, so I basically switch between a few different outfits each season. People probably make fun of that behind my back, but I just couldn't possibly care any less.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> I slept late today. Well, I woke up about the same time as usual, but I just couldn't make myself even think about getting out of bed. So now it's after 8 a.m., I should be leaving for work soon, and instead I just finished my first cup of coffee. I'm still in my pajamas, haven't even thought about what to wear today.
> 
> I should probably try to move into hyperdrive and get moving so I'm not late...but I seem to have fractured my motivation. Maybe another cup of coffee will help.


At least your hair is done ... (per your picture).


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Well, I'm actually at work and about to sit through about an hour and a half of stultifying department meeting.  There'll be lots of talk about counting how many items we completed and when (quarterly goals now because annual ones weren't sufficient somehow), and all of this without regard to quality or final outcomes.  All they know how to do here is count things and conclude that more is better.  Aaaargh!!!
> 
> OK, going to get coffee now.  I should probably skip it and just doze lightly during the meeting, but then I might wake up halfway through in a really bad mood.



Sounds much like our monthly departmental meetings.  Two+ hours of listening to people blather on about all the stuff they need to do in the next month--stuff that really has NO bearing on what *I* need to do. I'd be so much better off if I could spend those two hours actually working on the stuff that needs to get done instead of yapping about it. Plus, there are at least two people in our meeting who are what I call "verbal hostage holders"--once they get started, you cannot escape their long-winded expository dialogue intended to convince everyone of how busy they are, and how terribly, terribly Important their work is. Blah, blah, blah--either shoot me or get me a vat of coffee. 

AND, our meetings are usually on a Monday morning, just to enhance the awfulness. This month at least it's on a Tuesday. But I'm already trying to figure out how I can get out of going.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Well, I'm actually at work and about to sit through about an hour and a half of stultifying department meeting.  There'll be lots of talk about counting how many items we completed and when (quarterly goals now because annual ones weren't sufficient somehow), and all of this without regard to quality or final outcomes.  All they know how to do here is count things and conclude that more is better.  Aaaargh!!!
> 
> OK, going to get coffee now.  I should probably skip it and just doze lightly during the meeting, but then I might wake up halfway through in a really bad mood.


You need a pair of Google glasses ... you can surf the net while others attempt to stultify you. Or at least those eye glasses that blink when you move. No will know if you're asleep or peering at them through the tiny viewing holes. In any event it doesn't sound like a very enriching experience.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> .. haven't even thought about what to wear today.
> 
> 
> 
> One of the advantages of being a man; I wear the same thing every day.  It takes all the guesswork out of getting dressed.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I often kinda wish we had uniforms. Not ugly, gross polyester fast-food kind of uniforms, but like khakis and a solid color shirt. I could live with that. I'm not much of a fashionista, so I basically switch between a few different outfits each season. People probably make fun of that behind my back, but I just couldn't possibly care any less.
Click to expand...

There's you uniform. Buy a number of the same thing and wear it everyday. I know attorneys who have like five identical suits. After a while only one gets worn until it starts to stink like a lawyer. Then he switches out.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Well, I'm actually at work and about to sit through about an hour and a half of stultifying department meeting.  There'll be lots of talk about counting how many items we completed and when (quarterly goals now because annual ones weren't sufficient somehow), and all of this without regard to quality or final outcomes.  All they know how to do here is count things and conclude that more is better.  Aaaargh!!!
> 
> OK, going to get coffee now.  I should probably skip it and just doze lightly during the meeting, but then I might wake up halfway through in a really bad mood.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds much like our monthly departmental meetings.  Two+ hours of listening to people blather on about all the stuff they need to do in the next month--stuff that really has NO bearing on what *I* need to do. I'd be so much better off if I could spend those two hours actually working on the stuff that needs to get done instead of yapping about it. Plus, there are at least two people in our meeting who are what I call "verbal hostage holders"--once they get started, you cannot escape their long-winded expository dialogue intended to convince everyone of how busy they are, and how terribly, terribly Important their work is. Blah, blah, blah--either shoot me or get me a vat of coffee.
> 
> AND, our meetings are usually on a Monday morning, just to enhance the awfulness. This month at least it's on a Tuesday. But I'm already trying to figure out how I can get out of going.
Click to expand...

Sharon, Sharon, Sharon ... the upper management wants your participation. They want you to see the big picture and they are expecting  to add all your wisdom and years of experience to the conversation so they can learn and make the place better. (Maybe you can sneak in a tablet and play with it during the meeting.)


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Sharon, Sharon, Sharon ... the upper management wants your participation. They want you to see the big picture and they are expecting  to add all your wisdom and years of experience to the conversation* so they can learn and make the place better*. (Maybe you can sneak in a tablet and play with it during the meeting.)





Hahaha!! Yeah, THAT's what they want! 

This comes a bit closer to the truth:


----------



## bribrius

gryphonslair99 said:


> Well the verdict is in.  I'm an idiot.  Going to cost $200.00 to upgrade the alarm system on the house because of my stupidity when we replaced the door leading to the deck.


just get a big mean dog


----------



## EIngerson

Gooooood morning everyone!!!! Sun's out, coffees hot and football sign-ups for the kid this morning. Going to be a great day!!!!

Cheers!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. When I was working news we never had meeting like what you peoples describe. We never had a meeting which included advertising, editorial, the machinists working the press, art department, circulation, et al. Assignments were given mano-y-mano and not in mass. You knew what others were working on through chat. You knew what others had been working on by reading the paper. Working news/editorial you're pretty independant. The only difference between editors/management and you is that management has been there longer, there really wasn't much of a real pecking order or food chain, we were all pretty equal.

When I worked construction ... now there's a pecking order job, especially on a union job. Beaucoup meetings mainly to kick butt en-masse. Everyday something goes wrong in construction. I remember working a big job for Kiewit Industrial. Kiewit was putting in three new power generating turbines into an existing power plant. My company was designing and installing five pre-engineered buildings associated with the power equipment installation for Kiewit. We had weekly meetings, which were equally boring to us as the meetings described above. There were a group of us Maverick types, (a few Kiewit managers plus moi), who kinda bucked the system and got things done (on-time and within-budget). Somehow we all had pocketknives. During the meeting we sorta hung together and repeatedly flicked the blades open-and-closed during the meetings. We thought it made the meeting go faster.


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> Gooooood morning everyone!!!! Sun's out, coffees hot and football sign-ups for the kid this morning. Going to be a great day!!!!
> 
> Cheers!!!!


LOL ... Eric, everyday is a great day if you're a Marine (what could be better then another day in the Corps ...).

Seriously, it is hard to have a bad day in San Diego. Where are you stationed? (The obvious is Camp Pendleton, just wondering if you're somewhere else, (Elliott, Miramar, Point Loma, et al). Be thankful you're not at Yuma, lol.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary A. said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gooooood morning everyone!!!! Sun's out, coffees hot and football sign-ups for the kid this morning. Going to be a great day!!!!
> 
> Cheers!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Eric, everyday is a great day if you're a Marine (what could be better then another day in the Corps ...).
> 
> Seriously, it is hard to have a bad day in San Diego. Where are you stationed? (The obvious is Camp Pendleton, just wondering if you're somewhere else, (Elliott, Miramar, Point Loma, MCRD et al). Be thankful you're not at Yuma, lol.
Click to expand...


----------



## KenC

Well, survived meeting-from-hell more or less intact - about what I expected, but at least no worse.

@sm4him - Yes, we have the people whose voices must be heard whether they have anything important to say or not.  Fortunately, one of them is on leave now and the other is more and more not in a talkative mood - approaching my level of cynicism most likely.

@limr - I wish this meeting were in Turkish - would have been less aggravating.  I am impressed that you were able to follow after a year; I have two friends who teach English overseas and spent a year in Turkey without picking up more than a smattering (a very small one by their account).  Do you know if there's a term for trying to solve a problem that one created to begin with?  That's essentially what most of this meeting was about.

@Gary A. - I like the Google glasses idea - less obvious than playing with a phone, which some people do.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sharon, Sharon, Sharon ... the upper management wants your participation. They want you to see the big picture and they are expecting  to add all your wisdom and years of experience to the conversation* so they can learn and make the place better*. (Maybe you can sneak in a tablet and play with it during the meeting.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hahaha!! Yeah, THAT's what they want!
> 
> This comes a bit closer to the truth:
> View attachment 105011
Click to expand...

LOL ... the "We must speak with one voice crapolla" scenario.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Well, survived meeting-from-hell more or less intact - about what I expected, but at least no worse.
> 
> @sm4him - Yes, we have the people whose voices must be heard whether they have anything important to say or not.  Fortunately, one of them is on leave now and the other is more and more not in a talkative mood - approaching my level of cynicism most likely.
> 
> @limr - I wish this meeting were in Turkish - would have been less aggravating.  I am impressed that you were able to follow after a year; I have two friends who teach English overseas and spent a year in Turkey without picking up more than a smattering (a very small one by their account).  Do you know if there's a term for trying to solve a problem that one created to begin with?  That's essentially what most of this meeting was about.
> 
> @Gary A. - I like the Google glasses idea - less obvious than playing with a phone, which some people do.


You lived to fight another day.


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gooooood morning everyone!!!! Sun's out, coffees hot and football sign-ups for the kid this morning. Going to be a great day!!!!
> 
> Cheers!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Eric, everyday is a great day if you're a Marine (what could be better then another day in the Corps ...).
> 
> Seriously, it is hard to have a bad day in San Diego. Where are you stationed? (The obvious is Camp Pendleton, just wondering if you're somewhere else, (Elliott, Miramar, Point Loma, et al). Be thankful you're not at Yuma, lol.
Click to expand...


I'm on Pendleton again. Assault Amphibian Schools Bn. Always get the beach front property in my line of work. lol


----------



## snerd

Hello everyone from beautiful downtown Oklahoma City!! All prepped and waiting for surgery. My waiting room............







sigh




Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## limr

Good luck! We're all sending good thoughts your way!


----------



## Gary A.

Positive thoughts man...


----------



## sm4him

Prayers going up, snerd!

Well, Day 1 of the birthday week celebration did NOT get off to a good start. Was supposed to have dinner with some friends, to celebrate my birthday as well as another friends birthday...alas, the weather had other plans. Bad storms caused us to cancel; might try to reschedule in a couple of weeks.

On the plus side, while we had some torrential rains and high winds, SO FAR, we've not had the hail or tornadoes that some of our neighbors in the middle of the state have had. Two tornadoes confirmed so far in counties east of here.  I *think* the worst of the storms are over. 

Since I didn't get to go out with friends, instead I went out to my little little Mexican spot; haven't been there in a few weeks.  Had TWO margaritas--my limit is usually one--just because it's my birthday week.

Truth be told, I'm kind of glad to already be at home, alone. I think I'll kick off birthday week by snuggling under the covers and reading for a while instead.


----------



## Designer

snerd said:


> Hello everyone from beautiful downtown Oklahoma City!! All prepped and waiting for surgery. My waiting room............


It SUX, snerd!  I mean your infection.

The photo should have been a wider lens, IMO.


----------



## KenC

snerd said:


> Hello everyone from beautiful downtown Oklahoma City!! All prepped and waiting for surgery. My waiting room............
> 
> 
> View attachment 105020
> 
> sigh
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro



I hope it went well and you're on the mend already.


----------



## minicoop1985

Positive thinking your direction, Snerd!

My damned anxiety gave me a migraine. A good nap fixed that, at least.


----------



## snowbear

Let us know how it goes (went).


----------



## EIngerson

Best wishes Snerd. Have a speedy recovery.


----------



## Gary A.

I'm wrapping up dinner in the patio. It is perfect weather, absolutely perfect. A ton of birds are getting in some last minute chirps before the sun goes down.  Very peaceful right now. 


 
iPhone


----------



## Gary A.

@ Sharon- Hey, Happy Birthday. I need to send you one of my Margaritas.


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers.

I had an interesting day though it unfortunately involved a lot of conversation. Talking is exhausting. 

I feel like I'm at a fork in the road and as Yogi Berra would say, I'm wondering if I should take it. Today's conversations had to do with that. I've got a lot of thinking to do before I really know what to make of them.

How's that for cryptic 

In other news, my pre-ordered copy of _Go Set a Watchman_ has arrived and I'll be cracking that baby open as soon as I make my lunch for tomorrow and take a quick shower.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

A bunch from the Zin vine.


----------



## Gary A.

I made more bathtub orange liqueur and more lemonade. The liqueur calls for orange peel. So I had a bunch of skinless oranges hanging around while I was making the lemonade. So I squeezed them into the lemonade and made orange-lemonade ... It is delish. According to Mary Lou my best ever.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> How's that for cryptic


Cryptic is as cryptic isn't.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> @ Sharon- Hey, Happy Birthday. I need to send you one of my Margaritas.



It's not til Saturday, but I like to get a headstart on celebrating.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Evening, hosers.
> 
> I had an interesting day though it unfortunately involved a lot of conversation. Talking is exhausting.
> 
> I feel like I'm at a fork in the road and as Yogi Berra would say, I'm wondering if I should take it. Today's conversations had to do with that. I've got a lot of thinking to do before I really know what to make of them.
> 
> How's that for cryptic
> 
> In other news, my pre-ordered copy of _Go Set a Watchman_ has arrived and I'll be cracking that baby open as soon as I make my lunch for tomorrow and take a quick shower.



I agree, talking is exhausting!  Anything that requires one to be social for an extended period of time is exhausting.
We'll be waiting to hear whether you take the path less traveled or the main thoroughfare. Or just pick up the fork in the road and eat some pasta with it. 

Let me know what you think of _Go Set A Watchman_. I haven't ordered it, can't decide if I really want to--I have kind of mixed opinions about it.


----------



## mmaria

I'm having a really awful day

yup

bunch of bad things has happened here in the past few days and I heard them today. It's so hot I can barely breath and people are really annoying sometimes

there, I said it!


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> I'm having a really awful day
> 
> yup
> 
> bunch of bad things has happened here in the past few days and I heard them today. It's so hot I can barely breath and people are really annoying sometimes
> 
> *there, I said it*!



No so bad, was it? 

Sorry about the terrible things you heard. Definitely sorry about the weather! The temperature isn't TOO bad right now but it's really really muggy.

Morning, hosers!


----------



## mmaria

I was thinking to write about "things"  here but decided that's not a good thing to do. 


It's the end of my working day... see you 


and Leo


----------



## otherprof

sm4him said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Well, I'm actually at work and about to sit through about an hour and a half of stultifying department meeting.  There'll be lots of talk about counting how many items we completed and when (quarterly goals now because annual ones weren't sufficient somehow), and all of this without regard to quality or final outcomes.  All they know how to do here is count things and conclude that more is better.  Aaaargh!!!
> 
> OK, going to get coffee now.  I should probably skip it and just doze lightly during the meeting, but then I might wake up halfway through in a really bad mood.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds much like our monthly departmental meetings.  Two+ hours of listening to people blather on about all the stuff they need to do in the next month--stuff that really has NO bearing on what *I* need to do. I'd be so much better off if I could spend those two hours actually working on the stuff that needs to get done instead of yapping about it. Plus, there are at least two people in our meeting who are what I call "verbal hostage holders"--once they get started, you cannot escape their long-winded expository dialogue intended to convince everyone of how busy they are, and how terribly, terribly Important their work is. Blah, blah, blah--either shoot me or get me a vat of coffee.
> 
> AND, our meetings are usually on a Monday morning, just to enhance the awfulness. This month at least it's on a Tuesday. But I'm already trying to figure out how I can get out of going.
Click to expand...

I remember my department meetings well - and fondly from the perspective of a retiree.
One of my colleagues had absolutely no patience for all the bloviating that went on, and when on of those long expositions was getting started he would raise his hand and shout "Move the question!" I always thought that was an excellent way to indicate there was no point to the time-wasting ego-trip.


----------



## limr

otherprof said:


> I remember my department meetings well - and fondly from the perspective of a retiree.
> One of my colleagues had absolutely no patience for all the *bloviating *that went on, and when on of those long expositions was getting started he would raise his hand and shout "Move the question!" I always thought that was an excellent way to indicate there was no point to the time-wasting ego-trip.



Oh my goodness, how I love that word! It's one of those words that I learned long ago and then totally forgot about. And now that it's in my consciousness again, I wonder how on earth I haven't been using it all these years! 

Actually, it has a meaning that is all too relevant to me at the moment, so it's probably just the right word at the right time. The word that has kept popping into my head over the past few weeks is actually Portuguese: fala-barato. In essence, it means "a blowhard." Now I have a good English word to describe the action, not just the person


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> I agree, talking is exhausting!  Anything that requires one to be social for an extended period of time is exhausting.
> We'll be waiting to hear whether you take the path less traveled or the main thoroughfare. Or just pick up the fork in the road and eat some pasta with it.
> 
> Let me know what you think of _Go Set A Watchman_. I haven't ordered it, can't decide if I really want to--I have kind of mixed opinions about it.



I am trying to avoid all reviews for the moment because I have mixed feelings about the book, too, and I want to go in with as few preconceived notions as possible. Of course I'm afraid it won't measure up to _Mockingbird_, but I'm trying to judge it on its own merits and not in relation to anything else. I started it last night and I have it with me today so I can sneak in some reading when I can. I think I'll be done with it by Friday.

As for the fork, the pasta idea sounds ideal, really  Knowing me, I'll probably be camping out at that fork for a little while, and then I'll ignore both roads and just cut off into the woods and tramp through the mud until I end up somewhere  I will be less cryptic in a couple of weeks.


----------



## Designer

"I'm BLOVIATING!!!" he bellowed.


----------



## Designer

Pasta and fork?  

I just finished breakfast!


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> otherprof said:
> 
> 
> 
> I remember my department meetings well - and fondly from the perspective of a retiree.
> One of my colleagues had absolutely no patience for all the *bloviating *that went on, and when on of those long expositions was getting started he would raise his hand and shout "Move the question!" I always thought that was an excellent way to indicate there was no point to the time-wasting ego-trip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh my goodness, how I love that word! It's one of those words that I learned long ago and then totally forgot about. And now that it's in my consciousness again, I wonder how on earth I haven't been using it all these years!
> 
> Actually, it has a meaning that is all too relevant to me at the moment, so it's probably just the right word at the right time. The word that has kept popping into my head over the past few weeks is actually Portuguese: fala-barato. In essence, it means "a blowhard." Now I have a good English word to describe the action, not just the person
Click to expand...


To me, bloviating seems like too good a word to use on the people who do it.  There are shorter, cruder words that seem more appropriate.


----------



## Gary A.

Thank you otherprof for bloviation.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  I just got the bad news that I'll have to move from my office in Center City Philadelphia to one out in the suburbs next year.  It's actually about the same commuting time, although in the opposite direction, but: (1) I like being in the city, (2) I like not having to get in my car to get to work, (3) Who wants change?, (4) I like being in the city (did I say that already?).


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> To me, bloviating seems like too good a word to use on the people who do it.  There are shorter, cruder words that seem more appropriate.



Oh, I agree totally. But it's an awesome word to use _about_ those people


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  I just got the bad news that I'll have to move from my office in Center City Philadelphia to one out in the suburbs next year.  It's actually about the same commuting time, although in the opposite direction, but: (1) I like being in the city, (2) I like not having to get in my car to get to work, (3) Who wants change?, (4) I like being in the city (did I say that already?).



Sorry   I don't like living in a city, but I do enjoy working in a place that is more dynamic. Of course, I live and work in the suburbs, but if it were easier to do so, I'd commute into the city for work. I like the atmosphere just as long as I get to leave it at the end of the day


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  I just got the bad news that I'll have to move from my office in Center City Philadelphia to one out in the suburbs next year.  It's actually about the same commuting time, although in the opposite direction, but: (1) I like being in the city, (2) I like not having to get in my car to get to work, (3) Who wants change?, (4) I like being in the city (did I say that already?).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry   I don't like living in a city, but I do enjoy working in a place that is more dynamic. Of course, I live and work in the suburbs, but if it were easier to do so, I'd commute into the city for work. I like the atmosphere just as long as I get to leave it at the end of the day
Click to expand...


I agree, and basically, I do get to leave it, as I live in the NW part of the city where there are lots of trees and it is not nearly as crowded.  I grew up in Brooklyn and never could imagine living in Manhattan or any city center anywhere, or even going back and living in Brooklyn again, for that matter.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Weather is good here. Things are warming up a bit but not to the point of uncomfortable. Very warm and very dry ... too dry actually. Fourth year of the drought but reports speculate that this Winter all hell will break loose and that El Ninos may turn into El M*****F*****.  

Hey Leo, how's that new fangled, temperature control teapot working. Can you really taste a difference between 200F and 180F?

I guess Snerd will be incommunicado for a while. Poor guy. With all the repeated cutting of his shoulder one sorta wonders how it can ever work again. Being single, he can use the scare as a chick magnet. Explaining to the bikini clad girls at the pool how he saved his platoon by jumping on a grenade. Good luck Snerd, we're all pulling for you and hopefully the doctor retrieves the scalpel or whatever he left in you on a previous operation that's causing the infection.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> otherprof said:
> 
> 
> 
> I remember my department meetings well - and fondly from the perspective of a retiree.
> One of my colleagues had absolutely no patience for all the *bloviating *that went on, and when on of those long expositions was getting started he would raise his hand and shout "Move the question!" I always thought that was an excellent way to indicate there was no point to the time-wasting ego-trip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh my goodness, how I love that word! It's one of those words that I learned long ago and then totally forgot about. And now that it's in my consciousness again, I wonder how on earth I haven't been using it all these years!
> 
> Actually, it has a meaning that is all too relevant to me at the moment, so it's probably just the right word at the right time. The word that has kept popping into my head over the past few weeks is actually Portuguese: fala-barato. In essence, it means "a blowhard." Now I have a good English word to describe the action, not just the person
Click to expand...


Those were PRECISELY my thoughts when I read that!! Well, not the part about the Portuguese, because I don't know any Portuguese, but the first sentence was precisely my reaction.


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> I'm having a really awful day
> 
> yup
> 
> bunch of bad things has happened here in the past few days and I heard them today. It's so hot I can barely breath and people are really annoying sometimes
> 
> there, I said it!



I wish it was that hot here. Too much rain here lately, and it's literally putting a damper on my Southern Summer!

Sorry about the Bad Things. Bad things are...Bad.  I hope some Good Things come along and overtake the Bad Things.

SOME people are annoying, sometimes.
SOME people are annoying, ALL the time.
Very, very few people are never annoying. In fact, I don't think I know any of those people.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Hey Leo, how's that new fangled, temperature control teapot working. Can you really taste a difference between 200F and 180F?



Hard to say. I haven't had the chance to try out the 180F setting, which I believe is for green tea. It's hard to say that I taste a big difference between 200F and 212F for the coffee. So far I've only used that setting and the full boil for black tea. I think I'm going to do a taste test with some green tea to check if there is any noticeable effect.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  I just got the bad news that I'll have to move from my office in Center City Philadelphia to one out in the suburbs next year.  It's actually about the same commuting time, although in the opposite direction, but: (1) I like being in the city, (2) I like not having to get in my car to get to work, (3) Who wants change?, (4) I like being in the city (did I say that already?).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry   I don't like living in a city, but I do enjoy working in a place that is more dynamic. Of course, I live and work in the suburbs, but if it were easier to do so, I'd commute into the city for work. I like the atmosphere just as long as I get to leave it at the end of the day
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I agree, and basically, I do get to leave it, as I live in the NW part of the city where there are lots of trees and it is not nearly as crowded.  I grew up in Brooklyn and never could imagine living in Manhattan or any city center anywhere, or even going back and living in Brooklyn again, for that matter.
Click to expand...


I've lived and work in the centers of cities ... but rarely at the same time. When I worked in the centers I've lived in the burgs ... and when I lived in the centers I typically worked outside of the city. I would love to have a flat/apartment/condo in the middle of downtown just to hang a couple days a week ... walk to stuff. Better yet, I'll take a house on the beach and retire. Do I want one in Palos Verdes, atop a 100' cliff waking up to views of Catalina or do I want the house at sea level and a sandy beach at my back door ... or do I want to live on one of the harbor islands with a dock and The Cook and I will commute along the channels in our boat, toasting our neighbors with Waterford glasses filled with sparking wine.

(I need work on my retire plan and purchase some lotto tickets.)


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> I've lived and work in the centers of cities ... but rarely at the same time. When I worked in the centers I've lived in the burgs ... and when I lived in the centers I typically worked outside of the city. I would love to have a flat/apartment/condo in the middle of downtown just to hang a couple days a week ... walk to stuff. Better yet, I'll take a house on the beach and retire. Do I want one in Palos Verdes, atop a 100' cliff waking up to views of Catalina *or do I want the house at sea level and a sandy beach at my back door ... *or do I want to live on one of the harbor islands with a dock and The Cook and I will commute along the channels in our boat, toasting our neighbors with Waterford glasses filled with sparking wine.
> 
> (I need work on my retire plan and purchase some lotto tickets.)



^ Door #2 for me, please. Oh, and buy an extra lotto ticket for me.   I'll pay you back and then some, if it wins.


----------



## snerd

OMG!!!! Had a long post typed out and somehow just deleted it! ARGH!!!!!!!!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> OMG!!!! Had a long post typed out and somehow just deleted it! ARGH!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro



You spell it "somehow." I spell it "narcotics." 

Snerd, how you doin'? Oh yeah, you were probably trying to tell us that when you deleted the post...


----------



## snerd

Afternoon Hosers!! I'm sitting at hospital, waiting for a PICC line to be put in, then I can go. Good news is, he stitched it back up this time. I don't have to wear a pump vac this time!! Woohoo!! I'll have to wear the PICC line for another 6 months, then stay on some type of antibiotic pill for quite awhile the other, infectious disease, doc said. They cut pretty deep this time, it hurts a LOT. Cleaned out about 55ml of fluid this time. I'm in a lightweight sling for a week or so. 

They're very stingy with their "good" drugs here. Azzhats!! Little do they know......... I brought my own stash lol!!! This ain't my first rodeo, pad'nah!!!




















Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## vintagesnaps

You look loopy! lol But that's lousy Snerdy, sorry you had to have that done again. Hate the setbacks, hope this time it heals up OK.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I liked working in a city and living way way out on the fringe beyond the burbs. Can't say I miss the commute though! Makes it more fun to trek in when you don't have to everyday. I like feeling like I'm out in the country when I'm 10 min. out of a midsize town where there's stuff, and 30-45 min. from the big city where there's lots of other stuff - but nice to get away from the stuff too!


----------



## Designer

The happiest 7 years were when we lived in the country and commuted into the city to work.  Then we worked like sled dogs, like rented mules, like farmers even! evenings and weekends cleaning the place up.

Mowing, hauling junk, burning brush, planting trees, planting prairie, more mowing, spraying, hauling rocks, cutting trees, more burning brush, more mowing, repairing buildings, mending fence, repairing machinery, more mowing, and loving every minute of it!


----------



## sm4him

I've mostly always worked in the 'burbs. Worked in the warehouse district in downtown Atlanta for a few years, while living in suburbia, about 30 miles away. That was fun. NOT.
Then I worked at a publishing company downtown after moving back home to east TN--lived out "west" in the suburbs. The west area is the most populated, most suburban, most expensive and most aggravating part of our fair city. But it was the area where I grew up so it was "home."

For the past 20+ years, I've lived in the south area of the city and I love it. I now work downtown and live in the "suburbs," but just barely. I live just across the river that forms the south boundary of downtown, so my work commute is just about 10 minutes from the time I leave the driveway to the time I actually arrive in my office.  If I drive, I park in the garage right across the street, for free (our employees have a deal with the garage; we can pay a monthly amount and park on the bottom floor, or we can park on the second floor for free. One set of stairs is well worth the savings!). But even better, when I'm able to do it--I can hop on the bus, which stops right in front of the house next to me, and then it drops me off on the bus platform, just about 200 feet or so from my office. And it's free too, since I work for the transit system!! AND--because I live basically at the end/beginning of the bus route, it takes just about the same amount of time as it takes to drive!
Unfortunately, these days I'm not taking the bus much, because I need the car to go from work to the rehab center and then home. I *could* do that on the bus too, but it would require a minimum of two transfers and a LOT of extra time.

I love where I live. A few minutes to downtown, about 15 minutes to the west part of the city where all the shopping and restaurants are. In addition, I'm about 4 miles from one of the largest "urban wilderness" areas in our region, with several nature centers, hiking trails, bike trails, the river, etc. And in about 30 minutes, I can be in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains.


----------



## snerd

vintagesnaps said:


> You look loopy! .


Loopy?! I was ACTING!!! Pretty good, huh?!



Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> You look loopy! .
> 
> 
> 
> Loopy?! *I was ACTING!!!* Pretty good, huh?!
Click to expand...


Suuuuuuuuure!


----------



## Gary A.

Welcome back to the world Snerd. Can you fly that drone of your with one hand?


----------



## Designer

With the right kind of medication, he won't need the drone.


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon, hosers. Been a good day other than the headache inspired by anxiety. Not the migraine I had yesterday, but still no fun.


----------



## minicoop1985

And @snerd welcome back to reality! Or maybe not, since you get the fun stuff. lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

Start working on your Oscar acceptance speech.


----------



## snerd

vintagesnaps said:


> Start working on your Oscar acceptance speech.


I'd like to thank all the little people...........


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## JacaRanda

snerd said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Start working on your Oscar acceptance speech.
> 
> 
> 
> I'd like to thank all the little people...........
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...

 
Mr. Snerd.  Get well sooner than soon so we can be immature grown ups and play some ps4 games together.


----------



## terri

Welcome back to the land of the living, Snerd!!       Wishing you a speedy recovery!


----------



## snerd

Thanks everyone! I'm home safe & sound, bed for a couple days. Picked up the Vancomycin on way home, will start in the morning. They gave me 1500ml today, I'll drop 250ml twice a day into iv in other arm for 6 weeks. Fricken shoulder!


----------



## snowbear

Glad to hear it went well, so to speak.  BTW, #2 FTW.


----------



## snowbear

First - I survived my presentation.  I won't say it was great, but I survived it.  I even got some inquiries from a GIS guy in neighboring county who just started with their Fire Department.

Second - One of the Liquor Control Board folks (cheif inspector) gave me an old camera he had laying around. 
It's a Hanimex Praktica Nova 1B - not great, but it's still cool.  The front element is missing, but there seem to be plenty of affordable M42 primes around. 
JAMMIN POSTAL SERVICE. 

I got home, went to the mail box to see if the package arrived.  Yep, it's there.  I go to pull it out  - nope, not budging.  They crammed the package into the jammin' mailbox.  Now, to explain how it can go in but not come out - I live in an apartment and there is a common mailbox.  USPS opens one pane to access everything from the back, while we peons have to use a smaller front opening to get the mail out.  This puppy wasn't budging.

My first thought is a screwdriver & wrench to pop the lock off the back and take it out the way it went in but I'm not committing a felony, so I go Inside, place all the other crap I'm carrying down, grab a pen knife, go back out to the box and perform my own little surgery on the container.

Luckily, nothing was damaged.  I filed a standard electronic complaint, though I doubt to her any more than "We will look into it. Thank You. Don't forget to buy stamps."

On to the package contents:  I have two new shinies.  The red one was a little less than $10, the sparkly one was free (for buying the first one).  I'm sure the lovely Lenny will appreciate these . . .


----------



## snowbear

Still playing catch up on the last few pages.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHARON!


Marija - sorry to hear about the rotten day.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm having a really awful day
> 
> yup
> 
> bunch of bad things has happened here in the past few days and I heard them today. It's so hot I can barely breath and people are really annoying sometimes
> 
> there, I said it!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I wish it was that hot here. Too much rain here lately, and it's literally putting a damper on my Southern Summer!
> 
> Sorry about the Bad Things. Bad things are...Bad.  I hope some Good Things come along and overtake the Bad Things.
> 
> SOME people are annoying, sometimes.
> SOME people are annoying, ALL the time.
> Very, very few people are never annoying. In fact, I don't think I know any of those people.
Click to expand...

aaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww 

Ma


----------



## mmaria

Ma...


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Still playing catch up on the last few pages.
> 
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHARON!
> 
> 
> Marija - sorry to hear about the rotten day.





mmaria said:


> Ma...



Aw, THANKS, Charlie and Marija!! Actual day is Saturday, but then who knows how much I'll be on here between now and then. Okay, probably a lot. But ya'll might not be! 
I think the weather is supposed to finally be nice on the weekend for a change, and my sister is pressing me to think what I want to do--but so far, I can't think of a single thing besides sleeping late and eating.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> First - I survived my presentation.  I won't say it was great, but I survived it.  I even got some inquiries from a GIS guy in neighboring county who just started with their Fire Department.
> 
> Second - One of the Liquor Control Board folks (cheif inspector) gave me an old camera he had laying around.
> It's a Hanimex Praktica Nova 1B - not great, but it's still cool.  The front element is missing, but there seem to be plenty of affordable M42 primes around.
> JAMMIN POSTAL SERVICE.
> 
> I got home, went to the mail box to see if the package arrived.  Yep, it's there.  I go to pull it out  - nope, not budging.  They crammed the package into the jammin' mailbox.  Now, to explain how it can go in but not come out - I live in an apartment and there is a common mailbox.  USPS opens one pane to access everything from the back, while we peons have to use a smaller front opening to get the mail out.  This puppy wasn't budging.
> 
> My first thought is a screwdriver & wrench to pop the lock off the back and take it out the way it went in but I'm not committing a felony, so I go Inside, place all the other crap I'm carrying down, grab a pen knife, go back out to the box and perform my own little surgery on the container.
> 
> Luckily, nothing was damaged.  I filed a standard electronic complaint, though I doubt to her any more than "We will look into it. Thank You. Don't forget to buy stamps."
> 
> On to the package contents:  I have two new shinies.  The red one was a little less than $10, the sparkly one was free (for buying the first one).  I'm sure the lovely Lenny will appreciate these . . .
> 
> View attachment 105082 View attachment 105084 View attachment 105083 View attachment 105085 View attachment 105086



Jammin' postal service! Mine go out of the way to put the package in whatever spot might be the most inconvenient, or least likely to be noticed.

As for the contents: 
I used to do calligraphy, as a hobby and for pay. Actually had a small calligraphy business for several years (and yes, mine was all legit! Paid my taxes, had a license, the whole nine yards...which might just be why I'm so hesitant to have a photography business, lol).
Fountain pens make me heart go pitter-patter!


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Still playing catch up on the last few pages.
> 
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHARON!
> 
> 
> Marija - sorry to hear about the rotten day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ma...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Aw, THANKS, Charlie and Marija!! Actual day is Saturday, but then who knows how much I'll be on here between now and then. Okay, probably a lot. But ya'll might not be!
> I think the weather is supposed to finally be nice on the weekend for a change, and my sister is pressing me to think what I want to do--but so far, I can't think of a single thing besides sleeping late and eating.
Click to expand...



oh never mind...today ... saturday ... never mind...

I forgot to add some blink 







calligraphy reeally!? That's soo interesting


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

Charlie, I saw the pens last night but I was on my phone and just couldn't face the prospect of typing out a message on that thing  They are beeeyoooootiful! I love fountain pens. Have three of them (so far!). Like Sharon, they make my heart go pitter-patter. I've been thinking for a while that I should start using them again, and I think it's time I took them out.

Sooooo.....I put in my notice at the paralegal job.


----------



## bribrius

morning hosers! 62 degrees and sunny. looks like a nice day. sitting and enjoying my coffee watching the dog run around sniffing and looking for birds (or whatever it looks for)


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> Charlie, I saw the pens last night but I was on my phone and just couldn't face the prospect of typing out a message on that thing  They are beeeyoooootiful! I love fountain pens. Have three of them (so far!). Like Sharon, they make my heart go pitter-patter. I've been thinking for a while that I should start using them again, and I think it's time I took them out.
> 
> *Sooooo.....I put in my notice at the paralegal job*.


 "I don't suppose that's a direct result of a large lottery prize you've recently won, and the subsequent lack of need for gainful employment" he asked optimistically.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> Charlie, I saw the pens last night but I was on my phone and just couldn't face the prospect of typing out a message on that thing  They are beeeyoooootiful! I love fountain pens. Have three of them (so far!). Like Sharon, they make my heart go pitter-patter. I've been thinking for a while that I should start using them again, and I think it's time I took them out.
> 
> *Sooooo.....I put in my notice at the paralegal job*.
> 
> 
> 
> "I don't suppose that's a direct result of a large lottery prize you've recently won, and the subsequent lack of need for gainful employment" he asked optimistically.
Click to expand...


No   It _is_ the result of wanting my mental health back, though. My wallet will feel lighter for sure, but so will my soul. 

At this point, I have two options: look for something else or chalk this one up to experience and focus my energy on a different route.

Another paralegal job is possible, though there are certain challenges to that. It's harder to find something part-time so I don't have to leave teaching, and I might end up needing to take another job in a field that I _really_ don't care about, which brings me back to square one: hello extra money, goodbye mental health.

The other route is not as vague as it sounds. I have an opportunity to get myself into the private tutoring racket, which may ultimately lead to an actual storefront and legitimate business. The challenges are to build a client list and learn about business, all while still teaching at the college. It might be a while before it pays off. And it's kinda scary. And I'll have to deal with parents. But it will probably end up being much more satisfying. And my legal knowledge won't exactly go to waste (including the class on Partnerships and Corporations that I'm going to audit this fall).


----------



## tirediron

I see...  perhaps it would make more sense to win the lottery?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> I see...  perhaps it would make more sense to win the lottery?



Indeed. Now if I could just figure out who to bribe...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Another cool, overcast morning, but the clouds will burn off for a warm/hot afternoon. 

@ Sharon... Happy Birthday week.
@ Charlie ... good looking pens. I used to write with expensive pens, then everyone started using Mont Blanc and the like ... so I've sorta stopped. I kinda miss them.
@ Leo... Become a private college admissions counselor, tons of money in it. The financial aid part is most important and has the fewest counselors with any real expertise.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## minicoop1985

Happy birthday Sharon!


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> @ Leo... Become a private college admissions counselor, tons of money in it. The financial aid part is most important and has the fewest counselors with any real expertise.



Unfortunatey, those jobs are as hard to come by as full-time faculty positions are. The people who get the jobs hold on to them like bulldogs, and schools rarely open new lines for those positions. And no counseling degree or experience, I wouldn't even get a first interview at most colleges. 

My college is going through a lot of stuff at the moment. Our president _finally_ retired after 42 years last year. We have a new president, an interim VP, lots of interim Deans because the old ones have been here for centuries and are slowly being bought or pushed out. Not sure where the dust is going to settle. I'm not ready to give up on finding something permanent at the college. I've had one foot firmly in the door for years, now, and now that things are changing up, I might find a way to sneak the other foot in.


----------



## bribrius

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 105105


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Leo... Become a private college admissions counselor, tons of money in it. The financial aid part is most important and has the fewest counselors with any real expertise.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Unfortunatey, those jobs are as hard to come by as full-time faculty positions are. The people who get the jobs hold on to them like bulldogs, and schools rarely open new lines for those positions. And no counseling degree or experience, I wouldn't even get a first interview at most colleges.
> 
> My college is going through a lot of stuff at the moment. Our president _finally_ retired after 42 years last year. We have a new president, an interim VP, lots of interim Deans because the old ones have been here for centuries and are slowly being bought or pushed out. Not sure where the dust is going to settle. I'm not ready to give up on finding something permanent at the college. I've had one foot firmly in the door for years, now, and now that things are changing up, I might find a way to sneak the other foot in.
Click to expand...

I'm not talking public school counselor ... private college counselor. You lack experience on the 'best choice' end ... but doing your homework you could quickly get up to speed on the financial aid end. That are plenty of private counselors around, pulling in the bucks and providing wrong and misleading info.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I'm not talking public school counselor ... private college counselor. You lack experience on the 'best choice' end ... but doing your homework you could quickly get up to speed on the financial aid end. That are plenty of private counselors around, pulling in the bucks and providing wrong and misleading info.



I was talking about college counselors, too. Even if I applied here, where I've worked for 10 years and already know the ins and outs, I would be shocked if I got anything other than the automated "Thank you for your resume" email. I wouldn't do any better applying to a different private college. There are so few positions and so much competition so they can be very very picky about choosing the people who have all the right credentials on paper and ignoring those who would probably do a better job but don't have the buzz words on the resume. None of the positions at my college, for example, require a PhD, but if you don't have one, your resume will be round-filed within seconds.

And I didn't mean that I couldn't do the job. I know I could do it here better than most of the counselors we have. But the problem is getting the job, not performing the job. Believe me, I'm keeping a close eye on things that might crop up. I heard rumors of the desire to have what's called "transitional counselors" and I would definitely apply for that position. I'm not saying that I could never ever get into a full counseling position, but it would take a long of wrangling and tiny steps before it could ever happen. I've done a lot of jobs on campus and a lot of people know me, but everyone also knows that the biggest step is from adjunct to full-time _anything_. It's like climbing to the roof of the building only to find that you have to leap over the gap to the next building and do some more climbing before you finally get to the apartment where you'd like to live.


----------



## snowbear

Oh, Zoe . . . 





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1024526120915005


----------



## limr




----------



## bribrius

LePage signs bill to remove permit mandate for concealed guns Politics Bangor Daily News BDN Maine


about time. All these years i spent money on cwp permits, at least it is optional now...


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Sitting here at work with morning coffee and pondering my current level of disgust while (obviously) not getting down to work.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> .. pulling in the bucks and providing wrong and misleading info.


That skill is not confined to counselors, unfortunately.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Contemplating what the hell is wrong with my head this time... Yesterday I overloaded my brain again which gave me a headache. Today, I still have a headache. Yay.

In other news, my favorite car show is coming up tonight. The Hawk at Road America.  Ferraris and Lotuses (Loti?) and Lamborghinis and exotics galore!


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Sitting here at work with morning coffee and pondering my current level of disgust while (obviously) not getting down to work.


How about a new job ... one that makes you want to get to work early and stay late?


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> .. pulling in the bucks and providing wrong and misleading info.
> 
> 
> 
> That skill is not confined to counselors, unfortunately.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is unfortunate ... *sigh* ... but when I'm anointed with worldwide dictatorial powers ... that will change!


----------



## minicoop1985

Post coffee post: Brain capacity increased, and The Hawk's show tonight isn't going to be exotic cars like I thought. Today is the race cars. Think LeMans winners, F1 cars, Indy racers, etc.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Another cool and overcast morning. Hurricane Dolores is suppose to bring some thunderstorm activity tomorrow. We'll see if it rain ... Mary Lou thinks it may be a Sharknado. Yesterday I did some shopping on Amazon. Got me a remote thermometer that's read the temp of meat with the lid closed and a water controller/timer thing for the veggies. I've decided to install a drip system for all the potted veggies. I went to Home Depot and Lowes and didn't like their kits, especially the controllers. So I bought all the pieces I think I'll need and purchased a three hose Orbit controller from Amazon. Gotta love the internet.


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Sitting here at work with morning coffee and pondering my current level of disgust while (obviously) not getting down to work.
> 
> 
> 
> How about a new job ... one that makes you want to get to work early and stay late?
Click to expand...


I've never had one quite that good, maybe a couple that made me want to get there on time, and I accept that my cynical attitude plays a part in that, but things are what they are.  In any event, this job really is pretty good, except that I have a low tolerance for the typical corporate BS that goes on in the background.  When I can manage to ignore it I enjoy my work and the people I work with, so I figure on retiring from this one, probably in a few years.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ermagerd, I forgot about the Race Car Parade-the world's greatest and loudest!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


----------



## limr

Lunch break:


 

Post hike beer, almost gone:


----------



## limr

And now I am home feeling ever-so-slightly broken. Legs will be screaming tomorrow. Or maybe that will just be me.


----------



## limr

Map of the hike:

 

Total of 4 miles, 1,000 feet elevation, total time (including photo stops and gathering half a bag of wild blueberries) was 4 hours.


----------



## snowbear

My dear, Canadian friends . . . how many people drive like jammin' idiots there?  I don't mind one or two, but we are clearly at about 14% of the drivers having an IQ less than zero..


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Map of the hike:
> 
> View attachment 105156
> 
> Total of 4 miles, 1,000 feet elevation, total time (including photo stops and gathering half a bag of wild blueberries) was 4 hours.


I'll trade you some oranges and lemons for those Blueberries. (I have Blueberries, but they don't do well in this clime.) At seems like a good walk ... your activity tracker will be proud of you.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> My dear, Canadian friends . . . how many people drive like jammin' idiots there?  I don't mind one or two, but we are clearly at about 14% of the drivers having an IQ less than zero..


Then you're lucky!  If 4% of drivers even know they have turn signals, let alone that need to use them, and we'll not discuss the a$$hat in the gas-station parking lot last night who I almost dropped for parking in a handicapped parking space.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> My dear, Canadian friends . . . how many people drive like jammin' idiots there?  I don't mind one or two, but we are clearly at about 14% of the drivers having an IQ less than zero..
> 
> 
> 
> Then you're lucky!  If 4% of drivers even know they have turn signals, let alone that need to use them, and we'll not discuss the a$$hat in the gas-station parking lot last night who I almost dropped for parking in a handicapped parking space.
Click to expand...

Yeah - I guess there are morons everywhere.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> My dear, Canadian friends . . . how many people drive like jammin' idiots there?  I don't mind one or two, but we are clearly at about 14% of the drivers having an IQ less than zero..


I am wondering what prompted this rage? (Did I miss something?)


----------



## snerd

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> My dear, Canadian friends . . . how many people drive like jammin' idiots there?  I don't mind one or two, but we are clearly at about 14% of the drivers having an IQ less than zero..
> 
> 
> 
> Then you're lucky!  If 4% of drivers even know they have turn signals, let alone that need to use them, and we'll not discuss the a$$hat in the gas-station parking lot last night who I almost dropped for parking in a handicapped parking space.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah - I guess there are morons everywhere.
Click to expand...

It's worse than you think. On the Interstate last week coming back from OKC, girl passes me doing 80mph, hands resting on backsides at 10- and 2 on the wheel, with fingers extended on each hand, and a phone between them, texting away! All over the road! You just simply cannot fix stupid.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Map of the hike:
> 
> View attachment 105156
> 
> Total of 4 miles, 1,000 feet elevation, total time (including photo stops and gathering half a bag of wild blueberries) was 4 hours.
> 
> 
> 
> I'll trade you some oranges and lemons for those Blueberries. (I have Blueberries, but they don't do well in this clime.) At seems like a good walk ... your activity tracker will be proud of you.
Click to expand...


They're not Maine blueberries, but they're still really good. They are now infusing a bottle of vodka, and then they will be turned into a compote. 

It was a good hike. I had some trouble with it, but it was still a good day. I get out of breath easily because my heart rate tends to shoot up very quickly. Sure, I feel it more acutely now because I have to get _back_ into shape, but this happens to me no matter what. These days, I can walk fast and maintain a heart rate that isn't too high, but jogging pushes it a bit too far. When I was in my best shape, I could maintain a slow jog but I could never get faster than an 11-minute mile. My heart would just be pounding out of my chest if I tried to go faster - the rate would be in the "Danger, Will Robinson!!" red zone on my heart monitor.

So, I'll always be slow jogger or hiker or cyclist...but hey, at least I'm out there doing something 

I'm also not nearly as sore as I thought it would be. When I got home, I had some food, took a shower, and then fell into what felt like a small coma. My knees were very sore and I felt quite languid all evening long. Didn't do a whole lot, and then slept hard last night. It seemed it was less about my muscles and just more about my energy level, so my legs are not, in fact, screaming today. Yay!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Leonore.  At least there was no permanent damage. 

I got to sleep in today.  MLW is working another 24 stint at the Watch Office; she had to leave before 0600 so she fed the critters.  I updated the blog-ish thing yesterday so I think I'll play with some acrylics today.  I have a bottle of ink on the way from NJ but it has been "delayed" by the postal service.  I'm not sure if the truck just got stuck on the Turnpike or if my complaint really passed through their spam filter.


----------



## otherprof

minicoop1985 said:


> Morning, hosers. Contemplating what the hell is wrong with my head this time... Yesterday I overloaded my brain again which gave me a headache. Today, I still have a headache. Yay.
> 
> In other news, my favorite car show is coming up tonight. The Hawk at Road America.  Ferraris and Lotuses (Loti?) and Lamborghinis and exotics galore!


ar
On my first visit to L.A. I spotted a billboard for Econocar rental offering Lamborghinis for $495 per day and Ferraris for $395 per day. I guess it pays to show up for the meeting looking like you don't need the work. BTW, the unbelievably great Petersen Auto Museum is expanding to 5 times its size in Los Angeles, and will be reopened sometime in 2016. The place is awesome, and I'm not a car person.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> My dear, Canadian friends . . . how many people drive like jammin' idiots there?  I don't mind one or two, but we are clearly at about 14% of the drivers having an IQ less than zero..
> 
> 
> 
> I am wondering what prompted this rage? (Did I miss something?)
Click to expand...


No, you didn't miss anything.  I just have to rant every so often about folks that either don't remember the rules, just don't care or shouldn't be driving in the first place.
This isn't rage -- rage involves high speed projectiles.


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> ...You just simply cannot fix stupid.


You can, but for some reason, which I cannot fathom, it's no longer considered socially acceptable.


----------



## limr

Report on my fancy kettle that has different temperature settings:

It makes a difference for green tea for sure. I made two cups of green tea - one at the 175F recommended temp and one right off the boil. The cooler one is sweeter and the flavor is more complex. The one with boiled water has an underlying bitterness even as it's cooling off. I'll be taking my green tea at 175F in the future, thank you.

I'll report back again as further testing is conducted.


----------



## snowbear

I suspect boiling breaks things down, like boiling veggies vs. raw


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...You just simply cannot fix stupid.
> 
> 
> 
> You can, but for some reason, which I cannot fathom, it's no longer considered socially acceptable.
Click to expand...


I don't think that fixes it, just reduces it.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Report on my fancy kettle that has different temperature settings:
> 
> It makes a difference for green tea for sure. I made two cups of green tea - one at the 175F recommended temp and one right off the boil. The cooler one is sweeter and the flavor is more complex. The one with boiled water has an underlying bitterness even as it's cooling off. I'll be taking my green tea at 175F in the future, thank you.
> 
> I'll report back again as further testing is conducted.


mmmmhhh that is interesting. I looked at the temp controlled kettles and took a pass thinking that tea doesn't give a rat's about temp. Wrong again. I'll try the 175F here and see what I get.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...You just simply cannot fix stupid.
> 
> 
> 
> You can, but for some reason, which I cannot fathom, it's no longer considered socially acceptable.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't think that fixes it, just reduces it.
Click to expand...

I'll settle for reduce!


----------



## minicoop1985

Hey Hosers. Just got back from my great aunt's funeral. Definitely a somber moment, as she was the last of that generation for that family. 

In better news, I inherited a Nikon F prism I have absolutely no use for, so that's getting sold. Free moneys. And it's the diopter version...


----------



## table1349

I'm off for my Sunday morning coffee and donuts, any of y'all want me to bring you back anything? The German chocolate knots are really good and the maple bacon donuts are to die for.


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> I'm off for my Sunday morning coffee and donuts, any of y'all want me to bring you back anything? The German chocolate knots are really good and the maple bacon donuts are to die for.



I'll have a cruller, please. No need to bring me a coffee. I've got a nice steaming cup in front of me already


----------



## Designer

gryphonslair99 said:


> I'm off for my Sunday morning coffee and donuts, any of y'all want me to bring you back anything?


Oh, thanks for the offer, but I'm stuffed from breakfast.


----------



## bribrius

wahh. My dryer died (again) sick of fixing it, dont want to. It lasted 12 years, good enough. So ordered another online. Hopefully it actually shows up.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Hey Hosers. Just got back from my great aunt's funeral. Definitely a somber moment, as she was the last of that generation for that family.
> 
> In better news, I inherited a Nikon F prism I have absolutely no use for, so that's getting sold. Free moneys. And it's the diopter version...


why not just use it???


----------



## minicoop1985

I don't have a Nikon F, and don't plan on buying one.

Mornin, hosers. Allergies. They f*cking suck.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> I don't have a Nikon F, and don't plan on buying one.
> 
> Mornin, hosers. Allergies. They f*cking suck.


yeah, i am supposed to be on the way up to the camp right now. But not exactly running since home and air conditioning is rather nice. And i hate sitting in a car for hours. Humid today. I am procrastinating.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm off for my Sunday morning coffee and donuts, any of y'all want me to bring you back anything? The German chocolate knots are really good and the maple bacon donuts are to die for.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll have a cruller, please. No need to bring me a coffee. I've got a nice steaming cup in front of me already
Click to expand...

It looked so lonely all by itself, so I got you two.  





Enjoy,


----------



## Gary A.

Apple Fritter please ...


----------



## snerd

When I was a kid, I thought they were called an Equator.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Apple Fritter please ...


Sorry, will have to put you down for next week.  Sunday is Donut day.  Meet some friends there, talk, drink coffee, eat donuts and read the paper.  (Comics first as they are the most intelligent part of the news paper. )


----------



## table1349

This mornings feast.  









Now where did we put that lettuce, veggies and low cal dressing for lunch?


----------



## table1349

minicoop1985 said:


> I don't have a Nikon F, and don't plan on buying one.
> 
> Mornin, hosers. Allergies. They f*cking suck.


PM me with a price.  Might be interested to add to my collection if it works and does not need a shutter replacement.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Today hasn't started well. No overcast / Marine layer this morning. It is already hot and very humid. Humidity is at 54%. The windows are closed-up and the A/C is on ... for the first time this year.  On top of it all, no Apple Fritter from gryphonslair.  I used up the last of the beans last night and had to make an early morning run to the store for some coffee. I came home with pre-ground beans ... a significantly different taste than my usual fare and not different good.

Yesterday was interesting. It rained here ... it rained hard here. We never get any kind of rain in July, much less a hard rain. We had another BBQ yesterday, we cooked and ate in the patio while the rain poured in around us. It was very comfortable in the patio and unique for us to have people over and eat in the rain. It was a very pleasant afternoon/evening and we made a significant hit on the wine frig.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Today hasn't started well. No overcast / Marine layer this morning. It is already hot and very humid. Humidity is at 54%. The windows are closed-up and the A/C is on ... for the first time this year.  On top of it all, no Apple Fritter from gryphonslair.  I used up the last of the beans last night and had to make an early morning run to the store for some coffee. I came home with pre-ground beans ... a significantly different taste than my usual fare and not different good.
> 
> Yesterday was interesting. It rained here ... it rained hard here. We never get any kind of rain in July, much less a hard rain. We had another BBQ yesterday, we cooked and ate in the patio while the rain poured in around us. It was very comfortable in the patio and unique for us to have people over and eat in the rain. It was a very pleasant afternoon/evening and we made a significant hit on the wine frig.


Hey, you better get this whole weather thing straightened out and PRONTO there Mr.  They wife and I are going to be in San Diego for a week starting Labor Day weekend.   We want good weather while we are there.  Make it happen.


----------



## Gary A.

Good weather in San Diego ... that's like asking an Eskimo for ice ... don't worry ... similar to the Arctic if you want ice ... just walk outside ... in San Diego if you want nice weather ... just walk outside. The weather in San Diego is even better than Los Angeles (which is awfully damn good weather). I really wouldn't worry about it being bad. (Not because there's nothing you can do about it ... but rather because, the odds are in your favor for typically fine, no sweat, weather.)


----------



## table1349

I've heard that story before.  Was in Orlando a few years ago in middle to late October.  Average weekly temperature *THAT WEEK............96*.  Seems they were having an unexpected and very abnormal heat wave.   Too top it off, I had a day to myself to play so I thought I would go to Daytona.  Little did I know that it just happened to be the start of BIKE WEEK.  300,000 bikes and the people that went with them.  

I'm just a simple Kansas boy but we done heard about that drought your having out there.


----------



## minicoop1985

It's gonna be another scorcher here today, I'm thinking. Once these allergies go away it may be a decent day after all. If they go away.


----------



## table1349

Forecast is for 100 today then mid 80's t0 mid 90's thru Thursday with thunder storms expected those days.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou just announced that this is NetFlix Sunday. The a/c is on, gots a new Tv, plenty of homemade orange-lemonade, I'll pluck bunches of apples and grapes ... NetFlix Sunday, Yes!

More rain is coming this evening, which is another good thing for today. New legislation has just been enacted limiting the amount of grass in the landscaping of new homes to 20% and new pool permits will be very tough to obtain.

The Cook and I are off to get some Cookie Chow (dog food). 
Ta-ta


----------



## table1349

Sounds good, once A Prairie Home Companion is over.


----------



## Designer

gryphonslair99 said:


> (Comics first as they are the most intelligent part of the news paper. )


Agree.


----------



## snerd

Evening hosers. Reached 102 here today, humidity was down somewhat at 45%. I went to the park at 5pm and flew 2 batteries through my drone. Got so hot and sweaty, my front, bigger dressing was sliding off. So I changed it. Used half the bandages they did! Scar is nasty................ 5th time they've opened the same wound. Looks like about 8 stitches, spread well apart. I imagine Lenny wants to see a pic of it, but I'll wait to hear from her for sure. I said I wasn't going to lay here a month again and get out of shape......................... I'm off to a good start!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> Scar is nasty................ 5th time they've opened the same wound. Looks like about 8 stitches, spread well apart. *I imagine Lenny wants to see a pic of it, but I'll wait to hear from her for sure.*


----------



## limr

It was 91F and 60% humidity here today. In short, it was disgusting.

I hate summer.


----------



## table1349

snerd said:


> Evening hosers. Reached 102 here today, humidity was down somewhat at 45%. I went to the park at 5pm and flew 2 batteries through my drone. Got so hot and sweaty, my front, bigger dressing was sliding off. So I changed it. Used half the bandages they did! Scar is nasty................ 5th time they've opened the same wound. Looks like about 8 stitches, spread well apart. I imagine Lenny wants to see a pic of it, but I'll wait to hear from her for sure. I said I wasn't going to lay here a month again and get out of shape......................... I'm off to a good start!


Maybe Bill Amend was thinking of you today. ft150719toocool.png


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> It was 91F and 60% humidity here today. In short, it was disgusting.
> 
> I hate summer.


Warm weather was very late arriving this year. I swore I would not complain about the heat this summer. Biting my lip..........................


----------



## snerd

gryphonslair99 said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening hosers. Reached 102 here today, humidity was down somewhat at 45%. I went to the park at 5pm and flew 2 batteries through my drone. Got so hot and sweaty, my front, bigger dressing was sliding off. So I changed it. Used half the bandages they did! Scar is nasty................ 5th time they've opened the same wound. Looks like about 8 stitches, spread well apart. I imagine Lenny wants to see a pic of it, but I'll wait to hear from her for sure. I said I wasn't going to lay here a month again and get out of shape......................... I'm off to a good start!
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe Bill Amend was thinking of you today. ft150719toocool.png
Click to expand...

Coolio did not follow the safety rules..................


----------



## sm4him

My birthday came.
My birthday went.
The weekend's gone,
Which I resent.


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> My birthday came.
> My birthday went.
> The weekend's gone,
> Which I resent.


ma, happy birthday 
I left one "happy birthday" on your facebook, I left a few "happy birthdays" here... it's enough from me for this year, don't you think?


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> My birthday came.
> My birthday went.
> The weekend's gone,
> Which I resent.



Oh shoot! I forgot to wish you a happy birthday on your actual birthday! I even set a reminder for myself. Sorry! 
 Did you have a nice day?

And now it's....Monday. I'm yawning hard over here, hosers.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> It was 91F and 60% humidity here today. In short, it was disgusting.
> 
> I hate summer.



It should be about 92F here today. With 75+% humidity.  In other words, nearly perfect. 
It'd be better if it weren't for all the pop-up rain showers.

We had those little pop-up showers all weekend long, so my birthday was nice enough to be able to drive around in the convertible with the top down a good bit, but not nice enough to risk trying to go do anything outdoors. It would be beautiful and sunny one minute, and five minutes later, pouring down rain.

So, I just ate my way through the weekend instead.  Had some incredible Eggs Benedict with Avocado and some sort of spicy seasoning in the sauce, for breakfast.
Then skipped lunch and just had dessert, creme brulee, the one dessert that I can never, ever resist when it's on the menu.

Then an early dinner, at a restaurant overlooking one of the local lakes. Prime Rib, mmm.
Followed by...more creme brulee!  That was decadent, I have never in my life eaten that stuff twice in one day. I don't regret it, but I've broken all ties with my bathroom scale for the next week or so. 

First creme brulee of the day:



 
The view at dinner:


 
That was looking east. Here's looking straight out from our table:


 

Final creme brulee of the day:


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> My birthday came.
> My birthday went.
> The weekend's gone,
> Which I resent.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh shoot! I forgot to wish you a happy birthday on your actual birthday! I even set a reminder for myself. Sorry!
> Did you have a nice day?
> 
> And now it's....Monday. I'm yawning hard over here, hosers.
Click to expand...

awwww

I think non of my "happy birthdays" were actually on Saturday.... sorry ma..... hugs and kisses!


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> My birthday came.
> My birthday went.
> The weekend's gone,
> Which I resent.
> 
> 
> 
> ma, happy birthday
> I left one "happy birthday" on your facebook, I left a few "happy birthdays" here... it's enough from me for this year, don't you think?
Click to expand...


Yep, I think so! I just saw the one on FB but haven't gotten over there to actually reply to it.  But thank you!!



limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> My birthday came.
> My birthday went.
> The weekend's gone,
> Which I resent.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh shoot! I forgot to wish you a happy birthday on your actual birthday! I even set a reminder for myself. Sorry!
> Did you have a nice day?
> 
> And now it's....Monday. I'm yawning hard over here, hosers.
Click to expand...


No worries; I was never on TPF over the weekend anyway, so I wouldn't have seen it.  

As for Monday--I'm wondering why on earth I didn't take the day off today. Well, it's gonna rain anyway, so I might as well work.


----------



## Gary A.

Happy B-Day Sharon! (again) and a Buenos Dias to y'all Coffee Hosers. It rained again on Sunday. I'm not saying it never rains here in July, but, according to a front page weather story in the LA Times, yesterday was the first day since 1995 that the Angels were rained out in July. Just turned off the A/C, supposed to hit 81F today. Humidity is still very high at 75%. (Not that anyone cares, but I live about halfway between Angel Stadium and Dodger Stadium with a pretty even split of fans in the neighborhood. I live close enough to Disneyland that I can hear their nightly fireworks.) Man, this pre-ground coffee isn't nearly as flavorful as whole bean. It tastes like I'm at Denny's drinking coffee poured from a dented, dark brown stained Bunn coffee maker.


----------



## KenC

Happy B'day Sharon - since you got your face in a bowl of dessert I guess it could be worse.

It's hot here too.  I don't even want to know how hot.  I'm working home and had to run out for an errand, after which I scurried home as quickly as I could.  Having a late morning coffee and contemplating doing something useful.


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> When I was a kid, I thought they were called an Equator.


 And why not?  Eat a few of 'em and your equator expands...


----------



## Derrel

I have not been in the Coffee House for days on end, but stopped by this AM, and I see birthday wishes for you, so let me add to the chorus of those wishing you a *Happy Birthday, Sharon! *You're a wonderful member of the TPF community, and this place benefits so,so much from your cheerful demeanor, great write-ups, and insightful discussions of many,many kinds of issues. I only wish this planet had a few tens of millions more people JUST LIKE YOU!! You are a gem. Happy Birthday!


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin hosers. Allergy season is upon me big time. Yay.


----------



## limr

Derrel said:


> I have not been in the Coffee House for days on end, but stopped by this AM, and I see birthday wishes for you, so let me add to the chorus of those wishing you a *Happy Birthday, Sharon! *You're a wonderful member of the TPF community, and this place benefits so,so much from your cheerful demeanor, great write-ups, and insightful discussions of many,many kinds of issues. I only wish this planet had a few tens of millions more people JUST LIKE YOU!! You are a gem. Happy Birthday!



Hey Derrel!!


----------



## sm4him

Derrel said:


> I have not been in the Coffee House for days on end, but stopped by this AM, and I see birthday wishes for you, so let me add to the chorus of those wishing you a *Happy Birthday, Sharon! *You're a wonderful member of the TPF community, and this place benefits so,so much from your cheerful demeanor, great write-ups, and insightful discussions of many,many kinds of issues. I only wish this planet had a few tens of millions more people JUST LIKE YOU!! You are a gem. Happy Birthday!



Awww, well now I'm blushing. 
What an incredibly sweet thing to say. Thank you, Derrel!
(Believe it or not, there ARE a few folks out there who not only would not want a world with tens of millions of MEs, they'd prefer a world with one less of me.  )


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Awww, well now I'm blushing.
> What an incredibly sweet thing to say. Thank you, Derrel!
> *(Believe it or not, there ARE a few folks out there who not only would not want a world with tens of millions of MEs, they'd prefer a world with one less of me.*  )



Well, those people are CRAY-CRAY!


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have not been in the Coffee House for days on end, but stopped by this AM, and I see birthday wishes for you, so let me add to the chorus of those wishing you a *Happy Birthday, Sharon! *You're a wonderful member of the TPF community, and this place benefits so,so much from your cheerful demeanor, great write-ups, and insightful discussions of many,many kinds of issues. I only wish this planet had a few tens of millions more people JUST LIKE YOU!! You are a gem. Happy Birthday!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Awww, well now I'm blushing.
> What an incredibly sweet thing to say. Thank you, Derrel!
> (Believe it or not, there ARE a few folks out there who not only would not want a world with tens of millions of MEs, they'd prefer a world with one less of me.  )
Click to expand...

No way ... 

Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ...


----------



## sm4him

Derrel said:


> I have not been in the Coffee House for days on end, but stopped by this AM, and I see birthday wishes for you, so let me add to the chorus of those wishing you a *Happy Birthday, Sharon! *You're a wonderful member of the TPF community, and this place benefits so,so much from your cheerful demeanor, great write-ups, and insightful discussions of many,many kinds of issues. I only wish this planet had a few tens of millions more people JUST LIKE YOU!! You are a gem. Happy Birthday!





limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Awww, well now I'm blushing.
> What an incredibly sweet thing to say. Thank you, Derrel!
> *(Believe it or not, there ARE a few folks out there who not only would not want a world with tens of millions of MEs, they'd prefer a world with one less of me.*  )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, those people are CRAY-CRAY!
Click to expand...




Gary A. said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have not been in the Coffee House for days on end, but stopped by this AM, and I see birthday wishes for you, so let me add to the chorus of those wishing you a *Happy Birthday, Sharon! *You're a wonderful member of the TPF community, and this place benefits so,so much from your cheerful demeanor, great write-ups, and insightful discussions of many,many kinds of issues. I only wish this planet had a few tens of millions more people JUST LIKE YOU!! You are a gem. Happy Birthday!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Awww, well now I'm blushing.
> What an incredibly sweet thing to say. Thank you, Derrel!
> (Believe it or not, there ARE a few folks out there who not only would not want a world with tens of millions of MEs, they'd prefer a world with one less of me.  )
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No way ...
> 
> Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ... Clone Sharon ...
Click to expand...


Y'all make me smile.


----------



## oldhippy

Y'all make me smile. [/QUOTE]
Sharon you have made us smile for years.  You have a great heart. Happy Bird day.  Figure a belated bird would find more favor.  Ed


----------



## minicoop1985

BTW, Happy birthday Sharon!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hope you're having a happy birthday!

You do help liven up the place you know Sharon.

Oh no I see cray-cray is back! lol and haiku.


edit - Gary how much of that Dennys in a dented pot style coffee did you have today??


----------



## JacaRanda

Happy Bee layded burfday Sharon 

I know spelling things like a cray cray drives some of you cray cray.  My tardy birthday giftwish to you!


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

Dinner is on the BBQ. Turkey Loaf w/ grilled apples. My turkey loaf is stuffed with tons of herbs, basil, oregano, roasted sweet peppers, hot peppers, celery, carrots, mushrooms, Blue Cheese and probably some other stuff.It is stuff pretty humid out here and I'm sipping on my now famous Orange-Lemonade.


----------



## sm4him

vintagesnaps said:


> Hope you're having a happy birthday!
> 
> You do help liven up the place you know Sharon.
> 
> Oh no I see cray-cray is back! lol and haiku.
> 
> 
> edit - Gary how much of that Dennys in a dented pot style coffee did you have today??





JacaRanda said:


> Happy Bee layded burfday Sharon
> 
> I know spelling things like a cray cray drives some of you cray cray.  My tardy birthday giftwish to you!



Thanks, other Sharon and Jaca!! Oh, and @oldhippy and maybe someone else I missed.  Jaca, actually while misspellings due to laziness or ignorance can annoy me, I also do like Mark Twain's take on it: "I never gave a d*mn for a man who could only spell a word one way." 



gryphonslair99 said:


>



WELL.
You know you're *arrived* when you have your very own "Keep Calm" quote! Thanks, gryph!


----------



## sm4him

The birthdaying continued today--dinner with my son and his girlfriend (and my sister, but I'd already celebrated with her).  We went to our favorite local Thai restaurant (okay, the ONLY Thai spot I actually like!). 
Sean and Mia (son and gf) gave me some beYOOteeful orange roses, and a very, very sweet card. Sean usually gives me funny cards (when he remembers an event at all), so not sure what's up with that. He even handwrote something very sweet in it.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone
The before.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> The birthdaying continued today--dinner with my son and his girlfriend (and my sister, but I'd already celebrated with her).  We went to our favorite local Thai restaurant (okay, the ONLY Thai spot I actually like!).
> Sean and Mia (son and gf) gave me some beYOOteeful orange roses, and a very, very sweet card. Sean usually gives me funny cards (when he remembers an event at all), so not sure what's up with that. He even handwrote something very sweet in it.



Sounds nice.

I didn't forget.  Really.  I'd never forget you.  

Wait . . . I did post something for you, though I don't recall which day.

Anyway . . . 

Happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy Birthday week!


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone
The after.


----------



## Gary A.

Grillin' the apples.


----------



## snowbear

Looks a little burned around the edges.


----------



## Designer

When my birthday rolls around, I claim the *WHOLE MONTH*.

That way, whenever I get the notion to have dinner in a nice restaurant, it still counts.  

Or buy myself a gift.


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> When my birthday rolls around, I claim the *WHOLE MONTH*.
> 
> That way, whenever I get the notion to have dinner in a nice restaurant, it still counts.
> 
> Or buy myself a gift.




I don't really celebrate mine.  Even as a kid, they were just "eh.".  It's not that I'm afraid of getting older - I just don't like the attention.

A few years ago, I had a coworker call me on the phone and, along with others in the office, sang "Happy Birthday."  After they finished I just said "Thanks, but it's not my birthday."   (silence)


----------



## limr

Well, I don't know about all this fancy dinner stuff (okay, I totally do) but what was supposed to be a relaxing day for me turned out to be quite stressful, so I needed to turn that around.

Here's the result. You're welcome.



 

#TrumpYourCat


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Looks a little burned around the edges.


The edges did get a bit singed ... but it looks much worse than the end product. One couldn't taste any burntness in the flavor. It has a bit of a nice bite with the hot peppers and a dash of my chili powder. The grilled apples taste like pie. I'm quite happy with the results.


----------



## KenC

Morning, all.  I guess I'm the first one to get coffee today.  Back at work and not too bad a day considering.  It's cloudy, so I'm hoping it doesn't get as hot as yesterday, although last I heard it's supposed to.  I might go out with camera at lunch if it stays cloudy.


----------



## snerd

Morning, hosers! I walked my 3 miles last night................. at the mall! Much cooler down there. Carried my walking stick and it worked out fine. Then went to Texas Road House for a nice, juicy rib-eye, loaded baked potato and a salad. Going to pick up grandson at noon, then off to do laundry. Hope you all have a great day!


----------



## sm4him

Yum, @snerd! That ribeye and potato sounds delicious.  I've got leftovers for lunch--yummy leftovers from the Thai restaurant last night, but not nearly enough of it.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> When my birthday rolls around, I claim the *WHOLE MONTH*.
> 
> That way, whenever I get the notion to have dinner in a nice restaurant, it still counts.
> 
> Or buy myself a gift.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't really celebrate mine.  Even as a kid, they were just "eh.".  It's not that I'm afraid of getting older - I just don't like the attention.
> 
> A few years ago, I had a coworker call me on the phone and, along with others in the office, sang "Happy Birthday."  After they finished I just said "Thanks, but it's not my birthday."   (silence)
Click to expand...


I didn't much celebrate mine either until a few years ago. Well, really, it's more than I didn't "announce" it. There were several reasons for that, but not liking the attention was right up there.
I'm an introvert, and I really don't like to be the center of attention. But on the other hand, I didn't like having NOBODY (except my sister) even acknowledge that it was my birthday either. 

Still for reasons I won't go into--I never let anyone know when my birthday was. I figured it was just safer that way--if they don't know, they can't go overboard and make TOO big a deal of it, AND if they don't acknowledge it, at least you know it's because they weren't aware of it. If I told people and they still forgot it, then it was more like they didn't care.

Then I turned 50, and I decided, "Ah, screw it." I'm not gonna let a bunch of "issues" in my past keep me from enjoying my birthday and doing a little celebrating with anyone who cares enough to actually remember my birthday.  So, I let my sister throw me a 50th birthday party, and since then, every year, I just enjoying celebrating--usually over the course of a week or two, depending on when different friends and family are available.
My sister and I almost always celebrate each other's birthdays together, on the actual day. Then there's dinner with the son (or sons, except I rarely see the eldest this time of year), then dinner or something with friends--this year, that won't happen until next week.

My mother always forgot my birthday--not sure when it started, but it was much of my adult life and it always somehow managed to really deflate me, even if other people had acknowledged it. I decided to just let go of it and enjoy the people who DID remember. And of course, now, with her dementia...well, she doesn't even know it's JULY, or what year it is, so there's no longer any expectation that she *might* just remember!

I do have to admit though. The way they do birthdays at work kinda sticks in my craw. Some people get a big deal made about it--offices decorated, cake/cupcakes, card, that kind of thing. Other people might get a card. 
I usually get NOTHING. Not even an acknowledgement. For years, they didn't know WHEN my birthday was, so that was okay. But it got "leaked" a few years ago--since then, they've acknowledge it twice, but mostly ignored it. This year, it got ignored.
I absolutely would NOT care, if we just ignored everyone's birthday.  But it just seems like we ought to be a bit more equitable in our celebrations.

Still, life is too short to care about any of that. Just celebrate one more day on THIS side of the dirt!


----------



## bribrius

another day in the world.  I just snapped this just because. Cars parked in garages with no roof i have a thing for.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Another day, another allergy problem. Yay!


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Morning, hosers. Another day, another allergy problem. Yay!


i used to think whiskey was the cure for everything, i could have been right.


----------



## pixmedic

bribrius said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers. Another day, another allergy problem. Yay!
> 
> 
> 
> i used to think whiskey was the cure for everything, i could have been right.
Click to expand...



whiskey is not the _*cure*_ for everything, its just the_* treatment*_ for everything.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ugh I wish. I'm a freaking space case today. Sinus headache, stuffy head, the whole works. And yes, I took meds, but they don't stop  the sinus headaches.


----------



## otherprof

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou just announced that this is NetFlix Sunday. The a/c is on, gots a new Tv, plenty of homemade orange-lemonade, I'll pluck bunches of apples and grapes ... NetFlix Sunday, Yes!
> 
> More rain is coming this evening, which is another good thing for today. New legislation has just been enacted limiting the amount of grass in the landscaping of new homes to 20% and new pool permits will be very tough to obtain.
> 
> The Cook and I are off to get some Cookie Chow (dog food).
> Ta-ta


"There he sits, in his big white wicker rocker, eatin' candy coated cashews, sipping orange-lemonade."  Sounds good to me. (From the Bobby Bare song, "Jesse Langtree".


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> When my birthday rolls around, I claim the *WHOLE MONTH*.
> 
> That way, whenever I get the notion to have dinner in a nice restaurant, it still counts.
> 
> Or buy myself a gift.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't really celebrate mine.  Even as a kid, they were just "eh.".  It's not that I'm afraid of getting older - I just don't like the attention.
> 
> A few years ago, I had a coworker call me on the phone and, along with others in the office, sang "Happy Birthday."  After they finished I just said "Thanks, but it's not my birthday."   (silence)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I didn't much celebrate mine either until a few years ago. Well, really, it's more than I didn't "announce" it. There were several reasons for that, but not liking the attention was right up there.
> I'm an introvert, and I really don't like to be the center of attention. But on the other hand, I didn't like having NOBODY (except my sister) even acknowledge that it was my birthday either.
> 
> Still for reasons I won't go into--I never let anyone know when my birthday was. I figured it was just safer that way--if they don't know, they can't go overboard and make TOO big a deal of it, AND if they don't acknowledge it, at least you know it's because they weren't aware of it. If I told people and they still forgot it, then it was more like they didn't care.
> 
> Then I turned 50, and I decided, "Ah, screw it." I'm not gonna let a bunch of "issues" in my past keep me from enjoying my birthday and doing a little celebrating with anyone who cares enough to actually remember my birthday.  So, I let my sister throw me a 50th birthday party, and since then, every year, I just enjoying celebrating--usually over the course of a week or two, depending on when different friends and family are available.
> My sister and I almost always celebrate each other's birthdays together, on the actual day. Then there's dinner with the son (or sons, except I rarely see the eldest this time of year), then dinner or something with friends--this year, that won't happen until next week.
> 
> My mother always forgot my birthday--not sure when it started, but it was much of my adult life and it always somehow managed to really deflate me, even if other people had acknowledged it. I decided to just let go of it and enjoy the people who DID remember. And of course, now, with her dementia...well, she doesn't even know it's JULY, or what year it is, so there's no longer any expectation that she *might* just remember!
> 
> I do have to admit though. The way they do birthdays at work kinda sticks in my craw. Some people get a big deal made about it--offices decorated, cake/cupcakes, card, that kind of thing. Other people might get a card.
> I usually get NOTHING. Not even an acknowledgement. For years, they didn't know WHEN my birthday was, so that was okay. But it got "leaked" a few years ago--since then, they've acknowledge it twice, but mostly ignored it. This year, it got ignored.
> I absolutely would NOT care, if we just ignored everyone's birthday.  But it just seems like we ought to be a bit more equitable in our celebrations.
> 
> Still, life is too short to care about any of that. Just celebrate one more day on THIS side of the dirt!
Click to expand...

I would have had a BBQ for you.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers, more Denny's tasting coffee today. Early morning meeting today at CSULA. Good meeting. It is supposed to be 80F and 80% humidity. If I thought about it, the weather sucks ... so I won't think about it. I think the average for July in Los Angeles is 60%-ish. That 20% makes a big difference. During fire season that number can drop into the twenties. (Average temp in July for LA is 75F and average humidity is about 60%.)


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> I would have had a BBQ for you.


Ah, very cool!

Thank you for the thought.


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would have had a BBQ for you.
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, very cool!
> 
> Thank you for the thought.
Click to expand...


And I'd ask if you meant that for Designer, or for me...but the truth is, I already know--you meant both of us, because you are just that kind of guy. And you're always looking for another reason to fire up that grill!!

One day, I'll let you do just that.  But for now, THIS year--well, you did already supply the wine. 

Speaking of the wine, I said I'd have it for my birthday, so I think it's about time to open it.  Either tonight, or Thursday, depending on my energy level when I get home from visiting Mom this evening.

Gary: You know I'm uneducated about wines. I tend to like my wine chilled, or at least with ice. Would that be horrendous with the wine you sent, or perfectly okay?


----------



## vintagesnaps

What ever happened to Bobby Bare anyway? 

Friend of mine that I worked with did a birthday month and I thought, why not? lol So I usually treat myself to something, otherwise exchange cards with a handful of friends and family and do dinner. 

At work we did cards and would bring in breakfast. At our big staff meetings they started acknowledging allll the birthdays since the last meeting and you'd get - a cookie. I could go either way with that... Now there's Facebook to tell us when it's somebody's birthday! lol

Spending the better part of the day getting supplies ordered for an online art class which just started and I'm already behind! Actually class as far as doing something doesn't get going til next week, just an intro this week and practice/playing around with the basic encaustic materials and tools. Maybe just to see how much of a mess this will be??


----------



## sm4him

vintagesnaps said:


> Spending the better part of the day getting supplies ordered for an online art class which just started and I'm already behind! Actually class as far as doing something doesn't get going til next week, just an intro this week and practice/playing around with the basic encaustic materials and tools. Maybe just to see how much of a mess this will be??


Mess? Who cares? I would LOVE to learn to do encaustic art!! I bet that'll be a blast!


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> Gary: You know I'm uneducated about wines. I tend to like my wine chilled, or at least with ice. Would that be horrendous with the wine you sent, or perfectly okay?


White wines are best chilled, but never ice.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary: You know I'm uneducated about wines. I tend to like my wine chilled, or at least with ice. Would that be horrendous with the wine you sent, or perfectly okay?
> 
> 
> 
> White wines are best chilled, but never ice.
Click to expand...


Red wines at cellar temperature (about 55F); white wines can be chilled in the fridge. In restaurants, reds are almost always served too warm while the whites are generally chilled more properly.

There are certain very young wines (either red or white) that can handle an ice cube or two and be fine, but for the most part, skip the ice.


----------



## table1349

Designer said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary: You know I'm uneducated about wines. I tend to like my wine chilled, or at least with ice. Would that be horrendous with the wine you sent, or perfectly okay?
> 
> 
> 
> White wines are best chilled, but never ice.
Click to expand...

Funny,  I always chill my ice, otherwise it is quite runny and useless.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary: You know I'm uneducated about wines. I tend to like my wine chilled, or at least with ice. Would that be horrendous with the wine you sent, or perfectly okay?
> 
> 
> 
> White wines are best chilled, but never ice.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Red wines at cellar temperature (about 55F); white wines can be chilled in the fridge. In restaurants, reds are almost always served too warm while the whites are generally chilled more properly.
> 
> There are certain very young wines (either red or white) that can handle an ice cube or two and be fine, but for the most part, skip the ice.
Click to expand...

Sorry Leonore,
I have yet to find a good temprature for my collection of .....


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary: You know I'm uneducated about wines. I tend to like my wine chilled, or at least with ice. Would that be horrendous with the wine you sent, or perfectly okay?
> 
> 
> 
> White wines are best chilled, but never ice.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Red wines at cellar temperature (about 55F); white wines can be chilled in the fridge. In restaurants, reds are almost always served too warm while the whites are generally chilled more properly.
> 
> There are certain very young wines (either red or white) that can handle an ice cube or two and be fine, but for the most part, skip the ice.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sorry Leonore,
> I have yet to find a good temprature for my collection of .....
Click to expand...


Don't worry, that's not wine. You can drink it at any damn temperature you want.


----------



## Gary A.

About wines and wine temperatures. It was the French who first started taking wine seriously. In order to age the wines the French started tossing the wines into caves. After a certain depth, caves with maintain a pretty even temperature of around 55F. 55F is about the starting point for wine storage and drinking. Many experts like reds a bit warmer and whites a bit cooler with sparkling wine the coolest, lower 40's - your chardonnay and riesling upper 40's. Wine experts feel that a warmer red will be more flavorful at a warmer temp because it will be more aromatic. So Zins in the upper 50's, Pinots in the lower 60's, Cabernets/Burgundy/Bordeaux/Shiraz in the mid 60's.

But ... (okay here comes another story) ... I was at a party up in Napa for Domaine Chandon, a sparkling wine maker. Robert Mondavi was in attendance. You have to remember that Mondavi was to California wine, what Dionysus was to Greek wine. It was a hot summer afternoon. I was keeping an eye on Mondavi waiting for an opening to have a chat. He was surrounded by his little wine groupies. At one point, Mondavi was drinking a red wine when a waiter came walking by with a bucket of ice on his tray. Without flinching, Mondavi snags a handful of ice and with a flourish. tosses it into his glass. All of his minions literally audibly gasped that their God did the unthinkable. Mondavi stops, looks at the shocked people who are now unmoving like a game of freeze tag ... and says "... this is how I like it on hot days."

That that point I had an epiphany ... wine is pure and simply and it's entire reason for being is to be enjoyed. (period) 

On hot days I dump ice into my glass (Ayala and Mondavi, two peas in a pod). All I have in the house is 90+ wines ... so I use my highly rated wines for cooking and I dilute my highly rated wines with brandy and bathtub hootch for Sangria.

So Sharon, drink it how it tastes best to you. 

As you are a bit of a neophyte, start out with it a bit chilled at 63F or so ... then work your way down. You don't have to finished it in one setting, it will last a day or so if you reseal the bottle. Enjoy the bottle and yourself. 

PS- Let me know when you will open the bottle, I'll have some wine on this end and I'll make a toast to your birthday ... hell, let everybody here know and we can all toast you and your birthday at the same time, a toast from sea to shining sea.


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary: You know I'm uneducated about wines. I tend to like my wine chilled, or at least with ice. Would that be horrendous with the wine you sent, or perfectly okay?
> 
> 
> 
> White wines are best chilled, but never ice.
Click to expand...

unless they are part of a wine & ginger ale cooler.


----------



## Gary A.

PPS- Don't mix soda pop with a fine wine.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> PPS- Don't mix soda pop with a fine wine.


I never said "fine" wine, only white wine.  Quality is totally up to the mixer.


----------



## Gary A.

Quality in wine is up to the Gods.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary: You know I'm uneducated about wines. I tend to like my wine chilled, or at least with ice. Would that be horrendous with the wine you sent, or perfectly okay?
> 
> 
> 
> White wines are best chilled, but never ice.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Red wines at cellar temperature (about 55F); white wines can be chilled in the fridge. In restaurants, reds are almost always served too warm while the whites are generally chilled more properly.
> 
> There are certain very young wines (either red or white) that can handle an ice cube or two and be fine, but for the most part, skip the ice.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sorry Leonore,
> I have yet to find a good temprature for my collection of .....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't worry, that's not wine. You can drink it at any damn temperature you want.
Click to expand...


Oh Yeah.... Read the LABEL.  *Red Grape Wine*.  Even says serve cold.

Next thing you know you will be telling me my cellar full of Box Wine is no good.  Geez there is no pleasing some people...

I might as well pour my bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1929 down the drain.  It's probably not "wine" either.  


Seriously, I do have a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1929 in my collection.  A cherished gift from a special friend many years ago.


----------



## Gary A.

Having dinner in Seal Beach. The temp dropped ten degrees in 15 miles






A Sculpin IPA.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> Quality in wine is up to the Gods.


vermouth or wormwood gives you a medicinal edge, and a excuse....


----------



## Gary A.

The health benefits of wine are very well established.


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner is over ... Gotta rush home for the Galaxy-Barth-th-lona match.


----------



## snerd

Riunite on ice................ that's nice.


----------



## limr

Robert Mondavi notwithstanding, I still will not put ice into most red wine. I'm more willing to put ice into white wine, but it still depends on the wine. I just don't like what it does to the taste of the wine. If I want something ice cold for a summer's day and chilled white wine isn't cold enough, then I'll have a gin and tonic or vodka straight from the freezer 

Speaking of which, the wild blueberries have turned the bottle of vodka we are infusing into a gorgeous color. We'll give it a few more days and then start figuring out recipes.

So tonight, my activity tracker (a.k.a. Judgy Bracelet) tells me that I've taken 1 million steps in 5 months. And for the past few weeks, if I've put in a particularly tough workout, I threw in more than a dollar into my jar. It's a little extra incentive to work harder. Because of that, as of tonight, I just hit $100 

And with that, I'm heading to bed. Gotta "work" tomorrow. Night, hosers!


----------



## Gary A.

This was funny. We're in Seal Beach


limr said:


> Robert Mondavi notwithstanding, I still will not put ice into most red wine. I'm more willing to put ice into white wine, but it still depends on the wine. I just don't like what it does to the taste of the wine. If I want something ice cold for a summer's day and chilled white wine isn't cold enough, then I'll have a gin and tonic or vodka straight from the freezer
> 
> Speaking of which, the wild blueberries have turned the bottle of vodka we are infusing into a gorgeous color. We'll give it a few more days and then start figuring out recipes.
> 
> So tonight, my activity tracker (a.k.a. Judgy Bracelet) tells me that I've taken 1 million steps in 5 months. And for the past few weeks, if I've put in a particularly tough workout, I threw in more than a dollar into my jar. It's a little extra incentive to work harder. Because of that, as of tonight, I just hit $100
> 
> And with that, I'm heading to bed. Gotta "work" tomorrow. Night, hosers!


Both Mondavi and I would not have an argument ... drink wine how you enjoy it.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- For the year I'm at 2,945,292.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

This is an easier morning that I expected.  I thought I would have to do something in a rush (one day vs. more usual one week+), but it's no longer a rush.  Of course it had been a rush for several weeks, during which people stalled in sending me all of the information I needed, then yesterday when I finally had everything they told me it had to be done by today.  To their credit, they understood that it was better having it done right than having it done fast, and arranged to delay the due date.  I'll never understand how some people function.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> *I'll never understand how some people function.*



Preach it, brother!


----------



## table1349

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> This is an easier morning that I expected.  I thought I would have to do something in a rush (one day vs. more usual one week+), but it's no longer a rush.  Of course it had been a rush for several weeks, during which people stalled in sending me all of the information I needed, then yesterday when I finally had everything they told me it had to be done by today.  To their credit, they understood that it was better having it done right than having it done fast, and arranged to delay the due date.  I'll never understand how some people function.





limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> *I'll never understand how some people function.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Preach it, brother!
Click to expand...


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> This is an easier morning that I expected.  I thought I would have to do something in a rush (one day vs. more usual one week+), but it's no longer a rush.  Of course it had been a rush for several weeks, during which people stalled in sending me all of the information I needed, then yesterday when I finally had everything they told me it had to be done by today.  To their credit, they understood that it was better having it done right than having it done fast, and arranged to delay the due date.  I'll never understand how some people function.



When I was the production manager for a publication company (dealing with artists and editors and trying to make sure they got publications to the printer on time--a nearly impossible task!), I had a sign on my door:
"Poor planning on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on my part."


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Dinner was meh last night. We went there based upon the raving reviews from one of Mary Lou's co-workers. The co-worker and her husband are on the very large size. She raved about the burgers, but we found them no better than In-N-Out, a fast food place in the west. (Okay, granted, In-N-Out is one of the best fast food burgers around, but it's still fast food.) On the way home it dawned on me ... that one of the reason Mary Lou's co-worker and husband are rotund, is because they're not very particular ... they like and consume all food with relish.  The physical establishment was nice. It was on Pacific Coast Highway, a few blocks from the ocean. The windows were huge, 30'x5', running the entire length of the building and the windows were open with no glass or screens. The wind off the Pacific was pleasant as it swirled throughout the restaurant. That's my report on Glory Days.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> This is an easier morning that I expected.  I thought I would have to do something in a rush (one day vs. more usual one week+), but it's no longer a rush.  Of course it had been a rush for several weeks, during which people stalled in sending me all of the information I needed, then yesterday when I finally had everything they told me it had to be done by today.  To their credit, they understood that it was better having it done right than having it done fast, and arranged to delay the due date.  I'll never understand how some people function.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When I was the production manager for a publication company (dealing with artists and editors and trying to make sure they got publications to the printer on time--a nearly impossible task!), I had a sign on my door:
> "Poor planning on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on my part."
Click to expand...

I had a sign in my office when I was working at a community college. "If a job isn't worth doing ... It isn't worth doing well."


----------



## Gary A.

When I was working news, we had six deadlines a day. We needed to discuss with an editor which of the six the assignment was to hit.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Good for you Leo on your million steps. What is your daily goal?


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> When I was the production manager for a publication company (dealing with artists and editors and trying to make sure they got publications to the printer on time--a nearly impossible task!), I had a sign on my door:
> *"Poor planning on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on my part."*



I tell this to my students all the time. I think I need to put it on my syllabus.



Gary A. said:


> PS- Good for you Leo on your million steps. What is your daily goal?



Gracias. I set the daily goal at 10,000 steps, and I was able to hit that during the semester on my teaching days or the weekends. The paralegal job killed that the days I was there, though. I can't even walk around the office because it's the size of a postage stamp and I'm tied to the phone so I can't really leave the office. In the winter and spring, I would take walks at lunch time, but couldn't really do that after work. By the time I got home, it was already dark and I live on country roads with no sidewalks or streetlamps, so walking along those roads can be dangerous. Some days I would do the bike or an indoor walking routine, but I also had grading to do, and that's kind of a sitting activity.   I'd only get to 2-3,000 steps on those days.

Now in the summer, I'm not hitting 10,000 as often, but my daily number is more consistent - usually around 5-6,000. It's too hot for me to do a lot outside, so I'm left with indoor activity and I try to move around as much as I can. Again, the paralegal days are the hardest because I'm limited for 8 hours of the day. When he's not in the office, I pace a lot, and I'm more consistent with the bike when I get home because not having to plan or grade leaves me with more free time. It's still higher on the days I'm on campus.

I'm keeping the goal at 10,000. When my schedule and the weather starts changing, I'm sure I'll be able to hit that goal more often than not.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, hosers. Day I have no idea of allergies, but at least I can function to a degree. Time for a shower to open up the sinuses, methinks.


----------



## table1349

I think I have had enough coffee today.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> When I was the production manager for a publication company (dealing with artists and editors and trying to make sure they got publications to the printer on time--a nearly impossible task!), I had a sign on my door:
> *"Poor planning on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on my part."*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I tell this to my students all the time. I think I need to put it on my syllabus.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- Good for you Leo on your million steps. What is your daily goal?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Gracias. I set the daily goal at 10,000 steps, and I was able to hit that during the semester on my teaching days or the weekends. The paralegal job killed that the days I was there, though. I can't even walk around the office because it's the size of a postage stamp and I'm tied to the phone so I can't really leave the office. In the winter and spring, I would take walks at lunch time, but couldn't really do that after work. By the time I got home, it was already dark and I live on country roads with no sidewalks or streetlamps, so walking along those roads can be dangerous. Some days I would do the bike or an indoor walking routine, but I also had grading to do, and that's kind of a sitting activity.   I'd only get to 2-3,000 steps on those days.
> 
> Now in the summer, I'm not hitting 10,000 as often, but my daily number is more consistent - usually around 5-6,000. It's too hot for me to do a lot outside, so I'm left with indoor activity and I try to move around as much as I can. Again, the paralegal days are the hardest because I'm limited for 8 hours of the day. When he's not in the office, I pace a lot, and I'm more consistent with the bike when I get home because not having to plan or grade leaves me with more free time. It's still higher on the days I'm on campus.
> 
> I'm keeping the goal at 10,000. When my schedule and the weather starts changing, I'm sure I'll be able to hit that goal more often than not.
Click to expand...

Does your activity tracker, track your bike activity? Some people can stationary bike and/or treadmill away and read. I can't as I guess I flail around, but I used to watch the news. Now, if at the end of the day and I'm low on my steps, I take a second walk with Cook. (Unfortunately, I don't like in the country and have sidewalks and streetlights. Cook and I both wished we lived in the countryside.)


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Does your activity tracker, track your bike activity? Some people can stationary bike and/or treadmill away and read. I can't as I guess I flail around, but I used to watch the news. Now, if at the end of the day and I'm low on my steps, I take a second walk with Cook. (Unfortunately, I don't like in the country and have sidewalks and streetlights. Cook and I both wished we lived in the countryside.)



I used to put the tracker on my foot and that would track the pedaling movement as walking. Then I tested it out and if I'm pumping my arms while pedaling, it will count that as steps as well, which also makes the bike workout more effective anyway, so that's what I've been doing. I could never read on a bike or treadmill, but I do have the bike planted in front of the television, so I just have something mindless on while I'm exercising. If I have something on that engages my mind too much, then I tend to stop moving in order to concentrate better, so I have to have something fluffy.

I had been doing 10 miles on the bike, alternating tension and speed, but these days I've been doing 5 miles and weight-training. One mile to warm up, and then I'll alternate spinning a mile and doing the weights for 3 miles/3 sets of whatever exercises I'm doing that day. Last mile to cool down. 

So the step count from the bike is lower, but the intensity of the overall workout has been increasing. 

If I'm consistent with the workouts and disciplined about my food, I should start seeing the definition in my arms coming back by the end of August.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> *I'll never understand how some people function.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Preach it, brother!
Click to expand...


I try, but well, you know ...


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> "Poor planning on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on my part."



I've seen these signs and this is exactly what I think in these situations, although I (usually) don't say it.


----------



## Gary A.

Discipline ... what's that? Og, I get it ... that's Coach yelling "Ayala, take a lap...".


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> "Poor planning on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on my part."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've seen these signs and this is exactly what I think in these situations, although I (usually) don't say it.
Click to expand...

LOL ... what's the point, right?


----------



## Gary A.

Cook just came in, so it must be time for her walk.


----------



## KenC

gryphonslair99 said:


> I think I have had enough coffee today.



I need to look up the rules of English grammar - I didn't think the adjective "enough" could modify the noun "coffee"


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> "Poor planning on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on my part."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've seen these signs and this is exactly what I think in these situations, although I (usually) don't say it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... what's the point, right?
Click to expand...


Yeah, my mantra when I'm considering saying something which might cause a stir is: "how would this help me?"  If I don't have a good answer I just keep my mouth shut and go about my business.


----------



## table1349

Lenore,  I'm with you on the steps.  I would like to hit 10,000 a day, but in reality I generally hit around 5,500 to 6,500.  My high this month was 15,243.  That was a busy day.  My average is probably a little higher than what is recoreded.  The better half gave me an apple watch for our anniversary.  My weekend step rate does not get recorded well since I usually don't have the watch on or the phone in my pocket unless I am going somewhere.


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> Lenore,  I'm with you on the steps.  I would like to hit 10,000 a day, but in reality I generally hit around 5,500 to 6,500.  My high this month was 15,243.  That was a busy day.  My average is probably a little higher than what is recoreded.  The better half gave me an apple watch for our anniversary.  My weekend step rate does not get recorded well since I usually don't have the watch on or the phone in my pocket unless I am going somewhere.



I've been good about wearing my bracelet all the time. Maybe 2-3 times, I left it on the charger by mistake and left for work without wearing it, but otherwise it's always on my wrist except when I'm in the shower (when it will sometimes record me as taking a nap!  )

I'm just as interested in the sleep data as I am in the step data. The two are very closely related and I'm trying to get myself into an upward spiral: more activity = good kind of tired, so I go to sleep earlier = more and better sleep = more energy = more activity = and so on, and so on...


----------



## table1349

KenC said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think I have had enough coffee today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I need to look up the rules of English grammar - I didn't think the adjective "enough" could modify the noun "coffee"
Click to expand...

Thank you for proving my point.  I've had enough coffee for today.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lenore,  I'm with you on the steps.  I would like to hit 10,000 a day, but in reality I generally hit around 5,500 to 6,500.  My high this month was 15,243.  That was a busy day.  My average is probably a little higher than what is recoreded.  The better half gave me an apple watch for our anniversary.  My weekend step rate does not get recorded well since I usually don't have the watch on or the phone in my pocket unless I am going somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've been good about wearing my bracelet all the time. Maybe 2-3 times, I left it on the charger by mistake and left for work without wearing it, but otherwise it's always on my wrist except when I'm in the shower (when it will sometimes record me as taking a nap!  )
> 
> I'm just as interested in the sleep data as I am in the step data. The two are very closely related and I'm trying to get myself into an upward spiral: more activity = good kind of tired, so I go to sleep earlier = more and better sleep = more energy = more activity = and so on, and so on...
Click to expand...

The best thing about the watch for me is not only the activity tracker but the get off your butt reminder.  I have an office job and if it detects that I have been sitting for an hour or more it tells me to get up and stand for a minimum of 1 minute.  

The other great thing is actually for my sanity.   The wife got an apple watch as well for our anniversery.  She is a typical business woman.  She keeps her phone in her purse, get to her office, takes her phone out of her purse sets it on her desk and WALKS THE FRICK away from the phone.   I call her or text her and it is sometimes 5 hours before she thinks to look at her phone.  ARGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Turns out the watch stays connected inside of her entire bank building.  I now get responses in a TIMELY MANNER!!!


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> ..I left it on the charger ..


Hhmmm....

It just occurred to me that I've never seen my wife charge her Judgy Bracelet.  

Hhmmm...


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ..I left it on the charger ..
> 
> 
> 
> Hhmmm....
> 
> It just occurred to me that I've never seen my wife charge her Judgy Bracelet.
> 
> Hhmmm...
Click to expand...

LOL ... I hate the charging part. I purchased a Garmin because it doesn't require charging every few days. I just change the batteries once a year. I tried putting my Nike on my shoe when riding a bike. It didn't register anything. On the Garmin, they have bike devices that are designed for riding. On my 'normal' Garmin, I can manually plug in biking time and distance and it will compute an activity level. Same-o for swimming. My average this year is 15,000 steps a day, my daily goal is 12,000.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ..I left it on the charger ..
> 
> 
> 
> Hhmmm....
> 
> It just occurred to me that I've never seen my wife charge her Judgy Bracelet.
> 
> Hhmmm...
Click to expand...


Could depend on what kind she has. I charge mine once a week and it plugs into the computer, so usually I'll charge it when I'm either sitting down at the computer anyway, or taking a shower or a nap or something when not wearing it won't make a difference in the data. But maybe she has one like Gary's that doesn't need charging?


----------



## Designer

She noticed that the bracelet does not count steps on stairs, which ought to count double since she is carrying things up or down the stairs, so burning more energy.  

Stairs do not register on it.


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> The best thing about the watch for me is not only the activity tracker but the get off your butt reminder.  I have an office job and if it detects that I have been sitting for an hour or more it tells me to get up and stand for a minimum of 1 minute.



I actually hated that feature on mine and turned it off as soon as I could figure out a way to reliably do so (even when it was turned off, it would still work, so I had to trick it by telling it to only remind me once an hour between midnight and 1am.) I don't need to be reminded to get up and move. I do that anyway because I get antsy. And I want to choose when I'm ready to get up and move - I don't need the bracelet telling me when I'm ready.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> But maybe she has one like Gary's that doesn't need charging?


Or m  a  y  b  e  she has an internal battery.  

Cue the spooky music.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> She noticed that the bracelet does not count steps on stairs, which ought to count double since she is carrying things up or down the stairs, so burning more energy.
> 
> Stairs do not register on it.



Yeah, it's not an exact enough science for me to quibble over a few steps here and there. I tested it once and found out that it DOES count if I'm pretending to walk - pumping my arms and picking my legs up - even when I'm actually sitting down! At first I thought it was "cheating" but in a way it isn't. It's still movement and activity, like fidgeting (which does, actually, burn calories.) So when I think of what the ultimate goal is - be more active - then it might as well count walking in place or "chair walking."

But yeah, stairs should definitely count!


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The best thing about the watch for me is not only the activity tracker but the get off your butt reminder.  I have an office job and if it detects that I have been sitting for an hour or more it tells me to get up and stand for a minimum of 1 minute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I actually hated that feature on mine and turned it off as soon as I could figure out a way to reliably do so (even when it was turned off, it would still work, so I had to trick it by telling it to only remind me once an hour between midnight and 1am.) I don't need to be reminded to get up and move. I do that anyway because I get antsy. And I want to choose when I'm ready to get up and move - I don't need the bracelet telling me when I'm ready.
Click to expand...

I find it useful.  When I was on the streets, activity was NOOOOO Problem.  Now that I am inside at a desk I have found my self getting absorbed into my work to the point that I might not get up for 4 or 5 hours or longer.  Sitting that long is not good for you so it helps for me.


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> I find it useful.  When I was on the streets, activity was NOOOOO Problem.  Now that I am inside at a desk I have found my self getting absorbed into my work to the point that I might not get up for 4 or 5 hours or longer.  Sitting that long is not good for you so it helps for me.



Oh, I'm sure it's a useful function for those who need it. But I should be the one to decide if something is useful to me or not, not a piece of electronics, and it annoys me that it was so hard to turn off, even when I supposedly already did!


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I find it useful.  When I was on the streets, activity was NOOOOO Problem.  Now that I am inside at a desk I have found my self getting absorbed into my work to the point that I might not get up for 4 or 5 hours or longer.  Sitting that long is not good for you so it helps for me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I'm sure it's a useful function for those who need it. But I should be the one to decide if something is useful to me or not, not a piece of electronics, and it annoys me that it was so hard to turn off, even when I supposedly already did!
Click to expand...

This guy really needs it!!!


----------



## minicoop1985

I think I need one of those some days...

Took my car from this:




70-200 bokeh test by Michael Long, on Flickr

to this today:




IMG_5931 by Michael Long, on Flickr

Vinyls are coming tomorrow, then I'll be done on the outside. Gonna be awesome to have something unique.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> "Poor planning on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on my part."



I've always liked "What's it worth to you?"


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> I think I need one of those some days...
> 
> Took my car from this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 70-200 bokeh test by Michael Long, on Flickr
> 
> to this today:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IMG_5931 by Michael Long, on Flickr



So you just walked to the other side and took a photo?

I think you missed some bird stuff on the top.


----------



## Derrel

Not sure I can see much difference...what was done, besides re-parking and eliminating that ugly boat in the background so that one-sixty-four hurl looks sexier???


----------



## minicoop1985

Black "Titanium" style headlights with clear reflectors.

The boats are still there in the second photo. That's just fantastic editing.


----------



## Designer

minicoop1985 said:


> Black "Titanium" style headlights with clear reflectors.


Oh, O.K., they're nice.


----------



## snowbear

.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> .



Watch your language, sir!


----------



## snerd

Evening hosers! My grandson stayed over again last night. He got up early this morning and walked to football practice, and when he got back we lazed around all day. Went out to the lake about 6:30 and flew 6 batteries through drone, 3 apiece. Guy comes over, wanting to check it out. Says he's a pilot for AA out of Dallas. He's blown away by the HD video downlink, like everyone else is. I show him around the controller and iPad app. Talked some about following the FAA recommendations. Unlike so many pilots today, he says he's never seen one while flying on the job.  Dropped grandson off at home a little while ago, I'm beat! Hope you all had a good one!


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> Evening hosers! My grandson stayed over again last night. He got up early this morning and walked to football practice, and when he got back we lazed around all day. Went out to the lake about 6:30 and flew 6 batteries through drone, 3 apiece. Guy comes over, wanting to check it out. Says he's a pilot for AA out of Dallas. He's blown away by the HD video downlink, like everyone else is. I show him around the controller and iPad app. Talked some about following the FAA recommendations. Unlike so many pilots today, he says he's never seen one while flying on the job.  Dropped grandson off at home a little while ago, I'm beat! Hope you all had a good one!


Sounds like a good day snerd. How's the shoulder?


----------



## Gary A.

I love Le Tour de France.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening hosers! My grandson stayed over again last night. He got up early this morning and walked to football practice, and when he got back we lazed around all day. Went out to the lake about 6:30 and flew 6 batteries through drone, 3 apiece. Guy comes over, wanting to check it out. Says he's a pilot for AA out of Dallas. He's blown away by the HD video downlink, like everyone else is. I show him around the controller and iPad app. Talked some about following the FAA recommendations. Unlike so many pilots today, he says he's never seen one while flying on the job.  Dropped grandson off at home a little while ago, I'm beat! Hope you all had a good one!
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like a good day snerd. How's the shoulder?
Click to expand...

Doing okay. Put a smaller dressing on it. Had grandson do the back where I couldn't reach. Sore. Get stitches out Monday. 5 more weeks on picc line and antibiotics. Hoping doc can figure out WHY this keeps happening!


----------



## oldhippy

Good morning,.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!


----------



## Designer

Good morning!


----------



## sm4him

Morning hosers!!

It's been a weird week in my little city.

First, the paint melted off The Rock. "The Rock" is a large rock that extends out of the ground near the heart of the University of TN campus. It's a long-standing tradition for people to paint The Rock--it gets painted, usually, several times a week. Every once in a while, it gets so much paint on it that they come along and pressure clean it to make a "new slate."
But this week was the first time that the paint evidently just MELTED off the Rock! Bizarre--especially since it hasn't seemed all that hot to me. But it HAS been really humid as well as hot.

 


THEN, yesterday afternoon, THIS happened, just down the road a bit from me:
 
WTF???  Nobody can even figure out HOW it happened. This parking lot is right next to a roundabout/traffic circle, so how did the guy even manage to get up enough speed to get airborne?!?! Evidently nobody saw the actual event, although of course, several heard the resulting crash landing.
I feel especially bad for the poor schmuck who owns that car on the bottom. Now THAT is a bad day, right there.

(NOTE: These are NOT my photos. I'm hoping I'll be afforded some latitude since they are photos from the local news, and they are in this thread, which only about 10 of us actually read. But if I need to remove them and put up links instead, someone let me know. It's just that the links don't have nearly the visual impact. Impact, haha.  )


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

Thank you Sharon for making us all feel a little better about our day - assuming none of you out there had a car appear on top of your car.  I've had that feeling occasionally of seeing an accident and wondering how someone managed to end up where they did.  I suppose we can chalk it up to the infinite capacity of humans for creative stupidity.  In any event, in any place where the rocks melt, who knows what could happen?


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, everyone!

Just waiting until 4 when my car's done. This is gonna be EPIC.


----------



## table1349

sm4him said:


> Morning hosers!!
> 
> It's been a weird week in my little city.
> 
> First, the paint melted off The Rock. "The Rock" is a large rock that extends out of the ground near the heart of the University of TN campus. It's a long-standing tradition for people to paint The Rock--it gets painted, usually, several times a week. Every once in a while, it gets so much paint on it that they come along and pressure clean it to make a "new slate."
> But this week was the first time that the paint evidently just MELTED off the Rock! Bizarre--especially since it hasn't seemed all that hot to me. But it HAS been really humid as well as hot.
> View attachment 105398
> View attachment 105399
> 
> THEN, yesterday afternoon, THIS happened, just down the road a bit from me:
> View attachment 105400
> WTF???  Nobody can even figure out HOW it happened. This parking lot is right next to a roundabout/traffic circle, so how did the guy even manage to get up enough speed to get airborne?!?! Evidently nobody saw the actual event, although of course, several heard the resulting crash landing.
> I feel especially bad for the poor schmuck who owns that car on the bottom. Now THAT is a bad day, right there.
> 
> (NOTE: These are NOT my photos. I'm hoping I'll be afforded some latitude since they are photos from the local news, and they are in this thread, which only about 10 of us actually read. But if I need to remove them and put up links instead, someone let me know. It's just that the links don't have nearly the visual impact. Impact, haha.  )


I attribute both events as being a result of the use and or  consumption of a prominent, but little talked about, clear, distilled corn based alcohol from which no taxes have been paid.  Here in refered to as "shine."  It is a well know fact that shine will strip paint off of anything and the consumption of shine will cause individuals to do crazy things with automobiles.


----------



## sm4him

gryphonslair99 said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning hosers!!
> 
> It's been a weird week in my little city.
> 
> First, the paint melted off The Rock. "The Rock" is a large rock that extends out of the ground near the heart of the University of TN campus. It's a long-standing tradition for people to paint The Rock--it gets painted, usually, several times a week. Every once in a while, it gets so much paint on it that they come along and pressure clean it to make a "new slate."
> But this week was the first time that the paint evidently just MELTED off the Rock! Bizarre--especially since it hasn't seemed all that hot to me. But it HAS been really humid as well as hot.
> View attachment 105398
> View attachment 105399
> 
> THEN, yesterday afternoon, THIS happened, just down the road a bit from me:
> View attachment 105400
> WTF???  Nobody can even figure out HOW it happened. This parking lot is right next to a roundabout/traffic circle, so how did the guy even manage to get up enough speed to get airborne?!?! Evidently nobody saw the actual event, although of course, several heard the resulting crash landing.
> I feel especially bad for the poor schmuck who owns that car on the bottom. Now THAT is a bad day, right there.
> 
> (NOTE: These are NOT my photos. I'm hoping I'll be afforded some latitude since they are photos from the local news, and they are in this thread, which only about 10 of us actually read. But if I need to remove them and put up links instead, someone let me know. It's just that the links don't have nearly the visual impact. Impact, haha.  )
> 
> 
> 
> I attribute both events as being a result of the use and or  consumption of a prominent, but little talked about, clear, distilled corn based alcohol from which no taxes have been paid.  Here in refered to as "shine."  It is a well know fact that shine will strip paint off of anything and the consumption of shine will case individuals to do crazy things with automobiles.
Click to expand...


  It seems like no coincidence to me that this happened right in front of a "package" store--see sign in background--where, I feel certain, one can purchase said 'shine. In fact, you can now purchase 'shine in all sorts of "flavors"--which seems like all kinds of wrong to me. If it's flavored, it ain't true 'shine. 'Shine's only flavor ought to be the sensation of your esophagus in flames. 

But even drunk on 'shine, I'm not sure how one gets their car on top of another car whilst going around a roundabout!! That takes some true not-just-drunk-but-Redneck-and-drunk skill!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The 'Shine makes sense, but only it it was fed to the vehicle.  As to the paint, the paint appears to be rather thick. The adhesion of the paint to paint is greater than the adhesion of the paint to rock. I am sure there are other factors which contributed to the melt-down, but I think that's the basic physics of it all. 

Painting rocks ... you Volunteers are a wild lot (see stacked car photo above).


----------



## Gary A.

Maybe Amazon accidently dropped the car from one of its drone delivery systems.


----------



## Designer

The key to good paint adhesion is good surface preparation.  They should seek out some volunteers to prepare the surface.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey Designer, how's that project of yours coming along? I suspect it maybe/should be finished by now.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> But even drunk on 'shine, I'm not sure how one gets their car on top of another car whilst going around a roundabout!! That takes some true not-just-drunk-but-Redneck-and-drunk skill!



Well, turning in a circle does funny things to speed when an object is suddenly going straight again, especially if the boy racer (most-likely) was coming into the circle too hot to begin with. But the real clue would be to look at the skid marks. Perhaps he never even attempted the circle but just decided to go right through it


----------



## snowbear

Yeah - what turn?

Sudden Acceleration Syndrome?


----------



## snowbear

A major fire in the historic part of Harper's Ferry, WV is close to being put out.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> View attachment 105400


Dukes of Hazzard - you're doing it wrong.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Hey Designer, how's that project of yours coming along? I suspect it maybe/should be finished by now.


Hey, thanks for asking!

It was on hold for the past two months due to our having house guests living in the midst of the project.  

1. I got a representative from the window manufacturer to come fix a few windows, and he showed me how the (third party) installer made some errors that now have to be corrected.  I think that will be me.

2. We have to remove the beds and other furniture from the project area.

3. I have to try to catch up on the yard work, as when the family was here I was the cook, errand boy, and baby-sitter. 

4. I have only a few small places to install drywall, then it's tape and fill time.

5. I did get the bathroom nearly finished, with only some door and window casing yet to install. 

6. How are you at sanding drywall?


----------



## table1349

sm4him said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning hosers!!
> 
> It's been a weird week in my little city.
> 
> First, the paint melted off The Rock. "The Rock" is a large rock that extends out of the ground near the heart of the University of TN campus. It's a long-standing tradition for people to paint The Rock--it gets painted, usually, several times a week. Every once in a while, it gets so much paint on it that they come along and pressure clean it to make a "new slate."
> But this week was the first time that the paint evidently just MELTED off the Rock! Bizarre--especially since it hasn't seemed all that hot to me. But it HAS been really humid as well as hot.
> View attachment 105398
> View attachment 105399
> 
> THEN, yesterday afternoon, THIS happened, just down the road a bit from me:
> View attachment 105400
> WTF???  Nobody can even figure out HOW it happened. This parking lot is right next to a roundabout/traffic circle, so how did the guy even manage to get up enough speed to get airborne?!?! Evidently nobody saw the actual event, although of course, several heard the resulting crash landing.
> I feel especially bad for the poor schmuck who owns that car on the bottom. Now THAT is a bad day, right there.
> 
> (NOTE: These are NOT my photos. I'm hoping I'll be afforded some latitude since they are photos from the local news, and they are in this thread, which only about 10 of us actually read. But if I need to remove them and put up links instead, someone let me know. It's just that the links don't have nearly the visual impact. Impact, haha.  )
> 
> 
> 
> I attribute both events as being a result of the use and or  consumption of a prominent, but little talked about, clear, distilled corn based alcohol from which no taxes have been paid.  Here in refered to as "shine."  It is a well know fact that shine will strip paint off of anything and the consumption of shine will case individuals to do crazy things with automobiles.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It seems like no coincidence to me that this happened right in front of a "package" store--see sign in background--where, I feel certain, one can purchase said 'shine. In fact, you can now purchase 'shine in all sorts of "flavors"--which seems like all kinds of wrong to me. If it's flavored, it ain't true 'shine. 'Shine's only flavor ought to be the sensation of your esophagus in flames.
> 
> But even drunk on 'shine, I'm not sure how one gets their car on top of another car whilst going around a roundabout!! That takes some true not-just-drunk-but-Redneck-and-drunk skill!
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey Designer, how's that project of yours coming along? I suspect it maybe/should be finished by now.
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, thanks for asking!
> 
> It was on hold for the past two months due to our having house guests living in the midst of the project.
> 
> 1. I got a representative from the window manufacturer to come fix a few windows, and he showed me how the (third party) installer made some errors that now have to be corrected.  I think that will be me.
> 
> 2. We have to remove the beds and other furniture from the project area.
> 
> 3. I have to try to catch up on the yard work, as when the family was here I was the cook, errand boy, and baby-sitter.
> 
> 4. I have only a few small places to install drywall, then it's tape and fill time.
> 
> 5. I did get the bathroom nearly finished, with only some door and window casing yet to install.
> 
> 6. How are you at sanding drywall?
Click to expand...

The biggest thing I've sanded, (sandblasted actually), was the former Jimmy Doolittle Theatre on Hollywood and Vine. (I turned the Jimmy Doolittle Theatre into the Ricardo Montalban Theatre.  I'm also in the process of designing and installing a drip irrigation system for my potted veggies. I'm demo-ing a section of the rose garden, moving a fountain and laying down stepping stones as an extension of the patio for a dedicated grilling area. Along with the stepping stones I'm installing a steel rope trellis over the grilling area to allow my grapes to create a canopy.  I'll help you and you can help me.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> .............. especially if the boy racer (most-likely) ....................


Oh my. Are you making blatant generalizations about young, male drivers? Our Lenny?! Say it ain't so!!


----------



## waday

Mini, off-topic rant: Why do some websites email you the password you chose when creating an account? This infuriates me to no end. I chose a password and expected it to be private, not emailed around willy-nilly.


----------



## minicoop1985

That is strange.

Glad to see you're more functional, Snerd.

MY CAR IS DONEEEEE!!!! Pictures probably Saturday. You will see.


----------



## sm4him

waday said:


> Mini, off-topic rant: Why do some websites email you the password you chose when creating an account? This infuriates me to no end. I chose a password and expected it to be private, not emailed around willy-nilly.



I don't think I've ever had that happen. I've had them email a default password when I first sign up, before I've created my own.  I've also had them email to TELL me that my password has been changed or updated, but those emails don't usually actually say what the password is.


----------



## table1349

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> .............. especially if the boy racer (most-likely) ....................
> 
> 
> 
> Oh my. Are you making blatant generalizations about young, male drivers? Our Lenny?! Say it ain't so!!
Click to expand...

I took it to mean that it wouldn't take going around in circles to get a female driver all dizzy and confused.   But then I could be wrong.  
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
5...4...3...2...1..........Let the @$$ whooping commence.


----------



## table1349

waday said:


> Mini, off-topic rant: Why do some websites email you the password you chose when creating an account? This infuriates me to no end. I chose a password and expected it to be private, not emailed around willy-nilly.


You just need to be more selective of the "Adult" sites you sign up with.


----------



## waday

sm4him said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mini, off-topic rant: Why do some websites email you the password you chose when creating an account? This infuriates me to no end. I chose a password and expected it to be private, not emailed around willy-nilly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think I've ever had that happen. I've had them email a default password when I first sign up, before I've created my own.  I've also had them email to TELL me that my password has been changed or updated, but those emails don't usually actually say what the password is.
Click to expand...

I had to create an account when purchasing a birthday gift, and I got an email from them with the password in the email. It was a facepalm moment.


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> .............. especially if the boy racer (most-likely) ....................
> 
> 
> 
> Oh my. Are you making blatant generalizations about young, male drivers? Our Lenny?! Say it ain't so!!
Click to expand...


No, I'm making observations of a very specific subset of young men who have a tendency to overestimate their driving skills


----------



## minicoop1985

Boy racers don't even know what an apex is lol


----------



## crusheddiced

Hi Waday, yes, indeed a facepalm moment. In my experience, though, there was a site where I forgot my password. I had to answer a security question and once I did, they emailed me my password. Still, emailing PWs? That means there is a record somewhere and you just need to know how to pluck it out. Hmmm .... scary...


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> .............. especially if the boy racer (most-likely) ....................
> 
> 
> 
> Oh my. Are you making blatant generalizations about young, male drivers? Our Lenny?! Say it ain't so!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No, I'm making observations of a very specific subset of young men who have a tendency to overestimate their driving skills
Click to expand...

Which ones would that be?  Only the subset with "outdoor plumbing?"


----------



## Gary A.

Roasting some tomatillos for the green chile. 


 
iPhone photo


----------



## Gary A.

And ... a giant Sunflower snapped, so I tossed it into a wine bottle.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> Mini, off-topic rant: Why do some websites email you the password you chose when creating an account? This infuriates me to no end. I chose a password and expected it to be private, not emailed around willy-nilly.



US Office of Personnel Management?

edit: corrected agency.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> .............. especially if the boy racer (most-likely) ....................
> 
> 
> 
> Oh my. Are you making blatant generalizations about young, male drivers? Our Lenny?! Say it ain't so!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No, I'm making observations of a very specific subset of young men who have a tendency to overestimate their driving skills
Click to expand...


So, the news has now reported what very little additional information we're likely to get.

The driver was an 18-year-old male. Go figure.


----------



## sm4him

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> .............. especially if the boy racer (most-likely) ....................
> 
> 
> 
> Oh my. Are you making blatant generalizations about young, male drivers? Our Lenny?! Say it ain't so!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No, I'm making observations of a very specific subset of young men who have a tendency to overestimate their driving skills
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> So, the news has now reported what very little additional information we're likely to get.
> 
> The driver was an 18-year-old male. Go figure.
Click to expand...


The news is also reporting that he was going around the roundabout and felt a bit "dizzy", then subsequently lost control of his car, it went off the road and hit an embankment and went airborne.

NO CHARGES OR CITATIONS WERE ISSUED.

Wh...what?!?!?  Yes, that's right. No speeding ticket, no "too fast for conditions" no "unsafe driving"--nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Methinks the 18-year-old male has a very important relative in town government somewhere.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey Designer, I'm beginning to stick the drip system together and opening a bottle of Chardonnay. You better hurry and get over here.




Line 39 - There's a glass with your name on it.


----------



## Gary A.

The Line 39 is quite good You had best hurry. 


 
iPhone


----------



## oldhippy

Found out what happens to a puffball in one day. Is that cool or what.  Ed


----------



## Gary A.

Mushrooms grow like  a weed.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mini, off-topic rant: Why do some websites email you the password you chose when creating an account? This infuriates me to no end. I chose a password and expected it to be private, not emailed around willy-nilly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> US Office of Management & Budget?
Click to expand...

No, some candy website


----------



## snowbear

OK  I just figured you might have been one of the 4,000,000 or whatever the number is; I'm quite sure I am.


----------



## tirediron

oldhippy said:


> Found out what happens to a puffball in one day. Is that cool or what.  Ed
> View attachment 105450 View attachment 105449


  Ed... keep your distance from that.  Seriously.  Unless I'm totally off base, that's a White Angel/Death Angel/Destroying Angel; an extremely toxic member of the Amanita family.  Even touching it can make you ill, and a tablespoon can kill you!!!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

My goodness, hope Ed stuck to just taking pictures of it.


Why do I think that wine was gone before Designer ever showed up?


----------



## oldhippy

Thanks for the warning.  Not eating wild mushrooms. Those days are over.  Want to save residual neurons. Lol. Ed


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Hey Designer, I'm beginning to stick the drip system together and opening a bottle of Chardonnay. You better hurry and get over here.
> Line 39 - There's a glass with your name on it.


Hey, thanks, Gary!  The weather is warming again here, so a nice cool glass of Chardonnay does sound good!  

I'm trying to remember my favorite white when we lived in SoCal.  Oh, yes; Chablis Blanc.  Chilled. From Trader Joe's.  By the case.  With some white cheese and a few mild crackers.

Perhaps you can tell, my taste buds are heavily influenced by my budget.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  TGIF is all I've got to say from here.  Need to look for beer at lunch - anyone interested?


----------



## waday

Speaking of fungus, apparently some form 'hair ice'..

You Can Thank a Fungus for These Crazy Hair Ice Sculptures

That's just crazy.


----------



## limr

Mmmm, beer. Had one last night, and will have another this afternoon.

Went to meet Buzz's parents for dinner in the city last night. We got there first so we sat at the bar for a drink. I hadn't even sat down yet - just put my Rollei 35S on the bar and purse on the seat and was about to find the bathroom when the couple next to us said, "Is that a Leica?"

That started the conversation - she just got a Canon and took a class to start learning photography so she could get good pictures of her kids and not have to pay professionals. Yes, the hobby can get quite addicting, what do you like to shoot? How about you? Do you guys live here? How about you...? So they're from Las Vegas, first time in NY, only here for 2 days...yadda yadda yadda...then they bought us a beer.

SHOOTING FILM GETS YOU FREE BEER!


----------



## Designer

waday said:


> Speaking of fungus, apparently some form 'hair ice'..
> 
> You Can Thank a Fungus for These Crazy Hair Ice Sculptures
> 
> That's just crazy.


The take-away line:

"Why a fungus would want do such a thing, or whether this is the natural byproduct of some other biological process, remains to be seen."


----------



## Fred Berg

limr said:


> SHOOTING FILM GETS YOU FREE BEER!



Imagine what you might have got if your Rollei had been a Leica...


----------



## waday

Designer said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Speaking of fungus, apparently some form 'hair ice'..
> 
> You Can Thank a Fungus for These Crazy Hair Ice Sculptures
> 
> That's just crazy.
> 
> 
> 
> The take-away line:
> 
> "Why a fungus would want do such a thing, or whether this is the natural byproduct of some other biological process, remains to be seen."
Click to expand...

I also liked the comments/pictures people posted relating the hair ice to Donald Trump.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> SHOOTING FILM GETS YOU FREE BEER!


I think it was your sparkling personality and your willingness to engage them in conversation.

_"..so she could get good pictures of her kids and not have to pay professionals."_


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Mmmm, beer. Had one last night, and will have another this afternoon.
> 
> Went to meet Buzz's parents for dinner in the city last night. We got there first so we sat at the bar for a drink. I hadn't even sat down yet - just put my Rollei 35S on the bar and purse on the seat and was about to find the bathroom when the couple next to us said, "Is that a Leica?"
> 
> That started the conversation - she just got a Canon and took a class to start learning photography so she could get good pictures of her kids and not have to pay professionals. Yes, the hobby can get quite addicting, what do you like to shoot? How about you? Do you guys live here? How about you...? So they're from Las Vegas, first time in NY, only here for 2 days...yadda yadda yadda...then they bought us a beer.
> 
> SHOOTING FILM GETS YOU FREE BEER!



I'll just start taking one of my cooler looking film cameras out with me, but only when I plan to go somewhere and drink.   Sounds like you didn't actually SHOOT anything, except the breeze--it was more just carrying a film camera.

I have to admit, it does always catch my attention to see someone with a film camera. My sister and I were having breakfast a few weeks ago at a little local spot (a drugstore actually, that has been a favorite local spot for breakfast in these parts since I was a tyke). Anyway, there was a guy there taking pictures--with a film camera! He also had a digital with him, but he seemed to mostly be using the film camera. I never quite got up the nerve to go talk to him, which I regret.  But I also couldn't help but watch him the whole time he was there.  He may have been doing a story--he took notes about several of the people he talked to and took photos of.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Enjoying the cool morning before the Sun struts its stuff. When I carry my X100S or X-Pro1. (I use them as a Chick magnet.)

I am bummed, my inside wine frig is down. Not completely down, it has two temperature zones and the upper zone stopped cooling. So I'll take it apart.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey Designer, I'm beginning to stick the drip system together and opening a bottle of Chardonnay. You better hurry and get over here.
> Line 39 - There's a glass with your name on it.
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, thanks, Gary!  The weather is warming again here, so a nice cool glass of Chardonnay does sound good!
> 
> I'm trying to remember my favorite white when we lived in SoCal.  Oh, yes; Chablis Blanc.  Chilled. From Trader Joe's.  By the case.  With some white cheese and a few mild crackers.
> 
> Perhaps you can tell, my taste buds are heavily influenced by my budget.
Click to expand...

@ Designer, Traders carries some very good wines. I often shop at Traders. Chablis is a region in France, (like Burgundy), most Chablis Blancs are made with Chardonnay grapes. Next time you have cheese and crackers ... grab some basil and wrap the white cheese in basil ... very tasty.


----------



## Designer

Oh, I thought it was a variety.  Thanks.

FWIW: it didn't taste like a chardonnay.  Maybe it was how it was vinted.


----------



## Gary A.

Chablis is in the north of France ... I think the temperature makes a difference in the taste. Cooler temps, generally make a wine with more acidity while warmer temps produces a fruitier wine.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Either temp as long as it produces a wine!

Did anybody see Letterman's unannounced appearance on Martin & Short's road tour? He said he was happy with retirement, had a life, friends, etc. - then Trump announced his candidacy. Biggest mistake of his life! (retiring that is)

Today's weather update - we're going to slide downhill and it's going to get sticky. Downhill to where I don't know and don't think I want to know! lol


----------



## waday

Weather update from here: it's dark, stagnant, and smells. Oh, wait, that's inside the office.

Outside looks pretty darn amazing. Can't wait to get out!


----------



## Designer

Humid here today.  It's getting darker (that's not right!).

It's always darkest before the dawn-pour.


----------



## Gary A.

It is humid here. If I wanted humidity I could live somewhere with reasonable housing costs. I did some digging and nearly drown in my own sweat. Anyway, I've taken apart my wine frig ... Worked out went went wrong ... Secured a new cooling unit at the factory in Long Beach ... I am now on the way home, part in hand, with dreams of perfectly cooled wines.


----------



## sm4him

I thought I was going to be spending my evening getting my equipment ready for a portrait session tomorrow, but it just got rescheduled to next Saturday.  At least it forced me to hunt down all my chargers and batteries; it's been so long since I've been out shooting, I had no idea where I'd put my chargers! Found them easily enough, though.

So, I guess I could've planned to have our Coffee House wine party and open this bottle Pinot Noir from Gary tonight, but I thought I'd be busy tonight.


----------



## Gary A.

Like my heels, the wine is cooling off.


----------



## snerd

The Flight Record tells the tale. Over a million feet, 199 miles! Sorry................... I didn't mean to drone on and on.


----------



## oldhippy

Good morning all you slurpers.  Hope this brightens your morning.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## snowbear




----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Zelda was very insistent on reminding me this morning that I needed to get out of bed and given them their Caturday wet food treats. I eventually complied.

Now it's time for my own treat: mmmmmm, coffee!


----------



## limr

You'll have to enlarge it to read it clearly, I think. I tried the full-size but it was loading way too slow. I'll resize it later when I can be bothered to go upstairs


----------



## snowbear

MLW is at the watch desk this morning (as well as scheduled tomorrow night/Monday morning.)  The word is that the second position will be abolished so there won't be need for OT; she is taking every opportunity offered.

Dinner is in the crock pot (she'll be home about 8:30) - pork roast simmering in some chicken stock & beer with onion and garlic.  It will end up as pulled pork "crock-e-que"), so I'm on a coffee break.

Leonore - I love a decent fountain pen with their effortless writing.  That was written with two pens and different color inks: one fine point with black, the other, medium with a "black cherry" brown.  The first (blue) was with a dip pen.

I'll probably make some more handwritten post.


----------



## otherprof

sm4him said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning hosers!!
> 
> It's been a weird week in my little city.
> 
> First, the paint melted off The Rock. "The Rock" is a large rock that extends out of the ground near the heart of the University of TN campus. It's a long-standing tradition for people to paint The Rock--it gets painted, usually, several times a week. Every once in a while, it gets so much paint on it that they come along and pressure clean it to make a "new slate."
> But this week was the first time that the paint evidently just MELTED off the Rock! Bizarre--especially since it hasn't seemed all that hot to me. But it HAS been really humid as well as hot.
> View attachment 105398
> View attachment 105399
> 
> THEN, yesterday afternoon, THIS happened, just down the road a bit from me:
> View attachment 105400
> WTF???  Nobody can even figure out HOW it happened. This parking lot is right next to a roundabout/traffic circle, so how did the guy even manage to get up enough speed to get airborne?!?! Evidently nobody saw the actual event, although of course, several heard the resulting crash landing.
> I feel especially bad for the poor schmuck who owns that car on the bottom. Now THAT is a bad day, right there.
> 
> (NOTE: These are NOT my photos. I'm hoping I'll be afforded some latitude since they are photos from the local news, and they are in this thread, which only about 10 of us actually read. But if I need to remove them and put up links instead, someone let me know. It's just that the links don't have nearly the visual impact. Impact, haha.  )
> 
> 
> 
> I attribute both events as being a result of the use and or  consumption of a prominent, but little talked about, clear, distilled corn based alcohol from which no taxes have been paid.  Here in refered to as "shine."  It is a well know fact that shine will strip paint off of anything and the consumption of shine will case individuals to do crazy things with automobiles.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It seems like no coincidence to me that this happened right in front of a "package" store--see sign in background--where, I feel certain, one can purchase said 'shine. In fact, you can now purchase 'shine in all sorts of "flavors"--which seems like all kinds of wrong to me. If it's flavored, it ain't true 'shine. 'Shine's only flavor ought to be the sensation of your esophagus in flames.
> 
> But even drunk on 'shine, I'm not sure how one gets their car on top of another car whilst going around a roundabout!! That takes some true not-just-drunk-but-Redneck-and-drunk skill!
Click to expand...

Good morning, all. I was once a passenger in a car when the driver, who had just been pulled over for speeding, said, "But officer, I thought it was Route 55, speed limit 208."
Got both a laugh and a ticket.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Not so bueno pour moi. The upper zone in my wine frig still isn't cooling. So I gotta strap on my tool belt again. I guess that is called a first world problem. Today will be slightly cooler but still muggy. My male nervous system is so desensitized that this stuff has little effect on me ... but Mary Lou bends and starts melting in such weather. We're planning some yard work in the morn ... then turn on the A/C and retreat to the insides in the afternoon. The Cook and I are out of here.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Not so bueno pour moi. The upper zone in my wine frig still isn't cooling. So I gotta strap on my tool belt again. I guess that is called a first world problem. Today will be slightly cooler but still muggy. My male nervous system is so desensitized that this stuff has little effect on me ... *but Mary Lou bends and starts melting in such weather.* We're planning some yard work in the morn ... then turn on the A/C and retreat to the insides in the afternoon. The Cook and I are out of here.



Yes, Mary Lou, I know how you feel! And this, for the record, is why I despise summers around here. Okay, hot weather sucks for me even in lower humidity, but "muggy" is par for the course in the Hudson Valley. May and June are warm and muggy, but at least nights are cool. July is hot and muggy and the nights aren't so cool anymore. August is hell - hot and muggy during the day, and warm-almost-hot and muggy at night. Ew. Sucks the energy right out of me.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Not so bueno pour moi. The upper zone in my wine frig still isn't cooling. So I gotta strap on my tool belt again. I guess that is called a first world problem. Today will be slightly cooler but still muggy. My male nervous system is so desensitized that this stuff has little effect on me ... *but Mary Lou bends and starts melting in such weather.* We're planning some yard work in the morn ... then turn on the A/C and retreat to the insides in the afternoon. The Cook and I are out of here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, Mary Lou, I know how you feel! And this, for the record, is why I despise summers around here. Okay, hot weather sucks for me even in lower humidity, but "muggy" is par for the course in the Hudson Valley. May and June are warm and muggy, but at least nights are cool. July is hot and muggy and the nights aren't so cool anymore. August is hell - hot and muggy during the day, and warm-almost-hot and muggy at night. Ew. Sucks the energy right out of me.
Click to expand...

Fortunately, on average, we only get 'muggy' maybe ten days a year and mainly in August. Again, fortunately, are nights are nearly always much cooler than the day. Hell, when I lived at the beach we had to wear sweaters during the summer evenings. Mary Lou wants to live in Sausalito across the bay from San Francisco.





and eat at Fred's everyday.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Not so bueno pour moi. The upper zone in my wine frig still isn't cooling. So I gotta strap on my tool belt again. I guess that is called a first world problem. Today will be slightly cooler but still muggy. My male nervous system is so desensitized that this stuff has little effect on me ... but Mary Lou bends and starts melting in such weather. We're planning some yard work in the morn ... then turn on the A/C and retreat to the insides in the afternoon. The Cook and I are out of here.


#firstworldproblem


----------



## Gary A.

The Cook and I have returned. Mary Lou is taking down a rose arch and back to my diggings.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good afternoon, hosers. As you know, I've been planning  on some stuff for my car. Here it be. Sorry for the horrible photo, better will come in time.




TK421 by Michael Long, on Flickr


----------



## tirediron

What do the decals on the door represent?


----------



## KenC

Afternoon, hosers!  Out this morning early with camera while the light was good and before it got too beastly hot.  Heading for 90 here and it must be close to that now.  This morning it was cool in the shade (where I tried to stay) with an air temp of about 70, but hot already in the sun.  I got some OK shots, which I'll start posting.  Went to pick up some wine on the way home, and I already had coffee, so now I can avoid going out.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Afternoon, hosers!  Out this morning early with camera while the light was good and before it got too beastly hot.  Heading for 90 here and it must be close to that now.  This morning it was cool in the shade (where I tried to stay) with an air temp of about 70, but hot already in the sun.  I got some OK shots, which I'll start posting.  Went to pick up some wine on the way home, and I already had coffee, so now I can avoid going out.


Wine, my type of guy. If you want my Sangria recipe let me know. Great stuff on hot days.


----------



## Gary A.

Done digging. Having a spot of lunch in the patio. The ceiling fans are blowing a nice breeze and I am munching on some watermelon. I've spotted some Whites, Morning Cloak, a Painted Lady but no Monarchs today. Yesterday, there were a few.


----------



## minicoop1985

tirediron said:


> What do the decals on the door represent?



It's all Star Wars stuff. The big ones are Imperial insignias, and the little ones under the mirror are five Rebel "kill" symbols, like pilots would do in WWII.


----------



## Gary A.

Finally a Monarch.


----------



## Gary A.

Ahhhh ... A Margarita at the BBQ watching the carne asada cook away.


----------



## Gary A.

The flip.



iPhone

Y'all invited.


----------



## Gary A.

A nice breeze, carne asada and Mary Lou's homemade and homegrown salsa, Gary's famous Snow Margritas. YoYo Ma on the patio stereo  with a cooling Pacific breeze... The evening is off to a grand start.


----------



## Gary A.

Fini


----------



## Gary A.

I'll continue my monologue ... another Snow Margarita and a Netflix ... Ex Machina. And more importantly, the upper zone of the wine frig is working. (Took a little soldering, but I think I fixed it.)


----------



## limr

Just hanging out on the couch with Zelda.


----------



## Gary A.

Nice. Zelda seems sweet.


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner was very good, asada, grilled veggies and Spanish rice.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Nice. Zelda seems sweet.



Yup, she's a little snuggler. If I am still for more than, say, 30 minutes - be in on the couch, the bed, my desk chair - she will wander over and curl up on me for a nap. Mrs.Parker will snuggle as well, just not as often and as reliably as Zelda.


----------



## EIngerson

The party pad is coming along nicely. Can't wait to get the guest log coming to visit. 




Party central-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## NancyMoranG

Wow, that looks very entertaining  !


----------



## Gary A.

Very nice Eric. I'll bring the carne asada.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

Speaking of parties, Buzz' parents are having one today. I'll be putting in a longer workout this morning to account for the drinking I'm sure to be doing. To say that the wine will flow is an understatement. You need to know two things to understand this: 1) Buzz's father imports wine. 2) He is also from Slovenia, where custom states that hosts stock one bottle of wine per guest. There will be 30 people there.

I suppose there's a third thing that will contribute to the flow of wine down my gullet: though I like everyone who will be there, just the thought (much less the actual activity!) of spending hours in idle chat with people I don't know very well is EXHAUSTING and I will be needing wine to help me through it.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> .. just the thought (much less the actual activity!) of spending hours in idle chat with people I don't know very well is EXHAUSTING ..


Agreed.  At large family reunions I am caught between utterly meaningless conversations (think People Magazine or network TV) and those conversations about which I have no knowledge (think farming).  So I spend a lot of time wandering around taking photographs.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> I suppose there's a third thing that will contribute to the flow of wine down my gullet: though I like everyone who will be there, just the thought (much less the actual activity!) of spending hours in idle chat with people I don't know very well is EXHAUSTING and I will be needing wine to help me through it.



Couldn't agree more!    It's not that the people are unpleasant, it's more having to work on 'pleasant chatting' that I too find exhausting.   I suck at the art of the casual chat.   Very draining.    Wine definitely helps loosen the tongue!    Good luck!        

PS  I'll babysit Zelda anytime.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> .. just the thought (much less the actual activity!) of spending hours in idle chat with people I don't know very well is EXHAUSTING ..
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed.  At large family reunions I am caught between utterly meaningless conversations (think People Magazine or network TV) and those conversations about which I have no knowledge (think farming).  So I spend a lot of time wandering around taking photographs.
Click to expand...




terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I suppose there's a third thing that will contribute to the flow of wine down my gullet: though I like everyone who will be there, just the thought (much less the actual activity!) of spending hours in idle chat with people I don't know very well is EXHAUSTING and I will be needing wine to help me through it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Couldn't agree more!    It's not that the people are unpleasant, it's more having to work on 'pleasant chatting' that I too find exhausting.   I suck at the art of the casual chat.   Very draining.    Wine definitely helps loosen the tongue!    Good luck!
> 
> PS  I'll babysit Zelda anytime.
Click to expand...


You two are my people  

It's our introverted natures. Small talk takes a lot of work. If I don't have anything to say, I don't talk, and yet gatherings like this force me to talk about trivial things that I simply don't care about, and it's rough. But yes, wine helps because then I'll just start saying whatever crap comes to my mind just to amuse myself. And I'm a happy drunk, too, and will say silly things, so people just end up thinking I'm kind of kooky 

I remember being at a Thanksgiving dinner once at Buzz's brother's in-law's house (catch that?) and listening, sometimes participating in, a conversation about something - politics, history, science...I can't remember. It's wasn't all that riveting but it was better than small talk. Suddenly, one of the women came over to me and asked me for help with something. I was brought into the kitchen and I said, "What do you need?" I was pretty much livid when I heard, "Oh we don't need help, we just thought we'd rescue you from the boring mens' talk!" They proceeded to blather on about this one's house or that one's new baby or clothes or whatever. Not only was I in introvert hell, being pulled out of an interesting conversation into their inane prattling, but I was also in feminist hell, since I was essentially being told _by other women_ that my possession of a pair of ovaries automatically means that my _real_ interests are domestic affairs and gossip.


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> Very nice Eric. I'll bring the carne asada.




Carne asada is ALWAYS welcome!!!  lol


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> "Oh we don't need help, we just thought we'd rescue you from the boring mens' talk!"


Dang!  That sucks!


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, guys! Been a busy weekend. I'm quite happy with it, though. Car show Thursday, Pewit's Nest (nature thing) Friday, EAA night airshow Saturday, and another car show today. Whew.


----------



## Derrel

Limr: *Aim for the stars!* Tilt that wine glass base upward, skyward, toward the stars! Over and over and over!


----------



## bribrius

bwa bwa bwah bwah

i hear there is a big market in fish portraits.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Just hanging out on the couch with Zelda.
> 
> View attachment 105525


Kitty!!!!!
"Get the kitty!"  woof woof!!!


----------



## bribrius

suppose. If you are on a tablet you could just turn it to the side...


----------



## terri

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> "Oh we don't need help, we just thought we'd rescue you from the boring mens' talk!"
> 
> 
> 
> Dang!  That sucks!
Click to expand...


And it's happened to me before, too!  It would be funny if it weren't so...uncomfortably ironic.  Or something like that.


----------



## limr

Well, luckily nothing like that happened today. All things considering, it wasn't bad. Had one conversation that was actually quite interesting, and then managed to make sure I sat at a small table with another couple that Buzz and I knew a bit better and could talk to comfortably. 

Hard to gauge how much wine I had because we were using small disposable glasses, but I will say that mine was rarely empty


----------



## Derrel

small, disposable glasses...this is a single-use style popular among my younger, female Facebook friends...they use these once, then toss them...


----------



## limr

For those times when you just can't be bothered to pour a second glass:
Amazon.com - Oversized Extra Large Giant Wine Glass -33.5 oz - Holds a full bottle of wine -


----------



## EIngerson

Wine is for chumps, unless it comes in a box. lol


----------



## limr

EIngerson said:


> Wine is for chumps, unless it comes in a box. lol



Hush your mouth!


----------



## EIngerson

limr said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wine is for chumps, unless it comes in a box. lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hush your mouth!
Click to expand...



LOL, thought that would get that kind of reaction.


----------



## limr

EIngerson said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wine is for chumps, unless it comes in a box. lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hush your mouth!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> LOL, thought that would get that kind of reaction.
Click to expand...


Happy to oblige, sir


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hard to gauge how much wine I had because we were using small disposable glasses, but I will say that mine was rarely empty


That's when you stack the empties at the edge of the table - build a pyramid.!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> For those times when you just can't be bothered to pour a second glass:
> Amazon.com - Oversized Extra Large Giant Wine Glass -33.5 oz - Holds a full bottle of wine -



It's easier to just drink out  of  the bottle.  Remove the bottle from the paper bag if you're in a "classy" joint.


----------



## snowbear

Oops - where are my manners?
Good Morning!

I got a free Kindle book offer this morning. "Coffee Lovers Only:
The Ultimate Recipe Guide - Over 30 Delicious & Best Selling Recipes." Not sure how good it is (probably not) but free is worth a look, IMO.

If anyone's interested, just send me a PM and forward the link -- I don't want it to appear that I'm spamming the board.


----------



## sm4him

terri said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> "Oh we don't need help, we just thought we'd rescue you from the boring mens' talk!"
> 
> 
> 
> Dang!  That sucks!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And it's happened to me before, too!  It would be funny if it weren't so...uncomfortably ironic.  Or something like that.
Click to expand...

Doesn't happen to me often--because I very rarely go to any social events where there are that many women who don't know me well enough to know that's a good way for them to get an arm ripped off. 

I'm such an introvert that just thinking about parties like that makes me want to curl up and take a nap instead.

On those occassions where I do end up at a party (of just about any sort at all), I will tend to gravitate to wherever people are talking about sports, preferably football, but any sport will do. Of course, that "tends" to be men. If the "womenfolk" pulled me away from that "boring man talk" I'd sit there quietly for a few minutes, maybe even make a comment or two, then excuse myself to go to the bathroom. And after a bathroom break, I'd head right back to the sports talk group.


----------



## mishele

Shhhhh!!! You guys are too loud!!


----------



## sm4him

mishele said:


> Shhhhh!!! You guys are too loud!!



Mish!!!!!!!!!  WHERE have you been??
Okay, wait. I probably don't really want to know ALL the details about where you've been....


----------



## mishele

sm4him said:


> mishele said:
> 
> 
> 
> Shhhhh!!! You guys are too loud!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mish!!!!!!!!!  WHERE have you been??
> Okay, wait. I probably don't really want to know ALL the details about where you've been....
Click to expand...

You are correct, you don't want to know where I've been. Hehe 

My tapa talk has been blowing up from you guys. Hehe

Hope all is well with everyone!!


----------



## KenC

Who is this "Mishele"?  I don't know, the name sounds so familiar, and yet ...

Anyhow, happy monday hosers!  I can't get myself to capitalize "monday" and thus admit that it is actually a day of the week that must be dealt with.  [pulls head back into hole in ground]


----------



## snowbear

mishele said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mishele said:
> 
> 
> 
> Shhhhh!!! You guys are too loud!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mish!!!!!!!!!  WHERE have you been??
> Okay, wait. I probably don't really want to know ALL the details about where you've been....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You are correct, you don't want to know where I've been. Hehe
> 
> My tapa talk has been blowing up from you guys. Hehe
> 
> Hope all is well with everyone!!
Click to expand...


Welcome back.  Can you check your place and see if I left my . . . oh, never mind.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.


----------



## terri

Morning!


----------



## mishele

snowbear said:


> mishele said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mishele said:
> 
> 
> 
> Shhhhh!!! You guys are too loud!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mish!!!!!!!!!  WHERE have you been??
> Okay, wait. I probably don't really want to know ALL the details about where you've been....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You are correct, you don't want to know where I've been. Hehe
> 
> My tapa talk has been blowing up from you guys. Hehe
> 
> Hope all is well with everyone!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Welcome back.  Can you check your place and see if I left my . . . oh, never mind.
Click to expand...

Shoot!! I threw it away after...Ahhh...um...You know. I didn't think you would want it back! :/


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> Morning!


 No need to be so damn perky on the first Monday of the week!


----------



## terri

What's wrong with facing a hated day with a fat sun smilie?     Grumpy bear.

Oh yeah, and that's after only ONE cuppa joe, too.    *snicker*


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> What's wrong with facing a hated day with a fat sun smilie?     Grumpy bear.
> 
> Oh yeah, and that's after only ONE cuppa joe, too.    *snicker*


----------



## terri

Wanna dance?


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> Wanna dance?


 I.  Don't.  Dance.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wanna dance?
> 
> 
> 
> I.  Don't.  Dance.
Click to expand...


Aw, c'mon! Why not? It's fun!!


----------



## snerd

Morning hosers! Just back from getting PICC iv line dressing changed. Dumping a bag of antibiotics through it now, then I have to drive up to OKC to get stitches out of surgery wounds, 8 in front, long wound and I think 3 or 4 over 2 small holes in back of shoulder. Not sure because I can't reach or see that area.

Oh! I don't understand coffee "recipes". You brew it, pour it in  a cup, and drink it. What possible "recipes" could there be for coffee?!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Aw, c'mon! Why not? It's fun!!


It probably doesn't fit in with this whole curmudgeonly persona he's trying to wear, Lenny.     But we know better.     

Morning, snerd!


----------



## Designer

snerd said:


> Oh! I don't understand coffee "recipes". You brew it, pour it in  a cup, and drink it. What possible "recipes" could there be for coffee?!


I don't know about any "recipes", but I know that some people know how to make good coffee, and some don't.


----------



## JacaRanda

snerd said:


> Morning hosers! Just back from getting PICC iv line dressing changed. Dumping a bag of antibiotics through it now, then I have to drive up to OKC to get stitches out of surgery wounds, 8 in front, long wound and I think 3 or 4 over 2 small holes in back of shoulder. Not sure because I can't reach or see that area.
> 
> Oh! I don't understand coffee "recipes". You brew it, pour it in  a cup, and drink it. What possible "recipes" could there be for coffee?!



New PS4 golf game.  Just the thing you need to chill during healing time.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Aw, c'mon! Why not? It's fun!!
> 
> 
> 
> It probably doesn't fit in with this whole curmudgeonly persona he's trying to wear, Lenny.     But we know better.
> 
> Morning, snerd!
Click to expand...


Buzz is definitely a curmudgeon and also Did.Not.Dance...until I got to him, of course


----------



## snowbear

Dancing?  I'm an elevator - no steps.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Aw, c'mon! Why not? It's fun!!
> 
> 
> 
> It probably doesn't fit in with this whole curmudgeonly persona he's trying to wear, Lenny.     But we know better.
> 
> Morning, snerd!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Buzz is definitely a curmudgeon and also Did.Not.Dance...until I got to him, of course
Click to expand...

All it takes is the right partner and the right circumstances.   

This applies to other things besides dancing, of course, but this is a family-friendly site.


----------



## JacaRanda

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Aw, c'mon! Why not? It's fun!!
> 
> 
> 
> It probably doesn't fit in with this whole curmudgeonly persona he's trying to wear, Lenny.     But we know better.
> 
> Morning, snerd!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Buzz is definitely a curmudgeon and also Did.Not.Dance...until I got to him, of course
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> All it takes is the right partner and the right circumstances.
> 
> This applies to other things besides dancing, of course, but this is a family-friendly site.
Click to expand...


And sometimes, juuust the right amount of alcohol.


----------



## minicoop1985

THREE PAGES since I last logged in? WTF you guys talk a lot.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> THREE PAGES since I last logged in? WTF you guys talk a lot.


Nah - you're just slow.


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> THREE PAGES since I last logged in? WTF you guys talk a lot.


It's probably all that caffeine...


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> THREE PAGES since I last logged in? WTF you guys talk a lot.
> 
> 
> 
> Nah - you're just slow.
Click to expand...


Yeah, man, try to keep up!


----------



## minicoop1985

Speaking of caffeine, apparently the new blend has more caffeine... Had a massive panic attack yesterday and I THINK it was caffeine induced.


----------



## JacaRanda

JacaRanda said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Aw, c'mon! Why not? It's fun!!
> 
> 
> 
> It probably doesn't fit in with this whole curmudgeonly persona he's trying to wear, Lenny.     But we know better.
> 
> Morning, snerd!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Buzz is definitely a curmudgeon and also Did.Not.Dance...until I got to him, of course
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> All it takes is the right partner and the right circumstances.
> 
> This applies to other things besides dancing, of course, but this is a family-friendly site.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And sometimes, juuust the right amount of alcohol.
Click to expand...


Hmmmm - also applies to karoakee. 

Coffee House & Karoake??????   Double hmmmm.... Derrel gave me the idea with his Barry White voice and all (typed with a touch of jealous hateraide ).
Anyone bold enough to post a little video of yourself singing a verse or two?


----------



## limr

JacaRanda said:


> Hmmmm - also applies to karoakee.
> 
> Coffee House & Karoake??????   Double hmmmm.... Derrel gave me the idea with his Barry White voice and all (typed with a touch of jealous hateraide ).
> Anyone bold enough to post a little video of yourself singing a verse or two?



Nope, nope, nope, nope!! Not gonna happen, man! And this coming from someone who used to be in a church choir. Nope, nope, nope. Sorry!


----------



## limr

I'm annoyed. I forgot to bring milk to put in my coffee at work. I'll still drink it black but it's not as good.

And I'm still going to have another cup


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> I'm annoyed. I forgot to bring milk to put in my coffee at work. I'll still drink it black but it's not as good.
> 
> And I'm still going to have another cup


 What kinda' crack are you on???????  Once you put milk in it, it's no longer coffee, it's a chemical experiment.  You probably put ice in good scotch too, don't you!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> What kinda' crack are you on???????  Once you put milk in it, it's no longer coffee, it's a chemical experiment.  You probably put ice in good scotch too, don't you!



Mmmm, chemical experiment...yummy!


----------



## limr

And for the record, some scotch really opens up and has a more complex flavor with a dash of water or a small ice cube. Not all of them, of course, but some.


----------



## table1349

Try this:  World s Strongest Coffee
No milk though.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Whaddya mean, the _first_ Monday of the week John? There's not going to be another day like this is there?? lol


----------



## table1349

Every day is a Monday, some are just more Monday than others.  Today is Monday-Monday, tommorrow is Tuesday-Monday followed by Wednesday-Monday which leads into Thursday-Monday and finally there is Friday-Monday before a blessed and much needed weekend.


----------



## waday

I secretly hate Tuesday more than Monday.


----------



## KenC

gryphonslair99 said:


> Every day is a Monday, some are just more Monday than others.  Today is Monday-Monday, tommorrow is Tuesday-Monday followed by Wednesday-Monday which leads into Thrusday-Monday and finally there is Friday-Monday before a blessed and much needed weekend.


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> Try this:  World s Strongest Coffee
> No milk though.



Hmmm...

Again on the record, I put milk into coffee made with the French press. When I'm out of the house and have to drink coffee from a drip or Keurig machine, or the occasional iced coffee from Starbucks, I again prefer to add milk.

But espresso and Turkish coffee are always black.

No sugar ever, no matter what kind of coffee.

Edit: Wait, sometimes I'll have what is called in the north of Portugal a "meia de leite" which is half espresso, half steamed milk. But that's not too often because the yahoos in this country can't get the concept of "less" through their heads. 2 shots of espresso, the equivalent in steamed milk. "No, I don't want more milk or a bigger size, thank you. Oh great, look at that, it's a bigger cup filled with mostly milk! Thanks ever so )^#*%* much for ignoring what I asked you for, you (*^)*)$%)."


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> And this coming from someone who used to be in a church choir.


I'm reminded of another thing to be wary of.  Yesterday (Sunday) we sat in front of some people who can sing.  They sing in the choir, but the choir wasn't singing yesterday.  So it was intimidating.  Me with my frog-croaky voice trying to keep up in my own way, not hitting any recognizable notes and sometimes losing my place in the lyrics to boot.


----------



## tirediron

vintagesnaps said:


> Whaddya mean, the _first_ Monday of the week John? There's not going to be another day like this is there?? lol


 There's at least five Mondays in every week; six or seven if I have weekend work.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Try this:  World s Strongest Coffee
> No milk though.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm...
> 
> Again on the record, I put milk into coffee made with the French press. When I'm out of the house and have to drink coffee from a drip or Keurig machine, or the occasional iced coffee from Starbucks, I again prefer to add milk.
> 
> But espresso and Turkish coffee are always black.
> 
> No sugar ever, no matter what kind of coffee.
> 
> Edit: Wait, sometimes I'll have what is called in the north of Portugal a "meia de leite" which is half espresso, half steamed milk. But that's not too often because the yahoos in this country can't get the concept of "less" through their heads. 2 shots of espresso, the equivalent in steamed milk. "No, I don't want more milk or a bigger size, thank you. Oh great, look at that, it's a bigger cup filled with mostly milk! Thanks ever so )^#*%* much for ignoring what I asked you for, you (*^)*)$%)."
Click to expand...

Milk?.......MILK?...........Leonore, you are to hard core coffee drinks as this guy is to the Hells Angles.......






Milk goes in TEA!!!!  Irish Whiskey goes in coffee if you don't drink it black!


----------



## snowbear

JacaRanda said:


> Anyone bold enough to post a little video of yourself singing a verse or two?



Oh, HE!! no.  Not even lip-syncing.


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Try this:  World s Strongest Coffee
> No milk though.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm...
> 
> Again on the record, I put milk into coffee made with the French press. When I'm out of the house and have to drink coffee from a drip or Keurig machine, or the occasional iced coffee from Starbucks, I again prefer to add milk.
> 
> But espresso and Turkish coffee are always black.
> 
> No sugar ever, no matter what kind of coffee.
> 
> Edit: Wait, sometimes I'll have what is called in the north of Portugal a "meia de leite" which is half espresso, half steamed milk. But that's not too often because the yahoos in this country can't get the concept of "less" through their heads. 2 shots of espresso, the equivalent in steamed milk. "No, I don't want more milk or a bigger size, thank you. Oh great, look at that, it's a bigger cup filled with mostly milk! Thanks ever so )^#*%* much for ignoring what I asked you for, you (*^)*)$%)."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Milk?.......MILK?...........Leonore, you are to hard core coffee drinks as this guy is to the Hells Angles.......
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Milk goes in TEA!!!!  Irish Whiskey goes in coffee if you don't drink it black!
Click to expand...


Yeah, yeah, pipe down. The idea of there being only one acceptable way for "hard-core" coffee drinkers to have their coffee is way too much bluster for me to take after a day at work.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Try this:  World s Strongest Coffee
> No milk though.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm...
> 
> Again on the record, I put milk into coffee made with the French press. When I'm out of the house and have to drink coffee from a drip or Keurig machine, or the occasional iced coffee from Starbucks, I again prefer to add milk.
> 
> But espresso and Turkish coffee are always black.
> 
> No sugar ever, no matter what kind of coffee.
> 
> Edit: Wait, sometimes I'll have what is called in the north of Portugal a "meia de leite" which is half espresso, half steamed milk. But that's not too often because the yahoos in this country can't get the concept of "less" through their heads. 2 shots of espresso, the equivalent in steamed milk. "No, I don't want more milk or a bigger size, thank you. Oh great, look at that, it's a bigger cup filled with mostly milk! Thanks ever so )^#*%* much for ignoring what I asked you for, you (*^)*)$%)."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Milk?.......MILK?...........Leonore, you are to hard core coffee drinks as this guy is to the Hells Angles.......
> 
> Milk goes in TEA!!!!  Irish Whiskey goes in coffee if you don't drink it black!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, yeah, pipe down. The idea of there being only one acceptable way for "hard-core" coffee drinkers to have their coffee is way too much bluster for me to take after a day at work.
Click to expand...


I'm sitting here having my first cup of coffee. It has CREAM in it. AND...a spot of sugar. Just a bit.
Anyone who thinks that makes it not coffee can just kiss my grits. 

Sometimes I buy really good, fresh coffee and then I'll drink it black, or at least without the sugar.  But most of the time, I'm just too cheap; I buy cheap but "decent" coffee and I doctor it.  And I don't really care if the coffee-must-be-black crowd likes it or not.

I *will* drink it black, if it is either really super-good coffee, or if there is no creamer available. The sugar really can stay or go anyway.


----------



## sm4him

I took a mental health day yesterday. Just put the top down on the convertible and started driving.  I'd originally planned to go to a couple of small, old towns and just poke around and I kinda wish I'd stuck with that plan, but it seemed like it would be more fun if someone else was with me.
Instead, I went to my favorite Osprey spot a couple of hours south; there was NO sign of the Ospreys. I knew the babies would have fledged by now, but had hoped they'd be fishing in the area. No such luck. That means I didn't get to watch my favorite Ospreys at all this year (well, I think I did go once, just a few weeks after they'd returned in the spring).
Then I drove to another wildlife refuge. I didn't really expect anything there--it's great for shorebirds and Great Egrets at very specific times of the year, but otherwise, it tends to be tough to find much there.
I did see a few Eastern Kingbirds, and got a photo of one bird I'll have to work on ID. I suspect it's a female Blue Grosbeak or Blue Bunting.  Drove home on back roads, which took longer than the interstate, but was a much nicer drive, stopped at a little diner for dinner.
All in all, not much to show for the day in terms of pictures, but it was nice to just be out enjoying the sunshine.

The downside is that now today is my Monday AND I have one of our hateful, awful, time-sucking department meetings at 10 a.m. today.  Just the thought of it makes me need another mental health day.


----------



## oldhippy

Good morning swillers of the elixir.  
Met a guy tHis morning, ask him his name.  He said Buzz.


----------



## table1349

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Try this:  World s Strongest Coffee
> No milk though.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm...
> 
> Again on the record, I put milk into coffee made with the French press. When I'm out of the house and have to drink coffee from a drip or Keurig machine, or the occasional iced coffee from Starbucks, I again prefer to add milk.
> 
> But espresso and Turkish coffee are always black.
> 
> No sugar ever, no matter what kind of coffee.
> 
> Edit: Wait, sometimes I'll have what is called in the north of Portugal a "meia de leite" which is half espresso, half steamed milk. But that's not too often because the yahoos in this country can't get the concept of "less" through their heads. 2 shots of espresso, the equivalent in steamed milk. "No, I don't want more milk or a bigger size, thank you. Oh great, look at that, it's a bigger cup filled with mostly milk! Thanks ever so )^#*%* much for ignoring what I asked you for, you (*^)*)$%)."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Milk?.......MILK?...........Leonore, you are to hard core coffee drinks as this guy is to the Hells Angles.......
> 
> Milk goes in TEA!!!!  Irish Whiskey goes in coffee if you don't drink it black!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, yeah, pipe down. The idea of there being only one acceptable way for "hard-core" coffee drinkers to have their coffee is way too much bluster for me to take after a day at work.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm sitting here having my first cup of coffee. It has CREAM in it. AND...a spot of sugar. Just a bit.
> Anyone who thinks that makes it not coffee can just kiss my grits.
> 
> Sometimes I buy really good, fresh coffee and then I'll drink it black, or at least without the sugar.  But most of the time, I'm just too cheap; I buy cheap but "decent" coffee and I doctor it.  And I don't really care if the coffee-must-be-black crowd likes it or not.
> 
> I *will* drink it black, if it is either really super-good coffee, or if there is no creamer available. The sugar really can stay or go anyway.
Click to expand...

Man has spent hundreds of years striving to get the perfect roast on the precious delicate coffee bean, in an effort to produce the perfect cup of coffee only to have all of that hard work, sweat, tears, sleepless nights pondering how to impove the coffee, the tireless toils in a hot roasting room, wifes missing husbands, children crying for their daddy, who continues his work for the good of all humanity.  And then you put MILK in it?  The pain, dare I say the humanity of it all. 

Did Leonardo De Vinci paint the Mona Lisa so it could be put on the comic pages???  Did Vincent van Gogh cut off his ear just because it itched???

Milk or cream in coffee is like wearing a stripped shirt with plaid pants. 





The Shame oh the shame of it all.  I weep for the human race and it's future existence. 

 So is any of this B.S. working???


----------



## sm4him

gryphonslair99 said:


> Milk or cream in coffee is like wearing a stripped shirt with plaid pants.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Shame oh the shame of it all.  I weep for the human race and it's future existence.
> 
> So is any of this B.S. working???



^Well, according to my sister, when I was younger, I was known to do THAT a few times too. Or flowers with stripes.  

And, no, none of it is working. Well, that's not entirely true. It DID have some effect on me. It made me want another cup of coffee. With cream and sugar.


----------



## table1349

sm4him said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Milk or cream in coffee is like wearing a stripped shirt with plaid pants.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Shame oh the shame of it all.  I weep for the human race and it's future existence.
> 
> So is any of this B.S. working???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ^Well, according to my sister, when I was younger, I was known to do THAT a few times too. Or flowers with stripes.
> 
> And, no, none of it is working. Well, that's not entirely true. It DID have some effect on me. It made me want another cup of coffee. With cream and sugar.
Click to expand...

Good enough, enjoy.

For the record, which one of the Brady Kids were you trying to be?




Marsha......Marsha.......Marsha!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Morning all. Going to my volunteer gig at Cape Cod Canal this morn.
Today is Canal Kids program. 28-32 kids for 2 hours. Today is 'What floats your boat' presentation about density, shape, cold vs hot water etc. 
We will be outside, a little overcast but temp should be bearable.


----------



## waday

NancyMoranG said:


> Morning all. Going to my volunteer gig at Cape Cod Canal this morn.
> Today is Canal Kids program. 28-32 kids for 2 hours. Today is 'What floats your boat' presentation about density, shape, cold vs hot water etc.
> We will be outside, a little overcast but temp should be bearable.


That sounds like fun! I'm all for kids learning more about science and engineering!


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> I took a mental health day yesterday. Just put the top down on the convertible and started driving.



Were you singing "had a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack, I went out for a ride and never went back?"


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I took a mental health day yesterday. Just put the top down on the convertible and started driving.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Were you singing "had a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack, I went out for a ride and never went back?"
Click to expand...



Actually, I was singing, "I put on my weekend clothes, turn on the rock 'n' roll. Throw all my cares away, cause it's a ragtop day, it's a ragtop day."


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Sitting here sifting through work I'm supposed to handle for someone who is on leave who apparently wasn't doing much even prior to going on leave.

My mood isn't improved by the start of the first real heat wave here.  They call any three consecutive days with a high >90 a heat wave, and we've had a few of those, but now we're into what promises to be well over a week, with some >95 thrown in - that's a real heat wave, at least around here.

Well, as a sign outside a coffee shop in the city says: "coffee solves everything."  I can't believe we're actually arguing the "real" way to drink coffee on here.  Coffee is one of those things that everyone has to figure out for themselves.


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> I can't believe we're actually arguing the "real" way to drink coffee on here.  *Coffee is one of those things that everyone has to figure out for themselves.*



Exactly!
HOW you drink your coffee isn't really the critical issue: THAT you drink coffee, that's the important thing!


----------



## otherprof

snerd said:


> Morning hosers! Just back from getting PICC iv line dressing changed. Dumping a bag of antibiotics through it now, then I have to drive up to OKC to get stitches out of surgery wounds, 8 in front, long wound and I think 3 or 4 over 2 small holes in back of shoulder. Not sure because I can't reach or see that area.
> 
> Oh! I don't understand coffee "recipes". You brew it, pour it in  a cup, and drink it. What possible "recipes" could there be for coffee?!


I'd make some iced coffee, but I've misplaced my ice recipe . . .


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.



oldhippy said:


> Good morning swillers of the elixir.
> Met a guy tHis morning, ask him his name.  He said Buzz.
> View attachment 105628



Awww 

D'know, bees have something to do with how Buzz got his nickname. Twenty-some years ago, he bought a 1974 BMW 2002 and restored it himself. Still has it. It's painted a very bright yellow and has a black interior, so his friends started calling it the Bumblebee. The car also has a rather distinctive sound, so it was my brother who started using the name "Buzz" to refer to my boyfriend.

Now I have to find a picture of the Bumblebee.



sm4him said:


> And, no, none of it is working. Well, that's not entirely true. *It DID have some effect on me. It made me want another cup of coffee.* With cream and sugar.



Yeah, pretty much  (Except for the sugar part. Just whole milk for me, no sugar.)


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't believe we're actually arguing the "real" way to drink coffee on here.  *Coffee is one of those things that everyone has to figure out for themselves.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Exactly!
> HOW you drink your coffee isn't really the critical issue: THAT you drink coffee, that's the important thing!
Click to expand...


Yes!! 

And for the record, it was not so much an argument as it was a couple of grumps yammering on about blah blah blah


----------



## JacaRanda

Buenos dias a todos.

Ready today for my redo double root canal because I think my dentist screwed up the job the endodontist did the first time.   

Oh well, at least Leonore will be posting a  video for us today   Right?


----------



## Warhorse

JacaRanda said:


> Buenos dias a todos.
> 
> Ready today for my redo double root canal because I think my dentist screwed up the job the endodontist did the first time.
> 
> Oh well, at least Leonore will be posting a  video for us today   Right?


I go to the Endodontist a week from today for my first ever root canal, these things can be screwed up by a dentist after the fact?


----------



## JacaRanda

Warhorse said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos dias a todos.
> 
> Ready today for my redo double root canal because I think my dentist screwed up the job the endodontist did the first time.
> 
> Oh well, at least Leonore will be posting a  video for us today   Right?
> 
> 
> 
> I go to the Endodontist a week from today for my first ever root canal, these things can be screwed up by a dentist after the fact?
Click to expand...


Yes - my situation.   After the double root canal, my Endo sent me back to the dentist to do the final or permanent fillings.  The dentist said he also needed to insert a post for stability.  
I believe during that work, the dentist broke something (x-ray after endo work showed something in one piece, x-ray after my infection came back recently, shows something in two pieces).


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, Hosers! So glad I don't have the major ailments going on in this thread... 

I'm just gonna have me some coffee and wake up. Urgh.


----------



## Gary A.

Bueno Dias Coffee Hosers. Drinking milk/cream/sugar with coffee is like putting ice in wine.

Yesterday was a female dog (apparently the 'B' word is persona non grata here)  . I was up at 2:00 a.m. in order to leave by 3:00 a.m. in order to attend a meeting in Tulare (3.5 to 4 hours away) by 7:30 a.m. Fortunately, against all my reasoning and prior experience with SoCal Edison ... it was a very good meeting. Now I gotta get ready to attend a meeting in San Diego, about two hours away.


----------



## JacaRanda

Two questions:
1)   Does anyone have this machine at work or anywhere else? IMPRESSA XS90 - USA
My company moved locations back in April.  The new location has this Jura machine and OMG, it's amazing.  The coffee it's significantly better than what we got from the Kuerig machine we had. 

2)   Do you use any special toothpaste to combat coffee stains?  I've noticed more staining since switching to the Jura machine.  The amount of coffee I drink daily has not changed.
I've always been skeptical of the whitener claims, probably because I wanted to see results after 2 or 3 brushes.    I currently use crest pro health gel and mouthwash.


----------



## sm4him

otherprof said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning hosers! Just back from getting PICC iv line dressing changed. Dumping a bag of antibiotics through it now, then I have to drive up to OKC to get stitches out of surgery wounds, 8 in front, long wound and I think 3 or 4 over 2 small holes in back of shoulder. Not sure because I can't reach or see that area.
> 
> Oh! I don't understand coffee "recipes". You brew it, pour it in  a cup, and drink it. What possible "recipes" could there be for coffee?!
> 
> 
> 
> I'd make some iced coffee, but I've misplaced my ice recipe . . .
Click to expand...



I used to work at a children's hands-on science center. We allowed members to use our classroom facility for birthday parties. They were supposed to supply all their own party. One lady had apparently forgotten the ice for the drinks. So first, she went back to our kitchen area and (without even asking), used all the ice in the freezer. That wasn't enough, so then she had the nerve to come and ask me for more ice. She said, "Where do you keep spare ice? There wasn't enough in the freezer."

My response: "Spare ice?  We keep that in the faucet."


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't believe we're actually arguing the "real" way to drink coffee on here.  *Coffee is one of those things that everyone has to figure out for themselves.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Exactly!
> HOW you drink your coffee isn't really the critical issue: THAT you drink coffee, that's the important thing!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes!!
> 
> And for the record, it was not so much an argument as it was a couple of grumps yammering on about blah blah blah
Click to expand...

Blah blah blah,  blah blah, milk, blah blah blah blah.   Blah, blah........touchy, blah blah blah blah's.  Blah blah, yada yada, blah blah blah blah blah milk.


----------



## table1349

JacaRanda said:


> Two questions:
> 1)   Does anyone have this machine at work or anywhere else? IMPRESSA XS90 - USA
> My company moved locations back in April.  The new location has this Jura machine and OMG, it's amazing.  The coffee it's significantly better than what we got from the Kuerig machine we had.
> 
> 2)   Do you use any special toothpaste to combat coffee stains?  I've noticed more staining since switching to the Jura machine.  The amount of coffee I drink daily has not changed.
> I've always been skeptical of the whitener claims, probably because I wanted to see results after 2 or 3 brushes.    I currently use crest pro health gel and mouthwash.


That is one awsome looking machine.  Just curious though, did it come with one of (NSFW) THESE?


----------



## JacaRanda

gryphonslair99 said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Two questions:
> 1)   Does anyone have this machine at work or anywhere else? IMPRESSA XS90 - USA
> My company moved locations back in April.  The new location has this Jura machine and OMG, it's amazing.  The coffee it's significantly better than what we got from the Kuerig machine we had.
> 
> 2)   Do you use any special toothpaste to combat coffee stains?  I've noticed more staining since switching to the Jura machine.  The amount of coffee I drink daily has not changed.
> I've always been skeptical of the whitener claims, probably because I wanted to see results after 2 or 3 brushes.    I currently use crest pro health gel and mouthwash.
> 
> 
> 
> That is one awsome looking machine.  Just curious though, did it come with one of (NSFW) THESE?
Click to expand...


No - and now I feel cheated and the coffee does not taste as wonderful as it did prior to your post.  Gosh Darn!


----------



## snowbear

Cream/sugar/black coffee - it's a lot like manual/aperture priority/shutter priority, isn't it?  What does it matter,m so long as you point the camera in the right directions and hit the shutter.

BTW, I've been doing some investigating and found an image of gryph getting his usual cup:
http://threadvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/latte-3.jpg


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> Cream/sugar/black coffee - it's a lot like manual/aperture priority/shutter priority, isn't it?  What does it matter,m so long as you point the camera in the right directions and hit the shutter.
> 
> BTW, I've been doing some investigating and found an image of gryph getting his usual cup:
> http://threadvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/latte-3.jpg


Sorry, you got the wrong guy.  THIS is me.


----------



## limr

JacaRanda said:


> Buenos dias a todos.
> 
> Ready today for my redo double root canal because I think my dentist screwed up the job the endodontist did the first time.
> 
> Oh well, at least Leonore will be posting a  video for us today   Right?



Ugh! Sorry about the impending dental work  It's always in the back of my mind that something is going to happen to one of my root canals.

Oh and sorry about the NO PLANS to post a video of my singing   I will post a rockin' video just for you, though! 








Gary A. said:


> Bueno Dias Coffee Hosers. Drinking milk/cream/sugar with coffee is like putting ice in wine.
> 
> Yesterday was a female dog (apparently the 'B' word is persona non grata here)  . I was up at 2:00 a.m. in order to leave by 3:00 a.m. in order to attend a meeting in Tulare (3.5 to 4 hours away) by 7:30 a.m. Fortunately, against all my reasoning and prior experience with SoCal Edison ... it was a very good meeting. Now I gotta get ready to attend a meeting in San Diego, about two hours away.



You can always say beeyotch


----------



## JacaRanda

limr said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos dias a todos.
> 
> Ready today for my redo double root canal because I think my dentist screwed up the job the endodontist did the first time.
> 
> Oh well, at least Leonore will be posting a  video for us today   Right?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh! Sorry about the impending dental work  It's always in the back of my mind that something is going to happen to one of my root canals.
> 
> Oh and sorry about the NO PLANS to post a video of my singing   I will post a rockin' video just for you, though!
Click to expand...


Fun song, impossible to sit still while listening to it.  Took me back to my high school days.


----------



## table1349

JacaRanda said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Two questions:
> 1)   Does anyone have this machine at work or anywhere else? IMPRESSA XS90 - USA
> My company moved locations back in April.  The new location has this Jura machine and OMG, it's amazing.  The coffee it's significantly better than what we got from the Kuerig machine we had.
> 
> 2)   Do you use any special toothpaste to combat coffee stains?  I've noticed more staining since switching to the Jura machine.  The amount of coffee I drink daily has not changed.
> I've always been skeptical of the whitener claims, probably because I wanted to see results after 2 or 3 brushes.    I currently use crest pro health gel and mouthwash.
> 
> 
> 
> That is one awsome looking machine.  Just curious though, did it come with one of (NSFW) THESE?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No - and now I feel cheated and the coffee does not taste as wonderful as it did prior to your post.  Gosh Darn!
Click to expand...

Sorry, didn't mean to make you feel cheated.  I just know that the day just seems a little bit "perkier" if you get the accessory pack to go with the machine.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> You can always say beeyotch


or b!tc#.


----------



## snerd

gryphonslair99 said:


> .............. did it come with one of (NSFW) THESE?



Giggity!!


----------



## table1349

snerd said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> .............. did it come with one of (NSFW) THESE?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Giggity!!
Click to expand...

If Giggity translates into_ "she could serve me a coffee cup with only milk and sugar in it and I would drink it"_ then you are correct my friend. Giggity!!!


----------



## Designer

JacaRanda said:


> Does anyone have this machine at work or anywhere else? IMPRESSA XS90 - USA.


That sounds like it ought to be a car.


----------



## JacaRanda

Designer said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does anyone have this machine at work or anywhere else? IMPRESSA XS90 - USA.
> 
> 
> 
> That sounds like it ought to be a car.
Click to expand...

For that price you should be able to ride or drive or make international calls from it.  Something.


----------



## Gary A.

Finally back from San Diego. I am so tired. The salmon flip on the George Foreman.


----------



## Gary A.

A spot of Seaglass Chardonnay.


----------



## Gary A.

Fini


----------



## Warhorse

JacaRanda said:


> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos dias a todos.
> 
> Ready today for my redo double root canal because I think my dentist screwed up the job the endodontist did the first time.
> 
> Oh well, at least Leonore will be posting a  video for us today   Right?
> 
> 
> 
> I go to the Endodontist a week from today for my first ever root canal, these things can be screwed up by a dentist after the fact?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes - my situation.   After the double root canal, my Endo sent me back to the dentist to do the final or permanent fillings.  The dentist said he also needed to insert a post for stability.
> I believe during that work, the dentist broke something (x-ray after endo work showed something in one piece, x-ray after my infection came back recently, shows something in two pieces).
Click to expand...

Dayum! 

That's some bad luck right there, hope this fix today works for you.


----------



## JacaRanda

Warhorse said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos dias a todos.
> 
> Ready today for my redo double root canal because I think my dentist screwed up the job the endodontist did the first time.
> 
> Oh well, at least Leonore will be posting a  video for us today   Right?
> 
> 
> 
> I go to the Endodontist a week from today for my first ever root canal, these things can be screwed up by a dentist after the fact?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes - my situation.   After the double root canal, my Endo sent me back to the dentist to do the final or permanent fillings.  The dentist said he also needed to insert a post for stability.
> I believe during that work, the dentist broke something (x-ray after endo work showed something in one piece, x-ray after my infection came back recently, shows something in two pieces).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Dayum!
> 
> That's some bad luck right there, hope this fix today works for you.
Click to expand...

Thank you.  Today was not nearly as bad.  He only had to do one tooth this time. Really the worst part was the numbing because the injection was directly in the sensitive area where I probably have bone loss.


----------



## Gary A.

Watermelon for dessert.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Watermelon for dessert.


 
Turkish watermelon salad: chunks of watermelon mixed with cubes of "white cheese" (i.e. feta. I suggest a relatively mild creamy cow's milk variety). Toss with mint leaves and a sprinkle of olive oil. Soooooo delish!


----------



## Gary A.

That reads delishly delightful. I'll try it. I'll sprinkle it with orange and lime mint.


----------



## Fred Berg

Gary A. said:


> A spot of Seaglass Chardonnay.
> View attachment 105661



Is your garden so big that you need a GPS device to find your way around?


----------



## Gary A.

Fred Berg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> A spot of Seaglass Chardonnay.
> View attachment 105661
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is your garden so big that you need a GPS device to find your way around?
Click to expand...

LOL, I wish. I just have a lot of stuff in it. But it is a very relaxing spot ... as much a retreat as a garden.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Get this - 'In Heaven There is No Beer?' wha...??? Film short late night which I'm _not_ staying up for (at 4 in the morning how good could it be?). But since I was recording 'Hot Pepper' about zydeco music figured I'd record the polka music video too.


----------



## mmaria




----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Marija!  Well, actually, "Good afternoon" for you.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Good morning, Marija!  Well, actually, "Good afternoon" for you.


Good morning Charlie!!!

It's a busy day here... actually busy *days *here...

my brain wants some rest!!!!


----------



## snowbear

Being busy is usually better than having nothing to do.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers! Afternoon Marija!

Just another minute or two for the coffee in the French press to finish brewing. My mind has been on the Fall semester that is coming up. My section of Intro to Linguistics is, I've been told, pretty much guaranteed to not run. It wasn't even listed in the Fall courses because they wouldn't open it to students until the first section was filled. It's still early, but the first section only has 10 students. The cap is 32. My boss, who teaches the first section, says one semester, it hit 29. He fought the decision of the Dean to hold my class until his was filled, but they insisted for whatever reason.

So, it'll have to wait until another semester. My boss is really trying to get the class to gain some steam so the second course can reliably run. He's also developing a Structures of English class that I could teach when he doesn't. So there may be more opportunities for me. I'm kind of bummed about this Fall - so close! - but I also was realistic right from the start and expected it not to run. Nothing is official yet, but in a conversation I recently had with him, it was agreed that I should try to find a different third class for my schedule.

The good news is that I just got one! Whew! Breathing easier now. I'll be teaching Eng 101 for the first time since 2012. And I've somehow managed to cluster all my classes on Tues and Thurs. Now I'll see if I can lump all my support center admin hours on Wednesday and I'll have me a three-day week! (Well, three days of having to drive to campus. Teaching work, of course, goes far beyond my classroom hours.)


----------



## mmaria

niceeeeeeeeeeeeee Leo!!!


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Being busy is usually better than having nothing to do.


but one always have something to do!!!


but on the other hand ... right now I wish I could just lay on the couch and not having to do anything. 

It's tooo hot!!!!


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> It's tooo hot!!!!


I know what you mean - it's only 72° F (22° C) at the moment, but we are expecting to get to 87° F (30.5° C).  The humidity is currently 95%.


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## mmaria

well, it's certainly better than yesterday and these past days here, but still... too hot to be in the office without air condition!!






and I'm officially
http://data:image/jpeg;base64,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 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




can't think anymore!!!

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## snowbear

mmaria said:


> too hot to be in the office without air condition!!http://data:image/jpeg;base64,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


Ouch.  My boss tells us to go home when that happens.

I know what I would do at home, when it's like that, but I guess you have to keep all of your clothes on when you're at the office.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> too hot to be in the office without air condition!!http://data:image/jpeg;base64,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
> 
> 
> 
> Ouch.  My boss tells us to go home when that happens.
Click to expand...

well, some municipalities work with shortened hours because of the heat.. Lately it was 104F here.. but we have to work full hours!!! people are sweaty and swollen and can barely breath... but still, we have to work!



snowbear said:


> I know what I would do at home, when it's like that, but I guess you have to keep all of your clothes on when you're at the office.


LOL!


----------



## mmaria

@limr  and maybe @sm4him  will understand

I officially can't take it anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOD!!!!

SHE'S YAWNING FOR WHO KNOWS WHAT NUMBER OF TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!!! CONSTANTLY!!!!

SHE YAWNED ABOUT FIVE TIMES WHILE I WAS WRITING THIS!!

WHEN SHE YAWNS SHE SAYS SOMETHING LIKE "YAOUH YOUAH" IDK

CAN'T TAKE IT!!!! CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!

STUPID STUPID MISO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## mmaria

OH AND SHE SNIFFLES AND CLEAR HER THROAT  ALL THE TIME, AND SHE WOULD GO "OH.... AAAAH... OOOOH.... AAAH"

AND NOW SHE'S COMPLAINING TO ME HOW TIRED SHE IS!!!



I.....JUST......CAN'T!!!


wish I could cry!


----------



## table1349

A little coffee humor to start the day:  Herman Comic Strip on GoComics.com


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> OH AND SHE SNIFFLES AND CLEAR HER THROAT  ALL THE TIME, AND SHE WOULD GO "OH.... AAAAH... OOOOH.... AAAH"
> 
> AND NOW SHE'S COMPLAINING TO ME HOW TIRED SHE IS!!!
> 
> 
> 
> I.....JUST......CAN'T!!!
> 
> 
> wish I could cry!



 

Would they let you use white noise and would it help? I know you can't really use headphones.
SimplyNoise -- The Best Free White Noise Generator on the Internet.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers! Hiding from the heat at home today.  It's actually hotter here than what others have complained about - must be that I'm in an outlying province of Hell because it's supposed to be 95 and humid today.  Not that it's unprecedented for Philly in late July, but it's been a little cooler most of the month so now I'm spoiled.

Well, at any rate, just sitting here having coffee and a brownie and deciding just how much work I really want to do.  I sent messages to several people yesterday asking for information or decisions, but no feedback yet, so I suppose I'll just have to start something new which will then be interrupted by the stuff I was waiting for.


----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


> @limr  and maybe @sm4him  will understand
> 
> I officially can't take it anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> GOD!!!!
> 
> SHE'S YAWNING FOR WHO KNOWS WHAT NUMBER OF TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!!! CONSTANTLY!!!!
> 
> SHE YAWNED ABOUT FIVE TIMES WHILE I WAS WRITING THIS!!
> 
> WHEN SHE YAWNS SHE SAYS SOMETHING LIKE "YAOUH YOUAH" IDK
> 
> CAN'T TAKE IT!!!! CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!
> 
> STUPID STUPID MISO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



There are times when acts of rage should be completely justifiable. Why is it that THEY can do THAT stuff ^^ and WE can't go into a screaming hissy fit and slam doors and yell at them to stop before we hurt them?


----------



## otherprof

mmaria said:


> OH AND SHE SNIFFLES AND CLEAR HER THROAT  ALL THE TIME, AND SHE WOULD GO "OH.... AAAAH... OOOOH.... AAAH"
> 
> AND NOW SHE'S COMPLAINING TO ME HOW TIRED SHE IS!!!
> 
> 
> 
> I.....JUST......CAN'T!!!
> 
> 
> wish I could cry!


Old joke: Little old man shares a railway compartment with another man. Old man keeps repeating , "I'm _so_ thirsty! I'm _so_ thirsty!" This is driving the other man crazy. At the next station, he jumps off the train, rushes to get a bottle of water, jumps back on the train just as the doors are closing, and gives the old fellow the bottle of water. The old man thanks him, drinks half the bottle, and smiles. Then he starts repeating, "I was _so_ thirsty! I was _so_ thirsty!"


----------



## table1349

mmaria said:


> OH AND SHE SNIFFLES AND CLEAR HER THROAT  ALL THE TIME, AND SHE WOULD GO "OH.... AAAAH... OOOOH.... AAAH"
> 
> AND NOW SHE'S COMPLAINING TO ME HOW TIRED SHE IS!!!
> 
> 
> 
> I.....JUST......CAN'T!!!
> 
> 
> wish I could cry!


Psssssssssssssst.............Maria...........hey Maria.......................I have a gun that can't be traced.
Meet me under the lamp post at 65th & Broadway at midnight.  Bring small bills.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. This place has gotten a wee bit violent overnight... sheesh.

I'm so glad I don't have misophonia... I have enough problems the way it is 

Cup number 2. My mom's coming here today. I'm so thrilled... not. Haven't seen her in nearly a year and that's not long enough. She was/is emotionally abusive and really isn't welcome here, but she's showing up anyway. She's got some form of mental illness that she refuses to acknowledge because "People with mental illnesses are an embarrassment to her family" (real quote). It's got to be schizophrenia or worse, since she literally worries about listening devices, the government coming after her, yadda yadda yadda.


----------



## table1349

minicoop1985 said:


> Morning, hosers. This place has gotten a wee bit violent overnight... sheesh.
> 
> I'm so glad I don't have misophonia... I have enough problems the way it is
> 
> Cup number 2. My mom's coming here today. I'm so thrilled... not. Haven't seen her in nearly a year and that's not long enough. She was/is emotionally abusive and really isn't welcome here, but she's showing up anyway. She's got some form of mental illness that she refuses to acknowledge because "People with mental illnesses are an embarrassment to her family" (real quote). It's got to be schizophrenia or worse, since she literally worries about listening devices, the government coming after her, yadda yadda yadda.


Thanks coop, i would call you mini but I didn't know if that would be insulting or not, for the word misophonia.  New one to me and my granddaddy taught me that if I learned one new thing everyday no matter what it was then the day was not wasted. 

Now I can just go about my day and any new learning will just be gravy.  I was going to say cream in my coffee, but coffee should be taken black.  Sorry leonore, I the devil made  me do it.


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> Thanks coop...for the word *misoponia*.  New one to me and my granddaddy taught me that if I learned one new thing everyday no matter what it was then the day was not wasted.



After all the times either Marija or I have talked about this, you're only now learning that word? MisopHonia.

It's a real thing: 
What Is Misophonia 

Misophonia is a newly identified condition for people hypersensitive to sound - The Washington Post

Frontiers Misophonia physiological investigations and case descriptions Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/23/please-stop-making-that-noise/?_r=0

Misophonia Online In Search of A Cure What is Misophonia What is Misophonia Misophonia Online Support Misophonia Support


----------



## Designer

Whaszatt??? I can't hear you.  I've got bananas in my ears.


----------



## Designer

I would like to write about how my misophonia affects me and what sounds I am sensitive to.

I get progressively irritated and it eventually ends in fairly noticeable action on my part.  I will sometimes begin yelling, or begin losing patience with what I'm doing, or sometimes I can find and eliminate the source.

One regular noise is the fan rattle coming from my wife's night-time fan noise.  Just whirring is not so bad, but occasionally the fan creeps over to some object and begins to rattle.  Not a rhythmic rattle, but one that changes tempo and pitch at random.  Since I am the only one in the room who is bothered by it, or even notices it, I will have to get up, walk around to the other side of the bed and move the damned fan. 

Another type of noise is the background (not always music, in my book) noise that accompanies TV commercials.  It is not the announcer, nor actors' voices, but the stupid background noise that presumably is there to entice people to look at the TV.  We have been muting commercials for years, but occasionally someone else has the remote or my hands are in food, and I can't always get to the mute button.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks coop...for the word *misoponia*.  New one to me and my granddaddy taught me that if I learned one new thing everyday no matter what it was then the day was not wasted.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After all the times either Marija or I have talked about this, you're only now learning that word? MisopHonia.
> 
> It's a real thing:
> What Is Misophonia
> 
> Misophonia is a newly identified condition for people hypersensitive to sound - The Washington Post
> 
> Frontiers Misophonia physiological investigations and case descriptions Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
> 
> http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/23/please-stop-making-that-noise/?_r=0
> 
> Misophonia Online In Search of A Cure What is Misophonia What is Misophonia Misophonia Online Support Misophonia Support
Click to expand...

Yuppers,   I am not senitive much to things like sounds etc.  well with the exception to milk in my coffee. 

Besides, when you two discussed it I thought it might be one of them there, as they used to say in polite society when I was growing up, "women's ailments."  I was taught never to ask a woman about their ailments because it was impolite as it might be a personal thing.    Kinka like asking their age only worse.


----------



## table1349

Designer said:


> Whaszatt??? I can't hear you.  I've got bananas in my ears.


Well I suppose it could have been worse....


----------



## Designer

gryphonslair99 said:


> Well I suppose it could have been worse....


Oh, yeah, lots worse!  Getting those beans back out of your ears is not easy.


----------



## table1349

Designer said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well I suppose it could have been worse....
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, yeah, lots worse!  Getting those beans back out of your ears is not easy.
Click to expand...

Probably a lot easier than getting a marble out of your nose.  Don't ask, it wasn't me, but don't ask.


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> Besides, when you two discussed it I thought it might be one of them there, as they used to say in polite society when I was growing up, "women's ailments."  I was taught never to ask a woman about their ailments because it was impolite as it might be a personal thing.    Kinka like asking their age only worse.



No doubt caused by the vapors or hysteria.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Besides, when you two discussed it I thought it might be one of them there, as they used to say in polite society when I was growing up, "women's ailments."  I was taught never to ask a woman about their ailments because it was impolite as it might be a personal thing.    Kinka like asking their age only worse.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No doubt caused by the vapors or hysteria.
Click to expand...

Yep, I was taught that those were also "womens ailments."  I'm hopping that you don't suffer from either.  They would making teaching just that much harder than it already is.


----------



## limr

Nah, just an intense aversion to bullsh1t.


----------



## limr

I'm bored.


----------



## table1349




----------



## waday

limr said:


> I'm bored.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> I'm bored.


Will this help?.......................................


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> I'm bored.



The Internet is a wonderful, wonderful place.



For pr0n.

I need to find that sketch somewhere.


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm bored.
> 
> 
> 
> Will this help?.......................................
Click to expand...


Meh, for about half a second.




Dog days crop by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## limr

About one more hour for today, then two days next week, and I'll be done with this job.


----------



## snerd

Howdy hosers. It was 104 degrees in the shade here yesterday. I know, because I was in it! Out flying my drone, it was so hot the screen on my iPhone 6+ started dimming until I could hardly see it. So I pulled out the iPad Air 2 and it performed great as usual. Snacking on apple slices and peanut butter (extra crunchy) at the moment. Indulged in 3 cups of coffee earlier this morning. Hope you all get out of your Funk soon!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> Howdy hosers. *It was 104 degrees in the shade here yesterday. I know, because I was in it! *



You be cray, son!

I miss Maine.



Rowboat 1 by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Howdy hosers. *It was 104 degrees in the shade here yesterday. I know, because I was in it! *
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You be cray, son!
Click to expand...

I got a better tan than boo hoo Boehner!!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> I got a better tan than boo hoo Boehner!!



Um...what?


----------



## snowbear

My homemade chicken & andouille jambalaya for dinner! Wooohooo!


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> I got a better tan than boo hoo Boehner!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Um...what?
Click to expand...

The Speaker of the House lol!






Disregard political statement. This pic cracked me up the most lol!!


----------



## limr

Well, I know who Boehner is, I just didn't understand the comment that you had a better tan than him. Does he go tanning or something? Sorry


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Well, I know who Boehner is, I just didn't understand the comment that you had a better tan than him. Does he go tanning or something? Sorry


He's well-known for his dark tan, from golfing so much.


----------



## Derrel

He sure LOOKS like he tans...a lot!


----------



## Designer

Maybe some people are just naturally tanned.  Does George Hamilton work at it?


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Maybe some people are just naturally tanned.  Does George Hamilton work at it?



See, THAT reference I understand!


----------



## minicoop1985

Boo hoo Boehner... LOL


----------



## EIngerson

Some nice relaxation on my lunch break today with a Venti Iced Americano….lol






OSide-3 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## medic2230

Hi folks. 

This a private club or anyone invited?


----------



## Gary A.

medic2230 said:


> Hi folks.
> 
> This a private club or anyone invited?


Who wants to know?   Joking, all are welcomed. 

Welcomed to the Coffee House.


----------



## EIngerson

medic2230 said:


> Hi folks.
> 
> This a private club or anyone invited?



Welcome!


----------



## medic2230

Thanks guys! 

What's going on tonight? Day I guess for you Eric.


----------



## EIngerson

medic2230 said:


> Thanks guys!
> 
> What's going on tonight? Day I guess for you Eric.




lol, I'm in San Diego now. Just haven't updated my stuff yet. Not much though. Just hanging out at the new house waiting on my stuff to arrive from Japan.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> OH AND SHE SNIFFLES AND CLEAR HER THROAT  ALL THE TIME, AND SHE WOULD GO "OH.... AAAAH... OOOOH.... AAAH"
> 
> AND NOW SHE'S COMPLAINING TO ME HOW TIRED SHE IS!!!
> 
> 
> 
> I.....JUST......CAN'T!!!
> 
> 
> wish I could cry!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Would they let you use white noise and would it help? I know you can't really use headphones.
> SimplyNoise -- The Best Free White Noise Generator on the Internet.
Click to expand...

Actually, I have one headphones here, but because I'm so busy and talk with lots of people during the day  I didn't use them.

Unfortunately, white, pink, brown noise aren't the option for me. Can't stand them.

Right now, my headphones are in my ears and I listen some jazz. We'll see how long I'll be able to listen because music is also a trigger after a while


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> There are times when acts of rage should be completely justifiable. Why is it that THEY can do THAT stuff ^^ and WE can't go into a screaming hissy fit and slam doors and yell at them to stop before we hurt them?




AGREE THOUSANDS OF TIMES!!!


----------



## mmaria

gryphonslair99 said:


> Psssssssssssssst.............Maria...........hey Maria.......................I have a gun that can't be traced.
> Meet me under the lamp post at 65th & Broadway at midnight.  Bring small bills.


I'm definitely there!

Thank you for your help and discretion


----------



## mmaria

otherprof said:


> Old joke: Little old man shares a railway compartment with another man. Old man keeps repeating , "I'm _so_ thirsty! I'm _so_ thirsty!" This is driving the other man crazy. At the next station, he jumps off the train, rushes to get a bottle of water, jumps back on the train just as the doors are closing, and gives the old fellow the bottle of water. The old man thanks him, drinks half the bottle, and smiles. Then he starts repeating, "I was _so_ thirsty! I was _so_ thirsty!"


o h    G o d !!!

he's on my list!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks coop...for the word *misoponia*.  New one to me and my granddaddy taught me that if I learned one new thing everyday no matter what it was then the day was not wasted.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After all the times either Marija or I have talked about this, you're only now learning that word? MisopHonia.
> 
> It's a real thing:
> What Is Misophonia
> 
> Misophonia is a newly identified condition for people hypersensitive to sound - The Washington Post
> 
> Frontiers Misophonia physiological investigations and case descriptions Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
> 
> http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/23/please-stop-making-that-noise/?_r=0
> 
> Misophonia Online In Search of A Cure What is Misophonia What is Misophonia Misophonia Online Support Misophonia Support
Click to expand...

hey I didn't know about these links


----------



## medic2230

EIngerson said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks guys!
> 
> What's going on tonight? Day I guess for you Eric.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> lol, I'm in San Diego now. Just haven't updated my stuff yet. Not much though. Just hanging out at the new house waiting on my stuff to arrive from Japan.
Click to expand...


Bet that was pretty awesome being in Japan. I'd love to go there one day.


----------



## mmaria

Designer said:


> I would like to write about how my misophonia affects me and what sounds I am sensitive to.
> 
> I get progressively irritated and it eventually ends in fairly noticeable action on my part.  I will sometimes begin yelling, or begin losing patience with what I'm doing, or sometimes I can find and eliminate the source.
> 
> One regular noise is the fan rattle coming from my wife's night-time fan noise.  Just whirring is not so bad, but occasionally the fan creeps over to some object and begins to rattle.  Not a rhythmic rattle, but one that changes tempo and pitch at random.  Since I am the only one in the room who is bothered by it, or even notices it, I will have to get up, walk around to the other side of the bed and move the damned fan.
> 
> Another type of noise is the background (not always music, in my book) noise that accompanies TV commercials.  It is not the announcer, nor actors' voices, but the stupid background noise that presumably is there to entice people to look at the TV.  We have been muting commercials for years, but occasionally someone else has the remote or my hands are in food, and I can't always get to the mute button.


it seems you're one of us


----------



## mmaria

minicoop1985 said:


> Morning, hosers. This place has gotten a wee bit violent overnight... sheesh.
> 
> I'm so glad I don't have misophonia... I have enough problems the way it is
> 
> Cup number 2. My mom's coming here today. I'm so thrilled... not. Haven't seen her in nearly a year and that's not long enough. She was/is emotionally abusive and really isn't welcome here, but she's showing up anyway. She's got some form of mental illness that she refuses to acknowledge because "People with mental illnesses are an embarrassment to her family" (real quote). It's got to be schizophrenia or worse, since she literally worries about listening devices, the government coming after her, yadda yadda yadda.


hope you're coping


----------



## EIngerson

medic2230 said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks guys!
> 
> What's going on tonight? Day I guess for you Eric.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> lol, I'm in San Diego now. Just haven't updated my stuff yet. Not much though. Just hanging out at the new house waiting on my stuff to arrive from Japan.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Bet that was pretty awesome being in Japan. I'd love to go there one day.
Click to expand...



It was great. Lived there for almost 4 years. I highly recommend it!!!


----------



## mmaria

EIngerson said:


> Some nice relaxation on my lunch break today with a Venti Iced Americano….lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> OSide-3 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


envy


----------



## mmaria

EIngerson said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks guys!
> 
> What's going on tonight? Day I guess for you Eric.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> lol, I'm in San Diego now. Just haven't updated my stuff yet. Not much though. Just hanging out at the new house waiting on my stuff to arrive from Japan.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Bet that was pretty awesome being in Japan. I'd love to go there one day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> It was great. Lived there for almost 4 years. I highly recommend it!!!
Click to expand...

been there for a month and a half... but not sure I could actually live there...

fascinating country, fascinating culture but I could never fit in enough there


----------



## EIngerson

mmaria said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks guys!
> 
> What's going on tonight? Day I guess for you Eric.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> lol, I'm in San Diego now. Just haven't updated my stuff yet. Not much though. Just hanging out at the new house waiting on my stuff to arrive from Japan.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Bet that was pretty awesome being in Japan. I'd love to go there one day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> It was great. Lived there for almost 4 years. I highly recommend it!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> been there for a month and a half... but not sure I could actually live there...
> 
> fascinating country, fascinating culture but I could never fit in enough there
Click to expand...



Sure you could. You know they loved you there.


----------



## mmaria

EIngerson said:


> Sure you could. You know they loved you there.


well I'm loved everywhere 

but seriously...

we had a week long lectures and presentations how to behave in Japan... 

It's different when you read/hear about a certain country and when you spend some time there and meet people. A guy (from Europe) I know lives there in Tokio, have Japanese girlfriend a bit less then 10 years, have a good job... he's doing fine there but he'll  never be accepted because he's not Japanese.

Maybe it's different when you're officer (or what rank are you?)


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, Marija.  Good morning, everyone else.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Good afternoon, Marija.  Good morning, everyone else.


good afternoonmorning!!!

found something for you guys


----------



## mmaria

and just so you know...

HEADPHONES DON'T HELP! I CAN STILL HEAR HER!!! 

RIGHT NOW F.E. RIGHT NOW!!!

YAWNING AND SNIFFLING... 

since I started to write this post she did that for about 10 times!!!  now.... and now... and now... and now....

*GOD!!!!!!
*
tomorrow I'll be leaving the office and hope when I come back she will stop doing it. 

I can't even tell how many times...she's doing that all the time I'm writing this!


----------



## mmaria

*I'm out of the office! *she's not stopping!!!

How can a human being yawn and sniffle  this many times in the short period of time!!!???


----------



## waday

mmaria said:


> *I'm out of the office! *she's not stopping!!!
> 
> How can a human being yawn and sniffle  this many times in the short period of time!!!???


Maybe she needs more coffee?


----------



## limr

Good morning, hosers!



mmaria said:


> *I'm out of the office! *she's not stopping!!!
> 
> How can a human being yawn and sniffle  this many times in the short period of time!!!???



Now, you know how I absolutely know EXACTLY how you feel and sympathize with you, though all I will say right now is at least they are just yawns and sniffles. Just imagine the _other_ noises that can come out of a person...even if they haven't eaten recently...every 2-3 minutes...for hours...


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  All this talk of noisy annoying people makes me glad I have an office with a door.  I've shared offices and it can be hard to take.  The last time I had to share I actually was pretty lucky - we got along well and both were big jazz fans, so there was something to talk about when we weren't working.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> I would like to write about how my misophonia affects me and what sounds I am sensitive to.
> 
> I get progressively irritated and it eventually ends in fairly noticeable action on my part.  I will sometimes begin yelling, or begin losing patience with what I'm doing, or sometimes I can find and eliminate the source.
> 
> One regular noise is the fan rattle coming from my wife's night-time fan noise.  Just whirring is not so bad, but occasionally the fan creeps over to some object and begins to rattle.  Not a rhythmic rattle, but one that changes tempo and pitch at random.  Since I am the only one in the room who is bothered by it, or even notices it, I will have to get up, walk around to the other side of the bed and move the damned fan.
> 
> Another type of noise is the background (not always music, in my book) noise that accompanies TV commercials.  It is not the announcer, nor actors' voices, but the stupid background noise that presumably is there to entice people to look at the TV.  We have been muting commercials for years, but occasionally someone else has the remote or my hands are in food, and I can't always get to the mute button.



How did I miss this yesterday?? I guess I was too busy at work 

Those fan sounds would bother me, too, though that would only make me annoyed and not ragey like I get with the worst triggers. Like some commercials! Mostly it's the voices, but sometimes it's the song or, like you said, the background noises.



medic2230 said:


> Hi folks.
> 
> This a private club or anyone invited?



Not private at all, and open to anyone loony enough to join in!   Welcome!


----------



## mmaria

waday said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> *I'm out of the office! *she's not stopping!!!
> 
> How can a human being yawn and sniffle  this many times in the short period of time!!!???
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe she needs more coffee?
Click to expand...

she had enough of coffee!!!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Good morning, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> *I'm out of the office! *she's not stopping!!!
> 
> How can a human being yawn and sniffle  this many times in the short period of time!!!???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now, you know how I absolutely know EXACTLY how you feel and sympathize with you, though all I will say right now is at least they are just yawns and sniffles. Just imagine the _other_ noises that can come out of a person...even if they haven't eaten recently...every 2-3 minutes...for hours...
Click to expand...

I can't imagine!!!!

Oh God!


----------



## table1349

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> OH AND SHE SNIFFLES AND CLEAR HER THROAT  ALL THE TIME, AND SHE WOULD GO "OH.... AAAAH... OOOOH.... AAAH"
> 
> AND NOW SHE'S COMPLAINING TO ME HOW TIRED SHE IS!!!
> 
> 
> 
> I.....JUST......CAN'T!!!
> 
> 
> wish I could cry!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Would they let you use white noise and would it help? I know you can't really use headphones.
> SimplyNoise -- The Best Free White Noise Generator on the Internet.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Actually, I have one headphones here, but because I'm so busy and talk with lots of people during the day  I didn't use them.
> 
> Unfortunately, white, pink, brown noise aren't the option for me. Can't stand them.
> 
> Right now, my headphones are in my ears *and I listen some jazz.* We'll see how long I'll be able to listen because music is also a trigger after a while
Click to expand...

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....................Now there is a girl after my own heart.  Want to go to Monterey with me this year???  I'll buy the tickets.


----------



## mmaria

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  All this talk of noisy annoying people makes me glad I have an office with a door.  I've shared offices and it can be hard to take.  The last time I had to share I actually was pretty lucky - we got along well and both were big jazz fans, so there was something to talk about when we weren't working.


lucky you

..and I listen some jazz on my headphones... but it doesn't help


----------



## mmaria

gryphonslair99 said:


> Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....................Now there is a girl after my own heart.  Want to go to Monterey with me this year???  I'll buy the tickets.


...but if you yawn and sniffle, I'll shoot you!

just a fair warning


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would like to write about how my misophonia affects me and what sounds I am sensitive to.
> 
> I get progressively irritated and it eventually ends in fairly noticeable action on my part.  I will sometimes begin yelling, or begin losing patience with what I'm doing, or sometimes I can find and eliminate the source.
> 
> One regular noise is the fan rattle coming from my wife's night-time fan noise.  Just whirring is not so bad, but occasionally the fan creeps over to some object and begins to rattle.  Not a rhythmic rattle, but one that changes tempo and pitch at random.  Since I am the only one in the room who is bothered by it, or even notices it, I will have to get up, walk around to the other side of the bed and move the damned fan.
> 
> Another type of noise is the background (not always music, in my book) noise that accompanies TV commercials.  It is not the announcer, nor actors' voices, but the stupid background noise that presumably is there to entice people to look at the TV.  We have been muting commercials for years, but occasionally someone else has the remote or my hands are in food, and I can't always get to the mute button.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How did I miss this yesterday?? I guess I was too busy at work
> 
> Those fan sounds would bother me, too, though that would only make me annoyed and not ragey like I get with the worst triggers. Like some commercials! Mostly it's the voices, but sometimes it's the song or, like you said, the background noises.
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi folks.
> 
> This a private club or anyone invited?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not private at all, and open to anyone loony enough to join in!   Welcome!
Click to expand...

That's what happens when  you are bored.  You miss the good stuff.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Those fan sounds would bother me, too, though that would only make me annoyed and not ragey like I get with the worst triggers. Like some commercials! Mostly it's the voices, but sometimes it's the song or, like you said, the background noises.


I think it has something to do with how much control you have over the noise.  If I don't have any control, it bothers me more, and if it's something I can control, I just control it and no biggie.


----------



## table1349

mmaria said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....................Now there is a girl after my own heart.  Want to go to Monterey with me this year???  I'll buy the tickets.
> 
> 
> 
> ...but if you yawn and sniffle, I'll shoot you!
> 
> just a fair warning
Click to expand...

Not a chance, will be to busy, diggin the beat.


----------



## Designer

mmaria said:


> ..and I listen some jazz on my headphones... but it doesn't help


That has reminded me of when I had to spend hours upon hours in design studio with my classmates.  They always had on "top 40" stuff, and it drove me crazy.  CRAY-CRAY!!!!

So my solution was to bring my own music (classical and jazz) which I listened to using over-the-ear earphones.  It helped, but it also was uncomfortable after a couple of hours of wearing them.


----------



## table1349

Well this is definately a coffee day.  Current temperature 73.  Current humidity 100% with heavy falling humidity for the next 20 minutes then slacking off for at least two hours.  Dark, with lots of grumbles coming from the sky.  Not seeing any flashes but lots of long running grumbles.  

Too bad I am stuck at work.  Would be a perfect day to sit back with a good book, a big cup of coffee (black) with the dogs at my feet and the cat on my lap and read while listening to some Thelonious Monk or some Vince Guaraldi.


----------



## waday

Not sure if anyone here watched Flight of the Conchords, but I can't get this out of my head this morning:






and this one...


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Good morning, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> *I'm out of the office! *she's not stopping!!!
> 
> How can a human being yawn and sniffle  this many times in the short period of time!!!???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now, you know how I absolutely know EXACTLY how you feel and sympathize with you, though all I will say right now is at least they are just yawns and sniffles. Just imagine the _other_ noises that can come out of a person...even if they haven't eaten recently...every 2-3 minutes...for hours...
Click to expand...


I don't know. For me, ANY noise that triggers the misophonia is horrible; there's no "it could be worse" if it triggers the "make it stop before my head explodes from the urge to go postal!"

For me, MOST of the time, those bodily function noises DON'T trigger it (although I think in a case like Marija is talking about, it might), and so yes, there ARE certain bodily function noises that I find "grosser" than others. Someone who sounds like they're hacking up a hairball because they decide to clear their throat, for instance.



mmaria said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  All this talk of noisy annoying people makes me glad I have an office with a door.  I've shared offices and it can be hard to take.  The last time I had to share I actually was pretty lucky - we got along well and both were big jazz fans, so there was something to talk about when we weren't working.
> 
> 
> 
> lucky you
> 
> ..and I listen some jazz on my headphones... but it doesn't help
Click to expand...


Headphones do help for me, but then they cause different problems. For one, I have very sensitive ears and I guess maybe smaller-than-normal ear canals. I can only use the earbuds that have the very tiniest little "bud" pieces on them, and even then, after a while, they hurt my ears and I have to take them out.
The bigger problem, when I'm at work, is that most of the work I do is pretty detail-oriented and requires me to really FOCUS (which is problematic, when you have ADHD to start with!). The headphones may drown out the source of the miso, but then the music pulls my attention away from what I need to be concentrating on.

White noise can be a little better than music, but it still makes it harder for me to concentrate--I did find a cool app (called, not suprisingly "white noise") that allows you to "schedule" a bunch of different white noises to only play for a certain period of time and then it moves on to the next noise. And you can choose the noises, so you can pick the ones that work best for you. I can only put up with the same white noise for about 5 minutes before IT starts getting on my nerves just as bad as whatever I was trying to drown out.


----------



## otherprof

gryphonslair99 said:


> Well this is definately a coffee day.  Current temperature 73.  Current humidity 100% with heavy falling humidity for the next 20 minutes then slacking off for at least two hours.  Dark, with lots of grumbles coming from the sky.  Not seeing any flashes but lots of long running grumbles.
> 
> Too bad I am stuck at work.  Would be a perfect day to sit back with a good book, a big cup of coffee (black) with the dogs at my feet and the cat on my lap and read while listening to some Thelonious Monk or some Vince Guaraldi.


And now I'll be humming "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" all day, and annoying my wife.


----------



## table1349

otherprof said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well this is definately a coffee day.  Current temperature 73.  Current humidity 100% with heavy falling humidity for the next 20 minutes then slacking off for at least two hours.  Dark, with lots of grumbles coming from the sky.  Not seeing any flashes but lots of long running grumbles.
> 
> Too bad I am stuck at work.  Would be a perfect day to sit back with a good book, a big cup of coffee (black) with the dogs at my feet and the cat on my lap and read while listening to some Thelonious Monk or some Vince Guaraldi.
> 
> 
> 
> And now I'll be humming "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" all day, and annoying my wife.
Click to expand...

Just in case you need a break just play this for her.





This should give you plenty of rest and at least for me enjoyment.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> OH AND SHE SNIFFLES AND CLEAR HER THROAT  ALL THE TIME, AND SHE WOULD GO "OH.... AAAAH... OOOOH.... AAAH"
> 
> AND NOW SHE'S COMPLAINING TO ME HOW TIRED SHE IS!!!
> 
> 
> 
> I.....JUST......CAN'T!!!
> 
> 
> wish I could cry!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Would they let you use white noise and would it help? I know you can't really use headphones.
> SimplyNoise -- The Best Free White Noise Generator on the Internet.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Actually, I have one headphones here, but because I'm so busy and talk with lots of people during the day  I didn't use them.
> 
> Unfortunately, white, pink, brown noise aren't the option for me. Can't stand them.
> 
> Right now, my headphones are in my ears *and I listen some jazz.* We'll see how long I'll be able to listen because music is also a trigger after a while
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....................Now there is a girl after my own heart.  Want to go to Monterey with me this year???  I'll buy the tickets.
Click to expand...

As in ... The Monterey Jazz Festival ...






Monterey, California
Oly EM5

The Jazz Festival:





EM5


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> OH AND SHE SNIFFLES AND CLEAR HER THROAT  ALL THE TIME, AND SHE WOULD GO "OH.... AAAAH... OOOOH.... AAAH"
> 
> AND NOW SHE'S COMPLAINING TO ME HOW TIRED SHE IS!!!
> 
> 
> 
> I.....JUST......CAN'T!!!
> 
> 
> wish I could cry!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Would they let you use white noise and would it help? I know you can't really use headphones.
> SimplyNoise -- The Best Free White Noise Generator on the Internet.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Actually, I have one headphones here, but because I'm so busy and talk with lots of people during the day  I didn't use them.
> 
> Unfortunately, white, pink, brown noise aren't the option for me. Can't stand them.
> 
> Right now, my headphones are in my ears *and I listen some jazz.* We'll see how long I'll be able to listen because music is also a trigger after a while
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....................Now there is a girl after my own heart.  Want to go to Monterey with me this year???  I'll buy the tickets.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> As in ... The Monterey Jazz Festival ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Monterey, California
> Oly EM5
> 
> The Jazz Festival:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EM5
Click to expand...

Not just yeah, but H&!!  yeah baby!!!


Some nice shots there.


----------



## table1349

Well the rain has stopped, the temprature is down to 70 and I am stuck here at work.  Wish I could escape this place for the afternoon.  But since the wife and I both enjoy the concept of eating and having a roof over our heads guess I will have to stick it the rest of the day.


----------



## minicoop1985

mmaria said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers. This place has gotten a wee bit violent overnight... sheesh.
> 
> I'm so glad I don't have misophonia... I have enough problems the way it is
> 
> Cup number 2. My mom's coming here today. I'm so thrilled... not. Haven't seen her in nearly a year and that's not long enough. She was/is emotionally abusive and really isn't welcome here, but she's showing up anyway. She's got some form of mental illness that she refuses to acknowledge because "People with mental illnesses are an embarrassment to her family" (real quote). It's got to be schizophrenia or worse, since she literally worries about listening devices, the government coming after her, yadda yadda yadda.
> 
> 
> 
> hope you're coping
Click to expand...


Thanks, Marija.

Oh most joyous day. she didn't come here, and tomorrow, we're headed to Mackinaw Island for Mini on the Mack (trying to break a world record).

Wife and kid are upstairs throwing tantrums at each other. I'm happily downstairs avoiding it all.


----------



## table1349

minicoop1985 said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers. This place has gotten a wee bit violent overnight... sheesh.
> 
> I'm so glad I don't have misophonia... I have enough problems the way it is
> 
> Cup number 2. My mom's coming here today. I'm so thrilled... not. Haven't seen her in nearly a year and that's not long enough. She was/is emotionally abusive and really isn't welcome here, but she's showing up anyway. She's got some form of mental illness that she refuses to acknowledge because "People with mental illnesses are an embarrassment to her family" (real quote). It's got to be schizophrenia or worse, since she literally worries about listening devices, the government coming after her, yadda yadda yadda.
> 
> 
> 
> hope you're coping
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks, Marija.
> 
> Oh most joyous day. she didn't come here, and tomorrow, we're headed to Mackinaw Island for Mini on the Mack (trying to break a world record).
> 
> Wife and kid are upstairs throwing tantrums at each other. I'm happily downstairs avoiding it all.
Click to expand...

Dude, get it on video.  Sure to go viral on youtube.


----------



## JacaRanda

I love me some jazz.  
Bob James and my favorite Sax man David Sanborn.  This song is in my all time top 5 list.  I've cruised the Southern California coast many times to it; also cleaned house while burning incense to 'Maputo'.


----------



## table1349

Give Jeronimo Carmona a try.










Great dinner and quite time stuff.


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> Oh most joyous day. she didn't come here, and tomorrow, we're headed to Mackinaw Island for Mini on the Mack (trying to break a world record).
> 
> Wife and kid are upstairs throwing tantrums at each other. I'm happily downstairs avoiding it all.



Thank you for reminding me how good I have it, coming home to an empty house.


----------



## table1349

Sometimes there is something to be said for having the place to your self.


----------



## Gary A.

Finally a break. This has been a tough week. Monday in Tulare. Tuesday in San Diego. Yesterday, my oldest Sarah and her family came over. I cooked all day. Everything from scratch ...starting with chips and salsa (the salsa came from the backyard tomitillos, tomatoes, peppers and herbs), my famous snow margaritas (made with my bathtub orange liqurer), Gary's famous backyard orange-lemonade, carrot-tomato soup, rice with backyard steamed veggies, tri-tip marinaded in all kinds of good stuff slow cooked and smoked on the BBQ and my citrus marinaded salmon also tossed on the BBQ and grilled apples. The food all turned out quite good ... but man it got tedious and tiring.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I have that album Jaca! wow that's an oldie but a goodie. OK now I have to get the CD, boy I haven't listened to that in a long time.

Gary you're makin' me crazy! lol Hasn't been that long since dinner and my mouth's watering!!


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

The Tri-tip and salmon on the BBQ.









All washed down with California Pinot Nior and Cabernet.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Stop it.   

Hey they did something together since that, who knew! says 2013, well I may have to get that too. Good thing Jaca it's payday tomorrow!


----------



## table1349

mmaria said:


> *I'm out of the office! *she's not stopping!!!
> 
> How can a human being yawn and sniffle  this many times in the short period of time!!!???


Maria, don't know why I didn't think of this before.  If you can find this album get it and play it for your office/cell mate.





If not let me know, I will burn you a copy.  Here is a sample. 











Trust me, this will shut here up.


----------



## table1349

Probably the worst rendition of an Elton John ever done.


----------



## Gary A.

I attend a lot of Jazz events.





Playboy Jazz Festival





Playboy





Brea Jazz Festival - 2014





Brea Jazz Festival - 2014





Brea Jazz - 2013





Brea Jazz - 2013





Brea Jazz - 2013





Brea Jazz





Brea Jazz





Brea Jazz





Long Beach Jazz





Long Beach Jazz





Brea Jazz


----------



## vintagesnaps

What's he smoking?? he stretches out that high....... as a kite. That double camera shot, oh that just helps a lot. Oh - no - I'm the rock-it man. It just gets better doesn't it? what's with the third one, the disco jogging dancer.... ?? 



Particularly love that B&W Gary, nice series. (edit - the one of the stand up bass player that is)


----------



## Gary A.

Hey Jaca ... you ought to go to the Brea Festival ... it's free.


----------



## limr

Another jazz lover here! I love all the big greats: Coltrane, Monk, Parker, Davis...oh, and Dave Brubeck. Saw him and his sons play way back in college. He was amazing! I also remember seeing a concert in grad school. It wasn't the Modern Jazz Quartet but Percy Heath was on the bass that night and he was so fun to watch. 

Also on my playlist: Brad Meldau, the Marsalis boys, Bob James, David Sanborn, Gene Ammons, George Winston, Joshua Redman, and a few oddball complilations. I haven't listened to much of these guys lately, come to think of it.

Jazz is only one kind of music that I like. Mixed in with all the jazz, for example, are things like Lyle Lovett, BB King, Nine Inch Nails, Gypsy Kings, Patsy Kline, Pavarotti, Mozart, Nirvana, Rusted Root, Joe Jackson, Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, the Dollyrots, Alabina...

The things you will NOT see in my playlists are Top 40 stuff or rap or hip hop. Otherwise, who knows what you'd get when you hit Shuffle!


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> Probably the worst rendition of an Elton John ever done.



And the spoof (when it aired on "Family Guy" they didn't do the split screen to compare it to the Shatner version.)


----------



## vintagesnaps

I would've thought it'd be a long long time before I'd want to see that again... but I went and looked at it on YouTube and there's a longer version with Bernie Taupin of all people introducing him! what in the world was that from and what were they thinking?? lol

I love Thelonius Sphere Monk. My favorite of all jazz. Also like alt. rock/modern rock (since they change what it's called every so often), 'classic' rock (or whatever it is now), bluegrass, other assorted oddities too. Friday nights it's Shake the Shack.


----------



## vintagesnaps

OK, found it was the Saturn awards (whatever those were). Says sci fi, well yeah.

Loved this guy when he lived under the seats.


----------



## Designer

I Like:

Mozart, Bach, Chopin, (and many more)
Jazz
Bluegrass
Zydeco
(some) rock

I Do Not like:

Top 40
Country
New age
religious  rock
"melodies" (those strung-together bits and pieces)
probably more


----------



## limr

C'mon, someone else has to like punk too, right?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah! I liked more of what was new wave than a lot of punk but, remember ARGGH a Music War?


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Yeah! I liked more of what was new wave than a lot of punk but, remember ARGGH a Music War?



Never saw that.

Yeah, there were some bands that might have been classified more as new wave. Things like the Psychedelic Furs or the Fixx maybe? My sister listened to them a lot. She got me into the B-52s way back when. Lately I've been listening to some good ole purist angry 70s punk, discovering a lot of bands that I probably should have known as a teenager. It's fun


----------



## snowbear

One of my favorite music groups: Cap'n Geech & The Shrimp Shack Shooters.


----------



## vintagesnaps

_Gotta_ look that one up! lol

I need to correct my spelling, it's Urgh! Here's who was in it - Oingo Boingo, Echo & the Bunnymen, Devo, etc. - and The Police!!! who I love and probably why I ever listened to it in the first place.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> C'mon, someone else has to like punk too, right?


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> C'mon, someone else has to like punk too, right?
Click to expand...


Well there's only one response to that. (Yup, NSFW)


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> C'mon, someone else has to like punk too, right?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well there's only one response to that. (Yup, NSFW)
Click to expand...






Actually Bobby McFerrin.


----------



## limr

Who says punk doesn't make me happy?


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Who says punk doesn't make me happy?


Surely not me!


----------



## Fred Berg

limr said:


> C'mon, someone else has to like punk too, right?



Like punk? Never mind the bollocks!


----------



## mmaria

Godmorningafternoon!

I wanted to chat a bit with you guys but I simply don't have much time because I have to work a lot!

stopped by just to say Godmorningafternoon!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Still hot here, but with much less humidity.  I think it makes sense to replace the humidity with beer - may look into that later.


----------



## table1349

mmaria said:


> Godmorningafternoon!
> 
> I wanted to chat a bit with you guys but I simply don't have much time because I have to work a lot!
> 
> stopped by just to say Godmorningafternoon!


Well how about we chat at you then so you can do your work?


----------



## waday

A haiku for your Friday...

Coffee. Coffee. Yum.
Coffee. Coffee. Delicious.
Coffee. Coffee. Now.


----------



## table1349

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Still hot here, but with much less humidity.  I think it makes sense to replace the humidity with beer - may look into that later.


Oh great.........the entire city of Philly drunk and having to pee all at once

........No foreseeable problems in this one is there??


----------



## table1349

Ok, for all you coffee hosers that use cream and or sugar.  
The Born Loser Comic Strip July 31 2015 on GoComics.com


----------



## table1349

waday said:


> A haiku for your Friday...
> 
> Coffee. Coffee. Yum.
> Coffee. Coffee. Delicious.
> Coffee. Coffee. Now.


First cup of coffee
is like drinking memories —
smell, taste, thought engage.


----------



## KenC

gryphonslair99 said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Still hot here, but with much less humidity.  I think it makes sense to replace the humidity with beer - may look into that later.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh great.........the entire city of Philly drunk and having to pee all at once
> 
> ........No foreseeable problems in this one is there??
Click to expand...


You're obviously assuming that this is not the usual situation


----------



## table1349

KenC said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Still hot here, but with much less humidity.  I think it makes sense to replace the humidity with beer - may look into that later.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh great.........the entire city of Philly drunk and having to pee all at once
> 
> ........No foreseeable problems in this one is there??
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You're obviously assuming that this is not the usual situation
Click to expand...

Last time I was in Philly I found 3 kids in a school yard that were not drunk when I met them so no I don't see this as the usual situation.


----------



## KenC

gryphonslair99 said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Still hot here, but with much less humidity.  I think it makes sense to replace the humidity with beer - may look into that later.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh great.........the entire city of Philly drunk and having to pee all at once
> 
> ........No foreseeable problems in this one is there??
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You're obviously assuming that this is not the usual situation
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Last time I was in Philly I found 3 kids in a school yard that were not drunk when I met them so no I don't see this as the usual situation.
Click to expand...


Give me their names - I need to report them


----------



## table1349

KenC said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Still hot here, but with much less humidity.  I think it makes sense to replace the humidity with beer - may look into that later.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh great.........the entire city of Philly drunk and having to pee all at once
> 
> ........No foreseeable problems in this one is there??
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You're obviously assuming that this is not the usual situation
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Last time I was in Philly I found 3 kids in a school yard that were not drunk when I met them so no I don't see this as the usual situation.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Give me their names - I need to report them
Click to expand...

For got to mention, it was a kindergarten class and it was before snack time, so that could explain it.


----------



## pixmedic

new fuzzy in the house, and it even gets along with the dog.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Got some blues and garage revival rock radio on this morning. Got some yummy coffee, too. Feeling more relaxed than I have in a while. I love having Fridays off!

Last night I broke the glass carafe in my French press. Luckily I have another French press. It's a larger one I had before and stopped using when I got a smaller one that was better suited to making coffee just for myself. Now I have to figure out if I just replace the carafe or if I get a different one. I'd been thinking of getting a metal insulated one, but I'm not sure they're worth the extra money. There's also a slightly larger one (but not as large as the 8-cup) with thicker heat-resistant glass that's only a little bit more expensive than a replacement carafe. The thing I liked about mine was that it had this metal/silicone shelf insert thingy that went under the grounds. When you were done with the pot, you pull the handle and the insert lifts out with all the grounds. Very convenient. I'd really like to keep using that somehow.

Sigh. First world problem, admittedly, but it's what I'm mulling over this morning.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> new fuzzy in the house, and it even gets along with the dog.
> 
> View attachment 105776
> 
> View attachment 105777



CUTIE!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I am still recovering from Wednesday's cooking. This has been a long week. Tonight Mary Lou and I are going to "The Battle of the Winos". A class on wines in Orange County being held in a wine tasting establishment. A final step in my Sommelier certification.

Leo- bummer on the broken carafe. I use Bodum presses. Different sizes to match the occasions. Nothing fancy, they just work well. Every morning I fill the press with water and dump the grounds/water into a potted veggie. I recycle/compost everything I can.


----------



## JacaRanda

gryphonslair99 said:


> Give Jeronimo Carmona a try.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Great dinner and quite time stuff.


 
Beautiful.  'Lament' made me happy and sad.  Happy because it's wonderful music to my ears; would love to see them in an intimate club.  Sad because it made me miss my grandmother.  I picture her yelling "THESE CATS ARE BAD!" as she dances around the living room pausing to play air piano with her eyes closed and the biggest grin on her face.  She truly loved music and Jeronimo Carmona would have blown her away.


----------



## JacaRanda

Gary A. said:


> Hey Jaca ... you ought to go to the Brea Festival ... it's free.


 
Will look into it now.


----------



## JacaRanda

vintagesnaps said:


> Stop it.
> 
> Hey they did something together since that, who knew! says 2013, well I may have to get that too. Good thing Jaca it's payday tomorrow!


 
I know what you mean.  It's crazy to love music as much as I do, yet in the last 5 years or so I have not enjoyed it as much as I should.  In the car I listen to talk radio, mostly sports.  At home I am in front of the boobtube watching....sports, netflix or playing video games.  WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?


----------



## JacaRanda

vintagesnaps said:


> _Gotta_ look that one up! lol
> 
> I need to correct my spelling, it's Urgh! Here's who was in it - Oingo Boingo, Echo & the Bunnymen, Devo, etc. - and The Police!!! who I love and probably why I ever listened to it in the first place.


 
Also a Police and Sting fan.   Love this rendition of  Hendricks 'Little Wings'.  I think best when it can be heard from the vinyl with headsets on...very loud.


----------



## oldhippy

JacaRanda said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Stop it.
> 
> Hey they did something together since that, who knew! says 2013, well I may have to get that too. Good thing Jaca it's payday tomorrow!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know what you mean.  It's crazy to love music as much as I do, yet in the last 5 years or so I have not enjoyed it as much as I should.  In the car I listen to talk radio, mostly sports.  At home I am in front of the boobtube watching....sports, netflix or playing video games.  WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?
Click to expand...

 
Any chance you know this guy.  But then I know you do.


----------



## table1349

Well since we have kind of gotten on the Jazz track, I just have to add one of the definitive Jazz albums of all time. 





Hippy, this is one of my favorites of Jamal's


----------



## table1349

A little get up and get moving music for you sleepy headed hosers.






So Get Up And Get Going YOU BLOCKHEADS!!!


----------



## table1349

Well Hosers, it's off to do battle with the TSA.  

I retire in 159 days.  Then wife takes several business trips a year to fun places like San Diego, Charlotte, Chicago, Orlando etc. and I will finally have the time to go with her so I am going to go do the whole precheck thing so I can get through screening easier and faster.  

FYI the wife is 5 years younger, is the boss at her place of business and plans to work another 12 years.  Me I'm retiring at 61 and going to take care of her, the house the animals so life is starting to look good.


----------



## snerd

I like anything by Buddy Guy and Robert Cray, to name a couple.


----------



## snerd

gryphonslair99 said:


> Well Hosers, it's off to do battle with the TSA.
> 
> I retire in 159 days.  Then wife takes several business trips a year to fun places like San Diego, Charlotte, Chicago, Orlando etc. and I will finally have the time to go with her so I am going to go do the whole precheck thing so I can get through screening easier and faster.
> 
> FYI the wife is 5 years younger, is the boss at her place of business and plans to work another 12 years.  Me I'm retiring at 61 and going to take care of her, the house the animals so life is starting to look good.


Congrats! You've no doubt earned it.


----------



## JacaRanda

limr said:


> Another jazz lover here! I love all the big greats: Coltrane, Monk, Parker, Davis...oh, and Dave Brubeck. Saw him and his sons play way back in college. He was amazing! I also remember seeing a concert in grad school. It wasn't the Modern Jazz Quartet but Percy Heath was on the bass that night and he was so fun to watch.
> 
> Also on my playlist: Brad Meldau, the Marsalis boys, Bob James, David Sanborn, Gene Ammons, George Winston, Joshua Redman, and a few oddball complilations. I haven't listened to much of these guys lately, come to think of it.
> 
> Jazz is only one kind of music that I like. Mixed in with all the jazz, for example, are things like Lyle Lovett, BB King, Nine Inch Nails, Gypsy Kings, Patsy Kline, Pavarotti, Mozart, Nirvana, Rusted Root, Joe Jackson, Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, the Dollyrots, Alabina...
> 
> The things you will NOT see in my playlists are Top 40 stuff or rap or hip hop. Otherwise, who knows what you'd get when you hit Shuffle!



Im like you, pretty much all over the place.  If I like it I like it.  Even with the rap and hip hop stuff, I may hear something I like and decide they or it belongs in R&B instead of....
In my youth I disliked country, yet have a great respect for the musicians and singers.  The genre has some AMAZING singers.

Funny - In high school (San Clemente Ca., Volleyball, Surfers, Beach, etc.) all I heard was 'I HATE DISCO' OR 'DISCO SUCKS'.  Twenty-five years later the same people that hated disco, have some of the best times ever dressing up and dancing to DISCO.  I would have had more fun at the dances if they enjoyed it back then.  Oh well, at least I got lots of practice doing The Carlton.


----------



## JacaRanda

oldhippy said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Stop it.
> 
> Hey they did something together since that, who knew! says 2013, well I may have to get that too. Good thing Jaca it's payday tomorrow!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know what you mean.  It's crazy to love music as much as I do, yet in the last 5 years or so I have not enjoyed it as much as I should.  In the car I listen to talk radio, mostly sports.  At home I am in front of the boobtube watching....sports, netflix or playing video games.  WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Any chance you know this guy.  But then I know you do.
Click to expand...

Absolutely and thanks for sharing.  You guys are killing me


----------



## limr

Yeah, I didn't like country when I was growing up - one does not listen to country in New York!  And as a genre, it's still not really my thing, but I do like particular singers who happen to sing country. The modern Nashville stuff grates in my ears, but older stuff like Willie Nelson is great, and Lyle Lovett is a lot of fun. And I will admit to owning a "best of" Alan Jackson album 

In my high school days, different cliques had their accompanying music styles. The cheerleaders liked pop music and sort of "neo-disco." The "burnouts" or "courtyard crowd" (we had an outdoor courtyard that was the designated smoking area) listened to metal. The lacrosse players listened to the Grateful Dead and the football players liked hard rock. The nerds had new wave and alternative, and then there were the few lingering punk rockers who didn't really fit anywhere.

I try to keep an open mind about any kind of music. I can't say that I have hated every single hip hop or rap song I've ever heard, but for the most part, the repetitiveness and chaotic mixing just makes me feel aggravated and annoyed. Some of it even triggers the miso and I get irrationally angry at the song and the singer. I remember hearing a song in a store one day - I don't know for sure but I think it might have been Beyonce. At first it was just there, background noise. Then it started invading my consciousness, and about 30 seconds later, all I wanted to do was to start throwing things. I hated it so much! At best, I might hear something and think, "Yeah, that's catchy" but then never really think about it again. 

And it's not just me being older and complaining about "kids and their crappy music these days!"  I hated pop music when I was a teenager, too!


----------



## JacaRanda

gryphonslair99 said:


> Well since we have kind of gotten on the Jazz track, I just have to add one of the definitive Jazz albums of all time.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> All Time!
> 
> Hippy, this is one of my favorites of Jamal's


Hot number!  Thanks for sharing.


----------



## JacaRanda

limr said:


> Yeah, I didn't like country when I was growing up - one does not listen to country in New York!  And as a genre, it's still not really my thing, but I do like particular singers who happen to sing country. The modern Nashville stuff grates in my ears, but older stuff like Willie Nelson is great, and Lyle Lovett is a lot of fun. And I will admit to owning a "best of" Alan Jackson album
> 
> In my high school days, different cliques had their accompanying music styles. The cheerleaders liked pop music and sort of "neo-disco." The "burnouts" or "courtyard crowd" (we had an outdoor courtyard that was the designated smoking area) listened to metal. The lacrosse players listened to the Grateful Dead and the football players liked hard rock. The nerds had new wave and alternative, and then there were the few lingering punk rockers who didn't really fit anywhere.
> 
> I try to keep an open mind about any kind of music. I can't say that I have hated every single hip hop or rap song I've ever heard, but for the most part, the repetitiveness and chaotic mixing just makes me feel aggravated and annoyed. Some of it even triggers the miso and I get irrationally angry at the song and the singer. I remember hearing a song in a store one day - I don't know for sure but I think it might have been Beyonce. At first it was just there, background noise. Then it started invading my consciousness, and about 30 seconds later, all I wanted to do was to start throwing things. I hated it so much! At best, I might hear something and think, "Yeah, that's catchy" but then never really think about it again.
> 
> And it's not just me being older and complaining about "kids and their crappy music these days!"  I hated pop music when I was a teenager, too!



Isn't it odd, funny and cool to look back at the cliques?   I actually belonged to two.  There was jock wall and there was the base buddies wall both in the quad.  Most of us military brats from Camp Pendleton stood together.   

Oh oh you mentioned B52's and Fixx - huge when I was in school.  The Cars, The Smyths, and omg The Pretenders were blasted in the locker room before football games.  Memories


----------



## vintagesnaps

Have lots of Miles. Was just watching a French film the other day, Elevator to the Gallows, he did the soundtrack and after watching scenes from it, improvised the music. I mean, who improvises an entire soundtrack??


----------



## JacaRanda

vintagesnaps said:


> Have lots of Miles. Was just watching a French film the other day, Elevator to the Gallows, he did the soundtrack and after watching scenes from it, improvised the music. I mean, who improvises an entire soundtrack??



He was fascinating.  I had always heard how weird and shy he was.   Saw him in concert approx 25 years ago and for 90% of the show, he had his back to the audience or was hidden behind a huge speaker.  Great event made even greater by the amphitheater being relatively empty so we got to move to nearly any seat we wanted.  The Crusaders also played that night.

Do you ever think back and realize that you have been to more concerts than it seems? I guess it's an age thing. I don't generally like crowds but I have been to my share of events over the years.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I do remember this - down, down... if I tried it now I'd never get back up! Check out the film cameras front stage! at 6:30 after the narwal and bikini whale.






These guys froze up my computer, disrupting my trying (sort of) to get caught up with online coursework. They would.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Did this (without the pogo stick). Didn't know it was called anything, we just jumped up and down, did the head shake, and banged around into each other.


----------



## snowbear

JacaRanda said:


> . . . 'DISCO SUCKS' . . .



It did then; it still does; I don't dance.


----------



## pixmedic

On my way back from Mexico with a patient. This is the view from my office


----------



## oldhippy

The corn is as high as an elephant's eye.  OoooohKentucky


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Yesterday was weird. Felt dizzy and drained all day. Took a nap, did a few errands, saw Buzz for dinner, then came home and crashed. I didn't even let the girls play with the Best! Toy! Ever! (my dental floss - every night, they circle like buzzards while I'm flossing and then start howling until I play with them. No, I don't let go of the floss - they just chase it around. I really don't need to be pulling it out of their butts.)  I slept long and hard last night. Had weird dreams about putting on a huge battery pack and motor drive on the K1000 (??!!) which apparently still required me to advance the film manually.

Oh, and I finally decided on a stainless steel French press that got excellent reviews and was only $3 more than a replacement carafe for my old press. It's double-walled and supposedly will keep the coffee hot for much longer than glass, even if that class is heat-resistant or insulated.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Yesterday was weird. Felt dizzy and drained all day. Took a nap, did a few errands, saw Buzz for dinner, then came home and crashed. I didn't even let the girls play with the Best! Toy! Ever! (my dental floss - *every night, they circle like buzzards while I'm flossing and then start howling until I play with them.* No, I don't let go of the floss - they just chase it around. I really don't need to be pulling it out of their butts.)  I slept long and hard last night. Had weird dreams about putting on a huge battery pack and motor drive on the K1000 (??!!) which apparently still required me to advance the film manually.
> 
> Oh, and I finally decided on a stainless steel French press that got excellent reviews and was only $3 more than a replacement carafe for my old press. It's double-walled and supposedly will keep the coffee hot for much longer than glass, even if that class is heat-resistant or insulated.




Ewwwwwww.............P.M. Me an address and I will send the girls some dental floss (*NEW* NOT USED) for their very own.


----------



## limr

What the hell, it's not like there is food being flung all over the place. There's nothing on the floss and I'm certainly not going to use it after the cats play with it.


----------



## table1349

Would *YOU* want to play with some string that came out of their mouths????????????


----------



## limr

If I were a cat - a creature, I might remind you, that licks its own ass and eats food it has just vomited out - I surely wouldn't be fussy about my dental floss toy.


----------



## table1349

Just some of the over 700 various forms of Bacteria found in the HUMAN MOUTH.




Here is a coffee for you to try with or without milk...
Cat-butt coffee A critical review - Boing Boing


Besides Cats have the 5 second rule as well, since they don't have opposable thumbs they can't drop things like we do so their 5 second rule applies to their vomit.


----------



## Designer

Speaking of food (sort of) on the menu for today:

I am making tuna salad, potato salad, cornbread muffins, bacon (was done at breakfast time) and we have leftover BBQ pork roast.  

The tuna salad will be served at another time.  

I usually cook an entire package of bacon when I do because whoever heard of leftover bacon?


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 105785
> 
> On my way back from Mexico with a patient. This is the view from my office


You got the office with the corner window, nice.


----------



## table1349

Designer said:


> Speaking of food (sort of) on the menu for today:
> 
> I am making tuna salad, potato salad, cornbread muffins, bacon (was done at breakfast time) and we have leftover BBQ pork roast.
> 
> The tuna salad will be served at another time.
> 
> I usually cook an entire package of bacon when I do because whoever heard of leftover bacon?


Not only is leftover bacon not heard of but in 39 states and Puerto Rico it is a criminal offense to harbor leftover bacon.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Supposed to hit 84F today so no A/C. That was the first debate of the morning. The next was dinner, Mary Lou is unpacking the freezer working of some dinner entrees. We will BBQ just haven't decided on what. Thinking of a steak and chicken and maybe a veggie pizza for the salad and starch.


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 105785
> 
> On my way back from Mexico with a patient. This is the view from my office


Windows need cleaning!


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> If I were a cat - a creature, I might remind you, that licks its own ass and eats food it has just vomited out - I surely wouldn't be fussy about my dental floss toy.


I won't even go into some of the things humans lick and or take into their mouths.  (Parents, if you children understand this joke....It's Not OUR FAULT!)


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 105785
> 
> On my way back from Mexico with a patient. This is the view from my office
> 
> 
> 
> Windows need cleaning!
Click to expand...

Yes they do.  I have PMed you my address.  The bucket and cleaning supplies are on the front porch and the ladder will be sitting by the south side of the house.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 105785
> 
> On my way back from Mexico with a patient. This is the view from my office
> 
> 
> 
> Windows need cleaning!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes they do.  I have PMed you my address.  The bucket and cleaning supplies are on the front porch and the ladder will be sitting by the south side of the house.
Click to expand...

Don't worry about the supplies or ladder, I'll bring my own squeegeerock.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 105785
> 
> On my way back from Mexico with a patient. This is the view from my office
> 
> 
> 
> Windows need cleaning!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes they do.  I have PMed you my address.  The bucket and cleaning supplies are on the front porch and the ladder will be sitting by the south side of the house.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't worry about the supplies or ladder, I'll bring my own squeegeerock.
Click to expand...

May I direct your attention to this thread there DRONE BOY!!!!


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 105785
> 
> On my way back from Mexico with a patient. This is the view from my office
> 
> 
> 
> Windows need cleaning!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes they do.  I have PMed you my address.  The bucket and cleaning supplies are on the front porch and the ladder will be sitting by the south side of the house.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't worry about the supplies or ladder, I'll bring my own squeegeerock.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> May I direct your attention to this thread there DRONE BOY!!!!
Click to expand...

mehh... I"m not that high-tech; nothing like a good, old, baseball-size chunk of metamorphic to get rid of dirty windows!


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 105785
> 
> On my way back from Mexico with a patient. This is the view from my office
> 
> 
> 
> Windows need cleaning!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes they do.  I have PMed you my address.  The bucket and cleaning supplies are on the front porch and the ladder will be sitting by the south side of the house.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't worry about the supplies or ladder, I'll bring my own squeegeerock.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> May I direct your attention to this thread there DRONE BOY!!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> mehh... I"m not that high-tech; nothing like a good, old, baseball-size chunk of metamorphic to get rid of dirty windows!
Click to expand...

FYI, my great granny taught me to take the metal shot out of the cartridges and replace it with rock salt.  Won't kill ya but your butt will have a rememberance of the situation for a long long time.


If they start calling you a salty ole' A$$, they won't wrong.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 105785
> 
> On my way back from Mexico with a patient. This is the view from my office
> 
> 
> 
> Windows need cleaning!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes they do.  I have PMed you my address.  The bucket and cleaning supplies are on the front porch and the ladder will be sitting by the south side of the house.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't worry about the supplies or ladder, I'll bring my own squeegeerock.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> May I direct your attention to this thread there DRONE BOY!!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> mehh... I"m not that high-tech; nothing like a good, old, baseball-size chunk of metamorphic to get rid of dirty windows!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> FYI, my great granny taught me to take the metal shot out of the cartridges and replace it with rock salt.  Won't kill ya but your butt will have a rememberance of the situation for a long long time.
> 
> 
> If they start calling you a salty ole' A$$, they won't wrong.
Click to expand...

I've been called worse.  By better!


----------



## snerd

tirediron said:


> I'll bring my own squeegeerock.


Dude.................. watch the language!


----------



## Gary A.

Taking a break. Just finished cleaning out the pond filters and digging up four roses. We're expanding the patio into the roses for all the bbq stuff. Two more roses to go.


----------



## Designer

Ahhh... roses!  Yet another reason to like SoCal.  I gave up on roses here due to black spot.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Ahhh... roses!  Yet another reason to like SoCal.  I gave up on roses here due to black spot.


Between the front and back we have approx. 60 roses. ... well ... make that approx. 54 roses. I am beat, the last two were a female-dog to get out.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> ....the last two were a female-dog to get out.


You just need the right tool for the job!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Wee, after 3+ years on TPF, I have added an avatar 

I took it 1.5 yrs ago and was probably the 1st photo I was truly proud of..it looks a little sharper on my computer than as an avatar, but hey..


----------



## limr

NancyMoranG said:


> Wee, after 3+ years on TPF, I have added an avatar
> 
> I took it 1.5 yrs ago and was probably the 1st photo I was truly proud of..it looks a little sharper on my computer than as an avatar, but hey..



Congrats!


----------



## Designer

Have a beer and relax


tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ....the last two were a female-dog to get out.
> 
> 
> 
> You just need the right tool for the job!
Click to expand...

I was thinking of some kind of power equipment, but maybe not that big.


----------



## Designer

NancyMoranG said:


> Wee, after 3+ years on TPF, I have added an avatar
> 
> I took it 1.5 yrs ago and was probably the 1st photo I was truly proud of..it looks a little sharper on my computer than as an avatar, but hey..


Well, your new avatar is cute!


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> Have a beer and relax
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ....the last two were a female-dog to get out.
> 
> 
> 
> You just need the right tool for the job!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I was thinking of some kind of power equipment, but maybe not that big.
Click to expand...

When it comes to power equipment, bigger is always better!!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Thanks about my Avatar !
If someone had said it would be a bird, I would have said 'No way!"
Funny how things happen...well, sometimes.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Ok, that was my 1299th post, so I JUST had to make another !


----------



## NancyMoranG

I am off to Boston by bus tomorrow morning about 1.15 hour from me at Cape Cod Canal. $33 RT. 
by the time I would find a parking garage for my HUGE Tundra and pay for the day, the bus is easier for me 
'Scalping' my Red Sox tickets I got for free and going on a photo opp of Boston. 
Now if I just had someone with me to really 'go to town with' photo wise, I'd be ok ;{


----------



## sm4him

Hey hosers!! What's everyone doing this evening?
My day started out quite nicely, but ended on a bit of downer (but ONLY a bit, in the grand scheme of things).

Sat out in the backyard this morning, enjoying my hummingbirds. Got, I think, some pretty decent pictures of them and just enjoyed a relaxing, no-rush kind of morning.
Then my sister called and asked if I wanted to have a late breakfast, so I joined her for breakfast, then we went and visited Mom and then we took off in *her* convertible (which is a Miata, way smaller than MY convertible) and just drove and enjoyed the day. Went to a little city with a "historic district," poked around in a few of the antique shops they had, took a few pictures (in the stores--light was way too harsh outside).

Unfortunately, we had to head home about 4 p.m. because I had a photo shoot at 6 p.m.

And THAT is where it all went wrong. I *totally* botched that shoot--UGH!! Worst I've felt about the results of a photo shoot yet! The "main" subjects were small children (one about 5, one just 15 months) who had NOT had their naps, even though that was the WHOLE point of doing it when we did, so they could have naps.
But that wasn't the biggest problem--the biggest problem was ME. I could not get it together. I either missed focus entirely, or I didn't pay attention to the background, or I didn't realize that one of them had ended up out of the shade and right in the harsh sunlight. But MOSTLY, I missed focus--over and over again.
Why?  Because I did not THINK AHEAD.

When I got the D800, I decided to try back-button focusing. Took a while to get used to, but now I *am* used to it. I've thought, over and over, about switching the D7000 to BBF, but haven't bothered to do it. And haven't shot with both cameras since I got the D800, so it never really mattered.
Well, today it mattered. And I stupidly didn't even think about it, until I was shooting. 
I kept trying to use BBF only to realize I had the D7000 in my hand, then I'd try to adjust, and next thing I know, I'm pressing the shutter halfway down on the D800. UGHUGHUGH!!!  So I missed focus on BOTH cameras, over and over. It just stunk.

The one saving grace is that these kids are (sort of) related to me. My cousin was the one who hired me to take the pictures, and the kids are her grandchildren (the children of her adopted daughter, hence only "sort of" related to me).

I think I *may* be able to salvage enough shots to make it worth what she paid me (which wasn't much, by my choice), but UGH.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Have a beer and relax
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ....the last two were a female-dog to get out.
> 
> 
> 
> You just need the right tool for the job!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I was thinking of some kind of power equipment, but maybe not that big.
Click to expand...

I did snap a shovel. I ended up cutting the roots with a powered hack saw.


----------



## Derrel

NancyMoranG said:
			
		

> Wee, after 3+ years on TPF, I have added an avatar
> 
> I took it 1.5 yrs ago and was probably the 1st photo I was truly proud of..it looks a little sharper on my computer than as an avatar, but hey..



OMG Mabel, I need one of my heart pills, NOW!


----------



## sm4him

NancyMoranG said:


> I am off to Boston by bus tomorrow morning about 1.15 hour from me at Cape Cod Canal. $33 RT.
> by the time I would find a parking garage for my HUGE Tundra and pay for the day, the bus is easier for me
> 'Scalping' my Red Sox tickets I got for free and going on a photo opp of Boston.
> Now if I just had someone with me to really 'go to town with' photo wise, I'd be ok ;{



That sounds like fun!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Sharon, sorry your day was so .....boy, there's a few words to insert there!
But as my 
Mom/ dad would say, "lesson learned without too much damage is well remembered".


----------



## NancyMoranG

Good night all, early bus in the a.m.


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> Why?  Because I did not THINK AHEAD.


Since you did not intend to make wages on this shoot, why not offer to do it again, at no additional charge?  

1. The children might be in better moods.
2. You can be more ready next time.
3. Your cousin would think you're wonderful.


----------



## Gary A.

I know you're a bit of a perfctionist and this kind of set-back sucks. If you didn't get what you want, it won't be all that tough to reschedule another shoot.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why?  Because I did not THINK AHEAD.
> 
> 
> 
> Since you did not intend to make wages on this shoot, why not offer to do it again, at no additional charge?
> 
> 1. The children might be in better moods.
> 2. You can be more ready next time.
> 3. Your cousin would think you're wonderful.
Click to expand...

I agree!  "I'm sorry, <Name>, but after looking at the images, they're just not up to my standard, and since I want you to have the best possible images, I would really like to reshoot this again."


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why?  Because I did not THINK AHEAD.
> 
> 
> 
> Since you did not intend to make wages on this shoot, why not offer to do it again, at no additional charge?
> 
> 1. The children might be in better moods.
> 2. You can be more ready next time.
> 3. Your cousin would think you're wonderful.
Click to expand...




Gary A. said:


> I know you're a bit of a perfctionist and this kind of set-back sucks. If you didn't get what you want, it won't be all that tough to reschedule another shoot.



Actually, rescheduling another shoot IS a little problematic in a sense. My cousin particularly wanted these pictures at this particular time because on Wednesday or Thursday this week, the little girl is having some dental work done--pulling her front tooth because she fell and cracked it. Of course, this is her baby tooth, so the permanent tooth will grow in at some point, but who knows when! So, my cousin wanted some pictures while she still had all those baby teeth.
In fact, my cousin ended up being out of town this weekend and so, even though the original plan was to also do some of her and her husband with the grandkids, she opted to just go ahead with the shoot without them because of the time issue.

Gary's right. SOME of it is perfectionism--but I missed a LOT more shots, like BADLY missed, than usual.
Still--tomorrow, I'll go through them and see, but I'd guess I've got at least 3 or 4 shots of each child individually that were really nice, MAYBE one or two of them together (but that was more because they weren't really cooperating with the "both of them together" shots), and then several of Mom and daughter, Mom and son, Dad and son, a couple of Dad and daughter, and MAYBE one or two that will end up passing muster of all four.

For what she paid, that will likely more than satisfy my cousin. My cousin is actually pretty used to paying professional prices for photography, so she is more aware than most that what I charged her was practically nothing. She will be pretty insistent that what I got is more than enough.

Still--what I plan to do is:
Rather than just admit that I laid a bomb, I will simply say that I really didn't get quite as many pictures as I'd like to have, and I can always use the practice, so--since she was out of town for the shoot, I'd like to schedule a second mini-session to get some of her and her husband with the kids, and maybe a few more of the kids themselves.

I suspect strongly that she will either insist that what I got was perfect, or she'll insist on paying me more to schedule another shoot.

Fortunately, she *already* thinks I'm wonderful, so we're good there.


----------



## sm4him

They definitely didn't all suck. No doubt, I *wish* I'd noticed how harsh the light was on his shirt sleeve and the very top of his head.  Still, this is one of those shots that the recipients will no doubt love and see NOTHING wrong with. That's what I mean by "salvaging"--I think there will be enough shots that will pass MY muster (albeit perhaps just barely). Just not as many as there SHOULD have been, if I'd had both cameras set up properly.
(Note: This one was just an extremely quick edit, just to have one to throw up here--I may actually try to bring that highlight on his sleeve down some, and who knows what else when I really start processing them)


----------



## Gary A.

Fired up the Komado and presently having more carne asada for dinner. Made a wine run to Costco ...  that wasn't cheap but I'm set for a spell. Sipping on a Bogle Sauvienon Blanc, finishing my dinner with watermelon and kicking back in the patio listening to the sounds of water.


----------



## Gary A.

You certainly nailed the focus on that puppy.  I hope the rest are equally as nice.


----------



## EIngerson

So I was grilling up some steaks tonight in my back patio when all of the sudden Mother Nature puts this show on for me. Life is good. 




Back Yard-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## NancyMoranG

Sharon, that would pass my 'muster' ! Cutie for sure.
Eric, that's my kind of yard, with a little space between neighbors!


----------



## sm4him

NancyMoranG said:


> Sharon, that would pass my 'muster' ! Cutie for sure.
> Eric, that's my kind of yard, with a little space between neighbors!



Thanks, Nancy. Yes, that one definitely passed muster. It's just that an unusually high number DIDN'T. But I'm hoping that in the end, there will be enough shots like the one above that I won't feel too bad.
Either way, I'm still gonna offer to do another mini-shoot. I really DO need the practice, especially with little ones who aren't very good at taking directions.


----------



## table1349

Morning Hosers.


----------



## Designer

Good morning.

Try as I might, I can never sleep past 05:30.  

I guess it was all those years of conditioning being awakened by my alarm clock at that time.


----------



## table1349

Try as we might we can't sleep past 5:30 either thanks to the dogs.  They seem to think that they want to go out and start the day  at that time of the morning.


----------



## snowbear

Morning, peeps.  Going to be fun . . . strained a back muscle or two; yesterday was jammin' wonderful. 
All the same, I got the pulled pork (braised) made last night - heading out soon for MIL's 82nd b'day thingie.



Designer said:


> Good morning.
> 
> Try as I might, I can never sleep past 05:30.
> 
> I guess it was all those years of conditioning being awakened by my alarm clock at that time.


I know what you mean but in my case, it's kitties.


----------



## snowbear

There was one bright moment, yesterday:  dessert.

A chocolate/something crumble doughnut a la mode with Gifford's (of Maine) "Muddy Boots."


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Good morning.
> 
> Try as I might, I can never sleep past 05:30.
> 
> I guess it was all those years of conditioning being awakened by my alarm clock at that time.


Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. I awake at 4:00 a.m. most days. Then turn over. I open my eyes and say Yep, 4:00 or 4:04 ... doesn't bother me. It is what it is. I've never needed an alarm clock. (One would think that waking at 4:00 a.m. would eliminate the need for an alarm ...) Never really used one my entire life. Sorta odd I guess. Even working news with screwy hours I never needed an alarm. This 4:00 a.m. thing is left over from working construction. I had to get out the door by 5:00 in order to be onsite at Camp Pendleton or Ft. Irwin by 7:00.  The coffee is good. Today I have to redesign the soaker hose system which I ripped out yesterday digging up the roses and then install a drip system for the veggies which I've been putting off for a week.


----------



## limr

Hosers.

I have never had any problems sleeping past 5:30. Maybe if I spent years waking up at the same time, I'd still do that for a while, but I'm sure it wouldn't last long. I'm such an incurable night owl that my body would surely slowly override any routine I might have established. My father got up around 4:30-5:00 for many years, and when he retired, he still got up early but never that early. 

Plus, I've never had steady hours. Having been in academia my whole life, I'm used to my schedule changing every 4 months so I never settle into a routine. 

I was up this morning to be over at Buzz's by 9am so I could change my oil and we could work on changing my accessory drive belt. Turns out the drive belt is in a tricky spot and he didn't have a tool slim enough to get in there (shaddap) so I'll bring it to my guys at the shop. He's got the same weird dizzy thing I had the other day, otherwise he probably would have run over to the auto parts store to get the tool he needed, but I wouldn't let him do that. We were going to do brunch after the car work but not with him feeling unwell.


----------



## Designer

Good luck with your respective projects today.  I'm taking the day off, so to speak.  No remodeling, just cooking and cleaning.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Hosers.
> 
> I have never had any problems sleeping past 5:30. Maybe if I spent years waking up at the same time, I'd still do that for a while, but I'm sure it wouldn't last long. I'm such an incurable night owl that my body would surely slowly override any routine I might have established. My father got up around 4:30-5:00 for many years, and when he retired, he still got up early but never that early.
> 
> Plus, I've never had steady hours. Having been in academia my whole life, I'm used to my schedule changing every 4 months so I never settle into a routine.
> 
> I was up this morning to be over at Buzz's by 9am so I could change my oil and we could work on changing my accessory drive belt. Turns out the drive belt is in a tricky spot and he didn't have a tool slim enough to get in there (shaddap) so I'll bring it to my guys at the shop. He's got the same weird dizzy thing I had the other day, otherwise he probably would have run over to the auto parts store to get the tool he needed, but I wouldn't let him do that. We were going to do brunch after the car work but not with him feeling unwell.









Unless you like paying some mechanics Boat Payments.  

As for your not being able to regularly get up at 5:30 a.m.  They are on their way.  You will have NOOOOOOooooooooo trouble getting up now.


----------



## limr

Not all mechanics are crooks, and I am also capable of knowing which ones are good, honest mechanics and which ones aren't.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Not all mechanics are crooks, and I am also capable of knowing which ones are good, honest mechanics and which ones aren't.


You definitely need to subscribe to this pod cast, even if it is now made up of pre recorded material with the death of Tom. 
Car Talk NPR


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> They definitely didn't all suck. No doubt, I *wish* I'd noticed how harsh the light was on his shirt sleeve and the very top of his head.  Still, this is one of those shots that the recipients will no doubt love and see NOTHING wrong with. That's what I mean by "salvaging"--I think there will be enough shots that will pass MY muster (albeit perhaps just barely). Just not as many as there SHOULD have been, if I'd had both cameras set up properly.
> (Note: This one was just an extremely quick edit, just to have one to throw up here--I may actually try to bring that highlight on his sleeve down some, and who knows what else when I really start processing them)
> 
> View attachment 105835





gryphonslair99 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not all mechanics are crooks, and I am also capable of knowing which ones are good, honest mechanics and which ones aren't.
> 
> 
> 
> You definitely need to subscribe to this pod cast, even if it is now made up of pre recorded material with the death of Tom.
> Car Talk NPR
Click to expand...

Best.  Radio. Program.  Ever!!!!


----------



## limr

I used to listen to _Car Talk_ all the time. It's amusing, but only once in a while these days. It's kind of like how you become obsessed with a certain food and eat it all the time, until one day you get tired of it and kind of lose your taste for it.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> They definitely didn't all suck. No doubt, I *wish* I'd noticed how harsh the light was on his shirt sleeve and the very top of his head.  Still, this is one of those shots that the recipients will no doubt love and see NOTHING wrong with. That's what I mean by "salvaging"--I think there will be enough shots that will pass MY muster (albeit perhaps just barely). Just not as many as there SHOULD have been, if I'd had both cameras set up properly.
> (Note: This one was just an extremely quick edit, just to have one to throw up here--I may actually try to bring that highlight on his sleeve down some, and who knows what else when I really start processing them)
> 
> View attachment 105835
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not all mechanics are crooks, and I am also capable of knowing which ones are good, honest mechanics and which ones aren't.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You definitely need to subscribe to this pod cast, even if it is now made up of pre recorded material with the death of Tom.
> Car Talk NPR
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Best.  Radio. Program.  Ever!!!!
Click to expand...

I would have given you 1,ooo,ooo likes and agrees both except the forum won't let me!!!


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> I used to listen to _Car Talk_ all the time. It's amusing, but only once in a while these days. It's kind of like how you become obsessed with a certain food and eat it all the time, until one day you get tired of it and kind of lose your taste for it.


Your alias name is Melissa Peterson isn't it.  

Only the fans will get this one.


----------



## bribrius

My father replaced the front shocks on my suv the other day, and changed the passenger front brake rotor and pads. Then my wife did the other three wheels brake rotors and pads with (sort of) me watching and supervising. My health wasn't good for a few days. 

Anyway, so we are driving into town yesterday (me the passenger) and she hits the brakes and i just hear grinding. She stops it. i climb under it and kind of start cussing.
I explained to her he didnt put one of the pads in all the way in the clip on the one he did on the front so it was sticking out of the caliper bent, and she put the brake pads in backwards on the front one that she did. Ended up going home and pulling them apart to fix them myself.
what hell. I had never seen anyone put in brake pads backwards. I suppose i should have been watching her better at the time.


----------



## bribrius

oh, the pad not in the caliper was bent in sort of a u shape, i pounded it back straight with a 3 lb. hammer, shoved it back in. Good enough. Then went to figure out why my photos had spots in them (see my other post). Used the air compressor to blow out the nikon after i put the lug nuts back on the car.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Hosers.
> 
> I have never had any problems sleeping past 5:30. Maybe if I spent years waking up at the same time, I'd still do that for a while, but I'm sure it wouldn't last long. I'm such an incurable night owl that my body would surely slowly override any routine I might have established. My father got up around 4:30-5:00 for many years, and when he retired, he still got up early but never that early.
> 
> Plus, I've never had steady hours. Having been in academia my whole life, I'm used to my schedule changing every 4 months so I never settle into a routine.
> 
> I was up this morning to be over at Buzz's by 9am so I could change my oil and we could work on changing my accessory drive belt. Turns out the drive belt is in a tricky spot and he didn't have a tool slim enough to get in there (shaddap) so I'll bring it to my guys at the shop. He's got the same weird dizzy thing I had the other day, otherwise he probably would have run over to the auto parts store to get the tool he needed, but I wouldn't let him do that. We were going to do brunch after the car work but not with him feeling unwell.


meh, just do it yourself and have him tell you what to do, if you read what i posted it can come with mixed results though....


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> Your alias name is Melissa Peterson isn't it.
> 
> *Only the fans will get this one.*



Or anyone with Google.

So you're calling me a twerp, eh? Did I ever say I hated the show? Or did you think it was a clever comment and you just _had_ to say it even though it makes no sense?


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> I used to listen to _Car Talk_ all the time. It's amusing, but only once in a while these days. It's kind of like how you become obsessed with a certain food and eat it all the time, until one day you get tired of it and kind of lose your taste for it.


No reasonable person could ever get tired of the Tappet Bros!


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Your alias name is Melissa Peterson isn't it.
> 
> *Only the fans will get this one.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Or anyone with Google.
> 
> So you're calling me a twerp, eh? Did I ever say I hated the show? Or did you think it was a clever comment and you just _had_ to say it even though it makes no sense?
Click to expand...


Now Leonore, you know I would never call you a twerp.  (Tom & Ray might, but I never would)

Do you often reply to nonsense?     If they answer is yes then you have far to much time on your hands.  If the answer is no, then obviously my post did make sense.  Even if you did have to resort to Google.   As for hating the show, as Clem Hatfield said to Abner McCoy right before the shooting started,  "If'n you ain't with us then you're agin us."







Besides Leonore, you can't fool me.  I know you worship the quicksand I walk on.


----------



## limr

If it's all nonsense, why spout it?


----------



## table1349

How can you fault the thinking of a man that wrote...
"I do not like green eggs and ham.
I do not like them, Sam-I-am."


----------



## NancyMoranG

Car Talk was hilarious! 

I am up in Boston and it soooo HOT outside. I have ducked into Boston Public Library to cool off, and I wanted to see this historic building while in town anyway!


----------



## NancyMoranG

This is SOOC. Am hoping I can make something of it when I get home...
And I sold my free Red Sox tickets for $100 so I am happy. I probably undersold, but oh well...


----------



## table1349

NancyMoranG said:


> View attachment 105873 This is SOOC. Am hoping I can make something of it when I get home...
> And I sold my free Red Sox tickets for $100 so I am happy. I probably undersold, but oh well...


Well if that is the size of the image, you might contact the Doll House manufacture's association.  They might be interested in turning it into a doll house decorative photo wall hanging accessory.

Nice shot.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Thanks. I'll figure this system out someday!
That's why I said, 'hopefully I can do something with this..." Miss Techno I am NOT.
Boston Library has an exhibit on our early Independence struggles, am going to wander through now..


----------



## table1349

NancyMoranG said:


> Thanks. I'll figure this system out someday!
> That's why I said, 'hopefully I can do something with this..." Miss Techno I am NOT.
> Boston Library has an exhibit on our early Independence struggles, am going to wander through now..


I'm jealous, I love history and wish I could see the exhibit. 

Oh by the way........................................


----------



## NancyMoranG

Good. When are you available to direct me through the book 

If you love history... Please come to Boston!!, 
I saw John Adams house/farm/library last year on a 'free' museum day in Quincy, Ma. I did not realize he is entombed in an historic Church basement (for lack of a better word) 
Really quite a feeling actually..
And saw that and his son next to him!!! Quite an experience! Talk about up close and personal!! 

And then leaving Cape Cod in our RV, we stopped at Monticello (Jefferson) and Mt. Vernon (Washington) estates! 
Ok,,so, #1,2,3 Presidents down, next....it really was by accident


----------



## NancyMoranG

..[/QUOTE]
I'm jealous, I love history and wish I could see the exhibit.

[/QUOTE]

I have a tent available or a sleeper sofa


----------



## table1349

NancyMoranG said:


> ..


I'm jealous, I love history and wish I could see the exhibit.

[/QUOTE]

I have a tent available or a sleeper sofa [/QUOTE]
United Flight 3506   I arrive at 3:42 a.m.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Oh gosh, I will be in bed after the heat in Boston today, history can wait til I recoup, yawn...
J/k..
Goodnight, I am drained....


----------



## limr

NancyMoranG said:


> Good. When are you available to direct me through the book
> 
> If you love history... Please come to Boston!!,
> I saw John Adams house/farm/library last year on a 'free' museum day in Quincy, Ma. I did not realize he is entombed in an historic Church basement (for lack of a better word)
> Really quite a feeling actually..
> And saw that and his son next to him!!! Quite an experience! Talk about up close and personal!!
> 
> And then leaving Cape Cod in our RV, we stopped at Monticello (Jefferson) and Mt. Vernon (Washington) estates!
> Ok,,so, #1,2,3 Presidents down, next....it really was by accident



Well, you're not far from Kennebunkport or Hyannis Port, so there's two more presidents you can knock off the list. And then a day trip due west and you'll hit Hyde Park (And then go across the street to see Eleanor's home) to add a third!


----------



## table1349

NancyMoranG said:


> Oh gosh, I will be in bed after the heat in Boston today, history can wait til I recoup, yawn...
> J/k..
> Goodnight, I am drained....








Don't worry, I'll take a cab and I love camping.   What time would you like me to have coffee and breakfast on the table??


----------



## minicoop1985

Good evening, everyone. Was a pretty good weekend with a crappy ending. Started off a little TOO early, with a freaking BAT getting in our room at 4:40 AM. Had it tested for rabies, came back negative. All clear there...

Got to St. Ignace sometime in the evening. Had dinner at this Mexican place-worst Mexican food I've had in a LONG time. In fact, I've had better from Taco Bell. 

Next day, we hit Mini on the Mack, didn't quite break the record, but it was a great time. Went to a quaint little music festival. Had dinner outside overlooking the lake, then saw some fireworks.Was a great day.

Today... Drove 5 hours in varying degrees of thunderstorms, some VERY severe. Missed hail and funnel clouds by mere minutes apparently.

Got home, wife is having a panic attack of her own about the bat in our room. It did touch her face before I got the little bastard, so I get why, but she is beside herself. I don't really know what to do for her, since this is our house and our room. Going to have an inspector come by and see what we can do to prevent this from happening in the future.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yowza that's a little too close for comfort, at least if you got it checked for rabies you don't have that to worry about. 

When I worked at summer camp I remember one getting in the cabin, seems that involved a certain amount of useless chasing about with brooms etc. and I guess it freaked at the thought of spending any more time with a bunch of high school and college kids and took off. Not sure who terrorized who.

Watching some old freakish but cheezy movie and had to see the end, now I'll probably never get to sleep! lol I'll probably have a dream about Bette Davis and a fake mannequin head and a bat flying around. Which wasn't even in the movie.

There is a full moon isn't there?


----------



## table1349

Morning all.  Looks like the start of another wonderful week.  

Nancy,  Breakfast is ready.......



 

Well I'm off to see the sites.  Probably won't make it for lunch.  Perhaps we can do dinner if I get away in time.  They tent and sleeping bag were great.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I started off this work week with a sneeze. Awwwwww yeeeeaaaaah.


----------



## sm4him

Morning hosers!

I spent most of yesterday sleeping because I felt like I was coming down with something. I feel a little better this morning, so we'll see how long it lasts. Maybe my body was just trying to make sure I got caught up on some sleep.

I'd love to take the day off today and go explore somewhere. Alas, it's not gonna happen.

InfoSys is supposed to come back this morning and "finish" setting up my new PC. They came Friday morning, started copying files, told me that since that would take a while they'd go work on someone else's and come back in a "little bit."  A little bit turned out to be after 4:00 p.m.--and then only to collect their stuff that they'd left in my office.  Here's hoping today they actually get the install done.
It'll still be a PC (a Dell, no less, I think)--and I'll still be using my 27-in. iMac for most of my actual work, but at least I did talk the guy into leaving the existing monitor AND the new monitor and setting it up as a dual display, so that'll help. I use the PC mostly for stuff I have to do on the network; it's on the city network and my Mac isn't, because they don't LIKE Macs. That suits me just fine.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> I started off this work week with a sneeze. Awwwwww yeeeeaaaaah.


This should help. . . . . . . . . . .


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Yeah, my response to the beginning of the week is usually ruder than a sneeze, or at least I'd like it to be.  Hot again today, which isn't unusual for this time of year, but tends to make me grumpy anyhow.  At least the nights should start getting cooler soon.

I had to run out to the bank, so on the way back I got a good strong coffee that I hope will take the edge off.


----------



## sm4him

gryphonslair99 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> I started off this work week with a sneeze. Awwwwww yeeeeaaaaah.
> 
> 
> 
> This should help. . . . . . . . . . .
> View attachment 105896
> View attachment 105897
> View attachment 105898
Click to expand...


Nah, that's not what Lenny needs after a good sneeze.

A cigarette, maybe.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Yeah, my response to the beginning of the week is usually ruder than a sneeze, or at least I'd like it to be.  Hot again today, which isn't unusual for this time of year, but tends to make me grumpy anyhow.  At least the nights should start getting cooler soon.
> 
> I had to run out to the bank, so on the way back I got a good strong coffee that I hope will take the edge off.



August is to me what February is to people who hate winter. I am grumpy all month long. And by "grumpy" I mean "raging b1tch"


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Nah, that's not what Lenny needs after a good sneeze.
> 
> A cigarette, maybe.



Nothing like a good sneeze


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Yeah, my response to the beginning of the week is usually ruder than a sneeze, or at least I'd like it to be.  Hot again today, which isn't unusual for this time of year, but tends to make me grumpy anyhow.  At least the nights should start getting cooler soon.
> 
> I had to run out to the bank, so on the way back I got a good strong coffee that I hope will take the edge off.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> August is to me what February is to people who hate winter. I am grumpy all month long. And by "grumpy" I mean "raging b1tch"
Click to expand...


Yeah, know what you mean, but I find that late August often is much more tolerable - mornings and nights are cooler because the days are shorter and there are more not-too-hot days mixed in - at least one can hope ...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was mostly yard work. Been on-line looking at gazebos to fill-in the new BBQ space. Man, they are expensive. Mary Lou, (who is much cheaper than I), thinks that Craig's List is the way to go. I dunno.  While I was on-line I got a lot of small stuff that collectively would make my life better better individually, not so much. But I did get a Ninja blender for my oldest daughter. I'm having Costco send it directly to her in St. Louis as a surprise.  Chris, (Binga), and I have been having a conversation about his new Petzler lens. I'm thinking of getting one. 

Unusually humid around these parts. Usually we get a week or so of high humidity, 70%+ near the end of August. This is the second week of this unpleasantness. Like today will top out at 83F ... which is fine, but the humidity is at 78%. The weather app says that the 4mph wind ... will make it feel like 72F. I dunno about that. When I was living on the peninsula we only had one little, window shaker A/C unit. We only needed to run it during that one week in late August when everything steamed up and the night brought no relief. The A/C was in the living room and we'd all slept in the one room, huddled near the A/C like refugees.


----------



## table1349

Cheaper if you DIY.  
10 Free Gazebo Plans


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Yeah, know what you mean, but I find that late August often is much more tolerable - mornings and nights are cooler because the days are shorter and there are more not-too-hot days mixed in - at least one can hope ...



Maybe it's where I live, but I find the nights don't really start cooling off until September. August is really muggy all the way through and the sun is even more intense than in July, so even if it's only in the 80's, it feels awful. I'm pretty much holed up inside as much as possible.


----------



## minicoop1985

August is usually pretty humid here too. I love highs in the 80s, but with that much humidity, it feels awful.

Inspector came over and told me that there's only only one place they could get in. The A/C unit in our bedroom window. Yussss. I can fix that.


----------



## sm4him

I *love* heat and humidity.  And there is usually PLENTY of both around here in August.

The only thing I *don't* like about August is...it means fall is right around the corner.
Bye bye heat. Bye bye humidity. Bye bye nice long days with plenty of sunlight to soothe my soul.

I would actually even love Fall, if it weren't for the fact that I know winter is right behind it, and I'll be miserable and despair of life by January.
Depresses me just thinking about it!


----------



## table1349

I love them all, Love them all,
The winter, spring summer and fall. 

*Winter* - Not much in the way of outside chores.  Great to snuggle up by a nice fire and drink hot tea and read.

*Spring* - The dawning of a new year, new life, both rooted and legged.  Getting my hands dirty in the soil, planting good things to eat. 

*Summer* - A harvest of bounty. Summer is good eating time.  Sure there are outdoor chores to take up time but the work is good honest efforts that have purpose.  

*Fall* - Time to wind down.  sit back listen to the fall rains on the roof, enjoy the cooling weather and get ready for the coming of winter.  


The above comments do not necessarily reflect the sentements of this station and it's staff.


----------



## limr

Time for more coffee, hosers! 

2.5 more hours today...

You know how they say it's darkest before the dawn? Yeah, I think that's going to be this week, with the dawn breaking at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.


----------



## table1349




----------



## minicoop1985

My impression of the seasons:

Winter: SUCKS
Spring: SUCKS
Summer: YAY
Fall: SUCKS

That concludes my assessment of the seasons.


----------



## limr

Summer sucks.

And sorry, but that "Be Happy" song is really annoying as all get-out.


----------



## bribrius

kinda like spring and fall the best...


----------



## vintagesnaps

And in the winter - there's hockey!

Overslept because of staying up too late watching that stupid movie then getting woke up overnight with wind rattling. Then a bit later lightning. Then hail?? didn't get up to see... Sun came out, now it's just hot and more humid, supposed to rain/storm later then somewhat clear out, seems to have me kinda headachey today too which I don't get often.

Not that I have to get to work anymore but had grass cutting on for today, and planned on getting caught up on online coursework. So much for that! lol Guess I'll go try to get something done.


----------



## limr

Listening to Blue Trane radio on Google Play. "During the late 1950s and early '60s, John Coltrane and many of his peers searched for a sound beyond bebop. This cool post-bop set, with saxophones aplenty, balances adventurousness and melody."

Right now: "Air" by Cecil Taylor

I've discovered these Google Play stations when Pandora was being a PITA because Shockwave kept crashing. I really like it because I've learned about so many new (and old-but-new-to-me) musicians and bands. Today is jazz, but the other day I was listening to a station...something like Garage Blues/Rock revival? The Black Keys - stuff like that. Lots of great bands I hadn't heard of before.

In the "olden" days, we had regular radio to expose us to new music, but it was so controlled and you only heard a fraction of what was being made. Don't get me wrong, I love my turntable and vinyl, but I'm digging the way the Internet changes our relationship to music and gives us more opportunities to find the good music beyond all the mainstream crap.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Listening to Blue Trane radio on Google Play. "During the late 1950s and early '60s, John Coltrane and many of his peers searched for a sound beyond bebop. This cool post-bop set, with saxophones aplenty, balances adventurousness and melody."



I don't know if you like jazz guitar (one of my favorite things), but if you do, check this out:

Kenny Burrell John Coltrane - Kenny Burrell John Coltrane - Amazon.com Music

It's an unusual pairing which works really well - not a well-known recording for some reason.


----------



## Designer

NancyMoranG said:


> Church basement (for lack of a better word)


Crypt?


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Listening to Blue Trane radio on Google Play. "During the late 1950s and early '60s, John Coltrane and many of his peers searched for a sound beyond bebop. This cool post-bop set, with saxophones aplenty, balances adventurousness and melody."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know if you like jazz guitar (one of my favorite things), but if you do, check this out:
> 
> Kenny Burrell John Coltrane - Kenny Burrell John Coltrane - Amazon.com Music
> 
> It's an unusual pairing which works really well - not a well-known recording for some reason.
Click to expand...


Will definitely check that out.

Speaking of odd combinations, do you remember the Stanley Clarke/Gregory Hines collaboration in the late 80s? "If This Bass Could Talk." Hines (I'm still upset that he died!) didn't appear on every track, but there were a few on which there was nothing but bass and tap.

Oh god, and remember the Arsenio Hall show??


----------



## waday

So, this is how today went for me:


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Summer sucks.
> 
> And sorry, but that "Be Happy" song is really annoying as all get-out.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> So, this is how today went for me:



What in the what?

The first time through, I was like:





Then, I was all...





And that's when I started giggling uncontrollably at how bizarre it was.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, this is how today went for me:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What in the what?
> 
> The first time through, I was like:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then, I was all...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And that's when I started giggling uncontrollably at how bizarre it was.
Click to expand...

So, I take it you've never seen it before, haha. It's part of a longer video by Don Hertzfeldt called 'Rejected'. It's pretty darn good, but extremely bizarre and somewhat uncomfortable at times.

He also had a movie out recently. The wife and I watched it on Netflix. It was really, really good and sad.


----------



## limr

Nope, never saw it before.

And now it cannot be unseen!


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> My impression of the seasons:
> 
> Winter: SUCKS
> Spring: SUCKS
> Summer: YAY
> Fall: SUCKS
> 
> That concludes my assessment of the seasons.



I would only amend this slightly:

Winter: SUCKS x 10,000
Spring: Summer is coming!
Summer: YAY
Fall: SUCKS, but at least there's Football.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> I would only amend this slightly:
> 
> Summer: SUCKS x 10,000
> Fall: Winter is coming!
> Winter: YAY!
> Spring: SUCKS, but at least there's still Ice Hockey until June.



FIFY


----------



## Designer

Snow and ice removal sucks
mud sucks
mosquitos suck
Autumn doesn't suck even at halloween time.


----------



## snowbear

Nap time is over for this round.

Winter: blues, greys & white (sometimes).
Spring & Summer: greens, yellows, purples, pinks & reds.  Some browns at the end.
Autumn: orange, yellow, red & brown.

I can find something that I like in each one.


----------



## table1349




----------



## JacaRanda

minicoop1985 said:


> My impression of the seasons:
> 
> Winter: SUCKS
> Spring: SUCKS
> Summer: YAY
> Fall: SUCKS
> 
> That concludes my assessment of the seasons.



Really?  That sucks!


----------



## JacaRanda

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Listening to Blue Trane radio on Google Play. "During the late 1950s and early '60s, John Coltrane and many of his peers searched for a sound beyond bebop. This cool post-bop set, with saxophones aplenty, balances adventurousness and melody."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know if you like jazz guitar (one of my favorite things), but if you do, check this out:
> 
> Kenny Burrell John Coltrane - Kenny Burrell John Coltrane - Amazon.com Music
> 
> It's an unusual pairing which works really well - not a well-known recording for some reason.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Will definitely check that out.
> 
> Speaking of odd combinations, do you remember the Stanley Clarke/Gregory Hines collaboration in the late 80s? "If This Bass Could Talk." Hines (I'm still upset that he died!) didn't appear on every track, but there were a few on which there was nothing but bass and tap.
> 
> Oh god, and remember the Arsenio Hall show??
Click to expand...


My favorite bassist along with Marcus Miller.  
I miss Gregory too


----------



## JacaRanda

Designer said:


> Snow and ice removal sucks
> mud sucks
> mosquitos suck
> Autumn doesn't suck even at halloween time.



Drought sucks, but other than that....no complaints.  Wait, right now there are no birds migrating to speak of.  So right now kinda sucks.


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> mud sucks


You just need bigger tires.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/20/75/2b/20752bcab73c526ba47bf9f1bba2f26c.jpg


----------



## Gary A.

JacaRanda said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Snow and ice removal sucks
> mud sucks
> mosquitos suck
> Autumn doesn't suck even at halloween time.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Drought sucks, but other than that....no complaints.  Wait, right now there are no birds migrating to speak of.  So right now kinda sucks.
Click to expand...

The Drought does suck (many out here are capturing the cold shower water in buckets to reuse on their plants),
Earthquakes and Fires suck, (but they always affect someone else),
Crowded Freeways really suck. That's the worst thing out here ... Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter are all actually good and fun there are very few actually bad weather days. But there are way too many people out here enjoying the good weather.


----------



## table1349




----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter . . .


Wait -- you don't experience at least two of these.


----------



## pixmedic

Pro ems tip. Tape fixes everything.


----------



## table1349

Oh no you didn't.   That tape is a violation of the Man's rules.................







I offer you this as proof.....





"If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy." - Red Green


----------



## JacaRanda

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter . . .
> 
> 
> 
> Wait -- you don't experience at least two of these.
Click to expand...


Basically, most of the time it's Spring and Summer.  Basically, if you want Autumn and Winter you just drive a few miles.
Actually, with great timing;  you could snow ski, surf, gamble in Vegas (or do whatever stays in Vegas), and visit Mexico all in the same day.


----------



## table1349

JacaRanda said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter . . .
> 
> 
> 
> Wait -- you don't experience at least two of these.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Basically, most of the time it's Spring and Summer.  Basically, if you want Autumn and Winter you just drive a few miles.
> Actually, with great timing;  you could snow ski, surf, gamble in Vegas (or do whatever stays in Vegas), and visit Mexico all in the same day.
Click to expand...

And Lord knows there is no better fair than the LA County Fair.






They do have some of the best commercials for the fair there.


----------



## JacaRanda

gryphonslair99 said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter . . .
> 
> 
> 
> Wait -- you don't experience at least two of these.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Basically, most of the time it's Spring and Summer.  Basically, if you want Autumn and Winter you just drive a few miles.
> Actually, with great timing;  you could snow ski, surf, gamble in Vegas (or do whatever stays in Vegas), and visit Mexico all in the same day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And Lord knows there is no better fair than the LA County Fair.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They do have some of the best commercials for the fair there.
Click to expand...

Well I prefer the Orange County Fair,  because....it's 30 miles so much better [emoji3].


----------



## snowbear

<Removed upon further reflection.  Thank you, Lenny, for setting me straight.>


----------



## table1349

JacaRanda said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter . . .
> 
> 
> 
> Wait -- you don't experience at least two of these.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Basically, most of the time it's Spring and Summer.  Basically, if you want Autumn and Winter you just drive a few miles.
> Actually, with great timing;  you could snow ski, surf, gamble in Vegas (or do whatever stays in Vegas), and visit Mexico all in the same day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And Lord knows there is no better fair than the LA County Fair.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They do have some of the best commercials for the fair there.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well I prefer the Orange County Fair,  because....it's 30 miles so much better [emoji3].
Click to expand...

Have you tired the Oregon Country Fair????  Talk about a different fair.  Not the type of fair you would ever find around my neck of the woods that for dang sure.

They even have Photographers there.  Who would have ever figured.


----------



## table1349

Ok, here are some more.  The first one is for all the coffee hosers.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter . . .
> 
> 
> 
> Wait -- you don't experience at least two of these.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Basically, most of the time it's Spring and Summer.  Basically, if you want Autumn and Winter you just drive a few miles.
> Actually, with great timing;  you could snow ski, surf, gamble in Vegas (or do whatever stays in Vegas), and visit Mexico all in the same day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And Lord knows there is no better fair than the LA County Fair.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They do have some of the best commercials for the fair there.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Classic.  I had to post on FB (three of the nieces are blonde - two naturally)
Click to expand...

Oh hell I'm married to a California Blonde.  Bless her little ole' heart.


----------



## limr

Those commercials are sexist and offensive, and I'm quite frankly disgusted at the whole "wink wink, aren't these girls cute when they try to think?" attitude. And I'm sure the response to this is going to be some pithy little meme that is some facile attempt at humor, or is in itself sexist and offensive, or a patronizing accusation that I can't take a joke. I don't give a crap. I'm not keeping my mouth shut.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Designer said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Church basement (for lack of a better word)
> 
> 
> 
> Crypt?
Click to expand...


I am going to post a photo of it. Crypt is certainly better, but will have to show you


----------



## table1349

gryphonslair99 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter . . .
> 
> 
> 
> Wait -- you don't experience at least two of these.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Basically, most of the time it's Spring and Summer.  Basically, if you want Autumn and Winter you just drive a few miles.
> Actually, with great timing;  you could snow ski, surf, gamble in Vegas (or do whatever stays in Vegas), and visit Mexico all in the same day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And Lord knows there is no better fair than the LA County Fair.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They do have some of the best commercials for the fair there.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Classic.  I had to post on FB (three of the nieces are blonde - two naturally)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh hell I'm married to a California Blonde.  Bless her little ole' heart.
Click to expand...

Apparently our 3 year old grand daughter is playing space case this evening.  We were face timing with here and her 5 year old sister and all of a sudden the 3 year old had to show us her room.  She takes the iPad into her room, shows us her room for like 3 seconds then sets it down on the floor and walked away to play.  We had a wonderful look at her ceiling for a couple of minutes until her older sister came in to see what was going on.  Way to funny.  Lord only knows what she went to do.


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> Those commercials are sexist and offensive, and I'm quite frankly disgusted at the whole "wink wink, aren't these girls cute when they try to think?" attitude. And I'm sure the response to this is going to be some pithy little meme that is some facile attempt at humor, or is in itself sexist and offensive, or a patronizing accusation that I can't take a joke. I don't give a crap. I'm not keeping my mouth shut.



Ruh roh...

So I was right, I didn't have to watch them to know what they were!


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Those commercials are sexist and offensive, and I'm quite frankly disgusted at the whole "wink wink, aren't these girls cute when they try to think?" attitude. And I'm sure the response to this is going to be some pithy little meme that is some facile attempt at humor, or is in itself sexist and offensive, or a patronizing accusation that I can't take a joke. I don't give a crap. I'm not keeping my mouth shut.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ruh roh...
> 
> So I was right, I didn't have to watch them to know what they were!
Click to expand...


Nope, you really don't.


----------



## snerd

Evening, hosers. I've been getting easily tired this go 'round with the Vancomycin. It effected me a little last time, but wow, I can just about go narcoleptic when I least expect it! I think I'll talk to them about reducing my serving size to the kids menu.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers. My back is aching ... most likely from working on the drip system.

I just downloaded a free app ... "MyFitnessPal". It is a very good calorie counter, both calories in and calories expended. It sync's up with my activity tracker. I recommend it as it is really making me think of my food end of being healthy/diet.  If anybody need to lose some weight, this is a very helpful tool.


----------



## table1349

Top of the morning to ya all.    Start of another wonderful day in nowhere land.  I'd tell you what it is like outside except the sun is smart enough to still be in bed.  Forcast is for cooler tempratures with scattered thunderstorms throughout the day.   For you west coasters, I would love to send you some of this rain.  You could use it and we are good.  The ponds and lakes here are full and every rain storm brings flooding or high water warnings.   I know we are good on moisture when our sump pump runs with just a little rain.  It's August and I still don't have to water the lawn much to keep it green.  

Well off to another exciting day.


----------



## oldhippy

It's summertime and the livin is easy.  Plenty coffee in the pot. Good morning.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers. My back is aching ... most likely from working on the drip system.
> 
> I just downloaded a free app ... "MyFitnessPal". It is a very good calorie counter, both calories in and calories expended. It sync's up with my activity tracker. I recommend it as it is really making me think of my food end of being healthy/diet.  If anybody need to lose some weight, this is a very helpful tool.



I have been using that app, too. There's also an online site that syncs the information, so you can enter foods on your phone or the computer. 

I just connected it to my Jawbone app but I don't find the "cross-pollination" to be very useful. My exercise from the fitness band app doesn't always sync properly, and I can just as easily add cardio to MyFitnessPal, so it's not a huge advantage on that end. 

And when the food journal syncs to the fitness band app, Judgy Bracelet gets even judgier! It gives me a food score shows me the percentage of that nutrient I have consumed compared to the "recommended" amount. But then that's it. No discussion of individual foods, seemingly no way to control what the recommended amounts are, and then it spits out little "tips" like, "Well, it's fine to indulge once in a while, but be sure to be careful with the size of the portion." This was on a day that I ate ice cream. How much ice cream did I eat? Less than half a cup.

Oh lord, and the other day it praised me for my breakfast (which, iirc, was a pb&j) "A breakfast that would even make your Grandmother proud!" Seriously, who writes this crap? Forgetting for a moment that "Grandmother" shouldn't be capitalized, is Judgy Bracelet assuming is that my (or anyone's) automatically had a better diet because they were older? Did that generation eat better? Or would it in fact be horrified by it? And not fer nuthin, but my grandmother either fried or boiled the crap (and nutrients) out of food, was almost as wide as she was tall (granted, she was pretty short), and died of a heart attack in her 70s.

So I might need to take Judgy Bracelet out of the food equation.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers. My back is aching ... most likely from working on the drip system.
> 
> I just downloaded a free app ... "MyFitnessPal". It is a very good calorie counter, both calories in and calories expended. It sync's up with my activity tracker. I recommend it as it is really making me think of my food end of being healthy/diet.  If anybody need to lose some weight, this is a very helpful tool.


Just curious, do you know anyone using the paid version of this app?  I have been using it for a while, especially since my better half got me an Apple watch.  The apple upgrade version seems to be a subscription thing and I am not terribly fond of subscription apps or programs in general.  I would be interested in what the paid app offers but don't know of anyone here that used the paid version.


----------



## otherprof

limr said:


> I used to listen to _Car Talk_ all the time. It's amusing, but only once in a while these days. It's kind of like how you become obsessed with a certain food and eat it all the time, until one day you get tired of it and kind of lose your taste for it.


It could be like eating leftovers. Click and Clack retired in 2012, and all shows currently broadcast are edited reruns of old shows. Alas.  Now I can't wait to respond to someone posting with a shutter problem, "What color is your camera?"


----------



## table1349

otherprof said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I used to listen to _Car Talk_ all the time. It's amusing, but only once in a while these days. It's kind of like how you become obsessed with a certain food and eat it all the time, until one day you get tired of it and kind of lose your taste for it.
> 
> 
> 
> It could be like eating leftovers. Click and Clack retired in 2012, and all shows currently broadcast are edited reruns of old shows. Alas.  Now I can't wait to respond to someone posting with a shutter problem, "What color is your camera?"
Click to expand...

A lot of the material now from what I understand is also stuff that was never aired in the first place.   Some of it however even as re-runs or left overs are still funny as can be.  Case in point, probably my favorite .....


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> I just downloaded a free app ... "MyFitnessPal".


I love that app! I have it, too. Before my wife and I started working out, we began our healthy lifestyle by changing our diet. Not going on a specific diet, but eating healthier overall. We still eat junk, but now we're much more conscious of what and how much junk we put in our bodies. Just by using the app/service to track our foods, we lost probably 20 pounds each. After we learned to eat better, we started exercising.

I'm down about 50 pounds, the wife is down 60+ pounds. We feel great. A few months ago we took my in-laws to the airport. We nearly had a heart attack when we realized that we used to carry the weight of one suitcase on our bodies at all times. Definitely an eye opener.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The fitness app's connected to the Jawbone, the Jawbone's connected to the, fitness bracelet...

Hosers.

Waiting for an un-delivery, outgoing package today; one of my photos going to hang on a wall in an exhibit, hope it has a nice trip.

I used to catch the Tappit bros. sometimes, they were pretty funny.


----------



## table1349

Just sat down to grab a little lunch, looked out the window and realized that the meteorlogist is not the one to take tips from on the horses today.  Not one drop of rain has fallen yet, not one crack of lightning or rumble of thunder.  Lots of clouds with nothing to show for them at this point except a temprature of 81 degrees.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Back from my mornings. The app and my Garmin seem to work well ... (after one day ... right?), in my case, the app checks the caloric output on the tracker and makes an adjustment to the calore chart.


----------



## Gary A.

I just was informed by Garmin, (the maker of my activity tracker), to update my activity tracker. After doing so, it is now officially linked to the MyFitnessPal ... we'll see what happens now.


----------



## minicoop1985

Hola, hosers. Upgraded to Windows 10 the other day, seems to be working OK. Takes some getting used to.

In other news, wife still won't sleep in the bed due to the damned bat.


----------



## table1349

minicoop1985 said:


> Hola, hosers. Upgraded to Windows 10 the other day, seems to be working OK. Takes some getting used to.
> 
> In other news, wife still won't sleep in the bed due to the damned bat.


Okaaaayyy.  Is that a good thing or a bad thing?


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Started off a little TOO early, with a freaking BAT getting in our room at 4:40 AM. Had it tested for rabies, came back negative. All clear there.



I missed this post.  Been there, done that.  A few years ago, one got into my office.  I shut the door, put up a "Do Not Enter" sign, and informed the boss.  One of the case managers came in to look - it was just hanging on the wall - but turned off the light when he was done (not smart).

Animal control shows up and the bugger is gone.  OK, so it went back out the way it came in.  I started clearing off all of the crap on my desk.  I get to the bottom of the pile and there is the brown fuzzy!  I place a plastic tub over it to secure the scene, shut the door again, and call Animal Control back out.  The man grabs it (wearing leather gloves) and goes outside with it.

I go outside to the dumpster to throw out the stuff it was hiding under and I see the animal guy.  He's trying to get the bat to fly home, I guess.  Each time he (gently) tosses this thing into the air, it just falls to the ground.  Imagine the scene where Forrest Gump learns he can run, but with a different outcome . . . "Fly, Bella; fly!" <thud>  "Fly, Bella!" <thud> "Come on, now, Bella!" <thud> . . .

Anyway, you have now earned this (as I did, that day):


----------



## limr

Awww, poor bat  

Evening, hosers. Had a nice relaxing afternoon. Only had readings in the morning (the rest of the month it will be morning and afternoon every T and Th) so I spent some time with Buzz, the pool, and a nice glass of wine


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou is busy making wine themed tablecloth and napkins for our next visit to the Hollywood Bowl (tomorrow).  We are using the MyFitnessPal to manipulate our calorie consumption in order to leave room for a glass or two of wine.


----------



## snowbear

Wait; let's think this through:

1. Wine is made from grapes (and other fruits or berries).
2. Fruits, and vegetables are very healthy (right, Lenny?)
I'd say that wine is more on the healthy side than other beverages, so you shouldn't have to watch any calories.


----------



## minicoop1985

LOLOL. Our bat had to die to be rabies tested. Saved us over $20,000 in rabies treatments and who knows how much trauma for having to give Cooper rabies shots.


----------



## snowbear

My oldest had the rabies series when he was three -- not fun.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Imagine the scene where Forrest Gump learns he can run, but with a different outcome . . . "Fly, Bella; fly!" <thud>  "Fly, Bella!" <thud> "Come on, now, Bella!" <thud> . . .



Reminds me more of this:
(just the first minute applies here)


----------



## snowbear

Yes.  That.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> LOLOL. Our bat had to die to be rabies tested. Saved us over $20,000 in rabies treatments and who knows how much trauma for having to give Cooper rabies shots.


You think that's funny?????????


----------



## minicoop1985

I thought Charlie's comments about being Batman were amusing. I'm not overly thrilled with the whole situation, though the demise of the bat doesn't bug me much.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> I thought Charlie's comments about being Batman were amusing. I'm not overly thrilled with the whole situation, though the demise of the bat doesn't bug me much.


Real classy!!!


----------



## minicoop1985

This thread lately... sheesh. I didn't say I ENJOYED killing the bat or that it was FUNNY. It just needed to be done so it could be tested for rabies, and that fact doesn't bother me much.


----------



## minicoop1985

Listen, if it came down to killing a bat or having to spend money you DON'T have on rabies treatments for your whole family (would have done it if necessary obviously), I'm pretty sure you would all kill the bat to have it tested. It touched/scratched my wife's face in her sleep, so who knows if its saliva got near any mucus membranes. 3% of bats this year have tested POSITIVE in WI for rabies, and despite that meaning 97% rabies free, it's more of a chance than I'm willing to risk. Classy? I don't really care. My family doesn't have to get rabies treatments (rabies is, by the way, with ONE exception, absolutely fatal), there's no bat in my house, and I'm happy about that. There, I said it.

I'm seriously wondering what the hell is going on with this thread. Leonore had some good points and was quite upset by those posts about the LA County Fair, but nobody bats an eye, let alone say anything. I kill a bat to SPARE MY FAMILY FROM RABIES TREATMENTS and save the goddamned money (do I look like I have $20,000?) and I'm the devil? Let's get this place back on track. Let's lay off the sexualized ads and the overzealous conservationism, shall we? Can we get back to the COFFEE part now? Good.


----------



## Gary A.

The Komado is smoking up a storm.


----------



## Gary A.

Fini.


----------



## Gary A.

The meat is amazing...


----------



## limr

Nice, Gary! (Though I think I'll just stick to the pizza and leave the meat for John  )
Oh, not sure if you found this yet, but on the MyFitnessApp website, you can enter your own recipes - just list the ingredients, adjust the amounts, and set the number of servings, and it will figure out all the calories and nutrients for you. Then you can add that to your food journal. It's a pretty great feature and easy to use. I use it a lot since I do a lot of soups and stews in the crock pot.

Coop, well said. I would have done the same thing about the bat. Granted, it would have made me a little sad, but then I'm a big ole sap when it comes to any animal (except roaches and stink bugs and wasps). It was still the right thing to do.

Now, back to coffee...I got my new French press today! I get to test it out tomorrow on my last day at this paralegal job


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> The meat is amazing...
> View attachment 105979
> 
> View attachment 105980
> 
> View attachment 105981


That looks friggin' awesome!


----------



## Gary A.

Honestly, I've had some pretty good prime rib at excellent eateries ... This Tri-Tip tastes as good as the best prime rib.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Honestly, I've had some pretty good prime rib at excellent eateries ... This Tri-Tip tastes as good as the best prime rib.


E-mail me a sandwhich-worth, wouldja?


----------



## Gary A.

I use lump hardwood charcoal and tossed in some Hickory chips for extra flavoring.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Honestly, I've had some pretty good prime rib at excellent eateries ... This Tri-Tip tastes as good as the best prime rib.
> 
> 
> 
> E-mail me a sandwhich-worth, wouldja?
Click to expand...

Mary Lou kept repeating that this was the best meat she had ever eaten in her whole life. 

I would love to share my Tri-tip with all of youse.


----------



## limr

Morning hosers!


----------



## sm4him

Morning, Leonore! About to start my second cup of coffee!

We were supposed to have a couple of bigwigs at our workplace today, doing a press conference about who knows what transportation-related subject. One of our congressmen and the US Secretary of Transportation. 
That meant my afternoon would be consumed with taking pictures of the two officials and their entourage as they toured the facility and then did their press conference.  It also meant I'd have to dress WAY nicer than I usually do for work.

Late yesterday, we got an email that the Secretary of Transportation had decided to hold the press conference somewhere else. The whole tone of the email was "bummer," but I was kinda like .
Don't have to dress up, don't have to spend the afternoon trying to dodge all the cell phones and iPads to get decent photos (actually, the photography part would have been okay, except that I have a LOT of work to get done that I'm on a deadline for, and the deadline is looming quite large).
And mostly, don't have to put on my "social interaction" face and use up my entire month's allotment of sociability energy in one afternoon.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.  I'm off to a late start, today: still on my first cup.
Staying home one more day since the 'laxers will knock me out around one or two o'clock.  I'm still getting a little work done, though.

OK, I have to figure out how to adjust the "notifications" in Windows 10 - it's telling me stuff I know and don't consider an issue - worse than the phone when I got it.

Sharon - glad to hear that the pressure is off a bit.  The POTUS has visited a nearby elementary school (close to work) a few times over the past few years so we've had to deal with the extra traffic.  Been caught near Andrews a number of times when the motorcade rolls through.


----------



## table1349

Beautiful Day in Do-Dah.   70 degrees, cloudy, and a wonderful strong rain has been falling since around 5;00 a.m.  We easily have well over an inch of rain already and no end to the showers for at least another hours.  Air is clean, fresh, clear and calm with a slight 9mph breeze.  One of those days to open up the house, put on some good music and curl up with a good book with the dogs at my feet and the cat on my lap.

Unfortunately I have to work.  Oh well.  Still a great day to be alive.

*Opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long, you miss them.*

William Arthur Ward


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Cooling off a little here over the next few days.  I'm back at work after a break yesterday.  The person whose work I was covering (and grumbling about) during a leave came back, so now I have "just" my own to worry about.


----------



## bribrius

morning. another day in the world. I had to look this one up i was curious from whence it come...


----------



## limr

Morning, again hosers!

Sharon, I would feel the same way. While it might be fun to take the pictures, but like you, I'd be annoyed that I had to waste all my social energy on a work thing for some muckety muck. 

So my new coffee pot is pretty good. Holds about the same amount, maybe a bit more, than my old one, and it definitely keeps the coffee hot enough so I don't have to warm up the second cup. That was my only gripe with the French press. I tend to linger over my coffee, so by the time the second cup came, I'd have to give it a quick zap in the microwave to make it hot enough, but even that little bit changed the taste. But now I won't have to do that. It's such a small thing, but it makes me so happy! 

Tried something new on the bike last night. I've been reading a bit about High Intensity Training and how it can provide more benefit than lower intensity even though the overall time of exercise is less. It's short bursts of activity during which you push as hard as you can, but then take it really easy during the recovery. The routine I settled on was one minute of pushing, then one minute recovery, for a total of 20 minutes. I did a mile as a warm up, 3.5 miles of the training, then half a mile for cool down. The whole thing took probably 30 minutes which is the same amount of time I would have taken to do that same 5 miles at a moderate, steady pace. 

On paper, it looks like the same workout: 30 minutes, 5 miles. But it felt so different at the end! It felt really good! The research suggests that this kind of workout three times a week can make a big difference, so I think I'll try that 3 times a week and alternate it with my weights and some steady-pace biking.


----------



## bribrius

AAL KEMBLA - General Cargo current position and details IMO 9498353 MMSI 538004267 Callsign V7WC7 Registered in Marshall Is - AIS Marine Traffic


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, hosers. I'm glad we're back on topic here.

First cup is always the most important. If it weren't for coffee I'd never wake up.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Good morning, hosers. I'm glad we're back on topic here.
> 
> First cup is always the most important. If it weren't for coffee I'd never wake up.



There are days when I only get out bed so I can have coffee.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> So my new coffee pot is pretty good. Holds about the same amount, maybe a bit more, than my old one, and it definitely keeps the coffee hot enough so I don't have to warm up the second cup. That was my only gripe with the French press. I tend to linger over my coffee, so by the time the second cup came, I'd have to give it a quick zap in the microwave to make it hot enough, but even that little bit changed the taste. But now I won't have to do that. It's such a small thing, but it makes me so happy!



Sometimes I think we've been separated at birth and are secret twins, Miss L.        This is my biggest challenge with coffee and it does seem piddling, but it matters to me, as a coffee-lingerer (if that's a word)!      It's what has given me pause every time I look at buying a French press.

So, I'm sure the answer is buried in here someplace and I'm too lazy to look, but....what coffeepot did you get?


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So my new coffee pot is pretty good. Holds about the same amount, maybe a bit more, than my old one, and it definitely keeps the coffee hot enough so I don't have to warm up the second cup. That was my only gripe with the French press. I tend to linger over my coffee, so by the time the second cup came, I'd have to give it a quick zap in the microwave to make it hot enough, but even that little bit changed the taste. But now I won't have to do that. It's such a small thing, but it makes me so happy!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sometimes I think we've been separated at birth and are secret twins, Miss L.        This is my biggest challenge with coffee and it does seem piddling, but it matters to me, as a coffee-lingerer (if that's a word)!      It's what has given me pause every time I look at buying a French press.
> 
> So, I'm sure the answer is buried in here someplace and I'm too lazy to look, but....what coffeepot did you get?
Click to expand...


This is the one I settled on: Amazon.com Francois et Mimi Double Wall French Coffee Press 27-Ounce Stainless Steel Kitchen Dining

The glass ones are great but they don't keep the coffee hot for long, and even with the heat-resistant glass, the problem is that the glass will eventually fail. No matter how careful you are with them, one day, the tiniest little bump will make the carafe crack. So I wanted metal to keep the coffee hot, but also to be more durable.

The metal ones can get quite expensive, though, but this one is reasonably-priced (actually cost a couple of dollars less than the replacement glass carafe I was going to get) and got excellent reviews.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Still sipping my first and now cold, cup of coffee. I don't mind it cold, it still has that wonderful clear coffee flavor. @ Leo- high intensity repeats is much more effective/result attainment than steady-Eddie. You're better off with multiple high intensity shorter workouts (spread out across the day) than one longer workout of lower intensity.  I'm not happy with how MyFitnessPal calculates my spent calories and how it syncs to the Garmin. So I'll just use it for food and my intake calories and I'll use the Garmin for spent calories.

I'm about to pull-the-trigger on a Petzval unless I can find a better vintage lens with similar properties. Back to work.

BTW- The last POTUS photo I've taken:






Sarah, (my oldest daughter), giving Clinton a Valentine.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Ooh it's pretty.

I'm doing good in the morning to dump some coffee in the thing and remember to add water! lol I don't think I could handle anything too complex.

Muckety mucks  - what a PITA that can be, probably better off if they're getting sent elsewhere.

Are you getting the newest Petzval? Looks like it doesn't have the Waterhouse style stops, which with mine I find quite entertaining (not that that's a good reason to buy a lens...).


----------



## vintagesnaps

And who are Francois and Mimi?? lol that's an interesting name for a coffee maker. Press, pot whatever.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> And who are Francois and Mimi?? lol that's an interesting name for a coffee maker. Press, pot whatever.



I have no idea, but they're French names, so they must be experts on French presses!


----------



## sm4him

vintagesnaps said:


> I'm doing good in the morning to dump some coffee in the thing and remember to add water! lol I don't think I could handle anything too complex.
> 
> Muckety mucks  - what a PITA that can be, probably better off if they're getting sent elsewhere.



See, that's me. I simply don't have enough neurons firing before I've had coffee  to do something any more complex than dump grounds in a filter, turn on machine (it generally already has the water in it in the morning) and TRY to remember to put a cup under there so the coffee doesn't pour all over the counter.

Seriously, even that is sometimes more of a challenge than I can handle pre-coffee. Just last week, I scooped out the grounds...and dumped them straight into my coffee cup instead of the coffee maker. 

And yes, definitely best that the muckety mucks went elsewhere. Honestly, these days, I am not sure I could actually muster enough energy to be sociable and polite to all the people I'd have to deal with.  I NEED A VACATION!!!!!!!!


----------



## limr

Three hours, three hours, three hours...


----------



## snowbear

The cat nap is over.

Maybe.


----------



## limr

Two hours, two hours...


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Two hours, two hours...


Nice, I used to leave at 4:30, but now I leave at 4:00. 

Short story long.

I used to leave at 5:00. Everything was good. Then, my supervisor left, and I got a new one. She would come to me at 4:45 and either (1) want me to do something 'real quick' (read at least an hour's worth of work) before I left or (2) want to have a 'real quick' talk about workload (read at least a 45-minute talk).

So, to combat this, I started getting in a half-hour early, so I could leave at 4:30. As long as we're there between the core hours of 9-4 and get a full 8 hours, we can pretty much make our own schedule around this. Everything was dandy, until she caught on why I was leaving early. Then, she started coming to me at 4:15; same thing would happen. I'd be there until 5:15/5:30 or later doing work.

Now, mind you, this was stuff that she could have very easily asked me to do at 10:00, since it was an email from the client from yesterday (or heck, last week). But no, it had to be done 'today'.

So, I started coming in even earlier so I could leave at 4:00.

That'll show her... until I hear her beckon at 3:45...


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Two hours, two hours...
> 
> 
> 
> Nice, I used to leave at 4:30, but now I leave at 4:00.
> 
> Short story long.
> 
> I used to leave at 5:00. Everything was good. Then, my supervisor left, and I got a new one. She would come to me at 4:45 and either (1) want me to do something 'real quick' (read at least an hour's worth of work) before I left or (2) want to have a 'real quick' talk about workload (read at least a 45-minute talk).
> 
> So, to combat this, I started getting in a half-hour early, so I could leave at 4:30. As long as we're there between the core hours of 9-4 and get a full 8 hours, we can pretty much make our own schedule around this. Everything was dandy, until she caught on why I was leaving early. Then, she started coming to me at 4:15; same thing would happen. I'd be there until 5:15/5:30 or later doing work.
> 
> Now, mind you, this was stuff that she could have very easily asked me to do at 10:00, since it was an email from the client from yesterday (or heck, last week). But no, it had to be done 'today'.
> 
> So, I started coming in even earlier so I could leave at 4:00.
> 
> That'll show her... until I hear her beckon at 3:45...
Click to expand...


Oy! That ain't right, man. Is this something you can discuss with her to get her to realize what she is doing? Or at least a form to put in for overtime???


----------



## limr

DUDE!

Last week or so, Buzz and I went down to our local Barnes and Noble, just to poke around and be around the books for a little while (we're nerds  ). On a whim, I entered a drawing to win a little portable turntable.

Guess who just got a call from Barnes and Noble?? Woot, got another turntable!! 

Today is a Good Day (in more way than one.)


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Two hours, two hours...
> 
> 
> 
> Nice, I used to leave at 4:30, but now I leave at 4:00.
> 
> Short story long.
> 
> I used to leave at 5:00. Everything was good. Then, my supervisor left, and I got a new one. She would come to me at 4:45 and either (1) want me to do something 'real quick' (read at least an hour's worth of work) before I left or (2) want to have a 'real quick' talk about workload (read at least a 45-minute talk).
> 
> So, to combat this, I started getting in a half-hour early, so I could leave at 4:30. As long as we're there between the core hours of 9-4 and get a full 8 hours, we can pretty much make our own schedule around this. Everything was dandy, until she caught on why I was leaving early. Then, she started coming to me at 4:15; same thing would happen. I'd be there until 5:15/5:30 or later doing work.
> 
> Now, mind you, this was stuff that she could have very easily asked me to do at 10:00, since it was an email from the client from yesterday (or heck, last week). But no, it had to be done 'today'.
> 
> So, I started coming in even earlier so I could leave at 4:00.
> 
> That'll show her... until I hear her beckon at 3:45...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oy! That ain't right, man. Is this something you can discuss with her to get her to realize what she is doing? Or at least a form to put in for overtime???
Click to expand...

I've found that discussions with her fall on deaf ears when they don't directly affect her. In other words, if it affected HER schedule, than by all means, she would want to hear it and help. Depending on the project and week, overtime may be approved (as straight pay). Otherwise, I just take it off my Friday afternoon, haha.

What I started to do was email or call earlier in the day to try to prevent such last minute requests. Helps some. I hate mind games. 

She's also the type of person that won't believe you unless you repeat everything back to her exactly as she stated. Example: if she says, "Can you download this data and give me the summary stats on it?" and I respond, "Sure thing, I'll get it to you right away", she'll respond back with "So, you're going to download the data and provide the summary stats?". The correct response is: "Sure thing, I'll get the summary stats to you right away after I download and manipulate the data". I hate mind games.

She's really hard to read, too. Some days/weeks she's the sweetest person, and then she'll go weeks being bitter and quite nasty. I can't figure it out. Did I mention that I hate mind games?


----------



## waday

limr said:


> DUDE!
> 
> Last week or so, Buzz and I went down to our local Barnes and Noble, just to poke around and be around the books for a little while (we're nerds  ). On a whim, I entered a drawing to win a little portable turntable.
> 
> Guess who just got a call from Barnes and Noble?? Woot, got another turntable!!
> 
> Today is a Good Day (in more way than one.)


AWESOME! Congrats!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> DUDE!
> 
> Last week or so, Buzz and I went down to our local Barnes and Noble, just to poke around and be around the books for a little while (we're nerds  ). On a whim, I entered a drawing to win a little portable turntable.
> 
> Guess who just got a call from Barnes and Noble?? Woot, got another turntable!!
> 
> Today is a Good Day (in more way than one.)



That's awesome! I don't even have ONE turntable! I used to, but then my children became teenagers, got into all my old music and LPs, and ended up absconding with both the music and my turntable when they left.  But honestly, I just didn't have the heart to complain. I mean my nieces and my kids' friends were listening to Backstreet Boys, N Sync, Jonas Brothers and whatever the heck else was popular back then.  MY kids, meanwhile, were rocking out to the Beatles, Styx, Grateful Dead, Doobie Brothers, Aerosmith and more.  

Speaking of which: Funny story--

My youngest son, S, is working for a catering company that does a lot of catering for tour groups, mostly musical tours. He was gone the entire month of June, traveling all over the East Coast with the catering company, and is now gone for the month of August, headed out toTulsa,  Walla, Walla and then Salida, CO.
So, in June, at one of the stops they made, he got to meet Steven Tyler. Well, he wasn't there TO meet Steven; he just happened to be in the room when Tyler and some other guys came in. Now, my son is about 6'8" and probably weighs about 110 lbs. soaking wet.  
Tyler takes a look at him, grabs him by the arm, pulls him over to the other people in the room and says, "Guys, Guys, you gotta SEE this dude!!" Then he turns to S and says, "Dude, you really need to eat a pizza tonight."  

When STEVEN Jammin' TYLER suggests you are TOO skinny...MAN are you ever too skinny!!


----------



## sm4him

What is UP with all these shootings?? It's just crazy lately.

Today's shooting was at a theater in Antioch, TN. I have a very dear friend who lives there; her son was the asst. mgr. there just a few years ago, and they still know the manager. I would never have imagined little peaceful Antioch, on the far outskirts of Nashville, as a place that someone would choose to go off and start shooting inside the theater. Crazy.


----------



## minicoop1985

Only a couple posts from page 666! \m/ I may have to break out the Iron Maiden here.


----------



## snowbear

That kinda depends on how many you have on "ignore."


----------



## minicoop1985

None here.

Here it is!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Now cut that out!


----------



## vintagesnaps

The devil made 'em pick those outfits.


----------



## snerd

Guys and gals......... I wanted to show you what I aspire to with my drone photography. Or rather, video. I'm in complete awe of the editing and work that went into this production. 

GUADELOUPE ISLANDS VOL.2 4K on Vimeo

Hope that works!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## minicoop1985




----------



## limr

Still on 666 are we?


----------



## limr

Sorry, it's not devil music, but here's my new record player in action!  CCR seemed appropriate.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou's special Hollywood Bowl napkins and tablecloth.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## EIngerson

Nice peaceful morning. 




Paddleboarder by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## limr

Okay, the two flies in today's ointment:

1) It seems I have the beginnings of one of my Jesus headaches.

2) The new record player skips  I mean, I knew it was just a dinky little thing and didn't expect big sound or anything, but skipping is a problem. It does it a lot more with old records, but still skips even on newly-pressed vinyl. Grrrr. I also read a few reviews on Amazon and found out that it has a really heavy tracking force and is rough on the vinyl. There are better replacement stylus and cantilevers that will supposedly solve the skipping problem and be much easier on the records. Trying to decide if it's worth it. It's only $20.

Otherwise, it's been an awesome day. It was my last day at the paralegal job. I will miss the extra cash, but it was not a good situation for me overall, and I value my mental health more than I value the money. 

I also won the record player, and even if it's a little disappointing and needs a replacement needle, it was still really cool to win something! 

Then Buzz and I had yummy pizza for dinner and went out for a celebratory beer. And guess what? That beer was free too!!   His mother works at a pre-school and always gets a bunch of gifts at the end of the year. There's always gift cards that she's never going to use, so Buzz and I get them. We had one for Applebee's that we were saving for beer (there's absolutely nothing there I would want to eat, their mixed drinks are watered down and super sweet, and their wine sucks, so beer was really the only reason to go there.) It was free stuff for Leo day!! 

I also got a message from someone on a different forum who would like to possibly use one of my pictures for a theoretical future CD of music that his hobby jazz band might put out. So that felt pretty good 

And now I get to go to bed and snuggle with the kitties!!


----------



## terri

Yay for free beer!     

And since you didn't have to pay for the new turntable, if a $20 investment will solve the skipping problem (and be gentle on good vinyl), I'd probably go for it.   That's a small price to pay for the added fun factor!     (I love vinyl.)

Kiss the kitties for me!   Miss Finn just jumped over my laptop and is in search of her special baby (an odd old ball of yarn), so I have to go supervise playtime.   Night all!


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

The Bowl is such a magical place. Three artists performed tonight. We shared our strawberries, homegrown Zinfandel grapes and wine with the people around us. The best being Jaime Cullen. This little Englishman who brought down the house with his jazz. Tomorrow I will be downloading his albums. Cullen started his performance with "Playing this venue is a dream of mine." It was another California perfect evening at the Bowl.


----------



## table1349

“It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity.” 
― Dave Barry


----------



## NancyMoranG

Holy cow, I go 'away' for a couple of days, and you guys added like, 10 pages of chatting!! 
I have to find more time....
Back later


----------



## mmaria




----------



## mmaria

morningafternoon!

I finally sent the project proposal that kept me sooooo busy 

so,  me feeling a bit  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




  right now

http://data:image/jpeg;base64,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


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. Good afternoon, Marija!

Placement readings today. Headache. Inability to write full sentences. 

More coffee.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. Good afternoon, Marija!
> 
> Placement readings today. Headache. Inability to write full sentences.
> 
> More coffee.


Sympathy


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## EIngerson

Mmmmm, coffee….

Good morning photo fam.


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## Designer

Good morning!

Today I have to try to resolve an issue with the local LOF (Lube, Oil, Filter).

My son took his car there, and they could not get it back to what it was when he brought it in.  They (in addition to changing the engine oil) changed the transmission fluid, took over three hours trying to get it so the tranny worked again, finally let him go with instructions to take it to another mechanic for diagnosis and treatment.

The following day was Monday, so he took the car to the dealership which got the thing fixed, although it took a while.  The dealer charged the repairs back to LOF, only now LOF wants to be reimbursed by my son.  

Have we learned a lesson here?  I believe we have.


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## KenC

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. Good afternoon, Marija!
> 
> Placement readings today. Headache. Inability to write full sentences.
> 
> More coffee.



Sorry the headaches got you again.  I assume you have sufficient caffeine and analgesics to cope?  Any chance you could put off the reading?


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## KenC

Designer said:


> They (in addition to changing the engine oil) changed the transmission fluid, took over three hours trying to get it so the tranny worked again, finally let him go with instructions to take it to another mechanic for diagnosis and treatment



How do you make the transmission not work by taking out the drain plug and changing the fluid???  Yeah, better to avoid those places.  I know someone who had a slightly unusual model of a common American car which took a different oil filter than the regular model.  They of course used the wrong one and the needle on his oil pressure gauge was flying back and forth like a windshield wiper.


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## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Sitting at work having a good strong coffee from outside and trying to forget that it's only Thursday.


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## sm4him

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Sitting at work having a good strong coffee from outside and trying to forget that it's only Thursday.



My first thought this morning (after "give me coffee or die") was "Oh yeah, I can wear jeans today. It's Friday!" 

You can probably make a pretty good guess at what my NEXT thought was.


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## sm4him

Hey, hosers, we've passed the 10,000th post in this thread!! This thread will soon have more posts to its credit than *I* do, and it's taken me nearly 4 years to get there!


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Sitting at work having a good strong coffee from outside and trying to forget that it's only Thursday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My first thought this morning (after "give me coffee or die") was "Oh yeah, I can wear jeans today. It's Friday!"
> 
> You can probably make a pretty good guess at what my NEXT thought was.
Click to expand...


Sorry to hear - not much is worse than thinking it's Friday and then having to backtrack ...


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## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Kid let me sleep in today. Yusss.


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## vintagesnaps

This rain is making me sleepy fellow hosers.

Tape a penny on it - or a nickel maybe? What did we used to use?? I can't remember, but that weighs down the tone arm so it quits skipping.


(Of course I don't know how well that actually worked... lol if you try it use a junky record and see if it actually does anything!).


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## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> This rain is making me sleepy fellow hosers.
> 
> Tape a penny on it - or a nickel maybe? What did we used to use?? I can't remember, but that weighs down the tone arm so it quits skipping.
> 
> 
> (Of course I don't know how well that actually worked... lol if you try it use a junky record and see if it actually does anything!).



Ooh, that's a good way to test. Apparently the problem is that the cantilever is plastic and not heavy enough to keep it on the record. And the stylus itself isn't the best quality. I think there is a replacement one with a metal cantilever and higher quality stylus, and I'll get one of those for a permanent solution, but in the meantime I'll try weighing it down. 

If it ends up not working, then no harm no foul, really. I didn't lose money on it and if nothing else, I bet it can be rigged into an awesome cat toy!


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers. Good afternoon, Marija!
> 
> Placement readings today. Headache. Inability to write full sentences.
> 
> More coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry the headaches got you again.  I assume you have sufficient caffeine and analgesics to cope?  Any chance you could put off the reading?
Click to expand...


Can't put off the readings - they are on a set schedule.

But this headache doesn't seem to be too bad this month. It's constant but fairly low grade.



sm4him said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Sitting at work having a good strong coffee from outside and trying to forget that it's only Thursday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My first thought this morning (after "give me coffee or die") was "Oh yeah, I can wear jeans today. It's Friday!"
> 
> You can probably make a pretty good guess at what my NEXT thought was.
Click to expand...


Hate that!!


----------



## terri

Afternoon, all!

Sharon, I envy you the rain - it's been so hot and dry here it's starting to creep me out.   Daily thunderstorms all around us, but we're getting missed.   Maybe today.

Took my dear old Odin to a new vet today (in our new little town).   He's getting so old, starting to have difficulty pulling up those hind legs.   She gave us a free session with her laser thingy, which is supposed to help ease arthritis, but I dunno about that working.    We started him on some mild anti-inflammatory medication, and I have a bit more faith in that.      He has been a terrific dog, he's 14 now and I want his last bit of time on the planet to be pain-and-stress-free.   I hope it helps!


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## sm4him

Oh, Lord have MERCY, it's only 2 p.m.!! Feels like it should be about 8 already.

I've gotten three major items that had to go to the printer by Friday finished late yesterday afternoon or today. I've spent most of the rest of the day today going through five years of photos, trying to pick out ones to use for a couple of projects the marketing person wants me to do for our five-year anniversary. These are projects that COULD, under the right circumstances, actually be kind of creative and fun. Unfortunately, the celebration takes place on Aug. 17, so we have 7 days to get the projects done and printed, and I'm just now picking photos to use.  To be fair to her, she did tell me about this plan last week. To be even MORE fair (to me), she already knew that last week and this week were already completely full for me, with schedule revisions, map changes, etc for all the route changes that take place at the end of the month.

What she wants done would be cute--but she has NO clue what an extensive, time-consuming project it is. I suspect she thinks it should take about 10 minutes of my time, when in fact, even once I have all the photos selected, it'll probably take at least a full day, IF I were to be able to work on just one thing that day.


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## snerd

Ugh!! 107 on car thermometer. TV says 104 with 35% humidity and feels like 109. Summer can suck it!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


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## table1349

snerd said:


> Ugh!! 107 on car thermometer. TV says 104 with 35% humidity and feels like 109. Summer can suck it!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


Only 90 here a hundred or two hundred miles north of you.  What did you do to piss the gods of temprature off down there in Oklahoma land?


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## snowbear

sm4him said:


> Hey, hosers, we've passed the 10,000th post in this thread!!


Maybe it's time to put it to rest.


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> Maybe it's time to put it to rest.


NO!  Wait!  Wait!  

I want to know what Snerd did to piss off the temperature gods.  

Also, I probably should spill my guts regarding the LOF saga.  I caved.  Yes, that's right; I caved and paid the money.  I'm no good at negotiation.  AT all.  I just wanted the thing to go away.  So I paid the damn money. 

I spend money as if I was still drawing a paycheck.  

I got my tractor home, and made chili for supper.  (Iowa style chili)


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## Designer

Since this thread is about nothing or everything; I shall bore you all with my current thoughts.

I need to clean up my photo library, but after supper, which included two glasses of wine, I just cannot find the ambition to jump into a full-blown file reorganization project.  And tomorrow I will have too much to do to justify spending a chunk of time at the computer.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Don't even think it! And you Charlie, the biggest hoser of the bunch, you know we need to get to 200,000!

Stayed in the 60s, nice sort of relaxing rain to listen to all day. Charlie's comment might mean something's trying to freeze over??


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe it's time to put it to rest.
> 
> 
> 
> NO!  Wait!  Wait!
> 
> I want to know what Snerd did to piss off the temperature gods.
> 
> Also, I probably should spill my guts regarding the LOF saga.  I caved.  Yes, that's right; I caved and paid the money.  I'm no good at negotiation.  AT all.  I just wanted the thing to go away.  So I paid the damn money.
> 
> I spend money as if I was still drawing a paycheck.
> 
> I got my tractor home, and made chili for supper.  (Iowa style chili)
Click to expand...


It's just NOT gonna happen. Charlie knows better than to talk like that. He clearly did not have enough coffee this morning. 

So, what's in Iowa-style chili?


----------



## snowbear

It really wouldn't take much; a heated debate (OK, argument) on one of the taboo subjects.  Some of us might even get a well deserved time-out in the process!



Spoiler



Just kidding!


----------



## sm4him

I really need to start working on processing the pictures of my cousin's grandkids that I took last weekend. But after spending the entire day sorting through work photos, I just don't have the energy.

At the end of the workday, I also went through and did some very quick rearranging of personal photos from this year. What I discovered is: I have a JAMMIN' lot of pictures I took earlier this year that I have yet to process!! 
I guess I was too depressed by winter to process the ones early in the year, and I've been too preoccupied with family stuff the last few months. But I have no real excuse for March and April.  Although, I do think March was when I started experimenting with the smoke photos and then creating art of them.

Anyway, I think I've just looked at all the photos I can look at for one day. Maybe I'll go read a book instead.


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe it's time to put it to rest.
> 
> 
> 
> NO!  Wait!  Wait!
> 
> I want to know what Snerd did to piss off the temperature gods.
> 
> Also, I probably should spill my guts regarding the LOF saga.  I caved.  Yes, that's right; I caved and paid the money.  I'm no good at negotiation.  AT all.  I just wanted the thing to go away.  So I paid the damn money.
> 
> I spend money as if I was still drawing a paycheck.
> 
> I got my tractor home, and made chili for supper.  (Iowa style chili)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's just NOT gonna happen. Charlie knows better than to talk like that. He clearly did not have enough coffee this morning.
> 
> So, what's in Iowa-style chili?
Click to expand...

Kinda plain, I'm afraid.

I'll give the "recipe" I used today.

1 lb ground beef, browned.
1 large can tomatoes, petite cut
2 small cans (because I couldn't find the same size can as the tomatoes) black chili beans with chili seasoning
1/2 onion, diced
salt to taste

Brown the ground beef, drain
sweat and then brown the onions in the same pan with some olive oil
add the meat after the onion is browned
Add the canned tomatoes and beans, add salt to taste

Takes about half an hour

Serve with (optional) butter crackers or cornmeal muffins
top with grated cheddar/jack if desired

Note: I have used non-seasoned beans and added my own chili powder on occasion.


----------



## Gary A.

At 5:08 p.m. it is 81F and 52% humidity.  It feels like 81F .


----------



## sm4him

77F here, pretty downright cool for this time of August. 
Oh, and 76% humidity.


----------



## Designer

Since we're on the subject. (I am, anyway)  I do not like the "heat index" temps and the "wind chill" temps.  

I think that is so misleading.  

If I want to know what -20 feels like, I just go outside. If I am in the wind, then it's windy and cold, but I don't think the government can tell me what it "feels like" because they are not in the same wind as I am.

Just more BS that we have to deal with.


----------



## Gary A.

I am so hungry. I have a goal of 1500 calories a day ... no snacks ... a roll for breakfast ... a few slices of tri-tip (it is so gooood) and a slice or two of a baguette for lunch ... saving all my calories for dinner. 10,000 steps on the Garmin (need another 2,000 to hit my goal) ... I have a frig brimming with food ... a backyard full of veggies and fruits but I'm goin' out ... no desire to cook. Mary Lou and I are talkin' about Draft Picks, a sports bar down the street with these giants and extremely tasty burgers and maybe an equally giant beer or cider.


----------



## vintagesnaps

So, where's the muffin recipe?? lol I have some cornmeal sittin' around not doing much.

It's actually getting chilly, too bad I didn't see the chili recipe sooner.


----------



## Designer

I've used several different recipes, but the most recent one is this one:

Sour Cream Cornbread Muffins Land O Lakes

mostly because I had some sour cream anyway.


----------



## Gary A.

Watching the debate ... I would love to comment ... lol. Maybe Chinese, I am still thinking about food.


----------



## snerd

gryphonslair99 said:


> Only 90 here a hundred or two hundred miles north of you.  What did you do to piss the gods of temprature off down there in Oklahoma land?


Looks like you're about 250 miles north of me. The gods aren't pissed......................... just another August day in southern Oklahoma. At least our winds make it somewhat bearable, always 10-20 or higher.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.
This weekends project - trying to fix lazy_lobster's desktop.  I asked him what was wrong with it and got "The operating system doesn't really do anything because it's apparently illegal."  Someone decided to try and update it to Windows 7 (either him or a friend at school).  I ended up having to wipe the drive in order to reinstall XP.  Luckily he has a laptop.  Now I get to reinstall Office and whatnot.

There's a BIOS password that nobody remembers so I've pulled the battery & I am currently waiting for the password to go away. 

Time for another cup.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Good morning, peeps.
> This weekends project - trying to fix lazy_lobster's desktop.  I asked him what was wrong with it and got "The operating system doesn't really do anything because it's apparently illegal."  Someone decided to try and update it to Windows 7 (either him or a friend at school).  I ended up having to wipe the drive in order to reinstall XP.  Luckily he has a laptop.  Now I get to reinstall Office and whatnot.
> 
> There's a BIOS password that nobody remembers so I've pulled the battery & I am currently waiting for the password to go away.
> 
> Time for another cup.


i think you need an


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> Good morning, peeps.
> This weekends project - trying to fix lazy_lobster's desktop.  I asked him what was wrong with it and got "The operating system doesn't really do anything because it's apparently illegal."  Someone decided to try and update it to Windows 7 (either him or a friend at school).  I ended up having to wipe the drive in order to reinstall XP.  Luckily he has a laptop.  Now I get to reinstall Office and whatnot.
> 
> There's a BIOS password that nobody remembers so I've pulled the battery & I am currently waiting for the password to go away.
> 
> Time for another cup.


Ahahaha.. BIOS password. I remember doing that years ago... I would set a password to annoy my brother. He would never guess it. Little did he know, it was his name.


----------



## mmaria

waday said:


> Ahahaha.. BIOS password. I remember doing that years ago... I would set a password to annoy my brother. He would never guess it. Little did he know, it was his name.


Oh LOL!!!!


----------



## mmaria

ok hosers, I posted a photo Post a picture of yourself Page 313 Photography Forum
If you don't Like it, no one will!!!

@waday


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, peeps.
> This weekends project - trying to fix lazy_lobster's desktop.  I asked him what was wrong with it and got "The operating system doesn't really do anything because it's apparently illegal."  Someone decided to try and update it to Windows 7 (either him or a friend at school).  I ended up having to wipe the drive in order to reinstall XP.  Luckily he has a laptop.  Now I get to reinstall Office and whatnot.
> 
> There's a BIOS password that nobody remembers so I've pulled the battery & I am currently waiting for the password to go away.
> 
> Time for another cup.
> 
> 
> 
> i think you need an
Click to expand...

Awwwww.  Thank you, sweetie


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, peeps.
> This weekends project - trying to fix lazy_lobster's desktop.  I asked him what was wrong with it and got "The operating system doesn't really do anything because it's apparently illegal."  Someone decided to try and update it to Windows 7 (either him or a friend at school).  I ended up having to wipe the drive in order to reinstall XP.  Luckily he has a laptop.  Now I get to reinstall Office and whatnot.
> 
> There's a BIOS password that nobody remembers so I've pulled the battery & I am currently waiting for the password to go away.
> 
> Time for another cup.
> 
> 
> 
> Ahahaha.. BIOS password. I remember doing that years ago... I would set a password to annoy my brother. He would never guess it. Little did he know, it was his name.
Click to expand...


I did that to someone in a Unix Admin class I took.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Y'know how that headache of mine wasn't too bad this month?

Shoulda kept my mouth shut. Totally jinxed it.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Y'know how that headache of mine wasn't too bad this month?
> 
> Shoulda kept my mouth shut. Totally jinxed it.


----------



## limr

Making more coffee, hosers. 

Can't stop me. I'm an adult-sized human. I am the boss of me.


----------



## oldhippy




----------



## NancyMoranG

After 10,000 posts, you think we would have had Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks asking us to do a survey or something! 

Nice photo Mmaria, was hubby fly fishing nearby?


----------



## table1349

“I don't really like coffee, she said, but I don't really like it when my head hits my desk when I fall asleep either. ” 
― Brian Andreas


----------



## minicoop1985

Two cups and I'm still not awake. If I have more coffee, I have panic attacks. If I don't, I'm half asleep. Choices choices...


----------



## waday

"This morning, with her, having coffee."
-Johnny Cash, when asked for his description of paradise.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Y'all Coffee Hosers. 73F right now, may break 80F today. Cook and I just came back from our walk. Aaaahhh ... the last drop of Colombian Supremo. Gots some chicken defrosting and I am excited to try out my new toy, a heat gun to be used for igniting the charcoal in the BBQ.


----------



## KenC

It's a good Friday - coffee in the morning and beer with lunch!  I was being driven slightly mad by people coming out of the woodwork asking about things I haven't touched in months because _they_ didn't give me what I needed, but now I don't care - that's what Friday lunch with beer is for ...


----------



## waday

The wife just got offered a position at a law firm as a staff attorney! WOO!

The only problem is that it pays less than her current position as an administrative assistant.

A lawyer is getting paid less than an administrative assistant. Next time you think about becoming a lawyer so that you'll have money, realize that the administrative assistant is probably getting paid more than you.


----------



## snerd

Friday. Just another day to a retiree.  3 cups  'o joe this morning. Well, it was actually almost noon! Then Gatorade, now a cold, icy beer. Sitting here thinking I should get the rest of my programs installed on new Win 10. Got Adobe CC reinstalled already. Recalibrated the monitor after reinstalling the Spyder 4 Pro. 

Here's an ass-kicker............................ decided to pay off my car day before yesterday. Got online with US Bank as I always do. Site was acting stupid................ I should have known better. Turns out, the payment went through TWICE!! Now, I'm not a man of means. It was a payment for $2K. That's $4K that they immediately pulled out of my checking account!! Left me with only $250!! Of course, they can't just put it back in, because it's an "external" account. I said, well, you pulled it out immediately from an "external" account! No justice............. going to be 10 days to get a cashiers check. I was scrambling all day yesterday to get some money moved around to cover the debits that were inbound! Grrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Designer

snerd said:


> Of course, they can't just put it back in, because it's an "external" account. I said, well, you pulled it out immediately from an "external" account!


Funny how that works out in their favor.


----------



## minicoop1985

Evening, hosers. Been a rainy, lazy day around here. Barely WANT to do anything, but thankfully don't HAVE to.


----------



## Gary A.

Worked from home today. Between phone call and stuff I managed to edge and mow both lawns, help Mary Lou trim some trees and stake the sunflowers, pick a 1/2 dozen oranges, prepare and drown some chicken in the orange marinade and now about to finish up on installing my drip watering system.


----------



## minicoop1985

Damn, I wanted to chime in on the whiny enthusiasts thread. And it's closed. Think i should have more coffee to cope. Wait, no, that's beer I need.


----------



## otherprof

limr said:


> Okay, the two flies in today's ointment:
> 
> 1) It seems I have the beginnings of one of my Jesus headaches.
> 
> 2) The new record player skips  I mean, I knew it was just a dinky little thing and didn't expect big sound or anything, but skipping is a problem. It does it a lot more with old records, but still skips even on newly-pressed vinyl. Grrrr. I also read a few reviews on Amazon and found out that it has a really heavy tracking force and is rough on the vinyl. There are better replacement stylus and cantilevers that will supposedly solve the skipping problem and be much easier on the records. Trying to decide if it's worth it. It's only $20.
> 
> Otherwise, it's been an awesome day. It was my last day at the paralegal job. I will miss the extra cash, but it was not a good situation for me overall, and I value my mental health more than I value the money.
> 
> I also won the record player, and even if it's a little disappointing and needs a replacement needle, it was still really cool to win something!
> 
> Then Buzz and I had yummy pizza for dinner and went out for a celebratory beer. And guess what? That beer was free too!!   His mother works at a pre-school and always gets a bunch of gifts at the end of the year. There's always gift cards that she's never going to use, so Buzz and I get them. We had one for Applebee's that we were saving for beer (there's absolutely nothing there I would want to eat, their mixed drinks are watered down and super sweet, and their wine sucks, so beer was really the only reason to go there.) It was free stuff for Leo day!!
> 
> I also got a message from someone on a different forum who would like to possibly use one of my pictures for a theoretical future CD of music that his hobby jazz band might put out. So that felt pretty good
> 
> And now I get to go to bed and snuggle with the kitties!!


Back in the day, we would tape a penny to the tone arm to reduce skipping. But we were idiots and didn't consider the damage to the records, now that I think of it.


----------



## otherprof

vintagesnaps said:


> The devil made 'em pick those outfits.


Want devil music? Play a 45 at 16 and 2/3. Scary. I had a friend play Hernando's Hideaway for me that way, and he convinced me it was a trained lion singing on cue. Try it. But be afraid . . .


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Making more coffee, hosers.
> 
> Can't stop me. I'm an adult-sized human. I am the boss of me.



No, you have kitties.  They are the boss of you.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Of course, they can't just put it back in, because it's an "external" account. I said, well, you pulled it out immediately from an "external" account!
> 
> 
> 
> Funny how that works out in their favor.
Click to expand...

It works a lot less well when you are in the bank, talking in a very loud, angry (but polite) voice.


----------



## snerd

tirediron said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Of course, they can't just put it back in, because it's an "external" account. I said, well, you pulled it out immediately from an "external" account!
> 
> 
> 
> Funny how that works out in their favor.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It works a lot less well when you are in the bank, talking in a very loud, angry (but polite) voice.
Click to expand...

They don't have an office anywhere near here. I always use their online site for a credit card and the car loan. It has worked great up until now. I can't even imagine allowing your site to let that happen! They need to recode something.


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Of course, they can't just put it back in, because it's an "external" account. I said, well, you pulled it out immediately from an "external" account!
> 
> 
> 
> Funny how that works out in their favor.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It works a lot less well when you are in the bank, talking in a very loud, angry (but polite) voice.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They don't have an office anywhere near here. I always use their online site for a credit card and the car loan. It has worked great up until now. I can't even imagine allowing your site to let that happen! They need to recode something.
Click to expand...

File a fraud complaint.


----------



## limr

otherprof said:


> Back in the day, we would tape a penny to the tone arm to reduce skipping. But we were idiots and didn't consider the damage to the records, now that I think of it.



Yeah, Sharon mentioned that. I'd forgotten all about that trick. I tried it but it didn't stop the skipping entirely. I found the better replacement needle with metal cantilever and will see how that works. Thanks


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Of course, they can't just put it back in, because it's an "external" account. I said, well, you pulled it out immediately from an "external" account!
> 
> 
> 
> Funny how that works out in their favor.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It works a lot less well when you are in the bank, talking in a very loud, angry (but polite) voice.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They don't have an office anywhere near here. I always use their online site for a credit card and the car loan. It has worked great up until now. I can't even imagine allowing your site to let that happen! They need to recode something.
Click to expand...

US Bank is even in the markets out here. That sucks.


----------



## limr

So today I crashed pretty hard. My headache got really shouty this morning and it even hit my stomach, so I was pretty much down for the count for much of the day. In the late afternoon, the stomach got better and the head settled into the same low-grade bs it's been giving me for the past two days, so I got up and started working on my office. I got myself a new all-in-one thing mostly because it's got a feed tray so it'll be easier to scan documents. My goal is to scan in most of my teaching stuff so I can get rid of one of the file cabinets I have. But this all meant rearranging the furniture a bit so I could make my computer set-up more convenient. Did all that and tried to connect the new printer/scanner wirelessly but it's not working for whatever reason. I've decided to just say screw it and go get a USB cable tomorrow.

Zelda, of course, snoopervised the entire process, and she took turns with Mrs.Parker playing in the box that the printer came in.


----------



## Gary A.

I am beat. I finished a complete section of the drip system, about 17 drips, enough to energize tomorrow and see if it works.  Relaxing on the patio, finished dinner, enjoying the evening, sipping some Sauvignon Blanc. This stuff is crisp and clean, no after taste or lingering flavor. Delish as it flows over the tongue. 

This 1500 calories a day is really really tough ... I've been going over every day, but not by much. I've been mentally designing the patio extension for the grilling equipment. Torn between a paving stone floor or a wooden slap type floor with gaps to sweep all the grilling debris (ala charcoal) into.

Mary Lou the Cook and I are off for or evening walk ... ta-ta.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> So today I crashed pretty hard. My headache got really shouty this morning and it even hit my stomach, so I was pretty much down for the count for much of the day. In the late afternoon, the stomach got better and the head settled into the same low-grade bs it's been giving me for the past two days, so I got up and started working on my office. I got myself a new all-in-one thing mostly because it's got a feed tray so it'll be easier to scan documents. My goal is to scan in most of my teaching stuff so I can get rid of one of the file cabinets I have. But this all meant rearranging the furniture a bit so I could make my computer set-up more convenient. Did all that and tried to connect the new printer/scanner wirelessly but it's not working for whatever reason. I've decided to just say screw it and go get a USB cable tomorrow.
> 
> Zelda, of course, snoopervised the entire process, and she took turns with Mrs.Parker playing in the box that the printer came in.


A thumbs-up on the lesser headache.


----------



## NancyMoranG

[/QUOTE]
Back in the day, we would tape a penny to the tone arm to reduce skipping. But we were idiots and didn't consider the damage to the records, now that I think of it.[/QUOTE]

Yup, I agreed earlier that we would place a penny on the arm to help with skipping. We never thought if the record damage 
The old..'if I'd known now what I didn't know then,,,,'
Kind of like the signed baseball cards we had.. 
And maybe used in our bike spokes


----------



## Gary A.

Back from our walk around the lake. 20,143 steps today. Not great but above my average. The Cook is beat. The last of the Sauvignon Blanc and maybe a Netflix.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Torn between a paving stone floor or a wooden slap type floor with gaps to sweep all the grilling debris (ala charcoal) into.


Around here we couldn't have a slat floor with any possibility of food particles falling in.  The vermin (mostly ground squirrels) would go after any food scraps, which would mean their digging under the floor.


----------



## table1349

“Just the other day, I was in my neighborhood Starbucks, waiting for the post office to open. I was enjoying a chocolatey cafe mocha when it occurred to me that to drink a mocha is to gulp down the entire history of the New World. From the Spanish exportation of Aztec cacao, and the Dutch invention of the chemical process for making cocoa, on down to the capitalist empire of Hershey, PA, and the lifestyle marketing of Seattle's Starbucks, the modern mocha is a bittersweet concoction of imperialism, genocide, invention, and consumerism served with whipped cream on top.” 
― Sarah Vowell


----------



## Gary A.

A hard day working in the garden, energizing two separate drip systems and they both worked as designed. A healthy lunch of seasoned Tilapia, grilled zucchini and watermelon. Just came back from a little bike ride with Mary Lou. It's been ages since we've been cycling. So long that the soles on one of my cleats fell apart. Lol ... It was a good little ride ... Feels so good with the air on your face zipping down the street. We're celebrating the day with a Cabernet Sauvignon.


----------



## table1349

“There are three intolerable things in life - cold coffee, lukewarm champagne, and overexcited women...” 
― Orson Welles


----------



## Designer

Yesterday I did a thing.

I spread the mulch on our walking area at the rear of the house.  I get wood chips from a local city maintenance yard.  Friday I hauled 6 pickup loads and just dumped them.  Saturday I spread them out, then did some weeding and mulching of shrubs and trees in the back.  I still have a few small trees to do today.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Yesterday I did a thing.
> 
> I spread the mulch on our walking area at the rear of the house.  I get wood chips from a local city maintenance yard.  Friday I hauled 6 pickup loads and just dumped them.  Saturday I spread them out, then did some weeding and mulching of shrubs and trees in the back.  I still have a few small trees to do today.



Yesterday, I did no such thing.

Yesterday I spent much of the day knocked on my ass by a headache. It was worse than the day before, even hitting my stomach. I really was good for nothing other than pulling down the shades, curling up on the couch, and holding a cold pack on my head. Okay, I did manage some whimpering. I felt similarly the day before, but yesterday was worse. I'm just glad it wasn't a work day.

It slowly responded to treatment and I felt good enough to get up and go see Buzz around dinner time. My treatment usually involves a decongestant - don't ask me why it helps, but it does. And I also take a sort of DIY Excedrin Migraine: one aspirin, one acetaminophen, and coffee. These are the ingredients they list, so why buy another product when I already have them all? It works better than Advil for these headaches. Plus, the caffeine is much yummier in hot liquid form than in tablet form 

This morning I woke up with the headache again, but it's nowhere near what it was yesterday. I suspect it's finally on its way out. *knocks on wood and crosses fingers*


----------



## Designer

You need to get to the root of the problem and kick those headaches.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Torn between a paving stone floor or a wooden slap type floor with gaps to sweep all the grilling debris (ala charcoal) into.
> 
> 
> 
> Around here we couldn't have a slat floor with any possibility of food particles falling in.  The vermin (mostly ground squirrels) would go after any food scraps, which would mean their digging under the floor.
Click to expand...

We have vermin around here. Squirrels, 'possums, raccoons, coyotes, rats, mice and Egrets which try to empty out the pond of fish. It's not the food scraps as so little falls. I have noticed that I have to be very very careful when changing/adding the charcoal and cleaning out the ash from the grill because a few small pieces fall. When one steps onto the small pieces or a wheel (BBQ's & carts) runs over a piece of charcoal the results is a black mark or black streak on the concrete. I have mentally designed the patio to accommodate pavers by a rough grade then install a 'subfloor' of 2x4's as a leveling course, with the pavers on top. I'm thinking all I should do to upgrade the 2x4's to ... say a vinyl 2x4 and install on edge, leave a 1/2" or 3/8" gap between the slats for the charcoal to drop. I dunno. I'm torn on this one. But, today I'm moving out the fountain and the rose arch framework and moving the BBQ's in onto the existing mulch just to get a feel for the space and to quit marking up the concrete. Any opinions are welcomed. It a 10.5"x16" space, (minus a foot or so on the 10.5 for the roses and grapes growing along the edge).      

Hey Designer, how are those peaches?


----------



## otherprof

snowbear said:


> Welcome to _The Coffee House_, where there is no competition, no Leaderboard, no C&C, and no stress. It was started by small group of TPF gnomes who not only like photography, but also like to share coffee, cinnamon buns, poems, and stories.
> 
> Pull up a seat, grab a cup, and unwind!
> Good morning, all. In Manhattan yesterday I found a sign which should
> View attachment 88454
> _© Copyright Lewis Clarke and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons License_






Good morning, all. Yesterday I found a sign that should go on the folder where I keep all my over processed, over saturated and much too contrasty images.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> You need to get to the root of the problem and kick those headaches.



I already know what the root is and unfortunately I can't kick it without either a sex change or menopause  Well, that's not entirely true. Without going into too many details, my problem used to be horrible, debilitating cramps. I can't describe how bad they were, and they would last for 2-3 days. I could barely even stand up. If I had had a job with sick days or that didn't need a substitute, I would have lost at least a day or two of work each month. Instead, I drugged myself heavily and "functioned" somehow. But I was really starting to worry about how much Advil I was taking, not to get them to go away, but just getting the pain to a manageable level. 

I went to a doctor who put me on birth control and it helped tremendously. Almost no cramps at all! I couldn't believe it. Unfortunately, it also caused other problems, including headaches. We tried a few different brands and finally settled on the one I am still using. The headaches are an effect, but they are also the _only_ side effect, and even if the headaches are a bit worse on this formula, the other formulas gave me headaches PLUS a few other effects that were intolerable. If I stop it completely, there's a good chance the cramps come back, but I also might still have headaches (I'm prone to them anyway. All the women in my family get migraines.)

So for the moment, this really is the best option. The headaches aren't always this bad - some months I can avoid them completely if I am very very careful about my triggers. And some months they come anyway, even if I have avoided my triggers. Summers tend to be worse (heat and light are two triggers.) Overall, I've learned how to function with them. It's not fun, but if it's any indication of how bad the cramps were, I'd rather deal with the headaches.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Yesterday I did a thing.
> 
> I spread the mulch on our walking area at the rear of the house.  I get wood chips from a local city maintenance yard.  Friday I hauled 6 pickup loads and just dumped them.  Saturday I spread them out, then did some weeding and mulching of shrubs and trees in the back.  I still have a few small trees to do today.


I compost and mulch all my green wastes here (sans the thorny stuff, roses and citrus). The branches I strip and cut into 4'-5' lengths then pound them vertically into the ground as a wooden deck/patio area near the pond. The soil here is expansive, all clay and needs all the help it can get.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> You need to get to the root of the problem and kick those headaches.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I already know what the root is and unfortunately I can't kick it without either a sex change or menopause  Well, that's not entirely true. Without going into too many details, my problem used to be horrible, debilitating cramps. I can't describe how bad they were, and they would last for 2-3 days. I could barely even stand up. If I had had a job with sick days or that didn't need a substitute, I would have lost at least a day or two of work each month. Instead, I drugged myself heavily and "functioned" somehow. But I was really starting to worry about how much Advil I was taking, not to get them to go away, but just getting the pain to a manageable level.
> 
> I went to a doctor who put me on birth control and it helped tremendously. Almost no cramps at all! I couldn't believe it. Unfortunately, it also caused other problems, including headaches. We tried a few different brands and finally settled on the one I am still using. The headaches are an effect, but they are also the _only_ side effect, and even if the headaches are a bit worse on this formula, the other formulas gave me headaches PLUS a few other effects that were intolerable. If I stop it completely, there's a good chance the cramps come back, but I also might still have headaches (I'm prone to them anyway. All the women in my family get migraines.)
> 
> So for the moment, this really is the best option. The headaches aren't always this bad - some months I can avoid them completely if I am very very careful about my triggers. And some months they come anyway, even if I have avoided my triggers. Summers tend to be worse (heat and light are two triggers.) Overall, I've learned how to function with them. It's not fun, but if it's any indication of how bad the cramps were, I'd rather deal with the headaches.
Click to expand...

Not much of a choice there ...


----------



## terri

Bless you, girlie...       Wish there were better options out there.   At least you manage it intelligently and have explored other options.   Not much comfort when your eyeballs are exploding, I know.    

I'm assuming caffeine helps, too.


----------



## snowbear

Feel better, Leonore.


----------



## minicoop1985

That's no fun, Leonore. Hope it gets better soon.


Had a great day out near Madison. Went to a car show, participated in a cruise (well, I kinda followed them there in my Focus, so I didn't really PARTICIPATE so to speak), and Cooper was a very good boy throughout the whole experience.


----------



## minicoop1985

Oh, AND I started off the day with Starbucks.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Bless you, girlie...       Wish there were better options out there.   At least you manage it intelligently and have explored other options.   Not much comfort when your eyeballs are exploding, I know.
> 
> I'm assuming caffeine helps, too.



I am eternally grateful that coffee is one of the things that definitely helps. If nothing else, the headaches are a good excuse to drink more coffee!  



snowbear said:


> Feel better, Leonore.





minicoop1985 said:


> That's no fun, Leonore. Hope it gets better soon.
> 
> 
> Had a great day out near Madison. Went to a car show, participated in a cruise (well, I kinda followed them there in my Focus, so I didn't really PARTICIPATE so to speak), and Cooper was a very good boy throughout the whole experience.



Thanks, gents 

I'm glad to report that I only had to take medicine once today. It's still sort of underneath everything and gets a bit noticeable if I'm looking at a screen for too long or when I'm driving, but it's definitely falling asleep. If I wake up headache-free in the morning, or even with a slight echo that goes away with just coffee, then I'm home free for the next few weeks! Woot!


----------



## minicoop1985

Good friend of mine gets serious (ER visit serious) migraines due to the same thing. She's trying to find ways to mitigate them, but with little success.


----------



## table1349

“For more than three decades, coffee has captured my imagination because it is a beverage about individuals as well as community. A Rwandan farmer. Eighty roast masters at six Starbucks plants on two continents. Thousands of baristas in 54 countries. Like a symphony, coffee's power rests in the hands of a few individuals who orchestrate its appeal. So much can go wrong during the journey from soil to cup that when everything goes right, it is nothing short of brilliant! After all, coffee doesn't lie. It can't. Every sip is proof of the artistry -- technical as well as human -- that went into its creation.” 
― Howard Schultz


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Headache isn't totally asleep yet, but it's getting there.

But what's more important is that it's Monday and I'm not staring at the clock, desperately hoping it was already 4:30  Because there's nothing quite as depressing as wishing your life away.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. It's gonna be a rough one. Whoooooo boy.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Morning, hosers. It's gonna be a rough one. Whoooooo boy.



Ruh-roh  Internally or externally?


----------



## minicoop1985

To be honest I'm not entirely sure... Started off with a headache (now gone), still exhausted (slept like **** last night), and some allergy issues (not gone). Child is, of course, extra hyper. Anxiety level is approaching high, so this is just going to be one terrible day lol


----------



## limr

Snoopervising the test scan of the new all-in-one:




 

(And yes, I know, my bookcase is partially blocked. It's only temporary. The intent is to scan enough of my teaching paperwork and materials to get rid of one of my file cabinets. And I barely ever go into that bottom shelf of that bookcase anyway. I know y'all were worried  )


----------



## Gary A.

I like your cat.


----------



## limr

Me too  Zelda chirps her hello to you and Mary Lou and The Cook.

Mrs Parker also helped with the box inspection:





Here they are conferring about the specs:


----------



## table1349

“The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce.” 
― Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.


----------



## oldhippy

Something to brighten you morning


----------



## Designer

Thank you, oldhippy!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> (And yes, I know, my bookcase is partially blocked. It's only temporary. The intent is to scan enough of my teaching paperwork and materials to get rid of one of my file cabinets. And I barely ever go into that bottom shelf of that bookcase anyway. I know y'all were worried  )



It's been my experience, though, that when you THINK that, and then block it off like that, you significantly increase the likelihood that you will suddenly get a completely overwhelming desire to get to that ONE book down there. 

I once bought a scanner that had a glass top, so you could see through it while it was scanning. It actually worked quite well, but man, THAT was a bad idea when one has cats. One cat in particular would literally jump on top of it and start trying to catch the little cable that goes up and down as it scans. Probably not that great for your scanner glass to have a cat clawing at it.


----------



## sm4him

I've been sick all weekend. Well, Saturday was pretty good. Had a bit of a backache, but ibuprofen took care of it.  Went on a photo trek with my sister to another nearby small town (which was awesome, will need to go back there).
Sunday and yesterday I was miserable. Fever, backache, headache. This morning seems very slightly better.
I won't share details, but if I say that I am drinking tons and tons of cranberry juice at the moment, SOME of you will probably understand.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> I've been sick all weekend. Well, Saturday was pretty good. Had a bit of a backache, but ibuprofen took care of it.  Went on a photo trek with my sister to another nearby small town (which was awesome, will need to go back there).
> Sunday and yesterday I was miserable. Fever, backache, headache. This morning seems very slightly better.
> I won't share details, but if I say that I am drinking tons and tons of cranberry juice at the moment, SOME of you will probably understand.



Ugh! Sorry, that sucks  Hope today is the day you feel better!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  I've been nothing but busy. There is always something more to to. The drip system is installed and working as it should. 90% of the roses have been removed for the creation of a grilling area. I've been scouring Craigslist for a decent gazebo/pergola thingie. Work is bringing me down ... but I think work brings everybody down. The coffee is still very good.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Just back from bringing in the car for an airbag recall.  Why it took them 15 years to figure out it needed fixing I'll never know.  It's a 2001 Civic with 195K miles which I need to replace next year, but I figured I should take care of it until then.  So, having some coffee and catching up with work e-mails.  Nothing too incredibly stupid yet, but it is early in the day ...


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Today I have a therapist appointment. Not a psychiatrist, thankfully. There's a long story here. Basically, the last time I poured my heart out about an episode that had happened weeks before, but wasn't in crisis at the time of the appointment, which was Christmas eve. I made that exceptionally clear and that my biggest fear is being committed. What happened? Well, he told me I have a choice. I can choose to go in voluntarily, or I will be put in there on a 72 hour hold. Keep in mind I had told the man I was NOT in crisis and that was NOT necessary. I had to be stripped of shoelaces, shoes, my belt, my cell phone, and my freedom to leave. It was essentially prison, and I was in there without committing a crime. The doctor called it a "therapeutic environment"... I had to witness people talking in tongues, people committed because they're transgender and suicidal because their parents aren't understanding, listening to other people's suicide plans, and wanting to kill myself to get out of that ward ON CHRISTMAS. All it did was make my life worse for the time I was in there, not better. It's a prison, and I'm prepared to run (not hurt myself) from it if it's decided I have to go back. It's still one of my biggest fears. So you're all aware, I'm not going to harm myself to avoid it-that's counterproductive and would land me straight back where I don't want to go. I will, however, run away to avoid being committed. I'll be back with an update after the appointment if I'm able to.


----------



## Gary A.

Today I had an appointment with the meeting at Starbucks. After drinking a regular Starbucks I been very lightheaded ... does Starbucks pump up the caffeine?


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Today I had an appointment with the meeting at Starbucks. After drinking a regular Starbucks I been very lightheaded ... does Starbucks pump up the caffeine?


Did you try a different roast than normal?


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> Morning, hosers. Today I have a therapist appointment. Not a psychiatrist, thankfully. There's a long story here. Basically, the last time I poured my heart out about an episode that had happened weeks before, but wasn't in crisis at the time of the appointment, which was Christmas eve. I made that exceptionally clear and that my biggest fear is being committed. What happened? Well, he told me I have a choice. I can choose to go in voluntarily, or I will be put in there on a 72 hour hold. Keep in mind I had told the man I was NOT in crisis and that was NOT necessary. I had to be stripped of shoelaces, shoes, my belt, my cell phone, and my freedom to leave. It was essentially prison, and I was in there without committing a crime. The doctor called it a "therapeutic environment"... I had to witness people talking in tongues, people committed because they're transgender and suicidal because their parents aren't understanding, listening to other people's suicide plans, and wanting to kill myself to get out of that ward ON CHRISTMAS. All it did was make my life worse for the time I was in there, not better. It's a prison, and I'm prepared to run (not hurt myself) from it if it's decided I have to go back. It's still one of my biggest fears. So you're all aware, I'm not going to harm myself to avoid it-that's counterproductive and would land me straight back where I don't want to go. I will, however, run away to avoid being committed. I'll be back with an update after the appointment if I'm able to.



Praying all goes well, Coop! That sounds like an absolutely horrendous experience, and like a psychiatrist who wasn't thinking very clearly himself.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Today I had an appointment with the meeting at Starbucks. After drinking a regular Starbucks I been very lightheaded ... does Starbucks pump up the caffeine?



No idea. All I know is that they certainly pump up the PRICE. I'm too much of a cheapskate to go there.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Today I had an appointment with the meeting at Starbucks. After drinking a regular Starbucks I been very lightheaded ... does Starbucks pump up the caffeine?



Not artificially, but any drip coffee is going to generally have more caffeine than your French press - especially at a cafe where they are using a lot of coffee to brew big carafes.
Caffeine in Brewed Coffee


----------



## sm4him

OH MY GOODNESS, I HATE IT when people don't know what they want (design-wise) but they want you to somehow produce the exact right thing anyhow and then they change it all and think you can just snap your fingers and have it magically perfect. Just exactly like they wanted, even though they have given you ZERO idea of what they want.  It's now 4:30 p.m. and this individual just sent me the last piece of info I needed for this project that has to go to print tomorrow morning. Or, what I THOUGHT was the last piece. It is entirely different wording and layout from what she gave me previously. 

People Suck.


----------



## snerd

sm4him said:


> ................ People Suck.


You ain't nevah lyin'!!


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Today I had an appointment with the meeting at Starbucks. After drinking a regular Starbucks I been very lightheaded ... *does Starbucks pump up the caffeine?*


Are used car salesmen pushy? 

If you want to get them back try one of these next time you go in.
35 Secret Starbucks Drinks You Didn t Know You Could Order


----------



## snowbear

Coop: Pulling for you.  Let us know how it goes.

Sharon: Get better.  I used to charge agencies an _aggravation fee_, by adding a few hours, when they couldn't decide what they wanted as far as telephone and "voice tree" work.  OK, it wasn't real money, but I sure felt better by changing that two or three to a six or seven.

Son #1 is down so we are trying some bookbinding.  I picked out some purdy material last night.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> ...35 Secret Starbucks Drinks You Didn t Know You Could Order


By why in gawd's name would you want to????


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...35 Secret Starbucks Drinks You Didn t Know You Could Order
> 
> 
> 
> By why in gawd's name would you want to????
Click to expand...

Watch a new Barista vapor lock?


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...35 Secret Starbucks Drinks You Didn t Know You Could Order
> 
> 
> 
> By why in gawd's name would you want to????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Watch a new Barista vapor lock?
Click to expand...

Okay... that I could see!


----------



## table1349

“Coffee is far more than a beverage. It is an invitation to life, disguised as a cup of warm liquid. It's a trumpet wakeup call or a gentle rousing hand on your shoulder ... Coffee is an experience, an offer, a rite of passage, a good excuse to get together.”
― Nichole Johnson


----------



## snowbear




----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Well, next thing you know people will be recording their posts on vinyl.


----------



## Designer

I don't have a fountain pen.


----------



## oldhippy

It's a three cup morning, but worth it,  First

 ever shooting star.


----------



## limr




----------



## limr

That is so cool, Ed!


----------



## Designer

I read that as "morning, losers".


----------



## Designer

When I was in architecture school, I think I must have owned every kind of pen, pencil, and marker available.  

But no fountain pen.  We used those back in junior high, the kind with plastic cartridge refills.  Sometimes the ink would just leak out.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> I read that as "morning, losers".



Potato, potahto


----------



## limr

I learned some calligraphy in elementary school - can't remember if it was in regular class or...okay, now I will reveal just how nerdy I am...or in the school's gifted program. 

But we used markers with angled tips to learn. Then my mother bought me a real fountain pen and I was hooked ever since. I go through periods when I don't use them at all, and then one day I feel like using them again and one is always with me.


----------



## Designer

I think if you get used to using one, and always have one with you, it would be more conducive to actually using one.  Catch my drift?


----------



## Designer

Speaking of being adrift in the world, that's me.  

I have projects that I don't want to do but have to do, and I've got projects that I want to do, but shouldn't take the time away from the projects that I have to do.  

Does that make any sense?

As you can probably tell, I'm stalling getting to work.


----------



## sm4him

Forgive the terribly blurry image. I used the photo booth camera on my iMac to take a picture and I couldn't hold the paper still enough.

I think I mentioned this before but I used to do calligraphy for a semi-living. Well, no, not for a living, but for pay.  I've done wedding invitations and more.  But that was all back in the day before computers made it easy for people to print calligraphic fonts and at that point, it got much harder to sell people on the idea of paying a LOT of money for the real thing. But for me, there is simply no substitution for a handcrafted calligraphic work.
I still did calligraphy up into the 2000s, but I also developed a hand tremor, and it just made it too difficult to continue. The fine motor skills required to do long pieces of calligraphic work tended to tense my hand up and make the tremor even worse.

I am CERTAIN that I still HAVE all my old fountain pens, calligraphy pens and nibs and such, but I have no idea where they are. I know I gave all the ink to my youngest son, and I think I gave him a few of the calligraphy pens as well, but not all of them.

Anyway, I think I'll get a new fountain pen now. 
(P.S. Please don't judge my calligraphy from that note!  It was done with a ballpoint pen, in bad lighting, with no line guides. Plus it's been a VERY long time since I even practiced!)


----------



## waday

If you really want to annoy a Starbucks barista, ask for a pour over during a really busy time. Heck, ask for a few.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today I had an appointment with the meeting at Starbucks. After drinking a regular Starbucks I been very lightheaded ... does Starbucks pump up the caffeine?
> 
> 
> 
> Did you try a different roast than normal?
Click to expand...

Yes, my normal roast is Colombian Supremo in my French Press that on my countertop.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Speaking of being adrift in the world, that's me.
> 
> I have projects that I don't want to do but have to do, and I've got projects that I want to do, but shouldn't take the time away from the projects that I have to do.
> 
> Does that make any sense?
> 
> As you can probably tell, I'm stalling getting to work.


Procrastination = Job Security


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The Cook and I are off for our walk. This is another busy day.


----------



## otherprof

minicoop1985 said:


> Morning, hosers. Today I have a therapist appointment. Not a psychiatrist, thankfully. There's a long story here. Basically, the last time I poured my heart out about an episode that had happened weeks before, but wasn't in crisis at the time of the appointment, which was Christmas eve. I made that exceptionally clear and that my biggest fear is being committed. What happened? Well, he told me I have a choice. I can choose to go in voluntarily, or I will be put in there on a 72 hour hold. Keep in mind I had told the man I was NOT in crisis and that was NOT necessary. I had to be stripped of shoelaces, shoes, my belt, my cell phone, and my freedom to leave. It was essentially prison, and I was in there without committing a crime. The doctor called it a "therapeutic environment"... I had to witness people talking in tongues, people committed because they're transgender and suicidal because their parents aren't understanding, listening to other people's suicide plans, and wanting to kill myself to get out of that ward ON CHRISTMAS. All it did was make my life worse for the time I was in there, not better. It's a prison, and I'm prepared to run (not hurt myself) from it if it's decided I have to go back. It's still one of my biggest fears. So you're all aware, I'm not going to harm myself to avoid it-that's counterproductive and would land me straight back where I don't want to go. I will, however, run away to avoid being committed. I'll be back with an update after the appointment if I'm able to.


Good luck with the appointment. From what you write and how you write there is no problem with perception or rationality in your assessment of a very scary situation. I think "Take all precautions so as not to be sued" has taken the place of "First do no harm" for many in the medical professions.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I've done some calligraphy too - and I'm not sure where my pens are either! Mostly I do more informal lettering with markers although I learned how to do more precise letters. Yours looks pretty good Sharon, I just sometimes need a paper underneath with black guide lines that I can see thru the paper. Or I get to going uphill! lol



(So where's Minicoop, he hasn't checked in? I hope the situation isn't as serious as it sounded, Michael I hope you're finding some positive therapy/treatment options.)


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> I read that as "morning, losers".


In some cases, perhaps.


----------



## snowbear

Sharons, unfortunately, many FPs have become a bit of a luxury item.  I have five and one MIA. The Delta (Valentine's gift from MLW) is the most expensive but was under $100 without tax.  I have a Waterman and a Cross that I got from Staples a few years ago; both were about $45.  The other three are in the $10 to $15 range: I got one (Pilot Metropolitan) on sale for $6, the other two (Jinhau) I got in a BOGO, so the two were just under $10.


----------



## limr

Oof. I didn't sleep well last night for lots of reasons, and then had a 6am wake up call: Zelda vomiting right next to me on the bed. After I cleaned it up, I fell asleep on the couch for a little while longer, but was draggy all morning. Around 2:30, I got groggy as hell and decided on a nap. Went down fast and slept hard, so I guess I needed it.

When I woke up, I realized that I'd been dreaming about sleep-posting nonsensical messages here in the Coffee House. Two of them mentioned a chair for some reason, and another one was a picture along with the comment, "I giggled."

It's strange up here in my brain, y'all.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> When I woke up, I realized that I'd been dreaming about sleep-posting nonsensical messages here in the Coffee House.


Ha! You only THOUGHT you were "dreaming".  

The mods deleted the really crazy ones.

They were funny, though.


----------



## minicoop1985

Thanks for the support everyone. I'm back. Never got locked up, nor did I have to run. Turns out my therapist wants to keep me OUT of there, unlike my doctor. Go figure.

She flat out questioned my doctor's rationale for locking me in the clink over Christmas, said it was ridiculous. That alone made me feel a LOT better.

She mentioned that there are PLENTY of other options available other than the psych ward, and since hearing that, I've been furious with that office. I couldn't afford it financially and couldn't afford the time. The humiliation I went through... having a bathroom that you had to have unlocked in order to use it, then relocked when you were done... No belt, phone, shoes, string in my hoodie... A fully functioning man not in a crisis situation should never be FORCED to deal with that. A person in a severe crisis situation might HAVE to do that, but I was NOT in a position where I needed it. Now knowing that there were other options... I feel betrayed, frankly, and am looking for a new doctor.


----------



## Designer

minicoop1985 said:


> Turns out my therapist wants to keep me OUT of there, unlike my doctor. Go figure.


That's because therapists do therapy. Healing comes from inside.


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> Thanks for the support everyone. I'm back. Never got locked up, nor did I have to run. Turns out my therapist wants to keep me OUT of there, unlike my doctor. Go figure.
> 
> She flat out questioned my doctor's rationale for locking me in the clink over Christmas, said it was ridiculous. That alone made me feel a LOT better.
> 
> She mentioned that there are PLENTY of other options available other than the psych ward, and since hearing that, I've been furious with that office. I couldn't afford it financially and couldn't afford the time. The humiliation I went through... having a bathroom that you had to have unlocked in order to use it, then relocked when you were done... No belt, phone, shoes, string in my hoodie... A fully functioning man not in a crisis situation should never be FORCED to deal with that. A person in a severe crisis situation might HAVE to do that, but I was NOT in a position where I needed it. Now knowing that there were other options... I feel betrayed, frankly, and am looking for a new doctor.



Not that I'm qualified to judge, but at least based on what you've told us and based on how you come across by what you write--I agree wholeheartedly with your therapist and I'm glad that you have this voice of reason in your life.
I also agree with the notion of finding yourself another psychiatrist.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Thanks for the support everyone. I'm back. Never got locked up, nor did I have to run. Turns out my therapist wants to keep me OUT of there, unlike my doctor. Go figure.
> 
> She flat out questioned my doctor's rationale for locking me in the clink over Christmas, said it was ridiculous. That alone made me feel a LOT better.
> 
> She mentioned that there are PLENTY of other options available other than the psych ward, and since hearing that, I've been furious with that office. I couldn't afford it financially and couldn't afford the time. The humiliation I went through... having a bathroom that you had to have unlocked in order to use it, then relocked when you were done... No belt, phone, shoes, string in my hoodie... A fully functioning man not in a crisis situation should never be FORCED to deal with that. A person in a severe crisis situation might HAVE to do that, but I was NOT in a position where I needed it. Now knowing that there were other options... I feel betrayed, frankly, and am looking for a new doctor.



Good to hear. We've run into many instances where doctors don't seem to know what they are doing.


----------



## sm4him

Good morning hosers!

This is a great way to sum up how my week has been going:


----------



## mmaria

working on donors visibility...

pardon me and thank you donors!
.... but they're sometimes a pain in the @ss!!!


----------



## table1349

“Do you know how helpless you feel if you have a full cup of coffee in your hand and you start to sneeze? ” 
― Jean Kerr


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

Chaos at work this week - people more or less abandon or neglect their projects before getting them in a form where I can do anything with them and then ask me for a status update.  Many responses having varying degrees of politeness flash through my mind and then I try to actually find out what they're referring to, because I've been busy since I last heard from them months ago.


----------



## table1349

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> Chaos at work this week - people more or less abandon or neglect their projects before getting them in a form where I can do anything with them and then ask me for a status update.  Many responses having varying degrees of politeness flash through my mind and then I try to actually find out what they're referring to, because I've been busy since I last heard from them months ago.


Print it.........





Post it on your door.


----------



## KenC

gryphonslair99 said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> Chaos at work this week - people more or less abandon or neglect their projects before getting them in a form where I can do anything with them and then ask me for a status update.  Many responses having varying degrees of politeness flash through my mind and then I try to actually find out what they're referring to, because I've been busy since I last heard from them months ago.
> 
> 
> 
> Print it.........
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Post it on your door.
Click to expand...


Yeah, that would be one of the more polite replies that flash through my mind.


----------



## sm4him

gryphonslair99 said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> Chaos at work this week - people more or less abandon or neglect their projects before getting them in a form where I can do anything with them and then ask me for a status update.  Many responses having varying degrees of politeness flash through my mind and then I try to actually find out what they're referring to, because I've been busy since I last heard from them months ago.
> 
> 
> 
> Print it.........
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Post it on your door.
Click to expand...


I used to have this EXACT quote posted on my door when I was a production manager at a major publishing company here. 
If I posted that sign here, it would probably not go over nearly as well as it did at the publishing company. The Dark Lord (aka Director of Transit) would probably NOT be amused.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Ungh, barely able to function this morning.

Sharon, thank you. I think the issue is the doctor can't handle the caseload he has, so everything is done over voicemail instead of direct communication, and things just get lost in the shuffle. Or he's an incompetent twit. Either one could apply here.


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> If I posted that sign here, it would probably not go over nearly as well as it did at the publishing company.



In my experience workplaces have gotten quite a bit stricter about what is acceptable for employees to have on their walls/doors/etc. - not necessarily written guidelines, but more often just unspoken expectations.  Some of this is an improvement and some is just PC stuff, and on the whole imo things have become a little too tight.


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> Thanks for the support everyone. I'm back. Never got locked up, nor did I have to run. Turns out my therapist wants to keep me OUT of there, unlike my doctor. Go figure.
> 
> She flat out questioned my doctor's rationale for locking me in the clink over Christmas, said it was ridiculous. That alone made me feel a LOT better.
> 
> She mentioned that there are PLENTY of other options available other than the psych ward, and since hearing that, I've been furious with that office. I couldn't afford it financially and couldn't afford the time. The humiliation I went through... having a bathroom that you had to have unlocked in order to use it, then relocked when you were done... No belt, phone, shoes, string in my hoodie... A fully functioning man not in a crisis situation should never be FORCED to deal with that. A person in a severe crisis situation might HAVE to do that, but I was NOT in a position where I needed it. Now knowing that there were other options... I feel betrayed, frankly, and am looking for a new doctor.



I'm always leery of who gets what kind of kickback. Scary.

Kids for Cash:
Pennsylvania Judge Gets Life Sentence For Prison Kickback Scheme - Forbes
Judges Plead Guilty in Scheme to Jail Youths for Profit​
Dollars for Docs:
Dollars for Docs - ProPublica
Doctors Often Receive Payments From Drug Companies NPR​
Physician Owners of Mental Health Clinic Sentenced for 97 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme OPA Department of Justice

Doctors nurses among 243 charged in million-dollar Medicare schemes 89.3 KPCC


----------



## table1349

sm4him said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> Chaos at work this week - people more or less abandon or neglect their projects before getting them in a form where I can do anything with them and then ask me for a status update.  Many responses having varying degrees of politeness flash through my mind and then I try to actually find out what they're referring to, because I've been busy since I last heard from them months ago.
> 
> 
> 
> Print it.........
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Post it on your door.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I used to have this EXACT quote posted on my door when I was a production manager at a major publishing company here.
> If I posted that sign here, it would probably not go over nearly as well as it did at the publishing company. The Dark Lord (aka Director of Transit) would probably NOT be amused.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that the Dark Lord would not be amused if you hung this up with *Tennessee Transit Authority * typed on it either.


----------



## minicoop1985

Speaking of cars, it would appear my father is taking delivery of his M4 Convertible on Monday. Lucky bastard.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Minicoop I was thinking about you earlier (if he doesn't check in today...), I'd be getting concerned so I'm glad you posted. Sometimes I find the technology (voicemail/email) can be useful and sometimes not so much.

There seem to be plenty of articles but I think to some extent we see a lot of stories that in the past wouldn't have made the evening news, so we see more of it. Much of that misuse seems to sometimes target the elderly or lower income patients etc. or even people who are dealing with a health situation and aren't thinking to ask questions about what's going on, where many of us (me) would be having a fit! and going what the heck.

Sharon I have this mental image of a female Darth Vader, shorter, but in a dark cape whooshing down the hallway! It's funny but it isn't, not if you have to work with that.


----------



## vintagesnaps

All I got out of that post was - convertible. Sounds cool.


----------



## limr

Good afternoon, hosers.

Got things sorted out at the school so I can keep taking classes if I want. As a student, I was technically considered a graduate, so I wasn't able to just register for random classes, but I still work here and want to continue taking classes without being officially enrolled in any program. So they sorted it out for me and I can keep on learnin' for free!


----------



## minicoop1985

vintagesnaps said:


> Minicoop I was thinking about you earlier (if he doesn't check in today...), I'd be getting concerned so I'm glad you posted. Sometimes I find the technology (voicemail/email) can be useful and sometimes not so much.



I find the voicemail system to be rather dismissive and impersonal. All I want is to talk to a real human before decisions are made, to be more proactive in my own care, and for someone to actually LISTEN to me. That doesn't seem too unreasonable.


----------



## vintagesnaps

No it doesn't. Hmm maybe as someone suggested, trying to find a different doctor is an idea.

Seems like different doctors' offices function differently, at least in my experience. I mean, how the office is managed varies.

My dad is the one that writes down questions and takes it with him to appts. I had to have a laser eye procedure done recently and I like when a Dr. explains things, and then the day of the procedure asked if I had any questions, etc.

I don't know, if you aren't getting what you need, maybe find some resources in your community etc. and see if you can find a different doctor that would be a better fit for you.


----------



## minicoop1985

vintagesnaps said:


> No it doesn't. Hmm maybe as someone suggested, trying to find a different doctor is an idea.
> 
> Seems like different doctors' offices function differently, at least in my experience. I mean, how the office is managed varies.
> 
> My dad is the one that writes down questions and takes it with him to appts. I had to have a laser eye procedure done recently and I like when a Dr. explains things, and then the day of the procedure asked if I had any questions, etc.
> 
> I don't know, if you aren't getting what you need, maybe find some resources in your community etc. and see if you can find a different doctor that would be a better fit for you.



Yup, been looking for a new doctor for a while now. There's a huge barrier there: it will take me 6-12 months to be SEEN by another doctor.

I love when doctors explain things too. The best was the doctor that did my stent placement was cracking jokes and showing me the stents they were going to put in, then started telling another joke and I'm in recovery like what the hell just happened.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Wow, that's a long wait for services. I think I'm lucky there's so much in the area, several hospitals in the closest major city, and I guess plenty of doctors and medical centers etc. Although it seems like mental health services in general are lacking compared to other type medical services.

I'm glad at least your session with the therapist was good so you have that support service at least.

Now that I think about it, there's a Children's Hospital here (that I'm familiar with because of the kind of work I've done) and parents would say it could take maybe 1-3 months to get in for a diagnosis. It gets people coming here from all over the world. More demand than what's available sometimes I guess.


----------



## snowbear

Just cleaned and filled two pens . . . just call me inky fingers.


----------



## Gary A.

Home, another long day. Toss ice, lime, Grand Mariner, Gary's Bathtub Orange Liqueur and Tequila into the Ninja and ten seconds later gots me the best f-in' Margarita north of the Rio Grande.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Home, another long day. Toss ice, lime, Grand Mariner, Gary's Bathtub Orange Liqueur and Tequila into the Ninja and ten seconds later gots me the best f-in' Margarita north of the Rio Grande.



Oh man, that sounds good.
My best friend had a colon resection done yesterday, and today was the second team meeting at the nursing home to discuss Mom's progress, so my day has pretty much just been a process of navigating from one healthcare facility to another and dealing with people at various levels of incapacitation. It occurs to me that the second part of that sentence pretty much describes what I do every workday. 

Just got home. Too tired to even bother thinking about making a drink. Think I'll grab some milk, read a bit and fall asleep.


----------



## Gary A.

I'm watching the news and a McDonalds commercial came on ...it looked sooo good. That's how hungry I am. ... Mickey D looks good. It's six o'clock and I'm only at 420 calories (with the Margarita). I having dreams of dinner and sugar plum fairies. So far I've lost ten pounds. (Mary Lou has lost more.)


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Just cleaned and filled two pens . . . just call me inky fingers.



Better than sticky fingers 



Gary A. said:


> Home, another long day. Toss ice, lime, Grand Mariner, Gary's Bathtub Orange Liqueur and Tequila into the Ninja and ten seconds later gots me the best f-in' Margarita north of the Rio Grande.



Other than the bathtub orange hooch, that will be my poolside drink tomorrow afternoon.



sm4him said:


> Oh man, that sounds good.
> My best friend had a colon resection done yesterday, and today was the second team meeting at the nursing home to discuss Mom's progress, so my day has pretty much just been a process of navigating from one healthcare facility to another and dealing with people at various levels of incapacitation. It occurs to me that the second part of that sentence pretty much describes what I do every workday.
> 
> Just got home. Too tired to even bother thinking about making a drink. Think I'll grab some milk, read a bit and fall asleep.





And another for Coop!


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Home, another long day. Toss ice, lime, Grand Mariner, Gary's Bathtub Orange Liqueur and Tequila into the Ninja and ten seconds later gots me the best f-in' Margarita north of the Rio Grande.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh man, that sounds good.
> My best friend had a colon resection done yesterday, and today was the second team meeting at the nursing home to discuss Mom's progress, so my day has pretty much just been a process of navigating from one healthcare facility to another and dealing with people at various levels of incapacitation. It occurs to me that the second part of that sentence pretty much describes what I do every workday.
> 
> Just got home. Too tired to even bother thinking about making a drink. Think I'll grab some milk, read a bit and fall asleep.
Click to expand...

That is tired. If you were nearer I'd bring you a Margarita. The Ninja turns ice into snow. It is wonderful. I grabbed my old microscope from my teaching days ... and yep, every ice crystal is different.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary A. said:


> I'm watching the news and a McDonalds commercial came on ...it looked sooo good. That's how hungry I am. ... Mickey D looks good. It's six o'clock and I'm only at 420 calories (with the Margarita). I having dreams of dinner and sugar plum fairies. So far I've lost ten pounds. (Mary Lou has lost more.)


Grand Mariner has a bit too much bite (being cognac based) for an smooth Margarita. So I split the orange liquier between my smooth hootch and the nasty (by comparison) Grand Mariner. As I said ...north of the Rio Grande. (and I have a Lime tree).


----------



## Gary A.

It hit 90F+ today, but with 28% humidity ... I was warm but not uncomfortable.


----------



## mmaria

morningafternoon!

here's some 

for those of you who need them (I need a  or   )

Tired! Drained! and have lots to do today and tomorrow!

but!!!!!

Going to swim next week!!! vacation!!!! Sea!!!


----------



## waday

Walked in the lunchroom today to find a coworker cleaning up coffee. Apparently someone didn't check the carafe before making a pot. Coffee all over the counter, down the counter/cabinets, all over the floor, everywhere.


----------



## mmaria

anyway 

I'm ready!


----------



## mmaria

oh yes


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Walked in the lunchroom today to find a coworker cleaning up coffee. Apparently someone didn't check the carafe before making a pot. Coffee all over the counter, down the counter/cabinets, all over the floor, everywhere.


(That was me who didn't check.)


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Lack of caffeine headache time. Must make coffee...


----------



## vintagesnaps

OH NO - coffee got spilled??!!!    

Maria enjoy your vacation. 

Having an actual nice stretch of weather so plan to get out for some picture taking Saturday.   
Meanwhile, Marx brothers movies all day, all night, to further distract me from ever getting caught up on this classwork!

Leo and Gary, you seem to have hooch going coast to coast!    see you - Monday???  



We need some coffee smileys.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> We need some coffee smileys.



Coffee Smileys and Coffee Emoticons


----------



## table1349

“The only time I drink milk is when I drink coffee. I make love the same way—contributing 2% as I just sort of lay there. ” 
― Dark Jar Tin Zoo


----------



## oldhippy

For all my coffee buddies. lol


----------



## waday




----------



## snowbear

waday said:


>


That's not me . . . I don't wear ties.


----------



## snerd

I just finished a couple of mods on my drone..........................





 

Media-Wiki image


----------



## Gary A.

mmaria said:


> morningafternoon!
> 
> here's some
> 
> for those of you who need them (I need a  or   )
> 
> Tired! Drained! and have lots to do today and tomorrow!
> 
> but!!!!!
> 
> Going to swim next week!!! vacation!!!! Sea!!!


Don't really need any hugs, but if they're coming from you I'll get in line ...


----------



## Gary A.

Worked in the yard this afternoon. Upper 90's, and I'm a bit beat. But I did removed and reinstalled a fountain.



iPhone


----------



## NancyMoranG

Wait, on 420 calories, you are doing major yard work?? In 90 degree weather? With Margaritas or something as your intake?  Or did I miss something?
Slow down man...


----------



## Gary A.

NancyMoranG said:


> Wait, on 420 calories, you are doing major yard work?? In 90 degree weather? With Margaritas or something as your intake?  Or did I miss something?
> Slow down man...


LOL ... the Margaritas were yesterday.

As for today, my only intake today was a small breakfast of about 400 calories prior to messing with the fountain in the afternoon. Don't worry I have plenty of reserve calories. Dinner was about 900 calories so I have some room for wine before I hit my target of 1500 calories a day. (I'm at 12131 steps for the day so far.)


----------



## NancyMoranG

Oh that is right, I am ready for bed but you are still on dinner! 
My bro and family are there this week (Ca.) and loving it. Currently at S.F. After doing Yosemite and L.A. 
Fly home to Fl. Tomorrow.


----------



## Gary A.

NancyMoranG said:


> Oh that is right, I am ready for bed but you are still on dinner!
> My bro and family are there this week (Ca.) and loving it. Currently at S.F. After doing Yosemite and L.A.
> Fly home to Fl. Tomorrow.


Three Home Runs! I hope they didn't freeze in San Francisco. Yosemite can get very warm this time of year, but it is still the one of the most beautiful spot on Earth.  LA ... is LA. Only three seasons, cool, warm and warmer. Always plenty to do and see if you don't mind commuting with half the cars ever made on the same freeway as you at the same time.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> LA ... is LA. Only three seasons, cool, warm and warmer.


I thought LA's seasons were drought & mudslide.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.
We have a thingie to go to in a little while.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

I've missed you all, but what was supposed to be a day working at home yesterday turned into a nightmare of plumbing problems and a sick cat.  Both are ongoing, so I may be scarce for a couple of days.


----------



## snowbear

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I've missed you all, but what was supposed to be a day working at home yesterday turned into a nightmare of plumbing problems and a sick cat.  Both are ongoing, so I may be scarce for a couple of days.


I'm assuming these two things are not really related, though, if the cat were really talented and trained, they could be.

Best of luck.


----------



## KenC

snowbear said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I've missed you all, but what was supposed to be a day working at home yesterday turned into a nightmare of plumbing problems and a sick cat.  Both are ongoing, so I may be scarce for a couple of days.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm assuming these two things are not really related, though, if the cat were really talented and trained, they could be.
> 
> Best of luck.
Click to expand...


Thanks.  No, not related.  While it could be possible none of the many cats we've had ever managed it.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I've missed you all, but what was supposed to be a day working at home yesterday turned into a nightmare of plumbing problems and a sick cat.  Both are ongoing, so I may be scarce for a couple of days.



Ugh! So simple to name - "plumbing problems, sick cat" - but so difficult to deal with. Hope the kitty gets better and the plumbing gets fixed in record time. Record _fast_ time, that is.

Morning, the rest of you hosers. Got a haircut in about half an hour. Coffee first. The salon is no more than 5 minutes away so I could leave at 10 when my appointment is and still get there only a few minutes late. And chances are I'll still have to wait a few minutes after that while she gets finished with her last client.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Got a haircut in about half an hour. Coffee first. The salon is no more than 5 minutes away so I could leave at 10 when my appointment is and still get there only a few minutes late. And chances are I'll still have to wait a few minutes after that while she gets finished with her last client.


Why is that?  

Ever notice that the doctor NEVER sees you at the appointed time.  

I presume it's because keeping a DOCTOR waiting would be extremely wasteful of valuable resources, while keeping a PATIENT waiting is "just the way it is".


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> LA ... is LA. Only three seasons, cool, warm and warmer.
> 
> 
> 
> I thought LA's seasons were drought & mudslide.
Click to expand...

More like Drought, Fire and Mudslide.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers, We have a heatwave here, in the 90's. Last night I turned on the A/C for Mary Lou. The Cook and I are off for our morning walk. Tata.


----------



## snowbear

Have fun.  We are heading out, ourselves.  Hopefully I'll get a couple of shots.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Got a haircut in about half an hour. Coffee first. The salon is no more than 5 minutes away so I could leave at 10 when my appointment is and still get there only a few minutes late. And chances are I'll still have to wait a few minutes after that while she gets finished with her last client.
> 
> 
> 
> Why is that?
> 
> Ever notice that the doctor NEVER sees you at the appointed time.
> 
> I presume it's because keeping a DOCTOR waiting would be extremely wasteful of valuable resources, while keeping a PATIENT waiting is "just the way it is".
Click to expand...


It's true. I understand that sometimes things take longer with one patient than expected, so things get off schedule. And if the first patient (or hair client, for that matter) comes late, then the whole day could possibly get thrown off track. At a regular salon, this is just how things work - people don't take it so seriously so time becomes a bit flexible and everyone expects that.

But with you'd think a medical office would be run a bit more efficiently. My guess is that they are trying so hard to cram in as many patients as possible that they don't really give themselves any kind of flexibility for the appointment that starts a bit late, or the chatty patient who has a million questions, or the emergency appointment that has to be squeezed in.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Got a haircut in about half an hour. Coffee first. The salon is no more than 5 minutes away so I could leave at 10 when my appointment is and still get there only a few minutes late. And chances are I'll still have to wait a few minutes after that while she gets finished with her last client.
> 
> 
> 
> Why is that?
> 
> Ever notice that the doctor NEVER sees you at the appointed time.
> 
> I presume it's because keeping a DOCTOR waiting would be extremely wasteful of valuable resources, while keeping a PATIENT waiting is "just the way it is".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's true. I understand that sometimes things take longer with one patient than expected, so things get off schedule. And if the first patient (or hair client, for that matter) comes late, then the whole day could possibly get thrown off track. At a regular salon, this is just how things work - people don't take it so seriously so time becomes a bit flexible and everyone expects that.
> 
> But with you'd think a medical office would be run a bit more efficiently. My guess is that they are trying so hard to cram in as many patients as possible that they don't really give themselves any kind of flexibility for the appointment that starts a bit late, or the chatty patient who has a million questions, or the emergency appointment that has to be squeezed in.
Click to expand...


And the thing is: It CAN be done. My kids' pediatrician always managed to keep her appointments in a very timely manner. Over the many years the kids went to her, I could probably count on one hand the number of times we weren't taken back to a room right AT our appointment time, and she was almost always IN the room within just a few minutes of that.
Granted, she is also a good friend--but I watched enough other people in that office over the years to know that it had nothing to do with special favors, it was just the way her office operated.


----------



## pixmedic

sooo tired...
40 hour shift at my day job...then 3 hours after I get home I get a call from the air medical transport company I also work for to fly out to pick up a PT in Jamaica. 
plus, im back on shift tommorrow morning. 
this is gonna suck.


----------



## otherprof

snowbear said:


> Just cleaned and filled two pens . . . just call me inky fingers.


Me too. I was using Camel brand ink, from India, (not India ink!) which seems to keep the pens clean as well as putting down a beautiful shade of blue. The ink was going in a Conklin Mark Twain crescent filler. Twain endorsed the pen in a characteristically humorous way. He said the crescent on the side of the pen prevented obscenity by keeping the pen from rolling off the table. My Conklin is, of course, a modern reproduction by the company.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> sooo tired...
> 40 hour shift at my day job...then 3 hours after I get home I get a call from the air medical transport company I also work for to fly out to pick up a PT in Jamaica.
> plus, im back on shift tommorrow morning.
> this is gonna suck.



Yuck!

Here, you're going to need one of these:


----------



## limr

Aww...






Okay, that's it. About 2 minutes of chuckling at various coffee memes and now I need another cup.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Awwww.....

I couldn't tell at first what it was and just thought the foam sloshed from one cup to the other! doh! I thought it was a coffee catastrophe instead of coffee creativity.

Jason you might need a vat of coffee, hang in there.

Charlie I was going to say enjoy your thingie, but uh... how about have fun with your thingy?? I'll stop, this can only get worse.


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon, hosers. Got a scorcher here. Too hot for regular coffee-may have to go the iced route.


----------



## Designer

Hot here, too.  I was running the shredder, and the machine began to slow down.  I wonder if it was too hot for the machine?  Time for me to take a break anyway.


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, Mishele.
I know you're lurking around here, somewhere.


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers.

I got kind of groggy this afternoon and settled on the couch to have a quick nap. Well, my body had other plans. I slept for two hours. For the past couple of days, I've woken up all sniffly and the day before yesterday, I just felt a little scratchy in my throat. Nothing really severe, and I couldn't really tell if it was allergies or a mild sinus thing.

Judging from the afternoon coma and how I felt when I came out of it, I'm thinking mild sinus thing.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Evening, hosers.
> 
> I got kind of groggy this afternoon and settled on the couch to have a quick nap. Well, my body had other plans. I slept for two hours. For the past couple of days, I've woken up all sniffly and the day before yesterday, I just felt a little scratchy in my throat. Nothing really severe, and I couldn't really tell if it was allergies or a mild sinus thing.
> 
> Judging from the afternoon coma and how I felt when I came out of it, I'm thinking mild sinus thing.



Have a hug  and some hot tea.  The tea is best with a good dose of honey and a better dose of Bourbon. 

Hope you feel better soon.


----------



## Designer

I have a mild "work aversion" thing.  

I should clarify; I can work like a dog when I know what to do, but "work avoidance" sets in if I have to get my stuff organized.  It just seems like such a waste of time.


----------



## snowbear

I cleaned out a bunch of electronic crap, I mean files Thursday & Yesterday.  It makes synchronizing the laptop so much easier.


----------



## Warhorse

Good morning hosers!

I had three cups of black Maxwellhouse Columbian, and one bacon and cheddar cheese on toasted Vienna bread, I am sated for now.


----------



## Designer

Good morning!

Happy Sunday, everyone!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers! Happy Sunday indeed!

Had a good long sleep last night - not as much deep sleep as I would have liked (as measured by Judgy Bracelet anyway) but I still feel better. Hoping it was enough to finally get rid of whatever bug I'd apparently been fighting.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning. Leonore.  I'm glad you're feeling better.

I got up at 05:50, fed the kitty-monsters, then went back to bed for a couple of hours. On cup number three and some leftover rigatoni & cheese.  MLW is now on the downhill side of a 24-hour shift at the Watch Desk, so I'm just puttering around today.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Hosers. Woke up to a button-upped house with the A/C on. Hopefully this is the last day of the heatwave. BBQ Tri-Tip and veggie pizza last night. We all ate inside. Better get going and get a walk into Cookie before it gets too hot.  Yesterday, the heat really pooped out the 12 y/o dog.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Gonna be another scorcher, but due to me leaving the A/C on all night I can drink warm coffee.

Got a MASSIVE car meet to go to today. 1300 people. Should be a massive clusterf*ck, I imagine.


----------



## robbins.photo

Morning folks.  Out and about shooting today but boy, uphill battle this morning.

So far I've run across one very uncooperative crane and not much else.  Lol.  Think I might head over to the park and see what the bison got going on this morn.

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou has christened this day one of rest. We just finished a light breakfast, about 300 calories, a little pond work, then a Netflix afternoon and photo processing.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Seems to be something going around here too, gets too cold for August and people get sick. Couple of nights being stuffed up at night and my nose dripping all day. Had dinner with a friend but we bagged the photo taking at the formal gardens idea til another time. I just watched a movie, and now, I don't know what, veg out day. I might have to get up and get out a DVD, endless channels and nothin' on! lol


----------



## snowbear

I don't know where you are Sharon, but "cold for August" around here is 75F.  Thankfully the humidity has been down for the past couple of days.

I was re-initializing Raspberry Pi number one ("Zooey") a while ago, getting her ready for some electronics experimenting.  RPi number two ("Emma") will be dedicated to entertainment, video and music, once I get all the details figured out.


----------



## minicoop1985

I've been plugged up too, but it's been in the 90s here lately.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.
The kitties have been fed, one cup has been finished, the tomatoes have been watered and MLW is almost ready to leave.

Bye, catch y'all later.


----------



## sm4him

This could end up being several Mondays piled on top of each other.  I was out on Friday, so of course that's when everybody decided to send me urgent emails about the critical projects that simply MUST get done this week. But none of that is likely to GET done today, but instead our marketing genius thought it would be good to celebrate the fifth anniversary of opening our fancy "new" transit center. Now, the transit center is indeed a pretty cool thing (we never had a real "central" location before for the buses to make their lineups without just lining up a dozen or so buses on a public street)--but anniversaries of buildings are just silly, if you ask me. We did a one-year celebration, and I'd hoped that would be the end of it.
But no. Five-year celebration it is. So, I spent two days last week working on graphics for the anniversary (the "5" with all the photos in it was the tricky part. I could have probably auto-generated one, but I wanted specific photos in specific places), and today I'll spend all afternoon taking pictures.
We'll have at least the city mayor, one U.S. Congressman and one U.S. Senator in attendance. Possibly a second Senator and the County Mayor (just because he likes to show up and steal a little thunder from the City Mayor whenever he can...)

Gotta run down to the lobby this morning and start checking out the spots where I'll be doing most of the picture-taking so I can decide which lenses and settings to go with.


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> ..anniversaries of buildings are just silly,


*anniversaries of buildings are just silly
*
Maybe *ESPECIALLY* transit center buildings.

5 years is about when most of those politicians want to have their name put back onto the front burner.


----------



## sm4him

Oh, I meant to post the graphic. I thought the "5" turned out pretty decently, just took longer than I'd expected--most of that was the time it took to select photos and then choose a good spot for them; and then as the number began to fill up, it got harder and harder to find the right photo for the space.


 

The poster was just the above graphic with some text below it and colored lines for a border, nothing fancy.  I wanted to do one that "popped" a bit more but it got nixed by the marketeer in charge.


----------



## Gary A.

I like the "5" idea, very creative. The anniversary is just an excuse to advertise the Central Transit building/location to the general population with a different twist. The celebration was just an excuse to get all the bigwigs in one place so the media would show up. It is sorta a vicious circle, the media is there because it is probably a slow news day and for the bigwigs ... and the bigwigs are there because it is a slow news day, the media is there, to mingle with the bigger bigwigs and not to be out done by lesser bigwigs. If I was doing marketing, I would have went for the 'pop'.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Not that youse guys give a rat's, but the A/C is off today and we're seemingly out of the heatwave. (Generally, most people don't care about our California weather. Years ago, when I was politically active there used to be a saying in congress ... "Anywhere, but California." In other words, we ain't voting for any tax dollars for California.) But that's okay, we Californians care about the rest of the Union.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> .............. Years ago, when I was politically active there used to be a saying in congress ... "Anywhere, but California." In other words, we ain't voting for any tax dollars for California.) But that's okay, we Californians care about the rest of the Union.



Are you appearing here hat-in-hand? Needing help dealing with that massive $443 Billion in debt?! I've heard you all have many many hat-in-handers roaming Washington D.C. these days lol! The Golden Years in the Golden State look to be not so golden. Well, maybe a few golden showers here and there. Although you personally, look to have planned well. Wine, women and song most days. Congrats!


----------



## limr




----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> I like the "5" idea, very creative. The anniversary is just an excuse to advertise the Central Transit building/location to the general population with a different twist. The celebration was just an excuse to get all the bigwigs in one place so the media would show up. It is sorta a vicious circle, the media is there because it is probably a slow news day and for the bigwigs ... and the bigwigs are there because it is a slow news day, the media is there, to mingle with the bigger bigwigs and not to be out done by lesser bigwigs. If I was doing marketing, I would have went for the 'pop'.



ONE of the bigwigs is here because it is a slow news day AND the building is named for him. I suspect at least one of the other bigwigs is here because of the aforementioned bigwig.


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


>




This.

Mornin, hosers. Not gonna be as much of a scorcher today, apparently. Gonna be relatively decent today around here. We'll see if I get to actually do anything done, though. In another lazy mood.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Well Leo's up and at 'em. I fixed more coffee today seeing as it's a Monday.

Sharon, that's pretty cool! Your design that is - I don't think I ever heard of celebrating a building being built, not unless it's some historic building of significance. Somehow I doubt that your building is of historic significance. 

Charlie, a 60 degree high is cold for here in August. Today however is back to normal - hot, muggy, humid, and blech. I'm staying in the AC.


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> .............. Years ago, when I was politically active there used to be a saying in congress ... "Anywhere, but California." In other words, we ain't voting for any tax dollars for California.) But that's okay, we Californians care about the rest of the Union.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you appearing here hat-in-hand? Needing help dealing with that massive $443 Billion in debt?! I've heard you all have many many hat-in-handers roaming Washington D.C. these days lol! The Golden Years in the Golden State look to be not so golden. Well, maybe a few golden showers here and there. Although you personally, look to have planned well. Wine, women and song most days. Congrats!
Click to expand...

Dude, you've had too much coffee. We've had a balanced budget for a few years.

This is an excerpt from the California State Budget Report:

"2014-15                                                     General Fund                   Special Fund
Prior year resources available 10          $4,212,028                        $9,958,264
Revenues and transfers 8                     104,502,705                         45,333,772
Expenditures 9                                        106,793,215                         43,978,861  

Fund Balance 10                                     $1,921,518                           $11,313,175

Reserve for Liquidation of
Encumbrances                                       2 954,630 --

Reserves for Economic
Uncertainties 3 --                                   11,313,175

Special Fund for Economic
Uncertainties 3                                          966,888 --

Budget Stabilization
Account/Rainy Day Fund                      1,591,412 --"

Oh yeah, these numbers are x 1000 ... so you're looking at billions here. I'm not a numbers guy, but it appears that California's General Fund has a positive balance of some $1.9 billion USD. God Bless our Governor Moonbeam who balanced the budget.


----------



## limr

TOO MANY NUMBERS FOR MONDAY!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> TOO MANY NUMBERS FOR MONDAY!



Numbers and politics.. on a Monday.  Really ought to be a law.. or at least a generally accepted guideline.  Sigh.


----------



## Warhorse

I heard that there was some shaking in the bay area this morning. 

That will help those numbers look even better Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

Warhorse said:


> I heard that there was some shaking in the bay area this morning.
> 
> That will help those numbers look even better Gary.


We're used to some shaken. Keeps us on our toes.


----------



## snerd

Ooooooooookay. No more numbers from me. Only a tip............ check resources that aren't trying to make themselves look better than they really are. I'll stand by my numbers. 


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## sm4him

Whew...it's OVER! The politicians have left the building!  Now on to photo processing.  At least I don't really have to process ALL the photos; I'll just find about 5-10 that show various elected officials that I can post online, and that'll make everybody happy. 

Here's one of the Senator, whom the building is named for. I barely got his attention in time before he left to ask him if he'd mind posing for this shot. Fortunately, all the rest of the various staff photographers and media outlets had already left by this point, so I didn't have to deal with competing with a dozen other cameras!  Well, one TV guy was still there, but he was inside doing video of the transit director (the Dark Lord).

I had a D800 and a D7000 with me, both with fast glass on them, and I ended up taking this shot with a Fuji bridge camera, because it was the only thing I had with me that could get his whole name in the background. You use whatever works!

 
And yes, he's standing on a sewer lid. That was HIS idea, not mine, but goodness that cracks me up!!


----------



## robbins.photo

sm4him said:


> Whew...it's OVER! The politicians have left the building!



Thank goodness.  Hopefully someone had the presence of mind to booby trap the exit.  One can only hope.


----------



## limr

Hey, it's after 5pm (for me, and that's all that really counts) and there's no more politics!


----------



## snowbear

My experience with politicians has been that they show up if they can get:

Free publicity or
Free food.
MLW just finished putting together a flyer for a class the department is giving.  Once her laptop is shut down we can head home.


----------



## minicoop1985

Evening, hosers. What a horrible day... ugh. So glad it's almost over.


----------



## snowbear

Some studies are negative, some are positive.
Study Coffee reduces risk of liver cancer - WTOP


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I've already had enough coffee to notice and be annoyed at the error in this:







So I'll use this one instead:


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> I've already had enough coffee to notice and be annoyed at the error in this:


Good morning!

Besides the text being wrong, the graphics on both cards are wrong as well. 

I wonder if they discover the odd graphics and then try to think up some pithy idea to go with it.


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> And yes, he's standing on a sewer lid. That was HIS idea, not mine, but goodness that cracks me up!!



Where else should you put a politician?


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  I'm checking in after being scarce for a while.  The plumbing problem I mentioned is more or less resolved, less because I still need to deal with the contractor who caused it - the plumbing itself is fixed.

As for the sick cat, he's doing much better but I suspect he may slide back to where he was.  He's just about 16 and our experience with older cats is that when they get very sick like this, they may get better for a short time, but they are onto a pretty steady, and sometimes rapid decline.  As with everything, we'll just have to wait and see.


----------



## robbins.photo

KenC said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> And yes, he's standing on a sewer lid. That was HIS idea, not mine, but goodness that cracks me up!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Where else should you put a politician?
Click to expand...


Ok, well just of the top of my head:

1. Bottom of the Marianas Trench
2. In the center of a concrete pillar holding up an overpass on I-95
3. Mt. Erebus
4. In the trunk of an 85 yugo at Denny's salvage yard in Death Valley, California


----------



## terri

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  I'm checking in after being scarce for a while.  The plumbing problem I mentioned is more or less resolved, less because I still need to deal with the contractor who caused it - the plumbing itself is fixed.
> 
> As for the sick cat, he's doing much better but I suspect he may slide back to where he was.  He's just about 16 and our experience with older cats is that when they get very sick like this, they may get better for a short time, but they are onto a pretty steady, and sometimes rapid decline.  As with everything, we'll just have to wait and see.


Aw, I'm sorry about your kitty.       Glad he's doing better for now, though.     I had a kitty who lived to be 19 and she was indoor/outdoor, very active and sweet - just rather deaf for the last year or so.   He might rally and surprise you yet with a few more good years - here's hoping! 

Glad the plumbing issues are resolved - what a PITA!


----------



## robbins.photo

Major thunderstorms raging across my little corner of the Midwest today, knocked out power to our building so ended up getting kicked out of work early.  Came home and made chili - nothing better than a big bowl of chili on a day like today,.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Besides the text being wrong, the graphics on both cards are wrong as well.
> 
> I wonder if they discover the odd graphics and then try to think up some pithy idea to go with it.



Ah, but the second one does fit, if one admits the occasional desire to just pump the coffee directly into one's veins 



KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  I'm checking in after being scarce for a while.  The plumbing problem I mentioned is more or less resolved, less because I still need to deal with the contractor who caused it - the plumbing itself is fixed.
> 
> As for the sick cat, he's doing much better but I suspect he may slide back to where he was.  He's just about 16 and our experience with older cats is that when they get very sick like this, they may get better for a short time, but they are onto a pretty steady, and sometimes rapid decline.  As with everything, we'll just have to wait and see.



I hope your kitty surprises you and stays better for a good long time!


----------



## KenC

@limr
@terri 

Thanks, guys!


----------



## minicoop1985

Evening, hosers. Been another day of toddlers + listening = nope. Pulling my hair out.


----------



## snerd

I wonder how hard it would be to make a morning person? From scratch, even!


----------



## intentanalyst

crusheddiced said:


> Hi Waday, yes, indeed a facepalm moment. In my experience, though, there was a site where I forgot my password. I had to answer a security question and once I did, they emailed me my password. Still, emailing PWs? That means there is a record somewhere and you just need to know how to pluck it out. Hmmm .... scary...



I'm quite sure that our data is secured and kept confidential problem is how sure are we that our data will not be compromised by unauthorized personnel...


----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


> I wonder how hard it would be to make a morning person? From scratch, even!


Simple - get two night-people to have a kid.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.

Off to the office, where two new maps (one is a modification) are waiting for me to do my magic work my charm complete.
This is my Friday; off to the DelMarVa peninsula, tomorrow.

Catch y'all tonight.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder how hard it would be to make a morning person? From scratch, even!
> 
> 
> 
> Simple - get two night-people to have a kid.
Click to expand...


Hush your mouth, sir!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Another day at work, plus additional work because someone left and is not being replaced, so now I get some of his mess to deal with.  It may seem better after coffee.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Another day at work, plus additional work because someone left and is not being replaced, so now I get some of his mess to deal with.  It may seem better after coffee.



Everything is better after coffee. If nothing else, it will give you energy to make it to beer time!


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Another day at work, plus additional work because someone left and is not being replaced, so now I get some of his mess to deal with.  It may seem better after coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Everything is better after coffee. If nothing else, it will give you energy to make it to beer time!
Click to expand...


Yeah, that sounds like a plan!


----------



## limr

My plan for the day is to continue cleaning out and reorganizing my office. I got the new scanner working and I've been scanning in a bunch of documents and articles so that I can clear them out of the office forever. I don't think I can ever go totally paperless, but I'm going to get as close to that as I can.

Still have three weeks (okay, two weeks and 6 days) until I start teaching, but only two weeks until I have to have my syllabuses ready. We start late this year because Labor Day isn't until the 7th. The public schools are starting earlier but the colleges continue to start right after Labor Day. This means we'll be going right until Christmas. Finals week goes until the 23rd and if one of those days gets closed because of weather, the make-up day is Christmas Eve.

Nothing too interesting from placement readings this week, although going through my phone, I found this doozy from a couple of weeks ago that I'd forgotten about:

"People cheat because of the lack of ability to build a strong mind set during situations where thinking is involved. Once you're not thinking your brain is dead which leads to confusion. And after confusing it's lack of confidence. So people turn to the unthinkable which is using another's mind for answers."

While I sort of understand the point this student was trying to make, it's still distressing to see it made so poorly. I laugh because if I don't, I would cry.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The heatwave is gone. This is a beautiful morning of gray overcast skies will cool temps. My pergola arrived yesterday for the BBQ project. I have a choice to make, do I toss 2x4's into the ground, to make a proper leveling surface for the stepping stones / pavers ... or do I just toss the pavers onto the dirt and level them individually? In either case I'll be lasering in a few string lines for benchmarks. How lazy do I want to be?


----------



## robbins.photo

snerd said:


> I wonder how hard it would be to make a morning person? From scratch, even!



Well I would imagine that the biggest problem would be the brain.  I mean seriously, how many people named "Abbey Normal" actually donated theirs to science?  Just can't be too many of them lying around.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The heatwave is gone. This is a beautiful morning of gray overcast skies will cool temps.



What, no traffic update?



> My pergola arrived yesterday for the BBQ project. I have a choice to make, do I toss 2x4's into the ground, to make a proper leveling surface for the stepping stones / pavers ... or do I just toss the pavers onto the dirt and level them individually? In either case I'll be lasering in a few string lines for benchmarks. How lazy do I want to be?



Ok, BBQ should not be a project, it should be a way of life.. lol.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The heatwave is gone. This is a beautiful morning of gray overcast skies will cool temps. My pergola arrived yesterday for the BBQ project. I have a choice to make, do I toss 2x4's into the ground, to make a proper leveling surface for the stepping stones / pavers ... or do I just toss the pavers onto the dirt and level them individually? In either case I'll be lasering in a few string lines for benchmarks. How lazy do I want to be?



I say 2x4s and proper leveling surface. Take the time now and you save yourself the time one day, after months of constant little repairs and adjustments, in utter frustration, you rip it all out to lay down some 2x4s and make a proper leveling surface


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The heatwave is gone. This is a beautiful morning of gray overcast skies will cool temps.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What, no traffic update?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My pergola arrived yesterday for the BBQ project. I have a choice to make, do I toss 2x4's into the ground, to make a proper leveling surface for the stepping stones / pavers ... or do I just toss the pavers onto the dirt and level them individually? In either case I'll be lasering in a few string lines for benchmarks. How lazy do I want to be?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ok, BBQ should not be a project, it should be a way of life.. lol.
Click to expand...

Except for breakfast, we only cook entrees on the BBQ's. The oven is only used for bread. Now that I have the Komado, I may bake the bread outside.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The heatwave is gone. This is a beautiful morning of gray overcast skies will cool temps. My pergola arrived yesterday for the BBQ project. I have a choice to make, do I toss 2x4's into the ground, to make a proper leveling surface for the stepping stones / pavers ... or do I just toss the pavers onto the dirt and level them individually? In either case I'll be lasering in a few string lines for benchmarks. How lazy do I want to be?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I say 2x4s and proper leveling surface. Take the time now and you save yourself the time one day, after months of constant little repairs and adjustments, in utter frustration, you rip it all out to lay down some 2x4s and make a proper leveling surface
Click to expand...

Yeah I know ... sigh ... okay back to Home Depot.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The heatwave is gone. This is a beautiful morning of gray overcast skies will cool temps. My pergola arrived yesterday for the BBQ project. I have a choice to make, do I toss 2x4's into the ground, to make a proper leveling surface for the stepping stones / pavers ... or do I just toss the pavers onto the dirt and level them individually? In either case I'll be lasering in a few string lines for benchmarks. How lazy do I want to be?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I say 2x4s and proper leveling surface. Take the time now and you save yourself the time one day, after months of constant little repairs and adjustments, in utter frustration, you rip it all out to lay down some 2x4s and make a proper leveling surface
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah I know ... sigh ... okay back to Home Depot.
Click to expand...


Sorry! Doing the right thing is a pain in the ass, isn't it?


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> .... I have a choice to make, do I toss 2x4's into the ground, to make a proper leveling surface for the stepping stones / pavers ... or do I just toss the pavers onto the dirt and level them individually? In either case I'll be lasering in a few string lines for benchmarks. How lazy do I want to be?


Neither.  Remove the sod, excavate 6-8", fill w/ 3" of 1/4 crush/clear, tamp, level, re-tamp, top w/ 3" of  corse sand, tamp, grade (1/8 to the foot) away from structure, retamp, lay pavers.  Trust me.  Anything less is just going to be a pain in the sitmedownupon in a few months to a few years.


----------



## oldhippy




----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon, hosers.

What have I been up to on World photography day? not taking a single photo. Just editing away... lol


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Afternoon, hosers.
> 
> What have I been up to on World photography day? not taking a single photo. Just editing away... lol



So I guess you'll have to spend all of "Massively Over-saturating Images in Photoshop Day" out taking pictures.  Universe in balance, problem solved.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It was supposed to rain all day, somebody forgot to tell the sun. 
Hope this front clears out the humididity and it gets cooler like it's supposed to. (Yeah I spelled it that way on purpose, take that spell check! lol)

I'm spending 'photography day' that I didn't know about, sitting here dripping a strawberry sherbet bar and spoiling my appetite for what is probably going to be leftovers for dinner later anyway! lol and not working on my alt process photography class.

Well I did paint the substrate yesterday (for practice, cardboard) and am going to print some pictures and get those glued. Sure I am, as soon as this quits dripping and I get off this website.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> It was supposed to rain all day, somebody forgot to tell the sun.
> Hope this front clears out the humididity and it gets cooler like it's supposed to. (Yeah I spelled it that way on purpose, take that spell check! lol)



Oh I told him alright.  Ever since he started doing those Jimmy Dean commercials though he's gotten pretty full of himself.  He's a full on Diva now.  It's really kind of sad.


----------



## snerd

Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> I have a choice to make, do I toss 2x4's into the ground, to make a proper leveling surface for the stepping stones / pavers ... or do I just toss the pavers onto the dirt and level them individually? In either case I'll be lasering in a few string lines for benchmarks. How lazy do I want to be?


Screw it.  You're in Cali; the ground is gonna pull a Big Joe Turner and un-level everything, anyway.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder how hard it would be to make a morning person? From scratch, even!
> 
> 
> 
> Simple - get two night-people to have a kid.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hush your mouth, sir!
Click to expand...

No worries, Leonore; I'm not wishing anything on you.  Just pointing out that early on, the wee ones tend to sleep opposite times from the parents, if at all.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have a choice to make, do I toss 2x4's into the ground, to make a proper leveling surface for the stepping stones / pavers ... or do I just toss the pavers onto the dirt and level them individually? In either case I'll be lasering in a few string lines for benchmarks. How lazy do I want to be?
> 
> 
> 
> Screw it.  You're in Cali; the ground is gonna pull a Big Joe Turner and un-level everything, anyway.
Click to expand...

Good point.


----------



## Gary A.

The pergola is up, Mary Lou has lost a two week total of 12 pounds, I'm around 11 pounds, we're on the first shuttle heading to The Bowl with a basket full of goodies and wine. Life is good.


----------



## sm4him

A bit of humor from the nursing home:

Went to visit Mom last night, as usual, after work. She had gotten a new roommate (who is going to be a PITA, but that's not the point to this story).

Mom asked what day it was, and I told her. I also told her that one of her grandchildren had a birthday that day. We then began to play the "guess your grandchildren's names" game, for about the next 30 minutes, all trying to get her to NAME the one with a birthday that day. I gave her lots of hints; only one of them has an August birthday, it was a 17th birthday (most of them are older than that), and (she actually came up with this part) it was a boy.  Mom has 8 grandkids; 2 are mine, the other 6 all belong to one brother--the other 3 sibs didn't have any kids.  Of those 8, only 3 are boys--she got that it wasn't either of my boys having a birthday, but could never quite come up with the other boy's name.
She also couldn't come up with two of the other grandkid's names.
So then we reviewed all their names a couple of times--interspersed with her asking me what day it was, and why she was in there.

Then roomie's niece came in. I greeted her, and asked if her aunt had some dementia. She said "Oh yeah." I told her Mom did too, so hopefully they'd repeat the same questions and we could just answer both of them repeatedly. Hahaha.
I turned back to talk to Mom--and she was looking at me with "that look."
She said, "What? I do NOT have dementia!" 

I said, "oh really? Then NAME your grandchildren." Then I relented and said, "I tell you what. I'll make it even easier. Just tell me what DAY it is, since I've already told you that at least a dozen times today."

She thought about it for a bit, then she said, "Okay. Well, maybe I do."
"But we don't have to TALK about it."  God love her.


----------



## Gary A.

Our Buena Vista Social Club dinner at the Bowl.


----------



## limr

Love Buena Vista Social Club!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder how hard it would be to make a morning person? From scratch, even!
> 
> 
> 
> Simple - get two night-people to have a kid.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hush your mouth, sir!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No worries, Leonore; I'm not wishing anything on you.  Just pointing out that early on, the wee ones tend to sleep opposite times from the parents, if at all.
Click to expand...


Oh, I know all about the habits of the wee ones, which is one more reason I never made one of my own


----------



## limr

In other news, I went out after dinne with Buzz and we took some pictures at the river. Happy World Photography Day to us!


----------



## Gary A.

The show begins ...


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> In other news, I went out after dinne with Buzz and we took some pictures at the river. Happy World Photography Day to us!



I just made a couple of maps, but they are very photogenic.

I'm taking the camera to DelMarVa today, but the weather is supposed to be crappy.  We'll see.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  OK day at work so far - having coffee and managing not to give a crap, at least not too much.  The sick cat is more or less back to his old self, meaning he howls when the mood strikes him, which is pretty often.  When he wasn't doing it at all we knew things weren't good.  He's still on several meds, so who knows how it will go when he's off those, but so far so good.


----------



## sm4him

@KenC glad to hear the cat is improving.  I have one who is 17 now; so far, she is still in very good health, except that she is fat and does nothing but sleep all the time.  She doesn't even eat much, but she does drink a lot of water, so I don't worry about her too much.
My favorite cat ever was one I got when I was about 11 years old. He died at 23; he was still quite healthy at 23, but had grown deaf--fell asleep outside and didn't hear the dogs until it was too late.  He could have easily outrun them or simply turned on them and terrified them if he'd heard them in time.

My work week has been beyond chaotic. My sister and I have decided that, if we are ever going to get a vacation this year, it's going to have to happen next week. It may or may not even happen (all depends on Mom--if she improves and gets to go home, we'd need to be here; if she gets worse, we'd need to be here. We're hoping to squeeze a week out before anything changes), but here I am, just about killing myself trying to get everything taken care of it IN CASE I can be gone.  It's now Thursday, and I still have a rather good-sized boatload of things left to do. I'm starting to think that vacation can't possibly be worth all this.


----------



## waday

sm4him said:


> A bit of humor from the nursing home:
> 
> Went to visit Mom last night, as usual, after work. She had gotten a new roommate (who is going to be a PITA, but that's not the point to this story).
> 
> Mom asked what day it was, and I told her. I also told her that one of her grandchildren had a birthday that day. We then began to play the "guess your grandchildren's names" game, for about the next 30 minutes, all trying to get her to NAME the one with a birthday that day. I gave her lots of hints; only one of them has an August birthday, it was a 17th birthday (most of them are older than that), and (she actually came up with this part) it was a boy.  Mom has 8 grandkids; 2 are mine, the other 6 all belong to one brother--the other 3 sibs didn't have any kids.  Of those 8, only 3 are boys--she got that it wasn't either of my boys having a birthday, but could never quite come up with the other boy's name.
> She also couldn't come up with two of the other grandkid's names.
> So then we reviewed all their names a couple of times--interspersed with her asking me what day it was, and why she was in there.
> 
> Then roomie's niece came in. I greeted her, and asked if her aunt had some dementia. She said "Oh yeah." I told her Mom did too, so hopefully they'd repeat the same questions and we could just answer both of them repeatedly. Hahaha.
> I turned back to talk to Mom--and she was looking at me with "that look."
> She said, "What? I do NOT have dementia!"
> 
> I said, "oh really? Then NAME your grandchildren." Then I relented and said, "I tell you what. I'll make it even easier. Just tell me what DAY it is, since I've already told you that at least a dozen times today."
> 
> She thought about it for a bit, then she said, "Okay. Well, maybe I do."
> "But we don't have to TALK about it."  God love her.


My grandmother struggles to remember my name and sometimes doesn't know who I am. She still thinks her parents and my grandfather are alive, but... she'll ask about my wife by name, ask how she is, and ask about her family in New York. She remembers that...


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> @KenC glad to hear the cat is improving.  I have one who is 17 now; so far, she is still in very good health, except that she is fat and does nothing but sleep all the time.  She doesn't even eat much, but she does drink a lot of water, so I don't worry about her too much.
> My favorite cat ever was one I got when I was about 11 years old. He died at 23; he was still quite healthy at 23, but had grown deaf--fell asleep outside and didn't hear the dogs until it was too late.  He could have easily outrun them or simply turned on them and terrified them if he'd heard them in time.



Thanks, Sharon.  We haven't been as lucky with cats.  Our record is a little over 17 with two cats.  We have one now who is close to 16 (also the age of the sick one) and is big and fat and sleeps a lot.  We always say he's working hard because he snores.  Often when I see someone walking a small dog it occurs to me that I have a cat that is bigger.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> @KenC glad to hear the cat is improving.  I have one who is 17 now; so far, she is still in very good health, except that she is fat and does nothing but sleep all the time.  She doesn't even eat much, but she does drink a lot of water, so I don't worry about her too much.
> My favorite cat ever was one I got when I was about 11 years old. He died at 23; he was still quite healthy at 23, but had grown deaf--fell asleep outside and didn't hear the dogs until it was too late.  He could have easily outrun them or simply turned on them and terrified them if he'd heard them in time.
> 
> My work week has been beyond chaotic. My sister and I have decided that, if we are ever going to get a vacation this year, it's going to have to happen next week. It may or may not even happen (all depends on Mom--if she improves and gets to go home, we'd need to be here; if she gets worse, we'd need to be here. We're hoping to squeeze a week out before anything changes), but here I am, just about killing myself trying to get everything taken care of it IN CASE I can be gone.  It's now Thursday, and I still have a rather good-sized boatload of things left to do. I'm starting to think that vacation can't possibly be worth all this.


There is nothing wrong with a staycation. Mary Lou has August off and decided to stay home and lose some weight. So when she's not eating, (she's been doing a lot of that), she's walking or riding or on the weights or gardening. She says staying home is very relaxing. (Next week, we are planning some excursions unto wine country.)

PS- I'm not saying you need to lose few pounds ... just that a staycation may not be all that bad.)


----------



## Gary A.

Buena Dias Coffee Hosers. The Buena Vista Social Club was great! There were people dancing in the aisles ... dancing at their seats, dancing on the steps. The first half was kinda slow with some new-ish performers. The lead singer looked like Fidel with long hair. But after intermission the old people rolled out and the entire Bowl was rocking. This one guy was dancing on the steps and when the music stopped he just sat down right where he was and started taking deep breaths. I would have offered him some vino, but it was pretty late in the game by then and the vino was gone. Good show and good times.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone
Another shot. 


 
iPhone
There are a pair of Klieg Lights that mark an X directly over the Bowl


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> @KenC glad to hear the cat is improving.  I have one who is 17 now; so far, she is still in very good health, except that she is fat and does nothing but sleep all the time.  She doesn't even eat much, but she does drink a lot of water, so I don't worry about her too much.
> My favorite cat ever was one I got when I was about 11 years old. He died at 23; he was still quite healthy at 23, but had grown deaf--fell asleep outside and didn't hear the dogs until it was too late.  He could have easily outrun them or simply turned on them and terrified them if he'd heard them in time.
> 
> My work week has been beyond chaotic. My sister and I have decided that, if we are ever going to get a vacation this year, it's going to have to happen next week. It may or may not even happen (all depends on Mom--if she improves and gets to go home, we'd need to be here; if she gets worse, we'd need to be here. We're hoping to squeeze a week out before anything changes), but here I am, just about killing myself trying to get everything taken care of it IN CASE I can be gone.  It's now Thursday, and I still have a rather good-sized boatload of things left to do. I'm starting to think that vacation can't possibly be worth all this.
> 
> 
> 
> There is nothing wrong with a staycation. Mary Lou has August off and decided to stay home and lose some weight. So when she's not eating, (she's been doing a lot of that), she's walking or riding or on the weights or gardening. She says staying home is very relaxing. (Next week, we are planning some excursions unto wine country.)
> 
> PS- I'm not saying you need to lose few pounds ... just that a staycation may not be all that bad.)
Click to expand...


I've done staycations before, but right now, what I really need is definitely a VAcation. As in "vacate the premises."  Because I know me. And if I am here in town, I will be visiting Mom every day, and dealing with whatever needs to be dealt with there. I will be visiting my best friend who just had a colon resection, and has had a little setback with it the last couple of days.  And I will be feeling guilty every moment I am in my house, as I look around and see all the STUFF that needs to get done, because I've not been home to do it, what with working full time and dealing with Mom the rest of the time.  So my staycation would end up being all about cleaning house and caretaking.  

I need a beach. And sun.  And maybe a good wildlife refuge nearby. And lots of seafood and margaritas.  If I can find a place ON the beach, where I can sit and have my coffee in the morning and my margarita at night, and watch the waves come in and recede, I will be as close to heaven as I hope to get in this life.
The sun part looks to be rather iffy, whether we end up in SC, Florida or Gulf Shores, AL. Looks like a lot of rainy days ahead for the south.


----------



## Gary A.

I can come up with a million places out here ... but the first one that comes to mind is:

Historic Hotel Laguna - In the heart of Laguna Beach steps from the ocean.

(click on the gallery)





Laguna Beach

As for the Sun and rain ... we're in a drought.

If you really want Sun for a few days, a few hours away is Joshua Tree and four hours away is Death Valley. But Laguna is absolutely beautiful, a perfect half-Moon shaped cove with 100' high cliffs on both side of the sandy beach and exquisite tide pools at the base of the cliffs. From the hotel you can look out and see Catalina (an hour away by ferry).


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon hosers. Seems the toddler is ACTUALLY LISTENING today! How is this possible?


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Afternoon hosers. Seems the toddler is ACTUALLY LISTENING today! How is this possible?


Sick?


----------



## minicoop1985

No, turns out I spoke too soon. Went back to his usual not listening whatsoever only about an hour after posting that.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> I can come up with a million places out here ... but the first one that comes to mind is:
> 
> Historic Hotel Laguna - In the heart of Laguna Beach steps from the ocean.
> 
> (click on the gallery)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Laguna Beach
> 
> As for the Sun and rain ... we're in a drought.
> 
> If you really want Sun for a few days, a few hours away is Joshua Tree and four hours away is Death Valley. But Laguna is absolutely beautiful, a perfect half-Moon shaped cove with 100' high cliffs on both side of the sandy beach and exquisite tide pools at the base of the cliffs. From the hotel you can look out and see Catalina (an hour away by ferry).



That all sounds absolutely delightful. Unfortunate that it is about 1500 miles further than my time and budget will really allow.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Enjoy wherever you go Sharon!

Made for a heckuva beautiful picture Gary.

Toddlers are so much fun - when as an EI Specialist I could send them home that is...! lol or leave their house and go to my home to peace and quiet! They listen if you say it a million bazillion times...

Actually it is the repetition, they need to experience something many many times to learn it, that's why they want the same thing for lunch or the same story that you've read a zillion times. Or why you have to keep getting them down from what they keep trying to climb on or out of what they keep trying to get into - any time you tell them something, to them it means _this_ time, not the next time, or the next time...

If nothing else they outgrow the stage eventually. Or turn 3. lol


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> No, turns out I spoke too soon. Went back to his usual not listening whatsoever only about an hour after posting that.


I'm happy to hear he's fine and everything is normal.

I'm even happier that I don't have any that age.


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers.

Buzz and I went to the movies tonight. We went to see a documentary called "The Best of Enemies" about the 1968 debates between William F. Buckley, Jr. and Gore Vidal.

We're geeks.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> No, turns out I spoke too soon. Went back to his usual not listening whatsoever only about an hour after posting that.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm happy to hear he's fine and everything is normal.
> 
> I'm even happier that I don't have any that age.
Click to expand...

I dunno if I would pay to watch that. lol


----------



## NancyMoranG

minicoop1985 said:


> Afternoon hosers. Seems the toddler is ACTUALLY LISTENING today! How is this possible?



""Imagine a time and place....da,da, duh....you have entered The Twilight Zone"
A brief snap of a time when they actually WILL listen to you, but trust me it doesn't last long


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> No, turns out I spoke too soon. Went back to his usual not listening whatsoever only about an hour after posting that.


That is a shame. I know you would really like  it here. You'd probably not like the beach climate, 70F to 80F (80F on the hottest days), but in summer, if you go inland ten miles it kicks up another ten degrees. Travel another ten miles and you're again up ten degrees. Hell, in summer you could be at 105F in the dessert, then drive a couple of hours to the beach and be at 70F. (The Quickest way to the beach would be through the 8,000' high San Bernardino Mountains.)  Laguna Beach is a little art colony town full of galleries, fine restaurants and little shops (and unfortunately tourists). You'd find your Margaritas surrounded by 'real' Mexican food and world class California wines. Hollywood is about an hour away, San Diego is an hour and a half. Presently in Laguna they are presenting the Pageant of the Masters. It is a fair of local artists selling/displaying their wares, in the afternoon live music and in the evening a show. Painted and sculptured masterpieces from antiquity to modern times are recreated onstage using live actors. It sounds kinda weird but it is actually quite well done and an event well worth watching. Knowing your penchant for football, if you're timing is right, Mary Lou and I will take you watch a football game at the most recognized sports stadium in the world, site of two Summer Olympics and home of the USC Trojans ('Fight On') or Mary Lou's favorite place, the Hollywood Bowl or a wine tasting. (We may even go up north to Santa Barbara and hit some wine country today.) There is a lot to do around here ... or you can just relax in the warm sand and after a stroll amongst tide pools, dig your feet into the sand and watch the Sun set behind Catalina. There are our Missions also, a chain of hotels set up by the first Europeans to visit California.






Wine tasting





The Flower Fields in Carlsbad.










Mission San Juan Capistrano.









Santa Monica





Hollywood





Palos Verdes Peninsula









Griffith Observatory



















Huntington Beach


----------



## vintagesnaps

Beautiful set. I like the one of the red and white flowers from that perspective, they seem to just go on and on, stunning. The one of the observatory I Iike too, and the sunset above that. The coliseum shows up every so often in old movies and TV shows. Is it still in use did you say?

Better than a travel brochure! we may all want to come out there!


----------



## JacaRanda

vintagesnaps said:


> Beautiful set. I like the one of the red and white flowers from that perspective, they seem to just go on and on, stunning. The one of the observatory I Iike too, and the sunset above that. The coliseum shows up every so often in old movies and TV shows. Is it still in use did you s
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it still in use did you say?
Click to expand...


It certainly is.  The USC Trojans play their home games there.  They also host many events including The Special Olympics etc.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I didn't know that! But it's not hockey, so... lol I do watch _some_ college football although local coverage is about gone, it's all network.


----------



## vintagesnaps

And speaking of San Juan Capistrano, that's where my Kit Cat clock was made - and the other day it just - stopped!!!!  I think it's the motor, I gotta check into getting it repaired, that's why I was looking at the back of it.


Now every time I go past it, the tail's not wagging and the eyes aren't moving, it's just staring and kinda freakin' me out! Not really, but it looks weird that it's just hanging there doing nuthin', didn't realize how used to it I was.


----------



## JacaRanda

vintagesnaps said:


> And speaking of San Juan Capistrano, that's where my Kit Cat clock was made - and the other day it just - stopped!!!!  I think it's the motor, I gotta check into getting it repaired, that's why I was looking at the back of it.
> 
> 
> Now every time I go past it, the tail's not wagging and the eyes aren't moving, it's just staring and kinda freakin' me out! Not really, but it looks weird that it's just hanging there doing nuthin', didn't realize how used to it I was.



Perfect reason to visit So Cali    San Juan Cap. is just a couple of exits away.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ugh, you're right... I would love California, but my wife's too stubborn to move.

So I got to drive a Jaguar F type (it's a sports car) today... Oh. My. God. Sounded INCREDIBLE. Was absolutely BUTAL to drive. Pinned the gas and got it only up to 85, but uh buh I need one so badlyyyyyyy


----------



## Gary A.

On the spur of the moment Mary Lou and I headed south to Temecula for some wine tasting.


----------



## JacaRanda

Nice concerts at Thornton.  Wifey and my first date was there.  Hiroshima played.


----------



## Gary A.

A quartet of sparkling:


----------



## Gary A.

Baked Brie with walnuts in a Carmel sauce. 


 Delish.


----------



## Gary A.

No, not merely delish ... Amazingly delish.


----------



## Gary A.

This place was so good ... I joined.


----------



## Gary A.

We're at Ponte.


----------



## snerd

Evening, hosers. Got my PICC catheter out today. This time, he's putting me on Bactrim 800/1600 twice a day for 3-6 months to get this shoulder infection killed to death. After spending a few hours out in the sun, flying drone, I just read side effect can be easier to sunburn. Stay out of the sun.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.

Not so much for the Coffee House regulars but Lew (The_Traveler) is doing a give-away contest.  Let anyone know that you think may be interested.


----------



## robbins.photo

Morning Hosers!

Out and about shooting today at a super secret location.

Lol

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


----------



## medic2230

Morning


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> Out and about shooting today at a super secret location.


New zoo exhibit, before official opening? 

Oh, BTW . . . Mei Xiang, one of the National Zoo's giant pandas seems to be pregnant.  Waiting for another "butter stick!"


----------



## JacaRanda

Buenos dias caballeros y caballeras.   Also out shooting at a secret location that's not so secret anymore; waiting for the good light  .


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was a good day. It started out rushing about trying to get out the door for a trip to wine country around the Santa Rita Hills, Paso Robles area. But by noon I was still working and driving 2+ hours would only allow time for one tasting. Mary Lou mentioned Temecula, in the opposite direction and only an hour+ away. We've never explored the wines around Temecula and I was completely surprised at the quality. Great wines, great foods, entertainment and about an hour away ... We will be going back.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Going to be out shooting at the airport today (probably just snapshots, but I'll bring my camera nonetheless). Looks like we're all dragging those cameras out today.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. Got my teeth cleaned this morning. Other than that, I'm not sure what the rest of the day holds. Except for possibly another cup of coffee


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Had my coffee and setting out to have some kind of day.  Like Leonore, I don't know what that will be but it will involve coffee, and maybe even beer.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Out and about shooting today at a super secret location.
> 
> 
> 
> New zoo exhibit, before official opening?
> 
> Oh, BTW . . . Mei Xiang, one of the National Zoo's giant pandas seems to be pregnant.  Waiting for another "butter stick!"
Click to expand...

Wow.  Does my cyber security suck.  Lol

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

Keep spending too much time out in the sun. Ugh... these headaches are kicking my ass.


----------



## Gary A.

Worked all day in the yard.  Leading up to dinner, Mary Lou and I had only consumed approx. 200 calories. (We were trying to make up for yesterday's baked brie with walnuts and carmel sauce.) to celebrate our good behavior we scooted down to Seal Beach for dinner.


----------



## Gary A.

We decided on sushi ... minimal calories so we could come home and drink wine, have some cheesecake, watch a Netflix and still be under our caloric numbers for the day.


----------



## sm4him

No photography for me yesterday, as I was running around trying to get ready to leave for vacation after church this morning.  I always forget how *exhausting* it is to get ready to go on vacation and relax!!
Had to get the car ready for the trip, pack, run errands, and visit with Mom and with my best friend who is still recovering from colon re-section surgery. I ended up staying and having dinner with her and her family, and still hadn't finished my to-do list when I got home. So I was up early this morning to finish.

Now to see whether my suitcase will go in the trunk and still leave enough room for my sister's luggage!! Packing for a week in a convertible requires very careful consideration of what you really need!  Our room is so tight, I think I'll probably only take ONE camera!! (okay, ALL the lenses, but just ONE camera...)

But before I haul the suitcase out to the car, I believe another cup of coffee will be required.


----------



## limr

Have a great time, Sharon! Glad this vacation seems to actually be happening! You definitely need it! (as if you didn't already know that yourself  )

Morning, the rest of you hosers. Yesterday ended up including a long walk with Buzz, a short doze on the couch, dinner, and then a little tv and reading. Today we're grabbing some cameras and heading up to Woodstock.


----------



## terri

Morning, hosers!    I've been offline for the last several days while my mom was here visiting, which we extended until this morning.    Today is getting the house back in order and trying to convince Bex and Finn that the Evil Monster (aka Sophie, her big dog) has left the premises.         She was a sweet dog but a barker, and the cats were hiding in my closet most of the time.   Poor babies!!  

Laundry time.   Yay.


----------



## snowbear

Panda - Panda

It's twins!


----------



## snowbear

Enjoy your trip, Sharon - you certainly deserve it.


----------



## Gary A.

Bon Voyage Sharon (in my best nasally French accent). 

One day you need to cast everything into the wind and visit California.





Pt. Vincente
Palos Verdes Peninsula





Catalina


----------



## otherprof

JacaRanda said:


> Buenos dias caballeros y caballeras.   Also out shooting at a secret location that's not so secret anymore; waiting for the good light  . View attachment 106784


Good morning. Given the lens, you could be shooting a secret location from another secret location.


----------



## robbins.photo

otherprof said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos dias caballeros y caballeras.   Also out shooting at a secret location that's not so secret anymore; waiting for the good light  . View attachment 106784
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning. Given the lens, you could be shooting a secret location from another secret location.
Click to expand...

Tried that, dang super hackers had me on GPS in seconds.  Lol.

So today I headed to the lake and then later to the park, hopefully will come back with a keeper or too.

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon, hosers. Depressing cold day. Barely had the energy to MAKE coffee today...


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Afternoon, hosers. Depressing cold day. Barely had the energy to MAKE coffee today...


But we has Panda twins!


----------



## snerd

Snippet from local news station, talking about a recent Civil Air Patrol event............................

"...... Comanche Eagles Composite Squadron Commander Beth Ryan says the primary goal is to teach the cadets about basic arrow dynamics........."

<sigh>


----------



## tirediron

snerd said:


> Snippet from local news station, talking about a recent Civil Air Patrol event............................
> 
> "...... Comanche Eagles Composite Squadron Commander Beth Ryan says the primary goal is to teach the cadets about basic arrow dynamics........."
> 
> <sigh>


So?  Given the high cost of surface-to-air missiles, standing up an archery-based defence squadron makes perfect sense.


----------



## Designer

snerd said:


> Snippet from local news station, talking about a recent Civil Air Patrol event............................
> 
> "...... Comanche Eagles Composite Squadron Commander Beth Ryan says the primary goal is to teach the cadets about basic arrow dynamics........."
> 
> <sigh>


Huh? What's that all about?


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Snippet from local news station, talking about a recent Civil Air Patrol event............................
> 
> "...... Comanche Eagles Composite Squadron Commander Beth Ryan says the primary goal is to teach the cadets about basic arrow dynamics........."
> 
> <sigh>
> 
> 
> 
> So?  Given the high cost of surface-to-air missiles, standing up an archery-based defence squadron makes perfect sense.
Click to expand...


Well then again when it comes to SAM's, money really shouldn't be an object now should it.  Lol


----------



## Gary A.

Dim Sum today.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 106973
> Dim Sum today.


Looks like tripe!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 106973
> Dim Sum today.
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like tripe!
Click to expand...

Tripe ... I hate tripe. It's a rice dumpling with shrimp.


----------



## minicoop1985

Wow today sucked. Getting back to normal after my brain fried itself. SMH.


----------



## medic2230

Well today sucked for photography. Wanted to go out and take some photo's but ended up grocery shopping. I procrastinated till the last day for a photo for a weekly photo challenge and ended up with nothing. Bah!


----------



## snerd

Designer said:


> Huh? What's that all about?


The illiteracy of those in the media?

*Aerodynamics* is the way air moves around things. The rules of *aerodynamics* explain how an airplane is able to fly. Anything that moves through air reacts to *aerodynamics*. A rocket blasting off the launch pad and a kite in the sky react to *aerodynamics*.

Arrow Dynamics was a roller coaster. Or, the characteristics of arrow flight? Sorry, pet peeve. I bet Lenny understands!


----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Huh? What's that all about?
> 
> 
> 
> The illiteracy of those in the media?
> 
> *Aerodynamics* is the way air moves around things. The rules of *aerodynamics* explain how an airplane is able to fly. Anything that moves through air reacts to *aerodynamics*. A rocket blasting off the launch pad and a kite in the sky react to *aerodynamics*.
> 
> Arrow Dynamics was a roller coaster. Or, the characteristics of arrow flight? Sorry, pet peeve. I bet Lenny understands!
Click to expand...


Yep . . . the difference between knowing your $hit and knowing you're $hit.


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Huh? What's that all about?
> 
> 
> 
> The illiteracy of those in the media?
> 
> *Aerodynamics* is the way air moves around things. The rules of *aerodynamics* explain how an airplane is able to fly. Anything that moves through air reacts to *aerodynamics*. A rocket blasting off the launch pad and a kite in the sky react to *aerodynamics*.
> 
> Arrow Dynamics was a roller coaster. Or, the characteristics of arrow flight? Sorry, pet peeve. I bet Lenny understands!
Click to expand...


Oh man, it totally sounds like something I would read from students at school. Like the student who didn't want others to be judged or "ostrichsized."


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers!

Spent the day with the hippies at Woodstock. Or rather, I spent the day with the people who might have once been hippies but have now opened tourist trap stores and restaurants in order to fleece all the tourists who come to Woodstock to see hippies in their natural habitat and buy some Nag Champa so they can prove to their friends back home that they are all spiritual. There are still some real hippies there, but most of them have sold out, man. 

Had some good food, took some pictures, had an interesting conversation that was sparked by the Minolta Maxxum around my neck, and shared a smile and a peace sign with one of the real hippies in the main square. Good day.


----------



## JacaRanda

limr said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Huh? What's that all about?
> 
> 
> 
> The illiteracy of those in the media?
> 
> *Aerodynamics* is the way air moves around things. The rules of *aerodynamics* explain how an airplane is able to fly. Anything that moves through air reacts to *aerodynamics*. A rocket blasting off the launch pad and a kite in the sky react to *aerodynamics*.
> 
> Arrow Dynamics was a roller coaster. Or, the characteristics of arrow flight? Sorry, pet peeve. I bet Lenny understands!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh man, it totally sounds like something I would read from students at school. Like the student who didn't want others to be judged or "ostrichsized."
Click to expand...

[emoji2]


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Evening, hosers!
> 
> Spent the day with the hippies at Woodstock. Or rather, I spent the day with the people who might have once been hippies but have now opened tourist trap stores and restaurants in order to fleece all the tourists who come to Woodstock to see hippies in their natural habitat and buy some Nag Champa so they can prove to their friends back home that they are all spiritual. There are still some real hippies there, but most of them have sold out, man.
> 
> Had some good food, took some pictures, had an interesting conversation that was sparked by the Minolta Maxxum around my neck, and shared a smile and a peace sign with one of the real hippies in the main square. Good day.


That Peace Sign was good. My older brother actually attended Woodstock.


----------



## sm4him

@Gary A. one of these days, I'd love to do that, for sure. I've only been to California twice--once to Santa Cruz and once to San Diego. Both were back in the early 90s, and both trips were for work, although when we went to San Diego, the magazine editor and I did take a couple of days off after the conference and enjoyed ourselves sightseeing.

I haven't been anywhere west of the Mississippi since the early 90s! Gonna have to do some trip planning.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Enjoying coffee and snack for now, but five minutes to what will probably be a frustrating phone call with someone who doesn't seem to get what I've been saying.  Wish me luck!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Oh man, it totally sounds like something I would read from students at school. Like the student who didn't want others to be judged or "ostrichsized."



Well I guess I don't really want others turned into large, flightless birds either.  Is there an internet petition on this?

Lol


----------



## minicoop1985

I would like to turn some people into ostriches. That power would amuse me greatly.


----------



## JacaRanda

minicoop1985 said:


> I would like to turn some people into ostriches. That power would amuse me greatly.


How frustrating would it be to be a bird that can't fly!  THAT WOULD ROYALLY SUCK.


----------



## limr

JacaRanda said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would like to turn some people into ostriches. That power would amuse me greatly.
> 
> 
> 
> How frustrating would it be to be a bird that can't fly!  THAT WOULD ROYALLY SUCK.
Click to expand...


Agreed! That's the whole point of being a bird - to fly! 

Morning, hosers! (Late morning, anyway.)

Gotta get back to organizing and planning today. Might need more coffee for this...


----------



## JacaRanda

*Fastest Land Bird*
Despite its bulk, the ostrich can run at speeds of up to 45 mph if necessary.

I'm sorry, that compensation is just not good enough .  Can't science intervene?




I would love to see ostriches flying above my car, my head, my camera . 

After my second cup, I should be able to let this go.


----------



## Designer

JacaRanda said:


> I would love to see ostriches flying above my car, my head, my camera .


I'm not anxious for that, and I'm continually glad for the realization that cows can't fly.


Birdie, Birdie, up in the sky,
Left some whitewash in my eye.
I don't moan, and I don't cry,
I'm just glad that cows can't fly.


----------



## Gary A.

JacaRanda said:


> *Fastest Land Bird*
> Despite its bulk, the ostrich can run at speeds of up to 45 mph if necessary.
> 
> I'm sorry, that compensation is just not good enough .  Can't science intervene?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would love to see ostriches flying above my car, my head, my camera .
> 
> After my second cup, I should be able to let this go.


I'd like to see ostriches fly above your car, your head and/or your camera, as well.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> *Fastest Land Bird*
> Despite its bulk, the ostrich can run at speeds of up to 45 mph if necessary.
> 
> I'm sorry, that compensation is just not good enough .  Can't science intervene?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would love to see ostriches flying above my car, my head, my camera .
> 
> After my second cup, I should be able to let this go.
> 
> 
> 
> I'd like to see ostriches fly above your car, your head and/or your camera, as well.
Click to expand...


Easy enough, you just need to build them a ramp like they did on Dukes of Hazzard.  They'd be able to fly over all sorts of things that way.  

Of course you might need to let them watch a few episodes first till they get the hang of it.  Lol


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The Cook and I are back from our walk. I'm finishing off my first cup o' Joe and reading the newspaper. I imagine in France they're singing 'God Bless America'.


----------



## minicoop1985

Evening, hosers. Another horrible day, almost near an end. Here's to hoping the rest of the week is better.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  About an average morning here at work, but coffee is already making it seem better.

I gave my sick cat his pills this morning and I know he is doing better because it's getting harder to get the pills into him.  I guess we'll see ...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. We're getting into another heat wave out here into the 90's. Gotta get a walk into The Cook an hour or so earlier while it is still on the cool side. We're all pulling for your cat Ken. I'm glad it seems to be on it's way to recovery. I've been stockpiling materials for the new BBQ patio. Today I may start the real installation.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> We're getting into another heat wave out here into the 90's. .. Today I may start the real installation.


Heat and outdoor work.  Are you sure you couldn't find something to do inside?


----------



## waday




----------



## minicoop1985

^^^ Agreed.

Morning, hosers. Caught two mice in our house. Yay. At least they're ex-mice now. Our dog is HORRIBLE at catching these things even though they run RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE STUPID THING.


----------



## KenC

minicoop1985 said:


> Our dog is HORRIBLE at catching these things even though they run RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE STUPID THING.



That's why you need a cat - they not only catch mice, they make short work of any insects that get in


----------



## minicoop1985

I would, but noooooooooo. Wife won't have it. Nor will the dog-she apparently hates cats too.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> I would, but noooooooooo. Wife won't have it. Nor will the dog-she apparently hates cats too.



Well you could probably train the dog.. but .. lol..


----------



## waday

Oh man, my dog goes crazy when a fly gets in the house. She runs after that little insect like crazy. It keeps her entertained, so we usually don't mind, haha.


----------



## minicoop1985

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would, but noooooooooo. Wife won't have it. Nor will the dog-she apparently hates cats too.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well you could probably train the dog.. but .. lol..
Click to expand...


My dog is the laziest, dumbest dog I've met yet. There's no hope of training her with ANYTHING. It's a damned miracle it poops outside.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> I would, but noooooooooo. Wife won't have it. Nor will the dog-she apparently hates cats too.



Time to consider an upgrade?


----------



## minicoop1985

LOL no. With the amount of crap she puts up with from my bipolar issues, I think it's best if I try to keep her around.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers! You know what day it is, right? Riiiiiight? C'mon, guess what day it is!!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Morning, hosers! You know what day it is, right? Riiiiiight? C'mon, guess what day it is!!


Take your camel to work day?

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> Morning, hosers! You know what day it is, right? Riiiiiight? C'mon, guess what day it is!!



even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back Day?


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers! You know what day it is, right? Riiiiiight? C'mon, guess what day it is!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take your camel to work day?
> 
> Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk
Click to expand...




snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers! You know what day it is, right? Riiiiiight? C'mon, guess what day it is!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back Day?
Click to expand...


Exactly! To both of you!


----------



## waday

Oh man, I totally wish we had take our camels to work day. Or dogs. Actually, dogs.


----------



## Designer

I wonder if anybody doesn't know the source of that term?

Rail yard hump action:


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> Oh man, I totally wish we had take our camels to work day. Or dogs. Actually, dogs.



Well you could kill two birds with one stone and get your dog a camel costume.  Synergy!  Lol


----------



## robbins.photo

Designer said:


> I wonder if anybody doesn't know the source of that term?



I'm pretty sure it's German.  Thus providing further evidence that the only real contribution my ancestors made to civilization in the grand scheme of things was beer.


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh man, I totally wish we had take our camels to work day. Or dogs. Actually, dogs.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well you could kill two birds with one stone and get your dog a camel costume.  Synergy!  Lol
Click to expand...

No one will ever know it's my dog. They said no dogs in the office. They never said no camels.

Heh heh heh...

Camel Costume for Dogs


----------



## snerd

waday said:


> Heh heh heh...
> 
> Camel Costume for Dogs


If PETA sees that, you're a goner!


----------



## astroNikon

Seriously guys and gals.
you don't want a dog hump day ....

LMAO


----------



## waday

astroNikon said:


> Seriously guys and gals.
> you don't want a dog hump day ....
> 
> LMAO


Ahahaha.

My little girl can hold her own. She won't let anyone hump her. 

She's actually scared off dogs 3 times her height, 5 times her weight. Hahaha.


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh man, I totally wish we had take our camels to work day. Or dogs. Actually, dogs.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well you could kill two birds with one stone and get your dog a camel costume.  Synergy!  Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No one will ever know it's my dog. They said no dogs in the office. They never said no camels.
> 
> Heh heh heh...
> 
> Camel Costume for Dogs
Click to expand...


It' is an amazing bit of camouflage, to be certain.  Lol.  Maybe go with the seeing eye camel dodge, just in case..


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning, hosers! You know what day it is, right? Riiiiiight? C'mon, guess what day it is!!



Mid-week day off.  At least for me & MLW.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Good god, I've been up since 6:30. Way too damned early for me... Kid woke up that early for some reason.


----------



## snowbear

It was in the low 70s this morning, but it's not going to last; back to 90s and humid on Saturday.


----------



## KenC

snowbear said:


> back to 90s and humid on Saturday.



Yeah, same here unfortunately, although overall I guess I really can't complain about the heat this summer (yes, I can, but I'll stop myself).


----------



## waday

The marijuana thread lasted longer than I thought.


----------



## Designer

waday said:


> The marijuana thread lasted longer than I thought.


*   *   .... Hey, man... *  what day is it?...*   *


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> The marijuana thread lasted longer than I thought.



Well, considering that the OP took his ball and went home somewhere in the middle there..   Lol


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> The marijuana thread lasted longer than I thought.



Since the 1890s?


----------



## snowbear

Oh - you mean the train wreck looking for a track.  Yeah.
NFC


----------



## Gary A.

At the grill working on some salmon. Upper 90's inland today. 93F in the backyard. I feel comfy. Going to the Pageant of the Masters tonight.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> At the grill working on some salmon. Upper 90's inland today. 93F in the backyard. I feel comfy. Going to the *Pageant of the Masters* tonight.



Sounds kinky


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> At the grill working on some salmon. Upper 90's inland today. 93F in the backyard. I feel comfy. Going to the *Pageant of the Masters* tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds kinky
Click to expand...


Sure does.  I'll pick you up in a couple -- wait a minute (_Hey, honey - me and Leonore are gonna go to Cali for a -- uh huh.  OK_) . . . never mind.


----------



## snerd




----------



## Gary A.

The Pageant is unusual and well worth the price of admission. Google it. 


The Salmon off the Kamado.


----------



## Gary A.

Laguna Beach has its roots as an art colony. Every year Laguna holds the Festival of Arts, an art fair highlighting local Laguna artists and incorporated into the festival is the Pageant, a theatrical performance where actors and designers recreate painted and sculpured master pieces. It is quite impressive and well done, in this nearly California perfect coastal town of a wide sandy beach with 100' high cliffs on both sides of the cresent cove. We are touring the art listening to a live local band waiting for the Pageant amphitheater to open their doors.


----------



## Gary A.

And ... I am sipping some wonderful California wine from our visit to Temecula ... Arneis from Ponte ... Refreshing and wonderful.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Laguna Beach has its roots as an art colony. Every year Laguna holds the Festival of Arts, an art fair highlighting local Laguna artists and incorporated into the festival is the Pageant, a theatrical performance where actors and designers recreate painted and sculpured master pieces. It is quite impressive and well done, in this nearly California perfect coastal town of a wide sandy beach with 100' high cliffs on both sides of the cresent cove. We are touring the art listening to a live local band waiting for the Pageant amphitheater to open their doors.



Now it sounds even more kinky! 





I kid, I kid!


----------



## snowbear

Sadness.

Found out the smaller of the panda babies has passed away.  Not out of the ordinary, but still sad,

G'night, peeps.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Sadness.
> 
> Found out the smaller of the panda babies has passed away.  Not out of the ordinary, but still sad,
> 
> G'night, peeps.



I saw that too - was it yesterday? Sad 

'Night, Charlie!


----------



## snowbear

It happened on Wednesday.
The zoo is releasing the gender of the surviving cub and naming the baby-daddy later this morning.

edit: date correction


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> I think so.
> The zoo is releasing the gender of the surviving cub and naming the baby-daddy later this morning.



I hope they got Maury Povich for that.  He just has such a flair for that sort of thing.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Friday before Labor Day weekend - what's not to like?  Sometimes they let us out early before a long weekend, so it may not be a long day.  It's pretty quiet here, with people I guess getting an early start.  My ambition as always is to stay off the highways and close to home.


----------



## snowbear

Long weekend?  Labor Day is a week away (9/7)


----------



## KenC

snowbear said:


> Long weekend?  Labor Day is a week away (9/7)



You just had to go and tell me that, didn't you?  That 31st day just got away from me.  I suppose I'll survive today somehow.


----------



## astroNikon

KenC said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Long weekend?  Labor Day is a week away (9/7)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You just had to go and tell me that, didn't you?  That 31st day just got away from me.  I suppose I'll survive today somehow.
Click to expand...

just wait a week and you should be good to go


----------



## KenC

astroNikon said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Long weekend?  Labor Day is a week away (9/7)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You just had to go and tell me that, didn't you?  That 31st day just got away from me.  I suppose I'll survive today somehow.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> just wait a week and you should be good to go
Click to expand...


easy for you to say ...


----------



## pixmedic

Instead of a Venti coffee i just get a vent....


----------



## astroNikon

pixmedic said:


> Instead of a Venti coffee i just get a vent....
> 
> View attachment 107213


is that how you get a Cuff of Coffee ?


----------



## pixmedic

astroNikon said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Instead of a Venti coffee i just get a vent....
> 
> View attachment 107213
> 
> 
> 
> is that how you get a Cuff of Coffee ?
Click to expand...

The hard way,  but yes


----------



## robbins.photo

astroNikon said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Instead of a Venti coffee i just get a vent....
> 
> View attachment 107213
> 
> 
> 
> is that how you get a Cuff of Coffee ?
Click to expand...


Easiest way is a high speed maneuver designed to avoid another idiot driver on the interstate, but you have to be holding a cup of coffee and wearing a dress shirt to pull it off.


----------



## JacaRanda

KenC said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Long weekend?  Labor Day is a week away (9/7)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You just had to go and tell me that, didn't you?  That 31st day just got away from me.  I suppose I'll survive today somehow.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> just wait a week and you should be good to go
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> easy for you to say ...
Click to expand...

I remember the good old days when school started after Labor Day.


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> Long weekend?  Labor Day is a week away (9/7)


Bummer.  (for me)

I actually was looking forward to closing the pool THIS WEEKEND, but was reminded that; "We usually close it on Labor Day weekend."  (me) "You mean this is not Labor Day weekend?"  (she) "It's next weekend."

So why can't this be Labor Day weekend too?

That way we could have two of them, which could come in handy.


----------



## Designer

astroNikon said:


> is that how you get a Cuff of Coffee ?


That should be "cuff of coppee". 

 Then you get a second cuff.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

My college starts after Labor Day. Of course this means that finals go right up to Dec 23rd, and if it snows during finals week, the make-up day is Christmas Eve. But whatever, I still have a week before classes start!


----------



## snowbear

Yep - only six more County holidays this year - three in November.


----------



## medic2230

JacaRanda said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Long weekend?  Labor Day is a week away (9/7)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You just had to go and tell me that, didn't you?  That 31st day just got away from me.  I suppose I'll survive today somehow.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> just wait a week and you should be good to go
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> easy for you to say ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I remember the good old days when school started after Labor Day.
Click to expand...


My son's been back in school for 3 weeks already. Summer seems to be getting shorter and shorter.


----------



## medic2230

Designer said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Long weekend?  Labor Day is a week away (9/7)
> 
> 
> 
> Bummer.  (for me)
> 
> I actually was looking forward to closing the pool THIS WEEKEND, but was reminded that; "We usually close it on Labor Day weekend."  (me) "You mean this is not Labor Day weekend?"  (she) "It's next weekend."
Click to expand...


You wouldn't have to close a pool down here till mid to late November. lol


----------



## medic2230

snowbear said:


> Yep - only six more County holidays this year - three in November.



What's a holiday? I get to work every third day no matter what day it is. 




limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> My college starts after Labor Day. Of course this means that finals go right up to Dec 23rd, and if it snows during finals week, the make-up day is Christmas Eve. But whatever, I still have a week before classes start!



What do you teach?


----------



## limr

medic2230 said:


> What do you teach?



Academic writing. Most of my classes are for ESL students just one step below Eng 101 (they just need a semester or two to improve their writing skills), but I also teach Eng 101 (College Composition). And some semesters when there's a stray Eng 102 (Intro to Literature) class, I get to teach that too 

My background is in Linguistics, not literature, but it's a community college and it's hard to get a subject like that into the curriculum. My boss has been trying to get it going, though, and has established an Intro to Linguistics class that runs pretty reliably. This semester we tried opening a second section for me to teach, but it's not going to run (not enough enrollment), so I have to wait a little bit longer before I get to teach that.


----------



## Gary A.

JacaRanda said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Long weekend?  Labor Day is a week away (9/7)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You just had to go and tell me that, didn't you?  That 31st day just got away from me.  I suppose I'll survive today somehow.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> just wait a week and you should be good to go
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> easy for you to say ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I remember the good old days when school started after Labor Day.
Click to expand...

Hey Jack ... I was in your neck of the woods yesterday. It was a very pleasant evening at the Festival & Pageant.


----------



## snowbear

medic2230 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep - only six more County holidays this year - three in November.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What's a holiday? I get to work every third day no matter what day it is.
Click to expand...

Double time and a half.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. This is the last day of the heat wave so I gotta get an early walk into The Cook. Otherwise, she just lags and hangs out in the shadows. The Pageant was thoroughly entertaining, with some splashes of Hollywood. The amphitheater is like a sawed-off Hollywood Bowl (much smaller in all regards compared to The Bowl), tucked into a little canyon/arroyo, surrounded by steep hills a few blocks from the Pacific. We sipped the last of our Arneis watching the pageant recreate art with live actors. The Cook and I are off.


----------



## JacaRanda

Gary A. said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Long weekend?  Labor Day is a week away (9/7)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You just had to go and tell me that, didn't you?  That 31st day just got away from me.  I suppose I'll survive today somehow.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> just wait a week and you should be good to go
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> easy for you to say ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I remember the good old days when school started after Labor Day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Hey Jack ... I was in your neck of the woods yesterday. It was a very pleasant evening at the Festival & Pageant.
Click to expand...

 
Good morning.  I saw that you were going to be local.  I will have to see if Wifey would like to go again.  It's been about 4 years. 
Always a good time!


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon, hosers. Not sure how I am doing today. Seem to be all over the place. started out the day feeling overly energetic and borderline manic, then went to depressed, now I'm kinda feeling the manic high feeling while being basically unable to move due to feeling depressed. I'm so confused right now.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Afternoon, hosers. Not sure how I am doing today. Seem to be all over the place. started out the day feeling overly energetic and borderline manic, then went to depressed, now I'm kinda feeling the manic high feeling while being basically unable to move due to feeling depressed. I'm so confused right now.



Ok, so first listen to some Alanis Morisette, followed by Nickelback.  Angry chick music, followed by angry at chicks music.  Bam.  You'll be plum level in no time.


----------



## limr

I've been pretty low energy all day long. Having an afternoon coffee. Trying to be even vaguely productive. 

Is it normal to feel tired all the time?


----------



## pixmedic

limr said:


> I've been pretty low energy all day long. Having an afternoon coffee. Trying to be even vaguely productive.
> 
> Is it normal to feel tired all the time?


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've been pretty low energy all day long. Having an afternoon coffee. Trying to be even vaguely productive.
> 
> Is it normal to feel tired all the time?
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 107220
Click to expand...


Those things kinda scare me!


----------



## pixmedic

limr said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've been pretty low energy all day long. Having an afternoon coffee. Trying to be even vaguely productive.
> 
> Is it normal to feel tired all the time?
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 107220
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Those things kinda scare me!
Click to expand...

I don't mind a little SVT.


----------



## limr

Yeah, well I don't have access to the machines that can fix that like you do 

Once in my bartending days, I was dragging pretty hard at the start of my shift so I tried a Red Bull. Well, it certainly gave me energy, but it was a weeeeeeeird kind of energy. Didn't like it. Nope. I'll stick to coffee and trying harder to get to bed earlier


----------



## astroNikon

robbins.photo said:


> Ok, so first listen to some Alanis Morisette, followed by Nickelback.  Angry chick music, followed by angry at chicks music.  Bam.  You'll be plum level in no time.


and I was thinking Neil Diamond for relaxing and energy to get things done !!


----------



## medic2230

limr said:


> I've been pretty low energy all day long. Having an afternoon coffee. Trying to be even vaguely productive.
> 
> Is it normal to feel tired all the time?



I just woke up from a chicken wing lunch induced nap. Time for afternoon coffee.



pixmedic said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've been pretty low energy all day long. Having an afternoon coffee. Trying to be even vaguely productive.
> 
> Is it normal to feel tired all the time?
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 107220
Click to expand...


Every time I drink those I get a h/a the next day from not drinking one again. Last event I worked where Monster was a sponsor they gave me 3 cases of them. Needless to say most of them are still in the case.


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers.

Caught Casablanca on Turner Classic Movies just as it was starting. Oh, how I love this movie! So happy


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey, I just watched that too! and this afternoon saw the first part of some oddball movie with Ingrid Bergman (late in her career) where these two kids ran away from home and lived in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (which is why I started watching it). Recorded the rest to see how it turns out.

Now Gaslight. I like her and love Hitch.

And I've been tired cuz I've been sick all week, feeling better but draggin' so a good evening to watch a couple of good movies. Supposedly chronic fatigue can mean something, maybe. Or maybe you're just working and not getting enough down time. 

Have a good night's sleep.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Hey, I just watched that too! and this afternoon saw the first part of some oddball movie with Ingrid Bergman (late in her career) where these two kids ran away from home and lived in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (which is why I started watching it). Recorded the rest to see how it turns out.
> 
> Now Gaslight. I like her and love Hitch.
> 
> And I've been tired cuz I've been sick all week, feeling better but draggin' so a good evening to watch a couple of good movies. Supposedly chronic fatigue can mean something, maybe. Or maybe you're just working and not getting enough down time.
> 
> Have a good night's sleep.



I was going to watch Gaslight, but I don't want to stay up that late. There's an adjunct training day (and by "training," I mean "placate-so-they'll-shut-up-about-health-insurance-and-raises" day) that starts at 8am tomorrow so I probably shouldn't stay up until midnight watching Hitchcock. So I changed the channel so I wouldn't get sucked in.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good plan! lol I've seen it plenty of times, not my favorite but still good, I like it later when Boyer really gets going.

Heard sirens and by the third one, got up to see... doesn't happen much here out in the boonies, working in the city it was a constant happening. One just came back up the street, probably went as back up, but if our little town sent three it must be a bad wreck.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Meh, I probably should have watched Gaslight after all. Turns out my brain wouldn't shut up and I couldn't get to sleep until almost one. And then I kept waking up until two.

In half an hour, I have to drive the 45 minutes to campus, make small talk BangHead:  ) during the "Breakfast," and then sit through 8 hours of speeches and workshops. Coffee, don't fail me now!






This new president we have is shaking things up all over the place, which quite frankly is a good thing. Our former president sat for 42 years and things were...moldy. Now, it's still early days so we can't tell for sure what directions these changes are going to take us in, and whether or not that's a good direction to go in. I know the full-timers are all shaking in their boots. We adjuncts...well, our jobs are just as uncertain as they ever have been, so nothing has really changed for us. What I will say, is though this day is probably going to be long and boring and filled with admin-speak bullsh1t, it's at least an acknowledgment that adjuncts also need professional development, AND we are _getting paid_ for the day, which is a lot more than we ever got from the old guard.

And now I have to go put on my armor...


----------



## Designer

The sympathy button would have been clicked, if we had one.


----------



## minicoop1985

Evening, hosers. Was actually a pretty exciting day today. Got to do some spelunking. Been many a year since I've done any of that.

As for Nickelback... Argh. I just... I just can't. I could do some Wynton Marsalis performing Hummel's Trumpet Concerto in E flat major, then follow it with some Dimmu Borgir (Swedish death metal) and maybe some Lady Gaga thrown in there somewhere. I do that fairly regularly, actually. I have very diverse taste in music.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Evening, hosers. Was actually a pretty exciting day today. Got to do some spelunking. Been many a year since I've done any of that.
> 
> As for Nickelback... Argh. I just... I just can't. I could do some Wynton Marsalis performing Hummel's Trumpet Concerto in E flat major, then follow it with some Dimmu Borgir (Swedish death metal) and maybe some Lady Gaga thrown in there somewhere. I do that fairly regularly, actually. I have very diverse taste in music.


You went spelunking, I ended up at a kids fashion show.  Yes, the world has indeed gone mad.


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers.

I did not go spelunking. Nor did I go to a kids' fashion show. Both activities would be, to be frank, quite horrifying and nightmarish for me.

What I did do was sit through six hours of admin babble. We ended earlier than planned, but we still needed drinks, so a few of us trundled down to the nearest bar and started the effort to forget the monotony of "engagement" and "student learning outcomes" and "infused learning goals."  I had a Maker's Mark neat. Nothing else was strong enough to come close to the pain.

Came home, had some dinner. Changed into pj's an hour ago. And now it's 9:20pm and I have a feeling I'm going to be in bed soon. It's a rockin' Saturday night!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Evening, hosers.
> 
> I did not go spelunking. Nor did I go to a kids' fashion show. Both activities would be, to be frank, quite horrifying and nightmarish for me.



One certainly was for me.. lol



> What I did do was sit through six hours of admin babble.



Suddenly somehow that kids fashion show isn't looking that bad afterall...



> We ended earlier than planned, but we still needed drinks, so a few of us trundled down to the nearest bar and started the effort to forget the monotony of "engagement" and "student learning outcomes" and "infused learning goals."  I had a Maker's Mark neat. Nothing else was strong enough to come close to the pain.



I don'[t think I could actually drink enough after hearing a dissertation on infused learning goals.  Yikes.


----------



## robbins.photo

Morning Hosers...

Well the fashion show thing turned out to be a bust at least for photos, sadly it was a last minute deal and I didn't have my external flash with me- the lighting was just too poor for my little AFS-C sensor.  Yet another excuse to go full frame I guess.  But the evening wasn't a total loss, it was for charity and it made my niece happy that I showed since some of the clothes she designed were in the show. 

I think I'm headed out to the lake this fine morning, going to see if that daffy crane is still wandering about.


----------



## snowbear

I'm going to look for some space to photograph.

HEAR THAT, SHARON?  I'M LOOKING FOR SPACE.  Now enjoy your vacation.

But first, another cup of coffee.


----------



## snowbear

We still want to see what you've got of the show.  We won't judge, or at least, not in this thread.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> I'm going to look for some space to photograph.
> 
> HEAR THAT, SHARON?  I'M LOOKING FOR SPACE.  Now enjoy your vacation.
> 
> But first, another cup of coffee.



I had a thought on that one but the picture I wanted would have required a long exposure, and sadly I loaned my tripod to a friend.  I'll see if I can't come up with something that doesn't completely suck though.  I don't  want to ruin Sharon's vacation after all.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> We still want to see what you've got of the show.  We won't judge, or at least, not in this thread.



Well they mostly look like this:


----------



## snowbear

I had a couple of ideas but models (animate and otherwise) aren't cooperating.  I'll find something.

or I won't.


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We still want to see what you've got of the show.  We won't judge, or at least, not in this thread.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well they mostly look like this:
Click to expand...


You can fix that in post.  At least the highlights aren't blown out.


----------



## snowbear

Infused learning goals.
Sounds a bit like the stuff we had to listen to during the TQM days.


----------



## minicoop1985

Wow, infused learning goals... Buzzword Bingo time!

Morning, fellow hosers. Looks like it may be a pleasant day here after all. About damned time if you ax me lol


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Infused learning goals.
> Sounds a bit like the stuff we had to listen to during the TQM days.



The most ridiculous thing about all of it is that they are talking about the same exact things that they did 20 years ago when I was taking education classes. It's all EXACTLY the same, but they are just putting different terms to it. And then they fall so in love with the rhetoric that they forget what it even means in terms of actually being in the classroom.

"Infused learning goals" or perhaps it was "infused student outcomes" which is even fuzzier. It just means something that should be a goal of the teaching regardless of the subject matter. Critical thinking, for example. 

I get why there needs to be consistency in language so people understand what the other is talking about. Every profession needs standardized definitions of certain terms to avoid confusion when describe the work. It just seems that some professions revel in changing terms every 10-15 years or so because the old words weren't good enough. 

In reality, with teaching anyway, nothing has changed in the fundamental process:
-you have something you want to teach your students 
-you have techniques and methods and activities that will convey that information or practice that skill
-you have ways to measure how well the student is learning

But people are constantly tweaking or reevaluating what the second and third parts should look like, and they think that every time a new methodology or assessment is used, they need to mess with the language used to talk about it.

And if the presenter had talked about it that way, it would have been a much more interesting session. But instead, he used rhetoric to explain rhetoric and had himself going in circles.

One woman in the row in front of me actually said this when he was done: "Well, it sounds like gobbledy-gook but I have a feeling there's something important about this that we should think about."

Well yes, there is some actual information we should have been given, but too bad it was presented in such a foolish manner.


----------



## snowbear

Each new group has to reinvent, or re-brand, its processes.  How many times have we heard someone is going to "clean up (insert favorite bureaucratic element)"?  I can't tell you how many "exciting new math curriculum" announcements I've had to endure, and ultimately it comes down to 2 x 2 = 4.

Sometimes I think they are trying to convince themselves as mush as convince us.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We still want to see what you've got of the show.  We won't judge, or at least, not in this thread.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well they mostly look like this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You can fix that in post.  At least the highlights aren't blown out.
Click to expand...

Think so?  Huh.  Maybe your right.  Maybe increase the shadows just a tad?

I wonder what it would look like if I converted to black and white...

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We still want to see what you've got of the show.  We won't judge, or at least, not in this thread.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well they mostly look like this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You can fix that in post.  At least the highlights aren't blown out.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Think so?  Huh.  Maybe your right.  Maybe increase the shadows just a tad?
> 
> I wonder what it would look like if I converted to black and white...
> 
> Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Oh-oh-oh -- HDR!   Big, jammin, over-the-edge tone-mapped HDR!


----------



## snerd

Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## snowbear

snerd said:


> View attachment 107284
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro



I know who needs this on their office door.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 107284
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know who needs this on their office door.
Click to expand...


ALL of us?  (Except I don't have an office door. Or an office.)


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> (Except I don't have an office door. Or an office.)


Minor details.


----------



## snowbear

I went out looking for some TPC fodder without luck.  I saw one thing but it really won't work.  Maybe this evening.


----------



## Designer

robbins.photo said:


> Yet another excuse to go full frame I guess.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> And if the presenter had talked about it that way, it would have been a much more interesting session. But instead, he used rhetoric to explain rhetoric and had himself going in circles.


Take a gander at my post in "What are you reading?"  for something of interest to all the teachers we have on this forum.

What are you reading? | Photography Forum


----------



## mmaria

Does anyone know anything that is good for low blood pressure?

(except drink a lot of water, take some coffe)

thank you!

I do have low blood  pressure (95/55 usually) but the other day, it was 80/65 and I'm a bit worried.

Of course I googled and my friend suggested me homeopathy because she tried and it helped her.

Any experiences here?


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

Afternoon, Marija! I have low blood pressure, too. Not quite as low - mine is usually something like 105-110/65-ish. The only thing I can think of is salt to get your blood pressure a little higher. I only think that because people with HIGH blood pressure are always being told to reduce their salt/sodium intake.


----------



## mmaria

Silly me! 

GOOD MORNINGAFTERNOOON!!!

forgot to say that first... that's it! I'm rude!


----------



## pixmedic

mmaria said:


> Does anyone know anything that is good for low blood pressure?
> 
> (except drink a lot of water, take some coffe)
> 
> thank you!
> 
> I do have low blood  pressure (95/55 usually) but the other day, it was 80/65 and I'm a bit worried.
> 
> Of course I googled and my friend suggested me homeopathy because she tried and it helped her.
> 
> Any experiences here?


I would see a doctor. 
Hypotension can be caused be caused by lots of things.
Anemia- low hemoglobin and hematocrit.  (Low blood count)
Excessive vasodilation.
Bradycardia -low heart rate. 
I would see a doctor to rule out anything serious. Just in case


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> Afternoon, Marija! I have low blood pressure, too. Not quite as low - mine is usually something like 105-110/65-ish. The only thing I can think of is salt to get your blood pressure a little higher. I only think that because people with HIGH blood pressure are always being told to reduce their salt/sodium intake.


yeah... I'm trying to put more salt in my food and it's not a big problem as I thought it would be. 
I wasn't drinking enough of water but now I'm drinking a lot of water ( and have to pee a lot also   which is not nice)


----------



## mmaria

snerd said:


> View attachment 107284
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


this is simply  GREAT!!!!


----------



## limr

Can you get coconut water there? It's become very popular here. It's kind of like a natural Gatorade - it helps replace electrolytes but without all the high fructose corn syrup like in artificial sports drinks.


----------



## mmaria

pixmedic said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does anyone know anything that is good for low blood pressure?
> 
> (except drink a lot of water, take some coffe)
> 
> thank you!
> 
> I do have low blood  pressure (95/55 usually) but the other day, it was 80/65 and I'm a bit worried.
> 
> Of course I googled and my friend suggested me homeopathy because she tried and it helped her.
> 
> Any experiences here?
> 
> 
> 
> I would see a doctor.
> Hypotension can be caused be caused by lots of things.
> Anemia- low hemoglobin and hematocrit.  (Low blood count)
> Excessive vasodilation.
> Bradycardia -low heart rate.
> I would see a doctor to rule out anything serious. Just in case
Click to expand...

Thank you, I'm considering going to a doctor but I don't think it has some serious cause.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Can you get coconut water there? It's become very popular here. It's kind of like a natural Gatorade - it helps replace electrolytes but without all the high fructose corn syrup like in artificial sports drinks.


hey, I've never heard about it. I'll try to  find it. Thanks


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Mary Lou starts work again today. Like many in education she gets some time off in the summer. She's all pissed about it ... but getting a paycheck is nice too. This has been a nice month, heatwaves and all. She concentrated on losing weight and I joined her. Her goal was 20 pounds but she attained a loss of 16 pounds. Which is still very good. The main thing was to alter our eating habits to reflect changes in our metabolism. I think were over the hump with that, eating smaller meals, no snacks and making better choices. Speaking of eating ... last night we had some steaks ... the new Kamado, again performed admirably, delivering a juicy piece of meat with perfect pinkness and a hint of smokey flavor.  Mary Lou's parting words to me "... Don't eat".

@ Marija- Anytime your blood pressure is low, just give me a call. I'll get it up to boiling in no time ... that's what others say.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Been a rather tough week, but maybe things will brighten up soon. Child starts school tomorrow, so I'll actually have time to myself on a DAILY basis. Incredible.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey we're on page 700. Big deal, huh? lol But 10,000+ posts?? holy cow.

So which book Lenny are you saying teachers would like? or now no longer teachers? (Well, not really, I might not be teaching now but I don't think you stop being a teacher, I can't help myself!)

Anyway it's not the Amazing 600+ Pages of Adventures (in small print) is it??

Was looking up all three and found this, an opinion, but when Murdoch was mentioned I groaned. Seems a shame if someone didn't leave their work in the hands of someone to carry on in the way the person would have wanted. If that's the case.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/25/opinion/joe-nocera-the-watchman-fraud.html?_r=0


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Hey we're on page 700. Big deal, huh? lol But 10,000+ posts?? holy cow.
> 
> So which book Lenny are you saying teachers would like? or now no longer teachers? (Well, not really, I might not be teaching now but I don't think you stop being a teacher, I can't help myself!)
> 
> Anyway it's not the Amazing 600+ Pages of Adventures (in small print) is it??
> 
> Was looking up all three and found this, an opinion, but when Murdoch was mentioned I groaned. Seems a shame if someone didn't leave their work in the hands of someone to carry on in the way the person would have wanted. If that's the case.
> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/25/opinion/joe-nocera-the-watchman-fraud.html?_r=0



That wasn't me, Sharon, it was Designer in this post: What are you reading? | Page 25 | Photography Forum

As for _Watchman_...I know that there is a lot of controversy over the publication and it is seen as just a money grab. Some say it should never have been published. I think that even if it _was_ published with more financial than literary interests, it's still a good thing it was published. If nothing else, it adds to the scholarship and insight into one of the most read, lauded, and discussed books of the 20th century. They publish gallery proofs of classics, letters from the author, posthumous novels that never had the chance to be revised...all these are available and no stink is ever made about the "money-grab" or "exploitation" of the authors. I think the big mistake was creating so much hype over _Watchman_ and trying to market it as a stand-alone book to be judged on its own merits. It is not that. But it still was a good thing that it saw the light of day.


----------



## minicoop1985

So much for today being better. Could barely get out of the house today, now it's couch time for probably the rest of the day.


----------



## minicoop1985

Actually, there's a bright spot today. Bought a TLR so I can use 120 film again. I've got a stash of Ektar, Portra, and Velvia that I need to use, and this should be a good way to use it. I missed 6x6 anyway.


----------



## vintagesnaps

What TLR did you get, Coop? Hope the week improves for you.

I must have lost track of who was talking about what, Leonore. Seems to me too that it's better to have been published than for no one to ever be able to read it. The hype with a lot of things seems to be more than it needs to be.


----------



## robbins.photo

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can you get coconut water there? It's become very popular here. It's kind of like a natural Gatorade - it helps replace electrolytes but without all the high fructose corn syrup like in artificial sports drinks.
> 
> 
> 
> hey, I've never heard about it. I'll try to  find it. Thanks
Click to expand...


I'd be more interested in a product that would give me all that high fructose corn syrup without those nasty electrolytes.  Lol


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can you get coconut water there? It's become very popular here. It's kind of like a natural Gatorade - it helps replace electrolytes but without all the high fructose corn syrup like in artificial sports drinks.
> 
> 
> 
> hey, I've never heard about it. I'll try to  find it. Thanks
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'd be more interested in a product that would give me all that high fructose corn syrup without those nasty electrolytes.  Lol
Click to expand...


It's called Coca-Cola. Knock yourself out!


----------



## pixmedic

PT self extubated themselves on the way to the hospital today. Pucker factor was high on that one.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can you get coconut water there? It's become very popular here. It's kind of like a natural Gatorade - it helps replace electrolytes but without all the high fructose corn syrup like in artificial sports drinks.
> 
> 
> 
> hey, I've never heard about it. I'll try to  find it. Thanks
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'd be more interested in a product that would give me all that high fructose corn syrup without those nasty electrolytes.  Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's called Coca-Cola. Knock yourself out!
Click to expand...

See, you folks know everything.  That's why I come here for all my nutritional advice, and of course all my legal advice too.

Lol

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

vintagesnaps said:


> What TLR did you get, Coop? Hope the week improves for you.




I got me a Yashica MAT.  And thank you. I certainly hope so too.


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> PT self extubated themselves on the way to the hospital today. Pucker factor was high on that one.


Why can't you medical wallahs just speak plain freakin' English???????????


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> PT self extubated themselves on the way to the hospital today. Pucker factor was high on that one.
> 
> 
> 
> Why can't you medical wallahs just speak plain freakin' English???????????
Click to expand...


I ran it through Google's new wallah to English translator.  This is what I got

Blah blah blah, something really gross, blah blah

Lol


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> PT self extubated themselves on the way to the hospital today. Pucker factor was high on that one.
> 
> 
> 
> Why can't you medical wallahs just speak plain freakin' English???????????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I ran it through Google's new wallah to English translator.  This is what I got
> 
> Blah blah blah, something really gross, blah blah
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I got too.


----------



## snowbear

"PT" is "Patient" or "Patent" or, most likely, "Part Time."
I get the idea he's saying the EMS field is beginning to look like the Pro Photography field - people are just doing it themselves.


----------



## limr

Has no one ever watched "ER"??


----------



## pixmedic

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> PT self extubated themselves on the way to the hospital today. Pucker factor was high on that one.
> 
> 
> 
> Why can't you medical wallahs just speak plain freakin' English???????????
Click to expand...

Well.....
In layman's terms..
The pt self extubated themselves, dropping their 02 saturation and ETC02 levels forcing me to drop an OPA and administer 02 via a BVM at 100%02 until I could get them into the ER for RSI, reintubation and sedation.


----------



## JacaRanda

limr said:


> Has no one ever watched "ER"??


No ER,  but Marcus Welby M.D. yes


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> PT self extubated themselves on the way to the hospital today. Pucker factor was high on that one.
> 
> 
> 
> Why can't you medical wallahs just speak plain freakin' English???????????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well.....
> In layman's terms..
> The pt self extubated themselves, dropping their 02 saturation and ETC02 levels forcing me to drop an OPA and administer 02 via a BVM at 100%02 until I could get them into the ER for RSI, reintubation and sedation.
Click to expand...


I totally imagined that all in George Clooney's voice. Mmmmm, George Clooney


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Has no one ever watched "ER"??



You mean on purpose?  Um... nope.


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


> Well.....
> In layman's terms..
> The pt self extubated themselves, dropping their 02 saturation and ETC02 levels forcing me to drop an OPA and administer 02 via a BVM at 100%02 until I could get them into the ER for RSI, reintubation and sedation.



Well geez, why didn't you just say that in the first place?


----------



## limr

See, if you had, you would have understood all of that!


----------



## snowbear

I once went to the ER.  Well, actually I've been there a $#!tload few times.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> See, if you had, you would have understood all of that!


I did understand it.  Blah blah blah, something gross in a George Clooney voice, blah blah.

See, clear as a bell.

Lol

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

pixmedic said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> PT self extubated themselves on the way to the hospital today. Pucker factor was high on that one.
> 
> 
> 
> Why can't you medical wallahs just speak plain freakin' English???????????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well.....
> In layman's terms..
> The pt self extubated themselves, dropping their 02 saturation and ETC02 levels forcing me to drop an OPA and administer 02 via a BVM at 100%02 until I could get them into the ER for RSI, reintubation and sedation.
Click to expand...


and a partridge in a pear tree.


----------



## JacaRanda

Not to derail which I'm known to do,  but is anyone multitasking and watching the US Open?


----------



## snowbear

Is that golf, tennis or volleyball?


----------



## JacaRanda

Squash


----------



## JacaRanda

Tennis in Lady L's neck of the woods.


----------



## snowbear

JacaRanda said:


> Squash


Oh - it's a cooking competition!  No, unfortunately.


----------



## JacaRanda

Looks like they are cooking. . Pretty humid.


----------



## limr

Not watching whatever sport it is. But I WILL be watching when college football kocks off later this week. Sooooo psyched!! I love my fall football Saturdays


----------



## snowbear

JacaRanda said:


> Tennis in Lady L's neck of the woods.


Nah - if she's not playin', I ain't watchin'.


----------



## JacaRanda

snowbear said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tennis in Lady L's neck of the woods.
> 
> 
> 
> Nah - if she's not playin', I ain't watchin'.
Click to expand...

Would love to see her volleying with a cup of coffee in her hand in those 8.5 sized sneakers.


----------



## snowbear

and holding kitties.


----------



## JacaRanda

snowbear said:


> and holding kitties.


I know right.


----------



## snowbear

MLW is working the Watch Office again, tonight.  And tomorrow night, and Wednesday night.  The rumor is OT opportunities for that office are going to stop so she's signed up for all she can.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tennis in Lady L's neck of the woods.
> 
> 
> 
> Nah - if she's not playin', I ain't watchin'.
Click to expand...




JacaRanda said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tennis in Lady L's neck of the woods.
> 
> 
> 
> Nah - if she's not playin', I ain't watchin'.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Would love to see her volleying with a cup of coffee in her hand in those 8.5 sized sneakers.
Click to expand...




snowbear said:


> and holding kitties.





JacaRanda said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> and holding kitties.
> 
> 
> 
> I know right.
Click to expand...


For the record, I don't need all those things in my hands to be a hot mess on the tennis court. So yeah, you'd want to watch, but only in the way you can't take your eyes off a train wreck  I swear, ever racquet I've ever held must have had a huge hole right in the middle of it, and that damn ball went through it every time!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tennis in Lady L's neck of the woods.
> 
> 
> 
> Nah - if she's not playin', I ain't watchin'.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tennis in Lady L's neck of the woods.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nah - if she's not playin', I ain't watchin'.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Would love to see her volleying with a cup of coffee in her hand in those 8.5 sized sneakers.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> and holding kitties.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> and holding kitties.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I know right.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For the record, I don't need all those things in my hands to be a hot mess on the tennis court. So yeah, you'd want to watch, but only in the way you can't take your eyes off a train wreck  I swear, ever racquet I've ever held must have had a huge hole right in the middle of it, and that damn ball went through it every time!
Click to expand...


When I was a lot younger and a _whole_ lot thinner, I enjoyed racquetball (outside court, no back wall).  I got to where I could really put a spin the ball when I served - almost always scored a point.

Then I got old and fat.


----------



## snowbear

Good night, kiddies.  I'll stop by and play some more tomorrow.


----------



## astroNikon

hey the moon is bleeding ??!!


----------



## robbins.photo

astroNikon said:


> hey the moon is bleeding ??!!View attachment 107395


No.  It's not blood. It's sauce. Some idiot shot a bunch of enchiladas up there earlier, take out bag must have leaked.

Lol

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


----------



## astroNikon

robbins.photo said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> hey the moon is bleeding ??!!View attachment 107395
> 
> 
> 
> No.  It's not blood. It's sauce. Some idiot shot a bunch of enchiladas up there earlier, take out bag must have leaked.
> 
> Lol
> 
> Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

yeah the enchilada sauce must be floating around.  Who woulda' figured ?


----------



## mmaria

Gary A. said:


> me "... Don't eat".
> @ Marija- Anytime your blood pressure is low, just give me a call. I'll get it up to boiling in no time ... that's what others say.



haha It's a deal! 

Glad you're ready to help!


----------



## mmaria

morningafternoon!


----------



## snowbear

Afternoonmorning, Marija.


----------



## Designer

pixmedic said:


> Well.....
> In layman's terms..
> The pt self extubated themselves, dropping their 02 saturation and ETC02 levels forcing me to drop an OPA and administer 02 via a BVM at 100%02 until I could get them into the ER for RSI, reintubation and sedation.


That's what I would have done.   

IF I had your job, which I don't, thank The Maker.


----------



## limr

I would faint every single day if I had Pix's job. I don't do so well with the sight of bodily stuff.   I oddly do a lot better with my own injuries than with anyone else's. Of course, I've also never (*knock on wood!*) had any gaping wounds or broken bones, so who knows how I would do with anything worse than a bruise or a few cooking cuts 

Oh yeah and good morning, hosers! Good afternoon, Marija!

Classes don't start until next week, but everything is gearing up this week and I'm on campus every day except Friday (that's when I get to go see the vintage cars racing around Lime Rock )

Had my coffee at home already, but I still want more.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Had my coffee at home already, but I still want more.



Well, duh ...

Yeah, having mine now, from one of the coffee shops on the block, which means that shortly someone will have to throw a rope to me and pull me down.

Morning, hosers!


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> I would faint every single day if I had Pix's job.


I once was called to my neighbor's house to try to save her FIL.  I tried mouth-to-mouth but he was already dead.  Makes for a rough start to one's day.


----------



## pixmedic

limr said:


> I would faint every single day if I had Pix's job. I don't do so well with the sight of bodily stuff.   I oddly do a lot better with my own injuries than with anyone else's. Of course, I've also never (*knock on wood!*) had any gaping wounds or broken bones, so who knows how I would do with anything worse than a bruise or a few cooking cuts
> 
> Oh yeah and good morning, hosers! Good afternoon, Marija!
> 
> Classes don't start until next week, but everything is gearing up this week and I'm on campus every day except Friday (that's when I get to go see the vintage cars racing around Lime Rock )
> 
> Had my coffee at home already, but I still want more.



because I deal with a lot of vent and critical care patients going to and from ICU's, I wind up doing a _*lot*_ of suctioning of various fluids coming out of mouths, noses, trach's, stomas, chest tubes, billiary drains, rectal tubes, wound vac's, Foley catheters...and pretty much any other place a doctor can stick a tube in the human body. 

I do some of this..





and sometimes this...


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


> because I deal with a lot of vent and critical care patients going to and from ICU's, I wind up doing a _*lot*_ of suctioning of various fluids coming out of mouths, noses, trach's, stomas, chest tubes, billiary drains, rectal tubes, wound vac's, Foley catheters...and pretty much any other place a doctor can stick a tube in the human body.
> 
> I do some of this..
> 
> 
> and sometimes this...



Dude.. seriously.  George Clooney wasn't in either of those clips.  What a rip off.

Limr is going to be kicking your butt big time.. even with those tiny feet of hers.  Lol


----------



## pixmedic

robbins.photo said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> because I deal with a lot of vent and critical care patients going to and from ICU's, I wind up doing a _*lot*_ of suctioning of various fluids coming out of mouths, noses, trach's, stomas, chest tubes, billiary drains, rectal tubes, wound vac's, Foley catheters...and pretty much any other place a doctor can stick a tube in the human body.
> 
> I do some of this..
> 
> 
> and sometimes this...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dude.. seriously.  George Clooney wasn't in either of those clips.  What a rip off.
> 
> Limr is going to be kicking your butt big time.. even with those tiny feet of hers.  Lol
Click to expand...


nah, im sure she will find them both interesting and informative!


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dude.. seriously.  George Clooney wasn't in either of those clips.  What a rip off.
> 
> Limr is going to be kicking your butt big time.. even with those tiny feet of hers.  Lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> nah, im sure she will find them both interesting and informative!
Click to expand...


Ok, well when the minuscule feet of fury begin to fly, don't say I didn't warn you.

Lol


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers! I gotta admit, if I had Pix's job, I'd never be able to keep breakfast down. Ever.

Today is looking up. Started the day with more energy than I have in weeks. Cooper's first day of school is today, so that may have something to do with it.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Morning, hosers! I gotta admit, if I had Pix's job, I'd never be able to keep breakfast down. Ever.
> 
> Today is looking up. Started the day with more energy than I have in weeks. Cooper's first day of school is today, so that may have something to do with it.



Good to hear your feeling a bit better.


----------



## pixmedic

Pre coffee face


----------



## sm4him

HEY, Hosers!!  

If I had @pixmedic's job, a lot of people would either stay sick or get worse and die, because...well, because that whole "I wind up doing a _*lot*_ of suctioning of various fluids coming out of mouths, noses, trach's, stomas, chest tubes, billiary drains, rectal tubes, wound vac's, Foley catheters" thing?  Not just NO, but Oh, HAIL NO.  I ain't suctioning fluids from anybody's...ANY of that.


----------



## limr

I managed to watch the entire 31 seconds of the first video, but I could only make it through 11 seconds of the second. And that was less about the fluid and more about being able to imagine all too vividly what it must have feel like to have that tube going down my throat. 

Once again, I'm feeling a little pale


----------



## sm4him

Vacation is over. A friend of mine once said "If you aren't at least a little bit bitter about going back to work after vacation, you didn't do it right."
On that basis, I can say that I definitely did my vacation right! 

More on my vacation later, but first: I have to share the BEST photo I have seen all year, maybe longer than that even!  

 
THAT is my Mother. AT HOME, with her kitties, for the first time since Memorial Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She turned 89 last Thursday, and between the gall bladder surgery and then the intramural hematoma, we weren't sure that this day would ever come, but she is HOME.  She is one tough lady, I'll tell you that.
Of course, she'll have to have Home Health Care and the hematoma will still likely get her at some point, but this woman is not going down without a fight!


----------



## minicoop1985

So I tried to bid up a Yashica C TLR last night. Was like oh hell no, you're not getting that for $20. Looks like I won it at $20.50... oops.


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> Vacation is over. A friend of mine once said "If you aren't at least a little bit bitter about going back to work after vacation, you didn't do it right."
> On that basis, I can say that I definitely did my vacation right!
> 
> More on my vacation later, but first: I have to share the BEST photo I have seen all year, maybe longer than that even!
> 
> View attachment 107439
> THAT is my Mother. AT HOME, with her kitties, for the first time since Memorial Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> She turned 89 last Thursday, and between the gall bladder surgery and then the intramural hematoma, we weren't sure that this day would ever come, but she is HOME.  She is one tough lady, I'll tell you that.
> Of course, she'll have to have Home Health Care and the hematoma will still likely get her at some point, but this woman is not going down without a fight!


I think it's really cool how she shifted the cat into 'Park' just in time for the photo!


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Vacation is over. A friend of mine once said "If you aren't at least a little bit bitter about going back to work after vacation, you didn't do it right."
> On that basis, I can say that I definitely did my vacation right!
> 
> More on my vacation later, but first: I have to share the BEST photo I have seen all year, maybe longer than that even!
> 
> View attachment 107439
> THAT is my Mother. AT HOME, with her kitties, for the first time since Memorial Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> She turned 89 last Thursday, and between the gall bladder surgery and then the intramural hematoma, we weren't sure that this day would ever come, but she is HOME.  She is one tough lady, I'll tell you that.
> Of course, she'll have to have Home Health Care and the hematoma will still likely get her at some point, but this woman is not going down without a fight!
> 
> 
> 
> I think it's really cool how she shifted the cat into 'Park' just in time for the photo!
Click to expand...


It's a laudable skill, that's for certain.  Last time I tried it I nearly lost an eye.. lol


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Vacation is over. A friend of mine once said "If you aren't at least a little bit bitter about going back to work after vacation, you didn't do it right."
> On that basis, I can say that I definitely did my vacation right!
> 
> More on my vacation later, but first: I have to share the BEST photo I have seen all year, maybe longer than that even!
> 
> View attachment 107439
> THAT is my Mother. AT HOME, with her kitties, for the first time since Memorial Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> She turned 89 last Thursday, and between the gall bladder surgery and then the intramural hematoma, we weren't sure that this day would ever come, but she is HOME.  She is one tough lady, I'll tell you that.
> Of course, she'll have to have Home Health Care and the hematoma will still likely get her at some point, but this woman is not going down without a fight!
> 
> 
> 
> I think it's really cool how she shifted the cat into 'Park' just in time for the photo!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's a laudable skill, that's for certain.  Last time I tried it I nearly lost an eye.. lol
Click to expand...


That's because you kept trying to push the ignition button.


----------



## medic2230

minicoop1985 said:


> So I tried to bid up a Yashica C TLR last night. Was like oh hell no, you're not getting that for $20. Looks like I won it at $20.50... oops.



The last time I tried that I ended up spending $350 on a dive light.


----------



## medic2230

pixmedic said:


> because I deal with a lot of vent and critical care patients going to and from ICU's, I wind up doing a _*lot*_ of suctioning of various fluids coming out of mouths, noses, trach's, stomas, chest tubes, billiary drains, rectal tubes, wound vac's, Foley catheters...and pretty much any other place a doctor can stick a tube in the human body.
> 
> I do some of this..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> and sometimes this...




I always wanted a near empty milkshake when I did this so I could make the same sounds back to the pt.


----------



## limr

medic2230 said:


> I always wanted a near empty milkshake when I did this so I could make the same sounds back to the pt.



Warped!!


----------



## limr

Because it needs to be stuck in y'all's heads now, too.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Because it needs to be in y'all's heads now, too.



Wow.. that's going to be stuck there for a good long while now.. lol


----------



## medic2230

limr said:


> Because it needs to be stuck in y'all's heads now, too.



Don't recall hearing this when I was 5 in 1977.


----------



## limr

Hey, I was 6 in 1977! I might have heard it then. I am almost positive one of my siblings had some Blue Oyster Cult and I was already sneaking records from their rooms at a very young age.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey pixmedic, if you need an assistant I could lend a finger and eat a double cheeseburger at the same time. (The double cheeseburger would make me sicker than saving a life of some poor sucker that was worse off than me.)


----------



## astroNikon

anyone awake?  Or is it just me and the moon ?


----------



## snowbear

medic2230 said:


> . . . I was 5 in 1977.





limr said:


> Hey, I was 6 in 1977!


In 1977 I was, um, never mind.


----------



## snowbear

Good Morning, everyone!


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Good Morning, everyone!


morning Charlie!

afternoon!


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, Marija!


----------



## mmaria

just seen this ... it's nice

the best drug commercial


----------



## snowbear

The meteorologist said the number of days with a temperature over 90 F, this year, is double what it was last year, and tomorrow will be another one.  She was smiling when she said it.

I hate her.


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> just seen this ... it's nice
> 
> the best drug commercial



Nice.  Thank you.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> just seen this ... it's nice
> 
> the best drug commercial
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice.  Thank you.
Click to expand...

thank Kathy (she was on tpf), she posted it on facebook


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> just seen this ... it's nice
> 
> the best drug commercial
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice.  Thank you.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> thank Kathy (she was on tpf), she posted it on facebook
Click to expand...


Thank you, Kathy!


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Thank you, Kathy!



that's right!


----------



## snowbear

I don't think she (Kathy T) has ever posted in TCH.  I know she is very busy, but maybe we scare her a little.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> .. but maybe we scare her a little.


I think you're totally right!


----------



## limr

Kathy didn't seem like the type to scare too easily, though 

Morning Charlie! Afternoon Marija!

Three minutes...just three more minutes...longest three minutes ever...


----------



## astroNikon

G' Morning


----------



## limr

Okay, much better now. I have coffee and all is right with the world again.

The unfortunate side effect, however, is that now I have to get ready for work


----------



## mmaria

Dear people...

My hair is damaged because I was straightening it for a year.
Yes that hairdresser did it!!! It's her fault! Not mine and my desire to have straight hair and light head for a bit! (hair is much lighter when it's straight jsyk)
So...
I had a haircut yesterday.
And I'm curly again.
I have lots of hair on my head. 
It's not easy.
But... it will be natural and healthy again.

There... I said it!


----------



## snowbear

I am ready but MLW hasn't gotten home, yet.


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> Dear people...
> 
> My hair is damaged because I was straightening it for a year.
> Yes that hairdresser did it!!! It's her fault! Not mine and my desire to have straight hair and light head for a bit! (hair is much lighter when it's straight jsyk)
> So...
> I had a haircut yesterday.
> And I'm curly again.
> I have lots of hair on my head.
> It's not easy.
> But... it will be natural and healthy again.
> 
> There... I said it!


----------



## astroNikon

limr said:


> Okay, much better now. I have coffee and all is right with the world again.
> 
> The unfortunate side effect, however, is that now I have to get ready for work


I'm already at work.
No coffee needed.

I could use a nap though


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dear people...
> 
> My hair is damaged because I was straightening it for a year.
> Yes that hairdresser did it!!! It's her fault! Not mine and my desire to have straight hair and light head for a bit! (hair is much lighter when it's straight jsyk)
> So...
> I had a haircut yesterday.
> And I'm curly again.
> I have lots of hair on my head.
> It's not easy.
> But... it will be natural and healthy again.
> 
> There... I said it!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 107494
Click to expand...

I have intention to post a picture of me here, not a nice one though, looking beautifully and all.. prepare your self!


(but I don't have the courage to post it so, you'll have to wait while I find that courage and post it )


----------



## snowbear

I'm sure it will be fine.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers and Buenos Tardis Marija. We had four or five days of heatwave last week. It broke on Sunday. Nice to wake up to cool mornings and a hot cup of Joe. Hey LA is making a bid for the 2024 Olympics. Not that I care what happens in ten years ... but it is somewhat interesting. What actually was interesting was how LA really welcomed the Special Olympics that were hosted here In July. People really came out to support them and attendance at all the event was surprisingly high. The opening and closing ceremonies was at the Coliseum with the torch lighting and parade. The event was heavily carried by the local media and companies gave days off for their employees to attend and cheer the participants. It was remarkable how such a jaded city really open up and supported the event and athletics.


----------



## limr

astroNikon said:


> I'm already at work.
> *No coffee needed.*



I'm sorry, I don't understand that sentence. What language is that?


----------



## astroNikon

limr said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm already at work.
> *No coffee needed.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sorry, I don't understand that sentence. What language is that?
Click to expand...

ask a teacher !!  LMAO


----------



## medic2230

limr said:


> Okay, much better now. I have coffee and all is right with the world again.
> 
> The unfortunate side effect, however, is that now I have to get ready for work


----------



## medic2230

Morning everyone


----------



## medic2230

mmaria said:


> I have intention to post a picture of me here, not a nice one though, looking beautifully and all.. prepare your self!
> 
> 
> (but I don't have the courage to post it so, you'll have to wait while I find that courage and post it )



This needs to happen. We're burning daylight here.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm already at work.
> *No coffee needed.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sorry, I don't understand that sentence. What language is that?
Click to expand...

 Martian?  Venusuvian?


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm already at work.
> *No coffee needed.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sorry, I don't understand that sentence. What language is that?
Click to expand...


Some bizarre mutant tongue, to be certain.  Perhaps if we trade the savage some trinkets they'll give us some coffee in return?

Lol


----------



## minicoop1985

On cup number 1. Gonna be a long day-I'm actually awake now. Here's to hoping it doesn't FEEL like a long day. Gonna do some estate store shopping while the kid's in school, see if I can find any cool cameras like the $5 Leica I scored last time I was there.


----------



## medic2230

About to be on my third cup. Debating on whether I want to make a trip to the camera store to check out lenses.


----------



## astroNikon

I've drank a 16.9 ounce bottle of water.
Does that count ?


----------



## tirediron

medic2230 said:


> About to be on my third cup. Debating on whether I want to make a trip to the camera store to check out lenses.


 How is that even a question, much less a debate??????????


----------



## medic2230

tirediron said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> About to be on my third cup. Debating on whether I want to make a trip to the camera store to check out lenses.
> 
> 
> 
> How is that even a question, much less a debate??????????
Click to expand...


Well, it usually isn't but when you're talking $1800 with 9% tax it's a little less fun. May have to search the forums for a used one with no tax and cheaper. Of course they may have a different one used and then I'll blow the money I saved for the first one on the other one and still not have the one I really wanted.


----------



## robbins.photo

astroNikon said:


> I've drank a 16.9 ounce bottle of water.
> Does that count ?



Prepping for a pissing contest a bit early this morning are we?


----------



## sm4him

tirediron said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> About to be on my third cup. Debating on whether I want to make a trip to the camera store to check out lenses.
> 
> 
> 
> How is that even a question, much less a debate??????????
Click to expand...


Yeah, I was thinking that second sentence made just about as much sense as "coffee not needed."


----------



## medic2230

robbins.photo said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've drank a 16.9 ounce bottle of water.
> Does that count ?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Prepping for a pissing contest a bit early this morning are we?
Click to expand...


Maybe he's going for one of TPF medal's Traveler suggested.


----------



## sm4him

medic2230 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> About to be on my third cup. Debating on whether I want to make a trip to the camera store to check out lenses.
> 
> 
> 
> How is that even a question, much less a debate??????????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, it usually isn't but when you're talking $1800 with 9% tax it's a little less fun. May have to search the forums for a used one with no tax and cheaper. Of course they may have a different one used and then I'll blow the money I saved for the first one on the other one and still not have the one I really wanted.
Click to expand...


As long as we're talking about $1800 plus tax of YOUR money, rather than mine, that makes no difference to me whatsoever.


----------



## medic2230

sm4him said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> About to be on my third cup. Debating on whether I want to make a trip to the camera store to check out lenses.
> 
> 
> 
> How is that even a question, much less a debate??????????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, I was thinking that second sentence made just about as much sense as "coffee not needed."
Click to expand...


Well if I was closer to the shop in Atlanta there definitely wouldn't be any question.


----------



## robbins.photo

medic2230 said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've drank a 16.9 ounce bottle of water.
> Does that count ?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Prepping for a pissing contest a bit early this morning are we?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Maybe he's going for one of TPF medal's Traveler suggested.
Click to expand...


Could be.. that thread made me laugh pretty hard.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'd say try KEH or Adorama used or something but if you still have an actual camera store... well there is one here that's an in state chain and they're okay I guess... miss having a _real_ camera store.

I can't seem to get going on getting much done today. Maybe because it's only Wednesday?? lol need to get over the hump.


----------



## medic2230

vintagesnaps said:


> I'd say try KEH or Adorama used or something but if you still have an actual camera store... well there is one here that's an in state chain and they're okay I guess... miss having a _real_ camera store.
> 
> I can't seem to get going on getting much done today. Maybe because it's only Wednesday?? lol need to get over the hump.



Yup, a real live camera store here. The only one around here, it's a independent one and a Nikon and Canon authorized dealer. Nice friendly informative people working in it too. They even have a studio in the back of the store and a frame shop on one end.

It would be nice if KEH actually had a store front. They are only about an hour and twenty minutes away.


----------



## medic2230

tirediron said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> About to be on my third cup. Debating on whether I want to make a trip to the camera store to check out lenses.
> 
> 
> 
> How is that even a question, much less a debate??????????
Click to expand...


If I bought in Canada I could save a bundle though.


----------



## snerd

You zany hosers lol!! Grandson texted me this morning at 8:50am, wanted me to drive out to his house, which is 20 miles round trip, to pick up his cleats and a check in the back of his mom's jeep. Oh, and he needed this done within the hour. Yeah.................. that ain't happening!! Kid forgets "everything"! I thought I was bad, I don't hold a candle to him. Worries me sometimes. Anyhoo........... just got back from dropping them off at the school. It was lunchtime, so you can imagine the controlled chaos around me. 

On my second cup 'o joe as I type. What to do today?! Go snap a few? Go fly drone? Go sittin' on a barstool actin' like a damn fool?!


----------



## robbins.photo

snerd said:


> You zany hosers lol!! Grandson texted me this morning at 8:50am, wanted me to drive out to his house, which is 20 miles round trip, to pick up his cleats and a check in the back of his mom's jeep. Oh, and he needed this done within the hour. Yeah.................. that ain't happening!! Kid forgets "everything"! I thought I was bad, I don't hold a candle to him. Worries me sometimes. Anyhoo........... just got back from dropping them off at the school. It was lunchtime, so you can imagine the controlled chaos around me.
> 
> On my second cup 'o joe as I type. What to do today?! Go snap a few? Go fly drone? Go sittin' on a barstool actin' like a damn fool?!


I've always considered myself to be more "madcap" than "zany"...

Lol

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


----------



## sm4him

robbins.photo said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> You zany hosers lol!! Grandson texted me this morning at 8:50am, wanted me to drive out to his house, which is 20 miles round trip, to pick up his cleats and a check in the back of his mom's jeep. Oh, and he needed this done within the hour. Yeah.................. that ain't happening!! Kid forgets "everything"! I thought I was bad, I don't hold a candle to him. Worries me sometimes. Anyhoo........... just got back from dropping them off at the school. It was lunchtime, so you can imagine the controlled chaos around me.
> 
> On my second cup 'o joe as I type. What to do today?! Go snap a few? Go fly drone? Go sittin' on a barstool actin' like a damn fool?!
> 
> 
> 
> I've always considered myself to be more "madcap" than "zany"...
> 
> Lol
> 
> Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Interesting. Neither of those words is quite what *I* would have picked to describe you.

I was thinking more along the lines of "certifiable."


----------



## robbins.photo

sm4him said:


> Interesting. Neither of those words is quite what *I* would have picked to describe you.
> 
> I was thinking more along the lines of "certifiable."



Wait, I can get a certificate!  Woohoo!  

Lol


----------



## snerd

I'm thinking lunch. Hmmm........... Chinese I think.


----------



## otherprof

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tennis in Lady L's neck of the woods.
> 
> 
> 
> Nah - if she's not playin', I ain't watchin'.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tennis in Lady L's neck of the woods.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nah - if she's not playin', I ain't watchin'.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Would love to see her volleying with a cup of coffee in her hand in those 8.5 sized sneakers.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> and holding kitties.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> and holding kitties.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I know right.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For the record, I don't need all those things in my hands to be a hot mess on the tennis court. So yeah, you'd want to watch, but only in the way you can't take your eyes off a train wreck  I swear, ever racquet I've ever held must have had a huge hole right in the middle of it, and that damn ball went through it every time!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> When I was a lot younger and a _whole_ lot thinner, I enjoyed racquetball (outside court, no back wall).  I got to where I could really put a spin the ball when I served - almost always scored a point.
> 
> Then I got old and fat.
Click to expand...

Re: Old and Fat  
The Scottish philosopher, David Hume, made a lot of money from the publication of his History of England. (He made very little from his philosophical works.) When his publisher asked him to do an updated edition so they could all make a lot more money, David Hume declined, and explained why in this way: "I'm too old, too rich, to lazy and too fat."
It was a goal of mine to be able to say that in declining work ever since I was a freshman in college and learned about D.H. I'm almost there; just need a little more money.


----------



## JacaRanda

snerd said:


> You zany hosers lol!! Grandson texted me this morning at 8:50am, wanted me to drive out to his house, which is 20 miles round trip, to pick up his cleats and a check in the back of his mom's jeep. Oh, and he needed this done within the hour. Yeah.................. that ain't happening!! Kid forgets "everything"! I thought I was bad, I don't hold a candle to him. Worries me sometimes. Anyhoo........... just got back from dropping them off at the school. It was lunchtime, so you can imagine the controlled chaos around me.
> 
> On my second cup 'o joe as I type. What to do today?! Go snap a few? Go fly drone? Go sittin' on a barstool actin' like a damn fool?!


 
Make it a turkey and go for the trifacta!


----------



## limr

otherprof said:


> Re: Old and Fat
> The Scottish philosopher, David Hume, made a lot of money from the publication of his History of England. (*He made very little from his philosophical works.)*



Does that even need to be said? Pretty much a given, no?


----------



## minicoop1985

It's been nice having some time to myself. Alas, that time is nearly up and I must go fetch the child. Been an OK day so far, actually. Still kinda depressed, but since I had to get up an move around, I don't feel as crappy as usual.


----------



## snowbear

I had a map published by the news!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I had a map published by the news!



Woot!! Congrats, Charlie Bear!


----------



## medic2230

snowbear said:


> I had a map published by the news!



Congratulations!


----------



## snowbear

It's funny - they get a paper map and they tape it.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks.
About 0:21 - all 8 seconds of it.

Most Prince George's Sunday Liquor Requests Near D.C. Border

Yes, it's for the Liquor Board, not Fire/EMS Department - I get to freelance a little.


----------



## medic2230

snowbear said:


> It's funny - they get a paper map and they tape it.



Classy station. 



snowbear said:


> Thanks.
> About 0:21 - all 8 seconds of it.
> 
> Most Prince George's Sunday Liquor Requests Near D.C. Border
> 
> Yes, it's for the Liquor Board, not Fire/EMS Department - I get to freelance a little.



Are you Fire/EMS? Mapmaker?


----------



## snowbear

Technically I am a GIS intern.  I retired from PG County while working on a Geography degree.  I went to Fire/EMS to get some practical experience.

My main project has been building time-based run cards.  Had to learn from scratch - nobody seems to have done it.


----------



## medic2230

snowbear said:


> Technically I am a GIS intern.  I retired from PG County while working on a Geography degree.  I went to Fire/EMS to get some practical experience.
> 
> My main project has been building time-based run cards.  Had to learn from scratch - nobody seems to have done it.



I know where your coming from with nobody seems to have done it. We went to electronic PCR's in January and now the states says we have to leave a copy of it at the hospital within 24 hours. Apparently the software people never thought of that aspect of the scenario. S o now we fill out everything electronically then pull out a sheet of paper to fill out and leave for the hospital. Hmmm something is a little spɹɐʍʞɔɐq there.


----------



## snowbear

It's not difficult once you know the steps.  The problem has been that I had to figure out what the steps would be.  Some things work, others won't.  For example, the software will calculate the closest stations to a call (or an address).  The problem is, sometimes a building (more accurately, a mapped address point) is closer to a road it is not really on.  I had an apartment complex map out to three separate box areas (box defined as a unique set of first, second and third due stations).  When looked at the details of the routing, it placed the access point to a few buildings off one road.  The problem is, there's an 8-foot steel fence between that road and the buildings - not gonna work.  So  we had to "snap" the address points to the road center.


----------



## snowbear

I've got to tale MLW to work (last night for the week).  I'll be back late, so I'll just say "Goodnight" now.  Catch up with y'all at coffee time.


----------



## limr

'Night Charlie! See you in the morning


----------



## Gary A.

Back at the Bowl.




Pink Martini


----------



## Gary A.

With Doc Severinsen. Tons of entertainment.


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon-morning.

Got back from picking up MLW from her night shift.  Off to therapy in a bit, then back home.  We decided to take the day off (or  work from home).


----------



## oldhippy

Neighbor Jeff with his 98 pound watermelon. Coffee buds we need help with eatin this


----------



## waday

The wife and I saw _A Walk in the Woods_ yesterday. If you want a comedy with lots of cliched jokes, fat shaming/jokes, drunk jokes, and whatnot, go see it. It had its moments. If you read the book, you'll notice some differences. I think the biggest part that annoyed me in the movie was that they were on the trail for many miles, and their bodies/boots/gear showed essentially no signs of wear. That was a disappointment to me.


----------



## mmaria

oldhippy said:


> Neighbor Jeff with his 98 pound watermelon. Coffee buds we need help with eatin thisView attachment 107555


I'll help a bit


----------



## mmaria

waday said:


> The wife and I saw _A Walk in the Woods_ yesterday. If you want a comedy with lots of cliched jokes, fat shaming/jokes, drunk jokes, and whatnot, go see it. It had its moments. If you read the book, you'll notice some differences. I think the biggest part that annoyed me in the movie was that they were on the trail for many miles, and their bodies/boots/gear showed essentially no signs of wear. That was a disappointment to me.


thanks, won't watch it


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

I wasn't really interested in seeing that movie, but now I have even less interest. The book was good - Bryson is an entertaining writer while still presenting real information. I think it was a bad idea to begin with to make a movie out of the book.

Ed, I'll be down in an hour or so with a bib on! 

So I was really good about staying away from triggers but alas, the headache found me anyway  Hopefully it won't be too bad this time.


----------



## mmaria




----------



## KenC

limr said:


> So I was really good about staying away from triggers but alas, the headache found me anyway  Hopefully it won't be too bad this time.



One found me by the time I woke up.  Two Advil and a coffee so far and holding my own - we'll see how the day develops and how much people manage to aggravate me here at work.  Hope yours is on the way out.

Morning, hosers!


----------



## robbins.photo

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So I was really good about staying away from triggers but alas, the headache found me anyway  Hopefully it won't be too bad this time.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One found me by the time I woke up.  Two Advil and a coffee so far and holding my own - we'll see how the day develops and how much people manage to aggravate me here at work.  Hope yours is on the way out.
> 
> Morning, hosers!
Click to expand...


Painkillers and coffee.  Truly, the breakfast of champions.  Lol


----------



## sm4him

oldhippy said:


> Neighbor Jeff with his 98 pound watermelon. Coffee buds we need help with eatin thisView attachment 107555



I'm pretty close to you. I'll just leave work a few minutes early and be there before it gets dark. Save me a great big chunk of that melon!


----------



## sm4him

waday said:


> The wife and I saw _A Walk in the Woods_ yesterday. If you want a comedy with lots of cliched jokes, fat shaming/jokes, drunk jokes, and whatnot, go see it. It had its moments. If you read the book, you'll notice some differences. I think the biggest part that annoyed me in the movie was that they were on the trail for many miles, and their bodies/boots/gear showed essentially no signs of wear. That was a disappointment to me.





limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I wasn't really interested in seeing that movie, but now I have even less interest. The book was good - Bryson is an entertaining writer while still presenting real information. I think it was a bad idea to begin with to make a movie out of the book.
> 
> Ed, I'll be down in an hour or so with a bib on!
> 
> So I was really good about staying away from triggers but alas, the headache found me anyway  Hopefully it won't be too bad this time.



I thought about going to see it--but I ended up deciding to just re-read the book instead. I really like Redford, so that was the main attraction to me as far as seeing the movie. But I'm not much of a Nick Nolte fan (although I can definitely see him as Katz--he does blundering annoyance pretty well).  As I'm re-reading it, I keep thinking, how in the blazes would they make all this commentary--which is what really completes the book--anything that could translate to a movie?


----------



## robbins.photo

sm4him said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> The wife and I saw _A Walk in the Woods_ yesterday. If you want a comedy with lots of cliched jokes, fat shaming/jokes, drunk jokes, and whatnot, go see it. It had its moments. If you read the book, you'll notice some differences. I think the biggest part that annoyed me in the movie was that they were on the trail for many miles, and their bodies/boots/gear showed essentially no signs of wear. That was a disappointment to me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I wasn't really interested in seeing that movie, but now I have even less interest. The book was good - Bryson is an entertaining writer while still presenting real information. I think it was a bad idea to begin with to make a movie out of the book.
> 
> Ed, I'll be down in an hour or so with a bib on!
> 
> So I was really good about staying away from triggers but alas, the headache found me anyway  Hopefully it won't be too bad this time.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I thought about going to see it--but I ended up deciding to just re-read the book instead. I really like Redford, so that was the main attraction to me as far as seeing the movie. But I'm not much of a Nick Nolte fan (although I can definitely see him as Katz--he does blundering annoyance pretty well).  As I'm re-reading it, I keep thinking, how in the blazes would they make all this commentary--which is what really completes the book--anything that could translate to a movie?
Click to expand...


I haven't seen a whole lot of movies based on books where the movie was actually better than the book.

Well, comic books maybe.. but not actual books.  Lol


----------



## Designer

waday said:


> .. lots of cliched jokes, fat shaming/jokes, drunk jokes, ..


Thank you for reinforcing my decision to avoid movies.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I wasn't really interested in seeing that movie, but now I have even less interest. The book was good - Bryson is an entertaining writer while still presenting real information. I think it was a bad idea to begin with to make a movie out of the book.





sm4him said:


> I thought about going to see it--but I ended up deciding to just re-read the book instead. I really like Redford, so that was the main attraction to me as far as seeing the movie. But I'm not much of a Nick Nolte fan (although I can definitely see him as Katz--he does blundering annoyance pretty well).  As I'm re-reading it, I keep thinking, how in the blazes would they make all this commentary--which is what really completes the book--anything that could translate to a movie?



Admittedly, I read the book a long time ago, so I forgot a lot of the nuances. My wife started reading the book, so she's helped remind me of the differences. If you want it to be entertaining, just reread the book imagining Redford and Nolte in the parts. I was actually excited when I heard they made a movie, as I was hoping it'd be entertaining even if they took some 'artistic liberties'.

One difference that annoyed me more than it should have: In the book. when Katz is trying to get on the top bunk in the cabin, he's struggling, right? In the movie, he gets up fine, but then breaks through and falls on top of Bryson. No imagination whatsoever in that joke--pure cliche.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> I think it was a bad idea to begin with to make a movie out of the book.


They don't do it for us, they do it for themselves.


----------



## sm4him

robbins.photo said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> The wife and I saw _A Walk in the Woods_ yesterday. If you want a comedy with lots of cliched jokes, fat shaming/jokes, drunk jokes, and whatnot, go see it. It had its moments. If you read the book, you'll notice some differences. I think the biggest part that annoyed me in the movie was that they were on the trail for many miles, and their bodies/boots/gear showed essentially no signs of wear. That was a disappointment to me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I wasn't really interested in seeing that movie, but now I have even less interest. The book was good - Bryson is an entertaining writer while still presenting real information. I think it was a bad idea to begin with to make a movie out of the book.
> 
> Ed, I'll be down in an hour or so with a bib on!
> 
> So I was really good about staying away from triggers but alas, the headache found me anyway  Hopefully it won't be too bad this time.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I thought about going to see it--but I ended up deciding to just re-read the book instead. I really like Redford, so that was the main attraction to me as far as seeing the movie. But I'm not much of a Nick Nolte fan (although I can definitely see him as Katz--he does blundering annoyance pretty well).  As I'm re-reading it, I keep thinking, how in the blazes would they make all this commentary--which is what really completes the book--anything that could translate to a movie?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I haven't seen a whole lot of movies based on books where the movie was actually better than the book.
> 
> Well, comic books maybe.. but not actual books.  Lol
Click to expand...


I don't know that I've EVER seen a movie that was BETTER than the book (of course, that's based on books I actually liked, since I don't like the book, I probably won't go see the movie anyway). I have seen maybe one or two movies, ever, that I felt came very close to being as good as the book. Most of the time, however--the more I like the book, the more disappointed I'm likely to be by the movie.


----------



## sm4him

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wasn't really interested in seeing that movie, but now I have even less interest. The book was good - Bryson is an entertaining writer while still presenting real information. I think it was a bad idea to begin with to make a movie out of the book.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I thought about going to see it--but I ended up deciding to just re-read the book instead. I really like Redford, so that was the main attraction to me as far as seeing the movie. But I'm not much of a Nick Nolte fan (although I can definitely see him as Katz--he does blundering annoyance pretty well).  As I'm re-reading it, I keep thinking, how in the blazes would they make all this commentary--which is what really completes the book--anything that could translate to a movie?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Admittedly, I read the book a long time ago, so I forgot a lot of the nuances. My wife started reading the book, so she's helped remind me of the differences. If you want it to be entertaining, just reread the book imagining Redford and Nolte in the parts. I was actually excited when I heard they made a movie, as I was hoping it'd be entertaining even if they took some 'artistic liberties'.
> 
> One difference that annoyed me more than it should have: In the book. when Katz is trying to get on the top bunk in the cabin, he's struggling, right? In the movie, he gets up fine, but then breaks through and falls on top of Bryson. No imagination whatsoever in that joke--pure cliche.
Click to expand...


In the book, it wouldn't even have been Bryson he fell on top of! That was part of what made his struggle to the top and then the thud and "crack" as he hit the bunk bed, so hilarious, was imagining the look on this complete stranger's face as he feared this bungling bozo was about to come through the bed and land on him.


----------



## robbins.photo

sm4him said:


> I don't know that I've EVER seen a movie that was BETTER than the book (of course, that's based on books I actually liked, since I don't like the book, I probably won't go see the movie anyway). I have seen maybe one or two movies, ever, that I felt came very close to being as good as the book. Most of the time, however--the more I like the book, the more disappointed I'm likely to be by the movie.



I can only think of a very few really.  Salem's Lot.. the original 1979 version, which I'm not sure qualifies since technically it was a TV miniseries as I recall, but the "movie" version was first rate and I actually enjoyed it better than the book.  The remake of course stunk on ice.

The Hunt for Red October, the character of Captain Ramius as played by Connery came of so much better in the movie version than in the book version, really added a lot of dimension and depth to the character.

The only other that comes to mind would be Shawshank Redemption, but not sure if that counts either since it was based on a short story rather than a whole book, and I'm not sure if the movie version is really "better" persee, I'd rate them about equal.


----------



## limr

I thought the Lord of the Rings movies did an excellent job of interpreting the books into film. I still like the books better, but the movies are excellent.
(Edit: I did an excellent job of overusing the word excellent. I think it's excellent when I don't proofread.   And now I have Bill and Ted's voices stuck in my head. Excellent.)

I remember saying this in some thread many moons ago, but I also thought that _Planet of the Apes_ was possibly better than the book for no other reason than the ending. I'm talking about the Charlton Heston version, not the friggin' Marky Mark remake. The film changed the ending of the book: instead of going back to Earth and finding that it too had been taken over by the apes, Charlton Heston finds the Statue of Liberty on the beach and realizes he's been on Earth the whole time. I think that was just a brilliant twist that made for a far better ending than the book's version. Classic O.Henry literary style in movie form.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> I thought the Lord of the Rings movies did an excellent job of interpreting the books into film. I still like the books better, but the movies are excellent.
> 
> I remember saying this in some thread many moons ago, but I also thought that _Planet of the Apes_ was possibly better than the book for no other reason than the ending. I'm talking about the Charlton Heston version, not the friggin' Marky Mark remake. The film changed the ending of the book: instead of going back to Earth and finding that it too had been taken over by the apes, Charlton Heston finds the Statue of Liberty on the beach and realizes he's been on Earth the whole time. I think that was just a brilliant twist that made for a far better ending than the book's version. Classic O.Henry literary style in movie form.



Yes, LOTR is one of the very few I had in mind. Even though there were the typical things left out, or changes made, the overall "interpretation" of the books was outstanding. I, too, like the books better (they are on my Top 5 Favorite of all time list), but on the other hand, I like that I can watch the movies in an evening or two.
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was another movie that did an excellent job of giving a good interpretation of the book (which is also on my Top 5 list).

The single WORST book-to-movie adaptation, for me, was The Shining. That movie really p*ssed me off, it was so far off the mark. The Shining was one of my favorite King novels, and as far as I'm concerned, that movie didn't even deserve the same name.
I can see how it would be a really good movie, if I just hadn't already read the book. For about a decade after that movie came out, I just steadfastly *refused* to go see a movie if I'd already read the book.  I truly think it was the beginning of the demise of movie-watching for me.
These days, I rarely ever go see a movie--the last time I went to a movie, was The Butler, and that was because my mom wanted to see it.  And I don't watch them much on Netflix, etc either--I'd mostly just rather spend my time reading a book.

In fact, I've seen trailers for movies that sounded really good, but my response is to go read the book. That was the case for Unbroken and The Gone Girl; both were really good reads that I would have missed if they hadn't been made into movies, but I've never actually seen either movie.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> I thought the Lord of the Rings movies did an excellent job of interpreting the books into film. I still like the books better, but the movies are excellent.
> 
> I remember saying this in some thread many moons ago, but I also thought that _Planet of the Apes_ was possibly better than the book for no other reason than the ending. I'm talking about the Charlton Heston version, not the friggin' Marky Mark remake. The film changed the ending of the book: instead of going back to Earth and finding that it too had been taken over by the apes, Charlton Heston finds the Statue of Liberty on the beach and realizes he's been on Earth the whole time. I think that was just a brilliant twist that made for a far better ending than the book's version. Classic O.Henry literary style in movie form.



I don't think I ever read the Planet of the Ape books, I did enjoy the movies - despite the fact that the screenplays seem to have been written by Gorillaphobes.. lol

Like you I think they did a spectacular job with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, though I can't really rate them as better than the books, it would have to be a pretty close tie though.  One thing I did get from the movies that I didn't get from the books is a little better understanding of the character of Golum.  Part of that might have been that his multiple personality disorder was just more evident in the movie version, or it may have been that when I read the books I was fairly young, whereas I saw the movies as an adult so it might have just been that I had a better understanding myself of things like that when I watched the movies.


----------



## sm4him

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I thought the Lord of the Rings movies did an excellent job of interpreting the books into film. I still like the books better, but the movies are excellent.
> 
> I remember saying this in some thread many moons ago, but I also thought that _Planet of the Apes_ was possibly better than the book for no other reason than the ending. I'm talking about the Charlton Heston version, not the friggin' Marky Mark remake. The film changed the ending of the book: instead of going back to Earth and finding that it too had been taken over by the apes, Charlton Heston finds the Statue of Liberty on the beach and realizes he's been on Earth the whole time. I think that was just a brilliant twist that made for a far better ending than the book's version. Classic O.Henry literary style in movie form.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think I ever read the Planet of the Ape books, I did enjoy the movies - despite the fact that the screenplays seem to have been written by Gorillaphobes.. lol
> 
> Like you I think they did a spectacular job with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, though I can't really rate them as better than the books, it would have to be a pretty close tie though.  One thing I did get from the movies that I didn't get from the books is a little better understanding of the character of Golum.  Part of that might have been that his multiple personality disorder was just more evident in the movie version, or it may have been that when I read the books I was fairly young, whereas I saw the movies as an adult so it might have just been that I had a better understanding myself of things like that when I watched the movies.
Click to expand...


Oh yeah, I forgot to add a true confession to my post:
I have never read the Planet of the Apes books. I have also never seen the Planet of the Apes movie, original or remake.


----------



## robbins.photo

sm4him said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I thought the Lord of the Rings movies did an excellent job of interpreting the books into film. I still like the books better, but the movies are excellent.
> 
> I remember saying this in some thread many moons ago, but I also thought that _Planet of the Apes_ was possibly better than the book for no other reason than the ending. I'm talking about the Charlton Heston version, not the friggin' Marky Mark remake. The film changed the ending of the book: instead of going back to Earth and finding that it too had been taken over by the apes, Charlton Heston finds the Statue of Liberty on the beach and realizes he's been on Earth the whole time. I think that was just a brilliant twist that made for a far better ending than the book's version. Classic O.Henry literary style in movie form.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think I ever read the Planet of the Ape books, I did enjoy the movies - despite the fact that the screenplays seem to have been written by Gorillaphobes.. lol
> 
> Like you I think they did a spectacular job with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, though I can't really rate them as better than the books, it would have to be a pretty close tie though.  One thing I did get from the movies that I didn't get from the books is a little better understanding of the character of Golum.  Part of that might have been that his multiple personality disorder was just more evident in the movie version, or it may have been that when I read the books I was fairly young, whereas I saw the movies as an adult so it might have just been that I had a better understanding myself of things like that when I watched the movies.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh yeah, I forgot to add a true confession to my post:
> I have never read the Planet of the Apes books. I have also never seen the Planet of the Apes movie, original or remake.
Click to expand...

The original is worth watching, if nothing   else it explains the ending for Spaceballs.

The marky Mark remakes, eh.  Let's just say I liked it better when he was pretending to be a rap star then when he decided to pretend to be an actor.

Yikes

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


----------



## otherprof

robbins.photo said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> The wife and I saw _A Walk in the Woods_ yesterday. If you want a comedy with lots of cliched jokes, fat shaming/jokes, drunk jokes, and whatnot, go see it. It had its moments. If you read the book, you'll notice some differences. I think the biggest part that annoyed me in the movie was that they were on the trail for many miles, and their bodies/boots/gear showed essentially no signs of wear. That was a disappointment to me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I wasn't really interested in seeing that movie, but now I have even less interest. The book was good - Bryson is an entertaining writer while still presenting real information. I think it was a bad idea to begin with to make a movie out of the book.
> 
> Ed, I'll be down in an hour or so with a bib on!
> 
> So I was really good about staying away from triggers but alas, the headache found me anyway  Hopefully it won't be too bad this time.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I thought about going to see it--but I ended up deciding to just re-read the book instead. I really like Redford, so that was the main attraction to me as far as seeing the movie. But I'm not much of a Nick Nolte fan (although I can definitely see him as Katz--he does blundering annoyance pretty well).  As I'm re-reading it, I keep thinking, how in the blazes would they make all this commentary--which is what really completes the book--anything that could translate to a movie?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I haven't seen a whole lot of movies based on books where the movie was actually better than the book.
> 
> Well, comic books maybe.. but not actual books.  Lol
Click to expand...

I agree, in general, that the book is better than the movie, BUT one counterexample is The Godfather. I thought the movie was wonderful, but the book was almost unreadable. Whoever first saw that movie in that book was a creative genius.  BTW, on a photography note, some of the footage of the Don's daughter's wedding was taken from actual movies shot at mafia weddings. I could tell you how I know, but I'd have to kill you.


----------



## robbins.photo

otherprof said:


> I agree, in general, that the book is better than the movie, BUT one counterexample is The Godfather. I thought the movie was wonderful, but the book was almost unreadable. Whoever first saw that movie in that book was a creative genius.  BTW, on a photography note, some of the footage of the Don's daughter's wedding was taken from actual movies shot at mafia weddings. I could tell you how I know, but I'd have to kill you.



Ok, well I know I'm probably in the minority on this one, but honestly I never really liked the Godfather movies.  Godfather I is ok, up to about the point where Marlon Brando goes down.  After that, well to be honest it's sort of a snooze fest for me.  I didn't really get into the rest of the characters, they just really weren't all that interesting to me at all.  I generally make it about half way into the movie before falling asleep.  The book I've never read, so no way I can compare them.


----------



## limr

I've never seen any of the Godfather movies.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> I've never seen any of the Godfather movies.


I hadn't either until a Film Appreciation class - it was a themed class, "Heroes & Villains," and the first Godfather film was selected for the fun of writing a paper with an argument on which type was Michael Corleone.    

The first film was the best, IMO.    I really enjoyed the second one, the third wasn't as great but still watchable and tied the series up nicely.   

Never been much of a Pacino fan, but he really was sterling in that role.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> I've never seen any of the Godfather movies.



I have, Part 1 like I said I can get through about half of it, then I'm out like a light.  Part 2 is too much like Tale of Two Cities for me, your in London, your in Paris, your in London, your in Paris - your in the past, your in the future.. ugh.  Hate that.  Part 3 was like fingernails on a chalkboard.

So yup, not really a fan, never did really understand why the movie was supposedly so iconic.  Brando did a great job with his part, but the rest. eh.. not so much.  Not for me at any rate.  But hey, a lot of folks seem to love that movie.


----------



## snerd

My fav didn't have a book. And it wasn't a movie.


----------



## limr

On another subject, wish me luck, my hosers! I have an interview in just over an hour. It's another part-time admin job on campus, but it would be for a different department, almost $10 more per hour than I'm making at my current part-time admin job, and I'd be able to work more hours. I *think* I have a good shot at it, but academia is funny that way. I still can't tell if I have a real chance or if they already know who they want to give the job to but are just giving me a courtesy interview because I already work here. I guess I'll know soon (not necessarily today but soon enough.)


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> On another subject, wish me luck, my hosers! I have an interview in just over an hour. It's another part-time admin job on campus, but it would be for a different department, almost $10 more per hour than I'm making at my current part-time admin job, and I'd be able to work more hours. I *think* I have a good shot at it, but academia is funny that way. I still can't tell if I have a real chance or if they already know who they want to give the job to but are just giving me a courtesy interview because I already work here. I guess I'll know soon (not necessarily today but soon enough.)



Luck?!? You don't need me to wish you any "luck," because you already have talent, wit and personality. There's only two possible scenarios that might mean you don't get the job:
1. As you mentioned, they already have someone in mind, and they are just going through the motions.
2. They somehow fail to see your talent and intelligence, and don't recognize what a tremendous asset you would be to them. And really, why would you WANT to work for someone who doesn't recognize that?


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> On another subject, wish me luck, my hosers! I have an interview in just over an hour. It's another part-time admin job on campus, but it would be for a different department, almost $10 more per hour than I'm making at my current part-time admin job, and I'd be able to work more hours. I *think* I have a good shot at it, but academia is funny that way. I still can't tell if I have a real chance or if they already know who they want to give the job to but are just giving me a courtesy interview because I already work here. I guess I'll know soon (not necessarily today but soon enough.)



I'll keep my eyes crossed and my T's dotted for you.  Should work great for getting a job in higher education.. lol


----------



## medic2230

mmaria said:


>



Every day I work it's my Monday and my Friday. Then I have a weekend.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Luck?!? You don't need me to wish you any "luck," because you already have talent, wit and personality. There's only two possible scenarios that might mean you don't get the job:
> 1. As you mentioned, they already have someone in mind, and they are just going through the motions.
> 2. They somehow fail to see your talent and intelligence, and don't recognize what a tremendous asset you would be to them. And really, why would you WANT to work for someone who doesn't recognize that?



I swear, this made me kinda teary-eyed! Thank you 



robbins.photo said:


> I'll keep my eyes crossed and my T's dotted for you.  Should work great for getting a job in higher education.. lol



It's absolutely the kind of randomness that higher ed is looking for 

Well, I think the interview went very well. One way or another, I'll know by next week. There were a few things I hadn't realized about the job and when I learned about them, I wanted the job even more. That, plus the fact that the interview went well means that I now have to try really really hard not to get my hopes up, because doing so is just a dangerous thing to do around here. I've got the burn scars to prove it! 

Luckily I'll have plenty to do in the meantime to take my mind off of it. I'll be hitting the ground running. Tuesday is our first day of classes and I've got all three of mine on that first day. Two classes are back-to-back in a block from 10-1, then I have a break, and I have my third class from 2-3:15. Repeat on Thursday.


----------



## Derrel

Bernard Malamud's 1952 novel The Natural was so compelling that in 1985 I ended up reading it overnight, straight through...I just could not put the book down! The movie based on the book, starring Robert Redford, does a horrible disservice to the book. When I saw the movie on video a couple of years after having read the book, I was crushed by how much it sucked.


----------



## limr

Oh, and I saved a turtle on my way to work this morning! He (or she) was a medium-sized box turtle and was sitting right on the double yellow line. I pulled over and picked him up to bring him to the side of the road he was facing in. As soon as I did, he tucked himself in, of course, but then very briefly peeked his head out long enough to let out a quick hiss and then he tucked it back into his shell. Once I put him on the ground heading downhill, his little legs shot out and he started booking down the hill.

I love a turtle


----------



## medic2230

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Luck?!? You don't need me to wish you any "luck," because you already have talent, wit and personality. There's only two possible scenarios that might mean you don't get the job:
> 1. As you mentioned, they already have someone in mind, and they are just going through the motions.
> 2. They somehow fail to see your talent and intelligence, and don't recognize what a tremendous asset you would be to them. And really, why would you WANT to work for someone who doesn't recognize that?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I swear, this made me kinda teary-eyed! Thank you
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'll keep my eyes crossed and my T's dotted for you.  Should work great for getting a job in higher education.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's absolutely the kind of randomness that higher ed is looking for
> 
> Well, I think the interview went very well. One way or another, I'll know by next week. There were a few things I hadn't realized about the job and when I learned about them, I wanted the job even more. That, plus the fact that the interview went well means that I now have to try really really hard not to get my hopes up, because doing so is just a dangerous thing to do around here. I've got the burn scars to prove it!
> 
> Luckily I'll have plenty to do in the meantime to take my mind off of it. I'll be hitting the ground running. Tuesday is our first day of classes and I've got all three of mine on that first day. Two classes are back-to-back in a block from 10-1, then I have a break, and I have my third class from 2-3:15. Repeat on Thursday.
Click to expand...


Didn't make it on here in time for the wish of luck on the interview so best of luck on getting the job!


----------



## limr

Thanks!


----------



## snowbear

Fingers crossed, Lenny.


----------



## snowbear

Playing by the rules:

Lenny gets the _Love a Turtle_ award for the day.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Playing by the rules:
> 
> Lenny gets the _Love a Turtle_ award for the day.



Oh my god, I IZ DED! Dead from teh cutes!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## sm4him

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 107572



Where's the "adorable" icon?


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 107572



I was revived and then killed again from the cute!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardis Coffee Hosers. Hey Leo, I also wish you well on the job prospect. Next time you apply for a job at the same place you're working (campus/district/et al) ... call the person who is vacating the job, (or equal), and ask them to tell you about the job. It gives you a leg up for your interview and it impresses the people(s) who are involved with the job you seek.

PS- If you don't know Pink Martini, check them out I think you would like them.

G


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Playing by the rules:
> 
> Lenny gets the _Love a Turtle_ award for the day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh my god, I IZ DED! Dead from teh cutes!
Click to expand...


Next, on CSI TPF

"Wow.. look at the facial expression.  That's just spooky.  Any idea on cause of death?"

"Yes.  I can tell you exactly what killed her.  Adorable Overload.  This poor woman has been cutsied to death".

"Egads.  How does something like that happen?"

"Well, my guess is someone sent her that damn kitty hugging a turtle picture.  Interpol has been trying to track it down and have it removed from the internet for years.. but every so often somebody sends it as an email attachment or posts it to a forum, and bam. "

We will return to CSI TPF after this brief commercial interruption..


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardis Coffee Hosers. Hey Leo, I also wish you well on the job prospect. Next time you apply for a job at the same place you're working (campus/district/et al) ... call the person who is vacating the job, (or equal), and ask them to tell you about the job. It gives you a leg up for your interview and it impresses the people(s) who are involved with the job you seek.
> 
> PS- If you don't know Pink Martini, check them out I think you would like them.
> 
> G



That's a good idea, though in this case it wasn't possible because it's a brand new position. I would get to define the role.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Oh, and I saved a turtle on my way to work this morning! He (or she) was a medium-sized box turtle and was sitting right on the double yellow line. I pulled over and picked him up to bring him to the side of the road he was facing in. As soon as I did, he tucked himself in, of course, but then very briefly peeked his head out long enough to let out a quick hiss and then he tucked it back into his shell. Once I put him on the ground heading downhill, his little legs shot out and he started booking down the hill.
> 
> I love a turtle



I do this whenever I come across them like that.   They're never grateful, which makes me love them even more.    

The last time I did it, I had come across a large one who was in such a terrible place in the middle of a busy street that I simply braked, popped on the flashers, and got out to perform the deed.   I was certain that horns would be honking and middle fingers would be positioned my way, but instead I glanced around and saw nothing but smiles all around.   Everyone seemed to know and appreciate exactly what I was doing.

That was an extra-special save.        Seems a lot of people love a turtle!


----------



## sm4him

What a wonderful, wonderful night!!!!!  It's the most wonderful time of the year!
College football has started!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am sitting here, doing my once-a-year "ridiculous amount of effort" UT Volunteers nails and going back and forth between the S. Carolina v. N. Carolina game and the Vandy v. WKU game. I am just blissfully happy...


----------



## snowbear

Time for a Haiku.  WARNING: I am not a writer nor a poet.

I see the falcon
Focusing but he flies off
Jammin’ S.O.B.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Tardis Coffee Hosers. Hey Leo, I also wish you well on the job prospect. Next time you apply for a job at the same place you're working (campus/district/et al) ... call the person who is vacating the job, (or equal), and ask them to tell you about the job. It gives you a leg up for your interview and it impresses the people(s) who are involved with the job you seek.
> 
> PS- If you don't know Pink Martini, check them out I think you would like them.
> 
> G
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's a good idea, though in this case it wasn't possible because it's a brand new position. I would get to define the role.
Click to expand...

Cool!!   No wonder you're so interested.    Good luck!

@Gary, that really is an excellent idea - I actually fielded a call like this once and the person did get the gig (healthcare management).    It works!


----------



## robbins.photo

Most of the turtles around here are of the snapping variety.  Heavily armored, if you hit them with a car you generally just annoy them.  Try to pick them up and you'll most likely lose a limb.

But they are cute.  Well as cute as anything that prehistoric can get I guess.. lol


----------



## pixmedic

Who needs turtles when you have fuzzy slinkies?


----------



## snowbear

Awwwww


----------



## Derrel

Gary A. said:
			
		

> Buenas Tard*is* Coffee Hosers.



Spanish language meets Dr. Who! 

I was glad to see you had adopted Buen*a*s Di*a*s a few weeks back.


----------



## Gary A.

When I'm tired I make mistakes. Good Morning = Buenos Dias, Good Afternoon = Buenas Tardes.


----------



## minicoop1985

Hola, hosers. Been a good day for once. Got both of my TLRs up and running, fired a roll through one, getting the second ready for film (having a minor shutter lag on the C), and avoided the football game successfully.

As for turtles, I miss my African Sidenecked. She looked so stupidly happy all the time. Was a good pet, but she up and died on us at random.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> When I'm tired I make mistakes. Good Morning = Buenos Dias, Good Afternoon = Buenas Tardes.



That's cool, I liked the Dr. Who version better.. lol


----------



## mmaria

@limr


----------



## oldhippy

Good morning Caffeinated One's.  Here's my get him off the road from yesterday



,


----------



## mmaria

oldhippy said:


> Good morning Caffeinated One's.  Here's my get him off the road from yesterdayView attachment 107595
> 
> ,


aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww


----------



## mmaria

morningafternoon people!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  I have to be in another stupid pointless meeting in a little while, but at least I get to leave early today.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The good news of the day is my wine shipment from the Russian River Vineyard has shipped and will arrive on Tuesday. The bad news is that today isn't Tuesday.  Yesterday I had made a wine run to Costco ... so I will be a bit overstocked ... so let's have a wine tasting party at Gary's to celebrate the 2015 College Football Season.


----------



## otherprof

sm4him said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I thought the Lord of the Rings movies did an excellent job of interpreting the books into film. I still like the books better, but the movies are excellent.
> 
> I remember saying this in some thread many moons ago, but I also thought that _Planet of the Apes_ was possibly better than the book for no other reason than the ending. I'm talking about the Charlton Heston version, not the friggin' Marky Mark remake. The film changed the ending of the book: instead of going back to Earth and finding that it too had been taken over by the apes, Charlton Heston finds the Statue of Liberty on the beach and realizes he's been on Earth the whole time. I think that was just a brilliant twist that made for a far better ending than the book's version. Classic O.Henry literary style in movie form.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think I ever read the Planet of the Ape books, I did enjoy the movies - despite the fact that the screenplays seem to have been written by Gorillaphobes.. lol
> 
> Like you I think they did a spectacular job with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, though I can't really rate them as better than the books, it would have to be a pretty close tie though.  One thing I did get from the movies that I didn't get from the books is a little better understanding of the character of Golum.  Part of that might have been that his multiple personality disorder was just more evident in the movie version, or it may have been that when I read the books I was fairly young, whereas I saw the movies as an adult so it might have just been that I had a better understanding myself of things like that when I watched the movies.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh yeah, I forgot to add a true confession to my post:
> I have never read the Planet of the Apes books. I have also never seen the Planet of the Apes movie, original or remake.
Click to expand...

But have you ever visited Washington D.C.? The movies are better.


----------



## robbins.photo

otherprof said:


> But have you ever visited Washington D.C.? The movies are better.



Well in the movies the guy has to fight for his survival while being beset by thugs.  So ya, pretty much any Wednesday on the Metro.


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  I have to be in another stupid pointless meeting in a little while, but at least I get to leave early today.



Hey, Ken!! Today is the start of the long holiday weekend that you thought was LAST weekend!!  You've waited a LONG time for this holiday!


----------



## sm4him

otherprof said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I thought the Lord of the Rings movies did an excellent job of interpreting the books into film. I still like the books better, but the movies are excellent.
> 
> I remember saying this in some thread many moons ago, but I also thought that _Planet of the Apes_ was possibly better than the book for no other reason than the ending. I'm talking about the Charlton Heston version, not the friggin' Marky Mark remake. The film changed the ending of the book: instead of going back to Earth and finding that it too had been taken over by the apes, Charlton Heston finds the Statue of Liberty on the beach and realizes he's been on Earth the whole time. I think that was just a brilliant twist that made for a far better ending than the book's version. Classic O.Henry literary style in movie form.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think I ever read the Planet of the Ape books, I did enjoy the movies - despite the fact that the screenplays seem to have been written by Gorillaphobes.. lol
> 
> Like you I think they did a spectacular job with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, though I can't really rate them as better than the books, it would have to be a pretty close tie though.  One thing I did get from the movies that I didn't get from the books is a little better understanding of the character of Golum.  Part of that might have been that his multiple personality disorder was just more evident in the movie version, or it may have been that when I read the books I was fairly young, whereas I saw the movies as an adult so it might have just been that I had a better understanding myself of things like that when I watched the movies.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh yeah, I forgot to add a true confession to my post:
> I have never read the Planet of the Apes books. I have also never seen the Planet of the Apes movie, original or remake.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> But have you ever visited Washington D.C.? The movies are better.
Click to expand...


I have been to DC. But, unfortunately, I am so clueless about Planet of the Apes that, while I suspect there is some connection between that and your question, I have no idea what the connection actually is!


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  I have to be in another stupid pointless meeting in a little while, but at least I get to leave early today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, Ken!! Today is the start of the long holiday weekend that you thought was LAST weekend!!  You've waited a LONG time for this holiday!
Click to expand...


Ah, you remembered!  Yes, that does make it seem even sweeter, and now that the meeting is over, I'm good to go!


----------



## sm4him

I was on vacation last week, and worked a 4-day week this week (since my vacation actually extended through Monday).
I'll get another 4-day work week next week because of Labor Day.
The following week will probably kill me, having to actually work five days in a row!


----------



## medic2230

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The good news of the day is my wine shipment from the Russian River Vineyard has shipped and will arrive on Tuesday. The bad news is that today isn't Tuesday.  Yesterday I had made a wine run to Costco ... so I will be a bit overstocked ... so let's have a wine tasting party at Gary's to *celebrate the 2015 College Football Season.*



I'm ready for some Alabama football. RTR


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Just out at the track, admiring the ponies.


----------



## sm4him

medic2230 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The good news of the day is my wine shipment from the Russian River Vineyard has shipped and will arrive on Tuesday. The bad news is that today isn't Tuesday.  Yesterday I had made a wine run to Costco ... so I will be a bit overstocked ... so let's have a wine tasting party at Gary's to *celebrate the 2015 College Football Season.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm ready for some Alabama football. RTR
Click to expand...


I can't be watchin' that nonsense^  
Here's how I spent my evening last night, while watching Vandy lose to WKU and SC struggle with NC:


----------



## limr

Ah, this is going to get interesting. We've got  a Vols hoser, a Bama hoser, and a Gator hoser at the start of football season. Yikes! SEC showdown 8n the Coffee House! 

Go Gators!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Ah, this is going to get interesting. We've got  a Vols hoser, a Bama hoser, and a Gator hoser at the start of football season. Yikes! SEC showdown 8n the Coffee House!
> 
> Go Gators!



Hey now, let's not leave out the resident Husker Hoser.

Lol


----------



## medic2230

sm4him said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The good news of the day is my wine shipment from the Russian River Vineyard has shipped and will arrive on Tuesday. The bad news is that today isn't Tuesday.  Yesterday I had made a wine run to Costco ... so I will be a bit overstocked ... so let's have a wine tasting party at Gary's to *celebrate the 2015 College Football Season.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm ready for some Alabama football. RTR
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I can't be watchin' that nonsense^
> Here's how I spent my evening last night, while watching Vandy lose to WKU and SC struggle with NC:
> 
> View attachment 107607
Click to expand...


Looks kind of Clemsony orange.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Ah, this is going to get interesting. We've got  a Vols hoser, a Bama hoser, and a Gator hoser at the start of football season. Yikes! SEC showdown 8n the Coffee House!
> 
> Go Gators!



You and I have somehow managed to not just co-exist, but actually like each other, despite this the Vols-Gator chasm that splits us; so I guess we'll have to give medic2230 a chance...


----------



## sm4him

medic2230 said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The good news of the day is my wine shipment from the Russian River Vineyard has shipped and will arrive on Tuesday. The bad news is that today isn't Tuesday.  Yesterday I had made a wine run to Costco ... so I will be a bit overstocked ... so let's have a wine tasting party at Gary's to *celebrate the 2015 College Football Season.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm ready for some Alabama football. RTR
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I can't be watchin' that nonsense^
> Here's how I spent my evening last night, while watching Vandy lose to WKU and SC struggle with NC:
> 
> View attachment 107607
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Looks kind of Clemsony orange. :anon:
Click to expand...


Nope; might look like it in the photo, but trust me, I take my orange color distinctions seriously. This nail polish was a custom mix to get as close to the official UT orange as possible. 

And no, I'm actually not kidding about that.


----------



## medic2230

Living the hard life.




Untitled by Murphy Lege, on Flickr


----------



## limr

And now the ponies are running.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I love that Corvette! but I want mine in candy apple red and white. And is that an E type Jag next to it?? 

I shall just suffer thru til hockey season starts...

In the meantime, an acquaintance who used to work in local radio til they cut staff is now back on the air part time - this clip is via him and yes he and the station are a little off the wall.

THIS IS NSFW - or at least if you're at work - TURN IT DOWN!! lol or hope your boss/co-workers can't make out what he says/sings... or pretend you thought it was the Blues Brothers...






Nathaniel Rateliff, Honky-Tonk Soul Man, Stumbles Into A Hit


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> ... so let's have a wine tasting party at Gary's ..


That's me at the front door.


----------



## snowbear

Not a real sports fan in general, but:



 
I modified it to fit the Geography Department.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... so let's have a wine tasting party at Gary's ..
> 
> 
> 
> That's me at the front door.
Click to expand...


Just come on around to the back; we're all in the garden, waiting for Gary to get the Kamado started.


----------



## Gary A.

I love my Kamado, even comes in SC Cardinal.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, been a pretty boring day here. Dropped the kid off at school, paid some bills (ouch), got a haircut, picked up medications, picked up the kid, sent the wife off to one of those wine and painting night things. We'll see what she comes home with.


----------



## robbins.photo

Well, new lens arrived.  New to me at any rate, Tamron 17-50 2.8.  Got a great deal on it on Ebay, really impressed with the test shots so can't wait to get out and about tomorrow and give it a real run for the money.


----------



## limr

I was, as you've seen, at the races today! Lime Rock. Eight (I think) classes of vintage cars, some of them pre-war. Today was the practice and qualifying day. The actual races are tomorrow and Monday but it's more pleasant to go to the practice day. It's nice and mellow, not too crowded, but you still get to see the cars run. We walked around, got some pictures of cars running and down in the paddock, had some lunch, walked around some more, and came home, I think I went through 5 rolls of film. One was a roll of 24, so that's 168 shots. That's a lot for me!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> I was, as you've seen, at the races today! Lime Rock. Eight (I think) classes of vintage cars, some of them pre-war. Today was the practice and qualifying day. The actual races are tomorrow and Monday but it's more pleasant to go to the practice day. It's nice and mellow, not too crowded, but you still get to see the cars run. We walked around, got some pictures of cars running and down in the paddock, had some lunch, walked around some more, and came home, I think I went through 5 rolls of film. One was a roll of 24, so that's 168 shots. That's a lot for me!



So can we expect a nice series of shots posted here to go along with those awesome teasers we already got?  Lol


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was, as you've seen, at the races today! Lime Rock. Eight (I think) classes of vintage cars, some of them pre-war. Today was the practice and qualifying day. The actual races are tomorrow and Monday but it's more pleasant to go to the practice day. It's nice and mellow, not too crowded, but you still get to see the cars run. We walked around, got some pictures of cars running and down in the paddock, had some lunch, walked around some more, and came home, I think I went through 5 rolls of film. One was a roll of 24, so that's 168 shots. That's a lot for me!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So can we expect a nice series of shots posted here to go along with those awesome teasers we already got?  Lol
Click to expand...


Hopefully there will be some keepers and a pic-heavy thread out of it all


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I love that Corvette! but I want mine in candy apple red and white. And is that an E type Jag next to it??



Indeed it was! There were so many beautiful cars there. I left half a gallon of drool in the paddock 

The Corvette is trying to look mean, and the Jag looks a little cock-eyed, like it's had a couple of drinks. And yes, I do see faces in inanimate objects - especially cars - all the time.


----------



## minicoop1985

so jealous. I wanna do the vintage weekend here so badly, but it doesn't look like I'll be able to this year.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was, as you've seen, at the races today! Lime Rock. Eight (I think) classes of vintage cars, some of them pre-war. Today was the practice and qualifying day. The actual races are tomorrow and Monday but it's more pleasant to go to the practice day. It's nice and mellow, not too crowded, but you still get to see the cars run. We walked around, got some pictures of cars running and down in the paddock, had some lunch, walked around some more, and came home, I think I went through 5 rolls of film. One was a roll of 24, so that's 168 shots. That's a lot for me!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So can we expect a nice series of shots posted here to go along with those awesome teasers we already got?  Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hopefully there will be some keepers and a pic-heavy thread out of it all
Click to expand...


Very cool.. looking forward to seeing them.  If any of them come out too iffy just call them "abstract" and put them in a different thread.. lol


----------



## snerd

Put a new skin on my quad the other day!




















Don't look too close.............. my shaky old hands are letting me down. With the Stars & Stripes, maybe the gunners won't shoot me down!!


----------



## snerd

Oh, wait..................... did I already post this earlier?! Gawd I miss a normal life!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Snerd, I don't remember seeing these before, so I think you're good  Then again, it took me 5 tries to type the word "don't" correctly, so perhaps I'm not the correct person to confirm or deny anything at the moment.

The current headache comes on in the middle of the night, so I wake up feeling like utter dreck. But then it eventually responds to medication and coffee and I feel better for the rest of the day. So mornings are rough. Today is morning #3 with the headache. Still avoiding alcohol so that it doesn't become an all-day headache.


----------



## sm4him

I had planned to go to one of my favorite bird spots this morning and see if there were any shorebirds, since migration has started.  Then, I read a post on FB where someone had gotten some great shots of a red-headed woodpecker, and seen some early-arrival eagles at another favorite spot, and decided I'd go there instead.

Then I woke up this morning and realized the problem with both of those plans. It's GAME DAY!! Sure, my Vols don't play until this afternoon, but there's College GameDay to watch, and then other SEC games to watch, and I gotta try to soak it ALL in on this opening weekend.

So, instead, I'm drinking coffee (just finished Cup #2) and processing photos from vacation, while watching all the pre-game hype shows...uh, I mean Sports News shows.


----------



## limr

Yup^^^

Gators play at 7:30, so I've got time to do other stuff during the day. I need to clean, start getting my school materials ready for classes on Tuesday, and I have GOT to start developing my damn film already! I finally got rid of the 35mm backlog and now I've been sitting on 5 rolls of 120 that need to go into the soup, and I can't figure out why I'm dallying. I think I've just been so focused on work stuff this year and it's hard to transition into my artsy side


----------



## limr

Oh, and I'm really annoyed that I can't have beer while watching football tonight, but at least I can have pizza!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.  My plans for the day are:
1 - 4. Coffee
5. Look for something related to jammin' orange
6. Pie.
7. (Open to suggestions)


----------



## limr

Yeah, I really should enter that this month. I say that every month.   But this month, I suspect I know exactly why the theme is "Orange" and perhaps I should sneak in a little bit of blue into that picture 

For the record, I had considered two pictures for "Space" but couldn't decide whether or not either one satisfied me. 



Scraggly tree by limrodrigues, on Flickr




Reading by limrodrigues, on Flickr

I do like the first a lot, but I know folks here would be all over the "IQ" - it's an instant print and I would have rescanned to get a better digital image out of it. The print looks great but it's hard to translate that into the screen. Plus, I had already uploaded it to Flickr.

The second one is okay. Little things bug me about it, but I still like it overall. But I think I got the film scanned on the last day of August and it wasn't enough time for me to first of all decide if I wanted to enter it, and if I did, to then work on it to make it ready to go.

Anyway...


----------



## snowbear

I had a couple of ideas for last month, one to do with parking one with a mid-sized kitty and a little box, but neither cars nor kitties would cooperate.

Blue _is_ the complement to orange.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> Good morning.  My plans for the day are:
> 1 - 4. Coffee
> *5. Look for something related to jammin' orange*
> 6. Pie.
> 7. (Open to suggestions)





As for #7, it seems pretty obvious to me. More Pie. With some coffee.


----------



## Designer

I like #2 for the theme.  Too bad about those shore rocks on the right.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning.  My plans for the day are:
> 1 - 4. Coffee
> *5. Look for something related to jammin' orange*
> 6. Pie.
> 7. (Open to suggestions)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As for #7, it seems pretty obvious to me. More Pie. With some coffee.
Click to expand...


Well, there's a cobbler here, too!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Yeah, I really should enter that this month. I say that every month.   But this month, I suspect I know exactly why the theme is "Orange" and perhaps I should sneak in a little bit of blue into that picture
> 
> For the record, I had considered two pictures for "Space" but couldn't decide whether or not either one satisfied me.
> 
> 
> 
> Scraggly tree by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Reading by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> I do like the first a lot, but I know folks here would be all over the "IQ" - it's an instant print and I would have rescanned to get a better digital image out of it. The print looks great but it's hard to translate that into the screen. Plus, I had already uploaded it to Flickr.
> 
> The second one is okay. Little things bug me about it, but I still like it overall. But I think I got the film scanned on the last day of August and it wasn't enough time for me to first of all decide if I wanted to enter it, and if I did, to then work on it to make it ready to go.
> 
> Anyway...



The beauty of my theme choice for the month is that, while I may have chosen it for a particular reason (whatever that might be, lol)--everyone gets to interpret it however they want! AND, since I'm not even the one deciding the winner, my "slight" bias to a particular shade of orange has no impact on the contest at all.
On the other hand, I may have to post some photos with decidedly "poor" orange choices, like orange with glue.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Yeah, I really should enter that this month. I say that every month.   But this month, I suspect I know exactly why the theme is "Orange" and perhaps I should sneak in a little bit of blue into that picture
> 
> For the record, I had considered two pictures for "Space" but couldn't decide whether or not either one satisfied me.
> 
> 
> 
> Scraggly tree by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Reading by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> I do like the first a lot, but I know folks here would be all over the "IQ" - it's an instant print and I would have rescanned to get a better digital image out of it. The print looks great but it's hard to translate that into the screen. Plus, I had already uploaded it to Flickr.
> 
> The second one is okay. Little things bug me about it, but I still like it overall. But I think I got the film scanned on the last day of August and it wasn't enough time for me to first of all decide if I wanted to enter it, and if I did, to then work on it to make it ready to go.
> 
> Anyway...



I like  the second one.  I know there's space between him and the edge but I really want to see him facing into the frame.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> On the other hand, I may have to post some photos with decidedly "poor" orange choices, like orange with glue.


or an orange cow - you know, the one with the big horns; same initials as your place.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> I like #2 for the theme.  Too bad about those shore rocks on the right.



Yeah, that's one of the things that bugs me. Either no rocks or more rocks, I feel. And if I'd shifted a tiny bit more to the right, I would have gotten more rocks AND I wouldn't have cut off his bench. Can't remember if there was something I was trying to exclude from the frame. More likely I was just shooting fast before he moved or turned to look at me.



snowbear said:


> I like  the second one.  I know there's space between him and the edge but I really want to see him facing into the frame.



I suppose that was a "rule" that I broke, but I kind of liked that he was facing right. What I liked about this was the contrast of how pretty the view was but he had his back to it to pay attention to his book (he was reading poetry, btw. I snuck a peek  ) I have him from another angle, too - from slightly behind him, showing the view that he was facing.


----------



## snowbear

More to do with moving objects - you want them to move into the frame, otherwise they look like they are going to run into a wall (the edge).  Not really a "rule" but visual stability (for lack of the real term).

Your's is really fine, it just that I can't get around it.


----------



## Designer

The reader's back to the wide open space fits the theme, and implies seclusion.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Out this morning before it got too hot.  This is someone's rooftop hideaway in a neighborhood called Manayunk, which is particularly steep.  I took this from the middle of the Gay Street Stairway, which takes one 200 feet further from the Schuylkill River and up almost as much.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. GAME DAY!  Yes, finally and it's about time. Today I'm planning to head south to Temecula for some wine tasting, SC plays at 8:00 p.m., so none of you folks will see them slaughter Arkansas State here at the Coliseum (the Trojans will be the lions). Personally, I don't think SC is ready to play and the big spread is overstated.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> The reader's back to the wide open space fits the theme, and implies seclusion.



Yup, that's why I thought of it for the monthly challenge.

Looking at the original scan, I see that I did actually get the whole bench in the shot, but it was tilted, and in straightening it, I cut off the bench. And I only realized now that I didn't do dust removal on this image! I'm not sure where my head was that day 

Here's the other angle I was talking about. This one was straightened a bit but otherwise is unedited, so it's just for comparison purposes. Still not sure if this one is worth editing.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. GAME DAY!  Yes, finally and it's about time. Today I'm planning to head south to Temecula for some wine tasting, SC plays at 8:00 p.m., so none of you folks will see them slaughter Arkansas State here at the Coliseum (the Trojans will be the lions). Personally, I don't think SC is ready to play and the big spread is overstated.



You underestimate my ability to overdose on football, especially on the first full day of games. ;-)
Granted, I will likely only see snippets of the game, mixed with interludes wherein I study the back of my eyelids.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> The reader's back to the wide open space fits the theme, and implies seclusion.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, that's why I thought of it for the monthly challenge.
> 
> Looking at the original scan, I see that I did actually get the whole bench in the shot, but it was tilted, and in straightening it, I cut off the bench. And I only realized now that I didn't do dust removal on this image! I'm not sure where my head was that day
> 
> Here's the other angle I was talking about. This one was straightened a bit but otherwise is unedited, so it's just for comparison purposes. Still not sure if this one is worth editing.
> View attachment 107630
Click to expand...


I like this one a lot, Leonore.
I wish you HAD put one of the others in the contest! Either one of them would certainly have had just as good a chance as the two that were entered.
You and Charlie (and probably a lot of others) seem to have the same syndrome that *I* always had with this contest. You're overachievers--you want THE penultimate "Space" photo or "Orange" photo, not just any photo.
I'd say, spend the first 3 weeks of the month looking for THE shot, but also go ahead and take one or two that "will work." If you don't find the ultimate shot by the end of the month, at least you have something to enter. And DON'T just not enter because the photo isn't quite the piece of perfection you were going for!


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. GAME DAY!  Yes, finally and it's about time. Today I'm planning to head south to Temecula for some wine tasting, SC plays at 8:00 p.m., so none of you folks will see them slaughter Arkansas State here at the Coliseum (the Trojans will be the lions). Personally, I don't think SC is ready to play and the big spread is overstated.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You underestimate my ability to overdose on football, especially on the first full day of games. ;-)
> Granted, I will likely only see snippets of the game, mixed with interludes wherein I study the back of my eyelids.
Click to expand...

LOL ... I'm torn between watching the games in Temecula, while taking sips of fine wine, or come home and view the SC game on my new-ish Tv.


----------



## snerd

My Oklahoma State Cowboys spanked Central Michigan 24-13 last night.


----------



## Designer

I'm beat. I spent most of today out in the heat topping a tree.  Got it down to where the short ladder will get me to the next cuts.  

Now the trick is to try to stay awake until suppertime.


----------



## medic2230

Just ate a pile of mexican food. Not good because the game is over an hour away. Might be in a coma by kickoff.


----------



## Gary A.

Hit three wineries in Temecula and presently at a sushi place to sober up for the drive home. Joined Duffo wine club.


----------



## Gary A.

Grapes.


----------



## sm4him

Just got home from watching an absolute heart-attack of a game with my Vols. The offense showed up as expected, but our defense STUNK, which was really NOT something I'd expected. Terrible, terrible secondary play. NO pass coverage. Playing Podunk U, and they racked up something in excess in 400 passing yards!  We had ONE defensive player who played a consistently good game.
God help us if the defense doesn't get their act together before next week when Oklahoma comes to town.

Now I'm going to go to bed and flip between the Florida and Alabama games, and try to get my blood pressure back down.


----------



## robbins.photo

sm4him said:


> Just got home from watching an absolute heart-attack of a game with my Vols. The offense showed up as expected, but our defense STUNK, which was really NOT something I'd expected. Terrible, terrible secondary play. NO pass coverage. Playing Podunk U, and they racked up something in excess in 400 passing yards!  We had ONE defensive player who played a consistently good game.
> God help us if the defense doesn't get their act together before next week when Oklahoma comes to town.
> 
> Now I'm going to go to bed and flip between the Florida and Alabama games, and try to get my blood pressure back down.


Yup.. total heartbreaker here, our defense did ok in the third quarter but after sleeping all the way through they second quarter the let BYU stay within striking distance and gave up the winning touchdown with 1 minute left in the game.

Wow, did that suck.  Oh well, off to drown my sorrows in Mt dew.  Sigh

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Well, the Gators are currently pounding hard on New Mexico State. 44-13 in the 3rd quarter. (Edit - by the time I finished writing the post, it was 47-13.)

Sharon, looks like Tenn pulled out a respectable win, though. 59-30 ain't nothin' to sneeze at 

I also see that Pitt won, though not by much, but a win is still a win! They've never had much of a football program but I still follow their games since I'm also an alum of that school (for grad school.) Funny story. One of my best friends from college is from Rhode Island and her mother's half of the family is from Pittsburgh. We had both independently decided to go to school at Pitt (me for grad school, her for law school) and didn't realize this until about a month or so before we were going to move there. One of her cousins had a row house for rent, so we decided to live together in the row house.

We were both football fans and would go to Gator games together all the time, so of course we were going to go watch the Panthers play. Oh my god, talk about culture shock! Not only was the stadium tiny compared to what we were used to, but the team suuuuuuucked! We were used to the friggin' _Gators_. I mean, Emmitt Smith was still playing our freshman year. And we had GOD as a coach (also known as Steve Spurrier.) But here were the Panthers and it felt like we were watching high school football. And not a very good high school at that.

And they would play this electronic panther roar that had us in stitches. It sounded like an an angry little robot kitten. The only reason we stayed until half time was because they would pick an audience member to try to throw a football into a net from however-many yards away, and if they got it in, everyone who had a ticket would get a free 2-liter bottle of soda. I didn't drink soda but she lived on it, so we stayed to just to see if we'd win.

So that's when we realized we were probably going to have to spend our fall Saturdays studying while watching some real football games on the telly


----------



## limr

Holy crap! Final score, 61-13 Gators. I would say that was an opening day statement.


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## minicoop1985

Heya hosers. Been a PRODUCTIVE day! New back door (har har) is in, FINALLY. That needed to happen YEARS ago. Argh.


----------



## snerd

sm4him said:


> Just got home from watching an absolute heart-attack of a game with my Vols. The offense showed up as expected, but our defense STUNK, which was really NOT something I'd expected. Terrible, terrible secondary play. NO pass coverage. Playing Podunk U, and they racked up something in excess in 400 passing yards!  We had ONE defensive player who played a consistently good game.
> God help us if the defense doesn't get their act together before next week when Oklahoma comes to town.
> 
> Now I'm going to go to bed and flip between the Florida and Alabama games, and try to get my blood pressure back down.


Boomer!


----------



## Designer

Yesterday evening I was (almost) watching college football, but there were quite a few choices, so I was flipping around and found RUGBY!  So rare on U.S. television.


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## robbins.photo

Asta La Pasta, Coffee Hosers!

Well, after watching a really disappointing season opening loss by my Huskers yesterday, I'm up and adam this morning, going to grab my camera and go engage in some photo taking therapy.  Might get completely crazy and shoot a landscape or two.. assuming I can find something that doesn't include a sunrise, sunset, or anything that looks like or cornfield.  That might be a bit of a challenge considering where I live.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Moving slow this Sunday morning. Day #4 of headache. It does respond to medication and coffee and eases up usually around early afternoon, but I sure am tired of waking up in pain.

Buzz is off at Lime Rock again to get more pictures of the cars, though they're not running today. Not allowed to race in CT on Sunday, so they set up the cars around the track in show mode. I was there once for the show, not the practice day, and it's really well done. It's fun to walk around on the actual track and the cars are bee-yooooooo-tiful. But it's hot and my head hurts and I've got other things I have to get done today, so he's on his own.


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## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Moving slowly here. Sick kid last night kept waking up and crying, so we got very little sleep.


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## Gary A.

limr said:


> Holy crap! Final score, 61-13 Gators. I would say that was an opening day statement.


The opening statement is that the Sun Belt Conference isn't ready for prime time opponents. SC beat Arkansas State 55-6.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was a very very nice day. It was warm and dry for our little trip down to Temecula wine country. We caught some Labor Day weekend traffic ... other than that it was all good.  Discovered Duffo, a California winery with Argentine roots. They have an interesting, surprisingly very refreshing sparkling wine and a Malbec and reserve Zinfandel to die for. The owner/owner's family help tend the tasting room and we spoke of their upcoming events. The next event is a polenta feast, tables are arranged end-to-end cafeteria style and the chef pours out a river of polenta down the middle, next comes the sauce and finally the meats. It all looked very much like a good time so we joined this club also. After Duffo, we hit Wiens ... very nice setting, "Big Reds" ... but the atmosphere was meh. Too sterile. 

Today I gotta get moving as we have guests coming over for a noon-ish BBQ.

Gary

PS- Mary Lou and I are still on our diet an since August we've both lost around 18 pounds (individually).


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Holy crap! Final score, 61-13 Gators. I would say that was an opening day statement.
> 
> 
> 
> The opening statement is that the Sun Belt Conference isn't ready for prime time opponents. SC beat Arkansas State 55-6.
Click to expand...


Ohhh yeeeaaahhh...


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## KenC

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Moving slow this Sunday morning. Day #4 of headache. It does respond to medication and coffee and eases up usually around early afternoon, but I sure am tired of waking up in pain.
> 
> Buzz is off at Lime Rock again to get more pictures of the cars, though they're not running today. Not allowed to race in CT on Sunday, so they set up the cars around the track in show mode. I was there once for the show, not the practice day, and it's really well done. It's fun to walk around on the actual track and the cars are bee-yooooooo-tiful. But it's hot and my head hurts and I've got other things I have to get done today, so he's on his own.



Sorry about your head.  It's hot here too, which always makes everything more difficult.


----------



## limr

Yup, the heat makes...well, like you said, it makes everything worse, but it definitely makes the headache worse. So does really bright sunlight, so being outside in the summer is a double whammy for me. 

August/early Sept for me are like Feb/early March for folks who hate winter. Summer just...hurts. The only time it doesn't hurt is when I'm in air conditioning or in water. I am just so jammin' over it! Bring on the colored foliage, the cool, crisp air, the scent of burning wood, and the sweaters and boots! Dear lord, how I love my sweaters and boots


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## KenC

@limr 
I also like being able to go out photographing in the early morning light without having to get up before 5.  On a Saturday in the winter I can get the earliest train downtown at about 7:30 and still get there when it's just getting light.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> I'm beat. I spent most of today out in the heat topping a tree.  Got it down to where the short ladder will get me to the next cuts.
> 
> Now the trick is to try to stay awake until suppertime.


Why bother?


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## medic2230

Morning everyone! Another great day at work today. 

Did happen to see earlier that they have the hot air balloons out and getting them ready. May have to see if they are doing the glow tonight and head up to try and get some pics.


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## limr

medic2230 said:


> Morning everyone! Another great day at work today.
> 
> Did happen to see earlier that they have the hot air balloons out and getting them ready. May have to see if they are doing the glow tonight and head up to try and get some pics.



Cool!


----------



## sm4him

robbins.photo said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just got home from watching an absolute heart-attack of a game with my Vols. The offense showed up as expected, but our defense STUNK, which was really NOT something I'd expected. Terrible, terrible secondary play. NO pass coverage. Playing Podunk U, and they racked up something in excess in 400 passing yards!  We had ONE defensive player who played a consistently good game.
> God help us if the defense doesn't get their act together before next week when Oklahoma comes to town.
> 
> Now I'm going to go to bed and flip between the Florida and Alabama games, and try to get my blood pressure back down.
> 
> 
> 
> Yup.. total heartbreaker here, our defense did ok in the third quarter but after sleeping all the way through they second quarter the let BYU stay within striking distance and gave up the winning touchdown with 1 minute left in the game.
> 
> Wow, did that suck.  Oh well, off to drown my sorrows in Mt dew.  Sigh
> 
> Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Yeah, I'd say you win the "it sucks to be a fan" award for this week. I didn't see most of that game, but I saw parts of it--that really did s*ck!  
Not having your entire secondary bother to show up to play (well, not true--we did have ONE good, consistent player) was bad, REALLY bad, but at least our offense was high-powered enough to win anyway. It's just that, playing in the SEC, you can't count on just outscoring your opponents in every game!


----------



## robbins.photo

sm4him said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just got home from watching an absolute heart-attack of a game with my Vols. The offense showed up as expected, but our defense STUNK, which was really NOT something I'd expected. Terrible, terrible secondary play. NO pass coverage. Playing Podunk U, and they racked up something in excess in 400 passing yards!  We had ONE defensive player who played a consistently good game.
> God help us if the defense doesn't get their act together before next week when Oklahoma comes to town.
> 
> Now I'm going to go to bed and flip between the Florida and Alabama games, and try to get my blood pressure back down.
> 
> 
> 
> Yup.. total heartbreaker here, our defense did ok in the third quarter but after sleeping all the way through they second quarter the let BYU stay within striking distance and gave up the winning touchdown with 1 minute left in the game.
> 
> Wow, did that suck.  Oh well, off to drown my sorrows in Mt dew.  Sigh
> 
> Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, I'd say you win the "it sucks to be a fan" award for this week. I didn't see most of that game, but I saw parts of it--that really did s*ck!
> Not having your entire secondary bother to show up to play (well, not true--we did have ONE good, consistent player) was bad, REALLY bad, but at least our offense was high-powered enough to win anyway. It's just that, playing in the SEC, you can't count on just outscoring your opponents in every game!
Click to expand...

For most of the second quarter I was really wondering if we even had a secondary.  Oh well, I'll shoot a ton of pictures today and get over it.  Lol

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Holy crap! Final score, 61-13 Gators. I would say that was an opening day statement.
> 
> 
> 
> The opening statement is that the Sun Belt Conference isn't ready for prime time opponents. SC beat Arkansas State 55-6.
Click to expand...


That's not a statement. That's just a foregone conclusion. 
That's the trouble with opening-day games: Beating a pansy team only proves you're better than the pansy team; it doesn't clear up whether your team can actually play with the big boys (though, don't get me wrong, I'm quite certain USC can, and will, play well with the big boys. And now that Kiffen isn't there, I don't even dislike them).

That's what concerns me about our game. 56 points on offense, great--just what we'd hoped for and expected. But allowing a pansy team 30 points--over 400 passing yards???  That is NOT a good sign when you have Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, Arkansas and Alabama coming your way.
Our secondary was non-existent.  Really hoping they get their act together this week.


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## medic2230

I've got a statement. Roll Tide.


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## Designer

sm4him said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yup.. total heartbreaker here, our defense did ok in the third quarter but after sleeping all the way through they second quarter the let BYU stay within striking distance and gave up the winning touchdown with 1 minute left in the game.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I'd say you win the "it sucks to be a fan" award for this week. I didn't see most of that game, but I saw parts of it--that really did s*ck!
Click to expand...

Actually, I can accept poor performance by my team far more readily than poor officiating.

Poor officiating will be the death of football.


----------



## robbins.photo

Designer said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yup.. total heartbreaker here, our defense did ok in the third quarter but after sleeping all the way through they second quarter the let BYU stay within striking distance and gave up the winning touchdown with 1 minute left in the game.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I'd say you win the "it sucks to be a fan" award for this week. I didn't see most of that game, but I saw parts of it--that really did s*ck!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Actually, I can accept poor performance by my team than poor officiating.
> 
> Poor officiating will be the death of football.
Click to expand...

One if the reasons I could never get into soccer.  Somebody finally scores a point and it gets called back and nobody knows why, the announcers are left guessing which incredibly esoteric rule was violated and nobody every really knows for certain.



Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

robbins.photo said:


> One if the reasons I could never get into soccer.  Somebody finally scores a point and it gets called back and nobody knows why, the announcers are left guessing which incredibly esoteric rule was violated and nobody every really knows for certain.


Most likely it was "offside", which is hard to see unless one is specifically looking for it, which apparently is the job of the side judges.  

If the announcers are behind the curve, that is nothing new and hardly confined to soccer.


----------



## robbins.photo

Designer said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> One if the reasons I could never get into soccer.  Somebody finally scores a point and it gets called back and nobody knows why, the announcers are left guessing which incredibly esoteric rule was violated and nobody every really knows for certain.
> 
> 
> 
> Most likely it was "offside", which is hard to see unless one is specifically looking for it, which apparently is the job of the side judges.
> 
> If the announcers are behind the curve, that is nothing new and hardly confined to soccer.
Click to expand...


Well at least in American football the ref will come out and announce the BS call, so you can stand up and scream that it's BS.  In soccer, it's just, nope, that didn't count.  Nobody ever says which BS rule they are enforcing.. lol.


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## minicoop1985

Yay! A Ferrari on podium at Monza! Been a while since that's happened.

Now you know how I feel when you all talk about handegg. lol


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## snowbear

<patiently waiting for intercollegiate caber tossing>


----------



## sm4him

robbins.photo said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> One if the reasons I could never get into soccer.  Somebody finally scores a point and it gets called back and nobody knows why, the announcers are left guessing which incredibly esoteric rule was violated and nobody every really knows for certain.
> 
> 
> 
> Most likely it was "offside", which is hard to see unless one is specifically looking for it, which apparently is the job of the side judges.
> 
> If the announcers are behind the curve, that is nothing new and hardly confined to soccer.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well at least in American football the ref will come out and announce the BS call, so you can stand up and scream that it's BS.  In soccer, it's just, nope, that didn't count.  Nobody ever says which BS rule they are enforcing.. lol.
Click to expand...


Well, I was a goalkeeper in soccer for many years--from high school until I was 30 and pregnant with my first son.  I played everything from high school soccer (back before Title IX, when the girls only had a "club" not a team, and we just played local Y teams or youth clubs, because only about 3 other high schools had "clubs") to competitive teams, under-18, then under-30. One of the teams I played for played for the state title twice, came in second one year and won the other year. 

So, I love watching both kinds of football, and I have no trouble generally seeing what the penalty was, just like people who know American football can usually see when someone's holding or commits a face-mask.
The problem is that so many of the professional players feel the need to work on their acting careers while they play--one little touch from behind, and down they go like they've just been shanked. It's ridiculous--"C'mon Man!" Get up and play like a man!


----------



## sm4him

Speaking of which, did anybody see THIS moment in the Tennessee v. BGSU game?


It was hilarious; and infuriating.  We'd just had a big play, and our QB was trying to get off a quick snap and catch BGSU off-guard. This big boy just FLOPS down in front of him, and Dobbs looked SO disgusted. You can't see it in the video, but at one point our QB kinda gestures with his hands, like "get this bozo out of here, I'm trying to run a play."


----------



## robbins.photo

sm4him said:


> [
> Well, I was a goalkeeper in soccer for many years--from high school until I was 30 and pregnant with my first son.  I played everything from high school soccer (back before Title IX, when the girls only had a "club" not a team, and we just played local Y teams or youth clubs, because only about 3 other high schools had "clubs") to competitive teams, under-18, then under-30. One of the teams I played for played for the state title twice, came in second one year and won the other year.
> 
> So, I love watching both kinds of football, and I have no trouble generally seeing what the penalty was, just like people who know American football can usually see when someone's holding or commits a face-mask.
> The problem is that so many of the professional players feel the need to work on their acting careers while they play--one little touch from behind, and down they go like they've just been shanked. It's ridiculous--"C'mon Man!" Get up and play like a man!



lol.. I live for the day when I finally get to see a ref come' out into the middle of the field and announce over the loud speaker, "Number 15, offense, excessive sissyniss.  Loss of 15 yards, repeat first down"


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Holy crap! Final score, 61-13 Gators. I would say that was an opening day statement.
> 
> 
> 
> The opening statement is that the Sun Belt Conference isn't ready for prime time opponents. SC beat Arkansas State 55-6.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's not a statement. That's just a foregone conclusion.
> That's the trouble with opening-day games: Beating a pansy team only proves you're better than the pansy team; it doesn't clear up whether your team can actually play with the big boys (though, don't get me wrong, I'm quite certain USC can, and will, play well with the big boys. And now that Kiffen isn't there, I don't even dislike them). ...
Click to expand...

It's okay if you don't like SC. SC has been so successful for so long and has been so snotty about their success ... well they pretty much polarize most football fans. The polarization tends to diminish the farther you get from LA ... but it gets stronger in places like South Bend, Tuscaloosa, Columbus, Austin ... hell, we even have a snotty cheer "We are SC". Trojans are used to the bumper stickers which state "My Favorite Team is _UCLA_ [ insert local favorite team], My Second Favorite Team is Whoever is Playing SC."

Dislike is better than no opinion. Makes you play harder.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Holy crap! Final score, 61-13 Gators. I would say that was an opening day statement.
> 
> 
> 
> The opening statement is that the Sun Belt Conference isn't ready for prime time opponents. SC beat Arkansas State 55-6.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's not a statement. That's just a foregone conclusion.
> That's the trouble with opening-day games: Beating a pansy team only proves you're better than the pansy team; it doesn't clear up whether your team can actually play with the big boys (though, don't get me wrong, I'm quite certain USC can, and will, play well with the big boys. And now that Kiffen isn't there, I don't even dislike them). ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's okay if you don't like SC. SC has been so successful for so long and has been so snotty about their success ... well they pretty much polarize most football fans. The polarization tends to diminish the farther you get from LA ... but it gets stronger in places like South Bend, Tuscaloosa, Columbus, Austin ... hell, we even have a snotty cheer "We are SC". Trojans are used to the bumper stickers which state "My Favorite Team is _UCLA_ [ insert local favorite team], My Second Favorite Team is Whoever is Playing SC."
> 
> Dislike is better than no opinion. Makes you play harder.
Click to expand...


Yeah, the fact is, USC just generally doesn't have much impact here one way or the other. Perhaps when we get back to contending for titles and such, but for now, no one here much cares about teams in California.  We just hated USC because of Kiffen; loved seeing him crash and burn. Actually, I kinda have sympathetic feelings toward USC and wish them well now, because of the time I spent wanting them to lose every game, just because of Kiffen.   Thing is, since he lost his "dream job," I also no longer give two hoots about Kiffen either.

We have those same stickers, though. Ours say "My two favorite teams: UT and whoever is playing Bama." (or Gators, take your pick. For me, it's the Gators. I have a grudging respect for Saban, though Lord knows, I wish he'd go to the pros. Or USC.


----------



## limr

My version is: favorites are Florida and whoever is playing Georgia. FSU, Bama, and Ohio State are also at the bottom, but no one is lower than Georgia.

It's hard to believe the words "favorite" and "Florida" are in the same sentence for me, since I really don't like the state other than Gainesville.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers!

I woke up without a headache this morning!!  

I'm still sniffly and I've sneezed a couple of times this morning (awwwwww yeeeeeaaaah) so I probably still have allergies to whatever, but I think this headache has finally passed.


----------



## mmaria

I'm listening to politics the whole day on a speaker!!! (recording their assembly)

and I should be home by now!

politicians will get money for their particiopation on assembly... I won't!!


http://data:image/jpeg;base64,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## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Hey hosers!
> 
> I woke up without a headache this morning!!
> 
> I'm still sniffly and I've sneezed a couple of times this morning (awwwwww yeeeeeaaaah) so I probably still have allergies to whatever, but I think this headache has finally passed.



Woohoo!  Congrats.  I don't get migraines often.. but boy when I do they are just awful.  Glad to hear your feeling better.  So.. speaking of really cool antique racing car photos...

Lol.. no, no pressure.


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## robbins.photo

mmaria said:


> I'm listening to politics the whole day on a speaker!!! (recording their assembly)



You couldn't find a recording of say, fingernails on a chalkboard?  Or maybe Gilbert Godfried singing opera?  I think I'd rather listen to either ahead of politicians droning on and on.


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## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Woohoo!  Congrats.  I don't get migraines often.. but boy when I do they are just awful.  Glad to hear your feeling better.  So.. speaking of really cool antique racing car photos...
> Lol.. no, no pressure.



Just remember that they were shot on film (because I'm sooooo coooooool) so I still have to develop them  And classes start tomorrow! I'm dropping the color at the lab tomorrow, so I might have the color shots back and scanned in by the end of the week, but the black and white will have to wait for the weekend.



robbins.photo said:


> You couldn't find a recording of say, fingernails on a chalkboard?  Or maybe Gilbert Godfried singing opera?  I think I'd rather listen to either ahead of politicians droning on and on.



How about Gilbert Godfried reading Fifty Shades of Grey? (Most certainly NOT safe for work or children, or...anything, really. Seriously, this is totally wrong in about 683 ways   )


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## robbins.photo

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Woohoo!  Congrats.  I don't get migraines often.. but boy when I do they are just awful.  Glad to hear your feeling better.  So.. speaking of really cool antique racing car photos...
> Lol.. no, no pressure.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just remember that they were shot on film (because I'm sooooo coooooool) so I still have to develop them  And classes start tomorrow! I'm dropping the color at the lab tomorrow, so I might have the color shots back and scanned in by the end of the week, but the black and white will have to wait for the weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> You couldn't find a recording of say, fingernails on a chalkboard?  Or maybe Gilbert Godfried singing opera?  I think I'd rather listen to either ahead of politicians droning on and on.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> How about Gilbert Godfried reading Fifty Shades of Grey? (Most certainly NOT safe for work or children, or...anything, really. Seriously, this is totally wrong in about 683 ways   )
Click to expand...

So you can't just plug the doohickey into the thingamabob and hit the make art button?

Weird.  

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


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## minicoop1985

Ah, yes, the joys of flilm. Before I got my Yashica it had been a while since I'd shot any flilm. Now I have two Yashicas loaded up with flilm. Argh.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Ah, yes, the joys of flilm. Before I got my Yashica it had been a while since I'd shot any flilm. Now I have two Yashicas loaded up with flilm. Argh.


I'm still trying to recover from the video of Gilbert reading.  Yikes.  Lol

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


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## EIngerson

Well, it's a hangover morning. Coffee, coffee, coffee!


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## vintagesnaps

Sorry Eric I guess it isn't really funny is it? at least not when it's yours!

This is a nice goof off and laze around day. And Sharon - that video clip made me so proud of my alma mater - let's talk hockey instead! lol


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## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Sorry Eric I guess it isn't really funny is it? at least not when it's yours!
> 
> This is a nice goof off and laze around day. And Sharon - that video clip made me so proud of my alma mater - let's talk hockey instead! lol


Well I ask you then, if we can't laugh at other people's paint what good is the internet?

Sorry, probably too philosophical for a Monday.

Lol

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## EIngerson

robbins.photo said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry Eric I guess it isn't really funny is it? at least not when it's yours!
> 
> This is a nice goof off and laze around day. And Sharon - that video clip made me so proud of my alma mater - let's talk hockey instead! lol
> 
> 
> 
> Well I ask you then, if we can't laugh at other people's paint what good is the internet?
> 
> Sorry, probably too philosophical for a Monday.
> 
> Lol
> 
> Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk
Click to expand...



Hey man, stop talking about my paint……LOL


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## vintagesnaps

Should we ask how much coffee it took? Well at least it was a good excuse for more coffee.


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## EIngerson

Still piping it in. lol. Waiting for some shade on the patio before I start clean up.


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## EIngerson

vintagesnaps said:


> Sorry Eric I guess it isn't really funny is it? at least not when it's yours!
> 
> This is a nice goof off and laze around day. And Sharon - that video clip made me so proud of my alma mater - let's talk hockey instead! lol



lol, It's all good. You're absolutely right. Goof off and laze around it is.


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## robbins.photo

EIngerson said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry Eric I guess it isn't really funny is it? at least not when it's yours!
> 
> This is a nice goof off and laze around day. And Sharon - that video clip made me so proud of my alma mater - let's talk hockey instead! lol
> 
> 
> 
> Well I ask you then, if we can't laugh at other people's paint what good is the internet?
> 
> Sorry, probably too philosophical for a Monday.
> 
> Lol
> 
> Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Hey man, stop talking about my paint……LOL
Click to expand...

Lol. Flippin autocorrect.  Grrr



Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


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## sm4him

Spent a little time this morning (okay, about 3 hours...that's just a LITTLE, right?) watching my hummingbirds in the backyard--they won't be around much longer, so I gotta enjoy them while I can.

Then I spent most of the day doing some photo processing. Now I'm sitting here trying to decide whether anything I took on vacation is even worth creating a TPF thread for. 98% of them are just so-so kinda shots anyway. Heck, half of them were taken with my Samsung Galaxy S6 phone camera!

Headed out in about an hour to a family gathering; our first family get-together since Mom's been back home. Should be interesting.  But at least there will be seafood! My sister is doing a crab boil thing; that's a first for our get-togethers too! They usually consist more of hot dogs and hamburgers.  Seafood is definitely better.


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## snowbear

mmaria said:


> I'm listening to politics the whole day on a speaker!!! (recording their assembly)
> 
> and I should be home by now!
> 
> politicians will get money for their particiopation on assembly... I won't!!
> 
> 
> 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+Zs5gYJJHgStfGsY40ngtLXFlRoM2JjQHylS/aPhkuDwIFoLGS4R1IIHuomu17pAd3jRrm5TbraHfVTouDakeTsjKibj+ju/ghiX1nV2Vajnimxhp03OJaCZGaDaxyi+ivnEe0lMUm0qENGYE1A0QB0Y37Tri5tfdfM+HYCnhya1JkOcCJzOLYMWA0ub3nRTeAqmoQZzGbdLeE6rbVahv1Q6M0qMuH2dlbjda5oscCf+Y856rgZ1ebAeDRC0jGY67s9QHa5j56yrnwai50BwG09FZmcKYRcSoFTdjwkjtNKPbPjx45VBaatKHNIcKlI5HyJElsZXWJCistB2MdjHvq1qrrhpp5RIAaDPQQIV47ZUKbXhrIk2O17n8lScGyAWATlDocD1gmB0mbKTCTUXjgj2WNcGwvJM1Gy1xJiZEqT7PUOYvaIYQ4bdQRYbyoTDve8mWgSARElpG5t019FaKTmYekJuXXgCLmLAG8efVYmmlgkezqveXpvxz+yVZTJ0EwL+A6recNsZD78pgAgfdIkT+/KscExr6mLY50fDUAGgEiYHjZSvFuJRFKmC4kgjrTIvE+UW6fOTpdPCUcy5LDXai2uzauDv7psa6yGzAuNWuH3vWPktUex0PVV52EqOMuzTqTE/Mj6Qunh7303ZCCQ64kQbWPr+S3u0leMxWMHHT6+xSxN5RMIgRVJfBERAEREAQovHmxOwBJ8AESb4RiUlFZZspt676eMXJPgP0WxrQcoAgvu25s0auPuLeKqVXidV5kOLRcDax1sOviVto4yuyXEzyxezsp+7N91d1aSEYrcss87frbZzbi8InOKYtlINcZyOcWg6xaQT4GD7LHDYtlQSxwPhuPMKM4tiBiKDmsH+o0syN25CCY89PVVZxdByktMESLEH8lD1OnjGfHCLXQWyuqbbzJeD6Eq7xzhrjmqOdLRchvKegBvde8G7Q5iKdfK15nK4GGuiBBnR1wujtfjm0qBbq55yj0u6fl7rnTRY7VCKzk5axVW1Pfw4/4f3ISjhaEAwGTFw879eu6zczuiS2oQIsAGA23uVB4fFOdyyBoBAGY6D97LqphneljGGrA23ItcnyPgpd2lsreJZPN4ZOYHtfiAQG3Ai+pG+1v2FJ4ntdiXsI7xzNAPha507+FtlT8RjJYwMhsuMgem++q21S505SMzQIJOgIkx1JkCfNR3Uk+sGznL5nTi8QTmzEl2QkmZguIbruR+a4aNAm7TDc0T0NssnobX6hdmHohrHEkOsTE6hpm3sCo1nFXMDmNkAl1/AmfcGfRdqKZ2cQRqkXTguC7vNUJEOmL6QRmPh0/+qt4vGGvU70nlAcKYi7Wk3zdTZcNDi7zSdRjM15G0t1BeD0kQuzC0S5zWMFyQGgaXXO+qVMnFvlnpfZdcfdqT6XP7JjhGHyMdXOoOWmDu4wSfQBbgZ1AcTee8APzOqzxdQEimyclMZWwzOCRZziPEz7Bc7nDfL60QFPpr2QwVWqud1jkbmt/A70ez81tw3+6wQ4XJ5ssQBNiPErh79nWj/YR9F28Fg1HEZbNyjLMG4JN/MJe0q2Y00d1sV9yaCIioD1CCIiAIiIAufH0c1N7RqWldCELaEtskzSyO6Lj8yr0jAB5aY66utbTX6arZEXj+qoY9Q0f5WeModzUkSA82IALp+6D9kePyWo1A0/ZaT/3KhPhsD5ey9DGW+O5Hk5wcJbWZlhMOkzrmMMaIiIFyQPBMZhhieYQKw9G1QNY/HHusYJMxfcvl9TpOTb1hc+IqnMAJLxcku0G0AWHh0WLIKa2s6U3yplvj2Q9RgNnC42I0ProQsqmKNVjWYi5Y2G1AXFxEyXOGhOlo0ClcZT75peLVW/GPvgauA+8N+ouoV4/f0UGuyemsPQyhXrqsrh/+7IyqwseWyJaYtf92XjHkAwYmx8Y6wp3hPDO+xLa8My0mDvGmHFwbyWb0LSCT+EgLZ2x4bRol76IdALZEkiTNm2toT0EFXsPalE5KFi5fk81OicG0/BXmNJcIknQACZJ6Dqt7+8pEtcCwxcEGbiBr6rq7JtFTE0jqAS7+0Ej1nZWftpw3PS70Dmp6+LTY+2vul9+nhqY1SisS8nWvSudErF2il087y1jZc4mGgaknYLbW4RVZie4r8gaA94DpJp6kyNjp5rzs1i//wBbAIMgtbIBBdY3na3pqr/xTjPeMcSIfSpPJB2c4ty+sifbVRtbrnVb7quOI47RpVTv5+5UHBuZ2Roa2YAGkCyl+DNytqVt2gNYfxP1I8Q2SoLD1FYHsilTpjpndcCTUi1/wAD+oqpqjvuyz0OtsVOlUI+eDQ2kdRY9No2BC6KWJ2OVpGoJqD15TELYWfhqekOj2K016bTrnb0JYR81ZnnDacYI+MHoBUdc9OdqmOE4ctZJM5jO2/koTCNJe1oOaTGYCY8xsY28VaGAAADRV+vswlBFn7NqzNz+R6iIqovAiIgCIiAIiIDTisOKjS12h9x4hVyO6JY6GkbzlDh1LruJ8BCtJXJxHBCo3bMLtP5KbpNT7t7ZdFdrtJ7xbo9lcfi2xF3DYAZGE+XxO8yUo0yNLk3Pn+iwNMB8OBLrwCcoEaknWTIXRU5bvIA6fAPQDmd8lcFB0aoLXhzDzA7SdNyRb0XJxOkB/qN+F3xD7rtS3yNyF2uda4hv4uRv9g5j6rCqyxDhyOEG2X1a3W1lxuqU4kzRap0WZ8PsiOD8VNGu1+xBa4dWukH9Vd3cGY+k6nUuHGXXLdtz08F81xFEhzm7yR+kea+ssZYS4TAmevsqy1OLTXZcOMLJbuyE4V2YoYepnYH5o3eSL2mNJ/VTNRgIIIkGxB0IOoKzcUIG/wAlHnZOcsyZ2hCEI4isEbw3gtChelTa0/e1d/cbx4WC5u0+GH8vVcBDsok9QCDf0Cm7dLeawqsDgWkCHAgjwNiFlTe7c2Y93HbhRPlvDr1Gt0zED3IVsc8vc5wBgnl5A8AfZEE2hoAUZX4UzD12t5xZxY85S02I6ahdhIaAC0nocrHAjaCSrfTpfyRTa+1ykovwbgyNh60D+RWNStHw5SToIqM8z6JSqtcYDSP6AB6w5SfC+GwTUfcn4ReGjyOhK63XRrjlkWiiV0tsTo4Rge7bJMudc3/d/wBFIIiobLHOW5npaao1xUYhERaHUIiIAiIgCIiAIiIDj4hw9tUdHD4XaR42VcqUH0TDhANs8DMbxdx0HiFb1i+mCIIkHqpmn1kq+JcortVoI2+qPDKs5obzTl/ETE+Tncx9ANVzvxOoaJPWMo9zLj8lYK/B2nSJ2n8iLrmHCDIGUf8AVMj2srJauprOSplo74PG0iOGcP73EMfHKz4v6fhHv8grmFy4DAik2BeTJPUrqVRqbFOba6L7SVSrrSl2et1C8RZSOi4ro7vhmK9FtNULtl4mcGMN9mrE0Q8Q4T57HqFE1eEOADWw4A7nKQN/RTaLrVqJ19M4XaSu3+SObC4JrBYCeq6AvUXOc5TeWztXVCtYigiItToEREAREQBERAEREAREQBERAEUXxzjtHCtDqrtfha0ZnO8h+ZIUVhe3WHe5jQ2tne7LkyNlpMAZuYWM6jodF2jp7JR3JcHCWpqjLa5LJaUVax3bbDUqtSk7vM1MwYaIJESG80k38NCvcV21oU3NbUbVY5zA+C0cuaSA/m+K0gDqN5Az8Nb9LMPV0r/kiyIq1W7a0GMpPe2q0Vc2UFrZytIGc81mmdfA+E+u7aUBSNUtqhgfkaco5zBJyDNcCDMp8Lb9LMfF0/UiyIq3S7Z0HMqVA2qadNoLn5RllxADG813GfqmD7aYeqYYKsBjnucWjKxrQSS8h306hPhbfpHxlP1IsiKs4LttQqvYymys5zzEBokaS50OgCL+hWB7d4aXNa2q9wdlAa0EuMkcnNpbXxCfC2/Sx8ZT9SLSirWM7bYalUfSeKmZmoDQb2OUc13CYO2uyYntpQpuY2o2qxzmB8FoloMkB3NqQJAHUCxkB8Lb9LHxlP1IsqLh4NxMYimKrWvY0k5c4AJA3EE2/Rdy4yi4vDO8ZKSygiIsGwREQBERAEREAREQBERAygdqMLX/AOI0qww9TEU2Bha1oJaCBJzEDlh5m/0XHwbFHEY6vjHtth6ZIa3muAWMAI+InmPj5Kw1exTTUqPZiK9LvCczWkRDpJE6kST7qY4HwSnhaeSkNTLnG7nEaEn3gbSrN6quNeI8vGCnWktlZl8LOfH6Kx/DrhhAq4ms0tqOeQMwggWc9wBg3JifArT2SwbsRjq+Lq03NAP+mHtIu6zTBGzGm/UhX6F7CjvVt7njvj8EqOiSUVnp5/LKBUwTsXxYuex3c0QMpc0hru70EkQQahJ8gve1+Fdi8dh8Plf3TfjcGnLz8z7gQDlaAr9CQsrWepPHSwv7MPQpxab7eX/RRv4iMe9lDDUWOMuDjlacrQORgJAtcuPkujtjS/l8AMNQY52YtZyNLjlbzPc6Opj+5XFFrHUtKKx1z+WbS0eXJ574/CKi3CnBcMLWNJqup3ytlxqVRfaeUH5LDsVgP5TBOrOYe8cC8iOaGyGNAibxPmVcIXsJ8S9rT8vP/QWkSkmn0sL+yi/w64W4d7iazS2o5xAziCBZz3AEbkgT4FauyuCdiMfXxdWm5oaZp52kXPK0gOGzG+hIV/IRZerbcnjvj8GI6KKUVnp5/LEIiKITgiIgCIiAIiIAiIgCIiAIiIAiIgCIiAIiIAiIgCIiAIiIAiIgCIiAIiID/9k=



The last time I intentionally watched politicians, they were being arrested.


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## snerd

I've officially sworn off coffee.


----------



## Designer

snerd said:


> I've officially sworn off coffee.


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## limr

Fool! You foolish fool!


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## snowbear

snerd said:


> I've officially sworn off coffee.



<ignore>


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## snerd

Hey! I follow my own drummer!


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## sm4him

snerd said:


> I've officially sworn off coffee.



I understand exactly how you feel.
When I'm off coffee, I tend to swear too.


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## snerd

Not sure if it's the antibiotics I'm on or what, but anymore when I drink it I get just way too "stressed". My face flushes red all day. I get hyped way more than I used to. It's probably for the best.


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## robbins.photo

snerd said:


> I've officially sworn off coffee.



Ok.. breathing I would understand.  But coffee?  Really?  Wow.


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## snowbear

OK, I guess we can accept that.


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## snerd

If any of our women-folk want to paddle me over it, I'll submit.


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## snowbear

snerd said:


> If any of our women-folk want to paddle me over it, I'll submit.



I'll lend one of them my Tazer.


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## pixmedic

Sunday Bloody Sunday


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## Peeb

My wife tried to quit coffee once. She found it, ahem, challenging. 
After a couple of days the kids and I demanded she hop back up on the Java wagon where she belonged. Good Lord that 2 days was the longest month of my life!


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## medic2230

Evening/early morning everyone. 

Spent the day with my family hanging out and went grocery shopping then a nice pizza dinner. Went out tonight for some night photography with an old friend I haven't seen in about 12 years. Nighttime is probably my favorite time to take photo's. Ended up with 3 keepers so far and maybe a few more once I have a chance to pp them. Undecided whether to just post in here or make a thread. Decisions….


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## Peeb

Point us to the thread if you start a new one.


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## medic2230

Peeb said:


> Point us to the thread if you start a new one.



Posted them in cityscape. CC welcome.

A few shots from tonight's photo outing | Photography Forum


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## medic2230

I guess we looked a little funny out there tonight with my friend shooting a Fuji X100t and me shooting a D800. He had a little tripod and I had a big one. Him with his small camera bag and me with a huge lowepro backpack. lol


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## limr

Morning, hosers!

First day of school. Never quite ready for it, which is a little stressful, but always exciting nonetheless. 

Gotta run!


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## snowbear

Enjoy!

Cup number . . . lost count; been up since 5:30.  Son #1 came down yesterday.  He made butter - good butter.


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## KenC

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> First day of school. Never quite ready for it, which is a little stressful, but always exciting nonetheless.
> 
> Gotta run!



A little kitty coffee always gets one ready to do what needs to be done.


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## KenC

Morning, hosers!  I foolishly went out shooting in the middle of the day yesterday when it was probably about 90 and humid here.  I did get a few I liked, so I suppose the suffering was worthwhile.  I'll post one elsewhere a little later.


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## medic2230

Morning hosers! Got a busy day ahead of me running around doing errands. Hope to try and get some pp in sometime today. Now, more coffee.


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon, hosers. Got some time to myself today. Been a rainy, droll day, so I decided to beat MarioKart 64 out of boredom.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Afternoon, hosers. Got some time to myself today. Been a rainy, droll day, so I decided to beat MarioKart 64 out of boredom.



Well as long as your beating people out of boredom, can we submit a list of possible candidates?  Lol


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers, I'm hooooome!

Oy, that is a long day, but the good news is that it goes pretty fast. My schedule is 10-1 in the classroom (two different groups, but back-to-back and in the same classroom), then an hour break, then back into the classroom from 2-3:15.

This morning was fine. The first day of classes always require a lot of talking, which is kind of a pain, but it all went well and I got done what I needed to get done. Then I had lunch and went to the other building where my afternoon class is.  

Well. It was record-breaking hot today. High 90's. I walked into my classroom and realized that the air conditioning was not working. And there was direct afternoon sunlight shining into the room. And only 2/3 of the windows had shades. Of course, one of the windows missing a shade allowed sun to fall right in the front of the room where I am.

It was murderous! Just brutal. There was actual sweat pouring down more than one brow. I lasted one hour and couldn't take it anymore. I let them go 15 minutes early. Meh, it's the first day of class anyway.

And that was my day, thanks for asking! 

There might be vodka tonight.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> It was murderous! Just brutal. There was actual sweat pouring down more than one brow. I lasted one hour and couldn't take it anymore. I let them go 15 minutes early. Meh, it's the first day of class anyway.
> 
> And that was my day, thanks for asking!
> 
> There might be vodka tonight.



Stuck in a classroom with a bunch of dippy college students, no AC, weather outside 90+?

Isn't there something in the Constitution about cruel and unusual punishment?

Can't we sue somebody for something here?  Or at the very least get some picket signs together?


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> ....... There might be vodka tonight.


Sounds like you earned it!


----------



## snerd

I hooked up a new, amplified antenna mod on my drone controller. Soon, I'll be able to fly up and <buzz> Lenny and Buzz!!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> I hooked up a new, amplified antenna mod on my drone controller. Soon, I'll be able to fly up and <buzz> Lenny and Buzz!!



Careful, Buzz has rifles


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hooked up a new, amplified antenna mod on my drone controller. Soon, I'll be able to fly up and <buzz> Lenny and Buzz!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Careful, Buzz has rifles
Click to expand...


Reminds me of what a friend said when Amazon announced they were planning to test a drone-delivery service for some of their products.  He said, "You know what rednecks call that?  Skeet shooting with prizes!"


----------



## snerd

It's all fun and games until someone shoots my drone down. Just remember............... they're classified as aircraft by the FAA. It's a felony to purposely damage an aircraft, or shoot it down. Ask the couple of morons who have already done it. They were promptly arrested and jailed. Just lookin' out for you'uns!


----------



## sm4him

@limr Hurrah for surviving Day One!  Now, only...well, never mind how many more days left... 

My morning wasn't too bad, but things took a bad turn in the afternoon and I ended up spending over two hours discussing and researching which trolley map is the absolute definitive most up-to-date version. 
This is precisely what I warned them about when they decided to start making minor map changes between "shake-ups" (the two times a year that we make all our route changes). 

You take the vodka, I think I might opt for some Fireball.


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> It's all fun and games until someone shoots my drone down. Just remember............... they're classified as aircraft by the FAA. It's a felony to purposely damage an aircraft, or shoot it down. Ask the couple of morons who have already done it. They were promptly arrested and jailed. Just lookin' out for you'uns!



Yes, but little details like "felony" and "arrest" tend to matter very little to a redneck. Especially a redneck who's had too much to drink. And around here, they've ALL had too much to drink!


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> [My morning wasn't too bad, but things took a bad turn in the afternoon and I ended up spending over two hours discussing and researching which trolley map is the absolute definitive most up-to-date version.
> This is precisely what I warned them about when they decided to start making minor map changes between "shake-ups" (the two times a year that we make all our route changes).



Isn't it amazing how organizations all manage to sabotage themselves in really stupid ways?  It almost seems like an unconscious attempt to prove themselves useful.  ("Look at how I can fix this mess - I really am useful")


----------



## limr

Vodka. I haz it.


----------



## limr




----------



## Designer

*LOL!*


----------



## Designer

Today I chipped up the remaining brush from the ash tree.  Drank a beer after my shower, drank a glass (o.k., 1-1/2 glasses) of wine with supper.


----------



## Designer

Regular lushes we are!


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Regular lushes we are!



Yarp! Well remember, I was off all booze while I had my headache, so I've got time to make up for


----------



## snowbear

I had an interesting shot (drink) the other day - a  "Killer Bee" - Bourbon & Honey.  It comes in a little four-pack.
The plastic cup is divided - the bourbon is on one side, the honey on the other.  In order to make it work, the honey, being very viscous. has to be thinned.  It's thinned with vodka.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas noches y'all Coffee Hosers. Man what a day. My day started at 1:00a.m., while I was still slaving I over a political brochure. I used to run campaigns, (18 for 19  ), and somehow I got volunteered to help out this very nice but completely nuts lady. My rough draft was sent at 1:00 a.m. ... I wasn't finish until 4:00 p.m. Fortunately, we were communicating via text, calls and emails ... otherwise only one of us would have walked out of the room alive.  The bright side of today was our dinner of Tilapia with my mango salsa. The absolute worse part was that I missed a UPS delivery from a wine club.


----------



## mmaria

I logged in and got irritated as soon as I logged in.

I mean, stupid situation and completely unnecessary soot | Photography Forum


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. *YAWN*

Marija, I checked that thread. I saw a funny misunderstanding that was resolved and then vfotog being all Judgy McJudgerson for whatever reason. At this point, one of my students would say something about "haters" and the fact that they like to "hate."   (A piece of modern slang that I find quite...hateful, actually.) Don't worry about it, you're fabulous!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. *YAWN*
> 
> Marija, I checked that thread. I saw a funny misunderstanding that was resolved and then vfotog being all Judgy McJudgerson for whatever reason. At this point, one of my students would say something about "haters" and the fact that they like to "hate."   (A piece of modern slang that I find quite...hateful, actually.) Don't worry about it, you're fabulous!


oh thank you for being normal !!!

I wasn't so upset by vfotog, I don't know the guy at all but the way Jason reacted and then he liked vfotog post.
It supposed to be just that, a funny misunderstanding

oh well...

thank you


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. *YAWN*
> 
> Marija, I checked that thread. I saw a funny misunderstanding that was resolved and then vfotog being all Judgy McJudgerson for whatever reason. At this point, one of my students would say something about "haters" and the fact that they like to "hate."   (A piece of modern slang that I find quite...hateful, actually.) Don't worry about it, you're fabulous!



^That. Don't take any of that to heart, Marija. I think it was mostly just in good fun. We DO take our Mary Poppins pretty seriously here sometimes. 
In the song, they sing it as both "chim chim cheree" and "chim chim cheroo." So, while Pix's spelling was still off, he did have a valid reference to the song--but really, I just see Pix's comments as being his usual droll, funny self.
As for the other comments--while someone is ALWAYS going to manage to get their knickers in a twist about these sorts of things. 
You're far better off if you just let it go--don't be the one with twisted knickers!!


----------



## mmaria

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers. *YAWN*
> 
> Marija, I checked that thread. I saw a funny misunderstanding that was resolved and then vfotog being all Judgy McJudgerson for whatever reason. At this point, one of my students would say something about "haters" and the fact that they like to "hate."   (A piece of modern slang that I find quite...hateful, actually.) Don't worry about it, you're fabulous!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ^That. Don't take any of that to heart, Marija. I think it was mostly just in good fun. We DO take our Mary Poppins pretty seriously here sometimes.
> In the song, they sing it as both "chim chim cheree" and "chim chim cheroo." So, while Pix's spelling was still off, he did have a valid reference to the song--but really, I just see Pix's comments as being his usual droll, funny self.
> As for the other comments--while someone is ALWAYS going to manage to get their knickers in a twist about these sorts of things.
> You're far better off if you just let it go--don't be the one with twisted knickers!!
Click to expand...

oh Ma


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> At this point, one of my students would say something about "haters" and the fact that they like to "hate."  (A piece of modern slang that I find quite...hateful, actually.)


Hey, good morning/afternoon whichever applies!

Say; aren't those the very same people who are "known" for their inclusive tolerance?  

Or maybe not.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Marija, I checked that thread. I saw a funny misunderstanding that was resolved and then vfotog being all Judgy McJudgerson for whatever reason.



Sort of like a much less entertaining version of the Peoples Court.

I read through it myself, and I'm like.. wow, really?  I mean of all the stuff that gets posted here, this is what your going to choose to make a thing out of?  Lol


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> At this point, one of my students would say something about "haters" and the fact that they like to "hate."  (A piece of modern slang that I find quite...hateful, actually.)
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, good morning/afternoon whichever applies!
> 
> Say; aren't those the very same people who are "known" for their inclusive tolerance?
> 
> Or maybe not.
Click to expand...


Yes, the same people who complain about the judgment of "haters" are the same ones who are essentially judging a person's entire character based on the fact that he or she doesn't like one thing. Yes, hate is a defining characteristic of my entire personality just because I don't like your pants/song/HDR/blah blah blah. 



robbins.photo said:


> Sort of like a much less entertaining version of the Peoples Court.
> 
> I read through it myself, and I'm like.. wow, really?  I mean of all the stuff that gets posted here, this is what your going to choose to make a thing out of?  Lol



That's right. I mean, we ALL know that the real harm is getting that damn song stuck in my head. Damn you, @pixmedic ! I will be requiring a picture of the cat snake to make it up to me.

*storms off humming chim-chim-cheree*


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Yes, the same people who complain about the judgment of "haters" are the same ones who are essentially judging a person's entire character based on the fact that he or she doesn't like one thing. Yes, hate is a defining characteristic of my entire personality just because I don't like your pants/song/HDR/blah blah blah.



Well I have been known to wear some pretty hateful pants on occasion.. lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh I love coming into the middle of a conversation! and having to go back a page or two to find out what the heck you're talking about! lol

Good grief, they ought to rename the Urban Dictionary - uh, I don't know what to call it! goes beyond slang.

I thought of Mary Poppins which I love but yeah, now the song will be stuck in my head... 

You know Maria, even for some of us who live in this country, I don't know some of the stuff that you can find when you google it...  who knew?! and how/why did someone come up with something smutty with that?? sheesh


----------



## medic2230

mmaria said:


> I logged in and got irritated as soon as I logged in.
> 
> I mean, stupid situation and completely unnecessary soot | Photography Forum



Don't sweat the small stuff.


----------



## robbins.photo

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers. *YAWN*
> 
> Marija, I checked that thread. I saw a funny misunderstanding that was resolved and then vfotog being all Judgy McJudgerson for whatever reason. At this point, one of my students would say something about "haters" and the fact that they like to "hate."   (A piece of modern slang that I find quite...hateful, actually.) Don't worry about it, you're fabulous!
> 
> 
> 
> oh thank you for being normal !!!
> 
> I wasn't so upset by vfotog, I don't know the guy at all but the way Jason reacted and then he liked vfotog post.
> It supposed to be just that, a funny misunderstanding
> 
> oh well...
> 
> thank you
Click to expand...


Well, it ticks me off because I'm the resident Philistine, and frankly if I can't get all worked up over it nobody else ought to have the right too.. lol


----------



## medic2230

vintagesnaps said:


> I thought of Mary Poppins which I love but yeah,* now the song will be stuck in my head... *
> 
> You know Maria, even for* some of us who live in this country*, I don't know some of the stuff that you can find when you google it...  who knew?! and how/why did someone come up with something smutty with that?? sheesh



I posted you a new song to get in your head. 

Who we talking about that doesn't live in this country?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Maria. Or on here as she's known, mmaria. That's why she's googling our slang! lol Not surprising to me if she doesn't know what the heck we're talking about, I wonder sometimes what we're talking about. (You know, like Snerdy had to give up coffee, and cats are lushes.) At least Lenny has 'the kids' to help keep her up on the latest.


Oh good another song, maybe that'll help get those damn chimney sweeps out of my head! lol


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Oh good another song, maybe that'll help get those damn chimney sweeps out of my head! lol




Your wish is my command:







If that doesn't do the trick, nothing will.  Lol


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon Hosers! Been a pretty productive day. Removed the stupid canopy thing from our bed last night and I slept decently for the first time in a long time.

I've also decided to start working on a Darth Vader costume to join the 501st Legion. Here's the first one I hacked apart and reassembled:




DSC01981 by Michael Long, on Flickr

Made that 4 years ago. Now it's time to make something FAR more accurate and do some charitable work.


----------



## medic2230

vintagesnaps said:


> Maria. Or on here as she's known, mmaria. That's why she's googling our slang! lol Not surprising to me if she doesn't know what the heck we're talking about, I wonder sometimes what we're talking about. (You know, like Snerdy had to give up coffee, and cats are lushes.) At least Lenny has 'the kids' to help keep her up on the latest.
> 
> 
> Oh good another song, maybe that'll help get those damn chimney sweeps out of my head! lol



Where's Maria from? @mmaria


----------



## snowbear

medic2230 said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> I logged in and got irritated as soon as I logged in.
> 
> I mean, stupid situation and completely unnecessary soot | Photography Forum
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't sweat the small stuff.
Click to expand...


I REFUSE TO HIT THE PLAY BUTTON!
(Yes, I'm jammin' yelling.)


----------



## snowbear

medic2230 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maria. Or on here as she's known, mmaria. That's why she's googling our slang! lol Not surprising to me if she doesn't know what the heck we're talking about, I wonder sometimes what we're talking about. (You know, like Snerdy had to give up coffee, and cats are lushes.) At least Lenny has 'the kids' to help keep her up on the latest.
> 
> 
> Oh good another song, maybe that'll help get those damn chimney sweeps out of my head! lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Where's Maria from? @mmaria
Click to expand...

Eastern Europe (sort of).  She'll probably sign on in the "wee hours" (as far as eastern US goes)


----------



## snowbear




----------



## sm4him

medic2230 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maria. Or on here as she's known, mmaria. That's why she's googling our slang! lol Not surprising to me if she doesn't know what the heck we're talking about, I wonder sometimes what we're talking about. (You know, like Snerdy had to give up coffee, and cats are lushes.) At least Lenny has 'the kids' to help keep her up on the latest.
> 
> 
> Oh good another song, maybe that'll help get those damn chimney sweeps out of my head! lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Where's Maria from? @mmaria
Click to expand...


Marija is from "not here." 
*I* could tell you...but then I'd have to kill you. Plus, she'd kill me. And we can't have that.


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> Afternoon Hosers! Been a pretty productive day. Removed the stupid canopy thing from our bed last night and I slept decently for the first time in a long time.
> 
> I've also decided to start working on a Darth Vader costume to join the 501st Legion. Here's the first one I hacked apart and reassembled:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DSC01981 by Michael Long, on Flickr
> 
> Made that 4 years ago. Now it's time to make something FAR more accurate and do some charitable work.



Oh man, Coop, that already rocks pretty hard! I can't wait to see how you redesign it!


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maria. Or on here as she's known, mmaria. That's why she's googling our slang! lol Not surprising to me if she doesn't know what the heck we're talking about, I wonder sometimes what we're talking about. (You know, like Snerdy had to give up coffee, and cats are lushes.) At least Lenny has 'the kids' to help keep her up on the latest.
> 
> 
> Oh good another song, maybe that'll help get those damn chimney sweeps out of my head! lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Where's Maria from? @mmaria
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Marija is from "not here."
> *I* could tell you...but then I'd have to kill you. Plus, she'd kill me. And we can't have that.
Click to expand...


Well, I gave him the continent.  Now he can try to figure it out like I did back in the LB days).


----------



## medic2230

Are we posting homemade Halloween costumes in here now?


----------



## sm4him

medic2230 said:


> Are we posting homemade Halloween costumes in here now?



We post pretty much ANYthing we feel like posting in here. Unless it's an actual worthwhile photo--those have to be posted in their own thread on what I've come to think of as "regular TPF."


----------



## snowbear

Yes.  Look up "Fluff thread" in the dictionary and you will find a link to here.
But don't use Marija's dictionary. 

(just kidding, Marija.)


----------



## limr

My favorite homemade Hallowe'en costume was the Pop-Tart box costume I made when I was a kid. Great big box, arm and head holes cut out, bottom was open so I could walk easily. Even painted an offer for a free Frisbee with 3 proofs of purchase and $2.50 shipping and handling  It was a great costume. I could wear regular warm and comfortable clothes underneath, and when the big kids came out with the eggs and shaving cream, I just turtled in the box and waited for them to go away.

I should totally go as a Pop-Tart box again one of these years.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maria. Or on here as she's known, mmaria. That's why she's googling our slang! lol Not surprising to me if she doesn't know what the heck we're talking about, I wonder sometimes what we're talking about. (You know, like Snerdy had to give up coffee, and cats are lushes.) At least Lenny has 'the kids' to help keep her up on the latest.
> 
> 
> Oh good another song, maybe that'll help get those damn chimney sweeps out of my head! lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Where's Maria from? @mmaria
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Marija is from "not here."
> *I* could tell you...but then I'd have to kill you. Plus, she'd kill me. And we can't have that.
Click to expand...

I know.


----------



## medic2230

sm4him said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Are we posting homemade Halloween costumes in here now?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We post pretty much ANYthing we feel like posting in here. Unless it's an actual worthwhile photo--those have to be posted in their own thread on what I've come to think of as "regular TPF."
Click to expand...


Well in that case I have a few I've made. I make my son's costumes every year. Mainly because well, bought sucks.


Last year's BeeDo minion.

All the lights light up and rotate.




DSC_6273-Edit by Murphy Lege, on Flickr

Found the video:





Ambulance because what kid doesn't like an ambulance. Yes all the lights worked/flashed and it had a siren on it. I made the jump kit too for a candy collector. I did all the embroidery on it also.
















Ice cream truck the year before. Did all the embroidery on this one too and it was hell trying to cut out a truck shape and sew it together.






Dunkin donuts munchkin the year before that. This was the year I bought the embroidery machine and taught myself how to use it while making the costume. Those munchkin's (ball's) were hell to sew.






The full set. Made the hat and the coffee cup to collect candy.






This is what started it all. SpongeBob. I had never touched a sewing machine before in my life, bought one and taught myself how to sew while making it. I bought felt and went to town and learned costume making 101 sitting at the station on shift. lol

Spongebob was kind of beat up by this point as he was about 5 years old and he had seen his better days. He got played with a lot as you can see.


----------



## limr

How awesome are those costumes!! You are quite the Renaissance Man, aren't you?


----------



## medic2230

limr said:


> How awesome are those costumes!! You are quite the Renaissance Man, aren't you?




Thank You! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





I venture into whatever I need to do to get things done.  Little man said he wanted a SpongeBob costume and you see he got it.


----------



## limr

medic2230 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> How awesome are those costumes!! You are quite the Renaissance Man, aren't you?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thank You!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I venture into whatever I need to do to get things done.  Littla man said he wanted a SpongeBob costume and you see he got it.
Click to expand...


Lots of respect for that attitude! And the mad skills


----------



## medic2230

limr said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> How awesome are those costumes!! You are quite the Renaissance Man, aren't you?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thank You!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I venture into whatever I need to do to get things done.  Littla man said he wanted a SpongeBob costume and you see he got it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Lots of respect for that attitude! And the mad skills
Click to expand...


Funny thing is I probably have more sewing equipment than most women and only use it during Halloween. lmao

My wife can't even sew. She brings her pants to me when they need to be hemmed.


----------



## pixmedic

Omg. Omg. Omg....
So much blood, so many bleeding orifices. Someone please stop the madness tonight.


----------



## snowbear

Cup number one; it's always the best. 

I promised MLW that, if she made a "Big Fig" costume, I would perform the song & dance at her mother's at Thanskgiving or Christmas.

I'm sure glad she doesn't sew.


----------



## sm4him

pixmedic said:


> Omg. Omg. Omg....
> So much blood, so many bleeding orifices. Someone please stop the madness tonight.



Seriously, WHY is there not an "I feel for you" rating?  Hope the night finished on an upswing, Jason.


----------



## sm4him

@medic2230 Those are some fabulous costumes! I especially love that minion! I have a friend (an adult friend who has her own child) who would LOVE to wear that costume!

I made all my boys' costumes when they were growing up, mostly because they wanted to be things that weren't available store-bought, and I was a single mom so I couldn't really afford the premade ones anyway. Plus, as medic said, they were always so uninspiring.

My boys mostly liked being animals--it started with a cheetah, and my eldest (who was maybe 6 at the time) started schooling me on the difference between a cheetah's spots and a leopard's spots as I started the costumes. 

The cheetah was one of my favorites, as was the year my youngest son wanted to be a....skunk. So, I made a skunk costume. He loved it so much, he wore it again the next year!

I did make some "ordinary" stuff, like Superman and Superboy costumes one year. THAT was a mistake, because they then wore those durn capes EVERYwhere for about the next year, and even beyond.

My proudest costume moment, though, was when my youngest son was about 19 or 20. He came home about a week before Halloween and started digging through closets, looking for who knows what. Turned out, he was making himself a Mad Hatter costume, entirely out of items we already had.  He did an awesome job, considering he used only materials we had on hand--but I just loved that he wanted to do it!



 
I think he did find some other shoes after taking this picture!  His "pocket watch" was a full-sized alarm clock with a chain attached.


----------



## KenC

pixmedic said:


> Omg. Omg. Omg....
> So much blood, so many bleeding orifices. Someone please stop the madness tonight.



I hope it all turned out well.  One encounters some bleeding orifices in photography as well, but at least not in the literal sense.


----------



## pixmedic

KenC said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Omg. Omg. Omg....
> So much blood, so many bleeding orifices. Someone please stop the madness tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hope it all turned out well.  One encounters some bleeding orifices in photography as well, but at least not in the literal sense.
Click to expand...

Well, I'M fine.


----------



## Buckster

This past Saturday was a pretty big day for me.  My daughter got married to a really great guy that her mother and I think is just fantastic, and she had a surprise for me by inviting a very special guest: My 22 year old son, whom I haven't seen since he was 10.  It's the 4th time I've ever been able to see him in person, and it was a pretty great and emotional reunion.  And then I got to meet his newborn daughter, my 3rd grandchild, which just added to my joy for the day.

Lots of photos were taken throughout the day, but not a single one was shot by me, just as I planned.  I left all the picture taking to the professional wedding photographer we hired for the event.  He and I had a lot of fun camera gear / photographer conversations, and I'm looking forward to seeing what he got.  

His contract is very open, granting us license to do pretty much anything we want with the photos he shot, from editing the RAWs he'll deliver in addition to his processed images, to printing at will, publishing, showing online, etc.  I was pretty amazed at how open and unrestricted his contract is, but if it works for him, so be it.  It certainly works for us.

I've been wiped out here with crippling muscle cramps and aches ever since, but it was worth it, and I'm feeling better by the day.  I'm planning to get out and do a little shopping with my mother and take her to dinner later today even.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  I missed you all yesterday when I was trying to work from home and take care of some business at home at the same time.  In the evening I went to a MeetUp photo critique group around here.  It's an eclectic bunch of people with different interests who actually are interested in everyone's work.  I always look forward to it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. I've lost another five pounds since I last weighed myself. This morning, even as I keyboard, I decided to have an espresso ... and I'm having it black. (I don't need the extra calories from the sugar and froth.) This is my first black espresso.  After recovering from the first hit, it is quite good. Bad news is that we're in the middle of another triple digit heat wave, fortunately only 27% humidity. Yesterday I installed another row of stepping stones into the BBQ patio ... it killed me.  This is very hard work, the soil has been baked concrete hard and there is this thick solid layer of rocks, slightly bigger than gravel, that is encased in the concrete like dirt. I am only using a hand trowel. Yesterday, I decided to be stubborn and thought of being on my knees, literally stabbing the soil every single inch, (hortizontally and vertically), as a bit of extra exercise. Next time maybe not so much. Next time I think I'll take a roto hammer.  When I was finished, my clothing from hewad to toe, looked and smelled as if I was sprayed with a fire hose ... with untreated recycled water. The good news is my shipment of Russian River Vineyard vino arrived yesterday. Four bottles of sunlight and water ... four containers of delight. I told Mary Lou of the problem we have with being overstocked with wine ... her solution is that we're just going to have to drink it all.

Onto my second cup of espresso.


----------



## medic2230

sm4him said:


> @medic2230 Those are some fabulous costumes! I especially love that minion! I have a friend (an adult friend who has her own child) who would LOVE to wear that costume!
> 
> I made all my boys' costumes when they were growing up, mostly because they wanted to be things that weren't available store-bought, and I was a single mom so I couldn't really afford the premade ones anyway. Plus, as medic said, they were always so uninspiring.
> 
> My boys mostly liked being animals--it started with a cheetah, and my eldest (who was maybe 6 at the time) started schooling me on the difference between a cheetah's spots and a leopard's spots as I started the costumes.
> 
> The cheetah was one of my favorites, as was the year my youngest son wanted to be a....skunk. So, I made a skunk costume. He loved it so much, he wore it again the next year!
> 
> I did make some "ordinary" stuff, like Superman and Superboy costumes one year. THAT was a mistake, because they then wore those durn capes EVERYwhere for about the next year, and even beyond.
> 
> My proudest costume moment, though, was when my youngest son was about 19 or 20. He came home about a week before Halloween and started digging through closets, looking for who knows what. Turned out, he was making himself a Mad Hatter costume, entirely out of items we already had.  He did an awesome job, considering he used only materials we had on hand--but I just loved that he wanted to do it!
> 
> View attachment 107876
> I think he did find some other shoes after taking this picture!  His "pocket watch" was a full-sized alarm clock with a chain attached.



He did a awesome costume with what he found! You have taught him well.

I really like the pocket watch. lol


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. I've lost another five pounds since I last weighed myself. This morning, even as I keyboard, I decided to have an espresso ... and I'm having it black. (I don't need the extra calories from the sugar and froth.) This is my first black espresso.  After recovering from the first hit, it is quite good. Bad news is that we're in the middle of another triple digit heat wave, fortunately only 27% humidity. Yesterday I installed another row of stepping stones into the BBQ patio ... it killed me.  This is very hard work, the soil has been baked concrete hard and there is this thick solid layer of rocks, slightly bigger than gravel, that is encased in the concrete like dirt. I am only using a hand trowel. Yesterday, I decided to be stubborn and thought of being on my knees, literally stabbing the soil every single inch, (hortizontally and vertically), as a bit of extra exercise. Next time maybe not so much. Next time I think I'll take a roto hammer.  When I was finished, my clothing from hewad to toe, looked and smelled as if I was sprayed with a fire hose ... with untreated recycled water. The good news is my shipment of Russian River Vineyard vino arrived yesterday. Four bottles of sunlight and water ... four containers of delight. I told Mary Lou of the problem we have with being overstocked with wine ... her solution is that we're just going to have to drink it all.
> 
> Onto my second cup of espresso.



Black espresso is the way to go!

Whenever I think of espresso, I miss Portugal a LOT. I'd have my "meia de leite" in the morning (half espresso, half milk - their cup size was probably about 8oz) but in the afternoon, it was black espresso (I haven't put sugar in my coffee since I was a teenager.) We'd make several coffee runs to the cafe across the street. I SO miss how easy it was to just stand at the counter, pay 80 cents for an espresso, drink it down, have a little chat, and then get back to work. And the cafes were everywhere. There were about 15 cafes in the two-three blocks between my apartment and the closest main road.


----------



## limr

Oh, and morning, hosers!


----------



## Gary A.

An espresso and a chat in the afternoon is the best way to enjoy coffee.


----------



## sm4him

True confession: I cannot drink espresso.  I've tried, but I just can't do it.

I can drink black coffee, though it's not my preference. I can even drink STRONG black coffee. I've even had Scout Camp strong black coffee, which is possibly the strongest, most horrid coffee-like substance in the universe. But then, when you are camping with 10-40 boys aged 11-18, you'll take your morning caffeine however you can get it.

But I cannot abide the taste of espresso.


----------



## limr

True confession:

A chat and an afternoon espresso is one of the few situations that still kinda sorta makes me want a cigarette. Another situation is writing late at night. A third is sitting at a bar with a martini (a real martini, not these overly sweet contraptions they serve in massive martini glassed these days.)


----------



## Designer

So....Sitting in a bar, late at night, writing, drinking a real martini with an espresso chaser, what if somebody offered you a cigarette?  Would you smoke it?


----------



## medic2230

I really prefer my Coffee with chicory. Every time I make it at the station someone tries to throw it out thinking that it's been sitting there for hours cause it's so dark. I even told them I cut down on the grounds so they could drink it. Wussies.


----------



## medic2230

Designer said:


> So....Sitting in a bar, late at night, writing, drinking a real martini with an espresso chaser, what if somebody offered you a cigarette?  Would you smoke it?



I'd have to be all over a pack of smokes with that combo.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> So....Sitting in a bar, late at night, writing, drinking a real martini with an espresso chaser, what if somebody offered you a cigarette?  Would you smoke it?



Probably. But I'm the kind of person who could smoke a cigarette once every 5 years or so and take up the habit again. I think of it as a difference between "a person who smokes" and "a smoker."


----------



## waday




----------



## limr

medic2230 said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> So....Sitting in a bar, late at night, writing, drinking a real martini with an espresso chaser, what if somebody offered you a cigarette?  Would you smoke it?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd have to be all over a pack of smokes with that combo.
Click to expand...


Yeah, In that situation, I'd probably smoke more than one, and the next day it might be still on my mind, but then I'd get all huffy and puffy walking up some stairs and I'll say "Oh yeah!" and be done with it for a while


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Black espresso is the way to go!
> 
> Whenever I think of espresso, I miss Portugal a LOT.



Espresso makes me miss driving to Manhattan with my father to visit my grandfather, who always worked in local cafes (many different ones because he was impossible and difficult, but that's another story) where they served a little cup of black espresso with a little piece of lemon rind.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sounds like a scene out of movie, Lenny perched on a bar stool...

Murph those Halloween costumes are incredible, love those!

I got a plain white plastic 'Jason' goalie mask, decorated it to look like cheesy Cheevers, and stuck it on a pumpkin! the plastic kind you plug in. Of course teaching we did various pumpkin and whatnot crafts etc. so I've gotten to enjoy more than enough of that!


----------



## minicoop1985

@medic2230 .... So, wanna make a 501st approved Vader costume for me? 

In case you're all wondering what the hell I'm doing, it's way more than just a Halloween costume. It's a form of cosplay, but it's also for a good cause. I'd get to visit sick kids in the hospital, do charity work, do fundraisers for various causes... It's basically doing volunteer work as Darth Vader. Here, take a peek:

501st Legion: Vader's Fist

Also, afternoon Hosers. Been a pretty good day here, actually. Got some of the lawn mowed before the mower crapped out again (stalls when it gets too hot), had my two cups of coffee, slept great... Everything is lining up today.


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> @medic2230 .... So, wanna make a 501st approved Vader costume for me?
> 
> In case you're all wondering what the hell I'm doing, it's way more than just a Halloween costume. It's a form of cosplay, but it's also for a good cause. I'd get to visit sick kids in the hospital, do charity work, do fundraisers for various causes... It's basically doing volunteer work as Darth Vader. Here, take a peek:
> 
> 501st Legion: Vader's Fist
> 
> Also, afternoon Hosers. Been a pretty good day here, actually. Got some of the lawn mowed before the mower crapped out again (stalls when it gets too hot), had my two cups of coffee, slept great... Everything is lining up today.



How have I never heard of this before now? That is freakin' awesome.


----------



## snerd

Gawd it's sooooooooooo hot here still!!! 98 and 45% humidity! I will sooooooooooo never curse the cold again!!


----------



## snowbear

Here ya go:


----------



## Designer

vintagesnaps said:


> Sounds like a scene out of movie, Lenny perched on a bar stool...


I envision her at a table in the corner hunched over her laptop, several drink glasses and ashtray on the table, and never looking up.


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> Gawd it's sooooooooooo hot here still!!! 98 and 45% humidity! I will sooooooooooo never curse the cold again!!


I would LOVE that.


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like a scene out of movie, Lenny perched on a bar stool...
> 
> 
> 
> I envision her at a table in the corner hunched over her laptop, several drink glasses and ashtray on the table, and never looking up.
Click to expand...

And the TPF/CS guys milling around: "Dance, Ms R?  Dance?"


----------



## minicoop1985

Holy crap, real costumes are NOT cheap.


----------



## medic2230

minicoop1985 said:


> @medic2230 .... So, wanna make a 501st approved Vader costume for me?
> 
> In case you're all wondering what the hell I'm doing, it's way more than just a Halloween costume. It's a form of cosplay, but it's also for a good cause. I'd get to visit sick kids in the hospital, do charity work, do fundraisers for various causes... It's basically doing volunteer work as Darth Vader. Here, take a peek:
> 
> 501st Legion: Vader's Fist
> 
> Also, afternoon Hosers. Been a pretty good day here, actually. Got some of the lawn mowed before the mower crapped out again (stalls when it gets too hot), had my two cups of coffee, slept great... Everything is lining up today.



I doubt I could even make an adult costume. Much less a Vader hood. I tried to sew a pair of pants once. Notice key word in there, tried. Didn't work out well at all. I'll stick with my felt and kids costumes.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like a scene out of movie, Lenny perched on a bar stool...
> 
> 
> 
> I envision her at a table in the corner hunched over her laptop, several drink glasses and ashtray on the table, and never looking up.
Click to expand...


Yup, you nailed it 



sm4him said:


> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gawd it's sooooooooooo hot here still!!! 98 and 45% humidity! I will sooooooooooo never curse the cold again!!
> 
> 
> 
> I would LOVE that.
Click to expand...


How can you be my soul sister in every other way (except for football and strong black espresso) and yet still be the polar opposite of me on this???  

It was about 97F with higher humidity on Tuesday when I had to teach without air conditioning in a room that got direct afternoon sun. This is why I - unlike Tio Gary who goes out and does _yardwork - _basically hibernate all summer long.


----------



## limr

Oh, and it's vodka time again, y'all.

Yesterday, I got home from work, starving, and started cooking when I suddenly realized I forgot to pick up film that Buzz and I had dropped off at the lab. I ran back out to drive to the lab (about a 20-30 minute drive) only to find out a note to say they were sorry but had to close an hour early. Drove back home.

Today, I finished my classes and did a few things I had to do on campus. It wasn't raining. Then I drove up to the lab (again, about a 20-minute drive) in POURING rain (at least it wasn't hot again!) and got the film. I have decided to audit another paralegal class and it meets on Thursday nights, 6-9-something. So I drove back to campus in the pouring rain. 

I stopped at a nearby diner for some food because last I had forgotten to pack dinner for myself. It wasn't raining. Drove the 2 minutes to campus and get to the classroom at 6pm to see a professor that I didn't recognize (the prof's name on the schedule is a prof I've had twice before, so I knew who to expect.) I checked the schedule again to see if I had the wrong room. Nope. Right room, wrong day. My class doesn't start until the end of the month. I forgot that they often run an intensive Intro class for 3 weeks and then start other classes later, so students can cram more classes into the semester, since Intro is a prerequisite for just about all of them.

So I drove home. In the pouring rain. In lingering rush-hour traffic. 

Stopped at Buzz's to drop off his film, hung out for a little while. It wasn't raining. Was totally shot and needed to get home, so he walked me to the door. It was pouring rain.

Le sigh.

Tomorrow I'm going in to read 5 placement essays (for which I'll get 2-hours' pay - woot!) and then Buzz and I will be having afternoon margaritas.


----------



## snowbear

Fun night - Spatial Analysis (introductory) MOOC!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Fun night - Spatial Analysis (introductory) MOOC!



Ooh, that reminds me, I just got the notification that one of the classes I signed up for on Coursera just started. Buddhist Meditation the the Modern World.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Buddhist Meditation the the Modern World.



ooo, now that would be a fun and interesting class!   Cool!!!


----------



## snowbear

And we could certainly link those two classes together, somehow.

Oh, yeah: Buddhism is a religion.  Religion and beliefs are a large part of a culture. Culture is a key topic in human geography.  Spatial analysis is all about geography (as are many, many things).


----------



## limr

Yeah, I'm excited about it.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> And we could certainly link those two classes together, somehow.
> 
> Oh, yeah: Buddhism is a religion.  Religion and beliefs are a large part of a culture. Culture is a key topic in human geography.  Spatial analysis is all about geography (as are many, many things).



Close enough for government work 

Though I must say, the more I learn about Buddhism, the more I think of it as a philosophy rather than a religion. But it still works in your logical chain. Well, as far as your logical chain "works"


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fun night - Spatial Analysis (introductory) MOOC!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ooh, that reminds me, I just got the notification that one of the classes I signed up for on Coursera just started. Buddhist Meditation the the Modern World.
Click to expand...

I just noticed this - you MUST be REAL excited!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> And we could certainly link those two classes together, somehow.
> 
> Oh, yeah: Buddhism is a religion.  Religion and beliefs are a large part of a culture. Culture is a key topic in human geography.  Spatial analysis is all about geography (as are many, many things).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Close enough for government work
> 
> Though I must say, the more I learn about Buddhism, the more I think of it as a philosophy rather than a religion. But it still works in your logical chain. Well, as far as your logical chain "works"
Click to expand...

And we are gub'mint workers.


----------



## snowbear

It finally cooled off enough to open windows and turn off A/C.  Kitties are happy.


----------



## limr

I really am excited! And also pretty damn tired  

Well, this is certainly going to be a more interesting class than the last one I started: "Property and Liability: An introduction to law and economics". I enrolled when I was still working for Lumbergh and was trying to learn about real estate law and transactions so I could have a slightly easier time figuring crap out when he would say "Oh, just see how far you can get with this complicated UCC filing that I won't explain to you because I'm too busy planning my weekend party."  (Well, to be fair, he technically didn't say the part after the word "filing" but he really didn't need to. It was implied. Strongly strongly implied.)

Though I will say that it was slightly more interesting than it sounds, and I did learn things, even though I could only stomach half of the course.


----------



## snowbear

And, tonight's treat: Root beer and Rumchata on the rocks.  An adult root beer float type of thing.


----------



## limr

Mmmm. I had two vodka and oj's. My mouth totally wanted a third, but my slightly spinny head convinced my mouth that it probably wasn't a good idea   To be fair, I'm usually not this much of a light-weight, but it's been a long long day and there's not a whole hell of a lot in my stomach at this point.


----------



## snowbear

This tastes a bit like a root beer float after the ice cream has melted.

Of course, I could have really kicked it up by replacing the ice cubes with some Giffords of Maine, some of the best d@mned ice cream I've had (they started exporting it down here).


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fun night - Spatial Analysis (introductory) MOOC!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ooh, that reminds me, I just got the notification that one of the classes I signed up for on Coursera just started. Buddhist Meditation the the Modern World.
Click to expand...

<Fast forward to the end of the course>

....  A dejected Lenny walks into the house...

"What happened" asks Buzz, "I thought you'd ace that!"

"At the end of the last lecture.... I clapped with both hands!"


----------



## robbins.photo

Evening folks.

Just thought I'd drop by and let everyone know I'm going to be taking a hiatus from the forum for a while.  Don't really know for how long yet, but if anyone needs to get in touch with me for anything you can send me a PM - I'll still login occasionally to check those.  I just won't be posting publically, at least not in the foreseeable future.

You folks have fun, and be decent to each other. 

Later Gators.


----------



## mmaria

medic2230 said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> I logged in and got irritated as soon as I logged in.
> 
> I mean, stupid situation and completely unnecessary soot | Photography Forum
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't sweat the small stuff.
Click to expand...

thank you 

and 

lol I'm listening that song for a few months constantly. My daughter calls herself Elsa and sing that song all the time 

TY


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like a scene out of movie, Lenny perched on a bar stool...
> 
> 
> 
> I envision her at a table in the corner hunched over her laptop, several drink glasses and ashtray on the table, and never looking up.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup, you nailed it
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gawd it's sooooooooooo hot here still!!! 98 and 45% humidity! I will sooooooooooo never curse the cold again!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I would LOVE that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> How can you be my soul sister in every other way (except for football and strong black espresso) and yet still be the polar opposite of me on this???
> 
> It was about 97F with higher humidity on Tuesday when I had to teach without air conditioning in a room that got direct afternoon sun. This is why I - unlike Tio Gary who goes out and does _yardwork - _basically hibernate all summer long.
Click to expand...


Actually, our LOVE of football is the same, just our choices of teams and after all, that's really a circumstantial thing. Had we grown up in different places and/or chosen different paths at school, the teams we love would be different.  UT has something they call "VFL"--Vol for Life. Most people use it to mean they will always be a fan. I am more literally a Vol for Life, because I was born at UT Hospital and I'm an alumni of UT.  So I really have always been a Vol.

As far as the polar opposites on the weather--well, I figure if we were the same about that too, we'd just morph into one person! To keep us separate, there had to be a few differences. And again, the difference is really only in which kind of weather affects us. HOW it affects us is almost identical.


----------



## mmaria

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Marija, I checked that thread. I saw a funny misunderstanding that was resolved and then vfotog being all Judgy McJudgerson for whatever reason.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sort of like a much less entertaining version of the Peoples Court.
> 
> I read through it myself, and I'm like.. wow, really?  I mean of all the stuff that gets posted here, this is what your going to choose to make a thing out of?  Lol
Click to expand...

exactly


----------



## mmaria

medic2230 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maria. Or on here as she's known, mmaria. That's why she's googling our slang! lol Not surprising to me if she doesn't know what the heck we're talking about, I wonder sometimes what we're talking about. (You know, like Snerdy had to give up coffee, and cats are lushes.) At least Lenny has 'the kids' to help keep her up on the latest.
> 
> 
> Oh good another song, maybe that'll help get those damn chimney sweeps out of my head! lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Where's Maria from? @mmaria
Click to expand...

from far far away 

wonderland


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maria. Or on here as she's known, mmaria. That's why she's googling our slang! lol Not surprising to me if she doesn't know what the heck we're talking about, I wonder sometimes what we're talking about. (You know, like Snerdy had to give up coffee, and cats are lushes.) At least Lenny has 'the kids' to help keep her up on the latest.
> 
> 
> Oh good another song, maybe that'll help get those damn chimney sweeps out of my head! lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Where's Maria from? @mmaria
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Eastern Europe (sort of).  She'll probably sign on in the "wee hours" (as far as eastern US goes)
Click to expand...




sm4him said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maria. Or on here as she's known, mmaria. That's why she's googling our slang! lol Not surprising to me if she doesn't know what the heck we're talking about, I wonder sometimes what we're talking about. (You know, like Snerdy had to give up coffee, and cats are lushes.) At least Lenny has 'the kids' to help keep her up on the latest.
> 
> 
> Oh good another song, maybe that'll help get those damn chimney sweeps out of my head! lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Where's Maria from? @mmaria
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Marija is from "not here."
> *I* could tell you...but then I'd have to kill you. Plus, she'd kill me. And we can't have that.
Click to expand...


oh peeps


----------



## mmaria




----------



## sm4him

mmaria said:


>



Mmmm, just took a sip; thanks!

Although, I can't say that coffee makes me HAPPY all day. It just makes me far less likely to respond to others in a way that results in needing bail money.


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> Evening folks.
> 
> Just thought I'd drop by and let everyone know I'm going to be taking a hiatus from the forum for a while.  Don't really know for how long yet, but if anyone needs to get in touch with me for anything you can send me a PM - I'll still login occasionally to check those.  I just won't be posting publically, at least not in the foreseeable future.
> 
> You folks have fun, and be decent to each other.
> 
> Later Gators.



Have a nice vacation (or whatever it is).


----------



## mmaria

Today was pretty shitty day

 but yesterday was a pretty nice day


I went to ophthalmologist to check my vision and to buy new contacts... well... I was pleasantly surprised because my diopter changed. Yes, it went down for a full stop!

I don't know how you talk 20/80 or something about your vision, I remember something but don't remember exactly because we already talked about it but This change is huge, I haven't had this vision for years now!

Of course, she tried to make me prescription for glasses but she couldn't and she, as everybody else before her, concluded that I can't wear glasses.

I have to take of my contact and be decently blind for an hour during the day, my tear film is of course damaged and I still can't decide what I think about the laser but well... 

It's nice that I can see slightly better


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


>



Thank you, sweetie,


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> Today was pretty shitty day
> 
> but yesterday was a pretty nice day
> 
> 
> I went to ophthalmologist to check my vision and to buy new contacts... well... I was pleasantly surprised because my diopter changed. Yes, it went down for a full stop!
> 
> I don't know how you talk 20/80 or something about your vision, I remember something but don't remember exactly because we already talked about it but This change is huge, I haven't had this vision for years now!
> 
> Of course, she tried to make me prescription for glasses but she couldn't and she, as everybody else before her, concluded that I can't wear glasses.
> 
> I have to take of my contact and be decently blind for an hour during the day, my tear film is of course damaged and I still can't decide what I think about the laser but well...
> 
> It's nice that I can see slightly better


I hope tomorrow is better.


----------



## Peeb

robbins.photo said:


> Evening folks.
> 
> Just thought I'd drop by and let everyone know I'm going to be taking a hiatus from the forum for a while.  Don't really know for how long yet, but if anyone needs to get in touch with me for anything you can send me a PM - I'll still login occasionally to check those.  I just won't be posting publically, at least not in the foreseeable future.
> 
> You folks have fun, and be decent to each other.
> 
> Later Gators.


----------



## mmaria

robbins.photo said:


> Evening folks.
> 
> Just thought I'd drop by and let everyone know I'm going to be taking a hiatus from the forum for a while.  Don't really know for how long yet, but if anyone needs to get in touch with me for anything you can send me a PM - I'll still login occasionally to check those.  I just won't be posting publically, at least not in the foreseeable future.
> 
> You folks have fun, and be decent to each other.
> 
> Later Gators.



so after a while...


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> I hope tomorrow is better.


well it will be better 
I'm optimistic.
I'm alone with the kids this weekend and I'm planning our weekend, thinking where we can go, what we can do


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hope tomorrow is better.
> 
> 
> 
> well it will be better
> I'm optimistic.
> I'm alone with the kids this weekend and I'm planning our weekend, thinking where we can go, what we can do
Click to expand...


Come visit me & Lenny & Sharon.  That would be a VERY long weekend!


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hope tomorrow is better.
> 
> 
> 
> well it will be better
> I'm optimistic.
> I'm alone with the kids this weekend and I'm planning our weekend, thinking where we can go, what we can do
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Come visit me & Lenny & Sharon.  That would be a VERY long weekend!
Click to expand...

but a veeeery  interesting one!


----------



## limr

Guten morgen, mein hosers! Bom dia! Gunaydin! Dobro jutro!

And now I'm exhausted. Moar coffee!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Guten morgen, mein hosers! Bom dia! Gunaydin! Dobro jutro!
> 
> And now I'm exhausted. Moar coffee!


Oh languages can be exhausting.

I'm stupid and I'm smiling now because of it you can't see me | Photography Forum

It's good I could always laugh at my expense


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Guten morgen, mein hosers! Bom dia! Gunaydin! Dobro jutro!
> 
> And now I'm exhausted. Moar coffee!
> 
> 
> 
> Oh languages can be exhausting.
Click to expand...


So can being awake! 



> I'm stupid and I'm smiling now because of it you can't see me | Photography Forum
> 
> It's good I could always laugh at my expense



Just saw that. It was cute


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Just saw that. It was cute


I know you're being nice and all but it does make me feel a bit better


----------



## limr

But it really was cute!


----------



## waday

(ETA: I hope I didn't post this before?)


----------



## limr

I haven't seen you post it before.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I haven't seen you post it before.


Ok, good. I must have thought about it, haha. 

Also, not related, last night my wife said that her one coworker and coworker's wife were on an episode of House Hunters International. When we looked it up, we realized we had actually seen it when it first aired, haha. They didn't stay there long (Ecuador), just rented until the term position was up. Just a bit of odd knowledge that nobody probably cares about, haha.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Maybe not Wade but tell us anyway! lol It is funny to see someone you know, or a place in your hometown, or whatever on TV.

You're right Charlie, Maria is our sweetheart.

Maria I had a laser eye procedure done, different situation but it was quick and no biggie for me anyway. But then, having been thru stroke recovery, a lot of things aren't such a biggie anymore. (Fine, poke me with a cattle prod while you watch it on a screen, see if I care! lol)

Don't stay away too long Robbins you big ol' monkey. I haven't been using that ignore button but sometimes think it might not be a bad idea... I'm just glad at least in the coffee house we can talk and have fun.


----------



## sm4him

vintagesnaps said:


> I'm just glad at least in the coffee house we can talk and have fun.



You know, it really is amazing. Here we are, closing in fast on 11,000 posts, and I can think of very few instances we've had in this thread where there was any real drama between people--the few instances I can think of were fairly quickly worked out, and everyone moved on.
I'm pretty sure it's because us Hosers are just amazing people.


----------



## JacaRanda

Glad I'm not a regular Hoser,  wouldn't want to mess up my occasional Jerk Cred.


----------



## waday

sm4him said:


> very few instances we've had in this thread where there was any real drama between people


Sorry for the few instances involving me as an instigator, haha


----------



## JacaRanda

waday said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> very few instances we've had in this thread where there was any real drama between people
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry for the few instances involving me as an instigator, haha
Click to expand...


You big ole meanie!


----------



## sm4him

Well, @waday, sometimes you HAVE to stir up just a LITTLE bit of drama, keep things interesting!


----------



## waday

sm4him said:


> Well, @waday, sometimes you HAVE to stir up just a LITTLE bit of drama, keep things interesting!


It's true. I like keeping the coffee hot. Once the coffee cools, I can't drink it anymore. 



JacaRanda said:


> You big ole meanie!


I have my days...


----------



## waday

Why is it that I'm swamped in work, and I can't focus AT ALL. Must be the weekend; I can taste it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Admit it - you are a hoser, ya hoser!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Over 100,000 views?!?!?! What, have we got nothing better to do??? guess not...


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Over 100,000 views?!?!?! What, have we got nothing better to do??? guess not...


Is there anything better? (I think not!)


----------



## JacaRanda

waday said:


> Why is it that I'm swamped in work, and I can't focus AT ALL. Must be the weekend; I can taste it.



Could it be that Sexy Bon of a Sitch named Friday?


----------



## waday

JacaRanda said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why is it that I'm swamped in work, and I can't focus AT ALL. Must be the weekend; I can taste it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Could it be that Sexy Bon of a Sitch named Friday?
Click to expand...

Now that you mention it...


----------



## waday

Weekend's got me feeling like...


----------



## waday

Or...


----------



## JacaRanda

waday said:


> Weekend's got me feeling like...



Made me think immediately about the Shake It part of


----------



## waday

Or...


----------



## waday

JacaRanda said:


> Made me think immediately about the Shake It part of


Oh man, I haven't heard that in a while!


----------



## waday

Or...


----------



## waday

Or...


----------



## waday

Seriously, I can keep posting these...


----------



## limr

First...



JacaRanda said:


> Glad I'm not a regular Hoser,  wouldn't want to mess up my occasional Jerk Cred.



You're a lot of things, Jaca, but you're not a jerk! 

Second, I can post them, too, Wade:





And I'll tell y'all why...not only is it Friday, but...

I GOT THE JOB!


----------



## JacaRanda

limr said:


> First...
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Glad I'm not a regular Hoser,  wouldn't want to mess up my occasional Jerk Cred.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You're a lot of things, Jaca, but you're not a jerk!
> 
> Second, I can post them, too, Wade:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And I'll tell y'all why...not only is it Friday, but...
> 
> I GOT THE JOB!
Click to expand...

Wish I could just stand up and do what they are doing.   I'd get carried out of here in a straight jacket.   But how liberating it would be, before getting buckled in.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I GOT THE JOB!


Congrats!


----------



## JacaRanda

limr said:


> First...
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Glad I'm not a regular Hoser,  wouldn't want to mess up my occasional Jerk Cred.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You're a lot of things, Jaca, but you're not a jerk!
> 
> Second, I can post them, too, Wade:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And I'll tell y'all why...not only is it Friday, but...
> 
> I GOT THE JOB!
Click to expand...


CONGRATULATIONS ON THE NEW JOB!


----------



## limr

Thank you, gents!


----------



## snowbear

JacaRanda said:


> Glad I'm not a regular Hoser,  wouldn't want to mess up my occasional Jerk Cred.


That's what the C&C and Noob Intro threads are for.


----------



## snowbear

Oh, congratulations, Lenny!!  I'm at work so I can't look around for a "woohoo" animation, but:


----------



## terri

That's AWESOME, Lenny.... but sadly I cannot say I am actually _surprised_ over this awesome news.   

But congrats all the same, girl.   PAAAAAAR-TAY!!!!!!!!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> And I'll tell y'all why...not only is it Friday, but...
> 
> I GOT THE JOB!


----------



## waday




----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon, hosers! Been a pretty good day again. Removing that stupid canopy thing from our bed was the best decision I've made in a LONG time.


----------



## snowbear

replacing it with a big mirror and gopro, eh?


----------



## Peeb

So glad this week is out of its misery


----------



## snerd

Congrats, Lenny! Sounds exciting!!


----------



## Gary A.

^5 Leo!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Oh, congratulations, Lenny!!  I'm at work so I can't look around for a "woohoo" animation, but:





terri said:


> That's AWESOME, Lenny.... but sadly I cannot say I am actually _surprised_ over this awesome news.
> 
> But congrats all the same, girl.   PAAAAAAR-TAY!!!!!!!!





sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And I'll tell y'all why...not only is it Friday, but...
> 
> I GOT THE JOB!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 107943
Click to expand...




snerd said:


> Congrats, Lenny! Sounds exciting!!





Gary A. said:


> ^5 Leo!



Thank you, hosers! 

Don't remember how much I told y'all about it. It's another administrative position, but it's in Academic Affairs. I'll be working specifically on a project that develops a curriculum for high school seniors to help them get ready for college. Of the students who enroll in our college (remember, we're a community college and open admissions), generally 60-70% need remedial work in math, reading, or writing, and most of them need help in more than one area. This program is designed to help them do that catching up before they leave high school (you know, where they SHOULD be getting it in the first place.)

My job will involve a lot of coordinating of events and meetings, and I'm going to have to learn Excel better because there will be data to keep track of. I'll also be working out of the Division office, so I'll pitch in when they help dealing with students and schedules and enrollment issues, etc. And there's the potential for growth. In short, it's the first time non-teaching position I've had in a very very long time that exists because there's actually enough work to warrant support staff, rather than my job existing because someone else doesn't feel like doing theirs.

They have hit the ground running with this project, so next week is my last week at old admin job but I'll also be starting a few hours at the new job, too. And I'll have classes and one more placement reading session, so basically, next week, I'll be working four separate campus jobs!    Because I have a limit of how many hours I can work (since I'm still part-time, no matter how many jobs I have), I will only be able to placement readings between semesters or summers when I don't have teaching hours adding to my total, so this means that after next week, I'll only have to do two jobs at a time


----------



## snowbear

You'll do fine.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> You'll do fine.



I'll kick ass


----------



## terri

limr said:


> I'll kick ass



Of course, you will.    

It really sounds interesting, and challenging - and could be highly rewarding.   I get the feeling it's one of those things that could be the beginning of a natural progression of advancement for you, because of the leeway they're giving you to get the thing organized.   Since you naturally excel in organization, you've every reason to be excited (though it will probably be quite the workload at times).   

Excel is kind of boring but, once you learn a few tricks, whatever you'll need it for will likely become more repetitive and thus faster to use.   I learned some Excel tricks while kicking and screaming, but after awhile came to appreciate the stinking thing (only way to do a budget).    No sweat, you'll do great!


----------



## snowbear

Bored.  And wide awake.

Wow -- Total: 430 (members: 21, guests: 271, robots: 138)  Whole lot of creeping in the shadows.


----------



## medic2230

mmaria said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening folks.
> 
> Just thought I'd drop by and let everyone know I'm going to be taking a hiatus from the forum for a while.  Don't really know for how long yet, but if anyone needs to get in touch with me for anything you can send me a PM - I'll still login occasionally to check those.  I just won't be posting publically, at least not in the foreseeable future.
> 
> You folks have fun, and be decent to each other.
> 
> Later Gators.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> so after a while...
Click to expand...


My son loves the No David! books.


----------



## medic2230

limr said:


> First...
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Glad I'm not a regular Hoser,  wouldn't want to mess up my occasional Jerk Cred.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You're a lot of things, Jaca, but you're not a jerk!
> 
> Second, I can post them, too, Wade:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And I'll tell y'all why...not only is it Friday, but...
> 
> I GOT THE JOB!
Click to expand...


Congrats Leonore!!!


----------



## limr

Thank you!!


----------



## minicoop1985

Many congrat. So ulate. Much job. Wowe.

Oooh I dug this up.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> You'll do fine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll kick ass
Click to expand...

^5


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh great news on the job! (and you got a dancing broccoli!??!!!!!!)

Cold and rainy, feels like a watch college football on TV day. For as long as I can last thru a sport that isn't hockey! lol Which may not be long but if I watch football at all, it's colleges which locally/regionally hardly get televised any more.

So of course have been checking out the hockey schedules for October...


----------



## medic2230

vintagesnaps said:


> Oh great news on the job! (and you got a dancing broccoli!??!!!!!!)
> 
> Cold and rainy, feels like a watch college football on TV day. For as long as I can last thru a sport that isn't hockey! lol Which may not be long but if I watch football at all, it's colleges which locally/regionally hardly get televised any more.
> 
> So of course have been checking out the hockey schedules for October...



Who doesn't love dancing broccoli?


----------



## vintagesnaps

'Victory tastes like turtle soup.' Said by some announcer... don't know who, but - yeah!

Bummer that due to lightning delays didn't get to see the rest of the game (BTN went to OSU) and could only get audio.

Pouring rain so plans to go out for dinner changed to dinner in, temps dropping into instant fall weather.


----------



## sm4him

I am a nervous wreck watching this Tennessee v. Oklahoma game! It's almost the end of the 3rd quarter, and we're up by 14, but I'm about to have a heart attack.
Before the game, I was just excited to see whether we are actually GOOD, or just "you can beat Bowling Green" kind of good. Our defense came out MUCH better at home against OU and the offense started strong.

But the offense has kind of struggled in the 3rd quarter, and we all know 14 point leads can disappear pretty quickly!
Mostly, it's just that this program has SO many "almost wins" over the last few years--we NEED this win against a ranked opponent!!

As I was typing, our defense got an interception!  And then our offense fumbled and very nearly gave the ball right back to OU.
THIS is why I'm gonna have a heart attack.


----------



## medic2230

vintagesnaps said:


> 'Victory tastes like turtle soup.' Said by some announcer... don't know who, but - yeah!
> 
> Bummer that due to lightning delays didn't get to see the rest of the game (BTN went to OSU) and could only get audio.
> 
> Pouring rain so plans to go out for dinner changed to dinner in, temps dropping into instant fall weather.



Turtle soup is some good stuff.

Watched the game till almost half-time and fell asleep. 37-10 Bama. Woot!


----------



## snowbear

MLW just got home from her OT stint.  She was supposed to get off at 7, but among a couple other things, this happened.  She stayed to get notifications out, commander log entries made, and the other stuff that they do at that office when the stuff hits the fan.

Dinner is sloppy Joes, apple sauce, and cheese/mac (all home made),  She's happy.


----------



## limr

Yikes, Sharon, we're both having heart-attack games!


----------



## limr

PICKED!!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Yikes, Sharon, we're both having heart-attack games!



I cannot take this. Seriously, I think I'm about to be sick.  
I wish I were on blood pressure medication, just so I'd have some here to take right about now.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> I wish I were on blood pressure medication, just so I'd have some here to take right about now.


Try tequila


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wish I were on blood pressure medication, just so I'd have some here to take right about now.
> 
> 
> 
> Try tequila
Click to expand...


I'm already on a healthy dose of Fireball Whisky. It ain't helping.


----------



## medic2230

snowbear said:


> MLW just got home from her OT stint.  She was supposed to get off at 7, but among a couple other things, this happened.  She stayed to get notifications out, commander log entries made, and the other stuff that they do at that office when the stuff hits the fan.
> 
> Dinner is sloppy Joes, apple sauce, and cheese/mac (all home made),  She's happy.



She a firefighter?


----------



## medic2230

sm4him said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wish I were on blood pressure medication, just so I'd have some here to take right about now.
> 
> 
> 
> Try tequila
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm already on a healthy dose of Fireball Whisky. It ain't helping.
Click to expand...


Chase it with some American Honey.


----------



## snowbear

medic2230 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> MLW just got home from her OT stint.  She was supposed to get off at 7, but among a couple other things, this happened.  She stayed to get notifications out, commander log entries made, and the other stuff that they do at that office when the stuff hits the fan.
> 
> Dinner is sloppy Joes, apple sauce, and cheese/mac (all home made),  She's happy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> She a firefighter?
Click to expand...

No, administrative aide for the operations Deputy Chief (Lt Col, old style rankings).  She pulls in overtime at the watch office.


----------



## snowbear

medic2230 said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wish I were on blood pressure medication, just so I'd have some here to take right about now.
> 
> 
> 
> Try tequila
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm already on a healthy dose of Fireball Whisky. It ain't helping.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Chase it with some American Honey.
Click to expand...


And thin out that honey with vodka


----------



## sm4him

Sheeeeeeet.
We're gonna lose this game.
God, I hate football.


----------



## medic2230

snowbear said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wish I were on blood pressure medication, just so I'd have some here to take right about now.
> 
> 
> 
> Try tequila
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm already on a healthy dose of Fireball Whisky. It ain't helping.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Chase it with some American Honey.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And thin out that honey with vodka
Click to expand...


I doubt she would make it to the end of the game with that combo.


----------



## medic2230

snowbear said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> MLW just got home from her OT stint.  She was supposed to get off at 7, but among a couple other things, this happened.  She stayed to get notifications out, commander log entries made, and the other stuff that they do at that office when the stuff hits the fan.
> 
> Dinner is sloppy Joes, apple sauce, and cheese/mac (all home made),  She's happy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> She a firefighter?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No, administrative aide for the operations Deputy Chief (Lt Col, old style rankings).  She pulls in overtime at the watch office.
Click to expand...


Gotcha! Dinner sounds like a winner!


----------



## sm4him

medic2230 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wish I were on blood pressure medication, just so I'd have some here to take right about now.
> 
> 
> 
> Try tequila
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm already on a healthy dose of Fireball Whisky. It ain't helping.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Chase it with some American Honey.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And thin out that honey with vodka
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I doubt she would make it to the end of the game with that combo.
Click to expand...


Well, since the game was already in OT...

And...it's over.  Oklahoma intercepted a pass from Dobbs. We lose. Again. I am so sick and tired of "almost" winning games. Blew a 17-point lead. I think I need a new pastime.


----------



## snowbear

sm4him said:


> I am so sick and tired of "almost" winning games. Blew a 17-point lead. I think I need a new pastime.



How about photography or running contests to name two?


----------



## limr

Sorry, Sharon  I wasn't watching it but was following the OT on the ESPN app on my phone. 'Cause I'm all hip like that


----------



## medic2230

limr said:


> Sorry, Sharon  I wasn't watching it but was following the OT on the ESPN app on my phone. 'Cause I'm all hip like that



Look at you, all spiffy and modern.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> 'Cause I'm all hip like that


And so pretty when you smile!  (ducks and runs from room covering genital area with something very durable)


----------



## snerd

sm4him said:


> And...it's over.  Oklahoma intercepted a pass from Dobbs. We lose. Again. I am so sick and tired of "almost" winning games. Blew a 17-point lead. I think I need a new pastime.


Although my loyalties lie with Oklahoma State, I won't just dismiss an OU win. They looked terrible, though. Yes, Tenn blowing that big lead was da pits! I've gotten to where I can't hardly watch them either........... it's just too damn stressful.


----------



## limr

Well, THAT was stressful! Thank you, last minute fumble! I mean, we still might have stopped them, but given how the Gators apparently completely forgot their pass defense in the last 3 minutes, it's very possible E.Carolina would have scored. 

Of course, it wouldn't have been that close at the end had our field goal kicker actually showed up for the game 




snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 'Cause I'm all hip like that
> 
> 
> 
> And so pretty when you smile!  (ducks and runs from room covering genital area with something very durable)
Click to expand...


----------



## limr

Happy Sunday, hosers.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Happy Sunday, hosers.


Good morning.  At Dolceza, City Center DC with Miriam, Andrew and Jeremy.  Brunch at the Cuba restaurant in 20 minutes.


----------



## limr

Enjoy bunch with the fambly! 

Today I'll be cleaning, scanning film, doing school work.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, hosers! Another day filled with handegg. Oh joy.

I ordered the first part (that I didn't already have) of my Vader costume!!!! Getting even more excited.


----------



## Designer

"Framily"


----------



## Designer

I almost joined the regular Sunday morning Bible study this morning, but as I did not see a place for me to sit with my friends, and I know the coffee is terrible, I decided to maintain my standard behavior of skipping it.  

I may be going to H*ll, but at least the coffee is better there.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## JacaRanda

limr said:


> Sorry, Sharon  I wasn't watching it but was following the OT on the ESPN app on my phone. 'Cause I'm all hip like that



Yesss, we always need more Hipsters.  Lady Hipster!


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> I almost joined the regular Sunday morning Bible study this morning, but as I did not see a place for me to sit with my friends, and I know the coffee is terrible, I decided to maintain my standard behavior of skipping it.
> 
> I may be going to H*ll, but at least the coffee is better there.


Reliably hot.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> View attachment 108036


THAT ... looks inviting.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 108036
> 
> 
> 
> THAT ... looks inviting.
Click to expand...

It was excellent.  Definitely coming back.


----------



## minicoop1985

Go sports! Do the thing! Win the points!


----------



## Designer

Some official owes the Texans 4 points.


----------



## snowbear

It turned out to be an extra special day, peeps.  When we got home, the Amazon fairy had left a box at the door!
Inside the brown box, three pretty little boxes with their even prettier contents were patiently waiting for me.




cmw3_d40_6368 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr




cmw3_d40_6372 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

Later, after I've rested up, I'll post a sample of the visual sweetness inside the bottles.


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> I almost joined the regular Sunday morning Bible study this morning, but as I did not see a place for me to sit with my friends, and I know the coffee is terrible, I decided to maintain my standard behavior of skipping it.
> 
> I may be going to H*ll, but at least the coffee is better there.



_They say there's a heaven for those who will wait
Some say it's better but I say it ain't
I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints
The sinners are much more fun_
_Honey, only the good die young._   -- Billy Joel


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.
Working on cup number one and looking forward to a (so far) nice Autumn day.


----------



## mmaria

morning


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, Marija.  How was you weekend?


----------



## Designer

Good morning/afternoon!

Going shooting this morning.  

Still have gardening to do (to get ready for winter).


----------



## limr

Morning/afternoon, hosers!

Today starts my transition week. Today I go to old admin job. Tomorrow, I teach. Wednesday, I do placement readings in the morning, then my last at old admin job, and then the first couple of hours at new admin job. Thursday, I teach. Friday, new admin job.


----------



## mmaria

*hey you got the job!!!!


OH YEAH!!!!!!*


----------



## oldhippy

limr said:


> Morning/afternoon, hosers!
> For my teacher buddy
> 
> Today starts my transition week. Today I go to old admin job. Tomorrow, I teach. Wednesday, I do placement readings in the morning, then my last at old admin job, and then the first couple of hours at new admin job. Thursday, I teach. Friday, new admin job.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Good afternoon, Marija.  How was you weekend?


the weekend was very nice ty
yours?


----------



## limr

Thanks, Ed and Marija!


----------



## Designer

Sounds like you're going to be busy.

All week.


----------



## terri

Morning, hosers!     My first cuppa is long gone, and I'm debating when to pour up the second.

Lenny, I think this week sounds all exciting and busy for you, in a good way.   Aren't the transitional periods of our lives generally the most invigorating?    

Savor, savor, savor!


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good afternoon, Marija.  How was you weekend?
> 
> 
> 
> the weekend was very nice ty
> yours?
Click to expand...

It was fantastic.  We had brunch at a Cuban restaurant with both of my sons, and I received some (very pretty) ink that I had ordered.


----------



## medic2230

Went to mow my grass yesterday evening. Mower wouldn't crank so I took the carb off and cleaned it and it cranked right up. Made 4 swipes of the yard and it shut off and wouldn't run anymore. Said hell with it and grabbed the weed eater and decided to just scalp the yard. Neighbor saw me and came over said "you want to borrow my rider and knock that out?" I was like…ummm yeah if you don't mind. He said "I've been there before having to cut grass with a weed eater and it sucks come over here and get this thing". I got the front yard don't and took it back. He said "Don't you need to do the back too?" I told him I'd work on my mower in the morning and get it going and do it. He told me to just keep the rider and he'll get it back tomorrow. Nice guy. 

On another note, I left the POS mower of mine in the yard hoping someone would relieve me of it so I didn't have to look at the POS anymore and it was still sitting there this morning. Guess everyone has seen me working on it all the time and said we don't want that crap. lol


----------



## Gary A.

I use an electric mower. Easier on the environment.


----------



## snowbear

I'm in an apartment.  They have landscapers.  If we buy a house, I'll get goats.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> I'm in an apartment.  They have landscapers.  If we buy a house, I'll get goats.


Why buy when you can rent?


----------



## snowbear

There are tax advantages; or are you referring to renting goats?


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> There are tax advantages; or are you referring to renting goats?


Did you follow the link?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey congrats on getting the job!!! 

Bring it to my house, usually somebody will take it before trash pickup day. And they won't know it's yours!

C'mon it's a Monday, you can't expect people to look at a link can ya?! lol

Okay I did, and all I could think is I can't believe they let those poor goats loose next to the interstate... then realized it was train tracks. Which I'm not sure is better! unless they could do drive by shearing from the choo choos as they whiz by.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> There are tax advantages; or are you referring to renting goats?
> 
> 
> 
> Did you follow the link?
Click to expand...

On the phone so I didn't notice it was a link . . . That would work.


----------



## sm4him

medic2230 said:


> On another note, I left the POS mower of mine in the yard hoping someone would relieve me of it so I didn't have to look at the POS anymore and it was still sitting there this morning. Guess everyone has seen me working on it all the time and said we don't want that crap. lol



Reminds me of a story (although not about mowers). When my middle brother was in his very early 20s, he was working on his motorcycle, out in our driveway.  My brother was not--then, or now--one to work on a vehicle without the occasional moments that would have to be bleeped out for a younger audience. I grew up thinking certain words must be some sort of magical incantation that one was required to scream at a vehicle in order for the repair to be complete. 

Anyway, it wasn't going well, and he'd already passed the point where even cursing helped alleviate his frustration. So, he picked up the entire motorcycle...and hurled it out into the street.
And walked inside. 

My mother, who had heard the sound and come to investigate, said, "You can't just LEAVE that motorcycle in the road!"

My brother said a rather adult version of "hide and watch."


----------



## sm4him

My youngest son usually mows our yard. But he's not very timely about it, and when he does finally get around to it, the mower always dies at some point, leaving at least half the yard unmowed.

This year, with him out of town so much (he works for a caterer that specializes in doing band tours, and was gone "on tour" most of the summer), my neighbor came over and did it once, and then asked if I would *mind* if he kept mowing it!
So, he has kept the entire yard (about 3/4 of an acre, and with no garden this year to fill some of it) mowed this summer.


----------



## sm4him

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm in an apartment.  They have landscapers.  If we buy a house, I'll get goats.
> 
> 
> 
> Why buy when you can rent?
Click to expand...


My city actually rents this team of goats every summer to try to keep all the kudzu at bay in certain parts of town.

This is from when they "worked" at a small park less than a mile from my home (and less than a mile the other direction from downtown):


----------



## Designer

Well, I've heard something to the effect that goats are not particularly discerning in the taste of their food, but KUDZU?  Seriously?  How many goats do they have to rent to keep the kudzu under control?


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> Well, I've heard something to the effect that goats are not particularly discerning in the taste of their food, but KUDZU?  Seriously?  How many goats do they have to rent to keep the kudzu under control?



That's a trick question.
You can't keep kudzu under control! 

You sure as HECK can't do it with a few measly goats!


----------



## medic2230

Gary A. said:


> I use an electric mower. Easier on the environment.



Electric wouldn't last 5 minutes in the grass I have.


----------



## snerd

sm4him said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm in an apartment.  They have landscapers.  If we buy a house, I'll get goats.
> 
> 
> 
> Why buy when you can rent?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My city actually rents this team of goats every summer to try to keep all the kudzu at bay in certain parts of town.
> 
> This is from when they "worked" at a small park less than a mile from my home (and less than a mile the other direction from downtown):
Click to expand...

Kudzu! That just made me think of 'ole Jimmy Carter, and when he was talking about it in an interview once. And then that made me remember the mad rabbit incident lol!!


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good afternoon, Marija.  How was you weekend?
> 
> 
> 
> the weekend was very nice ty
> yours?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It was fantastic.  We had brunch at a Cuban restaurant with both of my sons, and I received some (very pretty) ink that I had ordered.
Click to expand...

glad for you


----------



## mmaria

Hey

we don't have enough of blinking, pink stuff around here  







( yes, I too have a headache looking at this)


----------



## terri

Wow, marija....that's perky.    

And a good morning to you, too!


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers! Horrible allergies today and can't find my allergy meds. Oh joy.

I joined a 501st Legion forum. Man, those people are incredibly welcoming and supportive.


----------



## sm4him

@limr: I thought of you today when I saw a wonderfully horrible typo.  Actually, I think calling it a "typo" is pretty gracious on my part--based on the rest of the writing, I suspect that it was not so much a slip of the typing finger, as a slipping gear in the part of the brain that retains actual English.

Anyway, this guy was asking for ideas to propose to his girlfriend. He felt like it "was time," because they had really "hit a mild stone" in their relationship.


----------



## snowbear

Propose?  In the South?

"You're _what_?"


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> @limr: I thought of you today when I saw a wonderfully horrible typo.  Actually, I think calling it a "typo" is pretty gracious on my part--based on the rest of the writing, I suspect that it was not so much a slip of the typing finger, as a slipping gear in the part of the brain that retains actual English.
> 
> Anyway, this guy was asking for ideas to propose to his girlfriend. He felt like it "was time," because they had really "hit a mild stone" in their relationship.



And they want to get married before they succumb to they injuries they sustained in that collision? Though I suppose that's a bit overly dramatic, given it was only a mild stone


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> "hit a mild stone"


So no diamond, then.


----------



## jcdeboever

medic2230 said:


> Went to mow my grass yesterday evening. Mower wouldn't crank so I took the carb off and cleaned it and it cranked right up. Made 4 swipes of the yard and it shut off and wouldn't run anymore. Said hell with it and grabbed the weed eater and decided to just scalp the yard. Neighbor saw me and came over said "you want to borrow my rider and knock that out?" I was like…ummm yeah if you don't mind. He said "I've been there before having to cut grass with a weed eater and it sucks come over here and get this thing". I got the front yard don't and took it back. He said "Don't you need to do the back too?" I told him I'd work on my mower in the morning and get it going and do it. He told me to just keep the rider and he'll get it back tomorrow. Nice guy.
> 
> On another note, I left the POS mower of mine in the yard hoping someone would relieve me of it so I didn't have to look at the POS anymore and it was still sitting there this morning. Guess everyone has seen me working on it all the time and said we don't want that crap. lol


What brand is it? I have a rider and a old as dirt craftsman still going (30 years old). All I do is change the oil, filters, and plug every spring. I've put some new wheels on it this year. I also put that anti ethanol treatment in the gas can religiously, if you don't it will destroy fuel system / carb. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## medic2230

jcdeboever said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Went to mow my grass yesterday evening. Mower wouldn't crank so I took the carb off and cleaned it and it cranked right up. Made 4 swipes of the yard and it shut off and wouldn't run anymore. Said hell with it and grabbed the weed eater and decided to just scalp the yard. Neighbor saw me and came over said "you want to borrow my rider and knock that out?" I was like…ummm yeah if you don't mind. He said "I've been there before having to cut grass with a weed eater and it sucks come over here and get this thing". I got the front yard don't and took it back. He said "Don't you need to do the back too?" I told him I'd work on my mower in the morning and get it going and do it. He told me to just keep the rider and he'll get it back tomorrow. Nice guy.
> 
> On another note, I left the POS mower of mine in the yard hoping someone would relieve me of it so I didn't have to look at the POS anymore and it was still sitting there this morning. Guess everyone has seen me working on it all the time and said we don't want that crap. lol
> 
> 
> 
> What brand is it? I have a rider and a old as dirt craftsman still going (30 years old). All I do is change the oil, filters, and plug every spring. I've put some new wheels on it this year. I also put that anti ethanol treatment in the gas can religiously, if you don't it will destroy fuel system / carb.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


It's a Toro with a Kohler engine on it. I use the Stabil in it also. I've cleaned the carb out this season 6 times already.


----------



## snerd

Designer said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> "hit a mild stone"
> 
> 
> 
> So no diamond, then.
Click to expand...

Or bad herb.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

New job starts this afternoon, right after the last day at my old job. I already have a to-do list (new boss will be in a meeting today when I start and won't be able to get me oriented and working on things, so we met yesterday to go over some things to do.)

One of the responsibilities I'll have is to help arrange four events for the high school students we'll be working with. The first one is in a week and a half, so I'm being thrown right into the deep end. One thing she asked me to do was to follow up on some questions the PR person had about the photography for the event. My ears got all kinds of perked up!   Then later came the email that everything on that end had actually already been sorted out, and I admit to perhaps a tiny bit of pouting.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> One thing she asked me to do was to follow up on some questions the PR person had about the photography for the event.


Considering you're just getting started there, it would not be prudent of you to watch for gross malfeasance in that and call them out on it, but if you see something gone awry, keep notes to yourself so you can pipe up the next time.


----------



## mmaria

I'm staying in a really crappy hotel!
Huge surprise what they booked. They say they didn't know!
it's going to be just one night,I'll survive... but still 

the good thing about today is that in less than an hour I'll be shooting a really beautiful girl.
Bad thing about that is that I don't have any idea how to shoot her... portrait off course but what and how else?


----------



## minicoop1985

I hate crappy hotels. At least there's no roaches. Been there, done that... still emotionally scarred.

I'm on more waiting lists for Vader parts.  I hate waiting so much. I'm a two day shipping kinda guy.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> One thing she asked me to do was to follow up on some questions the PR person had about the photography for the event.
> 
> 
> 
> Considering you're just getting started there, it would not be prudent of you to watch for gross malfeasance in that and call them out on it, but if you see something gone awry, keep notes to yourself so you can pipe up the next time.
Click to expand...


Well, I've also seen pictures from campus events and so I know not to expect too much


----------



## tirediron

medic2230 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Went to mow my grass yesterday evening. Mower wouldn't crank so I took the carb off and cleaned it and it cranked right up. Made 4 swipes of the yard and it shut off and wouldn't run anymore. Said hell with it and grabbed the weed eater and decided to just scalp the yard. Neighbor saw me and came over said "you want to borrow my rider and knock that out?" I was like…ummm yeah if you don't mind. He said "I've been there before having to cut grass with a weed eater and it sucks come over here and get this thing". I got the front yard don't and took it back. He said "Don't you need to do the back too?" I told him I'd work on my mower in the morning and get it going and do it. He told me to just keep the rider and he'll get it back tomorrow. Nice guy.
> 
> On another note, I left the POS mower of mine in the yard hoping someone would relieve me of it so I didn't have to look at the POS anymore and it was still sitting there this morning. Guess everyone has seen me working on it all the time and said we don't want that crap. lol
> 
> 
> 
> What brand is it? I have a rider and a old as dirt craftsman still going (30 years old). All I do is change the oil, filters, and plug every spring. I've put some new wheels on it this year. I also put that anti ethanol treatment in the gas can religiously, if you don't it will destroy fuel system / carb.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's a Toro with a Kohler engine on it. I use the Stabil in it also. I've cleaned the carb out this season 6 times already.
Click to expand...

In addition to Stabil, add a dose of carb cleaner to the fuel.  That said, if you get 5 years out of a diaphragm carb these days, you're doing VERY well.  On the bright side, a kit (~$20) and 30 minutes at the kitchen table with a couple of small screw-drivers, pliers, etc will have it sorted.


----------



## vintagesnaps

'People love to run for beer.' Quote of the day on the local news! lol talking about a brewery run, yeah that ought to get people motivated.

Hmm, I write a check, that's what gets my grass cut.


----------



## minicoop1985

Cooper had an absolute MELTDOWN when it was time to leave school. Argh. Was so embarrassing. For both me and I'm sure him, because it was in front of all of his friends. Absolute tantrum.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Aw, how old is he now? I used to do classes/groups with 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 year olds - yeah, they can throw some good tantrums. I've experienced my share of three year old meltdowns.

I was used to it, probably his preschool teachers have experienced plenty of tantrums. Had it happen on home visits too, and at visits seeing kids at day cares - who wants to stop playing and clean up, or put toys away, etc.??? that's no fun!


----------



## Designer

tirediron said:


> In addition to Stabil, add a dose of carb cleaner to the fuel.  That said, if you get 5 years out of a diaphragm carb these days, you're doing VERY well.  On the bright side, a kit (~$20) and 30 minutes at the kitchen table with a couple of small screw-drivers, pliers, etc will have it sorted.


Unfortunately, I had to retire a blower that I had used for many years because I could no longer buy a carburetor rebuild kit.  Sears Craftsman parts now wants a small fortune for each little part, and the complete kit is not listed for sale.  

So I bought a different make of blower.  

Anybody want the Craftsman?


----------



## limr

Hey hosers!

I survived the day.  Got some flowers and a few little gifts from people at the old job, and they also surprised me by including me in their lunch order/plans (even though they forgot that I'm a vegetarian and got me a sandwich with chicken. I picked it out and gave it to a friend, and luckily was still left with salad, broccoli rabe and some cheese for the sandwich). So far the new job seems like it will work out. A woman that I've known for a while has also been transferred to work in that office, and I like her, so that's good, and the other people seem like they'll also be good to work with. Most importantly, there's a set up for coffee!


----------



## snowbear

Here are a couple more flowers  for you, Leonore.




DSC_5987.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Here are a couple more flowers  for you, Leonore.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_5987.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr



Thank you, my sweet!


----------



## snowbear

Well, y'all; this is my Friday!

MLW has three-month followup with the surgeon, tomorrow.  That also means lunch at a decent little sandwich chain (specializes in roast turkey) that we only get to when we're in DC.

The following day, it's another trip downtown to the art gallery with lazy lobster for an exhibit he's been wanting to see.


----------



## Gary A.

Back at the Bowl for some Jazz.


----------



## medic2230

tirediron said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Went to mow my grass yesterday evening. Mower wouldn't crank so I took the carb off and cleaned it and it cranked right up. Made 4 swipes of the yard and it shut off and wouldn't run anymore. Said hell with it and grabbed the weed eater and decided to just scalp the yard. Neighbor saw me and came over said "you want to borrow my rider and knock that out?" I was like…ummm yeah if you don't mind. He said "I've been there before having to cut grass with a weed eater and it sucks come over here and get this thing". I got the front yard don't and took it back. He said "Don't you need to do the back too?" I told him I'd work on my mower in the morning and get it going and do it. He told me to just keep the rider and he'll get it back tomorrow. Nice guy.
> 
> On another note, I left the POS mower of mine in the yard hoping someone would relieve me of it so I didn't have to look at the POS anymore and it was still sitting there this morning. Guess everyone has seen me working on it all the time and said we don't want that crap. lol
> 
> 
> 
> What brand is it? I have a rider and a old as dirt craftsman still going (30 years old). All I do is change the oil, filters, and plug every spring. I've put some new wheels on it this year. I also put that anti ethanol treatment in the gas can religiously, if you don't it will destroy fuel system / carb.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's a Toro with a Kohler engine on it. I use the Stabil in it also. I've cleaned the carb out this season 6 times already.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> In addition to Stabil, add a dose of carb cleaner to the fuel.  That said, if you get 5 years out of a diaphragm carb these days, you're doing VERY well.  On the bright side, a kit (~$20) and 30 minutes at the kitchen table with a couple of small screw-drivers, pliers, etc will have it sorted.
Click to expand...


I'll have to try the dose of carb cleaner in the weed eater. It's acting up a little too. I just replaced the carb on it last year. It was $28 for a rebuild kit for it or $48 for a carb ready to go and just bolt it on and cut. Well that was a no brainer.

Got the mower problem fixed today. Bought a rider.


----------



## medic2230

Designer said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> In addition to Stabil, add a dose of carb cleaner to the fuel.  That said, if you get 5 years out of a diaphragm carb these days, you're doing VERY well.  On the bright side, a kit (~$20) and 30 minutes at the kitchen table with a couple of small screw-drivers, pliers, etc will have it sorted.
> 
> 
> 
> Unfortunately, I had to retire a blower that I had used for many years because I could no longer buy a carburetor rebuild kit.  Sears Craftsman parts now wants a small fortune for each little part, and the complete kit is not listed for sale.
> 
> So I bought a different make of blower.
> 
> Anybody want the Craftsman?
Click to expand...


Because of that right there, I won't buy anything anymore for the yard with Craftsman on it.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> In addition to Stabil, add a dose of carb cleaner to the fuel.  That said, if you get 5 years out of a diaphragm carb these days, you're doing VERY well.  On the bright side, a kit (~$20) and 30 minutes at the kitchen table with a couple of small screw-drivers, pliers, etc will have it sorted.
> 
> 
> 
> Unfortunately, I had to retire a blower that I had used for many years because I could no longer buy a carburetor rebuild kit.  Sears Craftsman parts now wants a small fortune for each little part, and the complete kit is not listed for sale.
> 
> So I bought a different make of blower.
> 
> Anybody want the Craftsman?
Click to expand...

There's only a couple of manufacturers of those carbs (irrespective of the engine on which they're mounted).  Chances are that it was either a Zama or a Walbro, and you could still get parts from a reputable smalle-engine repair shop.  Sears is utterly useless for things like that (since selling you a carb kit means they're NOT selling you a new mower).


----------



## Gary A.

Good wine and even better music. Sat next to a couple from NYC, we agreed that there was nothing in NYC that could compared to the Bowl.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Good wine and even better music. Sat next to a couple from NYC, we agreed that there was nothing in NYC that could compared to the Bowl.



Hey hey hey, take it easy there, buddy. Dem's some fightin' words!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good wine and even better music. Sat next to a couple from NYC, we agreed that there was nothing in NYC that could compared to the Bowl.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hey hey, take it easy there, buddy. Dem's some fightin' words!
Click to expand...


I think he got his words jumbled up from too much wine -- he got "nothing" confused with "a whole bunch."


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Sat next to a couple from NYC, we agreed that there was nothing in NYC that could compared to the Bowl.


Compare; yes, equal; no, and there's the difference.

Just somebody's opinion, which may or may not be based on the exact same experiences.


----------



## waday

My work computer's hard drive is crashing. Our network was down yesterday. Network is going slow today.

Me today:


----------



## medic2230

Morning everyone!


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers!


Expecting to be getting the first part of my Vader getup today.  It's nothing exciting-just the light saber clip. Well, it's the first thing I've actually purchased FOR this.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Good wine and even better music. Sat next to a couple from NYC, we agreed that there was nothing in NYC that could compared to the Bowl.


You obviously haven't driven there.  They have potholes that make the Bowl look like a pimple!


----------



## minicoop1985

So much for that idea. Maybe they'll come tomorrow.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

I had 15 minutes left of class when the fire alarm rang. We always have a fire drill at the start of classes, so I figured it was just a few minutes and then we can get back for the last bit.

Nope. Doors didn't open for 20 minutes, so that concluded my teaching day.

I would normally be in my car heading out by now, but there was also word that there was an accident on campus, so there might be a back-up of traffic trying to leave campus. I think I'll just camp out in the nice quiet classroom for another 10-15 minutes or so before I leave.


----------



## snowbear

It's been a  bad day for dealing with anything electronic from the truck to both laptops.
I quit.

Goodnight.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hope everyone who didn't have a great Thursday has a better Friday!


----------



## oldhippy

Thursday is gone. TDL.  As the local folks say, thank  da lord. My side by side decided its planned obsolescence was now. Wife is in Nashville for GD birthday, weeklong visit. TGIF.   So I'll share this cause it made me smile.


----------



## waday

oldhippy said:


> Thursday is gone. TDL.  As the local folks say, thank  da lord. My side by side decided its planned obsolescence was now. Wife is in Nashville for GD birthday, weeklong visit. TGIF.   So I'll share this cause it made me smile.View attachment 108328


Not sure if anyone has ever heard Jack Johnson's version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, but his last verse:

_Well Rudolph he didn't go for that
he said "I see through your silly games"
How could you look me in the face 
when only yesterday you called me names? 
Well all of the other reindeer man, 
well they sure did feel ashamed, 
"Rudolph you know we're sorry, 
we're truly gonna try to change"
_​_



_


----------



## otherprof

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, congratulations, Lenny!!  I'm at work so I can't look around for a "woohoo" animation, but:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's AWESOME, Lenny.... but sadly I cannot say I am actually _surprised_ over this awesome news.
> 
> But congrats all the same, girl.   PAAAAAAR-TAY!!!!!!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And I'll tell y'all why...not only is it Friday, but...
> 
> I GOT THE JOB!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> View attachment 107943
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats, Lenny! Sounds exciting!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ^5 Leo!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thank you, hosers!
> 
> Don't remember how much I told y'all about it. It's another administrative position, but it's in Academic Affairs. I'll be working specifically on a project that develops a curriculum for high school seniors to help them get ready for college. Of the students who enroll in our college (remember, we're a community college and open admissions), generally 60-70% need remedial work in math, reading, or writing, and most of them need help in more than one area. This program is designed to help them do that catching up before they leave high school (you know, where they SHOULD be getting it in the first place.)
> 
> My job will involve a lot of coordinating of events and meetings, and I'm going to have to learn Excel better because there will be data to keep track of. I'll also be working out of the Division office, so I'll pitch in when they help dealing with students and schedules and enrollment issues, etc. And there's the potential for growth. In short, it's the first time non-teaching position I've had in a very very long time that exists because there's actually enough work to warrant support staff, rather than my job existing because someone else doesn't feel like doing theirs.
> 
> They have hit the ground running with this project, so next week is my last week at old admin job but I'll also be starting a few hours at the new job, too. And I'll have classes and one more placement reading session, so basically, next week, I'll be working four separate campus jobs!    Because I have a limit of how many hours I can work (since I'm still part-time, no matter how many jobs I have), I will only be able to placement readings between semesters or summers when I don't have teaching hours adding to my total, so this means that after next week, I'll only have to do two jobs at a time
Click to expand...

Good luck with the job. I'm really interested in the project, having retired as a community college prof. in 2012 and still teaching about once a year,  and hope you will post on your progress and feedback. It is odd how many intelligent students come to college needing remedial work.


----------



## snowbear

otherprof said:


> . . . odd how many intelligent students come to college needing remedial work.


Speaking for myself, when I took the math placement exam for UMD (2004), I had either forgotten how to do a lot of the things being tested (I hadn't been in school for close to 25 years), or had never taken them.  Or maybe I didn't fit into the "intelligent" category.


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## minicoop1985

IT IS NOT TIME FOR CHRISTMAS SONGS. NO. BAD HOSERS. BAD.

Anyway, been depressed all of today and yesterday. Sucks, because there's zero reason to it.


----------



## sm4him

My evening consisted of a visit with Mom, followed by a couple of hours watching KelbyOne videos on doing portrait photography with children.
I learned a lot. Mostly, I learned I'd like to stay far, far away from doing portrait photography with children.


----------



## snerd

Evening, hosers. Been doing shoulder therapy again, twice a week. So far, the infection has not returned, since I'm still taking oral antibiotics. Lawyer informed me we have our first court date up in Oklahoma City next week on my back injury. Discovery. I told him it's all in the medical records, it wasn't hidden! I'm dreading it, mainly because it's murder having to drive that far. Hope you all have a great weekend!


----------



## Designer

I'll be at a swap meet all day tomorrow.  I've reserved a table and will be trying to sell some stuff.  (not photography stuff).


----------



## limr

Happy Saturday, hosers!

My Week of the Four Jobs is over. It was a bit cuh-raaazy but not as bad as I'd feared. I was a little sad leaving the support center where I'd worked for 6 years because I'll miss some of the people. I was also very happy and very very ready to leave because there are others I will NOT miss.

As for the new job...so far, it definitely feels like I made the right move. It's a lot of work but isn't that how jobs are supposed to be? There's actually things for you to do in order to achieve a purpose? Yeeeeaaaah. The position is grant-funded so it's guaranteed for 2 years, and after that there will be a few possibilities, one of which could possibly be a full-time position. It would be administrative, not faculty, but as long as I still believe in the project and like the direction it's heading in, I can be okay with that. And I might even be able to finagle an arrangement that lets me still teach a class every couple of semesters. It has been the case that most full-timers on campus would be able to teach, but they've been pickier with that, so if this ever becomes an issue for me, I'll have to see what I can arrange.


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## jcdeboever

No camera today, raining. [emoji34] one free day to myself but noooooo

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

otherprof said:


> [
> Good luck with the job. I'm really interested in the project, having retired as a community college prof. in 2012 and still teaching about once a year,  and hope you will post on your progress and feedback. It is odd how many intelligent students come to college needing remedial work.



Thank you! I'll keep you all posted  And yes, it's remarkable how many students graduate high school but still need to catch up. We've had other arrangements with area high schools in place - for example, some schools will have their students take our placement exam in 11th grade, and if they score high enough, they can take a section of English or Math that is the equivalent of our entry-level college English and Math so they can come in with some credit. But we haven't had anything that specifically addresses the developmental students, and we've left the curriculum design up to them. 

My only concern is that I'm afraid for a few different reasons that the ESL students are going to get lost in the shuffle. There have been hints here and there that have made our department a bit nervous. That's a more general issue, though the fact that there's no ESL component in this new program feels to me like one of those little hints. I get a little bit Mama Bear-like when it comes to my ESL students, so I've got a few ideas about how to make sure they don't get ignored or lumped in and mainstreamed, or anything like that, or if they do, then to make sure that we can at least be more prepared as a college to deal with that.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> No camera today, raining. [emoji34] one free day to myself but noooooo
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Sounds like it's a day to practice your still life images


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## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> No camera today, raining. [emoji34] one free day to myself but noooooo
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like it's a day to practice your still life images
Click to expand...

I think I will go back to bed... 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> No camera today, raining. [emoji34] one free day to myself but noooooo
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like it's a day to practice your still life images
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I think I will go back to bed...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Also a good choice. And if that's your kitty in your avatar, make sure he or she is with you


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> No camera today, raining. [emoji34] one free day to myself but noooooo
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like it's a day to practice your still life images
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I think I will go back to bed...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Also a good choice. And if that's your kitty in your avatar, make sure he or she is with you
Click to expand...

I don't have a choice, she owns me. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

My buddy is bummed that it's raining too. I was gonna throw the saddle on him today and let him carry camera gear, treats, and water. He loves to work but you wouldn't know it by the picture. Kitty is hiding, they got into it at 6:00 am. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Also a good choice. And if that's your kitty in your avatar, make sure he or she is with you


I don't have a choice, she owns me.
[/QUOTE]

Pretty much how it works with cats, isn't it?



jcdeboever said:


> My buddy is bummed that it's raining too. I was gonna throw the saddle on him today and let him carry camera gear, treats, and water. He loves to work but you wouldn't know it by the picture. Kitty is hiding, they got into it at 6:00 am.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Awww, poor pup.


----------



## minicoop1985

Man, it's not just that pooch that's pooped today. Can barely move I'm so damned tired.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's getting pretty dark here for this early in the day. Thought it'd be a good day to catch up on running some lumen prints thru some fixer but I haven't motivated yet... slept in so not exactly getting an early start on the day. Well, probably will go put some music on shortly and ferrotype away.


And Lenny, glad you're enjoying the new job, seems like a good fit (now that I read backwards thru the thread and caught up).


----------



## limr

I don't know what sport the Gators are playing tonight, BUT IT'S NOT FOOTBALL!! They're winning but just barely.


----------



## limr

And I watched the first half at Buzz's house, but now I have to follow on the Gamecast on the ESPN app because my cable provider doesn't carry the SEC network.

One more time...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Noches Coffee Hosers.  This has been one tough week. Watching my Trojans in a seesaw game against Stanford. Stanford always plays out of their brains when they play SC.  Today I finally finished installed the BBQ patio.  It is really nice. Cooked salmon in the Kamado. It was grilled to perfection, tossed on some fresh herbs (taragon, parsley, marjarom and thyme), steamed a medely of veggies and squash, all washed down with some wonderful Temecula sparkling wine. 

Last Sunday, while working in 100F+ heat and pounding away for hours with a hand trowel, I broke a blood vessel in my freking eyeball, turning it into a bloody mess. Monday, I pulled all a mess of muscles in my neck and shoulder. That injury was enhanced because I pitched-in and helped load and unload crates of lighting equipment. 

Wednesday was the Hollywood Bowl and Friday was Brea Jazz with Poncho Sanchez. Today was more pounding away at the BBQ Patio broken up with a trick to a couple of nurseries for some winter tomatoes, parsley, cilantro, dill, and thyme.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> And I watched the first half at Buzz's house, but now I have to follow on the Gamecast on the ESPN app because my cable provider doesn't carry the SEC network.
> 
> One more time...


I didn't stress one bit today! I just looked online for my 'Poke's score AFTER the game was over!!


----------



## snowbear

Went to the Hirshhorn Art Gallery (the little contemporary art jewel of the Smithsonian), then to Blick art supply.  The young lady behind the counter asked if going there was a new weekly ritual.  Gee, I didn't think I was that memorable,


----------



## snerd

I went out to the refuge today for a short time. Got a couple of shots of some birds I've not seen before! Lady near me snapping too, said she didn't know what they were either. Looked like some kind of Ibis, but I don't think we have those around these parts. I'll pull the card tomorrow and see if any are worth posting for an ID.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Noches Coffee Hosers.  This has been one tough week. Watching my Trojans in a seesaw game against Stanford. Stanford always plays out of their brains when they play SC.  Today I finally finished installed the BBQ patio.  It is really nice. Cooked salmon in the Kamado. It was grilled to perfection, tossed on some fresh herbs (taragon, parsley, marjarom and thyme), steamed a medely of veggies and squash, all washed down with some wonderful Temecula sparkling wine.
> 
> Last Sunday, while working in 100F+ heat and pounding away for hours with a hand trowel, I broke a blood vessel in my freking eyeball, turning it into a bloody mess. Monday, I pulled all a mess of muscles in my neck and shoulder. That injury was enhanced because I pitched-in and helped load and unload crates of lighting equipment.
> 
> Wednesday was the Hollywood Bowl and Friday was Brea Jazz with Poncho Sanchez. Today was more pounding away at the BBQ Patio broken up with a trick to a couple of nurseries for some winter tomatoes, parsley, cilantro, dill, and thyme.



Yikes, Gary. Broken blood vessel in the eye sounds awful!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> And I watched the first half at Buzz's house, but now I have to follow on the Gamecast on the ESPN app because my cable provider doesn't carry the SEC network.
> 
> One more time...



Yeah, Florida's offense really struggled, but their defense seemed to do okay.
And what about the Tide?!?  And LSU rolling over Auburn (although I pretty much expected that one).

At least my Volunteers took control early and kept rolling. But then, it was Western Carolina.

I had to watch the TN game on my desktop, because it was on ESPNU, which only comes with a more premium package than what I have. 

I guess we can't really talk to each other next Friday/Saturday, Lenny. For TN, next week is really THE game, the one that determines whether we've really turned a corner or not.  I'll be an absolute nervous wreck by game day. I hope our players don't get as nervous as *I* do!


----------



## sm4him

snerd said:


> I went out to the refuge today for a short time. Got a couple of shots of some birds I've not seen before! Lady near me snapping too, said she didn't know what they were either. Looked like some kind of Ibis, but I don't think we have those around these parts. I'll pull the card tomorrow and see if any are worth posting for an ID.



Oklahoma has the White-Faced Ibis, so it's definitely possible that's what you saw.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Yeah, Florida's offense really struggled, but their defense seemed to do okay.
> And what about the Tide?!?  And LSU rolling over Auburn (although I pretty much expected that one).



If only I had a dime for every time Florida's defense has saved their offense's ass...sheesh!  I saw that Bama was losing but the game started so late that I was in a good solid coma before the end of the game. What I did see was how #1 Ohio State could barely beat unranked Northern Illinois! 20-13. Man, I would have loved to see that game end in an upset.



> I guess we can't really talk to each other next Friday/Saturday, Lenny. For TN, next week is really THE game, the one that determines whether we've really turned a corner or not.  I'll be an absolute nervous wreck by game day. I hope our players don't get as nervous as *I* do!



Yup, I guess you're right about that! I suppose it might be our corner as well. This is the first time this season either of our teams have faced a real opponent.


----------



## snowbear

I love to watch these dogs work (and even have a little fun).


----------



## limr

And here's what I did today:



 

Those buildings on the horizon are the NY skyline.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. 

Another Monday is here.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> And here's what I did today:
> 
> Those buildings on the horizon are the NY skyline.


Looks like fun!

We were in there (by the buildings) Friday into Saturday. Then, on the way home from a party in Long Island, the wife and I were talking, and I took a wrong exit by mistake. Sat for an hour in traffic on the Cross Bronx Expressway.


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> IT IS NOT TIME FOR CHRISTMAS SONGS. NO. BAD HOSERS. BAD.


Have you been to Target lately? They already have Christmas stuff out. Right beside the Halloween stuff.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And here's what I did today:
> 
> Those buildings on the horizon are the NY skyline.
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like fun!
> 
> We were in there (by the buildings) Friday into Saturday. Then, on the way home from a party in Long Island, the wife and I were talking, and I took a wrong exit by mistake. Sat for an hour in traffic on the Cross Bronx Expressway.
Click to expand...


Only an hour?  

Sorry, that sucks! That road is always on the traffic report.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> IT IS NOT TIME FOR CHRISTMAS SONGS. NO. BAD HOSERS. BAD.
> 
> 
> 
> Have you been to Target lately? They already have Christmas stuff out. Right beside the Halloween stuff.
Click to expand...


Festivus is looking more and more sensible now, isn't it?


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Only an hour?




If it weren't on top of traffic from Long Island, I wouldn't have been so irritated at myself for that, haha.

All in all, to get back to PA from Long Island, it was a little over 5 hours, so I really shouldn't complain. We hit essentially zero traffic between 95 and our destination. 



limr said:


> Festivus is looking more and more sensible now, isn't it?


I really want to air my grievances at work.


----------



## mmaria




----------



## sm4him

waday said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> IT IS NOT TIME FOR CHRISTMAS SONGS. NO. BAD HOSERS. BAD.
> 
> 
> 
> Have you been to Target lately? They already have Christmas stuff out. Right beside the Halloween stuff.
Click to expand...


I'm in the choir at my church. I've been practicing my Christmas music since the end of August.  I'm listening to it right now. I love the music, but it's always hard to get very "into it" this early. But then, we'll also start working on Easter music in mid-January, and then patriotic music by about April.
My sense of holidays gets pretty messed up.


----------



## sm4him




----------



## waday

sm4him said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> IT IS NOT TIME FOR CHRISTMAS SONGS. NO. BAD HOSERS. BAD.
> 
> 
> 
> Have you been to Target lately? They already have Christmas stuff out. Right beside the Halloween stuff.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm in the choir at my church. I've been practicing my Christmas music since the end of August.  I'm listening to it right now. I love the music, but it's always hard to get very "into it" this early. But then, we'll also start working on Easter music in mid-January, and then patriotic music by about April.
> My sense of holidays gets pretty messed up.
Click to expand...

When do you practice Halloween music?


----------



## minicoop1985

It feels like Sunday here, except for the fact Cooper has school. So strange.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Feels a little like Fall here on Cape Cod today. What a coincidence since it is Fall 
Cooler breeze, no humidity, can dig out the jeans and light jacket today.


----------



## sm4him

NancyMoranG said:


> Feels a little like Fall here on Cape Cod today. What a coincidence since it is Fall
> Cooler breeze, no humidity, can dig out the jeans and light jacket today.



*It is NOT Fall!!!!!*
Not yet. Fall does not arrive until 4:21 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday.
Please allow me my last two days of summer...   Fall and winter are hard enough on me without starting them two days early.


Ironically, it'll only be high 70s here today, during the "summer"--but mid-80s on Wednesday and Thursday for the arrival of fall.


----------



## sm4him

waday said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> IT IS NOT TIME FOR CHRISTMAS SONGS. NO. BAD HOSERS. BAD.
> 
> 
> 
> Have you been to Target lately? They already have Christmas stuff out. Right beside the Halloween stuff.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm in the choir at my church. I've been practicing my Christmas music since the end of August.  I'm listening to it right now. I love the music, but it's always hard to get very "into it" this early. But then, we'll also start working on Easter music in mid-January, and then patriotic music by about April.
> My sense of holidays gets pretty messed up.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> When do you practice Halloween music?
Click to expand...


Ha, funny you should ask. The daughter of one of our choir members was sitting in on practice last week.  She's only in the 5th grade, but has a beautiful voice, and sometimes sings with us. 
We were talking about the Christmas music, and she asked--quite sincerely--if we were singing any Halloween music.

The choir director just looked at her like:

 

Personally, I think it'd be pretty awesome if the organist played "Monster Mash" as the prelude for the service the Sunday before Halloween.


----------



## Designer

My favorite for Halloween:


----------



## timor

Thanks for Bach.


----------



## NancyMoranG

sm4him said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Feels a little like Fall here on Cape Cod today. What a coincidence since it is Fall
> Cooler breeze, no humidity, can dig out the jeans and light jacket today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *It is NOT Fall!!!!!*
> Not yet. Fall does not arrive until 4:21 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday.
> Please allow me my last two days of summer...   Fall and winter are hard enough on me without starting them two days early.
> 
> 
> Ironically, it'll only be high 70s here today, during the "summer"--but mid-80s on Wednesday and Thursday for the arrival of fall.
Click to expand...


Ok, I bequeath you 2 more days of summer. It's an early Christmas present, as long as the 'C' word has now been mentioned.

Have a call into a possible volunteer gig for winter down in N.C. By Outer Banks. We usually go to Florida ( where we are from) because hubby has had knee, rotator and cancer treatments over the years, but yeah NONE this winter


----------



## waday

Designer said:


> My favorite for Halloween:


I like that one, too.

Also like Ave Satani from The Omen :


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh no, are the 70s back again?? lol (You know, I don't know if I've ever actually seen The Omen, at least not all the way thru, must have seen it on TV sometime.)

I love fall!! bring it on!

Thanks Sharon, now I have another mental image... people in choir robes doing the Monster Mash!


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Oh no, are the 70s back again?? lol (You know, I don't know if I've ever actually seen The Omen, at least not all the way thru, must have seen it on TV sometime.)


I'm a fan for most older horror/scary movies, especially the satanic ones. I love me some Omen, Amityville Horror, Exorcist, etc. Newer ones that I've liked for various reasons: Exorcism of Emily Rose, Constantine (not really scary.. more action), Devil's Advocate, Ninth Gate (similar to Constantine, not that scary, but interesting).

Most newer ones are jokes to me. I hate how they are made, especially when they have poorly executed jump scares or jump scare after jump scare. IMO, it's a cheap trick that is overly used in movies with low artistic quality. I'm not saying all jump scares are bad--some are definitely good and needed (especially when they're fake jump scares--like a bird flying away in someone's face or a dog barking or something like that), but the majority nowadays seem pretty bad to me.

I'd much rather be 'scared' through conventional means of storyline than through cheap tricks and really bad CGI.

I really, really wanted to like The Conjuring. It was ok, and I'd probably watch it again. But, meh. I was told that it was really scary. Nope.


----------



## mmaria




----------



## Designer

waday said:


> I'm a fan for most older horror/scary movies, especially the satanic ones.


As in nearly every other type of human endeavor, there are people who lack the vision and talent to skillfully expand the genre.  Nevertheless, they manage to get financial backing from idiots to make unsuccessful attempts.  Usually turns out to be crap with a high price tag.


----------



## timor

Designer said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm a fan for most older horror/scary movies, especially the satanic ones.
> 
> 
> 
> As in nearly every other type of human endeavor, there are people who lack the vision and talent to skillfully expand the genre.  Nevertheless, they manage to get financial backing from idiots to make unsuccessful attempts.  Usually turns out to be crap with a high price tag.
Click to expand...

IDN, Walking Dead are .... walking already  how many seasons ? But that maybe due to the fact, that this show is shot directly on film. Pretty fitting for zombies.


----------



## Designer

I watched several episodes of TWD, but since they cannot keep my interest, I am no longer interested.

SWIDT?


----------



## waday

Designer said:


> I watched several episodes of TWD, but since they cannot keep my interest, I am no longer interested.


The wife and I tried so hard to get into that show, but we felt the exact same way. We were very bored with it, even after forcing ourselves through several episodes. Maybe the fourth episode would have been the one to hook us? We'll never know.


----------



## minicoop1985

I think this is gonna be another three cup morning. So le tired.


----------



## minicoop1985

Just got a GREAT deal on a light saber!!!!! YISSS


----------



## limr

So, last night I was dreaming about saving spreadsheets with data we'll be collecting for this project at school (yes, I'm having dreams about the new job.) At the same time in real life, Zelda came over for a snuggle. I half-woke up and started petting her. The next thing I knew, I was back in the dream, only now all the data was in cat form and I had to figure out how to save Zelda as a spreadsheet.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> So, last night I was dreaming about saving spreadsheets with data we'll be collecting for this project at school (yes, I'm having dreams about the new job.) At the same time in real life, Zelda came over for a snuggle. I half-woke up and started petting her. The next thing I knew, I was back in the dream, only now all the data was in cat form and I had to figure out how to save Zelda as a spreadsheet.


............ and people look at "me" funny when I mention my Ambien!


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, last night I was dreaming about saving spreadsheets with data we'll be collecting for this project at school (yes, I'm having dreams about the new job.) At the same time in real life, Zelda came over for a snuggle. I half-woke up and started petting her. The next thing I knew, I was back in the dream, only now all the data was in cat form and I had to figure out how to save Zelda as a spreadsheet.
> 
> 
> 
> ............ and people look at "me" funny when I mention my Ambien!
Click to expand...


And that's my brain all by itself. It would only get worse with something like Ambien.


----------



## snerd

limr said:


> And that's my brain all by itself. It would only get worse with something like Ambien.


I hear so many horror stories about people doing crazy things on Ambien. Worst I've experienced is waking up surrounded by candy wrappers and cereal boxes, and not having a clue!!


----------



## medic2230

Evening everyone! Morning Maria


----------



## snerd

Morning, rookie.


----------



## medic2230

snerd said:


> Morning, rookie.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Just think Maria, when you're on here bright and early in the morning  ...
we're all still in bed! Keep some coffee hot for us, see ya tomorrow.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> So, last night I was dreaming about saving spreadsheets with data we'll be collecting for this project at school (yes, I'm having dreams about the new job.) At the same time in real life, Zelda came over for a snuggle. I half-woke up and started petting her. The next thing I knew, I was back in the dream, only now all the data was in cat form and I had to figure out how to save Zelda as a spreadsheet.



I had a dream that I found, and photographed, an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. I'm hoping that was more foreshadowing than dreaming...


----------



## sm4him

Okay, @NancyMoranG, NOW it's Fall.

I'm already depressed about it...I could actually enjoy fall--at least EARLY fall--if I didn't know (and loathe) what was coming.

I'm gonna need some extra coffee to try to deal with the reality of Fall this morning.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. Happy happy hump day  I bet it's going to be a bit crazy at work today. Our event is on Friday and there's still a lot to be done. I am starting to think that I kinda have a big girl job now  Just as long as I don't really have to trap Zelda in the computer as a spreadsheet.



snerd said:


> I hear so many horror stories about people doing crazy things on Ambien. Worst I've experienced is waking up surrounded by candy wrappers and cereal boxes, and not having a clue!!



I'll stick to warm milk, thankyouverymuch


----------



## medic2230

Made fizzy fruit last night and they were ready this morning.


----------



## limr

What is fizzy fruit?


----------



## medic2230

limr said:


> What is fizzy fruit?


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> Just got a GREAT deal on a light saber!!!!! YISSS


----------



## minicoop1985

LOL. Thankfully these aren't real, otherwise there would be a LOT of missing limbs amongst Star Wars fans.


----------



## JacaRanda

Star Wars was theme at my sons high school homecoming ceremony.


----------



## limr

medic2230 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> What is fizzy fruit?
Click to expand...


Now that looks really yummy!  Going to have to figure out where to get dry ice.


----------



## medic2230

limr said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> What is fizzy fruit?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Now that looks really yummy!  Going to have to figure out where to get dry ice.
Click to expand...


If you have a Publix grocery store nearby they carry it.


----------



## limr

medic2230 said:


> If you have a Publix grocery store nearby they carry it.



No Publix in NY (when I lived in Fla, I was more of a Kash n' Karry girl myself, but only because it was right next door to my apartment complex  ) but I'll check with the bigger grocery stores around me.


----------



## sm4him

medic2230 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> What is fizzy fruit?
Click to expand...


Oh man, I am totally doing this for the next time we do a potluck thing at work--and I am NOT gonna tell them beforehand that it isn't just normal fruit.


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> LOL. Thankfully these aren't real, otherwise there would be a LOT of missing limbs amongst Star Wars fans.


Lots, haha. Probably a few missing fans, as well. Whomp.



JacaRanda said:


> Star Wars was theme at my sons high school homecoming ceremony.


That's awesome!


----------



## sm4him

If *I* had a REAL lightsaber...


...


...

...

Basically the entire world would be in deep sh*t.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> If *I* had a REAL lightsaber...
> 
> 
> ...
> 
> 
> ...
> 
> ...
> 
> Basically the entire world would be in deep sh*t.



Amen, sister!


----------



## waday

I could really eat a fresh bagel with cream cheese right now.

Preferably a plain bagel with plain cream cheese, but I could also do a plain bagel with veggie cream cheese and slices of tomato and cucumber.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That sounds good, I had a chocolate chip bagel for breakfast! an occasional treat.

You aren't supposed to put food in close contact with dry ice, are you?? with the fruit open/unpackaged, whatever, like that? I don't really know but I didn't think so... I've gotten it shipped, always in packaging, and it says not to put it on the kitchen counter, I think it could cause it to crack. Seems like you're getting a mouthful of carbon dioxide, aren't you? I dunno...


----------



## sm4him

vintagesnaps said:


> That sounds good, I had a chocolate chip bagel for breakfast! an occasional treat.
> 
> You aren't supposed to put food in close contact with dry ice, are you?? with the fruit open/unpackaged, whatever, like that? I don't really know but I didn't think so... I've gotten it shipped, always in packaging, and it says not to put it on the kitchen counter, I think it could cause it to crack. Seems like you're getting a mouthful of carbon monoxide, aren't you? I dunno...



It's carbon DIoxide, not monoxide. Carbon MONOxide would kill you. 

I think it's fine as long as it's separated by something--in this case, the towel. It's not DANGEROUS really if the food touches the dry ice, but it would freeze instead of getting fizzy.

Also: I'm not a fan of bagels.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> That sounds good, I had a chocolate chip bagel for breakfast! an occasional treat.


That sound delicious! 



sm4him said:


> Also: I'm not a fan of bagels.


 WHAT?! That's crazy talk.


----------



## sm4him

waday said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> That sounds good, I had a chocolate chip bagel for breakfast! an occasional treat.
> 
> 
> 
> That sound delicious!
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Also: I'm not a fan of bagels.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> WHAT?! That's crazy talk.
Click to expand...


See, that's why I tried to just sneak it in at the end there... 
What can I say? I'm a southerner, born and bred. Biscuits? Sure. Cornbread? Absolutely.  But bagels? Too dense and chewy for me.

My daddy was a Yankee, and I'm almost certain he probably liked bagels, but I can't say I remember EVER seeing him eat one.  When I was a kid, bagels weren't really even something you could find very easily down here.


----------



## Designer

JacaRanda said:


> Star Wars was theme at my sons high school homecoming ceremony.


Also my nephew's wedding.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> See, that's why I tried to just sneak it in at the end there...
> What can I say? I'm a southerner, born and bred. Biscuits? Sure. Cornbread? Absolutely.  But bagels? Too dense and chewy for me.
> 
> My daddy was a Yankee, and I'm almost certain he probably liked bagels, but I can't say I remember EVER seeing him eat one.  When I was a kid, *bagels weren't really even something you could find very easily down here*.



And I would argue that you still can't!   Seriously, there's nothing like a NY bagel. The food that they call 'bagel' that is sold in other places in the country just aren't real bagels. The only other place that is known for bagel quality is Montreal.

This just means you're going to have to drive up one day for some real bagels!  And if you want the whole experience, then cream cheese and lox, too!


----------



## waday

sm4him said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> That sounds good, I had a chocolate chip bagel for breakfast! an occasional treat.
> 
> 
> 
> That sound delicious!
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Also: I'm not a fan of bagels.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> WHAT?! That's crazy talk.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> See, that's why I tried to just sneak it in at the end there...
> What can I say? I'm a southerner, born and bred. Biscuits? Sure. Cornbread? Absolutely.  But bagels? Too dense and chewy for me.
> 
> My daddy was a Yankee, and I'm almost certain he probably liked bagels, but I can't say I remember EVER seeing him eat one.  When I was a kid, bagels weren't really even something you could find very easily down here.
Click to expand...

I gotcha. 

I'm a fan of bread. Period, haha. So, biscuits? Yes! Croissants? Oh yeah! Cornbread? Heck yes! Bagels? Absolutely heck yes!

But, I do understand: if they're hard to find, or if they're not made right, I probably wouldn't get them. I'm a fan of the New York style--where they get salt in the dough (not that sweet) and are boiled first, then baked in a normal oven. I think Montreal-style bagels are sweeter? We're lucky enough to have a few bagel places here that make them pretty darn good. 

There's a bagel place near my wife's favorite yarn shop, so we made a deal: we go to the yarn shop, we stop and get a bagel.


----------



## sm4him

waday said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> That sounds good, I had a chocolate chip bagel for breakfast! an occasional treat.
> 
> 
> 
> That sound delicious!
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Also: I'm not a fan of bagels.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> WHAT?! That's crazy talk.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> See, that's why I tried to just sneak it in at the end there...
> What can I say? I'm a southerner, born and bred. Biscuits? Sure. Cornbread? Absolutely.  But bagels? Too dense and chewy for me.
> 
> My daddy was a Yankee, and I'm almost certain he probably liked bagels, but I can't say I remember EVER seeing him eat one.  When I was a kid, bagels weren't really even something you could find very easily down here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I gotcha.
> 
> I'm a fan of bread. Period, haha. So, biscuits? Yes! Croissants? Oh yeah! Cornbread? Heck yes! Bagels? Absolutely heck yes!
> 
> But, I do understand: if they're hard to find, or if they're not made right, I probably wouldn't get them. I'm a fan of the New York style--where they get salt in the dough (not that sweet) and are boiled first, then baked in a normal oven. I think Montreal-style bagels are sweeter? We're lucky enough to have a few bagel places here that make them pretty darn good.
> 
> There's a bagel place near my wife's favorite yarn shop, so we made a deal: we go to the yarn shop, we stop and get a bagel.
Click to expand...


Well, these days, it's pretty easy to get bagels even here in the south. Whether they are "made right" or not, I couldn't tell you, because I have no base to work from.  I know a lot of people, even here, do love them. But I suspect it IS pretty hard to get a really "properly made" bagel here, even in this day and age.

I love MOST kinds of bread--but the ones I tend to not like are the ones I suspect are favorites farther north. Bagels, pumpernickel and Rye all come to mind.  Now, my Dad LOVED Rye bread; that was his favorite. I always hated it. To be fair, I haven't tried it (or pumpernickel) in probably 35 years or more.  So, I'm basing that off the taste buds of a much younger me.
I've tried bagels though. In fact, I eat one now and then, when it's what's offered. I just don't enjoy it very much.

Biscuits, cornbread, sourdough, almost anything except those three.


----------



## waday

sm4him said:


> Bagels, pumpernickel and Rye all come to mind.


I would most certainly order those three before sliced white or wheat. I must be a Yankee.


----------



## waday

sm4him said:


> my Dad LOVED Rye bread


Also, my wife is from Brooklyn. Her two favorites are rye and pumpernickel. Haha.


----------



## sm4him

waday said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> my Dad LOVED Rye bread
> 
> 
> 
> Also, my wife is from Brooklyn. Her two favorites are rye and pumpernickel. Haha.
Click to expand...


That's where my dad was from!

I do HATE white bread, though, so maybe that at least redeems me a little bit.


----------



## JacaRanda

sm4him said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> That sounds good, I had a chocolate chip bagel for breakfast! an occasional treat.
> 
> 
> 
> That sound delicious!
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Also: I'm not a fan of bagels.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> WHAT?! That's crazy talk.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> See, that's why I tried to just sneak it in at the end there...
> What can I say? I'm a southerner, born and bred. Biscuits? Sure. Cornbread? Absolutely.  But bagels? Too dense and chewy for me.
> 
> My daddy was a Yankee, and I'm almost certain he probably liked bagels, but I can't say I remember EVER seeing him eat one.  When I was a kid, bagels weren't really even something you could find very easily down here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I gotcha.
> 
> I'm a fan of bread. Period, haha. So, biscuits? Yes! Croissants? Oh yeah! Cornbread? Heck yes! Bagels? Absolutely heck yes!
> 
> But, I do understand: if they're hard to find, or if they're not made right, I probably wouldn't get them. I'm a fan of the New York style--where they get salt in the dough (not that sweet) and are boiled first, then baked in a normal oven. I think Montreal-style bagels are sweeter? We're lucky enough to have a few bagel places here that make them pretty darn good.
> 
> There's a bagel place near my wife's favorite yarn shop, so we made a deal: we go to the yarn shop, we stop and get a bagel.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, these days, it's pretty easy to get bagels even here in the south. Whether they are "made right" or not, I couldn't tell you, because I have no base to work from.  I know a lot of people, even here, do love them. But I suspect it IS pretty hard to get a really "properly made" bagel here, even in this day and age.
> 
> I love MOST kinds of bread--but the ones I tend to not like are the ones I suspect are favorites farther north. Bagels, pumpernickel and Rye all come to mind.  Now, my Dad LOVED Rye bread; that was his favorite. I always hated it. To be fair, I haven't tried it (or pumpernickel) in probably 35 years or more.  So, I'm basing that off the taste buds of a much younger me.
> I've tried bagels though. In fact, I eat one now and then, when it's what's offered. I just don't enjoy it very much.
> 
> Biscuits, cornbread, sourdough, almost anything except those three.
Click to expand...


But but but you're 30.


----------



## minicoop1985

Designer said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Star Wars was theme at my sons high school homecoming ceremony.
> 
> 
> 
> Also my nephew's wedding.
Click to expand...


Good taste shows through.


----------



## sm4him

JacaRanda said:


> But but but you're 30.



I love you EVEN more than usual right this moment, Jaca.


----------



## JacaRanda

sm4him said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> But but but you're 30.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I love you EVEN more than usual right this moment, Jaca.
Click to expand...


----------



## NancyMoranG

At our office meetings, someone used to bring Einstein Bagels in every now again. Since they weren't my usual, Loved them for a treat.
Mmmmmm, how soon til breakfast?


----------



## vintagesnaps

You'll have to dream of bagels til morning!

I would say Sharon, try a bialy instead if you could find any, they're softer than bagels but I don't know if many places make them. There's a little bagel place in a nearby college town that also does bialys. They open up a press of some sort and whoosh! a cloud of steam arises and out comes your bagel or bialy, all warm with melty cheese 'n stuff on it.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. YYou know what we need around here? A proper Jewish deli. I could really go for some bagels right about now...

Food is probably the last thing that should be on my mind. I've been having serious indigestion for the past week.


----------



## limr

Howdy, hosers. If 5pm late afternoon or early evening? Well, Good Whatever It Is.

Brain a bit shot right now. Wedensday wasn't as busy as I'd thought it would be, but I have to be in at 8am tomorrow, and the event runs from 10-1 and it's going to be pretty damn hectic, I'm sure. I'll be happy when it's over! The next one isn't until November and by then I should at least be more settled into all the other work of the new position. I mean, I've been there a week and I think I've gotten more work-related emails than I have in the past 5 years


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Howdy, hosers. If 5pm late afternoon or early evening? Well, Good Whatever It Is.


Why, thank you, ma'm!  I wish the same to you!

Got the pool closed today.  Two guys were here less than half an hour, which sounds like it probably saved me some money!

I'm getting into some kind of a routine with my friend from church; we go shooting once a week.  Cool beans, I say. Next week is single-action revolvers.  (the old cowboy style, for those of you in Rio Linda)  

Still no photographs yet though.  If I get better organized with the other hardware, I may be able to get some snapshots of us out at the range.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Howdy, hosers. If 5pm late afternoon or early evening? Well, Good Whatever It Is.
> 
> Brain a bit shot right now. Wedensday wasn't as busy as I'd thought it would be, but I have to be in at 8am tomorrow, and the event runs from 10-1 and it's going to be pretty damn hectic, I'm sure. I'll be happy when it's over! The next one isn't until November and by then I should at least be more settled into all the other work of the new position. I mean, I've been there a week and I think I've gotten more work-related emails than I have in the past 5 years


----------



## sm4him

And good prevening to you, as well.


----------



## Gary A.

I just picked up an AreoPress ... we'll see how it does in the morning.


----------



## snerd

Designer said:


> ............ I'm getting into some kind of a routine with my friend from church; we go shooting once a week.  Cool beans, I say. Next week is single-action revolvers.  (the old cowboy style, for those of you in Rio Linda)
> 
> Still no photographs yet though.  If I get better organized with the other hardware, I may be able to get some snapshots of us out at the range.


Did I miss something? As in a "female" friend?


----------



## Gary A.

My BBQ patio is now operational. It is a joy to have everything organized and in one place. The patio has a stepping stone floor, an adjustable shade, lights, room for three grills, (propane, electric and charcoal), and a cart.


----------



## oldhippy

In Need of Caption


----------



## JacaRanda

oldhippy said:


> In Need of Caption  View attachment 108701


Back Off Jack!


----------



## limr

It's 6:22 a.m. Too early to caption.


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> It's 6:22 a.m. Too early to caption.


morning Leo!

Did you sleep well?

eta: that's toooo cute!!!


----------



## pixmedic

Starting the last 12 hours of my hopefully only 36 hour shift...


----------



## limr

I did sleep well, though not long enough. My fitness bracelet tells me I slept about 5 1/2 hours but more than half of that was deep sleep. So not as good as 7-8 hours, but still good quality, thankfully! Bit I had to get up earlier than usual this morning because I have to be at work at 8:00.

Edit: But it seems my brain is still sleepy because I forgot to say Good Afternooooooooon, Marija!!


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> Starting the last 12 hours of my hopefully only 36 hour shift...



Here's hoping it's a quiet 12 hours!


----------



## pixmedic

limr said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Starting the last 12 hours of my hopefully only 36 hour shift...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here's hoping it's a quiet 12 hours!
Click to expand...

In EMS, saying it's going to be "slow" or "quiet" means your going to get run all shift and get off late.  It's a superstitious lot. I love running around the office talking about how easy the shift Is going to be.  Drives some of our dispatchers nuts.


----------



## mmaria

pixmedic said:


> Starting the last 12 hours of my hopefully only 36 hour shift...


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> I did sleep well, though not long enough. My fitness bracelet tells me I slept about 5 1/2 hours but more than half of that was deep sleep. So not as good as 7-8 hours, but still good quality, thankfully! Bit I had to get up earlier than usual this morning because I have to be at work at 8:00.
> 
> Edit: But it seems my brain is still sleepy because I forgot to say Good Afternooooooooon, Marija!!


I slept at 9:15 pm last night, tired, very tired and woke up at 6:30h-my usual time for waking up ..
It was niceee


----------



## Designer

Oh, good!  Several of us got good sleep, and are ready to bust this Friday WIDE OPEN!

Just as soon as I get some coffee.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Starting the last 12 hours of my hopefully only 36 hour shift...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here's hoping it's a quiet 12 hours!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> In EMS, saying it's going to be "slow" or "quiet" means your going to get run all shift and get off late.  It's a superstitious lot. I love running around the office talking about how easy the shift Is going to be.  Drives some of our dispatchers nuts.
Click to expand...


Ah, so you're like theater folk. Well in that case, break a leg! Or rather, hope someone else breaks a leg!


----------



## Designer

oldhippy said:


> In Need of Caption


"I hide."  "Then I keel you."


----------



## medic2230

vintagesnaps said:


> That sounds good, I had a chocolate chip bagel for breakfast! an occasional treat.
> 
> You aren't supposed to put food in close contact with dry ice, are you?? with the fruit open/unpackaged, whatever, like that? I don't really know but I didn't think so... I've gotten it shipped, always in packaging, and it says not to put it on the kitchen counter, I think it could cause it to crack. Seems like you're getting a mouthful of carbon dioxide, aren't you? I dunno...



It's the same thing they put in carbonated drinks like Coke and Pepsi to give them the fizz.


----------



## medic2230

pixmedic said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Starting the last 12 hours of my hopefully only 36 hour shift...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here's hoping it's a quiet 12 hours!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> In EMS, saying it's going to be "slow" or "quiet" means your going to get run all shift and get off late.  It's a superstitious lot. I love running around the office talking about how easy the shift Is going to be.  Drives some of our dispatchers nuts.
Click to expand...


Isn't that the truth. I just love going out to get lunch and everyone out there has to know if we've been busy. Grrrrrrr.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Just me, the Cook and my AeroPress coffee. The coffee is okay, has a bit of espresso flavoring. It is easy, quick and the AeroPress was inexpensive. There is a recipe for latte, just add some milk to the water and plunge.

I'll try the latte. This may be a very easy way to make a latte.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Just got finished with our event. Given that we had to herd about 215 high school seniors and their chaperones around campus, it was remarkable how well it went. We did everything on schedule! Holy crap, it was amazing! The best part was that the small talk was kept to a relative minimum. I have no problem talking to different people when there's a clear purpose to the conversation, but where I get lost is chatting with people I've just met. I can do okay for about 2 minutes or so, but then I'm out of material. But the beauty of an event like today's is that I always had a ready excuse of having to check on whatever was coming up next.

It was more fun than I thought it would be, but there will still be wine tonight. Oh yes, there will be wine.


----------



## tirediron

oldhippy said:


> In Need of Caption  View attachment 108701


"Go.  Away."


----------



## Gary A.

The BBQ Patio.


----------



## minicoop1985

Lookie what showed up today BEFORE my first cup of coffee...




Master Replicas Vader lightsaber by Michael Long, on Flickr




Of course an epic father/son (he's 4) lightsaber duel ensued. Kid's got some skill actually. Kind of frightening.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Peewee football at the school up the street with a lot of whistles. A great deal of cheering erupted once - from what I remember of my nephews' football maybe there was finally a touchdown, seems like they'd never get all the way down the field...

Another rainy Saturday so hope to finally catch up on fixin' and ferrotypin'. And - it's almost October and hockey starts soon! ordered my fire hockey jersey, an upcoming charity game for a local firefighter and a police officer who both died in the line of duty.


----------



## snerd

Went to grandson's middle school football game Thursday night. They won, he didn't get to play. Found out I don't know how to shoot under the lights. Pulled something in  my back doing shoulder therapy.............. hurting pretty bad. I've had a triple-fusion done back there, hope something didn't give way.


----------



## snerd

I'm not too happy with Lenny's new job, either. It's taking too much of her forum time.


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> I'm not too happy with Lenny's new job, either. It's taking too much of her forum time.



I know - now I have actual work to do at work! 

Still, it _is_ nice to have a job whose description is not, "Cover for someone else's incompetence."

As for today, I wasn't around because I was cheating on y'all with photographers from another forum. Sorry, but sometimes a hipster needs to hang with her film-shootin' peeps


----------



## Aaaak

Errrmm How to join a chat that's already going on and you don't know how to catch up with it?

Sent from my C2104 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Aaaak said:


> Errrmm How to join a chat that's already going on and you don't know how to catch up with it?
> 
> Sent from my C2104 using Tapatalk



This is exactly how you join the chat. Bem vindo!  

We like coffee. There, you're caught up


----------



## Designer

We also like wine, so if you've got some wine a bit later in the day, be sure to share it.


----------



## limr

Oh yes, wine. Definitely wine.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Speaking of wine ... today Mary Lou and I will be attending a Grape Stomping event at Ponte Winery in Temecula. 







"Join us for the 13th annual Grape Stomp, where teams of two compete to see who can stomp enough grape juice to fill a wine bottle. The first team to stomp a whole bottle wins!

Great prizes, Gourmet Food Stations, Wine, Live Music and Stompin' Good Fun!

This event sells out every year, so get your tickets early.

*Menu:*
Carved Red Wine Braised Prime Rib of Beef

Pork Loin Medallion with Brandied Cherries
Sage, Fresh Thyme, Star Anise, Fresh Herb Butter

Breast of Chicken and Broccoli Rabe
Sweet Onions, Cherry Peppers, Garlic and Fresh Oregano

Watercress Crusted Scottish Salmon
Warm Lemon Zest Vinaigrette, Rice Pilaf

A gourmet selection of vegetarian entrées, hearty and delicious appetizers, fresh salads, hot side dishes and decadent desserts will accompany the main entrees."

And No I will not be participating in the Stomp ... and Yes, I will be taking some snaps.


----------



## Gary A.

I am back to the French Press ... the AeroPress is okay ... in fact good, but the French Press is a touch easier with equal quality (tastes different, but the quality is equal).


----------



## otherprof

waday said:


> I could really eat a fresh bagel with cream cheese right now.
> 
> Preferably a plain bagel with plain cream cheese, but I could also do a plain bagel with veggie cream cheese and slices of tomato and cucumber.


Do they boil and then bake the bagels in Pennsylvania? It is hard to get a good bagel out of NYC or Long Island, although I did find gr Bueat bagels in Manchester to Center Vermont. They were so good we took a dozen home to Long Island. BTW, the big bagel controversy now is "to toast or not to tloast."  I heard a segment about it on NPR, provoked by the decision at Murray's Bagels in Manhattan to put in a toaster after decades of refusal. I say, if they are not right out of the oven, or not real bagels (more like rolls with holes, like Einstein Brothers product, toast away. Right out of the oven, a poke in the eye with a sharp stick is preferable to toasting it.


----------



## Gary A.

I think I'll make some bagels. A hot baguette, still soft and warm in the basket of a Parisian boulangerie, is still a great way to start one's day. But bagels sounds good.


----------



## waday

otherprof said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I could really eat a fresh bagel with cream cheese right now.
> 
> Preferably a plain bagel with plain cream cheese, but I could also do a plain bagel with veggie cream cheese and slices of tomato and cucumber.
> 
> 
> 
> Do they boil and then bake the bagels in Pennsylvania? It is hard to get a good bagel out of NYC or Long Island, although I did find gr Bueat bagels in Manchester to Center Vermont. They were so good we took a dozen home to Long Island. BTW, the big bagel controversy now is "to toast or not to tloast."  I heard a segment about it on NPR, provoked by the decision at Murray's Bagels in Manhattan to put in a toaster after decades of refusal. I say, if they are not right out of the oven, or not real bagels (more like rolls with holes, like Einstein Brothers product, toast away. Right out of the oven, a poke in the eye with a sharp stick is preferable to toasting it.
Click to expand...

It depends on the place. We have a bagel place here claiming "authentic" New York bagels, ha. They're pretty good, though, so they get a thumbs up from me.

I'm definitely a "no toast" bagel person, but I'll still eat them toasted.


----------



## Aaaak

Yummy chat ￼ 
For me, Brazilian, there's nothing better than "Brazilian cheese rolls" or "Brazilian cheese bread". Crusty outside and melting cheese inside ￼  with coffee with milk, please. 





Pão de queijo 

Sent from my C2104 using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

Gary, the menu for that Grape Stomp event looks amazing!   Not to mention the accompanying vegetarian dishes and entrees.   mmmMMMmmm....

And I would totally do the stomp.        Have fun!


----------



## sm4him

vintagesnaps said:


> I would say Sharon, try a bialy instead if you could find any, they're softer than bagels but I don't know if many places make them.



I have never heard of such a thing, and feel certain I'd have to order one off Amazon or something, because I'm pretty sure any place local would look at me and say, "you want a bi-whut?"



Aaaak said:


> Yummy chat ￼
> For me, Brazilian, there's nothing better than "Brazilian cheese rolls" or "Brazilian cheese bread". Crusty outside and melting cheese inside ￼  with coffee with milk, please.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pão de queijo
> 
> Sent from my C2104 using Tapatalk



OH YES, PLEASE!! Those things are the bomb!! I have a friend who lived in Brazil for many years, and she makes those once in a while when I visit her. I could eat them all in one sitting!


----------



## Gary A.

We are finally starting our day. We are at Thornton Winery, picking up our vino, ordered some lunch and beginning our first flight.


----------



## Gary A.

Ahhhh .... Some very sparkling ... Sparkling wine.


----------



## Gary A.

A flight of champagne ...


----------



## Gary A.

Brie baked in a pastry with walnuts and a Carmel sauce.


Washed down with a flight of champagne.


----------



## Gary A.

I wanted to lick the plate.


----------



## Gary A.

Winner of the first round.


----------



## minicoop1985

Had Starbuck's today. Been a while since I'd done that.


----------



## snerd

Got tired of my touchpad driver locking up Windows 10, so I installed Linux Mint last night. Today, it froze when I clicked the touchpad! So it looks like it's a hardware problem........ it does seem to stick sometimes. Drats! Been seriously looking at a shiny new MacBook Pro, maybe I'll start a gofundme account!


----------



## Gary A.

I few years ago I switched from Windows to Apple... I've never looked back.


----------



## limr

I used Apple computers in grad school. Meh.


----------



## Derrel

Had a wonderful homemade CHinese food lunch with my neighbors, in celebration of the Chinese Moon Festival. Lots of unusual, delicious dishes, including one of my favorites, a vegetable medley that has some wonderful tubers, green pea pods, a wonderful black fungus (a mushroom they call fungus!), steamed whole chicken which is always cleaver-chopped into strips, rice noodles with vegetables, some crazy-good humbao of two types, rice, delicious tofu and sauce with spicy peppers, great oyster sauce and green onions dipping sauce, and a couple other dishes that I was not really sure of.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> I used Apple computers in grad school. Meh.



I use both Macs and PCs on a daily basis.
At work I have a 27-in. iMac, and a dual-screen PC.
I do almost everything on the iMac, but that is mostly because I like the screen size AND even more important, I like that it's not connected to the city network. 

I used to have a Mac laptop and a PC desktop at home, but the Mac started giving me fits and I ended up giving it to my youngest son and buying an Asus laptop.

I also have both an iPhone and a Galaxy S6--the iPhone is my work phone; it wasn't my choice, it was just what they bought for me. Which is funny, because nobody else there uses Macs, but they use iPhones.

Anyway--I don't have any really strong preference one way or the other. There are things I like and things I don't like about both.  But they both do the job.


----------



## Designer

Well, good morning, everyone!  Derell's experience has prompted me to write about what I had for supper last evening.  I made grilled pork chops using Sunny Anderson's recipe (so you can look it up), and twice-baked potatoes and steamed broccoli.  Oh, yeah, and red wine, heh, heh.


----------



## jcdeboever

I use a custom made (by me) desktop and run Linux Slackware 64 bit . I just buy a used Thinkpad from Arrow Direct and load Linux Slackware on it. I do not care for Windows but have no issues with it. I just prefer the control of setup/ installation of my OS and how it gets updated. I stopped using Mac when hardware moved away from Motorola. I liked the OS but it didn't seem right to me having to buy their hardware (Intel) just to use an OS. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

I've been trying to help my wife with her recently downloaded Windows 10.  This seems like another version that we may skip here at work (using 7 for a while now).

I hope everyone on here has been doing well.  I've been absent for a bit.


----------



## JacaRanda

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I used Apple computers in grad school. Meh.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I use both Macs and PCs on a daily basis.
> At work I have a 27-in. iMac, and a dual-screen PC.
> I do almost everything on the iMac, but that is mostly because I like the screen size AND even more important, I like that it's not connected to the city network.
> 
> I used to have a Mac laptop and a PC desktop at home, but the Mac started giving me fits and I ended up giving it to my youngest son and buying an Asus laptop.
> 
> I also have both an iPhone and a Galaxy S6--the iPhone is my work phone; it wasn't my choice, it was just what they bought for me. Which is funny, because nobody else there uses Macs, but they use iPhones.
> 
> Anyway--I don't have any really strong preference one way or the other. There are things I like and things I don't like about both.  But they both do the job.
Click to expand...

I also could work with both,  but prefer PC and Android devices over Apple.  Bought Wifey an IMAC and Iphone 5c; the iphone has been sold,  and nothing but complaints about the Mac.  What was I thinking - simplicity and integration but noooooooooo! 

Never had any issues with Windows since NT or 2000 other than drivers for new devices. 

I love being able to customize my Android phones with a gazillion different launchers.


----------



## terri

Derrel said:


> Had a wonderful homemade CHinese food lunch with my neighbors, in celebration of the Chinese Moon Festival. Lots of unusual, delicious dishes, including one of my favorites, a vegetable medley that has some wonderful tubers, green pea pods, a wonderful black fungus (a mushroom they call fungus!), steamed whole chicken which is always cleaver-chopped into strips, rice noodles with vegetables, some crazy-good humbao of two types, rice, delicious tofu and sauce with spicy peppers, great oyster sauce and green onions dipping sauce, and a couple other dishes that I was not really sure of.


Oh man, that sounds amazing!    I don't even have bad American/Chinese food where I live now.    <--- It doesn't really deserve to be missed, but a decent hot & sour soup every now and then would be nice.   *sniffle*   You are lucky to have neighbors who can cook with such authenticity!


----------



## Derrel

terri said:
			
		

> Oh man, that sounds amazing!    I don't even have bad American/Chinese food where I live now.    <--- It doesn't really deserve to be missed, but a decent hot & sour soup every now and then would be nice.   *sniffle*   You are lucky to have neighbors who can cook with such authenticity!



YEAH, I feel truly blessed to have my neighbors. They have been the absolute best neighbors I've ever had...the most kind, most considerate, most sharing. I've helped them out, they have helped me out. With babysitting, errands, and a whole list of stuff. I have helped with cable boxes, modems, routers, and lots of confusing paperwork (jury duty, citizenship test studies, etc..). They actually bring me a LOT of home-cooked Chinese food, and they've included me and my son on a number of Chinese New Year feasts, plus the Moon Festival feast, and a few others. I really enjoy authentic, home-style Chinese cooking.


----------



## limr

Hosers, I'm getting hungry.


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Hosers, I'm getting hungry.



Hungry because you didn't eat lunch? Or hungry AGAIN despite lunch?

I had lunch with my youngest son and his girlfriend today--that was a treat, especially since my son is actually the one who asked if I wanted to meet up with them! (usually, they are more than happy to meet for dinner if they're available, but it's almost always ME asking them, not the other way around).  In fact, his invite surprised me so much that I almost thought perhaps there was something going on, maybe an announcement they were gonna make.
Thankfully, it was just lunch! I love his girlfriend, but I am not ready to be a grandmother, and they are both still in school anyway, so I'm perfectly happy to wait a while longer for marriage and/or baby announcements!!

Son is about to head out on tour with the catering company he works for again, which is what prompted the lunch invite I think. Not a month-long thing like the last two--just about 5 days, then back for 3, and then possibly gone for another week.
Texas and Iowa, he thinks.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers, I'm getting hungry.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hungry because you didn't eat lunch? Or hungry AGAIN despite lunch?
Click to expand...


Hungry because I tend to graze rather than have big meals, so I had eaten my pb&j around noon, so by 3pm I was ready for my next mini-meal, which was a packet of oatmeal. 

Lunch sounds like it was nice


----------



## minicoop1985

No coffee for me today-I FOUND SURGE!!! Yisss


----------



## snerd

Picked up my grandson after school, to help me with groceries. Spent $300, then he proceeded to eat about 1/2 of it! He's 13 and playing football again this year, so I guess it's normal?


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers! Philly is back to normal this morning after the visit. Streets are open, trains running on normal schedule, etc. Yesterday this was sort of like a ghost town.

There are more people in the office as well, although they seem to be leaving me alone so far, so I'm just having my coffee and getting started on a couple of things.


----------



## terri

For the love of all that's holy, hosers - doesn't anyone know it's National Coffee Day?!  

Who knew?    I'm gonna have a cup right now, steaming hot with plenty of cream.   

Guess it'll be home brew, though.


----------



## snerd

And we call ourselves hosers.............   

I never heard of it!


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> For the love of all that's holy, hosers - doesn't anyone know it's National Coffee Day?!
> 
> Who knew?    I'm gonna have a cup right now, steaming hot *with plenty of cream*.
> 
> Guess it'll be home brew, though.


Sorry, but that's not coffee; that's become a chemical experiment!


----------



## nat3wall

I don't drink coffee so today is just a normal day for me, but all you coffee drinkers have a wonderful day drinking coffee!


----------



## limr

Well, another long day of teaching is now on the books. I guess I'll celebrate with....COFFEE!!! 

And as a non sequitur, I just have to say how happy I am that I have a class in a room with an actual chalkboard this semester. I am so over the whiteboard/dry-erase marker crap. I love the chalkboard, though. Always have.


----------



## sm4him

terri said:


> For the love of all that's holy, hosers - doesn't anyone know it's National Coffee Day?!
> 
> Who knew?    I'm gonna have a cup right now, steaming hot with plenty of cream.
> 
> Guess it'll be home brew, though.



I saw that on FB, but I contend that EVERY day is National Coffee Day.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Saw it on the noon news. Now that they found water on Mars they can make coffee up there!

Not the start to the week I had planned... had a Dr. appt. just for a check up and usually in and out quick, but never got there because instead got a call from the hospital - my brother was scheduled for knee surgery but passed out and fell at home. Found out he had a blood clot near the heart, that was too close for comfort. So still in ICU but recovering, had bruising from falling that's now worse after the blood thinners etc. and will be in a few days.

So it's raining and getting cooler (yay!) and I haven't motivated to get much done all day besides playing on the computer. And gathering up laundry which I then decided oh the hell with it I'll do it tomorrow! lol at least it's in the washer.


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon Hosers. Looks like today/tomorrow are gonna be horrible. Therapist appointment today (always makes me depressed). Friend died last night somehow (haven't determined how yet). My mom wants to come up here (bad thing). Temperature dropped and fall is upon us. Seriously, today can go f*ck itself.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> I love the chalkboard, though. Always have.



You just like having the option of pushing the chalk to make it squeak so you can torture your students.  C'mon, admit that the thought crosses your mind ...


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I love the chalkboard, though. Always have.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You just like having the option of pushing the chalk to make it squeak so you can torture your students.  C'mon, admit that the thought crosses your mind ...
Click to expand...


Yeah, ya got me there


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Afternoon Hosers. Looks like today/tomorrow are gonna be horrible. Therapist appointment today (always makes me depressed). Friend died last night somehow (haven't determined how yet). My mom wants to come up here (bad thing). Temperature dropped and fall is upon us. Seriously, today can go f*ck itself.


----------



## limr

Okay, so today was National Coffee Day. Since it's now after 5pm, does that mean it's changed over to National Wine Evening?

Well hell, real holiday or not, I'ma celebrate it anyway!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Okay, so today was National Coffee Day. Since it's now after 5pm, does that mean it's changed over to National Wine Evening?
> 
> Well hell, real holiday or not, I'ma celebrate it anyway!



That is exactly what it means (or should), Lenny!!    I'm now celebrating with a 2011 Monsanto Chianti Classico Reserva.  

So, I hereby toast your day with a real chalkboard in front of your students.   Cheers, girl.   <clink>


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, so today was National Coffee Day. Since it's now after 5pm, does that mean it's changed over to National Wine Evening?
> 
> Well hell, real holiday or not, I'ma celebrate it anyway!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is exactly what it means (or should), Lenny!!    I'm now celebrating with a 2011 Monsanto Chianti Classico Reserva.
> 
> So, I hereby toast your day with a real chalkboard in front of your students.   Cheers, girl.   <clink>
Click to expand...


Cheers and a clink right back atcha! I've got a Slovenian...um...well, it's red. You can tell by the redness!  (I'll get the name of it as soon as I can be bothered to run downstairs to check which one I had!)


----------



## Gary A.

Picked up this puppy at Thornton Winery over the weekend.




 Read the description. This was actually a wonderful wine. Yes, the purest would snicker and scoff ... But it tasted great ... a perfect blend of chocolate, cherry and wine. Just enough of a hint of cherry and chocolate to boost the flavor.


----------



## terri

Hey, I would never snicker and scoff over any local wine if it is tasty!   Some local wineries in certain areas of the country can do a bang-up job.   It's nice to not only support them, but to find inexpensive wines that can be enjoyed with casual dining is always something to celebrate.    

The hubby and I call them "daily wines."   Not that we drink wine daily - no, no.  You mustn't think that.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Hey, I would never snicker and scoff over any local wine if it is tasty!   Some local wineries in certain areas of the country can do a bang-up job.   It's nice to not only support them, but to find inexpensive wines that can be enjoyed with casual dining is always something to celebrate.
> 
> The hubby and I call them "daily wines."   Not that we drink wine daily - no, no.  You mustn't think that.



Ain't nothin' wrong with local wine or with drinking it daily! 

Oh, and the wine I had last night was a Slovenian red, a 2010 Kocijančič Zanut Merlot. It always reminds me of the French "Zut alors!" exclamation that means something along the lines of "Dagnabbit!"


----------



## otherprof

limr said:


> Well, another long day of teaching is now on the books. I guess I'll celebrate with....COFFEE!!!
> 
> And as a non sequitur, I just have to say how happy I am that I have a class in a room with an actual chalkboard this semester. I am so over the whiteboard/dry-erase marker crap. I love the chalkboard, though. Always have.


I once observed a new teacher at Fashion Institute of Technology, who was really strong on the technology aspects of teaching. He was running short videos, projecting Powerpoints, using his laser pointer etc. Everything was working beautifully. Then he went to write something on the chalkboard. The CHALK WOULDN'T WORK! He was trying to use the best dustless chalk on the newly washed chalkboard, and it wouldn't make a mark. I reached into my pocket for a piece of the cheapest, dustiest chalk  you can buy at the 99cent store and passed it to him. Sometimes experience shows that the new improved version isn't.


----------



## Gary A.

The Patio BBQ in action. Grilled some steaks on the Kamado. Having everything is one place makes grilling so much more pleasurable.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Hey, I would never snicker and scoff over any local wine if it is tasty!   Some local wineries in certain areas of the country can do a bang-up job.   It's nice to not only support them, but to find inexpensive wines that can be enjoyed with casual dining is always something to celebrate.
> 
> The hubby and I call them "daily wines."   Not that we drink wine daily - no, no.  You mustn't think that.


Terri, this is California. Our local wines are world class stuff. (I wouldn't call Thornton world class, grade A wine ... but it is awfully tasty and award winning in some international comps.) The wines we drink at Paso Roles, Santa Rita Hills, Edna Valley, Napa and Sonoma are world class. The wines are not inexpensive ... at least by my standards.


----------



## JacaRanda

Time to make a Trader Joes wine run.


----------



## Gary A.

JacaRanda said:


> Time to make a Trader Joes wine run.


Costco has some pretty good stuff and they post ratings.


----------



## snerd

On the personal front...................... looks like I'm going to have to pay my lawyer some more money to get the ex to refinance the house and get my name off the mortgage. The terms of the judgement gave us both 6 months to refinance the car I kept, and the house she kept, removing the other's name from them. I've met my obligation, she hasn't. In texting with her, it doesn't seem to be a high priority, either. Grrrr!!! I gave her another month to get it done, "last" month. Found out tonight, she hasn't even got the paperwork started! Grrrr!!!! It's a $2.5 mil mortgage.......... holding me back on some things.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

No wine for me. Headachy time. Doesn't seem _too_ bad, but still, you don't poke a sleeping bear. Or an awake bear. Just don't poke bears, period.

Long day today. Teaching, then some meetings, then the first meeting of another paralegal class I have decided to audit this semester. It's Partnerships and Corporations. I figured it might be a good idea to learn about the legal side of business stuff in case anything ever happens with my friend's tutoring business.


----------



## limr

snerd said:


> On the personal front...................... looks like I'm going to have to pay my lawyer some more money to get the ex to refinance the house and get my name off the mortgage. The terms of the judgement gave us both 6 months to refinance the car I kept, and the house she kept, removing the other's name from them. I've met my obligation, she hasn't. In texting with her, it doesn't seem to be a high priority, either. Grrrr!!! I gave her another month to get it done, "last" month. Found out tonight, she hasn't even got the paperwork started! Grrrr!!!! It's a $2.5 mil mortgage.......... holding me back on some things.



That sucks


----------



## limr

Remember I told you guys that I was cheating on y'all last weekend? With my film-wasting hipster buddies?  Here's his band (he's the trumpet player standing on the pedestal). It's called the Nevermind Orchestra and it's an all-brass Nirvana cover band. They're awesome. They've got some really cool, bluesy arrangements.




Nevermind by limrodrigues, on Flickr

They started in the park at 9th Street and Avenue C and then started marching through Alphabet City. We followed them like traveling groupies 



Rock on by limrodrigues, on Flickr

That baritone sax is as big as the woman playing it!



Saxy jeans by limrodrigues, on Flickr

Then we passed a German bar that was featuring their own brass oompah band and the challenge was offered (until a waitress in a traditional barwench dress and dirndl came over and asked us to stop but come back later when the oompah band was done.)



Battle of the brass by limrodrigues, on Flickr

Then there was beer. 

These shots were with my Zorki 6 and expired Gold 400. I loaded some HP5 after the Gold but that roll is still in the camera. I also had the Lubitel (it was an all-Russian day for me!) and that roll is also still in the camera.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Coffee keeping me sane at work once again.

Nice shots, Leonore.  I don't know if it's the cameras, film or both, but they have a sort of "vintage" look to them.  Except for some newer cars in the last one I could have believed they were taken in the 70's or 80's.  I've never seen anyone that small playing a baritone sax.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> ...an all-brass Nirvana cover band...


Holy crap!   That alone would be worth a listen - how imaginative!   I bet they do have some neat arrangements!



Gary A. said:


> Terri, this is California. Our local wines are world class stuff. (I wouldn't call Thornton world class, grade A wine ... but it is awfully tasty and award winning in some international comps.) The wines we drink at Paso Roles, Santa Rita Hills, Edna Valley, Napa and Sonoma are world class. The wines are not inexpensive ... at least by my standards.



Oh, trust me Gary, I know where you live!       Your "local wines" are in one of the top appellations of the world, that's all.   And the better known wineries are insanely expensive, I agree, which is why I'm betting the lesser-known ones are probably a much better deal for the price.    (I just didn't want to sound too geeky.)   hee hee!

I've had wines from local vineyards here in Georgia and also the Texas hill country.   They could not compete with California, but Texas actually does a fair job.   Many of these guys import certain grapes and use their own in 10-20% increments to blend.   A skilled winemaker can do wonders in good years.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Are they on Youtube yet? I'm trying to imagine their sound...


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Are they on Youtube yet? I'm trying to imagine their sound...



Here's a jazzy version of "Heart Shaped Box"


----------



## limr

And another (can't remember the name of the song. I suck at song titles.)


----------



## sm4him

Oooh, we're having a jazz festival at the Coffee House today!! Cool.

Too bad I can't really enjoy it. I've got a stalker headache.  The headache itself isn't that bad, just yet...but it's hanging around, lurking back in the shadows and just waiting for a chance to strike.

And today is a long day, which gives it even more chance to find its opportunity and come charging at me.
I've got a women's ministry meeting/fellowship after work. I'm looking forward to it, because it involves some of my best friends on the planet...but we also do have some things that actually need to be discussed and decided, and getting that group to ever QUIT fellowshipping long enough to actual discuss meeting-y things is enough to bring a stalker headache out into the open.
HOPEFULLY, the rain will take a break before I head home tonight, because driving in the dark and the rain is an almost certain way to give me a headache anyway.  It's not raining right now, but it has rained off and on for days now, and the forecast is for at least another couple of rainy days.


----------



## JacaRanda

limr said:


> And another (can't remember the name of the song. I suck at song titles.)



Okay, the young lady playing the baritone sax without a stand just does it for me.
Love this and would love to see it in that club and on the street.  Wayyy freakin cool for me.


----------



## robbins.photo

Greetings folks, did I miss anything good?


----------



## JacaRanda

robbins.photo said:


> Greetings folks, did I miss anything good?



Nope, but a whole lotta bad Mr. Rob Benz


----------



## robbins.photo

JacaRanda said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Greetings folks, did I miss anything good?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope, but a whole lotta bad Mr. Rob Benz
Click to expand...


Sounds like I took a vacation at about the right time then


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## JacaRanda

robbins.photo said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Greetings folks, did I miss anything good?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope, but a whole lotta bad Mr. Rob Benz
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Sounds like I took a vacation at about the right time then
Click to expand...


Yup.  As you would expect, I have been on my best behavior.  Pretty much angel like.  However, the rest of these folks........shameful behavior at best.  Excessive wine drinking going on.


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## robbins.photo

JacaRanda said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Greetings folks, did I miss anything good?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope, but a whole lotta bad Mr. Rob Benz
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Sounds like I took a vacation at about the right time then
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup.  As you would expect, I have been on my best behavior.  Pretty much angel like.  However, the rest of these folks........shameful behavior at best.  Excessive wine drinking going on.
Click to expand...

Pretty much what I expected.  Lol.  Well figured I'd pop in again, don't really plan on posting much outside the coffee house at least at this stage.  

Weird news, I guess I can't say I'm not a professional photographer any more, which is bizarre..  don't think I'll ever quit the day job but a little extra income doesn't hurt and I still get to shoot what I want so that's cool.

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


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## snowbear

'tis October.




by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


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## vintagesnaps

Now _that_ is some unusual music! fun.

Charlie turned magenta. Now I see why...

Rob, I was just thinking today, I wonder how the big gorilla's doing (really, I did!).

Jaca has been on Dayquil or Nyquil or maybe both  so I wouldn't believe a word he says about all the wine drinking  because no one on here could possibleee be into thatttsssortof thing...   (You know I'm kidding!)

This is definitely the most sane part of the board so good idea to hang out here.

Sharon - tomorrow's Friday!


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## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> Now _that_ is some unusual music! fun.



Agreed - awesome!    Lenny, that second one is from _Nevermind_; pretty sure it's "Lounge Act," which shows on the clip.    Those are some creative musicians - love it!

Nice to see you popping back in, Gorilla-man.   Stay awhile!


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## pgriz

limr said:


> And another (can't remember the name of the song. I suck at song titles.)



Very nice.  Brassy notes get me.  Every time.  Thanks for posting that.


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## oldhippy




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## sm4him




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## pgriz

sm4him said:


> View attachment 109088



That reminds me, the coffee maker has just finished signing its song.  Actually, more like a contented gurgle.  And the aroma is about to wake my wife up.


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## mmaria

pgriz said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 109088
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That reminds me, the coffee maker has just finished signing its song.  Actually, more like a contented gurgle.  And the aroma is about to wake my wife up.
Click to expand...

PAUL!!!!


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## pgriz

Hi Marija!  Yeah, I've been missing.  And have missed you and the rest of the TPF company too.  Been very busy in my contracting business, rebuilding neglected roofs and the things that go with them.  Have several rebuilding projects of my own going on as well, so there just aren't enough hours in a day to get everything done.  But it's good to be back, if only for a few minutes.


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## mmaria

pgriz said:


> Hi Marija!  Yeah, I've been missing.  And have missed you and the rest of the TPF company too.  Been very busy in my contracting business, rebuilding neglected roofs and the things that go with them.  Have several rebuilding projects of my own going on as well, so there just aren't enough hours in a day to get everything done.  But it's good to be back, if only for a few minutes.


oh...just... honestly...  really missed you


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## mmaria

So glad I've seen Paul here that I forgot to say
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 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




@sm4him  Ma here's one for you 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	







@limr


----------



## mmaria

Oh God!

She's eating walnuts and trying to talk with me!!!

Yes, the same lady in my office that yawns and clear her throat a million times a day!!!


I'll just die.. I will...

O God! why she doesn't stop talking to me with her mouth full !!!!?


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Coffee keeping me sane at work once again.
> Nice shots, Leonore.  I don't know if it's the cameras, film or both, but they have a sort of "vintage" look to them.  Except for some newer cars in the last one I could have believed they were taken in the 70's or 80's.  I've never seen anyone that small playing a baritone sax.



Thanks, Ken. I think it was probably more the film, though the old lens adds to the effect as well. Gold films tend to shift colors into that muted 70s kind of look even with newer lenses. And yeah, that woman was tiny!



JacaRanda said:


> Okay, the young lady playing the baritone sax without a stand just does it for me.
> Love this and would love to see it in that club and on the street.  Wayyy freakin cool for me.



She was pretty cute. It was impressive to see her playing that sax while walking. She had a brace kind of thing - it hooked to the sax and went over her shoulders. It was really fun to walk around with them. We were like the paparazzi 



robbins.photo said:


> Greetings folks, did I miss anything good?


 
US!!! 



terri said:


> Agreed - awesome!    Lenny, that second one is from _Nevermind_; pretty sure it's "Lounge Act," which shows on the clip.    Those are some creative musicians - love it!
> Nice to see you popping back in, Gorilla-man.   Stay awhile!



Oh duh - I thought that was just the title of their video, not the song  I knew the song, but like I said, I suck at song titles.
And I agree it's nice to see the Gorilla around 



pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And another (can't remember the name of the song. I suck at song titles.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Very nice.  Brassy notes get me.  Every time.  Thanks for posting that.
Click to expand...


May I quote Marija and say, "PAAAAAUUUUUUUL!!!!"  We've missed you too!!

So we get to see Paul and Robbins AND it's Friday? No wonder I'm in such a good mood


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> @limr



Back atcha, girl! 








mmaria said:


> Oh God!
> 
> She's eating walnuts and trying to talk with me!!!
> 
> Yes, the same lady in my office that yawns and clear her throat a million times a day!!!
> 
> 
> I'll just die.. I will...
> 
> O God! why she doesn't stop talking to me with her mouth full !!!!?



When that happens, I truly wonder how I will survive. Then I remember that I am _not_ the person about to be throttled


----------



## robbins.photo

sm4him said:


> View attachment 109088



Well, it rhymes.. lol


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> US!!!



Lol.. true.  I needed the break though, and at least for now I think I'll probably only be participating in the Coffee House and an occasional thread where I know the OP and am responding directly to them.

Just don't need any additional drama.. lol.  But I think that should do the trick.


----------



## terri

Drama sucks! !  Bad, bad drama.   I think the source of your recent drama has left the building, though.  It's fun here in the coffee house, but you should feel free to move about the cabin.  

Speaking of coffee, it's time to get my second cuppa.


----------



## tirediron

mmaria said:


> Oh God!
> 
> She's eating walnuts and trying to talk with me!!!
> 
> Yes, the same lady in my office that yawns and clear her throat a million times a day!!!
> 
> 
> I'll just die.. I will...
> 
> O God! why she doesn't stop talking to me with her mouth full !!!!?


 Have you considered simply wrestling her to the floor and beating her with a desk-lamp 'til she stops?


----------



## sm4him




----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> Drama sucks! !  Bad, bad drama.   I think the source of your recent drama has left the building, though.  It's fun here in the coffee house, but you should feel free to move about the cabin.
> 
> Speaking of coffee, it's time to get my second cuppa.



Well truth be told it was multiple sources..  but it's all good.  Got kind of a kick in the head here recently, I started posting some of my stuff on Facebook in a photo group over there, I just threw up some pictures and put a funny caption with them.  Weirdest thing happened, people started asking me if they could order prints, etc.. and I'm .. umm.. no.. I don't sell prints.

So then they started asking me to do a book, which just seemed very bizarre, but I did a little research and started putting together a self published photo book, and I've already gotten pre-orders - which just totally blew my mind. 

So now I've got people asking for posters too... so I'm having to set up a website.  The whole thing just came out of left field really.  

Granted never going to get rich or famous doing this but it's kind of nice knowing that folks like the pictures, and if it pays for a case of Mt. Dew every now and again it will be worth the effort I think.


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Have you considered simply wrestling her to the floor and beating her with a desk-lamp 'til she stops?



So your supposed to stop beating them with the desk lamp at some point?  Huh.  Might help if we could get an FAQ page on this.. or something..


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Still haven't processed the fact that my friend is gone... Haven't had time to go through the motions, really. Been so damned busy, which I suppose is a good thing.


----------



## JacaRanda

terri said:


> Drama sucks! !  Bad, bad drama.   I think the source of your recent drama has left the building, though.


 
WRONG!  You can't get rid of me that easy.   Teeheee


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Still haven't processed the fact that my friend is gone... Haven't had time to go through the motions, really. Been so damned busy, which I suppose is a good thing.



Minicoop.. sorry to hear about your friend, if there's anything I can do let me know.  My dad told me something once when I was a kid that didn't make a lot of sense at the time but it does now.  He said, sometimes you have to just keep putting one foot in front of the other till you remember where it is you're walking too.


----------



## robbins.photo

JacaRanda said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Drama sucks! !  Bad, bad drama.   I think the source of your recent drama has left the building, though.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> WRONG!  You can't get rid of me that easy.   Teeheee
Click to expand...


He's right you know.  Tried everything.  Sprays.  Traps.  Those strip things that hang from the ceiling.,.  nothing seems to work.


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Drama sucks! !  Bad, bad drama.   I think the source of your recent drama has left the building, though.  It's fun here in the coffee house, but you should feel free to move about the cabin.
> 
> Speaking of coffee, it's time to get my second cuppa.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well truth be told it was multiple sources..  but it's all good.  Got kind of a kick in the head here recently, I started posting some of my stuff on Facebook in a photo group over there, I just threw up some pictures and put a funny caption with them.  Weirdest thing happened, people started asking me if they could order prints, etc.. and I'm .. umm.. no.. I don't sell prints.
> 
> So then they started asking me to do a book, which just seemed very bizarre, but I did a little research and started putting together a self published photo book, and I've already gotten pre-orders - which just totally blew my mind.
> 
> So now I've got people asking for posters too... so I'm having to set up a website.  The whole thing just came out of left field really.
> 
> Granted never going to get rich or famous doing this but it's kind of nice knowing that folks like the pictures, and if it pays for a case of Mt. Dew every now and again it will be worth the effort I think.
Click to expand...

That's awesome! Congrats on the self-published book and pre-orders! So cool!


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Still haven't processed the fact that my friend is gone... Haven't had time to go through the motions, really. Been so damned busy, which I suppose is a good thing.


Sorry to hear that, Coop.


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have you considered simply wrestling her to the floor and beating her with a desk-lamp 'til she stops?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So your supposed to stop beating them with the desk lamp at some point?  Huh.  Might help if we could get an FAQ page on this.. or something..
Click to expand...

 Well... I generally use either the breaking of the desk-lamp, or my arm being too tired to continue as a guideline....


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> That's awesome! Congrats on the self-published book and pre-orders! So cool!



The whole thing was pretty bizarre really, but the way I set it up I'll actually be having them order and pay, I'll have it printed locally and then ship it to them.  That way I don't have to have any inventory on hand or worry about how many copies to order, etc.  I looked at maybe doing one of those deals where you have a company print and ship it for you but they all charge so much that you can't really make any kind of a profit on top of that  and still have it sell.

Not sure about the posters yet.. they seem kind of expensive to me for a poster but I'm getting requests for them even after I said, well they will cost you $X for this sized poster.. will have to see how that goes I guess.  The website thing is kind of a pain, there are places that you can setup an actual ecommerce site but they take a pretty good chunk of change each month and I don't want to get into a situation where I have a lot of monthly overhead to worry about so I'm setting up something myself instead.

So for now it's pretty basic - I take payments via paypal and I'll just do a quick and dirty order system that way.  I guess we'll see how it goes.  Still working on getting the website built.


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have you considered simply wrestling her to the floor and beating her with a desk-lamp 'til she stops?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So your supposed to stop beating them with the desk lamp at some point?  Huh.  Might help if we could get an FAQ page on this.. or something..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... I generally use either the breaking of the desk-lamp, or my arm being too tired to continue as a guideline....
Click to expand...


But wouldn't you just grab another desk lamp and switch arms?  See.. this is why we need a FAQ.. lol


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> So for now it's pretty basic - I take payments via paypal and I'll just do a quick and dirty order system that way.  I guess we'll see how it goes.  Still working on getting the website built.


Good luck!


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
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> 
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> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have you considered simply wrestling her to the floor and beating her with a desk-lamp 'til she stops?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So your supposed to stop beating them with the desk lamp at some point?  Huh.  Might help if we could get an FAQ page on this.. or something..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... I generally use either the breaking of the desk-lamp, or my arm being too tired to continue as a guideline....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> But wouldn't you just grab another desk lamp and switch arms?  See.. this is why we need a FAQ.. lol
Click to expand...

 Well... write one!


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Still haven't processed the fact that my friend is gone... Haven't had time to go through the motions, really. Been so damned busy, which I suppose is a good thing.



I must have missed something somewhere--which isn't really all that unusual.

At any rate, sorry for your loss Coop. Processing any loss takes time, and sometimes it's a much longer process than others. I've had a couple of sudden, tragic losses in the last few years that are honestly STILL tough to wrap my head around sometimes.
My sister-in-law passed away while out visiting her father in California, she just died in her sleep, with absolutely nothing to suggest that was a possibility in the days before. For the longest time, even though intellectually I knew she was gone, some part of me still expected her to come back home from California any day.
Then on Memorial Day in 2014, a dear, dear friend drowned--while his wife, one of my best friends in the world, witnessed it. To this day, I don't think I've fully processed it. I *know* I still can't really discuss it without choking up.

But it does get better. It gets easier and easier to focus on all the good memories and not dwell on the loss.  I think often how blessed I was to have had people like that in my life, people whose passing is worth the mourning, people who made my life better just by being a part of it.


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
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> 
> tirediron said:
> 
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> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
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> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have you considered simply wrestling her to the floor and beating her with a desk-lamp 'til she stops?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So your supposed to stop beating them with the desk lamp at some point?  Huh.  Might help if we could get an FAQ page on this.. or something..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... I generally use either the breaking of the desk-lamp, or my arm being too tired to continue as a guideline....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> But wouldn't you just grab another desk lamp and switch arms?  See.. this is why we need a FAQ.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... write one!
Click to expand...


Oh no.. I am so not going down that road.  Then I'll get the "but you should have written it this way what were you thinking this is a personal affront" silliness.  Lol


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## sm4him

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
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> robbins.photo said:
> 
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> tirediron said:
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> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
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> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have you considered simply wrestling her to the floor and beating her with a desk-lamp 'til she stops?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So your supposed to stop beating them with the desk lamp at some point?  Huh.  Might help if we could get an FAQ page on this.. or something..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... I generally use either the breaking of the desk-lamp, or my arm being too tired to continue as a guideline....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> But wouldn't you just grab another desk lamp and switch arms?  See.. this is why we need a FAQ.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... write one!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh no.. I am so not going down that road.  Then I'll get the "but you should have written it this way what were you thinking this is a personal affront" silliness.  Lol
Click to expand...


What are you talking about, you oversized primate, you? That would NEVER happen here...why, I can't believe you would even suggest such a thing. I find your remark a personal affront...


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## robbins.photo

sm4him said:


> What are you talking about, you oversized primate, you? That would NEVER happen here...why, I can't believe you would even suggest such a thing. I find your remark a personal affront...



Hey.. who are you calling oversized?

Is that a fat joke?  That sounded like a fat joke.. 

rotfl


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## vintagesnaps

Write one, what?? oh nm... I backtracked three pages and still don't know what the heck's going on so I'll just stay that way! lol

It's like old home week on here!


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## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Write one, what?? oh nm... I backtracked three pages and still don't know what the heck's going on so I'll just stay that way! lol
> 
> It's like old home week on here!


----------



## oldhippy

For all my coffee drinking, cat loving, storm fearing friends.


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## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Write one, what?? oh nm... I backtracked three pages and still don't know what the heck's going on so I'll just stay that way! lol
> 
> It's like old home week on here!



Lol.. just John's way of welcoming me back with a ton of grief.  He's such a people person.  Say, you wouldn't happen to have a prewritten FAQ page on how to beat people to death with a desk lamp by chance, would you?


----------



## sm4him

robbins.photo said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Write one, what?? oh nm... I backtracked three pages and still don't know what the heck's going on so I'll just stay that way! lol
> 
> It's like old home week on here!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lol.. just John's way of welcoming me back with a ton of grief.  He's such a people person.  Say, you wouldn't happen to have a prewritten FAQ page on how to beat people to death with a desk lamp by chance, would you?
Click to expand...


Oh, my. You DO need an FAQ page. My dear oversized-but-not-in-a-bad-way-at-all-just-totally-natural simianesque one, the proper procedure is NOT to beat them TO DEATH with a desk lamp. You want only to beat them half-to-death, or at the very least, until they have quite a noticeable limp.
You want them to live to regret their actions. If you beat them to death, well, now they're DEAD. And dead people don't tend to give a flying flip about remorse and regret and things of that nature.


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## robbins.photo

True, but then again they are also not around to annoy you the next time, hence saving a ton of money on desk lamps.  See, I'm not vindictive, just fiscally responsible.  Lol

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Huh?  What?
Looks like I've been away too long . . . No clue as to what some of y'all are talking about.


----------



## minicoop1985

Thanks for the support, everyone. I know I can count on you guys. I'm actually handling it pretty well, thanks to the amount of other stuff that's been going on-photo shoots, school things, getting the wife lined up for school, etc.


----------



## snowbear

Continuing, now that I am at home and not fritzing on the phone.

Welcome back, Paul.  I can certainly relate to being too busy to stop by.
Coop - sorry to hear about your loss.  Not really the praying type, but you are in my thoughts.
Todd - hope it gets better.  I don't _think_ I'm your drama puppy, so I'm not going away.
Marija - I'll look through my little book on how to deal with jammin' fast-holes and see if there's a way to get rid of chew-talker without committing a felony.
Hippy - love the coffee cup & purricane categories.

Did I leave anyone out?  Oh. Leonore, Sharon, & Sharon -  Just keep doing what you do.


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## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
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> robbins.photo said:
> 
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> tirediron said:
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> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have you considered simply wrestling her to the floor and beating her with a desk-lamp 'til she stops?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So your supposed to stop beating them with the desk lamp at some point?  Huh.  Might help if we could get an FAQ page on this.. or something..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... I generally use either the breaking of the desk-lamp, or my arm being too tired to continue as a guideline....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> But wouldn't you just grab another desk lamp and switch arms?  See.. this is why we need a FAQ.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... write one!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh no.. I am so not going down that road.  Then I'll get the "but you should have written it this way what were you thinking this is a personal affront" silliness.  Lol
Click to expand...

Your afront is pretty silly!


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## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
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> tirediron said:
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> robbins.photo said:
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> tirediron said:
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> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
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> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have you considered simply wrestling her to the floor and beating her with a desk-lamp 'til she stops?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So your supposed to stop beating them with the desk lamp at some point?  Huh.  Might help if we could get an FAQ page on this.. or something..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... I generally use either the breaking of the desk-lamp, or my arm being too tired to continue as a guideline....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> But wouldn't you just grab another desk lamp and switch arms?  See.. this is why we need a FAQ.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... write one!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh no.. I am so not going down that road.  Then I'll get the "but you should have written it this way what were you thinking this is a personal affront" silliness.  Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Your afront is pretty silly!
Click to expand...

So is my aback...  but more on that later.  Lol

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> Continuing, now that I am at home and not fritzing on the phone.
> 
> Welcome back, Paul.  I can certainly relate to being too busy to stop by.
> Coop - sorry to hear about your loss.  Not really the praying type, but you are in my thoughts.
> Todd - hope it gets better.  I don't _think_ I'm your drama puppy, so I'm not going away.
> Marija - I'll look through my little book on how to deal with jammin' fast-holes and see if there's a way to get rid of chew-talker without committing a felony.
> Hippy - love the coffee cup & purricane categories.
> 
> Did I leave anyone out?  Oh. Leonore, Sharon, & Sharon -  Just keep doing what you do.


Nope, your not.. and it wasn't a puppy so much as a small kennel but it's all good.  Just going to hang here and stay above the fray that seems to always ensue in other threads.

Sent from my 306SH using Tapatalk


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## snerd




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## Gary A.

Buenos Noches Coffee Hosers. It been a long day. Mary Lou just came back from a four mile walk and we are celebrating the end of a long day with some Wilson Creek Champagne. Life is good.


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## snerd

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Noches Coffee Hosers. It been a long day. Mary Lou just came back from a four mile walk and we are celebrating the end of a long day with some Wilson Creek Champagne. Life is good.


I walked 3 miles yesterday and today!


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## snowbear

snerd said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Noches Coffee Hosers. It been a long day. Mary Lou just came back from a four mile walk and we are celebrating the end of a long day with some Wilson Creek Champagne. Life is good.
> 
> 
> 
> I walked 3 miles yesterday and today!
Click to expand...


I swam two with this Nor'easter hanging around.  The good news is that Joaquin has apparently decided not to graces us with his presence.

Taking the boys to DC in the AM for their train ride to NYC.


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## Gary A.

The Cook and I walk two to four miles everyday.

PS- Yesterday, Mary Lou and I attended the grand re-opening of Clifton's Cafeteria, the oldest surviving cafeteria eatery in Los Angeles and the largest public cafeteria in the world. It is a bit of an icon in the cafeteria world.



iPhone image


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## terri

That is such a cool picture!!


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## Gary A.

terri said:


> That is such a cool picture!!


Hard to take a bad picture of a cool place. It's in downtown LA, on Broadway Street in the old theater district. It is the only cafeteria I've eaten in which has a bar and this one is sporting multiple bars ... (and a stuffed Bison).


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## sm4him

I've walked about two miles every day this past month.

Well, let me rephrase that: If you add up all the walking I did every day in the past month, it might be about two miles. 
In my defense, even before Joaquin decided to bear in on the coast, it's been wet, wet and more wet here. It's been a dreary, dreary start to fall. The damp and lack of sun are definitely not helping my depression about the change of seasons!

On the plus side, nothing but rain today means I might as well just sit here and drink more coffee.


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## jcdeboever

Today is a big day, my wife's grandma turns 100 and throwing her a big party. Been washing dishes for her (wife) all morning as she cooks. Also, helped put together some interesting facts about the year 1915... Coffee 15 cents a pound, 95% all babies born in the home, only 140 something miles of paved roads, that sort of stuff. Grandma still walks around without any aid of walker, tack sharp mind, and just a wonderful woman. Her secret she says is," joy. "

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## terri

jcdeboever said:


> Today is a big day, my wife's grandma turns 100 and throwing her a big party. Been washing dishes for her (wife) all morning as she cooks. Also, helped put together some interesting facts about the year 1915... Coffee 15 cents a pound, 95% all babies born in the home, only 140 something miles of paved roads, that sort of stuff. Grandma still walks around without any aid of walker, tack sharp mind, and just a wonderful woman. Her secret she says is," joy. "
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


That is absolutely lovely!   You're being such a tremendous help to your wife on this momentous day.   Grandma sounds like a pistol, and I bet she has had an amazing life, with many stories to tell.    We should all aspire to age so well.

Have a wonderful time at the party!


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## minicoop1985

Good morning, hosers. Been a rough couple days. More drama seems to be popping up in my life and I'm one to generally avoid it as much as possible.


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## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Today is a big day, my wife's grandma turns 100 and throwing her a big party. Been washing dishes for her (wife) all morning as she cooks. Also, helped put together some interesting facts about the year 1915... Coffee 15 cents a pound, 95% all babies born in the home, only 140 something miles of paved roads, that sort of stuff. Grandma still walks around without any aid of walker, tack sharp mind, and just a wonderful woman. Her secret she says is," joy. "
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Tell Grandma BRAVO! I hope her next 100 years will be equally joyful.


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today is a big day, my wife's grandma turns 100 and throwing her a big party. Been washing dishes for her (wife) all morning as she cooks. Also, helped put together some interesting facts about the year 1915... Coffee 15 cents a pound, 95% all babies born in the home, only 140 something miles of paved roads, that sort of stuff. Grandma still walks around without any aid of walker, tack sharp mind, and just a wonderful woman. Her secret she says is," joy. "
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> That is absolutely lovely!   You're being such a tremendous help to your wife on this momentous day.   Grandma sounds like a pistol, and I bet she has had an amazing life, with many stories to tell.    We should all aspire to age so well.
> 
> Have a wonderful time at the party!
Click to expand...


She is a pistol and an angel. Never heard her cuss once. Just don't leave the car keys out, she will take off . They forced her to stop driving 3 years ago, needless to say, she was not a happy camper.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> I've walked about two miles every day this past month.
> 
> Well, let me rephrase that: If you add up all the walking I did every day in the past month, it might be about two miles.
> In my defense, even before Joaquin decided to bear in on the coast, it's been wet, wet and more wet here. It's been a dreary, dreary start to fall. The damp and lack of sun are definitely not helping my depression about the change of seasons!
> 
> On the plus side, nothing but rain today means I might as well just sit here and drink more coffee.


I keep tellin' you Sharon ... come out here it's dry and warm (probably not as steamy hot as you like ... but still hot enough in summer).


----------



## otherprof

minicoop1985 said:


> Thanks for the support, everyone. I know I can count on you guys. I'm actually handling it pretty well, thanks to the amount of other stuff that's been going on-photo shoots, school things, getting the wife lined up for school, etc.


Just another voice of support, for what it is worth.


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today is a big day, my wife's grandma turns 100 and throwing her a big party. Been washing dishes for her (wife) all morning as she cooks. Also, helped put together some interesting facts about the year 1915... Coffee 15 cents a pound, 95% all babies born in the home, only 140 something miles of paved roads, that sort of stuff. Grandma still walks around without any aid of walker, tack sharp mind, and just a wonderful woman. Her secret she says is," joy. "
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> That is absolutely lovely!   You're being such a tremendous help to your wife on this momentous day.   Grandma sounds like a pistol, and I bet she has had an amazing life, with many stories to tell.    We should all aspire to age so well.
> 
> Have a wonderful time at the party!
Click to expand...

Thank you. She works very hard at her job. I enjoy helping her when I can as there is not a lot I can do in the kitchen. I did get her a cleaning lady to come over weekly this year to clean floors, bathrooms, dust, etc. She loves that big time. I guess it's those little things that make a marriage prosper.  

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## minicoop1985

****-funeral's today. Looks like an emergency trip to Milwaukee is in order.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry to hear about that. Check back w/us when you can.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Cool and rainy today but - it's almost hockey season! Our home opener next weekend - I will try _not_ to sit here clutching my tickets all week.

I think the week has caught up with me, kind of pooped today. My brother was supposed to have knee surgery and next thing you know I'm getting a call that he passed out before they even got to the hospital. Turned out he had a blood clot, which they got dissolved; he was in ICU and started doing better so moving into a regular room today. So at least he's on the mend and back to being a smart ass. And I'm not even the one able to go up and be of any help but I think the worry just tires you out.

That and a couple of nights of waking up too stuffed up to get back to sleep, so was back up, squirting nasal saline stuff and gargling and whatnot. I wish the weather would make up its mind! and stop messin' with my head. Summer one day, winter the next, pick a season already! lol


----------



## terri

Poor Sharon!  I know how you feel!  As much as I love the fall, sometimes it takes too long to settle in.   I've been fighting the snuffles for days. 

Hang in there, Coop.  Safe travels.


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## sm4him

jcdeboever said:


> Today is a big day, my wife's grandma turns 100 and throwing her a big party. Been washing dishes for her (wife) all morning as she cooks. Also, helped put together some interesting facts about the year 1915... Coffee 15 cents a pound, 95% all babies born in the home, only 140 something miles of paved roads, that sort of stuff. Grandma still walks around without any aid of walker, tack sharp mind, and just a wonderful woman. Her secret she says is," joy. "
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



That's awesome. 100, that's a VERY big deal.  My grandmother made it to 98, much the same as yours--sharp mind, able to move around unaided. She'd always wanted to live to 100, but she had a heart attack in May (NOT her first, by a long shot), then fell in June (didn't break anything, just got really bruised up. Well, she did break one thing--the side table she fell over!). The two health setbacks were just too much and she went downhill quickly. Made it to her 98th birthday, but just barely--birthday was Aug. 27, and she lived until Sept. 10. Died about 9 hours before planes flew into the Twin Towers.

Washing dishes as wife cooks = 10,000 brownie points for you!

I sure hope your wife's grandmother likes her birthday present!


----------



## sm4him

vintagesnaps said:


> *pick a season already!* lol



Pick summer!! Pick summer!!


----------



## jcdeboever

sm4him said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today is a big day, my wife's grandma turns 100 and throwing her a big party. Been washing dishes for her (wife) all morning as she cooks. Also, helped put together some interesting facts about the year 1915... Coffee 15 cents a pound, 95% all babies born in the home, only 140 something miles of paved roads, that sort of stuff. Grandma still walks around without any aid of walker, tack sharp mind, and just a wonderful woman. Her secret she says is," joy. "
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's awesome. 100, that's a VERY big deal.  My grandmother made it to 98, much the same as yours--sharp mind, able to move around unaided. She'd always wanted to live to 100, but she had a heart attack in May (NOT her first, by a long shot), then fell in June (didn't break anything, just got really bruised up. Well, she did break one thing--the side table she fell over!). The two health setbacks were just too much and she went downhill quickly. Made it to her 98th birthday, but just barely--birthday was Aug. 27, and she lived until Sept. 10. Died about 9 hours before planes flew into the Twin Towers.
> 
> Washing dishes as wife cooks = 10,000 brownie points for you!
> 
> I sure hope your wife's grandmother likes her birthday present!
Click to expand...

Sorry for your loss. 

I need all the brownie points I can get, hopefully it will last a week[emoji6] 

She LOVED your photo! Scored brownie points there too[emoji56] 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## vintagesnaps

I want fall - no more summer, not November... supposed to be 70ish by Monday so my nose will just have to drip til then! lol


----------



## jcdeboever

sm4him said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today is a big day, my wife's grandma turns 100 and throwing her a big party. Been washing dishes for her (wife) all morning as she cooks. Also, helped put together some interesting facts about the year 1915... Coffee 15 cents a pound, 95% all babies born in the home, only 140 something miles of paved roads, that sort of stuff. Grandma still walks around without any aid of walker, tack sharp mind, and just a wonderful woman. Her secret she says is," joy. "
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's awesome. 100, that's a VERY big deal.  My grandmother made it to 98, much the same as yours--sharp mind, able to move around unaided. She'd always wanted to live to 100, but she had a heart attack in May (NOT her first, by a long shot), then fell in June (didn't break anything, just got really bruised up. Well, she did break one thing--the side table she fell over!). The two health setbacks were just too much and she went downhill quickly. Made it to her 98th birthday, but just barely--birthday was Aug. 27, and she lived until Sept. 10. Died about 9 hours before planes flew into the Twin Towers.
> 
> Washing dishes as wife cooks = 10,000 brownie points for you!
> 
> I sure hope your wife's grandmother likes her birthday present!
Click to expand...

Here is the birthday girl with sm4him artwork I purchased last week. 






Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## limr

WOW! She's 100?? Go Granny! Happy Birthday to her!


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## snerd

Wow! She doesn't look a day older than 85!! Tell her congrats from all of us!

It was like a dream here today.................... 68 degrees with a light north wind and cloudy dark. The first seasonal weather we've had! I drove out to the refuge and just sat. For 3 hours. No pics. Just sat. It was wonderful.


----------



## Gary A.

Another perfect day here. Lots of yard work. Then a friend came over with homemade Korean Ribs. We had a BBQ and toss in these thick boneless pork chops, some kimchi, rice, asparagus and fruit salad all washed down with a Simi Cabernet. Life is good.


----------



## snerd

Gary A. said:


> Another perfect day here. Lots of yard work. Then a friend came over with homemade Korean Ribs. We had a BBQ and toss in these thick boneless pork chops, some kimchi, rice, asparagus and fruit salad all washed down with a Simi Cabernet. Lofe is good.


Dude.............. you personify the old saying, Eat, Drink and be Merry!!


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Went to the memorial gathering last night. First time I've been to a funeral with a live band...? Was good to see some faces I haven't seen in over a decade, but would rather see them in a better circumstance.


----------



## Gary A.

We're at Duffo Winery attending a Wine and mosaic class. Fun, fun, fun. 
Drinking wine and picking up our order


----------



## terri

$69 for a zin?!?    Did you get to taste it?

btw, the hubby says when we make it out to California wine country, he wants to visit Forman and Dunn for sure, and Anderson Conn Valley is also on the list.     (Mind you, it's a freaking long list.)


----------



## Designer

Good eye!  I would not have looked at that.  I don't much care for Zinfandel anyway, and at $65, they can keep it.


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## Gary A.

terri said:


> $69 for a zin?!?    Did you get to taste it?
> 
> btw, the hubby says when we make it out to California wine country, he wants to visit Forman and Dunn for sure, and Anderson Conn Valley is also on the list.     (Mind you, it's a freaking long list.)


I tasted it on my first visit to Doffo. Right before I purchased a bottle. It is very very very good. 


 
It comes in a special bottle.


----------



## Gary A.

Our lunch at Thornton ...



 I had a tuna melt.


----------



## Gary A.

snerd said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Another perfect day here. Lots of yard work. Then a friend came over with homemade Korean Ribs. We had a BBQ and toss in these thick boneless pork chops, some kimchi, rice, asparagus and fruit salad all washed down with a Simi Cabernet. Lofe is good.
> 
> 
> 
> Dude.............. you personify the old saying, Eat, Drink and be Merry!!
Click to expand...

LOL, I'm working on it. The new BBQ Patio worked out well. Tom cooked the Korean Spare Ribs on the propane grill and I cooked the pork on the charcoal fed Kamado. Worked out perfectly.  Fuji cameras and California wine ... what could be better ...


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Good eye!  I would not have looked at that.  I don't much care for Zinfandel anyway, and at $65, they can keep it.


The wines from smaller boutique wineries are more expensive than wines produced at the large agribusiness vineyards. The taste is significantly better. Is this Zin 6x better than a $10 Zin you can get at the grocery store ... that is totally dependent upon your individual taste buds.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> $69 for a zin?!?    Did you get to taste it?
> 
> btw, the hubby says when we make it out to California wine country, he wants to visit Forman and Dunn for sure, and Anderson Conn Valley is also on the list.     (Mind you, it's a freaking long list.)


Dunno where you hail from, but those are a pair of small, local-only, type of vineyards. It is quite interesting that hubby knows of them. I am impressed with the hubby. While he's out here ... he should hit Silver Oak as well. I tend to prefer Sonoma wines to Napa ... both areas are world class, but Sonoma seems to deliver greater value. (More cluck for the buck.)


----------



## terri

I will let you in on a little secret...the hubby is a wine geek.       A certified specialist of wine.    So he knows of many off the wall places and is impressed by many of them.   I agree with you about Sonoma, btw.   

I love that Doffo zin bottle!!


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> I will let you in on a little secret...the hubby is a wine geek.       A certified specialist of wine.    So he knows of many off the wall places and is impressed by many of them.   I agree with you about Sonoma, btw.
> 
> I love that Doffo zin bottle!!


The Doffo people are real proud of their bottle. lol

Is the hubby a sommelier?


(Please let him be a Som ...)


----------



## Gary A.

BTW- Temecula is all brand new to me. I am familiar and have visited the better known wine areas in California, Napa, Sonoma, Edna Valley, Santa Rita Hills, Paso Robles, Amador, et cetera. But I never thought much of Temecula ... Temecula = Calloway ... = meh.  But in the past month we've discovered some wonderful vintners down there. And with travel time of an hour fifteen minutes or so ... it is much more appealing than the 2.5 hours it takes to get to the Santa Barbara County/Los Olivos vineyards. (But the Wine Ghetto will always be a favorite spot.)  Doffo is pretty small with a very high quality product and unique spins on their wines, but still on the fringe of main stream.  There are some vineyards in Temecula which are still small time, family owned with tasting rooms of only four stools. Those are the places I seek, down the road less traveled.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. These weeks are going by fast, yikes! The new job is busy (but good) and so of course the time seems to go faster when there are actually things to do. And the first assignments for each of my three classes need to be graded by tomorrow. I'm totally out of my grading rhythm but the first essays are due this week, so I'd better find that rhythm fast  

I have a few more quiet minutes with my coffee and then I have to get my lunch together and get dressed. 

Oh, Monday.


----------



## mmaria




----------



## waday

Cleaned the windshield of my car yesterday, inside and out. I didn't realize how bad it was until my drive in to work today! 



limr said:


> These weeks are going by fast, yikes!



Totally agree. I have a small calendar showing every day of the year in my cube at work. I cross out each day as we go along. I can't believe we're already in October. It feels like I just hung the darn thing up!


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Our lunch at Thornton ...
> 
> View attachment 109242 I had a tuna melt.


 What is the melting temperature of tuna; I find it usually just chars...


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> I'm totally out of my grading rhythm but the first essays are due this week, so I'd better find that rhythm fast



It must be really difficult to get started on that.  For a very brief period I did some editing for a student publication and it nearly drove me insane.  Even the laughs I got from the mistakes made by supposedly very educated people didn't make it worth it for me.


----------



## KenC

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our lunch at Thornton ...
> 
> View attachment 109242 I had a tuna melt.
> 
> 
> 
> What is the melting temperature of tuna; I find it usually just chars...
Click to expand...


Perhaps if it has enough mercury in it?


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our lunch at Thornton ...
> 
> View attachment 109242 I had a tuna melt.
> 
> 
> 
> What is the melting temperature of tuna; I find it usually just chars...
Click to expand...

Dunno ... when the kitchen doors were open I did see a plasma torch.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our lunch at Thornton ...
> 
> View attachment 109242 I had a tuna melt.
> 
> 
> 
> What is the melting temperature of tuna; I find it usually just chars...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Perhaps if it has enough mercury in it?
Click to expand...

Unlike tuna, mercury at normal temperatures, doesn't need to be melted. (But I see your point.)


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm totally out of my grading rhythm but the first essays are due this week, so I'd better find that rhythm fast
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It must be really difficult to get started on that.  For a very brief period I did some editing for a student publication and it nearly drove me insane.  Even the laughs I got from the mistakes made by supposedly very educated people didn't make it worth it for me.
Click to expand...


It's the part of my job that I hate the most. It's a constant struggle to force myself to get the grading done. Once I start, it's frustrating and annoying, but not as hard to just push through as it is to get started in on the pile. I find it easier to grade when I'm not home. I'll camp out at a cafe, put my headphones on, and just start ploughing through.  The sooner I get through the pile, the sooner I get home, so I find it kind of easier to focus on the work than when I'm at home and constantly reminded that there are cats that need petting


----------



## otherprof

minicoop1985 said:


> Morning, hosers. Went to the memorial gathering last night. First time I've been to a funeral with a live band...? Was good to see some faces I haven't seen in over a decade, but would rather see them in a better circumstance.


The band makes it sound like a celebration of the person's life. But the more the person's life was  worth celebrating, the more we feel their loss. There is no rational way not to be sad at the funeral of a person who was important to us. The Stoic philosopher, Epictetus, said, "If you require Zeus to make mortals immortal  for you to be happy, get ready to be unhappy." At least the words remind us of our common humanity and mortality.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our lunch at Thornton ...
> 
> View attachment 109242 I had a tuna melt.
> 
> 
> 
> What is the melting temperature of tuna; I find it usually just chars...
Click to expand...

If tuna are anything like alewives, six days in the back of a truck in summer, whatever that temperature is, should pretty much liquify it.


----------



## sm4him

Hey, hosers!!!
It was a very long Monday.

After work--which I'd just as soon not even talk about--I went out to scout a location for a photo shoot on Thursday. Then I decided to go visit my favorite little Mexican restaurant.

I had one more margarita than I should have. 

And now, I'm gonna log off before I make any tequila-induced statements that should really be left unsaid.


----------



## snerd

sm4him said:


> Hey, hosers!!!
> It was a very long Monday.
> 
> After work--which I'd just as soon not even talk about--I went out to scout a location for a photo shoot on Thursday. Then I decided to go visit my favorite little Mexican restaurant.
> 
> I had one more margarita than I should have.
> 
> And now, I'm gonna log off before I make any tequila-induced statements that should really be left unsaid.


Chicken. Bawk bawk bawk!!!


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our lunch at Thornton ...
> 
> View attachment 109242 I had a tuna melt.
> 
> 
> 
> What is the melting temperature of tuna; I find it usually just chars...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If tuna are anything like alewives, six days in the back of a truck in summer, whatever that temperature is, should pretty much liquify it.
Click to expand...

... And garum is born.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  Sipping some tea, Lemon Jasmine, watching the game and between plays reading the LA Times article on Clifton's Cafeteria. Easy day today. I even made it to Costco for dog food and coffee. I spotted a "HD Digital Antennae" which I grabbed for the spare Tv ... just to see what I can get.


----------



## Gary A.

Interesting article ... or maybe it was a dissertation ... in any event the article was long (LA Times style) and theoretical, lol.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Dinosaur eggs? a speakeasy? Sounds like an interesting place to eat if nothing else. Now you got me reading the article. And what's the Broad? that's cool looking, now I'll have to go read up on that. See what you started sitting there with your lemon tea? well back to it tomorrow.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Dinosaur eggs? a speakeasy? Sounds like an interesting place to eat if nothing else. Now you got me reading the article. And what's the Broad? that's cool looking, now I'll have to go read up on that. See what you started sitting there with your lemon tea? well back to it tomorrow.


The Broad, by their own admission is:

"The Broad is a new contemporary art museum built by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. The museum, which is designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Gensler will offer free general admission. The museum will be home to the nearly 2,000 works of art in the Broad collection, which is among the most prominent holdings of postwar and contemporary art worldwide. With its innovative “veil-and-vault” concept, the 120,000-square-foot, $140-million building will feature two floors of gallery space to showcase The Broad’s comprehensive collection and will be the headquarters of The Broad Art Foundation’s worldwide lending library."

Eli Broad is a big time LA/SoCal developer.


----------



## Gary A.

I will definitely be going back. I remember going to Clifton's when I was a child.

We met a friend and fellow photog at Clifton's. His images are here:

Clifton's Cafeteria - Tom Yi

I haven't processed mine.


----------



## mmaria

busy days, yesterday and today...lots of work... have headache... I can't think anymore!!!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Got my coffee late this morning because I had to sit through a meeting first.  Rewarded myself by going out to a coffee shop and getting the good stuff.

We're going from colder than average to warmer than average today.  Haven't seen much of those nice average Fall days yet.


----------



## waday

KenC said:


> We're going from colder than average to warmer than average today. Haven't seen much of those nice average Fall days yet.


I love summer (and summer temperatures), but when fall hits, I want it to be cold/seasonal. Not at all happy with the forecast of mid-70's today.


----------



## Gary A.

I am stuck in LA traffic.  It sucks. Between midnight and 5:30 a.m. the traffic ls better, but still not ideal.


----------



## sm4him

It's already too cold for me.  We've had a couple of days that didn't get out of the 60s--of course, they were dismal, rainy days as well, which always makes it seem colder.

However, today (and the next few days), it'll be sunny and mid-80s. That's my favorite kind of October weather! 

I did not sleep AT ALL last night. Well, not that's not true. I slept about two hours, then woke up with my hip aching a little--not something I've ever had before, and it was fine when I went to bed. Got up and take some ibuprofen. By 2 a.m. it was absolutely excruciating and I had to take a pain pill; even with that, it hurt so bad I probably didn't sleep 30 minutes at a time.

This morning, the hip still aches but not nearly as bad as it did last night. I think I have sudden-onset arthritis.


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> ... I think I have sudden-onset arthritis.


 Sounds more like 'sudden-onset winter' to me!


----------



## limr

I haaaaaaaate warmer-than-seasonal weather. I want my tights and boots and thick sweaters, already! And I shouldn't be shooing away yellow-jackets in October anymore!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm with Maria on that one! 

Sharon it was probably all that twerking and wild partying you did over the weekend. 

The Broad looks so cool. And between the cafeteria and that I used up my five free articles for the month - so Gary don't tell me anything interesting about LA that I'd want to read about til October!


----------



## vintagesnaps

What's it mean when you see the groundhog in October?? Maybe cooler weather but I wonder, if it doesn't bode well for this winter... doesn't it know I shouldn't see it til February?

Don't know if he saw his shadow, maybe he could ask the big white cat who was plunked in the shade in my back yard yesterday (til it went stalking after something in the bushes). They were both either awfully big animals or awfully puffed up with lots of fur getting ready for winter.


----------



## snerd

Splurging on a cup of coffee this morning. 








Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## minicoop1985

Think I might have overdone it on the caffeine...


----------



## KenC

vintagesnaps said:


> What's it mean when you see the groundhog in October??



Probably a year without a winter - I'd lose my mind, I think.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> What's it mean when you see the groundhog in October?? Maybe cooler weather but I wonder, if it doesn't bode well for this winter... doesn't it know I shouldn't see it til February?
> 
> Don't know if he saw his shadow, maybe he could ask the big white cat who was plunked in the shade in my back yard yesterday (til it went stalking after something in the bushes). They were both either awfully big animals or awfully puffed up with lots of fur getting ready for winter.


I have a feeling this winter will be a cold one. At least I hope so.


----------



## snerd

After this brutal summer, I'll never complain about the cold again.


Until at least late February!



Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Gary A.

Today has been a light day. Early morning appointment at CSULA ... Some easy paperwork and some calls is it. Presently working with a bunch of backyard herbs for the turkey loaf. The kitchen smells wonderful.


----------



## limr

Today was not a light day for me, hosers. I like having all my classes in a cluster so I can get it all over with and have only 2 teaching days, but boy, they are long days. I have to be "on" and intensely focused for 5.5 straight hours and I'm generally shot by the end of it.

It's no wonder I can't believe it'a already the fifth week of the semester!


----------



## Gary A.

It is 75F ... the Kamado is BBQing away incorporating all the herbs and spices and cheeses and raw turkey into a yummy dinner. There is classical blaring out of the patio speakers and I am sipping a wine named 'Inspiration' enjoying the evening, the Koi, hummers and the last of the butterflies waiting for the sun to set.

Life is merry. (With homage to Snerd.)


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

Viola!

Y'all are welcomed to help yourself to some turkey loaf and vino.


----------



## jcdeboever

I seen a horrible car accident right in front of me. Guy ran red light and creamed couple turning left. Ugly.. Guy never even stopped at light. I was stopped, waiting to turn green and guy just creamed poor couple. Seen it all. Think the guy was texting. Couple are doing all right according to hospital. Cop that was at scene called me twice today and said couple was doing well and was glad no one tried to move them. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Now the garlic bread topped with fresh parsley, basil and savory.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I seen a horrible car accident right in front of me. Guy ran red light and creamed couple turning left. Ugly.. Guy never even stopped at light. I was stopped, waiting to turn green and guy just creamed poor couple. Seen it all. Think the guy was texting. Couple are doing all right according to hospital. Cop that was at scene called me twice today and said couple was doing well and was glad no one tried to move them.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


That is so sad. I'm on the road quite a bit and I see close calls all the time.  Seeing an actually accident really brings it home. Take care.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sounds awful to have seen that, glad the couple is OK since it probably could have had a worse outcome.


Gary, so where's the garlic bread??


----------



## snerd

I saw an accident once, and I've seen a lot of close calls in my day.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Sounds awful to have seen that, glad the couple is OK since it probably could have had a worse outcome.
> 
> 
> Gary, so where's the garlic bread??





Per your request.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I seem to be having some allergies here. Stupid unseasonably warm weather! They're not too bad and it's still weird for me to realize that I probably have allergies because I never had them before. But there are all the hallmarks - itchy eyes, sneezing, congestion. Yesterday morning, I sneezed a whole bunch of times in the morning. As you may or may not remember, that's unusual for me. It normally takes me a day or so of false starts before I finally sneeze, so it was actually quite pleasant to be sneezing so freely yesterday morning (awwwww, yeeeeeeaaaaaah  )


----------



## limr

*sneeze*




*sneezesneeze*


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> *sneeze*
> 
> 
> *sneezesneeze*



Could it be cat dander?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. No paper yet ... quite disappointing. I am starting out my day with a breakfast appointment at The Pantry. If you're ever in LA, grab a meal at The Pantry. A ton of meat and potatoes food. You will not walk away hungry. It's open 24/7.


----------



## Gary A.

Ahhh the paper ... it was in the roses. Maybe I missed it as it was dark when I first went looking. I feel better, a cup of Joe and the paper to start my day.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> *sneeze*
> 
> 
> *sneezesneeze*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Could it be cat dander?
Click to expand...


If it was cat dander, I suspect I'd have allergies year-round, right? But for the past 2-3 years, I seem to only get sneezy like this in late summer/early fall. I think it's some tree or weed that blossoms or sheds pollen around this time. I suppose at some point, I could see an allergist. If I ever manage to get myself some health insurance 

I've had the girls for 5 years and before that, I had Gomer Pyle for 5-6 years. In that time, I never noticed extra sneezing around the cats. Does someone take 10 years to develop allergies to cat dander? I mean, maybe it does, I really don't know how these things work.


----------



## terri

It actually is possible to develop allergies to things that never bothered us in the past.   They can come on at any age, in any environment. 

But let's be optimistic and just blame ragweed.   The stuff grows like crazy this time of year.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> It actually is possible to develop allergies to things that never bothered us in the past.   They can come on at any age, in any environment.
> 
> But let's be optimistic and* just blame ragweed*.   The stuff grows like crazy this time of year.



That's my story and I'm sticking to it!   There's also a lot of goldenrod (is that the same thing? I suck as bad at plant names as I do at song titles!) and I have definitely noticed an uptick of sniffling and sneezing when I'm around that.


----------



## snerd

We have 4 more days of temps in the 80's, then it's back into the 90's for about 6 days!! Grrrrr!!!!! Still, it's not unusual for down here. We really only have a small sampling of Spring and Fall........    and the full gamut of Summer heat and Winter cold! Might be time to think about a move. Northern Arkansas is beautiful with the Ozarks, and the weather a lot more palatable.


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## vintagesnaps

We need a good frost to get rid of ragweed and/or goldenrod or whatever it is! and bugs. Time for leaves to change color but not happenin' here yet. How do these trees think I'm going to get any good fall photos?


----------



## limr

Ah, look what I found. Ragweed and Goldenrod aren't exactly the same thing but they are closely related.

Ragweed: Ragweed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Goldenrod: Goldenrod - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Same family (Asteraceae) and Subfamily (Asteroideae) but then they differ in Tribe and Genus.


----------



## waday




----------



## JacaRanda

waday said:


>


 Poor little guy.


----------



## JacaRanda

Flashback before throwback.  Sometimes I forget how old I am; usually on purpose. 
Enjoy if you remember.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I believe I believe..... hmmm fallin' in love. Didn't even have to watch the video! but all I ever know is the first couple of lines of a song. Maybe the chorus.

So the cable company wants feedback, I'll give 'em some feedback! lol I kind of actually felt bad for the customer service rep who didn't have a clue. But this is the second time in a month so feedback I shall give.

All I know is the season opening hockey in Canada better be on my TV tonight!


----------



## terri

snerd said:


> We have 4 more days of temps in the 80's, then it's back into the 90's for about 6 days!! Grrrrr!!!!! Still, it's not unusual for down here. We really only have a small sampling of Spring and Fall........    and the full gamut of Summer heat and Winter cold! Might be time to think about a move. Northern Arkansas is beautiful with the Ozarks, and the weather a lot more palatable.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro



My family visited the Ozarks a few times when I was a kid, and I can remember how gorgeous and wild that area is.   Go for it, Snerd!  

Lenny, I'm thinking what we see around here is common ragweed, but that's only based on the pictures from the links up there.   The goldenrod pics were mainly closeups.  

Still, the stuff is blooming heavily right now and it clearly loves the fall temps and sun we're now having, after being bombarded by 10 days or more of straight rain.   I'm not allergic to the stuff, but I have sympathy for anyone who does - we have a bumper crop this year!


----------



## JacaRanda

Do they traditionally open the season with a special ceremony - same two teams?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Tonight it's Toronto v. Montreal, I think they usually open the season.

Finally they stopped talking and are introducing players, now we're getting somewhere. Go Habs!


(Except... there are former local players and coaches on both teams and behind the bench, so ok, let's have a tie. Nah, I still say go Habs!)


----------



## Gary A.

Tri Tip tonight. This is the before pic.  Just pulled it after three hours or so in the BBQ.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

 Fini ... (The After)


----------



## mmaria

I'll pretend I'm not seeing the picture above (no offense, I love you Gary) 
I've done the work today, I gave a few likes here and my mind is empty... enjoying


----------



## KenC

mmaria said:


>



Yeah, I've tried getting ahead of myself with holidays/weekends, but it just leads to a let-down.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Still warm here, but at least the house doesn't heat up much with the shorter days.  Here at work I'm waiting for so many people to get back to me on one thing or another I don't know who I should bug first.  I suppose chronological order would be best.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The paper was in the roses again, gotta have a chat with circulation. Maria, it was delish. If you didn't live half a world away I'd invite you over. We had a Doffo Malbec with dinner. Doffo is this little winery in Temecula we recently discovered, totally great stuff with a hint of Argentina. Our guests enjoyed the Tri Tip and the vino. Better get going got a 9:00 appointment and I still haven't walk The Cook.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Still warm here, but at least the house doesn't heat up much with the shorter days.  Here at work I'm waiting for so many people to get back to me on one thing or another I don't know who I should bug first.  I suppose chronological order would be best.


Alphabetical works for me.


----------



## sm4him

Saw this ad a little earlier, over on the right side of the forum page. I don't usually pay them any mind, but once in a while one grabs my attention.



 

It just struck me as an odd thing to market to consumers of Snack Pack Pudding. I mean, these are people who can't even be bothered to MAKE their own INSTANT pudding, and the company thinks they're going to spend the time to create a little edible food craft on top of it???


----------



## Gary A.

Turned out to be a long day. I 80% installed two separate rain gutter systems today. One off the patio roof and another off the roofline which feeds onto the patio roof. Nothng ever fits so a lot of snipping and screwing and modifications.  The hard part is finished ... so come on El Nino ... I'll be right here ... in my patio ... take your best shot.


----------



## Gary A.

I just got invited to the grand opening of a Himalayan Resturant.  I just looked at the menu and Yak Stew is their most expensive item. lol

I think I'll take a pass ... but good Yak is hard to come by.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 109401
> iPhone image
> 
> Fini ... (The After)


Ain't ya gonna cook it?


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 109401
> iPhone image
> 
> Fini ... (The After)
> 
> 
> 
> Ain't ya gonna cook it?
Click to expand...

Heathen!!!  Wipe its butt, walk it by the grill, serve!


----------



## Gary A.

It cooked for nearly four hours. When it attained 150F I pulled it (well done is 160F).  It was perfect.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 109401
> iPhone image
> 
> Fini ... (The After)
> 
> 
> 
> Ain't ya gonna cook it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Heathen!!!  Wipe its butt, walk it by the grill, serve!
Click to expand...

Yep . . . I want my meat brown.

And I call sushi "bait"


----------



## mmaria




----------



## Designer

Good morning/afternoon as the time zone fits, everybody!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  TGIF.  I have a boring meeting to sit through in a little while.  As an old boss of mine used to say: "I'll need caffeine and a full bladder to get through this one."


----------



## mmaria

what do you guys think about this  male dominated culture... | Photography Forum

I mean...if you have an opinion of this I would like to hear it


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Still warm here, but at least the house doesn't heat up much with the shorter days.  Here at work I'm waiting for so many people to get back to me on one thing or another I don't know who I should bug first.  I suppose chronological order would be best.
> 
> 
> 
> Alphabetical works for me.
Click to expand...


I've always preferred writing all there names on the back of index cards, then shuffling it up and letting chance decide which order to pester them in.  I call it my Deck of Damnation.


----------



## robbins.photo

mmaria said:


> what do you guys think about this  male dominated culture... | Photography Forum
> 
> I mean...if you have an opinion of this I would like to hear it



Well, not sure if my opinion would be a popular one, but I don't think you can really draw much in the way of comparison between the two.  I have yet to hear of an incident in western culture where some girl got stoned to death for not wearing a bikini.


----------



## tirediron

mmaria said:


> what do you guys think about this  male dominated culture... | Photography Forum
> 
> I mean...if you have an opinion of this I would like to hear it


 My opinion is:  It's none of my business.  Having travelled all over the world (I'm only missing Antarctica from the 'Collect all the continents' series), I've seen a LOT of different cultures, and from what I can tell, we Westerners are pretty much the only ones who worry about others (putting aside internal cultural conflicts such as H'utu/Tutsi).  Just because something seems wrong to us (stoning), doesn't mean it's wrong.  It's part of an established culture, and doubtless our habit of giving criminals a hug and releasing them back into society seems equally bizarre to them.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  TGIF.  I have a boring meeting to sit through in a little while.  As an old boss of mine used to say: "I'll need caffeine and a full bladder to get through this one."


Shouldn't that be Caffeine and an empty bladder?  As a starting point ... in order to get through ... then again he's was speaking to the finish ... in any event it must be painful. With all your meetings when do have time to be productive?


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Still warm here, but at least the house doesn't heat up much with the shorter days.  Here at work I'm waiting for so many people to get back to me on one thing or another I don't know who I should bug first.  I suppose chronological order would be best.
> 
> 
> 
> Alphabetical works for me.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've always preferred writing all there names on the back of index cards, then shuffling it up and letting chance decide which order to pester them in.  I call it my Deck of Damnation.
Click to expand...

I dunno, attaining chaos can be a lot of work.


----------



## waday

mmaria said:


> what do you guys think about this  male dominated culture... | Photography Forum
> 
> I mean...if you have an opinion of this I would like to hear it


I'm thinking that thread is going to get out of hand fast, considering it's surrounding the topics of male-dominated societies and religion.


----------



## Gary A.

mmaria said:


> what do you guys think about this  male dominated culture... | Photography Forum
> 
> I mean...if you have an opinion of this I would like to hear it


There is a lot more here than pure culture, there is government and religion. All three elements have a stake in the game and all three may not share a similar end game. 

I am a big advocate of personal freedom(s). While I accept the necessity of governments, cultures and religions ... all three infringe upon our personal freedoms. Remember that freedom isn't measured by what we accept, but by what we tolerate. 

If women want to bag themselves up with only their eyes visible ... sobeit, as long as it is the personal choice of the wearer and not imposed by an outside force. 

Typically extremes are ... well extreme ... and are not for everyone. Burka is one extreme and naked (I guess) is the other ... both are excessive (IMO), but if that is the desired wish of the wearer, who am I to impose my will over their personal freedom? (As long as their expression of freedom does not infringe upon the freedom(s) of others, I'm okay with it.)


----------



## waday

Me today at work:


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Looks like another cloudy, boring day here. Take the kid to school, come home, play GT5, pick up kid from school, and that's about it really.


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  TGIF.  I have a boring meeting to sit through in a little while.  As an old boss of mine used to say: "I'll need caffeine and a full bladder to get through this one."
> 
> 
> 
> Shouldn't that be Caffeine and an empty bladder?  As a starting point ... in order to get through ... then again he's was speaking to the finish ... in any event it must be painful. With all your meetings when do have time to be productive?
Click to expand...


I don't actually practice the bladder part of that saying; I agree it would be difficult after a while.  I really don't have that many meetings, but I complain a lot about the ones I do have.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The point _is_ drinking LOTS of coffee and having a _full_ bladder so you can make lots of trips out of the room... amazing how long it can take to walk down a hallway sometimes! lol 

 I'd sometimes started planning an exit early on, which works better in a big room or auditorium - let's see, if next break I move to a seat over _there_, then I can edge my way to the door faster... lol

The link didn't connect to anything so I don't know exactly what that was about, but it seems like things may be cultural but often imposed, or at least it may be a lack of knowing better or the choices aren't the best (to go along with what's been acceptable or face whatever may happen as a result). As time goes on especially with today's technology being able to learn what's happening in other parts of the world, there's more awareness and less tolerance and a realization there are better options out there; and the culture can often change as a result.


----------



## DanOstergren

Today at work I was delivering furniture during a really big storm. Lots of rain, 60 mph wind with 90 mph gusts. Lot's of fun until we got to the king size memory foam mattress up in the hills.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> I am a big advocate of personal freedom(s). While I accept the necessity of governments, cultures and religions ... all three infringe upon our personal freedoms.


No, not all religions do.


----------



## Emanuel M

waday said:


> Me today at work:


I was like


----------



## minicoop1985

I'd be inclined to agree with Gary.


----------



## snowbear

Woohoo!  The thunder storm has arrived!  Cooler temperatures are close.


----------



## waday

@limr, thought of you: These Cat-Shaped Marshmallows Are Exactly What Your Hot Chocolate Has Been Missing


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.

I spent some time at "The Barn Show" yesterday (think of a combination antique store & flea market.)  Some family friends are involved and invited lazy_lobster to put some photos & artwork in to be sold.  We are heading back today and tomorrow to work  (LL has to since he is a vendor).

Long story short, I grabbed an Agfa Optima Compur in darned good condition; the neck strap is a bit worn but seems stable enough.  At $44, I couldn't resist (birthday money!) and placed it in "hold."


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Got roped in to be an event photographer tonight at some races and a concert. Argh.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> @limr, thought of you: These Cat-Shaped Marshmallows Are Exactly What Your Hot Chocolate Has Been Missing



OH MY GOD, I NEED THOSE RIGHT NOW!!! 

They won't go in espresso, though. Because yuck. The only way sweet coffee tastes good to me is as a liqueur  

Happy Caturday, hosers! One third of my semester (five weeks) is already over and it went by in a blink. Traditionally, the next 5-6 weeks will kind of drag, but then we'll hit Thanksgiving and get a little break. After that, there's just 3 weeks of the semester and finals, and that also goes by in a flash.


----------



## vintagesnaps

We actually have - sun. And blue sky. And sorta cool temps. I'M GOING TO GO TAKE PICTURES! Even though the leaves aren't too colorful yet, this'll do.

Hope everybody has a nice weekend.


----------



## Emanuel M

Here at Switzerland it's too cloudy for nice pictures. 
Hope tomorrow gets a little better so I can go to the mountain. 

Cheers


----------



## Gary A.

Hot today. In the 90's ... Sharon weather. Just got off the roof finishing the 1st rain gutter system. I Henry-ied in the entire package from roof edge to gutter edge sealed everything together, plus resealed other roof stuff.

Now we're off to Temecula for more wine exploration, pick up my order at Ponte and later for a Murder Mystery Dinner thingie at Doffo Winery.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- and I just refilled all the hummingbird feeders. So now I'm good to go.


----------



## Gary A.

Traffic sucks. It always sucks but today it is compounded by the Dodger-Mets game, the USA - Mexico soccer match at the Rose Bowl and the President is in town.


----------



## limr

Go Mets!

Dodgahs nevah shoulda left Brooklyn.


----------



## sm4him

Hey, hosers!
I've been really sick the last few days.  Started Tuesday night, very suddenly with a pain in my back--I convinced myself I'd slept in the wrong position and done something to my sciatic nerve. Even my nurse friend said that's what it sounded like to her.  But usually, sciatic pain also radiates down my leg and this didn't.
By Thursday night, when my fever spiked to 102, I knew it was really a bladder infection. Couldn't get a Dr. appt, but was able to go in and get lab work done.  Dr. office called a few hours later--infection was bad enough that they really wanted me in the hospital on IV antibiotics, but agreed to start me on oral meds with the condition that if my fever didn't break by this morning, I had to go to the ER.
My determination to NEVER again go to the ER won out--fever broke overnight!  But I was still miserable--one of the worst things is that when I get an infection that bad, I almost always also get a migraine.
It finally all seems to be taking a turn for the better now.


----------



## Designer

Looks like your Vols are filling in for you, so get well.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... Tommy Lasorda told me that once.


----------



## Gary A.

Progress Report. Made it to Ponte, picked up my order and drinking an awesome Vernaccia Nera. This sweet and very peppery sparkling wine.


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> Looks like your Vols are filling in for you, so get well.



I can't believe they finally actually finished one out!! 
I'm so glad they finally won one of the big games--but watching the play where Chubbs got hurt, that looked awful. My heart goes out to him and his family, and I hope that his injury turns out to not be as severe as it looked.


----------



## Designer

Go back to bed!


----------



## limr

Booooo for getting sick but yay for being in the mend.

And YAY VOLS!!!

I never get tired of seeing Georgia lose.


----------



## Gary A.

Go Vols!

Palomar Winery. 



 A Flight.


----------



## minicoop1985

Yay! I got out of being an event photographer! It was some stock car event thing at a local circle track. Not really my crowd (I'm an F1, rally, and endurance guy, not circle tracks), so I'm honestly happy I got out of this.

Went hardcore basic today and took fall color pictures with my wife... while I used black and white film.


----------



## snowbear

Get better, Sharon.


----------



## snowbear

Found this at the Barn Show. There may be some more snaps to post - I'll go through everything tomorrow night & Monday.
On a different note, riding boots and tights seem to be in fashion for the Annapolis area. No shots, though - I was too busy working at getting the cars in and out of the parking area and field.




Franklin Sewing Machine (2) by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

The Murder Mystery begins.


----------



## jcdeboever

Sitting by the pool in the Keys





Plane coming in





Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Sitting by the pool in the Keys
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Plane coming in
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Pet some of Hemingway's 6-toed cats for me!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Pet some of Hemingway's 6-toed cats for me!



Hear, hear!         I want to go back to the Keys someday!

@snowbear:  What a beautiful old machine!    Pix's wife has quite a collection of old sewing machines, though mostly old Singers.  This Franklin looks like a gem.


----------



## cauzimme

Basic as F**k, Drinking Soy Pumpkin Spice Latte while editting wedding pics and watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer. What a great saturday night!


----------



## limr

I object to the drink, but at least you make up for it by watching Buffy


----------



## cauzimme

My PSL was delicious, already empty


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> @snowbear:  What a beautiful old machine!    Pix's wife has quite a collection of old sewing machines, though mostly old Singers.  This Franklin looks like a gem.


It certainly is attractive.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.  Good afternoon to you, Marija.

Switching it up a little.  Breakfast is leftover Beef & Barley soup that MLW made for dinner last night.  I have to leave in a little while to et her from work (OT shift) then head back to the Barn for the final day.

It's 65 degrees and I have the window open - absolutely lovely.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It will be another hot day, in the 90's. Yesterday the humidity was 12% in the inland valleys. The air is on, so all will be well inside. I am sure y'all are concerned with my welfare. One more gutter system to toss up. This is just a straight shot and most of the brackets are up. After a walk with the Cook, I'll finish that out. It's 72F right now, the Cook prefers a cooler walk, so I'll finish my coffee and get on with the day.


----------



## snowbear

snowbear said:


> Long story short, I grabbed an Agfa Optima Compur in darned good condition; the neck strap is a bit worn but seems stable enough.  At $44, I couldn't resist (birthday money!) and placed it in "hold."



My buy.  It appears I may have started down the path to hipsterdom.




My find at The Barn Show. by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## terri

ooo!   Pretty!    Shiny!     Want!


----------



## Gary A.

Nice, Charlie ... another film convert.


----------



## Gary A.

The gutters are installed.  It hit 99F today. Dry as a bone.  At about noon, I moved inside to bath in the A/C and do nothing for the rest of the day. Presently, I am watching a Netflix, the Exotic Marigold Hotel and sipping a sparkling wine from Weins Winery in Temecula ... "Amour de L Orange" ... sparkling with a splash of orange.  A wonderful idea and equally well executed.


----------



## snowbear

It is an interesting camera - a 35mm P&S with aperture priority for flash; three distance settings and a button for "locking focus and exposure."  I'll pick up a roll sometime this week to run through it.  Jeremy found a Graflex Ciro 35 and a Kodak Brownie (127).


----------



## Gary A.

Time to look for some developing stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

Just dropped the pizza in the BBQ. I stuffed the crust with herbs until it was overflowing. BTW- a very entertaining movie. Started slow but ended nicely ... gave it four stars.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Time to look for some developing stuff.



Caffenol, Caffenol!!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Time to look for some developing stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Caffenol, Caffenol!!
Click to expand...

LOL


----------



## Gary A.

Pizza tonight. And I added the Tri Tip from the other night.


----------



## mmaria

GOOD MORNING!!!


----------



## limr

Yes ma'am!!

Good afternoon, Marija!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> Yes ma'am!!
> 
> Good afternoon, Marija!


Morning curly person  


You should see my hair today


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes ma'am!!
> 
> Good afternoon, Marija!
> 
> 
> 
> Morning curly person
> 
> 
> You should see my hair today
Click to expand...


Poof city, is it?


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes ma'am!!
> 
> Good afternoon, Marija!
> 
> 
> 
> Morning curly person
> 
> 
> You should see my hair today
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Poof city, is it?
Click to expand...

it's something like this





but of course I'm redhead and way more sexy than  she is 

my hair is having a good day today


----------



## limr

I'm about to go upstairs and see what I can do about my own mop. Wish me luck!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> I'm about to go upstairs and see what I can do about my own mop. Wish me luck!


good luck sister! 

I know you need it


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Sympathies to all the others out there for whom this is not a holiday.  At least the train wasn't crowded.

Having my coffee and trying to get my brain organized, or at least a little less disorganized ...


----------



## Gary A.

@ Marija- LOL ... (but some of us like our jobs).


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Sympathies to all the others out there for whom this is not a holiday.  At least the train wasn't crowded.
> 
> Having my coffee and trying to get my brain organized, or at least a little less disorganized ...


Getting less disorganized is always a good thing. I am always trying to get less disorganized. But chaos is meaningful in my life and I embrace it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Y'all Coffee Hosers. It's gonna hit triple digits today. 72F right now, so an early walk for the Cook. I always, (or at least most always), take a camera with me on the walk. Presently it is 6:48 a.m. and the Sun's isn't up/visible. My first thought was no camera ... then I thought hell, I'll just jack up the ISO and get something very different than normal. I have a big meeting with Kiewit today, so I gotta get prepared ... less disorganized. 

Mondays are tough for Mary Lou. She just told me she is thankful for the quiet and restful afternoon of doing nothing of doing nothing but watching movies and sipping sparkling wine.  She hates her job. She used to love her job but transferred to a new school and now she hates her job. She went from the #1 public high school in California to Adult School. She went from working with extremely intelligent, enthusiastic and motivated kids to working with adults who have been referred by various state agencies (ala the Department of Rehabilitation ... I didn't even know we had a Dept. of Rehab). Most of these people are losers and are only attending Adult School in order to qualify for government assistance. She went from working with the best of the best to working with a bunch of losers whose only motivation is to survive sans work and are willing to lie and cheat in order not to work.

The Cook, the X100S and I are off for our walk.


----------



## waday

KenC said:


> At least the train wasn't crowded.


My drive to work was pleasant for a highway. Got to work in half the time.


----------



## minicoop1985

Still gotta take the kid to school. Oh darn, I get some free time.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Nice, Charlie ... another film convert.



Not a convert - I never fully abandoned film.


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


> GOOD MORNING!!!


NO!  It's a holiday in the US and I am with a government.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Time to look for some developing stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Caffenol, Caffenol!!
Click to expand...

I want to try it but I have no idea about times.


----------



## vintagesnaps

If it smelled like coffee I think I'd want to drink the developer.

I worked for a county agency and we had Columbus Day the day after Thanksgiving, go figure. Not a lot of schools here seem to be off anymore for this, I hadn't had this day off in 20+ years.

Seems quiet today, not the usual amount of cars going by. Of course being retired now it's hard to tell sometimes. Have a Dr. appt. but since my best friend's off work today once we're done there we might go to a local market where they have the pumpkins and corn stalks and whanot out front. She commented last weekend how much faster I was getting around, I said it is getting easier, I notice it when I go someplace I haven't been in awhile. Checkup today should be quick in quick out I hope.

Everybody that's off enjoy your day. Those of you at work hang in there.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> If it smelled like coffee I think I'd want to drink the developer.
> 
> I worked for a county agency and we had Columbus Day the day after Thanksgiving, go figure. Not a lot of schools here seem to be off anymore for this, I hadn't had this day off in 20+ years.
> 
> Seems quiet today, not the usual amount of cars going by. Of course being retired now it's hard to tell sometimes. Have a Dr. appt. but since my best friend's off work today once we're done there we might go to a local market where they have the pumpkins and corn stalks and whanot out front. She commented last weekend how much faster I was getting around, I said it is getting easier, I notice it when I go someplace I haven't been in awhile. Checkup today should be quick in quick out I hope.
> 
> Everybody that's off enjoy your day. Those of you at work hang in there.



Our "Employee Appreciation Day" is the day after Thanksgiving.  The County decided to make it a holiday a number of years ago since 90% took off, anyway.

The U of Md takes a number of the holidays at the end of the year in order to get a longer winter break.


----------



## waday

Does anybody watch baseball here that can help try to explain this Utley slide video? I don't actively watch baseball, but my brother said I should go watch it.






That slide and collision was most clearly intentional to avoid a double-play, correct? When he was like 3-feet in front of the base, it looks like he veered to the right (wide right step) of the base to knock Tejada on the ground. If he was going to slide to the base, you start sliding before the base, not at the base, and you use your feet, not your knees, correct? Why did he start sliding AT the base using his knees? Maybe my baseball physics/logic is incorrect?


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I want to try it but I have no idea about times.



Easy! I can totally walk you through it. I'll give you recipes, times, agitation, temps...



vintagesnaps said:


> If it smelled like coffee I think I'd want to drink the developer.



It does sort of smell like coffee, but it smells like really strong instant coffee that's been sitting for a while. It's not the kind of coffee smell that makes you instantly want coffee. Having said that, I really don't mind the smell. It reminds of me Istanbul and their love of Nescafe


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I want to try it but I have no idea about times.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Easy! I can totally walk you through it. I'll give you recipes, times, agitation, temps...
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> If it smelled like coffee I think I'd want to drink the developer.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It does sort of smell like coffee, but it smells like really strong instant coffee that's been sitting for a while. It's not the kind of coffee smell that makes you instantly want coffee. Having said that, I really don't mind the smell. It reminds of me Istanbul and their love of Nescafe
Click to expand...

Sounds like a winner.  I'll send you a PM later on - I may have a bunch of other questions.


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> Does anybody watch baseball here that can help try to explain this Utley slide video? I don't actively watch baseball, but my brother said I should go watch it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That slide and collision was most clearly intentional to avoid a double-play, correct? When he was like 3-feet in front of the base, it looks like he veered to the right (wide right step) of the base to knock Tejada on the ground. If he was going to slide to the base, you start sliding before the base, not at the base, and you use your feet, not your knees, correct? Why did he start sliding AT the base using his knees? Maybe my baseball physics/logic is incorrect?


It was intentional and runner was out of base path as he slid late and just over the base, hence the reason for suspension. This has been going on for years and finally, Torre had the balls to make it a suspension in order to protect the helpless infielders in the future. Dirty play but what do you expect as it has been going unchecked for years.  

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

waday said:


> Maybe my baseball physics/logic is incorrect?


You ain't wrong.

Ordinarily, the base runner will attempt to be somewhat near the bag so he won't be called "out".  In this case, the runner MAYBE could have touched the bag with his hand, but since he didn't even try to touch it, it was seen as nothing but a blatant attempt at taking out the Mets shortstop.

Yes, it has been going on for years.  About a hundred years, I think.


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> It was intentional and runner was out of base path as he slid late and just over the base, hence the reason for suspension. This has been going on for years and finally, Torre had the balls to make it a suspension in order to protect the helpless infielders in the future. Dirty play but what do you expect as it has been going unchecked for years.





Designer said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe my baseball physics/logic is incorrect?
> 
> 
> 
> You ain't wrong.
> 
> Ordinarily, the base runner will attempt to be somewhat near the bag so he won't be called "out".  In this case, the runner MAYBE could have touched the bag with his hand, but since he didn't even try to touch it, it was seen as nothing but a blatant attempt at taking out the 2nd baseman.
> 
> Yes, it has been going on for years.  About a hundred years, I think.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the replies! That's just crazy. I always knew that people could pretty much slide in and destroy the catcher, assuming he had the ball and was prepared to stop the person running to home plate. I guess I never really saw this extended to other bases in such a cavalier attempt to hurt someone.

Ok, so that makes sense why he was suspended. I'm glad he was suspended.

So this leads to my next (honest) question: was Utley's team 'hurting' to the point that they needed to rely on cheap/dirty tricks to win? Did they end up winning?


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> It was intentional and runner was out of base path as he slid late and just over the base, hence the reason for suspension. This has been going on for years and finally, Torre had the balls to make it a suspension in order to protect the helpless infielders in the future. Dirty play but what do you expect as it has been going unchecked for years.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe my baseball physics/logic is incorrect?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You ain't wrong.
> 
> Ordinarily, the base runner will attempt to be somewhat near the bag so he won't be called "out".  In this case, the runner MAYBE could have touched the bag with his hand, but since he didn't even try to touch it, it was seen as nothing but a blatant attempt at taking out the 2nd baseman.
> 
> Yes, it has been going on for years.  About a hundred years, I think.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks for the replies! That's just crazy. I always knew that people could pretty much slide in and destroy the catcher, assuming he had the ball and was prepared to stop the person running to home plate. I guess I never really saw this extended to other bases in such a cavalier attempt to hurt someone.
> 
> Ok, so that makes sense why he was suspended. I'm glad he was suspended.
> 
> So this leads to my next (honest) question: was Utley's team 'hurting' to the point that they needed to rely on cheap/dirty tricks to win? Did they end up winning?
Click to expand...

They one the game but not the series. It is expected to take the runner out. The other team would have done the same thing. Torre changed the thinking with the suspension.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I want to try it but I have no idea about times.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Easy! I can totally walk you through it. I'll give you recipes, times, agitation, temps...
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> If it smelled like coffee I think I'd want to drink the developer.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It does sort of smell like coffee, but it smells like really strong instant coffee that's been sitting for a while. It's not the kind of coffee smell that makes you instantly want coffee. Having said that, I really don't mind the smell. It reminds of me Istanbul and their love of Nescafe
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sounds like a winner.  I'll send you a PM later on - I may have a bunch of other questions.
Click to expand...

Hey Charlie, if you want a second opinion, send me a communique. (Not that Leo would steer you wrong ... but there are many ways to skin a cat.)


----------



## Designer

waday said:


> So this leads to my next (honest) question: was Utley's team 'hurting' to the point that they needed to rely on cheap/dirty tricks to win? Did they end up winning?



Exactly.

Dodgers rally to take Game 2 in NLDS over Mets


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> They one the game but not the series. It is expected to take the runner out. The other team would have done the same thing. Torre changed the thinking with the suspension.



So, it's: I'll cheat on you before you cheat on me? That doesn't sound like a fair game. I'm glad that the suspension is hopefully changing the thinking.

Does it also involve some sort of fine? It should. And not some small fine of what they make in an hour/game.



Designer said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> So this leads to my next (honest) question: was Utley's team 'hurting' to the point that they needed to rely on cheap/dirty tricks to win? Did they end up winning?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Exactly.
> 
> Dodgers rally to take Game 2 in NLDS over Mets
Click to expand...

Oh, man. That's sad. I can't imagine having to say,

"Yeah, we won*!

*by cheating..."

If that's what it takes to win, I wouldn't want any part of it.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> It was intentional and runner was out of base path as he slid late and just over the base, hence the reason for suspension. This has been going on for years and finally, Torre had the balls to make it a suspension in order to protect the helpless infielders in the future. Dirty play but what do you expect as it has been going unchecked for years.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe my baseball physics/logic is incorrect?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You ain't wrong.
> 
> Ordinarily, the base runner will attempt to be somewhat near the bag so he won't be called "out".  In this case, the runner MAYBE could have touched the bag with his hand, but since he didn't even try to touch it, it was seen as nothing but a blatant attempt at taking out the 2nd baseman.
> 
> Yes, it has been going on for years.  About a hundred years, I think.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks for the replies! That's just crazy. I always knew that people could pretty much slide in and destroy the catcher, assuming he had the ball and was prepared to stop the person running to home plate. I guess I never really saw this extended to other bases in such a cavalier attempt to hurt someone.
> 
> Ok, so that makes sense why he was suspended. I'm glad he was suspended.
> 
> So this leads to my next (honest) question: was Utley's team 'hurting' to the point that they needed to rely on cheap/dirty tricks to win? Did they end up winning?
Click to expand...

Actually yes. Utley's slide sparked a four run inning for the Dodgers and ultimately a 5-2 victory.

Using a slide to break up a play is a legal play. It is a technique specifically taught and practiced. The defense practices techniques to counter said slides. Utley's extreme use of this technique, coming in late, high and beyond the base is cause for the, now contested, suspension/penalty. In soccer his slide (tackle) would have resulted in a red card and in American football in a 15 yard personal foul penalty.

The breaking up of double plays are routinely one of the more spectacular plays in baseball.  Unfortunately Utley's over enthusiastic slide seriously injured the Met's shortstop. The intent of serious bodily harm is never the goal of a well coached team or a rational athletic.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> It was intentional and runner was out of base path as he slid late and just over the base, hence the reason for suspension. This has been going on for years and finally, Torre had the balls to make it a suspension in order to protect the helpless infielders in the future. Dirty play but what do you expect as it has been going unchecked for years.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe my baseball physics/logic is incorrect?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You ain't wrong.
> 
> Ordinarily, the base runner will attempt to be somewhat near the bag so he won't be called "out".  In this case, the runner MAYBE could have touched the bag with his hand, but since he didn't even try to touch it, it was seen as nothing but a blatant attempt at taking out the 2nd baseman.
> 
> Yes, it has been going on for years.  About a hundred years, I think.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks for the replies! That's just crazy. I always knew that people could pretty much slide in and destroy the catcher, assuming he had the ball and was prepared to stop the person running to home plate. I guess I never really saw this extended to other bases in such a cavalier attempt to hurt someone.
> 
> Ok, so that makes sense why he was suspended. I'm glad he was suspended.
> 
> So this leads to my next (honest) question: was Utley's team 'hurting' to the point that they needed to rely on cheap/dirty tricks to win? Did they end up winning?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Actually yes. Utley's slide sparked a four run inning for the Dodgers and ultimately a 5-2 victory.
> 
> Using a slide to break up a play is a legal play. It is a technique specifically taught and practiced. The defense practices techniques to counter said slides. Utley's extreme use of this technique, coming in late, high and beyond the base is cause for the, now contested, suspension/penalty. In soccer his slide (tackle) would have resulted in a red card and in American football in a 15 yard personal foul penalty.
> 
> The breaking up of double plays are routinely one of the more spectacular plays in baseball.  Unfortunately Utley's over enthusiastic slide seriously injured the Met's shortstop. The intent of serious bodily harm is never the goal of a well coached team or a rational athletic.
Click to expand...

Interesting that it's legal play in baseball, but not legal in many other sports. I'm assuming it's also probably not legal in bowling or golf. I haven't seen too many people slide in bowling, except the ones that were drunk. Same goes for golfing.

In other words, what you're saying is that Utley apparently hasn't been trained well-enough on how to execute such a dirty play and has now brought this play into question because he seriously injured the Mets' shortstop?


----------



## Designer

waday said:


> In other words, what you're saying is that Utley apparently hasn't been trained well-enough on how to execute such a dirty play and has now brought this play into question because he seriously injured the Mets' shortstop?


It's a play they learn in Little League, and it's often seen as a blatant attempt to take the defender out, usually not with any serious injury, however.


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Sympathies to all the others out there for whom this is not a holiday.  At least the train wasn't crowded.
> 
> Having my coffee and trying to get my brain organized, or at least a little less disorganized ...
> 
> 
> 
> Getting less disorganized is always a good thing. I am always trying to get less disorganized. But chaos is meaningful in my life and I embrace it.
Click to expand...


Me too, but they just don't understand about that at work ...


----------



## KenC

waday said:


> That slide and collision was most clearly intentional to avoid a double-play, correct?



Yes, and the umps used to let this go provided that the runner was close enough to the bag to touch it (even if he didn't).  I think it's gotten out of hand and so now we have the crackdown.  While they're keeping the runners honest, I hope they do the same for the pivot man and call the runner safe if the pivot man does not touch the bag.  I've seen plays where they are not within three feet of the bag and the runner is out.

It's another thing like the pitcher/batter balance - they keep tweaking the rules (or at least the actual practice) to try to get it right.


----------



## waday

Designer said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other words, what you're saying is that Utley apparently hasn't been trained well-enough on how to execute such a dirty play and has now brought this play into question because he seriously injured the Mets' shortstop?
> 
> 
> 
> It's a play they learn in Little League, and it's often seen as a blatant attempt to take the defender out, usually not with any serious injury, however.
Click to expand...

You're blowing my mind. Little League!? Now, that's crazy. Why in the world are we teaching our children to cheat? Why is it ok to cheat on the ballfield but not on a test?



KenC said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> That slide and collision was most clearly intentional to avoid a double-play, correct?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, and the umps used to let this go provided that the runner was close enough to the bag to touch it (even if he didn't).  I think it's gotten out of hand and so now we have the crackdown.  While they're keeping the runners honest, I hope they do the same for the pivot man and call the runner safe if the pivot man does not touch the bag.  I've seen plays where they are not within three feet of the bag and the runner is out.
> 
> It's another thing like the pitcher/batter balance - they keep tweaking the rules (or at least the actual practice) to try to get it right.
Click to expand...

I'm glad that they're not letting it go anymore. I was with you until pivot man, which made me immediately think of this (and my concentration was lost):


----------



## JacaRanda

Oh, a little late to this game (the slide) and no pun intended.

Designer is correct Wade.  The intention has been taught pretty much forever.  Utley took it too far by never attempting to even touch the bag.  
Normally, that kind of play is considered hustle and somewhat taking one for the team.  The intention to break up the play is always there, but rarely intention to hurt someone.


----------



## JacaRanda

waday said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other words, what you're saying is that Utley apparently hasn't been trained well-enough on how to execute such a dirty play and has now brought this play into question because he seriously injured the Mets' shortstop?
> 
> 
> 
> It's a play they learn in Little League, and it's often seen as a blatant attempt to take the defender out, usually not with any serious injury, however.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You're blowing my mind. Little League!? Now, that's crazy. Why in the world are we teaching our children to cheat? Why is it ok to cheat on the ballfield but not on a test?
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> That slide and collision was most clearly intentional to avoid a double-play, correct?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, and the umps used to let this go provided that the runner was close enough to the bag to touch it (even if he didn't).  I think it's gotten out of hand and so now we have the crackdown.  While they're keeping the runners honest, I hope they do the same for the pivot man and call the runner safe if the pivot man does not touch the bag.  I've seen plays where they are not within three feet of the bag and the runner is out.
> 
> It's another thing like the pitcher/batter balance - they keep tweaking the rules (or at least the actual practice) to try to get it right.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm glad that they're not letting it go anymore. I was with you until pivot man, which made me immediately think of this (and my concentration was lost):
Click to expand...


It's not considered cheating.  It's done to break up a double play - make it harder for the person to get one person out (in this case Utley) and still being able to make an accurate throw to first to get the second runner out (or get a throw off at all).

BTW, they are no longer allowed to take liberties on the catcher in a play at home plate, and the catcher is not allowed to block the plate like they used to.


----------



## KenC

waday said:


> I was with you until pivot man



The guy making the throw to first - could be either the second baseman or shortstop, depending on where the ball was hit.


----------



## waday

JacaRanda said:


> It's not considered cheating.  It's done to break up a double play - make it harder for the person to get one person out (in this case Utley) and still being able to make an accurate throw to first to get the second runner out (or get a throw off at all).



Seriously, thank you all for helping me understand. Ok, so I think I got it:

The runner is supposed to slide into second-base (also presumably works for other bases, like third?), even though he pretty much knows he's already out. He performs the play anyways to break up the double-play. The slide is supposed to be close enough to make it look like he's actually trying to reach the base in time, while making some sort of an attempt to touch the base to make it look like he's trying to be safe. The purpose of the slide is to 'break-up' the momentum of the pivot person (thanks @KenC!), so that he pretty much has to move out of the way of the slide. The pivot person is not supposed to get hit/hurt during this slide. Since the pivot person has to move out of the way, he loses his momentum, and can no longer throw the ball to first in time to get the batter out.

The issue with this case is that Utley just executed it so poorly that he pretty much screwed up everything about the play?


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> It was intentional and runner was out of base path as he slid late and just over the base, hence the reason for suspension. This has been going on for years and finally, Torre had the balls to make it a suspension in order to protect the helpless infielders in the future. Dirty play but what do you expect as it has been going unchecked for years.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe my baseball physics/logic is incorrect?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You ain't wrong.
> 
> Ordinarily, the base runner will attempt to be somewhat near the bag so he won't be called "out".  In this case, the runner MAYBE could have touched the bag with his hand, but since he didn't even try to touch it, it was seen as nothing but a blatant attempt at taking out the 2nd baseman.
> 
> Yes, it has been going on for years.  About a hundred years, I think.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks for the replies! That's just crazy. I always knew that people could pretty much slide in and destroy the catcher, assuming he had the ball and was prepared to stop the person running to home plate. I guess I never really saw this extended to other bases in such a cavalier attempt to hurt someone.
> 
> Ok, so that makes sense why he was suspended. I'm glad he was suspended.
> 
> So this leads to my next (honest) question: was Utley's team 'hurting' to the point that they needed to rely on cheap/dirty tricks to win? Did they end up winning?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Actually yes. Utley's slide sparked a four run inning for the Dodgers and ultimately a 5-2 victory.
> 
> Using a slide to break up a play is a legal play. It is a technique specifically taught and practiced. The defense practices techniques to counter said slides. Utley's extreme use of this technique, coming in late, high and beyond the base is cause for the, now contested, suspension/penalty. In soccer his slide (tackle) would have resulted in a red card and in American football in a 15 yard personal foul penalty.
> 
> The breaking up of double plays are routinely one of the more spectacular plays in baseball.  Unfortunately Utley's over enthusiastic slide seriously injured the Met's shortstop. The intent of serious bodily harm is never the goal of a well coached team or a rational athletic.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Interesting that it's legal play in baseball, but not legal in many other sports. I'm assuming it's also probably not legal in bowling or golf. I haven't seen too many people slide in bowling, except the ones that were drunk. Same goes for golfing.
> 
> In other words, what you're saying is that Utley apparently hasn't been trained well-enough on how to execute such a dirty play and has now brought this play into question because he seriously injured the Mets' shortstop?
Click to expand...

I am saying that a slide used to break up a double play is legal. I am saying that Utley took that slide beyond the realm of legal by his overly-aggressive use of the slide. While slides/tackles are also legal and used in soccer and football, an overly-aggressive slide in these sports would result in a Red Card or a Personal Foul penalty.

Yes, slides against the opposition are not permissible in bowling, but on the flip side ... tossing around a 20 pound ball is not permissible in baseball.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> It was intentional and runner was out of base path as he slid late and just over the base, hence the reason for suspension. This has been going on for years and finally, Torre had the balls to make it a suspension in order to protect the helpless infielders in the future. Dirty play but what do you expect as it has been going unchecked for years.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe my baseball physics/logic is incorrect?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You ain't wrong.
> 
> Ordinarily, the base runner will attempt to be somewhat near the bag so he won't be called "out".  In this case, the runner MAYBE could have touched the bag with his hand, but since he didn't even try to touch it, it was seen as nothing but a blatant attempt at taking out the 2nd baseman.
> 
> Yes, it has been going on for years.  About a hundred years, I think.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks for the replies! That's just crazy. I always knew that people could pretty much slide in and destroy the catcher, assuming he had the ball and was prepared to stop the person running to home plate. I guess I never really saw this extended to other bases in such a cavalier attempt to hurt someone.
> 
> Ok, so that makes sense why he was suspended. I'm glad he was suspended.
> 
> So this leads to my next (honest) question: was Utley's team 'hurting' to the point that they needed to rely on cheap/dirty tricks to win? Did they end up winning?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Actually yes. Utley's slide sparked a four run inning for the Dodgers and ultimately a 5-2 victory.
> 
> Using a slide to break up a play is a legal play. It is a technique specifically taught and practiced. The defense practices techniques to counter said slides. Utley's extreme use of this technique, coming in late, high and beyond the base is cause for the, now contested, suspension/penalty. In soccer his slide (tackle) would have resulted in a red card and in American football in a 15 yard personal foul penalty.
> 
> The breaking up of double plays are routinely one of the more spectacular plays in baseball.  Unfortunately Utley's over enthusiastic slide seriously injured the Met's shortstop. The intent of serious bodily harm is never the goal of a well coached team or a rational athletic.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Interesting that it's legal play in baseball, but not legal in many other sports. I'm assuming it's also probably not legal in bowling or golf. I haven't seen too many people slide in bowling, except the ones that were drunk. Same goes for golfing.
> 
> In other words, what you're saying is that Utley apparently hasn't been trained well-enough on how to execute such a dirty play and has now brought this play into question because he seriously injured the Mets' shortstop?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I am saying that a slide used to break up a double play is illegal. I am saying that Utley took that slide beyond the realm of legal by his overly-aggressive use of the slide. While slides/tackles are also legal and used in soccer and football, an overly-aggressive slide in these sports would result in a Red Card or a Personal Foul penalty.
> 
> Yes, slides against the opposition are not permissible in bowling, but on the flip side ... tossing around a 20 pound ball is not permissible in baseball.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I'm assuming a 20-pound ball would be pretty hard to hit and throw in baseball, haha!


----------



## JacaRanda

waday said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's not considered cheating.  It's done to break up a double play - make it harder for the person to get one person out (in this case Utley) and still being able to make an accurate throw to first to get the second runner out (or get a throw off at all).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously, thank you all for helping me understand. Ok, so I think I got it:
> 
> The runner is supposed to slide into second-base (also presumably works for other bases, like third?), even though he pretty much knows he's already out. He performs the play anyways to break up the double-play. The slide is supposed to be close enough to make it look like he's actually trying to reach the base in time, while making some sort of an attempt to touch the base to make it look like he's trying to be safe. The purpose of the slide is to 'break-up' the momentum of the pivot person (thanks @KenC!), so that he pretty much has to move out of the way of the slide. The pivot person is not supposed to get hit/hurt during this slide. Since the pivot person has to move out of the way, he loses his momentum, and can no longer throw the ball to first in time to get the batter out.
> 
> The issue with this case is that Utley just executed it so poorly that he pretty much screwed up everything about the play?
Click to expand...


I'd say you pretty much got it.


----------



## JacaRanda

I think Gary meant 'legal' in his first sentence.


----------



## waday

JacaRanda said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's not considered cheating.  It's done to break up a double play - make it harder for the person to get one person out (in this case Utley) and still being able to make an accurate throw to first to get the second runner out (or get a throw off at all).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously, thank you all for helping me understand. Ok, so I think I got it:
> 
> The runner is supposed to slide into second-base (also presumably works for other bases, like third?), even though he pretty much knows he's already out. He performs the play anyways to break up the double-play. The slide is supposed to be close enough to make it look like he's actually trying to reach the base in time, while making some sort of an attempt to touch the base to make it look like he's trying to be safe. The purpose of the slide is to 'break-up' the momentum of the pivot person (thanks @KenC!), so that he pretty much has to move out of the way of the slide. The pivot person is not supposed to get hit/hurt during this slide. Since the pivot person has to move out of the way, he loses his momentum, and can no longer throw the ball to first in time to get the batter out.
> 
> The issue with this case is that Utley just executed it so poorly that he pretty much screwed up everything about the play?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'd say you pretty much got it.
Click to expand...

Awesome! Now I can tell my brother I understand! Hahaha

This is so interesting to me. I need to brush up on sports and all sorts of plays like these.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Should Utley play today ... as he is contesting the suspension ... he will probably get hit with a pitch when he comes up to bat. Which isn't legal under any circumstances, but that is the way the game is played. You protect your team. Normally, the pitch will be thrown at the body ... but due to the severity of the injury and the intensity of the playoffs ... it may be thrown at the head. A head shot may empty both benches and the pitcher may immediately be tossed out of the game.  Utley knows this as well.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey Charlie, if you want a second opinion, send me a communique. (Not that Leo would steer you wrong ... but there are many ways to skin a cat.)
Click to expand...

Will do - I can make a collection of techniques.

Oh, BTW, we don't skin cats - we pet them, feed them and let them pretty much do as they please.


----------



## Gary A.

JacaRanda said:


> I think Gary meant 'legal' in his first sentence.


Thank you Jack. (I need a proof-reader.)


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> PS- Should Utley play today ... as he is contesting the suspension ... he will probably get hit with a pitch when he comes up to bat. Which isn't legal under any circumstances, but that is the way the game is played. You protect your team. Normally, the pitch will be thrown at the body ... but due to the severity of the injury and the intensity of the playoffs ... it may be thrown at the head. A head shot may empty both benches and the pitcher may immediately be tossed out of the game.  Utley knows this as well.


Ok, I seriously need to watch more baseball/sports. This is some crazy bleeping bleep. I'll have to watch to see if Utley either plays or gets hit by a pitch.


----------



## Designer

waday said:


> Ok, I seriously need to watch more baseball/sports. This is some crazy bleeping bleep. I'll have to watch to see if Utley either plays or gets hit by a pitch.


I would not bet against it.  And when it happens, you can expect to see the benches clear with everybody meeting on the infield.

Now for which bases this occurs; very rarely at third, and never at first base.  Shortstops are some of the most acrobatic players in baseball, often jumping over the base runner and throwing to first in mid air.  

Yes, you really do need to start watching baseball, and now would be a perfect time to start.


----------



## JacaRanda

Gary A. said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think Gary meant 'legal' in his first sentence.
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you Jack. (I need a proof-reader.)
Click to expand...

YW. 

BTW - I saw Ramsey Lewis and Sergio Mendes, Saturday night at the Renee & Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall.  Fabulous!


----------



## waday

Designer said:


> I would not bet against it.  And when it happens, you can expect to see the benches clear with everybody meeting on the infield.
> 
> Now for which bases this occurs; very rarely at third, and never at first base.  Shortstops are some of the most acrobatic players in baseball, often jumping over the base runner and throwing to first in mid air.
> 
> Yes, you really do need to start watching baseball, and now would be a perfect time to start.


I'll try to start watching tonight, but can't guarantee anything, haha. That makes sense about the shortstop, because they seem to usually be one of the star players, right?

I do like going to baseball games, and the wife and I went to a few last summer when we lived around the Phillies. Now that we're more in the middle of the state, the access isn't there and we really don't feel like driving to Philly or Baltimore. It didn't hurt that some of the bigwigs at my job and my wife's previous job would give out free tickets when they didn't use them. They were good seats, too.


----------



## JacaRanda

They are often one of the most important defensive players as many teams put emphasis on defense up the middle (catcher, shortstop, 2nd baseman, and center fielder).  But in general the star players can be any of the positions.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> You're blowing my mind. Little League!? Now, that's crazy. Why in the world are we teaching our children to cheat? Why is it ok to cheat on the ballfield but not on a test?
> <snip>
> I'm glad that they're not letting it go anymore. I was with you until pivot man, which made me immediately think of this (and my concentration was lost):



I'm totally with you on the cheating, not being glad that there's a new crackdown on such things, and I'm also laughing like a fool because that scene always makes me laugh like a fool 

And now I'm done checking the hell out of my spreadsheet numbers and am on my way home to grade the hell out of a sh!t ton of essays  My own damn fault. I shouldn't have left them this long.

This semester is cray-cray!


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I'm also laughing like a fool because that scene always makes me laugh like a fool


I always laugh at that scene! I also quote it every time I move someone and they roll their eyes at me, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

Mmm


JacaRanda said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think Gary meant 'legal' in his first sentence.
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you Jack. (I need a proof-reader.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> YW.
> 
> BTW - I saw Ramsey Lewis and Sergio Mendes, Saturday night at the Renee & Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall.  Fabulous!
Click to expand...






Nice. The Segerstrom is very nice.


----------



## JacaRanda

Indeed it is.  My first experience was there (in the main theater) back around 1985 ish.  I had a music appreciation class at Saddleback College and we saw the Japan Symphony Orchestra.  

Very nice shot Gary


----------



## Gary A.

JacaRanda said:


> Indeed it is.  My first experience was there (in the main theater) back around 1985 ish.  I had a music appreciation class at Saddleback College and we saw the Japan Symphony Orchestra.
> 
> Very nice shot Gary


iPhone


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It will be another scorcher today. My Dodgers got spanked last night and my Trojans dumped their alcoholic coach. (Where is Kiffin when you need him ...) Sipping on my coffee, it is wonderfully dark, hot and flavorful. Another dog walk at dawn trying to beat the heat, then off to CSULA for some work.


----------



## Gary A.

JacaRanda said:


> Indeed it is.  My first experience was there (in the main theater) back around 1985 ish.  I had a music appreciation class at Saddleback College and we saw the Japan Symphony Orchestra.
> 
> Very nice shot Gary


Thank you Jack. The Hollywood Bowl is still my venue of choice for my music appreciation. (I know apple and oranges, outdoor versus indoor ... but it is nice that Orange County has developed its own world-class tributes to the arts.)


----------



## sm4him

Hey, Hosers!! I think I'm going to live!  Seemed like it was touch and go there for a while. 
I'm still feeling pretty bad, but compared to this time yesterday, it's a pretty significant improvement.  The Dr. called in a different antibiotic yesterday, and I think this one is finally killing the bad stuff faster than it can grow.

This morning, I had my first cup of coffee since last THURSDAY!! There are very, very few times when I don't drink coffee--when I have a migraine, the flu, or this (bladder/kidney/urinary tract infection). For some reason, those three illnesses are particularly evil in that they cause me to not be able to abide the thought of coffee. And if I do drink it--well, let's just say I know it won't be the last I see of THAT coffee. 

This morning's cup was delicious, and so far, it's stayed down.  Woot!!


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It will be another scorcher today. My Dodgers got spanked last night and my Trojans dumped their alcoholic coach. (Where is Kiffin when you need him ...) Sipping on my coffee, it is wonderfully dark, hot and flavorful. Another dog walk at dawn trying to beat the heat, then off to CSULA for some work.



It was definitely a wild and wacky Monday for college sports news!  USC coach fired, Florida QB suspended for the next year, and the Old Ball Coach retires so abruptly he left skid marks!
I would have been shocked if he hadn't retired after this season (I was surprised he stayed after last year), but I am equally surprised that he'd just quit in the middle. Makes me think it wasn't entirely his decision.  Which is why he should have retired LAST year.


----------



## JacaRanda

Gary A. said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Indeed it is.  My first experience was there (in the main theater) back around 1985 ish.  I had a music appreciation class at Saddleback College and we saw the Japan Symphony Orchestra.
> 
> Very nice shot Gary
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you Jack. The Hollywood Bowl is still my venue of choice for my music appreciation. (I know apple and oranges, outdoor versus indoor ... but it is nice that Orange County has developed its own world-class tributes to the arts.)
Click to expand...

I live down in Mission Viejo and it's nice to only be 20 minutes away.  I also have the Coach House and Verizon Amphitheater within 10 minutes. . Unfortunately,  I have never been to the Hollywood Bowl.  Trusting your taste,  so I will take a look at upcoming shows.


----------



## JacaRanda

Gary A. said:


> Mmm
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think Gary meant 'legal' in his first sentence.
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you Jack. (I need a proof-reader.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> YW.
> 
> BTW - I saw Ramsey Lewis and Sergio Mendes, Saturday night at the Renee & Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall.  Fabulous!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> View attachment 109737
> 
> Nice. The Segerstrom is very nice.
Click to expand...








From our little box.


----------



## otherprof

sm4him said:


> Hey, hosers!
> I've been really sick the last few days.  Started Tuesday night, very suddenly with a pain in my back--I convinced myself I'd slept in the wrong position and done something to my sciatic nerve. Even my nurse friend said that's what it sounded like to her.  But usually, sciatic pain also radiates down my leg and this didn't.
> By Thursday night, when my fever spiked to 102, I knew it was really a bladder infection. Couldn't get a Dr. appt, but was able to go in and get lab work done.  Dr. office called a few hours later--infection was bad enough that they really wanted me in the hospital on IV antibiotics, but agreed to start me on oral meds with the condition that if my fever didn't break by this morning, I had to go to the ER.
> My determination to NEVER again go to the ER won out--fever broke overnight!  But I was still miserable--one of the worst things is that when I get an infection that bad, I almost always also get a migraine.
> It finally all seems to be taking a turn for the better now.


Just a "feel better" wish from the stranger at the next table.


----------



## sm4him

otherprof said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, hosers!
> I've been really sick the last few days.  Started Tuesday night, very suddenly with a pain in my back--I convinced myself I'd slept in the wrong position and done something to my sciatic nerve. Even my nurse friend said that's what it sounded like to her.  But usually, sciatic pain also radiates down my leg and this didn't.
> By Thursday night, when my fever spiked to 102, I knew it was really a bladder infection. Couldn't get a Dr. appt, but was able to go in and get lab work done.  Dr. office called a few hours later--infection was bad enough that they really wanted me in the hospital on IV antibiotics, but agreed to start me on oral meds with the condition that if my fever didn't break by this morning, I had to go to the ER.
> My determination to NEVER again go to the ER won out--fever broke overnight!  But I was still miserable--one of the worst things is that when I get an infection that bad, I almost always also get a migraine.
> It finally all seems to be taking a turn for the better now.
> 
> 
> 
> Just a "feel better" wish from the stranger at the next table.
Click to expand...


Oh, that's who that was! I wondered why they were staring at me like that. I think maybe it was because I still had my pajamas on, out in public. 
Thanks prof!


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, hosers! Been a while since I've posted in here.

My Vader costume is coming along nicely. On some very short waiting lists for the hardest to source parts. 

In other news, parent/teacher conferences are tomorrow. Oh joy. I remember how much I dreaded them as a child.


----------



## limr

No one likes teacher-parent conferences.  Try doing north of 100 of them in a row. In Turkish.


----------



## Designer

Sympathy button!


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Sympathy button!



Thankfully that was years ago and never has to be repeated ever again!


----------



## minicoop1985

Yikes. No thank you. No way.


----------



## limr

About to flip 1K on the bike.


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm sore just looking at it

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> About to flip 1K on the bike.
> 
> View attachment 109795


<-Thought it was a scale at first!


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> About to flip 1K on the bike.
> 
> View attachment 109795
> 
> 
> 
> <-Thought it was a scale at first!
Click to expand...


Quick!  Duck!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> About to flip 1K on the bike.
> 
> View attachment 109795
> 
> 
> 
> <-Thought it was a scale at first!
Click to expand...






snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> About to flip 1K on the bike.
> 
> View attachment 109795
> 
> 
> 
> <-Thought it was a scale at first!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Quick!  Duck!
Click to expand...


Well, that would be silly. I don't retaliate when you _expect_ it


----------



## mmaria




----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Have coffee and cake and it seems to be Fall here, more or less.  The beer joint in my building is open tomorrow so maybe I'll have an appropriate Fall beverage of some sort.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> About to flip 1K on the bike.
> 
> View attachment 109795


You go girl!  That is great.  (I've lost about 20-25 pounds ... I didn't weight myself at the beginning ... now I've hit a bit of a wall. I haven't quite mustered the internal fortitude required to break through. I knows what I gots to do, up my exercise and lower my intake ... just have gotten around to doing so.)


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> About to flip 1K on the bike.
> 
> View attachment 109795
> 
> 
> 
> <-Thought it was a scale at first!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> About to flip 1K on the bike.
> 
> View attachment 109795
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> <-Thought it was a scale at first!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Quick!  Duck!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, that would be silly. I don't retaliate when you _expect_ it
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Have coffee and cake and it seems to be Fall here, more or less.  The beer joint in my building is open tomorrow so maybe I'll have an appropriate Fall beverage of some sort.


Buenos Dias Y'all Coffee Hosers. It will be cooler today ... upper 80F today ... turned off the A/C and open the place up to the breezes. Humidity has gone from the 20's up to nearly 90%.  There is a slight chance of rain ... hopefully it will. The Crepe Myrtle in front and apple tree in back aren't doing so well, they could use some extra water.

@ Sharon- How the hell are you doing today?


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Have coffee and cake and it seems to be Fall here, more or less.  The beer joint in my building is open tomorrow so maybe I'll have an appropriate Fall beverage of some sort.
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Y'all Coffee Hosers. It will be cooler today ... upper 80F today ... turned off the A/C and open the place up to the breezes. Humidity has gone from the 20's up to nearly 90%.  There is a slight chance of rain ... hopefully it will. The Crepe Myrtle in front and apple tree in back aren't doing so well, they could use some extra water.
> 
> @ Sharon- How the hell are you doing today?
Click to expand...


Sounds like a nearly perfect day, Gary.

Sometime during the night, the antibiotic finally started winning the war. A reasonably decent night's sleep and not nearly as much pain today. Still have very little energy but I'll take that problem over the pain any day of the week. 
Actually at work today. Trying to decide which fire to try to put out first--in all seriousness, I'm pretty surprised that things weren't in much worse shape. Only took until lunch time to sort emails and respond, and deal with social media stuff and website updates.
Now I'm going to break for lunch. And maybe curl up under my desk for a nap.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Glad you're feeling better!

I had to call the cable company today, that always makes for a fun time. I didn't get quite everything done that I'd planned so I'm sitting here wondering what to do before dinner and instead playing on the computer.

Leaves are falling like crazy, of course it waited til _after_ the weekend when I was out at a local scenic area, NOW they start to change colors and fall!


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon, ya hosers. STILL not looking forward to parent/teacher conferences tonight... If my kid is anything like i was we're in for a reaming.


----------



## vintagesnaps

If there are concerns about how he's doing, there's a lot more available for kids these days; if need be look into getting whatever support he needs to function as well as he can in school.

OK I can't help but shift into professional mode...


----------



## snowbear

mmaria said:


>



One day left!  I'm off Friday - going downtown with MLW & lazy_lobster for a day of fun.


----------



## Gary A.

It is raining ... Yeah! And my rain gutters work ... Another yeah. This ten minute downpour clearly indicated that I need to Henry in the patio gutter system. Normally the patio floods out and I bring out barrels and buckets to capture and divert the water flow. But no more ... It is 8:45 p.m. and I am relaxing in the patio, sipping the last if my dinner wine, enjoying the thunderstorm and a working rain gutter system.


----------



## limr

udana said:


> ah... what's going on here.....



Read the first post: The Coffee House | Photography Forum


----------



## snowbear

udana said:


> ah... what's going on here.....


Relaxing - it's a coffee house.  The first post explains.
Grab a cup & pull up a chair (though I'm done for the night).

Bye, peeps.


----------



## Gary A.

I have two trees that are suffering terrible from the four year drought and the severe water restriction/regulations adopted by the water district. I am now hauling buckets into the shower to capture shower water to hand water my suffering trees. I guess I need to install a gray water system but I think I lack sufficient filter area for it to be reasonable clean.  ... I'll figure something out.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> I have two trees that are suffering terrible from the four year drought and the severe water restriction/regulations adopted by the water district. I am now hauling buckets into the shower to capture shower water to hand water my suffering trees. I guess I need to install a gray water system but I think I lack sufficient filter area for it to be reasonable clean.  ... I'll figure something out.


Move to Seattle.


----------



## snowbear

Good day, all.
Just started cup number three.  Expecting MLW home soon (overnight Watch Office gig) and off to work.  I'll be writing some Python code, today.


----------



## Peeb

Tragic!!!


----------



## The_Traveler

Hard to believe that there is a BS thread that i've never posted in, but this is it.
Up at 6 as usual; a habit that has proven impossible to break.
I like/love the mornings when I'm alone.

I'm going to Iceland for a few days at the first of November and I've done nothing to plan (for the first time ever), having left all the planning to my friend who is last minute at best. We have a couple of days shooting around Reykjavik and then a day with a local pro.

(Arranging oversight for my wife while I'm gone has proven much more difficult than I'd hoped.)


----------



## sm4him

Peeb said:


> Tragic!!!
> View attachment 109839



THAT is a sad, sad story, bro.


----------



## sm4him

The_Traveler said:


> Hard to believe that there is a BS thread that i've never posted in, but this is it.
> Up at 6 as usual; a habit that has proven impossible to break.
> I like/love the mornings when I'm alone.
> 
> I'm going to Iceland for a few days at the first of November and I've done nothing to plan (for the first time ever), having left all the planning to my friend who is last minute at best. We have a couple of days shooting around Reykjavik and then a day with a local pro.
> 
> (Arranging oversight for my wife while I'm gone has proven much more difficult than I'd hoped.)



Lew posting in the Coffee House thread?!?! Wow. We have now reached....well, I don't know what, but this is clearly significant.  Let me go get another cup of coffee and mull it over.

Hey, Lew!! Iceland--wow, that will be interesting. Is this your first trip there?
I hope you have finally gotten things sorted out for your wife's care while you're gone--I know how frustrating and burdensome that can be for a caregiver.
Hope you have an absolutely fantastic time and I'll be looking forward to seeing the pictures!


----------



## The_Traveler

Thanks for thought.

I am in the running for the World's Mosti-Incompetent Landscape Photographer but I'll try.


----------



## sm4him

The_Traveler said:


> Thanks for thought.
> 
> I am in the running for the World's Mosti-Incompetent Landscape Photographer but I'll try.



Meh. I've *seen* pictures of Iceland's landscape anyway. I'm far more interested in seeing Iceland through the eyes of Lew.  I just know you'll find some interesting people and scenes, things that we probably aren't going to see in an Nat Geo article on Iceland.


----------



## terri

The_Traveler said:


> I am in the running for the World's Mosti-Incompetent Landscape Photographer but I'll try.



I have a feeling you'll do just fine.    

But for inspirational value, check out one of my heroes, Tim Rudman.    He's been there a few times now and his work is exquisite.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have two trees that are suffering terrible from the four year drought and the severe water restriction/regulations adopted by the water district. I am now hauling buckets into the shower to capture shower water to hand water my suffering trees. I guess I need to install a gray water system but I think I lack sufficient filter area for it to be reasonable clean.  ... I'll figure something out.
> 
> 
> 
> Move to Seattle.
Click to expand...

I think I would have a comfortable life in Seattle.  ... I would like Seattle, but gray skies would probably cause an early and untimely suicide.  At one time in my life ... I could have worked in most major cities ... around the world ... and I tried a few out, (Paris, Tokyo, Seoul, Beirut), and I always came back here. I like California. 

The drought is affecting the Pacific Northwest as well. I am unfamiliar with the details, but all the fires up in Washington have been intensified by the drought (in severity and number). In California, the north which has 2/3rds of the State's water is suffering more than the south, which has 2/3rds of the State's population, because they are less prepared for the drought. The north has less reservoirs, aqueducts, water reclamation systems/plants, desalting plants, et cetera than the south because they never needed the massive water infrastructure of the south. 

So I am prepared to capture my shower water for the trees and uproot the grass in the front and replaced  with succulents, (I've been collecting succulents for a while in anticipation of removing the grass.), and pay high taxes, and pay for high housing, and drive crowded freeways ... for all the other quality of life benefits.


----------



## Gary A.

The_Traveler said:


> Hard to believe that there is a BS thread that i've never posted in, but this is it.
> Up at 6 as usual; a habit that has proven impossible to break.
> I like/love the mornings when I'm alone.
> 
> I'm going to Iceland for a few days at the first of November and I've done nothing to plan (for the first time ever), having left all the planning to my friend who is last minute at best. We have a couple of days shooting around Reykjavik and then a day with a local pro.
> 
> (Arranging oversight for my wife while I'm gone has proven much more difficult than I'd hoped.)


That sounds wonderful. (Going to Iceland ... not the lack of planning.)


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. My old electric wine cork remover is on its last legs and this morning the replacement has arrived from Amazon. I am charging it up as I keyboard. Y'all are welcome to come over to try it out.   (there's no wine opener emoticon so I selected an annoying one).


----------



## The_Traveler

Well, this is the weather for our time there but it will be time away and that's good enough.





(My travel buddy - and friend - warns me that Icelandic women are sick of all those young, tall, good-looking Icelander men and so older, homely guys like us are liable to be the target of unwanted harassment on the streets by gangs of roving beautiful women.)


----------



## waday

Morning, all!

Taking off tomorrow, so today is my Friday! WOO! 

Work is picking up in a bad way. Too many projects all due at the same time.


----------



## sm4him

The_Traveler said:


> Well, this is the weather for our time there but it will be time away and that's good enough.
> 
> View attachment 109850
> 
> (My travel buddy - and friend - warns me that Icelandic women are sick of all those young, tall, good-looking Icelander men and so older, homely guys like us are liable to be the target of unwanted harassment on the streets by gangs of roving beautiful women.)



I love how the graphics person has really tried to mix it up and give some interest and variety to the situation--"Cloudy with T-Storms" would describe every day, but they didn't want it to sound so dull. "Considerable Cloudiness" is my favorite.


----------



## waday

NOAA released their winter outlook.

NOAA: Strong El Niño sets the stage for 2015-2016 winter weather

Looks like I'm in the warmer and wetter. Blech.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Lew's here!!?!! Lew?? So the scent of coffee brewing got to him.

I'm trying to figure out where I am on that map, somewhere in the middle I think in between cooler & wetter and warmer than usual. Yeah that sounds about right! lol

Sharon you sound like you feel much better.


----------



## EIngerson

What's up my people? Had my appendix out, washed a camera battery, spilled my coffee and still kicking. What's good? Between shooting high school football, surgery and clearing my body of evil prescriptions, not much shooting going on. Sooooooo, Another coffee it is.

Oh, and welcome Lew. lol


----------



## sm4him

waday said:


> NOAA released their winter outlook.
> 
> NOAA: Strong El Niño sets the stage for 2015-2016 winter weather
> 
> Looks like I'm in the warmer and wetter. Blech.



Typical for TN--we are firmly in the "Equal Chance" zone for both temperature and precipitation. In other words, even the NOAA hasn't the faintest clue how to predict the weather here.


----------



## minicoop1985

Wow, been a strange day here weather wise too.

Strong El Nino? I'll take warmer and wetter over the -20F WEEKS we had last year.


----------



## snowbear

Good evening, all.
Gary no Signal 66 (suicide) allowed.  We loved PNW, almost as much as Maine.

Going to DC tomorrow with the family - between the White House and George Washington Univ (for those familiar) as well as the area around the National Press Club.

For the Food Network fans, we are debating a quick (OK, not so quick) side trip to the 1800 block of M St NW . . . Guy Fieri is apparently hitting one of the restaurants there for a _Diners, Drive-ins and Dives_ segment.


----------



## limr

Oh my GOD, y'aaaaaaalllll!






(Yes, it's been a hectic semester and I'm just a tiny bit broken already.)


----------



## limr

But lookit, it's kittens AND the sign language gorilla! All this video needs is coffee and it would be a Trifecta of Awesome!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> But lookit, it's kittens AND the sign language gorilla! All this video needs is coffee and it would be a Trifecta of Awesome!


or a Panda cub


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> But lookit, it's kittens AND the sign language gorilla! All this video needs is coffee and it would be a Trifecta of Awesome!
> 
> 
> 
> or a Panda cub
Click to expand...


Or a camera!!! Film, of course


----------



## terri

I'd have been too scared to hand over that litter of kittens to her, but I must admit it seems to be going well.


----------



## mmaria

EIngerson said:


> What's up my people? Had my appendix out, washed a camera battery, spilled my coffee and still kicking. What's good? Between shooting high school football, surgery and clearing my body of evil prescriptions, not much shooting going on. Sooooooo, Another coffee it is.
> 
> Oh, and welcome Lew. lol


how are you feeling a few days after?


----------



## KenC

Happy Friday, hosers!  Having coffee, fed up with the week and looking forward to a nice beer at lunch.  How about you?


----------



## EIngerson

mmaria said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> What's up my people? Had my appendix out, washed a camera battery, spilled my coffee and still kicking. What's good? Between shooting high school football, surgery and clearing my body of evil prescriptions, not much shooting going on. Sooooooo, Another coffee it is.
> 
> Oh, and welcome Lew. lol
> 
> 
> 
> how are you feeling a few days after?
Click to expand...


I'm doing well, thanks Maria.


----------



## The_Traveler

Note new _unpleasant _rules on camera batteries in planes.
.
Travelling with batteries | Photography Forum


----------



## terri

KenC said:


> Happy Friday, hosers!  Having coffee, fed up with the week and looking forward to a nice beer at lunch.  How about you?


Happy Friday to you, too, Ken!     

No beer at lunch for me - but definitely wine with dinner tonight!


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Happy Friday, hosers!  Having coffee, fed up with the week and looking forward to a nice beer at lunch.  How about you?



No lunch beer for me, either   But there will surely be wine for dinner.

6 weeks of teaching done. 9 more to go, then finals.


----------



## sm4him

No lunch beer, and probably no dinner wine or margarita either. Poor me.
Until I am completely, 103% over this infection, I am drinking only one morning cup of coffee and then water, water, water. Well, also cranberry juice.
I wonder if cranberry juice mixed with a little vodka is just as effective against a uti.


----------



## JacaRanda

sm4him said:


> No lunch beer, and probably no dinner wine or margarita either. Poor me.
> Until I am completely, 103% over this infection, I am drinking only one morning cup of coffee and then water, water, water. Well, also cranberry juice.
> I wonder if cranberry juice mixed with a little vodka is just as effective against a uti.


 
Dr. me says yes.    Get well soon.

I have had a cough for 3 weeks now.  I feel fine, but it's lingered way too long.  Maybe time for Dr.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!  Having coffee, fed up with the week and looking forward to a nice beer at lunch.  How about you?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No lunch beer for me, either   But there will surely be wine for dinner.
> 
> 6 weeks of teaching done. 9 more to go, then finals.
Click to expand...


If I had to teach what you teach I think I might be drinking with every meal.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!  Having coffee, fed up with the week and looking forward to a nice beer at lunch.  How about you?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No lunch beer for me, either   But there will surely be wine for dinner.
> 
> 6 weeks of teaching done. 9 more to go, then finals.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> If I had to teach what you teach I think I might be drinking with every meal.
Click to expand...


Good point 

Hey, did I share this with you guys yet? From my first big batch of papers I graded this week:

""For example, if you are teacher, you work is going to more stressful than a person who is not having to deal with kids or adults, testes and homework, think wise."


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> From my first big batch of papers I graded this week:
> 
> ""For example, if you are teacher, you work is going to more stressful than a person who is not having to deal with kids or adults, testes and homework, think wise."



Just when you think they can't possibly surprise you, huh?


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> From my first big batch of papers I graded this week:
> 
> ""For example, if you are teacher, you work is going to more stressful than a person who is not having to deal with kids or adults, testes and homework, think wise."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just when you think they can't possibly surprise you, huh?
Click to expand...


I laughed so suddenly and so loudly when I read that line that I scared my cats.


----------



## vintagesnaps

So will you write a comment that it's cat scaringly in need of improvement in grammar and syntax? lol but hit the nail on the head otherwise!

Sharon, hey, you're drinking cranberry juice, doesn't mean it can't have a drop or two (or 3 or 4 or...) of something else in it, does it? jk maybe it's better to not mess up or slow down your recovery.  

This cold blast of air this weekend seems to be appropriate going to the first home hockey game of the season.


----------



## Gary A.

A friend came over and we split a bottle of wine while relaxing in the backyard.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!  Having coffee, fed up with the week and looking forward to a nice beer at lunch.  How about you?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No lunch beer for me, either   But there will surely be wine for dinner.
> 
> 6 weeks of teaching done. 9 more to go, then finals.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> If I had to teach what you teach I think I might be drinking with every meal.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Good point
> 
> Hey, did I share this with you guys yet? From my first big batch of papers I graded this week:
> 
> ""For example, if you are teacher, you work is going to more stressful than a person who is not having to deal with kids or adults, testes and homework, think wise."
Click to expand...

Do you find dealing with testes stressful?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Do you find dealing with testes stressful?



Yes, as a general rule, I really try to avoid dealing with testes at work. Especially think wise.


----------



## Gary A.

Testes and homework don't mix.


----------



## Gary A.

Just saw The Martian ... great movie.


----------



## minicoop1985

Two cups in this morning. Having such a hard time doing the adult thing today...

Yesterday, I found a chunk of a wire cutter jammed in my tire. All 4 were down to the wear indicators and I was hoping to make it until tax returns, but I suppose now is as good of a time as any for this to happen.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Two cups in this morning. Having such a hard time doing the adult thing today...
> 
> Yesterday, I found a chunk of a wire cutter jammed in my tire. All 4 were down to the wear indicators and I was hoping to make it until tax returns, but I suppose now is as good of a time as any for this to happen.



We've been fighting one on the front for a while - found it had a nail; got new shows last week.


----------



## pixmedic

The wife working


----------



## terri

Hey!!   I already commented on her hotness in the Leaderboard forum, Jason.    No cross posting or you're banned!    


Okay, I'm bored atm.    Sipping on my second cup of coffee from the day (which I never got around to) while the soup pot is simmering.   I've put together a vegetable barley soup and am going to make some garlic bread with garlic-infused olive oil, then grill it, and have it with a lovely Chateauneuf-du-Pape.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Hey!!   I already commented on her hotness in the Leaderboard forum, Jason.    No cross posting or you're banned!


That's for the benefit of those whom refuse to revisit the LB thread.



terri said:


> Okay, I'm bored atm.    Sipping on my second cup of coffee from the day (which I never got around to) while the soup pot is simmering.   I've put together a vegetable barley soup and am going to make some garlic bread with garlic-infused olive oil, then grill it, and have it with a lovely Chateauneuf-du-Pape.


Sounds wonderful -- what time should we be there?


----------



## terri

Gimme about 20 minutes!    

....and bring dessert!


----------



## pixmedic

terri said:


> Gimme about 20 minutes!
> 
> ....and bring dessert!


I posted dessert in the "other" thread. You can thank runnah


----------



## terri

pixmedic said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gimme about 20 minutes!
> 
> ....and bring dessert!
> 
> 
> 
> I posted dessert in the "other" thread. You can thank runnah
Click to expand...

Dude's a perv.


----------



## pixmedic

terri said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gimme about 20 minutes!
> 
> ....and bring dessert!
> 
> 
> 
> I posted dessert in the "other" thread. You can thank runnah
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Dude's a perv.
Click to expand...

I hate to disappoint him tho


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, all.


----------



## limr

Morning, Charlie!


----------



## snowbear

Just a thought - ever notice that Halloween costumes for pets are designed, or at least marketed for dogs (owners, thereof), and not cats?  That's because most cats will take you out if you try to put that silly $#!t on them.  (duplicated as a FB post)


----------



## limr

Day 304 - Zelda ladybug by limrodrigues, on Flickr




Day 304 - Mrs Parker pumpkin by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

Poor Jeremy.  We went downtown Friday.  I took the new/old Agfa and we took the Ciro to see if they work.  I dropped my roll of Fujifilm cheapo at Walgreens on the way home whereas he couldn't get his rewound.  He figured it out and popped off the back to find that the spool somehow ate the film.  We're not sure of he just yanked the film out of the canister or if trying to rewind it pulled it out.  He had Portra loaded. 

We're going out this afternoon (while MLW plays with the oven cleaner fluid) to try again; with Fujifilm cheapo.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Day 304 - Zelda ladybug by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Day 304 - Mrs Parker pumpkin by limrodrigues, on Flickr



You've drugged them. 

They are exceptional.  Actually, I think I could get away with dressing up Bell.  Not Zoe, but maybe Bell.


----------



## limr

Well, they weren't exactly willing participants, and the costumes didn't stay on for very long. Doesn't stop me from trying!


----------



## otherprof

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!  Having coffee, fed up with the week and looking forward to a nice beer at lunch.  How about you?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No lunch beer for me, either   But there will surely be wine for dinner.
> 
> 6 weeks of teaching done. 9 more to go, then finals.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> If I had to teach what you teach I think I might be drinking with every meal.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Good point
> 
> Hey, did I share this with you guys yet? From my first big batch of papers I graded this week:
> 
> ""For example, if you are teacher, you work is going to more stressful than a person who is not having to deal with kids or adults, testes and homework, think wise."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Do you find dealing with testes stressful?
Click to expand...

Ovary much so!


----------



## limr

And for the record, lest anyone think I'm already heading into crazy-cat-lady-dom, I don't go looking for costumes, but when I'm in the pet store getting supplies and I pass a big discounted display with stuff for 50 cents or a dollar, then hellz yeah, I'm getting another little hat for the girls


----------



## snowbear

I wonder how many of these people now have claw mark tattoos.
LOL Cats, Funny Cat Pictures, Cute Cats | Stuff On My Cat


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Poor Jeremy.  We went downtown Friday.  I took the new/old Agfa and we took the Ciro to see if they work.  I dropped my roll of Fujifilm cheapo at Walgreens on the way home whereas he couldn't get his rewound.  He figured it out and popped off the back to find that the spool somehow ate the film.  We're not sure of he just yanked the film out of the canister or if trying to rewind it pulled it out.  He had Portra loaded.
> 
> We're going out this afternoon (while MLW plays with the oven cleaner fluid) to try again; with Fujifilm cheapo.



The heartbreaks of film!


----------



## limr

Buzz did little fixes on a few of my cameras that have been needing it for a while. The Yashica was dropped and it's fine except the screw for the lid on the WLF got knocked out so he put fixed that. We oiled the Rollei a bit so make the rewind smoother. The aperture on the Mamiya 645 wasn't working, but that was just a matter of bending a bin back so it would engage the aperture. And finally, he's got my Praktica to see if some black fabric magic marker (very thick ink) can fill in the pinholes on the shutter curtains.

I've already got Pan F in the Mamiya and the Rollei is the camera that lives in my purse so I can have a camera at all times. I just finished a roll of HP5 and so I reloaded it with Gold 200 (to get pictures of autumn colors) and back in my purse it goes!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Poor Jeremy.  We went downtown Friday.  I took the new/old Agfa and we took the Ciro to see if they work.  I dropped my roll of Fujifilm cheapo at Walgreens on the way home whereas he couldn't get his rewound.  He figured it out and popped off the back to find that the spool somehow ate the film.  We're not sure of he just yanked the film out of the canister or if trying to rewind it pulled it out.  He had Portra loaded.
> 
> We're going out this afternoon (while MLW plays with the oven cleaner fluid) to try again; with Fujifilm cheapo.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The heartbreaks of film!
Click to expand...


And of an old camera.  We'll get it figured out.

I'm really hoping some of mine turn out.  There are certainly no masterpieces but a few that I might like.  Interestingly, mine only goes up to ASA 200, so I'll have to pull any 400 I shoot with it.


----------



## snowbear

Interesting with the Practika.  I don't know if I mentioned it but the chief Liquor Board inspector gave me a Practika Nova 1B.  The front lens element is missing so I have to figure out what I want to put on it.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> And of an old camera.  We'll get it figured out.



Indeed!



> I'm really hoping some of mine turn out.  There are certainly no masterpieces but a few that I might like.  Interestingly, mine only goes up to ASA 200, so I'll have to pull any 400 I shoot with it.



Is it all auto? Or can you just ignore the light meter and set things yourself?



snowbear said:


> Interesting with the Practika.  I don't know if I mentioned it but the chief Liquor Board inspector gave me a Practika Nova 1B.  The front lens element is missing so I have to figure out what I want to put on it.



I think that's newer than mine. I've got an FX2 with a waist-level finder. I got it from another Filmwaster to go with a Zeiss lens I had bought from someone else. I wanted the Zeiss to go on my Spotmatic (M42 thread mount) but while it fit perfectly, it went a tiny bit too far into the camera body and the mirror couldn't clear it. So I _had_ to get the Praktica (oh the horror!  ) It's a funky camera. I just wish I could use it without putting little fairy-light leaks into all my pictures! Though oddly, it doesn't affect every frame. Depends on angle and lighting and probably shutter speed, I imagine. Here's one from last winter that came out okay. The frames after it (or before it - can't remember) all had light leaks, though).




Frosty by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Poor Jeremy.  We went downtown Friday.  I took the new/old Agfa and we took the Ciro to see if they work.  I dropped my roll of Fujifilm cheapo at Walgreens on the way home whereas he couldn't get his rewound.  He figured it out and popped off the back to find that the spool somehow ate the film.  We're not sure of he just yanked the film out of the canister or if trying to rewind it pulled it out.  He had Portra loaded.
> 
> We're going out this afternoon (while MLW plays with the oven cleaner fluid) to try again; with Fujifilm cheapo.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The heartbreaks of film!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And of an old camera.  We'll get it figured out.
> 
> I'm really hoping some of mine turn out.  There are certainly no masterpieces but a few that I might like.  Interestingly, mine only goes up to ASA 200, so I'll have to pull any 400 I shoot with it.
Click to expand...


Meter for 200 and close it one stop and you have ASA 400.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Things are cooling off here. Friday and yesterday it was in the mid 80's and it seemed extremely comfortable. 72F right now and it may hit 77F today.  It feels wet and it certainly is overcast. I'm reading the paper and keyboarding in the patio. Very pleasant. Watching a Hummer at the feeder, listening to the waterfall ... postponing all the crap I want to get done today.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

I've added a little bar to the BBQ Patio.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin folks. Getting mighty cold here way too fast, though next week looks much better. Lows are already in the 20s. Highs have been in the 40s. Next week should be 60s all week, thankfully.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

I'm working on my bark. Yesterday's Tri Tip. Tom came over for dinner and a movie. Dinner and Bridge of Spies were both great.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Interesting with the Practika.  I don't know if I mentioned it but the chief Liquor Board inspector gave me a Practika Nova 1B.  The front lens element is missing so I have to figure out what I want to put on it.


I thought I had a Practika ... But it turned out to be a Petri.



iPhone


----------



## terri

I love your patio, Gary!    

Morning, all - got chilly here last night, too!   Still reading 45 degrees on my screened (covered) porch; though feels much warmer in the sun.    Definitely feeling like fall, and I love it.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Well, they weren't exactly willing participants, and the costumes didn't stay on for very long. Doesn't stop me from trying!


Don't forget to clean the mouse guts out of your slippers before you put them on!


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> I love your patio, Gary!
> 
> Morning, all - got chilly here last night, too!   Still reading 45 degrees on my screened (covered) porch; though feels much warmer in the sun.    Definitely feeling like fall, and I love it.


Thank you Terri. Mary Lou first called the BBQ Patio my Man Cave ... then she took it back ... "This is better than a Man Cave," she said, "it's a Fort!" lol

So this is my little BBQ Fort.

(On the right, covered in a light green-ish cover is my propane Kitchen Aid BBQ, next to it covered in black is the little George Foreman electric grill and in the center is the red ceramic Kamado charcoal BBQ.

And ... equally important to the grills is the little six bottle wine frig in the bar. I have everything I need. Plus here, I grill all year long. With all the different grills we rarely use the oven.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Is it all auto? Or can you just ignore the light meter and set things yourself?


There are three settings: auto, aperture priority and flash.  Apertures run from f/3.9 (not f/4 lol) to f/22, and the flash selection opens a slide-away cover to the sunch cable.  Auto requires pushing an additional lever to get the shutter to release, presumably to set the exposure; aperture priority doesn't require the lever be pressed.

Though there must be some kind of light sensor (I can see a window on top with a grid), there is no recognizable meter in the viewfinder, and no batteries that I can see.  I found a manual, I just have to read through all of it, I guess.  The camera was apparently made between 1959 and 1960 so the tech will be pretty basic.



Gary A. said:


> Meter for 200 and close it one stop and you have ASA 400.


Oh, I  know . . . I used to push Ektachrome   This will be my justification for getting an external meter, though for now I can use the D40 for around the home, or a light meter app I downloaded when traveling light.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it all auto? Or can you just ignore the light meter and set things yourself?
> 
> 
> 
> There are three settings: auto, aperture priority and flash.  Apertures run from f/3.9 (not f/4 lol) to f/22, and the flash selection opens a slide-away cover to the sunch cable.  Auto requires pushing an additional lever to get the shutter to release, presumably to set the exposure; aperture priority doesn't require the lever be pressed.
> 
> Though there must be some kind of light sensor (I can see a window on top with a grid), there is no recognizable meter in the viewfinder, and no batteries that I can see.  I found a manual, I just have to read through all of it, I guess.  The camera was apparently made between 1959 and 1960 so the tech will be pretty basic.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Meter for 200 and close it one stop and you have ASA 400.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh, I  know . . . I used to push Ektachrome   This will be my justification for getting an external meter, though for now I can use the D40 for around the home, or a light meter app I downloaded when traveling light.
Click to expand...

Sunny 16 will be your mantra.


----------



## snowbear

Yes, it will.

Update:  I found the "meter."  There is a little dot at the top of the viewfinder with a slight reddish color to it.  When it turns green, the exposure is set (auto mode).

I don't see anything in the manual about the middle (dot) on the wheel, or what the shutter speed is.  The wheel clicks at Auto and Flash  only, so I guess the dot (middle) is not a valid setting.  The aperture setting is for flash.  I guess I'll just shoot in full auto for a while - I don't think the speed light will work on it.


----------



## Gary A.

If you synced with a pc cord it probably would.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> If you synced with a pc cord it probably would.


Yeah, I'd have to add the adapter.  I'll stick with the N90S for flash film work and keep this in the sunshine.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.  We're going in to work late because we stayed there until 8:00 PM last night.

As if I didn't have enough going on in my life, I am now registered for a non-credit class at George Washington University, Corcoran School of Art.  It's a four session workshop in bookbinding.

I've also been slightly nudged into the direction of presenting my GIS project, again, at next year's ESRI User's Conference in San Diego.  It seems no other Fire Departments have done this, or if they have, they are keeping quiet about it.  <sigh>


----------



## The_Traveler

Actually San Diego doesn't have fires; they disturb the flow.


----------



## The_Traveler

limr said:


> "For example, if you are teacher, you work is going to more stressful than a person who is not having to deal with kids or adults, testes and homework, think wise."



I find that like most people, while I can deal with kids or adults and homework reasonably well in most situations, I prefer to deal with testes in private.


----------



## minicoop1985

Oh joy. I get to shoot a wedding in a shitty, shitty dinner hall Saturday. And I have a second shooter that has no idea what she's doing with a speedlite, wants to just use her popup. And that second shooter is my wife... Blargh. She does fine with macro, but when it comes to weddings and anything else, she's resistant to learning.

Oh, and I have to source a Sony mount speedlite. By Saturday. Sh*t.


----------



## The_Traveler

minicoop1985 said:


> Oh joy. I get to shoot a wedding in a shitty, shitty dinner hall Saturday. And I have a second shooter that has no idea what she's doing with a speedlite, wants to just use her popup. And that second shooter is my wife... Blargh. She does fine with macro, but when it comes to weddings and anything else, she's resistant to learning.


----------



## minicoop1985

ROFL. Not happening, but funny.


----------



## vintagesnaps

So _whyyy_ are you doing this wedding?? lol Try saying things like, it's nice of you to think of me, or nice of you to offer, but - NOOOOOOOOO! lol or for a wedding request just run screaming into the night.

Now a shitty hockey barn, that I'd be glad to hang out in.

Go for it Charlie, you'll do fine w/your presentation, you seem to know your stuff.

I have a Praktica thrift store bargain which I haven't even used yet. But I have screw mount lenses already so it made perfect sense to buy it! that's my story anyway.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I have a Praktica thrift store bargain which I haven't even used yet. But I have screw mount lenses already *so it made perfect sense to buy it! *that's my story anyway.



Yeah, a lot of us have the same story


----------



## snowbear

Yep - Practica GIVEN to me; front element broken.  Maybe I'll put a lens on my Christmas.list.


----------



## snowbear

The_Traveler said:


> Actually San Diego doesn't have fires; they disturb the flow.


Well, the same principal will work for EMS and I  know they have those.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Go for it Charlie, you'll do fine w/your presentation, you seem to know your stuff.


I may.  I've got to put together a paper by the end of the month, so if I can get that done, I'll submit.  I can get a "dry run" out of the Towson University conference in March and (boss #2 advises) - MACO (Maryland Association of Counties).

Public speaking scares the jammin' bejeebies out of me.


----------



## pgriz

And up here in the about-to-be-frozen north, we've elected a new federal government last night.  Apparently our Prime-Minister-Elect is considered hot, and the camera loves him (had to work the camera angle in somewhere).  Despite the dire predictions of the government that got voted out, Canada has not imploded or acquired several trillion dollars of debt overnight.  I might have seen a rainbow or two, and rumor has it that we spotted a unicorn in the neighbourhood.  Joking aside, we are living in interesting times.  

In other news, my Blackberry has decided to go on strike (or maybe it just had a stroke due to old age), and I replaced it with an LG-G4.  Camera's pretty good.  It apparently has a RAW mode when you shoot manual, but not yet sure which software will access this.  The camera also comes with an f1.8 lens.  Have used it for work documentation, but nothing yet that is considered artistic or hobby-oriented.  That is still to come.  

@ Charlie:  the trick to public speaking is to realize that your audience is naked in front of you.  Once you understand that THEY are the ones feeling nervous, your own nervousness dissipates.  Don't let the fact that they may be hiding inside their clothes stop you.  Underneath, they're naked.  and exposed.  and vulnerable.  Be gentle with them, and it will go fine.


----------



## EIngerson

Soooo, the party pad is ready. 




Party central-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## terri

That is beautiful, Eric!    Where's the keg?!


----------



## JacaRanda

pgriz said:


> And up here in the about-to-be-frozen north, we've elected a new federal government last night.  Apparently our Prime-Minister-Elect is considered hot, and the camera loves him (had to work the camera angle in somewhere).  Despite the dire predictions of the government that got voted out, Canada has not imploded or acquired several trillion dollars of debt overnight.  I might have seen a rainbow or two, and rumor has it that we spotted a unicorn in the neighbourhood.  Joking aside, we are living in interesting times.
> 
> In other news, my Blackberry has decided to go on strike (or maybe it just had a stroke due to old age), and I replaced it with an LG-G4.  Camera's pretty good.  It apparently has a RAW mode when you shoot manual, but not yet sure which software will access this.  The camera also comes with an f1.8 lens.  Have used it for work documentation, but nothing yet that is considered artistic or hobby-oriented.  That is still to come.
> 
> @ Charlie:  the trick to public speaking is to realize that your audience is naked in front of you.  Once you understand that THEY are the ones feeling nervous, your own nervousness dissipates.  Don't let the fact that they may be hiding inside their clothes stop you.  Underneath, they're naked.  and exposed.  and vulnerable.  Be gentle with them, and it will go fine.



That's a very nice phone you have.  The capabilities of the camera are pretty sweet.  If you haven't already, check out videos like this.


----------



## minicoop1985

vintagesnaps said:


> So _whyyy_ are you doing this wedding?? lol Try saying things like, it's nice of you to think of me, or nice of you to offer, but - NOOOOOOOOO! lol or for a wedding request just run screaming into the night.



I should have, but I need experience. This is a TERRIBLE way to get it, but it's experience all right. If I enjoy it, which I won't, I may do it again. If I hate it, which I will, I'll never have to do another one.

Found the Sony speedlite. It's an old Minolta, but it should work just fine.


----------



## EIngerson

terri said:


> That is beautiful, Eric!    Where's the keg?!




That would be in he garage. I spend 80% of my time there. And thanks for the compliment.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's what they say, picture them nekkid, but I'm not sure that would necessarily help. Maybe I have an overactive imagination! But it's nice to have Paul stop in isn't it? lol

Hey as long as it didn't interfere with hockey, what else matters?? lol

Charlie I usually find that I feel nervous and excited but that maybe gets the adrenaline going, usually once I get started I'm okay. I usually have notes to refer to and ahead of time I reread so enough of it is in my head so maybe that helps, being prepared. What's the worse that can happen? not much really, if you skip a point who will know? if you flub a sentence so what, I doubt anyone will think much of it. Remind yourself to breathe.

Minicoop that is a lousy way to have to get experience. Blech. I guess you'll have to get more old and crotchety, people might quit asking! lol

That looks inviting, Eric!


----------



## EIngerson

Thanks Sharon. It's cozy. Always an invite for TPF'ers. lol. Any excuse to grill out is good with me.


----------



## limr

Happy Back to the Future Day, ya hosers!!


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> @ Charlie:  the trick to public speaking is to realize that your audience is naked in front of you.  Once you understand that THEY are the ones feeling nervous, your own nervousness dissipates.  Don't let the fact that they may be hiding inside their clothes stop you.  Underneath, they're naked.  and exposed.  and vulnerable.  Be gentle with them, and it will go fine.


I've tried that but the results were disastrous.  I was teaching HTML to a group of very attractive young women and, well, never mind.

If I get the required preliminary paperwork done (I have a 10 days), I will practice.  I usually get into it after a few minutes if I am really familiar with the subject, so no real worries.


----------



## snowbear

EIngerson said:


> Thanks Sharon. It's cozy. Always an invite for TPF'ers. lol. Any excuse to grill out is good with me.



If I do this presentation next year, I expect a meet up.


----------



## Designer

I've never used that trick, and I am skeptical of receiving satisfactory results.  I've spoken in public, and have not experienced stage fright.  Just lucky, I guess.


----------



## vintagesnaps

limr said:


> Happy Back to the Future Day, ya hosers!!



So then why don't we all have flux capacitors in our time traveling Deloreans by now? Guess we should party like it's 1985.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> I've never used that trick, and I am skeptical of receiving satisfactory results.  I've spoken in public, and have not experienced stage fright.  Just lucky, I guess.



Yeah, I never tried that trick, either. Maybe I never needed it. I remember the first time I had to give a speech to a really big room. I was kind of nervous before I started and then a few sentences in, I realized that it wasn't actually a big deal, so I never really worried about it again. I get it, though - it can be unnerving to have all the attention on you - but I guess whatever nerves I had never reached panic level.


----------



## Gary A.

I am in my BBQ Patio. It is a pleasant and cool evening. I just tossed some Tilapia on the George Foreman. It smells delightful.


----------



## limr

I'm up late in grading hell. But hey, the Mets are in the World Series! (Still don't care enough to actually watch a baseball game, though.)


----------



## pgriz

JacaRanda said:


> That's a very nice phone you have.  The capabilities of the camera are pretty sweet.  If you haven't already, check out videos like this.



Thank you!  There's a lot of stuff to learn.  I'm figuring out how to sync it with both my computer(s) and the Google world (mail, maps, storge, etc.).


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> Thank you!  There's a lot of stuff to learn.  I'm figuring out how to sync it with both my computer(s) and the Google world (mail, maps, storage, etc.).


I've found that the Google world will pretty much sync everything if you are signed in, almost to a fault.  I had to tell Chrome not to sync bookmarks, "start" page and themes between home and work; I don't need all the work internal sites on the home PC and like different start points and appearances for each place.  Saved passwords are synced between four devices (the phone, two work PCs and the home PC) without an issue.


----------



## JacaRanda

Also like Google launcher with play cards.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Charlie:  the trick to public speaking is to realize that your audience is naked in front of you.  Once you understand that THEY are the ones feeling nervous, your own nervousness dissipates.  Don't let the fact that they may be hiding inside their clothes stop you.  Underneath, they're naked.  and exposed.  and vulnerable.  Be gentle with them, and it will go fine.
> 
> 
> 
> I've tried that but the results were disastrous.  I was teaching HTML to a group of very attractive young women and, well, never mind.
> 
> If I get the required preliminary paperwork done (I have a 10 days), I will practice.  I usually get into it after a few minutes if I am really familiar with the subject, so no real worries.
Click to expand...


Public speaking is something I've never really had a problem with. Well, sometimes JUST before I start, I start thinking about what a bad idea it is and what I could do to get out of it--fall and twist an ankle maybe, or throw up. But as soon as I start, I kind of switch to a different "mode" and have no problem.
The next day, I usually second guess everything I said and convince myself it was the worst presentation ever, in the history of public speaking.   But that's just me, compensating for all the energy it took to put myself out there.

One thing I do--instead of picking ONE person to focus on (or imagining them nekkid)--I pick 2 or 3 people, spread throughout the audience, who look like they are actually engaged and listening. I focus on them, and in a sense sort of act as though I am having a private discussion with that person. By picking 2 or 3, and switching between them often, it looks to the audience like I am looking out at ALL of them, because they can't tell I'm really just looking at a few select individuals.


----------



## waday

sm4him said:


> I pick 2 or 3 people, spread throughout the audience, who look like they are actually engaged and listening. I focus on them, and in a sense sort of act as though I am having a private discussion with that person. By picking 2 or 3, and switching between them often, it looks to the audience like I am looking out at ALL of them, because they can't tell I'm really just looking at a few select individuals.


Ah! That happens to me.. speakers often keep a trained eye on me, and then I feel responsible for staying engaged and not looking away or daydreaming during speeches.

I'll have to start not paying attention.


----------



## minicoop1985

I've done public speaking. As in I speak to people in public. I never get nervous because I talk to like one or two people while in public. Do I envision them naked? Not usually, as it wouldn't be a pretty sight most often.


Yay! More pieces of my Vader costume are coming! Not yay: I can't order more until December through February because of my STUPID TIRES. Oh joy.


----------



## sm4him

Had an interesting day yesterday. Not good, but certainly different than I expected when I woke up.

I've been continuing to have some pains even after being on antibiotics for nearly two weeks. So yesterday, I called to make an appt. with my Dr.--She actually had a cancellation, so I was able to get in the same day, which is highly unusual.
They did blood work and urine sample--I still have the infection, but it IS improving. She switched the antibiotic, again.

But she was more concerned with the abdominal pain, which I had never for a minute considered was due to anything other than the infection.
She sent me for a CT scan to rule out kidney stones or appendicitis. Scan showed it wasn't either of those--however, it DID show something.
She wasn't sure if it was an abscess, or hematoma, or a mass of some sort.

SO--then I got to go to the ER. I think HER plan was for me to get admitted to the hospital through the ER so that today, a surgeon could look at the CT and decide whether to do just a biopsy or surgery to completely remove the mass.
It didn't quite work that way. After being in the ER waiting room and then an ER patient room for over 5 hours (WAY shorter than some ER trips I've had lately, for mom), and being seen by the ER doc and then a surgical resident--they decided to send me home. The surgeon's office is supposed to call today to set up a consult in the next week or two, THEN they'll decide whether to remove it or just biopsy it and schedule that.

I'm not at all worried about the mass--I'm just aggravated! WHY on earth did they make me waste five hours of my life in that ER? They didn't give me IVs, or pain meds, or ANYthing during that time. They DID do lab work--but my doctor's office, in the same facility, had already DONE lab work hours earlier.  Why they couldn't have just sent me home from the CT scan, then called me after the surgeon had looked at it, is beyond me. Instead I got to waste time in that stupid ER, AND pay them a $250 deductible for the privilege!
Plus, now, instead of having this over with today, I've got to wait who knows how long.

And did I mention, the fool thing HURTS?



minicoop1985 said:


> Yay! More pieces of my Vader costume are coming! Not yay: I can't order more until December through February because of my STUPID TIRES. Oh joy.



I feel your pain. ALL of the money I'd saved so far in hopes of getting another winter Florida trip, just went to the ER so that I could lie on one of their torture cots for a few hours.
I was already not sure I'd be able to save enough to go this year--throwing that $250 at the ER and starting over at square one pretty much means I'll be here All. Winter. Long.

P.S. I hope I don't have to buy new rear tires for my car.


----------



## minicoop1985

I needed all 4. They're being delivered today at some point. 80 some pounds of shipped tires overnight... I have no idea Tire Rack makes any money.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's a bummer Sharon. I had an ovarian cyst/mass/volleyball lol and my best friend had her gall bladder out. Apparently the way they do these things now reminds me and my overactive imagination of deflating an inner tube! lol So that'll be fun to look forward to.

I hope really of course that they get it figured out and it turns out not to be anything too serious. Sorry you had such a day.


----------



## vintagesnaps

We're going to have average weather today. Whatd'ya know, we never have that! lol

Charlie, did you start the bookbinding class yet? I signed up for one online but I haven't even gotten thru watching the video yet.

Now another station is saying average, gee this is big news.


----------



## sm4him

vintagesnaps said:


> That's a bummer Sharon. I had an ovarian cyst/mass/volleyball lol and my best friend had her gall bladder out. Apparently the way they do these things now reminds me and my overactive imagination of deflating an inner tube! lol So that'll be fun to look forward to.
> 
> I hope really of course that they get it figured out and it turns out not to be anything too serious. Sorry you had such a day.



Yeah, I've already had my gall bladder out in '06, and then had a complete hysterectomy, complete with ovaries, in Dec. 2008. I had a mass on one of my ovaries--at first, the Dr. said it was a cyst, but he rechecked it a few weeks later and decided it wasn't a cyst, but a mass. I had a lot of endometriosis, so they had to do the surgery abdominally, and just went ahead and took ALL the reproductive parts to make sure they got everything, to make it easier than trying to take only the affected ovary...and because, well, I was pretty sure I was DONE using all that stuff anyway. 
That mass was benign.

I'm really thinking that if they had ANY concerns about this one, they would have kept me and done the surgery today.
On the other hand, as I mentioned to my oldest son--the officers aboard the _Nostromo_ never expected that alien to pop up out of that guy's chest, either!


----------



## vintagesnaps

That sounds like mine, it started out being called a cyst then a mass... the doctor was sure it wouldn't be cancerous but had it tested anyway, more than once now that I think about it, he'd said it was fibrous tissue and usually if its more sizeable it's not. I thought the same thing, they can take it all, what do I need it for?? lol  

Okay you have an active imagination too...


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> SO--then I got to go to the ER. I think HER plan was for me to get admitted to the hospital through the ER so that today, a surgeon could look at the CT and decide whether to do just a biopsy or surgery to completely remove the mass.
> It didn't quite work that way. After being in the ER waiting room and then an ER patient room for over 5 hours (WAY shorter than some ER trips I've had lately, for mom), and being seen by the ER doc and then a surgical resident--they decided to send me home. The surgeon's office is supposed to call today to set up a consult in the next week or two, THEN they'll decide whether to remove it or just biopsy it and schedule that.
> 
> I'm not at all worried about the mass--I'm just aggravated! WHY on earth did they make me waste five hours of my life in that ER? They didn't give me IVs, or pain meds, or ANYthing during that time. They DID do lab work--but my doctor's office, in the same facility, had already DONE lab work hours earlier.  Why they couldn't have just sent me home from the CT scan, then called me after the surgeon had looked at it, is beyond me. Instead I got to waste time in that stupid ER, AND pay them a $250 deductible for the privilege!
> Plus, now, instead of having this over with today, I've got to wait who knows how long.
> 
> And did I mention, the fool thing HURTS?



This comment seems timely:
How Doctors Take Women's Pain Less Seriously


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> SO--then I got to go to the ER. I think HER plan was for me to get admitted to the hospital through the ER so that today, a surgeon could look at the CT and decide whether to do just a biopsy or surgery to completely remove the mass.
> It didn't quite work that way. After being in the ER waiting room and then an ER patient room for over 5 hours (WAY shorter than some ER trips I've had lately, for mom), and being seen by the ER doc and then a surgical resident--they decided to send me home. The surgeon's office is supposed to call today to set up a consult in the next week or two, THEN they'll decide whether to remove it or just biopsy it and schedule that.
> 
> I'm not at all worried about the mass--I'm just aggravated! WHY on earth did they make me waste five hours of my life in that ER? They didn't give me IVs, or pain meds, or ANYthing during that time. They DID do lab work--but my doctor's office, in the same facility, had already DONE lab work hours earlier.  Why they couldn't have just sent me home from the CT scan, then called me after the surgeon had looked at it, is beyond me. Instead I got to waste time in that stupid ER, AND pay them a $250 deductible for the privilege!
> Plus, now, instead of having this over with today, I've got to wait who knows how long.
> 
> And did I mention, the fool thing HURTS?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This comment seems timely:
> How Doctors Take Women's Pain Less Seriously
Click to expand...


There's a lot of truth to that. Having spent a LOT of time in ERs since this past May, I've been fairly dismayed by what I've seen. The one I go to is a LARGE hospital, a teaching hospital--and yet, they are certainly not doing a great job of teaching young med students how to actually listen to the patient and act accordingly.  I would be ecstatic if I thought I might ONLY face a waiting time of 45 minutes to an hour. I was out in the waiting room for about two hours, and then in the ER itself for about 3 hours--and that still made it the shortest ER trip of the summer. The first time Mom went in, back around Memorial Day, it was for what we suspected was a really dangerously bad UTI. At 88 years old (then), and with congestive heart failure and dementia, getting her treated was critical. I've seen younger, stronger people ultimately die from similar infections that were untreated or mistreated.
Anyway--they did get her in to the ER fairly quickly. They even tended to her and decided that they thought something else was going on, so they decided to admit her. That was about 8 p.m.--by the following morning at 8 a.m., she was STILL in the same extremely narrow, uncomfortable little cot bed. It was almost noon before she finally got moved to a room. My sister ended up sleeping on the floor of Mom's ER room, because they kept stringing her along with the "just waiting for a bed to clear" line. Finally, around 3 a.m. she realized that hospital beds do NOT "clear" at 3 a.m., except in the case of someone's demise. And even then, it's not likely they'll be in a huge hurry to get that room cleared, cleaned and ready for a new patient at 4 a.m.

However, I'll also say that I do think the ER staff has it pretty rough. I think MOST of them are doing the best they can--they are trying to tend to their patients AND take up the slack for the yahoos who are NOT doing their part. Plus, they've become pretty inured to the pain and suffering they see. They see a LOT of people who come in, acting dramatically ill, in an effort to get pain meds. They see people who are screaming bloody murder, sure they are going to lose an arm, because they had an accident with a knife and cut their finger.
They see people who are absolutely certain they are having a heart attack--for the sixth time that year.
I suspect they get to where they assume it's not as bad as it's made out to be.  The result is that those of us who tend to suffer silently and stoically, end up being dismissed as "not important." 

I was also a little dismayed that the surgeon never even came by, not once. The surgical resident came in, talked to me, then went and talked to the surgeon, then came back (a long while later) and talked to me again.
No one ever even asked if I needed anything for pain. One woman came in, looked around for something and left without ever so much as even looking at me.

It didn't help that it was so cold in that room, if you threw water up in the air, it would have come back down as snow.  The first nurse (male) kept agreeing about how cold it was, but did nothing about it. Finally, the third person who came in (female) said, "Wow, it's cold in here," and when I agreed wholeheartedly, she immediately went and turned up the thermostat.

On the other hand, my primary care physician, a female (does it matter? Sometimes...) was more concerned than *I* was. She fairly insisted that I go have a CT scan--she said I *could* wait, but not more than 24 hours. She stayed at the office until the radiologist called her with the results of the scan and they could discuss what to do. THEN she called the radiology dept. again and made she spoke directly to ME about what she wanted me to do. She KNEW I didn't want to go to the ER, and she was sensitive to that, but also pretty determined for me to go anyway.
She called a few hours ago, just to see if the surgeon had called yet. She said if he didn't call by tomorrow morning, to let her know. When I mentioned that I was just anxious to get something done, because it kinda hurts, she said "Do we need to get you some pain medicine?"
She's got the pain prescrip all ready to go, so I can pick it up in the morning (I can't get there before they close today). She even offered to mail it to me.  Seemed like a bad idea, to have a pain med mailed to me when you live a little close to comfort for an area known for drug dealers.

An aside: I had NO idea that doctors could no longer call a pain med in to the pharmacy. She said they have to either prepare it for pickup or mail it.
Is that true in the rest of the US, or is that something just in TN? It's evidently been a long time since I had to have any pain meds!


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> We're going to have average weather today. Whatd'ya know, we never have that! lol
> 
> Charlie, did you start the bookbinding class yet? I signed up for one online but I haven't even gotten thru watching the video yet.
> 
> Now another station is saying average, gee this is big news.


Saturday is the first session.


----------



## snowbear

@Sharon (TN) - I don't know about pain meds but anti-depressants can be called into the pharmacy, here.  At least where the pharmacy (a Walgreens) is physically located within the hospital next door to the medical office building.  A few years ago I switched my primary  to a minor care chain - they are the only place (other than ER and high charges) that was open on weekends when I typically do the stupid crap that get's me hurt.  I just get my meds from them.

You're in our thoughts, hoping you get better soon.

I'm going to start writing my paper for the conference this weekend.  I can't decide on what color type to use.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, my tires arrived. Last day of driving on the donut! YAY!

Wife's flash showed up. Works AWESOME for bounce. TTL is a probably not, might have to play with camera settings to get that just right, but it does move all the ways it needs to for the wedding tomorrow.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

I have my coffee. It's Friday. These are good things.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I have my coffee. It's Friday. These are good things.



Yes, coffee and Friday works for me.  Beer at some point would be a good thing as well.


----------



## terri

Yes!  to coffee   
Yes! to Friday
And a big, orgasmic "yes...Yes.....YES!!!!" to wine on the patio tonight.


----------



## sm4him

I had coffee.
It IS Friday.

I don't imagine there is any beer in my future...but there might well be a pain pill when I get home.


----------



## tirediron

sm4him said:


> I had coffee.
> It IS Friday.
> 
> I don't imagine there is any beer in my future...but there might well be a pain pill when I get home.


 Beer, correctly administered, _is_ a pain pill!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm still on coffee, dozed off thru the first cup... lol

Sharon hope you get your meds and get to feeling better. When I had surgery I don't remember it being any more difficult to fill a prescription for pain meds than anything else, but I don't remember now which one I was taking. Maybe yours is a certain category?? or classification?? can't think of what I'm trying to remember.

My only experience taking a kid (job related) to an emergency room was a lot of waiting. And also work related, I know there are people who don't go to a doctor, they go to a public clinic or the emergency room so there are a lot of people there who aren't exactly in need of emergency care. And a teaching hospital? the one I've been to here (again work related!) was a bundle of chaos. I mean, people and carts and things everywhere, I'm used to a hospital being quiet and subdued, that place was a whirlwind.

I'm glad I'm reading that article _after_ my ovarian cyst! glad mine didn't try to twist itself into a pretzel. Seems like hers was a somewhat fluky situation but it doesn't sound like she got checked out as thoroughly as needed, although if it's written by someone personally involved in a situation it can be more emotional I think.

Charlie that sounds fun and interesting. I was just looking at Hollanders in Michigan for supplies, having their annual online sale. Want to try marbling paper, maybe get their basic kit and a couple of tools and make a mess and play.


----------



## sm4him

tirediron said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had coffee.
> It IS Friday.
> 
> I don't imagine there is any beer in my future...but there might well be a pain pill when I get home.
> 
> 
> 
> Beer, correctly administered, _is_ a pain pill!
Click to expand...


Truth is, I don't actually like beer enough to drink enough to match the pain med dosage.
(Yeah, I said it. I don't actually like beer all that much. The horrors, I know!  Hey, it leaves more for the rest of you!)


----------



## KenC

Ah, yes, a nice IPA and a veggie bean burger for lunch.  I'm minding my own business and staying away from everyone this afternoon for their own good.


----------



## oldhippy

KenC said:


> Ah, yes, a nice IPA and a veggie bean burger for lunch.  I'm minding my own business and staying away from everyone this afternoon for their own good.


Veggie buyers, 40 years ago you had to make your own. Sent exDW to the grain elevator for a bushel of soy beans. 3 dollars back then.  Now Soy burgers are at the store, but average 7.00 a pound. So now veggie burgers cost more than steak. Just an old vex guy ranting.


----------



## sm4him

oldhippy said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, yes, a nice IPA and a veggie bean burger for lunch.  I'm minding my own business and staying away from everyone this afternoon for their own good.
> 
> 
> 
> Veggie buyers, 40 years ago you had to make your own. Sent exDW to the grain elevator for a bushel of soy beans. 3 dollars back then.  Now Soy burgers are at the store, but average 7.00 a pound. So now veggie burgers cost more than steak. Just an old vex guy ranting.
Click to expand...


Some still do it the old way, Ed. My youngest son and his GF, in their early 20s, have been vegans for quite a few years. Well, they went to vegetarianism first, then made the full switch to vegan.  They try to grow as much of their own food as possible, and then supplement grains and such from her workplace, the Co-Op market here. I'm sure it's still more expensive than 40 years ago, but at least it's not $7/lb. soy burgers! They are both FAR too cheap for that!


----------



## limr

Heh heh...



Spoiler: Contains a mild obsenity


----------



## snowbear

Late entry.

I had coffee this morning and I stayed home today. That'es the end of the good news,

The truck is in pain.  Misfire in cylinder #7.  I am not a mechanic technician, but I figure it could be the spark plug, the pluig wire, the coil pack or the wire harness feeding the coil pack.  Tried to swap plug cable for 5 and 7 - cI an't get the jammin' wire off of the plug; the brake master cylinder, booster and associated plumbing are in the way.  Not really supposed to work on cars in the apartment lot and I don't have jack stands here, so taking the wheel off and going in through the wheel well are out, per ML&EWW (my lovely and extremely wise wife).  Jammin' joy.

I've also had some issues with the project and one of the associated people but that should work itself out next week.  I am ready for this to be over with so I can move on to other things.  I have a couple of things I want to create.

I did pick up some polymer clay and have a couple of stands for photographing pens (just a small puck with a recess for holding the pen) that I'll bake after dinner.

Oh, cookies.  I had cookies.


----------



## terri

I like cookies....cookies are good.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> I like cookies....cookies are good.


Chocolate chip, mint chocolate chip and nice buttery sugar cookies from the local organic store.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mmm cookies. I love undercooked, gooey chocolate chip.


In other news, tires are installed! Feels like it did when it was brand new.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like cookies....cookies are good.
> 
> 
> 
> Chocolate chip, mint chocolate chip and nice buttery sugar cookies from the local organic store.
Click to expand...

ooo, keep talking sweet, bay-bay!


----------



## EIngerson

Exhausted after nearly 6 hours of shooting high school football tonight.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

I see we're having a slice of spam with our coffee this morning, eh? 

And once it is eaten, this comment will make no sense.


----------



## jcdeboever

Got a free day to shoot fall colors and it is crappy out...[emoji34] A look out into backyard...

I did have a little fun though this morning... I pulled the trigger on a new travel camera. A little old but a factory refurbished Nikon P7100 for $218 to replace my focus failing Canon S90. 





Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

If you're referring to flyer300, he/she has also started another thread with that question.  I assume newbs might not know where to ask questions.  

SAY!!!!  Good morning!  I'm going to grab some picture frames at Hobby Lobby today, since they're half off.  

Planning on giving photographs as Christmas presents this year.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I see we're having a slice of spam with our coffee this morning, eh?
> 
> And once it is eaten, this comment will make no sense.


I'm sure I don't know what you mean.    

Morning, all!


----------



## jcdeboever

Designer said:


> If you're referring to flyer300, he/she has also started another thread with that question.  I assume newbs might not know where to ask questions.
> 
> SAY!!!!  Good morning!  I'm going to grab some picture frames at Hobby Lobby today, since they're half off.
> 
> Planning on giving photographs as Christmas presents this year.


I am too for my Mom & Dad. I am putting together a snapfish book of historical Catholic churches of Detroit. Got 3 shots so far. Finished all the historical data, just got to shoot the rest of them. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers! Gonna be a rough one. Gotta give the wife her crash course in flash lighting, then the wedding tonight. Oh joy! Just what I wanna do on a Saturday. Not. At least I get to shoot a Halloween themed Porsche tonight afterwards.


----------



## sm4him

Well, I guess I missed my morning Spam. No loss, even fried that stuff is barely edible--and to a Southerner, if you can't even eat it after it's been fried, it ain't really food. 

Hurting a little this morning, but not awful. Planning to take it really easy today--watch some football and edit some photos.
Got a consult with the surgeon on Monday at 9:30 (it was on Tuesday, and they called to change it to EARLIER, how often does THAT happen?!)--I'm torn. Part of me wants him to just go ahead and do the surgery to remove the thing, because no matter WHAT it is, it hurts.
But the other part of me says, "Surgery? Ain't nobody got time for that!"


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> If you're referring to flyer300, he/she has also started another thread with that question.  I assume newbs might not know where to ask questions.
> 
> SAY!!!!  Good morning!  I'm going to grab some picture frames at Hobby Lobby today, since they're half off.
> 
> Planning on giving photographs as Christmas presents this year.



LOVE getting half-price frames from HL!  
I'm still trying to come up with what I can do for Christmas this year. I've done a lot of photos for people over the last two or three years, and wonder if they might be getting a bit tired of that.
But I like the personal aspect of giving photos I've taken--plus I like that I don't have to take out a loan to give people photos. 

Son #2 has a birthday next Wednesday, he'll be 23. Then eldest son will be 25 in early December! Can't figure out how those kids are aging so much faster than I am!


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone
View from my first banquet at The City Club ... downtown LA, 51 stories up. (The lights do not stop at the horizon ... the lights end at the beach.)


Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. This has been a busy week. Two banquets and a theatre shoot. (I addended the banquets no shooting.) The other banquet was at the Castaways, which is in Burbank halfway up the San Gabriel Mountains, with a view of the entire LA Basin out to the Pacific.

I'm having my morning coffee on the patio and reading the paper. The Cook is waiting patiently for her walk. So we best get going before the Sun heats everything up.  Oh yeah, the theatre performance was Godspell and it was very well done ... very entertaining.


----------



## sm4him

@Gary A.: I'm not a fan of big cities, but I do love seeing night photos of them--that one is beautiful!


----------



## Designer

sm4him said:


> @Gary A.: I'm not a fan of big cities, but I do love seeing night photos of them--that one is beautiful!


Let's ask GaryA if he has a shot of the metro area from the Mount Palomar Observatory.  He probably does.


----------



## sm4him

Designer said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A.: I'm not a fan of big cities, but I do love seeing night photos of them--that one is beautiful!
> 
> 
> 
> Let's ask GaryA if he has a shot of the metro area from the Mount Palomar Observatory.  He probably does.
Click to expand...


If he doesn't, I know what his next trip needs to be.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL, nothing from the Palomar Observatory ... but how about the Griffith Observatory ...


----------



## sm4him

^Oooooh, that FIRST one!


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou is helping out a lady who is struggling to make ends meet. She ordered a dozen tamales from her and this is what we got. They are huge and filling and delish and  weigh a ton.


----------



## sm4him

Alright, Hosers--watched my Vols play a much better game than ANY of the pundits expected against one of the best teams in the country. I don't like losses, but the way we played that game tells me we have everything we need to win the rest of our games this year and be in great position to really start competing next year! 
(Disclaimer: I'm not saying we WILL win out, just that IF we play like we did today, we will)

Now, I'm gonna take a pain pill and go to bed. It's only 8 p.m. but I hurt, and I've resisted taking anything because I didn't want to end up falling asleep during the game!


----------



## snowbear

G'night Sharon.


----------



## Gary A.

Go Vols!


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou is helping out a lady who is struggling to make ends meet. She ordered a dozen tamales from her and this is what we got. They are huge and filling and delish and  weigh a ton.
> 
> View attachment 110351


Those tamales are HUGE!  They look like they're wrapped in banana leaves.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou is helping out a lady who is struggling to make ends meet. She ordered a dozen tamales from her and this is what we got. They are huge and filling and delish and  weigh a ton.
> 
> View attachment 110351
> 
> 
> 
> Those tamales are HUGE!  They look like they're wrapped in banana leaves.
Click to expand...

Yep, they're the Central American version, nacatamales, Honduran and Nicaraguan recipe wrapped in banana leaves not corn husks.


----------



## Gary A.

Half Time:

USC 28 - #3 Utah 17

Two interception by SC's linebacker Cameron Smith. Both interceptions  lead to touchdowns. One he ran back for six. I love seeing big guys score.

FIGHT ON!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

'Night Sharon.


----------



## snowbear

I found a font folder!



by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

The Corcoran College of Art & Design, GW Univ.
I'm going to get to play with these in a week or so.


----------



## Gary A.

SC 42 - Utah 24


----------



## minicoop1985

Yay! Going to the zoo today. Not going for photos really, but there's going to be members of the 501st there. So there's that.

The wedding is over, at least. Now I gotta edit way too many shots. Ugh, I don't think I wanna be a wedding photographer... I like shooting pictures of stuff, not people.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

Florida and Michigan both had bye weeks, but Florida State lost in a last minute fluke play, and any week when something like that happens is a beautiful week!  

Some of Buzz's relatives from Slovenia are in town so we all had dinner down in the city last night. And today is a Sisters' Lunch day. I'll be pedaling like the wind on my bike tonight to make up for two outside meals in two days!


----------



## snowbear

Lunch with the in-laws (tomorrow is MLW's birthday) at the Chinese buffet up the street, then I'll try to get the paper done for the presentation.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The Trojans played like Trojans and all is right again in the world. The freshman Cameron Smith ended the game with a total of with three interceptions. Best quote from the night came from Utah's linebacker Gionni Paul, "Credit USC, they came to play tonight.  Didn't expect to be punched in the mouth like that. It was a reality check." 

@ Leo- How about some updates/stats on your workouts. Didn't you measure everything before you started? How many inches have you loss? How's the weight? Mary Lou and I have loss about the same pound for pound. Combined we've lost 50 pounds since August. It is getting a lot tougher. The Cook and I are now running about half of our walk. Yesterday we shared one of those nacatamales in the afternoon. Had to try one. Then Tom came over, we had a wine and then headed down to Naples for some ribs. (Naples is a cool place, a small group of islands in Long Beach. Naples Ribs, our destination, has some of the best ribs ever.)

We eat at Naples Ribs often, this time we doggie-bagged more food than ever. Probably a combo of snacking on the tamale and that we've been eating smaller, calorie counting, portions since August has shrunken our appetites.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Wait, what? Corcoran?? Is that where the class is? lucky bear.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Wait, what? Corcoran?? Is that where the class is? lucky bear.



Yes, I am officially a (non-degree seeking) student at the George Washington University, Corcoran School of Art & Design. It's not as good as it used to be; they were low in the cash area.  We're all (hoping) the buy out by GW will improve things.  They are starting to put the galleries back together.

It's funny - I used to go there all the time in the mid '70s; my mom worked at FDIC, across the street.


----------



## Derrel

Gary A said:
			
		

> SC 42 - Utah 24



The camera shots of Utah'c coach Kyle Whittingham bending over, hands on his knees, his head hung in despair were worth my entire month's Comcast bill! THAT was the perfect distillation of his response to his team's national title chances vanishing at the hands of the Trojans. It was pretty clear that Utah came in unprepared, thinking they would just show up, and roll USC. Uhhhhh, no, did not go down that way.


----------



## Designer

Cooking some ribs this afternoon.  

Can I get a "whoop-whoop"?


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> Cooking some ribs this afternoon.
> 
> Can I get a "whoop-whoop"?


No, but you can set an extra place for supper.  What time should I arrive?


----------



## Designer

6:00 pm  Or 18:00 if you are in Canada.


----------



## snowbear

Whoop Whoop.

Save me a seat, John.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> @ Leo- How about some updates/stats on your workouts. Didn't you measure everything before you started? How many inches have you loss? How's the weight? Mary Lou and I have loss about the same pound for pound. Combined we've lost 50 pounds since August. It is getting a lot tougher.



I didn't do measurements, and I wasn't weighing myself until September. I know that a lot of my trouble was stress, and a lot of that came from the paralegal job. It was affecting my sleep and weight, and I even started breaking out. So I was working on just establishing a solid habit of exercising before I started being really anal about counting calories and workouts again. I didn't want to add to my stress with numbers on the scale that would depress me, and I also know that I do better with gradual changes, so I slowly added more to the workouts and less to the dinner plate.

So I did weigh in at the end of Sept. to start the actual weight loss effort in earnest, and have been tracking my calories  closely. So far I've lost 6 pounds (hopefully that number will be a bit higher as of tomorrow - Mondays are my weekly weigh-in day.) If all goes well, I'll hit my goal around April.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Cooking some ribs this afternoon.
> 
> Can I get a "whoop-whoop"?


Never happened unless there's a photo.


----------



## Gary A.

Derrel said:


> Gary A said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SC 42 - Utah 24
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The camera shots of Utah'c coach Kyle Whittingham bending over, hands on his knees, his head hung in despair were worth my entire month's Comcast bill! THAT was the perfect distillation of his response to his team's national title chances vanishing at the hands of the Trojans. It was pretty clear that Utah came in unprepared, thinking they would just show up, and roll USC. Uhhhhh, no, did not go down that way.
Click to expand...

Interestingly enough ... SC was favored to win by the Vegas oddsmakers even though the Ute's were undefeated and ranked 3rd. So everybody knew something but Utah.


----------



## Gary A.

Looks like the Chargers, Rams and Raiders all want to come to LA.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Never happened unless there's a photo.


Feast yer eyes!

Ribs on the smoker | Photography Forum


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Leo- How about some updates/stats on your workouts. Didn't you measure everything before you started? How many inches have you loss? How's the weight? Mary Lou and I have loss about the same pound for pound. Combined we've lost 50 pounds since August. It is getting a lot tougher.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't do measurements, and I wasn't weighing myself until September. I know that a lot of my trouble was stress, and a lot of that came from the paralegal job. It was affecting my sleep and weight, and I even started breaking out. So I was working on just establishing a solid habit of exercising before I started being really anal about counting calories and workouts again. I didn't want to add to my stress with numbers on the scale that would depress me, and I also know that I do better with gradual changes, so I slowly added more to the workouts and less to the dinner plate.
> 
> So I did weigh in at the end of Sept. to start the actual weight loss effort in earnest, and have been tracking my calories  closely. So far I've lost 6 pounds (hopefully that number will be a bit higher as of tomorrow - Mondays are my weekly weigh-in day.) If all goes well, I'll hit my goal around April.
Click to expand...

My wife started her regimen over a year ago, and suggested that I do the same.  So we each weighed ourselves first thing every day.  I had lost about 10 lbs. until summer happened.  This past summer I was cooking for a small army and eating way too much of everything and gained 10 lbs.  

So now my son asked me if I was getting ready for ski season, to which I admitted "no". 

Now I am trying to lose some weight and build strength and stamina and I've got only two months in which to make some progress.  

Ribs on the barbie is all part of it.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Leo- How about some updates/stats on your workouts. Didn't you measure everything before you started? How many inches have you loss? How's the weight? Mary Lou and I have loss about the same pound for pound. Combined we've lost 50 pounds since August. It is getting a lot tougher.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't do measurements, and I wasn't weighing myself until September. I know that a lot of my trouble was stress, and a lot of that came from the paralegal job. It was affecting my sleep and weight, and I even started breaking out. So I was working on just establishing a solid habit of exercising before I started being really anal about counting calories and workouts again. I didn't want to add to my stress with numbers on the scale that would depress me, and I also know that I do better with gradual changes, so I slowly added more to the workouts and less to the dinner plate.
> 
> So I did weigh in at the end of Sept. to start the actual weight loss effort in earnest, and have been tracking my calories  closely. So far I've lost 6 pounds (hopefully that number will be a bit higher as of tomorrow - Mondays are my weekly weigh-in day.) If all goes well, I'll hit my goal around April.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My wife started her regimen over a year ago, and suggested that I do the same.  So we each weighed ourselves first thing every day.  I had lost about 10 lbs. until summer happened.  This past summer I was cooking for a small army and eating way too much of everything and gained 10 lbs.
> 
> So now my son asked me if I was getting ready for ski season, to which I admitted "no".
> 
> Now I am trying to lose some weight and build strength and stamina and I've got only two months in which to make some progress.
> 
> Ribs on the barbie is all part of it.
Click to expand...

I think for most people, weight loss and getting in shape works better when others are involved for motivation. It is so easy to cave into hunger pains and a quick snack here ... a soda there ... then the last 48 hours of labor is blown away.

Calorie counting, (on a phone app), and an exercise tracker goes a long way to making weight loss and getting in shape more scientific than 'a best effort'.  Both those methodologies help to eliminate fudging ... as in "Nobody's looking ... I'll have a quick slice of pie".  In high school I wrestled. I dropped 20 pounds from my football weight to wrestle competitively. It was a roller coaster, I'd make weight by Thursday/Friday to wrestle, then over then over weekend I add ten+ pounds and fight from Mondays to Thursdays to make weight again. I lost hundreds of pounds. I know how to lose weight. Interestingly enough, my training and dealing with food cravings from decades ago kicked-in during August. I had very little problem tossing the hunger pain to the back of my mind. I have a 1500 calorie a day goal, most days I hit it some days I don't ... but 1500 calories is pretty low. My motivation is to hit responsible weight then attain a sustainable balance between my eating habits and a healthy diet. The body is designed to store energy/fat. It is very hard to change, overcome and/or ignore the body's basic design. I started with smaller plates and forcing myself to stop eating when I felt full and not to keep eating until gorged.

I miss the cooking. I used to cook really elaborate meals three to four times a week. Complete with my breads ... breads made with free-range yeast stuffed full of cheeses and herbs ... sigh ... haven't made any bread in months. We're still eating about the same foods, just much smaller portions and attempting to stay within our daily calorie goals.


----------



## minicoop1985

Evening, hosers.

Man could I use a weight loss plan... lol. I'm a little on the overweight side (not obese).

Went to the zoo yesterday. Was a 501st troop, and got to meet some of my local garrison members in costume. That was awesome.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Evening, hosers.
> 
> Man could I use a weight loss plan... lol. I'm a little on the overweight side (not obese).


----------



## minicoop1985

That is a solid plan.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Coffee, snack and waking up (the last not going as well as the first two).  We're having nice Fall weather here so I may take a day off later in the week to go out with camera.  I have several than need to be used by the end of the year.


----------



## sm4him

KenC said:


> I have several than need to be used by the end of the year.



It took me FAR longer than it should have to realize that "several" refers to days off and not to cameras. I couldn't figure out why you would have cameras that needed to be used by the end of the year. 

MOAR Coffee, please.


----------



## minicoop1985

Going through these wedding photos from Saturday makes me realize I NEEEEEED a flash bracket and a 5D3.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Maybe he meant he has a whole lot of disposables with film expiring in them. lol

LENNY!!!!!!! Get home from work early, like by 4:00, The Third Man is on TCM. It's for me a perfect day for it, plenty of rain and cold and gloom, despair, and agony on me... oh wait I've drifted into a country song.

Or TCM has an app (some watch live/on demand thing so you could watch later). Or save Harry Lime for another day...


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have several than need to be used by the end of the year.
> 
> 
> 
> It took me FAR longer than it should have to realize that "several" refers to days off and not to cameras. I couldn't figure out why you would have cameras that needed to be used by the end of the year.
> 
> MOAR Coffee, please.
Click to expand...


Yes, I can see why that could be confusing, especially to the insufficiently caffeinated.  Actually, my cameras need to be used much more often than that for me to maintain sanity.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ugh, some of these wedding shots are just plain OOF. Not sure what the hell my camera was doing, but luckily it's nothing like the first kiss or the first dance.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Ugh + wedding = makes sense LOL

Lennnnnyyy!!!!!!! the zither music has started! sorry if you're missing it.


----------



## minicoop1985

Yes. Ugh indeed.


----------



## snowbear

It's a late night getting home but the cottage pie is in the oven.  I used _Powder Monkey_ pale ale this time, not Guinness.  

For VS Sharon: Did you go to Corcoran?
I'll have photos of my first hand-made book this weekend.  The cover is done, but being the first session, we ran out of time so we'll add the block and stitch (as well as star on the next one) Saturday.  Did you go to


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have several than need to be used by the end of the year.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It took me FAR longer than it should have to realize that "several" refers to days off and not to cameras. I couldn't figure out why you would have cameras that needed to be used by the end of the year.
> 
> MOAR Coffee, please.
Click to expand...


See, and here I am thinking nothing of the idea of feeling like I really should shoot some different cameras soon  



vintagesnaps said:


> Maybe he meant he has a whole lot of disposables with film expiring in them. lol
> 
> LENNY!!!!!!! Get home from work early, like by 4:00, The Third Man is on TCM. It's for me a perfect day for it, plenty of rain and cold and gloom, despair, and agony on me... oh wait I've drifted into a country song.
> 
> Or TCM has an app (some watch live/on demand thing so you could watch later). Or save Harry Lime for another day...



Waaaaahhhh! If I'd had a normal day, I would have been home to see this, but I had to sub for a class from 3:30 - 4:45 (I normally finish at 3:15).



(Well, actually Buzz owns the movie so I can still see it any time, but it's still not the same as catching it on tv. It always feels like such a treat when that happens with a good movie. Is this yet another thing that young generations will never really understand?? )


----------



## limr

Some of them are missing because they have been deployed (645, Praktica, Rollei, and Pola...oh, and the Yashica was being repaired and I haven't put it back yet) or not quite organized yet.




 

And yes, you'll also see a figurine of the god Priapus and the goddess Artemis of Ephesus sandwiching a Brownie on the next shelf over  Little objets d'art that followed me home from Turkey.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good evening bean lovers... Lots of driving today, man people are texting while driving fools! Anyway, home safe, watching World Series with my new glasses, no more headaches[emoji4] 



Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Some of them are missing because they have been deployed (645, Praktica, Rollei, and Pola...oh, and the Yashica was being repaired and I haven't put it back yet) or not quite organized yet.
> 
> View attachment 110553
> 
> And yes, you'll also see a figurine of the god Priapus and the goddess Artemis of Ephesus sandwiching a Brownie on the next shelf over  Little objets d'art that followed me home from Turkey.


Just bought a new ski mask, what's your address?[emoji6] 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Just remember, those are all film cameras, not nice new digitals...and I've got attack cats!


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Some of them are missing because they have been deployed (645, Praktica, Rollei, and Pola...oh, and the Yashica was being repaired and I haven't put it back yet) or not quite organized yet.
> 
> And yes, you'll also see a figurine of the god Priapus and the goddess Artemis of Ephesus sandwiching a Brownie on the next shelf over  Little objets d'art that followed me home from Turkey.


Can't see the picture.  Our company is going through some changes, and our IT has gotten more strict.  (They've also gotten much worse to the point that they no longer respond to any requests unless I include my boss and boss's boss on the email.)

Woke up thinking I was going to hate the rain, but it's actually not that bad. It's made for a real quiet office, which is pretty nice. Commute was horrible, but that was to be expected.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday sucked. I had a morning meeting at CSULA, (with no traffic the drive is a 25 minute shot for me). I left early so I could pick up some doughnuts at a friend's shoppe south of CSULA.  It was about 6:30 a.m. and traffic was running smoothly. I was on this long transition road from the 105 Freeway to the 110 Freeway. I was maybe a quarter of the way onto this two mile+ long transition road when all traffic came to a stop. The road was elevated and I could see all the vehicles on the 100 were also stopped. I was stuck on the transition road for 40 minutes ... barely moving. The closest off ramp was a couple miles ahead. A truck had turned over a few off ramps north of me (@ Gage) and everything south came to a stop. Even the pedestrians stopped walking and birds stopped flying. People were driving crazy just to move a few feet. If I had a gun  ... I would have had to reload numerous times. So, 40 minutes later I get to an off ramp and all the streets are overflowing with cars and trucks. I felt I was in one of those overpopulated Asian cities where walkers are passing up all the bumper to bumper cars.  All that frustration and stress just for a dozen doughnuts. I knew doughnuts weren't good for you ... but I didn't know they were this bad.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Just remember, those are all film cameras, not nice new digitals...and I've got attack cats!


That is a nice collection.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Had to wait for coffee this morning because i forgot to brew some last night. 

In other news, finally got around to getting this picture up.




DSC00691 by Michael Long, on Flickr


----------



## vintagesnaps

Charlie I was thinking Corcoran gallery, haven't been there, just one of those museums or galleries I've looked at online. I still gotta finish watching a video before I do any actual attempts at any sort of binding. Will be fun to see what you do.


----------



## JacaRanda

Cue the music.  I told someone in another thread that there was a raging party going on over here.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I saw that! lol But I have nothing party-like going on...

Lenny it figures that you had to work late, I hadn't seen the whole thing all the way thru in some time.

Here you go...


----------



## sm4him

JacaRanda said:


> Cue the music.  I told someone in another thread that there was a raging party going on over here.



Just to be funny, I was gonna post a video of a music video featuring all kazoos. But the only all-kazoo videos I could find were so horrific that I just couldn't bear to make others watch that torture.

So, we'll get the place rockin' with this instead:


----------



## limr

Oh, it's a party we want, eh?


----------



## limr




----------



## limr




----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Charlie I was thinking Corcoran gallery, haven't been there, just one of those museums or galleries I've looked at online. I still gotta finish watching a video before I do any actual attempts at any sort of binding. Will be fun to see what you do.


The gallery has been closed for a couple of years, while they renovate the rooms.  There is one exhibit in there now (I think it's a photo exhibit - I'll check it out this weekend) by an undergrad, so it is slowly coming back together.

The classrooms/studios are in the same building, but in the basement.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Oh, it's a party we want, eh?


"Swing down, sweet chariot, stop and let me ride."

The original mothership was sold to an old junkyard near Seat Pleasant, MD (on the DC border).  For a while, before that, it was stored in a garage in Clinton, MD, just a few miles north of here.  A second was eventually built, and has been acquired by the Smithsonian.
Smithsonian acquires Parliament-Funkadelic Mothership


----------



## snowbear

Well, I have submitted my presentation proposal for the user's conference.  Now I wait and see.

Sharon (non TN) - If you get to DC before we leave the area, let me know; it would be my pleasure to accompany you to the galleries (Corcoran, Hirshhorn, APG, etc).


----------



## vintagesnaps




----------



## vintagesnaps

Oops Charlie I meant I follow it online, not that I'm going there. Would be cool to see it. Or take a class there, even in the basement.


----------



## jcdeboever

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear




----------



## snowbear

Gotta change it up a wee bit.


----------



## EIngerson

Editing blues….

1200 highschool football photos. Memory card is looking at me all sad and downtrodden from carrying such a heavy load. I really feel sorry for it, but my computer and I have agreed to ignore him until tomorrow. The card reader has the sniffles and I really want it to get some rest too. None of them are talking to each other. 

So much drama and so little coffee. Please keep us in your thoughts. 

Signed,
The lazy photographer.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning (afternoon, Marija).
The first cup is history.  Heading out to take the truck to the shop, and to breakfast with MLW to kill some wait time.  I bought into the latest craze so I'm packing colored pencils and an adult (_not_ NSFW) coloring book - yeah, I know.


----------



## mmaria

snowbear said:


> Good morning (afternoon, Marija).


 awww you haven't forgotten me






haven't been here fora few days! Hope you're all well


----------



## minicoop1985

Hi Marija!

Mornin, hosers. Got a looong day ahead of me, I'm guessing. Started too early when construction woke Cooper up at 6 something, ultra cranky...


----------



## JacaRanda

limr said:


> Oh, it's a party we want, eh?


OMG,  I am doomed.  I will be Soul Train Line dancing down long hallways all day long.  Include the elevators.  Hmmm, perfect time to take a Captivate selfie to win an Ipad mini.


----------



## JacaRanda

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, it's a party we want, eh?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "Swing down, sweet chariot, stop and let me ride."
> 
> The original mothership was sold to an old junkyard near Seat Pleasant, MD (on the DC border).  For a while, before that, it was stored in a garage in Clinton, MD, just a few miles north of here.  A second was eventually built, and has been acquired by the Smithsonian.
> Smithsonian acquires Parliament-Funkadelic Mothership
Click to expand...


OMG LMAO!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh we want to see that... Now I'll keep hearing SOoooollll Traiiinnn in my head! thanks a lot.






Could that tie Don Cornelius is wearing be any wider? the plaids any bigger? the bell bottoms any more flared?? lol


----------



## JacaRanda

vintagesnaps said:


> Oh we want to see that... Now I'll keep hearing SOoooollll Traiiinnn in my head! thanks a lot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Could that tie Don Cornelius is wearing be any wider? the plaids any bigger? the bell bottoms any more flared?? lol


Seriously,  I would pull something and be in bed for weeks.  When I say dancing it means, snapping my fingers, a little head bob, and humming.


----------



## jcdeboever

JacaRanda said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, it's a party we want, eh?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> OMG,  I am doomed.  I will be Soul Train Line dancing down long hallways all day long.  Include the elevators.  Hmmm, perfect time to take a Captivate selfie to win an Ipad mini.
Click to expand...

Speaking of Soul Train. If you watch the video, right around the 1:00 min mark you will see the late Rerun (Fred Berry Jr.) from What's Happening Now TV show that ran in the 70's & 80's. He was a gifted dancer. 

Forget it, it was already posted... I missed it totally on my phone...lol

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Oh we want to see that... Now I'll keep hearing SOoooollll Traiiinnn in my head! thanks a lot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Could that tie Don Cornelius is wearing be any wider? the plaids any bigger? the bell bottoms any more flared?? lol


That's Rerun from What's Happening.
I used to be able to dance like that...back when I had a 28" waist. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## JacaRanda

jcdeboever said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, it's a party we want, eh?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> OMG,  I am doomed.  I will be Soul Train Line dancing down long hallways all day long.  Include the elevators.  Hmmm, perfect time to take a Captivate selfie to win an Ipad mini.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Speaking of Soul Train. If you watch the video, right around the 1:00 min mark you will see the late Rerun (Fred Berry Jr.) from What's Happening Now TV show that ran in the 70's & 80's. He was a gifted dancer.
> 
> Forget it, it was already posted... I missed it totally on my phone...lol
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


That's a good eye JCD.  My favorite was Dee; she was soooo sassy.


----------



## jcdeboever

JacaRanda said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, it's a party we want, eh?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> OMG,  I am doomed.  I will be Soul Train Line dancing down long hallways all day long.  Include the elevators.  Hmmm, perfect time to take a Captivate selfie to win an Ipad mini.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Speaking of Soul Train. If you watch the video, right around the 1:00 min mark you will see the late Rerun (Fred Berry Jr.) from What's Happening Now TV show that ran in the 70's & 80's. He was a gifted dancer.
> 
> Forget it, it was already posted... I missed it totally on my phone...lol
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's a good eye JCD.  My favorite was Dee; she was soooo sassy.
Click to expand...

I liked mama. She was very nurturing.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## oldhippy

Maria, I saw this and had to share lol  Ed .


----------



## snowbear




----------



## vintagesnaps

Didn't realize that was him! I'll have to go look again.

Good Jack, don't hurt yourself...

OMG the Midnight Special!! Thanks to this thread I'm getting nothing done...


----------



## JacaRanda

jcdeboever said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh we want to see that... Now I'll keep hearing SOoooollll Traiiinnn in my head! thanks a lot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Could that tie Don Cornelius is wearing be any wider? the plaids any bigger? the bell bottoms any more flared?? lol
> 
> 
> 
> That's Rerun from What's Happening.
> I used to be able to dance like that...back when I had a 28" waist.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Jeffrey Daniel and Jodi Watley were also dancers on Soul Train.  I believe it's Jeffrey around the 22 second mark with the white striped sweater.   Both were members of the group Shalamar shalamar on soul train - Google Search


----------



## JacaRanda

One of my all time favorites.  Pretty sure I have every cd, album or cassette.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh yeah, loved the AWB, had that album.

The farther along get with these videos the more disturbingly familiar the clothes get! I can't believe our parents let us out of the house.





[/MEDIA]


----------



## JacaRanda

Guess who.


----------



## JacaRanda

vintagesnaps said:


> The farther along get with these videos the more disturbingly familiar the clothes get! I can't believe our parents let us out of the house.



Wow, I loved my jumpsuits and overalls.  So corny, my ex-wife and I had matching overalls.  If I'm lucky, I will find a photo, scan and post it.


----------



## snowbear

For Sharon - a sneak peek at the first book.
The inside - yes that is clover in the paper.


----------



## sm4him

snowbear said:


> For Sharon - a sneak peek at the first book.
> The inside - yes that is clover in the paper.
> View attachment 110644



Even though it was meant for the other Sharon, I couldn't resist. I had to sneak and peek too.


----------



## sm4him

Hey, everybody, I have some news. You might all want to listen because it's a pretty big deal:

Okay, so.


Here goes.


The big news is:



*It's the WEEKEND!!!!!! *
The workday is OVER and I am going HOME!!!
Can I get a Woot, Woot???



Spoiler: More News



Well, except that it's not. It's only Thursday. But I AM going home, and that is still worth a single woot. But all lowercase.


----------



## snowbear

It's OK - anyone can peek.

Weekend?  I started that last night. 

Hope you are feeling much better.


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon, hosers. Been a long day here. Hopefully after a nap it will suck less.


----------



## limr

My head is killing me and I think I might have lost my lunch box, which upsets me probably more than it should 

Need to hug a cat now.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> My head is killing me and I think I might have lost my lunch box, which upsets me probably more than it should
> 
> Need to hug a cat now.



Not a cat, but . . .


----------



## snowbear

Just got back from the eye doctor & dinner.  Surprise!  My eyes have actually gotten better from the last time!  We'll be shopping for frames tomorrow,


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Just got back from the eye doctor & dinner.  Surprise!  My eyes have actually gotten better from the last time!  We'll be shopping for frames tomorrow,



Ooh, that reminds me that I've been wanting to order a new pair of prescription sunglasses. I might do a little shopping tonight!


----------



## Gary A.

Weekend ... ???? Some of us are working.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Weekend ... ???? Some of us are working.



I was working on chicken & sausage ziti.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from the eye doctor & dinner.  Surprise!  My eyes have actually gotten better from the last time!  We'll be shopping for frames tomorrow,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ooh, that reminds me that I've been wanting to order a new pair of prescription sunglasses. I might do a little shopping tonight!
Click to expand...


I found a pair of sunglasses that I may have to get, or at least see if they can fit the regular lenses in the frames.  We'll see tomorrow.

Which frames did you just get?  I know you posted a couple possibilities but IDR you saying which ones you went with.


----------



## Gary A.

My Vinotemp wine fridge crapped out again. This is my second Vinotemp that has crapped out. My Vinotemps have two temperature zones and one of the zones craps out. I've replaced two cards in the first fridge and I had to re-solder wires in the second. During the same period my Haier wine fridge, which is outside, hasn't even had a hiccup. As one can tell I'm a bit fed up with Vino Temp, so I ordered a new fridge from Wine Enthusiast.  The good thing is the new fridge will hold more bottles. The Vinotemp is nestled in a cabinet. The WE fridge will be free standing and the space now occupied by the Vinotemp can revert back to wine storage .... effectively doubling by wine storage capacity.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from the eye doctor & dinner.  Surprise!  My eyes have actually gotten better from the last time!  We'll be shopping for frames tomorrow,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ooh, that reminds me that I've been wanting to order a new pair of prescription sunglasses. I might do a little shopping tonight!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I found a pair of sunglasses that I may have to get, or at least see if they can fit the regular lenses in the frames.  We'll see tomorrow.
> 
> Which frames did you just get?  I know you posted a couple possibilities but IDR you saying which ones you went with.
Click to expand...


I have a picture on my phone but somehow it won't load. Gimme a little while and I'll post a new one.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from the eye doctor & dinner.  Surprise!  My eyes have actually gotten better from the last time!  We'll be shopping for frames tomorrow,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ooh, that reminds me that I've been wanting to order a new pair of prescription sunglasses. I might do a little shopping tonight!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I found a pair of sunglasses that I may have to get, or at least see if they can fit the regular lenses in the frames.  We'll see tomorrow.
> 
> Which frames did you just get?  I know you posted a couple possibilities but IDR you saying which ones you went with.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have a picture on my phone but somehow it won't load. Gimme a little while and I'll post a new one.
Click to expand...


Take your time.  The frames I'm looking at are red, by the way.


----------



## snowbear

Wow - 990 pages.  It's been (almost) one year!


----------



## limr

New frames:




My back-up glasses are red. Got them a while ago and they're kind of flimsy so I usually just keep them for watching tv.



Don't mind the squinty look. I was trying to get an angle to avoid glare and that's apparently my "concentrating on a photo" face


----------



## JacaRanda

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from the eye doctor & dinner.  Surprise!  My eyes have actually gotten better from the last time!  We'll be shopping for frames tomorrow,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ooh, that reminds me that I've been wanting to order a new pair of prescription sunglasses. I might do a little shopping tonight!
Click to expand...


Hugzz and please take your time shopping.  I'm sure you will find something you'll love from our selection.
cat glasses - Google Search


----------



## limr

JacaRanda said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from the eye doctor & dinner.  Surprise!  My eyes have actually gotten better from the last time!  We'll be shopping for frames tomorrow,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ooh, that reminds me that I've been wanting to order a new pair of prescription sunglasses. I might do a little shopping tonight!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hugzz and please take your time shopping.  I'm sure you will find something you'll love from our selection.
> cat glasses - Google Search
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Weekend ... ???? Some of us are working.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was working on chicken & sausage ziti.
Click to expand...

I made pasta and homemade sauce from the garden.  It's been simmering for a few hours now.


----------



## Gary A.

The garlic bread and sausages are in the BarBie.


----------



## snowbear

Well, I did it again.  MSRP $50 but Staples had it on sale for $20.

Meet Bailey:



cmw3_d40_6447 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr




cmw3_d40_6446 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr




cmw3_d40_6448 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## mmaria

minicoop1985 said:


> Hi Marija!
> .



Hiiiiiiiiii Michael!


----------



## mmaria

oldhippy said:


> Maria, I saw this and had to share lol  Ed .View attachment 110643


lol ED


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> Take your time.  The frames I'm looking at are red, by the way.


I once worked for a man who wore red frames.  

Don't get those.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Don't mind the squinty look. I was trying to get an angle to avoid glare and that's apparently my "concentrating on a photo" face


LOL!


----------



## mmaria

limr said:


> New frames:
> 
> View attachment 110665
> 
> My back-up glasses are red. Got them a while ago and they're kind of flimsy so I usually just keep them for watching tv.
> 
> View attachment 110666
> 
> Don't mind the squinty look. I was trying to get an angle to avoid glare and that's apparently my "concentrating on a photo" face


Hiiii pretty


----------



## minicoop1985

Soooooo tiiiiiired. Kid woke me up 3-4 times last night.


I forgot I've been roped into another wedding this spring. At least I have time to prepare for this one.


----------



## limr

mmaria said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> New frames:
> 
> View attachment 110665
> 
> My back-up glasses are red. Got them a while ago and they're kind of flimsy so I usually just keep them for watching tv.
> 
> View attachment 110666
> 
> Don't mind the squinty look. I was trying to get an angle to avoid glare and that's apparently my "concentrating on a photo" face
> 
> 
> 
> Hiiii pretty
Click to expand...


Hi gorgeous!


----------



## limr

I got my lunchbox back! I got my lunchbox back! 

And I have COFFEE!!!

AND IT'S FRIIIIIIIIDAYYYYYYY!!!!!


----------



## snowbear

Ok.  New eyes on order.  These frames - blue.   I'll get the red ones later as sunglasses.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> New frames:
> 
> View attachment 110665
> 
> My back-up glasses are red. Got them a while ago and they're kind of flimsy so I usually just keep them for watching tv.
> 
> View attachment 110666
> 
> Don't mind the squinty look. I was trying to get an angle to avoid glare and that's apparently my "concentrating on a photo" face



I just got some new one. My dog chewed my expensive Oakley's to shreds. I could have killed him but I left them on the edge of the couch so really my bad. My insurance would not cover crap on Oakley frames so I went with the free insurance (Davis) paid frames. I got progressive bi-focal and have been walking into stuff the first few days. Took 2.5 weeks to get them and that was tough using my 3 Rx ago glasses while waiting...


----------



## Designer

I tried the "no-line" bifocals once.  I could not get used to them.


----------



## minicoop1985

I love my Oakley frames, but I never take them off. If my dog mashed my frames I'd smack her, but at least I have a backup pair.


----------



## JacaRanda

Designer said:


> I tried the "no-line" bifocals once.  I could not get used to them.


I got used to mine but impatient while at work.  Reading on my own time, I'm willing to rotate my head.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nice ones Lenny, good style and shape, ooh lala.

Took me some getting used to the no lines too (although I still look over my glasses a lot!). Jack if you get good at the head rotating you could spit green soup at the same time and really have fun for Halloween.

Does anyone else get lots of kids for trick or treating? I usually do if the weather's OK but at least ours is only an hour and a half - that's plenty!!!


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Does anyone else get lots of kids for trick or treating? I usually do if the weather's OK but at least ours is only an hour and a half - that's plenty!!!


We have been in our place for eight years and have never gotten any trick or treaters.  I guess hanging that roadkill deer on the door kinda works.


----------



## snowbear

Seriously, though, never had one.  The first year we were here, we bought a load of stuff, thinking "they are apartments - lots of people;"  nothing.  We haven't bought candy for the past five years.


----------



## Warhorse

This is the first year at our new to us house down in the suburbs, it's in a subdivision with a lot of kids. So I'm making the assumption that there will be a lot of kids out tomorrow night (weather permitting, as there is a 70% chance of rain). 

I hope it does not rain as we have bought a LOT of candy to pass out.


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> I tried the "no-line" bifocals once.  I could not get used to them.


Once I got used to mine (a few days), I've never had an issue with them.


----------



## limr

No trick-or-treaters here, which is just fine by me. If I were in a place that got lots of kids, I'd be the person who always went out on Hallowe'en and left the house dark.


----------



## Gary A.

I get plenty of trick-o-treaters ... more than my share. I'm probably getting Leo's and Charlie's ... you peoples owe me candy ... I've been pulling your weight for years.


----------



## minicoop1985

I don't have to worry about them this year. We won't be around for it.


----------



## Gary A.

I got my water bill and I've finally hit my allotment level. It took me a few months. I'm watering the front and back three times a week at five minutes per valve/area. I installed a drip system for the potted veggies, (I have a ton of potted veggies) and I put the rose garden's underground soaker system on a timer of every other day for 15 minutes. And finally, the buckets in the shower have effective saved/brought back the shrubs and trees in the front that were severely stressed.

Mary Lou and I have just toasted to our water success. We weren't very hungry so dinner is half a tuna melt while watching the Series and sipping Thornton Curvee Rouge. The Curvee is quite good and after a rough week for both of us ... a good way to celebrate the beginning of the weekend.


----------



## jcdeboever

We don't get any, country road out front is 55 mph. Did carve pumpkins tonight with grandkids. It was fun. Taking pumpkin seeds out of oven and making Carmel apples too. 












Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> I get plenty of trick-o-treaters ... more than my share. I'm probably getting Leo's and Charlie's ... you peoples owe me candy ... I've been pulling your weight for years.


It's in the mail.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> No trick-or-treaters here, which is just fine by me. If I were in a place that got lots of kids, I'd be the person who always went out on Hallowe'en and left the house dark.


The hubby and I have actually done that, on more than one occasion.   I don't have any problem with giving out the candy, but Odin used to charge the door and raise hell, just for general purposes.   Halloween became an issue, something to avoid.

Now that the O-dog is fairly deaf, and we're in a new neighborhood, we'll be trying again this year.   No idea if we've bought too much or too little though.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't carve a pumpkin, I have one you plug in, lol if I feel like getting it out of the garage. Have a big jack-o-lantern bowl for the candy and a vintage-looking black cat cut-out I'll probably stick in the wreath on the front door.

Wonder what the popular costume(s) will be this year? Minions??


----------



## Gary A.

Minnie and Minnie
My oldest daughter Sarah and my granddaughter Claire.


----------



## EIngerson

^^^^^ Awesome!!!!


----------



## cauzimme

The real monster this year, it's him :


I've planned to eat candy in front of netflix and to do marathon of horror movies 
Nobody trick or treat in my neighborhood, I live in a Building in Downtown montreal, it's mostly clubs, bar, so young adults.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is a cool morning. I'm in the patio still wearing my pj's,  reading the paper, drinking my first cup and there is a bit of a wet chill in the air ... like Fall is in the wings about to come on stage.  I've washed out and refilled the hummingbird feeders and I've just noticed an empty Finch feeder ... so back to work.  Gotta mow the front and giving some serious thought to head out to Temecula today for more wine exploration.  I want to find the tiny wineries ... the ones with only a few stools for patrons and you share the tasting room with the family's dogs and goats.  (I try to avoid the big commercialized, Disneyland wineries.)


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. It's a gray, rainy day here. Not sure if we're taking the kid trick or treating at all, really. Everything's mud or mush.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Kind of chilly, supposedly some sprinkles but not til later evening so we'll see - I just want enough kids to get rid of the candy! lol Then, watch some hockey.

Enjoy your Halloween whatever you're doing tonight.


----------



## Gary A.

I had another cup of coffee when I returned from walking with The Cook. She likes to walk and splash in a little creek along our path. Today as she pranced and splashed she stopped and took a dump in the water. To most that would seem gross ... but to me it was creative.  I love that pooch!  Just finishing the front lawn, watering the pots on the patio and cleaning out a pond filter and now I'm sitting in the patio, enjoying the warmth (mid 80's), listening to classical KUSC on the stereo and sipping some iced tea.  We decided against Temecula today as it is Halloween and all the wineries would probably be overly impacted. Mary Lou added we have plenty of wine and a Tri-Tip defrosting.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ugh, looks like the rain has stopped, but it's still cold. Cooper wants to go trick or treating, but in all honestly, I feel like taking my socially awkward self and hiding.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Ugh, looks like the rain has stopped, but it's still cold. Cooper wants to go trick or treating, but in all honestly, I feel like taking my socially awkward self and hiding.


Being direct here ... maybe too direct ... but ... this day isn't about you ... this day is about your son. Put him first, quit catering to yourself and take him Trick-Or-Treating. You can do it. Cooper will love it and you'll feel better about yourself that you sucked it up and took him treating.


----------



## terri

Holy crap!!!   I'm already close to being in full panic mode.    Only 5:30 and I've already had close to a dozen trick or treaters here - and not all just the little, mom & dad-escorted ones, but older ones, too!    It's still light outside, fer pete's sake!    Way too early to be worrying about a final candy run!   ahhhhh!!!!


----------



## snowbear

Wow.  I must have been asleep.  I typed all of this and forgot to hit the post button.

I got up at 5:30, fed demons, then went to get MLW from her OT gig; haircuts scheduled for 8:00; took a subway ride into town to get my ID and attend class.  Back at station waiting for my ride.

Most popular costume? I'll go with Minions for the little crowd.

I have a book!


----------



## snowbear

I'll post a be better one when I get home.


----------



## Gary A.

A book!!!!   ...  Salud [Gary raises his freshly poured Doffo Cabernet Sauvignon towards the east.]


----------



## Gary A.

Okay, the world is good. SC beat Cal by just running over them in traditional SC style. (Hello Cal, we're running right ... stop us.) The Tri-Tip is on the Kamado BBQ-ing away with alot of smoke. I just poured Mary Lou and me a glass of Cabernet from Doffo, this little family owned winery in Temecula. This is so good ... so uncommercial ... even Doffo bottles are twice the weight/thickness from more profit oriented, mainstream wine enterprises. Duffo is quality first, custom crafted family owned winery.


----------



## limr

Yes, life is good. Florida pounded on Georgia and I had beer with dinner, AND I get an extra hour of sleep tonight (and lord, do I need it!). 

Did I mention that we pounded on Georgia? Always a good season when we can do that.


----------



## beckylynne

I've decided to be an alcoholic for Halloween   It doesn't take me long to get ready!! 

Seriously though....how cute is this little guy?


----------



## Gary A.

I feel safer just knowing your son is prepared and able to defend the galaxy from all evil.


----------



## snowbear

beckylynne said:


> I've decided to be an alcoholic for Halloween   It doesn't take me long to get ready!!
> 
> Seriously though....how cute is this little guy?View attachment 110792


Awesome!

I went out as an art student and tried to crash one of the studios.  It worked.


----------



## beckylynne

Gary A. said:


> I feel safer just knowing your son is prepared able to defend the galaxy from all evil.


I know right??  he didn't even know what a Power Ranger was when he picked it.  He just really wanted the sword.  I've since educated him.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh, looks like the rain has stopped, but it's still cold. Cooper wants to go trick or treating, but in all honestly, I feel like taking my socially awkward self and hiding.
> 
> 
> 
> Being direct here ... maybe too direct ... but ... this day isn't about you ... this day is about your son. Put him first, quit catering to yourself and take him Trick-Or-Treating. You can do it. Cooper will love it and you'll feel better about yourself that you sucked it up and took him treating.
Click to expand...


I know I know. I did. He loved it. I was miserable, but did it anyway. I may whine a lot, but I'm not a complete sissy.


----------



## Gary A.

After four hours of cooking, the Tri-Tip is amazing.


----------



## Gary A.

For dessert this ...



 Infused with cherries, caramel and chocolate... While it may be insulting to a stuck-up wine afectionado ... It smells like a Sees Chocolate and tastes absolutely ... Mmmmhhh ... Wonderful.


----------



## beckylynne

Gary A. said:


> For dessert this ...
> 
> View attachment 110805 Infused with cherries, caramel and chocolate... While it may be insulting to a stuck-up wine afectionado ... It smells like a Sees Chocolate and tastes absolutely ... Mmmmhhh ... Wonderful.


I had chocolate wine for the first time last week.  It was called "Chocolate Shop" and it was like candy...adult candy.


----------



## Gary A.

beckylynne said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> For dessert this ...
> 
> View attachment 110805 Infused with cherries, caramel and chocolate... While it may be insulting to a stuck-up wine afectionado ... It smells like a Sees Chocolate and tastes absolutely ... Mmmmhhh ... Wonderful.
> 
> 
> 
> I had chocolate wine for the first time last week.  It was called "Chocolate Shop" and it was like candy...adult candy.
Click to expand...

I have an appreciation for wine.  I belong to five different wineries here in California.  We, Mary Lou and I, make a trip to various wine areas about once a month. This stuff is seriously good. The next time I'm at Thornton I'm picking up some more.


----------



## beckylynne

Gary A. said:


> beckylynne said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> For dessert this ...
> 
> View attachment 110805 Infused with cherries, caramel and chocolate... While it may be insulting to a stuck-up wine afectionado ... It smells like a Sees Chocolate and tastes absolutely ... Mmmmhhh ... Wonderful.
> 
> 
> 
> I had chocolate wine for the first time last week.  It was called "Chocolate Shop" and it was like candy...adult candy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I have an appreciation for wine.  I belong to five different wineries here in California.  We, Mary Lou and I, make a trip to various wine areas about once a month. This stuff is exceptionally good. The next time I'm at Thornton I'm picking up some more.
Click to expand...

We live just outside of Niagara in Ontario.  My husband and I love visiting the wineries.  Not sure how it compares to Californian wine.


----------



## Gary A.

California wines are the finest in the world.   (truly) 

There are fine wines produced all over the world. The best are from California and France. In head-to-head, blind tasting competition, California consistently bests France.


----------



## beckylynne

Gary A. said:


> California wines are the finest in the world.   (truly)


Pfffft typical American


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... you asked. (Do your own research. A good start would be to Netflix 'Bottleshock'.)


----------



## EIngerson

I hope everyone is doing okay. It's crazy out there!!! I killed 15 zombies already. Why in the hell are they all carrying candy?!?!?!


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> I hope everyone is doing okay. It's crazy out there!!! I killed 15 zombies already. Why in the hell are they all carrying candy?!?!?!


Be safe Marine.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. I'm back in the patio with my coffee. There is a definite chill in the air. I'm not here beauty of the roses, the blooms exploding with color as the morning sun hits the petals, nor for the scent of dew covered herbs, the Thyme, Basil and Rosemary is comforting, nor for the sounds of the waterfall as splashes down to the pond ... I am here in cold fresh air because Mary Lou burnt the hell out some popcorn and the house still reeks of the stuff.


----------



## minicoop1985

I hate that smell. I recently burned a grilled cheese and the smell lingered for over a week.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> I hate that smell. I recently burned a grilled cheese and the smell lingered for over a week.


A bowl of charcoal briquettes in the room will take care of that. Same goes for nasty smells in a car. My neighbors kid spilled milk in the car unknown to her until it started stinking. She cleaned it, didn't work. Took it to a detail shop, didn't work. Told me about it, charcoal in an open box on the floor of SUV, 48 hours later, solved. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

Hmm. Next time something gets burned, I'll have to try that.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hate that smell. I recently burned a grilled cheese and the smell lingered for over a week.
> 
> 
> 
> A bowl of charcoal briquettes in the room will take care of that. Same goes for nasty smells in a car. My neighbors kid spilled milk in the car unknown to her until it started stinking. She cleaned it, didn't work. Took it to a detail shop, didn't work. Told me about it, charcoal in an open box on the floor of SUV, 48 hours later, solved.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I just happen to have some charcoal in the BBQ. Thanks for the solution. If I didn't have a reason to try this out ... I would probably put something nasty on fire just to see if it works.


----------



## snowbear

I found the best way to combat that smell is to not burn your food.


----------



## Gary A.

Ala Ben Franklin, " ... the best defense is innocence."


----------



## Gary A.

The charcoal is set. I tossed the charcoal into a basket of dried Rosemary branches I use to add flavor when I BBQ. I figure the rosemary couldn't hurt.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I had only one minion, so I guess those aren't popular just being marketed in every way imaginable! lol Mostly ninjas and/or ninja turtles, and some Mickeys and Minnies, and Marvel comics. And quite a few do-it-yourselfers, fun kids and fun costumes this year. Didn't go thru the empty bags to come up with a total yet but started slow then pretty busy.


----------



## Gary A.

Charcoal update ... we took Cook to get her shots and upon our return, the kitchen still smells like burnt popcorn.  Upon Mary Lou's suggestion, I stuck a small container of charcoal into the microwave.

To provide a measure of magnitude, the trick-or-treaters said they could smell popcorn from the sidewalk.






Cookie (aka Cook)


----------



## snowbear

As expected, zero kids.  I did see a few adults on the way to parties, via the subway, in a variety of costumes.  All appeared to be homemade and were pretty much tasteful (no slutty nurses.)


----------



## Designer

Here's a note from my son about the Halloween menu:

Didn't take a picture. Dinner tonight:
Pumpkin guts (mashed roast pumpkin)
Zombie flesh (pork shoulder slow cooked in pumpkin beer and shredded in its juices)
Gnome brains (whole mushroom caps braised in ephamere beer)
Elf hearts (roasted beats)
Goblin eyes (Brussels sprouts with bacon and balsamic vinegar reduction)
Crusty bread


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Cookie (aka Cook)


Gary; what's the beast under the cover in your driveway?  As many times as I've been to your house and you still haven't invited me for a cross-country adventure!  

Da Cookie looks funny with no ears.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and I discovered a fideo soup restaurant. It was very spicy and very very good. Would any of you people try a fideo soup eatery?




iPhone images

We read of this restaurant in the LA Times, Colonia Publica, in Uptown Whittier. You start with a very spicy broth, (a chicken or veggie broth), with fideo (an angel hair type noodle) and you custom build your soup.  I added some chicken, Monterey Jack, a fried egg, cilantro, avocado and probably other stuff. There is a bar at Colonia Publica featuring Mexican style beverages, a special lineup of new-wave micheladas, made with IPAs, oatmeal stouts or aguachile.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cookie (aka Cook)
> 
> 
> 
> Gary; what's the beast under the cover in your driveway?  As many times as I've been to your house and you still haven't invited me for a cross-country adventure!
> 
> Da Cookie looks funny with no ears.
Click to expand...


Not my beast under the cover. It belongs to a neighbor. The Cook and I were on a walk when I took the snap. The above photo is Cook in her summer-doo, cut short for comfort.

Cookie sports the smallish triangular ears of her Wheaten brethren.





The Cook in her winter coat.





PS- I am always open for adventure.

G


----------



## Gary A.

Charcoal update:

I still smell burnt popcorn. 



 
The charcoal basket.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Charcoal update:
> 
> I still smell burnt popcorn.
> 
> View attachment 110842
> The charcoal basket.



Try one of these - the cinnamon/sugar/butter thing sound good to me.
How to Remove the Smell of Burnt Food from Your Home


----------



## Gary A.

Thanks for the link. I am still favoring the charcoal as that will filter/absorb/trap the offending airborne burnt popcorn particulates.


----------



## limr

I don't know what fideo soup is, but if there is a vegetarian version, I'll try it!  Made a big huge pot of split pea soup and vegan chorizo (made of seitan). I'll be working on that for the whole week.

Halfway through my semester, hosers. The next three weeks will drag as bad as the last two weeks. That's usually how it goes. Just thinking about it exhausts me, and Zelda is so desperate for her bedtime treats that she just walked right in front of the screen, which meant I just typed that last sentence blind and only made one mistake. 'Cause I'm good 

'Night, hosers! Catch ya tomorrow when I'm half-asleep over my coffee!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. *YAWN*

Well, it would have been nice if the Mets had won, but luckily, I'm not much of a baseball fan so, whatever. And as I said on Saturday, as long as Florida stomps on Georgia, all is right with the world


----------



## oldhippy

Puppy Love


----------



## limr

Oh my GOD, Ed, are you trying to kill me? That much cuteness on a Monday morning??? 

Who is that little guy? Is he (or she) yours?


----------



## oldhippy

limr said:


> Oh my GOD, Ed, are you trying to kill me? That much cuteness on a Monday morning???
> 
> Who is that little guy? Is he (or she) yours?



This is the neighbor's pup. She followed me along the fence, wanting to play.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Monday morning at work with coffee and snack.  I guess it beats Monday morning at work without coffee but maybe not by much.

I've been a little scarce on here, partly due to nonsense errands and stuff that needed attention and partly due to actually getting out and shooting a little.  I'll post some pics elsewhere.


----------



## terri

Morning, hosers!     @Ed - she is so adorable!!     Definitely looks ready to jump the fence and go play.  

Sipping the first cuppa and contemplating whether or not the local library will be happy to see me coming in to *donate* three unopened bags of candy.    This is taking serious thought - but I can't be trusted with 1 bag of Butterfingers, 1 bag of Reese's, and 1 bag of Tootise Pops.    They need to leave the house, quickly!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Charcoal update:
> 
> I still smell burnt popcorn.
> 
> View attachment 110842
> The charcoal basket.


New charcoal unburnt, give it 24-48 hours to absorb odor

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> I don't know what fideo soup is, but if there is a vegetarian version, I'll try it!  Made a big huge pot of split pea soup and vegan chorizo (made of seitan). I'll be working on that for the whole week.
> 
> Halfway through my semester, hosers. The next three weeks will drag as bad as the last two weeks. That's usually how it goes. Just thinking about it exhausts me, and Zelda is so desperate for her bedtime treats that she just walked right in front of the screen, which meant I just typed that last sentence blind and only made one mistake. 'Cause I'm good
> 
> 'Night, hosers! Catch ya tomorrow when I'm half-asleep over my coffee!


Okay Leo, you're coming with us on our next outing to Colonia Publica. You'll really enjoy exploring all their micheladas.  I will most likely work on concocting my own version of fideo soup later in the week.

Fideo, since you asked ... is the common Mexican noodle. It is thin like angel hair. Typically, it is cut in small lengths and cooked like Spanish rice, in a tomato base and fried. Mexican households will serve up a bowl to fussy kids ... similar to spaghetti here in the US.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Charcoal update:
> 
> I still smell burnt popcorn.
> 
> View attachment 110842
> The charcoal basket.
> 
> 
> 
> New charcoal unburnt, give it 24-48 hours to absorb odor
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Okay I'll toss some 'new' charcoal in a bucket. But the smell is dissipating ... dunno if it's the used charcoal or time+open windows and doors ...


----------



## Gary A.

You know Ed, it won't take much to lift the fence up a tad ... high enough for a puppy to slip though ...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. NetFlixed "Fed Up" last night. One of those anti-Processsed Food Industry documentaries. It was surprising good. I highly recommend its viewing. Apparently, we, as a nation, will do to ourselves with sugar and dairy, what our enemies have been unable to do with bombs and firearms.


----------



## Gary A.

Charcoal update:

I also slid a small container of charcoal into the micro ... I just smelled it ... is stinks of burnt popcorn. So the charcoal must be working.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Charcoal update:
> 
> I also slid a small container of charcoal into the micro ... I just smelled it ... is stinks of burnt popcorn. So the charcoal must be working.



Ugh. Burnt popcorn is one of those smells that just gets in and permeates your entire being. It's like insult to injury because perfectly-popped popcorn is one of the best smells in the universe and tasty besides. But once it's burnt, not only can you not eat--you can't escape the smell.

Come to think of it: Maybe the problem isn't a lingering smell in the microwave or kitchen. Maybe you need to stick a tiny little piece of that charcoal up your nose, let it suck out the burnt popcorn fumes from your soul.


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Charcoal update:
> 
> I also slid a small container of charcoal into the micro ... I just smelled it ... is stinks of burnt popcorn. So the charcoal must be working.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh. Burnt popcorn is one of those smells that just gets in and permeates your entire being. It's like insult to injury because perfectly-popped popcorn is one of the best smells in the universe and tasty besides. But once it's burnt, not only can you not eat--you can't escape the smell.
> 
> Come to think of it: Maybe the problem isn't a lingering smell in the microwave or kitchen. Maybe you need to stick a tiny little piece of that charcoal up your nose, let it suck out the burnt popcorn fumes from your soul.
Click to expand...

Just the nose ... ?


----------



## Gary A.

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Charcoal update:
> 
> I also slid a small container of charcoal into the micro ... I just smelled it ... is stinks of burnt popcorn. So the charcoal must be working.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh. Burnt popcorn is one of those smells that just gets in and permeates your entire being. It's like insult to injury because perfectly-popped popcorn is one of the best smells in the universe and tasty besides. But once it's burnt, not only can you not eat--you can't escape the smell.
> 
> Come to think of it: Maybe the problem isn't a lingering smell in the microwave or kitchen. Maybe you need to stick a tiny little piece of that charcoal up your nose, let it suck out the burnt popcorn fumes from your soul.
Click to expand...

Your popcorn sentiments are reflected by Mary Lou, (a lover of popcorn and the perpetrator of the offensive deed), ruining popcorn is sinful.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Charcoal update:
> 
> I also slid a small container of charcoal into the micro ... I just smelled it ... is stinks of burnt popcorn. So the charcoal must be working.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh. Burnt popcorn is one of those smells that just gets in and permeates your entire being. It's like insult to injury because perfectly-popped popcorn is one of the best smells in the universe and tasty besides. But once it's burnt, not only can you not eat--you can't escape the smell.
> 
> Come to think of it: Maybe the problem isn't a lingering smell in the microwave or kitchen. Maybe you need to stick a tiny little piece of that charcoal up your nose, let it suck out the burnt popcorn fumes from your soul.
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Just the nose ... ?
Click to expand...


For some, I would have been more than happy to suggest they try shoving a few up their....


----------



## Designer

Check out the page count, folks.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Check out the page count, folks.



Woot!

Popcorn is the only food (for me anyway) in the entire world whose smell makes me instantly want that food. And I don't mean in a sort of "Ohh, I kinda want popcorn now" but rather in an "Oh my god, I HAVE to have popcorn NOW" sort of way. Yeah, other foods smell good and make you think of how good it would taste, but if you're not in the mood for it at that moment, the urge just goes away. I'm reminded that I like that food but don't always want to eat it at that moment. The smell of popcorn, though, doesn't stop at just reminding me. It creates the instant need to have it as soon as I possibly can. It's torture when someone puts a bag of microwave popcorn in at work because then I want it instantly but can't have any until I get home


----------



## waday




----------



## Designer

I walked past a kettle-corn vendor on Saturday.  It smelled wonderful!  

I have stopped attempting to eat popcorn, so it was no big deal to walk away without buying any.


----------



## Designer

No, little kitteh, it's not for another 4 days.  Sorry.


----------



## vintagesnaps

To celebrate the page count, popcorn for everyone today! (good excuse for some anyway).


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Check out the page count, folks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Woot!
> 
> Popcorn is the only food (for me anyway) in the entire world whose smell makes me instantly want that food. And I don't mean in a sort of "Ohh, I kinda want popcorn now" but rather in an "Oh my god, I HAVE to have popcorn NOW" sort of way. Yeah, other foods smell good and make you think of how good it would taste, but if you're not in the mood for it at that moment, the urge just goes away. I'm reminded that I like that food but don't always want to eat it at that moment. The smell of popcorn, though, doesn't stop at just reminding me. It creates the instant need to have it as soon as I possibly can. It's torture when someone puts a bag of microwave popcorn in at work because then I want it instantly but can't have any until I get home
Click to expand...


TRUTH. I can walk downstairs to the break room, not thinking about much of anything, just headed to refill my water bottle, or maybe fix a little lunch. Then, IT happens. That smell permeates the air and you KNOW...someone has made POPCORN.
And I instantly think: "Popcorn. Must. Have. Popcorn. Who am I going to have to kill to get that popcorn?" 

Oddly, kettle corn doesn't provoke quite the same reaction for me. It smells delicious, yes, but I don't have the instant sensation that I might actually commit murder to get that popcorn.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> No, little kiteh, it's not for another 4 days.  Sorry.


----------



## limr




----------



## minicoop1985

I wanna say I posted on page 999! Now I can say I did!

Got my balaclava today. Getting closer, but still miles away from completing my Vader.


----------



## limr

I want


----------



## limr

...to be...


----------



## limr

...the first one...


----------



## limr

...to post on...


----------



## limr

...PAGE 1,000, HOSERS!!!!


----------



## limr

My Leaderboard-honed postwhoring skills seem be to perfectly intact


----------



## minicoop1985

POSTWHORE!!!!!

Yay I'm on 1000 too!


----------



## limr

Holy CRAP, hosers, y'all gotta talk me off the ledge here!!

I give an assignment in which students basically just write their reactions to an article we've just read. Never mind the details, but just know that I go over the instructions for this assignment several times before the first one is due, and even have them write the first one in class so I can be there to answer questions, guide, and correct them. After that, I go over them - I'm not exaggerating - *at least* once a week because someone is still confused or because enough people have made the same mistake (summary instead of reaction, for example.)

We're 8 weeks into the semester. They've heard the instructions literally 15 times. And I do mean _literally_.

Too many of them are still doing the _*exact opposite *_of what I've asked them to do *literally *_*fifteen times*_. And it's not a hard assignment, I promise you.

I'm feeling completely and utterly useless and exhausted.


----------



## snowbear

Cole's Axiom at work.


----------



## Gary A.

Charcoal update:

Based upon Charlie's link of removing/hiding offensive scents (largely masking) ... I keep thinking about the recommendation of using fans to artificially move the offensive air out to be replaced with and hopefully non-offensive/less offensive fresh air. But ... I haven't any fans (with the exceptions of my favored minions here at TPF).  Then today it dawned on me ...  ... I do have a rather large, stand-alone HEPA/fan filtration thingie that I break out, if needed, when my youngest daughter visits.

Viola! The thing is working like a champ.


----------



## Gary A.

Law of Diminishing Returns.


----------



## snowbear

Or . . . you could have tried to borrow a nice smoke ejector (huge door-width exhaust fans) from your friendly neighborhood fire department.


----------



## pgriz

This thread has more content and interest than that other Frankenstein of a posting thread.  

In a recent development, the Holy See has revealed that it has been informed by St-Peter, that henceforth, posting history WILL be taken into account at the time of admission at the Pearly Gates.  It appears that the Heavenly Administration has been adequately stocked with internet tracking tools, and THEIR server farms are quite extensive.  The NSA, unit 61398 and the Dukes are still trying to find how their systems were compromised.


----------



## snowbear

How does said history affect non-believing (or differently believing) heathens?


----------



## snowbear

And congratulations, everyone, on taking this minor crash of a thread to 1,000 pages.  I know y'all will keep it up when I'm gone.


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> How does said history affect non-believing (or differently believing) heathens?



I have my suspicions, but I think one revelation upon our "transition" is that it's not like anything we've been lead to believe.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Holy CRAP, hosers, y'all gotta talk me off the ledge here!!
> 
> I give an assignment in which students basically just write their reactions to an article we've just read. Never mind the details, but just know that I go over the instructions for this assignment several times before the first one is due, and even have them write the first one in class so I can be there to answer questions, guide, and correct them. After that, I go over them - I'm not exaggerating - *at least* once a week because someone is still confused or because enough people have made the same mistake (summary instead of reaction, for example.)
> 
> We're 8 weeks into the semester. They've heard the instructions literally 15 times. And I do mean _literally_.
> 
> Too many of them are still doing the _*exact opposite *_of what I've asked them to do *literally *_*fifteen times*_. And it's not a hard assignment, I promise you.
> 
> I'm feeling completely and utterly useless and exhausted.



Not to be pedantic , but what would be the exact opposite of a reaction?  A Pro-action?  In fact, that might be actually quite an interesting idea!  

Sorry dear.  Come off the ledge.  It's drafty there, and the pigeons are very poor company.  Plus, Gary promises to share some of his grape juice with you if you just swing those legs over here on nice, solid flooring.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Not to be pedantic , but what would be the exact opposite of a reaction?  A Pro-action?  In fact, that might be actually quite an interesting idea!



Being pedantic is underrated 

I instruct them specifically that I do not want a simple summary of the article. I don't want the author's ideas regurgitated at me; I want their ideas, their personal experiences (or lack thereof) that make them able (or not able) to relate to the ideas in the article. And I give them some guideline questions just in case they are stumped for ideas, but I tell them to NOT simply number their paragraphs and answer each question directly. Invariably, someone does this and I tell them directly, "Don't do this anymore." Guess what I get for the next one? The same exact thing. One of the last ones I just finished was from a woman who did this twice already. This time I got pissed, gave her a failing grade, and told her to consider it a draft that she could re-write properly for a better final grade.



> Sorry dear.  Come off the ledge.  It's drafty there, and the pigeons are very poor company.  Plus, Gary promises to share some of his grape juice with you if you just swing those legs over here on nice, solid flooring.



Mmmmm, grape juice! Maybe some of the pigeons can fly me cross country! 

(And thank you, my dear, for reminding me of my dislike of emptiness under my feet!  )


----------



## Gary A.

Speaking of which ... my new fermented grape juice refrigeration unit should be here by Wednesday ... thereby doubling my grape juice storage capacity.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Speaking of which ... my new fermented grape juice refrigeration unit should be here by Wednesday ... thereby doubling my grape juice storage capacity.



Mmmmmm, grape juice.

Well, hosers. I powered through some work and rewarded myself with...POPCORN!! 

I use a plain paper bag, the kind use for bagged lunches. I put 3 tablespoons of dry kernels in the bag and tape it shut. Microwave for just over 1.5 minutes. Comes out perfectly. I use a spray mister thingy to spray enough olive oil to coat the popcorn and make the salt stick, and then salt it. Yummy! Cheaper and healthier than pre-packaged microwave popcorn but just as easy, convenient, and tasty.


----------



## Gary A.

This was sent to me ... it is something stupid ... but a bit entertaining.

Ben Franklin is attributed to saying:

"In wine there is wisdom, In beer there is freedom, In water there is bacteria."

In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink one liter of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. Coli) - a bacteria found in feces. In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop annually... However, We do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer (or rum, whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and fermenting.

Remember:

Water = Poop <> Wine = Health

Therefore, it's better to drink wine and talk stupid, than to drink water and be full of crap.

There is no need to thank me for this valuable information: I'm doing it as a public service.


----------



## pgriz

The thing is, Gary, that we are convenient scaffolding for bacteria, yeasts, funguses and viruses.  There are more bacteria in and on you that your body has cells.  Given that fact, the question becomes do you want friendly bacteria or unfriendly bacteria managing your epidurial and mucosal surfaces?  That's one reason why fecal transplants are something people are trying to do now,  to colonize their bodies with "friendlies" who squeeze out the bad ones. 

However, congratulations on getting rid of the popcorn smell.  We had an episode of that a few years ago (someone dialed in an extra ten minutes by accident), and since then, I'm the official popcorn maker.  In my microwave it's 2 min. 50 sec. in the microwave popcorn popper bowl.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I'm feeling completely and utterly useless and exhausted.


No, you should feel empowered. You have the ability to change grades.  

Most of my professors would have never put up with that... But, I did have some crazy professors. One math professor incorporated a dirigible in almost every single problem. One physics professor got mad when we did homework together and said he was going to report everyone for cheating. One microbiology professor asked us whether we wanted to take a final exam as a group in class that day; we said yes.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> I use a spray mister thingy to spray enough olive oil to coat the popcorn and make the salt stick, and then salt it.



My feeling has always been that, if you are using a sprayer for olive oil, you simply are not using enough.  However, given the large surface area of a bag of popcorn, I suppose that would be an exception ...


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Holy CRAP, hosers, y'all gotta talk me off the ledge here!!


(sympathy button) (sympathy button) (sympathy button)

Three times! (because my phantom sympathy button does not restrict me to only one activation)


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> I use a plain paper bag, the kind use for bagged lunches. I put 3 tablespoons of dry kernels in the bag and tape it shut. Microwave for just over 1.5 minutes. Comes out perfectly. I use a spray mister thingy to spray enough olive oil to coat the popcorn and make the salt stick, and then salt it. Yummy! Cheaper and healthier than pre-packaged microwave popcorn but just as easy, convenient, and tasty.


Great idea!  That way I could use the kind of popcorn that I want, and not have to settle for the kind somebody else wants me to have!  Perfect!

BTW; we used to be able to buy popcorn salt at the store, but they quit handling it.

Oh, well, what the heck, I don't eat popcorn anymore anyway.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Looks like today's gonna be a three cup day. Kid wakes up too damned early.

In other news, my Vader build is coming along much faster than anticipated. Buying a completed belt and codpiece off a local member on our Sith Lord Detachment forum.


----------



## waday

I work in a pretty quiet office, so I hate when people make lots of noise. I guess I hate myself, haha. I thought I had my headphones plugged into the computer, but I had them plugged into the microphone port by accident. Well, when I couldn't hear the music, I turned it up louder. Whoops. The office just got to listen to a few choice words  from some of the top Hip-Hop artists.

It's a Hip-Hop kinda day. 



minicoop1985 said:


> In other news, my Vader build is coming along much faster than anticipated. Buying a completed belt and codpiece off a local member on our Sith Lord Detachment forum.


I can't wait to see pictures of this completed!


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, it's gonna be a long wait, unfortunately. Some parts take 6 months once they're commissioned.


----------



## sm4him

waday said:


> I work in a pretty quiet office, so I hate when people make lots of noise. I guess I hate myself, haha. I thought I had my headphones plugged into the computer, but I had them plugged into the microphone port by accident. Well, when I couldn't hear the music, I turned it up louder. Whoops. The office just got to listen to a few choice words  from some of the top Hip-Hop artists.



I would have hunted you down, and personally "quieted" those Hip-Hop evildoers.  

As is pretty much the norm these days, I was far, far too tired after work last night to even think about going home and making something for dinner. But I'm trying to force myself to at least attempt three meals a day--so I went by a fast-food place (I know, I know, skip the grief please! Something else may well kill me before the grease and fat does, anyway). I order my food, get the total, then pull up to the window. I had to wait a while, because the vehicle in front of me had apparently ordered at least one of each item in the restaurant.  Finally, it's my turn. I pull up to the window and...nothing. The woman I can see is clearly on her headset talking to (I presume) the customer who is back at the ordering screen in line.  So, I grab my book. Just as I go to open it, the window opens, and this HUGE SCARY VOICE says, "*THAT'LL BE 7.00!!!!!*"
I visibly jumped in my seat and turned around to see what was about to kill me. When I realized it was just a very LOUD, rude worker dude, I started thinking about what instruments of torture I had available to me in the car, in case he did that again. It took every ounce of effort to not say, "Here's my card. Stop screaming before I kill you, please. Thank you." 
The funny thing is that the next time he came to the window, he was indeed quieter. It was much nicer. Except that I couldn't hear him--so I had to say, "Excuse me?" And then he yelled again. Not angry yelling--just "I have no idea how loud I sound to others" kind of yelling. But  here's a little public service tip (to go along with @Gary A.'s handy fermented-grape juice tips): Yelling with a good attitude STILL makes some of us want to kill you.


----------



## minicoop1985

So far, I have or have coming in the very near future:

Balaclava
Chest box
Belt boxes
belt buckle
Belt
Cod piece
Light saber

And I need:

Chest armor
Shin armor
Leather suit
Gloves
Helmet

The longest wait is the helmet and armor. I might have a lead on armor, but I would need a helmet to match it. Certain helmets are designed to go with certain armor.


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> Well, it's gonna be a long wait, unfortunately. Some parts take 6 months once they're commissioned.


 That's ok! I'm still planning to be consciously roaming the earth for the foreseeable future. Hopefully nothing changes that!


----------



## waday

sm4him said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I work in a pretty quiet office, so I hate when people make lots of noise. I guess I hate myself, haha. I thought I had my headphones plugged into the computer, but I had them plugged into the microphone port by accident. Well, when I couldn't hear the music, I turned it up louder. Whoops. The office just got to listen to a few choice words  from some of the top Hip-Hop artists.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would have hunted you down, and personally "quieted" those Hip-Hop evildoers.
> 
> As is pretty much the norm these days, I was far, far too tired after work last night to even think about going home and making something for dinner. But I'm trying to force myself to at least attempt three meals a day--so I went by a fast-food place (I know, I know, skip the grief please! Something else may well kill me before the grease and fat does, anyway). I order my food, get the total, then pull up to the window. I had to wait a while, because the vehicle in front of me had apparently ordered at least one of each item in the restaurant.  Finally, it's my turn. I pull up to the window and...nothing. The woman I can see is clearly on her headset talking to (I presume) the customer who is back at the ordering screen in line.  So, I grab my book. Just as I go to open it, the window opens, and this HUGE SCARY VOICE says, "*THAT'LL BE 7.00!!!!!*"
> I visibly jumped in my seat and turned around to see what was about to kill me. When I realized it was just a very LOUD, rude worker dude, I started thinking about what instruments of torture I had available to me in the car, in case he did that again. It took every ounce of effort to not say, "Here's my card. Stop screaming before I kill you, please. Thank you."
> The funny thing is that the next time he came to the window, he was indeed quieter. It was much nicer. Except that I couldn't hear him--so I had to say, "Excuse me?" And then he yelled again. Not angry yelling--just "I have no idea how loud I sound to others" kind of yelling. But  here's a little public service tip (to go along with @Gary A.'s handy fermented-grape juice tips): Yelling with a good attitude STILL makes some of us want to kill you.
Click to expand...

Ahahaha! That's hilarious! Did you yell back? "THANK YOU!!!! HAVE A QUIET DAY!!!!"

We travel up to see the in-laws a lot, and so we have our share of stories from drive-through windows and fast food. The worst was when we went to a large chain/made-to-order food/gas station. Usually, they have pretty decent food, but the last time we ordered they really screwed up my order.

I ordered my usual: footlong three cheese sub, lettuce, tomato, onion, black olives, banana peppers, mustard, salt, pepper. Or something similar to that. We get in the car, start to drive away, and my wife opens my sandwich up because it seemed really, really light. They put mustard and mayo in the bread, nothing else. We were so mad; we turned around right away. We get there and show the guy the sandwich with the receipt that clearly labeled everything that we ordered. He calls the manager over, who apologizes profusely. She goes to make another. After 2 minutes, she comes back and says, "I dropped the receipt on the floor. What was in it?" We tell her. After 5 minutes, she hands us a 6-inch. We were going to say something about it being half of what we ordered but decided against it and just went on our way. We open it up in the car, and it had mustard and cheese and nothing else. *facepalm*

I wrote to corporate and got a $10 gift card, but it still makes us leery of that place.


----------



## limr

I will still never ever EVER forgive or forget the employees at a Dunkin' Donuts who turned my "small hot coffee, milk, no sugar" into a "medium hot sickeningly sweet pumpkin spice latte." EEEEEEEVIIIIILLLLL! And I'm still pissed at myself for not checking before I drove off.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I will still never ever EVER forgive or forget the employees at a Dunkin' Donuts who turned my "small hot coffee, milk, no sugar" into a "medium hot sickeningly sweet pumpkin spice latte." EEEEEEEVIIIIILLLLL! And I'm still pissed at myself for not checking before I drove off.


We never order any drinks with milk/soymilk/etc from them, because they do not understand the concept of adding 'just a little' milk. They pretty much make it half coffee and half milk.

That said, I refuse to go to the Dunkin' Donuts' drive-through window. We tried it 5 times, and we are 0-5. And this is at different DD's in different states. Every single time they got our order wrong.

The last time, the wife ordered a large unsweetened cold drink (I can't remember what it was). Not only did they sweeten it, but the guy put it in a foam cup rather than a plastic cup, which took away valuable ounces which we paid for. We walk into the store and give the cup to the lady and said we ordered 'this drink' and this is what we got. She says, and I quote, "Who the heck gave you this?" We look at the guy standing next to her and said, "him". He turned and walked away. Nope nope nope. Never again.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> And I'm still pissed at myself for not checking before I drove off.


I used to get annoyed at the people that would check their food before leaving, which would back the line up. Now, I'm one of those people. Haha


----------



## vintagesnaps

What were you people doing last night?? lol

I thought that said _baklava_ Minicoop, which would be good with some coffee...
hate to tell ya but everybody I know with kids is up way earlier than me!

Lenny your stories remind me of teaching jr. high many many years ago; they might have been younger but I can sometimes relate... detention duty, the holding 2 pencils at once trick was a winner (and how did they think I wouldn't see that?? lol).

I'll take Tim Hortons over DD any day (my being a hockey fan of course has nothing to do with it).


----------



## sm4him

Look how teeny tiny they have to make the page numbers now...

997...998...999...1000...1001   

My favorite fast-food horror story was a few years ago at a Wendy's. I ordered the #2 Double Cheeseburger with pickle and mustard only. They gave me my order--when I got to the car, I discovered there was NO cheese on my cheeseburger. Took it back in, waited semi-patiently in line, only to be told--you guessed it--"well, you ordered it with pickle and mustard only, so we thought you didn't want cheese." I said "If I hadn't wanted cheese, why on earth wouldn't I have just ordered the hamburger?!?!"

Plus, their story would have been more believable if there had been more than just the tiniest little speck of mustard on it.
Now, on the very rare occasion that I decide a stop there is worth the hardened arteries, I am VERY explicit, "I'll have the #2 cheeseburger, please, and I want cheese, pickle and mustard only on the CHEESEburger. Oh, and also meat and a bun. But no mayo, no lettuce, and no tomato.
So far, they haven't come up with a new and inventive way to screw that up.  But I know they're working on it!


----------



## JacaRanda

vintagesnaps said:


> What were you people doing last night?? lol
> 
> I thought that said _baklava_ Minicoop, which would be good with some coffee...
> hate to tell ya but everybody I know with kids is up way earlier than me!
> 
> Lenny your stories remind me of teaching jr. high many many years ago; they might have been younger but I can sometimes relate... detention duty, the holding 2 pencils at once trick was a winner (and how did they think I wouldn't see that?? lol).
> 
> I'll take Tim Hortons over DD any day (my being a hockey fan of course has nothing to do with it).



Wifey made it a point to take me to Tim Hortons a few years ago.  It was the weakest coffee probably on earth.  I'm not sure if I could have asked for something stronger, but I was extremely disappointed and could not understand what the big deal about them was.  Wifey simply said, 'that's the way Cannucks like their coffee'.  She excluded herself even though she is a Cannuck; drink of choice is 8 pump soy chai, no water no foam, extra hot.


----------



## minicoop1985

I think I overdid it on the coffee... Been rather shaky since my third cup. That's what I get for not eating first.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> I think I overdid it on the coffee... Been rather shaky since my third cup. That's what I get for not eating first.



Ummm, excuuuuuuse me, but did you not see my earlier instructions???


----------



## minicoop1985

Lol... I WAS shaking. That's the problem... Kinda hard to take pictures when your hands are all kinds of shaky


----------



## sm4him

minicoop1985 said:


> Lol... I WAS shaking. That's the problem... Kinda hard to take pictures when your hands are all kinds of shaky



You're looking at it all wrong. It's actually a GREAT way to take pictures, because then you always have a built-in excuse. Lead with the "shaky hand syndrome," and you'll be the next poster-person for Photographers with Disabilities!! 



Spoiler



Full disclosure: I have had WILDLY varying degrees of success with this method. More often than not, people still tend to just look at the photo and bash it if it's bad. But even then, I got coffee, so it's still a win.


----------



## Gary A.

I don't have a recent fast food story. But ... I was driving and my cousin and I were at an In-N-Out Burger window about to pay. I don't use a wallet for my cash but I prefer to just stuff the greenbacks in a pocket. So I dig into my pocket and pull out a wad and start to untangle bills when the guy in the window started making rude remarks about how I carried my monies. Bill, (my cousin and a Marine), got real pissed off, and took off like a rocket crawling over me, through my window and was halfway through the In-N-Out window about to launch himself at the mouthy cashier, when I finally pulled him back. The cashier was was in complete shock seeing his guy frothing at the mouth yelling at him while clawing his way into the kitchen through the little takeout window.  (I've decided years ago to eat well and in particular nyet to processed food.)


----------



## Gary A.

Today, I had a breakfast meeting at Jack's, a coffee shop in Whittier. I arrived early and had some coffee while I waited for Ruben to arrive.  Ruben was late ... again ... I was was about to take off when I realized I left my monies and credit cards at home.  Fortunately, I only had coffee as I waited and retrieved 12 quarters from the car to cover the coffee and tip. (Coffee was $2.25.)  Then Ruben called and said he was ten away ... so I settled into the booth and waited. Ruben arrived and I told him of my poverty ... he laughed and thought it was just a rouse to get him to pay. I tossed the 12 quarters on the tabletop and then he really started laughing. Anyway, Ruben said he's covered breakfast and we talked some business and ate up. Near the end of the meeting Ruben's face went blank and he started patting himslef down. I questioned him about his phone and Ruben said "No ... I forgot my wallet."  We both started laughing. Ruben lives closer to Jack's than I and took off to retrieve his wallet.  After a spell, I called into the office ... I haven't anything else to do while I waited and told them the story of being broke.  After the office had a good laugh ... they had my credit cards on file and read me the numbers. I wrote down the information and handed it to the waitress. She ran it and I was able to escape with my reputation still intact.


----------



## Designer

It was my turn to buy lunch today, so my friend (don't laugh you yokels!) and I ate at Pizza Ranch.  Very good chicken.  So-so pizza.  Got a pitcher of beer for $5.


----------



## Gary A.

What beer can you get for $5? In St. Louis they give Bud away with every event ticket ... what's in Iowa? I've never heard of Pizza Ranch. Apparently there's 180 of them, but nothing within 100 miles of California.


----------



## Gary A.

I am excited! My new outdoor speakers came in for the BBQ Patio. These are better than my existing patio speakers, so I'll probably replace the existing speakers with the new and toss the older set in the BBQ Patio. I am excited to cook with sound.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> What beer can you get for $5? In St. Louis they give Bud away with every event ticket ... what's in Iowa? I've never heard of Pizza Ranch. Apparently there's 180 of them, but nothing within 100 miles of California.


We ordered Fat Tire.  Lots of smaller breweries around, as well as wineries and at least one distillery.


----------



## Gary A.

Fat Tire is pretty good stuff. Next time you go to lunch call me, I'll buy the beer.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers!


----------



## sm4him

limr said:


> Hey hosers!



Hey yourself, hoser homey!


----------



## vintagesnaps

You aren't talking about anything automotive are ya Gary...

Hey Charlie I meant to ask you about your class, I saw the clover paper and wondered if you made that or where you/they got it. Do you know I have a box covered in the other paper you used?? not one I made, and I don't remember where I bought it. I don't know if you were finished, if it was a workshop, or is the class still going on?


----------



## KenC

sm4him said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey yourself, hoser homey!
Click to expand...


Hey hey!


----------



## limr

Afternoon coffee. I haz it.

We're having a warm spell this week. High 60s, lower 70s. Hate it, hate it, hate it!  This semester, every room that I have to be in for the afternoon is on the side of the building that gets full-on afternoon sun, and of course it's November so the school has turned the air conditioner off. It's brutal. Did I mention that I hate this?

It's November, damnit! Where are my temps in the 50s????


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> It's November, damnit! Where are my temps in the 50s????



Yeah, I know.  It's supposed to hit a record here on Friday, 79 I think.  One day soon it will suddenly be about 45 in the afternoon and some people will get sick and then ride the train with me - almost enough to make you get one of those masks the Japanese wear.


----------



## minicoop1985

Sadly, tomorrow is the last day of global warming here in Wisconsin. Supposed to be 50 and rainy on my birthday. Ugh, no.


----------



## The_Traveler

On my way back tomorrow from 4 fantastic days in Iceland.
Besides glaciers, icebergs, wild horses and a sky full of Aurora Borealis, I just spent afternoon with the absolute best photographer and editor I've ever met. His stuff is at Arctic Images but the screen size doesn't do justice to the printed images.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Hey Charlie I meant to ask you about your class, I saw the clover paper and wondered if you made that or where you/they got it. Do you know I have a box covered in the other paper you used?? not one I made, and I don't remember where I bought it. I don't know if you were finished, if it was a workshop, or is the class still going on?


No, I didn't make the clover paper.  There was a stack for us to use if we needed it so I grabbed that for the inside.  I don't know if they bought it or made it.

I have two more sessions.  We'll finish the "perfect binding" (traditional hard cover style) and start a portfolio box.  We'll finish the box next week.

My next book has a paper with a Japanese styled ocean wave design.


----------



## snowbear

Yay - back home.

Dinner was from one of our two Peruvian fire-roasted chicken places - wonderful!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Afternoon coffee. I haz it.
> 
> We're having a warm spell this week. High 60s, lower 70s. Hate it, hate it, hate it!  This semester, every room that I have to be in for the afternoon is on the side of the building that gets full-on afternoon sun, and of course it's November so the school has turned the air conditioner off. It's brutal. Did I mention that I hate this?
> 
> It's November, damnit! Where are my temps in the 50s????


Regardless of the weather, I used to enjoy an espresso in the afternoon.  An espresso is a great way to appreciate a coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

It finally feels like fall here. In the low 70's during the day and at night it's dropping into the 50's. Tonight we're gonna hit the fideo soup place again.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## snowbear

Good morning folks.

For (vintage) Sharon:  Look what I found hiding in the K-cup drawer!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

The really weird noises coming from my stomach this morning are making me think I'm about to birth an alien through my belly button. I feel perfectly normal, but holy cow, this stomach won't shut up!

Now you know. You're welcome


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> The really weird noises coming from my stomach this morning are making me think I'm about to birth an alien through my belly button. I feel perfectly normal, but holy cow, this stomach won't shut up!
> 
> Now you know. You're welcome


----------



## oldhippy

Good morning my coffee swilling buds.
want to share a pic of Webster


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> The really weird noises coming from my stomach this morning are making me think I'm about to birth an alien through my belly button. I feel perfectly normal, but holy cow, this stomach won't shut up!
> 
> Now you know. You're welcome



Try some veggie sausage or veggie bacon.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Coffee and snack, no funny abdominal sounds (so far), wishing I weren't here at work - I think that about covers it.


----------



## sm4him

Awww, good morning, Webster--you're so stinkin' cute!!
Just don't slobber on me, though; you do look a little like you're just searching for something to wipe all that saliva off on, and I want you to know that it should NOT be me. 

But you are still awfully stinkin' cute.


----------



## snowbear

oldhippy said:


> Good morning my coffee swilling buds.
> want to share a pic of WebsterView attachment 111033


Wow! Your very own polar bear!  Pretty one, too.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another cool fall morning. One of those "It's good to be alive mornings." (Of course I haven't any actually experience for comparison.) Webster looks like a happy chap. Cook would love to play with him. (She'd teach him how to poop in the creek.) Fideo Soup restaurant again last night. It was soooo good. This time I had chopped sausage, black beans, avocado and pico de gallo. It was very crowded. Getting published in the LA Times got them standing room only crowds on a Wednesday evening. I had a michelada with pineapple, coconut, cinnamon in a Modelo Negro.

FYI and according to Wiki:
"A michelada is a Mexican cerveza preparada made with beer, lime juice, and assorted sauces, spices, and peppers.[1] It is served in a chilled, salt-rimmed glass.[2] There are numerous variations of this beverage throughout Mexico and Latin America."

@ Leo- Micheladas are thought by many, to be a cure for the hangover ... maybe a michelada could silent your stomach ... couldn't hurt ...


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> Good morning folks.
> 
> For (vintage) Sharon:  Look what I found hiding in the K-cup drawer!
> 
> View attachment 111031


Bleah!  Their new, dark roast is okay, but the "original" blend is like brown dishwater!


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> oldhippy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning my coffee swilling buds.
> want to share a pic of WebsterView attachment 111033
> 
> 
> 
> Wow! Your very own polar bear!  Pretty one, too.
Click to expand...

 Agree, and great lighting too.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning folks.
> 
> For (vintage) Sharon:  Look what I found hiding in the K-cup drawer!
> 
> View attachment 111031
> 
> 
> 
> Bleah!  Their new, dark roast is okay, but the "original" blend is like brown dishwater!
Click to expand...

It's okay to tell us what you really think. 

I'm sipping on my usual, Colombian Supremo brewed in a French Press. Some, who are accustomed to coffee shop brews claim my coffee to be very strong ... I just find it flavorful and without fault (no bitterness or aftertaste).


----------



## terri

@ Ed:  Webster is beautiful!   What a sweet picture - I can almost feel that soft fur.   

Good morning, hosers!    Misty and overcast today - again.   

A trip to the store looms - I am dangerously close to running out of coffee, and that simply cannot happen.   Ever.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> ...It's okay to tell us what you really think..


Don't I always?


----------



## JacaRanda

Loving this.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> I'm sipping on my usual, Colombian Supremo brewed in a French Press. Some, who are accustomed to coffee shop brews claim my coffee to be very strong ... I just find it flavorful and without fault (no bitterness or aftertaste).


I definitely agree!  

I think there are way too many people who don't realize it is possible to make coffee correctly and although it can be learned, few take the trouble.


----------



## jcdeboever

Hotel coffee, powdered eggs, mechanically separated animal sausage. 2 trips to throne. Not a way to start day.  

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

God dammit. My great uncle died last Sunday. I can't find anyone to watch Cooper so I can go to the funeral. He was quite a guy, too-was an OB/GYN, delivered thousands of kids.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Aw sorry to hear that.


----------



## vintagesnaps

And JC that isn't really funny, but your description made me laugh because you made your meal sound oh so appealing!

Hey, Timmy Ho's! in a K cup. Which probably doesn't improve the coffee but, but - it's Tim Horton!!! Do you want to scoff at Bobby Orr? Gordie Howe? I didn't think so...

Gary that definition didn't really help, all I got out of it was - beer.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> And JC that isn't really funny, but your description made me laugh because you made your meal sound oh so appealing!
> 
> Hey, Timmy Ho's! in a K cup. Which probably doesn't improve the coffee but, but - it's Tim Horton!!! Do you want to scoff at Bobby Orr? Gordie Howe? I didn't think so...
> 
> Gary that definition didn't really help, all I got out of it was - beer.


LOL ...
Micheladas are hard to find outside of Latin America.  Yes, it is a beer ... but it's on organic steroids ... classically, you start with lime juice and add various sauces, spices, and peppers. It is served in a chilled, salt-rimmed glass. The base beer for last night's michelada was a Mexican beer, Modelo Negro (a very good beer). Some of the flavors contrast sharply with the beer flavor and often with the salt. It is a very odd drink if you're not accustomed to the all the flavors ... not disgustingly odd, just differently odd. (I had more of my fair share of disgustingly odd food and drink ... so I speak with some expertise on this subject).

Because micheladas are scarce, the cost for one glass of michelada was about the equal of two pitchers of Fat Tire from Designer's Pizza Ranch lunch.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> God dammit. My great uncle died last Sunday. I can't find anyone to watch Cooper so I can go to the funeral. He was quite a guy, too-was an OB/GYN, delivered thousands of kids.


That is sad, my condolences. Take Cooper, there is nothing wrong with that. Just be prepared to walk out the moment he starts acting up. After he calms down, go back in. If/when he starts to interfere with the ceremony ... walk out again and again. Your uncle would understand.  (So sit in the back, on the end and by a door)


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> God dammit. My great uncle died last Sunday. I can't find anyone to watch Cooper so I can go to the funeral. He was quite a guy, too-was an OB/GYN, delivered thousands of kids.


Sorry to hear this.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> God dammit. My great uncle died last Sunday. I can't find anyone to watch Cooper so I can go to the funeral. He was quite a guy, too-was an OB/GYN, delivered thousands of kids.


Sorry to hear this. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Sorry about your great uncle, Michael 

Gary, the michelada sounds interesting. I've long been a fan of the shandy (beer with lemonade - though in the States, it's often served with ginger ale or sprite) and so it sounds kind of like a shandy plus spices and peppers. Sign me up! 

JC - ouch! 

As for me...well, I've had better days. Let's just say that it ended with me stopping by the grocery store for just a few things (and I actually did leave with just a few things) and getting to the checkout counter only to have some kind of spare metal piece of shelf that was leaning against the end cap fall down suddenly and catch my ankle full force. I jumped up and literally yelped. And the dumbass employee who was standing there stocking and who presumably put the panel there decided to respond with, "Oh, are you okay? It wasn't my fault! I didn't do it, it just fell! But are you okay? It wasn't me, y'know." Do you really want to hear what I know, dumbass? I know that I don't care. It might have just fallen on its own, but probably because you shouldn't have leaned it like that in the first place, and even if you'd never touched it, I still blame you for being a dick about the whole thing.

So I sat in my car and held the bag of frozen veggies I'd just bought against my ankle for 5 minutes, just to mitigate any swelling. I know there will be a bruise. First of all, it hit hard and even through my red tights, I can see the mark where the edge hit my ankle. Second, I bruise so easily that I will probably get a new bruise simply for writing the word bruise too often in one sentence. 

I'm home and my ankle hurts, but there is grilled cheese for dinner, some homemade kale chips, and it might be the kind of day that needs to end with vodka


----------



## JacaRanda

Here you go L-Train.

vodka cats - Google Search


----------



## limr

JacaRanda said:


> Here you go L-Train.
> 
> vodka cats - Google Search



Awwwww!


----------



## minicoop1985

Thanks, everyone. I know most people never really meet great uncles and aunts, but this was a bit different. He was quite an awesome guy, and treated my grandfather's grandchildren as his own. I'll miss him.

In other news, my kid has me hooked on Star Wars Rebels. Surprise...


----------



## Gary A.

Leo, instead of vodka have a michelada.


----------



## Gary A.

The new speakers are up and replaced the old speakers. They are wonderful. In the next day or so I'll install the old speakers over by the BBQ patio. Additionally ... my new wine frig arrived!!!!! So I'll be working on that next.


----------



## minicoop1985

OOOOH YEAH I almost forgot...

Remember remember, the Sith of November, the Order 66 and plot.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> OOOOH YEAH I almost forgot...
> 
> Remember remember, the Sith of November, the Order 66 and plot.



I don't know anything about that, but tomorrow is Fountain Pen Day.


----------



## minicoop1985

It's my Star Wars take on 5th of November, The Gunpowder Treason and Plot. Also known as Guy Fawkes day. Also appropriated by Anonymous as something Anonymous related.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> It's my Star Wars take on 5th of November, The Gunpowder Treason and Plot. Also known as Guy Fawkes day. Also appropriated by Anonymous as something Anonymous related.


Yeah, OK.    Beware the Ides of March.


----------



## waday

Soooooo.. Canon featured one of my photos on their Instagram. That's pretty freaking awesome.


----------



## limr

Cool!!


----------



## terri

minicoop1985 said:


> It's my Star Wars take on 5th of November, The Gunpowder Treason and Plot. Also known as Guy Fawkes day. Also appropriated by Anonymous as something Anonymous related.


Hey!!    I'm with ya, Coop!   (And I'm sorry for the loss of your great uncle.)    

One of my old friends is a singer/songwriter, and he once wrote a song about Guy Fawkes Day....not surprisingly, he titled it:  Guy Fawkes Day!.    

Got 3 minutes?   Might put a grin on your face.


----------



## JacaRanda

waday said:


> Soooooo.. Canon featured one of my photos on their Instagram. That's pretty freaking awesome.
> 
> View attachment 111074


That is way freakin awesome.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Cool!!





JacaRanda said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Soooooo.. Canon featured one of my photos on their Instagram. That's pretty freaking awesome.
> 
> View attachment 111074
> 
> 
> 
> That is way freakin awesome.
Click to expand...


Thanks! A few weeks ago, they 'liked' it, then commented. I was freaking out, haha. It took a few weeks to get through the queue.  This is probably the most viewed photo of mine ever, haha.


----------



## otherprof

Gary A. said:


> For dessert this ...
> 
> View attachment 110805 Infused with cherries, caramel and chocolate... While it may be insulting to a stuck-up wine afectionado ... It smells like a Sees Chocolate and tastes absolutely ... Mmmmhhh ... Wonderful.


To paraphrase Duke Ellington (on music), " If it tastes good, it_ is _good."


----------



## minicoop1985

It's my birthday today so you should all bow down and worship me. 

Just kidding.

My cod piece and belt assembly should be here tomorrow or Monday. Yay!


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> It's my birthday today so you should all bow down and worship me.
> 
> Just kidding.
> 
> My cod piece and belt assembly should be here tomorrow or Monday. Yay!


Happy birthday!


----------



## jcdeboever

Happy Birthday!

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Happy Birthday!!!  Hope your birthday wishes come true!


----------



## minicoop1985

Thanks everyone!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Always good to have a codpiece on your birthday.

In college (where hockey was _the_ sport) a local pizza place had on display - and labeled - amongst the hockey memorabilia, Harty's Nut Cup. Looked like something out of Slapshot hangin' on the wall. So thought I'd toss that out in case you want any decorating ideas for your birthday.

Have a good one!


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> It's my birthday today so you should all bow down and worship me.


Have a happy one.  Your present is on back order.


----------



## limr

Huh. I just had...well, I guess it was essentially an impromptu parent-teacher conference. For a college student. Huh. Weird.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Huh. I just had...well, I guess it was essentially an impromptu parent-teacher conference. For a college student. Huh. Weird.


What? How did that go? How does that even happen?


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Huh. I just had...well, I guess it was essentially an impromptu parent-teacher conference. For a college student. Huh. Weird.
> 
> 
> 
> What? How did that go? How does that even happen?
Click to expand...


Apparently, it happens when a mother emails me and asks me to call her about her child's performance in my class. So I called her and we chatted, and made a plan for the rest of the semester.

I kinda feel a little sorry for the kid


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Huh. I just had...well, I guess it was essentially an impromptu parent-teacher conference. For a college student. Huh. Weird.
> 
> 
> 
> What? How did that go? How does that even happen?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Apparently, it happens when a mother emails me and asks me to call her about her child's performance in my class. So I called her and we chatted, and made a plan for the rest of the semester.
> 
> I kinda feel a little sorry for the kid
Click to expand...

Oh wow, I feel sorry for that kid, too... Must be under so much pressure from the parents.


----------



## minicoop1985

snowbear said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's my birthday today so you should all bow down and worship me.
> 
> 
> 
> Have a happy one.  Your present is on back order.
Click to expand...


EVERYTHING I've been shopping for lately is on back order.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## snowbear

For the record, that's "Apache sunset" script and the pen is "murasaki-shikibu."


----------



## Gary A.

Happy Birthday Appleton Guy.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. I'm at Starbucks in Cerritos, waiting for a partner so we can go down the road to Long Beach for another meeting. Sipping Starbucks' seasonal blend ... wow it is on the harsh side ... no wonder people's mask the flavor with cream and sugar.  It's very pleasant here, in the mid-70's with a nice Pacific breeze just to stir things up a bit. I'd like to blow off everything and just relax sipping this hot brown stuff they call coffee and listen to Rodriguez and now Poncho Sanchez through the iPhone.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> View attachment 111152


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> So I called her and we chatted, and made a plan for the rest of the semester.


She didn't offer to buy you lunch?

And a beer?

And a new car?


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So I called her and we chatted, and made a plan for the rest of the semester.
> 
> 
> 
> She didn't offer to buy you lunch?
> 
> And a beer?
> 
> And a new car?
Click to expand...


Nope. I was robbed!


----------



## snowbear

Tell me about that pen, Leonore.  At first glance it looks like a Parker


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Tell me about that pen, Leonore.  At first glance it looks like a Parker



I got it many moons ago from Levenger (whose catalog is like friggin' porn for a geek like me! Luckily it's pricy, too, and that I can't afford 90% of the stuff in it  ) This particular style isn't available anymore, but of course just browsing the website just now to confirm that, I found one that I kinda want now: Pilot Prera Demonstrator Fountain Pen - Levenger

Edit: The only thing on the pen itself is "Levenger" so it was one of their own pens.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Levenger has an outlet store now on ebay. Found a couple of nice smaller items on there. I have one of their library bookcases I bought years ago, something of an investment I guess! a one time purchase that was worth it (and maybe not all that pricey then! lol).


----------



## oldhippy

Warning food poon.   Made homemade veggie broth, Then used that to make Butternut Squash soup. Baked Baguette Bread while the soup was cooking. Added a little half and half, then a pinch of nutmeg.  Like we say in Kentucky, it was so good you couldn't sit still and eat it.  Later Ed


----------



## terri

oldhippy said:


> Warning food poon.   Made homemade veggie broth, Then used that to make Butternut Squash soup. Baked Baguette Bread while the soup was cooking. Added a little half and half, then a pinch of nutmeg.  Like we say in Kentucky, it was so good you couldn't sit still and eat it.  Later Ed


Sounds great, Ed.    When do we come for leftovers and dessert?


----------



## Designer

I'm always up for food porn.

It's take-out pizza tonight here.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> I'm always up for food porn.
> 
> It's take-out pizza tonight here.



Mmmm, pizza....

Hey, tomorrow is college football day, and what goes better with football than pizza and beer??


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm always up for food porn.
> 
> It's take-out pizza tonight here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mmmm, pizza....
> 
> Hey, tomorrow is college football day, and what goes better with football than pizza and beer??
Click to expand...

We eat half at a time, so we have tomorrow's lunch ready for game day.


----------



## snowbear

You can still get the Prera. If they are anything like the (less costly) Pilot Metropolitan I have, it is a very good pen for the money (I spent about $12).


----------



## snowbear

Oh my! I just went to the Levenger site.

The prices are about the same as other places for the pens.  I see they have the Sheaffer 300 Ferrari; I paid a little less than that but it was on sale.


----------



## Gary A.

Got the brackets and the wiring installed and then it was dark and dinner was being served. So tomorrow I simply wire up the speakers to the receiver and viola! ... sound in the BBQ Patio.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Oh my! I just went to the Levenger site.
> 
> The prices are about the same as other places for the pens.  I see they have the Sheaffer 300 Ferrari; I paid a little less than that but it was on sale.



Told you. Total porn.


----------



## snowbear

Try Fahrney's Pens.  Pricier than normal but if you can catch the bi-annual sale, it's worth a visit.  My friend at work says the store is my crack.


----------



## snowbear

Good day, all.

The first mug is history and I'm about to get mug number two.  I have class this afternoon, then I'll rush to the train so MLW can get to her Watch Desk gig tonight.  I have to pick up a couple of postcards along the way (special needs learning project for someone on the FP board).


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

My stomach hurt when I woke up this morning, oddly. Not sure why. Held off on the coffee for a little bit so I'm only now working on my first cup. I know, the horror, riiiight?!?

Buzz and I are going to have a day together. Of course we're bringing cameras  I need to decompress from a tough week. It wasn't the work itself that was so hard (that's this coming week - I have a metric sh1t ton of essays to grade!), but I came down with a seeeeerious case of the Jam-its. Cleaning to do? Jam it.  Planning my lessons? Jam it. Get to the stragglers from the last assignment? Jam it.

The Jam-its hit in the middle of every semester, and then I recover and power on through the rest of the semester. The fall Jam-its are usually much harder because they tend to hit the first week of November, which is already hard enough because it's the anniversary of my father's death. Nine years ago today.

And so, today is about being in the moment and spending time with a person I love doing things I love.

Dancing at my brother's wedding, 26 years ago.


----------



## oldhippy

great picture Leonore. Your dad looked to have a warm heart. He was blessed to have you as a daughter and a friend.  Ed


----------



## limr

oldhippy said:


> great picture Leonore. Your dad looked to have a warm heart. He was blessed to have you as a daughter and a friend.  Ed


----------



## otherprof

oldhippy said:


> Warning food poon.   Made homemade veggie broth, Then used that to make Butternut Squash soup. Baked Baguette Bread while the soup was cooking. Added a little half and half, then a pinch of nutmeg.  Like we say in Kentucky, it was so good you couldn't sit still and eat it.  Later Ed


Sounds great! I wonder if any other food porn addicts are watching the Great British Bake Show series on Netflix? Delicious!


----------



## terri

I love that picture, Lenny!   You both look so happy.   This picture - and how it makes you feel - is what makes photography so important in our lives.

Hope you and Buzz have a happy day (you'll get through the jam-its, I have confidence in you!).


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, all.

Leonore, those anniversaries never get any easier, do they? But it's a good time to reflect and remember, and you'll always have that.


IT'S HERE!!!!!





IMG_20151107_101946584 by Michael Long, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Leo, painful as it may be, it is better to remember and celebrate those yopu cherish.

The BBQ Patio speakers are installed and now the backyard is awash in color and sound. The Cook and I our out for our walk I report back later.


----------



## EIngerson

Six hours of shooting football last night. Not enough coffee on earth today.


----------



## minicoop1985

Here's a photo in most of what I have so far:




2015-11-07_11-25-11 by Michael Long, on Flickr

I know I know, I'm obsessed.


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> Six hours of shooting football last night. Not enough coffee on earth today.


That's a long freakin' game.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Michael you hoser where do you intend to go looking like that? lol I assume that's somewhat incomplete (I don't remember any knit caps in Star Wars...).


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Six hours of shooting football last night. Not enough coffee on earth today.
> 
> 
> 
> That's a long freakin' game.
Click to expand...



JV and Varsity back to back every Friday night. lol. Good times…..


----------



## Gary A.

Okay, I'm taking a break from my tasks of the morning. I'm sitting in the patio drinking some water and listening to the new and old speakers. Man, it really sounds quite good back here.


----------



## Gary A.

And I noticed this ...




 
iPhone image

In the patio.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> And I noticed this ...
> 
> View attachment 111195
> iPhone image
> 
> In the patio.


What is that? 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Got home late last night. Good to be home. Made coffee in the French Press today Seattle Best Dark Roast), what a treat after drinking hotel coffee all week. 

Got a paid gig for a wedding, not shooting but assisting a professional. He is my new friend from photography club I joined a month and a half ago. He is a retired Marine and has taken a liking to me, I was a Marine too. I told him I would do it for nothing but he wouldn't hear any of that. Hanging with him tomorrow as I am building his new PC at his crib. He will be in for a treat since the old PC is a Pentium 4. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> And I noticed this ...
> 
> View attachment 111195
> iPhone image
> 
> In the patio.
> 
> 
> 
> What is that?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Really ... It's a Monarch Butterfly Chryslis!


----------



## limr

Evening hosers. 

An absurdly outstandingly fantastic Citroen hooptie we saw today:
 

And my latest piece of vinyl that I am listening to right this very second, and it's fabulous!

 

Now the phone's job is done and I can move onto a real keyboard now.


----------



## Gary A.

Gotta love the French, lol.


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Six hours of shooting football last night. Not enough coffee on earth today.
> 
> 
> 
> That's a long freakin' game.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> JV and Varsity back to back every Friday night. lol. Good times…..
Click to expand...

Why do you shoot the games?


----------



## limr

terri said:


> I love that picture, Lenny!   You both look so happy.   This picture - and how it makes you feel - is what makes photography so important in our lives.
> 
> Hope you and Buzz have a happy day (you'll get through the jam-its, I have confidence in you!).





minicoop1985 said:


> Good morning, all.
> 
> Leonore, those anniversaries never get any easier, do they? But it's a good time to reflect and remember, and you'll always have that.





Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Leo, painful as it may be, it is better to remember and celebrate those yopu cherish.
> 
> The BBQ Patio speakers are installed and now the backyard is awash in color and sound. The Cook and I our out for our walk I report back later.



Thank you, dearies!   Some years are harder than others for whatever reason - hard to say why. At least now, what comes to mind is not the memory of his death but rather of his life.

We had a good day. Drove up to Hudson, had some yummy pizza, took some pictures, and as you saw above, I got some vinyl. Had a minor setback with the Mamiya 645. The last time I had it out was in Hudson and that's when the shutter got stuck and I when I developed the film, I got a big pile o' nothin'! So with everything now working properly, I brought her along for a triumphant return to Hudson, loaded with some Pan F. Got to the end of the roll and sat on a bench to take out the Pan F and load some Portra. Well, I have no idea how, but I apparently loaded the Pan F backwards, so I shot a 15 frames on the backing paper   So I'll be respooling that in a dark bag and trying again tomorrow. Grrrrr....

And the Gators won! Barely, but a win is still a win.


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Six hours of shooting football last night. Not enough coffee on earth today.
> 
> 
> 
> That's a long freakin' game.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> JV and Varsity back to back every Friday night. lol. Good times…..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Why do you shoot the games?
Click to expand...


Volunteerism. My kid plays on JV and the school needed shots for the programs. So local papers and school programs get free photos, but I've doubled sales from the publicity.


----------



## Gary A.

At the SC - Arizona game ... What a game. And it ain't over.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image


----------



## Gary A.

Whew ... Trojans win ... but it was a real grind. The Wildcats are very good. SC had to come from behind to win 38-30.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It's pretty quiet here in the Coffee House ... I suspect everybody in in church. I slept in after watching Trump on SNL. It is a very pleasant morning, bright and warm. The Cook is patrolling along the fence as she waits for her walk. Moi ... I'm sipping my coffee in the patio watching the hummers and finches, reading the Sunday paper while being envelope by classical music. A wren has flitted through the roses and took a sip from a bird bath.  My enjoyment is tempered by making mental notations of yard work. There is a large basil in the middle of the roses which need serious trimming ... and an overproductive eggplant which I should just yank out ... and a tomato that is crawling over the succulents ... back to the paper and Syria.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It's pretty quiet here in the Coffee House ... I suspect everybody in in church.


Oh, I've been in . . . um, yeah . . . church, yeah, that's it . . . church.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It's pretty quiet here in the Coffee House ... I suspect everybody in in church.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I've been in . . . um, yeah . . . church, yeah, that's it . . . church.
Click to expand...

LOL ... reminds me of Velarde. In high school we had a very good running back, Valerde. But he was a troubled youth, not a good student and hung out with the homies (literally). On Sundays we watched movies from Friday's game. One Monday during practice, coach singled Velarde out and sternly asked him why he didn't attend Sunday morning's game reiew ... Valerde response of "I was in church Coach..." brought down the house.

I have now switched to tea, Darjeeling Second Flushing ... I am leary of the 'Second Flushing' ... but the tea is good.

Sparrows and a Golden Finch are in the bird bath and a wild Canary is at a feeder.


----------



## jcdeboever

Got up this morning and grabbed the camera to get a few last shots of my neglected flower beds that still managed to bloom despite my busy neglect. I made myself 3 cups of delicious robust coffee from my french press this morning, getting the hang of this modern marvel thanks to TPF. I actually bought a nice coffee grinder and it is like developing film. I have turned into a serious coffee snob now. This shot is of a non taken care of  - flower bed - from a busy traveling man with good initial intentions upon purchase . Life is so good... I have a yard full of leaves to collect and burn today, no football. I put a slab of ribs in the smoker, picked up fresh asparagus, and a few sweet potatoes yesterday... did I mention life is grand?


----------



## Gary A.

Cook and I are back from our morning constitutional.  We walked down through Creek Park to Biola via the horse trail, then across to a corner of Regional Park then back through the neighborhhoods to home. 2.5 to 3 miles, a nice walk. 

Charcoal update. This morning I remove the charcoal from the kitchen and micro. There is still a faint lingering smell of burnt popcorn. I'm leaving the HEPA filter in place and on low. There was a helluva smoke from the popcorn.  Mary Lou opened the microwave and smoke billowed out and she couldn't see the bag through the smoke. She opened the door three times with identical results then she called for my assistance. I opened the door a fourth time and smoke billowed out hiding the popcorn bag. I just stuck my hand in and grabbed the bag. From the street the trick-or-treaters said it smelled pretty good. That wasn't the impression one received from the smoke filled kitchen.

Tom, a fellow photog, is bringing some homemade Korean Ribs over for grilling and dinner. They are always good. 

@JC- A few of us here grind our own coffee ... and a few also us a Fench Press.  Decades ago I did a story on coffee and I've been purchasing whole beans and grinding my own ever since. I've been toying with the idea of growing coffee and tea in the backyard.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!





Wow, it really was quiet around here yesterday. Gary, if by "church" you meant "brunch", then yes, I was occupied at church  

I have a lot of work this week, and I could have made it easier for myself by doing some of it over the weekend, but it just wasn't going to happen. This weekend was about recovery and taking a deep breath before a very busy week, not about unpaid overtime. So we took a day trip, had some pizza, took some pictures, had a little brunch, I did a few chores around the house, and spent time with the kitties.

And now, it's back to the salt mines. Le sigh.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Leonore.  Maybe thios will help with your day . . .  
Two cups down and leaving for work very soon.  I've been on a few other sites this morning.


----------



## mmaria

just to send some more hugs to @limr and @vintagesnaps because they made me smile!

I repeat, it's not that I hope I'll actually get the camera, it's about your intention... sometimes someone's intention is almost as the same as getting a present. 

Thank you


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Got in late due to dropping off a car at the shop.  Have some things that need doing today, so I'm bracing myself with a coffee first.  I hope you are all sliding into the week smoothly (if that's even possible).


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers and Buenos Tardes to Marija. I am sitting in the kitchen with my first cup. Oddly, I can't remember the last time I had coffee in the kitchen. Usually I take and run to the office, the patio or toss the stuff into a travel cup for the car. (Not that anybody cares, lol ... or should care where I drink my coffee.)  But the article has again sparked a desire to roast my own beans.

There is an interesting article in the LA Times, (COLUMN ONE), on coffee brewing and this one person's attempt to introduce single origin coffee into Japan. Now I'm moving onto how it is cheaper to recharge aquifers by developing groundwater banks than building dams. Again, unless you're living in the drought stricken West why would you care ... but this drought is certainly affecting the cost and availability of many vegetables, fruits and nuts across the country (especially winter crops).

@ Leo- Yes, church = brunch. (I sorta assumed that was a given.)

@ Anybody- Dinner was delish. The homemade Korean Ribs were flavorful, the grilled veggies colorful and the Marimar Pinot Nior was indescribably good.  After dinner another glass of wine while Mary Lou and I Netflixed Children of a Lesser God. After all these years I still found it to be a good movie. (Expanding the backyard sound envelope incorporating the BBQ Patio made the cooking and eating much more enjoyble.)

Time to get a walk into the Cook.


----------



## terri

Morning, er, afternoon, hosers!    Slow start today - been raining practically non-stop around here for the last 10 days.     @ Gary: I lived through a couple of major droughts in Georgia, then moved to SE Texas at the tail end of one.   Fear of no rain and the problems that stem from long-term drought are nothing to take lightly.   ....so, this rain is a freakin' drag, especially when it's barely 48 degrees out there - but I wouldn't wish away a single drop!


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Morning, er, afternoon, hosers!    Slow start today - been raining practically non-stop around here for the last 10 days.     @ Gary: I lived through a couple of major droughts in Georgia, then moved to SE Texas at the tail end of one.   Fear of no rain and the problems that stem from long-term drought are nothing to take lightly.   ....so, this rain is a freakin' drag, especially when it's barely 48 degrees out there - but I wouldn't wish away a single drop!


Drought is a slow and ugly death. Northern California has relied on a plentiful annual rainfall to keep the reseviors full.  Central and Southern California's primary water source is the snowpack. California has aquaducts redirecting the snowpack waters from the Sierra Neveda to where it's needed. The longest aquaduct is more than 400 miles long ranging from Northern California (which has 2/3rds of California's water) down to Southern California (which has 2/3rd's of the population).


----------



## Gary A.

The women who fought to be war correspondents

An interesting article in today's LA Times Op-Ed section. The article speaks to women covering war and in particular Dickey Chappelle, a freelance photojournalist in the Vietnam War who has the distinction of being the first American Woman Journalist to be killed doing her job ... covering a war.  

"When I die, I want it to be on patrol with the United States Marines," she'd once said. Her words reflected a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Although she was a civilian, her burial was graced by a Marine Honor Guard.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> The women who fought to be war correspondents
> 
> An interesting article in today's LA Times Op-Ed section. The article speaks to women covering war and in particular Dickey Chappelle, a freelance photojournalist in the Vietnam War who has the distinction of being the first American Woman Journalist to be killed doing her job ... covering a war.
> 
> "When I die, I want it to be on patrol with the United States Marines," she'd once said. Her words reflected a self-fulfilling prophecy.
> 
> Although she was a civilian, her burial was graced by a Marine Honor Guard.



Interesting - she died in the same kind of situation that killed Robert Capa, following a patrol that tripped a mortar.

I thought Gerda Taro was the first female photojournalist to die while covering a war (Spanish Civil War).

Edit: Nope, I was wrong. Capa himself stepped on a landmine, not a soldier in front of him.


----------



## limr

Gerda Taro: The forgotten war photographer you should know - CNN.com


----------



## Gary A.

Yes, Taro is credited as the first woman photojournalist killed covering war ... Chappelle is the first American female photojournalist to have been killed covering a war.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Working home today.  The meet-up photo critique group I go to was postponed from today to next week, so I'm just getting some work done today.  It's time to brew a cup and get a snack.  I hope you're all off to a good start today.


----------



## EIngerson

Good morning and Happy Veterans day to all the US servicemen and woman past and present. Off to the motocross track for some "therapy"


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Picture day at school today. Lifetouch makes an ungodly amount of money... sheesh.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is a very cool morning. For the last seven days Fall has finally moved into Southern California. I spread the used coffee grounds and tea leaves into the veggies. This morning it was so cold I could see my breath. Usually I'd probably be in the patio with my coffee, today I'm in the kitchen ... a cold kitchen actually, but still more comfortable than the patio. Still not cold enough for the heater.

As today is the day ...

God Bless all veterans and those in service. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all your sacrifices.

[While 'Veteran's Day' is an American holiday, I salute all veterans. I remember being in a combat zone, doing my rounds inspecting Charlie Med, the temporary hospital. The top was shredded from shrapnel and the staff was physically and mentally exhausted. Suddenly, there was a whine of an artillery shell ... we all instinctively ducked. Somewhere behind me a low voice declared "Outgoing".  We stood up and went back to whatever we were doing. A Major looked at me and said in a voice directed more to himself than to me, "Outgoing ... Incoming ... it's all the same. The only difference is who gets greased ... and that ... isn't any f*****g difference at all."]


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. Nice and chilly again around here. It's the middle of my crazy week. Still have half my grading left to do and the big event that I'm in charge of happens on Friday. Luckily, all the planning was done pretty early, so there's just little things to take care of this week. Still, it's a little nerve-wracking. 

The last event on Sept 25th was fine, and we'd asked the PR (or whatever) dept to send a photographer. He produced 12 crappy pictures. We're not using the photographer this time and just asking people to send their cell phone or camera shots to us. I'm thinking of bringing a camera with me as well. Now in this sort of situation, digital would be better, but I don't have anything other than my point and shoot and I'm not crazy about that idea. And so, if you can believe it, I'm actually looking into getting a Pentax dslr to use for events like these, and if I do get one, I'd probably test out doing some film scanning with it. For "artsy" stuff, I'd rather have the Fuji, but funds are limited and for events, I think I'm better off with a dslr since I am much more comfortable with them and can work faster with one.

The whole thing feels weird, though


----------



## Designer

I will feel weird only the first time.  After that, you'll wonder why you were feeling weird about it.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. Nice and chilly again around here. It's the middle of my crazy week. Still have half my grading left to do and the big event that I'm in charge of happens on Friday. Luckily, all the planning was done pretty early, so there's just little things to take care of this week. Still, it's a little nerve-wracking.
> 
> The last event on Sept 25th was fine, and we'd asked the PR (or whatever) dept to send a photographer. He produced 12 crappy pictures. We're not using the photographer this time and just asking people to send their cell phone or camera shots to us. I'm thinking of bringing a camera with me as well. Now in this sort of situation, digital would be better, but I don't have anything other than my point and shoot and I'm not crazy about that idea. And so, if you can believe it, I'm actually looking into getting a Pentax dslr to use for events like these, and if I do get one, I'd probably test out doing some film scanning with it. For "artsy" stuff, I'd rather have the Fuji, but funds are limited and for events, I think I'm better off with a dslr since I am much more comfortable with them and can work faster with one.
> 
> The whole thing feels weird, though


Look into a Fuji XE2. I think it will be a bit more expensive than one of the better K-3/K3II. But it will feel like a film camera. The Fujinon lenses are all stellar and with manual aperture control as a ring on the lens, the shutter speed is a dial on top the camera. As a mirrorless, the XE2 can easily be adapted for older slr/rangefinder lenses. The Fuji files are wonderful and the EX2 focuses as quickly as a dSLR.

I'd look for a used or refurbished XE2.






Fuji XE2 at ISO 3200


----------



## limr

Gary, I know that I would want a Fuji eventually, but for my immediate purposes, I think it's useful for me to look into something that has much less of a learning curve.


----------



## minicoop1985

I want a Fuji too, but something FAR different: GX680.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary, I know that I would want a Fuji eventually, but for my immediate purposes, I think it's useful for me to look into something that has much less of a learning curve.


The Fuji handles much more like a traditional film camera than a dSLR ... and it is 100x sexier than a Pentax.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> I want a Fuji too, but something FAR different: GX680.


I have a GX680III.


----------



## minicoop1985

Still on my list of cameras I need to own. I've knocked quite a few off that list-Mamiya 645 and RZ67, Hasselblad V AND H series, Rolleis, an Exacta, etc. Next will be the 680, I think.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Gary, I know that I would want a Fuji eventually, but for my immediate purposes, I think it's useful for me to look into *something that has much less of a learning curve.*



Leonore, there's always


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary, I know that I would want a Fuji eventually, but for my immediate purposes, I think it's useful for me to look into *something that has much less of a learning curve.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leonore, there's always
> View attachment 111325
Click to expand...


BAH!


----------



## minicoop1985

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary, I know that I would want a Fuji eventually, but for my immediate purposes, I think it's useful for me to look into *something that has much less of a learning curve.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leonore, there's always
> View attachment 111325
Click to expand...


What does that do?


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary, I know that I would want a Fuji eventually, but for my immediate purposes, I think it's useful for me to look into *something that has much less of a learning curve.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leonore, there's always
> View attachment 111325
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> What does that do?
Click to expand...

Ask Ken Rockwell.


----------



## pgriz

Oh, yeah.  When in doubt, go to the PROFESSIONALE mode.  And don't forget, the fedora has to have the angle just right.  Double bonus if you have the Ace of spades player card in the hat band.


----------



## KenC

pgriz said:


> And don't forget, the fedora has to have the angle just right.  Double bonus if you have the Ace of spades player card in the hat band.



I'm not sure that's a photographer you're describing...

In any event, nice to see you on here again Paul.  You've been kind of scarce lately, unless I just didn't see your posts when I was scarce myself.


----------



## otherprof

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary, I know that I would want a Fuji eventually, but for my immediate purposes, I think it's useful for me to look into *something that has much less of a learning curve.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leonore, there's always
> View attachment 111325
Click to expand...

That does make it easy - "auto" for car races and "P" for people, etc.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. I shot Mary Poppins last night.


----------



## Gary A.

The Times had its usual fare of news and features, Demonstrators in Afgahnistan ... Iger, head of Disney teams up with the City of Carson to make an NFL bid ... et al ... but what interested me the most was the story on the Electric Eel.

I remember as a kid being compltely fasinated by the Electric Eel. Cartoons were full of this mysterious creature pulling off shocking antics. And then decades have passed and I haven't given the eel a second thought. But now it is back. The article states that a recent study discovered that when faced with a hard-to-subdue prey, the eel will double up into a horseshoe shape which more than double the voltage they deliver to their next eel meal. So the electric eel cartoons of my youth were pretty accurate in their depiction of the eel in action.


----------



## Gary A.

I shall continue my monolouge whilst I pour my second cup of Colombian Supremo.  Mary Lou is now drinking tea in the mornings, a grape infused oolong on this brisk, 51F dawn. We've both been calorie counting and the milk and sugar in her morning brew wasn't worth the calorie hit. This should be another pleasant fall day hitting the low 70's. Mary Lou pulled some steaks out of the freezer which I will BBQ for dinner. My biggest thrill from yesterday is that I have finally programed my Harmony remote control. I have five remotes, Tv, Cable Box, BluRay, Sound system, iTouch and now one remote controls them all. It used to be a real PITA juggling all the remotes ... hell it was a PITA just finding all those remotes. Apparently, there is a companion app that sits on your phone that will also control your devices. (I don't know how that works as the remotes uses infrared to communicate with the devices.)


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> The Times had its usual fare of news and features, Demonstrators in Afgahnistan ... Iger, head of Disney teams up with the City of Carson to make an NFL bid ... et al ... but what interested me the most was the story on the Electric Eel.
> 
> I remember as a kid being compltely fasinated by the Electric Eel. Cartoons were full of this mysterious creature pulling off shocking antics. And then decades have passed and I haven't given the eel a second thought. But now it is back. The article states that a recent study discovered that when faced with a hard-to-subdue prey, the eel will double up into a horseshoe shape which more than double the voltage they deliver to their next eel meal. So the electric eel cartoons of my youth were pretty accurate in their depiction of the eel in action.



The National Aquarium at Baltimore has one.  There is a voltmeter and a speaker set up on the tank so you can "hear" the voltage as "pops" like static.


----------



## sm4him

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. I shot Mary Poppins last night.


Well goodness knows, *somebody* needed to.


----------



## limr

sm4him said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. I shot Mary Poppins last night.
> 
> 
> 
> Well goodness knows, *somebody* needed to.
Click to expand...


But did he shoot the deputy?


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. I shot Mary Poppins last night.
> 
> 
> 
> Well goodness knows, *somebody* needed to.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> But did he shoot the deputy?
Click to expand...

 Who was her deputy?  The 'sweep?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. I shot Mary Poppins last night.
> 
> 
> 
> Well goodness knows, *somebody* needed to.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> But did he shoot the deputy?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Who was her deputy?  The 'sweep?
Click to expand...


Dick Van Dyke?


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

Punchy as hell today. Got stuck at the traffic light at my exit this morning for 15 minutes, and so was 10 minutes late to class. HATE being late to class (though oddly, I'm often 10 minutes late to just about everything else and don't seem to care  ). Then I heard some kids talking in the cafeteria just now and one was saying that his professor comes 15 minutes late every single class. It annoys him because he always gets hopeful that the professor will just not come and they'll be able to leave. So maybe I shouldn't feel so bad about being late to class once or twice a year.

I've graded 64 essays since Sunday. I had about 40 more that I wanted to give back today, but I just ran out of steam. Again, however, I suppose I shouldn't feel too bad, eh? My turnaround for papers is usually a week. This semester, I've had to give a few things back after about a week and a half or even two weeks. Still, I hear about professors (and have had them, too, when I was taking paralegal classes) that don't give assignments back for a month or so (or not at all!) and who never ever answer email.

My afternoon 101 class is meeting in the library for an information session on how to do research, so I get to sit back while a librarian teach my class. Whew!!


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> one was saying that his professor comes 15 minutes late every single class. It annoys him because he always gets hopeful that the professor will just not come and they'll be able to leave



Wasn't there a "rule of thumb" about how long you should wait for the teacher before leaving, depending on rank, with full Professors getting the most time and grad students the least?


----------



## sm4him

^15 minutes. And that's why Lenny should show up exactly 14 minutes and 25 seconds after class "starts."


----------



## tirediron

KenC said:


> Wasn't there a "rule of thumb" about how long you should wait for the teacher before leaving, depending on rank, with full Professors getting the most time and grad students the least?


 Why should there be?  If I'm paying for education and I can show up on time, the "professor" damn well better show up on time as well.  If someone can't be trusted to follow a schedule, how can you possibly trust any of the information that they're supposed to be imparting?  Granted, there are rare circumstances where being late is utterly beyond one's control, but those are very, very rare.  99.99% of lateness is poor planning and/or lack of concern.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah, you were supposed to wait for, I don't remember but 15 minutes sounds about right. Seems like it was unusual for a professor to be late or not show up. But we could always hope...

Windy today, windows keep rattling but as long as I have power I don't really mind. I just want some sun tomorrow, have ideas for lumen prints/cyanotypes to set up in the window but I want some 'good' sun, not just UV light w/clouds (that'll work but I like getting a sharper edge to the images). Maybe this front will finish blowing thru tonight.


----------



## limr

There were never any official rules, no, but yes, I remember that as a general courtesy, students waited about 20 minutes for a professor and 15 for a TA. I don't remember any professor in college that was consistently late, so yes, this "rule" was for the occasional time when a teacher didn't show up and didn't have enough time to call the office to put a notice on the door.

I think it's horrifying that a professor here would be that late all the time. It's not acceptable. If I were a student in that class, I would have complained and asked to switch sections if I could. If I'm coming to my other job and arrive 10 minutes late, it affects no one. Nothing is time sensitive and I'm not preventing someone else from doing their job if I'm not there exactly on time. And I am just as fluid with my end point as well. If I arrive late, I stay late. But classes? No. I'm not going to waste anyone else's time that way, not if I can help it.


----------



## snowbear

My weekend started.(about 2-1/2 hours ago)!


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> My weekend started.(about 2-1/2 hours ago)!


----------



## pgriz

KenC said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> And don't forget, the fedora has to have the angle just right.  Double bonus if you have the Ace of spades player card in the hat band.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure that's a photographer you're describing...
> 
> In any event, nice to see you on here again Paul.  You've been kind of scarce lately, unless I just didn't see your posts when I was scarce myself.
Click to expand...


Lenny wears fedoras.  Sometimes.  I'm pretty confident she has the personal style to make that work.  AND she's a photographer.

Thanks, Ken.  Yeah.  Work and life get in the way of coming to TPF.  No drama, but there just isn't much time to stretch over all the things that should happen in the course of a working day.  Not complaining.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. I shot Mary Poppins last night.



That is open to so many interpretations.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good evening, hosers. Been an interesting week. No new Vader parts to post about, but we've been playing with light painting at work. With some practice at it, we'll be taking it commercially sometime within the next 6 months or so.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Lenny wears fedoras.  Sometimes.  I'm pretty confident she has the personal style to make that work.  AND she's a photographer.



Yes, she does wear fedoras 


 

She also just got some cheap new glasses from the Interwebz.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, folks.
The kitties are fed, I have my first cup, and the boys are packed and ready to go to the airport even though they have a few hours before we leave.


----------



## terri

Good morning, hosers!    Happy Friday the 13th!    

Lenny, that's an awesome picture, I love the fedora and how you're cutting your eyes - perfect attitude.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  TGIF.  Had a little trouble sleeping last night so I expect to be worthless this afternoon, but running well on coffee for the time being.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Man, I just can't wake up today, and coffee isn't helping at all.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Good morning, hosers!    Happy Friday the 13th!
> 
> Lenny, that's an awesome picture, I love the fedora and how you're cutting your eyes - perfect attitude.



Who knew I'd be good at selfies?   

It's a crazy morning, hosers! I've got 200+ high school students on campus today, plus their chaperones, and I'm responsible for it all going well! Been running around like a chicken with its head cut off, and some things happened off-schedule, but luckily it was actually for the better. I wore flat boots but my feet are still killing me. Should have worn sneakers!

I've got five minutes to eat my pb&j, drink my coffee, and then get back to the runnin' around. Judgy Bracelet is gonna friggin' LOVE me today!


----------



## minicoop1985

Oooh I didn't realize today was Friday the 13th.


----------



## Gary A.

Fired up the Kamado (waiting for the temp to build up), marinating some steaks, drinking some wine and keeping tabs on Paris. As a former Parisian ... to me this is like an attack in Los Angeles. God bless Paris.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good evening coffee lovers. Kicking back and actually watching some TV. James Taylor still is a great artist. Enjoying it very much. On Guitar Sessions... Take my mind off of Paris







Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

I saw James Taylor at the Hollywood Bowl last year. He was great. He came out on stage and walked to the front. There was a full Moon up in the night sky. He took a long look around at the Bowl and the Moon and then stated ... "The Hollywood Bowl ... What could possibly go wrong?"  And then proceeded to perform perfection.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> I saw James Taylor at the Hollywood bowl last year. He was great. He came out on stage and walked to the front. There was a full Moon up in the night sky. He took a long look around at the Bowl and the Moon and then stated ... "The Hollywood Bowl ... What could possibly go wrong?"  And then proceeded to perform perfection.


Nice. The guy on the show interviewed him in between songs and I did not realize he was a drug addict back in the day. Amazing talent despite all the challenges he overcame. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

I am sated. Dinner was extremely satisfying.
iPhone images




The BBQ Patio




Cookin'




Dinner is served




A fine Temecula vino.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I saw James Taylor at the Hollywood bowl last year. He was great. He came out on stage and walked to the front. There was a full Moon up in the night sky. He took a long look around at the Bowl and the Moon and then stated ... "The Hollywood Bowl ... What could possibly go wrong?"  And then proceeded to perform perfection.
> 
> 
> 
> Nice. The guy on the show interviewed him in between songs and I did not realize he was a drug addict back in the day. Amazing talent despite all the challenges he overcame.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


I heard James Taylor on the Howard Stern show. If anyone gets Sirius/XM radio and pays for streaming, go find that interview. So interesting. 

I remember sitting in a friend's back yard many years ago - I remember I was in my late-20s. It was evening, we were just having some great talks, drinking white wine, and she started playing James Taylor. Up until then, I'd thought he was okay, but it was all just perfect. I remember these details because I think it was the first time I felt like an actual adult. I thought,"Huh, I like James Taylor now. A lot! I guess I'm an adult now!" (Of course, since then I have learned that I'm not _really_ an adult, but just have adult moments now and again  )

The white wine detail was also important because that night was the start of my practice of pairing wines with music. Not in actual practice, mind you. I don't choose my wine based on my music, nor vice versa. (Mostly.) But when at a wine tasted and asked what I think of a wine, I might say something like, "Hmmm, cooked fruit, accessible, but with a nice acidity and edge at the finish...I'd pair this with B.B. King."


----------



## Gary A.

Colorado was ahead of SC at halftime 17 to 6. At the beginning of the fourth, SC 27 Colorado 17. 

Go Trojans!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I saw James Taylor at the Hollywood bowl last year. He was great. He came out on stage and walked to the front. There was a full Moon up in the night sky. He took a long look around at the Bowl and the Moon and then stated ... "The Hollywood Bowl ... What could possibly go wrong?"  And then proceeded to perform perfection.
> 
> 
> 
> Nice. The guy on the show interviewed him in between songs and I did not realize he was a drug addict back in the day. Amazing talent despite all the challenges he overcame.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I heard James Taylor on the Howard Stern show. If anyone gets Sirius/XM radio and pays for streaming, go find that interview. So interesting.
> 
> I remember sitting in a friend's back yard many years ago - I remember I was in my late-20s. It was evening, we were just having some great talks, drinking white wine, and she started playing James Taylor. Up until then, I'd thought he was okay, but it was all just perfect. I remember these details because I think it was the first time I felt like an actual adult. I thought,"Huh, I like James Taylor now. A lot! I guess I'm an adult now!" (Of course, since then I have learned that I'm not _really_ an adult, but just have adult moments now and again  )
> 
> The white wine detail was also important because that night was the start of my practice of pairing wines with music. Not in actual practice, mind you. I don't choose my wine based on my music, nor vice versa. (Mostly.) But when at a wine tasted and asked what I think of a wine, I might say something like, "Hmmm, cooked fruit, accessible, but with a nice acidity and edge at the finish...I'd pair this with B.B. King."
Click to expand...

Pairing wine with music ... what a thought. I shall adopt that practice. When I was grilling the steaks I was listening to classical on KUSC, Anton Bruckner’s Romantic Symphony, paired with a Justin Sauvignon Blanc.


----------



## jcdeboever

I use to pair Jim Beam with bar fly's and a juke box and that didn't end well. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Trojans win 27-24.

Fight On!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I use to pair Jim Beam with bar fly's and a juke box and that didn't end well.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Juke boxes are so unpredictable.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Hosers. I am working on my first cup. The Cook is next to me demanding attention and now she has settled down next to my chair letting out a loud sigh as she lies down.  "No, Cook, I won't forget our morning walk."

Planning out the day with Mary Lou. There is a sale at Steinmart ... so we plan to buy some candles during the sale, then head out to Temecula and pick up our wine at Ponte and explore other wineries.

In the Los Angeles Times the big news in the local section (California) is the City Council on Tuesday will declare a state of emergency on homelessness. The hmeless situation is so bad downtown. The homeless are concentrated around the Rescue Mission then radiate out across the city thinning out in numbers. But at the Mission, the entire block, both sides of the street, the sidewalks are packed, with tents. The tents are touching shoulder to shoulder without gaps, for blocks. Even with the cars A/C on, there is the stench of unwashed, densely packed, humans with minimal plumbing. The City has moved in porta-potties, but the senses reveal that not everybody uses them. 

I am glad the City is finally taking serious and posssibly long term action ... but I am equally sad that people are compelled to live this way. (Compeled by bad luck, the economy or their own mentalities.) 

The Sun is bright and warm, the skies are clear ... nothing but blue skies ... the Cook and I are off getting our day started.


----------



## oldhippy

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I saw James Taylor at the Hollywood bowl last year. He was great. He came out on stage and walked to the front. There was a full Moon up in the night sky. He took a long look around at the Bowl and the Moon and then stated ... "The Hollywood Bowl ... What could possibly go wrong?"  And then proceeded to perform perfection.
> 
> 
> 
> Nice. The guy on the show interviewed him in between songs and I did not realize he was a drug addict back in the day. Amazing talent despite all the challenges he overcame.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I heard James Taylor on the Howard Stern show. If anyone gets Sirius/XM radio and pays for streaming, go find that interview. So interesting.
> 
> I remember sitting in a friend's back yard many years ago - I remember I was in my late-20s. It was evening, we were just having some great talks, drinking white wine, and she started playing James Taylor. Up until then, I'd thought he was okay, but it was all just perfect. I remember these details because I think it was the first time I felt like an actual adult. I thought,"Huh, I like James Taylor now. A lot! I guess I'm an adult now!" (Of course, since then I have learned that I'm not _really_ an adult, but just have adult moments now and again  )
> 
> The white wine detail was also important because that night was the start of my practice of pairing wines with music. Not in actual practice, mind you. I don't choose my wine based on my music, nor vice versa. (Mostly.) But when at a wine tasted and asked what I think of a wine, I might say something like, "Hmmm, cooked fruit, accessible, but with a nice acidity and edge at the finish...I'd pair this with B.B. King."
Click to expand...

Saw James Taylor in concert back in 1975, Sweet Baby James, still rings in my ear. Was so shitfaced couldn't  find my truck for an hour after the concert. Lotta bud going around the concert.


----------



## minicoop1985

Tomorrow's the Brazil GP. Can't wait.  Senna Sempre!


----------



## tirediron

oldhippy said:


> ...Saw James Taylor in concert back in 1975, Sweet Baby James, still rings in my ear. Was so shitfaced couldn't  find my truck for an hour after the concert. Lotta bud going around the concert.


I'm guessing that wasn't weiser?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> oldhippy said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Saw James Taylor in concert back in 1975, Sweet Baby James, still rings in my ear. Was so shitfaced couldn't  find my truck for an hour after the concert. Lotta bud going around the concert.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm guessing that wasn't weiser?
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

Off to the wine country of Temecula and beyond ...


----------



## Gary A.

Okay, got the candles ... man candles are expensive. We're at this major intersection of Beach Blvd. and Imperial Highway, six lanes for both Beach and Imperial. This white pickup, which is in the left hand turn lane, suddenly transverses the three foot wide medium and pulls into a gas station on the other side. It was pretty stupid. A young kid jumps out of the truck ... and I'm thinkin' yep, he even looks stupid.


----------



## Gary A.

We made it. The Champagne Flight. It is 75f here.


----------



## Gary A.

I can die now ... Baked Brie with caramel sauce and walnuts.


----------



## Gary A.

Sadly, I just learned that a Cal Sate University Long Beach student, Naomi Gonzales, studying aboard, was killed in the Paris terror. It is all very upsetting.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

We're at Ponte picking up our order and enjoying another free flight. The Verranacia is wonderful. Gary says as he continues his monologue.


----------



## snowbear

Oh Leonore . . . I got the mail!

Rollerball, not a Fountain Pen.




cmw3_d40_6455 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

Detail of the "Retro Pop" band




cmw3_d40_6457 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

Good morning peeps.  I hope the hangovers are few and minor.
MLW is working a 24-hour gig today (and tonight).  She was sweet enough to leave me some home made cinna-noms to go with my coffee.

When I actually wake up I'll take some shots of the book and portfolio box we made in class, so I'll post them.  I also have to make a pen & ink sketch for another board challenge


----------



## minicoop1985

I get to watch an F1 race LIVE! This NEVER happens! Good morning to me!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. In the kitchen again, sipping my coffee and reading the paper. Sdly and expectedly the paper is full of Paris. One of my immediate thoughts was "Whew ... it wasn't here ..." which is like saying better there then here ... then I realized that this violence isn't better anywhere. Then I thought maybe if we isolate the extremeists ... sorta like Iran ... but they're everywhere. 

Got to get my day going. Amy, my youngest is coming over for an early B-Day celebration. Mary Lou is busy wrapping stuff and I'm busy pulling stuff out to wrap.

BTW- Yesterday was very very pleasant. The 90 minute drive to and from gets old ... but once you start hitting the wineries it's a whole different world. It was especially nice sipping wine on the Ponte extremely restful patio. It is much much less bustling than inside, the cabernet grapes coming up and nearly kissing the low stone patio wall. The weather was in the low 70's and the Sun was low in the sky just starting to cast the grapes in a warm golden light. It was so nice. We were enjoying a Ponte Vernaccia, this sparkling red beautifully blended with a touch of bubbly sweetness and a splash of peppery goodness. 

Gotta go.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> I get to watch an F1 race LIVE! This NEVER happens! Good morning to me!


Very nice. I used to be into motosports, covered a lot of races at the old Ontario Motor Speedway, the Winter Nationals in Pomona, Riverside, Sears Point, et al. I've spectated at the Long Beach Grand Prix a number of times. Always a fun day. Nowadays, I prefer to drink wine surrounded by cabernet vines.


----------



## oldhippy

Made Butternut Squash Soup, and Sweet Milk Dinner Rolls.  Started an overnight pizza dough for tomorrow's lunch. Loving this cool weather. Ed


----------



## snowbear

I made a book. 
It's called "perfect binding" -- a traditional (thought small) hardcover book. 




cmw3_d40_6458 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

A couple more shots here: Books | Photography Forum


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. I am at the bottom of the first cup of the day. Reflecting day, it's been a busy weekend. Wine country on Saturday and Sunday we celebrated my youngest daughter's birthday. A pageant of food and drink and games. She brought her dog, Holly, a Goldie, who is an adolescent, still full of puppy energy. The Cook was cordial, but at 12 y/o, Cookie has seen it all and after a bit, just walked away from Holly and took a nap.

Another four hour Tri-Tip, half smoked and half BBQ-ed. Lump charcoal, Hickory chips, Rosemary branches and Basil branches were all stuffed into the Kamado for the smokey goodness. The Tri-Tip marinated a few hours in some sauces and spices and wrapped in basil, oregano, marjoram and savory. The Tri-Tip is marinated in a shallow pan and I toss the whole mess into the BBQ allowing the marinade and Tri-Tip juices to continue to perform their magic. It was so good ... Amy loves mashed potatoes, so I mashed a few heavy on the pepper and some lemon zest. Mary Lou grilled peppers, onions, broccoli, carrots, topped off with a salad from the garden ... all washed down with a bottle of Ponte Verrnaccia, this wonderful sparkling, peppery red wine we picked up in Temecula on Saturday.


----------



## FITBMX

It is a cool, wet, windy day.  So I am just hanging out. I will do some house cleaning, and then some wood carving. So it will be a nice day for me!


----------



## otherprof

tirediron said:


> oldhippy said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Saw James Taylor in concert back in 1975, Sweet Baby James, still rings in my ear. Was so shitfaced couldn't  find my truck for an hour after the concert. Lotta bud going around the concert.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm guessing that wasn't weiser?
Click to expand...

I think it was "sadder bud weiser." BTW, does anyone else remember when the label used to say "beechwood ageing" rather than "beechwood aging"?


----------



## Gary A.

Fall has finally hit here. In the 60's during the day and the 40's at night. Settling down to a spot of tea. La Belle Epoque, a unique blend of Darjeeling and full-bodies black tea. Quite good.





iPhone image

It goes well with my first Mandarin Orange of the season. It is sweet and delicate.


----------



## Designer

I'm sorry, man what the hell did you photograph there?


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> I'm sorry, man what the hell did you photograph there?


Fruit fly porn.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> I'm sorry, man what the hell did you photograph there?


LOL ... that is a peeled Mandarin Orange, the first to have fallen from the tree.


----------



## Designer

Oh, o.k., thanks.


----------



## Gary A.

Better?


----------



## jcdeboever

Has a juicy feel to it.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Drink To Your Health: Study Links Daily Coffee Habit To Longevity


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Drink To Your Health: Study Links Daily Coffee Habit To Longevity
> 
> View attachment 111606



What, again?  The studies usually swing back and forth between adverse and beneficial effects.  The last one I saw about a year or two ago also said that coffee was good for you.  Maybe they're wising up now.  Not, of course, that any of us would stop if they kept saying it was bad for you ...


----------



## minicoop1985

If coffee is good for you and improves logetivity, I AM ETERNAL


----------



## jcdeboever

Good evening coffee lovers. Enjoying a cup of french pressed Seattle's Best dark roast with KaKua that the wife bought. It tastes pretty good and I think I'm getting a little buzz from it. She said I need to relax a little... It's working. It made me watch a movie on TV tonight. Lol. I'm watching Forest Gump, pretty good flick even though it's a little corny. I guess it's a true story because I have bought Bubba Gump Shrimp in the store before. It was interesting how he developed. The main guy in it is a pretty good actor, I think I seen him in a war movie but not sure. The wife told me to watch it, she thought I might like it, she was right. I need to look it up and see if its a true story. Oh I noticed the actor had a Kodak in the film, I think I noticed a Mamiya 6 as well... Lol, pour me another KaKua. Oh. I bought her some flowers today ( I really wanted to photograph them, not buy them for her, kill two birds with one stone) and when I got home, my cat destroyed them so no photo shoot... I guess she knew I would be pissed, so she KaKued me. Well, time to do my homework, night - night - don't let your film sit around undeveloped.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Got caught up in watching the latest on CNN out of France, have suspect(s) pinned down in an apartment but not yet in custody. I think I'm going to go to bed soon, but hard to stop watching.

Found out today someone I used to work with was in Paris, in a restaurant, during the attacks. Said they noticed people at a table near them got quiet, and at the next table the people explained as best they could that there had been an incident; told them not to walk back to their hotel, helped make sure they got back OK.

Oh, they just said they think they have the so-called mastermind surrounded. Seem to think it will be some time now, they'll set up perimeters, attempt to communicate, etc. etc. Want to get him alive for intelligence reasons to get info. etc. but speculating if they will be able to, seem to think there was some crossfire earlier.

Well don't think I can stay up, guess I'll find out in the morning what happened. All you hosers that had enough sense to go to bed early, see ya tomorrow!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Drinking my coffee in the kitchen, too chilly for the patio.  I think it is a sad state of ffairs that half the governors have declared they are not willing to accept refugees. (Not that they having any say-so in the matter.) There is an article in the Times today describing the life of a refugee living in Denmark. Her apartment was ransacked twice, if she looked or smiled at children, their parants would snatch them away. The Danes simply pulled away from her whenever she went out. She was allowed to come live in Kansas City. She hoped that the nightmare would end in the USA ... sadly, she was treated the same here. She's afraid to wear her headscarf in public and won't shop at the grocery store unless her brother goes with her.

Liberal, Blue-State me ... thinks that if we met people half-way before we slapped a label on them, the neighborhood, the community, our society would be a much better place.

Time to get off the pulpit and pour another cup of coffee ... maybe chocolate ... or would that be too different ...


----------



## Gary A.

Hot chocolate, a nice change from coffee. Chocolate was highly prized by the Aztecs and other Native American societies. Throughout Mesoamerica the beans would often be used as currency. Okay to counter the story on the governors, there is another story in the Times on Arizonians holding up signs welcoming refugees and denouncing their govenor as racist.

@ Sharon, I did read about the St. Denis raid which captured more terrorists, but the authorities are still looking for one of the main ringleaders. I am conversing daily with friends in Paris. They stated that this affair reminds them of the terror generated by another terrorist, Carlos the Jackel, back in the '70.

There has been a lot of local sympathy pouring out for Nohemi Gonzales the study-abroad student who was killed by the terrorists. She grew up in Whittier, which borders where I live and attended CSULB, a campus 30 minutes from my home. As I told a Parisian, I wish I was there ... so I could do what I could to directly help.


----------



## Designer

The third day of rain today.  I am assembling the family's Christmas gifts; 8 x 10s of the family snapshots.  Got nearly all of them framed yesterday, have four more to go, then start wrapping them.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Good evening coffee lovers. Enjoying a cup of french pressed Seattle's Best dark roast with KaKua that the wife bought. It tastes pretty good and I think I'm getting a little buzz from it. She said I need to relax a little... It's working. It made me watch a movie on TV tonight. Lol. I'm watching Forest Gump, pretty good flick even though it's a little corny. I guess it's a true story because I have bought Bubba Gump Shrimp in the store before. It was interesting how he developed. The main guy in it is a pretty good actor, I think I seen him in a war movie but not sure. The wife told me to watch it, she thought I might like it, she was right. I need to look it up and see if its a true story. Oh I noticed the actor had a Kodak in the film, I think I noticed a Mamiya 6 as well... Lol, pour me another KaKua. Oh. I bought her some flowers today ( I really wanted to photograph them, not buy them for her, kill two birds with one stone) and when I got home, my cat destroyed them so no photo shoot... I guess she knew I would be pissed, so she KaKued me. Well, time to do my homework, night - night - don't let your film sit around undeveloped.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Okay JC ... what is "KaKua"? I know of Kahlua a coffee liqueur ... but not KaKua. As a drinker of fine spirts and wine tell me about this stuff. Where can I get it?


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> The third day of rain today.  I am assembling the family's Christmas gifts; 8 x 10s of the family snapshots.  Got nearly all of them framed yesterday, have four more to go, then start wrapping them.


Did you print them?


----------



## Gary A.

I am lazy. For Christmas I go for themes ... like books ... I make one stop at a book store and everybody gets a book or two. Or wine ... or music ... et al.

The Cook is bugging me ... so it's time to brave the morning chill and get a walk in her.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good evening coffee lovers. Enjoying a cup of french pressed Seattle's Best dark roast with KaKua that the wife bought. It tastes pretty good and I think I'm getting a little buzz from it. She said I need to relax a little... It's working. It made me watch a movie on TV tonight. Lol. I'm watching Forest Gump, pretty good flick even though it's a little corny. I guess it's a true story because I have bought Bubba Gump Shrimp in the store before. It was interesting how he developed. The main guy in it is a pretty good actor, I think I seen him in a war movie but not sure. The wife told me to watch it, she thought I might like it, she was right. I need to look it up and see if its a true story. Oh I noticed the actor had a Kodak in the film, I think I noticed a Mamiya 6 as well... Lol, pour me another KaKua. Oh. I bought her some flowers today ( I really wanted to photograph them, not buy them for her, kill two birds with one stone) and when I got home, my cat destroyed them so no photo shoot... I guess she knew I would be pissed, so she KaKued me. Well, time to do my homework, night - night - don't let your film sit around undeveloped.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Okay JC ... what is "KaKua"? I know of Kahlua a coffee liqueur ... but not KaKua. As a drinker of fine spirts and wine tell me about this stuff. Where can I get it?
Click to expand...

It's a liquor. The wife says I'm on crack, it is as you say. Heck, I thought she said KaKua.... [emoji31] 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Last night's remedy for me wasn't Kahlua or even KaKua, but a nice 2012 St.Francis Cab from Sonoma Valley. 

Been feeling soul sick this whole week.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good evening coffee lovers. Enjoying a cup of french pressed Seattle's Best dark roast with KaKua that the wife bought. It tastes pretty good and I think I'm getting a little buzz from it. She said I need to relax a little... It's working. It made me watch a movie on TV tonight. Lol. I'm watching Forest Gump, pretty good flick even though it's a little corny. I guess it's a true story because I have bought Bubba Gump Shrimp in the store before. It was interesting how he developed. The main guy in it is a pretty good actor, I think I seen him in a war movie but not sure. The wife told me to watch it, she thought I might like it, she was right. I need to look it up and see if its a true story. Oh I noticed the actor had a Kodak in the film, I think I noticed a Mamiya 6 as well... Lol, pour me another KaKua. Oh. I bought her some flowers today ( I really wanted to photograph them, not buy them for her, kill two birds with one stone) and when I got home, my cat destroyed them so no photo shoot... I guess she knew I would be pissed, so she KaKued me. Well, time to do my homework, night - night - don't let your film sit around undeveloped.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Okay JC ... what is "KaKua"? I know of Kahlua a coffee liqueur ... but not KaKua. As a drinker of fine spirts and wine tell me about this stuff. Where can I get it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's a liquor. The wife says I'm on crack, it is as you say. Heck, I thought she said KaKua.... [emoji31]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

LOL ... the wife is always right.  The good thing about Kahlua is that you can mix it with coffee and nobody can detect booze on your breath.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, Hosers.

My new (to me) laptop should have been here yesterday. Didn't come today either. Was shipped Priority Mail 2 day Saturday morning, and expected delivery date is... yesterday. Ugh.


----------



## Gary A.

The Cook and I spotted this on our morning walk.


----------



## Gary A.

I've been to St. Francis


limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Last night's remedy for me wasn't Kahlua or even KaKua, but a nice 2012 St.Francis Cab from Sonoma Valley.
> 
> Been feeling soul sick this whole week.


I've been to St. Francis. They craft a very good cab.  A lovely place filled with huge Oak Trees. The tasting room is on a hilltop overlooking acres of Russian River Valley vines.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I've been to St. Franci
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Last night's remedy for me wasn't Kahlua or even KaKua, but a nice 2012 St.Francis Cab from Sonoma Valley.
> 
> Been feeling soul sick this whole week.
> 
> 
> 
> I've been to St. Francis. They craft a very good cab.  A lovely place filled with huge Oak Trees. The tasting room is on a hilltop overlooking acres of Russian River Valley vines.
Click to expand...


I quite enjoyed it. And of course, not having drunk the entire bottle (you shush), I can have some again tonight  Gonna need it again. The PMMS (Post-Modern Malaise Syndrome) is flaring up this week.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary you've been everywhere! lol well maybe not quite but you seem to get around. Well worth the pursuit of good wine or a good cup of coffee!

Slept in a little today what with the pouring rain and staying up late watching the news. Today recapping it just doesn't really show what it was like as it unfolded. When you could hear the explosions last night during the broadcast I wondered... now it's just waiting til they get results etc.

Well I might need more coffee if I'm going to get anything done this afternoon. But I might switch to decaf or I'll regret it tonight, but at least it makes me think I'm getting some caffeine (sort of). And it tastes good and warm on a rainy day.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Did you print them?


I got them printed at a small photo store in MN.  Quite the process.  I accidentally deleted the source files, so all I had were screen shots which were in PNG format.  The photo store's software couldn't read the files, so I had to convert them to JPEGs and go back to the store.  After several tries, they got them printed.


----------



## Designer

Oh, thank The Maker!  I am back among the living in The Coffee Shop!  

I just spent the afternoon knocking around the most recent posts, finding newbies, spammers, and "Progressives", trying to make some headway with those threads.

Heck!  

I've had two glasses of wine with my supper, so I'm starting to mellow a bit.

Which reminds me; I need to order another case of vino at the grocery store.


----------



## snowbear

Anxiously awaiting new dip pen nibs.  I soaked tho old ones in a pen wash to remove traces of acrylic ink. I rinsed them and placed them in a paper towel on the corner of my desk to dry.

Yep. I was cleaning up, tossed the towel and didn't think twice until last week when I needed to use them for a sketch. JAM.

 The new ones have gone from Chicago to Hagerstown and we're in Baltimore last night.  I might see them. When I get home.


----------



## snowbear

Newbies aren't bad as a lot but I believe there is a special place in #e!! for spammers and virus writers.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Newbies aren't bad as a lot but I believe there is a special place in #e!! for spammers and virus writers.



Especially the ones I saw this morning who were trying to exploit the victims in France by pretending to be a charity collecting money to help them.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've been to St. Franci
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Last night's remedy for me wasn't Kahlua or even KaKua, but a nice 2012 St.Francis Cab from Sonoma Valley.
> 
> Been feeling soul sick this whole week.
> 
> 
> 
> I've been to St. Francis. They craft a very good cab.  A lovely place filled with huge Oak Trees. The tasting room is on a hilltop overlooking acres of Russian River Valley vines.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I quite enjoyed it. And of course, not having drunk the entire bottle (you shush), I can have some again tonight  Gonna need it again. The PMMS (Post-Modern Malaise Syndrome) is flaring up this week.
Click to expand...

We rarely drink the entire bottle at one meal. Often we end up with two or three re-corked bottles in the fridge. When that happens we have mini wine festival.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Gary you've been everywhere! lol well maybe not quite but you seem to get around. Well worth the pursuit of good wine or a good cup of coffee!
> 
> Slept in a little today what with the pouring rain and staying up late watching the news. Today recapping it just doesn't really show what it was like as it unfolded. When you could hear the explosions last night during the broadcast I wondered... now it's just waiting til they get results etc.
> 
> Well I might need more coffee if I'm going to get anything done this afternoon. But I might switch to decaf or I'll regret it tonight, but at least it makes me think I'm getting some caffeine (sort of). And it tastes good and warm on a rainy day.


LOL ... St. Francis is one of the older vineyards in California. It is up there historically with Rodney Strong, Buena Vista ...


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Newbies aren't bad as a lot but I believe there is a special place in #e!! for spammers and virus writers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Especially the ones I saw this morning who were trying to exploit the victims in France by pretending to be a charity collecting money to help them.
Click to expand...

I saw that one, too.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Oh, thank The Maker!  I am back among the living in The Coffee Shop!
> 
> I just spent the afternoon knocking around the most recent posts, finding newbies, spammers, and "Progressives", trying to make some headway with those threads.
> 
> Heck!
> 
> I've had two glasses of wine with my supper, so I'm starting to mellow a bit.
> 
> Which reminds me; I need to order another case of vino at the grocery store.


What's do you like to drink?

Mary Lou, Cook and I just returned from an evening walk. We're having some Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay to refresh before dinner.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Which reminds me; I need to order another case of vino at the grocery store.


What's do you like to drink?[/QUOTE]Heh heh.  I'm cheap.  I get the store brand of Petite Syrah.

I tried all of their flavors, and found one red and one white that were acceptable.  The white is their Pino Grigio.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It has warmed up here a bit, but I am still in the kitchen with my first cup. The morning paper came late today. So I started leafing through yesterday's paper. I started reading a sports column by Bill Plaschke, the guy who years ago replaced Jim Murray. (Murray was possibly the best sports feature/column writer of all time.)  Moving right along, Plaschke praises the hell out of Clay Helton, the interim USC football coach who replaced the drunk Sarkisian. It is a very interesting article basically a very special coach. Not that anybody here cares about my Trojans, but the article shines a light how being a coach isn't just about winning games. The article speaks to Helton's recognizing all the players not just the stars and has a special Monday practice for the walk-ons and scubs ... how the regular Tuesday practices the stadium is filled with parents and grandparents and that after the practice all the familes are invited to the team meal. When Plaschke asked Helton about being the interim head coach, Helton replied with "It's all about the kids, it's a lot harder on them then us. We're grown men and we'll go on and possibly find another job, but these kids just have one college career, one chance at a great memory, and I want to get that memory for them, let them leave here with a great story."  I just thought his attitude was worth repeating.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Which reminds me; I need to order another case of vino at the grocery store.
> 
> 
> 
> What's do you like to drink?
Click to expand...

Heh heh.  I'm cheap.  I get the store brand of Petite Syrah.

I tried all of their flavors, and found one red and one white that were acceptable.  The white is their Pino Grigio.[/QUOTE]
You know that variety is the spice of life ...?  Just curious, out here Costco is the number one purveyor of wine in California. Do the Costco's out there carry wine? If so, the wines at the Costco here are all very good and reasonably priced.


----------



## Designer

I'm not familiar with what Costco carries.  The nearest one is in West DesMoines, which is too far for grocery shopping.  The Trader Joe's is right near there too, but I just go to the local Hy-Vee, which is one mile from my house.  The brand is Crane Lake.  

Their PS and PG are not bad, which is where my budget puts me.   

As for variety, we attend a wine tasting at France 44 when we are in MN.  I bought some very nice wine to cellar until MLW retires.  I have three bottles, and considering her family 1) Won't come or 2) Don't drink wine or 3) Prefer ultra-sweet wines and coolers, three bottles should be enough for the four of us who do like wine.


----------



## limr

Three bottles for four people breaks the Slovenian rule of hosting: one bottle per person


----------



## Gary A.

I have nearly filled all the extra storage made available by my new wine fridge. A quick count turns up about 74 bottles in storage.  (18 bottles are cool and ready to go.)  Without company, we, (Mary Lou, Cookie and I), probably average two bottles a week. With company the bottle count rises significantly. I rarely re-purchase identical bottles of wine (vintner/varietal/year) ... but the stuff I am finding in Temecula is so good and so easily available, (less than 1.5 hours away), maybe 10% of my wine is now a re-purchase.

i.e.: Last night, we, (Mary Lou, Cook and I), took a quick walk in the evening. We debated dinner, eat at home or go out for these fabulous burgers at a local sports bar, (a very loud local sports bar), or Chinese, or Mexican, or Japanese. (The questions we really wrestled with was the effort to change, get into the car and drive ... as opposed to reheating food we had already prepared.) We decided on Japanese ... but before we departed we 'refreshed' ourselves with a glass of Chardonnay and we just consumed water at the restaurant.

The wine was better than what is avaiable at most restaurants, it significantly lowered the bill and the Chardonnay was truly refreshing after a quick, fast-paced walk.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Three bottles for four people breaks the Slovenian rule of hosting: one bottle per person


Good rule to keep!

MLW hasn't been drinking any wine lately, so the last three or four cases I've had to drink it all myself.  I might feel somewhat guilty, but nah.... 



Gary A. said:


> The wine was better than what is avaiable at most restaurants, it significantly lowered the bill and the Chardonnay was truly refreshing after a quick, fast-paced walk.



Exactly!  But even more so than the quality of wine (I'm talking about the average family sit-down restaurant wine here) the thing that REALLY BUGS ME is they take a 12 ounce glass and pour in about 7 ounces.  That looks outrageously cheap, as if my paying $7 isn't buying me a full glass of wine.

"Well there went your tip, lady!  It's in the bottle."


----------



## terri

Designer said:


> Exactly! But even more so than the quality of wine (I'm talking about the average family sit-down restaurant wine here) the thing that REALLY BUGS ME is they take a 12 ounce glass and pour in about 7 ounces. That looks outrageously cheap, as if my paying $7 isn't buying me a full glass of wine.



Well, to be fair, if you're getting a 7 ounce pour that's what the establishment has confirmed as their "per glass" amount.    Getting it poured into a larger glass is what you actually want, if you wish to swirl to release aroma and let the wine come into contact with air (breathing), and all that joyful tasting stuff.   If a restaurant wants to really bug ME, they bring me 7 ounces of wine in an 8 ounce glass that can't be swirled or moved at ALL.   Just drunk down like a cheap soda.    To me it means the bar doesn't know it's doing and/or they aren't wine friendly.    But - it's what I kind of expect in your average family sit-down restaurant, so if they DO do it right, I'm excited.    Ah, it's the little things....  

Right now, it's still second-cuppa joe time.    Huge rain event from last night is over, didn't damage my newly-planted trees, and the sunshine is gorgeous.


----------



## Gary A.

The restaurants I go to hand me a straw with my wine.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> The restaurants I go to hand me a straw with my wine.


    My favorites are when I've been going there long enough that they let me bring my own wine in...and my server shows up with an extra glass, cause (s)he knows we always share!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Exactly! But even more so than the quality of wine (I'm talking about the average family sit-down restaurant wine here) the thing that REALLY BUGS ME is they take a 12 ounce glass and pour in about 7 ounces. That looks outrageously cheap, as if my paying $7 isn't buying me a full glass of wine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, to be fair, if you're getting a 7 ounce pour that's what the establishment has confirmed as their "per glass" amount.    Getting it poured into a larger glass is what you actually want, if you wish to swirl to release aroma and let the wine come into contact with air (breathing), and all that joyful tasting stuff.   If a restaurant wants to really bug ME, they bring me 7 ounces of wine in an 8 ounce glass that can't be swirled or moved at ALL.   Just drunk down like a cheap soda.    To me it means the bar doesn't know it's doing and/or they aren't wine friendly.    But - it's what I kind of expect in your average family sit-down restaurant, so if they DO do it right, I'm excited.    Ah, it's the little things....
> 
> Right now, it's still second-cuppa joe time.    Huge rain event from last night is over, didn't damage my newly-planted trees, and the sunshine is gorgeous.
Click to expand...


Exactly. The "rule" is to pour just until the widest part of the glass. The reason wine glasses are shaped that way is to allow the wine to breathe and be swirled. It also traps the aroma, which complements the flavor and often adds complexity since elements of flavor that are detected by the nose are not always detected on the tongue. Oxygen changes the flavor of the wine, too, and a lot of times it needs to open up (thus the swirling - to oxygenate the wine and stir up the scents and flavors.)

I had a lunch customer years and years ago when I was working as a waitress before moving to Turkey. His name was Joe and he was about 152 years old. I'll never forget his order: chianti, baked ziti, bread super toasted. If the pour of chianti wasn't close enough to the rim, he'd send it back with the order to "put a head on it!" When he was finished, the wine was gone, one piece of bread was left, and about a spoonful of the baked ziti, and we'd wrap the food up for him while he spent about 20 minutes in the bathroom. Then he paid and left. Gold-toned Toyota Camry.

Now why the hell can I remember that from 18 years ago but can't remember if I have plans for the weekend or not?


----------



## minicoop1985

UGH. My laptop still isn't here. It supposedly left Salt Lake City a few days ago, was supposed to come with the mail yesterday (it really SHOULD have been here Tuesday), mail was already delivered today... Still says "Departed Salt Lake City"...

I'm overly upset because this never happens to me. I needed the laptop for a shoot tomorrow with a florist. Well, the florist went with our biggest competitor instead, so there's less pressure there.


----------



## terri

I love that story, Lenny!   Joe sounds like a great character - probably was, which makes him memorable.   

You do realize when/if we meet in person, it's going to cost us two bottles of wine, right?


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> I love that story, Lenny!   Joe sounds like a great character - probably was, which makes him memorable.
> 
> You do realize when/if we meet in person, it's going to cost us two bottles of wine, right?


 Each!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Lenny you're a little young for that aren't you? (not the wine drinking, the other thing - what was it??) OK that was bad... lol

And who ships from Salt Lake? don't know why that struck me as an odd place for something to be coming from, hope they find you.

74 bottles?!? party at Gary's!!


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Lenny you're a little young for that aren't you? (not the wine drinking, the other thing - what was it??) OK that was bad... lol
> 
> And who ships from Salt Lake? don't know why that struck me as an odd place for something to be coming from, hope they find you.
> 
> 74 bottles?!? party at Gary's!!



LOL ... Wear your drinking shoes.


----------



## minicoop1985

Sharon: I bought the laptop from a friend there.

Update: I pestered the people at the actual post office. Got nowhere.

Update 2: had to clean up my least favorite substance from the bathroom floor (poop)

Update 3: Current laptop's screen was down for a few hours.

Today's been a complete disaster. Hopefully the damned laptop comes in the next few days...


----------



## limr

terri said:


> I love that story, Lenny!   Joe sounds like a great character - probably was, which makes him memorable.
> 
> You do realize when/if we meet in person, it's going to cost us two bottles of wine, right?



No doubt about it! 

Morning, hosers! Woke up with a headache. It was raining all day yesterday and it was still 62 degrees when I went to bed. That kind of crap in November wreaks havoc on my sinuses. Sometimes just coffee is enough to help, so here's hoping! Today is sunny and about 15 degrees cooler.


----------



## terri

ugh - hope you shake off the headache soon, Lenny.   Terrible way to wake up!   

Happy Friday, hosers!    Tried some new coffee beans yesterday from Jittery Joe's...regretfully, it was awful.   I really don't like any "nutty" flavor coming through, and based on the description, there shouldn't be.    boo, I say!    I'm stuck with it again this morning, but now I HAVE to make a store run today.    I mean, worse than Lenny's headache is waking up knowing your precious first cup is going to taste like Chock Fulla Nuts.


----------



## KenC

Good luck with the headache Leonore.  To quote two wise philosophers, I hate when that happens.  I usually find it better to hit it hard right away than to try being moderate with the analgesics and caffeine and end up fighting it all day.

As for me, it's just TGIF, and why did I come back to the office after working at home yesterday, anyhow?  We're supposed to have some family over for Thanksgiving and haven't done a damn thing yet - should be an interesting week.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is bright and sunny today. It is 53F presently, but should top out over 80. Another perfect day. I have some running around to do. Gotta drop off some defective lights to Burbank then some paperwork at CSULA. I been toying with the idea of a convertible ... especially for days like this. Maybe a 2005 T-Bird ...

Interesting story in The LA Times, more Mexicans are returning to Mexico than coming into the US. The article has said that the "balanced has tipped".

The early dusk and cold evenings of Fall/Winter has put a damper on my outdoor cooking ... just isn't as much fun.  So I've decided to implement a plan that I've been toying with for years, to start attending local/small theatre and clubs. As one would suspect, there is a ton of small theatre out here and often big names would participate. So once, during the weekdays, I'm gonna turn off the Tv and find some type of performance to attend.  There's got to be an app for that.

I'm in the kitchen again, the dawn is shining through the windows backlighting the Flowering Maple outside and highlighting all the dirt on the windows. Snuggled in the Maple is a Hummingbird feeder. This particular feeder attracts hummers, (as one would expect), but also plays host to a Golden Finch (or Finches ... hard to tell). The Finch laps up the nectar from the seals, where the bottle screws into the base and often it will hang upside down to sip where the two-part base butts together. It is all very entertaining. I believe my Hummers are Anna's and they are very territorial. They are constantly chasing off non-family interlopers. When they are not actively chasing, they are at station in the rose trees pulling guard duty. Then the Golden Finch drops in for a drink, sometime when a Hummer is also feeding. The Hummers will stare and glare and communicates their displeasure in a language the Finch doesn't understand or if it does understand, it just doesn't give a rat's. The Hummers will hover about, tuning their wings to a loud whine, flaring out their tail feathers not more than a few inches away ... at best the Finch may give it an obglitory glance or two ... then gets back to it drink.

Again, it is all very entertaining.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Leo- Waking up to a headache must really suck. Not a good way to start the day. I hope it gets better. Have you tried a Neti Pot? My youngest has severe allergies and at ime the Neti Pot was effective.

@ Terri- What is a 'Jittery Joe'?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> @ Leo- Waking up to a headache must really suck. Not a good way to start the day. I hope it gets better. Have you tried a Neti Pot? My youngest has severe allergies and at ime the Neti Pot was effective.
> 
> @ Terri- Wht is a 'Jittery Joe'?



I know about Neti Pots and have heard how effective they are. I've never tried one, though I have tried other methods of using a saline solution and flushing the sinuses. It's really hard for me to do it right. I have always hated that feeling of water up my nose - it makes me feel almost like I'm drowning and I get panicky. 

Allergies are a very new thing to me and I still don't know enough about what mine are to be able to anticipate or treat them. They're fairly mild as far as allergies go. And the weather changes affect me because of the pressure change, so not much about the allergies.

As for the headache...thanks everyone. I'm unfortunately used to the feeling of waking up with a headache. The only benefit to this is that I can generally tell what kind of headache it will be. Sinus headaches are kind of...higher pitched, whereas migraines feel like a deep throbbing bass line. The sinus headache pain feels more like pressure and it lives in my temples and below my eyes and in my neck. Migraine pain is stabby and usually located on the left side of my head and doesn't go all the way back to my neck. Also, I'm not nearly as sensitive to light as I am with a migraine. And the pain starts to lessen as soon as I have some coffee. In some cases, the coffee is enough to kill it. Today I think I'll have to take some Advil and have an extra coffee (oh the horror!) and that should do it. 

It helps that I am leaving work early today. I put in 3 extra hours last week because of the event we hosted, and I'm only allowed 19 hours per week, so I'm making up for it by leaving 3 hours early this week. Woot! It's a good thing because stick a fork in me, I'm DONE. It's been a really _really_ rough two weeks.


----------



## minicoop1985

Update: the laptop arrived in St. Paul, MN. Dunno WHY yet, but it at least has a location. Maybe it'll show tomorrow.

In the mean time, I'm running my external monitor because my screen is on and off dying.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Glad your package turned up! holidays maybe, already here UPS is running later than usual and the driver said yeah, it's the holidays.

The doctor's office gave me a sample of some saline thing, not a pot but a neti kind of dealio, I couldn't get it to work right (yeah, it feels like if you're in the pool and start to get water up your nose - the instinct is - no!! lol). I just squirt it up one nostril at a time and let it run back out, at least soothes it some. Our family doctor when I was younger would have us put a little salt and water in your cupped hand to sniff, home remedy of the same thing. Been up early gargling warm or salty water, geez.

Now the doctor gave me prescription nasal spray, this mild fall weather is too warm and everybody has sinus troubles or is sick or whatever. I feel for ya with the migraines though, what a bear.

Gary your backyard is a constant source of interest and entertainment. Mild enough even hear to barbeque if so inclined but I imagine everyone put that all away for the winter!

I keep getting a muscle cramp in my well, almost butt! Usually it's in my calf, or have aches and pains in my thigh into my hip ever since the stroke, but this is a new one. I about could jump out of the chair every time! lol It's not funny but it is!


----------



## oldhippy

vintagesnaps said:


> Glad your package turned up! holidays maybe, already here UPS is running later than usual and the driver said yeah, it's the holidays.
> 
> The doctor's office gave me a sample of some saline thing, not a pot but a neti kind of dealio, I couldn't get it to work right (yeah, it feels like if you're in the pool and start to get water up your nose - the instinct is - no!! lol). I just squirt it up one nostril at a time and let it run back out, at least soothes it some. Our family doctor when I was younger would have us put a little salt and water in your cupped hand to sniff, home remedy of the same thing. Been up early gargling warm or salty water, geez.
> 
> Now the doctor gave me prescription nasal spray, this mild fall weather is too warm and everybody has sinus troubles or is sick or whatever. I feel for ya with the migraines though, what a bear.


I have had great luck with this.
10 parts distilled water
1 part Hydrogen  Peroxide
dash of sea salt
dash of baking soda

also have added 2 drops tea tree oil


----------



## minicoop1985

It hasn't quite arrived yet, Sharon. It's still a state away, but knowing where it is helps a lot. Like I mentioned, maybe it'll show up tomorrow.

My dual monitor setup is... interesting. The second monitor is so terrible and fuzzy.


----------



## EIngerson

Heading to Vegas for the Marine Corps ball this weekend. ready to be on the road…...


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> @ Terri- What is a 'Jittery Joe'?



Gary, it's a local coffee company with various bean roasts.   Gets a lotta local love, so we felt compelled to try it.    I really like my coffee to slap my face, and this stuff...didn't.   I'll try some more, but at $12-14 a bag the descriptions need to match up to my brew a bit better!

@Coop:  sure hope that monitor arrives soon!   You've been waiting patiently for days now - that would drive me nutty, too.   Here's hoping it's there tomorrow!


----------



## Gary A.

Spaghetti tonight. The sauce is simmering. I used up the last of the ripen tomatoes. I toss in some Line 39 Pinot and I'm sipping some as I write. Man, this stuff is so good ... Costco ... I love Costco.


----------



## Gary A.

Plus, some Savory, Parsley, Celery, Basil (three types), Oregano, Kale, et al from the yard. (And my secret weapon ... I squeezed an Orange into the sauce for just a hint of citrus.)


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Glad your package turned up! holidays maybe, already here UPS is running later than usual and the driver said yeah, it's the holidays.
> 
> The doctor's office gave me a sample of some saline thing, not a pot but a neti kind of dealio, I couldn't get it to work right (yeah, it feels like if you're in the pool and start to get water up your nose - the instinct is - no!! lol). I just squirt it up one nostril at a time and let it run back out, at least soothes it some. Our family doctor when I was younger would have us put a little salt and water in your cupped hand to sniff, home remedy of the same thing. Been up early gargling warm or salty water, geez.
> 
> Now the doctor gave me prescription nasal spray, this mild fall weather is too warm and everybody has sinus troubles or is sick or whatever. I feel for ya with the migraines though, what a bear.
> 
> Gary your backyard is a constant source of interest and entertainment. Mild enough even hear to barbeque if so inclined but I imagine everyone put that all away for the winter!
> 
> I keep getting a muscle cramp in my well, almost butt! Usually it's in my calf, or have aches and pains in my thigh into my hip ever since the stroke, but this is a new one. I about could jump out of the chair every time! lol It's not funny but it is!


Get yourself into a gentle but daily exercise. Start out like Tina Turner ... Nice and easy ... then very slowly build up.


----------



## Gary A.

It is dark out and I in the BBQ Patio cookin' up some garlic bread, drinking some outstanding Pinot Noir and listening to classical on KUSC. Life is good.


----------



## Gary A.

(I just dipped a slice of garlic bread into the sauce ... mmmmmmmhhh delish.)


----------



## Gary A.

I am pacing waiting for the guests. You-all are welcomed.


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> Spaghetti tonight. The sauce is simmering. I used up the last of the ripen tomatoes. I toss in some Line 39 Pinot and I'm sipping some as I write. Man, this stuff is so good ... Costco ... I love Costco.





Gary A. said:


> Plus, some Savory, Parsley, Celery, Basil (three types), Oregano, Kale, et al from the yard. (And my secret weapon ... I squeezed an Orange into the sauce for just a hint of citrus.)



Man, that sounds good!!!


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> I am pacing waiting for the guests. You-all are welcomed.


 
I'm full on homemade pizza!


----------



## FITBMX

It is freaking cold and windy tonight. 

Good night all!


----------



## snowbear

Last night's dinner was quick & easy, ending a long work week (and looking forward to a week off) - grilled cheese sandwiches and (in my case) Corona.  I'm making chicken veggie soup for tonight.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good Morning Coffee Lovers. I got up early and put the snow plow on the truck, changed the oil, put on a new S-Belt,  and cleaned the inside cab up. Ready to move some snow for the family and a couple of old folks in the hood. Who would of thought a snow plow could make people love you... Today is our first snow fall in Southeast Michigan and probably be plowing later. I have a huge Honey list to do in preparation for Thanksgiving and plan on nailing it today and then the wife tonight. Honey Do list always come with a reward... love them lists, bring em on! 

I really wanted to meet up with AstroNikon today, he lives 45 minutes from me. We are gonna do it in a couple of weeks when things settle down a bit. Can't wait to meet him! Another hour on PC and it's back to work...


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. 

Having quite the stressful Saturday. My mother is heading to Florida to visit my sister for Thanksgiving. Flight was at 9:30 out of LaGuardia. I am always the one who drives her, and I left plenty of time to get there. We had good traffic but I was still nervous. There's always something. About 3 seconds - literally...and I mean literally...after I finally allowed myself to think, "Okay, we're almost through the Bronx. Now it's just bridge and 5 minutes down the Grand Central...," that's when I saw the wall of brake lights.

Three freakin' accidents on the Whitestone Bridge. Took us 45 minutes to go a mile. We finally got past the accidents and tolls and I raced us to LGA and arrived at 9:00. I begged and pleaded with everyone to expedite her, and because she's a 5-foot grey-haired little old lady, they did. It still didn't work, though. She didn't get to the gate on time. Part of the reason is that she's pretty much deaf but didn't have her new hearing aid in (don't ask - even the thought of explaining that whole cluster jam gives me agida.)

I had to get back to the car because I left it in the passenger drop-off area, so I had to circle around this damn airport until she called to say she was or wasn't on the plane. Have y'all been to LaGuardia? There is never NOT construction. Cluuuuuuusteerrrrrjaaaaaaaaam!!!

9:35. She missed the flight. She couldn't figure out how to get out of the terminal and couldn't understand what I was saying because, as mentioned, she didn't have her hearing aid in. "What terminal are you in? C or D?"  "YES! I'm in the building!" "Which one?" "Oh, you're parked?" "WHICH TERMINAL???" "Yes! Don't shout, I can hear you!" "Okay...which terminal are you in? C or D?" "The TOP floor, not the bottom."

I wish I were exaggerating the above conversation. And I spared you the other 80% of it. Because it went on like that for longer than I would like to remember. If I was ever worried about my blood pressure being too low...

Aaaaand, she already has a boarding pass for the 4:10 flight. We are at my sister's house because she's only 20-30 minutes from LaGuardia so I don't have to drive clear across the county just to drive all the way back to Queens 2 hours later.

My clutch foot still hurts.

And after all that, I come back to read about Sharon in the hospital. My heart hurts


----------



## limr

(And for the record, yes, you can imagine a thick New York accent when you read that story, because even though I don't normally have a noticeable accent, it comes out thick when I'm tired and frustrated.)


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Having quite the stressful Saturday. My mother is heading to Florida to visit my sister for Thanksgiving. Flight was at 9:30 out of LaGuardia. I am always the one who drives her, and I left plenty of time to get there. We had good traffic but I was still nervous. There's always something. About 3 seconds - literally...and I mean literally...after I finally allowed myself to think, "Okay, we're almost through the Bronx. Now it's just bridge and 5 minutes down the Grand Central...," that's when I saw the wall of brake lights.
> 
> Three freakin' accidents on the Whitestone Bridge. Took us 45 minutes to go a mile. We finally got past the accidents and tolls and I raced us to LGA and arrived at 9:00. I begged and pleaded with everyone to expedite her, and because she's a 5-foot grey-haired little old lady, they did. It still didn't work, though. She didn't get to the gate on time. Part of the reason is that she's pretty much deaf but didn't have her new hearing aid in (don't ask - even the thought of explaining that whole cluster jam gives me agida.)
> 
> I had to get back to the car because I left it in the passenger drop-off area, so I had to circle around this damn airport until she called to say she was or wasn't on the plane. Have y'all been to LaGuardia? There is never NOT construction. Cluuuuuuusteerrrrrjaaaaaaaaam!!!
> 
> 9:35. She missed the flight. She couldn't figure out how to get out of the terminal and couldn't understand what I was saying because, as mentioned, she didn't have her hearing aid in. "What terminal are you in? C or D?"  "YES! I'm in the building!" "Which one?" "Oh, you're parked?" "WHICH TERMINAL???" "Yes! Don't shout, I can hear you!" "Okay...which terminal are you in? C or D?" "The TOP floor, not the bottom."
> 
> I wish I were exaggerating the above conversation. And I spared you the other 80% of it. Because it went on like that for longer than I would like to remember. If I was ever worried about my blood pressure being too low...
> 
> Aaaaand, she already has a boarding pass for the 4:10 flight. We are at my sister's house because she's only 20-30 minutes from LaGuardia so I don't have to drive clear across the county just to drive all the way back to Queens 2 hours later.
> 
> My clutch foot still hurts.
> 
> And after all that, I come back to read about Sharon in the hospital. My heart hurts



Sounds like it would have been less stressful to drive her to Florida.  Here:   Not much but all I have at the moment.


----------



## limr

Thanks, Charlie! 

Oh god, two days in a car with my mother? No no no no no no no...I'd rather have to drive her to LaGuardia a THIRD time in one day!


----------



## Designer

Here's another idea that you can choose to file or burn:

The day before her flight, take her to your sister's house for overnight, and your sister can drive mom to the airport in time for her flight the next day. 

YEEEPP!  That's what I would do!


----------



## minicoop1985

Good afternoon, my fellow hosers. Had my usual two cups, supplemented by a Starbucks mocha. Mmm.

I feel your pain, Leonore. That suuuuuucks. Any time with my mother is too much.

Laptop DEPARTED St. Paul. It's on its way. Very, very slowly, but it's on its way. In other news, somewhat related, my Vader belt boxes have shipped. Expecting them Tuesday or Wednesday.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 10:45 and 84F. Another perfect day. 

It has been a busy morning. Sent off some lengthy emails to friends in Paris. Took Cook for her walk. (She's a bit under the weather ... so not a long walk ... about two miles.) Watered the patio plants and some non-lawn areas in the backyard. Cleaned out the pond, twice, of leaves from this deciduous tree which in summer shades the pond. Performed some light gardening, including yanking out this giant Egg Plant which is consuming the roses. And best of all, two cups of coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

While doing my light gardening chores I took measure of the fruit trees. I have a boatload of Persimmons ready to go, a ton of Mandarin Oranges about to go, a few Naval Oranges ready, the Limes and Lemons are coming in and this wonderful Valancia Orange tree which provides fruit all year long. (Nada on the Avocado and Pomegranate tree, but the Apple tree has blossoms and a few small apples.)


----------



## Gary A.

Just finished watering the sideyard, took a shower and now preparing to take off to Temecula for another wine adventure and to pick up my November order at Thornton.


----------



## Gary A.

I am in Temecula!




iPhone image.


----------



## Gary A.

My new wine topper.


----------



## Gary A.

Moseyed down to Maurice Carrie.


----------



## Gary A.

Brie Bread at Maurice Carrie.


----------



## Gary A.

Continuing the monologue...


 
Ponte


----------



## Gary A.

Some of the vines here are old ... This Cabernet vibe is about eight inches in diameter.


----------



## FITBMX

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Having quite the stressful Saturday. My mother is heading to Florida to visit my sister for Thanksgiving. Flight was at 9:30 out of LaGuardia. I am always the one who drives her, and I left plenty of time to get there. We had good traffic but I was still nervous. There's always something. About 3 seconds - literally...and I mean literally...after I finally allowed myself to think, "Okay, we're almost through the Bronx. Now it's just bridge and 5 minutes down the Grand Central...," that's when I saw the wall of brake lights.
> 
> Three freakin' accidents on the Whitestone Bridge. Took us 45 minutes to go a mile. We finally got past the accidents and tolls and I raced us to LGA and arrived at 9:00. I begged and pleaded with everyone to expedite her, and because she's a 5-foot grey-haired little old lady, they did. It still didn't work, though. She didn't get to the gate on time. Part of the reason is that she's pretty much deaf but didn't have her new hearing aid in (don't ask - even the thought of explaining that whole cluster jam gives me agida.)
> 
> I had to get back to the car because I left it in the passenger drop-off area, so I had to circle around this damn airport until she called to say she was or wasn't on the plane. Have y'all been to LaGuardia? There is never NOT construction. Cluuuuuuusteerrrrrjaaaaaaaaam!!!
> 
> 9:35. She missed the flight. She couldn't figure out how to get out of the terminal and couldn't understand what I was saying because, as mentioned, she didn't have her hearing aid in. "What terminal are you in? C or D?"  "YES! I'm in the building!" "Which one?" "Oh, you're parked?" "WHICH TERMINAL???" "Yes! Don't shout, I can hear you!" "Okay...which terminal are you in? C or D?" "The TOP floor, not the bottom."
> 
> I wish I were exaggerating the above conversation. And I spared you the other 80% of it. Because it went on like that for longer than I would like to remember. If I was ever worried about my blood pressure being too low...
> 
> Aaaaand, she already has a boarding pass for the 4:10 flight. We are at my sister's house because she's only 20-30 minutes from LaGuardia so I don't have to drive clear across the county just to drive all the way back to Queens 2 hours later.
> 
> My clutch foot still hurts.
> 
> And after all that, I come back to read about Sharon in the hospital. My heart hurts



Bugger! that does sound like a mess!


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 10:45 and 84F. Another perfect day.
> 
> It has been a busy morning. Sent off some lengthy emails to friends in Paris. Took Cook for her walk. (She's a bit under the weather ... so not a long walk ... about two miles.) Watered the patio plants and some non-lawn areas in the backyard. *Cleaned out the pond, twice, of leaves from this deciduous tree which in summer shades the pond.* Performed some light gardening, including yanking out this giant Egg Plant which is consuming the roses. And best of all, two cups of coffee.



Koi or Water garden? I love ponds! I used to have one, and used to have one, and plan to build another one once I have time.


----------



## Gary A.

FITBMX said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 10:45 and 84F. Another perfect day.
> 
> It has been a busy morning. Sent off some lengthy emails to friends in Paris. Took Cook for her walk. (She's a bit under the weather ... so not a long walk ... about two miles.) Watered the patio plants and some non-lawn areas in the backyard. *Cleaned out the pond, twice, of leaves from this deciduous tree which in summer shades the pond.* Performed some light gardening, including yanking out this giant Egg Plant which is consuming the roses. And best of all, two cups of coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Koi or Water garden? I love ponds! I used to have one, and used to have one, and plan to build another one once I have time.
Click to expand...

Koi. I had some turtles with the Koi. But after 15 years of living nicely together, the turtles became very aggressive and started attacking the Koi.  Sadly, a few months ago I had to get rid of the turtles.  

The pond is very relaxing and peaceful.


----------



## Gary A.

Home from another very pleasant day in wine country.  After today's haul, I have exceeded the capacity of my dedicated wine storage.

For dinner we dined on sushi in an attempt to offset the zillion calories we consumed by eating the baked Brie which was encapsulated in a sourdough garlic bread bowl swimming in butter. (It was sooooo good.)


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. 

Here's what the second half of yesterday looked like:

I had a 15-minute nap at my sister's house, and then at 2pm, I dragged my mother back to LaGuardia. My sister had told me that she would be back at 1pm and could take her so I didn't have to go back, but she didn't get home until 2pm, just as we were leaving. 

Thanks to three more traffic jams, the 30-minute drive took an hour, but my mother was still there at the airport an hour before her flight. We got her a wheelchair because the gate was in a different terminal and she still has trouble with her feet since having Guillon-Barre a few years back (in reaction to a flu shot...it's one reason I don't get flu shots.) She already had her boarding pass from the morning, and her bag was actually already in Jacksonville since it had made the flight that she missed. And I made sure she was wearing her hearing aid this time.

So I left her there at security with the agent who would make sure she got to her gate. She called when she was on the plane and while I was in the middle of my 5th traffic jam of the day. (This isn't really atypical of the Bronx and lower Westchester, btw.)

The reward for the second trip to LaGuardia was witnessing an amazing sunset sky behind the beeeyoootiful NY skyline while driving over the Whitestone Bridge (for the 4th time.)

Finally back in northern Westchester on my way to Buzz's house, I stopped to grab a salmon burger from Mrs.Green's (a local organic/health food chain). I was in front of the fish counter and didn't see any of their usual house-made burgers. I was thinking, "Huh, I guess they ran out or don't have them today, so I guess I'll..." At this point, the guy behind the counter was asking me what I wanted, and for some reason, I finished my thought out loud, "...I guess I'll get a piece of fish..." He chuckled and said, "Well, uh...yeah!" I looked up and realized the silliness of saying "I'm going to get a piece of fish" in front of the fish counter, and I just started laughing in the way you do when you've spent the day in such frustration and you are so tired that when the pent up emotion finally comes out, it is expressed in uncontrollable giggling or weeping. This, thankfully, lead me down the giggling path  "I'm sorry, I've just had a very very long day."  

My one last little snag before I finally got to the warmth and food and wine and hugs at Buzz's house was the giant box labeled "FRAGILE" that was apparently dropped out of a truck and landed smack dab in the middle of the highway lane I was driving in at 70 mph. Of course it was dark and I didn't see the damn thing until it was suddenly illuminated in my headlights. Luckily, there was room for me to swerve around it. I did clip a corner of it, but all it really did was to wipe some of the dust off of the front left side panel. But it was clearly the universe telling me it was time for me to get the hell off the roads.

After dinner, I went home, had the last of my St. Francis cab, made a huge pot of tea and a bowl of popcorn, put on my jammies, and binge-watched "Girls" and then fell into what felt like a very coma-like sleep with the girls snuggled up close on either side of me.


----------



## minicoop1985

YAY MY LAPTOP IS IN OSHKOSH!!! It should be here tomorrow! ABOUT TIME


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The Sun is up and I'm finishing my coffee. The Cook is alerting me that she is ready for her walk ... so I best be off. It will be another warm day, so a T-Shirt for me and nuthin' for the pooch. We're off. I hope everyone has, at least, a pleasant Sunday.

In the Times today. There's an article on San Diego County wineries. They sound smaller and less exceptional than Temecula ... but one has been around since 1820, so I just gotta take a look.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Here's what the second half of yesterday looked like:
> 
> I had a 15-minute nap at my sister's house, and then at 2pm, I dragged my mother back to LaGuardia. My sister had told me that she would be back at 1pm and could take her so I didn't have to go back, but she didn't get home until 2pm, just as we were leaving.
> 
> Thanks to three more traffic jams, the 30-minute drive took an hour, but my mother was still there at the airport an hour before her flight. We got her a wheelchair because the gate was in a different terminal and she still has trouble with her feet since having Guillon-Barre a few years back (in reaction to a flu shot...it's one reason I don't get flu shots.) She already had her boarding pass from the morning, and her bag was actually already in Jacksonville since it had made the flight that she missed. And I made sure she was wearing her hearing aid this time.
> 
> So I left her there at security with the agent who would make sure she got to her gate. She called when she was on the plane and while I was in the middle of my 5th traffic jam of the day. (This isn't really atypical of the Bronx and lower Westchester, btw.)
> 
> The reward for the second trip to LaGuardia was witnessing an amazing sunset sky behind the beeeyoootiful NY skyline while driving over the Whitestone Bridge (for the 4th time.)
> 
> Finally back in northern Westchester on my way to Buzz's house, I stopped to grab a salmon burger from Mrs.Green's (a local organic/health food chain). I was in front of the fish counter and didn't see any of their usual house-made burgers. I was thinking, "Huh, I guess they ran out or don't have them today, so I guess I'll..." At this point, the guy behind the counter was asking me what I wanted, and for some reason, I finished my thought out loud, "...I guess I'll get a piece of fish..." He chuckled and said, "Well, uh...yeah!" I looked up and realized the silliness of saying "I'm going to get a piece of fish" in front of the fish counter, and I just started laughing in the way you do when you've spent the day in such frustration and you are so tired that when the pent up emotion finally comes out, it is expressed in uncontrollable giggling or weeping. This, thankfully, lead me down the giggling path  "I'm sorry, I've just had a very very long day."
> 
> My one last little snag before I finally got to the warmth and food and wine and hugs at Buzz's house was the giant box labeled "FRAGILE" that was apparently dropped out of a truck and landed smack dab in the middle of the highway lane I was driving in at 70 mph. Of course it was dark and I didn't see the damn thing until it was suddenly illuminated in my headlights. Luckily, there was room for me to swerve around it. I did clip a corner of it, but all it really did was to wipe some of the dust off of the front left side panel. But it was clearly the universe telling me it was time for me to get the hell off the roads.
> 
> After dinner, I went home, had the last of my St. Francis cab, made a huge pot of tea and a bowl of popcorn, put on my jammies, and binge-watched "Girls" and then fell into what felt like a very coma-like sleep with the girls snuggled up close on either side of me.



Glad it ended up OK, and I'm sure the kitty therapy really helps.
On another note, I'm debating calling the hospital.


----------



## Gary A.

Why?


----------



## Gary A.

Back from our walk. I'm in the patio sipping a room temp Cylon Uva tea. Refreshing. Classical KUSC is playing across the patio, it is nice and warm with a gentle breeze dumping more leaves into the pond. On the walk I was playing music through the iPhone. It was on shuffle and a few Peter, Paul and Mary songs were randomly played.  It took me back. Back in the 60's and 70's we were all so young, revolutionary and naive.  We thought we could end war, change the world, through music. 

I miss those days now.


----------



## Gary A.

There. I've just finished trimming a Basil Bush to make it more tree-like.  My hands smell great, the work area smells great. I toss some branches into the vases above the kitchen sink ... that area smells great. If anybody wants/needs some Basil, I have a ton. All my Rosemary and Basil trimming I stuff into a basket for drying and for smoke when I BBQ.


----------



## Gary A.

Spied this handsome fellow in the yard.




iPhone iMage


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> Koi. I had some turtles with the Koi. But after 15 years of living nicely together, the turtles became very aggressive and started attacking the Koi. Sadly, a few months ago I had to get rid of the turtles.
> 
> The pond is very relaxing and peaceful



I am a member of Koiphen.com it is a great forum! I have around 25 Lotuses and Lilies (tropical and hardy) plus other water plants, I love water gardens/ponds they are easier than flowerbeds to care for, and always look great!


----------



## Gary A.

FITBMX said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Koi. I had some turtles with the Koi. But after 15 years of living nicely together, the turtles became very aggressive and started attacking the Koi. Sadly, a few months ago I had to get rid of the turtles.
> 
> The pond is very relaxing and peaceful
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am a member of Koiphen.com it is a great forum! I have around 25 Lotuses and Lilies (tropical and hardy) plus other water plants, I love water gardens/ponds they are easier than flowerbeds to care for, and always look great!
Click to expand...

I'm a member also. I joined when I was in the process of enlarging the pond. I asked a few questions ablout filteration  and the responses were less than friendly. So I gave up that forum.  I have a water lily and some reeds in the pond, but the turtles destroyed anything I tried/wanted to grow. I hope to soon establish some plants.

I have a little waterfall which fills the yard with sounds of moving water.  My oldest and largest Koi is coming up on three feet. It is a wonderfully majestic creature.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Why?


Gary & Sharon - that was directed more to Leonore, in reference to Sharon in TN - not for me.  By now y'all know what's going on.


----------



## Gary A.

Yes, thank you Charlie. If you go, give her a hug from all of us.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Yes, thank you Charlie. If you go, give her a hug from all of us.


 Not very likely - Knoxville is several hours from here, but, if I get to talk to her, I'll relay all the Coffee House people goodness.


----------



## snowbear

A weekly pen & ink (or at least ink) theme sketch for the Fountain Pen forum.  As you can see, I had some help drawing the pepper sauce bottle.




cmw3_d40_6466 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> FITBMX said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Koi. I had some turtles with the Koi. But after 15 years of living nicely together, the turtles became very aggressive and started attacking the Koi. Sadly, a few months ago I had to get rid of the turtles.
> 
> The pond is very relaxing and peaceful
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am a member of Koiphen.com it is a great forum! I have around 25 Lotuses and Lilies (tropical and hardy) plus other water plants, I love water gardens/ponds they are easier than flowerbeds to care for, and always look great!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm a member also. I joined when I was in the process of enlarging the pond. I asked a few questions ablout filteration  and the responses were less than friendly. So I gave up that forum.  I have a water lily and some reeds in the pond, but the turtles destroyed anything I tried/wanted to grow. I hope to soon establish some plants.
> 
> I have a little waterfall which fills the yard with sounds of moving water.  My oldest and largest Koi is coming up on three feet. It is a wonderfully majestic creature.
Click to expand...


I remember that post!
It is much better to be into water gardens on that forum, than it is to have koi. Everyone on there holds super high standards for koi ponds, and most of them put tens of thousands of dollars into building their ponds, which is a little nuts! Our old water garden cost  less than $250 start to finish! It had a lot of problems, but I learned a ton from it!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Here's what the second half of yesterday looked like:
> 
> I had a 15-minute nap at my sister's house, and then at 2pm, I dragged my mother back to LaGuardia. My sister had told me that she would be back at 1pm and could take her so I didn't have to go back, but she didn't get home until 2pm, just as we were leaving.
> 
> Thanks to three more traffic jams, the 30-minute drive took an hour, but my mother was still there at the airport an hour before her flight. We got her a wheelchair because the gate was in a different terminal and she still has trouble with her feet since having Guillon-Barre a few years back (in reaction to a flu shot...it's one reason I don't get flu shots.) She already had her boarding pass from the morning, and her bag was actually already in Jacksonville since it had made the flight that she missed. And I made sure she was wearing her hearing aid this time.
> 
> So I left her there at security with the agent who would make sure she got to her gate. She called when she was on the plane and while I was in the middle of my 5th traffic jam of the day. (This isn't really atypical of the Bronx and lower Westchester, btw.)
> 
> The reward for the second trip to LaGuardia was witnessing an amazing sunset sky behind the beeeyoootiful NY skyline while driving over the Whitestone Bridge (for the 4th time.)
> 
> Finally back in northern Westchester on my way to Buzz's house, I stopped to grab a salmon burger from Mrs.Green's (a local organic/health food chain). I was in front of the fish counter and didn't see any of their usual house-made burgers. I was thinking, "Huh, I guess they ran out or don't have them today, so I guess I'll..." At this point, the guy behind the counter was asking me what I wanted, and for some reason, I finished my thought out loud, "...I guess I'll get a piece of fish..." He chuckled and said, "Well, uh...yeah!" I looked up and realized the silliness of saying "I'm going to get a piece of fish" in front of the fish counter, and I just started laughing in the way you do when you've spent the day in such frustration and you are so tired that when the pent up emotion finally comes out, it is expressed in uncontrollable giggling or weeping. This, thankfully, lead me down the giggling path  "I'm sorry, I've just had a very very long day."
> 
> My one last little snag before I finally got to the warmth and food and wine and hugs at Buzz's house was the giant box labeled "FRAGILE" that was apparently dropped out of a truck and landed smack dab in the middle of the highway lane I was driving in at 70 mph. Of course it was dark and I didn't see the damn thing until it was suddenly illuminated in my headlights. Luckily, there was room for me to swerve around it. I did clip a corner of it, but all it really did was to wipe some of the dust off of the front left side panel. But it was clearly the universe telling me it was time for me to get the hell off the roads.
> 
> After dinner, I went home, had the last of my St. Francis cab, made a huge pot of tea and a bowl of popcorn, put on my jammies, and binge-watched "Girls" and then fell into what felt like a very coma-like sleep with the girls snuggled up close on either side of me.



Good grief, darlin- what a Saturday!    Sounds like it ended nicely, though, with cats.      Don't they always make things better?   

Hope the second half of your weekend was calmer.


----------



## Gary A.

FITBMX said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> FITBMX said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Koi. I had some turtles with the Koi. But after 15 years of living nicely together, the turtles became very aggressive and started attacking the Koi. Sadly, a few months ago I had to get rid of the turtles.
> 
> The pond is very relaxing and peaceful
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am a member of Koiphen.com it is a great forum! I have around 25 Lotuses and Lilies (tropical and hardy) plus other water plants, I love water gardens/ponds they are easier than flowerbeds to care for, and always look great!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm a member also. I joined when I was in the process of enlarging the pond. I asked a few questions ablout filteration  and the responses were less than friendly. So I gave up that forum.  I have a water lily and some reeds in the pond, but the turtles destroyed anything I tried/wanted to grow. I hope to soon establish some plants.
> 
> I have a little waterfall which fills the yard with sounds of moving water.  My oldest and largest Koi is coming up on three feet. It is a wonderfully majestic creature.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I remember that post!
> It is much better to be into water gardens on that forum, than it is to have koi. Everyone on there holds super high standards for koi ponds, and most of them put tens of thousands of dollars into building their ponds, which is a little nuts! Our old water garden cost  less than $250 start to finish! It had a lot of problems, but I learned a ton from it!
Click to expand...

I've only lost some fish once, when the filtration system failed. Since then I've installed a two separate filtration systems. Either system alone can maintain the pond.  So I think I doing okay, the Koi are growing like weeds and appear healthy. I am open for any suggestions/recommendations for plants and where to acquire plants.


----------



## Gary A.

I just returned from the movies. 'Spotlight' ... five stars!!!!!  I've read some criticism of the movie, but you can only do so much with two hours.  It was a very realistic view at investigative reporting. I wanted to applaud at the end.


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> I've only lost some fish once, when the filtration system failed. Since then *I've installed a two separate filtration systems*. Either system alone can maintain the pond. So I think I doing okay, the Koi are growing like weeds and appear healthy. I am open for any suggestions/recommendations for plants and where to acquire plants.



Redundancy is a man's best friend on anything like that! 

As for plants. There is a man on Koiphen (username Matherfish) that is really nice, he has a small nursery and has a lot of really nice plants. He price is very reasonable, but you may have to wait until spring, because it is now to cold to ship plants.  
Here is his Koiphen selling page  MatherFish
And his website. Home

If you need some lilies next spring let me know, I will know by then what I have that made it through the winter, and I will make you a good deal on whatever I have available.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

Here at work trying to wake up by the usual means.  Spent a lot of the weekend driving for various reasons.  I basically went clear across the city about four times and also took some shorter drives.  My old Civic (15 yrs, 196K) held up better than I did.  I could say it's almost a relief to be here at work, but it isn't really.


----------



## Gary A.

FITBMX said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've only lost some fish once, when the filtration system failed. Since then *I've installed a two separate filtration systems*. Either system alone can maintain the pond. So I think I doing okay, the Koi are growing like weeds and appear healthy. I am open for any suggestions/recommendations for plants and where to acquire plants.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Redundancy is a man's best friend on anything like that!
> 
> As for plants. There is a man on Koiphen (username Matherfish) that is really nice, he has a small nursery and has a lot of really nice plants. He price is very reasonable, but you may have to wait until spring, because it is now to cold to ship plants.
> Here is his Koiphen selling page  MatherFish
> And his website. Home
> 
> If you need some lilies next spring let me know, I will know by then what I have that made it through the winter, and I will make you a good deal on whatever I have available.
Click to expand...

Thank you Gallagher. I will check him out. It is getting well into the 50's here at night, but I still have orchids and Plumeria blooming. Are you the same Gallagher that back in 1976 sledge hammered a watermelon on my table at the Comedy Store in Costa Mesa?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Winter is coming the recent spike into the 80's is now dropping into the 70's. I'm breaking out the long sleeves. Slow news day in the LA Times, the paper is very slim today. Two front page articles caught my eye ... while the forecast El Nino will/may end the five year drought here in California, it may project diasasters in other parts of the world (famine and floods). And ... (this is front page stuff) ... The 2010 Iranian embargo hit the Persian rug market right between the eyes. But the rollback of sanctions may allow the rugs to roll in again.  Yeah, pretty slow news day ... but it is a backhand way to speak to the Iranian nuclear programs, the sanctions and the Obama deal. I am actually pleased that the rugs will be flyng back to the States as I will soon be replacing the living room carpet with bamboo.

Ken, Ken, Ken ... you're averaging 13,000 miles a year. That is nothing, nada, zip. People out here pile up that type of mileage just moving through fast food drive throughs.  Saturday I drove about four hours total to buy some wine (lol).  Actually I think it is great not being forced to live out of one's car. Living in other parts of the world, it was nice to have everything you needed within an easy walking distance. Out here everything is pretty much a drive. Driving becomes the automatic routine. I drove an hour ana half to Temecula ... it wasn't a big deal. I saw a lot of interesting stuff, ate in new places, picked up exceptional wines I couldn't get locally. But I barely know my neighbors and the local supermarket, that I've been shopping at for more than a decade, doesn't know my name. I guess everything has tradeoffs.


----------



## limr

Gah, don't talk to me about driving today! Just when my clutch foot was feeling almost normal again, I hit traffic twice on my way to work today. Two separate accidents. The second one must have been recent because emergency vehicles hadn't even gotten there yet. I actually had to pull over to let the first cop on the scene pass through. It was a nasty one, too. Didn't look like any fatalities, but an SUV rear-ended a little Honda hard enough that there is no longer a back end or much of a back seat left. 

I didn't have to deal with traffic yesterday, thankfully. Instead, I got to stay home and try to figure out the leak that developed overnight and destroyed one of the ceiling panels in the downstairs bathroom. Luckily I managed to control the drip so it's all going into a bucket and I located the leak. It looks like I'm going to learn how to do a little plumbing repair in the next couple of days!


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> It looks like I'm going to learn how to do a little plumbing repair in the next couple of days!


Famous last words!

If there is anything around the house that I hate to do, it's plumbing repairs.  

Never, Ever, Under any Circumstances begin a plumbing repair project anywhere near a Sunday.


----------



## Gary A.

At the kitchen table and a different type of Finch, not the Golden Finch, has dined at the Hummingbird feeder.


----------



## Gary A.

Leo-

There are all sorts of plumber's putty, glues and tape which claim to work in wet conditions.  I've never used them ... but as a stop-gap measure they may be useful and easy to apply.


----------



## minicoop1985

Oh thank the lawd it's here. Whew. Now I can move on with my life.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> It looks like I'm going to learn how to do a little plumbing repair in the next couple of days!





Designer said:


> If there is anything around the house that I hate to do, it's plumbing repairs.
> 
> Never, Ever, Under any Circumstances begin a plumbing repair project anywhere near a Sunday.



Plumbing's easy: Hot on the left, cold on the right, $#it don't flow uphill.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Leo-
> 
> There are all sorts of plumber's putty, glues and tape which claim to work in wet conditions.  I've never used them ... but as a stop-gap measure they may be useful and easy to apply.



My first thought was putty and tape, which I've used on pinhole leaks before, but this is a bigger job. It's actually leaking at a valve connection and there's a lot of corrosion, so it has to be replaced. I've been in touch with my brother, who knows about these things, and he'll help talk me through it to make sure I don't make any dumb mistakes.



Designer said:


> If there is anything around the house that I hate to do, it's plumbing repairs.
> 
> Never, Ever, Under any Circumstances begin a plumbing repair project anywhere near a Sunday.



Which is why all I did yesterday was to find where the leak was and put a bucket under it  I'm not even sure I'll be able to get to it tonight. I have a lot of schoolwork to do for tomorrow, so I think I'm going to leave the repair for tomorrow evening after I'm done teaching for the week.


----------



## Gary A.

Back from the our walk. Mary Lou has the week off, so all three of us took a stroll this morning. We ran into three horses and the Cook went into alert mode. She likes horses and wanted to play.  I am working from the backyard today. It is 73F presently ... some classical in the background, three hummers are zipping in and out of the patio, their wings tuned to high as they fight for and defend the feeder. Monarchs, a Sulfur and a Painted Lady are fluttering about the yard. Fortunately my work is minimal and the distractions are many.

PS- A Dragonfly just darted by ...


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It looks like I'm going to learn how to do a little plumbing repair in the next couple of days!
> 
> 
> 
> Famous last words!
> 
> If there is anything around the house that I hate to do, it's plumbing repairs.
> 
> Never, Ever, Under any Circumstances begin a plumbing repair project anywhere near a Sunday.
Click to expand...

 Plumbing is easy; cut the bad out, replace with good.  I'll take plumbing or electrical over finish work ANY day of the week.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Back from the our walk. Mary Lou has the week off, so all three of us took a stroll this morning. We ran into three horses and the Cook went into alert mode. She likes horses and wanted to play.  I am working from the backyard today. It is 73F presently ... some classical in the background, three hummers are zipping in and out of the patio, their wings tuned to high as they fight for and defend the feeder. Monarchs, a Sulfur and a Painted Lady are fluttering about the yard. Fortunately my work is minimal and the distractions are many.
> 
> PS- A Dragonfly just darted by ...


 Motion to the Koffee Haus membership:  Do we ban Gary or just prohibit his posting anything relating to weather, wine, and/or barbecuing?


----------



## Gary A.

... and a White has joined the other butterflies.


----------



## Gary A.

John, you know you'd love the weather, wine and BBQ offered in my patio.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> John, you know you'd love the weather, wine and BBQ offered in my patio.


 Yes, BUT...  I'm suffering through a cold (42F), damp, grey day, NOT having a barbecue or wine, sooo......


----------



## Designer

tirediron said:


> Plumbing is easy; cut the bad out, replace with good.  I'll take plumbing or electrical over finish work ANY day of the week.


Aside from fairly standard tubing sizes, materials, and fittings, my experience has been that almost nothing else is a standard size.  I had to throw away a kitchen faucet because nobody had a repair kit for it.  Apparently manufacturers don't want to make it easy for their competitors.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Back from the our walk. Mary Lou has the week off, so all three of us took a stroll this morning. We ran into three horses and the Cook went into alert mode. She likes horses and wanted to play.  I am working from the backyard today. It is 73F presently ... some classical in the background, three hummers are zipping in and out of the patio, their wings tuned to high as they fight for and defend the feeder. Monarchs, a Sulfur and a Painted Lady are fluttering about the yard. Fortunately my work is minimal and the distractions are many.
> 
> PS- A Dragonfly just darted by ...
> 
> 
> 
> Motion to the Koffee Haus membership:  Do we ban Gary or just prohibit his posting anything relating to weather, wine, and/or barbecuing?
Click to expand...


One man's "perfect" is another woman's "GAH!" so he can keep on posting about warm weather and gardening and it won't bother me since I don't like either of those things. We have a sunny, 40-degree day in NY and I love it! As for the wine, I'm kind of as spoiled as he is, so I'm not going to throw any stones  

I AM envious of his not having to go to work, though


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> John, you know you'd love the weather, wine and BBQ offered in my patio.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, BUT...  I'm suffering through a cold (42F), damp, grey day, NOT having a barbecue or wine, sooo......
Click to expand...

Gray gets old quickly. You are welcomed to join me  ... anytime.


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> Ken, Ken, Ken ... you're averaging 13,000 miles a year. That is nothing, nada, zip. People out here pile up that type of mileage just moving through fast food drive throughs.



Most of us up here are not so crazy about spending a lot of time in our cars.  For 4 1/2 yrs with this car I was lucky enough to have only about a 10 mile drive to work and now for 6 1/2 yrs I've taken the train to work every day.  I get to read a book and not stress over traffic.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Back from the our walk. Mary Lou has the week off, so all three of us took a stroll this morning. We ran into three horses and the Cook went into alert mode. She likes horses and wanted to play.  I am working from the backyard today. It is 73F presently ... some classical in the background, three hummers are zipping in and out of the patio, their wings tuned to high as they fight for and defend the feeder. Monarchs, a Sulfur and a Painted Lady are fluttering about the yard. Fortunately my work is minimal and the distractions are many.
> 
> PS- A Dragonfly just darted by ...
> 
> 
> 
> Motion to the Koffee Haus membership:  Do we ban Gary or just prohibit his posting anything relating to weather, wine, and/or barbecuing?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> One man's "perfect" is another woman's "GAH!" so he can keep on posting about warm weather and gardening and it won't bother me since I don't like either of those things. We have a sunny, 40-degree day in NY and I love it! As for the wine, I'm kind of as spoiled as he is, so I'm not going to throw any stones
> 
> I AM envious of his not having to go to work, though
Click to expand...

When you get old, you'll appreciate the little things ... like how the flight of a Monarch is different than other butterflies ... or the bright orange flash of a Koi when it turns ... (you would love my wines ... getting them is as enjoyable as partaking).


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Plumbing is easy; cut the bad out, replace with good.  I'll take plumbing or electrical over finish work ANY day of the week.
> 
> 
> 
> Aside from fairly standard tubing sizes, materials, and fittings, my experience has been that almost nothing else is a standard size.  I had to throw away a kitchen faucet because nobody had a repair kit for it.  Apparently manufacturers don't want to make it easy for their competitors.
Click to expand...

 True!


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ken, Ken, Ken ... you're averaging 13,000 miles a year. That is nothing, nada, zip. People out here pile up that type of mileage just moving through fast food drive throughs.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Most of us up here are not so crazy about spending a lot of time in our cars.  For 4 1/2 yrs with this car I was lucky enough to have only about a 10 mile drive to work and now for 6 1/2 yrs I've taken the train to work every day.  I get to read a book and not stress over traffic.
Click to expand...

There's no right or wrong ... but I remember taking the subway in NY.  A young mother (presumably) and infant sat next to me. The infant wasn't moving ... and every time the train jostled, the infant's head bobbed uncontrollably ... and I'm thinking "Man, what I love to be in my car." Both mass and personal transit have their good and bad peculiarities.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> When you get old, you'll appreciate the little things ... like how the flight of a Monarch is different than other butterflies ... or the bright orange flash of a Koi when it turns ... (you would love my wines ... getting them is as enjoyable as partaking).



Never said I didn't appreciate the little things, just that my "little things" are different from your "little things"  

Wow, that sounds weirdly suggestive...


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> When you get old, you'll appreciate the little things ... like how the flight of a Monarch is different than other butterflies ... or the bright orange flash of a Koi when it turns ... (you would love my wines ... getting them is as enjoyable as partaking).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Never said I didn't appreciate the little things, just that my "little things" are different from your "little things"
> 
> Wow, that sounds weirdly suggestive...
Click to expand...



(I know you didn't say you didn't appreciate the little things ... I believe I was the one speaking of little things.)


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> Thank you Gallagher. I will check him out. It is getting well into the 50's here at night, but I still have orchids and Plumeria blooming. Are you the same Gallagher that back in 1976 sledge hammered a watermelon on my table at the Comedy Store in Costa Mesa?



I really like tropical lily, but I have to overwinter them in the house, which is a pain. How cold do you get in the winter?

That Gallagher is a ways before my time, but I do have three of his live shows on VHS!  They are really great, and funny!


----------



## FITBMX

tirediron said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It looks like I'm going to learn how to do a little plumbing repair in the next couple of days!
> 
> 
> 
> Famous last words!
> 
> If there is anything around the house that I hate to do, it's plumbing repairs.
> 
> Never, Ever, Under any Circumstances begin a plumbing repair project anywhere near a Sunday.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Plumbing is easy; cut the bad out, replace with good.  I'll take plumbing or electrical over finish work ANY day of the week.
Click to expand...


I hate plumbing! But that is because our old farmhouse is only about 18" off the ground, so plumbing for me means. I am literally hanging upside down from a access hole in the floor. And this old house is wood heat and freezes up really easy. 
So I don't really hate the plumbing itself, i just hate where I have to be to do it.


----------



## FITBMX

I am rather excited today, my new High tunnel/Greenhouse finally comes tomorrow!!!

I will start a build thread in the off topic area!


----------



## Gary A.

FITBMX said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you Gallagher. I will check him out. It is getting well into the 50's here at night, but I still have orchids and Plumeria blooming. Are you the same Gallagher that back in 1976 sledge hammered a watermelon on my table at the Comedy Store in Costa Mesa?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I really like tropical lily, but I have to overwinter them in the house, which is a pain. How cold do you get in the winter?
> 
> That Gallagher is a ways before my time, but I do have three of his live shows on VHS!  They are really great, and funny!
Click to expand...

Once every four years or so we may get a frost.  I don't heat the pond. Okay I just Googled it, the lowest average temps for Los Angeles occur in January, 68F is the lowest average high and 48F is the lowest average low.

A couple of hours ago I climbed into the pond to fine tune the waterfall (make it a bit quieter) and to pick up some loose rocks. (Something big drinks at the pond and spills the rocks.) The pond was pretty cold to me, but I'm running at 98.6F. Just checked the temp, 60F.


----------



## Gary A.

I'd love to have a green house. How large is it?


----------



## Designer

FITBMX said:


> So I don't really hate the plumbing itself, i just hate where I have to be to do it.


I'm familiar with crawl spaces.  I re-plumed our house in Downey.  I sort of remember starting in the crawl space, but also ran anew supply from the street.  OMG!  Galvanized iron in the whole darned house!


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> FITBMX said:
> 
> 
> 
> So I don't really hate the plumbing itself, i just hate where I have to be to do it.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm familiar with crawl spaces.  I re-plumed our house in Downey.  I sort of remember starting in the crawl space, but also ran anew supply from the street.  OMG!  Galvanized iron in the whole darned house!
Click to expand...

My place was like that; there was one section of hot water line that had so much build-up inside that I couldn't force a #2 pencil through the opening!


----------



## minicoop1985

I bet my pipes look like that. So little pressure... 

My new laptop's been upgraded to Windows 10 after Firefox kept crashing. So glad to be up and running again... Can edit photos now too.


----------



## vintagesnaps

What? ban Gary?! perish the thought! I live vicariously thru this posts! lol Just imagine, the coffee and the Times, the wine and the butterflies... oh nevermind...


----------



## limr

I just bought a television on Amazon. My current one was a hand-me-down from my sister and it's a piece of crappity crap. I've put up with it for a few years now and a few days ago, the HDMI connection crapped out. Thought it was a bad cable, but a new one didn't change anything, so pre-Black Friday deals, here I come!


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> What? ban Gary?! perish the thought! I live vicariously thru this posts! lol Just imagine, the coffee and the Times, the wine and the butterflies... oh nevermind...


I like the grilled food pictures, myself.    Though he always makes me hungry, even f I've just eaten - I've put on five virtual pounds just looking at his food pics.


----------



## EIngerson

WHEW!!!!!! Survived another two days in Vegas. Sorry, no pics. You know…..What happens in Vegas…...


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> Once every four years or so we may get a frost. I don't heat the pond. Okay I just Googled it, the lowest average temps for Los Angeles occur in January, 68F is the lowest average high and 48F is the lowest average low.
> 
> A couple of hours ago I climbed into the pond to fine tune the waterfall (make it a bit quieter) and to pick up some loose rocks. (Something big drinks at the pond and spills the rocks.) The pond was pretty cold to me, but I'm running at 98.6F. Just checked the temp, 60F.



With temps like that you can grow tropical lilies all year around there, you lucky dog!  
One reason I like trops over hardies  is that some trops are very fragrant, and will make everything within 30 feet small wonderful! 
I had my first Lotus blooms this year and they smelled like toothpaste!


----------



## FITBMX

Designer said:


> I'm familiar with crawl spaces. I re-plumed our house in Downey. I sort of remember starting in the crawl space, but also ran anew supply from the street. OMG! Galvanized iron in the whole darned house!



Our pipes are a mix of PVC and galvanized steel. It is the steel line that always breaks, and it is such a pain to fix.



tirediron said:


> My place was like that; there was one section of hot water line that had so much build-up inside that I couldn't force a #2 pencil through the opening!



Yuck!


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> I'd love to have a green house. How large is it?



I already have a 8x11' and a 12x24' that I use for seedlings, they are both home made (on the cheap!  ) but have held up through several 80+mph wind storms.  I have a 18x88' that I started building from scratch about 4 years ago, but has not been finished do to a lack of time. I have another 24x48' frame I got on Craig's List last summer, but haven't had the time to piece it together either.
The new one is a High Tunnel, they are for growing produce in the ground, and will have no heat. It is 30X70' 12 tall'!
I am enrolled in the NRCS, EQIP program ( EQIP Organic Initiative | NRCS ) so the USDA is paying for it! 
It is a really great program for produce growers.


----------



## NickieP

limr said:


> I just bought a television on Amazon. My current one was a hand-me-down from my sister and it's a piece of crappity crap. I've put up with it for a few years now and a few days ago, the HDMI connection crapped out. Thought it was a bad cable, but a new one didn't change anything, so pre-Black Friday deals, here I come!



I just replaced my TV a few months ago. I used to have a 56" RCA hefty block of a TV. The black box. I think I lived with it for 15 years. My mother gave it to me when I decided to move out  7/8 years ago.  I feel your excitement, now just sit back and enjoy


----------



## tirediron

FITBMX said:


> Our pipes are a mix of PVC and galvanized steel. It is the steel line that always breaks, and it is such a pain to fix.


Doesn't have to be...


----------



## Designer

I have changed out some of my pressure water to PEX, so my house is now about half copper and half PEX.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Trouble waking up again - must be because it's a short week and maybe the fact that I don't like being here doesn't help.

It's annual evaluation season and the amount of BS that is generated in connection with the process is unbelievable, especially considering that they seem to make up their minds early on without much input from anyone.  I don't care that much about the results at this point (which may be pretty good), but I just have a low tolerance for inconsistency and irrationality.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> I have changed out some of my pressure water to PEX, so my house is now about half copper and half PEX.


 PEX is nice from a convenience aspect, but I much prefer rigid copper anywhere I can.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Front page story, of the top ten worst highway bottlenecks in the US, six are in Los Angeles. (So what else is new ... right.) The worst is in Chicago, the the next six are LA.  Things are cooling off after a week of a warm spike. The most important game of the year is coming up ... USC and ucla. Both have crappy records going in, so this game will make the season of whoever wins. (@ Leo, is it whomever or whoever?)

Yeah, there are rivalries everywhere, but this is of two, very high profile schools, in one city. Athletics are lining up opposite players who were on the same team in high school.  The whole city gets riled up, banners and colors fly, the bands play at pep rallies and the frats have 24/7 duty guarding statues depicting their mascots. There are flags on homes of blended familes which are bisected diagonally. One half states USC in Cardinal & Gold the other half has ucla in Baby Blue and Gold, with the lettering stating "A House Divided" stitched across the diagonal. 

Interestingly enough, Bruins are much more rampant than Trojans regarding the rivalry. But it's all in good fun, (unless you're a Bruin in which case it seems to be a matter of life and death ... and over the decades it's usually been death).

So this week it is all about the game and to Saturday to Fight On to victory.


----------



## FITBMX

tirediron said:


> FITBMX said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our pipes are a mix of PVC and galvanized steel. It is the steel line that always breaks, and it is such a pain to fix.
> 
> 
> 
> Doesn't have to be...
Click to expand...


I have to replace some of the floors in a year or so, I am going to replace everything with Pex, I've heard a lot of good things about it!


----------



## Designer

FITBMX said:


> I have to replace some of the floors in a year or so, I am going to replace everything with Pex, I've heard a lot of good things about it!


Make sure it is approved by your local building jurisdiction.


----------



## tirediron

FITBMX said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> FITBMX said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our pipes are a mix of PVC and galvanized steel. It is the steel line that always breaks, and it is such a pain to fix.
> 
> 
> 
> Doesn't have to be...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have to replace some of the floors in a year or so, I am going to replace everything with Pex, I've heard a lot of good things about it!
Click to expand...

 It's easy to work with, but it has to be clipped down tightly, and test every crimp under pressure before you bury it behind a wall or under a floor.  If you use good quality crimp rings and a proper crimping tool, the failure rate is VERY low, but every once in a while, one will weep.  If you kink a piece, bin it.  DO NOT try and 'save it' - Kinked = garbage.  Use the absolute minimum of brass connectors, and make as many of the directional changes just by gently bending the tubing itself.


----------



## minicoop1985

Just bought 8gb of RAM for my new laptop. Yay! NEED the extra for Photoshop and Lightroom.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Just bought 8gb of RAM for my new laptop. Yay! NEED the extra for Photoshop and Lightroom.


SSD drive helps as well, maybe more so. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

This thing's a little older, so no SSD drive for me. Plenty quick though.


----------



## FITBMX

Designer said:


> Make sure it is approved by your local building jurisdiction.



Out here if it is smaller than a new house, no one even checks or gets permits! Welcome to the sticks of Kansas!



tirediron said:


> It's easy to work with, but it has to be clipped down tightly, and test every crimp under pressure before you bury it behind a wall or under a floor. If you use good quality crimp rings and a proper crimping tool, the failure rate is VERY low, but every once in a while, one will weep. If you kink a piece, bin it. DO NOT try and 'save it' - Kinked = garbage. Use the absolute minimum of brass connectors, and make as many of the directional changes just by gently bending the tubing itself.



I will keep it all in mind.  
I like the manifold type setup, where you have no joints of any kind between the manifold and the faucet, and everything has it's own shut off valve.


----------



## tirediron

FITBMX said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Make sure it is approved by your local building jurisdiction.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Out here if it is smaller than a new house, no one even checks or gets permits! Welcome to the sticks of Kansas!
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's easy to work with, but it has to be clipped down tightly, and test every crimp under pressure before you bury it behind a wall or under a floor. If you use good quality crimp rings and a proper crimping tool, the failure rate is VERY low, but every once in a while, one will weep. If you kink a piece, bin it. DO NOT try and 'save it' - Kinked = garbage. Use the absolute minimum of brass connectors, and make as many of the directional changes just by gently bending the tubing itself.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I will keep it all in mind.
> I like the manifold type setup, where you have no joints of any kind between the manifold and the faucet, and everything has it's own shut off valve.
Click to expand...

 That's the best set-up.  Just make sure that:  (1) You use a pressure-equalizing loop manifold, NOT a straight riser; and (2) if the destination is near or below the level of the manifold you will need a shut-off valve at the far end as well.


----------



## minicoop1985

Didn't really realize it until now, but man is it cold outside. So not ready for winter. WHY do I live where I do again?


----------



## FITBMX

minicoop1985 said:


> This thing's a little older, so no SSD drive for me. Plenty quick though.



If you ever thought you needed it, you should be able to slap a SSD in that pretty easily. Unless the HDD is soldered to the motherboard.
One of these days I need a new laptop, I have my sisters old one, and the case is so broken up that if I make any sudden movement it flexes the motherboard and locks it up!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Is that a trick question Coop?? lol

Are we done with plumbing yet? and computers... I'll come back when you've got the loop manifold soldered to the motherboard.


Oh wait, no we're not done yet because Lenny has a big drip.


----------



## minicoop1985

LOL I left that pretty open, didn't I, Sharon?




FITBMX said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> This thing's a little older, so no SSD drive for me. Plenty quick though.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you ever thought you needed it, you should be able to slap a SSD in that pretty easily. Unless the HDD is soldered to the motherboard.
> One of these days I need a new laptop, I have my sisters old one, and the case is so broken up that if I make any sudden movement it flexes the motherboard and locks it up!
Click to expand...


OK now you have me beat. Only the backlight on mine was toast.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good evening coffee lovers. Sneaking some Kahlua in the Seattle's Best tonight... Took today and tomorrow off to destroy the wife's honey-do list. I got up this morning and she added 5 more things to it, geez, she is killing me. Started out the day doing the windows inside the house as the last warm day I did the outside. Posted a little on here. Vacuumed the cob-webs along the ceiling in the garage. Posted a little on here. Changed her oil, filters, lubed parts, quick detail on the inside of her nasty ass car. Posted a little on here. Took a shot of Kakua and posted a little more. Ran cable from the basement into the spare bedroom so 100 grandma can watch HBO in the room, froze my *uts off. Nother shot of Kahlua, posted a little on here. Touched up spots on every flippin wall in the main living area. Posted a little on here. Oh crap... I'm current and posting a little on here. Back to work.


----------



## NickieP

minicoop1985 said:


> Didn't really realize it until now, but man is it cold outside. So not ready for winter. WHY do I live where I do again?



We just had our first snowfall that stuck to the ground today. It was  only about an inch, but it lets me know it's only getting colder from here on in. It will be a long 6 months.


----------



## limr

My very exciting recent purchases today include: 1/4-turn angle valve, a 3/8 compression tee connector, a brass coupling, a swivel adapter, and a brass nipple (awwwwwww yeeeeeaaaaah!)  ENVY ME!!!

Okay, I also got a bottle of 2013 Gnarly Head Old Vine Lodi Zin. Okay, now you can _really _envy me 

I graded 80 essays this weekend, I have another 16 to go before tomorrow night, and I don't have to teach again until next Thursday, so a glass (or two....ish...) of wine is definitely deserved tonight!


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> a brass nipple (awwwwwww yeeeeeaaaaah!)  ENVY ME!!!



Is that like getting the brass ring?  Makes me wonder what people do with those brass rings ...


----------



## limr

Oh yeah, I almost forgot...



Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Front page story, of the top ten worst highway bottlenecks in the US, six are in Los Angeles. (So what else is new ... right.) The worst is in Chicago, the the next six are LA.  Things are cooling off after a week of a warm spike. The most important game of the year is coming up ... USC and ucla. Both have crappy records going in, so this game will make the season of whoever wins. (@ Leo, is it whomever or whoever?)



Having just dealt with NY traffic in a very real and painful way, I wonder if any of our roads made it onto that top ten list!

And "whoever" is correct in this sentence because it's the subject of "wins." If it were the object, it would be "whomever." Same goes for 'who' or 'whom.' One easy way to check is if you have another subject that is needed for the verb. For example:

"Whomever *a player *tags will herein be known officially as It."
"I will shag whomever I want to shag!"

Also, after a preposition, we always use the object form of any pronoun:

"*To* whom are you speaking?"
"You can complain *to* whomever you want, you're still going to fail the exam."


----------



## tirediron

Lenny's got brass nipples?  Must be miserable in the winter!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Lenny's got brass nipples?  Must be miserable in the winter!



No worse than brass balls  Didn't stop me from also getting the brass coupling!


----------



## snowbear

Hmmm nipples that are already stiff . . . achoo . . . sounds like green box auto, to me.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lenny's got brass nipples?  Must be miserable in the winter!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No worse than brass balls  Didn't stop me from also getting the brass coupling!
Click to expand...

Does Buzz need to see a doctor?


----------



## FITBMX

vintagesnaps said:


> Is that a trick question Coop?? lol
> 
> Are we done with plumbing yet? and computers... I'll come back when you've got the loop manifold soldered to the motherboard.
> 
> 
> Oh wait, no we're not done yet because Lenny has a big drip.



Don't forget to properly sweat the pipe!


----------



## FITBMX

minicoop1985 said:


> OK now you have me beat. Only the backlight on mine was toast.



Only the backlight??? My doesn't even have a backlight!


----------



## Gary A.

I gotta break out the brass knuckles with this crowd.


----------



## Gary A.

Gnarly Head ... where are you getting this stuff ... Cost+ World Market? I am sipping a Line 39 Pinot from Costco. A 90pt rated wine ... it doesn't come close to the subscription vino I am getting direct from my club wineries. (Then again the wine club wines costs significantly more than Costco ... so ... the Costco wines are of greater value but the wine club wines have superior taste.)  

Leo, you would have a wonderful time exploring my wine fridge.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gnarly Head ... where are you getting this stuff ... Cost+ World Market? I am sipping a Line 39 Pinot from Costco. A 90pt rated wine ... it doesn't come close to the subscription vino I am getting direct from my club wineries. (Then again the wine club wines costs significantly more than Costco ... so ... the Costco wines are of greater value but the wine club wines have superior taste.)
> 
> Leo, you would have a wonderful time exploring my wine fridge.



Local wine store. It scored a 90 and won Wine Spectator's Best Wine of something...year? Can't remember. Cost me $10. It's quite nice. Very bright and fruity and spicy.


----------



## jcdeboever

Kahlua gives me gas

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gnarly Head ... where are you getting this stuff ... Cost+ World Market? I am sipping a Line 39 Pinot from Costco. A 90pt rated wine ... it doesn't come close to the subscription vino I am getting direct from my club wineries. (Then again the wine club wines costs significantly more than Costco ... so ... the Costco wines are of greater value but the wine club wines have superior taste.)
> 
> Leo, you would have a wonderful time exploring my wine fridge.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Local wine store. It scored a 90 and won Wine Spectator's Best Wine of something...year? Can't remember. Cost me $10. It's quite nice. Very bright and fruity and spicy.
Click to expand...

Lodi is an up and coming wine area just south of Sacramento in the Central Valley. Like most of the Central Valley cities, Lodi isn't very picturesque or culturally stimulating.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Lodi is an up and coming wine area just south of Sacramento in the Central Valley. Like most of the Central Valley cities, Lodi isn't very picturesque or culturally stimulating.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gnarly Head ... where are you getting this stuff ... Cost+ World Market? I am sipping a Line 39 Pinot from Costco. A 90pt rated wine ... it doesn't come close to the subscription vino I am getting direct from my club wineries. (Then again the wine club wines costs significantly more than Costco ... so ... the Costco wines are of greater value but the wine club wines have superior taste.)
> 
> Leo, you would have a wonderful time exploring my wine fridge.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Local wine store. It scored a 90 and won Wine Spectator's Best Wine of something...year? Can't remember. Cost me $10. It's quite nice. Very bright and fruity and spicy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Lodi is an up and coming wine area just south of Sacramento in the Central Valley. Like most of the Central Valley cities, Lodi isn't very picturesque or culturally stimulating.
Click to expand...


The Lodi Zins have been getting a lot of notice in the past few years.



snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lodi is an up and coming wine area just south of Sacramento in the Central Valley. Like most of the Central Valley cities, Lodi isn't very picturesque or culturally stimulating.
Click to expand...


If you hadn't posted this, I would have


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Have a tiny bit of a headache, though not too bad. Just really really tired. I'm looking forward to a long weekend. Over the weekend I'll have to do obviously the plumbing work but also some work on the car (with Buzz, of course) but I'm going to need a crash day. But I expect the rest of the semester will go quickly. It always does. It flies through September, drags for years and years from the beginning of October until Thanksgiving, and goes into warp speed in December.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Have a tiny bit of a headache, though not too bad. Just really really tired. I'm looking forward to a long weekend. Over the weekend I'll have to do obviously the plumbing work but also some work on the car (with Buzz, of course) but I'm going to need a crash day. But I expect the rest of the semester will go quickly. It always does. It flies through September, drags for years and years from the beginning of October until Thanksgiving, and goes into warp speed in December.



I know the feeling, he wife has me on a mission. Hang in there, do what you can, and the rest will sort itself out. I have to go pick up the turkeys, tables, and chairs today. I ordered farm raised turkeys last Christmas! I got all the car stuff done this week, hopefully nothing pops up. My crash day will be Friday.


----------



## snowbear

Tomorrow will be a breeze - we are only making the sweet potato stuff and apple sauce (nutmeg - no cinnamon - SIL is allergic), then off to MIL's.  I'll just have to tolerate a couple of relatives.

Since son #1 won't be with us tomorrow, Friday will be our smaller immediate-family-non-traditional Thanksgiving.  Ham, lobster pot pie, chicken & andouille gumbo or jambalaya (depending on whether I feel like making a roux), more of son #2's sweet potato stuff.  I'm leaning towards creme brulee for desert..


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  A very cool and wet morning. A touch of rain last night ... probably not measurable. Leo- Yes, Lodi is Zin country, Napa and Sonoma is Cabernet and the Santa Rita Hills (Santa Barbara County) is Pinot Noir. This year were cooking as much as we can of Thankgiving Dinner today. (Like Charlie.) I absolutely love your menu Charlie. A little late now, but next year Charlie, provide me an address and I'll send you some wine. (Of course you are always welcomed here if/when you're thirsty.)  Unlike Charlie, we're keeping it very simple. (Charlie, you know that lobster and not turkey was served at the first Thanksgiving, so a good call on that.) I thought about adding tamales to our menu, but Mary Lou said it would be too much. I've been giving serious thought to tossing the bird into the BBQ.

Mary Lou's niece recently completed her Teach for America stint in Houston and is presently teaching 2nd grade at a charter school in Los Angeles. She posted a video for her students telling each one what special quality they possess for which she is thankful. In a parental way, it was very touching.

I am very close to finishing my 400+ images for Godspell. The lighing was all over the place, when the actors started perspiring, they displayed this horrible blue reflection smeared across their cheeks, nose, et al. My solution for images that I want to save is B&W ... sometimes that doesn't resolve the issue.  But I have enough good stuff not to have embrassed myself.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Leo- Yes, Lodi is Zin country, Napa and Sonoma is Cabernet and the Santa Rita Hills (Santa Barbara County) is Pinot Noir.


I think we had a Ravenswood zin with grapes from Lodi...it was pretty good.   And of course the _best_ place for Pinot Noir is Willamette Valley.   Everyone knows that, Gary!   

Today's prep for tomorrow is cherry pie.   mmm, I love my crust recipe; a disgusting amount of cut-in shortening, and ice water and vinegar to snap it up.   It bakes up tender and flaky every time - pie Nirvana.   I can't make it too often or no amount of wine could thin the fat in my veins!


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Headache this morning, cured by none other than coffee. Yay!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Looking forward to a small holiday dinner.  The enormous multi-state (NY,  PA, MD, VA) gathering we tried for fell apart so it will be immediate family here then on the road probably Saturday for a visit.  I'm working home and will run out in a little while and pick up some stuff.  Probably going to roast some chicken and do vegetables and maybe pasta.  Best to all and stay safe on those roads!


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leo- Yes, Lodi is Zin country, Napa and Sonoma is Cabernet and the Santa Rita Hills (Santa Barbara County) is Pinot Noir.
> 
> 
> 
> I think we had a Ravenswood zin with grapes from Lodi...it was pretty good.   And of course the _best_ place for Pinot Noir is Willamette Valley.   Everyone knows that, Gary!
> 
> Today's prep for tomorrow is cherry pie.   mmm, I love my crust recipe; a disgusting amount of cut-in shortening, and ice water and vinegar to snap it up.   It bakes up tender and flaky every time - pie Nirvana.   I can't make it too often or no amount of wine could thin the fat in my veins!
Click to expand...

Oregon ... Paaleeeeeaaaase. lol

You and hubby need to visit the Wine Ghetto.


----------



## terri

I somehow knew you'd disagree.   How did I ever guess??    But I stand by that - most pinots I've had from CA are simply over oaked, and pinot, by anyone's admission, is a tough grape to grow, finicky.   Willamette Valley is apparently a lovely area with a perfect little micro climate for it.   Mark my words, I said Willamette Valley, not Oregon as a whole, for pinot.    Frankly we don't keep a lot of pinot in the cellar because it's hard to find good ones.    My personal favorites all seem to come from St. Innocent, with slight variations in blends.   Delectable.    I base this on attending blind tastings and having Willamette Valley comes up on top every time for pinot.   

I love blind tastings.   Seeing labels prejudices people, you gotta learn to buy what your palate enjoys, regardless of appellation.    We quit buying California wines years ago, with occasional exceptions, after having stocked the cellar unconditionally for many years with the stuff (and paying dearly for it).       

Having said all that, if we were around Santa Barbara we'd likely have a blast visiting the Wine Ghetto, and would probably pick up a few bottles up, too, to show some love.   You can usually pick out something that's tasty at a vineyard.   It's fun!


----------



## Gary A.

I agree with blind tasting. I also believe that wine is all about one's personal enjoyment. Yes, there are certain benchmarks of taste that can serve as a starting point for judgement ... but the final and most important factor is the tastebuds of the partaker.

I never thought of Temecula as a haven of fine wines.  But, I gotta tell ya, I've been enjoying my trips and discovering some pretty good stuff there. (Also found subpar stuff ... but that is all part of the adventure and discovery process.) What has surprised me, were these wines at Thornton, which were blended with chocolate and caramel ... they were lively and quite enjoyable. Not something to impress a wine snob or a Som ... certainly not something to pair up with a meal, but if you like chocolate and wine ... these wines deliver pure sipping pleasure on a warm afternoon or to chill out in the evening. Temecula has more than it's fair share of sparkling wines, of which I am finding to be nothing short of a delight. In particular Ponte crafts this Vernaccia, full of pepper and bubbles which I could drink everyday. I found this little family owned vineyard, Doffo, where every wine was different ... different good.

I have heard that Pinots are hard to grow, (even though the vine I have in the backyard has taken off like a rocket ...), I still tip my hat to Flying Goat or Fiddlehead in the Santa Rita Hills or Marimar in Sebastopol for Pinots. Lately, I've been visiting the less traditional wine makers. I am enjoying the experimentation by the small vintners in flavors and bubbles.

PS- I love the Wine Ghetto. I need to get back ASAP.


----------



## Gary A.

... Now I'm off the to the backyard, clipper in hand to collect herbs for our Thanksgiving dinner.


----------



## limr

Okay, hosers, who wants to geek out over a silly Star Wars thing?

Type into Google: "a long time ago in a galaxy far far away" and see what happens. Works on your phone, too.


----------



## limr

Oh man, I've got some GORGEOUS low-angle golden light coming through my office window right now. It's the kind of light that makes everything beautiful. I mean everything - it's hitting a giant lint roller thing  and a tissue box, and they look practically magical!

And I don't have a camera with me...


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Oh man, I've got some GORGEOUS low-angle golden light coming through my office window right now. It's the kind of light that makes everything beautiful. I mean everything - it's hitting a giant lint roller thing  and a tissue box, and they look practically magical!
> 
> *And I don't have a camera with me.*..


 You know... that's good for a ban-inatin'!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh man, I've got some GORGEOUS low-angle golden light coming through my office window right now. It's the kind of light that makes everything beautiful. I mean everything - it's hitting a giant lint roller thing  and a tissue box, and they look practically magical!
> 
> *And I don't have a camera with me.*..
> 
> 
> 
> You know... that's good for a ban-inatin'!
Click to expand...


Oh noes! Does a cell phone count?


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh man, I've got some GORGEOUS low-angle golden light coming through my office window right now. It's the kind of light that makes everything beautiful. I mean everything - it's hitting a giant lint roller thing  and a tissue box, and they look practically magical!
> 
> *And I don't have a camera with me.*..
> 
> 
> 
> You know... that's good for a ban-inatin'!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh noes! Does a cell phone count?
> 
> View attachment 111945
Click to expand...

 I think we can accept that.


----------



## Gary A.

Only if its a film cell phone?


----------



## Gary A.

Finally ... I've spent the last two hours harvesting, cleaning and chopping herbs. I ended up with ten little containers. On the plus side, I and the kitchen, smell pretty good.


----------



## FITBMX

Well I did some plumbing today, while we were augering holes for the new greenhouse, we went right through a septic line! 
So I got that patched up, what fun it was!


----------



## Gary A.

FITBMX said:


> Well I did some plumbing today, while we were augering holes for the new greenhouse, we went right through a septic line!
> So I got that patched up, what fun it was!


You could probably use some of my herbs right about now ...


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> FITBMX said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well I did some plumbing today, while we were augering holes for the new greenhouse, we went right through a septic line!
> So I got that patched up, what fun it was!
> 
> 
> 
> You could probably use some of my herbs right about now ...
Click to expand...


Magic herbs?


----------



## EIngerson

Excuse the interruption, I just wanted to show off the new "swag" riding gear. 





Gear-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


Carry on….


----------



## limr

Nice, um...swag


----------



## EIngerson

limr said:


> Nice, um...swag




Thanks Leonore!


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> FITBMX said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well I did some plumbing today, while we were augering holes for the new greenhouse, we went right through a septic line!
> So I got that patched up, what fun it was!
> 
> 
> 
> You could probably use some of my herbs right about now ...
Click to expand...


You have magic herbs that fix plumbing?????


----------



## Gary A.

FITBMX said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> FITBMX said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well I did some plumbing today, while we were augering holes for the new greenhouse, we went right through a septic line!
> So I got that patched up, what fun it was!
> 
> 
> 
> You could probably use some of my herbs right about now ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You have magic herbs that fix plumbing?????
Click to expand...

Not quite that Magical ... but they will make you smell better.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers and a Happy Thanksgiving to you all! (Even to those who's culture does not celebrate a Thanksgiving today ... Happy Thanksgiving anyway  .)


----------



## limr

Happy Thanksgiving back atcha, Tio!

Hope all you American hosers enjoy your day away from work and in front of bountiful feasts! 

For you non-Americans, happy Thursday! It's almost Friday!!


----------



## minicoop1985

Happy Thanksgiving, fellow Hosers.


----------



## terri

Back atcha, coop, and fellow hosers.    Enjoy the day!


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> Not quite that Magical ... but they will make you smell better.



I know a guy, and his whole car has that "Magical" smell!


----------



## Gary A.

FITBMX said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not quite that Magical ... but they will make you smell better.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know a guy, and his whole car has that "Magical" smell!
Click to expand...

That rock concert smell.


----------



## FITBMX

The official Thanksgiving song!


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> FITBMX said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not quite that Magical ... but they will make you smell better.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know a guy, and his whole car has that "Magical" smell!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That rock concert smell.
Click to expand...


*That's it!!!*


----------



## snowbear

That was my first thought.  I've been looking for a plant to get for my office.  Now that MD has voted to allow it, I wonder if I can get away with a "medicinal" plant - kind of like aloe?


----------



## EIngerson

Happy thanksgiving!!!!!!

Hope your Birds, Beers and Ball games are spectacular!!!!


----------



## snowbear

Thank you - the same to you.  Today will be interesting (the drama has already begun).  Tomorrow is our non-traditional (no turkey allowed).


----------



## minicoop1985

Oh I can't wait for the disappointed text messages from my mom. I can't stand her and her family (VERY long story). So passive aggressive.


----------



## EIngerson

Ready for the guests to arrive. Hope everyone has a great holiday. 




Ready for guests to arrive. by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## FITBMX

snowbear said:


> That was my first thought.  I've been looking for a plant to get for my office.  Now that MD has voted to allow it, I wonder if I can get away with a "medicinal" plant - kind of like aloe?



You can give it a shot, but I bet they wouldn't like!


----------



## FITBMX

EIngerson said:


> Ready for the guests to arrive. Hope everyone has a great holiday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ready for guests to arrive. by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr



I hate to now that everyone is nearly there, but you decorated for the wrong holiday! It's Thanksgiving not Christmas!!!!


----------



## Emanuel M

Ah ah...
Now, look at my watch.



https://flic.kr/p/BpHBYV


----------



## FITBMX

minicoop1985 said:


> Oh I can't wait for the disappointed text messages from my mom. I can't stand her and her family (VERY long story). So passive aggressive.



That sounds fun.....


----------



## FITBMX

I'm sitting here with my Mom, brother, and sister. We are eating pie and playing FirerFly the boardgame!


----------



## Emanuel M

I am sitting here alone, reading this while my wife is snoring next room!
Glad we don't have Thanksgiving here - such a waste of quality time alone


----------



## EIngerson

FITBMX said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ready for the guests to arrive. Hope everyone has a great holiday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ready for guests to arrive. by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hate to now that everyone is nearly there, but you decorated for the wrong holiday! It's Thanksgiving not Christmas!!!!
Click to expand...



Oh those…. We just left those up from last year.


----------



## FITBMX

Emanuel M said:


> I am sitting here alone, reading this while my wife is snoring next room!
> Glad we don't have Thanksgiving here - such a waste of quality time alone



We don't go to any of the familys for holidays, it is much nice just spending the day doing whatever!  And chatting with all you great guys on TPF!!!


----------



## minicoop1985

Today, I'm thankful for a few things. One, my little family. Two, the extended family that matters in my life. Three, that my mom did NOT send me any horrible text messages this year. Yay!


----------



## FITBMX

I'm all fat and lazy on pie.... And I am going to bed as soon as I eat one more piece!


----------



## Gary A.

Fini ... everybody has been fed and the dishes done.  We started eating at 3:00, but many friends worked and trickled in throughout the afternoon and evening. I used my BBQ thermometer for the turkey and it came out moist and perfect. We started out with a Marimar Chardonnay, then a Ponte Vernaccia, the pumpkin pie was served with a Rodney Strong Port and we ended with espresso. I am stuffed and tired ... but it was a very pleasant day with great people, great food and great drink.


----------



## FITBMX

Good night everyone. And remember, if you ate too much and feel sick don't be a hero, go puke!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Where is everyone? Shopping?? Say it ain't so...
Had to do some catching up from a few days without much signal strength.
Having our turkey on Sunday as it is still mostly frozen right now 
Quiet for me and hubby as we are in the 'sticks'. We are in a place that the BB hoop on your 'driveway' makes a great place to hang your deer or bear from as you skin it :{

We knew a guy once that said he hires a professional for everything since the time he tried to repair a window in his bathroom. 
Thought 'how hard can this be....' Then proceeded to drop the hammer he was using, which cracked the ceramic toilet bowl, and flooded the bathroom. 
Beautiful day here near the OBX (Outer Banks, N.C. )


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. 

Nope, Nancy, I'm not shopping today. I avoid stores like the plague today. There is absolutely no material object that is worth dealing with all the cray-cray out there. And when it comes to shopping between now and Christmas, the Internet is my best friend  I do try to shop at local stores, but no big chain or department stores.


----------



## snowbear

I'm here, somewhere.

The only stores for MLW today are the supermarket and the fish market.  I won't be going as I am doing most of the cooking today.  The parking lot at the local Best Buy was filled when we came home last night.  Maybe I'll wander up near the mall and watch the fun.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## minicoop1985

I redact number 3 of my previous statement. I got the awkward text from my mom. Greeeeeeeeeeat. WHY CAN'T SHE JUST LEAVE ME ALONEEEE


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. I'm not very happy. The connectors on my nifty iPad keyboard are bent and I cannot power the keyboard. ☹️

This morning, my poor, bent, old body aches all over. But then, this is no different from any other morning. It is chilly again.  Tossed the remaining dishes into their respective cabinets, made Mary Lou her morning tea and I heated up some coffee from last night.  Nothing really current in the front section of The Times, just report's notebook stuff ... Stuff that used as fillers when the reporters are gone. The main story was how the vintners plan to flood the vineyards with El Niño water to save the vines. After four years of drought the vines are in bad shape. The sports section is filled with stories of the upcoming game between the Trojans and the Gritty Little Bruins. In downtown LA, there are two skyscrapers, one building, using the office/floor lighting spelled out ucla and the other building across the street was illuminating USC.


----------



## FITBMX

minicoop1985 said:


> I redact number 3 of my previous statement. I got the awkward text from my mom. Greeeeeeeeeeat. WHY CAN'T SHE JUST LEAVE ME ALONEEEE


Sorry buddy.


----------



## FITBMX

Everything is covered in ice!!! We got 2" of rain then it started freezing. But I am going to go take some ice photos later.


----------



## FITBMX

limr said:


> when it comes to shopping between now and Christmas, the Internet is my best friend



That is exactly what we do!


----------



## minicoop1985

More news. Upgraded to 8 gigs of ram in my laptop. Didn't want to boot. Commence heart attack. Switched the boards around and it booted right up. Weird.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> I redact number 3 of my previous statement. I got the awkward text from my mom. Greeeeeeeeeeat. WHY CAN'T SHE JUST LEAVE ME ALONEEEE



Sympathy button, man. I didn't get the awkward text, but my mother called from Florida (she's visiting my sister) and within about a minute or two managed to piss me off by suggesting that the only reason I made one pie to take to Buzz's parents' house for dinner is because I'm a) too lazy to consider making two, or b) too disorganized to have time for two pies. Meanwhile, the truth is that I made only one pie because it was just the four of us and WE ONLY NEEDED ONE PIE!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> it was just the four of us and WE ONLY NEEDED ONE PIE!


 How in the holy Hades does _that_ math work???????


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I redact number 3 of my previous statement. I got the awkward text from my mom. Greeeeeeeeeeat. WHY CAN'T SHE JUST LEAVE ME ALONEEEE
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sympathy button, man. I didn't get the awkward text, but my mother called from Florida (she's visiting my sister) and within about a minute or two managed to piss me off by suggesting that the only reason I made one pie to take to Buzz's parents' house for dinner is because I'm a) too lazy to consider making two, or b) too disorganized to have time for two pies. Meanwhile, the truth is that I made only one pie because it was just the four of us and WE ONLY NEEDED ONE PIE!
Click to expand...


Ouch. That's brutal. Mine only asked me why I didn't show up to thanksgiving dinner that I was never told about nor invited to.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> it was just the four of us and WE ONLY NEEDED ONE PIE!
> 
> 
> 
> How in the holy Hades does _that_ math work???????
Click to expand...


If you're ever at Thanksgiving dinner, I'd make you your own pie   



minicoop1985 said:


> Ouch. That's brutal. Mine only asked me why I didn't show up to thanksgiving dinner that I was never told about nor invited to.



Yup, that's how my mother operates. Of course, she'll never say anything outright.

"I made a pie"
Laughter.
"Why is that funny?"
"What happened, you ran out of time? Didn't have enough flour?"
"No, I had plenty of time and flour."
"Didn't you want to make two pies?"
"No, there's just the four of us."
"Oh well. Hmmm. Well, I just thought you'd want to make two. But fine, okay, I GUESS one pie is okay."

All this in her classically passive-aggressive "Oh, I'm just joking so you can't possibly get mad and if you do, it's only because you are too sensitive" tone of voice.

And if any of you ever met her, you'd think she's the sweetest, cutest little thing ever. But she drops that act as soon any non-family members are not around.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> it was just the four of us and WE ONLY NEEDED ONE PIE!
> 
> 
> 
> How in the holy Hades does _that_ math work???????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> If you're ever at Thanksgiving dinner, I'd make you your own pie
Click to expand...

 Okay.... we can be friends again!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> it was just the four of us and WE ONLY NEEDED ONE PIE!
> 
> 
> 
> How in the holy Hades does _that_ math work???????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> If you're ever at Thanksgiving dinner, I'd make you your own pie
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ouch. That's brutal. Mine only asked me why I didn't show up to thanksgiving dinner that I was never told about nor invited to.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup, that's how my mother operates. Of course, she'll never say anything outright.
> 
> "I made a pie"
> Laughter.
> "Why is that funny?"
> "What happened, you ran out of time? Didn't have enough flour?"
> "No, I had plenty of time and flour."
> "Didn't you want to make two pies?"
> "No, there's just the four of us."
> "Oh well. Hmmm. Well, I just thought you'd want to make two. But fine, okay, I GUESS one pie is okay."
> 
> All this in her classically passive-aggressive "Oh, I'm just joking so you can't possibly get mad and if you do, it's only because you are too sensitive" tone of voice.
> 
> And if any of you ever met her, you'd think she's the sweetest, cutest little thing ever. But she drops that act as soon any non-family members are not around.
Click to expand...


I wonder if Mary Lou's mother and your mother are sisters?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I wonder if Mary Lou's mother and your mother are sisters?



Quite possible  Sadly, it seems to be an unfortunately common mother-daughter dynamic.


----------



## snowbear

The jambalaya is made and staying warm, stove-top. I'll whip up the rice at the last minute.  The lobster pie is ready to go into the oven, as soon as the preheat "clicks."  It looks . . . how do you say it . . . _rustic_.  MLW & L-L went to get Andrew from the Metro station.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> More news. Upgraded to 8 gigs of ram in my laptop. Didn't want to boot. Commence heart attack. Switched the boards around and it booted right up. Weird.


BIOS needed to see it first. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## FITBMX

It is 27f with a stiff wind, and I need to put antifreeze in the old dump truck. It was really hard starting so we (my brother and I) dumped some gas down the carb, and after trying this four or five times it was starting to fire. About then it backfires blows gas all over the engine and catches on fire! so as my brother is beating the flames with his hat, I went and got the fire extinguisher and put it out with a few short sprays. 
Then the truck started right up! So I guess next time it will not start I will spray some fire extinguisher down the carb, it seems to work!


----------



## Gary A.

I think it was the quick heating up of the entire engine which was the deciding factor. You taught the truck a lesson about what happens to it when it refuses to start.

BTW- 64F right now.


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> I think it was the quick heating up of the entire engine which was the deciding factor. You taught the truck a lesson about what happens to it when it refuses to start.
> 
> BTW- 64F right now.



It's never fun until you catch something on fire!


----------



## FITBMX

limr said:


> Yup, that's how my mother operates. Of course, she'll never say anything outright.
> 
> "I made a pie"
> Laughter.
> "Why is that funny?"
> "What happened, you ran out of time? Didn't have enough flour?"
> "No, I had plenty of time and flour."
> "Didn't you want to make two pies?"
> "No, there's just the four of us."
> "Oh well. Hmmm. Well, I just thought you'd want to make two. But fine, okay, I GUESS one pie is okay."
> 
> All this in her classically passive-aggressive "Oh, I'm just joking so you can't possibly get mad and if you do, it's only because you are too sensitive" tone of voice.
> 
> *And if any of you ever met her, you'd think she's the sweetest, cutest little thing ever. But she drops that act as soon any non-family members are not around.*



I have a sister like that, everyone outside of the family thinks she's great. But man is that a big fake, she can be a real creep. She never thinks of anyone else, and if something doesn't work out, it is my fault and "we just don't care about her"!


----------



## jcdeboever

My uncle in law Ken stayed over the house last night after having to much drink and I had to take his keys. My Aunt can't drive at night. He got up in the middle of the night and pissed in my closet. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## FITBMX

jcdeboever said:


> My uncle in law Ken stayed over the house last night after having to much drink and I had to take his keys. My Aunt can't drive at night. He got up in the middle of the night and pissed in my closet.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Holy monkey!
Wow, That would be the last time he would come to my house!


----------



## jcdeboever

He did it 10 years ago in my Detroit home. He is the wife's family, I felt worse for him, he is a drunk. I pleaded with him this morning to get help and I would be their for him. He was not genuine in changing. His poor wife, she was totally embarrassed... again. My wife was so thoughtful and loving towards her but she appears dependant on him.  The Aunt is the wifes blood so I have to endure. I don't get it all... Now I have to repair the finished basement ceiling. The urine damaged my finish work. 

I could forbid him in my house but at the end of the day, he may want help. I want to be there for my wife and she needs to know I would go to the end of the earth for not only her but her family as well. 



Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> He did it 10 years ago in my Detroit home. He is the wife's family, I felt worse for him, he is a drunk. I pleaded with him this morning to get help and I would be their for him. He was not genuine in changing. His poor wife, she was totally embarrassed... again. My wife was so thoughtful and loving towards her but she appears dependant on him.  The Aunt is the wifes blood so I have to endure. I don't get it all... Now I have to repair the finished basement ceiling. The urine damaged my finish work.
> 
> I could forbid him in my house but at the end of the day, he may want help. I want to be there for my wife and she needs to know I would go to the end of the earth for not only her but her family as well.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



You're a good man.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> He did it 10 years ago in my Detroit home. He is the wife's family, I felt worse for him, he is a drunk. I pleaded with him this morning to get help and I would be their for him. He was not genuine in changing. His poor wife, she was totally embarrassed... again. My wife was so thoughtful and loving towards her but she appears dependant on him.  The Aunt is the wifes blood so I have to endure. I don't get it all... Now I have to repair the finished basement ceiling. The urine damaged my finish work.
> 
> I could forbid him in my house but at the end of the day, he may want help. I want to be there for my wife and she needs to know I would go to the end of the earth for not only her but her family as well.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You're a good man.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that means a lot because I really want to beat him.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## NancyMoranG

Sounds like you should 'urine' proof that closet for his future visits. Might save $/aggravation til he gets help.
Tough situation on everyone.


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> He did it 10 years ago in my Detroit home. He is the wife's family, I felt worse for him, he is a drunk. I pleaded with him this morning to get help and I would be their for him. He was not genuine in changing. His poor wife, she was totally embarrassed... again. My wife was so thoughtful and loving towards her but she appears dependant on him.  The Aunt is the wifes blood so I have to endure. I don't get it all... Now I have to repair the finished basement ceiling. The urine damaged my finish work.
> 
> I could forbid him in my house but at the end of the day, he may want help. I want to be there for my wife and she needs to know I would go to the end of the earth for not only her but her family as well.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You're a good man.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks, that means a lot because I really want to beat him.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I'm sure you do.   My husband had a roommate who was a drunk and did the exact same thing in the middle of the night, only my husband caught him mid-stream, so to speak, and there was quite a scene.   The roommate didn't remember a thing the next day.   It was my husband's house, so he was able to throw him out, though it caused him quite a bit of anguish while he pleaded with his buddy to get help.  (There had been some other nasty incidents of the friend bringing women he'd picked up in bars to the house, and other sordid stuff.    Peeing in the closet was the last straw.)  

Kudos to you for staying calm and not escalating it.   Good luck to your family on this one; I know it's very hard on everyone.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Thanks, that means a lot because I really want to beat him.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Of course you do, and you would have a valid reason for it, too. Instead, you offer your help. Seriously, the world needs more of this.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. What happened in your closet, would be funny, if it was a movie. But in life, anger would be my immediate reaction.  Sadly, the Aunt must be in extreme denial and/or living in a her own little corner of hell. 

Speaking of movies, I saw Creed last night ... a lot of good entertainment, four stars. Unfortunately, it is nothing new.  The movie pretty much follows the original Rocky script scene by scene, but with different, less colorful characters and drop in movie quality. But all-in-all, well worth the price of admission.

This is the Day of the Game in Los Angeles. USC vs. UCLA ... people who can't even spell USC or UCLA are wear Cardinal or Powder Blue. On paper the teams match up ... and they are tied and playing for the PAC 12 Southern Conference Championship. I won't ne using my tickets, but instead I will watch from .... TEMECULA. Yes, another day of free flights and wine exploration. The game will be in the Coliseum and both teams will be wearing their home jerseys.


----------



## Gary A.

I also salute you JC for taking a more civil and less aggressive approach to the actions of the drunk.  Unfortunately, the aunt's husband is ill and needs treatment. I have nothing but respect for those who have recognized this illness and have chosen to abstain from drinking alcohol. (I have a business partner who doesn't touch a drop.)


----------



## minicoop1985

Good god, JC, that's... saintly of you. I would have lost my sh*t. Granted I don't have any closets here for anyone to take a leak in, but still. That's incredibly rude to say the least.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay, second cup before The Cook and I head out. It is 51F right now, but Cook doesn't seem to care. Last night I brought in some potted Plumeria and tossed them under the patio roof for some protection. Tonight it should drop to the low 40's. Eight years ago we had a few consecutive days of frost which murdered a number of the Plumeria.


----------



## Gary A.

On route to wine country, even as I keyboard. It is a great day. Blue skies rimmed by fluffy clouds. We haven't eaten today , but we're planning on some ricotta pancakes to go with a champagne flight at Thornton.

The Chino Hills and the white capped San Gabriel Mountains are striking and the freeway is even moving extremely well.


----------



## Gary A.

We're in a construction zone and we just passed a temporary freeway sign stating "Starting 12/5 Grand off ramp will be closed forever."


----------



## Gary A.

Lafayette, we are here.


----------



## Gary A.

The champagnes are absolutely wonderful. I lack the palette to distinguish between absolutely wonderful and truly exceptional.


----------



## minicoop1985

I just can't get warm here. What I would do for mid-50s right about now...


----------



## snowbear

67 degrees and the windows are open.  It was 75 earlier.  It's hard to believe we had frost and 32 a couple of days ago.


----------



## Gary A.

Baily's Cabernet Franc ...


----------



## Gary A.

Masia de la Vinya


----------



## Gary A.

Trojans defeat Bruins!


----------



## rexbobcat

I don't know nothing about wine, but on an irrelevant note, I rebuilt my PC yesterday. 

And then I realized my power supply is too shitty to handle the graphics card 

Just wanted to share my sadness.


----------



## Gary A.

Nice photos.  lol (@ Robocat, you're welcome to come with us on our trips to wine country. Learning about wine is a worthwhile pastime.)

USC 40 = ucla 21

The world is right again.


----------



## Gary A.

Home.  

We discovered a new winery worth joining.
Masia de la Vinya, a vineyard which produces Spanish style wines ... of which, I am particularly fond.

This was an enjoyable day, perfect weather and some exceptional wine ... which I brought home.


----------



## FITBMX

Our high was 32f and there has been a heavy mist all day, everything is under 1/4" of ice.


----------



## Gary A.

It is night and cold here. 57F right now. The heater is on (we don't run the heat very often) and I am wearing a scarf.


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> It is night and cold here. 57F right now. The heater is on (we don't run the heat very often) and I am wear a scarf.



We heat with wood and generally don't light the woodburner until it gets down to 50f in the house. 57 Sounds quite nice right now.


----------



## Gary A.

We use gas. Wood throws up too much air pollutants to be a practical source for heat in the Los Angeles Basin.  At night, (bedtime), generally, we turn off the heat and rely on blankets.


----------



## rexbobcat

Hehe well I'd love to visit the vinyards, but I'm not much for alcohol. If I'm drinking wine it's probably a dessert moscato lol. I can't handle most of it.


----------



## snowbear

Ugh.  Three jammin' fifteen.  Plumbers are a noisy lot.

There is a sewer backup next door and it has decided to spread it's wonder into all of the units in the building.


----------



## cauzimme

I can't sleep i'm too excited. 
Today, after brunch I will go buy my first FX camera  
and a lens, and reflectors and god knows what else


----------



## jcdeboever

rexbobcat said:


> I don't know nothing about wine, but on an irrelevant note, I rebuilt my PC yesterday.
> 
> And then I realized my power supply is too shitty to handle the graphics card
> 
> Just wanted to share my sadness.



Yes sir, the power supply is probably the most critical part of the build. I can't tell you how many builds I have seen over the years with crappy or under-powered power supply's. It looks like you got it sorted. You will want a quality one for that motherboard, MSI can have some flaky voltage regulators on their boards and are magnified with low cost PSU's.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Wow, congrats Cauzimme! Count me in on the jealous list 
I would love to go with your shopping list!


----------



## Gary A.

rexbobcat said:


> Hehe well I'd love to visit the vinyards, but I'm not much for alcohol. If I'm drinking wine it's probably a dessert moscato lol. I can't handle most of it.


No problem ... but if you change your mind pm me and we'll figure out a date.  I always take a camera or two and we can share the tastes. If you like moscato a sip or two of something else would be a nice adventure.  Most wineries have a few dessert wines and port on their menus. I picked up a semi-sweet dessert wine at Baily's.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Ugh.  Three jammin' fifteen.  Plumbers are a noisy lot.
> 
> There is a sewer backup next door and it has decided to spread it's wonder into all of the units in the building.


That truly sucks.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Front page article in the Times, heavy with photos, is a story of a Syrian refugee family which has been relocated to Pomona, California. A very interesting snapshot of their present and past lives. I could spend the morning pulling out lluninating quotes from the article ... "lucky does not mean easy". "After the Paris attacks, some of Fouad's friends in Europe have been heckled in the street." "But he doesn't worry much about racism or religious intolerance in the U.S. 'If they didn't want us they wouldn't have brought us,' he says."  Two of Fouad's children attend the Mountain View Elementary School in Claremont. On an award day, all the parents are assembled at the school while the principal hands out the certificates. Fouad's children are presented with "Courage Awards" from the principal.


----------



## Gary A.

Anybody watch the Stanford - Notre Dame game? 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Notre Dame scores and the PAT puts them up by one point. Stanford comes back and on the last play of the game kicks a 45 yard field goal for the win. Go Cardinals.


----------



## minicoop1985

UGH I missed the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.... Son of  a b*tch.

My Vader armor gets here tomorrow. *yay*

Anyone get any good Black Friday deals? My wife found an HP laptop, 17" screen, Intel Core i5 processor, 4 gb RAM... $400. Seemed like a good deal to me, particularly for a 17" screen.


----------



## cauzimme

I'm the new owner of a d610, a 85mm 1.8, a 24-85mm, a 50mm 1.4, new softbox and 1 new giant reflector, YEAHHHHH! 4k in 15min I think it's a new record lol (for me).


----------



## EIngerson

cauzimme said:


> I'm the new owner of a d610, a 85mm 1.8, a 24-85mm, a 50mm 1.4, new softbox and 1 new giant reflector, YEAHHHHH! 4k in 15min I think it's a new record lol (for me).




Nice, congrats. There's no motivation like retail motivation.


----------



## Gary A.

Been a busy morning. Mary Lou and I just finished hanging Xmas decorations on the trees and bushes of the backyard.


----------



## rexbobcat

jcdeboever said:


> rexbobcat said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know nothing about wine, but on an irrelevant note, I rebuilt my PC yesterday.
> 
> And then I realized my power supply is too shitty to handle the graphics card
> 
> Just wanted to share my sadness.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes sir, the power supply is probably the most critical part of the build. I can't tell you how many builds I have seen over the years with crappy or under-powered power supply's. It looks like you got it sorted. You will want a quality one for that motherboard, MSI can have some flaky voltage regulators on their boards and are magnified with low cost PSU's.
Click to expand...


Yeah, it just sucks because my power supply _should _be powerful enough. At least on paper. It's 750w  with enough amps, and this setup doesn't use anywhere near that much power. But it's about 7-8 years old, and it's not from one of the more reliable brands. My old setup used such little power that it didn't really make a difference.

 I was praying that there wouldn't be an issue, but as with everything computer-related, it's never quite that simple


----------



## jcdeboever

rexbobcat said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> rexbobcat said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know nothing about wine, but on an irrelevant note, I rebuilt my PC yesterday.
> 
> And then I realized my power supply is too shitty to handle the graphics card
> 
> Just wanted to share my sadness.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes sir, the power supply is probably the most critical part of the build. I can't tell you how many builds I have seen over the years with crappy or under-powered power supply's. It looks like you got it sorted. You will want a quality one for that motherboard, MSI can have some flaky voltage regulators on their boards and are magnified with low cost PSU's.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, it just sucks because my power supply _should _be powerful enough. At least on paper. It's 750w  with enough amps, and this setup doesn't use anywhere near that much power. But it's about 7-8 years old, and it's not from one of the more reliable brands. My old setup used such little power that it didn't really make a difference.
> 
> I was praying that there wouldn't be an issue, but as with everything computer-related, it's never quite that simple
Click to expand...


I can give you a recommendation for one if you need it.


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers!

Adventures in plumbing didn't go so well for Buzz and me. The bad news is that the new connectors leak and a section of pipe will have to be replaced because of some broken soldering in a nut connecting the pipe and the "nipple" leading to the valve. The good news is that at least now there's a working valve so I can cut water to that pipe and stop the drip without cutting water to the entire house. No cold water in my bathroom sinks, though.


----------



## Gary A.

What a nice day ... somewhere around 70F, just puttered around the yard, a lot of light gardening and light harvesting a few persimmons here, some oranges there, trim up some grapes, cut up a monster zucchini ... just a great day to be outside.


----------



## Gary A.

The afternoon Sun still has a touch of warmth, I'm still in the patio watching a yellow Finch splash in a bird bath. I think a spot of Rodney Strong Port would be good.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

The Port was a good call.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Hey Gary, your glass is cracked 
lol: )
I will have to join the others in your wine class as I wouldn't know what port tastes like...


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... I dropped that glass once too many times ... Port is a very sweet, rich dessert wine. Just a little bit will do ya.


----------



## minicoop1985

Today turned out to be a three cupper. Took the kid to Funset Boulevard (think Dave and Busters but smaller) so I needed the extra energy.


----------



## EIngerson

Tonight is not a coffee night. It's all about the booze. A hectic day of shopping and I'm tired of people. I need to forget today and wake up tomorrow hung over so I can tolerate Earth again.

But anyway, happy holidays.


----------



## snowbear

EIngerson said:


> Tonight is not a coffee night. It's all about the booze. A hectic day of shopping and I'm tired of people. I need to forget today and wake up tomorrow hung over so I can tolerate Earth again.
> 
> But anyway, happy holidays.


Yes, shopping will do that.  Here's to a better tomorrow.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is a nippy 43F outside and another nippy 60F inside. Mary Lou has turned on the heat fearful of my delicate health.  On the front page, two big SoCal players are retiring, Kobe Bryant and the last Boeing C-17 Globemaster has rolled off the Long Beach plant ending production (at least for now).

I ordered a new iPad keyboard. I've broken the mini USB connecting pins on this one ... so it is on it's last charge. And I've replaced the batteries on my activity tracker. I absolutely love that I don't have rechargeable batteries in the tracker. In lieu of charging the tracker every few days ... once a year I replace the batteries. It bugs me having to remove a tracker for charging. I keep thinking about all the steps not being counted just so the tracker can function. With my previous trackers, I would recharge while driving. Still it would bug me and often I'd forget and the tracker would die on my wrist.

The big discussion of the morning has been what to do with the cookies (not Cookie, cookies). She bought a container of oatmeal-raisin for her son. He forgot to take them on Thanksgiving and he lives in Burbank. Both Mary Lou and I are counting calories ... so the container hasn't been touched. (Interestingly, there is a count of ten cookies in the container as opposed to a dozen which would have been the count back in the good old days, back when America was great ... but I digress.) I stepped up, I'm taking the hit for the team and I'll eat the cookies.

The above has all been fluff, waiting for the temp to rise before taking The Cook for her walk and starting my day. It is now 44F outside and Cookie and I are off, armed with plastic bags for the Cook and a fistfull of cookies pour moi.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Gonna be a long one today, but at least the kid has school so I get some adult time.


----------



## Designer

Wifey and DIL spent much of Friday online looking at all the "great deals".  I don't think they actually bought anything though.  

Then wine tasting began at 4:30 followed by the meat and cheese board supper at which a political discussion FIGHT broke out.

It's a wonder we're still speaking to one another.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Getting by on coffee this morning.  A stomach virus killed off the end of my Thanksgiving weekend, but I'm more or less back now.  I hope you're all recovered from whatever happened over the break.


----------



## tirediron

NancyMoranG said:


> Sounds like you should 'urine' proof that closet for his future visits. Might save $/aggravation til he gets help.
> Tough situation on everyone.


Next time he visits, just leave a package of adult diapers on the bed.


----------



## minicoop1985

My armor is here!!!!




Armor test fit by Michael Long, on Flickr

Ordered shin guards. Now all I need is a helmet and the soft parts kit.


----------



## limr

15 minutes, hosers...15 minutes.

I was very unfocusy today. Yes, unfocusy is a word.


----------



## oldhippy

Maybe a hot dinner roll, with the evening meal


----------



## rexbobcat

jcdeboever said:


> rexbobcat said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> rexbobcat said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know nothing about wine, but on an irrelevant note, I rebuilt my PC yesterday.
> 
> And then I realized my power supply is too shitty to handle the graphics card
> 
> Just wanted to share my sadness.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes sir, the power supply is probably the most critical part of the build. I can't tell you how many builds I have seen over the years with crappy or under-powered power supply's. It looks like you got it sorted. You will want a quality one for that motherboard, MSI can have some flaky voltage regulators on their boards and are magnified with low cost PSU's.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, it just sucks because my power supply _should _be powerful enough. At least on paper. It's 750w  with enough amps, and this setup doesn't use anywhere near that much power. But it's about 7-8 years old, and it's not from one of the more reliable brands. My old setup used such little power that it didn't really make a difference.
> 
> I was praying that there wouldn't be an issue, but as with everything computer-related, it's never quite that simple
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I can give you a recommendation for one if you need it.
Click to expand...


What do you think of Corsair? I just bought an RM650 on Ebay for $65. It seem to be pretty reliable and it's completely modular. It's the cheapest model I've found that is. My current one is semi-modular it's just a pain in the ass. So many extra cords in my case I can't do anything about.


----------



## jcdeboever

Very good choice! Very solid unit, excellent features, and very reliable. High quality components well-designed very quiet

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

Just ordered shin armor. All I need now is the leather parts and a helmet. *yay* I'll be approved by May, I hope!


----------



## Gary A.

I have defeated the Internet!!!!  I have actually spoken to a real person at Amazon.

I was attempting to make a purchase at Amazon. But ... Amazon wouldn't accept my password. Then it wouldn't accept my request to change my password. It wouldn't accept my attempts to type in their fuzzy letters just to prove I'm not a robot. If you click enough times on enough buttons ... Amazon will call you. With direct intervention from Amazon, I was able to reset my password. She walked me through the purchase and at the end Amazon wanted to defer 50% of my payments. I don't want a long term relationship with Amazon. Amazon had no rational explanation for the $70.21 worth of deferment. Amazon initially said it was items not being fulfilled by Amazon. I said "I don't think so, the purchase is for an Amazon Kindle Fire, an Amazon Kindle Fire case and an Amazon Kindle warranty." Then Amazon said the $70.21 was for back ordered items." To which I replied, "I don't think so. No single item or combination of items add to $70.21." Then Amazon said the $70.21 was a savings from the retail price." I said "Then that would be a 'discount' and not a deferment. Deferred means to postpone until a later date." Then Amazon said "I don't understand?" sigh ...

Per the advice of Amazon, I clicked on "Place Your Order" and ended up with a payment schedule in my mailbox totaling $90 to cover the $70.21 deferment. So Amazon and I jointly decided to cancelled the entire transaction and Amazon hung up. The second round went much better than the first.


----------



## EIngerson

limr said:


> 15 minutes, hosers...15 minutes.
> 
> I was very unfocusy today. Yes, unfocusy is a word.




LOL, It is now that you said it.


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> I have defeated the Internet!!!!  I have actually spoke to a person at Amazon.
> 
> .


Impossible!!!! Your integrity is now in question. I guess your next post will tell us what's on the other side of a black hole, or maybe the true cause for "global warming" 

Do you have a pet unicorn?


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have defeated the Internet!!!!  I have actually spoke to a person at Amazon.
> 
> .
> 
> 
> 
> Impossible!!!! Your integrity is now in question. I guess your next post will tell us what's on the other side of a black hole, or maybe the true cause for "global warming"
> 
> Do you have a pet unicorn?
Click to expand...

LOL, I swear.

Actually, you leave a number and they'll call you back.

Here's the number that appeared on my phone:

206.922.0880 -Spokane


----------



## limr

EIngerson said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 15 minutes, hosers...15 minutes.
> 
> I was very unfocusy today. Yes, unfocusy is a word.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LOL, It is now that you said it.
Click to expand...


Totally! Here, I'll use it in a haiku to give it legitimacy 

Because I say so
Unfocusy is a word.
The world rejoices.


----------



## snowbear

Gotta love jammin' software companies.

I'm running M$ Office 2007 and Windows 10 at home.  Outlook is my email client because I like the rules capability to route regular emails (newsletters & crap) into subfolders.  Last week, the regular batch of updates for Windows were installed (I have it set for cruise control).  The next time I went to go to a site from an accepted advertiser's emailing, I get an error about links being disabled and to contact the system administrator.  Wait. What?  I AM THEE JAMMIN' ADMIN!

I tried a number of things I found online, none of which apply to Office 2007 so, I uninstall Office and go to reinstall it tonight.  Failed.  I don't have time for this crap, so I just install Outlook to see if it clears.  Nope.  Finally I find something hidden away in the cobwebs of the M$ site which, fortunately, fixes the problem, so yes, M$ has patches to correct their patches.  Now to get the rest of Office installed.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Totally! Here, I'll use it in a haiku to give it legitimacy
> 
> Because I say so
> Unfocusy is a word.
> The world rejoices.




I can do one too:
Jammin' Microsoft
Fixes to fix their fixes.
Getting an iMac.


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> I have defeated the Internet!!!!  I have actually spoken to a real person at Amazon.
> 
> I was attempting to make a purchase at Amazon. But ... Amazon wouldn't accept my password. Then it wouldn't accept my request to change my password. It wouldn't accept my attempts to type in their fuzzy letters just to prove I'm not a robot. If you click enough times on enough buttons ... Amazon will call you. With direct intervention from Amazon, I was able to reset my password. She walked me through the purchase and at the end Amazon wanted to defer 50% of my payments. I don't want a long term relationship with Amazon. Amazon had no rational explanation for the $70.21 worth of deferment. Amazon initially said it was items not being fulfilled by Amazon. I said "I don't think so, the purchase is for an Amazon Kindle Fire, an Amazon Kindle Fire case and an Amazon Kindle warranty." Then Amazon said the $70.21 was for back ordered items." To which I replied, "I don't think so. No single item or combination of items add to $70.21." Then Amazon said the $70.21 was a savings from the retail price." I said "Then that would be a 'discount' and not a deferment. Deferred means to postpone until a later date." Then Amazon said "I don't understand?" sigh ...
> 
> Per the advice of Amazon, I clicked on "Place Your Order" and ended up with a payment schedule in my mailbox totaling $90 to cover the $70.21 deferment. So Amazon and I jointly decided to cancelled the entire transaction and Amazon hung up. The second round went much better than the first.



That sounds like a mess! At least you got a real person!


----------



## FITBMX

3.5" of rain and 1" of ice later, and I am now up to me ears in mud!!!


----------



## medic2230

Must resist the temptation of the Adorama.


Hi everyone! Been a bit since I've been on here.


----------



## limr

medic2230 said:


> Must resist the temptation of the Adorama.
> 
> 
> Hi everyone! Been a bit since I've been on here.



Hey there, stranger!!


----------



## KenC

medic2230 said:


> Must resist the temptation of the Adorama.
> 
> 
> Hi everyone! Been a bit since I've been on here.



Welcome back.  Where are all the pictures you've been taking while not spending time on here?


----------



## snowbear

Playing with the EMS stuff, eh?  Welcome back.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Ran out of milk, so I'm only hjaving one cup today. If I murder someone, you know why.

My belt boxes and shin guards have shipped! This means all I need is the leather bits and a helmet and I'm set, ready to rock and roll!


----------



## Parker219

As I am sitting here literally drinking my coffee, I figured I would tell everyone that today is going to be a great day!

I called my local camera shop and they just got in a shipment of D7200 after being sold out, and they are honoring online sales / promotions.

Since I bought my D5300 from them, they allow me to trade it in and upgrade for a special deal plus they don't charge sales tax on trade ins / upgrades. Plus I bought the 18-300 lens from them for $1000 and if you look on amazon, the lens is still $1000, so they are going to give me a great trade in value on that, so I can......DRUM ROLL PLEASE........................GET THE D7200 today!

I have a photoshoot already booked 2 days from now, so I will be pairing the D7200 with my Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 art!  Lets do this!


----------



## medic2230

limr said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Must resist the temptation of the Adorama.
> 
> 
> Hi everyone! Been a bit since I've been on here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey there, stranger!!
Click to expand...


Hi Leonore  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	






KenC said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Must resist the temptation of the Adorama.
> 
> 
> Hi everyone! Been a bit since I've been on here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Welcome back.  Where are all the pictures you've been taking while not spending time on here?
Click to expand...


Got a few of my son and wife's Halloween costume but that's about it. I moved up to a commercial embroidery machine and been learning it.



snowbear said:


> Playing with the EMS stuff, eh?  Welcome back.



Been working too.


----------



## vintagesnaps

So Coop where are you planning to go in your shin armor and 'leather parts'?? hmm? inquiring minds want to know. lol

Gary that was the best story... man once again rules the earth! you could make a sci fi story out of it (or wait, wasn't there something like that already?).


----------



## minicoop1985

There's a club in town...

j/k. It's all I need to finish Vader.


----------



## terri

minicoop1985 said:


> There's a club in town...
> 
> j/k. It's all I need to finish Vader.


And then you go the club as Vader?    It's okay; you can tell us.   We're all friends here.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Does the club have a cantini band?

I tease but confess I love Star Wars... I remember seeing the first one, for some unknown reason (bunch of dumb kids?!) we sat down near the front, but the cool thing was it seemed like everything was zooming over our heads. It was great.


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm not nearly old enough to have seen the OT in theaters originally. I did see Ep. 1, 2, and 3 in theaters, as well as the re-release of the OT in the mid-90s.

It really should have a cantina band. Play the same song for 4 hours straight. I could dig that.


----------



## limr

I saw the originals in the theater. I was 6 years old and I remember it quite vividly. My older sisters and brother went to "screen" it for me and my other sister. My mother didn't want to let us go because she thought we'd be traumatized by the cantina scene. We kept begging and finally went to see it, and needless to say, we were not traumatized  I remember thinking, "THIS is what I'm supposed to be scared of? Sheesh!"


----------



## minicoop1985

How anyone could be traumatized by the Cantina of all things is beyond me. Cantina was always one of my favorite scenes, just behind Vader in the Meditation Chamber.


----------



## Gary A.

medic2230 said:


> Must resist the temptation of the Adorama.
> 
> 
> Hi everyone! Been a bit since I've been on here.


Welcome home.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Tardes Coffee Hosers. My day started in the five o'clock hour this morning. Full of meetings and crap. The early start means an early end ... I've been shopping and cooking all the afternoon. I have salmon marinading in the fridge, swimming in beer, herbs and spices. I have chicken marinading in the fridge, doing backstrokes in fresh squeezed OJ and more spices and herbs. I have my famous mash potatoes simmering in a crock. ... I just took a taste .. they are sooooo jammin' good.


----------



## Gary A.

Wetting my whistle with a tasty Russian River Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc while I wait for the BBQ to warm up.


----------



## medic2230

Gary A. said:


> Wetting my whistle with a tasty Russian River Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc while I wait for the BBQ to warm up.



Nice choice. We need to get some more Merlot for the house there is way too much Pinot in here.


----------



## Gary A.

I spotted this in the creek during my walk with the Cook. I retrieved both, tossed the bag in the trash and decided to properly dispose of the flag. I must be getting sentimental as I grow old ... But I just felt it was important that some things are done right.


----------



## medic2230

Gary A. said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Must resist the temptation of the Adorama.
> 
> 
> Hi everyone! Been a bit since I've been on here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Welcome home.
Click to expand...


Don't remember if I mentioned last time or not but I got a new camera a while back. Finally snatched a D800 up. Woohoo!


----------



## Gary A.

medic2230 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wetting my whistle with a tasty Russian River Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc while I wait for the BBQ to warm up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice choice. We need to get some more Merlot for the house there is way too much Pinot in here.
Click to expand...

Oooohhhhh ... there is never "Too Much" Pinot.  I'm not a big fan of Merlot. I am courious about the vintners you can purchase in Florida. I was totally surprised that Leo was sipping Gnarly Head in New York.


----------



## Gary A.

Just tossed the salmon on the BBQ ... we're on our way!


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> How anyone could be traumatized by the Cantina of all things is beyond me. Cantina was always one of my favorite scenes, just behind Vader in the Meditation Chamber.



Mind you, this is from a woman with, em...interesting priorities. For example, when I was in college, there was a serial killer who murdered 5 students in their apartments at night. Everyone was freaked out and staying 10-12 in an apartment, including me because I lived alone. My mother asked me if there would be boys at the friend's apartment that I'd be staying at, and if there were, I'd better be careful to "not go from the frying pan into the fire." Because getting stabbed and beheaded in my own bed was the frying pan, but HAVING SEX IS THE FIRE!  

Then she tried to convince me to leave UFlorida to go to a much MUCH safer school - she suggested I go to Manhattan College where my brother went. Not only is this an engineering school (I was not going to be an engineer), but despite its name, it is located in the Bronx, in a neighborhood where people used to post "No radio" signs in their cars so thieves wouldn't smash the car windows. Yeah. I stayed in Florida.


----------



## Gary A.

medic2230 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Must resist the temptation of the Adorama.
> 
> 
> Hi everyone! Been a bit since I've been on here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Welcome home.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't remember if I mentioned last time or not but I got a new camera a while back. Finally snatched a D800 up. Woohoo!
Click to expand...


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wetting my whistle with a tasty Russian River Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc while I wait for the BBQ to warm up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice choice. We need to get some more Merlot for the house there is way too much Pinot in here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oooohhhhh ... there is never "Too Much" Pinot.  I'm not a big fan of Merlot. I am courious about the vintners you can purchase in Florida. I was totally surprised that Leo was sipping Gnarly Head in New York.
Click to expand...


Hey man, it's not like I live in bumblefart!  This is New York, dude - I can get everything here!!

(No seriously, is Gnarly Head so small that you didn't think it would make it over to the East Coast?)


----------



## medic2230

Gary A. said:


> Just tossed the salmon on the BBQ ... we're on our way!



You're cooking and I'm in bed. lol Viva la Cali.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Leo, I just read your post to Mary Leo ... consider yourself her sister.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wetting my whistle with a tasty Russian River Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc while I wait for the BBQ to warm up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice choice. We need to get some more Merlot for the house there is way too much Pinot in here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oooohhhhh ... there is never "Too Much" Pinot.  I'm not a big fan of Merlot. I am courious about the vintners you can purchase in Florida. I was totally surprised that Leo was sipping Gnarly Head in New York.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hey man, it's not like I live in bumblefart!  This is New York, dude - I can get everything here!!
> 
> (No seriously, is Gnarly Head so small that you didn't think it would make it over to the East Coast?)
Click to expand...

Gnarly is medium sized, so it was a coin toss. BTW-  - my wine fridge is filled with stuff that you can't taste in NY.


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## medic2230

Gary A. said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Must resist the temptation of the Adorama.
> 
> 
> Hi everyone! Been a bit since I've been on here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Welcome home.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't remember if I mentioned last time or not but I got a new camera a while back. Finally snatched a D800 up. Woohoo!
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


Only had 5300 clicks too. Hard to believe someone didn't even use that beast. But I'm glad he took the hit on the price for me.


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> How anyone could be traumatized by the Cantina of all things is beyond me. Cantina was always one of my favorite scenes, just behind Vader in the Meditation Chamber.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mind you, this is from a woman with, em...interesting priorities. For example, when I was in college, there was a serial killer who murdered 5 students in their apartments at night. Everyone was freaked out and staying 10-12 in an apartment, including me because I lived alone. My mother asked me if there would be boys at the friend's apartment that I'd be staying at, and if there were, I'd better be careful to "not go from the frying pan into the fire." Because getting stabbed and beheaded in my own bed was the frying pan, but HAVING SEX IS THE FIRE!
> 
> Then she tried to convince me to leave UFlorida to go to a much MUCH safer school - she suggested I go to Manhattan College where my brother went. Not only is this an engineering school (I was not going to be an engineer), but despite its name, it is located in the Bronx, in a neighborhood where people used to post "No radio" signs in their cars so thieves wouldn't smash the car windows. Yeah. I stayed in Florida.
Click to expand...


Well then. Because that makes all the sense in the world...?


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## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Well then. Because that makes all the sense in the world...?



Don't even try to figure it out. Trust me.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> @ Leo, I just read your post to Mary Leo ... consider yourself her sister.



Oh man, then it's a good thing we both found men with a ready supply of wine!! 

Give her a big  from her East Coast spirit sister


----------



## FITBMX

This is stuck in my head, and it is a great song!!!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

Only four more teaching days until finals start. The semester runs right up to the 23rd (24th if there is a snow day during finals week) so once the semester is over, then there is Christmas madness. And then on the 26th, I shall sleeeeeeep.

I too got a new camera in the mail this week, though it's much much less involved than a Nikon D-whatever. It was announced on the 35th birthday of Holga that they are closing their doors, so Buzz and I immediately bought Holgas. I already had one but a piece broke off and is rattling around inside the hollow plastic body. The camera still works, but I figured it would be good to have a back-up, and they are $35 so why not? 

So I have a brand new Holga. It's exactly like my old Holga. Though I will be interested in how the pictures look because apparently, each plastic lens renders juuuust a bit differently. Who'd'a thunk it??


----------



## killerseaguls

Good morning! Do we have any classic car lovers here? I work at a restoration shop and wondered if anyone would enjoy some pictures of the cars we have coming through


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Having the usual morning coffee/snack - something to make work more tolerable.  It's been wet here the past two days. It's good for the trees and I haven't had to be out in it much, so I really don't mind.  On some of the small old streets here it almost seems like London from a century ago.  If it's not raining much at lunch I may go out with camera.


----------



## minicoop1985

@killerseaguls I'm a big fan of cars in general, so here's one vote.

Mornin, hosers. Didn't sleep for crap last night. Argh. Sooooo tired.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Dinner was great. I am still full. The salmon was so large that I didn't cook the chicken. I had to cut it in half to fit it on the grill.  The chicken is still marinating away.  That Holga sounds interesting. But ... I think I'd rather have something better than a Holga and smaller than my GX6800III ... something like a Hasselblad.  Images shot with built-in, automatic, uncontrollable, camera generated imperfections, don't interest me much ... but congrats on your new camera. (I need no help from he camera in capturing a flawed picture.)

Headline story in The Times, our Governor Brown is in Paris to speak to the U.N. summit on climate and environment. It's easy to go green if you're willing to tax the hell out of everybody to pay for it ... then watch all the busnesses pack their bags and leave town for states with lesser tax rates. What bothers me about Brown's administration is the seemingly high emphisis on residential water reduction. Residential water makes up only 2% of California's total water usage, but residents get hammered every day to reduce, reduce, reduce. We are four months into California's emergency drought rules.  The State set a goal of 25% reduction and we are at 22.2% right now and still going down. I just want to see what the State hit the commercial arena as hard as the residential users. (But, then again, commercial users = jobs and revenue and food ... so how hard can you hit them?) But, overall water consumption is down 27.1% when compared to October of last year ... so I guess we're all doing our part.


----------



## tirediron

killerseaguls said:


> Good morning! Do we have any classic car lovers here? I work at a restoration shop and wondered if anyone would enjoy some pictures of the cars we have coming through
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


 Definitely!


----------



## Gary A.

killerseaguls said:


> Good morning! Do we have any classic car lovers here? I work at a restoration shop and wondered if anyone would enjoy some pictures of the cars we have coming through
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Line them up!


----------



## killerseaguls

Haha! Sweet. I'll have some tomorrow. It's been raining here for the past 3 days so I have kept my camera at home. Expecting my new lens today also. So I'll have something to practice with. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

It's that time again... I'm saving for another Hasselblad H series camera, likely either an H1 or H2. I miss mine too much. Once Vader is done, it's time to do it again, to go for the gusto and actually go digital medium format.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leonore you have some of the funniest stories... why a cantina band might be more of a concern that it could be scary for a kid than, I don't know, there was a wookie towering over everybody, Vader whooshing about in a black cape, blasters & light sabers, a computer that boops and looks like a rolling trash can, Peter Cushing - those are all perfectly run of the mill typical things!

Of course I'm older than you but my parents come up with some doozies and the logic escapes me. I don't know where they come up with stuff sometimes. So I just have to laugh.

Now I'm going to keep hearing that cantina music.

Or Cat Stevens, although that song wasn't exactly his best, but I used to love his music, and not just because he went by Cat.


----------



## limr

killerseaguls said:


> Good morning! Do we have any classic car lovers here? I work at a restoration shop and wondered if anyone would enjoy some pictures of the cars we have coming through
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk






278 by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## vintagesnaps

A Holga, yeah, been looking at the Freestyle catalog. Because I don't have a thing to take pictures with.


----------



## killerseaguls

limr said:


> killerseaguls said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning! Do we have any classic car lovers here? I work at a restoration shop and wondered if anyone would enjoy some pictures of the cars we have coming through
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 278 by limrodrigues, on Flickr
Click to expand...


Very nice!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> A Holga, yeah, been looking at the Freestyle catalog. Because I don't have a thing to take pictures with.


Yep, I got the same email about the end of Holga manufacturing - honestly, it's amazing they stuck around as long as they did.   I already have one, a souped-up version with a real, honest-to-god bulb function and shutter release cable.     So bad-ass.        I always thought a Diana would be a fun complement to it, if I ever ran across a decent one.


----------



## limr

killerseaguls said:


> Very nice!



Thank you kindly  *tips hat*


----------



## minicoop1985

The end of Holga kinda surprises me. I thought that stuff was flying off the shelves in a multitude of colors. Apparently I was wrong. Then again, I never really understood the allure behind them-I prefer a nice, crisp image with a good bokeh. Hence my need for another Hasselblad...


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> The end of Holga kinda surprises me. I thought that stuff was flying off the shelves in a multitude of colors. Apparently I was wrong. Then again, I never really understood the allure behind them-I prefer a nice, crisp image with a good bokeh. Hence my need for another Hasselblad...



And I think tack sharpness is overrated  Much harder to be spooky!




rs Attic window by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## vintagesnaps

Just wondered if Gary was on, been watching happenings on the news this evening but I don't think it's near him.

Still, at a facility that served people with developmental disabilities (which is the kind of work I've done) although they were renting out a conference/meeting room to another agency. Seem to think it was somebody who left and came back, what a bizarre situation.


----------



## snowbear

killerseaguls said:


> Good morning! Do we have any classic car lovers here? I work at a restoration shop and wondered if anyone would enjoy some pictures of the cars we have coming through
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



My first car (a few years before I got it)



scan0001 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## killerseaguls

Tuxedo black


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Just wondered if Gary was on, been watching happenings on the news this evening but I don't think it's near him.


I was thinking the same thing on the way home from work.  His profile shows he was on at 8:56 PM.


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## snowbear

killerseaguls said:


> Tuxedo black
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



I guess.  Red & white interior, 170 CID straight six, two-speed auto.


----------



## snowbear

I was bad, tonight.  We had to take lazy lobster into DC - he has been asked to put six photos at a gelato & coffee shop in Georgetown.  On the way, I asked to be dropped off at 3301 M Street NW . . . I was . . . there's a pink box here with some goodness.  At least I walked the six, or so, blocks up hill to the gelato shop, carrying the box.

Good night, folks.  I'll catch you in the AM.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Just wondered if Gary was on, been watching happenings on the news this evening but I don't think it's near him.
> 
> Still, at a facility that served people with developmental disabilities (which is the kind of work I've done) although they were renting out a conference/meeting room to another agency. Seem to think it was somebody who left and came back, what a bizarre situation.


Evening Sharon and Charlie. San Bernardino is about 50 miles from La Mirada.  I know San Bernardino quite well having worked in the city for a few years. It is a sad day.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> killerseaguls said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning! Do we have any classic car lovers here? I work at a restoration shop and wondered if anyone would enjoy some pictures of the cars we have coming through
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My first car (a few years before I got it)
> 
> 
> 
> scan0001 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
Click to expand...

A Ford Fairlane ... 1962?


----------



## Gary A.

Evening Sharon and Charlie. San Bernardino is about 50 miles north-east from La Mirada.  I know San Bernardino quite well having worked in the city for a few years. My youngest daughter works with children that have developmental disabilities and their parents. Some of her co-workers were in the building. They, fortunately, are all safe. It is a very sad day.


----------



## medic2230

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The end of Holga kinda surprises me. I thought that stuff was flying off the shelves in a multitude of colors. Apparently I was wrong. Then again, I never really understood the allure behind them-I prefer a nice, crisp image with a good bokeh. Hence my need for another Hasselblad...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And I think tack sharpness is overrated  Much harder to be spooky!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> rs Attic window by limrodrigues, on Flickr
Click to expand...



Does this come with a digital back?


----------



## medic2230

Evening everyone! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




I made Broccoli Cheddar soup for the first time today. Turned out really well paired with 2 grilled cheese sandwiches.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Glad your daughter's friends/coworkers are safe. I'm still up watching the press conference, turns out he worked for the health dept. that was using the conference facility there for a meeting/holiday event. Apparently he left angry then he and his girlfriend/wife came back to the event, police chief seemed to think he must have had something in mind to have the weapons etc.

Getting late, let us know Gary what's in the Times or on your news tomorrow.


(Wait, there was just an interview on, said something about he had a wife and 6 mo. old baby... who did?? not sure who he was talking about, I thought he meant the guy who did the shooting but they didn't say anything before about that. Hmm well guess I'll see what they say tomorrow.)


----------



## vintagesnaps

No but you can get a Holga lens to use on a digital! Soup and grilled cheese, mmm.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> A Ford Fairlane ... 1962?


You are correct.  It was my grandfather's, then my mother's.

Glad to hear you are OK.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, folks.
The kitties are fed, one cup of coffee has been consumed, and my share of the cupcakes are now history.

It's my last day at work for the week, but will probably be a busy one.  The new dispatch system is supposed to go live next week so I'm fixing the little glitches from my run card project.  Once the dust settles, I'll give the communications folks the first update (part of which is incorporated into this initial data).  Then I streamline what I can, document the whole process and call it finished.  It's been a very long journey and I've had to look for, and even create some of the roads (pun intended) but it's been fun and challenging.  I already have two small project in the works that I need to finish now that the critical one is done.

I'm working at The Barn Show's Christmas/Holiday event tomorrow and Saturday, maybe Sunday.  I should be able to get a tiny bit of shopping done there, as well.


----------



## limr

medic2230 said:


> Does this come with a digital back?





vintagesnaps said:


> No but you can get a Holga lens to use on a digital! Soup and grilled cheese, mmm.



What Sharon said 

Holga  Lens for Nikon DSLR Camera 779120 B&H Photo Video

And you can get a pinhole lens, too.

Holga  Pinhole Lens for Nikon DSLR Camera 299120 B&H Photo Video


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Just an average day at work so far, although it is early.  Enjoying coffee and snack and snooping around on here.  I did go out with camera at lunch yesterday.  Although it was kind of cloudy and bright, the mist had burned off, but I got a couple of reasonable shots.


----------



## killerseaguls

Morning! Got a couple of sweet cars in today. Look for posts soon


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Morning here are very cool even though they warm up into the 70's. I am clasping my cup of coffee, the warmth is bring life into my cold fingers. On Thursdays, Samy's Camera runs a page ana half pull-out ... so three full pages of camera stuff which I'm not buying but still need to carefully review.

Sharon: The LA Times actually ran an "Extra" section devoted entirely to the shootings. There is a huge photo, six columns x about 9" splashed across the front depicting a closeup of three San Bernardino County Sherriff's behind a car, one squating where the windshield meet the hood, one standing behind the windshiled and one at the roof, all with rifles, (one shotgun and two M1 Carbines looking weapons), slung across the car.  The officers have an intense look in their eyes and their trigger fingers are very visibly extended above the trigger housing (not on the trigger).

In the Times it mentioned that the key killer, Syed Farook, recently traveled to Saudi Arabian and returned home with a wife.  Apparently, he and his wife were both killed in the shootout with the Sheriffs.  They have a six month old infant. The office recently threw a baby shower for Farook and he had taken paternity leave. It seemed to many that the couple were living the American Dream.  Farook rarely discussed his religion but was thought to be a devout Muslim.

"Baccari said he was about to dry his hands in the restroom when bullets ripped into the towel dispenser, sending shrapnel into his face and blood spilling into his eyes. The rounds pocked the walls as he dived for cover onto the floor. He and another man pushed the door closed with their legs and waited for police. Later, Baccari remembered his co-worker disappearing before the photo session. 'Where is Syed?' he remembered someone asking."


----------



## Gary A.

Here are some of the headlines from the Extra:

RAMPAGE KILLS 14

Two suspects killed after car chase; officer wounded

Cellphones cut through the chaos

Holiday party suddenly turns into a nightmare

'He never struck me as a fanatic'

Multiple attackers, many baffling details

For familes, not knowing is the 'scariest part'


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> A Ford Fairlane ... 1962?
> 
> 
> 
> You are correct.  It was my grandfather's, then my mother's.
> 
> Glad to hear you are OK.
Click to expand...

My folks had a similar Fairlane, only in Baby Blue.


----------



## vintagesnaps

A Fairlane?!! we're tripping down memory lane here.

Gary I just watched the latest press conference, said they got a tip that he was acting odd and left the holiday event and that's what led them to the apt. Apparently the couple met overseas and she came here, got married; can't imagine leaving their baby behind to do this. Whole thing seems odd, like they had a plan but not necessarily much of one, after going back to his workplace seems like they went back home (to the apt.). Guess it kind of hit home a little for me because of where it happened, could have been like where I worked, rather unsettling.


----------



## Gary A.

Yes, this is all very unsettling.  It could have been any of us in a public restroom when bullets start hitting the towel dispenser. Apparently, he 'dated' her online. She has a Pakistani passport. They seemingly just dropped off the baby at the grandmothers and left to perform murder. Then they got away cleanly and went home, which had been turned into an IED factory.


----------



## killerseaguls

Got a little shiny toy at the shop

Fast edits on my phone. Used a wifi adapter to transfer it. Possible quality lacking


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## killerseaguls

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Nice.  One of my former bosses had a goat farm: two '66 GTOs (dark green DD and a gold show car), enough parts for a third GTO, and his wife drove a '66 LeMans (Turquoise).


----------



## killerseaguls

Nice. We have a few GTOs here. Couldn't get any good angle in the show room but I snagged this real fast 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Favorite car here is the cobra. 






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Nice.  That goat looks like '68 or later?  I know the 64 (and maybe 65) had the horizontal headlights but the sport/fog lamps make me think of the later years.
I wondered if you worked at Flemings (when you said Rockville).  I want to take a trip up there just to look around.  I can't buy but's fun to browse.

There's a car photos thread (or two) in one of the galleries - you should post a few there.


----------



## limr

Those engines are far too clean!


----------



## snowbear

OK, folks.  In case you didn't read it elsewhere, I'm going to be trying to fill in on the POTM for Sharon while she recovers.

I just put up a test poll thread and need some wonderful hosers to hit a few virtual buttons.


----------



## Gary A.

I'll take the Cobra.


----------



## killerseaguls

Gary A. said:


> I'll take the Cobra.



All for sale!! Ha


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## medic2230

snowbear said:


> OK, folks.  In case you didn't read it elsewhere, I'm going to be trying to fill in on the POTM for Sharon while she recovers.
> 
> I just put up a test poll thread and need some wonderful hosers to hit a few virtual buttons.



I see three others agree with me. When in doubt choose "C".


----------



## snowbear

Thanks guys,  Out of curiosity, can you click on the # of votes and see who voted for what?


----------



## medic2230

snowbear said:


> Thanks guys,  Out of curiosity, can you click on the # of votes and see who voted for what?



Me, you and Gary chose "C".


----------



## minicoop1985

Today was Star Wars Stuff in the Mail day.




IMG_9343 by Michael Long, on Flickr




2015-12-03_11-23-34 by Michael Long, on Flickr

Only thing I have out there now is the boots, which should be here this week or next.


----------



## killerseaguls

Nice!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Today was Star Wars Stuff in the Mail day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IMG_9343 by Michael Long, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2015-12-03_11-23-34 by Michael Long, on Flickr
> 
> Only thing I have out there now is the boots, which should be here this week or next.


Awesome.

The teddy bear says "Vader" more than anything.


----------



## snowbear

medic2230 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks guys,  Out of curiosity, can you click on the # of votes and see who voted for what?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Me, you and Gary chose "C".
Click to expand...

OK


----------



## minicoop1985

snowbear said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today was Star Wars Stuff in the Mail day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IMG_9343 by Michael Long, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2015-12-03_11-23-34 by Michael Long, on Flickr
> 
> Only thing I have out there now is the boots, which should be here this week or next.
> 
> 
> 
> Awesome.
> 
> The teddy bear says "Vader" more than anything.
Click to expand...


I was waiting to see if anyone would catch on to that...


----------



## snowbear

Yes, the Force is strong with this one.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.

Cup number two is quickly becoming a memory as I get ready to head out to the barn Show thingie.  I hope they have me working a table instead of parking cars, this time -- killer on the feets.

I'll catch y'all tonight.


----------



## limr

Morning hosers.

Feeling pretty worn out these days. Next semester I'm going back to two classes instead of three. Long story short, I can teach a load of 2 classes/8 credits or 3 classes/ 9 credits. This semester, for a variety of reasons, I did 3 classes.  I'm not convinced the amount of work involved in having a third writing class is worth the extra income, which, as it turns out, is maybe $100 a month. And the new part-time job on campus is 19 hours/week instead of 10 hours/week, so I have less free time to do all that extra grading.

My Spring classes are both evening classes, but I can do my other hours later in the day, so they will be normal work days, just starting and ending later. I wonder if I can manage to leave my Fridays off!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. No paper yet. The Cook and I ventured out into the damn and 50F and found nothing, nada. So, from yesterday's front page is an interesting story on California and the Paris summit. "California will have a massive footprint at the United Nations summit on climate change in Paris, a symbol of the state's political committment to fighting global warming and the business interests of companies that can benefit from clean energy policies."  Not only is the governor in Paris, but "... if you're looking for leading state politicians, environmental activists, government regulators or energy executives, chances are they're in Paris for the next week."

I've got some driving to do this morning so I'm out of here.


----------



## killerseaguls

Good morning all. Snagged my camera this morning drive to a sweet spot for landscape pictures. Then realized I left my camera on all night and the battery was dead haha. Started the morning off greaaaaaat. New lens coming in today I'm pretty excited about


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## killerseaguls

Crap picture. But got this sweet 59 impala in today.  Oh buddy


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----------



## tirediron

Try parallel parking that sumbit*h in a modern parking spot downtown!


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Another cold one here. I miss shorts and t-shirt weather. Hell I miss just plain t-shirt weather. 30* and me just don't mix. I wonder why the hell I still live here...


----------



## Gary A.

I love cars with fins and faces ...


----------



## killerseaguls

Nice Buick!!! Sweet smile


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

killerseaguls said:


> Good morning! Do we have any classic car lovers here? I work at a restoration shop and wondered if anyone would enjoy some pictures of the cars we have coming through
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I have painted many over the years. I used to sell it and tech it but they cut a lot of field guys and changed distribution. Where I live, its distributed through LKQ and they have no clue what they are doing with paint.  I pretty much spray Sikkens Autobase Plus, High Build Surfacer, HS Clear. I miss the old 3 pack system, everything is 2 pack now. I can make em look pretty. I've sprayed Autowave and its real easy but nothing beats the solvent AB+. I sprayed some Matrix MPB a couple weeks ago, that stuff is garbage, reminded me of DBC. The Matrix MS20 clear was OK to spray but I was helping a buddy out and that's what he could afford. It came out good but to much work to spray. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## killerseaguls

So, ive been waiting on my new lens since tuesday that i ordered from B&H, got lost at ups warehouse, found it, on truck since 6am.  had it shipped to my business as its supposed to be 3pm  deadline. its now 5:40pm and i am not stuck at work while its closed waiting for this stupid truck.  I feel like im 12 waiting for the super nintendo


----------



## snowbear

So, the first day of the Barn Show is over.  I parked cars.  Lots of them.  And only one tried to back over me.
bout half-way through the day, I migrated to the wrapping table with lazy lobster.  I was still on my feet but we got through.  We are taking some stools with us today.

One of the high points (there were many, actually) was when this young lady came through with her mom.  I got a couple of quick snaps, this being the best.



Spoiler: DSFW (Definitely Safe For Work)


----------



## Gary A.

aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh .... (regards to the spoiler alert)


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another 'Extra' section in the LA Times. This is the third in a row. I cannot recall ever seeing so many Extras in such a short span of time ... (and I used to work for them). 

I am not totally naive. I have travel and worked in many many different countries.  I've lived in Asia, Europe and Central America. But the below description, from The Times, of the killer's culture/life, as lived in the U.S.A., just seems so foreign and odd.

Syed's wife wore a niqab all the time (face covering). Fellow mosque members said that have met Tashfeen, but would not be able to identify her due to the niqab. At family gathering the men would sit with the men and the women with women.  Even the brothers of Syed have never seen her face. They just knew her as Syed's wife.

Conversely, I guess if Mary Lou and I were living in a Muslim state, our life style may/would seem equally as foreign.


----------



## Gary A.

On a less sad note ... Big Game today. Pac 12 Championship between USC and Stanford. Gary takes a sip from his second cup of his Colombian Supremo, The Cook strolls into the kitchen to remind him of his contractural obligation of a daily walk.

Last night I attended The Christmas Parade in Seal Beach, a very quaint and very small coastal (obviously) community.  Mary Lou's ten year old granddaughter was participating as a member of the Fighting Recorder Marching Band (I may be wrong with the name). It was totally small town ... and totally went on forever. Group after group went by (I'm calling them 'group' because I've seen greater discipline at a goat rodeo ... maybe group could be giving them more credit than deserved). This scout and that troop and this league and that team ... with all the people walking down Main Street I was amazed that the sidewalks were packed. (I would have thought that with so many participants there wouldn't have been anybody left to spectate.)

Prior to the start, we watched wagons filled with kids and decorated with lights walking by.  Mary Lou and I thought wow, it's really nice that the parents took the time to decorate the wagons ... later we discovered those were floats. The realtor had a pick-up with lights in the parade, the nail salon had a convertible, the life guards were driving around with their red floats, the local electric bicycle store had ... electric bikes buzzing the onlookers, kids wild on razors and skateboards were weaving up and down the parade route. A yellow school bus paraded down Main Street with about three people waving from the windows, the local high school's flag team was dressed in these weird unitog outfits making them look like they escaped from Avatar, there were marching jellyfish, mini therapy horses and the most practiced groups hard straight lines in the front but quickly disintegrated into a herd at the back. Even the Christmas Bee made an appearance (someone in a black and yellow striped bee costume with blue wings was buzzing up and down the street).  The local congressman had a pickup truck armed with a fake snow machine regurgitating tiny particles of noxious white fake snow which made everybody cough. It was quite entertaining for a while, but it went on and on.  I have a strong suspicion that the early participant circled backed, reformed at the end and march again.


----------



## killerseaguls

Everything about everything seems weird. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

The Cook and I are back. Ran into a neighbor and his dog. He's a UCLA grad and wanted to talk about Kentucky ... I attended USC and wanted to talk Pac 12 Championship. Back at the kitchen table, sipping some herbal tea and leafing through the paper. A very long front page story, as the headline reads, "Why Joshua Tree remains a crative wellspring".   (FYI- Joshua Tree isn't just a national park, but it is also a little desert community.)

"What do you sing about when you're looking at the milky Way? A lot of structures of the past start losing their grip on you in the desert. You discover your own voice."

"It is a landscape of cheap rents and rustic freedoms, where the iconoclast is roused, the songwriter soothed and bands can play loud across the expanses without the cops showing up.  A defiance by many artists and evnironmentalists to keep out developers, golf courses and chain stores lends Joshua Tree the air of an outpost."

"Past the highway, up a rutted road that meandered towards the national park, Robb sat on his porch, sipping tea in bare feet and ripped jeans. The sage and cholla trees stood still amid the boulders.  Ravens circled against the Sun; the cold air slipped to tender. Robb breathed in the scent of rosemary and looked to the hard blue horizon.

"How do you touch this with music?" he said.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Conversely, I guess if Mary Lou and I were living in a Muslim state, our life style may/would seem equally as foreign.


I presume you are aware that even foreign women need to cover up.  So if Mary Lou lived in Saudi Arabia, she would be subject to ridicule and insults if she ventured out on her own without covering up.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Seems like if the people in the family, the church, the community etc. find a behavior unusual for the circumstances and/or the culture, then it probably is. I mean, I'd sometimes work with a family that had come here from another country, maybe didn't speak much English and here we'd come traipsing in to see their child (with an interpreter); and they sometimes would be awfully quiet at first but then you start to develop a relationship and they usually get more talkative as you go along and get to know each other.

I don't know, I taught public school many, many years ago, but a kid that was too quiet or withdrawn was usually much more of a concern than the ones that drive you ape **** crazy. If something is out of the range of what would be expected, or what would be considered typical for the age or situation etc., that could be a concern.


Now a Christmas Bee, or marching jellyfish, that I'd like to see!


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Conversely, I guess if Mary Lou and I were living in a Muslim state, our life style may/would seem equally as foreign.
> 
> 
> 
> I presume you are aware that even foreign women need to cover up.  So if Mary Lou lived in Saudi Arabia, she would be subject to ridicule and insults if she ventured out on her own without covering up.
Click to expand...

Arrested would be the probable outcome. I firmly believe in, when in Rome ... but my experience in that area of the world is that inside the home with family, all bets were off, in as much as women unwrapped and interacted with all family members and they were known by their names.  In fact, I so much believe in ... when in Rome ... and being non-judgemental of other cultures ... it took reading about the Farook's life style in 2015, that it dawned on me how seemingly 'foreign' and different from myself ... another native born American, their values and lifestyles were.


----------



## Gary A.

I've been making soup ... drinking tea ... and attempting to avoid hanging the lights ... but I cannot avoid that dreaded task any longer ... wish me luck.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> it took reading about the Farook's life style in 2015, that it dawned on me how seemingly 'foreign' and different from myself ... another native born American, their values and lifestyles were.


His being born in this country doesn't automatically mean that his family had assimilated into this culture.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> it took reading about the Farook's life style in 2015, that it dawned on me how seemingly 'foreign' and different from myself ... another native born American, their values and lifestyles were.
> 
> 
> 
> His being born in this country doesn't automatically mean that his family had assimilated into this culture.
Click to expand...

I think being born in a country means you have to de-assimilate in order to attack the country of your birth, grew up and attended school.


----------



## Gary A.

Trojans are getting spanked by Stanford.  Halftime score is 13 to 3.


----------



## Gary A.

But, the lights are up ... my soup is quite good ... the Russian River Vineyard Cabernet is excellant  ... I am tired.


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers.

Heading to bed in a few. It's been a strange and sad day. Started with a flurry of errands in the a.m. and then I got home to wait for the guy who will fix the leaky pipe in my bathroom.

I got home at noon (guy said he had to work in the morning but would come right after work, so I was figuring between 1-2), had lunch, did a little puttering. One o'clock came and went. Set up the new cable boxes I'd gotten that morning to replace the ones that crapped out. Two o'clock came and went. More puttering.

At about 2:30, I went out to check the mail and saw something weird on the driveway right in front of the garage. Turns out it was a woodpecker, sitting with his head hung forward, leaning his beak on the ground. I ran to get some towels and I wrapped the little guy up. He put up only a minor struggle and then just went still, breathing steadily but limp. I didn't see any blood and nothing seemed broken, but it was clear he was either seriously stunned from hitting something, or just nearing his natural end.

I was afraid that being trapped in a towel in a house would stress him out, so I brought him outside, near the woods and away from the road, and laid him on a bed of towels in a nice bright patch of sunlight so he'd have a soft, warm place to die. I wanted to stay with him, but I thought it would stress him out, so I left him alone.

About 45 minutes later, I see the repair guy's truck in the driveway. He was putting a wooden platform thing underneath the garbage shed. He didn't see me at the front door and I wasn't going to yell out, so I just left the door ajar and waited for him to come inside. Several minutes later, I wondered what the hell he was doing, so I go outside and he was gone. WTF? (This is the guy who ploughs the driveway in the winter and who does some handy work for my mother, so it wasn't that weird about the wooden thing, but it was weird that he just left.)

While I was outside, I went down to check on the bird. Even from a few meters away, I could tell that the bird was dead. I just knew. I went to get a shovel and actually made a cut or two, then decided that birds lived free in the open air and didn't belong trapped under ground, so I made a bed of leaves and put him in the middle, tucking the leaves around him so he was nestled. It was like he just died naturally and fell to the ground, to land in a perfect little bed.

I was about to go inside when I heard something in the woods. I thought it was a deer, but it turned out to be a man, just walking through the woods, calmly trespassing on our property and heading towards the lawn. I suddenly felt happy that I had a pointy shovel with me. I retreated from the treeline to the lawn, keeping an eye on him. He kept coming up towards the lawn. At one point, it was clear that he saw me and that I was watching him with a big ole shovel in my hand. He stayed in the woods, just on the edge of the lawn, got to the road, crossed the road and kept walking. (A little while later, I ended up calling the police and told them that I knew it wasn't much and the guy was gone, but I just wanted to go on record for being creeped out by a trespasser.)

Then I went inside and cried about the bird.

At 4:15, the other guy still hadn't showed. I had to pick my mother up from the airport, but I had already arranged for my sister go instead. She didn't want to drive her all the way home, so I had to go meet them halfway, but this guy still hadn't showed. I called him and he gave me the "just got home from work"  business, even though it had been an hour since I saw him. And guess what - he's coming tomorrow.

Picked up my mother, dropped her off, went to spend some time snuggling with Buzz and watching Netflix to try to put the weirdness and frustration and sadness of the day behind me.


----------



## Designer

Yes, a strange day.  

limr had a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.

But hey!  It's Today, already!

Have a good one.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Evening, hosers.
> 
> Heading to bed in a few. It's been a strange and sad day. Started with a flurry of errands in the a.m. and then I got home to wait for the guy who will fix the leaky pipe in my bathroom.
> 
> I got home at noon (guy said he had to work in the morning but would come right after work, so I was figuring between 1-2), had lunch, did a little puttering. One o'clock came and went. Set up the new cable boxes I'd gotten that morning to replace the ones that crapped out. Two o'clock came and went. More puttering.
> 
> At about 2:30, I went out to check the mail and saw something weird on the driveway right in front of the garage. Turns out it was a woodpecker, sitting with his head hung forward, leaning his beak on the ground. I ran to get some towels and I wrapped the little guy up. He put up only a minor struggle and then just went still, breaking steadily but limp. I didn't see any blood and nothing seemed broken, but it was clear he was either seriously stunned from hitting something, or just nearing his natural end.
> 
> I was afraid that being trapped in a towel in a house would stress him out, so I brought him outside, near the woods and away from the road, and laid him on a bed of towels in a nice bright patch of sunlight so he'd have a soft, warm place to die. I wanted to stay with him, but I thought it would stress him out, so I left him alone.
> 
> About 45 minutes later, I see the repair guy's truck in the driveway. He was putting a wooden platform thing underneath the garbage shed. He didn't see me at the front door and I wasn't going to yell out, so I just left the door ajar and waited for him to come inside. Several minutes later, I wondered what the hell he was doing, so I go outside and he was gone. WTF? (This is the guy who ploughs the driveway in the winter and who does some handy work for my mother, so it wasn't that weird about the wooden thing, but it was weird that he just left.)
> 
> While I was outside, I went down to check on the bird. Even from a few meters away, I could tell that the bird was dead. I could knew. I went to get a shovel and actually made a cut or two, then decided that birds lived free in the open air and didn't belong trapped under ground, so I made a bed of leaves and put him in the middle, tucking the leaves around him so he was nestled. It was like he just died naturally and fell to the ground, to land in a perfect little bed.
> 
> I was about to go inside when I heard something in the woods. I thought it was a deer, but it turned out to be a man, just walking through the woods, calmly trespassing on our property and heading towards the lawn. I suddenly felt happy that I had a pointy shovel with me. I retreated from the treeline to the lawn, keeping an eye on him. He kept coming up towards the lawn. At one point, it was clear that he saw me and that I was watching him with a big ole shovel in my hand. He stayed in the woods, just on the edge of the lawn, got to the road, crossed the road and kept walking. (A little while later, I ended up calling the police and told them that I knew it wasn't much and the guy was gone, but I just wanted to go on record for being creeped out by a trespasser.)
> 
> Then I went inside and cried about the bird.
> 
> At 4:15, this guy still hadn't showed. I had to pick my mother up from the airport, but I had already arranged for my sister go instead. She didn't want to drive her all the way home, so I had to go meet them halfway, but this guy still hadn't showed. I called him and he gave me the "just got home from work"  business, even though it had been an hour since I saw him. And guess what - he's coming tomorrow.
> 
> Picked up my mother, dropped her off, went to spend some time snuggling with Buzz and watching Netflix to try to put the weirdness and frustration and sadness of the day behind me.


One of those weird days soon to forget. Did you get a pic of that guy? Was he hunting? Creepy. Did the Police come out? Poor little bird, that was cool what you did. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Sorry for the $#it-day, Lenny, hoping today is better.

MLW worked the Watch Office last night.  She had put some pork chops & mushroom soup in the crock pot so it was ready when we got home.  Now I'm home from getting her so breakfast is an egg, pork chop and mushroom gravy.


----------



## killerseaguls

Morning peoples of the picture world.  Has anyone ever wondered why when you into a restaurant with an infant they give you a high chair? I mean... It's like people who have never seen an infant just think these little guys can sit and move without ease in 2 months hahaha. I bring my 2 month old to the restaurant last night and the waiter was "offended" that I kept my kid in his stroller than the high chair she provided.  She was so confused that I wasn't putting my infant son in a chair... This generation boggles my mind


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning coffee lovers. What a beautiful morning! The wife and I are skipping Church to go to our 8 year old grandson's first travel basketball game today. Managed to shoot a couple of rolls of film yesterday on my recently acquired $5 dollar thrift store Canon T70. I also found my Canon 277T flash that I used on a AE-1 back in the day. Did not use the camera more than 2 weeks and it got stolen from my car. Anyway, I went into my local camera store to pick up film on Friday and inquired on used FD glass. The owner just handed me a beat up FD 135mm f2.5. I was looking for a 85mm, this one will do just fine. The glass is in good order, but the outside looks to have seen some serious use, what a nice guy! I guess some owners appreciate their customers, pretty rare these days and makes me feel good that I am spending my hard earn money in his establishment. There is very little on the net pertaining to this lens but what I could find suggests it is a solid performer, hey it's free and will see. Oh, I could not believe how loud the mirror and film advance is on this thing, Lol. I love the sound and feel of it but it is not a street shooter...

I trust that lmir is going to have an awesome day today!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  This message is sent via my new tablet keyboard. My old keyboard was just fine, it was thin and worked well ... but I messed up the mini USB prongs, I guess, I must have accidentally inserted the charger in upside down. Messed up all the prongs. The new one is the same outside size, the keyboard is a tad smaller but removable. The new one is a bit fancier with magnets employed for positioning and closing and changing between vertical and horizontal.

Sorry to read about your crappy day Leo. Sad to read about the woodpecker. One doesn't give much thought to the death of creatures which are so active and alive.  I ran into a dead hummingbird a while back. It was such a surprise to see it still.  Contrary to your thoughts, I buried it, knowing that above ground would lead to being quickly consumed by other creatures.  I felt a slower, less violent process would somehow be preferable. But all these ceremonies are about the living not the dead.  I am glad the trespasser kept his distance. The world just seems to get scarier and scarier.


----------



## Gary A.

Watched an interesting Netflix last night, 'The Road Within'. The movie is about three young adults with extreme mental dysfunctionalities ... OCD, Tourette's and Anorexia.  Different, entertaining and actually well done.

Better get going before Cookie registers a complaint with her union for not walking her at the during her scheduled times.

Also, the LA Times had an interesting article featuring parents at a San Bernardino YMCA Children's parade who were spending more time watching the crowds than the parade.  Interestingly enough, I also did a bit of crowd watching at the Seal Beach parade.  But ... I'm ... like trained to do so, not scanning for terrorists, but anything unusual worth photographing, (I initial had written 'shooting' ... but thought that 'photographing' would be a better choice of words). I did notice cops marching up and down the Seal Beach parade route, keenly eyeing the spectators in a  menacing/stern/not-smiling manner. That was quite different than past parades. Quite different than past parades when the police were jockular and interacted with the crowds.  They reminded me of Secret Service personnel, who, at any presidential event are easy to spot, because they are the only ones looking away from the president and not at the president.


----------



## EIngerson

STARBUCKS!!!!!! Need….Starbucks….


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Good morning coffee lovers. What a beautiful morning! The wife and I are skipping Church to go to our 8 year old grandson's first travel basketball game today. Managed to shoot a couple of rolls of film yesterday on my recently acquired $5 dollar thrift store Canon T70. I also found my Canon 277T flash that I used on a AE-1 back in the day. Did not use the camera more than 2 weeks and it got stolen from my car. Anyway, I went into my local camera store to pick up film on Friday and inquired on used FD glass. The owner just handed me a beat up FD 135mm f2.5. I was looking for a 85mm, this one will do just fine. The glass is in good order, but the outside looks to have seen some serious use, what a nice guy! I guess some owners appreciate their customers, pretty rare these days and makes me feel good that I am spending my hard earn money in his establishment. There is very little on the net pertaining to this lens but what I could find suggests it is a solid performer, hey it's free and will see. Oh, I could not believe how loud the mirror and film advance is on this thing, Lol. I love the sound and feel of it but it is not a street shooter...
> 
> I trust that lmir is going to have an awesome day today!


I've shoot Street with motor driven film cameras, even with a Hasselblad. No problem.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Another Monday.

Yesterday was better than Saturday, thankfully! The leaky pipe is fixed, and Buzz and I went out for some picture-taking. We both had our new Holgas, and he also took his Leica and I took my Praktica. Of course, this still being my life, I dropped the Holga and the back popped off. So much for the first half of that roll! I put the back on, snugged the film and advanced it a frame or two, and shot the rest of it, but who knows what, if anything, will come out. But stranger things have happened. I'll know tonight if anything came of it since Buzz offered to develop it for me. He's a bit twitchy about immediately developing film and he's got his own roll to develop so he's mixing the Caffenol anyway, plus he knows I have to work and grade a ton of papers before tomorrow. He's a good egg, my Buzz 

The roll in the Praktica hopefully went better...well, except that I sometimes forget that the shutter release is on the front, so twice while just picking the camera up, I accidentally tripped the shutter ...uh...created some abstracts!. And at the end of the roll, I didn't release the film properly so it tore when I started to rewind.

And last night, I finally broke down and signed up for Netflix. Watched the first episode of "Orange is the New Black" and got immediately sucked in. I'm also pleased to see "Portlandia" is available too. So that pretty much seals up my plan for December 26th: put on fleece cat onesy, make lots of tea and popcorn, and binge-watch tv shows all day long. That's what I need to start recovering from the semester/holidays!


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> .. I finally broke down and signed up for Netflix.


We have that, but we never seem to finish anything.  Started several of those season-long shows, just haven't finished them.  

I stayed up way past my normal bedtime Saturday evening to watch the bitter end of the Michigan State vs. Iowa game.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> So that pretty much seals up my plan for December 26th: put on fleece cat onesy, make lots of tea and popcorn, and binge-watch tv shows all day long. That's what I need to start recovering from the semester/holidays!



Sounds like a perfect plan to me!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Back to work and sitting here with the strong coffee that I need.  Thankfully, almost no accumulation of messages from my day off Friday and the weekend, but it's really too early to rule out any trouble to start the week.

Meanwhile, I enclose photographic evidence of Phoebe's recently acquired interest in coffee, not a good thing for so many reasons ...


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning coffee snobs. I'm traveling today & tomorrow to land some new customers for next year. People driving like idiots in the fog while texting. I'm sitting at fuel station, waiting for this pig to fill up. Forgot my camera on the counter, hopefully dog don't use it as a chew toy. Well, pig is full, time to move on down the road.  

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## KenC

jcdeboever said:


> People driving like idiots in the fog while texting.



Wow - idiots, fog and texting - the perfect storm!  Be safe out there.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Good morning coffee snobs. I'm traveling today & tomorrow to land some new customers for next year. People driving like idiots in the fog while texting. I'm sitting at fuel station, waiting for this pig to fill up. Forgot my camera on the counter, hopefully dog don't use it as a chew toy. Well, pig is full, time to move on down the road.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


You know that texting while driving really makes the time and miles fly by.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> You know that texting while driving really makes the time and miles fly by.


Had an acquaintance who showed off by "reading" while driving (the olden days).  Nothing more taxing than a comic book, but still...

He ended up killing himself in a car wreck. That time he was not "reading", just racing home.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You know that texting while driving really makes the time and miles fly by.
> 
> 
> 
> Had an acquaintance who showed off by "reading" while driving (the olden days).  Nothing more taxing than a comic book, but still...
> 
> He ended up killing himself in a car wreck. That time he was not "reading", just racing home.
Click to expand...

 There is a whole lot of stupid in this world.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> One of those weird days soon to forget. Did you get a pic of that guy? Was he hunting? Creepy. Did the Police come out? Poor little bird, that was cool what you did.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Forgot to quote this before. The police did send a car by, but mostly I just wanted it to go on record so if I see him again, it would be taken more seriously. Not that I think it wouldn't be - our county sheriff's office is pretty good - but having established what perhaps is a pattern of trespassing, they might be more persistent in keeping a presence and watching out for him.

He didn't have any kind of hunting gear with him, and he wasn't dressed in what I would consider hunting clothes. There is a lot of land back there and we have had people ask for permission to hunt, so it's possible he was out there scoping out a place. He also might have been a neighbor who went further afield than he'd originally intended and ended up in our back yard. It happens sometimes. There's also a land-locked plot - about an acre or so - behind the property. Years ago, someone was foolish enough to buy it and then couldn't get anyone to agree to sell him a piece of land to access the road, so maybe someone else was foolishly interested in that piece of land and went to look at it.

There are many non-nefarious reasons why the dude was out there walking, but what annoyed me was that he didn't even say anything to me when he saw me on the lawn. He could have explained why he was there, apologized, asked for help...whatever. And I am slightly kicking myself for not saying anything myself. I was just so bewildered and didn't know what to do other than to put distance between me and him and stand there watching with my best intimidating "Ah'm watchin' you with mah shovel" look on my face.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. My hands are cold from being outside, but the coffee is hot.  I am watching a hummer outside the kitchen window having their first sip of the morning. The Cook had a bath yesterday and she is all fluffy and golden today. Saturday, she ended up with this large black spot on her side, like she rolled around in a parking lot, that wouldn't brush off. Just cheked in at work and managed to reschedule my week so I can sleep in today, drink coffee and watch hummers from the kitchen window. (Whew ... dodged that Monday morning meeting bullet.)

The paper is full of San Bernardino and Climate spin articles. The OP-Ed page gave praise to Loma Linda Hospital for their emergency responses to the terror.  I remember an interview from Loma Linda and an emergency nurse thanked a nurse from Texas who magamiously had some pizza delivered to the hospital. I need to remember that there is always ways to help.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> One of those weird days soon to forget. Did you get a pic of that guy? Was he hunting? Creepy. Did the Police come out? Poor little bird, that was cool what you did.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Forgot to quote this before. The police did send a car by, but mostly I just wanted it to go on record so if I see him again, it would be taken more seriously. Not that I think it wouldn't be - our county sheriff's office is pretty good - but having established what perhaps is a pattern of trespassing, they might be more persistent in keeping a presence and watching out for him.
> 
> He didn't have any kind of hunting gear with him, and he wasn't dressed in what I would consider hunting clothes. There is a lot of land back there and we have had people ask for permission to hunt, so it's possible he was out there scoping out a place. He also might have been a neighbor who went further afield than he'd originally intended and ended up in our back yard. It happens sometimes. There's also a land-locked plot - about an acre or so - behind the property. Years ago, someone was foolish enough to buy it and then couldn't get anyone to agree to sell him a piece of land to access the road, so maybe someone else was foolishly interested in that piece of land and went to look at it.
> 
> There are many non-nefarious reasons why the dude was out there walking, but what annoyed me was that he didn't even say anything to me when he saw me on the lawn. He could have explained why he was there, apologized, asked for help...whatever. And I am slightly kicking myself for not saying anything myself. I was just so bewildered and didn't know what to do other than to put distance between me and him and stand there watching with my best intimidating "Ah'm watchin' you with mah shovel" look on my face.
Click to expand...

I meant to bring this up earlier ... have you thought of a dog?


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday in Riverside, (about 15 miles south from San Bernardino), there was a daytime robbery in a large, indoor mall. The robbers used sledgehammers to break the glass cases in a jewelry store.  The noise and extraordinary activity panicked the entire mall, stores went into lock-down, shoppers and employees hid in bathrooms and people were running out the doors in a giant wave of humanity. In the midst of the mayhem the robbers got away.

It is so sad that so few terrorists can cause so much damage.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> I meant to bring this up earlier ... have you thought of a dog?



I like dogs, but don't want to own a dog. This is also such a rare occurrence that it doesn't really make me feel nervous about safety.


----------



## Designer

I've had many dogs over the years, and I've only had one that would bite.  Most were just too trusting of strangers to even think of biting someone.  I even bought a dog once with the idea that the dog would guard this place, but somebody let her out, and she wandered off without guarding anything.  

Besides; even if one took the time and effort to train a dog to be protective, dogs really tie you down.  Can't leave for more than half a day at a time.


----------



## Designer

Hhmmm... attack cat....  hmmm...

Like a BIG attack cat......

Where can I score a lion?


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Yesterday in Riverside, (about 20 miles south from San Bernardino), there was a daytime robbery in a large, indoor mall. The robbers used sledge hammers to break the glass cases in a jewelry store.  The noise and extraordinary activity paniced the entire mall, stores went into lock-down, shoppers and employees hid in bathrooms and people were running out the doors in a giant wave of humanity. In the midst of the mayham the robbers got away.
> 
> It is so sad that so few terrorists can cause so much damage.


Ugh - I agree.   That sounds like little more than overreaction to a "smash & grab" robbery that happens at jewelry stores more than anywhere.      Sucks that they got away, but maybe the surveillance cameras caught their mugs.   

I'm not one to shop in Christmas crowds, anyway, but for those who actually enjoy it and consider it part of the fun of the holiday, this kind of act robs more than jewelry.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yesterday in Riverside, (about 20 miles south from San Bernardino), there was a daytime robbery in a large, indoor mall. The robbers used sledge hammers to break the glass cases in a jewelry store.  The noise and extraordinary activity panicked the entire mall, stores went into lock-down, shoppers and employees hid in bathrooms and people were running out the doors in a giant wave of humanity. In the midst of the mayhem the robbers got away.
> 
> It is so sad that so few terrorists can cause so much damage.
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh - I agree.   That sounds like little more than overreaction to a "smash & grab" robbery that happens at jewelry stores more than anywhere.      Sucks that they got away, but maybe the surveillance cameras caught their mugs.
> 
> I'm not one to shop in Christmas crowds, anyway, but for those who actually enjoy it and consider it part of the fun of the holiday, this kind of act robs more than jewelry.
Click to expand...

Apparently, the crash of the sledgehammers against the glass sounded like gunfire or the results from gunfire ... a few people panicked and the herd mentality turned into pandemonium. Remember that the distance between San Bernardino and Riverside is about ten to 15 minutes.


----------



## limr

Okay, who knows a good out-of-the-way place to go for vacation over New Year's on the coast of, say North or South Carolina? Or maybe the Florida Keys (not Key West because we want to avoid the crowds of tourists as much as possible.)

Last year, we were in Cottonwood, AZ, and it was great - nice small town, lots of places to explore for day trips. This year, we are trying to decide between East Coast beach or New Mexico desert. I'm thinking East Coast will be cheaper for travel costs, but NM might be cheaper for hotel costs. Not sure, but we have to decide pretty damn soon!


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Okay, who knows a good out-of-the-way place to go for vacation over New Year's on the coast of, say North or South Carolina? Or maybe the Florida Keys (not Key West because we want to avoid the crowds of tourists as much as possible.)
> 
> Last year, we were in Cottonwood, AZ, and it was great - nice small town, lots of places to explore for day trips. This year, we are trying to decide between East Coast beach or New Mexico desert. I'm thinking East Coast will be cheaper for travel costs, but NM might be cheaper for hotel costs. Not sure, but we have to decide pretty damn soon!


Jekyll Island - Georgia Beach Family Vacation Destination

I don't know anything about the accommodations, but I know the name simply because of a book that I have: The Creature From Jekyll Island - about the conspiracy to set up the federal reserve.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Okay, who knows a good out-of-the-way place to go for vacation over New Year's on the coast of, say North or South Carolina? Or maybe the Florida Keys (not Key West because we want to avoid the crowds of tourists as much as possible.)
> 
> Last year, we were in Cottonwood, AZ, and it was great - nice small town, lots of places to explore for day trips. This year, we are trying to decide between East Coast beach or New Mexico desert. I'm thinking East Coast will be cheaper for travel costs, but NM might be cheaper for hotel costs. Not sure, but we have to decide pretty damn soon!


Death Valley and next door is Kings Canyon, Yosemite ... and down the street is Carmel.


----------



## oldhippy

Hippy with his new hat


----------



## tirediron

oldhippy said:


> *Annoyed* Hippy with his new hatView attachment 112440


FTFY


----------



## oldhippy

tirediron said:


> oldhippy said:
> 
> 
> 
> *Annoyed* Hippy with his new hatView attachment 112440
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY
Click to expand...

That was my best smile.


----------



## tirediron

oldhippy said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> oldhippy said:
> 
> 
> 
> *Annoyed* Hippy with his new hatView attachment 112440
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That was my best smile.
Click to expand...

How much would you charge to haunt a house?


----------



## oldhippy

tirediron said:


> oldhippy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> oldhippy said:
> 
> 
> 
> *Annoyed* Hippy with his new hatView attachment 112440
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That was my best smile.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> How much would you charge to haunt a house?
Click to expand...

Best offer I've had in a long time.


----------



## killerseaguls

Gary A. said:


> Yesterday in Riverside, (about 15 miles south from San Bernardino), there was a daytime robbery in a large, indoor mall. The robbers used sledgehammers to break the glass cases in a jewelry store.  The noise and extraordinary activity panicked the entire mall, stores went into lock-down, shoppers and employees hid in bathrooms and people were running out the doors in a giant wave of humanity. In the midst of the mayhem the robbers got away.
> 
> It is so sad that so few terrorists can cause so much damage.




Seems this day and age people lack the ability to act on these situations and we are taught to run instead of fight


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

killerseaguls said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yesterday in Riverside, (about 15 miles south from San Bernardino), there was a daytime robbery in a large, indoor mall. The robbers used sledgehammers to break the glass cases in a jewelry store.  The noise and extraordinary activity panicked the entire mall, stores went into lock-down, shoppers and employees hid in bathrooms and people were running out the doors in a giant wave of humanity. In the midst of the mayhem the robbers got away.
> 
> It is so sad that so few terrorists can cause so much damage.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Seems this day and age people lack the ability to act on these situations and we are taught to run instead of fight
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I think most people have no training at all.


----------



## killerseaguls

Gary A. said:


> killerseaguls said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yesterday in Riverside, (about 15 miles south from San Bernardino), there was a daytime robbery in a large, indoor mall. The robbers used sledgehammers to break the glass cases in a jewelry store.  The noise and extraordinary activity panicked the entire mall, stores went into lock-down, shoppers and employees hid in bathrooms and people were running out the doors in a giant wave of humanity. In the midst of the mayhem the robbers got away.
> 
> It is so sad that so few terrorists can cause so much damage.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Seems this day and age people lack the ability to act on these situations and we are taught to run instead of fight
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I think most people have no training at all.
Click to expand...


Got to teach them when they are young!  


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

> I think most people have no training at all.



And in reality, can make the situation worse. Example; I was 12 and had a job as a dish washer / sausage caser  in a local meat market in Detroit. Man came in during busy time to rob store. I was up front loading fresh Belgian sausage in front display upon his entrance. Some people panicked, some froze, and another was going to save the day. The good intentioned hero attempts to disarm or foil and robber shot him and four others. Hero, 2 shopping mothers were killed and a vendor survived. 

I had to clean it up. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Quite frankly, I'd rather live in a world where no one needs to be trained to react to a mass shooting in a public place. And I'd also really love it if we weren't so used to worrying about gunfire in a mall or a school or a movie theater that guns are our first thought when we hear a loud disturbance.

And actually, the Department of Homeland Security instructs people to run first, not fight. How do I know this? Because apparently, working at a community college means that I'm in the line of fire and need to know this information in the event of yet another mass shooting.

"IF YOU HEAR GUNFIRE, DHS SAYS RUN, HIDE, FIGHT

RUN
If you can get away safely, do so immediately, as quietly and quickly as possible, leaving your belongings behind.  Do not wait for others to validate your decision.  The safest place to be is where the shooter is not, and where the shooter can’t see you.  Call 911 as soon as you can safely do so.

HIDE
If you are not able to get away safely, find a place to hide.  Do everything you can to keep the shooter away from you: lock and/or barricade the doors, turn off the lights, and silence your cell phone. Stay quiet and develop a plan of action for what you will do if confronted by the shooter.  If others are with you, spread out and develop a mutual plan of action.  Call 911 as soon as you can safely do so.

FIGHT
If all else fails, and you are confronted by the shooter, attack them in every way possible.  Use whatever makeshift weapons you can find (scissors, portable fire extinguishers, chairs, etc.) to disarm and disable them.  You must be prepared to do whatever is necessary to neutralize the threat by being more aggressive than you ever thought possible.  Total commitment and absolute resolve are critical.  If others are with you, attack as a coordinated group.  Call 911 as soon as you can safely do so."


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Quite frankly, I'd rather live in a world where no one needs to be trained to react to a mass shooting in a public place. And I'd also really love it if we weren't so used to worrying about gunfire in a mall or a school or a movie theater that guns are our first thought when we hear a loud disturbance.
> 
> And actually, the Department of Homeland Security instructs people to run first, not fight. How do I know this? Because apparently, working at a community college means that I'm in the line of fire and need to know this information in the event of yet another mass shooting.
> 
> "IF YOU HEAR GUNFIRE, DHS SAYS RUN, HIDE, FIGHT
> 
> RUN
> If you can get away safely, do so immediately, as quietly and quickly as possible, leaving your belongings behind.  Do not wait for others to validate your decision.  The safest place to be is where the shooter is not, and where the shooter can’t see you.  Call 911 as soon as you can safely do so.
> 
> HIDE
> If you are not able to get away safely, find a place to hide.  Do everything you can to keep the shooter away from you: lock and/or barricade the doors, turn off the lights, and silence your cell phone. Stay quiet and develop a plan of action for what you will do if confronted by the shooter.  If others are with you, spread out and develop a mutual plan of action.  Call 911 as soon as you can safely do so.
> 
> FIGHT
> If all else fails, and you are confronted by the shooter, attack them in every way possible.  Use whatever makeshift weapons you can find (scissors, portable fire extinguishers, chairs, etc.) to disarm and disable them.  You must be prepared to do whatever is necessary to neutralize the threat by being more aggressive than you ever thought possible.  Total commitment and absolute resolve are critical.  If others are with you, attack as a coordinated group.  Call 911 as soon as you can safely do so."


Excellent 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

That happened while the mall was still open?? geez, if they did a smash and grab robbery while stores were open I'd wonder if they were on drugs and desperate or what... especially so soon after a recent shooting people probably couldn't help but think it was something like that again, would still be fresh in people's minds.

Whew Lenny I'm glad I'm retired and not doing that... we had fire drills with kids, and tornado drills, then an occasional earthquake drill (since they don't happen in this area) - I'm just as glad to not have to be doing these kind of drills, but I know schools have them.

I only remember one lockdown years ago, and don't even remember what was going on in the neighborhood near the school, but basically the police didn't want us to dismiss so we had to keep the kids in til we got the all clear (and I was teaching Jr. high at the time, so that was loads of fun...).


----------



## EIngerson

I have to give props to my youngest son Jordan. He grabbed my camera and got a great photo of me. Love that my kid gets it when it comes to photography. I hope he sticks with it.

Sorry, proud Dad moment.




Perris-5 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The Times has noted this morning that Sarkisian, the drunken USC football coach, is sueing the university for firing him. He stated in his suit that "Instead of accommodating Steve Sarkisian's disabilities, USC kicked him to the curb." Sarkisian's lawyer stated "Steve at this point lost his team, lost his income, lost the job that he loved."

So I guess, in this day and age, job performance hasn't any importance in job retention. What's important in keeping your job is that you like the company that hired you, like the money you're bringing home and that you like what you do. Check those boxes and you can keep your $4.25 million dollar job.  It doesn't matter that you show up to work drunk, offended alumni, offended players and lose games. If the university gets ticked because you're a drunk ... you sue them for $12M.

(Sark makes Trojans miss Lane Kiffin.)


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy hosers. I'm having a bit of a crisis. Hasselblad H or Mamiya 645 AFD? Argh... What would you guys pick? Why?


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Howdy hosers. I'm having a bit of a crisis. Hasselblad H or Mamiya 645 AFD? Argh... What would you guys pick? Why?



Yes.


----------



## limr




----------



## limr

Sorry, a little broken over here   With three more whole days of the week left, even!


----------



## snowbear

Sorry, Lenny.  Off tomorrow (though doing some work from home) and bugging out early on Thursday.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gee, thanks, that helps a TON.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Howdy hosers. I'm having a bit of a crisis. Hasselblad H or Mamiya 645 AFD? Argh... What would you guys pick? Why?





minicoop1985 said:


> Gee, thanks, that helps a TON.



Um - you don't want either one of those jammin' pieces of stuff.  You need to buy them, then send one to Leonore and the other to me so we can dispose of them properly.  It doesn't matter which of us get  which, but please do it in a hurry before they hurt you.


----------



## Designer

Yeah, I'm one of those who got kicked to the curb.  I know I have skills, but the bosses could not see them.


----------



## minicoop1985

snowbear said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Howdy hosers. I'm having a bit of a crisis. Hasselblad H or Mamiya 645 AFD? Argh... What would you guys pick? Why?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gee, thanks, that helps a TON.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Um - you don't want either one of those jammin' pieces of stuff.  You need to buy them, then send one to Leonore and the other to me so we can dispose of them properly.  It doesn't matter which of us get  which, but please do it in a hurry before they hurt you.
Click to expand...





Keep on dreamin.


----------



## snowbear

We went to Books-A-Million; I could not resist these.




DSC_6502 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> We went to Books-A-Million; I could not resist these.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_6502 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


Those are cool. Good eye!

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Thanks.  Yes, I am a geographer.


----------



## limr

Nice, Charlie!

Coop, let me check out those two Hassy models and see if I can't figure out a more helpful answer


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Nice, Charlie!
> 
> Coop, let me check out those two Hassy models and see if I can't figure out a more helpful answer


Yes, Coop.  Just send them to Lenny and she will assess them for you.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nice, Charlie!
> 
> Coop, let me check out those two Hassy models and see if I can't figure out a more helpful answer
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, Coop.  Just send them to Lenny and she will assess them for you.
Click to expand...


Exactly 

In the meantime, using a much more boring Google search, I'd go for the Mamiya. Those H-series Hasselblads  seem quite fussy.


----------



## limr

Hey, this past weekend wasn't a total bust! 

Close to the edge... | Photography Forum

From the dropped roll in the Holga. Not too shabby!


----------



## Gary A.

That is a nice shot Leo.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> That is a nice shot Leo.



Thanks, Tio   I was really happy with it. Can't believe it came out just the way I wanted despite the film half falling out of the camera! This was only 3 frames past the part that was exposed.


----------



## jcdeboever

What about a Contax 645

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> Howdy hosers. I'm having a bit of a crisis. Hasselblad H or Mamiya 645 AFD? Argh... What would you guys pick? Why?


If you're interested in the 645, I have one that might be for sale...

Seriously though, that would be my choice for most applications; the glass is very good (admittedly not Hassy good, but it is very close and a fraction of the price) and they're very well built, and despite their odd shape, they're very ergonomic.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Here at home today with coffee and some work that I really should get to, but what's the hurry?

Found out this morning that the move which will require me to actually drive to work is now pushed back from July to late Sept./Oct., which suits me just fine.  I can put off replacing my old car and I have more time taking the train to work.  I realized that I really need the time on the train reading a book to decompress from work and if I have to go out in traffic for at least 45 minutes instead I'll probably lose my mind (not that most people would notice, but I would).


----------



## minicoop1985

tirediron said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Howdy hosers. I'm having a bit of a crisis. Hasselblad H or Mamiya 645 AFD? Argh... What would you guys pick? Why?
> 
> 
> 
> If you're interested in the 645, I have one that might be for sale...
> 
> Seriously though, that would be my choice for most applications; the glass is very good (admittedly not Hassy good, but it is very close and a fraction of the price) and they're very well built, and despite their odd shape, they're very ergonomic.
Click to expand...


Depending on when and price, I may be interested in that 645 if it's an AFD. Given the fact that I had a Hasselblad H1, I can understand that the 645 would be more ergonomic than the Pentax 645n. And I eventually want to go digital, so that ruled out the Pentax anyway.


----------



## snowbear

A belated good morning.  I've had a few cups and I'm working from home today.  I published an online interactive map for a meeting between a few regional departments and had to set some options.

Boss #1 just sent an email that he likes what he sees, so far.  I just need to add some things.


----------



## otherprof

minicoop1985 said:


> Today was Star Wars Stuff in the Mail day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IMG_9343 by Michael Long, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2015-12-03_11-23-34 by Michael Long, on Flickr
> 
> Only thing I have out there now is the boots, which should be here this week or next.


Looking good you are.


----------



## minicoop1985

Thank you, good sir.

I'm thrilled that I have my Canon system complete and can start working on this MF getup. Now to wait until I can afford a digital back... grrrr


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers!

Had a pretty good day. 

Wednesday is my weigh-in day. The number on the scale is still going down (I'm at 13 lbs total loss so far). 

I went into work planning to motor through a certain project only to find out that a co-worker had also been asked to work on the project and seemed to be taking it over, but then managed to figure out a completely different issue that was stumping three of us, so I think I still ended up scoring some points 

And I got home to find my scores for a test I took last week (a story to be told at a later date), and I killed that thing! 

Of course, this now makes me nervous about having used up all my good karma for the week and it's only Wednesday, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the universe doesn't balance out my good day with another dead-bird-waiting-for-repairman-stuck-in-car-with-mother kind of a day tomorrow


----------



## Designer

Sounds like a good day.  The bird care was worth at least two days of good karma, IMO.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> ... with another dead-bird-waiting-for-repairman-stuck-in-car-with-mother kind of a day tomorrow



What were you ... Hitler in another life?  If you weren't Hitler or equal ... you sure banked a lot of bad karma in one day which can be traded in on good karma.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Tardes Coffee Hosers.  I am appreciative that his coffee house also has a liquor license. It's been another long day.  Mary Lou and I just settled in to pay some bills and unwind with a glass of vino. Milenio, which we picked up from Masia de la Vinya in Temecula. It is very pleasant, fruity and a touch of sweetness on the front end. This was the only decent wine we tasted there. We're probably not going back.

But the view was nice.




iPhone


----------



## killerseaguls

So, about the orange juice I had the other day. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Good evening coffee lovers. Lots of driving today. Ran across one of these, remember them? 











Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Sure do! Last time I was at one was about 10 years ago. I think it's time for another date night at the drive-in!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Sure do! Last time I was at one was about 10 years ago. I think it's time for another date night at the drive-in!


Mine was way longer, I remember one of the movies... Flesh Gordon... First time I seen nudity in a movie, it was groovy at the time. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

The last Drive-In I attended, I took my kids when they were young. for the Drive-In, pj experience.  The sound system required that you attach a wire to your car antennae ... my car didn't have an obvious antennae ... I tried attaching the wire to the windshield frame ... but nothing worked, so we went home.


----------



## limr

FLESH Gordon? That's a brilliant name!  And so help me, I had to Google it and watch the trailer. It's seriously one of the cheesiest things I've ever seen. And I've been to Rocky Horror! 

My first movie at a drive-in was Dumbo. Much less skin...or at least, less human skin


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> FLESH Gordon? That's a brilliant name!  And so help me, I had to Google it and watch the trailer. It's seriously one of the cheesiest things I've ever seen. And I've been to Rocky Horror!
> 
> My first movie at a drive-in was Dumbo. Much less skin...or at least, less human skin


I was forever interested in girls after that. I was 10. I went with my buddy's family, they were way cooler than my parents. That's when you hooked the mic to the window...oh, those had cranks back then. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Just finished a spot of Port after dinner.  Life is good.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> FLESH Gordon? That's a brilliant name!  And so help me, I had to Google it and watch the trailer. It's seriously one of the cheesiest things I've ever seen. And I've been to Rocky Horror!
> 
> My first movie at a drive-in was Dumbo. Much less skin...or at least, less human skin
> 
> 
> 
> I was forever interested in girls after that. I was 10. I went with my buddy's family, they were way cooler than my parents. That's when you hooked the mic to the window...oh, those had cranks back then.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Oh I know all about crank handles for windows  I was a 70s child and grew up cranking windows, dialing phones, and playing records.

And Lucille (my 2005 Cobalt) is a no-frills, crank window kind of a car


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh that's hilarious. 'We're in big trouble' - yeah, because you're stuck in the worst movie ever made! lol Those special effects are beyond cheesy.

'Not to be confused with the original Flash Gordon' - well I'm glad they cleared that up!

It was fun going to the drive thru when we were kids, in the back of the station wagon. The last I went to a drive thru my friend was driving a clunker of an 'antique' car, old enough to have those interior running boards, '40s maybe? and we forget to take the speaker off the window... not that the window getting damaged was any worse than the rest of the car! But the fun part was the back seat was like a mile away from the front seat, what fun we had running around in that car.


----------



## KenC

jcdeboever said:


> ... Flesh Gordon...



I wasn't sure anyone remembered that.  I think the emperor was referred to as "your protuberance."


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is a foggy and wet morning here. It is finally beginning to feel like Fall/Winter. Front page story in The Times, the headline reads, "Middle class is no longer a majority in U.S., study say".
"... which is certain to be a central issue in the 2016 presidental race."
"Many analysts and policymakers regard the shift as worrisome for economic and social stability."
"... and many liberals in particular, view the declining middle as part of a troubling trtend of skewed income gains among the nation's richest families." 

The world is certainly changing.


----------



## minicoop1985

While we shouldn't assume things based on one study, I can say that it's true around here. Most families I know are one paycheck away from complete disaster. We're lucky that we both have jobs and a little savings, which is more than the VAST majority of people I know.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> FLESH Gordon? That's a brilliant name!  And so help me, I had to Google it and watch the trailer. It's seriously one of the cheesiest things I've ever seen. And I've been to Rocky Horror!
> 
> My first movie at a drive-in was Dumbo. Much less skin...or at least, less human skin
> 
> 
> 
> I was forever interested in girls after that. I was 10. I went with my buddy's family, they were way cooler than my parents. That's when you hooked the mic to the window...oh, those had cranks back then.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh I know all about crank handles for windows  I was a 70s child and grew up cranking windows, dialing phones, and playing records.
> 
> And Lucille (my 2005 Cobalt) is a no-frills, crank window kind of a car
Click to expand...

Love it! I was an 80's child, and I grew up cranking windows, rotary phones, and playing records. I remember 8-tracks, Atari, and rabbit ears. Floppy disks actually being 'floppy'. Dials on televisions. We didn't have cable until the late 90's. Didn't have a contemporary computer until late 90's, no internet until late 90's. As tech savvy as my grandfather was, my mother wasn't at all. My mother still gets confused by technology, and she refuses to get a cell phone.


----------



## JacaRanda

vintagesnaps said:


> Oh that's hilarious. 'We're in big trouble' - yeah, because you're stuck in the worst movie ever made! lol Those special effects are beyond cheesy.
> 
> 'Not to be confused with the original Flash Gordon' - well I'm glad they cleared that up!
> 
> It was fun going to the drive thru when we were kids, in the back of the station wagon. The last I went to a drive thru my friend was driving a clunker of an 'antique' car, old enough to have those interior running boards, '40s maybe? and we forget to take the speaker off the window... not that the window getting damaged was any worse than the rest of the car! But the fun part was the back seat was like a mile away from the front seat, what fun we had running around in that car.


 
Loved the ones that had playgrounds up near the screen.  I can't remember how many times I got lost trying to get back to the car.  I also remember folks hiding in trunks just to get in free...... parking backwards so you can open the hatch and watch lying down.  Ohhhh the good ole days.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Life was rough, with all that cranking windows and turning knobs.

I've still got an 8 track player in the basement - made it thru summer camp and camping trips and taking a fling up in the air and landing on the deck, still works! lol But why do I still have it?? Cassettes I still listen to, not the 8 tracks - real fun when one would get stuck and keep playing the same few songs over and over.

Now you got me reading economics... in a brief news report they probably only hit the highlights; in the report by the company that did the research, it shows middle income has decreased, but upper income has increased. So has lower income so there's been more separation there. Middle income households have higher incomes, but there have been setbacks; the good with the bad I guess.


----------



## minicoop1985

I JUST WON FREE TICKETS TO STAR WARS!!!!! OMG I never win things!!!!


----------



## waday

Our company's network is down, again. This is a weekly occurrence. Get halfway through a report, network goes down, lose all work. Rinse, lather, repeat. 

In other news, the wife and I watched People Places Things a few nights ago. We're big fans of Jemaine Clement. This movie didn't disappoint. We loved it.  We also loved What We Do in the Shadows. That movie was HILARIOUS.



minicoop1985 said:


> I JUST WON FREE TICKETS TO STAR WARS!!!!! OMG I never win things!!!!


Congrats!


----------



## Gary A.

Houston, we have a problem. I have a freezer stuffed with stuff and I need to make room for dozens and dozens of tamales.  I've already been cooking with frozen food but it doesn't look like I've even made a dent. I have a week ... anybody want some frozen food ... just come on by. I need to sponsor a few dinner parties ... anybody hungry?


----------



## killerseaguls

Good morning folks. Drinking coffee and eating my apple with this view. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Man, your freeways in Maryland are worst than our freeways in LA.


----------



## killerseaguls

Man you have no idea. 270 is like watching those japan videos of backed up highways.  I lived in myrtle beach for a few years and traffic didnt exist.  i came back here and to go 30 miles it usually takes 90 minutes lol


Gary A. said:


> Man, your freeways in Maryland are worst than our freeways in LA.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. 50% chance of rain today, yeah! It is overcast this morning with a high projected @ 63F. My daughter in St. Louis will have a warmer day.  More front page stories on San Bernardino, in-depth stuff on the family of Farook and that FBI divers were searching a local lake. The article makes reference that the brothers were a "study in contrasts".  Syed Raheel Farook, the older brother was and extrovert, walked a casual line when it came to religion, dated a non-Muslim girl, imbibed freely - (I guess that means he drank a lot of booze).  He joined the Navy and received medals for service in the "Global War on Terrorism".  Syed Rizwan Farook, the shooter, was quiet, an introvert joined the Muslim Club at school and memorized the Koran. 

And a very interesting feature story on a liberal, South African attorney, who defended blacks in her country pro bono. Her home was invaded by armed thugs.  The story shows revealing look at her life before and after the invasion.  It is a very very interesting look at her and her life in South Africa. I would love to meet her. She is a person of quality and honor.

Chanel just purchased a property on Rodeo Drive for $13,217 a square foot. The most expensive square foot price paid out for any retail property in California.


----------



## pgriz

Not sure where to put this, but came across a photographer's work on Lake Eire:  totally stunning.  Here's the link to his site:  Liquid Mountains: I Captured Lake Erie On The Day It Came Alive And Showed Its True Power


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Not sure where to put this, but came across a photographer's work on Lake Eire:  totally stunning.  Here's the link to his site:  Liquid Mountains: I Captured Lake Erie On The Day It Came Alive And Showed Its True Power



Wow, those are incredible! And kinda creepy...

Of course, I dealt with the slight creepiness much better when my eye fell on another link on the same site:
20+ Of The Fluffiest Cats In The World

So much floof!


----------



## limr

Afternoon, hosers.

Gettin' antsy. It's 2:30 on a Friday. I have a week and a half left of the semester. Only one teaching day left and then finals. I can see the light, I can see the light! But I'm still stuck at 2:30 on a Friday! With the next two hours feeling really really long! Coffee is probably not what I need right now, so I'm thinking of some green tea and a quick walk (I have a good excuse - I "have to" walk some contracts over to another building!  )


----------



## vintagesnaps

I thought that photographer's name seemed familiar - he's a longtime hockey photographer, has done photos in the Hockey Hall of Fame collection. What the heck's he doing out _in_ the lake?? Probably people don't usually take photos of waves up close, w/some big honkin' sports(?) lens, larger apertures, etc. but he sure got some cool weird photos.

One of them he titled the Lake Erie monster - yeah, that's the name of a hockey team! lol on the other side of the lake from him.

Well I'm going to put a string of those battery operated teeny lights on the wreath, then gotta watch the time to flip the switch! Now that I already have the wreath up I got the lights and this brilliant idea to put some on the wreath... Supposedly they stay on for 6 hours then go off, so I'll see how well this cheapo plastic thing works tonight.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Man, your freeways in Maryland are worst than our freeways in LA.


No - our parking lots are classier.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure where to put this, but came across a photographer's work on Lake Eire:  totally stunning.  Here's the link to his site:  Liquid Mountains: I Captured Lake Erie On The Day It Came Alive And Showed Its True Power
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, those are incredible! And kinda creepy...
> 
> Of course, I dealt with the slight creepiness much better when my eye fell on another link on the same site:
> 20+ Of The Fluffiest Cats In The World
> 
> So much floof!
Click to expand...


Too much "awwww" for one viewing.


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> Not sure where to put this, but came across a photographer's work on Lake Eire:  totally stunning.  Here's the link to his site:  Liquid Mountains: I Captured Lake Erie On The Day It Came Alive And Showed Its True Power



I love #6 (I think) - with the "face" in the wave.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Well I'm going to put a string of those battery operated teeny lights on the wreath, then gotta watch the time to flip the switch! Now that I already have the wreath up I got the lights and this brilliant idea to put some on the wreath... Supposedly they stay on for 6 hours then go off, so I'll see how well this cheapo plastic thing works tonight.



I have an inflatable ornament (a polar bear - imagine that!) that I need to dig out of the closet and set up.  We got a small greenery "spray" for the door.  It's a spray and not a wreath because it's not round, I guess.  I'll try to get a couple of snaps this weekend.


----------



## snowbear

I think I hosed my GIS software.  I'm trying to add a legend and the program has been "Not Responding" for about 15 minutes.  I don't know why there's be an issue - there's only 274 groups of 2 layers each plus two reference layers (total of 824 layers) and a few text boxes and small icons.


----------



## diadae

It's 4:48 am in Thailand and I just can't sleep... too excited to go out and take some photos around town at sunrise. Plus I have to take care of some other stuff. My parents just put up the christmas decorations back in FL, and they look swwweeeettt....

Not too upset to be missing the festivities this year though.


----------



## jcdeboever

Lake Erie is dangerous. I have been fishing on a boat there. A storm can come in quick and with those shallow waters, can get freaky real fast. We got caught in one and if you looked over the side while high on a wave, you could see bottom... Flipping scary, had to change my drawers that day.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## jcdeboever

Someone sent me this...lol

<Sorry... we ran out of mind's eye bleach in the TPF member's washroom>

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----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> A link would have been much better.


I didn't get one, it was texted to me

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> A link would have been much better.
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't get one, it was texted to me
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

You could have kept it a secret...  I honestly wouldn't have complained!


----------



## Gary A.

I am wrapping up dinner.  Mary Lou brought home some pan dulce. We are pairing it with "Ménage a Trois", a red wine blend. It pairs extremely well.


----------



## Gary A.

Charlie, we're watching "The Journey Home" on Netflix. It's about Polar Bears.


----------



## snowbear

I think I've seen that one.  I have something bear-related to shoot this morning after I wake up (and the kitty gets tired of laying on the desk).


----------



## snowbear

OK, story time (sort of).

We don't drink many soft drinks/sodas/fizzy drinks now, but we will occasionally have them with lunch or dinner.  When we were drinking them pretty regularly, I tended to use Coke products because of the rewards system: the numbers in bottle caps and in case cartons are "turned in" and after a great number of points are collected, you can turn them in for various things.  The older set may remember trading stamps (Top Value, S & H Green stamps, etc.); it's basically the same thing.  I've gotten a nice ceramic Christmas tree ornament, a calendar and a donation to a couple of charities in my name.  Not great stuff, but if you are buying the drinks, anyway, it's an added bonus.

Coke has been running a marketing thing (since the summer, I think) where cans and bottles are labeled "Share a Coke (or other brand) with . . . " and there are some names on them.  To my knowledge, you can't have them custom printed - only the common names (Michelle, Kaitlyn, Bobby) and a few activity-type titles. like "Tailgater" and "Footballl Fan,"  I guess you go through the cans in the display, looking for your name or the name of friends for your next party.

Last night, running a bit late from work, we stopped by the local Subway chain for dinner.  We decided to grab a couple of sodas this time, instead of the usual iced tea.  The Share a Coke is still running, but only on the Coke Zero bottles that were in the cooler.  I was, and I guess still am, a "Classic" Coke fan (remember the old/new/classic fiasco in the 80's?) but I decided to grab the Coke Zero bottle this time.  No, it wasn't "Charlie" or even "Charles" , , , 


 

Yes, marketing does work, sometimes.  Oh, and by the way, I got a regular Coke for dinner.  This bottle goes into one of the collection cabinets.  I'll clean the bottle if I decide to actually drink this one.

Now, where is that inflatable Holiday Bear for outside?


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. *YAWN*

Having a day out with Buzz today. We're heading north for a stop at the Harney and Sons tea shop and cafe and then a walk to go look at a waterfall. This one, in fact:




Day 342 - Falls wider angle by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

Sounds nice.  I hope the "Yawn" wasn't in reference to the trip, the waterfall or Buzz.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Not much rain here, barely measurable, but the mountains got dumped on big time. I think maybe up to 3 feet in the Sierra Nevada and the local mountains snow is down about 4000'. Today, we're off to Temecula again. We need to pick up another wine order at Ponte and then off to Doffo for a polenta feed. Doffo is a small winery but puts out a very very nice product(s).  Doffo buttes up picnic tables, then fills up pans/troughs in the middle of the tables with polenta and brings out a variety of toppings. Clubs members then dig in and eat family style, enjoy some wine, the views of the vineyards and the company. The Cook and I are off for our walk.

PS- My wine pick-ups or only two to four bottles every few months as part of my club membership. I belong to three clubs in Temecula and two clubs in Sonoma.


----------



## minicoop1985

Hola hosers. How you folks been? Been an odd December so far. No snow, temps in the 50s (upper 50s at that), sun... WTF. I'm not complaining anymore, but this global warming thing could be great!


----------



## minicoop1985

Also, thought I would give the hosers here a little update: The Great Medium Format Debate has been settled. I have chosen... Mamiya. Kinda hard not to when the 80mm 2.8 is $180 from KEH and the comparable Hasselblad lens is generally $1200 and UP. Very up. And they're quite similar performance wise.


----------



## Gary A.

We are here at Ponte. Sitting in the patio sipping our Verranacia, love that stuff. Maybe 70F, Christmas music streaming across the vineyards ... simply a nice mini vacation. I love California.


----------



## Gary A.

Doffo-


 



Making the polenta.


----------



## Gary A.

A great time.
iPhone images


----------



## tirediron

What is it?


----------



## jcdeboever

Chilli cheese omelet?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Polenta.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Polenta.


  Okay.. sure.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Polenta.
> 
> 
> 
> Okay.. sure.
Click to expand...

LOL ... Italiano for boiled cornmeal. Relatively unflavorful, sauces make the meal. You need to get out more.

Polenta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


----------



## snowbear

.Good morning, peeps.
Today starts another weekly sketch over at FPN; the theme is "keys."  I'm still trying to figure out what, exactly, to do.  One thought is to somehow include my panorama of the Key bridge & Georgetown Univ.  I guess I could draw computer keyboard keys.  I'll figure out something.

I found this via the York (PA) United Fire & Rescue fb page (we know the Chief) and thought I'd share for anyone who goes along with these things.  Girl who lost family in fire has 1 wish: Christmas cards 

I did a couple of quick shots of one of the fountain pens, yesterday, and had some help while getting things set up. Yeah, it's blurry, I know.  I hadn't gotten focus set  - it's the AIS micro.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. My youngest daughter is coming over. She has gluten intolerance so I'm setting up the menu now. She loves mash potatoes ... So I just set some Yukon Yellow to boil. I'll mash them and season them without any cream/milk/butter.  I herb the hell out of them and they are quite tasty. I have Reds in the backyard.  I think I'll cut up a few Yukon and plant them as well. The potatoes will reflect my school's colors, lol. Most of the wineries shut down around 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.  We left Doffo at 4:30 p.m. We were going to stop off at Thornton's for our free flight and maybe that incredibly delish baked Brie pastry with a honey glaze ... But decided to go directly home. We got home about 6:00 and settled in for some tea, pan dulce and a Netflix. We watched "The Best Offer" ... Wow, good movie, four stars ... Full of intrigue and suspense.

The paper is milking the hell out of the San Bernardino story. Everyday a long front page story and numerous side bars inside.  Today the front page story is on the Redlands' Police, the officers who pulled over the SUV and were first to engage the terrorists. "Capps told told his officers to stay alert, but privately he wasn't worried. Never in a million years will we encounter these people he thought. ... Gun muzzle flashes erupted from the back seat of the SUV, A volley of bullets flew towards Capps. A short lull, then another eruption.  I hope it doesn't hurt too much when I get shot, Capps thought as he drove into the gunfire."

I know San Bernardino well. When I was a kid, it was this large gleaming city to the east. (I grew up in a very small agricultural town Chino and San Bernardino was a big thing.  Chino had one traffic signal at D Street and Central, it blinked red in all four directions. San Bernardino had department stores and freeways and theatres.) It was founded by Mormons at the base of the mountains and the central city was patterned after Salt Lake City. My father was a San Bernardiono County Supervisor, for a short spell I worked in San Bernardino and dated a girl from Redlands.

I am thankful for the police and Sherriff's and their rapid and ... Heroic responses to the terrorism in San Bernardino.   It is unfortunate that a few bad apples overshadow all the good they do.

Yesterday at Doffo, the event also required that you bring an unwrapped toy. As it turned out, the gifts were for USMC's Toys for Tots. At the start of the feeding, the Doffo family addressed the horde of polenta eaters with the usual platitudes and well wishes and season greetings ... She thanked all of us for our toy donations and then a Marine, decked out in his dress blues, came into the open patio to receive the gifts and the entire place erupted in applause.  After about 20 seconds people started standing up and the applause started getting louder until the entire venu was standing and clapping ... The ovation echoing down through the grapes and into the valley.





IPhone


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon, hosers. It's 55 here, we had thunderstorms last night, and it's December. What on Earth is going on here?


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Afternoon, hosers. It's 55 here, we had thunderstorms last night, and it's December. What on Earth is going on here?


Don't worry, we will be freezing our onion sacks off before you know it.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Polenta.
> 
> 
> 
> Okay.. sure.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... Italiano for boiled cornmeal. Relatively unflavorful, sauces make the meal. You need to get out more.
> 
> Polenta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Click to expand...

If it doesn't fit in the microwave, it's not likely to wind up on the menu.


----------



## minicoop1985

jcdeboever said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon, hosers. It's 55 here, we had thunderstorms last night, and it's December. What on Earth is going on here?
> 
> 
> 
> Don't worry, we will be freezing our onion sacks off before you know it.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...



Oh no. Oh hell no. Don't say that. That's bad mmkay?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It rained yesterday evening, YEAH! A real rain, a rain that is measurable ... A rain that one needs to employ one's wipers continuously. Most of the rain has skipped by SoCal and has fallen in the north and dumped in the Sierra Nevada. The snowpack is double from this time last year. The Sierra is where we get most of our water. Local water is great, momentarily water the lawns and parks ... But does very little to refill the reseviors and the aquifers. While snow in the mountains is more important that rain in the valleys ... It is still nice to see everything all wet. I did have a causality, a fused electrical junction box had a meltdown. Sorta odd, it powered the filters for the pond and the stuff in the BBQ patio. It was an easy work around to bypass the box, just odd to have blown after working well for many years.  (The pond filters are up and running, but no power to the BBQ patio until I replace the box ... So the wine fridge and the small fountain are down.). I need to check my recently installed underground wiring and connects to the BBQ patio ... Maybe that's what caused the short.


----------



## limr

I can't wait for this warm winter bullhinky to be over. Bring on the Polar Vortex, beeeeeyotches!!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Polenta.
> 
> 
> 
> Okay.. sure.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... Italiano for boiled cornmeal. Relatively unflavorful, sauces make the meal. You need to get out more.
> 
> Polenta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If it doesn't fit in the microwave, it's not likely to wind up on the menu.
Click to expand...

John, John, John ... You are missing out on life.  Your senses can do so much more than merely alert you to potential hazards ... They are a source of pleasure and delight. Good food can pleasure the brain through your eyes, nose and mouth. You need to toss the micro away ... Get in your car and drive down here. I'll provide you stops along the way for fine dining and drink. Then I'll not only feed you ... But also show you how to cook. (I cook with wine and sometimes I'll even pour some into what I'm cooking.)


----------



## Designer

Sharing the same dish with 50 or 60 of my closest friends doesn't look good to me.  

But maybe after two or three glasses of wine I'll taste it.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Sharing the same dish with 50 or 60 of my closest friends doesn't look good to me.
> 
> But maybe after two or three glasses of wine I'll taste it.


It was a wonderful time. I met some very interesting people and we plan to get together again. The whole event was fun and entertaining. I captured some interesting images, I supported Toy for Tots (which I most likely wouldn't have and it may me feel good to toss the Star Wars toy into the bin), the food was very tasty (with enough room between the diners for safe hygiene - lol), the drink was excellent (as one would expect) ... I will do it again next year.

In summary, it was a great day and a lot of fun! Next year, you can be my guest.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Polenta.
> 
> 
> 
> Okay.. sure.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... Italiano for boiled cornmeal. Relatively unflavorful, sauces make the meal. You need to get out more.
> 
> Polenta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If it doesn't fit in the microwave, it's not likely to wind up on the menu.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> John, John, John ... You are missing out on life.  Your senses can do so much more than merely alert you to potential hazards ... They are a source of pleasure and delight. Good food can pleasure the brain through your eyes, nose and mouth. You need to toss the micro away ... Get in your car and drive down here. I'll provide you stops along the way for fine dining and drink. Then I'll not only feed you ... But also show you how to cook. (I cook with wine and sometimes I'll even pour some into what I'm cooking.)
Click to expand...

 It's all too much like work.  Eating is something I do because I need to, NOT because I want to, and with the absolute minimum off effort and expense necessary to maintain life.


----------



## Designer

I haven't participated in Toys for Tots for years.  If I ever get back to SoCal, I will be sure to try to meet with you.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's cooommmming Lenny! Blowing thru here today, bounced hail around at 6 this morning making as much noise as possible, later some strange bright thing came out of the clouds. (Then it goes back in.)


----------



## vintagesnaps

Now Gary, if you're inviting John down you'll have to fix poutine, not polenta.

Charlie, did you see this? Seems to be making the rounds online. 
Columbus Zoo and Aquarium


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Polenta.
> 
> 
> 
> Okay.. sure.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... Italiano for boiled cornmeal. Relatively unflavorful, sauces make the meal. You need to get out more.
> 
> Polenta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If it doesn't fit in the microwave, it's not likely to wind up on the menu.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> John, John, John ... You are missing out on life.  Your senses can do so much more than merely alert you to potential hazards ... They are a source of pleasure and delight. Good food can pleasure the brain through your eyes, nose and mouth. You need to toss the micro away ... Get in your car and drive down here. I'll provide you stops along the way for fine dining and drink. Then I'll not only feed you ... But also show you how to cook. (I cook with wine and sometimes I'll even pour some into what I'm cooking.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's all too much like work.  Eating is something I do because I need to, NOT because I want to, and with the absolute minimum off effort and expense necessary to maintain life.
Click to expand...

Food is like photography. To do it right ... Takes more time, creativity, skill and experience than a snapshot ... But the exceptional image/meal is well worth the effort.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Now Gary, if you're inviting John down you'll have to fix poutine, not polenta.
> 
> Charlie, did you see this? Seems to be making the rounds online.
> Columbus Zoo and Aquarium


Ahhhhh .... No! 


(Lol)


----------



## FITBMX

vintagesnaps said:


> It's cooommmming Lenny! Blowing thru here today, bounced hail around at 6 this morning making as much noise as possible, later some strange bright thing came out of the clouds. (Then it goes back in.)



It sounds like you broke the sky!


----------



## FITBMX

vintagesnaps said:


> Now Gary, if you're inviting John down you'll have to fix poutine, not polenta.
> 
> Charlie, did you see this? Seems to be making the rounds online.
> Columbus Zoo and Aquarium



That is the cutest thing!


----------



## limr

FITBMX said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now Gary, if you're inviting John down you'll have to fix poutine, not polenta.
> 
> Charlie, did you see this? Seems to be making the rounds online.
> Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is the cutest thing!
Click to expand...


Oh, that belly!! And her little face needs a million kisses!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I didn't do nuttin'! It rained down upon my head (roof) - and the AC unit that's in the yard outside the bedroom window (which of course being metal pinged and clanged loudly). It has been rather bizarre, getting pretty dark all of a sudden. I might see the wicked witch and Dorothy if this keeps up.

That baby polar bear is cute, sounds like a little motorboat.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Now Gary, if you're inviting John down you'll have to fix poutine, not polenta.
> 
> Charlie, did you see this? Seems to be making the rounds online.
> Columbus Zoo and Aquarium


Now you've done it.  I will be worthless the rest of the day; so precious.
I have a PandaCam app so I can catch the baby at the National Zoo -- saw it dreaming & twitching one night.


----------



## snowbear

Bring on that arctic blast.  It's 69 jammin' degrees outside with 72% humidity.  Inside the office, it feels like 80, at least.  I am sure glad I have a little fan running.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Now Gary, if you're inviting John down you'll have to fix poutine, not polenta.


Is John is too far west for donairs?


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now Gary, if you're inviting John down you'll have to fix poutine, not polenta.
> 
> 
> 
> Is John is too far west for donairs?
Click to expand...

 Nope... we have a couple of good donair places in town!


----------



## killerseaguls

Santa came to town yesterday 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peoples.

This morning's starter is one of the Duncan's (black, no sugar).  The k machine needs descaling or something; the water just trickles out.  I checked the injectors and there are no blockages so it must be inside, somewhere.  Time for vinegar.

I have to fix something in the regional travel times map I did last week.  I have the time slots as one layer so you have to know how to filter in order to isolate any of them, otherwise you get all six slots, and I don't feel like teaching anyone right now.  It's not hard to break them out, but it has to be copied 273 times, each one renamed, and a filter set so each so shows only one station.  I wrote a script to do it but it has to be done one step at a time.

First cup done.  Time for number two and a muffin.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning coffee lovers. Working the phones today and gathering the customers Christmas cards to send out.  Been up since 4:00 am, couldn't sleep. One of my long time PC customers dropped off a build last night that I did in 1998 and want's it fixed! I tried talking him out of it but to no avail, he is stuck on older legacy software and OS. What a flipping disaster when I opened it up. This thing is not coming into the house until cleaned and gutted. It reeks like a giant ash tray as the guy is a chain smoker, could not even bring myself to photo the disgusting (as I gag) mess inside. Everything is tarred and feathered with thick, sticky, grossness. I pulled all the parts (wearing a respirator), hung them with wire and doused with electrical contact cleaner several times, dripping gooey brown juice into a bucket....nasty. The PCI ports went from golden brown to stark white. Put it all together this morning and the thing fired right up! Crazy! Replaced the hard drives and caps in the ancient Seasonic power supply this morning. Used contact cleaner and simple green on the heavy, tank like PC case, this case has gotta weigh 30 lbs by itself. He can come and get it tonight. The pull barn still smells today.


----------



## Gary A.

^ A 'puter with lung cancer ... Gross ... Way too gross this early in the morning.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary lift's the steaming coffee and takes his second sip. The rich dark liquid trickles down his throat.  Gary is in a good mood, he has just finished processing more than 400 images of Godspell. A musical he shot weeks ago and finally ... Finally ... He is burning the DVD, then a post to his photo site and the project will be completed, Fini.

As the images start loading up to his internet web site, Gary is pleased that he is finished and that the images are top notch.  Godspell is a '70's hippy musical regarding Jesus. 'Day By Day' is one of the musical songs. A very nice message wrapped in tie-dyed, bell bottomed, hippy clothing. 

Mary Lou, his much much better half, stated that the cast and even their parents ... (She knows the parents of Jesus ... Joseph and Mary), will be very happy. It has taken him about a month or more to complete the task, but he only has time to work on them in the evenings, sometimes no more than ten files a night. But they are done, even though Gary feels guilty about the long processing time ... He is extremely happy that the project is completed.

Gary's Colombian Supremo tastes just a bit better this morning than yesterday.


----------



## Gary A.

Wow ... The entire Los Angeles Unified School District, some 1124 schools, has an emergency shut down due to some type of threat(s) to multiple targets.


----------



## Gary A.

A few from Godspell:
Fuji cameras were used on all snaps.

#1






#2





#3





#4





#5





#6


----------



## minicoop1985

Impressive. Most impressive.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Wow ... The entire Los Angeles Unified School District, some 1124 schools, has an emergency shut down due to some type of threat(s) to multiple targets.


(Q.) How does one tell if the LA schools are shut down?  

(ans.) Look at the parking lots.  If the lots have cars in them, then the schools are open.  If no cars, then the schools are not open.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't know, most high schools here are about the same way! Even I drove a car my senior year, just because I was editor of the paper and stayed after school - and that was probably because it was less of a PITA to let me take our cheap bucket of bolts than to have to come pick me up! lol Here I don't think there are exactly luxury vehicles in the school lots.

Just saw that closing mentioned on the news, and a school somewhat in the area closed/dismissed because of some kind of threat. Seems to be some copycatting lately I think. They think it's an online threat only but they aren't going to take any chances.

They just mentioned NYC had a similar threat (not sure when) and they concluded it was just a hoax.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary lift's the steaming coffee and takes his second sip. The rich dark liquid trickles down his throat.  Gary is in a good mood, he has just finished processing more than 400 images of Godspell. A musical he shot weeks ago and finally ... Finally ... He is burning the DVD, then a post to his photo site and the project will be completed, Fini.
> 
> As the images start loading up to his internet web site, Gary is pleased that he is finished and that the images are top notch.  Godspell is a '70's hippy musical regarding Jesus. 'Day By Day' is one of the musical songs. A very nice message wrapped in tie-dyed, bell bottomed, hippy clothing.
> 
> Mary Lou, his much much better half, stated that the cast and even their parents ... (She knows the parents of Jesus ... Joseph and Mary), will be very happy. It has taken him about a month or more to complete the task, but he only has time to work on them in the evenings, sometimes no more than ten files a night. But they are done, even though Gary feels guilty about the long processing time ... He is extremely happy that the project is completed.
> 
> Gary's Colombian Supremo tastes just a bit better this morning than yesterday.



Sorry, I can't help but be reminded of The Jimmy:

Jimmy down!
JIMMY HOLDS GRUDGES!


----------



## jcdeboever

The pull barn still smells like a dive bar next to a Hud Trailer Park. Gonna have to get the charcoal out. Gonna get that guy a gift certificate for a lung x-ray.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary lift's the steaming coffee and takes his second sip. The rich dark liquid trickles down his throat.  Gary is in a good mood, he has just finished processing more than 400 images of Godspell. A musical he shot weeks ago and finally ... Finally ... He is burning the DVD, then a post to his photo site and the project will be completed, Fini.
> 
> As the images start loading up to his internet web site, Gary is pleased that he is finished and that the images are top notch.  Godspell is a '70's hippy musical regarding Jesus. 'Day By Day' is one of the musical songs. A very nice message wrapped in tie-dyed, bell bottomed, hippy clothing.
> 
> Mary Lou, his much much better half, stated that the cast and even their parents ... (She knows the parents of Jesus ... Joseph and Mary), will be very happy. It has taken him about a month or more to complete the task, but he only has time to work on them in the evenings, sometimes no more than ten files a night. But they are done, even though Gary feels guilty about the long processing time ... He is extremely happy that the project is completed.
> 
> Gary's Colombian Supremo tastes just a bit better this morning than yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, I can't help but be reminded of The Jimmy:
> 
> Jimmy down!
> JIMMY HOLDS GRUDGES!
Click to expand...


That was hilarious. Is that a scene from this movie?
The Jimmy Show (2001) - IMDb


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary lift's the steaming coffee and takes his second sip. The rich dark liquid trickles down his throat.  Gary is in a good mood, he has just finished processing more than 400 images of Godspell. A musical he shot weeks ago and finally ... Finally ... He is burning the DVD, then a post to his photo site and the project will be completed, Fini.
> 
> As the images start loading up to his internet web site, Gary is pleased that he is finished and that the images are top notch.  Godspell is a '70's hippy musical regarding Jesus. 'Day By Day' is one of the musical songs. A very nice message wrapped in tie-dyed, bell bottomed, hippy clothing.
> 
> Mary Lou, his much much better half, stated that the cast and even their parents ... (She knows the parents of Jesus ... Joseph and Mary), will be very happy. It has taken him about a month or more to complete the task, but he only has time to work on them in the evenings, sometimes no more than ten files a night. But they are done, even though Gary feels guilty about the long processing time ... He is extremely happy that the project is completed.
> 
> Gary's Colombian Supremo tastes just a bit better this morning than yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, I can't help but be reminded of The Jimmy:
> 
> Jimmy down!
> JIMMY HOLDS GRUDGES!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That was hilarious. Is that a scene from this movie?
> The Jimmy Show (2001) - IMDb
Click to expand...


Nope, that was a Seinfeld episode. 

Edit: But that movie looks kind of interesting!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary lift's the steaming coffee and takes his second sip. The rich dark liquid trickles down his throat.  Gary is in a good mood, he has just finished processing more than 400 images of Godspell. A musical he shot weeks ago and finally ... Finally ... He is burning the DVD, then a post to his photo site and the project will be completed, Fini.
> 
> As the images start loading up to his internet web site, Gary is pleased that he is finished and that the images are top notch.  Godspell is a '70's hippy musical regarding Jesus. 'Day By Day' is one of the musical songs. A very nice message wrapped in tie-dyed, bell bottomed, hippy clothing.
> 
> Mary Lou, his much much better half, stated that the cast and even their parents ... (She knows the parents of Jesus ... Joseph and Mary), will be very happy. It has taken him about a month or more to complete the task, but he only has time to work on them in the evenings, sometimes no more than ten files a night. But they are done, even though Gary feels guilty about the long processing time ... He is extremely happy that the project is completed.
> 
> Gary's Colombian Supremo tastes just a bit better this morning than yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, I can't help but be reminded of The Jimmy:
> 
> Jimmy down!
> JIMMY HOLDS GRUDGES!
Click to expand...

Gary likes Jimmy. Gary and Jimmy have a lot of commonality.


----------



## snowbear

Christmas came early this year at the office . . . a new 42" plotter arrived this morning.  I helped get it up to the second floor from the basement (loading dock) and put together.  This puppy weighs in at over 400 pounds.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary lift's the steaming coffee and takes his second sip. The rich dark liquid trickles down his throat.  Gary is in a good mood, he has just finished processing more than 400 images of Godspell. A musical he shot weeks ago and finally ... Finally ... He is burning the DVD, then a post to his photo site and the project will be completed, Fini.
> 
> As the images start loading up to his internet web site, Gary is pleased that he is finished and that the images are top notch.  Godspell is a '70's hippy musical regarding Jesus. 'Day By Day' is one of the musical songs. A very nice message wrapped in tie-dyed, bell bottomed, hippy clothing.
> 
> Mary Lou, his much much better half, stated that the cast and even their parents ... (She knows the parents of Jesus ... Joseph and Mary), will be very happy. It has taken him about a month or more to complete the task, but he only has time to work on them in the evenings, sometimes no more than ten files a night. But they are done, even though Gary feels guilty about the long processing time ... He is extremely happy that the project is completed.
> 
> Gary's Colombian Supremo tastes just a bit better this morning than yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, I can't help but be reminded of The Jimmy:
> 
> Jimmy down!
> JIMMY HOLDS GRUDGES!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That was hilarious. Is that a scene from this movie?
> The Jimmy Show (2001) - IMDb
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nope, that was a Seinfeld episode.
> 
> Edit: But that movie looks kind of interesting!
Click to expand...


Oh, I see. I google searched the Jimmy show. I see that Seinfeld was an old TV show, do you think getting a DVD series is worth it? Not sure, never heard of it. OMG. there are tons of them on DVD, looks like that show was on TV for a long time! I spend to much time cleaning sensors, I need to get with the times...


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary lift's the steaming coffee and takes his second sip. The rich dark liquid trickles down his throat.  Gary is in a good mood, he has just finished processing more than 400 images of Godspell. A musical he shot weeks ago and finally ... Finally ... He is burning the DVD, then a post to his photo site and the project will be completed, Fini.
> 
> As the images start loading up to his internet web site, Gary is pleased that he is finished and that the images are top notch.  Godspell is a '70's hippy musical regarding Jesus. 'Day By Day' is one of the musical songs. A very nice message wrapped in tie-dyed, bell bottomed, hippy clothing.
> 
> Mary Lou, his much much better half, stated that the cast and even their parents ... (She knows the parents of Jesus ... Joseph and Mary), will be very happy. It has taken him about a month or more to complete the task, but he only has time to work on them in the evenings, sometimes no more than ten files a night. But they are done, even though Gary feels guilty about the long processing time ... He is extremely happy that the project is completed.
> 
> Gary's Colombian Supremo tastes just a bit better this morning than yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, I can't help but be reminded of The Jimmy:
> 
> Jimmy down!
> JIMMY HOLDS GRUDGES!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That was hilarious. Is that a scene from this movie?
> The Jimmy Show (2001) - IMDb
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nope, that was a Seinfeld episode.
> 
> Edit: But that movie looks kind of interesting!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, I see. I google searched the Jimmy show. I see that Seinfeld was an old TV show, do you think getting a DVD series is worth it? Not sure, never heard of it. OMG. there are tons of them on DVD, looks like that show was on TV for a long time! I spend to much time cleaning sensors, I need to get with the times...
Click to expand...

Gary thinks Seinfeld is one of the most entertaining Tv series ever produced. Additionally, the series has no other redeeming qualities of any kind whatsoever.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary lift's the steaming coffee and takes his second sip. The rich dark liquid trickles down his throat.  Gary is in a good mood, he has just finished processing more than 400 images of Godspell. A musical he shot weeks ago and finally ... Finally ... He is burning the DVD, then a post to his photo site and the project will be completed, Fini.
> 
> As the images start loading up to his internet web site, Gary is pleased that he is finished and that the images are top notch.  Godspell is a '70's hippy musical regarding Jesus. 'Day By Day' is one of the musical songs. A very nice message wrapped in tie-dyed, bell bottomed, hippy clothing.
> 
> Mary Lou, his much much better half, stated that the cast and even their parents ... (She knows the parents of Jesus ... Joseph and Mary), will be very happy. It has taken him about a month or more to complete the task, but he only has time to work on them in the evenings, sometimes no more than ten files a night. But they are done, even though Gary feels guilty about the long processing time ... He is extremely happy that the project is completed.
> 
> Gary's Colombian Supremo tastes just a bit better this morning than yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, I can't help but be reminded of The Jimmy:
> 
> Jimmy down!
> JIMMY HOLDS GRUDGES!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That was hilarious. Is that a scene from this movie?
> The Jimmy Show (2001) - IMDb
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nope, that was a Seinfeld episode.
> 
> Edit: But that movie looks kind of interesting!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, I see. I google searched the Jimmy show. I see that Seinfeld was an old TV show, do you think getting a DVD series is worth it? Not sure, never heard of it. OMG. there are tons of them on DVD, looks like that show was on TV for a long time! I spend to much time cleaning sensors, I need to get with the times...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary thinks Seinfeld is one of the most entertaining Tv series ever produced. Additionally, the series has no other redeeming qualities of any kind whatsoever.
Click to expand...


Sounds like a good Christmas present to ask for... the family is driving me crazy asking what I want, I do not want anything. This may kill two birds with one stone... #1 get them to not see me as a dork because I don't watch TV and #2 get them off my back about Christmas. I still have unopened underwear and socks from last year. I would re-gift but I don't think guys like "tighty whities" as my wife's family calls them or so they say. they make fun of me all the time...


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary lift's the steaming coffee and takes his second sip. The rich dark liquid trickles down his throat.  Gary is in a good mood, he has just finished processing more than 400 images of Godspell. A musical he shot weeks ago and finally ... Finally ... He is burning the DVD, then a post to his photo site and the project will be completed, Fini.
> 
> As the images start loading up to his internet web site, Gary is pleased that he is finished and that the images are top notch.  Godspell is a '70's hippy musical regarding Jesus. 'Day By Day' is one of the musical songs. A very nice message wrapped in tie-dyed, bell bottomed, hippy clothing.
> 
> Mary Lou, his much much better half, stated that the cast and even their parents ... (She knows the parents of Jesus ... Joseph and Mary), will be very happy. It has taken him about a month or more to complete the task, but he only has time to work on them in the evenings, sometimes no more than ten files a night. But they are done, even though Gary feels guilty about the long processing time ... He is extremely happy that the project is completed.
> 
> Gary's Colombian Supremo tastes just a bit better this morning than yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, I can't help but be reminded of The Jimmy:
> 
> Jimmy down!
> JIMMY HOLDS GRUDGES!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That was hilarious. Is that a scene from this movie?
> The Jimmy Show (2001) - IMDb
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nope, that was a Seinfeld episode.
> 
> Edit: But that movie looks kind of interesting!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, I see. I google searched the Jimmy show. I see that Seinfeld was an old TV show, do you think getting a DVD series is worth it? Not sure, never heard of it. OMG. there are tons of them on DVD, looks like that show was on TV for a long time! I spend to much time cleaning sensors, I need to get with the times...
Click to expand...


Absolutely! Seinfeld is brilliant - as Gary said, one of the most entertaining shows ever made. It's constantly in syndication too, so maybe you can catch some on tv before making the choice to buy them. But if you can get them as a gift, then that's a win for you, too


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary lift's the steaming coffee and takes his second sip. The rich dark liquid trickles down his throat.  Gary is in a good mood, he has just finished processing more than 400 images of Godspell. A musical he shot weeks ago and finally ... Finally ... He is burning the DVD, then a post to his photo site and the project will be completed, Fini.
> 
> As the images start loading up to his internet web site, Gary is pleased that he is finished and that the images are top notch.  Godspell is a '70's hippy musical regarding Jesus. 'Day By Day' is one of the musical songs. A very nice message wrapped in tie-dyed, bell bottomed, hippy clothing.
> 
> Mary Lou, his much much better half, stated that the cast and even their parents ... (She knows the parents of Jesus ... Joseph and Mary), will be very happy. It has taken him about a month or more to complete the task, but he only has time to work on them in the evenings, sometimes no more than ten files a night. But they are done, even though Gary feels guilty about the long processing time ... He is extremely happy that the project is completed.
> 
> Gary's Colombian Supremo tastes just a bit better this morning than yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, I can't help but be reminded of The Jimmy:
> 
> Jimmy down!
> JIMMY HOLDS GRUDGES!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That was hilarious. Is that a scene from this movie?
> The Jimmy Show (2001) - IMDb
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nope, that was a Seinfeld episode.
> 
> Edit: But that movie looks kind of interesting!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, I see. I google searched the Jimmy show. I see that Seinfeld was an old TV show, do you think getting a DVD series is worth it? Not sure, never heard of it. OMG. there are tons of them on DVD, looks like that show was on TV for a long time! I spend to much time cleaning sensors, I need to get with the times...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Absolutely! Seinfeld is brilliant - as Gary said, one of the most entertaining shows ever made. It's constantly in syndication too, so maybe you can catch some on tv before making the choice to buy them. But if you can get them as a gift, then that's a win for you, too
Click to expand...


It looks funny. I like that tall guy with the numb mouth, he is funny. I like his abstract movements and facial expressions. If you guys say it's brilliant then I am going for it. I am just about through a funny TV series called Moving on Up to the East Side, it's about an African American entrepreneur that makes good in Chicago.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary lift's the steaming coffee and takes his second sip. The rich dark liquid trickles down his throat.  Gary is in a good mood, he has just finished processing more than 400 images of Godspell. A musical he shot weeks ago and finally ... Finally ... He is burning the DVD, then a post to his photo site and the project will be completed, Fini.
> 
> As the images start loading up to his internet web site, Gary is pleased that he is finished and that the images are top notch.  Godspell is a '70's hippy musical regarding Jesus. 'Day By Day' is one of the musical songs. A very nice message wrapped in tie-dyed, bell bottomed, hippy clothing.
> 
> Mary Lou, his much much better half, stated that the cast and even their parents ... (She knows the parents of Jesus ... Joseph and Mary), will be very happy. It has taken him about a month or more to complete the task, but he only has time to work on them in the evenings, sometimes no more than ten files a night. But they are done, even though Gary feels guilty about the long processing time ... He is extremely happy that the project is completed.
> 
> Gary's Colombian Supremo tastes just a bit better this morning than yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, I can't help but be reminded of The Jimmy:
> 
> Jimmy down!
> JIMMY HOLDS GRUDGES!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That was hilarious. Is that a scene from this movie?
> The Jimmy Show (2001) - IMDb
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nope, that was a Seinfeld episode.
> 
> Edit: But that movie looks kind of interesting!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, I see. I google searched the Jimmy show. I see that Seinfeld was an old TV show, do you think getting a DVD series is worth it? Not sure, never heard of it. OMG. there are tons of them on DVD, looks like that show was on TV for a long time! I spend to much time cleaning sensors, I need to get with the times...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Absolutely! Seinfeld is brilliant - as Gary said, one of the most entertaining shows ever made. It's constantly in syndication too, so maybe you can catch some on tv before making the choice to buy them. But if you can get them as a gift, then that's a win for you, too
Click to expand...

 Am I the only person who really dislikes Seinfeld?  I'd rather watch one of those gawd-awful shows about "real" wives than an episode of Seinfeld!


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary lift's the steaming coffee and takes his second sip. The rich dark liquid trickles down his throat.  Gary is in a good mood, he has just finished processing more than 400 images of Godspell. A musical he shot weeks ago and finally ... Finally ... He is burning the DVD, then a post to his photo site and the project will be completed, Fini.
> 
> As the images start loading up to his internet web site, Gary is pleased that he is finished and that the images are top notch.  Godspell is a '70's hippy musical regarding Jesus. 'Day By Day' is one of the musical songs. A very nice message wrapped in tie-dyed, bell bottomed, hippy clothing.
> 
> Mary Lou, his much much better half, stated that the cast and even their parents ... (She knows the parents of Jesus ... Joseph and Mary), will be very happy. It has taken him about a month or more to complete the task, but he only has time to work on them in the evenings, sometimes no more than ten files a night. But they are done, even though Gary feels guilty about the long processing time ... He is extremely happy that the project is completed.
> 
> Gary's Colombian Supremo tastes just a bit better this morning than yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, I can't help but be reminded of The Jimmy:
> 
> Jimmy down!
> JIMMY HOLDS GRUDGES!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That was hilarious. Is that a scene from this movie?
> The Jimmy Show (2001) - IMDb
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nope, that was a Seinfeld episode.
> 
> Edit: But that movie looks kind of interesting!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, I see. I google searched the Jimmy show. I see that Seinfeld was an old TV show, do you think getting a DVD series is worth it? Not sure, never heard of it. OMG. there are tons of them on DVD, looks like that show was on TV for a long time! I spend to much time cleaning sensors, I need to get with the times...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Absolutely! Seinfeld is brilliant - as Gary said, one of the most entertaining shows ever made. It's constantly in syndication too, so maybe you can catch some on tv before making the choice to buy them. But if you can get them as a gift, then that's a win for you, too
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Am I the only person who really dislikes Seinfeld?  I'd rather watch one of those gawd-awful shows about "real" wives than an episode of Seinfeld!
Click to expand...


Oh no... Maybe I should not... I despise wife shows too... I digress then. I will put down amazon gift card then, i never get them, just underwear, socks, ties, gloves, and a host of other crap I don't want or need. Crap, I bought the wife a new car with no payments. I can't wait to open the star wars tighty whitey underwear.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary lift's the steaming coffee and takes his second sip. The rich dark liquid trickles down his throat.  Gary is in a good mood, he has just finished processing more than 400 images of Godspell. A musical he shot weeks ago and finally ... Finally ... He is burning the DVD, then a post to his photo site and the project will be completed, Fini.
> 
> As the images start loading up to his internet web site, Gary is pleased that he is finished and that the images are top notch.  Godspell is a '70's hippy musical regarding Jesus. 'Day By Day' is one of the musical songs. A very nice message wrapped in tie-dyed, bell bottomed, hippy clothing.
> 
> Mary Lou, his much much better half, stated that the cast and even their parents ... (She knows the parents of Jesus ... Joseph and Mary), will be very happy. It has taken him about a month or more to complete the task, but he only has time to work on them in the evenings, sometimes no more than ten files a night. But they are done, even though Gary feels guilty about the long processing time ... He is extremely happy that the project is completed.
> 
> Gary's Colombian Supremo tastes just a bit better this morning than yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, I can't help but be reminded of The Jimmy:
> 
> Jimmy down!
> JIMMY HOLDS GRUDGES!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That was hilarious. Is that a scene from this movie?
> The Jimmy Show (2001) - IMDb
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nope, that was a Seinfeld episode.
> 
> Edit: But that movie looks kind of interesting!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, I see. I google searched the Jimmy show. I see that Seinfeld was an old TV show, do you think getting a DVD series is worth it? Not sure, never heard of it. OMG. there are tons of them on DVD, looks like that show was on TV for a long time! I spend to much time cleaning sensors, I need to get with the times...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Absolutely! Seinfeld is brilliant - as Gary said, one of the most entertaining shows ever made. It's constantly in syndication too, so maybe you can catch some on tv before making the choice to buy them. But if you can get them as a gift, then that's a win for you, too
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Am I the only person who really dislikes Seinfeld?  I'd rather watch one of those gawd-awful shows about "real" wives than an episode of Seinfeld!
Click to expand...

Yes you are.  Gary is rethinking the offer of feeding John.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Am I the only person who really dislikes Seinfeld?  I'd rather watch one of those gawd-awful shows about "real" wives than an episode of Seinfeld!



Yes.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Yes you are.  Gary is rethinking the offer of feeding John.


Why are you referring to yourself in the third person?  Do you really want me to invoke an "ignore" on your @$$?


----------



## snowbear

snowbear said:


> Christmas came early this year at the office . . . a new 42" plotter arrived this morning.  I helped get it up to the second floor from the basement (loading dock) and put together.  This puppy weighs in at over 400 pounds.



. . . continuing:
It was too big for the elevator while it was in the box so we uncrate it, slide one end into the elevator, then lift the other end.  We get to the second floor, drag it out to the lobby.  Partner Teddy goes back to basement to get the dolly.   Other partner Andrew and I decide to drag the beast down the hall to the office since the floor is carpeted and the monster is wrapped in plastic.

Once Teddy is back with the other two boxes, we put it together (it gets assembled upside down), then the three of us and the boss (who just showed up after a round of meetings) tip Mister Plotter on it's feet.  Get the eight printer heads and ink cartridges in place, load a roll of paper - all works fine, except for one minor detail.

Sometime during the fun, my lower back emits a very faint "pop."


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes you are.  Gary is rethinking the offer of feeding John.
> 
> 
> 
> Why are you referring to yourself in the third person?  Do you really want me to invoke an "ignore" on your @$$?
Click to expand...

Gary and Jimmy are misunderstood.


----------



## EIngerson

Well, let the holidays begin. House full of family that flew in today and good times are about to ensue. Happy holidays photografriends!!! See you on the other side.


----------



## snowbear

EIngerson said:


> Well, let the holidays begin. House full of family that flew in today and good times are about to ensue. Happy holidays photografriends!!! See you on the other side.


Have a good & safe one.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning peeps.

Gevalia and a couple of dinner rolls this morning.  Heading into work shortly.
The POTM winners for October and November have been announced.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Finished with classes yesterday. I still have finals and tons of grading, but I don't have to plan any lessons until the end of January. Yesterday I failed another student for cheating. Totally deserved but not the most pleasant thing in the world. 

As always at this point of the semester, I feel like I could sleep for three days straight.


----------



## minicoop1985

2015-12-16_11-09-21 by Michael Long, on Flickr





And so it begins... My transition to the Dark Side.





Also, this happened today:






2015-12-16_11-09-34 by Michael Long, on Flickr


----------



## EIngerson

snowbear said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, let the holidays begin. House full of family that flew in today and good times are about to ensue. Happy holidays photografriends!!! See you on the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> Have a good & safe one.
Click to expand...



You too Snowbear.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> Also, this happened today:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2015-12-16_11-09-34 by Michael Long, on Flickr


Your dog lost a fight with a lampshade?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Aw poor doggie probably isn't liking that thing!

Hey the sun's out! Of course the radar showed some wet stuff heading this way later but I'm gonna go do some sun prints for awhile. On a 60 degree day in December. Weird but whatever! lol

Enjoy your holiday celebrations Eric!


----------



## vintagesnaps

And get the Seinfelds - Festivus is in a week! Get a pole ready.


What about asking for some nice photography books? Something like the nice big 'Stieglitz Steichen Strand' by the Metropolitan Museum of Art? (I may have their names out of order but you get the idea.) Or whatever else you like.


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> 2015


What happened? Hope everything is ok!


----------



## vintagesnaps

And if you get some coffee table books and watch Seinfeld eventually you'll see _*that*_ episode...


----------



## limr

Ah, the Cone of Shame. Never fun for them. Zelda got all melty when she wore one after being spayed:






And given that she's a bit, um, portly these days, it's hard to believe Mrs.Parker was ever this small!






This was back when my only digital camera was the built-in camera of my laptop.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Aww...


I searched Steichen on the Metropolitan's website and it came up with - _*cats*_. I kid you not. Another artist with a similar last name.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Ah, the Cone of Shame. Never fun for them.



We once used one of them to replace the broken glass shade of a floor lamp.  Most people didn't notice, but one cat person did.


----------



## minicoop1985

Yeah, she's not overly fond of it, but it's better than the alternative.

She had a sore she kept licking, and it got mildly infected. She'll be OK, but she needs to wear the cone for 2 weeks. Poor thing...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is waiting for a meeting to start. If the meeting goes well/quick, Gary may make a run down to Temecula and pick up some wine for Xmas presents.


----------



## minicoop1985

So this happened.




2015-12-16_02-05-17 by Michael Long, on Flickr

Check out my other thread to see the results.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary Has arrived in Temecula. The first stop is at Thornton for a glass of Angels' Waltz, a wonderfully balanced sparkling.




iPhone


----------



## Gary A.

After his Angel's Waltz, Gary will proceed with his Christmas shopping ... This year, Gary is working on a gift theme of vino.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gary Has arrived in Temecula. The first stop is at Thornton for a glass of Angels' Waltz, a wonderfully balanced sparkling.
> 
> View attachment 112911



Lenny sure could use a glass of that right now.


----------



## jcdeboever

JC figured out how to record Seinfeld. JC now looking for time to watch. JC happy.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

JC drove all the way to airport to pick up wife who lands tomorrow. JC feels stupid.Wife tells JC to smoke some more crack.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Ponte

Christmas shopping is tough.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Gary may make a run down to Temecula and pick up some wine for Xmas presents.


I'll shoot you my address.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is back and he is loaded to the gills with vino. Gary came back and started dinner skewered chicken w/avocados/onions/shrooms with a mango-honey sauce and salmon with a soy-orange-ginger glaze. Gary must return and attend the BBQ.


----------



## vintagesnaps

He's on third, we're not talking about him.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary is back and he is loaded to the gills with vino. Gary came back and started dinner skewered chicken w/avocados/onion/shrooms with a mango-honey sauce and salmon with a soy-ginger glaze. Gary must return and attend the BBQ.



Gary did not invite me. JC is disturbed. JC loves soy-ginger glaze. JC is good at grading papers for teachers staring at walls rubbing their fingers across their lips profusely (limr).


----------



## Gary A.

All of Gary's Coffee Lounge friends are always welcomed. The kamado cooked it all to perfection the sauce and glaze made it all special.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> He's on third, we're not talking about him.


If He's on third ... Then Who's on first?


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> If He's on third ... Then Who's on first?



I Don't Know.

When did we decide to refer to ourselves in third person?   Terri is confused.        Perhaps she missed the memo.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If He's on third ... Then Who's on first?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I Don't Know.
> 
> When did we decide to refer to ourselves in third person?   Terri is confused.        Perhaps she missed the memo.
Click to expand...


Gary started it, though by posting the Seinfeld clip, Lenny might have encouraged him and others to follow suit


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If He's on third ... Then Who's on first?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I Don't Know.
> 
> When did we decide to refer to ourselves in third person?   Terri is confused.        Perhaps she missed the memo.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Gary started it, though by posting the Seinfeld clip, Lenny might have encouraged him and others to follow suit
Click to expand...

Thanks Leo, toss Gary under the bus.


----------



## terri

Terri wants to know if Gary is injured by said bus-tossing.    

Or, if he may use it as an excuse to buy more wine.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If He's on third ... Then Who's on first?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I Don't Know.
> 
> When did we decide to refer to ourselves in third person?   Terri is confused.        Perhaps she missed the memo.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Gary started it, though by posting the Seinfeld clip, Lenny might have encouraged him and others to follow suit
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks Leo, toss Gary under the bus.
Click to expand...



Naturally.






(the other) Sharon can't believe Terri doesn't know who Jimmy is!


----------



## terri

Terri is often slow on the uptake.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Terri wants to know if Gary is injured by said bus-tossing.
> 
> Or, if he may use it as an excuse to buy more wine.


Gary needs no excuse to buy wine ... which, may be a problem for Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Terri is often slow on the uptake.


Or ... Terri has better and more important things to do than watch Tv.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If He's on third ... Then Who's on first?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I Don't Know.
> 
> When did we decide to refer to ourselves in third person?   Terri is confused.        Perhaps she missed the memo.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Gary started it, though by posting the Seinfeld clip, Lenny might have encouraged him and others to follow suit
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks Leo, toss Gary under the bus.
Click to expand...


Hey, Leo let the bus run over her foot by sharing the blame


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Terri wants to know if Gary is injured by said bus-tossing...



Gary is used to buses ... he tries to line up the tires with previous thread marks. Gary has found that doing so does not minimize any pain ... but does reduce the cleaning bill.


----------



## Gary A.

Guess what was delivered ... Gary's Smoker:


----------



## Gary A.

Annnndddd ... it is assembled!


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Annnndddd ... it is assembled!


When're the ribs gonna be ready?????


----------



## Gary A.

Tomorrow I'm starting with a pork roast.  After Xmas for ribs (gotta use up what's in the freezer to make room for the tamales). When you coming down?


----------



## tirediron

Don't tempt me!


----------



## jcdeboever

Brisket

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary will show you how to unplug your microwave. After Christmas will give Gary time to get higher on the learning curve.  (Be aware, the closer to Christmas the better your chances of having tamales with the ribs.)


----------



## jcdeboever

JC wants brisket

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Aaahhhh ... Brisket ... YES! Gary shall make brisket!!!! (BTW- Gary does cook his Tri-Tip for four hours in the Kamado ... But the low heat doesn't make much smoke ... But the Kamado, after four hours, turn the tri-tip into prime rib.)


----------



## jcdeboever

Oh my... That looks delicious... 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Fours hours on the Kamado, the meat is packed in herbs from the backyard and marinated in 90+ wine with fresh ground pepper, lemon zest and Gary's homemade, backyard chili powder. The Kamado turned Tri-Tip into Prime Rib. Mary Lou says that Gary has ruined her eating out experiences because most restaurants cannot match what Gary whips up.  But clean-up is much easier when we eat out.

(Gary is not particularly proud or fond of using 90+ rated wines for cooking ... But that's all he has laying around the house.)


----------



## limr

Leo has no idea what a brisket is. She means, she gets that it's a big ole chunk of meat, but she has no idea what makes it a brisket as opposed to "random chunk of cooked meat" or whatever other names are given to such things.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Leo has no idea what a brisket is. She means, she gets that it's a big ole chunk of meat, but she has no idea what makes it a brisket as opposed to "random chunk of cooked meat" or whatever other names are given to such things.


A brisket is a cut ... ala sirloin, chuck, rib, et cetera. The brisket is from the chest. The brisket is very very tough and requires a long and slow cooking process to tenderize the cut. The long and slow part allows the cook to add beacoup flavors over the course of the cooking process ... rubs, marinades and smoke. A good brisket is a transformation from a leather shoe into a soft chocolate that melts in one's mouth.


Brisket - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


----------



## jcdeboever

JC loves him some brisket

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is bummed. Gary has to "season"/fire-up the smoker for three hours prior to cooking. That three hours will/may affect dinner. Gary has a very tight schedule today. Yesterday was a very pleasant evening. Mary Lou had pink eye  and stayed home and made soup in the crock pot. Dinner was very pleasant with the leftover salmon w/soy-orange sauce and skewered chicken smoked w/mango-honey sauce. All washed down with a Pinot Noir. Then, Gary and Mary Lou watched an odd Netflix centered on Northwest Pacific Native Americans. Sadly, in Gary's opinion, the movie reflects much of the present culture/living conditions on reservations. 

Also, sadly, the Soy-Orange and Mango-Honey sauces are gone. They were a real treat. When Gary grows up, Gary wishes to be a saucier.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> JC loves him some brisket
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk





jcdeboever said:


> JC loves him some brisket
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



After Christmas  ... 

Gary cannot purchase any food until the freezer is depleted. Mary Lou looked at the freezer and then took away Gary's Costco card. So after Christmas, come on over, brisket at Gary's house.


----------



## minicoop1985

Hola, hosers. Mike is pumped. Mike saw The Force Awakens last night and it was incredible, and Mike is going to see it again with the wife tonight.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> JC loves him some brisket
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> JC loves him some brisket
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> After Christmas  ...
> 
> Gary cannot purchase any food until the freezer is depleted. Mary Lou looked at the freezer and then took away Gary's Costco card. So after Christmas, come on over, brisket at Gary's house.
Click to expand...


Road trip to Gary's 12/26...who is in?


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Hola, hosers. Mike is pumped. Mike saw The Force Awakens last night and it was incredible, and Mike is going to see it again with the wife tonight.



If Mike spoils even a tiny detail about the movie before Leo gets to see it, Leo will force you listen to Justin Bieber while she pulls your intestines out through your nose with a rusty coat hanger.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The Force is the Google doodle today. The Justin Bieber is probably the worst of those two choices. Sharon thinks Gary is turning into a Jimmy with a BBQ.


----------



## KenC

Ken thinks you've all lost your minds, but is Ken really in a position to judge?  Ken thinks not.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mike will not spoil TFA because Mike is not that big of an asshole. There is, however, a LOT to spoil, so be careful.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hola, hosers. Mike is pumped. Mike saw The Force Awakens last night and it was incredible, and Mike is going to see it again with the wife tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If Mike spoils even a tiny detail about the movie before Leo gets to see it, Leo will force you listen to Justin Bieber while she pulls your intestines out through your nose with a rusty coat hanger.
Click to expand...

Terri has new and and healthy respect for Leo's ability to inflict pain.   Listening to Justin Bieber....?!


----------



## Gary A.

Woooooohooooo .... Gary had to hop into the pond for some minor repairs.  It is freezing. Gary is all pink ... Gary is dashing into the shower.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is out of the shower and partaking of some hot tea. Even after the shower Gary's hands feel cold.  Mary Lou has brought home the tamales and some pan dulce. Gary is having a pumpkin empanada with his tea.  Gary feels better.


----------



## jcdeboever

JC likes barbeque brisket

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Ahhhh ... Gary is sitting down to some hot tamales, pork and green chili cheese.


----------



## jcdeboever

Green chili cheese makes JC fart

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

The green chili cheese is soooo tasty.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Green chili cheese makes JC fart
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Then JC will have to stick to the brisket.


----------



## limr

This is SO much better than the Yule Log! Yeah, Leo will be playing this on Christmas.


----------



## minicoop1985

Just got back from round 2. God damn is this an incredible movie.


----------



## Derrel




----------



## Gary A.

Gary just order these for friends and family.





Star Wars Chop Sabers - Luke Skywalker Blue Light up version


----------



## minicoop1985

Those are quite awesome, Gary. I approve.

Man I just can't wake up today. Took a nap and I'm still exhausted.


----------



## Gary A.

Thanks Appleton Guy. Gary have three pairs coming in for gifts ... where was Gary ... oh yeah ...

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  It's been a busy day. Fired up the smoker and Gary's been slow cooking a pork roast all jammin' day. Gary just kicked up the temp in order to wrap up the cooking in time for dinner.  Gary is soooo low on the learning curve with this thing.  Gary has finished mowing the yard, installing a water-tight box to eliminate another blow-out, cleaned out the pond filters, set-up the smoker into the BBQ Patio, planted the veggies from the other day and a ton of little-a$$  stuff.

Last night the cast from Godspell perform a Christmas concert with a a group of chamber type musicians. It was very nice. The cast were decked out in red dresses and tuxedos ... Gary took snaps from his seat.  Gary is waiting for Mary Lou to return from some shopping, watching the Wizard of OZ  ..... "because, because, because, becauuuuse ... of the wonderful things he does".





Gary loves the Wizard of Oz.


----------



## Gary A.

Out of the smoker, a pork roast.


----------



## jcdeboever

Ooooh, JC likes him some pork roast... JC likes to dip it in applesauce. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Not too bad for Gary's first attempt.  It was perfectly cooked, juicy, with a hint of smoky flavor ... but there is plenty of room for improvement.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just ordered a smoker's cookbook. Anybody hungry?  Gary and Mary Lou are sipping the last drops of their Vernaccia ... Mary Lou's loves this stuff. This isn't our most expensive or highest rated vino ... but it's Mary Lou's most favorite wine of all time.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah, what's for lunch? Rainy today, some soup would be nice.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Yeah, what's for lunch? Rainy today, some soup would be nice.


JC had a fried Bologna sandwich with dill pickle / mayo, bowl of homemade pea soup, and a glass of Vernor's. JC is satisfied. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary and Mary Lou are having breakfast in the little town of Gary's youth. Mary Lou and Gary took some flowers to my parents and now having the best breakfast ever at the Cock-A-Doodle. This place has been around as long as Gary can remember.


----------



## EIngerson

WOO HOO!!!! Picking up more house guests today. Anyone else want to come over? the house isn't quite full enough. lol.

I can't guarantee a place to sit, but I can promise you'll eat well. 

Happy holidays er-body.


----------



## Gary A.

Oh man, I just dropped off my car at the mechanics. Otherwise I be there. What are you serving, MRE's?


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> Oh man, I just dropped off my car at the mechanics. Otherwise I be there. What are you serving, MRE's?




For you? Definitely a case B #12. Only the best my friend. lol


----------



## jcdeboever

EIngerson said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh man, I just dropped off my car at the mechanics. Otherwise I be there. What are you serving, MRE's?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For you? Definitely a case B #12. Only the best my friend. lol
Click to expand...

JC used to tear up a #2 ham & chicken loaf. Good fish bait too, used to catch some nice dog fish with them and give them to guy from New Orleans. He would cook em on a stick....nasty.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has never enjoyed a MRE ... But Gary can tell you of the delights eating C & K Rats.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mike has never had an MRE, nor does Mike ever want to.


----------



## tirediron

EIngerson said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh man, I just dropped off my car at the mechanics. Otherwise I be there. What are you serving, MRE's?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For you? Definitely a case B #12. Only the best my friend. lol
Click to expand...

Is that Ham Omelet (Otherwise known as "Chunk-O-Lung")?


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Gary has never enjoyed a MRE ... But Gary can tell you of the delights eating C & K Rats.


NO ONE has ever _*enjoyed*_ an MRE.


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never enjoyed a MRE ... But Gary can tell you of the delights eating C & K Rats.
> 
> 
> 
> NO ONE has ever _*enjoyed*_ an MRE.
Click to expand...

You do when your starving...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Leo has heard what MRE really stands for.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I haven't, so instead of pondering that I'll watch what I found when I was looking for the Center Ice schedule - cats!! Kittens, really - click on Purrfect Presents.

Holiday | iN DEMAND


----------



## EIngerson

jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never enjoyed a MRE ... But Gary can tell you of the delights eating C & K Rats.
> 
> 
> 
> NO ONE has ever _*enjoyed*_ an MRE.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You do when your starving...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...



No, even then it's putting up with it. lol


----------



## snowbear

MLW and I walk into the lobby at work and see this.

MLW: "Why did they put the cans on top of the barrel?"
Me (no hesitation): "Spam filter."


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary am carless this morning, it is raining, the newspaper is drying out for later consumption, Gary is keyboarding with one finger on his right hand, Gary's ring and middle finger are bandaged up from being sliced while lifting his new, and he is now presuming, rather heavy smoker onto its newly arrived stand (yesterday).  With the very dirty gauze hanging beyond the tape, Gary's fingers look like dirty little Eskomo finger people. This a SOL day for the Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

Hot chocolate this morning, just because.






The wounds are not bad, but they just wouldn't stop bleeding. The dressing is filthy because I had to finish constructing the stand for the smoker and I bucketed out a filled rain barrel, the bandages turned gray with the wet. (Well ... Somewhat gray from the wetness ... Lol)


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks hot chocolate isn't as good as coffee, at least in the mornings.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary changed the dressings on his fingers. No more Eskomos.


----------



## limr

Mmmm, Leo has had a craving for hot chocolate. She had some on Sunday night - first hot chocolate of the season. Or should she say "season." This 50s and 60s winter weather is BUUUUUULLLLLLL Scheisse!!!!

Of course, thinking about grading the pile of research papers and finals and figuring out course grades makes Leo crave a spiked hot chocolate. Which she can have, of course. Just not at the moment while the students are still taking their final


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Mmmm, Leo has had a craving for hot chocolate. She had some on Sunday night - first hot chocolate of the season. Or should she say "season." This 50s and 60s winter weather is BUUUUUULLLLLLL Scheisse!!!!
> 
> Of course, thinking about grading the pile of research papers and finals and figuring out course grades makes Leo crave a spiked hot chocolate. Which she can have, of course. Just not at the moment while the students are still taking their final


We're looking at 70's for the rest of the week.


----------



## EIngerson

Eric just wants a place to sit in his own house…..


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> Eric just wants a place to sit in his own house…..


Gary has a place in front of the Tv with your name on it.  Gary hope you like tamales and pork roast ... And maybe some vino (out of MRE's).


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mmmm, Leo has had a craving for hot chocolate. She had some on Sunday night - first hot chocolate of the season. Or should she say "season." This 50s and 60s winter weather is BUUUUUULLLLLLL Scheisse!!!!
> 
> Of course, thinking about grading the pile of research papers and finals and figuring out course grades makes Leo crave a spiked hot chocolate. Which she can have, of course. Just not at the moment while the students are still taking their final
> 
> 
> 
> We're looking at 70's for the rest of the week.
Click to expand...

So how odd is that?


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mmmm, Leo has had a craving for hot chocolate. She had some on Sunday night - first hot chocolate of the season. Or should she say "season." This 50s and 60s winter weather is BUUUUUULLLLLLL Scheisse!!!!
> 
> Of course, thinking about grading the pile of research papers and finals and figuring out course grades makes Leo crave a spiked hot chocolate. Which she can have, of course. Just not at the moment while the students are still taking their final
> 
> 
> 
> We're looking at 70's for the rest of the week.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> So how odd is that?
Click to expand...

About 30 F-35 F warmer


----------



## snowbear

I saw the Christmas Bunny a little while ago.  You know the Christmas Bunny . . . he hops around and hides little brown eggs (more like raisins) in your Christmas stockings.


----------



## vintagesnaps

You did, huh?  Let us know what beverage you're having tonight.


----------



## limr

Hosers, I am SO tired! It's 9:20 and I'm thinking of going to bed already.

One more day at work. Then a couple of hours of grading. Then drinks with a friend. Then a couple of days of various family obligations. After that, I will finally have a chance to crash as hard as I need to crash. It's my usual end-of-semester coma.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mike is having an existential crisis. WHY IS IT SO HARD TO FIND JUST A 645AFD BODYYYYY


----------



## limr

This never gets old:


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> You did, huh?  Let us know what beverage you're having tonight.



Snapple peach tea, no additions.
Saw a little bunny outside when we went to pick up dinner.  I figured it's way too early for Easter so it must be the Christmas Bunny.  Oh, and those "eggs" are also known as "smart pills."

"Here, try some smart pills."
"OK.  Arg, these taste like $#it"
"See, they work - you're getting smarter already."


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hosers, I am SO tired! It's 9:20 and I'm thinking of going to bed already.
> 
> One more day at work. Then a couple of hours of grading. Then drinks with a friend. Then a couple of days of various family obligations. After that, I will finally have a chance to crash as hard as I need to crash. It's my usual end-of-semester coma.



Take it easy, Leonore.
I have 12 days off after tomorrow - not like the inter-semester break, but I'll take it.


----------



## terri

Hang in there, Lenny!    The reward will soon be sweet!   

I'm so happy to see that cat video again - it blows me away every time.   Cats are so awesome, in so many ways.    

Neither of my two girls would tolerate that for a second, btw.    

I've been in the kitchen more in the last 2 days than in the last 2 weeks, I think.   Baked lasagna, flan dessert, blueberry muffins, huge Greek salad, split pea soup, cherry pie - I've been churning it out and tonight my legs are aching.    It's been fun to go on a mad cooking spree.


----------



## Gary A.

What pairing goes with all that food Terri?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is no longer vehicleless. But today, Gary has to double up on his Santa deliveries.  Gary is starting in Burbank and heading down to San Diego, (unless San Diego heads up to La Mirada).

Speaking of wrapping, In Winter, Gary wraps up Cook, the Wonder Dog, in her blanket. When she feel the need to get up, like to answer the door, she takes her blankie with her. She walks around all day with her blankie, when she's tired of it, she'll just shake it off.  After all these years, Gary still finds it quite amusing ... Gary is easily amused.

Gary has decided to grow up and pursue his dreams of being a Saucier Chef. Last night he ordered many cook books on sauces and pesto. His first step to being a Saucier. Meanwhile, Gary is preparing himself to become a Master Sommelier, initially training by expanding his wine selections and later by drinking same.

Mary Lou thinks Gary should work on being a Som.

Some animal ... Some large-ish animal, probably a raccoon or 'possum keeps tipping the larger rocks by the waterfall into the pond. So Gary, must dive into the pond, retrieve the rocks, (some probably weigh in at 50 lbs+), and install them on the edge of the freezing water during the not-so-warm day.  Gary isn't looking forward to this task.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Ken is back on here after a couple of days and he sees that everyone is still being an illeist (Talking About Yourself in the Third Person: Illeism).  Well, Ken thinks that if it's good enough for the Dude (and all the hosers), it's good enough for him.  Why is "hosers" highlighted as a misspelling - don't these spellcheckers know anything?

Ken is relaxed now that the year's work is done.  A few vacation days plus holidays never hurt anyone.  Hope all is well out there.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey Ken, Gary's pond is very relaxing ... You're invited to hop into the pond and help him with the rocks.  (It is very relaxing.)


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> What pairing goes with all that food Terri?


Chianti with the lasagna/salad; a simple Cotes du Rhone with the soup and baguette.   

Nothing with the muffins but coffee, of course!


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Thankfully got to sleep in this morning... Went to see Star Wars again at midnight. 4th time.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What pairing goes with all that food Terri?
> 
> 
> 
> Chianti with the lasagna/salad; a simple Cotes du Rhone with the soup and baguette.
> 
> Nothing with the muffins but coffee, of course!
Click to expand...

Wow ... Cotes de Rhone ... Good call.  For the lasagna, Gary would probably go with a locally blended wine the vintner calls Doppiella. An entriging and well crafted combo of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.  Or maybe a Zin. Until recently, Gary hasn't been a fan of blends, but the older he gets the greater his vision.

Now here's a tough question ... Which coffee and why?


----------



## Gary A.

Off into the pond ... If Gary's volume of postings are significantly reduced ... that means he never made it out of the pond and maybe a call to 911 is in order.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Check back in so we know when you're out of the pond and enjoying a nice beverage.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sharon hopes everyone has their pole out of the crawl space and unadorned (no distracting tinsel).

Tonight - TBS, 7:30 p.m. EST.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Now here's a tough question ... Which coffee and why?



Not tough at all, since Terri is slumming on coffee right now... all she has in the pantry is pre-ground Starbuck's Morning Joe.    Why?   Because she got it at a severe discount last week.    Yay, she says.   Yay.   

Terri is assuming Gary has made it alive out of his pond.    All the hosers are waiting for a confirmation post.


----------



## limr




----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Eric just wants a place to sit in his own house…..
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has a place in front of the Tv with your name on it.  Gary hope you like tamales and pork roast ... And maybe some vino (out of MRE's).
Click to expand...



Eric is IN!!!!!! lol


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has survived the frigid depths of the pond. The greater waterfall area has been rebuild and the deep end pump restarted.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good to hear Gary! Time to bagel! Lenny get over to H&H.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Good to hear Gary! Time to bagel! Lenny get over to H&H.



I ain't no scab!


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Eric just wants a place to sit in his own house…..
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has a place in front of the Tv with your name on it.  Gary hope you like tamales and pork roast ... And maybe some vino (out of MRE's).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Eric is IN!!!!!! lol
Click to expand...

Seriously Eric, anytime you're up North, drop me a PM.  I'd love for you to stop by, chat about photography and have some food and drink.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is drinking wine with friends, started with a Portgueuse Fonseca from Douro. Very very smooth and nice. Now we're onto a Fess Parker Pinot Noir from Santa Barbara County, so completely different ... California versus Old World ... The Fess Parker is alive and full of zest the Domini is understated in comparison ... Plus they are from different grapes ... But still very very different, night and day, flavor.


----------



## jcdeboever

JC is drinking hot Vernor's with lemon, JC has sinus infection and feels icky...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> JC is drinking hot Vernor's with lemon, JC has sinus infection and feels icky...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


I have a tree full of Meyer Lemons if you need some. Gary has been on the edge of illness, so he also has been pumping Emergen-C and thinks that has kept evil bugs at bay.


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Eric just wants a place to sit in his own house…..
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has a place in front of the Tv with your name on it.  Gary hope you like tamales and pork roast ... And maybe some vino (out of MRE's).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Eric is IN!!!!!! lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Seriously Eric, anytime you're up North, drop me a PM.  I'd love for you to stop by, chat about photography and have some food and drink.
Click to expand...



Thanks! I'd like that. And likewise if you're down south.


----------



## Gary A.

Just starting a dinner of homemade chicken & pasta soup, pork tamales and smoked pork roast all washed down with Fess Parker Pinor.  Life is good.


----------



## Gary A.

Christmas a couple of decades ago.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning everyone.  Close your eyes, Leonore.


----------



## timor

Patriotic bacon, ha !
Happy Holidays everyone. And Good Shooting next year !


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Good morning everyone.  Close your eyes, Leonore.
> 
> View attachment 113273


----------



## limr

Merry Christmas Eve, you hosers! 




Xmas Tree by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

Everyone have a happy and safe holiday, whichever one (s) you celebrate.


----------



## Gary A.

Feliz Navidad Coffee Hosers.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Merry Christmas Eve, you hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Xmas Tree by limrodrigues, on Flickr


Flipping long exposure aye? Was that a pin hole lens on a holga? 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Merry Christmas Eve, you hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Xmas Tree by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> Flipping long exposure aye? Was that a pin hole lens on a holga?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Pinhole, yes, but not on a Holga. It was a 7-hour exposure with one of these: ONDU Handcrafted pinhole cameras  I got the 35mm a few years ago when they first came out. The company is Slovenian and my boyfriend's father is Slovenian, so Buzz and I both got cameras to support them. Plus, pinhole!   They just came out with their "Mark II" versions and I got an early-bird deal on Kickstarter for a 6x6. Very excited about it!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Merry Christmas Eve, you hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Xmas Tree by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> Flipping long exposure aye? Was that a pin hole lens on a holga?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Pinhole, yes, but not on a Holga. It was a 7-hour exposure with one of these: ONDU Handcrafted pinhole cameras  I got the 35mm a few years ago when they first came out. The company is Slovenian and my boyfriend's father is Slovenian, so Buzz and I both got cameras to support them. Plus, pinhole!   They just came out with their "Mark II" versions and I got an early-bird deal on Kickstarter for a 6x6. Very excited about it!
Click to expand...

Neat

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## timor

Agree, neat.


----------



## limr

Thanks


----------



## Gary A.

Gary also agrees, neat. Gary loves the simple plank shutter. Gary almost ordered the 4x5 ... Then the 6x6 ... But he is wondering how does one frame one's subjects? Are there angle lines on top showing FOV ... Does the 4x5 have a ground glass?  Gary doesn't have many wooden cameras.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gary also agrees, neat. Gary loves the simple plank shutter. Gary almost ordered the 4x5 ... Then the 6x6 ... But he is wondering how does one frame one's subjects? Are there angle lines on showing FOV ... Does the 4x5 have a ground glass?  Gary doesn't have many wooden cameras.



The first generation cameras had no angle lines, but the new ones do. They've also changed some of the materials on the inside because there was a problem with scratching (as you can see below), and they added a little stop to the plank shutter. I don't think any of them have glass. What I can tell you is that they are beautiful cameras and solidly-made. I can't wait to get my 6x6! I was very tempted by the 4x5 and I may have to start saving up for one.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Merry Christmas Eve, you hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Xmas Tree by limrodrigues, on Flickr



That is freakin' awesome!!!!!!    Timeless and fairy-like.    Makes me happy just looking at it!

Happy Christmas Eve to all.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Leo: Gary and company, savored the Portuguese wine from Douro.  It was good and evenly flavorful. A friend came over and needing a bottle of wine as a Xmas gift for her boss. She wanted Gary's input on the selection and she couldn't stand walking into another crowded store.  Gary suggested she come over and shop here. Gary felt like a Som, inspecting his stock, asking about her bosses expectation and palate.  We finally settled on a Russian River Vineyard 2013, Pinot Nior. Meanwhile we drank the Fonseca Domini and a Fess Parker Pinot. Then she started drinking my teas ... It was a good evening.


----------



## limr

In other news, Leo has a headache and will need to make some extra coffee this morning. Leo will then be cooking the bacalhau to bring to her sister's house for Christmas Eve dinner. In Portugal, a lot of people in the north have boiled fish, but in our family, the tradition is to make Bacalhau a Gomes de Sa, a casserole with onions, potatoes, garlic, and hard-boiled egg. Mmmmmm.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> @ Leo: Gary and company, savored the Portuguese wine from Douro.  It was good and evenly flavorful. A friend came over and needing a bottle of wine as a Xmas gift for her boss. She wanted Gary's input on the selection and she couldn't stand walking into another crowded store.  Gary suggested she come over and shop here. Gary felt like a Som, inspecting his stock, asking about her bosses expectation and palate.  We finally settled on a Russian River Vineyard 2013, Pinot Nior. Meanwhile we drank the Fonseca Domini and a Fess Parker Pinot. Then she started drinking my teas ... It was a good evening.



The Douro is becoming more and more known these days for its table wines, not just port. I'm a big fan of the Douro wines, and also the reds from the Alentejo.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Merry Christmas Eve, you hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Xmas Tree by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is freakin' awesome!!!!!!    Timeless and fairy-like.    Makes me happy just looking at it!
> 
> Happy Christmas Eve to all.
Click to expand...


Thank you, my dear  

Hope you enjoy your feast! I too love a good 1 or 2-day-long cooking spree on occasion. For my 40th birthday, I threw myself a party and cooked for 2 days to get ready for it. It was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun! And then at the end of it all, you get to eat and drink wine! What could be bad??


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Merry Christmas Eve, you hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Xmas Tree by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is freakin' awesome!!!!!!    Timeless and fairy-like.    Makes me happy just looking at it!
> 
> Happy Christmas Eve to all.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thank you, my dear
> 
> Hope you enjoy your feast! I too love a good 1 or 2-day-long cooking spree on occasion. For my 40th birthday, I threw myself a party and cooked for 2 days to get ready for it. It was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun! And then at the end of it all, you get to eat and drink wine! What could be bad??
Click to expand...

Washing the dishes after...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> In other news, Leo has a headache and will need to make some extra coffee this morning. Leo will then be cooking the bacalhau to bring to her sister's house for Christmas Eve dinner. In Portugal, a lot of people in the north have boiled fish, but in our family, the tradition is to make Bacalhau a Gomes de Sa, a casserole with onions, potatoes, garlic, and hard-boiled egg. Mmmmmm.


Mmmmmmmm ...

The tradition in my family is eat at a Chinese Resturant.


----------



## EIngerson

limr said:


> Merry Christmas Eve, you hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Xmas Tree by limrodrigues, on Flickr



Merry Christmas Eve to you too. Hope you all have a great holiday season.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, Leo has a headache and will need to make some extra coffee this morning. Leo will then be cooking the bacalhau to bring to her sister's house for Christmas Eve dinner. In Portugal, a lot of people in the north have boiled fish, but in our family, the tradition is to make Bacalhau a Gomes de Sa, a casserole with onions, potatoes, garlic, and hard-boiled egg. Mmmmmm.
> 
> 
> 
> Mmmmmmmm ...
> 
> The tradition in my family is eat at a Chinese Resturant.
Click to expand...






Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## EIngerson

And another bored moment during the holiday. Merry Christmas all of you.




Santa-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## jcdeboever

My oldest spent the big bucks on me this year... Lol. He is stationed in Japan, what the heck are these? They are about 1"x1"






Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## NancyMoranG

Gary, if something is tipping over 50 lb rocks into your pond, I'd say you have a bigger problem.....what could be doing that??

As far as your fighting off a possible cold, I have a suggestion. I HATE, HATE taking pills . But a friend told me to take an immunity booster called 'Wellness Formula'. Get it at a Vitamin World or Nature food store.
At 1st sign of anything I take them a few times a day and voila! Haven't had a bad cold or flu in years!
They smell awful and I actually leave a few sitting out to help.
But hope you keep it at bay.
Merry Christmas.


----------



## EIngerson

jcdeboever said:


> My oldest spent the big bucks on me this year... Lol. He is stationed in Japan, what the heck are these? They are about 1"x1"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



They are Shi Shi dogs. They go in front of the entrance of your home. The open mouthed one keeps evil spirits out and the closed mouth keeps good spirits in. Traditional Japanese gift.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> In other news, Leo has a headache and will need to make some extra coffee this morning. Leo will then be cooking the bacalhau to bring to her sister's house for Christmas Eve dinner. In Portugal, a lot of people in the north have boiled fish, but in our family, the tradition is to make Bacalhau a Gomes de Sa, a casserole with onions, potatoes, garlic, and hard-boiled egg. Mmmmmm.



We call it baccala - good stuff.  The word also has a slang usage, but I won't go there ...


----------



## minicoop1985

Hola, hosers. Starting off the day rather late with a massive headache... Oh joy!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Must be this weather. Everyone from the east coast to the midwest might have their heads exploding! lol Storms yesterday led to a nice sunny day today. Dinner out then probably a movie in so don't have to prepare anything, just putting away boxes and ribbon etc. 

Hope everyone has a good evening and a Merry Christmas.


----------



## minicoop1985

And yes,m happy whatever you do to you folks.


----------



## jcdeboever

Merry Christmas to everyone and safe travels. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## JacaRanda

Merry Christmas!


----------



## snowbear

Looky what I found


----------



## FITBMX

The true story of Santa!


----------



## Gary A.

Before:



 

After:


----------



## snowbear

I made the gift tags this year.


----------



## limr

FITBMX said:


> The true story of Santa!



And from north of the border:


----------



## snowbear

And in the south . . .


----------



## Gary A.

Merry Christmas one and all.


----------



## limr

You too, Tio!


----------



## Gary A.

The turkey was delish and the fixings even better.  The turkey had distinct smoke flavor.  Gary made a paste of butter and herbs, beacoup herbs. The he separated the turkey's skin from the meat and rubbed in the paste.  In the cavity Gary stuffed cut-upped apples, onion and herbs. Then he BBQ-ed everything in a pan. In the pan, Gary also dumped in Apple Cider, Apple Cider Vinegar, potatoes, carrots, apples, celery and more herbs. The veggies cooked in the pan, were incredible. 

It was Gary's first attempt at cooking a turkey in the Kamado. Gary had to switch out pans fr0m a hard roasting pan that didn't quite fit in the Kamado to an aluminum pan which he could bend to fit.

Today a beef roast in the smoker.  Gary is planning to soak the wood chips in bourbon.


----------



## terri

Looks beautiful, Gary!    No doubt it tasted divine!

Merry Christmas, TPF!


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Looks beautiful, Gary!    No doubt it tasted divine!
> 
> Merry Christmas, TPF!


No complaints ... 

We started with a Ponte Chardonnay and wrapped everything up with that Vernaccia Mary Lou so enjoys.


----------



## Gary A.

The rib roast is in the smoker.


----------



## Gary A.

Fini


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 113308
> Fini



Red dead and corn fed!


----------



## FITBMX

Hope you all had a great day!


----------



## FITBMX

Going down to OK today for christmas, I was going to take my camera. So I could take photos out the window on the way, but I forgot it.  First as we were driving through the 
flint hills when the sun started to come up, there was some fog in the valleys and it was a beautiful sunrise, and I had no camera!  Then a hour or so later we had to come to a complete stop on a little two lane highway (no other cars around at all) Because there was a Bald Eagle sitting there eating roadkill! And I had no camera!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Dude .... !!!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner tonight was better than last nights turkey. the rib-eye roast cooked for about six hours over Pecan and paired with a Masia de la Vineya - Milenio. It was sooooo good that it would be hard pressed to find an equal in nearly any restaurant.


----------



## jcdeboever

FITBMX said:


> Going down to OK today for christmas, I was going to take my camera. So I could take photos out the window on the way, but I forgot it.  First as we were driving through the
> flint hills when the sun started to come up, there was some fog in the valleys and it was a beautiful sunrise, and I had no camera!  Then a hour or so later we had to come to a complete stop on a little two lane highway (no other cars around at all) Because there was a Bald Eagle sitting there eating roadkill! And I had no camera!!!


There is one in your phone, no?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> FITBMX said:
> 
> 
> 
> Going down to OK today for christmas, I was going to take my camera. So I could take photos out the window on the way, but I forgot it.  First as we were driving through the
> flint hills when the sun started to come up, there was some fog in the valleys and it was a beautiful sunrise, and I had no camera!  Then a hour or so later we had to come to a complete stop on a little two lane highway (no other cars around at all) Because there was a Bald Eagle sitting there eating roadkill! And I had no camera!!!
> 
> 
> 
> There is one in your phone, no?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Good point JC.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Since August Gary has been working on getting fit/lose some pounds. Even with all of his holiday eating Gary still managed to not only maintain his initial loses but Gary dropped another pound.


----------



## limr

FITBMX said:


> Going down to OK today for christmas, I was going to take my camera. So I could take photos out the window on the way, but I forgot it.  First as we were driving through the
> flint hills when the sun started to come up, there was some fog in the valleys and it was a beautiful sunrise, and I had no camera!  Then a hour or so later we had to come to a complete stop on a little two lane highway (no other cars around at all) Because there was a Bald Eagle sitting there eating roadkill! And I had no camera!!!



Oh man, I feel your pain!


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Since August Gary has been working on getting fit/lose some pounds. Even with all of his holiday eating Gary still managed to not only maintain his initial loses but Gary dropped another pound.



Excellent!!
Leo weighs in on Wednesdays, and as of this week, she's lost 15 lbs. She has 5 days before she weighs in again so that should be enough time to counteract the excesses of Christmas and Christmas Eve  If there were a fair and just universe, those two days (plus Thanksgiving and our birthdays) wouldn't be counted against us, and the calories would just burn off in the ether.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Since August Gary has been working on getting fit/lose some pounds. Even with all of his holiday eating Gary still managed to not only maintain his initial loses but Gary dropped another pound.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Excellent!!
> Leo weighs in on Wednesdays, and as of this week, she's lost 15 lbs. She has 5 days before she weighs in again so that should be enough time to counteract the excesses of Christmas and Christmas Eve  If there were a fair and just universe, those two days (plus Thanksgiving and our birthdays) wouldn't be counted against us, and the calories would just burn off in the ether.
Click to expand...

Hear! Hear!  (The ether needs to start pulling it's fair share.)


----------



## limr

So, I got myself an AeroPress for Christmas! Tried it out following their instructions and the coffee came out with a really nice flavor but too weak for my tastes. The trick with the AeroPress, it seems, is to fine-tune the process to suit your tastes, even moreso than with other methods. So later today I'll be trying a finer ground and a little bit more coffee.

The story to go along with it: Buzz and I spend Christmas Eve with my family and then we spend Christmas day with his family. On Christmas Eve, one of my sisters told me that she was going through my Amazon wishlist and was going to get me "some coffee thing" but when she went back to actually get it, it wasn't there anymore. That's when I knew that Buzz's mother or sister-in-law had beat her to it and I would be getting it the next day.  So that's how I ended up with BOTH my "coffee thing" from Buzz's mother PLUS three packs of the discontinued Fuji 3000B (black and white instant) from my sister to add to my stash!


----------



## FITBMX

jcdeboever said:


> There is one in your phone, no?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk





Gary A. said:


> Good point JC.



I don't have a phone. My brother does, but the lens is badly scuffed so everything is hazy. So it's not worth it.


----------



## Gary A.

FITBMX said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> There is one in your phone, no?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good point JC.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't have a phone. My brother does, but the lens is badly scuffed so everything is hazy. So it's not worth it.
Click to expand...

One of those Holga camera phones.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> So, I got myself an AeroPress for Christmas! Tried it out following their instructions and the coffee came out with a really nice flavor but too weak for my tastes. The trick with the AeroPress, it seems, is to fine-tune the process to suit your tastes, even moreso than with other methods. So later today I'll be trying a finer ground and a little bit more coffee.
> 
> The story to go along with it: Buzz and I spend Christmas Eve with my family and then we spend Christmas day with his family. On Christmas Eve, one of my sisters told me that she was going through my Amazon wishlist and was going to get me "some coffee thing" but when she went back to actually get it, it wasn't there anymore. That's when I knew that Buzz's mother or sister-in-law had beat her to it and I would be getting it the next day.  So that's how I ended up with BOTH my "coffee thing" from Buzz's mother PLUS three packs of the discontinued Fuji 3000B (black and white instant) from my sister to add to my stash!


Really, really good news on your fitness progress.  Gary has managed his food intake, in spite of his holiday cooking, to match nicely with his activity level. Everything in moderation Gary says. Gary has an AeroPress.  Much better than a drip coffee maker ... Different but not better than his French Press ... Gary found the taste somewhere between a weak espresso and French Press. So Gary hung it up.  Gary found it to be a bit more effort than a French Press ... So what's the point ... Right? One day Gary will try it with milk.

This is day two of husbanding Gary's youngest daughter's animals, Holly, a Goldie mix and Bowser the Guinea Pig, while she holidays in St. Louis with her sister.


----------



## Gary A.

That roast last night was soooooo jammin' good that Gary is still dreaming about it as he keyboards.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Really, really good news on your fitness progress.  Gary has managed his food intake, in spite of his holiday cooking, to match nicely with his activity level. Everything in moderation Gary says. Gary has an AeroPress.  Much better than a drip coffee maker ... Different but not better than his French Press ... *Gary found the taste somewhere between a weak espresso and French Press. So Gary hung it up.  Gary found it to be a bit more effort than a French Press ... So what's the point ... Right? One day Gary will try it with milk.*
> 
> This is day two of husbanding Gary's youngest daughter's animals, Holly, a Goldie mix and Bowser the Guinea Pig, while she holidays in St. Louis with her sister.



Yeah, Leo isn't planning on replacing her French press, but the AeroPress will be good for the days when she would like a single cup but doesn't want to make a whole pot. She's also considering bringing it to work if it tastes better than the Keurig in the office.

Leo also got - finally, after many years of longing for one! - a waist-level finder for her Mamiya 645. I  Buzz!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Fitbmx, just wondered yesterday if eagles eat roadkill? Here at a wildlife refuge, we have encountered a problem. This is a flyover stop for thousands and thousands of migratory birds, especially swans.
It seems we have had SO much rain, the farmers can't plow under some old soy. It has now turned into a fungus, and the swans are eating it and dying!
We have a couple of eagles but have not seen them on the deceased swans. So, do they only eat fresh kill?


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Really, really good news on your fitness progress.  Gary has managed his food intake, in spite of his holiday cooking, to match nicely with his activity level. Everything in moderation Gary says. Gary has an AeroPress.  Much better than a drip coffee maker ... Different but not better than his French Press ... *Gary found the taste somewhere between a weak espresso and French Press. So Gary hung it up.  Gary found it to be a bit more effort than a French Press ... So what's the point ... Right? One day Gary will try it with milk.*
> 
> This is day two of husbanding Gary's youngest daughter's animals, Holly, a Goldie mix and Bowser the Guinea Pig, while she holidays in St. Louis with her sister.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, Leo isn't planning on replacing her French press, but the AeroPress will be good for the days when she would like a single cup but doesn't want to make a whole pot. She's also considering bringing it to work if it tastes better than the Keurig in the office.
> 
> Leo also got - finally, after many years of longing for one! - a waist-level finder for her Mamiya 645. I  Buzz!
Click to expand...

Way to go Buzz! Gary has multiple sized French Presses. Since Mary Lou has moved from morning coffee to morning tea, Gary is now using a two-cup French Press to minimize waste and maximize bean usage. Gary think the AeroPress is a good option for work and I think the many recipes for the AeroPress add considerable variety.)

PS- When Gary wants an espresso taste ... He fires up the espresso maker.


----------



## FITBMX

NancyMoranG said:


> Fitbmx, just wondered yesterday if eagles eat roadkill? Here at a wildlife refuge, we have encountered a problem. This is a flyover stop for thousands and thousands of migratory birds, especially swans.
> It seems we have had SO much rain, the farmers can't plow under some old soy. *It has now turned into a fungus, and the swans are eating it and dying!*
> We have a couple of eagles but have not seen them on the deceased swans. So, do they only eat fresh kill?



That is terrible. 
The eagle was eating a dead armadillo, I was surprised it was eating roadkill, and not off eating something fresher.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Got the wife's dad's family Christmas thing tonight. Cue social anxiety big time.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary was taught that Eagles, (in particular Bald Eagles), are not the great hunters like other raptors Hawks, Falcons, Ospreys, Harriers, et al.  And that Bald Eagles would rather dine on carrion then put in the effort for fresh kill.


----------



## NancyMoranG

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Got the wife's dad's family Christmas thing tonight. Cue social anxiety big time.



Mmmm, let the soap opera begin?


----------



## snowbear

I hope all of our Brit, Canuck, Aussie & Kiwi friends are having a good boxing day.
To mimic the impending threads we can expect soon, I got a nice electric meat slicer from my sister-in-law; what do I need to do to start a deli?


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> I hope all of our Brit, Canuck, Aussie & Kiwi friends are having a good boxing day.
> To mimic the impending threads we can expect soon, I got a nice electric meat slicer from my sister-in-law; what do I need to do to start a deli?


Customers.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, I lucked out. Got a stomach bug, didn't have to go. Yay! Now to get off the toilet sometime today...


----------



## FITBMX

minicoop1985 said:


> Well, I lucked out. Got a stomach bug, didn't have to go. Yay! Now to get off the toilet sometime today...



Better you than me! 

hope you get well soon.


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> Gary was taught that Eagles, (in particular Bald Eagles), are not the great hunters like other raptors Hawks, Falcons, Ospreys, Harriers, et al.  And that Bald Eagles would rather dine on carrion then put in the effort for fresh kill.



I Didn't know that, we never see them around here.


----------



## Gary A.

Ben Franklin felt the Bald Eagle was more scavenger than raptor and propose the turkey (wild) to be the symbol of the USA as opposed to the eagle.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. This is day four Gary and Mary Lou are animal sitting my daughter's animals. The Pig (Guinea) is still alive and Gary hasn't murdered her undisciplined dog ... yet. Holly is sweet, smart and beautiful ... But a real pita being extremely needy and annoying. Gary and Mary Lou had a peaceful evening last night ... A NetFlix evening. After an early dinner of sushi with Mary Lou's son, we opened up a bottle of Chardonnay and had a glass per movie. The old classic Far From the Madding Crowd and The Physician.  The Physician was streamed, and a bit long but well done and true to its time period (1000 AD). 

Today we plan to see Star Wars with Gary's physician friend and fellow photog.


----------



## minicoop1985

Feeling much better today. Must have been something I ate. Oh well, got to escape that awkward party.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Feeling much better today. Must have been something I ate. Oh well, got to escape that awkward party.



How very convenient *winkwink nudgenudge*  
Stomach things often only last a day or so. It's a hellish 24-hours, but at least they go quickly.

As soon as I'm done poking around here, I've got to buckle down and get the rest of my grading done and then figure course grades and get them entered into our computer system. They're due tomorrow and I can't stand having them over my head anymore. I tried to get them all done before Christmas, but I only got as far as grading straggling papers and setting up by spreadsheets. I couldn't manage final exams and final grades before the madness (and the massive headache) started. Yesterday I recovered a little bit, and I totally need more time to crash and watch Netflix, but I've got to get this crap done first. It'll suck but it will feel SOOOOOO good when it's done!


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> Ben Franklin felt the Bald Eagle was more scavenger than raptor and propose the turkey (wild) to be the symbol of the USA as opposed to the eagle.



This is a great documenter about turkeys, you have to watch!


----------



## snowbear

Oh Boy!  I got a present from the Circuit Court of Charles County -- jury duty!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Oh Boy!  I got a present from the Circuit Court of Charles County -- jury duty!



I can teach you how to get out of it


----------



## Gary A.

Wow, great video Gallagher ... Thank you for the link. Gary has a major in biology and he has a pretty good understanding of imprinting ... But this was amazing.  Also pretty crazy for the guy just to have contact with turkeys and no people for over a year.


----------



## Gary A.

Today was pretty much a down day from all the holiday stuff, all the cooking, cleaning, eating, hosting, et al. Mary Lou and Gary just kicked back and worked in the yard. It was a very productive.  Mary Lou pruned a ton of roses and Gary did a whole bunch of little stuff that's been needing some attending for a long time.  Plus Gary transplanted 8 - 10 succulents that's been needed some care for more than a year. Mary Lou and Gary both are aching a bit ... So time to heat up some leftovers and settle down to some dinner.   But wait ... Amazon arrived today and brought Gary's cookbooks.

1) Essential Smoker Recipies Book Bundle (California Smoker and Texas Smoker);
2) Alchemy of the Mortar & Pestle - The Culinary Library Volume 1 (in Gary's case Mortar & Pestle - Molcajete);
3) Mastery of the Sauces - The Culinary Library Volume 3 -YES!!!!;
4) The Pesto Manifesto - Recipes for Basil & Beyond; and
5) Italian Family Classics, Four Generations of Italian Recipes.

Gary is quite excited.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh Boy!  I got a present from the Circuit Court of Charles County -- jury duty!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I can teach you how to get out of it
Click to expand...


Let's see . . . I worked for the police department, and I worked as a background investigator, MLW worked for the police department, I have another relative that's currently a police officer, dad worked in computer _security_ . . . I doubt I'll get any criminal trials.


----------



## minicoop1985

SON OF A B!TCH... My shutter died! I've got to replace the camera since it's not worth repairing and I think Canon abandoned the original 7D.

I'm thinking of doing a Mamiya 645 AFD with a Mamiya ZD digital back. Found a great deal on the back (need money to buy it of course), now I just need the camera body.


----------



## limr

That sucks, Michael 

Morning, hosers! 

I'm sitting in front of my last batch of grading for the semester/year. Eng 101 final exams. Two people who had been active students all semester long didn't show up for the exam. Another student, who attended sporadically but never handed in any work, did show up. I let him take the exam because I just wanted to see what he could do. He'd actually placed into the honors section, and I could tell all year long that he's a really smart kid who is just unmotivated and trying to figure out what he's doing. He's probably the best writer in that class without even breaking a sweat. Yeah, he wasted his time and he's going to get an F, but that's where he is in his life right now, and he'll either figure it out or not. I just wanted to be able to read _one_ thing he's written, so I let him go ahead and take the exam. And yes, even doing no preparation, his essay is good. 






In other news, I've figured out that doubling the amount of coffee, grinding it at the finest setting, and increasing the temperature of the water from 175 to 185 will make a pretty good cup of coffee with the AeroPress. This is good as it gives me a more portable alternative to the French Press. The other good thing is that it's also really good without milk. I find the French press coffee is just a tiny bit too harsh without milk, so it kind of sucks if I run out of milk. But I just had a cup of black with the AeroPress and I enjoyed it as much as I do a cup with milk from the French press.

Leo is happy about her coffee. Leo will be much happier in general when this stack of papers is read and graded.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is cold this morning.  The grass is encrusted with frost and when the dogs ventured into the still cold air, your could see their green footprints in white frosty grass.  The bird baths have a solid top of ice ... Gary hopes that his veggies and Plumria will survive this cold spell.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> SON OF A B!TCH... My shutter died! I've got to replace the camera since it's not worth repairing and I think Canon abandoned the original 7D.
> 
> I'm thinking of doing a Mamiya 645 AFD with a Mamiya ZD digital back. Found a great deal on the back (need money to buy it of course), now I just need the camera body.


Gary agrees with Leo ... That sucks.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> SON OF A B!TCH... My shutter died! I've got to replace the camera since it's not worth repairing and I think Canon abandoned the original 7D.
> 
> I'm thinking of doing a Mamiya 645 AFD with a Mamiya ZD digital back. Found a great deal on the back (need money to buy it of course), now I just need the camera body.


Bummer, sorry to hear that. 

JC went to dollar store today and spent a whopping $15 on 3 backgrounds for portraits. I got a pole, and black, gray, tan curtains. Amazon gift cards affords me two flash stands, umbrella brackets, 42" umbrellas, reflectors, trigger set, off camera flash bracket, sc-17, and a pack of HP photo paper. 

JC can't wait to tackle the Hedgecoe flash photography projects! JCs gonna get that curtain rod hung in the man cave before the wife gets home. [emoji6] 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## NancyMoranG

Snow bear, thanks for your public service. I am a believer in jury duty and always show up. I would want to be judged by people like me.
Limr, what would motivate this student? I would have a hard time not trying to save everyone!
Grading and then relaxing


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is thumbing through his new cookbooks. Gary is salivating.


----------



## limr

NancyMoranG said:


> Snow bear, thanks for your public service. I am a believer in jury duty and always show up. I would want to be judged by people like me.
> Limr, what would motivate this student? I would have a hard time not trying to save everyone!
> Grading and then relaxing



As a beginning teacher, you want to save everyone. As a seasoned teacher, you realize that it's impossible to save everyone, especially at this age when they have to start making their own decisions about priorities and either get their work done or deal with the consequences. A kid like the smart kid who does no work? There's very little to be done. I know that kid because, to a certain extent, I _was_ that kid. Still am a little bit. You don't push a kid like that - the more you push, the more he retreats. He needs to get there on his own. He clearly needs a challenge, and he might have gotten that challenge had he enrolled in the honors section that he placed into. But he also needs to be ready for that challenge, and if he's not, then anything I throw his way will just be batted back.

In the meantime, I have other students who are struggling but whom I _can_ save because they're ready for it. As one example, I had another kid in the same class who started out almost certain to get a D, if he passed at all. We had a conversation about 1/3 of the way through the semester. He had taken the class twice before (F the first time, D the second - different teachers, not me) and he was really discouraged. He needed at least a C - but wanted a B - to be able to transfer the credits and move on with his education. He was handing in really simplistic work, borderline plagiarizing, getting all the citations wrong. I told him straight out that to get a B might be unrealistic given the work he was already doing, but if he buckled down and _really _got to work, that I'd help him out. He was upset, of course, and I wasn't sure how he would handle it, but he did it. He worked his butt off and he got his B. And yes, he deserved it - it wasn't a pity grade.

Essentially, you have to know whom you can save and whom you can't, and focus your energy accordingly. Otherwise, you end up burning out _fast_, and then you can't save anyone, least of all yourself!


----------



## limr

And speaking of grades, THEY'RE DONE!!!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> That sucks, Michael
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I'm sitting in front of my last batch of grading for the semester/year. Eng 101 final exams. Two people who had been active students all semester long didn't show up for the exam. Another student, who attended sporadically but never handed in any work, did show up. I let him take the exam because I just wanted to see what he could do. He'd actually placed into the honors section, and I could tell all year long that he's a really smart kid who is just unmotivated and trying to figure out what he's doing. He's probably the best writer in that class without even breaking a sweat. Yeah, he wasted his time and he's going to get an F, but that's where he is in his life right now, and he'll either figure it out or not. I just wanted to be able to read _one_ thing he's written, so I let him go ahead and take the exam. And yes, even doing no preparation, his essay is good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, I've figured out that doubling the amount of coffee, grinding it at the finest setting, and increasing the temperature of the water from 175 to 185 will make a pretty good cup of coffee with the AeroPress. This is good as it gives me a more portable alternative to the French Press. The other good thing is that it's also really good without milk. I find the French press coffee is just a tiny bit too harsh without milk, so it kind of sucks if I run out of milk. But I just had a cup of black with the AeroPress and I enjoyed it as much as I do a cup with milk from the French press.
> 
> Leo is happy about her coffee. Leo will be much happier in general when this stack of papers is read and graded.


How much did the final exam count towards the grade? Just curious. Is this college or HS? I loved my college English courses. I was blessed to have good teachers but it came naturally to me. They were my favorite. I ended up helping half the class in both and teacher's loved that, good times. I was not a great writer but understood what the teachers wanted based off of text books and assignments.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> That sucks, Michael
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I'm sitting in front of my last batch of grading for the semester/year. Eng 101 final exams. Two people who had been active students all semester long didn't show up for the exam. Another student, who attended sporadically but never handed in any work, did show up. I let him take the exam because I just wanted to see what he could do. He'd actually placed into the honors section, and I could tell all year long that he's a really smart kid who is just unmotivated and trying to figure out what he's doing. He's probably the best writer in that class without even breaking a sweat. Yeah, he wasted his time and he's going to get an F, but that's where he is in his life right now, and he'll either figure it out or not. I just wanted to be able to read _one_ thing he's written, so I let him go ahead and take the exam. And yes, even doing no preparation, his essay is good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, I've figured out that doubling the amount of coffee, grinding it at the finest setting, and increasing the temperature of the water from 175 to 185 will make a pretty good cup of coffee with the AeroPress. This is good as it gives me a more portable alternative to the French Press. The other good thing is that it's also really good without milk. I find the French press coffee is just a tiny bit too harsh without milk, so it kind of sucks if I run out of milk. But I just had a cup of black with the AeroPress and I enjoyed it as much as I do a cup with milk from the French press.
> 
> Leo is happy about her coffee. Leo will be much happier in general when this stack of papers is read and graded.
> 
> 
> 
> How much did the final exam count towards the grade? Just curious. Is this college or HS? I loved my college English courses. I was blessed to have good teachers but it came naturally to me. They were my favorite. I ended up helping half the class in both and teacher's loved that, good times.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


It's community college. The final exam is 15% of the course grade. The two students who didn't show up had good enough grades that a 0 on the final left them with a D instead of an F. It still can't transfer so ultimately to get a degree, they'd need to take the class again (which isn't a bad idea for these two, actually) but they also pass so they are able to take other classes that have Eng 101 as a prereq. So a D is a compromise: it kinda screws them but it kinda doesn't. I did the same for 2 students who didn't give me a final draft of their research paper (which is a major component of this class. In fact, the name of the class has even been changed to 'Writing and Research.')


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yay! good for you being done!

Had to shake my head at that one, not coming to classes but showing up for the final. A shame but probably more going on with that one than you can do a lot about in one class, hope he gets his life together. We'd sometimes have families that we'd do what we could with the child, give suggestions to the family which wouldn't likely be used, and move on. It's the old you can lead a horse to water, if they won't do it they won't. Better to spend time with the ones who say they want to do better or learn what to do with their child.

Mild and rainy here but the cold weather at Gary's will be here later in the week, which will be normal weather for a change here.

But Sharon doesn't care about the weather, Sharon is a happy camper, daytime hockey all week!!! Watching the Czechs playing the Slovaks in a replay from earlier in the day.
(And the NHL in their infinite lack of wisdom is running the scores across the screen... I don't want to see who won when the replay's only in the 2nd period! but what can you expect with a nincompoop in charge of the league).

Uh-oh, Jimmy's dooown... (player on the ice but he's back up and going to the bench).


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> That sucks, Michael
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I'm sitting in front of my last batch of grading for the semester/year. Eng 101 final exams. Two people who had been active students all semester long didn't show up for the exam. Another student, who attended sporadically but never handed in any work, did show up. I let him take the exam because I just wanted to see what he could do. He'd actually placed into the honors section, and I could tell all year long that he's a really smart kid who is just unmotivated and trying to figure out what he's doing. He's probably the best writer in that class without even breaking a sweat. Yeah, he wasted his time and he's going to get an F, but that's where he is in his life right now, and he'll either figure it out or not. I just wanted to be able to read _one_ thing he's written, so I let him go ahead and take the exam. And yes, even doing no preparation, his essay is good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, I've figured out that doubling the amount of coffee, grinding it at the finest setting, and increasing the temperature of the water from 175 to 185 will make a pretty good cup of coffee with the AeroPress. This is good as it gives me a more portable alternative to the French Press. The other good thing is that it's also really good without milk. I find the French press coffee is just a tiny bit too harsh without milk, so it kind of sucks if I run out of milk. But I just had a cup of black with the AeroPress and I enjoyed it as much as I do a cup with milk from the French press.
> 
> Leo is happy about her coffee. Leo will be much happier in general when this stack of papers is read and graded.
> 
> 
> 
> How much did the final exam count towards the grade? Just curious. Is this college or HS? I loved my college English courses. I was blessed to have good teachers but it came naturally to me. They were my favorite. I ended up helping half the class in both and teacher's loved that, good times.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's community college. The final exam is 15% of the course grade. The two students who didn't show up had good enough grades that a 0 on the final left them with a D instead of an F. It still can't transfer so ultimately to get a degree, they'd need to take the class again (which isn't a bad idea for these two, actually) but they also pass so they are able to take other classes that have Eng 101 as a prereq. So a D is a compromise: it kinda screws them but it kinda doesn't. I did the same for 2 students who didn't give me a final draft of their research paper (which is a major component of this class. In fact, the name of the class has even been changed to 'Writing and Research.')
Click to expand...

Trying not to brag but I scored 900 out of 900 in both courses. I simply loved the classes and helping others. 

My core computer classes were very competitive and most of the students cheated. I could always tell when doing labs with them, they never had a clear understanding and I ended up doing all the work. The teacher's knew as well, they always separated the 25% that got it into 4 groups. 4 years of that crap wore me out. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary was one of those too busy doing important stuff like drinking to go to class. But Gary has this inner drive ... Gary  never practiced well, but would always rise up to the occasion on game day. Gary is very very competitive, he'd never do the homework, but always aced the tests.


----------



## minicoop1985

I have to wait on the bank to see if they'll approve me for a loan for the back/camera. This is frustrating.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> That sucks, Michael
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> I'm sitting in front of my last batch of grading for the semester/year. Eng 101 final exams. Two people who had been active students all semester long didn't show up for the exam. Another student, who attended sporadically but never handed in any work, did show up. I let him take the exam because I just wanted to see what he could do. He'd actually placed into the honors section, and I could tell all year long that he's a really smart kid who is just unmotivated and trying to figure out what he's doing. He's probably the best writer in that class without even breaking a sweat. Yeah, he wasted his time and he's going to get an F, but that's where he is in his life right now, and he'll either figure it out or not. I just wanted to be able to read _one_ thing he's written, so I let him go ahead and take the exam. And yes, even doing no preparation, his essay is good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, I've figured out that doubling the amount of coffee, grinding it at the finest setting, and increasing the temperature of the water from 175 to 185 will make a pretty good cup of coffee with the AeroPress. This is good as it gives me a more portable alternative to the French Press. The other good thing is that it's also really good without milk. I find the French press coffee is just a tiny bit too harsh without milk, so it kind of sucks if I run out of milk. But I just had a cup of black with the AeroPress and I enjoyed it as much as I do a cup with milk from the French press.
> 
> Leo is happy about her coffee. Leo will be much happier in general when this stack of papers is read and graded.
> 
> 
> 
> How much did the final exam count towards the grade? Just curious. Is this college or HS? I loved my college English courses. I was blessed to have good teachers but it came naturally to me. They were my favorite. I ended up helping half the class in both and teacher's loved that, good times.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's community college. The final exam is 15% of the course grade. The two students who didn't show up had good enough grades that a 0 on the final left them with a D instead of an F. It still can't transfer so ultimately to get a degree, they'd need to take the class again (which isn't a bad idea for these two, actually) but they also pass so they are able to take other classes that have Eng 101 as a prereq. So a D is a compromise: it kinda screws them but it kinda doesn't. I did the same for 2 students who didn't give me a final draft of their research paper (which is a major component of this class. In fact, the name of the class has even been changed to 'Writing and Research.')
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Trying not to brag but I scored 900 out of 900 in both courses. I simply loved the classes and helping others.
> 
> My core computer classes were very competitive and most of the students cheated. I could always tell when doing labs with them, they never had a clear understanding and I ended up doing all the work. The teacher's knew as well, they always separated the 25% that got it into 4 groups. 4 years of that crap wore me out.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Brag all you want 

I never took Eng 101 or 102. I took AP in high school, got a 5 out of 5, and placed out of both levels of Eng. Also got into honors, so my first college Eng course was an honors seminar on Joseph Conrad. Got an A


----------



## b_twill

snowbear said:


> Oh Boy!  I got a present from the Circuit Court of Charles County -- jury duty!



The nice clerk in Kent County sent me an early Christmas present, got the questionnaire on Christmas eve... Beginning to think the system is rigged.  Wife, daughter and I have all been summoned within the last 5 years.  This is my second one in that time frame.  All for different courts though.


----------



## jcdeboever

JC got curtain rod hung.... [wife not happy]... JC is so sorry to decorate MY MAN CAVE THE WAY I REALLY WANT IT! ... she forgot the smelly stuff she bought me last year... JC has a secret weapon, been holding out,.... good time to sport it.... she can't resist it... I will be in like Flynn 3 days top... oh crap, where is the Extenze to mail it home? JC in trouble....


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just watched Star Wars.  The experience was as good as the first Star Wars. The 3D was excellent ... The music put the movie over the top. Five stars.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gary just watched Star Wars.  The experience was as good as the first Star Wars. The 3D was excellent ... The music put the movie over the top. Five stars.



Morning, hosers!

Leo and Buzz will be seeing the new movie soon. We've been waiting until the first week of Jan when schools are back in session so we can go to a matinee (less crowded...oh, how we hate a crowded theater!). Leo isn't so sure she wants to see it in 3D. Leo gets a bit woozy at such things. But that might just be IMAX 3D. She's not sure. She would hate to have to walk out of the movie, though, so she'll see the regular version first, and then make the call about the 3D.

She's also very very VERRRRRRRYYYYYY annoyed at Buzz's nephew who blurted out a huge spoiler on Christmas, despite Leo's warnings to not tell her anything. Leo understands that this is a somewhat irrational reaction - blah blah "he's only a kid, he doesn't know better" blah blah "it's only a movie" blah blah blah dee blah - but she doesn't care. She's still pissed that some little snot-nosed (no literally, he was snotty that day) kid ruined it for her.


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary just watched Star Wars.  The experience was as good as the first Star Wars. The 3D was excellent ... The music put the movie over the top. Five stars.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> Leo and Buzz will be seeing the new movie soon. We've been waiting until the first week of Jan when schools are back in session so we can go to a matinee (less crowded...oh, how we hate a crowded theater!). Leo isn't so sure she wants to see it in 3D. Leo gets a bit woozy at such things. But that might just be IMAX 3D. She's not sure. She would hate to have to walk out of the movie, though, so she'll see the regular version first, and then make the call about the 3D.
> 
> She's also very very VERRRRRRRYYYYYY annoyed at Buzz's nephew who blurted out a huge spoiler on Christmas, despite Leo's warnings to not tell her anything. Leo understands that this is a somewhat irrational reaction - blah blah "he's only a kid, he doesn't know better" blah blah "it's only a movie" blah blah blah dee blah - but she doesn't care. She's still pissed that some little snot-nosed (no literally, he was snotty that day) kid ruined it for her.
Click to expand...


Good work, Gary!

Leonore, that suuuuuucks. I hate when people do that crap. Irritates me to no end. I've seen ONE spoiler on Facebook, and it sure as hell wasn't me posting it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary isn't a big fan of 3D. (Gary has a 3D Tv at home but has never used the option except for the initial test.) For him convenance of time is more important than 2D/3D. All the 3D movies Gary has seen is based upon timing not desire.  But the 3D was well done and actually enhance the viewing pleasure a bit.

Spoilers has never bothered Gary any.  He just doesn't give a rat's ... But he understands how such actions can disturb others, more sensitive to the world about them, than he.


----------



## Gary A.

We ran into an old friend Rocko (left).

Gary, the Cook and Holly are back from our walk. The Cook has a Vet appointment at 8:00 a.m., so the group ventured early into the frosty morning.




Rocko




Holly (youngest daughter's pooch)




Exploring the park.


----------



## FITBMX

minicoop1985 said:


> SON OF A B!TCH... My shutter died! I've got to replace the camera since it's not worth repairing and I think Canon abandoned the original 7D.



What if you get the parts and do the repair yourself?


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> Wow, great video Gallagher ... Thank you for the link. Gary has a major in biology and he has a pretty good understanding of imprinting ... But this was amazing.  Also pretty crazy for the guy just to have contact with turkeys and no people for over a year.



That would be really strange spending a year with turkeys only. I loved how all the animals accepted him as one of them and not a human.   
They released another documentary with the same guy last year, it is the same thing but with a herd of mule deer.


----------



## jcdeboever

JC ran across this on the wall at a crackle barrel. JC recalls some members interested in fountain pens. 






Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Oh, yeah.  New ones start at 10x that, now.


----------



## Dikkie

snowbear said:


> Welcome to _The Coffee House_, where there is no competition, no Leaderboard, no C&C, and no stress. It was started by small group of TPF gnomes who not only like photography, but also like to share coffee, cinnamon buns, poems, and stories.
> 
> Pull up a seat, grab a cup, and unwind!
> 
> View attachment 88454
> _© Copyright Lewis Clarke and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons License_


That's a very nice bunch of gnomes you got there !

I have around 10 gnomes at home, I think.


----------



## Gary A.

Welcome Dikkie, pull up chair and have a cup of coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another frosty morning. Holly is a very sweet but terribly annoying dog. On top of being behaviorally annoying, Holly also sheds, she sheds a lot.


----------



## Dikkie

Gary A. said:


> Welcome Dikkie, pull up chair and have a cup of coffee.


Will do !
Tomorrow morning... right here it's almost 8 PM now...


----------



## pixmedic

2 pounds of London broil on the dehydrator making some jerky.
Marinated overnight.


----------



## minicoop1985

God dammit, the bank wouldn't approve my loan even WITH a great co-signer, said they wouldn't give me an unsecured loan. Period. No new camera for me... At least not for the moment. It'll come. Guess I gotta work with the boss's stuff (he's gonna be miiiiiiiiiiiiiiighty pissed-doesn't like ANYONE even his wife touching his 5D3s...).


----------



## FITBMX

minicoop1985 said:


> God dammit, the bank wouldn't approve my loan even WITH a great co-signer, said they wouldn't give me an unsecured loan. Period. No new camera for me... At least not for the moment. It'll come. Guess I gotta work with the boss's stuff (*he's gonna be miiiiiiiiiiiiiiighty pissed-doesn't like ANYONE even his wife touching his 5D3s*...).



Maybe he will buy you a camera then. 

I needed a loan for the greenhouse I am  building, I needed $7,000. It is a government backed grant I had the paperwork to prove it, and I still give them $14,000 in collateral (everything I own). Double what they normally would require! But they finally gave it to me. 

I don't remember what model of camera you were looking into, but this (for example)  Canon EOS 6D Digital SLR Camera Body (BLACK) - BRAND NEW DSLR + 1yr Warranty  is avalivabe with "Paypal Credit" my sister has used it a few times. I think it worked out well for her.

Good luck.


----------



## EIngerson

Ummmm, Because it's Wednesday and my house is empty…..that's why.  I was also able to sit down in my own living room when I got done. Great Christmas, I hope everyone enjoyed theirs. Happy New year tomorrow. I'll be riding. 




Proride-51 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr





Proride-50 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## minicoop1985

I just got approved for Paypal Credit, actually. I recently had a bankruptcy (medical stuff), so that was preventing most loans.

The credit line is small, but it's a start. It'll buy me a lens. I'm still looking at a Phase One back and a Mamiya AFD system-go big or go home, as I say. There's a certain quality to medium format that I can't really describe, but it's due to the high dynamic range (without LOOKING like cheesy HDR) and the physical sensor size. I guess I could survive without that, of course, and go the 6D route, but if I can get my way I'd much rather have the Mamiya.


----------



## EIngerson

Glad things are looking up minicoop!!! Congrats!!! What lens is on the list for you?


----------



## minicoop1985

Thanks! I'm looking at the Mamiya 55-110 f4.5 right now. Either that or I sell what's left of my 7D and Tamron and get the 6D, but I'd only have a 70-200... Which would be a problem.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It has been a busy morning. Gary has finished his morning chores and he and Mary Lou are already on their way to Temecula for wine and entertainment. Gary is planning to be home early.  Mary Lou does not desire to be on the road with all the New Year's Eve reveallers, so early it is.


----------



## Gary A.

We're here:




iPhone

Curvee Rouge


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just finished pasta with a very good mushroom sauce. Gary finds the food at Thornton to be equal to his creations at home.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Gary just finished pasta with a very good mushroom sauce. Gary finds the food at Thornton to be equal to his creations at home.


High praise indeed!


----------



## cauzimme

So I just switch to Profoto XD


----------



## Gary A.

Chapin




It is a very nice day. Oh man, the vino is muy bueno here.


----------



## Gary A.

Lorenzo
OMG it just gets better.


----------



## Gary A.

Delish!!


----------



## tirediron

cauzimme said:


> So I just switch to Profoto XD


w00t!!  That's some spendy presents!  (I hate you)


----------



## Gary A.

Oh man ... We found a little Italian place ... It was sooooo good, I felt I was back in Italy.


----------



## cauzimme

tirediron said:


> cauzimme said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So I just switch to Profoto XD
> 
> 
> 
> w00t!!  That's some spendy presents!  (I hate you)
Click to expand...


Gift to myself, I was actually going to buy some elinchrom but I made the mistakes to tell my mom way too loud about this being my dream equipement, the salesman heard me;
-What kind of photo do you take (Boudoir, mostly natural light), do you travel a lot (always on a plane), are you a pro (I think, I do well? I'm pretty much going in that direction) Well don't waste your money on a kit that you will only use for a year. He got me there. I have a 3.5k contract in 2 weeks it will kinda reimburse it, and I hope, it's gonna last me a couples of years. Photography is so expensive. My mom bought me the softboxe, I'm very spoiled.


----------



## jcdeboever

JC at the in-laws having a pajama party and watching the Cotton Bowl. They are big MSU fans. JC's package pokes out of new pajamas as they have no button and are from KMart. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> JC at the in-laws having a pajama party and watching the Cotton Bowl. They are big MSU fans. JC's package pokes out of new pajamas as they have no button and are from KMart.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Leo isn't a big MSU fan, but she's a VERY big Not-Bama fan, so despite having inherited Michigan loyalties and rivalries, she's actually rooting for MSU. Or rather, she's rooting for Not-Bama, even if it's MSU


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> JC at the in-laws having a pajama party and watching the Cotton Bowl. They are big MSU fans. JC's package pokes out of new pajamas as they have no button and are from KMart.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leo isn't a big MSU fan, but she's a VERY big Not-Bama fan, so despite having inherited Michigan loyalties and rivalries, she's actually rooting for MSU. Or rather, she's rooting for Not-Bama, even if it's MSU
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm a Go Blue (U of M) fan. Our time is coming in a couple. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Annnnd Gary is home.  A very good day and Gary discovered some very good wineries.  Gary came home with some wonderful wines, a full stomach from a very good Italano establishment and he is relaxing, in his PJ's and snacking on an empanada.  Life is good.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> JC at the in-laws having a pajama party and watching the Cotton Bowl. They are big MSU fans. JC's package pokes out of new pajamas as they have no button and are from KMart.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leo isn't a big MSU fan, but she's a VERY big Not-Bama fan, so despite having inherited Michigan loyalties and rivalries, she's actually rooting for MSU. Or rather, she's rooting for Not-Bama, even if it's MSU
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah, I'm a Go Blue (U of M) fan. Our time is coming in a couple.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Well, the only problem with that is I am a UFlorida alum, so inherited loyalties notwithstanding, I'm all for the Gators tomorrow. It's a good thing Buzz and I are out of town and I won't be watching the game in the same room as his Michigan born-and-raised mother


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is with Leo ... Gary doesn't give a rats about the Spartans ... But he would rather see the Gary-Doesn't-Give-A-Rats Spartans win than 'Bama, (Even though there's a book written about the 1970 USC-Alabama game.)


----------



## FITBMX

cauzimme said:


> So I just switch to Profoto XD



Post some shots once you have it set up. 
It looks great!


----------



## FITBMX

minicoop1985 said:


> I just got approved for Paypal Credit, actually. I recently had a bankruptcy (medical stuff), so that was preventing most loans.
> 
> The credit line is small, but it's a start. It'll buy me a lens. I'm still looking at a Phase One back and a Mamiya AFD system-go big or go home, as I say. There's a certain quality to medium format that I can't really describe, but it's due to the high dynamic range (without LOOKING like cheesy HDR) and the physical sensor size. I guess I could survive without that, of course, and go the 6D route, but if I can get my way I'd much rather have the Mamiya.



That's great. You will have your camera in no time!


----------



## FITBMX

cauzimme said:


> My mom bought me the softboxe, I'm very spoiled.



Can I borrow your mom? I really could use a  nice softbox like that! 



cauzimme said:


> I have a 3.5k contract in 2 weeks it will kinda reimburse



That's great! Is the contract a photo shoot? If you don't mind me asking.


----------



## cauzimme

FITBMX said:


> cauzimme said:
> 
> 
> 
> My mom bought me the softboxe, I'm very spoiled.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can I borrow your mom? I really could use a  nice softbox like that!
> 
> 
> 
> cauzimme said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have a 3.5k contract in 2 weeks it will kinda reimburse
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's great! Is the contract a photo shoot? If you don't mind me asking.
Click to expand...


Actually 3 photoshoots on 3 days, and I might have some small contracts too.


----------



## EIngerson

My last photo of 2015. Happy New Year Hosers!!!!





Palomar-1-2 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Felix Ano Nuevo all you Coffee Hosers. I had a rough night, Holly, the pooch I'm dog sitting, didn't like all the firecrackers and loud noises around midnight, so I was up all night consoling her. She is going home today. TGIF.


----------



## FITBMX

cauzimme said:


> FITBMX said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> cauzimme said:
> 
> 
> 
> My mom bought me the softboxe, I'm very spoiled.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can I borrow your mom? I really could use a  nice softbox like that!
> 
> 
> 
> cauzimme said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have a 3.5k contract in 2 weeks it will kinda reimburse
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's great! Is the contract a photo shoot? If you don't mind me asking.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Actually 3 photoshoots on 3 days, and I might have some small contracts too.
Click to expand...


That is great!!! You are moving up fast!


----------



## oldhippy

Fitting for New Years Day--Wishing you all the best new year.


----------



## Derrel

limr said:
			
		

> jcdeboever0 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JC at the in-laws having a pajama party and watching the Cotton Bowl. They are big MSU fans. JC's package pokes out of new pajamas as they have no button and are from KMart.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leo isn't a big MSU fan, but she's a VERY big Not-Bama fan, so despite having inherited Michigan loyalties and rivalries, she's actually rooting for MSU. Or rather, she's rooting for Not-Bama, even if it's MSU
Click to expand...


Hard to know who might have been more embarrassed--JC, with his_ package poking ou_t, or MSU with their _big fat goose egg_ against the 38 points Alabama pasted onto them! After having seen how hard MSU played against Oregon in week two, and winning, and then watching Iowa and MSU at the end of the season (one of *the* best football games I watched all season), I did NOT see the whitewash coming. Alabama scoring 38 unanswered points? Uggh! I am a very big NOT-Bama fan as well...incidents like this are terrible to see.


----------



## minicoop1985

Yay! Just put in a reasonable offer on a Mamiya 645 AFD body and film back. I'll be operational sooner than anticipated.


----------



## vintagesnaps

JC's what?? lol the things you miss if you don't stop in the Coffeehouse often enough!

Eric that's a beautiful end to the year.

Winter Classic intermission and I'm browsing and shopping, River City Sports has 40% off all online purchases - I'm buyin' a jersey! GO HABS!


Oh, maybe I ought to check the exchange rate quick first but it hasn't been too favorable to us hockey fans south of the border in a looong time.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Whoo hoo, 2-0 Canadiens!! And the exchange rate is a little better than I'd thought.

And I want a(nother) toque, and buying one will probably guarantee today's cold will become balmy the rest of the winter and I won't have any need for it!


----------



## EIngerson

vintagesnaps said:


> JC's what?? lol the things you miss if you don't stop in the Coffeehouse often enough!
> 
> Eric that's a beautiful end to the year.
> 
> Winter Classic intermission and I'm browsing and shopping, River City Sports has 40% off all online purchases - I'm buyin' a jersey! GO HABS!
> 
> 
> Oh, maybe I ought to check the exchange rate quick first but it hasn't been too favorable to us hockey fans south of the border in a looong time.




Thanks!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Whoo hoo, 2-0 Canadiens!! And the exchange rate is a little better than I'd thought.
> 
> And I want a(nother) toque, and buying one will probably guarantee today's cold will become balmy the rest of the winter and I won't have any need for it!


Hopefully JC's Wings will catch you guys this year. We need to pick up a big forward at trade deadline. Our goal tending has been a little week lately. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## FITBMX

minicoop1985 said:


> Yay! Just put in a reasonable offer on a Mamiya 645 AFD body and film back. I'll be operational sooner than anticipated.


great!


----------



## minicoop1985

I got it! Seller accepted! Now comes the part where I wait for shipping...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Speaking of embarrassments ... Stanford made Iowa looks like JC in his pajamas. 45 -16. Iowa looked if they were jogging and Stanford decided there wasn't any rules against running ... So they ran and ran and ran ... Iowa jogged.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is feasting on the last empanada. Coffee and an empanada .... Mmmmmmh


----------



## vintagesnaps

USA up 2-0 over the Czechs after one. Announcers said Canada got eliminated by the Finns - yikes! games could go either way at this point in the tournament. 

Other than that I run in and check laundry etc. during intermissions.

Winter Classic yesterday had a flying puck try to take out a cameraman... color commenter said something about the guy getting hit, announcers got kind of quiet like they didn't know quite what happened there for a minute; the guy got cut but was back in between the benches with his camera I think. Kind of some quirky stuff throughout the game, but the Habs won!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's back is aching. Gary and Mary Lou have been pruning the Silk Tree all jammin' morning. Some of the limbs are 4"-5" in diameter.  Then Gary cuts everything down to about 3" thick with the chop saw.  The Silk Tree is finished and Gary has retired for a tuna sandwich and some Cactus Cooler.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary received two new cook books. Basil to Thyme: Culinary Endeavors from the Garden to the Kitchen and Smoke & Spice - Cooking with Smole, the real way to Barbecue. Gary cooked a Tri-Tip yesterday ... About six hours in the smoker. About five hours into the cooking, Gary turned off the smoker and went to the movies with Mary Lou. The Big Short, well worth seeing ... At least four stars.  After the movies Tom came over and Gary's youngest daughter arrived to retrieve her dog and Guinea Pig. The Tri-Tip was perfect, just a hint of smoke and tender as Gary's aching back.


----------



## cauzimme

Gary A. said:


> Gary's back is aching. Gary and Mary Lou have been pruning the Silk Tree all jammin' morning. Some of the limbs are 4"-5" in diameter.  Then Gary then cuts everything down to about 3" thick with the chop saw.  The Silk Tree is finished and Gary has retired for a tuna sandwich and some Cactus Cooler.


I had to google Cactus Cooler, that's look refreshing.
In Montreal we are drinking hot chocolate between shovel rounds to get our cars out of the snow. Wish I was in Southern California haha!


----------



## Gary A.

Catus Cooler is a soda everybody likes, but nobody buys. 

It hit around 70F today.  But rains are coming.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou had a very pleasant evening. Tri-Tip, tamales and a very good Baily Sangiovese from Temecula. Then we popped some corn, poured the last of the Sangiovese and watched "Trash" on NetFlix. Easily five stars.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Back at work after two weeks and in shock.  Coffee is helping some and I think I'm coming to grips with what I have to do today.  I hope you're all surviving the beginning of the new year.


----------



## terri

Morning, Ken and the rest of you hosers!    Holidays are over; back to work, school...eww.     

In other years, I'd be saying I'm ready for the "January thaw", but this season has been nothing BUT a thaw...too warm and too rainy.    The sun is finally shining again and with the clearing will come the freezing temps.   I'm so happy!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Ugh. Not a great beginning. There are times when living in an RV has its challenges. We are out in the boondocks at a wildlife refuge and due to leave today.
Saturday, hubby starts getting ready as he is reaaaallly efficient (sometimes overkill..) but, our batteries are dead.
So long story short, we may have blown a circuit board or something or other, but all I heard was $2,000 possible...(celanoid? )
We are supposed to start our next volunteer gig on Thursday. 
Hopefully we make that on time. I let him know we are delayed, but hate to make a bad 1st impression.


----------



## jcdeboever

NancyMoranG said:


> Ugh. Not a great beginning. There are times when living in an RV has its challenges. We are out in the boondocks at a wildlife refuge and due to leave today.
> Saturday, hubby starts getting ready as he is reaaaallly efficient (sometimes overkill..) but, our batteries are dead.
> So long story short, we may have blown a circuit board or something or other, but all I heard was $2,000 possible...(celanoid? )
> We are supposed to start our next volunteer gig on Thursday.
> Hopefully we make that on time. I let him know we are delayed, but hate to make a bad 1st impression.


Oouch!!! Sorry to hear that.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Back at work after two weeks and in shock.  Coffee is helping some and I think I'm coming to grips with what I have to do today.  I hope you're all surviving the beginning of the new year.


Yup, I feel your pain. Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana this week. Really helps having XM radio in the truck. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

Oh, Nancy, I hope it's something other than a $2000 fix!    More importantly, you two stay safe while it gets worked out.    Good luck!


----------



## Gary A.

Nancy, not a good way to start the new year. That is one expensive solenoid. But once this is fixed, no more bad luck for the rest of the year ... Right.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Feels like winter here! Hope you get back on your way soon Nancy.

Sorry to tell you working hosers but this is when it's nice to be retired! Hockey during the day again because it's evening(?) in Helsinki. USA v Russia coming up.


The drawback is, the stupid commercials over and over, they seriously need more/better sponsors! enough with the knee braces, winning a big screen tv, fake playing poker, on and on - I keep hitting the mute to at least not have to listen! lol


----------



## NancyMoranG

Good thing he bought my 200-500 already!! (Christmas present)
Being towed 2 hours and will stay in a hotel tonight, wowee. 

THIS is why you pay insurance 

My family has 2 MSU grads, so yup, we are sad..
And 2 Gator grads...


----------



## snowbear

@KenC: I feel your pain; I was off for a week and returned today.  Of course, there were a thousand emails waiting but, luckily, only four that were specifically for me.

@NancyMoranG: I've never heard of a $2k solenoid but who knows. I sure hope it's something much, much less complicated.

@vintagesnaps: We actually had about 15 minutes of snow flurries this morning.

And before anybody starts throwing around the "R" word, I do not make resolutions, so there's nothing to break.
I started cleaning up the nipping press last week.  I got some of the grime off of it and started hitting the two screws and handle nut with penetrating oil.  I am a bit short on tools (we had to downsize a lot when we moved to the apartment) so it's going to be a longer process that I first thought..


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers.

I'm back in NY. Mrs.Parker was the first to forgive me, and then Zelda came around, but even Zelda only took about 5 minutes.

I don't go back to work until the 12th - well, I return to the admin job on the 12th. School starts again the following week. We always start the Spring semester the day after MLK. I'm teaching my usual writing classes this semester - I don't want to teach Eng 101 every semester - and they are both evening schedules, so my admin job will be 4 days a week, 12-5, then class from 6 to 7:30 or 8:15 (depending on the day). Looks like Fridays will be off, for the most part (unless there's a meeting or one of the events for the high schools). All in all, I expect it to be a less hectic semester than the Fall was. Then again, I said that about Spring 2015 as well, and then I got the job for Lumbergh, so who really knows, actually? I'll just keep my fingers crossed for a relatively uninteresting semester 

Color film from vacation will be dropped off at the lab, and b&w will be developed this week. The first scans should be done by Friday at the latest, so here's hoping that I'll have something good to share in a few days!  

Oh, and on the way back, Buzz and I made a quick little stop in Jersey City to pick up a Canon photo printer that Buzz managed to pick up basically for free! A guy on another forum Buzz frequents offered it, preferably to a student maybe, but basically to anyone who was interested, but that person had to pick it up. We were driving through anyway and it was just 15 minutes off the Turnpike, so we got the printer and gave him a bottle of good Slovenian wine. Can't remember the model, but it's big enough to print something like 13x16 or something like that. And it came with some extra ink to start out with. Happy New Year to us!


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, another day in hell (it's freezing here)... January malaise has already set in. 

Once my Mamiya arrives, expect some more Stormtrooper pics. It's about time I got back into that.


----------



## EIngerson

Yup, suffering from the back to work blues myself. lol. Holidays are over hosers!!!!


Nancy, hope things work out for the best and quick. My parents owned a campgrounds in upstate New York. I have a keen appreciation for how motor homes can be. (Was slave labor for my dad for years fixing those things. lol) Best of luck!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> I'll just keep my fingers crossed for a relatively uninteresting semester



Lenny, I hope you didn't just jinx yourself!        Otherwise, I'd say it actually sounds like a fun semester, enough teaching to keep it fun, and having Fridays off is always a beautiful thing.   

Our cold snap will last about 3 more days, then sadly, it's going to warm up again with more rain in the forecast.   I love these clear, cold days - the sky is gorgeous!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The weather people have been predicting rain off and on for the past week or so. So far nada, nothing, zilch. When Gary and the Cook retrieved the newspaper, while it was dry as a bone, it certainly smelled like rain. On Sunday, in anticipation of the Sunday evening rain, Gary made slight improvements to his recently installed rain gutter system. Yesterday, Gary cut little rubber covers which he installed over his exposed weather-sealed speakers in the backyard (an additional level of protection). Gary installed water-proof, NEMA 6 boxes around his electrical connections. Gary has turned off his irrigation system.  Gary thinks he has jinked El Niño. Sorta like it rains after you wash the car ... But the opposite. Gary thinks he has a sellable commodity/trade for places that are getting too much rain, who you gonna call - Rain Busters!


----------



## Gary A.

@ Leo- I used to use the big Espon printers for printing my 13x19 stuff.  I've switched to the big Canon printers. I think they print just a wee bit better and they are much much less expensive. How many ink well does Buzz's new printer have?


----------



## Gary A.

A few iPhone snaps from yesterday:





Lola and Cook




Gary spotted this rose, Joseph's Coat, while taking down the Xmas lights, Gary thought it was glowing.




Entrophy




A front yard Orchid.




Gary's first attempt at homemade BBQ sauce.




The Tilapia is grilling away. The fish was marinated in orange juice, spices and honey. The fish was grilled on a silicon mat containing much of the marinade ... this created a sauté type effect when I poured the marinade over the fish ... Then I added some pecan chips to add a hint of smoke flavor.




Gary balanced out dinner with some mildly hot sausages and washed down with a Russian River Chardonnay.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> I'll just keep my fingers crossed for a relatively uninteresting semester



How much fun could that be?


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'll just keep my fingers crossed for a relatively uninteresting semester
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How much fun could that be?
Click to expand...


Well, you've heard the Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times" right?


----------



## minicoop1985

OK I have a question for you guys. For those of you who have used B&H, how long does it take them to ship? I ordered something Friday MORNING and it still hasn't shipped. Kinda frustrated, and when I looked again, it said it likely won't ship until THIS Friday. Argh.


----------



## Gary A.

It is raining!


----------



## Gary A.

@ Appleton Guy, give them a call. B&H has a very good customer service department. B&H is closed for the Sabbath.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @ Appleton Guy, give them a call. B&H has a very good customer service department. B&H is closed for the Sabbath.


Yup, Jewish holidays, they close a lot. It seems like every time I open their app they're closed or shipping days are pushed back. They have lost a few purchase's from me because of it. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

I'll give them a ring. I saw it had free EXPEDITED shipping, which usually, to me at least, means only a few days... Not over a week.


----------



## terri

minicoop1985 said:


> I'll give them a ring. I saw it had free EXPEDITED shipping, which usually, to me at least, means only a few days... Not over a week.


You said you ordered Friday?    Well, that was New Year's Day, more than likely they were closed and no one was doing anything to push orders along.   And the next day is Saturday, they're closed on Saturday too.    No doubt there is a backlog of orders, so yes, expedited shipping has probably been impacted.   Still worth a phone call, because they are a terrific store, professional and with great customer service.   If they can do anything for you about this, they will.


----------



## snowbear

One of the pen places I ordered from was closed Thursday & Friday for year end inventory and financial stuff so they didn't ship until yesterday.  Maybe B&H is doing the same type of thing.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary never orders pens from B&H.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> @ Leo- I used to use the big Espon printers for printing my 13x19 stuff.  I've switched to the big Canon printers. I think they print just a wee bit better and they are much much less expensive. How many ink well does Buzz's new printer have?



I don't know, but I remembered to check which printer it is when I was over there earlier today. It's a Pixma Pro 9000 Mark II. Looks like 8 ink tanks.


----------



## snowbear

I have one of these at work.  Well, two of them.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> I have one of these at work.  Well, two of them.


That's a bad boy right there. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

A few from the afternoon walk with Cook.

iPhone snaps:

#1



Leaves on the Sidewalk

#2



More Leaves on the Sidewalk.

#3


 This is Emily.  She is a BIOLA student. She is sliding in the mud.
#4


 

#5



Leaves is a pool of water.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have one of these at work.  Well, two of them.
> 
> 
> 
> That's a bad boy right there.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

It is sweet but it's a heavy SOB . . . I had to help set the new one up.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Work, coffee, snack (not ranked from most to least favorite).  Normal winter cold here (finally) for the past few days, even a little below average at times.  It's been strange not to break out the winter coat until January.


----------



## limr

Morning, Ken! Morning, hosers!


----------



## snowbear

Late hello.
Coffee done for now - need to pick up some more for the office.  I made a quick & dirty map of the DC No Drone Zone this morning and now I'm putting together a wall map for one of the volunteer station chiefs.
Tonight's project is to set up the December POTM voting.


----------



## terri

Late hello from me, too!    Odin the Aging Pug got a New Year's bath this morning (it was supposed to be his Christmas bath, but his gift was a reprieve).    He is sufficiently bathed, clipped, and received his after-bath cookie reward, and has now retired to his bed from exhaustion.    

He is now 15 years old, sleeps most of the time, and I'm bracing myself for his eventual passing while making sure he has a happy day, every day (except for the baths).        The vet is in awe of how well he does given his age.


----------



## minicoop1985

terri said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'll give them a ring. I saw it had free EXPEDITED shipping, which usually, to me at least, means only a few days... Not over a week.
> 
> 
> 
> You said you ordered Friday?    Well, that was New Year's Day, more than likely they were closed and no one was doing anything to push orders along.   And the next day is Saturday, they're closed on Saturday too.    No doubt there is a backlog of orders, so yes, expedited shipping has probably been impacted.   Still worth a phone call, because they are a terrific store, professional and with great customer service.   If they can do anything for you about this, they will.
Click to expand...


Well, good thing I gave them a ring. Turns out despite the fact that it said IN STOCK on the website, it was backordered. Got me a refund, bought a new one from Fleabay. Problem solved.


----------



## KenC

terri said:


> Late hello from me, too!    Odin the Aging Pug got a New Year's bath this morning (it was supposed to be his Christmas bath, but his gift was a reprieve).    He is sufficiently bathed, clipped, and received his after-bath cookie reward, and has now retired to his bed from exhaustion.
> 
> He is now 15 years old, sleeps most of the time, and I'm bracing myself for his eventual passing while making sure he has a happy day, every day (except for the baths).        The vet is in awe of how well he does given his age.



I'm glad he's doing so well.  We have two cats who are a little over 16 and they need some special care but are basically doing well.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Late hello from me, too!    Odin the Aging Pug got a New Year's bath this morning (it was supposed to be his Christmas bath, but his gift was a reprieve).    He is sufficiently bathed, clipped, and received his after-bath cookie reward, and has now retired to his bed from exhaustion.
> 
> He is now 15 years old, sleeps most of the time, and I'm bracing myself for his eventual passing while making sure he has a happy day, every day (except for the baths).        The vet is in awe of how well he does given his age.


Yes, glad he's doing well.  I'm bracing for the day that Bell checks out, though it should be a couple of years.


----------



## NancyMoranG

We have a stray cat that we found 15 yrs ago. The vet thought she was 1-2 when we found her or she found us...she looks black but she is really chocolate brown in the sun.
She was strictly outside cat until we hit the road in the Rv 8 yrs ago. People are amazed she does not run off when we let her out!
Now, she mostly sleeps but every now again she thinks she is going to get a bird when she is out.


----------



## limr

One of Buzz's kitties is 19 years old and not doing so well. She started having problems breathing just before Christmas and since then, she's been just sort of hanging on. Her breathing is better but she can't really walk very well, so she spends most of her time sleeping and lying on a cushion. She's still eating and drinking, and she seems alert and she purrs when you scratch her little head, but it's just a matter of time.



As for my girls, I'm hoping I still have a while to go before I have to face anything. They just turned 5 in July so they're still young. At the moment, Zelda is being a little drama queen, so she's feline non grata as I type this. Little stinker is cute enough that being peeved at her never really lasts very long 

Here's to all the little furry creatures that steal our hearts!


----------



## Designer

Our first cat was a "junk-yard" cat, having been born in a junk yard.  She was free to come in and go out as she pleased.  She used to bring us live baby rabbits, live adult birds, deceased voles (the back half anyway), and once a live bat.  When she was 17 years old, we moved back to town and she just stopped eating.


----------



## jcdeboever

Here was my buddy... Ping was his name. He lived 14 years, passed on Thanksgiving day 2014. He just stopped eating and drinking. Took him into vet, got some medicine, died a few day later. 

This cat hated everyone except for me. I have no idea why he acted that way. I bought him for the wife before we were married and when we moved in together, he just took to me and tolerated the wife. He was not afraid of anything. He was kind of aggressive and mean to certain people. A few people called him the cat from hell.


----------



## tirediron

That looks like his, "Hey, dummy, you forgot to feed the cat" face.


----------



## terri

@ jc: I love this picture!!    There really is no accounting for cats, is there?   Sounds like he just decided you were his person, so he chose not to bother with anyone else.   I'm sure it was annoying to others, but to him it made perfect sense.   Beautiful boy. 

@ Designer: 17 years is a fine age for a cat - you doubtless gave her many more happy years living with you than she would have had just hanging around the junk yard.   She was honoring you with all those trophies!     

My Bex just brought in a live bird a day or 2 back.   She came in quickly, head down, when I opened the door, and made it to the kitchen before I saw what she had in her mouth.    I corralled her to a corner, she got huffy and dropped the bird who promptly flew under the pie rack.   My husband was able to quickly throw a light towel over the bird and stepped outside to set him free, and he flew off unharmed.   Oh, Bex was in a snit for awhile, but she got over it.


----------



## minicoop1985

Our poor Lexi is 4 and has a cataract to the point she can only see shadows out of that eye. I figure she'll be around for quite a while, so I'm hoping that her other eye is OK.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Here was my buddy... Ping was his name. He lived 14 years, passed on Thanksgiving day 2014. He just stopped eating and drinking. Took him into vet, got some medicine, died a few day later.
> 
> This cat hated everyone except for me. I have no idea why he acted that way. I bought him for the wife before we were married and when we moved in together, he just took to me and tolerated the wife. He was not afraid of anything. He was kind of aggressive and mean to certain people. A few people called him the cat from hell.
> View attachment 113999



My sister had a cat like that. His name was Pushie. He loved her and no one else. Well, he loved her friend, Kim, and my father, but Kim hated cats and my father just hated Pushie, so the cat surely played all lovey to them out of pure spite. 

He had a bunch of health problems and was even on anti-psychotics for a while. Had to be sedated to go to the vet or he'd go totally Linda Blair on the vet staff. He probably should have lasted only a few years, but he was something like 17 or so when my sister had to put him to sleep. I swear that cat ran on undiluted evil.

He was quite entertaining, though  In his younger days, he'd play hide and seek with my sister and would make these epic vertical leaps to "catch" a toy. In his later years, he'd drag one of my sister's black sweaters (he was all black and my sister wears a LOT of black clothing) out into the middle of the living room and start humping it. We started calling her sweaters "Pushie's bitches."

I still had my sweet, skittish Gomer Pyle when she and I lived together for a few years. Pushie and Gomer couldn't be out at the same time. We had to have a cat schedule for when one or the other cat was allowed out of their respective bedrooms. Pushie was declawed but he was awful to Gomer, who was too much of a non-alpha cat to ever fight back.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here was my buddy... Ping was his name. He lived 14 years, passed on Thanksgiving day 2014. He just stopped eating and drinking. Took him into vet, got some medicine, died a few day later.
> 
> This cat hated everyone except for me. I have no idea why he acted that way. I bought him for the wife before we were married and when we moved in together, he just took to me and tolerated the wife. He was not afraid of anything. He was kind of aggressive and mean to certain people. A few people called him the cat from hell.
> View attachment 113999
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My sister had a cat like that. His name was Pushie. He loved her and no one else. Well, he loved her friend, Kim, and my father, but Kim hated cats and my father just hated Pushie, so the cat surely played all lovey to them out of pure spite.
> 
> He had a bunch of health problems and was even on anti-psychotics for a while. Had to be sedated to go to the vet or he'd go totally Linda Blair on the vet staff. He probably should have lasted only a few years, but he was something like 17 or so when my sister had to put him to sleep. I swear that cat ran on undiluted evil.
> 
> He was quite entertaining, though  In his younger days, he'd play hide and seek with my sister and would make these epic vertical leaps to "catch" a toy. In his later years, he'd drag one of my sister's black sweaters (he was all black and my sister wears a LOT of black clothing) out into the middle of the living room and start humping it. We started calling her sweaters "Pushie's bitches."
> 
> I still had my sweet, skittish Gomer Pyle when she and I lived together for a few years. Pushie and Gomer couldn't be out at the same time. We had to have a cat schedule for when one or the other cat was allowed out of their respective bedrooms. Pushie was declawed but he was awful to Gomer, who was too much of a non-alpha cat to ever fight back.
Click to expand...

My Ping sounds just like Pushi other that the sweater humping...lol He never went to the vet other than in the end and to get neutered /shots. 2 vet visits in his life. He fell out of a 4 story apartment window in Texas and was gone for a few weeks. He would run around like a flipping maniac in the morning and jump on things...well he must of hit that screen full speed and went down with it. We were shocked he came back. He was pretty beat up. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Sounds like he lost a few lives on that one.


----------



## jcdeboever

JC has got the boys over and they rented Bone Tomahawk on my TV, did not even know you could do that. JC can't watch anymore, gross and violent, reminds me of JC's military days. Boys making fun of JC. 

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## NancyMoranG

Designer said:


> Our first cat was a "junk-yard" cat, having been born in a junk yard.  She was free to come in and go out as she pleased.  She used to bring us live baby rabbits, live adult birds, deceased voles (the back half anyway), and once a live bat.  When she was 17 years old, we moved back to town and she just stopped eating.



Yup, when we lived in a  house ( not the Rv) , she would bring us all sorts of things. In Florida, we had a screened pool area and would leave back sliders open to the house, even when we were at work. The cat would get in/out of the pool screen area thru the overflow trench.
I could come home from work and find feathers all over and then a bird she had dragged in.
1 day I smelled something but could not figure it out in my busy day. Next day, next day..I went in the dining room...and there was a dead rabbit. Ugh.

Now, she sits for hours above a mole hole waiting for it to pop a head up...still ugh/yuk but it's nature.
My Rv repairs may be over tomorrow and will fill you in..

Let's just say...ok, wait, all water conservationists close your eyes....
We stayed in a hotel and I let the hot water run for 10-12 minutes on my shoulders...aaaahhh.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Forgot to mention, this is our 3rd stray cat. Usually outdoor cats don't last long. The 1st got shot not a BB gun. Maybe kids? ..2nd got hit by a car and I saw it!! OMGosh, I blamed myself...I
Now, this one is living a good life.


----------



## jcdeboever

NancyMoranG said:


> Forgot to mention, this is our 3rd stray cat. Usually outdoor cats don't last long. The 1st got shot not a BB gun. Maybe kids? ..2nd got hit by a car and I saw it!! OMGosh, I blamed myself...I
> Now, this one is living a good life.


We don't have strays were I live. Too many coyotes, hawks, and such. When I lived in Detroit, they were plentiful. 

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## NancyMoranG

Part of my past involves being a Realtor. And such, there were many condo's or living situations that did NOT allow pets. But, c'mon a pet is a joy and brings a smile to someone's face. This is necessary for an older person especially living alone.  
A cat purring at your presence is a joy.


----------



## NancyMoranG

jcdeboever said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Forgot to mention, this is our 3rd stray cat. Usually outdoor cats don't last long. The 1st got shot not a BB gun. Maybe kids? ..2nd got hit by a car and I saw it!! OMGosh, I blamed myself...I
> Now, this one is living a good life.
> 
> 
> 
> We don't have strays were I live. Too many coyotes, hawks, and such. When I lived in Detroit, they were plentiful.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Again, it's nature but would HATE to hear my cat being taken by a predator! 
In Yellowstone, to see a newborn calf dragged off by a bear, while crying for its mother, is soooo horrible, but what is the bear to feed its young with?  Nature while beautiful is hard..


----------



## limr

This is still one of my favorite pictures of Gomer Pyle. Blurry, but I don't care 

And yes, he was missing a leg. That happened late in his life - about 2 years before he got sick on a Friday and had to be put to sleep on a Tuesday. There was a big tumor growing on his shoulder - not malignant, but growing and starting to interfere with walking and breathing, so the shoulder and leg had to be amputated. My poor kitty! But it didn't take long for him to get back to normal again. Before the tumor, he'd chase his tail every single day, but then he stopped because it hurt. After the surgery, I think it took him about half a day to figure out how to walk, and another 2 days before he started chasing his tail again. He was the sweetest little thing. All you had to do was say his name and look at him, and he'd purr his fool head off and start kneading his front paws. When he only had one front paw, he'd still knead and you could tell by the timing of it that in his mind, he was kneading both paws


----------



## jcdeboever

Awe

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## FITBMX

jcdeboever said:


> JC has got the boys over and they rented Bone Tomahawk on my TV, did not even know you could do that. JC can't watch anymore, gross and violent, reminds me of JC's military days. Boys making fun of JC.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



I hate violent/gory shows, I just can't stand seeing that stuff.

I looked that movie up real quick, and it sounds terrible!


----------



## FITBMX

Yesterday was my birthday, and my brother, sister, and Mom got me a new laptop!  But I am having a lot of glitch problems with it, so it may have to go back if I can't get is sorted.


----------



## jcdeboever

FITBMX said:


> Yesterday was my birthday, and my brother, sister, and Mom got me a new laptop!  But I am having a lot of glitch problems with it, so it may have to go back if I can't get is sorted.


Happy Birthday Yesterday! What's happening with the laptop?

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## snowbear

Happy B'day!  Mine (not sure if it was M$ Windoze or Giggle Crumb) but I got one while I was setting up the voting thread.  Luckily it recovered and I didn't have to rebuild the thread.  the error was "Page fault in an unpaged area" 

We've had a three other kitties over the years.  Mittens (climbed up the screen door to mom & dad's place while we were house sitting, looked in and meowed like crazy) had to get a new home because the extremely young son #1 was apparently allergic to long hairs.  She got a good home.

Hobbs bugged the living $#it out of MLW to go out so she started letting him.  After a few times he failed to return.  He's the one that put a fresh mouse kill in our bed (he was proud of his present).

Jasper (the kitten) was lost/abandoned @ about four weeks.  A coworker brought him in and we took him.  The vet said he had the strongest positive FLV result he'd ever seen; Jasper passed about one year later.

Bell was found scampering on the ice when she was a couple of months old and was taken to the vet.  A coworker part-timed there and told us about her.  We went to see her and she shot up my arm, perched on my shoulder and started singing.  She went home with us a couple of days later.

Zoe (my girl) was the kitten of a stray at the office.  A nice lady in the Health Department caught her and her siblings and fostered them until they had homes.  I wasn't interested in another pet at the time, but when I was her picture I wanted her.  I wasn't working at the time we got her so I spoiled her (hold and rock her, rub her ears, etc),  She will always pick me over the rest of the family.  In fact, she's currently laying under the table, next to my feet.


----------



## FITBMX

jcdeboever said:


> Happy Birthday Yesterday! What's happening with the laptop?





snowbear said:


> Happy B'day! Mine (not sure if it was M$ Windoze or Giggle Crumb) but I got one while I was setting up the voting thread. Luckily it recovered and I didn't have to rebuild the thread. the error was "Page fault in an unpaged area"



Thanks to both of you! 

It seems like Windows 10 isn't getting along with the computer. It says it's connected through WiFi, but it isn't, and it can't fix it with the diagnostic tools. But if I restart the computer then it will work, but then may quit again, it has done this twice.
The internet will also stop working even though it is connected and then come back, cutting in and out, it did this most of the day. And all the other devices in the house don't have internet problems, so it is just this laptop, no question.
Also an hour or so ago the sound wouldn't work, and once again the computer diagnostic tools couldn't fix or tell me what was wrong. I restarted the computer again and they work.
It is a Toshiba, I went to their website to see if their were any drivers or patches that  may help, but that part of their site is down. Once the site is back up I will try that, but if it doesn't help, it is going back. It is a new computer it should just work!


----------



## jcdeboever

FITBMX said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Birthday Yesterday! What's happening with the laptop?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy B'day! Mine (not sure if it was M$ Windoze or Giggle Crumb) but I got one while I was setting up the voting thread. Luckily it recovered and I didn't have to rebuild the thread. the error was "Page fault in an unpaged area"
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks to both of you!
> 
> It seems like Windows 10 isn't getting along with the computer. It says it's connected through WiFi, but it isn't, and it can't fix it with the diagnostic tools. But if I restart the computer then it will work, but then may quit again, it has done this twice.
> The internet will also stop working even though it is connected and then come back, cutting in and out, it did this most of the day. And all the other devices in the house don't have internet problems, so it is just this laptop, no question.
> Also an hour or so ago the sound wouldn't work, and once again the computer diagnostic tools couldn't fix or tell me what was wrong. I restarted the computer again and they work.
> It is a Toshiba, I went to their website to see if their were any drivers or patches that  may help, but that part of their site is down. Once the site is back up I will try that, but if it doesn't help, it is going back. It is a new computer it should just work!
Click to expand...

Sounds like a driver issue. Plug it into Ethernet and run all the updates for Windows. Then see if it sorts out. If not, head over to Toshiba and see what new drivers are available. 

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## limr

Happy happy belated, Gallagher!


----------



## jcdeboever

Oh, make sure the wireless is on as well. Someone brought a new Toshiba over to me with similar issue on wireless but it was not turned on in Windows. It sat there trying to connect. 

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## Gary A.

limr said:


> Happy happy belated, Gallagher!


Gary too!


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy happy belated, Gallagher!
> 
> 
> 
> Gary too!
Click to expand...


It was your birthday, too? Did I miss that or did you not say anything? I haven't exactly been running on all cylinders today   Happy happy belated, Tio Gary!!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy happy belated, Gallagher!
> 
> 
> 
> Gary too!
Click to expand...

Happy Belated Birthday Gary! Did you get a Leica?

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----------



## FITBMX

jcdeboever said:


> Sounds like a driver issue. Plug it into Ethernet and run all the updates for Windows. Then see if it sorts out. If not, head over to Toshiba and see what new drivers are available.



That is what I am planing to do. Good news is Toshiba's site is back up, so I can get drivers from there if that's what it needs.


----------



## jcdeboever

FITBMX said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like a driver issue. Plug it into Ethernet and run all the updates for Windows. Then see if it sorts out. If not, head over to Toshiba and see what new drivers are available.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is what I am planing to do. Good news is Toshiba's site is back up, so I can get drivers from there if that's what it needs.
Click to expand...

I remember that wireless issue with a friend couple months back. I don't recall exactly but it was simple fix. I had to look around for it but I had to turn the wireless on. I wish I could recall the steps I took. Probably through control panel, network settings, and probably right clicked on device and enabled. Something like that. I remember thinking, why do they disable it by default? It wasn't enough just to click on wireless signal icon in the notifications area and type in your WEP password. Sound is driver issue. 

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## FITBMX

limr said:


> Happy happy belated, Gallagher!



Thanks! 



Gary A. said:


> Gary too!



Happy birthday!


----------



## FITBMX

jcdeboever said:


> I remember that wireless issue with a friend couple months back. I don't recall exactly but it was simple fix. I had to look around for it but I had to turn the wireless on. I wish I could recall the steps I took. Probably through control panel, network settings, and probably right clicked on device and enabled. Something like that. I remember thinking, why do they disable it by default? It wasn't enough just to click on wireless signal icon in the notifications area and type in your WEP password. Sound is driver issue.



I just checked and Windows is all updated.
It is working perfectly when it is plugged up to the ethernet cable, but when using WiFi this morning it would take 30-60 seconds and would timeout several times just loading this TPF page. But then would straiten up for 4-5 minutes, and work fine. It is driving me nuts!


----------



## Gary A.

Negatory all ... It wasn't Gary's birthday. Gary was responding to Leo's belated birthday response to Gallagher. As in Gary also wishes Gallagher a belated happy birthday.

Gary was born in the month of July. But Gary will be happy to accept gifts and well wishes.


----------



## jcdeboever

FITBMX said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I remember that wireless issue with a friend couple months back. I don't recall exactly but it was simple fix. I had to look around for it but I had to turn the wireless on. I wish I could recall the steps I took. Probably through control panel, network settings, and probably right clicked on device and enabled. Something like that. I remember thinking, why do they disable it by default? It wasn't enough just to click on wireless signal icon in the notifications area and type in your WEP password. Sound is driver issue.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just checked and Windows is all updated.
> It is working perfectly when it is plugged up to the ethernet cable, but when using WiFi this morning it would take 30-60 seconds and would timeout several times just loading this TPF page. But then would straiten up for 4-5 minutes, and work fine. It is driving me nuts!
Click to expand...

What's the model #? Exact issue I ran across... Got to turn wireless on

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## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. El Niño is plummelting Southern Californa. The newly install rain gutters are working well ... Gary installed 50 gallon rain barrels to collecting the rain and Gary has had to empty them multiple times a day. This morning, as expected, the barrels are full again. Typically, once a week Gary fills up the pond about four to six inches due to evaporation.  With the expectation of El Niño, Gary wasn't replenished the pond water in about two weeks.  Gary has been using the captured water on his potted plants, his potted veggies (which are pretty extensive and 1/3rd of the pots are tree size pots), watering flowering areas and lastly dumping the rain water into the pond.  The pond is fill, the potted plants are fill, the flowering areas are fill ... Gary takes another sip of coffee ... Walks to the backyard and notices a few inches between the water level and the top of the pond.  Gary dumps a quick 20 gallons, just to make room in a barrel the has topped off, into the pond knowing that he has room for the rest.  The pumps are on into the pond, the BBQ Patio wine fridge is on so the waterproofing of all the electrical connections hasn't been breached.  Gary has again bested El Niño. (So far...) Gary plans to hook up a hose to one of the rain barrels and move some of the water to the front via siphon.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Well then, either happy very belated birthday, Gary, or happy birthday well in advance! 

When I got home on Monday night, I was too tired to face unpacking, so I did it Tuesday morning. This somehow turned into "Let me clean out my entire closet!" So between Tuesday and yesterday, I filled four garbage bags of clothes and shoes for the Goodwill and organized the closet, wardrobe, and dresser. I'm sure that having just seen an episode of _Hoarders_ had absolutely nothing to do with this 

Today, Buzz and I go walking.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Happy de-hoarding, Leonore.


----------



## Gary A.

LA Times:

"At the end of Wood Avenue in South Gate, unseen behind its levee, the ephemeral giant strained in its cage.

The raw power drew Rita Adams for the first time in 40 years of living in the neighborhood. She and her son walked under the bare winter elms, past tidy postwar homes with American flags flapping in the rain, up the sandy embankment of an old Union Pacific track, to the top of the concrete channel.

She lighted a cigarette and shook her head. Wow".

The Los Angeles River has awaken.
The sheer breadth and speed of the water was disorienting, enough to make you lose your balance glancing back to solid land.

The river at its peak can move 146,000 cubic feet of water every second.  The Colorado River, sculptor of the Grand Canyon, can't do a quarter of that."


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Happy de-hoarding, Leonore.



I'll confess that I did already enjoy getting rid of stuff even before that show existed, but sometimes it does serve as a kick in the ass to get the process started 

I'm going to tackle the bathroom next. No one needs that much mousse. Especially the ones that were on sale, 2 for $3, and you know you should have just bought one because you've never tried that product before, and sure enough, you get home and the product makes your hair so stiff and crunchy that you could probably poke an eye out (hopefully not your own) with your cowlick, but you still keep the product on your shelf because, hey, maybe you'll find _another_ product that you can combine with the first one to produce acceptable results, but that never actually happens, and then one day, maybe today, you'll just throw the jamming thing out.


----------



## FITBMX

Gary A. said:


> Negatory all ... It wasn't Gary's birthday. Gary was responding to Leo's belated birthday response to Gallagher. As in Gary also wishes Gallagher a belated happy birthday.
> 
> Gary was born in the month of July. But Gary will be happy to accept gifts and well wishes.



I know that's what you mint, I just like messing with you!


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon, hosers. It's HERE!!!!




My new to me Mamiya 645AFD, the Canon replacement. by Michael Long, on Flickr

Now I'm waiting on a new battery holder so I can play with it for real.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Afternoon, hosers. It's HERE!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My new to me Mamiya 645AFD, the Canon replacement. by Michael Long, on Flickr
> 
> Now I'm waiting on a new battery holder so I can play with it for real.


Sweeeeeeeet! What kind of back is on it? I want one or the pentax

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## minicoop1985

The ergonomics on this are SO much better than the Pentax. Anyway, it's got a 120/220 film back. And with this, if you decide to go MF digital, you don't need to invest in a whole new system-it's all right there.

Edit: It's film for now, but come February or so I should be able to afford to upgrade it to a digital system.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> The ergonomics on this are SO much better than the Pentax. Anyway, it's got a 120/220 film back. And with this, if you decide to go MF digital, you don't need to invest in a whole new system-it's all right there.
> 
> Edit: It's film for now, but come February or so I should be able to afford to upgrade it to a digital system.



Really? I assume you have used a Pentax?


----------



## minicoop1985

I've played with one. Didn't like it AT ALL. Besides, these have the form factor too. Despite appearances, this thing is SOLID. It's all magnesium or something of the like.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> I've played with one. Didn't like it AT ALL. Besides, these have the form factor too. Despite appearances, this thing is SOLID. It's all magnesium or something of the like.


 strewth!  If you hit someone with this, not only will they stay hit, the camera is almost certain to be undamaged!  Additionally, you can sharpen one edge of the dark slide for a really cool hidden weapon!


----------



## minicoop1985

You don't need a sharp instrument when you have a blunt weapon of this magnitude. I thought my 7D was hefty... Yeesh.

Edit: It's still not as heavy as an RB/RZ by a long shot.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> Edit: It's still not as heavy as an RB/RZ by a long shot.


 No, hand-holding it is quite feasible.  An RB/RZ?  Not so much!


----------



## minicoop1985

I've done hand held stuff with both RB AND RZ... I may be a masochist.


----------



## FITBMX

minicoop1985 said:


> Afternoon, hosers. It's HERE!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My new to me Mamiya 645AFD, the Canon replacement. by Michael Long, on Flickr
> 
> Now I'm waiting on a new battery holder so I can play with it for real.



That is COOL!!!

Where did you endup getting it from?


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> You don't need a sharp instrument when you have a blunt weapon of this magnitude. I thought my 7D was hefty... Yeesh.
> 
> Edit: It's still not as heavy as an RB/RZ by a long shot.



No kidding. Mamiyas are no joke when it comes to heft. I thought my 645 was a beast until I got my C330. The 645 is now "Baby Beast"


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You don't need a sharp instrument when you have a blunt weapon of this magnitude. I thought my 7D was hefty... Yeesh.
> 
> Edit: It's still not as heavy as an RB/RZ by a long shot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No kidding. Mamiyas are no joke when it comes to heft. I thought my 645 was a beast until I got my C330. The 645 is now "Baby Beast"
Click to expand...


Yeah. To say the least. I will say that it's a little lighter than the Hasselblad H series though.

@FITBMX I got it off eBay. It's in outstanding condition too.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. I have my color film from DC developed and some of it edited. Won't post anything until tomorrow, though. Editing color is always a bit of a mindjam for me, so I like to edit and then take a fresh look at it the next day to see what my first reaction is. For example, sometimes I'll end up editing something too warm, or I'll miss a slight color cast, and I won't notice it until I see the picture again.

Until then, I think I'll warm up with a nice hot shower and then go to bed early. Been slipping back into my night owl ways and that never ends well when it's time to go back to work 

Catch y'all in the morning, beeyotches!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou had a very odd experience. Gary is sure other states have state-wide alerts, in California they are called Amber Alerts. (The legislation for the alerts was prompted by and named after a kidnapping of a child named Amber.)  The alerts are particular for motorists to watch for and report a suspect's vehicle. The alerts include Tv crawls, radio, cell phone texts, electronic freeway signage, et al.  So, we're having dinner at our favorite Mexican place ... when everybody's phone in the place started ringing at the same time. All the patron's quickly discovered that it was an Amber Alert ... but still it was all very odd, and kinda creepy for all the phones to go off at once.


----------



## jcdeboever

Twilight Zone moment

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## limr

Morning, hosers.

Gary, we have Amber Alerts here, too. A bunch of alerts went off on students' phones one day in class. I'd already turned mine off.

Leo is finally going to see the new Star Wars movie today


----------



## minicoop1985

Sheesh Leo. Took ya long enough.  A friend of mine was going to see it at some random time on a Tuesday, but the theater (assigned seating) was FULL and didn't have two seats next to each other. I think you'll love it though.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Sheesh Leo. Took ya long enough. A friend of mine was going to see it at some random time on a Tuesday, but the theater (assigned seating) was FULL and didn't have two seats next to each other. I think you'll love it though.



I know, I know, but I think you underestimate how much I hate crowded theaters. Not only do I hate crowds in general, there are two things that make movie theaters worse: you're trapped in an enclosed space (cue claustrophobia, often dormant but active at awkward times) and people are guaranteed to be eating (cue misophonia, ALWAYS hyper-active). Buzz and I knew our best chance at a good movie-going experience was to go to a matinee after the schools were back in session. and we were right - very few people in the theater, back row all to ourselves. Well, except until one dude, maybe 75 years old, comes and sits 2 seats away and starts eating Milk Duds. With his mouth open. Even Buzz was disgusted. The only saving grace with a situation like that is that once the previews start, the sound is loud enough to drown out most chewing noises (so long as you're not sitting next to the person, WHICH HAPPENS IN CROWDED THEATERS!) and also, the way most people mindlessly gobble their food, they are usually done chewing by the time the 5,000 previews are over.

Aaaanywho, ole Chompers finally finished his candy, and previews were FINALLY over, and the movie started and I swear, I was 6 years old again, watching the first movie. I was SO.EXCITED!! And it was as good as I'd hoped it would be AND I HAVE TO SEE IT AGAIN!

Seriously, I was almost depressed when it was over and I had to return to reality and run some errands. My mind was totally still in the movie and couldn't really accept what my body was doing. On the outside, I was calmly shopping, but on the inside, I was all "All that just happened, and now I'm buying kitty litter? NONE OF THIS IS REAL!"

That _that_ is a sign of a good movie   I am so seeing it again.


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, all.
Synchronizing the county laptop and desktop so i have UTDS this weekend.  The project has a new phase that I just started -- fire boats and marine recovery.  I now get to make a "road" network of our parts of the Potomac and Patuxent Rivers.  The idea is when mariners and floating drunks and idiots recreational boaters get into trouble and call 9-1-1 we can determine which of our boats and those boats from neighboring jurisdictions are closest to them.  It's not that difficult, really, but I need the home ports of the other boats and Aids to Navigation (buoys, light houses).

Star Wars is this weekend or maybe Monday.  Tomorrow is for haircuts with the very lovely Ms. Sarah and a trip to Georgetown (decorative paper and a pie bakery) with MLW and LL.

I registered for the San Diego conference, though I won't know if I will be making a presentation for a few weeks, yet.

Oh - it's time to go - catch y'all later.


----------



## JacaRanda

limr said:


> Leo is finally going to see the new Star Wars movie today



I asked this in a different thread, but nobody answered me (probably thought I was being a smartbutt).

Could I watch this movie and be okay with the storyline without seeing any of the previous ones?  Or, should I just do a marathon and catch up?
I may have seen the first one, but remember very little.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Hmmm, Jaca....I am wondering if you watched the very 1st one (1977 ish) if you would be good to go. 
You would be in the loop as to some of the character surprises.
Just my .02

I went to day to see 'Heart of the Sea' by Ron Howard and it was gone already!! Of course having STar Wars in 2-3 of the screens probably doesn't help...


----------



## jcdeboever

JC working in Detroit today. Police caught that POS that has been raping woman in JC's sisters neighborhood. JC feels better now. JC's sister is a shut-in with MS. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

JacaRanda said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leo is finally going to see the new Star Wars movie today
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I asked this in a different thread, but nobody answered me (probably thought I was being a smartbutt).
> 
> Could I watch this movie and be okay with the storyline without seeing any of the previous ones?  Or, should I just do a marathon and catch up?
> I may have seen the first one, but remember very little.
Click to expand...


Watch the original three and forget the modern prequel movies. It's too bad the unaltered versions aren't readily available yet, but I suppose the most important thing to remember when you're watching the altered version is this: Han Solo shot first.


----------



## limr

NancyMoranG said:


> Hmmm, Jaca....I am wondering if you watched the very 1st one (1977 ish) if you would be good to go.
> You would be in the loop as to some of the character surprises.
> Just my .02
> 
> I went to day to see 'Heart of the Sea' by Ron Howard and it was gone already!! Of course having STar Wars in 2-3 of the screens probably doesn't help...



I think he needs to watch all three. There is information about the new characters that he won't get from just the first original. That info is in _Empire_ and _Jedi_. Plus, they're just awesome movies!

But you really don't need any of the prequels. No one does, really


----------



## JacaRanda

limr said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm, Jaca....I am wondering if you watched the very 1st one (1977 ish) if you would be good to go.
> You would be in the loop as to some of the character surprises.
> Just my .02
> 
> I went to day to see 'Heart of the Sea' by Ron Howard and it was gone already!! Of course having STar Wars in 2-3 of the screens probably doesn't help...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think he needs to watch all three. There is information about the new characters that he won't get from just the first original. That info is in _Empire_ and _Jedi_. Plus, they're just awesome movies!
> 
> But you really don't need any of the prequels. No one does, really
Click to expand...


Thank you both.  With all the goodies on Netflix, I was wondering if I could watch the other 30 between #3 and The Force.


----------



## minicoop1985

Yeah, you need to see A New Hope, Empire, and Jedi for sure.


----------



## snowbear

< . . . continues to address selves in third person  = ignore on>


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> < . . . continues to address selves in third person  = ignore on>


JC will stop now. JC tired of it. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

JacaRanda said:


> Could I watch this movie and be okay with the storyline without seeing any of the previous ones?


Learning the "storyline" is not going to help.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Jaca how do you not know if you saw the original?? lol been living under a rock? See the first three.

Watched hockey, then curling while listening to some of Shake the Shack, keep hitting the mute back and forth to hear what's going on but still not sure how the US won this match.

And it was David Bowie day. I don't think that's an official holiday or anything though.


----------



## Gary A.

El Niño has taken a break and the rain has stopped. 



 
iPhone
Backyard grapes.


----------



## jcdeboever

My sister lives in the intercity of Detroit. Upon my visit, I went over her .357 Smith & Wesson today. It was mostly clean, mostly spot on, on all points other than a Marine looking at it.. She felt real comfortable with it as her husband wheeled her into the shooting range a couple weeks back. Her husband and I fitted her with a laser pointer back in November and her accuracy rate rose exponentially. My brother in law is pretty damn special at he end of the day. My parents complain about him but all I know is he sticks by my sister and she cant do her wife things if there is such a stupid thing. 

I am so worried about my sister and again, have offered to help them out. They will not let me help them because my parents are there for them when she needs to go for infusions or doctor visits. She needs ramps, wider hallways, power chairs, open showers, etc... I am so frustrated!!!!!!!!! I want her to be safe and happy!!!! My parents help is unintentionally putting her in harms way but I can not supplant their care. F*** I just want to punch somebody!

I can afford the house in a better area close to me but I can not work out the cost of getting my sister around continuously. I feel like such a failure... I never anticipated her transportation costs until checking them out recently. My wife is kind of over me for what she believes I am  "Playing God". Please pray for my WIFE, sister and her husband to find a solution. Prayers are not a lot to ask for, faith is all they need.  I am believing I will help them get out of all this.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Sounds like a lot of stress for all of you. Try not to be angry as that is a horrible place to be mentally. Yes, worse than stress.
You've got my prayers!

I was schocked that 1 of my sisters said they got a gun for Christmas! We are not a gun family. No one hunts etc. they live in a nice N'hood and I am still surprised. They will be responsible people, have no young children in the house.


----------



## snowbear

Good luck, JC - I feel for you.

I'm lurking a bit this morning.  The cups of coffee are done and clothes are almost dry, so it's time to shower and head out for the haircut (I need one).

I'll post some snapshots - pies or pens or _something_ later on.
I'll remember you when I win that ping-pong ball thing tonight.  I won't send you any money, but I'll remember you.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is reminding you'll not to forget to purchase those Powerball Tickets. When Gary wins he wants all the money ... Then he'll disappear.


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC-  Gary hope you figure it all out. Sounds very complicated ... Usually a small piece at a time helps with complicated stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jaca- Gary watched Star Wars on a Tuesday ... No lines and the theater wasn't packed. The movie was in 3D ... Pretty good 3D.


----------



## Gary A.

On the photographic front ... Gary is thinking about using his handheld meter in lieu of the the on-board meter, he is wondering and hoping it will make a positive difference and improvement(s) in his snaps.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is reminding you'll not to forget to purchase those Powerball Tickets. When Gary wins he wants all the money ... Then he'll disappear.



What? You would leave us?
If it's up to $900 m, then isn't the winning # already picked? I am not good at statistics like this....900 mil divided by $2 ticket is 490 mil combos already picked and odds are 1 in 290 mil??
I am still going to buy 10 tickets.


----------



## vintagesnaps

And here Sharon thought Jimmy had left the 'house! lol

JC try and give it some time, I've found after having a stroke that others can offer whatever but I'm the only one who knows what I can/can't do or what I need help with. Could be a process of getting everything figured out that will take time.

Good luck Charlie with your pinging and ponging.


----------



## JacaRanda

Gary A. said:


> @ Jaca- Gary watched Star Wars on a Tuesday ... No lines and the theater wasn't packed. The movie was in 3D ... Pretty good 3D.


Sharon to some degree,  yes I have been living under a rock.  [emoji12] 
I do hope I am patient enough to watch the first three first. 

Gary,  we've been sitting on a pair of tickets for a long time.  By the time I get to the theatre,  The Force will not be playing.


----------



## Designer

JacaRanda said:


> I do hope I am patient enough to watch the first three first.


The first one or two should be plenty.  

From my perspective the third one sucked.  

To be more specific, it was like the last chapter in a love story where everyone went home happy.  

Sucked.


----------



## JacaRanda

Designer said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do hope I am patient enough to watch the first three first.
> 
> 
> 
> The first one or two should be plenty.
> 
> From my perspective the third one sucked.
> 
> To be more specific, it was like the last chapter in a love story where everyone went home happy.
> 
> Sucked.
Click to expand...

[emoji23]


----------



## snowbear

We just got home - it's been a mixed day.
We didn't make it to the art store but that's OK.  We got to the paper Source, first and I got four pieces of decorative paper for book making.  Then we discovered that the DC "Sprinkles" cupcake bakery (Beverly Hills / Candace Nelson) was next door, so, being a scientist (sort of) I got a coconut cupcake.  Then we went to GTCC, a few blocks away, and I got another coconut cupcake; I'll perform a side-by-side comparison later.  After GTCC, we hit Pie Sisters and grabbed a couple of pie-cuppies and a cherry pie.  They actually give them to you in a glass pie plate.  Bring the plate back and get $5 off the next order.  Somewhere in between LL went to Doc Marten's and got a pair of boots.

Now the bad part.  Walking back to the truck, we went a block down from M Street because I wanted to walk along the C&O Canal.  At one point just before the canal, the brick walk was raised higher than the surrounding walkway.  MLW didn't notice and tripped, fell, hit her head against a stone wall.  So she's actually agreed to go up to minor care, after she's had her chicken.

On the way home, son #1 tests and tells us an SUV decided to make a drive-in window at his shop.  Luckily he wasn't hurt but a customer was collared & transported after being hit by a door beam that was broken loose.  The driver of the SUV had an open container in the truck and, in Andrew's words, was "very arrested."  Local news video blurb.

Chicken is done, so it's off to the doctor.


----------



## Dave442

Just a couple things I ran into while out for a Saturday morning coffee...


----------



## minicoop1985

I haven't had a chance to play with the 645 yet.  The new battery holder (last owner broke the original) isn't here yet. Was SUPPOSED to get here today. All the coffee in the world doesn't help me feel better about that... I need to test it SO BADLY


----------



## snowbear

Back from doctor a little while ago - nothing broken just a few bruises .  We'll be forgoing the Star Wars movie for a little while.  She told me to go, anyway, but that's no fun.

Georgetown Cupcakes wins the comparison to Sprinkles by a very slight margin.  GTCC has more of a coconut flavor in the cake than Sprinkles, and they are 25 cents cheaper.

Time for a pie "cuppie" and some iced tea, then off to bed.  It's been a long jammin' day.  Besides, I need to be rested up so I can go get my lottery winnings on Monday.


----------



## limr

@ JC: 

@ snowbear:  to YLW and yum to cupcakes and pie!

To everyone else, happy Saturday!

I have a new rule to try to avoid the crazy binge-watching of "Orange is the New Black" that I engaged in last month. I've been hesitant to start a new series for fear of making the same mistake, but last night I started watching "Weeds." And yes, the danger is real that I'll be up until the wee hours because I can't stop watching.

So, new rule: no watching "Weeds" unless I'm on the stationary bike or using the weights after getting off the stationary bike. And I'm still planning on putting some cash into my jar for every time I break a sweat. So this way, I figure I get to watch the show, establish a good exercise habit, and save some money, all while saving myself from sleep deprivation due to television binge-watching! 

And speaking of sleep...


----------



## FITBMX

snowbear said:


> We just got home - it's been a mixed day.
> We didn't make it to the art store but that's OK.  We got to the paper Source, first and I got four pieces of decorative paper for book making.  Then we discovered that the DC "Sprinkles" cupcake bakery (Beverly Hills / Candace Nelson) was next door, so, being a scientist (sort of) I got a coconut cupcake.  Then we went to GTCC, a few blocks away, and I got another coconut cupcake; I'll perform a side-by-side comparison later.  After GTCC, we hit Pie Sisters and grabbed a couple of pie-cuppies and a cherry pie.  They actually give them to you in a glass pie plate.  Bring the plate back and get $5 off the next order.  Somewhere in between LL went to Doc Marten's and got a pair of boots.
> 
> Now the bad part.  Walking back to the truck, we went a block down from M Street because I wanted to walk along the C&O Canal.  At one point just before the canal, the brick walk was raised higher than the surrounding walkway.  MLW didn't notice and tripped, fell, hit her head against a stone wall.  So she's actually agreed to go up to minor care, after she's had her chicken.
> 
> On the way home, son #1 tests and tells us an SUV decided to make a drive-in window at his shop.  Luckily he wasn't hurt but a customer was collared & transported after being hit by a door beam that was broken loose.  The driver of the SUV had an open container in the truck and, in Andrew's words, was "very arrested."  Local news video blurb.
> 
> Chicken is done, so it's off to the doctor.



Glad everyone is okay! Sounds like a very eventful day.


----------



## FITBMX

minicoop1985 said:


> I haven't had a chance to play with the 645 yet.  The new battery holder (last owner broke the original) isn't here yet. Was SUPPOSED to get here today. All the coffee in the world doesn't help me feel better about that... I need to test it SO BADLY



Duct tape time!


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> We just got home - it's been a mixed day.
> We didn't make it to the art store but that's OK.  We got to the paper Source, first and I got four pieces of decorative paper for book making.  Then we discovered that the DC "Sprinkles" cupcake bakery (Beverly Hills / Candace Nelson) was next door, so, being a scientist (sort of) I got a coconut cupcake.  Then we went to GTCC, a few blocks away, and I got another coconut cupcake; I'll perform a side-by-side comparison later.  After GTCC, we hit Pie Sisters and grabbed a couple of pie-cuppies and a cherry pie.  They actually give them to you in a glass pie plate.  Bring the plate back and get $5 off the next order.  Somewhere in between LL went to Doc Marten's and got a pair of boots.
> 
> Now the bad part.  Walking back to the truck, we went a block down from M Street because I wanted to walk along the C&O Canal.  At one point just before the canal, the brick walk was raised higher than the surrounding walkway.  MLW didn't notice and tripped, fell, hit her head against a stone wall.  So she's actually agreed to go up to minor care, after she's had her chicken.
> 
> On the way home, son #1 tests and tells us an SUV decided to make a drive-in window at his shop.  Luckily he wasn't hurt but a customer was collared & transported after being hit by a door beam that was broken loose.  The driver of the SUV had an open container in the truck and, in Andrew's words, was "very arrested."  Local news video blurb.
> 
> Chicken is done, so it's off to the doctor.


A long long day. Gary hopes LL hasn't any lasting damage.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary made his first Barbeque sauce.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Netflixed Chloe and Theo ... at least four stars.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mike is still frustrated, as USPS just says his package "Departed City of Industry, CA" and it hasn't arrived in Oshkosh yet, though it was supposed to show up yesterday. Mike hates waiting for things. Mike is very impatient.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. 

Last day before going back to work. One week + change until going back to teaching. I've already started having dreams.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Last day before going back to work. One week + change until going back to teaching. I've already started having dreams.


Dreams .... Nightmares ... Or just heaves?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary has a Mandarin Orange tree in the backyard. Once a year it become a wonderful Mandarin Orange tree. This is the time of year and Gary is feasting on these little, sweet, balls of citrus all day long.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Last day before going back to work. One week + change until going back to teaching. I've already started having dreams.
> 
> 
> 
> Dreams .... Nightmares ... Or just heaves?
Click to expand...


Little from Column A, little from Column B, and a lot of heaves


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Last day before going back to work. One week + change until going back to teaching. I've already started having dreams.
> 
> 
> 
> Dreams .... Nightmares ... Or just heaves?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ... and a lot of heaves
Click to expand...


Work does that to Gary as well.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Last day before going back to work. One week + change until going back to teaching. I've already started having dreams.


 
Want a big red marker for grading papers?
I'll be off tomorrow but, since MLW can't drive now, I'm taking mom-in-law for her doctor's appointment.


----------



## vintagesnaps

How is your LW doing?

And what exactly is a pie 'cuppie'?? Inquiring minds want to know. lol


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> How is your LW doing?
> 
> And what exactly is a pie 'cuppie'?? Inquiring minds want to know. lol



Nothing broken but she has a couple of bruises and a small knot on her forehead.  She has a hard time getting up but once she's on her feet she can get around.  She says she's not as sore as yesterday.  I will drive her bugnuts waiting on her and she'll beg me to go to work on Tuesday.

"Cuppie" is a nickname for cupcake.  In this case, it is a small individual pie, made to the size of a cupcake.  It's even sold/served in a cupcake paper cup.   We bought a few as samples of the full pies to see if we like them (we did).  I'd post a photo but I don't see any around. Here is where we went.  The prices are a bit high but the full pie come in 9" glass plates and you get $5 (7 Canadian) if the next order if you return the plate.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just felt an earthquake. It was small, but made Gary raise an eyebrow. A 3.1, but it was only six miles away.


----------



## Gary A.

Cook on our walk:


 
iPhone image


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Bowie, man. Bowie.


----------



## minicoop1985

YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


 What a crappy way to start a day.

In other news, Mike is still somewhat excited to test his camera finally as the battery compartment (notorious for breaking) is almost here.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

Yeah, someone just told me about Bowie.  I haven't been paying much attention to the news.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Cook on our walk:
> View attachment 114219
> iPhone image


 Are the leaves Cook-coloured, or is The Cook leaf-coloured?


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Bowie, man. Bowie.
> View attachment 114231


Awful news - in part because he was only 69.   Way too young!    Sounds like he was making efforts to keep his failing health out of the news, so many of us are feeling caught off guard.         Ah, the hours of listening pleasure that artist gave me!    My heart hurts today.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is sadden about Bowie's departure. 

Gary is a bit sore this cool morning from all the pruning he and Mary Lou performed yesterday. Grapes, grapes and more grapes were thinned out (and a few more roses). For most of the day we pruned the Chardonnay and Pinot Nior then Tom came over and we grilled up some Korean Short Ribs ... Broke open some wine, (a fine Syrah from Chapin in Temecula), and feasted the evening away. 

I try not to throw away any of the green waste. The only thing that typically gets tossed are rose canes due to the thorns. The leaves get composted, the stems and woody parts get cut up and used as a mulch/cover for the pathways in the rose garden. The soil used to be all clay, but since Gary has been composting in-place the soil if full of organic material.  Now when Gary digs a hole, he can see inches of dark brown to black material before he hits the sticky, light brown clay layer. Gary and Mary Lou still have a lot of grape pruning to go.  This was tedious because the grape vines were intersected and disbursed amongst rose canes.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mike is now happy. Mike has an operational camera.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cook on our walk:
> View attachment 114219
> iPhone image
> 
> 
> 
> Are the leaves Cook-coloured, or is The Cook leaf-coloured?
Click to expand...

She like an Octopus and changes color to match her surrounding.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Local radio station was talking about Bowie this morning and planning to play his music throughout the day. They're public radio and play alt rock so probably can do their own thing. I didn't know about his health situation so it was surprising news to hear. Too young.

An earthquake? Just having instant winter here, snow's a comin'.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.
Staying off with MLW one more day.  Two cups down and I'm heading out to the grocery store and the snail-mail box (there aren't many around, these days).  The news meteorologists are calling for colder temps and a flurry flake or two in the northern and western 'burbs.  DC has plows on the side of the road at overpasses and bridges, which is the best snow prevention program here.


----------



## medic2230

Morning!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.



medic2230 said:


> Morning!



Hey there!


----------



## medic2230

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey there!
Click to expand...


Hi Leonore! How are you?


----------



## limr

medic2230 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey there!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hi Leonore! How are you?
Click to expand...


Not too bad, other than having to go back to work this week   What've you been up to?


----------



## limr

I'm seeing if I can wean myself off milk in my coffee, hosers.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I'm seeing if I can wean myself off milk in my coffee, hosers.


Oh, that's easy: just use bourbon, scotch or rum.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm seeing if I can wean myself off milk in my coffee, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, that's easy: just use bourbon, scotch or and rum.
Click to expand...

 FTFY


----------



## medic2230

limr said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey there!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hi Leonore! How are you?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not too bad, other than having to go back to work this week   What've you been up to?
Click to expand...


Not too much, just working. 

Sold my D7000 with both lenses I had for it. I was using the 18-105 dx lens on my FF camera, so now I need a new lens cause it's not very productive taking photo's with a 70-200 and a 50mm. Also lost my spare battery when I sold the camera. lol 

Missed getting a 24-70 the other day by minutes. Hope I find something soon.


----------



## medic2230

Never realized I'd miss having a battery grip as much as I do now that my camera doesn't have one on it.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm seeing if I can wean myself off milk in my coffee, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, that's easy: just use bourbon, scotch or and rum.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> FTFY
Click to expand...


Well, I figured since it's _morning_ . . .


----------



## medic2230

limr said:


> I'm seeing if I can wean myself off milk in my coffee, hosers.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm seeing if I can wean myself off milk in my coffee, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, that's easy: just use bourbon, scotch or and rum.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> FTFY
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, I figured since it's _morning_ . . .
Click to expand...

 Mehh... start as you mean to carry on!


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, hosers. Had our local camera club meeting last night. Thankfully, I learned our local film lab is still in business.  I can actually function again!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> I'm seeing if I can wean myself off milk in my coffee, hosers.


Mary Lou was in the same boat.  She didn't like the extra calories of coffee with sugar and cream/milk.  She tried black, but it didn't appeal to her.  Gary thinks his coffee may be on the strong side, not for the faint of heart. So now, Mary Lou is drinking tea in the mornings with honey and no milk.


----------



## NancyMoranG

I use 2% milk in coffee but I am trying to limit the sugar in my diet and my coffee...ugh.


----------



## medic2230

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm seeing if I can wean myself off milk in my coffee, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou was in the same boat.  She didn't like the extra calories of coffee with sugar and cream/milk.  She tried black, but it didn't appeal to her.  Gary thinks his coffee may be on the strong side, not for the faint of heart. So now, Mary Lou is drinking tea in the mornings with honey and no milk.
Click to expand...


I drink coffee with chicory and most people hate it. Boss came in one day and tried to throw a pot of coffee out. I asked what he was doing? He said throwing this old pot of coffee out. I said: I just made that. Get you a cup of man. He said that pot is black. I said so are the grounds.

But yeah, no one drinks coffee with me except one other guy at work.


----------



## terri

Since I average only 1.5 cups of coffee a day, I let myself drink it how it best appeals to me: brewed strong, with half a teaspoon of sugar and thick organic half & half.    I think we all deserve the cup we want first thing in the morning.   We're getting up to face the world and be our usual charming, hard-working selves: we deserve that much!


----------



## limr

I gave up sugar in my coffee many many years ago. In college, I believe. It didn't take long for me to actively dislike coffee with sugar in it. Since then, it's been only milk or black, depending on what I'm drinking. What I'm curious about is if I can enjoy my morning French press coffee just as much without milk as with it. I discovered when drinking the coffee from the Aeropress that I _really _liked it black, but with the French press, it was perhaps a bit too strong? Or oily? Not sure. So it's just a test. I'll drink my morning French press coffee without milk for a week and see how I feel about it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sun's coming out but it's a window rattler this afternoon. One of those days I'm glad to not be out in it, two different interstates shut down late morning due to snow squalls/whiteouts and pileups with semis jackknifed every which way. Supposed to only be an inch or two, that seems to have gone all to heck.

Never liked sweetened coffee but need some half 'n half, black coffee's too strong for me. But worked for a song.


----------



## snowbear

I "grew up" on coffee with cream and sugar.  Then, when I went to work for the PD, I ended up taking it black (midnight shift), so I could drink it any way.  I've gotten back to using a sweetened creamer, but I just put in enough to change the color and give a taste of flavor.  When I make Miriam's coffee, I have to leave 1/2" for her creamer.


----------



## snowbear

<spam removed by the ever vigilant @tirediron >


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> <  ^ spam reported>


 Report received...


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> <  ^ spam reported>
> 
> 
> 
> Report received...
Click to expand...

Thank you sir.  We try to have a semi-respectable place around here.


----------



## limr

Half and half is a bit too much for me. I like whole milk. And I'm going to stick it out for the week and then try it again with milk to see what my reaction is before I decide what my default is going to be.

In other news, I've been listening to Bowie all day long


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> <  ^ spam reported>
> 
> 
> 
> Report received...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thank you sir.  We try to have a semi-respectable place around here.
Click to expand...

 'though you wouldn't know it by the clientelle!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Half and half is a bit too much for me. I like whole milk. And I'm going to stick it out for the week and then try it again with milk to see what my reaction is before I decide what my default is going to be.
> 
> In other news, I've been listening to Bowie all day long



One thing I can tell you - marshmallow Peeps are fine for hot chocolate, but they aren't worth a darn in coffee.


----------



## NancyMoranG

How did spam get inserted into snow bears post? Or was this a joke?
Cold morning and I have to stop for gas


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.
No, a spammer posted and I reported it.  I usually post "spam reported" as a flag to others that it has been reported.  After tirediron deleted the crap, I edited my post.

The (small) site where I'm a mod was getting hit by "customer service phone numbers" spam like crazy for a few months.


----------



## jcdeboever

Finally home from successful Chicago, Indiana trip. Driving was spotty bad yesterday, real bad last night with white outs from wind. Came home to driveway nightmare. Plowing after coffee and breakfast. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

Morning, hosers!


.....and, that's all I've got atm, so here's a flower.


----------



## medic2230

Morning everyone!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning!
I am heading back to work, today, though not really: I'm attending a workshop on Topographic LiDAR (it's a geography thing).  On another note, the new Computer Aided Dispatch system, which was loaded with my fire boxes and runcards, was cut over this week and didn't implode.  There are a couple of runcard glitches but I'll fix them as they surface.

In short, my long project is coming to an end.  I am in maintenance mode and need to document the crap out of everything, but most of it is finished.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Morning. 
Snow bear, You didn't mention giving 2 week notice, so I guess you weren't 1 of the Power Ball winners?
Cold here in N.Carolina outer banks. High in the 40's today but sunny.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.
@ Charlie 

The winner is from Chino Hills, a few miles from my house.  Gary grew up in Chino. Soooo ... Gary may be related to the winner.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary grabbed dinner in Seal Beach last night.
iPhone images


----------



## terri

Nice!  

Morning hosers!    I am glad that powerball fever has finally broken.   A lot of sad little jack o' lanterns today, trudging back to work, but the news coverage was getting silly.   

I'm off to make some late-AM blueberry muffins.   Yum.


----------



## tirediron

Nice car you've got there Gary; that is the BOSS 302, isn't it?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Curb service, huh?

Weather supposed to be halfway normal for about a day or two then the ever popular wintry mix with dropping temps.

Was thinking about doing some sun prints while the sun is actually shining but so far I've just sat here and thought about it while half watching some old movie with flappers playing records on one of those old victrola type record players. Jazz baby.


----------



## jcdeboever

Obama mobile

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Nice car you've got there Gary; that is the BOSS 302, isn't it?


That ... was a pretty nice, all around, fun vehicle. The driver and passenger are inside having dinner (with Mom).


----------



## snowbear

NancyMoranG said:


> Morning.
> Snow bear, You didn't mention giving 2 week notice, so I guess you weren't 1 of the Power Ball winners?
> Cold here in N.Carolina outer banks. High in the 40's today but sunny.


Not at all.  I don't think we had one single number (only five tickets, though).


----------



## limr

Leo did not buy a Powerball ticket. Leo never buys lottery tickets.

Leo did, however, overindulge a bit at lunch yesterday, and so ended up having nothing but popcorn and wine for dinner last night. BECAUSE SHE'S AN ADULT AND SHE CAN.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> ended up having nothing but popcorn and wine for dinner last night



And all this time I've thought it was the breakfast of champions, or was that beer and Wheaties?  I just don't know, the memory isn't what it used to be ...


----------



## minicoop1985

I need to check my Powerball ticket. There was a $50,000 winner in this area... Hello digital back!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary made an enchilada casserole in the crock pot. It was delish. 

Gary paired it with a Roederer Estate Extra Dry Sparkling Wine from the Anderson Valley.


----------



## Gary A.

On Gary and Cook's morning constitutional we walked under these.


----------



## minicoop1985

So I got my film back from the 645 test. Everything's in working order, and for $150 that lens is stupendously sharp.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  TGIF, but unfortunately I have to be busy and take care of some things before I can fade out.  With any luck they'll be in good shape by the afternoon.  I hope you're all enjoying your coffee like I am.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Ooops, I guess I never posted this 

Afternoon, hosers! I did enjoy my coffee (still black - my experiment week is not over.) Now I'm _not_ enjoying the work I have to do on my course syllabi. Or syllabuses. There is apparently controversy over the plural of "syllabus." All I know is that there are two of them that I need to get done.


----------



## minicoop1985

Afternoon, hosers. Been feeling rather awful today. Has not been enjoyable.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Had to stop a minute for a package from the brown truck... if there are more than one is it UPSes or UPi??

Carnegie Mellon says it's syllabi. And that they serve many important purposes (or should that be purpi?). And do you really care at this point? Also has a section on when you should write your syllabus but if you look it up maybe you shouldn't read that part.

Amazing what you can google in a couple of minutes! lol Merriam Webster shows - both are correct.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Had to stop a minute for a package from the brown truck... if there are more than one is it UPSes or UPi??
> 
> Carnegie Mellon says it's syllabi. And that they serve many important purposes (or should that be purpi?). And do you really care at this point? Also has a section on when you should write your syllabus but if you look it up maybe you shouldn't read that part.
> 
> Amazing what you can google in a couple of minutes! lol Merriam Webster shows - both are correct.



Carnegie Mellon can kiss my lily-white ass if it thinks that after 20 years in the classroom, I need it to tell me when and how to write a syllabus


----------



## jcdeboever

Just gave my father in cpr for 20 minutes + or -. Called me in a panic, everyone is out and about. Got there, white as a ghost, soaking wet, no flippn pulse, dog acting freaky. F*** .... ambulance took him, shocked his heart right there; brought him back. Wife is whigging the flip out as she is an hour away. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Just gave my father in cpr for 20 minutes + or -. Called me in a panic, everyone is out and about. Got there, white as a ghost, soaking wet, no flippn pulse, dog acting freaky. F*** .... ambulance took him, shocked his heart right there; brought him back. Wife is whigging the flip out as she is an hour away.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Holy crap! 

You saved him.


----------



## jcdeboever

Got to go but one and two and three and for and prop the neck up, clear the air way, breath. Repeat until pulse.... Nonpulse until they got there and made his hair stand.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Getting the dog secure

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Ambulance driver said I did good

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## NancyMoranG

What Limr said :0 !
Keep us posted...


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Just gave my father in cpr for 20 minutes + or -. Called me in a panic, everyone is out and about. Got there, white as a ghost, soaking wet, no flippn pulse, dog acting freaky. F*** .... ambulance took him, shocked his heart right there; brought him back. Wife is whigging the flip out as she is an hour away.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Nice job - be proud.
Use this as your avatar - you've deserved it.


----------



## jcdeboever

He is in stable condition and awake. Will know more tomorrow. Heart cath in AM. Getting records from place that dealt with his heart surgery a few years ago. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

My goodness! Glad to read that he's stable now, what a scare. Pat yourself on the back. Hope he makes progress with his recovery.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Just gave my father in cpr for 20 minutes + or -. Called me in a panic, everyone is out and about. Got there, white as a ghost, soaking wet, no flippn pulse, dog acting freaky. F*** .... ambulance took him, shocked his heart right there; brought him back. Wife is whigging the flip out as she is an hour away.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Hoping and praying for the best. You did good.


----------



## EIngerson

Does anyone else have the urge to run through a forest naked, photographing nature in their most natural state?


I mean…..We could have a meet up…..or something.


----------



## pixmedic

jcdeboever said:


> Ambulance driver said I did good
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



ambulance driver?!? 
The EMT you mean. 

you did do good though.


----------



## jcdeboever

pixmedic said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ambulance driver said I did good
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ambulance driver?!?
> The EMT you mean.
> 
> you did do good though.
Click to expand...


ooops, had to look up EMT. Yes, I goofed. Anyway, he is going through tests today to check out his previous by-pass stuff done a few years back. According to the wife this morning, his room-mate snores like a freight train and didn't get any sleep last night. He wants to leave the hospital and said he is fine (that's the father-in-law I know). I am going to have some fun with this for a while.

Might be a good time to spring for some new glass


----------



## minicoop1985

Wow. Good work... That had to be traumatic.


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ambulance driver said I did good
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ambulance driver?!?
> The EMT you mean.
> 
> you did do good though.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> ooops, had to look up EMT. Yes, I goofed. Anyway, he is going through tests today to check out his previous by-pass stuff done a few years back. According to the wife this morning, his room-mate snores like a freight train and didn't get any sleep last night. He wants to leave the hospital and said he is fine (that's the father-in-law I know). I am going to have some fun with this for a while.
> 
> Might be a good time to spring for some new glass
Click to expand...

Well... strictly speaking, if he's in the left seat, he is the ambulance driver.  He might also be an EMT, but at that time, he was the ambulance driver!


----------



## pixmedic

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ambulance driver said I did good
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ambulance driver?!?
> The EMT you mean.
> 
> you did do good though.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> ooops, had to look up EMT. Yes, I goofed. Anyway, he is going through tests today to check out his previous by-pass stuff done a few years back. According to the wife this morning, his room-mate snores like a freight train and didn't get any sleep last night. He wants to leave the hospital and said he is fine (that's the father-in-law I know). I am going to have some fun with this for a while.
> 
> Might be a good time to spring for some new glass
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... strictly speaking, if he's in the left seat, he is the ambulance driver.  He might also be an EMT, but at that time, he was the ambulance driver!
Click to expand...


the term "ambulance driver" is actually a reference from the 1970's when the EMS system literally hired a person with no EMT or Paramedic certifications to just drive the ambulance. there are still a few agencies in the US that have them i believe, but not many. nowadays, both ambulance crew members are at least EMT certified, with many of the agencies where I live utilizing dual paramedic trucks.  The throwback term "ambulance driver" is  looked at today as a somewhat derogatory term meaning that the only skill that person has is driving. 
one of my critical care instructors (who had no love for EMT's at all) referred to EMT's who were not getting their paramedic certification as "left seat lifers". (you know, because the EMT is typically the driver)


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ambulance driver said I did good
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ambulance driver?!?
> The EMT you mean.
> 
> you did do good though.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> ooops, had to look up EMT. Yes, I goofed. Anyway, he is going through tests today to check out his previous by-pass stuff done a few years back. According to the wife this morning, his room-mate snores like a freight train and didn't get any sleep last night. He wants to leave the hospital and said he is fine (that's the father-in-law I know). I am going to have some fun with this for a while.
> 
> Might be a good time to spring for some new glass
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... strictly speaking, if he's in the left seat, he is the ambulance driver.  He might also be an EMT, but at that time, he was the ambulance driver!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> the term "ambulance driver" is actually a reference from the 1970's when the EMS system literally hired a person with no EMT or Paramedic certifications to just drive the ambulance. there are still a few agencies in the US that have them i believe, but not many. nowadays, both ambulance crew members are at least EMT certified, with many of the agencies where I live utilizing dual paramedic trucks.  The throwback term "ambulance driver" is  looked at today as a somewhat derogatory term meaning that the only skill that person has is driving.
> one of my critical care instructors (who had no love for EMT's at all) referred to EMT's who were not getting their paramedic certification as "left seat lifers". (you know, because the EMT is typically the driver)
Click to expand...

Just yankin' your chain dude!


----------



## pixmedic

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ambulance driver said I did good
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ambulance driver?!?
> The EMT you mean.
> 
> you did do good though.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> ooops, had to look up EMT. Yes, I goofed. Anyway, he is going through tests today to check out his previous by-pass stuff done a few years back. According to the wife this morning, his room-mate snores like a freight train and didn't get any sleep last night. He wants to leave the hospital and said he is fine (that's the father-in-law I know). I am going to have some fun with this for a while.
> 
> Might be a good time to spring for some new glass
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... strictly speaking, if he's in the left seat, he is the ambulance driver.  He might also be an EMT, but at that time, he was the ambulance driver! [emoji14]
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> the term "ambulance driver" is actually a reference from the 1970's when the EMS system literally hired a person with no EMT or Paramedic certifications to just drive the ambulance. there are still a few agencies in the US that have them i believe, but not many. nowadays, both ambulance crew members are at least EMT certified, with many of the agencies where I live utilizing dual paramedic trucks.  The throwback term "ambulance driver" is  looked at today as a somewhat derogatory term meaning that the only skill that person has is driving.
> one of my critical care instructors (who had no love for EMT's at all) referred to EMT's who were not getting their paramedic certification as "left seat lifers". (you know, because the EMT is typically the driver)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Just yankin' your chain dude!
Click to expand...

I know. Just throwing out a little background information.  It's not often I actually know enough on a subject to do so. Let me have my moment!


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ambulance driver said I did good
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ambulance driver?!?
> The EMT you mean.
> 
> you did do good though.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> ooops, had to look up EMT. Yes, I goofed. Anyway, he is going through tests today to check out his previous by-pass stuff done a few years back. According to the wife this morning, his room-mate snores like a freight train and didn't get any sleep last night. He wants to leave the hospital and said he is fine (that's the father-in-law I know). I am going to have some fun with this for a while.
> 
> Might be a good time to spring for some new glass
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... strictly speaking, if he's in the left seat, he is the ambulance driver.  He might also be an EMT, but at that time, he was the ambulance driver! [emoji14]
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> the term "ambulance driver" is actually a reference from the 1970's when the EMS system literally hired a person with no EMT or Paramedic certifications to just drive the ambulance. there are still a few agencies in the US that have them i believe, but not many. nowadays, both ambulance crew members are at least EMT certified, with many of the agencies where I live utilizing dual paramedic trucks.  The throwback term "ambulance driver" is  looked at today as a somewhat derogatory term meaning that the only skill that person has is driving.
> one of my critical care instructors (who had no love for EMT's at all) referred to EMT's who were not getting their paramedic certification as "left seat lifers". (you know, because the EMT is typically the driver)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Just yankin' your chain dude!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I know. Just throwing out a little background information.  It's not often I actually know enough on a subject to do so. Let me have my moment!
Click to expand...

Sorry, due to recent budget cuts by the TPF Finance Dept, your moment is no longer being funded.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Wow. Good work... That had to be traumatic.


No, I have done it a few times. The issue was the dog as he normally just loves me but he was very viscous towards me when I walked up to them. How I got him to move away and go outside is besides me but he did. I was very aggressive and used loud commands and he snapped out of it. Don't know what that was all about. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Glad it sounds like he's doing OK. The dog was maybe trying to protect him, and/or reacting to realizing something was wrong. Go get yourself a beer or something later!


----------



## FITBMX

jcdeboever said:


> Just gave my father in cpr for 20 minutes + or -. Called me in a panic, everyone is out and about. Got there, white as a ghost, soaking wet, no flippn pulse, dog acting freaky. F*** .... ambulance took him, shocked his heart right there; brought him back. Wife is whigging the flip out as she is an hour away.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Wow! Great job!!!


----------



## FITBMX

I got my new laptop yesterday, the other one was not working out, it was being nothing but problems. Now I have a Asus X555LAB, core i5, 8GB of ram, and nearly 1TB of HDD. So far I really like it!


----------



## jcdeboever

Well, he is coming home tonight. They checked out his by-pass and it looked good so they are not sure what caused it. His heart rate was elevated yesterday but got that under control. Guess he is getting some meds to take home. 

I guess I only did CPR for about 5 minutes. Seemed a lot longer. The ambulance was there in 10 minutes from time I called, took me a minute or two to get there. Took me a couple of minutes to get the dog outside. 

All is good, his wife is in Florida and not sure if she is coming home or not. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

FITBMX said:


> I got my new laptop yesterday, the other one was not working out, it was being nothing but problems. Now I have a Asus X555LAB, core i5, 8GB of ram, and nearly 1TB of HDD. So far I really like it!


Should of got a ThinkPad. All the other brands are pretty similar in quality and build. Asus is reputable hardware but it is a throw away model. You should get a year and a half out of it. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## FITBMX

jcdeboever said:


> Should of got a ThinkPad. All the other brands are pretty similar in quality and build. Asus is reputable hardware but *it is a throw away model*. You should get a year and a half out of it.



Isn't everything! 
A new Thinkpad is just a little out of our price range, I think I should be able to get at least two years out of this one. If something goes wrong with it later I have no problem taking laptops apart to work on them, so I can drag every ounce of life out of one normally.


----------



## jcdeboever

FITBMX said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Should of got a ThinkPad. All the other brands are pretty similar in quality and build. Asus is reputable hardware but *it is a throw away model*. You should get a year and a half out of it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Isn't everything!
> A new Thinkpad is just a little out of our price range, I think I should be able to get at least two years out of this one. If something goes wrong with it later I have no problem taking laptops apart to work on them, so I can drag every ounce of life out of one normally.
Click to expand...

You won't fix anything on that one. They are not engineered for it. Their business class models are barely repairable. I usually send people to Arrow Direct and have them pick out an A grade ThinkPad. But 2 years of use is a reasonable expectation for your investment and you may get lucky. My T400 laptop was built in 2008 and still running strong, no repairs, did put a SSD drive in it. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

I bought Polaroid at 7, it's probably worth millions by now...
Woody Allen in Sleeper


----------



## minicoop1985

Argh. I have a love hate relationship with eBay. Stuff I need to make money (business has been rather slow lately) I keep getting sniped out of. I have my eye on a broken camera right now that should be profitable. I hope.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Argh. I have a love hate relationship with eBay. Stuff I need to make money (business has been rather slow lately) I keep getting sniped out of. I have my eye on a broken camera right now that should be profitable. I hope.


Have you tried etsy? 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

I have not. I'll give it a shot.


Gave it a shot. Came up with nothing FAST.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> I have not. I'll give it a shot.


Search is not great, all vintage stuff. I have had good luck with them. No bids.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

I should try selling there. Buying seems to be around retail prices, though, so...


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> I should try selling there. Buying seems to be around retail prices, though, so...


Yes, mostly. However, you can find great buys if you dig a little and simply search's. There search engine sucks. I have no idea what your looking for...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## FITBMX

jcdeboever said:


> You won't fix anything on that one. They are not engineered for it. Their business class models are barely repairable. I usually send people to Arrow Direct and have them pick out an A grade ThinkPad. But 2 years of use is a reasonable expectation for your investment and you may get lucky. My T400 laptop was built in 2008 and still running strong, no repairs, did put a SSD drive in it.



My old laptop used to be my sisters, it is a Gateway New90 that is 6+ years old. It still works really well, but the case and hinges are shot, so if you move in the slightest it locks up. I looked into getting a case, but a used case was like $80+ and that wasn't going happen on something that old!
I already noticed that you have to open the whole case up on this one just to get to the keyboard, or the hard drive. And I'm not sure where the battery is stashed. But I will deal with that stuff a few years from now.


----------



## jcdeboever

FITBMX said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> You won't fix anything on that one. They are not engineered for it. Their business class models are barely repairable. I usually send people to Arrow Direct and have them pick out an A grade ThinkPad. But 2 years of use is a reasonable expectation for your investment and you may get lucky. My T400 laptop was built in 2008 and still running strong, no repairs, did put a SSD drive in it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My old laptop used to be my sisters, it is a Gateway New90 that is 6+ years old. It still works really well, but the case and hinges are shot, so if you move in the slightest it locks up. I looked into getting a case, but a used case was like $80+ and that wasn't going happen on something that old![emoji38]
> I already noticed that you have to open the whole case up on this one just to get to the keyboard, or the hard drive. And I'm not sure where the battery is stashed. But I will deal with that stuff a few years from now.
Click to expand...

More than likely the battery can't be replaced. Like I said, they are junk, throw aways. You probably spent less than 400. That model tends to overheat and weakens CPU connection. Be careful of placement on lap. Locate your air intake areas and do not block those. You will find they are not optimally placed and near impossible not to restrict. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

jcdeboever said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I should try selling there. Buying seems to be around retail prices, though, so...
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, mostly. However, you can find great buys if you dig a little and simply search's. There search engine sucks. I have no idea what your looking for...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Quite specifically, I'm looking for jammed up Hasselblads. I fix em and sell em. Had GREAT success doing it too-only had one I couldn't fix because it was a focal plane shutter model with a ripped curtain.


----------



## FITBMX

jcdeboever said:


> More than likely the battery can't be replaced. Like I said, they are junk, throw aways. You probably spent less than 400. That model tends to overheat and weakens CPU connection. Be careful of placement on lap. Locate your air intake areas and do not block those. You will find they are not optimally placed and near impossible not to restrict.



I will keep the overheating in mind, thanks!


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I should try selling there. Buying seems to be around retail prices, though, so...
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, mostly. However, you can find great buys if you dig a little and simply search's. There search engine sucks. I have no idea what your looking for...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Quite specifically, I'm looking for jammed up Hasselblads. I fix em and sell em. Had GREAT success doing it too-only had one I couldn't fix because it was a focal plane shutter model with a ripped curtain.
Click to expand...

I see what you mean. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary was in his camera store last week.  Gary was putting in my order for the newest Fuji ... Gary grabbed and played with a few Nikon and Canon cameras ... then it hit Gary. For what Gary shoots and how Gary shoots ... camera brand isn't important. Gary realized he would get similar images from Canon or Nikon or Olympus, or whatever ... as he would from his Fujis.


----------



## Warhorse

Me thinks Gary loves his name.


----------



## minicoop1985

Just ordered me a new lens. 150mm 3.5. Hoping that it can focus reasonably close.

Gary is right, actually. That's one of the reasons I have a Mamiya instead of a Hasselblad.


----------



## snowbear

Not this much, but it is falling in MD.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary and Mary Lou saw Revenant last night. What a violent, bloody, good movie that was. Five stars.  Gary is sipping the last of the Columbian Supremo, tomorrow will be Sumatra. Gary needs more coffee containers so he can have more daily choices. But Gary has a small kitchen and he is out of counter space, largely due to the ever expanding cookbook library. This morning Gary has turned on the irrigation for the yards. El Nino is over for the time being. Gary and Mary Lou are planning a wine run to Temecula ... nothing is firmed up, so it's a coin toss if we go or not.  Mary Lou just walked into the kitchen in her running togs ... so maybe Temecula is in ... Gary has best to get a walk into the dog to better the odds and grease the skids for the wine run.

Sadly, Darby, the Wheaten Terrier that is the spittin' image of Cookie, died. Darby was featured in an on and off column in the LA Times on dog friendly hotels and eateries.  Darby even made the front page.  His death at 13 y/o has caused a heavy sorrow in the LA Times community.

In Darby's honor some travel images with Cookie:





The Cook in San Francisco





Cook wine tasting at Silver Oak in Napa.





Cookie at Huntington Beach





Fred's in Sausalito.





The Cook checking out the cows at Pt. Reyes.

@ Appleton Guy- Gary would have gone Hasselblad just because ... Gary, Victor and Carl are BFF.  But Gary's images would not have been significantly better or different from Mamiya. But ... (the big but) ... the tilts and swings on my GX680III does give me different looks ... but the GX680III is more of a specialty camera.


----------



## otherprof

JacaRanda said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leo is finally going to see the new Star Wars movie today
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I asked this in a different thread, but nobody answered me (probably thought I was being a smartbutt).
> 
> Could I watch this movie and be okay with the storyline without seeing any of the previous ones?  Or, should I just do a marathon and catch up?
> I may have seen the first one, but remember very little.
Click to expand...


I would watch the first Star Wars movie and skip this one. (Did anyone else here think this was a very bad movie?) Actually, I did hear about one bad review by a critic, and he was writing in the Vatican newspaper!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I have flurries. Flakes getting a little bigger.

Speaking of flakes, Gary can't seem to stop Jimmying.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> I have flurries. Flakes getting a little bigger.
> 
> Speaking of flakes, Gary can't seem to stop Jimmying.



I have him on temporary ignore until he gets it out of his system.  Try telling him "he won" - that might do it.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary, I totally understand. I went Mamiya to go MF digital. A Fuji GX680 isn't practical for what I need, really, but it's on my wish list.


----------



## Gary A.

@Appleton Guy- Gary has been using these guys for his used MF purchases.  Gary found them to be very reliable and trust worthy.

SakuraDo-camera.com

They have used Mamiya MF stuff. 

The Fuji is a studio/tripod only beast. Not very practical for weddings and such.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary-their prices seem pretty reasonable, but they don't have anything for my 645AFD.

The Fuji looks like it would make a GREAT architectural camera.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou have arrived in Temecula!




Mary Lou ordered the lemon and ricotta pancakes. 



 
Gary is dining on a crab and avocado omelette washed down with a champagne flight.


----------



## Gary A.

Simply delish .... Temps are in the upper 60'sF so we're dining outside.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Simply delish .... Temps are in the upper 60'sF so we're dining outside.


[emoji31] 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

A champagne breakfast is a great way to start the day. (Those pancakes are possibly the very best pancakes That have ever passed Gary's lips.)


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 114568


[emoji31] 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Lol ... Mary Lou has just commented to " ... look at the tree, the blue sky, the puffy white clouds and the snow in the mountains ... It is the perfect day."


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Lol ... Mary Lou has just commented to " ... look at the tree, the blue sky, the puffy white clouds and the snow in the mountains ... It is the perfect day."


[emoji31] 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Hahahahahahahahaha


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Hahahahahahahahaha


[emoji41] 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

We're off to the next winery.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> We're off to the next winery.







Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

Vindemia


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

Estate Grenache


----------



## jcdeboever

Where's the champipple?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary doesn't drink blends.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

Every wine is amazing here at Lorenzi! Fortunately, we are members.


----------



## minicoop1985

Sheesh you guys go wine tasting a lot, it would seem. We have like one winery within an hour of here. Then there's Door County, which has way too many to remember.


----------



## snowbear

We don't have any wineries, but we live near 14 liquor stores, four of which have drive-up windows, 16 assorted bars, a dozen or so restaurants, and a homeless camp.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Sheesh you guys go wine tasting a lot, it would seem. We have like one winery within an hour of here. Then there's Door County, which has way too many to remember.


Lol. I drank some Charles Shaw Chardonnay with peanut butter crackers at a high school reunion about 5 years ago... Got a headache and never looked back. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary guesses wine isn't for everybody. We find good wine to be delightful and a winery with it's combination of wine making and restaurant, to be a very enjoyable experience. California has world class wines served in a world class atmosphere of customer and restaurant experience. A winery out here is much different than a drive up window at a liquor store.


----------



## minicoop1985

Yeah, I'm not a big wino, but I understand that some people love the stuff.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  At work with coffee (no, I don't get this holiday, or some others).  Trying to deal with a lot of stuff due in February.  I never did like the last-minute thing.  Hope you're all having coffee and a good morning!


----------



## minicoop1985

I ran out of coffee. I RAN OUT OF COFFEE. I RAN. OUT. OF. COFFEE.


----------



## limr

Mike...You.Are.Screwed. How does one run out of coffee?

Hey, the rest of you hosers!

I had the opposite problem this morning, sort of. The burr grinder seemed to be working a little longer and when I dumped the grounds into the French press, it seemed more than usual. I made the pot and it was okay, but it was clearly stronger than usual. As coffee cools, more of the flavor is released, and I found my cup tasting more and more bitter, so clearly, I had _too_ much coffee (if such a thing is possible  ) So I tossed that pot and made a new one.

Speaking of coffee, I finished my week of drinking black coffee all the time. Yesterday I put milk in it to see how I'd react. It's a somewhat complicated reaction. That first sip was still more enjoyable with milk than without it. When the coffee is still very hot, I like it better with milk. As it cooled, though (I tend to nurse my coffee), I didn't enjoy it as much as I did cooler black coffee. I think I'll still take milk in my morning coffee because my enjoyment of that first sip is greater if I have milk (and for a REALLY-not-morning person, anything to make mornings more enjoyable is important), but subsequent cups (maybe even my second morning cup) will be black.

In other news, I'm not at work. Our classes start tomorrow because this is the only holiday we actually get off during the Spring semester other than our Spring Break. And really, I think the only reason we do get it off is because it's convenient. But of course, I don't really care WHY I'm able to be still in my bathrobe at 10:50 on a Monday morning 

And I developed all my b&w this weekend, and half of it is scanned. Yay!


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. "Are we going back to Temecula today?" Was the first thing out of Mary Lou's mouth this morning. Yesterday was a great day. Perfect weather, perfect food and perfect wine.

@ Appleton Guy- Gary thinks wine tasting for those who do it often, is sorta like a hobby.   One visits picturesque wineries, sample the wares and collect the better wines. At Ponte winery, they have a section reserved for club members with a patio which borders on some vineyards.  It is very relaxing to sit out there and sip the afternoon away while exploring new wines.  Typically, the non-club areas is a mess of people buzzing in and out trying to squeeze up to the serving bar. No thanks.  Gary and Mary Lou like the smaller, quiet wineries that doesn't attract all the younger, loud, cool kids.  Gary and Mary Lou will visit at least one new winery on every trip, looking for the perfect combination of fine wines and no crowds. We always run into interesting people for interesting chats while we savor new wines, inspecting the color, inhaling the fragrance and exploring the tastes.  But we also hit one or two wineries where we are members for the freebie glasses of vino ... Cashing in on our memberships.  And, along the way we look for interesting and different resturants. Last night we dined at this Italian resturant, which was Sooooo good Gary felt he was back in Firenze.


----------



## minicoop1985

See, now, Gary, that's what I'd gathered about it. I figured since you guys do it often that it was a hobby. I'm not implying you're alcoholics, since you don't seem to be downing glass after glass after glass, but rather enjoying the atmosphere.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... no I am not a alcoholic/wino. Mary Lou and Gary drink about two to three bottles a week. Rarely do we finish a bottle off at one sitting/evening. One taste = approx. two ounces. (see above image)


----------



## minicoop1985

Mike sees. Mike just noticed you guys seem to like wine.


----------



## NancyMoranG

minicoop1985 said:


> I ran out of coffee. I RAN OUT OF COFFEE. I RAN. OUT. OF. COFFEE.



Don't you have a stash of hotel samples from the room? Doesn't everyone take those for an at home emergency?


----------



## limr

I don't take them. I don't even use them while I'm still staying in the hotel. I use my own.


----------



## EIngerson

So apparently  the whole naked nature photography isn't such a great idea. You try to take one pic of a humming bird while nude and the neighbors call the cops. 

I guess their yard is some sort of "nature preserve" or something. 



Pfffftt!!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

EIngerson said:


> So apparently  the whole naked nature photography isn't such a great idea. You try to take one pic of a humming bird while nude and the neighbors call the cops.
> 
> I guess their yard is some sort of "nature preserve" or something.
> 
> 
> 
> Pfffftt!!!!


I'd be scared seeing a three legged creature in my back yard.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## EIngerson

jcdeboever said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> So apparently  the whole naked nature photography isn't such a great idea. You try to take one pic of a humming bird while nude and the neighbors call the cops.
> 
> I guess their yard is some sort of "nature preserve" or something.
> 
> 
> 
> Pfffftt!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> I'd be scared seeing a three legged creature in my back yard.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...



Yeah, That's what they said too.


----------



## vintagesnaps

There's a winery near a nudist colony in the area. Maybe that comes in handy. I haven't been to either and I don't know, I think I might feel self conscious walking around carrying a couple of bottles of wine.


----------



## NancyMoranG

If they were strategically placed, would that help with your self conscious issues? 
Lie down on my couch while we discuss this....


----------



## Warhorse

NancyMoranG said:


> If they were strategically placed, would that help with your self conscious issues?
> Lie down on my couch while we discuss this....


Sounds innocent at first...then one picks up on the double entendre.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Back to work today. Don't wanna!


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Back to work today. Don't wanna!



Yeah, I know - cold out there - 16 when I woke up, even here in Philly.  I'm working home today, which takes the edge off; I still have to read the same stupid e-mails, but at least I don't have to go outside.


----------



## waday

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Back to work today. Don't wanna!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I know - cold out there - 16 when I woke up, even here in Philly.  I'm working home today, which takes the edge off; I still have to read the same stupid e-mails, but at least I don't have to go outside.
Click to expand...

Lucky! I'm working from Philly today (for a meeting in NJ), so I had to make the drive from Hburg. It definitely was a cold one, and I didn't feel warmed up until at least halfway through my commute.


----------



## limr

Nah, the weather doesn't bother me. It's just going to be a very long day. :/


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. I have my coffee! YAY. Kid has school today, so we're back to normal.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Nah, the weather doesn't bother me. It's just going to be a very long day. :/


Boo long day!


----------



## pixmedic

Antique fair last weekend. The wife never misses one of the big ones. 
She came home with this...
It's a Willcox and Gibbs chain stitch machine. Made as a hand crank and treadle model from the 1850s, to electric conversions in the early 1900s. This one is a treadle model with the electric motor base, circa 1920. Very hard to find in good condition, and this one is in very good condition.  Just don't ask me how much it cost for her to bring it home....[emoji24] 
 she fell in love with it as soon as she saw it. Aside from being a solid B+ cosmetically, it runs perfect and has a great stitch. The wooden case needs a little work however.  Aside from a missing lock, the bottom is cracked and the lower end is separating a bit. I'll get it fixed up though.


----------



## terri

That is beautiful!    I love the curve of that neck.   As long as it still gives a perfect stitch, cosmetics_ should_ be secondary.  



pixmedic said:


> Just don't ask me how much it cost for her to bring it home....



So, how much did it cost for her to bring it home?


----------



## minicoop1985

That's an impressive chunk of metal.

So the search for a digital back begins...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. There is a chill in the morning air. Last night Gary had a spot of rain is everything is wet and cold. Yesterday, Mary Lou and Gary did some Koi shopping. We purchased four little guys, not the expensive big suckers. This one place had a few they were charging one to two thousand USD. Gary stuck with the ten dollar, shrimps.

@ pixmedic: N I C E. 

@ Sharon: It just dawned on Gary that anything next to a nudist colony would sound odd and funny.


----------



## pixmedic

terri said:


> That is beautiful!    I love the curve of that neck.   As long as it still gives a perfect stitch, cosmetics_ should_ be secondary.
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just don't ask me how much it cost for her to bring it home....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So, how much did it cost for her to bring it home?     [emoji14]opcorn:
Click to expand...


Well, I DO like them curvy, so it was hard to be mad over the purchase.
It was a lot of money though. 
I call it the expensive paperweight.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. There is a chill in the morning air. Last night Gary had a spot of rain is everything is wet and cold. Yesterday, Mary Lou and Gary did some Koi shopping. We purchased four little guys, not the expensive big suckers. This one place had a few they were charging one to two thousand USD. Gary stuck with the ten dollar, shrimps.


 You know, if you replaced the water in the koi pond with cooking oil, and added a heating element... you could corner the fish & chip market in your area!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. There is a chill in the morning air. Last night Gary had a spot of rain is everything is wet and cold. Yesterday, Mary Lou and Gary did some Koi shopping. We purchased four little guys, not the expensive big suckers. This one place had a few they were charging one to two thousand USD. Gary stuck with the ten dollar, shrimps.
> 
> 
> 
> You know, if you replaced the water in the koi pond with cooking oil, and added a heating element... you could corner the fish & chip market in your area!
Click to expand...

"Come for the Fish & Chips ... Stay for the Wine." Gary isn't too sure about your business plan, 2500 gallons of cooking oil is a lot of cooking oil.


----------



## jcdeboever

pixmedic said:


> Antique fair last weekend. The wife never misses one of the big ones.
> She came home with this...
> It's a Willcox and Gibbs chain stitch machine. Made as a hand crank and treadle model from the 1850s, to electric conversions in the early 1900s. This one is a treadle model with the electric motor base, circa 1920. Very hard to find in good condition, and this one is in very good condition.  Just don't ask me how much it cost for her to bring it home....[emoji24]
> she fell in love with it as soon as she saw it. Aside from being a solid B+ cosmetically, it runs perfect and has a great stitch. The wooden case needs a little work however.  Aside from a missing lock, the bottom is cracked and the lower end is separating a bit. I'll get it fixed up though.


That is a gorgeous antique. I seen some spectacular embroidered rugs that were more than likely created with such a fine piece as this. Does she plan on using it for that? To see them in action is fascinating to these eyes. They look great just sitting there as well. Nice purchase. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## pixmedic

jcdeboever said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Antique fair last weekend. The wife never misses one of the big ones.
> She came home with this...
> It's a Willcox and Gibbs chain stitch machine. Made as a hand crank and treadle model from the 1850s, to electric conversions in the early 1900s. This one is a treadle model with the electric motor base, circa 1920. Very hard to find in good condition, and this one is in very good condition.  Just don't ask me how much it cost for her to bring it home....[emoji24]
> she fell in love with it as soon as she saw it. Aside from being a solid B+ cosmetically, it runs perfect and has a great stitch. The wooden case needs a little work however.  Aside from a missing lock, the bottom is cracked and the lower end is separating a bit. I'll get it fixed up though.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is a gorgeous antique. I seen some spectacular embroidered rugs that were more than likely created with such a fine piece as this. Does she plan on using it for that? To see them in action is fascinating to these eyes. They look great just sitting there as well. Nice purchase.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Not really sure what she's going to use it for. Or if. All i know is she has it.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy again, hosers. It would appear that I'm now the owner of a nice, black Hasselblad 500C/M.  It's jammed, but I've fixed them before.


----------



## pixmedic

This just came in for the wife. 
Shhhh...don't tell her though, it's s surprise.


----------



## jcdeboever

pixmedic said:


> This just came in for the wife.
> Shhhh...don't tell her though, it's s surprise.


Someone is getting lucky tonight...[emoji6] 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> This just came in for the wife.
> Shhhh...don't tell her though, it's s surprise.



Very sweet


----------



## limr

Feeling snoozy...


----------



## minicoop1985

Anyone have a finder for a Hasselblad they're willing to part with? Bueller? Bueller?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Did ya try Pittsburgh Camera Exchange, or Midwest Photo Exchange, or hmm trying to think where else has all kinds of odds and ends, Columbus Camera Group, Pacific Rim Camera maybe...

I made one once out of a fridge magnet for a pinhole camera, is that any help?? lol I didn't think so...


----------



## limr

First day of class (or rather, first evening of class) and the fire alarm went off at 5:50. It's now 6:30 and we still can't go to the classrooms. At least they let us back into the lobby. It's 24 degrees outside. I was actually nice and cozy in my car within sight of the entrance. I saw everyone go inside at about 6:05 and thought it was over, but it wasn't. Didn't want to go back to my car only for it to really be over 30 seconds after I got the heat on, so now I'm stuck in the lobby. My class ends at 7:15 so if we're still stuck here in 15 minutes, I might just announce to the crowd that my students can go. I can't even hand out their syllabus because I left my books in the classroom, thinking I'd be back in just a few minutes.


----------



## snowbear

Good evening.
A lot of crap going down at work but it's really looking like my shop is on the uphill side.
Geography club (Maryland State Geographic Information Committee) meeting in Baltimore tomorrow!  

On the lighter side:
Snow. Friday into Saturday, some models saying it could be "significant" for the DC Metro area.  I wanted to get in town to the art store but . . . wait . . . good tires and working 4WD; bring it on!


----------



## minicoop1985

What tires are you running? I have Continental DWS 06... And they're amazing.

So this happened...




2016-01-20_09-12-24 by Michael Long, on Flickr

150mm 3.5.

So I'm pretty much decided on a Phase One back. Either a P20 or 25, whatever I can realistically get my hands on.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Just finished my coffee - last drop is always so sad.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another wet morning caused by a slight rain, a six inch rain we call it out here (where a drop hits every six inches). Gary is working on his second cup of coffee. Gary's oldest daughter shared a photo from St. Louis this morning.  Her house looks like a winter wonderland. Gary is envious.


----------



## minicoop1985

Trust me, Gary, you don't really envy her. January is a cold, gray bucket of suck.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Trust me, Gary, you don't really envy her. January is a cold, gray bucket of suck.


LOL ... Appleton Guy ... It's okay to tell me what you really think. BTW- I love that Mamiya setup.


----------



## minicoop1985

Thanks, I'm quite fond of it so far. Got a roll of Ektar in it I need to shoot over the week/weekend (lab will be open on Monday).

As for winter... At first, it's OK. Dealing with mushy, wet snow with some humidity in the air in December is fine. But once the single digit and negative temps set in, it's over. There's nothing but misery and malaise to be had.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary's rain is headed this way but going to be a bit on the frozen side when it arrives Friday! They were showing it being on the west coast and not sure yet on snowfall amounts.  

Last night was supposed to be just a half inch, somebody goofed! schools all closed and some highways shut down at times. Boy these days make me glad to not have to go out in it!

Gary doesn't have to be so generous and share, he could keep it and not send it this way...

Leo what a bummer having a fire drill the first day back, much less one that you get stuck waiting... did you ever find out what they were doing that took so long? Hope the rest of your week back is better.


----------



## vintagesnaps

They're giving snow totals, that predicted half inch went to 2 inches pretty fast. And it's not even up to 20 degrees yet, brr that temp is what made the roads worse.  Later sun may peek out - right before sunset! yeah, good one. 

Speaking of the sun I left lumen prints on the table in the window from sunny yesterday, guess I'll go see what I got.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.



minicoop1985 said:


> But once the single digit and negative temps set in, it's over. There's nothing but misery and malaise to be had.



For you, maybe. This is when I finally start waking up!



vintagesnaps said:


> Leo what a bummer having a fire drill the first day back, much less one that you get stuck waiting... did you ever find out what they were doing that took so long? Hope the rest of your week back is better.



It was kind of a bummer, but honestly, it's no skin off my butt. If it happened on a test day, it might have been a pain in the ass to rejigger the schedule, but as it is, all I have to do is to push the in-class writing diagnostic to Thursday.

We ended up going back to our classrooms at 6:45, which meant I had 30 minutes to go over the syllabus, give them some homework, and send them on their way, which is exactly what I did. No big whoop


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sending them on their way... sounds like the best part of the whole thing! lol

Interstate north of here got shut down, one direction anyway, the fun just continues on. We had actually 3 in. here, backasswards from what was supposed to happen, then everything just froze up.

I was going to go do something, I really was, but I'm expecting the brown truck and a white truck and about the time I get into something one of them is bound to show up! since I think they're off schedule today.


----------



## pixmedic

A few alterations to the embroidery pattern and we have the new and improved....i dunno, what? House honeybadger? Or something?







Now that the wife has the pattern tweaked a bit she can move on to the other ones from the books.
The Poe house,
The "don't tread on me" house,
And the "gets awarded points they don't deserve" house.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> What tires are you running? I have Continental DWS 06... And they're amazing.
> 
> So this happened...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2016-01-20_09-12-24 by Michael Long, on Flickr
> 
> 150mm 3.5.
> 
> So I'm pretty much decided on a Phase One back. Either a P20 or 25, whatever I can realistically get my hands on.




Sweet.

We're running Bridgestone Deuler H/L.  It's a decent highway tire, relatively quiet, but has enough of a tread to handle rain and the sloppy stuff.


----------



## snowbear

pixmedic said:


> A few alterations to the embroidery pattern and we have the new and improved....i dunno, what? House honeybadger? Or something?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that the wife has the pattern tweaked a bit she can move on to the other ones from the books.
> The Poe house,
> The "don't tread on me" house,
> And the "gets awarded points they don't deserve" house.



Looks like "a brock rampant, argent" to me.  A brock is just a badger.


----------



## snowbear

And we have the pre-game activities - light flurries.  The latest snow guesses for the weekend: 18" to 24" for the DC Metro area; 12" to 18" for Southern Maryland.  Although we are in Southern Maryland, we are at the northern edge of the area so we may see the upper side of that guess.

MLW is working OT at the Watch Office on Sunday morning and there's a possibility she'll pull a double (24-hour total).  I'll be taking her in so I have a vehicle . . . just in case.

On the good side, she had a follow up with her surgeon yesterday.  He told her, though the nerves can keep growing for another two years, she has made enough progress that he considers her at maximum medical recovery (MMR), he was closing her case as physician, and to notify her lawyer.  It's been a two year process and ten months post operation(s).


----------



## NancyMoranG

I just couldn't sign off at 1699 posts, so here is my 1700th!
Wondering if we will have snow when I wake up on the Outer Banks N.C. ?
Stay warm and dry tonight!


----------



## limr

I was told today that I look "exactly" like Maggie Gyllenhaal. Frankly, I don't see it, but apparently somebody does


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> I was told today that I look "exactly" like Maggie Gyllenhaal. Frankly, I don't see it, but apparently somebody does


I just googled her, your hot!

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was told today that I look "exactly" like Maggie Gyllenhaal. Frankly, I don't see it, but apparently somebody does
> 
> 
> 
> I just googled her, your hot!
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I knew Leonore is hot without having to Google anyone.

We have a dusting from the flurries - it looks like an inch on the fence and I'll guess 1/4 inch or less on the sidewalk.  Schools are closed. Apparently the snow decided to freeze when it hit the ground.

The Woodrow Wilson bridge (I-95/Capitol Beltway over Potomac River from VA to MD, south of DC) was apparently shut down while the plows removed the one-to-two inches of last night's snow, so a 15-minute drive from Alexandria to MD is now taking an hour.  I'm glad we don't use the Beltway to get to work.  I also see that Route 66 (runs westward from DC through VA to the mountains) was a parking lot last night, some folks stuck for five hours.

Finally: we are leaving work early, today.  Lazy_Lobster had a hair appointment thing and, being pay day, we are going to hit the local warehouse store for a couple of essentials.  No, not bread/milk.toilet paper - we have that.  I'm thinking about coffee, alcohol and bacon - if I'm getting snowed in, I want the good stuff.


----------



## NancyMoranG

> Funny how a storm shapes your shopping list by priority!


----------



## minicoop1985

Ah yes. All you folks getting snow... I'm not envious. My snowblower quit, so frankly I don't care for snow at the moment...


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> I was told today that I look "exactly" like Maggie Gyllenhaal. Frankly, I don't see it, but apparently somebody does



From the pictures you've posted, neither do I.  When my wife was much younger some people told her she looked like Ali McGraw, who was popular then (mid-70's), but she never understood that, and when she told me about it neither did I (I thought she looked better than Ali).  People just say strange things sometimes.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

We Northeast hosers are getting our snow shovels and boots ready. I suppose we've been spoiled so far.


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers!

@snowbear: First,  
Second, DC really doesn't know what to do with snow, does it?


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Second, DC really doesn't know what to do with snow, does it?


I wonder if all the hot air that is spewed by the politicians in DC melts the snow faster?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. I'm in San Diego. San Diego is wonderful. Having lunch in La Jolla.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, hosers. Got my jammed Hasselblad unjammed and fully operational.  The winding crank is buttery smooth. Mirror and curtains are super snappy. I've missed having a Hasselblad... Such great works of art, and they aren't terribly complex. The only thing that really goes wrong with them is the old grease they use gums up. When that happens, the cameras are prone to constant jamming.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Howdy, hosers. Got my jammed Hasselblad unjammed and fully operational.  The winding crank is buttery smooth. Mirror and curtains are super snappy. I've missed having a Hasselblad... Such great works of art, and they aren't terribly complex. The only thing that really goes wrong with them is the old grease they use gums up. When that happens, the cameras are prone to constant jamming.


Do you relube?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hey, hosers!
> 
> @snowbear: First,
> Second, DC really doesn't know what to do with snow, does it?



Sure we do. Two days before the storm hits, we close schools, we declare a State of Emergencies (States of Emergency?), we try to buy every loaf of bread, bottle of milk and roll of toilet paper in the region.  We get the snow shovels and ice melt (or rock salt), however, after it has started snowing.

When it comes to driving, there are two schools of thought: Drive 5 MPH (in a 55 zone) in all lanes when the first flake hits the ground, or Drive 60 in a 30 when there's 4" of snow covering black ice because our AWD soccer-mom SUVs won't slide or get stuck.  Of course, when the authorities and news media advise us to stay home unless we absolutely need to go out, we immediately go out and abandon our cars on the first main roadway we find.  Not on the shoulder, but in the middle of each lane.

Finally, we like to watch it fall and panic.  After being "snowed in" for a very long time (about three hours for many), we get drunk and start fighting with our spouses, kids, neighbors, etc.

Yes, we know how to handle snow.  Now you know one of the reasons why we would like to move to New England.


----------



## minicoop1985

jcdeboever said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Howdy, hosers. Got my jammed Hasselblad unjammed and fully operational.  The winding crank is buttery smooth. Mirror and curtains are super snappy. I've missed having a Hasselblad... Such great works of art, and they aren't terribly complex. The only thing that really goes wrong with them is the old grease they use gums up. When that happens, the cameras are prone to constant jamming.
> 
> 
> 
> Do you relube?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Of course. I use Breakfree CLP. I've used it on all my Hasselblads, and it does a fantastic job, particularly in cold temps. With the Hasselblad body, the weight of the lubricant isn't nearly as critical as it would be with a shutter, since it doesn't affect timing in this case. I'll use it to stop shutter squeal in Canon AE-1/A-1 cameras since those shutters are electronically controlled, but I don't use it on other camera shutters because they're VERY sensitive to the weight of the lubricant used.


----------



## limr

It seems that north of NYC will be on the fringe of the storm. So far, the forecast for my town is 1-3 inches on Saturday afternoon/evening and maybe another inch overnight.


----------



## snowbear

DC Metro is slated for 1 to 2 feet.  Locally, I think we're supposed to get 12-18 inches.  Of course, 4" will shut us down.
L_L has decided he wants to get his driver's license this time around, so I took him out this evening to get a feel for the truck.  We will let him try the 4x4 setting on Saturday (empty parking lot) so he feel the difference.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> We will let him try the 4x4 setting on Saturday (empty parking lot) so he feel the difference.



DOUGHNUTS!!!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We will let him try the 4x4 setting on Saturday (empty parking lot) so he feel the difference.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DOUGHNUTS!!!
Click to expand...

We got a 48-k cup variety of coffee.  I think the homemade cinn-a-noms are better than doughnuts


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We will let him try the 4x4 setting on Saturday (empty parking lot) so he feel the difference.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DOUGHNUTS!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We got a 48-k cup variety of coffee.  I think the homemade cinn-a-noms are better than doughnuts
Click to expand...


No, no, no...I mean doughnuts:


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We will let him try the 4x4 setting on Saturday (empty parking lot) so he feel the difference.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DOUGHNUTS!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We got a 48-k cup variety of coffee.  I think the homemade cinn-a-noms are better than doughnuts
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No, no, no...I mean doughnuts:
Click to expand...


Oh, yeah, baby.  Those are real fun in a police cruiser.

When I was still a new driver (I got my license in October), the first snow we got I went to the back lot of a shopping center and practiced getting out of skids for about 20 minutes.


----------



## snowbear

Good night, folks.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning ya hosers.

The storm attributes have changes slightly.  it is traveling a little faster and heavier than expected so it should be here between 1:00 and 3:00 PM, and will end early Sunday AM.

The very knowledgeable and very cute meteorologist is advising folks to be where they are going to be sheltered by noon*.

A blizzard warning will be in effect from 1:00 PM this afternoon until 7:00 PM Sunday.  A blizzard is defined by the National Weather Service as storm with large amounts of snow or blowing snow, winds in excess of 35 MPH, and visibility less than 1/4 mile for at least three hours.

The winter mix that occurs at the rain/snow demarcation is going to be further south than anticipated so the snow total estimates have increased - six additional inches locally.

*The Washington Capitals, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to start tonight's game early, at 5:00 PM.

PSAs for those in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions:
Please be careful with space heaters and generators.  If you don't have a CO detector in your home, get one as soon as possible.

If you don't need to go out into this mess, please don't.  If you absolutely have to go out: slow it down, be careful, and know your (and your vehicle's) limitations.  Grab a largish bag of cheap kitty litter to keep in your vehicle; it can provide traction on ice.

If you have a fire hydrant along your property, please clear the snow away from it, and make sure there is a path from the hydrant to the roadway.  This one little act can very well save your life.

Stay warm, stay safe and I'll catch y'all sometime this afternoon.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary feels a bit beat up from the long day yesterday. It is 6:51 a.m. and the dawn is breaking it is still a bit cold at 49F. There is a ring of white clouds through the trees and above the horizon, then a sky blue sky receding into indigo at the center of the sky. San Diego was sooo nice yesterday, Gary just wanted to skip his meetings and walk amongst the Sea Lions in the La Jolla Cove.  Gary arrived home in time for a quick dinner at Mexico 1900.




iPhone image

The off to Whitney High School to shoot a theatrical performance celebrating the drama teacher's 100 production.




iPhone image


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Snow not expected here until about 7, so we should be able to get home from work and hunker down.  This area handles snow pretty well, but there are always some people who drive like idiots anywhere.  When I lived in the Chicago area I saw plenty of people who couldn't drive in it.  I intend to leave my house only to shovel, at least until Sunday morning.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We will let him try the 4x4 setting on Saturday (empty parking lot) so he feel the difference.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DOUGHNUTS!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We got a 48-k cup variety of coffee.  I think the homemade cinn-a-noms are better than doughnuts
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No, no, no...I mean doughnuts:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, yeah, baby.  Those are real fun in a police cruiser.
> 
> When I was still a new driver (I got my license in October), the first snow we got I went to the back lot of a shopping center and practiced getting out of skids for about 20 minutes.
Click to expand...

When Gary was a stupid teen, (yes, teen and stupid is redundant), he used to practiced getting into and out of skids everyday.


----------



## Gary A.

Snow ... is that the white stuff we keep in our mountains?


----------



## Gary A.

@ Appleton Guy-  Hey, if you find a good deal on an extra, fixer-upper Hasselblad ... Gary might be interested in taking it off your hands (purchase).


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah Gary and why didn't you just keep it in your mountains? lol This was your rain, maybe it started in the mountains, melted, refroze... They were showing on the news the other day where it was on the coast. Today they have reporters outdoors with nothing to talk about.

Couple of universities closing early and it hasn't even gotten here yet! lol the colleges hardly ever close. Staying south so schools thataway are on early dismissals, not much supposed to get this far north.

Sorry Charlie you're really going to get the worst of this snow, sounds like this is going to be a doozy by the time it gets your way. Stay safe.

Nobody knows how to drive in snow here except to jump in the car and drive around like maniacs. Same thing they do every Friday afternoon without snow.

I went to college north and my roommate was from there so we went out in an empty parking lot and drove in circles til I got the hang of driving in snow. It was fun.


----------



## minicoop1985

OK I have to admit, I LOVE the combination of my new 645AFD and Ektar 100.  I'll post a thread.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Snow ... is that the white stuff we keep in our mountains?


Speaking of... is the 'Godzilla El Niño' helping out with water in CA?

The snow water equivalent looks to be above normal for this date for Northern and Central Sierra. Southern Sierra is around normal.

Outside of that, how's the groundwater? Seems like that needs to be recharged...


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Snow ... is that the white stuff we keep in our mountains?
> 
> 
> 
> Speaking of... is the 'Godzilla El Niño' helping out with water in CA?
> 
> The snow water equivalent looks to be above normal for this date for Northern and Central Sierra. Southern Sierra is around normal.
> 
> Outside of that, how's the groundwater? Seems like that needs to be recharged...
Click to expand...

YES! Last year at this time the snowpack was 34% (or so) of our annual average. Same time this year we're at 94% of annual snowpack. February and March are historically the months El Nino hits. We had an El Nino event two weeks ago, the latest storm(s) was generated up north. It is my understanding that surface water is infinitely replenishable ... but groundwater is about as replenishable as oil.

In Southern California, water districts get their water from a combo of snowpack and groundwater, with the majority coming from snowpack, (via the 700 miles of aqueducts, canals, dams, pumping stations known as the California State Water Project, SWP). Los Angeles has a smaller, separate, municipal owned water transport system tapping into the snowpack of the Southern Sierra (Owens Valley).

Two-thirds of California's water is in the north, while two-thirds of the population is in the south.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Yeah Gary and why didn't you just keep it in your mountains? lol This was your rain, maybe it started in the mountains, melted, refroze... They were showing on the news the other day where it was on the coast. Today they have reporters outdoors with nothing to talk about.
> 
> Couple of universities closing early and it hasn't even gotten here yet! lol the colleges hardly ever close. Staying south so schools thataway are on early dismissals, not much supposed to get this far north.
> 
> Sorry Charlie you're really going to get the worst of this snow, sounds like this is going to be a doozy by the time it gets your way. Stay safe.
> 
> Nobody knows how to drive in snow here except to jump in the car and drive around like maniacs. Same thing they do every Friday afternoon without snow.
> 
> I went to college north and my roommate was from there so we went out in an empty parking lot and drove in circles til I got the hang of driving in snow. It was fun.


Feel free to send that stuff back. lol


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Snow ... is that the white stuff we keep in our mountains?
> 
> 
> 
> Speaking of... is the 'Godzilla El Niño' helping out with water in CA?
> 
> The snow water equivalent looks to be above normal for this date for Northern and Central Sierra. Southern Sierra is around normal.
> 
> Outside of that, how's the groundwater? Seems like that needs to be recharged...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> YES! Last year at this time the snowpack was 34% (or so) of our annual average. Same time this year we're at 94% of annual snowpack. February and March are historically the months El Nino hits. We had an El Nino event two weeks ago, the latest storm(s) was generated up north. It is my understanding that surface water is infinitely replenishable ... but groundwater is about as replenishable as oil.
Click to expand...

That's great! Surface water can be replenished*; groundwater is harder to replenish, especially when you get saltwater intrusion in your wells. Hasn't CA historically tried to use injection wells to stop saltwater intrusion?

*It can be replenished, but likely not infinitely.  Also, withdrawals of groundwater can negatively affect surface water, turning streams into losing streams. That is, assuming the stream is not disconnected from groundwater due to an unsaturated zone/low groundwater table.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Snow ... is that the white stuff we keep in our mountains?
> 
> 
> 
> Speaking of... is the 'Godzilla El Niño' helping out with water in CA?
> 
> The snow water equivalent looks to be above normal for this date for Northern and Central Sierra. Southern Sierra is around normal.
> 
> Outside of that, how's the groundwater? Seems like that needs to be recharged...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> YES! Last year at this time the snowpack was 34% (or so) of our annual average. Same time this year we're at 94% of annual snowpack. February and March are historically the months El Nino hits. We had an El Nino event two weeks ago, the latest storm(s) was generated up north. It is my understanding that surface water is infinitely replenishable ... but groundwater is about as replenishable as oil.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's great! Surface water can be replenished*; groundwater is harder to replenish, especially when you get saltwater intrusion in your wells. Hasn't CA historically tried to use injection wells to stop saltwater intrusion?
> 
> *It can be replenished, but likely not infinitely.  Also, withdrawals of groundwater can negatively affect surface water, turning streams into losing streams. That is, assuming the stream is not disconnected from groundwater due to an unsaturated zone/low groundwater table.
Click to expand...

Dunno about that .. rain and snow have done a great job of replenishing surface water for as long as Gary can remember. Yes, there are injection wells acting as a barrier to saltwater. But the numerous aquifer layer penetrations, by all the wells along the coast, has made saltwater intrusion difficult to manage. Much of our reclaimed water is used for injection wells.

There are areas alongside flood control channels designed for groundwater recharging ... but other than being an appeasement to the general public, Gary really doesn't see these area significantly contributing to our water supply. But Gary is pretty ignorant on statistics for the recharge areas.


----------



## KenC

Well, no snow yet, so I guess I'll get home OK.  I understand DC is getting it already, which means the Capitol Demo Derby must be underway.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Too bad we can't all send some of the wet back since I guess you need it and DC is apparently going to have more than enough. Hasn't snuck up this way yet, mostly going to miss us.  

The Caps game is now cancelled. Here - Bingo got cancelled - oh no! lol


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Duuno about that .. rain and snow have done a great job of replenishing surface water for as long as Gary can remember.


It's only replenished as long as you have a source. If that source goes away, so will the surface water. Drought is one example... Infinitely is the wrong term.  sorry, not trying to argue semantics.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Duuno about that .. rain and snow have done a great job of replenishing surface water for as long as Gary can remember.
> 
> 
> 
> It's only replenished as long as you have a source. If that source goes away, so will the surface water. Drought is one example... Infinitely is the wrong term.  sorry, not trying to argue semantics.
Click to expand...

Gary is only reporting what he remembers from a briefing. The source may have been speaking globally or generally and you maybe speaking in the particular.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Duuno about that .. rain and snow have done a great job of replenishing surface water for as long as Gary can remember.
> 
> 
> 
> It's only replenished as long as you have a source. If that source goes away, so will the surface water. Drought is one example... Infinitely is the wrong term.  sorry, not trying to argue semantics.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary is only reporting what he remembers from a briefing. The source may have been speaking globally or generally and you maybe speaking in the particular.
Click to expand...

Oh, yes. I am speaking in the particular. Not regarding the water cycle globally.


----------



## snowbear

Yes, the Caps decided to reschedule the game.  Apparently MPDC Chief Cathy Lanier told the Capitals/Verizon Center organization that the citizens and the storm were the highest priority and she could not guarantee there would be officers to cover the game.

The County government closed at 12:30 for all non-essential personnel.  The Federal government closed at about 12:00 on a staggered schedule to help prevent clogging the roadways.  We did stop by a few stores trying to see if they had rock salt or ice melt because the apartment managers have decided they aren't going to do anything until sometime Sunday.  I think I'll leave a little present at their door next time I clean the litter box.  After going to a few places, we ended up with a couple boxes of "Ice Cream Salt (aka Rock Salt) which will be enough to keep from breaking our @$$es if we need to get out tomorrow.  The streets have a decent coating of snow - not deep, but slick enough that I turned on the four-wheel.

We're relaxing and looking at baking recipes.  I'll shovel the walk from our door to the parking lot in a few hours before it's too deep.  I have some art projects to work on this weekend, so LET IT JAMMIN' SNOW!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

While you folks shovel a bit of driveway or a narrow walkway ... Tomorrow Gary gotta mow and trim the yards. Gary wants a snow day.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's all bummed out, his laptop died, he thinks it may just be the monitor. In any case, it has screwed up his entire day. But the external drive is locked by the now not working laptop and cannot be written to by the desktop.  Gary final has a work-around going on and has to down load a ton of image from five 32gb cards in order to use them again tonight. Gary is having a glass of wine.  Somehow, the wine makes everything all right.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That would have me needing more than a glass.

Glad you're tucked in Charlie. We might get an inch or two, before dark it still was south of me. But there still managed to be an interstate shut down - due to an 'erratic driver' - and after they'd said on the news businesses had closed early and traffic was light etc. Just like a normal Friday, driving like bats outta hell. I don't miss the commute.

So have we heard from Leo? or is she a little more inland than the worst of it.


----------



## limr

It hasn't started snowing here yet. We're on the more northern edge of the storm. For the longest time they were predicting 1-3 inches for us, then since this morning, the estimates have slowly gone up to 8-10 inches. I've got food, water (for drinking and plumbing), firewood if needed, a full tank of gas and charged electronics, and most of all, I've got plenty of coffee and the means to make it. 

And it's Saturday, so it affects work in exactly no way whatsoever.

And it's New York and we're used to blizzards.

In short, it's all good


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> That would have me needing more than a glass.
> 
> Glad you're tucked in Charlie. We might get an inch or two, before dark it still was south of me. But there still managed to be an interstate shut down - due to an 'erratic driver' - and after they'd said on the news businesses had closed early and traffic was light etc. Just like a normal Friday, driving like bats outta hell. I don't miss the commute.
> 
> So have we heard from Leo? or is she a little more inland than the worst of it.



Yea - Leonore is here and OK.

I just poked a ruler into the snow and we are at 7".  There is a truck plowing the main road and I have confidence that the state will have US-301 plowed by the time we have to leave Sunday.  I doubt our parking lot will be touched, but I'm sure the truck can crawl out in 4-low; the only hill is a slight incline (2% at most) from the parking lot to the main road.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Thanks, I found her in the Leaderboard, goofing off over there instead of checking in here.  Hope it doesn't get too much worse and you get out okay by Sunday.


----------



## snowbear

We'll be fine.  Otherwise, we'll get a fire engine or rescue squad to come pick her up - we kinda know somebody.


----------



## snowbear

Good night, folks.  Stay warm.  Catch ya in the AM.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Nochas Coffee hosers.  Gary just got back from the 100th Show production at Whitney.  It was a totally captivating evening of theatrical entertainment. Show tunes, drama, humor and dance ... It had it all. Gary and Mary Lou are wrapping up the night with another glass of wine.  It was nice to see old friends and Gary got volunteered to speak to a journalism class on Monday.  You all take care with all that snow.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, folks.
What I woke up to.  Judging by the bench, it looks like a foot or a little deeper.  The thing at lower-right in the second shot is a bush.




cmw3_d40_6562 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr




cmw3_d40_6563 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

There's a front-end loader (orange - Kubota?) on the main drag removing snow.  I guess the John Deere "H" will be along soon.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. 

Yup, it's snowing here now. I may have to make French toast.


----------



## snowbear

Yea - Lenny is OK.  Anybody else awake?


----------



## Designer

I'll finally be painting my rooms on the second floor today.  Yesterday I bought the drywall sealer (5 gallons) and brought in all the painting tools.  Spent most of the afternoon masking wood that won't be painted.  Ordinarily I don't bother with masking, but there was just so much drywall touching wood and I still have to paint after the sealer, so I decided to mask this time.  

Surprised a flock of robins in my back yard this morning.  About 30 of them.  I thought robins were migratory.  They apparently missed the memo.  Or can't read a calendar.


----------



## snowbear

Cute video
No one is enjoying #Blizzard2016 more than Tian Tian at the National Zoo


----------



## Gary A.

Darwin Award contestant.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> They're supposed to be here but the roads were closed.
> 
> Idiot of the storm award goes to the "driver" in NW DC that was stuck in the white stuff and spinning their wheels.  Apparently they were spinning them fast enough and long enough that the vehicle caught fire.  I'm trying to find the video - fully involved.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, hosers. Been a rough morning. Woke up WAY too early after being up way too late. Grumble grumble


----------



## snowbear

I pulled the post - I can't find the video and am tiny bit skeptical.  If I find it, I'll re-post.

Probably going to take a nap since we're planning on leaving here between 3 & 4 in the AM.


----------



## snowbear

Found it.  Allegedly spins wheels for 20 minutes (that's enough for an award), smoke, spark, fire.
Car erupts into flames after spinning in the snow in Northeast D.C.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Sumatra today.  Gary hears the geese honking away in the park. A lot of honking, almost like a pack of dogs ... another sip and now back to the morning quiet. Rain has been forecasted, but the closer to the rain kickoff the reports get less hopeful. There is a photo of fishermen in Lake Oroville with the caption that the lake has risen 27' since the rains have started. Lake Oroville is the Northern California start for the State Water Project. What is interesting is that the project flows through our Central Valley and over the Tehachapie Mountains and into Southern California (700 miles of canals and 10 dams).  Okay, here's the interesting part, the lowest section of the Central Valley is the Delta area from Sacramento to San Francisco. So, from the Delta, the water is pumped uphill 100's of miles to the top of the Tehachapie's. Gary finds water very interesting.


----------



## snowbear

OK, so we have Leonore and Coop, and Waday has posted elsewhere.  Anyone hear from either of the Sharons?


----------



## pixmedic

Ruh roh from last night's shift.


----------



## Gary A.

Is that good or bad?


----------



## pixmedic

Gary A. said:


> Is that good or bad?



Heart rate of 26 with new onset left bundle branch block. Labs showed potassium at 6.5
So...bad. very bad


----------



## Gary A.

Hibernation?


----------



## pixmedic

Gary A. said:


> Hibernation?


It was almost a permanent hibernation


----------



## KenC

Blizzard here.  Hunkered down indoors until at least tonight.  Made blueberry pancakes this morning, so all is good.


----------



## limr

Mrs Parker is an expert at riding out a storm.


----------



## vintagesnaps

We got bupkus last night, guess it never did get this far, were supposed to get an inch at least overnight. I just slept in. lol Already got the French toast warning yesterday, and it was all for nothing.

Cuomo press conference is on and he's explaining _*why*_ to not go out and drive in it. Like it should need any explanation but sometimes you wonder about people.

Looked at the Center Ice schedule, slim pickin's for early games, no Boston, etc. From the map it looks like none for the P Bruins either. Or even N. Carolina but on the weather channel he just said they should be good for the Hurricanes Panthers game. Yeah, the Tampa Bay game may be the only one on at 7:00 tonight! But there's college hockey on, Midwest and west games, so I guess it was worth getting that sports package.

Hope everyone east stays snug at home, have a good day.


----------



## snowbear

I just got pushed out of bed Bell.  Time for another cup, I guess.


----------



## limr

Yup, I just made some more coffee, too. I was tempted to make more French toast but it's probably not wise, especially if I want popcorn and wine for dinner again


----------



## minicoop1985

Ran out of milk so today's coffee was all kinds of gross.


----------



## snowbear

I decided not to shovel.  I will go clean off the truck and take it over to the Shell and top off the tank  before we leave at oh-three-hundred.

But first I have to pay some attention to the kitty that I'm holding.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> But first I have to pay some attention to the kitty that I'm holding.



Aww!    At least you have your priorities in order.   

We got what is called a "dusting" of snow, which is more like frozen precipitation turned whitish in the cold.   It's shivering-wintertime cold out there, but the sun came out to melt the dusting and the wind has been howling most of the day to dry everything off.   We will be hunkering down with a fire tonight, with blankets on the couch for the cats and one folded on the floor for the O-dog.   The critters do not like going out in the wind and cold so we're spoiling them with extra treats.  

I like Lenny's popcorn & wine dinner idea.   Perfect night for it!


----------



## pgriz

HEY!  Youse guys stole all our snow!  All we're getting up here is ....  clear skies.  The last (and so far only) major dump was 40 cm (ish) at the end of the year, and little puny dustings of 2-5 cm every other day or week since.  It's downright unCanadian to have so little to do.    On the other hand, it's also nice not to have to spend 2-5 hours shovelling.  So for all of you along the Eastern Seaboard, be safe, be warm, and save the heroics for Monday morning.


----------



## snowbear

Hey, Paul!  I've been wondering how you were doing.

I just came back in.  I was going to clear off the truck but there was a four foot drift moving toward the door so I ended up shoveling a little.  We'll go back out after dinner and finish getting to the parking lot. and getting the truck cleared off.

They did run a plow through the lot, so getting out will be relatively simple.


----------



## snowbear

cmw3_d40_6573 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm far from jealous. I hate shoveling.


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> cmw3_d40_6573 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr



That's pretty decent.  As I get older, my fascination with snow is beginning to wane.  Actually, the snow is not the problem - it's the increasing frequency of persistent winds that make what could be a rather enjoyable activity into something less than fun.


----------



## snowbear

The snow is pretty dry and light until you get to the bottom 4" (10 cm).  Total depth is 12" to 14" (30 cm to 35 cm).

I cleaned off the truck and drove around the parking lot in 4-Low, then backed it into the space.  MLW shoveled a bit so I wouldn't need to be an AEMS transport tonight (she's so thoughtful ).   After I finish my herbal tea, I'll go top off the tank.


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

How are my East Coast peeps this morning?? Charlie? Wade? Ken? Anyone else I missed? You guys got hit a lot harder than we did. NYC got 26 inches in Central Park. Just 30 miles north in White Plains, they only got 13 inches. Another half-hour north and we got 11 inches in my town. This morning it's bright and sunny and roads are clear. The snow is very light and fluffy, which is good because it made power outages less likely. I might go out and kill rolls of film in the Praktica and the Mamiya.


----------



## snowbear

Glad to hear all is OK there.

We're doing fine.  We ended up leaving about 3:30, I guess.  The roads were very passable.  When I got back home, there was a plow and a bobcat going through the lot again.  Clear skies and the sun is melting the areas I shoveled last night.  I'm secretly hoping it freezes over again so schools, and thus the courts, are closed tomorrow.

I'm going back out with the camera in a little while, I'm just not sure where.


----------



## terri

So glad to hear everyone made it through all right.   It looked pretty wicked - but of course, the worst-hit areas make for the best weather clips, right?    Our little dusting is but a memory.    Temps back up to near 50' this afternoon, as we also have clear skies and sun.


----------



## snowbear

I went out but decided not to drive anywhere so I wouldn't lose the parking spot.  I did walk around a bit but only took a couple of shots - nothing really interesting.  I may try the egret pond this evening.


----------



## snowbear

Good to hear everything worked out, Terri.  We are supposed to be back up in the 40's this week.


----------



## snowbear

Something surely appreciates our shoveling!




cmw3_d40_6581 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## vintagesnaps

Glad it wasn't worse for any of you hosers on here that it was. Not that a foot of snow is any great fun to deal with but looks like some places had it even worse.

Sunny here and what we got the other day is melting. I saw a definite 40 in the forecast.

I'm going to do some more sun prints in the window... I'm just trying to think what else to use, guess I'll go scrounge the junk drawer in the kitchen, must be something 'good' in there.

Can't go yet, Jethro Tull just came on this concert festival that's on.

One song and they're done, now I can go. lol


----------



## beachrat

27"on my piece of LI.
Thank God for a 22 year old son.
Finally put down his lacrosse stick and swung a shovel around.


----------



## snowbear

Woohoo!  The home county court is closed tomorrow, as is the work county government!


----------



## snowbear

G'night.  Gotta get up and leave early to collect MLW from the Watch Office.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good mornin, hosers. Up waaaaaay too early to get some labs done. They were fasting labs too, so I've been absolutely starving.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers,

Gary is back from the dead.  Gary shot a theatrical performance Thursday (rehearsal) and opening night Friday. Saturday, Gary woke up sicker than hell. Really ill ... Gary thinks he caught a version of the flu ... Influenza Light, it took him out completely for one day ... 24 hours of aches and pains and massive headaches ... totally bedridden. Sunday, half a bottle of Mortrim latter, Gary was a bit less than totally bedridden ... No aches but no energy also, totally exhausted.

Saturday, late in the afternoon, Mary Lou watched a Monarch emerge in the backyard. Gary was too sick to watch. Saturday evening it was getting cold and Mary Lou moved the still wet Monarch from the exposed and leafless Pomegranete tree to a protected vine. In the morning, Mary Lou displayed her new friend to Gary.  Gary moved it from the shade to a sunny area and eventually it dried out and pumped up the wings and off he flew. Hardy and Mary Lou were particularly attached to this Monarch because the chrysalis was so precariously attached to a dead Pomegranete leaf that Gary securely glued the chrysalis stem to the tree ... So this was our little baby. We have a few more chrysalis' we're watching in the backyard.  





iPhone image


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers,
> 
> I am back from the dead.  I shot a theatrical performance Thursday (rehearsal) and opening night Friday. Saturday, I woke up sicker than hell. Really ill ... I think I caught a version of the flu ... Influenza Light, it took me out completely for one day ... 24 hours of aches and pains and massive headaches ... totally bedridden. Sunday, half a bottle of Mortrim latter, I was a bit less than totally bedridden ... No aches but no energy also, totally exhausted.
> 
> Saturday, late in the afternoon, Mary Lou watched a Monarch emerge in the backyard. I was too sick to watch. Saturday evening it was getting cold and Mary Lou moved the still wet Monarch from the exposed and leafless Pomegranete tree to a protected vine. In the morning, Mary Lou displayed her new friend to me.  I moved it from the shade to a sunny area and eventually it dried out and pumped up the wings and off he flew. We're particularly attached to this Monarch because the chrysalis was so precariously attached to a dead Pomegranete leaf that I securely glued the chrysalis stem to the tree ... So this was our little baby. We have a few more chrysalis' we're watching in the backyard.
> 
> View attachment 114868
> iPhone image



Glad you're feeling better, Tio! Cool butterfly 

Morning, hosers. Trying to settle into this semester's routine. I'm teaching evenings and doing my admin job in the afternoon, so it's basically a 12-8 (give or take 20 min depending on the day) M-Th schedule this semester. Now my mornings have to sort of take the place of my evenings, so I'm getting up early, building in time to linger over coffee, get some school work done, work out, and then go to work. Last week I was going in at 10 to make up the hours I couldn't work on Monday (MLK, school closed), so this is really the first week of my regular schedule.

I have a feeling this is going to require more coffee this week.


----------



## KenC

@Gary A.  Glad you're up and about again.  I've had those and they're really annoying.  One I had came with a nasty relapse a day later, but you're past that now.

@limr   Are you implying that there is something that does not require more coffee?  My wife's been working 11-8, so things have been a little off kilter here as well.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. On a mission to buy yet another Hasselblad to repair. Got a line on one, ready to spend some cash to make some more.


----------



## minicoop1985

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I LOST THE AUCTION!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Just finished my early, first thing in the morning routine, first thing is a "Good Morning" and tussel with The Cook, then some push-ups, wrap up yesterday's dishes (for a clean start), fresh tea for Mary Lou and some coffee pour moi, the Cook and Gary grab the morning paper and then Gary checks his mail and reads the news. Inside Section 1 is a story on FARC ... Gary's initial thoughts were "Man ... Haven't heard about them in a while are they still around. The caption reads "... The rebels and the government have been at war since 1964 in the hemisphere's longest-running conflict." That's a long time.

Yesterday Gary gave a talk at Whitney High School to a photography class. This time Gary didn't want to speak of hardware or software, just about photography.  Gary passed out a handout titled Gary's Ten Tips to Shoot Like a Pro. Gary also passed about 8x10 B&W's and negatives, because many of the students had never seen a negative and most all had never seen a wet 8x10 before. At the end Gary got a standing ovation, so he figures he did okay.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I LOST THE AUCTION!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO


Damn ... And Gary thought that was gonna be his camera.


----------



## Braineack

Day 4:


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I LOST THE AUCTION!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO
> 
> 
> 
> Damn ... And I thought that was gonna be my camera.
Click to expand...


Lol. I would have happily repaired it and sold it to you. I guarantee it was just old grease gummed up and causing the body to jam up. But alas, I lost it, so no sale there.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Ken and Leo- Thanks.  That virus completely snuck up on me. Sure Gary had an overly tough week, lots of driving, San Diego, Burbank, Orange County with two days of shooting theatre, four hours on my feet non-stop intense shooting ... But nothing Gary hasn't done before. Then Saturday morning ... Cup of coffee, feeling a bit odd ... take Cook for her early constitional, feeling really odd ... Then bam, Gary's on my ass wondering not only who suckered punch him in the kisser but then started kicking the hell out of him ... repeatedly. Then, suddenly, 24 hours later no more pain, (well, a little headache but no body aches, nothing that half a bottle of Mortrim couldn't fix). Gary was still somewhat bedridden due to exhaustion, but Gary didn't feel ill. The whole time no real fever or chills or runny nose ... Gary just felt as if he was jumped by one of those anti-Fuji Fanboy gangs.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

The Cook and Gary ran into this guy mashing up a storm in his front yard.


----------



## jcdeboever

Kinda sounds like food poisoning. Glad your better.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Braineack said:


> Day 4:
> 
> View attachment 114940



Does no one own a shovel?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Apparently the plow forgot to find Brainiak's street.

Didn't realize you'd been sick Gary, glad you feel better and that the students enjoyed your presentation (and way to go showing them negatives and wet prints!).


----------



## Braineack

limr said:


> Braineack said:
> 
> 
> 
> Day 4:
> 
> View attachment 114940
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Does no one own a shovel?
Click to expand...


yes?


----------



## KenC

We got that much here, and in some places in my driveway it drifted to about 3'.  The shovels still worked.


----------



## limr

Braineack said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Braineack said:
> 
> 
> 
> Day 4:
> 
> View attachment 114940
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Does no one own a shovel?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> yes?
Click to expand...


And...?


----------



## Gary A.

Gary doesn't have a shovel.


----------



## Designer

Braineack said:


> Day 4:


And still no mail.  Or snowplow.  Got beer?  Or wine?


----------



## minicoop1985

Evening, hosers. We got around 6" ish. Nothing too bad. Shoveled it all in less than a half hour, and that's good.


----------



## Gary A.

The Cook on her walk this morning.


----------



## vintagesnaps

There's quite the musical train going by... seems to just be the wheels squeaking but I don't think I've ever heard one sound quite so much like musical notes, it was the oddest sounding thing.

Maybe it would make for a good YouTube video! well audio, this time of night... lol Wonder if it would get viewers anyway, even if the whole thing was shot in the dark and it was pitch black!  maybe I could become a YouTube millionaire.

Nah.


----------



## vintagesnaps

What's that strange green stuff in your yard?


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> What's that strange green stuff in your yard?


LOL ...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary decided to post his handout for the high school talk. All you guys know this stuff, but sometimes a reminder is useful.

Gary's X Tips to Shoot Like a Pro
DISCLAIMER:
(Not all of the tips necessarily come from Gary but he'll take credit for them all.)
(These are General Tips and there will always exceptions to the general.)​

Photography is made up of many different components. Those many components come together/are combined in different percentages per the photographer and the genre. But a significant component in photography across all genres is craft. As such, the more you do the better you will become.
Consequently:
1) Shoot;
2) Shoot some more; and
3) At the end of the day when you think you're finished, Shoot Again.

4) Find, Latch Onto and/or Hire ... A Mentor.
Seek someone who is highly skilled and passionate in photography, (the greater the skill the better). A Mentor will teach you the ropes, keep you focused and most importantly ... kick your butt. When you do a good job, the mentor will kick your butt and when you do a crummy job your mentor will kick your butt harder. "But, Gary ... Why does my butt get kicked when I do a good job?" you ask. Because ... You can ALWAYS do better. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the root for the passion and the challenge, which is photography.

5) You Can Always Do Better.
There is always room for improvement. Mr. Z asked me to bring my best stuff. It dawned on me that my best stuff is probably in the libraries/archives of the LA Times, UPI and the Orange County News. While that may be true, I never cared that my stuff was packed away, far from the light of day. Why doesn't this matter, because tomorrow I expect to capture an image which is better than I took yesterday.

6) Previsualize the image.
(Okay, 'Previsualize' is redundant and not a proper word, but it is something Ansel Adams came up with ... I won't correct Adams, especially on something as trivial as English.) This is important, if you shoot enough, (1 above), if you harmonize with your equipment, (8 below), previsualization is the next natural and critical step. Before I bring the viewfinder up to my eye, I have a mental picture of the final image. In my little cream cheese brain I can see the image I desire to capture, then I proceed to position the camera (composition), select the lens (perspective), adjust the settings (exposure), to reflect my mental image.

7) Shoot for the Exceptional Image.
Go big or go home. As a journalist, I was taught that the written word wasn't any different than the photograph. They both tell the story. Lenses to the photojournalist are like adjectives to the reporter. One can shoot with a focal length close to how we see ... But what's the point? What is so remarkable about that? Or you can use focal lengths which are perspectively much different than our natural vision ... "Aye, There's the Rub" ... what the writer does with adjectives, the photog does with lenses ... Embellishing, Highlighting this, De-emphasizing that, drawing us into the story and finally, putting your signature on the photo and making it exceptional. (Granted, there are stories which don't require a helluve lot of adjectives, YMMV.)

8) Harmonize with Your Equipment.
Yes, new hardware is cool. Yes, shooting with a ton of lenses is even cooler. But, (the big but), Start out small and add to your equipment slowly over time. Start with one lens and shoot the hell out of it. Understand how the lens works, what the DOF will be at f/11 or the edge sharpness at f/2. Know where the adjustments are without having to draw you eye away from the viewfinder and take a peak. After you have mastered that lens, then add another. Repeat. Same-o for the camera. Use it to the point where all your adjustments are semi-conscience, performed in the background, allowing you to focus all/most of your mental capabilities on the image in the viewfinder ... or the image you want in the viewfinder. (Pour moi and my cream cheese brain, this is vitally important.)

9) Be Your Worse Critic.
Kick your own butt, (it is physically difficult but not impossible). The delete button is your friend. Being your own worst critic will not only improve your photography but also make you as a person quite negative and socially repulsive.

10) See the Light.
Look beyond the subject and look at the light. Light is nothing short of fantastic, embrace it, work with it, capture the light. To add drama to your photos shoot towards the light (period).

General Stuff (a few common rules):
Rule of Thirds. When all less fails, use the Rule of Thirds.
Fill the Frame. Of course ... Fill the Frame with your subject. Shoot with the intent of not cropping in post.
Do not bisect the frame with the horizon. (Enough said.)
Get it right in the camera. There is an imaginary, thin, meandering gray line separating the photographer from the digital artist. I prefer the title of photographer, others consider themselves digital artist and others don't give a rat's and do what they're gonna do without regard to a label. This topic is just one more thing to think about ... How much manipulation is required to change a photograph into fictional art? How much manipulation is used because the "photog" is too lazy, too incompetent and/or too ignorant, to Get It Right in the camera? What does copious manipulation say of the photographer ... Imagination ... Ineptness ... Unskilled ... Skilled?)

Remember that all rules are situational, use them or not … per your choice. But you need to know them so you can make a choice.

-30-​


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary decided to post his handout for the high school talk. All you guys know this stuff, but sometimes a reminder is useful.
> 
> Gary's X Tips to Shoot Like a Pro
> DISCLAIMER:
> (Not all of the tips necessarily come from Gary but he'll take credit for them all.)
> (These are General Tips and there will always exceptions to the general.)​
> 
> Photography is made up of many different components. Those many components come together/are combined in different percentages per the photographer and the genre. But a significant component in photography across all genres is craft. As such, the more you do the better you will become.
> Consequently:
> 1) Shoot;
> 2) Shoot some more; and
> 3) At the end of the day when you think you're finished, Shoot Again.
> 
> 4) Find, Latch Onto and/or Hire ... A Mentor.
> Seek someone who is highly skilled and passionate in photography, (the greater the skill the better). A Mentor will teach you the ropes, keep you focused and most importantly ... kick your butt. When you do a good job, the mentor will kick your butt and when you do a crummy job your mentor will kick your butt harder. "But, Gary ... Why does my butt get kicked when I do a good job?" you ask. Because ... You can ALWAYS do better. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the root for the passion and the challenge, which is photography.
> 
> 5) You Can Always Do Better.
> There is always room for improvement. Mr. Z asked me to bring my best stuff. It dawned on me that my best stuff is probably in the libraries/archives of the LA Times, UPI and the Orange County News. While that may be true, I never cared that my stuff was packed away, far from the light of day. Why doesn't this matter, because tomorrow I expect to capture an image which is better than I took yesterday.
> 
> 6) Previsualize the image.
> (Okay, 'Previsualize' is redundant and not a proper word, but it is something Ansel Adams came up with ... I won't correct Adams, especially on something as trivial as English.) This is important, if you shoot enough, (1 above), if you harmonize with your equipment, (8 below), previsualization is the next natural and critical step. Before I bring the viewfinder up to my eye, I have a mental picture of the final image. In my little cream cheese brain I can see the image I desire to capture, then I proceed to position the camera (composition), select the lens (perspective), adjust the settings (exposure), to reflect my mental image.
> 
> 7) Shoot for the Exceptional Image.
> Go big or go home. As a journalist, I was taught that the written word wasn't any different than the photograph. They both tell the story. Lenses to the photojournalist are like adjectives to the reporter. One can shoot with a focal length close to how we see ... But what's the point? What is so remarkable about that? Or you can use focal lengths which are perspectively much different than our natural vision ... "Aye, There's the Rub" ... what the writer does with adjectives, the photog does with lenses ... Embellishing, Highlighting this, De-emphasizing that, drawing us into the story and finally, putting your signature on the photo and making it exceptional. (Granted, there are stories which don't require a helluve lot of adjectives, YMMV.)
> 
> 8) Harmonize with Your Equipment.
> Yes, new hardware is cool. Yes, shooting with a ton of lenses is even cooler. But, (the big but), Start out small and add to your equipment slowly over time. Start with one lens and shoot the hell out of it. Understand how the lens works, what the DOF will be at f/11 or the edge sharpness at f/2. Know where the adjustments are without having to draw you eye away from the viewfinder and take a peak. After you have mastered that lens, then add another. Repeat. Same-o for the camera. Use it to the point where all your adjustments are semi-conscience, performed in the background, allowing you to focus all/most of your mental capabilities on the image in the viewfinder ... or the image you want in the viewfinder. (Pour moi and my cream cheese brain, this is vitally important.)
> 
> 9) Be Your Worse Critic.
> Kick you own butt. The delete button is your friend. Being your own worst critic will not only improve your photography but also make you as a person quite negative and socially repulsive.
> 
> 10) See the Light.
> Look beyond the subject and look at the light. Light is nothing short of fantastic, embrace it, work with it, capture the light. To add drama to your photos shoot towards the light (period).
> 
> General Stuff (a few common rules):
> Rule of Thirds. When all less fails, use the Rule of Thirds.
> Fill the Frame. Of course ... Fill the Frame with your subject. Shoot with the intent of not cropping in post.
> Do not bisect the frame with the horizon. (Enough said.)
> Get it right in the camera. There is an imaginary, thin, meandering gray line separating the photographer from the digital artist. I prefer the title of photographer, others consider themselves digital artist and others don't give a rat's and do what they're gonna do without regard to a label. This topic is just one more thing to think about ... How much manipulation is required to change a photograph into fictional art? How much manipulation is used because the "photog" is too lazy, too incompetent and/or too ignorant, to Get It Right in the camera? What does copious manipulation say of the photographer ... Imagination ... Ineptness ... Unskilled ... Skilled?)
> 
> Remember that all rules are situational, use them or not … per your choice. But you need to know them so you can make a choice.
> 
> -30-​


Nice. Printed it out. Hopefully the acne don't come back.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Lots of driving today and secured some viable new business. Good sales numbers today and should continue to flow throughout the year. Hit the aggressive goal for January today. Have to push real hard the next three days to close the customers from last month. Installing equipment in Chicago this weekend, or should say over seeing the union installing it... I am going to need a lot of patience, they move at snails pace and will walk out on you in a second if you push them. Loading up Freightliner Thursday night and heading out on Friday at 6:00 am. Wife is going with me so it has the potential to be better... providing there is no yelling at me. She likes playing on the CB though...she has a blast with it. She has the lingo down good and a sexy voice. Interesting hearing other men talking to your wife.... 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Been a slow morning here. Seems like some business will be coming my way come March. Yay! Maybe I'llk finally be able to finish my Darth Vader getup.

Well, I've made my final gear selection for the back: In the next several weeks, I will be the proud owner of a Leaf Aptus digital back for my 645AFD.


----------



## Braineack

limr said:


> Braineack said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Braineack said:
> 
> 
> 
> Day 4:
> 
> View attachment 114940
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Does no one own a shovel?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> yes?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And...?
Click to expand...


what good is a shovel?






I dug myself out.  but they didnt hit our streets with a truck for 4 days until it was almost impossible to move.  these silly trucks kept getting stuck and then VDOT finally brought in the heavy equipment late last night to actually clear paths.

However the neighborhood next to me was completely cleared on saturday with over 15 trucks there each day.  We got a total of like 2-3 a few days later.


----------



## pixmedic

got the cox cleaned up and oiled a bit.  apparently its time to give the felt a good cleaning too. 
this thing runs perfectly. now the wife just has to thread it up and see how the stitching is. 




Willcox and Gibbs by pixmedic, on Flickr


----------



## minicoop1985

For some reason, I can't see ANY Flickr photos right now. Huh, odd.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Tardes Coffee Hosers. This is Gary's early day, out the door by 6:00 a.m.  Gary doesn't really like his early days. Question for all you whisky guzzling photogs ... Gary desires to cook with some sweet bourbon, especially in his BBQ sauce.  Gary has no expertise in such distilled spirits. (Gary knows Scotch ... and that's about it.) Gary picked up a bottle of Knob Hill and added some to his BBQ sauce, but it didn't taste sweet, tasted like whiskey, (granted, it didn't say sweet on the label). Questions, is sweet bourbon actually sweet? What sweet bourbons would you whiskey boozers recommend?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Tardes Coffee Hosers. This is Gary's early day, out the door by 6:00 a.m.  Gary doesn't really like his early days. Question for all you whisky guzzling photogs ... Gary desires to cook with some sweet bourbon, especially in his BBQ sauce.  Gary has no expertise in such distilled spirits. (Gary knows Scotch ... and that's about it.) Gary picked up a bottle of Knob Hill and added some to his BBQ sauce, but it didn't taste sweet, tasted like whiskey, (granted, it didn't say sweet on the label). Questions, is sweet bourbon actually sweet? What sweet bourbons would you whiskey boozers recommend?



I find Maker's Mark to be sweeter, but it's still not what you may consider "sweet." Perhaps something like B&B or Seagram's Seven? (Which technically aren't bourbon, but close enough for government work.)


----------



## vintagesnaps

Guzzling boozers? who us??

Not these days, with some of the medications I'm on. However, I used to like me some Jack Daniels! although I think that's technically whiskey. 

Go a ways south of me and keep goin' and you start seeing lots of horseys and white fences and you're in the right neck of the woods... you know, where they run that Derby every summer? Jim Beam, Maker's Mark, and I imagine local brands I know nothing about.

I never heard of sweet bourbon... maybe that refers to the glaze?? I don't think there is such a thing.

Try this website Whiskey @ The Party Source .


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Tardes Coffee Hosers. This is Gary's early day, out the door by 6:00 a.m.  Gary doesn't really like his early days. Question for all you whisky guzzling photogs ... Gary desires to cook with some sweet bourbon, especially in his BBQ sauce.  *Gary has no expertise in such distilled spirits*. (Gary knows Scotch ... and that's about it.) Gary picked up a bottle of Knob Hill and added some to his BBQ sauce, but it didn't taste sweet, tasted like whiskey, (granted, it didn't say sweet on the label). Questions, is sweet bourbon actually sweet? What sweet bourbons would you whiskey boozers recommend?


Really?  Gary's continued use of the third-person when referring to himself doesn't seem to support that statement.


----------



## vintagesnaps

He's just going to need two bottles instead of one.

I did see moonshine at the drive thru beverage barn (and did a double take), is that any help? might liven up your BBQ. (I seriously doubt it was the real thing.)


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has Makers Mark and Jack ... Both are unopened.  Gary remembers speaking with a bartender at a Tahoe resort.  The bartender said he can instantly tell a Californian from a non-Californian tourist because they're ordering wine and don't smoke.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> Really?  Gary's continued use of the third-person when referring to himself doesn't seem to support that statement.


I don't see those posts . . . oh, yeah, that's right.  Nevermind.



vintagesnaps said:


> I did see moonshine at the drive thru beverage barn (and did a double take), is that any help? might liven up your BBQ. (I seriously doubt it was the real thing.)



I've had both -  it isn't.

"My daddy, he makes whisky
My grandaddy did too
But we ain't paid no whisky tax
Since 1792.

We just lay among the juniper
While the moon is bright
Watchin' those jugs a-fillin'
In the pale moonlight."

_Copper Kettle_


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> For some reason, I can't see ANY Flickr photos right now. Huh, odd.


Test:



DSC_6384.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## minicoop1985

I SEES IT! YAY!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.







I'm glad Thursdays are my Fridays this semester. Really really glad.

This was posted on my Facebook feed last night. I'm so going to watch the hell out of that film when it comes out. Two loves in one film: cats AND Istanbul


----------



## minicoop1985

So I have a massive problem. The Hasselblad I just sold... I have a non-paying buyer. Great. I've sent two messages, asking to talk about payment arrangements, but get nothing. Guy sniped it at the last moment too. UGH. If he would pay I WOULD HAVE BOUGHT MY LEAF APTUS ALREADY.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> So I have a massive problem. The Hasselblad I just sold... I have a non-paying buyer. Great. I've sent two messages, asking to talk about payment arrangements, but get nothing. Guy sniped it at the last moment too. UGH. If he would pay I WOULD HAVE BOUGHT MY LEAF APTUS ALREADY.


Soooo, does mean you would expect actual payment from Gary when he buys the Hassleblad from you ... ?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The Moon was very bright in the indigo sky this morning when Cook and Gary dumped the shower water and retrieved the paper from the driveway. We both stood there in the drive staring at the Moon for a minute or two.


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday, Mary Lou and Gary discovered a new and wonderful Mexican restaurant in Cerritos. 

iPhone images 


 
Dessert, Churros with this chocolate;ate/coffee/caramel sauce as thick as molasses .... Mmmmmmh.




Mexican Coca-Cola glazed Pork Belly- slow roasted pork belly, Mexican Coke & ancho chile glaze, sweet potatoe purée, roasted cherry tomatoes, fennel and arugula salad. Delish! 




Watermelon Agua Fresca and salsa.

The tortillas were handmade, thick and nicely chewy.  Mary Lou had tacos and the tortillas were a pleasure to hold and didn't break or fall apart while dining.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> So I have a massive problem. The Hasselblad I just sold... I have a non-paying buyer. Great. I've sent two messages, asking to talk about payment arrangements, but get nothing. Guy sniped it at the last moment too. UGH. If he would pay I WOULD HAVE BOUGHT MY LEAF APTUS ALREADY.
> 
> 
> 
> Soooo, does mean you would expect actual payment from Gary when he buys the Hassleblad from you ... ?
Click to expand...


Lol. Well... yeah. I neeeeeeed my digital back, now that I'm so far invested in the system. I would happily sell it to you for real if you want it if this all falls through.


----------



## Gary A.

So if you sold it to Gary for real  .... Then you would want Gary to pay you for real ... Is that how it would work? If so, then Gary has to think about this ...

(Seriously- we'll talk ... Gary is redoing the flooring in the kitchen and living rooms and installing new sliding glass doors ... I'll have to check my finances.)


----------



## minicoop1985

Mike says it's all good. Mike says I'll throw you a reasonable offer. It's in outstanding shape, and since Mike just restored it to working order, is buttery smooth. Once you check your finances, let Mike know, and Mike will give you first dibs if the jackass never pays.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Mike says it's all good. Mike says I'll throw you a reasonable offer. It's in outstanding shape, and since Mike just restored it to working order, is buttery smooth. Once you check your finances, let Mike know, and Mike will give you first dibs if the jackass never pays.


EBay?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

minicoop1985 said:


> Mike will give you first dibs if the jackass never pays.


How long is Mike going to wait before he makes a new deal?  

(Designer is just curious.)


----------



## minicoop1985

Mike is going to wait until eBay decides the fate of the case that is bound to open shortly. Mike has the case file thing set on auto. He has until 1:45 CST to pay.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Guess what Seinfeld episode is on??? - JIMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Guess what Seinfeld episode is on??? - JIMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


LOL! Gary likes Jimmy.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Jimmy likes Elaine!


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## vintagesnaps

Jimmy's got some new moves.

JIMMY'S DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!


Time for commercials...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Jimmy holds grudges...


----------



## vintagesnaps

George is turning into Jimmy.

So it seems is Gary...

Jimmy's going to put the moves on Elaine. And George likes spicy chicken.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mike didn't realize that it takes two more days to file a non-paying buyer case. Gary will not be pleased.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Jimmy doesn't like misunderstandings. Don't - touch - Jimmy!

George wouldn't steal from the Yankees...


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary will be disappointed. The buyer FINALLY contacted me and told me they would pay tomorrow. Which better happen, or Mike's gonna be piiiisssssed


----------



## Gary A.

For Appleton Guy.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mike thanks Gary for being understanding, and probably happy not to shell out more money. 

Mike also pulled the trigger and is the actual OWNER of the Leaf Aptus 22 back I've been after for YEARS.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary cooked up some bourbon BBQ sauce to go with his smoked Tri-Tip.


----------



## jcdeboever

Looks good. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

It was quite good.  Slow cooked, simmering in Gary's famous BBQ sauce, a hint of smoke, extremely tender, moist, full of flavor ... It is what meat should be all about. I spiced up the sauce with my home grown and made chili powder, so the sauce had a bit of bite to it.  Paired with Apothic Red, a wonderful California blend and the debate in the background ... An enjoyable and entertaining dinner.  JC, if you're ever in the neighborhood you're always welcome for a bite or two.


----------



## jcdeboever

Got the Freightliner loaded tonight and ready to get on down the road. The wife bailed on me last minute. Mother in law is out of town and 100 year old Grandma has bronchitis, the wife believes. Taking her in to doctor tomorrow. She is not getting out of bed so the wife has to get her moving. Her grandma wants me to take care of her but i have to stash some cash from the new Buick Enclave i just ordered for my bride. Just as well, she didn't want to go anyway and would have complaining enough to annoy me. I want a bird lens but not happening because my interests are not important. Funny, my previous interests paid for her house. I may just flipping drive ....

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## jcdeboever

Her house

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Strong Friday morning coffee from one of the coffee shops really a necessity today.  I have to work on something for which I do not have much optimism.  I will do my best with it and see if any inspiration strikes (after the coffee kicks in).


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers! Today should be good. The kid is staying at a friend's house tonight, and we're going to the casino to celebrate my brother in law's birthday. Also, my Aptus should ship today too.


----------



## Gary A.

Some front yard roses:




 
iPhone image

Buenas Dias Coffee hosers.  Sumatra today, slightly lighter than Colombian Supremo, with a bit of tannin as the end. Gary is postponing diving into work. Gary has a ton of little stuff he has to get done today. Gary ordered the new X-Pro2, hopefully they'll be delivered in February.


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## minicoop1985

Mike thinks Gary made the right call with the X-Pro 2 over Mike's Hasselblad, actually, despite the fact that Mike wants the Hasselblad to go to a good home.


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## jcdeboever

I got out of going to Chicago thank God. My tech guy ended up returning so he is running it the equipment out there.


----------



## limr

This past week at work:


----------



## limr

Today in particular:


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Today in particular:



Sorry to hear - it was only about average bad for me.  Break out the wine and popcorn!


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today in particular:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear - it was only about average bad for me.  Break out the wine and popcorn!
Click to expand...


That's the plan!


----------



## table1349




----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.
This morning I'm joining the crews from three stations while they install and inspect smoke and CO alarms in a neighborhood.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

This morning, I get to drive back to campus and use the flip phone I borrowed from my mother to call campus security so I can get my own phone back. I left it on campus while I was doing one last thing before leaving work. "But wait," says a hoser, "Didn't you say you don't work on Fridays?"

Why no, I don't work on Fridays, but yes, I ended up being put on not one, but TWO urgent projects that means I spent 5 hours at work yesterday. And left my cell phone on a counter in one of the division offices (which was thankfully already closed, so no one could go in except people who work in that office or security, so I was able to call last night and ask security to keep my phone until I could pick it up today. There are Sat classes so there is security on campus, but their office is closed, so thus the need to borrow a phone so I could call them when I get to campus.)

Oh yeah, and I've had a giant monkey fist the size of Kansas in my neck since Thursday.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  @ Leo - Gary thinks that truly sucks. You just don't get a break. Gary just came in from gathering up the paper from the driveway. Gary noticed a pair of snails in the roses and tossed them into the street. Then Gary checked out another planter and it is full of snails. Gary tossed dozens of snails into the street. Gary hates snails.


----------



## Gary A.

A few from Mary Poppins:


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## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> This morning, I get to drive back to campus and use the flip phone I borrowed from my mother to call campus security so I can get my own phone back. I left it on campus while I was doing one last thing before leaving work. "But wait," says a hoser, "Didn't you say you don't work on Fridays?"
> 
> Why no, I don't work on Fridays, but yes, I ended up being put on not one, but TWO urgent projects that means I spent 5 hours at work yesterday. And left my cell phone on a counter in one of the division offices (which was thankfully already closed, so no one could go in except people who work in that office or security, so I was able to call last night and ask security to keep my phone until I could pick it up today. There are Sat classes so there is security on campus, but their office is closed, so thus the need to borrow a phone so I could call them when I get to campus.)
> 
> Oh yeah, and I've had a giant monkey fist the size of Kansas in my neck since Thursday.


Keep your chin up kiddo. Your a winner!

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## jcdeboever

Good afternoon coffee lovers. I am so glad I didn't have to go into Chicago and work this weekend. I met with a buddy for breakfast and had seafood chowder omelette and talked family and sports. Then I went downtown Lansing and shot a 36 roll of Kodak TMax 100 B&W with my simple Canon Sureshot Supreme. I just needed to walk around and look for stuff. It has a nifty little 38mm 1:2.8 lens. I was going to shoot with the K1000 but I don't like exposing my baby to the cold. It was a brisk 32° . I had fun. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## Gary A.

Gary is wondering what is film?

Gary just fired up the smoker and prepping a pork shoulder with Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce, then heavily seasoned and then he stuffed the water reservoir with crushed basil leaves and apple vinegar cider and finally loaded up the smoker with Pecan chips.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary is wondering what is film?
> 
> Gary just fired up the smoker and prepping a pork shoulder with Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce, then heavily seasoned and then he stuffed the water reservoir with crushed basil leaves and apple vinegar cider and finally loaded up the smoker with Pecan chips.


Oh my, that sounds awesome.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is wondering what is film?
> 
> Gary just fired up the smoker and prepping a pork shoulder with Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce, then heavily seasoned and then he stuffed the water reservoir with crushed basil leaves and apple vinegar cider and finally loaded up the smoker with Pecan chips.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh my, that sounds awesome.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Gary really has the technical part down pat ... he is very comfortable grilling/BBQing/smoking to perfection the beef/pig/chicken/fish ... Soooo ... now it is solely a matter of the flavors he adds. This morning I brushed on a layer of BBQ sauce (Gary's Famous), then heavily seasoned with lemon zest, pepper, seasoned salt, garlic powder, paprika and a dash of Gary's homemade chili powder. The pork has been in there for a couple of hours, Gary just adjusted the temp down, way down and now he is off to shop for a new sliding door.


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## snowbear

Ambulance and Squad 847, Battalion Chief 885, Truck 832




Engine from 825




The Chief going over the plan.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and I discovered a new and wonderful Italian restaurant today.
iPhone images


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

Trying to wake up. Buzz and I are going hiking. I want to go because it's good for me and I get to spend time with Buzz, and I don't want to go because after my hectic and frustrating (and longer than it should have been) week, I wanted a little bit more time to just be...still. I hate going into a new work week feeling like I haven't had the time to stop and get centered. But hiking won't take ALL day and perhaps after dinner, I'll get some stand-still time.

Until then, I need more coffee and I need to figure out what camera to bring with me.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is raining, not heavily, but a bonafide rain nonetheless. So Yeah! The Cook decided against walking outside to retrieve the newspaper. She doesn't want to mess up her coiff.  Gary is looking at the water bill and for the first time we are under our mandated baseline allotment. So another Yeah!  The shower water bucket brigade is working.


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC- Viola!

About eight hours in the smoker and the meat still wasn't tender enough to fall off the bone ... Sooooo ... Into the Crock Pot and Gary had it Crock away all night.  By morning it was perfect, smoky and crisp on the outside vis-a-vis the smoker, melts in your mouth tender On the inside vis-a-vis the crock pot. Gary lined the bottom with potatoes and onions ... The onions melted away but the potatoes, dark and carmalized ... are to die for. The smoker is new to Gary, and he is still low on the learning curve.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 115134
> @ JC- Viola!
> 
> About eight hours in the smoker and the meat still wasn't tender enough to fall off the bone ... Sooooo ... Into the Crock Pot and Gary had it Crock away all night.  By morning it was perfect, smoky and crisp on the outside vis-a-vis the smoker, melts in your mouth tender On the inside vis-a-vis the crock pot. Gary lined the bottom with potatoes and onions ... The onions melted away but the potatoes, dark and carmalized ... are to die for. The smoker is new to Gary, and he is still low on the learning curve.



Wow, that looks delectable. Man, I wish you were my neighbor.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 115134
> @ JC- Viola!
> 
> About eight hours in the smoker and the meat still wasn't tender enough to fall off the bone ... Sooooo ... Into the Crock Pot and Gary had it Crock away all night.  By morning it was perfect, smoky and crisp on the outside vis-a-vis the smoker, melts in your mouth tender On the inside vis-a-vis the crock pot. Gary lined the bottom with potatoes and onions ... The onions melted away but the potatoes, dark and carmalized ... are to die for. The smoker is new to Gary, and he is still low on the learning curve.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, that looks delectable. Man, I wish you were my neighbor.
Click to expand...

That would be great, because there are only two of us now and everything Gary cooks lasts a few days. Gary feels guilty cooking again if there's leftovers (even now Gary has a big hunk of smoked salmon in the fridge).  Gary likes to cook and to eat.

Gary think's it would be better for both of us if you were Gary's neighbor ... not if Gary was your neighbor. (The Koi pond would freeze if Gary was your neighbor.)


----------



## minicoop1985

@jcdeboever I wouldn't be too worried exposing your K1000 to cold. They're pretty robust cameras. I've used my old Hasselblad 500EL/M in sub zero (Fahrenheit) weather successfully, and played with my OM-1n in the cold too.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> @jcdeboever I wouldn't be too worried exposing your K1000 to cold. They're pretty robust cameras. I've used my old Hasselblad 500EL/M in sub zero (Fahrenheit) weather successfully, and played with my OM-1n in the cold too.



I tend to agree. I've put my poor K1000 through the ringer and she just keeps on going like a champ! God, I love that camera.

Evening, hosers. I think I broke myself a little bit today 

Total hike: 8 miles. 
Time: 5 hours
Elevation change: Looks like the lowest elevation was about 1,475 ft and the highest about 1,725 ft. A lot of it was fairly gradual but there were a couple of really steep sections, both down and up. You know you're getting older when the downhill is just as hard as the uphill 

I'm now fed, wined, and pyjama'd. I'm doing my hair color and have about 5 minutes before jumping in the shower to wash it off. Gotta get rid of those damn greys in the roots! 

Not sure I'm going to last past 10:00 tonight. That's pretty early for a night owl like me! But as I said...I'm pretty sure I'm broken...


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @jcdeboever I wouldn't be too worried exposing your K1000 to cold. They're pretty robust cameras. I've used my old Hasselblad 500EL/M in sub zero (Fahrenheit) weather successfully, and played with my OM-1n in the cold too.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I tend to agree. I've put my poor K1000 through the ringer and she just keeps on going like a champ! God, I love that camera.
> 
> Evening, hosers. I think I broke myself a little bit today
> 
> Total hike: 8 miles.
> Time: 5 hours
> Elevation change: Looks like the lowest elevation was about 1,475 ft and the highest about 1,725 ft. A lot of it was fairly gradual but there were a couple of really steep sections, both down and up. You know you're getting older when the downhill is just as hard as the uphill
> 
> I'm now fed, wined, and pyjama'd. I'm doing my hair color and have about 5 minutes before jumping in the shower to wash it off. Gotta get rid of those damn greys in the roots!
> 
> Not sure I'm going to last past 10:00 tonight. That's pretty early for a night owl like me! But as I said...I'm pretty sure I'm broken...
Click to expand...

I guess I will then. I put a lot of time into it, hopefully it works as good as the one I gave my daughter. It wasn't as rough but I used the best bits in hers. The meter,  shutter work it seems. Time will tell. She did mention she really likes it and was going to show me stuff she did in school. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The K1000 is a grand design because of its simplicity.  A very basic, meat & potato, sturdy work horse of a camera. But, (the big but), just a word of warning regarding all cameras in extreme cold. Beware of the liquid lubricants, they will freeze.  When Gary took assignments into the Arctic, all the liquid lubricants (grease) in his lenses and camera were removed and replaced with solid lubricants (graphite). So don't force anything, if it sticks ... No extra force ... Just wait until spring.  Modern electronic cameras have less moving parts and use self-lubricating materials in the insides, so less requirements for lubrication.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's smoked then crock potted pork shoulder is amazing. It, very much, has a similar baseline of texture and taste as carnitas, but then soars from there well into the upper stratosphere. Crunchy on the outside with this thin bark of seasonings and Gary's Famous BBQ sauce, but delightfully tender and moist on the inside with a familiar carnitas flavor. It only took about 18 hours to cook, lol, six hours on the smoker and 12 hours in the crock pot.  Mary Lou has been ill for the past week, so I haven't indulged in any alcoholic beverages, but it should pair well with a good lager or even a sweet wine.  Gary has just pairing ... Maybe tonight if Mary Lou is up to it.

Speaking of sweet wines @ Leo, any luck with that Vernaccia?


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Gary's smoked then crock potted pork shoulder is amazing. It, very much, has a similar baseline of texture and taste as carnitas, but then soars from there well into the upper stratosphere. Crunchy on the outside with this thin bark of seasonings and Gary's Famous BBQ sauce, but delightfully tender and moist on the inside with a familiar carnitas flavor. It only took about 18 hours to cook, lol, six hours on the smoker and 12 hours in the crock pot.  Mary Lou has been ill for the past week, so I haven't indulged in any alcoholic beverages, but it should pair well with a good lager or even a sweet wine.  Gary has just pairing ... Maybe tonight if Mary Lou is up to it.
> 
> Speaking of sweet wines @ Leo, any luck with that Vernaccia?


 If Gary doesn't stop describing his culinary victories in such graphic detail, texture and taste are not the only things that will soar into the stratosphere!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The K1000 is a grand design because of its simplicity.  A very basic, meat & potato, sturdy work horse of a camera. But, (the big but), just a word of warning regarding all cameras in extreme cold. Beware of the liquid lubricants, they will freeze.  When Gary took assignments into the Arctic, all the liquid lubricants (grease) in his lenses and camera were removed and replaced with solid lubricants (graphite). So don't force anything, if it sticks ... No extra force ... Just wait until spring.  Modern electronic cameras have less moving parts and use self-lubricating materials in the insides, so less requirements for lubrication.


I use graphite, ultra sparingly. A repair guy at a camera shop recommended Dow Corning Molykote Z powder. It was $55 so I passed.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's recommendations for all you NetFlixers:

The Walk ... Surprisingly excellant 4+ stars.  Zemeckis, (a Trojan boy), directed and Silvestri scored the movie. Gary worked with both those guys on an American Diabetes Association fundraiser.  The theme of the dinner was "Music and Movies".  Zemeckis tossed in the unfinished movie Forrest Gump and played scenes with and without the musical scoring.  It was amazing how much emotion music adds to a movie.  Under the film frame you could see all the notations for the music and sound effects.  We also had a 60 member orchestra playing the music all under Silvestri's direction.  It was a all very interesting and entertaining. Silvestri has a child with Type 1 diabetes.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's smoked then crock potted pork shoulder is amazing. It, very much, has a similar baseline of texture and taste as carnitas, but then soars from there well into the upper stratosphere. Crunchy on the outside with this thin bark of seasonings and Gary's Famous BBQ sauce, but delightfully tender and moist on the inside with a familiar carnitas flavor. It only took about 18 hours to cook, lol, six hours on the smoker and 12 hours in the crock pot.  Mary Lou has been ill for the past week, so I haven't indulged in any alcoholic beverages, but it should pair well with a good lager or even a sweet wine.  Gary has just pairing ... Maybe tonight if Mary Lou is up to it.
> 
> Speaking of sweet wines @ Leo, any luck with that Vernaccia?
> 
> 
> 
> If Gary doesn't stop describing his culinary victories in such graphic detail, texture and taste are not the only things that will soar into the stratosphere!
Click to expand...

Hopefully, it will be you winging your way south for a bit of warmth, blue skies and a bite or two at Gary's BBQ Pit & Pet Hospital.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The K1000 is a grand design because of its simplicity.  A very basic, meat & potato, sturdy work horse of a camera. But, (the big but), just a word of warning regarding all cameras in extreme cold. Beware of the liquid lubricants, they will freeze.  When Gary took assignments into the Arctic, all the liquid lubricants (grease) in his lenses and camera were removed and replaced with solid lubricants (graphite). So don't force anything, if it sticks ... No extra force ... Just wait until spring.  Modern electronic cameras have less moving parts and use self-lubricating materials in the insides, so less requirements for lubrication.
> 
> 
> 
> I use graphite, ultra sparingly. A repair guy at a camera shop recommended Dow Corning Molykote Z powder. It was $55 so I passed.
Click to expand...

Okay, you're on it.


----------



## jcdeboever

Sometimes I wonder if I should just sell my digital camera. Almost every time I look at the pics on them, I want to convert them in Gimp with a film plug-in to achieve that film look. Am I crazy? Do I have poor taste? I mean, everything is just so flippin sharp and boring (I'm not sure if that is it but that's what comes to mind). I spent all that money on going to a DSLR and I find myself just wanting to use a film camera. As much time as I can spend at adjusting stuff in Gimp, I could be developing. I don't understand this at all. Here is an example... from the thread and a side by side (orig/post) Candy Land


----------



## minicoop1985

See, I would have stuck with film if I wasn't in a position where I need to be able to do things like check focus, edit photos in short order, and learn immediately from what I've just done. If film could provide that that quickly, I would stick with it. I'll be keeping my film back as there is NOTHING that can replace Velvia, but yeah. Digital it is for me.

Speaking of which, my Leaf Aptus shows up tomorrow! I couldn't be more excited! Hopefully I'm around when the driver shows up.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> See, I would have stuck with film if I wasn't in a position where I need to be able to do things like check focus, edit photos in short order, and learn immediately from what I've just done. If film could provide that that quickly, I would stick with it. I'll be keeping my film back as there is NOTHING that can replace Velvia, but yeah. Digital it is for me.
> 
> Speaking of which, my Leaf Aptus shows up tomorrow! I couldn't be more excited! Hopefully I'm around when the driver shows up.



Man, that must of set you back a few bucks.


----------



## minicoop1985

jcdeboever said:


> Man, that must of set you back a few bucks.



It did, but it's going to be worth it. It's only 22 mp, so it's not one of those "worth more than your car new" backs like a Phase One IQ380 or XF camera system.

I changed delivery to the FedEx location by my house, that way I don't miss delivery tomorrow.  Gonna test it in the studio (I hope) and in the snow, replicating my not famous at all Levels shot.




Levels II by Michael Long, on Flickr


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey hosers. I've been an under the weather hoser but feeling better. Never fails, unseasonably warm weather, the respiratory stuff starts up. Worst part was I missed going to a hockey game! but hopefully will get to one this weekend.

Meantime, today is the Beanpot!

...and replays of the All Star game which I didn't watch because was watching the North Star Cup (college hockey) which is also being replayed. So that's my excuse for doing nothing today! All hockey all day.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Hey hosers. I've been an under the weather hoser but feeling better. Never fails, unseasonably warm weather, the respiratory stuff starts up. Worst part was I missed going to a hockey game! but hopefully will get to one this weekend.
> 
> Meantime, today is the Beanpot!
> 
> ...and replays of the All Star game which I didn't watch because was watching the North Star Cup (college hockey) which is also being replayed. So that's my excuse for doing nothing today! All hockey all day.


I'm going to a Grand Rapids Griffins game on the 20th. I used to have season tickets to the Wings when I lived up there. Fun watching the 19 year old Larkin break Gartner's fastest skating competition. The kid is a joy to watch and should be here many years. We have a lot of good young players. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

The A is some good hockey, have fun. Larkin was awesome, but... Mike Gartner  couldn't he break some hoser's record instead??  I haven't even been that into it anymore, I'm glad they did one fun event - PK being Jagr, that was pretty good. I wish they still did the old timers game (or whatever they called it), that was always fun to watch. I don't know what that convoluted relay was, from the camera angle at first we were like, what is he shooting at?? lol The actual game I didn't see much of, don't know how the 3 on 3 was. Well time for a replay...


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> The A is some good hockey, have fun. Larkin was awesome, but... Mike Gartner  couldn't he break some hoser's record instead??  I haven't even been that into it anymore, I'm glad they did one fun event - PK being Jagr, that was pretty good. I wish they still did the old timers game (or whatever they called it), that was always fun to watch. I don't know what that convoluted relay was, from the camera angle at first we were like, what is he shooting at?? lol The actual game I didn't see much of, don't know how the 3 on 3 was. Well time for a replay...


The lock outs and TV deals really hurt the sport. It's too bad because its a great game. The wife goes with me but she can't understand the game. She tries but can't follow the puck on TV or at the game. I go to more games with customers than her. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## vintagesnaps

You know I think it's hard to see the puck, that it's better to follow the play (you gotta figure the guy driving to the net probably has the puck! lol). Well it's just not for everybody. It's on now, Larkin going again - I predict he'll win this!! lol


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> You know I think it's hard to see the puck, that it's better to follow the play (you gotta figure the guy driving to the net probably has the puck! lol). Well it's just not for everybody. It's on now, Larkin going again - I predict he'll win this!! lol


Yeah, he slips too and still beats it.

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## Gary A.

@ JC- Gary used to develop and print film nearly every working day. Gary much prefers digital. Gary thinks you need to understand how the meter works and move up from there.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @ JC- I used develop and print film nearly every working day. I much prefer digital. I think you need to understand how the meter works and move up from there.


I am confused about it. I read the Nikon manual a few times. Your talking the metering modes on the DSLR? Any suggestions or links to help? 

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## minicoop1985

Digital meters work a lot differently than the old film ones, IIRC. There's multiple metering modes on your DSLR: Generally, there's spot, larger spot, and evaluative metering. I'm not sure how the meter in the K1000 works, but I have a feeling it's averaging the whole exposure.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Digital meters work a lot differently than the old film ones, IIRC. There's multiple metering modes on your DSLR: Generally, there's spot, larger spot, and evaluative metering. I'm not sure how the meter in the K1000 works, but I have a feeling it's averaging the whole exposure.


The K1000 has a needle, if it's in the middle your good. The D3300 is similar, I get it to zero and it is usually good. D3300 has Matrix, Center weighted, and Spot. I kind of understand the modes but the results are not consistent. I think learning what to meter is more of a challenge. I just need to keep working on it. I get discouraged easily. I see so many good photo's on here and then there's mine....

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## minicoop1985

You may make your life a LOT easier with spot metering. Aim it at the darkest part of your photo, then the lightest, and take the average of the two so you don't lose shadow detail or blown highlights.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> You may make your life a LOT easier with spot metering. Aim it at the darkest part of your photo, then the lightest, and take the average of the two so you don't lose shadow detail or blown highlights.


I don't understand. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Digital meters work a lot differently than the old film ones, IIRC. There's multiple metering modes on your DSLR: Generally, there's spot, larger spot, and evaluative metering. I'm not sure how the meter in the K1000 works, but I have a feeling it's averaging the whole exposure.


While there are many modes in metering on a modern digital, the basis for metering is still the same. All meters start with Medium Gray. (Some meters call it a 16% gray, some call it a 18% gray, et cetera.) For Reflective Metering, the meter reads the light bouncing off your subject and transforms that reading into 18%, medium gray.  So, if you meter off a pure white wall, center the needle and make a print without any manipulation, you'll end up with a medium gray print.  If you meter off a black wall, center the needle and make a print without any manipulation you end up with a similar colored/density 18% medium gray print.

So you have to understand that and adjust your metering to reflect medium gray or adjust your settings (manual) to compensate for medium gray.

So, very simply, if you're reading a subject which is darker than medium gray, then, in manual, you close down the aperture or increase the shutter speed to expose properly and capture a darker than medium gray subject. Conversely for a lighter than medium gray subject, you'll, (in manual), open it up a stop or two either with your aperture or shutter speed in order to properly expose and capture a lighter than medium gray subject. 

You can, of course, use a combo of aperture and shutter speed to attain the proper exposure. So if the subject is very dark, you can close down your aperture for one stop, increase shutter speed by a stop, for a total of two stops of underexposure per your meter reading. 

The meter is nothing more than a guide, you need to interpret the meter's response to what you're shooting.

PS- In your example shot, I see both a problem with White Balance and Exposure.
G


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You may make your life a LOT easier with spot metering. Aim it at the darkest part of your photo, then the lightest, and take the average of the two so you don't lose shadow detail or blown highlights.
> 
> 
> 
> I don't understand.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

 This is an old large-format landscape photographer's technique.  Using spot metering determine the exposure for your shadows, let's say f4, and then for your highlights, say f8.  If you choose a median of f5.6, you should get a decent overall exposure, BUT..  you don't necessarily want your highlights and shadows averaged out.  What specifically are you having trouble with as far as exposure?


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You may make your life a LOT easier with spot metering. Aim it at the darkest part of your photo, then the lightest, and take the average of the two so you don't lose shadow detail or blown highlights.
> 
> 
> 
> I don't understand.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> This is an old large-format landscape photographer's technique.  Using spot metering determine the exposure for your shadows, let's say f4, and then for your highlights, say f8.  If you choose a median of f5.6, you should get a decent overall exposure, BUT..  you don't necessarily want your highlights and shadows averaged out.  What specifically are you having trouble with as far as exposure?
Click to expand...

OK the averaging makes sense now.  However, I have been shooting mainly in manual on the DSLR and the exposure is dead center on the meter in the viewfinder. I think I am getting tripped up in the difference's between focus mode, AF area mode, and metering. Blown out skies when taking a portrait outside. I typically would choose AF-S for focus mode, Auto area AF for AF area mode, and Matrix metering in metering mode. Heck, I get confused just flipping typing it. Now, time of day, and flash has helped but I think Matrix is messing me up, instead should I use center weighted metering mode? 

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----------



## limr

Well, there's also the question of the dynamic range of film vs the dynamic range of your digital sensor. Highlights that might not be blown on film may be blowing out in your digital shots.

But what the hell do I know - I just stick to my film and not worry about it  Even when exposed perfectly, digital shots never excite me the way film shots do. Part of it is the challenge, and part of it is the look of the final image. Film images always feel more dimensional and textural to me, and those are the things I like, so that's one reason I stick to film.


----------



## minicoop1985

We'll see, Leonore. The Aptus can create some spectacular results. Its dynamic range rivals film. So much shadow detail... highlights that don't just die off... You MIGHT be impressed (maybe not, but I'll try).


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> We'll see, Leonore. The Aptus can create some spectacular results. Its dynamic range rivals film. So much shadow detail... highlights that don't just die off... You MIGHT be impressed (maybe not, but I'll try).



I wasn't talking about medium-format digital backs. That's why I said "dynamic range of YOUR digital sensor" (meaning the particular one that JC is using, not "you" in general.) I know that not all digital sensors are created equal and that there have been many improvements in dynamic range. I also know that the very best digital sensor can perform equally or outperform film in total dynamic range. But correct me if I'm wrong, but the very best digital sensor is not what you find in your average DSLR, no? So taking your average consumer-grade digital sensor vs average consumer-grade film, doesn't film still outperform in terms of dynamic range?


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> If Gary doesn't stop describing his culinary victories in such graphic detail, texture and taste are not the only things that will soar into the stratosphere!


----------



## minicoop1985

I know you weren't referring to me, Leonore. Film does outperform the standard DSLR sensor in DR by a WIDE margin. I think my 7D had something like 6-7 stops. I have no idea what film is, but my new back is 12. New backs are hitting 15 stops.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> If Gary doesn't stop describing his culinary victories in such graphic detail, texture and taste are not the only things that will soar into the stratosphere!
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 115180
Click to expand...

I like his description's, they are very comforting. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's been banned from better places than this joint.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Gary's been banned from better places than this joint.


You wish!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has cooked most of his meals since ... 5th grade, (I think), when Mom slipped a disc and was bedridden for a few months.  Gary typically cooks the usual stuff, burgers, steaks, eggs, pasta ... nothing special. The past couple of years, Gary has discovered that with a little more effort, one can cook up a storm and actually create extraordinary meals. Out of a week, Gary eats out at least twice, two evenings Gary cooks up a storm, two more days Gary eats leftovers and on the seventh, he rests. 

Gary is sipping some hot herbal tea sweetened with honey.  Gary never used honey before, but Gary has recently discovered it to be awesome. Gary even uses honey in his Famous BBQ sauce.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's been banned from better places than this joint.
> 
> 
> 
> You wish!
Click to expand...

LOL


----------



## Gary A.

Iowa is so interesting.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sharon wonders if Gary would want to be a member of any club that would have him.

Sharon thinks that digital cameras can make things more complicated than they need to be. For that matter, auto (as opposed to mechanical) film cameras can be more complicated than necessary. I don't do modes.


I predict that a team from Boston will win the Beanpot.

Big in Iowa was a good band.


----------



## snowbear

My big mouth has done it again.  Remember when I said I applied to make a presentation at the ESRI (GIS software company) National User's Conference?  Well, I got the acceptance email over the weekend' this hoser is going to San Diego.  And I found out the GIS manager has requested the County pay for the plane ride (they are already covering the actual conference fee).

Mixed feelings.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers!

@Gary A. : Haven't cracked open the bottle yet. Buzz and I brought it to DC to have on New Year's Eve, but we didn't get to it because we still had a bottle open from the night before. I am waiting for when we can drink it together.

I'd offer more descriptions of my own cooking, but I think this meat-eating crowd wouldn't find it so interesting. Ed would like it, though 

To make up for Friday's extra work, I'm taking some hours off of this week. I'm technically only supposed to work a certain number of hours anyway, so it works out to the same number of hours over the course of a pay period. So there _is _a silver lining.

And in completely different, random news, I had the weirdest dreams about zombies all night last night. I was apparently really good at fighting them but stressed out about having to always worry about them. Then I was able to relocate and find a very protected compound and I was able to get a little bit of a break, though I still had to take my turn as look-out. Don't ask me what the hell put zombie dreams into my poor, addled brain.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Hey hosers!
> 
> @Gary: Haven't cracked open the bottle yet. Buzz and I brought it to DC to have on New Year's Eve, but we didn't get to it because we still had a bottle open from the night before. I am waiting for when we can drink it together.
> 
> I'd offer more descriptions of my own cooking, but I think this meat-eating crowd wouldn't find it so interesting. Ed would like it, though
> 
> To make up for Friday's extra work, I'm taking some hours off of this week. I'm technically only supposed to work a certain number of hours anyway, so it works out to the same number of hours over the course of a pay period. So there _is _a silver lining.
> 
> And in completely different, random news, I had the weirdest dreams about zombies all night last night. I was apparently really good at fighting them but stressed out about having to always worry about them. Then I was able to relocate and find a very protected compound and I was able to get a little bit of a break, though I still had to take my turn as look-out. Don't ask me what the hell put zombie dreams into my poor, addled brain.


Did you take pictures of them?

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----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Did you take pictures of them?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



The zombies? Well, I _was_ taking head shots!


----------



## minicoop1985

AH MUCH NEEDED BUSINESS HAS FALLEN INTO MY LAP!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!! And @snowbear will appreciate this-it's a pen shop.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> AH MUCH NEEDED BUSINESS HAS FALLEN INTO MY LAP!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!! And @snowbear will appreciate this-it's a pen shop.


And with it being in Wisconsin, it's a safe distance away.


----------



## minicoop1985

They're hiring a photographer for e-commerce. They have a website.


----------



## Designer

jcdeboever said:


> OK the averaging makes sense now.  However, I have been shooting mainly in manual on the DSLR and the exposure is dead center on the meter in the viewfinder. I think I am getting tripped up in the difference's between focus mode, AF area mode, and metering. Blown out skies when taking a portrait outside.


With film, the experts would say; "Expose for the shadows".  With digital, it's different.  Expose for the highlights (sky) and bring the shadows up in post.  That way, the highlights are not blown, even though the overall exposure will look underexposed compared to the averaging that your meter does.


----------



## limr




----------



## minicoop1985

^^^ 

I try to make it the night before. Works out better that way.

MY DIGITAL BACK IS OUT FOR DELIVERY!!!! YAY


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

@limr  I'd look like the above, but there's a coffee machine here at work (little packets, not cups, as if it makes a difference in the morning).

So far, about average for a Tuesday, hoping it picks up to being about average for a Wednesday.


----------



## minicoop1985

Also, today's a snow day. It hasn't snowed yet, but they cancelled school preemptively. Seems like a dumb idea to me, but OK. Whatevs yo.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is cold today. The grass has a frosty coating which crunches under one's feet. Sunday, the wind started blowing from the north.  It has finally stopped blowing, but it was a very cold and strong wind. Gary feels like a bit of a shut in and the BBQ's remain unused under tarps. Gary recognizes that a blustery wind and nighttime temps into the 40's and 30's is nothing to compared to the Arctic Express rolling up the Atlantic side of the world ... But this is California, Gary didn't sign up for this.  Gary swallows another mouthful of lukewarm coffee ... Not too bad he thinks, tastes like ... Lukewarm coffee ... But it is better hot.

Gary and The Cook head out into the cold for their morning constitutional.


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> Gary recognizes that a blustery wind and nighttime temps into the 40's and 30's is nothing to compared to the Arctic Express rolling up the Atlantic side of the world ...



Gary should know that it is currently 45 in Philly, going up to 50, with almost no breeze.  Not enough to make Gary jealous, I know, but still...


----------



## limr

It was 60F here yesterday. For summer time, I'd be jammin' ecstatic. For January? Ew. Supposed to at least be back in the 40s today. Still not as cold as it should be on Groundhog Day, but better than 60.

I am SO getting cheated out of winter this year!


----------



## minicoop1985

Man, I so wish it was 60 here... I've been freezing my ass off since December. Granted it has NOT been as bad as last year with WEEKS in the negatives, but I hate cold.


----------



## Warhorse

Enjoyed my breakfast today...the day after colonoscopy.


----------



## jcdeboever

Well, got back home this afternoon and the wife bought me a present. I really wanted the Nikon 200-500mm but heck, I'm not going to complain. She also bought a Sigma UV filter and a USB doc, have not a clue what the dock is for. She said the guy said I was looking at both this and the Nikon and the guy told her she couldn't go wrong with either. I would be happy. He was correct. Look out @costalconn, @jackranda, @bulldurham... Lol






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----------



## Gary A.

Ooooooohhhh .... 600jammin'MM!!!!!!!!   That is soooo righteous.


----------



## minicoop1985

IT CAME!!!!!




Leaf Aptus 22/Mamiya 645AFD by Michael Long, on Flickr

Ain't it purty?


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> IT CAME!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leaf Aptus 22/Mamiya 645AFD by Michael Long, on Flickr
> 
> Ain't it purty?


Groovy...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Maybe Gary should get one of them backs for the GX680.


----------



## minicoop1985

That's not a bad idea, Gary. There's plenty of decent backs in the $2k range. I MIGHT buy a GX680 and a rotating adapter for it. I need the tilts and stuff for architectural shots. If I ever have that opportunity.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> That's not a bad idea, Gary. There's plenty of decent backs in the $2k range. I MIGHT buy a GX680 and a rotating adapter for it. I need the tilts and stuff for architectural shots. If I ever have that opportunity.



There are Mamiya, Hasselblad, et al, back adaptors for the GX680 ... so if you got a Fuji, all you *may* need is one digital back. A rotating back is standard on the GX680. Plus you can get various sized framing inserts/masks, 6x4, 6x6, 6x7, et cetera (6x8 is a large negative).


----------



## minicoop1985

Exactly what I was thinking-the adapter plate. I've been doing research, and a GX680 isn't a very large investment. It's either that or a Cambo 4x5 with a sliding adapter.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Exactly what I was thinking-the adapter plate. I've been doing research, and a GX680 isn't a very large investment. It's either that or a Cambo 4x5 with a sliding adapter.


The GX680 is huge and very heavy. If Gary had to do it again Gary would seriously consider a 4x5 over the Fuji 6x8. (On the Fuji, make sure you're looking at the GX680III, much more refined over the I and II.)  The GX680 is a very nice and complete package, good luck on getting a digital back for the 4x5. Pricing is all over the board for the GX680 series and doesn't make a lot of sense. Why did you choose the Leaf over the Phase 1?


----------



## minicoop1985

I chose Leaf over Phase for two reasons: Sensor size (the Leaf is 48x36) and price/availability. The phase one backs are more expensive and harder to find.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> They're hiring a photographer for e-commerce. They have a website.


Lemme have it.


----------



## minicoop1985

Are you sure you wanna know? I have a meeting there at 12:45.


----------



## snowbear

Sure.  I can always dream


----------



## minicoop1985

snowbear said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> They're hiring a photographer for e-commerce. They have a website.
> 
> 
> 
> Lemme have it.
Click to expand...


I'm trying to PM you and it's not working. PM me quick, will ya?


----------



## jcdeboever

Watching a movie tonight called Bridge of Spies. All kinds of camera's in the movie...I have a camera *oner going on. After my Bigma gift and this movie, I might just go sniff some developer.

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----------



## minicoop1985

I gotta say, that was a helluva gift.


----------



## snowbear

Fed & State Income Taxes completed & filed - refunds from both.


----------



## minicoop1985

snowbear said:


> Fed & State Income Taxes completed & filed - refunds from both.




I'm guessing camera gear or pens.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fed & State Income Taxes completed & filed - refunds from both.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm guessing camera gear or pens.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing both [emoji6] 

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----------



## snowbear

We were worried about State because of MLW's overtime and LL not being in school last year, but we skated by.

Probably neither, at this point.  We're likely to use them to get a little further out of some holes and a potential relocation in the next year or so.

Well, maybe ONE pen, and a bottle of ink.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Watching a movie tonight called Bridge of Spies. All kinds of camera's in the movie...I have a camera *oner going on. After my Bigma gift and this movie, I might just go sniff some developer.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Good movie.  Isn't the Bigma the 50-500?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Watching a movie tonight called Bridge of Spies. All kinds of camera's in the movie...I have a camera *oner going on. After my Bigma gift and this movie, I might just go sniff some developer.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Good movie.  Isn't the Bigma the 50-500?
Click to expand...

Heck I don't know, I made it up. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... traditionally, the Sigma 50-500 was/is called the Bigma.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... traditionally, the Sigma 50-500 was/is called the Bigma.


I wonder if it will work on my Nikon N75? I should have it all back together by the weekend. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. On route to my first appointment. Traffic is surprisingly light. It still sucks, it is still bumper to bumper, but at least it's bumper to bumper at 35mph than at 5mph.


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm assuming you aren't driving, Gary?


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> I'm assuming you aren't driving, Gary?


My attorney has advised me not to answer that.


----------



## vintagesnaps

And I thought I was glad to not be commuting anymore. Do you actually drive Gary or just coast all the way to work?

I looked at the tax form... that was as far as I got. I was waiting for the form for a disability benefit I have from work but it came last week so I have no excuse, but...
I don't feel like doing it. 

Still feeling kind of draggy after being sick over the weekend so I'm not doing much, watching more replays of last weekend's college hockey so I can see what I missed trying to watch too many games at once.

Time for gophers and beavers to play. The team that won got a wooden trophy, wonder if it has little critter teeth marks in it?


----------



## minicoop1985

Welp, hosers, since business has been INCREDIBLY slow (none for the past month or so), it was time to get a day job. I'm now officially a product photographer for Anderson Pens.

Fountain Pens, Inks, Paper, Repair Supplies and More


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Welp, hosers, since business has been INCREDIBLY slow (none for the past month or so), it was time to get a day job. I'm now officially a product photographer for Anderson Pens.
> 
> Fountain Pens, Inks, Paper, Repair Supplies and More



Congrats mini, look forward to seeing your 1:1 stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Welp, hosers, since business has been INCREDIBLY slow (none for the past month or so), it was time to get a day job. I'm now officially a product photographer for Anderson Pens.
> 
> Fountain Pens, Inks, Paper, Repair Supplies and More


^5 man!  That is great.  Many of us here appreciate fine writing instruments.  Can you get us a discount? Are you coming to LA for the Pen Expo?  (This morning Gary actually ordered a Cross fountain pen.)


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm not going to LA, but my boss and his wife (so other boss) are going.

I unfortunately can't get a discount. Otherwise I would gladly help those in need of fine writing instruments. I'd be thrilled if you guys supported our business, though.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary would gladly have ordered the fountain and rollerball from you guys ... you're a few hours late with your announcement.


----------



## jcdeboever

I would buy a pen. I am an expert drawer. I love my vintage Montegrappa


----------



## jcdeboever

My son's middle name is Montegrappa.


----------



## snowbear

I have seen Anderson mentioned on FPN, probably a list of stores.  I didn't get a chance to loom at prices so I'll check them out this weekend. - nothing planned but for some reason son #1 want's to come down on Sunday.


----------



## jcdeboever

He hates it... LOL


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> Gary would gladly have ordered the fountain and rollerball from you guys ... you're a few hours late with your announcement.


Oh well. It's all good.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> He hates it... LOL


LOL ... you could have named him "Bic".


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> He hates it... LOL
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... you could have named him "Bic".
Click to expand...

or "Skilcraft US Government"


----------



## limr

Mmmmm, pens....*drool*  I'll have to save up for a little while to get even one of the cheaper ones, but maybe over the summer I'll send some business your way! Congrats on being all official and crap!  

In other news, I finally got a package from Adoramapix today, which means SOMEONE *coughcough @jcdeboever *coughcough* will be getting a print in the mail very soon 

I also got a package from Amazon. I recently started using all natural ingredients to make my own face cleanser and moisturizer, and I'm truly startled at the difference it has made with my skin. So with today's package, I'm able to start expanding my supply of all-natural health and beauty products by making my own lip balm and body lotion. 

Finally, something apropos of my most recent bout of post-modern malaise this week:
Groundhog sees Jungian shadow, predicts everlasting winter of the soul - The Beaverton - North America's Trusted Source of News

"WIARTON, ON - Meteorologists were flabbergasted today when Wiarton Willie, the popular weather rodent, emerged from his burrow and was frightened by the sight of the dark, undesirable aspect of his unconscious mind. The large rodent immediately scurried back underground, forecasting an indefinite extension of the cold season of the soul."


----------



## snowbear

Pens.  One of my favorite inexpensive pens is the Lamy Safari.  Made in Germany, fairly easy to change out the nibs, quite a few wonderful colors (the Vista is the clear "demonstrator" version), and runs about $28.  They do have an odd triangular area where you hold it, but it puts the pen in a good writing position.  I am planning on picking up a few in the various nib widths.

Oh, and, um, Leonore.  If you need some help with rubbing that moisturizer on, um, any other places (like lower back), then, um, you have my number.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Behave yourself, Charlie 

It's Thursday! Which means, as long as there are no sudden projects, it's Friday for me. Granted, I still do schoolwork on Fridays, but I do it at home with cats and coffee


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary thinks working in an environment of Cats and Coffee is a pretty good deal.  Unfortunately, Mary Lou is extremely allergic to our feline friends, so cats is verboten. Hell, even if we go to the play she starts sneezing. Gary's last cat was this yellow tiger/lion creature.  I named him Senator, because we want him to grow up to be a big fat cat. The Cook has been cold and wet the past two mornings.  Gary figures she's spending her nights outside sleeping on the grass. Gary is not very fond of her doing so.  She has a doggie door and come and goes as she pleases, but she's 12 y/o and she needs take it easy.  Cookie has cats that she has befriended on our walks.  Strange cats down the street or around the block that now come up and greet her in the mornings. She'll nuzzel them and they will rub up against her.  It is all very entertaining.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  It was coffee and cats for me yesterday, but it's back at the mill today.  One of the cats gave us a scare the other day when she pulled a brownie wrapped in plastic wrap out of my backpack (yes, resourceful little terror that she is), bit through the plastic and ate a corner of the brownie.  (for the non-cat people, chocolate is poisonous to cats, and dogs as well, I believe)  She's fine and I've lost track of how many remaining lives she has, but I will be even more careful about chocolate in the future.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  It was coffee and cats for me yesterday, but it's back at the mill today.  One of the cats gave us a scare the other day when she pulled a brownie wrapped in plastic wrap out of my backpack (yes, resourceful little terror that she is), bit through the plastic and ate a corner of the brownie.  (for the non-cat people, chocolate is poisonous to cats, and dogs as well, I believe)  She's fine and I've lost track of how many remaining lives she has, but I will be even more careful about chocolate in the future.



I would have had a heart attack!

About a week or two before my Gomer Pyle got sick and had to be put to sleep, I was eating a chocolate muffin on the couch and he came around sniffing. He'd had a sweet tooth, so I knew he'd be interested, but wouldn't give him any. He turned away and found the wrapper and before I knew it, he ate a few crumbs still on the paper. It wasn't much at all, but I watched him very closely and he seemed fine.

Then the week or two later when I was in the vet hospital and the doctor was discussing things that could be happening to Gomer, I suddenly remembered the chocolate and told her about it. I must have been somewhat frantic, because she sort of adopted that very motherly, sympathetic tone that medical professionals will sometimes take when dealing with someone who has clearly taken leave of her rational brain. "No, it was not the chocolate, and no, you did not kill your cat." Apparently he would have had to eat quite a lot to have been poisoned, and he would have gotten sick very soon afterwards. 

But lord, it's so horrible to believe even for a few seconds that you've just killed your own pet


----------



## jcdeboever

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  It was coffee and cats for me yesterday, but it's back at the mill today.  One of the cats gave us a scare the other day when she pulled a brownie wrapped in plastic wrap out of my backpack (yes, resourceful little terror that she is), bit through the plastic and ate a corner of the brownie.  (for the non-cat people, chocolate is poisonous to cats, and dogs as well, I believe)  She's fine and I've lost track of how many remaining lives she has, but I will be even more careful about chocolate in the future.


They have to be real hungry and eat a fair amount of chocolate to harm them. Of course dogs will eat any time so got to watch that. Did you know most cats love green olives? 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> They have to be real hungry and eat a fair amount of chocolate to harm them. Of course dogs will eat any time so got to watch that. *Did you know most cats love green olives? *
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Really? It's okay for them to eat olives? I might have to test that out with the girls 

Gomer loved Stella D'Oro breakfast treats and cake. My girls love cheese, but only the artificial sliced stuff. I haven't had that in a long time, so they haven't had their cheese treats in a long time. Every once in a while, I'll buy a pack just for them


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm not sure but my cats came running at the sound of the jar opening. I just let them lick them. They would lick as long as you kept it in their nose.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## KenC

jcdeboever said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  It was coffee and cats for me yesterday, but it's back at the mill today.  One of the cats gave us a scare the other day when she pulled a brownie wrapped in plastic wrap out of my backpack (yes, resourceful little terror that she is), bit through the plastic and ate a corner of the brownie.  (for the non-cat people, chocolate is poisonous to cats, and dogs as well, I believe)  She's fine and I've lost track of how many remaining lives she has, but I will be even more careful about chocolate in the future.
> 
> 
> 
> They have to be real hungry and eat a fair amount of chocolate to harm them. Of course dogs will eat any time so got to watch that. Did you know most cats love green olives?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


The very same cat (of course)


----------



## Gary A.

Oooohhh, don't get Gary going about Cook and food. She doesn't eat like a dog, she never wolf's down anything.  She will not eat dog treats. She thinks that dinner time is a social event and won't eat until we sit and make conversation with her while she dines. She wouldn't eat bacon.  What man or beast doesn't like bacon?  If Gary hand fed her bacon, she would very politely take it from his hand and lay it nicely on the ground. When Gary tossed bacon into her dish, she would pick it out and stack it next to her food. (Gary thought maybe she was Jewish, but she ate cheeseburgers ... So no to that thought.) One day, Gary got fed up with her non-bacon existence and shoved a piece in her mouth and then held her mouth shut. She discovered that she likes bacon.  But she doesn't wolf it down, she chews and chews and chews the hell out of it, savoring every bit.


----------



## minicoop1985

I forgot that I lost my wallet last year and my social security card was in it. Sh*t. I need it to start working... Looks like I may not start for a while unless they say that the letter I got from SS is good enough to start.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's a bummer, hope you get that worked out.

Just saw a few flakes, and I mean the kind that flurry out of the sky. I didn't realize it had gotten that cold or that it was supposed to do anything.

This so far has been a day of PITA phone calls and emails, which I hope to be done with for the day shortly!

The play just got turned around by the beavers, so says the announcer during this game that's been replayed all week long...


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> They have to be real hungry and eat a fair amount of chocolate to harm them. Of course dogs will eat any time so got to watch that. *Did you know most cats love green olives? *
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Really? It's okay for them to eat olives? I might have to test that out with the girls
> 
> Gomer loved Stella D'Oro breakfast treats and cake. My girls love cheese, but only the artificial sliced stuff. I haven't had that in a long time, so they haven't had their cheese treats in a long time. Every once in a while, I'll buy a pack just for them
Click to expand...


Mom has a Persian when she was young that liked olive oil; she'd get drunk off of it.


----------



## table1349

If you don't have one of these, you don't like coffee that much.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> If you don't have one of these, you don't like coffee that much.


A l'contraire ... if you do like coffee you won't have one of those.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just wasted an hour attempting to whip up some homemade tortillas. Failed ... Gary ended up with homemade tortilla pieces.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary just wasted an hour attempting to whip up some homemade tortillas. Failed ... Gary ended up with homemade tortilla pieces.


Gary knows how to cook, Gary will get it down on next couple tries. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> But lord, it's so horrible to believe even for a few seconds that you've just killed your own pet


A friend of my wife ran over her own cat.  We buried it at our place under a slab of concrete so no animal would ever dig it up.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Gary just wasted an hour attempting to whip up some homemade tortillas. Failed ... Gary ended up with homemade tortilla pieces chips and salsa.


FTFY


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and a little butter, managed to get rid of any evidence of failure.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary just wasted an hour attempting to whip up some homemade tortillas. Failed ... Gary ended up with homemade tortilla pieces.


Are you using an aluminum or cast iron press?


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you don't have one of these, you don't like coffee that much.
> 
> 
> 
> A l'contraire ... if you do like coffee you won't have one of those.
Click to expand...

Oh come now, Keurig self load cup, not one of the pre filled cups.  Fresh ground beans and a couple of minutes time.


----------



## Gary A.

Cast iron lined w/Saran Wrap.  The masa is quite old, which may have contributed to my failure.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> But lord, it's so horrible to believe even for a few seconds that you've just killed your own pet
> 
> 
> 
> A friend of my wife ran over her own cat.  We buried it at our place under a slab of concrete so no animal would ever dig it up.
Click to expand...


How awful! It's heartbreaking just hearing about it.


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you don't have one of these, you don't like coffee that much.
> 
> 
> 
> A l'contraire ... if you do like coffee you won't have one of those.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh come now, Keurig self load cup, not one of the pre filled cups.  Fresh ground beans and a couple of minutes time.
Click to expand...


No. And you'll never convince me otherwise.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is in heaven. Mary Lou brought home tamale plates for our dinner ... AND ... She also brought home a bag of pan dulce. Gary went through the tamale plate like a hot knife through butter and he is now indulging in a pumpkin empanada.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mike is actually doing pretty well. Bosses accepted my lack of SS card, and like my work with a shelf full of ink.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning coffee lovers. I am grounded today, big time gout attack in my gas pedal foot last night. I felt it coming on after I jammed my foot on Wednesday in a shop. I have not had an attack in a long time. Guess it's time to get to the doctors and get back on a maintenance drug. It runs in the family, all us men have it. My oldest brother has it worse than me. The pain was off the charts and didn't get any sleep last night. I am going to rough it out, drink a couple gallons of water today and see if I can force flush it out. Has worked in the past. No pain medication works anyway except the kind they inject in your rump at the docs but I hate the spacey feel of that crap. The wife is weird, gets mad at me when I am down...she is always mad at me but buys me big glass to compensate I guess. Marriage is strange, I put a lot of effort into it and I still appear to suck at it. She hates her job and think I am too nice and it pisses her off.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  TGIF!  Neither my brain nor my body wants to be at work, but I guess I'll drag them both kicking and screaming through the day, possibly with the help of some beer.

@jcdeboever - sorry to hear about the attack - someone I work with has the same situation with the men in his family suffering from it - I hope the "flush" works for you.  Maybe the wife gets upset because she's worried about you?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary feels for JC. Having chronic pain is pretty bad, but it must really suck to have such pain for something you didn't do. Good luck with the flush, Mazel Tov!


----------



## jcdeboever

Thanks guys.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Good morning coffee lovers. I am grounded today, big time gout attack in my gas pedal foot last night. I felt it coming on after I jammed my foot on Wednesday in a shop. I have not had an attack in a long time. Guess it's time to get to the doctors and get back on a maintenance drug. It runs in the family, all us men have it. My oldest brother has it worse than me. The pain was off the charts and didn't get any sleep last night. I am going to rough it out, drink a couple gallons of water today and see if I can force flush it out. Has worked in the past. No pain medication works anyway except the kind they inject in your rump at the docs but I hate the spacey feel of that crap. The wife is weird, gets mad at me when I am down...she is always mad at me but buys me big glass to compensate I guess. Marriage is strange, I put a lot of effort into it and I still appear to suck at it. She hates her job and think I am too nice and it pisses her off.



No words, just


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you don't have one of these, you don't like coffee that much.
> 
> 
> 
> A l'contraire ... if you do like coffee you won't have one of those.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh come now, Keurig self load cup, not one of the pre filled cups.  Fresh ground beans and a couple of minutes time.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No. And you'll never convince me otherwise.
Click to expand...

Here have a cup on me.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks most people aren't trained to separate work for non-work and over time spending 1/3rd of your life in a place that sucks, (Gary's word of the day), worms its way into your persona and like a cancer ... Just eats you up. Mary Lou is in the same boat.  She worked 20+ years at Whitney High School, the #1 public high school in California (per testing). Attendance was by invitation only.  The kids are amazing there and social unrest, drugs, crime, gangs is minimal to non-existence. 98% of the kids go onto a four year college, the other 2% usually go to community for economic reasons. Whitney has fed more kids to West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy than any other high school in the US. WHS is much different than a normal comprehensive high school. The school district hierarchy, which is cliche based, installed a cliche principal from a middle school and totally alienated the teachers, staff, parents and students.

It was so bad, that a student who worked on a project with students from the University of California Irvine (UCI), ot suckered punched by the administration. The paper they develop was being published and the Whitney student took half a day off to attend the publication gala at UCI.  For her published paper she received an unexcused absence from the principal.

Mary Lou knew that she had a prime position at WHS and that the new principal was filling up all the prime positions with her cronies.  So she left and is now working at Adult School.  She is making a ton more monies, but the principal there is crazy with no people skills, no make that she has absolutely no regard for anybody other than herself and her own personal advancement whatsoever ... There is a direct hotline between Adult School staff and their union rep. On top of it all, she is in charge of students who are referred from local, regional and state agencies for training or retraining.  90% of these people do not want to work or attend school and are milking the system for living, travel, baby sitting, et cetera, monies ... Hard working taxpayer's monies. She has referrals from the Department of Rehab.  Gary didn't even know the State had a Department of Rehab (Gary is pretty knowledgable on this stuff).  It's under the Department of Corrections ... So that's the level of much of her charge.  Everyday, when she come home she's pretty much fed up so Gary lets her unwind, we speak about work, get it out of her system, a glass of vino and Gary tries to subtlety more on. But overall, Mary Lou has become a much more negative person working at Adult School than she was at Whitney. She always worked late at Whitney, at Adult School she has a countdown calendar marking the days until retirement.

Now that Gary has gotten all that off his chest ... Gary's advice to JC is to sorta follow suit, get the wife to unload and unwind then completely change the subject, watch a NetFlix, work on her hobby, surprise her by cooking dinner once a week ... Lower her household chores by stepping it up on your end ... Help and support her find a new job or even suggest she go back to school. But also remember about the grass being greener.

Just sayin' ...

PS- You do that and maybe next time you'll be looking at real Nikkor glass ... Lol


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> Here have a cup on me.



Hey, that stuff is great for developing film! Long live instant coffee!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here have a cup on me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, that stuff is great for developing film! Long live instant coffee!
Click to expand...

LOL ... Gary remembers his first cup in a Korean Coffee Shop ... Sanka. It was quite expensive and only half a cup ... Apparently it was more about table rental than coffee.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gary thinks most people aren't trained to separate work for non-work and over time spending 1/3rd of your life in a place that sucks, (Gary's word of the day), worms its way into your persona and like a cancer ... Just eats you up. Mary Lou is in the same boat.  She worked 20+ years at Whitney High School, the #1 public high school in California (per testing). Attendance was by invitation only.  The kids are amazing there and social unrest, drugs, crime, gangs is minimal to non-existence. 98% of the kids go onto a four year college, the other 2% usually go to community for economic reasons. Whitney has fed more kids to West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy than any other high school in the US. WHS is much different than a normal comprehensive high school. The school district hierarchy, which is cliche based, installed a cliche principal from a middle school and totally alienated the teachers, staff, parents and students.  It was so bad, that a student who worked on a project with students from the University of California Irvine (UCI). The paper they develop was being published and she took half a day off to attend the publication gala at UCI.  For her published paper she received an unexcused absence from the principal. Mary Lou knew that she had a prime position at WHS and that the new principal was filling up all the prime positions with her cronies.  So she left and is now working at Adult School.  She is making a ton more monies but the principal there is crazy with no people skills, no make that she has absolutely no regard for anybody other than herself and her own personal advancement whatsoever ... There is a direct hotline between Adult School staff and their union rep. On top of it all, she is in charge of students who are referred from local, regional and state agencies for training or retraining.  90% of these people do not want to work or attend school and are milking the system for living, travel, baby sitting, et cetera, monies ... Hard working taxpayer's monies. She has referrals from the Department of Rehab.  Gary didn't even know the State had a Department of Rehab (Gary is pretty knowledgable on this stuff).  It's under the Department of Corrections ... So that's the level of much of her charge.  Everyday, when she come home she's pretty much fed up so Gary lets her unwind, we speak about work, get it out of her system, a glass of vino and Gary tries to subtlety more on. But overall, Mary Lou has become a much more negative person working at Adult School than she was at Whitney. She always worked late at Whitney, at Adult School she has a countdown calendar marking the days until retirement.
> 
> Now that Gary has gotten all that off his chest ... Gary's advise to JC is to sorta follow suit, get the wife to unload and unwind then completely change the subject, watch a NetFlix, work on her hobby, surprise her by cooking dinner once a week ... Lower her household chores by stepping it up on your end ... Help and support her find a new job or even suggest she go back to school.
> 
> Just sayin' ...



Buzz and I work at different colleges, but both being adjuncts, we have the same frustrations. It can be very tricky to unload on each other because one person's complaint is essentially the same as the other's and so we can end up triggering each other's work anxieties with our own. So we have to put limits.

In addition, I have the admin job at my campus as well, and that comes with its own crap - more traditional "Office Space" type of crap, but crap nonetheless. I know that prattling on too much about that takes its toll on him, but sometimes I just have to get it out, so I'll say, "Okay, I need 3 minutes and then I'll stop. You don't need to say anything, just nod sympathetically and then give me a hug." And then I'll let fly for 3 minutes, talking as fast as I can to get it all out. And then I get a hug  I get to feel like I've expressed myself, and feels like he's helped, plus, we both know that this is all going to take a few minutes and then we can move on = win-win!


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here have a cup on me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, that stuff is great for developing film! Long live instant coffee!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... Gary remembers his first cup in a Korean Coffee Shop ... Sanka. It was quite expensive and only half a cup ... Apparently it was more about table rental than coffee.
Click to expand...


Yup - in Istanbul, it was Nescafe. It was very popular and generally, if you weren't ordering Turkish coffee, then it was Nescafe. My last year there, it was starting to become popular in the younger, hipper areas of the city for more modern cafes to serve "filtre kahve." I even remember the one place in Tunel called Kaffehaus where I could get an espresso.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary thinks most people aren't trained to separate work for non-work and over time spending 1/3rd of your life in a place that sucks, (Gary's word of the day), worms its way into your persona and like a cancer ... Just eats you up. Mary Lou is in the same boat.  She worked 20+ years at Whitney High School, the #1 public high school in California (per testing). Attendance was by invitation only.  The kids are amazing there and social unrest, drugs, crime, gangs is minimal to non-existence. 98% of the kids go onto a four year college, the other 2% usually go to community for economic reasons. Whitney has fed more kids to West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy than any other high school in the US. WHS is much different than a normal comprehensive high school. The school district hierarchy, which is cliche based, installed a cliche principal from a middle school and totally alienated the teachers, staff, parents and students.
> 
> It was so bad, that a student who worked on a project with students from the University of California Irvine (UCI), ot suckered punched by the administration. The paper they develop was being published and the Whitney student took half a day off to attend the publication gala at UCI.  For her published paper she received an unexcused absence from the principal.
> 
> Mary Lou knew that she had a prime position at WHS and that the new principal was filling up all the prime positions with her cronies.  So she left and is now working at Adult School.  She is making a ton more monies, but the principal there is crazy with no people skills, no make that she has absolutely no regard for anybody other than herself and her own personal advancement whatsoever ... There is a direct hotline between Adult School staff and their union rep. On top of it all, she is in charge of students who are referred from local, regional and state agencies for training or retraining.  90% of these people do not want to work or attend school and are milking the system for living, travel, baby sitting, et cetera, monies ... Hard working taxpayer's monies. She has referrals from the Department of Rehab.  Gary didn't even know the State had a Department of Rehab (Gary is pretty knowledgable on this stuff).  It's under the Department of Corrections ... So that's the level of much of her charge.  Everyday, when she come home she's pretty much fed up so Gary lets her unwind, we speak about work, get it out of her system, a glass of vino and Gary tries to subtlety more on. But overall, Mary Lou has become a much more negative person working at Adult School than she was at Whitney. She always worked late at Whitney, at Adult School she has a countdown calendar marking the days until retirement.
> 
> Now that Gary has gotten all that off his chest ... Gary's advice to JC is to sorta follow suit, get the wife to unload and unwind then completely change the subject, watch a NetFlix, work on her hobby, surprise her by cooking dinner once a week ... Lower her household chores by stepping it up on your end ... Help and support her find a new job or even suggest she go back to school. But also remember about the grass being greener.
> 
> Just sayin' ...
> 
> PS- You do that and maybe next time you'll be looking at real Nikkor glass ... Lol


Oh my, me cooking=disaster. I can grill a steak on a good day but i have to cut down on red meat... Good advice though. I am tolerant to a fault really. I hate arguments. I just go with the flow and try and do little things. My biggest problem is that I am usually oblivious to my errors. I am lucky really, the majority of my married friends are totally miserable. She likes to decorate, I assume that is a hobby. She lives for them grandkids for the most part. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Le sigh.

I got a 15% coupon on film bodies, and I totally just bought this:
ZEISS IKON CONTAFLEX II | KEH Camera


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Le sigh.
> 
> I got a 15% coupon on film bodies, and I totally just bought this:
> ZEISS IKON CONTAFLEX II | KEH Camera



Lol...I was looking at that last night. It was reasonable as I recall.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Le sigh.
> 
> I got a 15% coupon on film bodies, and I totally just bought this:
> ZEISS IKON CONTAFLEX II | KEH Camera
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lol...I was looking at that last night. It was reasonable as I recall.
Click to expand...


Yup - $55.25 after the discount, and free shipping. And apparently no tax either. It's one of the few ways I can actually afford some good Zeiss glass


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Le sigh.
> 
> I got a 15% coupon on film bodies, and I totally just bought this:
> ZEISS IKON CONTAFLEX II | KEH Camera


You're nuts. LOL

Why not just go for something like a Nikon F and then just add Nikkor lenses and stuff (waist viewfinder, a motordrive, 20 different focusing screens, et al). I know collecting is fun, but you will be thrilled with just an F and a couple of bags of lenses. Save your monies for a good meter. The F will take one hell of a picture quite easily, no muss no fuss.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Le sigh.
> 
> I got a 15% coupon on film bodies, and I totally just bought this:
> ZEISS IKON CONTAFLEX II | KEH Camera
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lol...I was looking at that last night. It was reasonable as I recall.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup - $55.25 after the discount, and free shipping. And apparently no tax either. It's one of the few ways I can actually afford some good Zeiss glass
Click to expand...


Nice can't wait to see some photo's from it. It was in ex condition, right?

I had my eye on that Yashica T2 (I think my T4 had a Tessar 2.8) ex+. I used to own a T4 Super and loved that thing but I got rid of it. That glass in those little Yashica's were real sharp, it was the sharpest camera I owned for many years. I sold it for over $300 and it was in excellent condition. I liked it because it had a top viewfinder, the T2 don't. But I have enough camera's.

T2 AF 35 F/3.5 TESSAR T* | KEH Camera


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Le sigh.
> 
> I got a 15% coupon on film bodies, and I totally just bought this:
> ZEISS IKON CONTAFLEX II | KEH Camera
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lol...I was looking at that last night. It was reasonable as I recall.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup - $55.25 after the discount, and free shipping. And apparently no tax either. It's one of the few ways I can actually afford some good Zeiss glass
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nice can't wait to see some photo's from it. It was in ex condition, right?
> 
> I had my eye on that Yashica T2 (I think my T4 had a Tessar 2.8) ex+. I used to own a T4 Super and loved that thing but I got rid of it. That glass in those little Yashica's were real sharp, it was the sharpest camera I owned for many years. I sold it for over $300 and it was in excellent condition. I liked it because it had a top viewfinder, the T2 don't. But I have enough camera's.
> 
> T2 AF 35 F/3.5 TESSAR T* | KEH Camera
Click to expand...


Yeah, but that little T2 would be a great pocket camera!  

(Edit: Oh and yes, it was in Ex condition.)


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Le sigh.
> 
> I got a 15% coupon on film bodies, and I totally just bought this:
> ZEISS IKON CONTAFLEX II | KEH Camera
> 
> 
> 
> You're nuts. LOL
> 
> Why not just go for something like a Nikon F and then just add Nikkor lenses and stuff (waist viewfinder, a motordrive, 20 different focusing screens, et al). I know collecting is fun, but you will be thrilled with just an F and a couple of bags of lenses. Save your monies for a good meter. The F will take one hell of a picture quite easily, no muss no fuss.
Click to expand...


Yup, they got a couple of those on there as well. I noticed that the Pentax K1000's have been climbing in price.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Le sigh.
> 
> I got a 15% coupon on film bodies, and I totally just bought this:
> ZEISS IKON CONTAFLEX II | KEH Camera
> 
> 
> 
> You're nuts. LOL
> 
> Why not just go for something like a Nikon F and then just add Nikkor lenses and stuff (waist viewfinder, a motordrive, 20 different focusing screens, et al). I know collecting is fun, but you will be thrilled with just an F and a couple of bags of lenses. Save your monies for a good meter. The F will take one hell of a picture quite easily, no muss no fuss.
Click to expand...


Nah, not how I roll   I like simplicity and the oddball cameras. And I can't afford buying a whole new system anyway, especially one with the Nikon name price premium!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Le sigh.
> 
> I got a 15% coupon on film bodies, and I totally just bought this:
> ZEISS IKON CONTAFLEX II | KEH Camera
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lol...I was looking at that last night. It was reasonable as I recall.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup - $55.25 after the discount, and free shipping. And apparently no tax either. It's one of the few ways I can actually afford some good Zeiss glass
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nice can't wait to see some photo's from it. It was in ex condition, right?
> 
> I had my eye on that Yashica T2 (I think my T4 had a Tessar 2.8) ex+. I used to own a T4 Super and loved that thing but I got rid of it. That glass in those little Yashica's were real sharp, it was the sharpest camera I owned for many years. I sold it for over $300 and it was in excellent condition. I liked it because it had a top viewfinder, the T2 don't. But I have enough camera's.
> 
> T2 AF 35 F/3.5 TESSAR T* | KEH Camera
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, but that little T2 would be a great pocket camera!
> 
> (Edit: Oh and yes, it was in Ex condition.)
Click to expand...


Right but I have a Canon SureShot Supreme (2.8), waiting on a roll to see if my copy is good, $5.00 thrift store find. I noticed the focus dot is not dead center so it will be interesting to see if it works well enough. It wasn't like that initially, don't know what that is all about. 
I thought I ran a roll through a couple months ago but I didn't. 

I have a Rollei Prego 130 as well to use if the Canon one is crap. It's real complicated though.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thinks most people aren't trained to separate work for non-work and over time spending 1/3rd of your life in a place that sucks, (Gary's word of the day), worms its way into your persona and like a cancer ... Just eats you up. Mary Lou is in the same boat.  She worked 20+ years at Whitney High School, the #1 public high school in California (per testing). Attendance was by invitation only.  The kids are amazing there and social unrest, drugs, crime, gangs is minimal to non-existence. 98% of the kids go onto a four year college, the other 2% usually go to community for economic reasons. Whitney has fed more kids to West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy than any other high school in the US. WHS is much different than a normal comprehensive high school. The school district hierarchy, which is cliche based, installed a cliche principal from a middle school and totally alienated the teachers, staff, parents and students.
> 
> It was so bad, that a student who worked on a project with students from the University of California Irvine (UCI), ot suckered punched by the administration. The paper they develop was being published and the Whitney student took half a day off to attend the publication gala at UCI.  For her published paper she received an unexcused absence from the principal.
> 
> Mary Lou knew that she had a prime position at WHS and that the new principal was filling up all the prime positions with her cronies.  So she left and is now working at Adult School.  She is making a ton more monies, but the principal there is crazy with no people skills, no make that she has absolutely no regard for anybody other than herself and her own personal advancement whatsoever ... There is a direct hotline between Adult School staff and their union rep. On top of it all, she is in charge of students who are referred from local, regional and state agencies for training or retraining.  90% of these people do not want to work or attend school and are milking the system for living, travel, baby sitting, et cetera, monies ... Hard working taxpayer's monies. She has referrals from the Department of Rehab.  Gary didn't even know the State had a Department of Rehab (Gary is pretty knowledgable on this stuff).  It's under the Department of Corrections ... So that's the level of much of her charge.  Everyday, when she come home she's pretty much fed up so Gary lets her unwind, we speak about work, get it out of her system, a glass of vino and Gary tries to subtlety more on. But overall, Mary Lou has become a much more negative person working at Adult School than she was at Whitney. She always worked late at Whitney, at Adult School she has a countdown calendar marking the days until retirement.
> 
> Now that Gary has gotten all that off his chest ... Gary's advice to JC is to sorta follow suit, get the wife to unload and unwind then completely change the subject, watch a NetFlix, work on her hobby, surprise her by cooking dinner once a week ... Lower her household chores by stepping it up on your end ... Help and support her find a new job or even suggest she go back to school. But also remember about the grass being greener.
> 
> Just sayin' ...
> 
> PS- You do that and maybe next time you'll be looking at real Nikkor glass ... Lol
> 
> 
> 
> Oh my, me cooking=disaster. I can grill a steak on a good day but i have to cut down on red meat... Good advice though. I am tolerant to a fault really. I hate arguments. I just go with the flow and try and do little things. My biggest problem is that I am usually oblivious to my errors. I am lucky really, the majority of my married friends are totally miserable. She likes to decorate, I assume that is a hobby. She lives for them grandkids for the most part.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Start simple, pasta and for the sauce start with a jar or two of .... premade stuff ... say Classico. Then buy a half pound of ground Italian sausage, a half dozen Italian link sausage, some tomatoes, mushrooms, whatever. Set the pre-made sauce to high, cook up the ground sausage in a sauce pan, drain, crumble and add to premade, cook up the links, slice up two and add whole and sliced to sauce, toss in spices ... while the sausage is cooking cut up the tomatoes, mushrooms, whatever and toss into sauce. Boil some water and dump in some pasta and viola! ... all done. Be aware that you will be responsible for cleaning up the kitchen after totally wrecking it and that nothing will be ready on time.  (If you really want to be off time, pick up a loaf of fresh, premade garlic bread, 350F for about 20 minutes. And get some good wine (Californian, lol), decanter it when you start cooking so it has some time to breathe. Add some wine to the sauce and to yourself while you cook, save at least one glass for the wife at dinner. (Gary's secret, squeeze a few lemons or oranges into the sauce or a bit of lemon zest for a hidden hint of citrus flavor.)


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Le sigh.
> 
> I got a 15% coupon on film bodies, and I totally just bought this:
> ZEISS IKON CONTAFLEX II | KEH Camera
> 
> 
> 
> You're nuts. LOL
> 
> Why not just go for something like a Nikon F and then just add Nikkor lenses and stuff (waist viewfinder, a motordrive, 20 different focusing screens, et al). I know collecting is fun, but you will be thrilled with just an F and a couple of bags of lenses. Save your monies for a good meter. The F will take one hell of a picture quite easily, no muss no fuss.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nah, not how I roll   I like simplicity and the oddball cameras. And I can't afford buying a whole new system anyway, especially one with the Nikon name price premium!
Click to expand...

Can't get much simpler than a F. All the body has is a shutter speed dial, a film advance, lens release button, self timer and a shutter release button. Built like a jammin' tank. (Granted a F body is probably double that Contaflex ... but now you're set and your feed your collection desires by looking for great deals on lenses and there are a ton of lenses. You can thank me later.  lol)


----------



## limr

But I've already got a tank of a camera - the K1000.  And you'll have to pry that thing out of my cold dead hands.  Building up a decent collection of lenses for it, too.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> I have a Rollei Prego 130 as well to use if the Canon one is crap. It's real complicated though.



Cute! I'm a big fan of the Rollei lenses. Here's a recent one from the Rollei 35 S that I like to keep with me in my purse or backpack. It's not a fantastic example of composition or anything, but a good indication of what the lens can do:




rFluffy flowers by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> But I've already got a tank of a camera - the K1000.  And you'll have to pry that thing out of my cold dead hands.  Building up a decent collection of lenses for it, too.


What about a Vivitar series 1 35-70mm? I can get a nice copy for $40. Think I would rather have a 28 or 35mm 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> But I've already got a tank of a camera - the K1000.  And you'll have to pry that thing out of my cold dead hands.  Building up a decent collection of lenses for it, too.
> 
> 
> 
> What about a Vivitar series 1 35-70mm? I can get a nice copy for $40. Think I would rather have a 28 or 35mm
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Here's a review of a Vivitar 35-70 zoom, but I'm not sure it's the Series 1: http://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/vivitar-35-70mm-f2-8-3-8-macro-focusing-zoom.html

I have come to prefer primes in general and am so far pleased with my Vivitar 28mm f2.8. Again, some reviews of Vivitar primes: http://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/vivitar-lenses-for-pentax-primes-c85.html


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> But I've already got a tank of a camera - the K1000.  And you'll have to pry that thing out of my cold dead hands.  Building up a decent collection of lenses for it, too.
> 
> 
> 
> What about a Vivitar series 1 35-70mm? I can get a nice copy for $40. Think I would rather have a 28 or 35mm
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Here's a review of a Vivitar 35-70 zoom, but I'm not sure it's the Series 1: http://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/vivitar-35-70mm-f2-8-3-8-macro-focusing-zoom.html
> 
> I have come to prefer primes in general and am so far pleased with my Vivitar 28mm f2.8. Again, some reviews of Vivitar primes: http://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/vivitar-lenses-for-pentax-primes-c85.html
Click to expand...

Looks like that series 1 is a keeper. I need to finish up the roll I got on this first. This is my second one tore down, cleaned, sealed, and put back together. Cool. I probably will get the zoom if still available. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Typically, vintage zooms suck, all vintage zooms suck. Back when I was working news nobody used zooms because they ... Sucked. YMMV (The Series 1 was probably the first Vivitar lens worth considering.)

@ Leo: People think they're like tanks because they don't know better and compared to most modern cameras ... Yeah they're pretty solid, but the F is a true tank, a bonafide, card carrying, MF-ing tank of a camera. But if you're happy with the Pentax, that's great, after a certain skill and experience level the hardware becomes less important per the final image, but more important to the photog per the effort required to attain the final image.


----------



## Gary A.

You all in the snow belt, (the exception being Leo because she's just nuts), are gonna hate Gary. Gary is sorta working from home today, he's in a tee shirt listening to classical KUSC, while assembling his new automated and continuous wood chip delivery machine for his smoker. It is 73F right now and In between the tightening of screws, Gary is munching on Mandarin Oranges ....  Mmmh so sweet and sipping coffee.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Typically, vintage zooms suck, all vintage zooms suck. Back when I was working news nobody used zooms because they ... Sucked. YMMV (The Series 1 was probably the first Vivitar lens worth considering.)
> 
> @ Leo: People think they're like tanks because they don't know better and compared to most modern cameras ... Yeah they're pretty solid, but the F is a true tank, a bonafide, card carrying, MF-ing tank of a camera. But if you're happy with the Pentax, that's great, after a certain skill and experience level the hardware becomes less important per the final image, but more important to the photog per the effort required to attain the final image.



I've put that poor K1000 through the ringer for 20+ years, and she has never failed. I'm not saying anything bad about the Nikons, but just saying that the Pentax should not be underestimated. 

Sorry, but me with nothing but a Nikon kit? Never gonna happen.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ...just saying that the Pentax should not be underestimated.


 I've always said that Pentax is the best value for the money, and dollar for dollar, the K1000, IMO, outdoes every other mechanical of its era or later.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... Okay.


----------



## Gary A.

But if Gary was into 35mm film, he'd F it.


----------



## Gary A.

The smoker attachment is attached.  Tri-Tip for Super Bowl Sunday! (It is sorta like attaching a motor drive to a film camera.)


----------



## vintagesnaps

OK that analogy I get. Guess I'll have to read back a couple of pages to figure out what else you guys are talking about! lol You're not hooking up a Pentax to the smoker are ya?


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... Okay.


 You disagree?  What's your nomination?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh that kind of an F, I wondered what the f...

I actually now have a Nikon F. To go with the Petzval lens I got, yes I did that backasswards. But I didn't want the Canon EF version because I have an A1? no an Ae1? been in the drawer so long I forget - that the last time I tried putting in a fresh battery it just sat there and went - what? It's a paper weight. So I got a waistlevel finder and eventually maybe will get another lens for the Nikon.

But... I had a Ricoh Singlex II, my little tank, which finally bit the dust. Yes, in a hockey rink. It's still sort of usable, if I don't want to change the lens since it's out of whack. And there's a small crack in the corner of the mirror which creates a slight blur in the corner which I could work around but, well, I finally got a digital Ricoh. And a variety of midcentury and earlier what nots.

Now Gary you gave me an idea for dinner because I was debating awhile ago what to get out of the freezer. And hey it's sunny and like, 40 today.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Ooh a Contaflex! I got one at a store in a local college town that was going out of business - owner retiring, we all know the drill... didn't have much camera anything off in the back corner. The did have photo albums and stationary as well as cutesy stuffed animals and thingys as expected for the college kids. Kind of a shame, had nice art supplies upstairs too.

Seem to have dug all kind of goodies out of the basement when they were going out of business because besides the Contaflex I got a set of filters that had a definite groovy '70s vibe to the packaging. To go with a Canon F1 that had more or less replaced the Ricoh some years ago.


Does anybody watch Project Runway? or see PR Junior?? One of the kids had what looked like an Instax Wide but they were taking some Polaroid group 'selfies' when they got down to the final four that went to fashion week. Amazing talent and maturity.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Okay.
> 
> 
> 
> You disagree?  What's your nomination?
Click to expand...

Gary thinks the that Pentax makes a solid camera. But ... the big but ... Gary doesn't think the system is as advanced, and full spectrum, as Nikon and more importantly Gary doesn't think the lenses are as good as Nikkor in IQ, aperture and/or build.  But, what does Gary know of Pentax ... Gary hasn't used one since college, the Spotmatic ... And it wasn't Gary's so his familiarity is all second hand and happenstance. But Gary does have first hand knowledge of Nikon F's and that is one well built camera, much more rugged than today's pro level Nikons and Canons.

But your comment was "Cluck for the Buck" and in that category Gary will differ to your knowledge and experience as value isn't something Gary places high on his priority list when purchasing camera gear,


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

Gary has finished scrubbing out the insides of the smoker and is now taking a break. Nuthin' but blue skies.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Le sigh.
> 
> I got a 15% coupon on film bodies, and I totally just bought this:
> ZEISS IKON CONTAFLEX II | KEH Camera



Girl, are we _sure_ we're not twins separated at birth?

Here is mine:





I will admit it hasn't gotten much attention since I bought my Mamiya 645 1000S.   And recently when I picked up my former love, my Pentax MZ-S with all its bells and whistles, I got annoyed with it.   Too much crap to mess with.


----------



## Gary A.

OMG a conspiracy.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> OMG a conspiracy.


    Silly boy.   Gary may be inhaling too much smoke from his smoker.


----------



## table1349

RRRRiiiiiiight.........Is that what they are calling it in California now? "Inhaling to much smoke from the smoker?" What happened to 420?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oooh Terri did you recover yours??? Mine hasn't gotten much use either. But threads like this get me thinking, I should get out the _____  that I haven't used in a long time.

Sharon likes Gary's 'Still Life with Orange'.


----------



## minicoop1985

Finally done with tonight's homework. Yikes. Felt like that took forever.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Oooh Terri did you recover yours??? Mine hasn't gotten much use either. But threads like this get me thinking, I should get out the _____  that I haven't used in a long time.
> 
> Sharon likes Gary's 'Still Life with Orange'.


LOL ... that sucker was on the ground, it's the size of a softball but on the light side ... it think it's a bit dried up on the inside.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Does anybody watch Project Runway? or see PR Junior?? One of the kids had what looked like an Instax Wide but they were taking some Polaroid group 'selfies' when they got down to the final four that went to fashion week. Amazing talent and maturity.



Yup, they use Instax Wide cameras quite a bit, and it seems it's not just for Project Runway but for a lot of backstage fashion show work. It's one of the things that is making the Fuji instant film one of the most profitable part of their business.

And yeah, it's amazing how talented these kids are! I like watching shows like that where you get to watch people actually work and create, whether it's fashion or cooking or art (that show didn't last very long)...



Gary A. said:


> Gary thinks the that Pentax makes a solid camera. But ... the big but ... Gary doesn't think the system is as advanced, and full spectrum, as Nikon and more importantly Gary doesn't think the lenses are as good as Nikkor in IQ, aperture and/or build.  But, what does Gary know of Pentax ... Gary hasn't used one since college, the Spotmatic ... And it wasn't Gary's so his familiarity is all second hand and happenstance. But Gary does have first hand knowledge of Nikon F's and that is one well built camera, much more rugged than today's pro level Nikons and Canons.
> 
> But your comment was "Cluck for the Buck" and in that category Gary will differ to your knowledge and experience as value isn't something Gary places high on his priority list when purchasing camera gear,



For the record, I'm well-aware that Nikons have a reputation for a reason, and I'm not knocking them at all. I'm also not saying I'll never get a Nikon at all. What IS unrealistic for me is switching over to one SLR system and forgetting about the rest of the cameras. I _like_ my oddball cameras and the challenge of getting good images out of them all, and sticking to just one system with a bunch of lenses doesn't suit my shooting style. I also _really_ love vintage cameras much moreso than modern cameras with all their bells and whistles. My newest camera (in terms of absolute age, not how long I've had it for) is the Mamiya 645. I got it in 2005 when my students who worked at Mamiya built it for me. It's still all manual, though. After that, the K1000 is actually the newest. I bought her new in 1993. Other than that, most of my cameras were built in the 50s, 60s, or early 70s. So the Zeiss Ikon fits right in, actually  



terri said:


> Girl, are we _sure_ we're not twins separated at birth?



Entirely possible! 



> Here is mine:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I will admit it hasn't gotten much attention since I bought my Mamiya 645 1000S.   And recently when I picked up my former love, my Pentax MZ-S with all its bells and whistles, I got annoyed with it.   Too much crap to mess with.



That looks gorgeous in red! I bought mine on a bit of a whim, but I'm also totally psyched and can't wait for it to arrive


----------



## table1349




----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning coffee lovers. The gout flare up is better, just dull and tight as opposed to explosive pain today. Lots more water. Grandkids are fired up this morning after their bowls of lucky charms grandpa made for them. The dog is happy to get into the middle of all of it. I need coffee...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.  Glad to hear it's better today.
I have coffee.  I think it was one of the Green Mountain blends (we always have a variety of the K-Cups); leftover pizza for breakfast: deluxe with extra bacon.

We have some cleaning to do, today, and I have about three hours of GIS work to get done this weekend.  Tomorrow, son #1 is coming down with a friend, maybe friend's wife.  He wants to watch the game on our somewhat wide TV screen.  I think I'm going to pull out the TV and put my laptop on the stand just to see what the reaction is.


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> I think I'm going to pull out the TV and put my laptop on the stand just to see what the reaction is.


Here's a shot from when we were setting up the entertainment center furniture at the house in Arizona.  This unit has another row of cupboards on top that go all the way across, but we felt the need to watch some football while taking a break from building.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

Got a dentist appointment this morning - just a cleaning - and then lunch with my sister. My other sister is painting her kitchen and can't come to lunch. She tried the "Hey, why not get take out and have it here?" angle to try to get us to help paint, but we are way too smart for that game.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> Good morning.  Glad to hear it's better today.
> I have coffee.  I think it was one of the Green Mountain blends (we always have a variety of the K-Cups); leftover pizza for breakfast: deluxe with extra bacon.
> 
> We have some cleaning to do, today, and I have about three hours of GIS work to get done this weekend.  Tomorrow, son #1 is coming down with a friend, maybe friend's wife.  He wants to watch the game on our somewhat wide TV screen.  I think I'm going to pull out the TV and put my laptop on the stand just to see what the reaction is.


Oh tell me you didn't just admit to having Kerug coffee!  Good luck.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary gots lots to do, walk the pooch, get to Costco, purchase a Tri-Tip and get it marinating then off to Temecula.  Mary Lou has been quite ill for two weeks now.  She's missed about four to five days of work (a day here a day there), which isn't like her. We haven't drank any wine in those two week also ... And her first request is to mosey down to Temecula and hit some wineries. Gary's is on his second sip of Sumatra ... All the hummingbird feeders are filled and the Cook is patiently waiting for her walk.  Last night we watch Mary Lou's granddaughter perform in the fifth grade talent show.  The show was painfully entertaining.  Fortunately, the theatre was in Seal Beach, so after the show we ate across the street from the pier and the Pacific. Mary Lou had a Blue Moon and Gary a Stella to salute the performance. The Cook and I are off.


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> Oh tell me you didn't just admit to having Kerug coffee!  Good luck.


Oh, I gave that info out a long time ago, in the LB thread and the good people still hang out with me.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> Got a dentist appointment this morning - just a cleaning - and then lunch with my sister. My other sister is painting her kitchen and can't come to lunch. She tried the "Hey, why not get take out and have it here?" angle to try to get us to help paint, but we are way too smart for that game.


Poor girl, all alone in that big kitchen, slaving to get it painted all by herself.





The humanity of it all!


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh tell me you didn't just admit to having Kerug coffee!  Good luck.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I gave that info out a long time ago, in the LB thread and the good people still hang out with me.
Click to expand...

Go back a couple pages, have I got a refrigerator for you.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> My other sister is painting her kitchen and can't come to lunch. She tried the "Hey, why not get take out and have it here?" angle to try to get us to help paint, but we are way too smart for that game.



So go over with one of these and tell her you bought your own paint.


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh tell me you didn't just admit to having Kerug coffee!  Good luck.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I gave that info out a long time ago, in the LB thread and the good people still hang out with me.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Go back a couple pages, have I got a refrigerator for you.
Click to expand...


I saw that advertised a couple months ago -- way above my budget.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ermagerd. So le tired today. Only had one cup and that probably has a lot to do with it. Too lazy to make another pot...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is hopping into the shower, got a walk into the Cook, mowed and trimmed the front ... off to Costco then a run to Temecula.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Leo- Just reflecting about our little conversation of the F vs The Rest of the World ... Gary sees photography much differently than you.  For Gary it is all about the final image and the best way to get to the final image ... Nothing else really matters.  For you it's the total experience, the whole enchilada. Gary has limited knowledge and hardware outside of pro level cameras.  In film, Gary knows all about Nikon, the tools of his trade ... Some about Leica and Hasselblads.  But really nothing beyond those cameras which Gary regularly used.  Gary is a Nikon film camera expert, after that nada.  Nikon was the best way for Gary to attain the proficiency he sought ... Sure there were other roads but they were not as direct or easy, so Gary didn't care. Same-o with digital. Gary went Canon, soon ended up with 1D's and Gary know nothing about Nikon, Pentax, Samgsung, et al, or even much about Canon below 1D's.

But you care about the whole experience, which has always fascinated Gary.  Gary is always fascinated by those who are in love with the hardware and love just owning the hardware.  But he doesn't quite get it. Gary's recommendation for Nikon is based upon the final image ... Not the road to the final image.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh tell me you didn't just admit to having Kerug coffee!  Good luck.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I gave that info out a long time ago, in the LB thread and the good people still hang out with me.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Go back a couple pages, have I got a refrigerator for you.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I saw that advertised a couple months ago -- way above my budget.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't pay for such a thing.  It is interesting.  Would be much more interesting if it was my iPhone instead.  At least then I could get a cup of coffee any time, any place, any how.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou are on a their way to wine country.


----------



## table1349

Mary Lou Who?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 115392 Gary and Mary Lou are on a their way to wine country.


Spit in a bucket for me. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Mary Lou Who?


Gary's Mary Lou, Gary's much, much better half.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 115392 Gary and Mary Lou are on a their way to wine country.
> 
> 
> 
> Spit in a bucket for me.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Gary doesn't waste wine. But good wine probably helps with the gout.


----------



## minicoop1985

So the pen store didn't like my availability and were concerned I wouldn't be available over the summer, so they decided to hire a different photographer. It's OK, since I really wanted to be a freelancer rather than a staff photog anyway.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 115392 Gary and Mary Lou are on a their way to wine country.
> 
> 
> 
> Spit in a bucket for me.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary doesn't waste wine. But good wine probably helps with the gout.
Click to expand...

Really? Probably cherry wine. I liked Boones Farm Wild Cherry Wine 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

We have arrived. Thornton's first for food and drink.


----------



## Gary A.

They have a wonderful champagne, Sweet Angel's Waltz ... Heaven in a glass. But the food here is exceptional. We always eat at Thornton's.


----------



## Gary A.

One down and we picked up our December wine order. Now we're off to Doffo for our February order.


----------



## jcdeboever

Chilli Mac?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

We're at Chapin. Starting with a Sauvignon Blanc pour moi and a Cabernet pour Mary Lou. Both are five star ... Mmmh go good. ... No parking at Doffo. Party buses and limos everywhere.

California dreaming, on such a winter's day.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Chilli Mac?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Lol ... Rigatoni.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou Who?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's Mary Lou, Gary's much, much better half.
Click to expand...

Then Gary is a very, very lucky guy.  Can't speak for Mary Lou in that matter.


----------



## Braineack

using tapatalk.


----------



## limr

Braineack said:


> View attachment 115415
> 
> using tapatalk.



Top of the Rock?


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou Who?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's Mary Lou, Gary's much, much better half.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Then Gary is a very, very lucky guy.  Can't speak for Mary Lou in that matter.
Click to expand...

Yes, Gary is the luckiest person in the world. We are leaving wine county and there is a single road in and out of Temecula wine country and Gary realizes that nearly every single person on this road has been drinking. (All the tasting rooms close around Five o'clock ... And it is 5:15 ... hence the observation.)


----------



## Braineack

limr said:


> Braineack said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 115415
> 
> using tapatalk.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Top of the Rock?
Click to expand...

Yeah. Awesome vantage.

using tapatalk.


----------



## snowbear

We finally got to see the Star Wars movie this afternoon; it was disappointing.  We found everything very predictable.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou are home. We walked out of two tasting rooms. The first because we got tired of waiting for our third glass of vino and the second winery was so crowded, because of wine pickup day (we were there also to pick up our wine), that we just walked out. But, we did discover a new winery that is well worth returning. The biggest disappointment was Ponte, they had two favorite wines, but now they're out ... So Gary will most likely cancel his Ponte club membership. Chapin, the place with the poor service just raised their prices by 25% ... So Gary will probably dump Chapin as well.


----------



## table1349

Geeez, what a lazy bunch.  Been up for two hours now.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, hosers. Got me a new client without having to leave the house! Even after only two days, I can tell I'm much happier freelancing as opposed to working with someone staring over my back... Caused too much anxiety.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The Super Bowl Tri-Tip is in the smoker, six hours to go.  The new Continuous Smoke attachment is delivering smoke like a banshee.  Gary is half way through his first cup o' Joe and then off with the Cook on a walk.  Yesterday was a lovely day, Mary Lou and Gary walked out of two wineries without any guilt.  We're dumping our membership at Ponte and probably Chapin ... Although Chapin crafts very good wines, but a $50 to $60 per bottle average is just crazy. I was disappointed at our dinner last night.  Mary Lou and Gary found a little Italian Resturant near the freeway, convenient and quite good, but this time Gary's meal was a flop but Mary Lou's was delish.  The Cook and I are off into the chill of the morn, but it is supposed to hit 80F today.


----------



## EIngerson

Okay, so here's how I'm spending super bowl Sunday. Gave the new bike a bath so she could model for me and put some snacks in the oven for the game. 

First ride was yesterday. Pretty stoked to have this bike. 



2013 RMZ450 771-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


And some bacon wrapped pork loin with brown sugar glaze for later. YUM!!!



Pork-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. So glad I get my tripod back from the pen store today. There's no way I could do what I REALLY wanna do today without it, and that's ISO 25 and f/16. Should be a good day for it-shooting a dam today, though there is that gray, featureless sky... We'll see what happens when it's time to shoot.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It was quite the entertaining game yesterday. Big D won, Denver and Defense. Gary and Mary Lou attained a party yesterday.  Great party ... It was pot luck with a chili cookoff contest tossed in. Food everywhere.  Mary Lou took this giant platter of fruits and melons with a vanilla yogurt dip.  The dipped Mandrian Orange slices tasted like those ol' Orange-Creamsicles.  The Tri-Tip was a hit and Gary was peppered all evening for the Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce recipe. The grandkids swam and jumped on the trampoline, the adults watch the game in the pool house on a mmh ... Maybe 70" Tv, or in the patio on a 50" or in the main house on a 65". A very pleasant afternoon and evening. The host had a Komado, so Gary and he exchanged tips and recipes.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Eric-  Even though Gary is still stuffed from yesterday ... That has my salivary glands moving into high gear.


----------



## jcdeboever

I just got off the phone with my ex-boss and he offered me almost double my salary to come back... Hmmm, makes one think. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I just got off the phone with my ex-boss and he offered me almost double my salary to come back... Hmmm, makes one think.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


So what's the catch ...?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just got off the phone with my ex-boss and he offered me almost double my salary to come back... Hmmm, makes one think.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> So what's the catch ...?
Click to expand...

Detroit market, experience, work ethic. They did not service all the new business I brought to the table before. It was a relatively new segment (3 years) for their business and did not manage it well. Supposedly, they hired a consultant to separate the segments on a separate p & l and changes are going to take place in terms of structure. I left on good terms but not sure if the money is worth going back to that dysfunction. Don't get me wrong, money is always nice to have more of but I am struggling at what cost. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Warhorse

I have no advice other than if it would not bring you happiness, and you are not currently hungry, do not go back.


----------



## minicoop1985

Collected my crap from the pen people. I just didn't fit in there, methinks. I'm happy to have my tripod back so I can experiment with things the way I WANT to.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary dropped off The Cook at the groomer's. On the way back Gary stopped by the nursery and selected dozens of tomatoes, peppers and herbs. Gary is about half completed with his plantings when he took a break for some soup and ice water. It's 86F here and now.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Been a three cup morning. Last night I went out to shoot some city scenes. Had a fresh battery in my pocket, so I put that on. Did a 30 second exposure, worked out fine. Went to do another, shutter cooperated, back seemed to be doing OK. Shutter closed, and instead of the back finishing the exposure, the battery just quit. it was probably 16 degrees F. Felt the battery and it was frigid... So much for my great idea of shooting in a snowstorm. Oh well.


----------



## limr

This is why I like cameras with no batteries


----------



## limr

Speaking of which, my new camera arrived! I was leaving for work and just had time to grab the KEH box from the doorstep. It's torture having to wait until tonight to play!


----------



## table1349

No battery camera........





Of course if you don't read Russian the manual is a bit of a pain.


----------



## limr

Manual shmanual. The Smenas aren't hard to figure out.


----------



## table1349

That's true.  I wish I had the money for one of these.  Quite rare apparently and pricey.  
They were sold as being indestructible.    They weren't.  Probably why Indra quit selling cameras.  I love the looks of the thing though.


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> That's true.  I wish I had the money for one of these.  Quite rare apparently and pricey.
> They were sold as being indestructible.    They weren't.  Probably why Indra quit selling cameras.  I love the looks of the thing though.



Oooooh, look at that little thing in all its Bakelite glory!

I think the oddest thing I ever shot was a Bilora Bella: Bilora Bella  Not complicated at all, but a funky little thing, and I love the Art Deco design.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I have one of those!!! But a Tower instead of Bella, in ft. instead of meters, and BW and Color settings instead of f8 and 11. Can you guess which market mine was intended for??  and why did they think color film needed larger aperture/more light?

Happy Mardi Gras! I watched a cooking show where they made jambalaya.

Snowed more than it was supposed to, what happened?? was sunny and mild and I started having spring fever! lol forecast is 20 and snow and more snow.

I'm settling back into winter and back to craft projects. Or some online shopping.


----------



## table1349

For me it still just doesn't get any better than this.  F2 Photomic





What I started with an f in 1971 and got a chance to move up later.  To me this is till one of the greatest 35mm cameras ever made.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> No battery camera........
> View attachment 115579
> 
> Of course if you don't read Russian the manual is a bit of a pain.


I seen that one on etsy

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

I seen one of these on etsy, pretty strange looking.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The Darth Vader. (Actually the Konica Aiborg.)

Not that I can claim coming up with a clever name for it, but I know that's what it's called. This 1991 NYTimes article came up in a quick search, wonder if this is where the name came from??
Camera

The Konica Aiborg - A Technological Dead End? - Photo.net Modern Film Cameras Forum


----------



## snowbear

Batteries not required.




My find at The Barn Show. by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> I seen one of these on etsy, pretty strange looking.
> 
> View attachment 115584


Walks up to a sony mirrorless and state: * "I am your father."*


----------



## minicoop1985

@limr what was in that KEH box? I need to do some shopping there... Got a Hasselblad body with no lens, no finder, and no back.


----------



## Peeb

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just got off the phone with my ex-boss and he offered me almost double my salary to come back... Hmmm, makes one think.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> So what's the catch ...?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Detroit market, experience, work ethic. They did not service all the new business I brought to the table before. It was a relatively new segment (3 years) for their business and did not manage it well. Supposedly, they hired a consultant to separate the segments on a separate p & l and changes are going to take place in terms of structure. I left on good terms but not sure if the money is worth going back to that dysfunction. Don't get me wrong, money is always nice to have more of but I am struggling at what cost.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Detriot?

I had a buddy tell me about a sweepstakes where the grand prize was a 1-week trip to Detroit.
Second place was a 2-week trip to Detroit.


----------



## jcdeboever

Peeb said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just got off the phone with my ex-boss and he offered me almost double my salary to come back... Hmmm, makes one think.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> So what's the catch ...?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Detroit market, experience, work ethic. They did not service all the new business I brought to the table before. It was a relatively new segment (3 years) for their business and did not manage it well. Supposedly, they hired a consultant to separate the segments on a separate p & l and changes are going to take place in terms of structure. I left on good terms but not sure if the money is worth going back to that dysfunction. Don't get me wrong, money is always nice to have more of but I am struggling at what cost.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Detriot?
> 
> I had a buddy tell me about a sweepstakes where the grand prize was a 1-week trip to Detroit.
> Second place was a 2-week trip to Detroit.
Click to expand...

LMAO

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

California snow ...  85F today.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Noches Coffee Hosers.  This has been a very good day.  Early morning meeting with the County of Los Angeles this morning.  The meeting went better than expected. When Mary Lou came home from work she took Gary to a Koi place for Gary's Valentine present, an all black Koi! Presently, Mary Lou and Gary are relaxing in the patio, sipping some Oak Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, (Temecula), waiting for the black Koi water to equalize with the pond water.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> @limr what was in that KEH box? I need to do some shopping there... Got a Hasselblad body with no lens, no finder, and no back.



THIS little baby was in the box. Oh, how beautiful it is! So clean, meter, split screen focus, bright viewfinder, smooth everything...and yes, she's already got some HP5 loaded


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr what was in that KEH box? I need to do some shopping there... Got a Hasselblad body with no lens, no finder, and no back.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> THIS little baby was in the box. Oh, how beautiful it is! So clean, meter, split screen focus, bright viewfinder, smooth everything...and yes, she's already got some HP5 loaded
> 
> View attachment 115597
Click to expand...

Score! You just never know until you get it. I can't wait to see some photos you create with it. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

The Black Fish is now swimming freely in the pond.  Mary Lou and Gary are off to dinner.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers.  Facing the loathing and revulsion of being back in the office today, but at least not without coffee/chocolate muffin.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is having a not so bueno day.  Gary lost his keys. Gary has a spare set, but it still makes Gary upset.  Gary blew off his morning meeting and has settled down to an Apple empanada and coffee while he waits for Golden Wall Chinese Resturant and Target to open so he can call lost and found.


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr what was in that KEH box? I need to do some shopping there... Got a Hasselblad body with no lens, no finder, and no back.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> THIS little baby was in the box. Oh, how beautiful it is! So clean, meter, split screen focus, bright viewfinder, smooth everything...and yes, she's already got some HP5 loaded
> 
> View attachment 115597
Click to expand...



Very nice. I had one, but the shutter was sticky. Tried to fix it and man are those things complicated... Great score!

Good morning hosers. Gonna be a cold one...  High of 12, only supposed to get colder this week. I hate February.


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> ... not sure if the money is worth going back to that dysfunction. Don't get me wrong, money is always nice to have more of but I am struggling at what cost.


I've been debating something similar regarding dysfunction and relatively stable money vs. cost on a personal level. I still haven't made a decision, haha.


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... not sure if the money is worth going back to that dysfunction. Don't get me wrong, money is always nice to have more of but I am struggling at what cost.
> 
> 
> 
> I've been debating something similar regarding dysfunction and relatively stable money vs. cost on a personal level. I still haven't made a decision, haha.
Click to expand...

It is a tough decision to make. My biggest struggle is choosing between my father in law and my old boss. I have a great deal of respect for both, however working for family can be difficult at times. I am worried about his disappointment, and how it positions the family's future as he is 70 years old and spending less and less time in the business. However, nothing has ever been mentioned about me taking the business over even though I run it as if it is my own. My former boss, who is trying to hire me, I have known for 30 years and have a great deal of respect for. He is extremely knowledgeable within the industry but as had limited power in his current position based on the corporation's structure. He is made a generous offer and that really adds fuel to the fire so to speak. Personally, I would love to be able to talk to my father in law about the situation however he is not the easiest to talk with. He may look at it as a way for me to get more money out of him which is not the case. Then there's the wife and the mother in law excetera excetera. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... not sure if the money is worth going back to that dysfunction. Don't get me wrong, money is always nice to have more of but I am struggling at what cost.
> 
> 
> 
> I've been debating something similar regarding dysfunction and relatively stable money vs. cost on a personal level. I still haven't made a decision, haha.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It is a tough decision to make. My biggest struggle is choosing between my father in law and my old boss. I have a great deal of respect for both, however working for family can be difficult at times. I am worried about his disappointment, and how it positions the family's future as he is 70 years old and spending less and less time in the business. However, nothing has ever been mentioned about me taking the business over even though I run it as if it is my own. My former boss, who is trying to hire me, I have known for 30 years and have a great deal of respect for. He is extremely knowledgeable within the industry but as had limited power in his current position based on the corporation's structure. He is made a generous offer and that really adds fuel to the fire so to speak. Personally, I would love to be able to talk to my father in law about the situation however he is not the easiest to talk with. He may look at it as a way for me to get more money out of him which is not the case. Then there's the wife and the mother in law excetera excetera.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

As much as I love my family, I would never work with or for them.

You say that your old boss has limited power based on corporate structure. I'm assuming that means there's no way to try to get more responsibility or 'power' over certain decisions? Is there a pathway available to you to move into such a position, if you were to return? If not, I'd say move on. I moved from a government agency to private because of a similar lack of upward mobility. I personally can't stay in the same position my entire life; part of my personality requires more and more responsibility. Because of a lack of upward mobility, I had to leave.

Do your wife and mother-in-law know your feelings and current situation? Is there any way for them to support you during such a discussion with your father-in-law? It sounds like before you make any decisions, you need to have a discussion with your father-in-law. But that's just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt.


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC- You hit the nail on the head.  If it was Gary, Gary would sit down with the old man and have a frank discussion on your future and the offer on the table.  Family comes first ... Not money ... But you need to also know your future.  If you haven't a future with a percentage of ownership or partnership with your father in law's company, then what's the point? Go for the money. But that is Gary's initial take without any knowledge of the finer details.


----------



## limr

HOSERS! HEY THERE, HOSERS!

I'm not entirely sure that it's a good thing to already be punchy at 9am.


----------



## Designer

It's kind of fun when you're punchy early, but then there's the crash that occurs later in the day.  That's not so much fun.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> HOSERS! HEY THERE, HOSERS!
> 
> I'm not entirely sure that it's a good thing to already be punchy at 9am.



Hey there, yourself.  What's happening over there?  Did you drink an entire cup of Turkish coffee, including the grounds?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary called and visited Golden Wall and Target yesterday but no keys. This doesn't make Gary a happy boy.  There has been some local brew-ha-ha regarding the Executive Director of the Coastal Commission, (a government agency which regulates zoning and developments along the 1,100 mile California coast).  There is a move, originally behind closed doors, by developers to replace the Executive Director because he is an "Enviromental Hero". He was offerred a deal to go quietly via resignation or he could demand a public hearing and not benefit from being fired. Charles Lester opted for the public hearing. Yesterday, hundreds rallied to Morro Bay in support of Lester. The outpouring of support included Lester signing autographs. ( A bureaucrat signing autographs, lol.)

This has all the makings of a Tv series, an Erin Brockovitch type of event.  Especially when you have Native American speakers urging the commission to "protect Grandmother Ocean".  "We have been relentless in our protection of public access," Lester said. State law mandates public access to all beaches as all beaches are public.

There is so much fodder in this, big money developers, government, the people, environmental groups (even one named the Surfrider-Foundation), hidden deals, side deals, all the action along the shore ... mark my words, a Tv special is probably already in the words. Even the choosing of the hearing venu smells wrong, being in this wonderfully scenic Central Coast city of Morro Bay, but it is a small backwater community far from the large population centers of San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco, thereby limiting public participation.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> It's kind of fun when you're punchy early, but then there's the crash that occurs later in the day.  That's not so much fun.



True. Especially since I have to teach after the crash!  And I'm already getting sorta punchy with classes, in a very geeky teacher-like way. Long story short, for many reasons, I've taken to using my new smart monitor and stylus to write notes in a "smart notebook" that I can broadcast to the student computers (I teach in a computer lab -  better for writing classes.) Then I can save the notebook as a pdf and upload it to their online course shell. A few weeks ago, I was kinda punchy so after they'd left and I was saving the document, I threw in "Bonus Cats"







Ever since then, I'll include a different picture at the end of their notes. I always do it after they leave and they don't see the picture unless they go online and open up the document. At some random point during the next class, I'll "quiz" them on the picture. Last week's was a picture of Bob, and when I asked which animal was in the picture, they were all "SMALL TURTLE NAMED BOB!" 

I don't know if every picture will be an animal picture, but either way, I think in my silliness, I have stumbled upon a brilliantly sneaky way to get them to review their class notes 



KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> HOSERS! HEY THERE, HOSERS!
> 
> I'm not entirely sure that it's a good thing to already be punchy at 9am.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey there, yourself.  What's happening over there?  Did you drink an entire cup of Turkish coffee, including the grounds?
Click to expand...


I've seen someone drink the grounds. My first year in Istanbul, my sister's parents-in-law visited (they were taking a cruise that left from Istanbul). We met for lunch and it was their first time drinking Turkish coffee. The father got to the end and asked me, "Do they actually drink the grounds or leave them?" but then tipped the cup back before I could answer. He finished, smiled big, and had grounds all over his teeth. "No," I said. "They don't." That's when he felt his teeth. It's a good thing he's the kind that could laugh at himself


----------



## Gary A.

LOL, that reminds Gary of a story also.  For whatever reason, President Gerald Ford was in town and we were all having dinner at Lucy's Adobe, a somewhat famous Mexican Resturant and political hangout. Ford was served a tamale still wrapped in its corn husk jacket.  Ford proceeded to cut the tamale and consume it husk and all.  The other officials at his table all sorta looked at each other with WTF expressions and after a bit they also started eating their tamales husk and all.


----------



## Designer

(..husk, husk, husk..)


----------



## vintagesnaps

No, you mean Tusk, tusk... ya know, bring on the marching band.






I like hats. I need more coffee. Leo your Thursdays are Fridays so go ahead and be punchy.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, hosers. Been a rough morning, as always, but I'm FINALLY awake. Gonna have me a studio day today, do some testing with my Aptus.


----------



## Gary A.

Ahhhh ... Tusk!  Tusk, is the only rock song that has featured a major college marching band ... USC!


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> I've seen someone drink the grounds. My first year in Istanbul, my sister's parents-in-law visited (they were taking a cruise that left from Istanbul). We met for lunch and it was their first time drinking Turkish coffee. The father got to the end and asked me, "Do they actually drink the grounds or leave them?" but then tipped the cup back before I could answer. He finished, smiled big, and had grounds all over his teeth. "No," I said. "They don't." That's when he felt his teeth. It's a good thing he's the kind that could laugh at himself



Many years ago I had to go to a business dinner with three other people.  Since it was in an Italian restaurant, and I had a long drive home, I ordered a double espresso after dinner.  The others joined me, although they hadn't grown up with it and didn't know anything about it.  The next morning one of them said he'd been up all night.  I said something along the lines of "you didn't drain the cup to the bottom, did you?"  Of course he had.


----------



## jcdeboever

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've seen someone drink the grounds. My first year in Istanbul, my sister's parents-in-law visited (they were taking a cruise that left from Istanbul). We met for lunch and it was their first time drinking Turkish coffee. The father got to the end and asked me, "Do they actually drink the grounds or leave them?" but then tipped the cup back before I could answer. He finished, smiled big, and had grounds all over his teeth. "No," I said. "They don't." That's when he felt his teeth. It's a good thing he's the kind that could laugh at himself
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Many years ago I had to go to a business dinner with three other people.  Since it was in an Italian restaurant, and I had a long drive home, I ordered a double espresso after dinner.  The others joined me, although they hadn't grown up with it and didn't know anything about it.  The next morning one of them said he'd been up all night.  I said something along the lines of "you didn't drain the cup to the bottom, did you?"  Of course he had.
Click to expand...

When I played baseball, we would chew up about 10 pieces of bazooka bubble gum, spread it out like silly putty and put a scoop or two of coffee grounds in the middle, ball it up and stuff her in. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> When I played baseball, we would chew up about 10 pieces of bazooka bubble gum, spread it out like silly putty and put a scoop or two of coffee grounds in the middle, ball it up and stuff her in.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



That sounds...well, just plain horrifying!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @ JC- You hit the nail on the head.  If it was Gary, Gary would sit down with the old man and have a frank discussion on your future and the offer on the table.  Family comes first ... Not money ... But you need to also know your future.  If you haven't a future with a percentage of ownership or partnership with your father in law's company, then what's the point? Go for the money. But that is Gary's initial take without any knowledge of the finer details.



Well I have given it enough thought. The one issue that I hate the thought of is the perception of the company in the market. It was a challenge then and it will be a challenge now / moving forward. Negative perception is a hard thing to overcome in sales as they all talk to one another.


limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> When I played baseball, we would chew up about 10 pieces of bazooka bubble gum, spread it out like silly putty and put a scoop or two of coffee grounds in the middle, ball it up and stuff her in.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That sounds...well, just plain horrifying!
Click to expand...


Well we couldn't afford greenies.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've seen someone drink the grounds. My first year in Istanbul, my sister's parents-in-law visited (they were taking a cruise that left from Istanbul). We met for lunch and it was their first time drinking Turkish coffee. The father got to the end and asked me, "Do they actually drink the grounds or leave them?" but then tipped the cup back before I could answer. He finished, smiled big, and had grounds all over his teeth. "No," I said. "They don't." That's when he felt his teeth. It's a good thing he's the kind that could laugh at himself
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Many years ago I had to go to a business dinner with three other people.  Since it was in an Italian restaurant, and I had a long drive home, I ordered a double espresso after dinner.  The others joined me, although they hadn't grown up with it and didn't know anything about it.  The next morning one of them said he'd been up all night.  I said something along the lines of "you didn't drain the cup to the bottom, did you?"  Of course he had.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> When I played baseball, we would chew up about 10 pieces of bazooka bubble gum, spread it out like silly putty and put a scoop or two of coffee grounds in the middle, ball it up and stuff her in.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary finds it nice that now his normal get-out-of-bed time is also about the same time as dawn.  It is still black at 6:00 a.m. By the time Gary and Cook retrieve the newspaper, the Sun is waking up also.  You-all know how Gary loves California and likes to poke fun at you cold climate people.  In that vein ... Yesterday while waiting for the BBQ to heat up I plucked a salad from the backyard.

Kale, lettuce, parsley, celery, tomatoes, a pepper, a lemon for some zest and Mandrian Oranges for a sweet topping.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary finds it nice that now his normal get-out-of-bed time is also about the same time as dawn.  It is still black at 6:00 a.m. By the time Gary and Cook retrieve the newspaper, the Sun is waking up also.  You-all know how Gary loves California and likes to poke fun at you cold climate people.  In that vein ... Yesterday while waiting for the BBQ to fire up I plucked a salad from the backyard.


Yup, Gary rubbing in my 14° weather. I got nothing except to say take your shirt off and omit the sunblock for about 5 hours.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Okay Hosers, this Coastal Comission thing is heating up. The Coastal panel defends the firing of the Executive Director in a secret session Wednesday.  

A former Coastal Commissioner said "Given the long history of the commission as a unique agency created out of the initiative process and the additional sense that this is the public's commission in a way that any other state agency is not, commissioners owe the public a good explanation as to why they did what they did."

That is a very interesting statement. California has an 'initiative process' where the people can bypass the legislature via direct democracy.  With enough signatures, new laws/propositions can be placed on the ballot of a general election for a vote by the entire state.  Hence, the people created the Coastal Comission to protect our 1,100 shoreline. 

I think the LA Times' reporter may have injected some bias into the front page article but here are the opening paragraphs "Until Wednesday, the California Coastal Commission usually held true to its populist roots.  It was born of a citizen uprising against development more than four decades ago, and over the years the agency was known for transparency and responsiveness to public concerns.

Which explains why so many Californians feel punched in the solar plexus today.

The commission fired Charles Lester, its executive director, in a secret session Wednesday, with little public explanation, after hearing from more than 200 people who opposed his dismissal and virtually none who favored it."

Gary is tellin' you ... There's a mini-series coming to a TV set near you.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary finds it nice that now his normal get-out-of-bed time is also about the same time as dawn.  It is still black at 6:00 a.m. By the time Gary and Cook retrieve the newspaper, the Sun is waking up also.  You-all know how Gary loves California and likes to poke fun at you cold climate people.  In that vein ... Yesterday while waiting for the BBQ to fire up I plucked a salad from the backyard.
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, Gary rubbing in my 14° weather. I got nothing except to say take your shirt off and omit the sunblock for about 5 hours.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

That's a good idea ... I'll go spend the day at the beach.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Okay Hosers, this Coastal Comission thing is heating up. The Coastal panel defends the firing of the Executive Director in a secret session Wednesday.


I missed something.  If I get time later I'll do an on-line search for it.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin hosers. Another cold one here in Appleton. I can't wait until this winter thing is over, despite this being one of the milder winters we've had. Last year with the "Polar Vortex" keeping me locked inside for a few weeks was BRUTAL.


----------



## limr

Okay, just stop. This winter has been LAME and now that we're finally getting a real cold snap, I'm in heaven and y'all are HARSHING MY BUZZ!!


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay Hosers, this Coastal Comission thing is heating up. The Coastal panel defends the firing of the Executive Director in a secret session Wednesday.
> 
> 
> 
> I missed something.  If I get time later I'll do an on-line search for it.
Click to expand...

Gary set the stage a few pages back.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Okay, just stop. This winter has been LAME and now that we're finally getting a real cold snap, I'm in heaven and y'all are HARSHING MY BUZZ!!
> 
> View attachment 115720


LOL ... it is still cold at night, The Cook and Gary walked in a 52F morning. But it should be another 85F day.


----------



## snowbear

Blech.  Scratchy throat, uncooperative sinuses, chest congestion (and yet, I am still at the office.)

I want to update my desired weather conditions.  I don't like hot, _muggy-humid_ weather.  I don't mind cold and warm or even very warm is OK, so long as the humidity is in the single digits.  That said, we are looking at the higher elevations (~5,000' ASL) in the southwest as a possibility for relocating (LL has decided to apply to schools there).  This doesn't throw NE out, but just adds another possibility.


----------



## minicoop1985

I don't mind hot, muggy weather as much as I hate cold. I don't complain all summer so I can whine it up during winter.

I'm in the same boat, Snowbear. Scratchy throat, irritated sinuses, and just feeling exhausted. That being said, I have a headshot to do at the studio today. YAY! I CAN MAKE SOME DAMNED MONEY! And it's from one of our better clients-they didn't desert us! YAY


----------



## limr

Hot weather makes me stabby.


----------



## table1349




----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Hot weather makes me stabby.



Yeah, me too, but I suspect that when I meet some people in the city to go photographing tomorrow morning the cold may stab me.  We may end up taking pictures inside Reading Terminal Market, which wouldn't be the worst thing, plus they have all manner of food and drink in there.


----------



## beachrat

Gary is so silly.
Gary doesn't like below zero weather,so he thinks nobody else does.
Paulie loves February in New York.
And Paulie spent one,yes ,1 Christmas in L.A. 
It sucked,and could not compare with anything that New England offers every year.
Warm weather all year long is silly.


----------



## minicoop1985

Warm weather year round would be fantastic, says Mike.


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm happy just waking up every morning. Every day is a gift. I'm freezing my ass off right now.






Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is back at the BBQ. Salmon tonight marinaded in spices, herbs and completely immersed in lemon juice. Gary is in short sleeves and is wet from the knees down from cleaning the filters in the pond. Gary is gonna do a reverse searing on the salmon. Gary has KUSC blasting away and a glass of wine. Gary is happy.

PS- 70F presently.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 115758 Gary is back at the BBQ. Salmon tonight marinaded in spices, herbs and completely immersed in lemon juice. Gary is in short sleeves and is wet from the knees down from cleaning the filters in the pond. Gary is gonna do a reverse searing on the salmon. Gary has KUSC blasting away and a glass of wine. Gary is happy.
> 
> PS- 70F presently.


What make and model is Gary's BBQ grill?  

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has a few grills, they cook differently. The salmon started in the Kamado (charcoal) and will end up in the propane for the reverse sear. 

1) Kamado: Kamado Joe Classic (ceramic);
2) Gas: Kitchen Aid four burners (stainless);
3) Electric Wood Chip Smoker: Masterbuilt (30") and
4) Electric Grill: George Foreman (pedestal).


----------



## Gary A.

The salmon is in the gas grill.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary has a few grills, they cook differently. The salmon started in the Kamado (charcoal) and will end up in the propane for the reverse sear.
> 
> 1) Kamado: Kamado Joe Classic (ceramic);
> 2) Gas: Kitchen Aid four burners (stainless);
> 3) Electric Wood Chip Smoker: Masterbuilt (30") and
> 4) Electric Grill: George Foreman (pedestal).


That Kamado looks real nice. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

The Kamado is absolutely wonderful. Mary Lou says "The salmon is great."


----------



## Gary A.

The Kamado in action.


----------



## Gary A.

All washed down with a Fess Parker Chardonnay.


----------



## jcdeboever

Got to get me one of those. My ex boss has one but his is green. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Are they good for steaks?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Tri-Tip



 
Steaks



jcdeboever said:


> Got to get me one of those. My ex boss has one but his is green.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


He has the Big Green Egg (BGE).   All Kamados cook about the same ... So Gary looked for value and the Kamado Joe delivered more cluck for the buck. Gary purchased his Kamado at Costco for maximum value. 

Kamados can cook very very high and very very low. Higher and lower than a gas grill plus with an added charcoal/smokey flavor. Steaks are fine, but roast type cuts benefit the most due to longer time in the Kamado. My Tri-Tip has the taste and texture of Prime Rib.


----------



## Gary A.

The smoker in action. The Kamado does a good job at smoking, but not as good as a dedicated smoker.


----------



## Gary A.

JC you need to get out of the cold and come to LA. Gary will feed you. (The Fess Parker Chardonnay is a delight.)


----------



## jcdeboever

Wow, that Tri tip looks great... My wife never eats pink red meat. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jbylake

jcdeboever said:


> Got to get me one of those. My ex boss has one but his is green.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Yeah, I had to give mine away.  I bought a new condo, and the HOA prohibits any charcoal or wood burning grills, stoves, etc.. to be used.  Funny thing is, I have a working fireplace in the main room. I mentioned it to my mother when I moved in, and she bought me a SS gas grill for Christmas. I truly appreciated the sentiment but you do give up a lot with a gas grill.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Wow, that Tri tip looks great... My wife never eats pink red meat.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk





jbylake said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Got to get me one of those. My ex boss has one but his is green.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I had to give mine away.  I bought a new condo, and the HOA prohibits any charcoal or wood burning grills, stoves, etc.. to be used.  Funny thing is, I have a working fireplace in the main room. I mentioned it to my mother when I moved in, and she bought me a SS gas grill for Christmas. I truly appreciated the sentiment but you do give up a lot with a gas grill.
Click to expand...

Smother her meat in BBQ sauce.


----------



## Gary A.

The real trick to grilling/BBQing is the proper use of a cooking thermometer. The best is a remote thermometer which monitors the meat with one probe and the ambient temp with a second probe. The probes are wrapped in a heat resistant material so they stay in the meat and the grill and you can monitor the cooking without raising the lid.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, that Tri tip looks great... My wife never eats pink red meat.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jbylake said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Got to get me one of those. My ex boss has one but his is green.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Smother her meat in BBQ sauce.
Click to expand...

She got a rash the last time...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, that Tri tip looks great... My wife never eats pink red meat.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jbylake said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Got to get me one of those. My ex boss has one but his is green.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Smother her meat in BBQ sauce.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> She got a rash the last time...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

From properly cooked meat ... Odd?


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Got woken up too early by the kid. Been a long morning, perfect for coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Been busy getting my morning chores completed and Gary prepped sprayed some rubber sealant around the seams and fasteners  of the pond's skimmer filtration unit. A quick shower then Gary and Mary Lou are off to wine country again.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou are on the road to Temecula ... Us and every other person in LA is also going to Temecula.


----------



## Gary A.

A gentleman kicking back, soaking up the sunshine and soaking in some vino.


----------



## minicoop1985

Yeah. Lucky you. I can feel the frigid draft coming in from my living room window.


----------



## Gary A.

Lumiere


----------



## Gary A.

Mushroom Pasta at Thornton.


----------



## Gary A.

81F outside.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> The real trick to grilling/BBQing is the proper use of a cooking thermometer. The best is a remote thermometer which monitors the meat with one probe and the ambient temp with a second probe. The probes are wrapped in a heat resistant material so they stay in the meat and the grill and you can monitor the cooking without raising the lid.


Agreed.  I use an iGrill2 and it works wonderfully for both grilling/smoking and cooking in the kitchen.  The ambient temp probe is very helpful when smoking.  

Gary,  One more grill and you get a toaster.  That's quite a collection.  I have a Webber Kettle elite that has been turned into a pizza oven, a Webber Summit natural gas grill and have a Yoder Smoker coming.  The pellet kind since I tend to do long slow smokes and hate getting up all night to build new fires.


----------



## Gary A.

The Masterbuilt uses wood chips, which Gary can get anywhere and you can add a continuous cold smoke attachment. Gary found a local place that sell and chips Red Oak for Santa Maria style.


----------



## Gary A.

Doffo.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 115849
> Doffo.


Oh no, giving GW a workout...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 115849
> Doffo.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh no, giving GW a workout...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Nope, theXP1 with a Zeiss 32mm.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 115849
> Doffo.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh no, giving GW a workout...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nope, theXP1 with a Zeiss 32mm.
Click to expand...

Oops, they look similar at a glance. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 115849
> Doffo.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh no, giving GW a workout...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nope, theXP1 with a Zeiss 32mm.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oops, they look similar at a glance.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Yeah, they do. But, it is cool you know about the Fuji GW series.


----------



## pixmedic

OMG its *cold* this morning!
its 44 degrees! I had to put on a jacket....
i didn't zip it up, but still..I had to put on a jacket!


----------



## jcdeboever

pixmedic said:


> OMG its *cold* this morning!
> its 44 degrees! I had to put on a jacket....
> i didn't zip it up, but still..I had to put on a jacket!


Balmy. It's -6° here, feels like -15°

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Last night at 10. Not sure what the overnight low dropped to after this:


----------



## minicoop1985

It's warming up considerably today, going to be 24 today and 30 something tomorrow. Man I'm still ready for 60s any day now....


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 52F and fog is rolling in.  It is very odd, an hour ago, when The Cook and Gary gathered in the morning newspaper it was clear as a bell. But now a fog is graying everything out. Gary discovered a cup of coffee in the French Press and re-heated same for his first cup. Aged coffee, just like his wine, dog and himself.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary split and replanted some reeds in the pond two days ago.  He repacked everything in a plastic milk crate lining the crate with a wire mesh, then added some soil and ... He thought ... Throughly washing the soil down. After transferring the plants and tossing the crate into the pond, the soil went everywhere ... Which was not in his plan. For the last few days Gary has been cleaning out filters, scooping off floating soil and foam. Gary is not a happy camper and next time will use rocks in the water plants containers and let the plants depend solely on fish poop for their nutrients.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Last night at 10. Not sure what the overnight low dropped to after this:
> 
> View attachment 115862


 You ain't going anywhere ... But at least you're in heaven.


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> OMG its *cold* this morning!
> its 44 degrees! I had to put on a jacket....
> i didn't zip it up, but still..I had to put on a jacket!


I hear you brother. It gets down into the 40's here at night ... Most every night during the winter. When I lived at the beach, even in August the temp would down into the 40's at night. 80's during the day and 40's at night, I loved it.

I bet that jacket has some dust on it.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG its *cold* this morning!
> its 44 degrees! I had to put on a jacket....
> i didn't zip it up, but still..I had to put on a jacket!
> 
> 
> 
> Balmy. It's -6° here, feels like -15°
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Soooo, under those balmy conditions you'll fire up the Kamado indoors?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Last night at 10. Not sure what the overnight low dropped to after this:
> 
> View attachment 115862
> 
> 
> 
> You ain't going anywhere ... But at least you're in heaven.
Click to expand...


I wasn't planning on doing much today except chores and my first batch of grading, no matter what the temperature was. I'm a life-long Northeasterner. These temps mean nothing more than business as usual, just with an extra layer and the good mittens


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Last night at 10. Not sure what the overnight low dropped to after this:
> 
> View attachment 115862
> 
> 
> 
> You ain't going anywhere ... But at least you're in heaven.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I wasn't planning on doing much today except chores and my first batch of grading, no matter what the temperature was. I'm a life-long Northeasterner. These temps mean nothing more than business as usual, just with an extra layer and the good mittens
Click to expand...

So that's the secret ... Good mittens.


----------



## Designer

We have some new snow and new neighbors.  The neighbor was hand-shoveling the shared driveway, which I normally do with the tractor, so I went out and spoke with him.  I thought maybe they had to drive out today, or something, but he didn't realize that I do the driveway with my tractor.  Besides; it was still snowing and the snowplow hadn't made its final run, so working the snow now is pretty much a waste of time.  

Temps are very moderate; 16 degrees F, almost no wind, gently falling snowflakes.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Last night at 10. Not sure what the overnight low dropped to after this:
> 
> View attachment 115862
> 
> 
> 
> You ain't going anywhere ... But at least you're in heaven.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I wasn't planning on doing much today except chores and my first batch of grading, no matter what the temperature was. I'm a life-long Northeasterner. These temps mean nothing more than business as usual, just with an extra layer and the good mittens
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> So that's the secret ... Good mittens.
Click to expand...


And socks. The rest of you can be toasty warm, but if your hands and feet are cold, it's miserable.


----------



## jcdeboever

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## pixmedic

Still a chilly 63 degrees here, but I did have to take my jacket off

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

O.K., the snow has stopped, and I'm waiting for the snow plow, then I get to go out and do my snow removal chores.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary wishes he had a tractor.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Is that for your Valentine?


----------



## Peeb

OMG- just figured out I've only had one cuppa today!

Leaving to fire up the keurig....


----------



## jcdeboever

[quote uid=209470 name="jcdeboever" post=3588853]
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




<br /><br />Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]<br />Is that for your Valentine?


It is. I pulled one from the dozen, it went on her breakfast tray in bed. Toaster french toast and scrambled eggs. Best I could do.  

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Gary wishes he had a tractor.


I can help..  Large?  Small?  Gas, steam or diesel?  3pt hitch or straight drawbar?


----------



## Gary A.

A front end loader would be fun.  Volvo makes a nice one. But Gary would settle on a Fergie or a Bobcat.


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC- Nice. Gary's Valentine and he are sipping some Fess Parker Chardonnay and munching on tuna sandwiches, lol.  She gave Gary tickets to Andrea Bochelli at the Hollywood Bowl.  Gary gave her this handmade glass wind chime thingie. (You need to move to LA so Gary can give you cooking lessons.) The toaster is a fashion don't. ... Not that tuna is any better ... But it's lunch time and we're hot from working out and working in the yard. Gary planted two flats of ground cover around the pond, thyme and mint, transplanted a potted kale to under the Persimmon and planted a bunch of spinach into the now free pot.  The Fess Parker is sooooo gooood on this warm day.  My Valentine is happy with the new wind chime, life is good.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> A front end loader would be fun.  Volvo makes a nice one. But Gary would settle on a Fergie or a Bobcat.


You would totally love a loader of some type.  Getting it into the backyard is going to be the tricky part.


----------



## Designer

Done with my snow removal.  We got 3 to 4 inches of very light fluffy stuff, so it all went very quickly.  And the temp when I looked at the thermometer was a balmy 26 F. so when I was finished I removed my gloves, hood, and cap with earflaps and went back outside to just enjoy the weather and admire the clean driveway.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Done with my snow removal.  We got 3 to 4 inches of very light fluffy stuff, so it all went very quickly.  And the temp when I looked at the thermometer was a balmy 26 F. so when I was finished I removed my gloves, hood, and cap with earflaps and went back outside to just enjoy the weather and admire the clean driveway.


LOL ... Lucky you ... Meanwhile Gary has some sweat pouring down his brow after digging another 1 gal plant into the retaining slope. Now, Gary's back scooping out the last of the foam. Man. Where's that Fess Parker when you need it.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Meanwhile Gary has some sweat pouring down his brow after digging another 1 gal plant into the retaining slope.


Hmmm... Sounds more like you need a backhoe rather than a loader.  Oh, well, get a tractor with one attachment on each end and you've got it!  Backfilling goes faster with a loader.  Carrying heavy pots and landscape materials is nothing for a loader.  Digging is best done with a backhoe.


----------



## jcdeboever

My wife wants me to dress as a baseball umpire tonight. Oh boy, nine innings is gonna take a lot out of me.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> A front end loader would be fun.  Volvo makes a nice one. But Gary would settle on a Fergie or a Bobcat.
> 
> 
> 
> You would totally love a loader of some type.  *Getting it into the backyard is going to be the tricky part*.
Click to expand...

Easy-peasy....  down the hall, and turn right at the loo!  (It might mess up the front hall rug a little, but you know.... )


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Meanwhile Gary has some sweat pouring down his brow after digging another 1 gal plant into the retaining slope.
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm... Sounds more like you need a backhoe rather than a loader.  Oh, well, get a tractor with one attachment on each end and you've got it!  Backfilling goes faster with a loader.  Carrying heavy pots and landscape materials is nothing for a loader.  Digging is best done with a backhoe.
Click to expand...

Or an excavator!


----------



## Gary A.

Okay, Gary just finished trimming and mowing the back. A nice cooling breeze is flowing in from the west and Mary Lou is around the corner working on the grapes in the side yard.  Maybe it's time for another glass of vino.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Okay, Gary just finished trimming and mowing the back. A nice cooling breeze is flowing in from the west and Gary Lou is around the corner working on the grapes in the side yard.  Maybe it's time for another glass of vino.


Who is Gary Lou? Your double female form?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## pixmedic

It was too cold to cry when I woke up alone

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk


----------



## Peeb

After 30 years of marriage Mrs Peeb still  hasn't picked up on my nonverbal cues!   

I'm pretty confident that I gave her a CLEAR Sigma 150-600mm glance earlier this week in anticipation of Valentines Day. 

Nada. 

Sigh,  back to the drawing board…


----------



## Buckster

Hello, this is Bucksters' daughter. I am not sure where to post this, but my father wanted me to let his forum buddies know that unfortunately he passed away on February 13th.


----------



## jcdeboever

Buckster said:


> Hello, this is Bucksters' daughter. I am not sure where to post this, but my father wanted me to let his forum buddies know that unfortunately he passed away on February 13th.


Oh No! 

I'm so surprised and disappointed to hear this! He was an awesome contributor on this forum. I am sorry for your loss and I will miss his knowledge and input. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Peeb

Buckster said:


> Hello, this is Bucksters' daughter. I am not sure where to post this, but my father wanted me to let his forum buddies know that unfortunately he passed away on February 13th.


So sorry for your loss!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, Gary just finished trimming and mowing the back. A nice cooling breeze is flowing in from the west and Gary Lou is around the corner working on the grapes in the side yard.  Maybe it's time for another glass of vino.
> 
> 
> 
> Who is Gary Lou? Your double female form?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Opps, one letter dif ... But Gary is taller than Mary.


----------



## Gary A.

Buckster said:


> Hello, this is Bucksters' daughter. I am not sure where to post this, but my father wanted me to let his forum buddies know that unfortunately he passed away on February 13th.


My condolence to you and his family.  He will be missed.


----------



## tirediron

Buckster said:


> Hello, this is Bucksters' daughter. I am not sure where to post this, but my father wanted me to let his forum buddies know that unfortunately he passed away on February 13th.


I'm very sorry to hear that!  My condolence's to you and your family!  Buckster will indeed by missed here.


----------



## Peeb

My wife suggests that forum friends are not 'real' friends- I say bull hockey!  We are a community and the loss of a member as engaged as Buckster was deals a blow to the psyche and soul of many here to be sure.

I hope I have a family member as thoughtful as the kind soul who posted for Buckster, so that my posse will know.

PS- always liked his avatar: he looked so kind and happy in that photo!


----------



## Designer

Buckster said:


> Hello, this is Bucksters' daughter. I am not sure where to post this, but my father wanted me to let his forum buddies know that unfortunately he passed away on February 13th.


I'm so sorry!  He will be sorely missed here!  Thank you for the note, and my sympathies to your whole family.


----------



## snowbear

Buckster said:


> Hello, this is Bucksters' daughter. I am not sure where to post this, but my father wanted me to let his forum buddies know that unfortunately he passed away on February 13th.


Oh, I am so sorry.  He will be greatly missed.


----------



## snowbear

I just got back home from getting MLW.  Four inches of snow on the ground, less to the north. The morons are out in full force, even though it's a Federal holiday.


----------



## KenC

Buckster said:


> Hello, this is Bucksters' daughter. I am not sure where to post this, but my father wanted me to let his forum buddies know that unfortunately he passed away on February 13th.



Condolences and thanks for letting us know.  He was kind of a unique voice on here - really an individual - probably one of the best things that can be said about a person.


----------



## KenC

snowbear said:


> I just got back home from getting MLW.  Four inches of snow on the ground, less to the north. The morons are out in full force, even though it's a Federal holiday.



Yeah, nothing here yet.  I'm sure the morons are out on the roads anyway, but they're not as dangerous yet.  I get to take the train to work, so I'm less likely to get killed on days like this, at least by a car.


----------



## snowbear

The storm tracked further south than they originally thought it would.  DC has about an inch but Southern MD and Fredericksburg, VA (about half-way between DC & Richmond) are in the 4" to 7" range.  We got about 4" locally but it's still falling.


----------



## Braineack

time for breakfast


----------



## Braineack

snowbear said:


> The storm tracked further south than they originally thought it would.  DC has about an inch but Southern MD and Fredericksburg, VA (about half-way between DC & Richmond) are in the 4" to 7" range.  We got about 4" locally but it's still falling.


I washed my car yesterday too...


----------



## snowbear

Well, if you leave it in the garage, it should be OK.


----------



## Gary A.

Mmmmmmmm bacon.


----------



## Braineack




----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is sipping his first cup and it tastes lovely.  Mary Lou and Gary celebrated Valentine's Day on Saturday in wine country, in order to miss the crowds.  We were relatively successful.  Sunday was a day of yard work, lots of yard work. Then our good friend Tom came over for dinner and proceeded to eat all of Gary's surprise Valentine chocolates and the heart shaped ribeye that Mary Lou and Gary were gonna to split.  Dinner was great, ribeye cooked/smoked on the Kamado to about 25 degrees of done, then quickly seared on the propane up to 145 degrees. Grilled veggies from the garden, rice, thick garlic bread and Sweet Angel Waltz (Mary Lou's favorite champagne).  We ate on the patio to the sounds of KUSC (classical) with an underscore of rushing water from the pond. Later, Mary Lou and Gary laughed about Tom Valentine indulgences.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Just bought a pair of these:






Using them for my product table so the bossman can have his strobes back.


----------



## minicoop1985

Crap, I need speedrings and softboxes... I thought these were Bowens mount, but they're proprietary. Poop.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

Runners from Gary's walk.


----------



## Gary A.

A pork shoulder newly tossed into the smoker. 


iPhone image


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has missed not having espresso in the afternoons. Sooooo, it just dawned on Gary, (duh), to pick up some decaf ... So that's the plan.


----------



## JacaRanda

Buckster said:


> Hello, this is Bucksters' daughter. I am not sure where to post this, but my father wanted me to let his forum buddies know that unfortunately he passed away on February 13th.



 Very sorry to hear this news.  Cancer SUCKS!!!!  Thoughts and prayers to your family!


----------



## Peeb

JacaRanda said:


> Buckster said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hello, this is Bucksters' daughter. I am not sure where to post this, but my father wanted me to let his forum buddies know that unfortunately he passed away on February 13th.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Very sorry to hear this news.  Cancer SUCKS!!!!  Thoughts and prayers to your family!
Click to expand...

So it was the big C?

Evil, evil disease.


----------



## JacaRanda

Peeb said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Buckster said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hello, this is Bucksters' daughter. I am not sure where to post this, but my father wanted me to let his forum buddies know that unfortunately he passed away on February 13th.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Very sorry to hear this news.  Cancer SUCKS!!!!  Thoughts and prayers to your family!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> So it was the big C?
> 
> Evil, evil disease.
Click to expand...

Yes - he shared information here.  Hi There! - MediBuck


----------



## minicoop1985

Buckster said:


> Hello, this is Bucksters' daughter. I am not sure where to post this, but my father wanted me to let his forum buddies know that unfortunately he passed away on February 13th.



Wow, sorry to hear this.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Crap, I need speedrings and softboxes... I thought these were Bowens mount, but they're proprietary. Poop.



They apparently make some with Bowens mount -- maybe you can exchange.

Edit - looks like the Bowens comes on the 600.  Maybe there's an adapter?  (I don't really know anything about these)


----------



## minicoop1985

The speedrings for the Flashpoint mount are $17. I can survive with that.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Minicoop maybe you could land planes with those things! Can't help what comes to mind, my evening commute if I was heading home later than usual was seeing planes circling and stacking up.

Got I don't know what, 2-4 in. here. I may take some pictures... but not today! lol Feel like lazing around. Til it melts some it's just all - ya know, white, once it melts there's maybe something a little more interesting to photograph. Or not. Too warm and cozy today to care!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry to hear about Buckster, I knew he had some health issues going on. Thanks to his daughter for letting us know.


----------



## limr

Snow day for me, it turns out (I was at work and then the campus announced a 4:00 closing. I left at 3:30.) I'm now at home, changed out of my work clothes and into a cozy sweater, yoga pants, and the most awesome fleece socks ever. It's snowing outside. We're not supposed to get a lot of accumulation, but the forecast is for the snow to switch to a wintry mix and ice accumulation this evening - thus the school closing, for which I am very very grateful. I'd rather deal with half a foot of snow any day than even a quarter inch of ice on the roads. I have a mug of oolong tea and my cats and I am very happy to be home.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Snow day for me, it turns out (I was at work and then the campus announced a 4:00 closing. I left at 3:30.) I'm now at home, changed out of my work clothes and into a cozy sweater, yoga pants, and the most awesome fleece socks ever. It's snowing outside. We're not supposed to get a lot of accumulation, but the forecast is for the snow to switch to a wintry mix and ice accumulation this evening - thus the school closing, for which I am very very grateful. I'd rather deal with half a foot of snow any day than even a quarter inch of ice on the roads. I have a mug of oolong tea and my cats and I am very happy to be home.


Good for you! Snow days are probably welcome in your profession. The wife made homemade vegetable beef soup, been in crock pot on low all day. Walked in to house to the wonderful aroma. Gonna get comfortable and dive in a bowl of it. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Ooooh, I am going to start something up in the crock pot! I love crock pot meals, and especially love how wonderful the house smells  I actually use it quite a lot. I usually make a big pot of something on the weekend to have for meals during the week. The last thing I made was a chick pea/quinoa/squash stew and it lasted me almost 2 weeks. Haven't made a nice daal in a while, hmmmm...


----------



## limr

Ahhh, and now Zelda has settled on my lap to have a snooze and she's purring so hard that she squeaks. Life is complete for this moment in time


----------



## snowbear

I'm staying home tomorrow - not from snow but this cold or whatever it is (no fever) is really jammin' me. 
Leonore - a funny one down here: one of the school systems was scheduled to be open today as a makeup from the snow closings a couple weeks ago . . . nope, closed again.


----------



## snowbear

Zoe has been at my feet.  She actually stayed in bed when I climbed in yesterday (she NEVER does that).  I think were going to do a crockpot chicken something tomorrow.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I'm stating home tomorrow - not from snow but this cold or whatever it is (no fever) is really jammin' me.



Hope you feel better!



> Leonore - a funny one down here: one of the school systems was scheduled to be open today as a makeup from the snow closings a couple weeks ago . . . nope, closed again.



Sounds about right


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has had a non-stop day of installing a new sliding glass patio door.  Gary is beat but the window is in.  Now Gary is clearing out the living room in anticipation of a new floor. Next year Gary is giving up home improvement for Lent.


----------



## Gary A.

BTW- The pork shoulder is still in the smoker, slow cooking away ... Nine hours so far.


----------



## minicoop1985

I have a bad feeling my strobes won't get here for quite a while due to snowstorms...  I have a need for them already, as dance school season is just around the corner.


----------



## Gary A.

Twelve hours on the pork shoulder ... Gary kicked up the heat.


----------



## jcdeboever

Worked Ohio today and stopped in a small town junk shop during lunch. Picked up a Tokina 28mm 2.8 Pentax K mount for $5.00. Pretty grubby but looks like it will clean up nice. All metal, solid construction. Couldn't find out much about it on line but didn't try real hard either. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Tardes Coffee Hosers. Gary had another non-stop day of trivial remodeling s***, this time pulling out furniture, carpet, padding and sanding the oak flooring under the ugly carpet. LOL ... Mary Lou has an iWatch and when she lifted her wine glass for a sip of Chardonnay, the iWatch alerted her that she reach her goal for the day.  That is jammin' great, Gary thinks, the iWatch has a wine tracker.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary knows it looks like hell. But that black stuff is 'bark' and is full of crispy seasonings. This pork shoulder is falling off the bone with a wonderful smokey flavor. Gary is very very happy with the results.


----------



## jbylake

Damn, and I had a turkey sub for dinner.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 116050
> Gary knows it looks like hell. But that black stuff is 'bark' and is full of crispy seasonings. This pork shoulder is falling off the bone with a wonderful smokey flavor. Gary is very very happy with the results.


Man, that looks delectable. Add some apple sauce, asparagus, and a baked potato. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 116050
> Gary knows it looks like hell. But that black stuff is 'bark' and is full of crispy seasonings. This pork shoulder is falling off the bone with a wonderful smokey flavor. Gary is very very happy with the results.
> 
> 
> 
> Man, that looks delectable. Add some apple sauce, asparagus, and a baked potato.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

That sounds really good. Both Mary Lou and Gary had long days today.  If Gary hadn't looked and smelled like a sawdust encrusted Sasquatch ... We probably would have gone out.  But Mary Lou grilled some veggies, warmed up some rice and then parceled out the pork and we ate at home in the kitchen as it is the only useable room left in the house.  All our other rooms are filled with living room stuff. After dinner, as the Tv is outside, we rouned up The Cook and the three of us went and ate some frozen yoghurt. For a quick meal, dinner was quite good paired up with Caverio, a blend of Grenache, Syarh and Mouvedre grapes. The smokey flavor of the pork is subtle and intoxicating.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. *sniffle*

Not feeling so hot this morning. I can't tell if it's a sinus infection or come combination of allergies and my usual hormone-triggered migraine. I'm leaning towards sinus. Yes, it's the right time for the migraine but the weather in the past few days is also sort of perfect storm conditions for my sinuses to go haywire. Single digit temps and dry to 50s and raining in one day means my head lights up like a Christmas tree.

And I'm out of Sudafed. Time to go show my license to the pharmacy so they can make sure I am not stocking up and cooking them. And I'm still pissed that the stupid meth heads ruined NyQuil for the rest of us! 

It's Dennis Leary - of COURSE the language is not safe for work!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. *sniffle*
> 
> Not feeling so hot this morning. I can't tell if it's a sinus infection or come combination of allergies and my usual hormone-triggered migraine. I'm leaning towards sinus. Yes, it's the right time for the migraine but the weather in the past few days is also sort of perfect storm conditions for my sinuses to go haywire. Single digit temps and dry to 50s and raining in one day means my head lights up like a Christmas tree.
> 
> And I'm out of Sudafed. Time to go show my license to the pharmacy so they can make sure I am not stocking up and cooking them. And I'm still pissed that the stupid meth heads ruined NyQuil for the rest of us!
> 
> It's Dennis Leary - of COURSE the language is not safe for work!


I use a Netty pot occasionally and it has really helped cut down on sinus ailments. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> I use a Netty pot occasionally and it has really helped cut down on sinus ailments.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Yeah, I know that's supposed to help a lot. Derrel also turned me onto a saline wash that helps. I've tried, but it's so hard for me to get past that horrible feeling of having water up my nose. I get a little panicky when it starts to feel like drowning. I just can't get the hang of it.


----------



## limr

Well, whatever this is, it clearly requires more coffee.


----------



## table1349




----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Well, whatever this is, it clearly requires more coffee.


 Doesn't everything?


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Started way too early again. It's 9:45 and I'm showered and ready to take the kid to school.... at noon. Argh.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, whatever this is, it clearly requires more coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> Doesn't everything?
Click to expand...

Hell No!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

jbylake said:


> Damn, and I had a turkey sub for dinner.



You're welcomed to come by.  Gary just had another bite of the pork with Gary's Famous Homemade BBQ sauce.  mmmmmhhh.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  It has finally cooled off and there are a few drops of rain.


----------



## Gary A.

The new slider and still working on the floor. 

Now it is raining cats and dogs.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 116120
> The new slider and still working on the floor.
> 
> Now it is raining cats and dogs.


Refinishing it?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Yes. We've pulled up the carpet, sanded and now working on the stains from the previous owner. Tomorrow we varnish.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Yes. We've pulled up the carpet, sanded and now working on the stains from the previous owner. Tomorrow we varnish.


I've done it and it's hard work but very satisfying when done. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

The hard part was the slider ... man, that sucker was heavy.


----------



## Gary A.

Construction is like that, feeling really good at the end of the day when you take a step back and say to yourself, "Look at what I just helped build."


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Headache is doubleplusungood today.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Headache is doubleplusungood today.


Well then everyone needs to talk softly today.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Headache is doubleplusungood today.



Sorry to hear - hope you have plenty of coffee/Advil/quiet and whatever else helps.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The Cook is all stressed out by her world being turned upside down with all the interior work.  The rain has stopped, all the rain barrels are overflowing and Gary is on his second cup of coffee.

@ Leo- Gary thinks that a few of those beers gryphonslair99 posted would be helpful ... well ... they wouldn't hurt.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, hosers. Got to sleep in a bit today. Poor kid wore himself out last night.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Headache is doubleplusungood today.


----------



## terri

ooo, Gary is building a yoga studio!         Great way to work off all that meat!


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> @ Leo- Gary thinks that a few of those beers gryphonslair99 posted would be helpful ... well ... they wouldn't hurt.



Are you trying to kill me? You're trying to kill me, aren't you? YOU ARE! It's because of the Nikon thing, isn't it?


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Leo- Gary thinks that a few of those beers gryphonslair99 posted would be helpful ... well ... they wouldn't hurt.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you trying to kill me? You're trying to kill me, aren't you? YOU ARE! It's because of the Nikon thing, isn't it?
Click to expand...

Nikon F, Nikon F, Nikon F.... 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Leo- Gary thinks that a few of those beers gryphonslair99 posted would be helpful ... well ... they wouldn't hurt.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you trying to kill me? You're trying to kill me, aren't you? YOU ARE! It's because of the Nikon thing, isn't it?
Click to expand...

Nikon F, Nikon F, Nikon F ...


----------



## minicoop1985

No idea what's going on, but Nikon F, Nikon F, Nikon F...


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> ooo, Gary is building a yoga studio!         Great way to work off all that meat!


Yep, yoga and wine ... after all, this is California. lol


----------



## snowbear

This flu stuff is on the down slide.  Going to NYC at the end of the month.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Glad your flu is better Charlie, and I hope Lenny you don't have to try to teach anybody anything tomorrow and get a day to recoup. And... 

Nikon F, Nikon F, Nikon F... with a Petzval lens attached.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Glad your flu is better Charlie, and I hope Lenny you don't have to try to teach anybody anything tomorrow and get a day to recoup. And...
> 
> Nikon F, Nikon F, Nikon F... with a Petzval lens attached.


Thank you.

NYC trip is a possibility - will know later.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Glad your flu is better Charlie, and I hope Lenny you don't have to try to teach anybody anything tomorrow and get a day to recoup. And...
> 
> Nikon F, Nikon F, Nikon F... with a Petzval lens attached.



Mmmmm, Petzval...swirly...

No teaching tomorrow!!   Just homework that can be done in my jammies


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Glad your flu is better Charlie, and I hope Lenny you don't have to try to teach anybody anything tomorrow and get a day to recoup. And...
> 
> Nikon F, Nikon F, Nikon F... with a Petzval lens attached.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mmmmm, Petzval...swirly...
> 
> No teaching tomorrow!!   Just homework that can be done in my jammies
Click to expand...

Nice... Got the S S photo, pretty flipping awesome. Thanks for the bonus. I got my Christmas pokeajamas on. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

I want to buy a Nikon F or F2 just so I can take it apart. Looking for a cheap one, not any cheap ones out there. 

Flipping insomnia again .... 3 nights in a row... Have not slept in 2 days, no medicine either. It's probably that gout medicine as a side effect...  

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

Shhhhhhhh....be very very quiet, tell Lenny wakes up.  She may still be  hunting a headache.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Just when I thought things were going pretty smoothly at work there is some negative noise around here about working from home.  I think it may be a brief slip back into the past century and not that meaningful, but I would not be happy about having to be physically present here every day, as I have been working home 1-2 days/wk, usually 2.  Well, I guess I'll have to stay tuned and see.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary took Cook outside two or three times last night, (Gary doesn't quite remember how many times). Her dog door is in the living room surrounded by fresh varnish. Had Gary known of JC's aliment, he would have assign the task to JC as he wasn't sleeping anyway. 

One hell of a photo by AP's Ben Curtis in the LA Times.




Voting disruptions in Uganda.

Gary questioned Mary Lou on Francis' and Trump's comments and she said "You know, he's always stirring things up."  Gary questioned her "Which one?" Mary Lou answered "Both."


----------



## jcdeboever

Doctor took me off the gout medicine and put me on a different one, apparently it is a rare side effect with the brand. Gave me a small script for sleep medicine to use this weekend. Have not slept since Tuesday and feel real irritable. I snapped my wife's  head off this morning which is not me. 

Local camera store called me this morning and located a heavy used Nikon F with no prism or lens. Timer doesn't work, Shutter slow and probably needs light seals. He thinks he has a FTN prism and a 35-70 f3.5 AI for it. $75 bucks, gonna grab it next week. Just what I need, another camera. Me thinks this will get Gary excited...lol

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC- Why do you desire to take apart an F? Your insomnia sucks. Gary was wondering about foods that trigger gout and what he has to avoid cooking when you move to California:

1. Fish - Gary BBQ's fish, especially during Lent.

2. Alcohol - Man, you're in trouble Gary serve wine three to four times a week.

3. Caffeine - Man, you're in bigger trouble on the one. Gary brews up coffee every jammin' day. Gary needs to get some decaffeinated stuff sooner than later.

4. Organ Meats - Clear on that one. Gary Famous BBQ and Wine Cellar does have any organ meats on the menu.

5. Fried Foods - Gary rarely cooks up any fried foods. He does cook up a mean batch of potato chips, but not very often.

6. Beef - Oh-oh. The site recommends moderation, so you only get a half portion.  You'll like Gary's salads, they are freshly picked daily.

7. Soda - You're clear here on that one. No sodas in the house, except when there is a party with kids. 

8. Rich Sauces - Don't worry, Gary will provide copious amounts of water along side his sauces.

9. Shellfish - Not often on the menu.

10. Fruit Juices - *sigh* ... I hope you have a lot of willpower.  Gary cooks with a ton of juices.  Gary squeezes orange, lemon, apple, pomegranate, lime juices all year long.  He is especially fond of splashing his homemade Sangria with these juices. 

Damn JC, looks like you'll have to select your meals from the vegetarian pizza menu.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Doctor took me off the gout medicine and put me on a different one, apparently it is a rare side effect with the brand. Gave me a small script for sleep medicine to use this weekend. Have not slept since Tuesday and feel real irritable. I snapped my wife's  head off this morning which is not me.
> 
> Local camera store called me this morning and located a heavy used Nikon F with no prism or lens. Timer doesn't work, Shutter slow and probably needs light seals. He thinks he has a FTN prism and a 35-70 f3.5 AI for it. $75 bucks, gonna grab it next week. Just what I need, another camera. Me thinks this will get Gary excited...lol
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Ohhhhh ... Gary is. Gary's been looking at F's off and on for years.  He wants a cheap, but pristine one, just to put on a shelf ... memories.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Doctor took me off the gout medicine and put me on a different one, apparently it is a rare side effect with the brand. Gave me a small script for sleep medicine to use this weekend. Have not slept since Tuesday and feel real irritable. I snapped my wife's  head off this morning which is not me.
> 
> Local camera store called me this morning and located a heavy used Nikon F with no prism or lens. Timer doesn't work, Shutter slow and probably needs light seals. He thinks he has a FTN prism and a 35-70 f3.5 AI for it. $75 bucks, gonna grab it next week. Just what I need, another camera. Me thinks this will get Gary excited...lol
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ohhhhh ... Gary is. Gary's been looking at F's off and on for years.  He wants a cheap, but pristine one, just to put on a shelf ... memories.
Click to expand...

I love all things mechanical. I am fascinated at how things work, always have been since I was a small boy. I like the challenge of getting things to work, figuring them out. However, if I can get this thing to work without taking it apart, I am NOT so hung up on taking it apart just to take it apart. The guy at the store said I may be able to fiddle with it without taking it apart to get it freed up. He said its been sitting in a box for years and can't even recall where he got it. He has a mint copy of one on his top shelf in his store but it is in his personal collection in probably will not sell it while he is alive. He also told me he's got a lot of parts for them so if I need anything I am free to pick through what he has.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Doctor took me off the gout medicine and put me on a different one, apparently it is a rare side effect with the brand. Gave me a small script for sleep medicine to use this weekend. Have not slept since Tuesday and feel real irritable. I snapped my wife's  head off this morning which is not me.
> 
> Local camera store called me this morning and located a heavy used Nikon F with no prism or lens. Timer doesn't work, Shutter slow and probably needs light seals. He thinks he has a FTN prism and a 35-70 f3.5 AI for it. $75 bucks, gonna grab it next week. Just what I need, another camera. Me thinks this will get Gary excited...lol
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ohhhhh ... Gary is. Gary's been looking at F's off and on for years.  He wants a cheap, but pristine one, just to put on a shelf ... memories.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I love all things mechanical. I am fascinated at how things work, always have been since I was a small boy. I like the challenge of getting things to work, figuring them out. However, if I can get this thing to work without taking it apart, I am NOT so hung up on taking it apart just to take it apart. The guy at the store said I may be able to fiddle with it without taking it apart to get it freed up. He said its been sitting in a box for years and can't even recall where he got it. He has a mint copy of one on his top shelf in his store but it is in his personal collection in probably will not sell it while he is alive. He also told me he's got a lot of parts for them so if I need anything I am free to pick through what he has.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Nice.


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

Yup, work up with the headache. This time it's been bad in the mornings but gets more manageable as the day goes on. On Wednesday, I took medicine regularly throughout the day to keep it at tolerable levels. Yesterday morning, it was very bad in the morning and I took medicine, and then during the rest of the day, it stayed at tolerable levels all on its own. This morning is not as bad but I'm still waiting for the meds to kick in. We'll see how it goes.

What's weird to me is how some things are very predictable, but within that predictable framework, the headaches can behave very differently.

JC, I hope you can get some sleep! Insomnia sucks big time  And I'm also glad the picture arrived safely 
I'm kind of a tinkerer as well. I get it from my father. I don't have as much of a drive to always follow through on my curiosity about how things work, and I have more patience with bigger machines (cars) than with smaller ones. I like building and woodwork, too.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Hey, hosers.
> 
> Yup, work up with the headache. This time it's been bad in the mornings but gets more manageable as the day goes on. On Wednesday, I took medicine regularly throughout the day to keep it at tolerable levels. Yesterday morning, it was very bad in the morning and I took medicine, and then during the rest of the day, it stayed at tolerable levels all on its own. This morning is not as bad but I'm still waiting for the meds to kick in. We'll see how it goes.
> 
> What's weird to me is how some things are very predictable, but within that predictable framework, the headaches can behave very differently.
> 
> JC, I hope you can get some sleep! Insomnia sucks big time  And I'm also glad the picture arrived safely
> I'm kind of a tinkerer as well. I get it from my father. I don't have as much of a drive to always follow through on my curiosity about how things work, and I have more patience with bigger machines (cars) than with smaller ones. I like building and woodwork, too.



When I get headaches frequently, I go get my neck adjusted by the massage guy in the mall. When I am writing a lot of code is usually the culprit. Poor posture in front of the PC.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> When I get headaches frequently, I go get my neck adjusted by the massage guy in the mall. When I am writing a lot of code is usually the culprit. Poor posture in front of the PC.



Mine are essentially hormonal, so unless the massage guy can adjust the way my body reacts to progesterone and/or estrogen, then I just have to ride these out  Still, they're easier to deal with than the alternative. See, I went on birth control years ago to help control the monstrous monthly cramps I had. In return for no cramps, I get migraines (granted, I was prone to them anyway - they run in the family - but just didn't get them as frequently). As bad as the headaches can get, they're still better than the cramps. Would you like to be kicked in the man bits repeatedly for three days, and then repeat that process every month for the next several decades? Yeah, thought not 

And yes, I thought about being less detailed because talk about woman stuff makes most men feel all ooky (I'm talking to all of you here, not just JC  ) but then I figured that you all could just put on your big boy pants and deal with it. I have to live it, so it's only fair that y'all have to hear about it!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> When I get headaches frequently, I go get my neck adjusted by the massage guy in the mall. When I am writing a lot of code is usually the culprit. Poor posture in front of the PC.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mine are essentially hormonal, so unless the massage guy can adjust the way my body reacts to progesterone and/or estrogen, then I just have to ride these out  Still, they're easier to deal with than the alternative. See, I went on birth control years ago to help control the monstrous monthly cramps I had. In return for no cramps, I get migraines (granted, I was prone to them anyway - they run in the family - but just didn't get them as frequently). As bad as the headaches can get, they're still better than the cramps. *Would you like to be kicked in the man bits repeatedly for three days, and then repeat that process every month for the next several decades? Yeah, thought not *
> 
> And yes, I thought about being less detailed because talk about woman stuff makes most men feel all ooky (I'm talking to all of you here, not just JC  ) but then I figured that you all could just put on your big boy pants and deal with it. I have to live it, so it's only fair that y'all have to hear about it!
Click to expand...

That's called "being married".


----------



## limr

What, feeling ooky, being kicked in the man bits, putting on your big boy pants, or hearing about the things that you never have to deal with yourself?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> And yes, I thought about being less detailed because talk about woman stuff makes most men feel all ooky (I'm talking to all of you here, not just JC  ) but then I figured that you all could just put on your big boy pants and deal with it. I have to live it, so it's only fair that y'all have to hear about it!


Been married for a bit over 30 years, so I can sympathize.


----------



## vintagesnaps

There's a massage guy in the mall??


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> There's a massage guy in the mall??



Yes, his name is Woo and his brother Kuy. He has a bunch of clients to0, can't speak a lick of English. You kind of sit face forward on an L shaped bench. He does full body as well but I am not into that.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> There's a massage guy in the mall??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, his name is Woo and his brother Kuy. He has a bunch of clients to0, can't speak a lick of English. You kind of sit face forward on an L shaped bench. He does full body as well but I am not into that.
Click to expand...

Does he have a sister?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> There's a massage guy in the mall??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, his name is Woo and his brother Kuy. He has a bunch of clients to0, can't speak a lick of English. You kind of sit face forward on an L shaped bench. He does full body as well but I am not into that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Does he have a sister?
Click to expand...

Lol...Not sure, haven't seen any female massagers in there. Wouldn't no how to ask, we do a lot of hand gestures. One time he messaged my skull and I never asked him, must have been one of the gestures... Got to be careful [emoji31]   

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary would just raise his voice.  Everybody understands English if spoken slowly and loudly.


----------



## Gary A.

The final coat of varnish went on this afternoon. Tomorrow we're having the grand opening of the WAYS - Wine and Yoga Studio. Y'all come on down for some free yoga.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> The final coat of varnish went on this afternoon. Tomorrow we're having the grand opening of the WAYS - Wine and Yoga Studio. Y'all come on down for some free yoga.


I wish I could be there, you guys sound like big time fun. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The final coat of varnish went on this afternoon. Tomorrow we're having the grand opening of the WAYS - Wine and Yoga Studio. Y'all come on down for some free yoga.
> 
> 
> 
> I wish I could be there, you guys sound like big time fun.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Gary doesn't know about 'big time' ... but our daily lives are enjoyable, the backyard is very relaxing and the wine and food are great.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The living room has been sealed off and Gary is waiting for Mary Lou to be the first to walk upon the newly refinished floor. Then we'll move back some of the furniture, setup the Tv and talk about painting the sucker.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Been a long morning, getting ready to go to Illinois later.


----------



## table1349

minicoop1985 said:


> Morning, hosers. Been a long morning, getting ready to *go to Illinois* later.


Going on a ghetto photo shoot are you?


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 116241 Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The living room has been sealed off and Gary is waiting for Mary Lou to be the first to walk upon the newly refinished floor. Then we'll move back some of the furniture, setup the Tv and talk about painting the sucker.


I would wait at least 7 days before I put any furniture on a freshly varnished floor.  Please, please, PLEASE tell me that you are not going to paint the walls AFTER you've varnished the floor, or I will come down there and dunk you in the koi pond!


----------



## minicoop1985

gryphonslair99 said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers. Been a long morning, getting ready to *go to Illinois* later.
> 
> 
> 
> Going on a ghetto photo shoot are you?
Click to expand...



Trust me, it's not that part of Illinois. It's my dad's house... which is quite the opposite of ghetto. lol


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 116241 Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The living room has been sealed off and Gary is waiting for Mary Lou to be the first to walk upon the newly refinished floor. Then we'll move back some of the furniture, setup the Tv and talk about painting the sucker.
> 
> 
> 
> I would wait at least 7 days before I put any furniture on a freshly varnished floor.  Please, please, PLEASE tell me that you are not going to paint the walls AFTER you've varnished the floor, or I will come down there and dunk you in the koi pond!
Click to expand...

The first coat recommended a 12 hour drying time, the second coat recommended a four hours drying time. We waited 24 hours on the first and 20 hours on the second. We have felt coasters and will only set up a couple of chairs and setup the Tv on the hearth. Yeah, we're gonna paint. I know how to tape and tarp ... I'll use more plastic than Dexter uses in an entire series. The prep will be tedious, but I know that. I'm in no hurry and I haven't any extreme fears of screwing up. I am also a bit of a perfectionist with an extensive history in construction. (I know perfection and construction do not mix.)

But I appreciate your concerns.


----------



## table1349

It is exciting to use a newly refinished room however I would wait a couple of days before you do anything.  The first 24-48 hours it is fine to walk on the floor in stocking feet.  After that shoes are ok.  48 hour minimum for furniture.   Two weeks before putting down any kinds of area rugs.  Felt coasters, depending on the size, could act like rugs, marring the finish as it may not allow it to fully cure.


----------



## Gary A.

With the older oil base stuff, that waiting time is appropriate.  But you can't get the oil/lead stuff anymore, it's all water base which dries much faster.


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, peeps.  Feeling much better, though I am still a bit stuffy.  I'm not doing any real work this weekend since I pulled 10 hours while off, sick, on Wednesday.

Chicken is freshly in the slow cooker with it's compliment of baby carrots, red potatoes (green beans go in about 2-1/2 hours) and soy-honey-garlic sauce.  I added some lime juice, just because.


----------



## table1349

It does dry faster, however it still needs to cure.  It's like wood glues.  Most dry in an hour but need 24 hours to cure for full strength.  I've only used water based poly finishes on floors, but still give it a few days to fully cure.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> With the older oil base stuff, that waiting time is appropriate.  But you can't get the oil/lead stuff anymore, it's all water base which dries much faster.


You are correct. The resin technology is very advanced today and max pencil hardness is achieved normally within 24 to 48 hours depending on humidity. I assume you didn't buy it at dollar general or KMart. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Minwax, Lowes. It's pretty dry out here. Low 70's humidity in the 40%.


----------



## table1349

Drinking more coffee may prevent liver disease


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy hosers! Back from IL (I survived!). Had a coffee energy drink today (Starbuck's Double Shot thing). It was kinda gross. Like chocolate and red bull.


----------



## Warhorse

Folger or Maxwell house Colombian work well for me.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is exhausted.  Gary and Mary Lou just finished painting one living room wall. (The one with windows and the sliding door.) Gary used a sprayer, so prep time took forever and because we're painting the walls and ceiling different colors ... it all has to be done again and again.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is celebrating his exhaustion with a crock-potted roast and a Chapin 2013 Aglianico. The pot roast is very very good ... but the vino is wonderful.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Back at work, but with coffee to get me going.  I'm getting pretty busy lately, but a guy still needs his breaks.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Gary is exhausted.  Gary and Mary Lou just finished painting one living room wall. (The one with windows and the sliding door.) Gary used a sprayer, so prep time took forever and because we're painting the walls and ceiling different colors ... it all has to be done again and again.


I would have rolled it.  I know the amount of preparation for spraying.  I spray exteriors just because of how much area there is and that I wish to preserve the texture of the siding.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. How the hell is everybody?  Gary looks around and it seems pretty empty.  But lack of audience and participation never stopped Gary before ... Therefore on with the monologue. The house is more of a disaster than normal. The living room is a war zone.  The Cook is out of sorts because of the changes and the inoperability of her dog door. The coffee is one day old, but still good, TGFWB, (Thank God For Whole Beans).

On route to dinner, (Naples Ribs in Long Beach ... Naples is a section of Long Beach, an island actually ... now that is clarified Gary can continue), Mary Lou, (Gary's much better half), Tom, (Gary's friend, physician and photographer), and Gary had a discussion about Adele, the songster. Tom felt she was totally over-rated and found nothing endearing in her voice, Mary Lou thought she was merely over-rated and she sounded okay but nothing special and Gary felt she was okay, much better than average and in a bad season would be a finalist on The Voice ... But still a bit over-rated.

What say You?


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Back at work, but with coffee to get me going.  I'm getting pretty busy lately, but a guy still needs his breaks.


You union guys are all the same. (Joking)


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is exhausted.  Gary and Mary Lou just finished painting one living room wall. (The one with windows and the sliding door.) Gary used a sprayer, so prep time took forever and because we're painting the walls and ceiling different colors ... it all has to be done again and again.
> 
> 
> 
> I would have rolled it.  I know the amount of preparation for spraying.  I spray exteriors just because of how much area there is and that I wish to preserve the texture of the siding.
Click to expand...

Yep, rolling would have been easier. Live and learn. Today, Gary will pick-up a power roller for the ceiling and three remaining walls. This was Gary's second time in using the Wagner sprayer ... Whilist, he knows all the pros and cons ... He thinks he just had to learn for himself. (The first time with the sprayer was outside on an Arbor and worked like a charm.)


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I think Adele's voice is better than her music. She's got an impressive range, especially in that middle register (where most of the power is).

I'm on my couch with hot tea, lemon and honey. Temperature wavering between 99.6 and 100. Nope, not going to work today. Blerg.


----------



## tirediron

Blerg?  Blerg doesn't sound good!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> I think Adele's voice is better than her music. She's got an impressive range, especially in that middle register (where most of the power is).
> 
> I'm on my couch with hot tea, lemon and honey. Temperature wavering between 99.6 and 100. Nope, not going to work today. Blerg.


That's pretty warm for New York this time of the year.


----------



## Gary A.

Blerg ... Gary is always learning new words on the Internet.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Blerg?  Blerg doesn't sound good!



Blerg is not used for good things 



Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> I think Adele's voice is better than her music. She's got an impressive range, especially in that middle register (where most of the power is).
> 
> I'm on my couch with hot tea, lemon and honey. Temperature wavering between 99.6 and 100. Nope, not going to work today. Blerg.
> 
> 
> 
> That's pretty warm for New York this time of the year.
Click to expand...


And it's also pretty warm for the core of my body at any time of year, in any part of the world!


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Blerg?  Blerg doesn't sound good!



Wait, we have Blerg now?  I love Blerg.  Seriously, would it kill you guys to put out a memo?


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Blerg?  Blerg doesn't sound good!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wait, we have Blerg now?  I love Blerg.  Seriously, would it kill you guys to put out a memo?
Click to expand...

 Heyyyyyyyyyyyyy...  Banana-breath; long time no see!


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Blerg?  Blerg doesn't sound good!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wait, we have Blerg now?  I love Blerg.  Seriously, would it kill you guys to put out a memo?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Heyyyyyyyyyyyyy...  Banana-breath; long time no see!
Click to expand...


I've been on hiatus.  Just doing your normal every day stuff really.  Making tinfoil hats.  Wearing tinfoil hats.  Trying to sell tinfoil hats on ebay, you know, the usual.


----------



## tirediron

Why does no one ever go on a low-atus?


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin hosers. Trying to think of the next challenge for lighting. I think it's going to be high key glass with black sides. We shall see what I can do there with my limited equipment.


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Why does no one ever go on a low-atus?



Because the last time I tried to limbo I wound up spending 4 days in a Jamaican prison.   That could just be me of course...


----------



## jcdeboever

I suffer from the occasional Blergs, usually when the wife has been yelling at me a lot and lack of self medicating with alcohol.


----------



## bribrius

forum looks pretty quiet whatcha all do? lol  Anyone one to point me toward the really good stuff?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Where in the wide, wide world have you been Bri??? Good to see ya back.

And the big ape!!! Great to see you on here again Robbo.


Lenny feel better soon.


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> forum looks pretty quiet whatcha all do? lol  Anyone one to point me toward the really good stuff?



Here ya go.


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> Wait, we have Blerg now?  I love Blerg.  Seriously, would it kill you guys to put out a memo?



Monkeyboy!  Welcome back!


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> forum looks pretty quiet whatcha all do? lol  Anyone one to point me toward the really good stuff?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here ya go.
Click to expand...

neat. Took some time off it stopped being fun but thought i'd drop in.  surfing some of the black and white section now.


----------



## KenC

bribrius said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> forum looks pretty quiet whatcha all do? lol  Anyone one to point me toward the really good stuff?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here ya go.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> neat. Took some time off it stopped being fun but thought i'd drop in.  surfing some of the black and white section now.
Click to expand...


Good to have you back, Brian


----------



## bribrius

KenC said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> forum looks pretty quiet whatcha all do? lol  Anyone one to point me toward the really good stuff?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here ya go.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> neat. Took some time off it stopped being fun but thought i'd drop in.  surfing some of the black and white section now.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Good to have you back, Brian
Click to expand...


 thanks


----------



## minicoop1985

WB yo hizzle.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Noches Coffee Hosers.  Meeting, meeting and more jammin' meetings.  Traffic was jammin' horrific.  I finally got off the freeway and took side streets home.  Gary has just poured hisself and Mary Lou a nice glass of Fox Brook Cabernet Sauvignon.  Gary's first experience with Fox Brook and it is a very pleasant experience.


----------



## Gary A.

The Fox Brook goes well with a pumpkin empanada.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Filled up Mary Lou's car yesterday ... $1.99 a gallon ... Haven't seen that in maybe a decade.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Stayed up too late watching a good movie, probably will be sorry in the morning! but it was a Hitchcock... 'Foreign Correspondent'. Not like I haven't seen it before, I just shouldn't have gotten started, got into it and couldn't stop watching! lol


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Starting out a wee bit too early today. I'm thinking nap time when the kid's in school.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wait, we have Blerg now?  I love Blerg.  Seriously, would it kill you guys to put out a memo?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Monkeyboy!  Welcome back!
Click to expand...


Gosh.. thanks SB.  See, now I'm getting all teary eyed.  Lol


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Stayed up too late watching a good movie,



Wait, do they still make those?



> it was a Hitchcock... 'Foreign Correspondent'. Not like I haven't seen it before, I just shouldn't have gotten started, got into it and couldn't stop watching! lol



Aha.. mystery solved.  I don't think I've seen much in the way of good movies coming out of hollyweird in quite a while now.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Stayed up too late watching a good movie, probably will be sorry in the morning! but it was a Hitchcock... 'Foreign Correspondent'. Not like I haven't seen it before, I just shouldn't have gotten started, got into it and couldn't stop watching! lol


Gary loves Hitchcock movies.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Stayed up too late watching a good movie,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wait, do they still make those?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> it was a Hitchcock... 'Foreign Correspondent'. Not like I haven't seen it before, I just shouldn't have gotten started, got into it and couldn't stop watching! lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Aha.. mystery solved.  I don't think I've seen much in the way of good movies coming out of hollyweird in quite a while now.
Click to expand...

Gary thinks that Spotlight was an excellent movie, the latest Star Wars is out of this world, Martian was entertaining, Creed was good, Bridge of Spies is well worth seeing, Sicario is damn interesting, Ex Machina is worth the price of admission, The Walk is surprisingly good, McFarland is well done, Selma is wonderful, American Sniper is excellant ... just to name a few.


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Stayed up too late watching a good movie,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wait, do they still make those?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> it was a Hitchcock... 'Foreign Correspondent'. Not like I haven't seen it before, I just shouldn't have gotten started, got into it and couldn't stop watching! lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Aha.. mystery solved.  I don't think I've seen much in the way of good movies coming out of hollyweird in quite a while now.
Click to expand...

 Not since they switched to colour film!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is having trouble with his laptop. Sometimes it boots and other times it doesn't. Whenever Gary takes it into the shop ... it boots and the tech can't find anything wrong. It didn't boot up all weekend, Gary was about to pack it up and decided to try one more time ... and now he is keyboarding away.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is having trouble with his laptop. Sometimes it boots and other times it doesn't. Whenever Gary takes it into the shop ... it boots and the tech can't find anything wrong. It didn't boot up all weekend, Gary was about to pack it up and decided to try one more time ... and now he is keyboarding away.


When you turn it on from a shutdown, do any lights come on? Does it do it whether it's plugged in or not? Make and model?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Occasionally it will do a partial boot, but usually it starts up, Gary can hear/feel the hard drive spin, then it shuts down. Yesterday it wouldn't boot while plugged in.  Gary removed the plug and it still wouldn't boot.  This morning it started up while being unplugged.

MacBook Pro - Apple


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Occasionally it will do a partial boot, but usually it starts up, Gary can hear/feel the hard drive spin, then it shuts down. Yesterday it wouldn't boot while plugged in.  Gary removed the plug and it still wouldn't boot.  This morning it started up while being unplugged.
> 
> MacBook Pro - Apple


You need to run extended (long) hard drive diagnostics on it. If no errors, then maybe a good disc cleanup is in order.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Occasionally it will do a partial boot, but usually it starts up, Gary can hear/feel the hard drive spin, then it shuts down. Yesterday it wouldn't boot while plugged in.  Gary removed the plug and it still wouldn't boot.  This morning it started up while being unplugged.
> 
> MacBook Pro - Apple
> 
> 
> 
> You need to run extended (long) hard drive diagnostics on it. If no errors, then maybe a good disc cleanup is in order.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Gary is on it.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Gary thinks that Spotlight was an excellent movie, the latest Star Wars is out of this world, Martian was entertaining, Creed was good, Bridge of Spies is well worth seeing, Sicario is damn interesting, Ex Machina is worth the price of admission, The Walk is surprisingly good, McFarland is well done, Selma is wonderful, American Sniper is excellant ... just to name a few.



Saw the latest Star Wars - and.. well, eh.  I didn't hate it mind you, but wasn't exactly to die for either.  I liked the idea that they brought back some of the original characters to "pass the torch" as it were, but frankly I think that was almost overdone to the point of exhaustion. 

Anymore most movies I wait till they hit Netflix, just not many of them worth going to see on the big screen and I usually end up walking out of the theater thinking, wow, did I just get ripped off.  I usually avoid any movie that has anything to do with the military as hollywood has pretty much zero idea what military life or military personnel are like and it pretty much comes through loud and clear in every film they do on the subject.  I will probably get around to seeing American Sniper at some point since its supposedly it's one of the few exceptions, however to be honest with you the subject matter for me is pretty much been there, done that, still have dozens of T-shirts so not really that high on my would like to see list.


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

I survived yesterday. Somehow managed to get a relatively mild version of the stomach virus, which meant I had a few false alarms but never actually threw up. I did nearly faint once or twice just shuffling downstairs for some Advil, though. Seriously, the word "weak" doesn't even come close to describing it. I spent the morning and afternoon in several long comas, punctuated by brief periods of consciousness when I had a few saltines and sips of ginger ale. In the evening, the comas were reduced to dozing in and out until I finally went to bed at 10. I slept pretty hard until 8am. I _have _been wanting to catch up on my sleep at least.

As with the last time I had this, it was brutal while it lasted but thankfully short-lived. I'm still feeling fragile and I have essentially no appetite, but compared to yesterday, I'm about a thousand percent better.

I'm at work. It's snowing. Chances are the school will stay open during the day but may close for evening classes, for which I am keeping fingers tightly crossed. I may be feeling better, but a snow cancellation is always a welcome thing.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Hey, hosers.
> 
> I survived yesterday. Somehow managed to get a relatively mild version of the stomach virus, which meant I had a few false alarms but never actually threw up. I did nearly faint once or twice just shuffling downstairs for some Advil, though. Seriously, the word "weak" doesn't even come close to describing it. I spent the morning and afternoon in several long comas, punctuated by brief periods of consciousness when I had a few saltines and sips of ginger ale. In the evening, the comas were reduced to dozing in and out until I finally went to bed at 10. I slept pretty hard until 8am. I _have _been wanting to catch up on my sleep at least.
> 
> As with the last time I had this, it was brutal while it lasted but thankfully short-lived. I'm still feeling fragile and I have essentially no appetite, but compared to yesterday, I'm about a thousand percent better.
> 
> I'm at work. It's snowing. Chances are the school will stay open during the day but may close for evening classes, for which I am keeping fingers tightly crossed. I may be feeling better, but a snow cancellation is always a welcome thing.



Sorry to hear this. I will say a prayer for your speedy recovery.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, hosers.
> 
> I survived yesterday. Somehow managed to get a relatively mild version of the stomach virus, which meant I had a few false alarms but never actually threw up. I did nearly faint once or twice just shuffling downstairs for some Advil, though. Seriously, the word "weak" doesn't even come close to describing it. I spent the morning and afternoon in several long comas, punctuated by brief periods of consciousness when I had a few saltines and sips of ginger ale. In the evening, the comas were reduced to dozing in and out until I finally went to bed at 10. I slept pretty hard until 8am. I _have _been wanting to catch up on my sleep at least.
> 
> As with the last time I had this, it was brutal while it lasted but thankfully short-lived. I'm still feeling fragile and I have essentially no appetite, but compared to yesterday, I'm about a thousand percent better.
> 
> I'm at work. It's snowing. Chances are the school will stay open during the day but may close for evening classes, for which I am keeping fingers tightly crossed. I may be feeling better, but a snow cancellation is always a welcome thing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear this. I will say a prayer for your speedy recovery.
Click to expand...


----------



## limr

It is 4:00 and there has been no announcement. I have lost hope that evening classes will be cancelled, which means I will have to teach AND drive home in the dark in freezing rain.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> It is 4:00 and there has been no announcement. I have lost hope that evening classes will be cancelled, which means I will have to teach AND drive home in the dark in freezing rain.


It's coming

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> It is 4:00 and there has been no announcement. I have lost hope that evening classes will be cancelled, which means I will have to teach AND drive home in the dark in freezing rain.



Sorry to hear you r not feeling that great.  Best way I've found to drive on icy roads at night is to get hammered first.  I tend to swerve one way, the car swerves the other, everything cancels itself out.

Could just be me.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is 4:00 and there has been no announcement. I have lost hope that evening classes will be cancelled, which means I will have to teach AND drive home in the dark in freezing rain.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear you r not feeling that great.  Best way I've found to drive on icy roads at night is to get hammered first.  I tend to swerve one way, the car swerves the other, everything cancels itself out.
> 
> Could just be me.
Click to expand...


I'm going to take a leap here and say that yeah, it's just you


----------



## vintagesnaps

What a day to be stuck at work to have to drive home in crappy weather. Get home safe tonight Lenny.

Guess I don't have to say to ignore any ape like advice you get on message boards! lol

Been nice and sunny here for TWO DAYS! in a row!! But supposed to rain then switch to snow the next couple of days. So I may actually get something done. lol


----------



## minicoop1985

Sweet! Just got a gig as a contributing photographer for an online car magazine.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> I'm going to take a leap here and say that yeah, it's just you



It usually is.. 

rotfl


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Occasionally it will do a partial boot, but usually it starts up, Gary can hear/feel the hard drive spin, then it shuts down. Yesterday it wouldn't boot while plugged in.  Gary removed the plug and it still wouldn't boot.  This morning it started up while being unplugged.
> 
> MacBook Pro - Apple


You need to run extended (long) hard drive diagnostics on it. If no errors, then maybe a good disc cleanup is in order.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

Just swap the drive out with your wife's - problem solved.


----------



## jcdeboever

Picked up my Nikon F with FTN today. Got it super reasonable. Spent a few hours cleaning it up. It was pretty dusty, dirty, especially the 30-70mm f/3.5 AI (72mm) lens. The meter does not work yet, I put "new" dead 625 batteries in it, they did expire in 2013 and multi meter confirmed it. Did not dismantle it as much as I wanted to because I'm curious that way. Things were a little tight but after working them (Shutter/timer) they seem in good order. The lens feels so smooth and no fungus and a couple specs of dust. The F has a great feel to it and makes wonderful, precision like sounds. Pretty excited to shoot with it. I would rather have the eye level viewer but they would cost more than I paid for the camera and lens. The viewfinder is big, bright, and wonderful. 

I noticed one of the teeth on the film sprocket was broke off, not sure if that will be an issue. Do you think it will? 







Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Nice JC ... very nice.


----------



## jcdeboever

Who's that handsome 70's guy? Is that @ Gary A. back in the day?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Hard to say if the sprocket will make a difference. Only one way to find out. Take that baby out for a spin!!  She suuuuure is purdy!



robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm going to take a leap here and say that yeah, it's just you
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It usually is..
> 
> rotfl
Click to expand...


And that's the charm of you!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Hard to say if the sprocket will make a difference. Only one way to find out. Take that baby out for a spin!!  She suuuuure is purdy!
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm going to take a leap here and say that yeah, it's just you
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It usually is..
> 
> rotfl
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And that's the charm of you!
Click to expand...

Don't know when that will be...putting on the snow blade in the morning, supposed to get 10" tomorrow through Thursday noon. Uuukkkkk. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps




----------



## vintagesnaps

Lenny you made it home! were roads icy? Keep feeling better.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Lenny you made it home! were roads icy? Keep feeling better.



Yup, made it home  Roads were just wet. The temps went up enough to keep it from getting too icy, plus there was plenty of salt down. It feels good to be back in my jammies


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Who's that handsome 70's guy? Is that @ Gary A. back in the day?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Yep, that's Gary back in the day. And it is around 1970 + or - a year.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hard to say if the sprocket will make a difference. Only one way to find out. Take that baby out for a spin!!  She suuuuure is purdy!
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm going to take a leap here and say that yeah, it's just you
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It usually is..
> 
> rotfl
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And that's the charm of you!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't know when that will be...putting on the snow blade in the morning, supposed to get 10" tomorrow through Thursday noon. Uuukkkkk.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Gary mowed the front today, then cleaned out a filter on the pond.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hard to say if the sprocket will make a difference. Only one way to find out. Take that baby out for a spin!!  She suuuuure is purdy!
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm going to take a leap here and say that yeah, it's just you
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It usually is..
> 
> rotfl
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And that's the charm of you!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't know when that will be...putting on the snow blade in the morning, supposed to get 10" tomorrow through Thursday noon. Uuukkkkk.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary mowed the front today, then cleaned out a filter on the pond.
Click to expand...

JC's lawn is brown and soon to be white...[emoji31] 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


>


Is that Eddie Murphy?


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hard to say if the sprocket will make a difference. Only one way to find out. Take that baby out for a spin!!  She suuuuure is purdy!
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm going to take a leap here and say that yeah, it's just you
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It usually is..
> 
> rotfl
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And that's the charm of you!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't know when that will be...putting on the snow blade in the morning, supposed to get 10" tomorrow through Thursday noon. Uuukkkkk.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary mowed the front today, then cleaned out a filter on the pond.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> JC's lawn is brown and soon to be white...[emoji31]
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

Hell, let's try this again. In response to JC's brown grass, Gary's lemon tree.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning coffee lovers. Got the plow on and heading to Ohio for the storm. They closed a bunch of schools down here in Michigan and not a flake yet. 






Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

Just rain here - sitting it out at home.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

Raining here, too. Currently hovering around 32 degrees, but supposedly warming up later. In fact, it's supposed to warm up a LOT, to mid-50s. Yuk


----------



## jcdeboever

In Ohio





Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

YAY! It's supposed to be close to 50 here this weekend!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is supposed to hit 80F today. Gary has meetings scheduled in Los Angeles and San Diego today.  Gary may skip out on San Diego.  Gary has to rush out to fill a hummingbird feeder before the hummers wake up.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I like the change in seasons and don't like hot but the lemon tree is inviting, reminds me of florida spring breaks/vacation trips (exchanging lemons for oranges).

The sun has been indecisive since rain overnight but finally the sun came out. Didn't think it was supposed  to, they're saying 50ish dropping to snow tonight and tomorrow. But decent weather this weekend.

And guess what? it's gonna rain and we'll have - wet roads!! lol


----------



## jcdeboever

What a mess. I'm moving next to @Gary A. 












Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

At least you've got a blade and [I assume] decent traction.


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> At least you've got a blade and [I assume] decent traction.


True, traction is decent but not as good as my Dodge Dually was. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Two working fires (in work county) yesterday - had a F/F injured - luckily not too bad.

OK, this flue crap is getting old: light headedness/dizzyness and stuffy-ears like high altitude before the pop) when I use tissues.  I'm ready for this crap to be gone.

Tonight's thunderstorm seems to be over but we have tornado warnings (or watches - whichever is worse) for the county to the south.  That darned mini claxon sound before announcing the warning on TV is really irritating with only one ear working properly.

The good news is my first serious round of updates/corrections to our response areas is almost done.  I am basically re-running the last 2/3 of the project (full 274 station response order and where the hydrants aren't) since making some corrections in the street (aka "centerline") file. Then I get to write up all the documentation.  There are still some areas that need to be redrawn or refined but it isn't that critical.  Both bosses agree that the contract GIS person affiliated with the radio folks can maintain this monster system.  I am ready for the next thing.

NYC on Monday (scaled back to a day trip instead of two days),


----------



## vintagesnaps

You're right, it does sound like a klaxon -





so now how do you know if there are tornadoes or if it's just one of these coming down the road??


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> What a mess. I'm moving next to @Gary A.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


That would be grand! Gary doesn't have a blade.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  Today is Mary Lou's B-Day. As a part of her birthday celebrations ... Gary painted the living room ceiling  ... so, when she came home from work, she had a nice surprise, complete with glasses of Russian River Vineyard Chardonnay. Next we had a pleasant dinner at Walt's Wharf Restaurant in Seal Beach.  Then we took a nice stroll down Main Street, under the full Moon, to Jill's Bakery. Jill's is this wonderful bakery that is open late and serves up these huge sweets with a mile high topping of icing.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning coffee lovers. Been up since 4 plowing, first round of good deeds for the day are done, more to follow tonight. Ohio did not get as much snow as Michigan but there roads are worse because of ice. Took me 2 hours+ to get to the plant this morning, normally hour and 10 minutes.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Happy (belated) Birthday, Mary Lou! 

Stay safe, JC!

We had thunderstorms last night. That wind was _howwwwwling. _The power flickered a few times - at one point they flickered about 4 times in a minute, but luckily they stayed on. Temp is supposed to be in the 50s today, then 30s for the next couple of days, back to 50s on Mon, down to the 40s.

Winter is drunk in New York this year.


----------



## jcdeboever

Oh shoot, happy belated birthday Mary Lou!  

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  A little left over rain and a lot of wind here.  Can't complain, after jc's reports.  Having my coffee and trying to get my head into work.



limr said:


> Winter is drunk in New York this year.



I think Winter is on stronger stuff than that all through the Northeast


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  Today is Mary Lou's B-Day. As a part of her birthday celebrations ... Gary painted the living room ceiling  ... so, when she came home from work, she had a nice surprise, complete with glasses of Russian River Vineyard Chardonnay. Next we had a pleasant dinner at Walt's Wharf Restaurant in Seal Beach.  Then we took a nice stroll down Main Street, under the full Moon, to Jill's Bakery. Jill's is this wonderful bakery that is open late and serves up these huge sweets with a mile high topping of icing.



So, my takeaway from this is, Chardonnay pairs well with fried seal?

Ok, noted.  Oh, and Happy B Day to Mary Lou of course.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Good morning coffee lovers. Been up since 4 plowing, first round of good deeds for the day are done, more to follow tonight. Ohio did not get as much snow as Michigan but there roads are worse because of ice. Took me 2 hours+ to get to the plant this morning, normally hour and 10 minutes.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Why ... why are you plowing? (Gary understand snow and the roads need clearing, but why are You clearing the roads?)


----------



## limr

Today's Friday!!! (for me)


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Today's Friday!!! (for me)



Well since we are all simply guests in your universe, I say that calls  for a celebration...

Lol


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is on his second cup of Sumatra ... rich, dark and hot ... just like his coffee ... wait ... it is coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Today's Friday!!! (for me)


you suck ... wait ... as this is Gary's Thursday ... Gary's life sucks ...


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  Today is Mary Lou's B-Day. As a part of her birthday celebrations ... Gary painted the living room ceiling  ... so, when she came home from work, she had a nice surprise, complete with glasses of Russian River Vineyard Chardonnay. Next we had a pleasant dinner at Walt's Wharf Restaurant in Seal Beach.  Then we took a nice stroll down Main Street, under the full Moon, to Jill's Bakery. Jill's is this wonderful bakery that is open late and serves up these huge sweets with a mile high topping of icing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So, my takeaway from this is, Chardonnay pairs well with fried seal?
> 
> Ok, noted.  Oh, and Happy B Day to Mary Lou of course.
Click to expand...

Yes, Chardonnay is the national wine of the Inuit people. Gary read somewhere, probably on the Internet, that the Inuit's invented Chardonnay and seals.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou thanks you all.


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## table1349

limr said:


> Today's Friday!!! (for me)


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  Today is Mary Lou's B-Day. As a part of her birthday celebrations ... Gary painted the living room ceiling  ... so, when she came home from work, she had a nice surprise, complete with glasses of Russian River Vineyard Chardonnay. Next we had a pleasant dinner at Walt's Wharf Restaurant in Seal Beach.  Then we took a nice stroll down Main Street, under the full Moon, to Jill's Bakery. Jill's is this wonderful bakery that is open late and serves up these huge sweets with a mile high topping of icing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So, my takeaway from this is, Chardonnay pairs well with fried seal?
> 
> Ok, noted.  Oh, and Happy B Day to Mary Lou of course.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, Chardonnay is the national wine of the Inuit people. Gary read somewhere, probably on the Internet, that the Inuit's invented Chardonnay and seals.
Click to expand...


Well, there you have it.  If someone posted it on the internet, it must be true.  Ipso Facto, as it were.  Ok, so off to Hyvee this afternoon to pick up some seal then. 

Lol


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today's Friday!!! (for me)
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 116550
Click to expand...


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning coffee lovers. Been up since 4 plowing, first round of good deeds for the day are done, more to follow tonight. Ohio did not get as much snow as Michigan but there roads are worse because of ice. Took me 2 hours+ to get to the plant this morning, normally hour and 10 minutes.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Why ... why are you plowing? (Gary understand snow and the roads need clearing, but why are You clearing the roads?)
Click to expand...


Clearing family and friends driveways silly rabbit.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today's Friday!!! (for me)
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 116550
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


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## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Clearing family and friends driveways silly rabbit.



Your family and friends driveways are filled with silly rabbits?  Ok, ya I can see that.  Happened to me once.


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Clearing family and friends driveways silly rabbit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Your family and friends driveways are filled with silly rabbits?  Ok, ya I can see that.  Happened to me once.
Click to expand...

Oh.........I think we are going to need more than one bar bq grill for this one.


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Clearing family and friends driveways silly rabbit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Your family and friends driveways are filled with silly rabbits?  Ok, ya I can see that.  Happened to me once.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh.........I think we are going to need more than one bar bq grill for this one.
Click to expand...


Well first we need to figure out the correct wine for grilled rabbit.  A medium body white maybe?  Where do the Inuit's stand on this?  Lol


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Clearing family and friends driveways silly rabbit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Your family and friends driveways are filled with silly rabbits?  Ok, ya I can see that.  Happened to me once.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh.........I think we are going to need more than one bar bq grill for this one.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well first we need to figure out the correct wine for grilled rabbit.  A medium body white maybe?  Where do the Inuit's stand on this?  Lol
Click to expand...


Probably some 1972 Champipple, a little ganja, and fried twinkies for desert.


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Probably some 1972 Champipple, a little ganja, and fried twinkies for desert.



Gotta love this place, can't swing a dead cat without hitting a bon vivant.

Lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

Instead of silly rabbits have some Trix. If you can deep fry Twinkies, surely you can figure out a way to grill some Trix.


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Clearing family and friends driveways silly rabbit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Your family and friends driveways are filled with silly rabbits?  Ok, ya I can see that.  Happened to me once.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh.........I think we are going to need more than one bar bq grill for this one.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well first we need to figure out the correct wine for grilled rabbit.  A medium body white maybe?  Where do the Inuit's stand on this?  Lol
Click to expand...

I'm thinking maybe an Italian Chianti, a light red Burgundy or a good Beaujolais from France.  If we do rabbit with mustard sauce then I was thinking  a white, such as a Pinot Gris from Oregon or a grassy Sauvignon Blanc from California.

As Alton Brown would say, this is going to be some..........


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> Instead of silly rabbits have some Trix. If you can deep fry Twinkies, surely you can figure out a way to grill some Trix.


First make this recipe...
*Trix Cereal Bars*

Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 5 mins
Total time: 20 mins


Ingredients

3 tbsp of butter
8 cups of Trix cereal (10.7 oz box)
10oz of marshmallows

Instructions

In a medium to large saucepan, melt butter over low heat.
Add the marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.
Add the Trix cereal and stir until cereal is well coated.
Prepare a 13x9 pan by spraying with cooking spray or coating with butter.
Butter your hands or use wax paper to press the mixture firmly into the pan.
Allow to cool and cut into bars.

Next melt chocolate, your choice of milk or dark chocolate, in a double boiler.  Once the chocolate is melted, take the cut and cooled bars and insert a wooden stick into the end of each one, being careful not to split the bar.  Dip in the chocolate to coat and set out on a rack over a rimmed sheet pan to allow the chocolate to harden.

Next make a dipping batter, I prefer a tempura batter, but it is of your choice.  Take the cooled bars after the chocolate has set and dip them in the batter two at a time.  Once coated insert into a 6 quart cast iron dutch over filled to about 1 1/2 inches from the top with a good frying oil heated to 375 degrees F.  Fry two at a time until crispy golden brown.


----------



## jcdeboever




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## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  Today is Mary Lou's B-Day. As a part of her birthday celebrations ... Gary painted the living room ceiling  ... so, when she came home from work, she had a nice surprise, complete with glasses of Russian River Vineyard Chardonnay. Next we had a pleasant dinner at Walt's Wharf Restaurant in Seal Beach.  Then we took a nice stroll down Main Street, under the full Moon, to Jill's Bakery. Jill's is this wonderful bakery that is open late and serves up these huge sweets with a mile high topping of icing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So, my takeaway from this is, Chardonnay pairs well with fried seal?
> 
> Ok, noted.  Oh, and Happy B Day to Mary Lou of course.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, Chardonnay is the national wine of the Inuit people. Gary read somewhere, probably on the Internet, that the Inuit's invented Chardonnay and seals.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, there you have it.  If someone posted it on the internet, it must be true.  Ipso Facto, as it were.  Ok, so off to Hyvee this afternoon to pick up some seal then.
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...

Don't forget the Chardonnay, it pairs well with seal.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Don't forget the Chardonnay, it pairs well with seal.



I usually have at least one bottle on hand actually, it's a primary ingredient in French Onion Soup


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't forget the Chardonnay, it pairs well with seal.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I usually have at least one bottle on hand actually, it's a primary ingredient in French Onion Soup
Click to expand...

*SEAL???????????*   Damn, you have to send me your recipe for French Onion Soup that has seal in it.


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't forget the Chardonnay, it pairs well with seal.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I usually have at least one bottle on hand actually, it's a primary ingredient in French Onion Soup
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> *SEAL???????????*   Damn, you have to send me your recipe for French Onion Soup that has seal in it.
Click to expand...


Wait, doesn't all French Onion Soup have seal in it?  I mean isn't that what makes it "French"?


----------



## snowbear

.


robbins.photo said:


> Wait, doesn't all French Onion Soup have seal in it?  I mean isn't that what makes it "French"?


No, it's because it's rude to the other soups.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  Gary is beat ... again. All, but the touch up is completed.  Three different colors in one room was a b****.  The tape alone cost a small fortune.  Gary has baseboards and some stucco and the job is completed.  Tomorrow is Gary's Friday.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  Gary is beat ... again. All, but the touch up is completed.  Three different colors in one room was a b****.  The tape alone cost a small fortune.  Gary has baseboards and some stucco and the job is completed.  Tomorrow is Gary's Friday.


Bravo! Send pics!

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Morning, ho...*YAWN*...sers.

On deck for today: school work, exercise, see Buzz, have a sleepover with my sisters.

But first, more coffee.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Hoping coffee will get me through to the end of my week this afternoon.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning coffee lovers. Already drank about a pot. Driving the Freightliner this morning, helping out the plant as a driver had a day off. Already been to Kalamazoo MI, and just pulled in to Ft. Wayne, Indiana stop. Then back to Ohio to unload, finish up plowing, and tighten up servers and desktops. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  Gary is beat ... again. All, but the touch up is completed.  Three different colors in one room was a b****.  The tape alone cost a small fortune.  Gary has baseboards and some stucco and the job is completed.  Tomorrow is Gary's Friday.
> 
> 
> 
> Bravo! Send pics!
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

It is still a bit of a war zone.  Gary is giving it 24 hours for the paint to dry before ripping down the tape, plastic and newspapers. But Gary and Mary Lou like it. The wall with the slider (opening up to the backyard) is this sage/gray green (Sherwin WIlliams Retreat), the remaining walls have a slight green-blue tint (Sherwin Williams Sea Salt), the top is 'Pure White'. The Sea Salt significantly changes hue with changes in the light. Gary is planning to paint the patio the same Retreat green.


----------



## jcdeboever

Super paint or Duration?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary has an early morning appointment so he is out of here. The coffee is good and it is cool outside but will warm up into the 80's.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  Gary is beat ... again. All, but the touch up is completed.  Three different colors in one room was a b****.  The tape alone cost a small fortune.  Gary has baseboards and some stucco and the job is completed.  Tomorrow is Gary's Friday.
> 
> 
> 
> Bravo! Send pics!
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It is still a bit of a war zone.  Gary is giving it 24 hours for the paint to dry before ripping down the tape, plastic and newspapers. But Gary and Mary Lou like it. The wall with the slider (opening up to the backyard) is this sage/gray green (Sherwin WIlliams Retreat), the remaining walls have a slight green-blue tint (Sherwin Williams Sea Salt), the top is 'Pure White'. The Sea Salt significantly changes hue with changes in the light. Gary is planning to paint the patio the same Retreat green.
Click to expand...


Your supposed to take the tape down?   Huh...


----------



## Gary A.

Duration.  If Gary had to pick, he would much prefer Dunn Edwards to Sherwin Williams ... But this is a residence ... So what the heck, S-W should perform as well as Dunn Edwards.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  Gary is beat ... again. All, but the touch up is completed.  Three different colors in one room was a b****.  The tape alone cost a small fortune.  Gary has baseboards and some stucco and the job is completed.  Tomorrow is Gary's Friday.
> 
> 
> 
> Bravo! Send pics!
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It is still a bit of a war zone.  Gary is giving it 24 hours for the paint to dry before ripping down the tape, plastic and newspapers. But Gary and Mary Lou like it. The wall with the slider (opening up to the backyard) is this sage/gray green (Sherwin WIlliams Retreat), the remaining walls have a slight green-blue tint (Sherwin Williams Sea Salt), the top is 'Pure White'. The Sea Salt significantly changes hue with changes in the light. Gary is planning to paint the patio the same Retreat green.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Your supposed to take the tape down?   Huh...
Click to expand...

LOL ... If you paint everything blue ... Gary thinks you can leave it up.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Duration.  If Gary had to pick, he would much prefer Dunn Edwards to Sherwin Williams ... But this is a residence ... So what the heck, S-W should perform as well as Dunn Edwards.


Duration is the best acrylic paint on the market.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Duration.  If Gary had to pick, he would much prefer Dunn Edwards to Sherwin Williams ... But this is a residence ... So what the heck, S-W should perform as well as Dunn Edwards.
> 
> 
> 
> Duration is the best acrylic paint on the market.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Hey that's good!


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Morning, ho...*YAWN*...sers.
> 
> On deck for today: school work, exercise, see Buzz, have a sleepover with my sisters.
> 
> But first, more coffee.


WHO YOU CALLING A HO?????????


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, ho...*YAWN*...sers.
> 
> On deck for today: school work, exercise, see Buzz, have a sleepover with my sisters.
> 
> But first, more coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> WHO YOU CALLING A HO?????????
Click to expand...

 You, apprently


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Duration.  If Gary had to pick, he would much prefer Dunn Edwards to Sherwin Williams ... But this is a residence ... So what the heck, S-W should perform as well as Dunn Edwards.
> 
> 
> 
> Duration is the best acrylic paint on the market.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Hey that's good!
Click to expand...

Really was a break through in acrylic technology. Amazing durability and touch's up fantastic years later. Washing walls is no issue, ever.  

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... If you paint everything blue ... Gary thinks you can leave it up.



See. problem solving at it's finest.  My work here is done.

rotfl


----------



## limr

One of Buzz's kitties died last night  

She was old - almost 19 - and started failing around Christmas. Couldn't breathe well. Vet put her on thyroid medicine and she remained fragile but made a bit of a rebound. Had some really good days over the past 2 months, but a week or so ago she started failing again. About 1am or so last night, she quietly slipped away. 

Her official name was McKenzie, but that was always shortened to Kenzie, and we often called her the Koot or some variation (Kootemaier seemed to be the most popular.) She was a tiny little cat, but regularly beat up on the younger and much larger Kinkaid (Piglet, Pigs, Kinky...). When she was younger, she'd try to catch moths on the other side of the sliding glass door at night. I've seen her jump nearly to the top of the door to get those moths. Never did figure out that the glass was in the way.

She was a quiet cat, but in her later years, she started talking more and she had the squeakiest little half-meow. She loved to nap under a blanket and was skittish around company, which would usually send her under the bed. Buzz often called her his alarm cat, since she'd scratch at the bedroom door at the same time every morning.

She was a very good, fine Koot, and we'll miss her terribly.




Day 74 - McKenzie by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## tirediron

I'm sorry to hear that Lenny- please pass on my condolences to Buzz!


----------



## jcdeboever

Farmer, sorry for your loss. I know the feeling, I miss my boy Ping.



Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## KenC

@limr - sorry to hear - yeah, that is really old.  We lost a 16+ year old cat a few weeks ago.  Funny thing, he was a small tabby and also got very squeaky as he got old.


----------



## Gary A.

That is so sad. Gary is sorry your loss.


----------



## jcdeboever

jcdeboever said:


> Farmer, sorry for your loss. I know the feeling, I miss my boy Ping.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Bummer, not farmer. Using voice recognition on phone because I'm driving. Lol

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

jcdeboever said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Farmer, sorry for your loss. I know the feeling, I miss my boy Ping.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Bummer, not farmer. Using voice recognition on phone because I'm driving. Lol
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I was pulled over fueling up. Back on road in a second

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Thanks, guys 

Ken, I'm sorry about your kitty  It's amazing how big a space is left by such a small, furry creature.

JC - I still miss my Gomer Pyle, too. I had to let him go...wow, in 2 weeks, it'll be exactly 6 years ago.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, ho...*YAWN*...sers.
> 
> On deck for today: school work, exercise, see Buzz, have a sleepover with my sisters.
> 
> But first, more coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> WHO YOU CALLING A HO?????????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You, apprently
Click to expand...

 OK, just checking.


----------



## robbins.photo

Sorry to hear about your loss, never easy to lose a family member.


----------



## table1349




----------



## vintagesnaps

Leo sorry to hear about that, hard to lose a pet.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sharon thinks JC was trying to do too many things at once. Sharon thinks Lenny could be a farmer if she wanted to raise cats and grow coffee beans. Sharon thinks this might be a silly Friday.


----------



## table1349




----------



## bribrius

i heard about some one up here overdosing on heroin


another one bits the dust....and another one down, and another one down, and another one bites the dust. ha doo doo doo doo another one bites the dust...


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> One of Buzz's kitties died last night
> 
> She was old - almost 19 - and started failing around Christmas. Couldn't breathe well. Vet put her on thyroid medicine and she remained fragile but made a bit of a rebound. Had some really good days over the past 2 months, but a week or so ago she started failing again. About 1am or so last night, she quietly slipped away.
> 
> Her official name was McKenzie, but that was always shortened to Kenzie, and we often called her the Koot or some variation (Kootemaier seemed to be the most popular.) She was a tiny little cat, but regularly beat up on the younger and much larger Kinkaid (Piglet, Pigs, Kinky...). When she was younger, she'd try to catch moths on the other side of the sliding glass door at night. I've seen her jump nearly to the top of the door to get those moths. Never did figure out that the glass was in the way.
> 
> She was a quiet cat, but in her later years, she started talking more and she had the squeakiest little half-meow. She loved to nap under a blanket and was skittish around company, which would usually send her under the bed. Buzz often called her his alarm cat, since she'd scratch at the bedroom door at the same time every morning.
> 
> She was a very good, fine Koot, and we'll miss her terribly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Day 74 - McKenzie by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> One of Buzz's kitties died last night
> 
> She was old - almost 19 - and started failing around Christmas. Couldn't breathe well. Vet put her on thyroid medicine and she remained fragile but made a bit of a rebound. Had some really good days over the past 2 months, but a week or so ago she started failing again. About 1am or so last night, she quietly slipped away.
> 
> Her official name was McKenzie, but that was always shortened to Kenzie, and we often called her the Koot or some variation (Kootemaier seemed to be the most popular.) She was a tiny little cat, but regularly beat up on the younger and much larger Kinkaid (Piglet, Pigs, Kinky...). When she was younger, she'd try to catch moths on the other side of the sliding glass door at night. I've seen her jump nearly to the top of the door to get those moths. Never did figure out that the glass was in the way.
> 
> She was a quiet cat, but in her later years, she started talking more and she had the squeakiest little half-meow. She loved to nap under a blanket and was skittish around company, which would usually send her under the bed. Buzz often called her his alarm cat, since she'd scratch at the bedroom door at the same time every morning.
> 
> She was a very good, fine Koot, and we'll miss her terribly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Day 74 - McKenzie by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## table1349

Gryphon is getting ready to do more meals like Gary.  Gryphon is going to get his new Yoder Smoker tomorrow.  By coincidence the butcher has both full racks of St. Louis style ribs and whole briskets on sale through next Wednesday.  Momma is going to be gone for the weekend so Gryphon will be doing the rack of ribs on Monday and will do the brisket next Saturday to celebrate Mother Gryphons 86th birthday.  

Gryphon already has a Summit natural gas grill along with a Webber Kettle grill that has been converted to a wood fired pizza oven.  Gryphon is excited as this is his one and only retirement present to himself.  


FYI, Gryphon would like to know how we all got to talking in the third person here?


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gryphon is getting ready to do more meals like Gary.  Gryphon is going to get his new Yoder Smoker tomorrow.  By coincidence the butcher has both full racks of St. Louis style ribs and whole briskets on sale through next Wednesday.  Momma is going to be gone for the weekend so Gryphon will be doing the rack of ribs on Monday and will do the brisket next Saturday to celebrate Mother Gryphons 86th birthday.
> 
> Gryphon already has a Summit natural gas grill along with a Webber Kettle grill that has been converted to a wood fired pizza oven.  Gryphon is excited as this is his one and only retirement present to himself.
> 
> 
> FYI, Gryphon would like to know how we all got to talking in the third person here?


It was Jimmy's fault. JC used to do it but JC feeling timid about himself lately as JC's photo's are disappointing him. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Smoking is great. Welcome to the club.  Gary loves his dedicated smoker, but his Kamado BBQ is his fav. The Kamado smokes and cooks pizza. The Master Built dedicated smoker is easier and more automated than the Kamado.

Bon Appetite.


----------



## beachrat

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Duration.  If Gary had to pick, he would much prefer Dunn Edwards to Sherwin Williams ... But this is a residence ... So what the heck, S-W should perform as well as Dunn Edwards.
> 
> 
> 
> Duration is the best acrylic paint on the market.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Not a knock against Duration at all, but I gotta disagree with that.
Benjamin Moore Aura is the best paint that I have ever brushed or rolled.
And it holds up like a mofo.


----------



## jcdeboever

beachrat said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Duration.  If Gary had to pick, he would much prefer Dunn Edwards to Sherwin Williams ... But this is a residence ... So what the heck, S-W should perform as well as Dunn Edwards.
> 
> 
> 
> Duration is the best acrylic paint on the market.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not a knock against Duration at all, but I gotta disagree with that.
> Benjamin Moore Aura is the best paint that I have ever brushed or rolled.
> And it holds up like a mofo.
Click to expand...

That is excellent paint as well. Came out after Duration. Very similar technology. SW had two huge technological break through around the same time in the lab, Duration and Spider Paint. Spider was even bigger advance in countries that have deadly, poisonous spiders. The Spider Paint is a deterrent. 
NEW PAINT PROTECTS AGAINST DEADLY SPIDER

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

Mary Lou and Gary are relaxing in the patio with some Chapin Cabernet Sauvignon.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 116645
> iPhone image
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary are relaxing in the patio with some Chapin Cabernet Sauvignon.


Looks great, well done y'all. Enjoying life, that's what I'm talking about. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Precisely.


----------



## Gary A.

72F with classical KUSC playing across the backyard.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> 72F with classical KUSC playing across the backyard.


With Jim Svejda? 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## beachrat

jcdeboever said:


> beachrat said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Duration.  If Gary had to pick, he would much prefer Dunn Edwards to Sherwin Williams ... But this is a residence ... So what the heck, S-W should perform as well as Dunn Edwards.
> 
> 
> 
> Duration is the best acrylic paint on the market.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not a knock against Duration at all, but I gotta disagree with that.
> Benjamin Moore Aura is the best paint that I have ever brushed or rolled.
> And it holds up like a mofo.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That is excellent paint as well. Came out after Duration. Very similar technology. SW had two huge technological break through around the same time in the lab, Duration and Spider Paint. Spider was even bigger advance in countries that have deadly, poisonous spiders. The Spider Paint is a deterrent.
> NEW PAINT PROTECTS AGAINST DEADLY SPIDER
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Spider Paint sounds awesome.
Never even heard about that.
But,Garys corner of the world might be awesomer.

One thing I have to say that I hate about all the new acrylics is how fast it dries on brushes.
With the exception of a few Purdy Pro Extras,I switched over to almost all Chinex because of how easy it cleans up.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 72F with classical KUSC playing across the backyard.
> 
> 
> 
> With Jim Svejda?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

LOL ... Yes with Jimmy. (How the hell do you know of Svejda ... and the correct spelling?)


----------



## jcdeboever

beachrat said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> beachrat said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Duration.  If Gary had to pick, he would much prefer Dunn Edwards to Sherwin Williams ... But this is a residence ... So what the heck, S-W should perform as well as Dunn Edwards.
> 
> 
> 
> Duration is the best acrylic paint on the market.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not a knock against Duration at all, but I gotta disagree with that.
> Benjamin Moore Aura is the best paint that I have ever brushed or rolled.
> And it holds up like a mofo.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That is excellent paint as well. Came out after Duration. Very similar technology. SW had two huge technological break through around the same time in the lab, Duration and Spider Paint. Spider was even bigger advance in countries that have deadly, poisonous spiders. The Spider Paint is a deterrent.
> NEW PAINT PROTECTS AGAINST DEADLY SPIDER
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Spider Paint sounds awesome.
> Never even heard about that.
> But,Garys corner of the world might be awesomer.
> 
> One thing I have to say that I hate about all the new acrylics is how fast it dries on brushes.
> With the exception of a few Purdy Pro Extras,I switched over to almost all Chinex because of how easy it cleans up.
Click to expand...

Purdy Pro Extra Glide is a nice tool. I have some oil brushes that are thirty years old. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

The living room is still a war zone.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary uses Purdy.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 72F with classical KUSC playing across the backyard.
> 
> 
> 
> With Jim Svejda?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... Yes with Jimmy. (How the hell do you know of Svejda ... and the correct spelling?)
Click to expand...

I know a lot of things...except photography and making the wife not yell at me. 

Oh, Jim, podcast the record shelf...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

No one knows how to stop the wife from yelling. But, Gary can teach you photography.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 72F with classical KUSC playing across the backyard.
> 
> 
> 
> With Jim Svejda?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... Yes with Jimmy. (How the hell do you know of Svejda ... and the correct spelling?)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I know a lot of things...except photography and making the wife not yell at me.
> 
> Oh, Jim, podcast the record shelf...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Right ... Gary forgot that he's on the Internet. Being a Trojan, Gary is required to listen. (Fortunately Gary appreciates classical.)


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 72F with classical KUSC playing across the backyard.
> 
> 
> 
> With Jim Svejda?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... Yes with Jimmy. (How the hell do you know of Svejda ... and the correct spelling?)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I know a lot of things...except photography and making the wife not yell at me.
> 
> Oh, Jim, podcast the record shelf...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Right ... I forgot that he's on the Internet. Being a Trojan, I am required to listen. (Fortunately I appreciate classical.)
Click to expand...

That dude is the @Derrel and @Gary A. of Classical.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 72F with classical KUSC playing across the backyard.
> 
> 
> 
> With Jim Svejda?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... Yes with Jimmy. (How the hell do you know of Svejda ... and the correct spelling?)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I know a lot of things...except photography and making the wife not yell at me.
> 
> Oh, Jim, podcast the record shelf...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Push button, move out of house.  Bam, done.

Lol


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 116644 Smoking is great. Welcome to the club.  Gary loves his dedicated smoker, but his Kamado BBQ is his fav. The Kamado smokes and cooks pizza. The Master Built dedicated smoker is easier and more automated than the Kamado.
> 
> Bon Appetite.


Thanks, I actually have been part of the club, I'm just not a fan of my offset fire box smoker.  I usually do long, 12-16 hour, smokes and hate having to get up every couple of hours to build a new basket of charcoal and put on more splits.  The Yoder is a pellet smoker.  Up to 12 hours on one 25b hopper of pellets.  Life will be good with brisket and sleep.


----------



## jcdeboever

Morning coffee lovers. Hospital called family in for my wife's 100 year old grandma. Not a good way to start the weekend. [emoji31] 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Morning coffee lovers. Hospital called family in for my wife's 100 year old grandma. Not a good way to start the weekend. [emoji31]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Oh no!


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> No one knows how to stop the wife from yelling.


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Morning coffee lovers. Hospital called family in for my wife's 100 year old grandma. Not a good way to start the weekend. [emoji31]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Sorry to hear that, hope things go ok


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Morning coffee lovers. Hospital called family in for my wife's 100 year old grandma. Not a good way to start the weekend. [emoji31]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Oh-oh ... Gary hopes she gets better.


----------



## snowbear

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL POLAR BEAR DAY!
International Polar Bear Day - Thermostat Challenge | Polar Bears International

We're celebrating with bacon.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Morning coffee lovers. Hospital called family in for my wife's 100 year old grandma. Not a good way to start the weekend. [emoji31]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Hoping that things go well.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Morning coffee lovers. Hospital called family in for my wife's 100 year old grandma. Not a good way to start the weekend. [emoji31]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 116644 Smoking is great. Welcome to the club.  Gary loves his dedicated smoker, but his Kamado BBQ is his fav. The Kamado smokes and cooks pizza. The Master Built dedicated smoker is easier and more automated than the Kamado.
> 
> Bon Appetite.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, I actually have been part of the club, I'm just not a fan of my offset fire box smoker.  I usually do long, 12-16 hour, smokes and hate having to get up every couple of hours to build a new basket of charcoal and put on more splits.  The Yoder is a pellet smoker.  Up to 12 hours on one 25b hopper of pellets.  Life will be good with brisket and sleep.
Click to expand...

Gary's Master Built can do hot smoke or cold smoke. The cold smoke is good for six hours then needs to be reloaded. Typically, Gary smokes six to 12 hours at a pop. Gary uses the Kamado for hot smoking. Pellets are cool because of the automation. The Master Built is electric, uses chips which are available everywhere, inexpensive and a very wide variety of flavors. Gary discovered a place in Anaheim which stocks a huge variety of wood, even red oak, (for Santa Maria style), and they'll even chip it for you. Those Yoder's are huge, you can cook an entire herd at the same time.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Been a productive morning. Working on portfolio stuff, trying to sell some things... Going pretty well so far. We'll see if my Hasselblad sells (let's face it-I need the money).


----------



## vintagesnaps

Coffee and a knitting show - coffee _on_ the knitting show! my kind of people, having coffee while they're crafting. Not that I can knit, I'm used to other needlework and knitting needles feel like I'm holding a couple of Lincoln logs! How about I just buy the stuff they knit, that'd work.

It's actually - sunny. On a Saturday. What d'ya know.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry to hear that JC.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Happy Polar Bear Day Charlie!
(I'll celebrate just about anything if you throw in some hockey, I knew somebody was polar bears...)


----------



## robbins.photo

Morning hosers!  Weather is finally nice enough to get out and about, so doing some zoo shooting for the first time in what seems like ages.

Happy national polar bear day.  I need to rush home and get the tree up as soon as I'm done here... lol


----------



## Gary A.

Happy Polar Bear Day @ Charlie.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 116644 Smoking is great. Welcome to the club.  Gary loves his dedicated smoker, but his Kamado BBQ is his fav. The Kamado smokes and cooks pizza. The Master Built dedicated smoker is easier and more automated than the Kamado.
> 
> Bon Appetite.


L


Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 116644 Smoking is great. Welcome to the club.  Gary loves his dedicated smoker, but his Kamado BBQ is his fav. The Kamado smokes and cooks pizza. The Master Built dedicated smoker is easier and more automated than the Kamado.
> 
> Bon Appetite.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, I actually have been part of the club, I'm just not a fan of my offset fire box smoker.  I usually do long, 12-16 hour, smokes and hate having to get up every couple of hours to build a new basket of charcoal and put on more splits.  The Yoder is a pellet smoker.  Up to 12 hours on one 25b hopper of pellets.  Life will be good with brisket and sleep.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary's Master Built can do hot smoke or cold smoke. The cold smoke is good for six hours then needs to be reloaded. Typically, Gary smokes six to 12 hours at a pop. Gary uses the Kamado for hot smoking. Pellets are cool because of the automation. The Master Built is electric, uses chips which are available everywhere, inexpensive and a very wide variety of flavors. Gary discovered a place in Anaheim which stocks a huge variety of wood, even red oak, (for Santa Maria style), and they'll even chip it for you. Those Yoder's are huge, you can cook an entire herd at the same time.
Click to expand...

Ah contriaire Pierre.  Yoder heard the cry of the masses that wish a smaller smoker.  To whit: Yoder Smokers | Competition Grade BBQ Grills And Smokers

It will be delivered Monday a.m.  If the kids had been in town I would have brought it home today, but moving a 250 lb smoker alone is not my idea of a good weekend.  Momma is down in Oklahoma teaching a wood badge class for the weekend so it's just me and my girlfriends.


----------



## table1349

Attention all Coffee Purist, nothing to see here. Go on your way.  Don't want to upset the coffee purists in the group.









For those that are not purist I just had to show my newest Starbucks acquisition.  Yes I know Starbucks, the over priced, over bastardized "coffee" dispenser. 

Since the family physician took me off of tea a few years ago, I have become a fan of Tisane.  The one problem I had with Tisane was finding a convenient filter that was fine enough to strain the small particles.  I give to you a quick snap of my Tisane brewing system with ultra fine strainer.





Quite reasonably priced considering it was cheaper than a Venti White Chocolate Mocha with additional 22 shots of espresso (that's 24 total) with each of the following syrups: classic, vanilla, sugar-free vanilla, hazelnut, sugar-free hazelnut, caramel, sugar-free caramel, peppermint, raspberry, toffee nut extra caramel sauce & soy.

FYI. If you need to stay up studying for a class or grading papers, that will do it.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary drinks herbal teas in the evening and his herbal teas brew as well with a normal tea strainer/infuser as a 'real' tea.  At work Gary will just drop tea leaves into a boiling pot. After a few minutes most of the leaves desend to the bottom of the pot for a pretty clean pour.


----------



## minicoop1985

Evening, hosers. Been an overly productive day, actually. Got a good amount done, did some more playing around trying to learn. I'm starting to realize how much I didn't know. Most of what I shot was small products on high key backgrounds for use in catalogs. Trying things like glassware and natural-environment stuff is a serious challenge and it's about time I stepped up to it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  Gary tossed up another and second coat of Sea Salt on the walls and Mary Lou worked on all the touch-ups. Tomorrow, we should be done with all the painting (hooray). This morning Gary stuffed the crock top with soup fixin's and that is what we had for dinner. We had another evening on the patio drinking wine, Line 39 Pinot Noir, listening to "Jazz on the Latin Side", KKJZ (KJAZZ 88.1) and looking for the black koi in the pond. Gotta tell you, going for museum quality with three colors in one room is a b****.  The Pinot and popcorn is making it less painful.


----------



## Gary A.

The Cook and Gary are dancing to Poncho Sanchez ... Muy Bueno Cook ...!!


----------



## snowbear

Last night, before the attack:




 



 

This morning - some of what survived, sided with  couple of eggs.  Yes, life is good,

edit: Changed photos.


----------



## jcdeboever

Morning coffee lovers. *Thank y'all for the encouraging words*. Long day yesterday. Grandmother is being moved to hospice today. She just want's to go see Jesus, is her words. I spent a good part of the day using the Bible phone app, it read the Psalms to her in a clear Englishman's voice, she loved that and knew pretty much everyone of them by heart. My wife went off on the doctor and got a social worker involved.... oh boy, the doc pissed off the wrong person and it took drama to a professional level, ummm he was not expecting a face full of the angry wife (better him than me). It's times like that, I could buy a bottle of booze and cuddle up in a nice closet... geez I hate that crap. Anyway, gonna get the laundry done and head out to hospice this afternoon. She is already asking for me according to the mother in law.


----------



## snowbear

Y'all are in our thoughts.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Y'all are in our thoughts.


Yes you are.  Hang in there JC. Be the calming sea ... the voice of reason to the wife. Doctors are people, and like people there are good one and bad ones. I obviously do not know what the issue(s) are but you can always request a different doctor if you're not happy with the treatment.

You have our prayers and well wishes.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Charlie- That, is a meal of which the word 'leftovers' would not exist.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary just finished the early morning chores, yesterday's dishes, tea for Mary Lou, coffee for Gary, newspaper retrieval, refilled the hummingbird feeders, et cetera. Today will be the last of the painting, then Gary will do a quasi reintroduction of the furniture. Gary will bring back the stuff that won't interfere with the installation of the baseboards. Gary will have the Tv up and running for the Oscars tonight (it's a big thing in this town).


----------



## jcdeboever

jcdeboever said:


> Picked up my Nikon F with FTN today. Got it super reasonable. Spent a few hours cleaning it up. It was pretty dusty, dirty, especially the 30-70mm f/3.5 AI (72mm) lens. The meter does not work yet, I put "new" dead 625 batteries in it, they did expire in 2013 and multi meter confirmed it. Did not dismantle it as much as I wanted to because I'm curious that way. Things were a little tight but after working them (Shutter/timer) they seem in good order. The lens feels so smooth and no fungus and a couple specs of dust. The F has a great feel to it and makes wonderful, precision like sounds. Pretty excited to shoot with it. I would rather have the eye level viewer but they would cost more than I paid for the camera and lens. The viewfinder is big, bright, and wonderful.
> 
> I noticed one of the teeth on the film sprocket was broke off, not sure if that will be an issue. Do you think it will?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Well, can't get the meter to act right, works -50% of the time. Took apart, cleaned, tried several things to no avail. The positive terminal was bent so straitened and cleaned up on disassembly. Pain in the butt to get that screw back in on the ground strap. Gonna leave the leather off and give it another try. All the voltage and resistance numbers are checking out so it is probably not making good contact on the positive side of the battery with the positive tab, kind of a strange design in some ways or a by product of today's batteries. Gonna try some foil around the batteries... I guess to see if it makes a difference in the consistency to rule that out.  Guess I am using a meter if I don't get it sorted soon.


----------



## snowbear

Battery?  If it used one of those old, discontinued mercury cells, you might have to make an adapter - the voltage on the same sized modern batteries may be less than the original specs.

Cheap Easy Mercury Battery Replacement


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Battery?  If it used one of those old, discontinued mercury cells, you might have to make an adapter - the voltage on the same sized modern batteries may be less than the original specs.
> 
> Cheap Easy Mercury Battery Replacement


Maybe and probably part of it. Maybe I will wire in a voltage drop diode. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Battery?  If it used one of those old, discontinued mercury cells, you might have to make an adapter - the voltage on the same sized modern batteries may be less than the original specs.
> 
> Cheap Easy Mercury Battery Replacement
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe and probably part of it. Maybe I will wire in a voltage drop diode.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

While you're at it maybe some jumper cables and connect to your car. You MacGyvers/DIY-ers are great! (All I do is paint, lol.)


----------



## minicoop1985

Heya hosers. Been an interesting one so far. Brunch with the in laws, then a brisk walk around a nature preserve-could almost touch the deer. They were NOT afraid of us. Fired off a roll of film too, but unfortunately, probably the last of my 120 for a long time. I need some money for some things like a wide angle lens and a battery for my strobes.


----------



## table1349

Gryph's sad.  Got a call from the BBQ store.  One of the delivery guys cut his hand and had to have a bunch of stitches.  New smoker was to be delivered first thing in the morning and Gryph had a rack of ribs in the fridge with a dry rub on them.   Was going to smoke them tomorrow.  

May have to wait a few days now, BBQ store can't deliver the smoker until after 6:30 tomorrow evening.  Graph is glad however that the delivery guy will be alright, just needs to let his hand heal up.  No permanent damage.


----------



## Gary A.

Fini ... Mary Lou and Gary are done with painting. Not only in the living room, but possibly for all time. We are watching the Oscars and eating pizza delivered by Pizzamania and sipping 'The Phantom".  The Phantom is a blend from Lorenzi Estate in Temecula.  This wine is absolutely, undeniably and immeasurably good, well beyond wonderful. It doesn't need to pair with any food, it stands all by itself.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gryph's sad.  Got a call from the BBQ store.  One of the delivery guys cut his hand and had to have a bunch of stitches.  New smoker was to be delivered first thing in the morning and Gryph had a rack of ribs in the fridge with a dry rub on them.   Was going to smoke them tomorrow.
> 
> May have to wait a few days now, BBQ store can't deliver the smoker until after 6:30 tomorrow evening.  Graph is glad however that the delivery guy will be alright, just needs to let his hand heal up.  No permanent damage.


Bummer. I may want to buy a summer house next to you and live all the other time next to @Gary A. I am a good at painting, electronics, car repair, and fighting... I retired from fighting, too many concussions in those toughman contests. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gryph's sad.  Got a call from the BBQ store.  One of the delivery guys cut his hand and had to have a bunch of stitches.  New smoker was to be delivered first thing in the morning and Gryph had a rack of ribs in the fridge with a dry rub on them.   Was going to smoke them tomorrow.
> 
> May have to wait a few days now, BBQ store can't deliver the smoker until after 6:30 tomorrow evening.  Graph is glad however that the delivery guy will be alright, just needs to let his hand heal up.  No permanent damage.


That sucks.  Hey, Gary has an empty smoker.  (Come on by).


----------



## Gary A.

I love Hollywood. Such a small community with such a large impact.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gryph's sad.  Got a call from the BBQ store.  One of the delivery guys cut his hand and had to have a bunch of stitches.  New smoker was to be delivered first thing in the morning and Gryph had a rack of ribs in the fridge with a dry rub on them.   Was going to smoke them tomorrow.
> 
> May have to wait a few days now, BBQ store can't deliver the smoker until after 6:30 tomorrow evening.  Graph is glad however that the delivery guy will be alright, just needs to let his hand heal up.  No permanent damage.
> 
> 
> 
> Bummer. I may want to buy a summer house next to you and live all the other time next to @Gary A. I am a good at painting, electronics, car repair, and fighting... I retired from fighting, too many concussions in those toughman contests.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I could use your fighting skills.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gryph's sad.  Got a call from the BBQ store.  One of the delivery guys cut his hand and had to have a bunch of stitches.  New smoker was to be delivered first thing in the morning and Gryph had a rack of ribs in the fridge with a dry rub on them.   Was going to smoke them tomorrow.
> 
> May have to wait a few days now, BBQ store can't deliver the smoker until after 6:30 tomorrow evening.  Graph is glad however that the delivery guy will be alright, just needs to let his hand heal up.  No permanent damage.
> 
> 
> 
> Bummer. I may want to buy a summer house next to you and live all the other time next to @Gary A. I am a good at painting, electronics, car repair, and fighting... I retired from fighting, too many concussions in those toughman contests.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I could use your fighting skills.
Click to expand...

Man, I was a scrapper back in the day...legend in my own mind. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary wrestled in high school. Some college ball, baseball and football.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I ran track in high school. Cross country and then in spring I did the longer runs. Never won a race, but never lost one either. I was - and still am - a slow runner. I'm also pretty uninteresting in competition. I joined the teams just to run and meet people, not to actually race. Luckily, there were no tryouts or anything, and the coaches didn't care if I was slow. They knew who their competitive runners were and the rest of us were just welcome to join in. Looking back, I realize how good that was. Well, and it helped that I was much better at field events than at the running events. My field events were the long and triple jumps.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers.

I participated only in dis-organized sports - touch football in the street, softball or handball in the park - typical city sports.


----------



## jcdeboever

I played baseball, basketball, and football. Played pickup hockey on public pond, pretty good skater. I was a pretty good pitcher and hitter and played hardball into my early 40's. Tried out for Tigers when I was 18, made it to the final cuts but just not good enough. Too much weed I suppose. Bench warmer in basketball. Now I am a fat slob with bad feet and knees. The funny thing is my mind thinks I can still do it but my body doesn't cooperate. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

Baseball , football and wrestling in high school.  Girlfriend did gymnastic,, cross country and long distance track.  Good at all three, really good at baseball.  Unfortunately I out grew being a catcher.  6'3" is not a good height to be a catcher and I had played that position for 10 years growing up plus I injured a knee my senior year playing tennis of all things. 



jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gryph's sad.  Got a call from the BBQ store.  One of the delivery guys cut his hand and had to have a bunch of stitches.  New smoker was to be delivered first thing in the morning and Gryph had a rack of ribs in the fridge with a dry rub on them.   Was going to smoke them tomorrow.
> 
> May have to wait a few days now, BBQ store can't deliver the smoker until after 6:30 tomorrow evening.  Graph is glad however that the delivery guy will be alright, just needs to let his hand heal up.  No permanent damage.
> 
> 
> 
> Bummer. I may want to buy a summer house next to you and live all the other time next to @Gary A. I am a good at painting, electronics, car repair, and fighting... I retired from fighting, too many concussions in those toughman contests.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Sorry, you can't move in next door, but the house across the street is for sale.


----------



## table1349

Well Gryph has wiped the dry rub of the ribs, vacuum sealed them, AGAIN, and put them in the chill chest for later this week.  Good thing too.  As Gryph was typing this the power went out.  Gryph checked and the electronic meter has no reading so it is at the utilities end.  Also the other neighbors have no power.  Got it reported and opened all the shades in the house.  

Was going to do some house cleaning, but the vacum cleaner doesn't have a gas motor.  Probably a good thing, momma wouldn't like fumes I am guessing.  Good thing my iPad doesn't just have wifi.  At least I can stay connected to the world and even watch some tv on it.  Gryph can even have his morning cup of Tisane.  Heating the water up on the burner on the grill.  Gryph and momma love their induction cook top, except when the power goes out.


----------



## minicoop1985

I did baseball and track in middle school and high school. Was terrible at both, but hey. I tried lol


----------



## snowbear

I was co-captain on the Varsity Drinking Team.


----------



## table1349

Yeah.......Power is back on.  See you later.  Got to go reset about a dozen clocks or so.  The stove is telling me the power went out at 9:03 and it is not 11:12.  Not t0 bad all in all.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## limr

Ooooooh, hate the tunnels. I always take the bridges when I have a choice. But that's just me and my claustrophobia


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Ooooooh, hate the tunnels. I always take the bridges when I have a choice. But that's just me and my claustrophobia



So fall hundreds of feet to your doom when the bridge collapses or be killed by falling debris as the tunnel caves in.

Ya.. tough choice really.. lol


----------



## snowbear

No tunnel issues.  At Sachi Asian Bistro, 713 2nd Ave.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ooooooh, hate the tunnels. I always take the bridges when I have a choice. But that's just me and my claustrophobia
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So fall hundreds of feet to your doom when the bridge collapses or be killed by falling debris as the tunnel caves in.
> 
> Ya.. tough choice really.. lol
Click to expand...


Well, if I _really_ had my choice of how to cross a body of water, I'd be on a boat. But if it comes down to bridge or tunnel, I'll always choose bridge. If I have to die in one of those two ways, I choose to die in the open air, not crushed in the earth beneath the Hudson.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ooooooh, hate the tunnels. I always take the bridges when I have a choice. But that's just me and my claustrophobia
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So fall hundreds of feet to your doom when the bridge collapses or be killed by falling debris as the tunnel caves in.
> 
> Ya.. tough choice really.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, if I _really_ had my choice of how to cross a body of water, I'd be on a boat. But if it comes down to bridge or tunnel, I'll always choose bridge. If I have to die in one of those two ways, I choose to die in the open air, not crushed in the earth beneath the Hudson.
Click to expand...


Keep this in mind next time your crossing a bridge.  





Just what every car needs.





Lenny, I understand though, some people hate heights, some hate tight enclosed spaces.  Neither one is comfortable.

Not sure I would want to take the Ferry though....


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. The best thing about this day was that Gary picked up his X-Pro2. While Gary was wandering about the shop he notice the Fujinon 100-400 ... so he picked up the lens also. Gary is excited.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. The best thing about this day was that Gary picked up his X-Pro2. While Gary was wandering about the shop he notice the Fujinon 100-400 ... sio he picked up the lens also. Gary is excited.


Good for Gary.  I'm sure he will enjoy it a lot.

Gryph's  excited as well, the Yoder smoker arrived about 45 minutes ago.

It gets it's first test Wednesday with a rack of ribs for momma and I.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. The best thing about this day was that Gary picked up his X-Pro2. While Gary was wandering about the shop he notice the Fujinon 100-400 ... sio he picked up the lens also. Gary is excited.
> 
> 
> 
> Good for Gary.  I'm sure he will enjoy it a lot.
> 
> Gryph's  excited as well, the Yoder smoker arrived about 45 minutes ago.
> 
> It gets it's first test Wednesday with a rack of ribs for momma and I.
Click to expand...

Don't forget to invite JC ... I think he may have a powerful appetite.


----------



## jcdeboever

Evening coffee lovers. Long day... Finished up Ohio work, arrived home to no power. Grabbed a liverwurst and horseradish sandwich on rye. Then the wife and I went to hospice to see grandma. They have her real comfortable and told us she could pass anytime, more than likely the next day or two. My wife is pretty broken up, she was close to her. Everything is in order, wife just needs my shoulder. Gonna take tomorrow off and help the wife any way I can. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

Uh-oh,  Gryph might be in trouble.  Been over on the pellet smoking forums and found an absolutely fabulous sounding recipe for smoking of all things.......................................................

*BACON. *

A Jack Daniels, Maple & Brown Sugar bacon to be exact.  OMG, this might be 1. Bad & 2. Expensive buying that much bacon.


----------



## Gary A.

Fred's up in Sausalito has a similar Maple syrup recipe. It is called Millionaire Bacon. Mary Lou loves the stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is a cool and overcast/foggy morning. Gary's living room is slowly coming back together. Gary has been gluing sliders and felt pads to the bottom of the furniture. Gary is waiting for the baseboards to arrive so he can finish the flooring job. The Tv is up and running, albeit it is front of the fireplace ... but up and running nonetheless.

Gary plucked another dozen snails from the front.  Gary doesn't know where they keep coming from.  Gary hopes the Trump's wall will slow them down.  Gary needs to start up his night time snail patrol in the backyard as the veggies are exhibiting too many holes in their leaves. Gary uses a diluted mixture of ammonia and water and directly sprays the cute little bastards.  On early morning patrols Gary collects the slugs and snails and tosses them into the pond. The Koi smack their lips after munching on morning escargot (for Koi, slugs and snails are up there with bacon for us).


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Not sure what today will bring. It's snowing now, so anything could conceivably happen. Might make a run to the camera store to find me a grip arm for glass photography.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Someone sent me an abstract of an article claiming that two cups of coffee/day significantly reduced the occurrence of cirrhosis.  I don't know if they considered the fact that the heavy drinkers who are the ones who usually get cirrhosis probably aren't drinking much coffee and the avid coffee drinkers probably aren't the heaviest drinkers.


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> Just what every car needs.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lenny, I understand though, some people hate heights, some hate tight enclosed spaces.  Neither one is comfortable.



Well in case your wondering I have yet to find a car where in the event of a water landing your seat can be used as a flotation device.  Don't ask me how I know this, just take my word for it.. lol


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Someone sent me an abstract of an article claiming that two cups of coffee/day significantly reduced the occurrence of cirrhosis.  I don't know if they considered the fact that the heavy drinkers who are the ones who usually get cirrhosis probably aren't drinking much coffee and the avid coffee drinkers probably aren't the heaviest drinkers.


Gary doesn't know about that ... Gary's thinks his personal and high consumption of coffee has significantly reduced his occurrence of cirrhosis.


----------



## snowbear

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Someone sent me an abstract of an article claiming that two cups of coffee/day significantly reduced the occurrence of cirrhosis.


So, how many Irish coffees would one have to drink per day to get the same results?


----------



## table1349

Graph is a happy camper. Gryph just got home from his new job and now has the new smoker in the middle of the initial burnout.  Tomorrow Gryph is going to do a rack of ribs for momma and I.  And probably some bacon just for fun.  

Yes Gryph is working again, part time in a deli.  Graph doesn't want to become one of those retirees that sits around the house, learning to watch soap operas and eating bon-bon's.  About 20 hours a week working at the counter selling product to the customers.


----------



## bribrius

is randomly posting photos on a photo site while he watches cartoons with the children


----------



## table1349

bribrius said:


> is randomly posting photos on a photo site while he watches cartoons with the children


Sponge Bob Square Pants.....Sponge Bob Square Pants.....Sponge Bob Square Pants.......Sponge Bob.......Square....Pants...


----------



## bribrius

gryphonslair99 said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> is randomly posting photos on a photo site while he watches cartoons with the children
> 
> 
> 
> Sponge Bob Square Pants.....Sponge Bob Square Pants.....Sponge Bob Square Pants.......Sponge Bob.......Square....Pants...
Click to expand...

incredible hulk riding a dinosaur right this second.


----------



## table1349

Haven't you taught them about.............




yet????


----------



## minicoop1985

Mike is happy. Mike just ordered a stripbox and speedring. Should work with my strobes. I hope.


----------



## bribrius

gryphonslair99 said:


> Haven't you taught them about.............
> 
> 
> 
> yet????


like to teach them to pick up their trash...

seems a uphill battle


----------



## table1349

bribrius said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Haven't you taught them about.............
> View attachment 116936
> yet????
> 
> 
> 
> like to teach them to pick up their trash...
> 
> seems a uphill battle
Click to expand...

Well there is your problem.  You didn't give them pointy sticks. 





Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "You'll poke your eye out kid."


----------



## table1349

Sorry for the crappy photo, but the deck is on the west side of the house and the sun is beginning to go down.  But Gryph is a happy camper.  The initial burnout is complete and is about cooled down.  The smoker worked as advertised.  Temperature never fluctuated more than 10 degrees either side of the target temp.  Hopper is filled and it is ready for the ribs tomorrow.


----------



## bribrius

nice. Your supposed to apologize when you post a crappy photo on here?  Boy do i owe some sorrys.


----------



## table1349

I was going to wait until in the morning when the light was better, but I have to go to work again in the morning.  This whole corporate training thing makes for a long day.


----------



## bribrius

gryphonslair99 said:


> I was going to wait until in the morning when the light was better, but I have to go to work again in the morning.  This whole corporate training thing makes for a long day.


its a grill it needs food on it for a full photo reached potential no matter what the light


----------



## table1349

bribrius said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was going to wait until in the morning when the light was better, but I have to go to work again in the morning.  This whole corporate training thing makes for a long day.
> 
> 
> 
> its a grill it needs food on it for a full photo reached potential no matter what the light
Click to expand...

Ah contraire pierre, that is a smoker.

This is a grill. 





The Weber Summit S-420.  It is what is under the cover on the left of the smoker.

My old Weber Performer kettle grill is soon to become a wood fired pizza oven.





The outdoor food possibilities are about to become endless around my little patch of heaven.


----------



## bribrius

yum


----------



## table1349

Gryphs Grub Grotto is soon to open.  Pizza, ribs, brisket, pulled pork, burgers, steaks, and yes even baked goods can all be done at the same time.  If you have never had a smoked pineapple upside down cake done in a smoker you are really missing out. 

I've done this recipe before on the grill with the smoke box going and it was fantastic.  I am going to do it again in the smoker with a pecan & cherry pellet mix.


----------



## bribrius

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gryphs Grub Grotto is soon to open.  Pizza, ribs, brisket, pulled pork, burgers, steaks, and yes even baked goods can all be done at the same time.  If you have never had a smoked pineapple upside down cake done in a smoker you are really missing out.
> 
> I've done this recipe before on the grill with the smoke box going and it was fantastic.  I am going to do it again in the smoker with a pecan & cherry pellet mix.


i cant cook even on a grill unless it is something simple like cheese burgers. But i am a great eater.


----------



## jcdeboever

My grill blew off the deck last week in the heavy wind storm. Busted all up. I'm hungry

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## bribrius

i want spring


----------



## bribrius

almost there, getting there...


----------



## jcdeboever

bribrius said:


> i want spring


Tell me about it. We are getting about ten inches of snow through the night. Already plowed about three. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm with you guys. So done with snow and cold.


----------



## unpopular

my wife has been on a Sabrina the Teenage Witch marathon, but never in "the mood".

problems.


----------



## bribrius

unpopular said:


> my wife has been on a Sabrina the Teenage Witch marathon, but never in "the mood".
> 
> problems.


have you discussed it with her boyfriend?


----------



## unpopular

bribrius said:


> unpopular said:
> 
> 
> 
> my wife has been on a Sabrina the Teenage Witch marathon, but never in "the mood".
> 
> problems.
> 
> 
> 
> have you discussed it with her boyfriend?
Click to expand...


Maybe she got this sinus infection from him?


----------



## jcdeboever

Evening coffee lovers. My wife just got done yelling at me for peeing in the laundry tub down the basement. I messed up again. I guess I don't see the problem as the toilets are connected to the same line... Maybe it was the vision of my back bending, pleasure of releasing a good load of urine. I'm busted. Not getting any Tonight. Man, I can't catch a break, I do so many stupid things. I tried to make a joke of it, she wasn't having it. I guess I need to adjust my posture to a less enjoying relief stance. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Evening coffee lovers. My wife just got done yelling at me for peeing in the laundry tub down the basement. I messed up again. I guess I don't see the problem as the toilets are connected to the same line... Maybe it was the vision of my back bending, pleasure of releasing a good load of urine. I'm busted. Not getting any Tonight. Man, I can't catch a break, I do so many stupid things. I tried to make a joke of it, she wasn't having it. I guess I need to adjust my posture to a less enjoying relief stance.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Thank you JC ... thank you ... that was funnest thing Gary heard all month. (Man ... Gary has this visual of your hunched back ... funny as hell.)


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> My grill blew off the deck last week in the heavy wind storm. Busted all up. I'm hungry
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh there's no emoji suitable for this... you peed in a sink?? I think I might be handing you some sort of cleaner and suggesting you make good use of it about now. I mean, this made me think of working at summer overnight camps and those boys... the restroom on that side of the cabin would just get ripe, whoo. Not that I've never been camping in a primitive camp without flushies and whatnot but no, not in the sink, please... 

Well that was a nice trip down memory lane. lol Now drinking champagne in the latrine at a campground, that's a better memory, will try to think of that now instead.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Oh there's no emoji suitable for this... you peed in a sink?? I think I might be handing you some sort of cleaner and suggesting you make good use of it about now. I mean, this made me think of working at summer overnight camps and those boys... the restroom on that side of the cabin would just get ripe, whoo. Not that I've never been camping in a primitive camp without flushies and whatnot but no, not in the sink, please...
> 
> Well that was a nice trip down memory lane. lol Now drinking champagne in the latrine at a campground, that's a better memory, will try to think of that now instead.


I had the water running and the sump pump kicked in... 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear




----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Oh there's no emoji suitable for this... you peed in a sink?? I think I might be handing you some sort of cleaner and suggesting you make good use of it about now. I mean, this made me think of working at summer overnight camps and those boys... the restroom on that side of the cabin would just get ripe, whoo. Not that I've never been camping in a primitive camp without flushies and whatnot but no, not in the sink, please...
> 
> Well that was a nice trip down memory lane. lol Now drinking champagne in the latrine at a campground, that's a better memory, will try to think of that now instead.



MLW's idea of "roughing it" is a hotel without room service; I'm at the age where I'm starting to agree with her.


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Evening coffee lovers. My wife just got done yelling at me for peeing in the laundry tub down the basement. I messed up again. I guess I don't see the problem as the toilets are connected to the same line... Maybe it was the vision of my back bending, pleasure of releasing a good load of urine. I'm busted. Not getting any Tonight. Man, I can't catch a break, I do so many stupid things. I tried to make a joke of it, she wasn't having it. I guess I need to adjust my posture to a less enjoying relief stance.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Women are fussy about that sort of thing, I learned that from my ex.  She had all sorts of crazy rules about where you could and couldn't pee.  Not in the laundry tub.  Not on the cat.  That sort of thing.  Just crazy authoritarianism run amok really.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening coffee lovers. My wife just got done yelling at me for peeing in the laundry tub down the basement. I messed up again. I guess I don't see the problem as the toilets are connected to the same line... Maybe it was the vision of my back bending, pleasure of releasing a good load of urine. I'm busted. Not getting any Tonight. Man, I can't catch a break, I do so many stupid things. I tried to make a joke of it, she wasn't having it. I guess I need to adjust my posture to a less enjoying relief stance.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Women are fussy about that sort of thing, I learned that from my ex.  She had all sorts of crazy rules about where you could and couldn't pee.  Not in the laundry tub.  Not on the cat.  That sort of thing.  Just crazy authoritarianism run amok really.
Click to expand...

Control freaks Gary sez.  Women, youse can't live with them and you can't live without them.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.

@ JC- Don't you mean you had 'Your' water running when the sump pump kicked in? Gary thinks this wasn't the first time for JC and the laundry tub. Poor laundry sink.

Another dozen snail ceremoniously, with a full windup, were flung into the street. Gawd Gary hates snails.  Last night Mary Lou and Gary looked at can lights for the newly painted living room. Reviewing the photos at dinner Gary realized that the two we picked were retrofit kits ... Now we have to go it and do it all over again. One of the places we visited was a lighting store in Brea.  Upon entering, Gary was amazed at all the other stuff they carried, tons and tons of this knick-knacky stuff ... All of it shiney or chromed or decorated with cut up glass and mirror. A treasure chest of bling for grade school girls or for a refugee from a Soviet Bloc country where everything was gray.





Gary did find this little jewel amidst the rubble.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is on this second cup of Joe and munching this chocolate muffin with a vein of raspberry jam winding throughout that Mary Lou brought home from the panaderia. Gary loves pan dulce.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Control freaks Gary sez.  Women, youse can't live with them and you can't live without them.



Just don't sez that in front of Mary Lou.  Lol


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Control freaks Gary sez.  Women, youse can't live with them and you can't live without them.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just don't sez that in front of Mary Lou.  Lol
Click to expand...


Hohhot man ... You are soo right. Gary hates it when Mary Lou beats him.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Hohhot man ... You are soo right. Gary hates it when Mary Lou beats him.



Also, if she asks about the cat, play dumb.  Lol


----------



## limr

Men. Can't live with 'em, can't kill 'em.

This place is changing from a coffee house to a man cave. If I roll my eyes one more time, they're going to stay back there.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> This place is changing from a coffee house to a man cave.



I'm confused, you say that like it's a bad thing.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Men. Can't live with 'em, can't kill 'em.
> 
> This place is changing from a coffee house to a man cave. If I roll my eyes one more time, they're going to stay back there.


With your star tailback on the injured reserve list, the men are racking up the score.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. A man cave it has become. It's also a place to whine about the weather (still too damned cold) and complain about a lack of coffee.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening coffee lovers. My wife just got done yelling at me for peeing in the laundry tub down the basement. I messed up again. I guess I don't see the problem as the toilets are connected to the same line... Maybe it was the vision of my back bending, pleasure of releasing a good load of urine. I'm busted. Not getting any Tonight. Man, I can't catch a break, I do so many stupid things. I tried to make a joke of it, she wasn't having it. I guess I need to adjust my posture to a less enjoying relief stance.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Women are fussy about that sort of thing, I learned that from my ex.  She had all sorts of crazy rules about where you could and couldn't pee.  Not in the laundry tub.  Not on the cat.  That sort of thing.  Just crazy authoritarianism run amok really.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Control freaks Gary sez.  Women, youse can't live with them and you can't live without them.
Click to expand...

This pretty much says it all.


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening coffee lovers. My wife just got done yelling at me for peeing in the laundry tub down the basement. I messed up again. I guess I don't see the problem as the toilets are connected to the same line... Maybe it was the vision of my back bending, pleasure of releasing a good load of urine. I'm busted. Not getting any Tonight. Man, I can't catch a break, I do so many stupid things. I tried to make a joke of it, she wasn't having it. I guess I need to adjust my posture to a less enjoying relief stance.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Women are fussy about that sort of thing, I learned that from my ex.  She had all sorts of crazy rules about where you could and couldn't pee.  Not in the laundry tub.  Not on the cat.  That sort of thing.  Just crazy authoritarianism run amok really.
Click to expand...

Personally I always thought it was because they couldn't write their name in the snow .


----------



## bribrius

gryphonslair99 said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening coffee lovers. My wife just got done yelling at me for peeing in the laundry tub down the basement. I messed up again. I guess I don't see the problem as the toilets are connected to the same line... Maybe it was the vision of my back bending, pleasure of releasing a good load of urine. I'm busted. Not getting any Tonight. Man, I can't catch a break, I do so many stupid things. I tried to make a joke of it, she wasn't having it. I guess I need to adjust my posture to a less enjoying relief stance.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Women are fussy about that sort of thing, I learned that from my ex.  She had all sorts of crazy rules about where you could and couldn't pee.  Not in the laundry tub.  Not on the cat.  That sort of thing.  Just crazy authoritarianism run amok really.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Personally I always thought it was because they couldn't write their name in the snow .
Click to expand...

are we positive they cant?  what if a really talented one could waddle real fast?


----------



## bribrius

like olympic waddler


----------



## jcdeboever

jcdeboever said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Picked up my Nikon F with FTN today. Got it super reasonable. Spent a few hours cleaning it up. It was pretty dusty, dirty, especially the 30-70mm f/3.5 AI (72mm) lens. The meter does not work yet, I put "new" dead 625 batteries in it, they did expire in 2013 and multi meter confirmed it. Did not dismantle it as much as I wanted to because I'm curious that way. Things were a little tight but after working them (Shutter/timer) they seem in good order. The lens feels so smooth and no fungus and a couple specs of dust. The F has a great feel to it and makes wonderful, precision like sounds. Pretty excited to shoot with it. I would rather have the eye level viewer but they would cost more than I paid for the camera and lens. The viewfinder is big, bright, and wonderful.
> 
> I noticed one of the teeth on the film sprocket was broke off, not sure if that will be an issue. Do you think it will?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, can't get the meter to act right, works -50% of the time. Took apart, cleaned, tried several things to no avail. The positive terminal was bent so straitened and cleaned up on disassembly. Pain in the butt to get that screw back in on the ground strap. Gonna leave the leather off and give it another try. All the voltage and resistance numbers are checking out so it is probably not making good contact on the positive side of the battery with the positive tab, kind of a strange design in some ways or a by product of today's batteries. Gonna try some foil around the batteries... I guess to see if it makes a difference in the consistency to rule that out.  Guess I am using a meter if I don't get it sorted soon.
Click to expand...


Well I took the day off to sort my 150-600 Sigma Lens, visit grandma in hospice, and to get the FTN meter fixed. Can't seem to sort out the meter, tried everything that I know, even zinc batteries but it is still inconsistent, So I am going to send it out to Robert Decker, good guy and very reasonable. He even gave some free advice but I will let the expert sort it.


----------



## unpopular

gryphonslair99 said:


> Personally I always thought it was because they couldn't write their name in the snow .



Oh, but when they try, it's HILARIOUS!


----------



## table1349

Well actually I had a girlfriend back in college that could write her name in the snow sort of.  Her dad got real mad one night because it was my "ink" but he recognized her hand writing.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## bribrius

why most interesting discussion on here in a while. olympic speed squatter waddler wonder if they could do regular print or just cursive


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

Gary's  latest and greatest.


----------



## table1349

Cool!


----------



## limr

I miss Sharon.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> I miss Sharon.


Me too. Have not heard from her but once or twice since she got out of hospital. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Yes, I miss her too.
She's posted once or twice to Facebook, but that's about it.  I have seen where she's been browsing through here, but not posting.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers.  Back to cold weather here, that is to say, normal for this time of year, so not complaining, mind you, just sayin'...


----------



## limr

Morning, Ken! Morning, hosers.

Yup, back to some proper cold temperatures. I was just talking about this the other day. One of the professors was in the office chatting and she said something like, "I think we've turned the corner. No more cold this winter." I said, "Nah, there's going to be at least one more cold snap." She didn't believe me, but see, I know winter. Winter is a very capricious, impish sort of creature. The last few winters were gloriously cold and snowy, so just when I start to get excited about another one, winter decides to be mild. She screws with me.

But I know she screws with everyone else, too. Every time someone casually engages in some weather talk with comments like, 'What great weather we've had this winter!" or "Aren't you so glad it was a mild winter?" she gets peeved. She'll lull everyone into a false sense of smug security, and then come March...







"Oh, you think I'm mild? You think I let you off easy? Think again, mo-fos."

Sometimes this takes the form of extremely low temperatures, and sometimes it's an April blizzard. either way, it's going to come. Winter will mess you up, yo. She gives zero f***s.

And that's just one more reason I adore winter.


----------



## table1349

Forecast is for a high of 62 today, 72, tomorrow, 67 Saturday and 64 with rain Sunday.   Cut the grass once already and have the sprinkler system running once a week.   Spring has sprung baby.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday I mowed the lawns. Usually, in Winter I mow every two weeks, now I'm back to once a week.  Winter, this year has been pretty warm. In the 70's this week, 80's last week. But it is supposed to rain on Sunday.  So I'm battening down the hatches in anticipation of Winter on Sunday.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. It's supposed to get quite warm for this time of year next week. I can't wait.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday I mowed the lawns.


 How many lawns do you have?


----------



## robbins.photo

Greetings Hosers!

First cup of coffee finally acquired, it's just been one of those mornings.  Looking forward to getting back to the zoo on Saturday, feels like I've been cooped up in the house forever this winter.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday I mowed the lawns.
> 
> 
> 
> How many lawns do you have?
Click to expand...

Two.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday I mowed the lawns.
> 
> 
> 
> How many lawns do you have?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Two.
Click to expand...

 Unless you were talking about a front lawn and a back lawn then that is too many lawns for me.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday I mowed the lawns.
> 
> 
> 
> How many lawns do you have?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Two.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Unless you were talking about a front lawn and a back lawn then that is too many lawns for me.
Click to expand...

 One cannot over-state the benefits of green concrete!


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday I mowed the lawns.
> 
> 
> 
> How many lawns do you have?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Two.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Unless you were talking about a front lawn and a back lawn then that is too many lawns for me.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> One cannot over-state the benefits of green concrete!
Click to expand...

I hate cutting the grass. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday I mowed the lawns.
> 
> 
> 
> How many lawns do you have?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Two.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Unless you were talking about a front lawn and a back lawn then that is too many lawns for me.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> One cannot over-state the benefits of green concrete!
Click to expand...

I would have given you a like and an agree as well if only THE FORUM WOULD LET US.   Hint, hint, Terri.


----------



## table1349

Robbin I was about to give you such a talking to about your location and then I realized that it was Plattsmouth Nebraska that has the stupidest privately owned toll bridge to get into the town.  Now there is a racket.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning, Ken! Morning, hosers.
> 
> Yup, back to some proper cold temperatures. I was just talking about this the other day. One of the professors was in the office chatting and she said something like, "I think we've turned the corner. No more cold this winter." I said, "Nah, there's going to be at least one more cold snap." She didn't believe me, but see, I know winter. Winter is a very capricious, impish sort of creature. The last few winters were gloriously cold and snowy, so just when I start to get excited about another one, winter decides to be mild. She screws with me.
> 
> But I know she screws with everyone else, too. Every time someone casually engages in some weather talk with comments like, 'What great weather we've had this winter!" or "Aren't you so glad it was a mild winter?" she gets peeved. She'll lull everyone into a false sense of smug security, and then come March...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "Oh, you think I'm mild? You think I let you off easy? Think again, mo-fos."
> 
> Sometimes this takes the form of extremely low temperatures, and sometimes it's an April blizzard. either way, it's going to come. Winter will mess you up, yo. She gives zero f***s.
> 
> And that's just one more reason I adore winter.



Drove through light snow on the way home tonight.  It's expected to snow through the night - up to an inch in DC and more in the south.
I'm in the south.

HATCHA - Spring ain't for another two weeks and change.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary loves winter.


----------



## jcdeboever

Well, the good news is they are playing baseball. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Nothin's finer than opening day.


----------



## table1349

Yep, nothing like being World Series Champs and starting the season off 0-2.  Hell if I have to wait another 30 years I'm going to be 91 years old.  

Could be worse though, I could be a Cubs fan.


----------



## table1349

Sorry folks, but I just have to post one more for the Baseball fans among us.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Thppt! to Gary. lol Snowed here, but didn't stick, by the time the evening news showed where it was still snowing the temp had dropped and roads weren't looking so good - it was past me. Possibly a little more of the same Saturday.

Lenny, you might be right, I won't be surprised if we have some cold snowy spring weather.

Gryph I like Steve Goodman, don't often hear much by him. But my goodness, how young was he in that video? wonder when it was recorded. ('...doormat of the National League...' lol)


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Thppt! to Gary. lol Snowed here, but didn't stick, by the time the evening news showed where it was still snowing the temp had dropped and roads weren't looking so good - it was past me. Possibly a little more of the same Saturday.
> 
> Lenny, you might be right, I won't be surprised if we have some cold snowy spring weather.
> 
> Gryph I like Steve Goodman, don't often hear much by him. But my goodness, how young was he in that video? wonder when it was recorded. ('...doormat of the National League...' lol)


LOL ... that's the Redbud Forest Pansy ... it's a great tree, red leaves will sprout from those pink buds.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.  It looks like two inches of pretty white snow on the grassy areas, bushes, and flat surfaces off the ground.  Nothing on the sidewalk and street that I can see;  about as was predicted.

Going with son #1 to the Baltimore Pen Show tomorrow and on Sunday, we're heading to DC for the art store and Pie Sisters.


----------



## table1349

Morning coffee junkies.    Tis a beautiful Friday morn here in the flatlands.  Sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky and just a wisp of a breeze.  In the 70's today.  HVAC guy is here for the annual springtime check of the furnace and heat pump before we need the  air conditioning.  After that it's off to meet some friends for a late breakfast, hair cut, then add a probe port to the new smoker.  After lunch two slabs of St. Louis ribs go on the smoker.  #1 son and wife coming up later from Bartlesville for the weekend so the ribs won't last long.  

_Gary_ got's some pretty pansies in *one* of his yards I see.  

_Sharon_, that was back in the early 80's when he did that.  Love that song, since my best friend in College was from Chicago.  I send him that every year about this time just for fun.  This year was even better since he Royals won the world series.  

_Bear_, please go take some nice picts of the snow.  I want my 70 degree temp, but I will gladly look at pretty picts of other peoples snow.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Celebrating Friday with a chocolate scone and a real coffee from the coffee shop downstairs.  Someone will toss a rope up later and pull me back down.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> View attachment 117124
> Morning coffee junkies.    Tis a beautiful Friday morn here in the flatlands.  Sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky and just a wisp of a breeze.  In the 70's today.  HVAC guy is here for the annual springtime check of the furnace and heat pump before we need the  air conditioning.  After that it's off to meet some friends for a late breakfast, hair cut, then add a probe port to the new smoker.  After lunch two slabs of St. Louis ribs go on the smoker.  #1 son and wife coming up later from Bartlesville for the weekend so the ribs won't last long.
> 
> _Gary_ got's some pretty pansies in *one* of his yards I see.
> 
> _Sharon_, that was back in the early 80's when he did that.  Love that song, since my best friend in College was from Chicago.  I send him that every year about this time just for fun.  This year was even better since he Royals won the world series.
> 
> _Bear_, please go take some nice picts of the snow.  I want my 70 degree temp, but I will gladly look at pretty picts of other peoples snow.








Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

jcdeboever said:


> I hate cutting the grass.


My front yard was kind of difficult to mow, so years ago I killed the grass and planted perennials in the front.  Still have the back yard in grass, but it's easy.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It felt sorta like a summer morning, cool, dry and overcast with a quiet stillness in the morning air. Only found one snail in the front today. So the word must be out that when the guy and pooch pick up the paper, hide. Last night shot Whitney High School's talent show. Second time out with the XP2.  I preferred the EVF of the XT1 to the EVF of the XP2. May just be a familiarity issue ... We'll see. I want a battery grip for the XP2. The XP2 has two card slots and Gary directed RAW in one card and JPEG to the other. Gary is now in search of a new processing program to convert the RAW files as his old programs won't work on the new files.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hate cutting the grass.
> 
> 
> 
> My front yard was kind of difficult to mow, so years ago I killed the grass and planted perennials in the front.  Still have to the back yard in grass, but it's easy.
Click to expand...

Gary and Mary Lou have a similar plan for the front, but we're going to install succulents and native, drought resistant plants.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 117124
> Morning coffee junkies.    Tis a beautiful Friday morn here in the flatlands.  Sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky and just a wisp of a breeze.  In the 70's today.  HVAC guy is here for the annual springtime check of the furnace and heat pump before we need the  air conditioning.  After that it's off to meet some friends for a late breakfast, hair cut, then add a probe port to the new smoker.  After lunch two slabs of St. Louis ribs go on the smoker.  #1 son and wife coming up later from Bartlesville for the weekend so the ribs won't last long.
> 
> _Gary_ got's some pretty pansies in *one* of his yards I see.
> 
> _Sharon_, that was back in the early 80's when he did that.  Love that song, since my best friend in College was from Chicago.  I send him that every year about this time just for fun.  This year was even better since he Royals won the world series.
> 
> _Bear_, please go take some nice picts of the snow.  I want my 70 degree temp, but I will gladly look at pretty picts of other peoples snow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

A winter wonderland.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 117124
> Morning coffee junkies.    Tis a beautiful Friday morn here in the flatlands.  Sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky and just a wisp of a breeze.  In the 70's today.  HVAC guy is here for the annual springtime check of the furnace and heat pump before we need the  air conditioning.  After that it's off to meet some friends for a late breakfast, hair cut, then add a probe port to the new smoker.  After lunch two slabs of St. Louis ribs go on the smoker.  #1 son and wife coming up later from Bartlesville for the weekend so the ribs won't last long.
> 
> _Gary_ got's some pretty pansies in *one* of his yards I see.
> 
> _Sharon_, that was back in the early 80's when he did that.  Love that song, since my best friend in College was from Chicago.  I send him that every year about this time just for fun.  This year was even better since he Royals won the world series.
> 
> _Bear_, please go take some nice picts of the snow.  I want my 70 degree temp, but I will gladly look at pretty picts of other peoples snow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Pretty. 


Sent from my MBP while sitting on my veranda with a cup of coffee in my hand.


----------



## table1349

Designer said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hate cutting the grass.
> 
> 
> 
> My front yard was kind of difficult to mow, so years ago I killed the grass and planted perennials in the front.  Still have the back yard in grass, but it's easy.
Click to expand...

Don't get too excited there folks.  You have to remember that this is the front yard of choice in Iowa.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hate cutting the grass.
> 
> 
> 
> My front yard was kind of difficult to mow, so years ago I killed the grass and planted perennials in the front.  Still have to the back yard in grass, but it's easy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary and Mary Lou have a similar plan for the front, but we're going to install succulents and native, drought resistant plants.
Click to expand...

You mean something like this???




The wife's brother and sister an law live in souther CA and decided with the drought and all to change out the front yard from grass to a less water consumptive group of plants.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. 

We got snow up here, too. It's just a dusting, but I'll take it!


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hate cutting the grass.
> 
> 
> 
> My front yard was kind of difficult to mow, so years ago I killed the grass and planted perennials in the front.  Still have to the back yard in grass, but it's easy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary and Mary Lou have a similar plan for the front, but we're going to install succulents and native, drought resistant plants.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You mean something like this???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The wife's brother and sister an law live in souther CA and decided with the drought and all to change out the front yard from grass to a less water consumptive group of plants.
Click to expand...

Yep, but with more rocks and grade drops/elevations.


----------



## table1349

My sister in law hates it.  She is from Thailand and misses the vegetation.  My  brother in law did all the mowing. He loves it.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> We got snow up here, too. It's just a dusting, but I'll take it!


Morning sunshine.




Glad you appreciate the dusting.  Some people don't.


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> We got snow up here, too. It's just a dusting, but I'll take it!
> 
> 
> 
> Morning sunshine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glad you appreciate the dusting.  Some people don't.
Click to expand...


What makes me sad is that it's already all melted  I would have appreciated it more if it were about half a foot and still on the ground.


----------



## table1349

Well it's a darn good thing you don't live in North Carolina.


----------



## Designer

gryphonslair99 said:


> You mean something like this???


Not that pretty.  Mine is looking kind of ragged now.  A lot of the original plants aren't there anymore.


----------



## limr

There are many many reasons why it's good that I don't live in North Carolina; lack of snow is only one of them.


----------



## Designer

This morning's grading.  My neighbor ordered two loads of asphalt millings for his driveway, and I spread it out with my tractor.  I took a photo while it was smooth, because it will probably not be this smooth ever again.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> My sister in law hates it.  She is from Thailand and misses the vegetation.  My  brother in law did all the mowing. He loves it.


The back is on the lush side ... Due to water allotment/restriction ... Gary would rather have one verdant yard than two brown grass yards.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sharon doesn't think Gary's in Kansas anymore Toto!
(cross out Kansas, write in California)

It's supposed to snow again tomorrow morning. Tired of this piddly stuff, not enough to be pretty and photogenic, just cold and wet out. And it's March!! supposed to be cold and miserable and gloom and doom - but not _snowing_!! lol

My plans for Saturday anyway are to run some lumen prints that stuck together back thru some fixer and try to fix them (as in get them unstuck and see what I can salvage).


----------



## limr

Well, well, well, well, WELL! I have just discovered something that makes me so so very happy and excited!

It is possible to do emulsion lifts with Impossible Project film. And I just received the frog tongue so perhaps my next pack will be more usable than the first pack I shot, which came out mostly overexposed. 

Now I'm going to test to see if it works on Instax film. If it does, this _just might_ ease some of my pain caused by the discontinuance of the peel-apart film.


----------



## limr

Well, it doesn't work with the Instax, unfortunately. 

But I did another lift with a shot on IP film and I got further along in learning how to control the emulsion. I am also pleased that I found a way to use two small square canvases that I had painted, intending them for some sort of lift but never really sure what. As it turns out, two of my IP shots that were really no good turned out to be perfectly matched to the painted canvases, so my test lifts might turn out to be an interesting sort of multi-media abstract diptych


----------



## limr

Here they are drying:



Things I learned: the water has to be hot to get the emulsion off, but it doesn't have to be _that_ hot. Also, once it's off, it no longer needs to be hot in order to lift it onto the new surface and manipulate it. This makes it easier to hold my hands under the water to control the movement of the surface and emulsion.

Also, I think I will need to remove a bit more of the milky film that is on the back of the emulsion. Otherwise, the colors wash out a bit, and it's harder to tell which side is "up." 

Finally, I believe I have forever reassigned some of my old makeup brushes to emulsion lift duty. Which is fine. I wasn't using them for makeup anymore, and they seem to be well-suited.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Here they are drying:
> View attachment 117146
> 
> Things I learned: the water has to be hot to get the emulsion off, but it doesn't have to be _that_ hot. Also, once it's off, it no longer needs to be hot in order to lift it onto the new surface and manipulate it. This makes it easier to hold my hands under the water to control the movement of the surface and emulsion.
> 
> Also, I think I will need to remove a bit more of the milky film that is on the back of the emulsion. Otherwise, the colors wash out a bit, and it's harder to tell which side is "up."
> 
> Finally, I believe I have forever reassigned some of my old makeup brushes to emulsion lift duty. Which is fine. I wasn't using them for makeup anymore, and they seem to be well-suited.


So, it basically lifts the photo in a thin layer off the backing? 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here they are drying:
> View attachment 117146
> 
> Things I learned: the water has to be hot to get the emulsion off, but it doesn't have to be _that_ hot. Also, once it's off, it no longer needs to be hot in order to lift it onto the new surface and manipulate it. This makes it easier to hold my hands under the water to control the movement of the surface and emulsion.
> 
> Also, I think I will need to remove a bit more of the milky film that is on the back of the emulsion. Otherwise, the colors wash out a bit, and it's harder to tell which side is "up."
> 
> Finally, I believe I have forever reassigned some of my old makeup brushes to emulsion lift duty. Which is fine. I wasn't using them for makeup anymore, and they seem to be well-suited.
> 
> 
> 
> So, it basically lifts the photo in a thin layer off the backing?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Yup. The peel-apart emulsion is almost like plastic wrap with an image on it. It needs a gel medium to stick to the new surface and you don't need to manipulate the emulsion under water. The IP film seems to work more like the original Polaroid - the emulsion is more gel-like, you need to work it under water, and it sticks to the surface on its own (instructions say it needs 24 hours to dry.)


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> There are many many reasons why it's good that I don't live in North Carolina; lack of snow is only one of them.


Well if you ever move there I will buy you one of these.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here they are drying:
> View attachment 117146
> 
> Things I learned: the water has to be hot to get the emulsion off, but it doesn't have to be _that_ hot. Also, once it's off, it no longer needs to be hot in order to lift it onto the new surface and manipulate it. This makes it easier to hold my hands under the water to control the movement of the surface and emulsion.
> 
> Also, I think I will need to remove a bit more of the milky film that is on the back of the emulsion. Otherwise, the colors wash out a bit, and it's harder to tell which side is "up."
> 
> Finally, I believe I have forever reassigned some of my old makeup brushes to emulsion lift duty. Which is fine. I wasn't using them for makeup anymore, and they seem to be well-suited.
> 
> 
> 
> So, it basically lifts the photo in a thin layer off the backing?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup. The peel-apart emulsion is almost like plastic wrap with an image on it. It needs a gel medium to stick to the new surface and you don't need to manipulate the emulsion under water. The IP film seems to work more like the original Polaroid - the emulsion is more gel-like, you need to work it under water, and it sticks to the surface on its own (instructions say it needs 24 hours to dry.)
Click to expand...

Oh man, I could do some stuff with that! I got 5 gallons of gesso laying around. How big are they and the canvas?


Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

The images are small - prints of the peel-apart are about 3x4 (ish), and IP prints are square - maybe 3x3-ish? I've been playing with collage with the peel-apart emulsion, since that only requires the water for removing the emulsion from the backing paper. It can be layered more easily. I'm sure collages can be done with the IP film as well, but I imagine it will be trickier. I am going to attempt it tomorrow when my first samples are dry. I want to see if putting it under water immediately lifts the emulsion from the new surface, or if I will have some time to place a second emulsion on it before the first one comes unmoored.


----------



## limr

Ah, here it is - a picture of my most ambitious collage to date using the Fuji 100C peel-apart emulsion:






The idea I am currently obsessed with is cutting the several prints into four diamonds each and using the pieces in conjunction with paint to create a mandala.


----------



## minicoop1985

I always liked that collage.

Afternoon, hosers. Been a very productive day. Figured out a decent lighting scheme for headshots, got my strip box, set up said strip box, and tested said strip box.


----------



## table1349

Well, Gryph is almost 3 hours into the smoking of a couple of racks of St. Louis Ribs.  Gryph likes the 3-2-1 method, modified as needed to get the ribs to the proper place.  Another 15 minutes and Gryph will be wrapping and spritzing the ribs.  Couple of hours in wrapped in foil then approximately an hour direct smoking while brushing with sauce every 15 minutes or so.  Once the ribs pass the twist test were ready for good eats. 

#1 Son and daughter in law coming up from Bartlesville for the weekend.  Dinner will be around 7:30 or 8:00 since they are going to leave around 5:00 or a little after.  Simple menu, Ribs, macaroni salad, baked beans warmed in the smoker of course, and bread. 

If ya happen to be passing by Gryph's and Momma's place about that time, stop on by, we got plenty.


----------



## jcdeboever

This one is for @limr. My boy Ping who passed on, bugging me to be rubbed while at computer. He has that look, ohhh, don't stop...


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> View attachment 117124
> Morning coffee junkies.    Tis a beautiful Friday morn here in the flatlands.  Sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky and just a wisp of a breeze.  In the 70's today.  HVAC guy is here for the annual springtime check of the furnace and heat pump before we need the  air conditioning.  After that it's off to meet some friends for a late breakfast, hair cut, then add a probe port to the new smoker.  After lunch two slabs of St. Louis ribs go on the smoker.  #1 son and wife coming up later from Bartlesville for the weekend so the ribs won't last long.
> 
> _Gary_ got's some pretty pansies in *one* of his yards I see.
> 
> _Sharon_, that was back in the early 80's when he did that.  Love that song, since my best friend in College was from Chicago.  I send him that every year about this time just for fun.  This year was even better since he Royals won the world series.
> 
> _Bear_, please go take some nice picts of the snow.  I want my 70 degree temp, but I will gladly look at pretty picts of other peoples snow.



That's _Mister_ Bear, to you!  It used to be _Investigator_ Bear. 

It's gone already; got to the 40s.  We still have a few mounds left over from the big snow last month but it's all grey and hard as concrete.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> This one is for @limr. My boy Ping who passed on, bugging me to be rubbed while at computer. He has that look, ohhh, don't stop...
> 
> View attachment 117176


Reminds me of our cat Snowball.  All white stray we found as a kitten, one blue eye and one green eye.  He wasn't my cat, I was his human.   When I was home he was always there with me like a dog.  On me if at all possible, if not right there by me.  I looked and couldn't find it, but my wife took a wonderful photo of Snowball and I at christmas time one year.  I was stretched out in the recliner asleep and he was curled up on my chest right under my chin, asleep.

He used to make my wife so mad.  In the winter he would get up on the bed with us, get between us and go down under the covers.  He would then turn around and poke his head out and use my arm as a pillow.  If I rolled over he just stayed there in my arm and went over the top of me and settled in on the other side the same way.  Sure miss that cat, he was one of those once in a lifetime friends.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 117124
> Morning coffee junkies.    Tis a beautiful Friday morn here in the flatlands.  Sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky and just a wisp of a breeze.  In the 70's today.  HVAC guy is here for the annual springtime check of the furnace and heat pump before we need the  air conditioning.  After that it's off to meet some friends for a late breakfast, hair cut, then add a probe port to the new smoker.  After lunch two slabs of St. Louis ribs go on the smoker.  #1 son and wife coming up later from Bartlesville for the weekend so the ribs won't last long.
> 
> _Gary_ got's some pretty pansies in *one* of his yards I see.
> 
> _Sharon_, that was back in the early 80's when he did that.  Love that song, since my best friend in College was from Chicago.  I send him that every year about this time just for fun.  This year was even better since he Royals won the world series.
> 
> _Bear_, please go take some nice picts of the snow.  I want my 70 degree temp, but I will gladly look at pretty picts of other peoples snow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's _Mister_ Bear, to you!  It used to be _Investigator_ Bear.
> 
> It's gone already; got to the 40s.  We still have a few mounds left over from the big snow last month but it's all grey and hard as concrete.
Click to expand...

Dick tracy or Sam Spade?  If it is Dick Tracy then it is Detective Gryph to you. Retired.  Other wise it's just Sir.


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 117124
> Morning coffee junkies.    Tis a beautiful Friday morn here in the flatlands.  Sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky and just a wisp of a breeze.  In the 70's today.  HVAC guy is here for the annual springtime check of the furnace and heat pump before we need the  air conditioning.  After that it's off to meet some friends for a late breakfast, hair cut, then add a probe port to the new smoker.  After lunch two slabs of St. Louis ribs go on the smoker.  #1 son and wife coming up later from Bartlesville for the weekend so the ribs won't last long.
> 
> _Gary_ got's some pretty pansies in *one* of his yards I see.
> 
> _Sharon_, that was back in the early 80's when he did that.  Love that song, since my best friend in College was from Chicago.  I send him that every year about this time just for fun.  This year was even better since he Royals won the world series.
> 
> _Bear_, please go take some nice picts of the snow.  I want my 70 degree temp, but I will gladly look at pretty picts of other peoples snow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's _Mister_ Bear, to you!  It used to be _Investigator_ Bear.
> It's gone already; got to the 40s.  We still have a few mounds left over from the big snow last month but it's all grey and hard as concrete.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Dick tracy or Sam Spade?  If it is Dick Tracy then it is Detective Gryph to you. Retired.  Other wise it's just Sir.
Click to expand...

I finished my pre-retirement career as a civilian background investigator.  I mainly worked with Police Civilian applicants but I also handled sworn (uniform) applicants from Police, Fire Corrections and Sheriff.

I am a Geographer/GIS Anaayst and general PITA in my post-retirement career


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> This one is for @limr. My boy Ping who passed on, bugging me to be rubbed while at computer. He has that look, ohhh, don't stop...
> 
> View attachment 117176
> 
> 
> 
> Reminds me of our cat Snowball.  All white stray we found as a kitten, one blue eye and one green eye.  He wasn't my cat, I was his human.   When I was home he was always there with me like a dog.  On me if at all possible, if not right there by me.  I looked and couldn't find it, but my wife took a wonderful photo of Snowball and I at christmas time one year.  I was stretched out in the recliner asleep and he was curled up on my chest right under my chin, asleep.
> 
> He used to make my wife so mad.  In the winter he would get up on the bed with us, get between us and go down under the covers.  He would then turn around and poke his head out and use my arm as a pillow.  If I rolled over he just stayed there in my arm and went over the top of me and settled in on the other side the same way.  Sure miss that cat, he was one of those once in a lifetime friends.
Click to expand...


The first cat I had (as a kid) was a grey and white stray with blue eyes.  We named him Mosby after the CSA Colonel AKA "The Gray Ghost."  After his constant washing himself for three days, we found out he was pure white with a layer of car grease.


----------



## Designer

Hey!  I'm a PITA too!  Small world.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> This one is for @limr. My boy Ping who passed on, bugging me to be rubbed while at computer. He has that look, ohhh, don't stop...
> 
> View attachment 117176



Need a "Love" option for this 



Designer said:


> Hey!  I'm a PITA too!  Small world.



Me, too! Imagine, so many of us PITAs in one place!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Mary Lou, Gary and The Cook are in the patio drinking wine and enjoying the late afternoon.  A Justin Sauvignon Blanc, it is crisp, clean with good fruit favors.  Gary had to refill a hummingbird feeder and the bees are making their last calls on the basil plants. Man, the bees sure love the basil.  The little round battered copper table that's in many of Gary's patio shots is actually a fire pit under the tabletop ... Gary may strike up a little fire if we stay out here.


----------



## Gary A.

I'm even a PITA to myself ... So count me in.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 117124
> Morning coffee junkies.    Tis a beautiful Friday morn here in the flatlands.  Sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky and just a wisp of a breeze.  In the 70's today.  HVAC guy is here for the annual springtime check of the furnace and heat pump before we need the  air conditioning.  After that it's off to meet some friends for a late breakfast, hair cut, then add a probe port to the new smoker.  After lunch two slabs of St. Louis ribs go on the smoker.  #1 son and wife coming up later from Bartlesville for the weekend so the ribs won't last long.
> 
> _Gary_ got's some pretty pansies in *one* of his yards I see.
> 
> _Sharon_, that was back in the early 80's when he did that.  Love that song, since my best friend in College was from Chicago.  I send him that every year about this time just for fun.  This year was even better since he Royals won the world series.
> 
> _Bear_, please go take some nice picts of the snow.  I want my 70 degree temp, but I will gladly look at pretty picts of other peoples snow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's _Mister_ Bear, to you!  It used to be _Investigator_ Bear.
> It's gone already; got to the 40s.  We still have a few mounds left over from the big snow last month but it's all grey and hard as concrete.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Dick tracy or Sam Spade?  If it is Dick Tracy then it is Detective Gryph to you. Retired.  Other wise it's just Sir.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I finished my pre-retirement career as a civilian background investigator.  I mainly worked with Police Civilian applicants but I also handled sworn (uniform) applicants from Police, Fire Corrections and Sheriff.
> 
> I am a Geographer/GIS Anaayst and general PITA in my post-retirement career
Click to expand...


Ended mine two months ago this coming monday.  33 1/2 years as a police officer then detective.  The last 21 working in Narcotics and Vice as a detective.  

In post retirement I am the house husband.  I do the cooking, cleaning all the laundry except momma's clothes. (We disagree on how to sort clothes)  The grocery shopping etc.  It is really kind of fun having the "Honey Do" list bassackwards.


----------



## snowbear

I left in 2009.  Started as a Police Dispatcher, went on to keeping the CAD system running for many years, then an IT account rep for other agencies, and finally BI.  Now I'm back (as an Intern) with Fire/EMS.  I had returned to school for the Geography degree a few years before I retired.  I took an early out (28+ years with the County) so I could go full time and finish early.

I played house hubby for a couple of years until I got with Fire/EMS; that's when Zoe the kitten got spoiled (allegedly).


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> I'm even a PITA to myself ... So count me in.


You, my friend, are the leader of that gang.


----------



## jcdeboever

Well, grandma left us and went to meet Jesus at the Pearly Gates. We are going to miss her greatly. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

After the second time out with the XP2 and one time of serious shooting ... Gary liked the EVF of the XT1 better than the EVF of the XP2, but that may be just a familiarity factor.  What Gary really likes on the XP2 is the total lack of menu diving required for fully functional photography. The menus are there for all the non-standard stuff, but it is quite functional just out of the box, just slap a card in and without any menu diving all the controls for aperture, shutter speed, ISO, et al, on there on the camera, just like a film camera. It's sophistication is in its simplicity. Others bad mouth mirrorless for slow AF speed, but Gary hasn't seen a significant difference in AF speed between his 1Ds and his XT1's ... But the XP2 is significantly faster than the XT1s. Last night, Gary used one card slot for RAW and the other slot for JPEG.  Gary hasn't shot JPEG since his first dSLR, the 20D.  Gary is a bit curious about how the JPEGs fared under the weird and extreme theatrical lighting environment. *Gary pours another glass of Sauvignon Blanc ... Looks up at the Redbud bursting with pink flowers above the pond, spots a Monarch butterfly, and listens to the sounds of rushing water, gives Cook a rub ... Life is good.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm even a PITA to myself ... So count me in.
> 
> 
> 
> You, my friend, are the leader of that gang.
Click to expand...

I wear that badge proudly.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Well, grandma left us and went to meet Jesus at the Pearly Gates. We are going to miss her greatly.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Condolences my friend.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, grandma left us and went to meet Jesus at the Pearly Gates. We are going to miss her greatly.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Condolences my friend.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bud

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Well, grandma left us and went to meet Jesus at the Pearly Gates. We are going to miss her greatly.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Well, grandma left us and went to meet Jesus at the Pearly Gates. We are going to miss her greatly.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



I'm so sorry


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Well, grandma left us and went to meet Jesus at the Pearly Gates. We are going to miss her greatly.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


So sorry.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> I left in 2009.  Started as a Police Dispatcher, went on to keeping the CAD system running for many years, then an IT account rep for other agencies, and finally BI.  Now I'm back (as an Intern) with Fire/EMS.  I had returned to school for the Geography degree a few years before I retired.  I took an early out (28+ years with the County) so I could go full time and finish early.
> 
> I played house hubby for a couple of years until I got with Fire/EMS; that's when Zoe the kitten got spoiled (allegedly).


I have absolutely no intention of going back to anything close to what I did.  I was able to retire at 61.  We are fortunate to be financially secure, a large part because my wife has been and still is a VP in trust at a bank. (They know what you should do over the years so you can retire decently)

I don't have to work, but I actually start work Monday part time in a Deli.  No more than 20 hours.  I want to stay involved with people, but do something that I can go, do my job and go home with out thinking about it at all.   Was recruited to take a $30.00 an hour security position with a company I won't name, due to political considerations.  If you know anything about Wichita KS you can figure out which one.  I want nothing to do with what I have done over the past 33 + years.  I am proud of my service but I just don't want the stress, any stress from working any longer.

Since I am the current serving President of P.I.T.A. International, Gary is Sgt. at Arms, I would like to live a long retired life so I can continue to do my duties around here even after the new president is elected.


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> Well, grandma left us and went to meet Jesus at the Pearly Gates. We are going to miss her greatly.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


My sympathies!


----------



## jcdeboever

Thank you all. We took her to Cracker-barrel and shopping just a month ago. She lived 100 wonderful years and had amazing historical stories. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

Quick shot of one of the two racks of ribs Gryph did for dinner.  


 

Juicy, tender and all gone.  Two full racks of St. Louis ribs devoured by 4 people.  Gryph was hoping to have some for lunch tomorrow.  Oh well.  Got a brisket going in the smoker now for tomorrow's birthday celebration.  

Night all.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> Quick shot of one of the two racks of ribs Gryph did for dinner.
> View attachment 117184
> 
> Juicy, tender and all gone.  Two full racks of St. Louis ribs devoured by 4 people.  Gryph was hoping to have some for lunch tomorrow.  Oh well.  Got a brisket going in the smoker now for tomorrow's birthday celebration.
> 
> Night all.


I could eat that for breakfast...yummm

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

gryphonslair99 said:


> In post retirement I am the house husband.  I do the cooking, cleaning all the laundry except momma's clothes. (We disagree on how to sort clothes)  The grocery shopping etc.  It is really kind of fun having the "Honey Do" list bassackwards.


Bro!

BTW: I sort clothes according to the fabric type, not color.


----------



## Designer

gryphonslair99 said:


> If you know anything about Wichita KS you can figure out which one.


Got it.


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> Thank you all. We took her to Cracker-barrel and shopping just a month ago. She lived 100 wonderful years and had amazing historical stories.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


I bet she was great fun to talk to!   I'm sorry for your loss.


----------



## table1349

Designer said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> In post retirement I am the house husband.  I do the cooking, cleaning all the laundry except momma's clothes. (We disagree on how to sort clothes)  The grocery shopping etc.  It is really kind of fun having the "Honey Do" list bassackwards.
> 
> 
> 
> Bro!
> 
> BTW: I sort clothes according to the fabric type, not color.
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary had a business call first thing this morning ... So you know it had to be bad. Gary's cream-cheese brain is still reeling. The Cook and Gary are off on our walk.

@ JC- 100 years of life is something to celebrate.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary had a business call first thing this morning ... So you know it had to be bad. Gary's cream-cheese brain is still reeling. The Cook and Gary are off on our walk.
> 
> @ JC- 100 years of life is something to celebrate.


Yes it is. Tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday are the days for honoring her. Today, I'm hanging with #2 son. Plowed this morning, got 3" last night. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

8" lbs of brisket has been pulled.  No resistance in the meat when probed.  It is properly foiled, and in a cooler full of old towels to finish cooking and absorbing the juices evenly before slicing.  Gryph is pretty happy with the new smoker so far.  

Sorry, Gryph had to leave for a minute, Gryph had to go pull the double chocolate fudge cake from the oven.    On the cooling racks now.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry to hear that JC. Sounds like she had an interesting and long life. Condolences to your wife and family.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Sorry to hear that JC. Sounds like she had an interesting and long life. Condolences to your wife and family.


Thank-you. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

So, I went to Baltimore and this followed me home:




It found a friend that was hanging out with son number one:




So I had to buy it some food:




By Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## tirediron

That's some pretty spend lookin' ink!


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> That's some pretty spend lookin' ink!


It's not something I'd buy a lot of, though it is a little less than the Japanese inks I like.  Blue-green with gold specks; more for brush work and dip pens, than for fountain pens.


----------



## table1349

We were so busy getting Birthday dinner on the table Gryph forgot to to take a picture of the brisket.  Gryph isn't bragging about Gryph, but he is bragging about Yoder Smokers.  This is the first time Gryph has ever made a brisket this tender, and juicy the way brisket should be.  The old smoker was a cheap sheet steel affair with a side burner box.  Gryph was happy to be able to keep the thing within a 100 degree range of the target with natural charcoal and splits.  This Yoder kept the temp within a 20 degree range of the target temp for the entire cook.  This is going to get lots of use around here.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's some pretty spend lookin' ink!
> 
> 
> 
> It's not something I'd buy a lot of, though it is a little less than the Japanese inks I like.  Blue-green with gold specks; more for brush work and dip pens, than for fountain pens.
Click to expand...

A little more up-market that the Scrip Blue-Black I used to buy so much of, I'll wager.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's some pretty spend lookin' ink!
> 
> 
> 
> It's not something I'd buy a lot of, though it is a little less than the Japanese inks I like.  Blue-green with gold specks; more for brush work and dip pens, than for fountain pens.
Click to expand...

I always like Dr. Martin inks and watercolors, not sure if they are still around. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Good evening coffee lovers. Spent the day with my 26 year old son. He just bought his first home and it needs a lot of work. Showed him how to fix a few things and installed a wall mount for TV. I serviced my old printer that I gave him years ago, can't believe that HP is still going. Spent time going over his college art work and could really see a great improvement. He still has not touched any paint yet but loves to draw. I brought him a ton of art supplies, he always loves that. He told me today he was always intimidated by my drawing, I was hurt a little and didn't realize it. He told me that after I told him that I have not done anything paint or drawing wise since June. I always tried to help him but he never really seemed to want help. He said I could post this. He is a little dark and a deep thinker but an incredible, hard working, young man.

Oh yeah, he told me photography is not art... I said where did you come up with that? He said his art teacher in College.







Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> A little more up-market that the Scrip Blue-Black I used to buy so much of, I'll wager.


Ya - a bit more than Scrip.  I have a bottle of Cross black that I'll use for now - it's actually re-branded Pelikan.  I'll pick up a bottle of Waterman or Scrip for this one.



jcdeboever said:


> Good evening coffee lovers. Spent the day with my 26 year old son. He just bought his first home and it needs a lot of work. Showed him how to fix a few things and installed a wall mount for TV. I serviced my old printer that I gave him years ago, can't believe that HP is still going. Spent time going over his college art work and could really see a great improvement. He still has not touched any paint yet but loves to draw. I brought him a ton of art supplies, he always loves that. He told me today he was always intimidated by my drawing, I was hurt a little and didn't realize it. He told me that after I told him that I have not done anything paint or drawing wise since June. I always tried to help him but he never really seemed to want help. He said I could post this. He is a little dark and a deep thinker but an incredible, hard working, young man.
> 
> Oh yeah, he told me photography is not art... I said where did you come up with that? He said his art teacher in College.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Nice work.  Is that pencil or pastel?
It's funny how almost all areas have their snobbery - career vs volunteer firefighters (or firefighters vs EMS), painters vs photographers vs sculptors; I bet the cattle farmers and goat farmers look down on each other!


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> A little more up-market that the Scrip Blue-Black I used to buy so much of, I'll wager.
> 
> 
> 
> Ya - a bit more than Scrip.  I have a bottle of Cross black that I'll use for now - it's actually re-branded Pelikan.  I'll pick up a bottle of Waterman or Scrip for this one.
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good evening coffee lovers. Spent the day with my 26 year old son. He just bought his first home and it needs a lot of work. Showed him how to fix a few things and installed a wall mount for TV. I serviced my old printer that I gave him years ago, can't believe that HP is still going. Spent time going over his college art work and could really see a great improvement. He still has not touched any paint yet but loves to draw. I brought him a ton of art supplies, he always loves that. He told me today he was always intimidated by my drawing, I was hurt a little and didn't realize it. He told me that after I told him that I have not done anything paint or drawing wise since June. I always tried to help him but he never really seemed to want help. He said I could post this. He is a little dark and a deep thinker but an incredible, hard working, young man.
> 
> Oh yeah, he told me photography is not art... I said where did you come up with that? He said his art teacher in College.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nice work.  Is that pencil or pastel?
> It's funny how almost all areas have their snobbery - career vs volunteer firefighters (or firefighters vs EMS), painters vs photographers vs sculptors; I bet the cattle farmers and goat farmers look down on each other!
Click to expand...

That is colored pencil

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hoser.  It is raining.  Gary just finished the transfer of water from the rain barrels to the plants.  Second time this morning. The yards will be happy for a spell. Gary turned off the irrigation. Gary is still collecting shower water for the plants. He figured better to flood the plants than toss down the pipes. Gary emptied buckets of shower water into the planters while it was raining. Lol

The Cook is all depressed, she doesn't like the rain. Which is odd as her breed derives from Ireland, which has nothing but rain.  But anyway you cut it ... Cookie is an odd dog.

Gotta get going, Mary Lou and Gary are making a run to wine country.

Gary


----------



## minicoop1985

I still know nothing about pens. lol


----------



## table1349

Gryph is not getting involved in this conversation because Gryph likes both fountain pens and pocket watches and Gryph doesn't need to spend any more money on collecting either.  

Gryphs pride and joy though is a Monte Blanc Pen and Pencil set Gryphs father brought back from Europe in the early 50's along with an Omega self wind watch.  Both bought at the factory.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> I still know nothing about pens. lol



They are like cameras, only smaller.  They can be used to make beautiful things (words and images) and, if allowed to do so, can cost a fortune.

In a nutshell, a FP has a reservoir to hold ink, a feed to supply the ink to the nib, and the nib which puts the ink to the paper.
Nibs came in a variety of sizes (the width of the line), materials and flexibility.  Materials for the barrels (the body) also vary but most are of some type of plastic or metal; some are lacquered and very ornate.

One of my less expensive pens:




and one from the other end of the scale:




This one, was actually free when I purchased $10 Chinese pen:


----------



## Gary A.

We are off to wine country in Temecula.  Lately, Gary has been shooting his events with high/highish FPS.  Gary has plenty of cards and what Gary shoots most always has action and in a fluid environment. Gary ends up with 1,000's of files. The last event Gary was shot on Thursday, Gary used Single Frame. Gary ended up with 100's instead of 1,000's of files.  Gary is very pleased with this. Gary is entering a new phase for his photography.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Ease your finger off the shutter release and put down the camera... lol don't turn into one of _those_ people.

Sun is out, birds are chirping. Something has gone terribly awry... lol Won't last long so soon all will be right with the world again. (What does it say when nice unseasonable weather makes me feel like something is off!?!)


----------



## Gary A.

Wine tasting


----------



## jcdeboever

I love eggs

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349




----------



## limr




----------



## KenC

MONDAY!!??  WHY DOES EVERYONE HAVE TO REMIND ME THAT IT'S MONDAY????


----------



## robbins.photo

KenC said:


> MONDAY!!??  WHY DOES EVERYONE HAVE TO REMIND ME THAT IT'S MONDAY????



Ken.. shhh.  Not so loud man.  It's Monday afterall.


----------



## table1349

Come on guys, the sun is shinning, the birds are singing, so............


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## minicoop1985

Yeah, Gary, life is MUCH easier when shooting single frame instead of runnin and gunnin.


----------



## robbins.photo

Morning fellow Hosers and Hosettes...

Had a good time at the zoo this weekend.  Been looking around for various ways to carry around some of this equipment, finally ended up ordering a camera vest setup.  Yes, it is going to just scream camera geek and be as conspicuous as hell but I figured since I'm lugging around a D7100 with a 70-200mm F2.8 most of the time I might as well just accept the fact that I'm going to be conspicuous anyway and go for comfort instead.

CAMERA VEST for 1 Camera

I'll keep you posted on how well it works.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is back from his early morning meeting.  There was a major league downpour this morning.  Gary floated across half the intersections on route to his CSULA meeting. It was really bad.  The downpour only lasted an hour or so ... but the heavens truly opened up. Gary is eagerly awaiting updates on the snowpack ... that is the measurement which is the most important to toss up against the four year drought. Prior to this weekend we were at 78% of normal for the snowpack. Those pink blossoms on the Redbud Forest Pansy, Gary posted a few pages back, they're all in the pond.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Aww too bad you lost those pretty blossoms.

Was sunny this morning but has gotten overcast so now things seem normal! lol It's just too early in March for nice spring weather, on the news they said long range we haven't had the last of accumulating snow yet. I have robins nesting and are they going to be in for a surprise.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## Gary A.

The Sun is back out. Some "wild lettuce" in the garden, all growing from seeds generated by earlier lettuce. Gary believes this is Oak Leaf lettuce, it simply melts in one's mouth.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 117379 The Sun is back out. Some "wild lettuce" in the garden, all growing from seeds generated by earlier lettuce. Gary believes this is Royal Oak lettuce, it simply melts in one's mouth.


Is that editable? It looks good...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

Everything is editable.  The question would be is it survivable.


----------



## JacaRanda

robbins.photo said:


> Morning fellow Hosers and Hosettes...
> 
> Had a good time at the zoo this weekend.  Been looking around for various ways to carry around some of this equipment, finally ended up ordering a camera vest setup.  Yes, it is going to just scream camera geek and be as conspicuous as hell but I figured since I'm lugging around a D7100 with a 70-200mm F2.8 most of the time I might as well just accept the fact that I'm going to be conspicuous anyway and go for comfort instead.
> 
> CAMERA VEST for 1 Camera
> 
> I'll keep you posted on how well it works.



Interesting.  I've been wanting to purchase a new bicycle so I can throw it on the bike rack, drive to my location and ride the bike with camera on trails. 
This looks like it may work for me.


----------



## table1349

JacaRanda said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning fellow Hosers and Hosettes...
> 
> Had a good time at the zoo this weekend.  Been looking around for various ways to carry around some of this equipment, finally ended up ordering a camera vest setup.  Yes, it is going to just scream camera geek and be as conspicuous as hell but I figured since I'm lugging around a D7100 with a 70-200mm F2.8 most of the time I might as well just accept the fact that I'm going to be conspicuous anyway and go for comfort instead.
> 
> CAMERA VEST for 1 Camera
> 
> I'll keep you posted on how well it works.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting.  I've been wanting to purchase a new bicycle so I can throw it on the bike rack, drive to my location and ride the bike with camera on trails.
> This looks like it may work for me.
Click to expand...


You would be a well known photographer if you got one of these.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 117379 The Sun is back out. Some "wild lettuce" in the garden, all growing from seeds generated by earlier lettuce. Gary believes this is Royal Oak lettuce, it simply melts in one's mouth.
> 
> 
> 
> Is that editable? It looks good...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

It is buttery good.  When Gary walks around the yard he is fond of grabbing a hunk of lettuce or a handful of parsley and munch along as he goes. Unlike the stuff in stores or in restaurants, this stuff has flavor.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Morning fellow Hosers and Hosettes...
> 
> Had a good time at the zoo this weekend.  Been looking around for various ways to carry around some of this equipment, finally ended up ordering a camera vest setup.  Yes, it is going to just scream camera geek and be as conspicuous as hell but I figured since I'm lugging around a D7100 with a 70-200mm F2.8 most of the time I might as well just accept the fact that I'm going to be conspicuous anyway and go for comfort instead.
> 
> CAMERA VEST for 1 Camera
> 
> I'll keep you posted on how well it works.


Gary has a Domke Vest. It works well. Gary uses it when he shoots all day and is constantly moving around ... Like a parade. Your version is completely different with a different purpose than what Gary has.


----------



## Gary A.

@JC-  How rough are those trails?  If they're not too rough, Mary Lou and Gary have Electra's and they are the most comfy bike Gary has ever ridden. Gary used to ride a lot ... and nothing beats his Electra for comfort and easy fun.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @JC-  How rough are those trails?  If they're not too rough, Mary Lou and Gary have Electra's and they are the most comfy bike Gary has ever ridden. Gary used to ride a lot ... and nothing beats his Electra for comfort and easy fun.


That's gryph's bike. I used to have a simple cruiser but had to sell it when I moved out in the middle of nowhere. It was great in Detroit but out here the roads are 55 MPH and little to no shoulder. 






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----------



## Gary A.

Electra's are like cruisers with gears.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Electra's are like cruisers with gears.
> 
> that bike is better for hills. Gears are great in your part. Handsome bike sir. My new nickname for you is Weevil. I love you man!


----------



## Gary A.

Weevil ... what the hell is that all about. 





This is Gary's 'real' bike, a bike that Gary has been riding since the mid '70s. It is a Medici, a handmade, full-blown racing machine.  I recently had it restored.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Weevil ... what the hell is that all about.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is Gary's 'real' bike, a bike that Gary has been riding since the mid '70s. It is a Medici, a handmade, full-blown racing machine.  I recently had it restored.


Elephant weevil - Orthorhinus cylindrirostris, Subfamily Molytinae

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----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou are watching The Voice and finishing up our Marimar Estate Albarino ... it is from the Russian River Valley ... and it is outstanding.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Weevil ... what the hell is that all about.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is Gary's 'real' bike, a bike that Gary has been riding since the mid '70s. It is a Medici, a handmade, full-blown racing machine.  I recently had it restored.
> 
> 
> 
> Elephant weevil - Orthorhinus cylindrirostris, Subfamily Molytinae
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

LOL ... Gary knows what a weevil is ... Gary doesn't know why he is a said weevil.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Weevil ... what the hell is that all about.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is Gary's 'real' bike, a bike that Gary has been riding since the mid '70s. It is a Medici, a handmade, full-blown racing machine.  I recently had it restored.
> 
> 
> 
> Elephant weevil - Orthorhinus cylindrirostris, Subfamily Molytinae
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... Gary knows what a weevil is ... Gary doesn't know why he is a said weevil.
Click to expand...

Cus you destroy vineyards. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. the Weevil...lol

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----------



## Gary A.

LOL!!!! ... You are so wrong Grasshopper. It is because of people like Gary that vineyards exist and prosper.  Even though you are not a wine guy, a neophyte ... you too would find magic in this Albarino.

We took some non-wino type friends wine tasting this weekend and they bought a $100 bottle of wine. (It was that good.)


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> LOL!!!! ... You are so wrong Grasshopper. It is because of people like Gary that vineyards exist and prosper.  Even though you are not a wine guy, a neophyte ... you too would find magic in this Albarino.
> 
> We took some non-wino type friends wine tasting this weekend and they bought a $100 bottle of wine. (It was that good.)



Elephant Weevil


----------



## jcdeboever

Morning coffee lovers. Off to celebrate grandma's life and lay her to rest next to grandpa. Long day ahead...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Electra's are like cruisers with gears.


We looked at that for the Mrs., but then cheaped out and bought a less expensive bike.

Our DIL has one.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Morning coffee lovers. Off to celebrate grandma's life and lay her to rest next to grandpa. Long day ahead...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Sending hugs to you and your family today.


----------



## terri

Morning, hosers....JC, a difficult day for you and your family.   You have my sympathies.


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Morning coffee lovers. Off to celebrate grandma's life and lay her to rest next to grandpa. Long day ahead...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Hang in there JC - not always easy being strong for the family.


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @JC-  How rough are those trails?  If they're not too rough, Mary Lou and Gary have Electra's and they are the most comfy bike Gary has ever ridden. Gary used to ride a lot ... and nothing beats his Electra for comfort and easy fun.
> 
> 
> 
> That's gryph's bike. I used to have a simple cruiser but had to sell it when I moved out in the middle of nowhere. It was great in Detroit but out here the roads are 55 MPH and little to no shoulder.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


I actually looked at buying that one too.. went for something that made more of a statement though:

Girl's Magna Precious Pearls Bike - Pink/Aqua (20")


----------



## pixmedic

Gary A. said:


> LOL!!!! ... You are so wrong Grasshopper. It is because of people like Gary that vineyards exist and prosper.  Even though you are not a wine guy, a neophyte ... you too would find magic in this Albarino.
> 
> We took some non-wino type friends wine tasting this weekend and they bought a $100 bottle of wine. (It was that good.)



im not really a "wine guy" per se, but I have purchased the occasional decent bottle. 
I dont know much about wines except for the few snippets if information my wifes grandfather taught me. 
"men drink red wine. white wine is for women" is what I most often heard from him. 
my preference is french reds from the Bordeaux region. I do like some Merlot's as well. 
the last few "good" bottles of wine I bought were from a very nice little wine store near my house before we moved. 
a 1999 and 2000 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild. 

aside from those, the only other wine I typically get are just the seasonal beaujolais village (I know, I know...its a pinot noir cross, not a Bordeaux...but whatever) I usually get the Louis Jadot or Georges Deboeuf, 'cause thats what our local stores usually have in stock.


----------



## limr

I like wine. It's yummy.


----------



## limr

And yes, I _am _quite really ready for Spring Break. I still have to work next week, but I don't have to teach. Just gotta make it through this week.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Marimar Estate Albarino ... it is from the Russian River Valley ... and it is outstanding.



hmm, maybe so if you have a taste for California whites.   Me, not so much.   I'm a big red wine geek!   I _would_ be interested in trying an Albarino directly from Spain, however - it is supposed to be crisp and fruity, and goes well with fish.   And likely much less expensive than what California would charge. 

Over the weekend, the hubby pulled some gems out of the cellar.   We finally drank the last 1989 Chateau Montrose Grand Cru Classe' de Saint-Estephe on Friday, paired with my lamb stew.    It was still vibrant, could have gone even longer!   But we couldn't.....       On Saturday night, we had a 2001 Cuvee Reservee' Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf-du-Pape.   Fortunately, hubby bought a 6-pack of that and it was our first one...incredible!   I was chewing my last couple of swallows.  

California certainly can produce some lovely wines, but for me lean towards being over-oaked and produced in a modern style production - call it New World vs. Old World, the latter being right in my wheelhouse.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Morning coffee lovers. Off to celebrate grandma's life and lay her to rest next to grandpa. Long day ahead...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Gary gives JC a big bear hug.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Marimar Estate Albarino ... it is from the Russian River Valley ... and it is outstanding.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> hmm, maybe so if you have a taste for California whites.   Me, not so much.   I'm a big red wine geek!   I _would_ be interested in trying an Albarino directly from Spain, however - it is supposed to be crisp and fruity, and goes well with fish.   And likely much less expensive than what California would charge.
> 
> Over the weekend, the hubby pulled some gems out of the cellar.   We finally drank the last 1989 Chateau Montrose Grand Cru Classe' de Saint-Estephe on Friday, paired with my lamb stew.    It was still vibrant, could have gone even longer!   But we couldn't.....       On Saturday night, we had a 2001 Cuvee Reservee' Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf-du-Pape.   Fortunately, hubby bought a 6-pack of that and it was our first one...incredible!   I was chewing my last couple of swallows.
> 
> California certainly can produce some lovely wines, but for me lean towards being over-oaked and produced in a modern style production - call it New World vs. Old World, the latter being right in my wheelhouse.
Click to expand...

The Albarino was crisp and clean and the fruit was so distinct ... you could touch it. The owners of Marimar are also the largest producers of wine in Espana and they grow their grapes here, similarly as they would in Espana.

Gary has found a huge variety of methodologies from stainless steel to new and old oak. The boutique vintners lean towards the Old World but many will expand the envelope via creative blends and methodologies. Thornton champagnes, (the image of breakfast), uses Methode Champenoise for their sparkling wines. What Gary appreciates is that winemakers can craft distinctively different tastes while only being a few miles away.  Doffo's wines are smooth and full while nearby Lorenzi the wines are lighter but more complex, but both wineries are very very good.

The Marimar Albarino is $34.00 (less my membership discount).


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin hosers. Had a late one last night. Shot me a Dodge Challenger at midnight.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Why? do a photo shoot at midnight? Sounds like the name of a mystery, The Shot at Midnight. Or maybe not.

Sharon thinks Gary is doing his part to keep grape growers in business. So is Terri. And Leo ain't hurtin' the cause either.

JC thinking of you today.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Why? do a photo shoot at midnight? Sounds like the name of a mystery, The Shot at Midnight. Or maybe not.
> 
> Sharon thinks Gary is doing his part to keep grape growers in business. So is Terri. And Leo ain't hurtin' the cause either.
> 
> JC thinking of you today.



I do what I can


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> I do what I can


Me too.  When I took my bottles back for the deposit refund, I thought: "And this is only me drinking wine!"  And then I thought: "Should I cut back on drinking so much wine?"  And then I thought: "Nah"


----------



## KenC

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do what I can
> 
> 
> 
> Me too.  When I took my bottles back for the deposit refund, I thought: "And this is only me drinking wine!"  And then I thought: "Should I cut back on drinking so much wine?"  And then I thought: "Nah"
Click to expand...


I mainly work on keeping the hops growers in business, but I try to throw the grape growers a bone too.


----------



## robbins.photo

More of a mountain dew fan myself.  Don't really care what vintage.. lol


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> More of a mountain dew fan myself.  Don't really care what vintage.. lol


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> The Marimar Albarino is $34.00 (less my membership discount).



Very nice.    A tour through So Cal is on the bucket list.   I'll let you know when I'm coming.    

I'm sure the Gorilla Man could find some wine he would like enough to turn his back on the Dew.   Though it's pretty darn good when icy cold, I admit!   I just try to stay away from soda in general; when I want some fizz I like Pellegrino these days.


----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> I'm sure the Gorilla Man could find some wine he would like enough to turn his back on the Dew.   Though it's pretty darn good when icy cold, I admit!   I just try to stay away from soda in general; when I want some fizz I like Pellegrino these days.



Oh I can find plenty of the stuff - in fact there are actually winery's here in my home state of Nebraska.  I'm assuming most of what they make goes directly into a box, but hey, I try not to judge.  

Mr. Dew, however, still has a very distinct advantage - a twist off cap.


----------



## terri

But darlin' - not to burst your bubble, but plenty of wineries make respectable wines with twist-off caps these days.   And a lot less sugar goes into them than the Dew.  

For fun, you should check out your local wineries.   A lot of them actually import grapes from elsewhere and make blends with what they can actually grow on site, so it's quite possible to find decent bottles.   Take the camera along.   Let someone else drive and indulge in a tour, a few tastings and the thrill of drunken photography.   Don't worry...we'd never laugh.


----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> But darlin' - not to burst your bubble, but plenty of wineries make respectable wines with twist-off caps these days.   And a lot less sugar goes into them than the Dew.



Less sugar?  Ok, not getting your point here.  How is that a good thing?



> For fun, you should check out your local wineries.   A lot of them actually import grapes from elsewhere and make blends with what they can actually grow on site, so it's quite possible to find decent bottles.   Take the camera along.   Let someone else drive and indulge in a tour, a few tastings and the thrill of drunken photography.   Don't worry...we'd never laugh.



Already been on a tour of a couple actually.  Don't get the chance to get out to them often with the schedule but it's pretty cool to see "behind the scenes" and find out how the stuff is made.


----------



## Gary A.

Many of the whites are coming with twist offs. 

@ Terri- Marimar is in Sonoma ... but I'd love to show you guys around Temecula, not as good as our northern brethren ... but still better than what you can find in most stores.


----------



## jcdeboever

Mad Dog 20/20 has twist off caps. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Mad Dog 20/20 has twist off caps.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


LOL ... Gary actually had to look that up. Now had you said 'Fortified Wine', or Bum Wine or Brown Bag Vino ...


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mad Dog 20/20 has twist off caps.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Gary actually had to look that up. Now had you said 'Fortified Wine', or Bum Wine or Brown Bag Vino ...
Click to expand...

Stuff tastes like kool-aid. Forget the 20/20. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Oh my goodness, Mad Dog! I remember being at a party in college and someone spilled half a glass of it all over me. One sniff and I knew I was never going to drink it. Blech!


----------



## jcdeboever

Good evening coffee and mad dog 20/20 lovers. Well, quite a long day. Glad it's over. Thanks for everyone's support.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Oh my goodness, Mad Dog! I remember being at a party in college and someone spilled half a glass of it all over me. One sniff and I knew I was never going to drink it. Blech!


Drink a bottle of the grape stuff and turns your poop green. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> Mad Dog 20/20 has twist off caps.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Take a ride on the Night Train, baby!


----------



## minicoop1985

Ah yes, MD 20/20. Lotta memories of other people drinking that crap.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday, the baseboards were installed and the stucco that was removed when the slider was demo-ed has been replaced. YES! Fini.  Gary has started to reassemble the living room.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh my goodness, Mad Dog! I remember being at a party in college and someone spilled half a glass of it all over me. One sniff and I knew I was never going to drink it. Blech!
> 
> 
> 
> Drink a bottle of the grape stuff and turns your poop green.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Gary has never had the pleasure.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Oh my goodness, Mad Dog! I remember being at a party in college and someone spilled half a glass of it all over me. One sniff and I knew I was never going to drink it. Blech!



I think that's the first time I've heard someone say Maddog.. followed by I remember.. anything.. lol


----------



## minicoop1985

Lol. Like I said, it brings back memories of other idiots drinking that crap in high school and college.

Mornin, hosers. There's not enough coffee on earth to get me to fully wake up today. Argh.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is sore and his hands have splotches of white from painting the baseboards. Gary is feasting on a pumpkin empanada and his first cup of coffee.  Sumatra today, rich with flavor.  Gary would love to discuss politics and religion ... but it is verboten. So ... It is a comfortably cool early morning here, out of the window Gary can see the yellow rays of the Sun slicing into the blue shadows and now warming up the front door. Outside a kitchen window is a hummingbird feeder and beneath and surrounding the feeder is a pink-ish Flowering Maple full of blossoms. It is a pleasant wake up watching the hummers sip from the blossoms and feeder, the pink blossoms with a slight downward tilt as if in prayer, the leaves shining yellow-green by the backlighting Sun. Another sip of coffee and Gary hits Post Reply.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Gary would love to discuss politics and religion ... but it is verboten. So ... It is a comfortably cool early morning here, the yellow rays of the Sun slicing into the blue shadows. Outside a kitchen window is a hummingbird feeder and beneath and surrounding the feeder is a pink-ish Flowering Maple full of blossoms. It is a pleasant wake up watching the hummers sip from the blossoms and feeder, the pink blossoms with a slight downward tilt as if in prayer, the leaves shining yellow-green by the backlighting Sun. Another sip of coffee and Gary hits Post Reply.



Ok, so a not a bad play by play here.. but shouldn't there be a home run or a game winning catch in here somewhere?  At the very least maybe insert a "Man, Woman and Child!" in there somewhere?

Oh wait, you did want C&C on the commentary right?  If not.. just ignore the above.  My bad.  Lol


----------



## Gary A.

Gary spots a hummer looking noble on the feeder landing.  It is upright, slightly shaking it's little body ... and it squirts out a deuce. lol Probably good for the Flowering Maple.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. There's not enough coffee on earth to get me to fully wake up today. Argh.



Just don't let Juan Valdez here you say that.  You know how sensitive he can get.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary would love to discuss politics and religion ... but it is verboten. So ... It is a comfortably cool early morning here, the yellow rays of the Sun slicing into the blue shadows. Outside a kitchen window is a hummingbird feeder and beneath and surrounding the feeder is a pink-ish Flowering Maple full of blossoms. It is a pleasant wake up watching the hummers sip from the blossoms and feeder, the pink blossoms with a slight downward tilt as if in prayer, the leaves shining yellow-green by the backlighting Sun. Another sip of coffee and Gary hits Post Reply.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, so a not a bad play by play here.. but shouldn't there be a home run or a game winning catch in here somewhere?  At the very least maybe insert a "Man, Woman and Child!" in there somewhere?
> 
> Oh wait, you did want C&C on the commentary right?  If not.. just ignore the above.  My bad.  Lol
Click to expand...

Dude, it's still the first inning, 7:00 a.m. here and I'm still half asleep.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mornin, hosers. There's not enough coffee on earth to get me to fully wake up today. Argh.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just don't let Juan Valdez here you say that.  You know how sensitive he can get.
Click to expand...

In the morning Juan Valdez is my patron Saint.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Dude, it's still the first inning, 7:00 a.m. here and I'm still half asleep.



No excuses now.  First rule of broadcasting, after all, is not that button.  Don't ever touch that button.

Hmm.. ok, maybe it's the second rule of broadcasting that applies here.. something about the public and giving them what they want or something.  Crap, I need to dig up that list again.  Nevermind.. go about your business folks, nothing to see here..

Lol


----------



## table1349

You know, this should be a Facebook page.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Mad Dog?!?! that's a laugh. Right up there with sloe gin fizzes and Boone's Farm strawberry whatever.

And what brought that up anyway? guess I'll have to go back further in the thread.


----------



## pixmedic

Ever have one of those days where lying to your doctor is the only thing keeping you from a B-52 induced vacation?
im having one of those days.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Mad Dog?!?! that's a laugh. Right up there with sloe gin fizzes and Boone's Farm strawberry whatever.
> 
> And what brought that up anyway? guess I'll have to go back further in the thread.


Wine with twist off caps... Don't take much to get this motley crew going...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349




----------



## KenC

gryphonslair99 said:


>



Hello!  Good to see someone awake here.  Kind of a hectic morning here, but I'm off tomorrow so this is Friday for me.


----------



## limr

Nope, today's my Friday...AND it's Spring Break next week!


----------



## limr

Or maybe this one:






Now name the movies and the songs from both!


----------



## limr

Donald O'Conner was the only of Gene Kelly's male dance partners who could even come close. Well, possibly the Nicholas Brothers who did a scene with him in "The Pirate" but that was a different, more acrobatic choreography so it's hard to say how they'd compare with a more traditional sort of a number.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Or maybe this one:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now name the movies and the songs from both!



Breakin II - Electric Boogaloo.  Are you kidding?  Such a classic.  Lol


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  'Tis a fine morning, the early Sun is a bit brighter than yesterday.  Gary made significant progress in assembling the living room. Most importantly, Gary's little wine corner is back and running. For whatever reason, little jobs never turn out to be little jobs. Gary is finishing his second cup and munching a pineapple empanada. The new day begins.


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm on the road delivering the 120 gallons of paint I sold. Spot driver called in sick. Rainy and pot hole galore. You know spring is around the corner when you bend a rim and your steering wheel is shaking. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

TGITh to Leo.


----------



## Gary A.

Spring is when the plants start popping ...


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin hosers. So le tired this morning. I don't morning well.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or maybe this one:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now name the movies and the songs from both!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Breakin II - Electric Boogaloo.  Are you kidding?  Such a classic.  Lol
Click to expand...


And what about the first one, hmmmmmmmm?


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> And what about the first one, hmmmmmmmm?



Bring it On.  The "spirit hands" are a dead giveaway..


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And what about the first one, hmmmmmmmm?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bring it On.  The "spirit hands" are a dead giveaway..
Click to expand...


See, I think you don't know


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> See, I think you don't know



Ok, so if I wanted to be provincial about it I'd probably guess Moses Supposes from Signing in the Rain,  probably have to give the second one a bit of thought.  Been a long time since I sat down and watched any Gene Kelly flicks.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> See, I think you don't know
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, so if I wanted to be provincial about it I'd probably guess Moses Supposes from Signing in the Rain,  probably have to give the second one a bit of thought.  Been a long time since I sat down and watched any Gene Kelly flicks.
Click to expand...


Yahtzee! 

It's been a while since I've watched any, either, but I've watched them all so many times that they are committed to memory for the rest of my days. I adore Gene Kelly.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Yahtzee!
> 
> It's been a while since I've watched any, either, but I've watched them all so many times that they are committed to memory for the rest of my days. I adore Gene Kelly.



My ex-wife was a huge fan, she loved B&W movies in particular so I've seen quite a few.


----------



## jcdeboever

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

It's Don Lockwood! And Lina Lamont!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hosers, isn't it that Take Me Out to the Ballgame movie with Gene and Frank? Is that the actual name of it? I keep thinking that doesn't sound right.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh yeah the Nicholas Brothers. And look at the zoot suits! love 'em.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Hosers, isn't it that Take Me Out to the Ballgame movie with Gene and Frank? Is that the actual name of it? I keep thinking that doesn't sound right.



Yahtzee!! 

I suppose Frank Sinatra was a passable dancer, but next to Kelly, he always looked stiff as a board. 

One really interesting thing about watching Gene Kelly dance with a male partner was that they would always steal glances over at him, but he almost never ever looked at them. The other dancer was always checking himself against Kelly, but never vice versa. He was a total perfectionist and would practice over and over again to get his timing perfect, and during the performance, it always seemed like he was totally immersed in the rhythm and visualization of the choreography and timing, and just expected the other dancer to do his part to keep up.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Hosers, isn't it that Take Me Out to the Ballgame movie with Gene and Frank? Is that the actual name of it? I keep thinking that doesn't sound right.



See, that would have been my second guess.  Ok, probably my fifth guess.. lol


----------



## limr




----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> I suppose Frank Sinatra was a passable dancer, but next to Kelly, he always looked stiff as a board.



Ok, sure, but Gene Kelly couldn't have picked up the phone and made one call, then have Frank Sinatra disappear only to be found decades later as they were dismantling an overpass in Jersey.  So.. there is that I guess.


----------



## terri

aww... I love these movie clips!!!     

Now I want to settle in and watch them.   Back to back.   With an unending tub of popcorn, and wine from a bottle with a screwtop.    Just 'cause, why not.


----------



## Gary A.

I love screw tops ana straw.


----------



## Gary A.

You know what's hit me as odd today. A story about a Mountain Lion, (P22 IIRC), which broke into the LA Zoo and ate a Koala.  The LA Zoo is in Griffith Park, granted a large park, but Griffith is completely surrounded by Los Angeles City ... and between LA City and the local mountains is Burbank and Glendale, Pasadena, et al.  This isn't the outback of Africa ... this is Los Angeles and a lion broke into the zoo and ate a Koala.  I find the whole thing very odd.


----------



## minicoop1985

Did something rather difficult today. Sold off all my remaining Vader gear. I've given up on joining the 501st. My heart isn't in it anymore.  That being said, I'm buying myself a backup camera with the funds-a 5D mk 2 and some iteration of a lens.


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner, Malibu Chicken, salad from the yard and baked sweet potato all washed down with a Russian River Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc.  During the living room reassembly, Gary discovered a bunch of wines still in their delivery boxes. Gary is happy.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- The wine has a screw cap ... but no straws at dinner.


----------



## Gary A.

The salad is sooo good.  There was a little left over after dinner ... Gary is picking at it au naturel, without any dressing ... so flavorful and the Sauvignon Blanc just sets it off.


----------



## jcdeboever

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... The wine helps.


----------



## snowbear

(psst, @limr . . .)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEONORE!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> (psst, @limr . . .)
> 
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEONORE!



Thank you, sweetie


----------



## jcdeboever

Birthday Girl? Happy birthday! How many spanks to you get?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

jcdeboever said:


> How many spanks to you get?


As many as she wants.  

Happy Birthday!


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Birthday Girl? Happy birthday! How many spanks to you get?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Thanks, JC! I get 45 spanks. In the grand scheme of things, not that many, but I'm still not sure how it happened to me The brain still thinks it's at 25 spanks. 

(And no, Charlie, you can't do the spanking. Down boy!  )


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> How many spanks to you get?
> 
> 
> 
> As many as she wants.
> 
> Happy Birthday!
Click to expand...




Thanks!


----------



## minicoop1985

Happy birthday, Leonore! 45 isn't old if you're a tree.


----------



## Stradawhovious

Happy B-Day photo lady.

Oh... 45...

[shouting] HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  I HOPE THE CAKE AGREES WITH YOU!![/shouting]


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Birthday Girl? Happy birthday! How many spanks to you get?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, JC! I get 45 spanks. In the grand scheme of things, not that many, but I'm still not sure how it happened to me The brain still thinks it's at 25 spanks.
> 
> (And no, Charlie, you can't do the spanking. Down boy!  )
Click to expand...


Oh, to be young again...


----------



## robbins.photo

Limr!  Happy 20th anniversary of your 25th Birthday!


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Happy birthday, Leonore! 45 isn't old if you're a tree.



I wonder what kind of tree I am (if I think I'm a tree) 

Okay, flashing back to Barbara Walters and Katherine Hepburn...maybe I'm NOT still 25 




Stradawhovious said:


> Happy B-Day photo lady.
> 
> Oh... 45...
> 
> [shouting] HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  I HOPE THE CAKE AGREES WITH YOU!![/shouting]



THANK YOU! YES, IT'S FIFTY-TWO DEGREES TODAY HERE, TOO!


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Limr!  Happy 20th anniversary of your 25th Birthday!



I approve this wording


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> (psst, @limr . . .)
> 
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEONORE!


 Izzit Lennymas already?  Wow...


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> (psst, @limr . . .)
> 
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEONORE!


Joyeux Anniversaire Leo!


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> View attachment 117613


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Izzit Lennymas already?  Wow...



Oooh, I like this! Lennymas. It *should* be a holiday!!



Gary A. said:


> Joyeux Anniversaire Leo!



Merci beaucoup, Tio!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Overcast today with an expectation of rain by early afternoon. The Cook just came in with her blanket.  At night we toss a blanket on her and she walks around the house wearing the blanket. She'll shrug it off when desired, otherwise she keeps it on.


----------



## Gary A.

This is an excellent day for some wine.


----------



## Dave442

This is strange, this evening my wife and I are taking another Leo to dinner for her birthday. However, our Leo here gets my first shout of: 
Happy Birthday Leonore!


----------



## Gary A.

The Cook with her blanket next to Gary's chair.


----------



## tirediron

Huh... I've heard of pigs in blankets, but dogs?


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Huh... I've heard of pigs in blankets, but dogs?


LOL ... Mary Lou and Gary are used to her walking around with her blanket, but evening time visitors always seem to get a hoot when she greets them at the front door.


----------



## limr

Dave442 said:


> This is strange, this evening my wife and I are taking another Leo to dinner for her birthday. However, our Leo here gets my first shout of:
> Happy Birthday Leonore!



Aww, thanks! Woot, I get the first shout-out! 



Gary A. said:


> View attachment 117616 The Cook with her blanket next to Gary's chair.


----------



## terri

Happy Birthday to my bestest alt-buddy pal!      

Imagine yourself in another 45 years,     and you'll shake your head at why you ever thought 45 was a vast age.    'Cause it ain't.    You're a mere slip of a girl!


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Izzit Lennymas already?  Wow...



Merry Lennymas, to one and all.  We give thanks and partake of this great feast to honor the all wise, all powerful Lenny, who in  her infinite wisdom doth command us all to "Get Stuffed".


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Happy Birthday to my bestest alt-buddy pal!
> 
> Imagine yourself in another 45 years,     and you'll shake your head at why you ever thought 45 was a vast age.    'Cause it ain't.    You're a mere slip of a girl!



A wee lamb, a babe in the woods! I'll take it  



robbins.photo said:


> Merry Lennymas, to one and all.  We give thanks and partake of this great feast to honor the all wise, all powerful Lenny, who in  her infinite wisdom command us all to "Get Stuffed".



Or bent. Sometimes people need to get bent instead of stuffed


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Or bent. Sometimes people need to get bent instead of stuffed



True... however by following the command get stuffed, we get to sit around and eat.  If we made the "get bent" thing into canon, well then we'd all be doing yoga.  So which do you think made it into the scriptures?  Lol


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or bent. Sometimes people need to get bent instead of stuffed
> 
> 
> 
> 
> True... however by following the command get stuffed, we get to sit around and eat.  If we made the "get bent" thing into canon, well then we'd all be doing yoga.  So which do you think made it into the scriptures?  Lol
Click to expand...


Hey, it's my holiday, so I get to write the scriptures! And after we get stuffed, we should all get moving and then get bent into a Trikonasana pose so we don't have tummy aches and big arses


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Hey, it's my holiday, so I get to write the scriptures! And after we get stuffed, we should all get moving and then get bent into a Trikonasana pose so we don't have tummy aches and big arses



Well, ok, you are the all wise and powerful Lenny.. but .. umm.. have you seen your followers?  We're not exactly the pick of the litter.. just saying..

Lol


----------



## table1349




----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> View attachment 117637



Well any religion worth it's salt should be more than capable of fooling your average telemarketer.


----------



## JacaRanda

L-Train; Happy birthday to you!


----------



## JacaRanda

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy birthday, Leonore! 45 isn't old if you're a tree.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder what kind of tree I am (if I think I'm a tree)
Click to expand...


Um....Jacaranda Tree?  Teeheeheee


----------



## vintagesnaps

45 is the new 25. Or something like that... whatever it is, have a good one!
(Your birthday AND the day off from work AND it's a Friday?!?!!! you go girl.)


----------



## table1349

Lenny...


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> (And no, Charlie, you can't do the spanking. Down boy!  )


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> (And no, Charlie, you can't do the spanking. Down boy!  )
Click to expand...

Yeah, I got to give her, her spanking this year.................





Better luck next year.  
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.


----------



## jcdeboever

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary can hardly wait for his birthday.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> I can hardly wait for my birthday.


Sorry - I didn't get you anything.

And I can't count that high.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is sure you'd run out of breath giving him a proper birthday spanking.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary is sure you'd run out of breath giving him a proper birthday spanking.


Will get you one of these...
Photo by Colin Farrell

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

What the hell ... lol.


----------



## unpopular

I'm guessing Quills?


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning coffee lovers. Off to meet movers at grandma's apartment and get the organ which was willed to the wife. This will forever hold her memory. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. This is a wet, cold morning. (At least by Gary's SoCal standards.) Gary is up and has finished his morning chores and he's settling into some coffee, a banana and the morning paper.  A bright Sun this morning, yesterday's storms washed away all the overcast.  The living room is nearly reassembled and looking quite nice when compared to the previous look. The green/green-toned walls are soothing and escort one's eyes to the green in the backyard. Gary and Mary Lou have permanently removed some furniture items and they are working on replacement pieces.  Two dog doors arrived yesterday.  Gary will remove the dog door in the slider and install new doors connecting the kitchen to the garage and the garage to the backyard. But for now, Gary will enjoy his coffee, read the news and watch the hummers breakfast at the front feeder.


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC- Dealing with the death and followup of a loved one is so, so tough. Godspeed through those waters.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Good morning coffee lovers. Off to meet movers at grandma's apartment and get the organ which was willed to the wife. This will forever hold her memory.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


I'd help you move it but I'm a few hundred miles away.

I'm spending the weekend fine-tuning my GIS presentation. I gave it to the state organization back in July but the "theme" for Tuesday's conference is _Lessons Learned_ so I need to make some changes. I need to go up north a little ways and take a couple of photos that tie in with the presentation (an iron fence, and hopefully some boats on the water). I'm going to walk across the WW Bridge (spans the Potomac at the bottom of the Capital Beltway). The bridge is interesting, from a geographic viewpoint, as it is lies in all three jurisdiction: Maryland, DC and Virginia. An incident on the bridge (a jumper) plays a part for a number of public safety inter-operability projects in the region.

(delete & repost w/ quote  -- * )


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @ JC- Dealing with the death and followup of a loved one is so, so tough. Godspeed through those waters.


Thanks buddy. Hey, I received my repaired FTN from Robert Decker yesterday. Man he does good work and reasonable. It works like a charm. Spot on compared to light meter. Now to study the zone system. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

"Lessons Learned" makes for interesting seminars, especially the Q&A. Gary hates overlapping jurisdictions.  Gary remembers performing construction work at the Port of Los Angeles.  The Feds, State, Los Angeles County and City of Los Angeles all had overlapping regulations ... what a mess.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning coffee lovers. Off to meet movers at grandma's apartment and get the organ which was willed to the wife. This will forever hold her memory.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> I'd help you move it but I'm a few hundred miles away.
> 
> I'm spending the weekend fine-tuning my GIS presentation. I gave it to the state organization back in July but the "theme" for Tuesday's conference is _Lessons Learned_ so I need to make some changes. I need to go up north a little ways and take a couple of photos that tie in with the presentation (an iron fence, and hopefully some boats on the water). I'm going to walk across the WW Bridge (spans the Potomac at the bottom of the Capital Beltway). The bridge is interesting, from a geographic viewpoint, as it is lies in all three jurisdiction: Maryland, DC and Virginia. An incident on the bridge (a jumper) plays a part for a number of public safety inter-operability projects in the region.
> 
> (delete & repost w/ quote  -- * )
Click to expand...

Hiring it done, that sucker is heavy and worth every penny to have it professionally moved. Get pics, thanks.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ JC- Dealing with the death and followup of a loved one is so, so tough. Godspeed through those waters.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks buddy. Hey, I received my repaired FTN from Robert Decker yesterday. Man he does good work and reasonable. It works like a charm. Spot on compared to light meter. Now to study the zone system.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I don't think there is a better tool for seeing in B&W than learning the Zone System. You need to get a motor for that FTn.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ JC- Dealing with the death and followup of a loved one is so, so tough. Godspeed through those waters.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks buddy. Hey, I received my repaired FTN from Robert Decker yesterday. Man he does good work and reasonable. It works like a charm. Spot on compared to light meter. Now to study the zone system.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I don't think there is a better tool for seeing in B&W than learning the Zone System. You need to get a motor for that FTn.
Click to expand...

What does the motor do? 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ JC- Dealing with the death and followup of a loved one is so, so tough. Godspeed through those waters.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks buddy. Hey, I received my repaired FTN from Robert Decker yesterday. Man he does good work and reasonable. It works like a charm. Spot on compared to light meter. Now to study the zone system.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I don't think there is a better tool for seeing in B&W than learning the Zone System. You need to get a motor for that FTn.
Click to expand...

Is this the book? Figured out what the drive is.

The Negative Format: Paperback by Adams, Ansel: Hachette Book Group 9780821221860  - INDOO

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

JC, that's nice that you'll have that reminder. Does anyone play the organ?

I had a very nice day yesterday, and though I didn't plan it this way, I celebrated my 45th birthday by apparently becoming a kid again!  Started out with a nice slow morning, and then I went to see my boyfriend. After that, I bought myself a pair of the black Converse All-Stars that I have always wanted. NOW I CAN RUN LIKE THE WIND WITH MY NEW SNEAKERS!

Did some shopping for the book club, got the place ready, and then hung out in a big comfy chair to read a little more of our book. Then the ladies came over and we had a nice evening talking about the book and a bunch of other stuff. I had my record player out and I played DJ. So it was like a bunch of friends came over and we talked about our homework a little but then just hung out and played records. In my new black Chuckies  (Nevermind that there was wine and that I needed to use my reading glasses to check the release date of my Springsteen album.)

This morning, I had a very Turkish sort of breakfast: bread, feta, honey, soft-boiled egg, olives, tomatoes. In Turkish, that would be ekmek, beyaz peynir, bal, yumurta, zeytin, domates. It's the kind of breakfast that felt weird to me at first, but I quickly grew to love.


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> (And no, Charlie, you can't do the spanking. Down boy!  )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah, I got to give her, her spanking this year.................
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Better luck next year.
Click to expand...


Uh.....dude, hate to break it to you, but that wasn't me. If it had been, you would have known it from the massive headache you would have had after regaining consciousness.


----------



## limr

My new kicks:

 

Playing records:


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ JC- Dealing with the death and followup of a loved one is so, so tough. Godspeed through those waters.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks buddy. Hey, I received my repaired FTN from Robert Decker yesterday. Man he does good work and reasonable. It works like a charm. Spot on compared to light meter. Now to study the zone system.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I don't think there is a better tool for seeing in B&W than learning the Zone System. You need to get a motor for that FTn.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Is this the book? Figured out what the drive is.
> 
> The Negative Format: Paperback by Adams, Ansel: Hachette Book Group 9780821221860  - INDOO
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Yes.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> JC, that's nice that you'll have that reminder. Does anyone play the organ?
> 
> I had a very nice day yesterday, and though I didn't plan it this way, I celebrated my 45th birthday by apparently becoming a kid again!  Started out with a nice slow morning, and then I went to see my boyfriend. After that, I bought myself a pair of the black Converse All-Stars that I have always wanted. NOW I CAN RUN LIKE THE WIND WITH MY NEW SNEAKERS!
> 
> Did some shopping for the book club, got the place ready, and then hung out in a big comfy chair to read a little more of our book. Then the ladies came over and we had a nice evening talking about the book and a bunch of other stuff. I had my record player out and I played DJ. So it was like a bunch of friends came over and we talked about our homework a little but then just hung out and played records. In my new black Chuckies  (Nevermind that there was wine and that I needed to use my reading glasses to check the release date of my Springsteen album.)
> 
> This morning, I had a very Turkish sort of breakfast: bread, feta, honey, soft-boiled egg, olives, tomatoes. In Turkish, that would be ekmek, beyaz peynir, bal, yumurta, zeytin, domates. It's the kind of breakfast that felt weird to me at first, but I quickly grew to love.


What a great way to start the day ... much better than Coco Puffs.  Gary remembers his first pair of Converse, they were considered expensive, but  in junior high Gary got his first Converse ... Gary felt he had finally grown up. Gary's spectacles have Converse frames.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> My new kicks:
> 
> View attachment 117690
> 
> Playing records:
> 
> View attachment 117691


Nice, good ole Chuck Taylors. Yes, the wife does. I'll play her bongo's or try a shot at harmonica. My son borrowed the bongo, he loves that thing. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary doesn't have records or a record player.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gary doesn't have records or a record player.



I think that's the next thing Gary needs to add to his little backyard paradise


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary doesn't have records or a record player.


Oh man, you don't know what your missing. Especially if you like classics. Classic piano or steel guitars sound great on vinyl. Thrift stores carry some good ones occasionally, cheap too. Nap a set of speakers while your at it or tap into existing system. Records are cheap too.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has a nice sound system for the Tv/iTouch/iPad. Easy enough to tie a record player into it.  In the back Gary has a receiver tied into some weatherproof speakers. Both systems actually sound quite good. (At least to Gary's ears.)


----------



## robbins.photo

Morning hosers!

Started this fine morning at the cat complex.  I guess the zoo changed the name from the cat house so the tourists wouldn't be quite so confused.  Got some great shots of the Amur leopard, very excited about that.  Usually he's a very uncooperative subject. 

Looking forward to heading back in after a short smoke break


----------



## vintagesnaps

Vinyl's back! which means I could get my mostly scratched up records out of the basement, or... put the cart before the horse and start buying new ones before I get a record player! which is what I've managed to do. Been looking and pricing... My old stereo which is also in the basement was fritzing out so time for the new.

I already got many of my favorites on cassette, then CD, so time to get some different records that aren't anything I have already! lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary A. said:


> Gary doesn't have records or a record player.



 Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Vinyl's back! which means I could get my mostly scratched up records out of the basement, or... put the cart before the horse and start buying new ones before I get a record player! which is what I've managed to do. Been looking and pricing... My old stereo which is also in the basement was fritzing out so time for the new.
> 
> I already got many of my favorites on cassette, then CD, so time to get some different records that aren't anything I have already! lol



I got a little portable player for the moment to tide me over until I can get a more serious system. I do have better speakers I could use but just haven't gotten around to hooking them up yet. I still have a bunch of albums that I never got rid of, and I'm also looking for records of stuff I never had before instead of just getting the same things I have in other formats.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good afternoon coffee lovers. Got the organ in moved and in place. That was her chair in the pic, along with a matching love seat. It was her mother's. Dog smelling everything... 







Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> (And no, Charlie, you can't do the spanking. Down boy!  )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah, I got to give her, her spanking this year.................
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Better luck next year.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Uh.....dude, hate to break it to you, but that wasn't me. If it had been, you would have known it from the massive headache you would have had after regaining consciousness.
Click to expand...




limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> (And no, Charlie, you can't do the spanking. Down boy!  )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah, I got to give her, her spanking this year.................
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Better luck next year.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Uh.....dude, hate to break it to you, but that wasn't me. If it had been, you would have known it from the massive headache you would have had after regaining consciousness.
Click to expand...







I told you to wait for it.  I knew the boom would be dropped.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Vinyl's back!



And spandex never left.  Honestly the general public really baffle me sometimes.. lol


----------



## jcdeboever

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> I told you to wait for it.  I knew the boom would be dropped.



Well, as long as someone was amused.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has a Tri-Tip in the smoker and about to marinade some salmon. KUSC is blaring in the back and Gary is in tidy mode working on a bunch of small stuff both outside in inside.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary has a Tri-Tip in the smoker and about to marinade some salmon. KUSC is blaring in the back and Gary is in tidy mode working on a bunch of small stuff both outside in inside.


----------



## snowbear

Bridge Walk.
I walked the Woodrow Wilson Bridge from Alexandria, VA to National Harbor at Oxon Hill, MD.  After you walk from over the shore to over the water, you enter Washington, DC, getting into Maryland about 500 feet later.  The bridge is about 1.3 miles, with a total walk of about 2.65 miles to the first pier at National Harbor.

The finish line!




The Water Taxi




I need this car.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I got a little portable player for the moment to tide me over until I can get a more serious system.



Does it look like this?


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I told you to wait for it.  I knew the boom would be dropped.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, as long as someone was amused.
Click to expand...

We did, we did.


----------



## Gary A.

The Tri-Tip, smoked then a reverse sear.  It smells wonderful.


----------



## Gary A.

A short recess before tossing the salmon on the Kamado.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 117706 The Tri-Tip, smoked then a reverse sear.  It smells wonderful.








Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

The "Before" salmon shot:


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 117708 The "Before" salmon shot:









Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Lol


----------



## Gary A.

Today, Gary used three of his outdoor cooking things, the smoker for the meat, the gas grill (reverse sear and the garlic bread) and the  Kamado for the fish.  A trifecta!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Today, Gary used three of his outdoor cooking things, the smoker for the meat, the gas grill (reverse sear and the garlic bread) and the  Kamado for the fish.  A trifecta!!!


They say everything comes in threes... Get this...my grandma's mother was born on March 4th, and died on March 4th, and grandma died on March 4th. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

10-shot handheld pano of the National Harbor.


----------



## bribrius

is wondering why his phone isn't automatically uploading photos to  backup and has to push the upload now for each individual photo


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today, Gary used three of his outdoor cooking things, the smoker for the meat, the gas grill (reverse sear and the garlic bread) and the  Kamado for the fish.  A trifecta!!!
> 
> 
> 
> They say everything comes in threes... Get this...my grandma's mother was born on March 4th, and died on March 4th, and grandma died on March 4th.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Crazy world.


----------



## Gary A.

Waiting for guests then Gary will throw the salmon on the grill. The Kamado is only in the low 200's ... So late guests is a good thing.  Mary Lou has started the grilled veggies, and Gary is enjoying his Malbec.


----------



## Gary A.

Grilling away.


----------



## bribrius

you talk about yourself in the second or third person and update daily routines its kind of odd . lol


----------



## jcdeboever

bribrius said:


> you talk about yourself in the second or third person and update daily routines its kind of odd . lol


It's Jimmy's fault... He possessed him. 

I like his daily routines, he has a wonderful life and is very happy. He knows how to live life grand and shares that. He is an excellent photographer as well. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> you talk about yourself in the second or third person and update daily routines its kind of odd . lol
> 
> 
> 
> It's Jimmy's fault... He possessed him.
> 
> I like his daily routines, he has a wonderful life and is very happy. He knows how to live life grand and shares that. He is an excellent photographer as well.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


(it's that socal air . . . makes folks not know when something is over)


----------



## Gary A.

The Tri-Tip.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 117719
> The Tri-Tip.


Man, that looks succulent... Well done. I want that end piece!

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

The salmon.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 117720 The salmon.


Wow, that is perfect. I usually catch about 60 lbs a year. Missed it in 2015 but won't miss Lake MI this fall. Caught a 30lbs King off a pier in 2014. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

limr said:


> My new kicks:
> 
> View attachment 117690
> 
> Playing records:
> 
> View attachment 117691


oo, oo - Wild Planet!!!

 Paaaarrrr--teee!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I thought for a minute there Terri you meant the salmon, or a new brand of wine - Wild Planet! lol Then I remembered I did see a B52s album somewhere in Lenny's record pile.

I've sat on a boat dock JC, but fishing, well... mostly with kids so I spent my time untangling lines and I don't think anybody ever caught anything.

Sharon thinks Gary didn't mean he was grilling, Sharon thinks he meant he was drinking wine. (Unless in that one picture he has a miniature glass grill with a red liquid in it!)


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sharon thinks Bri needs a Jimmy video.


----------



## minicoop1985

So I did it, I bought myself that 5D2. The size comparison is quite interesting...

Very similar from the front




IMG_20160312_091939335 by Michael Long, on Flickr

But from above, hot Jupiter:




IMG_20160312_213305327 by Michael Long, on Flickr


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> So I did it, I bought myself that 5D2. The size comparison is quite interesting...
> 
> Very similar from the front
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IMG_20160312_091939335 by Michael Long, on Flickr
> 
> But from above, hot Jupiter:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IMG_20160312_213305327 by Michael Long, on Flickr


Congrats!  Nothing better than the day you get new gear.  

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers,  Gary is still filled from last night.  Excellent wines and tasty food = overindulgence.

After dinner we scooted down the street for some frozen yoghurt. The Cook used to escort guests out to their cars, but she is so old now, she has retired from that duty and just stays put wherever she may be.  Another day and another hummingbird feeder needed to be filled.  In Spring, the hummers turn into pigs. Tonight no cooking, leftovers. Gary loves leftovers, good food/no work.


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC- 60 pounds is a lot of fish. How do you cook it, granted not all at one time ... Just wondering.  Gary doesn't fish or hunt ... He leaves that to the professionals.

Mary Lou just updated Gary with a snow report. Mammoth has 26' of snow, great ski conditions she added.

If you grill, how do you overcome the propensity of the fish sticking to the grill and resulting with a wonderful slabs of fish turning into random sized pieces?

@ Sharon- Gary was grilling, the photo was of the cooking thermometer.  Gary cooks with wine.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> If you grill, how do you overcome the propensity of the fish sticking to the grill and resulting with a wonderful slabs of fish turning into random sized pieces?



Clean the grill to within an inch of it's life, then brush the fish with a high heat oil - you can use canola but I actually prefer avocado oil for most fish, it's a bit harder to find at most grocery stores though.  The grill should be at a high temp before you put the fish on, sear it really good before turning.

You can also cook with the skin on to help keep the filet together.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you grill, how do you overcome the propensity of the fish sticking to the grill and resulting with a wonderful slabs of fish turning into random sized pieces?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Clean the grill to within an inch of it's life, then brush the fish with a high heat oil - you can use canola but I actually prefer avocado oil for most fish, it's a bit harder to find at most grocery stores though.  The grill should be at a high temp before you put the fish on, sear it really good before turning.
> 
> You can also cook with the skin on to help keep the filet together.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Avocado oil is Gary's oil of choice for grilling, grape seed oil comes in second.  Gary does that but still has problems.  Gary found this hinged, handled, net-like, thing that Gary has successfully use used (twice). But it is a "B' to clean well.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I knew you were actually grilling I was just being a smart ass. And if you have hummingbirds that look like flying pigs I wanna see pictures.

Sharon thinks Charlie might be tired of Jimmy! And I keep forgetting to say that I got a whole 12 pack of Coke Zero that were all polar bears. I'd post a picture but I keep forgetting to go take one. That and I'd have to set up a can pyramid and unless it's beer cans at a hockey game it hardly seems worth the trouble.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Sharon thinks Charlie might be tired of Jimmy!


and the derivatives.



vintagesnaps said:


> And I keep forgetting to say that I got a whole 12 pack of Coke Zero that were all polar bears.


Like this one?




DSC_6705.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## minicoop1985

Lol Snowbear.


----------



## table1349




----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers.  Raining cats and dogs here, plus wind.  Nothing like starting the week wet despite raincoat and umbrella.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Already consumed my daily allotment of coffee. I don't Monday well.


----------



## limr

Just past afternoon, so Good Afternoon, hosers.

I'll be needing more coffee in about...well, 10 minutes ago. Monday. Gotta get my head in the game. Sooo not there. But at least I have the week off from teaching, so I get to actually leave campus at 5pm!


----------



## limr

Happy Pi Day, hosers!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Happy Pi Day, hosers!



Pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel there for holidays aren't we?  Lol


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Pi Day, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel there for holidays aren't we?  Lol
Click to expand...


Hey man, I'm down with any holiday that involves pie!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Pi Day, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel there for holidays aren't we?  Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hey man, I'm down with any holiday that involves pie!
Click to expand...


ok, granted, I guess it does make as much sense as Columbus day.  Congratulations boys, we found Asia!  Umm.. well, not so much really.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> ok, granted, I guess it does make as much sense as Columbus day.  Congratulations boys, we found Asia!  Umm.. well, not so much really.



Congrats, we found India! Why hello, indigenous people, have some nasty European diseases while we screw you over!"

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of Columbus Day


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sharon thinks Charlie might be tired of Jimmy!
> 
> 
> 
> and the derivatives.
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> And I keep forgetting to say that I got a whole 12 pack of Coke Zero that were all polar bears.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Like this one?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_6705.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
Click to expand...

Relatives of yours?


----------



## table1349

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers.  Raining cats and dogs here, plus wind.  Nothing like starting the week wet despite raincoat and umbrella.


Try not to step in a poodle.


----------



## table1349




----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Yeah, I'm not a big fan of Columbus Day



Me either.  Hmm.. I've got an idea:






We get rid of Columbus Day, and replace it with Columbo Day!

Who's with me?


----------



## KenC

gryphonslair99 said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.  Raining cats and dogs here, plus wind.  Nothing like starting the week wet despite raincoat and umbrella.
> 
> 
> 
> Try not to step in a poodle.
Click to expand...


Yep, managed to avoid it.


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


>




Pie are square?  No, pie are round; cornbread are square.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sharon thinks Charlie might be tired of Jimmy!
> 
> 
> 
> and the derivatives.
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> And I keep forgetting to say that I got a whole 12 pack of Coke Zero that were all polar bears.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Like this one?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_6705.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Relatives of yours?
Click to expand...


Yes.  It's a very small sample of what I have, including a twonie (I think you'd know why).


----------



## snowbear

Well, tomorrow is TUgis (Towson University GIS conference) - the dress rehearsal for my San Diego presentation.  I get to fall out of bed at oh-four something, leave at oh-five-something and try to get through the Bawlmer, excuse me, Baltimore traffic by about 7:30.
My presentation is among the last of the day - just before social hour and the bar opens.  

I suspect there won't be many questions.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Well, tomorrow is TUgis (Towson University GIS conference) - the dress rehearsal for my San Diego presentation.  I get to fall out of bed at oh-four something, leave at oh-five-something and try to get through the Bawlmer, excuse me, Baltimore traffic by about 7:30.
> My presentation is among the last of the day - just before social hour and the bar opens.
> 
> I suspect there won't be many questions.


Knock em dead buddy. You will do well.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Good evening coffee lovers. Actually watching some TV... Got to turn the thing on once in a while to see if it still works. Watching a movie called Cinderella Man. It's real good, liking it big time. 

Drinking my favorite, Vernor's






Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> Well, tomorrow is TUgis (Towson University GIS conference) - the dress rehearsal for my San Diego presentation.  I get to fall out of bed at oh-four something, leave at oh-five-something and try to get through the Bawlmer, excuse me, Baltimore traffic by about 7:30.
> My presentation is among the last of the day - just before social hour and the bar opens.
> 
> I suspect there won't be many questions.


Oh there will leave now.    Setting in Atlanta right now waiting to catch my connecting flight to Baltimore.   No drinkie poo for you .


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, tomorrow is TUgis (Towson University GIS conference) - the dress rehearsal for my San Diego presentation.  I get to fall out of bed at oh-four something, leave at oh-five-something and try to get through the Bawlmer, excuse me, Baltimore traffic by about 7:30.
> My presentation is among the last of the day - just before social hour and the bar opens.
> 
> I suspect there won't be many questions.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh there will leave now.    Set minute ladder right now waiting to  catch my connecting flight to Baltimore.   No drinkie poo for you .
Click to expand...

I just got back from there a little while ago!  I attended a workshop this morning.

I think Baltimore traffic is worse than DC's - their beltway sporadically loses a lane for a few exits.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sharon thinks Charlie might be tired of Jimmy!
> 
> 
> 
> and the derivatives.
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> And I keep forgetting to say that I got a whole 12 pack of Coke Zero that were all polar bears.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Like this one?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_6705.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Relatives of yours?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes.  It's a very small sample of what I have, including a twonie (I think you'd know why).
Click to expand...

Didja click the link?


----------



## robbins.photo

Morning Hosers!

Well, survived Monday, but not by a large margin.  Several close calls and near misses.

Got some gear on the way, should be arriving today.  Ordered a Lowepro Street and Field belt and harness, as well as a lens changer 200 AW.  Should allow me to carry all of the needed gear and distribute the weight well enough.  Granted, I'll look like a SWAT team reject but at this point I guess it really doesn't matter.  I have enough people taking notice of the 70-200 mm 2.8 on my zoo walks that I might as well just embrace my inner-camera geek and be done with it.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers! Had a productive one so far. Got me a new client! It's a small, independent car dealer. Been working on changing some things to learn how to do what they want, and have been relatively successful.


----------



## jcdeboever

Congrats minicoop! 

I'm in Columbus, OH today, Cleveland tomorrow, and Kentucky Thursday. I hate driving in Columbus, dumb drivers just like in Ann Arbor. Landed big account in Lima, OH this morning and now one in Columbus, working on a few others. Got the mojo going today. I will say OH has nicer pickle parks...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Should I ask...? pickle parks?

Good thing you weren't headed that way yesterday with the tornado that went thru. Maybe severe weather tonight although probably staying west, but anyway stay safe.


Yeah! Columbo day! lol let's do that. Although might not be much to do for that holiday, traipse around in a raincoat all day.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Should I ask...? pickle parks?
> 
> Good thing you weren't headed that way yesterday with the tornado that went thru. Maybe severe weather tonight although probably staying west, but anyway stay safe.


Pickle Parks = Truck stops. Ha

Thanks for the heads up on weather. Got my trusty tank, Nikon F with me. Not sure if I will have time to shoot anything. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## KenC

vintagesnaps said:


> Should I ask...? pickle parks?



Yeah, new one for me too


----------



## robbins.photo

KenC said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Should I ask...? pickle parks?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, new one for me too
Click to expand...


See also choke and puke, stage stop, nap trap, stop and rob...

And of course 40 weight


----------



## jcdeboever

Reach around ranch. I hear limr's eyes rolling back in her head...ha

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Reach around ranch. I hear limr's eyes rolling back in her head...ha
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Which is why I avoided Lot Lizard Lounge... lol


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Reach around ranch. I hear limr's eyes rolling back in her head...ha
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



I am actually finding this quite amusing


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Reach around ranch. I hear limr's eyes rolling back in her head...ha
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am actually finding this quite amusing
Click to expand...


Good deal.  Not like we don't give you enough reasons to roll your eyes at us already.. lol


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Should I ask...? pickle parks?
> 
> Good thing you weren't headed that way yesterday with the tornado that went thru. Maybe severe weather tonight although probably staying west, but anyway stay safe.
> 
> 
> Yeah! Columbo day! lol let's do that. Although might not be much to do for that holiday, traipse around in a raincoat all day.



Not sure if I could do the raincoat thing though - I'd most likely not make it very far before I was profiled.. lol


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Should I ask...? pickle parks?
> 
> Good thing you weren't headed that way yesterday with the tornado that went thru. Maybe severe weather tonight although probably staying west, but anyway stay safe.
> 
> 
> Yeah! Columbo day! lol let's do that. Although might not be much to do for that holiday, traipse around in a raincoat all day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure if I could do the raincoat thing though - I'd most likely not make it very far before I was profiled.. lol
Click to expand...

My wife makes me wear one occasionally, with boots, hat, and barbeque sauce...







Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Should I ask...? pickle parks?
> 
> Good thing you weren't headed that way yesterday with the tornado that went thru. Maybe severe weather tonight although probably staying west, but anyway stay safe.
> 
> 
> Yeah! Columbo day! lol let's do that. Although might not be much to do for that holiday, traipse around in a raincoat all day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure if I could do the raincoat thing though - I'd most likely not make it very far before I was profiled.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My wife makes me wear one occasionally, with boots, hat, and barbeque sauce...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

So, yup.  Once again I'm forced to file that under mental image that will haunt me till my dying day.  Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

Evening, hosers. Wife is sick and is taking me with her, it would seem. Also, while feeling like crap, I learned FINALLY how to use layer masks... lol


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> Evening, hosers. Wife is sick and is taking me with her, it would seem. Also, while feeling like crap, I learned FINALLY how to use layer masks... lol


With the bad comes the good!


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Reach around ranch. I hear limr's eyes rolling back in her head...ha
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am actually finding this quite amusing
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Good deal.  Not like we don't give you enough reasons to roll your eyes at us already.. lol
Click to expand...


Good point


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> Didja click the link?


Long week, missed the link completely.
That looks like my cousin Edna and the twins - Beebee and Deedee.


----------



## snowbear

Well, I survived the presentation.  I didn't win the door prizes but scored a nice beer glass and a decent coffee mug (ceramic, not plastic).

I'm glad I'm not heading into DC tomorrow, but waiting until Thursday -- the entire Metrorail (subway) system will be shut down for emergency cable inspections from midnight (2-1/2 hours from now) until 5:00 (they think) Thursday morning.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Should I ask...? pickle parks?
> 
> Good thing you weren't headed that way yesterday with the tornado that went thru. Maybe severe weather tonight although probably staying west, but anyway stay safe.
> 
> 
> Yeah! Columbo day! lol let's do that. Although might not be much to do for that holiday, traipse around in a raincoat all day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure if I could do the raincoat thing though - I'd most likely not make it very far before I was profiled.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My wife makes me wear one occasionally, with boots, hat, and barbeque sauce...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Reach around ranch. I hear limr's eyes rolling back in her head...ha
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am actually finding this quite amusing
Click to expand...


----------



## table1349

Morning..........


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> View attachment 117881
> 
> Morning..........


Ummm, it's Wednesday

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 117881
> 
> Morning..........
> 
> 
> 
> Ummm, it's Wednesday
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

 No........ it's the third Monday of the week!


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 117881
> 
> Morning..........
> 
> 
> 
> Ummm, it's Wednesday
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

See..........I told you soo.....  Now leave me alone and let me go back to bed and hopefully I won't wake up till Thursday.


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> No........ it's the third Monday of the week!



And for those of you just joining us, this week the part of Little Miss Merry Sunshine will be played by Tirediron.  Please give him a big round of applause....

Lol


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> No........ it's the third Monday of the week!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And for those of you just joining us, this week the part of Little Miss Merry Sunshine will be played by Tirediron.  Please give him a big round of applause....
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...


----------



## table1349




----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  I don't care what day it is - I got my coffee!


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Still feeling like complete crap. Throat is killing me, barely slept last night... Good thing I don't really have to be anywhere today.


----------



## table1349

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Still feeling like complete crap. Throat is killing me, barely slept last night... Good thing I don't really have to be anywhere today.


----------



## minicoop1985

If I didn't have a 4 year old, I would happily say screw it and watch TV in bed alllll day.


----------



## table1349

minicoop1985 said:


> If I didn't have a 4 year old, I would happily say screw it and watch TV in bed alllll day.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Weather ended up doing nuthin' yesterday, figures, then today it's windy and sunny one minute, cloudy the next. This early time change in March is lousy and I don't even have to get up early for work anymore. But had a service scheduled so had to get up at what should be 7am... ugh. lol


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> Weather ended up doing nuthin' yesterday, figures, then today it's windy and sunny one minute, cloudy the next. This early time change in March is lousy and I don't even have to get up early for work anymore. But had a service scheduled so had to get up at what should be 7am... ugh. lol


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Still feeling like complete crap. Throat is killing me, barely slept last night... Good thing I don't really have to be anywhere today.


What happens to crabs around here:


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Weather ended up doing nuthin' yesterday, figures, then today it's windy and sunny one minute, cloudy the next. This early time change in March is lousy and I don't even have to get up early for work anymore. But had a service scheduled so had to get up at what should be 7am... ugh. lol


A bit of rain yesterday, and a little chill.

The windows are open today.


----------



## jcdeboever

In my travels today
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




World's Largest Basket, Newark, Ohio

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Did you buy it or has it already been sold?


----------



## minicoop1985

snowbear said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mornin, hosers. Still feeling like complete crap. Throat is killing me, barely slept last night... Good thing I don't really have to be anywhere today.
> 
> 
> 
> What happens to crabs around here:
> View attachment 117895
Click to expand...

I got the chills, so being boiled doesn't sound that bad, actually.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Feel better Minicoop.

I saw the basket really is for sale... now besides basket making what other kind of business could you put in a building like that??


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> In my travels today
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> World's Largest Basket, Newark, Ohio
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



And that's when we heard Yogi weep, tears of joy...


----------



## Designer

vintagesnaps said:


> Feel better Minicoop.
> 
> I saw the basket really is for sale... now besides basket making what other kind of business could you put in a building like that??


If Longabarger's ever goes out of business, they could sell that building to a certain well-known political party.

(leaving it up to the reader to put the name on it.)


----------



## vintagesnaps

They're moving these offices to their factory I think, to consolidate - ?? or something.

Gee I can't imagine to what you refer! lol might be a number of choices along those lines.


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> In my travels today
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> World's Largest Basket, Newark, Ohio
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And that's when we heard Yogi weep, tears of joy...
Click to expand...

 Look Boo-boo....  a pick-a-nick basket.  A really big pick-a-nick basket!!!!


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mornin, hosers. Still feeling like complete crap. Throat is killing me, barely slept last night... Good thing I don't really have to be anywhere today.
> 
> 
> 
> What happens to crabs around here:
> View attachment 117895
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I got the chills, so being boiled doesn't sound that bad, actually.
Click to expand...


(in my best _James Bond_ voice) . . . steamed, not boiled.

Get better - being sick really sux


----------



## snowbear

Hmmm . . . baskets & political parties . . . must be the Whigs.

Is that side-stepping the tabooness enough?


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> In my travels today
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> World's Largest Basket, Newark, Ohio
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


If my wife sees that picture you are DEAD!  If you show that picture to my wife you are DEAD!  If my wife even suspects that such a thing exists you are DEAD!   




Just call me Francis, cause she's gonna want that damn thing for her collection.


----------



## table1349

Ok, my wife came in as I was typing the last post.  Anyone got $3,200,000.00 to spare.  She wants it to house her collection.


----------



## tirediron

I'll look in my other pants.


----------



## snowbear

You need Google glass so she can't see what you're browsing.


----------



## table1349

She snuck in the front door and walked up behind me.  Hell, it would have been much better if I had been looking at PORN!  A whole lot cheaper anyway.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> I'll look in my other pants.


How about looking in your other SAFE!


----------



## Warhorse

Happy St. Patrick's Day!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Ditto Warhorse! 
I am as Irish as you can get. My godmother is actually a nun! (She was only 17 when I was born and not a nun obviously ) and another uncle is a retired NYC police officer. 
Of course being Irish there are a whole lotta' other aunts, uncles and cousins.
3 of my siblings are marching IN the NYC parade today with police family section, a family tradition. .
 I will go next year, can't wait.


----------



## snowbear

Warhorse said:


> Happy St. Patrick's Day!



And, to you.


----------



## jcdeboever

NancyMoranG said:


> Ditto Warhorse!
> I am as Irish as you can get. My godmother is actually a nun! (She was only 17 when I was born and not a nun obviously ) and another uncle is a retired NYC police officer.
> Of course being Irish there are a whole lotta' other aunts, uncles and cousins.
> 3 of my siblings are marching IN the NYC parade today with police family section, a family tradition. .
> I will go next year, can't wait.


I wonder if something happened to your mother and father and your Godmother was a Nun, would then the child be raised in a Nunery? 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

NancyMoranG said:


> Ditto Warhorse!
> I am as Irish as you can get. My godmother is actually a nun! (She was only 17 when I was born and not a nun obviously ) and another uncle is a retired NYC police officer.
> Of course being Irish there are a whole lotta' other aunts, uncles and cousins.
> 3 of my siblings are marching IN the NYC parade today with police family section, a family tradition. .
> I will go next year, can't wait.


_Éirinn go Brách
_
If you can read that, then God Bless You!

I'm not at all Irish, but my son married into it, so he's half Irish by marriage.


----------



## snowbear

I'm a conglomeration of cultures: Italian, Irish, Scots, English, Welsh, Native American, and some German.  By the way, St. Patrick was Italian, well, Roman.


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> Ok, my wife came in as I was typing the last post.  Anyone got $3,200,000.00 to spare.  She wants it to house her collection.


Have you checked tiredirons pants?  

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ditto Warhorse!
> I am as Irish as you can get. My godmother is actually a nun! (She was only 17 when I was born and not a nun obviously ) and another uncle is a retired NYC police officer.
> Of course being Irish there are a whole lotta' other aunts, uncles and cousins.
> 3 of my siblings are marching IN the NYC parade today with police family section, a family tradition. .
> I will go next year, can't wait.
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder if something happened to your mother and father and your Godmother was a Nun, would then the child be raised in a Nunery?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I hope not, since nunery is actually slang for a whore house.  Nuns hang out in convents.

And here's a nice mindbender for you, my former mother in law is a nun.  Strange but true

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

Happy tin foil THURSDAY!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Eegads, a convent?!
She says that the week around Easter they have a vow of silence. All you can hear are old nuns slurping their soup. She says this with a smile.
It's not worth visiting that week 
She is Monroe, N.Y. Convent.


----------



## robbins.photo

NancyMoranG said:


> Eegads, a convent?!
> She says that the week around Easter they have a vow of silence. All you can hear are old nuns slurping their soup. She says this with a smile.
> It's not worth visiting that week
> She is Monroe, N.Y. Convent.


My mother in law was in cloister for most of the first year of our marriage.  No contact whatsoever.  

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Eegads, a convent?!
> She says that the week around Easter they have a vow of silence. All you can hear are old nuns slurping their soup. She says this with a smile.
> It's not worth visiting that week
> She is Monroe, N.Y. Convent.
> 
> 
> 
> My mother in law was in cloister for most of the first year of our marriage.  No contact whatsoever.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


They have cloister's in NY? I always thought they were in Maine. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

The Cloisters, NYC (part of the Met)


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I'm a conglomeration of cultures: Italian, Irish, Scots, English, Welsh, Native American, and some German.  By the way, St. Patrick was Italian, well, Roman.



To be fair, most of Europe was "Roman" at that point. He was born in Roman Britain.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm a conglomeration of cultures: Italian, Irish, Scots, English, Welsh, Native American, and some German.  By the way, St. Patrick was Italian, well, Roman.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To be fair, most of Europe was "Roman" at that point. He was born in Roman Britain.
Click to expand...


Ok, you do realize the main attraction to this particular place is the fact that you can come in here day after day and never learn anything new, right?

Lol


----------



## table1349

Interesting discovery about the true origins of the Irish.

A man’s discovery of bones under his pub could forever change what we know about the Irish


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm a conglomeration of cultures: Italian, Irish, Scots, English, Welsh, Native American, and some German.  By the way, St. Patrick was Italian, well, Roman.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To be fair, most of Europe was "Roman" at that point. He was born in Roman Britain.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ok, you do realize the main attraction to this particular place is the fact that you can come in here day after day and never learn anything new, right?
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...


Not while I'm around! I'll be droppin' knowledge on your arse whether you like it or not!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Not while I'm around! I'll be droppin' knowledge on your arse whether you like it or not!



So is that what they mean when they talk about smart bombs then?  Lol


----------



## KenC

Well, you guys have gotten into all sorts of interesting stuff while I've been trying to wake up, including some pants, from what I've seen.  I like "Tin Foil Thursday" (@gryphonslair99) because my wife is a shrink and I think we're both crazy, but then aren't most people, at least in this thread?

Interesting map of the Roman Empire, Leonore (@limr), which inexplicably has mostly Roman place names, but some English names instead of the Roman ones (e.g., Britain instead of Britannia, etc.).


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Well, you guys have gotten into all sorts of interesting stuff while I've been trying to wake up, including some pants, from what I've seen.  I like "Tin Foil Thursday" (@gryphonslair99) because my wife is a shrink and I think we're both crazy, but then aren't most people, at least in this thread?
> 
> Interesting map of the Roman Empire, Leonore (@limr), which inexplicably has mostly Roman place names, but some English names instead of the Roman ones (e.g., Britain instead of Britannia, etc.).



I firmly believe that *everyone *has crazy in them, but not everyone lets it out in front of other people. And of course, one person's "crazy" is another person's "totally normal." 

Yeah, I hadn't noticed that but you're right - it seems totally random. There's Britain, and also Greece (the Anglicized version of Graecia), and of course "Italy" didn't even exist until the 19th century! I disapprove  And now, for my own version of crazy, I'm probably going to spend some time looking for a better map!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Yeah, I hadn't noticed that but you're right - it seems totally random. There's Britain, and also Greece (the Anglicized version of Graecia), and of course "Italy" didn't even exist until the 19th century! I disapprove  And now, for my own version of crazy, I'm probably going to spend some time looking for a better map!







Curiously enough I pulled this out of my arse.  Must have been dislodged during the last attack.. lol


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I hadn't noticed that but you're right - it seems totally random. There's Britain, and also Greece (the Anglicized version of Graecia), and of course "Italy" didn't even exist until the 19th century! I disapprove  And now, for my own version of crazy, I'm probably going to spend some time looking for a better map!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Curiously enough I pulled this out of my arse.  Must have been dislodged during the last attack.. lol
Click to expand...


----------



## KenC

robbins.photo said:


> Curiously enough I pulled this out of my arse.  Must have been dislodged during the last attack.. lol



We'd love to see anything else (in the way of documents) that you came up with.


----------



## robbins.photo

KenC said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Curiously enough I pulled this out of my arse.  Must have been dislodged during the last attack.. lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We'd love to see anything else (in the way of documents) that you came up with.
Click to expand...

So far that was it for documents.  It was that map and the keys to what I think was a 72 Plymouth duster.  I'll be sure to keep you posted though.  Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

If you're going to post a map, please post one from a reputable source!


----------



## limr

Here ya go, map of the world!


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> If you're going to post a map, please post one from a reputable source!



Aren't you supposed to be checking your other pants for Gryph's wife?

Wait, that didn't sound quite right somehow.. lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

Happy green beer day! Nearby college has it before going on spring break but it happens to actually be on St. Patrick's Day this year.

I'm part Irish, so I do umm, nothing in particular! lol except for wearing a green sweater. Grandmother who's house I now live in, her mother and father both had Irish roots.

Why are we lookin' in whose pants??

Gee I don't see any crazy in the coffeehouse.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Why are we lookin' in whose pants??



Well Gryph's wife needs $3,200,000.00 to buy a basket because Gryph was reading this forum instead of looking at porn like he should have been.  Naturally tirediron was keeping that in his other pants.  



> Gee I don't see any crazy in the coffeehouse.



I know, right?  Lol


----------



## NancyMoranG

robbins.photo said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why are we lookin' in whose pants??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well Gryph's wife needs $3,200,000.00 to buy a basket because Gryph was reading this forum instead of looking at porn like he should have been.  Naturally tirediron was keeping that in his other pants.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gee I don't see any crazy in the coffeehouse.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I know, right?  Lol
Click to expand...


Thanks for keeping us up to date Robbins, I was going to look for a scorecard to help me keep track, but they're in my other pants..


----------



## minicoop1985

snowbear said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mornin, hosers. Still feeling like complete crap. Throat is killing me, barely slept last night... Good thing I don't really have to be anywhere today.
> 
> 
> 
> What happens to crabs around here:
> View attachment 117895
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I got the chills, so being boiled doesn't sound that bad, actually.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> (in my best _James Bond_ voice) . . . steamed, not boiled.
> 
> Get better - being sick really sux
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm going in to the "Urgent Care" place today. Easier than making a doctor's appointment. Throat hurts constantly now, with serious spikes in pain when I swallow. Here's to hoping a Z pack takes care of it.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Good luck minicoop!


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mornin, hosers. Still feeling like complete crap. Throat is killing me, barely slept last night... Good thing I don't really have to be anywhere today.
> 
> 
> 
> What happens to crabs around here:
> View attachment 117895
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I got the chills, so being boiled doesn't sound that bad, actually.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> (in my best _James Bond_ voice) . . . steamed, not boiled.
> 
> Get better - being sick really sux
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks. I'm going in to the "Urgent Care" place today. Easier than making a doctor's appointment. Throat hurts constantly now, with serious spikes in pain when I swallow. Here's to hoping a Z pack takes care of it.
Click to expand...

Sounds like strep throat. Quick recovery. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Thanks. I'm going in to the "Urgent Care" place today. Easier than making a doctor's appointment. Throat hurts constantly now, with serious spikes in pain when I swallow. Here's to hoping a Z pack takes care of it.



Hope you get to feeling better soon Coop.


----------



## minicoop1985

Thanks, everyone. It is strep. Good god does this suck. So hungry but eating is so painful... So is drinking, but gotta party somehow.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Thanks, everyone. It is strep. Good god does this suck. So hungry but eating is so painful... So is drinking, but gotta party somehow.


Gargle with luke warm salt water as much as you can. It's gross but will settle it at a fast pace. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

I've been doing that. Literally nothing but Chloraseptic spray has done much of anything. Even codeine cough syrup hasn't touched it...  Maybe once the Prednisone starts doing something I'll start to feel a bit better.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> I've been doing that. Literally nothing but Chloraseptic spray has done much of anything. Even codeine cough syrup hasn't touched it...  Maybe once the Prednisone starts doing something I'll start to feel a bit better.


Keep doing it. At least 3 times per day. Hot honey and tea helps a little. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Warhorse




----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've been doing that. Literally nothing but Chloraseptic spray has done much of anything. Even codeine cough syrup hasn't touched it...  Maybe once the Prednisone starts doing something I'll start to feel a bit better.
> 
> 
> 
> Keep doing it. At least 3 times per day. Hot honey and tea helps a little.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Honey has pretty powerful antibacterial properties, and cinnamon has anti-inflammatory properties. Have a teaspoon of honey mixed with cinnamon a few times a day to help soothe the throat. I also second the salt gargle. If you've got turmeric in the house, add that, some pepper, spinach, and fresh garlic to chicken broth to also soothe your throat (all these things are also anti-inflammatory, especially thr turmeric. It's important to have pepper with it, though, because increases the effectiveness dramatically.)

If you can handle it, also add some cayenne. The capsacin in cayenne actually acts as a pain reliever as it blocks the pain signals to the brain (once the burn is over, anyway!) If you can't handle swallowing it, try infusing the pepper in some olive oil for an hour or two, and rub a little on your neck over the swollen glands.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've been doing that. Literally nothing but Chloraseptic spray has done much of anything. Even codeine cough syrup hasn't touched it...  Maybe once the Prednisone starts doing something I'll start to feel a bit better.
> 
> 
> 
> Keep doing it. At least 3 times per day. Hot honey and tea helps a little.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Honey has pretty powerful antibacterial properties, and cinnamon has anti-inflammatory properties. Have a teaspoon of honey mixed with cinnamon a few times a day to help soothe the throat. I also second the salt gargle. If you've got turmeric in the house, add that, some pepper, spinach, and fresh garlic to chicken broth to also soothe your throat (all these things are also anti-inflammatory, especially thr turmeric. It's important to have pepper with it, though, because increases the effectiveness dramatically.)
> 
> If you can handle it, also add some cayenne. The capsacin in cayenne actually acts as a pain reliever as it blocks the pain signals to the brain (once the burn is over, anyway!) If you can't handle swallowing it, try infusing the pepper in some olive oil for an hour or two, and rub a little on your neck over the swollen glands.
Click to expand...


That is so fresh and wonderful. I printed that out. Your are a gentle soul limr. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry you're sick Michael. When I was younger I had strep throat often enough, usually had to have a shot of penicillin. Mine would often go into being swollen and could look in there with a flashlight and see all the infection, blech. Of course I had more severe cases, when I got sick I did it up big! lol Have asthma too, so I've been on prednisone, that would usually help clear up the inflammation pretty quick.

The suggestions could make your poor ol' throat feel better, what a nice group here in the coffeehouse. Just with strep if it seems more serious tomorrow check with the doctor and don't wait it out all weekend, strep isn't something to mess with.


----------



## robbins.photo

Ok, so first, shout out to Coop -hope your feeling better.  

Got a chance to break out the gear last night, went to a friends farm and did some shots of her horses, donkey and cats.  First time I got a chance to try out the new Lowepro Street & Field Harness and belt, have to say I was very impressed.  Made carrying all that gear just so much nicer, I was able to move around pretty well and the weight distribution was fantastic.  Started off with the 70-200 mm in the 200 AW lens case on the belt and had the 17-50 on the camera, switched them out about halfway through with no problems whatsoever.  Was able to move around, get the shots I needed, switch lenses - it was really nice.  I was right, it does make me look like a SWAT team reject, but I guess at my age I might as well abandon all hope of ever looking cool again anyway.


----------



## minicoop1985

Thanks, everyone. Leonore, I'll have to check on some of those ingredients-I know I can't have spinach due to interactions with my blood thinner (EVERYTHING interacts with it). I'm on that because I have 4 feet of venous stents in my inferior vena cava and iliac veins. I'm on plenty of other meds because I have bipolar disorder. Now I'm on even more for this. I feel like a walking pharmacy... Anyway, the honey and cinnamon thing I have been doing. It hurts like hell when I eat it, but I've still been doing it.

I fogrot how much this sucks. So damned hungry, but I can't eat anything.  At least the Codeine is doing something FINALLY. Combined that with Tylenol and Ibuprofen (shouldn't really be taking that either, but it's necessary), and I'm actually not in pain all the time.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Keep feeling better.


----------



## snowbear

Get better, Coop.

From the National Weather Service for Washington, DC and vicinity:


> *Detailed Forecast*
> Saturday Night
> Rain and snow likely before 2am, then snow.  Blah, blah, blah.
> Sunday
> Snow before 8am, blah, blah, blah. Chance of precipitation is 80%.


----------



## snowbear

OK, I have to get a scarf made from this (kilts are too jammin' expensive): Tartan Details - The Scottish Register of Tartans


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> OK, I have to get a scarf made from this (kilts are too jammin' expensive): Tartan Details - The Scottish Register of Tartans


 Good gawd... I can hear Robbie Burns rolling over in his grave!


----------



## vintagesnaps

We're supposed to see some flakes. Of course that doesn't necessarily mean the snowy kind.

Hello Kitty is Scottish??


----------



## table1349




----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> OK, I have to get a scarf made from this (kilts are too jammin' expensive): Tartan Details - The Scottish Register of Tartans
> 
> 
> 
> Good gawd... I can hear Robbie Burns rolling over in his grave!
Click to expand...


or saying something like this?

My blessin's upon thy sweet wee kittie! 
My blessin's upon thy e'e-brie! 
Thy smiles are sae like my blythe purrin' lassie, 
Thou's aye the dearer, and dearer to me! 

It's not a bad looking tartan better than a lot of them (cough - horseblanketmccloud - cough)

OK, I'll crawl back into my hole, now.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> We're supposed to see some flakes. Of course that doesn't necessarily mean the snowy kind.
> 
> Hello Kitty is Scottish??


No, Japanese.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're supposed to see some flakes. Of course that doesn't necessarily mean the snowy kind.
> 
> Hello Kitty is Scottish??
> 
> 
> 
> No, Japanese.
Click to expand...


There's a difference?


----------



## snowbear

Yes, Japan lies entirely east of the Greenwich Meridian.


----------



## snowbear

I have C, M, amd Y; I just need K.




 

Looks like I have a fingerprint on the phone lens


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> Yes, Japan lies entirely east of the Greenwich Meridian.



Well, I'm sure that Limr will back me up on this one...

Map.. or it didn't happen...

Lol


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, Japan lies entirely east of the Greenwich Meridian.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, I'm sure that Limr will back me up on this one...
> 
> Map.. or it didn't happen...
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...




 .


----------



## limr

Atta boy, Charlie!! 



snowbear said:


> Get better, Coop.
> 
> From the National Weather Service for Washington, DC and vicinity:
> 
> 
> 
> *Detailed Forecast*
> Saturday Night
> Rain and snow likely before 2am, then snow.  Blah, blah, blah.
> Sunday
> Snow before 8am, blah, blah, blah. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
Click to expand...


Might I remind y'all of what I told you about winter? About how she always has one last punch in her? Hmmmmmmm?


----------



## limr

Buzz and I needed a Maine fix, so we blasted up to the coast. Left at 5:30 this morning, had a great day stopping for pictures, having breakfast at a great 50s diner, poking in antique stores (I got a camera, natch! A Kodak Six-20 6x9 folder. Art Deco-licious!  ), having a nice dinner, and following that with a nice long walk along the ocean cliffs. We're leaving tomorrow.

I love a good Maine run 

(Yeah, I know the horizon is a bit crooked. It's a cell phone shot and when I try to edit in camera, it seems to save in a form that TPF won't upload, even though it says it recognizes a .png file.)


----------



## snowbear

Jealous.

Which light is this?


----------



## jcdeboever

Is that Nubble Light?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Indeed, it is Nubble! In a few days I'll hopefully have some better pictures of it from the K1000. I do have my SX-70 with me too, but it's my first pack of IP black and white. I have taken 4 shots so far (half the pack). I have one of the lighthouse that came out okay, but the second one was overexposed.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Indeed, it is Nubble! In a few days I'll hopefully have some better pictures of it from the K1000. I do have my SX-70 with me too, but it's my first pack of IP black and white. I have taken 4 shots so far (half the pack). I have one of the lighthouse that came out okay, but the second one was overexposed.


Neat. That's where my mother is from.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Indeed, it is Nubble! In a few days I'll hopefully have some better pictures of it from the K1000. I do have my SX-70 with me too, but it's my first pack of IP black and white. I have taken 4 shots so far (half the pack). I have one of the lighthouse that came out okay, but the second one was overexposed.
> 
> 
> 
> Neat. That's where my mother is from.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Oh nice! I love it here. I first visited Portland, just for an afternoon, about 12 years ago and really liked it. Then Buzz and I stayed for a week maybe 8-ish years ago and we both loved it. We've been back to Maine a bunch of times since then - most often in the Portland area (this is our second stay in Ogunquit) but last year we were up farther, near Acadia. I adore Maine and would consider moving here. Buzz loves it too, but he's more hesitant because he has more trouble with the thought of a Maine winter than I do.


----------



## limr

Here's the IP shot:

(IP film tends to be soft anyway, but it's not quite as soft as in this crappy cell phone shot of the print. There's also a touch more contrast than you see. Also, there's no reflection of my hand taking a picture in the actual print  )


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Indeed, it is Nubble! In a few days I'll hopefully have some better pictures of it from the K1000. I do have my SX-70 with me too, but it's my first pack of IP black and white. I have taken 4 shots so far (half the pack). I have one of the lighthouse that came out okay, but the second one was overexposed.
> 
> 
> 
> Neat. That's where my mother is from.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh nice! I love it here. I first visited Portland, just for an afternoon, about 12 years ago and really liked it. Then Buzz and I stayed for a week maybe 8-ish years ago and we both loved it. We've been back to Maine a bunch of times since then - most often in the Portland area (this is our second stay in Ogunquit) but last year we were up farther, near Acadia. I adore Maine and would consider moving here. Buzz loves it too, but he's more hesitant because he has more trouble with the thought of a Maine winter than I do.
Click to expand...

As a child (5) we went on vacation there. Things I recall.. 
Roads were hiily, lots of frogs, digging for clams and they spit at you, jellyfish, drawing boats on the harbor and my mom said I was fascinated by them, my aunt's nasty tasting perfume, lobster making noise as they were put in boiling pot, taste of saltwater, walking through maze in hoarder aunt's house, aunt's oil burning furnace looked looked like a monster, and getting beat by my father for taking aunt's antique radio apart.  

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Here's the IP shot:
> 
> (IP film tends to be soft anyway, but it's not quite as soft as in this crappy cell phone shot of the print. There's also a touch more contrast than you see. Also, there's no reflection of my hand taking a picture in the actual print  )
> 
> View attachment 118013


Perfect medium for a shot like that.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## beachrat

.[/QUOTE]
As a child (5) we went on vacation there. Things I recall..
Roads were hiily, lots of frogs, digging for clams and they spit at you, jellyfish, drawing boats on the harbor and my mom said I was fascinated by them, my aunt's nasty tasting perfume, lobster making noise as they were put in boiling pot, taste of saltwater, walking through maze in hoarder aunt's house, aunt's oil burning furnace looked looked like a monster, and getting beat by my father for taking aunt's antique radio apart.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

Piss clams,screaming lobsters,drinking perfume,and getting slapped around.
Welcome to the Northeast.
I bet you couldn't wait to come back.


----------



## jcdeboever

beachrat said:


> .


As a child (5) we went on vacation there. Things I recall..
Roads were hiily, lots of frogs, digging for clams and they spit at you, jellyfish, drawing boats on the harbor and my mom said I was fascinated by them, my aunt's nasty tasting perfume, lobster making noise as they were put in boiling pot, taste of saltwater, walking through maze in hoarder aunt's house, aunt's oil burning furnace looked looked like a monster, and getting beat by my father for taking aunt's antique radio apart.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

Piss clams,screaming lobsters,drinking perfume,and getting slapped around.
Welcome to the Northeast.
I bet you couldn't wait to come back.[/QUOTE]
I loved it

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## beachrat

Of course you loved it.
How could you not?


----------



## robbins.photo

Doesn't matter, If the horizons a bit wonky or if it was hard to upload, it's Maine..

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349




----------



## snowbear

Climbing cat + Kindle = "oops"

A few nights ago, Zoe decided to investigate a heavy glass vase on my dresser.  She knocked it over.  It didn't break but on the way down, it smacked my Kindle (older 3G).  Now the screen is wonky - partial sleep image shows and only one line of text along the bottom.

I found an entry that , when the battery completely discharges, it should reset the screen.  I had charged it just prior to the bombardment.  Dammm these batteries take a _long_ time to wear down.


----------



## terri

robbins.photo said:


> Doesn't matter, If the horizons a bit wonky or if it was hard to upload, it's Maine..
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


Agreed.   Maine is gorgeous!    Many moons ago, I spent a good part of the summer going back & forth helping my BFF at the time making final preparations for a huuuge wedding on the groom's family's private island.   (um, yep - it was like that.)        We drove all over the place and I was shell-shocked with the beauty, the smell of the air, just the whole feeling of it all.    

I'd like to think I could live there, too - but having moved from Michigan to escape the winters, dunno if I'd be kicking myself for getting right back in that scenario.


----------



## table1349

Yep, got to love Maine...............................................................................




..........................................for the three weeks of the year that it's warm.


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> Yep, got to love Maine...............................................................................


At least they plow, there.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep, got to love Maine...............................................................................
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At least they plow, there.
Click to expand...

Well DUHHHHH.....

Everybody has to have a hobby, and their's is virtually a year round hobby.   Ever wonder why Maine lobster is so expensive.  It's not that it is rare, it's because there are only a handful of days they trap lobsters before their boats get trapped in the ice.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> Climbing cat + Kindle = "oops"
> 
> A few nights ago, Zoe decided to investigate a heavy glass vase on my dresser.  She knocked it over.  It didn't break but on the way down, it smacked my Kindle (older 3G).  Now the screen is wonky - partial sleep image shows and only one line of text along the bottom.
> 
> I found an entry that , when the battery completely discharges, it should reset the screen.  I had charged it just prior to the bombardment.  Dammm these batteries take a _long_ time to wear down.


Que up a movie or two.  That will drain them quick enough

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Climbing cat + Kindle = "oops"
> 
> A few nights ago, Zoe decided to investigate a heavy glass vase on my dresser.  She knocked it over.  It didn't break but on the way down, it smacked my Kindle (older 3G).  Now the screen is wonky - partial sleep image shows and only one line of text along the bottom.
> 
> I found an entry that , when the battery completely discharges, it should reset the screen.  I had charged it just prior to the bombardment.  Dammm these batteries take a _long_ time to wear down.
> 
> 
> 
> Que up a movie or two.  That will drain them quick enough
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Only one line of text at bottom of the screen - can't see what I'm doing.  I just keep hitting next and back buttons to keep it from going to sleep.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Climbing cat + Kindle = "oops"
> 
> A few nights ago, Zoe decided to investigate a heavy glass vase on my dresser.  She knocked it over.  It didn't break but on the way down, it smacked my Kindle (older 3G).  Now the screen is wonky - partial sleep image shows and only one line of text along the bottom.
> 
> I found an entry that , when the battery completely discharges, it should reset the screen.  I had charged it just prior to the bombardment.  Dammm these batteries take a _long_ time to wear down.
> 
> 
> 
> Que up a movie or two.  That will drain them quick enough
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Only one line of text at bottom of the screen - can't see what I'm doing.  I just keep hitting next and back buttons to keep it from going to sleep.
Click to expand...

*Ashaway Line & Twine Mfg. Co.    *
24 Laurel St.
Ashaway RI 02804

They make marvelous racquet strings........here kitty, kitty, kitty.  Get in the nice box.


----------



## snowbear

No chance.  I'll give up the kid before I give up the kitty.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> No chance.  I'll give up the kid before I give up the kitty.


I don't think the International Tennis Federation allows kid gut strung rackets.  If they do just think about the new saying that will come out of mothers mouths.  "If you don't clean your room right now I'm going to turn you into a tennis racket."


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> No chance.  I'll give up the kid before I give up the kitty.
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think the International Tennis Federation allows kid gut strung rackets.  If they do just think about the new saying that will come out of mothers mouths.  "If you don't clean your room right now I'm going to turn you into a tennis racket."
Click to expand...

There's an international tennis federation?  Huh.  Really?

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Welcome to Brandywine,  MD.


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> No chance.  I'll give up the kid before I give up the kitty.
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think the International Tennis Federation allows kid gut strung rackets.  If they do just think about the new saying that will come out of mothers mouths.  "If you don't clean your room right now I'm going to turn you into a tennis racket."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There's an international tennis federation?  Huh.  Really?
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

http://m.itftennis.com/tournaments.aspx

Hell they have federations for everything.  They probably  have a federation for federations.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Doesn't matter, If the horizons a bit wonky or if it was hard to upload, it's Maine..
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed.   Maine is gorgeous!    Many moons ago, I spent a good part of the summer going back & forth helping my BFF at the time making final preparations for a huuuge wedding on the groom's family's private island.   (um, yep - it was like that.)        We drove all over the place and I was shell-shocked with the beauty, the smell of the air, just the whole feeling of it all.
> 
> I'd like to think I could live there, too - but having moved from Michigan to escape the winters, dunno if I'd be kicking myself for getting right back in that scenario.
Click to expand...


I'm a winter-lovin' girl  I'd live farther north if I could.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Doesn't matter, If the horizons a bit wonky or if it was hard to upload, it's Maine..
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed.   Maine is gorgeous!    Many moons ago, I spent a good part of the summer going back & forth helping my BFF at the time making final preparations for a huuuge wedding on the groom's family's private island.   (um, yep - it was like that.)        We drove all over the place and I was shell-shocked with the beauty, the smell of the air, just the whole feeling of it all.
> 
> I'd like to think I could live there, too - but having moved from Michigan to escape the winters, dunno if I'd be kicking myself for getting right back in that scenario.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm a winter-lovin' girl  I'd live farther north if I could.
Click to expand...

These would help keep you warm.





If I were you I would opt for the drop seat version for convenience.


----------



## jcdeboever

Here's her boyfriends





Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> These would help keep you warm.



Oh come now, pay attention!! Do you not know me at all?? 

CAT.ONESIE.






And yes, I do own it and it is quite warm and cozy.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> These would help keep you warm.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh come now, pay attention!! Do you not know me at all??
> 
> CAT.ONESIE.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And yes, I do own it and it is quite warm and cozy.
Click to expand...

 Sorry I figured you wore something more like this.


----------



## jcdeboever

Boyfriends
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

Lenny's,





Their matching outfits.





When boyfriend has been bad!


----------



## table1349

Lenny's probably gonna yell at me again.


----------



## jcdeboever

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


 What is she wearing this at the time?


----------



## limr

Okay, that's about enough with the dominatrix outfits.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Okay, that's about enough with the dominatrix outfits.


 Oh sure a while back you like this video I posted it for you. 





 And now you're complaining about little dominatrix outfit?


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, that's about enough with the dominatrix outfits.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh sure a while back you like this video I posted it for you.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And now you're complaining about little dominatrix outfit?
Click to expand...


Yes.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, that's about enough with the dominatrix outfits.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh sure a while back you like this video I posted it for you.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And now you're complaining about little dominatrix outfit?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes.
Click to expand...

 If somebody reading this over your shoulder?


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, that's about enough with the dominatrix outfits.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh sure a while back you like this video I posted it for you.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And now you're complaining about little dominatrix outfit?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If somebody reading this over your shoulder?
Click to expand...


No, it's just me saying enough is enough. Is it really that hard to understand? It's done. The horse is dead. Move on.


----------



## snowbear

Something new and different, this morning:


----------



## snowbear

Two more from the organic coop place (Bear's Honeypot):



20160320_131112.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## limr

Mmmm. Having some extra coffee this afternoon, as a matter of fact. Dealing with a tiny bit of a headache and the prospect of going back to teaching tomorrow after Spring Break


----------



## snowbear

I know what you mean; I was off all week and have to trudge back, tomorrow.  I miss Spring Breaks.


----------



## terri

Poor Lenny.  End of Spring Break =  

I usually buy my coffee beans through the American Birding Association - they support growers who use "shade grown" coffee techniques, so the migrating songbirds haven't lost their winter habitat.   So, it's win-win!     

It's not the cheapest, but they do sell a delicious French roast.


----------



## snowbear

Wow!  Best Buy is carrying Nano-coated Nikkors, including two of the holy trinity (24-70 and 70-200).


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> Wow!  Best Buy is carrying Nano-coated Nikkors, including two of the holy trinity (24-70 and 70-200).


nice.
now if i could find something worth shooting for subject...


----------



## bribrius

i actually was out shooting bw film the other day with a junk camera and lens im in a mood i want a subject worth shooting.


----------



## snowbear

So buy the 24-70, the 70-200 and the 400/2.8, mount each on the camera in turn, and take shots of the other two lenses.  That'll give you six shots, 18 (half a roll) if you pull three-shot bracketing.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> So buy the 24-70, the 70-200 and the 400/2.8, mount each on the camera in turn, and take shots of the other two lenses.  That'll give you six shots, 18 (half a roll) if you pull three-shot bracketing.


how is that worth shooting


----------



## snowbear

Well, I'm not going to tell you.  You'll have to figure it out on your own.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy Hosers. Just a little update. Been trying all sorts of things to get this to stop hurting so much, but I'm still absolutely miserable. That being said, things have improved greatly, but I cried as I had my butter sandwich (microwaved for extra softness) today. Yes, butter sandwich.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Didn't you say you had strep? If it isn't getting better you might need to go back and get checked out, I used to get it and usually would need a shot of penicillin. And antibiotics. Not an illness to mess with. Hope you feel better.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Didn't you say you had strep? If it isn't getting better you might need to go back and get checked out, I used to get it and usually would need a shot of penicillin. And antibiotics. Not an illness to mess with. Hope you feel better.


Zpack don't do anything for me, if that's what they wrote you for. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

It has been getting better. It's just still too painful to eat. They wrote me for Amoxicillin. It's working, but this stuff takes time. I am, however, losing weight. lol


----------



## table1349

Have you tried throat sprays that contain topical anesthetics?  You can get some OTC.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Got the Monday blues.


----------



## oldhippy




----------



## tirediron

Every f***ing day!


----------



## limr

oldhippy said:


> View attachment 118102



The question for me is "Do you ever wake up and *NOT *think, 'No, I'm not ready for this sh*t."


----------



## terri

limr said:


> oldhippy said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 118102
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The question for me is "Do you ever wake up and *NOT *think, 'No, I'm not ready for this sh*t."
Click to expand...

Silly girl.   More to the point, you should be wondering if all the sh*t is ready for YOU!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> oldhippy said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 118102
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The question for me is "Do you ever wake up and *NOT *think, 'No, I'm not ready for this sh*t."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Silly girl.   More to the point, you should be wondering if all the sh*t is ready for YOU!
Click to expand...


That would be more fun, wouldn't it?


----------



## terri

Oh yes.


----------



## jcdeboever

I was laying my bud down to rest and I caught his cousin trying to break into my truck along the path to his graveside. Geez, I am challenged by people. I popped him twice in his left orbital socket and the police were thanking me in the end. They were in attendance. What is a matter with people!


----------



## bribrius

crack heads. LOts and Lots of crack heads.


----------



## bribrius

so bored i brought the ipad out shooting. Yes really. I could post some but i think i deleted them all. You know the zoom in that sucks? NOthing comes out in focus you just see pixels on full zoom .


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> I was laying my bud down to rest and I caught his cousin trying to break into my truck along the path to his graveside. Geez, I am challenged by people. I popped him twice in his left orbital socket and the police were thanking me in the end. They were in attendance. What is a matter with people!



What in the what???


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was laying my bud down to rest and I caught his cousin trying to break into my truck along the path to his graveside. Geez, I am challenged by people. I popped him twice in his left orbital socket and the police were thanking me in the end. They were in attendance. What is a matter with people!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What in the what???
Click to expand...

No fooling, idiot had a slim jim in my window. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

You mean a relative of your friend who just passed away was breaking into your truck? on the way to the funeral or burial?? (at least I'm assuming that's what you mean) What in the world kind of a loser would do that.

Sorry about your loss of a friend.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> You mean a relative of your friend who just passed away was breaking into your truck? on the way to the funeral or burial?? (at least I'm assuming that's what you mean) What in the world kind of a loser would do that.
> 
> Sorry about your loss of a friend.


At the cemetery! Unreal. I went back to my truck to grab some Kleenex for people crying. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> You mean a relative of your friend who just passed away was breaking into your truck? on the way to the funeral or burial?? (at least I'm assuming that's what you mean) What in the world kind of a loser would do that.
> 
> Sorry about your loss of a friend.
> 
> 
> 
> At the cemetery! Unreal. I went back to my truck to grab some Kleenex for people crying.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Umm... wow!


----------



## jcdeboever

Yup. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> You mean a relative of your friend who just passed away was breaking into your truck? on the way to the funeral or burial?? (at least I'm assuming that's what you mean) What in the world kind of a loser would do that.
> 
> Sorry about your loss of a friend.
> 
> 
> 
> At the cemetery! Unreal. I went back to my truck to grab some Kleenex for people crying.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Welcome to Michigan.

Father in law was a trucker.  Went into some pretty seedy bars and if questioned by less-than-honorable characters, he always told them he was from Detroit.  They left him alone.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

Came across this the other day - apparently my wife feels she's not having enough caffeine ...


----------



## Didereaux

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> Came across this the other day - apparently my wife feels she's not having enough caffeine ...
> 
> 
> View attachment 118161



Used to love Mate'...the old ticker can't handle it anymore.   ;(


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> No fooling, idiot had a slim jim in my window.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



He was trying to break into your truck using a meat snack?  Gutsy.  Lol


----------



## robbins.photo

Well, looks like I'm finally going to be taking the plunge and buying full frame.  Have my eye on a D600, pretty much convinced myself to buy it.  Pretty much.. lol


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> Well, looks like I'm finally going to be taking the plunge and buying full frame.  Have my eye on a D600, pretty much convinced myself to buy it.  Pretty much.. lol


 I'm guessing that took a lot of arm-twisting!


----------



## minicoop1985

Go for it, Robbins!

I dunno wtf is up, but the more of that Codeine cough syrup I take, the more loopy I feel. Usually, it's the other way around: start off loopy and it stops doing it after 2-3 doses, but I've been noticing it's been making me all kinds of loopy lately. Weird.

In other news, my throat is now OK enough to eat something. My god was I starving. Still burns like hell when I try to stuff my face, but we're at a point where water works to flush it out and reduce the pain so I can continue eating.


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, looks like I'm finally going to be taking the plunge and buying full frame.  Have my eye on a D600, pretty much convinced myself to buy it.  Pretty much.. lol
> 
> 
> 
> I'm guessing that took a lot of arm-twisting!
Click to expand...


I've been sort of mulling it over for quite a while, the one I'm buying has had the shutter replaced recently by Nikon under their recall so it pretty much has the 610 shutter in it.  Figured I just couldn't pass it up.  Will also be nice to maybe be able to shoot indoors without needing that monster 2.8 lens.. man that thing ways a ton.. and a half.. lol


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Go for it, Robbins!
> 
> I dunno wtf is up, but the more of that Codeine cough syrup I take, the more loopy I feel. Usually, it's the other way around: start off loopy and it stops doing it after 2-3 doses, but I've been noticing it's been making me all kinds of loopy lately. Weird.
> 
> In other news, my throat is now OK enough to eat something. My god was I starving. Still burns like hell when I try to stuff my face, but we're at a point where water works to flush it out and reduce the pain so I can continue eating.



Glad to hear your feeling at least a bit better.


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> Well, looks like I'm finally going to be taking the plunge and buying full frame.  Have my eye on a D600, pretty much convinced myself to buy it.  Pretty much.. lol



This my full frame camera




Well, one of them.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, looks like I'm finally going to be taking the plunge and buying full frame.  Have my eye on a D600, pretty much convinced myself to buy it.  Pretty much.. lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This my full frame camera
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, one of them.
Click to expand...

Lol.  That should be worth a few extra Limr bonus points.  But I think the d600 is probably more up my alley

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## pixmedic

further proof that I am my own worst patient....
sore throat and a cough today.
took some OTC cough syrup.


then realized i hadn't grabbed the Walgreen's bottle, but instead got the bottle of codeine cough medicine leftover from my wifes sore throat a few weeks ago. wouldn't be so bad except the normal dose for the OTC syrup is _*5 times*_ the dosage of the codeine syrup.

I was better off with the sore throat...


----------



## terri

pixmedic said:


> further proof that I am my own worst patient....
> sore throat and a cough today.
> took some OTC cough syrup.
> 
> 
> then realized i hadn't grabbed the Walgreen's bottle, but instead got the bottle of codeine cough medicine leftover from my wifes sore throat a few weeks ago. wouldn't be so bad except the normal dose for the OTC syrup is _*5 times*_ the dosage of the codeine syrup.
> 
> I was better off with the sore throat...


oops!    

Well, party till you puke, bay-bay!   That's how you gotta roll sometimes.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, looks like I'm finally going to be taking the plunge and buying full frame.  Have my eye on a D600, pretty much convinced myself to buy it.  Pretty much.. lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This my full frame camera
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, one of them.
Click to expand...

you came to maine too? And you didnt stop and visit? Looking through your flikr could you point me to some photos the camera above shot?


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, picture people. Been an actually decent morning so far... Kid let me sleep in, throat's not too sore... It's a good start.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, picture people. Been an actually decent morning so far... Kid let me sleep in, throat's not too sore... It's a good start.



Coop!  Your alive!

Last we heard it was going something like this:






Glad your still on this side of the dirt.  Lol


----------



## limr

Afternoon, hosers!

Speaking of interesting noises, I am being treated to the rare but genuine pleasure of working right around the corner from an EMS class who is trying to save a dummy that has been making vomiting and screaming noises intermittently for the past hour.

Good times, man. Good times.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Afternoon, hosers!
> 
> Speaking of interesting noises, I am being treated to the rare but genuine pleasure of working right around the corner from an EMS class who is trying to save a dummy that has been making vomiting and screaming noises intermittently for the past hour.
> 
> Good times, man. Good times.



Sounds a lot like our last family reunion.  That was... hmm.. 12 years ago.  Strange, we haven't really gotten together since.  Everyone always seems to have other plans.. lol


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> you came to maine too? And you didnt stop and visit?


Yes, in 2007.  Since you weren't on TPF until 2014 . . .



bribrius said:


> Looking through your flikr could you point me to some photos the camera above shot?


There are none on Flickr taken with that particular camera; yet.  In most cases, the camera used in in the image title.


----------



## limr

Well, this is my brand-new (to me) full (6x9) frame camera, bought for a WHOPPING $35:


----------



## KenC

Great find.  Can you get film for it, and if so, do you need to cut it from larger sheets?

At worst, it's a great prop for photos.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Great find.  Can you get film for it, and if so, do you need to cut it from larger sheets?
> 
> At worst, it's a great prop for photos.



It takes 620 and comes with a spool, so it's just a matter of shaving the end caps of a roll of 120 so that it fits into the chamber, and I'm good to go. Worst case scenario is that I have to respool it. So yeah, I'm totally going to be shooting with this puppy! 

And it's a good thing, too, because it'll take the sting off of having to return my Contaflex to KEH  Turns out there is a shutter issue and they can't repair it because they don't have the parts. It's also a fairly complex shutter arrangement so Buzz isn't sure he's quite up to the repair job himself. It's an oddball two-stage shutter and basically what is happening is that it opens and closes, the mirror flips up, and then the shutter opens and closes again. Except in mine, it's not closing fast enough the first time, so it opens, the mirror flips up and the shutter is still open for half a second, and then it closes again and opens the second time for the exposure. So I end up with totally blown out frames, and the ones that do sort of come out are all blurry and weird. I suppose it could make for some funky abstractions but really, I'd rather just have a working camera.

So back to KEH it goes  I'll have to wait a little bit longer I guess to find myself some more affordable Zeiss glass.


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> Well, this is my brand-new (to me) full (6x9) frame camera, bought for a WHOPPING $35:
> 
> View attachment 118235


cool. cant wait to see what comes of it.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Well, this is my brand-new (to me) full (6x9) frame camera, bought for a WHOPPING $35:
> 
> View attachment 118235



And technically that would be mirrorless, would it not?


----------



## minicoop1985

Full frame digital... pfft. Someone go get a 4x5 and a scanning digital back lol

Anyway, mornin, hosers. Kid let me sleep in today. No sore throat at all this morning, either. Yay! 

Sold off my Nikon FM. Paid $5, sold for $100. 20x profit works for me, but I really need the money for a trip next week. Never got the chance to use it. Meter quit on it while I had it too. Boo.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Full frame digital... pfft. Someone go get a 4x5 and a scanning digital back lol



Ok, took me forever to convince myself I should upgrade to a D600, and your not helping.  Lol



> Anyway, mornin, hosers. Kid let me sleep in today. No sore throat at all this morning, either. Yay!
> 
> Sold off my Nikon FM. Paid $5, sold for $100. 20x profit works for me, but I really need the money for a trip next week. Never got the chance to use it. Meter quit on it while I had it too. Boo.



Glad to hear your feeling better, and that at least one guy who's never heard of PT Barnum lives in your neighborhood.  Congrats on both counts.. lol


----------



## bribrius

shooting the f100 quite a bit i think im growing out of full manual cameras (or at least using them as much). OR it could just be that the f100 has a larger cleaner viewfinder than my others too look through.


----------



## bribrius

shot through the t4 the other day could barely see through the view finder so hazed and full of crud, dark, etc...


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Great find.  Can you get film for it, and if so, do you need to cut it from larger sheets?
> 
> At worst, it's a great prop for photos.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It takes 620 and comes with a spool, so it's just a matter of shaving the end caps of a roll of 120 so that it fits into the chamber, and I'm good to go. Worst case scenario is that I have to respool it. So yeah, I'm totally going to be shooting with this puppy!
> 
> And it's a good thing, too, because it'll take the sting off of having to return my Contaflex to KEH  Turns out there is a shutter issue and they can't repair it because they don't have the parts. It's also a fairly complex shutter arrangement so Buzz isn't sure he's quite up to the repair job himself. It's an oddball two-stage shutter and basically what is happening is that it opens and closes, the mirror flips up, and then the shutter opens and closes again. Except in mine, it's not closing fast enough the first time, so it opens, the mirror flips up and the shutter is still open for half a second, and then it closes again and opens the second time for the exposure. So I end up with totally blown out frames, and the ones that do sort of come out are all blurry and weird. I suppose it could make for some funky abstractions but really, I'd rather just have a working camera.
> 
> So back to KEH it goes  I'll have to wait a little bit longer I guess to find myself some more affordable Zeiss glass.
Click to expand...

Affordable Zeiss glass, you say... What about a Rolleicord? IIRC some had Tessars.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, this is my brand-new (to me) full (6x9) frame camera, bought for a WHOPPING $35:
> 
> View attachment 118235
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And technically that would be mirrorless, would it not?
Click to expand...


Indeed it is! 



minicoop1985 said:


> Affordable Zeiss glass, you say... What about a Rolleicord? IIRC some had Tessars.



I'm thinking of taking my refund money and just putting it directly into something else. I'll have to do some poking around to decide if I want another TLR or if I want a lens for an existing camera body that I already have.


----------



## minicoop1985

Hmm. I'm trying to think of other affordable Zeiss cameras. There's the old folders, of course. I had one that shot 120. Don't think the lens was coated, but it was a Tessar. If you're shooting mainly B&W, then the coatings don't really matter much anyway, IIRC.


limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, this is my brand-new (to me) full (6x9) frame camera, bought for a WHOPPING $35:
> 
> View attachment 118235
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And technically that would be mirrorless, would it not?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Indeed it is!
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Affordable Zeiss glass, you say... What about a Rolleicord? IIRC some had Tessars.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm thinking of taking my refund money and just putting it directly into something else. I'll have to do some poking around to decide if I want another TLR or if I want a lens for an existing camera body that I already have.
Click to expand...


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, this is my brand-new (to me) full (6x9) frame camera, bought for a WHOPPING $35:
> 
> View attachment 118235
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And technically that would be mirrorless, would it not?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Indeed it is!
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Affordable Zeiss glass, you say... What about a Rolleicord? IIRC some had Tessars.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm thinking of taking my refund money and just putting it directly into something else. I'll have to do some poking around to decide if I want another TLR or if I want a lens for an existing camera body that I already have.
Click to expand...

OOOH I KNOW!!! Get a Rollei 35! The Singapore made ones with Sonnars aren't that bad from what I remember. Great lenses, quirky little cameras.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> OOOH I KNOW!!! Get a Rollei 35! The Singapore made ones with Sonnars aren't that bad from what I remember. Great lenses, quirky little cameras.



Have one. Rollei 35S. In black.




rs Reflection by limrodrigues, on Flickr




Footsteps by limrodrigues, on Flickr




rs 100 years by limrodrigues, on Flickr




rFluffy flowers by limrodrigues, on Flickr




The bridge v3r by limrodrigues, on Flickr




rBarn by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## minicoop1985

I tried lol


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> I tried lol



I'm stealing that for my tombstone.. lol


----------



## limr

At work on a Thursday afternoon, sitting in a patch of late afternoon sun...


----------



## robbins.photo

Well, it's a done deal.  Just closed the deal on a D600.  Digital.  Full Frame.  Ya, I know.. pffft.

Lol


----------



## bribrius

robbins.photo said:


> Well, it's a done deal.  Just closed the deal on a D600.  Digital.  Full Frame.  Ya, I know.. pffft.
> 
> Lol


congrats


----------



## robbins.photo

bribrius said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, it's a done deal.  Just closed the deal on a D600.  Digital.  Full Frame.  Ya, I know.. pffft.
> 
> Lol
> 
> 
> 
> congrats
Click to expand...


Thanks.  Been thinking about this for a while, finally found a deal I just couldn't pass up.


----------



## jcdeboever

Well, I just got my results from sleep study and I average 22 minutes of restful sleep (REM) per night. 6 sessions, no more than 45 minutes in one night. He said I have a serious problem and needs extensive testing. Ummm, I can't sleep sherlock... really? Of course, Obama care insurance don't cover it, no surprise there. So, I guess I just keep going as I was, unless I want to spend 75K dollars to figure out what's going on.


----------



## minicoop1985

Welcome to the world of large sensors. Oh, wait, that's right... 

Sorry, I've been waiting too long for this moment.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Welcome to the world of large sensors. Oh, wait, that's right...
> 
> Sorry, I've been waiting too long for this moment.



Rotfl... I hear you.  Been really wanting to for the longest time, but trying to justify spending that much on a camera when I don't shoot professionally was really tough.  Finally ran across just the right deal on a used D600, the guy sent it in and had the shutter replaced even though it hadn't given him any issues before, but he figured since it was free why not.  It's got about 500 shots on the new shutter, and I paid less for it than I did for my D7100 when I purchased it.  Not sure what the fate of the 7100 will be just yet, whether I'll keep it as a backup or resell it, most likely it will get resold.  I'm guessing I'll probably be looking at financing a new lens or two in the near future.


----------



## bribrius

jcdeboever said:


> Well, I just got my results from sleep study and I average 22 minutes of restful sleep (REM) per night. 6 sessions, no more than 45 minutes in one night. He said I have a serious problem and needs extensive testing. Ummm, I can't sleep sherlock... really? Of course, Obama care insurance don't cover it, no surprise there. So, I guess I just keep going as I was, unless I want to spend 75K dollars to figure out what's going on.


or drink a couple beers before bed have sex and take melatonin


----------



## jcdeboever

bribrius said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, I just got my results from sleep study and I average 22 minutes of restful sleep (REM) per night. 6 sessions, no more than 45 minutes in one night. He said I have a serious problem and needs extensive testing. Ummm, I can't sleep sherlock... really? Of course, Obama care insurance don't cover it, no surprise there. So, I guess I just keep going as I was, unless I want to spend 75K dollars to figure out what's going on.
> 
> 
> 
> or drink a couple beers before bed have sex and take melatonin
Click to expand...


Tried that.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## EIngerson

I DO NOT enjoy shooting teen age sports teams. 



………..at all…….


----------



## bribrius

i  totally need to stop post processing chit randomly when im bored they always end up worse


----------



## robbins.photo

EIngerson said:


> I DO NOT enjoy shooting teen age sports teams.
> 
> 
> 
> ………..at all…….



I've found it quite enjoyable.  I prefer 7.62 mm of course, and fortunately they mostly move fairly slow and in predictable patterns at least until the first few rounds and then they begin to scatter....

Oh, wait, you meant with a camera?  Then..umm..no, not really.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Well, I just got my results from sleep study and I average 22 minutes of restful sleep (REM) per night. 6 sessions, no more than 45 minutes in one night. He said I have a serious problem and needs extensive testing. Ummm, I can't sleep sherlock... really? Of course, Obama care insurance don't cover it, no surprise there. So, I guess I just keep going as I was, unless I want to spend 75K dollars to figure out what's going on.



Have you heard of trying magnesium supplements? I have had sleep issues as well because I have restless leg syndrome. The magnesium helps calm the muscles and I definitely sleep a lot better with magnesium. It's also indicated for pain management and mood. It's also hard to get enough from food, so many people are magnesium deficient without even knowing. If you're interested, let me know and I'll pass on all my research. There are many kinds of magnesium compounds that work on slightly different issues depending on what the magnesium is chelated with. What you don't want to do is take magnesium oxide, which of course is the easiest to find. It has an abysmal absorption rate and it is more likely to cause stomach issues (they all do to varying degrees, but it's manageable).


----------



## EIngerson

robbins.photo said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> I DO NOT enjoy shooting teen age sports teams.
> 
> 
> 
> ………..at all…….
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've found it quite enjoyable.  I prefer 7.62 mm of course, and fortunately they mostly move fairly slow and in predictable patterns at least until the first few rounds and then they begin to scatter....
> 
> Oh, wait, you meant with a camera?  Then..umm..no, not really.
Click to expand...



No no, you were right.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's a good thing some of you people didn't become teachers! lol I used to teach jr. high. They come up with more interesting excuses and tall tales and try more creative stunts, more than once I had to go out in the hallway for a minute so I didn't bust out laughing at some story or other.

Of course after that I ended up by a fluke of fate working with babies and toddlers with developmental delays. Quite a switch! but I've worked with just about all ages, if not teaching school, in rec programs.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> It's a good thing some of you people didn't become teachers! lol I used to teach jr. high. They come up with more interesting excuses and tall tales and try more creative stunts, more than once I had to go out in the hallway for a minute so I didn't bust out laughing at some story or other.
> 
> Of course after that I ended up by a fluke of fate working with babies and toddlers with developmental delays. Quite a switch! but I've worked with just about all ages, if not teaching school, in rec programs.


I tried to become a teacher but my state makes you pass some silly test first and I guess I got too many wrong.  They were very tricky questions too.  For example, when they ask you " have you ever been convicted of a felony" the correct answer isn't "not while using this alias".



Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.







My Kodak folder is loaded with TriX so hopefully I'll have something good to show from it in a couple of days. I am quite excited! 

Ugh, don't become teachers, people! Not because you all would suck at it (though some of you might  ) but because teaching is a vampire and it will bleed you dry.


----------



## minicoop1985

Whew, TGIF, yo. Wife works tomorrow, then off until a week from Monday. Kid's on spring break. Going to Minneapolis for some reason. Not sure why yet, but we'll see.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Ugh, don't become teachers, people! Not because you all would suck at it (though some of you might  ) but because teaching is a vampire and it will bleed you dry.



Nope, pretty sure I'd suck at it.. lol


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Going to Minneapolis for some reason. Not sure why yet, but we'll see.



The biannual why the hell did we drive to Minneapolis trip?  Oh sure, everybody does that.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Why the h is right! lol Our local college hockey team has to go up there now since league changes and I know the guy that does their radio - he hates the travel up there. Of course they do have a giant hockey stick outdoors so there is that.

Speaking of, the regionals start today and ESPN's various channels are providing me with hockey all day, all night. Three games back to back, what could be better?!!


----------



## pixmedic

Golden Rule time!


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Wife works 12 today, so there's not much going on, really. I wanna do something, but money says nope.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Wife works 12 today, so there's not much going on, really. I wanna do something, but money says nope.


At the zoo myself, cold raining drizzle, very little ambient light to work with, very gray and overcast.  Naturally the full frame doesn't get here till next week and the 70-200 was loaned to a friend.

So it's shoot everything at iso 6400 day I guess.. lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mornin, hosers. Wife works 12 today, so there's not much going on, really. I wanna do something, but money says nope.
> 
> 
> 
> At the zoo myself, cold raining drizzle, very little ambient light to work with, very gray and overcast.  Naturally the full frame doesn't get here till next week and the 70-200 was loaned to a friend.
> 
> So it's shoot everything at iso 6400 day I guess.. lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...



I remember doing that on my 7D. The results were useless. 6400 was just soi damned noisy... Not that the 5D2 is much better, but hey.


----------



## robbins.photo

I can make 6400 work on the 7100, but it's a pain.  Have to up the ec and do a lot more crap in post than normal.  Lol.  Oh well, such be life sometimes

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

Count your blessings.  My mother has alsheimers, early stages.  She's 86 and we recently moved her into a very nice assisted living apartment.  The facility has full blown memory care as well for the future.

The wife & I are at moms house, going through 50 years of collected stuff this weekend so we can have an estate sale later this spring and then get the house on the market.  We have a full week planed to work up here in a couple weeks.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I have a cold. Or something. Was just sniffly and drippy all week and I spoke too soon when I said I was keeping it at bay. Soup and hockey on TV today.

Speaking of, why did mostly the teams I love to hate all win yesterday? LOL Except Duluth's moving on, they were about the only upset. And in the arena where they played, the ice looked magenta at the ends and white w/a bluish cast in the middle - must be some weirdo lighting in that place wreaking havoc with the cameras.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> I have a cold. Or something. Was just sniffly and drippy all week and I spoke too soon when I said I was keeping it at bay. Soup and hockey on TV today.
> 
> Speaking of, why did mostly the teams I love to hate all win yesterday? LOL Except Duluth's moving on, they were about the only upset. And in the arena where they played, the ice looked magenta at the ends and white w/a bluish cast in the middle - must be some weirdo lighting in that place wreaking havoc with the cameras.


UofM won!


Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Like I said, the teams I love to hate! lol 6:00 v. NoDak, that's a toss up.


----------



## b_twill

Good Afternoon!

Wife is putting in hours 43-51 at work today.  This leaves me to fend for myself, which is a very dangerous thing (for the wallet)!  Oil change at the Subaru dealership, found a really nice WRX that I could be happy with, 2.0L turbo, 6 speed manual.  Think Subaru will pick up the tab for the first speeding ticket?  
After the $70 oil change (OUCH!) it was off to the bike shop to check out their Trek Fest deals.  I'm sure the wife wouldn't mind me spending $2500 for a new bike (but it's on sale! ).  I mean, what else would we do with the extra cash from her OT???


----------



## robbins.photo

b_twill said:


> Good Afternoon!
> 
> Wife is putting in hours 43-51 at work today.  This leaves me to fend for myself, which is a very dangerous thing (for the wallet)!  Oil change at the Subaru dealership, found a really nice WRX that I could be happy with, 2.0L turbo, 6 speed manual.  Think Subaru will pick up the tab for the first speeding ticket?
> After the $70 oil change (OUCH!) it was off to the bike shop to check out their Trek Fest deals.  I'm sure the wife wouldn't mind me spending $2500 for a new bike (but it's on sale! ).  I mean, what else would we do with the extra cash from her OT???


$70?  For an oil change?  Was the guy that brought the oil out wearing a tux with a towel over his arm?  Yikes

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> b_twill said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good Afternoon!
> 
> Wife is putting in hours 43-51 at work today.  This leaves me to fend for myself, which is a very dangerous thing (for the wallet)!  Oil change at the Subaru dealership, found a really nice WRX that I could be happy with, 2.0L turbo, 6 speed manual.  Think Subaru will pick up the tab for the first speeding ticket?
> After the $70 oil change (OUCH!) it was off to the bike shop to check out their Trek Fest deals.  I'm sure the wife wouldn't mind me spending $2500 for a new bike (but it's on sale! ).  I mean, what else would we do with the extra cash from her OT???
> 
> 
> 
> $70?  For an oil change?  Was the guy that brought the oil out wearing a tux with a towel over his arm?  Yikes
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Typical dealer

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## b_twill

jcdeboever said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> b_twill said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good Afternoon!
> 
> Wife is putting in hours 43-51 at work today.  This leaves me to fend for myself, which is a very dangerous thing (for the wallet)!  Oil change at the Subaru dealership, found a really nice WRX that I could be happy with, 2.0L turbo, 6 speed manual.  Think Subaru will pick up the tab for the first speeding ticket?
> After the $70 oil change (OUCH!) it was off to the bike shop to check out their Trek Fest deals.  I'm sure the wife wouldn't mind me spending $2500 for a new bike (but it's on sale! ).  I mean, what else would we do with the extra cash from her OT???
> 
> 
> 
> $70?  For an oil change?  Was the guy that brought the oil out wearing a tux with a towel over his arm?  Yikes
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Typical dealer
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


$50 for the oil change, $20 for tire rotation...but they have free cookies in the waiting area!


----------



## robbins.photo

b_twill said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> b_twill said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good Afternoon!
> 
> Wife is putting in hours 43-51 at work today.  This leaves me to fend for myself, which is a very dangerous thing (for the wallet)!  Oil change at the Subaru dealership, found a really nice WRX that I could be happy with, 2.0L turbo, 6 speed manual.  Think Subaru will pick up the tab for the first speeding ticket?
> After the $70 oil change (OUCH!) it was off to the bike shop to check out their Trek Fest deals.  I'm sure the wife wouldn't mind me spending $2500 for a new bike (but it's on sale! ).  I mean, what else would we do with the extra cash from her OT???
> 
> 
> 
> $70?  For an oil change?  Was the guy that brought the oil out wearing a tux with a towel over his arm?  Yikes
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Typical dealer
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> $50 for the oil change, $20 for tire rotation...but they have free cookies in the waiting area!
Click to expand...

Tire rotation?  Huh.. I thought that's what reverse was for... lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

I do my own tire rotations once a year, since I only put on about 6k a year. Saves some money.


----------



## limr

I just changed my oil today, too. $25 for oil and filter, a couple of cents more for the soap and paper towels to wash my hands when I was done.


----------



## jcdeboever

Oil and lubed the wife's today.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> Oil and lubed the wife's today.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Glad you remembered the "apostrophe-s" there!


----------



## snowbear

We just pay $100 for the "gold" service for the year ah


jcdeboever said:


> Oil and lubed the wife's today.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


The wife's what?


----------



## b_twill

Used to change the oil myself, became to much of a hassle trying to dispose of the used oil.  City doesn't apreciate it being dumped down the drain anymore for some odd reason.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Kid got his easter basket and is covered in chocolate.

I used to change my own oil too, but once I got my Focus, there's too many goofy covers under there to remove, so I just pay for it to be done. $5 more than buying oil and a filter anyway.


----------



## snowbear

Happy Chocolate Bunny Day!  

The apartment management doesn't allow us to work on vehicles so we enrolled in the dealer's "VIP" program when we bought the truck.  I don't recall how much it was, but rolled into the loan, it didn't make any real difference.  We get free oil changes, tire rotations, as well as discounts on other services.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

My father was a mechanic. It's too ingrained in me to do the work myself when I can. It's one thing to bring the car in for repairs that I can't do, but for an oil change? Can't bring myself to do it. Granted, it's a super easy job on my car, but part of my decision-making process when thinking of my next car is looking at how easy it would be to do a lot of the maintenance myself.


----------



## minicoop1985

The Mini has free maintenance built in with the lease, so it gets free oil changes for as long as we have it. We'll be dumping it in 2017 I think.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## unpopular

There is one potato in the rotisserie that is getting drenched with meat juice. I call dibs on that potato. That's my EASTER POTATO Y'ALL!


----------



## bribrius

best easter ever here. I slept through it. It was great.

I just noticed ninety percent of the photos i take are of my children i probably belong on facebook.


----------



## bribrius

and sometimes i take photos of my children taking photos. My daughter does pretty well with her iphone oddly enough. I have competition.


----------



## robbins.photo

Morning Hosers,

Rather psyched, the D600 should be here today.


----------



## bribrius

robbins.photo said:


> Morning Hosers,
> 
> Rather psyched, the D600 should be here today.


cool. let us know what you think of it (sure you will lol)


----------



## bribrius

so i had bird feeders next to my house with plenty of traffic. I put two behind my house and they are getting no traffic. Its only a hundred feet away and all the birds still go to the original ones i had beside the house looking for food.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.


----------



## minicoop1985

robbins.photo said:


> Morning Hosers,
> 
> Rather psyched, the D600 should be here today.



Yay!

Afternoon, hosers. Got a way too early start. Our travel plans got pushed back today so my wife could go to a political rally tomorrow afternoon. I won't say for who, don't worry.


----------



## bribrius




----------



## robbins.photo

None.  Shutter was replaced for free by Nikon about 500 clicks ago

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## bribrius

robbins.photo said:


> None.  Shutter was replaced for free by Nikon about 500 clicks ago
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


from the sound of it you got a very good deal on it have fun!


----------



## robbins.photo

bribrius said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> None.  Shutter was replaced for free by Nikon about 500 clicks ago
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> from the sound of it you got a very good deal on it have fun!
Click to expand...

Yup, was pretty happy with the price, couldn't pass it up.  Not sure yet if I'll hang onto the 7100 or resell while the resell value is still pretty good.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## bribrius

robbins.photo said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> None.  Shutter was replaced for free by Nikon about 500 clicks ago
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> from the sound of it you got a very good deal on it have fun!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yup, was pretty happy with the price, couldn't pass it up.  Not sure yet if I'll hang onto the 7100 or resell while the resell value is still pretty good.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

eh. I think you might very well find having both useful.


----------



## robbins.photo

bribrius said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> None.  Shutter was replaced for free by Nikon about 500 clicks ago
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> from the sound of it you got a very good deal on it have fun!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yup, was pretty happy with the price, couldn't pass it up.  Not sure yet if I'll hang onto the 7100 or resell while the resell value is still pretty good.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> eh. I think you might very well find having both useful.
Click to expand...

Could be.  Plan for now is to hang onto both for a bit and see, just not sure if the 7100 will get used enough to justify keeping it.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, tomorrow is the big drive. Got everything packed. Only bringing the Canon 5D2 and the wife's Sony a65. No need for me to haul my medium format setup to take pics of my kid at the zoo and aquarium. It just plain doesn't make sense.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Well, tomorrow is the big drive. Got everything packed. Only bringing the Canon 5D2 and the wife's Sony a65. No need for me to haul my medium format setup to take pics of my kid at the zoo and aquarium. It just plain doesn't make sense.


Sure, makes sense now.  Then mini me grows up, learns photography, realizes you went low rent on the zoo trip photos when he was a kid, plots revenge and sticks you in the cheapest nursing home he can find.

Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, tomorrow is the big drive. Got everything packed. Only bringing the Canon 5D2 and the wife's Sony a65. No need for me to haul my medium format setup to take pics of my kid at the zoo and aquarium. It just plain doesn't make sense.
> 
> 
> 
> Sure, makes sense now.  Then mini me grows up, learns photography, realizes you went low rent on the zoo trip photos when he was a kid, plots revenge and sticks you in the cheapest nursing home he can find.
> 
> Lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


By the time mini me grows up, phone cameras will be "vintage"


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, tomorrow is the big drive. Got everything packed. Only bringing the Canon 5D2 and the wife's Sony a65. No need for me to haul my medium format setup to take pics of my kid at the zoo and aquarium. It just plain doesn't make sense.
> 
> 
> 
> Sure, makes sense now.  Then mini me grows up, learns photography, realizes you went low rent on the zoo trip photos when he was a kid, plots revenge and sticks you in the cheapest nursing home he can find.
> 
> Lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> By the time mini me grows up, phone cameras will be "vintage"
Click to expand...

I wonder if he'll collect them?  Rotfl

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> By the time mini me grows up, phone cameras will be "vintage"
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder if he'll collect them?  Rotfl
Click to expand...


And constantly be called a hipster, or whatever the knee-jerk-meaningless-insult-du-jour in the future is.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> By the time mini me grows up, phone cameras will be "vintage"
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder if he'll collect them?  Rotfl
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And constantly be called a hipster, or whatever the knee-jerk-meaningless-insult-du-jour in the future is.
Click to expand...

Well let's hope hipster doesn't become passe.

Hey, look at that hipster trying to look cool taking pictures with that old Samsung galaxy!

It's just got such a good flow to it.. lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Nah, it will totally become passe. See, the people y'all are making fun of aren't actually hipsters. They are the hipster-wannabe lemmings that jumped on the bandwagon after it started going mainstream on Instagram. Once the next new thing hits, they are all going to turn around and hurl themselves off of that new cliff to earn themselves a different derogatory moniker. The real hipsters will still be around, but you generally won't see them outside of Williamsburg or maybe there will be a few pockets still going strong in the Pacific Northwest.

And I hope I don't have to point out the irony of the lemming-like way folks throw the "hipster" insult around. Oops, I guess I just did.


----------



## minicoop1985

Those people of which you speak annoy me the most. Complain about everything, can't handle life in general... It's like a whole generation of whiny brats.

Anyway, I wouldn't say I'm going low rent here. I am using a full frame Canon... lol. I just figure only being able to shoot up to ISO 400 might not be advantageous in an aquarium.


----------



## jcdeboever

bribrius said:


> so i had bird feeders next to my house with plenty of traffic. I put two behind my house and they are getting no traffic. Its only a hundred feet away and all the birds still go to the original ones i had beside the house looking for food.


Sometimes bird feeders get mold in them and the birds won't eat from them. Additionally, one time I bought the cheap wild bird seed from Meier's and they wouldn't eat that. Went to local nursery and bought some and they killed the it. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Nothing to contribute about hipsters or whiny brats.  Just drinking my coffee and trying to be calm and get through the day.


----------



## terri

The sun is shining brightly, and it's a beautiful spring morning here.    My coffee is strong and good.    

*gratitude*


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Nah, it will totally become passe. See, the people y'all are making fun of aren't actually hipsters. They are the hipster-wannabe lemmings that jumped on the bandwagon after it started going mainstream on Instagram. Once the next new thing hits, they are all going to turn around and hurl themselves off of that new cliff to earn themselves a different derogatory moniker. The real hipsters will still be around, but you generally won't see them outside of Williamsburg or maybe there will be a few pockets still going strong in the Pacific Northwest.
> 
> And I hope I don't have to point out the irony of the lemming-like way folks throw the "hipster" insult around. Oops, I guess I just did.



Ok, it's not even 10 am here.. not sure if I can handle that much irony this early in the morn.. lol.


----------



## robbins.photo

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Nothing to contribute about hipsters or whiny brats.  Just drinking my coffee and trying to be calm and get through the day.



Enhance your calm citizen.  All is well.


----------



## unpopular

I LOST THE EASTER POTATO!


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Those people of which you speak annoy me the most. Complain about everything, can't handle life in general... It's like a whole generation of whiny brats.
> 
> Anyway, I wouldn't say I'm going low rent here. I am using a full frame Canon... lol. I just figure only being able to shoot up to ISO 400 might not be advantageous in an aquarium.



Well if nothing else it will give the kid something to tell his shrink.  Lord knows my own children had plenty to talk about there.. lol


----------



## robbins.photo

unpopular said:


> I LOST THE EASTER POTATO!



Right after we worked so hard to ensure KenC that all was well.  Nice job.  Ya.. stellar work there.  sheesh.

Lol


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Nah, it will totally become passe. See, the people y'all are making fun of aren't actually hipsters. They are the hipster-wannabe lemmings that jumped on the bandwagon after it started going mainstream on Instagram. Once the next new thing hits, they are all going to turn around and hurl themselves off of that new cliff to earn themselves a different derogatory moniker. The real hipsters will still be around, but you generally won't see them outside of Williamsburg or maybe there will be a few pockets still going strong in the Pacific Northwest.
> 
> And I hope I don't have to point out the irony of the lemming-like way folks throw the "hipster" insult around. Oops, I guess I just did.


Cool I never new that Rutherford B. Hayes was a hipster.


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> Cool I never new that Rutherford B. Hayes was a hipster.
> View attachment 118555



Hey pal, he wasn't just "a hipster".  He was THE hipster.


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cool I never new that Rutherford B. Hayes was a hipster.
> View attachment 118555
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey pal, he wasn't just "a hipster".  He was THE hipster.
Click to expand...

I don't know, I'm kind of digging the neck beard. Horace Greeley


----------



## vintagesnaps

An Easter, potato...???


----------



## KenC

robbins.photo said:


> unpopular said:
> 
> 
> 
> I LOST THE EASTER POTATO!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Right after we worked so hard to ensure KenC that all was well.  Nice job.  Ya.. stellar work there.  sheesh.
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...


I'm good - lost potatoes don't make my list.  Are Easter potatoes especially important spuds?  Maybe I'm missing an opportunity to worry here.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> unpopular said:
> 
> 
> 
> I LOST THE EASTER POTATO!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Right after we worked so hard to ensure KenC that all was well.  Nice job.  Ya.. stellar work there.  sheesh.
> 
> Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm good - lost potatoes don't make my list.  Are Easter potatoes especially important spuds?  Maybe I'm missing an opportunity to worry here.
Click to expand...


I believe he was speaking of this Easter potato:



unpopular said:


> There is one potato in the rotisserie that is getting drenched with meat juice. I call dibs on that potato. That's my EASTER POTATO Y'ALL!



I remember the post because it horrified me


----------



## waday

KenC said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> unpopular said:
> 
> 
> 
> I LOST THE EASTER POTATO!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Right after we worked so hard to ensure KenC that all was well.  Nice job.  Ya.. stellar work there.  sheesh.
> 
> Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm good - lost potatoes don't make my list.  Are Easter potatoes especially important spuds?  Maybe I'm missing an opportunity to worry here.
Click to expand...

I think Butch Otter leaves those during the night for good little Idahoans.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> unpopular said:
> 
> 
> 
> I LOST THE EASTER POTATO!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Right after we worked so hard to ensure KenC that all was well.  Nice job.  Ya.. stellar work there.  sheesh.
> 
> Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm good - lost potatoes don't make my list.  Are Easter potatoes especially important spuds?  Maybe I'm missing an opportunity to worry here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I believe he was speaking of this Easter potato:
> 
> 
> 
> unpopular said:
> 
> 
> 
> There is one potato in the rotisserie that is getting drenched with meat juice. I call dibs on that potato. That's my EASTER POTATO Y'ALL!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I remember the post because it horrified me
Click to expand...

Oh, I guess it has nothing to do with the governor of Idaho.


----------



## minicoop1985

Wife's at the town hall I talked about yesterday. Waiting for that to be over, then we go to Minneapolis! There's apparently ANOTHER political rally in Appleton tomorrow... By a completely different candidate. Quite controversial so I'm kinda glad I won't be around for that one. Anyway, I won't get into any debates. Don't worry.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> unpopular said:
> 
> 
> 
> I LOST THE EASTER POTATO!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Right after we worked so hard to ensure KenC that all was well.  Nice job.  Ya.. stellar work there.  sheesh.
> 
> Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm good - lost potatoes don't make my list.  Are Easter potatoes especially important spuds?  Maybe I'm missing an opportunity to worry here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I believe he was speaking of this Easter potato:
> 
> 
> 
> unpopular said:
> 
> 
> 
> There is one potato in the rotisserie that is getting drenched with meat juice. I call dibs on that potato. That's my EASTER POTATO Y'ALL!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I remember the post because it horrified me
Click to expand...


I didn't realize we'd become that self-referential


----------



## unpopular

After the lamb finished the potatoes and onions still weren't done. After they got all mixed up on the skillet I lost track of which one it was. :*(


----------



## vintagesnaps

O the tragedy of your lost potato... 

Here I thought maybe you'd been out in the yard hiding potatoes instead of hard boiled eggs.


----------



## table1349

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> unpopular said:
> 
> 
> 
> I LOST THE EASTER POTATO!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Right after we worked so hard to ensure KenC that all was well.  Nice job.  Ya.. stellar work there.  sheesh.
> 
> Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm good - lost potatoes don't make my list.  Are Easter potatoes especially important spuds?  Maybe I'm missing an opportunity to worry here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I believe he was speaking of this Easter potato:
> 
> 
> 
> unpopular said:
> 
> 
> 
> There is one potato in the rotisserie that is getting drenched with meat juice. I call dibs on that potato. That's my EASTER POTATO Y'ALL!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I remember the post because it horrified me
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I didn't realize we'd become that self-referential
Click to expand...

The villains that haunt our nightmares......





The villain that haunts Lenny's nightmares.......





I'm ready to take on Lenny's villain....


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> O the tragedy of your lost potato...
> 
> Here I thought maybe you'd been out in the yard hiding potatoes instead of hard boiled eggs.


Well working on a eulogy now but I think I need more vodka.  Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> O the tragedy of your lost potato...
> 
> Here I thought maybe you'd been out in the yard hiding potatoes instead of hard boiled eggs.
> 
> 
> 
> Well working on a eulogy now but I think I need more vodka.  Lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Will this help?


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> O the tragedy of your lost potato...
> 
> Here I thought maybe you'd been out in the yard hiding potatoes instead of hard boiled eggs.
> 
> 
> 
> Well working on a eulogy now but I think I need more vodka.  Lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Will this help?
Click to expand...

Sure as heck won't hurt.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> O the tragedy of your lost potato...
> 
> Here I thought maybe you'd been out in the yard hiding potatoes instead of hard boiled eggs.
> 
> 
> 
> Well working on a eulogy now but I think I need more vodka.  Lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Will this help?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sure as heck won't hurt.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

 What better than drinking some potato vodka to write a eulogy for a potato?


----------



## KenC

I guess I'm having a boring morning - coffee, no vodka.  Perhaps I should take that up with my employer.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. Happy Hump Day *yawn*


----------



## limr

Nope, no vodka in my coffee, either.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Nope, no vodka in my coffee, either.


 I feel the same way no coffee in my vodka.


----------



## limr

gryphonslair99 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nope, no vodka in my coffee, either.
> 
> 
> 
> I feel the same way no coffee in my vodka.
Click to expand...


Well, coffee liqueur + vodka = Black Russian, and sometimes I'll add some real coffee to the drink as well. Or milk, if I feel like a White Russian (or, as the Dude says, a Caucasian.) Just not when I'm trying to get ready for work.


----------



## table1349

I much prefer Irish coffee. My recipe is simple.  Start a pot of coffee, while it is brewing fill a large mug full of good Irish whiskey and drink it. Pawn the coffee off on other suckers.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh... so that's the purpose of the Easter potato, Easter for grown ups, let the kids have the hard boiled eggs.

The chocolate bunnies, now those we may have to share with the kids. I mean get the kids to share with us grown ups.

This thread has gotten quite silly.


----------



## vintagesnaps

New Orleans Most Famous Coffee Drinking Place


In this movie that just started, this guy wandering down the street was standing in front of this place... Haven't decided how good this movie is yet but it got my attention - jazz and noir atmosphere, and now a loooong coffee sign. But the fool didn't go in and have any coffee!


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> This thread *has gotten* quite silly.



Has gotten? When was it ever *not *silly?


----------



## table1349

I miss that show.   It was too funny.


----------



## bribrius




----------



## bribrius




----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> View attachment 118644
> 
> I miss that show.   It was too funny.


The Gulf War?  Ya that was a great show.  I always wondered why it got cancelled.. lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 118644
> 
> I miss that show.   It was too funny.
> 
> 
> 
> The Gulf War?  Ya that was a great show.  I always wondered why it got cancelled.. lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


----------



## bribrius

robbins.photo said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 118644
> 
> I miss that show.   It was too funny.
> 
> 
> 
> The Gulf War?  Ya that was a great show.  I always wondered why it got cancelled.. lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

i think i remember that they gave me a ribbon to pin on or something i think that was what it was for....


----------



## bribrius

i never shot anyone so it must have been for participation kind of like when your kid loses in soccer and they still get a trophy for showing up


----------



## robbins.photo

bribrius said:


> i never shot anyone so it must have been for participation kind of like when your kid loses in soccer and they still get a trophy for showing up


Awww..  buck up little camper.  I'm sure you'll be able to off somebody in the next war.  Tell you what, we'll stop for ice cream on the way home.  Whattya say there slugger?

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349




----------



## KenC

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> This thread *has gotten* quite silly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Has gotten? When was it ever *not *silly?
Click to expand...


Yeah, my thought exactly as I was reading the posts since this morning ...

Perhaps she means that we've reached new heights, or whatever you want to call them.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> This thread *has gotten* quite silly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Has gotten? When was it ever *not *silly?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, my thought exactly as I was reading the posts since this morning ...
> 
> Perhaps she means that we've reached new heights, or whatever you want to call them.
Click to expand...


The green valleys, as in my siggy below?


----------



## bribrius




----------



## bribrius

take random photos of kid check. Take photos of squirrel, check. hmm what else is around here..


----------



## bribrius




----------



## table1349

bribrius said:


> take random photos of kid check. Take photos of squirrel, check. hmm what else is around here..


Depends, where is around here?


----------



## robbins.photo

bribrius said:


> take random photos of kid check. Take photos of squirrel, check. hmm what else is around here..


Random photos of kid choking squirrel to death?

Just seems like a natural progression.  Could just be me again... lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## unpopular

Once my brother in-law fell of his motocycle and told everyone that he "got into a fight with a squirrel" in order to avoid embarrassment.

When getting in a fight with a squirrel is less embarrassing than falling off your bike, that's when you know that your family disapproves of you riding.


----------



## table1349

I think he was trying too.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> This thread *has gotten* quite silly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Has gotten? When was it ever *not *silly?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, my thought exactly as I was reading the posts since this morning ...
> 
> Perhaps she means that we've reached new heights, or whatever you want to call them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The green valleys, as in my siggy below?
Click to expand...


Ah, Wittgenstein.   My philosophy prof loved this guy.    He was the one obsessed with language, or rather with what he alleged as the limits of language, right?


(Yeah...let's talk philosophy instead of offing squirrels.)


----------



## table1349

"A ham sandwich is better than nothing.
Nothing is better than eternal happiness.
A ham sandwich is better than eternal happiness."


----------



## table1349

For Lenny.
"I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants."


----------



## table1349

“If no one knows when a person is going to die, how can we say he died prematurely?”


----------



## table1349

“To be a philosopher, just reverse everything you have ever been told...and have a sense of humor doing it.”


----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> (Yeah...let's talk philosophy instead of offing squirrels.)



Couldn't we have an enriching philosophical discussion while offing squirrels?  Because that really does seem like a win-win.

Lol



Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349

Oh Sure.........*terri* wanted us to talk about philosophy, now that we are talking philosophy *where is terri??????*

*"A philosopher who is not taking part in discussions is like a boxer who never goes into the ring." *
Ludwig Wittgenstein

That's right, I'm calling you out MISTRESS!!!!  Otherwise it's back to the squirrels and you never know, a stray bunny or two may be collateral damage.


----------



## bribrius

gryphonslair99 said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> take random photos of kid check. Take photos of squirrel, check. hmm what else is around here..
> 
> 
> 
> Depends, where is around here?
Click to expand...

Maine. You know rivers, light houses and kids choking squirrels to death. The norm.


----------



## bribrius

hey i think if i overexpose chit i can just claim it is high key and under expose it low key. It is the correct exposure ones i am having trouble explaining..


----------



## limr

I'm really glad I missed the whole offing squirrels business. I'm sure it was completely unnecessary


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> I'm really glad I missed the whole offing squirrels business. I'm sure it was completely unnecessary


oh stop. I haven't had this much fun since i did portraiture of the dead bat


----------



## table1349

Times up terri!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## snowbear

If only I could delete the entire thread and restart from scratch . . .


----------



## bribrius




----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> If only I could delete the entire thread and restart from scratch . . .


don't do that. Since you guys filled it up with dumb cat photos i figure i can post all my kids and dogs.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> If only I could delete the entire thread and restart from scratch . . .


New Thread Title:  The Coffee House 2.0? 
It would just as quickly get as silly.


----------



## table1349

bribrius said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> If only I could delete the entire thread and restart from scratch . . .
> 
> 
> 
> don't do that. Since you guys filled it up with dumb cat photos i figure i can post all my kids and dogs.
Click to expand...

Like this one???


----------



## limr

You need a hobby. Well, a hobby other than scouring the Internet for crap.


----------



## robbins.photo

bribrius said:


> hey i think if i overexpose chit i can just claim it is high key and under expose it low key. It is the correct exposure ones i am having trouble explaining..


Then put it up for c&c and when someone says something get all offended that they obviously couldn't grasp your artistic vision.  Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Lunch tomorrow with another TPFer from far away.


----------



## bribrius

robbins.photo said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> hey i think if i overexpose chit i can just claim it is high key and under expose it low key. It is the correct exposure ones i am having trouble explaining..
> 
> 
> 
> Then put it up for c&c and when someone says something get all offended that they obviously couldn't grasp your artistic vision.  Lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

bingo. They just don't know art when they see it


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> Lunch tomorrow with another TPFer from far away.


please dont show up at my house like that it is kinda stalker-ish


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> Lunch tomorrow with another TPFer from far away.


Well if it's limr make sure she rolls her eyes back to default position before she attempts to drive.  Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## bribrius

limr said:


> You need a hobby. Well, a hobby other than scouring the Internet for crap.


I totally agree and the fact he just singled out a kitty that could have a legitimate  drinking problem i find offensive. Alcohol-ism is a disease people


----------



## snowbear

It's not Leonore - from further away.


bribrius said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lunch tomorrow with another TPFer from far away.
> 
> 
> 
> please dont show up at my house like that it is kinda stalker-ish
Click to expand...

Not a chance - I'm staying in MD for a while.


----------



## robbins.photo

bribrius said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> You need a hobby. Well, a hobby other than scouring the Internet for crap.
> 
> 
> 
> I totally agree and the fact he just singled out a kitty that could have a legitimate  drinking problem i find offensive. Alcohol-ism is a disease people
Click to expand...

One which you can self medicate for, thank goodness.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

Did anyone learn anything enlightening while I was offline, in the real world?   *Looks at gryphonslair99*


----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> Did anyone learn anything enlightening while I was offline, in the real world?   *Looks at gryphonslair99*


Well I drove past some Slow Kids Playing.. but there was no sign in their yard so put a call into the city. Hopefully they can sort that out soon.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did anyone learn anything enlightening while I was offline, in the real world?   *Looks at gryphonslair99*
> 
> 
> 
> Well I drove past some Slow Kids Playing.. but there was no sign in their yard so put a call into the city. Hopefully they can sort that out soon.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


I've learned that there are clowns to the left of me and jokers to the right (you know who you are.)

With peace and love, man. Peace and love.


----------



## vintagesnaps

And you're stuck in the middle...


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did anyone learn anything enlightening while I was offline, in the real world?   *Looks at gryphonslair99*
> 
> 
> 
> Well I drove past some Slow Kids Playing.. but there was no sign in their yard so put a call into the city. Hopefully they can sort that out soon.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've learned that there are clowns to the left of me and jokers to the right (you know who you are.)
> 
> With peace and love, man. Peace and love.
Click to expand...

These shoes are kind of a tip off I guess, plus, they weigh a ton...

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did anyone learn anything enlightening while I was offline, in the real world?   *Looks at gryphonslair99*
> 
> 
> 
> Well I drove past some Slow Kids Playing.. but there was no sign in their yard so put a call into the city. Hopefully they can sort that out soon.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've learned that there are clowns to the left of me and jokers to the right (you know who you are.)
> 
> With peace and love, man. Peace and love.
Click to expand...




vintagesnaps said:


> And you're stuck in the middle...


. . . with you.

I learned that I can still learn stuff.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Thursday is a good thing, better anyway than Wednesday.


----------



## limr

Thursdays are my Fridays this semester, and quite possibly, if I'm smart about it, also for the rest of the year. Well, I also have to be lucky, too. I can arrange my class schedule to have Fridays off, but I won't know until August if those classes will run. If they don't, I'll have to re-do the schedule.


----------



## snowbear

I'm off tomorrow; two of lazy_lobster's friends are showing in an art show in Philly.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> I'm off tomorrow; two of lazy_lobster's friends are showing in an art show in Philly.


That sounds fun!    I like to support people I know who put their stuff out there.   These days my musician buddies aren't playing out as much, but I love to go hear them.   

Happy Thursday, hosers!


----------



## b_twill

Today is my Friday also!  For some odd reason the higher ups decided to give us tomorrow off as a floating holiday.  I'm not complaining!


----------



## table1349

When you are retired every day is Saturday.


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, peeps.

I had a wonderful lunch, today, with @NancyMoranG and her husband.   Wishing them a safe trip up to the Cape.


----------



## limr

I am SOOOOOO saving calories for a big fat drink tonight, ya hosers! What a week it's been. And next week is going to be even crazier. Next Friday is another of those campus visit that I organize for 150-ish high school students. Good times.


----------



## NancyMoranG

snowbear said:


> Good afternoon, peeps.
> 
> I had a wonderful lunch, today, with @NancyMoranG and her husband.   Wishing them a safe trip up to the Cape.



It was so neat to meet Snowbear today. We got to talk about all of you, wait, I mean we talked about Cherry Blossoms 
Very nice lunch, thanks Snowbear.


----------



## jcdeboever

I want to meet someone...[emoji31] 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> I want to meet someone...[emoji31]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Come to New York!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I want to meet someone...[emoji31]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Come to New York!
Click to expand...

Or Nebraska.  Shorter buildings but we wave hello using more than one finger.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## bribrius

robbins.photo said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did anyone learn anything enlightening while I was offline, in the real world?   *Looks at gryphonslair99*
> 
> 
> 
> Well I drove past some Slow Kids Playing.. but there was no sign in their yard so put a call into the city. Hopefully they can sort that out soon.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

they have a handicapped person sign out on my street i wonder if it is because of me.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I want to meet someone...[emoji31]
> 
> 
> 
> Come to New York!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Or Nebraska.  Shorter buildings but we wave hello using more than one finger.
Click to expand...


Bah! What fun is that?


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I want to meet someone...[emoji31]
> 
> 
> 
> Come to New York!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Or Nebraska.  Shorter buildings but we wave hello using more than one finger.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Bah! What fun is that?
Click to expand...

Well as we say in these parts, it's all fun and games till somebody tips a cow over on you..  Or something like that

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

Ah, yes - the old cow-tipping trick.  Guaranteed to let someone know you're just not interested.


----------



## bribrius

woof


----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> Ah, yes - the old cow-tipping trick.  Guaranteed to let someone know you're just not interested.



Age dependent really.  Girls at a certain age will often tip a cow over on you if their interested.  Usually that stops by they time they hit high school though.  After that, if they tip a cow over on you, ya.. good indicator that your about 10 seconds away from a restraining order of some sort.


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, yes - the old cow-tipping trick.  Guaranteed to let someone know you're just not interested.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Age dependent really.  Girls at a certain age will often tip a cow over on you if their interested.  Usually that stops by they time they hit high school though.  After that, if they tip a cow over on you, ya.. good indicator that your about 10 seconds away from a restraining order of some sort.
Click to expand...


I have always been fond of cow girls....


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> I have always been fond of cow girls....



Once you get past the fact that most of them carry guns.. well, ya.. lol


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have always been fond of cow girls....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Once you get past the fact that most of them carry guns.. well, ya.. lol
Click to expand...


Oh, I thought you were talking about fat ones.


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers. At home, my day "off" and I've been working, of course. Had a few things for the admin job, but now I'm having lunch and will start my grading.

*looks around*  Hey Tio Gary? Where'd you go?


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> I'm having lunch and will start my grading.



Grading!!!  Slowly I turned, step by step ...


----------



## robbins.photo

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm having lunch and will start my grading.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Grading!!!  Slowly I turned, step by step ...
Click to expand...


Dude.. get out of the way!!  Run like hell!  Run I say...

Lol


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm having lunch and will start my grading.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Grading!!!  Slowly I turned, step by step ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Dude.. get out of the way!!  Run like hell!  Run I say...
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...

 Why?  Grading is a lot of fun !!!


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Why?  Grading is a lot of fun !!!



Right.  Now think about this logically.  Limr, who rolls her eyes constantly, driving that.

So yes.. run.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why?  Grading is a lot of fun !!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Right.  Now think about this logically.  Limr, who rolls her eyes constantly, driving that.
> 
> So yes.. run.
Click to expand...


Oh YES, let's DO please think of this logically! The frequency with which a woman rolls her eyes has NOTHING to do with her ability to manage a tractor, NOR does it suggest that she would lack to sense to not roll her eyes WHILE operating the tractor. It WILL, however, nearly guarantee the rolling of the eyes as she ponders the logical fallacy of your statement.



As for the grading, if it could be done with a tractor, I wouldn't be complaining about it


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why?  Grading is a lot of fun !!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Right.  Now think about this logically.  Limr, who rolls her eyes constantly, driving that.
> 
> So yes.. run.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh YES, let's DO please think of this logically! The frequency with which a woman rolls her eyes has NOTHING to do with her ability to manage a tractor, NOR does it suggest that she would lack to sense to not roll her eyes WHILE operating the tractor. It WILL, however, nearly guarantee the rolling of the eyes as she ponders the logical fallacy of your statement.
> 
> 
> 
> As for the grading, if it could be done with a tractor, I wouldn't be complaining about it
Click to expand...

Ok, well thinking logically isn't my strong suit but we'll give it a shot.

Now, in order to approach this logically we'll need some more information.  Do you weigh the same as a duck?

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why?  Grading is a lot of fun !!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Right.  Now think about this logically.  Limr, who rolls her eyes constantly, driving that.
> 
> So yes.. run.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh YES, let's DO please think of this logically! The frequency with which a woman rolls her eyes has NOTHING to do with her ability to manage a tractor, NOR does it suggest that she would lack to sense to not roll her eyes WHILE operating the tractor. It WILL, however, nearly guarantee the rolling of the eyes as she ponders the logical fallacy of your statement.
> 
> 
> 
> As for the grading, if it could be done with a tractor, I wouldn't be complaining about it
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ok, we'll thinking logically isn't my strong suit but we'll give it a shot.
> 
> Now, in order to approach this logically we'll need some more information.  Do you weigh the same as a duck?
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Do I need to turn you into a newt again???


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Do I need to turn you into a newt again???



Actually I was seriously considering spending the summer as a newt.  Hmm... maybe we should take a poll?


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Hey, hosers. At home, my day "off" and I've been working, of course. Had a few things for the admin job, but now I'm having lunch and will start my grading.
> 
> *looks around*  Hey Tio Gary? Where'd you go?


Blackout?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

Yeah, what happened to Gary?

Minnesota was a success. Spent way too much at IKEA, bought a bunch of Legos, and had some actual fun too.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Yeah, what happened to Gary?
> 
> Minnesota was a success. Spent way too much at IKEA, bought a bunch of Legos, and had some actual fun too.


Should we organize a search party maybe?

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Did Cali finally slide off into the Pacific?
I saw he posted in something else the other day - maybe LB.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> Did Cali finally slide off into the Pacific?
> I saw he posted in something else the other day - maybe LB.


Maybe, though if it had you'd think there would have been something about it in the news somewhere, you know after the got to all the important stories like what some idiot Kardashian or another said recently.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

I was thinking that too, that I hadn't seen Gary on here lately, he's usually on all the time. Anybody have any other way to contact him?

I'm still dragging trying to get over this respiratory thingy, it's been a doozy. So going to be a laid back do nothing kind of weekend.

I love Legos! Even have a Lego camera that actually takes pictures that aren't bad considering it's maybe 1 megapixel! lol


----------



## bribrius

robbins.photo said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did Cali finally slide off into the Pacific?
> I saw he posted in something else the other day - maybe LB.
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe, though if it had you'd think there would have been something about it in the news somewhere, you know after the got to all the important stories like what some idiot Kardashian or another said recently.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

well, so far the restaurant thing is working out in a way wife picked a partner they took possession of it couple days ago changed locks cleaned it  etc etc. fired a employee. I guess the lawyer is still drawing up the final paperwork though. It is working out because i noticed she is never around now always there . I am wondering what happens on a family vacation though maybe she dont go? she wanted me to get in on it i said no. Then asked me to open a business in other half of building could be a idea maybe a bar?  Health wise im really not up for it right now though. something to think about i cant wait to see if it actually makes money. Mostly im just pushing her to keep it away from me and incorporate it i dont want some kid choking on a french fry and then i get sued and lose my chit.


----------



## bribrius

well, and i suggested they hook up the credit card machine sitting under the counter its worth the fee vs. them writing every credit card transaction out by hand on a slip.


----------



## bribrius

she has our daughter over there for cheap labor


----------



## bribrius

i can't even get her to clean her room what gives..


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> I was thinking that too, that I hadn't seen Gary on here lately, he's usually on all the time. Anybody have any other way to contact him?
> 
> I'm still dragging trying to get over this respiratory thingy, it's been a doozy. So going to be a laid back do nothing kind of weekend.
> 
> I love Legos! Even have a Lego camera that actually takes pictures that aren't bad considering it's maybe 1 megapixel! lol


He's still around here, somewhere:


> *Gary A.*
> *Been spending a lot of time on here!*
> Male, from Southern California
> Profile Page Start a Conversation Follow Ignore
> Member Since:
> 
> Sep 17, 2014
> 
> Messages:
> 
> 10,873
> 
> Ratings Received:
> +3,560 / 5
> Trophy Points:
> 
> 113
> Gary A. was last seen:
> 
> Yesterday at 11:08 AM


----------



## bribrius

chit. The restaurant thing, there goes my new camera i wanted i bet.


----------



## minicoop1985

The completed products. The one on the left is what I bought at the Lego store in MN. Literally only $14.




2016-04-02_01-45-30 by Michael Long, on Flickr


----------



## bribrius




----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> The completed products. The one on the left is what I bought at the Lego store in MN. Literally only $14.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2016-04-02_01-45-30 by Michael Long, on Flickr


how big are they? so they are like lego car kits?


----------



## minicoop1985

bribrius said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The completed products. The one on the left is what I bought at the Lego store in MN. Literally only $14.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2016-04-02_01-45-30 by Michael Long, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> how big are they? so they are like lego car kits?
Click to expand...



They're about 6" long. They're part of the Lego Speed Champions series. There's the LaFerrari, the 458 Challenge, Porsche race cars, F1 cars, and all sorts of other kits. Here's a link.

Speed Champions | LEGO Shop


----------



## robbins.photo

bribrius said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did Cali finally slide off into the Pacific?
> I saw he posted in something else the other day - maybe LB.
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe, though if it had you'd think there would have been something about it in the news somewhere, you know after the got to all the important stories like what some idiot Kardashian or another said recently.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> well, so far the restaurant thing is working out in a way wife picked a partner they took possession of it couple days ago changed locks cleaned it  etc etc. fired a employee. I guess the lawyer is still drawing up the final paperwork though. It is working out because i noticed she is never around now always there . I am wondering what happens on a family vacation though maybe she dont go? she wanted me to get in on it i said no. Then asked me to open a business in other half of building could be a idea maybe a bar?  Health wise im really not up for it right now though. something to think about i cant wait to see if it actually makes money. Mostly im just pushing her to keep it away from me and incorporate it i dont want some kid choking on a french fry and then i get sued and lose my chit.
Click to expand...

Ok, we'll I can give you the benefit of my extensive experience here, which amounts to watching a season and a half of bar rescue.

If your food sucks they won't come back.

We'll work out a consulting fee later.  lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh, Gary's been on posting about boring equipment stuff! lol and here we were starting to worry. OK Gary c'mon in and have a cup of coffee and tell us what's on the grill!

Yeah, Bar Rescue and Restaurant Impossible and all those kind of shows ought to be enough to make ya think twice!

Cool, Lego cars!


----------



## budget cruncher

bribrius said:


> i can't even get her to clean her room what gives..


Try paying her.


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did Cali finally slide off into the Pacific?
> I saw he posted in something else the other day - maybe LB.
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe, though if it had you'd think there would have been something about it in the news somewhere, you know after the got to all the important stories like what some idiot Kardashian or another said recently.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> well, so far the restaurant thing is working out in a way wife picked a partner they took possession of it couple days ago changed locks cleaned it  etc etc. fired a employee. I guess the lawyer is still drawing up the final paperwork though. It is working out because i noticed she is never around now always there . I am wondering what happens on a family vacation though maybe she dont go? she wanted me to get in on it i said no. Then asked me to open a business in other half of building could be a idea maybe a bar?  Health wise im really not up for it right now though. something to think about i cant wait to see if it actually makes money. Mostly im just pushing her to keep it away from me and incorporate it i dont want some kid choking on a french fry and then i get sued and lose my chit.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ok, we'll I can give you the benefit of my extensive experience here, which amounts to watching a season and a half of bar rescue.
> 
> If your food sucks they won't come back.
> 
> We'll work out a consulting fee later.  lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I have emails for Robert Irvine and Gordon Ramsay; they can fix whatever you break.  Of course, any good reputation you have will be in the crapper, but who cares - it's good TV.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did Cali finally slide off into the Pacific?
> I saw he posted in something else the other day - maybe LB.
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe, though if it had you'd think there would have been something about it in the news somewhere, you know after the got to all the important stories like what some idiot Kardashian or another said recently.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> well, so far the restaurant thing is working out in a way wife picked a partner they took possession of it couple days ago changed locks cleaned it  etc etc. fired a employee. I guess the lawyer is still drawing up the final paperwork though. It is working out because i noticed she is never around now always there . I am wondering what happens on a family vacation though maybe she dont go? she wanted me to get in on it i said no. Then asked me to open a business in other half of building could be a idea maybe a bar?  Health wise im really not up for it right now though. something to think about i cant wait to see if it actually makes money. Mostly im just pushing her to keep it away from me and incorporate it i dont want some kid choking on a french fry and then i get sued and lose my chit.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ok, we'll I can give you the benefit of my extensive experience here, which amounts to watching a season and a half of bar rescue.
> 
> If your food sucks they won't come back.
> 
> We'll work out a consulting fee later.  lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I have emails for Robert Irvine and Gordon Ramsay; they can fix whatever you break.  Of course, any good reputation you have will be in the crapper, but who cares - it's good TV.
Click to expand...

i guess you missed the part where i said this is pretty much my wifes thing right? Right now its basically break even might be running a little negative, will pick up in summer dead through winter hope the year breaks even im too poor to lose money. I will admit, i am asking her daily how sales went at the end of day so i suppose i might be a tad nervous.


----------



## robbins.photo

bribrius said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did Cali finally slide off into the Pacific?
> I saw he posted in something else the other day - maybe LB.
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe, though if it had you'd think there would have been something about it in the news somewhere, you know after the got to all the important stories like what some idiot Kardashian or another said recently.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> well, so far the restaurant thing is working out in a way wife picked a partner they took possession of it couple days ago changed locks cleaned it  etc etc. fired a employee. I guess the lawyer is still drawing up the final paperwork though. It is working out because i noticed she is never around now always there . I am wondering what happens on a family vacation though maybe she dont go? she wanted me to get in on it i said no. Then asked me to open a business in other half of building could be a idea maybe a bar?  Health wise im really not up for it right now though. something to think about i cant wait to see if it actually makes money. Mostly im just pushing her to keep it away from me and incorporate it i dont want some kid choking on a french fry and then i get sued and lose my chit.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ok, we'll I can give you the benefit of my extensive experience here, which amounts to watching a season and a half of bar rescue.
> 
> If your food sucks they won't come back.
> 
> We'll work out a consulting fee later.  lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I have emails for Robert Irvine and Gordon Ramsay; they can fix whatever you break.  Of course, any good reputation you have will be in the crapper, but who cares - it's good TV.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> i guess you missed the part where i said this is pretty much my wifes thing right? Right now its basically break even might be running a little negative, will pick up in summer dead through winter hope the year breaks even im too poor to lose money. I will admit, i am asking her daily how sales went at the end of day so i suppose i might be a tad nervous.
Click to expand...

Nah, I didn't miss it.  I was married once.  You don't think it's your thing yet, but ya it is your thing.

You'll deny it, fight it.. won't matter.  Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## bribrius

robbins.photo said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did Cali finally slide off into the Pacific?
> I saw he posted in something else the other day - maybe LB.
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe, though if it had you'd think there would have been something about it in the news somewhere, you know after the got to all the important stories like what some idiot Kardashian or another said recently.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> well, so far the restaurant thing is working out in a way wife picked a partner they took possession of it couple days ago changed locks cleaned it  etc etc. fired a employee. I guess the lawyer is still drawing up the final paperwork though. It is working out because i noticed she is never around now always there . I am wondering what happens on a family vacation though maybe she dont go? she wanted me to get in on it i said no. Then asked me to open a business in other half of building could be a idea maybe a bar?  Health wise im really not up for it right now though. something to think about i cant wait to see if it actually makes money. Mostly im just pushing her to keep it away from me and incorporate it i dont want some kid choking on a french fry and then i get sued and lose my chit.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ok, we'll I can give you the benefit of my extensive experience here, which amounts to watching a season and a half of bar rescue.
> 
> If your food sucks they won't come back.
> 
> We'll work out a consulting fee later.  lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I have emails for Robert Irvine and Gordon Ramsay; they can fix whatever you break.  Of course, any good reputation you have will be in the crapper, but who cares - it's good TV.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> i guess you missed the part where i said this is pretty much my wifes thing right? Right now its basically break even might be running a little negative, will pick up in summer dead through winter hope the year breaks even im too poor to lose money. I will admit, i am asking her daily how sales went at the end of day so i suppose i might be a tad nervous.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nah, I didn't miss it.  I was married once.  You don't think it's your thing yet, but ya it is your thing.
> 
> You'll deny it, fight it.. won't matter.  Lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

to a extent i guess, married. whatever happens to it will effect me. Suppose i could just yell at her if it loses money and see if that helps? Right now i am just reminding her the busy season is coming so shove it away because winter next year will be a black hole. And i repeated four times now i think i want a new camera.


----------



## limr

I have a feeling that I am glad to be getting only bits and pieces of this conversation.


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> i guess you missed the part where i said this is pretty much my wifes thing right?


I didn't miss it at all.



limr said:


> I have a feeling that I am glad to be getting only bits and pieces of this conversation.


I have bits and pieces and even that seems to be too much.   And it's time to leave this one.


----------



## minicoop1985

Alrighty, folks. I've made a huge decision. I'm selling my Mamiya stuff because it's just too much for me at the moment. I need something faster, and my Canon is just that, so it's time to go back into Canon whole hog. If anyone's interested, it's gonna be up in the for sale section.


----------



## snowbear

I've got a dollar I'll give ya for it.


----------



## minicoop1985

LOL. You're off by about $3,099.


----------



## bribrius

snowbear said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i guess you missed the part where i said this is pretty much my wifes thing right?
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't miss it at all.
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have a feeling that I am glad to be getting only bits and pieces of this conversation.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I have bits and pieces and even that seems to be too much.   And it's time to leave this one.
Click to expand...

well geez guys i believe this convo actually carried on from another thread and was directed to robbins photo feel free to go back to talking about cats and whatever the hell your cooking for dinner tonight because i know that is so much more interesting. Maybe limr can talk about cheating on another photo contentest or belittle students or get fired from another job. Thats always good entertainment.


----------



## bribrius

oh wait, let me help you get back on track .

" i had chinese for dinner last night. Today i have a headache"
reply

"oh im so sorry i hope you feel better"


----------



## bribrius

there ya go just like facebook. all better


----------



## snowbear




----------



## minicoop1985




----------



## limr

Oh my, I guess someone must have gotten upset.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> I have a feeling that I am glad to be getting only bits and pieces of this conversation.


Hey I'm just glad no one's turned me into a newt yet.  It's the little things in life, you know?

Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

"Daddy, make me a sandwich."
"POOF! You're a sandwich!"


----------



## limr




----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> Hey I'm just glad no one's turned me into a newt yet.  It's the little things in life, you know?
> 
> Lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk



Here, take your pick:


----------



## robbins.photo

Wow.. tough call.  The top one is handsome but the bottom one has much better retirement benefits.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I think I'm glad I missed whatever I missed.

And having to do with nothing else - it snowed last night. Early, before dark. I mean, snow in April. Why am I not surprised we're having March weather in April since we had April in March.

But if stuff blooming is done after a couple of nights of a freeze, that's fine! I'm finally feeling better after this respiratory thing I've had. Feels good to feel better.

The weather forecast they just said is for 'some moisture'! lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey tomorrow's Opening Day!


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> I think I'm glad I missed whatever I missed.
> 
> And having to do with nothing else - it snowed last night. Early, before dark. I mean, snow in April. Why am I not surprised we're having March weather in April since we had April in March.
> 
> But if stuff blooming is done after a couple of nights of a freeze, that's fine! I'm finally feeling better after this respiratory thing I've had. Feels good to feel better.
> 
> The weather forecast they just said is for 'some moisture'! lol


Just discussing possible newt reassignment surgery.  Didn't miss much really.  Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> I think I'm glad I missed whatever I missed.
> 
> And having to do with nothing else - it snowed last night. Early, before dark. I mean, snow in April. Why am I not surprised we're having March weather in April since we had April in March.
> 
> But if stuff blooming is done after a couple of nights of a freeze, that's fine! I'm finally feeling better after this respiratory thing I've had. Feels good to feel better.
> 
> The weather forecast they just said is for 'some moisture'! lol


We had some flurries last night . . . caused a little more excitement than usual on a fire.


----------



## bribrius




----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I think I'm glad I missed whatever I missed.
> 
> And having to do with nothing else - it snowed last night. Early, before dark. I mean, snow in April. Why am I not surprised we're having March weather in April since we had April in March.
> 
> But if stuff blooming is done after a couple of nights of a freeze, that's fine! I'm finally feeling better after this respiratory thing I've had. Feels good to feel better.
> 
> The weather forecast they just said is for 'some moisture'! lol



Yup, snowed here, too, This is what I woke up to:


----------



## beachrat

Back to the Bronx tomorrow.
Spring is here.
As long as I got long underwear, and carhartt coveralls,the right field bleachers should be fine!!
Bring on Houston.


----------



## snowbear

MLW's homemade potato-leek soup for dinner!


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy hosers. Sold the Mamiya already. It's going to a good home I hope. I don't feel it was a mistake, just a learning opportunity. I'll be back into medium format before too long, but now is not the time. Now comes the debate on which lenses to buy...


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Howdy hosers. Sold the Mamiya already. It's going to a good home I hope. I don't feel it was a mistake, just a learning opportunity. I'll be back into medium format before too long, but now is not the time. Now comes the debate on which lenses to buy...


Get the white one.  Everybody loves those

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear




----------



## waday

limr said:


> Yup, snowed here, too, This is what I woke up to:


That's horrifying.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, snowed here, too, This is what I woke up to:
> 
> 
> 
> That's horrifying.
Click to expand...


Really? I thought it was beautiful.

Oh, and hey there, stranger!


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning coffee lovers. Cold and winter feeling this morning which is strange since I was watching baseball yesterday on TV. Met with @astroNikon  on Saturday and had a good time testing out my Sigma 150-600. Worked great on the tripod in his basement but it was snowing so the testing outside was challenging. Outside, didn't care for most of the shots with the lens on his body nor mine, still not sure about this thing, looks to me like a waste of $1000 piece of glass. Steve wasn't sure either. Learned a few thing about my camera and waiting for a nice, warm, sunny day to put it through some more tests. Steve does some cool shots of airplanes and astrology photo's, I was trying *not *to get too interested in the astro stuff because I will be going out and buying a $5000 telescope next!. On Sunday, went to a retirement party of one of my buds, 40 years at GM.  All his daughters were there which I have not seen in a long time, man I felt old as they are all grown up and woman now, geez, where has time gone?


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, snowed here, too, This is what I woke up to:
> 
> 
> 
> That's horrifying.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Really? I thought it was beautiful.
> 
> Oh, and hey there, stranger!
Click to expand...

 I love Winter, but I'm ready for warmer weather.

Hi!  I've been really busy lately, so I haven't been able to sign on as much!


----------



## KenC

waday said:


> I love Winter, but I'm ready for warmer weather.
> 
> Hi!  I've been really busy lately, so I haven't been able to sign on as much!



Well, there's something for everyone in SE Pa. this week, from highs in the 60's to barely over 40, plus some rain.

Welcome back!


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, snowed here, too, This is what I woke up to:
> 
> 
> 
> That's horrifying.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Really? I thought it was beautiful.
> 
> Oh, and hey there, stranger!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I love Winter, but I'm ready for warmer weather.
> 
> Hi!  I've been really busy lately, so I haven't been able to sign on as much!
Click to expand...


Maybe I would be ready for it too if it had actually been a real winter this year, but I was cheated so I'm taking what I can get!


----------



## snowbear

To help those that are in colder areas and don't want to be, something tropical: my latest fountain pen sketch.
The theme was "umbrella", but the previous "citrus fruit" or "morning beverage" could work, as well.




FPN Weekly Sketch #22 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## waday

KenC said:


> Well, there's something for everyone in SE Pa. this week, from highs in the 60's to barely over 40, plus some rain.
> 
> Welcome back!


Thanks!  Seriously, this weeks is a perfect example of how the weather has been all over the place lately. In the past few weeks, we've gone from the 30's to the 70's to the 30's.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> To help those that are in colder areas and don't want to be, something tropical: my latest fountain pen sketch.
> The theme was "umbrella", but the previous "citrus fruit" or "morning beverage" could work, as well.


Lovely sketch!


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> Hi!  I've been really busy lately, so I haven't been able to sign on as much!



While you were out in that real world place, did you happen to notice California sliding into the ocean or maybe Gary A plummeting to his death?  He's on the missing list too, were getting ready to put his face on a milk carton so thought I'd check first.

WB BTW.. lol


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> ... were getting ready to put his face on a milk carton so thought I'd check first.
> 
> WB BTW.. lol


 But being as he's a Californian, it would have to be soy "milk", right?


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi!  I've been really busy lately, so I haven't been able to sign on as much!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> While you were out in that real world place, did you happen to notice California sliding into the ocean or maybe Gary A plummeting to his death?  He's on the missing list too, were getting ready to put his face on a milk carton so thought I'd check first.
> 
> WB BTW.. lol
Click to expand...


Someone probably pissed him off. Hope it wasn't me.


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi!  I've been really busy lately, so I haven't been able to sign on as much!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> While you were out in that real world place, did you happen to notice California sliding into the ocean or maybe Gary A plummeting to his death?  He's on the missing list too, were getting ready to put his face on a milk carton so thought I'd check first.
> 
> WB BTW.. lol
Click to expand...

Thanks! You, too, by the way!

Hmm... poor Gary. I did notice his absence. Maybe he doesn't know that I'm back, yet?


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> Hmm... poor Gary. I did notice his absence. Maybe he doesn't know that I'm back, yet?



Yup.. that's probably it.. lol


----------



## minicoop1985

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Howdy hosers. Sold the Mamiya already. It's going to a good home I hope. I don't feel it was a mistake, just a learning opportunity. I'll be back into medium format before too long, but now is not the time. Now comes the debate on which lenses to buy...
> 
> 
> 
> Get the white one.  Everybody loves those
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

My options are more black than anything else. lol


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Howdy hosers. Sold the Mamiya already. It's going to a good home I hope. I don't feel it was a mistake, just a learning opportunity. I'll be back into medium format before too long, but now is not the time. Now comes the debate on which lenses to buy...
> 
> 
> 
> Get the white one.  Everybody loves those
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My options are more black than anything else. lol
Click to expand...


See, now there's a black lenses matter joke just hanging there but it can't be used because of the can of worms it might open.

Sheesh.  Thanks Coop.

Lol


----------



## astroNikon

jcdeboever said:


> Good morning coffee lovers. Cold and winter feeling this morning which is strange since I was watching baseball yesterday on TV. Met with @astroNikon  on Saturday and had a good time testing out my Sigma 150-600. Worked great on the tripod in his basement but it was snowing so the testing outside was challenging. Outside, didn't care for most of the shots with the lens on his body nor mine, still not sure about this thing, looks to me like a waste of $1000 piece of glass. Steve wasn't sure either. Learned a few thing about my camera and waiting for a nice, warm, sunny day to put it through some more tests. Steve does some cool shots of airplanes and astrology photo's, I was trying *not *to get too interested in the astro stuff because I will be going out and buying a $5000 telescope next!. On Sunday, went to a retirement party of one of my buds, 40 years at GM.  All his daughters were there which I have not seen in a long time, man I felt old as they are all grown up and woman now, geez, where has time gone?


Yes, photography in a blizzard seems to cause AF systems problems.
and the freezing cold didn't help either.
At least you have some sharp pics of bizarre halloween candles.


----------



## robbins.photo

astroNikon said:


> Yes, photography in a blizzard seems to cause AF systems problems.
> and the freezing cold didn't help either.
> At least you have some sharp pics of bizarre halloween candles.



So you invite the guy over, and he follows you down to your basement...

Quick guess, he's never actually seen Silence of the Lambs?

Lol


----------



## astroNikon

robbins.photo said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, photography in a blizzard seems to cause AF systems problems.
> and the freezing cold didn't help either.
> At least you have some sharp pics of bizarre halloween candles.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So you invite the guy over, and he follows you down to your basement...
> 
> Quick guess, he's never actually seen Silence of the Lambs?
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...

The pit was covered in another room
but my taser was in my back pocket
and the moths were still hibernating from the winter.


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, photography in a blizzard seems to cause AF systems problems.
> and the freezing cold didn't help either.
> At least you have some sharp pics of bizarre halloween candles.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So you invite the guy over, and he follows you down to your basement...
> 
> Quick guess, he's never actually seen Silence of the Lambs?
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...

Well, he wasn't dressed in drag and no butterfly's flying around so I felt reasonably safe Clarice. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Well, he wasn't dressed in drag and no butterfly's flying around so I felt reasonably safe Clarice.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



He wasn't dressed in drag?  Huh.  Well, WTG Astro!


----------



## jcdeboever

I did notice some couch's and a van in his back yard though. I have too many skin tags.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## astroNikon

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, he wasn't dressed in drag and no butterfly's flying around so I felt reasonably safe Clarice.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He wasn't dressed in drag?  Huh.  Well, WTG Astro!
Click to expand...

I did have a few Zombies tied up in the other room.  But they weren't hungry.


----------



## astroNikon

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, he wasn't dressed in drag and no butterfly's flying around so I felt reasonably safe Clarice.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He wasn't dressed in drag?  Huh.  Well, WTG Astro!
Click to expand...

I also was telling him about your convert to FF and the advantages to that, especially if you use a camera to take photos !!


----------



## robbins.photo

astroNikon said:


> I also was telling him about your convert to FF and the advantages to that, especially if you use a camera to take photos !!



Lol.. must admit I've been loving FF.  Doubt I could go back to APS-C at this point.  Even in good lighting where I don't really need the lowlight advantage I can tell the difference in how it renders.

I am going to need a monster telephoto next, saving up for something in the 150-600 range now.


----------



## robbins.photo

astroNikon said:


> I did have a few Zombies tied up in the other room.  But they weren't hungry.



Were the zombies dressed in drag?

You know what, on second thought, don't answer that... lol


----------



## minicoop1985

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Howdy hosers. Sold the Mamiya already. It's going to a good home I hope. I don't feel it was a mistake, just a learning opportunity. I'll be back into medium format before too long, but now is not the time. Now comes the debate on which lenses to buy...
> 
> 
> 
> Get the white one.  Everybody loves those
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My options are more black than anything else. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> See, now there's a black lenses matter joke just hanging there but it can't be used because of the can of worms it might open.
> 
> Sheesh.  Thanks Coop.
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...



ROFL. I'm not going there either.


----------



## astroNikon

robbins.photo said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> I also was telling him about your convert to FF and the advantages to that, especially if you use a camera to take photos !!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lol.. must admit I've been loving FF.  Doubt I could go back to APS-C at this point.  Even in good lighting where I don't really need the lowlight advantage I can tell the difference in how it renders.
> 
> I am going to need a monster telephoto next, saving up for something in the 150-600 range now.
Click to expand...

Same thing I thought when I got the d600.  But I came from a d7000 16mp


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's parade time! from the comfort of home. Just heard the latest forecast - the temperature is going to drop like a rock. I may make it thru the first pitch, then unless a hockey game breaks out on the field I'm probably done.


----------



## robbins.photo

astroNikon said:


> Same thing I thought when I got the d600.  But I came from a d7000 16mp



Solved my limited buffer issue I had with the 7100 as well, so pretty happy camper overall.  The AF system doesn't have as many AF points as the 7100, but that wasn't an issue for me since I usually use one, and I think at most I'll use up to 9 - pretty rare for me to give the camera many more choices than that.

It was pretty nice that almost all of the control systems are pretty much a mirror to the 7100, so not a huge learning curve there.  All in all very happy with the decision to upgrade, I notice a difference in all of the results but especially the ones I shoot indoors in less than ideal lighting conditions.  I can get shots with the D600 and the Tamron 70-300mm 4.5-5.6 that the 7100 would struggle with even using a 70-200mm 2.8.


----------



## pixmedic

Hope everyone's morning is going well. Mine is going like this...







Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi!  I've been really busy lately, so I haven't been able to sign on as much!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> While you were out in that real world place, did you happen to notice California sliding into the ocean or maybe Gary A plummeting to his death?  He's on the missing list too, were getting ready to put his face on a milk carton so thought I'd check first.
> 
> WB BTW.. lol
Click to expand...




tirediron said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... were getting ready to put his face on a milk carton so thought I'd check first.
> 
> WB BTW.. lol
> 
> 
> 
> But being as he's a Californian, it would have to be soy "milk", right?
Click to expand...


We're talking about Gary . . . it'll be a box of Cali wine.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> To help those that are in colder areas and don't want to be, something tropical: my latest fountain pen sketch.
> The theme was "umbrella", but the previous "citrus fruit" or "morning beverage" could work, as well.
> 
> 
> 
> Lovely sketch!
Click to expand...


Thank you.


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


> Hope everyone's morning is going well. Mine is going like this...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk



Somebody left all that crap on your doorstep, rang the doorbell and ran?

Happens here all the time too.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> We're talking about Gary . . . it'll be a box of Cali wine.



Which is where we should post his Have you seen this Gary pic... forget the milk cartons, nobody who drinks milk would recognize him anyway.

Genius Snowbear, absolute genius...


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi!  I've been really busy lately, so I haven't been able to sign on as much!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> While you were out in that real world place, did you happen to notice California sliding into the ocean or maybe Gary A plummeting to his death?  He's on the missing list too, were getting ready to put his face on a milk carton so thought I'd check first.
> 
> WB BTW.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Someone probably pissed him off. Hope it wasn't me.
Click to expand...


Probably me - seems to be my specialty, lately, between internet and IRL.
He's actually around, just hasn't stopped in here.


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're talking about Gary . . . it'll be a box of Cali wine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Which is where we should post his Have you seen this Gary pic... forget the milk cartons, nobody who drinks milk would recognize him anyway.
Click to expand...

If you don't, I'll put something together tonight after work and give it it's own thread.


----------



## pixmedic

robbins.photo said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hope everyone's morning is going well. Mine is going like this...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Somebody left all that crap on your doorstep, rang the doorbell and ran?
> 
> Happens here all the time too.
Click to expand...

Well, it did get dumped on me, and I did have to deal with it.
It was a repeat of Saturday where the first words out of the sending facilities doctor was "just get them there alive if you can" 

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk


----------



## astroNikon

pixmedic said:


> Hope everyone's morning is going well. Mine is going like this...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk


Holy   Bat- EMT !!


----------



## pixmedic

astroNikon said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hope everyone's morning is going well. Mine is going like this...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Holy   Bat- EMT !!
Click to expand...

Intubated and on a vent.
4 pumps.
Neosynephrin, levophed, versed, and fentanyl.
(2 cardiac pressors and 2 sedatives)

Pucker factor 9.5

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're talking about Gary . . . it'll be a box of Cali wine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Which is where we should post his Have you seen this Gary pic... forget the milk cartons, nobody who drinks milk would recognize him anyway.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If you don't, I'll put something together tonight after work and give it it's own thread.
Click to expand...


I shall leave it in your capable hands.. lol


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're talking about Gary . . . it'll be a box of Cali wine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Which is where we should post his Have you seen this Gary pic... forget the milk cartons, nobody who drinks milk would recognize him anyway.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If you don't, I'll put something together tonight after work and give it it's own thread.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I shall leave it in your capable hands.. lol
Click to expand...


Will do.

Yay! My snapping-address-point-to-road-centerline seems to be working again.


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're talking about Gary . . . it'll be a box of Cali wine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Which is where we should post his Have you seen this Gary pic... forget the milk cartons, nobody who drinks milk would recognize him anyway.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If you don't, I'll put something together tonight after work and give it it's own thread.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I shall leave it in your capable hands.. lol
Click to expand...

HAVE YOU SEEN ME?


----------



## limr

Every time I see a thread title with the word "merganser" in it, I think it says "melanogaster." As is drosophila melanogaster. As in the Latin name for the common fruit fly. And I have vivid flashbacks to breeding flies to study genetics in 10th grade Bio class (dudes, I totally saw two flies doing it!) and also to chopping off dozens of fruit fly heads in 12th grade AP Bio to study the proteins in the eyes.


----------



## snowbear

Never did anything with flies.  Dissected a coupe of frogs (shot the second on Ektachrome) and a fetal pig in college, but no flies.  I remember messing around with pea plants for the genetics study.


----------



## minicoop1985

We dissected pigs and cats.

I hate being limited to a 50mm lens only... It's driving me nuts. I need me some zooms... Once Paypal releases my money, I'm buying a 24-70 and a 70-200.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> We dissected pigs and cats.
> 
> I hate being limited to a 50mm lens only... It's driving me nuts. I need me some zooms... Once Paypal releases my money, I'm buying a 24-70 and a 70-200.



I would sometimes share bacon with my Siamese..   but ya, about as close as I get going down memory lane.. lol.


----------



## limr

We did an earthworm and a frog in high school, and a fetal pig in college. It was soon after that when I stopped eating beef and pork.


----------



## astroNikon

for one of my kids projects were trying to get some banana, bread, cheese & milk to get moldy.  I'm taking pics of the progress


----------



## snowbear

astroNikon said:


> for one of my kids projects were trying to get some banana, bread, cheese & milk to get moldy.  I'm taking pics of the progress



Someone did this in the fridge at work; it wasn't a science project.  I started taking peanut butter sandwiches and other lunches that didn't need to be refrigerated.


----------



## vintagesnaps

We could do a pool now that bball is done, which will get moldy fastest?? I'll take a banana in my bracket to win it all.


----------



## limr

Nah, my bread's on the bread.


----------



## vintagesnaps

We did frogs in high school. Then took one to math class and attached a string, up and over the light fixture, to make it bounce & dance up and down. Yeah, the math teacher thought it was pretty funny! (Actually he did, I think we knew he was the one with a sense of humor...)


----------



## vintagesnaps

I saw walking bacon yesterday! WALKING BACON I tell you! in the Opening Day parade. Changed channels to a station set up at a different location to see it again.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> We could do a pool now that bball is done, which will get moldy fastest?? I'll take a banana in my bracket to win it all.


I'll go with mushrooms - it gives me a head start.


----------



## minicoop1985

Cheese here.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Cheese here.


Blue would be the best choice.


----------



## astroNikon

it's regular american cheese slice.
To speed up the process the banana, cheese & bread are in a enclosed bag.  Milk in a glass container.  I keep them in the sun as much as possible.


----------



## snowbear

astroNikon said:


> it's regular american cheese slice.


 That's a cheese by-product.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> it's regular american cheese slice.
> 
> 
> 
> That's a cheese*-like* by-product.
Click to expand...

FTFY


----------



## astroNikon

snowbear said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> it's regular american cheese slice.
> 
> 
> 
> That's a cheese by-product.
Click to expand...

It's a 4th grade science project.


----------



## minicoop1985

Oh good god... That stuff....


----------



## vintagesnaps

The processed cheese won't grow mold, it'll petrify instead and be one of his high school science projects.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> The processed cheese won't grow mold, it'll petrify instead and be one of his high school science projects.


Really?

Oh cool.  Write your names in it.. quick..

Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. *YAWN*

So groggy this morning for whatever reason. Wanting the semester to be over so I can sleep for 2 days straight.


----------



## limr

Okay, my stash of instant film officially takes up too much space in my fridge. I think it's time to consider getting a small dorm fridge just for film. And then I'd have more space for film without worrying about pesky things like proper storage for milk and vegetables


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Okay, my stash of instant film officially takes up too much space in my fridge. I think it's time to consider getting a small dorm fridge just for film. And then I'd have more space for film without worrying about pesky things like proper storage for* milk and vegetables *


 Milk and vegetables are a concern?  Huh...  hands up all those who were expecting, "white wine"!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Okay, my stash of instant film officially takes up too much space in my fridge. I think it's time to consider getting a small dorm fridge just for film. And then I'd have more space for film without worrying about pesky things like proper storage for milk and vegetables



I did that once for human heads.

Hmm..  probably TMI there huh..


----------



## Gary A.

The Kamado in action.




Everything is popping in the garden.




Winding down from the long day, yesterday evening Mary Lou and Gary enjoyed the patio and a glass of vino.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. We are having perfect days lately. Warm, dry days with cool nights and always a nice Pacific breeze to shimmer the leaves and bend the grasses.

(IPhone images)


----------



## minicoop1985

HE'S BACK! ERMAGERD

Stuck in a debate over 70-200s. I should start a thread... lol.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> HE'S BACK! ERMAGERD
> 
> Stuck in a debate over 70-200s. I should start a thread... lol.


Ya, because the last time we started a thread outside the coffee house, that worked out so well... 

Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Okay, my stash of instant film officially takes up too much space in my fridge. I think it's time to consider getting a small dorm fridge just for film. And then I'd have more space for film without worrying about pesky things like proper storage for milk and vegetables



Like this?      






It's very happy in the basement, takes up very little room.   I'd be lost without it!    

And look!   This shot includes an unintentional *bonus* selfie!


----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, my stash of instant film officially takes up too much space in my fridge. I think it's time to consider getting a small dorm fridge just for film. And then I'd have more space for film without worrying about pesky things like proper storage for milk and vegetables
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Like this?
> 
> It's very happy in the basement, takes up very little room.   I'd be lost without it!
> 
> And look!   This shot includes an unintentional *bonus* selfie!
Click to expand...


Wow.. I could store a ton of SD cards in something like that.. and I wouldn't even have to plug it in.  Hmm...


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, my stash of instant film officially takes up too much space in my fridge. I think it's time to consider getting a small dorm fridge just for film. And then I'd have more space for film without worrying about pesky things like proper storage for* milk and vegetables *
> 
> 
> 
> Milk and vegetables are a concern?  Huh...  hands up all those who were expecting, "white wine"!
Click to expand...


Silly boy! White wine is stored in the WINE fridge!  I prefer red anyway. And there's plenty of room in the freezer for the vodka.


----------



## KenC

If there's no room for film, you could store the wine at room temp and use ice cubes - just sayin' ...    [wishes he could see Leonore's eyes roll up into her head]


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nice to see that all is right with the world.


----------



## jcdeboever

Famunda cheese, late to mold game

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> If there's no room for film, you could store the wine at room temp and *use ice cubes *- just sayin' ...    [wishes he could see Leonore's eyes roll up into her head]



Do I have to pull this out TWICE IN ONE DAY??


----------



## vintagesnaps

I bet we're going to be a big help in his son doing well on his science project.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> I bet we're going to be a big help in his son doing well on his science project.



I'm just waiting to see how well it goes when they try to explain to mom why the kid got expelled..


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I bet we're going to be a big help in his son doing well on his science project.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm just waiting to see how well it goes when they try to explain to mom why the kid got expelled..
Click to expand...

There is always trade schools.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, hosers. Was admittedly a rough one-kid woke me up really early today. Other than that, today could be a great day. I might be able to buy my 70-200 and 24-70 ish. Might.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Good morning, hosers. Was admittedly a rough one-kid woke me up really early today. Other than that, today could be a great day. I might be able to buy my 70-200 and 24-70 ish. Might.



Morning Coop - Looking at replacing my 70-200 as well, sold off the OS version, most likely will pick up the non-os version next month sometime.


----------



## minicoop1985

I'll be buying the non-OS version. So much cheaper than the OS version, and just as good from what I understand. I may try and see if I can take one for a test drive.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> I'll be buying the non-OS version. So much cheaper than the OS version, and just as good from what I understand. I may try and see if I can take one for a test drive.



I had the OS version, realized pretty quickly I was never using the OS anyway - so I sold it, used part of that to finance the body upgrade and the rest will go into replacing it with the non-OS variant.  From what I understand optically there pretty much the same, and since I don't need the OS seems kind of silly not to get the non-os version since it's about half what the OS version is used.


----------



## minicoop1985

That's what I'm afraid of. Spending $700 more on a lens just to find I don't use the OS I bought it for would make me quite upset.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> That's what I'm afraid of. Spending $700 more on a lens just to find I don't use the OS I bought it for would make me quite upset.



I got mine quite a while ago, back when I had the D5200.  I bought it used, and I ended up selling it for the same as what I  paid for it so no regrets  there.. lol.  So I'll replace it with the non-os version probably next month sometime, and then start putting some money away for a Tamron 150-600 VC.

Ahh.. the joys of being a camera geek.


----------



## minicoop1985

I played with the non-VC and the VC today. It changed my mind, actually. Going to be doing a LOT of handheld panning, and I had WAY more luck with the VC version than I did with the non-VC. And the VC had better AF. The non-VC did a lot of hunting.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> I played with the non-VC and the VC today. It changed my mind, actually. Going to be doing a LOT of handheld panning, and I had WAY more luck with the VC version than I did with the non-VC. And the VC had better AF. The non-VC did a lot of hunting.



For the Tamron's that's true, the non-VC version does have a known AF issue in lowlight.. which, of course, for a fast lens.. eh... not such a great thing.. lol

I'm actually going with the Sigma non-OS for that reason rather than looking at the Tamron non-VC.  I was always happy with the Sigma OS so don't think it will be any problem switching to the non-os version.


----------



## minicoop1985

Yeah, I think you're safer there. The IQ of the VC Tamron is better than the Sigma, but that's to be expected for $700 more.... lol


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Yeah, I think you're safer there. The IQ of the VC Tamron is better than the Sigma, but that's to be expected for $700 more.... lol


Lol.. exactly.  Would love to have the tamron vc version but it's a hefty price tag, especially when I want a 150-600 sometime this year as well.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Oh god, gear talk...


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Oh god, gear talk...



Granted, it's no where near as intellectually stimulating as say, talking about refrigerators to store film..   Honestly, still on the edge of my seat waiting to hear how that particular cliff hanger turns out.  

P.S. Fully expecting an I'm offended graphic here, since you haven't used it yet today.. lol


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh god, gear talk...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Granted, it's no where near as intellectually stimulating as say, talking about refrigerators to store film..   Honestly, still on the edge of my seat waiting to hear how that particular cliff hanger turns out.
> 
> P.S. Fully expecting an I'm offended graphic here, since you haven't used it yet today.. lol
Click to expand...


Well, now that you expect that graphic ...

... here's a bunny in a coffee cup!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh god, gear talk...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Granted, it's no where near as intellectually stimulating as say, talking about refrigerators to store film..   Honestly, still on the edge of my seat waiting to hear how that particular cliff hanger turns out.
> 
> P.S. Fully expecting an I'm offended graphic here, since you haven't used it yet today.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, now that you expect that graphic ...
> 
> ... here's a bunny in a coffee cup!
Click to expand...

Ah yes, because nobody expects a bunny in a coffee cup.



Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Never!


----------



## terri

robbins.photo said:


> Granted, it's no where near as intellectually stimulating as say, talking about refrigerators to store film.. Honestly, still on the edge of my seat waiting to hear how that particular cliff hanger turns out.



Well, since you _want _to know so badly but had to be snarky about it....we're not going to tell.  

Unless, of course, you wanna beg.   I mean, you begging _might_ be amusing - at least more amusing than, say, gear talk.


----------



## snowbear

Anybody want to guess what this does?




 

My feet and back hurt from escorting it around all day.


----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> Well, since you _want _to know so badly but had to be snarky about it....we're not going to tell.
> 
> Unless, of course, you wanna beg.   I mean, you begging _might_ be amusing - at least more amusing than, say, gear talk.



Normally of course, I would.  However at the moment I'm attempting to figure out how to get these blasted rabbits out of my coffee.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> Anybody want to guess what this does?
> 
> View attachment 119214
> 
> My feet and back hurt from escorting it around all day.



I don't suppose it takes bunnies out of coffee cups by chance?


----------



## limr

Never!


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> Anybody want to guess what this does?
> 
> View attachment 119214
> 
> My feet and back hurt from escorting it around all day.


A continuous building 3d scanner?


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> I don't suppose it takes bunnies out of coffee cups by chance?


No, I don't suppose it would.



gryphonslair99 said:


> A continuous building 3d scanner?


Ding-ding-ding.  Yep.
The black boxy thing on the very top is a near 360-degree B&W camera cluster; the three smaller black thinks poking out (one up) below that are LiDAR.  It's mainly for public safety use, but there are a few other applications, if the county/other agencies will buy into it.  We have used the company for aerial imagery for a few years now so they did our building as a pilot project ant (relatively) next to nothing.

Similar to the virtual tours available at some real estate sites, but a lot more detailed and geo-referenced.  My legacy in the county will be my fat @$$ in the elevator, holding the door open and in the hallway trying to hide behind doors.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't suppose it takes bunnies out of coffee cups by chance?
> 
> 
> 
> No, I don't suppose it would.
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> A continuous building 3d scanner?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ding-ding-ding.  Yep.
> The black boxy thing on the very top is a near 360-degree B&W camera cluster; the three smaller black thinks poking out (one up) below that are LiDAR.  It's mainly for public safety use, but there are a few other applications, if the county/other agencies will buy into it.  We have used the company for aerial imagery for a few years now so they did our building as a pilot project ant (relatively) next to nothing.
> 
> Similar to the virtual tours available at some real estate sites, but a lot more detailed and geo-referenced.  My legacy in the county will be my fat @$$ in the elevator, holding the door open and in the hallway trying to hide behind doors.
Click to expand...

Not that I'm not just beside myself with excitement over the sciency stuff and all, but...

There is hare in my coffee.  Yikes!  

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> Not that I'm not just beside myself with excitement over the sciency stuff and all, but...
> 
> There is hare in my coffee.  Yikes!
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk



I've done that intentionally - coffee, sweetened with Peeps.
OK - I did it once.  I won't do it again.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Saw this on a photography gallery's FB page today. Really. Now if/what I'd even begin to try to photograph for this exhibit I can't imagine. But I gotta go for it!


----------



## waday

So, I finally did it. Got the Adobe LR/PS subscription.

Also:


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> So, I finally did it. Got the Adobe LR/PS subscription.
> 
> Also:


Congrats Waday.  I gave up a while ago myself and did the subscription thing.  Wasn't thrilled about it at the time but it's working out ok I guess.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anybody want to guess what this does?
> 
> View attachment 119214
> 
> My feet and back hurt from escorting it around all day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't suppose it takes bunnies out of coffee cups by chance?
Click to expand...

 Of course not... it puts them IN to coffee cups!


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Of course not... it puts them IN to coffee cups!



The bunny launcher 5000.  Of course, I should have realized..


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> Congrats Waday.  I gave up a while ago myself and did the subscription thing.  Wasn't thrilled about it at the time but it's working out ok I guess.


Yeah, I've been holding out, because my versions were working well enough at the time. Upgraded my computer and figured, what the heck, I'll add more debt. haha


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> Yeah, I've been holding out, because my versions were working well enough at the time. Upgraded my computer and figured, what the heck, I'll add more debt. haha



I had an older version of photoshop that I was holding on to, then one day I upgraded the laptop to an SSD drive.. as I'm reinstalling everything I get to PS and just thought, oh, the heck with it.  I do not want to have to mess around with installing the base version and then running all the updates.  My version was getting out of date enough that it was seriously time to consider upgrading anyway, so I went the subscription route.


----------



## limr

HEY, HOSERS, LISTEN UP!

Oh sorry. I was dealing with 100+ high schoolers today so let me change out of my teacher voice.

Hey, hosers!

So as I said, I was dealing with 100+ high school students all morning long. Long story short: they are in a program that will potentially get them out of taking the placement exam and remedial courses if they want to come to the college where I work. The program includes 4 campus visits, which I essentially organize and run (among other things) as part of my admin job on campus. This morning was the 3rd visit. 

My feet hurt, my voice is hoarse, and I'm ready to party, by which I mean curl up in a corner and drool.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> HEY, HOSERS, LISTEN UP!
> 
> Oh sorry. I was dealing with 100+ high schoolers today so let me change out of my teacher voice.
> 
> Hey, hosers!
> 
> So as I said, I was dealing with 100+ high school students all morning long. Long story short: they are in a program that will potentially get them out of taking the placement exam and remedial courses if they want to come to the college where I work. The program includes 4 campus visits, which I essentially organize and run (among other things) as part of my admin job on campus. This morning was the 3rd visit.
> 
> My feet hurt, my voice is hoarse, and I'm ready to party, by which I mean curl up in a corner and drool.


Well if it makes you feel any better I haven't had a drop of coffee all day, can't get those blasted rabbits out of my cup for love or money.  As soon as one climbs out, another jumps in.

Plus they keep leaving me tons of surprises that may look like raisins, but they sure don't smell like raisins.



Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> HEY, HOSERS, LISTEN UP!
> 
> Oh sorry. I was dealing with 100+ high schoolers today so let me change out of my teacher voice.
> 
> Hey, hosers!
> 
> So as I said, I was dealing with 100+ high school students all morning long. Long story short: they are in a program that will potentially get them out of taking the placement exam and remedial courses if they want to come to the college where I work. The program includes 4 campus visits, which I essentially organize and run (among other things) as part of my admin job on campus. This morning was the 3rd visit.
> 
> My feet hurt, my voice is hoarse, and I'm ready to party, by which I mean curl up in a corner and drool.
> 
> 
> 
> Well if it makes you feel any better I haven't had a drop of coffee all day, can't get those blasted rabbits out of my cup for love or money.  As soon as one climbs out, another jumps in.
> 
> Plus they keep leaving me tons of surprises that may look like raisins, but they sure don't smell like raisins.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Sorry, not sorry!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Sorry, not sorry!



Thought that might make you feel better


----------



## pixmedic

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

The back is exploding.


----------



## Gary A.

The front is a riot of color.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 119257 The front is a riot of color.


That's such a coincidence, I've got a riot going on out front too.. 

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 119257 The front is a riot of color.


I got three inches of white on the ground tonight and still coming down. @limr would be in her glory. One good thing, I won't have to cut the grass tomorrow. Got up early this morning, went out to the pull barn and serviced the riding mower, oil-filter-plug-airfilter-cleaned carb-sharpened blade-lubed chassis. Same for gas trimmer, and blower. Went to work.

Got home. Tore down and cleaned all my Sata spray guns for final tractor panel paint job on 48 Oliver 70. Did the red bits and wheels, engine /gear train, seats, linkage, and yellow bits...now for the show finish. Those farmers get up early, I will start at 5:00 am. He gets up at 4:00 am every, single day. He will get the heater fired up in his barn. I have not got any dirt to speak of so far (dirt floor in barn). I made a makeshift booth out of plastic drop cloth, wet ground down, keep air line up from rafters, and that has been very effective. He is tickled green with how it has turned out so far. Thing was pretty roached out. I am pretty good at lead work, body work if I take my time. Painting is easy for me, I get chemistry.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 119257 The front is a riot of color.
> 
> 
> 
> I got three inches of white on the ground tonight and still coming down. @limr would be in her glory. One good thing, I won't have to cut the grass tomorrow. Got up early this morning, went out to the pull barn and serviced the riding mower, oil-filter-plug-airfilter-cleaned carb-sharpened blade-lubed chassis. Same for gas trimmer, and blower. Went to work.
> 
> Got home. Tore down and cleaned all my Sata spray guns for final tractor panel paint job on 48 Oliver 70. Did the red bits and wheels, engine /gear train, seats, linkage, and yellow bits...now for the show finish. Those farmers get up early, I will start at 5:00 am. He gets up at 4:00 am every, single day. He will get the heater fired up in his barn. I have not got any dirt to speak of so far (dirt floor in barn). I made a makeshift booth out of plastic drop cloth, wet ground down, keep air line up from rafters, and that has been very effective. He is tickled green with how it has turned out so far. Thing was pretty roached out. I am pretty good at lead work, body work if I take my time. Painting is easy for me, I get chemistry.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Gary went to 'Eye in the Sky'.  (5 stars)


----------



## snowbear

We apparently popped one of the exhaust manifolds or it's gasket and can't get it fixed until Thursday.  Rented a car for a couple days last week and will rent it again on Monday, but it's home detention for the weekend.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning coffee lovers. Paint job done, no runs, drips or errors. This one is for @limr
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> We apparently popped one of the exhaust manifolds or it's gasket and can't get it fixed until Thursday.  Rented a car for a couple days last week and will rent it again on Monday, but it's home detention for the weekend.



That's not gonna be cheap. Sorry to hear that.


----------



## snowbear

YO - LENNY:
Some April showers in Southern Maryland ( a few minutes ago)




DSC_6719 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We apparently popped one of the exhaust manifolds or it's gasket and can't get it fixed until Thursday.  Rented a car for a couple days last week and will rent it again on Monday, but it's home detention for the weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's not gonna be cheap. Sorry to hear that.
Click to expand...

About $600, worst case.  Rental extra, of course.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We apparently popped one of the exhaust manifolds or it's gasket and can't get it fixed until Thursday.  Rented a car for a couple days last week and will rent it again on Monday, but it's home detention for the weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's not gonna be cheap. Sorry to hear that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> About $600, worst case.  Rental extra, of course.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I figured $500 or around there. You must have a pretty old car.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

Thanks for the snow pictures, gents!  We haven't gotten more snow here, but we're still in a delightful cold snap that I am fully enjoying. Apparently later today, we're looking at "A coating to an inch of snow today, mixed with rain; accumulations mainly on non-paved surfaces." So in other words, nothing 

Judgy Bracelet says I took 12,107 steps yesterday, the majority of which were before noon. Judgy Bracelet says I slept a bit over 8 hours but only 2+ of them were deep sleep. Shoulda taken my magnesium. I'd had a wine with dinner, which is fine, but then another glass a little bit later, and drinking wine too late makes my jimmy leg worse (Restless Leg Syndrome) so I bet that interrupted my sleep. Magnesium helps calm the muscles, thus calming the jimmy leg, so it helps me sleep better, but it can also accumulate and cause tummy issues, so it's a delicate balance that I don't always get right.

Maybe I'll just slip myself a mickey before bed tonight


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We apparently popped one of the exhaust manifolds or it's gasket and can't get it fixed until Thursday.  Rented a car for a couple days last week and will rent it again on Monday, but it's home detention for the weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's not gonna be cheap. Sorry to hear that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> About $600, worst case.  Rental extra, of course.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, I figured $500 or around there. You must have a pretty old car.
Click to expand...

2008 Chevy TrailBlazer, 5.3-liter; about 167,000 on the clock.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> Thanks for the snow pictures, gents!  We haven't gotten more snow here, but we're still in a delightful cold snap that I am fully enjoying. Apparently later today, we're looking at "A coating to an inch of snow today, mixed with rain; accumulations mainly on non-paved surfaces." So in other words, nothing
> 
> Judgy Bracelet says I took 12,107 steps yesterday, the majority of which were before noon. Judgy Bracelet says I slept a bit over 8 hours but only 2+ of them were deep sleep. Shoulda taken my magnesium. I'd had a wine with dinner, which is fine, but then another glass a little bit later, and drinking wine too late makes my jimmy leg worse (Restless Leg Syndrome) so I bet that interrupted my sleep. Magnesium helps calm the muscles, thus calming the jimmy leg, so it helps me sleep better, but it can also accumulate and cause tummy issues, so it's a delicate balance that I don't always get right.
> 
> Maybe I'll just slip myself a mickey before bed tonight



The best I can do for ya, ATM:
Ya - RLS is a real nuisance.


----------



## jcdeboever

Oh yeah, it's due. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Just walked to the grocery across the street.  We needed to pick up some _individual serving coffee cups_ and creamer packs for work.  I also picked up a pack of 'shrooms for tonight's omelets.

Grabbed a hoodie on the way out - head is soaked.  Staying inside 'till it stops.


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> ... final tractor panel paint job on 48 Oliver 70.


Pichurs!


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... final tractor panel paint job on 48 Oliver 70.
> 
> 
> 
> Pichurs!
Click to expand...

None yet. Very poor lighting, wait to it gets put back together. Didn't want my camera anywhere near the chemicals and over spray. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I think you're safer there. The IQ of the VC Tamron is better than the Sigma, but that's to be expected for $700 more.... lol
> 
> 
> 
> Lol.. exactly.  Would love to have the tamron vc version but it's a hefty price tag, especially when I want a 150-600 sometime this year as well.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Yeah, but for me, I've decided it's worth it. I'm not looking into the 150-600. I get to play with a Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS v II. I'm actually not impressed with it wide open. The Tamron's equal or actually better, IMO. Took me by surprise.




limr said:


> Oh god, gear talk...




LOL. You could go on and on about your film stuff, I'm sure.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh god, gear talk...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LOL. You could go on and on about your film stuff, I'm sure.
Click to expand...


Honestly? Not really. When I read folks on Filmwasters going on about the minutiae of film gear, my eyes glaze over just as quickly. I mean, I appreciate a good mechanical camera and it's interesting to a point, but discussions about technical issues in general (this includes the fine nitpicking about developing and printing, too) just don't hold my interest very long.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I think you're safer there. The IQ of the VC Tamron is better than the Sigma, but that's to be expected for $700 more.... lol
> 
> 
> 
> Lol.. exactly.  Would love to have the tamron vc version but it's a hefty price tag, especially when I want a 150-600 sometime this year as well.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, but for me, I've decided it's worth it. I'm not looking into the 150-600. I get to play with a Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS v II. I'm actually not impressed with it wide open. The Tamron's equal or actually better, IMO. Took me by surprise.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh god, gear talk...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> LOL. You could go on and on about your film stuff, I'm sure.
Click to expand...

I've been toying with the idea of giving a sigma 100-300 f4 a try, it's a bit of an oddball but it might actually be a better option for me at least.



Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is a grey and drizzly day out here. Today Cook took Gary through the flood control tunnels.


----------



## minicoop1985

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I think you're safer there. The IQ of the VC Tamron is better than the Sigma, but that's to be expected for $700 more.... lol
> 
> 
> 
> Lol.. exactly.  Would love to have the tamron vc version but it's a hefty price tag, especially when I want a 150-600 sometime this year as well.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, but for me, I've decided it's worth it. I'm not looking into the 150-600. I get to play with a Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS v II. I'm actually not impressed with it wide open. The Tamron's equal or actually better, IMO. Took me by surprise.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh god, gear talk...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> LOL. You could go on and on about your film stuff, I'm sure.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I've been toying with the idea of giving a sigma 100-300 f4 a try, it's a bit of an oddball but it might actually be a better option for me at least.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


That sounds a little more practical, actually. Particularly if you're using it at a zoo a lot. For me, it's mostly panning at a racetrack, nature walks, and general product/commercial crap. I don't need 400 or even 300mm.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> That sounds a little more practical, actually. Particularly if you're using it at a zoo a lot. For me, it's mostly panning at a racetrack, nature walks, and general product/commercial crap. I don't need 400 or even 300mm.



That's more or less where my head is at too, I'll lose a stop vrs the 2.8 but with the full frame that's no longer critical the way it was with the crop sensor.

I get more reach, and with a 1.4x tc I can get to 420mm at 5.6, and in certain situations I could even push that to 600 at f8 with good lighting with the 2x, so a lot of versatility there for one lens

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Snow here, in the wee hours. On the ground. In April. I went back to bed.

And later when I got up, the sun was out and it was aaalllllll gone!


----------



## Gary A.

On such a cool and drizzly day ... Chicken Soup is required. (Halfway there ...)


----------



## Gary A.

Fini, all herbed up.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 119323 Fini, all herbed up.



Homemade chilli, been on stove since 10:00am. 





Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Mmmmhhhh ... Gary can smell the pasta from here. (I'll bring the vino.)


----------



## minicoop1985

Guten morgen, Hosers. Actually not so rough this morning. Three cups of coffee will do that, though.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Guten morgen, Hosers. Actually not so rough this morning. Three cups of coffee will do that, though.


Mt Dew, out zoo walking, yup, going to be a good day

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Two cups of coffee with my homemade "chocolate chip cookie dough" creamer, two quick sketches done for a new fountain pen forum; dishes are caught up but I still need to wash some clothes.

The truck repair strategy has changed.  We were going to park it in the food store lot, across the street and have someone come out to fix it (I am not allowed to work on vehicles in the apartment lot and don't have my tools ATM).  The bill would be $620, and we were hoping they would be here Thursday.  It seems they can't do it until the end of the month, so we are going to have to limp it to to GMC place up the road.  We just can't win.

Rant time.  I'm refusing to post on the older fountain pen forum.  One member posted a sketch of a condom for the theme "umbrella" (it was not, IMO in bad taste).  The sketch, and some related posts were deleted without warning or explanation.  Two of us expressed our disappointment in the removal of the sketch, and those posts were removed.  I sent a PM to the Admin requesting my account be deleted due to what we perceive as censorship, and I received a message back that things will be under review by all admins and mods.  A note was put on the thread that some posts are under review and currently not visible.

While I have no issue with things being hidden pending review by the powers, I think some dialogue at least, should be given beforehand, like as goes on here (mod's warnings to cut it out).  In this case, it was not spam, the sketch was in good taste (a purple-colored condom, rolled up) and did not break any posted rules.  We shall see what happens, but until then, I won't post there.

End rant.  Thank you for listening.  I need to pet a kitty.


----------



## minicoop1985

Paypal released my money! That means I can get my 28-75 and 70-200 tomorrow! Yay!


----------



## minicoop1985

Less than an hour... I'm so excited...  I really hope they have the 28-75 in stock.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  I won't even say which morning it is because I'm sure the pain is widespread.  Coffee and chocolate breakfast biscuits are my approach to this so far.


----------



## waday

Does anybody watch "Catastrophe" on Amazon Prime? The second season just came out. I love that show; I don't know of a recent show that has made me laugh out loud as frequent as that show.

Just wish it came out in batches larger than 6 episodes.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Paypal released my money! That means I can get my 28-75 and 70-200 tomorrow! Yay!


Congrats, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you... 

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, I ended up ordering the 28-75 off KEH for $200 less. There wasn't a great deal on the 70-200 there, so I bought new at the local shop. I do like supporting small business. I even had a chance to test it out! I love it so far.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Well, I ended up ordering the 28-75 off KEH for $200 less. There wasn't a great deal on the 70-200 there, so I bought new at the local shop. I do like supporting small business. I even had a chance to test it out! I love it so far.



Sweet.  I love the smell of new gear in the morning.  Well, any time of day really.. lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

What's chocolate chip coffee creamer? Recipe please.

I think I'm too tired today for anything else on here to sink in or make sense - except chocolate and coffee.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> What's chocolate chip coffee creamer? Recipe please.



I just finally got the rabbits out of my coffee cup.  If I see anything that looks anything like a chocolate chip floating around in my coffee, I'm not drinking it.. 

lol


----------



## pixmedic

Touched down in Iowa with a pt earlier. Rough flight with a vented pt.


----------



## minicoop1985

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, I ended up ordering the 28-75 off KEH for $200 less. There wasn't a great deal on the 70-200 there, so I bought new at the local shop. I do like supporting small business. I even had a chance to test it out! I love it so far.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sweet.  I love the smell of new gear in the morning.  Well, any time of day really.. lol
Click to expand...



I absolutely love the feeling of getting new toys.  I get my 77mm polarizer tomorrow, and my 28-75 should be here Wednesday or Thursday.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> I absolutely love the feeling of getting new toys.  I get my 77mm polarizer tomorrow, and my 28-75 should be here Wednesday or Thursday.



Yup.. nothing better than new gear, always puts a huge grin on my face.  Will be a month or two before I can finance the next lens, but doing fairly well at the moment with what I have on hand so it's all good.


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> Touched down in Iowa with a pt earlier. Rough flight with a vented pt.


 Not sure what that really means, but it doesn't sound like fun...


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Touched down in Iowa with a pt earlier. Rough flight with a vented pt.
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure what that really means, but it doesn't sound like fun...
Click to expand...


Me either, but I know enough to know if I ask he'll explain it and then I'll throw up.


----------



## minicoop1985

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I absolutely love the feeling of getting new toys.  I get my 77mm polarizer tomorrow, and my 28-75 should be here Wednesday or Thursday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yup.. nothing better than new gear, always puts a huge grin on my face.  Will be a month or two before I can finance the next lens, but doing fairly well at the moment with what I have on hand so it's all good.
Click to expand...


How do you like that Tamron 70-300 VC? Is the VC any good on it? I've never tried one.

I also discovered I've been holding the lens all wrong all this time. By flipping my left hand, I made it around 100x more stable and tracking is so much easier.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> How do you like that Tamron 70-300 VC? Is the VC any good on it? I've never tried one.
> 
> I also discovered I've been holding the lens all wrong all this time. By flipping my left hand, I made it around 100x more stable and tracking is so much easier.



Believe it or not, and yes I know this is outright sacrilege, but I actually prefer it to the Nikkor 70-300 mm VR.  The build quality isn't quite as good, granted.. but I actually prefer the way the Tamron renders.  The VC works great, never had any issues with it.


----------



## minicoop1985

I've heard that 70-300s generally aren't all that great, but the Tamron version is supposedly the best of the bunch-better than the Canon too.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> I've heard that 70-300s generally aren't all that great, but the Tamron version is supposedly the best of the bunch-better than the Canon too.



The Nikkor 70-300 VR is top notch, the older versions.. eh.. not so much.  Not sure about the non-VC versions of the Tamron or if there are any differences between the Canon and Nikon version, but I've always loved the Nikon version I have.. I had it and the Nikkor at one point, kept it and sold the Nikkor.

The Nikkor was a great lens, don't get me wrong, but I just always preferred how the Tamron renders - it's as sharp as the Nikkor and I just liked the color rendition better.


----------



## Designer

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Touched down in Iowa with a pt earlier. Rough flight with a vented pt.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure what that really means, but it doesn't sound like fun...
Click to expand...

A patient on a ventilator means the machine is doing the breathing for him.  Jason must keep it going.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> What's chocolate chip coffee creamer? Recipe please.
> 
> I think I'm too tired today for anything else on here to sink in or make sense - except chocolate and coffee.



MLW found these online, somewhere:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Creamer
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1-1/2 cups milk
3 TBS cocoa powder
3 TBS light brown sugar, packed
2 tsp vanilla

In a small saucepan, whisk together first four ingredients.
Heat over low heat, whisking until all are well blended
Remove from heat and add vanilla
Store in refrigerator until chilled
----------------------------

French Vanilla Creamer
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1-1/2 cups milk
2 tsp vanilla

Combine all three ingredients in a quart-size or larger jar
Add lid and shake vigorously.
Use within one week


----------



## minicoop1985

Mmm chocolate


----------



## jcdeboever

Good evening friends. What a day. On the phone off and on all day securing new business, saving old business, and dealing with belligerent employees that need to get fired. Monday. Customer called complaining about driver. Driver denied it and gave his version, he is lying. Customer had him on tape and I seen it. Driver made up more lie's. Driver will be fired.

Put my Sigma 150-600 on its dock and dialed it in. Did a test shoot and it appears to be working fine. Now I can get jiggy with it and see what it really can do. Two send ins, one dock adjustment... Think the glass is fine now. 

Working on a old poloroid in my spare time but I think it's toast and not worth any more time. I'll get it back together and think on it. I feel confident I could get it going again but it is very corroded internally. Currently, I have better uses of my time. It is a Polaroid 195. Got it for nothing. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary worked on the pond. He cleaned the filters and moved some stuff around.


----------



## jcdeboever

Wow, that is a serene environment. Love it. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Thank you JC.  It is quite relaxing. A cup of coffee with the paper in the morning, wine in the afternoon ... It's a spot you don't want to leave. The ground cover, that's finally filling in around the pond, is thyme.  The fragrance around the pond's edge is wonderful.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

JC, you dealt with a driver about to get fired, and I dealt with a student who just failed my class. Plagiarism. I'd given him too many chances already, but he hit his three strikes and now he's out.

I've got four more weeks of instruction and I'm runnin' on empty, folks.


----------



## oldhippy

Good morning fellow guzzlers. A little light humor.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, folks. Kid woke me up EXTRA early this morning. Augh...


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> JC, you dealt with a driver about to get fired, and I dealt with a student who just failed my class. Plagiarism. I'd given him too many chances already, but he hit his three strikes and now he's out.
> 
> I've got four more weeks of instruction and I'm runnin' on empty, folks.


Well hopefully at least he put in enough effort to steal from good authors... lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> JC, you dealt with a driver about to get fired, and I dealt with a student who just failed my class. Plagiarism. I'd given him too many chances already, but he hit his three strikes and now he's out.
> 
> I've got four more weeks of instruction and I'm runnin' on empty, folks.
> 
> 
> 
> Well hopefully at least he put in enough effort to steal from good authors... lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Pretty unlikely, I'd say, haha. In my experience, with both my middle school and college students, the writing is typically just okay, and usually very off-topic. Plus, especially at the college level, I take writing samples to start the semester. You don't go from being mediocre to even average overnight, nor does your writing style evolve that much over the course of a semester.


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> Pretty unlikely, I'd say, haha. In my experience, with both my middle school and college students, the writing is typically just okay, and usually very off-topic. Plus, especially at the college level, I take writing samples to start the semester. You don't go from being mediocre to even average overnight, nor does your writing style evolve that much over the course of a semester.



It's just a sad statement on our society that this generation can't even put forth enough effort to cheat well.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

On the writing front, I noticed the other day that a wildlife calendar we have says that the serval has long legs for "reaching into boroughs" - I said to my wife: "look, they can reach all the way into Brooklyn"!


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty unlikely, I'd say, haha. In my experience, with both my middle school and college students, the writing is typically just okay, and usually very off-topic. Plus, especially at the college level, I take writing samples to start the semester. You don't go from being mediocre to even average overnight, nor does your writing style evolve that much over the course of a semester.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's just a sad statement on our society that this generation can't even put forth enough effort to cheat well.
Click to expand...


In the first paper this kid plagiarized, he didn't even change the fonts of the text he lifted from the Internet, so not only did the writing itself give him away, so did the 5 different fonts and point sizes! 






And yet, they are almost always surprised when I catch it. It's really not hard, even when it's not that blatant. As Jon said, a student's writing style and voice doesn't change much over the course of one semester, so copied material n the midst of the student's normal writing usually stands out like a sore thumb. I rarely use a plagiarism-checking software - I just google the sentence that I think is copied and 9 times out of 10, it's right there in the first 3 or 4 search results. It's obviously easier with my ESL students (writing is filled with typical ESL issues until suddenly it isn't).


----------



## tirediron

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> On the writing front, I noticed the other day that a wildlife calendar we have says that the serval has long legs for "reaching into boroughs" - I said to my wife: "look, they can reach all the way into Brooklyn"!


 Sure, but why would they want to?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> On the writing front, I noticed the other day that a wildlife calendar we have says that the serval has long legs for "reaching into boroughs" - I said to my wife: "look, they can reach all the way into Brooklyn"!
> 
> 
> 
> Sure, but why would they want to?
Click to expand...


Oh NO, you didn't!

Wait sorry, that was the Bronx.


----------



## minicoop1985

@limr  You are more generous than ANY of my college instructors/professors. One strike and you're toast there.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> In the first paper this kid plagiarized, he didn't even change the fonts of the text he lifted from the Internet, so not only did the writing itself give him away, so did the 5 different fonts and point sizes!




Well I guess you can at least give him points for copy and pasting the text, instead of just turning in a paper with a list of URL's on it... lol


----------



## waday

Once, some students got a hold of the answer booklet for my physics textbook (probably bought it off eBay, haha). The professor/teacher emailed everyone individually asking if they cheated, and if they did, to be upfront about it to avoid further penalties.

I emailed back saying that if I was cheating, I would have had better grades!


----------



## Gary A.

LOL, Mary Lou works in Adult School, yesterday some weird lady came in arguing about classes. At the end of the day she paid with her sister's credit card, as she didn't have any money.  Then she demanded a refund.  The school informed her that there was a $5 refund charge.  She got all pissed off demanding all her money back in cash.  Finally, she decide to take the class after all and walked out in her socks, no shoes just socks.


----------



## JonA_CT

minicoop1985 said:


> @limr  You are more generous than ANY of my college instructors/professors. One strike and you're toast there.



It might be different because I work at a community college -- but the retention is the big buzzword. Our enrollment has dropped substantially over the last three years, and it's causing big program cuts as a result. It sounds terrible, and it kind of is...but good students get punished when they cut Saturday classes, shutdown degree tracks, etc. 

The other part of it for me: I'm just an adjunct. I know there is specific paperwork to fill out for students who plagiarize, but I'm honestly not sure what it is or where to find it, and since I'm typically only on campus for 3-4 hours a week (and after normal business hours), it would be hard for me to get it/file it. Usually, the students stop coming on their own accord, and it is kind of better that way. The last student I had who plagiarized was scared off by one hallway conversation with her paper highlighted with the word-for-word sections from Google. She never came back after that day, and she received a non-attending failing grade which means she has to pay back her student aid. Win-win.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> @limr  You are more generous than ANY of my college instructors/professors. One strike and you're toast there.



It depends on the class and the situation and the amount of plagiarized material (it's usually just a paragraph or so, not the entire paper.) The first time I find plagiarized material in student work, I talk to that student individually and see what the response is. More often than not, they just get embarrassed and apologetic and promise never to do it again. I hold on to the plagiarized paper and tell them that if they are squeaky clean for the rest of the semester ("And make no mistake - I'll be watching you like a hawk.") then I give that student a chance to re-do the paper. If they turn in another plagiarized paper, though, they are out. 

(This kid ended up with 3 chances only because the second one was just one sentence, the rest of the essay was horrible anyway and would have failed even without it, and also because I was in the middle of dealing with the big high school event and I had no energy to deal with it at that moment. And in the meantime, he handed in his third paper with the copied paragraph, making my case even stronger.)

If the student, however, keeps denying it even in the face of smoking gun evidence, then that kid is out immediately. I'm willing to work with someone who was feeling the pressure, made a mistake, and then feels sorry. I refuse to work with someone who is going to lie to my face.

The other thing is that the majority of my classes are for ESL students who are trying to improve their writing skills enough to get to Eng 101. A lot of them don't understand that copying even one sentence is plagiarism. Others have poorer grammar skills and they might not know how to say something in their own words, and they think they are just "borrowing" the correct grammar. Or they come from a culture that has different rules about plagiarism and don't realize that we consider it cheating, not collaborating. My job is to make them aware of what's allowed and what isn't, and if they do need to copy a sentence or two, how to do it properly with quotation marks and citations.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Once, some students got a hold of the answer booklet for my physics textbook (probably bought it off eBay, haha). The professor/teacher emailed everyone individually asking if they cheated, and if they did, to be upfront about it to avoid further penalties.
> 
> I emailed back saying that if I was cheating, I would have had better grades!


Not that I approve of cheating ... But this reminds me of a genetics final I was taking. In the middle of the final a fire alarm went off and we all had to get up and go outside. The classroom was on the sixth floor of the science building.  When the all clear sounded, a few of us raced up the stairs (we were all jocks, hence in pretty good shape).  We easily beat everybody into the classroom as the herd of students squeezed into the elevators. One guy ran to the front and started reading off the answers from the profs worksheet that he left on his desk.  Shortly after the reader returned to his seat the red-face professor came puffing into the class with this startled look of "How did you guys beat me!" on his face.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr  You are more generous than ANY of my college instructors/professors. One strike and you're toast there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It might be different because I work at a community college -- but the retention is the big buzzword. Our enrollment has dropped substantially over the last three years, and it's causing big program cuts as a result. It sounds terrible, and it kind of is...but good students get punished when they cut Saturday classes, shutdown degree tracks, etc.
> 
> The other part of it for me: I'm just an adjunct. I know there is specific paperwork to fill out for students who plagiarize, but I'm honestly not sure what it is or where to find it, and since I'm typically only on campus for 3-4 hours a week (and after normal business hours), it would be hard for me to get it/file it. Usually, the students stop coming on their own accord, and it is kind of better that way. The last student I had who plagiarized was scared off by one hallway conversation with her paper highlighted with the word-for-word sections from Google. She never came back after that day, and she received a non-attending failing grade which means she has to pay back her student aid. Win-win.
Click to expand...


Yup, I'm an adjunct at a community college, too, and know all of which you speak!  Although, I've also been working other part-time jobs on campus and have been here long enough to know how it all works. I've seen the belly of the whale 

And yeah, a lot of times, the kids just disappear on their own.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> The other thing is that the majority of my classes are for ESL students who are trying to improve their writing skills enough to get to Eng 101. A lot of them don't understand that copying even one sentence is plagiarism. Others have poorer grammar skills and they might not know how to say something in their own words, and they think they are just "borrowing" the correct grammar. Or they come from a culture that has different rules about plagiarism and don't realize that we consider it cheating, not collaborating. My job is to make them aware of what's allowed and what isn't, and if they do need to copy a sentence or two, how to do it properly with quotation marks and citations.



Sounds like you teach similar classes to me. I think the other big difference with these types of classes is that you also get working adults who are putting in 40 hours plus a week and trying to go back to school. Their time struggle is so much more real than mine in college, where writing three or four papers a week really put a damper into my social life . I think a different level of support is needed to help them succeed, and ultimately, that's my job.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The other thing is that the majority of my classes are for ESL students who are trying to improve their writing skills enough to get to Eng 101. A lot of them don't understand that copying even one sentence is plagiarism. Others have poorer grammar skills and they might not know how to say something in their own words, and they think they are just "borrowing" the correct grammar. Or they come from a culture that has different rules about plagiarism and don't realize that we consider it cheating, not collaborating. My job is to make them aware of what's allowed and what isn't, and if they do need to copy a sentence or two, how to do it properly with quotation marks and citations.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like you teach similar classes to me. I think the other big difference with these types of classes is that you also get working adults who are putting in 40 hours plus a week and trying to go back to school. Their time struggle is so much more real than mine in college, where writing three or four papers a week really put a damper into my social life . I think a different level of support is needed to help them succeed, and ultimately, that's my job.
Click to expand...


Put in their 40 hours, go to class, AND very often, raise their kids. Yes, it's definitely not the same thing as teaching a classroom full of 18-year-olds whose parents are footing the bill, and who never questioned "if" but only "where" they would go to college.


----------



## minicoop1985

Is it just me or does $1500 for just photography alone sound INSANE for a first time wedding photographer? NOTHING included.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Is it just me or does $1500 for just photography alone sound INSANE for a first time wedding photographer? NOTHING included.



Sounds to me like maybe I'm in the wrong racket.. lol


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> JC, you dealt with a driver about to get fired, and I dealt with a student who just failed my class. Plagiarism. I'd given him too many chances already, but he hit his three strikes and now he's out.
> 
> I've got four more weeks of instruction and I'm runnin' on empty, folks.


Crazy, most teachers give them access to check their work for it but even if not, plain stupid. I always checked mine just to be sure. Can't recall the website the teacher gave us a login too, it was a strange name as I recall... Oh I remember, turnitin.  

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it just me or does $1500 for just photography alone sound INSANE for a first time wedding photographer? NOTHING included.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds to me like maybe I'm in the wrong racket.. lol
Click to expand...


Right? If I can make that in a weekend, I'd be quite happy.


----------



## terri

Ah, turnitin.    It never mattered to me whether a prof wanted everything we wrote uploaded to turnitin.   Writing is my strong suit, and I can imagine it made their jobs a lot easier.   But I was at a community college where the ethics policy was strong, and enforced routinely.   If your own prof wanted to make an issue out of it after even one occurance, a student could face expulsion, not just failing the class.    This was hammered home on each "Day One" and the ethics policy in full was included in every syllabus I ever saw.    If you were dumb enough to try it anyway, I figured you deserved whatever punishment you got.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> Is it just me or does $1500 for just photography alone sound INSANE for a first time wedding photographer? NOTHING included.


 I would call it "optimistic" unless they have a spectacular portfolio of work to support it.


----------



## Designer

minicoop1985 said:


> Is it just me or does $1500 for just photography alone sound INSANE for a first time wedding photographer? NOTHING included.


But isn't that how much the professionals charge?  Besides; brides will pay any amount you ask.


----------



## pixmedic

And the CEU's continue.
Such a hassle, but has to be done.
This particular class had to be done in person over 2 days.  I prefer the online ones.


----------



## robbins.photo

Designer said:


> But isn't that how much the professionals charge?  Besides; brides will pay any amount you ask.



It's called, "Daddy, come here, I need your wallet..."  Lol


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> But isn't that how much the professionals charge?  Besides; brides will pay any amount you ask.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's called, "Daddy, come here, I need your wallet..."  Lol
Click to expand...


Dude, take it a little easy on the stereotypes, eh??


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Dude, take it a little easy on the stereotypes, eh??



3 daughters.  For me this was not a stereotype but rather the way life worked out... Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it just me or does $1500 for just photography alone sound INSANE for a first time wedding photographer? NOTHING included.
> 
> 
> 
> I would call it "optimistic" unless they have a spectacular portfolio of work to support it.
Click to expand...

Good point.  "Optimistic" would probably sound a lot better in the sales brochure than "Insane"


Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Good, I'm not alone.



Nope, you're not.

Of course, with this crowd whether or not you'd be better off that way is debatable.

Highly debatable.  Lol


----------



## minicoop1985

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it just me or does $1500 for just photography alone sound INSANE for a first time wedding photographer? NOTHING included.
> 
> 
> 
> I would call it "optimistic" unless they have a spectacular portfolio of work to support it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Good point.  "Optimistic" would probably sound a lot better in the sales brochure than "Insane"
> 
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...



Good. I'm not alone. Professionals charge that when they're worth it, IIRC.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it just me or does $1500 for just photography alone sound INSANE for a first time wedding photographer? NOTHING included.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds to me like maybe I'm in the wrong racket.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Right? If I can make that in a weekend, I'd be quite happy.
Click to expand...

Gary has a wedding/studio photog friend who charges $12,000 to $15,000 a pop.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it just me or does $1500 for just photography alone sound INSANE for a first time wedding photographer? NOTHING included.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds to me like maybe I'm in the wrong racket.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Right? If I can make that in a weekend, I'd be quite happy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I have a wedding/studio photog friend who charges $12,000 to $15,000 a pop.
Click to expand...


Is he by chance in the market to adopt?  I'm big, but I don't eat much.


----------



## Gary A.

He already has a family. Out here that's not the top end for wedding photogs. He's like a notch down from the top.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

Flatbread and steaks tonight. All paired with a Lorenzi Bordello. Life is good.


----------



## JonA_CT

Looks good, Gary. 

Wedding photography is a funny thing, I guess, and must be highly regionalized as far as costs go. I was the first one of my friends married, and we did it while we were both in grad school, no parent help, etc. We paid $800 for a really crappy photographer, although I didn't really truly realize how bad until my friends started getting married and once I started looking at lots of photos on this site. Things here in CT are usually relatively expensive compared to other places (although we have nothing on SoCal), but none of my friends spent less than about $2500 on their photographers, and I don't think it included the print costs. 

I'm on Spring Break this week -- much different than before I had my daughter. I used to be able to sleep in a bit, stay in my pajamas until 10, take another nap...but her schedule didn't shift because I didn't have to work! I guess the strange part is that 5:30am doesn't feel too bad anymore, and I feel down right cheery with 5-6 hours of sleep.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> He already has a family. Out here that's not the top end for wedding photogs. He's like a notch down from the top.



Ok, well I'm not looking to move in or anything.. I was thinking more along the lines of he sends me money/camera equipment hand me downs, I send him a post card once a month telling him how I'm doing and thanking him.. that sort of thing.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it just me or does $1500 for just photography alone sound INSANE for a first time wedding photographer? NOTHING included.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds to me like maybe I'm in the wrong racket.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Right? If I can make that in a weekend, I'd be quite happy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary has a wedding/studio photog friend who charges $12,000 to $15,000 a pop.
Click to expand...



HOLY CRAP. But it's not their first rodeo, I'm assuming...


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Gary has a wedding/studio photog friend who charges $12,000 to $15,000 a pop.
> 
> HOLY CRAP. But it's not their first rodeo, I'm assuming...



But you know this might actually be something for Stradahouvious to contemplate.  Raise his fee for pet sessions to $5000 per session.  Even got the perfect business name for him:

"Bend over and Bark Photography"

Lol


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> He already has a family. Out here that's not the top end for wedding photogs. He's like a notch down from the top.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, well I'm not looking to move in or anything.. I was thinking more along the lines of he sends me money/camera equipment hand me downs, I send him a post card once a month telling him how I'm doing and thanking him.. that sort of thing.
Click to expand...

That's different ... Gary will run it by him.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> That's different ... I'll run it by him.



Might want to invite Sally Struthers along.. she'll pretty much show up anywhere for a free lunch.. lol.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it just me or does $1500 for just photography alone sound INSANE for a first time wedding photographer? NOTHING included.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds to me like maybe I'm in the wrong racket.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Right? If I can make that in a weekend, I'd be quite happy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary has a wedding/studio photog friend who charges $12,000 to $15,000 a pop.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> HOLY CRAP. But it's not their first rodeo, I'm assuming...
Click to expand...

He's pretty established, he's book a year or so in advance. He has different packages, multiple sittings and stuff.  He is very very good.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Looks good, Gary.
> 
> Wedding photography is a funny thing, I guess, and must be highly regionalized as far as costs go. I was the first one of my friends married, and we did it while we were both in grad school, no parent help, etc. We paid $800 for a really crappy photographer, although I didn't really truly realize how bad until my friends started getting married and once I started looking at lots of photos on this site. Things here in CT are usually relatively expensive compared to other places (although we have nothing on SoCal), but none of my friends spent less than about $2500 on their photographers, and I don't think it included the print costs.
> 
> I'm on Spring Break this week -- much different than before I had my daughter. I used to be able to sleep in a bit, stay in my pajamas until 10, take another nap...but her schedule didn't shift because I didn't have to work! I guess the strange part is that 5:30am doesn't feel too bad anymore, and I feel down right cheery with 5-6 hours of sleep.


Gary spent $4000 on my wedding photography. This was back in the early '80s.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's different ... I'll run it by him.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Might want to invite Sally Struthers along.. she'll pretty much show up anywhere for a free lunch.. lol.
Click to expand...

How the hell did Sally get into this conversation?


----------



## minicoop1985

I think we spent in the neighborhood of $2500 for one of the best photographers in the area. He's WAY raised his prices since, but what the market will bear here isn't $15,000.

My little family is complete! 5D mark II, 50mm 1.8 STM, 70-200 2.8 VC, and 28-75 2.8. Now to test the 28-75.




2016-04-13_09-01-00 by Michael Long, on Flickr


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> How the hell did Sally get into this conversation?



Just seemed like a natural choice.. lol


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... Okay, bring her along.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is working on his first cup. It is smooth and rich. Six feet away, an Anna's hummer, is at the front feeder chugging down its breakfast. Another June Gloom type of morning here, cool with gray skies. 

Today is BBQ sauce making day.  Gary is out of sauce.  Yesterday he purchased all the fixin's but ran out of time for the mixin. So hopefully, today will be less hectic and he can get his life and his BBQ sauce, (Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce), back on track.

From today's Los Angeles Times Op-Ed page- " The Gallup/Purina Poll of 1,427 Republican household pets shows a dead heat across species for Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz.  The nationwide poll - the first conducted with sensors attached to animals as they viewed videos of the candidates - has a 63% margin of error. ..."

The article is entertaining and well worth the read.

G


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, hosers, I tested my 28-75. So far, it's sharp enough, actually. Just gotta get something to test it wide open.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Looks good, Gary.
> 
> Wedding photography is a funny thing, I guess, and must be highly regionalized as far as costs go. I was the first one of my friends married, and we did it while we were both in grad school, no parent help, etc. We paid $800 for a really crappy photographer, although I didn't really truly realize how bad until my friends started getting married and once I started looking at lots of photos on this site. Things here in CT are usually relatively expensive compared to other places (although we have nothing on SoCal), but none of my friends spent less than about $2500 on their photographers, and I don't think it included the print costs.
> 
> I'm on Spring Break this week -- much different than before I had my daughter. I used to be able to sleep in a bit, stay in my pajamas until 10, take another nap...but her schedule didn't shift because I didn't have to work! I guess the strange part is that 5:30am doesn't feel too bad anymore, and I feel down right cheery with 5-6 hours of sleep.



Wow, your Spring Break is pretty late. When do your semesters run?

I have no idea how much I'd be willing to pay for wedding photography. Buzz and I are both photographers and we might be tempted to shoot our own and then just pay ourselves


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> I have no idea how much I'd be willing to pay for wedding photography. Buzz and I are both photographers and we might be tempted to shoot our own and then just pay ourselves



Something about a lawyer who decides to represent themselves in court..  umm.. nahh, I got nothing.. lol


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> I have no idea how much I'd be willing to pay for wedding photography. Buzz and I are both photographers and we might be tempted to shoot our own and then just pay ourselves



LOL that would be rather tough, wouldn't it? I DO *selfie time*


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Wow, your Spring Break is pretty late. When do your semesters run?



This is my middle school spring break. My primary job is teaching reading and writing to 7th graders. I usually teach one class a semester, and I'm an oddity at the community college that I work at because my Master's is in Education, not English. I managed to convince the department chair a few years ago that I'd be a great asset to teaching developmental courses at the college because of my background in pedagogy. I started by teaching non-credit bearing foundational courses. Once our governor eliminated the budget for those, I slid into teaching Composition instead.

I actually really like teaching the two different groups -- different challenges and different celebrations for sure.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Looks good, Gary.
> 
> Wedding photography is a funny thing, I guess, and must be highly regionalized as far as costs go. I was the first one of my friends married, and we did it while we were both in grad school, no parent help, etc. We paid $800 for a really crappy photographer, although I didn't really truly realize how bad until my friends started getting married and once I started looking at lots of photos on this site. Things here in CT are usually relatively expensive compared to other places (although we have nothing on SoCal), but none of my friends spent less than about $2500 on their photographers, and I don't think it included the print costs.
> 
> I'm on Spring Break this week -- much different than before I had my daughter. I used to be able to sleep in a bit, stay in my pajamas until 10, take another nap...but her schedule didn't shift because I didn't have to work! I guess the strange part is that 5:30am doesn't feel too bad anymore, and I feel down right cheery with 5-6 hours of sleep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, your Spring Break is pretty late. When do your semesters run?
> 
> I have no idea how much I'd be willing to pay for wedding photography. Buzz and I are both photographers and we might be tempted to shoot our own and then just pay ourselves
Click to expand...

Be sure you sign a contract and get a big deposit ... just to be on the safe side.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have no idea how much I'd be willing to pay for wedding photography. Buzz and I are both photographers and we might be tempted to shoot our own and then just pay ourselves
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Something about a lawyer who decides to represent themselves in court..  umm.. nahh, I got nothing.. lol
Click to expand...

Gary read about a dentist who would fix his own teeth. One time he screwed up badly and filed a claim on his own insurance.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have no idea how much I'd be willing to pay for wedding photography. Buzz and I are both photographers and we might be tempted to shoot our own and then just pay ourselves
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Something about a lawyer who decides to represent themselves in court..  umm.. nahh, I got nothing.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary read about a dentist who would fix his own teeth. One time he screwed up badly and filed a claim on his own insurance.
Click to expand...

Ehhhh... wouldn't they claim that as fraud?


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary read about a dentist who would fix his own teeth. One time he screwed up badly and filed a claim on his own insurance.
> 
> 
> 
> Ehhhh... wouldn't they claim that as fraud?
Click to expand...


Or at the very least, really stupid?


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, your Spring Break is pretty late. When do your semesters run?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is my middle school spring break. My primary job is teaching reading and writing to 7th graders. I usually teach one class a semester, and I'm an oddity at the community college that I work at because my Master's is in Education, not English. I managed to convince the department chair a few years ago that I'd be a great asset to teaching developmental courses at the college because of my background in pedagogy. I started by teaching non-credit bearing foundational courses. Once our governor eliminated the budget for those, I slid into teaching Composition instead.
> 
> I actually really like teaching the two different groups -- different challenges and different celebrations for sure.
Click to expand...


Interesting that, apart from the 7th grade job, we had very similar community college trajectories. My degrees are in Linguistics (BA) and Education (MEd). I started teaching ESL in the continuing education classes, then got into the credit-bearing development writing classes for ESL students, and then got through the back door of the English dept to teach both developmental writing for native speakers as well as Comp 101 (Research) and 102 (Literature). I have taught middle and high school, but not for very long and not in America. Teaching different sorts of groups and subjects does certainly keep one on one's toes 

Enjoy the break from the 7th graders!


----------



## minicoop1985

My polarizer is here! Now I have all sorts of crap to test! The 28-75, the polarizer, my own skills... Time for a nature hike I think.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have no idea how much I'd be willing to pay for wedding photography. Buzz and I are both photographers and we might be tempted to shoot our own and then just pay ourselves
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Something about a lawyer who decides to represent themselves in court..  umm.. nahh, I got nothing.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary read about a dentist who would fix his own teeth. One time he screwed up badly and filed a claim on his own insurance.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ehhhh... wouldn't they claim that as fraud?
Click to expand...

Gary doubts that a medical policy would have language which stipulates against self-administration.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary read about a dentist who would fix his own teeth. One time he screwed up badly and filed a claim on his own insurance.
> 
> 
> 
> Ehhhh... wouldn't they claim that as fraud?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Or at the very least, really stupid?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, stupid is not a defense against malpractice.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Unfortunately, stupid is not a defense against malpractice.



Not sure I'm quite getting why that would be considered "unfortunate"... lol


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Gary doubts that a medical policy would have language which stipulates against self-administration.



We have signs at restaurants warning us that coffee is served hot and that the doors should remain unlocked during business hours.  

Honestly nothing surprises me anymore.. lol


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, peeps.

Well, it is official; I am finished with the long and oft times grueling Time-Based Fire/EMS Response (fire boxes & run cards) project.  Maintenance has been handed over to the 9-1-1 group.


I really should send them a sympathy card.


----------



## snowbear

I should post a map of this monster.

Actually, I have one more thing to do and that's explain to the poor bast GIS Analyst the actual steps I used to create and maintain it.  It's not really complicated but it is labor-intensive.

Now I have time to develop some other stuff that's been on the back burner.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Looks good, Gary.
> 
> Wedding photography is a funny thing, I guess, and must be highly regionalized as far as costs go. I was the first one of my friends married, and we did it while we were both in grad school, no parent help, etc. We paid $800 for a really crappy photographer, although I didn't really truly realize how bad until my friends started getting married and once I started looking at lots of photos on this site. Things here in CT are usually relatively expensive compared to other places (although we have nothing on SoCal), but none of my friends spent less than about $2500 on their photographers, and I don't think it included the print costs.
> 
> I'm on Spring Break this week -- much different than before I had my daughter. I used to be able to sleep in a bit, stay in my pajamas until 10, take another nap...but her schedule didn't shift because I didn't have to work! I guess the strange part is that 5:30am doesn't feel too bad anymore, and I feel down right cheery with 5-6 hours of sleep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, your Spring Break is pretty late. When do your semesters run?
> 
> I have no idea how much I'd be willing to pay for wedding photography. Buzz and I are both photographers and we might be tempted to shoot our own and then just pay ourselves
Click to expand...

It would be a poloroid, Holga fest

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr




----------



## limr




----------



## limr

Spoiler: Language



http://cdn.someecards.com/someecard...out-loud-instead-of-just-in-my-head-62ead.png



Well that sucks. The image itself doesn't show up, just the link.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


>


and dealing with customers that know not what they want.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Spoiler: Language


linky not active bit I get it.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Spoiler: Language
> 
> 
> 
> http://cdn.someecards.com/someecard...out-loud-instead-of-just-in-my-head-62ead.png
> 
> 
> 
> Well that sucks. The image itself doesn't show up, just the link.


And if I click, I get an "XML file not defined" error.


----------



## limr

Fine, then. Brace yourselves, folks, there's some adult language heading your way!! 

http://cdn.someecards.com/someecard...out-loud-instead-of-just-in-my-head-62ead.png

Edit: GAH! Censorship! Do you see this? I'm being repressed! Come see the violence inherent in the system! Come see the violence inherent in the system!


----------



## snowbear

(think Bevis & Butthead):

Heh-heh-heh - four stars


----------



## jcdeboever

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

You had to bring Monty Python into it. This, of course, has nothing to do with anything.


----------



## minicoop1985

NI!

Mornin, hosers. IT'S ALMOST FRIDAY!!!!!


----------



## oldhippy




----------



## minicoop1985

My new Peak Designs strap came in today! Holy crap, this is worth the $60 I paid for it. Goes in the strap lugs, not the tripod mount-just like I wanted.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> NI!
> 
> Mornin, hosers. IT'S ALMOST FRIDAY!!!!!


My Friday was yesterday.


----------



## minicoop1985

So... I love gear and all. I'm a bit of a techie. But the truth is GEAR DOES NOT MAKE YOU A BETTER PHOTOGRAPHER. I'm specifically talking about a guy who "knows all he needs to" and has a Sigma 120-300 f2.8... But his photos are... well, horrible. White balance isn't a thing. Compositions are absolutely awful. Soooooo much tilt.... Overly HARSH vignette (obviously added in post)... Like think anything that was a tacky, godawful fad, and combine them. Nobody here.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> So... I love gear and all. I'm a bit of a techie. But the truth is GEAR DOES NOT MAKE YOU A BETTER PHOTOGRAPHER. I'm specifically talking about a guy who "knows all he needs to" and has a Sigma 120-300 f2.8... But his photos are... well, horrible. White balance isn't a thing. Compositions are absolutely awful. Soooooo much tilt.... Overly HARSH vignette (obviously added in post)... Like think anything that was a tacky, godawful fad, and combine them. Nobody here.


Not real sure who we are referring to.. any chance I can get another vowel here Vanna?

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


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## snowbear

Could be any one of the featured shooters on YANAP.


----------



## minicoop1985

Someone in an automotive group on Facebook. He's making arguments that are complete nonsense now.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Someone in an automotive group on Facebook. He's making arguments that are complete nonsense now.



See that's why you need to just hang out here, because boy that never happens on TPF....

Umm.. hmm...


----------



## Gary A.

Gear can make your photos better, hence a better photographer. A gifted photographer will improve their images with better gear and better gear will increase consistency. Better gear will increase the success and consistency of a gifted photographer's images more than an ungifted photographer's images.


----------



## minicoop1985

It won't make you a better photographer, though. It will improve the QUALITY of your images, not the content in them. Gear can't teach you composition or posing.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> It won't make you a better photographer, though. It will improve the QUALITY of your images, not the content in them. Gear can't teach you composition or posing.



If you take junk with an entry-level camera you'll probably take junk with a more expensive camera.


----------



## minicoop1985

That's precisely my point.


----------



## Gary A.

If you capture exceptional images with a junk camera, you should be able to capture better exceptional images with greater consistency if shooting with a superior camera.


----------



## snowbear

Wow - a Coffee House sweep for March!  Congrat's, again, to Leonore & Gary.  Now, let's get those Challenge images for April mailed in and enough of this serious photo BS - pass me a _cin-na-nom_ roll to go with my coffee.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> If you capture exceptional images with a junk camera, you should be able to capture better exceptional images with greater consistency if shooting with a superior camera.



I agree with this statement, but it still doesn't teach someone how to take a good photograph.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you capture exceptional images with a junk camera, you should be able to capture better exceptional images with greater consistency if shooting with a superior camera.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I agree with this statement, but it still doesn't teach someone how to take a good photograph.
Click to expand...


Ok, so in general expensive gear is heavier.

Also the more gear you own, the heavier it gets.

The more weight you carry, the more it requires you to slow down

Since your not moving so fast, you miss less stuff.

Blam!

Ok, in seriousness, just as exposure depends on the exposure triangle, so too is there a gear triangle.

1. All gear and little to know experience.. ughh, doesn't work.

2. Plenty of experience but gear that just isn't up to the task at hand, doesn't work.  You can compensate more in some situations and you have a better shot at getting something worth keeping than option 1, but still, sometimes you just can't overcome equipment limitations no matter how much experience you might have.

So all in all, the best outcome will be achieved by having experience and gear that is up to the task.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you capture exceptional images with a junk camera, you should be able to capture better exceptional images with greater consistency if shooting with a superior camera.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I agree with this statement, but it still doesn't teach someone how to take a good photograph.
Click to expand...

The better equipment comes with thicker instruction manuals.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  My concern right now is coffee, not gear.  I've seen some people with lots of expensive stuff that don't really know what they are doing and others with very modest equipment who are great photographers.  I can't help thinking the equipment is only a very minor factor, providing we're talking about reasonable equipment, like any current or fairly recent DSLR or bridge camera.  Of course there are always exceptions for certain specialized work, but for most people I think this is true.


----------



## snowbear

Coffee - yes.
Git the dishwasher emptied earlier but noticed some residue from the wash - running a cleaning agent through it now.  In the mean time, on cup number three. Or is it four?


----------



## Gary A.

Gary never gave much thought to the line of thinking of 'the camera doesn't get the shot it's the photographer'. But, (the big but), over time Gary evolved from FF to MFT to APS-C (Fuji). When Gary jumped onboard the Fujifilm Maru, it was, (and still is), a very young system with few lenses.  The lens Gary probably uses the most in digital photography is the 70-200 f/2.8 (in FF).  Unfortunately, Fuji hadn't any long and fast lenses until recently.  When Gary picked up a Fujinon 50-140 f/2.8 his images moved up a notch in success and ease of capturing a successful image (consistency).

In Gary's case, better hardware improved his photography.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  My concern right now is coffee, not gear.  I've seen some people with lots of expensive stuff that don't really know what they are doing and others with very modest equipment who are great photographers.  I can't help thinking the equipment is only a very minor factor, providing we're talking about reasonable equipment, like any current or fairly recent DSLR or bridge camera.  Of course there are always exceptions for certain specialized work, but for most people I think this is true.


I think that better equipment would improve the vision and consistency rate based upon one's skill and experience level.  The greater the skill and experience the more success the photog will squeeze out of the better equipment. The less skill and experience of the photographer, the better equipment will deliver less success.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> If you capture exceptional images with a junk camera, you should be able to capture better exceptional images with greater consistency if shooting with a superior camera.


I hope to get there in a few years and upgrade to a full frame. I know my D3300 camera can do it, I just am not there yet. I have a nice Nikon F so I am reasonably covered there. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

I suppose it can improve your photography, but it doesn't make YOU any better. That, I suppose, is what I'm trying to get across.
My new 70-200 2.8 VC seems to improve my consistency. The VC is a HUGE help. Still doesn't help my composition, but it's a great help in image quality. Medium format required me to slow down, but despite that, I still had issues with composition and making a technically GOOD image.

Edit: A Nikon D3300 still has a pretty good sensor. I don't  know about processing hardware, but I can't imagine it's HORRIBLE.


----------



## limr

Well, all I know is that I can take good pictures with minimal equipment, but I still want my Hassy, damnit!!

Oh yeah,,,morning, hosers


----------



## robbins.photo

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  My concern right now is coffee, not gear.



Oh is it now.. so tell us then, smart guy.. what are you brewing your coffee with?  Hmmm? That's right, no gear to brew coffee, no coffee.  Humph.

Lol



> I've seen some people with lots of expensive stuff that don't really know what they are doing and others with very modest equipment who are great photographers.  I can't help thinking the equipment is only a very minor factor, providing we're talking about reasonable equipment, like any current or fairly recent DSLR or bridge camera.  Of course there are always exceptions for certain specialized work, but for most people I think this is true.



As in all things photography, ya, it depends.  In most shooting situations as long as you have a certain amount of gear you can usually get the job done.  There are some situations though where your odds of getting a decent shot go way way down unless you've got some pretty respectable gear.

I guess I look at it from the standpoint that gear doesn't make the shot, but it does put an upper end limit on what you can do in a particular shooting situation.  The better you are the closer you can get to hitting this maximum image quality, but eventually no matter how good you are with some gear your going to hit a ceiling, there just isn't any more knowledge or experience can do, you've reached the best quality you can get with the gear you have on hand.


----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!    

Was up late last night, due to a rare dinner out, which included wine.      Still waiting to pour that second cup.   Sew fergiv enee typozzzzzzz.....


----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> Was up late last night, due to a rare dinner out, which included wine.      Still waiting to pour that second cup.   Sew fergiv enee typozzzzzzz.....



Woohoo!  Terri's here.  It's Gear Talk Friday!


----------



## terri

robbins.photo said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> Was up late last night, due to a rare dinner out, which included wine.      Still waiting to pour that second cup.   Sew fergiv enee typozzzzzzz.....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Woohoo!  Terri's here.  It's Gear Talk Friday!
Click to expand...


That's right!    Gear Talk!    Commences!   Now!    So listen up!   

Your first assignment is to put down any camera you have that has a little screen in the back.   Next, obtain a Holga, and a few rolls of 120, 400-speed film.    The film can be color or B&W.    Load your Holga with film.   Next, carefully tape the back down with electrician's tape, and then go shoot with nothing else for a _solid week_.     Take care not to forget to remove the lens cap.    Report back here to display your images.

I hope the above technical stuff wasn't too confusing.   Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it!


----------



## minicoop1985

NOOOOOOOOOOOO NOT A HOLGA Can it be an OM-1n or Minolta XG-SE?


----------



## limr

terri said:


> That's right!    Gear Talk!    Commences!   Now!    So listen up!
> 
> Your first assignment is to put down any camera you have that has a little screen in the back.   Next, obtain a Holga, and a few rolls of 120, 400-speed film.    The film can be color or B&W.    Load your Holga with film.   Next, carefully tape the back down with electrician's tape, and then go shoot with nothing else for a _solid week_.     Take care not to forget to remove the lens cap.    Report back here to display your images.
> 
> I hope the above technical stuff wasn't too confusing.   Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it!


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> NOOOOOOOOOOOO NOT A HOLGA *Can it be an OM-1n or Minolta XG-SE?*


----------



## terri

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> NOOOOOOOOOOOO NOT A HOLGA *Can it be an OM-1n or Minolta XG-SE?*
Click to expand...


^^  What the cat says!


----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> That's right!    Gear Talk!    Commences!   Now!    So listen up!
> 
> Your first assignment



So how long before this message self destructs?  Kind of important info to be leaving out..



> is to put down any camera you have that has a little screen in the back.



My camera has a screen in the back?  Huh.  Well, what do you know, it does.  Weird.  Any idea what it does?



> Next, obtain a Holga, and a few rolls of 120, 400-speed film.    The film can be color or B&W.    Load your Holga with film.



A holga.  Hmm...  well I had a cleaning lady once named Helga.. but If i tried to put film in her.. ya, lawsuit.  



> Next, carefully tape the back down with electrician's tape, and then go shoot with nothing else for a _solid week_.     Take care not to forget to remove the lens cap.    Report back here to display your images.



See, now this is really starting to sound like work.  



> I hope the above technical stuff wasn't too confusing.   Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it!



Well, actually, could we go over that middle part again?  Ohhh.. something shiny.  Gotta go.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, I can't participate. I have lenses to test and a Mercedes to shoot today, and I can't do it with a Holga.


----------



## terri

robbins.photo said:


> Well, actually, could we go over that middle part again? Ohhh.. something shiny. Gotta go.



Look, you started this, and I can get nasty when I'm hung over.    So just read it over several more times until you get it.  

I have every confidence in you.   

But yes, admittedly, this is hard.    Life is hard.


----------



## terri

minicoop1985 said:


> Well, I can't participate. I have lenses to test and a Mercedes to shoot today, and I can't do it with a Holga.


Are you kidding?    A Holga would make a Mercedes look awesome!


----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> Look, you started this, and I can get nasty when I'm hung over.



Well see, there you go blaming me again just because it's all my fault.  Lol



> So just read it over several more times until you get it.
> 
> I have every confidence in you.



But.. umm.. something shiny.  Sigh.


----------



## minicoop1985

terri said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, I can't participate. I have lenses to test and a Mercedes to shoot today, and I can't do it with a Holga.
> 
> 
> 
> Are you kidding?    A Holga would make a Mercedes look awesome!
Click to expand...


Lol. I just can't bring myself to use one... I'm a HUGE stickler for image quality.


----------



## terri

robbins.photo said:


> But.. umm.. something shiny. Sigh.





minicoop1985 said:


> Well, I can't participate. I have lenses to test and a Mercedes to shoot today, and I can't do it with a Holga.



Well, there you have it, folks.   

This concludes the Friday edition of "Gear Talk."    This episode was not a complete failure, however; it clearly proves the uselessness at the heart of all gear talk - trying to convince someone that different gear (ie, something they don't have) can actually inspire them with their photographic endeavors.   

My work here is done.


----------



## minicoop1985

You're right. Despite all my new crap, I still shoot the same stuff the same ways, though I am more inclined to try new things when testing the stuff out.


----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> Well, there you have it, folks.
> 
> This concludes the Friday edition of "Gear Talk."    This episode was not a complete failure, however; it clearly proves the uselessness at the heart of all gear talk - trying to convince someone that different gear (ie, something they don't have) can actually inspire them with their photographic endeavors.
> 
> My work here is done.



So it was all a dirty, underhanded, lowdown tricky bamboozle?

Hmm..

Ya, I can respect that.. lol


----------



## snowbear

Gear talk, Holgas, Mercedes . . . enough of that crap.

Meet Clyde, the ink sample bear (draft 1) in his very attractive scarf of Pilot Iroshizuku yama-budo (Crimson Glory).




Time for another cup with the Cinnamon creamer I just made.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, if we're back to the Coffee House nonsense, man am I run down today. Not sure if it's allergies or what, but man I've been miserable.


----------



## terri

robbins.photo said:


> So it was all a dirty, underhanded, lowdown tricky bamboozle?
> 
> Hmm..
> 
> Ya, I can respect that.. lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah, weather and/or pollen is getting to me today. I want rain! Had a freeze or two this week, those were of no help.

Had my gear fix reading the film thread on starting a darkroom. Would go fix and squeegee some lumen prints but don't want to start on that when there's hockey on later this afternoon.

Have the annual hockey banquet Saturday, that's usually a nice time. Will have to save getting out the Kodak squeegee (my prized possession!) til next week.


----------



## jcdeboever

Happy Friday coffee lovers. I am finishing up phone work and started packing for Florida vacation. Leaving tomorrow and flying 1st class thanks to the wife's AMEX points. Bringing my Coolpix P7100 and the unsold Canon SX60HS. Man, that lady makes me mad for getting her that SX60. At church Sunday, she acted like it is was no big deal and even commented to the wife "it's a drop in the bucket for you guys". I said how would you know what are finances are? My wife gave her an earful and I walked away. 

Wife is beaching and  pooling it. I am going to a botanical garden, Tampa Zoo, and probably will catch a baseball game or two. Might lay like a beached whale one day but it is hard for me as I always think I should be doing something. I can't relax at all, never been able too. I read a lot but not into it with flip-flops and a speedo, especially if I get to a dirty part in a book (speedo tent). Anyway, not sure how much I will be on for the next week, take it a day at a time.  

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Happy Friday coffee lovers. I am finishing up phone work and started packing for Florida vacation. Leaving tomorrow and flying 1st class thanks to the wife's AMEX points. Bringing my Coolpix P7100 and the unsold Canon SX60HS. Man, that lady makes me mad for getting her that SX60. At church Sunday, she acted like it is was no big deal and even commented to the wife "it's a drop in the bucket for you guys". I said how would you know what are finances are? My wife gave her an earful and I walked away.
> 
> Wife is beaching and  pooling it. I am going to a botanical garden, Tampa Zoo, and probably will catch a baseball game or two. Might lay like a beached whale one day but it is hard for me as I always think I should be doing something. I can't relax at all, never been able too. I read a lot but not into it with flip-flops and a speedo, especially if I get to a dirty part in a book (speedo tent). Anyway, not sure how much I will be on for the next week, take it a day at a time.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



I must have missed the rest of the SX60 story.. care to fill us in?


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Happy Friday coffee lovers. I am finishing up phone work and started packing for Florida vacation. Leaving tomorrow and flying 1st class thanks to the wife's AMEX points. Bringing my Coolpix P7100 and the unsold Canon SX60HS. Man, that lady makes me mad for getting her that SX60. At church Sunday, she acted like it is was no big deal and even commented to the wife "it's a drop in the bucket for you guys". I said how would you know what are finances are? My wife gave her an earful and I walked away.
> 
> Wife is beaching and  pooling it. I am going to a botanical garden, Tampa Zoo, and probably will catch a baseball game or two. Might lay like a beached whale one day but it is hard for me as I always think I should be doing something. I can't relax at all, never been able too. I read a lot but not into it with flip-flops and a speedo, especially if I get to a dirty part in a book (speedo tent). Anyway, not sure how much I will be on for the next week, take it a day at a time.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Indeed, I can't remember the SX story, either.

Have fun! If you head up as far as Clearwater, go to Frenchy's South Beach Cafe (351 S Gulfview Blvd). Best grouper I've ever had. There's apparently a Frenchy's Rockaway grill a bit further north, right on the beach. I don't know if it's the same owner or just a similar name. I've never been there, so I can't say if the grouper is as good as the one at the South Beach cafe.


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday coffee lovers. I am finishing up phone work and started packing for Florida vacation. Leaving tomorrow and flying 1st class thanks to the wife's AMEX points. Bringing my Coolpix P7100 and the unsold Canon SX60HS. Man, that lady makes me mad for getting her that SX60. At church Sunday, she acted like it is was no big deal and even commented to the wife "it's a drop in the bucket for you guys". I said how would you know what are finances are? My wife gave her an earful and I walked away.
> 
> Wife is beaching and  pooling it. I am going to a botanical garden, Tampa Zoo, and probably will catch a baseball game or two. Might lay like a beached whale one day but it is hard for me as I always think I should be doing something. I can't relax at all, never been able too. I read a lot but not into it with flip-flops and a speedo, especially if I get to a dirty part in a book (speedo tent). Anyway, not sure how much I will be on for the next week, take it a day at a time.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I must have missed the rest of the SX60 story.. care to fill us in?
Click to expand...

A lady at Church wanted to buy a camera and had a budget of $500. I gave her some recommendations and she decided to go with a refurbed Canon SX60 per my suggestion, $350 + tax. Well, she didn't have a credit card and my wife offered me to get it for her and she could pay us when it arrived. The next Sunday rolled around and I brought it with me to Church and she said she changed her mind. That's the short version of it. It's a nice camera and takes good pictures for a small sensor. It's got a huge reach. I know someone else that has one and a SX50 and they love it. Simple to use, put it on auto and forget about it, or at least for that lady. I've had it for sales locally and not a call on it. I will probably be stuck with it. I can use it for pro games as it meets requirements allowed to bring into stadiums. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> A lady at Church wanted to buy a camera and had a budget of $500. I gave her some recommendations and she decided to go with a refurbed Canon SX60 per my suggestion, $350 + tax. Well, she didn't have a credit card and my wife offered me to get it for her and she could pay us when it arrived. The next Sunday rolled around and I brought it with me to Church and she said she changed her mind. That's the short version of it. It's a nice camera and takes good pictures for a small sensor. It's got a huge reach. I know someone else that has one and a SX50 and they love it. Simple to use, put it on auto and forget about it, or at least for that lady.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Wow... then she turns around and tries to make it seem like your making a big deal out of nothing because as far as she's concerned you can afford the camera?

Man... ok, well, you know this is someone you know from church.  So maybe the best bet would be to pray for her immortal soul.  Preferably while the wife is out in the parking lot slashing her tires.. lol


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> A lady at Church wanted to buy a camera and had a budget of $500. I gave her some recommendations and she decided to go with a refurbed Canon SX60 per my suggestion, $350 + tax. Well, she didn't have a credit card and my wife offered me to get it for her and she could pay us when it arrived. The next Sunday rolled around and I brought it with me to Church and she said she changed her mind. That's the short version of it. It's a nice camera and takes good pictures for a small sensor. It's got a huge reach. I know someone else that has one and a SX50 and they love it. Simple to use, put it on auto and forget about it, or at least for that lady.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow... then she turns around and tries to make it seem like your making a big deal out of nothing because as far as she's concerned you can afford the camera?
> 
> Man... ok, well, you know this is someone you know from church.  So maybe the best bet would be to pray for her immortal soul.  Preferably while the wife is out in the parking lot slashing her tires.. lol
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was really disappointing. My wife was friendly with her, I never could warm up to her. She rubbed me the wrong way before this and my intuitions were correct. I try not to judge people but some people just put off bad vibes and I can usually pick up on it for some reason. When I do, I am polite but keep my distance. My wife dragged me into it. This went on for a few weeks and then one popped up at the Canon refurbished store and thus it began. My wife was pretty irked and come to find out she has given this lady some cash at times too. Oh well, live and learn. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> [
> 
> Yeah, that was really disappointing. My wife was friendly with her, I never could warm up to her. She rubbed me the wrong way before this and my intuitions were correct. I try not to judge people but some people just put off bad vibes and I can usually pick up on it for some reason. When I do, I am polite but keep my distance. My wife dragged me into it. This went on for a few weeks and then one popped up at the Canon refurbished store and thus it began. My wife was pretty irked and come to find out she has given this lady some cash at times too. Oh well, live and learn.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Well sounds like in the long run then you might actually end up saving money, since I doubt your wife is likely to give her money anymore, and you've got a nice little camera to show for it.  I shot an sx50 for a while, pretty decent little camera overall.


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> [
> 
> Yeah, that was really disappointing. My wife was friendly with her, I never could warm up to her. She rubbed me the wrong way before this and my intuitions were correct. I try not to judge people but some people just put off bad vibes and I can usually pick up on it for some reason. When I do, I am polite but keep my distance. My wife dragged me into it. This went on for a few weeks and then one popped up at the Canon refurbished store and thus it began. My wife was pretty irked and come to find out she has given this lady some cash at times too. Oh well, live and learn.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well sounds like in the long run then you might actually end up saving money, since I doubt your wife is likely to give her money anymore, and you've got a nice little camera to show for it.  I shot an sx50 for a while, pretty decent little camera overall.
Click to expand...

Yup, to go along with the other 10

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Well sounds like in the long run then you might actually end up saving money, since I doubt your wife is likely to give her money anymore, and you've got a nice little camera to show for it.  I shot an sx50 for a while, pretty decent little camera overall.


Yup, to go along with the other 10

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

Well give them all grapefruit sized heads with bug eyes, take some pics and send them to Strad's wife, she'll buy them all for her collection I'm sure.. lol


----------



## minicoop1985

What a strange little situation there.

I caved and bought a monopod with a little tripod foot thing on a ball. Was gonna combine it with my ball head, but my ball head broke (well, the thing that lets you rotate it broke). Great, now I gotta buy more crap.


----------



## snowbear

Please keep our firefighters and the civilian in your thoughts and prayers.
2 Firefighters Shot in Temple Hills, Fire Officials Say


----------



## snowbear

Sad news - we lost a Firefighter/Paramedic tonight.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Sad news - we lost a Firefighter/Paramedic tonight.



So sorry


----------



## snowbear

The other firefighter is still in surgery.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh, so sorry to hear that. You just don't usually hear about a situation like that involving paramedics/fire dept. My gosh Charlie, that's awful, I feel for you and your coworkers to be going thru this.


----------



## minicoop1985

Sorry to hear that. I understand that those folks are like family.

Found an identical ball head for $20! I really liked mine, so it's great to have another.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks.   Yes, Michael, it is like family: I may not have personally known him, but it still affects you the same way. Such is the way in public safety.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Thanks.   Yes, Michael, it is like family: I may not have personally known him, but it still affects you the same way. Such is the way in public safety.


Our first responders do amazing work for not much pay and little recognition until tragedy, or a dramatic rescue occurs.   But it's the routine, day to day events that make them heroic.  

You have my sympathies for your local loss.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Taxes have been done for a while and yesterday I posted my payment to the state, so I will not be frantically finishing them up this weekend, as I'm sure many others will be around the country. This is good because it's headache time 

My coffee this morning was poured into a mug from my college that was part of a swag bag I got for being a presenter in a conference on Thursday. See, last semester, I somehow ended up as part of a steering committee to do stuff that SUNY is telling us we have to do. Ah, academia and their beloved committees!   Meanwhile, in an office across campus, another dean was informed that our campus would be hosting a conference and she had to find presenters. Boom, suddenly I'm one of the presenters (thankfully, our entire committee was roped in, not just me!)

And now I have a new coffee mug. Thankfully, it's actually a really good mug.

Happy Caturday! My girls are 6 years old today!** Here they are in their birthday hats on their 1st birthday:












**(Sort of - they were definitely born in mid-April but the shelter didn't know the exact date. They listed anywhere between the 7th to the 21st, so I just split the difference and celebrate on a Caturday somewhere in the middle of that range!)


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> The other firefighter is still in surgery.



Charlie, any word on how that second firefighter is doing? Or why they were shot in the first place?


----------



## snowbear

No, Leonore, but he is expected to survive. There are other firefighters keeping vigil, but I haven't heard anything yet.  The police are investigating and I don't want to speculate, but they were attempting to force entry at the time (the call was a check-on-welfare, no response at the door.)

A couple of days ago, a MD State Trooper was seriously injured when his cruiser was struck.  The Troopers keeping vigil for him, and the Baltimore City Fire Department has reached out, as well.  Yes, public safety is a very large family.

@terri: The firefighter @ Shock/Trauma was, in fact, a volunteer.

From the PIO:
*PGFD Suffers a Line of Duty Death and Serious Injury*

*MEDIA CONTACT: Mark E. Brady, Chief Spokesperson, 240-508-7930
mebrady@co.pg.md.us     @PGFDPIO*
The Prince George’s County Fire/Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Department is mourning the death of one of our own and praying for the best of a second member.Firefighter/Medic John E. Ulmschneider was shot and killed while on a call Friday evening.A Morningside Volunteer Firefighter, Kevin Swain, was shot multiple times and at last check was undergoing surgery.

At around 7:30 pm, Friday, April 15, fire/EMS units from Morningside Fire/EMS Station 827 and Paramedic Ambulance from Forestville Fire/EMS Station 823 with Ulmschneider on-board were alerted for a “check on the welfare” call whereas a family member could not contact another family member that resides in a home in the 5000 block of Sharon Road in Temple Hills. 

After arriving on the scene and receiving no answer to knocks on the door and fearing for the occupants welfare a decision was made to force entry into the house to check on the occupant. As personnel initiated forcible entry several shots were fired from within the house striking Ulmschneider, Swain and a family member that called 911 initially. The home occupant/shooter quickly surrendered upon orders from the police.

Fire Fighter/Medic Ulmschneider, 37 years of age, was transported in extremely critical condition to Med Star Southern Maryland Hospital Center in Clinton suffering from a gunshot wound to the upper body.Despite the very best efforts of medics and hospital staff Ulmschneider succumbed to his injuries a short time after arriving at the hospital.John “Skillet” Ulmschneider lived in St. Mary’s County and was a 13-year member of the Fire/EMS Department.  His normal duty assignment is at Landover Hills Fire/EMS Station 830.  He leaves behind a wife and 2-year-old daughter.

Morningside Volunteer Fire Fighter Kevin Swain, 19 years of age, was flown from the scene by way of Maryland State Trooper 2 to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. He was in surgery at last check and listed in Serious Condition. Swain is expected to survive his injuries.

A third person, an adult male civilian, sustained a gunshot wound to his shoulder and transported to a local hospital for treatment. He was in Fair condition,

The County Police Department continues to investigate the incident.

Prince George’s County Fire Chief Marc S. Bashoor informed the Department of the Line of Duty Death and asked, “Please keep all of our folks and their families in your thoughts and prayers as we work through this difficult time.”

Andrew Pantelis, President of the Prince George’s County Firefighters and Paramedics Association Local 1619, said in a written statement to his members, “This is a day that we have all dreaded in our minds. We are keenly aware of the dangers of our profession but we all have hoped that God would continue to look over and protect us. Now that tragedy has stricken us, we must not fall apart but stand strong and band together to support Skillet's family and those who are closest to him.”


----------



## minicoop1985

Glad to hear he's expected to survive. Regardless, it's a tragedy nonetheless.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry to hear one of them didn't make it, glad the other is recovering. Condolences to you Charlie and your coworkers.


----------



## Designer

Unfortunately this has the feel that the entire event was planned.  Perhaps the shooter wanted to die in a shootout and got EMT's instead of armed police.


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> Unfortunately this has the feel that the entire event was planned.  Perhaps the shooter wanted to die in a shootout and got EMT's instead of armed police.


I'm not sure.  He immediately surrendered the weapon when told to do so by the police officers - they didn't have to shoot.  I'm sure the investigators will release something in a day or two.


----------



## JonA_CT

And this is my last day of spring break. Coffee this morning with my daughter is a little sad -- back to reality tomorrow. I'm really fortunate, though, because I only have 40ish days of school until I get to spend the summer with my family. Our current plan is to head west (you know, Manifest Destiny and all) on an epic road trip -- but in reality, who knows what will happen with a 1 year old.


----------



## minicoop1985

Man, allergies have been getting the best of me the past few days. Now, for some reason, I've got me a sore throat too... Better not be strep AGAIN.


----------



## tirediron




----------



## limr

tirediron said:


>



Okay, I'll admit I giggled, but you should know that I groaned first


----------



## robbins.photo

Ella... Vader... 

Umm.. wow.  Can someone please post some pictures of cats in silly hats?  Lol


----------



## waday




----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Ella... Vader...
> 
> Umm.. wow.  Can someone please post some pictures of cats in silly hats?  Lol



I'm on it!


----------



## waday

Morning, all.

Just had an office move, so now my commute is 15-20 minutes longer. Also, my cube is now half of what it used to be. I backed up in my chair and hit the wall immediately. I can pretty much only swivel in my chair.


----------



## waday




----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Okay, I'll admit I giggled, but you should know that I groaned first


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ella... Vader...
> 
> Umm.. wow.  Can someone please post some pictures of cats in silly hats?  Lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm on it!
> 
> View attachment 119748
> 
> View attachment 119749
Click to expand...


Whew.. good save.. lol


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, I'll admit I giggled, but you should know that I groaned first
Click to expand...


It was just wrong.

On so many levels.


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, I'll admit I giggled, but you should know that I groaned first
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It was just wrong.
> 
> On so many levels.
Click to expand...

 Ouch!


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Got me a sore, somewhat swollen throat. I don't think it's strep, but if it is, I want my tonsils taken out. Seems less painful.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Got me a sore, somewhat swollen throat. I don't think it's strep, but if it is, I want my tonsils taken out. Seems less painful.



Sorry to hear about that coop.  Ran into a bit of a situation here myself.. can anyone recommend a good exorcist.. one who doesn't mind working on a mccaw?




2916 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr


----------



## limr

Macaw. They're not Irish birds


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Macaw. They're not Irish birds


He gets a red X next to that post!    

Morning, well afternoon, hosers.    I walked down to a neighbor's house this morning to have a meet & greet with their animals.   We're going to be pet-sitters while they're out of town the rest of this week.    A cute little dog, and a 25 year old parrot named Coco.         Such fun!


----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Macaw. They're not Irish birds
> 
> 
> 
> He gets a red X next to that post!
> 
> Morning, well afternoon, hosers.    I walked down to a neighbor's house this morning to have a meet & greet with their animals.   We're going to be pet-sitters while they're out of town the rest of this week.    A cute little dog, and a 25 year old parrot named Coco.         Such fun!
Click to expand...


I thought I got a  red x next to all my posts.. lol

As for the McCaw, not sure if he's Irish or not.  I suppose it's possible that an egg might have gotten carried to Ireland after falling into a coconut, by way of an African Swallow, or possibly two European swallows with a bit of string between them.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Macaw. They're not Irish birds
> 
> 
> 
> He gets a red X next to that post!
> 
> Morning, well afternoon, hosers.    I walked down to a neighbor's house this morning to have a meet & greet with their animals.   We're going to be pet-sitters while they're out of town the rest of this week.    A cute little dog, and a 25 year old parrot named Coco.         Such fun!
Click to expand...


How fun! I'd love to pet-sit for a parrot. I still miss my parakeets, Macoco and Cosmo Brown  I'd love to have another bird, but not until I move to a place where it can have its own room. I hate leaving a bird in a cage, so I'd want to keep the cage open, but I'm sure my girls would also want me to leave the cage door open...just for different reasons


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Macaw. They're not Irish birds
> 
> 
> 
> He gets a red X next to that post!
> 
> Morning, well afternoon, hosers.    I walked down to a neighbor's house this morning to have a meet & greet with their animals.   We're going to be pet-sitters while they're out of town the rest of this week.    A cute little dog, and a 25 year old parrot named Coco.         Such fun!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I thought I got a  red x next to all my posts.. lol
> 
> As for the McCaw, not sure if he's Irish or not.  I suppose it's possible that an egg might have gotten carried to Ireland after falling into a coconut, by way of an African Swallow, or possibly two European swallows with a bit of string between them.
Click to expand...


Yes, but what would their air speed velocity have to be in order to carry that macaw egg, hmmmmmmm???


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Yes, but what would their air speed velocity have to be in order to carry that macaw egg, hmmmmmmm???



For all I know the bird might be Scottish and the demon might be Irish.. or vice versa...

Lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

Terri it's not a Norwegian blue is it? They pine for the fjords ya know!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Double feature this afternoon - Cat People 1942, then Curse of the Cat People 1944. If this one is any indication, I hate to think what the sequel is like. So far this girl has been to the zoo and looked at a black panther, and a siamese cat jumped out of a shoebox.

Ooh, spooky music, something's going to happen... maybe walking down a bad film noir-ish alley isn't the best idea. A bus pulled up all of a sudden and squealed really loud, then... she went home. Yeah, this is real suspenseful.

Oh no she's back at the zoo - again! aaand... nothing happened! Should've read the listing first, says storyline and plot elements don't hold up - no kidding! but elements of shock and terror - well, when?? lol


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Double feature this afternoon - Cat People 1942, then Curse of the Cat People 1944. If this one is any indication, I hate to think what the sequel is like. So far this girl has been to the zoo and looked at a black panther, and a siamese cat jumped out of a shoebox.
> 
> Ooh, spooky music, something's going to happen... maybe walking down a bad film noir-ish alley isn't the best idea. A bus pulled up all of a sudden and squealed really loud, then... she went home. Yeah, this is real suspenseful.
> 
> Oh no she's back at the zoo - again! aaand... nothing happened! Should've read the listing first, says storyline and plot elements don't hold up - no kidding! but elements of shock and terror - well, when?? lol


Wait, your telling me a movie with a title like Cat People isn't spectacular?

Wow.  Just so difficult to imagine that.  Although Curse of the Cat People makes a bit more sense.  I've learned over the years whenever there is a sequel to a movie you've never heard of then yes, it's going to suck.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

At least she finally turned into a panther. I guess, all shadows and growling, but cool use of lighting at least.

Oh, she went back to the zoo again. Ooh goody lots of mist. The guy said at least she wasn't lying... he meant about being a panther. Okay then.

I just have to watch the next one...


----------



## minicoop1985

Heya guys. Think I'm gonna go to the doc again for this throat issue. Swollen and inflamed. Oh great.


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> Terri it's not a Norwegian blue is it? They pine for the fjords ya know!



Bah-haha!!!   I'll have to get a picture of her.   She gets a small amount of seeds in her cup, plus 2 peanuts a day.        I can't wait to give her one.



limr said:


> I'd love to have another bird, but not until I move to a place where it can have its own room. I hate leaving a bird in a cage, so I'd want to keep the cage open, but I'm sure my girls would also want me to leave the cage door open...just for different reasons



Exactly.   I adore birds!!   They are so smart and funny, and good companions.    I could never risk having one with my 2 girls, either.    Even if I gave a bird its own room, my Finn is excels at popping open doors, drawers...you name it.   She is very patient when she wants to be - we call her the little engineer.    I could not rest easy knowing she could find a way to get into a room and hurt one of my pets.  

So, I just have to enjoy Coco while I can.


----------



## NancyMoranG

You guys are toooo funny.
I haven't been on a whole lot this year and just read 33 pgs of this forum!!
I am glad Gary got found, Robbins got the bunny out of his coffee cup, Limr is keeping our students in line, Jcbevor (?) is going to my old hometown of Clearwater, Fl... And more...
Thanks for the chuckles...


----------



## NancyMoranG

And on a serious side...thought and prayers to the firefighters in Snowbears town. Jeepers, these guys/gals run IN when others run out....

And thanks to Pixmedic, as it looks like folks are in good hands..


----------



## robbins.photo

NancyMoranG said:


> You guys are toooo funny.
> I haven't been on a whole lot this year and just read 33 pgs of this forum!!
> I am glad Gary got found, Robbins got the bunny out of his coffee cup, Limr is keeping our students in line, Jcbevor (?) is going to my old hometown of Clearwater, Fl... And more...
> Thanks for the chuckles...


Ok, well for the record no, I never did get those blasted bunnies out of my coffee cup, I had to buy one of those stupid cups that looks like a camera lens instead.  All well and good until I hit the zoo and realized my telephoto was low on creamer.  Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary has had a very busy weekend. On Saturday, Gary shot a parade for the City of Hawaiian Gardens. Then he rushed home to prep and cook dinner for seven guests. Gary smoked a Tri-Tip with a reverse sear, also some BBQ chicken marinaded in his homemade BBQ sauce cooked in the Kamado and finished with Gary's homemade flatbread. Mary Lou's salad was so fresh it melted in your mouth.

Tonight Mary Lou and Gary had dinner in Seal Beach. After dinner we walked across the street for the above ...


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Throat isn't doing any better, but it isn't doing any worse, really.

Because I feel like garbage, I got myself something to pass the time.

Speed Champions - Products - Speed Champions LEGO.com


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Throat isn't doing any better, but it isn't doing any worse, really.
> 
> Because I feel like garbage, I got myself something to pass the time.
> 
> Speed Champions - Products - Speed Champions LEGO.com



Morning Coop.  Shaping up to be another red letter day here in happy land.  Should have the money saved up to pay for the deductible on the car this week.  Minor fender bender but major annoyance.  I wish I could be one of those people who didn't need to be bothered with things like insurance, a license... citizenship.. all those annoying little legal details that seem to be such a burden to me but didn't mean a thing to the guy that hit my car.  So I wind up paying a deductible, having my insurance rates go up and all of the associated nonsense.  Sometimes it sucks being the responsible adult in the equation I guess.

So just contemplating lens choices for when I do put enough money back in the camera budget that I can afford the next one.  I guess on the upside though I've got plenty of time to make my wish list and prioritize it.


----------



## limr

A red letter day? As in a scarlett letter A? On your chest? To mark your shame and guilt, and to identify you as an outcast? That kind of a day?










Oh, and as you can see, it's going to be a punchy, snark-filled kind of a day for me


----------



## Designer

robbins.photo said:


> ..one of those people who didn't need to be bothered with things like insurance, a license... citizenship.. all those annoying little legal details that seem to be such a burden to me but didn't mean a thing to the guy that hit my car.


Same thing happened to me years ago.  A guy with no insurance (in California, where insurance is "mandatory") hit my car from behind.  In my mind it was he who was clearly at fault, but he even sued me for damages to his car.  The judge threw it out, but I lost money, time, and sleep before it was all over.


----------



## robbins.photo

Designer said:


> Same thing happened to me years ago.  A guy with no insurance (in California, where insurance is "mandatory") hit my car from behind.  In my mind it was he who was clearly at fault, but he even sued me for damages to his car.  The judge threw it out, but I lost money, time, and sleep before it was all over.



The whole thing was pretty ridiculous, the guy who hit me didn't sue so I guess there is that but I'm stuck paying the collision deductible to get my car fixed.  Thanks to the accident my rates will be going up even though I wasn't at fault, and this guy walks away pretty much free as a bird.

I could take him to small claims court I guess and get a judgement against him, but it would be worthless.  Since he's not a citizen he isn't legally employed anyway so no wages to garnish, it would actually cost me more in time and lost wages than I'd probably get a judgement for and in the end I'd recover nothing regardless of the judgement.

In the meantime of course he's back out on the road with no insurance, no license, etc.  It's just mind boggling really.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> A red letter day? As in a scarlett letter A? On your chest? To mark your shame and guilt, and to identify you as an outcast? That kind of a day?



You mean that doesn't stand for Amazin?  Huh.  Ok, well actually that does explain a bit.. lol



> Oh, and as you can see, it's going to be a punchy, snark-filled kind of a day for me



As long as I don't end up in the east river, I'm good.. lol


----------



## limr

My car was hit from behind a few years ago, too. Some kid was tailgating me pretty bad and pissing me off. I knew there was a small parking lot for a bike trail that was coming up on the right, so as I approached it, I hit the brakes and flipped on my turn signal. Some might say I was brake-checking him, and there might have been a bit of that going on, but mostly, I knew that the transition from road to dirt parking lot might have been a bit rough and didn't want to hit the undercarriage on the lip of the road.

The guy hit me as I was turning, so the dent in the middle of my car and the dent on the left side of his made it pretty clear that I was trying to get out of his way but he was too close to avoid hitting me. They tried everything to get me to not call the cops, to which I said a very clear "OH HELLZ NO!" as I dialed the local sheriff's number. The cop who came out could not have been more angry at these two kids or nicer to me. He was still writing tickets for the kid when he told me I could go. Didn't have to pay a dime to get it fixed or for a rental car while Lucille was in the shop, and my insurance rates stayed right where they were.

So yes, sometimes it does pay to be the responsible adult.


----------



## JonA_CT

robbins.photo said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Same thing happened to me years ago.  A guy with no insurance (in California, where insurance is "mandatory") hit my car from behind.  In my mind it was he who was clearly at fault, but he even sued me for damages to his car.  The judge threw it out, but I lost money, time, and sleep before it was all over.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The whole thing was pretty ridiculous, the guy who hit me didn't sue so I guess there is that but I'm stuck paying the collision deductible to get my car fixed.  Thanks to the accident my rates will be going up even though I wasn't at fault, and this guy walks away pretty much free as a bird.
> 
> I could take him to small claims court I guess and get a judgement against him, but it would be worthless.  Since he's not a citizen he isn't legally employed anyway so no wages to garnish, it would actually cost me more in time and lost wages than I'd probably get a judgement for and in the end I'd recover nothing regardless of the judgement.
> 
> In the meantime of course he's back out on the road with no insurance, no license, etc.  It's just mind boggling really.
Click to expand...


It might be worth the time for small claims court anyways. A friend of mine was sideswiped on the highway by a drunk guy driving without insurance last year who never stopped. The cops found him a mile further down the road in the ditch. While it took him a day in court plus the time of waiting, the courts ruled in his favor based solely on the police report. He eventually got about half of the cost of the damage (supposedly the rest is coming), but it's better than nothing, and only cost him about 3 hours at court.


----------



## minicoop1985

So much for feeling any better... I totally wanted to see last night's dinner again. That was high on my list of priorities. Ugh.


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> It might be worth the time for small claims court anyways. A friend of mine was sideswiped on the highway by a drunk guy driving without insurance last year who never stopped. The cops found him a mile further down the road in the ditch. While it took him a day in court plus the time of waiting, the courts ruled in his favor based solely on the police report. He eventually got about half of the cost of the damage (supposedly the rest is coming), but it's better than nothing, and only cost him about 3 hours at court.



I probably would just for the principle of the the thing, if the guy were here legally.  Since he isn't, well in all honestly any judgement the small claims court could issue won't be worth the paper it's printed on.

I spoke with a friend of mine in law enforcement, he told me he'd be willing to bet big money that this guy has already gone to the local consulate and filled out paperwork with a different pseudonym on it than the one he gave to me and the police at the scene of our accident.   

He tells me that's pretty common, guys will get in an accident or get in trouble with the law, first chance they get they go to a consulate, claim they are someone else - since they don't have to provide any proof, ID, etc - well they get issued enough documentation with the new name on it that the essentially disappear from the system again.

So yes, I could get a judgement saying John Smith owes me X amount of dollars, but by the time I do have a court document in hand stating John Smith owes me money John Smith won't exist anymore, he'll be Jake Smythe, with a new name and address.  No way to collect on the judgement, so it makes it a waste of time.


----------



## minicoop1985

Shower taken, feeling slightly better. Alsom managed to choke down a cheese quesadilla.


----------



## Gary A.

Out here an uninsured car may get confiscated and a repeated offender will lose their driving privileges (along with monetary fines and fees).


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Out here an uninsured car may get confiscated and a repeated offender will lose their driving privileges (along with monetary fines and fees).



Supposedly that can happen here in my home state as well, though in this case and from what I understand in the vast majority of cases like mine the police just issue a ticket for no insurance and that's that.  They generally won't impound the car on unless the driver has multiple citations for driving without insurance, and since in this case we are dealing with a driver who likely switches names every time he gets into any legal trouble there's no record of it so they give him a ticket and a court summons, both of which get discarded.

From what I understand on those occasions where the car does get impounded, the owner of the vehicle gets one months worth of liability insurance on it over the internet so he can have proof of insurance to release the vehicle, they release the vehicle and he never makes another insurance payment again. 

Sad, but true.


----------



## minicoop1985

Some really scheisty bastards out there. Sad. I got rear ended a few years ago, guy had no insurance or license. Begged me not to call the cops, but guess what? Two cars behind WAS a cop. Bam, gotcha. Last I saw he was being arrested.


----------



## JacaRanda

L-Train,  I hope you are around to see this if yiu haven't alreay.  https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=525069784331253&id=332013303636903


----------



## vintagesnaps

People are nuts. Worse when they get in their cars.

Where's Gary? Is he out on a wine run for us?! lol

No Michael, not a good allergy/asthma day, I woke up gasping and wheezing and feel like crap. Need that rain to get here or something.

And the cable's not working... on the news, everybody's having trouble with the screen going black. Wouldn't care so much but this time it's knocking out the TV too to be able to watch a DVD. At least today there's more international hockey online, but no games tomorrow. That, I may not survive! lol


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has plenty of vino, enough for all. So what's going on in NY, how's the voting?


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Gary has plenty of vino, enough for all. So what's going on in NY, how's the voting?


Whole lot of people casting absentee ballots from the east river, I'm sure. 

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday an d today are very warm, upper 80's and may even hit 90F. Gary is contemplation what to cook for dinner.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Maybe I'm glad my cable is out. Toss somethin' good on the Barbie. I'll be nuking leftovers.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has plenty of vino, enough for all. So what's going on in NY, how's the voting?
> 
> 
> 
> Whole lot of people casting absentee ballots from the east river, I'm sure.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Gary used to run campaigns.  He always gathered lists of recently deceased voters. (Death is no reason not to exercise one's constitutional rights.)


----------



## Gary A.

BTW, Gary added this puppy to his BBQ patio. Now he can cook with pots and pans on the stovetop.


----------



## limr

JacaRanda said:


> L-Train,  I hope you are around to see this if yiu haven't alreay.  https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=525069784331253&id=332013303636903



Oh my goodness, the cheeky little thing!! Love it so much! 



Gary A. said:


> Gary has plenty of vino, enough for all. So what's going on in NY, how's the voting?



I wouldn't know. I'm not registered with a party, so I can't vote in the primaries. Apparently there aren't any results yet.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has plenty of vino, enough for all. So what's going on in NY, how's the voting?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I wouldn't know. I'm not registered with a party, so I can't vote in the primaries. Apparently there aren't any results yet.
Click to expand...

Most of my friends there voted... as evidenced by their posting Facebook pictures all day saying they voted.


----------



## Watchful

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 119431 Gary worked on the pond. He cleaned the filters and moved some stuff around.


I like your papyrus, I have that in my pond as well, I also have flax in the area, since the first paper was made from papyrus and the first ink from linseed oil and lamp black, as a printer, I have those as a tribute to the original printers.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, Hosers, seems things are improving on their own. Should be good by the weekend, I hope.

Then there's this. I need it. Like you have no idea-I neeeeeeeeds it. I NEED IT. Gotta work my way up to it though.

Ferrari F40


----------



## Gary A.

Watchful said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 119431 Gary worked on the pond. He cleaned the filters and moved some stuff around.
> 
> 
> 
> I like your papyrus, I have that in my pond as well, I also have flax in the area, since the first paper was made from papyrus and the first ink from linseed oil and lamp black, as a printer, I have those as a tribute to the original printers.
Click to expand...

Thank you Watchful. A pond bring a whole new level of relaxation for the backyard. I am not a printer, so I'll pass on the growing flax ... (It may be too warm here for Flax). Let' see some images of your pond.


----------



## Watchful

I agree about the relaxation factor, we have the pond and small waterfall adding the water sounds on one side of the yard and classical music or jazz piped to the other side where the patio and outdoor dining table is. (Incidentally, the humming birds always nest in the tree near the music, I think they like it). I am in AZ so I don't think SoCal is any warmer than here, you need to water a lot is all. 
Most of my pond pics are closeups of the lilies and fish though, I'll see what I have. Don't expect anything that looks great, I just take family pics at home.


----------



## Gary A.

A very interesting article in the LA Times Business section. It was how Tesla, who was scoffed at by the German automakers as a negative income, upstart, pretender from a tree hugging California, is the top luxury electric car seller in Germany (bettering German cars). Citing many German sources, the article contends that Tesla is now preceived as a real threat and the Germans are revamping their engineering in an attempt to catch up to Tesla. 

All-in-all a very interesting article.


----------



## Watchful

It's also a fact that there are more Mercedes Benz registered in Hollywood than there are in Stuttgart.
I bought a little Tesla right after they won the car of the year award the first time a few years ago, and got out before it dropped down again. They did very well by me for quite a long run.


----------



## Gary A.

Watchful said:


> I agree about the relaxation factor, we have the pond and small waterfall adding the water sounds on one side of the yard and classical music or jazz piped to the other side where the patio and outdoor dining table is. (Incidentally, the humming birds always nest in the tree near the music, I think they like it). I am in AZ so I don't think SoCal is any warmer than here, you need to water a lot is all.
> Most of my pond pics are closeups of the lilies and fish though, I'll see what I have. Don't expect anything that looks great, I just take family pics at home.


That sound similar to Gary's pond, but Gary's pond is in the center of the yard and directly inline with the patio. Gary also has a small waterfall which, like your pond, is typically accompanied by classical and jazz. (But last weekend we had Woodstock echoing throughout the yard.)  Our Hummers don't seem very particular to their housing locales as Gary finds their empty nest everywhere ... But we have Anna's and they are very territorial, which may affect their nesting habits.


----------



## Gary A.

Watchful said:


> It's also a fact that there are more Mercedes Benz registered in Hollywood than there are in Stuttgart.
> I bought a little Tesla right after they won the car of the year award the first time a few years ago, and got out before it dropped down again. They did very well by me for quite a long run.


LOL ... Between The Mercedes, BMWs and Porsches, LA looks like Berlin with palm trees.  Tesla used to be a novelty, but lately Gary sees a few everyday.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- If driving a Tesla was novel here, every head must have turned when you drove by in AZ. 

G


----------



## Watchful

lol, I owned the stock in the company, not the car.


----------



## minicoop1985

I'd happily drive a model 3. Those things are awesome.

Mornin, hosers. Actually feeling much better today.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  A little less hot today, but still dry - should be pretty nice, especially when I get out and away from work at lunch.


----------



## Watchful

My favorite thing to do in the car is hold the 'ludicrous speed button' down and show the passenger the light show on the panel. It always gets a grin.
I sold the stock and used some of the money to buy the car, so it was a dividend.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Hump day, y'all.


----------



## Watchful

You sound like a Canadian living in Georgia. : )


----------



## Gary A.

Watchful said:


> lol, I owned the stock in the company, not the car.


LOL ... when Gary grows up he wants to be like Elon Musk.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  A little less hot today, but still dry - should be pretty nice, especially when I get out and away from work at lunch.


Same here, but it is cooling off from Monday and Tuesday, probably mid to low 80's ... pleasantly warm, perfect beach weather (70's at the beach).


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning coffee lovers. Went to Frenchies last night per @limr recommendation. The grouper was the best I have ever had. Way better than anything in Michigan and way cheaper to boot. Hitting a Phillies minor league game at noon, pool after game, steak for dinner at Cody's and then Animal Kingdom tomorrow. Want to get some gorillas, Tigers, and lemurs. The Tampa Zoo was a joke for the most part, windows and park were filthy. Animals seemed stressed big time as well. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Today Gary will be out and about, meetings in Burbank and Los Angeles. Gary thinks it will be a perfectly glorious day today.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Good morning coffee lovers. Went to Frenchies last night per @limr recommendation. The grouper was the best I have ever had. Way better than anything in Michigan and way cheaper to boot. Hitting a Phillies minor league game at noon, pool after game, steak for dinner at Cody's and then Animal Kingdom tomorrow. Want to get some gorillas, Tigers, and lemurs. The Tampa Zoo was a joke for the most part, windows and park were filthy. Animals seemed stressed big time as well.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Ou diable etes-vous ...?


----------



## Watchful

Gary A. said:


> Watchful said:
> 
> 
> 
> lol, I owned the stock in the company, not the car.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... when Gary grows up he wants to be like Elon Musk.
Click to expand...

Just have a better name.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning coffee lovers. Went to Frenchies last night per @limr recommendation. The grouper was the best I have ever had. Way better than anything in Michigan and way cheaper to boot. Hitting a Phillies minor league game at noon, pool after game, steak for dinner at Cody's and then Animal Kingdom tomorrow. Want to get some gorillas, Tigers, and lemurs. The Tampa Zoo was a joke for the most part, windows and park were filthy. Animals seemed stressed big time as well.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Ou diable etes-vous ...?
Click to expand...


Huh? You know who I am. On vacances. Lol



Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Hey they have a Frenchy's at the ballpark! Nice, gonna get me a grouper sandwich[emoji41] 






Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Hey they have a Frenchy's at the ballpark! Nice, gonna get me a grouper sandwich[emoji41]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Ok, well I can tell you from experience that Seafood + Gas Station = Failed Decision Making Paradine.

Since Ballpark is almost equivalent to Gas Station in most cuisine related activities, that might be something to consider.   Lol


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey they have a Frenchy's at the ballpark! Nice, gonna get me a grouper sandwich[emoji41]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, well I can tell you from experience that Seafood + Gas Station = Failed Decision Making Paradine.
> 
> Since Ballpark is almost equivalent to Gas Station in most cuisine related activities, that might be something to consider.   Lol
Click to expand...

High in the 70's, clear and sunny. Today would be a perfect day to go to a baseball game and eat a bunch of junk food.


----------



## Watchful

waday said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey they have a Frenchy's at the ballpark! Nice, gonna get me a grouper sandwich[emoji41]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, well I can tell you from experience that Seafood + Gas Station = Failed Decision Making Paradine.
> 
> Since Ballpark is almost equivalent to Gas Station in most cuisine related activities, that might be something to consider.   Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> High in the 70's, clear and sunny. Today would be a perfect day to go to a baseball game and eat a bunch of junk food.
Click to expand...

I was with you right up to the junk food... Lol


----------



## waday

Watchful said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey they have a Frenchy's at the ballpark! Nice, gonna get me a grouper sandwich[emoji41]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, well I can tell you from experience that Seafood + Gas Station = Failed Decision Making Paradine.
> 
> Since Ballpark is almost equivalent to Gas Station in most cuisine related activities, that might be something to consider.   Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> High in the 70's, clear and sunny. Today would be a perfect day to go to a baseball game and eat a bunch of junk food.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I was with you right up to the junk food... Lol
Click to expand...

A healthy wrap never hit the spot for me at a game... Popcorn, fries, soft pretzels, gigantic soda, etc. Delicious.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning coffee lovers. Went to Frenchies last night per @limr recommendation. The grouper was the best I have ever had. Way better than anything in Michigan and way cheaper to boot. Hitting a Phillies minor league game at noon, pool after game, steak for dinner at Cody's and then Animal Kingdom tomorrow. Want to get some gorillas, Tigers, and lemurs. The Tampa Zoo was a joke for the most part, windows and park were filthy. Animals seemed stressed big time as well.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Ou diable etes-vous ...?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Huh? You know who I am. On vacances. Lol
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Who = Qui
Where = Qu (with a funny thingie over the 'u')


----------



## Gary A.

Watchful said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey they have a Frenchy's at the ballpark! Nice, gonna get me a grouper sandwich[emoji41]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, well I can tell you from experience that Seafood + Gas Station = Failed Decision Making Paradine.
> 
> Since Ballpark is almost equivalent to Gas Station in most cuisine related activities, that might be something to consider.   Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> High in the 70's, clear and sunny. Today would be a perfect day to go to a baseball game and eat a bunch of junk food.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I was with you right up to the junk food... Lol
Click to expand...

Gots to be junk food ... or bring in your own fancy meal.  Dodger Stadium out here allows patrons to bring in their own food. So Gary and Mary Lou usually take a picnic basket, otherwise it cost about $75 just to make it to the third inning.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Watchful said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey they have a Frenchy's at the ballpark! Nice, gonna get me a grouper sandwich[emoji41]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, well I can tell you from experience that Seafood + Gas Station = Failed Decision Making Paradine.
> 
> Since Ballpark is almost equivalent to Gas Station in most cuisine related activities, that might be something to consider.   Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> High in the 70's, clear and sunny. Today would be a perfect day to go to a baseball game and eat a bunch of junk food.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I was with you right up to the junk food... Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> A healthy wrap never hit the spot for me at a game... Popcorn, fries, soft pretzels, gigantic soda, etc. Delicious.
Click to expand...

Not eating junk food at a ball game is nearly Un-American.


----------



## limr

Watchful said:


> You sound like a Canadian living in Georgia. : )



I'm linguistically diverse 



jcdeboever said:


> Good morning coffee lovers. Went to Frenchies last night per @limr recommendation. The grouper was the best I have ever had. Way better than anything in Michigan and way cheaper to boot. Hitting a Phillies minor league game at noon, pool after game, steak for dinner at Cody's and then Animal Kingdom tomorrow. Want to get some gorillas, Tigers, and lemurs. The Tampa Zoo was a joke for the most part, windows and park were filthy. Animals seemed stressed big time as well.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



I "Liked" the part about the grouper, but not about the zoo


----------



## ClickAddict

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning coffee lovers. Went to Frenchies last night per @limr recommendation. The grouper was the best I have ever had. Way better than anything in Michigan and way cheaper to boot. Hitting a Phillies minor league game at noon, pool after game, steak for dinner at Cody's and then Animal Kingdom tomorrow. Want to get some gorillas, Tigers, and lemurs. The Tampa Zoo was a joke for the most part, windows and park were filthy. Animals seemed stressed big time as well.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Ou diable etes-vous ...?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Huh? You know who I am. On vacances. Lol
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Who = Qui
> Where = Qu (with a funny thingie over the 'u')
Click to expand...



Actually if we're talking French it's Where = Ou (with the "Accent Grave" (small backslash)) over the "u"
Qui is correct.


----------



## ClickAddict

Où  (Figured I`d try the actual proper ù)


----------



## jcdeboever

No grouper, just a bar that's sponsored. Oh well, guess it's Stella and a shot of housr bourbon for lunch. Hah, who wants to eat anyway. I noticed my pics are not level...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> No grouper, just a bar that's sponsored. Oh well, guess it's *Stella *and a shot of housr *bourbon for lunch*. Hah, who wants to eat anyway. I noticed my *pics are not level*...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Coincidence? I think not


----------



## Designer

jcdeboever said:


> No grouper, just a bar that's sponsored. Oh well, guess it's Stella and a shot of housr bourbon for lunch. Hah, who wants to eat anyway. I noticed my pics are not level...


Bar sounds good, but you're going to have to feed the children something.  If you take them.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> No grouper, just a bar that's sponsored. Oh well, guess it's Stella and a shot of housr bourbon for lunch. Hah, who wants to eat anyway. I noticed my pics are not level...
> 
> 
> 
> Bar sounds good, but *you're going to have to feed the children something.*  If you take them.
Click to expand...

 What, they don't put peanuts & pretzels out on the bar?


----------



## robbins.photo

Designer said:


> Bar sounds good, but you're going to have to feed the children something.  If you take them.



Pffft.  It's called foraging.  Teaches them self reliance.   Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bar sounds good, but you're going to have to feed the children something.  If you take them.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pffft.  It's called foraging.  Teaches them self reliance.   Lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


I agree! Which means it's probably good I don't have kids


----------



## jcdeboever

Designer said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> No grouper, just a bar that's sponsored. Oh well, guess it's Stella and a shot of housr bourbon for lunch. Hah, who wants to eat anyway. I noticed my pics are not level...
> 
> 
> 
> Bar sounds good, but you're going to have to feed the children something.  If you take them.
Click to expand...

Children? Shoot, that was a long time ago....

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> No grouper, just a bar that's sponsored. Oh well, guess it's Stella and a shot of housr bourbon for lunch. Hah, who wants to eat anyway. I noticed my pics are not level...
> 
> 
> 
> Bar sounds good, but *you're going to have to feed the children something.*  If you take them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What, they don't put peanuts & pretzels out on the bar?
Click to expand...

Nope.... They got some ugly bar fly's though...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> I agree! Which means it's probably good I don't have kids



I'll never forget the day when my youngest was 14, turned to me and said, "Dad, can I go back to living with the wolves?"  

Poor kid was cursed with my sense of humor.  Lol


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> No grouper, just a bar that's sponsored. Oh well, guess it's *Stella *and a shot of housr *bourbon for lunch*. Hah, who wants to eat anyway. I noticed my *pics are not level*...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Coincidence? I think not
Click to expand...

Have to send my phone in for a focus motor stabilization adjustment... WTH Houston, we got a problem...
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> No grouper, just a bar that's sponsored. Oh well, guess it's Stella and a shot of housr bourbon for lunch. Hah, who wants to eat anyway. I noticed my pics are not level...
> 
> 
> 
> Bar sounds good, but *you're going to have to feed the children something.*  If you take them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What, they don't put peanuts & pretzels out on the bar?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nope.... They got some ugly bar fly's though...
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

She said,"oh my, you have big hands", I said, "hi, my name is Gary and I like to pee in tubs", she left me alone... .


Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

robbins.photo said:


> It's called foraging.  Teaches them self reliance.


Costco on Saturdays.  Keep going around until the little beggars are full.  

And since they're full, they won't need to go to the real restaurant with you.  Win-Win!


----------



## minicoop1985

Good afternoon, hosers. Still got that tickle in the throat, but otherwise pretty good. Did some panning practice, AKA looking like a stalker with a big lens on top of an overpass shooting pictures of random cars as they go by.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Good afternoon, hosers. Still got that tickle in the throat, but otherwise pretty good. Did some panning practice, AKA looking like a stalker with a big lens on top of an overpass shooting pictures of random cars as they go by.



Ok, for the record we prefer the term "Person of Interest" as opposed to "stalker".  Lol


----------



## minicoop1985

Funny thing... One of the cars I shot was a cop car. Undercover. Didn't notice until I got home. Promptly deleted THAT one...


----------



## snowbear

Firefighter/Paramedic John "Skillet" Ulmschneider; Rest in Peace.




__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10154257215077494


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Firefighter/Paramedic John "Skillet" Ulmschneider; Rest in Peace.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10154257215077494


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Firefighter/Paramedic John "Skillet" Ulmschneider; Rest in Peace.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10154257215077494


That totally sucks! [emoji36] 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## snowbear

I found out, yesterday, I used to dispatch his father-in-law (he was a police officer.)


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  It looks like a nice Thursday here and Friday is always nice, so in the words of a great philosopher: "what, me worry?"


----------



## limr

I have high hopes for Thursday. The problem is that I'm running on fumes at this point.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> I have high hopes for Thursday. The problem is that I'm running on fumes at this point.



I hope you can ignite the fumes and propel yourself through the day.


----------



## oldhippy

Lunch Menu


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary shot another play last night, Twelve Angry Jurors ... As opposed to Twelve Angry Men, (the drama teacher changed the title to fit the coed cast). The kids did a very good job. Gary shot a lot with the fish to add some optical drama to a bunch of people sitting around a table. The set was completed and the drama teacher call upon Gary's construction background and drafted him to hang the window blinds.

Yesterday, The Cook and Gary drove over to Petco for some Cookie chow. After Cook selected her cans we moseyed over to the Pet Hotel to check out the dogs in the glassed in rec room. There were about a dozen dogs behind the glass all in different stages of playing and a person with a mop supervising the bunch. We watch the the supervisor do nothing, rise not a finger, while two dogs were screwing. Gary is thinking he would be totally pissed if he boarded his pooch at Petco and a few months Later came home to a litter of pups.

Gary is getting his day going. Should be in the upper 70's today, warm and dry.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> We watch the the supervisor do nothing, rise not a finger, while two dogs were screwing.


Ordinarily I would say a lawsuit is on its way, but then I remembered that some pet owners are completely irresponsible, so nothing.  

Nothing at all.  

Meanwhile; Gary now has a more fully-informed opinion of that particular "doggy day care".


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary shot another play last night, Twelve Angry Jurors ... As opposed to Twelve Angry Men, (the drama teacher changed the title to fit the coed cast). The kids did a very good job. Gary shot a lot with the fish to add some optical drama to a bunch of people sitting around a table. The set was completed and the drama teacher call upon Gary's construction background and drafted him to hang the window blinds.
> 
> Yesterday, The Cook and Gary drove over to Petco for some Cookie chow. After Cook selected her cans we moseyed over to the Pet Hotel to check out the dogs in the glassed in rec room. There were about a dozen dogs behind the glass all in different stages of playing and a person with a mop supervising the bunch. We watch the the supervisor do nothing, rise not a finger, while two dogs were screwing. Gary is thinking he would be totally pissed if he boarded his pooch at Petco and a few months Later came home to a litter of pups.
> 
> Gary is getting his day going. Should be in the upper 70's today, warm and dry.


Well maybe this is one of those progressive dog schools that hands out condoms first.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


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## JonA_CT

Beautiful spring day here in CT. Dry and low 70s. I'm hoping to go on a quick hike this afternoon with the wife and the kid when I get out of work. 

I finished up my first roll of film and I'm planning on bringing it to the lab this weekend. Also supposed to have a 6-7 rolls of film coming from Adorama today, and it'll be tough to wait on the first roll to develop not to pull them out. I still find myself wondering if the shot was good or not -- I'm sure I'll feel better about the freedom from the screen once I see the first couple of rolls.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's how some of us learned! lol didn't have viewscreens... Glad you're enjoying your venture into film so far.

Boy this respiratory stuff has been rough, feeling better today but pretty draggy.

That's sad Charlie, he was so young wasn't he? at least looked it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

They just came on about Prince... don't know quite what happened. He was only in his 50's, now they're saying he'd been battling the flu and passed away. Wow.

edit - Different channel, showing across bottom line sheriff's dept. hadn't yet confirmed. But now saying it was him. Had been sick earlier in the month, did a concert and plane made an emergency landing. But was supposedly better the past couple of days. Unexpected to say the least.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> They just came on about Prince... don't know quite what happened. He was only in his 50's, now they're saying he'd been battling the flu and passed away. Wow.
> 
> edit - Different channel, showing across bottom line sheriff's dept. hadn't yet confirmed. But now saying it was him. Had been sick earlier in the month, did a concert and plane made an emergency landing. But was supposedly better the past couple of days. Unexpected to say the least.



More news outlets are starting to report that it's been confirmed. 

Most of the time, hearing the news of a celebrity death makes me feel kind of sad. Shake my head a little, think what a shame. But some hit harder. Bowie hit me pretty hard, and unexpectedly, I'm not taking this one very well either. Both were just such massive talents and so they leave wider, more gaping holes in the world when they leave.


----------



## minicoop1985

Sad about Prince. Wasn't a big fan of his music personally, but it made him an icon, and certainly wouldn't wish ill upon the man.

Kind of an odd day here. Upper 60s, cloudy, but it feels kinda chilly. Not sure what's up with that. My house is about the same as the ambient temp, so I would figure it wouldn't feel any colder out there. REALLY wanted to get out with the camera today, but that just isn't looking like it'll happen.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I've flipped on CNN periodically and the anchor (Brooke I think?) was being told there had been an emergency call to his studio about a male in the elevator unresponsive, and she kind of gasped aww - you don't see that kind of reaction often. I guess that might be why at first they weren't confirming that it was him? since it was where the studio's located.

Just a shame. Seems like we've lost too many too young.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, something a bit more uplifting... Found me a malfunctioning Voigtlander Bessa with a Skopar for $15. A small dose of Naphtha later and everything's working the way it should.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Gary is cooking up some salmon on the Kamado and sipping some Vindemia Grenache, which is very very good from a small winery we found in Temecula. Gary has just flipped the salmon and sipped more wine.  Gary boiled up some kale, and Mary Lou is picking a salad and making some rice. Very pleasant in the BBQ patio, 60's, dusk has set in the yard is verdant and the waterfall is adding a pleasant background sound.  Wish you guys were here.


----------



## Gary A.

Now Mary Lou is clipping a bouquet of Sweet Peas and the salmon is nearly done.

A pair of Mockingbirds built a nest in a rose arch off the patio.  It is so low you can reach it flat footed. It has two hatchlings which are quite loud, screeching all day long for food. Fortunately, in Gary's old age he has developed some patience.


----------



## JonA_CT

Finally Friday. I've got a nice Manhattan, straight up, on my to-do list for this evening.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning coffee lovers. Leaving for back home today. Vacation pretty much over, bummer as I found a great picture spot on the last day and only seen a quarter of it. Next time I suppose, maybe in October. Perfect weather all week except for wind but no complaints here. Will have a bunch of laundry, cut lawn, clean pull barn when I get home. Lots of pics to edit as well. Have a great weekend! 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## minicoop1985

Happy Friday everyone! It's about time!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Working at home, making it an even happier Friday.  Later, I will duck out and pick up some prints and run them over to a framer.  They're going in a show in a community gallery here.  Here's the announcement, in which I was pleasantly surprised to see they used one of mine.

http://mtairyartgarage.org/2016/04/community-portraits-photo-exhibition-call-for-member-artists/


----------



## tirediron

Cool!


----------



## jcdeboever

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Working at home, making it an even happier Friday.  Later, I will duck out and pick up some prints and run them over to a framer.  They're going in a show in a community gallery here.  Here's the announcement, in which I was pleasantly surprised to see they used one of mine.
> 
> “Community Portrait” Photo Exhibition — Call For MAAG and Photo Club Member Artists


That's super! I am not surprised, I have admired your work since I have joined. You are very talented and have a keen eye for subject and composition. You are in my top 3 for viewing.  

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## KenC

jcdeboever said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Working at home, making it an even happier Friday.  Later, I will duck out and pick up some prints and run them over to a framer.  They're going in a show in a community gallery here.  Here's the announcement, in which I was pleasantly surprised to see they used one of mine.
> 
> “Community Portrait” Photo Exhibition — Call For MAAG and Photo Club Member Artists
> 
> 
> 
> That's super! I am not surprised, I have admired your work since I have joined. You are very talented and have a keen eye for subject and composition. You are in my top 3 for viewing.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Thank you!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The dawn is breaking over the trees and hitting the front porch.  The Cecil Brewer, (rose), climbing the front trellace post is the first to be embraced by the light.  Next, a ray will strike the south wall of the front porch and shortly after the Flowering Maple and the Hummingbird feeder to the north of the porch will be back lighted turning the green levies into bright translucent spots of yellow-green shimmering a breakfast welcome to the Hummers.

Gary has another dinner party coming in tomorrow ... Today will be long combining work with homework (gotta shoo  all the chickens out of the living room).


----------



## Gary A.

@ KenC- What are you submitting?  I'd wish you luck, but with your skill, you don't need any luck. (I hope you charged the group $10 for using your image in their ad.)


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @ KenC- What are you submitting?  I'd wish you luck, but with your skill, you don't need any luck. (I hope you charged the group $10 for using your image in their ad.)


It's the first pick in his link and it was chosen. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Finally Friday. I've got a nice Manhattan, straight up, on my to-do list for this evening.



Nice! Rye or bourbon? I'm a big fan of a Manhattan 



KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Working at home, making it an even happier Friday.  Later, I will duck out and pick up some prints and run them over to a framer.  They're going in a show in a community gallery here.  Here's the announcement, in which I was pleasantly surprised to see they used one of mine.
> 
> “Community Portrait” Photo Exhibition — Call For MAAG and Photo Club Member Artists



Awesome!! Well-deserved


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Finally Friday. I've got a nice Manhattan, straight up, on my to-do list for this evening.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice! Rye or bourbon? I'm a big fan of a Manhattan
Click to expand...


Either will do nicely, but tonight it will be bourbon. I usually have a bottle of Eagle Rare around the house. It's relatively affordable and quite tasty in a cocktail or neat.

I'll occasionally buy a bottle of Michter's Rye, but my brother-in-law kind of ruined it for me when he bought and shared a bottle of Angel's Envy Rye. That's probably my favorite whiskey, but I can't justify the cost at the moment.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good evening, hosers. Had a GREAT day. Scored 7 cameras total (including the Voigtlander from yesterday). Even got a Bantam Special.... for $30. Promptly gave it to my wife.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Finally Friday. I've got a nice Manhattan, straight up, on my to-do list for this evening.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice! Rye or bourbon? I'm a big fan of a Manhattan
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Either will do nicely, but tonight it will be bourbon. I usually have a bottle of Eagle Rare around the house. It's relatively affordable and quite tasty in a cocktail or neat.
> 
> I'll occasionally buy a bottle of Michter's Rye, but my brother-in-law kind of ruined it for me when he bought and shared a bottle of Angel's Envy Rye. That's probably my favorite whiskey, but I can't justify the cost at the moment.
Click to expand...


Haven't had Angel's Envy. I'll take note of it. We've had Michter's and also like Rittenhouse. When I've asked for a bourbon Manhattan, I used to get Maker's but it's kind of sweet. I tend to ask for Woodford Reserve. There are also some Hudson Valley ryes and whiskeys that are gaining popularity. If you ever see Hudson, give it a try. They're a bit pricey but very very good. They make several products.


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers. 

Buzz and I are in the middle of yet another mad dash, this time to Burlington, Vermont. We just had a lovely dinner at a pizza place (though they claim it's 'flatbread' - whatevs, it was taaaaaaysteeeee!) and a walk along Lake Champlain to take a few pictures of the sunset. Now we're in the hotel room sipping at the wine that Tio Gary sent me. That is also quite tasty.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary would call it a fun wine ... Enjoy.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Evening, hosers.
> 
> Buzz and I are in the middle of yet another mad dash, this time to Burlington, Vermont. We just had a lovely dinner at a pizza place (though they claim it's 'flatbread' - whatevs, it was taaaaaaysteeeee!) and a walk along Lake Champlain to take a few pictures of the sunset. Now we're in the hotel room sipping at the wine that Tio Gary sent me. That is also quite tasty.



I love Burlington. I don't know if you're into beer, but it's sort of one of the New England meccas for beer (with Portland area, ME, and of all places, Monson, MA). I have friends who drive up there just to buy as many 4-packs of Alchemist's Heady Topper as they can by literally following the delivery truck from place to place.

There's also a great crepe place in Burlington called The Skinny Pancake if you were looking for a breakfast/brunch/lunch spot.

I ended up drinking beer last night -- one of these:




Film by jwa04, on Flickr

I'm not normally into fruit beers, but this one was pretty crisp rather than sweet, and was perfect for the first kinda muggy day of the year.


This also came in the mail -- should keep me busy for awhile.




Film by jwa04, on Flickr

I was hoping today was going to be good for some romps into the woods, but it's pretty dreary this morning, so I guess I'll have to see what the day brings.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening, hosers.
> 
> Buzz and I are in the middle of yet another mad dash, this time to Burlington, Vermont. We just had a lovely dinner at a pizza place (though they claim it's 'flatbread' - whatevs, it was taaaaaaysteeeee!) and a walk along Lake Champlain to take a few pictures of the sunset. Now we're in the hotel room sipping at the wine that Tio Gary sent me. That is also quite tasty.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I love Burlington. I don't know if you're into beer, but it's sort of one of the New England meccas for beer (with Portland area, ME, and of all places, Monson, MA). I have friends who drive up there just to buy as many 4-packs of Alchemist's Heady Topper as they can by literally following the delivery truck from place to place.
> 
> There's also a great crepe place in Burlington called The Skinny Pancake if you were looking for a breakfast/brunch/lunch spot.
> 
> I ended up drinking beer last night -- one of these:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Film by jwa04, on Flickr
> 
> I'm not normally into fruit beers, but this one was pretty crisp rather than sweet, and was perfect for the first kinda muggy day of the year.
> 
> 
> This also came in the mail -- should keep me busy for awhile.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Film by jwa04, on Flickr
> 
> I was hoping today was going to be good for some romps into the woods, but it's pretty dreary this morning, so I guess I'll have to see what the day brings.
Click to expand...


We didn't know it about the beer before we got here, but we have certainly noticed a lot of breweries and pubs. Last night we were at American Flatbread for dinner and they had a great beer menu. We also passed the Skinny Pancake yesterday when we first walked down to the waterside. We took special note of it because one of our favorite places in Portland, ME was a place called The Merry Table, also a creperie, and we were so disappointed to find it closed the last time we were there. So we were kind of excited to find another one.

I'm not sure if we'll get there this time since we are leaving today, but I'm fairly certain we'll be back here. We hadn't been before, but it definitely suits us: beer, good food, water, lots of places to walk, record store (I got a Bowie album last night  )

Thanks for the tips! And have some fun with your new goodies


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> @ KenC- What are you submitting?  I'd wish you luck, but with your skill, you don't need any luck. (I hope you charged the group $10 for using your image in their ad.)



Thanks, Gary.  I submitted the one that's shown on the site and a couple of others, including this one, taken in Wissahickon Creek




 

... and no, I didn't charge them - this is a non-profit, so they actually get a donation in the form of an entry fee.  They're a great group of people, so I don't mind helping to support the place.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> “Community Portrait” Photo Exhibition — Call For MAAG and Photo Club Member Artists



Awesome!! Well-deserved [/QUOTE]

Thanks, Leonore!  I picked up the prints yesterday afternoon and they look great.


----------



## minicoop1985

Welp, I decided I don't have space for all of those cameras. I bought them more to get at the Rollei and one of the the Retinas. Bought the other Retina IIa for parts (both work perfectly, as it turns out), and the IIIc, Minox, and Voigtlander to see if I liked using them (normally not big on folders, but always wanted to play with a Voigtlander). I gave the Bantam Special to my wife, who's a Kodak collector. I've never seen a box for a Bantam Special before, and this one came with the box AND ready-case.

Currently, out of those seven, the Rollei and a IIa are loaded with film. I think those (and the Bantam) are the keepers. I didn't really like the Minox, the winder on the IIIc was located on the bottom (not too big on that), and the Voigtlander really turned out to not be my thing.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin (barely), hosers. Selling more cameras. Didn't like using the Retina II (my sight sucks and I have somewhat severe double vision in my right eye and less severe in my left, so looking through that tiny rangefinder isn't easy), but I have a feeling it's an outstanding performer and I like the way it looks, so I'll keep one of the two. I REALLY wanna find the Retina II (not IIa) that I have a box for, so we'll see if I can dig that up. I'd also love to get my grubby mitts on the Berning Robots they have.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gee and when I saw the picture I thought how cool it would be if that little Bantam would've hopped out the window and flown south (and stopped when it got to my house! lol). I just had been looking at one online a camera store had so it was priced accordingly not 30 bucks you lucky booger! I love art deco Kodaks.

Congrats Ken! those are both beautifully done. And yeah, the fee is the fee... I mean, galleries and art centers have to stay in business if we want to have someplace to submit and display our art.


----------



## Gary A.

The before pix of the Tri-Tip. 


Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary had another dinner party here last night. Gary served citrus and herb marinaded chicked from the Kamado, Santa Maria and packed in herb style Tri-Tip in the smoker, homemade Sangria to start (packed with strawberries, grapes, oranges and pineapple), rice, garlic bread, salad from the garden, with a Doffo Malbec and finished with a nice port.


----------



## Gary A.

Pancakes on the patio with cups of Colombian Supremo and classical KUSC serenading in the background.


----------



## minicoop1985

vintagesnaps said:


> Gee and when I saw the picture I thought how cool it would be if that little Bantam would've hopped out the window and flown south (and stopped when it got to my house! lol). I just had been looking at one online a camera store had so it was priced accordingly not 30 bucks you lucky booger! I love art deco Kodaks.



That's the only one I got a great deal on. The others cost nearly what I'm selling them for (I'm adding shipping costs obviously). I bought the ones I knew I could fix if needed to pass them on to a good home, other than the Rollei 35. I paid $65 for that thing in barely working condition (slow speeds were sticky, dents in the top plate, missing two screws), got it working again, and now I'm keeping it. I miss my last one.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Monday again.

Meh.


----------



## limr




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## limr




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## limr




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## limr




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## JonA_CT

I want all the coffee this morning. 

My mom picked up tickets for us to see Alton Brown's live show last night -- Eat Your Science. The show was awesome, but I didn't walk out of the theater until almost 11 and then had an hour drive home. Walked into the door around 12:15. My daughter ended up awake for awhile around 3 (she's teething), and then my alarm went off at 5. I'm thinking I'll be going to the bed around the same time the kid does tonight.


----------



## limr




----------



## oldhippy

Monday Morning Zen


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> I want all the coffee this morning.
> 
> My mom picked up tickets for us to see Alton Brown's live show last night -- Eat Your Science. The show was awesome, but I didn't walk out of the theater until almost 11 and then had an hour drive home. Walked into the door around 12:15. My daughter ended up awake for awhile around 3 (she's teething), and then my alarm went off at 5. I'm thinking I'll be going to the bed around the same time the kid does tonight.



Ouch. You do need all the coffee!


----------



## limr

Okay, one more. Because Monday.


----------



## limr

Two more weeks. Actually 2 1/2 weeks but I don't really count finals week because I don't actually have to teach. I just have to walk around the room and glare while they take their tests. Yeah, I still have to grade them and then do final course grades, but all of that can be done at home.

So two more weeks of teaching, though. That's 8 more class sessions. 14 more hours.

Yes, I'm counting. I've been counting since about the 3rd week of last semester.


----------



## terri

Poor Lenny!    It's times like these when you have to reach back into your memory to remind yourself of the shiny allure of academia.    

Happy Monday, hosers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!     

(Well...you know.)


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Been a rough past few days. Been hard to get out of the house. Depression sucks.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Misspelled "Morning" the first time I typed that - it may be a rough one.  The coffee is making it towards my brain right now, so I guess we'll see what happens.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Poor Lenny!    It's times like these when you have to reach back into your memory to remind yourself of the shiny allure of academia.
> 
> Happy Monday, hosers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> (Well...you know.)


----------



## JonA_CT

Our doorman/security guard has had a running countdown a white board by his desk at the entrance since we've had a 100 days to go...in the beginning it said "XX Days of School Left". 

A few days later, the Principal made him change it to "XX More Days to Learn." And now it's just a small number in the corner, haha.


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> Our doorman/security guard has had a running countdown a white board by his desk at the entrance since we've had a 100 days to go...in the beginning it said "XX Days of School Left".
> 
> A few days later, the Principal made him change it to "XX More Days to Learn." And now it's just a small number in the corner, haha.



Wouldn't the whole world be a much better place if we could just kill all those who insist on positive re-enforcement?  Lol


----------



## robbins.photo

Morning Hosers.

Car went into the shop today, driving a loaner.  You know I used to think all that bluetooth crap in a car was a total waste of money.  Now that I'm stuck listening to the 3 awful radio stations here in my local area for the rest of the week, eh, not so much.


----------



## oldhippy

Lighten Up, It's going to  be a long week


----------



## jcdeboever

Wife is getting her new car, 2016 Nissan Murano Platinum. To many blind spots for me but I don't have to drive it. Won't be getting yelled at for a good week or two. 






Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Wife is getting her new car, 2016 Nissan Murano Platinum. To many blind spots for me but I don't have to drive it. Won't be getting yelled at for a good week or two.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



I drive a 2014 Altima myself, love mine - though not nearly as many blind spots in it so that might have something to do with it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh Lenny, that brings back such lovely memories... when I taught jr. high and had to do study hall and detention duty where the thing was to try to write their sentences holding two pencils at a time to get done faster! lol clever little darlings. I had a desk drawer like the teacher in the Christmas Story movie, you'd think by that age they'd have outgrown that stuff! lol but no, I had to confiscate their whatnots and give 'em back at the end of class.

In more recent years my longtime assistant would start the countdown at the beginning of the school year - first week after the whole summer off and she'd be looking up all the holidays and breaks already! We lived for - when is the next time we're off?! You'd feel like you never left... (Hotel California)


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## limr




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## jcdeboever

Teachers are cool

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## jcdeboever

Oh, I forgot to mention that I was shooting in a park yesterday with my film camera. There were a few people doing the same but with digital. I was minding my own business taking crappy pictures as usual and some guy and gal came up to me because they heard the film advancing motor, N75. They asked me why I was using film and in so many words told me I was stupid, how film is dead, etc. I literally wanted to knock the guy out because I was minding my own business and focused on something. Rude. I played dumb and said it is was the best camera I had at this time as to the reason I was using it. They just kept on and I finally said there was only 5 minutes left of this golden light and I'll never get back the 5 they just took... I love dogs more than humans come to mind. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Oh, I forgot to mention that I was shooting in a park yesterday with my film camera. There were a few people doing the same but with digital. I was minding my own business taking crappy pictures as usual and some guy and gal came up to me because they heard the film advancing motor, N75. They asked me why I was using film and in so many words told me I was stupid, how film is dead, etc. I literally wanted to knock the guy out because I was minding my own business and focused on something. Rude. I played dumb and said it is was the best camera I had at this time as to the reason I was using it. They just kept on and I finally said there was only 5 minutes left of this golden light and I'll never get back the 5 they just took... I love dogs more than humans come to mind.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



So you turn to the girl and apologize, telling her how sorry you are and asking her if she already has a good divorce attorney or if she needs one.  When she asks what the heck your talking about, just make a couple of tut tut sounds and pat her hand.

Dear, obviously you've chosen someone who will drop you like a hat the moment a newer and shinier model comes along.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Oh, I forgot to mention that I was shooting in a park yesterday with my film camera. There were a few people doing the same but with digital. I was minding my own business taking crappy pictures as usual and some guy and gal came up to me because they heard the film advancing motor, N75. They asked me why I was using film and in so many words told me I was stupid, how film is dead, etc. I literally wanted to knock the guy out because I was minding my own business and focused on something. Rude. I played dumb and said it is was the best camera I had at this time as to the reason I was using it. They just kept on and I finally said there was only 5 minutes left of this golden light and I'll never get back the 5 they just took... I love dogs more than humans come to mind.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk




Grrrrrr


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I forgot to mention that I was shooting in a park yesterday with my film camera. There were a few people doing the same but with digital. I was minding my own business taking crappy pictures as usual and some guy and gal came up to me because they heard the film advancing motor, N75. They asked me why I was using film and in so many words told me I was stupid, how film is dead, etc. I literally wanted to knock the guy out because I was minding my own business and focused on something. Rude. I played dumb and said it is was the best camera I had at this time as to the reason I was using it. They just kept on and I finally said there was only 5 minutes left of this golden light and I'll never get back the 5 they just took... I love dogs more than humans come to mind.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Grrrrrr
Click to expand...


I can just see how this would have played out with you there....






Lol


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I forgot to mention that I was shooting in a park yesterday with my film camera. There were a few people doing the same but with digital. I was minding my own business taking crappy pictures as usual and some guy and gal came up to me because they heard the film advancing motor, N75. They asked me why I was using film and in so many words told me I was stupid, how film is dead, etc. I literally wanted to knock the guy out because I was minding my own business and focused on something. Rude. I played dumb and said it is was the best camera I had at this time as to the reason I was using it. They just kept on and I finally said there was only 5 minutes left of this golden light and I'll never get back the 5 they just took... I love dogs more than humans come to mind.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Grrrrrr
Click to expand...

I cut them off when they started telling me why I should use digital.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Well you could have been really mean, let them lecture you and act as if you were completely interested, then ask to see their digital camera and "accidentally" drop it.

Then smile innocently and say, oh right - now I remember why I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on an expensive digital camera.  I'm a klutz, and they're built like crap. 

Thanks man.  Good talk. 

Lol


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well you could have been really mean, let them lecture you and act as if you were completely interested, then ask to see their digital camera and "accidentally" drop it.
> 
> Then smile innocently and say, oh right - now I remember why I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on an expensive digital camera.  I'm a klutz, and they're built like crap.
> 
> Thanks man.  Good talk.
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...

They had a Canon 7 I think, that would have been some bad mojo there.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

What a couple of maroons.


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> They had a Canon 7 I think, that would have been some bad mojo there.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Ya, I'm just not a nice person.  But, I've learned to cope with that.. lol


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  It is a windy and cool day. Gary moved some patio furniture around, a number of these Rubbermaid cabinets, a wooden bar complete with a small wine frig and Gary's BBQ's all got moved for greater efficiency and visual improvements.  Gary can hardly wait for the next BBQ/dinner party.  Presently, he is in a sweatshirt, sitting at the patio table, drinking some mint-lemon water, listening to KUSC admiring his work.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. I'm going to try to get to bed very early tonight. At this point, I lose motivation and patience very quickly, so if I want to get any work done, I'm going to have to do it in the morning, before all my will-power has left my body. That means early to bed for this night owl!


----------



## Gary A.

'Night Leo.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has retreated inside. He is having a spot of hot orange-mango tea and watching the Angel/KC game. A few drops of rain have fallen from the gray sky ... But the clouds are breaking up and unfortunately the rain has stopped. Gary would rather be watching the Dodger-Padre game, but Gary doesn't have Time-Warner ... Like sucks. Gary likes dogs better than Time-Warner.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  It is a windy and cool day. Gary moved some patio furniture around, a number of these Rubbermaid cabinets, a wooden bar complete with a small wine frig and Gary's BBQ's all got moved for greater efficiency and visual improvements.  Gary can hardly wait for the next BBQ/dinner party.  Presently, he is in a sweatshirt, sitting at the patio table, drinking some mint-lemon water, listening to KUSC admiring his work.


I'm listening to LA Phil right now as I take a break from a Python programming project for a long time customer of mine. He occasionally asks for some challenging application tweaks. Wish I could visit... Some day I will. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Walking through Purple Rain.




Many of the streets of La Mirada are lined with Jacaranda trees. Unfortunately, the falling blossoms are a fitting tribute of Purple Rain.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary has retreated inside. He is having a spot of hot orange-mango tea and watching the Angel/KC game. A few drops of rain have fallen from the gray sky ... But the clouds are breaking up and unfortunately the rain has stopped. Gary would rather be watching the Dodger-Padre game, but Gary doesn't have Time-Warner ... Like sucks. Gary likes dogs better than Time-Warner.


I caught a couple innings of the Tigers A's game but needed to make a little extra cash as the wife put a small dent in the account today with her Nissan Murano Platinum purchase. Wanted $22k from dealer for the 2012 Enclave but only got 17.5K. Vehicles are such a flippin losing proposition, generally speaking. Now I got to spend weeks teaching her all the tech stuff but I must say, she has grown quite a bit with that stuff. She hasn't got a virus on her Windows PC in 8 years, so apparently she does listen to me on occasion. 

Here it is in the garage. My garage smells like rubber. New cars... Got to make up 22K in the fund... 





Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Nice JC.  Gary and Mary Lou are over their car love affairs and we both drive older vehicles.  Gary likes not having a car payment. But he does appreciate those who don't mind the burden.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Nice JC.  Gary and Mary Lou are over their car love affairs and we both drive older vehicles.  Gary likes not having a car payment. But he does appreciate those who don't mind the burden.


I don't have one either. I am adamant about that. I only pay cash for vehicles no matter how painful the loss is initially. Take the hit now, recover later. Get the bleeding over with. The wife likes nice stuff, I wish she was more thrifty because I could buy her a total wreck and fix it up safely but with a salvage title. She would get a nice new like vehicle for at least a break even financially. She is not having any of that. She works hard and deserves it but crap, no financial common sense. Oh well, happy wife means less yelling at me. Time to pee in the tub. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

New Car = Tub Pee

(Fair Enough)


----------



## Gary A.

I used to rebuild my cars after I blew 'em up.


----------



## Designer

jcdeboever said:


> Here it is in the garage. My garage smells like rubber.


Nice car, nice garage.  

I noticed that you have a large window from the house to the garage.  Should we be worried that it makes the wall not comply with the common requirement for a one-hour area separation assembly at that location?


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Attacking both breakfast and coffee at the moment.  Had to stop on the way to work to get blood drawn for an annual physical (you know, the thing I show up for about every two years).  The phlebotomist was great - barely even felt it.  I complimented her on the good work, which seemed to make her happy.


----------



## limr

Snark.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The winds have ceased and all is calm.  Gary and Mary Lou have decided to expand the backyard useability vis-a-vis games. Sunday we purchased croquet, sandbag and horseshoes and yesterday Gary found a dart board worth bringing home. Back in his pub days, Gary enjoyed darts and he is excited to set one up in the patio. Gary also brought home a foot long Yellow Submarine for the pond ... But it goes back. It spooks the hell out of the koi ... which is fine ... But it doesn't have reverse and keeps getting trapped in the aquatic plants and without a reverse, it requires one to get up and fish it out. Just too much work, there are easier ways to spook the koi. 

Gary is on his second cup at the kitchen table reading the paper and watching a wedge of sunlight slice into the front porch.


----------



## robbins.photo

Tuesday's suck.

Ok, granted, not a full blown haiku but it's all I've got at the moment.. lol


----------



## Watchful

The sun is shining, the market's doing well, its a great day.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Tuesday's suck.
> 
> Ok, granted, not a full blown haiku but it's all I've got at the moment.. lol



He's uninspired
to write what how he feels today.
Tuesday is sucking.


----------



## Watchful

What how...you are stretching.


----------



## limr

So, our college has a program that allows high school students to take courses for college credit (hs teachers teach them at the hs but they follow our syllabus for that course). I'm making accounts for some of the prospective students. This batch has a lot of students who were born in 2000, a year which always reminds me of Turkey. It's strange to be bored and nostalgic at the same time.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> So, our college has a program that allows high school students to take courses for college credit (hs teachers teach them at the hs but they follow our syllabus for that course). I'm making accounts for some of the prospective students. This batch has a lot of students who were born in 2000, a year which always reminds me of Turkey. It's strange to be bored and nostalgic at the same time.



So what year reminds you of Ham?


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, our college has a program that allows high school students to take courses for college credit (hs teachers teach them at the hs but they follow our syllabus for that course). I'm making accounts for some of the prospective students. This batch has a lot of students who were born in 2000, a year which always reminds me of Turkey. It's strange to be bored and nostalgic at the same time.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So what year reminds you of Ham?
Click to expand...


I see what you did there


----------



## jcdeboever

Good afternoon coffee lovers. My mentor who moved to AZ is coming home in a couple weeks and wants to work with me on my photography skills. He said he hasn't yelled at anyone for a while and can't wait... He told me to buy a couple of rolls of Porta 160 color and we are going to shoot some film. He is bringing his Canon T70, didn't know he had one, although he did rave when I picked mine up cheap. Never used the Porta160 but I ordered per his instruction. He said it is great for portraits (skin tone) and overall just a fantastic film. He said it is going to be an all analog session and he is not bringing a DSLR. I am pretty excited. He wants me to use my Canon T70 to mirror his instruction.  

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Good afternoon coffee lovers. My mentor who moved to AZ is coming home in a couple weeks and wants to work with me on my photography skills. He said he hasn't yelled at anyone for a while and can't wait... He told me to buy a couple of rolls of Porta 160 color and we are going to shoot some film. He is bringing his Canon T70, didn't know he had one, although he did rave when I picked mine up cheap. Never used the Porta160 but I ordered per his instruction. He said it is great for portraits (skin tone) and overall just a fantastic film. He said it is going to be an all analog session and he is not bringing a DSLR. I am pretty excited. He wants me to use my Canon T70 to mirror his instruction.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



I looooooove Portra 160.

Colors were not touched on any of these. And no, that's not a SOOC brag; that's Portra.




Day 211 - Rowboat Strunjan by limrodrigues, on Flickr




Day 212 - Boat and rattail by limrodrigues, on Flickr




Day 211 - Boats in Strunjan cropped by limrodrigues, on Flickr




Day 210 - Reeds and Piran by limrodrigues, on Flickr




Day 210 - Reeds 2 by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good afternoon coffee lovers. My mentor who moved to AZ is coming home in a couple weeks and wants to work with me on my photography skills. He said he hasn't yelled at anyone for a while and can't wait... He told me to buy a couple of rolls of Porta 160 color and we are going to shoot some film. He is bringing his Canon T70, didn't know he had one, although he did rave when I picked mine up cheap. Never used the Porta160 but I ordered per his instruction. He said it is great for portraits (skin tone) and overall just a fantastic film. He said it is going to be an all analog session and he is not bringing a DSLR. I am pretty excited. He wants me to use my Canon T70 to mirror his instruction.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I looooooove Portra 160.
> 
> Colors were not touched on any of these. And no, that's not a SOOC brag; that's Portra.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Day 211 - Rowboat Strunjan by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Day 212 - Boat and rattail by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Day 211 - Boats in Strunjan cropped by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Day 210 - Reeds and Piran by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Day 210 - Reeds 2 by limrodrigues, on Flickr
Click to expand...

Wow, I can see why he wants to use it. Nice. Stunning color. What ISO did you set the camera on?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good afternoon coffee lovers. My mentor who moved to AZ is coming home in a couple weeks and wants to work with me on my photography skills. He said he hasn't yelled at anyone for a while and can't wait... He told me to buy a couple of rolls of Porta 160 color and we are going to shoot some film. He is bringing his Canon T70, didn't know he had one, although he did rave when I picked mine up cheap. Never used the Porta160 but I ordered per his instruction. He said it is great for portraits (skin tone) and overall just a fantastic film. He said it is going to be an all analog session and he is not bringing a DSLR. I am pretty excited. He wants me to use my Canon T70 to mirror his instruction.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I looooooove Portra 160.
> 
> Colors were not touched on any of these. And no, that's not a SOOC brag; that's Portra.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Day 211 - Rowboat Strunjan by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Day 212 - Boat and rattail by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Day 211 - Boats in Strunjan cropped by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Day 210 - Reeds and Piran by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Day 210 - Reeds 2 by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wow, I can see why he wants to use it. Nice. Stunning color. What ISO did you set the camera on?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


That was set at 100, I'm pretty sure, but I also remember that the battery had died in my K1000 and so I was using Sunny 16 to expose. 

Edit: Wait...can't remember, but I think my K1000 has a 160 setting. You've got one, too, and mine is at home, so you go check


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> Tuesday's suck.
> 
> Ok, granted, not a full blown haiku but it's all I've got at the moment.. lol


Tuesday sucks sucks sucks
Tuesday sucks sucks sucks sucks sucks
Tuesday really sucks.

Meh, I am lazy
It must be Tuesday today
Cause I need a drink.


----------



## waday

My grandmother passed away last Friday. We knew it was coming, but it's still really sad.

The funeral is tomorrow, and despite asking for time away today, I'm stuck in calls and doing work. I wanted to leave at 3, but now I have to have a conference call on top of another call afterwards for another project.

So much for "we'll work around your family schedule".


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> My grandmother passed away last Friday. We knew it was coming, but it's still really sad.
> 
> The funeral is tomorrow, and despite asking for time away today, I'm stuck in calls and doing work. I wanted to leave at 3, but now I have to have a conference call on top of another call afterwards for another project.
> 
> So much for "we'll work around your family schedule".



I ran into that at the place I was working at when my dad died.  They talked a pretty  good game about being family oriented, etc, etc.. then they started hassling me about taking a whole 1/2 a day off for the funeral.  I wound up having to work an extra shift the day after the funeral.

About a week later we get a visit from the CEO and a couple of other big wigs, and he starts talking about how family oriented they are as a company, blah blah blah.. took everything I had not to laugh right in his face.


----------



## Designer

You have my sympathy for the loss of your grandmother.





waday said:


> So much for "we'll work around your family schedule".


No doubt the bosses got time off when they wanted, so that is true for them.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> My grandmother passed away last Friday. We knew it was coming, but it's still really sad.
> 
> The funeral is tomorrow, and despite asking for time away today, I'm stuck in calls and doing work. I wanted to leave at 3, but now I have to have a conference call on top of another call afterwards for another project.
> 
> So much for "we'll work around your family schedule".


----------



## minicoop1985

Sorry, Wade. That sucks.

Howdy hosers. I can now say I'm the proud owner of four more fun cameras: A Berning Robot II and IIa, a Zeiss Contessa, and a Plaubel Roll-Op. I can't seem to figure out if the Roll-Op is complete (got the shutter working PERFECTLY though), the Ziess's shutter seems to be stuck, and I can't use the Robots (I GOT THEM TO WORK!!!!) because I don't have the required film containers, but hey. All in a day's work, I suppose.


----------



## JonA_CT

Got my roll of film back today. Just got scans -- I'm not sure I really want prints of everything, but maybe I'll change my mind. The scans are really poor quality -- 400 kb per scan? Most of the online places are showing at least 3mb per frame, and a lot offer more than that. I'll guess I'll be sending my film out by mail.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> My grandmother passed away last Friday. We knew it was coming, but it's still really sad.
> 
> The funeral is tomorrow, and despite asking for time away today, I'm stuck in calls and doing work. I wanted to leave at 3, but now I have to have a conference call on top of another call afterwards for another project.
> 
> So much for "we'll work around your family schedule".


My condolences.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry to hear about your grandmother Wade. (That's really lousy about your work too.)

Jon that one you took of the meter is kinda cool, that might make an interesting print. Why that one looked so clear compared to most of the roll is what I can't quite figure out. Unless your exposure was spot on for that one.

There's no such thing as too many film cameras. As Michael is finding out! lol


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> I ran into that at the place I was working at when my dad died.  They talked a pretty  good game about being family oriented, etc, etc.. then they started hassling me about taking a whole 1/2 a day off for the funeral.  I wound up having to work an extra shift the day after the funeral.
> 
> About a week later we get a visit from the CEO and a couple of other big wigs, and he starts talking about how family oriented they are as a company, blah blah blah.. took everything I had not to laugh right in his face.





Designer said:


> You have my sympathy for the loss of your grandmother.





limr said:


>





minicoop1985 said:


> Sorry, Wade. That sucks





Gary A. said:


> My condolences.





vintagesnaps said:


> Sorry to hear about your grandmother Wade. (That's really lousy about your work too.)


Thank you, all, for your kind words. Yeah, my supervisor and other workmates can be pretty insensitive (except when it involves their personal life).

For Nana, the following quote comes to mind:

"To live in the hearts of those we leave behind is to never die."


----------



## terri

My condolences for your family's loss.    You must be chafing inside at not being able to get away from work.       I'm so sorry.   

That is a lovely quote to honor your grandmother with!


----------



## JonA_CT

Good morning! It's bright and sunny here in CT, although the air is pretty crisp at 38*. The coffee is doing quite nicely to aid my mood this morning.



vintagesnaps said:


> Jon that one you took of the meter is kinda cool, that might make an interesting print. Why that one looked so clear compared to most of the roll is what I can't quite figure out. Unless your exposure was spot on for that one.
> 
> There's no such thing as too many film cameras. As Michael is finding out! lol



I'm not sure either, but you are probably right about exposure. The right half of the meter is in direct sunlight at the time of day that I took that. The good news is that's a picture I can get every day, as it's attached to my house  

I'm going to take Limr's suggestion to replace the light seals, and give it another shot. I'll have to shoot a few rolls this time though...doesn't make any financial sense to ship just one roll as another test.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

These last two weeks seem endless, though I suppose it actually isn't. Well, it might be in some dimension. Maybe there are infinite dimensions and this moment is happening in all of them, but at different times relative to this one...so this moment is happening in infinite dimensions into infinity both past and present...it always has been, always is, and always will be...it really IS endless!

But it doesn't change that in _this_ dimension, I still have to go to work today.

And that, my friends, is a little peek into what my brain does when I am trying to go to sleep at night. And that's what happens after I _stop_ it from thinking about work or money or whatever.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Had an interesting day yesterday. Got a Berning Robot for $1. Got it working. Spent $20 on another Robot. It's now a bag of parts. lol. I also got a Zeiss rangefinder and Plaubel Roll-Op for $5 each, but neither works.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> These last two weeks seem endless, though I suppose it actually isn't. Well, it might be in some dimension. Maybe there are infinite dimensions and this moment is happening in all of them, but at different times relative to this one...so this moment is happening in infinite dimensions into infinity both past and present...it always has been, always is, and always will be...it really IS endless!
> 
> But it doesn't change that in _this_ dimension, I still have to go to work today.
> 
> And that, my friends, is a little peek into what my brain does when I am trying to go to sleep at night. And that's what happens after I _stop_ it from thinking about work or money or whatever.



Work and money are much less complicated than this stuff, but maybe not as much fun.


----------



## jcdeboever

Sorry for your loss, recently went through that. It hurts for a spell and you will always miss them. I hang onto their in a better place that's full of joy and beauty not found here on earth. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> These last two weeks seem endless, though I suppose it actually isn't. Well, it might be in some dimension. Maybe there are infinite dimensions and this moment is happening in all of them, but at different times relative to this one...so this moment is happening in infinite dimensions into infinity both past and present...it always has been, always is, and always will be...it really IS endless!
> 
> But it doesn't change that in _this_ dimension, I still have to go to work today.
> 
> And that, my friends, is a little peek into what my brain does when I am trying to go to sleep at night. And that's what happens after I _stop_ it from thinking about work or money or whatever.


So you're saying that time, as a progression, isn't so. That we live in the instant, the moment, popping into different moments, the moments are infinite and that the progression of time is a mere invention by "intelligent' beings to bring order to all the moments.  If you are ... I don't get it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary and Mary Lou received the perfect gift from one of our BBQ guests on Saturday.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> These last two weeks seem endless, though I suppose it actually isn't. Well, it might be in some dimension. Maybe there are infinite dimensions and this moment is happening in all of them, but at different times relative to this one...so this moment is happening in infinite dimensions into infinity both past and present...it always has been, always is, and always will be...it really IS endless!
> 
> But it doesn't change that in _this_ dimension, I still have to go to work today.
> 
> And that, my friends, is a little peek into what my brain does when I am trying to go to sleep at night. And that's what happens after I _stop_ it from thinking about work or money or whatever.
> 
> 
> 
> So you're saying that time, as a progression, isn't so. That we live in the instant, the moment, popping into different moments, the moments are infinite and that the progression of time is a mere invention by "intelligent' beings to bring order to all the moments.  If you are ... I don't get it.
Click to expand...




Oddly enough, when I did fall asleep, I had a  dream about smoking pot...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary ordered the final piece of dart hardware yesterday, the cabinet. In a few days y'all are welcomed to come over drink some beer, sip some wine, eat some BBQ, munch some salad and toss some darts.  Gary took the day off in order to install some can lights (6) into the ceiling of the living room.  Then the living room will be done, fini, (except for some thresholds.)


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> These last two weeks seem endless, though I suppose it actually isn't. Well, it might be in some dimension. Maybe there are infinite dimensions and this moment is happening in all of them, but at different times relative to this one...so this moment is happening in infinite dimensions into infinity both past and present...it always has been, always is, and always will be...it really IS endless!
> 
> But it doesn't change that in _this_ dimension, I still have to go to work today.
> 
> And that, my friends, is a little peek into what my brain does when I am trying to go to sleep at night. And that's what happens after I _stop_ it from thinking about work or money or whatever.
> 
> 
> 
> So you're saying that time, as a progression, isn't so. That we live in the instant, the moment, popping into different moments, the moments are infinite and that the progression of time is a mere invention by "intelligent' beings to bring order to all the moments.  If you are ... I don't get it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oddly enough, when I did fall asleep, I had a  dream about smoking pot...
Click to expand...

Gary hopes it was medical marijuana.


----------



## Gary A.

... Then every moment would be it's own dimension ... I still don't get it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Lenny are you experiencing some sort of Star Trek episode in real life? stuck in a temporal loop or something?? lol I hope you find a wormhole and zoom past the next couple of weeks and out of this semester! but I hate to say what I remember is it just drags...

I sort of watched a movie on TCM last night where Dick Clark was a teacher; it started out funny then got kind of serious and I came back to it later to see how it ended. But at the beginning when school was starting, at the high school where 'the kids' were zipping around in their hot rods and there was a bus sign that said something about being careful so you don't hit a child, somebody'd written on it - wait for a teacher! lol Those kooky kids.


----------



## minicoop1985

You guys are strange.

Ugh. Can't shake it this time. Been absolutely crushingly depressed over the past week or so. Hopefully something will change soon... I don't know what to do about this. Nothing helps.


----------



## terri

minicoop1985 said:


> You guys are strange.
> 
> Ugh. Can't shake it this time. Been absolutely crushingly depressed over the past week or so. Hopefully something will change soon... I don't know what to do about this. Nothing helps.


I'm sorry you're going through a rough patch.       I don't know if you have a doctor or therapist to turn to, but if you do it might be time for an appointment.   Let someone qualified help you through.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> You guys are strange.
> 
> Ugh. Can't shake it this time. Been absolutely crushingly depressed over the past week or so. Hopefully something will change soon... I don't know what to do about this. Nothing helps.



S
Don't say you can't. Say you will. You will snap out of it.


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## minicoop1985

I have rapid cycling bipolar I. Unfortunately, there isn't a "snap out of it"... There's "Hope I stop with the suicidal thoughts before I become manic and suicidal at the same time"...  Such is my life. I thought I was doing OK on my current meds, but apparently they stop being effective eventually.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> I have rapid cycling bipolar I. Unfortunately, there isn't a "snap out of it"... There's "Hope I stop with the suicidal thoughts before I become manic and suicidal at the same time"...  Such is my life. I thought I was doing OK on my current meds, but apparently they stop being effective eventually.


Time to visit doc

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## minicoop1985

I need to call them. I know nobody here will really understand, but it takes a certain type of energy to do that, and I'm completely lacking it at the moment. I can barely move... Bringing my kid to school today was ROUGH.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> I need to call them. I know nobody here will really understand, but it takes a certain type of energy to do that, and I'm completely lacking it at the moment. I can barely move... Bringing my kid to school today was ROUGH.



Michael, you're right that we'll never completely understand, but if it helps, some of us DO understand how hard it is to gather up the strength and the will to help ourselves. There were times when I knew perfectly well what I had to do to feel better, but the problem was that I just didn't care enough to actually do it. I had no energy left to even give a crap, much less act on anything.

Yes, eventually things got better, but that's not the point. This is not a pep talk. It's a simple statement of support. I have experienced similar difficulties, but the truth is that I _don't_ know how it feels for you right now. All I know is that it's hard and you're in pain, and I'm sorry that you're going through it. You haven't met any of us hosers, but we're standing with you and we are here when you need us.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I need to call them. I know nobody here will really understand, but it takes a certain type of energy to do that, and I'm completely lacking it at the moment. I can barely move... Bringing my kid to school today was ROUGH.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Michael, you're right that we'll never completely understand, but if it helps, some of us DO understand how hard it is to gather up the strength and the will to help ourselves. There were times when I knew perfectly well what I had to do to feel better, but the problem was that I just didn't care enough to actually do it. I had no energy left to even give a crap, much less act on anything.
> 
> Yes, eventually things got better, but that's not the point. This is not a pep talk. It's a simple statement of support. I have experienced similar difficulties, but the truth is that I _don't_ know how it feels for you right now. All I know is that it's hard and you're in pain, and I'm sorry that you're going through it. You haven't met any of us hosers, but we're standing with you and we are here when you need us.
Click to expand...

I'm with limr on this one, your right in that if you haven't experienced it you can't fully appreciate how it feels.  Just know that a lot of people here care about you and if there is anything we can do, we will.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


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## jcdeboever

I went through a horrible time with a mentally abusive ex and I  got help. They put me on drugs and I got worse, it was horrible... Try this, try that combination. Oh, we missed diagnosed you, take these.... One big **** storm of mental confusion, anxiety, anger, depression, etc. over a years time. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## limr

We need a group hug, you hosers!!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Gary and helper installed the six can lights.  Gary used one dimmer switch per two lights and ... well ... It all works. The installation and clean-up were a b****. But it is is over, done, completed and Mary Lou was surprised and happy.

@ Michael: I think you need to move. Don't think about it, don't think if you want to move or need to move ... Just do it. Give yourself a schedule ... Say at 10:00 you're gonna walk out the door and down the block. When 10:00 comes, go. Yes, it is easier said than done, but just do it. 

Gary's darts have arrived and the Winmau Blade 4, dual core dart board. So who want to shoot some darts?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is sore this morning. Gary's back is sore, even Gary's fingers are sore.  Gary is surprised at:

1)  the amount of work required to install the can lights; and
2) the volume of mess cutting into the ceiling generated.

Gary lives in an older house ... Everything Gary touches raises unexpected problems. But Mary Lou was surprised and happy and that is all that matters. Gary gave Mary Lou an early Mother's Day present ... A set of darts. Lol

Gary found the perfect place for the dart board in the patio.  But, there is the electrical meter, sprinkler controller, cable Tv internet box and an electrical panel all in the same area. Gary need's to build a soffit/chase around that stuff to protect and hide those vital house components. Any carpenters out there?


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

It's my Friday today! I'd whoop, but I was too busy yawning. Couldn't get to sleep last night so I'm draggy this morning. Good thing Thursday is not only my last work day of the week, but it's also the shortest.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Cooler and grayer here today - good photography weather, but unfortunately I'm working.

@minicoop1985 - keep at it - I've had depression as bad as you're describing (I think), but without the bipolar features.  Often these things take a while, but they do get better, maybe the right combination of medication, just learning to manage it behaviorally or some combination.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary: I wish it was that easy. I often lack the energy to get off the damned couch. And when I have to drop the kiddo off or pick him up, it's just a dreadful experience. It makes me feel worse, if that makes any sense. It's a sense of guilt that I can't do anything with my kid when he's at home, and despair over having time to myself.

Thanks, everyone. Perhaps I was hasty in saying nobody would understand.

I'm feeling a little better this morning. Ordered a part for a camera. I'll post in the Collector's Corner in a little bit.


----------



## JonA_CT

I feel you on the old house thing. My house was built in 1912. All of the walls are plaster and lathe, and any work done on them involves large amounts of mess and profanity. Even things as simple as finding the studs are a challenge -- I've ended up using a stud finder specifically designed to find the nail heads that hold the lathe to the stud as it has proven to be the only reliable way to find them. 

And that's only one of the issues. Uneven basement floor -- and the sump pump is in the highest corner, stone and mortar foundation, asbestos siding, etc. 

We do have the original beautiful wood throughout the house though, so I guess that's a plus.


----------



## Gary A.

Morning Michael. Life is never easy ... I suspect for any of us here. I think you dwell on things too long ... Too much thought and not enough action. Then you think about your thinking ... And it becomes a downward spiral. I think you need to start moving without motivation.  You are motivated by cameras and repairing them ... So you move and you act. (Which is good.) But you need to act without a big and required motivation. Yes, it is very complex ... So reduce the problem down to simple terms and instead of sitting at a huge and overwhelming plate of complex problems ... Let's reduce it down to something manageable ... A small piece of the plate ... Something you can do. So set a schedule to get up and just walk. At 10:00 get off your butt, grab a camera and walk down the street ... Set a camera by the door so there's less thinking and to remind you to get up and walk. Don't think about if you want to ... Think about doing it, think about if you need a jacket, think about the ISO, think about if you should turn left or right. Think about putting one foot ahead of the other foot. Every step You take ... makes you a winner.

It isn't much, really. Just get up and walk.  Don't give it much if any thought, just get up and walk out the door. There it's done ... Walk down to the street and take a nice deep breath ... You did it ... You're out and about ... Put a small smile on your face and stroll down the street and focus on something to shoot. You win.


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## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I feel you on the old house thing. My house was built in 1912. All of the walls are plaster and lathe, and any work done on them involves large amounts of mess and profanity. Even things as simple as finding the studs are a challenge -- I've ended up using a stud finder specifically designed to find the nail heads that hold the lathe to the stud as it has proven to be the only reliable way to find them.
> 
> And that's only one of the issues. Uneven basement floor -- and the sump pump is in the highest corner, stone and mortar foundation, asbestos siding, etc.
> 
> We do have the original beautiful wood throughout the house though, so I guess that's a plus.


LOL ... I had a wonderful old house built in the 1930's.  You could see LA Harbor and watch the ships roll in and out. Every room had a different texture plaster and the doorways were rounded. It was built on unanchored piers. Just sat there during earthquakes, shifting its weight around to maintain balance. I eventually strapped it to the piers. 

My mantra for working on older structures is "Get a bigger hammer."


----------



## minicoop1985

I dunno, Gary. I've tried doing that kind of thing, and it doesn't really work. I just stew about how much of a failure I've been (I know, I'm not a failure, but the thought gets so ingrained in my head) or how I'm a horrible person that can barely function. Basically, all that happens is I'm just as depressed out of the house, and that's only if I can get out of the house.

My Rollei 35 hates me. I miss the one I had... The one that worked. I'll be selling that at a loss.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> I dunno, Gary. I've tried doing that kind of thing, and it doesn't really work. I just stew about how much of a failure I've been (I know, I'm not a failure, but the thought gets so ingrained in my head) or how I'm a horrible person that can barely function. Basically, all that happens is I'm just as depressed out of the house, and that's only if I can get out of the house.
> 
> My Rollei 35 hates me. I miss the one I had... The one that worked. I'll be selling that at a loss.


Small bites Michael, one step at a time and one day at a time.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has found his old Unicorn darts from 40 years ago in a tacky baby blue leather carrying case. In comparison to his new Winmau darts, the Unicorn are a bit front heavy with a less slender point. The Unicorn point will most likely promote more bounce-outs. But soon Gary's Backyard Pub & Grill will be open for business.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, speaking of steps... One step closer to using my Robot! Ordered the cartridges and the winding knob so far. That should make it operational.


----------



## unpopular

So if you have two cars, one which you have full comp/collision insurance and the other liability only and you smashed one with the other, could you take out a claim on both cars, essentially taking a liability claim against yourself?


----------



## JonA_CT

Productive evening so far -- my wife has to work late, so I hung out with my daughter tonight, including successfully negotiating bath time in the bath tub solo for the first time. Only catch is that I undressed her before I filled the tub. The brat made a big puddle next to me in the bathroom. Ugh.

I also was able to get the light seals replaced in my Minolta. I have these big dutch hands and a nasty astigmatism that makes it hard for me to do detail work. I think it ended up alright though, and put a roll of Ilford HP5 in it as my next experiment.

I've also been toying with two writing/photography projects. My problem is that I always have big ideas and do a bunch of planning, just to figure out that I don't have the time, energy, or resolve to follow through. The first one is a photography project that will involve some writing. I'm turning 30 this year, and am about as old as you can be and still be considered a "millennial". As I sift through social media, I notice that people my age are in so many different places. I'm pretty fortunate. I finished my BA, got a job as an editor within a month, worked for a year, realized it sucked, went back to grad school to become a teacher, completed my program and was employed full-time within a month, got married young, have a beautiful daughter, etc...some of my friends never got by the first step. They are still working at CVS or as a waitress or even have a job in their field but have been "temp" for years. I thought it might be interesting to do a informal or environmental portrait series telling the stories of all of the options. It would be a good way for me to get more practice with photography and to give me something to write about. I have several volunteers already, but keep making excuses to myself not to get started, mostly that I'm not sure I can get the photos I have in my head. 

My other idea revolves around the road trip I'm taking this summer -- that one would be more writing, and less photography probably. Since I'm planning to drive about 8000 miles this summer with a one-year-old, I'm betting I'll have a lot to talk about. I need to get the first few entries set, but I've had a hard time sitting down to write them. It's a busy time of year for my job. Maybe it'll be easier in a few weeks.


----------



## terri

Well, Jon...the first idea would be an absolutely wonderful project.    Environmental portraits can be fun to do, some trickier than others, but if you dedicated at least one full roll of film to each volunteer, you should get *at least* passable shots to go along with the background stories...and you'll probably get better than passable.      I think it's a great idea, one that a lot of people can relate to who are in a similar situation to that of your friends - or, like you, feel lucky that things have gone well.   If you already have some volunteers lined up, go for it!   Give yourself a time frame, 6 months to the end of this year, just to get all the portraits done, and maybe tackle the writing both over your time off this summer, and during the winter holidays.    There's no rush, so try not to use time pressure as an obstacle.

The other idea also sounds fun - who doesn't love a road trip?    It could be lots of fun.   I just am struck that the first idea seems timely and one that could touch a lot of people.

Good luck, whatever you decide!   


JonA_CT said:


> Only catch is that I undressed her before I filled the tub. The brat made a big puddle next to me in the bathroom. Ugh.


That made me laugh!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's dart board arrived and it is beautiful. Who wants to toss some darts?


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Productive evening so far -- my wife has to work late, so I hung out with my daughter tonight, including successfully negotiating bath time in the bath tub solo for the first time. Only catch is that I undressed her before I filled the tub. The brat made a big puddle next to me in the bathroom. Ugh.



And the silver lining is that you will never make that mistake again  



> I also was able to get the light seals replaced in my Minolta. I have these big dutch hands and a nasty astigmatism that makes it hard for me to do detail work. I think it ended up alright though, and put a roll of Ilford HP5 in it as my next experiment.



Yay! Love me some HP5



> I've also been toying with two writing/photography projects. My problem is that I always have big ideas and do a bunch of planning, just to figure out that I don't have the time, energy, or resolve to follow through. The first one is a photography project that will involve some writing. I'm turning 30 this year, and am about as old as you can be and still be considered a "millennial". As I sift through social media, I notice that people my age are in so many different places. I'm pretty fortunate. I finished my BA, got a job as an editor within a month, worked for a year, realized it sucked, went back to grad school to become a teacher, completed my program and was employed full-time within a month, got married young, have a beautiful daughter, etc...some of my friends never got by the first step. They are still working at CVS or as a waitress or even have a job in their field but have been "temp" for years. I thought it might be interesting to do a informal or environmental portrait series telling the stories of all of the options. It would be a good way for me to get more practice with photography and to give me something to write about. I have several volunteers already, but keep making excuses to myself not to get started, mostly that I'm not sure I can get the photos I have in my head.
> 
> My other idea revolves around the road trip I'm taking this summer -- that one would be more writing, and less photography probably. Since I'm planning to drive about 8000 miles this summer with a one-year-old, I'm betting I'll have a lot to talk about. I need to get the first few entries set, but I've had a hard time sitting down to write them. It's a busy time of year for my job. Maybe it'll be easier in a few weeks.



They both sound like interesting projects for sure. You might have more motivation once the school year is over. I don't know about you, but I find it very difficult to work on my own writing when I'm teaching. I know some can take inspiration when they spend their days working in the same field as their creative work (an artist working in a museum or art gallery, for example) but I'm not like that. Focusing on other people's writing is mentally draining, and writing, as you know, isn't easy, so I just don't have any energy left at the end of the day for my own writing.

During the semester is when I try to find other creative endeavors to at least keep the juices flowing. Then in the summer, I can write. Maybe you're the same, and you'll find it easier to get some words down on paper once you're not grading others'!


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> They both sound like interesting projects for sure. You might have more motivation once the school year is over. I don't know about you, but I find it very difficult to work on my own writing when I'm teaching. I know some can take inspiration when they spend their days working in the same field as their creative work (an artist working in a museum or art gallery, for example) but I'm not like that. Focusing on other people's writing is mentally draining, and writing, as you know, isn't easy, so I just don't have any energy left at the end of the day for my own writing.
> 
> During the semester is when I try to find other creative endeavors to at least keep the juices flowing. Then in the summer, I can write. Maybe you're the same, and you'll find it easier to get some words down on paper once you're not grading others'!



It's so true. The last few writing projects I've done have happened over breaks. I also don't read much while I'm teaching, besides the texts that I use in class. I've been working on the same book for a few weeks now. Over the summer, a few days is a long time for a book.

It's kind of ironic, really, that I spend all day talking about the importance of reading and writing, but I can't manage to get it done myself at home.


----------



## jcdeboever

Morning Hosers. Watched draft last night, learned a new way to get baked, thanks Tunsil... Porta 160 arrived quickly, metal canister was a surprise, feels like quality film. Developed 6 rolls of film in the wee hours since I couldn't sleep again. Looks like I did a good job this time, gonna get them scanned in a few days, better than Dwaynes. Looks like my Canon FD 135mm 2.5 is a stud. Batteries showed up for the Minox 35 el I bought off minicoop. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

terri said:


> Well, Jon...the first idea would be an absolutely wonderful project.    Environmental portraits can be fun to do, some trickier than others, but if you dedicated at least one full roll of film to each volunteer, you should get *at least* passable shots to go along with the background stories...and you'll probably get better than passable.      I think it's a great idea, one that a lot of people can relate to who are in a similar situation to that of your friends - or, like you, feel lucky that things have gone well.   If you already have some volunteers lined up, go for it!   Give yourself a time frame, 6 months to the end of this year, just to get all the portraits done, and maybe tackle the writing both over your time off this summer, and during the winter holidays.    There's no rush, so try not to use time pressure as an obstacle.



It's funny -- I figured on using my D600 for that project, but you're right in the fact that it might be a good project to use the film on too, or possibly both. I might actually carry both cameras for something specific like that -- I can't see myself carrying both of them on a normal day, and it'll be a good opportunity to use the light meter in the D600 to help me expose with the film camera too. It would also be interesting to compare similar shots using both, and the focal lengths I have with my film set-up (75-205) is better than the lens I would use with my D600 (28-75), although I'll probably buy a fast 70-200 sooner or later for that too.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> It's so true. The last few writing projects I've done have happened over breaks. I also don't read much while I'm teaching, besides the texts that I use in class. I've been working on the same book for a few weeks now. Over the summer, a few days is a long time for a book.
> 
> It's kind of ironic, really, that I spend all day talking about the importance of reading and writing, but I can't manage to get it done myself at home.



I hear ya. I started a book months ago and still haven't finished. When I'm not teaching, though, I can devour a book in no time at all. In two weeks, my classes will be done, my grades will be submitted and I'll be driving south to have a family weekend on the beach to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday. I'll bet you that I'll read more of my book that weekend than I have in the past 4 months!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Another cloudy day stuck at work.  Tomorrow is supposed to start off that way, so maybe I'll get out then.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. I'm up before the kid today. Which is kinda rare, as he usually quietly sneaks into our room and turns on the TV.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

Two weeks from today, I'll be in the car driving south for a family weekend on the beach to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday. I'll enter my course grades on Thursday, and then at oh-dark-thirty Friday morning, I'll get in the car and just drive away from it all as fast as I can  I'm actually really looking forward to a 10-hour drive. I get the whole day to myself and the only thing I have to think about is driving. Plus, I like driving. And I looooove a road trip, and it's been a long time since I've had a good solo road trip. The last really good one was about 6? 7? years back. I was visiting a friend in Houston and rented a car to visit another friend in Austin. I took my sweet time, wandered over on local roads (highways are only for when speed is necessary), stopped at little towns along the way...glorious! 

I'll confess, there is one 2- to 3-hour stretch of this drive that I am NOT looking forward to. Two words, folks: Jersey Turnpike. *deep heavy sigh*


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Another typical LA morning, cool, overcast and gray.  But the day will brighten and warm up into the 70's. Gary finally emptied the cards from the play he shot last week. Gary is way behind in his processing and needs his butt kicked. Trump arrived in Orange County yesterday to a crowd of well wishers and protestors.  The protestors appeared to be mainly punks just out for a 'good time' of raising mayhem and potential destruction.  The police anticipated the Trump impact and were prepared for the protestors, in force including mounted Sherriffs. (Believe me, a line stretching across a street of police mounted on horses marching forward, goes a long way in mob intimidation. This was more of a mob out for a good time, than an organized band of Trump Protestors.) While it made for interesting local news coverage, it also reflected poorly upon the mob mentality in our society.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> I'll confess, there is one 2- to 3-hour stretch of this drive that I am NOT looking forward to. Two words, folks: Jersey Turnpike. *deep heavy sigh*



Reminds me of something my grandfather used to say, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions, which might explain why it has so many potholes."


----------



## vintagesnaps

Reminds me of peasants with pitchforks lately...lol  I think too Gary when there have been protests on the news that it often seems to involve a lot of hangers on and people from elsewhere showing up to cause trouble, etc. I can see if it's something someone really believes in to participate, but I'm not sure if that's always what's happening.

The weather everywhere sounds about the same. Seems to be making up for the long dry stretch, so if it washes down the pollen that works for me!

I found too that the end of the school year was always just nuts! and not a good time to start any sort of project. I used to just try to make it to Memorial Day then I was in the home stretch - whoo hoo!


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Reminds me of peasants with pitchforks lately...lol



Does sort of make me nostalgic for the good old days when there was always a castle to storm.  



> I think too Gary when there have been protests on the news that it often seems to involve a lot of hangers on and people from elsewhere showing up to cause trouble, etc. I can see if it's something someone really believes in to participate, but I'm not sure if that's always what's happening.



What I always get a chuckle out of is when they interview the protestors (and this is at any protest mind you, not specifically the one previously mentioned) and half the time you get the distinct impression they have very little to no idea what it is they are actually protesting.  Once you get past the catchy slogan they've been yelling at the top of their lungs they've got nothing.  That always cracks me up.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> Two weeks from today, I'll be in the car driving south for a family weekend on the beach to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday. I'll enter my course grades on Thursday, and then at oh-dark-thirty Friday morning, I'll get in the car and just drive away from it all as fast as I can  I'm actually really looking forward to a 10-hour drive. I get the whole day to myself and the only thing I have to think about is driving. Plus, I like driving. And I looooove a road trip, and it's been a long time since I've had a good solo road trip. The last really good one was about 6? 7? years back. I was visiting a friend in Houston and rented a car to visit another friend in Austin. I took my sweet time, wandered over on local roads (highways are only for when speed is necessary), stopped at little towns along the way...glorious!
> 
> I'll confess, there is one 2- to 3-hour stretch of this drive that I am NOT looking forward to. Two words, folks: Jersey Turnpike. *deep heavy sigh*



Mary Lou and Gary are thinking of a road trip up to wine country, probably Paso Robles. Originally a week, (Russian River in Sonoma), but as we're picking up some new patio furniture, we're down to a couple of days.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Reminds me of peasants with pitchforks lately...lol  I think too Gary when there have been protests on the news that it often seems to involve a lot of hangers on and people from elsewhere showing up to cause trouble, etc. I can see if it's something someone really believes in to participate, but I'm not sure if that's always what's happening.
> 
> The weather everywhere sounds about the same. Seems to be making up for the long dry stretch, so if it washes down the pollen that works for me!
> 
> I found too that the end of the school year was always just nuts! and not a good time to start any sort of project. I used to just try to make it to Memorial Day then I was in the home stretch - whoo hoo!


Still quite dry out here ... could use some of that rain.

As to the pitchforks and torches ... Pretty much, a mob of young punks looking for any excuse to raise some hell. I doubt if any of them were registered to vote.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> As to the pitchforks and torches ... Pretty much, a mob of young punks looking for any excuse to raise some hell. I doubt if any of them were registered to vote.


My tongue hurts from all the biting.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> As to the pitchforks and torches ... Pretty much, a mob of young punks looking for any excuse to raise some hell. I doubt if any of them were registered to vote.
> 
> 
> 
> My tongue hurts from all the biting.
Click to expand...

Gary is calling it as he sees it, while maintaining a professional objectivity. Most, if not all of the lawlessness was fostered not by those with a serious political agenda (of any ilk), but rather by those looking for a stage to raise hell. Again, the few ruining things for the many.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Gary is calling it as he sees it, while maintaining a professional objectivity. Most, if not all of the lawlessness was fostered not by those with a serious political agenda (of any ilk), but rather by those looking for a stage to raise hell. Again, the few ruining things for the many.



Maybe we should all get together and protest that?  Just a thought.. lol


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is calling it as he sees it, while maintaining a professional objectivity. Most, if not all of the lawlessness was fostered not by those with a serious political agenda (of any ilk), but rather by those looking for a stage to raise hell. Again, the few ruining things for the many.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe we should all get together and protest that?  Just a thought.. lol
Click to expand...

Gary is all for protests.  Gary cut his teeth on the anti-war protests during the Vietnam war. Protesting makes for great photography and hopefully for a better society. Gary doesn't appreciate violence ... especially unwarranted violence.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Gary is all for protests.  Gary cut his teeth on the anti-war protests during the Vietnam war. Protesting makes for great photography and hopefully for a better society. Gary doesn't appreciate violence ... especially unwarranted violence.



So if we do go protest the protesters we can't throw stuff or set anything or anyone on fire?  Screw that.  I guess I'm out.

Sheesh, perfectly good weekend just shot straight to hell.  Thanks Gary!

Lol


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> As to the pitchforks and torches ... Pretty much, a mob of young punks looking for any excuse to raise some hell. I doubt if any of them were registered to vote.
> 
> 
> 
> My tongue hurts from all the biting.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary is calling it as he sees it, while maintaining a professional objectivity. Most, if not all of the lawlessness was fostered not by those with a serious political agenda (of any ilk), but rather by those looking for a stage to raise hell. Again, the few ruining things for the many.
Click to expand...

Actually, I was biting my tongue to avoid making my post sound political.  

Biting it again, actually.


----------



## minicoop1985

This little fella's parts showed up (next day shipping apparently) today, and I loaded it with 12 exposure Fuji Superia to give it a test.




Berning Robot IIa by Michael Long, on Flickr

Gonna be a fun one to shoot, I think. Now to figure out how to clean that finder...


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> This little fella's parts showed up


It's always nice when your little fella gets his parts!


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> As to the pitchforks and torches ... Pretty much, a mob of young punks looking for any excuse to raise some hell. I doubt if any of them were registered to vote.
> 
> 
> 
> My tongue hurts from all the biting.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary is calling it as he sees it, while maintaining a professional objectivity. Most, if not all of the lawlessness was fostered not by those with a serious political agenda (of any ilk), but rather by those looking for a stage to raise hell. Again, the few ruining things for the many.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Actually, I was biting my tongue to avoid making my post sound political.
> 
> Biting it again, actually.
Click to expand...

Lol ... It is a challenge, especially in choice of adjectives. My political leaning, more or less, reflect the blue state I call home.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Lol ... It is a challenge, especially in choice of adjectives. My political leaning, more or less, reflect the blue state I call home.


I am aware of that, and I don't hold it against you, but take it from me; you have a lot to learn about the protestors and who funds them.

Some of the locals are the ones who come out of curiosity, and sort of mill about apparently aimlessly.  But there are professional organizers who are not local, who come in to stir up trouble, who are paid, fed, housed, and transported from one location to the next.  They are the ones who get the signs made, pass out tee-shirts, shout into their bullhorns, and in general try to get the locals to join them in their raising heck.  And it isn't just a certain issue, but all of the subversive movements working together to make trouble.  Then the locals wonder why the police club them and spray them. 

Better copy and paste this somewhere before the mods delete it.


----------



## Gary A.

I am very sophisticated politically. My father held an elected office continuously for more than 40 years. I've ran 19 campaigns, consulted on scores of other campaigns and I was a LA City Comissioner. I am quite aware of paid outsiders stirring up the locals. But all sides utilize similar tactics ... All sides are dirty ... But, typically, the candidates haven't any direct knowledge of the dirty tricks, as it is usually handled entirely by underlings. With the sanctioning of the superpacs, there is greater involvement in the political process by those with money but little to no ethics.


----------



## Gary A.

On a better note ... The dart cabinet arrived and it is beautiful. 

Darts anyone?


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Regardless if the punks were paid or unpaid ... They're still all punks in my book.


----------



## Gary A.

This has been a long long day. Gary tossed some sausages on the grill and enjoying a wonderful Four Vine Zin with some interesting English Folk Music playing across the patio.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> PS- Regardless if the punks were paid or unpaid ... They're still all punks in my book.



Yeah, man! Rock on, punks!














Oh wait...you weren't talking about the music??


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner was easy and filling. Mary Lou also picked our first tomatoes of the season. Delish and sprinkled with a chopped Serrano pepper.

PS- Still sipping that Four Vine Zin ... Is is sooooo good. Paso Robles via Costco ... (or maybe Cost +) ... Gonna go back and get some more.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- Regardless if the punks were paid or unpaid ... They're still all punks in my book.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, man! Rock on, punks!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh wait...you weren't talking about the music??
Click to expand...

LOL, Gary loves being Exploited.


----------



## vintagesnaps

These kinds of punks?


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is mad because his less than one year old Bluetooth Belkin iPad keyboard no longer works. So no more Belkin products for Gary. Gary is happy because he is still sipping away on a delightful Zinfandel.


----------



## JonA_CT

Another early morning for me. My daughter seems to think that weekend mornings are made for a half hour less sleep than a normal morning. 

It's okay though, because I'm brewing beer this morning. It's about a 4 hour process, and I have other things to do today, so I'll get a head start. Today's batch is destined for a Home Brew festival/competition in a few weeks -- an IPA in the "New England" style. I brewed a coffee milk stout last weekend for the same event. Should be fun.

I'm a little jealous of Gary. Having fresh grown tomatoes in April is a crazy idea to this native New Englander. I'm not sure how much of our garden we will put in this year because we'll be traveling over the summer. When we do, our first tomatoes come in about the middle of August and will go strong through the first frost.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Darts anyone?


Wow!  What a nice cabinet!  

My DIL bought me a dartboard a couple of years ago, and I tossed darts until I developed bursitis in my elbow.  Then quit.  Dartboard languishes unused.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Darts anyone?
> 
> 
> 
> Wow!  What a nice cabinet!
> 
> My DIL bought me a dartboard a couple of years ago, and I tossed darts until I developed bursitis in my elbow.  Then quit.  Dartboard languishes unused.
Click to expand...

Sad to hang up such a promising career due to medical. Try your other arm ... (But add some extra wall protection when you start. )


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

I like a good game of darts. I don't practice very much but I've got promise  I still remember playing a game with Buzz and his family a few years back. Buzz's sister-in-law was talking some smack, trying to pysch me out. "She'll never make this one." I looked her in the eye, turned and hit my mark dead center. If I'd had a mic, I woulda dropped it


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Another early morning for me. My daughter seems to think that weekend mornings are made for a half hour less sleep than a normal morning.
> 
> It's okay though, because I'm brewing beer this morning. It's about a 4 hour process, and I have other things to do today, so I'll get a head start. Today's batch is destined for a Home Brew festival/competition in a few weeks -- an IPA in the "New England" style. I brewed a coffee milk stout last weekend for the same event. Should be fun.
> 
> I'm a little jealous of Gary. Having fresh grown tomatoes in April is a crazy idea to this native New Englander. I'm not sure how much of our garden we will put in this year because we'll be traveling over the summer. When we do, our first tomatoes come in about the middle of August and will go strong through the first frost.


Gary and Mary Lou typically have tomatoes all year round.  It thins out in winter and explodes in summer. We have salad greens and herbs all year long also. Most of the fruits are twice a year, but the artichokes, grapes and persimmons are only once a year. 

Gary is jealous of your brewing. Gary has often given thought to beer production. Gary's neighbor brews, but it is an elaborate MacGyver affair extending across his driveway.  He has Scot blood in his veins and wears a kilt and rubber milking boots when he concocts his beverages.

But Gary does craft his own BBQ sauces, orange liqueur and chili powder.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- The herbs take Gary's cooking up a notch or two. Gary uses herbs nearly every time he cooks.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is raining this morning, (yeah). A very light rain, but rain nonetheless.  Typing on the iPad isn't very pleasant. Gary's new keyboard is a Logictech ... Screw Belkin. Today Gary and Mary Lou will have breakfast at a friend house in Seal Beach then walk over to the auto show on Main Street.

Gary is on a second cup. In the paper today, there is an article that the Rafu Shimpo, a 113 year old Japanese-English newspaper based in LA, is in danger of going under. Gary remembers the paper and read it occasionally, even as a kid. It will be sad if it passes ... It survived through the WWII interment camps, (they hid the Japanese type under the floorboards of their building), but not the Internet. Death By Internet, DBI, an epidemic ravaging brick & mortar stores and newspapers. Gary may subscribe to the Rafu Shimpo just to help it survive.


----------



## limr

I've only had a Belkin wireless router. It's been solid for the almost-10 years that I've had it. The only reason I'm replacing it is because there are a lot more wireless devices that are using the signal than there were when I got it, and I'm pretty sure I just need something with a bit more power. But otherwise, I would have no issue with it. Sorry Gary got a bad keyboard from them


----------



## Braineack

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- Regardless if the punks were paid or unpaid ... They're still all punks in my book.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, man! Rock on, punks!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh wait...you weren't talking about the music??
Click to expand...

I'm seeing nofx tonight.

using tapatalk.


----------



## vintagesnaps

OK I had to go look those up. Shame for newspapers like that to be struggling.

Never heard of NOFX, I see they've been around a long time, didn't realize there was much punk around anymore. They sound sort of heavy metal but look punk enough, the one guy reminds me of Vyvyan of The Young Ones.

Enjoy the show. If nothing else it probably won't be boring.


I take that back, the more I listen the more punk they sound.


----------



## limr

Braineack said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- Regardless if the punks were paid or unpaid ... They're still all punks in my book.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, man! Rock on, punks!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh wait...you weren't talking about the music??
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm seeing nofx tonight.
> 
> using tapatalk.
Click to expand...


Nice. Gonna mosh?


----------



## vintagesnaps

For maybe everyone else but Braineack (and who knew The Young Ones was a reality show) - there's a photo booth.


----------



## pixmedic

Gary A. said:


> PS- The herbs take Gary's cooking up a notch or two. Gary uses herbs nearly every time he cooks.


I haven't used herb in a few decades, but it sure did enhance the dinner experience.


----------



## Braineack

limr said:


> Braineack said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- Regardless if the punks were paid or unpaid ... They're still all punks in my book.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, man! Rock on, punks!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh wait...you weren't talking about the music??
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm seeing nofx tonight.
> 
> using tapatalk.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nice. Gonna mosh?
Click to expand...


nah, im too old for that.  I dont like being around dirty kids.






Yeah NOFX have been around a while, not quite as long as some. I think i bought my first CD of theirs in 8th grade; I think that was 94.


If they play this song I'll flip.  Short and sweet.


----------



## minicoop1985

Evening, hosers. Got out and shot some on my Robot yesterday and today. Should be able to get some film developed Monday. *Yay*


----------



## limr

Well, I'm not having the rockin' Saturday night that Brainy is but that's okay. I did some chores, fell into a minor coma in the afternoon, installed the new router, and am now I might mix up some Caffenol and get some film in the soup! For dinner, I broke out the souvenirs I brought back from Vermont: beer (Magic Hat), cheddar cheese, and chocolate. Tasty


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Well, I'm not having the rockin' Saturday night that Brainy is but that's okay. I did some chores, fell into a minor coma in the afternoon, installed the new router, and am now I might mix up some Caffenol and get some film in the soup! For dinner, I broke out the souvenirs I brought back from Vermont: beer (Magic Hat), cheddar cheese, and chocolate. Tasty


That minor coma stuff is going around. A foil cone hat is a deterrent.  Mary Lou and I are about to partake in a wonderful a dinner at Mexico 1900, one of my fav Mexican eateries around. Chicken mole pour moi.


----------



## snowbear

Eight hundred ninety nine more posts and I have to leave.

For your listening pleasure (if you are not familiar with it, you have to go to the end)


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin hosers! I'm in trouble. Got an offer to go to the track (Road America) today. Didn't really ask the wife so much as I kinda told her I was going. Well, it's gonna be a good time. I'll get some good panning shots in, I think. Haven't been to the track in too long, and it's a good portion of the reason I bought my 70-200. I'll also be trying to burn up the roll in my RoBoT too.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Sounds like a good day, Michael. Have fun! 

I put in the new router yesterday. So far, it seems to be working great, none of the problems I was having with the old one. And to be fair, the problems with the old one were likely because it was, well, _old_. It would get slow sometimes, and every once in a while, I'd have to reset the router, but these are things I can deal with. But in the past few months, I was having more problems with the signal: my laptop would take forever to connect, and my phone would sometimes drop the signal to pick up the cable hotspot which is apparently near here somewhere. Then I got the smart tv and I think the load on the old router was just too much. The phone would switch signals constantly some nights, and in the past month, I ended up using more data than I normally use in several months combined, all because I wouldn't even realize the wifi was dropped.

So we'll see. The phone thing wouldn't happen every night, so I can't say for sure yet that it won't happen with the new router, but I'm fairly confident about it. Sitting in the kitchen and looking at the phone right now, I can see that the wifi signal is a lot stronger than it ever was in this spot with the old router. The laptop is connecting immediately and everything is just working faster. Good times, y'all


----------



## terri

Morning, hosers.    Have fun at the track, MC - hope you get lots of pics with that new zoom!

Sounds like you've been your own tech geek, Lenny.   I hope your fix holds!    That's something I've done twice in about a 4 year period of time - both times, I thought the router was "too new" to be the issue, but a newer one would zap all connectivity issues.   Made little sense, but at least they're not grossly expensive.   

More herb planting for me today!    I will end up with oregano, Italian parsley, basil, thyme, mint - and now I'm putting rosemary straight into the ground.   I think it will make it through our winters here, going to find out.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> More herb planting for me today!    I will end up with oregano, Italian parsley, basil, thyme, mint - and now I'm putting rosemary straight into the ground.   I think it will make it through our winters here, going to find out.



I hope it holds, too!

I remember digging through snow to get to the parsley and chives, so I'm thinking your herbs have a chance to survive the winter  I have the complete opposite of a green thumb, but maybe I can manage to keep some herbs alive. I at least want to start small pots of basil and mint to keep in the windows. They are natural bug repellents.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Michael, Good Luck and Good Shooting. Gary is pretty low on the tech learning curve ... Whenever he pulls something off techie-wise that actually works and improves his life, he feels real good about himself.  So, Gary is hoping you are giving yourself some high-fives. ^5


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has herbs ... (Lol).


----------



## jcdeboever

Morning hosers. Skipped church as I am struggling with an ulcer again. Debating on going into hospital. I will watch my stomach to see if it starts to plump up, so far, so good. Not liking the idea of getting those hoses shoved down my nose into my stomach, hurts like heck when they do that. If I can maintain another 24 hours, I will get into doctor tomorrow and get it sorted out-patiently. I need coffee but I don't dare, probably the main culprit anyway.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Morning hosers. Skipped church as I am struggling with an ulcer again. Debating on going into hospital. I will watch my stomach to see if it starts to plump up, so far, so good. Not liking the idea of getting those hoses shoved down my nose into my stomach, hurts like heck when they do that. If I can maintain another 24 hours, I will get into doctor tomorrow and get it sorted out-patiently. I need coffee but I don't dare, probably the main culprit anyway.



Sorry, sweetie  I hope it turns out to be treated less invasively!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning hosers. Skipped church as I am struggling with an ulcer again. Debating on going into hospital. I will watch my stomach to see if it starts to plump up, so far, so good. Not liking the idea of getting those hoses shoved down my nose into my stomach, hurts like heck when they do that. If I can maintain another 24 hours, I will get into doctor tomorrow and get it sorted out-patiently. I need coffee but I don't dare, probably the main culprit anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, sweetie  I hope it turns out to be treated less invasively!
Click to expand...

Thanks, me too. Now I need to get out of Dodge before the wife returns because she will make me go. Gonna go on a PC service call at 2:00 but going to get yelled at upon my return. Just drank a half bottle of pepto to tide me over. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Eight hundred ninety nine more posts and I have to leave.



Explain yourself, Sir Bear!


----------



## snowbear

Call it a mini _Nine Billion Names for God_  (Arthur C Clarke).

Reservations made for SD!  Now to revise the presentation.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey JC,  that all sucks. I think apples are good for you. Lots of pepsin. Gary think some darts and BBQ would do you good. Salmon and Korean Ribs tonight ... And some herbal teas.


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday was a good day. Took in the Seal Beach Car show, a ton of cars lining up Main Street, then relaxed all day, drank wine and ate homemade wood fired pizza with friends around the corner. Weather was perfect and the show quite impressive in quantity and quality.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hope you hang in there today JC, a trip to the Dr. sounds better than the hospital.

This is just a veg out day. I intend to do a bunch of nothin'.

Hey Braineack how was the concert?


----------



## vintagesnaps

What does it say when these songs are ending up in commercials?


----------



## Braineack

vintagesnaps said:


> Hope you hang in there today JC, a trip to the Dr. sounds better than the hospital.
> 
> This is just a veg out day. I intend to do a bunch of nothin'.
> 
> Hey Braineack how was the concert?


Fun. I was up front getting squished.
	

	
	
		
		

		
			







using tapatalk.


----------



## Designer

That bass player looks like he just rolled out of his mom's basement.


----------



## Braineack

Fat mike.






using tapatalk.


----------



## Gary A.

The dartboard is up. (In its temporary setting .) And it is another perfect day to be outside, play some darts and drink some vino.)


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> What does it say when these songs are ending up in commercials?
> 
> <video>
> <video>



How many remember the song used in the Windows 95 launch?  And that the line left out, IIRC, was more appropriate (as it turned out).


----------



## snowbear

snowbear said:


> Climbing cat + Kindle = "oops"
> 
> A few nights ago, Zoe decided to investigate a heavy glass vase on my dresser.  She knocked it over.  It didn't break but on the way down, it smacked my Kindle (older 3G).  Now the screen is wonky - partial sleep image shows and only one line of text along the bottom.
> 
> I found an entry that , when the battery completely discharges, it should reset the screen.  I had charged it just prior to the bombardment.  Dammm these batteries take a _long_ time to wear down.



Well, the screen never did reset.  A replacement Kindle was running a bit higher than I wanted to spend, but I had a Best Buy gift card and this was on sale.  I ended up spending $20 real money.


----------



## Braineack




----------



## JonA_CT

Morning, and to quite a dreary one today. I always wonder whether a rainy, cold Monday is better this time of year than a bright, warm Monday. I mean -- I didn't want to get up this morning, but at least I'm not being taunted as I look at the window all day.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Continued damp and cool here, but warming up later.  I did get out for a little while this weekend to shoot, and I'll post one later, but I wish I were doing that now.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers! Track day was a success! Got a TON of sharp pans. I wish there were more vantage points without massive fences, but I get why they're there.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. I guess it's a bit rainy out, but I have no idea of the temp or forecast. I've never really been one to check the weather. I'll check more often in spring or fall, but usually only in the morning of that day to see what kind of jacket I have to wear because it can vary a lot around here in those seasons. My mother will often ask me what the weather will be like for the next day or next week. My response is always the same: "Have you met me? No, I still don't check the weather." And yet, she continues to ask me, ignoring the gajillion data points of me saying that I don't know.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> What does it say when these songs are ending up in commercials?
> 
> <video>
> <video>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How many remember the song used in the Windows 95 launch?  And that the line left out, IIRC, was more appropriate (as it turned out).
Click to expand...


I remember puking in my mouth when I installed it on my test rig. What a POS operating system that was. I was using OS/2 Warp 3.0 at the time and it was far more productive than 95. But MS took over the world with that. They made it even worse with 98Me... Oh my, time fly's.


----------



## Designer

jcdeboever said:


> They made it even worse with 98Me...


Have you ever wondered who is making those decisions?  I mean; if nearly everyone considers the new thing is worse, then who approves it?  Never mind the one who designed it, who might think he is making something better but failing.  Somebody (and probably an entire team of engineers) had to look at it and approve it.  So who let it go out the door?

Then at some point they had to design meet another OS, like Vista, for instance.  Now it's another iteration of Windows.

Now I'm not a computer guy, so check me if I'm way wrong, but weren't the early versions of Windows just another re-work of DOS?  And they did that to try to compete with Apple.  

I have viewed every new release from Microsoft as just another patch on top of the previous several dozen patches done to DOS.  And yet DOS lives on deep down in the bowels of every Windows OS ever conceived.

/rant


----------



## jcdeboever

Designer said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> They made it even worse with 98Me...
> 
> 
> 
> Have you ever wondered who is making those decisions?  I mean; if nearly everyone considers the new thing is worse, then who approves it?  Never mind the one who designed it, who might think he is making something better but failing.  Somebody (and probably an entire team of engineers) had to look at it and approve it.  So who let it go out the door?
Click to expand...

Well, like it is with any OS, it is what it is after years of development. They knew it was crap but had to cram it down the PC manufacturers throat in order to recoup some of their costs. Windows 2000 was their best ever, only MS OS I was ever impressed with from them and considered using. Vista got a bad rap but in reality, it was very sophisticated and secure. It just annoyed people with warnings and it was clunky out of the box but if you knew what you were doing, you could make it hum. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Designer said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> They made it even worse with 98Me...
> 
> 
> 
> Have you ever wondered who is making those decisions?  I mean; if nearly everyone considers the new thing is worse, then who approves it?  Never mind the one who designed it, who might think he is making something better but failing.  Somebody (and probably an entire team of engineers) had to look at it and approve it.  So who let it go out the door?
> 
> Then at some point they had to design meet another OS, like Vista, for instance.  Now it's another iteration of Windows.
> 
> Now I'm not a computer guy, so check me if I'm way wrong, but weren't the early versions of Windows just another re-work of DOS?  And they did that to try to compete with Apple.
> 
> I have viewed every new release from Microsoft as just another patch on top of the previous several dozen patches done to DOS.  And yet DOS lives on deep down in the bowels of every Windows OS ever conceived.
> 
> /rant
Click to expand...

Yes and no on the DOS. Windows was was layered on top of DOS in 3.11, 95, 98, and 98ME. 

The NT versions were not layered on top of DOS, but ran DOS in a virtual machine (OS/2 model) on top of Windows NT. Winows NT lineage comprised of NT 3.x, 4.0... NT 5.0 was Windows 2000...NT 5.1 was XP... NT5.2 was editions of XP and Server 2003... NT 6.0 was Vista. NT6.1 was Windows 7.  I pretty much hung my shoes at 8 and have no idea what that garbage is. 10 is crap too IMO. 

I just keep using Linux Slackware because I hate Operating Systems and just want to get stuff done. My hardware is old but works. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> I just keep using Linux Slackware because I hate Operating Systems and just want to get stuff done. My hardware is old but works.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


If I could get PS/LR to run properly in WINE, I'd be a very, very happy camper!


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just keep using Linux Slackware because I hate Operating Systems and just want to get stuff done. My hardware is old but works.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> If I could get PS/LR to run properly in WINE, I'd be a very, very happy camper!
Click to expand...


Good luck with that. I have not tried the subscription based yet under linux. Not into subscriptions but should probably try to let people know. I am trying not to edit but that's not a reality. I look at these types of programs to create works of art. There are many simple to use programs to sharpen, adjust exposure, straighten, etc.


----------



## jcdeboever

Afternoon hosers. Going in a 2:30 for the scope and burn on my stomach. Pretty painless really. Will get the lecture about my eating habits, weight, and dashing good looks... Oh boy, good times. Should be eating bacon in a couple of days. Limited to rice cakes and pepto shakes last couple of days. Man I am hungry, or my mind tells me so.


----------



## Designer

It sounds like a stomach ulcer can be extremely debilitating, so I wish you the best of luck with it.


----------



## jcdeboever

Designer said:


> It sounds like a stomach ulcer can be extremely debilitating, so I wish you the best of luck with it.


I'm used to them over the years. When they cause a intestinal blockage is when things get bad in a hurry. This one didn't do that but I was wondering a little on Saturday as I didn't go to the bathroom until late in day. I'm good, my issue is that I'm a worry wart. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

They pushed me back to 4:45 now. They do this every time. She is pretty skilled and in high demand. There is a guy that I prefer, in super high demand, but he is way more expensive and not nice to look at.


----------



## jcdeboever

In and out, no problem. Feeling a little tired from the local anaesthesia. Throat is sore. Feel like I been punched in the gut. Go a script for some pain medicine, skipping that. Should be good in a couple days. Go back next week for follow up scope. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

We swung by Ledo's Pizza for dinner since everything is in the freezer.  The storm hit about 5 minutes into the drive home - heavy rain, garbanzo bean sized hail, unconfirmed reports of tornado to the south (heading SE).  Of course, when we got home, we also have a parking lot river, so I'm literally soaked head and toe.  It looks like the heavy stuff has moved out, but we still have a light and sound show working on the edges.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Gary spent the afternoon working from the patio. Whenever he got bored he'd toss some darts. 

Gary is fryin' up some taters, boilin' some kale on the new BBQ stovetop. Behind him the Kamado is fired up waiting for the steaks.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 120845 Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Gary spent the afternoon working from the patio. Whenever he got bored he'd toss some darts.
> 
> Gary is fryin' up some taters, boilin' some kale on the new BBQ stovetop. Behind him the Kamado is fired up waiting for the steaks.


I like that setup. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

Good luck, JC. I hope they can fix you this time.

Ugh I really wanna use this Nicca, but I need a spool. WHY DO I NEED PARTS FOR EVERY CAMERA I BUY


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Good luck, JC. I hope they can fix you this time.
> 
> Ugh I really wanna use this Nicca, but I need a spool. WHY DO I NEED PARTS FOR EVERY CAMERA I BUY


They don't fix me, they only make me better. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Well Gary hopes you do get fixed. If Gary's dog could get fixed ... There is no reason you can't get fixed either.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Well Gary hopes you do get fixed. If Gary's dog could get fixed ... There is no reason you can't get fixed either.


I am fixed, good to go. I will be peeing in tub tomorrow. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Seriously, JC, do get better. Pain, discomfort and not eating is no fun.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary feels bad speaking of cooking and food while JC is reduced to rice cakes. (But dinner was very good all washed down with a Robert Renzoni Sonata.). Of late Gary has been including over the counter pain killers ... Nearly daily. There are days when Gary feels every single hit he took in every football game he played.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Seriously, JC, do get better. Pain, discomfort and not eating is no fun.


Thanks Gary. I am trying to get it all right. I had more ulcers when I was physically fit. I was discharged from the Marines for it and sleep apnea. According to current doctor, "I tend to focus on emotional anomaly's".  

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary feels bad speaking of cooking and food while JC is reduced to rice cakes. (But dinner was very good all washed down with a Robert Renzoni Sonata.). Of late Gary has been including over the counter pain killers ... Nearly daily. There are days when Gary feels every single hit he took in every football game he played.


Nor eating Jack tonight. Will try and drink some Gatorade tomorrow. I am actually not hungry now, my stomach is on fire but I can tell it's fixed. Just feels like I have thorns in my tummy. Major acid reflux going on but prevacid keeps it in check. My wife is so pissed at me for not going into hospital. I guess doctor told her I  should be admitted. 60 % duodenal alceration, whatever that is. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

I changed my mind... want a steak with mushrooms. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Duodenal is a stomach ulcer.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thought about mushrooms, he was gonna to add them to the kale ... The kale was freshly picked, boiled, then sautéed in butter and lightly seasoned ... I think you would have enjoyed the kale ... The potatoes were Yukon and Red, 1" chunks made crispy in avocado oil, seasoned and served hot like French Fries, the salad was overflowing with tomatoes and Rib Eyes with charcoal flavoring in the background, seared on the outside, juicy on the inside. Topped off with a flavorful but very very smooth red blend from Temecula ... It all would have just destroyed your stomach ... But some things are worth the pain.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Gary thought about mushrooms, he was gonna to add them to the kale ... The kale was freshly picked, boiled, then sautéed in butter and lightly seasoned ... I think you would have enjoyed the kale ... The potatoes were Yukon and Red, 1" chunks made crispy in avocado oil, seasoned and served hot like French Fries, the salad was overflowing with tomatoes and Rib Eyes with charcoal flavoring in the background, seared on the outside, juicy on the inside. Topped off with a flavorful but very very smooth red blend from Temecula ... It all would have just destroyed your stomach ... But some things are worth the pain.



You forgot the bacon.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Raining here again (not complaining) - just watching it from the windows.  Now to see about some coffee.  Hope everyone's Tuesday is off to a reasonable start.

@jcdeboever  - hope you're feeling better and eating


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Ken.  We had a storm blow through, last night, with a possible tornado a little bit to the south.

Coffee was a standard K-Cup from Dunkin'.  We were in Philly a couple of weeks ago for a book arts fair.


----------



## snowbear

JC - glad to hear it's getting better.


----------



## waday

Morning all. The workplace got one of those Flavia Alterra coffee machines. It's awesome for several reasons, including: (1) faster coffee, (2) people don't drink all of the coffee by the time Wade gets to the kitchen, (3) faster coffee, (4) we don't have to worry about any more spills, and (5) faster coffee.

Regarding the spills, people would start the coffeemaker not realizing that a pot was already made, so coffee would spill everywhere. You'd think that this would have been a one-time occurrence, but it happened several times a month.  I'm pretty out of it in the morning, too, but sheesh--that's coffee!


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Morning all. The workplace got one of those Flavia Alterra coffee machines. It's awesome for several reasons, including: (1) faster coffee, (2) people don't drink all of the coffee by the time Wade gets to the kitchen, (3) faster coffee, (4) we don't have to worry about any more spills, and (5) faster coffee.
> 
> Regarding the spills, people would start the coffeemaker not realizing that a pot was already made, so coffee would spill everywhere. You'd think that this would have been a one-time occurrence, but it happened several times a month.  I'm pretty out of it in the morning, too, but sheesh--that's coffee!



So let me get this straight...you're saying the coffee is _faster?
_
Morning, hosers. Yup, I'm in one of those moods


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers! SUSHI DAY!!!! YAY


----------



## jcdeboever

Oatmeal

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Want coffee...[emoji36] 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

jcdeboever said:


> 60 % duodenal alceration, whatever that is.


That means that 60% of your duodenum was on fire.  The duodenum is the transition from the stomach to the small intestine.  Kind of important.


----------



## Designer

jcdeboever said:


> Want coffee...[emoji36]


Yeah, you probably do, but now would be a good time to quit coffee altogether.  I transitioned from coffee to tea several years ago.  Yes, it's still caffeinated, but I think tea is easier on the stomach.  FWIW.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Want coffee...[emoji36]
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, you probably do, but now would be a good time to quit coffee altogether.  *I transitioned from coffee to tea several years ago. * Yes, it's still caffeinated, but I think tea is easier on the stomach.  FWIW.
Click to expand...


WHO LET YOU IN HERE?? 







Sorry. Told you. I'm in a mood


----------



## waday

limr said:


> So let me get this straight...you're saying the coffee is _faster?_


Faster to my mouth.


----------



## jcdeboever

Designer said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Want coffee...[emoji36]
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, you probably do, but now would be a good time to quit coffee altogether.  I transitioned from coffee to tea several years ago.  Yes, it's still caffeinated, but I think tea is easier on the stomach.  FWIW.
Click to expand...

I may try that moving forward. Coffee compensates for my sleep disorder but is causing my stomach lining to be compromised. Need to run tea by doc, I seem to recall something about it, not sure though. Little bit of a headache but will get through it. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thought about mushrooms, he was gonna to add them to the kale ... The kale was freshly picked, boiled, then sautéed in butter and lightly seasoned ... I think you would have enjoyed the kale ... The potatoes were Yukon and Red, 1" chunks made crispy in avocado oil, seasoned and served hot like French Fries, the salad was overflowing with tomatoes and Rib Eyes with charcoal flavoring in the background, seared on the outside, juicy on the inside. Topped off with a flavorful but very very smooth red blend from Temecula ... It all would have just destroyed your stomach ... But some things are worth the pain.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You forgot the bacon.
Click to expand...

LOL ... Pigs are our friends.


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Want coffee...[emoji36]
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, you probably do, but now would be a good time to quit coffee altogether.  I transitioned from coffee to tea several years ago.  Yes, it's still caffeinated, but I think tea is easier on the stomach.  FWIW.
Click to expand...

BANNED!  Figuratively, of course.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> . . .
> LOL ... Pigs are our friends.


Yes, they are, and I enjoy having them come over for as dinner (or breakfast, or lunch or a snack).


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> BANNED!  Figuratively, of course.


Hah hah!  I still like coffee, and do drink it occasionally, but not like in the old days.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary's new iPad keyboard arrived Sunday and works quite well. The Belkin had a smaller foot print but this will work just fine.  

As a general rule, tea has approximately half the caffeine of coffee. Some have more ... Some have less ... But about half is the a general consensus. But most teas have less acid and oils than coffee.  Mary Lou recently moved from coffee to tea as a morning beverage. She didn't like all the calories in the cream and sugar and didn't like black coffee ... So now it's tea in the mornings for her. 

Herbal teas, (tea made from stuff that doesn't come come a tea plant), generally has zero caffeine. Herbal teas are very gentle on the stomach. I suggest you go to Cost+ World Market, (if you got one out there), they have a very good selection of herbal teas. It seems that the older one get, the less caffeine is required to keep you up. Gary used to enjoy an espresso in the evenings, but now that espresso keeps him up all night. Now Gary will have a herbal tea in the evenings. Not as good as an espresso, but sleep is dear. 

Back to Cost+, there is a tea trader named Zhena's which concocts some very interesting herbal teas, some even with rose petals. Mandrian Orange and Wildberry Hibiscus are two of Gary's favorites. Gary also has on-hand Fig & Flower and Lavendar Lemonade. Some of the teas are subtle while others are just bursting with favors ... So trial and error with your taste buds is in order.  

Gary also makes teas out of much of the stuff he grows in the back. Tarragon, Lemon Grass, Mint (Peppermint, Spearmint, Orange Mint), Lemon Balm, Verbeena, Lavendar, et al. Just pick a few leaves, crush 'em, toss them in your cup or a carafe, and splash some hot water on top. Tea bags suck, like coffee, the water needs to freely flow all around the flavoring medium in order to bring out the full and best favors. Mary Lou thinks it is time to stop buying teas.  She said she would be quite happy just using what's in the yard. For the last year or two Gary's has been toying with the idea of a coffee bush tree and a tea shrub for the yard. Every now and then Gary get's on the Internet and looks around at what is available ... Maybe he'll pull/squeeze the trigger.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> . . .
> LOL ... Pigs are our friends.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, they are, and I enjoy having them come over for as dinner (or breakfast, or lunch or a snack).
Click to expand...

Gary gives them blankets.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes fast coffee, fast women and fast food.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well crap. I sold a guy a Retina IIIc I had done some work on. Had the shutter working FLAWLESSLY. Well, ship it to the guy, and some oil leaked out and got into the shutter blades, causing them to stick. Dammit. Refunding him half and letting him keep the camera because I flat out have too many.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> . . .
> LOL ... Pigs are our friends.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, they are, and I enjoy having them come over for as dinner (or breakfast, or lunch or a snack).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary gives them blankets.
Click to expand...

Filo dough, biscuit dough, or cornbread?


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Gary likes fast coffee, fast women and fast food.


Folgers instant (about 1:30 in the microwave), Danica Patrick (185 MPH), tuna (up to 60 MPH)


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> . . .
> LOL ... Pigs are our friends.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, they are, and I enjoy having them come over for as dinner (or breakfast, or lunch or a snack).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary gives them blankets.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Filo dough, biscuit dough, or cornbread?
Click to expand...

Buckwheat.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary likes fast coffee, fast women and fast food.
> 
> 
> 
> Folgers instant (about 1:30 in the microwave), Danica Patrick (185 MPH), tuna (up to 60 MPH)
Click to expand...

Exactly.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary had a short day and decided to make some bread.


----------



## minicoop1985

Had some sushi today. Tempura shrimp was all kinds of weird and squishy, triggering my gag reflex (I can't handle certain textures). Almost lost my lunch, but held it together. Ugh, I love sushi and tempura shrimp, but only if it's cooked properly.


----------



## snowbear

sushi = bait


----------



## Watchful

sashimi, on the other hand.


----------



## snowbear

Watchful said:


> sashimi, on the other hand.


is also bait, for more than catfish.


----------



## Watchful

...then pull the nails, throw away the fish and eat the board.


----------



## minicoop1985

I really do love sushi, though.


----------



## jcdeboever

I have to go in tonight, they want to recheck a quadrant of my stomach. Blood work and camera = pixel peep = suspect. My stool is jet black still, that is different from past. I am not feeling good at all. I have a 106 temp all of a sudden. I thought I was in the clear. My wife is not home, she is traveling. ****, I am going to get yelled at when she gets home. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

I was supposed to take the week off, I did not. I sold 145k today with blood in my undies,.. Nice

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Watchful

You have my prayers, friend.


----------



## jcdeboever

Watchful said:


> You have my prayers, friend.



Thanks, I am fine just a temporary blockage. The worst case scenario is I am on an operating table. I am on my way in a minute, trying to get dog taking care of. Wife is out of town.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> I have to go in tonight, they want to recheck a quadrant of my stomach. Blood work and camera = pixel peep = suspect. My stool is jet black still, that is different from past. I am not feeling good at all. I have a 106 temp all of a sudden. I thought I was in the clear. My wife is not home, she is traveling. ****, I am going to get yelled at when she gets home.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk





jcdeboever said:


> I was supposed to take the week off, I did not. I sold 145k today with blood in my undies,.. Nice
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



The hell, man? Don't wait for your wife to yell at you, let me!

Don't pull any more macho bs, and do what the doctor tells you, and take care of yourself instead of being a foolish fool!! You fool! Now, you go march your not-listening, in-the-sink-peein', rule-ignorin', wife-angerin', bloody-undies-wearin', still-workin', TPF-postin' fool ass to the hospital! NOW!


----------



## snowbear

^The lady is all wise.  Better an ER now, than who knows what tomorrow.


----------



## jcdeboever

I am being admitted. Called the wife, she is yelling at me for going to work. Now I am getting yelled at for texting on my phone. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Too much yelling

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Watchful

Shhhh.... relax.


----------



## snowbear

If ya hadn't gone, ya'd get yelling here.  We're all pulling for you.


----------



## Gary A.

Apart from the yellin' ... Leo is right. At your age you've got nothin' to prove ... so you might as well take care of yourself. (People yell at you because they care.  If they didn't care they wouldn't say anything.)


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has some olive/rosemary bread cooking away in the propane BBQ and has the Kamado all fired up for the salmon. The Kamado is at 334F and the propane is at 428F.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Gary just tossed a Bullseye.


----------



## Gary A.

Good Luck JC, Gary hopes it all turns out for the best and quickly.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Good Luck JC, Gary hopes it all turns out for the best and quickly.


Wwll, the girl giving me anesthesia has big bazzookas and has bumped my chin with them there Mellon's o. Several occasions. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Man, you're already under.


----------



## Gary A.

The bread and salmon are done.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 120915 The bread and salmon are done.


----------



## limr

Okay, y'all.

JC - you enjoy those bazoombas and be well!!

Gary - you enjoy your salmon and bread and wine. Save me some, I'll be there for lunch tomorrow. 

The rest of you hosers - Leo out. *boom*


----------



## Watchful

I gotta say that bread doesn't look like anything I'd eat. It reminds me of the soft pretzels my wife makes, she adds stuff to them and people eat them, not me. To me it's just a really bad fruitcake which I also dislike immensely.


----------



## Gary A.

The bread is delicious. Gary added some olive oil to the flour and kneaded in chopped Spanish Olives w/ pimentos, rosemary, a pepper and a few chunks of cheddar. It is not your white sandwich bread. It is full of flavor, hardy and stands alone as an integral element of the meal ... It is not an afterthought ... It is not a side dish. It shouts 'Bread'.


----------



## Watchful

I like a nice whole grain wheat bread personally, but then I also hate meatloaf and cheese on a burger.  I like when each thing tastes like it's own thing and not like everything.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> The bread is delicious. Gary added some olive oil to the flour and kneaded in chopped Spanish Olives w/ pimentos, rosemary, a pepper and a few chunks of cheddar. It is not your white sandwich bread. It is full of flavor, hardy and stands alone as an integral element of the meal ... It is not an afterthought ... It is not a side dish. It shouts 'Bread'.


I'd eat it.   By itself, warm from the oven, with a salad and a bottle of red.   Dinner done.   

Man, I need to get back to some baking, I love all kinds of focaccia type breads.   Looks fabulous, Gary!


----------



## Gary A.

Thanks Terri. Of late Gary has been making a lot of flatbread, but this time Gary went for a loaf. You are right ... hardly, old school breads are a meal in themselves.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou are stuffed. The bread was so good we ate half the loaf, along with the salmon, rice and salad.


----------



## jcdeboever

Morning hosers. Home this morning. Sprung a leak is all. Reaction to medication as well. Going to try and rest today, pretty tired. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> The hell, man? Don't wait for your wife to yell at you, let me!
> 
> Don't pull any more macho bs, and do what the doctor tells you, and take care of yourself instead of being a foolish fool!! You fool! Now, you go march your not-listening, in-the-sink-peein', rule-ignorin', wife-angerin', bloody-undies-wearin', still-workin', TPF-postin' fool ass to the hospital! NOW!


My quandary: When one may select only one button of either; "like", "agree", "funny", or "winner", which one?


----------



## jcdeboever

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The hell, man? Don't wait for your wife to yell at you, let me!
> 
> Don't pull any more macho bs, and do what the doctor tells you, and take care of yourself instead of being a foolish fool!! You fool! Now, you go march your not-listening, in-the-sink-peein', rule-ignorin', wife-angerin', bloody-undies-wearin', still-workin', TPF-postin' fool ass to the hospital! NOW!
> 
> 
> 
> My quandary: When one may select only one button of either; "like", "agree", "funny", or "winner", which one?
Click to expand...

Need a stupid button[emoji6] 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> If ya hadn't gone, ya'd get yelling here.  We're all pulling for you.


If he hadn't gone, he might have been trying to call from the floor.  Dialing the phone with no blood pressure is a *****.  (That will probably be censored)


----------



## Designer

jcdeboever said:


> Wwll, the girl giving me anesthesia has big bazzookas and has bumped my chin with them there Mellon's o. Several occasions.


Try counting breasts backward starting from "two".


----------



## minicoop1985

*bububububububub*

Anyway... Morning, hosers. It was an EARLY one today. Ugh. Kid went to bed early and woke up at 6:00. Normally he's up around 7:30-8... So I'm le pooped. Time for a morning nap after my coffee perhaps.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

Glad to hear that you're back home, JC. Also glad to hear that you're going to get some rest! We weren't yelling, but merely expressing our concern in a somewhat aggressive manner


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

Best wishes to JC.  Someone who spoke at my wife's 48-year-old cousin's funeral ended her remarks by looking at everyone and saying: "just go to the damn doctor!"  Good advice for everyone.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is off to an early start.  Gary just wants to welcome JC back to the world of the living.


----------



## jcdeboever

Oh crap, I got to go back in, I sprung another leak. My temp is pretty good at 102. My stomach is on fire, major acid reflux. My pee looks like a fine red wine from the 30's. I am so over this.


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> Oh crap, I got to go back in, I sprung another leak. My temp is pretty good at 102. My stomach is on fire, major acid reflux. My pee looks like a fine red wine from the 30's. I am so over this.




Go get fixed!   We'll be here when you get back.


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh crap, I got to go back in, I sprung another leak. My temp is pretty good at 102. My stomach is on fire, major acid reflux. My pee looks like a fine red wine from the 30's. I am so over this.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Go get fixed!   We'll be here when you get back.
Click to expand...

WTF? My blood pressure is 182 over 126. Man I need some new doctors.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> WTF? My blood pressure is 182 over 126. Man I need some new doctors.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


or to stay of the jammin' phone and computer


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> WTF? My blood pressure is 182 over 126. Man I need some new doctors.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> or to stay of the jammin' phone and computer
Click to expand...

Shoot, no coffee today either. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

On my way, another leaker according to fruit of the loom.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## minicoop1985

Good lord man. Stay there and don't leave until they fix you!!!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Good lord man. Stay there and don't leave until they fix you!!!!!


Ah, give me two double D's in my face and I'm good to go. This happens almost every time except for double D's in my melon, bonus. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## jcdeboever

Now if I could just replicate the smell of  some of Gary's ribbs in the room while she is spanking me in the nose, ID be 100%

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## jcdeboever

Back home, leak three fixed. Geez, getting old. Insurance won't cover overnight. If I was poor, I would be fine for a stay. Docs puzzled by new tears in stomach. Shot me up with steroids, now I am going to be starving. Temp down to 100. Butt canal on fire now. No Missy boom booms, got a Sally named Ed but he had a sweeter voice than DD, well at least he didn't rub his sausage in my face.  

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## jcdeboever

These people are relentless. Now I have to go in for more tests... Something PSA results were inconclusive. Open my wallet, turn the vacuum on! Geez, what the heck, I don't even remember that test. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## Gary A.

Gary is back in service. What a long day. Meeting at the County in Alhambra, then a meeting in El Monte, back to La Mirada, meeting in Los Angeles, a last meeting in Burbank and back to La Mirada ... maybe five hours on the road just going back and forth.


----------



## Gary A.

JC you need to eat band aids or a gauze and tape sandwich with a plumber's putty spread so you can fix the leaks yourself.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

It's Thursday (i.e. Friday).
It's payday.
It's the Last.Day.Of.School.

Leo is happy today 

(Technically, I'm not done with the semester. I still have to give my final exams next week and do all the course grades, but the last day of instruction is still a happy happy day!)


----------



## terri

Yayyyyy, Leo!    

And the students think they're the only ones excited to have the semester end.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

@limr - congrats on reaching the end, and on payday, no less!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Everyday Gary walks around with a camera feels like a Payday to Gary.  Then when he reviews the images he feels that someone left out a couple of zeros.


----------



## Gary A.

Headline in the Los Angeles Times: "47,000 people in L.A. County without a home".

That, to Gary, is a staggering number.


----------



## waday

Morning, all!

Sorry to hear that @jcdeboever! 

Last day of class sounds perfect, Leonore!


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Headline in the Los Angeles Times: "47,000 people in L.A. County without a home".
> 
> That, to Gary, is a staggering number.


What all is LA doing to help? I remember hearing about the tiny houses, but those were removed. (ETA: tiny houses were really only a band-aid, but it was something to help in the meantime, right?)

I've heard that LA "has a plan", but what is it? I could have missed it in the articles. Their "plans" sound expensive, since they say they don't know how they're going to pay for it.. 

L.A. is seizing tiny homes from the homeless

If the homeless can't have their tiny houses, what can they have?


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, hosers. Got to sleep in today! Babysitter wore the kid out last night. Yay!

JC, that's totally a sh!tty situation that your insurance won't cover overnight stays. You need to be in there until you're ready, period.


----------



## JonA_CT

Good morning!

Weather has been terrible to get the camera out -- I'm thinking I'm going to try to sneak down to the piers today to get some shots of this ginormous Mexican Navy sail-powered training ship that is docked in our city. I keep driving by her every morning, and I have an excuse to leave the house. It'll be cloudy and gross probably, but it shouldn't rain.

Work has been tough the past few days. I work in a pretty affluent district, and it's hard to remember sometimes that we have kids who are really hurting. We've had two this week that I work with daily, and the one today is really sad. The student's father showed up, during an assembly, drunk as a skunk, belly hanging out, in front of 400 students to try to pick up his kid. He left with the student before the police could get there, and the more we find out about the situation, the worse it gets, including the fact that this 12-year old student pretty routinely drives his dad around when he is drunk. Especially sad is that the mother is a heroin-addict, and his dad is the better of the two parents. 

Just sucks because we can't save them all, and I know this kid, who is pretty bright, has enormous odds to overcome to be successful.


----------



## bribrius

that sucks ! Around here they usually hang themselves, overdose, die in car accident


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning!
> 
> Weather has been terrible to get the camera out -- I'm thinking I'm going to try to sneak down to the piers today to get some shots of this ginormous Mexican Navy sail-powered training ship that is docked in our city. I keep driving by her every morning, and I have an excuse to leave the house. It'll be cloudy and gross probably, but it shouldn't rain.
> 
> Work has been tough the past few days. I work in a pretty affluent district, and it's hard to remember sometimes that we have kids who are really hurting. We've had two this week that I work with daily, and the one today is really sad. The student's father showed up, during an assembly, drunk as a skunk, belly hanging out, in front of 400 students to try to pick up his kid. He left with the student before the police could get there, and the more we find out about the situation, the worse it gets, including the fact that this 12-year old student pretty routinely drives his dad around when he is drunk. Especially sad is that the mother is a heroin-addict, and his dad is the better of the two parents.
> 
> Just sucks because we can't save them all, and I know this kid, who is pretty bright, has enormous odds to overcome to be successful.


ugh.    Tragedy waiting to happen.   I hope the kid has other family members, or even access to something like the YMCA or a mentoring type of program we'd normally think of for inner city kids.   Clearly they aren't the only ones facing high-risk situations.    Any chance of getting the kid in front of the school counselor before the year ends?


----------



## JonA_CT

terri said:


> .


ugh.    Tragedy waiting to happen.   I hope the kid has other family members, or even access to something like the YMCA or a mentoring type of program we'd normally think of for inner city kids.   Clearly they aren't the only ones facing high-risk situations.    Any chance of getting the kid in front of the school counselor before the year ends?[/QUOTE]

Oh, for sure. He sees our counselor, our social worker, and our counseling intern, plus we made a referral to DCF this week. Even with all of that support, he has a long road ahead. 

This all comes with the territory, of course. Still sucks though.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Headline in the Los Angeles Times: "47,000 people in L.A. County without a home".
> 
> That, to Gary, is a staggering number.
> 
> 
> 
> What all is LA doing to help? I remember hearing about the tiny houses, but those were removed. (ETA: tiny houses were really only a band-aid, but it was something to help in the meantime, right?)
> 
> I've heard that LA "has a plan", but what is it? I could have missed it in the articles. Their "plans" sound expensive, since they say they don't know how they're going to pay for it..
> 
> L.A. is seizing tiny homes from the homeless
> 
> If the homeless can't have their tiny houses, what can they have?
Click to expand...

Dunno what their plan is. When Gary was a City Commissioner he'd participate in the formulation of such plans ... But now, all Gary knows is what he reads in the paper. Parts of downtown are a real mess, along the sidewalk tents butt up to each other from one corner to the other corner.  Even after a rain the stench is oppressive.

I do know that for the past few years the Feds have been concentrating on helping the homeless Vets with very little monies going towards non-Vet homeless.  I think the City is counting on the Feds restructuring their goals and money from just the Vets to everybody. I suspect the City and County will co-ordinate with 501(c)(3)'s in a united effort for fund raising and program implementation and both jurisdictions will most likely need to raise some additional tax money. It is not a pretty picture.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon- Those situations are soooo tough.  My much better half, Mary Lou, used to work at Whitney High School, which is the number one public high school, per testing, in California.  The district, the school staff and even the students do all that they can to help out the less privileged. The will to succeed in school and to gain acceptance at their selected college justly drives every Whitney student ... and the staff/faculty.  Students helping other students to succeed is a common, everyday occurrence. Individually and collectively, the staff/faculty/students all chip in money for those needing some help.  Mary Lou left Whitney three years ago but we're still chipping in and helping out a student up at San Francisco State.

PS- Gary thought you taught at a Community College ... Wouldn't that student be an adult?

PPS- If all kids attended a school similar to Whitney, the world would be a much better place.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Gary is in the patio drinking a Lavendar & Lemonade tea, munching on Spanish olives filled with pimento and snacking on what's left of Gary's bread, waiting for Mary Lou to come home with some Cinco de Mayo tacos. Gary will craft up some of his Famous Snowball Margaritas, to augment the tacos, in order to be in step with all the Drinkco de Mayo celebrations.  Gary's work day ended a bit early so he had time to plant a half dozen watermelons and cucumbers strategicly around the yard. He also tossed up some fly traps, refilled the Finch feeder and spooned out some jelly for the Orioles. The past few days have been surprisingly cool so Gary's tea is hot. A Golden Finch just arrived but can't find a seat. It is now on top the feeder waiting for someone to leave.


----------



## minicoop1985

Hello again, hosers. Depression has snuck up on me again. Thought I was OK-in fact I'd say I was manic the past week or so-but back down the rabbit hole, I suppose. 

That poor kid. Alcohol ruins more lives than just the alcoholics.


----------



## Gary A.

Happy Cinco de Mayo. 

Gary's Famous Snowball Margaritas.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 121051 Happy Cinco de Mayo.
> 
> Gary's Famous Snowball Margaritas.



Wrong. No salt.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 121051 Happy Cinco de Mayo.
> 
> Gary's Famous Snowball Margaritas.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong. No salt.
Click to expand...

Too much ice!   I get that it's a snowball, but.....more tequila, lime juice and Cointreau - less ice!


----------



## Gary A.

No Cointreau, Gary uses his bathtub orange liqueur. Salt's bad for you. Gary does have his own lime tree also, therefore the lime is fresh. The ice is like snow ... It is very light, so the overpacking is visually and drinkably acceptable. (The ice is finer than Hawaiian shaved ice.)

You may-sayers are welcome for a glad or two ... then judge me ... Lol.

PS- When the glass gets low it does get filled again with juice ... no ice.


----------



## limr

I have low blood pressure. Want the salt!


----------



## Gary A.

A simple conversation with Gary will get your pressure up without salt. (And sometimes a splash of Grand Marnier.)


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## limr

NOOOOOOO! Needs salt!


----------



## Gary A.

LOL, Gary does has a tin of sea salt for you when you come over.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> LOL, Gary does has a tin of sea salt for you when you come over.



There we go  Though kosher salt sticks to the glass better.


----------



## Gary A.

It is supposed to rain tonight, midnight until 3:00 a.m. ... Gary is thinking of going to bed early, then wake up for the rain and thunderstorm.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> It is supposed to rain tonight, midnight until 3:00 a.m. ... Gary is thinking of going to bed early, then wake up for the rain and thunderstorm.



Gary be cray. Just stay awake instead! Says Leo, the incurable night owl, who watched the Get-To-Bed-Early ship sail hours ago.


----------



## JonA_CT

I work in both, Gary -- my main gig is as a 7th Grade English teacher. I usually teach between 3 and 9 credits at the community college each semester on top of that. Sometimes the adult stories are just as bad though, especially around here. Heroin has really blown up in the area I live, and it seems to particularly affect those who access community college.

The rain ended up returning just as a I got home from work, but I tried to go out anyways. The light was too flat to take any meaningful photographs, although I did head down the street to where this lady was docked last night:

USCGC Eagle (WIX-327) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

She was only in port for the evening, so I ran down to see how they had her situated. Of course, there was a tractor trailer loading diesel fuel on the pier, and it completely blocked all of the good vantage points. Oh well -- she'll be back again in the late summer.

P.S. This article has a picture of her yesterday -- with the wind blowing, the temps in the high 40s, and the grey skies, not a great day for sailing!

Barque Eagle stops in New London before Ireland trip

P.P.S. I drank some tequila in glass last night. Couldn't be bothered to find the other appropriate ingredients, although I'm in the tequila, Grand Marnier or Cointreau, and fresh squeezed lime crowd -- salt and on the rocks please. No simple syrup needed.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Rainy here and much colder than normal for early May, although I'd much rather this than too warm.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. No rain or thunderstorms for Gary last night. This a very cool and damp morning ... Feels like rain, but nada so far.

Gary isn't into mixed drinks. On an occasion when he did order a Margarita it was always on the rocks. Gary first tried Shaved Hawaiian Ice for Margaritas due to the novelty of presentation ... But the shaved ice gave a nice texture to the drink.  When Gary purchased a Ninja blender he discovered that an ice, finer than his little Hawaiian Shaved Ice machine produced, was possible.  The Ninja makes ice as fine as snow ... Which makes a great presentation and texture. Gary is nearly out of his home grown orange liqueur, so it will be back to the bath tub to brew up some more.

The LA Times has a reporter in North Korea and the stories that are coming out are Orwellian in nature. Really scary and mind bending stuff by western standards.  Today is a story on the Children's Palace where "a new generation of North Korea's best and brightest is indoctrinated". The reporter asked a 14 y/o about the meaning of the calligraphy-art piece he was brushing. He answered "I want to be in the army and defend our country and our marshal, Kim Jong Un ... The American imperialists and the Japanese are threatening us, so young people should serve in the army." 

On the plus side, California outlawed cigarette purchases by those under 21 y/o.

Gary lifts his coffee and takes another sip.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Salt's bad for you.


?

In the same way that fat is bad for you?

I simply consider who is telling me that admonition, and act accordingly.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, hosers. Still down, though the kid had his orientation at kindergarten today. He was SUPER good. Wanted to get him ice cream, but the ice cream place is closed.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Salt's bad for you.
> 
> 
> 
> ?
> 
> In the same way that fat is bad for you?
> 
> I simply consider who is telling me that admonition, and act accordingly.
Click to expand...

Generally, in the average diet there is enough "naturally occurring" salt to meet the salt requirement/needs of the general body. Additional salt is not required and for many may be harmful over the long run.  For most people, the greater the salt intake, above and beyond the body's average requirement, elevates the proclivity of harm, especially if the elevated consumption is chronic/long term.

Too little salt is harmful as is too much salt. While linking salt directly to diseases is less than conclusive, simply ignoring the existing and significant evidence/science is similar to ignoring the science behind ... (does Gary open this can of worms ... ) ... nope ... no need to get the mods involved so Gary will remain silent.

Gary will just say there is significant science linking long term salt abuse to many harmful and death threatening conditions. (But it isn't salt alone, genetics also play an important variant on how one's body reacts to salt/salt abuse, hence a very complex, problematic, one size does not fit all, situation.)

As to who is telling an "admonition", Gary's response was merely a quick flippant general answer to a quick flippant general statement, not be be taken as anything else, (or with a grain of salt). Gary didn't think the statement required any qualifiers.  

For those thinking Gary's statement was a serious admonition ... remember we're all on the internet, so if there are any questions, research is a fingertip or two away.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I was a bit (a lot) punchy last night. Could you tell? 

You want community college student stories? I gots 'em!  My college certainly pulls from the wealthier districts in the county (some of which are the wealthiest in the country, with public schools in the top 20 of the country as well.) But our biggest feeder districts are from the total opposite of the spectrum. You want stories of hardships? Talk to my students from, for example, Yonkers or the Bronx. Or my international students from the Balkans or Ecuador and Peru or India or...or... They'll pull your heart right out.

As for salt, my feelings about salt on margaritas do not necessarily reflect my position on salt in general 

And I really do have low blood pressure - as in low enough that if I am standing up from a kneeling or squatting position, I am guaranteed to get light-headed and see everything go dark for about 2-3 seconds. Some days, even standing up from a chair a bit too quickly or walking up the stairs or straightening up after tying my shoes will give me a head rush.


----------



## Gary A.

Damn Leo ... But I suspect that your good stuff ... far outweighs the bad stuff.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> For those thinking Gary's statement was a serious admonition ...


My comment wasn't aimed at you.  Of all the people I know, about half are with you, and half don't care.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks the worst is Adult School ... At least how it is administrated/populated here in California. Adult school is so bad, in every way, that it is comical. 

Anybody ever watch "The Office" ... Adult school is The Office on steroids. Sadly, Adult school is real and we are paying for it. 

Okay, it is finally raining ... This is a real, card-carrying, bonafide rain ... Not those rainy days here which are unmeasurable. Gary is back from setting up the rain barrels ... Then was sucker-punched by a torrent and he was running about emptying the rain barrels and then started setting up and emptying buckets under the cloth canopies.  

He is a wet, hot mess. Gary and The Cook were caught up in the rain on their walk, turning the walk into a run. Fortunately, The Cook and the Fuji are weather sealed.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> For those thinking Gary's statement was a serious admonition ...
> 
> 
> 
> My comment wasn't aimed at you.  Of all the people I know, about half are with you, and half don't care.
Click to expand...

LOL ... Just like fat.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Damn Leo ... But I suspect that your good stuff ... far outweighs the bad stuff.



You mean student stories?

One of the reasons I was so punchy last night we because of the emotional roller coaster I had at the end of a long day. First was a student who'd missed a month+ of class because her father had had another stroke. She went to Ecuador to be with him (she told me beforehand) but was then delayed a few more weeks because of the earthquake. She was desperate to pass the class, but the problem was not just missing work, but that the work she was doing before she left was really...well, it was doubleplusungood. She needed SO much work to be ready for Eng 101 - too much ground to cover in the 5 days left in the semester. She's in her 50s, trying to learn English, trying to get an education while working and taking care of her family. If she fails, it affects her financial aid. But if I pass her, she'll just fail Eng 101 and be in the same position next semester. So as hard as it was to resist her seven billion sob stories she pulled out, I had to insist that she retake the class. At least there should be a way for me to enter the grade as some sort of withdrawal so it won't affect her aid.

Right after that, I was chatting with another student, an Albanian woman. Her sister just won the green card lottery, so my student will finally have someone from her family to be with her. She'd been alone here, working full time, studying full time, helping support her mother and four siblings back home. Her father had died in one of the many wars in the 90s and her uncles refused to support her mother, so from the time she was 9, my student and her mother and siblings were on their own. But while she was already happy to be here and able to help her family financially, she was beyond excited that her sister was coming, so she could have family with her and also some help so she could focus a bit more on her studies. With two family members in the country, both in good legal standing and one with an actual green card, chances are good they'll eventually be able to get the rest of the family here. Then she told me that I'd been her favorite teacher ever and she gave me a big hug and started crying (which of course then set me off, too!)

The good moments are few and far between, but when they come, they are _really _good - enough to erase a lot of the bad moments and keep me going, despite how hard everything else about that job is.


----------



## Gary A.

Wow ... Cats and Dogs!  Gary has had three different outfits adorn his little body this morning.  The first change was coming in from the walk/run.  The second was after the initial torrent and now again after Cats & Dogs. Gary is fastly running out of outfits.  But the plants are happy.


----------



## Gary A.

On  a better note.  Gary has a ceramic BBQ, Kamado Joe brand. Kamado Joe has a lifetime warranty on the ceramic parts and I had a warranty issue with an interior ceramic part (fire wall). In less than 24 hours and two short emails later, Kamado Joe is sending out a new fire wall. So kudos to Kamado Joe.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Gary is fastly running out of outfits.


Too bad Gary doesn't know how to run the washing machine.  And dryer.


----------



## Gary A.

Yes, that is a pity and certainly a flaw in an otherwise sterling fella.


----------



## minicoop1985

I feel so drained and down... ugh. Took an hour long nap too, to no avail. More coffee won't work either-I'll just get shaky and besides, it's 80* here. Ugh is all I can really say.  I do have to pick the kid up in about 45 minutes, so there's that, but other than that, man. I just can't win today, apparently.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is home.  He had to make a run to UPS to pick up Mary Lou's Mother's Day present.  The shipper used a wrong address on the order. Gary and Mary Lou are at the pub table, relaxing, sipping on a Doffo Syrah (Temecula), hearing the rain fall, classical on the stereo ... waiting for the smoker to finish up the Tri-Tip. It is dusk and we can still see the grapes, roses sweet peas, all drinking in the now soft rain. 20 more degrees until dinner ... plenty of Syrah ... We'll be fine.


----------



## Gary A.

"Wish they all could be California girls ... " echoes  across the living room and now Jim Morrison ... 11 degrees to go until dinner and the Syrah is holding out.


----------



## Gary A.

Le Tri-Tip (with a French accent) and Le Garden Salad.


----------



## Gary A.

The Syrah held. There is enough for two more glasses while we watch a Netflix.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, hosers. Gotta come up with something for Mother's Day for my wife. My mom... A call is good enough (long story involving emotional abuse). It's surprising I even TALK to my mom on occasion. I should have cut her out a long time ago.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I'll confess that I have my own difficulties with Mother's Day for several reasons, and that's all I will say about that.

I engaged in some serious slackage yesterday. I definitely needed it. Going to try to get some chores and errands done and set up my course grade spreadsheets today. 

And now I need more coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Today Gary and Mary Lou will be making a wine run down to Temecula. The morning is wonderful, the air is fresh from the rains, the clouds are many and distinct and the coffee is hot and flavorful. WHat could go wrong ...


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Today Gary and Mary Lou will be making a wine run down to Temecula. The morning is wonderful, the air is fresh from the rains, the clouds are many and distinct and the coffee is hot and flavorful. *WHat could go wrong ...*



Famous last words...


----------



## jcdeboever

Morning hosebeefs. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Solid food today, yeah! Lost 10 pounds this week which doesn't bother me, 90 more to go. Tired of oatmeal, sodium free chicken broth, and ensure. Will take it easy though, start with small portions of veggies and chicken. Off to soccer game. Coffee headaches are non existent, will introduce maybe in a week or not. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

These Jacarandas line the streets that Cook and Gary walk. 

Gary and Mary Lou are off to Temecula.  The clouds are spectacular and the freeway is wide open (so far). The Sun is shinning and it is cool, in the 60's. In an hour we'll be munching on fine food and sipping even finer wines. What could go wrong ...


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary have arrived.


----------



## Designer

Do you have to pay for those samples?  It looks like they're serving some halfway decent sized servings.  And what if you don't like one or two?  Dump it?  There have been some that I've dumped.  And some that MLW has passed over to me.


----------



## Gary A.

Hart Winery.


----------



## Gary A.

Hart.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Do you have to pay for those samples?  It looks like they're serving some halfway decent sized servings.  And what if you don't like one or two?  Dump it?  There have been some that I've dumped.  And some that MLW has passed over to me.


Unfortunately the days of free tastes is long gone. But we are members of many of the wineries and with membership comes free tastings. So yes, these tasting were free ... But only with membership. To be honest, Gary has never dumped a taste. There are certainly many wines that Gary didn't enjoy as much as others, but never was the wine disliked to the point of dumping. But there are little buckets available for dumps.


----------



## Gary A.

Hart.


----------



## Gary A.

A pair of Cabernet Franc at Doffo.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## Gary A.

Doffo 2012 Zin is the best of the best (so far).


----------



## Designer

Camera LOVE dis Zinfandel!


----------



## Gary A.

Champagne at Lorenzi.


----------



## Gary A.

Lorenzi.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks he must have scared everybody away ... not good for the Coffee House business. 

H A P P Y  MOTHER'S DAY to all you Moms out there.





My mother when she graduated from college. Mom has passed, but she was an awesome person. You could not find a better mother or partner, kind, loving, fun, mother, wife, nurse, teacher, author.


----------



## minicoop1985

Got my wife one of her favorite photos in print, and a promise to have it framed to her specifications.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sharon wouldn't need a little bucket either.

Glad JC that you're doing better, hope you keep improving.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Get better JC or we may have to bring Pixmedic over to this forum....and you do NOT want that!


----------



## JonA_CT

Good evening all!

Gary, I didn't realize that Southern California had a wine scene too. One of my sister-in-laws used to live in Anaheim Hills, and we visited a few times, but we spent more time chasing craft beer in the area. My other sister-in-law moved to Temecula maybe  a year ago now, but we haven't visited yet. I'll definitely put wineries as something for us to do while we are there the next time.

Productive weekend for me -- lots of cooking. Yesterday was a smoked pork butt (I'm a bit jealous of Gary's purpose-made smoker -- I jury-rig my Weber Kettle) and homemade coleslaw. I also did prep work for Mother's Day brunch for my family. Overnight cinnamon rolls started last night, and then this morning, I made some scratch biscuits to go with one of my southern mother's guilty pleasures -- creamed sausage. 

The sun also came out and stayed out this afternoon for the first time in a week. I happened to fertilize my lawn knowing the rain was coming. My grass has literally grown 5 inches.


----------



## Gary A.

Picked up this little number in Temecula ... perfect for our Pub table. His favorite bat is a Sonoma Slugger


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers!

Heading into the last week of my semester. Whew!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Evening, hosers!
> 
> Heading into the last week of my semester. Whew!


Cool, then take more pics.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening, hosers!
> 
> Heading into the last week of my semester. Whew!
> 
> 
> 
> Cool, then take more pics.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Definitely! My goal is to take out the cameras that haven't been out to play in a long time, like the C330. And I'm finally going to break out the Baby Graphic and shoot some 2x3 sheet film.

I'm also going to reeeeeeeaaaaaaaad! I'm so exciting about reading!!   And reading will then lead to actual writing.

Yup, I'm sooooooo ready for this


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Good evening all!
> 
> Gary, I didn't realize that Southern California had a wine scene too. One of my sister-in-laws used to live in Anaheim Hills, and we visited a few times, but we spent more time chasing craft beer in the area. My other sister-in-law moved to Temecula maybe  a year ago now, but we haven't visited yet. I'll definitely put wineries as something for us to do while we are there the next time.
> 
> Productive weekend for me -- lots of cooking. Yesterday was a smoked pork butt (I'm a bit jealous of Gary's purpose-made smoker -- I jury-rig my Weber Kettle) and homemade coleslaw. I also did prep work for Mother's Day brunch for my family. Overnight cinnamon rolls started last night, and then this morning, I made some scratch biscuits to go with one of my southern mother's guilty pleasures -- creamed sausage.
> 
> The sun also came out and stayed out this afternoon for the first time in a week. I happened to fertilize my lawn knowing the rain was coming. My grass has literally grown 5 inches.


Hey Jon, there is even some wineries in Malibu ... expensive, as one would expect, but generally low quality stuff but lots of entertainment value. The best Zin in California is probably coming out of Lodi in the Central Valley, the best Pinots in the world are coming out of the Santa Rita Hills, east of Santa Barbara (see the cult movie Sideways).  Temecula does not compare toe-to-toe with Paso Robles, Napa and Sonoma in quantity and quality ... but they are innovative and fun with a few vintners actually producing some very fine wines.  The discovery process of finding the real gems out in Temecula has been quite enjoyable. Temecula is less than 90 minutes away which is quite attractive as opposed to the Santa Rita Hills (Lompoc, Santa Ynez, Los Banos) which is approximate two and a half hours from La Mirada. (This last trip was decided Saturday morning on a whim ... a five hour round trip to the Santa Rita Hills area would require some thought and planning.)  Gary used to think of Temecula as a bit of a Hellhole and snubbed his refined nose at the thought of mixing fine wines and Temecula in the same sentence. But on a whim (again), Gary and Mary Lou were pleasantly surprised at what they discovered and are now members of several Temecula wine clubs.

PS- Gary's dedicated smoker is a joy to use. I added a device that generates 'cold smoke'.  With the cold smoke sidecar, Gary can add hours and hours of cooking time as the heat required for producing the smoke will not affect the cooking time.


----------



## JonA_CT

Monday morning -- gonna be a crappy day at work, as we have consultants who haven't taught in a classroom for at least a decade and have never worked with my level of students, will be coming in to tell me how to teach. It's always tough -- I appreciate constructive criticism, but this will be our sixth or seventh session with this woman and she doesn't convey much that is useful. 

So I pumped up this music on the drive in this morning, and grabbed my Minolta with the 35mm lens. It's still loaded with the HP5, and I was able to catch the sun playing some cool tricks with the clouds this morning as I was driving out of the city. 

I love the saying "faking it to make it", and today is one of those days.


----------



## limr




----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Monday morning -- gonna be a crappy day at work, as we have consultants who haven't taught in a classroom for at least a decade and have never worked with my level of students, will be coming in to tell me how to teach. It's always tough -- I appreciate constructive criticism, but this will be our sixth or seventh session with this woman and she doesn't convey much that is useful.
> 
> So I pumped up this music on the drive in this morning, and grabbed my Minolta with the 35mm lens. It's still loaded with the HP5, and I was able to catch the sun playing some cool tricks with the clouds this morning as I was driving out of the city.
> 
> I love the saying "faking it to make it", and today is one of those days.



Good start to the morning. Sounds like your handling the situation perfect. Hopefully, she will bring something useful to it's intention. "Faking it" always brings opportunity where as negativity closes that door. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

limr said:


> was then delayed a few more weeks because of the earthquake


I hope her family is ok.

My wife's extended family lost a few family members in the earthquake.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> was then delayed a few more weeks because of the earthquake
> 
> 
> 
> I hope her family is ok.
> 
> My wife's extended family lost a few family members in the earthquake.
Click to expand...


Well, her father is still alive after his stroke (apparently, it was his 4th!) and she didn't mention any other family troubles (and believe me, she was trying everything! If a family member had so much as a paper cut from that earthquake, she would have trotted it out.) She did have a big ace bandage around her ankle and she said something about spraining it, but I think that was unrelated.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Kid slept in today! YAY! STILL waiting for the take up spool for my Nicca, while the wife needs a new camera body. Ugh, it never ends.


----------



## snowbear

Off to bed.  The cinnamon roll on ice (Fireball Whisky & cream soda) was a nice ending to a so-so day.  It hasn't helped the headache, but it hasn't made it any worse so I guess that's a draw.
G'nite folkses.


----------



## limr

One class done, one more to go.

Gosh, these 15 years since Spring Break has gone so quickly!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has been processing parade images for the City of Hawaiian Gardens, all freakin' day long. Gary is quite pleased with some of the images, but now he has to stand ... his butt is sore.


----------



## jcdeboever

Work, doctors, golf, home, sleep. Doc gave me some new stuff for sleep, hoping it works tonight. Shot a horrible 9-holes, can't let her rip yet. Not used to such long second shots as I am good for 300 on most days off the tee. Can't remember the last time I used a  3 wood off the fairway. Couldn't sink a putt to save my butt. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Work, doctors, golf, home, sleep. Doc gave me some new stuff for sleep, hoping it works tonight. Shot a horrible 9-holes, can't let her rip yet. Not used to such long second shots as I am good for 300 on most days off the tee. Can't remember the last time I used a  3 wood off the fairway. Couldn't sink a putt to save my butt.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


My best game was a 66 . . . on five holes.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Work, doctors, golf, home, sleep. Doc gave me some new stuff for sleep, hoping it works tonight. Shot a horrible 9-holes, can't let her rip yet. Not used to such long second shots as I am good for 300 on most days off the tee. Can't remember the last time I used a  3 wood off the fairway. Couldn't sink a putt to save my butt.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> My best game was a 66 . . . on five holes.
Click to expand...

It's a frustrating game to say the least. I just go out and have fun. It's the only time the wife and I do something together and she can't yell at me. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

I've only played golf a few times, but I was gifted a set of golf clubs, and I bought a Groupon to get a few rounds in this year. Should be good for a few laughs.

I'm headed to Boston for the day on Saturday. Going to walk around and catch an afternoon Red Sox game. If I bring my Minolta, what would you guys load for walking around a city during a day? 200 or 400?


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I've only played golf a few times, but I was gifted a set of golf clubs, and I bought a Groupon to get a few rounds in this year. Should be good for a few laughs.
> 
> I'm headed to Boston for the day on Saturday. Going to walk around and catch an afternoon Red Sox game. If I bring my Minolta, what would you guys load for walking around a city during a day? 200 or 400?


200

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

What would be considered a good score in golf? I played it once. That was really enough.

I would also load 200, although for me it would depend on if I felt like shooting color. At the moment, I only have HP5 loaded in canisters and the only 200 ISO I have is Agfa Vista.

Last night, I got all the grading done for my Mon/Wed class while they were taking the final, so all I have to do is plug the grading formula into the spreadsheet, put in the final exam grades and let Excel spit out a grade.

The Tues/Thurs class is larger, but I have fewer straggler assignments (I offer what I call "Amnesty Day" when students get to re-write the essay with the lowest grade. It's optional and not everyone hands something, so I don't have a full batch of essays.) I'll finish them up during tonight's final, and then the same deal with the spreadsheet.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> What would be considered a good score in golf? I played it once. That was really enough.


Depends on the person  For me, anything less than 100 is fantastic.

Also, I'm incredibly out-of-it. I didn't realize that Diplomat Williams Smart JUST arrived in JFK with my two boxes of consignment worth about $9.5 million. Jeez, he's waiting for me to pay the tag fees or whatever the airport is demanding for release of these boxes. I mean, these boxes have been checked and the funds are 100% spendable and acceptable by any bank AROUND THE WORLD! Diplomat Smart tried to negotiate and even pleaded with the airport to release the boxes, but they just can't without these tags. But, he can't wait around for me much longer, because he has to go deliver something in Bangkok.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Work, doctors, golf, home, sleep. Doc gave me some new stuff for sleep, hoping it works tonight. Shot a horrible 9-holes, can't let her rip yet. Not used to such long second shots as I am good for 300 on most days off the tee. Can't remember the last time I used a  3 wood off the fairway. Couldn't sink a putt to save my butt.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> My best game was a 66 . . . on five holes.
Click to expand...


Ha... I scored higher than that on just the first hole.  And, it was mini golf.  I rock.

Lol


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> What would be considered a good score in golf? I played it once. That was really enough.
> 
> 
> 
> Depends on the person  For me, anything less than 100 is fantastic.
> 
> Also, I'm incredibly out-of-it. I didn't realize that Diplomat Williams Smart JUST arrived in JFK with my two boxes of consignment worth about $9.5 million. Jeez, he's waiting for me to pay the tag fees or whatever the airport is demanding for release of these boxes. I mean, these boxes have been checked and the funds are 100% spendable and acceptable by any bank AROUND THE WORLD! Diplomat Smart tried to negotiate and even pleaded with the airport to release the boxes, but they just can't without these tags. But, he can't wait around for me much longer, because he has to go deliver something in Bangkok.
Click to expand...


Okay, it took me a full minute to figure out what was going on. End-of-the-semester exhaustion robs me of at least 20 IQ points


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is back on his butt for another round of Hawaiian Gardens Parade stuff. Today will be processing the Fuji XP2 JPEGS.  We will see how the XP2 performs.  Gary hasn't processed any XP2 images yet.  Gary is way behind in processing.

Gary was on the golf team in high school.  While Gary loves baseball, he would try different sports in Spring, one year it was track and another year golf. He never played golf before ... but somehow made the team. That was the last time he played regularly ... he used to nail his putts, but now gets frustrated by the windmill and ends up throwing the putter at the wind vanes and storms off for an ice cream.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Gary was on the golf team in high school.  While Gary loves baseball, he would try different sports in Spring, one year it was track and another year golf. He never played golf before ... but somehow made the team. That was the last time he played regularly ... he used to nail his putts, but now gets frustrated by the windmill and ends up throwing the putter at the wind vanes and storms off for an ice cream.



Golf Team?  In high school?

Wow..  we didn't even have enough people to field a proper football team.  I played starting linebacker and starting fullback.  Most of our linemen played both sides as well.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary was on the golf team in high school.  While Gary loves baseball, he would try different sports in Spring, one year it was track and another year golf. He never played golf before ... but somehow made the team. That was the last time he played regularly ... he used to nail his putts, but now gets frustrated by the windmill and ends up throwing the putter at the wind vanes and storms off for an ice cream.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Golf Team?  In high school?
> 
> Wow..  we didn't even have enough people to field a proper football team.  I played starting linebacker and starting fullback.  Most of our linemen played both sides as well.
Click to expand...


We had a golf team in high school, too. And a football team. And a soccer and lacrosse. Our lacrosse team kicked ass. Our boys' soccer team was okay, but our girls' team was state-ranked. We had basketball teams, too. 

I ran track in senior year. Cross-country in the fall and track&field in the spring. Luckily, our track teams weren't anything to write home about, otherwise I never would have been able to join, as I ran quite slow, even as a 17-year-old  But it was pretty low-key and the coach let anyone join if they just wanted to train and try their hand at competing.

That's where I learned that I am soooooo not competitive against anyone but myself. I liked training with my teammates, but I hated the competitions. Abhorred, really.


----------



## minicoop1985

I played baseball throughout high school. Was never particularly good at it, but I tried and learned I'm just not that athletic. I don't run well (I was a quick sprinter though), I have exercise induced asthma, and I can't hit for crap.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  So, golf, you all say - a game that never made much sense to me.  I actually know a little about it because my father liked to watch it on tv Saturday afternoon-evening when I was a kid, but I only tried it once and really have no interest (or any innate talent, apparently).

Sitting here at work after a stultifying department meeting trying to recover some brain function.  I'm not sure whether beer or more coffee would help more, but I suppose I'll work that out at lunch.


----------



## jcdeboever

Par is a good score if competing. So if your playing nine holes and par is 38 shots, then that is a good score. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## vintagesnaps

I've played Putt Putt, I like when the windmill goes around, and the ball rolls thru a tunnel and down a chute, etc. Yeah Gary, the ice cream's the best part! Regular golf is too boring, that's why I'm a hockey fan, if you're going to whack something with a stick then whack it!!! and move faster than a golf cart chasing after it! lol

Oh god Ken, sounds like one of _those_ kind of meetings, you have my sympathy.

Lenny hang in there! The last bit waiting to be done seems to drag one and seems neverending. Hope you see the light at the end of the tunnel soon.


----------



## Designer

I missed out on team sports in HS.  I was more into things like; dirt-track motorcycle, (wasn't a team sport in my HS) knife-throwing (also no team) shooting (likewise), hot-rodding cars, go-karts, and motorcycles (ditto) so I missed out.


----------



## waday

Not sure if this counts, but I had a bowling class in high school. That was an awesome class! Within 40 minutes, we'd drive to the local bowling alley, play 2 games, then head back for the next class.


----------



## waday

Is it Friday afternoon, yet?


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Is it Friday afternoon, yet?



No


----------



## snowbear

Actually, golf was invented by the Scots to keep the English at bay.

As far the high school, I was on the varsity drinking team. 
I think I was good at it, but I don't really remember many of the competitions.


----------



## snowbear

snowbear said:


> Actually, golf was invented by the Scots to keep the English at bay.
> 
> As far the high school, I was on the varsity drinking team.
> I think I was good at it, but I don't really remember many of the competitions.


For the youngsters out there - when I was in high school, the legal age to purchase and consume beer, in MD, was 18.  It was like a learner's permit giving you three years to practice for the hard stuff at 21.


----------



## jcdeboever

We used to buy it all the time when I was 14. The party store owner in Detroit could care less.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## snowbear

In some places, if you could put your chin on the counter, you could get it.


----------



## snowbear

Well, time to sign off, and go do some book reading.  Pleasant dreams, peeps.


----------



## limr

Meh, I grew up in a European family. I've been drinking wine since single digit ages


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Well, time to sign off, and go do some book reading.  Pleasant dreams, peeps.



Night, Charlie!


----------



## JonA_CT

Good morning!

I live in a small city -- about 10 square miles with roughly 30,000 people living in it. I live a bit away from the most densely populated neighborhoods, but my lot (a double-sized one) is still measured in square feet, not acres. 

One of the houses on my street was recently sold -- it's nice to finally have someone living there and taking care of it -- the street appeal is definitely much higher than when it was vacant. However, they've taken to keeping chickens (and other animals) in their backyard, which abuts my property. One of those chickens is a rooster, which has taken to crowing starting between 3:30-4AM every morning, maybe 50 yards from my bedroom window. 

I knew that chickens were allowed on the property, but I went to look up the ordinance anyways. I found out that you are allowed to keep up to 6 hens (he has at least a dozen), you may not keep a rooster (yup...), you need to have a fence that is at least 6 feet tall (4 feet) and is impenetrable by rodents and other animals (not tested, but I doubt it), you need to apply for a permit (since nothing was to code, again, I doubt it).

So I called the Zoning Enforcement officer, which told me that I should talk to Animal Control, or I could apply to have an agenda item added to their next meeting, which is in about 5 weeks. 

I called Animal Control, and they forwarded me the phone number for Zoning Enforcement. 

Even though I could never do it, I find my self dreaming about a steaming pot of coq a vin when I'm in the twlight stages of sleep between 3:30 and my alarm...


----------



## jcdeboever

Get a dog?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

YAY IT'S WEDNESDAY! That means trivia tonight!


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning!
> So I called the Zoning Enforcement officer, which told me that I should talk to Animal Control, or I could apply to have an agenda item added to their next meeting, which is in about 5 weeks.
> 
> I called Animal Control, and they forwarded me the phone number for Zoning Enforcement.



Ah, there's nothing like the hyper-efficiency of local government 

When I was a teenager, our neighbors had a rooster. That thing crowed at all times of the day, but never at daybreak. It was confused  I think that's why I liked it.



minicoop1985 said:


> YAY IT'S WEDNESDAY! That means trivia tonight!



What Wednesday means for me this week? I get to actually GO HOME after my first job is over at 5:00!


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> One of those chickens is a rooster, which has taken to crowing starting between 3:30-4AM every morning, maybe 50 yards from my bedroom window.



I live _out,_ further away from the big city lights than I ever have before, in a small town.   We have all the amenities, but my largish subdivision is surrounded by farms and cow pastures.   There is a rooster living nearby.   He starts crowing at sunup, but he crows all day, literally till sundown.   Most of the time he is background noise, seems rather distant, but I guess when the wind is right he sounds about 2 yards away.        He is one persistent little bugger!  

Luckily, I find the crowing soothing -  comforting somehow.   He doesn't bother me a bit, but then most often he sounds distant.  

I'd rather hear the crowing than a barking dog.   Still, I feel for ya, if it disrupts your sleep.


----------



## minicoop1985

See, here we have sirens. I live just off the main drag. The sound of traffic is almost soothing to me for some reason.

Wife's camera doesn't like shooting macro much. Doesn't have any issues shooting portraits or anything, but it just HATES macro. Not sure why. Trying to convince her to upgrade since her a65 is pretty pedestrian and I suspect the AF module is to blame (nothing WRONG with it, but it just doesn't like doing what she wants).


----------



## KenC

JonA_CT said:


> However, they've taken to keeping chickens (and other animals) in their backyard, which abuts my property. One of those chickens is a rooster, which has taken to crowing starting between 3:30-4AM every morning, maybe 50 yards from my bedroom window.
> 
> I find my self dreaming about *a steaming pot of coq a vin* when I'm in the twlight stages of sleep between 3:30 and my alarm...



Yes, this was exactly what I thought of the few times I woke up in the country and heard a rooster in the morning.


----------



## JonA_CT

It's ironic that you all mention other noises -- I'm not sure why its the rooster that wakes me up. Evolution perhaps?

I live right near the train tracks, although everything is electric and pretty quiet, and I live a block from the hospital, so there are sirens constantly. I don't ever notice either of those things...maybe the rooster will fade too.


----------



## mishele

Ssshhhh! You guys are too loud!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I live in a small town too. If I head one direction it's all farmland, if I go the other way it's my old commute to work in the big city.

We can have chickens. That's about it! lol no goats, no roosters. They seriously did enact regulations so people can have a few chickens, which can't be roaming loose, but not a rooster. edit - nm I went back and got caught up! I started to tell you what our rules & regs are here but see you have something in place there, Jon. Is there a reg for noise? really, maybe there's an ordinance that could warrant you calling the sheriff/police on their non-emergency number, since the neighbor's in violation of a few things.  

One morning I heard one really close, looked out and there was a rooster trotting thru my side yard. It went out to the front yard, made a U turn and in the middle of the road walked on down the street... It was around fair time so I figured that's where it was headed! lol Maybe it was some kid's 4H project that got loose.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh yeah, Charlie, good ol' 3.2 beer! whoo hoo! lol piss water.


----------



## snowbear

mishele said:


> Ssshhhh! You guys are too loud!!


Woohoo - Mish is out of hibernation!

We are in a suburban fringe: a big mall, a bunch of car dealerships and many fast-food and second-tier restaurants (sit-down chains like Panera, Noodles & Co, Olive Garden, etc.)  But we're five minutes from corn fields (many of which were tobacco fields, twenty years ago), and 20 minutes from the Amish farms.  I do hear some traffic noise but I also hear the horn from the coal trains in and out of the Morgantown (MD) power plant and the "onk-or" of the Canada geese that continue to winter here and head back north after the chicks have grown a bit.


----------



## waday

Is it Friday afternoon, yet?

(I'm going to post this everyday.)


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> Is it Friday afternoon, yet?
> 
> (I'm going to post this everyday.)



Twenty minutes (standard answer #6)


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Is it Friday afternoon, yet?
> 
> (I'm going to post this everyday.)



No. (I'll answer with a different meme every day  )


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it Friday afternoon, yet?
> 
> (I'm going to post this everyday.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No. (I'll answer with a different meme every day  )
Click to expand...

Haha.. can't wait to see tomorrow's meme!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning!
> 
> I live in a small city -- about 10 square miles with roughly 30,000 people living in it. I live a bit away from the most densely populated neighborhoods, but my lot (a double-sized one) is still measured in square feet, not acres.
> 
> One of the houses on my street was recently sold -- it's nice to finally have someone living there and taking care of it -- the street appeal is definitely much higher than when it was vacant. However, they've taken to keeping chickens (and other animals) in their backyard, which abuts my property. One of those chickens is a rooster, which has taken to crowing starting between 3:30-4AM every morning, maybe 50 yards from my bedroom window.
> 
> I knew that chickens were allowed on the property, but I went to look up the ordinance anyways. I found out that you are allowed to keep up to 6 hens (he has at least a dozen), you may not keep a rooster (yup...), you need to have a fence that is at least 6 feet tall (4 feet) and is impenetrable by rodents and other animals (not tested, but I doubt it), you need to apply for a permit (since nothing was to code, again, I doubt it).
> 
> So I called the Zoning Enforcement officer, which told me that I should talk to Animal Control, or I could apply to have an agenda item added to their next meeting, which is in about 5 weeks.
> 
> I called Animal Control, and they forwarded me the phone number for Zoning Enforcement.
> 
> Even though I could never do it, I find my self dreaming about a steaming pot of coq a vin when I'm in the twlight stages of sleep between 3:30 and my alarm...


Once it gets circular, call an elected official. Gary would start the process again and take down names of whom you spoke, (if you don't have them).  Animal control could take immediate action on the rooster ... but this seems to be a zoning problem. While a ferret isn't as good as a dog, ever ... but for this particular case, a ferret, may be the best tool for the application. (Don't feed it for a day or two ... then the next 3:30 a.m. point it in the direction of the rooster, wind up the tail ...  and let go.)  A meeting with a councilmember should get pretty quick action, but I suspect that Animal Control may not be a city department/jurisdiction of the city, and the city elected official wouldn't have much, if any clout.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou are subjected to Disneyland fireworks seemingly every night ... Boom, Boom, Boom. Disneyland is about ten miles away.  We can have a few chickens, Gary is all for it especially for the slug/snail control, but Mary Lou apparently is not a fan of unfried chicken.  About two blocks away, there is horse property within the city limits.  Those peoples are ag zoned and have chickens, goats, sheep, et al. One of the most productive dairy area in the US is 20 minutes northeast tucked along side crop farming, the mountains are about 40 minutes north, downtown LA about 20 minutes west and the beach is 30 minutes south.


----------



## waday

Morning all!

Wow, first I had a diplomat asking me about money, now I apparently have FLOTUS emailing me about a bank draft or something. I really hope people are smart enough to realize these emails are spam... although sometimes I wonder about that...


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> I've played Putt Putt, I like when the windmill goes around, and the ball rolls thru a tunnel and down a chute, etc. Yeah Gary, the ice cream's the best part! Regular golf is too boring, that's why I'm a hockey fan, if you're going to whack something with a stick then whack it!!! and move faster than a golf cart chasing after it! lol
> 
> Oh god Ken, sounds like one of _those_ kind of meetings, you have my sympathy.
> 
> Lenny hang in there! The last bit waiting to be done seems to drag one and seems neverending. Hope you see the light at the end of the tunnel soon.



Well Hockey is pretty much just playing golf in the middle of a bar brawl.


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> Morning all!
> 
> Wow, first I had a diplomat asking me about money, now I apparently have FLOTUS emailing me about a bank draft or something. I really hope people are smart enough to realize these emails are spam... although sometimes I wonder about that...



Wait, you mean that wasn't actually FLOTUS asking me for my banking information?

Whoopsie.


----------



## minicoop1985

I live in a city of about 80,000. I live in one of the more densely populated areas (not the most densely populated, god no) in a decent sized house on a smaller, but not minuscule, lot. We have the noise of traffic and sirens as well as people getting pulled over directly in front of our house at midnight (damn blinky lights kept me awake). But none of that really bothers me. I like being close to all the happenings of downtown.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Morning all!
> 
> Wow, first I had a diplomat asking me about money, now I apparently have FLOTUS emailing me about a bank draft or something. I really hope people are smart enough to realize these emails are spam... although sometimes I wonder about that...


The Nigerian Royal Family emails are real. Gary just sent them his banking information to help them unload some unused World Bank funds (all that cash stacked up in the halls is getting in the way of their daily routines).  They are asking assistance from Gary because they found him trustworthy.  Gary asked them if the monies would be used for Gary's retirement place.  The Royal family thought that was a grand idea, but I had to refund some of it to cover the handling and freight.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  I don't get that many of those financial scam e-mails anymore - maybe the filters are getting better, I don't know.  What is annoying lately is robo-calls to my cell phone that are supposed to be from my credit card company.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  This is another cool and gray morning. Yesterday Gary finished one photo project, the parade and now he has three more to go. 

A few candid snaps from the parade:


----------



## waday

I swear, if I get one more request for something to be completed today that was sitting on someone's desk for over a week, I'm taking a sick day. 



KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  I don't get that many of those financial scam e-mails anymore - maybe the filters are getting better, I don't know.  What is annoying lately is robo-calls to my cell phone that are supposed to be from my credit card company.


I don't get any calls to my cell phone. My wife will get a text every now and then. The emails have actually picked up for me. I get probably 15 a day, but they go straight to my spam folder.


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> I swear, if I get one more request for something to be completed today that was sitting on someone's desk for over a week, I'm taking a sick day.



Oh hey, BTW we got a call from Human Resources.  I guess they are short handed over there and they've got a dozen requests from folks who are taking a sick day today.  From what I understand the requests have been sitting on a desk over there for about a week and they really need them all put into the system before the end of the day to day.  So if you could get that done that would be great.

Thanks!  Your a trooper..

Lol


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I swear, if I get one more request for something to be completed today that was sitting on someone's desk for over a week, I'm taking a sick day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh hey, BTW we got a call from Human Resources.  I guess they are short handed over there and they've got a dozen requests from folks who are taking a sick day today.  From what I understand the requests have been sitting on a desk over there for about a week and they really need them all put into the system before the end of the day to day.  So if you could get that done that would be great.
> 
> Thanks!  Your a trooper..
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...

Sure, where's the shredder again?


----------



## pochemunchka

Hi all!! I'm sipping coffee currently reading through threads. This one sounded inviting. I'm new here and am excited to join a photographer community. Looking forward to reading more of your posts! Have a beautiful day!


----------



## waday

pochemunchka said:


> Hi all!! I'm sipping coffee currently reading through threads. This one sounded inviting. I'm new here and am excited to join a photographer community. Looking forward to reading more of your posts! Have a beautiful day!


Welcome!


----------



## waday

Is it Friday afternoon, yet?


----------



## oldhippy

Good Advice


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hosers, according to Lenny's somewhat skewed calendar, yes I believe it _is_ Friday.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Is it Friday afternoon, yet?



For Wade...








vintagesnaps said:


> Hosers, according to Lenny's somewhat skewed calendar, yes I believe it _is_ Friday.



For me...


----------



## waday

Did anyone else know that Buckster passed away? I just read the update on his profile from his daughter. 

I guess I'm late to find this out. I hope his family is doing okay.


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> Sure, where's the shredder again?



In the filing cabinet.  That way if anyone is passing by they are none the wiser.. lol


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> Did anyone else know that Buckster passed away? I just read the update on his profile from his daughter.
> 
> I guess I'm late to find this out. I hope his family is doing okay.


Yes, she posted here under his account very shortly after it happened.


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did anyone else know that Buckster passed away? I just read the update on his profile from his daughter.
> 
> I guess I'm late to find this out. I hope his family is doing okay.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, she posted here under his account very shortly after it happened.
Click to expand...

Thanks... I hope he went in peace.


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I swear, if I get one more request for something to be completed today that was sitting on someone's desk for over a week, I'm taking a sick day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh hey, BTW we got a call from Human Resources.  I guess they are short handed over there and they've got a dozen requests from folks who are taking a sick day today.  From what I understand the requests have been sitting on a desk over there for about a week and they really need them all put into the system before the end of the day to day.  So if you could get that done that would be great.
> 
> Thanks!  Your a trooper..
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...


From an old radio commercial for the Washington Post classifieds (182,000 subscribers at that time).  Scenario is going somewhere else to reach a lot of people:
Voice #1:  "There wouldn't be 182,000 people here, would there?"
Voice #2: "No, they all called in sick!"


----------



## oldhippy




----------



## Designer

pochemunchka said:


> Hi all!! I'm sipping coffee currently reading through threads. This one sounded inviting. I'm new here and am excited to join a photographer community. Looking forward to reading more of your posts! Have a beautiful day!


See how helpful coffee is?


----------



## Designer

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sure, where's the shredder again?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In the filing cabinet.  That way if anyone is passing by they are none the wiser.. lol
Click to expand...

Wow!  What a terrific idea!  

!!!!!!!  

May I steal this?

I've got several metal filing cabinets that I've been trying to adopt out, but no takers.

Just wait until I cut the bottoms out of all the drawers and put a shredder in there.  

(directions for proper use)  

1. open top drawer
2. insert paper document
3. close top drawer
4. repeat as necessary


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Been a wild ride over the past day or so. So much up and down... And for no reason whatsoever. Ready for that to stop any day now...


----------



## waday

Is it Friday afternoon, yet?

The wife and I are visiting her parents this weekend, so that should be fun. I hope we go eat out for a late Mother's Day celebration, because I've been hungry all week, haha. 

I'm debating on whether or not to take my camera. If we were planning on walking around the city, I'd be all for it, but I'm not sure we're going to with the forecast of potential rain. Maybe I'll take my P&S. I'll probably just keep it in aperture or shutter priority, but at least it shoots raw.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another day and another gray morning. It is less cool than yesterday and yesterday was less cool than the day before ... so today should be warmest of the week. Pleasantly warm afternoons.  Yesterday Gary took the laptop out and worked a bit in the patio. Gary worked a bit, tossed a few darts then worked some more, focused on the koi (one may be pregnant) and work a bit less ... then Mary Lou arrived and we rushed down to Seal Beach for a bite and to watch Mary Lou's granddaughter and the Fourth Graders sing songs from the sixties.

The other day Mary Lou went online in an attempt to score some tickets for Oldchella.  She wanted to see Paul McCarthy and Gary wanted Bob Dylan ... we got nada. Mary Lou had three computers going but couldn't score a single ticket.  The Fourth Graders wrapped up their performance with Blowing in the Wind. It took me back to the 60's and 70's. Man ... those were truly amped-up times. Things are actually much better now in terms of the level of unrest ... in terms of the pulse beat of the US.  Probably due to apathy as opposed to actually improvements in our society and our governance. Unfortunately, the music has taken a dive also.  The 60's and 70's music is much more innovative and energizing than what I am hearing today.  What is sad is that back then the artists felt they could change the world ... stop war, eliminate racism, grant equality to all ... through music. It isn't sad that musicians tried to make the world a better place ... it is naive that they believed they could. "All you need is love ..."


----------



## minicoop1985

Evening, hosers. Today's had its ups and downs, but there were reasons behind them. Cooper had a big test at school for placement next year. Went to the hobby store that's going out of business for good tomorrow. Bought some close up filters for the wife and a Hasselblad catalog for me. Went to an eye exam, where Cooper was being a little brat (rare for him), but I ended up needing new glasses. Got some Armani frames and damn do they look good.


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sure, where's the shredder again?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In the filing cabinet.  That way if anyone is passing by they are none the wiser.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wow!  What a terrific idea!
> 
> !!!!!!!
> 
> May I steal this?
> 
> I've got several metal filing cabinets that I've been trying to adopt out, but no takers.
> 
> Just wait until I cut the bottoms out of all the drawers and put a shredder in there.
> 
> (directions for proper use)
> 
> 1. open top drawer
> 2. insert paper document
> 3. close top drawer
> 4. repeat as necessary
Click to expand...

You could always turn them into an artificial reef.  Oh, wait; you're in . . . never mind.


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> You could always turn them into an artificial reef.  Oh, wait; you're in . . . never mind.


Soon they will be turned into scrap metal.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is in the patio, sipping some tea, watching the Kamado heat up.  It has been a long day for a quick week. Gary's tea and coffee plants arrived today.  They are only a few inches tall.  Gary tossed them into some pots along with some compost.  Everything is doing well in the back, in a week or so Gary will have so many tomatoes that he'll have to make some soup and sauces.


----------



## Gary A.

The carne asada is on and Gary is listen to some Olafur Arnalds.


----------



## Gary A.

That, ^^^, was the best carne asana Gary has ever eaten. Dunno why it was different and better ... But it the first time Gary cooked the asada on the Kamado.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hope all you hosers had a good Friday the 13th, which I didn't even realize most of the day! But they played this on the radio since black cats are lucky.


----------



## vintagesnaps

And it was Stevie Wonder's birthday.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy hosers! That new gear feeling all over again.... Just ordered the wife a Sony a77II from Adorama. Quite excited for her, as this is a MASSIVE upgrade from her a65.


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> And it was Stevie Wonder's birthday.


----------



## Gary A.

Not that it matters ... but Gary wasn't much into Stevie Wonder ... now if it was The Beach Boys birthday ... that is something worth celebrating.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Is it Friday afternoon, yet?
> 
> The wife and I are visiting her parents this weekend, so that should be fun. I hope we go eat out for a late Mother's Day celebration, because I've been hungry all week, haha.
> 
> I'm debating on whether or not to take my camera. If we were planning on walking around the city, I'd be all for it, but I'm not sure we're going to with the forecast of potential rain. Maybe I'll take my P&S. I'll probably just keep it in aperture or shutter priority, but at least it shoots raw.



Sorry, I missed the meme yesterday 

I was driving. And driving and driving and driving. It is a long drive anyway but then I was delayed by a massive clusterjam in Virginia. 750 miles and 15 hours. My throat was sore from all the singing.

My current situation:


----------



## Gary A.

15 hours is  a lot singing.


----------



## minicoop1985

Yeesh. That's a lot of driving. I don't think I could do that....


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Yeesh. That's a lot of driving. I don't think I could do that....



I didn't realize I could until yesterday


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sing and drive at the same time for 15 hours?! I think I'd be comatose by the time I got there. Or maybe before.

Lenny the picture of it looks like it was worth it.

Gary you could invite the Beach Boys over to your backyard paradise/party patio and they might feel right at home.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Sing and drive at the same time for 15 hours?! I think I'd be comatose by the time I got there. Or maybe before.
> 
> Lenny the picture of it looks like it was worth it.
> 
> Gary you could invite the Beach Boys over to your backyard paradise/party patio and they might feel right at home.


Gary really really likes how well the back has turned out. I know Gary constantly speaking of the yard and it must be getting old reading of such ... but it is very relaxing and interesting. And in a few years, Gary will be picking his own coffee beans and tea.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it Friday afternoon, yet?
> 
> The wife and I are visiting her parents this weekend, so that should be fun. I hope we go eat out for a late Mother's Day celebration, because I've been hungry all week, haha.
> 
> I'm debating on whether or not to take my camera. If we were planning on walking around the city, I'd be all for it, but I'm not sure we're going to with the forecast of potential rain. Maybe I'll take my P&S. I'll probably just keep it in aperture or shutter priority, but at least it shoots raw.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, I missed the meme yesterday
> 
> I was driving. And driving and driving and driving. It is a long drive anyway but then I was delayed by a massive clusterjam in Virginia. 750 miles and 15 hours. My throat was sore from all the singing.
> 
> My current situation:
> View attachment 121537
Click to expand...

Chincoteague?
VA Beach or Carolinas?


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> Sing and drive at the same time for 15 hours?! I think I'd be comatose by the time I got there. Or maybe before.
> 
> Lenny the picture of it looks like it was worth it.
> 
> Gary you could invite the Beach Boys over to your backyard paradise/party patio and they might feel right at home.


Well.    Brian Wilson, yes.   The alternating ensemble who are licensed to play and sing as The Beach Boys these days, no.    

And Gary...Stevie Wonder really is a genius, a musical genius.   He'd be a miracle even with sight.   His perceptions and take on color are kind of amazing (Golden Lady, Visions, etc.).


----------



## vintagesnaps

I enjoy tales of the BBQ. Makes me go ahh... I live vicariously thru your patio.

Charlie was that first part a sneeze? lol


----------



## terri

limr said:


> My current situation:



Whoa.   Looks amazing.    See you in 15 hours or so, on my way!!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it Friday afternoon, yet?
> 
> The wife and I are visiting her parents this weekend, so that should be fun. I hope we go eat out for a late Mother's Day celebration, because I've been hungry all week, haha.
> 
> I'm debating on whether or not to take my camera. If we were planning on walking around the city, I'd be all for it, but I'm not sure we're going to with the forecast of potential rain. Maybe I'll take my P&S. I'll probably just keep it in aperture or shutter priority, but at least it shoots raw.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, I missed the meme yesterday
> 
> I was driving. And driving and driving and driving. It is a long drive anyway but then I was delayed by a massive clusterjam in Virginia. 750 miles and 15 hours. My throat was sore from all the singing.
> 
> My current situation:
> View attachment 121537
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Chincoteague?
> VA Beach or Carolinas?
Click to expand...


North Carolina.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Sing and drive at the same time for 15 hours?! I think I'd be comatose by the time I got there. Or maybe before.
> 
> Lenny the picture of it looks like it was worth it.
> 
> Gary you could invite the Beach Boys over to your backyard paradise/party patio and they might feel right at home.



It was totally worth it


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> My current situation:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Whoa.   Looks amazing.    See you in 15 hours or so, on my way!!
Click to expand...


Come on down!


----------



## terri

<clink> of the wine glasses raised!


----------



## Gary A.

Wine glasses ... Did Gary hear wine glasses?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Wine glasses ... Did Gary hear wine glasses?



We have wine! It might be a slightly longer drive for you, though


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> I enjoy tales of the BBQ. Makes me go ahh... I live vicariously thru your patio.
> 
> Charlie was that first part a sneeze? lol



Close.  CHINK-oh-teeg.  A town and Atlantic coast barrier island in Virginia, known for the wild stunted horses that inhabit both Chincoteague and the larger Assateague Island which lies east and north.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ass a teague? As in asses out of this league?


----------



## minicoop1985

Also, TOMORROW'S ANOTHER TRACK DAY!!!! YAY!!!! Gonna be a chilly one, but hey. It should be a ton of fun and I should be pretty damned good at panning by the end of the day...


----------



## JonA_CT

I had a great day in Boston yesterday. I went with my brothers, and we don't get much time to hang on our own anymore. Had a few beers, watched the Red Sox win in extra innings, and basked in perfect spring weather. 

We stopped for dinner before we drove home...had the best Rye Manhattan of my life. I asked for Michters Rye, but I couldn't get the bartender to give up the rest of his secrets, so I have a new mission I guess.

I went through two rolls of film, although I managed to mangle the last one when I went to wind it this morning.  I guess if you're not messing stuff up, you're not learning, haha. I love carrying it for days like that...it's probably a third the size and weight of my D600, which I would have left home either way yesterday.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Sing and drive at the same time for 15 hours?! I think I'd be comatose by the time I got there. Or maybe before.
> 
> Lenny the picture of it looks like it was worth it.
> 
> Gary you could invite the Beach Boys over to your backyard paradise/party patio and they might feel right at home.


LOL, they, The Beach Boys, grew up in Hawthorne, a small city about 20 minutes from here.  In college, an editor was from Hawthorne and he took a bunch of us journalism majors to Hawthorne High for us to chat with and inspire the HS journalism class. (Gary thinks that was the only time he voluntarily visited that city. But Gary has voluntarily visited, swam, dived and surfed at all the beaches Wilson penned to song. Gary even lived in a few of the places.)


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is a bit peeved this morning.  Apparently the paper slid across the driveway into the roses. The plastic bag around the newspaper ripped, per the slide and parts of the paper became soaked by the irrigation. But the coffee is good, the morning is cool and overcast, the hummers are out humming and this should be another lovely day. 

Yesterday was some yard work, mainly lawns. Gary picked up a Kangaroo's Foot, cantaloupe, some parsley and cilantro for planting. Mary Lou and Gary watched Mary Lou's granddaughter get slaughtered in a soccer match.  Then back to the patio for some late afternoon wine, cherries and relaxation.  Tom, our photographer/physician friend, dropped by and off we all went to Naples Ribs.  Naples Ribs is one of the few restaurants that closely rivals Gary's cooking. Naples is an island in Long Beach ... a very nice island with canals and expensive homes complete with docks and little to no parking. But there is little to no parking in every SoCal beach community. Naples Ribs was good and after dinner Mary Lou and Gary watched a Netflix with popcorn. 

The Cook and Gary are off for their walk.


----------



## minicoop1985

Successful track day was successful!!!! YAY! Will post photos in a little bit.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  What, no activity on a Monday morning?  I'm just trying to remember where I was with everything.  Actually, no I'm not because I'm on here, but it will have to be faced at some point.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers! Think I might be a little burnt from yesterday's activities.


----------



## robbins.photo

Morning Hosers.

Trying to get through my Monday.  So far, ehh.. not that great.


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> Morning Hosers.
> 
> Trying to get through my Monday.  So far, ehh.. not that great.


It wouldn't be Monday if it was!


----------



## jcdeboever

Lunch at park today. This little guy was following me around. He liked cold oatmeal. Wanted to take him home but couldn't.











Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

That is one seriously beautiful kitten.    If you see him/her around again, maybe a drop-off to the nearest no-kill shelter?    Someone would be sure to snatch up such a beautiful kitten!


----------



## minicoop1985

Man, I took too many pictures yesterday. I hate editing large batches.


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> That is one seriously beautiful kitten.    If you see him/her around again, maybe a drop-off to the nearest no-kill shelter?    Someone would be sure to snatch up such a beautiful kitten!


It is. There was a lady there walking and I introduced them. She loved him and took him. She said she was going to take him to vet on her way home. Nice lady, good home for him I trust. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

Good, that is a strangely adorable cat.


----------



## jcdeboever

OK, melting hearts tonight.... for @terri  and @limr and @vintagesnaps ...I miss him already


----------



## terri

Wow, what a beautiful kitten!   I'm at a loss to even try to guess the lineage here.   I'm so happy the first person you showed him to picked him up and went straight to the vet.   If nothing else, there might be a chip in the kitty and the owners located.   It takes only a few seconds for the vets to find a chip, if there is one.   

If not, sounds like the woman is an angel.   Both of them win.        I'm sure she is smitten with him!


----------



## limr

What a gorgeous kitty! I hope she gets a good family and has a wonderful life


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> Wow, what a beautiful kitten!   I'm at a loss to even try to guess the lineage here.   I'm so happy the first person you showed him to picked him up and went straight to the vet.   If nothing else, there might be a chip in the kitty and the owners located.   It takes only a few seconds for the vets to find a chip, if there is one.
> 
> If not, sounds like the woman is an angel.   Both of them win.        I'm sure she is smitten with him!



She was, I gave her $50.00 bucks to get him fixed and looked at. She started crying when I gave her that. She was such a nice lady, beautiful spirit... I just felt the money may make it easier for her to take him, so if I offered that. Happy cat from here on out.


----------



## b_twill

I don't think I would have been able to resist that cute little face!  Really glad someone is giving it a home!  Our last cat was rescued from a McDonald's parking lot.


----------



## jcdeboever

b_twill said:


> I don't think I would have been able to resist that cute little face!  Really glad someone is giving it a home!  Our last cat was rescued from a McDonald's parking lot.



I wanted him bad but at the end of the day, I am blessed with what I have. This lady really needed him and it was meant to be in my opinion.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> What a gorgeous kitty! I hope she gets a good family and has a wonderful life



She will limr. This lady was a kind soul and needed him, I could tell. I don't know what was going on with her but she was hurting big time. I trust this will change her direction for sure. I am so happy I decided to have lunch there today.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Gary is tired.  This was an early start and has been nonstop ever since.  Yesterday evening it was BBQ-ed salmon for Mary Lou's youngest son and g/f. Tonight it was BBQ-ed chicken for Mary Lou's oldest son and a family friend. Presently, Mary Lou and Gary are relaxing in the patio, it is dusk and some of the solar lights are lighting up, sipping glasses of Decadent Black Forest ... a "red wine with natural dark chocolate flavors". It is quite good in a different way.


----------



## jcdeboever

Relax Bud and enjoy each other

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's poppies are blooming.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary took this dirty ragamuffin of a dog to the groomers today and came back with a plush-animal gorgeous Cookie.


----------



## JonA_CT

Good morning, fellow coffee lovers. Had to make a coffee switch this morning. My coffee grinder is down for the count, my back-up has been used for all kinds of spices, and I'm not ready to invest money in another one yet. I'm coffee made from pre-ground beans for the first time in over a year, at least from my house. The horror. Truly a first-world problem, haha.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning, fellow coffee lovers. Had to make a coffee switch this morning. My coffee grinder is down for the count, my back-up has been used for all kinds of spices, and I'm not ready to invest money in another one yet. I'm coffee made from pre-ground beans for the first time in over a year, at least from my house. The horror. Truly a first-world problem, haha.



At least you can drink some.... I want a cup so bad


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning, fellow coffee lovers. Had to make a coffee switch this morning. My coffee grinder is down for the count, my back-up has been used for all kinds of spices, and I'm not ready to invest money in another one yet. I'm coffee made from pre-ground beans for the first time in over a year, at least from my house. The horror. Truly a first-world problem, haha.



If you didn't already have one, may I suggest a burr grinder for whenever you are ready to replace the old one? Pricier but worth it, I think.

Morning, hosers. I drove 1500 miles this weekend. The drive back was broken up into 2 days. The first day, I drove to Virginia Beach where my friend lives (well, technically Chesapeake, just south of Virginia Beach) and I stayed the night with her. Yesterday, I did the second half of the trip, going up the Eastern Shore, passing through Virginia, Maryland, and finally Delaware, and then picked up the Jersey Turnpike, which unfortunately generally can't be avoided unless one wants to spend double the time getting through Jersey. So for the way home, I was able to avoid Rt 95 for most of the trip, which pleases me.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, hosers. Twas an early one today. Oh well.

Waiting on the wife's A77II body. Should be here tomorrow. She sold the old one already, so she's camera less.


----------



## JonA_CT

Yeah -- the grinder that broke is a cheap Mr. Coffee Burr Grinder. It didn't really break, per se, but rather something is wrong internally and coffee has filled up the motor base. I'll invest more money in the next one, hence the waiting game for a little bit. The good news is that ground coffee will save me about 5 dollars every week over the beans I normally buy, so I guess I'll be able to take that savings for the new mill soon.


----------



## Gary A.

Mrs. Coffee Plant
iPhone image

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another cool and overcast morning but by noon the sun will break through and warm everything up into the 70's. Gary switched from an 'lectric burr grinder to a hand grinder. Gary was spurred to this decision by:

1) a friend in Maine who, even when the power is down, could enjoy a cup of coffee because he used a hand grinder; and
2) a hand grinder is much much quieter than the electric and Gary could enjoy his cup and Mary Lou could enjoy her sleep.

Gary just received two coffee plants. He has figured that in about ten years he'll have a vertical monopoly in brewing his coffee.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Yeah -- the grinder that broke is a cheap Mr. Coffee Burr Grinder. It didn't really break, per se, but rather something is wrong internally and coffee has filled up the motor base. I'll invest more money in the next one, hence the waiting game for a little bit. The good news is that ground coffee will save me about 5 dollars every week over the beans I normally buy, so I guess I'll be able to take that savings for the new mill soon.



8-ounce ball-peen hammer and a solid cutting board.  Go with a 12-ounce hammer if you want a finer grind.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another cool and overcast morning but by noon the sun will break through and warm everything up into the 70's. Gary switched from an 'lectric burr grinder to a hand grinder. Gary was spurred to this decision by:
> 
> 1) a friend in Maine who, even when the power is down, could enjoy a cup of coffee because he used a hand grinder; and
> 2) a hand grinder is much much quieter than the electric and Gary could enjoy his cup and Mary Lou could enjoy her sleep.
> 
> Gary just received two coffee plants. He has figured that in about ten years he'll have a vertical monopoly in brewing his coffee.



I've got both electric and hand burr grinders. This has been spurred by two things...okay, well, several things:

1) The faster Leo gets to coffee in the morning, the better, so she can't be bothered with no stinkin' hand grinding if the power is on. She also doesn't need to worry about waking anyone up with the noise. That might change when she and Buzz live together, but chances are high that he'd be the one making the coffee anyway, since he tends to wake up earlier than Leo. And the noise won't bother her. She is either happy to wake up to the sound of coffee being made, or she will sleep right through it since mornings are when she does her best rock or log impressions.

2) The hand grinder is there for when the power goes out.


----------



## terri

I have this Cuisinart model.    Not top of the line, but for $50 it certainly gets the job done.   

I tend to grind about three day's worth of coffee at a time, bag it and toss the bags in the fridge.   Whatever gets me to the coffee fastest and is fairly freshly ground is good with me.    I don't like the cleanup each and every day.


----------



## robbins.photo

I just use a Keurig and make motor boat sounds while it's brewing.


----------



## JonA_CT

robbins.photo said:


> I just use a Keurig and make motor boat sounds while it's brewing.



Heresy.


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> Heresy.



Yup.  Truth be told even the Keurig was a stretch for me.  Coffee is supposed to be black and taste like coffee.  Not almonds or milk or sugar or caramel or any of the rest of that foo - foo crap.  Only reason I finally went with a Keurig is it was easier than brewing a whole pot that would end up getting disposed of, and even then it took me a while to find a coffee that was non foo-foo enough that I could get used to it.

So no denying I am a heretic.  But I do like making the motor boat sounds while I wait for a cup.. lol


----------



## JonA_CT

http://www.amazon.com/Aeropress-Cof...TF8&qid=1463508517&sr=8-2&keywords=aero+press

A perfect solution -- I used one of these when my wife was pregnant and not drinking coffee, and still whip it out any time I want a single cup.


----------



## KenC

I'm pretty low-tech with coffee.  I usually just make a cup at a time for myself using a #2 Mellitta funnel with filter.  The little cups for those machines are all over the place now and at one point I couldn't find the small filters in the store, so I bought several boxes from Mellitta.  I don't grind beans - I just use a good grade of ground dark roast, like Lavazza or the better-grade Mellitta dark roast.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> http://www.amazon.com/Aeropress-Cof...TF8&qid=1463508517&sr=8-2&keywords=aero+press
> 
> A perfect solution -- I used one of these when my wife was pregnant and not drinking coffee, and still whip it out any time I want a single cup.


Gary tried an aero ... too much going on, Gary uses a French Press. Easy-Peasy and a delish cup o' coffee. Gary has various sizes for different occasions. For everyday use Gary uses the two cup size, minimal mess, the waste is tossed into the garden. Mary Lou is now drinking tea in the morn. So two cups pour moi works out fine. If Gary wants an espresso flavor, (a la Aeropress), he fires up the espresso machine.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Aeropress-Cof...TF8&qid=1463508517&sr=8-2&keywords=aero+press
> 
> A perfect solution -- I used one of these when my wife was pregnant and not drinking coffee, and still whip it out any time I want a single cup.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary tried an aero ... too much going on, Gary uses a French Press. Easy-Peasy and a delish cup o' coffee. Gary has various sizes for different occasions. For everyday use Gary uses the two cup size, minimal mess, the waste is tossed into the garden. Mary Lou is now drinking tea in the morn. So two cups pour moi works out fine. If Gary wants an espresso flavor, (a la Aeropress), he fires up the espresso machine.
Click to expand...


I feel you. In my opinion, the Aeropress is more fussy during brewing (although much quicker), and the French Press is more of a pain to clean. I wouldn't call the Aeropress an espresso machine though, for sure. My wife doesn't like the time used for either, so we keep a drip pot on our counter for most days.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> I'm pretty low-tech with coffee.  I usually just make a cup at a time for myself using a #2 Mellitta funnel with filter.  The little cups for those machines are all over the place now and at one point I couldn't find the small filters in the store, so I bought several boxes from Mellitta.  I don't grind beans - I just use a good grade of ground dark roast, like Lavazza or the better-grade Mellitta dark roast.


That the pure form of coffee. One of the best cups Gary has drank was in a Caribbean island, water from a nearby spring/stream, the beans crushed with a hammer and dripped through a sock.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Aeropress-Cof...TF8&qid=1463508517&sr=8-2&keywords=aero+press
> 
> A perfect solution -- I used one of these when my wife was pregnant and not drinking coffee, and still whip it out any time I want a single cup.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary tried an aero ... too much going on, Gary uses a French Press. Easy-Peasy and a delish cup o' coffee. Gary has various sizes for different occasions. For everyday use Gary uses the two cup size, minimal mess, the waste is tossed into the garden. Mary Lou is now drinking tea in the morn. So two cups pour moi works out fine. If Gary wants an espresso flavor, (a la Aeropress), he fires up the espresso machine.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I feel you. In my opinion, the Aeropress is more fussy during brewing (although much quicker), and the French Press is more of a pain to clean. I wouldn't call the Aeropress an espresso machine though, for sure. My wife doesn't like the time used for either, so we keep a drip pot on our counter for most days.
Click to expand...

But the Areo has hints of espresso flavoring in the brew ... at least that how it tastes with my coffee and grind.

Gary just rinses out the Press everyday, not a cleaning problem. The years of residues ... the little bits of oils and brown stuff Gary calls seasoning.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> I'm pretty low-tech with coffee.  I usually just make a cup at a time for myself using a #2 Mellitta funnel with filter.  The little cups for those machines are all over the place now and at one point I couldn't find the small filters in the store, so I bought several boxes from Mellitta.  I don't grind beans - I just use a good grade of ground dark roast, like Lavazza or the better-grade Mellitta dark roast.


Ken, if you like it black, then treat yourself to some fresh beans and a grinder. The freshness and purity of a cup brewed with unblended coffee beans moves the whole taste thing up a couple of notches. Gary doesn't know what water you're using, tap or bottle, but water makes up 99% of the cup ... so use the best tasting water you can find/manage.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm pretty low-tech with coffee.  I usually just make a cup at a time for myself using a #2 Mellitta funnel with filter.  The little cups for those machines are all over the place now and at one point I couldn't find the small filters in the store, so I bought several boxes from Mellitta.  I don't grind beans - I just use a good grade of ground dark roast, like Lavazza or the better-grade Mellitta dark roast.
> 
> 
> 
> That the pure form of coffee. One of the best cups Gary has drank was in a Caribbean island, water from a nearby spring/stream, the beans crushed with a hammer and dripped through a sock.
Click to expand...


There was a cafe in Braga called Cafe a Brasileira that still served "cafe de saco" (though you had to ask for it specifically - otherwise, it was machine espresso like everywhere else.)

I miss the cafes


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... socko ... saco ... tomayto ... tomato.


----------



## Gary A.

Often, on Sundays, Gary will brew up a pot of Cafe de Olla.  First, get some water boiling, toss in some piloncillo, a cinnamon stick, a clove, allspice berry, a few whole black peppers, some orange zest ... wait for the fragrance then mix in some coffee.  Let the brew stand for about ten minutes then ladle it up from the top. No filters, it all gets tossed into the pot.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Often, on Sundays, Gary will brew up a pot of Cafe de Olla.  First, get some water boiling, toss in some piloncillo, a cinnamon stick, a clove, allspice berry, a few whole black peppers, some orange zest ... wait for the fragrance then mix in some coffee.  Let the brew stand for about ten minutes then ladle it up from the top. No filters, it all gets tossed into the pot.



Do you have fairies dance around that while a Unicorn blesses it with it's mystical horn?  Seriously?

Dude.  Coffee.  It's supposed to look like motor oil.  It's supposed to taste like motor oil only worse.  It's coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Often, on Sundays, Gary will brew up a pot of Cafe de Olla.  First, get some water boiling, toss in some piloncillo, a cinnamon stick, a clove, allspice berry, a few whole black peppers, some orange zest ... wait for the fragrance then mix in some coffee.  Let the brew stand for about ten minutes then ladle it up from the top. No filters, it all gets tossed into the pot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you have fairies dance around that while a Unicorn blesses it with it's mystical horn?  Seriously?
> 
> Dude.  Coffee.  It's supposed to look like motor oil.  It's supposed to taste like motor oil only worse.  It's coffee.
Click to expand...

LOL ... Gary used to drink pots a day of what Gary called "Construction Coffee". The primary reason to keep it hot was to lower the viscosity, when it cooled off we used it for paving.

Seriously, there is nothing wrong with enjoying what you stick in your pie-hole.

(But when Gary does pour the Cafe de Olla, he has a small brass and percussion ensemble behind him blast out the theme song of 2001 a Space Odyssey.)


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... Gary used to drink pots a day of what Gary called "Construction Coffee". The primary reason to keep it hot was to lower the viscosity, when it cooled off we used it for paving.
> 
> Seriously, there is nothing wrong with enjoying what you stick in your pie-hole.



In most cases I would agree with you.  But not coffee.  If you want all that allspice cinnamon crapola, bake a pie.  Don't do that to coffee.  It's just not right.


----------



## Gary A.

Au contraire, you can say that about American beer ... but coffee, in it's best form, is a refined gentleman's beverage ... to be savored. Try a cup of Cafe de Olla, it is as refreshing as it is an eye opener.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Au contraire, you can say that about American beer ... but coffee, in it's best form, is a refined gentleman's beverage ... to be savored. Try a cup of Cafe de Olla, it is as refreshing as it is an eye opener.



I'm not sure if you can call what they generally brew here in America "beer".  I guess only in the strictest technical definition of the term.

Coffee, in it's only form, should be able to degrease an engine and still look and taste the same after the fact.


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm pretty low-tech with coffee.  I usually just make a cup at a time for myself using a #2 Mellitta funnel with filter.  The little cups for those machines are all over the place now and at one point I couldn't find the small filters in the store, so I bought several boxes from Mellitta.  I don't grind beans - I just use a good grade of ground dark roast, like Lavazza or the better-grade Mellitta dark roast.
> 
> 
> 
> Ken, if you like it black, then treat yourself to some fresh beans and a grinder. The freshness and purity of a cup brewed with unblended coffee beans moves the whole taste thing up a couple of notches. Gary doesn't know what water you're using, tap or bottle, but water makes up 99% of the cup ... so use the best tasting water you can find/manage.
Click to expand...


I use water from a Britta filter, so I'm good there.  I've had fresh-ground, and for a short while I ground beans every time I made coffee.  I agree that it was better, but this is one of those time (and effort) management issues, and for me the increase in flavor just wasn't worth the effort after a while.  Everyone makes their choices.


----------



## JonA_CT

Update on my rooster situation -- my wife, who is far meaner and more persistent than I am, got through to the actual zoning enforcement officer today. Evidently I only got to the gate keeper. After a short conversation (evidently the zoning officer can count on one hand the permits actually issued for any chickens at all), she was able to file a formal complaint that will be investigated tomorrow. Hopefully, peaceful sleep will follow.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Au contraire, you can say that about American beer ... but coffee, in it's best form, is a refined gentleman's beverage ... to be savored. Try a cup of Cafe de Olla, it is as refreshing as it is an eye opener.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure if you can call what they generally brew here in America "beer".  I guess only in the strictest technical definition of the term.
> 
> Coffee, in it's only form, should be able to degrease an engine and still look and taste the same after the fact.
Click to expand...

Nay sir, Gary says nay.  Coffee, when brewed and consumed properly, is an elixir of wealth, health and a champion of all that is right in this world,   A cup gets the heart pumping and can make an otherwise deary existence fulfilling.  When brewed property by a skilled barista ... in the still of the morning one can see tiny, translucent Angels appear on and about the dark, precious elixir ... and in the quiet of the dawn, one can hear the Angel's play Chariot's of the Gods on their golden lutes ... and yes coffee can easily be defiled and imitated ... but to the true believers, coffee is a source of health, spirit, energy, good times,  all of it ... in a single hot cup.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Update on my rooster situation -- my wife, who is far meaner and more persistent than I am, got through to the actual zoning enforcement officer today. Evidently I only got to the gate keeper. After a short conversation (evidently the zoning officer can count on one hand the permits actually issued for any chickens at all), she was able to file a formal complaint that will be investigated tomorrow. Hopefully, peaceful sleep will follow.


We'll see if the rule of law prevails.


----------



## minicoop1985

I like my coffee flavored sugar milk thankyouverymuch.


----------



## jcdeboever

Well, all I can say in my noobness with coffee is that I gained knowledge on here and have been really enjoying it since. I have turned into a bit of a coffee snob. I hate to say it but White Castles coffee through the drive through is still my favorite. Problem is, I almost always order 4 sliders no matter what the time of day, and a bathroom blowup is not far behind.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has never had a White Castle ... None out here ... Gary rarely eats fast food, but will have an In-N-Out burger maybe once a quarter.


----------



## EIngerson

Marriage tip #1 - Make annoying noises in the kitchen. Wives love this.


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> Gary has never had a White Castle ... None out here ... Gary rarely eats fast food, but will have an In-N-Out burger maybe once a quarter.



Gary should never go to In-N-Out. Gary should go to Five Guys. 

This is Eric.
Eric doesn't go to In-N-Out.
Eric eats at Five Guys.
Eric is smart....Be like Eric.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## crzyfotopeeple

In and Out PLease.. Whataburger is the only choice


----------



## KenC

JonA_CT said:


> Update on my rooster situation -- my wife, who is far meaner and more persistent than I am, got through to the actual zoning enforcement officer today. Evidently I only got to the gate keeper. After a short conversation (evidently the zoning officer can count on one hand the permits actually issued for any chickens at all), she was able to file a formal complaint that will be investigated tomorrow. Hopefully, peaceful sleep will follow.



Yes!  Coq au vin for everyone!


----------



## JonA_CT

Hopefully -- 3:45 AM this morning, right on time! I actually fell back asleep today, so I'll call that a win anyways. 

I guess it won't matter once I put the window fan or AC in, but I like having the windows open for as long as possible.


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never had a White Castle ... None out here ... Gary rarely eats fast food, but will have an In-N-Out burger maybe once a quarter.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary should never go to In-N-Out. Gary should go to Five Guys.
> 
> This is Eric.
> Eric doesn't go to In-N-Out.
> Eric eats at Five Guys.
> Eric is smart....Be like Eric.
Click to expand...

Gary tried Five Guys. It is a very good burger, but Gary still prefers an In-N-Out Animal style as his fast food burger of choice.

Gary's been making turkey burgers stuffed with herbs/spices/cheeses (and sometimes peppers) ... splash some BBQ sauce and one forgets that beef even exists.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Update on my rooster situation -- my wife, who is far meaner and more persistent than I am, got through to the actual zoning enforcement officer today. Evidently I only got to the gate keeper. After a short conversation (evidently the zoning officer can count on one hand the permits actually issued for any chickens at all), she was able to file a formal complaint that will be investigated tomorrow. Hopefully, peaceful sleep will follow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes!  Coq au vin for everyone!
Click to expand...

lol ... Bon Appetit!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary was in the middle of cooking dinner, chicken in a lemon/wine/mushroom sauce (delish) when Mary Lou came out to the back and said Cookie isn't well. She had The Cook roll over and her genitalia was swollen from licking ... so Gary covered the chicken (delish), and off to the Animal Emergency Hospital we went. The poor little girl had a severe bladder infection and spent the night at the hospital taking IV treatments. Gary is to pick her up this morning @ 7:30.






The Cook in her winter coat.


----------



## tirediron

Feel better Cookie!


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never had a White Castle ... None out here ... Gary rarely eats fast food, but will have an In-N-Out burger maybe once a quarter.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary should never go to In-N-Out. Gary should go to Five Guys.
> 
> This is Eric.
> Eric doesn't go to In-N-Out.
> Eric eats at Five Guys.
> Eric is smart....Be like Eric.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary tried Five Guys. It is a very good burger, but Gary still prefers an In-N-Out Animal style.
Click to expand...

The first and only time Wade went to Five Guys was when Wade's Wife had a craving for french fries. A simple order of french fries took over 15 minutes. Wade doesn't like Five Guys anymore.


----------



## jcdeboever

God Speed on road to recovery.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

waday said:


> The first and only time Wade went to Five Guys was when Wade's Wife had a craving for french fries. A simple order of french fries took over 15 minutes. Wade doesn't like Five Guys anymore.


It's a huge order, but they're not that great, IMO.  The hamburgers are not so great either.  And I don't like their service model. 

One cannot get good french fries anymore.  Not since the fat police changed the recipe.


----------



## waday

Designer said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> The first and only time Wade went to Five Guys was when Wade's Wife had a craving for french fries. A simple order of french fries took over 15 minutes. Wade doesn't like Five Guys anymore.
> 
> 
> 
> It's a huge order, but they're not that great, IMO.  The hamburgers are not so great either.  And I don't like their service model.
> 
> One cannot get good french fries anymore.  Not since the fat police changed the recipe.
Click to expand...

To me, their service model was: give everyone their food in the exact sequence in which their order was placed, whether or not it makes sense from a time perspective. 

Since I'm not familiar with their restaurant outside of the one time, is this correct? 

It would seem to me that a bag of french fries that were already cooked should take precedence over cooking someone's order from raw meat to finished burger. For example, if I go to Starbucks and order a plain coffee, I get it immediately from the cashier. I don't have to wait through 10 other specialty drinks, cappuccinos, mochas, frappuccinos, etc.


----------



## robbins.photo

I haven't found a burger joint locally that's worth going to to be honest.  We do have a 5 guys, but frankly I was underwhelmed by both the service and the food.  Anymore if I want a burger and fries I head home and fix my own.  It's cheaper and better than anything I can get take out around here.


----------



## Designer

waday said:


> To me, their service model was: give everyone their food in the exact sequence in which their order was placed, whether or not it makes sense from a time perspective.


I think that is correct.  

Also, I can live without the showmanship.  Part of their business model is showing off the activities of the staff, to the point that the customers are treated as bit players in the show.  

ORDER IT
EAT IT
GET OUT

Even McDonald's treats their customers with more respect.


----------



## waday

Designer said:


> ORDER IT
> EAT IT
> GET OUT


I've never went to a fast food joint for the ambiance. At least not as an adult.


----------



## limr

Morning hosers.

I have no opinion on the relative quality of fast food burgers  I did go into a McDonald's this past weekend for the first time in I don't know how many years. I got a coffee. It was kinda gross.


----------



## Designer

Some years ago McDonald's made significant changes in their coffee. Big advertising campaign.  Different graphics.  At the time, I was all over the state, so I can attest to the fact that their coffee did, in fact, improve significantly, even in the northwest part of the state, which as most Iowans know is notorious for not knowing how to make good coffee.  

EXCEPT in Ames, my hometown.  All the of the Ames franchises were owned by the same people, and their coffee was reliably terrible.  I complained in person, I called the manager, and wrote letters to the corporate headquarters.  To no avail.

Then, by chance, I was talking with a lady whose son worked at McDonald's.  She told me that they were trained to CLEAN the coffee machines at night last thing before they locked up.  When the morning shift came to work, they simply started the coffee makers in the condition in which they found them when they came in.  

The problem is, (still, I presume) that the caustic chemical cleaner they used to clean the machines WAS STILL IN THEM.  So naturally the coffee tasted like boiler cleaner.  A cross between sulfuric acid, chlorine, and the cheapest store brand of coffee that they could find.  

And the astonishing thing is; they fully expected people to actually drink that swill.  No changes in policy and no apologies ever.  As far as I know, they are still doing that.  Lesson to me:  I never order their coffee first thing in the morning.  Usually by lunchtime it is at least somewhat drinkable, but it still needs cream to hide the nastiness.  

And they'll do the same thing that evening.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. It's a particularly nice day here. Got a meeting with a bride today who's wedding I will be photographing this summer. I'll also be meeting her other photographer. We'll be collaborating to create some products for them to choose from.

Got me a gig shooting the Porsche club not this weekend, but the next, at Road America. Now that I've scouted the track a bit more, I can get better photos for them.

I also designed new business cards with my website on them just for the event. Got 500 of them, and I hope they'll be here in time...


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. It's a particularly nice day here. Got a meeting with a bride today who's wedding I will be photographing this summer. I'll also be meeting her other photographer. We'll be collaborating to create some products for them to choose from.
> 
> Got me a gig shooting the Porsche club not this weekend, but the next, at Road America. Now that I've scouted the track a bit more, I can get better photos for them.
> 
> I also designed new business cards with my website on them just for the event. Got 500 of them, and I hope they'll be here in time...



Well I'm going to the zoo this weekend and.. ummm.. shooting zoo stuff again.. I guess.  Wow.. my life is so unglamorous.. lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

My day is really exciting too, Bogie just put a nickel in the jukebox after what's her name jumped/tripped out the window. People in these movies really need to stay away from windows. And stop falling over coffee tables and hitting their heads - how come I'm always tripping over such things and it only involves some cuss words and a bruised shin? lol they have to call in a TV detective.

My coffee procedure is to plop a couple o' scoops in the little basket, pour in some water, and wait til it's done gurgling. Grinding of any coffee is better left to do ahead of time, I don't want to have to actually think first thing in the morning.

We had a local version of Whitey Cassels til it burnt down, which was probably just as well. Story was that the guy cooking would make the patties by pressing them under his armpit. If you got in somebody's car and they'd had Dixie burgers you could smell it, and they'd say oh, they had Dixie burgers like a month ago.

Anytime we had a school inservice or staff luncheon we always had White Castles. And M&Ms. Tradition.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, the meeting with the bride went REALLY well. Met her other photographer, who seems to be a pretty nice human. She and I seem to agree on a lot of things, but I will say I'm WAY more of a gearhead than she is. lol


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Cookie and Gary returned home around 8:30 ... she was pretty doped up. A good report from the Doc that they have the pain and the infection under control. She'll be on a couple of different antibiotics for the next week.  This was the first time Gary has been in a bona fide animal hospital and he was quite impressed.  He thinks it was cleaner than Kaiser.  What was good ... but odd was the vet who initially checked out Cookie at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday ... was still there on today at 7:30 a.m.  The Cook has been resting all day with an occasional walk around just to confirm that she is home and that I am still here.


----------



## tirediron

Most excellent!   Give her a good skritch for me, would you?


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Most excellent!   Give her a good skritch for me, would you?


Roger that!


----------



## minicoop1985

AAAAAGH My wife just got her A77II delivered... and what does she do? SHE TAKES A NAP. THE BOX IS SITTING HERE. UNOPENED. SHE HAS NOT OPENED THE BOX YET. GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH THIS BOTHERS ME A LOT.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Cookie and Gary returned home around 8:30 ... she was pretty doped up. A good report from the Doc that they have the pain and the infection under control. She'll be on a couple of different antibiotics for the next week.  This was the first time Gary has been in a bona fide animal hospital and he was quite impressed.  He thinks it was cleaner than Kaiser.  What was good ... but odd was the vet who initially checked out Cookie at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday ... was still there on today at 7:30 a.m.  The Cook has been resting all day with an occasional walk around just to confirm that she is home and that I am still here.


Good news. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## dxqcanada

minicoop1985 said:


> AAAAAGH My wife just got her A77II delivered... and what does she do? SHE TAKES A NAP. THE BOX IS SITTING HERE. UNOPENED. SHE HAS NOT OPENED THE BOX YET. GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH THIS BOTHERS ME A LOT.



Hmm, that's exactly what my wife (Blacksheep) did when she got hers ... she just told me its because "it is not time yet".


----------



## dxqcanada

... though I unpacked it for her ... and the Tokina UWA zoom that I got her also ... and, hmm most of the other gear that I got for her ... hmm.


----------



## JonA_CT

New Gear Day here too -- budget wide angle and telephoto zoom edition here. I ordered a Sigma 17-35 F2.8-4 and an old Nikon 80-200mm F2.8 push pull from KEH today. Total bill was just under $600 for both. That was about what I had budgeted. 

I messed around with the telephoto lens in the yard with the dog today --




 

Lens seems pretty sharp for what I paid for it, although this is at 100mm -- I hear things get a bit soft at either end of the zoom. Btw -- yes, that is a brown spot in my lawn, haha. 

The lens is huge though. I may honestly return it, and get a lighter-weight prime -- probably the Nikon 85 F1.8.


----------



## dxqcanada

Hmm, Dog does not seem impressed by your new gear either.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> AAAAAGH My wife just got her A77II delivered... and what does she do? SHE TAKES A NAP. THE BOX IS SITTING HERE. UNOPENED. SHE HAS NOT OPENED THE BOX YET. GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH THIS BOTHERS ME A LOT.


Really?  Why?  It's a Sony....


----------



## JonA_CT

dxqcanada said:


> Hmm, Dog does not seem impressed by your new gear either.



Well, if it's based on his happiness, I should go back to the Canon SL1 and Sigma 17-70.

He was cranky 'cause I kept making him look my way, when he just wanted to be chewing on his stick.




tucker-5-August 30, 2015 by jwa04, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

More poppies. Gary likes poppies.  Cook is resting after some pills. Gary spent some time just petting her and trying to get her comfortable.


----------



## jcdeboever

Nice

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

UGH she opened it. So glad that ordeal is over with. So far, it looks like a winner. I'm impressed with it, actually. I've long considered switching to Sony to share lenses and use stuff like the old Secret Handshake, but some of the Sony G series and Zeiss lenses are obscenely expensive... So I'll stick with my old 5D2 for now. I do, however, need a 5D3 one of these days.


----------



## minicoop1985

dxqcanada said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> AAAAAGH My wife just got her A77II delivered... and what does she do? SHE TAKES A NAP. THE BOX IS SITTING HERE. UNOPENED. SHE HAS NOT OPENED THE BOX YET. GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH THIS BOTHERS ME A LOT.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm, that's exactly what my wife (Blacksheep) did when she got hers ... she just told me its because "it is not time yet".
Click to expand...

What a terrible excuse. lol


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. It's Thursday. You know what that means


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. It's Thursday. You know what that means



Have you clicked the submit button on your grades yet? That's when party time starts!


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers. It's Thursday. You know what that means
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have you clicked the submit button on your grades yet? That's when party time starts!
Click to expand...


Clicked it last week  Last day to submit was Monday but I wanted them done before I left for NC, so I powered through them on Thursday night.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Some years ago McDonald's made significant changes in their coffee. Big advertising campaign.  Different graphics.  At the time, I was all over the state, so I can attest to the fact that their coffee did, in fact, improve significantly, even in the northwest part of the state, which as most Iowans know is notorious for not knowing how to make good coffee.
> 
> EXCEPT in Ames, my hometown.  All the of the Ames franchises were owned by the same people, and their coffee was reliably terrible.  I complained in person, I called the manager, and wrote letters to the corporate headquarters.  To no avail.
> 
> Then, by chance, I was talking with a lady whose son worked at McDonald's.  She told me that they were trained to CLEAN the coffee machines at night last thing before they locked up.  When the morning shift came to work, they simply started the coffee makers in the condition in which they found them when they came in.
> 
> The problem is, (still, I presume) that the caustic chemical cleaner they used to clean the machines WAS STILL IN THEM.  So naturally the coffee tasted like boiler cleaner.  A cross between sulfuric acid, chlorine, and the cheapest store brand of coffee that they could find.
> 
> And the astonishing thing is; they fully expected people to actually drink that swill.  No changes in policy and no apologies ever.  As far as I know, they are still doing that.  Lesson to me:  I never order their coffee first thing in the morning.  Usually by lunchtime it is at least somewhat drinkable, but it still needs cream to hide the nastiness.
> 
> And they'll do the same thing that evening.



I'll stick to Starbucks    In a pinch, Dunkin Donuts is tolerable.


----------



## minicoop1985

Hey, I like Dunkin's coffee. And I actually don't mind McDonald's coffee either. I wish they wouldn't make it  ^&$(*# hot though.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I'll stick to Starbucks    In a pinch, Dunkin Donuts is tolerable.


+1!



minicoop1985 said:


> Hey, I like Dunkin's coffee. And I actually don't mind McDonald's coffee either. I wish they wouldn't make it  ^&$(*# hot though.


McD's coffee is okay in a pinch, but agree that it is way too hot.


----------



## KenC

minicoop1985 said:


> Hey, I like Dunkin's coffee. And I actually don't mind McDonald's coffee either. I wish they wouldn't make it  ^&$(*# hot though.



Dunkin is not bad, and McD's is tolerable in caffeine withdrawal, but I prefer something from a coffee shop.  I try to patronize the independent ones because they're more interesting and I don't like chains taking over everything, but I will go in a Starbucks or some other chain (Saxby and Corner Bakery are the common ones here) if that's the only option where I am.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers. It's Thursday. You know what that means
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have you clicked the submit button on your grades yet? That's when party time starts!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Clicked it last week  Last day to submit was Monday but I wanted them done before I left for NC, so I powered through them on Thursday night.
Click to expand...

Gary thought we're to boycott NC?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The Cook seems much much better today. Yesterday she wouldn't eat.  Last night she barely swallowed some chicken.  But this morning she seems much more normal.  She making her morning rounds and walked out with Gary to retrieve the newspaper. The paper is good today, the usu... water, Trump, food trade, weapons trade but in the 'Column One' is on Nyquist, the Santa Anita based horse that took the Derby and will race in the Preakness on Saturday. (The Column One is a front page feature story always in the far left column, hence the name of Column One.) It is an interesting Day-in-the-Life story of an athletic that works for a bucket of grain, molasses and a few carrots.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary won't turn down a McD's or a Starbucks' coffee, but he finds McD's to be akin to hot brown water and Starbucks to have a nasty and bitter aftertaste. But then Gary will and has routinely consumed some very odd stuff.  On a story about coffee, Gary even had some Coffee Civet. (It was better than McD's or Starbucks.)


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> Gary even had some Coffee Civet. (It was better than McD's or Starbucks.)



One of the funniest things I ever read:
Dave Barry Official Website


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary even had some Coffee Civet. (It was better than McD's or Starbucks.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One of the funniest things I ever read:
> Dave Barry Official Website
Click to expand...

LOL - Gary most enjoyed this part:

" ... Then I thought: What kind of world is this when you worry that people might be ripping you off by selling you coffee that was NOT pooped out by a weasel? ... "


----------



## limr

waday said:


> McD's coffee is okay in a pinch, but agree that it is way too hot.



They claim it's to keep it hot longer for the commuters. I say it's to hide the taste of subpar coffee.



Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Clicked it last week  Last day to submit was Monday but I wanted them done before I left for NC, so I powered through them on Thursday night.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thought we're to boycott NC?
Click to expand...


I was NOT pleased about going into NC, but was outvoted by my family. I tried to spend as little money as I possibly could while there. I was very very tempted to use the men's room as well when I stopped on the road. Ultimately I chose not to because, just like most people who are using public restrooms, all I wanted to do was to pee.


----------



## Designer

Perhaps I should explain about me ordering coffee at Mikey-D's.  I never just go there for a cuppa, but rather take a small coffee with my meal.  Their pricing structure includes a drink with a two-piece meal, and since I don't see anything else I want, I take the coffee.

On my out the door, I open the top, catch a few ice cubes in my hand, and plop them into the cup.  Replace the top, and hit the road.  By the time I'm back on the highway, the coffee is the right temperature to enjoy without burning my mouth.  

I think I may have ordered coffee at Fourbucks only once in my life.  They don't have much to eat there, so it is just the coffee.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I say it's to hide the taste of subpar coffee.


That makes so much sense, because I can never actually 'taste' it due to the temperature!



> Ultimately I chose not to because, just like most people who are using public restrooms, all I wanted to do was to pee.


I wish everyone realized that all people want to do is pee.

I really dislike all the sexist comments coming from supposedly 'good' people.

Recently, someone posted on Facebook some sob story about someone being raped and related that to this whole issue. It was a really tender story and all, and I feel for the person, but it had NOTHING to do with the issue at hand. The rapist was not transgender, and the person was not in the bathroom during the time of the rape. If they want to try to oppose this, then at least have a solid argument. Otherwise, I will not listen.


----------



## waday

Designer said:


> I think I may have ordered coffee at Fourbucks only once in my life. They don't have much to eat there, so it is just the coffee.


Their normal drip coffee is around $2, so it's not terribly priced. Specialty drinks definitely cost more.

I used to love their pastries until they started posting the calories. Uhhhhhh... Yeah, I'll stick with a vanilla bean scone. No, not three, just one. Thanks...


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think I may have ordered coffee at Fourbucks only once in my life. They don't have much to eat there, so it is just the coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> Their normal drip coffee is around $2, so it's not terribly priced. Specialty drinks definitely cost more.
> 
> I used to love their pastries until they started posting the calories. Uhhhhhh... Yeah, I'll stick with a vanilla bean scone. No, not three, just one. Thanks...
Click to expand...


Yeah, their regular 12oz drip coffee is the same price as Dunkin Donuts - just a few cents shy of $2. Sometimes I'll get a double espresso and sometimes I'll get a "short" latte (one of the sneaky things that you can order even though it's not on the menu is the "short" sized drink. It's 8oz. Any drink can be ordered in that size. And yes, it's cheaper.) And in the summer, I'll get iced coffee. I can't stand sweet in my coffee, so the rest of their "coffee" menu is pretty much useless to me.

But I definitely prefer a dark roast, which is why I prefer their coffee to other places' drip coffee. Like Ken, I do try to go to local places when I can, but there aren't that many in my area, or not many that are easy to get to, so I must admit that I do visit Starbucks pretty regularly.


----------



## minicoop1985

So the wife ended up opening the A77II and let me hold it. It's a particularly well built camera, and it actually felt pretty damned good in my hands. It's a pity they have that EVF...


----------



## jcdeboever

I didn't realize how bad my percolator made, chock full o nuts coffee was until you psychopaths turned me on to a French press and a bunn coffee maker with legitimate, dark roast ground coffee. I would probably lob my digits off with a coffee grinder. Heck, I even wear slippers and a robe now when I make coffee, all I'm missing is a pipe, newspaper, and wife in a dress pushing a vacuum cleaner... geez, I went off the edge.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

Chock full of nuts coffee.. . was there ever a more disgusting flavor profile for coffee?  To this day, if I taste even a hint of chicory in coffee, it's over.  Down the drain it must go.  

Sounds like the hosers here performed a great service for you.


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> Chock full of nuts coffee.. . was there ever a more disgusting flavor profile for coffee?  To this day, if I taste even a hint of chicory in coffee, it's over.  Down the drain it must go.
> 
> Sounds like the hosers here performed a great service for you.


It was cheap and all I knew. I am like that, not cheap but frugal, and a creature of habitual stupidness. Ask my wife, she will tell ya. She has bags on top of her eyes from all the rolling. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Any port in a storm. Coffee and potties. As long as it's dark brown water and hot, if that's all ya got on a day that's freezing cold it'll do. If you have to use an outdoor potty at a roadside rest, try to not breathe in too deep and go fast! lol

I buy local a lot, but like Starbucks too. I just get coffee at Starbucks, not those frappy thingies, If it's hot I'll get their café Americano over ice. With cream, I need that but keep all those other thingies outta my coffee! lol


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary even had some Coffee Civet. (It was better than McD's or Starbucks.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One of the funniest things I ever read:
> Dave Barry Official Website
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL - Gary most enjoyed this part:
> 
> " ... Then I thought: What kind of world is this when you worry that people might be ripping you off by selling you coffee that was NOT pooped out by a weasel? ... "
Click to expand...


Yes, my favorite part as well


----------



## minicoop1985

Some asswipe stole my debit card number and got my card cancelled. Great. Now I have no money for my ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND. I hate people. I really, really hate people.


----------



## JonA_CT

I might get kicked out of New England for saying this -- but I abhor Dunkin' coffee. I avoid it all costs, and if I do get it, it is only due to a lack of other options (and it will be iced for quick, painless delivery). They are everywhere...literally 4 between my house and the highway, which is about 3 miles of driving. 

We had Civil War Field Day at my school today. We had 10 presenters this morning, and then we played different games this afternoon. I took pictures of the presenters presenting, and will be working through the images tonight. No real art between bad lighting, kids in the way, presenters trying to duck the camera, but we are in a budget fight, and the thought is that they can help community relations. So we'll see.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Some asswipe stole my debit card number and got my card cancelled. Great. Now I have no money for my ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND. I hate people. I really, really hate people.


That happened to me from our local grocery store. Someone hacked into there server and stole all the debit cards. I just went and took cash out and used my credit card while it got sorted. Took a few days. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Gary is back in the patio slaving away over a hot computer. This has been "another perfect day, I love LA" Randy Newman weather day. Gary gots some classical KUSC on the stereo and some herbal tea in his cup, slaving away on some Whitney High School Talent Show images. The replacement ceramic fire wall came for the Kamado Joe. It sucks that the fire wall severely cracked ... but the good thing is that Kamado Joe has a lifetime warranty on the ceramic parts and resolving the issue to my satisfaction was easy and quick.  So hats off to Kamado Joe and their customer service department.


----------



## MartinCrabtree

minicoop1985 said:


> Some asswipe stole my debit card number and got my card cancelled. Great. Now I have no money for my ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND. I hate people. I really, really hate people.



Not being a smart ass. Cash a check? I say this because I cannot remember the last time I wrote one so perhaps it hasn't occurred to you.


----------



## minicoop1985

I don't have checks, but I can go to the bank tomorrow and get some cash.


----------



## MartinCrabtree

Yeah I don't have any checks either. Haven't in years. Ever since 2008 I've been a cash guy. Has drawbacks but no more behind the 8-ball all of a sudden.


----------



## tirediron

MartinCrabtree said:


> Yeah I don't have any checks either. Haven't in years. Ever since 2008 I've been a cash guy. Has drawbacks but no more behind the 8-ball all of a sudden.


All cash, all the time!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Halfway through a good coffee shop dark roast and the raisin bun is gone (paid cash for those who are checking).  I think I'll finish the coffee while I'm on here and then walk around the office for the rest of the morning.


----------



## jcdeboever

In Chicago about to to go in and close customer. Then walking around downtown. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> In Chicago about to to go in and close customer.


Ok, gangsta...


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. New business cards have shipped and have my 997 GT3RS shot on them.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

No work today so I'm having my coffee on the couch. I always have a Day of Floppage at the end of a semester, and I haven't had a chance for that yet. I submitted my grades late Thurs night and then proceeded to drive 1500 miles over the course of the next few days. Got home on Monday and went to work T, W, and TH. So today? Yup. Today is Floppage Day.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> No work today so I'm having my coffee on the couch. I always have a Day of Floppage at the end of a semester, and I haven't had a chance for that yet. I submitted my grades late Thurs night and then proceeded to drive 1500 miles over the course of the next few days. Got home on Monday and went to work T, W, and TH. So today? Yup. Today is Floppage Day.


A day of floppage sounds awesome!

I recently became a board member at the local parks and recreation department. I have to say, it's nothing like Parks and Rec the show. More of a drama, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is sipping day old coffee ... a bit dull but quite drinkable, no foul aftertaste or staleness. There was a lot of coffee in the Press, so Gary just heated it the micro. Nothing exceptional in the paper, big story on Morley Safer, odd and very sad to see him go. Rest In Peace Safer ... one of the last of the true reporters that worked the electronic media.  And then there is a follow-up sadly funny story on the American Independent Party in California. A month or so ago, the LA Times ran a story about the thousands of Californians who belong to the American Independent Party.  As it turned out, many/most of them didn't realize that the AIP was a real political party founded by Governor George Wallace (the Alabama Governor who refused to segregate the University of Alabama). The AIP registered folk in question thought they were registering as Independents, "no party affiliation" as is it formerly noted. Anyway, shortly after the Times broke the story, more than 32,000 AIPs dropped from the George Wallace Party and registered under "no party affiliation". Gary thinks that in order to participate in elections, one must pass a minimal voter intelligence/knowledgeability test ... or at least be forced to take a class.  Hell, one has to pass a test to get a driver's license.  While Gary is on his soap box ... couples have to take and pass a parenting course before having children.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> No work today so I'm having my coffee on the couch. I always have a Day of Floppage at the end of a semester, and I haven't had a chance for that yet. I submitted my grades late Thurs night and then proceeded to drive 1500 miles over the course of the next few days. Got home on Monday and went to work T, W, and TH. So today? Yup. Today is Floppage Day.
> 
> 
> 
> A day of floppage sounds awesome!
> 
> I recently became a board member at the local parks and recreation department. I have to say, it's nothing like Parks and Rec the show. More of a drama, haha.
Click to expand...

OMG ... now you have to deal directly with the public (see Gary's statement on education above).

PS- Congrats on the appointment.  You sitting on the commission/board can only help the community (seriously). Good Luck. (seriously)

(There goes your processing time and I hope you like cold chicken at all the fundraisers you will now be attending.)


----------



## Gary A.

For some reason, Gary get this mixed vision of Floppage Day and Gary Larson's Boneless Chicken Ranch.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Gary thinks that in order to participate in elections, one must pass a minimal voter intelligence/knowledgeability test ...


Hah - Hah - Hah!

Good luck with that!


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> OMG ... now you have to deal directly with the public (see Gary's statement on education above).


Yes, haha. There's only been one public comment at one of our meetings in the past 5 months, so it's not crazy. However, I'm learning things I did not know: 

(1) child baseball apparently rules our township;
(2) we have a problem with people canoodling (and worse) in our parks after dark; 
(3) there is a public invocation at the township supervisor meetings (I would totally make a motion to stop them at the parks and rec meetings if there was one);
(4) people take things way too personally; and 
(5) I probably don't have a career in politics.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> ... or at least be forced to take a class.


Actually, most school children are already forced to take a class, it's just that said classes seldom teach what's important.  I've been fighting a losing battle in trying to educate the voters of this country for over 20 years, alas to no avail.  In my experience it's unusual to find anyone willing to read anything longer than a headline.  

I've shown videos at our public library one per month for two and a half years, helped staff booths at our State Fair, passed out flyers, invited people to talks that we sponsored, and more.  Kind of rare to find anyone really interested.  It's a lot easier to just watch TV and vote without feeling the need to learn anything.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Gary thinks that in order to participate in elections, one must pass a minimal voter intelligence/knowledgeability test ...


At least there is one group of people who actually do have to pass a test: Naturalized Citizens.  In that regard, Naturalized Citizens are significantly more knowledgable in civics than your typical high school graduate.

And yes, of course, I stand by all the afore-written inflammatory statements.


----------



## Gary A.

Feedback:

(1) And they are organized and are wielding pitchforks and torches;
(2) Gary hates canoodling in public;
(3) Sometimes saying nothing in public is the best course;
(4) See parenting classes above; and
(5) HAHAHAHAHA ... you thinned skin doughnut ... it is your duty to improve our society in general and our community in particular, so our children inherit a better world ... a world without crime or poverty ... hunger and canoodling, (the exception being consenting adults in the privacy of their home, only after passing a canoodling class).


----------



## JacaRanda

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is sipping day old coffee ... a bit dull but quite drinkable, no foul aftertaste or staleness. There was a lot of coffee in the Press, so Gary just heated it the micro. Nothing exceptional in the paper, big story on Morley Safer, odd and very sad to see him go. Rest In Peace Safer ... one of the last of the true reporters that worked the electronic media.  And then there is a follow-up sadly funny story on the American Independent Party in California. A month or so ago, the LA Times ran a story about the thousands of Californians who belong to the American Independent Party.  As it turned out, many/most of them didn't realize that the AIP was a real political party founded by Governor George Wallace (the Alabama Governor who refused to segregate the University of Alabama). The AIP registered folk in question thought they were registering as Independents, "no party affiliation" as is it formerly noted. Anyway, shortly after the Times broke the story, more than 32,000 AIPs dropped from the George Wallace Party and registered under "no party affiliation". Gary thinks that in order to participate in elections, one must pass a minimal voter intelligence/knowledgeability test ... or at least be forced to take a class.  Hell, one has to pass a test to get a driver's license.  While Gary is on his soap box ... couples have to take and pass a parenting course before having children.



And premarital counseling.


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> A day of floppage sounds awesome!
> 
> I recently became a board member at the local parks and recreation department. I have to say, it's nothing like Parks and Rec the show. More of a drama, haha.



Too bad. That's what I've been watching recently when I have a spare 20 minutes. Great show -- and too bad about the drama.



Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... or at least be forced to take a class.
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, most school children are already forced to take a class, it's just that said classes seldom teach what's important.  I've been fighting a losing battle in trying to educate the voters of this country for over 20 years, alas to no avail.  In my experience it's unusual to find anyone willing to read anything longer than a headline.
> 
> I've shown videos at our public library one per month for two and a half years, helped staff booths at our State Fair, passed out flyers, invited people to talks that we sponsored, and more.  Kind of rare to find anyone really interested.  It's a lot easier to just watch TV and vote without feeling the need to learn anything.
Click to expand...


It's always interesting, and I'm sure there are parts of the country where it is worse. I obviously believe in the value of a good education, but I think it's also important that it is not scientists, historians, mathematicians, and educators setting the educational agenda -- it's businessmen and politicians. In Connecticut, students are required to take a government course to graduate from high school. It's very philosophical in nature though, and if we are honest, our government doesn't really work on philosophical ideals.

My adviser in college was born in Cambodia as a refugee in the 70s -- she was adopted at 6 months old, and grew up in Texas. She had two favorite stories -- one being that whenever she gets asked the question "Where are you from?", she replied "Texas", and they would always ask "No....like where are you from?", insinuating that she was not really American. Her other was from her first professorship in a Rust Belt where she would deal with racist students, who often would say that immigrants should never be allowed to naturalize and gain the ability to vote. She ended up giving a citizenship test to her class, and many of the students failed.

I'm not sure what that says though, but I wonder what would happen if passing that test was necessary to get your voter rights.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... or at least be forced to take a class.
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, most school children are already forced to take a class, it's just that said classes seldom teach what's important.  I've been fighting a losing battle in trying to educate the voters of this country for over 20 years, alas to no avail.  In my experience it's unusual to find anyone willing to read anything longer than a headline.
> 
> I've shown videos at our public library one per month for two and a half years, helped staff booths at our State Fair, passed out flyers, invited people to talks that we sponsored, and more.  Kind of rare to find anyone really interested.  It's a lot easier to just watch TV and vote without feeling the need to learn anything.
Click to expand...

I forgot about Civics Class in high school ... so Gary will refine his declaration that every four year a voter has to re-register and pass a short test of general knowledge and current political knowledge.  An informed electorate would scare the pants off most elected office holders.

PS- Good for you to directly attack this problem head-on. In a perfect world, Gary thinks voting should be earned not entitled ... but that really opens the door for abuse in a less than perfect situation.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Feedback:
> 
> (1) And they are organized and are wielding pitchforks and torches;
> (2) Gary hates canoodling in public;
> (3) Sometimes saying nothing in public is the best course;
> (4) See parenting classes above; and
> (5) HAHAHAHAHA ... you thinned skin doughnut ... it is your duty to improve our society in general and our community in particular, so our children inherit a better world ... a world without crime or poverty ... hunger and canoodling, (the exception being consenting adults in the privacy of their home, only after passing a canoodling class).


#3 seems to counter #5? I don't know, I keep my mouth shut when I know I should, but I don't think I'd ignore prayer at a public meeting.

Mmmmm... donut.... wait, umm, yeah, I'm not sure I'm made for politics. Then again, I do try to fight for what's right and I don't care what people say about me or what they think of me, so I'd probably be good for a go.


----------



## Gary A.

JacaRanda said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is sipping day old coffee ... a bit dull but quite drinkable, no foul aftertaste or staleness. There was a lot of coffee in the Press, so Gary just heated it the micro. Nothing exceptional in the paper, big story on Morley Safer, odd and very sad to see him go. Rest In Peace Safer ... one of the last of the true reporters that worked the electronic media.  And then there is a follow-up sadly funny story on the American Independent Party in California. A month or so ago, the LA Times ran a story about the thousands of Californians who belong to the American Independent Party.  As it turned out, many/most of them didn't realize that the AIP was a real political party founded by Governor George Wallace (the Alabama Governor who refused to segregate the University of Alabama). The AIP registered folk in question thought they were registering as Independents, "no party affiliation" as is it formerly noted. Anyway, shortly after the Times broke the story, more than 32,000 AIPs dropped from the George Wallace Party and registered under "no party affiliation". Gary thinks that in order to participate in elections, one must pass a minimal voter intelligence/knowledgeability test ... or at least be forced to take a class.  Hell, one has to pass a test to get a driver's license.  While Gary is on his soap box ... couples have to take and pass a parenting course before having children.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And premarital counseling.
Click to expand...


Okay, Gary can make a run with that contribution.  When Gary is anointed with worldwide dictatorial powers, premarital counseling with be mandatory.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Feedback:
> 
> (1) And they are organized and are wielding pitchforks and torches;
> (2) Gary hates canoodling in public;
> (3) Sometimes saying nothing in public is the best course;
> (4) See parenting classes above; and
> (5) HAHAHAHAHA ... you thinned skin doughnut ... it is your duty to improve our society in general and our community in particular, so our children inherit a better world ... a world without crime or poverty ... hunger and canoodling, (the exception being consenting adults in the privacy of their home, only after passing a canoodling class).
> 
> 
> 
> #3 seems to counter #5? I don't know, I keep my mouth shut when I know I should, but I don't think I'd ignore prayer at a public meeting.
> 
> Mmmmm... donut.... wait, umm, yeah, I'm not sure I'm made for politics. Then again, I do try to fight for what's right and I don't care what people say about me or what they think of me, so I'd probably be good for a go.
Click to expand...

You don't want to mess with prayer ... Gary is being practical not enlightened.  "... Then again, I do try to fight for what's right ...", you have it wrong.  That is the mission of your underlings, your minions.  Your mission is to acquire power, pure and simple ... often doing right will help you acquire power ... sometimes it is a hinderance ... so be practical. lol


----------



## jcdeboever

Canoodling myself. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... or at least be forced to take a class.
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, most school children are already forced to take a class, it's just that said classes seldom teach what's important.  I've been fighting a losing battle in trying to educate the voters of this country for over 20 years, alas to no avail.  In my experience it's unusual to find anyone willing to read anything longer than a headline.
> 
> I've shown videos at our public library one per month for two and a half years, helped staff booths at our State Fair, passed out flyers, invited people to talks that we sponsored, and more.  Kind of rare to find anyone really interested.  It's a lot easier to just watch TV and vote without feeling the need to learn anything.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I forgot about Civics Class in high school ... so Gary will refine his declaration that every four year a voter has to re-register and pass a short test of general knowledge and current political knowledge.  An informed electorate would scare the pants off most elected office holders.
> 
> PS- Good for you to directly attack this problem head-on. In a perfect world, Gary thinks voting should be earned not entitled ... but that really opens the door for abuse in a less than perfect situation.
Click to expand...


Voting Rights Act of 1965 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Unfortunately, we had to legislate it out for that very reason. Like every real issue, it's extremely complicated.


----------



## pixmedic

Gary A. said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is sipping day old coffee ... a bit dull but quite drinkable, no foul aftertaste or staleness. There was a lot of coffee in the Press, so Gary just heated it the micro. Nothing exceptional in the paper, big story on Morley Safer, odd and very sad to see him go. Rest In Peace Safer ... one of the last of the true reporters that worked the electronic media.  And then there is a follow-up sadly funny story on the American Independent Party in California. A month or so ago, the LA Times ran a story about the thousands of Californians who belong to the American Independent Party.  As it turned out, many/most of them didn't realize that the AIP was a real political party founded by Governor George Wallace (the Alabama Governor who refused to segregate the University of Alabama). The AIP registered folk in question thought they were registering as Independents, "no party affiliation" as is it formerly noted. Anyway, shortly after the Times broke the story, more than 32,000 AIPs dropped from the George Wallace Party and registered under "no party affiliation". Gary thinks that in order to participate in elections, one must pass a minimal voter intelligence/knowledgeability test ... or at least be forced to take a class.  Hell, one has to pass a test to get a driver's license.  While Gary is on his soap box ... couples have to take and pass a parenting course before having children.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And premarital counseling.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Okay, Gary can make a run with that contribution.  When Gary is anointed with worldwide dictatorial powers, premarital counseling with be mandatory.
Click to expand...

Honestly?  I think you should have to live together for at least 6 months to a year before being allowed to marry.  You don't really know crap about someone until you live with them. Anyone can be whatever they want for part of the day while dating. 
Live together though and it all comes out.


----------



## jcdeboever

pixmedic said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is sipping day old coffee ... a bit dull but quite drinkable, no foul aftertaste or staleness. There was a lot of coffee in the Press, so Gary just heated it the micro. Nothing exceptional in the paper, big story on Morley Safer, odd and very sad to see him go. Rest In Peace Safer ... one of the last of the true reporters that worked the electronic media.  And then there is a follow-up sadly funny story on the American Independent Party in California. A month or so ago, the LA Times ran a story about the thousands of Californians who belong to the American Independent Party.  As it turned out, many/most of them didn't realize that the AIP was a real political party founded by Governor George Wallace (the Alabama Governor who refused to segregate the University of Alabama). The AIP registered folk in question thought they were registering as Independents, "no party affiliation" as is it formerly noted. Anyway, shortly after the Times broke the story, more than 32,000 AIPs dropped from the George Wallace Party and registered under "no party affiliation". Gary thinks that in order to participate in elections, one must pass a minimal voter intelligence/knowledgeability test ... or at least be forced to take a class.  Hell, one has to pass a test to get a driver's license.  While Gary is on his soap box ... couples have to take and pass a parenting course before having children.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And premarital counseling.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Okay, Gary can make a run with that contribution.  When Gary is anointed with worldwide dictatorial powers, premarital counseling with be mandatory.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Honestly?  I think you should have to live together for at least 6 months to a year before being allowed to marry.  You don't really know crap about someone until you live with them. Anyone can be whatever they want for part of the day while dating.
> Live together though and it all comes out.
Click to expand...

My t wife didn't start yelling at me until we got married. [emoji31] 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Canoodling...

Redirect Notice
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Feedback:
> 
> (1) And they are organized and are wielding pitchforks and torches;
> (2) Gary hates canoodling in public;
> (3) Sometimes saying nothing in public is the best course;
> (4) See parenting classes above; and
> (5) HAHAHAHAHA ... you thinned skin doughnut ... it is your duty to improve our society in general and our community in particular, so our children inherit a better world ... a world without crime or poverty ... hunger and canoodling, (the exception being consenting adults in the privacy of their home, only after passing a canoodling class).
> 
> 
> 
> #3 seems to counter #5? I don't know, I keep my mouth shut when I know I should, but I don't think I'd ignore prayer at a public meeting.
> 
> Mmmmm... donut.... wait, umm, yeah, I'm not sure I'm made for politics. Then again, I do try to fight for what's right and I don't care what people say about me or what they think of me, so I'd probably be good for a go.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You don't want to mess with prayer ... Gary is being practical not enlightened.  "... Then again, I do try to fight for what's right ...", you have it wrong.  That is the mission of your underlings, your minions.  Your mission is to acquire power, pure and simple ... often doing right will help you acquire power ... sometimes it is a hinderance ... so be practical. lol
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess I don't fit the typical politician, but I don't want to be the typical politician. Isn't everyone tired of the typical politician?

In this case, I give my word and my mission to the few voiceless people that don't speak up for fear of persecution or discrimination. I would much rather fight for all religion, than just one religion. I'll fight for the minorities in my local municipality, those that don't come to public meetings. Those that would feel alone person sitting in a room of people that are afraid of them because of their skin color, their accent, their religious belief, or their individual identities.

Yeah, I'd probably not make a good politician, but that's not my end goal.


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> Canoodling myself.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


TMI


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Canoodling myself.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


There is a 12 step program that will help you.


----------



## Gary A.

" ... In this case, I give my word and my mission to the few voiceless people that don't speak up for fear of persecution or discrimination. I would much rather fight for all religion, than just one religion. I'll fight for the minorities in my local municipality, those that don't come to public meetings. Those that would feel alone person sitting in a room of people that are afraid of them because of their skin color, their accent, their religious belief, or their individual identities. ..." That's what Gary is talking ... (but sadly, unlike most politicians you mean it).


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Canoodling myself.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> There is a 12 step program that will help you.
Click to expand...

I use 13

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Sounds unlucky.


----------



## waday

I say don't go through with the steps. You'll get lucky.


----------



## JacaRanda

pixmedic said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is sipping day old coffee ... a bit dull but quite drinkable, no foul aftertaste or staleness. There was a lot of coffee in the Press, so Gary just heated it the micro. Nothing exceptional in the paper, big story on Morley Safer, odd and very sad to see him go. Rest In Peace Safer ... one of the last of the true reporters that worked the electronic media.  And then there is a follow-up sadly funny story on the American Independent Party in California. A month or so ago, the LA Times ran a story about the thousands of Californians who belong to the American Independent Party.  As it turned out, many/most of them didn't realize that the AIP was a real political party founded by Governor George Wallace (the Alabama Governor who refused to segregate the University of Alabama). The AIP registered folk in question thought they were registering as Independents, "no party affiliation" as is it formerly noted. Anyway, shortly after the Times broke the story, more than 32,000 AIPs dropped from the George Wallace Party and registered under "no party affiliation". Gary thinks that in order to participate in elections, one must pass a minimal voter intelligence/knowledgeability test ... or at least be forced to take a class.  Hell, one has to pass a test to get a driver's license.  While Gary is on his soap box ... couples have to take and pass a parenting course before having children.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And premarital counseling.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Okay, Gary can make a run with that contribution.  When Gary is anointed with worldwide dictatorial powers, premarital counseling with be mandatory.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Honestly?  I think you should have to live together for at least 6 months to a year before being allowed to marry.  You don't really know crap about someone until you live with them. Anyone can be whatever they want for part of the day while dating.
> Live together though and it all comes out.
Click to expand...


Agree.  Maybe live together and go through premarital counseling.

In college I had to do a report on premarital agreements and take a pro or con approach.  I was con before starting the research, but quickly changed my mind.
There are sooooooooooooo many things that can and SHOULD be discussed prior to...  many if not most of us never consider.  Toilet paper roll over the top or underneath?  
What are potential deal breakers?  Who will handle finances, how many children, what religion if any, who gets final say when there is an impasse, what would you do if...., what are your thoughts on this and that.

I know even after 6 months things and people can change.  Anything that will help a couple understand that there is much more than love and lust in the beginning may help.


----------



## JacaRanda

jcdeboever said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is sipping day old coffee ... a bit dull but quite drinkable, no foul aftertaste or staleness. There was a lot of coffee in the Press, so Gary just heated it the micro. Nothing exceptional in the paper, big story on Morley Safer, odd and very sad to see him go. Rest In Peace Safer ... one of the last of the true reporters that worked the electronic media.  And then there is a follow-up sadly funny story on the American Independent Party in California. A month or so ago, the LA Times ran a story about the thousands of Californians who belong to the American Independent Party.  As it turned out, many/most of them didn't realize that the AIP was a real political party founded by Governor George Wallace (the Alabama Governor who refused to segregate the University of Alabama). The AIP registered folk in question thought they were registering as Independents, "no party affiliation" as is it formerly noted. Anyway, shortly after the Times broke the story, more than 32,000 AIPs dropped from the George Wallace Party and registered under "no party affiliation". Gary thinks that in order to participate in elections, one must pass a minimal voter intelligence/knowledgeability test ... or at least be forced to take a class.  Hell, one has to pass a test to get a driver's license.  While Gary is on his soap box ... couples have to take and pass a parenting course before having children.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And premarital counseling.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Okay, Gary can make a run with that contribution.  When Gary is anointed with worldwide dictatorial powers, premarital counseling with be mandatory.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Honestly?  I think you should have to live together for at least 6 months to a year before being allowed to marry.  You don't really know crap about someone until you live with them. Anyone can be whatever they want for part of the day while dating.
> Live together though and it all comes out.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My t wife didn't start yelling at me until we got married. [emoji31]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


And perhaps if there was more thought put into it before you got married, maybe someone else would have been yelling at you instead.


----------



## minicoop1985

Lemme think here. I think my wife and I lived together for somewhere near 3 years before we got married. It was a good call, IMO... I don't know how/why the hell people get married without living together first. Just seems stupid.


----------



## Designer

JacaRanda said:


> What are potential deal breakers?


Religion is a biggie, also fundamental worldview.  Maybe the same thing, actually.

Everything else is mere toilet paper protocol.


----------



## terri

Designer said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> What are potential deal breakers?
> 
> 
> 
> Religion is a biggie, also fundamental worldview.  Maybe the same thing, actually.
> 
> Everything else is mere toilet paper protocol.
Click to expand...

Religion, politics, and who takes out the garbage.   In the rain.


----------



## Designer

terri said:


> .. and who takes out the garbage.   In the rain.


LOL!

Yup, my jobs are the really nasty ones.  Diapers, vomit, mud, rain, grocery store, etc.

She is the money person in our family.  I'm no good at money.


----------



## limr

Lack of respect for boundaries = deal breaker. Like the ex who said that if I wasn't ready to have kids when he was ready, that he'd just sabotage whatever form of birth control I was using? And when I would try to walk away to cool off from a fight and he would literally and physically block me from leaving, even though he knew it triggered every single fight-or-flight instinct in me? Yup. That's why he is the EX.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Lack of respect for boundaries = deal breaker. Like the ex who said that if I wasn't ready to have kids when he was ready, that he'd just sabotage whatever form of birth control I was using? And when I would try to walk away to cool off from a fight and he would literally and physically block me from leaving, even though he knew it triggered every single fight-or-flight instinct in me? Yup. That's why he is the EX.


eww.   I can relate to that.  My ex followed me through the house (OUR house, that I was walking away from, leaving him to profit from the the complete sale - my divorce lawyer said I was insane, but that's how certain I was it was worth it just to leave), while arguing over every item I picked up to take along, including my mother's silver set.   I'm really not an aggressive type, but he rather brought that out in me.      Time to go!


----------



## waday




----------



## minicoop1985

Every woman I know seems to have the douchebag ex story. Wife has one that I still wouldn't stop for if he were in a crosswalk. Every one of my female friends has one, even the lesbian ones.

Well, filled out the paperwork for my debit card theft. They cancelled my card number, and ironically I just got a new card in the mail today which was supposed to replace that one, but has the same number, so THAT one's been cancelled too. Both were put through the shredder at the bank.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Lack of respect for boundaries = deal breaker. Like the ex who said that if I wasn't ready to have kids when he was ready, that he'd just sabotage whatever form of birth control I was using? And when I would try to walk away to cool off from a fight and he would literally and physically block me from leaving, even though he knew it triggered every single fight-or-flight instinct in me? Yup. That's why he is the EX.


Is peeing in a utility tub a deal breaker?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

Wade, what's the chart for?  No matter which way you turn, it is violence.  No way out.  Why not just a list? 

The chart makers cannot make a chart for everything, and some charts that they come up with are completely wrong.  This one is just dumb.


----------



## Designer

jcdeboever said:


> Is peeing in a utility tub a deal breaker?


Yes.  Build a regular toilet in the basement.  Make it nice.


----------



## limr

waday said:


>



*sigh* Yup.



minicoop1985 said:


> Every woman I know seems to have the douchebag ex story. Wife has one that I still wouldn't stop for if he were in a crosswalk. Every one of my female friends has one, even the lesbian ones.



Yes, we all have stories, and they are not all about ex's.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Yes, we all have stories, and they are not all about ex's.


I really wish I could find the article I read recently. It gave stories from women about how they were treated by men--all men, boyfriends and strangers alike. It made me sick to my stomach; my wife refused to continue reading after only a quarter of the way through the stories.

If I find it, I'll post it.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lack of respect for boundaries = deal breaker. Like the ex who said that if I wasn't ready to have kids when he was ready, that he'd just sabotage whatever form of birth control I was using? And when I would try to walk away to cool off from a fight and he would literally and physically block me from leaving, even though he knew it triggered every single fight-or-flight instinct in me? Yup. That's why he is the EX.
> 
> 
> 
> Is peeing in a utility tub a deal breaker?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Is it the only utility tub? Do I use it for laundry? Then it's Very Bad. If it's a tub that only you use and I don't care about what's in it? Then knock yourself out


----------



## waday

Found it: http://www.bodyforwife.com/she-doesnt-owe-you-****/


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Found it: She Doesn’t Owe You ****



Infuriating and heartbreaking


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> Found it: She Doesn’t Owe You ****


I can't believe there are men out there like that. I read two, enough for me. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

waday said:


> I really wish I could find the article I read recently. It gave stories from women about how they were treated by men--all men, boyfriends and strangers alike. It made me sick to my stomach; my wife refused to continue reading after only a quarter of the way through the stories.
> 
> If I find it, I'll post it.


Or you can just turn on Lifetime.  

I call it "The All Men Are A-holes" channel.

All.  Men.


----------



## minicoop1985

I've never seen the harm in simply wanting her to smile. I get the rest is irritating, but I'd rather try to make her smile... She does the same thing for me, though, too. It occasionally works, except for when I'm REALLY depressed. Which, given my manic feels earlier today, the crushing depression should be coming about any minute now...


----------



## jcdeboever

I'll never forget when I was 17 and a guy was punching his wife or girlfriend who had a screaming baby in her arms. I got out of my car and was going to thump him down. When I approaches him, he pulled out a .357 Smith and Wesson and pointed it in my face all the while the lady was yelling at me to mind my own business among various other cuss words.  

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> I've never seen the harm in simply wanting her to smile. I get the rest is irritating, but I'd rather try to make her smile... She does the same thing for me, though, too. It occasionally works, except for when I'm REALLY depressed. Which, given my manic feels earlier today, the crushing depression should be coming about any minute now...



It depends on who is doing the asking. When someone who loves me truly wants to see me happy, there is nothing wrong with it.

But that's not what that comment in the chart is about. It's about the men who want women to smile because they think they have the right to control our emotions, our appearance. "You would look so much prettier if you smiled." Oh yeah? Well, it's not my responsibility to look pretty for random men on the street. It's not my responsibility to make sure my appearance doesn't make them uncomfortable. It's not my responsibility to ignore how I feel, to ignore the violation of my space just to make some random man feel even more entitled to have a say in what I'm doing with my face. Perhaps if it already weren't absolutely clear that men think they own our bodies, then the smile comment would seem more innocent. But it's just one more way that men try to exert their control.

Have you ever been followed off of a public bus and chased 3 blocks because you didn't feel like smiling and having a "little chat" with a random stranger? Or been told that you must be "some sort of lesbian man-hater b1tch" because you didn't smile and instead slapped his hand away when he tried to put his arm around your shoulders? Then no, maybe it would be difficult to understand why women hate being told to smile.


----------



## jcdeboever

Got some birds in flight today...  my first ones, downtown Chicago of all places. Not sure how good they are.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

So I sent my film to oldschoolphotolab.com on Tuesday -- got the scans of my color roll back today via e-mail. Super fast! Extra points for them. I'll be posting some of the results over the Film section, but this roll looks much, much better.


----------



## Gary A.

Film what? I've heard of film.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Film what? I've heard of film.


Film noir?


----------



## jcdeboever

Canoodling...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Film what? I've heard of film.
> 
> 
> 
> Film noir?
Click to expand...

Gary has heard of that also.


----------



## Gary A.

This has been a day of ups and downs. Gary picked up a used Camry ... a very very clean used Camry for Mary Lou's youngest son. The rest of the day has been fighting  and hugging Cookie.  Cookie is very smart. Gary has had dogs his entire life, all kinds of dogs, and Cookie is the smartest of them all. Cookie uses her food to manipulate Gary and Mary Lou. And she's been somewhat successful doing such.  She is really PO-ed about being hospitalized, drugged and IV-ed all night and now she is PO-ed about Gary shoving pills down her throat three times a day.  She hates being force fed pills and is reacting by not eating, (she knows I want her to eat so by not eating she is rebelling against authority). Trust me I have plenty of Cookie stories to back up my statement about her.  It's been three days and she has barely eaten, so today Gary has been on a mission to get her to eat because she needs to eat and also because we are leaving for a three day trip to wine country on Tuesday and we can't take a starving dog with us who is refusing to eat. Her usual diet consists of dry food available all day long for her to nibble and a can of wet for dinner. Today I bought her some Chicken Nuggets, she loves Chicken Nuggets, Burger King, her favorites ... she ate about five then walked away. Tonight I made a turkey loaf for Mary Lou and Gary and cooked up a side of straight turkey for The Cook.  Cook loves turkey more than Chicken Nuggets. She ate some.  I mixed it with her wet food, but she either dug it out or ate around the wet stuff. But she ate.  We have until Sunday to cancel our reservations ... so Gary will keep serving Cookie ground turkey and hope that she eats. Gary thinks it is at best 50:50 that we go ... but that is up from this morning's odds.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I know kids, not dogs, but usually the more toddlers know mom and dad want them to do something or eat something, the less they want to do it! So maybe read your Times and act like you don't care if Cook eats her turkey? or get out the turkey, and... slap it on some bread and eat a turkey sandwich, see what she does when you're eating the turkey? Or, I dunno... maybe with kids and with dogs, sometimes nothing seems to work.

Seriously I hope she does better, she's probably felt crummy and now has to eat pills she doesn't want and is having a lousy time. Do you think maybe it's partly that her appetite isn't quite back to normal? I feel for you and the Cook, hope tomorrow she does better.


----------



## Designer

Anti-biotics causes digestion problems, which is why she is not eating like normal.  Your dog will not starve to death while the treatment for the infection is under way.  Maintain the prescribed treatment until it is finished, then the dog's appetite will return.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> This has been a day of ups and downs. Gary picked up a used Camry ... a very very clean used Camry for Mary Lou's youngest son. The rest of the day has been fighting  and hugging Cookie.  Cookie is very smart. Gary has had dogs his entire life, all kinds of dogs, and Cookie is the smartest of them all. Cookie uses her food to manipulate Gary and Mary Lou. And she's been somewhat successful doing such.  She is really PO-ed about being hospitalized, drugged and IV-ed all night and now she is PO-ed about Gary shoving pills down her throat three times a day.  She hates being force fed pills and is reacting by not eating, (she knows I want her to eat so by not eating she is rebelling against authority). Trust me I have plenty of Cookie stories to back up my statement about her.  It's been three days and she has barely eaten, so today Gary has been on a mission to get her to eat because she needs to eat and also because we are leaving for a three day trip to wine country on Tuesday and we can't take a starving dog with us who is refusing to eat. Her usual diet consists of dry food available all day long for her to nibble and a can of wet for dinner. Today I bought her some Chicken Nuggets, she loves Chicken Nuggets, Burger King, her favorites ... she ate about five then walked away. Tonight I made a turkey loaf for Mary Lou and Gary and cooked up a side of straight turkey for The Cook.  Cook loves turkey more than Chicken Nuggets. She ate some.  I mixed it with her wet food, but she either dug it out or ate around the wet stuff. But she ate.  We have until Sunday to cancel our reservations ... so Gary will keep serving Cookie ground turkey and hope that she eats. Gary thinks it is at best 50:50 that we go ... but that is up from this morning's odds.


Camry is an excellent car, if not the best used one you can buy. Cookie will snap out of it. 

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## oldhippy




----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is still salivating over the turkey loaf he cooked up last night. Quite tasty, full to the brim with basil, savory, cheeses, spices and sauces.  The Cook is a terrier (Wheaton), and she can be quite stubborn ... or one can say she has a lot of heart (depending on how you look at it).  While one would normally assume that a creature won't intentionally/voluntarily starve themselves to death ... her intent isn't death, but to inform me of her being highly upset with all the pills being forced upon her ... she has already lost some visible weight.  Gary doesn't need/want to tax her 12.5 year old body any more than she has already endured. Granted death is a remote possibility, physical harm due to a weakening of her entire body and potentially the shutdown of some digestive/elimination systems making another trip to the hospital and a shortening of her lifespan and quality of life ... Gary fears is a very real possibility. (The pills are full of drama even though Gary tries to make them drama free.  But she will pretend to swallow and wait a bit, then walk away from me and then spit out the pills when she rounds the corner. So Gary has to hold her mouth shut for minutes ... check ... hold it shut again ... check ... et cetera.)


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is still salivating over the turkey loaf he cooked up last night. Quite tasty, full to the brim with basil, savory, cheeses, spices and sauces.  The Cook is a terrier (Wheaton), and she can be quite stubborn ... or one can say she has a lot of heart (depending on how you look at it).  While one would normally assume that a creature won't intentionally/voluntarily starve themselves to death ... her intent isn't death, but to inform me of her being highly upset with all the pills being forced upon her ... she has already lost some visible weight.  Gary doesn't need/want to tax her 12.5 year old body any more than she has already endured. Granted death is a remote possibility, physical harm due to a weakening of her entire body and potentially the shutdown of some digestive/elimination systems making another trip to the hospital and a shortening of her lifespan and quality of life ... Gary fears is a very real possibility. (The pills are full of drama even though Gary tries to make them drama free.  But she will pretend to swallow and wait a bit, then walk away from me and then spit out the pills when she rounds the corner. So Gary has to hold her mouth shut for minutes ... check ... hold it shut again ... check ... et cetera.)


Ugh.   She does sound like a very intelligent dog.   I know from past experience, too, that when an animal has decided it doesn't want to swallow pills, it is pure hell to get them down the gullet.   Cute suggestions like *hiding* them in applesauce, peanut butter or other treats are laughable - a smart critter easily spits out the pill and enjoys the treat.   Only literally holding the mouth closed until the swallow reflex kicks in, like what you're having to do with Cook, is effective.  

The last time one of our cats had a fight with a neighboring cat and needed an antibiotic, we willingly paid $80 for a robo-injection of antibiotic that was enough to deliver the medicine for 3 days, which greatly reduced the time needed to deliver the rest orally.    I'd have paid more than that to avoid this kind of drama and fighting with my girl.

Good luck - I hope she turns a corner soon!


----------



## Gary A.

Another fight, after about ten to 15 minutes of holding her mouth Gary filled up a syringe and squirted some water to wash it down ... that sorta worked.  We had a chat with the hospital on a request for liquid medicine and/or a solution to this problem.  After a long discussion the hospital concluded that she was very strong-willed and very smart.  The hospital did hit upon a possible solution of grinding up the pills and mix with water and shoot the mess down her throat via a syringe. Cook won't even take the time/trouble to eat around the treat, if she smells/tastes a potentially tainted "treat' in her bowl, she'll pick it up and make a neat pile of the offending food next to her dish. If Gary hand feeds her she'll either refuse the treat or take it gently and lay it on the ground. 

She does not wolf down her food.  Example: She wouldn't eat bacon.  If Gary placed bacon in her dish, she would pluck it out and pile it next to the dish.  After years of this, Gary finally got tired of her attitude ... what man or beast doesn't like bacon ... and stuck it in her and clamped it shut.  She discovered that bacon was pretty good stuff.  Now, she eats bacon, but chews and chews and chews the hell out of it savoring every morsel.  She is not like your average dog. (She evens plays with her poop.  There is a short three foot high retaining wall in the back.  Gary has watched her carefully backup to the edge of the wall and poop so that the poop falls the three feet.)


----------



## Gary A.

Okay, one more example ... Mary Lou purchased a footrest. Cook watched Mary Lou use the stool.  A few hours later, Cook tried it out for herself.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are off to Dana Point for the Doheney Blues Festival.


----------



## Gary A.

We are here. Wonderful beach weather. Gary and Mary Lou are at the Sailor Jerry stage ... maybe 20 yards from the turquoise Pacific. When we walked in there were some surfers and boards ... it reminded Gary of The Endless Summer.


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## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 121989 We are here. Wonderful beach weather. Gary and Mary Lou are at the Sailor Jerry stage ... maybe 20 yards from the turquoise Pacific. When we walked in there were some surfers and boards ... it reminded Gary of The Endless Summer.


Good times

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## Gary A.

Kirk Fletcher just finished setting his guitar on fire and now Edgar Winter is on the Doheny Stage with the beach right there ... Yes, good times.


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## Gary A.

Nicki Bluhm and the Gamblers. She's like a cross between Linda Ronstadt and a Nora Jones.


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## Gary A.

Aaron Neville was super. Now there is this Englander, James Hunter, who sounds like James Brown complete with a soulful sax.


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## jcdeboever

Always liked Neville, he has to getting up there in age. 

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## Gary A.

Here's something you don't see everyday.


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## limr

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 122003 Here's something you don't see everyday.



What, the red hair? That matches the sweater?


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## limr

Hey hosers! 

It's been a long but fun Saturday. We drove north today because Andrej managed to reserve a spot for a portfolio review at the Center for Photography at Woodstock. We were both thinking of signing up, but then the spots ran out. He decided to go on the waiting list and then got a call 2-3 days ago that a spot opened up. I decided to skip it this time because I didn't really have time to put together anything to show - nothing cohesive, anyway. Apparently they just started doing these portfolio reviews in January, and they'll do another one in the fall. These are all sort of beta tests and after this year, they will do a big annual portfolio review weekend. You can sign up for several slots to get feedback from different people. I'm definitely going to sign up for the one coming up in the fall.

Then we went to lunch, drove back home, and went to dinner with his parents. While we were there, a couple was sat at the table next to us and I realized it was a woman that I went to middle and high school with and hadn't seen in over 20 years. Turns out she now lives in the town next to mine, so we exchanged contact info.

We went to dinner in a town that Buzz and I often go to for pictures or brunch or to poke into a few of our favorite junk shops. It's also near a lot of hiking trails, although we don't really hike those trails that often anymore. A couple of years ago, the NY Times did an article about all the great hiking trails that are right off the commuter train stop, and now, it's overrun with weekend warriors from March to November. It's awful, so we go to the trails that they haven't discovered yet.

Down the side street where we often park, there's a super friendly black cat that likes to come out and play when we walk by. I took to calling him Mr.Fluffy, though we did find out from his owner that his real name is Spike. I still call him Mr.Fluffy. He was out tonight and apparently starved for attention because he followed me for about 3 blocks before he finally stopped and made his way back home. He rubbed against my leg with every step and was so impatient for his head scritches that he kept jumping up to reach my hand as I reached down to pet him. When I got home, my own cats sniffed my pant legs for 5 solid minutes.

Here he is looking mean (though he is anything but!)



Day 60 - Mr Fluffy for Caturday by limrodrigues, on Flickr

Here he is trying to get more attention:



Day 117 - Mr Fluffy by limrodrigues, on Flickr


And that was Leo's Saturday.


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## terri

He looks sweet, and I love his front stoop!    Looks like a great place to sit and pet a kitty while sipping coffee (or wine).    I think it's sweet that he has pegged you as a buddy and demands attention when he sees you.   Animals are so smart, with amazing memories.  

That reminds me - we have had some hummingbirds moving into the area lately.   Talk about amazing memories - we didn't have the feeder out yet, and the first one into the yard made his presence known by buzzing right up to the corner where we always keep it (though empty space at that moment).   He hovered, chattering, went up and down, chattering - no doubt voicing his displeasure at arriving at a known place, only to find it still closed for winter.     I was enchanted with his antics and couldn't get the feeder out and filled quick enough.   He's been there steadily ever since.    When I consider the long distances they travel, and how tiny they are, I'm amazed all over again that they can zoom to an exact location from 6-7 months back.


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## tirediron

terri said:


> He looks sweet, and I love his front stoop!    Looks like a great place to sit and pet a kitty while sipping coffee (or wine).    I think it's sweet that he has pegged you as a buddy and demands attention when he sees you.   Animals are so smart, with amazing memories.
> 
> That reminds me - we have had some hummingbirds moving into the area lately.   Talk about amazing memories - we didn't have the feeder out yet, and the first one into the yard made his presence known by buzzing right up to the corner where we always keep it (though empty space at that moment).   He hovered,* chattering*, went up and down, *chattering* - no doubt *voicing his displeasure* at arriving at a known place, only to find it still closed for winter.     I was enchanted with his antics and couldn't get the feeder out and filled quick enough.   He's been there steadily ever since.    When I consider the long distances they travel, and how tiny they are, I'm amazed all over again that they can zoom to an exact location from 6-7 months back.


You are aware that it's a proven, scientific fact that a hummingbird's vocabulary is 87% profanity, right?


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## vintagesnaps

Wonder if it's a wig? or a dye job, that doesn't look like a color of orange that occurs naturally on someone's head.

Oh, Cook, poor little thing, hope she gets better soon, that gets to be a worry when they won't eat. Is it working to grind up her meds?

Leo that's cool for Buzz, did you say he had the review yet? Just wondering what that was like. I discovered Woodstock not too long ago. (And try searching for Woodstock and photo, you just get hippies! but I found it when I used the entire word photography, geez be picky Google! lol)


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## vintagesnaps

Sharon thinks Gary must've sent John a reaallllly big bottle of wine and he drank the whole thing tonight.

Or he spent the day being a bad influence on hummingbirds.


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## JonA_CT

Good Sunday morning! 

I entered the beers I brewed back a few weeks ago with some friends in a home brewing festival yesterday. It was the first time I've ever shared beer that I've brewed with the general public, and it was awesome to get feedback from a bunch of strangers. The winners were chosen by the attendees, and we managed to placed 3rd out of 16 brewers! We were pretty psyched. 

Gary, I love music festivals. I usually find some really cool music and bands that I wouldn't have discovered otherwise. Sounds like you had a beautiful afternoon.


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## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Leo that's cool for Buzz, did you say he had the review yet? Just wondering what that was like. I discovered Woodstock not too long ago. (And try searching for Woodstock and photo, you just get hippies! but I found it when I used the entire word photography, geez be picky Google! lol)



He had the review and I was able to sit with him while they talked. He didn't have a choice about who reviewed the portfolio, and so he ended up with a guy who writes for Slate's photography blog (Jordan G. Teicher) and talking about online publishing. Buzz would probably have preferred someone with more of a gallery slant, but at this point, both of us are trying to learn about all different angles. The review could have focused a little bit more on the images themselves but otherwise it was quite helpful to know what sorts of things would create interest for an online publication to publish, for example, a photo essay.


----------



## terri

tirediron said:


> You are aware that it's a proven, scientific fact that a hummingbird's vocabulary is 87% profanity, right?



Oh, absolutely!   If they're not cussing out the feeder situation, they're defending it, and oh!  the language they use when chasing off the competition.   So naughty.    Make a sailor blush.


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## terri

JonA_CT said:


> The winners were chosen by the attendees, and we managed to placed 3rd out of 16 brewers!



Well, how cool is that?   You must be doing something right.   Congrats!!


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## minicoop1985

Mmm beer. Congrats!

Just got back from Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Gorgeous place, filled with waterfalls. Will post photos in a few minutes. Man do I have a throbbing headache.


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## minicoop1985

Woke up this morning, and that massive headache (migraine) is absolutely gone. Whew.


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## limr

Morning, hosers.

Yup, migraines just go away when they feel like it, and not a minute sooner


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## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Not too bad a Monday, at least so far.


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## robbins.photo

dlink said:


> Canoodling myself.



Dangerously close to TMI - but at least you didn't include video, so props there.. lol


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## jcdeboever

Morning Hosers. First day to eat solid food! Yeah. Lost 22 lbs in 3 weeks eating oatmeal and ensure. Made two deviled ham sandwiches with a spinach/manderin salad . Can't really tell visually but knocked off two holes on the belt. 

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## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Morning Hosers. First day to eat solid food! Yeah. Lost 22 lbs in 3 weeks eating oatmeal and ensure. Made two deviled ham sandwiches with a spinach/manderin salad . Can't really tell visually but knocked off two holes on the belt.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Congrats on the weight loss!


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## vintagesnaps

Yay, solid food!


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## minicoop1985

That's a helluva way to lose weight...


I got approached by a guy about shooting a track day for his club for a flat fee.  Needless to say, I'm a bit on the overjoyed side. I'm shooting the Porsche Club this weekend, but doing that for a friend and charging per file if people want them. This is the first time I'll be paid up front to go to the track.


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## limr

Morning, hosers.

Tuesday is my Monday.


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## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Tuesday is my Monday.



Which actually has me a bit stumped, I must admit.  Is there actually a nice way of saying "Sucks to be you?"


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## Designer

If I understand the math here, if Tuesday is her "Monday", and Thursday is her "Friday", then her Monday through Friday is only three days long.

Whoo-Hoo!

Correct me if I'm wrong.


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## limr

Designer said:


> If I understand the math here, if Tuesday is her "Monday", and Thursday is her "Friday", then her Monday through Friday is only three days long.
> 
> Whoo-Hoo!
> 
> Correct me if I'm wrong.



You are not wrong   The three-day week makes my "Mondays" more tolerable, to be sure. So does the fact that it lasts only from 10-4 instead of 12-8:30, and there's no grading involved! When I leave at 4, I leave work....ALL work.

I could totally get used to this. Even if I did have to come in 5 days.


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## limr

Summers are easier by a LOT to be sure. It's just unfortunate that the easier schedule also comes with a 60-70% reduction in salary. Still, not as bad as at the other admin job, when that salary dip would be even higher.


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## waday

I hate Tuesday more than Monday. I think I've said this before in this thread, but...

On Monday, people are coming off the weekend, so they're not super focused.
On Wednesday, people are excited about hump day.
On Thursday, people are excited for Friday, thus start to close out their week.
On Friday, people are excited for the weekend, start planning what they're going to do, and close out the previous work week.

Tuesday, however, is stuck in between a lazy Monday and mid-week. The excitement from the past weekend has worn off and you realize you still have 3 more days of work before the next weekend.

At least that's how I see it.

http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/nothing-****s-up-your-friday-like-realizing-that-its-tuesday.jpg


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## jcdeboever

Here's a little New Zealand bunny cuteness to get you through the day.






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## robbins.photo

Even the klipspringer agrees that is shockingly cute.




510 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr


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## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Been dealing with the aftermath of a forum takeover... I had an email address linked to that .com, and now it won't work. Had to change my email address here and several other places. Ugh.


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## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Here's a little New Zealand bunny cuteness to get you through the day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk





robbins.photo said:


> Even the klipspringer agrees that is shockingly cute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 510 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr



Sweetnesses!!

I just took a quick walk to the cafeteria to get some coffee (they serve Starbucks coffee...whew!) and I saw about 3-4 geese families with their goslings. SO HAPPY! It always makes me happy anyway to see the goslings, but you see, our campus has long been a home to a big flock of geese. They were just part of the landscape. Some people hated them, a lot of us loved them, and most were just indifferent.

Well, a member of our new leadership decided they were a nuisance and last year, they all disappeared. Apparently, it's legal to do a periodic "round-up" and have them removed and killed. Over the past year, we've been seeing more geese as they slowly start to repopulate, though we'd go through periods when I wouldn't see them at all and I was afraid there was some ongoing informal (and illegal) extermination.

So this is the first time I've seen goslings in a long time, and as I said, this makes me SO HAPPY!!!


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## Gary A.

"


JonA_CT said:


> Good Sunday morning!
> 
> I entered the beers I brewed back a few weeks ago with some friends in a home brewing festival yesterday. It was the first time I've ever shared beer that I've brewed with the general public, and it was awesome to get feedback from a bunch of strangers. The winners were chosen by the attendees, and we managed to placed 3rd out of 16 brewers! We were pretty psyched.
> 
> Gary, I love music festivals. I usually find some really cool music and bands that I wouldn't have discovered otherwise. Sounds like you had a beautiful afternoon.


Good news on the beer. Gary has been contemplating brew his own beer.  Gary makes his own Orange Liqueur and while he grows Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon, he hasn' any plans on becoming a vintner. But beer is different.

The Doheny Blues was wonderful.  Our favorite venu is the Hollywood Bowl , but this place rivals the bowl.  A completely different experience than the Bowl. Much more casual atmosphere, festival seating ... So spread out a blanket and set up the chairs.  One of the features that really heightens the events at the Bowl is the ability to bring in your own food and drink then picnic at your seats or at a picnic table outside the clamshell. Most all bring especially prepared delights and share food and drink with the neighbors.  The Bowl has character ... Just walking the upon the ground you can feel and hear the greats from the past that performed there.  But Doheny in Dana Point is a State Park encompassing a great surfing area. There's the Pacific, the sand, a fence and then the festival. It was a warm California perfect day with the ocean breezes rustling the palms.  Every performer spoke to the beauty of the venu and the weather. This was my first experience at Doheny Blues, but certainly not my last.


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## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here's a little New Zealand bunny cuteness to get you through the day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Even the klipspringer agrees that is shockingly cute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 510 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Sweetnesses!!
> 
> I just took a quick walk to the cafeteria to get some coffee (they serve Starbucks coffee...whew!) and I saw about 3-4 geese families with their goslings. SO HAPPY! It always makes me happy anyway to see the goslings, but you see, our campus has long been a home to a big flock of geese. They were just part of the landscape. Some people hated them, a lot of us loved them, and most were just indifferent.
> 
> Well, a member of our new leadership decided they were a nuisance and last year, they all disappeared. Apparently, it's legal to do a periodic "round-up" and have them removed and killed. Over the past year, we've been seeing more geese as they slowly start to repopulate, though we'd go through periods when I wouldn't see them at all and I was afraid there was some ongoing informal (and illegal) extermination.
> 
> So this is the first time I've seen goslings in a long time, and as I said, this makes me SO HAPPY!!!
Click to expand...

They can leave a lot of green turds around and people get sick of stepping in them I suppose. It doesn't bother me, it's not like it smells or anything. It's just grass. I mainly worry about hitting them with my golf ball when they are out in the fairway which is usually at least one hole per round. There are pros and cons to everything I guess. 






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## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Mary Lou, The Cook and Gary are on their way for a quick mini vacation to Paso Robles, (wine country).  The Cook finally ate a bit more than a little bit yesterday. Since Tuesday she has eaten the equilivent of about half a can of dog food. Finally, yesterday she caved and ate some ham and some chicken. Taking the medicines started a war ... Now, she has caved in a bit of that, it is not bnearly as much as a struggle as before. She has lost some serious weight.  Hopefully that is all behind us now and there is only one ore day of medicines.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, The Cook and Gary are now in wine country.  Rolling golden hills spotted with oak trees, rows and rows of grapes matching the curvature of the hills and when the grapes stop horse ranches begin.


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## Gary A.




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## JonA_CT

Gary -- you should brew beer. It's not as complicated as people make it out to be. I started here:

How to Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time: John J. Palmer: 9780937381885: Amazon.com: Books

And then figured the rest out using internet forums, like homebrewtalk.com . 

If ever get my copy of the book back from my friend, I'll send it to you.


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## terri

Great news on Cook - she looks like a happy dog in this picture!  



limr said:


> So this is the first time I've seen goslings in a long time, and as I said, this makes me SO HAPPY!!!



I'm always happy to see goslings, because geese just make me happy anywhere I see them.      I think it's great news that the flock is still around, and growing.   I can't imagine anyone not welcoming some wildlife around their workspace, even if it's a college campus.    Amazing what people find to get annoyed over.


----------



## waday

Yep, this hits way too close to home:


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary -- you should brew beer. It's not as complicated as people make it out to be. I started here:
> 
> How to Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time: John J. Palmer: 9780937381885: Amazon.com: Books
> 
> And then figured the rest out using internet forums, like homebrewtalk.com .
> 
> If ever get my copy of the book back from my friend, I'll send it to you.


Thanks Jon. Gary made beer in H/S Chem class. My neighbor makes beer ... He has a sophisticated Macgyver operation going on. It is all a matter of time and energy.


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## jcdeboever

I made it once, tasted like aqua velva after-shave with a hint of burnt popcorn. 

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## Gary A.

Robert Hall, delish.


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## Gary A.

The Albariño at Vina Robles. Guess what Gary is taking home ...


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## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> I made it once, tasted like aqua velva after-shave with a hint of burnt popcorn.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Wow.. that sounds fantastic compared to my first batch.  Any chance you remember the recipe?



Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


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## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I made it once, tasted like aqua velva after-shave with a hint of burnt popcorn.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Wow.. that sounds fantastic compared to my first batch.  Any chance you remember the recipe?
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I was to drunk to remember, I blacked out 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

That Gary's type of beer.


----------



## Gary A.

Oh man the Vina Robles Cabernet smells wonderful.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here's a little New Zealand bunny cuteness to get you through the day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Even the klipspringer agrees that is shockingly cute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 510 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Sweetnesses!!
> 
> I just took a quick walk to the cafeteria to get some coffee (they serve Starbucks coffee...whew!) and I saw about 3-4 geese families with their goslings. SO HAPPY! It always makes me happy anyway to see the goslings, but you see, our campus has long been a home to a big flock of geese. They were just part of the landscape. Some people hated them, a lot of us loved them, and most were just indifferent.
> 
> Well, a member of our new leadership decided they were a nuisance and last year, they all disappeared. Apparently, it's legal to do a periodic "round-up" and have them removed and killed. Over the past year, we've been seeing more geese as they slowly start to repopulate, though we'd go through periods when I wouldn't see them at all and I was afraid there was some ongoing informal (and illegal) extermination.
> 
> So this is the first time I've seen goslings in a long time, and as I said, this makes me SO HAPPY!!!
Click to expand...


Here you go limr


----------



## minicoop1985

@limr here's another for you. Can't believe this shot's two years old.




Up by Michael Long, on Flickr


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> @limr here's another for you. Can't believe this shot's two years old.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Up by Michael Long, on Flickr



Hey, Stop giving her better pics than mine... Lol


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm flattered lol. That shot's two years old and was taken with an ancient Sigma 70-300 that absolutely suuuuuuuucked.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> I'm flattered lol. That shot's two years old and was taken with an ancient Sigma 70-300 that absolutely suuuuuuuucked.



Your not helping, it's getting worse for me by the post....


----------



## minicoop1985

If you blow it up, it's hardly good. It's all kinds of soft.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> If you blow it up, it's hardly good. It's all kinds of soft.



OK, you have the smaller sensor, I win.  As I drive off in my raised 4 x 4 monster truck.


----------



## minicoop1985

I HAD the smaller sensor. lol


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> I HAD the smaller sensor. lol


I'll take things I'd never imagine two guys arguing over for a 1000 Alex.

Oh ya?  Well mine is smaller.  No, mine is absolutely tiny.  

Yikes

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I HAD the smaller sensor. lol
> 
> 
> 
> I'll take things I'd never imagine two guys arguing over for a 1000 Alex.
> 
> Oh ya?  Well mine is smaller.  No, mine is absolutely tiny.
> 
> Yikes
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Your just jealous because you didn't come up with the comedy. [emoji12] 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I HAD the smaller sensor. lol
> 
> 
> 
> I'll take things I'd never imagine two guys arguing over for a 1000 Alex.
> 
> Oh ya?  Well mine is smaller.  No, mine is absolutely tiny.
> 
> Yikes
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Your just jealous because you didn't come up with the comedy. [emoji12]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Guilty as charged.  Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Y'know, it's not the size of the sensor that matters, but the....nah, it's totally the size of the sensor.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mine USED to be bigger than all y'alls.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou's margarita from dinner.  The Fish Gaucho gets four stars.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Just sittin' here with a nice strong cup of coffee-shop coffee.  Not talkin' about sensor sizes or margaritas, just sippin' coffee.


----------



## jcdeboever

Morning Hosers. Sitting in my truck trying to figure out how we are going to take care of all this new business I am landing with a crew that could care less and no one else looking for work, so not like I can fire them. Employees can be a real pain in the ***. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

That sounds like absolutely no fun whatsoever.

I dunno about you guys, but it's one of those mornings where there isn't enough coffee on earth to wake me up. Time for a nap, methinks. And it's only 9:30.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Just sittin' here with a nice strong cup of coffee-shop coffee.  Not talkin' about sensor sizes or margaritas, just sippin' coffee.


Mary Lou's margarita is bigger than your sensor.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary's coffee is being taken at Panolivo Cafe.


----------



## Gary A.

Breakfast is served.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Cook are in the patio. Mary Lou walked into the restaurant and came back with this gorgeous croissant. Cook is back to not eating.


----------



## robbins.photo

And thus I believe it to be time for a random pointless cat picture:




20150822 132 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Breakfast was horrible.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> And thus I believe it to be time for a random pointless cat picture:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 20150822 132 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr



Emo lion is emo.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The hash browns looked a little on the burnt side, but apparently you managed to force it all down anyway. Sorry the Cook is not eating again, (trying to catch up) I thought she was doing better.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> The hash browns looked a little on the burnt side, but apparently you managed to force it all down anyway. Sorry the Cook is not eating again, (trying to catch up) I thought she was doing better.


Thanks Sharon. The hash browns looked a bit overly toasty, but tasted unburnt. She was doing better on Sunday she ate about the equivalent of 1/2 can of dog food (but it was ham).  Since then next to nothing. She is not putting up much of a struggle with her meds, which is good. But Gary hopes her spirit wasn't broken. This is the last day for the meds. Since Friday we've been serving Cook human food, ground turkey, bacon and ham. Her favs ... Nada. Hopefully, again, the meds did a number in her stomach and when the meds end her desire to eat will start up.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> The hash browns looked a little on the burnt side, but apparently you managed to force it all down anyway. Sorry the Cook is not eating again, (trying to catch up) I thought she was doing better.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks Sharon. The hash browns looked a bit overly toasty, but tasted unburnt. She was doing better on Sunday she ate about the equivalent of 1/2 can of dog food (but it was ham).  Since then next to nothing. She is not putting up much of a struggle with her meds, which is good. But Gary hopes her spirit wasn't broken. This is the last day for the meds. Since Friday we've been serving Cook human food, ground turkey, bacon and ham. Her favs ... Nada. Hopefully, again, the meds did a number in her stomach and when the meds end her desire to eat will start up.
Click to expand...

It will, give it a couple days after med regime. She is fine. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> The hash browns looked a little on the burnt side, but apparently you managed to force it all down anyway. Sorry the Cook is not eating again, (trying to catch up) I thought she was doing better.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks Sharon. The hash browns looked a bit overly toasty, but tasted unburnt. She was doing better on Sunday she ate about the equivalent of 1/2 can of dog food (but it was ham).  Since then next to nothing. She is not putting up much of a struggle with her meds, which is good. But Gary hopes her spirit wasn't broken. This is the last day for the meds. Since Friday we've been serving Cook human food, ground turkey, bacon and ham. Her favs ... Nada. Hopefully, again, the meds did a number in her stomach and when the meds end her desire to eat will start up.
Click to expand...


I think that's entirely possible. I know antibiotics tend to mess me up pretty bad (another reason I avoid them unless absolutely necessary  - the only time I've taken them in the past 10 years was when I had my wisdom teeth out and about 6 months before that to clear up an infection before a root canal.) I have to be sure to take them with yogurt, but I don't know if that would help Cook or if she'd even eat/drink yogurt, and if it's the last day of the meds, it's kind of too late anyway. Either way, I hope she starts eating again very soon!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hope that now she won't have to take the meds she'll get her appetite back. I wonder if it will take a little time for her to figure out you're not heading her way with a syringe to make her take something. Kind of is like with a little kid I guess isn't it, she probably doesn't understand what's been going on with you making her swallow that crappy stuff she doesn't like. You might be on her sh%# list for awhile.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Hope that now she won't have to take the meds she'll get her appetite back. I wonder if it will take a little time for her to figure out you're not heading her way with a syringe to make her take something. Kind of is like with a little kid I guess isn't it, she probably doesn't understand what's been going on with you making her swallow that crappy stuff she doesn't like. You might be on her sh%# list for awhile.


Couple days tops. She is recovered and meds have curbed her appetite. Cook will be herself in a couple days. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Hopefully, again, the meds did a number in her stomach and when the meds end her desire to eat will start up.



Try feeding her stuff that is different than her norm.  Imagine you had a really bad tummy ache, if you ate something that made you kind of sick you're going to associate that smell with your tummy ache, even if it is just on a subconscious level.

So switch away from her favorites for a while and give her stuff that smells different.  You might have a lot more luck.


----------



## Gary A.

Cook and Millie at Brecon.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> I don't know if that would help Cook or if she'd even eat/drink yogurt, and if it's the last day of the meds, it's kind of too late anyway.


Ask the vet about a probiotic.  I don't know if it would be the same strains of bacteria in dogs as in humans.  

A couple of days after the end of medication should do it.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know if that would help Cook or if she'd even eat/drink yogurt, and if it's the last day of the meds, it's kind of too late anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> Ask the vet about a probiotic.  I don't know if it would be the same strains of bacteria in dogs as in humans.
> 
> A couple of days after the end of medication should do it.
Click to expand...

Ehhh... I think the amateurbiotics are a better way to go.  MUCH cheaper than the professional variety.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know if that would help Cook or if she'd even eat/drink yogurt, and if it's the last day of the meds, it's kind of too late anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> Ask the vet about a probiotic.  I don't know if it would be the same strains of bacteria in dogs as in humans.
> 
> A couple of days after the end of medication should do it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ehhh... I think the amateurbiotics are a better way to go.  MUCH cheaper than the professional variety.
Click to expand...


Vets recommend mixing some yogurt in cat food when giving cats medication. I know dogs aren't the same, but I also didn't just pull the idea out of, as our beloved Sharon would say, my sit-upon.


----------



## snowbear

Cats: eat food all around the jammin' pill and leave it in an otherwise cleaned out dish.
Dogs: "Rover - Cookie!"  "Slurp, gulp."  The pill has been administered.


----------



## Gary A.

Could would not only eat around the pill, but she would pull the pill out of her dish and place it nicely in the side of her dish.


----------



## Gary A.

This was an amazingly wonderful day. Perfect in every way. We found amazing wineries where every wine was truly a nectar of the Gods.


----------



## jcdeboever

Dog at grandson's baseball game. What a sweetie.


----------



## Designer

Re: Pets and medication.  Oral medication needs to be inserted into their esophagus manually.  Yes, it is not a pleasant chore, with all that dog saliva on your hands, but that's just about the only way.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Cook and Gary hit Mission San Miguel. It was built in 1797.


----------



## Gary A.

Tomorrow we're thinking of hitting some Elephant Seals along the California Central Coast.


----------



## Gary A.

As to today and vino ... OMG ... what a stellar day for wine. Everyplace was exceptional ... Napa, Sonoma exceptional... World class exceptional. If I lived up here I would be an alcoholic, broke but happy.


----------



## Gary A.

More Mission.


----------



## Gary A.

The day was spent driving through oak tree tunnels and drinking fabulous wines.


----------



## terri

Looks beautiful!   So glad you were able to make the trip.   Hope Cook rallies around (again).


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> Re: Pets and medication.  Oral medication needs to be inserted into their esophagus manually.  Yes, it is not a pleasant chore, with all that dog saliva on your hands, but that's just about the only way.


Yes.  I had an epileptic cat and needed to give him phenobarb daily.  Most days were fine but every so often he's run and try to hide, get the pill caught on his tongue and he'd spit it out so you'd have to do it all over again.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, folks. Got woken up by the bladder this morning.... Could still be sleeping but noooooo


----------



## KenC

snowbear said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Re: Pets and medication.  Oral medication needs to be inserted into their esophagus manually.  Yes, it is not a pleasant chore, with all that dog saliva on your hands, but that's just about the only way.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes.  I had an epileptic cat and needed to give him phenobarb daily.  Most days were fine but every so often he's run and try to hide, get the pill caught on his tongue and he'd spit it out so you'd have to do it all over again.
Click to expand...


Yes, always lots of fun.  Some of them are easy, but it's always amazed me that with some of them it takes two adult humans to give a ten-pound cat a pill.


----------



## JonA_CT

Any sort of mundane task really. Even at 90 pounds, our lab is pretty docile, but in order to clip his nails, I have to have him nose-to-nose and in a bear hug.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Luckily, I haven't had to get medicine into the girls, though I did have to treat Gomer Pyle a few times. The first time, I ended up getting a pill gun and it was a life saver. Something like this: Amazon.com : Kruuse Buster Pet Pill/Tablet Syringe with Soft Tip : Pet Care Products : Pet Supplies

You put the barrel into the mouth and then shoot the pill right into the throat. It's fast enough that they are surprised and the pill is already far enough down that it gets swallowed. It takes a couple of tries to get it right, but once you figure it out, it's awesome.

Of course, the next time I had to give Gomer medicine, I insisted on liquid form 

Both the girls had conjunctivitis as kittens, so they got very used to me messing with their eyes. I also started trimming their nails very early and even brushed their teeth once in a while. These days when I need to do any of these things, it's SOOOOO much easier! They're still not happy and I have to be fairly quick or they start squirming, but they'll tolerate it reasonably well overall.


----------



## JonA_CT

Other random thought this morning...I used oldschoolphotolab.com for my last two rolls of film. They got the scans to me super quick (2 days after mailing for color, 3 days for black and white), and I got the negatives back yesterday. 

With the negatives, they put in a hand-written thank you note, and included a few free prints of the photos they liked from my roll.

Super-class act in my opinion, and I know I'll send my future work there.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is drinking hot brown water, aka hotel room brew. The Cook and Millie at Brecon Winery.


----------



## JonA_CT

Hotel room brew is the worst. Well...maybe after 3-hour-old gas station brew.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Other random thought this morning...I used oldschoolphotolab.com for my last two rolls of film. They got the scans to me super quick (2 days after mailing for color, 3 days for black and white), and I got the negatives back yesterday.
> 
> With the negatives, they put in a hand-written thank you note, and included a few free prints of the photos they liked from my roll.
> 
> Super-class act in my opinion, and I know I'll send my future work there.


Jon- You need to start developing your own B&W. It isn't hard or costly. Nor do you need a darkroom environment. Then you modify and  tie in your development to your exposure(s) and vice versa.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is still full from dinner. We went back to the Fish Gaucho. Gary had these enchiladas stuffed with braised short ribs ... Wow-Wow-Wow.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Other random thought this morning...I used oldschoolphotolab.com for my last two rolls of film. They got the scans to me super quick (2 days after mailing for color, 3 days for black and white), and I got the negatives back yesterday.
> 
> With the negatives, they put in a hand-written thank you note, and included a few free prints of the photos they liked from my roll.
> 
> Super-class act in my opinion, and I know I'll send my future work there.
> 
> 
> 
> Jon- You need to start developing your own B&W. It isn't hard or costly. Nor do you need a darkroom environment. Then you modify and  tie in your development to your exposure(s) and vice versa.
Click to expand...

Best advice Gary A gave me so far. If i can do it, anyone can. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Other random thought this morning...I used oldschoolphotolab.com for my last two rolls of film. They got the scans to me super quick (2 days after mailing for color, 3 days for black and white), and I got the negatives back yesterday.
> 
> With the negatives, they put in a hand-written thank you note, and included a few free prints of the photos they liked from my roll.
> 
> Super-class act in my opinion, and I know I'll send my future work there.
> 
> 
> 
> Jon- You need to start developing your own B&W. It isn't hard or costly. Nor do you need a darkroom environment. Then you modify and  tie in your development to your exposure(s) and vice versa.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Best advice Gary A gave me so far. If i can do it, anyone can.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Just be sure that when you do, you include a thank you note.  It's just a classy move.


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Other random thought this morning...I used oldschoolphotolab.com for my last two rolls of film. They got the scans to me super quick (2 days after mailing for color, 3 days for black and white), and I got the negatives back yesterday.
> 
> With the negatives, they put in a hand-written thank you note, and included a few free prints of the photos they liked from my roll.
> 
> Super-class act in my opinion, and I know I'll send my future work there.
> 
> 
> 
> Jon- You need to start developing your own B&W. It isn't hard or costly. Nor do you need a darkroom environment. Then you modify and  tie in your development to your exposure(s) and vice versa.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Best advice Gary A gave me so far. If i can do it, anyone can.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Just be sure that when you do, you include a thank you note.  It's just a classy move.
Click to expand...

They never commented on mine, they must have sucked. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> They never commented on mine, they must have sucked.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Nahh, if they sucked they would have probably included a sympathy card.


----------



## Gary A.

Another Mission snap (iPhone ).


----------



## JonA_CT

I am interested in developing film, but I don't have a scanner, and that seems to be the expensive part of the proposition. Maybe once we take our trip this summer I'll be able to convince my wife that it's a good idea! That's really the sticky point. And finding place for it in our tiny house.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I am interested in developing film, but I don't have a scanner, and that seems to be the expensive part of the proposition. Maybe once we take our trip this summer I'll be able to convince my wife that it's a good idea! That's really the sticky point. And finding place for it in our tiny house.


I just picked up a Canon 8800f for 85 and it does the trick. A little slow but I walk away and do something else. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Thatcher. The weather is absolute perfect.


----------



## robbins.photo

We have reviewed the pictures you sent.  The bison were..  umm.. impressed.




GLSafari 297 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

These are all from the iPhone.  The stuff in my Fuji hopefully is better.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> These are all from the iPhone.  The stuff in my Fuji hopefully is better.



I wouldn't worry about it.  The bison really aren't impressed by much.  They mostly eat, poop, sleep, and of course make baby bison.


----------



## Gary A.

Halter Ranch Vineyard.


----------



## Gary A.

Sarzotti Vineyard.


----------



## jcdeboever

Well, I earned a sizeable commission for April and the extra afforded me to purchase another medium format camera, Agfa Isolette II. It wasn't that expensive but I am interested in the potential. It's a folder and I was inspired by an earlier post a couple weeks ago. I bought this from Jurgen Kreckel and it is very clean and I am very satisfied. He reconditioned it and did an admirable job. There is a gold dial on it and I believe it is a depth of field guide. I have no idea how to use it, I think I might but it doesn't line up with manual. Any guidance would be appreciated. I think if I put f8 at let's say 3 ft mark, that my sharpness is in between the lines to the left and right of the 8. Thanks in advance if I forget. I probably shouldn't post it here but will see if I get my sausage spanked. 



























Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Wow, a red bellows. Red makes it go faster. Yes, the marks to the left and right of the f-stop indicates/measures the DOF.


----------



## Gary A.

We're at dinner and Gary ordered a locally crafted beer and upon it its arrival, Gary stuck his nose into it and took a whiff. (It smelled like beer.)


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Wow, a red bellows. Red makes it go faster. Yes, the marks to the left and right of the f-stop indicates/measures the DOF.


Yeah, black would have been better. I think that is a signature. I don't care for it as it draws attention. Oh well.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's one real pretty camera. I like red bellows.
Beer smells like beer, thanks for that news flash! 

In other news... the white squirrel is back!!! Haven't seen it in ages. Came romping into the middle of the yard, paused briefly - taunting me to dare to even think about grabbing a camera - then bounded across the rest of the yard and under the neighbor's fence. I'll never get a decent picture of it, but then, there's probably a reason I'm not a nature photographer.


----------



## limr

Good night, hosers.

Came home after dinner with Buzz to a house with no power. And apparently a town with no power. Seeing as though there was no storm or high winds or anything, I'm guessing there's a little pimped out boy racer Honda Civic wrapped around a really crucial telephone pole somewhere out there. Good times.

And so it's time to grab a book, the girls, and settle in for a quiet, powerless evening. See y'all tomorrow! Keep your fingers crossed that I wake up to a flashing alarm clock!


----------



## EIngerson

Is it okay to post while boozing it up? Because I just did and I kinda liked it.


----------



## terri

Night Leo!   Hitting the hay here myself shortly.

JC, Jurgen does great work and I like those red bellows!   Have fun with it!   



EIngerson said:


> Is it okay to post while boozing it up?


Not only is it okay, it is greatly encouraged.   Makes for such great reading the morning after, sipping coffee.   Cheers!


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> Is it okay to post while boozing it up? Because I just did and I kinda liked it.


Is there any other way to post?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  This is Gary's, Mary Lou's and Cook's last night in Paso. And this is Cook's last day of medication. There are more than 300 wineries here producing some of the finest wines in the world. This place kicks Temecula's butt.  Gary has often traveled through Paso as he visited other wine areas, but this is Gary's first trip to Paso. Gary is figuring that a four hour drive isn't too bad.  Temecula is only a little more than an hour away, Santa Rita Hills is about 2.5 hours, Paso Robles is four, Sonoma and Napa arroximately  6.5 to 8 hours. Adios Paso, tomorrow Gary's is heading out to Pismo for some clam chowder and then home along the coast.


----------



## EIngerson

Cool, because I just want to say that my auto focus needs micro adjustment and my tripods shaky, but I can still grab another beer and "mess around"


----------



## JonA_CT

Beer makes everything better, although I am leaving this afternoon for a weekend camping trip to a dry campground. C'est la vie. The campground is awesome -- on a decent sized pond with lots of hiking, fast moving streams, a waterfall, etc. Unfortunately, the rangers are over having to arrest people in the middle of the night for drunken douchery. It's okay though, I'll have lots of Polar Seltzer and some freshly brewed sun tea.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mmm beer.

Mornin, hosers. Another downer of a day. Gotta force myself to take the kid to school, but I kinda doubt I'm gonna do anything else. Going to the speed shop tomorrow, then Sunday I've got the Porsche club (was supposed to go tomorrow too, but weather ain't lookin too good). At least there's stuff to look forward to.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

It's Friday! Woot! First day of my weekend. And yes, the power came back on. It actually came back on before I fell asleep, so that was nice.

At the moment I have a warm and sleepy Zelda, curled up and purring on my lap.

Aaaand, being a cat, she jumped off as soon as I typed that.

Going to have a quiet weekend, I imagine. No plans for big parties or anything and I will avoid public spaces as much as I can to stay away from Memorial Day crowds.

(And Zelda is back.)


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> It's Friday! Woot! First day of my weekend. And yes, the power came back on. It actually came back on before I fell asleep, so that was nice.
> 
> At the moment I have a warm and sleepy Zelda, curled up and purring on my lap.
> 
> Aaaand, being a cat, she jumped off as soon as I typed that.
> 
> Going to have a quiet weekend, I imagine. No plans for big parties or anything and I will avoid public spaces as much as I can to stay away from Memorial Day crowds.
> 
> (And Zelda is back.)



Cats.   Like fur covered boomerangs.


----------



## minicoop1985

Man, that was an intense storm. MY LAWN IS LONG ENOUGH. IT CAN STOP RAINING NOW.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Man, that was an intense storm. MY LAWN IS LONG ENOUGH. IT CAN STOP RAINING NOW.



Take it from the resident redneck, if you can still identify the model of the car you have parked on the front lawn, then your grass is just not long enough yet.


----------



## minicoop1985

LOL. I live in the city where they fine you $200 and mow your lawn if it's over 7".


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> LOL. I live in the city where they fine you $200 and mow your lawn if it's over 7".



Which makes me want to apply for the job of the guy that goes out and measures that.. lol


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are taking their coffee in Cambria. Above is Moonstone Beach. (iPhone)


----------



## jcdeboever

Afternoon Hosers. Put out fires all day with customers because of employee challenges. Seemed to smooth everything over so far. I have found the best way is to apologize, admit your mistakes, tell them your solution, apologize, and thank them for their business, face to face. Most customers are pretty understanding if you're sincere, and I am. I never talk bad about employees either, just gives the customer a reason to not buy from you down the line. Ready for the weekend to celebrate and give honor to all our fallen soldiers that gave their life for our freedom. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 122313Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are taking their coffee in Cambria. Above is Moonstone Beach. (iPhone)View attachment 122312



The buffalo like.  So how's Cook doing?


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Afternoon Hosers. Put out fires all day with customers because of employee challenges. Seemed to smooth everything over so far. I have found the best way is to apologize, admit your mistakes, tell them your solution, apologize, and thank them for their business, face to face. Most customers are pretty understanding if you're sincere, and I am. I never talk bad about employees either, just gives the customer a reason to not buy from you down the line. Ready for the weekend to celebrate and give honor to all our fallen soldiers that gave their life for our freedom.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Sort of defeats the purpose of having a voicemail box from whence calls can be deleted without being returned.. but ok, sure.. lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

Todd you're on a roll today! lol you're coming up with some good ones!

I don't know Gary, which do I like best? The coffee, the cake, or the camera? the camera of course.

I see Cook down there under the table and out of the shot; sounded like she was doing better, glad she's out and about with you today, hope she keeps doing okay.


----------



## vintagesnaps

You go right ahead Eric, it's a long holiday weekend coming up. Not that we need an excuse for wine coffee or silliness in the Coffeehouse.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Todd you're on a roll today! lol you're coming up with some good ones!



Thanks VS, though probably not making myself too many friends on the idea for a new business thread.. lol.  



> I don't know Gary, which do I like best? The coffee, the cake, or the camera? the camera of course.



Well the buffalo went ga-ga over the first pic actually.  They liked putting their eye up to the hole and seeing the ocean.  Sort of like a visual seashell I guess.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Todd you're on a roll today! lol you're coming up with some good ones!
> 
> I don't know Gary, which do I like best? The coffee, the cake, or the camera? the camera of course.
> 
> I see Cook down there under the table and out of the shot; sounded like she was doing better, glad she's out and about with you today, hope she keeps doing okay.



Sounds like a movie title: "The coffee, the cake, the camera, and the Cook"


----------



## minicoop1985

Looks like I'll be hitting Road America tomorrow. This weather is so unpredictable. Tomorrow looks like the better of the two days.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are home, (ever be it so humble).


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone - Moonstone Beach

Five objectives today:
1) Moonstone Beach;
2) Cambria;
3) Morro Bay (Rock);
4) Elephant Seals; and
5) Pismo Beach.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone - Morro Rock in Morro Bay.


----------



## Gary A.

Hard to tell from the phone, but those odd, dark, lumps are a herd of Sea Ottors. (The telephoto on the Fuji should do those awfully cute little guys justice.)


----------



## Gary A.

Pismo Beach has one of the best damn clam chowder establishments on the West Coast.


----------



## Gary A.

In a sourdough bowl.


----------



## Gary A.

We forgot about the Elephant Seals.


----------



## limr

That is a very West Coast interpretation of clam chowder 

Morning, Tio! Morning, the rest of you hosers!


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers!

Well, folks, looks like I AM doing the Porsche club today and tomorrow. Sun's shining and drying up the pavement. Much excite, many fun.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> That is a very West Coast interpretation of clam chowder
> 
> Morning, Tio! Morning, the rest of you hosers!


... And that is a good thing.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. This is what Gary found in the back this morning.


----------



## snowbear

Sunflower!  I have a niece (well, MLW has a niece) that loves them.

Odd . . . gold bar under my name.  I don't recall sending them a check.  Maybe it's a gift for surviving a few months of POTM and Photo Challenge stuff.

. . . or I have a secret sugar mama.


----------



## Gary A.

That Sunflower is about a foot across and 6.5' high. It is nice to be home. This is another cool morning, Gary is in the back drinking his coffee, reading the paper and admiring God's handiwork in crafting a giant Sunflower.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

The bees are up early checking out the poppies.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Sunflower!  I have a niece (well, MLW has a niece) that loves them.
> 
> Odd . . . gold bar under my name.  I don't recall sending them a check.  Maybe it's a gift for surviving a few months of POTM and Photo Challenge stuff.
> 
> . . . or I have a secret sugar mama.


Sugar mama

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 122347
> iPhone
> 
> The bees are up early checking out the poppies.


Lions club in your back yard...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou has joined Gary in the back, Mary Lou with her tea and Gary with his coffee.  We are both chipping away on our sourdough bread bowls.  The Cook is extremely happy to be home.  The meds took a toll on her stomach and for a dog that isn't food-driven, it doesn't take much for her to stop eating.  Yesterday Cook had a very good day. Her medication was finished and she ate ... Not a lot ... But she ate. When we hit Moonstone Beach, she turned into a completely different dog. She was extremely animated, pulling the leash here and there, (she rarely pulls the leash). Cook loves the beach, loves exploring the tide pools and just crashing through the waves. Unfortunately, dogs weren't allowed on Moonstone Beach and had to be leashed at Morro Bay.  

And there she is ... She just rounded the corner of the side yard and came over at a nice trot, letting me know she's ready for her walk.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning Hosers. @astroNikon and I went out bird shooting early this morning. Had a great time and learned some more stuff. I got a few birds in flight, some small birds, and some grass/, flower shots. We shot for 2.5 hours, then it was like the lights went off for the bird activity. Good times. Curious to see how a few turned out. Oh, we got a bald eagle but I don't think mine came out good, too far away. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## minicoop1985

Well, so much for track day today. My buddies aren't going until tomorrow, and unless you know someone inside, you can't just be a random spectator. What the hell.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... Yeah What the hell...?


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Sunflower!  I have a niece (well, MLW has a niece) that loves them.
> 
> Odd . . . gold bar under my name.  I don't recall sending them a check.  Maybe it's a gift for surviving a few months of POTM and Photo Challenge stuff.
> 
> . . . or I have a secret sugar mama.



Maybe it's both.


----------



## snowbear

Well, thank you, to whomever.  

Now it's time to go get MLW from her 24-hour work session.


----------



## jcdeboever

This one is for @limr. Astro was like, what the heck are you taking a picture of? I said, "some grass for limr". I still don't think he understood. Lol


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Hosers. Gary played catch-up with the yards today. Mary Lou made some chicken tacos and Gary just finished the tacos, a tomato salad a cider and a Stella out on the patio.  It has been a lovely day.  A Westeria trunk/root just kick Gary's ass. Gary broke a shovel but finally got it out. Cookie loved her morning walk. She loves the freedom of no leash. She chatted with a cat Shen is trying to befriend. She skipped through the creek, chased a squirrel and rolled on her back in the grass with a huge smile on her face.  Best of all, for dinner she ate an entire can of dog food. The Cook is back. You-all are invited to come over for some wine tasting, butterfly watching and some relaxation in the back.  (Quite a few Monarachs and Whites today.)


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> You-all are invited to come over for some wine tasting, butterfly watching and some relaxation in the back.


Be right there.  Well, maybe someday.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You-all are invited to come over for some wine tasting, butterfly watching and some relaxation in the back.
> 
> 
> 
> Be right there.  Well, maybe someday.
Click to expand...

That would be great.  Meanwhile, Mary Lou has done a number of the side grapes.  She is tired of losing most of the grapes to mildew and really opened them up to sunlight and air via heavy clipping.  Now she is attacking the apple tree. Gary, reinvigorated by the beer and cider, has just finished transplanting a potted Basil to the hole where the Wisteria used to live and planted a Kangaroo's Paw into a tall ceramic pot and moved it into the spot where the basil occupied. Mary Lou doesn't think there will be enough sun for the basil under the persimmon tree ... But we'll see.


----------



## Gary A.

The Kangaroo Paw.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardes Hosers. Gary played catch-up with the yards today. Mary Lou made some chicken tacos and Gary just finished the tacos, a tomato salad a cider and a Stella out on the patio.  It has been a lovely day.  A Westeria trunk/root just kick Gary's ass. Gary broke a shovel but finally got it out. Cookie loved her morning walk. She loves the freedom of no leash. She chatted with a cat Shen is trying to befriend. She skipped through the creek, chased a squirrel and rolled on her back in the grass with a huge smile on her face.  Best of all, for dinner she ate an entire can of dog food. The Cook is back. You-all are invited to come over for some wine tasting, butterfly watching and some relaxation in the back.  (Quite a few Monarachs and Whites today.)



The Cook is back!!


----------



## jcdeboever

I told you Cook was good to go!

Best way to pull stuff is to call me and I will run over and pull it out with my truck. Less labor, more Stella time.


----------



## Designer

Been raining here the past three days.  I mowed the back yard during a lull in the rain.  Weeds are gaining on me.  We don't have any edible plants around here.  Years ago we grew a large vegetable garden, but it was too much work.  I can barely keep up with the weeds.  

I am looking at the weather forecast for next week, thinking that I might be able to paint the new siding then.  Just pulled the winter cover off the pool today.  Then it was raining again, so I did not get the pump going yet.  Maybe tomorrow.  

Our local supermarket had hamburger patties and brats on special so I stocked up.  Froze most of it.  Still have to get my grille cleaned up after the winter layoff.


----------



## Designer

jcdeboever said:


> Best way to pull stuff is to call me and I will run over and pull it out with my truck. Less labor, more Stella time.


You have a stump-puller?  That runs on Stella Artois?  Cool!


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardes Hosers. Gary played catch-up with the yards today. Mary Lou made some chicken tacos and Gary just finished the tacos, a tomato salad a cider and a Stella out on the patio.  It has been a lovely day.  A Westeria trunk/root just kick Gary's ass. Gary broke a shovel but finally got it out. Cookie loved her morning walk. She loves the freedom of no leash. She chatted with a cat Shen is trying to befriend. She skipped through the creek, chased a squirrel and rolled on her back in the grass with a huge smile on her face.  Best of all, for dinner she ate an entire can of dog food. The Cook is back. You-all are invited to come over for some wine tasting, butterfly watching and some relaxation in the back.  (Quite a few Monarachs and Whites today.)


Wonderful news!   So happy she's finally feeling like herself again.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Best way to pull stuff is to call me and I will run over and pull it out with my truck. Less labor, more Stella time.
> 
> 
> 
> You have a stump-puller?  That runs on Stella Artois?  Cool!
Click to expand...

I have one also, it is called Gary. (It bitches a lot so doesn't come highly recommended.)


----------



## Gary A.

Cookie thanks all for their concerns.  She has lost some weight ... but the worst is behind her.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Been raining here the past three days.  I mowed the back yard during a lull in the rain.  Weeds are gaining on me.  We don't have any edible plants around here.  Years ago we grew a large vegetable garden, but it was too much work.  I can barely keep up with the weeds.
> 
> I am looking at the weather forecast for next week, thinking that I might be able to paint the new siding then.  Just pulled the winter cover off the pool today.  Then it was raining again, so I did not get the pump going yet.  Maybe tomorrow.
> 
> Our local supermarket had hamburger patties and brats on special so I stocked up.  Froze most of it.  Still have to get my grille cleaned up after the winter layoff.


Mowing wet grass isn't pleasant. Most of Gary veggies are in pots with a drip system.  Makes weeding easy, but Gary still has a big slug/snail problem. Man, it looks as if un-Wintering is a lot of work. Gary thinks wine would help.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Man, it looks as if un-Wintering is a lot of work. Gary thinks wine would help.


Gary can't un-winter; Gary doesn't have winter to un- from. Gary would have to go far to the east or far to the north to  even see winter.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Mowing wet grass isn't pleasant. Most of Gary veggies are in pots with a drip system.  Makes weeding easy, but Gary still has a big slug/snail problem. Man, it looks as if un-Wintering is a lot of work. Gary thinks wine would help.


Fortunately, the lull was long enough that the grass was dry.

As to opening the pool, I've had enough experience with it that I'm not intimidated or frustrated by it.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Been raining here the past three days.  I mowed the back yard during a lull in the rain.  Weeds are gaining on me.  We don't have any edible plants around here.  Years ago we grew a large vegetable garden, but it was too much work.  I can barely keep up with the weeds.
> 
> I am looking at the weather forecast for next week, thinking that I might be able to paint the new siding then.  Just pulled the winter cover off the pool today.  Then it was raining again, so I did not get the pump going yet.  Maybe tomorrow.
> 
> Our local supermarket had hamburger patties and brats on special so I stocked up.  Froze most of it.  Still have to get my grille cleaned up after the winter layoff.
> 
> 
> 
> Mowing wet grass isn't pleasant. Most of Gary veggies are in pots with a drip system.  Makes weeding easy, but Gary still has a big slug/snail problem. Man, it looks as if un-Wintering is a lot of work. Gary thinks wine would help.
Click to expand...

You Bet Your Garden - Seventeen Sure-Fire Ways To Stop Slimy Slugs

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. I gotta mow my lawn. It's ridiculous. Mowed it last week and it just grew like crazy.

Going back to Road America today. This time I'll be able to get in, at least. Ugh.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. I gotta mow my lawn. It's ridiculous. Mowed it last week and it just grew like crazy.
> 
> Going back to Road America today. This time I'll be able to get in, at least. Ugh.



I have been having to cut mine twice a week.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Man, it looks as if un-Wintering is a lot of work. Gary thinks wine would help.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary can't un-winter; Gary doesn't have winter to un- from. Gary would have to go far to the east or far to the north to  even see winter.
Click to expand...


Yes, it makes me feel sad for Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Man, it looks as if un-Wintering is a lot of work. Gary thinks wine would help.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary can't un-winter; Gary doesn't have winter to un- from. Gary would have to go far to the east or far to the north to  even see winter.
Click to expand...

Not really, Gary could move less than an hour away to Mt. Baldy Village and have snow all winter ... or an hour ana half away to Big Bear or Arrowhead or Wrightwood and have snow all winter, plus ski lifts and lakes and streams and pine forests.  But Gary likes the beach and green all year long and unfrozen koi ponds and Gary probably would not like to un-Winterize.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Been raining here the past three days.  I mowed the back yard during a lull in the rain.  Weeds are gaining on me.  We don't have any edible plants around here.  Years ago we grew a large vegetable garden, but it was too much work.  I can barely keep up with the weeds.
> 
> I am looking at the weather forecast for next week, thinking that I might be able to paint the new siding then.  Just pulled the winter cover off the pool today.  Then it was raining again, so I did not get the pump going yet.  Maybe tomorrow.
> 
> Our local supermarket had hamburger patties and brats on special so I stocked up.  Froze most of it.  Still have to get my grille cleaned up after the winter layoff.
> 
> 
> 
> Mowing wet grass isn't pleasant. Most of Gary veggies are in pots with a drip system.  Makes weeding easy, but Gary still has a big slug/snail problem. Man, it looks as if un-Wintering is a lot of work. Gary thinks wine would help.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You Bet Your Garden - Seventeen Sure-Fire Ways To Stop Slimy Slugs
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

LOL ... thank you JC. Gary already employs most of those non-chemical methodologies.  Gary doesn't use any "cides" and Gary realises that spinach with a few teeth marks tastes as good as spinach without teeth marks. The expert left out Gary prefered tool, a 3:1 solution of ammonia and water in a spritzer bottle.  Works like a charm and the ammonia probably help the plants. Gary does use pet-safe pellets on the orchids, which are in the front where the Cook doesn't roam. Oh, and Gary has predatory snails which prey upon the plant eating snails.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Man, it looks as if un-Wintering is a lot of work. Gary thinks wine would help.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary can't un-winter; Gary doesn't have winter to un- from. Gary would have to go far to the east or far to the north to  even see winter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, it makes me feel sad for Gary.
Click to expand...

Hey, somebody has to live in California.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mornin, hosers. I gotta mow my lawn. It's ridiculous. Mowed it last week and it just grew like crazy.
> 
> Going back to Road America today. This time I'll be able to get in, at least. Ugh.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have been having to cut mine twice a week.
Click to expand...

Gary is very very close to begin digging out the front yard and planting succulents and drought resistant native plants. He may even start next week.  Gary doesn't like mowing, even though it is good exercise. The succulents and drought resistant plants will lower Gary's irrigation requirements.  The Central Coast, (Paso Robles), where Gary, Mary Lou and Cook just visited, is being hit extremely hard by the drought.  There are signs everywhere to conserve water ... "Brown is the New Green" and more direct commands ... Water Twice a Week.  Here we have mandatory restrictions to three times a week, but SoCal is better prepared for drought than other parts of the state where water was typically plentiful. The place where we stayed had a green common area of sages, lavender and low growing roses, which looked inviting but also drought tolerant.

Speaking of Paso Robles ... Mary Lou planned our trip to avoid the crowds wine tasting over the three day weekend.  It worked out fabulously, no lines and parking was plentiful. Gary tips his hat to Mary Lou.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Man, it looks as if un-Wintering is a lot of work. Gary thinks wine would help.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary can't un-winter; Gary doesn't have winter to un- from. Gary would have to go far to the east or far to the north to  even see winter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, it makes me feel sad for Gary.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Hey, somebody has to live in California.
Click to expand...


Somebody would be like a fish out of water in California


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Man, it looks as if un-Wintering is a lot of work. Gary thinks wine would help.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary can't un-winter; Gary doesn't have winter to un- from. Gary would have to go far to the east or far to the north to  even see winter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, it makes me feel sad for Gary.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Hey, somebody has to live in California.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Somebody would be like a fish out of water in California
Click to expand...

You'd love the Northern Coast, Mendocino has Leo written all over it. A very quaint artist village and in summer probably doesn't get warmer than the low 70's if that. This is from Mendocino.Com so read this with some salt:

"Mendocino weather doesn't vary much. The cool ocean breezes, keep the average daily high in the 60's during the summer months. The winter daytime temps are usually in the 50's to low 60's, cooler at night and if stormy (of course). As you go inland and into Mendocino's Wine Country, the daytime highs average in the 70's, up into the 90's in the summertime. 

WINTER is crisp, with an occasional storm. It's amazing to be here after a good storm blows through; the sun shines, the birds sing and the ocean dances for you! 
SPRING brings perfect kite flying days with an occasional shower to water the incredible flowers you'll see everywhere.
SUMMER - Ahh, the most popular time of year! Mostly because kids are out of school and "IT'S ALWAYS COOL IN MENDOCINO!"
FALL is probably the most beautiful time of year (weather wise) it doesn't get any better than Indian summer conditions.
Regardless of the season, It's always beautiful here!"

It has always been jacket cool, (pour moi), whenever I visit Mendocino.  But I think you would definitely love living in Mendocino.


----------



## Designer

One would still need to drive to the snow, but it's not terribly far.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Give the Cook a pat on the head for us, glad she's getting more perky.

Rain here too, and way too muggy for this early, like a wet blanket out there. Having a lazy day.

But it's time for some hockey! championship of the Memorial Cup. (Gee don't they like David Branch there in Alberta?? although it's nothing compared to what Buttman gets at every NHL Draft or anything he shows up at! lol)

You'd think by now between taking it in high school and watching hockey, I'd know more French. Time for Oh Canada (the words to which I learned in college but just in English) then drop the puck and let's play hockey!


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> *"Mendocino weather doesn't vary much.* The cool ocean breezes, keep the average daily high in the 60's during the summer months. The winter daytime temps are usually in the 50's to low 60's, cooler at night and if stormy (of course). As you go inland and into Mendocino's Wine Country, the daytime highs average in the 70's, up into the 90's in the summertime.
> 
> *It has always been jacket cool,* (pour moi), whenever I visit Mendocino.  But I think you would definitely love living in Mendocino.



In terms of weather, the bolded parts are the deal breakers. I like seasons - so much so that when I don't have them, I get anxious and depressed. Seriously. As for "jacket cool" - winter needs to be "parka cold" for me 

And let's not forget that the weather is not the only factor. Culturally, I am hopelessly Northeastern. I really don't belong anywhere else in the country. I had an easier time adjusting to life in a different country


----------



## Gary A.

Ahhh what do you know ...? lol  Gary still thinks you would love Mendocino, this quirky little artist colony on a fabulous coast with 100' high cliffs, stormy waves, huge Redwoods, fine wines and small inviting saloons and restaurants. If you want cold then head up to the Lake Tahoe area ... there are Glaciers up there ... parka weather all year long. (Winter in Mendocino is parka time, windy, cold and wet but not sub-zero, freezing one's a$$ off cold.)


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou have been working in the yard, a lot of trimming and transplanting and now a glass of vino, Viognier for Mary Lou and a tasty little Chardonnay for Gary. Gary is starting to process some stuff that was due weeks ago.  Better late than never is Gary's motto.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> One would still need to drive to the snow, but it's not terribly far.


WHY would one ever need that?????


----------



## jcdeboever

Good evening Hosers. My son came by to spend the night, nice surprise. We aput brakes and rotors on his car and We are going to replace his quarter panel, rear cover, bump the edge of the door and blend color. Stuff been sitting in my pull barn to long. Almost got the brakes done in an hour, ha, I still got it. Going out to cut the corner panel off, he took the damaged cover off. Color is off but I'll just sweep the side with a long, staggered color blend, clear the whole side and deck lid. I will tint the color to match the driver side quarter to the bumper. Flippin color way off on the side tone, I think the guys at the paint store over shot the magenta in the mix by a half gram. I'll will kill it with some weak green.  Guess Dad's are good for some things. My goal is to get it painted tonight, put back together around 10. I'll have it done by noon tomorrow, then party at the in-laws why it bakes some more in the sun. My primer will get accelerated and short baked using infrared heat. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Good for you! Man, I'd love to be your son. The only painting I know how to do is some random Tagging.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Good for you! Man, I'd love to be your son. The only painting I know how to do is some random Tagging.


Nope, because I would beat your ass for defacing people's property. Lol 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Carne Asada on the propane. It smells sooooo jammin' good.


----------



## Gary A.

And it was good. Mary Lou and Gary have retired to the fire pit to finish our vino.  (PS- That's driftwood from Moonstone Beach.)


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good for you! Man, I'd love to be your son. The only painting I know how to do is some random Tagging.
> 
> 
> 
> Nope, because I would beat your ass for defacing people's property. Lol
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Exactly, you would be a great father for me ... kicking my butt and everything.


----------



## pgriz

Designer said:


> Been raining here the past three days.  I mowed the back yard during a lull in the rain.  Weeds are gaining on me.  We don't have any edible plants around here.  Years ago we grew a large vegetable garden, but it was too much work.  I can barely keep up with the weeds.
> 
> I am looking at the weather forecast for next week, thinking that I might be able to paint the new siding then.  Just pulled the winter cover off the pool today.  Then it was raining again, so I did not get the pump going yet.  Maybe tomorrow.
> 
> Our local supermarket had hamburger patties and brats on special so I stocked up.  Froze most of it.  Still have to get my grille cleaned up after the winter layoff.



You need edible weeds.  Then weeding, and garden upkeep become a thing of the past.


----------



## Designer

pgriz said:


> You need edible weeds.  Then weeding, and garden upkeep become a thing of the past.


I've heard of people eating dandelion greens, but we would have to be herbivores to eat enough to make a difference.


----------



## snowbear

Get a goat.

Hey, Paul - how have you been?


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> Get a goat.
> 
> Hey, Paul - how have you been?



Been pretty good.  Thanks for asking.  Not much photography going on - various projects and activities are soaking up "free" time (a misnomer if there ever was one).  However, every so often, I pop in here because of the many good people here.  You included.


----------



## pgriz

Designer said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> You need edible weeds.  Then weeding, and garden upkeep become a thing of the past.
> 
> 
> 
> I've heard of people eating dandelion greens, but we would have to be herbivores to eat enough to make a difference.
Click to expand...


Well, time for the scientists to figure out how to marry carrots to dandelions (every dandelion you pull up becomes an addition to your pantry), Romaine lettuce to plantains, strawberries to clover, tomatoes to ragweed, and so on.  Surely we can make GM (genetically-modified) to work for us, instead of Monsanto.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 122438 And it was good. Mary Lou and Gary have retired to the fire pit to finish our vino.  (PS- That's driftwood from Moonstone Beach.)


Sooo.... how do you cook driftwood to make it palatable?


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Get a goat.
> 
> Hey, Paul - how have you been?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Been pretty good.  Thanks for asking.  Not much photography going on - various projects and activities are soaking up "free" time (a misnomer if there ever was one).  However, every so often, I pop in here because of the many good people here.  You included.
Click to expand...


Why, thank you. 

I know what you mean.  Work has been busy, but my main project has come to an end.  I am finishing up the documentation and the maintenance is being handed over to another agency.  I've since set up two quick web applications and am getting back into the education part of being an intern.


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 122438 And it was good. Mary Lou and Gary have retired to the fire pit to finish our vino.  (PS- That's driftwood from Moonstone Beach.)
> 
> 
> 
> Sooo.... how do you cook driftwood to make it palatable?
Click to expand...


Serve it to a beaver or a woodpecker?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  This is another cool morning.  Gary was working in the patio, drinking his coffee, reading the paper and working on some photos ... But it got too dang cold, so now he's in the kitchen having a nice pancake breakfast and feeding The Cook bacon.  The past few days she's been eating up a storm ... Making up for lost time Gary guesses. 

The pancakes are gone and Gary has to get a walk into the pooch.  I hope you all have a respectful Memorial Day.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, hosers. Not sure if I posted it yesterday, but Porsche Club was a success. I should have some customers from this.


----------



## EIngerson

Sgt Rice. Never forgotten by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## JonA_CT

I hope everyone had a restful weekend. Mine was pretty uneventful, although I'm bummed because I had planned a golden hour walk for myself on the shore with some cool buildings last night. First, the fog rolled in early, and then, I realized I left my tripod at my parent's house. Oh well.

I have a job interview tomorrow. I wasn't really looking for a job, so it's a little awkward going into it. Teaching contracts are weird -- they vary wildly town to town, and the job I'm interviewing for is 20 minutes closer to my house (15 minutes vs. 35 minutes for the drive) and pays roughly $8K more for the same thing I do now. It's only partly about those things though -- I really like the people and community I work with right now. I'm not sure if I'm willing to risk that part for the money and commute, as I've worked in a toxic environment previously and it made me not want to teach anymore.

Gonna give it my best shot tomorrow, but it's been weighing on my mind for the last week.


----------



## Gary A.

Per Gary's posts, he took a quick mini vacation.  99.9% of his images were shot with primes. Gary really enjoyed that experience over the zooms.  Gary plans to acquire more primes and retire his zooms.


----------



## JonA_CT

Which primes do you prefer?

I'm getting ready to return the telephoto zoom I bought, because I realized that I would only use it if I were planning on taking portraits, which is maybe 10% of the time I use my camera. It's huge and heavy. I know it'll be the last choice if I'm strapping a lens on to carry on.  I'm going to replace it with a nice, fast 50mm lens I think -- I think it'll be a good choice for an every day lens for me.


----------



## robbins.photo

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 122438 And it was good. Mary Lou and Gary have retired to the fire pit to finish our vino.  (PS- That's driftwood from Moonstone Beach.)
> 
> 
> 
> Sooo.... how do you cook driftwood to make it palatable?
Click to expand...


Worcestershire sauce, naturally.


----------



## KenC

JonA_CT said:


> Which primes do you prefer?
> 
> I'm getting ready to return the telephoto zoom I bought, because I realized that I would only use it if I were planning on taking portraits, which is maybe 10% of the time I use my camera. It's huge and heavy. I know it'll be the last choice if I'm strapping a lens on to carry on.  I'm going to replace it with a nice, fast 50mm lens I think -- I think it'll be a good choice for an every day lens for me.



It all depends on what you need in an "every day lens" - lately I've been walking around mainly with my 70-300 L.  For a while I used a 35/2 IS (APS-C body) but I guess I'm just not doing quite the same sort of thing lately.  Of course there are some images you can do pretty much equally well with different lenses.


----------



## minicoop1985

I've been walking around with my 70-200 mostly, because racecar. Need a longer lens to get photos like this uncropped:




996 GT3 by Michael Long, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 122438 And it was good. Mary Lou and Gary have retired to the fire pit to finish our vino.  (PS- That's driftwood from Moonstone Beach.)
> 
> 
> 
> Sooo.... how do you cook driftwood to make it palatable?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Worcestershire sauce, naturally.
Click to expand...

Naturally ...


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Which primes do you prefer?
> 
> I'm getting ready to return the telephoto zoom I bought, because I realized that I would only use it if I were planning on taking portraits, which is maybe 10% of the time I use my camera. It's huge and heavy. I know it'll be the last choice if I'm strapping a lens on to carry on.  I'm going to replace it with a nice, fast 50mm lens I think -- I think it'll be a good choice for an every day lens for me.


Sorta depends on what Gary is shooting.  For the mini-vacation, Gary took everything in a couple of bags, his big zooms in the larger Domke bag and his smaller and shorter primes in a sling-backpack type bag.  Gary is shooting APS-C format and largely used a 32mm Zeiss and a 12mm Zeiss for his mini vacation shots.  But for the Otter images he shot a Fujinon 200-400 out of the big bag.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Which primes do you prefer?
> 
> I'm getting ready to return the telephoto zoom I bought, because I realized that I would only use it if I were planning on taking portraits, which is maybe 10% of the time I use my camera. It's huge and heavy. I know it'll be the last choice if I'm strapping a lens on to carry on.  I'm going to replace it with a nice, fast 50mm lens I think -- I think it'll be a good choice for an every day lens for me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It all depends on what you need in an "every day lens" - lately I've been walking around mainly with my 70-300 L.  For a while I used a 35/2 IS (APS-C body) but I guess I'm just not doing quite the same sort of thing lately.  Of course there are some images you can do pretty much equally well with different lenses.
Click to expand...

When Gary seriously shoots Street, he'll slap something long (50-140) on one camera and something wide (10-24 or 16-55) on a second body.


----------



## JonA_CT

The vast majority of what I take pictures of is with my family and often times inside -- although maybe not as much with the weather nice these days. I think the 50mm will work -- I have a light 17-35mm zoom and a light 28-75 zoom that I love using too.

I've also found myself shooting almost all of my film at 35mm...I think that has more to do with what I shoot with a manual focus lens than anything else htough.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

My first lens that I bought with the K1000 was a Takumar 28-80mm zoom. I shot with that for 20 years before I ever got a prime lens. These days, I shoot almost exclusively with a prime. I only bring the Takumar out for vacations where space is an issue and I would rather fill that space with a different camera rather than a bunch of lenses.

I think shooting with the zoom made me more aware of composition, but using primes makes me more creative with my composition because of the limitations they impose.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> My first lens that I bought with the K1000 was a Takumar 28-80mm zoom. I shot with that for 20 years before I ever got a prime lens. These days, I shoot almost exclusively with a prime. I only bring the Takumar out for vacations where space is an issue and I would rather fill that space with a different camera rather than a bunch of lenses.
> 
> I think shooting with the zoom made me more aware of composition, but using primes makes me more creative with my composition because of the limitations they impose.



I'd love to pickup a couple of primes myself now that I've gone full frame, have to replace my telephoto with something a bit faster first though.  Plus the primes for FX just aren't dirt cheap the way they were for DX format.  Sigh.  Oh well, enjoy FX too much to switch back.


----------



## snowbear

I just went with doubling: 24mm, 50mm, 105mm (macro); they are mainly used on a film body so there's no 35mm, but the D40 works with them.


----------



## Gary A.

A few snaps from the Whitney High School Talent Show:

#1






#2





#3





#4


----------



## minicoop1985

How do you avoid noise with such a small sensor???


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. I'm up before the kid today. By a long shot. Wow.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> How do you avoid noise with such a small sensor???


Dunno really ... no PS noise reduction has been applied to these images. Gary suspects careful metering helps ... Gary didn't shoot above ISO 3200 with the XT1's and experimented with 6400 on the XP2. Fuji can answer your question better than Gary.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Ken is working at home today and still in his underwear.


----------



## robbins.photo

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Ken is working at home today and still in his underwear.



Which is why I come here each day to read the Coffee House.  For the stunning mental imagery.

Thanks Ken!

Yikes....

Lol


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

It's been a hell of a week so far, and it's only Wednesday. Morning.


----------



## Rick50

If anyone here likes dark humor go see the movie "The Lobster". Had me rolling -

The Lobster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


----------



## waday

limr said:


> It's been a hell of a week so far, and it's only Wednesday. Morning.


Totally agree.

The boss was in a biking accident over the holiday weekend, breaking several bones (a couple in the back). Thankfully, she's doing well, just lots of pain. It's been a very busy/hectic week thus far, and it'll likely be like this for the next few weeks, at least.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's been a hell of a week so far, and it's only Wednesday. Morning.
> 
> 
> 
> Totally agree.
> 
> The boss was in a biking accident over the holiday weekend, breaking several bones (a couple in the back). Thankfully, she's doing well, just lots of pain. It's been a very busy/hectic week thus far, and it'll likely be like this for the next few weeks, at least.
Click to expand...


Ouch.


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's been a hell of a week so far, and it's only Wednesday. Morning.
> 
> 
> 
> Totally agree.
> 
> The boss was in a biking accident over the holiday weekend, breaking several bones (a couple in the back). Thankfully, she's doing well, just lots of pain. It's been a very busy/hectic week thus far, and it'll likely be like this for the next few weeks, at least.
Click to expand...


Ouch.  Well I hope she gets to feeling better soon.   Honestly though I can't help but think this is yet another disaster that may have been averted had she simply been a fan of "Top Gear".


----------



## vintagesnaps

Naturally...


----------



## jcdeboever

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Ken is working at home today and still in his underwear.


I'm on the road and not wearing any. Free balling...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Is it TMI day on TPF?


----------



## astroNikon

limr said:


> Is it TMI day on TPF?


Apparently


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Is it TMI day on TPF?



When isn't it TMI day on TPF?

I mean have you ever read anything Gary A has written?

Lol..

Love ya Gary A... Love ya man.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it TMI day on TPF?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When isn't it TMI day on TPF?
> 
> I mean have you ever read anything Gary A has written?
> 
> Lol..
> 
> Love ya Gary A... Love ya man.
Click to expand...


Ah, but Gary's detailed food, wine, plants and weather reports aren't TMI. True, it's a lot of information, but learning about what cloth may or may not be cradling someone's man bits? TOO much. The worst thing that can happen reading Tio's posts is that you skim over the details when you're not in the mood or don't eat meat or don't have a green thumb. Y'know, for example  But they don't make you go all squinty-eyed and say...aloud...to no one in particular...,"Awww, man, now who needed to know that???"


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Ah, but Gary's detailed food, wine, plants and weather reports aren't TMI. True, it's a lot of information, but learning about what cloth may or may not be cradling someone's man bits? TOO much. The worst thing that can happen reading Tio's posts is that you skim over the details when you're not in the mood or don't eat meat or don't have a green thumb. Y'know, for example  But they don't make you go all squinty-eyed and say...aloud...to no one in particular...,"Awww, man, now who needed to know that???"



So, 37 paragraphs on Gary A's day.. just enough information.  1 sentence about man bits, too much information.

Hmmm...

Ya, not even going to debate that either.. lol


----------



## jcdeboever

Ummm....I took the opportunity to make a funny. I am properly dressed. Now the date link? Man I could put some doozies in that thread but i will refrain. 


Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Ummm....I took the opportunity to make a funny. I am properly dressed. Now the date link? Man I could put some doozies in that thread but i will refrain.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



It was a funny. I was just teasing you. To make a second funny


----------



## astroNikon

TMI ALERT !!
TMI ALERT !!
TMI ALERT !!
TMI ALERT !!


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Ummm....I took the opportunity to make a funny. I am properly dressed. Now the date link? Man I could put some doozies in that thread but i will refrain.
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Ok, well not being sure if this is his first date with her or his first date ever I'm working really, really hard to be supportive.

I'm probably failing at it miserably because it's way outside my comfort zone, but dammit I am making an effort.. lol


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ummm....I took the opportunity to make a funny. I am properly dressed. Now the date link? Man I could put some doozies in that thread but i will refrain.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was a funny. I was just teasing you. To make a second funny
Click to expand...


She thought she'd just dangle that in front of you.

Wow..


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, but Gary's detailed food, wine, plants and weather reports aren't TMI. True, it's a lot of information, but learning about what cloth may or may not be cradling someone's man bits? TOO much. The worst thing that can happen reading Tio's posts is that you skim over the details when you're not in the mood or don't eat meat or don't have a green thumb. Y'know, for example  But they don't make you go all squinty-eyed and say...aloud...to no one in particular...,"Awww, man, now who needed to know that???"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So, 37 paragraphs on Gary A's day.. just enough information.  1 sentence about man bits, too much information.
> 
> Hmmm...
> 
> Ya, not even going to debate that either.. lol
Click to expand...

Yes it is ... and Gary would love to hear about youse people's days as well. Gary cares about all youse.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, but Gary's detailed food, wine, plants and weather reports aren't TMI. True, it's a lot of information, but learning about what cloth may or may not be cradling someone's man bits? TOO much. The worst thing that can happen reading Tio's posts is that you skim over the details when you're not in the mood or don't eat meat or don't have a green thumb. Y'know, for example  But they don't make you go all squinty-eyed and say...aloud...to no one in particular...,"Awww, man, now who needed to know that???"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So, 37 paragraphs on Gary A's day.. just enough information.  1 sentence about man bits, too much information.
> 
> Hmmm...
> 
> Ya, not even going to debate that either.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes it is ... and Gary would love to hear about youse people's days as well. Gary cares about all youse.
Click to expand...

I went to work.  It sucked.  Waiting now so I can go home.  

Umm..  ya, that's pretty much it really.  Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

32 years ago, today!





'morning, peeps.  Yes, that is a bagpiper off to the side.  Scottish pipes and an Italian restaurant; I always was one to blend the cultures of my heritage.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> 32 years ago, today!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 'morning, peeps.  Yes, that is a bagpiper off to the side.  Scottish pipes and an Italian restaurant; I always was one to blend the cultures of my heritage.


Wow, that is great, Congrats.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Happy Anniversary to the Bear and Lobster family!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!

Happy Anniversary to Snowbear, even though he still hasn't removed the dandruff from that photo.


----------



## robbins.photo

Congrats Snowbear.  Happy Anniversary, and many more to come.


----------



## Gary A.

Happy Anniversary Bear.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> 32 years ago, today!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 'morning, peeps.  Yes, that is a bagpiper off to the side.  Scottish pipes and an Italian restaurant; I always was one to blend the cultures of my heritage.


Alternate title:  "Portrait of a patient lady"


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> 32 years ago, today!
> 'morning, peeps.  Yes, that is a bagpiper off to the side.  Scottish pipes and an Italian restaurant; I always was one to blend the cultures of my heritage.


Happy Anniversary!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is a bright, non-overcast, shadows on the ground morning here.  Gary suspects this will be a warmer day then we've been experiencing out here in the west. Maybe it will hit 80F today. Gary wants a chicken or two for the back ... he can take them for walks and they'll eat the slugs and be great companions for the fish. Gary has been shooting his XP2 in JPEG. (He hasn't had the time to learn the new Fuji RAW program.) Gary is going back to RAW.  To Gary JPEGs are like slides, you gotta get it right everytime ... no real margin for error.  Gary makes a lot of errors, (E4 is Gary's nickname).  RAW is like negative film, you can shoot while drinking coffee and smoking a cig ... and make up for it in the darkroom. In the old days the problem with smoking while shooting is if you hold the cig in your right hand the ash falls on the crank and after a bit sorta gums up all the little gears and stuff ... if you hold it in your left hand and focus a wide angle ... you can stick the hot end in your eye or ear (but that will only happen once). These new weather-sealed, auto focusing, non-crank digital cameras make life a lot easier for photogs ... Gary is surprised that they don't come with cup holders and ashtrays.


----------



## JacaRanda

snowbear said:


> 32 years ago, today!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 'morning, peeps.  Yes, that is a bagpiper off to the side.  Scottish pipes and an Italian restaurant; I always was one to blend the cultures of my heritage.



Happy Happy Anniversary!!!


----------



## terri

Happy Anniversary, Bear!  That's lovely! 

We finally got some much-needed rain here last night.  It only got mildly scary once, when the wind was blowing so hard it was making the bird feeder stand horizontally for a few minutes.  While we were trying to decide where best to take cover, it quieted down to just a hard rain.     It went on hours and was a beautiful thing!

This morning is now all about cleaning up the yard.


----------



## astroNikon

snowbear said:


> 32 years ago, today!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 'morning, peeps.  Yes, that is a bagpiper off to the side.  Scottish pipes and an Italian restaurant; I always was one to blend the cultures of my heritage.


Congrats on 32 years !!


----------



## minicoop1985

Happy anniversary!

Mornin, hosers. Been working on some stuff, trying to make something work, but it just plain doesn't. Putting a car in a different setting, and I have absolutely no photos that work with it.


----------



## limr

Note to self: Never go to a 10:30 meeting with chatty person on a day when you've forgotten to eat breakfast.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Happy anniversary!
> 
> Mornin, hosers. Been working on some stuff, trying to make something work, but it just plain doesn't. Putting a car in a different setting, and I have absolutely no photos that work with it.



Ok, well from experience.. in the lake, doesn't work.  Don't ask me how I know this.  Just take my word for it.


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy anniversary!
> 
> Mornin, hosers. Been working on some stuff, trying to make something work, but it just plain doesn't. Putting a car in a different setting, and I have absolutely no photos that work with it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, well from experience.. in the lake, doesn't work.  Don't ask me how I know this.  Just take my word for it.
Click to expand...

Oh, it could work, but the car won't afterwards. Unless you find a big enough waterproof case for it...


----------



## minicoop1985

I could try that for sh*ts and giggles. I've done dumber edits before.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Congrats Snowbear! You two looked awfully happy in that picture, hope you have a wonderful anniversary.

There seems to be a Seinfeld that comes to mind for just about any life experience.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Note to self: Never go to a 10:30 meeting with chatty person on a day when you've forgotten to eat breakfast.


FTFY


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> .. meeting with chatty person..


For some people that is apparently the only time they get to talk.  Satisfying a need to hear the sound of their own voice.  And whatever they have to say is informative, entertaining, and funny.  

Idea: Next time just send your tape recorder in your place.


----------



## snowbear

Thank you, all (or y'all for the Georgia peach in the crowd),  We got home a couple of minutes ago and will be heading out for dinner at the better local Chinese restaurant.  It's a sit-down place and MLW will get the crispy duck, which she adores.

We are getting rain tonight. I hope it cools it off, but I am doubtful.  The A/C was shut off, at work, over the holiday weekend and still isn't back to normal.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Thank you, all (or y'all for the Georgia peach in the crowd),  We got home a couple of minutes ago and will be heading out for dinner at the better local Chinese restaurant.  It's a sit-down place and MLW will get the crispy duck, which she adores.
> 
> We are getting rain tonight. I hope it cools it off, but I am doubtful.  The A/C was shut off, at work, over the holiday weekend and still isn't back to normal.


----------



## JonA_CT

Enjoy your anniversary dinner!

My week has been absolutely nuts. Between having to submit my evaluation paperwork, interviewing for a new job, and grades and comments for the end of the school year, I am in that stage where I wake up 4AM everyday to think about all of the things I have to do that day. Completely counterproductive, of course. 

I did get a call back for the job though. I'll go back in on Monday to teach a sample lesson. It's one of the most awkward inventions ever. Plan a lesson for a class that you've never met, that doesn't fit any curriculum progression they are in, and have between 5-10 adults in the room while you teach it. Another one of the best parts of teaching.

Final random thought -- my daughter took a bath in the normal tub for the first time tonight . In truly the worst case lighting, without my flash anywhere near by, I managed to get this at 6400 ISO...honestly not bad noise wise, IMO. The shot wouldn't have been possible with my old Canon SL1.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Enjoy your anniversary dinner!
> 
> My week has been absolutely nuts. Between having to submit my evaluation paperwork, interviewing for a new job, and grades and comments for the end of the school year, I am in that stage where I wake up 4AM everyday to think about all of the things I have to do that day. Completely counterproductive, of course.
> 
> I did get a call back for the job though. I'll go back in on Monday to teach a sample lesson. It's one of the most awkward inventions ever. Plan a lesson for a class that you've never met, that doesn't fit any curriculum progression they are in, and have between 5-10 adults in the room while you teach it. Another one of the best parts of teaching.
> 
> Final random thought -- my daughter took a bath in the normal tub for the first time tonight . In truly the worst case lighting, without my flash anywhere near by, I managed to get this at 6400 ISO...honestly not bad noise wise, IMO. The shot wouldn't have been possible with my old Canon SL1.View attachment 122672



Sounds like you got it under control for what it's worth. Nice pic of the baby, so cute. The best part as I recall is getting them out and rapping them in a towel while swaddling them. Or using a hand towel and wrapping around their head like mama did... made fr some funny pics.


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> Sounds like you got it under control for what it's worth. Nice pic of the baby, so cute. The best part as I recall is getting them out and rapping them in a towel while swaddling them.



It is! They are so warm and snuggly. Being a father is honestly the coolest thing I've gotten the opportunity to do.


----------



## jcdeboever

Here is one to to cheer you up for the weekend. My goofball son in law, always the jokester. We were talking about pouty lips in fashion photography....






Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

Did you know that if you say the words “rise up lights”, it sounds like an Australian saying the words “razor blades”?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sharon thinks Wade must be having a slow day at work or reaalllly needs the weekend to get here.

Aw Jon what a sweet picture, in the big girl tub. And teaching a sample lesson at a job interview, arrrghhh... am I glad that hadn't come up with that one when I was at that stage of the game. blech


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Sharon thinks Wade must be having a slow day at work or reaalllly needs the weekend to get here.


Wade says yes on both counts, Sharon. But especially on the former and the latter.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Is it just me or does coffee make you poop?


----------



## JonA_CT




----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Is it just me or does coffee make you poop?



Nope.  But reading the word poop makes me...

Umm.... ya, back in a few.


----------



## JonA_CT




----------



## waday




----------



## vintagesnaps

Well I guess the big ape will be gone for awhile... and Jon is really bored at work.

I'm glad my last job interview was my last job interview. Got there and stuck around for 20+ years.

Watching replays this morning of Daryl's House and Later...with Jools Holland. Iggy Pop was coming somewhat close to almost showing his man bits if he hadn't hiked his pants up. By the time you're at the age of having quite an arthritic looking hitch in your giddyup it might be time to not go shirtless on stage anymore. But what the heck it's rock 'n roll. Good song though, 'The Passenger'. And he said 'hourglass ass' without getting censored which is pretty tame for him.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's only the noon news and they're already talking about Friday afternoon traffic. Do I need to say I'm glad I'm not commuting into the city anymore?


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> It's only the noon news and they're already talking about Friday afternoon traffic. Do I need to say I'm glad I'm not commuting into the city anymore?



Well yes of course you need to say it.  I mean if you put it on a bumper sticker now, who's going to see it?


----------



## JonA_CT

Bored? Nah. Just procrastinating. It's a near fatal disease with 9 days of school left.


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> Bored? Nah. Just procrastinating. It's a near fatal disease with 9 days of school left.



I was really thinking about procrastinating today but I think I'll just hold off on that till tomorrow.


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bored? Nah. Just procrastinating. It's a near fatal disease with 9 days of school left.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was really thinking about procrastinating today but I think I'll just hold off on that till tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Never do today what you can postpone 'til tomorrow!


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Never do today what you can postpone 'til tomorrow!



See I'm going to sit down and give that some really serious thought.  Later.  Maybe.


----------



## astroNikon

tirediron said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bored? Nah. Just procrastinating. It's a near fatal disease with 9 days of school left.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was really thinking about procrastinating today but I think I'll just hold off on that till tomorrow.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Never do today what you can postpone 'til tomorrow!
Click to expand...

But it's the weekend.
So postpone until at least Monday.


----------



## tirediron

astroNikon said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bored? Nah. Just procrastinating. It's a near fatal disease with 9 days of school left.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was really thinking about procrastinating today but I think I'll just hold off on that till tomorrow.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Never do today what you can postpone 'til tomorrow!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> But it's the weekend.
> So postpone until at least Monday.
Click to expand...

Well... d'uhh... I didn't think I had to spell it out for you letter by letter!!!


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> Never do today what you can avoid completely!


FIFY


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Well... d'uhh... I didn't think I had to spell it out for you letter by letter!!!



That would be nice.  Oh.. and maybe a video.  I like video.  With cats.  Can it be narrated by cats?  I like cats.


----------



## astroNikon

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well... d'uhh... I didn't think I had to spell it out for you letter by letter!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That would be nice.  Oh.. and maybe a video.  I like video.  With cats.  Can it be narrated by cats?  I like cats.
Click to expand...

I have a better idea.

We should postpone any work until
hey, is that a squirrel ?

I thought I saw a squirrel

SQUIRREL

SQUIRREL !!


----------



## robbins.photo

astroNikon said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well... d'uhh... I didn't think I had to spell it out for you letter by letter!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That would be nice.  Oh.. and maybe a video.  I like video.  With cats.  Can it be narrated by cats?  I like cats.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I have a better idea.
> 
> We should postpone any work until
> hey, is that a squirrel ?
> 
> I thought I saw a squirrel
> 
> SQUIRREL
> 
> SQUIRREL !!
Click to expand...


Well that should keep him harmlessly occupied till at least Monday.  So, all good then.


----------



## EIngerson

WOOOO HOOOO!!!! Thank God It's Friday!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Today was the hottest day of the year. Gary thinks it hit 90F. All the fans are on, Gary and Mary Lou are at the pub table drinking wine, eating artichoke & jalapeno dip, waiting for dinner guests.  Robert Hall Chardonnay from Paso Robles, quite good.  Fortunately the house is well insulated and we rarely need the a/c.

Mary Lou and Gary will be attending the first Hollywood Bowl event of our season, Andrea Bocelli.  So on Sunday, summer will have officially started.  Gary loves summer.


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> WOOOO HOOOO!!!! Thank God It's Friday!!!!


Hey, aren't you a Marine 24/7?


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> WOOOO HOOOO!!!! Thank God It's Friday!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, aren't you a Marine 24/7?
Click to expand...



Yes, but they have to call me in for me to act like it on weekends.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, Master Sergeant, (or whatever rank you are), why can't Gary PM you?


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Iggy Pop was coming somewhat close to almost showing his man bits if he hadn't hiked his pants up. By the time you're at the age of having quite an arthritic looking hitch in your giddyup it might be time to not go shirtless on stage anymore.



I don't think Iggy will ever put a shirt on. And I think that's pretty awesome. 



JonA_CT said:


> Bored? Nah. Just procrastinating. It's a near fatal disease with 9 days of school left.



Ah yes, it's not just seniors that get senioritis  I think teachers get it worse, in fact. They just have to hide it better.



Gary A. said:


> words words words more words....*summer*.


----------



## jcdeboever

My happy place with a happy little tree. No one yells at me here.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Iggy Pop was coming somewhat close to almost showing his man bits if he hadn't hiked his pants up. By the time you're at the age of having quite an arthritic looking hitch in your giddyup it might be time to not go shirtless on stage anymore.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think Iggy will ever put a shirt on. And I think that's pretty awesome.
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bored? Nah. Just procrastinating. It's a near fatal disease with 9 days of school left.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ah yes, it's not just seniors that get senioritis  I think teachers get it worse, in fact. They just have to hide it better.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> words words words more words....*summer*.
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...

LOL!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> My happy place with a happy little tree. No one yells at me here.
> 
> View attachment 122726


What kind of tree is that? Looks like a flock of Flying Nuns.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> My happy place with a happy little tree. No one yells at me here.
> 
> View attachment 122726
> 
> 
> 
> What kind of three is that? Looks like a flock of Flying Nuns.
Click to expand...

It's a Kousa Dogwood. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

In order to erase the image of JC's son-in-law's wedgie and ass, I resorted to editing a few more shots I took to test the K-7. Of course the pictures were of my critters 

Zelda 







Mrs. Parker 





And Bob


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> Hey, Master Sergeant, (or whatever rank you are), why can't Gary PM you?




No idea, I don't have anything set to stop you.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning Hosers.  Off to antique tractor show this morning. It is small so I am not expecting much but who knows I have been surprised before. The major one is that the end of the month, can't wait for it, it is an antique steam tractor show.

Bringing my Agfa Isolette II, 2 rolls of HP5 400, and my D3300/17-50mm 2.8.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## b_twill

tirediron said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bored? Nah. Just procrastinating. It's a near fatal disease with 9 days of school left.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was really thinking about procrastinating today but I think I'll just hold off on that till tomorrow.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Never do today what you can postpone 'til tomorrow!
Click to expand...


If good things come to those who wait, why is procrastination so bad???


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> Good morning Hosers.  Off to antique tractor show this morning. It is small so I am not expecting much but who knows I have been surprised before. The major one is that the end of the month, can't wait for it, it is an antique steam tractor show.
> 
> Bringing my Agfa Isolette II, 2 rolls of HP5 400, and my D3300/17-50mm 2.8.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Sounds like a nice day, JC. I always stop in at the tractor shows at the agricultural fairs that I visit at the summer, but I don't know much about any of what I see. I imagine there are a lot more surviving relics in the Midwest than there are here in New England. Our true farming days have been over for awhile here.

I'm taking it easy today. Sipping coffee right now, and we may take a stroll through the woods later this morning. The school I work at is having a fundraising/community event featuring food trucks. We are planning to attend...it's nice way to see kids in their families outside the school environment. Plus -- there is going to be a fancy grilled cheese truck, and I'm sure some sort of tempting fried food.


----------



## astroNikon

jcdeboever said:


> Good morning Hosers.  Off to antique tractor show this morning. It is small so I am not expecting much but who knows I have been surprised before. The major one is that the end of the month, can't wait for it, it is an antique steam tractor show.
> 
> Bringing my Agfa Isolette II, 2 rolls of HP5 400, and my D3300/17-50mm 2.8.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


where's the one at the end of the month ?


----------



## JonA_CT

Oh btw -- I want to buy some film for the purpose of taking pictures at a bar and around a campfire. It looks like Ilford Delta 3200 is the best choice, but I'm new to this/stupid. The film is rated to 1250, but I set the ASA at 3200 and ask for it to developed how? 

Haha...sorry...and I know this will be easier when I being developing my own film.


----------



## snowbear

If it's Delta 3200, the ISO (nee ASA) is 3200.  The recommended range is 1600-6400.
http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/201071394723115.pdf


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

@JonA_CT Delta 3200 is essentially a film that had a wide latitude and responds well to pushing, which is why it's called 3200 but many people shoot it at something other than box speed. According to the info sheet that Charlie just posted, the times will differ depending on how you rated it. Most labs are probably using Kodak D-76 (though you can ask to be sure) and may be using those times. I'd suggest just telling them how you rated it (did you shoot it at ISO 3200 or at 1600, for example) so they'll be able to check the times. I don't know how knowledgeable they are, so just in case, I might print out and bring that info sheet with you. I can't remember - you've got a local lab or you send it out?

In other news, I got my hairs cut today. Thrilling, I'm sure  Yesterday, Buzz and I drove up to Hudson for lunch and a walkabout. I finally bought a piece of art painted by a local Hudson artist. Been wanting to get a piece for years, ever since I first noticed his work at different places. Then we talked to the guy who owns a little junk shop - sells mostly old records, but also some odds and ends. Interesting guy. Anyway, he told us about Earl, the artist. Also a very interesting story. He was homeless (not anymore) and paints on scraps of wood that he finds at construction sites. His style is very childlike but there's something about them that recalls early surrealist/Dada paintings that appeals to me. And they just make me smile. Every time we went back to Hudson, I thought about buying one. Then I realized they were starting to get more expensive, which means that daytrippers from the city must have "discovered" him. So yesterday, I finally bought one from the guy who originally told us about Earl.

Here's a story about Earl: Earl Swanigan, Outsider Artist

Here's the painting I bought:


----------



## limr

Here's a quote that explains what really impresses me about him and made me want something that he'd painted: (from Hudson 'outsider' Earl Swanigan gallery is the street (video))

"Asked about becoming a "famous" artist, Swanigan laughed.

"I come from down South. The way I came up, my daddy and momma didn't have much. But, I learned from them to be content. Not be competitive."

Swanigan said an art dealer promised him he'd be a millionaire in three years if he came to Germany with him.

"But, that's not how I grew up," Swanigan said. "I'm not rich, but I'm content with what I got. I'm gonna die and leave here anyway, so what does rich do?""


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary likes that story Leo.  Gary can see why you smile. This will be another warm day so Gary has best get a walk into the Cook before it heats up.  Back in the 80'sF today ... surprisingly the humidity was much higher than normal, the humidity will also be in the 80's ... typically it is down around the 50's.


----------



## jcdeboever

astroNikon said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning Hosers.  Off to antique tractor show this morning. It is small so I am not expecting much but who knows I have been surprised before. The major one is that the end of the month, can't wait for it, it is an antique steam tractor show.
> 
> Bringing my Agfa Isolette II, 2 rolls of HP5 400, and my D3300/17-50mm 2.8.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> where's the one at the end of the month ?
Click to expand...

Wauseon, OH. Steam, antique, pulls. Over 1000 at show. I'll drive if you want to go, we can meet at 94/23. I'll take gas pill prior... I'm going on the 25th.
National Threshers Association: Annual Steam Engine, Antique Gas Tractor  Show Information


Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

Yes, it's going to be warm here too.  And dirty.  I replaced the broken discharge pipe (cast iron) with a brand spanking new white PVC.  That actually works.  The man who put the original in was a plumber, but he was not a pool guy, so there were many problems with it for years.

Today I get to clean out the pool house (dried leaves, raccoon poop, a deceased squirrel, you know, the usual.)

I'm sneezing, dripping, and blowing and will continue all day, I'm sure.


----------



## snowbear

Nice painting.  Some day, when I'm braver, I'll post the one I did at the "recycle-into-art" fair that lazy lobster's class put on when he was in high school.



limr said:


> In other news, I got my hairs cut today.


You know the drill - pics or it didn't happen.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Oh btw -- I want to buy some film for the purpose of taking pictures at a bar and around a campfire. It looks like Ilford Delta 3200 is the best choice, but I'm new to this/stupid. The film is rated to 1250, but I set the ASA at 3200 and ask for it to developed how?
> 
> Haha...sorry...and I know this will be easier when I being developing my own film.


Gary thinks that a modern digital camera would serve you best in low light, (a tripod notwithstanding). Unless this is more of an exercise in learning film capabilities ...

In low light careful metering is very important.  If youse gots one, use a spot meter.  You can most likely get away with ASA/ISO 1600 by the campfire. A single candle near the face is good for a 1600 exposure (but a pretty low shutter 1/30 or 1/15).





Tri-X @ 1600

The rest are digital-


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh btw -- I want to buy some film for the purpose of taking pictures at a bar and around a campfire. It looks like Ilford Delta 3200 is the best choice, but I'm new to this/stupid. The film is rated to 1250, but I set the ASA at 3200 and ask for it to developed how?
> 
> Haha...sorry...and I know this will be easier when I being developing my own film.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thinks that a modern digital camera would serve you best in low light, (a tripod notwithstanding). Unless this is more of an exercise in learning film capabilities ...
> 
> In low light careful metering is very important.  If youse gots one, use a spot meter.  You can most likely get away with ASA/ISO 1600 by the campfire. A single candle near the face is good for a 1600 exposure (but a pretty low shutter 1/30 or 1/15).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tri-X @ 1600
Click to expand...


Beautiful work, as always. I love the way you play with light and shadow. I'm looking just to experiment with film, honestly. I've been carrying the film camera places that I wouldn't carry my DSLR because it's a little less conspicuous, and much lighter. Today, I went through a roll in the woods on my hike when I wouldn't have carried a camera before.

This high speed film is for my friend's bachelor party -- if you can call it that. It's really just an excuse for my friends and I go stay in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, eat red meat, drink nice liquor, smoke a cigar or two (or maybe a pipe, as there's a hipster in the group), and hangout by the campfire. Seems like the perfect time to experiment with the film. If everything comes out shitty, it's not a huge loss.


----------



## Gary A.

Then what the hell ... again, careful metering will take you a long ways in low light. (Good luck as you cannot chimp to see how far careful metering has actually taken you.)


----------



## bribrius




----------



## vintagesnaps

Are the marshmellows ready?? lol I'm waiting for a friend, for dinner, so I could eat a marshmellow appetizer about now. Or maybe not...  Just killing time til 6.

Wauseon??!!! I vaguely know where that is, not a town I'd expect to see mentioned on here (I went to BG so I know it's around there somewhere, girl on our floor was from there). Have fun looking at your tractors. The co-op and mill near me delivers home heating oil and gives out a calendar - that's all tractors. Some of the antique ones are kind of cool looking.


----------



## snowbear

Girl on the right with her marshmallow stick across her lap, messing with the phone.


----------



## astroNikon

jcdeboever said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning Hosers.  Off to antique tractor show this morning. It is small so I am not expecting much but who knows I have been surprised before. The major one is that the end of the month, can't wait for it, it is an antique steam tractor show.
> 
> Bringing my Agfa Isolette II, 2 rolls of HP5 400, and my D3300/17-50mm 2.8.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> where's the one at the end of the month ?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wauseon, OH. Steam, antique, pulls. Over 1000 at show. I'll drive if you want to go, we can meet at 94/23. I'll take gas pill prior... I'm going on the 25th.
> National Threshers Association: Annual Steam Engine, Antique Gas Tractor  Show Information
Click to expand...

yeah, let's pencil it in ...


----------



## jcdeboever

astroNikon said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning Hosers.  Off to antique tractor show this morning. It is small so I am not expecting much but who knows I have been surprised before. The major one is that the end of the month, can't wait for it, it is an antique steam tractor show.
> 
> Bringing my Agfa Isolette II, 2 rolls of HP5 400, and my D3300/17-50mm 2.8.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> where's the one at the end of the month ?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wauseon, OH. Steam, antique, pulls. Over 1000 at show. I'll drive if you want to go, we can meet at 94/23. I'll take gas pill prior... I'm going on the 25th.
> National Threshers Association: Annual Steam Engine, Antique Gas Tractor  Show Information
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> yeah, let's pencil it in ...
Click to expand...

Got it. Cool.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Are the marshmellows ready?? lol I'm waiting for a friend, for dinner, so I could eat a marshmellow appetizer about now. Or maybe not...  Just killing time til 6.
> 
> Wauseon??!!! I vaguely know where that is, not a town I'd expect to see mentioned on here (I went to BG so I know it's around there somewhere, girl on our floor was from there). Have fun looking at your tractors. The co-op and mill near me delivers home heating oil and gives out a calendar - that's all tractors. Some of the antique ones are kind of cool looking.


Three isn't a crowd if your game. With 3 taking and posting pics, will have @tirediron canoodling himself in front of his monitor. He will need a roll of brawny near by. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has had a busy day and now he is resting.  Gary just finished dinner and he and Mary Lou are sipping some wonderful Hart Mourvedre ... (it is sooooo good) ... eating some fruit and melon for dessert and watching the Hateful Eight.


----------



## astroNikon

jcdeboever said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning Hosers.  Off to antique tractor show this morning. It is small so I am not expecting much but who knows I have been surprised before. The major one is that the end of the month, can't wait for it, it is an antique steam tractor show.
> 
> Bringing my Agfa Isolette II, 2 rolls of HP5 400, and my D3300/17-50mm 2.8.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> where's the one at the end of the month ?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wauseon, OH. Steam, antique, pulls. Over 1000 at show. I'll drive if you want to go, we can meet at 94/23. I'll take gas pill prior... I'm going on the 25th.
> National Threshers Association: Annual Steam Engine, Antique Gas Tractor  Show Information
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> yeah, let's pencil it in ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Got it. Cool.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I assume you've been to the Henry Ford and perused their tractors .. HenryFord

or the Fire Truck museum in Yspi .. 20150328_FireTruck_Museum

or also in Ypsi the Yankee Air Museum .. 20150404_YankeeAirMuseum


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Yesterday, Buzz and I drove up to Hudson for lunch and a walkabout. I finally bought a piece of art painted by a local Hudson artist. Been wanting to get a piece for years, ever since I first noticed his work at different places. Then we talked to the guy who owns a little junk shop - sells mostly old records, but also some odds and ends. Interesting guy. Anyway, he told us about Earl, the artist. Also a very interesting story. He was homeless (not anymore) and paints on scraps of wood that he finds at construction sites. His style is very childlike but there's something about them that recalls early surrealist/Dada paintings that appeals to me. And they just make me smile. Every time we went back to Hudson, I thought about buying one. Then I realized they were starting to get more expensive, which means that daytrippers from the city must have "discovered" him. So yesterday, I finally bought one from the guy who originally told us about Earl.
> 
> Here's a story about Earl: Earl Swanigan, Outsider Artist
> 
> Here's the painting I bought:
> View attachment 122760


Love it.   Both the painting and his story.    There are wonderful, brilliant artists out there who paint in this style.   Call it childlike, folk art - whatever, it has the ring of simple human authenticity that draws people to it.      I have always enjoyed art that's made from *found* substrates (old wood, paperboard, etc.), so he's right up my alley.   I'm not surprised people began noticing his work, and not surprised he isn't surprised.   hee hee    Congrats on getting something of his!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey Leo, you in particular might like tonight's Columbo... he's at an amusement park where they've got a booth set up to take pictures that visitors can take home. The guy taking the pictures says 'it's a Polaroid system, it's a one shot deal'.

Then he pulls the picture out of the back of the camera and we see - a Polaroid in action! crime solving at its finest! lol while Columbo's looking thru the photos that people didn't buy to try to find the murderer who bumped off Leslie Nielsen early in the episode.


----------



## JonA_CT

Almost 24 hours without a post? Is that a record?

Y'all do anything fun this weekend?


----------



## Gary A.

Summer is here.  Waiting for Andrea Bocelli.


----------



## tirediron

vintagesnaps said:


> Hey Leo, you in particular might like tonight's Columbo... he's at an amusement park where they've got a booth set up to take pictures that visitors can take home. The guy taking the pictures says 'it's a Polaroid system, it's a one shot deal'.
> 
> Then he pulls the picture out of the back of the camera and we see - a Polaroid in action! crime solving at its finest! lol while Columbo's looking thru the photos that people didn't buy to try to find the murderer who bumped off Leslie Nielsen early in the episode.


I'm watching that Columbo!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey Leo, you in particular might like tonight's Columbo... he's at an amusement park where they've got a booth set up to take pictures that visitors can take home. The guy taking the pictures says 'it's a Polaroid system, it's a one shot deal'.
> 
> Then he pulls the picture out of the back of the camera and we see - a Polaroid in action! crime solving at its finest! lol while Columbo's looking thru the photos that people didn't buy to try to find the murderer who bumped off Leslie Nielsen early in the episode.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm watching that Columbo!
Click to expand...


I was watching it for a little while. I came in during the part when he was going through the pictures and then asked her for the negatives.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey Leo, you in particular might like tonight's Columbo... he's at an amusement park where they've got a booth set up to take pictures that visitors can take home. The guy taking the pictures says 'it's a Polaroid system, it's a one shot deal'.
> 
> Then he pulls the picture out of the back of the camera and we see - a Polaroid in action! crime solving at its finest! lol while Columbo's looking thru the photos that people didn't buy to try to find the murderer who bumped off Leslie Nielsen early in the episode.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm watching that Columbo!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I was watching it for a little while. I came in during the part when he was going through the pictures and then asked her for the negatives.
Click to expand...

  I thought I heard you wince!


----------



## pixmedic

San Juan stopover on the way to trinidad!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I've been planning for the final campus visit event for the year. It's coming up on Friday. Filled with nervous energy right now. I almost don't even need coffee. Easy, easy, I said _almost_. It's not like I've gone insane or anything 

So it happen on Friday morning. High school kids leave at 1pm. At 1:30pm, I leave campus to go to my sister's house, where my car will stay for a week. She'll drive me to the airport and I'll fly off to Kansas City to score English Comp AP exams starting on Saturday morning at 8am. Good times, y'all! 

And then I'll come back and start my brand spanking new full-time job that I just accepted at the college. Staff, not faculty (don't even get me started on why I'll never be offered one of those, regardless of my teaching record with them), but a steady paycheck and benefits nonetheless. It's gonna be weird, y'all.


----------



## terri

pixmedic said:


> San Juan stopover on the way to trinidad!




Our Pixmedic, out there saving lives and stamping out disease!   You go, bay-bay!!!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> And then I'll come back and start my brand spanking new full-time job that I just accepted at the college. Staff, not faculty (don't even get me started on why I'll never be offered one of those, regardless of my teaching record with them), but a steady paycheck and benefits nonetheless. It's gonna be weird, y'all.



I'm sure it's all about putrid politics.        Can't escape it on any level.    

On the plus side, congrats on the gig!   Does this mean you won't teach any classes there in the fall?


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Staff, not faculty (don't even get me started on why I'll never be offered one of those, regardless of my teaching record with them), but a steady paycheck and benefits nonetheless. It's gonna be weird, y'all.



Yeah, the academic world has a lot of nonsense, but then so does the corporate world, so you just pick your poison.  A lot to be said for steady paycheck and benefits, though.  Congrats and enjoy!


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> San Juan stopover on the way to trinidad!


I've been meaning to ask Jason, does the 'stache need its own passport?


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Mustache rides?

Anyway, I'm working on composites. Not doing so hot so far. I think I need a better beginning shot and background, but I have no idea what to do.


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


> San Juan stopover on the way to trinidad!



He is ... The Most Interesting Medic in The World...


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> I've been meaning to ask Jason, does the 'stache need its own passport?



Whereas I was really wondering if the TSA runs a comb through it at every airport to check for contraband... or small children.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> I've been planning for the final campus visit event for the year. It's coming up on Friday. Filled with nervous energy right now. I almost don't even need coffee. Easy, easy, I said _almost_. It's not like I've gone insane or anything
> 
> So it happen on Friday morning. High school kids leave at 1pm. At 1:30pm, I leave campus to go to my sister's house, where my car will stay for a week. She'll drive me to the airport and I'll fly off to Kansas City to score English Comp AP exams starting on Saturday morning at 8am. Good times, y'all!
> 
> And then I'll come back and start my brand spanking new full-time job that I just accepted at the college. Staff, not faculty (don't even get me started on why I'll never be offered one of those, regardless of my teaching record with them), but a steady paycheck and benefits nonetheless. It's gonna be weird, y'all.



Congrats on the new job. You will probably love it.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> And then I'll come back and start my brand spanking new full-time job that I just accepted at the college. Staff, not faculty (don't even get me started on why I'll never be offered one of those, regardless of my teaching record with them), but a steady paycheck and benefits nonetheless. It's gonna be weird, y'all.


Congrats!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> I'm sure it's all about putrid politics.        Can't escape it on any level.
> 
> On the plus side, congrats on the gig!   Does this mean you won't teach any classes there in the fall?



Thanks! 

Politics and ego, yes. Why a community college places more importance on a PhD rather than a proven teaching track record is something I'll never understand. 

I do plan on teaching a class for as long as I feel like I want to. I can't teach daytime classes anymore, but there are evening classes I could teach, and in fact, I was already on the schedule for a T-Th class in the Fall so I'm planning to keep that. I sent my new boss an email about it, though I haven't heard back from her so I don't know how she feels about it. I suppose it's possible there might be a reason she doesn't want me to, but I know the employment rules allow me to teach or take an evening class as long as it doesn't interfere with regular working hours. 



KenC said:


> Yeah, the academic world has a lot of nonsense, but then so does the corporate world, so you just pick your poison.  A lot to be said for steady paycheck and benefits, though.  Congrats and enjoy!



And thank you, too! 

It's true. There's poison everywhere, isn't it? And as frustrating as it can be, I know I do better with academic poison than corporate poison, just as long as it's flavored with a little Kool-Aid...


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And then I'll come back and start my brand spanking new full-time job that I just accepted at the college. Staff, not faculty (don't even get me started on why I'll never be offered one of those, regardless of my teaching record with them), but a steady paycheck and benefits nonetheless. It's gonna be weird, y'all.
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats!
Click to expand...


Danke!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Danke!



So now that your officially part of the administration there are some phrases you should probably memorize.

"I'm sorry, that's not my department."

"I understand your concerns.  I don't care about them.. at all.  But I do understand them."

"We'll process that in the order it was received.  We are currently working on requests from 1974 so please don't hold your breath."

"That is so not my problem."


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> San Juan stopover on the way to trinidad!


Looks like you're not too happy about the San Juan Stop-over.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> I've been planning for the final campus visit event for the year. It's coming up on Friday. Filled with nervous energy right now. I almost don't even need coffee. Easy, easy, I said _almost_. It's not like I've gone insane or anything
> 
> So it happen on Friday morning. High school kids leave at 1pm. At 1:30pm, I leave campus to go to my sister's house, where my car will stay for a week. She'll drive me to the airport and I'll fly off to Kansas City to score English Comp AP exams starting on Saturday morning at 8am. Good times, y'all!
> 
> And then I'll come back and start my brand spanking new full-time job that I just accepted at the college. Staff, not faculty (don't even get me started on why I'll never be offered one of those, regardless of my teaching record with them), but a steady paycheck and benefits nonetheless. It's gonna be weird, y'all.


Nuthin' like a Steady Eddie paycheck, bennies and a union to minimize rude behavior. Good for You!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Almost 24 hours without a post? Is that a record?
> 
> Y'all do anything fun this weekend?



Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Andrea Bocelli was amazing, (Mary Lou used magnificent).  Gary has seen him sing before, but this was Bocelli's best performance Gary has attended. As is customary, Gary and Mary Lou dined at the Bowl prior to the performance. Mary Lou and Gary ate croissants Tri-Tip sandwiches, fruit bowls, cheeses and crackers and raspberry cheesecake for dessert.  Gary smoked a Tri-Tip wrapped in herbs, it was juicy and flavorful with a splash of Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce. As this was the first show of the summer for us, we celebrated with a bottle of Vernaccia, this sparkling red wine from Temecula.  It was a magical evening listening to arguable the best male vocalist in the world in a wonderful setting with delicious foods and wine.


----------



## limr

Is it sad that possibly the most exciting thing about this new job at the moment is the prospect of actually going to a doctor without breaking into hives about paying for it? And then needing to see another doctor about the hives?


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Is it sad that possibly the most exciting thing about this new job at the moment is the prospect of actually going to a doctor without breaking into hives about paying for it? And then needing to see another doctor about the hives?



Kind of a disgusting thing for anyone to have to worry about -- but I digress.

Congrats on the new job anyways, though! It's too bad they are looking for PhDs there (I think the glut of them makes it easy...). The CC I work at actually does hire MAs (or even MEds)...or they did. Both of the coordinators I work with there only have a Master's. 

Here's how I feel about the sample lesson and interview this morning: 






Even if I don't get the job, I feel pretty strongly that I wouldn't change anything I said or did.


----------



## JonA_CT

My mom watched my daughter while I interviewed this morning and we went out to lunch after I got home. I managed to get a couple pictures of the two of them together, which is difficult sometimes because my Mom really hates cameras.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it sad that possibly the most exciting thing about this new job at the moment is the prospect of actually going to a doctor without breaking into hives about paying for it? And then needing to see another doctor about the hives?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Kind of a disgusting thing for anyone to have to worry about -- but I digress.
> 
> Congrats on the new job anyways, though! It's too bad they are looking for PhDs there (I think the glut of them makes it easy...). The CC I work at actually does hire MAs (or even MEds)...or they did. Both of the coordinators I work with there only have a Master's.
> 
> Here's how I feel about the sample lesson and interview this morning:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Even if I don't get the job, I feel pretty strongly that I wouldn't change anything I said or did.
Click to expand...


My school doesn't technically require a PhD, and many of our departments hire folks with a Masters, not a doctorate, but our English department (and a few others) won't even look at anyone without a PhD. And even in the other departments, people may be hired without a PhD, but the won't get promoted very far without one.

Part of it might have to do with being in the NYC metro area and competing with so many other 4-year schools that they are trying to make themselves look better? I still say pride and ego have a LOT to do with it. Practicality or investment in teaching, however, doesn't seem to be part of the equation. If I were ever to leave this area, I might have better opportunities, but who knows? And the other factor is, who knows if I would even want one? I've been in the classroom for more than 20 years, and I'm exhausted! To take a faculty position would actually double my grading and add all that committee nonsense to my docket as well. Meh. So instead, I'll take the job with no homework 

Glad to hear the interview went well! And you're right - even if the job goes to someone else, it feels good knowing that it wasn't because of screwing up an interview.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Is it sad that possibly the most exciting thing about this new job at the moment is the prospect of actually going to a doctor without breaking into hives about paying for it? And then needing to see another doctor about the hives?



I think your missing the bigger picture here.  See, you're no longer part of the solution.  You now get all the joy of being part of the problem.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it sad that possibly the most exciting thing about this new job at the moment is the prospect of actually going to a doctor without breaking into hives about paying for it? And then needing to see another doctor about the hives?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think your missing the bigger picture here.  See, you're no longer part of the solution.  You now get all the joy of being part of the problem.
Click to expand...


Oh, I've been a problem for a very very long time. I seriously doubt I'll ever be part of THE problem, however.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Oh, I've been a problem for a very very long time. I seriously doubt I'll ever be part of THE problem, however.



Well try it on for a while, who knows, you just may like it.  Lord knows there have been plenty of times when I've wanted to be able to tell people, no, I'm not going to help you.

Lol


----------



## snowbear

Congrats Leonore.



robbins.photo said:


> So now that your officially part of the administration there are some phrases you should probably memorize.
> 
> "I'm sorry, that's not my department."
> 
> "I understand your concerns.  I don't care about them.. at all.  But I do understand them."
> 
> "We'll process that in the order it was received.  We are currently working on requests from 1974 so please don't hold your breath."
> 
> "That is so not my problem."



And my favorite: "I understand and sympathize with your concerns, but I need you to follow the chain-of-command."


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Gary finished cleaning out a pond filter. Gary started yesterday but couldn't finish because of the appointment with my good friend Andrea Bocelli (The Big "A"). Finally finished the filter, but it was quite tedious.  Thousands of not millions of these 1/2" round filter medium goodies. They look like little wagon wheels, stokes and all. Each and  everyone one was buried in brown sediment goo and very fine tiny pieces of mulch.  The cleaning is finished and everything is back in order, the fish shall swim for another day. (But Gary did have to make a paper gasket because the skinny cheap O-ring, which came with the filter, didn't seat properly.  Mary Lou is out on her walk and now the big question is iced tea, a beer, a cider or vino.  It is 70F right now, so a cold beer isn't calling my name very loudly. Gary is open to suggestions.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Gary finished cleaning out a pond filter. Gary started yesterday but couldn't finish because of the appointment with my good friend Andrea Bocelli (The Big "A"). Finally finished the filter, but it was quite tedious.  Thousands of not millions of these 1/2" round filter medium goodies. They look like little wagon wheels, stokes and all. Each and  everyone one was buried in brown sediment goo and very fine tiny pieces of mulch.  The cleaning is finished and everything is back in order, the fish shall swim for another day. (But Gary did have to make a paper gasket because the skinny cheap O-ring, which came with the filter, didn't seat properly.  Mary Lou is out on her walk and now the big question is iced tea, a beer, a cider or vino.  It is 70F right now, so a cold beer isn't calling my name very loudly. Gary is open to suggestions.


How bout an Arnold Palmer? 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Gary finished cleaning out a pond filter. Gary started yesterday but couldn't finish because of the appointment with my good friend Andrea Bocelli (The Big "A"). Finally finished the filter, but it was quite tedious.  Thousands of not millions of these 1/2" round filter medium goodies. They look like little wagon wheels, stokes and all. Each and  everyone one was buried in brown sediment goo and very fine tiny pieces of mulch.  The cleaning is finished and everything is back in order, the fish shall swim for another day. (But Gary did have to make a paper gasket because the skinny cheap O-ring, which came with the filter, didn't seat properly.  Mary Lou is out on her walk and now the big question is iced tea, a beer, a cider or vino.  It is 70F right now, so a cold beer isn't calling my name very loudly. Gary is open to suggestions.
> 
> 
> 
> How bout an Arnold Palmer?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Haven't played golf since high school ... wait ... hey, that's not a bad idea.  Gary has a ton of lemons and plenty of tea. After his cider Gary will have an Arnold Palmer. Thank you JC.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Gary finished cleaning out a pond filter. Gary started yesterday but couldn't finish because of the appointment with my good friend Andrea Bocelli (The Big "A"). Finally finished the filter, but it was quite tedious.  Thousands of not millions of these 1/2" round filter medium goodies. They look like little wagon wheels, stokes and all. Each and  everyone one was buried in brown sediment goo and very fine tiny pieces of mulch.  The cleaning is finished and everything is back in order, the fish shall swim for another day. (But Gary did have to make a paper gasket because the skinny cheap O-ring, which came with the filter, didn't seat properly.  Mary Lou is out on her walk and now the big question is iced tea, a beer, a cider or vino.  It is 70F right now, so a cold beer isn't calling my name very loudly. Gary is open to suggestions.
> 
> 
> 
> How bout an Arnold Palmer?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Haven't played golf since high school ... wait ... hey, that's not a bad idea.  Gary has a ton of lemons and plenty of tea. After his cider Gary will have an Arnold Palmer. Thank you JC.
Click to expand...

No problem. Now tell me how to get red flowers to look red instead of non detailed flat crap. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> No problem. Now tell me how to get red flowers to look red instead of non detailed flat crap.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Well you can go through all that photography whiz-bang high end technical lighting, take a bunch of seminars and dump a bunch of money on equipment.

Or...

Krylon Shimmer Metallic Spray Paint 11.5 oz. Red


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> No problem. Now tell me how to get red flowers to look red instead of non detailed flat crap.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well you can go through all that photography whiz-bang high end technical lighting, take a bunch of seminars and dump a bunch of money on equipment.
> 
> Or...
> 
> Krylon Shimmer Metallic Spray Paint 11.5 oz. Red
Click to expand...

That's helpful...lol. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> That's helpful...lol.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



What can I say, I'm a giver....

Lol


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Gary finished cleaning out a pond filter. Gary started yesterday but couldn't finish because of the appointment with my good friend Andrea Bocelli (The Big "A"). Finally finished the filter, but it was quite tedious.  Thousands of not millions of these 1/2" round filter medium goodies. They look like little wagon wheels, stokes and all. Each and  everyone one was buried in brown sediment goo and very fine tiny pieces of mulch.  The cleaning is finished and everything is back in order, the fish shall swim for another day. (But Gary did have to make a paper gasket because the skinny cheap O-ring, which came with the filter, didn't seat properly.  Mary Lou is out on her walk and now the big question is iced tea, a beer, a cider or vino.  It is 70F right now, so a cold beer isn't calling my name very loudly. Gary is open to suggestions.
> 
> 
> 
> How bout an Arnold Palmer?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Haven't played golf since high school ... wait ... hey, that's not a bad idea.  Gary has a ton of lemons and plenty of tea. After his cider Gary will have an Arnold Palmer. Thank you JC.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No problem. Now tell me how to get red flowers to look red instead of non detailed flat crap.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Get a Sigma SD1 Merrill DSLR Camera.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. ELECTION DAY!  It is nice that California has finally a bit of a play in the presidential nomination process. Unlike other years when we just sit around waiting, watching the parade go by, this year there is some real primary action here and we feel almost like real participants.

This is another gray morning, June Gloom it's called. Overcast and cool mornings with sunny warm afternoons. My oldest daughter has just purchased her first house in St. Louis.  Gary is all excited for and with her.  They like to BBQ, so Gary is sending her a smoker for their patio.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> They like to BBQ, so Gary is sending her a smoker for their patio.


That will simply not do.  You must go there and show them how to operate it satisfactorily.


----------



## robbins.photo

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> They like to BBQ, so Gary is sending her a smoker for their patio.
> 
> 
> 
> That will simply not do.  You must go there and show them how to operate it satisfactorily.
Click to expand...


----------



## JonA_CT

Pulled out my acoustic guitar this afternoon for some stress relief -- need to play more often, first, because I still love music, and second, because my fretting fingers feel like they are going to bleed. All of the callouses I built up over the years are gone. I guess that is what happens when you aren't playing six 4 hour gigs a month anymore.

I do have a couple of gigs at the end of the summer, but I have plenty of time to get the chops back up to snuff.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> They like to BBQ, so Gary is sending her a smoker for their patio.
> 
> 
> 
> That will simply not do.  You must go there and show them how to operate it satisfactorily.
Click to expand...




Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> They like to BBQ, so Gary is sending her a smoker for their patio.
> 
> 
> 
> That will simply not do.  You must go there and show them how to operate it satisfactorily.
Click to expand...

LOL ... no. (While Gary shall visit ... it will not be to instruct them on how to operate their smoker.) Gary just checked out of Amazon, so the smoker is on the way.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> They like to BBQ, so Gary is sending her a smoker for their patio.
> 
> 
> 
> That will simply not do.  You must go there and show them how to operate it satisfactorily.
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...

It's a smoker, not a grill.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is working in the patio waiting for Mary Lou and looking forward to a glass of vino.  It is a lovely day, warm with a nice breeze causing the grasses to wave and the leaves to shimmer.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Gary is working in the patio waiting for Mary Lou *and looking forward to a glass of vino*.  It is a lovely day, warm with a nice breeze causing the grasses to wave and the leaves to shimmer.


And that's news how?


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Yeah, pretty much the status quo here ...


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou has arrived and the debate here is a glass of wine after we vote ... or do we drink before we vote ... (that's called a softball).


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers.

I'd love a glass of wine right now, but I'm in my danger zone for migraines, so I need to stay away from my triggers. Unfortunately, wine and beer are triggers. Brown liquors are no good, but vodka and gin are somehow acceptable.

My life has been made a thousand times easier this week because the event on Friday was cancelled.  Whew! I'm already quite busy at work as it is without having the event to plan as well. The official start date for my other position is on the 20th, right after I get back from Kansas City, but I'll be sort of back and forth, closing out some things from this job and training for the other one. Some of my duties actually may end up overlapping.

It's fascinating to see the running of the college from a different perspective. I've been involved in the academic side (teaching, placement exam scoring, tutoring) for years, then then I started doing some of the admin work at the tutoring center. Then this position got me more involved in admin. The new position will have me working more closely with admissions, counseling, placement, and institutional research, so it's even deeper into the admin side - not in charge of anything (yet  ) but I'll still need to understand more pieces of the puzzle to do my job well.

It all makes me feel like I've not only pulled back the curtain and seen the man behind the Wizard, but I'm also learning how to turn the dials and make the smoke machine light up the hologram.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary just polished off the Hart Mourvedre ... a delight. Now we're off to vote.  Mary Lou's vote for president is canceling my vote and vice versa.  After the vote some sushi and then home. Leo, if you were here, I'd conjure up a snowball margarita for ya.

Mary Lou just read a facebook update from one of her friends.  It had an image of the "I Voted" sticker they give you at the polls and the message read "Hey Mr. Trump, this Mexican immigrant just voted!" LOL


----------



## terri

limr said:


> My life has been made a thousand times easier this week because the event on Friday was cancelled.



What the heck happened?   I thought it was some kind of big deal for the kids.    (Although I'm happy that you don't have to deal with it, especially with a migraine coming on, so for that part - yay!)     

A beautiful night here.   I love my screened in back porch.   Every night, Mars is right over my shoulder.         There's little light pollution out here, and I delight in the night sky these days.    Wine is flowing here on this Super Tuesday!


----------



## Gary A.

Cheers!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> My life has been made a thousand times easier this week because the event on Friday was cancelled.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What the heck happened?   I thought it was some kind of big deal for the kids.    (Although I'm happy that you don't have to deal with it, especially with a migraine coming on, so for that part - yay!)
> 
> A beautiful night here.   I love my screened in back porch.   Every night, Mars is right over my shoulder.         There's little light pollution out here, and I delight in the night sky these days.    Wine is flowing here on this Super Tuesday!
Click to expand...


It was just bad timing. We had trouble pinning down the date in the first place because of various factors, and as it turns out, planning for a big event for high schools in June is just not a good idea. Proms, finals, regents, awards ceremonies, senior picnics...we would have gotten a pathetic turnout. We also wanted to have a completion/awards ceremony as well, but the problem is that half of the students wouldn't even have final grades yet, so we wouldn't even have complete information about who to give certificates to. 

So no ceremony, but we're also setting up with our admissions office a special registration day for the ones in the program who want to enroll. That's the other thing that has kept me busy lately, is just trying to gather all the info from high schools and also coordinate with the offices responsible for helping us keep track of these kids once they are here. It's a really great program, but the rush to get it off the ground has left us kind of back on our heels all year long.

But hey, it's not boring!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Evening, hosers.
> 
> I'd love a glass of wine right now, but I'm in my danger zone for migraines, so I need to stay away from my triggers. Unfortunately, wine and beer are triggers. Brown liquors are no good, but vodka and gin are somehow acceptable.
> 
> My life has been made a thousand times easier this week because the event on Friday was cancelled.  Whew! I'm already quite busy at work as it is without having the event to plan as well. The official start date for my other position is on the 20th, right after I get back from Kansas City, but I'll be sort of back and forth, closing out some things from this job and training for the other one. Some of my duties actually may end up overlapping.
> 
> It's fascinating to see the running of the college from a different perspective. I've been involved in the academic side (teaching, placement exam scoring, tutoring) for years, then then I started doing some of the admin work at the tutoring center. Then this position got me more involved in admin. The new position will have me working more closely with admissions, counseling, placement, and institutional research, so it's even deeper into the admin side - not in charge of anything (yet  ) but I'll still need to understand more pieces of the puzzle to do my job well.
> 
> It all makes me feel like I've not only pulled back the curtain and seen the man behind the Wizard, but I'm also learning how to turn the dials and make the smoke machine light up the hologram.



Probably a nice cigarette size of some good old california monkey paw would do the trick. It did in the late 70's, early 80's.


----------



## waday

How is it that no one posted in here for two days? 

The wife and I went to the wife's one work event last night. It was an awards ceremony; the wife was a presenter. The photographer there was taking pictures of the presenter and award recipient after each award presentation. The photographer was trying to bounce the flash off the ceiling (which was probably 20-feet high), but when she changed perspectives to get portrait orientation, she never pivoted her flash. So, sitting at the table beside the photographer, we got a flash in our face with every recipient.  I'd love to see those photos prior to her post-processing.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ah. Coffee.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> How is it that no one posted in here for two days?
> 
> The wife and I went to the wife's one work event last night. It was an awards ceremony; the wife was a presenter. The photographer there was taking pictures of the presenter and award recipient after each award presentation. The photographer was trying to bounce the flash off the ceiling (which was probably 20-feet high), but when she changed perspectives to get portrait orientation, she never pivoted her flash. So, sitting at the table beside the photographer, we got a flash in our face with every recipient.  I'd love to see those photos prior to her post-processing.



"Agree" for the first part, "Funny" for the second 

Hey hosers! I've been all a-flutter this week. Getting ready for Kansas City tomorrow. Because of the event that had been planned, I had to schedule a later flight, so I'm not getting in until 10-ish. The event is cancelled, but I'm still going to go into work for a few hours. I have to go down that way anyway since it's south of my house and so is my sister's house (she is driving me to the airport.)

Getting pre-travel jitters. I don't like to fly. I do get a little fearful at take-off, but mostly it's just very uncomfortable and annoying, and it can make me feel claustrophobic. Plus, all the stress of making sure I'm there on time, getting through the connecting flight, blah blah blah. I love traveling once I'm at the destination, but I am not fond of the actual travel part.


----------



## astroNikon

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> How is it that no one posted in here for two days?
> 
> The wife and I went to the wife's one work event last night. It was an awards ceremony; the wife was a presenter. The photographer there was taking pictures of the presenter and award recipient after each award presentation. The photographer was trying to bounce the flash off the ceiling (which was probably 20-feet high), but when she changed perspectives to get portrait orientation, she never pivoted her flash. So, sitting at the table beside the photographer, we got a flash in our face with every recipient.  I'd love to see those photos prior to her post-processing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "Agree" for the first part, "Funny" for the second
> 
> Hey hosers! I've been all a-flutter this week. Getting ready for Kansas City tomorrow. Because of the event that had been planned, I had to schedule a later flight, so I'm not getting in until 10-ish. The event is cancelled, but I'm still going to go into work for a few hours. I have to go down that way anyway since it's south of my house and so is my sister's house (she is driving me to the airport.)
> 
> Getting pre-travel jitters. I don't like to fly. I do get a little fearful at take-off, but mostly it's just very uncomfortable and annoying, and it can make me feel claustrophobic. Plus, all the stress of making sure I'm there on time, getting through the connecting flight, blah blah blah. I love traveling once I'm at the destination, but I am not fond of the actual travel part.
Click to expand...

Have fun.
I don't like to fly either.  I drive a lot when I go on vacations.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Getting pre-travel jitters. I don't like to fly. I do get a little fearful at take-off, but mostly it's just very uncomfortable and annoying, and it can make me feel claustrophobic. Plus, all the stress of making sure I'm there on time, getting through the connecting flight, blah blah blah. I love traveling once I'm at the destination, but I am not fond of the actual travel part.


Good luck with your flight!

I like flying and love the "traveling" part of it, as long as I don't miss connecting flights.  Granted, I've not flown much, so I don't have many horror stories.

Except that one time we went to Florida. We were supposed to get there at 11 AM and didn't get there until 8 PM...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Flying's okay if you aren't young and stupid enough to be up til 5 in the morning drinking scotch and hitting turbulence on the flight home! lol how bright can ya be?

But there's a good bit to do within a couple of hours living in the middle of nowhere between Cincy Dayton Columbus and Indy.

Wait til you experience the excitement of the midwest, Leo, it's a thrill. (You didn't detect any sarcasm in that sentence did you??)


----------



## ClickAddict

waday said:


> How is it that no one posted in here for two days?
> 
> The wife and I went to the wife's one work event last night. It was an awards ceremony; the wife was a presenter. The photographer there was taking pictures of the presenter and award recipient after each award presentation. The photographer was trying to bounce the flash off the ceiling (which was probably 20-feet high), but when she changed perspectives to get portrait orientation, she never pivoted her flash. So, sitting at the table beside the photographer, we got a flash in our face with every recipient.  I'd love to see those photos prior to her post-processing.



Was there someone with a bald head sitting at your table?.....       Maybe she was trying that as a reflector.


----------



## terri

Well, I have news.    As some of you may know, I've been practicing yoga for some years now. Last year I decided to put myself through a yoga teacher training program. I just completed the training, and am now a registered yoga teacher, from a 200-hour training program.

Zero teaching hours, outside of teaching other students, of course - but that's almost secondary to the fun I had going through the training process.  Really wonderful!

So now I am a:

RYT-200 Yoga Teacher


----------



## minicoop1985

Successful day is successful. Took photos for a friend of mine who's drummed up a LOT of business for me. He showed my work to a few of his coworkers and now I have some more prospective clients.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Well, I have news.    As some of you may know, I've been practicing yoga for some years now. Last year I decided to put myself through a yoga teacher training program. I just completed the training, and am now a registered yoga teacher, from a 200-hour training program.
> 
> Zero teaching hours, outside of teaching other students, of course - but that's almost secondary to the fun I had going through the training process.  Really wonderful!
> 
> So now I am a:
> 
> RYT-200 Yoga Teacher



Excellent, congrats!

Namaste, sister


----------



## limr

astroNikon said:


> Have fun.
> I don't like to fly either.  I drive a lot when I go on vacations.



I love a road trip and don't mind a long drive (remember my NC weekend last month? 1500 miles round trip.) Unfortunately, I also like to go places that are too far away or are on the other side of an ocean  And this is also not a vacation. Flights, hotel, and meals are all paid for by the testing company and they don't want people to drive there.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Well, I have news.    As some of you may know, I've been practicing yoga for some years now. Last year I decided to put myself through a yoga teacher training program. I just completed the training, and am now a registered yoga teacher, from a 200-hour training program.
> 
> Zero teaching hours, outside of teaching other students, of course - but that's almost secondary to the fun I had going through the training process.  Really wonderful!
> 
> So now I am a:
> 
> RYT-200 Yoga Teacher


Good Suff!  Gary's best friend from college is a yoga instructor also.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have fun.
> I don't like to fly either.  I drive a lot when I go on vacations.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I love a road trip and don't mind a long drive (remember my NC weekend last month? 1500 miles round trip.) Unfortunately, I also like to go places that are too far away or are on the other side of an ocean  And this is also not a vacation. Flights, hotel, and meals are all paid for by the testing company and they don't want people to drive there.
Click to expand...

Congrats.  In Gary's youth, traveling was part of the job. Some years Gary would spend 200+ days of the road. When Gary took a vacation he just stayed home, (but he lived a block from the beach so how tough was that ...). Now Gary is ambivalent to it all ... If we go someplace, good ... If we don't go someplace, well that's good too.

Flying not's what it used to be ... Gary remembers one time coming back from Paris, (with the yoga instructor), we took armfuls of wine onboard, (some were opened), and we all started drinking even before the plane took off.


----------



## Gary A.

Mexico 2 - Jamaica 0 in the Copa.


----------



## EIngerson

I'm drinking on a school night again. I'm starting to think school makes me drink.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have fun.
> I don't like to fly either.  I drive a lot when I go on vacations.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I love a road trip and don't mind a long drive (remember my NC weekend last month? 1500 miles round trip.) Unfortunately, I also like to go places that are too far away or are on the other side of an ocean  And this is also not a vacation. Flights, hotel, and meals are all paid for by the testing company and they don't want people to drive there.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Congrats.  In my youth, traveling was part of the job. Some years I spent 200+ days of the road. When I took a vacation I just stayed home, (but I lived a block from the beach so how tough was that ...). Now I am ambivalent to it all ... If we go someplace, good ... If we don't go someplace, well that's good too.
> 
> Flying not's what it used to be ... I remember one time coming back from Paris, (with the yoga instructor), we took armfuls of wine onboard, (some were opened), and we all started drinking even before the plane took off.
Click to expand...


I brought 5 bottles of port wine in my carry-on luggage on one flight back to the States for a visit. That was...well crap, that was 15 years ago. What the hell man? That's it, I'm going to bed.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like to fly, I actually like jumping out of them. Good and bad memories, but the feeling is exhilarating. Sometimes after the landing is where the nightmare begins. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## astroNikon

jcdeboever said:


> I like to fly, I actually like jumping out of them. Good and bad memories, but the feeling is exhilarating. Sometimes after the landing is where the nightmare begins.



The last time I went out my chute wouldn't open
so I kept falling.
Luckily the ground stopped my fall otherwise I'd fall forever into space.
stupid nightmares.


----------



## jcdeboever

astroNikon said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like to fly, I actually like jumping out of them. Good and bad memories, but the feeling is exhilarating. Sometimes after the landing is where the nightmare begins.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The last time I went out my chute wouldn't open
> so I kept falling.
> Luckily the ground stopped my fall otherwise I'd fall forever into space.
> stupid nightmares.
Click to expand...

I have had that dream many times.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## ClickAddict

Between the ages of 4-7 I had that dream about 3-4 times a week.  At first I used to wake up heart beating fast, but eventually got to the point I knew I was waking up and it just didn't bother me.  The best was one night I was falling and hit the wing of a plane.  (Big 747 looking type)  I just got up, and jumped to keep going.  I woke hitting the ground as usual and cursing myself, cause I wish I had walked over to the window and tapped to see people's reaction.


----------



## jcdeboever

Wife bought me a Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 APO EX DG HSM OS used. She paid 400 for it which seems like a good deal. Lady from our golf league needed some fast cash. Box, hood, like new. Got to run some more tests, initial tests seem to have good results other than soft corners wide open. Typical funky focus similar to my other Sigma's. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## astroNikon

jcdeboever said:


> Wife bought me a Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 APO EX DG HSM OS used. She paid 400 for it which seems like a good deal. Lady from our golf league needed some fast cash. Box, hood, like new. Got to run some more tests, initial tests seem to have good results other than soft corners wide open. Typical funky focus similar to my other Sigma's.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Wifie is nice.
hope you mentioned that d500 to her a few times here and there ...


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Wife bought me a Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 APO EX DG HSM OS used. She paid 400 for it which seems like a good deal. Lady from our golf league needed some fast cash. Box, hood, like new. Got to run some more tests, initial tests seem to have good results other than soft corners wide open. Typical funky focus similar to my other Sigma's.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Try shutting the OS system off unless your sure you need it.  I had issues with mine in that the OS would activate even at shutter speeds high enough that it shouldn't and as a result it looked like I was missing focus.  Once I shut the OS system down it was sharp as a tack.


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wife bought me a Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 APO EX DG HSM OS used. She paid 400 for it which seems like a good deal. Lady from our golf league needed some fast cash. Box, hood, like new. Got to run some more tests, initial tests seem to have good results other than soft corners wide open. Typical funky focus similar to my other Sigma's.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Try shutting the OS system off unless your sure you need it.  I had issues with mine in that the OS would activate even at shutter speeds high enough that it shouldn't and as a result it looked like I was missing focus.  Once I shut the OS system down it was sharp as a tack.
Click to expand...

Will test that as well. Thanks

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

astroNikon said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wife bought me a Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 APO EX DG HSM OS used. She paid 400 for it which seems like a good deal. Lady from our golf league needed some fast cash. Box, hood, like new. Got to run some more tests, initial tests seem to have good results other than soft corners wide open. Typical funky focus similar to my other Sigma's.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Wifie is nice.
> hope you mentioned that d500 to her a few times here and there ...
Click to expand...

Actually, the D7200. Never considered telling her since it just came out. Heck, I got to get good with the d3300 first. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wife bought me a Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 APO EX DG HSM OS used. She paid 400 for it which seems like a good deal. Lady from our golf league needed some fast cash. Box, hood, like new. Got to run some more tests, initial tests seem to have good results other than soft corners wide open. Typical funky focus similar to my other Sigma's.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Try shutting the OS system off unless your sure you need it.  I had issues with mine in that the OS would activate even at shutter speeds high enough that it shouldn't and as a result it looked like I was missing focus.  Once I shut the OS system down it was sharp as a tack.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Will test that as well. Thanks
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Just FYI she got a smoking deal on that lens, they usually go for around $700-$800


----------



## astroNikon

jcdeboever said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wife bought me a Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 APO EX DG HSM OS used. She paid 400 for it which seems like a good deal. Lady from our golf league needed some fast cash. Box, hood, like new. Got to run some more tests, initial tests seem to have good results other than soft corners wide open. Typical funky focus similar to my other Sigma's.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Wifie is nice.
> hope you mentioned that d500 to her a few times here and there ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Actually, the D7200. Never considered telling her since it just came out. Heck, I got to get good with the d3300 first.
Click to expand...

when I get my d600 back you can borrow it for the tractors (if I get it in time).  I think you'll find that the d3300 is holding you back.  I've helped friends with d3x00 and those drive me batty.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary will be smoking a pork loin all night.


jcdeboever said:


> I like to fly, I actually like jumping out of them. Good and bad memories, but the feeling is exhilarating. Sometimes after the landing is where the nightmare begins.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary will be smoking a pork loin all night.
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like to fly, I actually like jumping out of them. Good and bad memories, but the feeling is exhilarating. Sometimes after the landing is where the nightmare begins.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


OOOOH YEAHHHHHH BABY. Man I miss that! Going to sky dive in Tecumseh for fathers day....

Skydive Tecumseh


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> I like to fly, I actually like jumping out of them. Good and bad memories, but the feeling is exhilarating. Sometimes after the landing is where the nightmare begins.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wife bought me a Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 APO EX DG HSM OS used. She paid 400 for it which seems like a good deal. Lady from our golf league needed some fast cash. Box, hood, like new. Got to run some more tests, initial tests seem to have good results other than soft corners wide open. Typical funky focus similar to my other Sigma's.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Try shutting the OS system off unless your sure you need it.  I had issues with mine in that the OS would activate even at shutter speeds high enough that it shouldn't and as a result it looked like I was missing focus.  Once I shut the OS system down it was sharp as a tack.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Will test that as well. Thanks
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Just FYI she got a smoking deal on that lens, they usually go for around $700-$800
Click to expand...


She had a D7000 with a 18-140 but sold it according to wife. I guess she has a few more odds and ends but I am not interested in those.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is another gray and cool morning here, (so what else is new...). 

Gary just finished processing Whitney High's presentation of 12 Angry Jurors, (aka 12 Angry Men ... but the cast was coed, hence 'Jurors').


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is another gray and cool morning here, (so what else is new...).
> 
> Gary just finished processing Whitney High's presentation of 12 Angry Jurors, (aka 12 Angry Men ... but the cast was coed, hence 'Jurors').



A girl with a switchblade pointed at my gut.

Yup.. that does take me back to high school... 

Great shooting


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is another gray and cool morning here, (so what else is new...).
> 
> Gary just finished processing Whitney High's presentation of 12 Angry Jurors, (aka 12 Angry Men ... but the cast was coed, hence 'Jurors').



Those are great. #4 reminds me of Jack Klugman, they got that one spot on, and your post work really brings it home, like in the movie. 

I am in no way taking anything away from your photography skill,  I *really* like the look that the glass / camera renders in shots 1-2-4-5. What camera and glass were you using? 3 and 6 appear different but I could be wrong.


----------



## jcdeboever

Man, what a bummer. The great Gordie Howe passed away . I met him a few times, super great guy, you won't find a nicer human being. 

Hockey legend Gordie Howe dies at age 88


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. So tired today. Not enough coffee yet. And it's almost 11.


----------



## Gary A.

Fuji cameras with Fuji Glass:

#1
XT1 w/ 16-55 (RAW)

#2
XP2 w/  16-55 (JPEG)

#3
XT1 w/ Rokinon 8mm Fish (RAW)

#4
XP2 w/ 16-55 (JPEG)

#5
XP2 w/ 16-55 (JPEG)

#6
XT1 w/ Rokinon 8mm Fish (RAW)


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Fuji cameras with Fuji Glass:
> 
> #1
> XT1 w/ 16-55 (RAW)
> 
> #2
> XP2 w/  16-55 (JPEG)
> 
> #3
> XT1 w/ Rokinon 8mm Fish (RAW)
> 
> #4
> XP2 w/ 16-55 (JPEG)
> 
> #5
> XP2 w/ 16-55 (JPEG)
> 
> #6
> XT1 w/ Rokinon 8mm Fish (RAW)


Did you have 3 and 6 with wasabi and/or soy sauce?


----------



## Gary A.

Saki ... lots of Saki.


----------



## waday

I ordered some PVC parts for work from a particular company (US Plastic). It came with a pamphlet asking me to say a prayer and have them send me more information on their religion.

What the what? Is this a business or a religious cult? I never knew plastics and Jesus had anything to do with one another.

I'll never order from them again.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has a plastic Jesus on his dashboard ...


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Gary has a plastic Jesus on his dashboard ...


That Jesus was supposed to be plastic, I'm assuming. 

My PVC couplings aren't supposed to be a conduit for religious expression. They're just supposed to carry wire.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Gary has a plastic Jesus on his dashboard ...


When you ordered it did it come with a sheet explaining the miracle of modern plastic and asking you if you'd like more information about PVC pipe?  

Maybe somebody at the plant wasn't paying close attention and the sales literature wound up in the wrong boxes....  

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## Designer

waday said:


> I'll never order from them again.


You can't just let it roll off?  Seems like a hyper-sensitive reason not to patronize them again.  Prices o.k.?  Service o.k.?


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has a plastic Jesus on his dashboard ...
> 
> 
> 
> When you ordered it did it come with a sheet explaining the miracle of modern plastic and asking you if you'd like more information about PVC pipe?
> 
> Maybe somebody at the plant wasn't paying close attention and the sales literature wound up in the wrong boxes....
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

LOL ... yeah, maybe Gary's and Wade's orders got mixed up. My Jesus did come with an extra Schedule 40 valve.


----------



## waday

Designer said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'll never order from them again.
> 
> 
> 
> You can't just let it roll off?  Seems like a hyper-sensitive reason not to patronize them again.  Prices o.k.?  Service o.k.?
Click to expand...

Many of my coworkers have diverse backgrounds with varying religions. The company I work for does not discriminate based on religious beliefs. Many of the companies we work for have similar standards. Shopping with a company that so outwardly displays their religious beliefs is very awkward, especially if someone of a different religion opens a package that greets them with Jesus Christ.

If the CEO wants to be religious, they absolutely can be. That's their right. If I'm given an opportunity to shop with a competitor, I absolutely will. That's my right.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is another gray and cool morning here, (so what else is new...).
> 
> Gary just finished processing Whitney High's presentation of 12 Angry Jurors, (aka 12 Angry Men ... but the cast was coed, hence 'Jurors').


Nice shooting Gary.  I HATE it when people have to f**k with the classics.  It was "born" '12 Angry Men', leave it the f**k alone.  What's next?  'The Mediterranean Avian'?


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is another gray and cool morning here, (so what else is new...).
> 
> Gary just finished processing Whitney High's presentation of 12 Angry Jurors, (aka 12 Angry Men ... but the cast was coed, hence 'Jurors').
> 
> 
> 
> Nice shooting Gary.  I HATE it when people have to f**k with the classics.  It was "born" '12 Angry Men', leave it the f**k alone.  What's next?  'The Mediterranean Avian'?
Click to expand...

That was sorta Gary's initial take as well ... but it's a small school and they most likely couldn't find 12 angry men in the entire school, including the teachers. The name change was more of an expedient practicality than an attempt to pull the rug out from under the original movie.  Gary is fairly certain that had the film been written today, that Rose would have had a coed jury and a title which reflected today's norm. But it still is one helluva story and the drama instructor puts out a very good product for high school kids. (Please forgive the drama instructor for taking a little poetic license.)


----------



## terri

waday said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'll never order from them again.
> 
> 
> 
> You can't just let it roll off?  Seems like a hyper-sensitive reason not to patronize them again.  Prices o.k.?  Service o.k.?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Many of my coworkers have diverse backgrounds with varying religions. The company I work for does not discriminate based on religious beliefs. Many of the companies we work for have similar standards. Shopping with a company that so outwardly displays their religious beliefs is very awkward, especially if someone of a different religion opens a package that greets them with Jesus Christ.
> 
> If the CEO wants to be religious, they absolutely can be. That's their right. If I'm given an opportunity to shop with a competitor, I absolutely will. That's my right.
Click to expand...

I agree completely.  Reminds me of the time when the hubby and I were getting quotes from a couple of painters to do the tallest side of our house.  After going over the details, one of them asked us if we were saved.  Said he really wasn't interested in the job unless we had found Jesus, or words to that effect.  We were both taken aback and offended.   Not much more was said after that, we weren't nasty or anything.  We just wanted them gone.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is back in the patio, drinking a Stella and winding down his day.  He is monitoring a pork loin which has been in the smoker for some 20.5 hours. The pork was rubbed with a concoction of molasses, raw sugar, Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce and herbs. Gary is one degree short of being properly cooked. Gary also made some bread today.  Presently, it is basking in the sun for it's second rise, in a few minutes it will be tossed in the BBQ about the same time as the pork loin is removed from the smoker.  Mary Lou and Gary are going to the Bowl tomorrow for the Playboy Jazz Festival and these two items will make up a significant portion of the provisions for tomorrow.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'll never order from them again.
> 
> 
> 
> You can't just let it roll off?  Seems like a hyper-sensitive reason not to patronize them again.  Prices o.k.?  Service o.k.?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Many of my coworkers have diverse backgrounds with varying religions. The company I work for does not discriminate based on religious beliefs. Many of the companies we work for have similar standards. Shopping with a company that so outwardly displays their religious beliefs is very awkward, especially if someone of a different religion opens a package that greets them with Jesus Christ.
> 
> If the CEO wants to be religious, they absolutely can be. That's their right. If I'm given an opportunity to shop with a competitor, I absolutely will. That's my right.
Click to expand...

Gary just wrote a lengthy reply ... but decided not to post due to possibly stepping on the toes of the TOS. (You're welcome Terri.)


----------



## waday

terri said:


> I agree completely.  Reminds me of the time when the hubby and I were getting quotes from a couple of painters to do the tallest side of our house.  After going over the details, one of them asked us if we were saved.  Said he really wasn't interested in the job unless we had found Jesus, or words to that effect.  We were both taken aback and offended.   Not much more was said after that, we weren't nasty or anything.  We just wanted them gone.


Wow, it's surprising to me that people would turn away work for something like that! That sounds like it was a really awkward situation, at least on your end. I'm sure the painters were used to such reactions, haha.

They may have their principles, and good for them for standing up. But, I have mine, too!


----------



## Gary A.

The bread is done.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Gary just wrote a lengthy reply ... but decided not to post due to possibly stepping on the toes of the TOS. (You're welcome Terri.)



Good boy.        We're just telling anecdotes, but that's about as far as we can take it here.    You can always become a supporting member and join the fun in the Subscriber's Forum, you know.    

@waday: yes, it was not exactly the conversation we were expecting.    I just wish they'd opened with their gambit and saved us all 45 minutes!    No harm, no foul.


----------



## terri

That bread looks gorgeous, Gary!    See, I can easily be happy with the bread, a big salad, and a bottle of red.    Dinner is served!     

I really need to dig out my old focaccia recipe.    It's been way too long, and is laughably easy to make!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary makes his flatbread in the Ninja blender. Takes about 10 minutes to blend and then an hour to rise. The Ninja replaces kneading.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gary makes his flatbread in the Ninja blender. Takes about 10 minutes to blend and then an hour to rise. The Ninja replaces kneading.



But kneading is the fun part!!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary makes his flatbread in the Ninja blender. Takes about 10 minutes to blend and then an hour to rise. The Ninja replaces kneading.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But kneading is the fun part!!
Click to expand...

No Grasshopper ... enjoying the fruits of one's labor is the fun part.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary makes his flatbread in the Ninja blender. Takes about 10 minutes to blend and then an hour to rise. The Ninja replaces kneading.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But kneading is the fun part!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No Grasshopper ... enjoying the fruits of one's labor is the fun part.
Click to expand...


Well, that's fun too, but I seriously think I have just as much fun kneading. It's just so satisfying! 

In other news...

Morning, hosers!

Went to work yesterday morning, and then drove to my sister's house. She lives closer to the airport, so I left my car at her place and she drove me to the airport. We had lunch first and then I got to the airport 2 hours early like a good little girl. Good thing, too, because my flight was delayed, which meant that I would miss my connection in Atlanta, but they were able to book me on a different flight that left at the same time but connected through Detroit. I got to Kansas City at 9:15. My original flights got me in at 10, so that was a Woot! 

I hadn't eaten much during the day - I tend to do better eating very little than eating airport food. When I got to the hotel, there was still a restaurant open serving food at the bar until midnight, so I checked it, threw my bags into the room, and went downstairs for a lovely snack of hummus, edamame and pita, washed down with a glass of Tito's. It was a long day but that was a good way to end it.

And now I'm off to norm!


----------



## Designer

Good normin' to ya!


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> But kneading is the fun part!!


Very therapeutic.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Good normin' to ya!



Thanks!


----------



## minicoop1985

Good mornin folks. Super exhausted today, but it's gonna be a long one. Going to a state park because it's going to be 9 flippin degrees. I'm not complaining about the temperature-it's the humidity that's horrifying.


----------



## terri

I feel ya, MC!   It's been several days now with no rain, so I have to head to the back yard and do some watering.   Tomato plants, peppers, plus some young shrubs and trees.   Gonna take a while, and it's only getting hotter out there.   

I'm with the others on the mindset that kneading the bread is very satisfying.  I'm not against using my mixer with a dough hook to get a good initial blend, but I love to turn it out onto the counter for the hands on part.   

But then, I like developing film and dark room work, too.  It's a tactile thing.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good Morning Hosers. Lots of baseball today. All fenced in field, should be interesting. Have a great weekend!

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another overcast and cool morning, so overcast that it rained during the night.  A pleasant surprise, Gary expects the small amount of rain to be unmeasurable, but it is nice to see the extra wetness on the plants. With all that extra overcast it should hit 70F maybe 72F today. This week Gary noticed some mosquito larvae in one of the fountains.  Gary ran that fountain for 24 hours but the larvae just laughed at the pump and flipped him off with their little feathery swimmerets. In response Gary fished out some Mosquito Fish, (about ten very large ones), and introduced them to the fountain.  This morning there are no larvae whatsoever in the fountain mocking Gary.

The pork loin came out fab and the bread is delish. Mary Lou and Gary are running a bit late this morning, between the cooking and taking Mary Lou's granddaughter to see a performance of The Little Mermaid Musical, and we slept in a bit more than normal. Today is the Playboy Jazz Festival, and all the food prepping is to designed to sustain us throughout the day.  The Hollywood Bowl allows you to bring food and drink into the venue and even picnic at your seats. Playboy Jazz is just one big party and everybody is sharing food and drink with everybody else. People are dancing in the aisles, throwing Mardi Gra beads into the crowds and jello shots are tossed to those with raised hands. The Bowl is in the Hollywood Hills which separate downtown from the Valley. It is built in an arroyo and the steep sides block direct sun and makes it cooler than the basin and valley areas.  Gary will being wearing a long sleeve knitted shirt and take a lightweight jacket for the evening.




































Gary loves the Playboy Jazz Festival.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Leo- Good to hear/see/read that you had a safe trip.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Good Morning Hosers. Lots of baseball today. All fenced in field, should be interesting. Have a great weekend!
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Why is a fenced in park interesting?


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good Morning Hosers. Lots of baseball today. All fenced in field, should be interesting. Have a great weekend!
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Why is a fenced in park interesting?
Click to expand...



Well, its more interesting than a fence in a prison.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Why is a fenced in park interesting?


It helps keep the riff-raff out.



EIngerson said:


> Well, its more interesting than a fence in a prison.


Which helps keep the riff-raff in.


----------



## Gary A.

Oh man ... now it is actually raining ... granted a light rain, a sprinkle, but rain nonetheless.  So Gary need to find an umbrella.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Gary loves the Playboy Jazz Festival.



Looks like a party!    

Hope the rain stays away for you.   Have fun!!


----------



## Gary A.

Cook and Gary have come back from their walk and the rain appears to be diminishing.






Food Delivery


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why is a fenced in park interesting?
> 
> 
> 
> It helps keep the riff-raff out.
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, its more interesting than a fence in a prison.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Which helps keep the riff-raff in.
Click to expand...

That makes sense.  The general public hates baseball riff-raff.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

We are here for the Jazz Festival on a cool and damp afternoon. Above is our first meal of pork loin and a Lorenzi Estate Blanc De Noirs.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are have a great time.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> I agree completely.  Reminds me of the time when the hubby and I were getting quotes from a couple of painters to do the tallest side of our house.  After going over the details, one of them asked us if we were saved.  Said he really wasn't interested in the job unless we had found Jesus, or words to that effect.  We were both taken aback and offended.   Not much more was said after that, we weren't nasty or anything.  We just wanted them gone.



Wow.  So did you ask him how long Jesus had been missing?  Maybe a description of what he was wearing?


Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why is a fenced in park interesting?
> 
> 
> 
> It helps keep the riff-raff out.
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, its more interesting than a fence in a prison.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Which helps keep the riff-raff in.
Click to expand...

And Lord knows there is nothing worse than unsorted riff raff

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good Morning Hosers. Lots of baseball today. All fenced in field, should be interesting. Have a great weekend!
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Why is a fenced in park interesting?
Click to expand...

In that I find it annoying shooting through a fence. The 150-600 didn't fair as well as the 70-200 2.8. I wasn't allowed to go in the clear open areas by the batting cages but the pro photographer was. I was glad I ended up bringing the 70-200, for some reason, it did better. What made matters worse was the 6ft. Screen behind the backstop. I was relegated to have a fence diamond there. 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

ahhhh got it.  Gary agrees that it is quite annoying shooting through a fence. Unless you're butting the front element against the fence ... it becomes terribly problematic ... if you're butting the front element against the fence it is only problematic.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Mary Lou and Gary had a great time. Yes, it was one gigantic party. If there is such a thing as drinking too much wine ... we may have done so.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> ahhhh got it.  Gary agrees that it is quite annoying shooting through a fence. Unless you're butting the front element against the fence ... it becomes terribly problematic ... if you're butting the front element against the fence it is only problematic.


That's what I was kinda doing, the hood really. I guess a UV filter may be good for something...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

You gotta shoot wide open, but for sports shooting wide open is typical regardless of fencing or not ... but you know that.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone
CU of the pork loin coming out of the cooker.  If you look hard at the pork, it would fall apart. Gary gave it a rub down prior to smoking.




iPhone
Gary added mac & cheese, baked beans, slaw, Gary's Famous Italian Bread and Gary's equally Famous BBQ sauce to the main course of pork and vino.




iPhone

Great music, great food and a great time. (In spite of the inclemate weather.)


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> You gotta shoot wide open, but for sports shooting wide open is typical regardless of fencing or not ... but you know that.


I actually didn't. I don't know squat. I wish I would of. The African American pitcher came out bad. I couldn't bring the shadows up enough in his face. If I knew that I would have used +EC along with 2.8 and faster shutter speed to freeze action. I looked it up after your comment, so a good lesson learned. It never dawned on me to increase exposure like I do on black birds. I am such a noob really. @Gary A.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Dude, your stuff is getting better. As stated earlier, you got another 7,000 (or so) to go.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy hosers. Ow. I got burned over about 50% of my body yesterday. Out in the sun without sunscreen was a BAD choice. Normally I don't burn, but my meds got switched and YOW did I get torched. I'm like the lobster man.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Well, back to work this morning.  I was off Friday, so I'm trying to remember what I'm supposed to be doing here.  Of course, many days are like that ...

@minicoop1985 - I hope your claws are less red today or at least a little less painful.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Howdy hosers. Ow. I got burned over about 50% of my body yesterday. Out in the sun without sunscreen was a BAD choice. Normally I don't burn, but my meds got switched and YOW did I get torched. I'm like the lobster man.



Good morning lobster man.  Say, do us a favor and hang onto this tub of butter.  We've got a nice hot tub setup for you right over here....


----------



## waday

KenC said:


> I was off Friday, so I'm trying to remember what I'm supposed to be doing here. Of course, many days are like that ...


This is me every day. I actually made a to-do post-it note last Friday and stuck it to my monitor so I wouldn't forget anything.


----------



## waday

Since the wife and I saw them yesterday at the Mann Center, thought I'd post two of my more favorite songs by them:


----------



## robbins.photo

I see your flight of the concords, and raise you:


----------



## waday

Totally different.


----------



## minicoop1985

A little update: still hurts as bad as before. 2+ inch blisters have formed. These are 2nd degree burns. Never again... I'm becoming an indoor person lol


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> A little update: still hurts as bad as before. 2+ inch blisters have formed. These are 2nd degree burns. Never again... I'm becoming an indoor person lol



Sunburn sucks, no way around it.


----------



## minicoop1985

Yes. Yes it does. I'll be going to a doc most likely tonight to see if I need wound care on these blisters, which I probably do. Compression sleeve and some antibacterial cream, maybe antibiotics are in order, I'd bet. This is gonna make Wednesday's track day rather brutal.


----------



## bribrius

i think im supposed to take pics of a restaurant. building food, hell i dunno something.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Yes. Yes it does. I'll be going to a doc most likely tonight to see if I need wound care on these blisters, which I probably do. Compression sleeve and some antibacterial cream, maybe antibiotics are in order, I'd bet. This is gonna make Wednesday's track day rather brutal.



I've gotten pretty careful over the last few years.. went through a few of the burned so bad it blistered phases so anymore if I'm going to be outside for more than a very brief period of time, it's sunblock all the way.  The stuff is nasty but I'd much rather put up with it than deal with the aftermath of another sunburn.


----------



## bribrius

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes. Yes it does. I'll be going to a doc most likely tonight to see if I need wound care on these blisters, which I probably do. Compression sleeve and some antibacterial cream, maybe antibiotics are in order, I'd bet. This is gonna make Wednesday's track day rather brutal.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've gotten pretty careful over the last few years.. went through a few of the burned so bad it blistered phases so anymore if I'm going to be outside for more than a very brief period of time, it's sunblock all the way.  The stuff is nasty but I'd much rather put up with it than deal with the aftermath of another sunburn.
Click to expand...


   (just kidding)


----------



## robbins.photo

bribrius said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes. Yes it does. I'll be going to a doc most likely tonight to see if I need wound care on these blisters, which I probably do. Compression sleeve and some antibacterial cream, maybe antibiotics are in order, I'd bet. This is gonna make Wednesday's track day rather brutal.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've gotten pretty careful over the last few years.. went through a few of the burned so bad it blistered phases so anymore if I'm going to be outside for more than a very brief period of time, it's sunblock all the way.  The stuff is nasty but I'd much rather put up with it than deal with the aftermath of another sunburn.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> View attachment 123272   (just kidding)
Click to expand...


Wow.. the sort of snark that most of us come into the coffee house just to avoid.  Nice.


----------



## minicoop1985

I can't believe how much pain I'm in... Typing hurts, but it hurts less than getting up and DOING something lol


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Venezuela 1 - Mexico O at ten minutes, in the Copa.


----------



## waday

@bribrius, it's been a while!


----------



## minicoop1985

Do you guys realize how hard it is to wrap one upper arm with only the other upper arm? It ain't easy.


----------



## limr

@snowbear Charlie, darlin, not to make you too envious, but this is in the shopping mall attached to my hotel:


----------



## tirediron

*Passes Charlie a fresh drool-bib*


----------



## EIngerson

I hate shopping, but I'll grab a beer with you while we wait.


----------



## Gary A.

Mexico 1 - Venezuela 1. 80 minutes into the Copa.


----------



## jcdeboever

A Lemur for @limr


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> @snowbear Charlie, darlin, not to make you too envious, but this is in the shopping mall attached to my hotel:
> 
> View attachment 123287


Something's moving down under...

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Hey y'all.

About to go to bed. It wasn't too bad today. I was in a scoring groove and the day went by quickly. Took a little more than half a roll of shots of the patio outside the convention center and the music hall across the street. Funky looking building. Tomorrow is "dine out" night so I will probably leave the convention center before the light gets really interesting, but I'll be bringing the pinhole with me on Wednesday and after dinner, I'll take a few shots.

There was a reception for the Eng.Lang, scorers at the hotel tonight, so I went down and was social, met some fun people. I was still a little wired when I got back to the room about half an hour ago, but I'm fading fast.

SOOOO happy I have the hotel room to myself!!

But I miss Buzz and Zelda and Mrs. Parker 

Catch y'all tomorrow!


----------



## EIngerson

limr said:


> Hey y'all.
> 
> About to go to bed. It wasn't too bad today. I was in a scoring groove and the day went by quickly. Took a little more than half a roll of shots of the patio outside the convention center and the music hall across the street. Funky looking building. Tomorrow is "dine out" night so I will probably leave the convention center before the light gets really interesting, but I'll be bringing the pinhole with me on Wednesday and after dinner, I'll take a few shots.
> 
> There was a reception for the Eng.Lang, scorers at the hotel tonight, so I went down and was social, met some fun people. I was still a little wired when I got back to the room about half an hour ago, but I'm fading fast.
> 
> SOOOO happy I have the hotel room to myself!!
> 
> But I miss Buzz and Zelda and Mrs. Parker
> 
> Catch y'all tomorrow!



I watched a person play Candy Crush today.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  We drove down to the DC area on Sunday to visit my wife's sister, so I've been enjoying the cool dry weather here since we got back.  I also like not being stuck in Beltway traffic, which we were a couple of times.  Something about the roads down there just doesn't work because the Philly metro area is about equally populated and the traffic is nowhere near as bad.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Still in immense pain. Not sure how I'm going to do track day tomorrow, but I'll suffer through it somehow. Found another massive blister this morning.


----------



## terri

Coop, it sounds like you're dealing with second degree burns here.   That's nothing to play with!  The pain, the blisters. ..  dunno if heading out into the sun is such a good idea.   At the minimum, wear long sleeves and slather the tops of your hands with high octane sunscreen.   I know you're shooting and need to be grease free, but you can rinse your fingers and protect the tops of your hands.  Gloves would be better of course, but I know you'll be hot enough. 

Hat, more sunscreen on your face, neck and back of the neck.  

Or, maybe skip the event and call your doctor for some sunburn advice.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another day ... another gray cool morning. Maybe broke 70F yesterday in the last afternoon. But think are to be warming up by the end of the week. 

@ Ken: The roads don't work ... welcome to my world. The roads never work out here in the LA metro area.  There used to be peak times for traffic and if possible you'd avoid the freeways at those time, but now the traffic pattern is worst and beyond worst. Even at 2:00 a.m. the freeways are full, not congested but still full of jammin' cars. Fortunately, Gary can get to a lot of places, the beaches, mountains, most of LA easily without taking the freeways. (During 'peak' times Gary's GPS routinely directs Gary to get off the freeway and travel the streets.) 

*sigh* ... okay, Gary is done with that rant. Now that Gary has publically notified the world of his displeasure of the traffic in Los Angeles metro area ... he is quite sure that all the decision makers will immediately rectify the situation.

Gary refills his coffee cup ... fresh ... hot ... coffee ... something well worth waking up for.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Appleton Guy: Dude, you need to eat more melanin.


----------



## waday

My Canon S95 advanced P&S takes decent pictures, and it has been coming with us whenever we go anywhere. (I've actually been taking it more than my DSLR.) I was actually surprised by the quality at the concert. My shots were on noise overload, and it could barely focus with the confusion of the darkness contrasted with the bright lights on stage (on top of trying to hold a P&S steady with slow shutter speeds). Also, huge crop here. I was happy with this shot and a few others.

Although, I think this is leaning to the right? Also, it looked decent last night on my computer, but as I look at this on my work monitor, I question my processing... Anyways...




Flight of the Conchords by Wade, on Flickr


----------



## minicoop1985

Yup, 2nd degree burns over my shoulders and upper arms, severe 1st degree to about 30% of my body. I don't think eating melanin will ward off the effects of my medications. I do know that this hurts like hell and track day tomorrow's gonna suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck


----------



## KenC

Gary A. said:


> The roads don't work ... welcome to my world. The roads never work out here in the LA metro area.  There used to be peak times for traffic and if possible you'd avoid the freeways at those time, but now the traffic pattern is worst and beyond worst. Even at 2:00 a.m. the freeways are full, not congested but still full of jammin' cars. Fortunately, Gary can get to a lot of places, the beaches, mountains, most of LA easily without taking the freeways. (During 'peak' times Gary's GPS routinely directs Gary to get off the freeway and travel the streets.)



Yeah, same in NYC and Chicago, but DC is a smaller metro area where you would expect things not to be as bad


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Yup, 2nd degree burns over my shoulders and upper arms, severe 1st degree to about 30% of my body. I don't think eating melanin will ward off the effects of my medications. I do know that this hurts like hell and track day tomorrow's gonna suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck



No worries, just need one of these getups:


----------



## jcdeboever

Good afternoon Hosers. On my way to U of M's Fisher Stadium for cousin's semi final HS game. He is starting at SS and will be available to pitch relief. He will be batting 9th because of his speed and ability to get on base. Taking Gary's direction and shooting wide open. Using 50 sunblock on my savage farmers tan.  

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, 2nd degree burns over my shoulders and upper arms, severe 1st degree to about 30% of my body. I don't think eating melanin will ward off the effects of my medications. I do know that this hurts like hell and track day tomorrow's gonna suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No worries, just need one of these getups:
Click to expand...

I'm sure that will go over REALLY well with track staff... lol


----------



## minicoop1985

Thankfully, my neck and lower arms aren't burned. I can get them covered in sunscreen and wear a thick shirt. It's gonna be near 90, so I'll have to wear short sleeves. A big guy like me would be VERY susceptible to heat stroke with long sleeves in that weather.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, 2nd degree burns over my shoulders and upper arms, severe 1st degree to about 30% of my body. I don't think eating melanin will ward off the effects of my medications. I do know that this hurts like hell and track day tomorrow's gonna suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No worries, just need one of these getups:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm sure that will go over REALLY well with track staff... lol
Click to expand...

Well, you could update the look maybe, change the bullets to say, spark plugs... lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Tomorrow is my last day of school. Hallelujah. 

I had a nice weekend in Vermont for my friend's bachelor party. I summited Mt. Mansfield (tallest peak in VT -- but only 4300 feet, so chicken feed for y'all out west). I love that hike...the last mile is above tree line on the ridge. The weather was really foggy and gross, but I shot a roll of Kodak Tri-X 400 and I'm hoping the effect was cool.

We drank a ton of craft beer, hit up the Burlington Jazz Festival, and hung out by the campfire. Solid weekend.

I tried my hand at astrophotography again...I think I've found some good settings with my lenses, and I'm beginning to understand how to process. I'm going to focus on composition for the next time...hindsight is 20/20...if I walked down the meadow our cabin was at the top of, I could have gotten the cabin with this sky behind it...


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another day ... another gray cool morning. Maybe broke 70F yesterday in the last afternoon. But think are to be warming up by the end of the week.
> 
> @ Ken: The roads don't work ... welcome to my world. The roads never work out here in the LA metro area.  There used to be peak times for traffic and if possible you'd avoid the freeways at those time, but now the traffic pattern is worst and beyond worst. Even at 2:00 a.m. the freeways are full, not congested but still full of jammin' cars. Fortunately, Gary can get to a lot of places, the beaches, mountains, most of LA easily without taking the freeways. (During 'peak' times Gary's GPS routinely directs Gary to get off the freeway and travel the streets.)
> 
> *sigh* ... okay, Gary is done with that rant. Now that Gary has publically notified the world of his displeasure of the traffic in Los Angeles metro area ... he is quite sure that all the decision makers will immediately rectify the situation.
> 
> Gary refills his coffee cup ... fresh ... hot ... coffee ... something well worth waking up for.



I don't always drive in LA. But when I do, I road rage.


----------



## minicoop1985

Man, I keep finding new blisters everywhere. And holy crap does it sting when I raise my arms... Tomorrow is going to be a LONG day.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Gary had a long day, but now he is eating Chinese, watching the Copa and drinking a light and refreshing Robert Renzoni Bellissimo.  Gary and Mary Lou heard some really good things about Renzoni.  But after tasting his fare we were very disappointed. But this wine did not disappoint.


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another day ... another gray cool morning. Maybe broke 70F yesterday in the last afternoon. But think are to be warming up by the end of the week.
> 
> @ Ken: The roads don't work ... welcome to my world. The roads never work out here in the LA metro area.  There used to be peak times for traffic and if possible you'd avoid the freeways at those time, but now the traffic pattern is worst and beyond worst. Even at 2:00 a.m. the freeways are full, not congested but still full of jammin' cars. Fortunately, Gary can get to a lot of places, the beaches, mountains, most of LA easily without taking the freeways. (During 'peak' times Gary's GPS routinely directs Gary to get off the freeway and travel the streets.)
> 
> *sigh* ... okay, Gary is done with that rant. Now that Gary has publically notified the world of his displeasure of the traffic in Los Angeles metro area ... he is quite sure that all the decision makers will immediately rectify the situation.
> 
> Gary refills his coffee cup ... fresh ... hot ... coffee ... something well worth waking up for.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't always drive in LA. But when I do, I road rage.
Click to expand...

Road rage reduces the stress of congestion.


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another day ... another gray cool morning. Maybe broke 70F yesterday in the last afternoon. But think are to be warming up by the end of the week.
> 
> @ Ken: The roads don't work ... welcome to my world. The roads never work out here in the LA metro area.  There used to be peak times for traffic and if possible you'd avoid the freeways at those time, but now the traffic pattern is worst and beyond worst. Even at 2:00 a.m. the freeways are full, not congested but still full of jammin' cars. Fortunately, Gary can get to a lot of places, the beaches, mountains, most of LA easily without taking the freeways. (During 'peak' times Gary's GPS routinely directs Gary to get off the freeway and travel the streets.)
> 
> *sigh* ... okay, Gary is done with that rant. Now that Gary has publically notified the world of his displeasure of the traffic in Los Angeles metro area ... he is quite sure that all the decision makers will immediately rectify the situation.
> 
> Gary refills his coffee cup ... fresh ... hot ... coffee ... something well worth waking up for.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't always drive in LA. But when I do, I road rage.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Road rage reduces the stress.
Click to expand...


AND....you can clean the inside of the windshield with all the spit thats on it from screaming at people.


----------



## Gary A.

Final: Chile 4 - Panama 2


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another day ... another gray cool morning. Maybe broke 70F yesterday in the last afternoon. But think are to be warming up by the end of the week.
> 
> @ Ken: The roads don't work ... welcome to my world. The roads never work out here in the LA metro area.  There used to be peak times for traffic and if possible you'd avoid the freeways at those time, but now the traffic pattern is worst and beyond worst. Even at 2:00 a.m. the freeways are full, not congested but still full of jammin' cars. Fortunately, Gary can get to a lot of places, the beaches, mountains, most of LA easily without taking the freeways. (During 'peak' times Gary's GPS routinely directs Gary to get off the freeway and travel the streets.)
> 
> *sigh* ... okay, Gary is done with that rant. Now that Gary has publically notified the world of his displeasure of the traffic in Los Angeles metro area ... he is quite sure that all the decision makers will immediately rectify the situation.
> 
> Gary refills his coffee cup ... fresh ... hot ... coffee ... something well worth waking up for.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't always drive in LA. But when I do, I road rage.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Road rage reduces the stress.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> AND....you can clean the inside of the windshield with all the spit thats on it from screaming at people.
Click to expand...

Nuthin's finer than a spit shine.


----------



## Gary A.

Argentina is killing Bolivia.  At halftime Argentina 3 - Bolivia 0, in the second Copa match of the day.


----------



## jcdeboever

Well the game shoot went horribly, wide open is too soft for this zoom, probably why Nikon version is way more money. Should of used my Sigma 150-600, lesson learned. Got a couple decent ones, not worth posting though. They lost 5-1 as well, their ace and #2 pitched Saturday so it hurt them. The opposing teams ace came in relief and shut them down. Bummer.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary loves baseball. There is an Argentine player wearing cletes with the top being orange-red and the lower top is bright yellow.  It looks as if the player is wearing giant candy corn on his feet.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Day 5...


----------



## Gary A.

Top-o'-the-morn Leo.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another cool and gray morning, which will burn off shortly after midday, ending with a bright and warm afternoon and evening. (Gary should copy that weather line so it can easily be repeated for about 300 days a year.) 

Sunday, Gary attended Mary Lou's ten year old granddaughter's soccer match. The best player with the most skills and aggressive play is also the smallest girl on the team, Addie. The club team hasn't done well, this being the first year the team has been organized and they have more losses than wins. Sunday was a double header and in the first game the team dominated their opponent.  They only had an hour rest before they played the number one team in their division.  They play extremely well especially on defense and well into the second half the score was still 0-0. Then, as the dust settle from a midfield scuffle, little Addie was laying unmoving in a fetal position. The ref stopped the game and went down on a knee inspecting the little ten year old.  While still looking at the injured player the ref extended his arm and motioned for the coach to come. The coach responded, without even a hint of compassion in her voice ... "She can play ... She's not hurt ... Get up Addie!" Addie did not even flinch in response. For some long seconds, the universe stopped, everybody and everything went quiet, all the players on the field went dead silent, the birds in the sky stopped, the traffic on the street stopped ... then another command from the coach "... Addie Get Up! ... Addie Get Up and Play!" Slowly, Addie got up, wiped a tear away, squared away her uniform and continued to play. The game ended 0-0, and the team walk away in high spirits as if it was a victory. (Gary makes a mental note to himself ... don't ever mess with the coach.)

So now, while watching the Copa America, (see posts somewhere above), whenever a player is down, Mary Lou and Gary yell out "Get up! You're not hurt! Get up and play!".

PS- A shipment of Russian River Vineyard vino arrived. So you'll are all invited to come over for a glass or two.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> So now, while watching the Copa America, (see posts somewhere above), whenever a player is down, Mary Lou and Gary yell out "Get up! You're not hurt! Get up and play!".



Ugh. Or in UEFA last night...Ronaldo's Portugal team got embarrassed by Iceland, and all he could do is cry to the refs at the end of the game  -- don't worry, he only had 5 legitimate scoring chances in the last 20 minutes, including a free kick that he wasted by kicking it into the waists of the wall at the end of stoppage time, but it's the ref's fault...sigh. Pro athletes.


----------



## Gary A.

It always is the refs fault ... lol. The problem with refs is that they don't care who wins. 

Mary Lou wanted to attend the Copa game at the Rose Bowl, (Mexico vs. Jamaica). Gary was reluctant because he felt it would be crazy wild and crazy packed with people (more than 100,000 spectators in the stadium and probably thousands more just tailgating in the parking lot). Fortunately, when Mary Lou got around to the tickets ... they were gone ... instantly gone. The LA Times stated that this was a "home game" for the Mexican team.  A co-worker of Mary Lou did go to the game.  The co-worker took the following day off in order to recover.  The co-worker said it was crazy wild and crazy packed.  She said that by the time she entered the stadium she was so full of hot dogs and burgers and tacos that she had no desire for any stadium food there or any food whatsoever for the next few days.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy Hosers. Holy hell... that was a long day. 5 hours of driving, 6 hours of shooting, all in the sun... SPF50 is my friend. My forearms are SUPER tan. But it was a lot of fun. Met some great people, who will be returning clients next month at my home track.


----------



## minicoop1985

I will, however, say, that camera strap plus sunburned shoulder does equal hell.


----------



## limr

Hey y'all.

I miss my cats 

Essay count: About 570. Only 9 "plethora"s though. I wish I had started counting the times someone used "leave X in the dust" however, because that would have been a much higher count.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm so glad that I had a professor beat the cliches out of me. Writing is so much more impactful either with original metaphors or completely without them.

Good morning all! Last day of school was yesterday.  My co-workers and I ate burgers, drank beer, and played lawn games together yesterday afternoon to celebrate. Oh yeah, we also took shots of some sort of mixture called "11 weeks of summer" since it is our longest summer ever. It was a really nice way to end the year. Camaraderie  is vital in our profession, and I work with a great group of people.

My wife still has 4 days before she's off for the summer, so I'm sipping coffee on this cloudy morning while my daughter naps. I'm getting ready to watch the England-Wales game this morning, and I'll be making a shopping list soon. I'm thinking some good, fresh corn chowder is on the docket for tonight, and I have some frozen "fresh" kielbasa that I might throw on the grill to smoke tomorrow.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Essay count: About 570. Only 9 "plethora"s though. I wish I had started counting the times someone used "leave X in the dust" however, because that would have been a much higher count.



Yes, the count is important.  We used to get through talks by upper management here by picking a trite phrase or buzzword and keeping count of how many times they used it.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Hey y'all.
> 
> I miss my cats
> 
> Essay count: About 570. Only 9 "plethora"s though. ...


Welcome to America.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A - glad to hear your having fun and that you missed the soccer game.  I can't imagine going to see one would be more fun than skipping it.  Could just be me of course.

Jon, sorry to hear you had such abusive professors.  That thank you sir may I have another stuff is pretty rough.  As to whether or not it's worth the ability to write in a coherent manner without using "plethora" though.. wow, tough call.

Coop - Glad to hear you didn't burn to a crisp.  It's fine for bacon but..   umm.. sorry, completely lost my train of thought there.. bacon.. mmm...

So in short, I miss Limr's cats.

Happy Thursday everybody


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Essay count: About 570. Only 9 "plethora"s though. I wish I had started counting the times someone used "leave X in the dust" however, because that would have been a much higher count.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, the count is important.  We used to get through talks by upper management here by picking a trite phrase or buzzword and keeping count of how many times they used it.
Click to expand...

When Gary was in construction, he vividly remembers the handling the boring meetings at power generator jobsite. He and a few others from the 'Maverick' crowd all carried folding knives. During the meeting we would flick them open, then closed them, flick open, then close ... throughout the entire meeting. It made all the talking heads uneasy ... except the senior project manager, he thought it moved the meetings right along. He was all for more construction and less talk. Gary appreciated him.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone 

Buena Dias Coffee Hosers. Last night Gary BBQ-ed some pizza for dinner. The crust was simply yum. Gary sauteed some kale and Mary Lou cut up watermelon and dinner was served.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A - glad to hear your having fun and that you missed the soccer game.  I can't imagine going to see one would be more fun than skipping it.  Could just be me of course. ...



It is a philosophy and a way of life that has served Gary well.  Gary misses a lot more than he not misses.  If one makes missing more enjoyable than not missing ... life becomes easier and more fun than a day filled with participatory behavior. Easier and more fun is a win-win ... and contributes affirmation for a sedentary, do nothing, couch potato, lifestyle.

PS- USA vs. Ecuador tonight. Gary will not be attending that game as well.  But, Gary will practice his "You're Not Hurt ... Get Up And Play!" in order to participate by yelling at the tube.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> It is a philosophy and a way of life that has served Gary well.  Gary misses a lot more than he not misses.  If one makes missing more enjoyable than not missing ... life becomes easier and more fun than a day filled with participatory behavior. Easier and more fun is a win-win ... and contributes affirmation for a sedentary, do nothing, couch potato, lifestyle.



Yes, it's a good philosophy.  Enjoy life and skip soccer whenever possible.  I concur.


----------



## minicoop1985

Heya hosers. Photos from yesterday were a HUGE success. It was an amazing time, AND I got paid for it! Can't get much better than that!


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is a philosophy and a way of life that has served Gary well.  Gary misses a lot more than he not misses.  If one makes missing more enjoyable than not missing ... life becomes easier and more fun than a day filled with participatory behavior. Easier and more fun is a win-win ... and contributes affirmation for a sedentary, do nothing, couch potato, lifestyle.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, it's a good philosophy.  Enjoy life and skip soccer whenever possible.  I concur.
Click to expand...

Not just soccer, but all events, weddings, birthday parties, IRS audits, basketball games, Olympics, plays and musicals, bar mitzvahs, Festivus, doctor appointments, presidential inaugurations ... it is much more fun just to miss it all ... hell, Gary is making plans to miss funerals (including his own).  Missing stuff isn't trivial, so pre-planning is necessary.


----------



## limr

Oh my god, y'all hosers, it is hot as balls outside.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'll preface this by saying I've been drinking some gin...but balls actually regulate their temperature pretty well. They dangle further so they _don't_ get too hot...


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> I'll preface this by saying I've been drinking some gin...but balls actually regulate their temperature pretty well. They dangle further so they _don't_ get too hot...



Okay, it's hot as undescended balls


----------



## minicoop1985

This thread has taken a strange turn...


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> This thread has taken a strange turn...


Not really, just balls and weather.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'll preface this by saying I've been drinking some gin...but balls actually regulate their temperature pretty well. They dangle further so they _don't_ get too hot...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, it's hot as undescended balls
Click to expand...

I'll take conversations that will definitely land me in yet another meeting with human resources for 1000 Alex...

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## medic2230

Howdy


----------



## robbins.photo

medic2230 said:


> Howdy


Medic.  Thank goodness your here.  Limrs cats are having a nervous breakdown.  Mini coops DNA has been altered and he's become some sort of bizarre lobster human hybrid, and Gary is...  Umm still Gary....




Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Howdy
> 
> 
> 
> Medic.  Thank goodness your here.  Limrs cats are having a nervous breakdown.  Mini coops DNA has been altered and he's become some sort of bizarre lobster human hybrid, and Gary is...  Umm still Gary....
Click to expand...


Oh, the girls are probably fine. It's me who misses the furry little brats


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou are at the pub table eating pizza and drinking a Lorenzi Estate Bordello.


 Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. USA is up 2 - zip against Ecuador. Mary Lou enjoyed yesterday's pizza so much that she asked for another.  Today's pizza is better than yesterday.  Artichoke hearts and pimento stuffed Spanish olives on this suckers, (plus Gary stuffed the crust with Rosemary).


----------



## Gary A.

USA 2 - Ecuador 1 at 80:00 minutes.


----------



## Gary A.

USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA

USA advances to the semi- finals.


----------



## Gary A.

Goodnight Moon.


----------



## jcdeboever

My balls are cold....


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Howdy
> 
> 
> 
> Medic.  Thank goodness your here.  Limrs cats are having a nervous breakdown.  Mini coops DNA has been altered and he's become some sort of bizarre lobster human hybrid, and Gary is...  Umm still Gary....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, the girls are probably fine. It's me who misses the furry little brats
Click to expand...

Lol I hear you.  I'd come home from work and the dog would be "oh thank goodness your home I missed you so much" .  I'd go on vacation for a week, come home and the cat would be "oh you weren't here?  Oh I didn't even notice"

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> USA 2 - Ecuador 1 at 80:00 minutes.


An hour and twenty minutes, 3 points.  

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> My balls are cold....


Have you tried retracting them?  Or do they perhaps make some form of cozy?

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Howdy
> 
> 
> 
> Medic.  Thank goodness your here.  Limrs cats are having a nervous breakdown.  Mini coops DNA has been altered and he's become some sort of bizarre lobster human hybrid, and Gary is...  Umm still Gary....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, the girls are probably fine. It's me who misses the furry little brats
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Lol I hear you.  I'd come home from work and the dog would be "oh thank goodness your home I missed you so much" .  I'd go on vacation for a week, come home and the cat would be "oh you weren't here?  Oh I didn't even notice"
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


They both try to feign annoyance or insult for about 5 minutes, but then Zelda comes to rub her face all over mine, and Mrs Parker flops in front of me and presents the belly. My girls


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Sorry I missed the discussion of various types of balls, soccer and otherwise.  TGIF!!


----------



## waday

KenC said:


> TGIF!!


----------



## JonA_CT

I love summer because tomorrow is always Saturday!

I've been cold brewing my coffee for the last couple weeks. It just seems appropriate for the summer. I take a 1 gallon paint strainer bag, put about 12-13 oz of coffee into it, and then I place it in a gallon pitcher. I fill to the top, and let it sit at room temperature for 24 hours. Then, I pull the bag with the grounds out, squeeze a bit so I don't miss out on any goodness, and then it's ready to enjoy. 

The best part is that you don't need to use as high quality beans as you would for hot coffee. I often use Cafe Bustelo. It's also why it's a boon for coffee shops -- my understanding is that most use leftovers from different roasts/batches to make theirs, and they are able to sell it for a higher cost than they would normally.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> I've been cold brewing my coffee for the last couple weeks. It just seems appropriate for the summer. I take a 1 gallon paint strainer bag, put about 12-13 oz of coffee into it, and then I place it in a gallon pitcher. I fill to the top, and let it sit at room temperature for 24 hours. Then, I pull the bag with the grounds out, squeeze a bit so I don't miss out on any goodness, and then it's ready to enjoy.


My wife and I started cold brewing a few weeks ago. We love it! The only problem is that I drink it too fast! 

We use a similar method, letting it sit for 24 hours. The major difference is that we put the grounds directly in with the water in a pitcher then filter using a reusable coffee filter (the one that we use with our coffee maker). It's usually pretty concentrated, so we dilute it with just a touch of water and ice. YUM!


----------



## minicoop1985

Ungh, so le tired. Hard time waking up this morning... still not sleeping well due to the burns. They still hurt like hell.


----------



## Braineack




----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Man, that Photographic Fluid is cheaper than Photoshop.  "Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.


Hey... I saw that...

I haven't been reading the news lately, although I did hear about it.

Was that post related to the Twitterverse people? I just Googled the name and a few other key terms and saw an article about comments on Twitter. Despicable.


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> My wife and I started cold brewing a few weeks ago. We love it! The only problem is that I drink it too fast!
> 
> We use a similar method, letting it sit for 24 hours. The major difference is that we put the grounds directly in with the water in a pitcher then filter using a reusable coffee filter (the one that we use with our coffee maker). It's usually pretty concentrated, so we dilute it with just a touch of water and ice. YUM!



We used to use one of those filters too. Trust me -- paint straining bags are where it's at. Its a dollar or two for three of them at Home Depot, and they are reusable. I remember pouring through the filter being a huge pain, and taking forever...this is almost instant.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> Hey... I saw that...
> 
> I haven't been reading the news lately, although I did hear about it.
> 
> Was that post related to the Twitterverse people? I just Googled the name and a few other key terms and saw an article about comments on Twitter. Despicable.
Click to expand...

LOL ... Gary posted his remarks to the wrong forum. It was link a friend of mine posted on facebook ... Gary followed the link and it made Gary mad.


----------



## Gary A.

TGIF


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> We used to use one of those filters too. Trust me -- paint straining bags are where it's at. Its a dollar or two for three of them at Home Depot, and they are reusable. I remember pouring through the filter being a huge pain, and taking forever...this is almost instant.


I'll have to try this, because it does sound like a major time saver! I hated having to then wash everything out, and there were always coffee grounds everywhere.  

Are the bags food safe?



Gary A. said:


> LOL ... Gary posted his remarks to the wrong forum. It was link a friend of mine posted on facebook ... Gary followed the link and it made Gary mad.


Gotcha. No need to say more.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> Hey... I saw that...
> 
> I haven't been reading the news lately, although I did hear about it.
> 
> Was that post related to the Twitterverse people? I just Googled the name and a few other key terms and saw an article about comments on Twitter. Despicable.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... Gary posted his remarks to the wrong forum. It was link a friend of mine posted on facebook ... Gary followed the link and it made Gary mad.
Click to expand...


See all I saw was that crazy french stuff you always use as a greeting, never saw the rest.. lol


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> We used to use one of those filters too. Trust me -- paint straining bags are where it's at. Its a dollar or two for three of them at Home Depot, and they are reusable. I remember pouring through the filter being a huge pain, and taking forever...this is almost instant.
> 
> 
> 
> I'll have to try this, because it does sound like a major time saver! I hated having to then wash everything out, and there were always coffee grounds everywhere.
> 
> Are the bags food safe?
Click to expand...


Probably not officially, but they are made out of nylon which is used in a lot of other food applications. I first started using them in the beer brewing process, and people have been doing that for years. I just wash, rinse, and dry them well before I use them.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> Probably not officially, but they are made out of nylon which is used in a lot of other food applications. I first started using them in the beer brewing process, and people have been doing that for years. I just wash, rinse, and dry them well before I use them.


Good enough for me! If I get a chance, I'm going to pick up some this weekend.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Do I want to know what you're talking about? should I go back a page? lol hmm if it's not coffee, or wine, then I hope it's beer.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Do I want to know what you're talking about? should I go back a page? lol hmm if it's not coffee, or wine, then I hope it's beer.



They're talking about brewing coffee using painting supplies.

Ya, see I wish I was making that up too, but.. I'm not.  Lol


----------



## Gary A.

Peru and Colombia in the Copa. Gary and Mary Lou have settled down at the pub table eating fish tacos and enjoying some soccer.


----------



## Gary A.

Man, what a violent match ... It has been a murderfest since the opening whistle.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## medic2230

robbins.photo said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Howdy
> 
> 
> 
> Medic.  Thank goodness your here.  Limrs cats are having a nervous breakdown.  Mini coops DNA has been altered and he's become some sort of bizarre lobster human hybrid, and Gary is...  Umm still Gary....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


We will have no breaking down of the nerves in these parts!

Watch our for becoming a hybrid lobster of any sorts because someone somewhere always has a pot of boiling water going.

I see Gary is still talking in the third person so, situation normal.


----------



## medic2230

jcdeboever said:


> My balls are cold....



Apparently there is a warming of the balls in the area around Leonore. Maybe she can send you a GPS coordinate.


----------



## medic2230

I have photo's from Disney World to edit but just don't have the motivation to do it. Disney is the only place I know you go to on vacation and it seems like a job every day. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




I really love night photography and would much rather do that than any during the day. But, I usually have to do it by myself because when you're on vacation in a park with the family they don't understand that you can't just point a camera somewhere and get the shot you want or are looking for. Uuugh.


----------



## JonA_CT

Coffee is cold and refreshing this morning.

I'm leaving to play golf in a little bit. In other words, I'm paying $42 (honestly a steal) to walk around all day and embarrass myself.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. This will be a very warm day.  No marine layer, no gray overcast, blue skies and it is much warmer than usual. Probably mid to high 80's. No problem, Gary has two days of guests coming over, so two days of patio living and BBQing.  In the past two days Gary has made more orange liqueur, his Famous Lemonade, started his bread (to be baked this morning in the BBQ), the Tri-Tip has been trimmed and is happily swimming away in a ziplock full of marinade and herbs, rubbed his pork loins (note: rubbing one's pork loins is only legal if you are 21 y/o or older). Gary and Cook will start an early walk to beat the heat, bake his bread when he returns and get the pork going in the smoker (24 hours of smoking). The ice chest is filled with beer, cider and Perrier ... some light cleaning (skoot the chickens out of the living room) and he's basically set for a long day of relaxing, cooking, conversing and watching the Copa.

@ Jon: You can come over here and Gary can embarrass you for only $40. (You won't have to go out of your way to embarrass yourself ... Gary will do it for you.) Plus, Gary has some good beers, (of course not in the same category as your award winning bathtub stuff), and some truly heavenly, small batch wines that are only available from the source (cannot buy at stores). You like darts, croquet or horseshoes? Tri-Tip and salmon today, pork loin and chicken manana. Gary may make his famous Sangria and/or and equally famous snowball Margaritas. If you want to talk photography, Gary will setup and let you play with his Fuji GX680III ... we can even develop and scan the film.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good plan there Jon.  

Sharon thinks Gary's day sounds much much better. Sharon also thinks Medic is gonna get him going again...   

Sharon wonders if Leo is home yet or on her way? or still grading in Kansas City.


----------



## Gary A.

Fresh out of the BBQ.


----------



## b_twill

Medic - Those Disney photo's don't involve any alligators do they??? 

In other news, it's hot and humid in these parts...and I'm stuck inside with a freeking cold!


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Good plan there Jon.
> 
> Sharon thinks Gary's day sounds much much better. Sharon also thinks Medic is gonna get him going again...
> 
> Sharon wonders if Leo is home yet or on her way? or still grading in Kansas City.



Leo is indeed home now and done reading essays for a while.  My flight left at 7am Kansas City time and got in at just before 11:00 am NY time. My sister picked me up, I chatted with her a little at her apartment, I made a quick pit stop at the grocery store, went to see Buzz, and then came home to see my girls and have some dinner. Now I am fed, I have beer and kitties, and I am doing well 

There was a bit of a mess yesterday afternoon - long story but due to some unexpected re-assignment to a different question combine with some very inefficient management of the readers' time, I ended up reading only 75 tests yesterday. My total count for the week was in the 800s, but close enough that I could have broken 900. If I go next year, I'm determined to break 1000.

All in all, it was a fascinating experience. Exhausting in a lot of ways, very informative and interesting in other ways, and very mind-numbingly boring at other times.

As for weather and plans, I can't understand the concept of "it's going to be very warm, moreso than usual...let's spend the whole time outside!" If it's going to be unseasonably warm for January around here, maybe I can see it. But in June? Leo think Gary is cray. Unless it's an air-conditioned patio.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good plan there Jon.
> 
> Sharon thinks Gary's day sounds much much better. Sharon also thinks Medic is gonna get him going again...
> 
> Sharon wonders if Leo is home yet or on her way? or still grading in Kansas City.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leo is indeed home now and done reading essays for a while.  My flight left at 7am Kansas City time and got in at just before 11:00 am NY time. My sister picked me up, I chatted with her a little at her apartment, I made a quick pit stop at the grocery store, went to see Buzz, and then came home to see my girls and have some dinner. Now I am fed, I have beer and kitties, and I am doing well
> 
> There was a bit of a mess yesterday afternoon - long story but due to some unexpected re-assignment to a different question combine with some very inefficient management of the readers' time, I ended up reading only 75 tests yesterday. My total count for the week was in the 800s, but close enough that I could have broken 900. If I go next year, I'm determined to break 1000.
> 
> All in all, it was a fascinating experience. Exhausting in a lot of ways, very informative and interesting in other ways, and very mind-numbingly boring at other times.
> 
> As for weather and plans, I can't understand the concept of "it's going to be very warm, moreso than usual...let's spend the whole time outside!" If it's going to be unseasonably warm for January around here, maybe I can see it. But in June? Leo think Gary is cray. Unless it's an air-conditioned patio.
Click to expand...


Well in honor of your homecoming, one inexplicable random kitty pic coming up:




20160618 264 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Gary will match that kitty shot ... Welcome home Leo.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Gary will match that kitty shot ... Welcome home Leo.



Well fine then..  I will see your kitty shot and raise you...

An Elephant doing a Sean Penn impression:




20160618 235 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr


----------



## jcdeboever

Here's a red faced monkey with hot balls


----------



## Gary A.

I'll see your Penn Imitation with an Orangutan:


----------



## medic2230

b_twill said:


> Medic - Those Disney photo's don't involve any alligators do they???
> 
> In other news, it's hot and humid in these parts...and I'm stuck inside with a freeking cold!



Didn't see any at the resort, only at Animal Kingdom and I didn't ask for a photo. 

There were lots of mallards and a few babies walking around though.

I left last Saturday morning so I wasn't down there for anything that went on.


----------



## Gary A.

Our guests are late ... Mary Lou and Gary are all the snacks.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> I'll see your Penn Imitation with an Orangutan:



Oh ho... well played sir.. well played.

This must be a peach of a hand.. or perhaps that is just what you want me to think.

Ah yes... I can see the brow above your left eye beginning to twitch.  So, either your bluffing.. or having a stroke...

But I think your bluffing.  So, I see your gorgeous, well composed adult orangutan, and I raise you...

With baby orangutan barrel racing!




20160521 1050 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Here's a red faced monkey with hot balls



Is it ok if I just take your word for it on ball temp?  Lol


----------



## snowbear

Bacardi . . .


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Bacardi . . .



I can't make that out. Is that a bat?


----------



## snowbear

Yes - brown bat.  In the Fire Chief's offices.  Tested positive for rabies.

Phone snap, zoomed in as far as possible.  I wasn't getting any closer.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> Yes - brown bat.  In the Fire Chief's offices.  Tested positive for rabies.
> 
> Phone snap, zoomed in as far as possible.  I wasn't getting any closer.


Good call snowbear.  Now a picture of a wolf, that might be worth getting rabies for.. But a bat?  Eh, not so much

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## EIngerson

Happy Fathers Day all you camera toting padres out there.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> @snowbear Charlie, darlin, not to make you too envious, but this is in the shopping mall attached to my hotel:
> 
> View attachment 123287


I like those Retro 51's on the door.  

Their prices aren't too bad.


----------



## EIngerson

Me (driving) My dad and my brother holding on. LOL. Such great memories. I hope all you dads out there have great times to share. 






Fathers day by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey Leo's home! Cats are happy.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The gang's all here, we'll have a hot time in the ol' town, I mean Whoopee Club, no wait that's the coffee house, tonight.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Hey Leo's home! Cats are happy.


I had one of those!


----------



## jcdeboever

Happy Father's Day! We are spoiled, we get a lot of days off during the year.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Happy Father's Day! We are spoiled, we get a lot of days off during the year.



Happy Father's Day to you, JC, and to all you other hosers who are fathers, whether your kids be the four-legged furry kind or the two-legged hairless ape kind


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers and Happy Father's Day to all you Dads.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'll see your Penn Imitation with an Orangutan:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh ho... well played sir.. well played.
> 
> This must be a peach of a hand.. or perhaps that is just what you want me to think.
> 
> Ah yes... I can see the brow above your left eye beginning to twitch.  So, either your bluffing.. or having a stroke...
> 
> But I think your bluffing.  So, I see your gorgeous, well composed adult orangutan, and I raise you...
> 
> With baby orangutan barrel racing!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 20160521 1050 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr
Click to expand...







Gary trumps your barrel rolling chimp with his Zebra.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has just finished cleaning up from last night's little dinner party.  It was a very very pleasant evening, the back was comfortably warm, dry and perfect weather for outdoor cooking and eating.  Gary thinks the food came out quite well as there were barely any leftovers.  Gary plans to recover today and take it easy. But he still has a pork loin in the smoker and Amy (Gary's youngest daughter, is on her way over).


----------



## medic2230

Happy Father's Day!


----------



## JonA_CT

Still loving my cold brew coffee this morning.

I picked up one of those fitness tracking gadgets this weekend. I've been skeptical to buy into the craze, but it seems like a good reminder this morning. I have a park and track a 1/4 block from my house, and I looked at my wrist this morning (saw yesterday's rather disappointing results) and went and did two miles worth of laps. It's beautiful out right now...could be a nice morning tradition.

Gary, should have paid you the $40 and let you embarrass me in croquet instead. (I've already been embarrassed in darts and horseshoes recently). My round of golf was pretty poor...but...because I have no expectations, it was still a beautiful afternoon to be outside with some friends. I also had the pleasure of smoking my first Cuban cigar...very nice.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> 20160521 1050 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary trumps your barrel rolling chimp with his Zebra.



Personally I loved the zebra shot.

The bison, however, did not seem as impressed as I was...




20160611 601 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr
'
Tough crowd...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary survived a long weekend of cooking and eating.  Gary cooked a ton of food and ate a ton of food.  It was a great weekend. Smoked, wood and grilled ... Tri-Tip, Salmon, Pork Loin, Pizza, Bread ... Backyard lemonade, tomato salad, berries, artichokes, et al ... All washed down with small batch wines, red wines, white wines, sparkling wines, dessert wines, beers, ciders and favored water ... Yes, indeed ... A very fine weekend for the patio. We're in a bit of a heat wave out here ... We turned on the a/c, but everybody was comfortable relaxing in the patio, the ceiling fans maintained a nice breeze and kept insects away, so we stayed outside.

@ Jon- Gary swears by activity trackers.  Otherwise, at least for Gary, he'll cheat.  With the tracker, it is black and white, either you walked/ran four miles or you didn't. And it is right there on your wrist, counting your steps, reminding you that you didn't hit your goal ... until you do.  Cubano cigars are top drawer.  Gary hasn't had a cigar for maybe 25 years ... A quarter of a century. (Doesn't miss it either. LOL ... Gary just realized didn't have a drop of alcohol yesterday ... And he didn't miss that either. Just lemonade, goooood lemonade fresh squeezed Meyer Lemons and simple syrup with a sprig of Lavendar ... And water, lots of water, Perrier and water flavored with cucumber/mint or lemon/mint, springing forth from larger spigotted dispensers packed with ice..) 

And today, back to jammin' work.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Back to work Monday morning and no meaningful e-mails from anyone.  I'm waiting for a few people to get back to me with information I need to get anywhere on those projects, and meanwhile I'm having my coffee/snack and just farting around.  Of course you all know what will happen, right?  Right?  OK, I guess I have to explain everything - all of them will get back to me at once and will all be in a hurry, naturally.  I dust off and use "failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part," which helps a little, but I still end up needing to get all of it done.


----------



## robbins.photo

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Back to work Monday morning and no meaningful e-mails from anyone.  I'm waiting for a few people to get back to me with information I need to get anywhere on those projects, and meanwhile I'm having my coffee/snack and just farting around.  Of course you all know what will happen, right?  Right?  OK, I guess I have to explain everything - all of them will get back to me at once and will all be in a hurry, naturally.  I dust off and use "failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part," which helps a little, but I still end up needing to get all of it done.



Meaningful Email.  Sounds like an oxymoron really.


----------



## jcdeboever

anotheGood morning Hosers. Back to work too. Back is better but still tight and have to golf tonight, will get it rubbed down with icy hot prior. Did not see my kids this weekend, par for the course. They took my ex's father out. One son called me. Daughter no call. The other is in the Philippines (to my surprise) and will be there a few months on special assignment from Marines, his wife and kids are in Okinawa. The wife is pissed at my kids  and can't believe how their lack of respect considering the kind of father I was. They really are like their mother, kind of selfish and cold. Divorce is generally not a good thing for kids.


----------



## robbins.photo

Morning Hosers,

Ok, so last Friday I found a good deal on a Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 HSM, so bought it off Ebay.  I'm hoping it will be here before the weekend, I've been missing my fast zoom.

Not sure if I'll end up keeping the Tamron 70-300mm once I get the 70-200 mm in the bag again.  I didn't shoot much with the Tamron before when I had the 70-200 mm, I'd break it out very rarely because it was lighter weight and easier to carry but mostly it just sat in the bag.  Still debating that one, if I do end up getting a 2nd camera it might be nice to have but for now just the one camera is suiting my needs fine.. so.. ya.. not real sure yet what I'll do.


----------



## waday

Morning, all.

Here's a cat driving:


----------



## JonA_CT

You all talk about cats like they are adorable creatures.

I was over at my parent's house on Saturday night with the whole family. We were on their back porch watching a couple of rabbits playing on the edge of the yard, when all the sudden my parent's coon cat comes out of nowhere and takes out the trailing rabbit. Then he walked matter-of-factly across the yard to the edge of the deck and dropped the rabbit, head moving in sickening directions, on the concrete pad at the edge of the steps. 

I'm not sure my niece will ever be the same again.


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> You all talk about cats like they are adorable creatures.
> 
> I was over at my parent's house on Saturday night with the whole family. We were on their back porch watching a couple of rabbits playing on the edge of the yard, when all the sudden my parent's coon cat comes out of nowhere and takes out the trailing rabbit. Then he walked matter-of-factly across the yard to the edge of the deck and dropped the rabbit, head moving in sickening directions, on the concrete pad at the edge of the steps.
> 
> I'm not sure my niece will ever be the same again.



Ohh.. how adorable!  Those whacky cats.  Gotta love em...


----------



## JonA_CT

robbins.photo said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> You all talk about cats like they are adorable creatures.
> 
> I was over at my parent's house on Saturday night with the whole family. We were on their back porch watching a couple of rabbits playing on the edge of the yard, when all the sudden my parent's coon cat comes out of nowhere and takes out the trailing rabbit. Then he walked matter-of-factly across the yard to the edge of the deck and dropped the rabbit, head moving in sickening directions, on the concrete pad at the edge of the steps.
> 
> I'm not sure my niece will ever be the same again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ohh.. how adorable!  Those whacky cats.  Gotta love em...
Click to expand...


Circle of life, blah blah blah.

This cat is awesome in this way -- he's huge. About 20 pounds, but only sort of fat...just really long and tall. The vet yelled at my mom about his weight, and gave her this special diet food to be measured and dosed. The cat never finished the food, but still gained weight. Evidently, he is pretty solid at feeding himself.

My mom also tried to help out the local rodent and bird population by putting a big, belled collar on him. It took him twenty minutes to figure out how to move silently with the collar on.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> Morning, all.
> 
> Here's a cat driving:


Toonces!


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, all.
> 
> Here's a cat driving:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Toonces!
Click to expand...


I thought this was from a Hawaii 5-0 Episode of some sort.


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> Circle of life, blah blah blah.



So sit the niece down and explain.  See honey, Cat's are wonderful creatures.. it's just that nanna's cat is a bit of a butt nugget.  Much like people every once in a while one of them turns out to be a serial killer.  Such be life.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Morning Hosers,
> 
> Ok, so last Friday I found a good deal on a Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 HSM, so bought it off Ebay.  I'm hoping it will be here before the weekend, I've been missing my fast zoom.
> 
> Not sure if I'll end up keeping the Tamron 70-300mm once I get the 70-200 mm in the bag again.  I didn't shoot much with the Tamron before when I had the 70-200 mm, I'd break it out very rarely because it was lighter weight and easier to carry but mostly it just sat in the bag.  Still debating that one, if I do end up getting a 2nd camera it might be nice to have but for now just the one camera is suiting my needs fine.. so.. ya.. not real sure yet what I'll do.


Gary had the 70-200 f/2.8 along with a 300mm f/4 and a 2x extender which worked out pretty good for moi.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> You all talk about cats like they are adorable creatures.
> 
> I was over at my parent's house on Saturday night with the whole family. We were on their back porch watching a couple of rabbits playing on the edge of the yard, when all the sudden my parent's coon cat comes out of nowhere and takes out the trailing rabbit. Then he walked matter-of-factly across the yard to the edge of the deck and dropped the rabbit, head moving in sickening directions, on the concrete pad at the edge of the steps.
> 
> I'm not sure my niece will ever be the same again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ohh.. how adorable!  Those whacky cats.  Gotta love em...
Click to expand...

+1


----------



## Gary A.

Day two of a heat wave, at 9:00 a.m. this morning it was 90F. Humidity is at 21%, while a bit warm, it didn't feel sticky ... just a bit warm. Gary just tasted his pork dunked in the au jus ... OMG. This is the best jammin' pork Gary has ever cooked. OMG it is good.  Who wants some pulled pork sliders? Tomorrow the temp is supposed to drop 15 degrees.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Gary had the 70-200 f/2.8 along with a 300mm f/4 and a 2x extender which worked out pretty good for moi.



I had a 70-200 mm sigma with the OS, decided to sell it to help finance the D600 upgrade.  I've been looking for just the right deal on the non-OS version to replace it (since I never really used OS on the first lens) and finally found it.  In fact I got a better deal than what I was expecting, ended up paying $375 for the lens.

I looked at the Sigma 100-300 F4 - opted for the 70-200mm instead, think it will give me a bit more flexibility.  I have both a 1.4x and 2x TC that I used with the original 70-200mm, was very happy with the results from both.   At this point I'll most likely be putting money away for a Tamron 150-600 it's also on my wish list.


----------



## waday

All,

Has anyone here ordered food (or used Prime Pantry) from Amazon? 

I was looking around to save some time from vacation prep and hoping to save a few bucks, but the prices look pretty outrageous compared to in-store shopping at the local supermarket and/or Target. Just wondering why prices were so completely different?


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> All,
> 
> Has anyone here ordered food (or used Prime Pantry) from Amazon?
> 
> I was looking around to save some time from vacation prep and hoping to save a few bucks, but the prices look pretty outrageous compared to in-store shopping at the local supermarket and/or Target. Just wondering why prices were so completely different?



Can't say as I've ever tried it.  Back when my kids were younger and we'd go on camping trips I'd usually hit the local Dollar General and pick up a lot of the stuff I needed pretty cheap.


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> All,
> 
> Has anyone here ordered food (or used Prime Pantry) from Amazon?
> 
> I was looking around to save some time from vacation prep and hoping to save a few bucks, but the prices look pretty outrageous compared to in-store shopping at the local supermarket and/or Target. Just wondering why prices were so completely different?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can't say as I've ever tried it.  Back when my kids were younger and we'd go on camping trips I'd usually hit the local Dollar General and pick up a lot of the stuff I needed pretty cheap.
Click to expand...

Yeah, we'll probably end up doing that.. Amazon is _usually_ on par with many things, so I was confused when a box of cereal cost $17 and a bottle of dish soap cost $12.  It didn't say it was being sold in bulk. I guess laziness does not win today, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's lemonade and hootch a la orange.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 123542 Gary's lemonade and hootch a la orange.



See I saw the picture first and thought, did he do what I think he did in those bottles?  Then scrolled down and read the post.  Lol


----------



## bribrius

waday said:


> @bribrius, it's been a while!


two strokes kids my wife is buying a restaurant been preoccupied with trying to keep my head clear and trying to figure out finances. Both seem to be a bit of a mess atm. They are surprised i can even still use a camera but i cant figure out the pepsi contract and why they want seventeen k to install a new soda fountain which i dont think we can afford anyway..


----------



## bribrius

why she even is buying the place loving more debt is beyond me i cant even pay for a new camera. it needs to make seven k a month just to break even wtf. My heads screwed time for more meds. lmao


----------



## bribrius

next winter when it slows down i will probably really be screwed just covering the lease on the commercial space if the oven or something breaks dont even know how i am going to pay for it but she did fire a couple employees. trying to figure out the liquor license now and if its worth it..


----------



## bribrius

she wants me to take photos of it for advertising  but honestly we have only had it a few months and other than some free meals its nothing  but a headache on headaches im already sick of it.


----------



## bribrius

vent over time for valium and head clearing pills..


----------



## bribrius

other than a rental i havent had a business in quite a few years and i think im too old and screwed up now for this chit honestly.  NOt like im volunteering to cook or do the dishes either food isnt my thing. How many dinners a day does it need to sell? wtf


----------



## bribrius

so i think i am being kicked out of the art association for not paying my yearly dues. Damn, now what am i going to claim i do for a living.


----------



## robbins.photo

bribrius said:


> so i think i am being kicked out of the art association for not paying my yearly dues. Damn, now what am i going to claim i do for a living.



Well I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I guess you could tell them you own a restaurant.


----------



## bribrius

i mean if im not a "registered" artist it might be the end of the world.


----------



## bribrius

robbins.photo said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> so i think i am being kicked out of the art association for not paying my yearly dues. Damn, now what am i going to claim i do for a living.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I guess you could tell them you own a restaurant.
Click to expand...

i dont the wife and debt does i just get gray hairs over it.


----------



## bribrius

i really dont do anything. shhhh


----------



## bribrius

had it four months i only been there three time . NOT KIDDING. I want food i ask for someone to bring it. which has only been like 7 times.


----------



## robbins.photo

bribrius said:


> i dont the wife and debt does i just get gray hairs over it.



Ok, well might sound a bit harsh, but frankly - so what.

Your wife bought the place.  You may not have wanted it, but you've got it now.  So, as granddad would say, get up off your keester and go make something of it.  So you didn't want the restaurant, so what.  Put 110% into it anyway, for her sake.

If it still fails at least you can hold your head up high and say that you did the right thing and honored the oath you took when you married her.  If not and the place succeeds, then you'll have more than enough money to buy more gear you really don't need and more certificates that mean nothing to hang on your wall.


----------



## bribrius

robbins.photo said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> i dont the wife and debt does i just get gray hairs over it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, well might sound a bit harsh, but frankly - so what.
> 
> Your wife bought the place.  You may not have wanted it, but you've got it now.  So, as granddad would say, get up off your keester and go make something of it.  So you didn't want the restaurant, so what.  Put 110% into it anyway, for her sake.
> 
> If it still fails at least you can hold your head up high and say that you did the right thing and honored the oath you took when you married her.  If not and the place succeeds, then you'll have more than enough money to buy more gear you really don't need and more certificates that mean nothing to hang on your wall.
Click to expand...

dude i don't even cook wth i know about the food business. Lets see, rental, mortgage business, flooring and building. Nope. Never had a food business dont know jack and no interest.


----------



## bribrius

it might finish driving me bankrupt though.


----------



## bribrius

i guess it gives my teenager a summer job that is something...


----------



## robbins.photo

bribrius said:


> dude i don't even cook wth i know about the food business. Lets see, rental, mortgage business, flooring and building. Nope. Never had a food business dont know jack and no interest.



A lot of people who don't cook own restaurants.  You can be there taking care of a ton of other things - helping supervise employees, cleaning, restocking, inventory, etc, etc, etc.. there are a mountain of things you could be doing other than flipping burgers.

You could also spend some time in the kitchen there and learn - again, may not be your dream but it is apparently hers.  So help her make it come true.  Not rocket science by any means.


----------



## bribrius

robbins.photo said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> dude i don't even cook wth i know about the food business. Lets see, rental, mortgage business, flooring and building. Nope. Never had a food business dont know jack and no interest.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A lot of people who don't cook own restaurants.  You can be there taking care of a ton of other things - helping supervise employees, cleaning, restocking, inventory, etc, etc, etc.. there are a mountain of things you could be doing other than flipping burgers.
> 
> You could also spend some time in the kitchen there and learn - again, may not be your dream but it is apparently hers.  So help her make it come true.  Not rocket science by any means.
Click to expand...

 your putting me on a guilt trip


----------



## bribrius

help i lost my arm 




you think i over editing this?


----------



## bribrius

i just looked at the commercial lease (new one three year) found about ten problems in it within the fifteen pages im thinking a child drafted it  so much for big business. I knew a guy once that sold a bar and wrote the deal on a cocktail napkin that made more sense.


----------



## Gary A.

It got hot today.  Mary Lou said it hit 108F ... At 5:00 p.m. it is 103F. No humidity (10%) ... Just hotter than hell. The forecast is 70F tonight and tomorrow we are suppose to drop some 15 degrees. All-in-all a bit weird.  If it stays hot tomorrow, Gary is gonna slip on some trunks and go work on the pond ... All afternoon.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> It got hot today.  Mary Lou said it hit 108F ... At 5:00 p.m. it is 103F. No humidity (10%) ... Just hotter than hell. The forecast is 70F tonight and tomorrow we are suppose to drop some 15 degrees. All-in-all a bit weird.  If it stays hot tomorrow, Gary is gonna slip on some trunks and go work on *in* the pond ... All afternoon.


FTFY


----------



## jcdeboever

My balls are hot


----------



## EIngerson

jcdeboever said:


> My balls are hot



I have the same problem.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary hates hot balls.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It got hot today.  Mary Lou said it hit 108F ... At 5:00 p.m. it is 103F. No humidity (10%) ... Just hotter than hell. The forecast is 70F tonight and tomorrow we are suppose to drop some 15 degrees. All-in-all a bit weird.  If it stays hot tomorrow, Gary is gonna slip on some trunks and go work on *in* the pond ... All afternoon.
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY
Click to expand...

So Gary needs to use a snorkel instead of the inflatable raft?


----------



## JonA_CT

I sent my D600 in for the shutter repair yesterday. Feeling a little sad. 

I'm headed off to VT today for a few day of camping with my wife, daughter, and another couple who is expecting. Should be a good time. I dusted off my old Sony NEX 5N for the trip. I remember why I bought a DSLR. I also loaded up the old Minolta with some Portra and packed some film into the bag. I really do need to convince my wife to let me buy and store a developing kit and scanner. With developing and scanning film running right around $14 a roll, it wouldn't take long to get the investment back.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The heat wave seems to have broken. We turned off the A/C last night.  We'll see how things cook up today. Wildfires everywhere out in the West. After four years of drought there is plenty of dry/dead fuel, the uber low humidity of the heat wave, topped with some wind creates a pretty volatile situation ... Merely thinking of a match will probably start a fire.

In yesterday's LA Times, a very interesting article on California and the summer solstice. The Sun will set in Bard, located in California's southeast corner @ 7:49 p.m. and in the most northwestly corner of California, sits Cresent City which had a sunset time of 8:55 p.m. No other state in the CONUS has such a wide divergence in its sunset times.  The article mentioned that Los Angeles lays east of the capitals of six states. Bard situated in the Mojave Desert, is in one of the driest and hottest places on Earth while 820 miles away, Cresent City is on the foggy Pacific coast averaging 67" of rain a year and is surrounded by one of the world's greatest Redwood forests.  Bard had a high of 118F on Monday while 67F was the high in Cresent City.

PS- For you Michigan fans, Ontonagon has the latest sunset in the lower 48 states.  Ontonagon will have a snake dance and bonfire in honor of the summer solstice.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> With developing and scanning film running right around $14 a roll, it wouldn't take long to get the investment back.



It will absolutely pay for itself soon enough, especially for black and white.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon: Get a dedicated film scanner, while they are much more expensive than a flatbed, they also do a much much better job.  In Gary's opinion, the smallest size for a flatbed to deliver a reasonable result is 120mm.  The problem is once you get hooked on film, you'll want to go large ... then larger ... And you'll need two scanners. 

Or you can scan here ... Eat my BBQ and I'll embarrass you the entire time.


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> My balls are hot



And the stunning visuals continue.. lol


----------



## Gary A.

It was so hot yesterday, that when Gary opened his freezer for a Hot Pocket, it was already done.


----------



## minicoop1985

It's been gorgeous here. No batwings or itchy sweaty balls.


----------



## jcdeboever

It's so hot that I saw a dog chasing a cat, and they were both walking.

Thank you Johnny Carson, circa 1977.


----------



## Gary A.

Rim-Shot!


----------



## snowbear

In the shop getting tires balanced and rotated, oil changed as well.  Outside is thunderstorm with hail.  Truck windshield replaced an hour ago, and we have an appointment with the used car folks tonight.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> In the shop getting tires balanced and rotated, oil changed as well.  Outside is thunderstorm with hail.  Truck windshield replaced an hour ago, and we have an appointment with the used car folks tonight.



I have an appointment for Friday for Lucille. When I got back from Kansas City, I realized that my front tires are stripped to hell - one down to the fabric and the other down to the metal cord. Buzz got totally freaked out and insisted that we put my snows on the front until Friday. At that point, I'll have 2 new tires mounted and I might need an alignment. It's also inspection time.

It might be Lucille's last inspection   She's very close to 200K, she's developing new rattles every day, the CD player only works half the time (I haven't used it in years but used it again during my 15-hour trek to North Carolina), the front left speaker is totally dead, and the front right one cuts in and out (sometimes scaring the hell out of my as the volume suddenly doubles). I'm kind of tired of crank windows and of asking any passengers to please manually lock the door. I've taken good care of her so mechanically, she is sound, but the normal wear and tear on an 11-year-old car with almost 200K is going to mean that maintenance costs are only going to go up.

So yeah, Lucille is definitely in her dotage, and yeah, it's probably time for a new car. But oh, how I have loved that car!! And while I'm excited for whatever I'll have next, I am going to cry like a fool when I have to say goodbye to her


----------



## Designer

I once drove a car to the salvage lot because I was just plain tired of some of the things not working, and I wasn't going to spend thousands to get them all fixed.  

The AC was kaput.  

Lots of dash lights out - pull the entire dash to replace a few bulbs!

Marker lights broken - for which they wanted an arm and a leg for the replacement parts.

Over 200K miles, but it was still running.

The salvage yard sold it as a running car.  I didn't care, I didn't have to fool with it anymore.


----------



## medic2230

Traded my last truck in in perfect running condition with 209,000 miles on it and 12 years old. They gave me right at $5000 for it. It sold before I could get to the tag office to transfer the tag and was already registered in the new owners name.


----------



## medic2230

Found a sale today on fabric. New teardrop camper is going to be looking sweet in some vintage looking upholstery fabric when I build it. Got over $1200 worth of fabric and other crap for $163. Would have been less but little man needed some buttons, a pillow, a sew on thingamabob and a kids book on crocheting. Told him I don't do that and he informed me his Nana does. Well then.

Pics of the haul.


----------



## tirediron

Nice vintage Minions fabric...


----------



## medic2230

tirediron said:


> Nice vintage Minions fabric...



Thanks! My son picked it out for a blanket for himself. You'd never know he was a minion fan by these  photo's. 




DSC_6270-Edit by Murphy Lege, on Flickr





DSC_6276-Edit by Murphy Lege, on Flickr


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good grief Leo! you're supposed to put a penny in the tread and if it's below Lincoln's head... or something...  well anyway, good grief! Sorry otherwise it's time for a new car, hard to give up something with sentimental value.

Boy is it hot and I'm in the AC, it's been running nonstop this afternoon. What can I _not_ cook for dinner? lol will see what's in the freezer I can nuke. I hope it rains tonight, preferably without anything getting severe.


----------



## Gary A.

No a/c today ... The heat wave is subsiding. Gary grilled up some chicken, slapped some cheese on top to melt then piled on sautéed onions, kale, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, pecans and cashews.


----------



## Designer

I made tacos.

From a kit.


----------



## medic2230

Designer said:


> I made tacos.
> 
> From a kit.



I had Taco Bell.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes tacos.


----------



## limr

Mmm, I had some really great fish tacos when Buzz and I made our mad dash to Burlington. I could go for some fish tacos soon.


----------



## medic2230

It was little man's suggestion today after we went to the trampoline park. 

I'd love some really good fish taco's right now.


----------



## jcdeboever

I got off work, no dinner, went on a service call to fix a computer, got a quick golf lesson, came home and ate potato salad and some chicken. Walked the dog, kicked the cat, and got yelled at by the wife for some stupid crap that is meaningless. Man, she needs a chill pill or a perfect husband...maybe both.

Now she's getting rubbed...the cat....


----------



## medic2230

My wife brought ice cream home. I let the dog out to walk himself. I don't play golf and all the computers are Apple's so, no need to work on them.


----------



## jcdeboever

medic2230 said:


> My wife brought ice cream home. I let the dog out to walk himself. I don't play golf and all the computers are Apple's so, no need to work on them.


Ha, I actually fixed an Apple tonight. Hard drive took a dump.

So your wife tells at you to?


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> In the shop getting tires balanced and rotated, oil changed as well.  Outside is thunderstorm with hail.  Truck windshield replaced an hour ago, and we have an appointment with the used car folks tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have an appointment for Friday for Lucille. When I got back from Kansas City, I realized that my front tires are stripped to hell - one down to the fabric and the other down to the metal cord. Buzz got totally freaked out and insisted that we put my snows on the front until Friday. At that point, I'll have 2 new tires mounted and I might need an alignment. It's also inspection time.
> 
> It might be Lucille's last inspection   She's very close to 200K, she's developing new rattles every day, the CD player only works half the time (I haven't used it in years but used it again during my 15-hour trek to North Carolina), the front left speaker is totally dead, and the front right one cuts in and out (sometimes scaring the hell out of my as the volume suddenly doubles). I'm kind of tired of crank windows and of asking any passengers to please manually lock the door. I've taken good care of her so mechanically, she is sound, but the normal wear and tear on an 11-year-old car with almost 200K is going to mean that maintenance costs are only going to go up.
> 
> So yeah, Lucille is definitely in her dotage, and yeah, it's probably time for a new car. But oh, how I have loved that car!! And while I'm excited for whatever I'll have next, I am going to cry like a fool when I have to say goodbye to her
Click to expand...

The best cars are the one's with no payment. Can always buy used tires. Funny fact about me, I have never had a car payment. My first car was paid by cash, 76 Chevy Nova. Drove that into the ground and always had a company car after that. I was in the Marine's and didn't own a vehicle. When I got out, I drove the Nova until it rusted out.


----------



## medic2230

jcdeboever said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> My wife brought ice cream home. I let the dog out to walk himself. I don't play golf and all the computers are Apple's so, no need to work on them.
> 
> 
> 
> Ha, I actually fixed an Apple tonight. Hard drive took a dump.
> 
> So your wife tells at you to?
Click to expand...


I thought all of them did?

Not tonight, I hid the new stash of stuff I bought today.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> The best cars are the one's with no payment. Can always buy used tires. Funny fact about me, I have never had a car payment. My first car was paid by cash, 76 Chevy Nova. Drove that into the ground and always had a company car after that. I was in the Marine's and didn't own a vehicle. When I got out, I drove the Nova until it rusted out.



I'm obviously not the kind of person who needs to replace her car every 3 years, like a lot of folks these days, but I also don't understand the intense aversion to spending money on a new car. There's still a car payment; they're just called "repairs" and those payments go higher as the car gets older.  They might not be as regular, but sometimes, they can be much more painful.

Of course, I was very happy when my car loan was paid off, and I am saving as much money as I can for a downpayment so that I won't have to take out a big loan. But as much as I have loved Lucille, she's becoming less enjoyable to drive because of all the little things that are starting to go wrong (she's also got an oil leak somewhere, so I'm having to feed her oil on a regular basis; there's the slight shimmy because there's some play in the suspension.) I'd rather let her go before she gets to the point of pissing me off by breaking down or becoming unreliable. Don't want to end on a sour note.

I have never been of the mind that a car is just an appliance, so I'm willing to pay some money to make the experience of driving even more enjoyable.


----------



## waday

Oh, wow. I could totally eat some tacos right now.

The wife and I had some delicious ones in NYC a month or so ago. We didn't realize until we had already ordered and paid that the place only got a "C" rating.  

They were still good. No regrets.




Tacos on the Block by Wade, on Flickr


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> The best cars are the one's with no payment. Can always buy used tires. Funny fact about me, I have never had a car payment. My first car was paid by cash, 76 Chevy Nova. Drove that into the ground and always had a company car after that. I was in the Marine's and didn't own a vehicle. When I got out, I drove the Nova until it rusted out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm obviously not the kind of person who needs to replace her car every 3 years, like a lot of folks these days, but I also don't understand the intense aversion to spending money on a new car. There's still a car payment; they're just called "repairs" and those payments go higher as the car gets older.  They might not be as regular, but sometimes, they can be much more painful.
> 
> Of course, I was very happy when my car loan was paid off, and I am saving as much money as I can for a downpayment so that I won't have to take out a big loan. But as much as I have loved Lucille, she's becoming less enjoyable to drive because of all the little things that are starting to go wrong (she's also got an oil leak somewhere, so I'm having to feed her oil on a regular basis; there's the slight shimmy because there's some play in the suspension.) I'd rather let her go before she gets to the point of pissing me off by breaking down or becoming unreliable. Don't want to end on a sour note.
> 
> I have never been of the mind that a car is just an appliance, so I'm willing to pay some money to make the experience of driving even more enjoyable.
Click to expand...

That's a solid perspective. My wife has to have a new one every 2 or 3 years, leasing is a huge financial loss. So I just try to lesson the severity by paying cash and hope to sell and recoup some of the damage. Cars are such a money pit. I wish she would drive a pickup truck, the loss would not be as great and way easier to sell.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> The best cars are the one's with no payment. Can always buy used tires. Funny fact about me, I have never had a car payment. My first car was paid by cash, 76 Chevy Nova. Drove that into the ground and always had a company car after that. I was in the Marine's and didn't own a vehicle. When I got out, I drove the Nova until it rusted out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm obviously not the kind of person who needs to replace her car every 3 years, like a lot of folks these days, but I also don't understand the intense aversion to spending money on a new car. There's still a car payment; they're just called "repairs" and those payments go higher as the car gets older.  They might not be as regular, but sometimes, they can be much more painful.
> 
> Of course, I was very happy when my car loan was paid off, and I am saving as much money as I can for a downpayment so that I won't have to take out a big loan. But as much as I have loved Lucille, she's becoming less enjoyable to drive because of all the little things that are starting to go wrong (she's also got an oil leak somewhere, so I'm having to feed her oil on a regular basis; there's the slight shimmy because there's some play in the suspension.) I'd rather let her go before she gets to the point of pissing me off by breaking down or becoming unreliable. Don't want to end on a sour note.
> 
> I have never been of the mind that a car is just an appliance, so I'm willing to pay some money to make the experience of driving even more enjoyable.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's a solid perspective. My wife has to have a new one every 2 or 3 years, leasing is a huge financial loss. So I just try to lesson the severity by paying cash and hope to sell and recoup some of the damage. Cars are such a money pit. I wish she would drive a pickup truck, the loss would not be as great and way easier to sell.
Click to expand...


Oh, I could never lease. It goes against just about every fiber of my being. I'll willing to rent for housing, but I won't lease my cars. Even if I were willing to do so, my father would probably come back to haunt me for the rest of my days.

When I buy a car, I plan on having it for the long haul. I get my money's worth


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> The best cars are the one's with no payment. Can always buy used tires. Funny fact about me, I have never had a car payment. My first car was paid by cash, 76 Chevy Nova. Drove that into the ground and always had a company car after that. I was in the Marine's and didn't own a vehicle. When I got out, I drove the Nova until it rusted out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm obviously not the kind of person who needs to replace her car every 3 years, like a lot of folks these days, but I also don't understand the intense aversion to spending money on a new car. There's still a car payment; they're just called "repairs" and those payments go higher as the car gets older.  They might not be as regular, but sometimes, they can be much more painful.
> 
> Of course, I was very happy when my car loan was paid off, and I am saving as much money as I can for a downpayment so that I won't have to take out a big loan. But as much as I have loved Lucille, she's becoming less enjoyable to drive because of all the little things that are starting to go wrong (she's also got an oil leak somewhere, so I'm having to feed her oil on a regular basis; there's the slight shimmy because there's some play in the suspension.) I'd rather let her go before she gets to the point of pissing me off by breaking down or becoming unreliable. Don't want to end on a sour note.
> 
> I have never been of the mind that a car is just an appliance, so I'm willing to pay some money to make the experience of driving even more enjoyable.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's a solid perspective. My wife has to have a new one every 2 or 3 years, leasing is a huge financial loss. So I just try to lesson the severity by paying cash and hope to sell and recoup some of the damage. Cars are such a money pit. I wish she would drive a pickup truck, the loss would not be as great and way easier to sell.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, I could never lease. It goes against just about every fiber of my being. I'll willing to rent for housing, but I won't lease my cars. Even if I were willing to do so, my father would probably come back to haunt me for the rest of my days.
> 
> When I buy a car, I plan on having it for the long haul. I get my money's worth
Click to expand...

Yup, he was wise. I finally sold my wife's 2012 Buick Enclave a few days ago. Craigslist finally came through but the scum that comes with it is not desirable.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yes, cars are a money pit ... Some cars are a fun, flashy, sexy money pit ... But a pit nonetheless (sorta like photography). Driving a car until the wheels fall off gives the owner the best return on their money. Gary and Mary Lou don't have car payments ... But if Gary was young and single he probably wouldn't get any second dates. 

@ Leo: Gary just purchased a used car for Mary Lou's son. We delivered it to a high school auto repair/mechanic class and they went through everything and repaired it all, for only cost the cost of parts (the school gets a discount on the parts). The school's program is taught by certified mechanics most of the teachers own their own shop and the class is to prepare the kids for certification. Send Lucille to school.


----------



## Gary A.

Ahhhhhhhhh ... Finally a cool and overcast morning. The marine layer is thick today, almost a fog. USA is out of the Copa, humbled by Argentina.  Nobody felt that USA had a chance, but we all hoped the USA would be competitive, would make a game out of it.  The USA wasn't competitive, it was a game between children and men. Once the Argentines had a comfy lead, they just spread out the field and played keep-away. What Gary doesn't understand is that soccer has been a serious sport here for awhile ... Why are the US men's teams so bad?


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  I hope everyone's hump day is going well so far.

On the subject of old cars, my 2001 Civic with about 197K has front brakes that chatter, result of not having the rotors ground down last summer when it got new pads.  I didn't figure on having it very long, but now it looks like I may keep it until early next year.  The chatter is getting a little worse (happening at lower speeds and a little more pronounced).  Am I in for some sort of brake catastrophe soon or can I ignore it for a while? The car doesn't get much mileage, probably only 3K/yr at this point.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> USA is out of the Copa, humbled by Argentina. Nobody felt that USA had a chance, but we all hoped the USA would be competitive, would make a game out of it. The USA wasn't competitive, it was a game between children and men. Once the Argentines had a comfy lead, they just spread out the field and played keep-away. What Gary doesn't understand is that soccer has been a serious sport here for awhile ... Why are the US men's teams so bad?


I was really hoping they'd be competitive, as well. But they didn't play well, at all. I disliked their methods of getting the ball and stopping Argentina (especially that hit against Messi). It makes me wonder how they even got to the semifinals.

At least they didn't play as bad as Mexico did against Chile.  Although, Mexico (or at least their fans in the stadium) deserved to be humbled, IMO.


----------



## robbins.photo

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  I hope everyone's hump day is going well so far.
> 
> On the subject of old cars, my 2001 Civic with about 197K has front brakes that chatter, result of not having the rotors ground down last summer when it got new pads.  I didn't figure on having it very long, but now it looks like I may keep it until early next year.  The chatter is getting a little worse (happening at lower speeds and a little more pronounced).  Am I in for some sort of brake catastrophe soon or can I ignore it for a while? The car doesn't get much mileage, probably only 3K/yr at this point.



I'd look at getting the rotors either ground or replaced if it were me - they aren't terribly expensive and brakes really isn't something you want to screw around with.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Why are the US men's teams so bad?



Just a wild guess mind you, but maybe anybody with any athletic ability is playing a real sport?


----------



## Gary A.

@ Ken: You need to get the rotors 'turned'.  The rotors are removed and bolted onto ... a machine, like a turntable on its side, then a 'stylus' will even (shave) the rotor flat again. Gary suspects that the rotors may be beyond turning and most likely have to be replaced. The rotor damaged usually is due to wearing the brakes down beyond the maximum wear point. Your brake condition is not a safety factor (unless it is shaking so badly that you are in danger of losing control of the car). But the shaking will promote/accelerate the wearing of many other parts, (a la the drivetrain), and loosen other worn parts and additionally loosen loose parts causing indirect damage.  New rotors will probably run about $250 +/- $50).  Turning most likely run well under $100.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why are the US men's teams so bad?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just a wild guess mind you, but maybe anybody with any athletic ability is playing a real sport?
Click to expand...

Gary is exercising some tolerance here by accepting soccer into the family of real sports. (Being from a Blue State, Gary is probably high on the tolerance spectrum.)


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  I hope everyone's hump day is going well so far.
> 
> On the subject of old cars, my 2001 Civic with about 197K has front brakes that chatter, result of not having the rotors ground down last summer when it got new pads.  I didn't figure on having it very long, but now it looks like I may keep it until early next year.  The chatter is getting a little worse (happening at lower speeds and a little more pronounced).  Am I in for some sort of brake catastrophe soon or can I ignore it for a while? The car doesn't get much mileage, probably only 3K/yr at this point.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd look at getting the rotors either ground or replaced if it were me - they aren't terribly expensive and brakes really isn't something you want to screw around with.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I replaced my rotors last year by myself. The mechanic wanted $350 for the front two. Hah.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Gary is exercising some tolerance here by accepting soccer into the family of real sports. (Being from a Blue State, Gary is probably high on the tolerance spectrum.)



Then I shall admire your ability to sit and watch grown men running around chasing a ball for most of the afternoon without producing much in the way of actual results.   

I freely admit, I've never gotten it.. but, eh...


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> Agreed. I replaced my rotors last year by myself. The mechanic wanted $350 for the front two. Hah.



With most vehicles it's a pretty easy job, something you can do in the driveway with some basic tools and a jackstand.  Only one's I've ever found that were really bad were Mazda, those things were nearly impossible to get off.


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed. I replaced my rotors last year by myself. The mechanic wanted $350 for the front two. Hah.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> With most vehicles it's a pretty easy job, something you can do in the driveway with some basic tools and a jackstand.  Only one's I've ever found that were really bad were Mazda, those things were nearly impossible to get off.
Click to expand...

I was surprised at how easy it was. The only tool that might not be in the typical tool chest that I used was a torque wrench.

They also wanted $70 to change my in-cabin air filter. A $15 part that takes less than 5 minutes with no tools required. Rip. Off.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is exercising some tolerance here by accepting soccer into the family of real sports. (Being from a Blue State, Gary is probably high on the tolerance spectrum.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then I shall admire your ability to sit and watch grown men running around chasing a ball for most of the afternoon without producing much in the way of actual results.
> 
> I freely admit, I've never gotten it.. but, eh...
Click to expand...

Gary's much much better half is deep into soccer. As she accepts and puts up with Gary ... He feels that being tolerant of soccer isn't a bad deal, all things considered.  Mary Lou's youngest son played at college level and her oldest son was in the Olympic Development program. 

As a former football player, Gary would love to see some NFL stars on a soccer pitch ... Just to see what happens ... But they may already have that sport, it's called rugby.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed. I replaced my rotors last year by myself. The mechanic wanted $350 for the front two. Hah.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> With most vehicles it's a pretty easy job, something you can do in the driveway with some basic tools and a jackstand.  Only one's I've ever found that were really bad were Mazda, those things were nearly impossible to get off.
Click to expand...

Or you can just drive out to Detroit ... Gary is confident that JC would be more than happy to oblige.  Hell, he'll probably meet you halfway.


----------



## tirediron

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  I hope everyone's hump day is going well so far.
> 
> On the subject of old cars, my 2001 Civic with about 197K has front brakes that chatter, result of not having the rotors ground down last summer when it got new pads.  I didn't figure on having it very long, but now it looks like I may keep it until early next year.  The chatter is getting a little worse (happening at lower speeds and a little more pronounced).  Am I in for some sort of brake catastrophe soon or can I ignore it for a while? The car doesn't get much mileage, probably only 3K/yr at this point.


That's not necessarily (in fact probably not) the result of not having the discs turned, 'though it could be.  It could be an indication of front spindle wear, pad failure, wheel bearing wear/failure, or disc warp as a result of hard breaking followed by cooling (stomping on the breaks and then driving through a puddle).  Regardless of the cause however, this is NOT something to ignore.  Your front breaks typically provide 60% of your stopping power, and when they're "chattering" they provide VERY little stopping power, possibly as little as 20%.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> Agreed. I replaced my rotors last year by myself. The mechanic wanted $350 for the front two. Hah.


BUT... did you do all the other things that the mechanic would have done for $350?  Check the piston seals, lubricate the slide pins, clean the calipers...  I also STRONGLY recommend bleeding the lines each time you service the breaks to get fresh fluid down to the business end.


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> I was surprised at how easy it was. The only tool that might not be in the typical tool chest that I used was a torque wrench.
> 
> They also wanted $70 to change my in-cabin air filter. A $15 part that takes less than 5 minutes with no tools required. Rip. Off.



Most of the simple stuff I do myself, if it's something that's going to require a ton of work or specialty tools I'll end up taking it to a mechanic.  That and anything with belts.  I hate belts.  Lol


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed. I replaced my rotors last year by myself. The mechanic wanted $350 for the front two. Hah.
> 
> 
> 
> BUT... did you do all the other things that the mechanic would have done for $350?  Check the piston seals, lubricate the slide pins, clean the calipers...  I also STRONGLY recommend bleeding the lines each time you service the breaks to get fresh fluid down to the business end.
Click to expand...

I did! It was a fun learning session. I never realized I knew so many curse words...


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed. I replaced my rotors last year by myself. The mechanic wanted $350 for the front two. Hah.
> 
> 
> 
> BUT... did you do all the other things that the mechanic would have done for $350?  Check the piston seals, lubricate the slide pins, clean the calipers...  I also STRONGLY recommend bleeding the lines each time you service the breaks to get fresh fluid down to the business end.
Click to expand...

There it is. There is the right way and then the driveway. All those steps guarantee safety and are critical.


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed. I replaced my rotors last year by myself. The mechanic wanted $350 for the front two. Hah.
> 
> 
> 
> BUT... did you do all the other things that the mechanic would have done for $350?  Check the piston seals, lubricate the slide pins, clean the calipers...  I also STRONGLY recommend bleeding the lines each time you service the breaks to get fresh fluid down to the business end.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There it is. There is the right way and then the driveway. All those steps guarantee safety and are critical.
Click to expand...

It's easy to do it the right way in the driveway, but often people forget that there's more to it than pulling the wheel and swapping discs....


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed. I replaced my rotors last year by myself. The mechanic wanted $350 for the front two. Hah.
> 
> 
> 
> BUT... did you do all the other things that the mechanic would have done for $350?  Check the piston seals, lubricate the slide pins, clean the calipers...  I also STRONGLY recommend bleeding the lines each time you service the breaks to get fresh fluid down to the business end.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There it is. There is the right way and then the driveway. All those steps guarantee safety and are critical.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's easy to do it the right way in the driveway, but often people forget that there's more to it than pulling the wheel and swapping discs....
Click to expand...

Agree, 100%.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary used to do all his mechanical work, including bleeding the line(s) and inspecting the seals.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Yup, he was wise. I finally sold my wife's 2012 Buick Enclave a few days ago. Craigslist finally came through but the scum that comes with it is not desirable.



He was also a mechanic 



Gary A. said:


> @ Leo: Gary just purchased a used car for Mary Lou's son. We delivered it to a high school auto repair/mechanic class and they went through everything and repaired it all, for only cost the cost of parts (the school gets a discount on the parts). The school's program is taught by certified mechanics most of the teachers own their own shop and the class is to prepare the kids for certification. Send Lucille to school.



Buzz and I do the work ourselves. He helps me with the more complicated stuff.


----------



## KenC

@robbins.photo , @Gary A. , @waday 
Thanks, guys.  I need to get it inspected by next month so I guess I'll bite the bullet and have them do the rotors.


----------



## robbins.photo

KenC said:


> @robbins.photo , @Gary A. , @waday
> Thanks, guys.  I need to get it inspected by next month so I guess I'll bite the bullet and have them do the rotors.



Keep the receipt.  If you decide to sell the car, use that as a selling point - I just had the brakes redone and new rotors installed.. blah blah blah.

Does wonders to convince people that you gave a crap about the car and actually maintained it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sharon might have changed a tire once. Sharon can put in a quart of oil and windshield washer fluid. Sharon knows how to check a dipstick. Sharon probably just has a good bit of experience dealing with dips.


----------



## minicoop1985

It's been a while since I've worked on a car. My stupid clutches in my dual clutch auto have gone to hell again. 4th time. I'm so over this car.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> It's been a while since I've worked on a car. My stupid clutches in my dual clutch auto have gone to hell again. 4th time. I'm so over this car.



We can check and see if the username Minivan1985 is still available for you... just in case.


----------



## robbins.photo

Well new lens has arrived.  New to me at any rate.  Test shots looked good, can't wait to hit the zoo this weekend and give it a proper workout

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. Something about this ^^^ last post makes me realize that I kind of forgot that I have the K7. I was thinking of how I am not able to test a lens so quickly and then suddenly stopped and thought. "Oh yeah!"


----------



## Designer

I used to work on cars.

Back when I thought it was fun.

I haven't done much with cars since they put computers in them.

I think the last thing of any mechanical work was changing the starter in my pickup.

These days changing the battery is about it.


----------



## snowbear

I remember looking at my '85 Ford Ranger, trying to check the timing.  "Hmmm - no timing marks.  Guess I can toss this piece of equipment."


----------



## snowbear

I walked a lot, yesterday - maybe three times the normal amount.
I decided to forgo the elevator this afternoon and walk up the stairs.
I needed to go to the fourth floor.
Approaching floor three, I pulled a muscle in my @$$.


----------



## medic2230

snowbear said:


> I walked a lot, yesterday - maybe three times the normal amount.
> I decided to forgo the elevator this afternoon and walk up the stairs.
> I needed to go to the fourth floor.
> Approaching floor three, I pulled a muscle in my @$$.


----------



## Warhorse

medic2230 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I walked a lot, yesterday - maybe three times the normal amount.
> I decided to forgo the elevator this afternoon and walk up the stairs.
> I needed to go to the fourth floor.
> Approaching floor three, I pulled a muscle in my @$$.
Click to expand...

I thought exercise was supposed to be good for you. 

Hope it heals quickly.


----------



## robbins.photo

Warhorse said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I walked a lot, yesterday - maybe three times the normal amount.
> I decided to forgo the elevator this afternoon and walk up the stairs.
> I needed to go to the fourth floor.
> Approaching floor three, I pulled a muscle in my @$$.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I thought exercise was supposed to be good for you.
> 
> Hope it heals quickly.
Click to expand...


It is supposed to be good for you.  And, as this incident clearly illustrates, it's also a pain in the @$$.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is two sips into his first coffee. He has lots of paperwork to produce this morning, but Gary is reading the paper and wasting time in the forum. Chile beat Colombia last night 2-0 in the Copa. It is Argentina versus Chile in the final. Another gray and cool morning.  Many of the peppers were beaten up in the heat wave.  Thursdays, Samy's Camera runs very large ads, often full pages.  Fun to look through but Gary isn't buying anything.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone/ L-R: Coffee, Coffee, Tea

Gary's coffee plants didn't do well in the heat, but it isn't terminal.


----------



## waday

I wanted to watch the rest of the game, but didn't want to stay up that late.

So, the wife and I watched coverage of the sit-in.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> I wanted to watch the rest of the game, but didn't want to stay up that late.
> 
> So, the wife and I watched coverage of the sit-in.


The rain delay of a couple hours, Gary thinks, took a lot of steam out of Colombia. Mary Lou and Gary finished their dinner wine during the break.  Both teams looked pretty evenly matched, but Chile came roaring out of the gates and score two quick goals ... After the rain delay, Colombia, even though they were a man down, pounded away at Chile ... But they couldn't even buy a goal. Unfortunately, the very very wet field dramatically altered the play. Gary was surprised that the field wasn't tarped during the downpour.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> The rain delay of a couple hours, Gary thinks, took a lot of steam out of Colombia. Mary Lou and Gary finished their dinner wine during the break.  Both teams looked pretty evenly matched, but Chile came roaring out of the gates and score two quick goals ... After the rain delay, Colombia, even though they were a man down, pounded away at Chile ... But they couldn't even buy a goal. Unfortunately, the very very wet field dramatically altered the play. Gary was surprised that the field wasn't tarped during the downpour.



That is surprising about no tarp. Anyways, Chile's two quick goals must have hurt dearly. From the portions I saw where Colombia did pick up some steam near the end of the first half, Chile's goalkeeper was fantastic.


----------



## vintagesnaps

So Samy's runs an ad on Thursdays, huh? hmm may have to go look, just window shopping (or is that Windows shopping?).

I could drink another bucket of coffee after being up half the night with storms and sirens going off. I seem to be south of the worst of what hit last night, and north of where storms are expected tonight, lucky to be stuck in the middle and if all I lose is some sleep I'll be glad. But I need a nap.

Ouch, Charlie, hope it feels better soon.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I need to test a Polaroid. Which doesn't take long to reveal the results either. Got a more collapsible one that was I think called the Reporter, should be easier to cart around than the Colorpack which I like but is rather clunky to carry.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I need to test a Polaroid. Which doesn't take long to reveal the results either. Got a more collapsible one that was I think called the Reporter, should be easier to cart around than the Colorpack which I like but is rather clunky to carry.



True, the Polaroids can be tested more quickly   At least with the peel-apart film. With IP film, it still takes 45 minutes, which might be only slightly faster than other film. Even with a short roll, you'd have to shoot that roll pretty quick - say 5-10 minutes - then develop immediately - another 30ish - to even see the negatives faster than IP instant. And then you'd have to wait for them to try to see a positive (unless you're shooting slides.)


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> So Samy's runs an ad on Thursdays, huh? hmm may have to go look, just window shopping (or is that Windows shopping?).
> 
> I could drink another bucket of coffee after being up half the night with storms and sirens going off. I seem to be south of the worst of what hit last night, and north of where storms are expected tonight, lucky to be stuck in the middle and if all I lose is some sleep I'll be glad. But I need a nap.
> 
> Ouch, Charlie, hope it feels better soon.


Up in our foothills, where the fires are, more than 750 homes had to be evacuated ... IIRC about 160 horses were moved to the county fairgrounds. Plenty of sirens up there.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> So Samy's runs an ad on Thursdays, huh? hmm may have to go look, just window shopping (or is that Windows shopping?).
> 
> I could drink another bucket of coffee after being up half the night with storms and sirens going off. I seem to be south of the worst of what hit last night, and north of where storms are expected tonight, lucky to be stuck in the middle and if all I lose is some sleep I'll be glad. But I need a nap.
> 
> Ouch, Charlie, hope it feels better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> Up in our foothills, where the fires are, more than 750 homes had to be evacuated ... IIRC about 160 horses were moved to the county fairgrounds. Plenty of sirens up there.
Click to expand...

My niece's husband is a firefighter in CA, always fighting them wild fires. Dangerous job.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy ho, hosers. Sunburn STILL hurts a bit. Looks gnarly too, but the blisters are gone. Still in the peeling phase.


----------



## terri

Geez, Coop!    That really was one badass sunburn.    Keep healing!

Hey, all hosers.    A rotten last few days for me.    Odin, my incredibly ancient pug, is starting to go downhill...slowly.   He has had two vestibular incidents this week, that really look like he's stroking out.   Eye rolling (horizontal nystagmus), complete loss of balance, a marked head tilt, trembling.    He had one episode 2 years ago and it took him a week to slowly recover.   Nothing since until this week.   He has recovered much faster both times this week, but...I'm just a slave to the house right now, he can't be left alone.   One trip to the vet to get assurance that I'm doing everything right - basically, there isn't much to do other than shove a meclizine tab downhis gullet, and hold him and pet him until the symptoms subside.   At the moment, he is in the other room slowly recuperating from this afternoon's attack.    He got his dinner down and he is calmer.   

So sad watching him start this.   Such a good little guy.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Geez, Coop!    That really was one badass sunburn.    Keep healing!
> 
> Hey, all hosers.    A rotten last few days for me.    Odin, my incredibly ancient pug, is starting to go downhill...slowly.   He has had two vestibular incidents this week, that really look like he's stroking out.   Eye rolling (horizontal nystagmus), complete loss of balance, a marked head tilt, trembling.    He had one episode 2 years ago and it took him a week to slowly recover.   Nothing since until this week.   He has recovered much faster both times this week, but...I'm just a slave to the house right now, he can't be left alone.   One trip to the vet to get assurance that I'm doing everything right - basically, there isn't much to do other than shove a meclizine tab downhis gullet, and hold him and pet him until the symptoms subside.   At the moment, he is in the other room slowly recuperating from this afternoon's attack.    He got his dinner down and he is calmer.
> 
> So sad watching him start this.   Such a good little guy.



Poor Odin  

 to you!


----------



## Gary A.

Give Odin a hug from The Cook and Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has a pizza in the BBQ. It smells delish.  Gary stuffed the crust with oregano, marjoram and peppers.


----------



## snowbear

Fuzzball and the kitties send the pug a hug.


----------



## tirediron

Sorry!


----------



## terri

Thanks, guys.    He has gradually recovered completely from this afternoon's episode - even stood right up and started barking his head off for a cookie - a very typical early evening routine.  Of course, he got his cookie and drank a lot of water afterwards.   He ambled around just fine.   Currently snoring and looking relaxed.  

I've commented to my husband before - I'll know he's really on his way out when he stops wanting treats.    

From here on out, it's just a quality of life thing.   Day to day, I guess.    *sigh*   

16 year old pug.    His last 2 vets just shake their heads - he's ancient!


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> Thanks, guys.    He has gradually recovered completely from this afternoon's episode - even stood right up and started barking his head off for a cookie - a very typical early evening routine.  Of course, he got his cookie and drank a lot of water afterwards.   He ambled around just fine.   Currently snoring and looking relaxed.
> 
> I've commented to my husband before - I'll know he's really on his way out when he stops wanting treats.
> 
> From here on out, it's just a quality of life thing.   Day to day, I guess.    *sigh*
> 
> 16 year old pug.    His last 2 vets just shake their heads - he's ancient!


Sorry to hear that. Lots.of cookies for the boy.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> So Samy's runs an ad on Thursdays, huh? hmm may have to go look, just window shopping (or is that Windows shopping?).
> 
> I could drink another bucket of coffee after being up half the night with storms and sirens going off. I seem to be south of the worst of what hit last night, and north of where storms are expected tonight, lucky to be stuck in the middle and if all I lose is some sleep I'll be glad. But I need a nap.
> 
> Ouch, Charlie, hope it feels better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> Up in our foothills, where the fires are, more than 750 homes had to be evacuated ... IIRC about 160 horses were moved to the county fairgrounds. Plenty of sirens up there.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My niece's husband is a firefighter in CA, always fighting them wild fires. Dangerous job.
Click to expand...

Firefighters have a lot of job security here. Good luck to him.


----------



## Gary A.

Amazing ... Brexit predicted to win.


----------



## otherprof

terri said:


> Geez, Coop!    That really was one badass sunburn.    Keep healing!
> 
> Hey, all hosers.    A rotten last few days for me.    Odin, my incredibly ancient pug, is starting to go downhill...slowly.   He has had two vestibular incidents this week, that really look like he's stroking out.   Eye rolling (horizontal nystagmus), complete loss of balance, a marked head tilt, trembling.    He had one episode 2 years ago and it took him a week to slowly recover.   Nothing since until this week.   He has recovered much faster both times this week, but...I'm just a slave to the house right now, he can't be left alone.   One trip to the vet to get assurance that I'm doing everything right - basically, there isn't much to do other than shove a meclizine tab downhis gullet, and hold him and pet him until the symptoms subside.   At the moment, he is in the other room slowly recuperating from this afternoon's attack.    He got his dinner down and he is calmer.
> 
> So sad watching him start this.   Such a good little guy.


So sorry to hear about Odin.  One of my beagles would have a seizure every few years, and we would just cover him with a blanket and talk soothingly to him and pet him, and he w ould recover. As I wrote, these occurred every few years, and he led a very happy and long life. They occurred so infrequently, I'd  forgotten about them until reading your post. I hope this is just a short event and Odin's life, and you get to share love for some more happy years.


----------



## Gary A.

TGIF


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm not even working since the early retirement and this week's still been a PITA! Today had to get up at a decently early hour for the yard work guy and whatnot so did a bunch of stuff and now it's not even lunchtime and I'm nodding off (more from getting woke up at 3 am the night before last). lol Nice rainy day for a nap.

Sorry to hear about that Terri.


----------



## terri

otherprof said:


> So sorry to hear about Odin. One of my beagles would have a seizure every few years, and we would just cover him with a blanket and talk soothingly to him and pet him, and he w ould recover. As I wrote, these occurred every few years, and he led a very happy and long life. They occurred so infrequently, I'd forgotten about them until reading your post. I hope this is just a short event and Odin's life, and you get to share love for some more happy years.



Thank you for saying that.      He is still healthy in so many other respects, I hope for some more happy times without this trauma.



vintagesnaps said:


> Sorry to hear about that Terri.



Thank you, sweetie!

Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## snowbear

I'm, trying to get some real work done before the trip west.  I printed a couple of maps for the portfolio in case I get any job interviews while I'm out there.  It looks like I'm going to get to take Sunday and Thursday for me.

SD zoo has polar bears.


----------



## Gary A.

Tri-Tip a la Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

A Jacaranda from The Cook and Gary's morning walk.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 123764 Tri-Tip a la Gary.



Flippin perfect.... Lets eat!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 123765
> iPhone
> 
> A Jacaranda from The Cook and Gary's morning walk.



Gorgeous. Cook is lookin spry


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 123765
> iPhone
> 
> A Jacaranda from The Cook and Gary's morning walk.


That doesn't look like @JacaRanda


----------



## waday

@terri , sorry to hear about Odin


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> @terri , sorry to hear about Odin


I'm also sorry to hear about Odin.  It's always tough.  I know some folks think of them as just pets but they really are members of the family.  

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning Hosers. Off to threshers show today, over 1000 to see. Pretty pumped, this is a good one in Wauseon, OH. National Threshers Association, Annual Steam Traction Engine Show


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

I've finished my first week as a Real Girl (i.e. full-time employee who gets to have health insurance now. And a door to her office/cube with walls that go almost all the way up.) There will be more adulting this weekend as I fill out my paperwork for the various insurances I can now have. I also will have to figure out what the jam a tax-deferred annuity is. Now, for those of you who might think it's foolish that a 45-year-old still doesn't know what a tax-deferred annuity is, shaddup, I can curse out a taxi driver in 3 or 4 languages and have skinny-dipped in the Mediterranean 

Yesterday Lucille went in for her new tires to be mounted and balanced, for a replacement accessory belt, and for her inspection (She passed. I knew she would. She's smart like her Mama.) While they were working on her, Buzz and I walked across the street to the Ford dealership and I test drove a Fiesta and a Focus. Didn't like the Fiesta, but very much liked the Focus. It's definitely on my shortlist for a replacement car. I'll be doing more test driving over the next few months. I think the next up is a Mazda 3.


----------



## Designer

Congratulations!

If you are considering trading cars, why are you buying new tires?  Coulda saved some money with used tires.


----------



## minicoop1985

Leonore, DO NOT BUY A FOCUS if it has an auto. I have one. The transmissions spit out clutch packs. I'm on the 4th set, and only 40,000 miles.

Mornin, hosers. Sooooooooooooooooo tired. Slept like crap last night.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Congratulations!
> 
> If you are considering trading cars, why are you buying new tires?  Coulda saved some money with used tires.



My front two tires were stripped - one of them down to metal. They were so bad that I had the snow tires on the front this past week to get me around until my appointment yesterday. I didn't even think about used tires, but I also have a little while to go until I get a new car. I want to wait until at least 200K (Lucille's got about 192,800 at the moment) so that's still another 6 months or so, and then I might wait a few more months depending on how much money I have saved up for the downpayment. And then there's my slight neurosis that would like to keep the car for a full 12 years (which means buying in May or June of next year) instead of 11 1/2 (if I buy at the beginning of the year.) I'm not saying that the neurotic side will definitely win, but it might be a factor 

All this means is that I will still be doing enough driving before selling Lucille to warrant new tires.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Leonore, DO NOT BUY A FOCUS if it has an auto. I have one. The transmissions spit out clutch packs. I'm on the 4th set, and only 40,000 miles.
> 
> Mornin, hosers. Sooooooooooooooooo tired. Slept like crap last night.



Don't worry, I'm already aware of the issues Ford has had with its automatic transmissions. But even more than that, I'll be driving a manual transmission for as long as I have a functional left foot. It's one of my deal-breakers. No auto trannies for me, even if they aren't crappy.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 123764 Tri-Tip a la Gary.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Flippin perfect.... Lets eat!
Click to expand...

It was sooo Delish ... One Gary's best Tri-Tips. Gary slow cooked in a marinade of wine, BBQ Sauces, a rub of spices, all tossed in a Dutch oven, After about four hours in the Dutch, Gary transferred the whole mess into a low pan and cooked about two hours in low heat plus apple smoke. Then, when the internal temp of the meat hit about 125F, Gary transferred the Tri-Tip to the propane grill which was running at 575F for a reverse sear and a crispy outside. Mary Lou gathered up a veggie mix from the garden and grilled same, and she added some cut-up cantaloupe and viola!

Gary dug-up a Chapin Cabernet Sauvignon and we had a very pleasant dinner in the patio. (You're always invited JC.)


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 123765
> iPhone
> 
> A Jacaranda from The Cook and Gary's morning walk.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gorgeous. Cook is lookin spry
Click to expand...

For a 13 y/o pooch ... She is doing well ... And we are off for our walk. The entire neighborhood has Jacarandas in the parkways ... A splash of lavender.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 123765
> iPhone
> 
> A Jacaranda from The Cook and Gary's morning walk.
> 
> 
> 
> That doesn't look like @JacaRanda
Click to expand...

That's because the JacaRanda we know hasn't bloomed yet.


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leonore, DO NOT BUY A FOCUS if it has an auto. I have one. The transmissions spit out clutch packs. I'm on the 4th set, and only 40,000 miles.
> 
> Mornin, hosers. Sooooooooooooooooo tired. Slept like crap last night.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't worry, I'm already aware of the issues Ford has had with its automatic transmissions. But even more than that, I'll be driving a manual transmission for as long as I have a functional left foot. It's one of my deal-breakers. No auto trannies for me, even if they aren't crappy.
Click to expand...

Good good.


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> Good morning Hosers. Off to threshers show today, over 1000 to see. Pretty pumped, this is a good one in Wauseon, OH. National Threshers Association, Annual Steam Traction Engine Show


I HATE YOU!


----------



## Designer

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning Hosers. Off to threshers show today, over 1000 to see. Pretty pumped, this is a good one in Wauseon, OH. National Threshers Association, Annual Steam Traction Engine Show
> 
> 
> 
> I HATE YOU!
Click to expand...

Relax!  He'll post his photographs.

The only thing you'll miss is the smoke, the sounds, the people, the concession stand food, being able to take your own photos, and a sunburn.  So it's all good.


----------



## terri

Happy weekend, hosers!   

Thanks for the continued good wishes for the O-dog.   He is snoring at my feet atm, and we have had no episodes since Thursday.   Very thankful.  

@limr, the health insurance paperwork is a pita!   I'm so glad to be out of health care management.   Just pay attention to what is NOT covered, rather than let them distract you with what is.  In addition to cost, it's what is carved out that has the potential to cause trouble.   And congrats on the grown-up gig.


----------



## EIngerson

I'm glad its the weekend too. Long couple days ahead. 2 lacrosse games today and 3 tomorrow. Burning through batteries and memory cards. 

I think I need performance enhancing drugs to keep up with my kids sports.


----------



## minicoop1985

Oh joy. The standard "I'll LET you shoot my car (Hyundai Genesis) for exposure!" YAY! I can buy food with exposure, right?

Ugh. I just got done shooting an Audi R8, Nissan GTR, and a Viper. I'm pretty sure I don't need your Genesis for exposure.


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning Hosers. Off to threshers show today, over 1000 to see. Pretty pumped, this is a good one in Wauseon, OH. National Threshers Association, Annual Steam Traction Engine Show
> 
> 
> 
> I HATE YOU!
Click to expand...

You will love me once again soon....


----------



## jcdeboever

Designer said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning Hosers. Off to threshers show today, over 1000 to see. Pretty pumped, this is a good one in Wauseon, OH. National Threshers Association, Annual Steam Traction Engine Show
> 
> 
> 
> I HATE YOU!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Relax!  He'll post his photographs.
> 
> The only thing you'll miss is the smoke, the sounds, the people, the concession stand food, being able to take your own photos, and a sunburn.  So it's all good.
Click to expand...

Yup, check all of those except sunburn. Perfect day, so much to see. I got some good pics. Corn dogs, fried Bologna sandwich, ice cold beer, and lots of steel, smoke, steam, and boobies.


----------



## minicoop1985

Boobies? At a tractor show?


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Boobies? At a tractor show?


Yeah - some are worse than Mardi Gras


----------



## minicoop1985

Well then. I've been going to the wrong events...


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Gary A.

iPhone
Some of the entertainment. 

Gary and Mary Lou are at a Relay for Life event (American Cancer Society) in Pomona, Ca.


----------



## Gary A.

The country singers were followed by the above folkloric dancers, followed by a heavy metal band ... Lol.


----------



## minicoop1985

Hmm. Metal, huh? My kind of music...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just finished chopping up carne asada for about 500 peoples worth of tacos. He hopes to be promoted to tortilla flipper.


----------



## minicoop1985

Man, apparently this person's been at it for a while. Yes, we get it. Photos are for your personal joy. You still have to pay for them.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning Hosers. Off to threshers show today, over 1000 to see. Pretty pumped, this is a good one in Wauseon, OH. National Threshers Association, Annual Steam Traction Engine Show
> 
> 
> 
> I HATE YOU!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Relax!  He'll post his photographs.
> 
> The only thing you'll miss is the smoke, the sounds, the people, the concession stand food, being able to take your own photos, and a sunburn.  So it's all good.
Click to expand...


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning Hosers. Off to threshers show today, over 1000 to see. Pretty pumped, this is a good one in Wauseon, OH. National Threshers Association, Annual Steam Traction Engine Show
> 
> 
> 
> I HATE YOU!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Relax!  He'll post his photographs.
> 
> The only thing you'll miss is the smoke, the sounds, the people, the concession stand food, being able to take your own photos, and a sunburn.  So it's all good.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yup, check all of those except sunburn. Perfect day, so much to see. I got some good pics. Corn dogs, fried Bologna sandwich, ice cold beer, and lots of steel, smoke, steam, and boobies.
Click to expand...


----------



## minicoop1985

Of course, the thread where the previously mentioned statement "I shouldn't have to pay for photos-all I get out of them is personal joy" was contained is now gone. Boo, it was just starting to get fun again.


----------



## bribrius

Reading through. Cars suck. I hate paying for them. I hate fixing them. I really don't even like driving them. I do mostly my own work (but did I mention I hate fixing them.?) 

They suck less than walking everwhere would though


----------



## bribrius

tirediron said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  I hope everyone's hump day is going well so far.
> 
> On the subject of old cars, my 2001 Civic with about 197K has front brakes that chatter, result of not having the rotors ground down last summer when it got new pads.  I didn't figure on having it very long, but now it looks like I may keep it until early next year.  The chatter is getting a little worse (happening at lower speeds and a little more pronounced).  Am I in for some sort of brake catastrophe soon or can I ignore it for a while? The car doesn't get much mileage, probably only 3K/yr at this point.
> 
> 
> 
> That's not necessarily (in fact probably not) the result of not having the discs turned, 'though it could be.  It could be an indication of front spindle wear, pad failure, wheel bearing wear/failure, or disc warp as a result of hard breaking followed by cooling (stomping on the breaks and then driving through a puddle).  Regardless of the cause however, this is NOT something to ignore.  Your front breaks typically provide 60% of your stopping power, and when they're "chattering" they provide VERY little stopping power, possibly as little as 20%.
Click to expand...

Omg I drove in my driveway parked my truck got out and noticed there was a fire in the truck bed I pulled out the brush that was burning let it finish burning in my driveway and the rest of the little fire left in the bed went out with some stomping . I think I figured out where my cigarette ash went when I flicked it driving. Did I mention my truck leaks gas too and sometimes it don't stop the wheel bearing sensors aren't reading so the antilock kicks on and sticks? I really need to change the hub unit(s) . Other day it got stuck in neutral so I put on the ebrake climbed under it noticed the shift cable was off again . Manually put it in park so I could start it climbed back under it then manually put it in drive got in and drove home. Sad to admit but not the first time it's happened this time I put a bolt through the shifter cable holding it on shouldn't go anywhere now. Lucky the truck didn't roll away that coulda sucked


----------



## bribrius

Oh the brakes chatter too but meh. Imdontbgive a hell


----------



## bribrius

And like limr one of the speakers no worky I think it's blown . Crackly crackly but I fixed the window so it goes up and down again (maybe I shouldn't have then I couldn't have flicked the cigarette, the ash couldn't have landed in the back. And it wouldn't have caught on fir) hmm


----------



## bribrius

On the trucks a old Chevy. It has a truck tool box in the back too because well,  it needs it


----------



## Gary A.

Mom's Luminaire, Relay for Life, Pomona Fairplex.


----------



## bribrius

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 123819 Mom's Luminaire, Relay for Life, Pomona Fairplex.


That's a photo of your mom on a popcorn bag at the fair? Not quite sure I follow


----------



## Gary A.

It is a luminaire in honor of my mother who was taken by cancer. The Relay for Life is sponsored by the American Cancer Society, a combination of honoring those who died from cancer and fundraising.


----------



## jcdeboever

bribrius said:


> And like limr one of the speakers no worky I think it's blown . Crackly crackly but I fixed the window so it goes up and down again (maybe I shouldn't have then I couldn't have flicked the cigarette, the ash couldn't have landed in the back. And it wouldn't have caught on fir) hmm


If you lived in California, you would be burning people's houses down.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> It is a luminaire in honor of my mother who was taken by cancer. The Relay for Life is sponsored by the American Cancer Society, a combination of honoring those who died from cancer and fundraising.


Very nice, sorry for your loss.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ah yes, the Relay for Life. I have some friends who are members of the 501st Legion who volunteered for it.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is a luminaire in honor of my mother who was taken by cancer. The Relay for Life is sponsored by the American Cancer Society, a combination of honoring those who died from cancer and fundraising.
> 
> 
> 
> Very nice, sorry for your loss.
Click to expand...

Thank you JC.

There was a solemn ceremony of remembrance centered around the luminaires and a candle light procession through hundreds of little white decorated bags:


----------



## minicoop1985

Cancer sucks, no way about it. Everyone I know has been affected by it either through having dealt with it personally or having a loved one or friend deal with it.

So "Photography should be free because it's only for my personal joy" person is back at it. Ugh. Some people never learn, even if they've been roasted to beyond well done.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> ...So "Photography should be free because it's only for my personal joy" person is back at it. Ugh. Some people never learn, even if they've been roasted to beyond well done.


  Huh?  Howzat?


----------



## bribrius

jcdeboever said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> And like limr one of the speakers no worky I think it's blown . Crackly crackly but I fixed the window so it goes up and down again (maybe I shouldn't have then I couldn't have flicked the cigarette, the ash couldn't have landed in the back. And it wouldn't have caught on fir) hmm
> 
> 
> 
> If
Click to expand...




jcdeboever said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> And like limr one of the speakers no worky I think it's blown . Crackly crackly but I fixed the window so it goes up and down again (maybe I shouldn't have then I couldn't have flicked the cigarette, the ash couldn't have landed in the back. And it wouldn't have caught on fir) hmm
> 
> 
> 
> If you lived in California, you would be burning people's houses down.
Click to expand...

Top 10 Reasons Not to Live in California - Toptenz.net


----------



## vintagesnaps

OK I went back a page and apparently the post was edited so the comment is gone (so now we'll never know John! lol).

Watching the umpteenth replay of the NHL Draft, it just keeps rerunning so I keep catching something else I didn't see before. Fans at the beginning were booing Bettman (the commissioner) and cheering the trades! lol I love watching the Draft.

Should be starting over again here shortly, about 2 hours behind schedule. Why do the networks always underestimate the time these events will run over?? duh.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I dunno, having the Terminator for a governor may not be too bad! But for me it would be - it's hot, it's too hot, it's always hot, and 7 more ways to say it! lol


----------



## bribrius

We like California for the produce other than that I think most of us on the eastern seaboard are still hoping it falls into the ocean  .


minicoop1985 said:


> Cancer sucks, no way about it. Everyone I know has been affected by it either through having dealt with it personally or having a loved one or friend deal with it.
> 
> So "Photography should be free because it's only for my personal joy" person is back at it. Ugh. Some people never learn, even if they've been roasted to beyond well done.


its the chemicals and all the toxic crap we created since the start of the industrial revolution now we are at the point we don't even eat real food


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> OK I went back a page and apparently the post was edited so the comment is gone (so now we'll never know John! lol).
> 
> Watching the umpteenth replay of the NHL Draft, it just keeps rerunning so I keep catching something else I didn't see before. Fans at the beginning were booing Bettman (the commissioner) and cheering the trades! lol I love watching the Draft.
> 
> Should be starting over again here shortly, about 2 hours behind schedule. Why do the networks always underestimate the time these events will run over?? duh.


Can't believe my Red Wings were able to dump that Dats contract. Now go get Stamkos and a defenseman.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah! somebody else got his rights, good luck to whoever that was!

The replay of the NHL Draft is now 3 hours off schedule... It was worth watching the beginning again just to hear Bettman getting booed. Geez the man is clueless. lol Happens every time he does a presentation or anything, he just laughs it off, now it's just gotten to be the thing to do. What a maroon.


----------



## Designer

The Barrett-Jackson car auction in the same way.  I can watch it three or four times and see different cars nearly every time.  

Of course, I am usually flipping during the commercials, so I know I'm missing some the first couple of times.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Yeah! somebody else got his rights, good luck to whoever that was!
> 
> The replay of the NHL Draft is now 3 hours off schedule... It was worth watching the beginning again just to hear Bettman getting booed. Geez the man is clueless. lol Happens every time he does a presentation or anything, he just laughs it off, now it's just gotten to be the thing to do. What a maroon.


What's a Maroon? lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

Same thing as an ignoranimus.


----------



## vintagesnaps

There were _these_ Maroons but we can't expect the league's commissioner to know anything about them, now can we?


----------



## JonA_CT

Designer said:


> The Barrett-Jackson car auction in the same way.  I can watch it three or four times and see different cars nearly every time.
> 
> Of course, I am usually flipping during the commercials, so I know I'm missing some the first couple of times.



That's happening at Mohegan Sun this weekend -- about 15 minutes from where I live. From what I understand, hotel rooms within an hour of here have been booked full all weekend. Crazy.



Today, I'm attempting woodfired pizza. I got an insert for my Weber grill. Crossing my fingers!


----------



## minicoop1985

tirediron said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...So "Photography should be free because it's only for my personal joy" person is back at it. Ugh. Some people never learn, even if they've been roasted to beyond well done.
> 
> 
> 
> Huh?  Howzat?
Click to expand...


This person posted an ad on a Facebook group letting people know he would LET them shoot his car (a Hyundai Genesis...). He also wanted to see websites and samples and was going to select a photographer... He was going to pay for these images by posting an unwatermarked, uncredited image on his Instagram, which is full of images with the watermarks REMOVED (I mean deliberately cropped off etc). When questioned about this, he said something along the lines of "The photographer gets exposure and gets to photograph an awesome car. All I get out of it is personal joy." The car, you see, it's a Genesis with knock off wheels, idiotic camber, and a cheap wing-oooooh so special. This was the second time that ad had been put up, and about the 8th time something like it had been put up in that group in the past couple days. The owner of the car got roasted pretty badly by members of the group. To make things a bit better, the car in question was posted by a joint Facebook account (someone probably cheated), and the girlfriend/wife/fiance/master/dom is an avid photographer. She's not good, and with her ego, she'll never improve.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Same thing as an ignoranimus.


Man ... and all this time Gary thought it was a color.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Same thing as an ignoranimus.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Man ... and all this time Gary thought it was a color.
Click to expand...

I thought it was a boy band...


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Same thing as an ignoranimus.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Man ... and all this time Gary thought it was a color.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I thought it was a boy band...
Click to expand...

 ... Five of them, right ...


----------



## Designer

What a bunch'o Maroons!  




 

2016 Football | Dowling Catholic Maroons | Digital Scout - Live High School Sports Scores and Statistics.


----------



## snowbear

Well, I made it to Cali.
The good news: all checked in at the confrence, I already have my ticket for the O's vs the Padres and there is an art store one block over.

The bad: I left the jamming camera battery on the dining room table after charging it.  I guess I'll have to just use the phone and Kindle Fire.

Anyway, somewhere over SW Indiana.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Same thing as an ignoranimus.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Man ... and all this time Gary thought it was a color.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I thought it was a boy band...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ... Five of them, right ...
Click to expand...

Right


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Well, I made it to Cali.
> The good news: all checked in at the confrence, I already have my ticket for the O's vs the Padres and there is an art store one block over.
> 
> The bad: I left the jamming camera battery on the dining room table after charging it.  I guess I'll have to just use the phone and Kindle Fire.
> 
> Anyway, somewhere over SW Indiana.
> View attachment 123876


Welcome to California Charlie.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary took it easy today. We were both a bit beat upon from the Relay for Life cooking. We just messed around the backyard today.  Mary Lou didn't want Gary to cook today ... Gary finally relented and picked up some Chinese.  We have just finished dinner, we are having some wine and settling in to watch the final of the Copa America between Argentina and Chile.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- The wine is very good, Z - The Seven Deadly Zins, 2013 Lodi old vine Zinfandel.


----------



## Gary A.

PPS- This stuff is soooooo smooth and Flavorful.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> PPS- This stuff is soooooo smooth and Flavorful



I've had that. Delish. Some really good old vine Zins coming out of Lodi. Don't think John Fogerty would complain about being stuck there anymore


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Gary has decided to make his own wine.  He will be researching for some reading material on winemaking during halftime.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PPS- This stuff is soooooo smooth and Flavorful
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've had that. Delish. Some really good old vine Zins coming out of Lodi. Don't think John Fogerty would complain about being stuck there anymore
Click to expand...

LOL ... Yes Lodi is on the map in a good way. Halftime in a wild game at the Copa.  The ref has stolen the limelight from the players.  Very entertaining .


----------



## JonA_CT

Moderate success I'll say...I'm trying again later this week with a slow-fermented neopolitian style dough. I think I have some adjustments to make.


----------



## Gary A.

How did it taste?


----------



## Gary A.

Gary ordered four books on winemaking.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Gary ordered four books on winemaking.


Hubby and I have made wine a couple of times, many moons ago now.   We had moderate success and found that wild grapes gave better acid and just performed better overall than picking anything up from a farmer's market (although we did make a strawberry wine from berries we bought at a farmer's market, and the nose on that stuff was a little bit of heaven - we just don't really enjoy strawberry wine all that much).    Making the must, checking acid levels, etc., it's all fun and very addictive.   We also made wine from wild purple muscadines, it wasn't too bad as they are indigenous to our area.   But in the end, the better stuff starts looking like a bargain after you've done the work a few times for "not too bad" results.    

Good luck and have fun with it!


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> How did it taste?



Has potential. I was impatient and figured it would take some practice to get the technique down anyways, so I used a combination of store-bought pizza dough and my quick dough, a quick, no-cook tomato sauce, and pre-shredded cheese.

I think I've got the technique down, and I'll be trying with nicer ingredients later in the week. I already have some dough cold-proofing for the next try.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Sometimes, Gary looks forward to the end of the weekend and the start and ease of a workday.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Sometimes, Gary looks forward to the end of the weekend and the start and ease of a workday.



Gary's a little cray 

Morning hosers!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Gary's a little cray



So Gary is actually a super computer of some sort?

Wait.. are you saying Gary is Skynet?

Wow.. it all makes sense now.... 

Lol


----------



## minicoop1985

Odd people. I like sleeping in on weekends and doing absolutely nothing with my life.

Morning, hosers. Been another rough one. Can't sleep well in all the heat upstairs. Even with my normal coffee intake PLUS Starbucks, I'm still struggling today.


----------



## bribrius

minicoop1985 said:


> Odd people. I like sleeping in on weekends and doing absolutely nothing with my life.
> 
> Morning, hosers. Been another rough one. Can't sleep well in all the heat upstairs. Even with my normal coffee intake PLUS Starbucks, I'm still struggling today.


Air conditioning is your friend.


----------



## JacaRanda

terri said:


> Geez, Coop!    That really was one badass sunburn.    Keep healing!
> 
> Hey, all hosers.    A rotten last few days for me.    Odin, my incredibly ancient pug, is starting to go downhill...slowly.   He has had two vestibular incidents this week, that really look like he's stroking out.   Eye rolling (horizontal nystagmus), complete loss of balance, a marked head tilt, trembling.    He had one episode 2 years ago and it took him a week to slowly recover.   Nothing since until this week.   He has recovered much faster both times this week, but...I'm just a slave to the house right now, he can't be left alone.   One trip to the vet to get assurance that I'm doing everything right - basically, there isn't much to do other than shove a meclizine tab downhis gullet, and hold him and pet him until the symptoms subside.   At the moment, he is in the other room slowly recuperating from this afternoon's attack.    He got his dinner down and he is calmer.
> 
> So sad watching him start this.   Such a good little guy.


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> Moderate success I'll say...I'm trying again later this week with a slow-fermented neopolitian style dough. I think I have some adjustments to make.
> View attachment 123906 View attachment 123907



Try cooking your pizza dough for a bit first, then add the sauce and toppings onto an already partially cooked crust.  Works very well, especially for a deep dish crust.  Lets you get the crust done properly without burning the cheese beyond all recognition.


----------



## minicoop1985

Last summer, we had a bat climb in around our AC while we were sleeping. It brushed my wife's face, and now I'm pretty sure she has PTSD. Can't have a window unit up there anymore. Looking into a split system or one of those AC on a cart things.


----------



## Gary A.

Nice and warm today, but no need for A/C.


----------



## JonA_CT

We've been holding out this year too-- those dual window fan things in the bedrooms, and a big box fan in the downstairs window. It's been very comfortable so far. I won't mind having a smaller electric bill.


----------



## limr

Bah. Jam that. I adore air conditioning. By this time of the summer, relying on fans means I'm constantly on the edge of feeling too hot. I despise that feeling. Yeah, the summer electric bill is not my favorite thing in the world, but not being hot IS one of my favorite things in the world, and I'm willing to pay for the privilege.

Hey, I drive an 11-year-old car, I brown bag my lunch every single day, I never buy new clothes or shoes without a massive sale or a good coupon or a gift card...I consider it my one luxury and it's worth every damn penny.


----------



## snowbear

Yo, Leo, look what I found.  I'm going to try to check it out tomorrow morning.
Home - The Cat Cafe


----------



## minicoop1985

I love AC too, but I'm not allowed to install it upstairs... grrr


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Yo, Leo, look what I found.  I'm going to try to check it out tomorrow morning.
> Home - The Cat Cafe





Take pictures!


----------



## snowbear

I will.  Photos are encouraged.  Last night I was told that Zoe spent all day by the apartment door, looking into the bedroom at my desk.  Today she's been threatened with deportation for trying to get into the trash too many times to count . . . I guess she got over missing me.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I will.  Photos are encouraged.  Last night I was told that Zoe spent all day by the apartment door, looking into the bedroom at my desk.  Today she's been threatened with deportation for trying to get into the trash too many times to count . . . I guess she got over missing me.



Oh, furry baby!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> We've been holding out this year too-- those dual window fan things in the bedrooms, and a big box fan in the downstairs window. It's been very comfortable so far. I won't mind having a smaller electric bill.


Gary has a nicely insulated attic and an attic fan which goes a long way to keeping the house cool. The patio roof and greenery takes Gary the rest of the way.  With the exception of about two weeks worth of very hot days, all Gary requires to keep comfortably cool is to open some windows.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Yo, Leo, look what I found.  I'm going to try to check it out tomorrow morning.
> Home - The Cat Cafe


What an odd place.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> We've been holding out this year too-- those dual window fan things in the bedrooms, and a big box fan in the downstairs window. It's been very comfortable so far. I won't mind having a smaller electric bill.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has a nicely insulated attic and an attic fan which goes a long way to keeping the house cool. The patio roof and greenery takes Gary the rest of the way.  With the exception of about two weeks worth of very hot days, all Gary requires to keep comfortably cool is to open some windows.
Click to expand...

Big time help and efficient. Smart move.


----------



## jcdeboever

Got my first hole in one tonight. 131 yard par 3.  Used a 6 iron as there was a good breeze blowing in my face. Lucky shot, it landed behind the pin at the back of the green, rolled back, and bounced off the flag stick, into the hole.

Wife and I made an agreement. Whoever gets the hole in one can decide where to have sex, no questions asked.... she is nervous as I am more creative than her....i will let her stew a day or two.


----------



## JonA_CT

Congrats on the hole-in-one! Good luck for the second round...I think...

Cloudy here this morning. Pretty dreary. I took a long walk with the dog this morning, and got in 8000 steps already. Today might be a record day for me, because I'm going to get a quick practice round in at the Par 3 course this afternoon, and I'm sure that'll pile the steps on too.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another day another gray overcast morning.  But we are experiencing a 'High' right now and things are warming up ... Upper 80's today, into the 60's at night. Should cool off for the weekend, which is good because Gary and Mary Lou are planning another dash to Temecula to pick up some wine. Temecula is east of a coastal mountain range on the edge of the desert and is much warmer during summer then the areas west of the coastal mountains.

@ JC- Yeah, that attic fan is a life saver. It is thermostat controlled and dumps the hot attic air into my neighbors kitchen.  Gary is thinking of another fan for the opposite end of the house ... But Gary doesn't know how much additional improvements a second fan will delivery.

@ Jon- Those activity really keep you aware of your exercise level(s). Combining the tracker with counting calories and getting to and/or maintaining a healthy weight is relatively easy if one has extreme self-discipline.  Gary has a daily goal of 10,000 steps, and typically, he and The Cook will get close to or hit that goal during their morning constitutional. (Gary let's Cook choose the walking distance.  If we go south and turn east, it is a short 1.5 mile walk ... If we turn west it is a medium 2.5 mile walk, if we continue south it becomes a long 3.5 mile walk. If Cook goes north the walk is either medium or long depending on the direction she turns at the first bridge.)

Yesterday was a slow news day ... Not much in the 'A' section of the Times.  But Gary found an interesting and somewhat thought provoking article in the Op-Ed pages, "Back to Mencken's America" by Jonah Goldberg. He takes a few swings at both the progressives and the conservatives.


----------



## Gary A.

Congrats on the hole-in-one. You should leave a pile of brochures from amusement parks, museums, bowling alleys, et cetera around the house to heighten your wife's anxiety.

PS- Crop Duster or Helicopter tour literature would be good.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Congrats on the hole-in-one. You should leave a pile of brochures from amusement parks, museums, bowling alleys, et cetera around the house to heighten your wife's anxiety.
> 
> PS- Crop Duster or Helicopter tour literature would be good.


That's strictly amateur-hour, bush league stuff.  Think crematoriums, maybe the polar bear tour up in Churchill, or spend some time Googling "underground mines" and make a lot of calls to the hardware store enquiring about the availability of this or that specialized rope.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary actually thought about the viewing platform of the Eiffel Tower, the Nineth Hole at Pebble Beach, on a surfboard in Malibu,  a volcano anywhere ... But then having to go out of state for sex is probably an unlawful act.

While Gary isn't opposed to enlightened usage of hardware store provisions ... The bet was for location not implementation.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Gary actually thought about the viewing platform of the Eiffel Tower, the Nineth Hole at Pebble Beach, on a surfboard in Malibu,  a volcano anywhere ... But then having to go out of state for sex is probably an unlawfullikely act.


FTFY


----------



## Gary A.

Nah ... You haven't been in the USA lately ... Gary feels safe with unlawful.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Nah ... You haven't been in the USA lately ... Gary feels safe with unlawful.


Don't disagree, but I'm bettin' it's more unlikely than unlawful, no matter how unlawful it is!


----------



## minicoop1985

You guys are strange.

Evening, hosers. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate mowing the lawn? Drives me absolutely nuts. Maybe I'm lazy, maybe I just hate grass. lol


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary -- you're right about the activity tracker making it easy. It's definitely been worthy investment so far. I hit 20k steps after golf today. I think it's also making my dog happy (although for some reason, he slept all day after our little jaunt this morning, haha).


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats on the hole-in-one. You should leave a pile of brochures from amusement parks, museums, bowling alleys, et cetera around the house to heighten your wife's anxiety.
> 
> PS- Crop Duster or Helicopter tour literature would be good.
> 
> 
> 
> That's strictly amateur-hour, bush league stuff.  Think crematoriums, maybe the polar bear tour up in Churchill, or spend some time Googling "underground mines" and make a lot of calls to the hardware store enquiring about the availability of this or that specialized rope.
Click to expand...

Oh my, the possibilities...


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats on the hole-in-one. You should leave a pile of brochures from amusement parks, museums, bowling alleys, et cetera around the house to heighten your wife's anxiety.
> 
> PS- Crop Duster or Helicopter tour literature would be good.
> 
> 
> 
> That's strictly amateur-hour, bush league stuff.  Think crematoriums, maybe the polar bear tour up in Churchill, or spend some time Googling "underground mines" and make a lot of calls to the hardware store enquiring about the availability of this or that specialized rope.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh my, the possibilities...
Click to expand...


The Haunted Trail  | About The Haunted Trail

Visit the Cabot Visitors Center and Tour, Cabot VT


----------



## Gary A.

Precisely!


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers.

About to go to bed. I'm tired and have a long day tomorrow, so I need some good sleep. I'm also absolutely heartbroken over the news from Istanbul and I need to go crawl under the blankets and hug my kitties.


----------



## Gary A.

There are times when the world can be an ugly place.  Just remember that every minute 255 children are born.  Nothing more beautiful than the birth of a new person with the potential of bringing a lifetime of beauty and good to this Earth.

Yin & Yang


----------



## Gary A.

Anybody watch AGT last night?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Not much traffic up here. It has been oddly humid yesterday and Gary suspects the same for today. Yesterday, Gary was on the edge of punching in some A/C.  This morning is another gray and overcast sky and the breeze sweeping in from the windows is cool and refreshing. Gary needs to hit Pomona today, which will be much warmer than La Mirada. If Gary lived in that area, he'd have the A/C on all summer.

Okay, if anybody wants to read a story about a very very weird subject ... In today's Los Angeles Times there is a story in the Calendar section titled "Film's touchy subject a legal tangle".  The story revolves around a documentary about the "largely secret world of competitive endurance tickling."

Yeah, Gary had to read that a few times for it to settle in and make sense.

After reading the story Gary thinks he may need to add some Irish to his coffee or maybe a shower.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Anybody watch AGT last night?



Americas Goatherder Tryouts?

Nope.. missed it.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Okay, if anybody wants to read a story about a very very weird subject ... In today's Los Angeles Times there is a story in the Calendar section titled "Film's touchy subject a legal tangle".  The story revolves around a documentary about the "largely secret world of competitive endurance tickling."
> 
> Yeah, Gary had to read that a few times for it to settle in and make sense.
> 
> After reading the story Gary thinks he may need some Irish Coffee or maybe a shower.



The Largely secret world of competitive endurance tickling?

You mean there is actually such a thing?  Yikes.  I'm so glad I'm not from this planet.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, if anybody wants to read a story about a very very weird subject ... In today's Los Angeles Times there is a story in the Calendar section titled "Film's touchy subject a legal tangle".  The story revolves around a documentary about the "largely secret world of competitive endurance tickling."
> 
> Yeah, Gary had to read that a few times for it to settle in and make sense.
> 
> After reading the story Gary thinks he may need some Irish Coffee or maybe a shower.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Largely secret world of competitive endurance tickling?
> 
> You mean there is actually such a thing?  Yikes.  I'm so glad I'm not from this planet.
Click to expand...

When you go back to your home world ... Take Gary with you.

Gary doesn't know why he read the story, certainly the headline didn't draw him in ... But hitting that line in the first paragraph triggered a "WTF" response and he had to see the story through to the end.  If 'competitive endurance tickling, (CET to those who know), isn't weird enough on it's face, there is a 'Chinatown' type overlay of intrigue and suspense involving New Zealand.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> When you go back to your home world ... Take Gary with you.



A couple of small legal issues to work out there.. something about being banished for all eternity,  Just a minor misunderstanding really... but the paperwork takes time 



> Gary doesn't know why he read the story, certainly the headline didn't draw him in ... But hitting that line in the first paragraph triggered a "WTF" response and he had to see the story through to the end.  If 'competitive endurance tickling, (CET to those who know), isn't weird enough on it's face, there is a 'Chinatown' type overlay of intrigue and suspense involving New Zealand.



That's how they get me everytime too.. I know that I shouldn't click on it because I'm just going to be mortified.. but I just can't help it.   Lol


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... Now Gary is off looking for some Irish for his coffee then a walk with The Cook while it is still cool.


----------



## terri

We got some more rain yesterday afternoon!!   Beautiful, beautiful, pounding rain.   Soaked the garden, soaked the trees, and the wind blew so hard it also soaked the cushions in the lounge chairs on the screened in porch.    

It was wonderful.       The earth smelled lovely today when I was out walking earlier.    It was nice enough to blot out the news cycle for a bit.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> We got some more rain yesterday afternoon!!   Beautiful, beautiful, pounding rain.   Soaked the garden, soaked the trees, and the wind blew so hard it also soaked the cushions in the lounge chairs on the screened in porch.
> 
> It was wonderful.       The earth smelled lovely today when I was out walking earlier.    It was nice enough to blot out the news cycle for a bit.


Oooooouuuhhh, that sounds so nice.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> . I'm also absolutely heartbroken over the news from Istanbul and I need to go crawl under the blankets and hug my kitties.


I survived my presentation.  I started off with a moment of silence for Istanbul.

The presentation after mine was by two people from Istanbul, talking about a project they did for their fire department.


----------



## jcdeboever

I actually sold a print today and I wasn't trying. One of the parents from soccer contacted me and wanted a print of a nice shot that I got of her boy scoring a goal. My daughter in law forwarded the Flickr link for the parents and she responded to that. I told her she could download it and print it anywhere. She wanted a quality print and frame so I did it. She really liked it a lot. I really don't want to get into the business aspect of it and I know I am not skilled enough at this point but she was pretty convincing.


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> I actually sold a print today and I wasn't trying. One of the parents from soccer contacted me and wanted a print of a nice shot that I got of her boy scoring a goal. My daughter in law forwarded the Flickr link for the parents and she responded to that. I told her she could download it and print it anywhere. She wanted a quality print and frame so I did it. She really liked it a lot. I really don't want to get into the business aspect of it and I know I am not skilled enough at this point but she was pretty convincing.


Well, when people come to YOU because they like something you've done, that makes it a lot easier.   You weren't out there trying to hustle your work, you simply got a good image and someone responded.   I'm betting you probably know more than you think you do, since you were able to give her a complete package of print and frame.   Presto - a happy client!  So - congrats!!   Enjoy the fact that someone valued your work.    It's hella cool.


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I actually sold a print today and I wasn't trying. One of the parents from soccer contacted me and wanted a print of a nice shot that I got of her boy scoring a goal. My daughter in law forwarded the Flickr link for the parents and she responded to that. I told her she could download it and print it anywhere. She wanted a quality print and frame so I did it. She really liked it a lot. I really don't want to get into the business aspect of it and I know I am not skilled enough at this point but she was pretty convincing.
> 
> 
> 
> Well, when people come to YOU because they like something you've done, that makes it a lot easier.   You weren't out there trying to hustle your work, you simply got a good image and someone responded.   I'm betting you probably know more than you think you do, since you were able to give her a complete package of print and frame.   Presto - a happy client!  So - congrats!!   Enjoy the fact that someone valued your work.    It's hella cool.
Click to expand...


Thanks terri, so nice of you to say. I learned this buying some prints from some of the members on here. I liked the convenience. I can do it all my self but do not have the time, so did everything locally and marked it up. I am blessed with an expert printer and framer near by.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Maybe something to think about working on JC, or working toward, or whatever. Or not. lol But if people keep asking... (edit - And I read Terri's post before I posted and what can I say, great minds!)

Now I'm afraid I'm going to get too curious to not read that article, but then again I'm getting too tired and relaxed tonight to motivate. Anyway I think I about used up my freebies from the LA Times (and wouldn't read it enough for a subscription!).

And for whatever bizarre reason this time of year we're having beautiful weather! Have windows open and listening to a train quietly click clacking off into the distance, I enjoy hearing the rhythmic distant sounds of the trains at night. And the air smells so nice and fresh.

I'm making myself yawn. Sharon hopes she doesn't have some dumb dream about Jimmy, I mean Gary and a big ape and a tickling contest...


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> I actually sold a print today and I wasn't trying. One of the parents from soccer contacted me and wanted a print of a nice shot that I got of her boy scoring a goal. My daughter in law forwarded the Flickr link for the parents and she responded to that. I told her she could download it and print it anywhere. She wanted a quality print and frame so I did it. She really liked it a lot. I really don't want to get into the business aspect of it and I know I am not skilled enough at this point but she was pretty convincing.


Nice!


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> . I'm also absolutely heartbroken over the news from Istanbul and I need to go crawl under the blankets and hug my kitties.
> 
> 
> 
> I survived my presentation.  I started off with a moment of silence for Istanbul.
> 
> The presentation after mine was by two people from Istanbul, talking about a project they did for their fire department.
Click to expand...

Good call on Istanbul.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Maybe something to think about working on JC, or working toward, or whatever. Or not. lol But if people keep asking... (edit - And I read Terri's post before I posted and what can I say, great minds!)
> 
> Now I'm afraid I'm going to get too curious to not read that article, but then again I'm getting too tired and relaxed tonight to motivate. Anyway I think I about used up my freebies from the LA Times (and wouldn't read it enough for a subscription!).
> 
> And for whatever bizarre reason this time of year we're having beautiful weather! Have windows open and listening to a train quietly click clacking off into the distance, I enjoy hearing the rhythmic distant sounds of the trains at night. And the air smells so nice and fresh.
> 
> I'm making myself yawn. Sharon hopes she doesn't have some dumb dream about Jimmy, I mean Gary and a big ape and a tickling contest...



ewwwwwwwwww..... train sounds....... I loved them as well when I lived in Chicago. Mine wasn't distant but more close and below me in my penthouse. I loved Chicago, my wife hated it. Now I am living in the sticks and canoodling myself......


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary had a very pleasant dinner out on the patio, watching the evening turn from dusk to dark. Now we are watching The Heart of the Sea ... A super movie while we sip the last of the Sauvignon Blanc.


----------



## JonA_CT

Finally a nice morning. Got my walk in, and now I'm sitting with a cold cup of coffee while watching Wimbledon. 

I'm a bit bummed about my camera right now. I sent it to Nikon and they received it over a week ago. I still haven't received a service order from them, and when I called them yesterday, the woman on the phone was helpful but didn't sound too confident that she was sure everything was the way it was supposed to be. Ugh.


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> Finally a nice morning. Got my walk in, and now I'm sitting with a cold cup of coffee while watching Wimbledon.
> 
> I'm a bit bummed about my camera right now. I sent it to Nikon and they received it over a week ago. I still haven't received a service order from them, and when I called them yesterday, the woman on the phone was helpful but didn't sound too confident that she was sure everything was the way it was supposed to be. Ugh.



Just work the word "Godzilla" in to the conversation a few times.  "Oh yes, that's what my friend, Godzilla said too.."

As a Japanese company, that tends to get there undivided attention... lol


----------



## JonA_CT

robbins.photo said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Finally a nice morning. Got my walk in, and now I'm sitting with a cold cup of coffee while watching Wimbledon.
> 
> I'm a bit bummed about my camera right now. I sent it to Nikon and they received it over a week ago. I still haven't received a service order from them, and when I called them yesterday, the woman on the phone was helpful but didn't sound too confident that she was sure everything was the way it was supposed to be. Ugh.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just work the word "Godzilla" in to the conversation a few times.  "Oh yes, that's what my friend, Godzilla said too.."
> 
> As a Japanese company, that tends to get there undivided attention... lol
Click to expand...



Hah...if only I was calling Japan. Since their service center is on Long Island...and I definitely spoke to someone who was located on US soil (actually kind of impressive for a large corporation these days), I'm not sure it would help.

I never realized how terrible my Sony NEX 5 was until I had to use it after having a nice camera, haha.


----------



## KenC

robbins.photo said:


> Just work the word "Godzilla" in to the conversation a few times.



What, you don't like Mothra?


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Very pleasant here for the end of June - high only in the mid-eighties and not too much humidity.  Beats the hell out of some other years I can remember.


----------



## robbins.photo

KenC said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just work the word "Godzilla" in to the conversation a few times.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What, you don't like Mothra?
Click to expand...


Nobody likes Mothra.  It's a big moth.  Ick.


----------



## Gary A.

Underwater nuclear bomb testing awoke the sleeping Godzilla ... This makes Gary wonder if the Fukushima power plant meltdown may produce a return Godzilla ...


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Underwater nuclear bomb testing awoke the sleeping Godzilla ... This makes Gary wonder if the Fukushima power plant meltdown may produce another Godzilla ... A return Godzilla ...



So, Godzilla II - Electric Boogaloo?

Huh.. ya, I could see that..


----------



## minicoop1985

Oh noes, there goes Tokyo...

Mornin, hosers. Got a pleasant surprise.... I have some grass that's impossible to mow (mower can't get at it). Stupid neighbor called in a weed violation complaint. Spiteful asshat did it because we cut down her favorite lilac bushes ON OUR PROPERTY. I hate people. Oh, and just for coming out here, they're charging us a $50 fee.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Oh noes, there goes Tokyo...
> 
> Mornin, hosers. Got a pleasant surprise.... I have some grass that's impossible to mow (mower can't get at it). Stupid neighbor called in a weed violation complaint. Spiteful asshat did it because we cut down her favorite lilac bushes ON OUR PROPERTY. I hate people. Oh, and just for coming out here, they're charging us a $50 fee.


Use a weed wacker


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  We are getting back to normal, the temps should be in the low 80's today with humidity on high end at 50%. Lots of interesting stuff in the paper, but Brexit still dominates the A section along with Istanbul and Hollywood.  Gary is still thinking about the Netflik movie of last night.  Interestingly enough, the movie was true. 

The other day, Cook and Gary ran into a guy flying a drone.  Cook loved the drone running, chasing and leaping up into the air to catch it. The guy was flying the drone via video goggles ... Which was pretty cool way to fly, as if you're an onboard pilot.  But what Gary thought was quite remarkable was that the drone was hand built/assembled.  The operator bought all the parts separately and assembled per his own design. Gary has been toying with the idea of a drone ... But figures he'd fly it a few times and then the machine would lose its magic and start collecting dust.  But piloting from inside the drone ... That could be very interesting.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Need a quick break from spreadsheets. How did a linguist/language teacher end up with a job that involves constant spreadsheets??

I so do not get the drone thing.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Need a quick break from spreadsheets. How did a linguist/language *teacher* end up with a job that involves constant spreadsheets??
> 
> I so do not get the drone thing.



Even linguists have to track data and look at patterns, and then the teacher part of that sealed the deal for you.

Sorry!


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Use a weed wacker



On your neighbor?  Hmm... you know that idea does have some merit...


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Use a weed wacker
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On your neighbor?  Hmm... you know that idea does have some merit...
Click to expand...

Wasn't he the one that called on the cock issue with the neighbor?


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Wasn't he the one that called on the cock issue with the neighbor?



Well you wouldn't want those things running willy-nilly through your neighborhood, would you?


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wasn't he the one that called on the cock issue with the neighbor?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well you wouldn't want those things running willy-nilly through your neighborhood, would you?
Click to expand...

Right, the bigger ones can be aggressive.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Need a quick break from spreadsheets. How did a linguist/language teacher end up with a job that involves constant spreadsheets??
> 
> I so do not get the drone thing.


I love spreadsheets, I'm weird like that.


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wasn't he the one that called on the cock issue with the neighbor?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well you wouldn't want those things running willy-nilly through your neighborhood, would you?
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Right, the bigger ones can be aggressive.
Click to expand...


Just like my dad used to say, "It's all fun and games till someone loses an eye".


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wasn't he the one that called on the cock issue with the neighbor?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well you wouldn't want those things running willy-nilly through your neighborhood, would you?
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Right, the bigger ones can be aggressive.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Just like my dad used to say, "It's all fun and games till someone loses an eye".
Click to expand...

No worries here, I never get close to them.


----------



## Gary A.

Is that where cockeyed derives?


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> . I'm also absolutely heartbroken over the news from Istanbul and I need to go crawl under the blankets and hug my kitties.
> 
> 
> 
> I survived my presentation.  I started off with a moment of silence for Istanbul.
> 
> The presentation after mine was by two people from Istanbul, talking about a project they did for their fire department.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Good call on Istanbul.
Click to expand...

Thank you.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Got a pleasant surprise.... I have some grass that's impossible to mow (mower can't get at it). Stupid neighbor called in a weed violation complaint. Spiteful asshat did it because we cut down her favorite lilac bushes ON OUR PROPERTY. I hate people. Oh, and just for coming out here, they're charging us a $50 fee.


Get a goat to take care of the grass and teach it to $#!t in azzhat's yard.


----------



## snowbear

A belated "west coast morning hosers."  Today I am heading north on the train, to link up with @EIngerson for a tad.  Unfortunately, I don't have the time to catch up wire @Gary A.  But we'll get together on the next trip.

I went here this morning.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mornin, hosers. Got a pleasant surprise.... I have some grass that's impossible to mow (mower can't get at it). Stupid neighbor called in a weed violation complaint. Spiteful asshat did it because we cut down her favorite lilac bushes ON OUR PROPERTY. I hate people. Oh, and just for coming out here, they're charging us a $50 fee.
> 
> 
> 
> Get a goat to take care of the grass and teach it to $#!t in azzhat's yard.
Click to expand...


Or attach a weedwhacker to the goat.. somebody has to make a harness for that right?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I so do not get the drone thing.


There were several drone companies at the expo.  They have a use in major incident command for Fire/EMS & Emergency Management (think about the flooding in WV) but I have no need for one, personally.


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mornin, hosers. Got a pleasant surprise.... I have some grass that's impossible to mow (mower can't get at it). Stupid neighbor called in a weed violation complaint. Spiteful asshat did it because we cut down her favorite lilac bushes ON OUR PROPERTY. I hate people. Oh, and just for coming out here, they're charging us a $50 fee.
> 
> 
> 
> Get a goat to take care of the grass and teach it to $#!t in azzhat's yard.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Or attach a weedwhacker to the goat.. somebody has to make a harness for that right?
Click to expand...

The goat is an environment-friendly, organic weed wacker.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> The goat is an environment-friendly, organic weed wacker.



True, but then I've never seen a news headline "PITA Neighbor seriously injured by rampaging goat".  I mean no fangs, no claws.. nothing.


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> The goat is an environment-friendly, organic weed wacker.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> True, but then I've never seen a news headline "PITA Neighbor seriously injured by rampaging goat".  I mean *no fangs, no claws.. nothing*.
Click to expand...


Get a head-butt from Billy in your sitmedownupon and let me know if you still feel the same way....


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Get a head-butt from Billy in your sitmedownupon and let me know if you still feel the same way....



Well so far at least I've never managed to let a goat sneak up on me and do that.  And it's not like I'm spiderman or anything.  I mean at least if they could spit acid.. that would be something..


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I so do not get the drone thing.
> 
> 
> 
> There were several drone companies at the expo.  They have a use in major incident command for Fire/EMS & Emergency Management (think about the flooding in WV) but I have no need for one, personally.
Click to expand...


Oh, I understand the more commercial uses, but I don't really understand its appeal as a "toy."

How was the kitty cafe??


----------



## EIngerson

Had a great visit @snowbear  Very nice to meet you and hang out for a bit. And don't worry about @Gary A.  Eric is cooler than Gary. Lol


With Snowbear


----------



## vintagesnaps

Now that is one fine selfie!

Acid spitting goats? yeah I'd try to avoid those too.

I wonder how many drones are going to end up in people's basements and garages once the novelty wears off. Anyway it's been done, sort of - look up Cinerama.


----------



## minicoop1985

It's just a fad. They'll always have a commercial purpose, but they are just toys.


----------



## minicoop1985

As for the goat, that's not a bad idea. I have a weed whacker, but I keep forgetting to charge the battery. Well, did forget to, as I used it today, but it only took out half the issue.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> As for the goat, that's not a bad idea. I have a weed whacker, but I keep forgetting to charge the battery. Well, did forget to, as I used it today, but it only took out half the issue.



So.. if you convert a weed whacker to run on methane.. wow.. best of all worlds there right?


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Acid spitting goats? yeah I'd try to avoid those too.



Well just thinking that if we're genetically engineering crops, next logical step is livestock.  So why not have a bit of fun with it?  

What can I say, I'm an innovator... lol

As for the drones, like you I think the novelty will wear off quickly and most folks will have a couple of thousand dollars worth of paperweight gathering dust somewhere.  

Now if you could arm them... with say, a remote controlled roman candle launcher.. hmmm...


----------



## Designer

tirediron said:


> Get a head-butt from Billy in your sitmedownupon and let me know if you still feel the same way....


We had a billy when I was a child.  We never turned our back on him, that's for sure.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Acid spitting goats? yeah I'd try to avoid those too.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well just thinking that if we're genetically engineering crops, next logical step is livestock.  So why not have a bit of fun with it?
> 
> What can I say, I'm an innovator... lol
> 
> As for the drones, like you I think the novelty will wear off quickly and most folks will have a couple of thousand dollars worth of paperweight gathering dust somewhere.
> 
> Now if you could arm them... with say, a remote controlled roman candle launcher.. hmmm...
Click to expand...

Strap an acid spittin' goat to the underside of a drone ... a combo weed eater and death from above machine.


----------



## snowbear

EIngerson said:


> Had a great visit @snowbear  Very nice to meet you and hang out for a bit. And don't worry about @Gary A.  Eric is cooler than Gary. LolWith Snowbear


The pleasure was all Charlie's.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> How was the kitty cafe??


About 6 older kitties.l, with varying personalities.  The one that I posted kept coming back for ear rubs.

IIRC, the lady working said they've had 172 cats adopted in the year they've been open.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> A belated "west coast morning hosers."  Today I am heading north on the train, to link up with @EIngerson for a tad.  Unfortunately, I don't have the time to catch up wire @Gary A.  But we'll get together on the next trip.
> 
> I went here this morning.
> View attachment 124102 View attachment 124103



I heard there was a whole lot of .... never mind


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Get a head-butt from Billy in your sitmedownupon and let me know if you still feel the same way....
> 
> 
> 
> We had a billy when I was a child.  We never turned our back on him, that's for sure.
Click to expand...

At least not a second time!


----------



## terri

I am discovering it doesn't pay to try to catch up on even a single day's worth of posts in The Coffee House....speed reading the last few pages has given me visions of acid-spitting billy-goats acting as weed whackers with cock issues.  

It's late.   I've had wine.   I shouldn't be here.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> I am discovering it doesn't pay to try to catch up on even a single day's worth of posts in The Coffee House....speed reading the last few pages has given me visions of acid-spitting billy-goats acting as weed whackers with cock issues.
> 
> It's late.   I've had wine.   I shouldn't be here.


And ... ?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  This was a perfect day, much cooler than the previous two days. Mary Lou and Gary watched a granddaughter's soccer match, then rushed home and whipped up a dinner of salmon, rice and freshly picked tomato and pepper salad.  All topped off with a Ponte Arenis ... a wonderful white blend out of Temecula.  Presently, Gary is watching the news, sipping the last of the Arenis and Mary Lou just brought Gary a scoop or two of ice cream. Life is good.

Oh man, Kershaw is on the DL.


----------



## JonA_CT

Sorry about Kershaw. My Red Sox can only win games a month at a time these days, it seems. The local sports radio stations are screaming for Farrell, the manager, to be axed. I'm not sure that solves problems, but who knows. With guaranteed contracts (even for managers it seems), I don't feel bad for anyone in the baseball world who loses their job.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Sorry about Kershaw. My Red Sox can only win games a month at a time these days, it seems. The local sports radio stations are screaming for Farrell, the manager, to be axed. I'm not sure that solves problems, but who knows. With guaranteed contracts (even for managers it seems), I don't feel bad for anyone in the baseball world who loses their job.


Wait until Dombroski decimates your minor's and stops developing it like he did in Detroit. You guys have good talent down on the farm today but 3 years from now, all bets are off. The purge will start in a few weeks. However, you will be all giddy when he lands a front line starter.


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry about Kershaw. My Red Sox can only win games a month at a time these days, it seems. The local sports radio stations are screaming for Farrell, the manager, to be axed. I'm not sure that solves problems, but who knows. With guaranteed contracts (even for managers it seems), I don't feel bad for anyone in the baseball world who loses their job.
> 
> 
> 
> Wait until Dombroski decimates your minor's and stops developing it like he did in Detroit. You guys have good talent down on the farm today but 3 years from now, all bets are off. The purge will start in a few weeks. However, you will be all giddy when he lands a front line starter.
Click to expand...


It will be interesting for sure. It's the first time in my baseball watching life that a majority of the talent on the MLB roster is home-grown (save for most of the bullpen). I'm hoping that doesn't happen...there's no reason to throw it all away for a deep run into the playoffs anymore.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Acid spitting goats? yeah I'd try to avoid those too.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well just thinking that if we're genetically engineering crops, next logical step is livestock.  So why not have a bit of fun with it?
> 
> What can I say, I'm an innovator... lol
> 
> As for the drones, like you I think the novelty will wear off quickly and most folks will have a couple of thousand dollars worth of paperweight gathering dust somewhere.
> 
> Now if you could arm them... with say, a remote controlled roman candle launcher.. hmmm...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Strap an acid spittin' goat to the underside of a drone ... a combo weed eater and death from above machine.
Click to expand...

And thus the Goatinator 6000 was born...

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry about Kershaw. My Red Sox can only win games a month at a time these days, it seems. The local sports radio stations are screaming for Farrell, the manager, to be axed. I'm not sure that solves problems, but who knows. With guaranteed contracts (even for managers it seems), I don't feel bad for anyone in the baseball world who loses their job.
> 
> 
> 
> Wait until Dombroski decimates your minor's and stops developing it like he did in Detroit. You guys have good talent down on the farm today but 3 years from now, all bets are off. The purge will start in a few weeks. However, you will be all giddy when he lands a front line starter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It will be interesting for sure. It's the first time in my baseball watching life that a majority of the talent on the MLB roster is home-grown (save for most of the bullpen). I'm hoping that doesn't happen...there's no reason to throw it all away for a deep run into the playoffs anymore.
Click to expand...

Well, the fans in Boston are pretty demanding, almost, if not fanatical. Your manager is not the issue. You guys need more starting pitching and maybe a bullpen arm. Can't believe what Buck is doing in Baltimore with that starting rotation, that guy can manage a game. My Tigers are up and down, don't think they make the playoffs, we are handicapped with pitching, crappy base running, and below average defense.


----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> I am discovering it doesn't pay to try to catch up on even a single day's worth of posts in The Coffee House....speed reading the last few pages has given me visions of acid-spitting billy-goats acting as weed whackers with cock issues.
> 
> It's late.   I've had wine.   I shouldn't be here.



Wow.. well just be grateful  I guess that it wasn't one of those days where we go off on some silly tangent.  That happens sometimes you know...


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Baseball. Blah blah blah. This is just the dead zone between the end of hockey and the beginning of football. At least this summer, there's UEFA to follow, not that I get to see many games. GO PORTUGAL!!!


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> My Tigers are up and down, don't think they make the playoffs, we are handicapped with pitching, crappy base running, and below average defense.



So then all your team really needs are some guys that can run, catch and throw.

So that's not so bad then, right?


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> My Tigers are up and down, don't think they make the playoffs, we are handicapped with pitching, crappy base running, and below average defense.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So then all your team really needs are some guys that can run, catch and throw.
> 
> So that's not so bad then, right?
Click to expand...


Being a baseball purist, it's difficult to watch because they beat themselves a lot and that is on the manager and coach's. They have an IVY league manager who is apparently too smart for his own good. I hate the way he manages. Guys like Bochy, Francona, Showalter, and Yost manage the game correctly.


----------



## Gary A.

Ooooouuuuuu ... Baseball talk, Gary loves baseball. Sooo the Tigers are really a major league team ... Gary always thought of them as a farm club ... Like the Angels, nothing more than a development squad for the big leagues. (Gary runs and ducks.)


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Baseball. Blah blah blah. This is just the dead zone between the end of hockey and the beginning of football. At least this summer, there's UEFA to follow, not that I get to see many games. GO PORTUGAL!!!


I'm surprised you don't like baseball as you strike me as a thinker. Baseball is a very strategic game. I could watch it all day. I used to love playing it. Most people do think it's rather boring but not me.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Ooooouuuuuu ... Baseball talk, Gary loves baseball. Sooo the Tigers are really a major league team ... Gary always thought of them as a farm club ... Like the Angels, nothing more than a development squad for the big leagues. (Gary runs and ducks.)


Well they are not really. Super high payroll. The good teams develop their own or pour money into player development and add pieces when they are close, like the Royals, Cubs, Cardinals. Now your Dodgers have the best scouts in the game, huge TV revenue and can do both. They just can't get the right manager to put it together.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary had an unusually rough night. Like JC, Gary doesn't sleep well. Last night was more walking around and flopping in differnt chairs than usual. Maybe Gary ate too much dinner ... Too much wine (nah can never have too much wine) ... Just a tough night. Usually, Gary wakes up instantly, good-to-go, but this morning he was light-headed and it took a while to get some traction. Man, this getting old stuff sucks, but the alternative sucks also.

More Brexit news all over the paper. Looks like those Brits may have a bit of a sticky wicket.

Gary is trying out a new French Dip recipe which calls for dumping some soup and a chunk of meat into the crock pot. Dinner is already simmering away on this cool, overcast, gray, typical SoCal morning. Upper 70's today, if Gary can clean up his day early enough, he and The Cook may hit the beach today.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Baseball. Blah blah blah. This is just the dead zone between the end of hockey and the beginning of football. At least this summer, there's UEFA to follow, not that I get to see many games. GO PORTUGAL!!!
> 
> 
> 
> I'm surprised you don't like baseball as you strike me as a thinker. Baseball is a very strategic game. I could watch it all day. I used to love playing it. Most people do think it's rather boring but not me.
Click to expand...

Yep, it is all about stats. When Gary played ball his moniker was E-4.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Baseball. Blah blah blah. This is just the dead zone between the end of hockey and the beginning of football. At least this summer, there's UEFA to follow, not that I get to see many games. GO PORTUGAL!!!
> 
> 
> 
> I'm surprised you don't like baseball as you strike me as a thinker. Baseball is a very strategic game. I could watch it all day. I used to love playing it. Most people do think it's rather boring but not me.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yep, it is all about stats. When Gary played ball his moniker was E-4.
Click to expand...


You were a 2 bagger aye? I was a pitcher, SS, and 3B. Occasional CF in late innings for my accurate gun from CF.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ooooouuuuuu ... Baseball talk, Gary loves baseball. Sooo the Tigers are really a major league team ... Gary always thought of them as a farm club ... Like the Angels, nothing more than a development squad for the big leagues. (Gary runs and ducks.)
> 
> 
> 
> Well they are not really. Super high payroll. The good teams develop their own or pour money into player development and add pieces when they are close, like the Royals, Cubs, Cardinals. Now your Dodgers have the best scouts in the game, huge TV revenue and can do both. They just can't get the right manager to put it together.
Click to expand...

The Dodgers had the best farm clubs going ... But the newer generation(s) of pro sports seems all/most the players haven't any heart.  So sad to watch pro sports evolve into mere entertainment as opposed to playing with emotion and heart.  Gary likes college sports more so than pro.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Baseball. Blah blah blah. This is just the dead zone between the end of hockey and the beginning of football. At least this summer, there's UEFA to follow, not that I get to see many games. GO PORTUGAL!!!
> 
> 
> 
> I'm surprised you don't like baseball as you strike me as a thinker. Baseball is a very strategic game. I could watch it all day. I used to love playing it. Most people do think it's rather boring but not me.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yep, it is all about stats. When Gary played ball his moniker was E-4.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You were a 2 bagger aye? I was a pitcher, SS, and 3B. Occasional CF in late innings for my accurate gun from CF.
Click to expand...

I played Left Out.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Baseball. Blah blah blah. This is just the dead zone between the end of hockey and the beginning of football. At least this summer, there's UEFA to follow, not that I get to see many games. GO PORTUGAL!!!
> 
> 
> 
> I'm surprised you don't like baseball as you strike me as a thinker. Baseball is a very strategic game. I could watch it all day. I used to love playing it. Most people do think it's rather boring but not me.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yep, it is all about stats. When Gary played ball his moniker was E-4.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You were a 2 bagger aye? I was a pitcher, SS, and 3B. Occasional CF in late innings for my accurate gun from CF.
Click to expand...

Aye, Second from Little League through college. Did fast pitch into my 40's then some slow stuff. 

(And you batted clean-up ... With you playing all those positions all your teams needed was a catcher, maybe 1st base ... But probably not with your cannon ... and your team complete.  Gary imagines that the traveling squad was packed into a sedan.)


----------



## snowbear

Morning peeps.  Heading back home in a little bit.  I'll post some phone snaps tomorrow.


----------



## Gary A.

Was this your first time to San Diego? Was the conference a success?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Baseball. Blah blah blah. This is just the dead zone between the end of hockey and the beginning of football. At least this summer, there's UEFA to follow, not that I get to see many games. GO PORTUGAL!!!
> 
> 
> 
> I'm surprised you don't like baseball as you strike me as a thinker. Baseball is a very strategic game. I could watch it all day. I used to love playing it. Most people do think it's rather boring but not me.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yep, it is all about stats. When Gary played ball his moniker was E-4.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You were a 2 bagger aye? I was a pitcher, SS, and 3B. Occasional CF in late innings for my accurate gun from CF.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Aye, Second from Little League through college. Did fast pitch into my 40's then some slow stuff. (And you batted clean-up ...)
Click to expand...


I played until I was 43 (Roy Hobbs League). Played class A softball when I got of the Marines for a few years but preferred baseball. Yes, I hit cleanup most of the time. I could hit the ball pretty far and didn't strike out very much. I got into way too much trouble in High School which hurt the slim chance of playing any type of professional ball. It was either Marines or jail, I chose Marines.


----------



## Gary A.

Marines or jail ... That's what you call a lose-lose situation.


----------



## limr

Hey y'all, I just ordered some computer reading glasses from Amazon. They are not magnified (though you can get them in a lot of different strengths) but they are mostly just for blocking certain lightwaves from the computer to protect your eyes.

Got them last night and brought them to work today. HOLY COW they make a huge difference! I'm ordering a bunch more.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> I'm surprised you don't like baseball as you strike me as a thinker. Baseball is a very strategic game. I could watch it all day. I used to love playing it. Most people do think it's rather boring but not me.



I do like to engage the thinking muscles on a regular basis, no matter what I'm doing, but when watching sports, I like there to be much faster action. Baseball goes waaaaaaaay too slow. It's kind of enjoyable to go to a minor league game, but honestly, what I like about that has very little to do with the actual game. There's some fascinating people-watching that can be had at a minor league baseball game.



Gary A. said:


> *Yep, it is all about stats.* When Gary played ball his moniker was E-4.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Marines or jail ... That's what you call a lose-lose situation.



The foods better in jail but in the Marines when you stab somebody you get a medal.  So.. bit of a toss up really.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... Regardless of side ... You get a medal.


----------



## Gary A.

Happy Canada Day to all you Canadians. Go eat a beavertail pour moi.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Happy Canada Day to all you Canadians. Go eat a beavertail pour moi.


Will do!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I forgot it was Canada Day. I'm more tuned in to the Canadian holidays that happen during hockey season, like when the coaches all wear poppies. I must need that visual cue, hey it must be a holiday...

However it is pay day, although I can't really call it that anymore since it's technically a monthly retirement uh, day of pay? Time to do some online shopping! Well not a lot, since now my old split rail fence that literally split and started falling apart is down and hauled away. Have other fun projects on the list for this summer before getting it rebuilt, like gutter cleaning. Whoo hoo! can't wait.


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Canada Day to all you Canadians. Go eat a beavertail pour moi.
> 
> 
> 
> Will do!
Click to expand...


Sorry, no.  I refuse to participate until they go back to calling to Dominion Day...  or send me some maple syrup as reparations.  Personally I think that's quite reasonable.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Gary's first zucchini of the season.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 124189
> iPhone
> 
> Gary's first zucchini of the season.



Nice and plump. that will be satisfying.


----------



## Gary A.

For some reason this has been a long day for Gary.  Probably due to the super suckie sleep he receive last night ... As opposed to his normal suckie sleep.  The French Dip meat looks and smells awesome. Gary walked to the store for some rolls and stuff. On the way home Gary stopped into a new ice cream place. Unfortunately, it was empty, but the place was uber clean and high-tech looking. Gary ordered a mango-orange slushy which he used to lubricate his inside on the way home.  It was good. The place was called The Creamery and you started by ordering a base, either ice cream, yoghurt and/or almond silk, then you ordered the flavoring(s) and they would mix it into the base while you watched. Gary is planning to go back with Mary Lou. 

When Gary got home he cleaned out the filters on the pond. A happy pond is a clean pond. Now he's kicking back in the patio, listening to KUSC, drinking a terribly good Russian River Vineyard Syrah and watch the Monarchs glide across the yard.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> For some reason this has been a long day for Gary.  Probably due to the super suckie sleep he receive last night ... As opposed to his normal suckie sleep.  The French Dip meat looks and smells awesome. Gary walked to the store for some rolls and stuff. On the way home Gary stopped into a new ice cream place. Unfortunately, it was empty, but the place was uber clean and high-tech looking. Gary ordered a mango-orange slushy which he used to lubricate his inside on the way home.  It was good. The place was called The Creamery and you started by ordering a base, either ice cream, yoghurt and/or almond silk, then you ordered the flavoring(s) and they would mix it into the base while you watched. Gary is planning to go back with Mary Lou.
> 
> When Gary got home he cleaned out the filters on the pond. A happy pond is a clean pond. Now he's kicking back in the patio, listening to KUSC, drinking a terribly good Russian River Vineyard Syrah and watch the Monarchs glide across the yard.



Busy boy... love listening to KUSC. I am loading up scrap electronics stuff tonight and taking it to the recycle place tomorrow. Got a full pickup load among other things. 14 engineering PCs, printers, and laptops from longtime customer. Drilled holes in all the drives today. I recently replaced (built) 10 desktops for them and updated their network. They are going to be using someone else from here on out which is fine by me, they are a 2 hour drive and the guy taking over knows his stuff so I am happy for them having someone local. I have been their tech guy since 1994 and I found the guy to replace me so I know they are in good hands. They paid me pretty good and also paid me to find someone which is cool. Also bought $430 worth of fireworks today for the kids tomorrow night. I have a fund for this where the wife and I throw my change in a giant plastic coke bottle, that sucker was heavy. Last year, my son-in-law bought them and they sucked. I got the good stuff. He better step it up next year is all I can say, he went cheap ass on us last year.


----------



## Gary A.

French Dip paired with Russian River Vineyard Syrah ... Delish.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Was this your first time to San Diego? Was the conference a success?


Yes, my first time to SoCal (I was in San Fran in 1999).  I think the conference was about as good as I expected.  I would have loved to have spent more time there, but it's good to be home.  I plan on returning.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

So it's only been 2 weeks...oh wait, no. It's been three weeks since I've been waking up at 6am to go to work. It's been 2 weeks at the new job, but the week before in Kansas City, I was also waking up at 6am because we started reading at 8am. Huh.

Well, anyway, it's been 3 weeks now that I've been waking up at 6am during the week. Last night I was beat to hell and turned out the lights at about 10:30-10:45. This morning I woke up all on my own - no alarm - at 6:30. I stayed in bed cuddling with the kitties for half an hour, just because I could, but for all intents and purposes, I was awake at 6:30.

It's encouraging that my body is adjusting, as I knew it would, but I thought it would take longer. I'm glad I started during the summer when this adjustment is aided by having sunlight when I have to wake up. It's never really going to be "easy" to get up that early, but I'll get used to it.

I know with absolute certainty, however, that even if I keep this schedule for the next 30 years, within a week of retirement, I will settle back into my night owl ways.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Took a nasty spill yesterday after tripping over a stump going backwards. Felt my neck crack, and now it's incredibly stiff and sore... But not swollen and I can still bear to move it, so it's not broken.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> So it's only been 2 weeks...oh wait, no. It's been three weeks since I've been waking up at 6am to go to work. It's been 2 weeks at the new job, but the week before in Kansas City, I was also waking up at 6am because we started reading at 8am. Huh.
> 
> Well, anyway, it's been 3 weeks now that I've been waking up at 6am during the week. Last night I was beat to hell and turned out the lights at about 10:30-10:45. This morning I woke up all on my own - no alarm - at 6:30. I stayed in bed cuddling with the kitties for half an hour, just because I could, but for all intents and purposes, I was awake at 6:30.
> 
> It's encouraging that my body is adjusting, as I knew it would, but I thought it would take longer. I'm glad I started during the summer when this adjustment is aided by having sunlight when I have to wake up. It's never really going to be "easy" to get up that early, but I'll get used to it.
> 
> I know with absolute certainty, however, that even if I keep this schedule for the next 30 years, within a week of retirement, I will settle back into my night owl ways.



I have always been an early riser, can't sleep much anyway. I always felt I could get mor


minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Took a nasty spill yesterday after tripping over a stump going backwards. Felt my neck crack, and now it's incredibly stiff and sore... But not swollen and I can still bear to move it, so it's not broken.



Dude, you have some bad mojo in and around you. You need to get that checked out, nothing to play with. They can probably give you a steroid shot and a muscle relaxer shot to expedite things. Problem with necks is you will stress it even more trying not to move it, then you get all messed up.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Took a nasty spill yesterday after tripping over a stump going backwards. Felt my neck crack, and now it's incredibly stiff and sore... But not swollen and I can still bear to move it, so it's not broken.


Ouch - you have to be careful of those backwards-moving stumps! 
Rest it with heating pad (or lotion).


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  The Cook is spooked by the sounds fireworks.  Last night kid were exploding them early and she got really spooked early. Gary feels so bad for her ... Interestingly enough, we hear the Disneyland fireworks nearly everyday and she okay with that. Mary Lou and Gary have a Temecula day and Gary needs to get a walk into the Cook before we go.

@ Leo: Gary has this built in, internal, alarm clock which wakes him up at the appropriate times(s).  Most of Gary's employment has had various starting times and nothing was 'routine' week to week and often day-to-day. Gary has never needed an alarm clock. Gary's Mom told him that his father had an internal alarm clock as well.

@ Appleton Guy: Man ... You are nothing but bad luck.

@JC: Gary's best friend is a physician. He laughs at Vets because he says vets prescribe the same treatment for everything ... a steroid shot and a muscle relaxer. You are qualified to be a vet. (I know you already are a vet ...)


----------



## snowbear

A belated happy Canada Day.

Home at last.  Zoe hid from me when I came in last night, then forgave me for leaving after a couple of minutes.  She wanted to play "chase" a little.  Bell, being the attention whore she is, wanted to be picked up.


----------



## Gary A.

@charlie: Welcome home. How was the trip and how was San Diego?


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> @charlie: Welcome home. How was the trip and how was San Diego?



The trip was great, but far too short on free time.  The area is interesting, and exciting.  There are a lot of differences from what I am used to, especially as a geographer.  I am looking forward to going back.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has lived in a few different places, but always comes back to Califronia.  The broad spectrum and extremes of geographic and cultural variety is unmatched.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> I know with absolute certainty, however, that even if I keep this schedule for the next 30 years, within a week of retirement, I will settle back into my night owl ways.



It's true.   It will happen.   I spent 20 years in medical practice management, and before that worked in medical insurance.   All meaning I had to be in some medical office, somewhere, between 7:30 - 8 AM every weekday for nigh on 30 years.    I quit when we moved to Texas a few years back.   Having to settle in a new home across the country took some of the weirdness out of no longer working, but then I went back to college and had time pressure/deadlines once again.   

Now that I'm back in Georgia, I've settled in to being more of my night owl self....though I still can't stay in bed much past 8:00 AM, and it's usually more like 7:30 when I'm up getting the coffee going.  

I do not miss healthcare management.   At.all.


----------



## snowbear

They sure have some wild women in California. (Warning: first & last "selfie")




Selfie with some Wild Women by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are in Temecula wine tasting away. This is a very nice day.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary was about to dump his Chapin membership, but having tasted their lad test offering ... He is reluctant to act.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Gary was about to dump his Chapin membership, but having tasted their lad test offering ... He is reluctant to act.



Charlie thinks Gary needs to dump his auto correct or keyboard.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary was about to dump his Chapin membership, but having tasted their lad test offering ... He is reluctant to act.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Charlie thinks Gary needs to dump his auto correct or keyboard.
Click to expand...

Keyboard.? Ha, he has probably been to 15 winery's already.


----------



## Gary A.

We are in our favorite Temecula winery, Lorenzi. The tasting room hasn't any windows, so we taste as if in a cave ... The wines rival Napa and Sonoma wines. Today the wines flow like a river. Life is good.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary was about to dump his Chapin membership, but having tasted their lad test offering ... He is reluctant to act.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Charlie thinks Gary needs to dump his auto correct or keyboard.
Click to expand...

Maybe it is the Irish wine speaking.


----------



## snowbear

Time for the Flower Girl.




Flower Girl by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Maybe it is the Irish wine speaking.


Isn't that called, 'Guinness'?


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe it is the Irish wine speaking.
> 
> 
> 
> Isn't that called, 'Guinness'?
Click to expand...

or Bailey's


----------



## minicoop1985

Whew. My second wedding (first real one) is complete. The soles of my shoes separated for some reason while I was shooting... But I suffered through it lol. I should have brought extra shoes, but I did NOT expect that to happen.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone images

Gary belongs to a number of Temecula based wine clubs.  Each club had a summer pick-up of selected wines. A brief accounting and in random order of the day's wanderings:





The Tasting room at Monte de Oro. This place has that wonderful flag and the employees are very proud of the display.  For non-patriotic days, the huge windows overlook a broad stone patio and both provide a sweeping vista of rolling vines. The wines here rival the best in Temecula. Gary and Mary Lou are tempted to become wine club members.  This was Gary and Mary Lou's first visit to Monte de Oro.  One of the wines Gary picked for purchase was a dessert wine.  The help couldn't find that particular wine and while they searched they also kept up occupied by pouring more and more wines. It was a delightful wait and finally one of the owner's came up to apologize and we had a lovely chat.  As it turned out, we all attended the same Andrea Bocelli concert at the Hollywood Bowl.




The patio at Chapin butts up to the vineyard.  One can reach out and pick bunches of grapes from the patio tables. The wines at Chapin are good, damn good, but for some reason Gary has been in favor of dumping his membership there.




Dinner was spaghetti ... Vince's Spaghetti.  Vince's brings back memories.  The original Vince's was in Ontario, CA and Gary vividly remembers it as a go to resturant when Gary was a kid. The sauce is very good and the garlic bread melts in your mouth. Gary knew that a third Vince's opened up in Temecula ... And he found it. (BTW- pictured is a Half-Order.)




Aaaahhhh, Lorenzi Estate. A small family owned vineyard and winery. The tasting room is like a cave, no windows, dark and cool.  Every single wine Gary has had here has been exceptional. Gary and Mary Lou are members here.  A few months ago Lorenzi sent our notices that they were discontinuing the wine club for new members, but existing members can continue to enjoy their benefits. Lorenzi is so good that they no longer offer discounts or free tastings to newbies.




And Thornton, above and below. Thornton has good wines, their sweet specialty wines are well worth drinking, (but not everyday), and their sparkling wines are worth drinking everyday.  But their food is exceptional. Mary Lou and Gary have a routine of hitting Thornton first for brunch and then we map out the rest of our day while sipping wine and munching something delish.  Gary and Mary Lou are always seeking out the perfect winery, exceptional wines, small family owned establishishment, great food, off the beaten path and a lack of commercialism. Gary and Mary Lou always pick a new winery to try while at Thornton ... The new Winery on this trip was Monte de Oro.  Gary's membership (discounts) at Thornton has paid out in spades.




Missing are images from Doffo. Doffo is across the street (literally) from Chapin. Gary parked at Chapin and after our tasting there Gary and Mary Lou simply crossed the street and walked over to Doffo.  While sipping our wines in the patio Gary and Mary Lou befriended a Black Russian Terrier puppy, 90 lbs of puppyhood. If the pooch was blond, it would have looked and acted like our beloved Wheaten Terrier ... Just on steroids.


----------



## minicoop1985

Just finished my initial edits on the wedding photos. Ugh, I hate editing. lol


----------



## minicoop1985

My wedding thread has been posted. Kinda nervous. OK really nervous.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> My wedding thread has been posted. Kinda nervous. OK really nervous.


Why?  You weren't the one getting married.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> My wedding thread has been posted. Kinda nervous. OK really nervous.
> 
> 
> 
> Why?  You weren't the one getting married.
Click to expand...

LOL ... Those were Gary's thoughts also.  But when you think of it, the marriage has a 50-50 chance of surviving ... The photos can last forever.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> My wedding thread has been posted. Kinda nervous. OK really nervous.
> 
> 
> 
> Why?  You weren't the one getting married.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... Those were Gary's thoughts also.  But when you think of it, the marriage has a 50-50 chance of surviving ... The photos can last forever.
Click to expand...


unless you have a disk crash.


----------



## Gary A.

It is a beautiful day, 75F, blue shies, nary a cloud to be seen, humidity @ 52% - a touch higher than desired but still quite comfy.  Gary has mowed the lawns, tied up a bunch of loose ends in the back, took Cook for a walk (she got into a fight), and just finished making some of Gary's Famous Lemonade. In a bit, Gary will whip up some pizza crust and bread dough for the BBQ.  But presently, it is extremely relaxing and enjoyable to kick back and fill up on lemonade packed with ice, watch the Monarch and Whites flutter by, the warm Sun reflex off all the different shades of green, hearing the water falling into the pond and watch Koi glide by.


----------



## Gary A.

And pesto, Gary has a ton of basil and needs to make some pesto. And there's a Morning Cloak ... Just to break up the parade of Monarchs and Whites.


----------



## Gary A.

The basil harvest. It smells so good.


----------



## minicoop1985

Yeah, hard drive crashes suck. Why I'm pestering them to get these printed at a QUALITY shop (they want the files, that's what we agreed on 2 years ago).

Speaking of pesto, I just had a great dish of fettuccine and pesto. It was delicious.


----------



## Gary A.

The harvested basil.


----------



## Gary A.

Tom dropped by and we went out for some Chinese. Now we are relaxing in the back.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Gary continues his monologue with a photo of Mary Lou's and Gary's ice cream getting crafted.


----------



## limr

Gary continued his monologue while the East Coasters were asleep. Now Leo will start hers while Gary's asleep 

Morning, hosers. Happy 4th and all that. My parents were immigrants but adopted the American holidays of Thanksgiving and Independence Day, so we used to celebrate with fireworks and grilled flesh and mayonnaise-laden potatoes and noodles, just like everyone else. Never had any use for Columbus Day, though


----------



## limr

Test drove a Subaru Impreza hatchback yesterday. I did like it, though there is a standard feature on the 2015 and new cars that bothers me. If you are listening to Sirius radio and turn off the car while listening to a "mature" station (i.e. Howard Stern or a comedy channel, for example), the car automatically changes it back to channel 1 when you turn it back on. While it is nothing more than a minor inconvenience in practical terms, it's very bothersome to me that it even exists in the first place and that it cannot be disabled. I'd be fine with it if it were optional - someone who doesn't want their kids to hear curse words might find this feature helpful, and they should be able to use it if they want. But those of us who are not driving with kids should be able to turn it off if we want to. 

Still, I liked the car well enough to not knock it off the table as an option, at least not yet. I can always look at their pre-2015 certified pre-owned selection if it continues to bother me.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Gary continues his monologue with a photo of Mary Lou's and Gary's ice cream getting crafted.


If you don't mind my asking; how much do you have to pay for ice-cream to get those red mixers and nitrogen fog?


----------



## limr

Crap, y'all. Power just went out. Bright sunny morning. Lovely.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. I'm paying for the last two days this morning. Yeeeow.


----------



## limr

Power is still out. Supposedly going to be back on just before noon.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Test drove a Subaru Impreza hatchback yesterday. I did like it, though there is a standard feature on the 2015 and new cars that bothers me. If you are listening to Sirius radio and turn off the car while listening to a "mature" station (i.e. Howard Stern or a comedy channel, for example), the car automatically changes it back to channel 1 when you turn it back on. While it is nothing more than a minor inconvenience in practical terms, it's very bothersome to me that it even exists in the first place and that it cannot be disabled. I'd be fine with it if it were optional - someone who doesn't want their kids to hear curse words might find this feature helpful, and they should be able to use it if they want. But those of us who are not driving with kids should be able to turn it off if we want to.
> 
> Still, I liked the car well enough to not knock it off the table as an option, at least not yet. I can always look at their pre-2015 certified pre-owned selection if it continues to bother me.



That is a stupid feature, that would irk me as well. Not sure if it would deter me from purchasing.... yes it would... it's a Subaru. JK, Good vehicle, excellent safety ratings.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning hosers. Getting cooler packed so I can stay hydrated today, I'm boring, just water's and a couple gatorades. the wife and I are off to play 36 hole scramble today, we are a B team and we got paired up with a great A team, that is a blast to play with. They smoke bud when they play (the wife and I don't) and the dude is hilarious, he actually is a stand up comic. Maybe win some cash? We played against them a couple of weeks ago and I darn near pee'd my pants. He made fun of me pretty much the whole day, focused on my 8 month pregnancy belly, and my left handed shooting.


----------



## jcdeboever

Random thought... I wish we could remotely set off Gary's alarm....


----------



## tirediron

Happy Fourth to all you down-southians!


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary continues his monologue with a photo of Mary Lou's and Gary's ice cream getting crafted.
> 
> 
> 
> If you don't mind my asking; how much do you have to pay for ice-cream to get those red mixers and nitrogen fog?
Click to expand...

It wasn't cheap, you gotta pay for the show ... About $6.50 for the 'Regular' size, which fits in one's hand and about four inches tall. One picks their base, cream, yoghurt, et al, then a flavor.  These are in liquid form and added to the large metal can/mixing bowl.  While the base and flavoring are being mixed the chef/operator hits it with the liquid nitrogen. Gary doesn't see any added value in taste via the nitrogen hit ... As opposed to blending a pre-frozen cream with the chosen flavor(s), other than showmanship.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Happy Fourth to all you down-southians!


Thank you John.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Happy Independance Day to all those who celebrate this day.  (It is also the b-day of my grandson Luke who turned seven today.)

@ Leo: Take a look at the new Camaro, Chevy has a base model, four banger w/turbo and manual tranny for around $27K. My friend Tom, gets bored with his cars every two years and it's about two years on his GTI.  He came over yesterday and we watched a lot of videos.  Gary is a Mustang guy, he's had a few 'Stangs in his life including the SVO ... the videos made me salivate.  Sure the Camaro is not a very practical car, but it is relatively cheap, comes with a bunch of good stuff as standard, drives like a hot rod and get good mileage.


----------



## Gary A.

The Cook get spooked by all the fireworks and the associated loud banging.  So much so that Gary and Mary Lou found that the best thing we can do for her is to drug her up. (We're not happy with that, but over the years that has been the best solution.)  The Fourth in La Mirada starts July 3, as the City puts on their celebration about a block away in the regional park. Consequently, Gary is a bit groggy from getting up all night to make sure she's okay. 

Mary Lou and Gary will be home again today to watch over her on the second day of celebrations. But Gary will be cooking today, he's about to toss a Tri-tip on the smoker, he has a huge ... (Costco huge) salmon and he will be making flatbread, regular bread and pesto for starters. 

So come on down to Gary's. He also has a boatload of world class wines from Saturday's visit to wine country.


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC ... To get even at the comic for making fun of you ... Don't laugh at all at anything he says, bite your tongue.  After a few remarks by the comic ... make yourself as large as possible (stand-up), approach him with your driver in your hands, look him straight in the eye and tell him "I don't think you're funny at all".


----------



## Gary A.

PS- The only reason Mary Lou and Gary tried the ice cream place, was because it was new and within walking distance from the house.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> @ JC ... To get even at the comic for making fun of you ... Don't laugh at all at anything he says, bite your tongue.  After a few remarks by the comic ... make yourself as large as possible (stand-up), approach him with your driver in your hands, look him straight in the eye and tell him "I don't think you're funny at all".


Or...  each time he says/does something funny, either (a) ignore it; or (b) look at him quizzically with a look of total incomprehension.


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ JC ... To get even at the comic for making fun of you ... Don't laugh at all at anything he says, bite your tongue.  After a few remarks by the comic ... make yourself as large as possible (stand-up), approach him with your driver in your hands, look him straight in the eye and tell him "I don't think you're funny at all".
> 
> 
> 
> Or...  each time he says/does something funny, either (a) ignore it; or (b) look at him quizzically with a look of total incomprehension.
Click to expand...

I can't, he is too funny. I don't mind, he knows I could crush him. He is one of those guys hard not to like.


----------



## minicoop1985

HAPPY BLOW YOUR HAND OFF DAY 'MURICANS!!!! MAY EAGLES RAIN FREEBERTY ON YOUR TRUCKS IN WAL MART PARKING LOTS!!!!

Sorry.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> The Cook get spooked by all the fireworks and the associated loud banging. So much so that Gary and Mary Lou found that the best thing we can do for her is to drug her up. (We're not happy with that, but over the years that has been the best solution.)



Poor Cook!    This is one advantage to having an elder statesman like Odin around: he is now quite deaf.   In years past, he barked his head off at every firecracker, and trotted around, nervous and muttering under his breath all night.   Now he sleeps like a baby through it all, while his younger (feline) sisters have to be coaxed inside before nightfall, the litterbox set up, so they can cower like they always do during fireworks.   They dive into our closet and stay in there all night. 

This year, the indoor setup has been going on since Thursday night, given the timing of the 4th this year.   Every night since then, someone else around here is trying to blow his fingers off in front of an apparently enthusiastic crowd of friends.    Friday night was the loudest so far, when our downtown had their display.   At least we can count on them to end it precisely at 10 pm!

Happy 4th, y'all!    Hope everyone stays safe and has fun!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Never had any use for Columbus Day, though


A conflict between two parts of my heritage: Italian and Native American.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> Happy Fourth to all you down-southians!


Thank you.


----------



## minicoop1985

Welp, I'm in the running for a potential emergency wedding photographer this Saturday. A good chunk of change too.  I could REALLY use it.


----------



## snowbear

Emergency wedding?  How far along is the bride-to-be?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> @ Leo: Take a look at the new Camaro, Chevy has a base model, four banger w/turbo and manual tranny *for around $27K.* My friend Tom, gets bored with his cars every two years and it's about two years on his GTI.  He came over yesterday and we watched a lot of videos.  Gary is a Mustang guy, he's had a few 'Stangs in his life including the SVO ... the videos made me salivate.  Sure the Camaro is not a very practical car, *but it is relatively cheap*, comes with a bunch of good stuff as standard, drives like a hot rod and get good mileage.



You've got a different idea of "relatively cheap" than I do


----------



## jcdeboever

Good evening Hosers. Had fun today but our team didn't win at 14 under for 36. There some ringers in there today for sure, guys and gals I never seen before. I won a longest drive that covered the cost of entry. Last hole was a par 4, 342 yards from the white tee's to the pin and I drove the green and we eagled it. It was my farthest drive this year and 50 yards longer than my longest drive hole. It was majestic, it took off low to the ground and rose like a jet takeoff. On the other hand, I pretty much sucked at chipping and putting for the day. I have to work on it.


----------



## Gary A.

"Majestic" ... I like that.  I can see drive in my minds eye, well done.


----------



## Gary A.

The Pesto




The Pizza




The Tri-Tip

Today was all about cooking and Gary is beat. Mary Lou's son and g/f arrive for lunch. They were hungry, all kids are always hungry. We started out with Gary's Famous French Dips and ended up with one of Gary's homemade pizzas.

Shortly after they left, Mary Lou's brother, wife and wife's sister arrived. Smoked Tri-tip,  BBQ-ed Salmon, homemade bread stuffed with rosemary, tomato salad, pesto, rice, watermelon, lemonade and wine. Gary was surprised that it all came out so well.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I keep thinking it's Monday. It's not. It's Tuesday. Monday's bastard cousin.


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## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> I keep thinking it's Monday. It's not. It's Tuesday. Monday's bastard cousin.



Bastard cousin?  Bit harsh, don't you think?

It's all about perception, after all.  So try to think of Tuesday as... hmm.. Monday's Redheaded Stepchild.

Lol


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## Designer

Wifey's birthday today.  I have no ideas for a gift.  I will be making her favorite supper, at least.


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## minicoop1985

snowbear said:


> Emergency wedding?  How far along is the bride-to-be?


LOL not quite. Photographer backed out at the last moment.


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## jcdeboever

Designer said:


> Wifey's birthday today.  I have no ideas for a gift.  I will be making her favorite supper, at least.



Get her your new camera


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## robbins.photo

Designer said:


> Wifey's birthday today.  I have no ideas for a gift.  I will be making her favorite supper, at least.



Hmm... well how about re-creating your first date?

Assuming of course it wasn't a total disaster.. lol


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## KenC

Morning, hosers!  I hope everyone had a good weekend - restful, wild or whatever combination you like.  We didn't do a whole lot most of the weekend and then went to a party at a neighbor's house.  Lots of good food, interesting people and no need for a designated driver!

This morning I had to deal with the mess on the regional rail lines (which also serve parts of the city)- they discovered that all of their new (3-4 yrs.) cars had cracks in them and had to be removed from service.  So, the trains are on a weekend schedule and late, crowded or both.  I may work from home for a while.


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## waday

KenC said:


> This morning I had to deal with the mess on the regional rail lines (which also serve parts of the city)- they discovered that all of their new (3-4 yrs.) cars had cracks in them and had to be removed from service. So, the trains are on a weekend schedule and late, crowded or both. I may work from home for a while.


Heard that on the news this morning. Sounds like a mess.


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## limr

Designer said:


> Wifey's birthday today.  I have no ideas for a gift.  I will be making her favorite supper, at least.



Happy birthday to wifey 

Btw, 5 of the 9 rolls you sent have been developed and have been lying under some heavy books for the past week to flatten them out for scanning (there was some serious curl going on!) The last four will go in the soup this week  Preliminary reports on the negatives were that there is some mold damage on sections of a couple of rolls and the negs are a bit dense, but there are quite a lot of discernible images that will surely scan grainy but recognizable.


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## tirediron

Designer said:


> Wifey's birthday today.  I have no ideas for a gift.  I will be making her favorite supper, at least.


Go out for the evening after you make supper?  I mean just you.  Leave her alone in peace & quiet.


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## snowbear

Designer said:


> Wifey's birthday today.  I have no ideas for a gift.  I will be making her favorite supper, at least.


Jewelry.  Always.


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## minicoop1985

I've learned some women HATE having jewelry picked out for them. Like my wife. So be careful.


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## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> I've learned some women HATE having jewelry picked out for them. Like my wife. So be careful.


Well, you have to be able to pick out something tasteful. 

Actually, the dinner thing sounds good.  Some flowers for a centerpiece might be a nice touch.


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## minicoop1985

I've done that and failed before. lol


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## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> I've done that and failed before. lol



Well you'd better get the wife something really nice this year.  Otherwise your going to have a tough time convincing her to put in the pole you slide down for your next wedding emergency...

Lol


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## Designer

tirediron said:


> Go out for the evening after you make supper?  I mean just you.  Leave her alone in peace & quiet.


You have no idea how well that would be joyfully appreciated!


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## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> I've learned some women HATE having jewelry picked out for them. Like my wife. So be careful.


That's what gift receipts are for.


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## minicoop1985

LOL I know, right?

As for the emergency wedding, we don't do gifts really.


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## minicoop1985

Well, looks like I have plans this Saturday. Wedding somewhere near Wisconsin Dells.

On a side note, it's hard getting real feedback on my photos. I feel like either they suck too much for people to comment, I'm doing something wrong, or people are afraid to hurt my feelings...? I have my big boy pants on. I can handle honest critique.


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## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> On a side note, it's hard getting real feedback on my photos. I feel like either they suck too much for people to comment, I'm doing something wrong, or people are afraid to hurt my feelings...? I have my big boy pants on. I can handle honest critique.


I've noticed the same.


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## vintagesnaps

What I've found useful was to get critique/feedback etc. from a pro, or an instructor, or someone who knows what they're doing. Good way at least to know I was heading in the right direction.

Hosers, you should see in this movie that's on from the '30s about Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill in the late '80s - taking a group photo. The photographer took the lens cap off this big wooden camera, sat down... looked at his pocket watch, took a swig of beer from a mug..... eventually got up, put the lens cap back on - now that's how to take a picture! lol


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## vintagesnaps

If you're going to get a Camaro, get a Bitchin' Camaro.
(Probably NSFW, possibly NS for anyone, at least the full version not so much this one.)


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## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Hosers, you should see in this movie that's on from the '30s about Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill in the late '80s - taking a group photo. The photographer took the lens cap off this big wooden camera, sat down... looked at his pocket watch, took a swig of beer from a mug..... eventually got up, put the lens cap back on - now that's how to take a picture! lol



Ahh, the good ole days.  Back when shooting in RAW would get you arrested.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> What I've found useful was to get critique/feedback etc. from a pro, or an instructor, or someone who knows what they're doing. Good way at least to know I was heading in the right direction.
> 
> Hosers, you should see in this movie that's on from the '30s about Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill in the late '80s - taking a group photo. The photographer took the lens cap off this big wooden camera, sat down... looked at his pocket watch, took a swig of beer from a mug..... eventually got up, put the lens cap back on - now that's how to take a picture! lol


Gary is an advocate of the "beer" element of photography, not only is Gary an advocate of beer and photography, Gary incorporates said action into his photography/career whenever possible .... removing the lens cap is for sissies, real photogs shoot right through the cap. If fact, beer, believe it or not, actually promotes shooting through the lens cap, (especially when shooting a rangefinder).


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## vintagesnaps

Aw, I can do that with a rangefinder, no help from a beer necessary.

We had a silver Camaro when I was young. I have no idea what would have compelled my parents to buy that. We also had a Gremlin so go figure.


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## jcdeboever

The landscape lady gave me a a few awesome flowers to photograph as she seen me taking pics of hers on the golf course, I had no idea she seen me doing that. My wife does not like her at all, my wife thinks she is a skank... whatever that is? She brought them by and my wife kind of embarrassed me by her reaction. I took them like a kid getting candy in a candy store. I said thank you and promptly walked off  as my wife was on her like flies on ****. I let them hiss at each other (watched from the little crack in the bathroom window though, thought some shirts were gonna come off).  My wife has barely talked to me sense (1/2 day... peace), like it is my fault... I had nothing to flippin do with it. I do not even know the lady other than seeing her maintaining the grounds on occasion, all I do is wave (everyone waves on a golf course), never even spoke to her. My wife said, "she was a home wrecker", I said, "no, she is a landscaper".  That didn't go over well as I learned today what a home wrecker was... I was thinking bulldozers and hard hats. My Lord, I never can catch a break, I was on a record 3 day streak of not getting yelled at. I feel like drinking.


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## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> my wife thinks she is a skank... whatever that is?



In wife speak that means she thinks that is someone of the opposite gender that if you asked her to have marital relations with her, she would say yes.



> She brought them by and my wife kind of embarrassed me by her reaction. I took them like a kid getting candy in a candy store. I said thank you and promptly walked off  as my wife was on her like flies on ****. I let them hiss at each other (watched from the little crack in the bathroom window though, thought some shirts were gonna come off).



CF the definition above, hence making your wife's reaction justified..well, at least in your wife's view.  Which might as well make it justified in your view as well, unless you enjoy sleeping on the couch.



> My wife has barely talked to me sense (1/2 day... peace), like it is my fault... I had nothing to flippin do with it. I do not even know the lady other than seeing her maintaining the grounds on occasion, all I do is wave (everyone waves on a golf course), never even spoke to her. My wife said, "she was a home wrecker", I said, "no, she is a landscaper".  That didn't go over well as I learned today what a home wrecker was... I was thinking bulldozers and hard hats. My Lord, I never can catch a break, I was on a record 3 day streak of not getting yelled at. I feel like drinking.



One of those arguments your not going to win no matter how much reason or logic is on your side.


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## tirediron

vintagesnaps said:


> We had a silver Camaro when I was young. I have no idea what would have compelled my parents to buy that. We also had a Gremlin so go figure.


Beer?


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> my wife thinks she is a skank... whatever that is?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In wife speak that means she thinks that is someone of the opposite gender that if you asked her to have marital relations with her, she would say yes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> She brought them by and my wife kind of embarrassed me by her reaction. I took them like a kid getting candy in a candy store. I said thank you and promptly walked off  as my wife was on her like flies on ****. I let them hiss at each other (watched from the little crack in the bathroom window though, thought some shirts were gonna come off).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> CF the definition above, hence making your wife's reaction justified..well, at least in your wife's view.  Which might as well make it justified in your view as well, unless you enjoy sleeping on the couch.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My wife has barely talked to me sense (1/2 day... peace), like it is my fault... I had nothing to flippin do with it. I do not even know the lady other than seeing her maintaining the grounds on occasion, all I do is wave (everyone waves on a golf course), never even spoke to her. My wife said, "she was a home wrecker", I said, "no, she is a landscaper".  That didn't go over well as I learned today what a home wrecker was... I was thinking bulldozers and hard hats. My Lord, I never can catch a break, I was on a record 3 day streak of not getting yelled at. I feel like drinking.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> One of those arguments your not going to win no matter how much reason or logic is on your side.
Click to expand...


Well, I guess I screwed up again.... not sure how to avoid that situation. I am not a jealous person in regards to my wife, is that bad? If my wife wants to stray, just don't let me find out is how I look at it. I take good care of her, she has a maid, a new car, a nice home close to HER family, no debt,  and I try daily to do my homework but she cuts that off, I am like Raymond Barone.


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## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> The landscape lady gave me a a few awesome flowers to photograph as she seen me taking pics of hers on the golf course, I had no idea she seen me doing that. My wife does not like her at all, my wife thinks she is a skank... whatever that is?


I thought about bringing some flowers back from San Diego.  I decided against it.


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## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> The landscape lady gave me a a few awesome flowers to photograph as she seen me taking pics of hers on the golf course, I had no idea she seen me doing that. My wife does not like her at all, my wife thinks she is a skank... whatever that is?
> 
> 
> 
> I thought about bringing some flowers back from San Diego.  I decided against it.
Click to expand...


NOW IF THAT LADY CAME TO MY FENCE, I could see my wife's point.... Good timing.


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## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Well, I guess I screwed up again.... not sure how to avoid that situation. I am not a jealous person in regards to my wife, is that bad? If my wife wants to stray, just don't let me find out is how I look at it. I take good care of her, she has a maid, a new car, a nice home close to HER family, no debt,  and I try daily to do my homework but she cuts that off, I am like Raymond Barone.



Well the wife obviously has an issue here, so best bet is just to avoid this skank landscaper entirely.    Take the wife out to a nice dinner or do something nice for her that she'll enjoy.  If she brings it up again - apologize, just tell her you didn't mean to upset her but obviously you did and your sorry.  She got the vibe that you were interested and that the landscaper was interested, that's why she reacted the way she did - doesn't matter if any of it was true.  

On the upside it also means she still cares, so there is that.


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, I guess I screwed up again.... not sure how to avoid that situation. I am not a jealous person in regards to my wife, is that bad? If my wife wants to stray, just don't let me find out is how I look at it. I take good care of her, she has a maid, a new car, a nice home close to HER family, no debt,  and I try daily to do my homework but she cuts that off, I am like Raymond Barone.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well the wife obviously has an issue here, so best bet is just to avoid this skank landscaper entirely.    Take the wife out to a nice dinner or do something nice for her that she'll enjoy.  If she brings it up again - apologize, just tell her you didn't mean to upset her but obviously you did and your sorry.  She got the vibe that you were interested and that the landscaper was interested, that's why she reacted the way she did - doesn't matter if any of it was true.
> 
> On the upside it also means she still cares, so there is that.
Click to expand...


I never voided her. Why do I apologize? She gave me flowers to my surprise! I am not sorry for anything I had no control over. If anything, she owes me an apology for acting like a stupid grade school girl and embarrassing me. Her actions constituted mistrust in me. She was really mad at the skank, I get that but to put it on me is her deal, not mine. She can go file for all I care, I will not accept being treated with mistrust as I am a loyal, ethical husband. This is something to do with menopause I think. F*** I don't know anymore, all I know is that I work hard at being a great man to my wife and it goes unnoticed.


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## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> I never voided her. Why do I apologize? She gave me flowers to my surprise! I am not sorry for anything I had no control over. If anything, she owes me an apology for acting like a stupid grade school girl and embarrassing me. Her actions constituted mistrust in me. She was really mad at the skank, I get that but to put it on me is her deal, not mine. She can go file for all I care, I will not accept being treated with mistrust as I am a loyal, ethical husband. This is something to do with menopause I think. F*** I don't know anymore, all I know is that I work hard at being a great man to my wife and it goes unnoticed.


You don't get the whole marriage thing, do you?


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## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> I never voided her. Why do I apologize?



Because it's a lot easier than divorce court.  



> She gave me flowers to my surprise! I am not sorry for anything I had no control over. If anything, she owes me an apology for acting like a stupid grade school girl and embarrassing me. Her actions constituted mistrust in me. She was really mad at the skank, I get that but to put it on me is her deal, not mine. She can go file for all I care, I will not accept being treated with mistrust as I am a loyal, ethical husband. This is something to do with menopause I think. F*** I don't know anymore, all I know is that I work hard at being a great man to my wife and it goes unnoticed.



Well not to go all Dr. Phil on you or anything, but your choices here are you can be right or you can be happy.  I suggest you choose happy.  YMMV.


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## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I never voided her. Why do I apologize? She gave me flowers to my surprise! I am not sorry for anything I had no control over. If anything, she owes me an apology for acting like a stupid grade school girl and embarrassing me. Her actions constituted mistrust in me. She was really mad at the skank, I get that but to put it on me is her deal, not mine. She can go file for all I care, I will not accept being treated with mistrust as I am a loyal, ethical husband. This is something to do with menopause I think. F*** I don't know anymore, all I know is that I work hard at being a great man to my wife and it goes unnoticed.
> 
> 
> 
> You don't get the whole marriage thing, do you?
Click to expand...


Yes I do, I was venting. It's her way and my self canoodling way forward. Just shoot me now.

I should have handled the situation... woman, you can't be coming over here giving me flowers and ****. what the hell are you thinking of skank? my wife will beat you down like the condition of the trailer you live in. Now, go away and tend to them there greens.


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I never voided her. Why do I apologize?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Because it's a lot easier than divorce court.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> She gave me flowers to my surprise! I am not sorry for anything I had no control over. If anything, she owes me an apology for acting like a stupid grade school girl and embarrassing me. Her actions constituted mistrust in me. She was really mad at the skank, I get that but to put it on me is her deal, not mine. She can go file for all I care, I will not accept being treated with mistrust as I am a loyal, ethical husband. This is something to do with menopause I think. F*** I don't know anymore, all I know is that I work hard at being a great man to my wife and it goes unnoticed.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well not to go all Dr. Phil on you or anything, but your choices here are you can be right or you can be happy.  I suggest you choose happy.  YMMV.
Click to expand...


Oh, shut up (respectfully). I don't want to here it. Dr. Phil and society are idiots. I am a self made man with integrity and honor. Dr. Phil is what my wife watches and whats wrong with the world system.


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## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> Oh, shut up (respectfully). I don't want to here it. Dr. Phil and society are idiots. I am a self made man with integrity and honor. Dr. Phil is what my wife watches and whats wrong with the world system.


I don't think anyone will disagree with you, BUT...  it's probably cheaper to just live with it.  Integrity can be very, very expensive.


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## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Oh, shut up (respectfully). I don't want to here it. Dr. Phil and society are idiots. I am a self made man with integrity and honor. Dr. Phil is what my wife watches and whats wrong with the world system.



Well speaking as someone that went through a divorce, I don't recommend it.  As for the rest, whatever floats your boat I guess.  Not my life, not my decision.  Gave the best advice I could based on the information in front of me.  You can work the rest out with the wife.  I'm out.


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## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, shut up (respectfully). I don't want to here it. Dr. Phil and society are idiots. I am a self made man with integrity and honor. Dr. Phil is what my wife watches and whats wrong with the world system.
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think anyone will disagree with you, BUT...  it's probably cheaper to just live with it.  Integrity can be very, very expensive.
Click to expand...

True.


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## table1349




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## Gary A.

It needs to be a two-way street ... mutual respect.  There are two sides on every coin ... But just hearing from one side ... Gary doesn't see any respect on the other side. The wife seems to have issues ... She seems to be acting out her issues on circumstances which do not merit her level of acting out.  The wife seems very unhappy.  If you are, as you self proclaim, honorable, and there isn't any evidence to say otherwise  ... then the first person who deserves an apology is the landscaper.

You need to ask the wife, "What's REALY eating at you...?".

Timing on that question is most likely critical.


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## table1349

With all due respects Gary, I must disagree that there are two sides to everything.  In my experience I have learned that with humans, whether intentional or not, there are three sides to everything.  His side, her side, and the truth somewhere in between.  The hardest side to get to is always the truth.


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## jcdeboever

I just happened to be in the yard picking up dog poop. I do not know the lady, nor her name for that matter but my wife grew up with her. I know no one in this area, my wife is from this area. I am sure she has good reason to not like this lady but what irked me is she thinks I had some kind of run in with her, like I did something to invite her over. I did not. I live on the golf course...

To be honest though, the lady wants my artistic sausage.


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## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> With all due respects Gary, I must disagree that there are two sides to everything.  In my experience I have learned that with humans, whether intentional or not, there are three sides to everything.  His side, her side, and the truth somewhere in between.  The hardest side to get to is always the truth.


My side=like to take pics of flowers, aloof.

Wife's side= insecure, skank must have boinked a former boyfriend

Skank side= wants the artistic sausage.


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## Gary A.

That was a point Gary had thought about, but didn't include, was that the wife had a personal grudge/run-in/experience with the landscaper. That, the wife should share/explain to you so that you would have a better understanding of her reaction. Again, mutual respect.

The artistic sausage is, most likely, the bone of contention.


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## minicoop1985

Ooooookie dokie.

Looks like I've been hired for the emergency wedding after all. No artistic sausage or bones of contention here lol


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## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Ooooookie dokie.
> 
> Looks like I've been hired for the emergency wedding after all. No artistic sausage or bones of contention here lol



Well good luck with the wedding.  As for the rest... umm.. well, good luck with the wedding.


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## limr

Morning, hosers.

This week's coffee intake will be higher than usual to help keep the headache at bay. So far it's been revving its engines and threatening to charge but hasn't actually attacked yet. Let's see if I can keep it that way. The fact that the next few days are going to be Hot As All F****** Get-Out (technical term) is NOT going to help. :/


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## minicoop1985

Soooooooooooooooooo muggy here. I'm gonna suffer Saturday. Oh well, it's good money.


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## jcdeboever

Good morning, muggy here as well. Had to go into plant today as the GM is on vacation. I do not care to be inside all day but have to do it Friday as well. Gonna get caught up on sales and lead reports, check website, look at P & L's and see where we are at against the budget.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Another overcast and cool morning and it should warm up into the 70's. Gary doesn't have any cash.  It feels a bit odd to be sans cash.  Gary used the last of his greenbacks on doughnuts for his early Tuseday morning meeting. Granted, it is no big deal to hit a AMT or store ... But Gary isn't all that compulsive where he needs to have some cash in his pocket. 

Today, at least so far, should be an easy day.  Gary may have to drive to San Juan Capistrano, but other than that it may be a free day for Gary to get a bunch of small stuff done ... Gary needs some black tea, dog food, Marsala, Sherry, Fuji 90mm, 'S' hooks, pepper plants (2) and maybe a new patio set.

@ Leo: Good luck at keeping the headache at bay. You're welcomed to come over and stick your feet in the pond to cool off, (Gary will toss in a snowball Margarita).


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Another overcast and cool morning and it should warm up into the 70's. Gary doesn't have any cash.  It feels a bit odd to be sans cash.  Gary used the last of his greenbacks on doughnuts for his early Tuseday morning meeting. Granted, it is no big deal to hit a AMT or store ... But Gary isn't all that compulsive where he needs to have some cash in his pocket.



I have found stores that don't take plastic.  I have found stores that don't take checks.  I have found stores that don't take plastic or checks.  I have never found a store that does not take cash.  I always have some cash on my person whenever I leave the house and If I run out, I get more cash before I get home.


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## robbins.photo

Greetings from balmy Nebraska.  It's just a tad past 9 in the AM here and we're already above 80 degrees on the heat index with about 40% humidity.  Forecast for the day?  Nasty.  Just Nasty.

Had a good time over the weekend putting the new.. umm, well new to me Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 HSM I through it's paces.  So far, fairly impressed.  Does the job pretty well despite it's age.  




DSC_6247 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr


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## waday

robbins.photo said:


> Forecast for the day? Nasty. Just Nasty.


I must be one of the few that loves this weather. We're supposed to be in the 90's for the next few days with high humidity. I love it and can't get enough of it.


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> Greetings from balmy Nebraska.  It's just a tad past 9 in the AM here and we're already above 80 degrees on the heat index with about 40% humidity.  Forecast for the day?  Nasty.  Just Nasty.
> 
> Had a good time over the weekend putting the new.. umm, well new to me Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 HSM I through it's paces.  So far, fairly impressed.  Does the job pretty well despite it's age.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_6247 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr



Somebody splattered black paint on your kitty cat.  


Apparently it is so hot there the leopard is even panting.  Nice shot.

Here it's only 75. Had an early morning shower or two.  Supposed to hit 98 by 5 p.m. so I am heading out to run errands now so I can hunker down in the AC this afternoon.


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## robbins.photo

waday said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Forecast for the day? Nasty. Just Nasty.
> 
> 
> 
> I must be one of the few that loves this weather. We're supposed to be in the 90's for the next few days with high humidity. I love it and can't get enough of it.
Click to expand...


So... you're insane.  

Ya, ok, that explains a lot actually... lol


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## waday

robbins.photo said:


> So... you're insane.
> 
> Ya, ok, that explains a lot actually... lol


I never said I wasn't...


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## minicoop1985

I don't complain during the heat because I'd rather be in the heat than freezing my ass off. I hate living in Wisconsin for that reason... I'm frigid half the year.


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## pixmedic

Soooooo....
I put in for a new position at work a while back. positions are posted for applications for a set duration of time, usually around 2-3 weeks...during that time, you write a formal letter officially stating your desire to fill that position and why you feel you would be better suited for it than the 50 other people that put in for it.  they fill the positions based on seniority, certifications held, work performance, and supervisor recommendations after 1-2 interviews. 

during this process, there is a lot of political maneuvering by the applicants.  Certifications often take precedence over seniority depending on the position, but seniority  carries great weight when certifications are close or equal. Job performance is really difficult to measure in my field and it often comes down to "who has the least/less serious  infractions". The biggest wild card in the process is the supervisor recommendation category. Favoritism, I imagine, is an issue pretty much anywhere you go and EMS is no exception.  sometimes WHO does  your interview is more important than the interview itself. Eventually, the final list has to be approved by our operations manager, but the supervisors carry a lot of weight in the decision, and rarely does our top management go directly against the collective supervisors decision. 
This time around, there were two positions open, and one applicant i KNEW had me beat on all counts. thankfully though, he only wanted the position in Sanford, and I wanted the position in Orlando.  

anyway....


the moral of the story is....I got the Orlando position.
there were a lot off disappointed applicants, and one or too totally butthurt ones that for some strange reason thought their supervisor friends would get them the spot over my seniority AND certification credentials. The buddy system only helps so much when the supervisors know they are expected to fill those spots with the most qualified personnel. 

Im not super thrilled about the rotating schedule, but it IS a ~$10k a year pay increase....so....that helps. 
should be starting soon. cant wait for the upgraded paychecks.


----------



## tirediron

Nice!  Time to start replacing some of that camera gear.


----------



## limr

I will complain about the heat all summer long.

Eff summer. 

Congrats, pixie!


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Eff summer.


Do you mean effing awesome summer? 

Congrats @pixmedic!


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Eff summer.
> 
> 
> 
> Do you mean effing awesome summer?
> 
> Congrats @pixmedic!
Click to expand...


Absolutely not.

Eff summer. Eff it with its own red hot poker.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> I will complain about the heat all summer long.
> 
> Eff summer.
> 
> Congrats, pixie!



Ahh Summer.

Bastard Cousin of Spring...


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


> the moral of the story is....I got the Orlando position.



Ok, so good on you for getting the position you wanted.  But... well, if you don't mind a bit of C&C here... the story itself, kinda meh.

I mean, no magic beans.  No psychotic cannibalistic witch.  No princess in a coma.  So no offense but I doubt either Disney or Pixar is going to be chasing you for the movie rights on this one.


----------



## pixmedic

robbins.photo said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> the moral of the story is....I got the Orlando position.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, so good on you for getting the position you wanted.  But... well, if you don't mind a bit of C&C here... the story itself, kinda meh.
> 
> I mean, no magic beans.  No psychotic cannibalistic witch.  No princess in a coma.  So no offense but I doubt either Disney or Pixar is going to be chasing you for the movie rights on this one.
Click to expand...

Guess I'll have to settle for DreamWorks then


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


> Guess I'll have to settle for DreamWorks then



Just make sure you get a piece of the merchandising.  Lol


----------



## Gary A.

Gary enjoys summer ... Gary enjoys the longer days, the warm afternoon, the summer festivals. Gary likes the beach better in the winter, less people.


----------



## JonA_CT

It can also be 75* and sunny any day during the year where Gary lives -- so are seasons really a thing? 

I'm a shoulder season kinda guy. I like September and October. No tourists. Not as much Cape Cod traffic. No one on the beach. Plus, there's just something about leaving the house in the morning in jeans and a sweatshirt and being able to shuck it off and take a swim in the afternoon.


----------



## minicoop1985

Delivering the photos to the last wedding's bride today. Nerves galore.


----------



## table1349

I don't mind the heat, it's the humidity I detest.  I don't mind the cold, it's the wicked winter wind that I dislike.


----------



## jcdeboever

I am glad to wake up today. Rain, sleet, snow, or heat.


----------



## b_twill

jcdeboever said:


> I am glad to wake up today. Rain, sleet, snow, or heat.



And that's what great about Michigan, you can get all 4 seasons in one day!


----------



## minicoop1985

Or, in Wisconsin, it's either Heat or Cold/Snow with VERY little in between.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is in the BBQ patio, music blasting away while he whips up some Chicken Marsala, grilled apples and sucks up a Hangar 24.


----------



## Gary A.

Cooking outside is bomb.


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner is served with a Thornton Chardonnay.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 124444 Dinner is served with a Thornton Chardonnay.


Dang, that looks great... I'm eating rice krispies tonight.


----------



## table1349

Gary, If you have not heard of Grill Grates, you might want to take a look at them.  I retrofitted my Weber Summit with them and absolutely love them.  It just happens that I can also use them in my Yoder smoker, although I don't plan on using my smoker for a grill.  They have a small learning curve as their heat conductivity is very high and even. I have learned that on my Summit I have to back off the gas a little to get the same low temp.  I did a couple of bone in strip steaks last night.  The sear was perfect and the final lower temp finish was great.  A perfect medium rare all the way through.   

I can't say enough about their ability to hold temp.   After I got done with the steaks and let them rest I played with the temp and got it to 350.  I left my iGrill 2 ambient probe in and the temp never waived more than 7 degrees from 350.  I will now do a lot more baking out on my Weber.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Minicoop that could be a whole new niche in wedding photography - emergency weddings! It just sounds funny, I figure you mean there's some reason you're filling in and doing the wedding, not that you're shooting a shot gun wedding. Wait, that doesn't sound right either...

Today was fun, had another eye procedure, a cyst removed, and since the Dr. said they numb the eye I didn't think I'd feel anything. Wrong! lol I don't think it helped to hear him say something about cauterizing blood vessels, wow was it red after! Looked better after awhile and not too sore tonight. Of course I don't know how it will feel tomorrow, Dr. said it will feel sore and I'm on eye drops for two weeks then back to check the cornea. Crikey at least that's done.

Gary you had blue wine? I know, the glass is blue, but the drink looks blue and the ice cubes look blue.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Congrats Jason on your new job! I'm sure it's well deserved (as is the raise!). And if it turns into a career as a movie star, well, good luck on that too! lol

To top off the burning eye procedure, I was just thinking we might make it out to the car before the thunderstorm hit - and the skies opened. The lobby sounded like a haunted house, I thought the whole place might go. Or at least the wicked witch might fly by. Luckily it didn't last too long before it let up.

So at least it wasn't so hot, but the hummididity just was worse. I'm ready for fall.


----------



## Gary A.

@ (the other) Sharon- Eye work is nothing to take lightly. Gary is hoping for the best with your recovery.  

LOL- The water and ice are blue.


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> Today was fun, had another eye procedure, a cyst removed, and since the Dr. said they numb the eye I didn't think I'd feel anything. Wrong! lol I don't think it helped to hear him say something about cauterizing blood vessels, wow was it red after! Looked better after awhile and not too sore tonight. Of course I don't know how it will feel tomorrow, Dr. said it will feel sore and I'm on eye drops for two weeks then back to check the cornea. Crikey at least that's done.


It hurts my eyes just reading this.   Bless your heart!     I hope it doesn't suck too much when you wake up tomorrow.  

Get well soon, eyeball!    (One doesn't have an opportunity to say that often, so...)   

Pix: congrats, sweetie!   I'm certain the 'stache ruled the day.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 124444 Dinner is served with a Thornton Chardonnay.
> 
> 
> 
> Dang, that looks great... I'm eating rice krispies tonight.
Click to expand...

Mary Lou said "there is no way to describe how good it was".  Gary thought it was very good.  The grilled apples tasted like pie and the Charonnay could hold its own against most Chardonnay's from France.  Gary would have been pleased to share with you.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The Dr. didn't seem too concerned but they do test the cyst tissue just to make sure there's nothing else going on with it. It was called a conjuctiv- al? ital?? something, I've worked with kids enough to recognize this is along the lines of pinkeye! Mine started with an eye infection that went along with a respiratory infection, etc. Thanks for the nice thoughts Gary.

My mom has had umpteen eye surgeries, first one I remember she had to go to a university a couple of hours away and my grandma came and stayed with us. I don't know if I want to tell you what they did for a detached retina back then, all I know is thank goodness for lasers now. 

But my 80 something mother can still pass her eye test to renew her license. Not that she drives much, my dad drives and she yells at him. She bragged she could get almost anyplace making mostly all right turns. Why? who knows, but this could be part of the Camaro/Gremlin thing, they're just nutty, we say they're not getting senile, they've always been this way.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Mmmm grilled apples! I love baked apples.

Thanks Terri, yeah I hope it doesn't hurt worse in the morning. It looks better than it did, the white inner part of my eye is quite red but the blood vessels don't look bright red like they did afterwards. Actually it looks like it did when I first had the eye infection! lol maybe I'm back at square one. Not really, eye drops 4 times a day are supposed to help it heal up.

Told a friend being a hockey fan I could say I was in a hockey fight and got socked in the eye! lol or I got a stick to the eye. Or some other such BS.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary, If you have not heard of Grill Grates, you might want to take a look at them.  I retrofitted my Weber Summit with them and absolutely love them.  It just happens that I can also use them in my Yoder smoker, although I don't plan on using my smoker for a grill.  They have a small learning curve as their heat conductivity is very high and even. I have learned that on my Summit I have to back off the gas a little to get the same low temp.  I did a couple of bone in strip steaks last night.  The sear was perfect and the final lower temp finish was great.  A perfect medium rare all the way through.
> 
> I can't say enough about their ability to hold temp.   After I got done with the steaks and let them rest I played with the temp and got it to 350.  I left my iGrill 2 ambient probe in and the temp never waived more than 7 degrees from 350.  I will now do a lot more baking out on my Weber.


Gary will check them out, thanks for the link and the tip.  Gary's Kitchen Aid propane has uneven heating, the Kamado is quite good and the iGrills take all the guess work out of grilling/BBQ-ing/smoking.  Gary uses the Kitchen Aid propane grill for baking pizzas and breads with success. Cooking up the Marsala, pasta, apples and garlic bread all in the patio, surrounded by the garden, music, butterflies and Hummers made the cooking quite enjoyable.


----------



## Gary A.

@ (the other) Sharon:  Just slice some apples and toss the on a grill ... Stir them to keep from burning and Viola!  A real treat ... Instant apple pie.


----------



## minicoop1985

vintagesnaps said:


> Minicoop that could be a whole new niche in wedding photography - emergency weddings! It just sounds funny, I figure you mean there's some reason you're filling in and doing the wedding, not that you're shooting a shot gun wedding. Wait, that doesn't sound right either...



Lol. I think that could be a good source of revenue. People are willing to pay more on an urgent basis. And tend to be more thankful and appreciative.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is still full from last night's gorging of Chicken Marsala. Gary has more running around to do.  Yesterday, he drove to BevMo for the Marsala and Sherry.  Cost Plus oddly enough, didn't carry any.  The supermarket's employees didn't have a clue what Marsala and Sherry were ... Gary is not a fan of BevMo, but he needed the wines, so he bought them. 

Gary has been eyeing a Yamaha wireless receiver at Costco, the TSR-5790. Anybody have expertise with audio stuff, is this a worthwhile receiver?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is still full from last night's gorging of Chicken Marsala. Gary has more running around to do.  Yesterday, he drove to BevMo for the Marsala and Sherry.  Cost Plus oddly enough, didn't carry any.  The supermarket's employees didn't have a clue what Marsala and Sherry were ... Gary is not a fan of BevMo, but he needed the wines, so he bought them.
> 
> Gary has been eyeing a Yamaha wireless receiver at Costco, the TSR-5790. Anybody have expertise with audio stuff, is this a worthwhile receiver?


I am not an audiophile expert but I understand hardware. It is very well made. Features and specs are impressive. I have been looking at this to replace my aging Onkyo as my son wants it. He has my ancient Pioneer. I look carefully into the hardware as I expect to use it 10-15 years.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Well, the trains here are still a mess, but I announced at work that I'd be working from home for a few days to see whether the situation improved.  They said OK without even asking me to define "a few."  This could work out well.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Woke up to my eye feeling just fine, looks red in the area where the cyst was but the rest of the white part of the eye looks not so red anymore.

So as usual, I can't do these things right, the eye that went thru the procedure feels fine but my nose on the other side is sore! lol Partly from the damp weather I guess but mostly from the Dr. pressing against that side of my nose while aiming pointy things at my eye. Woke up with the inside of my nose sore and crusty and drippy on the opposite side. Oh well as long as the eye looks like it's healing up fine so far, that's the main thing.

I expect to get nothing done today.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary would take a nose over an eye ... if he had to pick.


----------



## limr

Yeah, I have to agree. If I had to choose, I'd rather be able to breathe.

If I had a choice between deaf and blind, I'd choose deaf all day long.


----------



## robbins.photo

Sharon.. glad your not blind.  KenC - good to hear the trains will run on time again.  Gary A.. umm.. well if you do decide to pick your nose, please, no pictures.

As for me, looking forward to the weekend.  I ordered an Optech strap from B&H last week, should be arriving today.  I've done ok with the Black Rapid but when I'm carrying it with a heavier 2.8 zoom it has a tendency to swing around quite a bit, hoping the Optech will solve that issue or at least be better than the BR in this regard.

Looking at reorganizing the camera bag when I head home tonight, still haven't decided if I'm going to keep the Tamron 70-300mm VC or not.  I guess sometimes it would be nice to have a lighter weight telephoto in the bag but I can't imagine it will see a  ton of use so I'm tempted to sell it and put the proceeds towards another lens.


----------



## minicoop1985

I vote sell. The 70-200 2.8 is a MUCH better lens. And the 150-600 (or 500, can't remember) is so much more reach.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> I vote sell. The 70-200 2.8 is a MUCH better lens. And the 150-600 (or 500, can't remember) is so much more reach.


Yup, sort of where I'm leaning.  I'd love to get something with a bit more reach, an 80-400 would be fantastic for the zoo, a 150-600 would be awesome for when I'm shooting out at the lake or on a hike.  Eventually I'd like both.. Lol.. But I guess I'll just put some money away and shop around for a good deal on either or...

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

I had Coco Puffs for dinner.


----------



## snowbear

Picked up a few small pizzas from the local Ledo's on the way home.


----------



## snowbear

Sharon - get better.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Sharon - get better.


Had to go back through, missed it.... SORRY, God Speed on your eyeball


----------



## limr

I had salmon, pasta, and asparagus.

My head hurts. I have to go downstairs and make my lunch for tomorrow. Because we had Monday off, we have to work a full day tomorrow instead of our usual half-day summer Friday. Poopies.

My head still hurts.


----------



## EIngerson

vintagesnaps said:


> Woke up to my eye feeling just fine, looks red in the area where the cyst was but the rest of the white part of the eye looks not so red anymore.
> 
> So as usual, I can't do these things right, the eye that went thru the procedure feels fine but my nose on the other side is sore! lol Partly from the damp weather I guess but mostly from the Dr. pressing against that side of my nose while aiming pointy things at my eye. Woke up with the inside of my nose sore and crusty and drippy on the opposite side. Oh well as long as the eye looks like it's healing up fine so far, that's the main thing.
> 
> I expect to get nothing done today.



Man, hope you feel better soon. Best wishes.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I had salmon, pasta, and asparagus.
> 
> My head hurts. I have to go downstairs and make my lunch for tomorrow. Because we had Monday off, we have to work a full day tomorrow instead of our usual half-day summer Friday. Poopies.
> 
> My head still hurts.


Here's yours.  Feel better.


----------



## snowbear

EIngerson said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Woke up to my eye feeling just fine, looks red in the area where the cyst was but the rest of the white part of the eye looks not so red anymore.
> 
> So as usual, I can't do these things right, the eye that went thru the procedure feels fine but my nose on the other side is sore! lol Partly from the damp weather I guess but mostly from the Dr. pressing against that side of my nose while aiming pointy things at my eye. Woke up with the inside of my nose sore and crusty and drippy on the opposite side. Oh well as long as the eye looks like it's healing up fine so far, that's the main thing.
> 
> I expect to get nothing done today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Man, hope you feel better soon. Best wishes.
Click to expand...

How ya doin?  I'm guessing the big weekend went fine.


----------



## limr

Hope your eye and the other side of your nose feel better, Sharon!


----------



## EIngerson

snowbear said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Woke up to my eye feeling just fine, looks red in the area where the cyst was but the rest of the white part of the eye looks not so red anymore.
> 
> So as usual, I can't do these things right, the eye that went thru the procedure feels fine but my nose on the other side is sore! lol Partly from the damp weather I guess but mostly from the Dr. pressing against that side of my nose while aiming pointy things at my eye. Woke up with the inside of my nose sore and crusty and drippy on the opposite side. Oh well as long as the eye looks like it's healing up fine so far, that's the main thing.
> 
> I expect to get nothing done today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Man, hope you feel better soon. Best wishes.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> How ya doin?  I'm guessing the big weekend went fine.
Click to expand...


Doing great! It went fine. A lot of sun and a lot of partying. LOL. I'm all good though. How was yours? Glad the travel went well.


----------



## snowbear

We just chilled inside.  It was raining for a good bit of the 4th but stopped by nightfall.  Trying to figure when we can get back out there.


----------



## EIngerson

snowbear said:


> We just chilled inside.  It was raining for a good bit of the 4th but stopped by nightfall.  Trying to figure when we can get back out there.



Chilling inside is NEVER a bad thing. LOL> Hope you still had a great time.


----------



## EIngerson

Shot from my back patio. "The Party Deck" 




Fireworks-2 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr





Fireworks-4 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

EIngerson said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We just chilled inside.  It was raining for a good bit of the 4th but stopped by nightfall.  Trying to figure when we can get back out there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Chilling inside is NEVER a bad thing. LOL> Hope you still had a great time.
Click to expand...

I sure did; thank you.  I put a few snaps on Flickr: 2016 ESRI UC

For anyone that doesn't know and is curious, I went to San Diego last week to give a presentation on the large Geographic Information Systems project I had at the ESRI (the main GIS software platform) International User's Conference - geo-geeks galore.


----------



## JonA_CT

^ My brother is into maps too. He has a GIS certificate of some sort and worked on surveying teams for awhile.  I can't go anywhere with him without him looking for geological survey markers or looking at sewer caps or whatever else. Super nerd.

I finally got my camera back, and the timing is good. My cousin is in town, and she and her daughters met my daughter for the first time. We're also leaving on our road trip to TX next week.


----------



## snowbear

I'm not quite that bad, but I severe case of it, especially in relation to Fire/EMS Departments.
Have a safe trip.  We are finally going to get up to ME in the next few weeks.  We've been trying to get up there for over a year and can't seem to get things to come together.  It's likely to be a multipurpose trip.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Head seems to be better today. Wasn't too bad this time around, all things considering. I'm still going for another coffee, though.


----------



## table1349

Everyone in the family earned one.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Another super early one to take the wife to work (sprained ankle, been taking her to work all week). Took a nap and I'm still exhausted. I do NOT sleep well-need a sleep study done I think.


----------



## table1349

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Another super early one to take the wife to work (sprained ankle, been taking her to work all week). Took a nap and I'm still exhausted. I do NOT sleep well-need a sleep study done I think.


Getting mine done the end of August.  They seem to be popular these days.  Hence the August date.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Coffee, good coffee will cure most of what ails you ... what good coffee can't cure, wine will.  Between Texas, Minnesota and Louisiana .... It has been a very sad week for the USA. 

Mary Lou, his daughter Amy, Amy's b/f Will and Gary are all heading to the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday. Today, Gary will be busy running around picking up and preparing food between his work schedule. Mary Lou and Gary dined in Seal Beach last night and worked out the Bowl menu during dinner.  We ended up with pork loin - which needs to go into the smoker today, flatbread with olives and artichoke hearts, baked beans, grilled apples, strawberries and melon, pear cider, vino and cupcakes. Gary needs to pick up more fixin's for his BBQ sauce.


----------



## table1349

Just curious, how do you keep you pork loin from drying out in the smoker?  Being such a lean piece of meat they tend to dry out when smoked.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Just curious, how do you keep you pork loin from drying out in the smoker?  Being such a lean piece of meat they tend to dry out when smoked.


The smoker has a pan for liquid ... Most cooks use water but Gary tends to use apple cider vinegar.  Often, Gary will place the pork in a shallow pan and the pan has marinade and will also capture the juices from the pork. Thirdly, Gary generally smokes at a very low temperature, like 130F low for 12 to 20+ hours ... Then Gary may toss it onto the propane grill, which has been set at high, for a reverse sear and final cooking or dump the whole mess into a crock pot for awhile which really gets the pork falling off the the bone or both methods. Often, Gary will completely envelop the meat in fresh herbs, completely ... So it looks like a green football, some of the herbs are pretty wet also.

Gary likes those grills you recommended and he is planning to get some.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just curious, how do you keep you pork loin from drying out in the smoker?  Being such a lean piece of meat they tend to dry out when smoked.
> 
> 
> 
> The smoker has a pan for liquid ... Most cooks use water but Gary tends to use apple cider vinegar.  Often, Gary will place the pork in a shallow pan and the pan has marinade and will also capture the juices from the pork. Thirdly, Gary generally smokes at a very low temperature, like 130F low for 12 to 20+ hours ... Then Gary may toss it onto the propane grill, which has been set at high, for a reverse sear and final cooking or dump the whole mess into a crock pot for awhile which really gets the pork falling off the the bone or both methods. Often, Gary will completely envelop the meat in fresh herbs, completely ... So it looks like a green football, some of the herbs are pretty wet also.
> 
> Gary likes those grills you recommended and he is planning to get some.
Click to expand...

Sounds like work.


----------



## table1349

130 is too low a temp for me.  That is danger zone temp and while most cuts of meat are quite safe, I stay above the 150 always even for long smokes.  That was why I asked.  With the pellet smoker they recommend drip pans but not water pans.  To much moisture can inhibit the fire/smoke process in them.  Sounds like you might be using an electric smoker having a moisture pan.  

Personally I like the crock pot method for loins.  Dry rub 6 to 12 hours before putting it in the crock pot.  One in the pot pour one 16 oz bottle of top quality root beer in and set it for 10 hour low.  Fall apart tender, juicy and the root beer adds a nice sweetness but not over powering.  You can use any soda, I prefer root beer.    We usually do a large whole loin and divide half of it up into one pound bags and vacuum seal them and freeze them.  Pork tacos, pork burritos, etc. are quick and easy on busy nights with the pork already cooked.  

The grill grates are outstanding.  I think you will like them.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just curious, how do you keep you pork loin from drying out in the smoker?  Being such a lean piece of meat they tend to dry out when smoked.
> 
> 
> 
> The smoker has a pan for liquid ... Most cooks use water but Gary tends to use apple cider vinegar.  Often, Gary will place the pork in a shallow pan and the pan has marinade and will also capture the juices from the pork. Thirdly, Gary generally smokes at a very low temperature, like 130F low for 12 to 20+ hours ... Then Gary may toss it onto the propane grill, which has been set at high, for a reverse sear and final cooking or dump the whole mess into a crock pot for awhile which really gets the pork falling off the the bone or both methods. Often, Gary will completely envelop the meat in fresh herbs, completely ... So it looks like a green football, some of the herbs are pretty wet also.
> 
> Gary likes those grills you recommended and he is planning to get some.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sounds like work.
Click to expand...

Life is work.  But with good food as the end result it is worth the work.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Lookin' good, feelin' good - my eye that is, can't say about the rest of me.  Thanks everyone for the nice thoughts. My eye is red where the cyst was but it hasn't been bothering me much at all. My nose is better but I'm so congested, this dam(p) weather is probably the cause.

Rainy, gloomy day which is supposed to bring a bit of cool front.  Meanwhile watching some silent/Chaplin movies on TCM today so I'm escaping into that world for awhile. (Although I like silliness like Keystone Kops and Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy better.) I like flapper dresses and hats and cars with running boards.


----------



## table1349

Are you ready for your closeup????







Glad to here that they eye is looking better. Of course with a blood shot eye and a runny red nose everyone will just assume that you have been hitting the bottle a little too early in the morning.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> 130 is too low a temp for me.  That is danger zone temp and while most cuts of meat are quite safe, I stay above the 150 always even for long smokes.  That was why I asked.  With the pellet smoker they recommend drip pans but not water pans.  To much moisture can inhibit the fire/smoke process in them.  Sounds like you might be using an electric smoker having a moisture pan.
> 
> Personally I like the crock pot method for loins.  Dry rub 6 to 12 hours before putting it in the crock pot.  One in the pot pour one 16 oz bottle of top quality root beer in and set it for 10 hour low.  Fall apart tender, juicy and the root beer adds a nice sweetness but not over powering.  You can use any soda, I prefer root beer.    We usually do a large whole loin and divide half of it up into one pound bags and vacuum seal them and freeze them.  Pork tacos, pork burritos, etc. are quick and easy on busy nights with the pork already cooked.
> 
> The grill grates are outstanding.  I think you will like them.


I always top off/finish the process at 150F internal.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just curious, how do you keep you pork loin from drying out in the smoker?  Being such a lean piece of meat they tend to dry out when smoked.
> 
> 
> 
> The smoker has a pan for liquid ... Most cooks use water but Gary tends to use apple cider vinegar.  Often, Gary will place the pork in a shallow pan and the pan has marinade and will also capture the juices from the pork. Thirdly, Gary generally smokes at a very low temperature, like 130F low for 12 to 20+ hours ... Then Gary may toss it onto the propane grill, which has been set at high, for a reverse sear and final cooking or dump the whole mess into a crock pot for awhile which really gets the pork falling off the the bone or both methods. Often, Gary will completely envelop the meat in fresh herbs, completely ... So it looks like a green football, some of the herbs are pretty wet also.
> 
> Gary likes those grills you recommended and he is planning to get some.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sounds like work.
Click to expand...

Not really, all the work is in the prep, cutting herbs and making the marinade, cleaning the grills.  The actual heating is the easy just keep an eye on the remote thermometers which have a pretty good bluetooth range so you can monitor the cooking while doing other stuff.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just curious, how do you keep you pork loin from drying out in the smoker?  Being such a lean piece of meat they tend to dry out when smoked.
> 
> 
> 
> The smoker has a pan for liquid ... Most cooks use water but Gary tends to use apple cider vinegar.  Often, Gary will place the pork in a shallow pan and the pan has marinade and will also capture the juices from the pork. Thirdly, Gary generally smokes at a very low temperature, like 130F low for 12 to 20+ hours ... Then Gary may toss it onto the propane grill, which has been set at high, for a reverse sear and final cooking or dump the whole mess into a crock pot for awhile which really gets the pork falling off the the bone or both methods. Often, Gary will completely envelop the meat in fresh herbs, completely ... So it looks like a green football, some of the herbs are pretty wet also.
> 
> Gary likes those grills you recommended and he is planning to get some.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sounds like work.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not really, all the work is in the prep, cutting herbs and making the marinade, cleaning the grills.  The actual heating is the easy just keep an eye on the remote thermometers which have a pretty good bluetooth range so you can monitor the cooking while doing other stuff.
Click to expand...

iGrill 2 baby.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Just have to clean the grill?? well that's the 'it's too much work' part. lol

That's an idea Gryph! might as well get something fun out of this!


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Lookin' good, feelin' good - my eye that is, can't say about the rest of me.  Thanks everyone for the nice thoughts. My eye is red where the cyst was but it hasn't been bothering me much at all. My nose is better but I'm so congested, this dam(p) weather is probably the cause.
> 
> Rainy, gloomy day which is supposed to bring a bit of cool front.  Meanwhile watching some silent/Chaplin movies on TCM today so I'm escaping into that world for awhile. (Although I like silliness like Keystone Kops and Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy better.) I like flapper dresses and hats and cars with running boards.



Well, on the upside your feeling better, so good news there.  Downside, I was kind of looking forward to having another cyclops around here.  Oh well.  

Enjoy the movies


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm going all out for dinner tonight. Gonna do a 50/50 mix of grape nuts and rice krispies.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> I'm going all out for dinner tonight. Gonna do a 50/50 mix of grape nuts and rice krispies.


I'm going out for dinner, rather We are going out for dinner.   Friday night I don't cook, so we go out for dinner on that night.


----------



## snowbear

A hybrid dinner tonight - grilled cheese with pulled pork.

My resume is up to date and I've started to update my map portfolio (yes, I have one); let the fun begin.


----------



## Gary A.

Grilling apples 

Gary is wrapping up dinner in the patio. Mary Lou brought home a roasted chicken, Gary made some flatbread and we are sharing a bottle of Monte de Oro Cabernet along with a grilled veggie mix from the garden.

All the food for tomorrow is finished and Gary is beat. Gary started later than anticipated so it has been a bit of a rush ... But it is done except for the pork loin ... It is still smokin' away. It is dusk and in the low 70's right now, dinner is done and Gary is relaxing by the pond sipping his wine.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has moved the pork loin from the smoker to the crock pot with some A&W Root Beer!  We will see how the Root Beer pairs with Gary's BBQ sauce.


----------



## minicoop1985

That sounds gross, to be honest.

Mornin, hosers. Big day again today. Emergency wedding. Hoping to have a few more of these in the near future, depending on how this goes.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary has moved the pork loin from the smoker to the crock pot with some A&W Root Beer!  We will see how the Root Beer pairs with Gary's BBQ sauce.


That's how they do it in Detroit, seriously. I have a couple customers in the ghetto parts of Detroit and I love making sales calls in the summer. There is a huge, beast of a man that stands 6-8 400lbs+ that has some cooking drums on the side of the road. All barbeque. Ribs, chicken, pork lion, pulled pork, etc. I love the pork loin with greens and corn bread for $6, includes a cup of home made strawberry kool-aid. He does his in root beer as well. Sweet, salty, tangy goodness. Good stuff if you are not afraid of getting mugged. My driver hates going there, scares him to no end because of the blight. I have never had an issue all the years going there....


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Big day again today. Emergency wedding. Hoping to have a few more of these in the near future, depending on how this goes.


Good luck.  Nothing planned but we might do some car dealership lot-shopping.  We want to downsize the daily driver a little and should be in a position to buy in the next few weeks.  I still want a CJ or Wrangler for fun, but that will come later.


----------



## minicoop1985

Thanks, Snowbear... I'm gonna need it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Another cool and gray morning.  Gary woke up to pork loin cooking away in the crock pot. The root beer and pork loin is very very tasty and the kitchen smells will shift your salivary gland into high gear.  Thank you gryphonslair99 for the tip.

@ Appleton Guy: Break-a-leg

@ JC: Dude, my cooking beats Cocoa Puffs everyday. You need to move to SoCal, just so I can ween you off cereal. (Isn't all of Detroit considered by HUD standards a ghetto? )

@ Snowbear:  How about one of those environmentally friendly California cars ... Whatsitcalled ... Oh yeah a Tesla ...?


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> @ Snowbear:  How about one of those environmentally friendly California cars ... Whatsitcalled ... Oh yeah a Tesla ...?


We don't have a budget quite that large.  We are in the earliest stage of shopping and have a bit of homework to do.



Gary A. said:


> @ JC: Dude, my cooking beats Cocoa Puffs everyday. You need to move to SoCal, just so I can ween you off cereal. (Isn't all of Detroit considered by HUD standards a ghetto? )


I think the suburbs are considered a ghetto - the city is much worse.


----------



## EIngerson

Time for another day shooting sports in the sun. Headed to the MLL All-Star Major League Lacrosse game today. I hope Anaheim has a breeze today. LOL. Have a great weekend hosers.


----------



## robbins.photo

Greetings Hosers, 

Just finished my Sat zoo walk.  Critters were rather uncooperative today but managed a few good shots and a couple of good laughs.  Had a little girl grab my leg at the jaguar exhibit, he came running up to the glass and scared her.  I asked her if she was going to protect me if he got out, she thought that was really funny.  

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

@ Gary: I loved grilled apples!   Looked lovely!  

Suffering in the heat & humidity again.   Our summer has been a non-stop August, really.    Late May, June & most of July we typically avoid these dog days, but they've come early this summer.   

A couple of the tomato plants aren't happy, but most of them are okay and we've been getting a bumper crop.    So far, we've made a couple of batches of salsa, had numerous BLT's  and my summer specialties of penne alla checca and caprese salad with buffalo mozzarella.    Yum!!


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Buzz and I met up with some other filmwasters last night. We wandered around the park at the site of the 1964 World's Fair in Queens, then stumbled on the Queen's Night Fair. It was a shame that I had already eaten and had no interest in food because there were some really interesting booths there with food from all over the world. We had some beer, listened to the band for a little while, took more pictures, and then made our way back. Got a couple of instant shots that I'm happy with, and shot two rolls of HP5 that I'll be pushing to 1600. Hoping for some keepers to show y'all 

This morning we'll hit the Strand before hopping the train back to the 'burbs.


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> Time for another day shooting sports in the sun. Headed to the MLL All-Star Major League Lacrosse game today. I hope Anaheim has a breeze today. LOL. Have a great weekend hosers.


Hey EIngerson, Anaheim is only ten minutes away, if you gots the time, come on by. Gary doesn't know if you need them, but Gary has a Canon 300mm f/4 and a Canon 70-200 f/2.8 available.


----------



## Gary A.

The Root Beer/Smoked/Herbed Pork Loin.  It was delish ... Paired with Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce ... Everybody couldn't get enough of it.



 

 


iPhone

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Last night Amy (Gary's daughter), Will (Amy's BF), Mary Lou and Gary hit the Hollywood Bowl. It was a perfect cool, slight breeze, no insect, low humidity evening. We watch a movie on giant screens, Star Trek, (JJ Abrams), with the LA Phil playing all the music. A wonderful evening of entertainment.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> @ Gary: I loved grilled apples!   Looked lovely!
> 
> Suffering in the heat & humidity again.   Our summer has been a non-stop August, really.    Late May, June & most of July we typically avoid these dog days, but they've come early this summer.
> 
> A couple of the tomato plants aren't happy, but most of them are okay and we've been getting a bumper crop.    So far, we've made a couple of batches of salsa, had numerous BLT's  and my summer specialties of penne alla checca and caprese salad with buffalo mozzarella.    Yum!!


The apples are from our little apple tree in the back, nothing extra required, just grill 'em and viola! Instant apple pie. The salsa always sounds so good. Mary Lou makes a mean salsa. We've been tossing up caprese/tomato salads a couple times a week, (a layer of mozzarella, a layer or two of tomatoes. Basil, a sprinkling of olive oil and balsamic ... Fini). (Real mozzarella is derived from water buffalo.)


----------



## limr




----------



## Gary A.

Go Portugal!


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Go Portugal!


Where?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Go Portugal!
> 
> 
> 
> Where?
Click to expand...


TO THE WINNER'S CIRCLE!!! WOOOOOOOOT!!


----------



## pixmedic

Flea market find for the wife today.


----------



## tirediron

Izzat a whatchamacallit or a thingembob?  I never could tell the difference.


----------



## limr

A knitting machine, no?


----------



## pixmedic

limr said:


> A knitting machine, no?


Indeed!

Top of the line too....well, for the 70's anyway. These still go for around $1000 for the full kit... when you can find them.

It's a brother kh-260e knitting machine with the kr-260 ribber deck.
Came with all carriages and connector arm.  Aaaand the case attachment. 

All I had to do was order new foam needle pressers  (originals were shot)
Which should be here this week and it's ready to go.


----------



## limr

My mother had one. In fact, she still has one. It's marked for donation, but it's still in the house. Maybe I'll rescue it.


----------



## pixmedic

limr said:


> My mother had one. In fact, she still has one. It's marked for donation, but it's still in the house. Maybe I'll rescue it.



Truth be told,  I picked this up with the intent to clean it up and sell it. The wife was surprised to see one at all, let alone one with the ribbing deck and carriage. 

I got it cheap-ish, but it was still a bit tough on the budget.
Theoretically,  I should be able to make a few hundy on it if I don't try and hold out for top dollar. They are really popular with serious knitters. It's a bit of a risk,  but hopefully one that will pay off.

The wife can't test it until the new foam pieces come in. The foam goes into a aluminum case that slides in above the needle rack and holds pressure against them, keeping them in place. The wife said with the foam pretty much flattened there's the risk of damaging the needles with the carriage. Which we don't want.  So.....waiting for the replacement foam.


----------



## Gary A.

The Cook and Gary spotted this bunch during our morning walk.


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Time for another day shooting sports in the sun. Headed to the MLL All-Star Major League Lacrosse game today. I hope Anaheim has a breeze today. LOL. Have a great weekend hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> Hey EIngerson, Anaheim is only ten minutes away, if you gots the time, come on by. Gary doesn't know if you need them, but Gary has a Canon 300mm f/4 and a Canon 70-200 f/2.8 available.
Click to expand...


Awww man, This is a day late. I'm good with lenses, but it would have been cool to meet. The game was OUTSTANDING!!! My son was on TV 4 times in the last 7 minutes on NBC air time. But the DVR missed the first hour and 53 minutes. LOL We need to hang out soon Gary. We're too close not too.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 124602 The Cook and Gary spotted this bunch during our morning walk.


That's a funny looking street lamp


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 124602 The Cook and Gary spotted this bunch during our morning walk.
> 
> 
> 
> That's a funny looking street lamp
Click to expand...

That's Calif-orn-ee for ya'!


----------



## limr

*Os campeões!!!!! *






I am both a little saddened and a lot relieved that I'm not actually IN Portugal right now. The energy is so joyful, but dear god, is that country going to be loud for the next week!


----------



## Gary A.

Too bad that for 110 minutes it was a pretty boring game.  Gary supposes that it is better to win with boredom than lose with excitement.


----------



## snowbear

I'm happy for you, Leonore.

MLW is hinting at a new (for me) camera body.  I may be breaking into FX by the end of the year.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Still working from home, trains still a mess but not my problem for now.


----------



## terri

Morning, Ken!

Happy Monday, hosers!


----------



## Designer

Good grief, it's Monday?

Yesterday was a complete washout for me. 

Saturday I dropped my wife at the MNSP airport, but she took a bump and spent Sunday in the airport where it's comfortable, or would be if there were comfortable chairs, lockers, less noise, better lighting, and more choices for refreshments.

So I drove a lot on Saturday, stewed on Sunday, and hardly slept at night. 

Well, I'd better get busy.  

Later.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Too bad that for 110 minutes it was a pretty boring game.



Umm... ya.

Soccer.

Hello.

It's soccer.

Lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

I took pictures yesterday. Too worn out to even get the media card out of the camera.

Yeah, I said media card. Was at a historic building where I figured that was my best bet in low light in the offseason. Going back for outdoor shots with a Polaroid and film. And with no ice in the rink this time of year, was it ever warm in there! But the future of the building is currently up in the air and, well, spent a good chunk of my life there. I said what if I chain myself to something and my friend said, they'd probably just leave you in here! lol


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, today's been interesting. Been having issues for a while receiving calls and sending text messages. Found theres a software update for my Moto X. Decided to try and update it. Update wouldn't download, so I did everything I could find to try to get it to update. Nope. Went to the US Cellular store, and there was nothing they could do with it either. So I bought a new phone.

That was the catalyst for something rather odd for me. After 20 YEARS of thinking Pokemon is for nerds, dweebs, and little kids, I downloaded Pokemon Go, and I'm actually enjoying it.... It gives me a reason to go places.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> I took pictures yesterday. Too worn out to even get the media card out of the camera.
> 
> Yeah, I said media card. Was at a historic building where I figured that was my best bet in low light in the offseason. Going back for outdoor shots with a Polaroid and film. And with no ice in the rink this time of year, was it ever warm in there! But the future of the building is currently up in the air and, well, spent a good chunk of my life there. I said what if I chain myself to something and my friend said, they'd probably just leave you in here! lol



So you taped the media card to the back of a roll of film?  Just trying to wrap my head around this...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is enjoying an afternoon espresso in the patio.


----------



## jcdeboever

I am doing a Holga portrait shoot for Craigslist tomorrow in a trailer park. My pay choice is a rusty trombone (I have a good one already), a box of Nescafe instant coffee, box of found golf balls, or $10.... I'm going for the Nescafe.


----------



## jcdeboever

Oh, that doesn't include prints or CD


----------



## limr

I'd totally go for the Nescafe, too. Not only does it make me nostalgic for Istanbul, but I can develop my film in it!


----------



## Gary A.

The last time Gary developed his film in coffee, it had sugar and cream banding. He probably needs to agitate more.


----------



## waday

Yeah, do the Nescafe.

The mother-in-law always brings us a fresh package or two from Ecuador when she visits. Along with Tango and some other coffee candy. Delicious.

Wait.. the Nescafe isn't opened, is it? Did they specify?


----------



## table1349

Take the trombone.  Amazon.com: nescafé


----------



## Gary A.

On route to dinner, Gary spotted this Baby Blue hydrant.


----------



## tirediron

For the boy dogs one assumes?


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Dragged my a** into work today on the mess that passes for a regional rail system here these days.  They got some extra cars from NJ and added a train to my line.  The earliest train had been at 7:33 (that one is always jammed) so they added one at 5:57 (no, that's not a typo).  I took the early one, and predictably, it was mostly empty, so I'm sure the 7:33 is still horrible.  I think I'll take my computer home and work from there for a while longer.  The coffee here isn't even as good, although it is free.


----------



## robbins.photo

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Dragged my a** into work today on the mess that passes for a regional rail system here these days.  They got some extra cars from NJ and added a train to my line.  The earliest train had been at 7:33 (that one is always jammed) so they added one at 5:57 (no, that's not a typo).  I took the early one, and predictably, it was mostly empty, so I'm sure the 7:33 is still horrible.  I think I'll take my computer home and work from there for a while longer.  The coffee here isn't even as good, although it is free.



Drug myself to work as well.  We don't have a rail system here, well not one for moving people at any rate.  Just trying to get through my day and reminding myself that every minute here is another minute I'm closer to being able to buy another lens.

So far it seems to be working.  I'm happy to report all of my coworkers are still alive.


----------



## KenC

robbins.photo said:


> Just trying to get through my day and reminding myself that every minute here is another minute I'm closer to being able to buy another lens.
> 
> So far it seems to be working.  I'm happy to report all of my coworkers are still alive.



I know, for a while I had two numbers on a piece of paper on my desk: 1) how much I was paid every week and 2) how much I added to my pension.

Glad to hear the coworkers are hanging in there.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone- Under the sauces is a pair of enchiladas one buried under mole and the other smothered in verde sauces.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another gray morning here, but not as cool as usual. Things are warming up here, may hit the mid 80's today.  Gary has been waiting for a hot day so he can dive into the pond for some clean-up work. (Yes, it could all be accomplished via a net, but then Gary wouldn't get cooled off.)

Last night Mary Lou and Gary hit Bizarre Capital for dinner. A very interesting place food wise. All the flavor were Mexican but the food wasn't traditional ... You couldn't walk into a restaurant in Mexico and be served a similar meal.  It was quite good and we will be back ... The flavors were definitely Mexican but the seasonings had greater intensity than what is found in tradition cuisine ... everything was spiced up ... from the cocktails (chili powder around the rim of the glasses) to the tacos, everything was spiced up and hot.  Not overly hot, at least not overly hot for Gary and Mary Lou, but certainly hotter than ketchup. Mary Lou and Gary just happened to stumble in on Taco Tuesday, so Mary Lou loaded up on tacos. Interestingly enough, the potato taco was the best ... Not only the best of the evening, but one of the better taco Gary has ever tasted.  All this talk of food is making Gary hungry.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. 

Wow, this "going to work on a Wednesday" seems to be a theme


----------



## table1349

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Dragged my a** into work today on the mess that passes for a regional rail system here these days.  They got some extra cars from NJ and added a train to my line.  The earliest train had been at 7:33 (that one is always jammed) so they added one at 5:57 (no, that's not a typo).  I took the early one, and predictably, it was mostly empty, so I'm sure the 7:33 is still horrible.  I think I'll take my computer home and work from there for a while longer.  The coffee here isn't even as good, although it is free.





robbins.photo said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!  Dragged my a** into work today on the mess that passes for a regional rail system here these days.  They got some extra cars from NJ and added a train to my line.  The earliest train had been at 7:33 (that one is always jammed) so they added one at 5:57 (no, that's not a typo).  I took the early one, and predictably, it was mostly empty, so I'm sure the 7:33 is still horrible.  I think I'll take my computer home and work from there for a while longer.  The coffee here isn't even as good, although it is free.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Drug myself to work as well.  We don't have a rail system here, well not one for moving people at any rate.  Just trying to get through my day and reminding myself that every minute here is another minute I'm closer to being able to buy another lens.
> 
> So far it seems to be working.  I'm happy to report all of my coworkers are still alive.
Click to expand...




KenC said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just trying to get through my day and reminding myself that every minute here is another minute I'm closer to being able to buy another lens.
> 
> So far it seems to be working.  I'm happy to report all of my coworkers are still alive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know, for a while I had two numbers on a piece of paper on my desk: 1) how much I was paid every week and 2) how much I added to my pension.
> 
> Glad to hear the coworkers are hanging in there.
Click to expand...




limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Wow, this "going to work on a Wednesday" seems to be a theme



That sucks, because this is your busiest day.


----------



## JonA_CT

Today is Wednesday? That's funny...feels like Saturday to me. Yesterday did too. Tomorrow does as well. Weird. 

The car is loaded, and we will be setting off for East Texas soon. About 25 hours worth of driving (no traffic of course) ahead of me with a one-year old. We scheduled 3 days for this leg...please let it be a quick 3 days.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- On the bottom of the Bizarre Capital menu is a note "Items marked with a chile are really spicy.  Everything else is just kind of spicy."


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> PS- On the bottom of the Bizarre Capital menu is a note "Items marked with a chile are really spicy.  Everything else is just kind of spicy."



Do they have any items with a picture of a butt surrounded in flames on the menu?


----------



## table1349

For all you working stiffs just remember..........


----------



## waday

Why do people not wash their hands after using the restroom?

Guy goes, then walks to the sink, takes his glasses off, rubs his eyes, puts glasses back on, brushes hair with hands, then walks out. No hand washing.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> The car is loaded, and we will be setting off for East Texas soon. *About 25 hours worth of driving* (no traffic of course)* ahead of me with a one-year old*. We scheduled 3 days for this leg...please let it be a quick 3 days.



25 hours...with a one-year-old...going to Texas? Yup, I'd rather be at work, thankyouverymuch


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Why do people not wash their hands after using the restroom?
> 
> Guy goes, then walks to the sink, takes his glasses off, rubs his eyes, puts glasses back on, brushes hair with hands, then walks out. No hand washing.



Ew.


----------



## table1349

waday said:


> Why do people not wash their hands after using the restroom?
> 
> Guy goes, then walks to the sink, takes his glasses off, rubs his eyes, puts glasses back on, brushes hair with hands, then walks out. No hand washing.


Apparently the appropriate signage was not in place.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Ew.


Agreed. It's a shame that grown adults have to be reminded. 

I guess I'll have to start using paper towels to open the doors now.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> Today is Wednesday? That's funny...feels like Saturday to me. Yesterday did too. Tomorrow does as well. Weird.
> 
> The car is loaded, and we will be setting off for East Texas soon. About 25 hours worth of driving (no traffic of course) ahead of me with a one-year old. We scheduled 3 days for this leg...please let it be a quick 3 days.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ew.
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed. It's a shame that grown adults have to be reminded.
> 
> I guess I'll have to start using paper towels to open the doors now.
Click to expand...


I totally do that, even though it's possibly less of an issue for women. After all, we're not, um, directly handling any, uh...equipment. We've got a TP buffer. Well, one hopes anyway. And thus the opening of doors with paper towels. I've also become one of "those people" who carries her own seat covers around with her at all times.  Three years of Turkish public toilets didn't gross me out nearly as much as sharing a bathroom with "Lumbergh" (the lawyer) for 6 months.


----------



## Designer

waday said:


> Why do people not wash their hands after using the restroom?
> 
> Guy goes, then walks to the sink, takes his glasses off, rubs his eyes, puts glasses back on, brushes hair with hands, then walks out. No hand washing.


Much worse than that!

Much MUCH worse!

Oh, now I think I understand what you mean by "using the restroom".  You mean he eliminated waste in the restroom and didn't wash afterward.  That is simply gross.  I see this nearly every time I visit the RR.  I'm afraid to touch the door handle when I leave.


----------



## Designer

Coffee house thread makes me want to use the RR.  (To eliminate.)  And then wash.

I also wash every time before I handle food or anything in the kitchen.  That's why there's a sink in there.  With soap.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ew.
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed. It's a shame that grown adults have to be reminded.
> 
> I guess I'll have to start using paper towels to open the doors now.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I totally do that, even though it's possibly less of an issue for women. After all, we're not, um, directly handling any, uh...equipment. We've got a TP buffer.
Click to expand...

What makes you think that all men are directly handling any equipment.  The term "Spray and Pray" was around long before photography and automatic weapons were invented.


----------



## Gary A.

Usually Gary uses a paper towel for the exit handle.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Usually Gary uses a paper towel for the exit handle.


Yes, but some RRs no longer stock paper towels.  Designer does not always think of that when he has to go.


----------



## KenC

Yep, paper towel for sure.  Anything else on this subject is just TMI.


----------



## limr

Just in case y'all hadn't thought of it yourselves: Don't forget to throw out that paper towel afterwards, unless you want to completely defeat the purpose. If you open the door with the towel and then touch the part of the towel that touched the handle, then you might as well have not used the paper towel at all.


----------



## minicoop1985

I usually use the foot things that have become quite popular around here. Or I just break down the door like a man and roar while beating my chest.

So far I'm liking this Pokemon thing a LOT. Wish I could say the same about my phone... Super slow, stutters... The processor's great, but it has 1 gig of ram and today that's unacceptable. And no gyroscope so I can't use the augmented reality on Pokemon Go.


----------



## jcdeboever

Fecal gum balls


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> I usually use the foot things that have become quite popular around here. Or I just break down the door like a man and roar while beating my chest.
> 
> So far I'm liking this Pokemon thing a LOT. Wish I could say the same about my phone... Super slow, stutters... The processor's great, but it has 1 gig of ram and today that's unacceptable. And no gyroscope so I can't use the augmented reality on Pokemon Go.


I love Pokemon Go, but I'm not doing the "go" so much, haha. Mostly just wandering around while walking the dog. I am at Level 9, but I'm not sure if that's good or bad. I'm not part of a gym, because I don't know where any of them are around me.



jcdeboever said:


> Fecal gum balls


Just think of your toothbrush... there's fecal matter everywhere in the bathroom.


----------



## limr

1964 World's Fair Tryptich:




rThe Jetsons by limrodrigues, on Flickr




rBlue by limrodrigues, on Flickr




rBikes by limrodrigues, on Flickr

I'm posting them here because I don't need critique and I really don't feel like dealing with the whole Polaroid issue again. And because y'all are my hosers!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> 1964 World's Fair Tryptich:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> rThe Jetsons by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> rBlue by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> rBikes by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> I'm posting them here because I don't need critique and I really don't feel like dealing with the whole Polaroid issue again. And because y'all are my hosers!


Nice, there is a lot of leftover details on the shadow emulsion....jk

Awesome


----------



## jcdeboever

Does anyone else sweat a lot when taking photos?


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> Does anyone else sweat a lot when taking photos?


Swear, yeah, all the f*cking time...

Oh, sweat? No.


----------



## vintagesnaps

OOooh I like! I didn't know anything from the World's Fair was still around!

+ on the swearing and mumbling under my breath...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Traveling with a one year old sounds better than traveling with a two year old - at least, I hope some sleeping is involved.

But either way, yeah, that's pretty much cray cray. That's what I liked about working with kids, sending them home after instead of taking them home with me!


----------



## minicoop1985

waday said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I usually use the foot things that have become quite popular around here. Or I just break down the door like a man and roar while beating my chest.
> 
> So far I'm liking this Pokemon thing a LOT. Wish I could say the same about my phone... Super slow, stutters... The processor's great, but it has 1 gig of ram and today that's unacceptable. And no gyroscope so I can't use the augmented reality on Pokemon Go.
> 
> 
> 
> I love Pokemon Go, but I'm not doing the "go" so much, haha. Mostly just wandering around while walking the dog. I am at Level 9, but I'm not sure if that's good or bad. I'm not part of a gym, because I don't know where any of them are around me.
Click to expand...

Level 9? Damn, I'm only an 8 and I'/ve been ACTIVELY playing. My wife's a 10 or 11.


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I usually use the foot things that have become quite popular around here. Or I just break down the door like a man and roar while beating my chest.
> 
> So far I'm liking this Pokemon thing a LOT. Wish I could say the same about my phone... Super slow, stutters... The processor's great, but it has 1 gig of ram and today that's unacceptable. And no gyroscope so I can't use the augmented reality on Pokemon Go.
> 
> 
> 
> I love Pokemon Go, but I'm not doing the "go" so much, haha. Mostly just wandering around while walking the dog. I am at Level 9, but I'm not sure if that's good or bad. I'm not part of a gym, because I don't know where any of them are around me.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Level 9? Damn, I'm only an 8 and I'/ve been ACTIVELY playing. My wife's a 10 or 11.
Click to expand...

Hrm? I think what might be helping me is that I'm catching pretty much everything, and then transfer them to get the "candies" to help mine evolve (so, essentially 4 candies per caught Pidgey). Got my Beedrill, Pidgeot, Fearow, and Flareon that way. Aside from evolving Pokemon, you also get XP.


----------



## minicoop1985

I don't have a Flareon, I just have a Hypno, a Beedrill, and a Pidgeot. I wanna battle at a gym.


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> I don't have a Flareon, I just have a Hypno, a Beedrill, and a Pidgeot. I wanna battle at a gym.


Me, too! I have no idea where the closest one is, and I'm not going to go driving around to find one. I found a Hypno, but I do have a few Drowzees. Also, Venomoth, Raticate, etc. I was so happy because I found a Squirtle the other day, haha. I want to evolve my Charmander and Squirtle!


----------



## astroNikon

what happened to the Pokemon thread?  the other day someone added a link in it which brought up all the alerts on my browser.  Then the thread disappeared.  Guess the moderators removed the thread.


----------



## minicoop1985

I need a Charmander. I started with a Squirtle. One just got away too. I was SUPER pissed lol.


----------



## jcdeboever

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 1964 World's Fair Tryptich:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> rThe Jetsons by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> rBlue by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> rBikes by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> I'm posting them here because I don't need critique and I really don't feel like dealing with the whole Polaroid issue again. And because y'all are my hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> Nice, there is a lot of leftover details on the shadow emulsion....jk
> 
> Awesome
Click to expand...


Curious, what model did you shoot this with? I like the bluish tone. When I see these, I think of all kinds of things I could shoot in Detroit. I bet steam tractors would work for this medium as well.


----------



## vintagesnaps

You need a what?!?!!!  nm don't tell me. 

Yeah, I think those vintage steam tractors would be great subjects. I did some Polaroids at a vintage car show.

What film did you use Leo?? I see a touch of color in the last one but whatever you did turned out really cool. Literally. I don't think scans do justice to that type Polaroid film, there's something about the quality of the emulsion that just looks soft on the focus to me in a scan instead of capturing the quality of it; for me scans are much better of peel apart film photos.


----------



## astroNikon

jcdeboever said:


> Does anyone else sweat a lot when taking photos?


only when it's really hot & sunny out


----------



## vintagesnaps

Maybe whoever started the Pokémon thread got a squirtle stuck in their charmander. Or a pidgeot pooped all over it, or it got 'raticated.


----------



## waday

astroNikon said:


> what happened to the Pokemon thread?  the other day someone added a link in it which brought up all the alerts on my browser.  Then the thread disappeared.  Guess the moderators removed the thread.


Yeah, someone posted an image or something that tried to redirect the page, so I requested the mods help out.


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> I need a Charmander. I started with a Squirtle. One just got away too. I was SUPER pissed lol.


I started with Charmander; he's my favorite. I was pissed because my game froze when the first Squirtle I came by. Got the second one, haha.


----------



## vintagesnaps

You got squirtled when you pissed? Try to stop doing that, will ya?


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Does anyone else sweat a lot when taking photos?


No.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> You got squirtled when you pissed? Try to stop doing that, will ya?


Gary thinks there needs to be some handwashing.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's been reasonably productive working from the backyard today.  Amazon came by with Bluetooth adapter for the patio receiver.  It works extremely well, now I can drive my music wirelessly.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> You got squirtled when you pissed? Try to stop doing that, will ya?



Who holds it? It's fantastic, with the new boxers the wife bought, I just unzip and he falls out, I'm more concerned about the skin impact of the urinal cakes, they don't look delicious. I thought the wife was eating bombs after a night at the golf course bar.... sorry honey.... Besides, a couple of hoola hoop moves and he is secure. Great for tub a dubbing. I still wash my hands but I am not transferring my cheese to the urinal handle, not picking some up either. I have mastered it with this great underwear. I may look a little weird doing it but y'all shouldn't be looking at me anyway.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> You got squirtled when you pissed? Try to stop doing that, will ya?



I think maybe his Charmander had a case of the squirtles, resulting in pidgeot pretty much flying everywhere.


----------



## astroNikon

waday said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> what happened to the Pokemon thread?  the other day someone added a link in it which brought up all the alerts on my browser.  Then the thread disappeared.  Guess the moderators removed the thread.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, someone posted an image or something that tried to redirect the page, so I requested the mods help out.
Click to expand...

I think I know that someone as I tried multiple times to get on the thread from my alerts
Lol


----------



## astroNikon

robbins.photo said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> You got squirtled when you pissed? Try to stop doing that, will ya?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think maybe his Charmander had a case of the squirtles, resulting in pidgeot pretty much flying everywhere.
Click to expand...

If you're gonna squirtle at least use a bathroom and don't do it in public


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> I need a Charmander.


I have two of them.  And a diaper-load of Pidgeys and Ratatas.


----------



## snowbear

The biggest problem I have with Pokemon Go . . . I'm running out of nicknames for my critters.  I guess I'll have to start using TPF screen names.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

 Man ... Gary wishes he had the time to play Pokemon ... Instead he is relaxing in the patio after a hard day and sipping a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, listening to Jimi Hendricks and watching a Monarch float across the roses.

Cheers


----------



## Gary A.

Okay gryphonslair99 ... Gary ordered grates for the Komado and the propane. Gary is expecting a lot of things from those grates.


----------



## jcdeboever

Pokeajamas


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Okay gryphonslair99 ... Gary ordered grates for the Komado and the propane. Gary is expecting a lot of things from those grates.


You will have to experiment with them a bit. With all the surface aluminum they don't require as much heat to get to the temp you want.  I think you will like em once you get used to them.  Kind of like going from Gas to Induction cooking.  Love our induction cooktop in the kitchen.
Don't forget to season them the first few times like they suggest.


----------



## Gary A.

Again, thanks for the tips.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is now playing Pokemon Barbera. And listening to The Silk Road Ensemble.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Curious, what model did you shoot this with? I like the bluish tone. When I see these, I think of all kinds of things I could shoot in Detroit. I bet steam tractors would work for this medium as well.





vintagesnaps said:


> What film did you use Leo?? I see a touch of color in the last one but whatever you did turned out really cool. Literally. I don't think scans do justice to that type Polaroid film, there's something about the quality of the emulsion that just looks soft on the focus to me in a scan instead of capturing the quality of it; for me scans are much better of peel apart film photos.



This was Impossible Project color film in an SX-70 folder. The focus on the first one was a bit soft for some reason, but the others are a bit sharper in the print than in the scan. You're right, Sharon, the scan always loses something in the scan with this film.

As for the color, part of it was that it was evening and the light was pretty dull. The flood lights were on and the Unisphere sits in a blue-colored fountain, so everything was a bit blue. And the middle shot was a bit underexposed (thus even bluer than the others), but I like how it came out.

There's still quite a bit left from the 1964 fair. The Unisphere is obviously still there, and you can see the observatory towers in the first shot (between the lamppost and the Unisphere.) The Futurama theater is now called the Queens Theater. There are also still rocket ships from the NASA exhibit, and the Hall of Science is a big purple, wavy building that actually made the clouds above it tinged with purple (it was quite overcast.) It seemed the kind of subject that lent itself to the "IP in a Pola" treatment 

I shot two rolls of HP5 at 1600 that I still have to push develop. Was hoping to do it tonight but it's not going to happen. Maybe tomorrow night.


----------



## Designer

Wifey's reward for taking a bump last week was (her choice) a $1,000 Amazon gift card. 

Yesterday I told her that I need a power pole saw. (a small chainsaw on an extension pole).  She said "check Amazon".  Yes, they have one that might be acceptable, but's not the current model, and some of the reviewers had issues with shipping damage and missing parts.  So I will keep looking.  She is constantly buying stuff from Amazon, so the card will be exhausted in short order.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> The biggest problem I have with Pokemon Go . . . I'm running out of nicknames for my critters.  I guess I'll have to start using TPF screen names.


I never nickname mine...

I also have two Charmanders. One just hatched from an egg I collected, haha. The other egg landed me a Weedle. I have so many Weedles that I started transferring them to get Beedrills.


----------



## table1349

Designer said:


> Wifey's reward for *taking a bump* last week was (her choice) a $1,000 Amazon gift card.


Your wife's a professional wrestler????


----------



## oldhippy

Thursday Funnies


----------



## waday

Bad headache with a side of nausea today.


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> Bad headache with a side of nausea today.



Wow.. if that were my order I'd send it back.


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bad headache with a side of nausea today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow.. if that were my order I'd send it back.
Click to expand...

That's what I get for trying to be fancy; I should have just stuck with a sandwich.


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> That's what I get for trying to be fancy; I should have just stuck with a sandwich.



The minute the waitress gets that "I'm annoyed with your special order" tone in her voice you know your in trouble...


----------



## vintagesnaps

I think someone should start a Pokémon thread, there are too many weedles in this one! 

I seriously don't know what's going on with it and probably knew nothing about it the first time around either other than having heard of it.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> I seriously don't know what's going on with it and probably knew nothing about it the first time around either other than having heard of it.


It started around 20 years ago with games for Nintendo's Gameboy. (I believe the franchise brought it to the US in 1998?) I played the original ones as a child/teenager. I'm guessing a good portion of people playing now have returned through nostalgia, and the rest just want to see what it's all about and be part of the group.

Not only did they have the games on Gameboy, but they had trading cards and an anime/TV show. I definitely watched the show and "taped it" whenever I couldn't watch it live.

My nephews are big into the trading cards, whereas I couldn't care less about the cards. That said, I was big into sports cards as a kid, so I completely understand their desire to collect the cards.

The anticipation of not knowing what's in an unopened pack of cards. The hope that you'll get the cards you want, the excitement when you get a "good" card, and the disappointment when you get cards you already have or otherwise "bad" cards. I've wasted way too much time and money on sports cards as a kid to know better now, haha.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> I think someone should start a Pokémon thread, there are too many weedles in this one!
> 
> I seriously don't know what's going on with it and probably knew nothing about it the first time around either other than having heard of it.


Nahhh....  Some Dunderwelp would probably just delete it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Typical Gary post  ... He's cooked up some sautéed kale, mushrooms and grilled apples as sides for dinner.

 iPhone


----------



## JonA_CT

1270 miles down. 425 miles to go.

Honestly, the trip has been pretty easy so far. My wife has been mostly splitting her time between the front seat and the back seat with my daughter, and we've been taking it in as big of chunks as possible. We did about 750 miles today and stopped in Meridian, MS for the night. The South certainly does thunderstorms differently than we do up in New England -- we got quite the show as we drove through Chatanooga, and then again through Birmingham. 

Couple of actions shots from the iPhone...

At the (Sweet Home) Alabama Welcome Center (yes, that was on the sign...)




Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr

and the young lady, quite mistaken with the sleeping arrangements...




Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Typical Gary post  ... He's cooked up some sautéed kale, mushrooms and grilled apples as sides for dinner.View attachment 124720 iPhone



Gary forgot to mention the rib-eye sitting there...yup, I'd have taken that meal rather than we ate at Ruby Tuesday tonight. Ugh. I'll be happy (almost) to be at my in-laws tomorrow just to get some wholesome, home-cooked food.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.


----------



## waday

Morning! It's Friday, and I can't wait for the weekend. I'm ready to sit on the deck with the wife and a bottle of wine tonight.

I love this weather.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Morning! It's Friday, and I can't wait for the weekend. I'm ready to sit on the deck with the wife and a bottle of wine tonight.
> 
> I love this weather.



You're dead to me.

I plan on crawling into the fetal position in a freezer.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning! It's Friday, and I can't wait for the weekend. I'm ready to sit on the deck with the wife and a bottle of wine tonight.
> 
> I love this weather.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You're dead to me.
> 
> I plan on crawling into the fetal position in a freezer.
Click to expand...

Haha.. my wife feels the same about this weather. She'd probably be happy in the Arctic right now--well, at least 10 degrees warmer.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> 1270 miles down. 425 miles to go.
> 
> Honestly, the trip has been pretty easy so far. My wife has been mostly splitting her time between the front seat and the back seat with my daughter, and we've been taking it in as big of chunks as possible. We did about 750 miles today and stopped in Meridian, MS for the night. The South certainly does thunderstorms differently than we do up in New England -- we got quite the show as we drove through Chatanooga, and then again through Birmingham.
> 
> Couple of actions shots from the iPhone...
> 
> At the (Sweet Home) Alabama Welcome Center (yes, that was on the sign...)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr
> 
> and the young lady, quite mistaken with the sleeping arrangements...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Typical Gary post  ... He's cooked up some sautéed kale, mushrooms and grilled apples as sides for dinner.View attachment 124720 iPhone
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary forgot to mention the rib-eye sitting there...yup, I'd have taken that meal rather than we ate at Ruby Tuesday tonight. Ugh. I'll be happy (almost) to be at my in-laws tomorrow just to get some wholesome, home-cooked food.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah ... And a rib-eye w/potato and an interesting salad of tomatoes, cucumber and berries. The steaks were cooked in the Kamado and had a bit of smoke flavoring and melted in your mouth. The Brecon Cabernet Sauvignon was absolutely wonderful. It was a little wine Mary Lou, Cook and Gary from home from Paso Robles. 

If you want to hang a right ... Come on by there is plenty of BBQ here.  You can explore the wine frig. No thunderstorms out this a way ... Just cool overcast mornings and warm, mid-80's afternoons with low humidity, few flying insects, and beaches w/ 100' cliffs and sunsets to die for. Gary is a California fanboy.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.


Buenos Dias Senorita Leo.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Senorita Leo.
Click to expand...


Hola, Tio!


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Morning! It's Friday, and I can't wait for the weekend. I'm ready to sit on the deck with the wife and a bottle of wine tonight.
> 
> I love this weather.


Nothin' finer.  Gary pulled in the Adirondack  style chair for Mary Lou from the fire pit to the patio table and Mary Lou loved kicking back with her wine in the shade with the ceiling fans creating a nice breeze. (The patio table chairs are straight backed.)  On weekends Gary likes making Sangria from all the fruits hanging low in the back.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Senorita Leo.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hola, Tio!
Click to expand...

Any plans for the weekend?


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning! It's Friday, and I can't wait for the weekend. I'm ready to sit on the deck with the wife and a bottle of wine tonight.
> 
> I love this weather.
> 
> 
> 
> Nothin' finer.  Gary pulled in the Adirondack  style chair for Mary Lou from the fire pit to the patio table and Mary Lou loved kicking back with her wine in the shade with the ceiling fans creating a nice breeze. (The patio table chairs are straight backed.)  On weekends Gary likes making Sangria from all the fruits hanging low in the back.
Click to expand...

Good call on the Adirondack style chair. The wife loves those... I don't know if we have room on our deck with the table and grill.


----------



## table1349

The Adirondack chair while comfortable has given way to a pair of these.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> The Adirondack chair while comfortable has given way to a pair of these.


Very nice. But there is a classic air of ocean voyages with the Adirondacks missing from modern designs.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Adirondack chair while comfortable has given way to a pair of these.
> 
> 
> 
> Very nice. But there is a classic air of ocean voyages with the Adirondacks missing from modern designs.
Click to expand...

True, very true, but my poor ole fat tired butt doesn't give a damn about the classic air of ocean voyages.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

The Cook and Fred.


----------



## waday

Cute!


----------



## jcdeboever

Balloon festival tonight weather permitting. Not looking good. If not, try for tomorrow night. Got my 150-600 ready to go.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Balloon festival tonight weather permitting. Not looking good. If not, try for tomorrow night. Got my 150-600 ready to go.


You want a fish and get in and under those puppies.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Balloon festival tonight weather permitting. Not looking good. If not, try for tomorrow night. Got my 150-600 ready to go.
> 
> 
> 
> You want a fish and get in and under those puppies.
Click to expand...

What do you mean?


----------



## table1349

Fisheye lens shoot from below at takeoff.


----------



## minicoop1985

Sending the photos off to the bride. Flop sweat time. lol


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Fisheye lens shoot from below at takeoff.


Yep, as wide as you got and fill the frame ... get in real tight and distort the hell-out-of-it.  Gary's not saying to leave the long lens(es) at home ... but going wide and tight gives a perspective to the viewer that they are an active participate. 





Balloons with a long lens.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Leo: Turkey ...WTF?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Senorita Leo.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hola, Tio!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Any plans for the weekend?
Click to expand...


Finally had a chance to answer this!
Tomorrow, no big plans - just errands and such.
Sunday: family meeting to have a long-overdue conversation about what my mother is going to do with her house. Two of my siblings will have to Skype in (brother is in N.Carolina, sister is in Florida.)

Monday I'm off work. In fact, I'll be off for two weeks. Buzz's parents are celebrating their 50th anniversary and wanted to have a family vacation. We couldn't arrange something with everyone (Buzz's brother is married with two kids, and have totally different travel preferences and schedules, so it just worked out better to do separate vacations.) Monday I'll be packing and then on Tuesday, were are flying to.....well, we're going to Nice. The good news is that it's probably going to be as safe as it'll ever be in the next couple of weeks.

As for Turkey...honestly, it was just a matter of time before the military tried to regain control over Erdogan. It's been an open secret for decades that the military was the real power in that country, but they have been systematically neutered and it doesn't surprise me all that much that they'd eventually get pissed and try something like this. It's not like it's the first time they've done it, after all (A Short History of Modern Turkey's Military Coups)

I'm not even sure what to hope for. The previous system had its flaws, to be sure, but Erdogan is an effing thug and I would not be sorry to see him go.


----------



## limr

A very interesting quote from an article I read just earlier this week: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/12/world/europe/recep-tayyip-erdogan-turkey.html

"Business has fallen sharply over the past year, since the bomb attacks started and the flow of tourists slowed, and Mr. Engin, 42, who is deeply worried about Turkey’s future, spends his days glancing up at the street, hoping for customers.

“We feel lost,” he said. “There’s no energy now. Where it will go from here, we do not know. We are waiting for something, but we don’t know what it is.”

He paused, adding wryly, “it’s like ‘Waiting for Godot,’ ” referring to the existentialist play by Samuel Beckett. “Waiting for Turkey.”"


----------



## Gary A.

Looks like the rebels are losing.  They didn't seem very smart about the whole affair.  Coup D'etat 101 is to take out the leader ... Job 1. Erdogan is a thug. I know you have deep feelings for Turkey, I hope life gets better there.


----------



## jcdeboever

Sad days there for sure. Can't even imagine what it would be like being surrounded by all that evil. I guess all we can do is pray for those who want to live in peace.


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## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  This is July 16 ... And ... my orange liqueur has matured and ready for consumption. This will be a Margarita Saturday ... Or maybe Sangria.


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## jcdeboever

I had the absolute best Sangria years ago in Portugal, liquid candy. Had grilled sardines with it as well if I recall correctly, amazing dish really. I think I ate it darn near everyday.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> I had the absolute best Sangria years ago in Portugal, liquid candy. Had grilled sardines with it as well if I recall correctly, amazing dish really. I think I ate it darn near everyday.



Grilled sardines are a staple. Sardinhas. And while the rest of the world is generally aware of port wine or vinho verde, the fact that the Portuguese make some excellent wine is a well-kept secret. It's because we drink it all ourselves before it can even make it out of the country


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had the absolute best Sangria years ago in Portugal, liquid candy. Had grilled sardines with it as well if I recall correctly, amazing dish really. I think I ate it darn near everyday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Grilled sardines are a staple. Sardinhas. And while the rest of the world is generally aware of port wine or vinho verde, the fact that the Portuguese make some excellent wine is a well-kept secret. It's because we drink it all ourselves before it can even make it out of the country
Click to expand...

Really, did not know that. Can't find that dish around here. Makes me hungry just thinking about it.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had the absolute best Sangria years ago in Portugal, liquid candy. Had grilled sardines with it as well if I recall correctly, amazing dish really. I think I ate it darn near everyday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Grilled sardines are a staple. Sardinhas. And while the rest of the world is generally aware of port wine or vinho verde, the fact that the Portuguese make some excellent wine is a well-kept secret. It's because we drink it all ourselves before it can even make it out of the country
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Really, did not know that. Can't find that dish around here. Makes me hungry just thinking about it.
Click to expand...


Portuguese Whole Sardines

You can adapt this recipe, too. If you want to experiment with seasoning, for example, when you're tossing the fish in olive oil (make sure it's olive oil, though. The greener the better!) you can add different herbs or spices to the oil and let the fish sit in the marinade for a half hour or so before grilling.


----------



## Gary A.

YES! Grilled sardinhas are great! So is Porteguese wine.  Gary has a few bottles somewhere. Locally we have more anchovies than sardines. Both are excellant grilled.  The curing methodology really spikes up the 'fishy' tastes in anchovies.  

Gary makes his Sangria along the traditional concept of Sangria, start with red wine, add some fortification then toss in whatever fruits are in season.  In the back we have oranges, lemons, apples, grapes, strawberries and raspberries ... So that's what goes into the mix. (When melon's ripen that what goes in.)  Then Gary adds a sprig of Lavendar for his signature.

Gary's mouth is watering.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just checked on the liqueur ... It looks good.  But it is still pretty cool outside ... But if it warms up appreciably ... Then Gary will break out the Margarita glasses or the Sangria pitcher.


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## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had the absolute best Sangria years ago in Portugal, liquid candy. Had grilled sardines with it as well if I recall correctly, amazing dish really. I think I ate it darn near everyday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Grilled sardines are a staple. Sardinhas. And while the rest of the world is generally aware of port wine or vinho verde, the fact that the Portuguese make some excellent wine is a well-kept secret. It's because we drink it all ourselves before it can even make it out of the country
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Really, did not know that. Can't find that dish around here. Makes me hungry just thinking about it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Portuguese Whole Sardines
> 
> You can adapt this recipe, too. If you want to experiment with seasoning, for example, when you're tossing the fish in olive oil (make sure it's olive oil, though. The greener the better!) you can add different herbs or spices to the oil and let the fish sit in the marinade for a half hour or so before grilling.
Click to expand...

I was wondering what that wire thingy that came with my grill was for. Thanks for the recipe, I can handle that easy enough. Have to stop by the fish market on while I'm in Jackson today.


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## minicoop1985

People suck. Hacker group took down Pokemon Go. I'm not a huge Pokemon guy (never played the card games, never played the video games, never saw the TV show, never saw the movies), but this game is incredibly entertaining and a great way to get out of the house. Taking it down was a d*ck move and frankly I don't understand it. Nintendo is NOT Sony or Microsoft. I fail to see the message in taking this one down.


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## snowbear

Seems to be OK now.


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## table1349

Ah, I miss my Sangria days.  That was life at it fullest. 

Our little group would get a few bottles of Madria Sangria maybe a couple of bottles of Boones Farm Apple wine for some of the girls, grab some bread, cheese and fruit and head to our favorite swimming hole.  It was always cold, clear water as our swimming hole was spring fed.  We would sit under the shade of the oak's that surrounded the water drinking wine and eating while we talked, laughed, and listened to music.   We would spend the whole day there swimming, eating, drinking and having a wonderful time together.  

Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Ah, I miss my Sangria days.  That was life at it fullest.
> 
> Our little group would get a few bottles of Madria Sangria maybe a couple of bottles of Boones Farm Apple wine for some of the girls, grab some bread, cheese and fruit and head to our favorite swimming hole.  It was always cold, clear water as our swimming hole was spring fed.  We would sit under the shade of the oak's that surrounded the water drinking wine and eating while we talked, laughed, and listened to music.   We would spend the whole day there swimming, eating, drinking and having a wonderful time together.
> 
> Those were the days my friend
> We thought they'd never end
> We'd sing and dance forever and a day
> We'd live the life we choose
> We'd fight and never lose
> For we were young and sure to have our way.


Nice.

That is what Sangria is all about ... To be shared with others. We relax in the patio, ceiling fans churning our a continuous breeze, music gently weaving its songs in the background in sync to the butterflies, eating bread and cheese or fresh salsa and chips.  When it gets hot we'll take our Sangria and plop our legs into the pond and toast the Koi. 

*sigh* but today I gotta go to a cancer fundraiser ... maybe tomorrow for the pond and drink.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, I miss my Sangria days.  That was life at it fullest.
> 
> Our little group would get a few bottles of Madria Sangria maybe a couple of bottles of Boones Farm Apple wine for some of the girls, grab some bread, cheese and fruit and head to our favorite swimming hole.  It was always cold, clear water as our swimming hole was spring fed.  We would sit under the shade of the oak's that surrounded the water drinking wine and eating while we talked, laughed, and listened to music.   We would spend the whole day there swimming, eating, drinking and having a wonderful time together.
> 
> Those were the days my friend
> We thought they'd never end
> We'd sing and dance forever and a day
> We'd live the life we choose
> We'd fight and never lose
> For we were young and sure to have our way.
> 
> 
> 
> Nice.
> 
> That is what Sangria is all about ... To be shared with others. We relax in the patio, ceiling fans churning our a continuous breeze, music gently weaving its songs in the background in sync to the butterflies, eating bread and cheese or fresh salsa and chips.  When it gets hot we'll take our Sangria and plop our legs into the pond and toast the Koi.
> 
> *sigh* but today I gotta go to a cancer fundraiser ... maybe tomorrow for the pond and drink.
Click to expand...

Just be careful if you go skinny-dipping like we did.  Those Koi can be sneaky little things.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, I miss my Sangria days.  That was life at it fullest.
> 
> Our little group would get a few bottles of Madria Sangria maybe a couple of bottles of Boones Farm Apple wine for some of the girls, grab some bread, cheese and fruit and head to our favorite swimming hole.  It was always cold, clear water as our swimming hole was spring fed.  We would sit under the shade of the oak's that surrounded the water drinking wine and eating while we talked, laughed, and listened to music.   We would spend the whole day there swimming, eating, drinking and having a wonderful time together.
> 
> Those were the days my friend
> We thought they'd never end
> We'd sing and dance forever and a day
> We'd live the life we choose
> We'd fight and never lose
> For we were young and sure to have our way.
> 
> 
> 
> Nice.
> 
> That is what Sangria is all about ... To be shared with others. We relax in the patio, ceiling fans churning our a continuous breeze, music gently weaving its songs in the background in sync to the butterflies, eating bread and cheese or fresh salsa and chips.  When it gets hot we'll take our Sangria and plop our legs into the pond and toast the Koi.
> 
> *sigh* but today I gotta go to a cancer fundraiser ... maybe tomorrow for the pond and drink.
Click to expand...

Yup, that's what I did with a Portuguese woman. I didn't understand a flippin word she said, we just liked looking at each other and laugh at the jibberish coming out of our pie holes. I was a lean, mean, fighting Marine back in them days. She was so beautiful, big dark eyes, long golden brown hair, and man those legs. What a moment in time, totally forgot about that, oh to be young again.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, I miss my Sangria days.  That was life at it fullest.
> 
> Our little group would get a few bottles of Madria Sangria maybe a couple of bottles of Boones Farm Apple wine for some of the girls, grab some bread, cheese and fruit and head to our favorite swimming hole.  It was always cold, clear water as our swimming hole was spring fed.  We would sit under the shade of the oak's that surrounded the water drinking wine and eating while we talked, laughed, and listened to music.   We would spend the whole day there swimming, eating, drinking and having a wonderful time together.
> 
> Those were the days my friend
> We thought they'd never end
> We'd sing and dance forever and a day
> We'd live the life we choose
> We'd fight and never lose
> For we were young and sure to have our way.
> 
> 
> 
> Nice.
> 
> That is what Sangria is all about ... To be shared with others. We relax in the patio, ceiling fans churning our a continuous breeze, music gently weaving its songs in the background in sync to the butterflies, eating bread and cheese or fresh salsa and chips.  When it gets hot we'll take our Sangria and plop our legs into the pond and toast the Koi.
> 
> *sigh* but today I gotta go to a cancer fundraiser ... maybe tomorrow for the pond and drink.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yup, that's what I did with a Portuguese woman. I didn't understand a flippin word she said, we just liked looking at each other and laugh at the jibberish coming out of our pie holes. I was a lean, mean, fighting Marine back in them days. She was so beautiful, big dark eyes, long golden brown hair, and man those legs. What a moment in time, totally forgot about that, oh to be young again.
Click to expand...

I would agree, but only if I could be young again back in the time I was young.  Too much has changed in the world for me to want to be young again in this day and age.  I suspect that one reason I say that is I am probably a bit older than you and my real growing up years were the late 60's early 70's.   To this day I miss my VW.  It was just a bug not a van but still I loved that thing.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, I miss my Sangria days.  That was life at it fullest.
> 
> Our little group would get a few bottles of Madria Sangria maybe a couple of bottles of Boones Farm Apple wine for some of the girls, grab some bread, cheese and fruit and head to our favorite swimming hole.  It was always cold, clear water as our swimming hole was spring fed.  We would sit under the shade of the oak's that surrounded the water drinking wine and eating while we talked, laughed, and listened to music.   We would spend the whole day there swimming, eating, drinking and having a wonderful time together.
> 
> Those were the days my friend
> We thought they'd never end
> We'd sing and dance forever and a day
> We'd live the life we choose
> We'd fight and never lose
> For we were young and sure to have our way.
> 
> 
> 
> Nice.
> 
> That is what Sangria is all about ... To be shared with others. We relax in the patio, ceiling fans churning our a continuous breeze, music gently weaving its songs in the background in sync to the butterflies, eating bread and cheese or fresh salsa and chips.  When it gets hot we'll take our Sangria and plop our legs into the pond and toast the Koi.
> 
> *sigh* but today I gotta go to a cancer fundraiser ... maybe tomorrow for the pond and drink.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yup, that's what I did with a Portuguese woman. I didn't understand a flippin word she said, we just liked looking at each other and laugh at the jibberish coming out of our pie holes. I was a lean, mean, fighting Marine back in them days. She was so beautiful, big dark eyes, long golden brown hair, and man those legs. What a moment in time, totally forgot about that, oh to be young again.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I would agree, but only if I could be young again back in the time I was young.  Too much has changed in the world for me to want to be young again in this day and age.  I suspect that one reason I say that is I am probably a bit older than you and my real growing up years were the late 60's early 70's.   To this day I miss my VW.  It was just a bug not a van but still I loved that thing.
Click to expand...

I had one too, cost me $100. I rebuilt the motor in my apartment living room. Drove it for a year and gave it to my bud. He drove that thing a few more years.


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## Gary A.

Never had a bug ... Back then I drove Mustangs and BMW 2002's.  Man, did I have some great times.  Before the Internet, the world was still big and mysterious and I got to see a lot of it and somebody else's nickel. The bad times were really really bad ... But even the bad times were good.


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## table1349

My bug was bit of an unique creature in those days.  Only because of where I lived.   I did a lot of my growing up on my grandparents farm because I loved the work and the life.  A VW of any kind was unheard of in little farm town Kansas in the mid 60's.  My grandad saw one on the highway one day and decided he had to have one.  The nearest dealership was 100 miles away and no one in our part of the world could work on one.   He bought one new and took it home.  Made a big stir around town.  A couple of years later VW came out with the Fastback.  He fell in love with it, bought a bright orange one and gave the bug to my folks.  They used it a few years then it came to me when my dad bought a Ford Maverick.  I only had it about 9 months before it was totaled.  Dad borrowed it one cold winter day while his car was in the shop for service.  On the way home traffic was driving in an ice storm.  Needless to say a VW bug does not stand up to being the squeeze box in an accordion sandwich between a Semi and a pickup truck.  

My next vehicle was a pickup truck, a 1946 Ford.  That old Ford had so many stories.  I had it for years and years till it finally fell apart as I was unable to get replacement parts.  If that old truck could have talked, some of us would still be grounded.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Never had a bug ... Back then I drove Mustangs and BMW 2002's.



Like this?


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's first car was a '67 Ford Fairlane, factory high performance 390 cubic inches of MF-ing fun (or death). Gary sorta inherited that car from his older brother who was drafted as cannon fodder for Vietnam. Gary worked on a dairy the summer of my 16th birthday and bought an Opel.  That thing got totaled and got a Pinto. The Pinto was actually a lot of fun, but it got totaled and Gary ended up with his first Mustang. The Mustang was great, drove it down to the tip of Baja a number of times (with my brunette cheerleader g/f) and once Gary drove it down to Guadalajara (with my blonde, cheerleader g/f). (The mentioning brunette and blonde g/f is competing against JC's Portugeuse g/f ... But Gary thinks he still get topped by JC's Portueguese female.) Next, and while in college, Gary started getting BMW's ... 2002's and finally a 3 Liter coupe. Then a Mustang SVO and with the birth of his first daughter the Mustang got traded in for a four door Scorpio.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Never had a bug ... Back then I drove Mustangs and BMW 2002's.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Like this?
> 
> View attachment 124766
Click to expand...

YES! Just like that,  Back then a BMW was a bit of an exotic car even for Southern California. Most thought it was manufactured by British Motor Works.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Gary's first car was a '67 Ford Fairlane, factory high performance 390 cubic inches of MF-ing fun (or death).


I had a '68 Galaxy 500 (4-door, at that) with the 390.  For some reason the right rear tire wore out faster than the others.


----------



## Gary A.

Lunch on the patio. A chili dog stuffed with two different types of sausage and a backyard salad.

Eating and listening to Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Esemble. This is a very restful and pleasant afternoon.


----------



## table1349

This was exotic in Kansas in the 60's.


 
BMW was unheard of.  My dad always wanted a Mercedes back then.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Never had a bug ... Back then I drove Mustangs and BMW 2002's.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Like this?
> 
> View attachment 124766
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> YES! Just like that,  Back then a BMW was a bit of an exotic car even for Southern California. Most thought it was manufactured by British Motor Works.
Click to expand...


That's Buzz's play car. It's a 1974. Bright yellow. Fun car


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's first was a '68 (he thinks), the next may have been a '74 or maybe a '72.  Gary had painted it a cream color.  The cream was a great color, the car never got dirty, just dull.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 124767 Lunch on the patio. A chili dog stuffed with two different types of sausage and a backyard salad.
> 
> Eating and listening to Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Esemble. This is a very restful and pleasant afternoon.


You ruined the chili dog.  The only veggies you supposed to have with those are deep-fried taters.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's first car was a '67 Ford Fairlane, factory high performance 390 cubic inches of MF-ing fun (or death).
> 
> 
> 
> I had a '68 Galaxy 500 (4-door, at that) with the 390.  For some reason the right rear tire wore out faster than the others.
Click to expand...

You needed Pos-A-Traction. When the Fairlane was floored and doin' over a hundred, you could literally see the gas gauge needle move towards empty.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 124767 Lunch on the patio. A chili dog stuffed with two different types of sausage and a backyard salad.
> 
> Eating and listening to Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Esemble. This is a very restful and pleasant afternoon.
> 
> 
> 
> You ruined the chili dog.  The only veggies you supposed to have with those are deep-fried taters.
Click to expand...

LOL ... Gary needs a deep fryer. (Potatoes are tubers, does that count as a veggie ...?)


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> (Potatoes are tubers, does that count as a veggie ...?)


Sure.  So does carrot cake.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> (Potatoes are tubers, does that count as a veggie ...?)
> 
> 
> 
> Sure.  So does carrot cake.
Click to expand...

No, carrot cake is a breakfast food due to all the all the dairy and eggs it contains along with the fiber in the carrots.


----------



## JonA_CT

My first car was a 1990 Honda Accord...but I think I might get kicked out of this thread if I talk about how old that car was when I first drove it.

We made it to Texas in one piece. It's hot. No shocker there I guess, but I have a feeling I'm going to be on a strict 2-shower and extra deodorant regimen while I'm here. I'm not cut out for it.  We took our walk this morning at 7, and the air was already still, hot, and thick. So gross. 

My in-laws relocated here because it was the only place that my father-in-law could find work as a textile engineer without moving to Asia. I'm always amazed at just how specific manufacturing can be. In CT, his factory's only product was the kevlar thread used in mattresses and other sleep-related items that need to be fireproof. Now, he works for someone who makes webbing for sawmill lumber slings. The entire company has about 6 employees, and they only have one major customer. 

Anywho, we're having a good time other than the heat so far. They moved right about the time that my daughter was born, so she's getting to know them, and has already in love with Grandma.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 124767 Lunch on the patio. A chili dog stuffed with two different types of sausage and a backyard salad.
> 
> Eating and listening to Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Esemble. This is a very restful and pleasant afternoon.
> 
> 
> 
> You ruined the chili dog.  The only veggies you supposed to have with those are deep-fried taters.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... Gary needs a deep fryer. (Potatoes are tubers, does that count as a veggie ...?)
Click to expand...

Best Deep Fryer you can get.  Add a fry thermometer and oil and you are good to go. 

Curious, did Gary get his Grill Grates yet?


----------



## limr

Happy Sunday morning, hosers.

The first car that was mine to drive was a hand-me-down 1980 Chevy Chevette. It was my sister's and when she got a new car, we kept the Chevette in the driveway for another year for when I went to college (which was in 1989, so it was already 9 years old when I got it.) Keeping cars in the yard or driveway was not unusual. My father was a mechanic, don't forget, and there were always extra cars lying around.

Oh, the Chevette. Dark blue vinyl seats and no air conditioning in Florida. A rusted-through hole next to the clutch where I could watch the road go by. An instrument panel that gave up the ghost one instrument at a time until nothing worked at all. I never knew how fast I was going, how many miles I'd covered, or how much gas I had left. The exhaust rusted through and cracked on my way home from a movie one night. I wired it up with a coat hanger and some foil until my father could come down and replace it.

It was when the clutch started slipping as I was crossing 3 lanes of traffic to make a left turn one day that finally convinced my parents that I needed a new car. I did a little shopping, drove some crappy cars, and ended up with a new 1991 VW Fox - which I think I got in early 1992, can't remember. Either way, I swear I was in heaven after 2+ years of that Chevette!

The Fox was totalled 5 years later in Pittsburgh when some b1tch ran into me making a left turn. It sounds worse than it was. The Fox was only worth 7K brand new, and it was already 5 years old, so it didn't take much to total it. Oh, how I cried when I had to clean out my stuff and leave her at the junk yard! 

Then I had no car for a long time. After coming back to the States, I drove the Cadillac Cimarron my father had gotten for my mother way back when I was still in high school. Hated that thing. Drove it for a little over a year. And then finally came Lucille.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Yesterday, Mary Lou and Gary attended a fund raiser at the house of an old family friend, Herb Hafif.  Herb lives in the foothills of the eastern San Gabriel Mountains (La Verne). The event was held in Herb's backyard.  Dinner was served and a number of bands provided entertainment and dance music from Herb's amphitheater. (The bright area on the right.)

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another gray and cool morning.  66F right now, Gary is in the back reading the paper and sipping his coffee.  When a breeze kicks in, it is on the edge of being too cool ... But it will warm up and break 80F today. Gary and Mary Lou have been dog sitting Amber for the past few days. Amber is a mutt, but you can see the terrier in her.  Bigger than Cookie with odd fur. Amber is full of life and fun.  Like Cookie she doesn't bark and like Cookie, Amber will shake her dog tags to get one's attention. Amber is quite smart but also quite needy for attention and terrier stubborn.  Cookie will be happy when Amber is picked up today.

@gryphonslair99: Nope not yet.  A couple items came in from Amazon, but no grill grates. I think the site stated a week to ten days.u

Which reminds me.  Mary Lou's son Steven really likes coffee.  For his upcoming birthday Gary got him a Ninja Coffee Bar.  It is pretty neat. Gary got one for Sarah, his oldest daughter, and she really likes it.  It brews coffee, different strengths, different volumes, from a single cup to a carafe. It will do those Starbucks speciality drinks and iced coffees. Best of all, it doesn't use those expensive and chemical filled pods, you just toss some coffee into a basket. (That's what came in from Amazon, the Ninja and a coffee grinder.)

Today, Gary plans to break out his trusty shovel and start digging up the front, clearing the grass for drought tolerant and native plants.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, tomorrow's the big day. I can get rid of my Moto G (Did I explain why I hate it and NEED to return it yet?) and get a Samsung S7 or LG G5. Debating. The battery life isn't that great on the S7 (it's nothing to shout about on the Moto either), so the replaceable batteries on the G5 seem like a good idea.


----------



## JonA_CT

minicoop1985 said:


> Well, tomorrow's the big day. I can get rid of my Moto G (Did I explain why I hate it and NEED to return it yet?) and get a Samsung S7 or LG G5. Debating. The battery life isn't that great on the S7 (it's nothing to shout about on the Moto either), so the replaceable batteries on the G5 seem like a good idea.




I've yet to had a day where my iPhone 6 Plus's battery has died prematurely...


----------



## JonA_CT

My wife isn't into this edit of our daughter...but I swear it's how she looks sometimes...


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> My wife isn't into this edit of our daughter...but I swear it's how she looks sometimes...


OMG --- your daughter is a teen  ...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is off to the front with his shovel. The Japanese Beetles are back.  Last year they completely ruined the grape harvest and rose blooms. Gary is determined not to let that happen again.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is back ... Gary is really beat up by the front.  The soil is as hard as concrete.  Gary only got about 1/7th of the front dug up, but he did manage to transplant an agave plant to the newly demo-ed area. The soil was so hard that he had to use a roto-hammer to dig out the hole for the agave.

Gary feels as if he played a game of football against the Division I champs.


----------



## snowbear

Sit in the cool house and have a glass of wine ot a cold beer.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Probably won't be the last time you'll get that look... funny but priceless at the same time, what a cutie - and quite a personality showing! See now this is why I liked working with kids that age, she makes me smile and looks like she'd be a lot of fun. Keep enjoying your trip.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is on that.  He drank about a gallon of water, half a gallon of tea and washed it down with a Stella.  Gary took some painkillers and much of the soreness is gone. He showered, luncheon and with Mary Lou at his side he will Netflix the rest of the afternoon.


----------



## table1349

If Gary didn't live so far away Gryphon would bring one of these over and make quick work of it.  




Sometimes being a hick in the sticks has it's advantages.  Besides, the wheat is in the bins, the corns not quite ready, the beans and milo are growing and it's just damn hot here right now.


----------



## Gary A.

Right about now, Gary could use one of those ... Or some dynamite.  It is only 81F @ 47% humidity ... But it felt like a 110 digging up the concrete.


----------



## table1349

Trade you.  Right now it is 97 F with 35% humidity.   Monday & Tuesday high 90's, Wednesday 100, Thursday 102, Friday and Saturday 104.  A week from tomorrow is the first day they are forecasting under 90 degrees. 

You don't want any dynamite.  It only makes small holes and your foundation is going to look like a jigsaw puzzle when you get done.  Gryphon has "played" with dynamite.  My grandfather had some for blasting some stumps out.  Yep back in the 60's they still did that with very large old trees.


----------



## Gary A.

Your tilage rig makes trading places, at this moment, very attractive.   The Weather Channel says it feels like 101F in Wichita. The best part of summer in California, is that it significantly cools off at night.  It is forecast to be 63F tonight.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Your tilage rig makes trading places, at this moment, very attractive.   The Weather Channel says it feels like 101F in Wichita. The best part of summer in California, is that it significantly cools off at night.  *It is forecast to be 63F tonight*.


With all due respect............*YOU SUCK!!!




*


----------



## Gary A.

Gary knows that ... And ... The closer to the coast, the cooler it gets. When Gary lived on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, he was about three miles to the water. When he moved closer to the Pacific the average daily temp dropped about ten degrees.


----------



## table1349

Yeah, we were in San Diego again a few weeks ago.  When there we always stay in the Gaslamp district, usually no more than about 6 blocks from the bay.  Even when it's warm it's nice and we only eat inside if there are no outside tables available.


----------



## table1349

We were talking about cars.  The first car I had to drive was when I was 14.  We lived 1 1/4 miles south of town on the highway.  When not working in the fields I worked at the locally owned Phillips 66 station.  It was on the south edge of town on the highway. The owner hired me to work there part time.  He knew I knew how to drive, drove tractors and farm trucks so he went to the police chief and sheriff and talked to them.  Long story short he gave me a 1936 Black Oldsmobile with a 3 on the tree and suicide doors to drive from home to work.  Loved that old thing.  Was what I thought of as an old time gangster car.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... San Diego is one of those few places where the difference between summer and winter is about 10 degrees.  As in 75F in summer and 65F in winter.


----------



## table1349

Yeah, we went up into the higher country inland to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  Much warmer there than down on the coast.


----------



## snowbear

20160626_133322.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> 20160626_133322.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


Yep we stayed two blocks north and one block west at the Horton Grand Hotel

We have usually stayed at the Weston Gaslamp, but throughly enjoyed our stay at the Horton.  We do want to try THE US GRANT on our next visit.

The Weston was nice but the Horton had a lovely charm, it was also right next door to the Cat Cafe, that has been mentioned on the forum before.  Food and entertainment was literally no more than a 5 minute walk away.


----------



## table1349

Well a balmy 74 degrees at 7 a.m.  Expected high today-97.  Good day to do some laundry and clean the house.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning hosers. Busy weekend is over, need to go back to work to rest. Laundry, mow yard / trim / edge, change oil / rotate tires in vehicles, half the weeding done and it was a job as ivy grows everywhere and strangles things. Never was able to get the balloon fest in as it was canceled Friday night, questionable launching Saturday and we watched the grand kids Saturday. Church all day Sunday, 7 to 5:00. Two services, and leadership meeting. They brought in a Leadership coach for the meeting and it was really bad, embarrassing. The Pastors mean well but they have no clue when it comes to corporate things like that. No corporate people on leadership team other than the wife and I. The wife and I have been through so many things like that over the years (Corporate jobs), we could do them (not that we want too). This lady was really terrible at it, used old methodologies, and had very little motivational / speech skill. Almost everyone thought it was great but the wife and I were pretty much in shock by the quality of the whole 4 hours, we will never get that back.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. Is it bad that I already want a nap at 10am?


----------



## table1349




----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. Is it bad that I already want a nap at 10am?



more coffee


----------



## waday

Someone has been messing with the printer for the past 5 minutes. Beep beep beep beep beep.

Beep beep beep.

Beep.

Beep beep.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. Is it bad that I already want a nap at 10am?


Who can argue against a mid-morning nap??    The O-dog is taking one right now!


----------



## terri

waday said:


> Someone has been messing with the printer for the past 5 minutes. Beep beep beep beep beep.
> 
> Beep beep beep.
> 
> Beep.
> 
> Beep beep.
> 
> Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.



OMG.   Quick.   Get a hammer!    That'll fix it.


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> Someone has been messing with the printer for the past 5 minutes. Beep beep beep beep beep.
> 
> Beep beep beep.
> 
> Beep.
> 
> Beep beep.
> 
> Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.


----------



## waday

terri said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Someone has been messing with the printer for the past 5 minutes. Beep beep beep beep beep.
> 
> Beep beep beep.
> 
> Beep.
> 
> Beep beep.
> 
> Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> OMG.   Quick.   Get a hammer!    That'll fix it.
Click to expand...


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


>


Wait... how'd you get a live feed of our office?


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> Someone has been messing with the printer for the past 5 minutes. Beep beep beep beep beep.
> 
> Beep beep beep.
> 
> Beep.
> 
> Beep beep.
> 
> Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.



It's Morse code.  When you spell it all out you come up with this:

J-u-s-t-i-f-i-a-b-l-e H-o-m-i-c-i-d-e


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Someone has been messing with the printer for the past 5 minutes. Beep beep beep beep beep.
> 
> Beep beep beep.
> 
> Beep.
> 
> Beep beep.
> 
> Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's Morse code.  When you spell it all out you come up with this:
> 
> J-u-s-t-i-f-i-a-b-l-e H-o-m-i-c-i-d-e
Click to expand...

Yep, just laughed out loud. Really loud.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good, we're well on our way to getting Wade fired then.

I have a Dr. appt. and I just hope they aren't too busy like usual. Just a follow up from the eye procedure for a cyst, eye looks good if you ask me, but what do I know? lol It does seem to have recovered nicely, the eye exam should be a quickie, it's the waiting in there... I think these specialists that do surgeries can get off schedule quite a bit.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Good, we're well on our way to getting Wade fired then.
> 
> I have a Dr. appt. and I just hope they aren't too busy like usual. Just a follow up from the eye procedure for a cyst, eye looks good if you ask me, but what do I know? lol It does seem to have recovered nicely, the eye exam should be a quickie, it's the waiting in there... I think these specialists that do surgeries can get off schedule quite a bit.


More time for photography! 

Good luck at the doctor!


----------



## robbins.photo

Well I'm out and about this weekend, getting used to all the fun little quirks of the new to me 70-200mm 2.8..  I go to shoot a landscape, and bam:





Photobombed by an Elk.  Again.  I really am starting to hate these guys.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Was that supposed to be funny? made me laugh! Looks like a donkey. You ought to be able to make a meme out of that one.

But that would be a waste of one of your good photos.


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> Well I'm out and about this weekend, getting used to all the fun little quirks of the new to me 70-200mm 2.8..  I go to shoot a landscape, and bam:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Photobombed by an Elk.  Again.  I really am starting to hate these guys.


Looks so proud, though. And a little cocky.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Was that supposed to be funny? made me laugh! Looks like a donkey. You ought to be able to make a meme out of that one.
> 
> But that would be a waste of one of your good photos.



It's sort of a running joke on facebook.  Started with this one as I recall:  




20150907 III 232 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr

Somebody was teasing me about how I never posted landscape pictures, so I threw that one up there and explained that every time I tried to shoot a landscape some pesky Elk would jump in the way and photobomb the shot.  Sort of took on a life of it's own from there.. lol


----------



## snowbear

Printers Behaving Badly:  More the software (or user) than the actual printer.  Summer youths needed a map so we put it together for them and gave them a PDF.  My part was population density and vacant lots; someone else put together the crime data and grocery stores (yeah, all of this stuff fits together).  The project lead merged the three maps together in one document.

Friday the kids wanted a hard copy so I tried to print it off.  The logos were on a drive I didn't have mapped and don't show up, so I try to print the PDF; no go.  It says it goes to the plotter, but nothing.  I call Teddy (project lead) to let him print the SOB.  He can't see the logos, either (they are mapped to Adnrew's drive).  Teddy tries to print the PDF.  It goes through for him, but the image doesn't resize for the paper *SO* we get an 8-1/2x11 map on a piece of 36x42 paper.  Finally Andrew gets in and prints.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Tardes Coffee Hosers. Gary has just finished tossing the meatballs into the sweet & sour sauce to be cooked.  A recipe from the "Hollywood Bowl Cookbook".

He and MAry Lou are at the pub table listening/watching the RNC and sipping the last of the Brecon Cabernet Sauvignon. The Seal just finished his speech ... I think he won't ever have to buy his own drink for the rest of his life. God Bless and protect our armed forces.


----------



## Gary A.

The meatballs simmering away in the sweet & sour sauce.


----------



## jcdeboever

I had fruit loops and toast for dinner.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I had fruit loops and toast for dinner.


LOL ... Seriously? Gary is getting worried about your dietary pattern of having breakfast for dinner. It is no wonder the wife yells at you, you're all mixed up. Gary suspects that if you start having breakfast for breakfast and dinner for dinner, that your life would turn around.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> *SO* we get an 8-1/2x11 map on a piece of 36x42 paper.


That reminds me of the time one of my coworkers kept printing on 11x17 paper, because he didn't realize he changed his paper settings. DOH!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had fruit loops and toast for dinner.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Seriously? Gary is getting worried about your dietary pattern of having breakfast for dinner. It is no wonder the wife yells at you, you're all mixed up. Gary suspects that if you start having breakfast for breakfast and dinner for dinner, that your life would turn around.
Click to expand...

Wife is out of town. I can barely cook plus I really don't care to cook for myself. Cereal is easy.


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had fruit loops and toast for dinner.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Seriously? Gary is getting worried about your dietary pattern of having breakfast for dinner. It is no wonder the wife yells at you, you're all mixed up. Gary suspects that if you start having breakfast for breakfast and dinner for dinner, that your life would turn around.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wife is out of town. I can barely cook plus I really don't care to cook for myself. Cereal is easy.
Click to expand...

My wife will be out of town this weekend. Pizza and soda all weekend.

I'm going to be 10 pounds heavier when she gets back, haha.


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had fruit loops and toast for dinner.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Seriously? Gary is getting worried about your dietary pattern of having breakfast for dinner. It is no wonder the wife yells at you, you're all mixed up. Gary suspects that if you start having breakfast for breakfast and dinner for dinner, that your life would turn around.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wife is out of town. I can barely cook plus I really don't care to cook for myself. Cereal is easy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My wife will be out of town this weekend. Pizza and soda all weekend.
> 
> I'm going to be 10 pounds heavier when she gets back, haha.
Click to expand...

Yup. I did throw a small roast in the crock pot this morning. I added red skin potato, celery, carrot, brussel sprouts, onion, and a can of Campbell's beef broth. So I will eat well tonight. She yelled at me last night on phone for eating cereal when she bought stuff for me to cook.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  A ton of interesting stuff in the Times this morning.  As one would expect, the more important the state for Trump's presidential bid ... the closer the state's delegates hotel is to the convention center.  The California delegates are housed 60 miles away from the convention, lol. "... where they're sleeping, Cleveland radio stations turn to static. They need a law enforcement motorcade to escort them to events on time. Even their hotel, an African-themed resort attached to the nation's largest indoor water park, has the feel of National Lampoon's "Vactation" rather than a major political event."


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had fruit loops and toast for dinner.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Seriously? Gary is getting worried about your dietary pattern of having breakfast for dinner. It is no wonder the wife yells at you, you're all mixed up. Gary suspects that if you start having breakfast for breakfast and dinner for dinner, that your life would turn around.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wife is out of town. I can barely cook plus I really don't care to cook for myself. Cereal is easy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My wife will be out of town this weekend. Pizza and soda all weekend.
> 
> I'm going to be 10 pounds heavier when she gets back, haha.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yup. I did throw a small roast in the crock pot this morning. I added red skin potato, celery, carrot, brussel sprouts, onion, and a can of Campbell's beef broth. So I will eat well tonight. She yelled at me last night on phone for eating cereal when she bought stuff for me to cook.
Click to expand...

Gary appreciates your wife.


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> Well I'm out and about this weekend, getting used to all the fun little quirks of the new to me 70-200mm 2.8..  I go to shoot a landscape, and bam:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Photobombed by an Elk.  Again.  I really am starting to hate these guys.


That is a look that says......*"Seriously you big monkey."*


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had fruit loops and toast for dinner.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Seriously? Gary is getting worried about your dietary pattern of having breakfast for dinner. It is no wonder the wife yells at you, you're all mixed up. Gary suspects that if you start having breakfast for breakfast and dinner for dinner, that your life would turn around.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wife is out of town. I can barely cook plus I really don't care to cook for myself. Cereal is easy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My wife will be out of town this weekend. Pizza and soda all weekend.
> 
> I'm going to be 10 pounds heavier when she gets back, haha.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yup. I did throw a small roast in the crock pot this morning. I added red skin potato, celery, carrot, brussel sprouts, onion, and a can of Campbell's beef broth. So I will eat well tonight. She yelled at me last night on phone for eating cereal when she bought stuff for me to cook.
Click to expand...

You could always go over to Gary's for supper...


----------



## table1349

Wife has been gone since Sunday morning, but since I do the cooking, eating decently has been no problem.  Breakfast every morning is a healthy cereal and yogurt.  Yes I miss my Frosted Flakes, but Tony and his sugar aren't that healthy.
Dinner is usually a salad or a sandwich, chips, fruit. (Here the noon meal is called Dinner)
Supper is the one that has been more tricky since the wife is gone.  Last night a nice omelet and toast with home made peach preserves.  Tonight I may throw some shrimp and steak on the barbie.  Tomorrow night probably some chicken on the barbie.  Thursday is travel day so all meals on the road.  Friday- what ever I feel like going out for.  I don't cook on Friday night.  Probably Mediterranean again.  Saturday a pork loin goes in the slow cooker with a bottle of root beer for pulled pork.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had fruit loops and toast for dinner.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Seriously? Gary is getting worried about your dietary pattern of having breakfast for dinner. It is no wonder the wife yells at you, you're all mixed up. Gary suspects that if you start having breakfast for breakfast and dinner for dinner, that your life would turn around.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wife is out of town. I can barely cook plus I really don't care to cook for myself. Cereal is easy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My wife will be out of town this weekend. Pizza and soda all weekend.
> 
> I'm going to be 10 pounds heavier when she gets back, haha.
Click to expand...

Dude, cooking isn't that hard.  On Sunday, Mary Lou and Gary took the afternoon off and just sipped wine and watched a Netflix, (Amistad, we've watch it years ago, but it was much better the second time around ... What a movie.), and ordered a pizza from our favorite pizza joint, Pizzamania. It was Pizzamania that inspired Gary to up his pizza making game.  For the past year or so, Gary has been making his own pizzas in the hopes of attaining the flavor of Pizzamania's holy grail ... The brass ring of pizzas.  Good lord ... In comparison, PIzzamania was limp and greasy and a big disappointment.  In summary Wade, make your own pizza.  The easy way is to purchase pizza crust blanks and slop on top some sauce and toppings and pop into the oven/BBQ... Viola! The less easiest way is to pick up a bag of pre-made pizza dough at Traders (or equal) ... Now you have to stretch it out then toss on the sauce and toppings ... Least easiest way to make you own dough.  Dump some flour, yeast, sugar, salt, water and olive oil into a bowl and mix it up (Gary uses a Ninja blender).  Gary also adds herbs to the dough, then stretches it out and let it rise on the pizza stone.  After an hour Gary splashes on sauce and toppings then slides it into the BBQ.  Easy-peazy.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had fruit loops and toast for dinner.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Seriously? Gary is getting worried about your dietary pattern of having breakfast for dinner. It is no wonder the wife yells at you, you're all mixed up. Gary suspects that if you start having breakfast for breakfast and dinner for dinner, that your life would turn around.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wife is out of town. I can barely cook plus I really don't care to cook for myself. Cereal is easy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My wife will be out of town this weekend. Pizza and soda all weekend.
> 
> I'm going to be 10 pounds heavier when she gets back, haha.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yup. I did throw a small roast in the crock pot this morning. I added red skin potato, celery, carrot, brussel sprouts, onion, and a can of Campbell's beef broth. So I will eat well tonight. She yelled at me last night on phone for eating cereal when she bought stuff for me to cook.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You could always go over to Gary's for supper...
Click to expand...

LOL ... That would be grand.  Gary would pour you a bowl of breakfast cereal.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had fruit loops and toast for dinner.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Seriously? Gary is getting worried about your dietary pattern of having breakfast for dinner. It is no wonder the wife yells at you, you're all mixed up. Gary suspects that if you start having breakfast for breakfast and dinner for dinner, that your life would turn around.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wife is out of town. I can barely cook plus I really don't care to cook for myself. Cereal is easy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My wife will be out of town this weekend. Pizza and soda all weekend.
> 
> I'm going to be 10 pounds heavier when she gets back, haha.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Dude, cooking isn't that hard.  On Sunday, Mary Lou and Gary took the afternoon off and just sipped wine and watched a Netflix, (Amistad, we've watch it years ago, but it was much better the second time around ... What a movie.), and ordered a pizza from our favorite pizza joint, Pizzamania. It was Pizzamania that inspired Gary to up his pizza making game.  For the past year or so, Gary has been making his own pizzas in the hopes of attaining the flavor of Pizzamania's holy grail ... The brass ring of pizzas.  Good lord ... In comparison, PIzzamania was limp and greasy and a big disappointment.  In summary Wade, make your own pizza.  The easy way is to purchase pizza crust blanks and slop on top some sauce and toppings and pop into the oven/BBQ... Viola! The less easiest way is to pick up a bag of pre-made pizza dough at Traders (or equal) ... Now you have to stretch it out then toss on the sauce and toppings ... Least easiest way to make you own dough.  Dump some flour, yeast, sugar, salt, water and olive oil into a bowl and mix it up (Gary uses a Ninja blender).  Gary also adds herbs to the dough, then stretches it out and let it rise on the pizza stone.  After an hour Gary splashes on sauce and toppings then slides it into the BBQ.  Easy-peazy.
Click to expand...

Oh, we do make our own.  But, I'm feeling lazy, haha. Darnit, I actually usually feel pretty yucky after having pizza parlor pizza.

Maybe, just maybe, I'll do the lazy do-it-yourself and buy the premade crust. Then add Gorgonzola and carmelized onions. But, we'll see. We have a pizza stone that I like putting on the grill. I like to heat one side of the crust for a minute or so, then flip it and put the sauce/toppings on. I could totally eat some pineapple on my pizza.

Ok, fine, now I'm excited for making my own pizza. Darnit. You happy Gary? Making me work more.


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> Oh, we do make our own.  But, I'm feeling lazy, haha. Darnit, I actually usually feel pretty yucky after having pizza parlor pizza.
> 
> Maybe, just maybe, I'll do the lazy do-it-yourself and buy the premade crust. Then add Gorgonzola and carmelized onions. But, we'll see. We have a pizza stone that I like putting on the grill. I like to heat one side of the crust for a minute or so, then flip it and put the sauce/toppings on. I could totally eat some pineapple on my pizza.
> 
> Ok, fine, now I'm excited for making my own pizza. Darnit. You happy Gary? Making me work more.



Well if you ever find a pre-made crust that doesn't suck, please let me know.  I have yet to find one that doesn't taste like cardboard no matter what I do to it.


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, we do make our own.  But, I'm feeling lazy, haha. Darnit, I actually usually feel pretty yucky after having pizza parlor pizza.
> 
> Maybe, just maybe, I'll do the lazy do-it-yourself and buy the premade crust. Then add Gorgonzola and carmelized onions. But, we'll see. We have a pizza stone that I like putting on the grill. I like to heat one side of the crust for a minute or so, then flip it and put the sauce/toppings on. I could totally eat some pineapple on my pizza.
> 
> Ok, fine, now I'm excited for making my own pizza. Darnit. You happy Gary? Making me work more.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well if you ever find a pre-made crust that doesn't suck, please let me know.  I have yet to find one that doesn't taste like cardboard no matter what I do to it.
Click to expand...

The best/cheapest one we found was at Trader Joe's. But, ever since moving, we don't have a TJ's around us. So, we have to go to the biggest grocery store chain. We don't buy the premade, precooked. Just the premade dough, usually wheat, but white works ok, too.

Sorry, should have clarified that.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had fruit loops and toast for dinner.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Seriously? Gary is getting worried about your dietary pattern of having breakfast for dinner. It is no wonder the wife yells at you, you're all mixed up. Gary suspects that if you start having breakfast for breakfast and dinner for dinner, that your life would turn around.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wife is out of town. I can barely cook plus I really don't care to cook for myself. Cereal is easy.
Click to expand...

Cooking is like developing film.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had fruit loops and toast for dinner.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Seriously? Gary is getting worried about your dietary pattern of having breakfast for dinner. It is no wonder the wife yells at you, you're all mixed up. Gary suspects that if you start having breakfast for breakfast and dinner for dinner, that your life would turn around.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wife is out of town. I can barely cook plus I really don't care to cook for myself. Cereal is easy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Cooking is like developing film.
Click to expand...

Yup and my cooking tastes like developer.


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> The best/cheapest one we found was at Trader Joe's. But, ever since moving, we don't have a TJ's around us. So, we have to go to the biggest grocery store chain. We don't buy the premade, precooked. Just the premade dough, usually wheat, but white works ok, too.
> 
> Sorry, should have clarified that.



I'll have to see if I can find someplace with pre-made dough around here.  The actual pre-made crusts I've tried all suck, so when I have made home-made pizza it's always been from scratch.  The dough is a very time consuming process so I don't do it often.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, we do make our own.  But, I'm feeling lazy, haha. Darnit, I actually usually feel pretty yucky after having pizza parlor pizza.
> 
> Maybe, just maybe, I'll do the lazy do-it-yourself and buy the premade crust. Then add Gorgonzola and carmelized onions. But, we'll see. We have a pizza stone that I like putting on the grill. I like to heat one side of the crust for a minute or so, then flip it and put the sauce/toppings on. I could totally eat some pineapple on my pizza.
> 
> Ok, fine, now I'm excited for making my own pizza. Darnit. You happy Gary? Making me work more.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well if you ever find a pre-made crust that doesn't suck, please let me know.  I have yet to find one that doesn't taste like cardboard no matter what I do to it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The best/cheapest one we found was at Trader Joe's. But, ever since moving, we don't have a TJ's around us. So, we have to go to the biggest grocery store chain. We don't buy the premade, precooked. Just the premade dough, usually wheat, but white works ok, too.
> 
> Sorry, should have clarified that.
Click to expand...

When you pick up the dough, grab some herbs and a jar of artichoke hearts.  Mix the herbs into the dough, then cut up the artichokes and add to the onions as an additional topping.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had fruit loops and toast for dinner.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Seriously? Gary is getting worried about your dietary pattern of having breakfast for dinner. It is no wonder the wife yells at you, you're all mixed up. Gary suspects that if you start having breakfast for breakfast and dinner for dinner, that your life would turn around.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wife is out of town. I can barely cook plus I really don't care to cook for myself. Cereal is easy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Cooking is like developing film.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yup and my cooking tastes like developer.
Click to expand...

LOL ... okay come on over I'll feed you.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, we do make our own.  But, I'm feeling lazy, haha. Darnit, I actually usually feel pretty yucky after having pizza parlor pizza.
> 
> Maybe, just maybe, I'll do the lazy do-it-yourself and buy the premade crust. Then add Gorgonzola and carmelized onions. But, we'll see. We have a pizza stone that I like putting on the grill. I like to heat one side of the crust for a minute or so, then flip it and put the sauce/toppings on. I could totally eat some pineapple on my pizza.
> 
> Ok, fine, now I'm excited for making my own pizza. Darnit. You happy Gary? Making me work more.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well if you ever find a pre-made crust that doesn't suck, please let me know.  I have yet to find one that doesn't taste like cardboard no matter what I do to it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The best/cheapest one we found was at Trader Joe's. But, ever since moving, we don't have a TJ's around us. So, we have to go to the biggest grocery store chain. We don't buy the premade, precooked. Just the premade dough, usually wheat, but white works ok, too.
> 
> Sorry, should have clarified that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> When you pick up the dough, grab some herbs and a jar of artichoke hearts.  Mix the herbs into the dough, then cut up the artichokes and add to the onions as an additional topping.
Click to expand...

Agh, that sounds delectable! We just made an artichoke heart and hearts of palm salad last week, which was divine.

Speaking of hearts of palm, the wife made a ceviche with hearts of palm instead of shrimp for me (can't remember what it was called in Spanish). Wow. Insanely delicious.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> The best/cheapest one we found was at Trader Joe's. But, ever since moving, we don't have a TJ's around us. So, we have to go to the biggest grocery store chain. We don't buy the premade, precooked. Just the premade dough, usually wheat, but white works ok, too.
> 
> Sorry, should have clarified that.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll have to see if I can find someplace with pre-made dough around here.  The actual pre-made crusts I've tried all suck, so when I have made home-made pizza it's always been from scratch.  The dough is a very time consuming process so I don't do it often.
Click to expand...

With the Ninja it takes about ten minutes to mix ... then an hour to rise. I like the dough to rise on the stone that way the final product isn't flat and has a much lighter taste/feel to it.


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> I'll have to see if I can find someplace with pre-made dough around here. The actual pre-made crusts I've tried all suck, so when I have made home-made pizza it's always been from scratch. The dough is a very time consuming process so I don't do it often.


I've found it in several places in my current grocery store, as they seem to like moving it around a lot. It was in the deli section, then it was in the refrigerated section by the shredded cheese, now it's in a section with "ready to cook" meals off to the side by the produce. I'll be lucky if I can find it next time.

I've also seen frozen pizza dough, but you have to let that thaw. I have no time for that, haha.


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> I've found it in several places in my current grocery store, as they seem to like moving it around a lot. It was in the deli section, then it was in the refrigerated section by the shredded cheese, now it's in a section with "ready to cook" meals off to the side by the produce. I'll be lucky if I can find it next time.
> 
> I've also seen frozen pizza dough, but you have to let that thaw. I have no time for that, haha.



During the week time is a big factor for me, by the time I get home and get everything ready to go I can't really take 2-3 hours in the kitchen putting something together.  Saturdays are pretty full between getting the aunt back and forth to dialysis and hitting the zoo while I'm waiting for her to be done, so not much opportunity there.  

Sundays I will sometimes have some time but again I'd rather be out shooting than home cooking, so homemade pizza isn't something I do all that often.  Just takes to long.  If I can find dough that's premade that would help a ton, I'll poke around and see what I can come up with.


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> During the week time is a big factor for me, by the time I get home and get everything ready to go I can't really take 2-3 hours in the kitchen putting something together.


Same here.. between getting home from work and going to sleep, I have about 5-5.5 hours. Now, factor in two dog walks, exercising, getting coffee/lunch/bfast ready for the next day, cooking dinner (wife gets home later so I do most of the cooking), eating dinner, and any other chores (like cleaning dishes/clothes/etc). Zero time to do anything else. Thus, taking time away from cooking really, really helps. We try to prepare food ahead of time on weekends (either precook or just prechop/etc) as much as we can, but that can get to be a chore.

I've heard people make fun of the prechopped fresh foods and veggies in the supermarket, but sometimes those are huge time savors for us, even though they cost slightly more. We don't usually buy them often, but we will often buy the frozen prechopped onion and other veggies that can be easily sauteed, grilled, baked, steamed, etc.

The steamfresh veggies that can me made in the microwave are also huge time savors for us.


----------



## jcdeboever

I bought 4 fresh sardines this weekend, did everything from @limr link. Everything looked perfect until I opened the grill lid, they caught on fire and there were 3 ferrel cats in my back yard, they didn't seem to mind JC's blackened sardine sticks.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, we do make our own.  But, I'm feeling lazy, haha. Darnit, I actually usually feel pretty yucky after having pizza parlor pizza.
> 
> Maybe, just maybe, I'll do the lazy do-it-yourself and buy the premade crust. Then add Gorgonzola and carmelized onions. But, we'll see. We have a pizza stone that I like putting on the grill. I like to heat one side of the crust for a minute or so, then flip it and put the sauce/toppings on. I could totally eat some pineapple on my pizza.
> Ok, fine, now I'm excited for making my own pizza. Darnit. You happy Gary? Making me work more.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well if you ever find a pre-made crust that doesn't suck, please let me know.  I have yet to find one that doesn't taste like cardboard no matter what I do to it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The best/cheapest one we found was at Trader Joe's. But, ever since moving, we don't have a TJ's around us. So, we have to go to the biggest grocery store chain. We don't buy the premade, precooked. Just the premade dough, usually wheat, but white works ok, too.
> 
> Sorry, should have clarified that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> When you pick up the dough, grab some herbs and a jar of artichoke hearts.  Mix the herbs into the dough, then cut up the artichokes and add to the onions as an additional topping.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Agh, that sounds delectable! We just made an artichoke heart and hearts of palm salad last week, which was divine.
> 
> Speaking of hearts of palm, the wife made a ceviche with hearts of palm instead of shrimp for me (can't remember what it was called in Spanish). Wow. Insanely delicious.
Click to expand...





 
Gary's Famous Artichoke Hearts pizza.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Gary's Famous Artichoke Hearts pizza.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's Famous Artichoke Hearts pizza.
Click to expand...

Indubitably, lol.


----------



## table1349

Sorry, been a bit busy.  It is grocery day so had to make the list, go to the store etc.  Also with the wife gone for the week thought it was a good time to take my kitchen knives in for sharpening.  A good professional sharpening is a must every couple of years for high quality knives. 

If you want a good pizza dough and don't want to keep the specialty ingredients around then cheat and do what we do.  Have a favorite pizzeria?  Stop there and buy a ball or two of dough.  They usually come in one pound balls.  The good pizzeria will have made the dough the night before and let it rise to give it that yeasty taste. 

Take it home toss it out to the size you want, slap on a little marinara, you favorite toppings and cheese and put into your oven at the highest temp you can get it.  A large pizza stone preheated for at least 30 minutes, an hour is better, is great to put in the oven and watch it.  About 7 minutes later more or less and you can pull a great pizza out and eat.  Don't have a pizza peel, no problem.  Go to the local restaurant supply store and pick up a couple of pizza screens.   Hot, crispy crust with just the right amount of char spots.  Let the pizza rest for five minutes to let the top set, cut and eat.  Simple. 

Even better, if you really love pizza, make your own pizza oven.  Not a big fancy one but a simple one right in your oven or high domed grill.   Instead of one pizza stone buy two of the same size.  Then go to the big box home improvement store or masonry store and get a few fire bricks.  Put one stone down on bottom rack of your oven put the fire bricks on the side then cap it with the other pizza stone.   If you don't want to spend money on a second pizza stone, they can be pricey, then just buy a few more fire bricks, put the second rack of your oven right above the fire bricks as close to them as you can and lay the rest of the firebricks on the second upper rack.  Either way you want that reflected stored heat to cook from both top and bottom. 

It is simple, cheap and does not take long to become a real pizza master.  Plus anyone can put a pizza together with little time and effort.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Smart ass. Showing off your pizza and making us drool on our keyboards. OK that does it, I have leftover pizza from last night, it's a-comin' out of the fridge! lol

The eye Dr. appt. didn't take too long, but you can't ever go in there without some kind of drops in your eye! lol It's healed up fine, pathology report was good, which I figured, so I'm done for awhile there.

Rest of the day is laundry and, um, that's about it. Other than looking for a recipe/idea on what to do with stuff in the fridge/freezer that I need to use up and cook before it gets hot later this week! Because I am NOT cooking once it hits 90.


----------



## vintagesnaps

There's a pizza ninja? Where do I hire him?


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> There's a pizza ninja? Where do I hire him?



Well if we could find him he wouldn't be much of a ninja, now would he?


----------



## robbins.photo

Ok, so I was at work today when suddenly I had a bit of an epiphany... it all became so clear.  The answer to a question that has plagued mankind for generations.  Then it hit me, the solution.  It was so simple..  and it will literally revolutionize the way we ...

LOOK! Squirrel!




20160717_4592 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr

Sorry, what was I talking about?


----------



## minicoop1985

JonA_CT said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, tomorrow's the big day. I can get rid of my Moto G (Did I explain why I hate it and NEED to return it yet?) and get a Samsung S7 or LG G5. Debating. The battery life isn't that great on the S7 (it's nothing to shout about on the Moto either), so the replaceable batteries on the G5 seem like a good idea.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've yet to had a day where my iPhone 6 Plus's battery has died prematurely...
Click to expand...

I got the S7. Battery's great, actually. Survives nearly a day of Pokemon Go.


----------



## Gary A.

@gryphonslair99: The grills arrived.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> @gryphonslair99: The grills arrived.


What do you think so far?


----------



## JonA_CT

All this talk about pizza...but I made orecchiette with hot sausage and kale for dinner tonight. It's one of our favorite meals, and on the table in less than 20 minutes. Only catch is that I have trouble finding orecchiette at times. I was shocked that at a grocery store in the middle of nowhere Texas, I was able to choose from three different brands.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> All this talk about pizza...but I made orecchiette with hot sausage and kale for dinner tonight. It's one of our favorite meals, and on the table in less than 20 minutes. Only catch is that I have trouble finding orecchiette at times. I was shocked that at a grocery store in the middle of nowhere Texas, I was able to choose from three different brands.


Fix it anytime you want.  Orecchiette Made with Semolina : Mario Batali : Food Network


----------



## JonA_CT

gryphonslair99 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> All this talk about pizza...but I made orecchiette with hot sausage and kale for dinner tonight. It's one of our favorite meals, and on the table in less than 20 minutes. Only catch is that I have trouble finding orecchiette at times. I was shocked that at a grocery store in the middle of nowhere Texas, I was able to choose from three different brands.
> 
> 
> 
> Fix it anytime you want.  Orecchiette Made with Semolina : Mario Batali : Food Network
Click to expand...



Hah -- I might, actually. That seems pretty straightforward.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @gryphonslair99: The grills arrived.
> 
> 
> 
> What do you think so far?
Click to expand...

Gary just opened one of the packaged and they seem like a quality product. Gary thinks an infrared thermometer might be useful to read off the surface of the grate. Probably as important as an ambient thermometer.


----------



## table1349

Most pasta is.  For flat pasta invest in a pasta roller, under $50 for one with a cutter.  Once you start making homemade pasta you will never go back to boxed.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @gryphonslair99: The grills arrived.
> 
> 
> 
> What do you think so far?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary just opened one of the packaged and they seem like a quality product. Gary thinks an infrared thermometer might be useful to read off the surface of the grate. Probably as important as an ambient thermometer.
Click to expand...

Yep, had one for quite a while.  Great little investment.  Also, since you like to make pizza, You can flip them over and use them with a pizza stone on top.  Gets it good an hot.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou are getting fish tacos for dinner. This place has the best fish tacos ... ever. But the place, Senor Baja, looks like a place out of Tijuana.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Just brought my 15-yr old Civic in for inspection and a complete front brake job (inc. rotors). I had gotten helpful advice from some here and am now following it.  I intend to have the car for close to a year from now, so it's a no-brainer.


----------



## table1349

Gary, Next  Time you are in San Diego try Blue Water Seafood for their fish tacos. Fresh catch every day is the only thing they serve. Outstanding fish tacos.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  The LA Times is running a special section on the convention.  The best part is a column titled, "OUTSIDE THE MALL". The reporter, Matt Pearce, roves outside the convention interviewing activists/protestors in the streets of Cleveland.  Pearce listens to people who are pro RNC, con RNC and even those with a separate agenda which may be neither pro or con ... just separate.  Interesting stuff.  Gary loves reading the paper and misses the good times of working news. Gary remembers covering a hotspot, somewhere in the world, and hearing reporters coming back from a "no story" assignment.  Gary never experienced that ... everybody has a story. Some stories are told with simple sentences, large lettering and other people have stories which were complex, voluminous with twists and turns like a good suspense novel ... But everybody has a story. Gary likes Pearce, Pearce doesn't have "no story" days.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary, Next  Time you are in San Diego try Blue Water Seafood for their fish tacos. Fresh catch every day is the only thing they serve. Outstanding fish tacos.


Gary's will check it out.  Gary will forward the tip to his youngest daughter who lives in San Diego.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary, Next  Time you are in San Diego try Blue Water Seafood for their fish tacos. Fresh catch every day is the only thing they serve. Outstanding fish tacos.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's will check it out.  Gary will forward the tip to his youngest daughter who lives in San Diego.
Click to expand...

It's on North India street, about the 3600 block if I remember right.  All the fish is fresh caught by them that day.  The limited shell fish/muscles etc. is fresh caught that day by others.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary, Next  Time you are in San Diego try Blue Water Seafood for their fish tacos. Fresh catch every day is the only thing they serve. Outstanding fish tacos.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's will check it out.  Gary will forward the tip to his youngest daughter who lives in San Diego.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's on North India street, about the 3600 block if I remember right.  All the fish is fresh caught by them that day.  The limited shell fish/muscles etc. is fresh caught that day by others.
Click to expand...

FYI- Fresh fish caught that day, isn't all that unique here ... Fresh fish caught by the employees/owner is.  Gary enjoys eating at restaurants whose menu changes daily, depending on what is in season and what they pick up that day at the markets. When Gary lived nearer the beach, he often would purchase his fish/crabs/lobster/shellfish from the markets near the docks, where produce is harvested that morning. There is a fish market in San Pedro where you buy fish/crab/et al and then you can walk next door where they'll cook it for you.


----------



## minicoop1985

I had a revelation. If any other game was as glitchy as Pokemon Go, it would be ridiculed to death and, were it Call of Duty, there would be mass protests and calling for corporate executions. However, Pokemon Go gets a pass. Not sure why, as most of these people are the same ones. Maybe it's because the game is meant to be FUN and not for 1337 H/\X0RZ types?


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary, Next  Time you are in San Diego try Blue Water Seafood for their fish tacos. Fresh catch every day is the only thing they serve. Outstanding fish tacos.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's will check it out.  Gary will forward the tip to his youngest daughter who lives in San Diego.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's on North India street, about the 3600 block if I remember right.  All the fish is fresh caught by them that day.  The limited shell fish/muscles etc. is fresh caught that day by others.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> FYI- Fresh fish caught that day, isn't all that unique here ... Fresh fish caught by the employees/owner is.  Gary enjoys eating at restaurants whose menu changes daily, depending on what is in season and what they pick up that day at the markets. When Gary lived nearer the beach, he often would purchase his fish/crabs/lobster/shellfish from the markets near the docks, where produce is harvested that morning. There is a fish market in San Pedro where you buy fish/crab/et al and then you can walk next door where they'll cook it for you.
Click to expand...

Hey just because you live near the coast doesn't mean we don't have fresh caught fish.  You can get carp, flathead, bluegill, crape.  If you are lucky you can get bass or catfish.  Most of the catfish is farm raised.   Those farmers get really pissed if you fish in their ponds. 
Mani Mahi, tuna, sea bass, grouper etc.  Well now that's a little expensive if you want those fresh caught that day here.  And you need a REAL BIG cooler on the plane.


----------



## JonA_CT

My daughter is officially one today, and of course, she had a pretty awful day and ended up going to bed early. I'll also comment that taking pictures of a one-year-old is quite challenging. Her and my lovely wife today...btw, love my D600 so much. I completely arsed the exposure -- I changed the aperture and forgot that I had turned auto-iso off. It was underexposed by 2.5-3 stops, and was recovered pretty nicely in LR. A few more of my daughter are over in the People forum if you guys wanted to take a look.


----------



## Gary A.

Today was hot, in the upper 80's today. So we meet some friends for dinner and entertainment at the Seal Beach Pier, cool and a live band performing 60's music. Life is good.


----------



## jcdeboever

Today was hot, in 90's. Driving Freightliner today, went to Ohio today to deliver a truckload and pick one up. Stopped at a neat truck stop, got pics of birds and a amphibia collection in someone's truck.cool


----------



## EIngerson

You know what I love about a photo? There's no Republican, no Democrat, just beauty. Whether personal idea, public opinion, or rules of photography there's beauty in it. I love the simplicity of photography. 



As hard as people make it sometimes.......


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> My daughter is officially one today, and of course, she had a pretty awful day and ended up going to bed early. I'll also comment that taking pictures of a one-year-old is quite challenging. Her and my lovely wife today...btw, love my D600 so much. I completely arsed the exposure -- I changed the aperture and forgot that I had turned auto-iso off. It was underexposed by 2.5-3 stops, and was recovered pretty nicely in LR. A few more of my daughter are over in the People forum if you guys wanted to take a look.
> 
> View attachment 124921


Awwww.


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> I had a revelation. If any other game was as glitchy as Pokemon Go, it would be ridiculed to death and, were it Call of Duty, there would be mass protests and calling for corporate executions. However, Pokemon Go gets a pass. Not sure why, as most of these people are the same ones. Maybe it's because the game is meant to be FUN and not for 1337 H/\X0RZ types?


Agree.. it's a fun game, so it's ok. At least I'm ok with it, haha.

I hatched a Pikachu the other day. 

Although, I have to say, some of the novelty of the game is wearing off for me. It's fun and I'll still open it every now and then, but not like I did when it first came out--a whole whopping couple of weeks ago, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is impressed with Amazon. Yesterday Gary received stuff he ordered on Tuesday. One of the items is an infrared thermometer.  Gary has installed the battery and has been running around taking the temps off of everything in the house. Like Pokemon, this game will soon get tiresome. The thermometer is for the BBQ grills. Yesterday, Gary tossed a pizza on top of these fancy-smancy grill grates that gryphonslair99 suggested.  The grill grates get real hot real fast ... singed the bottom of the pizza. Another item is a pappardelle and ravioli attachment for the pasta maker.  If anyone wants pasta this weekend, Gary is cooking.


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> You know what I love about a photo? There's no Republican, no Democrat, just beauty. Whether personal idea, public opinion, or rules of photography there's beauty in it. I love the simplicity of photography.
> 
> 
> 
> As hard as people make it sometimes.......








No Republican ... No Democrat, here.


----------



## jcdeboever

Great Kennedy image, amazing really. This shows how excellent you are @Gary A.

I am in Flint today, what a crap hole. Trash everywhere, dirty, smelly, and $5 skanks everywhere. Jeez, I got to get out of here.


----------



## Gary A.

Nikon F2 w/Nikkor 180mm f/2.8
Tri-X at ASA 1600


----------



## minicoop1985

waday said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had a revelation. If any other game was as glitchy as Pokemon Go, it would be ridiculed to death and, were it Call of Duty, there would be mass protests and calling for corporate executions. However, Pokemon Go gets a pass. Not sure why, as most of these people are the same ones. Maybe it's because the game is meant to be FUN and not for 1337 H/\X0RZ types?
> 
> 
> 
> Agree.. it's a fun game, so it's ok. At least I'm ok with it, haha.
> 
> I hatched a Pikachu the other day.
> 
> Although, I have to say, some of the novelty of the game is wearing off for me. It's fun and I'll still open it every now and then, but not like I did when it first came out--a whole whopping couple of weeks ago, haha.
Click to expand...


I find the opposite. The more I play it, the more I WANT to play it. My wife's the same way-we go on hunts together. Even drag our 5 year old along.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> I find the opposite. The more I play it, the more I WANT to play it. My wife's the same way-we go on hunts together. Even drag our 5 year old along.



You take your kid along?  Outside?  Where there is like sunlight and fresh air.. and dirt?

Are you insane?  Aren't kids allergic to all that crap now?


----------



## waday

Funny thing happened at my parks and rec board meeting last night.

A local photographer wants to rent out the one building for a week to teach a class on photography. Photographer was not at meeting. Without much to go on, I thought this sounded great.

But, the first two comments from people (comments paraphrased slightly) were:

It's not pornographic, is it? We can't have pornography.
If they go outside, they can't take pictures of children.
Yes, because all photographers are perverts. *facepalm*


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Great Kennedy image, amazing really. This shows how excellent you are @Gary A.
> 
> I am in Flint today, what a crap hole. Trash everywhere, dirty, smelly, and $5 skanks everywhere. Jeez, I got to get out of here.



Not to mention the water.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Great Kennedy image, amazing really. This shows how excellent you are @Gary A.
> 
> I am in Flint today, what a crap hole. Trash everywhere, dirty, smelly, and $5 skanks everywhere. Jeez, I got to get out of here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not to mention the water.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a third world country ... and don't drink the water.


----------



## snowbear

. . . Sitting in the car dealership, finalizing paperwork.  A new (for us) black beauty is in the works.  Photos should happen over the weekend.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> . . . Sitting in the car dealership, finalizing paperwork.  A new (for us) black beauty is in the works.  Photos should happen over the weekend.


Nice. Love the smell of a new vehicle.


----------



## snowbear

It's a '14 Camry, less than 9,000 miles.  I have to pick up a CP tomorrow for the shoot - I have no idea where the one I had went to.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> It's a '14 Camry, less than 9,000 miles.  I have to pick up a CP tomorrow for the shoot - I have no idea where the one I had went to.


That's a great car. Pretty much a demo.


----------



## jcdeboever

Another 100% humidity, mid 90's, sticky mess.


----------



## KenC

jcdeboever said:


> Another 100% humidity, mid 90's, sticky mess.



Yeah, same here, my least favorite part of the summer, or the whole year for that matter.


----------



## table1349

KenC said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Another 100% humidity, mid 90's, sticky mess.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, same here, my least favorite part of the summer, or the whole year for that matter.
Click to expand...

About now I would trade you.  High of 105 today.


----------



## waday

Bring on the hot and humid weather. 

I'm loving it.

Don't get me wrong, though. I also love subzero and snowy weather, as well.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is impressed with Amazon. Yesterday Gary received stuff he ordered on Tuesday. One of the items is an infrared thermometer.  Gary has installed the battery and has been running around taking the temps off of everything in the house. Like Pokemon, this game will soon get tiresome. The thermometer is for the BBQ grills. Yesterday, Gary tossed a pizza on top of these fancy-smancy grill grates that gryphonslair99 suggested.  The grill grates get real hot real fast ... singed the bottom of the pizza. Another item is a pappardelle and ravioli attachment for the pasta maker.  If anyone wants pasta this weekend, Gary is cooking.


Yes they do.  Gryph is sorry you singed the pizza.  They do gather heat quite well and spread it quite evenly.  Gryph is going to guess that they were pretty nice and even scorch lines though.  

 Gryph uses a pizza stone when he does pizza inside or out.  When baking breads as well.  A pizza stone onto of the grill grates gets nice and hot nice and evenly.  If Gary put the grill grate on the bar grills then Gryph would suggest that he remove the Grill Grates for a pizza stone.  On Gryphs grill the grill grates replace the original bar grate so he just puts the pizza stone on the grill grates.


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> Another 100% humidity, mid 90's, sticky mess.



It's already almost 90 here in East Texas at 9:30. I'm peeling the tires out of here first thing tomorrow.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Another 100% humidity, mid 90's, sticky mess.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's already almost 90 here in East Texas at 9:30. I'm peeling the tires out of here first thing tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I remember those days living in Austin. The only relief I got was going to that cool river in New Braunfels TX. Not complaining anymore....


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone images




 iPhone images:
Yuja Wang




LA Phil W/ Dudamel




Dinner at the Bowl

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  There is no marine layer today, no gray skies to protect the world from a hot sun. Yesterday was hot, in the 90's and today will be no different. Gary almost turned on the A/C yesterday when he got home in the afternoon.  But opening the windows and getting the fans going saved him from a painful melting death. The good part of summer living here are: cool evenings, the hot 90+ days are few, dry and if it gets too hot, the beaches offer a 10-20 degree relief on any given day.  The bad part of living here is the high cost of housing, high taxes and traffic ... Metro LA Traffic Sucks ... Metro LA Traffic Really Really Sucks.

Last night was a Hollywood Bowl night and it took much longer than ever to get there.  Usually, we have an hour+ to setup and enjoy our picnic.  Last night we had no more than 30 minutes for dining.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

The Cook wishing 'Kitty' a Good Morning on our walk. Cook befriended Kitty who lives a few blocks.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> The Cook wishing 'Kitty' a Good Morning on our walk. Cook befriended Kitty who lives a few blocks.


Roxy welcomed a little hopping thing in our neighborhood last night.


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Cook wishing 'Kitty' a Good Morning on our walk. Cook befriended Kitty who lives a few blocks.
> 
> 
> 
> Roxy welcomed a little hopping thing in our neighborhood last night.
Click to expand...


little snack for the Schnauzer.


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> little snack for the Schnauzer.


She loves sniffing them up, but she'll jump back whenever it moves.


----------



## Gary A.

Some watch dog Roxy is.  The Cook would try to herd it.


----------



## waday

That's exactly what Roxy does.. watch it hop away, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

Cook would get behind it and attempt to nip at the ears.


----------



## minicoop1985

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I find the opposite. The more I play it, the more I WANT to play it. My wife's the same way-we go on hunts together. Even drag our 5 year old along.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You take your kid along?  Outside?  Where there is like sunlight and fresh air.. and dirt?
> 
> Are you insane?  Aren't kids allergic to all that crap now?
Click to expand...

LOL yes. Yes we do. And he actually LIKES doing it with us.

Getting the photos to the bride from the last wedding has been a nightmare. I sent them in the mail on a flash drive... They're gone. The flash drive was missing from the envelope. So now it's going to be two weeks after the wedding before she sees her photos. I feel awful. This sucks.


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> Getting the photos to the bride from the last wedding has been a nightmare. I sent them in the mail on a flash drive... They're gone. The flash drive was missing from the envelope. So now it's going to be two weeks after the wedding before she sees her photos. I feel awful. This sucks.


I may have missed something, but why can't you just send them electronically (e.g., Dropbox or Google Drive or something like that)?


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> LOL yes. Yes we do. And he actually LIKES doing it with us.



Ok, well when the kid turns 20 and is normal and well adjusted and doesn't have anything to tell their therapist, well don't come crying to me.. lol



> Getting the photos to the bride from the last wedding has been a nightmare. I sent them in the mail on a flash drive... They're gone. The flash drive was missing from the envelope. So now it's going to be two weeks after the wedding before she sees her photos. I feel awful. This sucks.



Could you maybe host them somewhere and let them download?


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> Could you maybe host them somewhere and let them download?


Hey now... you mimicking me?


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Could you maybe host them somewhere and let them download?
> 
> 
> 
> Hey now... you mimicking me?
Click to expand...


Hey now... you mimicking me?


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Could you maybe host them somewhere and let them download?
> 
> 
> 
> Hey now... you mimicking me?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hey now... you mimicking me?
Click to expand...

Mom, he's copying me!


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Could you maybe host them somewhere and let them download?
> 
> 
> 
> Hey now... you mimicking me?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hey now... you mimicking me?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mom, he's copying me!
Click to expand...


Lol... ok, going to stop before she pulls the forum over and beats us both like redheaded stepchildren.


----------



## Gary A.

Last night @11:30p.m., when the shuttle dropped us off in the middle of a regional park, there were a ton of kids/people walking around the park in the dark playing Pokemon.


----------



## table1349




----------



## vintagesnaps

JC I think you meant a schnack.

Wade, you're just weird when it comes to the weather. And speaking of, where's Leo been lately? did she melt away? head for the north pole?


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Wade, you're just weird when it comes to the weather.


Haha.. I admit that I am very weird.  I love sitting outside with a cold drink and a good book in warm weather.



vintagesnaps said:


> And speaking of, where's Leo been lately? did she melt away? head for the north pole?


My vote is for melted away...


----------



## limr

Leo hasn't melted...yet  The universe is being nice to her after the mean joke of giving NY cool temps during the week in June when Leo was in 100-degree Kansas City.

While NY is sweltering, Leo is in France, which is enjoying cooler temps this week.

Okay, I'm trying to upload some pictures but my phone and/or spotty wifi connection is not cooperating


----------



## table1349

105 here....


----------



## limr

So this internet connection sucks. Can't get any pictures to y'all!  Been trying for about 20 minutes!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Leo hasn't melted...yet  The universe is being nice to her after the mean joke of giving NY cool temps during the week in June when Leo was in 100-degree Kansas City.
> 
> While NY is sweltering, Leo is in France, which is enjoying cooler temps this week.
> 
> Okay, I'm trying to upload some pictures but my phone and/or spotty wifi connection is not cooperating



Limr!  You're not dead.  Hooray!

But.. umm.. your in France....

Well, congratulations on not being dead, I guess... lol


----------



## snowbear

First photo - phone snap.  I'm considering calling it "Take-sumi" which is supposed to mean "Bamboo charcoal."




IMG_0002 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

Off to get a CP filter


----------



## JonA_CT

We've had a nice last couple days here in Texas, even though my MIL has been driving my wife crazy. My wife and I went on a date last night after we put our daughter down for bed. The food and beer weren't anything to write home about, but we haven't gone out for dinner by ourselves since my daughter was born. We ended up running around the historical district in Nacagdoches at dusk -- I gave my wife my D600 and an wide-zoom and I took my Minolta and some Delta 3200 film. My wife was having a great time...I think it might be time to get her own camera. I think I've also convinced her to let me buy some development gear since I have about 5 rolls of film to process when we get home. 

The only other people we saw were folks running around in the relatively mild 92 degree weather looking for pokemon, no joke. They look like zombies, sorry coop. 

We went out for my FIL's birthday tonight -- Texas knows how to do catfish. Easily the best I've ever had, and they kept the tea flowing all night.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> We've had a nice last couple days here in Texas, even though my MIL has been driving my wife crazy. My wife and I went on a date last night after we put our daughter down for bed. The food and beer weren't anything to write home about, but we haven't gone out for dinner by ourselves since my daughter was born. We ended up running around the historical district in Nacagdoches at dusk -- I gave my wife my D600 and an wide-zoom and I took my Minolta and some Delta 3200 film. My wife was having a great time...I think it might be time to get her own camera. I think I've also convinced her to let me buy some development gear since I have about 5 rolls of film to process when we get home.
> 
> The only other people we saw were folks running around in the relatively mild 92 degree weather looking for pokemon, no joke. They look like zombies, sorry coop.
> 
> We went out for my FIL's birthday tonight -- Texas knows how to do catfish. Easily the best I've ever had, and they kept the tea flowing all night.


Grab a case or two of ZigenBock before you go back.  Only available in Texas.  Made in Houston.


----------



## Gary A.

It is 93F and according to The Weather Channel it also feels like 93F.  (Humidity @ 24%) Gary was outdoors much of the day and he is convinced of global warming.


----------



## table1349

Global warming is an indisputable fact.  If anyone does not believe it, then explain to me what happened 12,000 years ago to end the last of the large ice ages.  The earth has heated up and cooled down for the 4.5 billion years or so it has existed.  Is man contributing to the current global warming?  I believe so.  Is man the only cause for the global warming? I don't thing so, but I do believe that the human species could help the situation if they chose to.


----------



## Gary A.

There were more guests tonight and they have just left. Gary is snacking on some Cabernet Sauvignon grapes and catching up on the events of the day via CNN. The guests polished off the last of the Hollywood Bowl Meatballs. The meatballs were particularly good.


----------



## limr

Yes, I'm in France, no need to feel sorry for me 

We're in Nice. Stayed in the city Wed and Thurs. Yesterday took a train to a medieval Alpine town. Today hitting the beach. Training it to Monaco on Mon or Tues. 

Still can't upload pics from the phone or the chromebook  The hotel internet is kinda spotty.


----------



## limr

French kitty:


 

Nice:


----------



## jcdeboever

The wife did it again... I have been eyeing the Nikon 105mm but she popped in the local camera store and the guy sold her a Sigma instead because of a $350 instant rebate. I won't have time to use it for a week or so as I am traveling to IN, OH, and PA next week. 

Sigma 105mm f2.8 ex dg os hsm macro. 
105mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro | Sigma Corporation of America


----------



## table1349




----------



## limr

Stopped to look at the impromptu memorials on the site of the attack in Nice:


----------



## limr

The ancient mountain town of Entrevaux:


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Stopped to look at the impromptu memorials on the site of the attack in Nice:


That is just too sad.  Your photo brings it into perspective.  Thank you.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Stopped to look at the impromptu memorials on the site of the attack in Nice:
> 
> 
> 
> That is just too sad.  Your photo brings it into perspective.  Thank you.
Click to expand...


It's heartbreaking


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Stopped to look at the impromptu memorials on the site of the attack in Nice:



Bonjour mademoiselle Leo-

En reponse a votre photo. Gary aime Nice. Gary est desole que votre visite a un tel endroit est intervenue a la suite de ces violences insenses et dechirante. La fille d'un ami de la famille residant a Monaco. Amis de la jeune fille etaient a la promenade et avait a executer afin d'echapper au carnage.

Obama nous a rappele que les Francais sont notre premier allie. Nous leur devons beaucoup. Je pense au sujet de Kennedy's discours de Berlin, que tous les hommes libres sont l'un et de l'OTAN Premiere directive qu'une attaque contre un est une attaque contre tous.

Rappeler a ceux que vous rencontrez que l'Amerique est leur meilleur ami, nous sommes debout avec eux a leur cote ... et que le monde partage leur tristesse.

G


----------



## Gary A.

It is hot, it is 95F. Even the morning was warm at 70F. (The Cook was really anxious to get her walk in earlier in order to beat the heat and Gary complied with her wishes.) We have the A/C on today, the first of the summer.  (If we didn't have guests over we probably wouldn't be running it.) Gary got beat up last week digging up about 1/10th of the from yard with a shovel.  Thursday he purchased a little electric rototiller which is significant easier and better than a shovel on many levels.  Gary now has about 50% of the yard tilled.  He worked until he was one completely sweaty and dirt encrusted, hot thing. Gary's next move was to pick some lemons and mix up some lemonade.  After diving into the lemonade, Gary is much better.  He may also dive in with the Koi before taking a shower.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Stopped to look at the impromptu memorials on the site of the attack in Nice:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bonjour mademoiselle Leo-
> 
> En reponse a votre photo. Gary aime Nice. Gary est desole que votre visite a un tel endroit est intervenue a la suite de ces violences insenses et dechirante. La fille d'un ami de la famille residant a Monaco. Amis de la jeune fille etaient a la promenade et avait a executer afin d'echapper au carnage.
> 
> Obama nous a rappele que les Francais sont notre premier allie. Nous leur devons beaucoup. Je pense au sujet de Kennedy's discours de Berlin, que tous les hommes libres sont l'un et de l'OTAN Premiere directive qu'une attaque contre un est une attaque contre tous.
> 
> Rappeler a ceux que vous rencontrez que l'Amerique est leur meilleur ami, nous sommes debout avec eux a leur cote ... et que le monde partage leur tristesse.
> 
> G
Click to expand...


Absolutment, je leur dirai. Malheureusement, nous comprenons bien leur douleur.


----------



## limr

There are fewer tourists than usual in Nice, but there is still plenty of activity. I can't say for sure what the biggest differences are, but I suspect that armed soldiers don't normally patrol the main promenade.

We learned from one waiter who works at an ice cream parlor along the promenade that there were many people out watching the fireworks, and he didn't realize what was happening until hordes of people suddenly rushed into the store to get out of the street. There was another section of the promenade that had been barricaded - I think reserved for ticket-holders or something - and it was packed solid with people. The truck did not reach that barricaded area. If it had, the death toll would have been so much worse.

I don't like to bring the subject up because I find it difficult to talk about it without getting emotional. Buzz's parents ask some people about it, though, and when the people give answers or describe their stories, they seem to have the same looks on their faces that we see even to this day when Americans, especially New Yorkers, talk about 9/11.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Stopped to look at the impromptu memorials on the site of the attack in Nice:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bonjour mademoiselle Leo-
> 
> En reponse a votre photo. Gary aime Nice. Gary est desole que votre visite a un tel endroit est intervenue a la suite de ces violences insenses et dechirante. La fille d'un ami de la famille residant a Monaco. Amis de la jeune fille etaient a la promenade et avait a executer afin d'echapper au carnage.
> 
> Obama nous a rappele que les Francais sont notre premier allie. Nous leur devons beaucoup. Je pense au sujet de Kennedy's discours de Berlin, que tous les hommes libres sont l'un et de l'OTAN Premiere directive qu'une attaque contre un est une attaque contre tous.
> 
> Rappeler a ceux que vous rencontrez que l'Amerique est leur meilleur ami, nous sommes debout avec eux a leur cote ... et que le monde partage leur tristesse.
> 
> G
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Absolutment, je leur dirai. Malheureusement, nous comprenons bien leur douleur.
Click to expand...

Malheureusement nous n.


----------



## table1349




----------



## Designer

I wish I had taken a video of a young squirrel this morning.  It was cavorting about the yard like a kitten.  It would run a short distance and stop abruptly, as if chasing something that wasn't really there.  Then it would walk around, sniffing things, exploring my car, the tree trunk, the ground in general.  It would stop and dig a little, then mosey over to another spot, sniffing.  It was not at all afraid of me, doing all this within about 8 or 10 feet from where I was standing.  Then it peed in one of the holes, and stretched out full length on the remnants of an old sandbox before finally climbing up a small tree and jumping over to my neighbor's shrubbery.


----------



## JonA_CT

Headed home from Texas. Drove the first 650 or so miles today, and am overnighting in Alabama. Went to a sketchy supermarket for dinner, and the only prepared food was some BBQ one of the deli guys makes behind the building. Delicious.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. No early morning marine layer, so this shall be another warm day. After the guests left we turned off the A/C yesterday. Gary didn't think the A/C was really needed, as it was warm but not uncomfortable inside.  Oddly, the A/C was on inside, but the guests spend all their time outside. Go figure.

Two items on Gary's hit list for today, a house warming party down in Orange County and getting a ton of frames and matting materials for my youngest daughter's posters. Gary should finish up rototilling the front ... But that can wait. But he needs to plant some new tomatoes, peppers and parsley to replace some spend tomatoes, peppers and parsley. Okay, so three items on today's list.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> ...Okay, so three items on today's list.


Which is four too many for a Sunday!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary keeps reflecting on the Dudamel/Wang concert at the Hollywood Bowl on Thursday. After the break, Dudamel and Wang did a few short songs then ... They perform 40 minutes of Rhapsody in Blue. It was incredible, 40 minutes of pure listening pleasure.


----------



## pixmedic

This just in!
2m waterproof endoscope for android phone or PC.
6 LED lights for visibility. 
Phone app or PC software allows for video and stills.
640x480 resolution on phone, 1280x720 for PC.
As for its use.......


----------



## tirediron

"Congratulations on your purchase of the Acme Little Giant Home Proctology Kit. Make easy extra money in your spare time.  All you need for Do-It-Yourself prostate exams.  Perform colonoscopies in your home; amaze your friends."


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> First photo - phone snap.  I'm considering calling it "Take-sumi" which is supposed to mean "Bamboo charcoal."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IMG_0002 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> Off to get a CP filter


Nice looking car but the name seems a bit bland.  Bamboo charcoal?  How about something with a bit more pizzazz, like.. hmmm

Pikachu Deathmobile..

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> Global warming is an indisputable fact.  If anyone does not believe it, then explain to me what happened 12,000 years ago to end the last of the large ice ages.  The earth has heated up and cooled down for the 4.5 billion years or so it has existed.  Is man contributing to the current global warming?  I believe so.  Is man the only cause for the global warming? I don't thing so, but I do believe that the human species could help the situation if they chose to.


Ugh.  Politics.  Please, enough.   Come here to get away from the stuff.


Gary A. said:


> It is 93F and according to The Weather Channel it also feels like 93F.  (Humidity @ 24%) Gary was outdoors much of the day and he is convinced of global warming.




Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gary keeps reflecting on the Dudamel/Wang concert at the Hollywood Bowl on Thursday. After the break, Dudamel and Wang did a few short songs then ... They perform 40 minutes of Rhapsody in Blue. It was incredible, 40 minutes of pure listening pleasure.



Love love LOVE Gershwin.

Hey there, hosers. What time is it over there in the New World? Today Buzz and I went up to see some Roman ruins and gardens. Beautiful, but we had to climb some stairs cutting up a hill to get up to the site and dear lord, was it hot! The temperature wasn't even that bad, but the sun is very very strong and we were doing this at the wrong time of day. Luckily the sun went behind some clouds for a little while and we were able to cool off. Plus, I have a parasol for just such occasions and Leo doesn't give even the tiniest rat's ass about anyone who might think she's crazy to carry a parasol 

Then we made our way back to the hotel, which is half a block from the beach, and 10 minutes after we got to the hotel, we were swimming in the Mediterranean. The water was amazing. I've decided that the only way I can not only tolerate summer but actually _enjoy _the sun is to spend the entire season on a French beach. Okay, I guess it doesn't _have _to be French, but it still needs to be Mediterranean.


----------



## vintagesnaps

No wonder you haven't been on here, I didn't know you were traveling. Sounds wonderful!

So does Gershwin at the Hollywood Bowl. Although turning off the AC the past few days is madness!!

And Jon's heading home...






Wait! don't forget the family.


----------



## JonA_CT

Staying in a cabin outside of Waynseboro, VA for the next two nights. Logged about 530 slow-going miles today, but I was rewarded with this on the drive to our cabin from dinner. We'll be exploring Shenandoah National Park tomorrow. Unfortunately, we didn't bring our baby backpack as we didn't plan this out ahead of time...so no hiking for us tomorrow. We'll be exploring it the same way every other American does it.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Staying in a cabin outside of Waynseboro, VA for the next two nights. Logged about 530 slow-going miles today, but I was rewarded with this on the drive to our cabin from dinner. We'll be exploring Shenandoah National Park tomorrow. Unfortunately, we didn't bring our baby backpack as we didn't plan this out ahead of time...so no hiking for us tomorrow. We'll be exploring it the same way every other American does it.
> 
> View attachment 125089


If you come up 95, give me a shout when you get closer to DC.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  This is a cooler morning than the last three days. So hopefully the heat spike is over.

@ Leo- Parasols are cool ... (What's not cool are the Asian ladies out here who walk around in welder's masks.  It is good that you left the welder's mask at home.) Gary much prefers a sandy beach to a pebblely beach.

@ Charlie- A few weeks ago Gary found a good deal on a used Camry and picked it up for Mary Lou's son who had worn out his Acura. That Camry really road quite comfortably.  Gary was impressed. Gary suspects you will have a similar experience with your Camry. Good Luck with the new car.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers! (if any of you are there)  Working at home today to avoid the heat and the continuing mess on the regional rail lines here.  Not nearly as good as not working, but certainly beats dragging one's carcass to work and back.


----------



## robbins.photo

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers! (if any of you are there)  Working at home today to avoid the heat and the continuing mess on the regional rail lines here.  Not nearly as good as not working, but certainly beats dragging one's carcass to work and back.



You need one of those new Google cars.  You can send it to work for you instead.  Problem solved.


----------



## waday

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers! (if any of you are there)  Working at home today to avoid the heat and the continuing mess on the regional rail lines here.  Not nearly as good as not working, but certainly beats dragging one's carcass to work and back.


Aside from the continuing mess of SEPTA, have you seen any increase in traffic/congestion of commuting with the DNC in town?


----------



## table1349

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers! (if any of you are there)  Working at home today to avoid the heat and the continuing mess on the regional rail lines here.  Not nearly as good as not working, but certainly beats dragging one's carcass to work and back.


Yep, working at home today myself. (well everyday now I'm retired)  Going out in a few minutes to mow the lawn, it's grocery shopping day, since it is Tuesday it is bathroom day on my cleaning schedule, need to get a letter off to the farmers that rent our land and get supper on the table for momma when she gets home from work.  Depending on the time I have I might whip up a batch of cookies.  You know, I do as much now that I'm retired as I did when I was still working.  But I don't have to shave to do it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Things are beginning to cool off, not a lot, but enough to be noticed. A few radio stations from LA have sent radio show hosts to Cleveland and Philadelphia.  They are really complaining/speaking to the 'oppressive' heat of Philadelphia.  Apparently Cleveland has better weather than Philly. @ Ken: hang in the brother.

Interestingly enough, the protests outside the DNC are larger and more frequent than the RNC, go figure.  My man, Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times, is in the thick of it, (he produced a daily menu of good stuff from outside the RNC).  Pearce states that the stories from outside the DNC "... Are just as engaging as the ones inside. They might even be better."  On day one Pearce pens that "I'm staring at a full calendar of protests that includes training sessions for civil disobedience." One grass-roots organizing website "is asking visitors to sign up if they're willing to get arrested with hundreds of others this week to protest 'to end the corruption of big money in politics and ensure free and fair election.'" 

What a country.


----------



## table1349

Yards mowed, grocery list is made, next up the bathrooms get cleaned.  After lunch off for cat food and then to the grocery store.  But first a quick shower to get all the sweat and grime off from mowing the yard.


----------



## KenC

waday said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers! (if any of you are there)  Working at home today to avoid the heat and the continuing mess on the regional rail lines here.  Not nearly as good as not working, but certainly beats dragging one's carcass to work and back.
> 
> 
> 
> Aside from the continuing mess of SEPTA, have you seen any increase in traffic/congestion of commuting with the DNC in town?
Click to expand...


Yesterday the streets were a little more crowded, even though the closest I got to the convention center was a few blocks.  I understand from those who drove/bicycled that streets were closed off.  I won't be too surprised if I see demonstrations somewhere tomorrow, but I'm on an early schedule because of the trains, so perhaps not too much.


----------



## KenC

gryphonslair99 said:


> I do as much now that I'm retired as I did when I was still working.  But I don't have to shave to do it.



Yeah, I'm ahead on that one - I haven't shaved for a little over forty years.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## waday

@robbins.photo, just read your Adorama thread, and didn't want to post this there, but... 

That reminds me of the time I submitted an IT service ticket at work, because my phone wasn't working. I then received an email saying they could not reach me via telephone and that I should call them.

*facepalm*


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> @robbins.photo, just read your Adorama thread, and didn't want to post this there, but...
> 
> That reminds me of the time I submitted an IT service ticket at work, because my phone wasn't working. I then received an email saying they could not reach me via telephone and that I should call them.
> 
> *facepalm*



Lol.. can't say as I blame you for not wanting to post over there, it's been a total train wreck.


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> @robbins.photo, just read your Adorama thread, and didn't want to post this there, but...
> 
> That reminds me of the time I submitted an IT service ticket at work, because my phone wasn't working. I then received an email saying they could not reach me via telephone and that I should call them.
> 
> *facepalm*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lol.. can't say as I blame you for not wanting to post over there, it's been a total train wreck.
Click to expand...

It's ok, Tim. Just watch this video of yourself dancing.


----------



## robbins.photo

Lol... my brother's already working on the apology.    Dear Heloise...


----------



## jcdeboever

pixmedic said:


>


Sorry for your loss.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



Um...he's just sleeping, right?? If so, then what a cutiepie! If not, then whyyyyyyy you post this??

Hey hosers. Went to Monaco today. My impression: very clean, beautiful, but hot, crowded, loud, and kinda douchy. Saw 8 Bentleys, two massive Rolls Royces, and totally lost track of the number of Porsches (though a good portion of those were the SUVs which don't even count.) Did NOT go into the casino - I believe you had to pay just to walk in the door. Really not interested in gambling, anyway. 

Planning on a low-key, relaxing day. Definitely going to be a the beach for part of it, and a bit more roaming of the old town for more pictures. Then we leave on Thursday morning. Trying not to think about it - not because I'm so terribly sad to leave, but because I'm just not looking forward to being on an airplane for 8 hours


----------



## Gary A.

@ Leo: If you have a car, drive the route of the Grand Prix.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> @ Leo: If you have a car, drive the route of the Grand Prix.



No, we don't have a car. We took a boat from Nice to Monaco and we walked part of the course.


----------



## Gary A.

Steal one of the many Porsches ... It won't be missed.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Steal one of the many Porsches ... It won't be missed.



I thought in Monaco it was an accepted practice that you just took whichever Porsche was parked closest.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Um...he's just sleeping, right?? If so, then what a cutiepie! If not, then whyyyyyyy you post this??


Ferret be hot.


----------



## pixmedic

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Um...he's just sleeping, right?? If so, then what a cutiepie! If not, then whyyyyyyy you post this??
> 
> 
> 
> Ferret be hot.
Click to expand...


Unaffected by poking


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey, Leo!!! I got a Lubitel! Found one in the case, with the box and original instructions, which of course I can't read (so where's a Russian hockey player when I need one??). Box is sort of beat up and taped up, but the camera looks hardly used. Kind of clunky and funky, it ought to be fun to use.

Of course that hardly compares to walking around Monaco with a parasol, now does it? lol Gotta wonder about those of us who get excited about getting a black box.

Wade it seems like this has happened before, that we may have had some experiences working in alternate universes. (Which I don't have to do anymore!) A convoluted screw up of monumental proportions was just another routine day... OK I'm exaggerating, but things being tied up in red tape? yeah that was all the time.


----------



## vintagesnaps

What is the world coming to - searches for Pokémon Go exceeded searches for porn! We can't have that now can we? lol


----------



## pixmedic

I drug it out from under the ramp, but it didn't help much.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Steal one of the many Porsches ... It won't be missed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I thought in Monaco it was an accepted practice that you just took whichever Porsche was parked closest.
Click to expand...


Zip Porshes?



pixmedic said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Um...he's just sleeping, right?? If so, then what a cutiepie! If not, then whyyyyyyy you post this??
> 
> 
> 
> Ferret be hot.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Unaffected by poking
Click to expand...


Oh man, I feel your pain, ferret!



vintagesnaps said:


> Hey, Leo!!! I got a Lubitel! Found one in the case, with the box and original instructions, which of course I can't read (so where's a Russian hockey player when I need one??). Box is sort of beat up and taped up, but the camera looks hardly used. Kind of clunky and funky, it ought to be fun to use.
> 
> Of course that hardly compares to walking around Monaco with a parasol, now does it? lol Gotta wonder about those of us who get excited about getting a black box.
> 
> Wade it seems like this has happened before, that we may have had some experiences working in alternate universes. (Which I don't have to do anymore!) A convoluted screw up of monumental proportions was just another routine day... OK I'm exaggerating, but things being tied up in red tape? yeah that was all the time.



Cool, have fun with the Lubitel! It's a fun little black box


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Which I don't have to do anymore!


Sure, rub it in.


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


> I drug it out from under the ramp, but it didn't help much.



I think it's time we started a go fund me account to get this poor guy his own air conditioner.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  This should be another hot day ... but it is summer, so duh ... Right.  Yesterday Gary took a day off and watched the historic day at the DNC.  Gary texted his granddaughter that one day she too could be president. It isn't over yet, but what a difference in presentation/subjects between our two major political parties.  There is a wonderful photo of Bill Clinton, captured by Carolyn Cole, in the Los Angeles Times. Gary wishes that he had taken that photo.

We still have horrific wildfires burning at the edge of Los Angeles and other SoCal communities.  40,000 acres have been burned, homes have been lost, 3,000 firefighters are battling the fires.  Gary feels for the firefighter working in triple digit weather, wearing 40+ pounds of equipment, breathing in hot smoke, the acid in the air burning one's eyes.  God bless the firefighters.

Last week Gary purchased a pasta maker.  Yesterday, Gary received three books on handmade pasta making. Today, Gary will cook up some homemade pasta.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> I drug it out from under the ramp, but it didn't help much.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think it's time we started a go fund me account to get this poor guy his own air conditioner.
Click to expand...

At least a block of ice ana fan.


----------



## pixmedic

Took everyone's advice for cooling the ferret and got an air conditioner installed for him.


----------



## jcdeboever

Morning Hosers. Heading home in a few hours, five hour drive.  Landed a few big accounts on this trip which more than paid for the expense. Can always use bigger pay checks. My next one will be a doosey.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> It isn't over yet, but what a difference in presentation/subjects between our two major political parties.


Not trying to get political here, just trying to state what I've noticed: the RNC has portrayed a much darker, bleaker view of the US, while the DNC has so far been painting a much brighter, more hopeful view of the US.


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It isn't over yet, but what a difference in presentation/subjects between our two major political parties.
> 
> 
> 
> Not trying to get political here, just trying to state what I've noticed: the RNC has portrayed a much darker, bleaker view of the US, while the DNC has so far been painting a much brighter, more hopeful view of the US.
Click to expand...


Well I guess it doesn't matter to me at all, since I came to the realization years ago that they are both full of crap and will tell anybody anything they think they want to hear during an election.  But if you pay close attention to what they do after they get elected, you'll notice that it's all just a big con game on both sides of the aisle.

In my experience the folks in power keep us squabbling over silly stuff and as a result we are too divided to hold them accountable for their own reprehensible behavior.  Instead they continue to receive support because we think they agree with us on this one issue or that one issue when in truth neither side wants to fix those problems because the minute they do we'll no longer be distracted and divided by it.

I've also found any form of discussion on politics to be completely pointless.  If someone else holds an opposing point of view no amount of facts or logic will sway them, they will instead invariably cling tightly to their preconceived notion of what is true even though it's likely to be based more on propaganda than fact.  So unless your speaking to someone that agrees with you on a particular issue the only outcome possible is an argument and a lot of hurt feelings.

So my recommendation would be to simply end all discussion of the conventions, etc...  and concentrate on something important to us all.

Like say, a ferret with heat exhaustion.  

Just my 2 cents worth, YMMV.


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It isn't over yet, but what a difference in presentation/subjects between our two major political parties.
> 
> 
> 
> Not trying to get political here, just trying to state what I've noticed: the RNC has portrayed a much darker, bleaker view of the US, while the DNC has so far been painting a much brighter, more hopeful view of the US.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well I guess it doesn't matter to me at all, since I came to the realization years ago that they are both full of crap and will tell anybody anything they think they want to hear during an election.  But if you pay close attention to what they do after they get elected, you'll notice that it's all just a big con game on both sides of the aisle.
> 
> In my experience the folks in power keep us squabbling over silly stuff and as a result we are too divided to hold them accountable for their own reprehensible behavior.  Instead they continue to receive support because we think they agree with us on this one issue or that one issue when in truth neither side wants to fix those problems because the minute they do we'll no longer be distracted and divided by it.
> 
> I've also found any form of discussion on politics to be completely pointless.  If someone else holds an opposing point of view no amount of facts or logic will sway them, they will instead invariably cling tightly to their preconceived notion of what is true even though it's likely to be based more on propaganda than fact.  So unless your speaking to someone that agrees with you on a particular issue the only outcome possible is an argument and a lot of hurt feelings.
> 
> So my recommendation would be to simply end all discussion of the conventions, etc...  and concentrate on something important to us all.
> 
> Like say, a ferret with heat exhaustion.
> 
> Just my 2 cents worth, YMMV.
Click to expand...

Appreciate your response. Can't say that I agree with you, as MMHV. Or, uh, my mileage has varied.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That ferret seems quite acrobatic in a hot lazy summertime kind of way.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> That ferret seems quite acrobatic in a hot lazy summertime kind of way.


Yes, like a boneless chicken.


----------



## pixmedic

vintagesnaps said:


> That ferret seems quite acrobatic in a hot lazy summertime kind of way.


Doesnt know how to work the igloo


----------



## minicoop1985

waday said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Getting the photos to the bride from the last wedding has been a nightmare. I sent them in the mail on a flash drive... They're gone. The flash drive was missing from the envelope. So now it's going to be two weeks after the wedding before she sees her photos. I feel awful. This sucks.
> 
> 
> 
> I may have missed something, but why can't you just send them electronically (e.g., Dropbox or Google Drive or something like that)?
Click to expand...

They specifically asked me to mail them, so I did. And it was a nightmare.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> They specifically asked me to mail them, so I did. And it was a nightmare.



A lone photographer, stepping into a post office on a dark and stormy night....

Ya, that really does have all the makings of a Steven King novel.  I'll give you that...


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> That ferret seems quite acrobatic in a hot lazy summertime kind of way.
> 
> 
> 
> Doesnt know how to work the igloo
Click to expand...

The little fella needs his own swimming pool.   They love to swim and play in the water on hot days.  They smell terrible till they dry but they love it.  Don't forget to get him a water slide for the pool.


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> The little fella needs his own swimming pool.   They love to swim and play in the water on hot days.  They smell terrible till they dry but they love it.  Don't forget to get him a water slide for the pool.



So what's really needed here is a pool with an air purifier attached.

Huh.. funny how that came full circle...


----------



## pixmedic

robbins.photo said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The little fella needs his own swimming pool.   They love to swim and play in the water on hot days.  They smell terrible till they dry but they love it.  Don't forget to get him a water slide for the pool.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So what's really needed here is a pool with an air purifier attached.
> 
> Huh.. funny how that came full circle...
Click to expand...



he likes the dogs water dish


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


> he likes the dogs water dish



I have a feeling that doesn't exactly thrill the dog.. lol


----------



## table1349

ladidi ladida


----------



## jcdeboever

I wonder if they taste good?


----------



## table1349

See for your self

Ferret Tikka Masala

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup yogurt 
1 tablespoon lemon juice 
2 teaspoons ground cumin 
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper 
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper 
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger 
4 teaspoons salt, or to taste 
3 boneless skinless ferret breasts, cut into bite-size pieces 
4 long skewers 
1 tablespoon butter 
1 clove garlic, minced 
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped 
2 teaspoons ground cumin 
2 teaspoons paprika 
3 teaspoons salt, or to taste 
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce 
1 cup heavy cream 
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DIRECTIONS:
In a large bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, 2 teaspoons cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, ginger, and 4 teaspoons salt. Stir in ferret, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour. 
Preheat a grill for high heat. 
Lightly oil the grill grate. Thread ferret onto skewers, and discard marinade. Grill until juices run clear, about 5 minutes on each side. 
Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. Season with 2 teaspoons cumin, paprika, and 3 teaspoons salt. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes. Add grilled ferret, and simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter, and garnish with fresh cilantro.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> See for your self
> 
> Ferret Tikka Masala
> 
> INGREDIENTS:
> 1 cup yogurt
> 1 tablespoon lemon juice
> 2 teaspoons ground cumin
> 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
> 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
> 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
> 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
> 4 teaspoons salt, or to taste
> 3 boneless skinless ferret breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
> 4 long skewers
> 1 tablespoon butter
> 1 clove garlic, minced
> 1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
> 2 teaspoons ground cumin
> 2 teaspoons paprika
> 3 teaspoons salt, or to taste
> 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
> 1 cup heavy cream
> 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> DIRECTIONS:
> In a large bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, 2 teaspoons cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, ginger, and 4 teaspoons salt. Stir in ferret, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
> Preheat a grill for high heat.
> Lightly oil the grill grate. Thread ferret onto skewers, and discard marinade. Grill until juices run clear, about 5 minutes on each side.
> Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. Season with 2 teaspoons cumin, paprika, and 3 teaspoons salt. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes. Add grilled ferret, and simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter, and garnish with fresh cilantro.


Nice. Everyone head over to pixmedics house for supper. Gary has the wine covered, I'll bring cornbread.


----------



## table1349

I will bring the blueberry cheese cake.


----------



## EIngerson

Don't be jealous, but I got a free coffee at Starbucks today.


----------



## tirediron

EIngerson said:


> Don't be jealous, but I got a free coffee at Starbucks today.


I didn't know you could get any kind of coffee at Starbucks!


----------



## pixmedic

So, I guess the wife picked up some weird rubber shot glasses and I never noticed. Going to try them out with some crown royal apple. Kinda odd that there's no way to set them down. Maybe I'm missing a stand or something. Oh well.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Gary's pasta is ready for the pot.


----------



## JonA_CT

pixmedic said:


> So, I guess the wife picked up some weird rubber shot glasses and I never noticed. Going to try them out with some crown royal apple. Kinda odd that there's no way to set them down. Maybe I'm missing a stand or something. Oh well.



I know you know...but for the sake of everyone else


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, I guess the wife picked up some weird rubber shot glasses and I never noticed. Going to try them out with some crown royal apple. Kinda odd that there's no way to set them down. Maybe I'm missing a stand or something. Oh well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know you know...but for the sake of everyone else
Click to expand...

So there is a holder ...


----------



## EIngerson

tirediron said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't be jealous, but I got a free coffee at Starbucks today.
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't know you could get any kind of coffee at Starbucks!
Click to expand...


Oh yes, A Venti Iced Americano is DEFINITELY good coffee.


----------



## tirediron

EIngerson said:


> Oh yes, A Venti Iced Americano is DEFINITELY good coffee.


Dude... if it doesn't even have the word "coffee" in the name, *IT'S NOT FRIGGIN' COFFEE!!!!!!!!!!!!*


----------



## EIngerson

tirediron said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh yes, A Venti Iced Americano is DEFINITELY good coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> Dude... if it doesn't even have the word "coffee" in the name, *IT'S NOT FRIGGIN' COFFEE!!!!!!!!!!!!*
Click to expand...


Pardon me....Venti Iced Americano coffee. LOL


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't be jealous, but I got a free coffee at Starbucks today.
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't know you could get any kind of coffee at Starbucks!
Click to expand...

Only if you bring your own from the kwik shop up the street.  Otherwise you'll be drinking some Grande mocha half caf concoction.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> So, I guess the wife picked up some weird rubber shot glasses and I never noticed. Going to try them out with some crown royal apple. Kinda odd that there's no way to set them down. Maybe I'm missing a stand or something. Oh well.


In my part of the world those are called tassels.   You see gifted girls put them on their, well um you know, and then with a little muscular training they can make the dangling parts swing in the same direction or opposite directions.   The ones around here wear tassels that have more sparkle to them though.


----------



## EIngerson

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't be jealous, but I got a free coffee at Starbucks today.
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't know you could get any kind of coffee at Starbucks!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Only if you bring your own from the kwik shop up the street.  Otherwise you'll be drinking some Grande mocha half caf concoction.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


There's nothing wrong with a twinkle, sparkle non-fat latte-chino every once in a while.


----------



## waday

Bloomberg's speech last night was pretty darn good, IMO.


----------



## robbins.photo

EIngerson said:


> There's nothing wrong with a twinkle, sparkle non-fat latte-chino every once in a while.



Well sure.  You know...  If you're a girl.


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> There's nothing wrong with a twinkle, sparkle non-fat latte-chino every once in a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well sure.  You know...  If you're a girl.
Click to expand...

Here you go.


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> There's nothing wrong with a twinkle, sparkle non-fat latte-chino every once in a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well sure.  You know...  If you're a girl.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Here you go.
Click to expand...


Great, something to sip on while I'm having my nails done.  Yikes.


----------



## waday

Umm, yeah, maybe we should cool it with the sexist jokes and sarcasm?


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> Umm, yeah, maybe we should cool it with the sexist jokes and sarcasm?



Well I'm ok with cooling the sexist jokes, I normally wait for Limr to point out what a neanderthal I am.  But since she's on vacation I guess I can forgo the usual sequence of events.  

The sarcasm though.. um nope.  Can't put a kibosh on that.  Sorry, it's a me thing.


----------



## pixmedic

at least its some talk about actual coffee....in the coffee  house. 

or....whatever that thing was


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


> at least its some talk about actual coffee....in the coffee  house.
> 
> or....whatever that thing was



Actually now I'm kinda too bummed for that conversation.. I'm sitting here missing Limr telling me what a big ape I am...

Lol


----------



## waday

pixmedic said:


> at least its some talk about actual coffee....in the coffee  house.
> 
> or....whatever that thing was


So TPF is condoning sexist jokes, as long as it's relevant to the thread?


----------



## pixmedic

robbins.photo said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> at least its some talk about actual coffee....in the coffee  house.
> 
> or....whatever that thing was
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Actually now I'm kinda too bummed for that conversation.. I'm sitting here missing Limr telling me what a big ape I am...
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...

If it helps, i can fill in and chastise you on your neanderthal, low brow humor.
Or your sexist plebian comments.


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


> If it helps, i can fill in and chastise you on your neanderthal, low brow humor.
> Or your sexist plebian comments.



Appreciate the thought, it's very nice of you to offer.  Just wouldn't be the same though.

Sigh.


----------



## pixmedic

waday said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> at least its some talk about actual coffee....in the coffee  house.
> 
> or....whatever that thing was
> 
> 
> 
> So TPF is condoning sexist jokes, as long as it's relevant to the thread?
Click to expand...

Steady on lad...there's been nothing so far to indicate anything of intentional malice being said. The mods can't, and dont, jump on and censure  every little comment that offends someone. If we did, there would be no forum left at all.

If something is genuinely bothering you, as has been stated many many times before, report it,  But do not call out the mods openly because we're not deleting every little thing that offends you.


----------



## pixmedic

robbins.photo said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> If it helps, i can fill in and chastise you on your neanderthal, low brow humor.
> Or your sexist plebian comments.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Appreciate the thought, it's very nice of you to offer.  Just wouldn't be the same though.
> 
> Sigh.
Click to expand...

Well, just trying to help a guy out.


----------



## pixmedic

Anyway...back to the good stuff.
I'm not liking the new litter the wife got. Going to switch back to the paper fluff.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The ferret doesn't seem to mind.

I hate having a summer cold. Or whatever this is. At least in the fall and winter you want a nice hot bowl of soup or a cup of tea, not so much when it's hot out. Blech. It's cloudy enough, maybe I can pretend. Was going thru some craft supplies and started working on Christmas (in July) crafts.


----------



## tirediron

That is one wilted ferret!


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> The ferret doesn't seem to mind.
> 
> I hate having a summer cold. Or whatever this is. At least in the fall and winter you want a nice hot bowl of soup or a cup of tea, not so much when it's hot out. Blech. It's cloudy enough, maybe I can pretend. Was going thru some craft supplies and started working on Christmas (in July) crafts.


Apparently you didn't get the memo.  Ice Cream it seems is a great cure for the summer cold.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> That is one wilted ferret!


Personally I think he needs a viagra and a girlfriend.


----------



## vintagesnaps

An Americano is actually coffee. Of course that may be the only actual coffee they have...

I've never had any frappe whatevers, I just have their house blend coffee or an iced Americano. People like us ordering must be very boring for the people who work there, they don't get to fluff it or frou frou it.


And ice cream I love... but I'm too stuffed up, made jello instead. Not quite the same.


----------



## table1349




----------



## pixmedic

vintagesnaps said:


> The ferret doesn't seem to mind.
> 
> I hate having a summer cold. Or whatever this is. At least in the fall and winter you want a nice hot bowl of soup or a cup of tea, not so much when it's hot out. Blech. It's cloudy enough, maybe I can pretend. Was going thru some craft supplies and started working on Christmas (in July) crafts.



the ferret likes pushing the bedding out onto the floor so the wife can use her new $700 Miele vacuum....
i guess it works out for everyone.


----------



## vintagesnaps

You know, I could never get the hang of those things, so I had to forego a career as an exotic dancer.




Wait til mom gets back, you guys are in trouble.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> You know, I could never get the hang of those things, so I forego a career as an exotic dancer.
> .



For me it wasn't the tassle part.  That was pretty easy actually.  It was those dang tables.  Every time I'd get up on one, bam.. it would break.

Not something they tell you when you sign up for the correspondence course, btw...


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> You know, I could never get the hang of those things, so I forego a career as an exotic dancer.
> .
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For me it wasn't the tassle part.  That was pretty easy actually.  It was those dang tables.  Every time I'd get up on one, bam.. it would break.
> 
> Not something they tell you when you sign up for the correspondence course, btw...
Click to expand...

Well just sit back, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## tirediron

Looks like someone took him apart and put him back together in the wrong order!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Looks like someone took him apart and put him back together in the wrong order!



Hey now, just down right mean to pick on the narcoleptic ferret.  

Come see the violence inherent in the system!


----------



## pixmedic

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like someone took him apart and put him back together in the wrong order!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey now, just down right mean to pick on the narcoleptic ferret.
> 
> Come see the violence inherent in the system!
Click to expand...

His name is Possum


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


----------



## KenC

vintagesnaps said:


> I just have their house blend coffee or an iced Americano. People like us ordering must be very boring for the people who work there, they don't get to fluff it or frou frou it.



Same here - I've often wished there could be an express lane for those who are ordering coffee in its natural state.


----------



## table1349

Medic, picked up something for you.  Where do you want it sent???


----------



## vintagesnaps

Is that supposed to be a deterrent or an incentive?


----------



## snowbear

pixmedic said:


>


OHMYGAWD!  His eyes DO open up!


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Is that supposed to be a deterrent or an incentive?


I'd say that depends on you!


----------



## pixmedic

He's awake now!


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> at least its some talk about actual coffee....in the coffee  house.
> 
> or....whatever that thing was
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Actually now I'm kinda too bummed for that conversation.. I'm sitting here missing Limr telling me what a big ape I am...
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...


I'm back on US soil and you're a troglodyte. Feel better now? 

@waday  You rock 



pixmedic said:


>



Cat snake.



KenC said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just have their house blend coffee or an iced Americano. People like us ordering must be very boring for the people who work there, they don't get to fluff it or frou frou it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Same here - I've often wished there could be an express lane for those who are ordering coffee in its natural state.
Click to expand...


I do, too. And I think that it's actually quite refreshing for some of them to get a customer who just wants good old plain coffee. I usually ask for whatever blend was the freshest, some room for milk. Done. I do like an iced coffee in the summer, and yes, we found the Starbucks in Monaco and I got a big iced coffee because it was hot as all jamming get-out and I don't care, sometimes a woman just needs a big cup of cold coffee. 

The fanciest I get is a short latte with an extra shot. The short size (8 ounces) is one of their "secrets" that is not on the menu but they will make it for you. It's the size cup they usually give you when you order a plain espresso (yes, some of us still do order plain espresso.) But even my fancy drink is essentially strong coffee with some milk in it. Done.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> at least its some talk about actual coffee....in the coffee  house.
> 
> or....whatever that thing was
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Actually now I'm kinda too bummed for that conversation.. I'm sitting here missing Limr telling me what a big ape I am...
> 
> Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm back on US soil and you're a troglodyte. Feel better now?
> 
> @waday  You rock
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Cat snake.
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just have their house blend coffee or an iced Americano. People like us ordering must be very boring for the people who work there, they don't get to fluff it or frou frou it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Same here - I've often wished there could be an express lane for those who are ordering coffee in its natural state.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I do, too. And I think that it's actually quite refreshing for some of them to get a customer who just wants good old plain coffee. I usually ask for whatever blend was the freshest, some room for milk. Done. I do like an iced coffee in the summer, and yes, we found the Starbucks in Monaco and I got a big iced coffee because it was hot as all jamming get-out and I don't care, sometimes a woman just needs a big cup of cold coffee.
> 
> The fanciest I get is a short latte with an extra shot. The short size (8 ounces) is one of their "secrets" that is not on the menu but they will make it for you. It's the size cup they usually give you when you order a plain espresso (yes, some of us still do order plain espresso.) But even my fancy drink is essentially strong coffee with some milk in it. Done.
Click to expand...


Welcome back.


----------



## pixmedic

I like Duncan donuts iced caramel latte


----------



## snowbear

I like turtles.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## pixmedic

Being comatose all day makes possum hungry.


----------



## limr

I still say it's a cat snake.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> at least its some talk about actual coffee....in the coffee  house.
> 
> or....whatever that thing was
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Actually now I'm kinda too bummed for that conversation.. I'm sitting here missing Limr telling me what a big ape I am...
> 
> Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm back on US soil and you're a troglodyte. Feel better now?
> 
> @waday  You rock
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Cat snake.
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just have their house blend coffee or an iced Americano. People like us ordering must be very boring for the people who work there, they don't get to fluff it or frou frou it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Same here - I've often wished there could be an express lane for those who are ordering coffee in its natural state.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I do, too. And I think that it's actually quite refreshing for some of them to get a customer who just wants good old plain coffee. I usually ask for whatever blend was the freshest, some room for milk. Done. I do like an iced coffee in the summer, and yes, we found the Starbucks in Monaco and I got a big iced coffee because it was hot as all jamming get-out and I don't care, sometimes a woman just needs a big cup of cold coffee.
> 
> The fanciest I get is a short latte with an extra shot. The short size (8 ounces) is one of their "secrets" that is not on the menu but they will make it for you. It's the size cup they usually give you when you order a plain espresso (yes, some of us still do order plain espresso.) But even my fancy drink is essentially strong coffee with some milk in it. Done.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Welcome back.
Click to expand...


Merci


----------



## limr

I woke up 18 hours ago. 17.5 hours ago, I was swimming in the Mediterranean on the French Riviera, watching the sun rise.

Now I'm not 

On the plus side, I get to see my cats! Zelda was happy to see me and rubbed her face all over mine for about five minutes, purring her fool head off. Mrs. Parker was a bit skeptical at first, but then flopped her silly self in front of me for her belly rubs, and then got up to touch noses.

I had wrapped my wet bathing suit and towel in a plastic bag. They are still wet with salt water. So I can smell the Mediterranean for just a little while longer.

I'm going to be developing film for a couple of days.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## EIngerson

waday said:


> Umm, yeah, maybe we should cool it with the sexist jokes and sarcasm?




I didn't see anything sexist.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> I'm back on US soil and you're a troglodyte. Feel better now?



Ahh.... yes... much better.   Troglodyte.  Sweet music to my ears.

You complete me.

Lol


----------



## EIngerson

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm back on US soil and you're a troglodyte. Feel better now?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ahh.... yes... much better.   Troglodyte.  Sweet music to my ears.
> 
> You complete me.
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...



Oh you guys..... LOL


----------



## limr

EIngerson said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Umm, yeah, maybe we should cool it with the sexist jokes and sarcasm?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't see anything sexist.
Click to expand...


Well, there was the typical kind of joke that makes fun of men by associating traditionally female activities or tastes with them. In this case, only a "girl" would like sweet sparkly coffee drinks, which implies an insult because women should aspire to me like men (male characteristics = virtues), but it's unacceptable for men to be like women (female characteristics = weak, trivial.) Granted, it's not quite as bad as a lot of things I've seen, but it's still one of those insidious little digs that are seemingly innocent but continue to perpetuate the idea that women are less and traditionally feminine traits are to be avoided. It's also tricky to call out because of course, it's just a joke, right? 

But it's also possible - and likely - that something more offensive was in a blocked message, and if it was, then I can't tell you what it is. Because, y'know, blocked and all  But maybe you don't have it blocked. If there is something that you can see and I can't, please don't let me know. I really don't want to know.


----------



## EIngerson

limr said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Umm, yeah, maybe we should cool it with the sexist jokes and sarcasm?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't see anything sexist.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, there was the typical kind of joke that makes fun of men by associating traditionally female activities or tastes with them. In this case, only a "girl" would like sweet sparkly coffee drinks, which implies an insult because women should aspire to me like men (male characteristics = virtues), but it's unacceptable for men to be like women (female characteristics = weak, trivial.) Granted, it's not quite as bad as a lot of things I've seen, but it's still one of those insidious little digs that are seemingly innocent but continue to perpetuate the idea that women are less and traditionally feminine traits are to be avoided. It's also tricky to call out because of course, it's just a joke, right?
> 
> But it's also possible - and likely - that something more offensive was in a blocked message, and if it was, then I can't tell you what it is. Because, y'know, blocked and all  But maybe you don't have it blocked. If there is something that you can see and I can't, please don't let me know. I really don't want to know.
Click to expand...



LOL, I understood why, I just don't agree. I saw nothing wrong with the comment at all. It's not sexist, it's a joke. and it wasn't even directed to the person that made an issue of it. People need to be a little less sensitive.

You know what happens when someone gets offended?   Absolutely nothing. Nothing happens. They go their way, I go mine.


But hey, glad you had an amazing trip. I hope you had a blast. Sure sounds like you did. I'm jealous. Now where are the pics?


----------



## snowbear

Yea! Thunder round two.  I'm hoping the rains will cool things off a bit, and not just make it like a sauna.


----------



## table1349

Has here, before the rains passed through it was in the low 90's, now the temp is 68.  Only supposed to be 81 tomorrow.  Welcome relief for sure.


----------



## EIngerson

gryphonslair99 said:


> Has here, before the rains passed through it was in the low 90's, now the temp is 68.  Only supposed to be 81 tomorrow.  Welcome relief for sure.





snowbear said:


> Yea! Thunder round two.  I'm hoping the rains will cool things off a bit, and not just make it like a sauna.



I do not miss the humidity AT ALL!!! Hope you guys get a break from it.


----------



## limr

EIngerson said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Umm, yeah, maybe we should cool it with the sexist jokes and sarcasm?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't see anything sexist.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, there was the typical kind of joke that makes fun of men by associating traditionally female activities or tastes with them. In this case, only a "girl" would like sweet sparkly coffee drinks, which implies an insult because women should aspire to me like men (male characteristics = virtues), but it's unacceptable for men to be like women (female characteristics = weak, trivial.) Granted, it's not quite as bad as a lot of things I've seen, but it's still one of those insidious little digs that are seemingly innocent but continue to perpetuate the idea that women are less and traditionally feminine traits are to be avoided. It's also tricky to call out because of course, it's just a joke, right?
> 
> But it's also possible - and likely - that something more offensive was in a blocked message, and if it was, then I can't tell you what it is. Because, y'know, blocked and all  But maybe you don't have it blocked. If there is something that you can see and I can't, please don't let me know. I really don't want to know.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> LOL, I understood why, I just don't agree. I saw nothing wrong with the comment at all. It's not sexist, it's a joke. and it wasn't even directed to the person that made an issue of it. People need to be a little less sensitive.
Click to expand...


And there it is: "it's just a joke." But it's a bad joke. Jokes and insults are not mutually exclusive.



> You know what happens when someone gets offended?   Absolutely nothing. Nothing happens. They go their way, I go mine.



Except that's wrong. The person who offends goes his or her way and nothing changes. The person who feels the offense goes away feeling diminished, small, powerless, _especially_ when that person tries to stand up for him or herself and is met with a complete dismissal, which essentially places the blame for the offense on the victim for being "overly sensitive." Being sensitive is bad, it seems. It's also, of course, is a traditionally female trait. Oh hey, look at how that works. It's once again considered a sign of weakness to be sensitive, not just when personally offended but also when defending others.



> But hey, glad you had an amazing trip. I hope you had a blast. Sure sounds like you did. I'm jealous. Now where are the pics?



Still in silver halide form.

For the record, @robbins.photo , I don't believe you were being purposely sexist - I don't believe you _would_ be. I took your comment to be just another example of your trademark sarcasm and moved on to the next post. 

I do believe, however, that this kind of joke is so ingrained in our culture (and others) that no one even thinks about it until another person calls attention to it the way @waday did. I think there's nothing wrong with examining the way we talk to or treat other people and rethink some of those behaviors and speech patterns if they prove to be problematic. _And yes, I do believe it's problematic to continue to believe that traditionally female characteristics should be less valued than traditionally male characteristics._  One step in changing that is challenging culturally-accepted ways of conveying that message, of praising women who exhibit stereotypical male qualities while castigating men who exhibit stereotypical female qualities.


----------



## table1349

EIngerson said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Has here, before the rains passed through it was in the low 90's, now the temp is 68.  Only supposed to be 81 tomorrow.  Welcome relief for sure.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yea! Thunder round two.  I'm hoping the rains will cool things off a bit, and not just make it like a sauna.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I do not miss the humidity AT ALL!!! Hope you guys get a break from it.
Click to expand...

While not a fan of humidity, I don't mind it as much when it is 68 as I do when it is 98.  Was in St. Louis a few years ago.  Temp was in the 90s and so was the humidity.  It was then I realized that it might actually be possible to drown while walking down the street.


----------



## EIngerson

limr said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Umm, yeah, maybe we should cool it with the sexist jokes and sarcasm?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't see anything sexist.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, there was the typical kind of joke that makes fun of men by associating traditionally female activities or tastes with them. In this case, only a "girl" would like sweet sparkly coffee drinks, which implies an insult because women should aspire to me like men (male characteristics = virtues), but it's unacceptable for men to be like women (female characteristics = weak, trivial.) Granted, it's not quite as bad as a lot of things I've seen, but it's still one of those insidious little digs that are seemingly innocent but continue to perpetuate the idea that women are less and traditionally feminine traits are to be avoided. It's also tricky to call out because of course, it's just a joke, right?
> 
> But it's also possible - and likely - that something more offensive was in a blocked message, and if it was, then I can't tell you what it is. Because, y'know, blocked and all  But maybe you don't have it blocked. If there is something that you can see and I can't, please don't let me know. I really don't want to know.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> LOL, I understood why, I just don't agree. I saw nothing wrong with the comment at all. It's not sexist, it's a joke. and it wasn't even directed to the person that made an issue of it. People need to be a little less sensitive.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And there it is: "it's just a joke." But it's a bad joke. Jokes and insults are not mutually exclusive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You know what happens when someone gets offended?   Absolutely nothing. Nothing happens. They go their way, I go mine.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Except that's wrong. The person who offends goes his or her way and nothing changes. The person who feels the offense goes away feeling diminished, small, powerless, _especially_ when that person tries to stand up for him or herself and is met with a complete dismissal, which essentially places the blame for the offense on the victim for being "overly sensitive." Being sensitive is bad, it seems. It's also, of course, is a traditionally female trait. Oh hey, look at how that works. It's once again considered a sign of weakness to be sensitive, not just when personally offended but also when defending others.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But hey, glad you had an amazing trip. I hope you had a blast. Sure sounds like you did. I'm jealous. Now where are the pics?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Still in silver halide form.
> 
> For the record, @robbins.photo , I don't believe you were being purposely sexist - I don't believe you _would_ be. I took your comment to be just another example of your trademark sarcasm and moved on to the next post.
> 
> I do believe, however, that this kind of joke is so ingrained in our culture (and others) that no one even thinks about it until another person calls attention to it the way @waday did. I think there's nothing wrong with examining the way we talk to or treat other people and rethink some of those behaviors and speech patterns if they prove to be problematic. _And yes, I do believe it's problematic to continue to believe that traditionally female characteristics should be less valued than traditionally male characteristics._  One step in changing that is challenging culturally-accepted ways of conveying that message, of praising women who exhibit stereotypical male qualities while castigating men who exhibit stereotypical female qualities.
Click to expand...



Or not being so sensitive. I'm not changing my point of view of  HARMLESS jokes. Too many people make something out of nothing these days.

As far as someone walking away "diminished, small and powerless"? They shouldn't. That's why I said stop being so sensitive. It's a choice. If you choose to make a big deal out of it, it's still not a big deal to anyone else. (Thus, "nothing happens")  You'd (talking in general, not speaking of you specifically Limr)  be better suited to ignore it and worry about bigger issues. Getting so wrapped up in someone else's words that you feel like lesser of a person is senseless really. Especially when its not even directed at you.

So change? I think not. If I want a "real coffee" I'll have one. If I want a twinkle sparkle foo foo non fat latte' , I'll have one. And no ones words matter enough for me to worry about it. LOL It's absurd to me.


BOOM! sexism eliminated. Just don't care.


----------



## waday

@limr - I would venture a guess that some people of privilege may not see the impacts of such statements and thus may not care to see change for the greater good of those around them.


----------



## tirediron

Okay folks, can we please let this one go?  If there are issues that people feel need addressing, please switch to PM and use the 'Report' feature.


----------



## EIngerson

tirediron said:


> Okay folks, can we please let this one go?  If there are issues that people feel need addressing, please switch to PM and use the 'Report' feature.



Why? no ones being offensive.We're having some coffee and discussing things.


----------



## EIngerson

waday said:


> @limr - I would venture a guess that some people of privilege may not see the impacts of such statements and thus may not care to see change for the greater good of those around them.



Privilege you say? LOL


----------



## Gary A.

5 bucks says Leo takes Eric in three.


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr - I would venture a guess that some people of privilege may not see the impacts of such statements and thus may not care to see change for the greater good of those around them.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Privilege you say? LOL
Click to expand...

LOL ... Being a Marine is a privilege ... Lol.


----------



## tirediron

EIngerson said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay folks, can we please let this one go?  If there are issues that people feel need addressing, please switch to PM and use the 'Report' feature.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Why? no ones being offensive.We're having some coffee and discussing things.
Click to expand...

'Cause I asked real nice, okay?  

We have two sides here, and no matter how hard we try, we're unlikely to convert the other side to our point of view, regardless of the strength or passion of argument.  So... last time.  *Please.  Let.  It.  Go.*


----------



## EIngerson

tirediron said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay folks, can we please let this one go?  If there are issues that people feel need addressing, please switch to PM and use the 'Report' feature.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Why? no ones being offensive.We're having some coffee and discussing things.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 'Cause I asked real nice, okay?
> 
> We have two sides here, and no matter how hard we try, we're unlikely to convert the other side to our point of view, regardless of the strength or passion of argument.  So... last time.  *Please.  Let.  It.  Go.*
Click to expand...



Fine!!!!  (storms off to room and slams the door)


----------



## JonA_CT

Finally getting some rain in SE CT today...I was gone for 14 days and the lawn didn't grow. Just looks more golden brown. Now the garden beds...well, weeds don't seem to need water 

After being very productive yesterday (morning walk and kettlebell workout, weeding, making lentil soup for lunch for the next few days, putting together some quinoa/black bean/kale freezer burritos, washing the floors, and walking 18 holes of golf to end the day), I think I'm going to sip my coffee this morning and start to go through some of the photos from my trip. I got some really good processing advice from some of the members of this forum over the last few weeks, and I finally have time to actually watch those youtube videos and try it for myself.


----------



## table1349

Yep, rained off an on all night here. Flood warnings here, but then we have flood warnings every time it rains lately.  It's been a season of when it rains it pours.  Temp is only 70 degrees right now.  Nice break from the high 90's to low 100's we have been having.   Only an inch of rain in the gage.  Better than a couple of weeks ago when we had 6+ inches in just over 24 hours.


----------



## EIngerson

Well, it didn't rain at my house.


----------



## table1349

True but then you are in the early morning low clouds and fog season.  It feels like light rain.   Those are the kind of mornings to go to the Cat Cafe, drink cup of coffee and sit with the cats.


----------



## waday

This is how I want to respond sometimes at work:


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary just learned that tomatoes needs to stored upside down otherwise the taste leaks out.  Who knew?  

Gary must confess that his 'Marine' remark was inappropriate as it diminished the message of Leo and Wade.  As a Latino, Gary intimately understands the roadblocks and pitfalls of living in a culture which treats classes of people as a second class citizen. When Gary was shooting news, there were almost no female news photogs. Gary has nothing but respect for Marilyn K. Yee, a LA Times photog and later NY Times photog, who was instrumental as a trail blazer for other women photojournalists, a mentor and a friend.

Leo and Wade are right, all the little jokes and little remarks may seem inconsequential to the males who express them ... But to others, they become a needles and cuts ... And how many needles and cuts are required to diminish a human into a second class person. I am very fortunate to be born and raised in California a very liberal and progressive state. Even here discrimination was and is practiced everyday. Gary vividly remembers researching a story via the LA Times library ... and he ran into old headlines and stories describing Latinos as "Wetbacks" and blacks as the 'N' word. 

Having spent more than a decade in news, having reported and experienced much more bad than good ... Well, Gary is pretty cynical. Granted, developing a cynical and sarcastic emotional shield, aka a thick skin, deflected the effects of what he had to report, (at least at a high, conscience level), and was a mental management system allowing him to get his job done. Laughing at political correctness was a byproduct of this thick skin protective mechanism.

Most of us here are not evil and certainly not even mean.  If a particular type/direction of discussion is offensive to some/all/few then we need to give that discussion, those remarks a second and third thought.  Gary used to think that it is a fault of the other person of being too sensitive ... But the truth is there is absolutely no reason to hurt and diminish the sense of worth of some/all/few.  If someone is hurt or feels diminished by what a person says, it isn't the fault of the hurt/diminished person to be less sensitive but rather the responsibility of the first person not to take cheap shots and in the case of jokes ... be more clever.  

In a perfect society, we would be able to laugh at the concept of political correctness ... But in a perfect society there would not be a need for political correctness.  Political correctness is easily slammed and hard to implement.  But the fundamental reasoning behind political correctness is sound and it is not to unreasonably and inexcusable hurt or diminish others ... and there is a lot of right in that.  In a perfect society making jokes centered on race, ethnicity, religion and gender just wouldn't be funny.


----------



## robbins.photo

Ok, so local weather report.  It sucks.  Thanks for asking.

Dinner tonight.  Will most likely consist of whatever I can hit on the highway on my way home.

Weekend plans.  Zoo trip.  Going to have to forgo the airshow on Saturday, bit of a scheduling problem.  So if possible I'll go on Sunday though that's looking iffy at best.


----------



## table1349

If you store you tomatoes stem side down they will last longer.  The stem is where the tomato, and most fruit looses is moisture the quickest.


----------



## Gary A.

If you bring your dinner over, I'll find a wine to pair. We may have to go through a few bottles though until we find the perfect combo.


----------



## table1349

Give this  a try.  It is outstanding. 

Heirloom Tomato Pie
Total Time: 3 hr 45 min
Prep: 2 hr
Cook: 1 hr 45 min
Yield:6 servings


1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 teaspoon fine salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons shredded manchego cheese
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 1/4 pounds mixed heirloom tomatoes
Kosher salt
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
Freshly ground pepper
ADD CHECKED ITEMS TO GROCERY LIST
Directions

Make the crust: Pulse the flour, cornmeal and fine salt in a food processor to combine. Add the butter and 3 tablespoons manchego; pulse until the mixture looks like coarse meal with pea-size bits of butter. Drizzle in 4 tablespoons ice water and pulse until the dough comes together; add 1 more tablespoon ice water if necessary. Turn out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and pat into a disk. Wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 45 minutes.

Put the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll into a 13-inch round. Transfer the dough to a 9 1/2-inch deep-dish pie plate. Fold the overhang under itself and crimp the edges. Pierce the bottom of the crust all over with a fork. Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line the crust with foil, then fill with dried beans. Bake until the edges are golden, about 20 minutes. Remove the foil and beans and continue baking until golden all over, 10 to 15 more minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Make the filling: Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until golden, about 15 minutes. Let cool. Meanwhile, thinly slice the tomatoes; toss with 1 teaspoon kosher salt in a colander. Let drain, gently tossing occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Increase the oven temperature to 375 degrees F. Combine the remaining 3/4 cup manchego, the mozzarella, mayonnaise, breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons each chives and parsley, the thyme, 1/4 teaspoon each kosher salt and pepper, and the sauteed onion in a bowl. Spread in the crust. Arrange the tomatoes on top. Drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and season with pepper. Bake until the tomatoes are browned, about 50 minutes. Top with the remaining 1 tablespoon each chives and parsley.


----------



## limr

Another French kitty.


----------



## snowbear

It's been a rough year.  Rest in peace, brother.




__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10155112616064778


----------



## Gary A.

The before picture of Gary's badass turkey loaf. 
The during picture of Gary's sautéed kale. 
The after picture of Gary's badass turkey loaf.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 125269 View attachment 125268 View attachment 125267 The before picture of Gary's badass turkey loaf.
> The during picture of Gary's sautéed kale.
> The after picture of Gary's badass turkey loaf.


That looks delicious. I didn't need to see that....I didn't eat dinner tonight and it's too late to eat.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 125269 View attachment 125268 View attachment 125267 The before picture of Gary's badass turkey loaf.
> The during picture of Gary's sautéed kale.
> The after picture of Gary's badass turkey loaf.
> 
> 
> 
> That looks delicious. I didn't need to see that....I didn't eat dinner tonight and it's too late to eat.
Click to expand...

It is very very good and overflowing with flavor, stuffed with peppers, tomatoes and fists full of fresh Herb's from the yard. Splashed some of Gary's Famous BBQ sauce on top, sides of sautéed kale, freshly made wheat pasta and a juicy mango ... You need to move out here JC. Most everything I eat and cook is tasty and healthy.


----------



## Gary A.

Just returned from the watching the latest Star Trek.  It was good and entertaining but not as good as the two previous Star Trek movies. I felt so sorry for the father walking his young son down the steps to the restroom at the very climax of the movie.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  I think The Cook read the paper, at least the weather section.  On warm/hot days she bugs me earlier to get her contractural daily walk then on days when the reports call out a cooler temp. She is bugging me now, so off we go.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



Kinda looks like me and the way I stick my arms and feet out from under the blankets when I get hot in the middle of the night


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


Looks to me like someone found you bottle of vicodin and didn't read the dosing instructions.  He looks like a candidate for: The Recovery Village Alcohol and Drug Rehab Center


----------



## table1349

Medic, my mistake, I think I found the problem.


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

Gary has been moving and working in the yard all of the day. It is a bit after 1:00 p.m. and per Gary's iWatch he has used 793 active calories, 13 ,102 steps and traveled 6.63 miles. Half of those steps were from Cookie's walk, the rest was from yard work.  Gary is finished with phase 1 of rototilling the front yard,  Now he has to landscape. The back is mowed and trimmed, a few new peppers are planted, along with some cilantro and bee's balm.  Time to relax in the back, have some lunch and toss down some refreshing Margaritas.


----------



## jcdeboever

At steam show all day. Overcast, rain, mud, smoke, steam, and now tired. Pics will probably be bad, or blown out skies. I tried a lot of different things but couldn't figure it out. Guess will see when I get home.


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> Gary has been moving and working in the yard all of the day. It is a bit after 1:00 p.m. and per Gary's iWatch he has used 793 active calories, 13 ,102 steps and traveled 6.63 miles. Half of those steps were from Cookie's walk, the rest was from yard work.  Gary is finished with phase 1 of rototilling the front yard,  Now he has to landscape. The back is mowed and trimmed, a few new peppers are planted, along with some cilantro and bee's balm.  Time to relax in the back, have some lunch and toss down some refreshing Margaritas.




Eric approves of this post.


----------



## Gary A.

The Margarita.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has finished the Margarita, and is was goooood. Gary is catching up on the newspaper. One hell of a photo in the sports section showing Cory Seager swinging away, the bat breaking and the ball. In other breaking news, 58 people have been zapped by Stingrays in Coronado (San Diego). Higher than normal according to the Times.  Stringray stings are generally uncommon for most of California, as the waters are either too cold or active for their tastes.

Sadly, the Dodgers may trade Puig for Cinci's Bruce.


----------



## limr

The Dodgers never shoulda left Brooklyn.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary has finished the Margarita, and is was goooood. Gary is catching up on the newspaper. One hell of a photo in the sports section showing Cory Seager swinging away, the bat breaking and the ball. In other breaking news, 58 people have been zapped by Stingrays in Coronado (San Diego). Higher than normal according to the Times.  Stringray stings are generally uncommon for most of California, as the waters are either too cold or active for their tastes.
> 
> Sadly, the Dodgers may trade Puig for Cinci's Bruce.



I'm surprised you feel that way about Puig. He has been talked about a lot on XM MLB for his lack of production, dumb play, and disruption on the team. Granted he has all the tools but never has been able to put it together. I have seen some spectacular highlights over the years, maybe people in that large market expect too much? The general feeling on him by the experts is he would bode well in a small market where the light is not as bright? Jay Bruce is a pretty good ball player and may be the better fit.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> The Dodgers never shoulda left Brooklyn.


I heard that in your best Brooklyn accent.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Dodgers never shoulda left Brooklyn.
> 
> 
> 
> I heard that in your best Brooklyn accent.
Click to expand...


That's how I said it


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



The cat snake days of summer.


----------



## pixmedic

If ferret gets any more comatose,  he's gonna need this...


----------



## limr

For realz, yo.


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


_Chorus_
Don't bogart that joint my friend
Pass it over to me
Don't bogart that joint my friend
Pass it over to me

Roll another one
Just like the other one
You've been holding on to it
And I sure will like a hit


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary finally got the front sprinklers operational. Gary is wet, Gary is a bit sweaty from digging out a sprinkler, Gary now knows more about Orbit controllers than he cares to know ... But they are operational.

Low 8o's today, so, the heat wave is over, at least for now. Gary feels good that only two days of A/C to get through the heat wave. Mary Lou and Gary have retreated to the patio to read the paper, drink his coffee and her tea.  The Cook is next to Gary getting her butt rubbed and the stereo is on shuffle, softly accompanying the sounds from the waterfall.  No plans for today for us, a day of being couch potatoes.

Mary Lou is back to counting calories, which is the best way to lose weight, albeit dreadful. Back to balancing the intake ... As in, "Okay, only half a burrito if you drink that Margarita".  Big 5 has a "HUGE KAYAK SALE", Gary thinks he needs a kayak ... But none of them have a motor.


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC: Yes, Puig is exactly what you state, extremely unstable, explosive and capable. While I appreciate all those qualities, the unstable part, while initially amusing, has now become frustrating.  Defensively, Puig is just a badass, offensively he is a coin-toss. Bruce is very good, but not as much fun.  While it would hurt the team, I wouldn't mind seeing him shuffle off to Oklahoma City for a year, sorta like a shock-treatment.


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


>


Today's Daily Ferret Report brought to you by Greaso, the extra-heavy duty mustache wax.  Now with extra tar and fiberglass reinforcing strands.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Today's Daily Ferret Report brought to you by Greaso, the extra-heavy duty mustache wax.  Now with extra tar and fiberglass reinforcing strands.
Click to expand...

Co-Sponsored by Oxycodone. Having a bad hair day ... One little pill and Oxycodone will fix that and all your troubles for you.


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>



The Original Road Kill Cookbook: Buck Peterson, J. Angus Mclean


----------



## table1349

Medic,  Apparently your ferret isn't doing it right.


----------



## snowbear

On the way home from hospital (mom in law) and stopped for BBQ.   My Celtic roots kicked in.  The first time I had this from a can . . . It's not bad.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349




----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  (and ferrets)  The humidity here is killing me, but otherwise not bad for a Monday.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  (and ferrets)  The humidity here is killing me, but otherwise not bad for a Monday.



Morning, Ken! The humidity is high, yes, but the air temperature, at least when I was walking from my car into my office building, was nice. It's cloudy today and I hope it will remain so. If the sun comes out, even with lower temperatures, this humidity will make it feel yukky.

I'm sure it seems crazy to most, but it's a small consolation for me that my first Monday back to work after a lovely vacation is an August day that is cloudy and cool. Nice was great but I was tired of being hot every time I was outside of the hotel room or not in the water.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> I'm sure it seems crazy to most, but it's a small consolation for me that my first Monday back to work after a lovely vacation is an August day that is cloudy and cool. Nice was great but I was tired of being hot every time I was outside of the hotel room or not in the water.



Well, as the French so often say...

"You crazy American!  What the hell is wrong with you!  You ran over my foot!  Where did you learn how to drive!"

Ya, I miss Paris... 

Lol


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sure it seems crazy to most, but it's a small consolation for me that my first Monday back to work after a lovely vacation is an August day that is cloudy and cool. Nice was great but I was tired of being hot every time I was outside of the hotel room or not in the water.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, as the French so often say...
> 
> "You crazy American!  What the hell is wrong with you!  You ran over my foot!  Where did you learn how to drive!"
> 
> Ya, I miss Paris...
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...


We say the same thing in New York. Well, in English, of course. Sort of. And we substitute "You crazy American" with "You crazy Jersey ****!"


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> We say the same thing in New York. Well, in English, of course. Sort of. And we substitute "You crazy American" with "You crazy Jersey ****!"



Not sure it would be quite the same without the French accent.. but I'll give it a whirl next time I head east.. lol


----------



## astroNikon

Everyone give @robbins.photo  a slap in the back he's about to get 10k in messages.
LMAO


----------



## robbins.photo

astroNikon said:


> Everyone give @robbins.photo  a slap in the back he's about to get 10k in messages.
> LMAO



Thus answering the age old question, doesn't that guy ever shut up?  Why no, apparently not...

Lol


----------



## waday

limr said:


> "You crazy Jersey ****!"


Horrible drivers.


----------



## KenC

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> "You crazy Jersey ****!"
> 
> 
> 
> Horrible drivers.
Click to expand...


I used to say that in every place I lived, but then I reached the conclusion that bad driving is not geographically limited.


----------



## astroNikon

KenC said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> "You crazy Jersey ****!"
> 
> 
> 
> Horrible drivers.
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I used to say that in every place I lived, but then I reached the conclusion that bad driving is not geographically limited.
Click to expand...

I like to watch those Insane Russian car crash and road rage/street fighting youtube videos


----------



## waday

astroNikon said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> "You crazy Jersey ****!"
> 
> 
> 
> Horrible drivers.
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I used to say that in every place I lived, but then I reached the conclusion that bad driving is not geographically limited.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I like to watch those Insane Russian car crash and road rage/street fighting youtube videos
Click to expand...

How do you know they're not NJ tourists in Russia?


----------



## waday

KenC said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> "You crazy Jersey ****!"
> 
> 
> 
> Horrible drivers.
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I used to say that in every place I lived, but then I reached the conclusion that bad driving is not geographically limited.
Click to expand...

On a serious note: Totally! The drivers around Southcentral PA are horrible when it comes to construction. If there's a sign saying left lane closed 5 miles ahead. What does everyone do? Get in the right lane, block up miles of traffic, and leave the left lane free and clear. No one knows the zipper method here.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> On a serious note: Totally! The drivers around Southcentral PA are horrible when it comes to construction. If there's a sign saying left lane closed 5 miles ahead. What does everyone do? Get in the right lane, block up miles of traffic, and leave the left lane free and clear. No one knows the zipper method here.


If the left lane is closed, then shouldn't people be in the right lane?


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> On a serious note: Totally! The drivers around Southcentral PA are horrible when it comes to construction. If there's a sign saying left lane closed 5 miles ahead. What does everyone do? Get in the right lane, block up miles of traffic, and leave the left lane free and clear. No one knows the zipper method here.
> 
> 
> 
> If the left lane is closed, then shouldn't people be in the right lane?
Click to expand...

Not for another 5 miles!


----------



## astroNikon

waday said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> "You crazy Jersey ****!"
> 
> 
> 
> Horrible drivers.
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I used to say that in every place I lived, but then I reached the conclusion that bad driving is not geographically limited.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> On a serious note: Totally! The drivers around Southcentral PA are horrible when it comes to construction. If there's a sign saying left lane closed 5 miles ahead. What does everyone do? Get in the right lane, block up miles of traffic, and leave the left lane free and clear. No one knows the zipper method here.
Click to expand...

In Ohio you have to move to the right lane when there's a sign.  I've seen Ohio Troopers sitting behind the signs and pulling ppl over who don't obey it.


----------



## waday

astroNikon said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> "You crazy Jersey ****!"
> 
> 
> 
> Horrible drivers.
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I used to say that in every place I lived, but then I reached the conclusion that bad driving is not geographically limited.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> On a serious note: Totally! The drivers around Southcentral PA are horrible when it comes to construction. If there's a sign saying left lane closed 5 miles ahead. What does everyone do? Get in the right lane, block up miles of traffic, and leave the left lane free and clear. No one knows the zipper method here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> In Ohio you have to move to the right lane when there's a sign.  I've seen Ohio Troopers sitting behind the signs and pulling ppl over who don't obey it.
Click to expand...

Not sure about that. If the sign says "left lane closed 5 miles ahead", to me, that indicates the left lane is closed 5 miles ahead and not until 5 miles ahead. I'd totally fight that ticket.


----------



## limr

The beauty of zipper merging, or why you should drive ruder

And that advice to drive "ruder" is from Minnesota! That's practically Canada.

"It works as follows: in the event of an impending lane closure, drivers should fill in _both_ lanes in equal measure. Within a few car lengths of a lane ending, both lanes' cars should take turns filling in the open lane and resuming full speed.

If roads are clear enough that everyone is already driving close to the speed limit, zipper merging isn't as effective, but in the case of congestion, Johnson said that this method reduces backups by a whopping 40 percent on average, since both lanes approach the merge with equal stake in maintaining speed. "When the queue backup is reduced, the access points behind a work zone, like signals or ways to get on and off the freeway, those aren’t blocked," Johnson pointed out. "People have a better opportunity to get off or on the system at that point."


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> On a serious note: Totally! The drivers around Southcentral PA are horrible when it comes to construction. If there's a sign saying left lane closed 5 miles ahead. What does everyone do? Get in the right lane, block up miles of traffic, and leave the left lane free and clear. No one knows the zipper method here.
> 
> 
> 
> If the left lane is closed, then shouldn't people be in the right lane?
Click to expand...


Actually they should stay in the left lane, go speeding like crazy up to the point where the lane closes, then cut in line in front of all the people who got into the right lane earlier.  That way all traffic in both lanes can pretty much come to a standstill so the inconsiderate bastages can get where they are going 2½ minutes earlier than they would have otherwise.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> The beauty of zipper merging, or why you should drive ruder
> 
> And that advice to drive "ruder" is from Minnesota! That's practically Canada.
> 
> "It works as follows: in the event of an impending lane closure, drivers should fill in _both_ lanes in equal measure. Within a few car lengths of a lane ending, both lanes' cars should take turns filling in the open lane and resuming full speed.
> 
> If roads are clear enough that everyone is already driving close to the speed limit, zipper merging isn't as effective, but in the case of congestion, Johnson said that this method reduces backups by a whopping 40 percent on average, since both lanes approach the merge with equal stake in maintaining speed. "When the queue backup is reduced, the access points behind a work zone, like signals or ways to get on and off the freeway, those aren’t blocked," Johnson pointed out. "People have a better opportunity to get off or on the system at that point."


Many DOTs advocate for this, but so many people have the belief that waiting until the last minute is rude. These people are "early mergers", which can lead to dangerous lane switching, inconsistent driving speeds that cause crashes, long back-ups that block interchanges, and road rage (according to MnDOT).

A video literally showing the difference.. also from Minnesota, but you'll find many, if not most, states encouraging the use of zipper merging.


----------



## robbins.photo

If traffic in the one lane is already at a standstill then yes, rushing up to the head of the line in the other lane only serves to prolong the deadlock.

If traffic were flowing smoothly in both lanes, that would be a different story.  I have never, however, encountered a situation in which that has actually occurred.


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> If traffic in the one lane is already at a standstill then yes, rushing up to the head of the line in the other lane only serves to prolong the deadlock.
> 
> If traffic were flowing smoothly in both lanes, that would be a different story.  I have never, however, encountered a situation in which that has actually occurred.


The point is that the DOT does not want there to be one lane in a standstill while another lane is open... The person "rushing" ahead is actually doing what is recommended to avoid backups, erratic driving, and accidents.

Maybe it's different in the Midwest, but in the Northeast, there are too many cars on the road to not employ the zipper method.

It is funny, however, seeing how drivers of different states use it. People in SC PA typically feel the same, where they get road ragey, whereas people in NYC understand the level of traffic. While this is anecdotal, I've actually had more pleasant drives in Manhattan and Brooklyn than I have in Harrisburg.


----------



## waday




----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> It is funny, however, seeing how drivers of different states use it. People in SC PA typically feel the same, where they get road ragey, whereas people in NYC understand the level of traffic. While this is anecdotal, I've actually had more pleasant drives in Manhattan and Brooklyn than I have in Harrisburg.



In Texas if you don't step on the gas the instant the guy ahead of you does at a red light odds are good you'll get hit from behind.  In California, at least years ago when I got there, you never wanted to use your turn signals because the instant anyone else on the road knew you were trying to change lanes they would actively try to prevent you from doing so.

Here in the midwest, I've never seen anyone use the zipper method.  It just doesn't happen.  So not sure what the DOT would prefer, from my perspective it's immaterial.  I can only speak to the reality.


----------



## waday

Sounds good


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Here in the midwest, I've never seen anyone use the zipper method.  It just doesn't happen.  So not sure what the DOT would prefer, from my perspective it's immaterial.  I can only speak to the reality.



And here in the NYC metro area, I've never NOT seen the zipper method. Whaddya know?


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> And here in the NYC metro area, I've never NOT seen the zipper method. Whaddya know?



Much like I've never seen anyone here three or four cars back stomp on the accelerator the minute the light changed, they always wait for the guy in front of them to start moving first.  In Texas though, it was just assumed that the minute the light turned green everybody was paying attention and was ready to go... 

Lol


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And here in the NYC metro area, I've never NOT seen the zipper method. Whaddya know?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Much like I've never seen anyone here three or four cars back stomp on the accelerator the minute the light changed, they always wait for the guy in front of them to start moving first.  In Texas though, it was just assumed that the minute the light turned green everybody was paying attention and was ready to go...
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...


Then there's the situation where you are the first one at a red light, planning on going straight. Across the intersection is a person with their left turn signal on (if you're lucky). You know that they don't have their own green left turn arrow, and you also know that as soon as the light turns green, they are going to dart into the intersection to make their left turn, cutting off all the traffic that is going straight and thus should have the right-of-way.

I know this happens everywhere, but it seemed to be much more common in Western PA. New Jersey, of course, has dealt with this by eliminating left-hand turns almost entirely and using jug handles instead. That makes for some fun times...(but then again, it's still Jersey  )


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Zipper is pretty much routine out here .. As is not letting a person ahead of you when changing lanes, there is plenty of room behind. Actually, with the exception of Gary, most drivers in California are generally courteous on the road ... a parking lot is much different.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Zipper in is pretty much routine out here .. As is not letting a person ahead of you when changing lanes, there is plenty of room behind. Actually, with the exception of Gary, most drivers in California are generally courteous on the road ... a parking lot is much different.



Well in fairness I haven't been out to CA since the late 80's so I'm guessing some things have probably changed since then.  I was also in Los Angeles and Sacramento, which might have some influence there as well.

At the time the "Native Californian" bumper stickers were all the rage and using your turn signals was just a really bad idea.  Bit of a culture shock really.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Zipper is pretty much routine out here .. As is not letting a person ahead of you when changing lanes, there is plenty of room behind. Actually, with the exception of Gary, most drivers in California are generally courteous on the road ... a parking lot is much different.


If it ain't button fly it ain't real Levis.


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Zipper is pretty much routine out here .. As is not letting a person ahead of you when changing lanes, there is plenty of room behind. Actually, with the exception of Gary, most drivers in California are generally courteous on the road ... a parking lot is much different.
> 
> 
> 
> If it ain't button fly it ain't real Levis.
Click to expand...

Pffft.   Some us were wearing Levi long before they built in an excuse to spend an extra few minutes playing with your crotch.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Zipper is pretty much routine out here .. As is not letting a person ahead of you when changing lanes, there is plenty of room behind. Actually, with the exception of Gary, most drivers in California are generally courteous on the road ... a parking lot is much different.
> 
> 
> 
> If it ain't button fly it ain't real Levis.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Pffft.   Some us were wearing Levi long before they built in an excuse to spend an extra few minutes playing with your crotch.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

That would be quite a feat considering the button fly 501 was the original jeans invented in 1873 by Levi Strauss & Co.

I've only been wearing them long enough to remember when you could buy a pair for $5.00 and the fashion was to turn them up at the bottom.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Zipper is pretty much routine out here .. As is not letting a person ahead of you when changing lanes, there is plenty of room behind. Actually, with the exception of Gary, most drivers in California are generally courteous on the road ... a parking lot is much different.
> 
> 
> 
> If it ain't button fly it ain't real Levis.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Pffft.   Some us were wearing Levi long before they built in an excuse to spend an extra few minutes playing with your crotch.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That would be quite a feat considering the button fly 501 was the original jeans invented in 1873 by Levi Strauss & Co.
> 
> I've only been wearing them long enough to remember when you could buy a pair for $5.00 and the fashion was to turn them up at the bottom.
Click to expand...

Yes, 1873 in California.  The trick wasn't the fly, but the riveted stress points.


----------



## JonA_CT

So I just finished up the bottom of a bag of Fritos while watching some netflix. 

My wife informed me that the bag was opened at least 6 weeks ago. 

They were still deliciously crispy. I haven't decided whether this was a good or bad thing.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> So I just finished up the bottom of a bag of Fritos while watching some netflix.
> 
> My wife informed me that the bag was opened at least 6 weeks ago.
> 
> They were still deliciously crispy. I haven't decided whether this was a good or bad thing.


Fritos that were 6 weeks old????????   Are you a Communist??????
Have you never heard of Frito Chili Pie?????


----------



## JonA_CT

gryphonslair99 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> So I just finished up the bottom of a bag of Fritos while watching some netflix.
> 
> My wife informed me that the bag was opened at least 6 weeks ago.
> 
> They were still deliciously crispy. I haven't decided whether this was a good or bad thing.
> 
> 
> 
> Fritos that were 6 weeks old????????   Are you a Communist??????
> Have you never heard of Frito Chili Pie?????
Click to expand...


Soooo....they were bought for a similar purpose on a camping trip, and they got tossed in the bottom of our snack bowl when we got home. We haven't bought snacks in awhile, and they resurfaced...

But you're right. It's unacceptable.


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> If traffic in the one lane is already at a standstill then yes, rushing up to the head of the line in the other lane only serves to prolong the deadlock.
> 
> If traffic were flowing smoothly in both lanes, that would be a different story.  I have never, however, encountered a situation in which that has actually occurred.


okay... Someone a'splain this to me, 'cause the way I am hearing it, this "zipper" method seems to require those in the through lane to yield their right of way. 
..


----------



## JonA_CT

Finally getting around to editing some of the cake photos with my daughter. First and last here. Evidently she doesn't appreciate my baking


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> If traffic in the one lane is already at a standstill then yes, rushing up to the head of the line in the other lane only serves to prolong the deadlock.
> 
> If traffic were flowing smoothly in both lanes, that would be a different story.  I have never, however, encountered a situation in which that has actually occurred.
> 
> 
> 
> okay... Someone a'splain this to me, 'cause the way I am hearing it, this "zipper" method seems to require those in the through lane to yield their right of way.
> ..
Click to expand...


DOT: 'Zipper merge' keeps highway traffic zipping along :: WRAL.com


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> If traffic in the one lane is already at a standstill then yes, rushing up to the head of the line in the other lane only serves to prolong the deadlock.
> 
> If traffic were flowing smoothly in both lanes, that would be a different story.  I have never, however, encountered a situation in which that has actually occurred.
> 
> 
> 
> okay... Someone a'splain this to me, 'cause the way I am hearing it, this "zipper" method seems to require those in the through lane to yield their right of way.
> ..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> DOT: 'Zipper merge' keeps highway traffic zipping along :: WRAL.com
Click to expand...

Is that serious??????


----------



## limr

Um...yes? Why is it so surprising?


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> If traffic in the one lane is already at a standstill then yes, rushing up to the head of the line in the other lane only serves to prolong the deadlock.
> 
> If traffic were flowing smoothly in both lanes, that would be a different story.  I have never, however, encountered a situation in which that has actually occurred.
> 
> 
> 
> okay... Someone a'splain this to me, 'cause the way I am hearing it, this "zipper" method seems to require those in the through lane to yield their right of way.
> ..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> DOT: 'Zipper merge' keeps highway traffic zipping along :: WRAL.com
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Is that serious??????
Click to expand...

Yep, common sense among American drives is in short supply and apparently there is no know reserves left to be tapped on this planet.  If you doubt me just look around this country at some of the driving laws that have been passed.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Um...yes? Why is it so surprising?


Cause they're suggesting you give up right of way.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Um...yes? Why is it so surprising?
> 
> 
> 
> Cause they're suggesting you give up right of way.
Click to expand...

It is a way of everyday life here, getting on the freeways during peak times ... Everybody zippers.  Losing lanes due to construction ... Everybody zippers. Until this thread, Gary didn't know it was called zipper ... We just did it out here because ... Common Sense.  We just call it merging. When two lane merge into one, you slow down and let a car squeeze in ahead of you. The car in back of you slows up and the next car squeezes in behind you.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Um...yes? Why is it so surprising?
> 
> 
> 
> Cause they're suggesting you give up right of way.
Click to expand...


So what? It gets everyone through faster. Everyone knows that when you hit the merge point that you take turns. As they said, if trafic is light enough that people can all move over at once without breaking the flow of traffic, then there's no need to zipper. This is for when traffic is heavier and is going to slow down a lot.

It's always been done that way here (though, like Tio Gary, I never knew it was called a zipper merge until today) and it's never been an issue. Everyone knows the unwritten rules of the zipper merge and it goes quite smoothly and calmly.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Um...yes? Why is it so surprising?
> 
> 
> 
> Cause they're suggesting you give up right of way.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> So what? It gets everyone through faster. Everyone knows that when you hit the merge point that you take turns. As they said, if trafic is light enough that people can all move over at once without breaking the flow of traffic, then there's no need to zipper. This is for when traffic is heavier and is going to slow down a lot.
> 
> It's always been done that way here (though, like Tio Gary, I never knew it was called a zipper merge until today) and it's never been an issue. Everyone knows the unwritten rules of the zipper merge and it goes quite smoothly and calmly.
Click to expand...

Dangerous and stupid. The minute people don't adhere to the right of way, you don't know what they're going to do. I might think you're going to let me in, but then you change your mind and presto... Instant accident and I'm at fault.


----------



## EIngerson

This "zipper" would not work for me. I can show you photos of the spit on the inside of my windshield from yelling at people who are wrong.


----------



## tirediron

EIngerson said:


> This "zipper" would not work for me. I can show you photos of the spit on the inside of my windshield from yelling at people who are wrong.


I NEVER yield right of way, and I never usurp it. If I have to wait, I wait. It's simple.


----------



## EIngerson

tirediron said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> This "zipper" would not work for me. I can show you photos of the spit on the inside of my windshield from yelling at people who are wrong.
> 
> 
> 
> I NEVER yield right of way, and I never usurp it. If I have to wait, I wait. It's simple.
Click to expand...


Yup!


----------



## Gary A.

Common courtesy.  This doesn't happen at freeway speeds, only at the neck/merge point. Everybody goes as far as they can then they let their brothers and sisters kindly merge into the flowing lane(s).


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Dangerous and stupid. The minute people don't adhere to the right of way, you don't know what they're going to do. I might think you're going to let me in, but then you change your mind and presto... Instant accident and I'm at fault.



But you DO know what the de facto "right of way" is during a zipper merge. People take turns from each lane. It's not in any official rule book, but that's what people do. Quite honestly, I see more predictable behaviors during a zipper merge than I ever see in free-flowing traffic.

Even when some people don't play by those rules, there's only so much that can happen. We're talking a crawling pace. If, to take your example, I decide to let you in and then change my mind, it's too late, The nose of your car is already in front of mine, and depending on how fast traffic is moving at that point, you're already entirely in the lane. Sometimes a few jackasses drivers in the open lane won't yield and you have to wait an extra car or two, which at least gives you time to flip a bird or two, and then someone lets you in and the turn-taking resumes.

You're really overstating the possible dangers or offenses. I'm telling you that I have witnessed and participated in this traffic pattern dozens of times in my driving life, and I have never seen it be the problem you are making it out to be.


----------



## table1349

One of the big problems today that I see far too often are people who drive 10 feet in front of their vehicle.  They have virtually no situational awareness.  Because of my profession I learned to drive as far out as I could see as well as all around me at all times.  Then add to these 10 foot drivers a cell phone an some of them barely see past the dashboard.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The gray, overcast, cool marine layer is back! And it is a very cool morning.  Upon opening the morning paper and it's more negative stuff on XXX, XXX, XXX.  Last night on the news more negative on YYY, YYY, YYY. Honestly folks, is this the best America can do for presidential candidates? At this point Gary thinks that we will need walls along Mexico and Canada not to keep people out ... But to keep us from leaving the United States ... lock, stock and barrel. Gary trusts that no country wants a ton of spoiled, entitled, delicate as a snowflake, Americans and both Canada and Mexico would be happy to pay for a wall that would keep us Americans from lemming-ing our way north and south.

Was that political?

PS- (Gary is aware that Lemmings do not line up for sucide marches over cliffs ... So no corrective measures are necessary, the made-up term was used for hyperbole imagery ... Man, there are times when Gary hates the Internet.)


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dangerous and stupid. The minute people don't adhere to the right of way, you don't know what they're going to do. I might think you're going to let me in, but then you change your mind and presto... Instant accident and I'm at fault.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But you DO know what the de facto "right of way" is during a zipper merge. People take turns from each lane. It's not in any official rule book, but that's what people do. Quite honestly, I see more predictable behaviors during a zipper merge than I ever see in free-flowing traffic.
> 
> Even when some people don't play by those rules, there's only so much that can happen. We're talking a crawling pace. If, to take your example, I decide to let you in and then change my mind, it's too late, The nose of your car is already in front of mine, and depending on how fast traffic is moving at that point, you're already entirely in the lane. Sometimes a few jackasses drivers in the open lane won't yield and you have to wait an extra car or two, which at least gives you time to flip a bird or two, and then someone lets you in and the turn-taking resumes.
> 
> You're really overstating the possible dangers or offenses. I'm telling you that I have witnessed and participated in this traffic pattern dozens of times in my driving life, and I have never seen it be the problem you are making it out to be.
Click to expand...

Gary zippers in every jammin' morning getting on the freeway.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gary zippers in every jammin' morning getting on the freeway.



One would hope Gary zippers before leaving the house


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary zippers in every jammin' morning getting on the freeway.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One would hope Gary zippers before leaving the house
Click to expand...

Yes Gary does.  It is a matter of safety.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dangerous and stupid. The minute people don't adhere to the right of way, you don't know what they're going to do. I might think you're going to let me in, but then you change your mind and presto... Instant accident and I'm at fault.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But you DO know what the de facto "right of way" is during a zipper merge. People take turns from each lane. It's not in any official rule book, but that's what people do. Quite honestly, I see more predictable behaviors during a zipper merge than I ever see in free-flowing traffic.
> 
> Even when some people don't play by those rules, there's only so much that can happen. We're talking a crawling pace. If, to take your example, I decide to let you in and then change my mind, it's too late, The nose of your car is already in front of mine, and depending on how fast traffic is moving at that point, you're already entirely in the lane. Sometimes a few jackasses drivers in the open lane won't yield and you have to wait an extra car or two, which at least gives you time to flip a bird or two, and then someone lets you in and the turn-taking resumes.
> 
> You're really overstating the possible dangers or offenses. I'm telling you that I have witnessed and participated in this traffic pattern dozens of times in my driving life, and I have never seen it be the problem you are making it out to be.
Click to expand...

My point concerns yielding the right of way in general rather than "zuppering" specifically. As soon as people deviate from the rules, their behaviour becomes an unknown quantity. I will give you an example I witnessed just last week:  The main road through the business area is two lanes in each direction with a bi-directional centre lane. On this particular day traffic was heavy and flowing at probably 15ish MPH. a driver in the right-hand west-bound lane decided to be "courteous" and stopped to allow a driver waiting to exit from a parking lo turn left in front of him to get to the centre lane and the east- kind traffic lanes. The exiting driver failed to notice that traffic in the left-hand west-bound lane hadn't stopped. Presto:  fender-bender. Yes it was minor, no one was hurt and the total damage appeared to be a couple of dented fenders and some broken lights, but it brought traffic to a standstill delayed thousands of people. Had the driver not been "courteous" there would have been no issue. 

To be honest Lenny, I'm very surprised that someone with legal training would feel entitled to make obscene gestures toward someone who simply exercised their right of way!


----------



## robbins.photo

And thus we realize that the answer to all of life's mysteries are found in Gary's pants.

Problem solved.  Moving right along...


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> My point concerns yielding the right of way in general rather than "zuppering" specifically. As soon as people deviate from the rules, their behaviour becomes an unknown quantity. I will give you an example I witnessed just last week:  The main road through the business area is two lanes in each direction with a bi-directional centre lane. On this particular day traffic was heavy and flowing at probably 15ish MPH. a driver in the right-hand west-bound lane decided to be "courteous" and stopped to allow a driver waiting to exit from a parking lo turn left in front of him to get to the centre lane and the east- kind traffic lanes. The exiting driver failed to notice that traffic in the left-hand west-bound lane hadn't stopped. Presto:  fender-bender. Yes it was minor, no one was hurt and the total damage appeared to be a couple of dented fenders and some broken lights, but it brought traffic to a standstill delayed thousands of people. Had the driver not been "courteous" there would have been no issue.
> 
> To be honest Lenny, I'm very surprised that someone with legal training would feel entitled to make obscene gestures toward someone who simply exercised their right of way!



You are giving a random example. What I mean by that is you are describing a situation that is not normal, that is not signaled a mile in advance, and therefore is unpredictable. That's not a traffic pattern - it's an individual making a single decision. A zipper merge is *predictable.* It's hundreds of drivers all making the same decision because they've been warned and they've all done this before. Everyone knows it's coming and everyone knows what to do. The few that don't follow the unwritten rules of the merge end up either a few cars ahead or a few cars behind, but there's simply not the kind of chaos you are imagining or projecting into this scenario.

And no, they are not simply exercising their right of way because they are in a unique situation that comes with its own rules that everyone knows and generally observes. When you've just watched 30 cars politely alternating into the open lane and suddenly you've decided to ignore that pattern, then you are not being a courteous driver. Instead, you are being an egotistical driver who is breaking the flow of traffic. I can *GUARANTEE *you that the person in the open lane who does not yield is NOT thinking of rules and safety and right-of-way. Nope, nope, nope. That person is thinking, "Eff them all, I'm getting ahead!" And someone whose ego is more important than playing along with everyone else deserves a rude gesture from time to time.

And for my turn to be honest, it's hard to understand why this is such a difficult concept to grasp. The right-of-way exists to make certain traffic situations easier and more efficient and safer. The zipper merge is NOT aided by the traditional rules of right-of-way and so they are suspended for a different system that *is more efficient and just as safe.*_ Right-of-way is not the end of the story.
_
But whatever. Just don't drive in the NY Tri-State area and we'll all be fine.


----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349

Now THIS is a zipper merge.....


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> You are giving a random example. What I mean by that is you are describing a situation that is not normal, that is not signaled a mile in advance, and therefore is unpredictable. That's not a traffic pattern - it's an individual making a single decision. A zipper merge is *predictable.* It's hundreds of drivers all making the same decision because they've been warned and they've all done this before. Everyone knows it's coming and everyone knows what to do. The few that don't follow the unwritten rules of the merge end up either a few cars ahead or a few cars behind, but there's simply not the kind of chaos you are imagining or projecting into this scenario.
> 
> And no, they are not simply exercising their right of way because they are in a unique situation that comes with its own rules that everyone knows and generally observes. When you've just watched 30 cars politely alternating into the open lane and suddenly you've decided to ignore that pattern, then you are not being a courteous driver. Instead, you are being an egotistical driver who is breaking the flow of traffic. I can *GUARANTEE *you that the person in the open lane who does not yield is NOT thinking of rules and safety and right-of-way. Nope, nope, nope. That person is thinking, "Eff them all, I'm getting ahead!" And someone whose ego is more important than playing along with everyone else deserves a rude gesture from time to time.
> 
> And for my turn to be honest, it's hard to understand why this is such a difficult concept to grasp. The right-of-way exists to make certain traffic situations easier and more efficient and safer. The zipper merge is NOT aided by the traditional rules of right-of-way and so they are suspended for a different system that *is more efficient and just as safe.*_ Right-of-way is not the end of the story.
> _
> But whatever. Just don't drive in the NY Tri-State area and we'll all be fine.


the concept is simple; I understand it in theory, but do not accept it in execution.  have to disagree; the concept of 'right of way' is not something that exists to make certain situations easier. Rather it is the concept on which driving is based. It ensures that when an "accident" occurs it is readily apparent [in Al but a very, very few] situations. The citing of unwritten rules is one that makes me want to scream. 

"Unwritten rules" are used to justify illegal activity that a significant number of drivers engage in because they find it convenient. This is commonly seen when people speed because it's an unwritten rule that 10 or 20 miles an hour is over is okay. 

And yes I do drive at the posted limit and no I NEVER yield right of way.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> the concept is simple; I understand it in theory, but do not accept it in execution.



And you also dismiss the evidence that the execution of it DOES work.



> The citing of unwritten rules is one that makes me want to scream.



Scream all you want, it doesn't change the fact that unwritten rules govern much more of human behavior than written ones do.



> "Unwritten rules" are used to justify illegal activity that a significant number of drivers engage in because they find it convenient.



Nonsense. You act like it's anarchy.

And don't worry - there are actually _written_ rules in places like Germany, Austria, and Belgium that codify zipper merging in their traffic laws.
German Roads Are Smarter Than Yours
What is the Zipper Method designed to prevent?

Oh, and lookie here, in little ol' Canada: Why waiting to merge is rational, not rude
"In Canada, road signage falls under the jurisdiction of provincial transportation departments. When individual municipalities deploy signage, it has to conform to provincial standards. Interestingly, though, there is no mention of zipper merging in the _Ontario Traffic Manual_, the road-sign “bible” of the Ministry of Transportation. When Greater Sudbury adopted the concept of zipper merging, they promoted it through a public awareness campaign. With the upcoming busy highway reconstruction season, both within Ottawa (three letters: LRT), and on multi-lane provincial highways, proper signage that explicitly tell drivers what’s expected of them is not only safer, it’s been proven to ease congestion."


----------



## table1349

And now for something besides a snarky, sarcastic conversation about driving.

Newly discovered potential health benefits from drinking coffee.


----------



## jcdeboever

Zipper merge... great concept poor execution in MI. I drive everywhere and everywhere is dumb drivers. I am up high and I would say 7 out of 10 drivers are texting while driving....sorry ladies but y'all are the biggest offenders here in MI, OH, and IN. Unreal...they can't zip because they are on Facebook.


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

In fact, out here many of the freeway on ramps are 'metered'.  They have signal lights to mechanically space the cars for zippering.  During peak traffic, the green light comes on for a few seconds then red for a few seconds.


----------



## Designer

Tirediron; here is a conundrum for you; Which lane, in your opinion has the right of way?  If you say "the right lane, of course!", then what happens if the right lane is the one that is blocked?  If all the drivers remain in the right lane to exercise their "right" of way, what happens when they get to the cones?  If I understand your position, then ALL drivers would be in the right lane, driving toward the cones, and then swing into the left lane (because it's empty) without a hitch.  Is that correct?

BTW: when the construction signs come out in the spring of the year, they usually place several signs that instruct drivers to "use both lanes during backups".  It's very plain to see, and most people do that up to the point of where the cones are.


----------



## astroNikon

jcdeboever said:


> Zipper merge... great concept poor execution in MI. I drive everywhere and everywhere is dumb drivers. I am up high and I would say 7 out of 10 drivers are texting while driving....sorry ladies but y'all are the biggest offenders here in MI, OH, and IN. Unreal...they can't zip because they are on Facebook.


and in some cases, drivers will create another lane just to get ahead of the stopped lanes of traffic.  Then of course, the truckers will try to block anyone trying to get by.

It's a free for all it seems ...


----------



## astroNikon

Gary A. said:


> In fact, out here many of the freeway on ramps are 'metered'.  They have signal lights to mechanically space the cars for zippering.  During peak traffic, the green light comes on for a few seconds then red for a few seconds.


We used to have those lights in Detroit.
But they were stolen and sold for scrap.  (seriously)


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> In fact, out here many of the freeway on ramps are 'metered'.  They have signal lights to mechanically space the cars for zippering.  During peak traffic, the green light comes on for a few seconds then red for a few seconds.


These are around Philly, as well.


----------



## table1349




----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> Tirediron; here is a conundrum for you; Which lane, in your opinion has the right of way?  If you say "the right lane, of course!", then what happens if the right lane is the one that is blocked?  If all the drivers remain in the right lane to exercise their "right" of way, what happens when they get to the cones?  If I understand your position, then ALL drivers would be in the right lane, driving toward the cones, and then swing into the left lane (because it's empty) without a hitch.  Is that correct?
> 
> BTW: when the construction signs come out in the spring of the year, they usually place several signs that instruct drivers to "use both lanes during backups".  It's very plain to see, and most people do that up to the point of where the cones are.


in BC law (with a few distinctly marked exceptions) the right of way lane is the through lane. The burdened driver is the one in the lane which is ending irrespective of whether that is left, right or middle.


----------



## table1349

*And Tomorrow on Point Counter-Point, which came first, the Chicken or the Egg.* 






*Good night everyone, and have a pleasant tomorrow. *


----------



## b_twill

In other news...the bunnies have pretty much decimated the garden.  Beans - gone; Peppers - gone; Dill - decimated.  They even found some ripe tomatoes!  Carnations, dahlias, nasturtium, lilies, sunflowers... The only things they left is the pumpkins and zucchini, though they seem to stay away from my scorpion peppers!   We tried caging what we could so some stuff maybe saved.
I've spotted at least 3 young rabbits in our backyard.  Anyone know if the ATF has rules on spears and magic helmets?


----------



## jcdeboever

b_twill said:


> In other news...the bunnies have pretty much decimated the garden.  Beans - gone; Peppers - gone; Dill - decimated.  They even found some ripe tomatoes!  Carnations, dahlias, nasturtium, lilies, sunflowers... The only things they left is the pumpkins and zucchini, though they seem to stay away from my scorpion peppers!   We tried caging what we could so some stuff maybe saved.
> I've spotted at least 3 young rabbits in our backyard.  Anyone know if the ATF has rules on spears and magic helmets?


But........ they're cute....


----------



## table1349

b_twill said:


> In other news...the bunnies have pretty much decimated the garden.  Beans - gone; Peppers - gone; Dill - decimated.  They even found some ripe tomatoes!  Carnations, dahlias, nasturtium, lilies, sunflowers... The only things they left is the pumpkins and zucchini, though they seem to stay away from my scorpion peppers!   We tried caging what we could so some stuff maybe saved.
> I've spotted at least 3 young rabbits in our backyard.  Anyone know if the ATF has rules on spears and magic helmets?


*Slow Roasted Rabbit*

cooking stats
        Prep 20 m
        Cook 1 h 30 m
        Ready In 1 h 50 m

Ingredients

        1 (3 pound) rabbit, cleaned and cut into pieces
        1 3/4 teaspoons salt
        1 tablespoon ground black pepper
        1/4 cup vegetable oil
        4 teaspoons white sugar
        1 onion, chopped
        3/4 cup ketchup
        1 clove garlic, chopped
        1 tablespoon paprika
        1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
        1 cup water

Directions

        Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

        Season the rabbit with salt and pepper. Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the rabbit pieces and brown on all sides. Place in a 9x13 inch baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, onion, ketchup, garlic, paprika, Worcestershire sauce and water; pour over the rabbit.   Bake uncovered for 90 minutes in the preheated oven, basting frequently. Meat should be very tender when done.


----------



## Gary A.

It was grand.


----------



## astroNikon

b_twill said:


> In other news...the bunnies have pretty much decimated the garden.  Beans - gone; Peppers - gone; Dill - decimated.  They even found some ripe tomatoes!  Carnations, dahlias, nasturtium, lilies, sunflowers... The only things they left is the pumpkins and zucchini, though they seem to stay away from my scorpion peppers!   We tried caging what we could so some stuff maybe saved.
> I've spotted at least 3 young rabbits in our backyard.  Anyone know if the ATF has rules on spears and magic helmets?





jcdeboever said:


> But........ they're cute....


----------



## jcdeboever

astroNikon said:


> b_twill said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news...the bunnies have pretty much decimated the garden.  Beans - gone; Peppers - gone; Dill - decimated.  They even found some ripe tomatoes!  Carnations, dahlias, nasturtium, lilies, sunflowers... The only things they left is the pumpkins and zucchini, though they seem to stay away from my scorpion peppers!   We tried caging what we could so some stuff maybe saved.
> I've spotted at least 3 young rabbits in our backyard.  Anyone know if the ATF has rules on spears and magic helmets?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> But........ they're cute....
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Silly wabbit


----------



## waday

So, today, the National Society of Professional Engineers is having the first annual National Professional Engineer Day. That's pretty cool.

Granted, there's already an engineers week in February. But, I guess the NSPE wants to specifically call out those that are licensed.

Happy Professional Engineer Day to my PE colleagues!

_To the optimist, the glass is half-full. To the pessimist, the glass is half-empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be._


----------



## table1349

waday said:


> So, today, the National Society of Professional Engineers is having the first annual National Professional Engineer Day. That's pretty cool.
> 
> Granted, there's already an engineers week in February. But, I guess the NSPE wants to specifically call out those that are licensed.
> 
> Happy Professional Engineer Day to my PE colleagues!
> 
> _To the optimist, the glass is half-full. To the pessimist, the glass is half-empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be._


Congratulations and remember, keep them wheels well oiled and the engine on the tracks.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone images



 Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers  it was another Bowl night last night. It was simply grand.




Chopped steak seared perfectly on Gary's new grill grates.




Along side a kale/lettuce salad from the yard and Gary's Famous Flat Bread all washed down with a Halter Ranch Ancestor, a wonderful red blend.  For dessert, Mary Lou picked up this huge slice of Carrot Cake which we consumed at our seats at half time.

The night was titled, "Tango Under the Stars", music of Argentina.  Surprisingly, the Bowl was packed on a Tuesday night.  After the National Anthem, Angel Romero was introduced. He was an older gentleman dressed in a colorful, long sleeved shirt with a flora/tropical pattern and he strummed the guitar in the Spanish style.  To say he was very very good is an understatement ... He knew his guitar like an old photo pro knows his camera ... His hands were huge and muscular from decades of practice. He didn't play the guitar he danced, teased and romanced the instrument.

In the second half the dancers flaunted themselves to Dudamel's orchestration of the LA Phil. Completely captivating, one of the best evenings of pure and uncompromised entertainment Gary has experienced in a long time.

Damn, Gary loves the Bowl.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Gary A.

One would think, that after a week or so, the dead rodent would begin to stink.


----------



## pixmedic

Gary A. said:


> One would think, that after a week or so, the dead rodent would begin to stink.


Febreze is our friend


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> One would think, that after a week or so, the dead rodent would begin to stink.


It's a ferret, they already stink.  Dead or alive.


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> One would think, that after a week or so, the dead rodent would begin to stink.
> 
> 
> 
> Febreze is our friend
Click to expand...

No Fabreze is our deodorant, apparently if that ferret is that damn tired he has found another "friend with benefits" to play with.


----------



## pixmedic

gryphonslair99 said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> One would think, that after a week or so, the dead rodent would begin to stink.
> 
> 
> 
> Febreze is our friend
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No Fabreze is our deodorant, apparently if that ferret is that damn tired he has found another "friend with benefits" to play with.
Click to expand...

He does like to play with the dog when he's out.


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> One would think, that after a week or so, the dead rodent would begin to stink.
> 
> 
> 
> Febreze is our friend
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No Fabreze is our deodorant, apparently if that ferret is that damn tired he has found another "friend with benefits" to play with.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> He does like to play with the dog when he's out.
Click to expand...


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>



Wow... I could of sworn he just moved...


----------



## Designer

robbins.photo said:


> Wow... I could of sworn he just moved...


Uhh.. that was in July.  It's August now.


----------



## robbins.photo

Designer said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow... I could of sworn he just moved...
> 
> 
> 
> Uhh.. that was in July.  It's August now.
Click to expand...


Ya.. but still it's the first time I think I've ever seen him almost move...


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Along side a kale/lettuce salad from the yard and Gary's Famous Flat Bread all washed down with a Halter Ranch Ancestor, a wonderful red blend.



So that's Gary's Famous Flatbread and not Famous Gary's? Or Original Gary's? Or Famous Original Gary's? Gary's Famous Original?



pixmedic said:


>



That cat snake is my spirit animal. This is exactly how I behaved when I had to spend summers in Florida.


----------



## waday

gryphonslair99 said:


> keep them wheels well oiled and the engine on the tracks


Wheels well oiled and on the tracks, or cars moving in the proper zipper method. Whichever comes first.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Along side a kale/lettuce salad from the yard and Gary's Famous Flat Bread all washed down with a Halter Ranch Ancestor, a wonderful red blend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So that's Gary's Famous Flatbread and not Famous Gary's? Or Original Gary's? Or Famous Original Gary's? Gary's Famous Original?
Click to expand...


Yes.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Along side a kale/lettuce salad from the yard and Gary's Famous Flat Bread all washed down with a Halter Ranch Ancestor, a wonderful red blend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So that's Gary's Famous Flatbread and not Famous Gary's? Or Original Gary's? Or Famous Original Gary's? Gary's Famous Original?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes.
Click to expand...


So would that then also include a generous portion of the Famously Original Gary's secret sleeping ferret sauce?


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

Not a comatose cat snake but just a regular cat in a light's-on-but-no-one's-home state.


----------



## snowbear

pixmedic said:


>


"Sanka, ya dead?"


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Not a comatose cat snake but just a regular cat in a light's-on-but-no-one's-home state.
> 
> View attachment 125557


She's just observant but disintereted.


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


>


We need.... FERRETCAM!!!!!


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We need.... FERRETCAM!!!!!
Click to expand...

Oh boy, just like watching grass grow.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We need.... FERRETCAM!!!!!
Click to expand...


YASSSSSS!


----------



## Gary A.

67F tonight, into the 70's for the rest of the week. Gary appreciates the cooling trend.  Gary ordered a DVD of the guitarist from last night.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not a comatose cat snake but just a regular cat in a light's-on-but-no-one's-home state.
> 
> View attachment 125557
> 
> 
> 
> She's just observant but disintereted.
Click to expand...


Nah, there wasn't much beyond "I haz a box!" in that furry little brain.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not a comatose cat snake but just a regular cat in a light's-on-but-no-one's-home state.
> 
> View attachment 125557
> 
> 
> 
> She's just observant but disintereted.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nah, there wasn't much beyond "I haz a box!" in that furry little brain.
Click to expand...

I can relate; Zoe's frequently a Barbie doll: cute as a button and dumb as a rock.


----------



## terri

Morning, hosers!   I'm visiting Mackinac Island, and the weather is stunning.  Beautiful mid 80s during the day, in the 60s in the evening.   I brought only my Holga and cell phone for pics.   My legs and back are getting sore, but worth it.

Time to get coffee.


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> Morning, hosers!   I'm visiting Mackinac Island, and the weather is stunning.  Beautiful mid 80s during the day, in the 60s in the evening.   I brought only my Holga and cell phone for pics.   My legs and back are getting sore, but worth it.
> 
> Time to get coffee.


I love that place. Probably going there this fall. Lots of photo opportunities there, never considered a Holga shoot but now that you mentioned it, I think it's a great choice.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> "Sanka, ya dead?"



Ya Mon


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not a comatose cat snake but just a regular cat in a light's-on-but-no-one's-home state.
> 
> View attachment 125557
> 
> 
> 
> She's just observant but disintereted.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nah, there wasn't much beyond "I haz a box!" in that furry little brain.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I can relate; Zoe's frequently a Barbie doll: cute as a button and dumb as a rock.
Click to expand...


Ah, but Zoe isn't also presented to little girls as a model for an "ideal" woman, or have physical proportions that in real life would cause her lifelong back and leg pain, and give her enough room in her gut for just half a liver.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is sipping on his coffee enjoying his high 70 days and low 60 nights .  Front page story headline "She will finally eat - after 16 years". A very interesting story surrounding an Indian, that for the last 16 years has been on a hunger strike protesting the government. She, the hunger strike protestor, has been hospitalized and being fed via nose tube for the past 16 years.    

Gary has been giving some serious thoughts to picking up either a Leica or a Hasselblad. Gary already has a medium format in the Fuji GX680III, but it is huge Tri-pod only type of camera. Gary is leaning towards the Leica as opposed to a handholdable medium format. 

Gary is still sore from yesterday's gardening.  He moved two large, (planted in 30 gallon containers), trees, one's a plum tree the other this very heavy succulent tree (Pencil Cactus).  The problem was that they were both trapped into the designated space on the patio. Both trees had to be laid down, twisted, turned and buttered in order to get them out and once again to get them back in. The Pencil Cactus tree's pot was destroyed in the move and had to be repotted.  All-in-all a royal and exhausting pain. But it is done.


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> Morning, hosers!   I'm visiting Mackinac Island, and the weather is stunning.  Beautiful mid 80s during the day, in the 60s in the evening.   I brought only my Holga and cell phone for pics.   My legs and back are getting sore, but worth it.
> 
> Time to get coffee.


May all you film be outdated and your cell service be spotty. 

High 90's to lower 100's for the next week to ten days here.


----------



## terri

It's fresh film, straight outta Freestyle.  

No cell service issues.   Disgusting perfection, really.  Don't hate.


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> It's fresh film, straight outta Freestyle.
> 
> No cell service issues.   Disgusting perfection, really.  Don't hate.


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


>



Ridiculous.  Completely ridiculous.

No known magic or technology in any universe can be used to "summon" a cat.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Does anyone remember a toy that was furry and flat and you 'petted' it and it moved sort of snakey like?? Probably static electricity but I thought it was entertaining! lol I don't know what those were called but they were more active than the perpetually sleepy ferret. I've had a busy week, I'd like to have a ferret day.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Does anyone remember a toy that was furry and flat and you 'petted' it and it moved sort of snakey like?? Probably static electricity but I thought it was entertaining! lol I don't know what those were called but they were more active than the perpetually sleepy ferret. I've had a busy week, I'd like to have a ferret day.



The chia-brick?  Sure, every kid had one.. lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

No, not a chia anything!!  It was flat and felt on one side and fake fur on the other and supposed to look like, uh... some kind of furry critter thing. They were probably all the rage for like 5 minutes.


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ridiculous.  Completely ridiculous.
> 
> No known magic or technology in any universe can be used to "summon" a cat.
Click to expand...

Ah Contraire Pierre.  Cats can be trained.  It just takes more patience.  Patience is not a trait of gorillas.  

Our cat does come when called and will get up on a lap when beckoned. He might not stay long but he come and get on your lap.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> No, not a chia anything!!  It was flat and felt on one side and fake fur on the other and supposed to look like, uh... some kind of furry critter thing. They were probably all the rage for like 5 minutes.


We have a couple around for our granddaughters.  






The go by many names.


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ridiculous.  Completely ridiculous.
> 
> No known magic or technology in any universe can be used to "summon" a cat.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ah Contraire Pierre.  Cats can be trained.  It just takes more patience.  Patience is not a trait of gorillas.
> 
> Our cat does come when called and will get up on a lap when beckoned. He might not stay long but he come and get on your lap.
Click to expand...

He isn't trained.  He's just humoring you.  Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Does anyone remember a toy that was furry and flat and you 'petted' it and it moved sort of snakey like?? Probably static electricity but I thought it was entertaining! lol I don't know what those were called but they were more active than the perpetually sleepy ferret. I've had a busy week, I'd like to have a ferret day.


Squirmin Herman?


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> No, not a chia anything!!  It was flat and felt on one side and fake fur on the other and supposed to look like, uh... some kind of furry critter thing. They were probably all the rage for like 5 minutes.



Rough guess it was probably a Squirmin' Herman.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. It's almost quittin' time!






This is the last week of our "flex time" which means tomorrow is my last half-day for Friday. It'll be back to a regular schedule next week. While it was nice to have a short Friday, it also makes for long days M-Th. There's half an hour taken from lunch and another half hour tacked onto the end of the day, so I was working 8:30-5 with 30 minutes for lunch (which I rarely took because it's hardly worth it, especially in the summer when I hate going outside. I just ate at my desk and dithered on the internet a little bit.) Next week, it's back to a full hour for lunch and a 4:30 quitting time.


----------



## table1349

Now this will wake your wife or girlfriend up at 3:00 a.m.


----------



## snowbear

Yesterday I went over the Fire Box update process to the guy whom has enherited it; remind me to send him a fruit basket and sympathy card.  Today I created a new GIS layer drawing about 42 miles of trails in US and State parks, and the access points from established roads.  Tomorrow night I'm helping the Chief Deputy's office monitor the carpet installation contracters, so I get to leave the main job early, then come back.  Saturday I'm heading to the DC Pen Show, alledgedly the largest of it's kind.


----------



## snowbear

Depressed and sad.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## limr

I'm just...

On the surface, it's "just" an online forum - people joining in conversation simply because they have a shared interest. The interactions are mostly purposeful - asking for or giving advice/opinions/information/crap - but they can also get personal. Sometimes you don't realize how much you've come to think of someone as a friend, even though you've never met each other in person and possibly never will. We may think this means the friendship means less somehow, but these days, I'm not willing to make that call anymore. They're different kinds of friendships, to be sure, but I think they can be just as real.

It's funny when I think sometimes of how a silly thing like the Leaderboard thread led to more lasting and meaningful interactions, something which we all felt reluctant to let go. This feeling led, no doubt, to Charlie creating this very thread here so we could continue bonding in ways that went beyond "just" an online photography forum. This thread that allows us to get to know each other on a deeper level just by bs-ing about our day or our likes/dislikes or our other shared interests or our disagreements...well, I don't think it's a fluke that it has continued for 1,522 pages and 18,258 posts.

Sharon. And this is why a faceless, written friendship can sometimes be deeper than face-to-face, for me at least. This is the point when, in "real life" I start fumbling for words, not knowing what to say, just standing around patting someone on the shoulder, nodding my head, getting teary-eyed and saying things like, "Yeah, I know, it's so sad." I could never voice these thoughts that I'm writing now. That means that some of my friends never get to hear what I'm really thinking or feeling because I don't know how to say it, but I do know how to write it.

And how I'm feeling is sad, so sad that Sharon just _isn't_ anymore. She's left us. I know she's been away from us for a while, and we've all missed her. I was just thinking of her the other day, wondering how she was. But now she's gone, and I'm sad because we've all lost a friend, and I'm going to miss her in a whole new way than the way I did before when there was a chance she'd be with us again.

For Sharon.


----------



## waday

Today is a gloomy day. Late night last night, restless night sleep, and all clouds with no sun this morning.

News about Sharon is sad, but memories of her will live on.


----------



## limr

I'll cheer for her Vols this season. Well, unless they're playing the Gators. I think she'd reach down and smack me in the head if I ever turned my back on my team, even if it was to cheer for her team


----------



## robbins.photo

It's a difficult morning, to be certain.  I shall miss Sharon more than I'd care to think about at the moment.  I take solace in the fact that she will live on in all of our hearts, just a few of the many people she no doubt touched throughout the course of her life.


----------



## limr

I've been getting weepy intermittently all morning long. Today is the kind of day she would have loved: warm and sunny. She probably would have liked it a bit warmer - it's "only" in the low 80s - and I would have told her that she was crazy, that it was plenty warm. But it's the kind of day that may have persuaded her to sit outside and have a margarita at her favorite Mexican place, or go home and sip at a little Fireball.

And this is why I don't believe in visiting graves at cemeteries. The person I miss is not there. Sharon is not where her body is anymore. She's right here in this sunny day. Maybe it'll help me be a tiny little bit less angry at summers from now on.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> I've been getting weepy intermittently all morning long. Today is the kind of day she would have loved: warm and sunny. She probably would have liked it a bit warmer - it's "only" in the low 80s - and I would have told her that she was crazy, that it was plenty warm. But it's the kind of day that may have persuaded her to sit outside and have a margarita at her favorite Mexican place, or go home and sip at a little Fireball.
> 
> And this is why I don't believe in visiting graves at cemeteries. The person I miss is not there. Sharon is not where her body is anymore. She's right here in this sunny day. Maybe it'll help me be a tiny little bit less angry at summers from now on.



I'm not sure what the temperature here is at the moment.  I thought about that for a minute, thought maybe I should find out.

Then I could hear Sharon in the back of my head.  "I'm just not motivated enough to google it right now..."

Made me smile.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> I'll cheer for her Vols this season. Well, unless they're playing the Gators. I think she'd reach down and smack me in the head if I ever turned my back on my team, even if it was to cheer for her team


Yes, she would.  You cheer them Vols from NY and Gary from LA. (Unless the play the Trojans in the title game.)


----------



## limr

2016 Tennessee Volunteers Football Schedule


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday, Gary had his first Crabbie's. Mary Lou and Gary dined at Ye Old Ship, an English Pub in Fullerton. Mary Lou had some dental work performed and was quite happy just with a bowl of clam chowder and Gary had some type of meat pie. We like Ye Old Ship and its British nautical themed interior, wide spectrum of ale's and stouts and the food is quite good, much better than comparable dishes Gary has consumed in the United Kingdom.

For those, like Gary, who have never tasted a Crabbie's.  It was much different than a beer, the ginger was pronounced with the ale and orange more or less in the background and it was quite refreshing on a warm California evening.

If Gary runs into Crabbie's at a store, Gary will take a six-pack home.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> 2016 Tennessee Volunteers Football Schedule


I can cheer the Vols all season since they don't play the Terps.  Gators will be a coin toss.


----------



## Gary A.

Ooooohhhhh ... It is 83F, a bit more humidity than normal, but counterbalanced by a very nice cool Pacific breeze.  Gary is sipping a newly crafted blend of lemons and oranges and it is soooo good.  A nice warm summer afternoon and a tall glass of orange-lemonade, wishing you all were here to share this afternoon.  (Gary is rapidly running out of lemons, but has a ton of oranges, hence the blend.)


----------



## Gary A.

Weeknight Lemon Chicken Skillet Dinner w/grilled apples.


----------



## Gary A.

Fini, teamed up with a Lumiere Cabernet Franc.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm watching hockey, again or still... USA Summer Showcase, part of tryout/training camp for the junior level national development teams. I know someone who's there or I wouldn't have known it was on.

Now Leo, why in the Olympics using the Portuguese alphabet was the USA on earlier and they're just now getting to Uganda and Uzbekistan?

Haven't watched all of the opening parade of athletes but I usually enjoy that, although the summer sports aren't really my thing. The opening performance was colorful, then it started reminding me of a travelogue and I had a hard time staying with it. Then the refugee delegation came in, good they have an opportunity to participate but somewhat sobering too. Now Brazil came in and that livened things up.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I'm watching hockey, again or still... USA Summer Showcase, part of tryout/training camp for the junior level national development teams. I know someone who's there or I wouldn't have known it was on.
> 
> Now Leo, why in the Olympics using the Portuguese alphabet was the USA on earlier and they're just now getting to Uganda and Uzbekistan?
> 
> Haven't watched all of the opening parade of athletes but I usually enjoy that, although the summer sports aren't really my thing. The opening performance was colorful, then it started reminding me of a travelogue and I had a hard time staying with it. Then the refugee delegation came in, good they have an opportunity to participate but somewhat sobering too. Now Brazil came in and that livened things up.



In Portuguese, our initials are actually EUA, for Estados Unidos da America, so we come mich earlier in the alphabet using their translation.


----------



## Gary A.

The parade of nations ... I absolutely love it!  Brazil SIM!!!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Thanks. Kind of like French where it's Etats d'.... something Uni ... well whatever it's getting late and I'm too tired to remember high school French!


Are you watching on a delay or something? The torch is lit and I'm watching local news... Or are you just still partying along with Rio?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Etats des Unis - I was close.

I googled it and got a pineapple whacking a ball with a racket.

Thank goodness there's hockey on Saturday.


----------



## Gary A.

Etats-unis d'Amerique ... Rio is four hours ahead of Los Angeles, Gary assumes it is on a delay. Something about prime time and max ad dollars and max viewers Gary suspects.


----------



## snowbear

One of the Green Mountain K-Cuppery blrnds this morning, then taking MLW to the office to monitor the carpet installers while I go to Tysons (another traffic magnet) for the DC Pen Supershow.  I have a very limited budget so there may only be a bottle or two of pretty ink for me.


----------



## table1349

Watching carpet installers/Watching grass grow.....Watching carpet installers/Watching grass grow.....Watching carpet installers/Watching grass grow.   Pretty much a toss up to me.  But then I have one of the dogs on my lap shivering right now due to the thunderstorm.  She calms down when Daddy holds and pets her during thunder boomers.


----------



## Gary A.

This is a succulent from Africa.  The bloom is about to explode. The big bloom is approximately five inches in length.  This plant/bloom is rated as being in the top nine of the most disgustingly foul  smelling flowers in the world.  Dead, rotting flesh comes quite close to describing the fragrance and yes, it's pollinator are flies which flock to the bloom like flies to ... well ... to dead, rotting flesh. Presently, the plant is on the patio, when it opens Gary will move it somewhere, far.  When Gary purchased the plant, the nursery never spoke of the fragrance.  If Gary had known of the plant's distinguishing qualities, he most likely would have gotten two,




iPhone images

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. This is another cool, overcast and shadowless morning.  Keeps everything from heating up, it should barely break 80F today.  Gary loved the opening ceremonies and thinks that Brazil did a great job, it was full of fun and color and entertainment.  Gary wishes he was there.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> I'll cheer for her Vols this season. Well, unless they're playing the Gators. I think she'd reach down and smack me in the head if I ever turned my back on my team, even if it was to cheer for her team


I suspect she'll reach down and smack a number of us, just on general principle and because she can, irrespective of which team is being cheered for!


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 125641
> iPhone
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday, Gary had his first Crabbie's. Mary Lou and Gary dined at Ye Old Ship, an English Pub in Fullerton. Mary Lou had some dental work performed and was quite happy just with a bowl of clam chowder and Gary had some type of meat pie. We like Ye Old Ship and its British nautical themed interior, wide spectrum of ale's and stouts and the food is quite good, much better than comparable dishes Gary has consumed in the United Kingdom.
> 
> For those, like Gary, who have never tasted a Crabbie's.  It was much different than a beer, the ginger was pronounced with the ale and orange more or less in the background and it was quite refreshing on a warm California evening.
> 
> If Gary runs into Crabbie's at a store, Gary will take a six-pack home.


It's very good; even better in the 650ml bottles!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 125641
> iPhone
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday, Gary had his first Crabbie's. Mary Lou and Gary dined at Ye Old Ship, an English Pub in Fullerton. Mary Lou had some dental work performed and was quite happy just with a bowl of clam chowder and Gary had some type of meat pie. We like Ye Old Ship and its British nautical themed interior, wide spectrum of ale's and stouts and the food is quite good, much better than comparable dishes Gary has consumed in the United Kingdom.
> 
> For those, like Gary, who have never tasted a Crabbie's.  It was much different than a beer, the ginger was pronounced with the ale and orange more or less in the background and it was quite refreshing on a warm California evening.
> 
> If Gary runs into Crabbie's at a store, Gary will take a six-pack home.
> 
> 
> 
> It's very good; even better in the 650ml bottles!
Click to expand...

And you waited all this time to tell Gary ...

Man, Gary could have been enjoying Crabbie's years ago.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 125641
> iPhone
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday, Gary had his first Crabbie's. Mary Lou and Gary dined at Ye Old Ship, an English Pub in Fullerton. Mary Lou had some dental work performed and was quite happy just with a bowl of clam chowder and Gary had some type of meat pie. We like Ye Old Ship and its British nautical themed interior, wide spectrum of ale's and stouts and the food is quite good, much better than comparable dishes Gary has consumed in the United Kingdom.
> 
> For those, like Gary, who have never tasted a Crabbie's.  It was much different than a beer, the ginger was pronounced with the ale and orange more or less in the background and it was quite refreshing on a warm California evening.
> 
> If Gary runs into Crabbie's at a store, Gary will take a six-pack home.
> 
> 
> 
> It's very good; even better in the 650ml bottles!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And you waited all this time to tell Gary ...
> 
> Man, Gary could have been enjoying Crabbie's years ago.
Click to expand...

Sorry?


----------



## Gary A.

LOL!


----------



## vintagesnaps

If one drinks Crabbies does that help keep one from feeling crabby?


----------



## tirediron

vintagesnaps said:


> If one drinks Crabbies does that help keep one from feeling crabby?


Hellz no!  How do you think I got to be the happy, cheerful and mellow person that I am today?????


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm sorry to hear you all have lost a friend this week. It's always amazing to me the special relationships that can be formed on forums like this one.

I just got back from the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Didn't take as many photos as I would have liked, and I'm getting frustrated by the cheapness of my wide-angle lens. Pretty much all of my favorite shots have tons of CA. It looks like I'll need to upgrade that ahead of schedule.

In other news, my mom's garden is overflowing, and she keeps dropping off baskets of fresh produce. This week's haul brought tons of eggplant, zucchini, and tomatoes. So of course, I'm actively making bread (for BLTs and BELTs) and tomato sauce (for eggplant parmesan). The house smells amazing right now.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> If one drinks Crabbies does that help keep one from feeling crabby?


This was the first time Gary was pleased about getting Crabbie's.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I'm sorry to hear you all have lost a friend this week. It's always amazing to me the special relationships that can be formed on forums like this one.
> 
> I just got back from the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Didn't take as many photos as I would have liked, and I'm getting frustrated by the cheapness of my wide-angle lens. Pretty much all of my favorite shots have tons of CA. It looks like I'll need to upgrade that ahead of schedule.
> 
> In other news, my mom's garden is overflowing, and she keeps dropping off baskets of fresh produce. This week's haul brought tons of eggplant, zucchini, and tomatoes. So of course, I'm actively making bread (for BLTs and BELTs) and tomato sauce (for eggplant parmesan). The house smells amazing right now.


LOL ... Gary has some baguettes on the BBQ.


----------



## snowbear

We are patiently waiting for the carpet guys to finish for the day.  Hopefully it will ony be an hour or so.

No new pens found their way into my bag but I did get to admire some hand lacquered beauties (urishi and maki-e) and a bunch of vintage Parkers  and Sheaffers.

I did pick up a couple bottles of ink and one for son #1 whom wasn't able to make it.


----------



## table1349

3 days..........3 early morning thunderstorms...........3 inches of rain so far.   And one scared dog cuddling close to daddy at 4 in the morning in the bed.   Her sister, "storm, what storm?"


----------



## vintagesnaps

Now I see what your avatar is Charlie, in small size on the main page I couldn't tell. Nice tribute to Sharon.

We could use some rain, back yard's looking pretty brown. My hanging plants are long since done and so are the neighbors', all we have left are the plastic baskets they came in.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Thank you Sharon for the heads-up ... That is a very nice tribute Charlie.

The morning is almost gone.  It was gray and cool but now the Sun is burning off the morning overcast. Early morning chores are over, Gary got a walk into the dog, water the patio plants and into his second cup of Colombian Supremo. Today, Gary's has a goal of matting and framing a bunch of posters for his daughter.  There are a dozen of various sizes and the quotes I got from the pro framers was as high as $3,000.  Nyet to that. So Gary is breaking out the mat cutter and rolling up his sleeves.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Gary's fly attracting succulent has opened.


----------



## The_Traveler

Gary A. said:


> This is a succulent from Africa.  The bloom is about to explode. The big bloom is approximately five inches in length.  This plant/bloom is rated as being in the top nine of the most disgustingly foul  smelling flowers in the world.  Dead, rotting flesh comes quite close to describing the fragrance and yes, it's pollinator are flies which flock to the bloom like flies to ... well ... to dead, rotting flesh. Presently, the plant is on the patio, when it opens Gary will move it somewhere, far.  When Gary purchased the plant, the nursery never spoke of the fragrance.  If Gary had known of the plant's distinguishing qualities, he most likely would have gotten two,



In 1986, the first real life test of some software I developed was on 10 bodies recovered from a US plane that went down near Panama. They had been floating for about a week before being found and the morgue building was almost unapproachable.  The autopsy suite was on the third floor and it took me the entire morning to actually get in the room and stay in the room. I would take the elevator up and when the door opened and the actual smell hit, I would make a right turn and walk down the stairs. Vicks in the nose just wasn't enough to cloak that smell. I finally got acclimated to the smell a bit but I ended up tossing my clothes, going home in civvies and shaving my mustache off.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 125679
> 
> This is a succulent from Africa.  The bloom is about to explode. The big bloom is approximately five inches in length.  This plant/bloom is rated as being in the top nine of the most disgustingly foul  smelling flowers in the world.  Dead, rotting flesh comes quite close to describing the fragrance and yes, it's pollinator are flies which flock to the bloom like flies to ... well ... to dead, rotting flesh. Presently, the plant is on the patio, when it opens Gary will move it somewhere, far.  When Gary purchased the plant, the nursery never spoke of the fragrance.  If Gary had known of the plant's distinguishing qualities, he most likely would have gotten two,
> 
> View attachment 125680
> iPhone images
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. This is another cool, overcast and shadowless morning.  Keeps everything from heating up, it should barely break 80F today.  Gary loved the opening ceremonies and thinks that Brazil did a great job, it was full of fun and color and entertainment.  Gary wishes he was there.



The corpse flower at the US Botanic Garden opened last week.  I've never been there to see it bloom, nor do I want to be.


----------



## Gary A.

You really can't smell this thing, unless you really get your nose close, real close.  Gary didn't have a clue about the fragrance until he saw all the flies hanging out. That peaked his interest and he stuck his nose into the flower and yep there some rotting flesh in there.  Then some research to answer of all Gary's questions.  

Gary has a pretty strong stomach. While he doesn't relish the smell of rotting flesh and gross environmental circumstances, he just tightens everything that can be tightened and powers through the unpleasantries. Gary's mental desire/need to do his job is stronger than the physical reaction/revulsion to gross situations.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Moving on from rotting flesh smells ... Mary Lou and Gary are relaxing in the back and sipping a Thornton Sauvignon Blanc, delish.


----------



## jcdeboever

Got into a minor skirmish today. I was asked to take pics at a party, I did it myself last year. I was happy to do it at no charge, friends of family. The guy was a professional and wasn't asked because I was free I guess. Wwll, he decided to give me some drunken attitude. I had to pin him down a throw a half ass jab or two to his upper right orbital socket which I broke. I did everything i could to restrain myself but he threw a whiffed slap or punch. I took him down with a leg sweep and popped him once to let him know I meant business. I wasn't trying to steal his business. Now the guy is hurt.


----------



## Gary A.

Oh man, that is all a shame. Sorry the drunk took you on.


----------



## tirediron

Not as sorry as the drunk is!


----------



## EIngerson

jcdeboever said:


> Got into a minor skirmish today. I was asked to take pics at a party, I did it myself last year. I was happy to do it at no charge, friends of family. The guy was a professional and wasn't asked because I was free I guess. Wwll, he decided to give me some drunken attitude. I had to pin him down a throw a half ass jab or two to his upper right orbital socket which I broke. I did everything i could to restrain myself but he threw a whiffed slap or punch. I took him down with a leg sweep and popped him once to let him know I meant business. I wasn't trying to steal his business. Now the guy is hurt.




That sucks....

But, if you're going to fight, fight like the third monkey on the ramp to Noah's Ark.


----------



## table1349

3 more inches of rain over night.  High supposed to be in the mid 80's again.  This front seems to have stalled over us.  6 inches of rain in the last 4 days.


----------



## JonA_CT

Sorry, JC. Sounds like the guy has that weird mixture of insecurity and arrogance (maybe one is the function of the other). Hardest kind of people to deal with, in my opinion.  

I only have three weeks of summer left, and have to go into work several times between now and then. It's finally Sunday in my life, although honestly, I always feel by this time of the year that it's time to be back at work. The fall semester is going to be a busy one too -- after a break from my college course load in the spring, I'm back teaching six credits in addition to my normal middle school job. The money is good though, and I get a different appreciation out of teaching adults.

I was a bit inspired by Sparky's state fair thread -- I'm going through the different local fairs and exhibitions websites and thinking about picking out 3-4 photos that I might want to submit. Why not, right?


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Not as sorry as the drunk is!



But I'm guessing not nearly as happy as the drunk's lawyer is, because he'll be the one to profit here...


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Sorry, JC. Sounds like the guy has that weird mixture of insecurity and arrogance (maybe one is the function of the other). Hardest kind of people to deal with, in my opinion.
> 
> I only have three weeks of summer left, and have to go into work several times between now and then. It's finally Sunday in my life, although honestly, I always feel by this time of the year that it's time to be back at work. The fall semester is going to be a busy one too -- after a break from my college course load in the spring, I'm back teaching six credits in addition to my normal middle school job. The money is good though, and I get a different appreciation out of teaching adults.
> 
> I was a bit inspired by Sparky's state fair thread -- I'm going through the different local fairs and exhibitions websites and thinking about picking out 3-4 photos that I might want to submit. Why not, right?



I'm in the opposite situation (teaching less in the Fall than I'm used to) but it's still the same story. August = Sunday. The dread of September/Monday looms. The teaching dreams start ("What do you mean, I'm teaching algebra?" "Since when is room 135 at the top of a mountain?" "Wait, TODAY is the first day of classes???")

From now on - or at least for as long as I have my full-time staff position - I'm only allowed to teach one class per semester, which is fine with me. It keeps me in the classroom without overwhelming me with too much work on top of my day job, and it gives me enough extra money to actually make a difference.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, JC. Sounds like the guy has that weird mixture of insecurity and arrogance (maybe one is the function of the other). Hardest kind of people to deal with, in my opinion.
> 
> I only have three weeks of summer left, and have to go into work several times between now and then. It's finally Sunday in my life, although honestly, I always feel by this time of the year that it's time to be back at work. The fall semester is going to be a busy one too -- after a break from my college course load in the spring, I'm back teaching six credits in addition to my normal middle school job. The money is good though, and I get a different appreciation out of teaching adults.
> 
> I was a bit inspired by Sparky's state fair thread -- I'm going through the different local fairs and exhibitions websites and thinking about picking out 3-4 photos that I might want to submit. Why not, right?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm in the opposite situation (teaching less in the Fall than I'm used to) but it's still the same story. August = Sunday. The dread of September/Monday looms. The teaching dreams start ("What do you mean, I'm teaching algebra?" "Since when is room 135 at the top of a mountain?" "Wait, TODAY is the first day of classes???")
> 
> From now on - or at least for as long as I have my full-time staff position - I'm only allowed to teach one class per semester, which is fine with me. It keeps me in the classroom without overwhelming me with too much work on top of my day job, and it gives me enough extra money to actually make a difference.
Click to expand...


Well it's been a while since I had to address a group but I found one or two phrases that always seem to work as great openers, to set the right mood.

"Listen up you little bastards..."

Was always a personal favorite.  Granted eventually they removed me as scout leader just because we lost a few of them on a Jamboree.  Not like they were really doing much for us in the merit badge department anyway but I guess they were afraid of a law suit or something.  But back then, oh ya, worked like a charm every time.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>



Woah.. stand back folks.  He's about to spring into action.

Any second now.

Wait for it.. wait for it...

Umm.. any second now...


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone Image


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 125769
> iPhone Image



Doesn't the Leica have some sort of time travel settings so you can take pictures of the camera with the camera?


----------



## tirediron

Gary gots a new toy?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Looks like it... oooooh.

Todd the things you come up with! lol what an imagination.

Leo and Jon you have my sympathies. Did we have a summer?? where'd it go?


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 125769
> iPhone Image
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Doesn't the Leica have some sort of time travel settings so you can take pictures of the camera with the camera?
Click to expand...

Gary thinks that you may be thinking of a mirrored-reflex camera. This Leica doesn't have a mirror.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary gots a new toy?



Yes Gary gots one.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


----------



## table1349

Well hopefully tomorrow will be better than today.  My mother is in assisted living due to Alzheimer's and my wife and I have been working on an estate sale and then putting her house on the market.  It's three hours away.  Long story short last Thursday afternoon the estate people let me know the AC was not working.  Was able to get ahold of her HVAC person to come repair it.  
Drove 3 hours there and 3 hours back to reset the BREAKER.   Apparently one of the storms from last week popped the breaker.  He went ahead and serviced the system but there was 7 hours I will never get back.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> Well hopefully tomorrow will be better than today.  My mother is in assisted living due to Alzheimer's and my wife and I have been working on an estate sale and then putting her house on the market.  It's three hours away.  Long story short last Thursday afternoon the estate people let me know the AC was not working.  Was able to get ahold of her HVAC person to come repair it.
> Drove 3 hours there and 3 hours back to reset the BREAKER.   Apparently one of the storms from last week popped the breaker.  He went ahead and serviced the system but there was 7 hours I will never get back.


Having been around this particular block, all I'm going to say is if that's all you don't get back, you're wayyyyyyyyy ahead!


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well hopefully tomorrow will be better than today.  My mother is in assisted living due to Alzheimer's and my wife and I have been working on an estate sale and then putting her house on the market.  It's three hours away.  Long story short last Thursday afternoon the estate people let me know the AC was not working.  Was able to get ahold of her HVAC person to come repair it.
> Drove 3 hours there and 3 hours back to reset the BREAKER.   Apparently one of the storms from last week popped the breaker.  He went ahead and serviced the system but there was 7 hours I will never get back.
> 
> 
> 
> Having been around this particular block, all I'm going to say is if that's all you don't get back, you're wayyyyyyyyy ahead!
Click to expand...

Oh we have spent days upon days going through 50 years of accumulated stuff.  Sale ends the 14th, the house is supposed to be ready the 17th and hopefully it goes on the market the 20th.  Once it is sold life will be much easier.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



OH HAI!


----------



## Gary A.

M4-P Update.

Gary has just been playing with the camera but hasn't loaded any film yet.  Gary had a pair of M4's back in the early 80's, but they were for work and motorized. Just holding the M4 brought back a flood of memories. What a camera.  Very very similar to Gary's XP1 and XP2.  The camera feels like it was carved from a single hunk of metal. Compared to Gary's digital cameras ... It is a night and day difference between the complexities of a digital camera and the clean, simplicity of this Leica. On the camera only one adjustment, shutter speed and on the lens two adjustments, aperture and focus. Gary's first 35mm camera was a Yashica rangefinder with no meter, which he acquired in grade school.  The Yashica taught Gary how to set his exposure by eye.  Gary is going back home.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Todd the things you come up with! lol what an imagination.



Well the Jamboree thing?  Totally not my fault.  I told the kid, over and over again..

Look Jimmy, I realize your out of shape and that your tired of running around trying to catch food with a spear.  But look at the rest of them Jimmy - we're about a day or two away from a total Lord of the Flies type situation here.  And you know as well as I do Jimmy, they eat the fat kids first...

Lol


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  The usual kind of variety on this thread - ferrets, new cameras, and dealing with family.  The last makes me feel lucky that my mother just turned 86 and is sharp as a tack (and living close by).


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. This is another gray and cool morning. It is 70F presently and may break into the 80's in the afternoon. Gary is sitting here playing with his new toy and reading the manual. He decided to pop some film into it and take it for a walk with The Cook. Gary is fiddling with the camera and quickly realizes how wonderful auto focus has become.  Gary loves AF, this manual stuff is cheesy. But damn it is a good looking camera ... Gary will put up with a lot of cheese for good looking.  Gary is shallow.

Now Gary is getting the itch, the itch Gary knew he would get, knowing he would get the itch is what kept Gary from acquiring a Leica ... Gary has the itch for lenses.  Man, those lenses are expensive ... Must not scratch ... Must not scratch.


----------



## Designer




----------



## Gary A.

Looking at Gary's bank account, puts a big bandage on that itch.


----------



## robbins.photo

Could be a good advertising slogan though..

Sell a kidney, buy a Leica!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Could be a good advertising slogan though..
> 
> Sell a kidney, buy a Leica!


More like, sell a Kidney and buy a Leica Camera Body ... sell that remaining Kidney and get a Lens.


----------



## pixmedic

Gary A. said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Could be a good advertising slogan though..
> 
> Sell a kidney, buy a Leica!
> 
> 
> 
> More like, sell a Kidney and buy a Leica Camera Body ... sell that remaining Kidney and get a Lens.
Click to expand...


sell BOTH kidneys so you can buy a Leica AND a lens, get a dialysis port, and go shooting.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Could be a good advertising slogan though..
> 
> Sell a kidney, buy a Leica!
> 
> 
> 
> More like, sell a Kidney and buy a Leica Camera Body ... sell that remaining Kidney and get a Lens.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> sell BOTH kidneys so you can buy a Leica AND a lens, get a dialysis port, and go shooting.
Click to expand...


Umm... guys... advertising.  Your supposed to make them want to buy the camera...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Day #___ ? in the life of a ferret. It rolled over.

It's Gretzky Day!!! on the NHL network that is. Don't know why and not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but I'm getting nothing done because - I'm watching hockey all day!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary, what a hoser, go get a Polaroid then you just have to push a button. Oh wait, not an SX-70, you have to focus those!  Oh I know get a 110 Kodak Instamatic, don't even have to load film with those, just shove a cassette in there.

It's probably like riding a bicycle, manual focusing will come back to you. I never quit focusing manually, even do with my digital camera with vintage lenses.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> Day #___ ? in the life of a ferret. It rolled over.
> 
> It's Gretzky Day!!! on the NHL network that is. Don't know why and not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but I'm getting nothing done because - I'm watching hockey all day!


It's still day 1.  Medic just turns the cage to make it look like a live ferret that changed position.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


Sure, take an out of focus photo of the face so it is harder to see the scotch tape you used to hold his eyes open.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Oh I know get a 110 Kodak Instamatic, don't even have to load film with those, just shove a cassette in there.


No - 126 Instramatic; better DOF with the larger format.


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


Good job, the cage bars are still in focus and the ferret face is not.    He looks good rolled over an posed.


----------



## pixmedic

gryphonslair99 said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good job, the cage bars are still in focus and the ferret face is not.    He looks good rolled over an posed.
Click to expand...

Toothpicks are a wondrous item


----------



## Designer

Looks like he gets up once a day whether he needs to or not.


----------



## table1349

I still think it is a ferret puppet.


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


Missed this one earlier.  Now we know why the photos are blurry.


----------



## pixmedic

gryphonslair99 said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Missed this one earlier.  Now we know why the photos are blurry.
Click to expand...

Yea...once I figured out they weren't twist off caps.  Must be too high class for me.


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Missed this one earlier.  Now we know why the photos are blurry.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yea...once I figured out they weren't twist off caps.  Must be too high class for me.
Click to expand...

Here ya go.  Don't want you to feel lost with that quality stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Day #___ ? in the life of a ferret. It rolled over.
> 
> It's Gretzky Day!!! on the NHL network that is. Don't know why and not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but I'm getting nothing done because - I'm watching hockey all day!


Gary has a hockey stick, played and autographed by the Great One.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Gary, what a hoser, go get a Polaroid then you just have to push a button. Oh wait, not an SX-70, you have to focus those!  Oh I know get a 110 Kodak Instamatic, don't even have to load film with those, just shove a cassette in there.
> 
> It's probably like riding a bicycle, manual focusing will come back to you. I never quit focusing manually, even do with my digital camera with vintage lenses.


It's like everything else in life, the older you get the harder it is to do stuff.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> It's like everything else in life, the older you get the harder it is to do stuff.


Oh, I don't know . . . falling down, dozing off and forgetting stuff gets easier.


----------



## EIngerson

I just realized, I don't really want football season to start.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Day #___ ? in the life of a ferret. It rolled over.
> 
> It's Gretzky Day!!! on the NHL network that is. Don't know why and not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but I'm getting nothing done because - I'm watching hockey all day!
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has a hockey stick, played and autographed by the Great One.
Click to expand...

Sell it for a Leica lens...


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



HAI MISTER WHERE IZ SNAKS??



EIngerson said:


> I just realized, I don't really want football season to start.


----------



## EIngerson

limr said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> HAI MISTER WHERE IZ SNAKS??
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just realized, I don't really want football season to start.
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


Because I'm not even done with Lacrosse season photos yet....... LOL I'm in team photog hell right now.


----------



## limr

EIngerson said:


> Because I'm not even done with Lacrosse season photos yet....... LOL I'm in team photog hell right now.



Oh, okay, that is an acceptable answer   I thought you were talking about just watching football, not having to shoot the games.


----------



## EIngerson

limr said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Because I'm not even done with Lacrosse season photos yet....... LOL I'm in team photog hell right now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, okay, that is an acceptable answer   I thought you were talking about just watching football, not having to shoot the games.
Click to expand...


LOL, Oh no, I am knee deep in volunteerism.


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> I just realized, I don't really want football season to start.


Gary's so backed up ...

He has switched all his cameras to single shot from continuous as an attempt to speed up the processing time.


----------



## vintagesnaps

You're really going old school there Gary! lol

The only reason I'd like to see football start is it gets me closer to hockey season.


----------



## waday

Regarding sports, I'll use a Mitch Hedberg quote to describe me:

_I'm not into sports. I mean, I like Gatorade, but that's as far as it goes._


----------



## waday




----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> You're really going old school there Gary! lol
> 
> The only reason I'd like to see football start is it gets me closer to hockey season.


Hockey, there is no such thing as Hockey.  What you call Hockey is really just MMA in padding with sticks.  The chasing of the rock hard black burnt biscuit is just the rest periods between rounds.


----------



## table1349

Sport is where an entire life can be compressed into a few hours, where the emotions of a lifetime can be felt on an acre or two of ground, where a person can suffer and die and rise again on six miles of trails through a New York City park. Sport is a theater where sinner can turn saint and a common man become an uncommon hero, where the past and the future can fuse with the present. Sport is singularly able to give us peak experiences where we feel completely one with the world and transcend all conflicts as we finally become our own potential. *-George A. Sheehan*


----------



## vintagesnaps

One with the world?? I don't know about that. lol 

You should have seen hockey back in the day, the movie 'Slapshot' wasn't far from the truth! lol They don't allow that kind of thing nowadays. But it's not for everyone I suppose. I like fast skating and end to end action and get tired of too much chirping and messing around - play hockey already.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> One with the world?? I don't know about that. lol
> 
> You should have seen hockey back in the day, the movie 'Slapshot' wasn't far from the truth! lol They don't allow that kind of thing nowadays. But it's not for everyone I suppose. I like fast skating and end to end action and get tired of too much chirping and messing around - play hockey already.



I have yet to see two hockey players bump into each other, have one grab his shin, fall to the ground and do a Captain Kirk level performance about his life threatening injury in some sissy attempt to get the ref to feel sorry for him and call a foul.

So yes, Hockey is a sport... 

Lol


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> One with the world?? I don't know about that. lol
> 
> You should have seen hockey back in the day, the movie 'Slapshot' wasn't far from the truth! lol They don't allow that kind of thing nowadays. But it's not for everyone I suppose. I like fast skating and end to end action and get tired of too much chirping and messing around - play hockey already.


I did, that's when it was a sport.  What you want is this.  See they even have those black burnt rock hard biscuits.  That should make you feel at home.


----------



## table1349

Obviously not Medic's Ferret.





It moves.


----------



## snowbear

Football?  Oh, yeah - I keep hoping that I'll go into work one morning and see a big empty lot at the end of Garret A. Morgan Boulevard.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> Football?  Oh, yeah - I keep hoping that I'll go into work one morning and see a big empty lot at the end of Garret A. Morgan Boulevard.


I was thinking the same thing about Estabrook Rd.


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just realized, I don't really want football season to start.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary so backed up ...
> 
> He has switched all his cameras to single shot from continuous as an attempt to speed up the processing time.
Click to expand...



Hmmm, Eric might try this.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's lady gymnasts kick some international butt yesterday.

In tribute to our "pixies" the LA Times ran a sports column on the front page. A very nice tribute by Bill Plaschke to our golden girls.


----------



## Gary A.

While faking an injury, whenever you're in the box, is certainly reprehensible ... On the flip side I have yet to see soccer players barely able to move because they're covered from head to toe in padding.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm excited for football season. While I root for the Giants, I just love watching it. I'm also a bit of a fantasy football nerd, so I guess that helps too. 

After I made some sort of joke earlier in this thread about my iPhone being perfect, I have to bring it in to the Genius Bar today. The touchscreen is completely unresponsive. Only thing that is annoying is that there are 4 Apple stores encircling me, and they are all an hour away.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> While faking an injury, whenever you're in the box, is certainly reprehensible ... On the flip side I have yet to see soccer players barely able to move because they're covered from head to toe in padding.



And when they start playing soccer on ice, that will be a noteworthy objection.. lol


----------



## table1349

Now this is a sport.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary had a 24 hour bug yesterday. Yesterday morning, feeling down and out, he went to take a nap, but slept right through it.  He feels better today, just a bit tired.  (If anyone cares.)

The good news, is that Gary, after a week of daily and intense research, has finally acquired a home theater projector. He is looking forward to watching movies and sporting events in the patio on a 12' screen.  This has been a very tedious process as there are a ton of projectors with minimal differences. Just figuring out my requirements took some time as I haven't a clue what I needed to address what I wanted. Today Gary is researching screens, so in a week or so, you'll are invited for movie night or football Saturday. Gary confident the projector will be available for the SC-'Bama game on September 3. So you all mark your calendars and RSVP for some BBQ and Football.  Gary is quite disappointed in Helton as the head coach, but he hopes that the new AD, Lynn Swann, can add some fire to the team and "Make America Great Again".


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary had a 24 hour bug yesterday, he slept it away. Yesterday morning, feeling down and out, he went to take a nap, but slept right through it.  He feels better today, just a bit tired.  (If anyone cares.)
> 
> The good news, is that Gary, after a week of daily and intense research, has finally acquired a home theater projector. He is looking forward to watching movies and sporting events in the patio on a 12' screen.  This has been a very tedious process as there are a ton of projectors with minimal differences. Just figuring out my requirements took some time as I haven't a clue what I needed to address what I wanted. Today Gary is researching screens, so in a week or so, you'll are invited for movie night or football Saturday. Gary confident the projector will be available for the SC-'Bama game on September 3. So you all mark your calendars and RSVP for some BBQ and Football.  Gary is quite disappointed in Helton as the head coach, but he hopes that the new AD, Lynn Swann, can add some fire to the team and "Make America Great Again".



Sounds like you need to start researching a great outdoor speaker solution.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Now this is a sport.


That is pretty good, but for sheer, brute, unchecked, Mano-y-Mano, violence, American Football is hard to beat.


----------



## table1349

There is something to be said for a sport that has no original ideas of it's own.  A similar shaped ball as an US football, soccer style and american style kicking, volleyball serve for passing the ball, tackling and goal posts that look like a husband and wife standing with their two children on either side.  Add to that a soccer/hockey style goal tender that has limited value and you have Australian Rules Football.  Now if they would just hang a backboard and net from the top of each goal posts it would be complete.  100 points if it goes through the tall net and 50 points if it goes through the short net.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary had a 24 hour bug yesterday, he slept it away. Yesterday morning, feeling down and out, he went to take a nap, but slept right through it.  He feels better today, just a bit tired.  (If anyone cares.)
> 
> The good news, is that Gary, after a week of daily and intense research, has finally acquired a home theater projector. He is looking forward to watching movies and sporting events in the patio on a 12' screen.  This has been a very tedious process as there are a ton of projectors with minimal differences. Just figuring out my requirements took some time as I haven't a clue what I needed to address what I wanted. Today Gary is researching screens, so in a week or so, you'll are invited for movie night or football Saturday. Gary confident the projector will be available for the SC-'Bama game on September 3. So you all mark your calendars and RSVP for some BBQ and Football.  Gary is quite disappointed in Helton as the head coach, but he hopes that the new AD, Lynn Swann, can add some fire to the team and "Make America Great Again".
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like you need to start researching a great outdoor speaker solution.
Click to expand...

Gary has four outdoor/weather sealed Bose speakers which are connected to a receiver in the patio.  Gary is planning to rearrange the speakers for the projector. The projector also comes with built in speakers (10w or 20w Gary forgot which). Ultimately, Gary thinks he'd like some type of surround sound puppy ... but first he'll see how the Bose work out.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


Dude.........If you still have the reciept you should get your money back or at least get a trade in on one that is alive.  Even one that is barely alive would be an improvement.  Just saying.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks it's a 'possum.


----------



## table1349

Gryph thinks it is Florida road kill in a cage.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Gary thinks it's a 'possum.



Maybe that's just what it wants Gary to think.  Perhaps this is all part of some elaborate ruse while it waits for it's plans of global domination to come to fruition.

Either that or it just could be the worlds laziest ferret....


----------



## table1349

Dead = Lazy to the extreme.


----------



## Gary A.

It does look like you're having a lot of interactive fun with your ferret.


----------



## pixmedic

gryphonslair99 said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dude.........If you still have the reciept you should get your money back or at least get a trade in on one that is alive.  Even one that is barely alive would be an improvement.  Just saying.
Click to expand...


the pet shop we got him from has a strict "no refund/exchange" policy. 
likely because rent is probably pretty high due to their close proximity to the pet cemetery.


----------



## waday

We had some terrible thunderstorms last night. Lots of lightning, very loud thunder. Vibrated the whole house. Roxy was terrified, but the wife and I didn't let her on the bed. We're harsh dog parents. She just had to choose one of her two beds in the room to sleep in.


----------



## KenC

I used to think all small furry mammals were hyperactive.  Obviously I missed a whole genus (or something) and will have to revise that opinion.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> One with the world?? I don't know about that. lol
> 
> You should have seen hockey back in the day, the movie 'Slapshot' wasn't far from the truth! lol They don't allow that kind of thing nowadays. But it's not for everyone I suppose. I like fast skating and end to end action and get tired of too much chirping and messing around - play hockey already.


Greatest sport there is. Might venture up to Traverse City for Wings camp if I can manage the time. 


gryphonslair99 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> One with the world?? I don't know about that. lol
> 
> You should have seen hockey back in the day, the movie 'Slapshot' wasn't far from the truth! lol They don't allow that kind of thing nowadays. But it's not for everyone I suppose. I like fast skating and end to end action and get tired of too much chirping and messing around - play hockey already.
> 
> 
> 
> I did, that's when it was a sport.  What you want is this.  See they even have those black burnt rock hard biscuits.  That should make you feel at home.
Click to expand...


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary thinks it's a 'possum.


Looks like chicken on a stick too me....


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thinks it's a 'possum.
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like chicken on a stick too me....
Click to expand...

No that would be a Jose Jalapeno on a Stick.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



That is an ex-ferret.


----------



## table1349

Medic,  FYI this is what live ferrets look like.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is an ex-ferret.
Click to expand...

I know what you did there!!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is an ex-ferret.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I know what you did there!!
Click to expand...


----------



## limr




----------



## table1349

limr said:


>


And those words are as true today as the day they were spoken.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  T G I F

This has been a slow week for Gary.  Mary Lou has the month off.  She and we, cannot believe that two weeks have already flow by and we haven't done anything out of the ordinary or even gone anywhere.  This is a warm and sunny morning, so things are beginning to heat up here.  The weather app says 86F today, (but, per the app, it supposed to feel like 66F, go figure ...).

Gary ordered a projector screen yesterday morning.  After the order was shipped he was notified that the projector was out of stock and the order cancelled. So he scrambled on the internet last night while watching the Rio games and ordered another and different projector. This time he added a full wireless package to the projector and he can dump the 25' HDMI cable he ordered. Gary has been talking about getting a projector for about a year or more ... He is excited that it's finally happening. Now, Gary needs some new patio furniture.  Adult fun is burdensome, Gary remembers as a kid having hours and hours of entertainment with just an empty field and a book of matches.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- @ 2:00 a.m. This morning, Mary Lou and Gary ventured out into the night to watch the meteorite spectacular ... But all we could see were a few bright planets and a bunch of light pollution.


----------



## limr




----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I feel like it's been a while! It's hot today. I had to go to another building to pick something up at 9am this morning and it was already brutal. I felt like I swam back to my building.


----------



## limr

Apparently it's meme Friday!


----------



## limr

I'm so sorry, Sharon, because I know you're up there shaking your fist at me, but...


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... Gary loves summer, but then Gary loves winter also ... and spring ... and fall.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



I think the cat snake hates summer, too.


----------



## limr




----------



## limr




----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


>



Thanks Gandalf.


----------



## Gary A.

Yes, Thank you Gandalf.


----------



## table1349




----------



## pixmedic

since I work 24 on 48 off, technically every shift is a friday to me.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> since I work 24 on 48 off, technically every shift is a friday to me.



You can thank Gandalf for that, too.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> since I work 24 on 48 off, technically every shift is a friday to me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You can thank Gandalf for that, too.
Click to expand...


Wow.. .Gandalf.  You da man.  Thanks again.

Oh hey, as long as you've got your mystical juju going.. do you happen to know of a spell that can wake a ferret?


----------



## robbins.photo

Hey Gandalf,

Got a copy of that spell you sent.  Read it off, this is what appeared:





Thanks again buddy.  Seriously, you are a real peach.


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

Gary love the US men's basketball jersey.  Nothing pretentious or fancy ... A solid uniform with a big USA across the chest.


----------



## limr




----------



## EIngerson

limr said:


>




YUP!!!!!


----------



## EIngerson

I have to admit. I'm probably drinking for the wrong reasons tonight. I am just in awe of the ridiculous drama that I've had to deal with at work the last few days. Grown @$$ men acting like kids at the play ground. 



I'M OVER IT!!!!!! 



Happy Friday Hosers!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Another picnic at The Bowl. Leftover salmon actually but the potato salad, beans and Spanish rice were fresh, and the vino delish.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Sergio Mendes and Brazil '66.  Just a perfect night of entertainment and weather and venu.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Herb Alpert and wife Lani Hall showed up and added some local spice to the mix. Plus the end of the show fireworks were lots of fun.  At the start of the concert, the LA Phil took us through a quick history of Brazilian music, toss in all the Samba performers dancing on stage and in the seats ... Hollywood and Carnival mixed together in one bowl makes for a special evening.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 126006
> iPhone
> 
> Another picnic at The Bowl. Leftover salmon actually but the potato salad, beans and Spanish rice were fresh, and the vino delish.


breakfast!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 126006
> iPhone
> 
> Another picnic at The Bowl. Leftover salmon actually but the potato salad, beans and Spanish rice were fresh, and the vino delish.
> 
> 
> 
> breakfast!!!!
Click to expand...

LOL, there's a bit of Salmon still in the frig, come on by.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 126006
> iPhone
> 
> Another picnic at The Bowl. Leftover salmon actually but the potato salad, beans and Spanish rice were fresh, and the vino delish.
> 
> 
> 
> breakfast!!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL, there's a bit of Salmon still in the frig, come on by.
Click to expand...


be there is 5.... 5 months


----------



## vintagesnaps

I keep clicking on the wrong emoji. And that's about as exciting as it gets today! lol Supposed to rain so there goes a possible out and about picture taking day. But might later go stop in our local college hockey arena, where they're playing broomball. Well it's at least on ice. And cool in there.


----------



## JonA_CT

The heat index is actually higher in CT today then it was when I was in Texas. Almost 110*. I went to the driving range this morning. Managed to soak through 2 shirts over about a 100 swings.


----------



## table1349

You should come to Kansas, it's only 86 with a nice 6mph breeze.  Lovely August day.   90 is our projected high next week and that is tomorrow,  The rest of the week mid to upper 80's.  Sorry for bragging, but here in Kansas you don't get to brag too often.


----------



## Gary A.

It is 86F here as well ... It must be Kansas.


----------



## table1349

We have moved put to 87F now.


----------



## Gary A.

Humidity is at 39%, fans are on, windows open but no need for A/C. But we are entering another heat wave, so I expect by Tuesday or Wednesday the A/C will be employed.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is watching Michael Phelps win his "last' gold medal and Gary is very sad. Gary remembers that yesterday's 'Brazil Night' at the Hollywood Bowl, the program started with the LA Phil playing the Olympic Theme and the crowd went wild with applause.

Gary sorta wishes that they would play different versions of the USA's National Anthem ... wouldn't it be awesome, that USA is on the #1 podium and Jimi Hendrix starts stumming out the anthem ...


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  I see the ferret cam is still on.  Where did the second one come from?   Do they split in two when you overfeed them?

Anyhow, they look like I do lately.  This should be at least the fifth 95+ day in the past week, with unspeakable heat indices due to very high humidity.  We were actually talking about moving to Maine.


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


Hey, alright.  You now have enough road kill to make the recipe I posted a few pages back.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  I see the ferret cam is still on.  Where did the second one come from?   Do they split in two when you overfeed them?
> 
> Anyhow, they look like I do lately.  This should be at least the fifth 95+ day in the past week, with unspeakable heat indices due to very high humidity.  We were actually talking about moving to Maine.



I'd move to Maine in a heartbeat.


----------



## JonA_CT

Me too. Or New Hampshire. Or probably even Vermont.


----------



## waday

Does anyone else use the bullet journal system? The wife started it last week, which influenced me to start it. Today is my first day. It's working so far...


----------



## table1349

You could move to Kansas.  Temp is 73 F right now with a projected high of 86.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>



It took years of searching.  I had walked from one end of China to the other, visiting monastery after monastery, temple after temple.   I had searched for him for years, wandering from town to town, following rumor after rumor.

At last, I had found him.  The one and only master of Sleeping Ferret Kung Fu...

I am not ashamed to admit, I wept at the sight....


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



I want to rub that little belly and scratch the furry little chin!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I want to rub that little belly and scratch the furry little chin!
Click to expand...

And spend hours waiting in line at the emergency room to have an annoyed ferret removed from your right index finger?  Confucius say, "Let sleeping ferret sleep"


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I want to rub that little belly and scratch the furry little chin!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And spend hours waiting in line at the emergency room to have an annoyed ferret removed from your right index finger?  Confucius say, "Let sleeping ferret sleep"
Click to expand...

Iron,  as Mark Twain said: _A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. 
_
Remember it's not easy to be eccentric these days.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Designer

Awww....All of our oggling made him go into his private place.


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I want to rub that little belly and scratch the furry little chin!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And spend hours waiting in line at the emergency room to have an annoyed ferret removed from your right index finger?  Confucius say, "Let sleeping ferret sleep"
Click to expand...


Minor details...


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>


----------



## table1349

This is Medic's ferret.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Instead of getting something done I'm watching 'The Cool Ones'. You can probably guess it was made in the '60's.

It's a rainy Monday and I'm unmotivated so a dumb movie is a good excuse to sit here... but the plot isn't exactly gripping so I may get as bored as the ferret soon. But the music might get the ferret moving!


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> Does anyone else use the bullet journal system? The wife started it last week, which influenced me to start it. Today is my first day. It's working so far...



I'm trying some new organization methods myself -- going back to paper for my teaching plans, to-do lists, and notes. We'll see how it goes...



gryphonslair99 said:


> You could move to Kansas.  Temp is 73 F right now with a projected high of 86.



Kansas has a few problems for me. Anywhere I live will either have mountains or oceans, or preferably both. Connecticut doesn't have any mountains, but I have Long Island Sound a 10 minute walk from my house. Mountains are a relatively short 2-3 hour drive.  NH has both ocean (a small piece) and lots of mountains. Maine has lots of ocean and some mountains.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  It was a busy weekend of cleaning, entertaining, cooking and cleaning.

I am less than an hour from the local mountains (10,000' high with snow in winter) and about 20 minutes from sandy beaches and about 45 minutes from beaches and coves with cliffs 100' high.

A half day drive away is the Sierra Neveda with Yosemite, Kings Valley and the highest mountain in CONUS and right below Mt. Whitney is the lowest point in North America, Death Valley. 

Gary likes it here, in spite of the traffic.  If Gary does move, it will be closer to the beach or as a secondary consideration get a weekend place in wine country.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does anyone else use the bullet journal system? The wife started it last week, which influenced me to start it. Today is my first day. It's working so far...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm trying some new organization methods myself -- going back to paper for my teaching plans, to-do lists, and notes. We'll see how it goes...
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You could move to Kansas.  Temp is 73 F right now with a projected high of 86.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Kansas has a few problems for me. Anywhere I live will either have mountains or oceans, or preferably both. Connecticut doesn't have any mountains, but I have Long Island Sound a 10 minute walk from my house. Mountains are a relatively short 2-3 hour drive.  NH has both ocean (a small piece) and lots of mountains. Maine has lots of ocean and some mountains.
Click to expand...

Oh come now, what could be wrong with Kansas?????

Kansas


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> I'm trying some new organization methods myself -- going back to paper for my teaching plans, to-do lists, and notes. We'll see how it goes...


Oh, nice! Please let me know how it goes.

I needed something more "analog", as I can't seem to keep my digital files organized between home and work. Bought a "squared" Moleskine journal (i.e., graph paper, haha), and part of the "bullet journal" process is to essentially manually set it up how it works best for you.

http://bulletjournal.com/

It seems a bit tedious, but now that I set it up, it seems to work ok. I like that this method kinda forces me to have a daily to-do list, which is something I need very badly, haha. 

The post-it notes just aren't doing it for me.


----------



## Gary A.

BTW- There is a wonderful photo of a news photog, Nikons dangling from his neck and shoulder, running with a rescued goat in his arm while in the background there a building engulfed in flames. (LA Times California Section)


----------



## pixmedic

gryphonslair99 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does anyone else use the bullet journal system? The wife started it last week, which influenced me to start it. Today is my first day. It's working so far...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm trying some new organization methods myself -- going back to paper for my teaching plans, to-do lists, and notes. We'll see how it goes...
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You could move to Kansas.  Temp is 73 F right now with a projected high of 86.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Kansas has a few problems for me. Anywhere I live will either have mountains or oceans, or preferably both. Connecticut doesn't have any mountains, but I have Long Island Sound a 10 minute walk from my house. Mountains are a relatively short 2-3 hour drive.  NH has both ocean (a small piece) and lots of mountains. Maine has lots of ocean and some mountains.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh come now, what could be wrong with Kansas?????
> 
> Kansas
Click to expand...



Kansas is awesome!


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does anyone else use the bullet journal system? The wife started it last week, which influenced me to start it. Today is my first day. It's working so far...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm trying some new organization methods myself -- going back to paper for my teaching plans, to-do lists, and notes. We'll see how it goes...
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You could move to Kansas.  Temp is 73 F right now with a projected high of 86.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Kansas has a few problems for me. Anywhere I live will either have mountains or oceans, or preferably both. Connecticut doesn't have any mountains, but I have Long Island Sound a 10 minute walk from my house. Mountains are a relatively short 2-3 hour drive.  NH has both ocean (a small piece) and lots of mountains. Maine has lots of ocean and some mountains.
Click to expand...


Haven't heard of bullet journaling, but it should come as no surprise that I've never really stopped using analog methods of organization  I do use Excel to calculate grades, for example, but I keep paper attendance and grade rosters during the semester, and all my lesson plans are hand-written. I stopped carrying a paper calendar but I always carry a small notebook with me for notes and lists. And if I do say so myself, I am quite organized.

The week I spent in Kansas made me feel claustrophobic. Waaaaaaaaaaay too far from big water. I need big water. Mountains are good, too, but water is a bigger priority. I can't see myself ever living far from a coastline. Not to mention it would not be a good choice if avoiding hot and humid summers is one of the main objectives 

I still say Maine. It's one of my spirit homes.


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm trying some new organization methods myself -- going back to paper for my teaching plans, to-do lists, and notes. We'll see how it goes...
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, nice! Please let me know how it goes.
> 
> I needed something more "analog", as I can't seem to keep my digital files organized between home and work. Bought a "squared" Moleskine journal (i.e., graph paper, haha), and part of the "bullet journal" process is to essentially manually set it up how it works best for you.
> 
> http://bulletjournal.com/
> 
> It seems a bit tedious, but now that I set it up, it seems to work ok. I like that this method kinda forces me to have a daily to-do list, which is something I need very badly, haha.
> 
> The post-it notes just aren't doing it for me.
Click to expand...


I bought a Moleskine Weekly Planner. Each week is set up with M-F and a S/S boxes, and then lined paper on the other side. Hopefully my lesson plans will fit in the day spots, and then my to-do lists can go on the lined paper side. Ideally.

I also bought some cahiers journals to keep my notes on students -- one for each class, and I've added a tab for each student. I like them because they fit in my pocket, which means that they are easy to carry around the classrooms and to meetings.

Now my college classes? I'll still probably be a mess for those, as always.


----------



## JonA_CT

On a completely different note -- I f#$#ing hate my college tech account. They require you to change your password every 60 days,  and you're never allowed to repeat them. I also only need to log-in every three weeks, so I never remember what weird password the account may have. I hate writing passwords down, because it kind of defeats the purpose of them, so I think I've had to reset the PW at least 6 times this year.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does anyone else use the bullet journal system? The wife started it last week, which influenced me to start it. Today is my first day. It's working so far...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm trying some new organization methods myself -- going back to paper for my teaching plans, to-do lists, and notes. We'll see how it goes...
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You could move to Kansas.  Temp is 73 F right now with a projected high of 86.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Kansas has a few problems for me. Anywhere I live will either have mountains or oceans, or preferably both. Connecticut doesn't have any mountains, but I have Long Island Sound a 10 minute walk from my house. Mountains are a relatively short 2-3 hour drive.  NH has both ocean (a small piece) and lots of mountains. Maine has lots of ocean and some mountains.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh come now, what could be wrong with Kansas?????
> 
> Kansas
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Kansas is awesome!
Click to expand...


Kansas Music - Good.  

Kansas Politicians - Idiots.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> On a completely different note -- I f#$#ing hate my college tech account. They require you to change your password every 60 days,  and you're never allowed to repeat them. I also only need to log-in every three weeks, so I never remember what weird password the account may have. I hate writing passwords down, because it kind of defeats the purpose of them, so I think I've had to reset the PW at least 6 times this year.


Dude.....Take it from a long time government employee. It is simple as pie.  Take you password that you have now and add a sequence of numbers after it.  Next time same password change the number sequence.  Example.  Happyday1121,  Sixty days later Happyday1131, etc.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> Kansas Music - Good.
> 
> Kansas Politicians - Idiots.


FTFY


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Kansas Music - Good.
> 
> Kansas Politicians - Idiots.
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY
Click to expand...

NOOO......NOOO......NOOOO!!!!!!
Kansas Politicians - Special Class of Idiots!  We are first in growing Wheat and Moronic Politicians.  Wheat - Good.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> The week I spent in Kansas made me feel claustrophobic. Waaaaaaaaaaay too far from big water. I need big water. Mountains are good, too, but water is a bigger priority. I can't see myself ever living far from a coastline. Not to mention it would not be a good choice if avoiding hot and humid summers is one of the main objectives
> 
> I still say Maine. It's one of my spirit homes.


When was that.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>



You can't hold me here.. you filthy screw!  That's right.. when I get out I'm going to kill you and your whole family.

Well, after my nap of course.  But once I get my nap in.. it's curtains for you, you rotten hack!


----------



## pixmedic

robbins.photo said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You can't hold me here.. you filthy screw!  That's right.. when I get out I'm going to kill you and your whole family.
> 
> Well, after my nap of course.  But once I get my nap in.. it's curtains for you, you rotten hack!
Click to expand...

Good thing they are loooooong naps


----------



## snowbear

Good eveneng hosers and ferret.
MLW made a wonderful dinner: fresh steamed clams with sweet corn & chorizo in a white wine sauce.  Tomorrow: NE clam chowdah (Michaeletti's of Seekonk style).


----------



## jcdeboever

I like clams


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## pixmedic

gryphonslair99 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The week I spent in Kansas made me feel claustrophobic. Waaaaaaaaaaay too far from big water. I need big water. Mountains are good, too, but water is a bigger priority. I can't see myself ever living far from a coastline. Not to mention it would not be a good choice if avoiding hot and humid summers is one of the main objectives
> 
> I still say Maine. It's one of my spirit homes.
> 
> 
> 
> When was that.
Click to expand...

Try iowa...it has great logo designers


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The week I spent in Kansas made me feel claustrophobic. Waaaaaaaaaaay too far from big water. I need big water. Mountains are good, too, but water is a bigger priority. I can't see myself ever living far from a coastline. Not to mention it would not be a good choice if avoiding hot and humid summers is one of the main objectives
> 
> I still say Maine. It's one of my spirit homes.
> 
> 
> 
> When was that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Try iowa...it has great logo designers
Click to expand...


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>



You'll never take me awake copper!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Life has been jammin' non-stop lately ... (But death is nature's way of saying slow down.) Working and cooking and cleaning ... A man's job is never done. Last night we celebrated Mary Lou's youngest son's birthday.  Gary whipped up some salmon marinaded in Mr. Yoshida, Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce and a handful of herbs and a turkey loaf, all spiced up with fistful of crap from the yard and a flatbread with herbs and peppers from the yard.  It was all sooooo good.

Yesterday, Gary's projector came in ... Today he has to make his way over to Fry's to make it all work together, the old old cable box (which lacks a HMDI fitting and has Coaxial Out, S-Video Out, RCA plugs Out, USB, IR), the DVD player, the Tv which is a year old but lacks a HDMI out (it has optical audio Out, 2.0 USB Out and IR Out), the Wireless Transmitter (HMDI Out and IR Out), Wireless Receiver (HMDI Out, USB Out), Sound System (Optical Cable Out) and the Projector (which has HMDI In, USB In, S-Video In and RCA plugs for Video & Audio In).  Gary is planning to sandwich the Wireless Transmitter between the Cable Box and Tv he just needs to find an adaptor to go from RCA plugs to HMDI or from Coaxial to HMDI or from USB to HMDI. Gary is quite excited about watching movies in the backyard on a 120" screen.  If anybody has any ideas on the connects, let Gary know.

Long ago Gary tried going paperless ... It wasn't for him either.  Nowadays Gary keeps a Reporter's Notebook with him and scribbles notes and updates his ToDo lists.  The Reporter's Notebook are great because they easily fit in pockets. (And they remind him of the Good Ol' Days when men were men and Reporter's Notebooks and film were free.)


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Gary whipped up some salmon



Whipped Salmon.  Huh.  Ya, I don't see that catching on somehow.  Not really a good substitute for cool whip on say, cheesecake. 



> Yesterday, Gary's projector came in ... Today he has to make his way over to Fry's to make it all work together, the old old cable box (which lacks a HMDI fitting and has Coaxial Out, S-Video Out, RCA plugs Out, USB, IR), the DVD player, the Tv which is a year old but lacks a HDMI out (it has optical audio Out, 2.0 USB Out and IR Out), the Wireless Transmitter (HMDI Out and IR Out), Wireless Receiver (HMDI Out, USB Out), Sound System (Optical Cable Out) and the Projector (which has HMDI In, USB In, S-Video In and RCA plugs for Video & Audio In).  Gary is planning to sandwich the Wireless Transmitter between the Cable Box and Tv he just needs to find an adaptor to go from RCA plugs to HMDI or from Coaxial to HMDI or from USB to HMDI. Gary is quite excited about watching movies in the backyard on a 120" screen.  If anybody has any ideas on the connects, let Gary know.



Might want to sick Pix's ferret on that rat's nest.  Well, assuming you can catch him between naps...



> Long ago Gary tried going paperless ... It wasn't for him either.  Nowadays Gary keeps a Reporter's Notebook with him and scribbles notes and updates his ToDo lists.  The Reporter's Notebook are great because they easily fit in pockets. (And they remind him of the Good Ol' Days when men were men and Reporter's Notebooks and film were free.)



If the good lord had intended me to go "paperless" he wouldn't have given me a printer.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. 

It's slowly getting cooler here - supposed to go down in the 70s next week. Can't wait! It's low 80s now but the humidity is still bad enough (74%) to make it feel muggy and gross. Bleah.


----------



## jcdeboever

They're magically delicious


limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> It's slowly getting cooler here - supposed to go down in the 70s next week. Can't wait! It's low 80s now but the humidity is still bad enough (74%) to make it feel muggy and gross. Bleah.



Don't worry, you will be freezing your ass off in no time.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> They're magically delicious
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> It's slowly getting cooler here - supposed to go down in the 70s next week. Can't wait! It's low 80s now but the humidity is still bad enough (74%) to make it feel muggy and gross. Bleah.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Don't worry, you will be freezing your ass off in no time.*
Click to expand...


You say that like it's a bad thing. Seriously, I'm the one who loves winter, remember? I may not enjoy driving in the snow, but I don't think I have ever complained about the weather being too cold. The coldest air temperature I ever experienced was -22F in Pittsburgh one year. I walked to school that day


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> They're magically delicious
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> It's slowly getting cooler here - supposed to go down in the 70s next week. Can't wait! It's low 80s now but the humidity is still bad enough (74%) to make it feel muggy and gross. Bleah.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Don't worry, you will be freezing your ass off in no time.*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You say that like it's a bad thing. Seriously, I'm the one who loves winter, remember? I may not enjoy driving in the snow, but I don't think I have ever complained about the weather being too cold. The coldest air temperature I ever experienced was -22F in Pittsburgh one year. I walked to school that day
Click to expand...


I know you do, I love freezing my ass off too. I would love to flood the backyard and ice skate all day, invite kids over, and play hockey. The dog wouldn't like it though... let me clarify, he would love it but wouldn't know how to do the ice, he is bad enough on my hardwood floors.


----------



## Designer

Ahh... the good ol' summertime when it's so hot even the ferrets are lethargic.

As a seasonal morale booster, let's keep that winter talk going for a while, shall we?

One of the most fun days I can remember is skiing at Devil's Head in Wisconsin.  The air temperature was at least -20 F. with a stiff breeze.  It was so cold we all went to the ski shop and bought masks and goggles.  Linda could do only one run before she had to go in, but Erik and I made two runs between warm-ups.  The wind was so strong that you didn't need to turn, just stand up and the wind would slow your decent.  So much fun.  There was almost nobody else skiing that day, we had the place practically to ourselves.


----------



## limr

It's not hot and muggy, it's not hot and muggy, it's not hot and muggy...




Snow globe by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## jcdeboever

I am ready, bring on the shrinkage!


----------



## jcdeboever

I am going to eat lucky charms with Aunt Millie Italian bread toasted tonight. I may splurge and add a pack of Eggo waffles to the dish. My wife is out of town and left me with some stuff but not sure what it is in them there containers. I called her to ask and I got yelled at.... shoot, I never listen to her when she raises her voice.... crap, now I have to listen to that crap too? Looks like some stupid pasta thrown together crap that I hate but eat so I don't get yelled at. I want to take pictures but it is raining and I don't posses a professional camera that is waterproof. I suck, I am eating poop and enjoying it.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> You say that like it's a bad thing. Seriously, I'm the one who loves winter, remember?


You aren't the only one.  We are likely to be increasing our latitude soon.



limr said:


> I may not enjoy driving in the snow . . .


That could be remedied with the right drive-train


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> I...I want to take pictures but it is raining and I don't posses a professional camera that is waterproof...


So... make your amateur camera waterproof.  Camera condoms.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I...I want to take pictures but it is raining and I don't posses a professional camera that is waterproof...
> 
> 
> 
> So... make your amateur camera waterproof.  Camera condoms.
Click to expand...

That looks so uncomfortable.  No reservoir tip.  I hope they are not lubricated.


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I...I want to take pictures but it is raining and I don't posses a professional camera that is waterproof...
> 
> 
> 
> So... make your amateur camera waterproof.  Camera condoms.
Click to expand...

Out of stock


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I...I want to take pictures but it is raining and I don't posses a professional camera that is waterproof...
> 
> 
> 
> So... make your amateur camera waterproof.  Camera condoms.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Out of stock
Click to expand...

They're widely available.  Most camera stores around here have a display of them on the counter.  Failing that...  La.


----------



## table1349

Do they come in a foil pack for longer shelf life?  Man you would need one big wallet to keep one of those things in.


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I...I want to take pictures but it is raining and I don't posses a professional camera that is waterproof...
> 
> 
> 
> So... make your amateur camera waterproof.  Camera condoms.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Out of stock
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They're widely available.  Most camera stores around here have a display of them on the counter.  Failing that...  La.
Click to expand...

Ordered a two pack, be here Thursday. Never knew such a thing existed.


----------



## jcdeboever

Son in law brought movie over tonight called Fury. Oh my, great movie. Going to have flash back memories of Lebanon tonight. Pretty darn good movie though.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary got the projector up and running.


----------



## pixmedic

Morning ferret


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> Morning ferret



Good morning, furry little cat snake!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is out of the upper 80's heat wave ... This morning, when Gary open the door for The Cook and he to retrieve the morning paper ... He was presented with fog, granted a very light fog, but a fog nonetheless. To date, Mary Lou and Gary have used the A/C about six times this year.

There is another front page sports story in the LA Times. This is again penned by Bill Plasche with high praise for the USA's Women Olympian. In a world which generally treats women as second class and often often as a man's possession, the USA is the "Land of opportunity for women athletes."  Gary's favorite quote was from gold medal swimmer Maya DiRado "... I was never taught I couldn't compete." Gary read that line a couple times just to fully digest and appreciate what that really means.  Yes, we still have a long way to go to create a society with a level playing field for all people ... But we have come a long way. Gold Medal to the USA. 

The mandatory water cuts to 343 of California 411 water districts has been reduced to 2013 levels. Presently, we have to reduce our water consumption by 25%, hopefully Gary's water district will ease and raise his monthly water allocation. (Gary has removed the grass from half of his front yard and replaced the grass with drought tolerant plants. The remain grass is largely brown.)


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> There is another front page sports story in the LA Times. This is again penned by Bill Plasche with high praise for the USA's Women Olympian. In a world which generally treats women as second class and often often as a man's possession, the USA is the "Land of opportunity for women athletes."  Gary's favorite quote was from gold medal swimmer Maya DiRado "... I was never taught I couldn't compete." Gary read that line a couple times just to fully digest and appreciate what that really means.  Yes, we still have a long way to go to create a society with a level playing field for all people ... But we have come a long way. Gold Medal to the USA.



We haven't come far enough.
Women Athletes Gave Up Gonads And More To Continue Olympic Competition

Essentially, if a woman naturally produces higher levels of testosterone than other female competitors, the IAAF says they have an unfair advantage and they either are banned from competition, or they have to undergo surgery to remove their ovaries and half of their clitoris. And yet, a man who naturally produces higher levels of testosterone is not given the same ultimatum. Men aren't even tested. The IAAF hasn't also never been able to substantiate the claim that extra testosterone has given female (or male) an unfair advantage over the other competitors with normal levels.

And yet, who ever knew about this? It's only now getting attention and the rule is being suspended for the moment because of a challenge, but it's 2016 and we're still considering this even remotely acceptable?? If a man had to cut off his testicles and half his penis in order to compete, what do we think the uproar would look like?


----------



## pixmedic

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> There is another front page sports story in the LA Times. This is again penned by Bill Plasche with high praise for the USA's Women Olympian. In a world which generally treats women as second class and often often as a man's possession, the USA is the "Land of opportunity for women athletes."  Gary's favorite quote was from gold medal swimmer Maya DiRado "... I was never taught I couldn't compete." Gary read that line a couple times just to fully digest and appreciate what that really means.  Yes, we still have a long way to go to create a society with a level playing field for all people ... But we have come a long way. Gold Medal to the USA.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We haven't come far enough.
> Women Athletes Gave Up Gonads And More To Continue Olympic Competition
> 
> Essentially, if a woman naturally produces higher levels of testosterone than other female competitors, the IAAF says they have an unfair advantage and they either are banned from competition, or they have to undergo surgery to remove their ovaries and half of their clitoris. And yet, a man who naturally produces higher levels of testosterone is not given the same ultimatum. Men aren't even tested. The IAAF hasn't also never been able to substantiate the claim that extra testosterone has given female (or male) an unfair advantage over the other competitors with normal levels.
> 
> And yet, who ever knew about this? It's only now getting attention and the rule is being suspended for the moment because of a challenge, but it's 2016 and we're still considering this even remotely acceptable?? If a man had to cut off his testicles and half his penis in order to compete, what do we think the uproar would look like?
Click to expand...



travesty!!

and yea, the women thing too. 
I actually had no idea... $*@#ing barbaric is what that is.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Half a clitoris? ew, oh, good god, and young women having to give up ovaries? what if they want to someday get pregnant and have kids??? good god. It's like the dark ages. And no, if men had to do something comparable it wouldn't be happening. I see medication is an option over surgery which is at least less barbaric but still...


----------



## vintagesnaps

I went back a page to see what else was going on and no, I don't think men would be willing to have half their penis removed surgically to be able to participate in the Olympics.

But I just got a waterproof camera! a vintage one that is. Some ridiculous looking sort of clear plastic box more or less with a midcentury bakelite Kodak in it. Guess I ought to try it out in the sink, I'm not sure how the thing would _not _leak! lol


----------



## limr

Pretty horrifying, isn't it?


----------



## pixmedic

limr said:


> Pretty horrifying, isn't it?


The grammatical error? 
It gave me the jibblies!
I'll have nightmares for weeks!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## vintagesnaps

The ferret passed out at the thought...


----------



## Gary A.

That is why the IAAF isn't getting a medal and the USA earned gold.

Truly horrifying, wrong and clearly indicates that the IAAF is largely comprised of men ... Stupid men (which many consider to be a redundant statement).  Unfortunately there is no cure for stupidity (... But there is a Hell).


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> That is why the IAAF isn't getting a medal and the USA earned gold.
> 
> Truly horrifying, wrong and clearly indicates that the IAAF is largely comprised of men ... Stupid men (which many consider to be a redundant statement).  Unfortunately there is no cure for stupidity (... But there is a Hell).


Do it the easy way:  Remove all classes and divisions in sports.  Everyone plays against and with everyone.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty horrifying, isn't it?
> 
> 
> 
> The grammatical error?
> It gave me the jibblies!
> I'll have nightmares for weeks!
Click to expand...


Ah. I hadn't expanded the quote until I saw this.

All I can say in my defense is that I've been stuffing envelopes this afternoon and am half brain dead. I changed my mind about how I was going to write the verb and clearly forgot to erase the old version


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## JonA_CT

My daugher had a well-visit with the doctor today, and then my wife and I dropped her off with Grandma to go on a date. 

We ended up going to the old alma mater, because my wife was jonesing for some of this...(minus the booze, internet fame, and ensuing court troubles)...







We also went to the bookstore and reloaded ourselves on appropriately labeled sportswear.


----------



## table1349

I will be so happy when I get my mothers house sold.  She has Alzheimer's, is in assisted living 2 miles from us, and her house is 3 hours away.  Hopefully it will be on the market by a week from Friday.  These 6 hour road trips to handle business is getting tiresome.  Road weary from all the driving.


----------



## pixmedic

Morning ferret pic!


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> (minus the booze, internet fame, and ensuing court troubles)...


I wonder if others get the same treatment as this man. 

The man had the option to have the cuffs loosened because they were too tight? Wow.

Props to the manager for staying cool, but why was he trying to argue with someone that was clearly inebriated?


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Gary A.

Can you explain why you have a ferret?


----------



## pixmedic

Gary A. said:


> Can you explain why you have a ferret?


Why wouldn't I?
Doesn't everyone?
They are like fuzzy slinkys.


----------



## terri

Personally, I think cats are better.      But, if you can't have a cat, why not a ferret?    He is there, curled up in all his ferretousness.    What else does he have to do other than look cute?


----------



## pixmedic

terri said:


> Personally, I think cats are better.      But, if you can't have a cat, why not a ferret?    He is there, curled up in all his ferretousness.    What else does he have to do other than look cute?




ferrets are like non demon possessed cats. 
and more slinky like.


----------



## terri

Well, it's hardly worth having a cat without the occasional inner demon showing itself.    AKA:  cattitude.      

But sure, I get it.


----------



## pixmedic

terri said:


> Well, it's hardly worth having a cat without the occasional inner demon showing itself.    AKA:  cattitude.
> 
> But sure, I get it.



the ferret is pretty indifferent towards people though...so....its pretty catlike there. 
i think it likes the dog better than it likes people.


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> the ferret is pretty indifferent towards people though...so....its pretty catlike there. *I think it likes the dog better than it likes people*.


So what you're saying is, "Ferrets is smart"?


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> the ferret is pretty indifferent towards people though...so....its pretty catlike there. *I think it likes the dog better than it likes people*.
> 
> 
> 
> So what you're saying is, "Ferrets is smart"?
Click to expand...


Smart enough to get a gig where he gets free room and board and still sleeps 23½ hours a day.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> Smart enough to get a gig where he gets free room and board and still sleeps 23½ hours a day.


So... basically a teen-ager?


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 126246


Judging by that look, I'm pretty sure the only thing on Ferris' Christmas wish-list is a set of opposable thumbs so that he can wring your neck!


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 126246
> 
> 
> 
> Judging by that look, I'm pretty sure the only thing on Ferris' Christmas wish-list is a set of opposable thumbs so that he can wring your neck!
Click to expand...


Small wonder he likes the dog better.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 126243
> 
> View attachment 126244
> 
> View attachment 126245
> 
> View attachment 126246



GAH!!  The cute! I die.

Why have a cat OR a ferret when you can have both??


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Why have a cat OR a ferret when you can have both??


A carrot?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why have a cat OR a ferret when you can have both??
> 
> 
> 
> A carrot?
Click to expand...


Clevah


----------



## vintagesnaps

Here I am again trying to remember what were those toys that were fake furry and flat; when you 'petted' it then it sort of moved like a slinky snaky thing. What they heck were those things?? Well they'd be good if you want the fun of a ferret without having to feed and especially bathe it.

And then it ends up where other toys go that get out grown. Although having been a teacher I still have toys in my house. I can't get rid of all of them now can I?


----------



## pixmedic

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why have a cat OR a ferret when you can have both??
> 
> 
> 
> A carrot?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Clevah
Click to expand...

Possum was not impressed


----------



## snowbear

pixmedic said:


> ferrets are like non demon possessed cats.
> and more slinky like.


Ferrets are the dachshunds of the cat (like) world.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Every once in awhile I see a possum run across the backyard and squish itself under the neighbor's fence. What possess it to dart out in the open all of a sudden I do not know, looks like it's on the lam.


----------



## limr




----------



## limr




----------



## limr

limr said:


>



NOT to be confused with the snakecat!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why have a cat OR a ferret when you can have both??
> 
> 
> 
> A carrot?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Clevah
Click to expand...

I like to think so!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## terri

He doesn't appear to be stressed.


----------



## Designer

Oh, Man!  Having a bath is utterly exhausting!  He had to stay awake for 15 WHOLE MINUTES!


----------



## pixmedic

Designer said:


> Oh, Man!  Having a bath is utterly exhausting!  He had to stay awake for 15 WHOLE MINUTES!


It's funny cause its true!


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Every once in awhile I see a possum run across the backyard and squish itself under the neighbor's fence. What possess it to dart out in the open all of a sudden I do not know, looks like it's on the lam.


Oddly enough, Gary caught a 'possum today.  The grapes hanging from the patio roof have been attacked every night by an opossum. Every morning there were grapes and leaves all over the patio.  Gary set out a bunch of sticky pads and in the morning he'd find a pad overturned but no 'possum. Finally, this morning, Gary found a baby 'possum stuck to the sticky pad.  Gary freed the 'possum into a paper bag. Walk the 'possum about 200 yards upstream from the creek in the nearby park and released the little guy.  Gary was fiddling with his holstered cell phone when the wind tipped over the paper bag and the opossum ran into the tall grass.


----------



## snowbear

8 Big Taters
2 big spoons of butter
1 big spoon of sugar
a pinch or two of salt
Thyme, marjoram or pepper to taste
1 cooking pot with a good tight lid

Put the possum in the pot with just enough water to keep it from burning, cover with a good tight lid. Possums take longer to cook than taters so wait until your possum has stewed for about an hour before you add the taters to the pot. Place the taters along the sides of the possum and mix in sugar, salt and your choice of thyme, marjoram or pepper to taste.

Every 15 minutes or so take off the lid and baste the possum with the juices. By now the possums own fat will have rendered and the water will now make some delicious possum gravy.

When the possum is tender and the meat falls off the bones mix a little flour, if needed, to the water/possum fat and tater mixture.


----------



## JonA_CT

^ just pick it up off the road and throw it in? Or are there more steps...


----------



## Gary A.

Too many taters for the baby 'possum to flavor. After about 45 minutes you have to stir the pot because the opossum stops moving.


----------



## limr




----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> 8 Big Taters
> 2 big spoons of butter
> 1 big spoon of sugar
> a pinch or two of salt
> Thyme, marjoram or pepper to taste
> 1 cooking pot with a good tight lid
> 
> Put the possum in the pot with just enough water to keep it from burning, cover with a good tight lid. Possums take longer to cook than taters so wait until your possum has stewed for about an hour before you add the taters to the pot. Place the taters along the sides of the possum and mix in sugar, salt and your choice of thyme, marjoram or pepper to taste.
> 
> Every 15 minutes or so take off the lid and baste the possum with the juices. By now the possums own fat will have rendered and the water will now make some delicious possum gravy.
> 
> When the possum is tender and the meat falls off the bones mix a little flour, if needed, to the water/possum fat and tater mixture.


Don't forget the champipple, let's eat!


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 8 Big Taters
> 2 big spoons of butter
> 1 big spoon of sugar
> a pinch or two of salt
> Thyme, marjoram or pepper to taste
> 1 cooking pot with a good tight lid
> 
> Put the possum in the pot with just enough water to keep it from burning, cover with a good tight lid. Possums take longer to cook than taters so wait until your possum has stewed for about an hour before you add the taters to the pot. Place the taters along the sides of the possum and mix in sugar, salt and your choice of thyme, marjoram or pepper to taste.
> 
> Every 15 minutes or so take off the lid and baste the possum with the juices. By now the possums own fat will have rendered and the water will now make some delicious possum gravy.
> 
> When the possum is tender and the meat falls off the bones mix a little flour, if needed, to the water/possum fat and tater mixture.
> 
> 
> 
> Don't forget the champipple, let's eat!
Click to expand...


You can have my share.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> ^ just pick it up off the road and throw it in? Or are there more steps...



If you're out in the country, shoot it; if you're in the city or most 'burbs, grab it off the road if'n it ain't too flat.


----------



## snowbear

. . . and if you're in Texas, use possum on the half shell


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> ^ just pick it up off the road and throw it in? Or are there more steps...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you're out in the country, shoot it; if you're in the city or most 'burbs, grab it off the road if'n it ain't too flat.
Click to expand...

You can still grab 'em when they're flat ... We call them Sailcats. The best Frisbee ever.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> . . . and if you're in Texas, use possum on the half shell


Tastes like chicken.


----------



## Gary A.

Fresh bread!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Okay, ya know, the term road pizza - is a joke! You're not actually supposed to eat it! What a bunch o' hosers.


Fresh bread, mmm... now that's more like it.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 126267 Fresh bread!


I like bread


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 126267 Fresh bread!



Alright, Gary...I've seen enough. Are you ready to share your secrets? I know you've said before you play with wild yeast. I'm currently growing some sourdough starter in my kitchen. I'm ready to learn your ways.


----------



## Designer

Inauspicious start to the weekend:

My sister, her husband, and their grandchild are visiting.  I put the bacon on, set the timer, and was talking so much that I didn't notice the timer was sounding.  So I burned the bacon.  Or at least it's too dark for them, and I can eat well-done bacon, so it's not being thrown out.


----------



## table1349

Note to self....... Smoke alarm is not a cooking timer.


----------



## JonA_CT

gryphonslair99 said:


> Note to self....... Smoke alarm is not a cooking timer.



Are you sure? My wife like bacon that sets off the smoke alarm.


----------



## table1349

That's not bacon, that's burnt pig.   She has some serious gustatory perception issues. 

Well either that or she is a fire bug.


----------



## JonA_CT

Not going to argue that...I prefer my bacon a bit more toothsome.


----------



## table1349

She's not British by chance is she?


----------



## EIngerson

Mmmmmmm BACON!!!!!


----------



## JonA_CT

Hah! 50% by blood, and a first-generation American. Her dad is English and her mother is German. Very interesting mix.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Hah! 50% by blood, and a first-generation American. Her dad is English and her mother is German. Very interesting mix.


I see a lot of inner conflict ...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes bacon.


The Cook didn't like bacon.  Until a few years ago Cook wouldn't eat bacon.  She would take it from your hand and nicely place it on the ground.  If Gary tossed some into her food she would pick it out and stack it next to her food dish.  What man or beast doesn't like bacon?  One day Gary got fed up and forced a piece into her mouth then held her mouth shut until she chewed and swallow.  Now she likes bacon.  But unlike most dogs she doesn't wolf it down ... She chews and chews and chews the hell out of it until she gets all the flavor out of every morsel. Gary had to teach Cook to eat bacon.


----------



## robbins.photo

Designer said:


> Inauspicious start to the weekend:
> 
> My sister, her husband, and their grandchild are visiting.  I put the bacon on, set the timer, and was talking so much that I didn't notice the timer was sounding.  So I burned the bacon.  Or at least it's too dark for them, and I can eat well-done bacon, so it's not being thrown out.



You can "burn" bacon?

Huh.

Are you sure about that?  Just doesn't sound right somehow...


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> Hah! 50% by blood, and a first-generation American. Her dad is English and her mother is German. Very interesting mix.



Well that explains it then.  Until recently, from my experiences in Britain several years ago, the British version of bacon shall we say, leaves much to be desired.  Here we have regular cut and thick cut bacon.  There at the time they had a cut that made our thick cut look paper thin.  Now I would normally love that, except it was not a smoke house cured bacon.  It was more of a thick Pancetta that was served undercooked.  When the bacon is limp enough to need viagra, that is undercooked bacon.  

I love Pancetta, but it is a bit delicate to cook requiring a moderate amount of attention to get it crispy but not burnt.  Usually when using Pancetta it is cut into small pieces and fried up.  

With the introduction of McDonalds and other american chain eating establishments, (not necessarily restaurants) the British have improved their bacon.  However their tastes for it, I speculate, have not evolved to it's fullest as of yet. In time it will come.   But then the British are not particularly famous for their cuisine.  I believe it was a result of spending so much time conquering the world in past centuries that they did not have time to develop their cuisine.  

Explain to your good wife that when the bacon is the color of blood sausage, it is overcooked.


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Inauspicious start to the weekend:
> 
> My sister, her husband, and their grandchild are visiting.  I put the bacon on, set the timer, and was talking so much that I didn't notice the timer was sounding.  So I burned the bacon.  Or at least it's too dark for them, and I can eat well-done bacon, so it's not being thrown out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You can "burn" bacon?
> 
> Huh.
> 
> Are you sure about that?  Just doesn't sound right somehow...
Click to expand...

This is not bacon.....






This in fact has no resemblance to bacon.  This is an abomination.


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Inauspicious start to the weekend:
> 
> My sister, her husband, and their grandchild are visiting.  I put the bacon on, set the timer, and was talking so much that I didn't notice the timer was sounding.  So I burned the bacon.  Or at least it's too dark for them, and I can eat well-done bacon, so it's not being thrown out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You can "burn" bacon?
> 
> Huh.
> 
> Are you sure about that?  Just doesn't sound right somehow...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> This is not bacon.....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This in fact has no resemblance to bacon.  This is an abomination.
Click to expand...


Looks like an acceptable level of crispy.  Not seeing the problem here.


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Inauspicious start to the weekend:
> 
> My sister, her husband, and their grandchild are visiting.  I put the bacon on, set the timer, and was talking so much that I didn't notice the timer was sounding.  So I burned the bacon.  Or at least it's too dark for them, and I can eat well-done bacon, so it's not being thrown out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You can "burn" bacon?
> 
> Huh.
> 
> Are you sure about that?  Just doesn't sound right somehow...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> This is not bacon.....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This in fact has no resemblance to bacon.  This is an abomination.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Looks like an acceptable level of crispy.  Not seeing the problem here.
Click to expand...

And what would a fruit eater know about bacon?


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> And what would a fruit eater know about bacon?



It wasn't my species that gave us the Kardashians....


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> And what would a fruit eater know about bacon?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It wasn't my species that gave us the Kardashians....
Click to expand...

I don't know, looks like a father/daughter photo to me.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 126267 Fresh bread!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Alright, Gary...I've seen enough. Are you ready to share your secrets? I know you've said before you play with wild yeast. I'm currently growing some sourdough starter in my kitchen. I'm ready to learn your ways.
Click to expand...

While Gary is exploring new recipes for different breads, his bible is the book "Tartine Bread".  The Starter is a 50:50 blend of white and whole wheat.  It takes me about ten days of feeding to get the Starter rising and falling regularly and sufficiently to be leaven for the bread making.  The bread need water to cook properly. The initial moist heat in the oven is required for the bread to expand via the oven heat without forming a crust.  A home oven is designed to vent out the steam making 'gourmet' making difficult ... Per the bible, Gary bakes his bread in various Dutch Ovens.  The Dutch Oven keeps the steam in the baking process.  The Dutch Oven also makes it possible to bake in the BBQ.  (Gary has a wild hair to cook everything outside.  It is nice to sit in the patio surrounded by roses and grapes, sipping some wine, music piped into the BBQ area and cook.)

The bible describes a dough folding methodology which is easier and more effective than kneading. But for Gary's quick breads, pizza dough, flatbreads, even that last image Gary would call a 'quick' bread, Gary uses the Ninja blender for mixing and kneading. 

Like photography, grabbing a good image and baking a tasty loaf is pretty easy.  But capturing and baking the exceptional image and loaf is hard.  The first bread in the bible is this 'County Bread' ... It is much different than the sandwich loafs from the store.  It is a hearty bread full of flavor.  When eaten, you understand how way back when,  the lower classes subsisted on this type of bread.   

Gary purchased his bible at Williams & Sonoma.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It was a great morning, fresh grind Colombian Supremo and the aroma of almost fresh bread in the kitchen.  Then Gary went to the back patio and his bubble was burst seeing more grapes on the ground.  Another opossum has struck Gary's grapes .... Arrrrrrgh!!!!!


----------



## table1349

Tartine Bread and Tartine Bread #3 are both excellent books.  I would suggest however that you might want to start with KEN FORKISH: FLOUR WATER SALT YEAST.  I found both of the Tartine books more suitable for someone who is already has a bit of a baking background.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 126267 Fresh bread!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Alright, Gary...I've seen enough. Are you ready to share your secrets? I know you've said before you play with wild yeast. I'm currently growing some sourdough starter in my kitchen. I'm ready to learn your ways.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> While Gary is exploring new recipes for different breads, his bible is the book "Tartine Bread".  The Starter is a 50:50 blend of white and whole wheat.  It takes me about ten days of feeding to get the Starter rising and falling regularly and sufficiently to be leaven for the bread making.  The bread need water to cook properly. The initial moist heat in the oven is required for the bread to expand via the oven heat without forming a crust.  A home oven is designed to vent out the steam making 'gourmet' making difficult ... Per the bible, Gary bakes his bread in various Dutch Ovens.  The Dutch Oven keeps the steam in the baking process.  The Dutch Oven also makes it possible to bake in the BBQ.  (Gary has a wild hair to cook everything outside.  It is nice to sit in the patio surrounded by roses and grapes, sipping some wine, music piped into the BBQ area and cook.)
> 
> The bible describes a dough folding methodology which is easier and more effective than kneading. But for Gary's quick breads, pizza dough, flatbreads, even that last image Gary would call a 'quick' bread, Gary uses the Ninja blender for mixing and kneading.
> 
> Like photography, grabbing a good image and baking a tasty loaf is pretty easy.  But capturing and baking the exceptional image and loaf is hard.  The first bread in the bible is this 'County Bread' ... It is much different than the sandwich loafs from the store.  It is a hearty bread full of flavor.  When eaten, you understand how way back when,  the lower classes subsisted on this type of bread.
> 
> Gary purchased his bible at Williams & Sonoma.
Click to expand...



Thanks Gary! We've been making our own bread all summer. I'm ready to step up my game a bit...we recently bought a store loaf and it was far too sweet to go back.


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> I don't know, looks like a father/daughter photo to me.



Are you kidding?  Did you even look at the photograph?  It's painful obvious it isn't real.  That's the worst Kim Kardashian costume I've ever seen....


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know, looks like a father/daughter photo to me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you kidding?  Did you even look at the photograph?  It's painful obvious it isn't real.  That's the worst Kim Kardashian costume I've ever seen....
Click to expand...

I know what you mean, the full butt version is more expensive and much heavier to wear.


----------



## Designer

robbins.photo said:


> You can "burn" bacon?
> 
> Huh.
> 
> Are you sure about that?  Just doesn't sound right somehow...


Actually, it's still quite good, albeit somewhat dark.


----------



## limr

Bacon and Kardashians?


----------



## Designer

gryphonslair99 said:


> This is not bacon.....
> This in fact has no resemblance to bacon.  This is an abomination.


Uhh... O.K., THAT's BURNED!


----------



## limr

Yum!


----------



## tirediron

Bleah!  Nothing that went "Moo", "Oink" or "Cluck".  That can't be real food.


----------



## table1349

Appropriate I do believe.


----------



## vintagesnaps

So now I see why I don't bake bread.

Killer Brownie coffee this morning. Does it ever smell good when you grind it.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

Designer said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> This is not bacon.....
> This in fact has no resemblance to bacon.  This is an abomination.
> 
> 
> 
> Uhh... O.K., THAT's BURNED!
Click to expand...

That is called smoke alarm bacon.  

This is broccoli. 





Fresh, steamed, boiled, or burnt it's all the same to me.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> So now I see why I don't bake bread.
> 
> Killer Brownie coffee this morning. Does it ever smell good when you grind it.


Once you learn to bake, everyone is your friend.


----------



## waday




----------



## limr

In memory of the late John McLaughlin...



tirediron said:


> Bleah!  Nothing that went "Moo", "Oink" or "Cluck".  That can't be real food.


----------



## limr

Let's get back to what's REALLY important!

Coffee and cats.


----------



## waday




----------



## waday

Also, this meme, because I literally laughed out loud when I saw it..


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## robbins.photo

Just finished reading through the last 10 or so responses.




20160730_0857 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr

Nothing more to add really....


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

Medic, I think I figured out where your ferret is going with his inactivity.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## JonA_CT

Drinking some home brew and just fed this monster.


----------



## table1349

Even the birds know it.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

One for the big ape.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

And in weird news of the day: Kitten traveled 80 miles under hood of Kansas woman's car


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

That ferret is attacking that poor kid.  Somebody call EMS.


----------



## jcdeboever

I bake my bread in a contraption called the toaster.


----------



## table1349

*bake*
bāk/
_verb_
gerund or present participle: *baking
1*. 
cook (food) by dry heat without direct exposure to a flame, typically in an oven or on a hot surface.

*toast*
tōst/
_noun_
*1*. 
sliced bread browned on both sides by exposure to radiant heat.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Last night Mary Lou and Gary rearranged the furniture in the living room, set up the projector and screen and Netflixed 'Ghosts of Mississippi'. The movie was good but the experience was great.  The experience was similar to being in a movie theater without all the negatives and with all the comforts of home. Mary Lou and Gary were in their pj's, relaxed in comfy chairs (which didn't need to be disinfected), sipped our wine and snacked on stuff that didn't cost an arm ana leg.  Gary feels stupid that he waited until now to get a projector.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## b_twill

Rainy Saturdy here.  Perfect for making our first batches of salsa!  Todays batch will be mild.  Using some paprika, banana, jalapeno and green peppers that the bunnies missed during their summer smorgasbord.


----------



## limr

b_twill said:


> Rainy Saturdy here.  Perfect for making our first batches of salsa!  Todays batch will be mild.  Using some paprika, banana, jalapeno and green peppers that the bunnies missed during their summer smorgasbord.



No cilantro??


----------



## Gary A.

Gary rearranged the furniture and setting up Movie Night in the Patio.  This is the before picture.


----------



## Gary A.

Fini.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 126340 Fini.



That is awesome. Perfect for your lifestyle. 

Please do not take offense to this but I would never consider blocking such a beautiful landscape with technology. For me, the screen is in your landscape and there is a lot more good going on in it than on a huge screen. I know times have changed but I just think there are so many things go unnoticed. I know you know every inch of your yard and have put great effort and love into it. I hate TV and my little rant is over because I am an old dog and I am not in touch. I am envious in some ways but all I need to see is a commercial or political ad and I am pretty much done. I love baseball and that looks like an ultimate way to watch it.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good evening hosers. I hate tripods. I am in the process of making my own and have spent way to many sleepiness nights on it. I can't share anything yet but I am making good process. 

My mentor was in town this weekend and we were rained out for the tractor show but truth be told, I wanted to go and it would have been fine. I think he had too much to drink last night as I got a call this morning about him from the golf course bar... uuugh. The owner let him slide because of me but, well you know... The guy is a highly decorated Marine and it saved him. I got to yell at him for once and he listened. Oh my. I have never seen this side of him. 

Anyway, he really liked my prototype and was amazed at the smoothness and quickness of how it erected and collapsed. He loved the automatic leveling. He loved the push or pull with one hand not needing to unlock 3 legs.  He was confused on the base attachment and I need to work on it. I am trying to make a seamless transition from portrait to landscape.  One click, two click, three click ready to go.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 126340 Fini.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is awesome. Perfect for your lifestyle.
> 
> Please do not take offense to this but I would never consider blocking such a beautiful landscape with technology. For me, the screen is in your landscape and there is a lot more good going on in it than on a huge screen. I know times have changed but I just think there are so many things go unnoticed. I know you know every inch of your yard and have put great effort and love into it. I hate TV and my little rant is over because I am an old dog and I am not in touch. I am envious in some ways but all I need to see is a commercial or political ad and I am pretty much done. I love baseball and that looks like an ultimate way to watch it.
Click to expand...

Don't fret JC.  The screen is blocking the northern view of the BBQ Patio ... Nothing much to look at when not in use, just a bunk of black tarped stuff.  From the above view the koi pond is to the left (west), the northwest are the roses and the rest of the yard to the south.  Also, the screen is temporary.  When the movie is over, it gets folded and packed away.  While the screen is self standing, Gary has installed hooks all over the patio to facilitate setting it up in tight places. The aluminum frame is one piece, all hinged and folds up nice and tidy and the screen snaps in.

Mary Lou loves movies.  This is a great way to watch movies. After movies, all we watch is news and sports. News will be on the Tv, but sports ... Sports is awesome (see photo above).

This projector thing is so good that Gary is looking at pull down screens for the house.  Just to make viewing inside easier.

As to commercials or political ads ... Don't sweat the small stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Good evening hosers. I hate tripods. I am in the process of making my own and have spent way to many sleepiness nights on it. I can't share anything yet but I am making good process.
> 
> My mentor was in town this weekend and we were rained out for the tractor show but truth be told, I wanted to go and it would have been fine. I think he had too much to drink last night as I got a call this morning about him from the golf course bar... uuugh. The owner let him slide because of me but, well you know... The guy is a highly decorated Marine and it saved him. I got to yell at him for once and he listened. Oh my. I have never seen this side of him.
> 
> Anyway, he really liked my prototype and was amazed at the smoothness and quickness of how it erected and collapsed. He loved the automatic leveling. He loved the push or pull with one hand not needing to unlock 3 legs.  He was confused on the base attachment and I need to work on it. I am trying to make a seamless transition from portrait to landscape.  One click, two click, three click ready to go.


I want one of those!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is a beautiful morning, cool and sunny. The screen is packed away, the furniture returned back to its formal setting, Mary Lou and Gary are enjoying their tea and coffee in the patio, watching the fish glide by, reading the paper with The Cook at Gary's side.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- There is a nice article in the California section of the Los Angeles Times on Nick Ut, the photog that snapped the Pulitzer Award photo of the screaming Vietnamese  girl.  He is soon to retire from AP and lives in Los Angeles.


----------



## EIngerson

Parenting......It's for the birds.


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> Parenting......It's for the birds.


LOL!!!


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Gary has had a busy morning. Under that hot mess is a Tri-Tip, all herbed-up and smothered with other stuff Gary found in the garden. Soon the Kamado will be up to speed and in the BBQ she goes.


----------



## EIngerson

Had to recreate St. Serapion for my sons Art History class. This was where my parenting comment came from. LOL Your kids are always the worst models. Even when it's their project. Fun times in the Ingerson household. 

Original is here.
Google Image Result for https://cdn.kastatic.org/ka-perseus-images/9775a15aa631fe707ec3f1ccac71e5e45ad1be79.jpg




JSI Project-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## EIngerson

pixmedic said:


>




That dudes doing what I want to do today.


----------



## table1349

I could sure go for a Roberto's burrito right about now.


----------



## EIngerson

gryphonslair99 said:


> I could sure go for a Roberto's burrito right about now.




I'm going for lunch tomorrow because of this post. LOL. Thanks.


----------



## medic2230

EIngerson said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That dudes doing what I want to do today.
Click to expand...


I did that yesterday and today.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Monday:


----------



## limr




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

OH HAI PUPPEH!


----------



## limr

Had a big weekend. Sort of. I did all kinds of crap on Saturday: took broken junk to the town dump, made two Goodwill runs, did a bunch of errands, and started in on my developing. I also have a big 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle of the Breakfast at Tiffany's movie poster and I finally started gluing that to some foam board. On Sunday, Buzz and I drove north to Hudson for some pizza and a bit of walking around. I got two new-to-me albums: The Sex Pistols live and the soundtrack to Shaft. I was disappointed in the second one because it's just the music - no vocals. No fun that way. But it was only $5, so you live and you learn. And sometimes you get the Shaft.


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


I didn't know you owned any live animals.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Monday:


Yeah, that's about all I can say for myself.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  (forgot that in the last message, such is my state this morning)


----------



## limr

Hey, @JacaRanda I saw the notification that you liked a photo of mine so maybe you're still lurking about. I found where you could live if you ever move to Monaco!


----------



## waday

The wife chose Batman vs. Superman to watch this weekend from Redbox.

We were both tired, she fell asleep during it. I forced myself to stay awake. Did not enjoy that movie at all. Aside from the fact that it was a confusing, disorganized mess for the first 2 hours or so, it just made no sense to me whatsoever. I find it disappointing that companies are just throwing together whatever they can to make money.

Also, spoiler rant...



Spoiler



The monster that Lex Luthor created to end the world, daftly named "Doomsday", looked straight out of Lord of the Rings. I mean, it was created in a bubble/goo pod and had the same facial features.

Then the whole kryptonite spear thing? Seriously? If anything, they should have had Amy Adams throw it at the monster. I mean, Superman can't even bring it up from the depths of that pool of water without passing out, but he can somehow fly several hundred feet with it to strike Doomsday? Give me a break.

Also, why is Batman such a jerk? He started branding people so they get killed in prison? That doesn't sound like the batman I've grown to know over the years.



<sarcasm>
Next up in their queue: Hello Kitty meets the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to save the earth from cyborgs.
</sarcasm>

The best part of that movie was Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, because he is the perfect person to play those sorts of roles.


----------



## JonA_CT

Well, my summer is finally over. We made a mad dash to Maine yesterday -- my wife needed a certain beach to complete her summer. Left at 6AM and were home around 7AM. She is back to the work today.

I have another week, but I have lots of work to do, especially on the college teaching front. I'm teaching a new class this fall. I attended the training for the class when it was created, but haven't taught it in the 2 years since. I found out last week that they changed their basal texts for the course (being the most adjuncty of adjuncts, I was out of the loop), so I have this week to figure out what the hell I'm doing starting Monday. Of course, I'm counting on a Pearson rep to get me my copies of the books ASAP.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> The wife chose Batman vs. Superman to watch this weekend from Redbox.
> 
> We were both tired, she fell asleep during it. I forced myself to stay awake. Did not enjoy that movie at all. Aside from the fact that it was a confusing, disorganized mess for the first 2 hours or so, it just made no sense to me whatsoever. I find it disappointing that companies are just throwing together whatever they can to make money.
> 
> Also, spoiler rant...
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> The monster that Lex Luthor created to end the world, daftly named "Doomsday", looked straight out of Lord of the Rings. I mean, it was created in a bubble/goo pod and had the same facial features.
> 
> Then the whole kryptonite spear thing? Seriously? If anything, they should have had Amy Adams throw it at the monster. I mean, Superman can't even bring it up from the depths of that pool of water without passing out, but he can somehow fly several hundred feet with it to strike Doomsday? Give me a break.
> 
> Also, why is Batman such a jerk? He started branding people so they get killed in prison? That doesn't sound like the batman I've grown to know over the years.
> 
> 
> 
> <sarcasm>
> Next up in their queue: Hello Kitty meets the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to save the earth from cyborgs.
> </sarcasm>
> 
> The best part of that movie was Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, because he is the perfect person to play those sorts of roles.



Have you seen this? An open letter from Wonder Woman to Batman regarding the events of Batman v Superman

Warning to those who care: the article contains spoilers.



Spoiler: "OH, AND SPEAKING OF...



...KRYPTONITE.

We need to talk about what happened during our battle against Doomsday. As you may recall, when the going got rough, we found ourselves with one (1) hybrid supermonster, bred by Lex Luthor to be killable only with kryptonite, and one (1) spear made of the aforementioned space mineral, which is lethally crippling to Superman but just a glowy rock as far as I'm concerned.

And I guess it escaped your notice, Trumpy McBatface, but I’m an ACTUAL AMAZON. Check my résumé: I have spear experience. Enough experience to know, for instance, that spears are meant to be _thrown. _That is, in fact, one of the key selling points of spears: that you can use them as projectiles and thus avoid coming within a radius of your enemy that would allow him to, say, run you through the heart with one of his fearsome bone spikes. You know, if you happened to find yourself in a situation where that might be a concern.

So obviously the thing to do was … not even consider handing _me_ the space weapon, and instead have Superman heroically sacrifice himself in order to take down the monster with his incompetent spearing technique. Great leadership and decision-making there. Really. Definitely makes me want to go into battle with you again."


----------



## JacaRanda

limr said:


> Hey, @JacaRanda I saw the notification that you liked a photo of mine so maybe you're still lurking about. I found where you could live if you ever move to Monaco!
> View attachment 126384


I am lurking and yes,  Monaco seems like a wonderful destination for me.  Calling to see if I can get dibs at that spot. [emoji8] 

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Well, my summer is finally over. We made a mad dash to Maine yesterday -- my wife needed a certain beach to complete her summer. Left at 6AM and were home around 7AM. She is back to the work today.
> 
> I have another week, but I have lots of work to do, especially on the college teaching front. I'm teaching a new class this fall. I attended the training for the class when it was created, but haven't taught it in the 2 years since. I found out last week that they changed their basal texts for the course (being the most adjuncty of adjuncts, I was out of the loop), so I have this week to figure out what the hell I'm doing starting Monday. Of course, I'm counting on a Pearson rep to get me my copies of the books ASAP.



I highly approve of the mad dash to Maine. I'm a big fan of the mad dash, and, as you know, an even bigger fan of Maine. I totally understand the need for big water to soothe one's soul. 

Good luck with prep! I am allowed to teach one class per semester now that I'm an official Cog, and that class starts in 2 weeks. I haven't done a thing yet. It's a class I've taught a million times and I just can't be bothered to think about it yet.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, my summer is finally over. We made a mad dash to Maine yesterday -- my wife needed a certain beach to complete her summer. Left at 6AM and were home around 7AM. She is back to the work today.
> 
> I have another week, but I have lots of work to do, especially on the college teaching front. I'm teaching a new class this fall. I attended the training for the class when it was created, but haven't taught it in the 2 years since. I found out last week that they changed their basal texts for the course (being the most adjuncty of adjuncts, I was out of the loop), so I have this week to figure out what the hell I'm doing starting Monday. Of course, I'm counting on a Pearson rep to get me my copies of the books ASAP.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I highly approve of the mad dash to Maine. I'm a big fan of the mad dash, and, as you know, an even bigger fan of Maine. I totally understand the need for big water to soothe one's soul.
> 
> Good luck with prep! I am allowed to teach one class per semester now that I'm an official Cog, and that class starts in 2 weeks. I haven't done a thing yet. It's a class I've taught a million times and I just can't be bothered to think about it yet.
Click to expand...



It was a nice day -- although the quiet, tucked away beach we love in shoulder season isn't quite as quiet on a beautiful Sunday in August. But that's alright.

Part of me wishes I was teaching the same comp class I've taught for the last few years because I can do it in my sleep. But...this class is 6 credits instead of 3 and pays twice as much, so it's worth putting the work in.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


Taxidermy Classes - Learn Deer, Fish, Duck, Ferret. Small Game Taxidermy


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> The wife chose Batman vs. Superman to watch this weekend from Redbox.
> 
> We were both tired, she fell asleep during it. I forced myself to stay awake. Did not enjoy that movie at all. Aside from the fact that it was a confusing, disorganized mess for the first 2 hours or so, it just made no sense to me whatsoever. I find it disappointing that companies are just throwing together whatever they can to make money.
> 
> Also, spoiler rant...
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> The monster that Lex Luthor created to end the world, daftly named "Doomsday", looked straight out of Lord of the Rings. I mean, it was created in a bubble/goo pod and had the same facial features.
> 
> Then the whole kryptonite spear thing? Seriously? If anything, they should have had Amy Adams throw it at the monster. I mean, Superman can't even bring it up from the depths of that pool of water without passing out, but he can somehow fly several hundred feet with it to strike Doomsday? Give me a break.
> 
> Also, why is Batman such a jerk? He started branding people so they get killed in prison? That doesn't sound like the batman I've grown to know over the years.
> 
> 
> 
> <sarcasm>
> Next up in their queue: Hello Kitty meets the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to save the earth from cyborgs.
> </sarcasm>
> 
> The best part of that movie was Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, because he is the perfect person to play those sorts of roles.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have you seen this? An open letter from Wonder Woman to Batman regarding the events of Batman v Superman
> 
> Warning to those who care: the article contains spoilers.
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: "OH, AND SPEAKING OF...
> 
> 
> 
> ...KRYPTONITE.
> 
> We need to talk about what happened during our battle against Doomsday. As you may recall, when the going got rough, we found ourselves with one (1) hybrid supermonster, bred by Lex Luthor to be killable only with kryptonite, and one (1) spear made of the aforementioned space mineral, which is lethally crippling to Superman but just a glowy rock as far as I'm concerned.
> 
> And I guess it escaped your notice, Trumpy McBatface, but I’m an ACTUAL AMAZON. Check my résumé: I have spear experience. Enough experience to know, for instance, that spears are meant to be _thrown. _That is, in fact, one of the key selling points of spears: that you can use them as projectiles and thus avoid coming within a radius of your enemy that would allow him to, say, run you through the heart with one of his fearsome bone spikes. You know, if you happened to find yourself in a situation where that might be a concern.
> 
> So obviously the thing to do was … not even consider handing _me_ the space weapon, and instead have Superman heroically sacrifice himself in order to take down the monster with his incompetent spearing technique. Great leadership and decision-making there. Really. Definitely makes me want to go into battle with you again."
Click to expand...

Ok. That is amazing. SPOT ON.

Did you see the movie? Within the first hour, my wife says, "Do you want to turn it off, it's not good." I said that we already spent an hour, we might as well finish it. I didn't realize it was 2.5 hours long. Ugh.

More spoiler rants...



Spoiler



How in the world does Lex Luthor have all this amazing technology, and he has this little piece of wire sticking out of his servers that allows someone unfettered access to download all files? Literally, Lex's entire network. And Batman did that in 7 minutes? Must be new technology that allows the transfer of data faster. Too bad he couldn't use new technology to install a lock on the door. Or, you know, not have a port to the server. 

And there is no security and no cameras? Yeah. Sure.

Also, that letter is spot on. Batman just emails this picture to Wonder Woman? Through email? This picture has "military-grade" encryption, and Batman sends her the picture in an email? Couldn't they at least have met for coffee in an undisclosed location and he give her the picture in an envelope that permanently changes the picture to a sunset or whatever after, say, 10 seconds of viewing? I know that's ridiculous, but so is Lex Luthor's security and Batman's appreciation for Wonder Woman.

Also, I may not be completely remembering this correctly, but if I recall, the security of those from Krypton was pretty darn good. For example, the machine could tell who was who, and I thought Superman's real father fought like h*ll with the help of his computer. But, Lex Luthor can just take the fingerprints off of a dead guy and use that to trick his ship into giving him an all access pass to use the ship and to create Doomsday, which was against their ethical rules? Hmm.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Ok. That is amazing. SPOT ON.
> 
> Did you see the movie? Within the first hour, my wife says, "Do you want to turn it off, it's not good." I said that we already spent an hour, we might as well finish it. I didn't realize it was 2.5 hours long. Ugh.
> 
> More spoiler rants...



Nah. I've enjoyed superhero movies but this latest spate of them has left me completely uninterested, and nothing that I've read about them, including your rants, changes my mind about them.

I'm wondering when someone is finally going to come up with something new and interesting in terms of sci-fi/action/hero movies. The Star Trek reboots and new Star Wars are really well done, but they're still building on an existing canon. Nothing really truly original AND fantastic has been done since the original Matrix.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I feel as energetic and motivated as the ferret. I have nothing remotely resembling superhero energy. Yup that's about it for today! lol


----------



## medic2230

Got a new pup 2 weeks ago. Teacup chiuahua my wife named Thor all 1 pound of him.


----------



## table1349

medic2230 said:


> Got a new pup 2 weeks ago. Teacup chiuahua my wife named Thor all 1 pound of him.
> 
> 
> View attachment 126394


Congratulations.  For the sake of all that is holy don't introduce him to medics ferret.  Thor looks 1000 times more alive than that ferret.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## vintagesnaps

Tell the ferret to scooch over I need a nap.


----------



## medic2230

gryphonslair99 said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Got a new pup 2 weeks ago. Teacup chiuahua my wife named Thor all 1 pound of him.
> 
> 
> View attachment 126394
> 
> 
> 
> Congratulations.  For the sake of all that is holy don't introduce him to medics ferret.  Thor looks 1000 times more alive than that ferret.
Click to expand...


Thor gives my American bulldog hell.


----------



## limr

medic2230 said:


> Got a new pup 2 weeks ago. Teacup chiuahua my wife named Thor all 1 pound of him.
> 
> 
> View attachment 126394



Tiny wee pup!!

I think the ferret could beat Thor up, if he ever woke up


----------



## jcdeboever

medic2230 said:


> Got a new pup 2 weeks ago. Teacup chiuahua my wife named Thor all 1 pound of him.
> 
> 
> View attachment 126394


Awe, cuteness overload.


----------



## limr

Ugh. I was doing okay today, and the day has gone quite quickly for a Monday, and especially for a Monday with a boring project to do. 

I have an hour left and I am dragging, hosers. Draaaaaaagging.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> medic2230 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Got a new pup 2 weeks ago. Teacup chiuahua my wife named Thor all 1 pound of him.
> 
> 
> View attachment 126394
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tiny wee pup!!
> 
> I think the ferret could beat Thor up, if he ever woke up
Click to expand...

So, assuming a normal 12-15 year life-span for small dogs, Thor is perfectly safe.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> Tell the ferret to scooch over I need a nap.


Aaahhhhhhhhhh...... Sharon you two look so cute together.


----------



## Gary A.

Sunday was Hollywood Bowl night.
iPhone images




YoYo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemable




During a performance, The Bowl is a FAA No-Fly Zone.  Looking straight up, high above, X marks the spot.




The evening started at dusk, in the hills above the Bowl is the Hollywood Sign.

It was a great evening of entertainment and perfect weather.  YoYo Ma is always amazing.  The first half of the program made me feel as if I was Marco Polo discovering the orient. The second half was pure musical joy. Ma had artists from Syria, Iran, China and Espana (the Spanard played the bag pipes).


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Mary Lou's and Gary's Bowl Picnic. The Tri-Tip was very very good and different.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Not much of a fan of the superhero type movies. I did go see 'Jason Bourne' though. What action!!!
I said many times during it, HOW do they film this stuff? 
I know blue screens and computer magic....
It was well worth my $8.25


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Ugh. I was doing okay today, and the day has gone quite quickly for a Monday, and especially for a Monday with a boring project to do.
> 
> I have an hour left and I am dragging, hosers. Draaaaaaagging.



I hope you've poured yourself a nice beer or glass of wine...my wife came back today and immediately walked to the bar to get her favorite wine glass out to hand to me.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ok. That is amazing. SPOT ON.
> 
> Did you see the movie? Within the first hour, my wife says, "Do you want to turn it off, it's not good." I said that we already spent an hour, we might as well finish it. I didn't realize it was 2.5 hours long. Ugh.
> 
> More spoiler rants...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nah. I've enjoyed superhero movies but this latest spate of them has left me completely uninterested, and nothing that I've read about them, including your rants, changes my mind about them.
> 
> I'm wondering when someone is finally going to come up with something new and interesting in terms of sci-fi/action/hero movies. The Star Trek reboots and new Star Wars are really well done, but they're still building on an existing canon. Nothing really truly original AND fantastic has been done since the original Matrix.
Click to expand...

This was my first superhero movie* since _Man of Steel_, and before that, it was _The Dark Knight_.

*I did see _Deadpool_, which was very good, IMO. It was funny, and I would watch it again. Plus, his name is Wade, so that's k*ckass. 

I totally agree. Every movie nowadays is pretty much a regurgitation of an existing series. The new _Star Trek_ and _Star Wars_ movies are good, but totally agree with you. 

_Stranger Things_ was an excellent show. The first season is 8 episodes long on Netflix (not sure if you have it). If you plan on watching the show, don't open my spoiler below. It doesn't really give anything away, but I don't want to spoil anything. Overall, I thought the show was spectacular. It hooked my wife and I on the first episode, which typically doesn't happen with me. _Dexter_ was one of the last series that hooked me quickly. Good thriller series, but we ended up not finishing it because it got a little wonky/messy, IMO. (I can't remember the specifics, but I remember losing interest.)



Spoiler



One of my qualms with _Stranger Things_ came near the end in the bathroom. I won't give away the ending here, but I thought it heavily borrowed from one _X-Files_ episode. I know that sci-fi can be hard to create, but the show had a very _X-Files_ and _Twin Peaks_ vibe. So, because of that, I feel they borrowed it rather than creating their own storyline.


----------



## table1349

I never go to the superhero movies.  They never follow the comic books they were based on.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh. I was doing okay today, and the day has gone quite quickly for a Monday, and especially for a Monday with a boring project to do.
> 
> I have an hour left and I am dragging, hosers. Draaaaaaagging.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hope you've poured yourself a nice beer or glass of wine...my wife came back today and immediately walked to the bar to get her favorite wine glass out to hand to me.
Click to expand...


----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349

This is the one and only true Batman and Robin.


----------



## table1349

There is one and only real Superman as well.


----------



## jcdeboever

pixmedic said:


>


I'm Belgian


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm Belgian
Click to expand...



Then you need to try this.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm Belgian
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Then you need to try this.
Click to expand...

That looks like my wife.... I'll pass, the beer would probably yell at after a few.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm Belgian
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Then you need to try this.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That looks like my wife.... I'll pass, the beer would probably yell at after a few.
Click to expand...



Let her hear you say that and it won't take any beer to get yourself yelled at.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm Belgian
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Then you need to try this.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That looks like my wife.... I'll pass, the beer would probably yell at after a few.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Let her hear you say that and it won't take any beer to get yourself yelled at.
Click to expand...


I do all the time and your right, she yells more. Oh well, I just have to figure out new ways to annoy her, I'm printing this out and writing her name with an arrow, oh draw my no yell sign too. That is gonna get her good and irritated. Thanks bud.

The last one was a sign I hung in the man cave, it referenced a bj bank for every nagging episode....that didn't go over well. The bank is overflowing with blank chips.[emoji31]


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm Belgian
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Then you need to try this.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That looks like my wife.... I'll pass, the beer would probably yell at after a few.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Let her hear you say that and it won't take any beer to get yourself yelled at.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I do all the time and your right, she yells more. Oh well, I just have to figure out new ways to annoy her, I'm printing this out and writing her name with an arrow, oh draw my no yell sign too. That is gonna get her good and irritated. Thanks bud.
> 
> The last one was a sign I hung in the man cave, it referenced a bj bank for every nagging episode....that didn't go over well. The bank is overflowing with blank chips.[emoji31]
Click to expand...


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm Belgian
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Then you need to try this.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That looks like my wife.... I'll pass, the beer would probably yell at after a few.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Let her hear you say that and it won't take any beer to get yourself yelled at.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I do all the time and your right, she yells more. Oh well, I just have to figure out new ways to annoy her, I'm printing this out and writing her name with an arrow, oh draw my no yell sign too. That is gonna get her good and irritated. Thanks bud.
> 
> The last one was a sign I hung in the man cave, it referenced a bj bank for every nagging episode....that didn't go over well. The bank is overflowing with blank chips.[emoji31]
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Oh my...I'm doomed


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm Belgian
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then you need to try this.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That looks like my wife.... I'll pass, the beer would probably yell at after a few.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Let her hear you say that and it won't take any beer to get yourself yelled at.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I do all the time and your right, she yells more. Oh well, I just have to figure out new ways to annoy her, I'm printing this out and writing her name with an arrow, oh draw my no yell sign too. That is gonna get her good and irritated. Thanks bud.
> 
> The last one was a sign I hung in the man cave, it referenced a bj bank for every nagging episode....that didn't go over well. The bank is overflowing with blank chips.[emoji31]
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh my...I'm doomed
Click to expand...

Yep, right about now this is what she is praying.....


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Then you need to try this.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That looks like my wife.... I'll pass, the beer would probably yell at after a few.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Let her hear you say that and it won't take any beer to get yourself yelled at.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I do all the time and your right, she yells more. Oh well, I just have to figure out new ways to annoy her, I'm printing this out and writing her name with an arrow, oh draw my no yell sign too. That is gonna get her good and irritated. Thanks bud.
> 
> The last one was a sign I hung in the man cave, it referenced a bj bank for every nagging episode....that didn't go over well. The bank is overflowing with blank chips.[emoji31]
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh my...I'm doomed
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yep, right about now this is what she is praying.....
Click to expand...

Yup, to the bank


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> That looks like my wife.... I'll pass, the beer would probably yell at after a few.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Let her hear you say that and it won't take any beer to get yourself yelled at.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I do all the time and your right, she yells more. Oh well, I just have to figure out new ways to annoy her, I'm printing this out and writing her name with an arrow, oh draw my no yell sign too. That is gonna get her good and irritated. Thanks bud.
> 
> The last one was a sign I hung in the man cave, it referenced a bj bank for every nagging episode....that didn't go over well. The bank is overflowing with blank chips.[emoji31]
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh my...I'm doomed
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yep, right about now this is what she is praying.....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yup, to the bank
Click to expand...

And this is what will be the last thought in her mind before she goes to bed tonight.





Good nite......sleep tight.......and remember she knows where YOU sleep.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Let her hear you say that and it won't take any beer to get yourself yelled at.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I do all the time and your right, she yells more. Oh well, I just have to figure out new ways to annoy her, I'm printing this out and writing her name with an arrow, oh draw my no yell sign too. That is gonna get her good and irritated. Thanks bud.
> 
> The last one was a sign I hung in the man cave, it referenced a bj bank for every nagging episode....that didn't go over well. The bank is overflowing with blank chips.[emoji31]
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh my...I'm doomed
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yep, right about now this is what she is praying.....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yup, to the bank
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And this is what will be the last thought in her mind before she goes to bed tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good nite......sleep tight.......and remember she knows where YOU sleep.
Click to expand...

Nope, that's the only thing .... forget it, she yells then too...


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

The exclamation point on that greeting exhausted me.

So, I just have to say...JC, is the description of the screeching harpy wife just an easy joke or is she honestly a screeching harpy? If it's the former, I think you should be more kind in talking about her. If it's the latter, I think you need to do something (and I don't mean passive-aggressively peeing in the laundry tub, either  )

(More generally and not directed at anyone...)I understand that it's a common dynamic and/or stereotype (the screeching wife who treats her hapless husband as one of her children) - we see it on sitcoms all the time and half of the jokes around here are about wives laying down the law and the husbands not being allowed to have any fun, talking like they really are just big children. But it's a pretty awful dynamic for both sides. So many men and women both buy into this dynamic, and I will never ever understand why. 

And now, back to kittens:


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> There is one and only real Superman as well.



Ok, if this guy was the "real superman" then why is it he'd stand there with his hands on his hips and let a guy shoot him in the chest with a revolver until it ran out of ammo, but as soon as the guy threw the gun at him, he'd duck.

Seriously?


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> There is one and only real Superman as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, if this guy was the "real superman" then why is it he'd stand there with his hands on his hips and let a guy shoot him in the chest with a revolver until it ran out of ammo, but as soon as the guy threw the gun at him, he'd duck.
> 
> Seriously?
Click to expand...

Geese, what are you some radical left wing, anti 2nd amendment big ape.   It's obvious, he didn't care about the bullets but he didn't want to damage the gun.


----------



## Gary A.

The gun would have messed up his doo ...

Maybe bullets are too fast to dodge ...

Maybe he just isn't very bright ... He is the Man of Steel not the Man of Smarts.


----------



## table1349

Sharon will understand.......


----------



## table1349

A challenge to all the Californian's to try these and report.  8-year-old boy starts baking business to buy mom a house and make people happy

If he gets his license and can ship I know I certainly will.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another cool morning warming up to a pleasant day.  The other day Gary purchased a Rose wine from Costco.  It came in a very elegant bottle with a glass stopper, (ala France).  Gary is now using that bottle for water.  Yesterday, Gary acquired more of the same to ship off to his daughter in St. Louis, it is a very pretty wine bottle ... But the shipping will most likely cost more than wine and the pain of packaging and standing in line at post office. It just dawned on him that he should buy the wine from Costco online and have them ship it.  ... Damn, just spent a bit of time on Costco online, Costco doesn't sell wine online, but man, they have a lot more stuff online than in the store.  Gary may drop his Amazon membership.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> A challenge to all the Californian's to try these and report.  8-year-old boy starts baking business to buy mom a house and make people happy
> 
> If he gets his license and can ship I know I certainly will.


Nice story, unfortunately Fresno is about four+ hours away ...

Why is the Witcha Eagle running a so-so story from Fresno? (I know why ... But there's gotta be similar and equal stories in Kansas.)


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Adrian Gonzales is Bomb!


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> PS- Adrian Gonzales is Bomb!



Ok, so who is Adrian Gonzales and why are we bombing him?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> PS- Adrian Gonzales is Bomb!


I've always liked him, great hitter and fielder. Sweet swing. Great game yesterday.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> The exclamation point on that greeting exhausted me.
> 
> So, I just have to say...JC, is the description of the screeching harpy wife just an easy joke or is she honestly a screeching harpy? If it's the former, I think you should be more kind in talking about her. If it's the latter, I think you need to do something (and I don't mean passive-aggressively peeing in the laundry tub, either  )
> 
> (More generally and not directed at anyone...)I understand that it's a common dynamic and/or stereotype (the screeching wife who treats her hapless husband as one of her children) - we see it on sitcoms all the time and half of the jokes around here are about wives laying down the law and the husbands not being allowed to have any fun, talking like they really are just big children. But it's a pretty awful dynamic for both sides. So many men and women both buy into this dynamic, and I will never ever understand why.
> 
> And now, back to kittens:


Yeah, I'm pretty much joking around. We always joke about her yelling, bottom line is, im always doing dumb ****, my nickname is Beav with her family to give you an idea.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't think I'm even going to go back and see what was being discussed that I missed... sometimes things do sound more harsh in writing compared to if you just say it but I've gotten a similar impression before. Maybe things aren't quite how they sound,

It's nice having windows open listening to the kids on the playground, but it's too early for schools to have started and it's so cool it feels like we zoomed ahead to mid September. Which would get me closer to hockey season, but I think it'll get hot again.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I don't think I'm even going to go back and see what was being discussed that I missed... sometimes things do sound more harsh in writing compared to if you just say it but I've gotten a similar impression before. Maybe things aren't quite how they sound,



Agreed - it's tricky to convey in writing the kind of light-heartedness and affection that is often behind verbal teasing.



> *It's nice* having windows open *listening to the kids on the playground*,



And this is where you and I differ   Cool air? Good. Windows open? Good. Listening to screaming children? A world of no. There's a reason I stay in higher education...well, okay, there are several reasons, but that's definitely one of them!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> The exclamation point on that greeting exhausted me.
> 
> So, I just have to say...JC, is the description of the screeching harpy wife just an easy joke or is she honestly a screeching harpy? If it's the former, I think you should be more kind in talking about her. If it's the latter, I think you need to do something (and I don't mean passive-aggressively peeing in the laundry tub, either  )
> 
> (More generally and not directed at anyone...)I understand that it's a common dynamic and/or stereotype (the screeching wife who treats her hapless husband as one of her children) - we see it on sitcoms all the time and half of the jokes around here are about wives laying down the law and the husbands not being allowed to have any fun, talking like they really are just big children. But it's a pretty awful dynamic for both sides. So many men and women both buy into this dynamic, and I will never ever understand why.
> 
> And now, back to kittens:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I'm pretty much joking around. We always joke about her yelling, bottom line is, im always doing dumb ****, my nickname is Beav with her family to give you an idea.
Click to expand...

Guys and dumbass is redundant.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's younger elementary grades at the school up the street and off in the distance so I mostly hear sounds of playing, they're far enough away I don't have to deal with them up close making racket! I've worked with all ages, used to run summer camp programs etc. and mostly worked with kids with special needs. But of course the last 20 years or so were in EI, those toddlers can be something else! lol used to be glad some days they were going home with someone else not me!

I'd thought about teaching college level when I retired, but having the stroke changed that idea. And now I don't know if I'd want to get back into it anyway, everyone from work seems to have gone on to something else. I think when you retire at 30-35 years in public service and you're only early 50s that's young to retire so we all had plans to go on to do whatever, sort of a second career.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I think they're having gym classes outdoors, I can see some sort of running around advancing behavior, I guess they're playing soccer. Or just running around and somebody kicks a ball once in awhile. Nooo, kickball..... I don't know, it looks like T ball with a kick ball, maybe they're just making up their own games but it looks too organized to be just recess. Well they're off devices and getting fresh air and exercise if nothing else.


----------



## Gary A.

Depending on the direction Cook chooses, the Cook and Gary will often walk through the regional park which has ball parks, tennis courts and swimming facilities.  Sometimes we will stop and watch the kids play ball.  The softball fields are filled with girl teams ... Gary remembers growing up that girls had to play with dolls ... or you were called a Tomboy. There were no organized sports for young girls when Gary was a kid. Gary likes hearing the chants and the sound of the bat hitting the ball or the thud of the ball hitting the glove at first.


----------



## waday

The weather this morning was much cooler, and we had our windows open last night. The crisp air felt great!

Glad to have the cooler weather, but I will miss the hot summer days. Sorry Leo. I'm not looking forward to the shorter days from late Fall to early Spring.

A change is coming for me in the next few weeks. I've finally made a decision to change jobs, or rather, companies. Will be working for another company doing similar work for a previous supervisor that I have a lot of respect for.

Combining a few topics in the past few days... If anyone wants to watch a sexist Batman and Robin, you should watch "Nora Clavicle and the Ladies' Crime Club", Season 3 Episode 19. It came on TV one day, and I had nothing to do...

Nora Clavicle, a "woman's rights activist", helps get the police commissioner removed because his wife refuses to cook, clean, do the laundry, and you know, all the things a woman is supposed to do in the house. Then, when Nora gets in charge, all the men are replaced by women. All the women police officers only care about shopping and makeup and don't care about anything else, so they are distracted and can't help against Nora. They radio to each other about sales and shopping. Then, you know, only men can save the city.

And, seriously, Nora "Clavicle"? 

Now, I know this was at a different time and all when it aired, but it was definitely a WTF episode. Wow, we've come such a long way. Still so much further to go.

The WTF Episode of "Batman"


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> Nora Clavicle, a "woman's rights activist", helps get the police commissioner removed because his wife refuses to cook, clean, do the laundry, and you know, all the things a woman is supposed to do in the house. Then, when Nora gets in charge, all the men are replaced by women. All the women police officers only care about shopping and makeup and don't care about anything else, so they are distracted and can't help against Nora. They radio to each other about sales and shopping. Then, you know, only men can save the city.
> 
> And, seriously, Nora "Clavicle"?
> 
> Now, I know this was at a different time and all when it aired, but it was definitely a WTF episode. Wow, we've come such a long way. Still so much further to go.
> 
> The WTF Episode of "Batman"



Ok, well in Nora's defense...

She did have a pretty creative scheme.  Apparently she bought insurance that would pay off if Gotham City was destroyed.

Not sure if this was some sort of special rider to her standard home insurance policy or not.  I'm calling my State Farm agent later today to check, sounds like it might be worth it as long as the premiums are cheap enough.

But at any rate after getting this rather odd sounding insurance policy her plan was to blow up Gotham using a horde of robot mice.

Now this might sound a little odd because lets face it, she could probably make about a million times as much money if she sold the robot mice in toy stores.. but, hey, I guess you have to give her points for style if nothing else.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> The weather this morning was much cooler, and we had our windows open last night. The crisp air felt great!
> 
> Glad to have the cooler weather, but I will miss the hot summer days. Sorry Leo. I'm not looking forward to the shorter days from late Fall to early Spring.
> 
> A change is coming for me in the next few weeks. I've finally made a decision to change jobs, or rather, companies. Will be working for another company doing similar work for a previous supervisor that I have a lot of respect for.
> 
> Combining a few topics in the past few days... If anyone wants to watch a sexist Batman and Robin, you should watch "Nora Clavicle and the Ladies' Crime Club", Season 3 Episode 19. It came on TV one day, and I had nothing to do...
> 
> Nora Clavicle, a "woman's rights activist", helps get the police commissioner removed because his wife refuses to cook, clean, do the laundry, and you know, all the things a woman is supposed to do in the house. Then, when Nora gets in charge, all the men are replaced by women. All the women police officers only care about shopping and makeup and don't care about anything else, so they are distracted and can't help against Nora. They radio to each other about sales and shopping. Then, you know, only men can save the city.
> 
> And, seriously, Nora "Clavicle"?
> 
> Now, I know this was at a different time and all when it aired, but it was definitely a WTF episode. Wow, we've come such a long way. Still so much further to go.
> 
> The WTF Episode of "Batman"


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nora Clavicle, a "woman's rights activist", helps get the police commissioner removed because his wife refuses to cook, clean, do the laundry, and you know, all the things a woman is supposed to do in the house. Then, when Nora gets in charge, all the men are replaced by women. All the women police officers only care about shopping and makeup and don't care about anything else, so they are distracted and can't help against Nora. They radio to each other about sales and shopping. Then, you know, only men can save the city.
> 
> And, seriously, Nora "Clavicle"?
> 
> Now, I know this was at a different time and all when it aired, but it was definitely a WTF episode. Wow, we've come such a long way. Still so much further to go.
> 
> The WTF Episode of "Batman"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, well in Nora's defense...
> 
> She did have a pretty creative scheme.  Apparently she bought insurance that would pay off if Gotham City was destroyed.
> 
> Not sure if this was some sort of special rider to her standard home insurance policy or not.  I'm calling my State Farm agent later today to check, sounds like it might be worth it as long as the premiums are cheap enough.
> 
> But at any rate after getting this rather odd sounding insurance policy her plan was to blow up Gotham using a horde of robot mice.
> 
> Now this might sound a little odd because lets face it, she could probably make about a million times as much money if she sold the robot mice in toy stores.. but, hey, I guess you have to give her points for style if nothing else.
Click to expand...

Whether male or female, it seems many antagonists in superhero movies could make major amounts of money if they put their mind to it, but, instead, they always want power to control the world. If only they realized that money is power is control.


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> Whether male or female, it seems many antagonists in superhero movies could make major amounts of money if they put their mind to it, but, instead, they always want power to control the world. If only they realized that money is power is control.



I guess the thing that makes me a little sad is that there is just no way a lot of the great movies of the past could even get made in today's climate.  I can't imagine anyone being able to get away with making some of the Mel Brooks films for example.  The protestors would be lined up around the block and everyone would be screaming and wringing there hands about how horrible and insensitive they are, etc.

I guess it would just be nice if folks could have a bit of a sense of humor about themselves, but I guess those days are a thing of the past.


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> I guess the thing that makes me a little sad is that there is just no way a lot of the great movies of the past could even get made in today's climate.  I can't imagine anyone being able to get away with making some of the Mel Brooks films for example.  The protestors would be lined up around the block and everyone would be screaming and wringing there hands about how horrible and insensitive they are, etc.
> 
> I guess it would just be nice if folks could have a bit of a sense of humor about themselves, but I guess those days are a thing of the past.


Can you imagine the hue and cry if someone tried to pitch the script for "Blazing Saddles" today????? 

IMO, its even more of a shame that so many people condemn the past while looking at it with today's viewpoint and social conventions.  Things that seem so socially abhorrent now were in fact perfectly appropriate in their time.  It might _*seem*_ wrong to us now, but it was right at the time.  I have no doubt that in 50 or 100 years, our progeny will castigate us for some of the actions we see as perfectly normal and correct.


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Whether male or female, it seems many antagonists in superhero movies could make major amounts of money if they put their mind to it, but, instead, they always want power to control the world. If only they realized that money is power is control.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I guess the thing that makes me a little sad is that there is just no way a lot of the great movies of the past could even get made in today's climate.  I can't imagine anyone being able to get away with making some of the Mel Brooks films for example.  The protestors would be lined up around the block and everyone would be screaming and wringing there hands about how horrible and insensitive they are, etc.
> 
> I guess it would just be nice if folks could have a bit of a sense of humor about themselves, but I guess those days are a thing of the past.
Click to expand...

I've seen many comedies and had many hearty laughs that didn't require any specific race, sex, religion, age, etc to be discriminated against.

I agree with @tirediron that those were viewpoints that were considered "acceptable" at the time, but that didn't make them "right". Slavery was acceptable at a time, but that doesn't mean it was right.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> ...I agree with @tirediron that those were viewpoints that were considered "acceptable" at the time, but that didn't make them "right". Slavery was acceptable at a time, but that doesn't mean it was right.


See that's the thing; "right" and "wrong" is purely perception and social conditioning.  What is right today, may well be wrong in 100 years.  Slavery is considered "wrong" today, but in the Roman Empire of 100 BCE, it was not only "right" it was essential.


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...I agree with @tirediron that those were viewpoints that were considered "acceptable" at the time, but that didn't make them "right". Slavery was acceptable at a time, but that doesn't mean it was right.
> 
> 
> 
> See that's the thing; "right" and "wrong" is purely perception and social conditioning.  What is right today, may well be wrong in 100 years.  Slavery is considered "wrong" today, but in the Roman Empire of 100 BCE, it was not only "right" it was essential.
Click to expand...

Ehhh... I feel like we're discussing a very slippery slope here... As a mod, would you like me to respond to this or would you rather I simply say, "I respectfully disagree"?


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Can you imagine the hue and cry if someone tried to pitch the script for "Blazing Saddles" today?????



Lol.. he'd get run out of town on a rail.  And it's a shame too because really when you watch the movie you realize they are actually making fun of racial intolerance and bigotry... 

But the knee jerk reaction would result in the movie never seeing the light of day.


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> I've seen many comedies and had many hearty laughs that didn't require any specific race, sex, religion, age, etc to be discriminated against.



Well I think we might be working on a very different definition of "discrimination" here too - I've seen more than a few comedians make fun of people of my ethnic background and I don't feel "discriminated" against.  In fact some of the stuff is pretty funny.  Guess it just depends on how willing you are to laugh at yourself.

But like tirediron mentioned, probably best to just agree to disagree and move on.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Whether male or female, it seems many antagonists in superhero movies could make major amounts of money if they put their mind to it, but, instead, they always want power to control the world. If only they realized that money is power is control.











robbins.photo said:


> I guess the thing that makes me a little sad is that there is just no way a lot of the great movies of the past could even get made in today's climate.  I can't imagine anyone being able to get away with making some of the Mel Brooks films for example.  The protestors would be lined up around the block and everyone would be screaming and wringing there hands about how horrible and insensitive they are, etc.
> 
> I guess it would just be nice if folks could have a bit of a sense of humor about themselves, but I guess those days are a thing of the past.



While I understand your point and do think that sometimes people get offended at something that was supposed to be satire, I also think that it's wrong to say that we never used to be offended but now we are. I think that there were plenty of people who were offended and insulted and cut down on a regular basis but just had no power to say anything. For the most part, if someone did say something, the best case scenario is that they were dismissed for being whiny and overly sensitive. In the worst case scenarios, they became the target of violence.

Yes, people can take it too far these days when they don't understand context, but don't mistake silence for an absence of injury.



tirediron said:


> Can you imagine the hue and cry if someone tried to pitch the script for "Blazing Saddles" today?????
> 
> IMO, its even more of a shame that so many people condemn the past while looking at it with today's viewpoint and social conventions.  Things that seem so socially abhorrent now were in fact perfectly appropriate in their time.  It might _*seem*_ wrong to us now, but it was right at the time.  I have no doubt that in 50 or 100 years, our progeny will castigate us for some of the actions we see as perfectly normal and correct.



You are talking about cultural relativism. You say we are condemning the past based on our current values. In fact, what often is the case is that people are condemning those who are _continuing _those same practices that we no longer find acceptable. They don't just "seem" wrong to us - they _are_ wrong to us. It may not be fair to judge people in the past using our modern standards, but it should work the other way: don't judge today's people based on cultural values of 50 years ago.


----------



## waday

So, this is a bit off the current topic, but I had the realization that Pokemon is now on Netflix. And, I started watching it, again, since, umm, 1998. I can't get the theme song out of my head.

If you never heard it, you can listen to Obama singing it:


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've seen many comedies and had many hearty laughs that didn't require any specific race, sex, religion, age, etc to be discriminated against.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well I think we might be working on a very different definition of "discrimination" here too - I've seen more than a few comedians make fun of people of my ethnic background and I don't feel "discriminated" against.  In fact some of the stuff is pretty funny.  *Guess it just depends on how willing you are to laugh at yourself.*
> 
> But like tirediron mentioned, probably best to just agree to disagree and move on.
Click to expand...


Caveats: Of course, we need to have a sense of humor about ourselves. We need to understand context, satire, the underlying meaning and intention of the speech...all of these things matter. The words themselves aren't the only thing; it's the who (and to whom), the how and when and where the words are said. 

But...it _doesn't_ all depend on how much we are willing to suck up. It also depends on the speaker to not be an arsehole.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> So, this is a bit off the current topic, but I had the realization that Pokemon is now on Netflix. And, I started watching it, again, since, umm, 1998. I can't get the theme song out of my head.
> 
> If you never heard it, you can listen to Obama singing it:



I refuse that earworm, thankyouverymuch


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Caveats: Of course, we need to have a sense of humor about ourselves. We need to understand context, satire, the underlying meaning and intention of the speech...all of these things matter. The words themselves aren't the only thing; it's the who (and to whom), the how and when and where the words are said.



No argument there.  Sadly though nowadays folks don't seem to bother with any of that.  They seem to pretty much pull out the I'M OFFENDED signs in a heartbeat with the slightest provocation.  



> But...it _doesn't_ all depend on how much we are willing to suck up. It also depends on the speaker to not be an arsehole.



I guess it would just be nice if folks could say, wow.. what an arse, and move on in those cases.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> As a mod, would you like me to respond to this or would you rather I simply say, "I respectfully disagree"?


You're welcome to respond; I'm here as a member, not a mod, and I'm certainly not going to take advantage of the fact that I have some extra privileges just because we don't agree on something.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> I guess it would just be nice if folks could say, wow.. what an arse, and move on in those cases.



If it makes you feel better, I have absolutely no problem calling someone an arse and then moving on 

But yes, I agree that in individual cases, this is what people should mostly do. It's when the issue is systemic that it should be addressed.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> I guess it would just be nice if folks could say, wow.. what an arse, and move on in those cases.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If it makes you feel better, I have absolutely no problem calling someone an arse and then moving on
> 
> But yes, I agree that in individual cases, this is what people should mostly do. It's when the issue is systemic that it should be addressed.
Click to expand...


Again, no argument - but I guess I'd just like to see folks save the umbrage for those times when it's actually deserved, instead of going hog wild every time they hear something they think someone may at some point be offended by...

Ahh well.  Such be life I guess.


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> I guess it would just be nice if folks could say, wow.. what an arse, and move on in those cases.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If it makes you feel better, I have absolutely no problem calling someone an arse and then moving on
> 
> But yes, I agree that in individual cases, this is what people should mostly do. It's when the issue is systemic that it should be addressed.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Again, no argument - but I guess I'd just like to see folks save the umbrage for those times when it's actually deserved, instead of going hog wild every time they hear something they think someone may at some point be offended by...
> 
> Ahh well.  Such be life I guess.
Click to expand...

Of all the peeves, my pettest is the person who gets offended on behalf of others, and especially when the "injured" party thinks it's funny.  If the insult/slur/dig/whatever is directed at me, and I'm not bothered, than no else should be!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> I guess the thing that makes me a little sad is that there is just no way a lot of the great movies of the past could even get made in today's climate.  I can't imagine anyone being able to get away with making some of the Mel Brooks films for example.  The protestors would be lined up around the block and everyone would be screaming and wringing there hands about how horrible and insensitive they are, etc.
> 
> I guess it would just be nice if folks could have a bit of a sense of humor about themselves, but I guess those days are a thing of the past.
> 
> 
> 
> Can you imagine the hue and cry if someone tried to pitch the script for "Blazing Saddles" today?????
> 
> IMO, its even more of a shame that so many people condemn the past while looking at it with today's viewpoint and social conventions.  Things that seem so socially abhorrent now were in fact perfectly appropriate in their time.  It might _*seem*_ wrong to us now, but it was right at the time.  I have no doubt that in 50 or 100 years, our progeny will castigate us for some of the actions we see as perfectly normal and correct.
Click to expand...

Gary disagrees, there are many many socially and humanitarily abhorrent actions of the past that would not and should not have be acceptable in any time frame. Society seems to get better incrementally, via baby steps, and in 100 years if our progeny castigated us ... Well that okay as long as we're moving forward.

Gary used to think similarly, as in "get a since of humor", "once you can laugh at yourself then others can't hurt you ..." Et cetera. But all this political correctness isn't about ourselves nor is it about the majority or the strong.  It is about the the opposite, it is about others, the weak, those that have been so stepped upon that a sense of humor is a luxury.

I have no expertise on Canada, but in this country there are a few women still alive that could not vote at the time of their birth, a few generation before that it was legal to own people, in my time, my folks went to a segregated school and I grew up south of Riverside Drive because my Latino parents, (even though my father, a Marine Vet in the first wave at Guadalcanal), couldn't ... we were not allowed to, buy a house north of Riverside Drive in his home town. If Gary has to bite his tongue and temper his prose, so others will feel more comfortable and less hurt ... Then that is the least Gary can do in order not to needlessly hurt others.  If you're with your buds, sure joke around.  But if you are in a public forum, where you haven't a clue to the pain and suffering of others ... Discretion is the better part of humor.  The world is getting smaller everyday, it is time to learn that a little consideration will help one not step on the toes of others ... And in the short run and long run make you a better person and this small world a better place to live for all.

PS- I love his movies and met Mel Brooks.  Brooks would never want to hurt another intentionally.
G

PPS- Maybe there will be a time when political correctness isn't needed for all to feel included ... But we're are not there.

G


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Whether male or female, it seems many antagonists in superhero movies could make major amounts of money if they put their mind to it, but, instead, they always want power to control the world. If only they realized that money is power is control.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I guess the thing that makes me a little sad is that there is just no way a lot of the great movies of the past could even get made in today's climate.  I can't imagine anyone being able to get away with making some of the Mel Brooks films for example.  The protestors would be lined up around the block and everyone would be screaming and wringing there hands about how horrible and insensitive they are, etc.
> 
> I guess it would just be nice if folks could have a bit of a sense of humor about themselves, but I guess those days are a thing of the past.
Click to expand...

Gary wonders about that.  Gary thinks a lot has to do with the communicator ... Because it was Mel Brooks, it was taken easier than if say ... David Duke made the movie.  Optics are important.


----------



## jcdeboever

I love silent movies. I order them occasionally from Milestone Film.Welcome | Milestone Films


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...I agree with @tirediron that those were viewpoints that were considered "acceptable" at the time, but that didn't make them "right". Slavery was acceptable at a time, but that doesn't mean it was right.
> 
> 
> 
> See that's the thing; "right" and "wrong" is purely perception and social conditioning.  What is right today, may well be wrong in 100 years.  Slavery is considered "wrong" today, but in the Roman Empire of 100 BCE, it was not only "right" it was essential.
Click to expand...

IMO, I do think you're confusing "right" with "acceptable" in your argument. What was "acceptable" was also likely the result of those people in power at the time. Those who had the privilege and the power were the ones who set the bar on what was acceptable and what wasn't. They then tried to reason why it was the "right" thing to do. 

For example, if you were to ask a white person in the Southern USA during periods of slavery, they may say that it is acceptable and "right" to own a black person as a slave. Well, whites had the power, so they could control what was considered acceptable and they would explain why it was "right". They may say that it was the "right" thing to do, because slaves helped with farms to produce food. Is the farm worth the cost of humans in slavery? No. It is not.

Let's not forget that the slaves were badly beaten, raped, tortured, and killed if the owner wanted. So, just because slaves were acceptable, it was now also acceptable to rape them, beat them, torture them because the slaves were the property of the owner. That's not right, nor should it be acceptable. But, it was acceptable to white people, so it was considered the norm. I'm assuming that if you ask a black person, they would vehemently disagree. As they should.

The same goes for your example about the Roman Empire. 

Why was slavery essential? To keep those in power.. in power. So, slavery was essential to keep the status quo and to expand the empire. To keep the luxurious lifestyle the Romans wanted. It's been estimated that a quarter of the population in Rome were slaves. A rich man could get 500, while an emperor would have tens of thousands of slaves. Once a slave, you were always a slave. In order to be free, you had to be given freedom by the owner, or pay the same sum of money that your master paid for you, which was essentially impossible given the circumstances. How can denying someone freedom be "right"? It's not, but it can be acceptable depending on who's in power. 

Fathers could sell their children, if they needed money. People captured in war would be sold as slaves. So would abandoned children. A Roman writer Seneca believed that slaves should be treated well. A quote from him regarding slaves:

_The result is that slaves who cannot talk before his (the master) face talk about him behind his back. It is this sort of treatment which makes people say, “You’ve as many enemies as you’ve slaves.” They are not our enemies when we get them; we make them so._​
People of the time, despite slavery being acceptable, saw that it was likely not "right" or "just" to own slaves, and especially not right to treat them badly. Former soldiers that were captured led to a series of rebellions. In fact, increased legal restrictions against freeing slaves were put in place to ensure an enslaved workforce.

This would show that while it was acceptable for certain people to have slaves, it was not right. Otherwise, there would have been no rebellions.

So, what is acceptable? It depends on who is in power. 

What is (morally) right? Not trampling on others simple rights as humans, such as being free.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Whether male or female, it seems many antagonists in superhero movies could make major amounts of money if they put their mind to it, but, instead, they always want power to control the world. If only they realized that money is power is control.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I guess the thing that makes me a little sad is that there is just no way a lot of the great movies of the past could even get made in today's climate.  I can't imagine anyone being able to get away with making some of the Mel Brooks films for example.  The protestors would be lined up around the block and everyone would be screaming and wringing there hands about how horrible and insensitive they are, etc.
> 
> I guess it would just be nice if folks could have a bit of a sense of humor about themselves, but I guess those days are a thing of the past.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary wonders about that.  Gary thinks a lot has to do with the communicator ... Because it was Mel Brooks, it was taken easier than if say ... David Duke made the movie.  Optics are important.
Click to expand...


I would have to disagree in part.  While the communicator is important I find it less so than the audience.   Far too many people have lost the ability to laugh at themselves these days.  The world has taken itself far to seriously the last few years and it show in every facet of life.   Politicians at the end of the day used to get together after the days session and drink, talk and laugh.  Since that stopped you can see what has happen to politics.  You see it in every facet of life and it is sad.  If you can not laugh at yourself then you do not truly have a sense of humor.  

If you read the quote by Red Skelton in my sig you will not just see a quote, but what I have lived my life by.   Before I retired I had one of the most important jobs where I worked.  During all that time I took my job very seriously, I however did not take me seriously.  Some of the people I worked with were  amazed at the things I would do and say to my supervisors, deputy chiefs and chief as well as the City Manager.  It was all in jest, they knew it and enjoyed it since I was one of the few that treated them like what they were, people.  This never occurred in the public eye or when we were discussing business.  We were all professional.  But we also all had the ability to laugh at ourselves and in turn laugh with each other.  

Unfortunately I do not see this trend reversing itself anytime soon.  People have become far too important in their own minds.  Until people realize that what they do, in the grand scheme of things, just doesn't really matter, then nothing will change all that much.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> ...IMO, I do think you're confusing "right" with "acceptable" in your argument. ...


A distinction without a difference I would submit.  Don't misunderstand me; I'm not saying that I'm favour of these conventions, but I find it upsetting to continually hear people saying that our predecessors were "wrong" because they thought this way or that.  Then, as today, the majority of people, including those in positions of power acted the way they did based on the firm conviction that it was 'right'.

Society has evolved since person (wouldn't want to offend anyone by suggesting which gender go here first!  ) crawled from the ocean and will likely continue to until the last person draws his/hers/its last breath.  As part of that evolution, thoughts and attitudes change.  I don't believe that it's a case of being right or wrong, rather a case of "how it is/was".  

That said, in all of this people also lose sight of the fact that we're just another animal on the planet, and many of the social conventions we impose upon ourselves actually contravene natural evolution.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks of right and wrong as absolutes.  Acceptable is transitory.  What is acceptable today may not be acceptable tomorrow, and what was accepted yesterday may not be acceptable today ... Wrong is wrong, it was wrong ages ago, it was wrong yesterday and it will be wrong tomorrow. Right is right ...

Hurting others because one is joking ... isn't funny to the one that is hurt.  Being sensitive/hurt isn't a fault ... The fault, if there needs to be a culprit, is a lack of sensitivity by the jokester to the audience. If you know the audience then you can expand the materials to that line of acceptability held by the audience  ... if you don't know the audience you gotta pull back. 

Gary is very thick skinned and Gary is not easily hurt ... But we are all different with different levels of sensitivity and we should all play to the audience and to the jokester. You have never walked in Gary's shoes and Gary your's.


----------



## JonA_CT

I have a poolish going on the counter top, and I placed another order to Amazon. My wife claims she needs the address of you folks who recommended bread books to me...I don't think it'll be any worse than this...







The good news is I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get some delicious baked goods to her before anything bad happens.


----------



## pixmedic

Forum rules prevent me from stating my opinion on people "being offended" or "hurt by words".


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I have a poolish going on the counter top, and I placed another order to Amazon. My wife claims she needs the address of you folks who recommended bread books to me...I don't think it'll be any worse than this...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The good news is I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get some delicious baked goods to her before anything bad happens.


Good for you! Gary is planning to start a poolish in a day or two for his baguettes.  If you miss a feeding don't worry, you can miss a feeding without any harm.

(Give her JC's address, he's used to being yelled at.  Which books did y0u get?)


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> I have a poolish going on the counter top, and I placed another order to Amazon. My wife claims she needs the address of you folks who recommended bread books to me...I don't think it'll be any worse than this...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The good news is I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get some delicious baked goods to her before anything bad happens.


Just curious, why a Poolish instead of a Biga?


----------



## JonA_CT

gryphonslair99 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have a poolish going on the counter top, and I placed another order to Amazon. My wife claims she needs the address of you folks who recommended bread books to me...I don't think it'll be any worse than this...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The good news is I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get some delicious baked goods to her before anything bad happens.
> 
> 
> 
> Just curious, why a Poolish instead of a Biga?
Click to expand...


Following a recipe that called for a Poolish...no preference yet!


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have a poolish going on the counter top, and I placed another order to Amazon. My wife claims she needs the address of you folks who recommended bread books to me...I don't think it'll be any worse than this...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The good news is I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get some delicious baked goods to her before anything bad happens.
> 
> 
> 
> Just curious, why a Poolish instead of a Biga?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Following a recipe that called for a Poolish...no preference yet!
Click to expand...

Ok, just wondered.  I generally prefer a Biga simply because it can be held longer, up to 72 hours if you want that real sourdough type flavor.  It has come in handy at times when my plans suddenly changed and it ended up being longer than I planned to make my bread.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary doesn't think there is a big difference between the two, with the Biga being drier than a Poolish ... For Gary's level of baking, he thinks the main difference is one is French and the other Italian.

PS- and yes a Biga holds up longer ...  But I find a 'real' starter that been hanging around for a week or two makes a better sourdough than a quick Poolish or Biga.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary doesn't think there is a big difference between the two, with the Biga being drier than a Poolish ... For Gary's level of baking, he thinks the main difference is one is French and the other Italian.


The dryness of the biga is what allows you to hold it longer than a wetter poolish.  They are all sponges, and both seem to work the same to me.  It's just the convenience of working time I appreciate.  Not a bread, but this afternoon I had planned to bake some Honey Lavender-sugar cookies.  Had everything out, and ended up having something come up.  First thing in the morning the cookies get made, i hope.


----------



## Gary A.

That is certainly an advantage.  I found that generally, a Poolish does deliver smaller air pockets than a Biga.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> That is certainly an advantage.  I found that generally, a Poolish does deliver smaller air pockets than a Biga.


In general I would agree although I have found that depending on the recipe it may not matter.  AP breads yes, but those breads made with bread flour not so much as the hydroscopic nature of bread flour make up for the lost moisture in the biga.

Your results may differ.  The humidity of the particular location plays a part as well.


----------



## Gary A.

Yep, humidity and even altitude makes a significant difference.  It is usually quite dry out here.  I also add extra water when I make my breads.  Typically, I mix my flours with different ratios of wheat to either bread or AP.  I really want to find a local source of crazy, premium, exotic flour.


----------



## terri

pixmedic said:


> Forum rules prevent me from stating my opinion on people "being offended" or "hurt by words".


There's always the Subscriber's Forum!   

For those members who are also TPF subscribers, the place to have these debates and friendly disagreements is the Subscriber's forum - unmoderated, where anything goes.  

My PSA for the day.     

Now it's off to bed.   I'm tired.   I miss my dog.   I'm supposed to be able to complain to him for keeping me awake while I gently push him outside for his last of the day's business...but that's over with.   Night, hosers.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> That is certainly an advantage.  I found that generally, a Poolish does deliver smaller air pockets than a Biga.


Poolish and Biga sound like Pokemon.. haha.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Forum rules prevent me from stating my opinion on people "being offended" or "hurt by words".
> 
> 
> 
> There's always the Subscriber's Forum!
> 
> For those members who are also TPF subscribers, the place to have these debates and friendly disagreements is the Subscriber's forum - unmoderated, where anything goes.
> 
> My PSA for the day.
Click to expand...


Can I become a subscriber withOUT getting access to those forums? Because I'd love to contribute to the site, but I truly truly do NOT want to know what's going on in those forums. It's bad enough out here sometimes. 



> Now it's off to bed.   I'm tired.   I miss my dog.   I'm supposed to be able to complain to him for keeping me awake while I gently push him outside for his last of the day's business...but that's over with.   Night, hosers.





That sudden ending of long-established routines sucks  Nights were when I missed my Gomer Pyle the most. Every night, I'd get into bed and he'd jump up to get his treats. He'd eat a few on the bed and then he liked to eat a few out of my hand. One night, he jumped off the bed before he finished his treats. I said, "Hey, you ungrateful beast, finish your treats!" and tossed them onto the floor in front of him. Well, he just thought it was the best thing ever because every single night after that, the routine became: eat a few treats off the bed, eat a few from the Mama's hand, jump to the floor and wait for more treats to eat off the floor. Every.Single.Night.


----------



## pixmedic

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Forum rules prevent me from stating my opinion on people "being offended" or "hurt by words".
> 
> 
> 
> There's always the Subscriber's Forum!
> 
> For those members who are also TPF subscribers, the place to have these debates and friendly disagreements is the Subscriber's forum - unmoderated, where anything goes.
> 
> My PSA for the day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Can I become a subscriber withOUT getting access to those forums? Because I'd love to contribute to the site, but I truly truly do NOT want to know what's going on in those forums. It's bad enough out here sometimes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now it's off to bed.   I'm tired.   I miss my dog.   I'm supposed to be able to complain to him for keeping me awake while I gently push him outside for his last of the day's business...but that's over with.   Night, hosers.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That sudden ending of long-established routines sucks  Nights were when I missed my Gomer Pyle the most. Every night, I'd get into bed and he'd jump up to get his treats. He'd eat a few on the bed and then he liked to eat a few out of my hand. One night, he jumped off the bed before he finished his treats. I said, "Hey, you ungrateful beast, finish your treats!" and tossed them onto the floor in front of him. Well, he just thought it was the best thing ever because every single night after that, the routine became: eat a few treats off the bed, eat a few from the Mama's hand, jump to the floor and wait for more treats to eat off the floor. Every.Single.Night.
Click to expand...

The subscriber section isn't really that bad.  Not a lot of traffic there anyway.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Now it's off to bed.   I'm tired.   I miss my dog.   I'm supposed to be able to complain to him for keeping me awake while I gently push him outside for his last of the day's business...but that's over with.   Night, hosers.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Yep, humidity and even altitude makes a significant difference.  It is usually quite dry out here.  I also add extra water when I make my breads.  Typically, I mix my flours with different ratios of wheat to either bread or AP.  I really want to find a local source of crazy, premium, exotic flour.


We had one here for a long time.  Go in, pick you wheat, rye, barley, rice etc and they would grind it for you.  That was where I used to get the best bread flower.  They carried a hard red wheat from the Dakota's that had a protein level in the 13% + area.  Now that they have closed I use King Arthur products.


----------



## table1349

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> That is certainly an advantage.  I found that generally, a Poolish does deliver smaller air pockets than a Biga.
> 
> 
> 
> Poolish and Biga sound like Pokemon.. haha.
Click to expand...

No, that's what a Jamaican baker does after his dough has risen, he gives it a pokemon.


----------



## tirediron

Boo!!!  Hiss!!


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## table1349

tirediron said:


> Boo!!!  Hiss!!


----------



## table1349

And don't try an tell me you didn't watch it just for fun either there iron.


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## table1349

Somedays I think we have way too many Victorians around here and not of this ilk.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another cool and gray morning burning off to a warm afternoon. Gary pours a second cup of Joe,  The Cook is anxious for her walk, so maybe this day will be warmer than usual. Today, Gary will start cutting matte boards for the dozen posters he needs to frame for Amy, his youngest daughter. Gary has been shooting his old, non-metered film camera on his morning walk with The Cook. The first few days he took a meter with him, but now he is getting back to Sunny 16 stuff ... Exposure via his eye.


----------



## waday

Anyone else seeing the political ads all over this site?


----------



## table1349

waday said:


> Anyone else seeing the political ads all over this site?


NOPE!


----------



## waday

gryphonslair99 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone else seeing the political ads all over this site?
> 
> 
> 
> NOPE!
Click to expand...

Hmm... I don't see them anymore. Good!


----------



## Gary A.

Nor did Gary.


----------



## waday

Ok, that's good. It was a particular candidate pointing to the left, which I thought was interesting, considering the candidate is on the right.

I saw them on every page for a few reloads. Haven't seen them since... I should have taken a screenshot.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> That sudden ending of long-established routines sucks  Nights were when I missed my Gomer Pyle the most. Every night, I'd get into bed and he'd jump up to get his treats. He'd eat a few on the bed and then he liked to eat a few out of my hand. One night, he jumped off the bed before he finished his treats. I said, "Hey, you ungrateful beast, finish your treats!" and tossed them onto the floor in front of him. Well, he just thought it was the best thing ever because every single night after that, the routine became: eat a few treats off the bed, eat a few from the Mama's hand, jump to the floor and wait for more treats to eat off the floor. Every.Single.Night.



I love that story!   Perfect example of our weird routines with our critters.   They are usually the ones that start them, too, and later it can be hard to remember how.       Perfect.

The Subscriber's forum can go for long periods of time with little action aside from the occasional off-color joke or story that isn't fit for the general public.   Lately there have been news items that have sparked new discussions.    I think I could block access if you thought the temptation to look in there would be too great, but as Pix noted, it's actually not that bad.   We have a pretty nice group here, even as they disagree.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>



It was the day my friend discovered that my beloved pet could go from sleepy ferret to enraged ferret literally in the blink of an eye.  

My friend Lefty was never quite the same again...


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>



Air dryers.  They just never work.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


>


Ewwwwwwwwwwwww... Alpo breath!


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


Miley Bone my @$$.  I'm having Ferret Jerky for a snack.


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>



"So the parrot says to the bartender, what do I look like, a rabbi?  Ahhahahahaha... get it.. a rabbi.... oh man is that funny.... "

"I don't get it. "


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "So the parrot says to the bartender, what do I look like, a rabbi?  Ahhahahahaha... get it.. a rabbi.... oh man is that funny.... "
> 
> "I don't get it. "
Click to expand...


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


_




I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too.   Want to play with some fire there scarecrow?_


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>





pixmedic said:


>



_"Wow, I was up for 10 whole minutes.  Thats 5 minutes more than I am usually awake.  I better sleep another 24 hours and not overdo it tomorrow, or the next day, when ever I wake up."
_
And while we are waiting for tomorrow to come here is some grass growing we can all watch.


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


You need to contact this guy and find out what is wrong with your ferrets.  





His actually more around quite vigorously.


----------



## pixmedic

gryphonslair99 said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You need to contact this guy and find out what is wrong with your ferrets.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> His actually more around quite vigorously.
Click to expand...



well, obviously _*his*_ are alive.


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You need to contact this guy and find out what is wrong with your ferrets.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> His actually more around quite vigorously.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> well, obviously _*his*_ are alive.
Click to expand...


Well there is something to be said about keeping LIVE pets.    Are you running a PSYCHO pet hotel or something?


----------



## pixmedic

gryphonslair99 said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You need to contact this guy and find out what is wrong with your ferrets.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> His actually more around quite vigorously.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> well, obviously _*his*_ are alive.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well there is something to be said about keeping LIVE pets.    Are you running a PSYCHO pet hotel or something?
Click to expand...


it saves on kibble


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You need to contact this guy and find out what is wrong with your ferrets.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> His actually more around quite vigorously.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> well, obviously _*his*_ are alive.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well there is something to be said about keeping LIVE pets.    Are you running a PSYCHO pet hotel or something?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> it saves on kibble
Click to expand...

May be, but I bet your Fabreze bill is outrageous.


----------



## pixmedic

gryphonslair99 said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You need to contact this guy and find out what is wrong with your ferrets.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> His actually more around quite vigorously.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> well, obviously _*his*_ are alive.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well there is something to be said about keeping LIVE pets.    Are you running a PSYCHO pet hotel or something?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> it saves on kibble
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> May be, but I bet your Faberge bill is outrageous.
Click to expand...


why would I be buying golden jeweled eggs?


----------



## table1349

This is why.......





Stupid auto correct.


----------



## waday

So, yeah, Trump ads, like I said earlier... Is there any way to remove these ads from TPF (i.e., block all political ads)?


----------



## table1349

Yes, quite going to trump sites.  The ads are a reflection of what you have been reading in other places.


----------



## limr

I don't think I've ever seen a political ad on the site, but I also might simply not have noticed. I do also run Adblock on my browser, however, so maybe that's why?


----------



## limr

Oh, and morning, hosers! Happy Friday Eve!


----------



## waday

gryphonslair99 said:


> Yes, quite going to trump sites.  The ads are a reflection of what you have been reading in other places.


Then the ads aren't necessarily a reflection of the sites I've been visiting. 

But, in all seriousness, there should likely be a way to remove political ads. I guess I'll have to post this in the feedback forum.

(This actually isn't a reflection of the sites I've visited. I'm changing jobs, thus I have removed all personal information, web browsing, etc from this computer except for TPF, at the moment.)


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I don't think I've ever seen a political ad on the site, but I also might simply not have noticed. I do also run Adblock on my browser, however, so maybe that's why?


Hmm.. could be? I used to run an adblocker, but I felt bad after listening to the John Oliver episode on journalism (since I read a lot of news, haha).


----------



## JonA_CT

Interesting. The vast majority of the ads on this site reflect my things I want to buy, haha. Like camera gear and golf clubs.

However -- I've been getting teleprompter advertisements frequently. No idea why.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think I've ever seen a political ad on the site, but I also might simply not have noticed. I do also run Adblock on my browser, however, so maybe that's why?
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm.. could be? I used to run an adblocker, but I felt bad after listening to the John Oliver episode on journalism (since I read a lot of news, haha).
Click to expand...


Uh oh, I didn't see that. Is it going to make me feel bad? Is it something about how the ads pay for real journalism, and if we block the ads, we make it harder to maintain good journalist sites? Something like that?


----------



## pixmedic

gryphonslair99 said:


> Yes, quite going to trump sites.  The ads are a reflection of what you have been reading in other places.


Guess that explains all the viagra and cialis ads I keep seeing here...


----------



## table1349

The ad companies have a history of the types of articles you read, the sites you visit, things you post etc.  Many times the ads on certain sites are custom tailored to you believed interest.  

Me I've been looking into getting a small laser engraver.  Guess what ads I get lately?  Trotec ads.


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, quite going to trump sites.  The ads are a reflection of what you have been reading in other places.
> 
> 
> 
> Guess that explains all the viagra and cialis ads I keep seeing here...
Click to expand...

No that is probably from your wife surfing under your account.


----------



## pixmedic

gryphonslair99 said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, quite going to trump sites.  The ads are a reflection of what you have been reading in other places.
> 
> 
> 
> Guess that explains all the viagra and cialis ads I keep seeing here...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No that is probably from your wife surfing under your account.
Click to expand...

If that were the case I would be seeing sewing machine and ferret ads


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, quite going to trump sites.  The ads are a reflection of what you have been reading in other places.
> 
> 
> 
> Guess that explains all the viagra and cialis ads I keep seeing here...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No that is probably from your wife surfing under your account.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If that were the case I would be seeing sewing machine and ferret ads
Click to expand...

Yeah,  right.  You just think she's looking at sewing and ferret stuff.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think I've ever seen a political ad on the site, but I also might simply not have noticed. I do also run Adblock on my browser, however, so maybe that's why?
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm.. could be? I used to run an adblocker, but I felt bad after listening to the John Oliver episode on journalism (since I read a lot of news, haha).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Uh oh, I didn't see that. Is it going to make me feel bad? Is it something about how the ads pay for real journalism, and if we block the ads, we make it harder to maintain good journalist sites? Something like that?
Click to expand...

Well, he goes into how newspapers and journalism are failing. He does say that online revenue is essentially a pittance compared to losing print ad revenue, where he compares it to finding a penny on the sidewalk on the same day your back account gets hacked (I do love his humor).

But, the part that really got me, was when he said (I'm paraphrasing): _Yeah, I'm talking to you, listening to this free on YouTube with free wifi from the local coffee shop._

Well, I was at work, but yeah... 

That said, it's definitely a very, very good episode. I highly recommend the episode. And pretty much all his episodes.

#investifarted


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Well, the chatter on here today about politics and rodents makes me think they must be perfect together.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> So, yeah, Trump ads, like I said earlier... Is there any way to remove these ads from TPF (i.e., block all political ads)?
> 
> View attachment 126545
> View attachment 126546


First time Gary has seen this ad. Gary is surprised that he is pointing with his index finger, one would have thought he would be using a different digit.


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


>


Your videos are identical to your stills.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, yeah, Trump ads, like I said earlier... Is there any way to remove these ads from TPF (i.e., block all political ads)?
> 
> View attachment 126545
> View attachment 126546
> 
> 
> 
> First time Gary has seen this ad. Gary is surprised that he is pointing with his index finger, one would have thought he would be using a different digit.
Click to expand...


Umm... ya, well can we dispense with the political commentary completely please?


----------



## pixmedic

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, yeah, Trump ads, like I said earlier... Is there any way to remove these ads from TPF (i.e., block all political ads)?
> 
> View attachment 126545
> View attachment 126546
> 
> 
> 
> First time Gary has seen this ad. Gary is surprised that he is pointing with his index finger, one would have thought he would be using a different digit.
Click to expand...



I'm surprised there's any presidential ads here, in all seriousness. 
I don't think they are accurately basing the ads on our computer information because i have yet to see one Japanese schoolgirl being attacked by a tentacle monster.....

Someone should get the tech team on this to immediately rectify this blatant oversight.


----------



## Gary A.

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  Well, the chatter on here today about politics and rodents makes me think they must be perfect together.


Do not disrespect our moles, capybaras and rats by associating them with moles, capybaras and rats.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, yeah, Trump ads, like I said earlier... Is there any way to remove these ads from TPF (i.e., block all political ads)?
> 
> View attachment 126545
> View attachment 126546
> 
> 
> 
> First time Gary has seen this ad. Gary is surprised that he is pointing with his index finger, one would have thought he would be using a different digit.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Umm... ya, well can we dispense with the political commentary completely please?
Click to expand...

This was a remark on photographic composition.


----------



## jcdeboever

Those ferrets must be real active in the dream life...


----------



## pixmedic

jcdeboever said:


> Those ferrets must be real active in the dream life...


I suppose at some point I will dig out my x-e2 and take some shots of them actually moving...so far all of these were taken with my cell phone which does not handle movement well at all.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> This was a remark on photographic composition.



This is a simple request from someone who is sick to death of hearing about politics and comes here to get away from that crap, completely.  Please.  Enough.


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, quite going to trump sites.  The ads are a reflection of what you have been reading in other places.
> 
> 
> 
> Guess that explains all the viagra and cialis ads I keep seeing here...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No that is probably from your wife surfing under your account.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If that were the case I would be seeing sewing machine and ferret ads
Click to expand...

Ferrets slaving away in a sweatshop making ties. Reminds me of a Disney movie ... Or another political ad.


----------



## pixmedic

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> This was a remark on photographic composition.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is a simple request from someone who is sick to death of hearing about politics and comes here to get away from that crap, completely.  Please.  Enough.
Click to expand...







Here...have a ferret instead


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> This was a remark on photographic composition.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is a simple request from someone who is sick to death of hearing about politics and comes here to get away from that crap, completely.  Please.  Enough.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here...have a ferret instead
Click to expand...

Oh look,  Congress in session doing what it does best.


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> This was a remark on photographic composition.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is a simple request from someone who is sick to death of hearing about politics and comes here to get away from that crap, completely.  Please.  Enough.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here...have a ferret instead
Click to expand...

That's what I'm talking about!


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> This was a remark on photographic composition.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is a simple request from someone who is sick to death of hearing about politics and comes here to get away from that crap, completely.  Please.  Enough.
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another overcast and gray morning, but the marine layer is much heavier today than yesterday ... So a cooler afternoon.  Gary's cup, half filled with coffee is resting on top of the morning paper.  Today the paper is filled with war and earthquakes and there isn't much difference between the photos and text from either story.  Gary guesses that the big difference is that we can stop war ... can't stop an earthquake.


----------



## pixmedic

This is what is keeping me going today.


----------



## Gary A.

You'll get more punch if you IV that puppy in and skip the middleman.


----------



## JonA_CT

https://www.amazon.com/ProLab-Caffeine-Maximum-Potency-100-Count/dp/B0011865IQ/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1472136966&sr=8-1&keywords=caffeine+powder

I've heard anything less than 2000 mg a day is usually okay.


----------



## tirediron

I dare you to say that three times fast!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> I dare you to say that three times fast!



THAT THAT THAT!


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone crappy image

In response to Jon, Gary prefers the old way.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 126557
> iPhone crappy image
> 
> In response to Jon, Gary prefers the old way.



New-fangled or old-fangled, Leo's gonna need some of that in her system right now. She just fell asleep at lunch. I didn't even have my head down on the table; it was just propped up in my hand, elbow on the armrest of the chair. And I mean asleep. I had dreams.


----------



## pixmedic

Water rat


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> *Annoyed* Water rat


FTFY


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I dare you to say that three times fast!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> THAT THAT THAT!
Click to expand...


Outstanding.  Now go knock the battery off his shoulder...


----------



## pixmedic

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Annoyed* Water rat
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY
Click to expand...

Aparantly he liked swimming,  but didn't care for nthe shampoo


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Annoyed* Water rat
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Aparantly he liked swimming,  but didn't care for nthe shampoo
Click to expand...


Oh that little face! That little wet cat snake face


----------



## limr

Okay, are any of you hosers good at Excel?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Got its eyes open anyway.

Good thing Leo it's Friday. Faux Friday that is. Tomorrow you can sit in a chair at home and fall asleep all you want. This week has worn me out, I might do that today!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I remember Excel if that's any help.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Okay, are any of you hosers good at Excel?


What do you need done?


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Got its eyes open anyway.
> 
> Good thing Leo it's Friday. Faux Friday that is. Tomorrow you can sit in a chair at home and fall asleep all you want. This week has worn me out, I might do that today!



Ah, but I don't have Fridays off anymore. I'm a regular M-F, 8:30-4:30 kind of a gal now. 

I'm officially a Cog.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, are any of you hosers good at Excel?
> 
> 
> 
> What do you need done?
Click to expand...


I'm trying to auto-populate cells in one table with cells from a different table. What I've got are different tabs for pay periods and in each tab, there's a table that ends with a total row. I'd like all of those total rows in each tab to automatically copy into a different table (so I can do a year summary of the pay periods.)

Does that make sense? Is there a function that I can set up, or do I have to write the formula manually?


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Ah, but I don't have Fridays off anymore. I'm a regular M-F, 8:30-4:30 kind of a gal now.
> 
> I'm officially a Cog.



Well good.  Now get out there and grind someone elses dreams to dust.  

Enjoy!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh crap! sorry to hear that it's only Thursday! lol

I forgot semesters are starting, some places earlier than others. College move in here was on the news. Which wasn't all that newsworthy really, just avoid town/the area for the duration (til at least Sunday).


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, but I don't have Fridays off anymore. I'm a regular M-F, 8:30-4:30 kind of a gal now.
> I'm officially a Cog.
> 
> 
> 
> Well good.  Now get out there and *grind someone else's dreams to dust*.
Click to expand...


Well, I AM still a teacher, don't forget 

(And I added the apostrophe for you!  )


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, are any of you hosers good at Excel?
> 
> 
> 
> What do you need done?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm trying to auto-populate cells in one table with cells from a different table. What I've got are different tabs for pay periods and in each tab, there's a table that ends with a total row. I'd like all of those total rows in each tab to automatically copy into a different table (so I can do a year summary of the pay periods.)
> 
> Does that make sense? Is there a function that I can set up, or do I have to write the formula manually?
Click to expand...

I'm a little rusty, and I'm sure there's an easy way to do it. I have a couple of questions:

Are all the weekly tabs already created or are you creating new tabs as each week goes by?
Are you trying to sum these values between weeks automatically, or are you trying to show them in another sheet automatically?
Is each pay period sheet the exact same in layout?


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Well, I AM still a teacher, don't forget
> 
> (And I added the apostrophe for you!  )



Thanks.  The one on my keyboard at work doesnt work.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Okay, are any of you hosers good at Excel?


Too bad wifey doesn't habituate this forum.  She's da bomb!  She uses it all the time at work, so asking her to engage her brain after work is the hard part.  Just reading your post sounds like "look up tables" to me, but I'm not the least bit knowledgable about it, so no real help here.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> I'm a little rusty, and I'm sure there's an easy way to do it. I have a couple of questions:
> 
> Are all the weekly tabs already created or are you creating new tabs as each week goes by?
> Are you trying to sum these values between weeks automatically, or are you trying to show them in another sheet automatically?
> Is each pay period sheet the exact same in layout?



Weekly tabs are already created and they are in the exact same layout. I even set up the AutoSum formula for the totals row. They just don't all have data in them. That gets entered as we go along through the end of the year.

The AutoSum formula takes care of the sums in each tab. I was hoping to just take the totals row from each tab and enter that data into a new table in a new tab and have that populate automatically as I enter data into the tabs.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, but I don't have Fridays off anymore. I'm a regular M-F, 8:30-4:30 kind of a gal now.
> I'm officially a Cog.
> 
> 
> 
> Well good.  Now get out there and *grind someone else's dreams to dust*.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, I AM still a teacher, don't forget
> 
> (And I added the apostrophe for you!  )
Click to expand...


Oh, as to the excel question.. if the table is on the same sheet you should just be able to do a quick formula with the cell reference like =A1.  If the info is on another sheet, =Sheet1A1 should work.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Weekly tabs are already created and they are in the exact same layout. I even set up the AutoSum formula for the totals row. They just don't all have data in them. That gets entered as we go along through the end of the year.
> 
> The AutoSum formula takes care of the sums in each tab. I was hoping to just take the totals row from each tab and enter that data into a new table in a new tab and have that populate automatically as I enter data into the tabs.


My classes were years ago, and I don't use it at all anymore, but what you described sounds very doable.  

If you can't do it, give us a shout, and I'll see if she will help later.


----------



## Gary A.

The easy, but more tedious way, is to have the summary table cell simply = the corresponding weekly total cell.

as in the summary table cell:

=F7

then in the next summary cell:

=F14

whatever is in f7 or f14 cell of the other table will automatically appear in the summary table ... problem is you gots to do it 52 times.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Or hand the project off to a grad ass??


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Or hand the project off to a grad ass??



First, there are no grad students at a community college, so can't do that  Second, I couldn't do that anyway since I'm low on the staff totem pole (even if I am high on the adjunct totem pole). 

Finally, and most importantly, I am a *very *stubborn woman and I refuse to not figure this out!


----------



## waday

Gary's/Todd's way is doable, but tedious. You'd have to reference each sheet individually. I do believe there is a way to do it automatically, and I'll look into it tonight. I used to write macros and VBA, but it's been so long since I've done that...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh too bad if you can't pawn it off on someone else, I never could or did either but it sounds good. Just put it on graph paper and scan it in. Make sure you add some cats and rainbows and unicorns.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



So sleepy and clean


----------



## terri

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm a little rusty, and I'm sure there's an easy way to do it. I have a couple of questions:
> 
> Are all the weekly tabs already created or are you creating new tabs as each week goes by?
> Are you trying to sum these values between weeks automatically, or are you trying to show them in another sheet automatically?
> Is each pay period sheet the exact same in layout?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Weekly tabs are already created and they are in the exact same layout. I even set up the AutoSum formula for the totals row. They just don't all have data in them. That gets entered as we go along through the end of the year.
> 
> The AutoSum formula takes care of the sums in each tab. I was hoping to just take the totals row from each tab and enter that data into a new table in a new tab and have that populate automatically as I enter data into the tabs.
Click to expand...

I'm getting a headache from trying to remember this stuff.   So nasty.   So cruel.

But it's doable, if I'm following you correctly.   If all you're really doing is taking the totals row over to a new table, it could be just a question of how to apply a copy & paste.  You can select & copy the row of totals, and when you get to the new table, over the cell you want to start your paste, right-click to look at your paste options.  There are times you may only want to paste the sum you've copied, but it sounds like you may want to also capture the embedded formula.   You'll see those options listed and it will make a difference on how you can work the data, going forward.  

It's been a few years for me, but I was in Excel daily and didn't do anything that required more than basic/intermediate skills.   I had tons of weekly/monthly/quarterly reports and moved data as I needed in a similar fashion as outlined.   

I'm starting to break out in a rash now, just thinking about it.   eww.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Try this. Wait for it, 25 seconds in read the label. Look at the soothing blue water... look a crown! and a water droplet shot...
OK that's enough of that, not waiting for the end if there ever is one. Fast forward, another crown, more water droplet photography, more cool blue waves... what kind of advertising is this anyway??


----------



## limr

terri said:


> I'm getting a headache from trying to remember this stuff.   So nasty.   So cruel.
> 
> But it's doable, if I'm following you correctly.   If all you're really doing is taking the totals row over to a new table, it could be just a question of how to apply a copy & paste.  You can select & copy the row of totals, and when you get to the new table, over the cell you want to start your paste, right-click to look at your paste options.  There are times you may only want to paste the sum you've copied, but it sounds like you may want to also capture the embedded formula.   You'll see those options listed and it will make a difference on how you can work the data, going forward.
> 
> It's been a few years for me, but I was in Excel daily and didn't do anything that required more than basic/intermediate skills.   I had tons of weekly/monthly/quarterly reports and moved data as I needed in a similar fashion as outlined.
> 
> I'm starting to break out in a rash now, just thinking about it.   eww.



You are totally in my brain right now! 

There's probably an easier way to do this with more data, but I just figured out that I can do it by copying the totals row and then pasting the link into the new table in another tab. It's only 10 tabs at this point. Next year, it will be 26 and I might want a faster way of setting things up (of course, copying the entire worksheet and then clearing data and adding 16 new tabs might be one way...).

But either way, I think I've got it set up. And if I do say so myself, I'm quite proud of it


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Designer

vintagesnaps said:


> Oh too bad if you can't pawn it off on someone else,..


That's probably a bad idea even if the other person knows how to do it.   The one thing they will probably NOT know is how it's supposed to look in the end.  

I would not want someone else to build my spreadsheet if I could do it myself with some effort.  

There's clunky that sort of works (after a fashion), and then there's elegant that is efficient, fast, and pretty.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## dxqcanada

=Sheet1!A1

?


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## terri

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm getting a headache from trying to remember this stuff.   So nasty.   So cruel.
> 
> But it's doable, if I'm following you correctly.   If all you're really doing is taking the totals row over to a new table, it could be just a question of how to apply a copy & paste.  You can select & copy the row of totals, and when you get to the new table, over the cell you want to start your paste, right-click to look at your paste options.  There are times you may only want to paste the sum you've copied, but it sounds like you may want to also capture the embedded formula.   You'll see those options listed and it will make a difference on how you can work the data, going forward.
> 
> It's been a few years for me, but I was in Excel daily and didn't do anything that required more than basic/intermediate skills.   I had tons of weekly/monthly/quarterly reports and moved data as I needed in a similar fashion as outlined.
> 
> I'm starting to break out in a rash now, just thinking about it.   eww.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You are totally in my brain right now!
> 
> There's probably an easier way to do this with more data, but I just figured out that I can do it by copying the totals row and then pasting the link into the new table in another tab. It's only 10 tabs at this point. Next year, it will be 26 and I might want a faster way of setting things up (of course, copying the entire worksheet and then clearing data and adding 16 new tabs might be one way...).
> 
> But either way, I think I've got it set up. And if I do say so myself, I'm quite proud of it
Click to expand...


Well, then that's the best outcome, isn't it?    It's actually a great program and can make your life much easier - or drive you nutty when you're trying to make it do something that you KNOW can be done.    I've had those proud little *ah HA!* moments, too.    You teach yourself something and it's rather empowering - so, you know, yay.


----------



## snowbear

My election results prediction:
"Meet the new boss; same as the old boss."  --_Won't Get Fooled Again_, The Who.


----------



## Dave442

Excel - just make a macro of what you just did and set that up for doing all 26 tabs next year. Put a button that says EASY to run the macro and you're all set. 

But, I would rather have all the data in one table (that is set to let you filter by any column so you could see totals for any filter applied to any of the columns). Then I would throw all that data into a pivot table on another tab where you could look at whatever anybody asks for. 

I mean, just in case you didn't have anything else to do this weekend.


----------



## limr

Dave442 said:


> Excel - just make a macro of what you just did and set that up for doing all 26 tabs next year. Put a button that says EASY to run the macro and you're all set.
> 
> But, I would rather have all the data in one table (that is set to let you filter by any column so you could see totals for any filter applied to any of the columns). Then I would throw all that data into a pivot table on another tab where you could look at whatever anybody asks for.
> 
> I mean, just in case you didn't have anything else to do this weekend.



Thanks for the suggestions. First, I have to figure out what a macro is and how to do one  

As for the second suggestion, so you're saying that I should have all the pay periods in one massive table? I'm not sure that's going to work. It's more than just hours for each pay period - I'm also tracking the hours worked at different sites and for different accounts (grants). Trying to put all that in one table 26 times seems like it would get unwieldy, no? Plus, I also don't know what or how a pivot table is   As I get better at Excel (and more used to tracking payroll), I might eventually understand this approach better, but for the moment and for my current sanity, I think I'll keep my separate tabs.  

But I am thankful for the information steering me in the right direction!


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers!


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>



That's when we discovered why tech support never seemed to answer the phone...


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Dave442 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Excel - just make a macro of what you just did and set that up for doing all 26 tabs next year. Put a button that says EASY to run the macro and you're all set.
> 
> But, I would rather have all the data in one table (that is set to let you filter by any column so you could see totals for any filter applied to any of the columns). Then I would throw all that data into a pivot table on another tab where you could look at whatever anybody asks for.
> 
> I mean, just in case you didn't have anything else to do this weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for the suggestions. First, I have to figure out what a macro is and how to do one
> 
> As for the second suggestion, so you're saying that I should have all the pay periods in one massive table? I'm not sure that's going to work. It's more than just hours for each pay period - I'm also tracking the hours worked at different sites and for different accounts (grants). Trying to put all that in one table 26 times seems like it would get unwieldy, no? Plus, I also don't know what or how a pivot table is   As I get better at Excel (and more used to tracking payroll), I might eventually understand this approach better, but for the moment and for my current sanity, I think I'll keep my separate tabs.
> 
> But I am thankful for the information steering me in the right direction!
Click to expand...

I was thinking about this last night.

You could likely get real technical, get into macros or VBA, but I think a very simple approach would be best for a first iteration of this spreadsheet.

Asking the more Excel-technical minded for help is like asking a photographer to take a photo of you. Sometimes you just want a snapshot, not a portrait.

My suggestion would be to simply reference the other sheets, then drag using the autofill function at the bottom right hand of the cell (assuming all totals from the other sheets are in the attaching cells). See the image below as an example. The formula has an apostrophe in front of it to show the reference; the actual cell value should not have this apostrophe.

Not sure if this would work with your file, but it would be pretty easy. Otherwise, you may be able to use the VLOOKUP function, but again, it depends on how the spreadsheet is set up.


----------



## JonA_CT

So it begins....



 

In other news, here are the ads at the bottom this morning:



 


Seems like be Ads like this thread


----------



## limr

There's a National Payroll Week? Oh for heaven's sake.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another gray and cool morning.  There has been a lot of activity yesterday and this morning at the front Hummingbird feeder. Gary's pull down projection screen came in yesterday.  He is planning to install it in the house for easier indoor viewing. 

In baseball news:
Bottom of the ninth, two outs and Moore has a no hitter in his back pocket when Seager barely punches a single into right.  That gots to be painful. That single is almost as good as a win. Sadly, the Dodgers traded A.J. Ellis for Carlos Ruiz. Gary doesn't get it.  Ellis and Kershaw are BFFs. Why, so late in the season, would you want to risk upsetting the best pitcher on the planet for another catcher that is only slightly better at hitting lefty's?  They're bums ... they should neverah had left Brooklyn.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> There's a National Payroll Week? Oh for heaven's sake.


With your payroll spreadsheet, Gary would have bet dollars to doughnuts that you were a card carrying member.


----------



## Gary A.

Jon- You need to up your pen game. (See Snowbear)


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Jon- You need to up your pen game. (See Snowbear)



I stepped it up a little bit this year -- the pen is a Pilot Metropolitan,  a fountain pen for beginners and for people who lose them (or people who work with kids, like me). 

I bought two -- one for normal writing and one for marking papers. If they last the year, maybe I'll upgrade.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Jon- You need to up your pen game. (See Snowbear)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I stepped it up a little bit this year -- the pen is a Pilot Metropolitan,  a fountain pen for beginners and for people who lose them (or people who work with kids, like me).
> 
> I bought two -- one for normal writing and one for marking papers. If they last the year, maybe I'll upgrade.
Click to expand...

Not good enough, see Snowbear.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> There's a National Payroll Week? Oh for heaven's sake.
> 
> 
> 
> With your payroll spreadsheet, Gary would have bet dollars to doughnuts that you were a card carrying member.
Click to expand...


Hey man, I'm new at this payroll business. I still consider myself a professor! And technically, I still am, but just not _only_ a professor 



Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Jon- You need to up your pen game. (See Snowbear)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I stepped it up a little bit this year -- the pen is a Pilot Metropolitan,  a fountain pen for beginners and for people who lose them (or people who work with kids, like me).
> 
> I bought two -- one for normal writing and one for marking papers. If they last the year, maybe I'll upgrade.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not good enough, see Snowbear.
Click to expand...


I grade with pencil (though I do write the grade in pen.) I've learned that I get much less stressed when I know I can erase and re-write a comment if I change my mind about how I write it. I don't do this often, but when I wrote in pen, I would agonize more than I should over how to write the comment and that would make grading more stressful and time-consuming. With a pencil, however, I can write something, anything, knowing that I can go back and edit my comments. If I know I am going to, I'll write lighter. If I know it will be fine, I'll make darker pencil marks. That way if the student erases the comment, it will still be clear that something had been there. But honestly, I don't worry about it. The ones who read the comments are actually interested in improving, and the ones that don't can't be bothered to go through the trouble.

I don't use just any pencils, either  I use pencils that I get here: CW Pencil Enterprise


----------



## limr

*drool*

pencil store nyc - Google Search


----------



## table1349

It is also National Dog Day.




 

So post a photo of your dog(s).


----------



## table1349

Let's also not forget that it is National Cherry Popsicle Day.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I don't use just any pencils, either  I use pencils that I get here: CW Pencil Enterprise


This is a sincere question: what's the difference between, say, these pencils and Ticonderoga pencils? I'm assuming better quality?

I typically use a Pentel refillable pencil. Is that bad?


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't use just any pencils, either  I use pencils that I get here: CW Pencil Enterprise
> 
> 
> 
> This is a sincere question: what's the difference between, say, these pencils and Ticonderoga pencils? I'm assuming better quality?
> 
> I typically use a Pentel refillable pencil. Is that bad?
Click to expand...


The main difference is in the quality of the wood and the graphite. I have a few pencils from Japan that are probably about the Japanese equivalent of the Ticonderogas (in terms of what a standard office pencil is) and they are just heftier, the graphite is smooth and dark without being slippery or too soft, and the wood sharpens very smoothly. There's a really good white eraser on it, and it just feels good.

I've also always had a fondness for Euro pencils - the shape, the lack of eraser at the end, the way the graphite writes. The Ticonderogas are fine but I always found that they were a bit too light in my hand and they didn't write darkly enough. I had to press harder to get it the way I liked it and that made my hand hurt faster.

Edit: Oh, and I have nothing against mechanical pencils. I have a few and still use them. The graphite breaks too often and gets kind of annoying, though. I prefer the 0.7 and that helps with the breakage, but when it comes down to it, I always go back to my good old wooden pencil.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

Oh, and if any of y'all want the best pencil sharpener ever:
https://www.amazon.com/CARL-Angel-5-Pencil-Sharpener-Red/dp/B005D7S9P8


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



Which cat snake is which? There are two of them, no? It took me a while to realize this...


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## pixmedic

There's possum and bear


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> There's possum and bear



Possum is the one with the white face and Bear is the one with the brown fur mask?


----------



## pixmedic

limr said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> There's possum and bear
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Possum is the one with the white face and Bear is the one with the brown fur mask?
Click to expand...

 
yup


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> There's possum and bear
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Possum is the one with the white face and Bear is the one with the brown fur mask?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> yup
Click to expand...


I love them


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't use just any pencils, either  I use pencils that I get here: CW Pencil Enterprise
> 
> 
> 
> This is a sincere question: what's the difference between, say, these pencils and Ticonderoga pencils? I'm assuming better quality?
> 
> I typically use a Pentel refillable pencil. Is that bad?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The main difference is in the quality of the wood and the graphite. I have a few pencils from Japan that are probably about the Japanese equivalent of the Ticonderogas (in terms of what a standard office pencil is) and they are just heftier, the graphite is smooth and dark without being slippery or too soft, and the wood sharpens very smoothly. There's a really good white eraser on it, and it just feels good.
> 
> I've also always had a fondness for Euro pencils - the shape, the lack of eraser at the end, the way the graphite writes. The Ticonderogas are fine but I always found that they were a bit too light in my hand and they didn't write darkly enough. I had to press harder to get it the way I liked it and that made my hand hurt faster.
> 
> Edit: Oh, and I have nothing against mechanical pencils. I have a few and still use them. The graphite breaks too often and gets kind of annoying, though. I prefer the 0.7 and that helps with the breakage, but when it comes down to it, I always go back to my good old wooden pencil.
Click to expand...

Ah, that makes a lot of sense. I know that I would have problems with what seemed like gaps in the lead, or even broken lead within the wood.

This is good to know about, and I'm sure the wife would love to visit that pencil shop in NYC...


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Ah, that makes a lot of sense. I know that I would have problems with what seemed like gaps in the lead, or even broken lead within the wood.
> 
> This is good to know about, and I'm sure the wife would love to visit that pencil shop in NYC...



It's pretty great. 

Here's the Japanese pencil I like: 9850 Office Pencil - HB

So apparently they are now online, though I would only order pencils that I've tried out in person at the store. And the store is definitely worth a visit. Just the smell of fresh pencils alone...!


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, that makes a lot of sense. I know that I would have problems with what seemed like gaps in the lead, or even broken lead within the wood.
> 
> This is good to know about, and I'm sure the wife would love to visit that pencil shop in NYC...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's pretty great.
> 
> Here's the Japanese pencil I like: 9850 Office Pencil - HB
> 
> So apparently they are now online, though I would only order pencils that I've tried out in person at the store. And the store is definitely worth a visit. Just the smell of fresh pencils alone...!
Click to expand...

Bad joke alert:

Can you take it for a test drive in store?


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, that makes a lot of sense. I know that I would have problems with what seemed like gaps in the lead, or even broken lead within the wood.
> 
> This is good to know about, and I'm sure the wife would love to visit that pencil shop in NYC...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's pretty great.
> 
> Here's the Japanese pencil I like: 9850 Office Pencil - HB
> 
> So apparently they are now online, though I would only order pencils that I've tried out in person at the store. And the store is definitely worth a visit. Just the smell of fresh pencils alone...!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Bad joke alert:
> 
> Can you take it for a test drive in store?
Click to expand...


----------



## limr

Hey, something just occurred to me about my payroll spreadsheet. Can't I just save it as a new spreadsheet, clear all the data but keep all the formulae and links in place, and just add the new tabs and links for the totals table for pay periods 1-15? (My current one is only working with 16-26.) That way I preserve the old one and already have the new one set up, all ready for data.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Hey, something just occurred to me about my payroll spreadsheet. Can't I just save it as a new spreadsheet, clear all the data but keep all the formulae and links in place, and just add the new tabs and links for the totals table for pay periods 1-15? (My current one is only working with 16-26.) That way I preserve the old one and already have the new one set up, all ready for data.


That should work. I regularly reuse calculation spreadsheets for different clients.

Just make sure that you don't inadvertently delete or change formulas or references.


----------



## terri

It should work, but be prepared to spend a little time looking at the formulas as soon as you clear the data, to make sure they've not been compromised.  

I want new pencils!!    I prefer to write just about everything in pencil, for the same reasons Leo gave.   If I have to think too hard about *not* being able to erase something, then I freeze up.   I remove that concern when I have a pencil in hand, and a clean Pink Pearl nearby.    

I might have to order one of those wooden pencils!   I'm using Pentel 0.7 refillable - even have tiny refillable erasers (which are still kinda useless if you need to take out more than a sentence).    I still manage to break the lead just about every time I use it, though.    But the last time I bought a box of regular wooden pencils, I was dismayed by how cheap they were - the lead was off-center so they never sharpened well, and the erasers made a dull gray mess of the graphite, not really erasing anything.   I don't recall what they were - I don't _think_ they were Ticonderoga, but I could be wrong.  

Who knew pencils could cause so much misery?


----------



## robbins.photo

Spreadsheets and Pencils...


----------



## JonA_CT

I've upped my bread game thanks to this thread...my wife still gives me the hairy eye, although she did ask me what I needed to make baguettes and said she would approve of those purchases...




Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr 

Grading in pencil? I love pencil, but for anything official, I just feel like I have to use pen.

Also, I'm drinking a Breckenridge Nitro Vanilla Porter. It reminds me of vanilla pipe tobacco, and not in any of the good ways.


----------



## snowbear

Good evening, peeps.

Too many to quote so:
Leonore:  Check out this lead-less pencil. This is the less-expensive version.

John:  Which nib is the Metropolitan (AKA "MR" in Europe & Asia)?  The Japanese nibs (especially Pilot) tend to be smaller than the Western counterpart.  I have both a fine point (Taupe Lizard) and a medium point (Purple Mod) and they are more like Extra-Fine and Fine in the western world.  I also have a pair of rollerballs.  I would recommend a Lamy Safari (about $30) for a beginner - it is a bit larger than the Metro - the purple pen in the photo.

Gary: There's absolutely nothng wrong with that pen.  I would think it would even make you look more sophisticated (if it were possible)!




DSC_6722.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

The purple one is a Lamy Safari; the other pen is a vintage Sheaffer Imperial III Deluxe (1960s or early 1970s)


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Spreadsheets and Pencils...



Touché, you big ape. Touché.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Grading in pencil? I love pencil, but for anything official, I just feel like I have to use pen.
> 
> Also, I'm drinking a Breckenridge Nitro Vanilla Porter. It reminds me of vanilla pipe tobacco, and not in any of the good ways.



I felt that way about grading for a long time. Then I didn't 

That bread looks sooooo good! And that porter sounds delish. Okay, I just had dinner, but now I totally want a big slice of bread, some butter, and a vanilla porter!


----------



## snowbear

The firebox project has come back to haunt me; well, sort of.  I have been training the GIS guy from the Radio/Dispatch system contractor on the process I developed.  I really need to do what one of our stations did for another station that took over one of their old apartment subdivisions: send him a sympathy card & fruit basket.

MLW found a house that we'd love to move to.  It's a winter caretaker deal ($700/month + utilities) so the term is November through April.  Unfortunately it's a bit early for us.

edit: I can't type for crap tonight, so I'm going to turn off the jammin' laptop and play with the sketchpad.


----------



## snowbear

pixmedic said:


>



Hello, critter.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Good evening, peeps.
> 
> Too many to quote so:
> Leonore:  Check out this lead-less pencil. This is the less-expensive version.
> 
> John:  Which nib is the Metropolitan (AKA "MR" in Europe & Aisia)?  The Japanese nibs (especially Pilot) tend to be smaller than the Western counterpart.  I have both a fine point (Bronze Leopard) and a medium point (Purple Mod) and they are more like Extra-Fine and Fine in the western world.  I also have a pair of rollerballs.  I would recommend a Lamy Safari (about $30) for a beginner - it is a bit larger than the Metro - the purple pen in the photo.
> 
> Gary: There's absolutely nothng wrong with that pen.  I would think it would even make you look more sophisticated (if it were possible)!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_6722.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> The purple one is a Lamy Safari; the other pen is a vintage Sheaffer Imperial III Deluxe (1960s or early 1970s)


I used to use Mont Blanc, but lately I've been using Cross for the Made in America brand.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon- Nice loaf, I can smell it. 

Next step is to stuff it with handfuls of herbs.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> I used to use Mont Blanc, but lately I've been using Cross for the Made in America brand.



Cross - owned by Bic!  I've never used MB, but I have a small Pelikan.


----------



## Dave442

Pens are great, ferrets sleep late.

And for Leo's weekend - Excel...




I found that short example is geared towards payroll and shows some Pivot Tables and filter stuff that is a lot of fun.


----------



## jcdeboever

Dinner and movie in recliners with wife. They serve you and everything, only in the US. Seen Ben Hur  pretty good flick. Three sliders and fries. Pretty darn tasty too. Better than cereal.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I used to use Mont Blanc, but lately I've been using Cross for the Made in America brand.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cross - owned by Bic!  I've never used MB, but I have a small Pelikan.
Click to expand...

Gary's research turns up that in 2013 the company was sold to Clarion Capital Partners, out of New York.  Bic is French.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Dinner and movie in recliners with wife. They serve you and everything, only in the US. Seen Ben Hur  pretty good flick. Three sliders and fries. Pretty darn tasty too. Better than cereal.
> View attachment 126639


That's what Gary is talking about.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I used to use Mont Blanc, but lately I've been using Cross for the Made in America brand.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cross - owned by Bic!  I've never used MB, but I have a small Pelikan.
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary's research turns up that in 2013 the company was sold to Clarion Capital Partners, out of New York.  Bic is French.
Click to expand...


OK.  It's hard to keep up - maybe it's Sheaffer or Parker that belongs to Bic, now.  Omas, an old high-end Italian company, was purchased by a Chinese group a while back and looked to be closing.  Now, the material and tooling has been bought by another group and will continue making the pens.

And Cross ink (at least the bottled ones) are re-branded Pelikan (German) inks - not a bad thing.


----------



## table1349

Today is Nation Burger Day.  Enjoy a burger or two with a friend or love one.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


>


Stereo Lazy!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## terri

Can we have a picture of the dog with both ferrets giving him a snuggle?


----------



## pixmedic

terri said:


> Can we have a picture of the dog with both ferrets giving him a snuggle?


Thought I had already?
The ferrets aren't really snugglers...


----------



## JonA_CT

Evidently I missed national dog day...with so many weird days, it's hard to keep up. Love this guy, though.




PS...I still love him after he rolled in bear guano on our last camping trip. This picture is from that trip -- that collar was an emergency purchase after the other collar could not be put into the car.

PPS...that water is some of the coldest I've ever intentionally swam in. Tucker, of course, doesn't care. If there's no ice on top, he's game to swim.


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can we have a picture of the dog with both ferrets giving him a snuggle?
> 
> 
> 
> Thought I had already?
> The ferrets aren't really snugglers...
Click to expand...

Is that healing IV point?


----------



## pixmedic

Gary A. said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can we have a picture of the dog with both ferrets giving him a snuggle?
> 
> 
> 
> Thought I had already?
> The ferrets aren't really snugglers...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Is that healing IV point?
Click to expand...

No, just a spot where he chewed himself.  Can't find any flees anywhere so not sure why he was chewing


----------



## Gary A.

Dogs do that. Sometimes when they're bored sometimes overreacting to an itch.


----------



## jcdeboever

Pizza party with grandkids over. Grand daughter dressed up now, off to studio for fashion shoot.


----------



## Gary A.

Busy day JC.  Mary Lou and Gary had tickets for Josh Groban at the Greek Theatre ... At the last minute we decided to be couch potatoes and NetFlix away the evening while sipping wine.  We are bingeing Stranger Things.  It is a very relaxing evening.  Good luck with the shoot.


----------



## jcdeboever

Managed to get a couple in before brother came in and bonked her on the head... short fashion shoot


----------



## tirediron

Nicely done; that's one for Mom & Grand-mom!


----------



## Gary A.

Very nice.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

In Nevada of course.


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



WHYYYYYYYYYYY?????


----------



## table1349




----------



## tirediron

Anyone else wanna go in with me on Lenny's Christmas gift?


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> Anyone else wanna go in with me on Lenny's Christmas gift?


You can get me this for christmas.


----------



## tirediron

I wuz gonna get you the same thing I gotcha' last year...


----------



## JonA_CT

First day back to work tomorrow. I did the math...I think I've been off, save for the few days I had to go back for interviews, 77 days. No complaints.

I'm test driving a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 for the next few days. My brother is thinking about selling it, and I think it might be a useful tool in the classroom. I'll probably also install Adobe CC on it just to see if it will even run -- the pen could be a useful tool in editing certain photos.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday and today a lot of yard work. Ripping out more grass in the front to be replaced with drought tolerant plants.  Mary Lou and Gary had tickets for Josh Groban at the Greek last night.  But Mary Lou and Gary weren't quite up for so ... So we couch potatoed the evening away binge watching Stranger Things on Netflick. This was a first for Mary Lou and Gary, we've never binged watched before and we've never watched a Tv series before.  Mary Lou thought it was great, just relaxing, sipping vino and watching an interesting series with little production value (looked like it was shot with only one camera).  At the end of our binge, Mary Lou laughed and said that we could have driven to San Francisco.

Gary is pretty beat up from all the yard work.  He thinks it's time for a beer.  Gary hasn't had a beer in a long long time.  Sadly, tomorrow Mary Lou goes back to work.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon- That bread looked perfect. How was it? Was that a product of Tartine?


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> @ Jon- That bread looked perfect. How was it? Was that a product of Tartine?



Delicious! I ended up buying Flour Water Salt Yeast first. I read through the reviews and thought that it suited my skill level better.

That loaf was a straight dough with the day-long leavening and cooked in the dutch oven. I made a biga-based bread this morning and baked off one loaf to bring to a family gathering. That one was a little more interesting (50% AP flour, 30% Whole Wheat, 20% Rye). It was devoured. I have the second loaf in the oven right now, and it'll be bread for us and my daughter hopefully for the week. I'm going to start a levain culture this week and hopefully be ready to bake with that Sunday.

My wife and I didn't eat regular bread that often (english muffins if anything for breakfast, and when my daughter started eating solid food, we found ourselves buying bread because it's an easy meal for her. The bread I can find in the store is so sweet -- this stuff is much better. With school starting, I'm hoping if I can bake two loaves every Sunday, we'll have bread for the week.


----------



## Gary A.

Good for you.  I have a Starter going on now.  I am thinking that I need to just keep it going.  The Dutch oven makes a big difference between meh and yum.  I think bread making and photography are quite similar.  Taking a good picture is pretty easy, taking the exceptional image is hard ... Same-o for bread.  If you're planning to bake every week, you should invest in Tartine.  The author is considered by many to be the best bread maker in the US.

PS- Adding stuff, herbs, cheeses, veggies, et al into the mix really kicks it up a level.


----------



## JonA_CT

I was using the bread maker before I kept seeing your beautiful bread...that was dump and go. Better than what you can easily buy, but still not great and I couldn't find any recipes that worked by weight which drove me crazy. 

I'll admit it...I love anything that is ritualistic or process-based. Making beer is definitely like that...it's a defined set of steps with small alterations. I can do it in my sleep almost. Bread seems to be similar...I'm already feeling really comfortable with the pincher mixing method and adding folds to the dough. I think temperature will be the next big thing I focus on...making sure I'm hitting the temps the recipe calls for in each step.

There are a lot of similarities to beer -- they both involve grain, yeast, and water. The ultimate goal is just a bit different.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> I wuz gonna get you the same thing I gotcha' last year...


Can you make it a red head this year instead???


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> Anyone else wanna go in with me on Lenny's Christmas gift?


Sure why not, I might pay for half if she hangs it...


----------



## jcdeboever

I like bread


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Anyone else wanna go in with me on Lenny's Christmas gift?





jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone else wanna go in with me on Lenny's Christmas gift?
> 
> 
> 
> Sure why not, I might pay for half if she hangs it...
Click to expand...


Oh, I'll hang it, all right. Directly over a lovely white-hot flame...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is enjoying a beer.  Gary forgot how good a beer is.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Anyone else wanna go in with me on Lenny's Christmas gift?


Gary's in.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Oh, I'll hang it, all right. Directly over a lovely white-hot flame...



I guess it's true what they say, it's not really Christmas until somebodies chestnuts are roasting over an open fire...


----------



## table1349




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>



Dude.. seriously.. close your eyes.  Don't you get it?  When they walk by if they think we're awake they give us a bath....


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



This is what I wish I were doing right now...



Um, curled up and sleeping, that is. Not lying in a corner of a jail cell


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## tirediron

My gawd man, turn the thermostat down; your ferret's melted!


----------



## KenC

tirediron said:


> My gawd man, turn the thermostat down; your ferret's melted!



Yeah, I would have thought it would be impossible to post a picture of the ferret looking more lethargic than in the previous posts.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr




----------



## waday

Gene Wilder passed away.



RIP, Gene.


----------



## pixmedic

waday said:


> Gene Wilder passed away.
> 
> 
> 
> RIP, Gene.



what?!?
 nooooooooooooo....

the world is a darker place.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Gene Wilder passed away.
> 
> 
> 
> RIP, Gene.



NOOOOO! 

If I believed in such things, I'd say that we are bereft but at least he's with Gilda again, but...well, it's a nice thought anyway.


----------



## pixmedic

i told ferret about Gene....


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


> i told ferret about Gene....


Just don't tell him Hollywood will most likely do more remakes of Gene's movies staring Johnny Depp.  Little guy is depressed enough.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Gary A.

RIP Gene.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has pomegranates.


----------



## terri

They look beautiful, Gary!   Wow, summer is coming to an end for real, when the pomegranates are coming.   

This summer has pretty much sucked, and I will be happy to see it go.  Bring on the fall!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes summer ... Lol ... Gary also likes fall, winter and spring. The tree is new and this is our first year for fruit.  It was hot today. It didn't feel that hot to Gary until he got home and proceeded on a little yard work. He started sweating like a pig. He was surprised.  When Mary Lou came home she told him it was 90F.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Feeling fairly world-weary this morning.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Feeling fairly world-weary this morning.



Have you tried running with the ferrets?  It's a lot like running with the bulls in Spain.  Just a lot easier to keep up.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Dragging a bit this morning myself.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Feeling fairly world-weary this morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have you tried running with the ferrets?  It's a lot like running with the bulls in Spain.  Just a lot easier to keep up.
Click to expand...

Gary likes that thought .. Running With the Ferrets.  People and cat snakes flopping around like dead boneless chickens.  The event is timed with a calendar.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Feeling fairly world-weary this morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have you tried running with the ferrets?  It's a lot like running with the bulls in Spain.  Just a lot easier to keep up.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary likes that thought .. Running With the Ferrets.  People and snake cats flopping around like dead boneless chickens.  The event is timed with a calendar.
Click to expand...

and finish-times using an hour-glass.


----------



## limr

Can Runs With Ferrets Cat Snakes be my Native American name?


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Can Runs With Ferrets Cat Snakes be my Native American name?


I think "run" is a bit....  unrealistic.  How about "Ambles With Ferrets"?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  This morning's paper is all about Gene Wilder and Juan Gabriel.  (Apparently Juan Gabriel is/was internationally huge.) Gary is in the kitchen, sipping a hot, deep brown, rich coffee.  Within his reach is a lemon cake, pan dulce and bananas.  Gary's resolve is on trial.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can Runs With Ferrets Cat Snakes be my Native American name?
> 
> 
> 
> I think "run" is a bit....  unrealistic.  How about "Ambles With Ferrets"?
Click to expand...


Trundles with Ferrets?


----------



## limr

How is cat snake not the real name for this creature??


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Can Runs With Ferrets Cat Snakes be my Native American name?


Yes, Elizabeth Warren  ... er ... Leo ... Relish in your Native American heritage. You are now christened "She Who Flops with Snake Cats".


----------



## Gary A.

Maybe 'Melts' ...


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can Runs With Ferrets Cat Snakes be my Native American name?
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, Elizabeth Warren  ... er ... Leo ... Relish in your Native American heritage. You are now christened "She Who Flops with Snake Cats".
Click to expand...


I can live with that.

Maybe I'm an honorary Native American. Just like I became an honorary Kurdish man one evening in Istanbul many moons ago. Moons are how my honorary Iroquois people refer to time.

My real people are Celts and Visigoths. My names in these cultures translate roughly to "Smashes through Western Europe with Cat Snakes."


----------



## tirediron

'Cause 'ferret' is way more fun to say!


----------



## Gary A.

Maybe ... 'Molds to the Substrate' ...


----------



## tirediron

Something tells me that if Hannibal had chosen ferrets instead of elephants, we might not be here to have this "conversation"...


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can Runs With Ferrets Cat Snakes be my Native American name?
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, Elizabeth Warren  ... er ... Leo ... Relish in your Native American heritage. You are now christened "She Who Flops with Snake Cats".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I can live with that.
> 
> Maybe I'm an honorary Native American. Just like I became an honorary Kurdish man one evening in Istanbul many moons ago. Moons are how my honorary Iroquois people refer to time.
> 
> My real people are Celts and Visigoths. My names in these cultures translate roughly to "Smashes through Western Europe with Cat Snakes."
Click to expand...

Law Enforcement have referred to Gary for his Moons ... never convicted.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Something tells me that if Hannibal had chosen ferrets instead of elephants, we might not be here to have this "conversation"...


Explain?

(Gary understands how Hannibal floated elephants to Europe/Iberia to attack Rome and roamed the countryside unable to conquer a fortified city but victorious in open combat. Gary just doesn't get how Hannibal's choice of heavy weapons affects this conversion.)


----------



## Gary A.

Aargh ... The sweet breads are calling to Gary.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Something tells me that if Hannibal had chosen ferrets instead of elephants, we might not be here to have this "conversation"...
> 
> 
> 
> Explain?
> 
> (Gary understands how Hannibal floated elephants to Europe to attack Rome and roamed the countryside unable to conquer a fortified city but alway victorious in open combat. Gary just doesn't get how Hannibal choice of heavy weapons affects this conversion.)
Click to expand...

Well, given the travel rate of the ferret vice the elephant, had Hannibal chosen ferrets, his descendants might just now be getting to the alps, and trickle-down effect on civilization would have meant that in all likelihood we'd still be chipping arrowheads out of flint before heading off to get supper!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 126806



Hey dad?  Why am I in a box addressed to the Alps?


----------



## jcdeboever

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 126806



It's Alive, it's Alive!


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 126806
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey dad?  Why am I in a box addressed to the Alps?
Click to expand...


See, they like boxes, too!!


----------



## terri

I see your snake cats and raise you one Bex in Box cat:


----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> I see your snake cats and raise you one Bex in Box cat:



Wow.. cat in a box.  It's just like soap on a rope.

Or... ummm.. not...


----------



## limr

I still have the post-modern malaise! NEED MOAR KITTEHS!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Something tells me that if Hannibal had chosen ferrets instead of elephants, we might not be here to have this "conversation"...
> 
> 
> 
> Explain?
> 
> (Gary understands how Hannibal floated elephants to Europe to attack Rome and roamed the countryside unable to conquer a fortified city but alway victorious in open combat. Gary just doesn't get how Hannibal choice of heavy weapons affects this conversion.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well, given the travel rate of the ferret vice the elephant, had Hannibal chosen ferrets, his descendants might just now be getting to the alps, and trickle-down effect on civilization would have meant that in all likelihood we'd still be chipping arrowheads out of flint before heading off to get supper!
Click to expand...

You Canadians teach from a different history book then us Americans, aaaa.  Gary doesn't recall Hannibal's Italy campaign being instrumental in advancement of technology and/or animal husbandry, aaaa.


----------



## HughGuessWho

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 126806


Rat In-A Box


----------



## limr




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr




----------



## limr




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



Emo dog also has the malaise.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## robbins.photo




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


>



I are seeeeriyus tiger.


----------



## limr




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## jcdeboever

I have a feeling that the Tigers claimed Puig from the Dodgers. Now a trade has to be worked out with the unknown team... more to come I guess.


----------



## Gary A.

Damn, the reports in the local paper is that he's finally getting his feet on solid ground.


----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349

I believe we found a dog to go with Medic Ferret.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Maybe I'm an honorary Native American.


Only if you pass the test.  I did.


----------



## snowbear

Hannibal dirtied the Alps.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe I'm an honorary Native American.
> 
> 
> 
> Only if you pass the test.  I did.
Click to expand...


 I'm an excellent test taker.


----------



## limr




----------



## limr




----------



## limr

And 10 seconds later...


----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349




----------



## JonA_CT

All of theses gifs are making my nauseous. Too much movement on the page, haha.


----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349




----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe I'm an honorary Native American.
> 
> 
> 
> Only if you pass the test.  I did.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm an excellent test taker.
Click to expand...


Here it is.  It's only one question:
What year did illegal immigration start?
A. 1980
B. 1933
C. 1845
D. 1492


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> All of theses gifs are making my nauseous. Too much movement on the page, haha.


Don't look a .gif horse in the mouth.

(slowly crawls out of room)


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe I'm an honorary Native American.
> 
> 
> 
> Only if you pass the test.  I did.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm an excellent test taker.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Here it is.  It's only one question:
> What year did illegal immigration start?
> A. 1980
> B. 1933
> C. 1845
> D. 1492
Click to expand...


D.  

You may now call me Slumps with Cat Snakes


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> All of theses gifs are making my nauseous. Too much movement on the page, haha.
> 
> 
> 
> Don't look a .gif horse in the mouth.
> 
> (slowly crawls out of room)
Click to expand...


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe I'm an honorary Native American.
> 
> 
> 
> Only if you pass the test.  I did.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm an excellent test taker.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Here it is.  It's only one question:
> What year did illegal immigration start?
> A. 1980
> B. 1933
> C. 1845
> D. 1492
Click to expand...

None of the above,  the Americas were visited long before any of the above listed dates.  What isn't know is if it was by the Chinese, Polynesians or the Vikings.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe I'm an honorary Native American.
> 
> 
> 
> Only if you pass the test.  I did.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm an excellent test taker.
Click to expand...

I generally get all A's.  But I suffer from test anxiety.  Like, really bad test anxiety that doesn't leave until I see the A.


----------



## snowbear

We went to Seattle in 2005 so son #1 could visit a couple of colleges.  While waiting for him during one interview, I was looking through some magazines and literature in what was the cultural coordinator's office (or some such title).  I looked through one geared to Native Americans  /  First Nations.  On the back was a map (I love maps) titled _Native American Lands: 2000_.  There was an outline of the 48 contiguous states and a few red splotches, mostly in the west and southwest.  Under that was a map titled _Native American Lands: 1492.  Of course, the whole thing was red.  _


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> All of theses gifs are making my nauseous. Too much movement on the page, haha.


It's not unlike my living room when both the cats are wound up.   There are loud noises and things can get broken.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe I'm an honorary Native American.
> 
> 
> 
> Only if you pass the test.  I did.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm an excellent test taker.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I generally get all A's.  But I suffer from test anxiety.  Like, really bad test anxiety that doesn't leave until I see the A.
Click to expand...


I can relate.  I suffer from a general lack of self-confidence in a number of things and it leads me to worry a lot, especially tests.  Sometimes I find that I am better that I think, but it takes me a while to realize it.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe I'm an honorary Native American.
> 
> 
> 
> Only if you pass the test.  I did.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm an excellent test taker.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Here it is.  It's only one question:
> What year did illegal immigration start?
> A. 1980
> B. 1933
> C. 1845
> D. 1492
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> None of the above,  the Americas were visited long before any of the above listed dates.  What isn't know is if it was by the Chinese, Polynesians or the Vikings.
Click to expand...

True, but since there were probably no immigration statutes in place, it wasn't actually illegal.


----------



## terri

Exactly!  I graduated with a very high gpa. You might think this would be a good thing, but it wasn't.   All it did was add to my pressure to preserve the pretty number.   It was ridiculous.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> All of theses gifs are making my nauseous. Too much movement on the page, haha.
> 
> 
> 
> It's not unlike my living room when both the cats are wound up.   There are loud noises and things can get broken.
Click to expand...

But on the other hand, when there are _*no*_ noises, especially with kids, investigate right away.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Exactly!  I graduated with a very high gpa. You might think this would be a good thing, but it wasn't.   All it did was add to my pressure to preserve the pretty number.   It was ridiculous.


I was happy with all Cs


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> Exactly!  I graduated with a very high gpa. You might think this would be a good thing, but it wasn't.   All it did was add to my pressure to preserve the pretty number.   It was ridiculous.


Ah if only a GPA equated to intelligence.  Had a roommate once in college with a perfect 4.0 GPA.  Book Smart, but dumb as a rock.  Got pissed off onetime at a guy in another room so he took the fire hose, cut off the nozzle, stuck the hose under his door and turned on the fire hose.  Pressure was so great that the guy couldn't open the door.  The room filled 4 feet with water and was flooding out his windows 7 stories down the side of the building. 

Needless to say he was asked to find a new place to live.  He is now a physician.  I wouldn't go to him to get a hangnail clipped.


----------



## snowbear

Of course, it could be said the first set of intruders were the Eskimos/Inuit.  They came a few thousand years later than the first rounds from Asia.


----------



## snowbear

OK . . . I'm forgetting to include quotes and have to keep editing stuff.  I guess it's time to finish my sangria and go to bed.  Oh, I finished the sangria, already; that might explain the missing quotes and typos.


----------



## table1349

Except that the DNA findings from very ancient native bones, 24k years ago point to Eurasian people linked to the Middle East and Europe rather than east asian peoples.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr




----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Today Gary will not say no sweet bread.  Gary has a golden brown flakey empanada in his chubby, yet regal, hands. It will soon be consumed and to hell with calorie counting, damn the torpedos, down the hatch.


----------



## limr

Not feeling it today, hosers.


----------



## Gary A.

You need an empanada.  An empanada will make everything better.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is hooked on CNN and its political coverage with all the talking heads. Gary rushes home to catch up on what happened and how all the surrogates defend and attack their leader. Nearly every jammin' day something big and new comes up. Gary has never watch a soap opera, but he imagines the roller coaster ride of a soap is similar to this years presidential campaign. Typically, Gary works at the computer with Tv news in the background, but lately he is too intent on listening and yelling at the surrogates to get any evening work done.


----------



## Gary A.

Pour vous.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gary is hooked on CNN and its political coverage with all the talking heads. Gary rushes home to catch up on what happened and how all the surrogates defend and attack said happening. Nearly every jammin' day something big and new comes up. Gary has never watch a soap opera, but he imagines the roller coaster ride of a soap is similar to this presidential campaign. Typically, Gary works at the computer with Tv news in the background, but lately he is too intent on listening and yelling at the surrogates to get any evening work done.



I can't stomach it. In the best of circumstances, it's hard to deal with politics, but this year, it's impossible for me. It's so disheartening to see such vitriol.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> You need an empanada.  An empanada will make everything better.



Just make sure you use the elephant delivery service.  If you have the ferret's deliver it.. that sucker will be in pretty sorry shape by the time it arrives.


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You need an empanada.  An empanada will make everything better.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just make sure you use the elephant delivery service.  If you have the ferret's deliver it.. that sucker will be in pretty sorry shape by the time it arrives.
Click to expand...


LOL! Yes, I shall specifically request 'Hannibal Express' to delivery my empanadas.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> LOL! Yes, I shall specifically request 'Hannibal Express' to delivery my empanadas.



Canadian Historians will thank you profusely, my good man... 

Lol


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is hooked on CNN and its political coverage with all the talking heads. Gary rushes home to catch up on what happened and how all the surrogates defend and attack said happening. Nearly every jammin' day something big and new comes up. Gary has never watch a soap opera, but he imagines the roller coaster ride of a soap is similar to this presidential campaign. Typically, Gary works at the computer with Tv news in the background, but lately he is too intent on listening and yelling at the surrogates to get any evening work done.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I can't stomach it. In the best of circumstances, it's hard to deal with politics, but this year, it's impossible for me. It's so disheartening to see such vitriol.
Click to expand...

It can become habit-forming, just like soap operas.   And this particular cycle is full of sensationalism, so it resembles a soap.   

Gary needs an intervention!!!!    Who lives nearby?


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You need an empanada.  An empanada will make everything better.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just make sure you use the elephant delivery service.  If you have the ferret's deliver it.. that sucker will be in pretty sorry shape by the time it arrives.
Click to expand...

If you have Medic's ferret deliver it, you will never see it.  It will just be a pill of green mold in the corner of the cage next to the taxidermied ferret Medic keeps in there.


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is hooked on CNN and its political coverage with all the talking heads. Gary rushes home to catch up on what happened and how all the surrogates defend and attack said happening. Nearly every jammin' day something big and new comes up. Gary has never watch a soap opera, but he imagines the roller coaster ride of a soap is similar to this presidential campaign. Typically, Gary works at the computer with Tv news in the background, but lately he is too intent on listening and yelling at the surrogates to get any evening work done.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I can't stomach it. In the best of circumstances, it's hard to deal with politics, but this year, it's impossible for me. It's so disheartening to see such vitriol.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It can become habit-forming, just like soap operas.   And this particular cycle is full of sensationalism, so it resembles a soap.
> 
> Gary needs an intervention!!!!    Who lives nearby?
Click to expand...

Here is your intervention.  
Pick a book 
Sit down
Read 





When finished repeat above instructions.


----------



## limr




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



Finally! I was needing my daily cat snake fix.


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>



Hi there sir.  Officer Mackelvoy, TSA.  Yes, well we have a bit of a problem with one of your carry on bags.  Could you step over here please?


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## tirediron

"Talk to the paw!"


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> "Talk to the paw!"



The ferret you have reached is no longer in service....


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## tirediron

You can pick your friends, and...
you can pick your nose, but...
you can't pick your friend's nose.

Oh... wait... apparently you can!


----------



## limr

Hosers, I am stoked. Remember my payroll spreadsheet? Well, it was working fine but I was running into trouble when I was trying to expand it for when I needed to include more pay periods (and as it turns out, that's sooner than I thought. We're going by fiscal years, which starts in another pay period, not by calendar years.)

What finally got things to click for me was forgetting all the handy tools and shortcuts, and simply showing the formulas and writing them in by hand in the new columns I was adding. I just had to write them once per column and then the autofill function took care of the rest of the fields in that column. It reminds me of the few years after Windows first came out (back in the dark ages...) when I was constantly shooting back into a DOS window to get things done rather than relying on the interface. It turned out to be good training 

And I'm stoked because I figured it out, and also because I figured it out on a day when I am TOTALLY NOT FEELING IT!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


Costco must be having another sale.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>



*$#@#!&* TSA!


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


As Marie Antoinette said when approaching the guillotine, _"Can you just take a little off the top?"_


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is hooked on CNN and its political coverage with all the talking heads. Gary rushes home to catch up on what happened and how all the surrogates defend and attack said happening. Nearly every jammin' day something big and new comes up. Gary has never watch a soap opera, but he imagines the roller coaster ride of a soap is similar to this presidential campaign. Typically, Gary works at the computer with Tv news in the background, but lately he is too intent on listening and yelling at the surrogates to get any evening work done.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I can't stomach it. In the best of circumstances, it's hard to deal with politics, but this year, it's impossible for me. It's so disheartening to see such vitriol.
Click to expand...


It is like a football game, grab a hotdog, some peanuts and enjoy the entertainment.  Gary has been reviewing some Will Rogers quotes.  Gary is torn between thinking ... Man, could Rogers have a field day with modern politics or ... Man, nothing has jammin' changed.

Some Samplings:

"Politicas has gotten so expensive that it takes a lot of money to even get beat ..."

"I don't belong to any organized political party ... I'm a Democrat."

"This country has gotten where it is in spite of politics, not by the aid of it."

"Everything is changing.  People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke..."

"There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the entire government working for you."

Amen Will Rogers.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has ordered a 100' roll of Tri-X, a bulk loader and 10 cassettes.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Aaaahhhh ... The sweet, cool and gray marine layer is back.  This week has been on the hot side, but the end of August is supposed to be hot ... Gary isn't complaining just observing.  Hey, the Prez is at Lake Tahoe.  If you haven't been, Tahoe is well worth a visit.  The Native Americans called Tahoe 'Big Blue'.  We have wildfires out here in the west and hurricanes out there in the east ... But on average, all along the Mississippi, we're doing fine.

@ Leo: Talk to me about Coffee developers.  Gary is a D-76 guy.  How does Sanka compare to D-76?  How well does it work on Tri-X or T-Max?


----------



## Gary A.

Football is back.  The talk is starting to build up for the SC-Bama game on Saturday. In today's paper are stories of the famous 1970 SC-Bama game and an interview with Sam Cunningham. Gary needs to get his pull down projection screen installed before the game.


----------



## table1349




----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> @ Leo: Talk to me about Coffee developers.  Gary is a D-76 guy.  How does Sanka compare to D-76?  How well does it work on Tri-X or T-Max?



I've never developed with D-76 myself, though when I was getting my B&W developed at a lab, they surely used it. I can tell you that I don't notice a huge difference at all between the pictures I shot before I started doing it myself. It has good contrast and tonal range, and the grain is about the same. When comparing grain, I often look at pictures with a lot of sky. Here are two in similar conditions, both Tri-X.

D-76 (lab developed):



Day 146 - Beach by limrodrigues, on Flickr

Caffenol (C-H) (home developed, 1:1, 20C, 14:30 minutes, iirc):



Foggy church and castle by limrodrigues, on Flickr

It took me a while to get it the way I want, and I can't speak to how it works with Tmax (but I've seen others use it with Tmax and it looks great),but I see no need to ever switch to commercial developers. If you look through my Flickr feed, everything B&W from late 2013 until now has been developed in Caffenol, mostly Tri_x to start, and then mostly HP5+.

Here's where you can find some film+developer combos to compare: FilmDev | Recipe Finder

When you're ready to talk recipes, let me know.


----------



## limr




----------



## waday

limr said:


>


This is me today.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is me today.
Click to expand...


Yup. It's a rough week for me. Nothing crazy at work, but it's headache time and I haven't been sleeping well.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



HI BEAR!!


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Yup. It's a rough week for me. Nothing crazy at work, but it's headache time and I haven't been sleeping well.


Same here. Rough couple of days. The wife is in NYC, and I'm driving up tonight.

While I normally love trips to NYC, I'm not particularly looking forward to this weekend. We have a wedding Friday (wife is matron of honor, so I'm stuck carting my wife and the bride around all day for photographs because bride is too cheap to hire a cab/uber). Then, brunch with bride/groom on Saturday afternoon, then wife's relative's sweet 16 party Saturday night (which is as extravagant, if not more so, as the wedding). Then, dinner with wife's friend from out of the country (just moved here for work) on Sunday, which will likely turn into lunch, shopping, dinner, coffee, dessert.

Happy birthday weekend to me. Whomp. Haha. We did celebrate last weekend with a bowling outing with my nieces and nephews, since the one nephew's birthday is a couple of days after mine. I didn't _spare_ them at all.

The friend from another country is real nice, though. She said to my wife: "I went to a store called.. um.. Bed, Bath, and Beyond. It was nice, they have everything you need." Haha. She literally knows no one in this country except for my wife (and I'm assuming one or two work people), so I can imagine we'll be taking many trips up to NYC, and she'll be visiting us often.

I'm tired already.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yup. It's a rough week for me. Nothing crazy at work, but it's headache time and I haven't been sleeping well.
> 
> 
> 
> Same here. Rough couple of days. The wife is in NYC, and I'm driving up tonight.
> 
> While I normally love trips to NYC, I'm not particularly looking forward to this weekend. We have a wedding Friday (wife is matron of honor, so I'm stuck carting my wife and the bride around all day for photographs because bride is too cheap to hire a cab/uber). Then, brunch with bride/groom on Saturday afternoon, then wife's relative's sweet 16 party Saturday night (which is as extravagant, if not more so, as the wedding). Then, dinner with wife's friend from out of the country (just moved here for work) on Sunday, which will likely turn into lunch, shopping, dinner, coffee, dessert.
> 
> Happy birthday weekend to me. Whomp. Haha. We did celebrate last weekend with a bowling outing with my nieces and nephews, since the one nephew's birthday is a couple of days after mine. I didn't _spare_ them at all.
> 
> The friend from another country is real nice, though. She said to my wife: "I went to a store called.. um.. Bed, Bath, and Beyond. It was nice, they have everything you need." Haha. She literally knows no one in this country except for my wife (and I'm assuming one or two work people), so I can imagine we'll be taking many trips up to NYC, and she'll be visiting us often.
> 
> I'm tired already.
Click to expand...


Ooof! I'm so sorry, that sounds like a nightmare weekend  A wedding AND a Sweet 16 party on the same weekend? Oh lord, a WORLD OF NO! 

The lunch with the friend sounds nice, though, and I agree that it will probably take a good portion of the day. I know what it's like to be brand new in a big city in a different country and not knowing anyone. Even an introvert like me tried to prolong chances for socializing...well, as long as I actually liked the people I was socializing with


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr




----------



## limr




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


>


What?  Me worry?


----------



## table1349

Geezzzzz.........Sounds like this place needs a good dose of............................






Just took a break from housework.  In-laws are coming for the long weekend, all our kids, spouses, and grand kids as well.   Looking forward to having a hectic but satisfying time with family for the weekend.  Meals are planned, groceries bought and now just doing the last bit of tidying up the place before people start arriving tomorrow afternoon.  Tomorrow morning got to go get fresh peaches and bake cookies.  

Looking forward to Monday that is for sure.  Smoking a full packer brisket, a pork butt and some ribs along with all the fixings to celebrate labor day. 

Well back to vacuuming.


----------



## table1349

For all the working stiffs.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 126913


New from Kenner...  Box O Cat-Snakes!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

Six years ago, almost to the day. My girls 




Day 278 - Kittens by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## limr

And last night...


----------



## tirediron

Fuzzy leg-warmers are sooooo 1984!!!


----------



## Gary A.

@ Wade:  You are a better man than I am, Gunga Din.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> And last night...


It's just lucky you weren't crushed.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## pixmedic

limr said:


> And last night...



that is shameless begging for a belly rub


----------



## jcdeboever

I miss my buddy ping. He was a cool cat, he only liked me and hissed at everyone else.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And last night...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> that is shameless begging for a belly rub
Click to expand...


She totally got one. I mean, how could I not? One does not resist such a furry belly.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And last night...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's just lucky you weren't crushed.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Yes, she's a bit on the portly side, but to be fair, her fur is very thick and she's quite floofy for a short-hair.


----------



## terri

aw, JC, he is looking at you with love!!       That's a great picture.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps!  Happy Friday!

I've been knocking out some free training opportunities this week - all GIS stuff.  I've also been racking what little brain power I have trying to parse the USCG's Light List xml file into something I can use in GIS.  I'm adding Aids to Navigation (lights, buoys, other markers) as a feature for maps.  We are not going to create navigation charts, but if the 9-1-1 folks get the distress cell phone call from the floating drunks recreational boaters that are hurt/stranded and all they know is that they are by "buoy number 27" we can find them.

Tonight's project is the POTM.


----------



## table1349

Pęhévevóonä'o hóvahéhasęstse,
Another lovely Friday on the plains.   Baking day in preparation for the weekend.  Cookies and a cake to make and peaches to get.  Other than that should be a nice calm day with temps in the upper 70's.  Good day to relax on the deck and read.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Today's mission: prevent head from exploding. The headache was deceptively tame for the last two days. Not so much today.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Today's mission: prevent head from exploding. The headache was deceptively tame for the last two days. Not so much today.



A friend recently told me that eating fresh figs is a natural remedy for headaches.  Since I really hate to take any medication, I'm going to try it next time I get one of my nasty migraines.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And last night...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's just lucky you weren't crushed.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, she's a bit on the portly side, but to be fair, her fur is very thick and she's quite floofy for a short-hair.
Click to expand...


Just a tad bit on the rubenesque side.. lol


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 126913
> 
> 
> 
> New from Kenner...  Box O Cat-Snakes!
Click to expand...

You realize of course that term is an insult to the snakes.


----------



## Gary A.

Your Ping looks like Gary's Senator, a big orange cat.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Today's mission: prevent head from exploding. The headache was deceptively tame for the last two days. Not so much today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A friend recently told me that eating fresh figs is a natural remedy for headaches.  Since I really hate to take any medication, I'm going to try it next time I get one of my nasty migraines.
Click to expand...


No offense to your friend, but I'm skeptical. I did some quick research and apparently figs can be a migraine _trigger_. Dried figs are worse, but fresh figs can be problematic as well. The culprit is tyramine. Figs are already high in this, and the drying process concentrates it.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Today's mission: prevent head from exploding. The headache was deceptively tame for the last two days. Not so much today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A friend recently told me that eating fresh figs is a natural remedy for headaches.  Since I really hate to take any medication, I'm going to try it next time I get one of my nasty migraines.
Click to expand...

Just last night Gary told Mary Lou that it would be nice to have some Fig Newtons.  A wrap of Fig Newtons fits nicely in a Domke Bag lens compartment.  On assignments Gary would often switch out his 135mm for Fig Newtons.


----------



## table1349

Funny you mention that.  Sunday evening around here is usually popcorn night.  With all the family that will be here we decided to make a change.  Went to the local cheese monger's and picked up a lovely Brie, some Irish Cheadar, Paprika/herb Munster, a blueberry Wensleydale and a cranberry Stilton.  They had a lovely fig jam so I picked some up as well to go on a loaf of rustic bread I will bake tomorrow.  Add some fresh fruit and grapes an Sunday evening meal will be healthy, quick and delicious.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> On assignments Gary would often switch out his 135mm for Fig Newtons.


'F Mount' fig newtons?  Makes sense to me....


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is tired this morning.  Last night Gary discovered many new news channels on cable Tv.  Until recently Gary just watched local news.  But with this bizarre presidential race to the bottom, Gary is augmenting local news with cable news.  Fascinating stuff, even the obliviously skewered and slanted stuff, all fascinating.  Gary stayed way past his bedtime digesting all this stuff ... Much of it gave him a stomach ache. 

Today is another day, coffee, walk the pooch, work ... After the elections it will be coffee, walk the pooch, work.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Today's mission: prevent head from exploding. The headache was deceptively tame for the last two days. Not so much today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A friend recently told me that eating fresh figs is a natural remedy for headaches.  Since I really hate to take any medication, I'm going to try it next time I get one of my nasty migraines.
Click to expand...

I hate to tell you but I fear you friend was thinking of the wrong end. 

*Figs*






Cure for: Hemorrhoids

The 3 g of fiber in four dried figs helps create soft, regular stools that will keep hemorrhoids from returning. Figs also provide about 5% of daily potassium and 10% of manganese.


What you want is ..........
*Potatoes*



Cure for: Headache

The 37 g of carbs in a medium potato can ease a tension headache by upping serotonin levels, as long as you keep the fat and protein below 2 g.


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> On assignments Gary would often switch out his 135mm for Fig Newtons.
> 
> 
> 
> 'F Mount' fig newtons?  Makes sense to me....
Click to expand...

Wouldn't that give my camera a sugar rush followed by a migraine?

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Today's mission: prevent head from exploding. The headache was deceptively tame for the last two days. Not so much today.



Sorry to hear.  Do you avoid bright light as part of your strategy?  I recently installed some window blinds in windows that had broken ones or just bad ones.  I had a bit of a headache, but as soon as the new blinds were up and closed, it started to go away.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Morning all. Beautiful day here on Cape Cod. 62 degrees this morning and sunny. We are watching remnants of hurricane to hit us over the weekend depending on track.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> A friend recently told me that eating fresh figs is a natural remedy for headaches.  Since I really hate to take any medication, I'm going to try it next time I get one of my nasty migraines.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No offense to your friend, but I'm skeptical. I did some quick research and apparently figs can be a migraine _trigger_. Dried figs are worse, but fresh figs can be problematic as well. The culprit is tyramine. Figs are already high in this, and the drying process concentrates it.
Click to expand...


Interesting - a quick google search agrees with you.  She definitely said fresh figs not dried.  I know my triggers (damp weather, skipping meals, cologne/perfume, hormonal fluctuations).  Never noticed any food triggers, even after watching for that, so I still may try the fig remedy.   I'll let you know if it works - I'm overdue for one and we're expecting rain later this weekend.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Today's mission: prevent head from exploding. The headache was deceptively tame for the last two days. Not so much today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear.  Do you avoid bright light as part of your strategy?  I recently installed some window blinds in windows that had broken ones or just bad ones.  I had a bit of a headache, but as soon as the new blinds were up and closed, it started to go away.
Click to expand...


Definitely. Light makes it SO much worse. Luckily my office is in a shady corner of the building, so while there are a lot of windows, we don't ever get direct sunlight. And I have my computer glasses on. I have two pairs that I keep at work - one with a lighter coating and one with a darker. I got the darker ones specifically for days when I have a headache. They look kind of like this: https://smile.amazon.com/Anti-Blue-...23980&sr=8-8&keywords=computer+glasses+orange

Not quite like wearing sunglasses indoors but close.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Funny you mention that.  Sunday evening around here is usually popcorn night.  With all the family that will be here we decided to make a change.  Went to the local cheese monger's and picked up a lovely Brie, some Irish Cheadar, Paprika/herb Munster, a blueberry Wensleydale and a cranberry Stilton.  They had a lovely fig jam so I picked some up as well to go on a loaf of rustic bread I will bake tomorrow.  Add some fresh fruit and grapes an Sunday evening meal will be healthy, quick and delicious.


When I lived in France, that plus some bubbly, would be the dessert course for many of the dinner parties Gary attended.

Yesterday Gary made a flatbread.  It was very tasty.  Gary mixed/kneaded the sucker in the Ninja. Gary tossed in literally a handful of parsley, a handful of basil, handful of sweet and hot peppers and a handful of oregano into the mix.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> A friend recently told me that eating fresh figs is a natural remedy for headaches.  Since I really hate to take any medication, I'm going to try it next time I get one of my nasty migraines.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No offense to your friend, but I'm skeptical. I did some quick research and apparently figs can be a migraine _trigger_. Dried figs are worse, but fresh figs can be problematic as well. The culprit is tyramine. Figs are already high in this, and the drying process concentrates it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Interesting - a quick google search agrees with you.  She definitely said fresh figs not dried.  I know my triggers (damp weather, skipping meals, cologne/perfume, hormonal fluctuations).  Never noticed any food triggers, even after watching for that, so I still may try the fig remedy.   I'll let you know if it works - I'm overdue for one and we're expecting rain later this weekend.
Click to expand...


My triggers are similar to yours. I think I might have some food triggers, but they seem to only result in a headache when the hormonal or weather triggers are also in play. Of course, this month, I have hormonal AND weather triggers, and so probably I made it worse last night with the half scoop of ice cream that I had after dinner.

But everyone is different. I see a lot of warnings about caffeine being a trigger, but for me, coffee makes the headache better, so it's entirely possible that fresh figs may be helpful to some and bad for others. See how it works and report back 

Geez, these stupid meat sacks we have to carry around sure do take a lot of work! It's exhausting.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Today's mission: prevent head from exploding. The headache was deceptively tame for the last two days. Not so much today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A friend recently told me that eating fresh figs is a natural remedy for headaches.  Since I really hate to take any medication, I'm going to try it next time I get one of my nasty migraines.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Just last night Gary told Mary Lou that it would be nice to have some Fig Newtons.  A wrap of Fig Newtons fits nicely in a Domke Bag lens compartment.  On assignments Gary would often switch out his 135mm for Fig Newtons.
Click to expand...


I do quite like Fig Newtons. And fresh figs, as well. I always associate fresh figs with my first trip to Portugal as a child. We were visiting my uncle out in the country (Tras-as-Montes) and my brother and I climbed a fig tree in his yard and ate them right off the tree. My mother refused to climb so we dropped some down to her. Of course, my brother and I then learned the hard way about eating too many figs  Luckily, it wasn't enough to ruin my taste for fresh figs.


----------



## Gary A.

Looks like the return of Puig, (yeah).  Reddick has been pretty unproductive at the plate, so Puig may be making a comeback in lieu of being traded.  In other good news, Kershaw will start pitching again, but it will be rehab at the Rancho Cucamonga A class team.  BTW- Dodger's are in first in National League West by two game over San Francisco.


----------



## Gary A.

And Kiffin is starting to trash-talk.


----------



## jcdeboever

Here is a couple of Ping in 2003, I think I was living in Texas then. He was crazy back then. We lost him for a couple weeks because of his crazyness. He would fly around the apartment in the morning jumping on window ledges at full speed. Well, he did that one morning ( while I was sleeping) and went through the screen and traveled down 4 flights to the ground. We thought he probably went somewhere to die. Two weeks later, showed up all scruffy and a mess. 

Here he is on top of the kitchen cabinets. 


 

Sleeping


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> Sleeping Plotting
> View attachment 126947


FTFY


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sleeping Plotting
> View attachment 126947
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY
Click to expand...

What did you fix? Did I do something wrong?


----------



## terri

Look again.   He's calling out cat behavior, that's all. 

Happy Friday, hosers!  Is it bad to want rain so much that I'm hoping we get brushed by a what's left of a hurricane?


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sleeping Plotting
> View attachment 126947
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What did you fix? Did I do something wrong?
Click to expand...

Amended your use of the word "sleeping" to describe Ping, to the correct term of "Plotting" (as in; "What are we going to do tonight Pinky?  The same thing we do every night.  Try and take over the world!").


----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> Look again.   He's calling out cat behavior, that's all.
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!  Is it bad to want rain so much that I'm hoping we get brushed by a what's left of a hurricane?



Only if  your also secretly hoping that the annoying neighbor girl next door gets swept off to Oz as a result.

Otherwise, nope, you're on morally sound footing.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Here is a couple of Ping in 2003, I think I was living in Texas then. He was crazy back then. We lost him for a couple weeks because of his crazyness. He would fly around the apartment in the morning jumping on window ledges at full speed. Well, he did that one morning ( while I was sleeping) and went through the screen and traveled down 4 flights to the ground. We thought he probably went somewhere to die. Two weeks later, showed up all scruffy and a mess.
> 
> Here he is on top of the kitchen cabinets.
> View attachment 126946
> Sleeping
> View attachment 126947


Looks like we have his brother.




 
Does cause delays in making the bed in the mornings.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Funny you mention that.  Sunday evening around here is usually popcorn night.  With all the family that will be here we decided to make a change.  Went to the local cheese monger's and picked up a lovely Brie, some Irish Cheadar, Paprika/herb Munster, a blueberry Wensleydale and a cranberry Stilton.  They had a lovely fig jam so I picked some up as well to go on a loaf of rustic bread I will bake tomorrow.  Add some fresh fruit and grapes an Sunday evening meal will be healthy, quick and delicious.
> 
> 
> 
> When I lived in France, that plus some bubbly, would be the dessert course for many of the dinner parties Gary attended.
> 
> Yesterday Gary made a flatbread.  It was very tasty.  Gary mixed/kneaded the sucker in the Ninja. Gary tossed in literally a handful of parsley, a handful of basil, handful of sweet and hot peppers and a handful of oregano into the mix.
Click to expand...

What part of France?  I'm guessing probably Paris, but there are other parts.  Never been too fond of Champagne but I can drink a little Prosecco.  

The flat bread sounds good.  Mine was a recipe I found a while back from a baker who's family loves this bread.  It is ridiculously simple and good.  Great when you want to put a bread together real quick.  You can take 5 minutes in the morning to put it together and 10 minutes to get it in the oven for supper.

*CRUSTY, RUSTIC, NO KNEAD BREAD* 
5 minPrep Time 
45 minCook Time 

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
1½ tsp salt
½ tsp yeast
1½ cups warm water (not hot, think room temperature)
Optional - You could mix some stuff in, rosemary, grated cheese (I’d go with an old cheddar), some roasted garlic
Instructions

In a large glass bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and yeast. Stir in the water with a wooden spoon until a shaggy looking ball forms. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise for 12-18 hours. Alternatively, you can place the bowl in the oven with only the light turned on. The dough should rise in about 6 to 8 hours like this.

Pre-heat your oven to 450ºF with a rack in the middle position.

Turn the dough out onto a well floured counter. Add additional flour to the top of the dough and quickly form into a ball. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.While the dough is resting, place a large Dutch oven, with the lid on, into the pre-heated oven to warm for 30 minutes. You can also use any large, lidded cast iron or pyrex dish, so long as it can handle 450ºF.

Place the dough ball into the heated Dutch oven, put the lid on, and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the lid and return to the oven for an additional 15 minutes, until the loaf is golden brown, sounds hollow when knocked on, and an instant-read thermometer registers between 190ºF and 200ºF.

Let cool on a wire rack before cutting.


----------



## terri

Sounds wonderful, and easy as can be.    I bet it's delicious!    Although I enjoy bread with added herbs or garlic, my fave is just having it plain.   I like pulling off hanks of it and keeping some special olive oil nearby for dipping.   And of course, serve with red wine.   

Dang.   Now I'm hungry.


----------



## tirediron

Bread.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## astroNikon

jcdeboever said:


>


That deep man ...


----------



## jcdeboever

astroNikon said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That deep man ...
Click to expand...


Sometimes silence is the best choice.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> Bread.


Irons Bread


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bread.
> 
> 
> 
> Irons Bread
Click to expand...

Hasn't affected me yet... yet...yet...yet..yet....


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Bread.



Philistine.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bread.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Philistine.
Click to expand...


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bread.
> 
> 
> 
> Irons Bread
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Hasn't affected me yet... yet...yet...yet..yet....
Click to expand...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Why are we talking about bread...? not that there's anything wrong with that.

I saw the ferret had its eyes open! and... reproduced?? or one wasn't enough so there was a trip to a pet store??

Is there a full moon?? Today has been one dumb thing after another - auto refills on prescriptions for like the third time that I didn't sign up for and the pharmacy doesn't show it either so don't know why it even is going through. The computers are trying to take over!!

And you surveyors get outta my yard, but at least it wasn't kids. Two guys in neon green vests traipsing around, but I found out what they were up to and found out the news in the neighborhood so there is that. Yeah, a small town.

Sharon saw Jimmy last night. Sharon likes when Jimmy is on Seinfeld. But Sharon thinks the same episodes keep getting rerun over and over and one too many Jimmys might be too much of a good thing.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bread.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Philistine.
Click to expand...


Sweet!!!  Another one.  Now we can form a club, or something...


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Sharon saw Jimmy last night. Sharon likes when Jimmy is on Seinfeld. But Sharon thinks the same episodes keep getting rerun over and over and one too many Jimmys might be too much of a good thing.



Same here, although the last few times the Jimmy episode was on, I only caught the second half of it, so I had forgotten some of the stuff from the first half. Some of it caught me by surprise and I cracked up all over again.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Your cat reminds me of a B.Kliban.

So no eating figs, but they're okay to stuff in a camera bag, now I'm caught up.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## vintagesnaps

Needs an afternoon caffeine lift. Oh wait, I do.


----------



## limr

You're welcome.
Meowls Are Cat Heads Photoshopped Onto Owl Bodies


----------



## HughGuessWho




----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> Why are we talking about bread...? not that there's anything wrong with that.
> 
> I saw the ferret had its eyes open! and... reproduced?? or one wasn't enough so there was a trip to a pet store??
> 
> Is there a full moon?? Today has been one dumb thing after another - auto refills on prescriptions for like the third time that I didn't sign up for and the pharmacy doesn't show it either so don't know why it even is going through. The computers are trying to take over!!
> 
> And you surveyors get outta my yard, but at least it wasn't kids. Two guys in neon green vests traipsing around, but I found out what they were up to and found out the news in the neighborhood so there is that. Yeah, a small town.
> 
> Sharon saw Jimmy last night. Sharon likes when Jimmy is on Seinfeld. But Sharon thinks the same episodes keep getting rerun over and over and one too many Jimmys might be too much of a good thing.


Why???      WHY????    Because man can not live on Ferret alone, thats why we are talking about bread.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Now I need caffeine and a snack.


----------



## terri

tirediron said:


> Bread.




Not sure what it is, but it's not bread!


----------



## table1349

Catstronauts


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> Now I need caffeine and a snack.


Here, have some bread.


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bread.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure what it is, but it's not bread!
Click to expand...


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bread.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure what it is, but it's not bread!
Click to expand...

Mehhh... your lack of taste and discrimination is not my problem!


----------



## jcdeboever

I like bread


----------



## terri

tirediron said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bread.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure what it is, but it's not bread!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mehhh... your lack of taste and discrimination is not my problem!
Click to expand...

You'd deny me the opportunity to use the puke-left smiley?   Seriously?


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> I like bread


    So cute.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Is it bad to want rain so much that I'm hoping we get brushed by a what's left of a hurricane?


Not at all.  Just keep in mind that it is headed back towards warm water so the winds could pick back up and get reclassed as a hurricane, again.   BTW, what did they pull _this_ name out of?

Well, I decided to change course on my little AToN project and abandon the Python scripting.  I stripped out the superfluous fields and records in Excel, saved it in Excel 97 format (ArcGIS can't import new versions, yet) and imported each record as an X-Y Event (that's longitude & latitude) layer, ran a few other little tasks to get things nice and neat and BOOM, I had nautical navigation features in my map.

I finished up the day by making a model to automate the ArcGIS process (think Lightroom Presets).  Now I just have to set up an Excel macro to handle that end of it and I'll have a nice little package set up for the boss.

In kitty news, I was pissed at Zoe, earlier (she wouldn't stay out if the jammin' trash and she bit me).  Tonight, she apologized and asked to be held.  I now have a fuzzy face.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> Bread.


Haggis.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bread.
> 
> 
> 
> Haggis.
Click to expand...

Vegetarian haggis is like vegetarian hamburgers.  Ain't no such thing.


----------



## JonA_CT

Played what was very likely my last show with my band...we've been playing together for 6 years. It was a pretty emotional last set. We all know it's time to move on, but over 100 shows in the trenches together is a tough thing to just walk away from.  

My friend Luke and I, who were the founding members, ended the night talking about this poem...just felt right...

*Spring and Fall:*

                to a Young Child

   Margaret, are you grieving 
   Over Goldengrove unleaving? 
   Leaves, like the things of man, you 
   With your fresh thoughts care for, can you? 
   Ah! as the heart grows older 
   It will come to such sights colder 
   By and by, nor spare a sigh 
   Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie; 
   And yet you _will_ weep and know why. 
   Now no matter, child, the name: 
   Sorrow's springs are the same. 
   Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed 
   What héart héard of, ghóst guéssed: 
   It is the blight man was born for, 
   It is Margaret you mourn for.

Gerard Manley Hopkins


----------



## table1349

Pęhévevóonä'o hóvahéhasęstse,

Exciting start to the morning.  7:02 got shaken awake by an 5.6 magnitude earthquake in Pawnee OK.  That 125 miles from Wichita.  Family in the KC area, Omaha area, and Manhattan KS area even felt the quake.  Made for a fun morning with the dogs barking, the cat meowing and the bed actually shaking.  The in-laws slept through it.  

No damage here, but haven't head if any damage occurred in Pawnee.


----------



## jcdeboever

YES! Football is back! U of M party at my house today. We are playing Hawaii and suspect it's gonna be a route. I am grilling brats, hotdogs, and hamburgers. It's the only thing I know how to cook, and if you ask me for a steak medium rare, you get what I give you.


----------



## table1349




----------



## NancyMoranG

Gotta go with the Spartans also. We lived in Kalamazoo, Mi in the 60's and 2 sisters went to MSU.


----------



## snowbear

I like turtles.




I haz M too


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## Gary A.




----------



## table1349

Well what do you know, Wolverine does taste like chicken. 

Recipe for Wolverine Stew

The staff of MSU checked with all the local food suppliers (stores, wholesalers, butchers, etc.) and was unable to locate a supply of verifiable wolverine meat. After much consultation and frustration, the team was relieved of their difficult task, and I, and I alone, okayed a substitute for our recipes’ main ingredient. Like so many diverse, unique and downright strange edibles in this wide world of ours, wolverine meat (at least that on his lips and rear haunches) has the distinct flavor of that great and highly beloved barnyard fowl. . .Yes my fellow sports fans---*IT TASTES LIKE CHICKEN! *

Ingredients

2 pounds wolverine meat chicken breast 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups water
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 or 2 bay leaves
1 medium onion, sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Dash ground allspice or ground cloves 3 large carrots, sliced
3 ribs celery, chopped
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions

Brown meat in hot oil. Add water, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, bay leaves, onion, salt, sugar, pepper, paprika, and allspice. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Remove bay leaves and garlic clove. Add carrots and celery. Cover and cook 30 to 40 minutes longer. To thicken gravy, remove 2 cups hot liquid. Using a separate bowl, combine 1/4 cup water and cornstarch until smooth. Mix with a little hot liquid and return mixture to pot. Stir and cook until bubbly. 
                              

boever, you know I'm just funning with ya.


----------



## limr

Damnit, hosers! We were JUST talking about this, which is probably why this story caught my eye. So, I totally blame y'all. 

Digestive distress was not enough to put me off figs. But THIS might do it:
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_57bc3dc5e4b03d51368a989a


----------



## limr




----------



## table1349

Apparently figs are not considered vegetarian fare any longer.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## table1349




----------



## terri

limr said:


> Damnit, hosers! We were JUST talking about this, which is probably why this story caught my eye. So, I totally blame y'all.
> 
> Digestive distress was not enough to put me off figs. But THIS might do it:
> http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_57bc3dc5e4b03d51368a989a


Whoa.   What a strange bit of nature. 

But, it IS a natural occurring phenomenon.  These odd wasps would be doing this whether people ate the fruit or let it rot on the tree.  So I choose not to be too put out by it, tho I agree it's one of the weirdest things I've read regrading fruit!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The weather is back to norm, overcast morning, very cool burning off to 70-ish in the afternoon.  Perfect day to watch SC beat 'Bama. Gary has severe trepidations about the game because he questions the ability of the new head coach.

Yesterday Gary installed the pull down screen ... Today some yard work, then salmon on the grill, football and a NetFlix after.

To maximize projection usage, Gary has a framed, hanging, ten foot screen for the patio, (the frame is an ingenious, one piece collapsible affair for easy storage), and a permanently installed ten footer, pull-down screen inside.

Gary is ready for football and movies.


----------



## table1349

Well since we are talking about weird today.

The _katzenklavier_ (“cat piano”) was a musical instrument made out of cats. Designed by 17th-century German scholar Athanasius Kircher, it consisted of a row of caged cats with different voice pitches, who could be “played” by a keyboardist driving nails into their tails.





http://mentalfloss.com/article/50986/terrifying-katzenklavier-organ-made-cats


----------



## Gary A.

Gary wants one of those^^^^.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Gary wants one of those^^^^.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'd post my college pride, but since my team barely beat FCS Maine this week...I'll wait until basketball season to unleash my hubris.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> I'd post my college pride, but since my team barely beat FCS Maine this week...I'll wait until basketball season to unleash my hubris.


Well  I will post a photo of the team for you.






 They definitely can beat KU.


----------



## table1349

Well It looks like the Wolverines pulled out a squeaker.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary...you've convinced me to watch USC/Bama tonight. I'll root for the Spartans for you -- my experience in Alabama this summer was quite negative, haha.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Gary...you've convinced me to watch USC/Bama tonight. I'll root for the Spartans for you -- my experience in Alabama this summer was quite negative, haha.


I hope they whip them too.


----------



## JonA_CT

wait...I think USC is the Trojans. Whoops.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Gary...you've convinced me to watch USC/Bama tonight. I'll root for the Spartans for you -- my experience in Alabama this summer was quite negative, haha.



This is the correct choice. No one in their right mind likes 'Bama


----------



## limr

I didn't realize that Tennessee played on Thursday. They beat Appalachian State. Sharon is cheering


----------



## NancyMoranG

Hope everyone stays dry and safe in the hurricane/tropical storm on the east coast U.S.A. 
We are watching closely here at Cape Cod. No flooding worries for me, but I do live/travel in an RV, so high winds, tree limbs falling is always a concern..


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary...you've convinced me to watch USC/Bama tonight. I'll root for the Spartans for you -- my experience in Alabama this summer was quite negative, haha.


Spartans ... ? Who the hell are the Spartans?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary...you've convinced me to watch USC/Bama tonight. I'll root for the Spartans for you -- my experience in Alabama this summer was quite negative, haha.
> 
> 
> 
> Spartans ... ? Who the hell are the Spartans?
Click to expand...


The Spartans are Michigan _State_!  No bueno.


----------



## limr

So far, so good...


----------



## limr

Woot! Even better.


----------



## limr

In other news, I'm dying over here. 

It's all well and good to talk about the totally ruined roll of film (okay fine, or your ruined SD card...) and jokingly say, "But my best shots were on that roll!"

It's quite another thing to be able to tell that you had some totally awesome keepers on that roll, but it doesn't matter because you TOTALLY EFFED UP THE DEVELOPMENT BY FORGETTING TO PUSH THE 400 FILM THAT YOU SHOT AT 1600!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> In other news, I'm dying over here.
> 
> It's all well and good to talk about the totally ruined roll of film (okay fine, or your ruined SD card...) and jokingly say, "But my best shots were on that roll!"
> 
> It's quite another thing to be able to tell that you had some totally awesome keepers on that roll, but it doesn't matter because you TOTALLY EFFED UP THE DEVELOPMENT BY FORGETTING TO PUSH THE 400 FILM THAT YOU SHOT AT 1600!


That essentially sucks.  How can a college prof blow that?  Sorry sobrina, Gary isn't in a good mood, SC is being use as a wipe by Bama.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, I'm dying over here.
> 
> It's all well and good to talk about the totally ruined roll of film (okay fine, or your ruined SD card...) and jokingly say, "But my best shots were on that roll!"
> 
> It's quite another thing to be able to tell that you had some totally awesome keepers on that roll, but it doesn't matter because you TOTALLY EFFED UP THE DEVELOPMENT BY FORGETTING TO PUSH THE 400 FILM THAT YOU SHOT AT 1600!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That essentially sucks.  How can a college prof blow that?  Sorry sobrina, Gary isn't in a good mood, SC is being use as a wipe by Bama.
Click to expand...


No, you're right. How could I have blown that???

Sorry about the game, Tio  We hates 'Bama forever.


----------



## Gary A.

At least the ten foot screen and projector are working. The second screen on the left is a 55" Tv.


----------



## Gary A.

There is no joy in Mudville ...

Now Mary Lou and Gary are onto their evening NetFlix ... "Are you ready for a movie?" Gary asked Mary Lou. "No", said Mary Lou, "I need a refill on my wine and I have to get our dessert."


----------



## NancyMoranG

So, what did you end up watching on Netflix?


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> There is no joy in Mudville ...
> 
> Now Mary Lou and Gary are onto their evening NetFlix ... "Are you ready for a movie?" Gary asked Mary Lou. "No", said Mary Lou, "I need a refill on my wine and I have to get our dessert."


But there is in Tuscaloosa.  Sorry Gary, but the Crimson Tide has a class coach and a class program with Nick Saban and I have been a Saban fan for years.  Not saying that Charles Helton isn't a class coach, but this is his first year at the helm of USC and time will tell the direction he and the program will go.


----------



## pixmedic

Cat snake update!


----------



## Gary A.

NancyMoranG said:


> So, what did you end up watching on Netflix?


We watched a four star movie "Abandoned".  About a boat that capsized in the South Pacific and how the crew of four survived for months floating around.  We gave it two stars.


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> Cat snake update!


Gawd Man, you gave the ferret the boot!


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> Cat snake update!



That is one brave...or sedated...cat snake


----------



## pixmedic

its my wifes boot so...safer than mine. although he will do the same thing with my boots


----------



## limr

One of the pictures that could have been really good, if not for the stupid developing mistake:



 

I dunno, maybe if I finally learn how to do layers, I can bring up some of the shadows without blowing out the highlights and salvage something out of this and some of the others. Not much to do about the grain, although I might be able to bring it down to less obnoxious levels.


----------



## limr

Inexplicably, some of the second roll came out good enough that it will be easier to salvage. Here's one example after I corrected for exposure and contrast:


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  In spite of the game, yesterday was fruitful and fun. Gary and a friend updated the entertainment center.  Moved stuff around, untangled and re-wired stuff, updated the DVD/BluRay player to a very sophisticated OPPO system which is really making the IQ of the Tv shine and Gary installed a PlayStation. Getting everything to seamlessly work together and to work wirelessly with the Internet, including the projector, all of which was tedious.  Now Gary has to figure out how to reconfigure his Harmony One remote to run all the stuff.  First world problems ...

Mary Lou and Gary are taking their tea and coffee (respectively) in the patio. Another cool and gray morning. Mary Lou and Gary were debating wine tasting in Temecula or just kick back and enjoy all the little niceties of home.


----------



## Designer

'K, went there, seen that, didn't have my DSLR, so here's an iPhone image way zoomed in.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



Kiss da nose!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> One of the pictures that could have been really good, if not for the stupid developing mistake:
> 
> View attachment 127050
> 
> I dunno, maybe if I finally learn how to do layers, I can bring up some of the shadows without blowing out the highlights and salvage something out of this and some of the others. Not much to do about the grain, although I might be able to bring it down to less obnoxious levels.


Okay, is it wrong to say I really dig this shot when you're upset about the developing mistake (which we've all done at one time or other)?    If you wanted, you could crop out along the very top where the grain is particularly chewy.   The water and the shadowy man become the story.    The water is obliterating the background details and the shadows are obliterating the man's details in the foreground.    It might have been intended as a light and airy picture, but now it's dark, industrial and mysterious.    Me likey.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Played what was very likely my last show with my band...we've been playing together for 6 years. It was a pretty emotional last set. We all know it's time to move on, but over 100 shows in the trenches together is a tough thing to just walk away from.
> 
> My friend Luke and I, who were the founding members, ended the night talking about this poem...just felt right...
> 
> *Spring and Fall:*
> 
> to a Young Child
> 
> Margaret, are you grieving
> Over Goldengrove unleaving?
> Leaves, like the things of man, you
> With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
> Ah! as the heart grows older
> It will come to such sights colder
> By and by, nor spare a sigh
> Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
> And yet you _will_ weep and know why.
> Now no matter, child, the name:
> Sorrow's springs are the same.
> Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
> What héart héard of, ghóst guéssed:
> It is the blight man was born for,
> It is Margaret you mourn for.
> 
> Gerard Manley Hopkins


I meant to reply to this, Jon - thought I had.    I have several musician friends, and they've been more or less together for nigh on 20 years.   They don't play out near as often, and the frenetic pace of trying to really get noticed faded many years back.   Still, they get together and practice, work on new material, etc.   The stuff just comes to them and they feel compelled to put it out there and, when there's money enough, they record.   It's definitely changed, though, so I feel for what you and your mates have decided to do.   It's a difficult decision after all that mind-melding stuff onstage, to just lose that piece of being integrated with an art form.


----------



## table1349

Pęhévevóonä'o hóvahéhasęstse,

Nice Labor Day morning on the plains.  A little breezy with the current temp of 71 degrees F.  High predicted to be 91 degrees F today and then the upper 80's the rest of the week.  No more rain predicted until Friday.  That will be a welcome relief for sure.  Getting tired of the flood watches.  Doesn't effect us here at the homestead, but in the lower lying areas some of the roads do tend to flood.  

The smoker has been going since 8:00 last night with a full brisket and  a large pork butt.   I added some slabs of ribs at 5;30 this morning.  Should be a decent little spread at dinnertime today.  Especially with a house full of people.  Don't believe that anyone will walk away hungry.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another gray and overcast morning. The Sun will break out by noon and bring us up to 77F today with 47% humidity. Happy Labor Day y'all. The front hummingbird feeder is particularly feisty this morning, with lots of loud humming and flared tails.  

Gary is back after reading a very interesting article in the LA Times headlined "YOUNG IRANIANS PUSH BOUNDARIES" and now he is on his second cup.  What Gary found most interesting wasn't the enforcement of dress codes for women or the mandate for no comingling between sexes, et cetera ... was a caption which read "In Iran, simply owning a dog is a political act."  According to the LA Times, "The country's traditionalists generally frown upon man's best friend, which they regard as unclean and a mark of western decadence."  Gary has significant travel miles under his belt and on one trip he even circumnavigated the world ... He cannot remember any country or culture he has visited which didn't enjoy the companionship of a dog.  The article states that the pushback is mainly by the young and educated sector of Iranian society and many of the interviewed state that they are simply seeking to be different, to find and be themselves.


----------



## table1349




----------



## sashbar

Gary A. said:


> ... He cannot remember any country or culture he has visited which didn't enjoy the companionship of a dog.



My leaseholder here in London.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Pęhévevóonä'o hóvahéhasęstse,
> 
> Nice Labor Day morning on the plains.  A little breezy with the current temp of 71 degrees F.  High predicted to be 91 degrees F today and then the upper 80's the rest of the week.  No more rain predicted until Friday.  That will be a welcome relief for sure.  Getting tired of the flood watches.  Doesn't effect us here at the homestead, but in the lower lying areas some of the roads do tend to flood.
> 
> The smoker has been going since 8:00 last night with a full brisket and  a large pork butt.   I added some slabs of ribs at 5;30 this morning.  Should be a decent little spread at dinnertime today.  Especially with a house full of people.  Don't believe that anyone will walk away hungry.


Saturday, Gary smoked a Tri-Tip and Kamado-ed a huge Costco salmon.  Gary had a few guests on Saturday and the leftovers feed the few guests on Sunday. It has been about two weeks that Gary has been feeding a new starter and will most likely whip up some sourdough this afternoon. Or maybe Gary and Mary Lou will hit Ports of Call.  There are a few places at the harbor where you can purchase fresh, caught that day fish and shellfish, then walk around the corner and another place will cook it for you and toss in some sides.  Then you walk over to the picnic area and consume it all while watching the huge container ships and fancy sailboats slip through the port.  But, Gary suspects, this is nothing like the feast you are preparing ... Makes a move to Wichita seem worthwhile.  But then, when Gary drives a few miles up through hills on his way to work and see the 10,000" high San Gabriel's to the north and the sea level Pacific shining to the south ... He comes quickly to his senses.  Even though the drive is almost a daily thing, he still stops often, leans against the car and just looks.


----------



## table1349




----------



## pixmedic

gryphonslair99 said:


>


Thats......an otter.


----------



## tirediron

Well... he otter've been a ferret!


----------



## terri

tirediron said:


> Well... he otter've been a ferret!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well... he otter've been a ferret!
Click to expand...

Thanks Folks... I'm here all week!


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thats......an otter.
Click to expand...

Well DUHHHHHH!!!!!   All the Ferrets were to lazy to take the gig!!!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

The Ribs:


 

The pork butt


 

The brisket


 

Not much talking and lots of eating went on at dinner.


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


>


I resemble that remark!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes brisket.


----------



## table1349

So do I.


----------



## JonA_CT

Brisket is always good, and one of the few things that the cost to f'up ratio makes it something I'll leave to others.


It's a bit breezy here today. Hermine is about 200 miles off the coast I believe, and the wind is gusting to over 50mph here on the coast. We drove just over the border into Rhode Island to see what the unprotected bay looked like...the surf and tides were pretty impressive.

I'm quite happy that she decided to stay out to sea...I normally don't mind weather experiences, but Sandy has changed my perspective on large ocean storms. The beaches and neighborhoods look so different now.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> One of the pictures that could have been really good, if not for the stupid developing mistake:
> 
> View attachment 127050
> 
> I dunno, maybe if I finally learn how to do layers, I can bring up some of the shadows without blowing out the highlights and salvage something out of this and some of the others. Not much to do about the grain, although I might be able to bring it down to less obnoxious levels.
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, is it wrong to say I really dig this shot when you're upset about the developing mistake (which we've all done at one time or other)?    If you wanted, you could crop out along the very top where the grain is particularly chewy.   The water and the shadowy man become the story.    The water is obliterating the background details and the shadows are obliterating the man's details in the foreground.    It might have been intended as a light and airy picture, but now it's dark, industrial and mysterious.    Me likey.
Click to expand...


Well then I might take another look at it then, thanks!


----------



## limr

I don't think I've ever had brisket.


----------



## EIngerson

gryphonslair99 said:


> The Ribs:
> View attachment 127107
> 
> The pork butt
> View attachment 127109
> 
> The brisket
> View attachment 127110
> 
> Not much talking and lots of eating went on at dinner.



Oh man, I'm drooling over this! Nicely done.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like meat


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Exhibit 1: Tuesday (but the long weekend means it might as well be Monday.)
Exhibit 2: First day of Fall semester
Exhibit 3: An entire day of dealing with lost students and then teaching my first class tonight.

Verdict:


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

ERMAHGERD, KERT SNERKS!!


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> I don't think I've ever had brisket.


It's made out of meat, so no, probably not.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another dreary, gray, cool and overcast morning, the pinkish blooms of the Crepe Myrtle in the front, jump out from the gray sky. But it will warm up into the 70's.  Mary Lou worked in the yards all weekend, chopping, hacking, cutting, digging and transplanting. She prunes heavily and Gary hopes nothing dies.  Gary has filled up two large compost bins with soft stuff and cuts up the limbs into  ... mmmmmh  ... three inch long pieces.  Some of those pieces will be pounded vertically into the ground to extend a patio and others will be spread across rose garden as a kind of heavy duty mulch. Gary hates throwing aware yard waste and typically only puts thorny rose canes into the green waste trash barrel. Mary Lou's and Gary's food waste gets dumped into the vermiculture bin.  Mary Lou and Gary don't generate much landfill wastes and recently downsized the waste trash barrel to a smaller size.

Okay, Gary didn't sleep well and is having a semi-conscience morning.  One interesting, non-political, story on the front page of the Times is that the sale of LP's is soaring.  The article features a Capital Studios expert in cutting records, who was thinking of retiring, but he is busier than ever. The head is "Vinyl master gets his groove back." An interesting story, but digital is so much easier than records ... Gary guesses it is similar to photography and the film versus digital camps.  The old stuff, Gary assumes, is for purists and romantics.

On Saturday, photographer friend came over for food and entertainment.  He had never held a Leica before and played with the M4. Then Gary brought out the Fuji X-Pro2, a very similar looking, shape and size camera to the M4.  He was amazed at the build of the Lecia, how it was much heavier than the Fuji but was much more comfortable to hold.  He didn't like rangefinder focus ... "How do you focus?" He said while squinting through the viewfinder.

Gary refills his coffe cup, sits down and touches 'Post Reply' on the screen.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think I've ever had brisket.
> 
> 
> 
> It's made out of meat, so no, probably not.
Click to expand...


Well, there was a point in my life when I did eat meat, but that was a long time ago and memory is fickle, so I can't say definitively that I never had brisket before the age of 19, which is when I gave up red meat. However, given that my immigrant Portuguese mother probably had no idea what a brisket is, and given that we rarely ate out, I seriously doubt that I ever ate brisket. I think the closest I ever got were the chunks of beef she'd put into the stew she sometimes made.



Gary A. said:


> Okay, Gary didn't sleep well and is having a semi-conscience morning.  One interesting, non-political, story on the front page of the Times is that the sale of LP's is soaring.  The article features a Capital Studios expert in cutting records, who was thinking of retiring, but he is busier than ever. The head is "Vinyl master gets his groove back." An interesting story, but digital is so much easier than records ... Gary guesses it is similar to photography and the film versus digital camps.  The old stuff, Gary assumes, is for purists and romantics.



I believe I'd definitely fall more into the 'purist' camp than the 'romantic' camp, though to be honest, I don't think either one describes me and my film-shootin', vinyl-listenin' ways. 'Stubborn' and 'contrary' perhaps, but definitely not 'romantic'


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Well, there was a point in my life when I did eat meat, but that was a long time ago and memory is fickle, so I can't say definitively that I never had brisket before the age of 19, which is when I gave up red meat. However, given that my immigrant Portuguese mother probably had no idea what a brisket is, and given that we rarely ate out, I seriously doubt that I ever ate brisket. I think the closest I ever got were the chunks of beef she'd put into the stew she sometimes made.



What do you mean she doesn't eat meat?  Well, that's ok, I'll make lamb.... 

Lol


----------



## terri

Real audiophiles claim vinyl is superior to digital recordings.  Obviously, it has to be good vinyl, remastered, high definition vinyl.  180 gm, if not more.  I am not surprised at Gary's article, because the swell has been rising for the last few years. 

And good turntables, speakers, all play a part.   I love vinyl.


----------



## terri

Oh, and happy Tuesday!  Happy short work week!


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, there was a point in my life when I did eat meat, but that was a long time ago and memory is fickle, so I can't say definitively that I never had brisket before the age of 19, which is when I gave up red meat. However, given that my immigrant Portuguese mother probably had no idea what a brisket is, and given that we rarely ate out, I seriously doubt that I ever ate brisket. I think the closest I ever got were the chunks of beef she'd put into the stew she sometimes made.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What do you mean she doesn't eat meat?  Well, that's ok, I'll make lamb....
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...


Lord, if I had a dime for every person who said that to me in Turkey...


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Lord, if I had a dime for every person who said that to me in Turkey...



Lol.. well they may not be up on vegetarianism but you have to admit it's nice that they make the effort..


----------



## table1349

Pęhévevóonä'o hóvahéhasęstse,

Damn, I didn't know that 10 omnivores could eat that much beef and pork.  I believe there are a grand total of 4 ribs left,  3lbs of pulled pork and about 1/3 of the brisket.  Apparently it was popular.  (I love brisket so I didn't slice the whole thing) 

Topped of with a made from scratch Chocolate cake with made from scratch chocolate/sour cream frosting.  My daughter, wife and daughter-in-law all celebrate their birthdays within a week of each other.   Nobody complained of being hungry after dinner was all done so I take that as a successful meal.  Especially with all the snoozing that went on mid afternoon. 

Beautiful sunshiny day on the plains with a moderate breeze and a high expected to reach 91.  Got to get a bunch of running done as the wife and I leave for San Antonio Saturday morning.  Instead of flying and renting a vehicle we are going to make the 9 hour drive.  That way I will have my vehicle and the wife bank is paying for all the fuel, tolls and valet parking.  Staying at the Hyatt right on the river walk so that should be fun.  Rippley's museum is a block away and the Alamo is two blocks away.  I believe I will be able to find a thing or three to do while the wife is at her conference.  

Only down side is we have to leave the girls at the doggy-sitters.  They do love the doggy-sitter though.  They have two kids that love to pet them.   Lord knows that they will not turn down a petting ever.  



 

The chubby orange thing will have the house to himself for the week.  The son will come by twice a day to feed him and clean his letterbox out.


----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349

Ok, last one for now......





Places to go, things to get done.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lord, if I had a dime for every person who said that to me in Turkey...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lol.. well they may not be up on vegetarianism but you have to admit it's nice that they make the effort..
Click to expand...


There are several large roads that lead out from Taksim Square, one of the major city centers in Istanbul. At the corner where the main street (Istiklal Caddesi) meets the Square, there are about 6 or 7 döner kebab places. My friends and I had our favorite one and would stop there after a night out on our way to the taxi rank. They knew me there as the "vegetaryan yabancı" - the vegetarian foreigner - and would always have a meatless version specially for me. 

Now THAT'S making an effort


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> There are several large roads that lead out from Taksim Square, one of the major city centers in Istanbul. At the corner where the main street (Istiklal Caddesi) meets the Square, there are about 6 or 7 döner kebab places. My friends and I had our favorite one and would stop there after a night out on our way to the taxi rank. They knew me there as the "vegetaryan yabancı" - the vegetarian foreigner - and would always have a meatless version specially for me.
> 
> Now THAT'S making an effort



No kidding.. kudos to the great folks of Turkey.  Got my fingers crossed that things settle down over there quickly.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> There are several large roads that lead out from Taksim Square, one of the major city centers in Istanbul. At the corner where the main street (Istiklal Caddesi) meets the Square, there are about 6 or 7 döner kebab places. My friends and I had our favorite one and would stop there after a night out on our way to the taxi rank. They knew me there as the "vegetaryan yabancı" - the vegetarian foreigner - and would always have a meatless version specially for me.
> 
> Now THAT'S making an effort
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No kidding.. kudos to the great folks of Turkey.  Got my fingers crossed that things settle down over there quickly.
Click to expand...


You and me both! Erdoğan is bad news.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>



Advertising slogan:

Your cat will hate you.  Even more than it already does...

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Playing a record is sooo hard... taking the record out of the sleeve, lifting the tone arm - oh, the effort. lol (Yeah Gary that's for your benefit - you crack me up.)

I'm starting to buy records again. I still have my old records in an orange crate in the basement but they got played a zillion times and I didn't exactly treat them well in my younger days so in the basement they shall stay.

And why is it that after buying some of the same things on cassette, then CD, that we're back to records?!?!  Maybe that's why I still have a cassette player, because I got tired of buying the same thing in a different format and now we're back to where we started anyway. If you wait long enough...


----------



## tirediron

<-  *Wonders if the 8-Track player out of the old '74 Dodge Tradesman is still hiding amongst all the other junk out in the shed*


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Advertising slogan:
> 
> Your cat will hate you cut you in the night.  Even more than it already does...



FIFY


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> <-  *Wonders if the 8-Track player out of the old '74 Dodge Tradesman is still hiding amongst all the other junk out in the shed*


If not I've got a couple I can send your way.  Plus an eagles 8 track.  Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

I have an 8 track player in the basement. Now that may have been a miss in the evolution of recorded music.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> I have an 8 track player in the basement. Now that may have been a miss in the evolution of recorded music.



Considering how they always managed to put your favorite song on the entire album right at the end of the tape so you'd have to flip it over in the middle of the song.. ya... I'd say that was an engineering fail.. lol


----------



## limr

The only real use for 8-tracks anymore is to make those of us who had them feel old


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> <-  *Wonders if the 8-Track player out of the old '74 Dodge Tradesman is still hiding amongst all the other junk out in the shed*


Hey, don't make fun of the 8 track player.  I still have a stereo with one built in and it still works.  I still have all my 8 tracks as well.  I am prepared dude.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has avocados.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 127189 Gary has avocados.


Oh if only they were peaches then life would be heaven.  

Oh well, since you are stuck with Avocados you might try Avocado pie.

*Ingredients*
For the Crust:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Pinch of salt

For the Filling:
2 medium hass avocados
1 8 -ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
1 14 -ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Pinch of salt
Whipped cream or confectioners' sugar, for garnish (optional)

Directions
Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush an 8-inch springform pan with some of the melted butter. Mix the remaining butter with the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and salt in a bowl. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pan. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Cool completely on a rack.

Make the filling: Halve and pit the avocados, then scoop out the flesh and chop. Transfer to a bowl, add the cream cheese and beat with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add the condensed milk, lime and lemon juices, and the salt and beat until fluffy, scraping the bowl as needed. Pour the filling into the crust, press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface and chill at least 4 hours.

Remove the springform ring and slice the pie. Garnish with whipped cream or confectioners' sugar, if desired, and serve immediately (the top will start to brown as the pie sits).


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 127189 Gary has avocados.



Eric likes avocados.


----------



## Gary A.

And these are not your average Haas avocados.  They are super creamy inside.  Often we'd take them whole to the Hollywood Bowl and easily swirl up a guacamole mix with a thin plastic spoon.

Gary had a wonderful peach tree when he lived in Palos Verdes. It came with the house and Gary imagined the tree to be 50 years old.  Every other year that tree feed the whole neighborhood and the dogs would get their exercise from jumping up to reach the fruit.  Gary wants a peach tree but Mary Lou doesn't saying we'll just be feeding the birds.

Gary ain't making no avocado pie!  These are all about tacos, guacamole, tacos, soups, tacos, salads, tacos, enchiladas, tacos, burritos, tacos, burgers, et al ... and maybe tacos.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers,

I looooooove me an avocado!  I don't know what this is about an avocado pie, but it sounds just wrongedy wrong wrong. I remember the guacamole at Burrito Brothers in Gainesville. They were right across campus, a little hole in the wall type of place, which of course meant their food was awesome 

I've been wanting tacos for days.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another gray and marine layer cool morning.  Gary is finishing his first cup of coffee. This will be a busy morning and Gary is on a tight schedule. A breakfast meeting in Yorba Linda then a mid morning meeting in Yucaipa.  Yucaipa is more desert than coastal basin, just on the backside of the San Bernarnio Mountains, east of San Bernardino and north of Redlands. Gary used to take his daughters there in late fall for apple picking halfway up the 11,000' high mountains. A bit of a drive, 2/3rds of the way to Palm Springs. 

Interesting 'Column One' story in the Times on "Okonomiyaki" a popular Hiroshima dish which is part crepe and part omelette. The story centers around a company that makes Okonomiyaki sauce.  The owner/founder of the sauce company realizes that his success is entirely based upon one local dish and has sent a lot of time, energy and money on marketing the dish.  He even built an egg shaped Okonomiyaki museum.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> And these are not your average Haas avocados.  They are super creamy inside.  Often we'd take them whole to the Hollywood Bowl and easily swirl up a guacamole mix with a thin plastic spoon.
> 
> Gary had a wonderful peach tree when he lived in Palos Verdes. It came with the house and Gary imagined the tree to be 50 years old.  Every other year that tree feed the whole neighborhood and the dogs would get their exercise from jumping up to reach the fruit.  Gary wants a peach tree but Mary Lou doesn't saying we'll just be feeding the birds.
> 
> Gary ain't making no avocado pie!  These are all about tacos, guacamole, tacos, soups, tacos, salads, tacos, enchiladas, tacos, burritos, tacos, burgers, et al ... and maybe tacos.


Well you tell Mary Lou that birds have to eat to.  Besides some of them may be vegetarian birds.   As for the avocado pie,  I thought the same thing until I tried Heirloom Tomato pie.  Don't know what you are missing plus it only takes a couple of avocados.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Morning, hosers,
> 
> I looooooove me an avocado!  I don't know what this is about an avocado pie, but it sounds just wrongedy wrong wrong. I remember the guacamole at Burrito Brothers in Gainesville. They were right across campus, a little hole in the wall type of place, which of course meant their food was awesome
> 
> I've been wanting tacos for days.


LOL ... "After hearing the Taco Truck on every street corner remark", Gary has also has a hankering for tacos, not the greasy, ground beef crap, but real tacos slapped together by Spanish speaking cooks who are quick with a smile and even quicker with their huge cleavers chopping the fresh ingredients on wooden blocks.  The real tacos where grandmas are all gathered in a tight circle gossiping while the're hands, lightning fast are slapping balls of corn meal into the twin tortillas required to wrap all the finely chopped ingredients.  Tacos are always good.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> And these are not your average Haas avocados.  They are super creamy inside.  Often we'd take them whole to the Hollywood Bowl and easily swirl up a guacamole mix with a thin plastic spoon.
> 
> Gary had a wonderful peach tree when he lived in Palos Verdes. It came with the house and Gary imagined the tree to be 50 years old.  Every other year that tree feed the whole neighborhood and the dogs would get their exercise from jumping up to reach the fruit.  Gary wants a peach tree but Mary Lou doesn't saying we'll just be feeding the birds.
> 
> Gary ain't making no avocado pie!  These are all about tacos, guacamole, tacos, soups, tacos, salads, tacos, enchiladas, tacos, burritos, tacos, burgers, et al ... and maybe tacos.
> 
> 
> 
> Well you tell Mary Lou that birds have to eat to.  Besides some of them may be vegetarian birds.   As for the avocado pie,  I thought the same thing until I tried Heirloom Tomato pie.  Don't know what you are missing plus it only takes a couple of avocados.
Click to expand...

Maybe, Gary will make a avocado pie, but with a store fruit, not the wonderful avocados hanging from his Don Gillogy tree.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Late to the party...anyone still have their reel-to-reel around! Wow, 12" reel  of tape music...


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Gary A.

Carbonara tonight paired with an Atalon Sauvignon Blanc.  Life is good.


----------



## limr

Happy Thursday, hosers!

I was in the grocery store after work yesterday and passed the taco kits. Yes! I finally had my tacos! I got soft tortillas and hard shells because I can never decide which ones I like best. Cut up some fresh lettuce, tomato, carrots, cilantro. I threw in some sauteed mushrooms with a brand of meatless "crumbles" that uses mushroom protein, not soy. (I limit my intake of processed soy.) Added some cheese and olives on top. Was going to make myself some fish tacos but at least for last night, I just couldn't be bothered. They're still part of the plan, however, because there are still plenty of shells left


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is planning on making his own tortillas ... thick, chewy tortillas as soon as the avocados ripen. Gary likes them soft, Mary Lou does a half-fry thing, light enough to keep them relatively soft but hard enough to warm and flavor them up with a slight crispness.  (There are three avocados ripening in a paper bag on the kitchen counter.) There is a hole-in-wall place called Senor Baja which makes the best fish tacos ever ... little hunks of God know what fish, battered and fried served with just enough cilantro sauce to get on your fingers requiring you to lick them clean.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Happy Thursday, hosers!
> 
> I was in the grocery store after work yesterday and passed the taco kits. Yes! I finally had my tacos! I got soft tortillas and hard shells because I can never decide which ones I like best. Cut up some fresh lettuce, tomato, carrots, cilantro. I threw in some sauteed mushrooms with a brand of meatless "crumbles" that uses mushroom protein, not soy. (I limit my intake of processed soy.) Added some cheese and olives on top. Was going to make myself some fish tacos but at least for last night, I just couldn't be bothered. They're still part of the plan, however, because there are still plenty of shells left


Sounds delicious. Yeah, I can't do more than a spoonful of the soy meatless crumbles. 

Anyways, the wife and I had some delicious tacos a few months back. The guy made me vegetarian ones; we liked them so much we made them again at home.

Throw some vegetables (mushrooms, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, etc) on the skillet with some taco seasoning (or buy the steam ready ones if you are short on time and add taco seasoning after cooked), then put cooked vegetables, cheese, and sliced avocado on some corn tortillas. I could easily eat 20 of these, haha.




 by Wade, on Flickr


----------



## pixmedic

5 pounds of top round London broil sliced and marinated in carribean jerk.






The first 2.5 pounds on the dehydrator. 
The beginnings of the wife's famous homemade jerky.






We get $40 a pound for the finished jerky. it's a better deal than the leftover scraps of dehydrated beef you get at a jerky store that's been sitting with a desiccant pack for weeks.


On a totally unrelated note....
If you don't see the ferrets around, it's absolutely not related to this new batch of jerky.


----------



## tirediron

Marinated in, or by?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary's Chicken Carbonara received high praise from all at the dinner table. Our guests took doggie bags of the stuff home with them. There is some good news in the California Section of the Times, Yosemite is expanding by some 400 acres. Three cheers for arguably the most beautiful spot on Earth. On the same page the California Coastal Commission, in a surprise decision, denied a huge Orange County development on the largest single undeveloped costal property in Southern California. Hundreds of people attended the Newport Beach hearing, both for and against the project.  Many of the "For" people were bussed in by the oil company/landowner.  Gary doesn't have a dog in this fight, but is against costal development in general, especially large developments in this case involving 100's of new homes and a huge hotel. And there is a story on Vasquez Rocks, a park in Santa Clarita Valley where Kirk fought the Gorn.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Marinated in, or by?


'With' ...


----------



## Gary A.

Vasquez Rocks:


----------



## table1349

Pęhévevóonä'o hóvahéhasęstse,

Two more days and the vacation begins.  Sitting here with a nice grumbly thunderstorm going on outside.  We've received a little over 1" of rain so far.  Time to do a little shopping and start packing.  Not looking forward to the 9 hour drive, but San Antonio has lots to see and lots of great places to eat.  

Already picked out a few of the best looking Diners, Drive-ins and Dives locations to try as well as several promising places on the riverwalk where we are staying.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> The first 2.5 pounds on the dehydrator.
> The beginnings of the wife's famous homemade jerky.



I may ask for the recipe for the marinade. I have made jerky for Buzz but have only used pre-mixed seasoning (because what the hell do I know?) but I would much much MUCH rather use a fresh spice mix.



> On a totally unrelated note....
> If you don't see the ferrets around, it's absolutely not related to this new batch of jerky.



WHEW!

(That means you'll be posting some proof of that soon, hmmmmmm?)



Gary A. said:


> Vasquez Rocks:



NEEDS MOAR GORN!


----------



## pixmedic

we just use a premade marinade from publix. 
so many places already make a fantastic marinade, it just didnt seem necessary to mess with it just for jerky. 
i forget the brand the wife uses...already tossed the bottles. but its really really good. we tried several marinades, and several different cuts of meat, before settling on top round london broil and whatever brand of marinade she uses.


----------



## jcdeboever

I made eggs this morning! I wanted over easy but I think they were over cardboard. The toast came out perfect.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary like toast. But Gary doesn't have a toaster.


----------



## JonA_CT

gryphonslair99 said:


> Pęhévevóonä'o hóvahéhasęstse,
> 
> Two more days and the vacation begins.  Sitting here with a nice grumbly thunderstorm going on outside.  We've received a little over 1" of rain so far.  Time to do a little shopping and start packing.  Not looking forward to the 9 hour drive, but San Antonio has lots to see and lots of great places to eat.
> 
> Already picked out a few of the best looking Diners, Drive-ins and Dives locations to try as well as several promising places on the riverwalk where we are staying.



Hope you have better luck with those places than we did! We went to the Maine Diner for breakfast (Guy went for lunch) and overpaid for a below average diner breakfast. We were out in Anaheim and ran into another DDD restaurant, and I thought, well, maybe I should order what Guy ate...I did, and had one of the most overcooked pasta dishes I've ever had, haha. 



Gary A. said:


> Gary like toast. But Gary doesn't have a toaster.



Gary must be better at finishing his breads than I am. The last third of mine always end up in a toaster.


----------



## JonA_CT

Oh...and the NFL starts tonight! Only problem is with the 8:30PM start, I'll be lucky to get the first half in before I pass out.


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>



He's dead Jim.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Hope you have better luck with those places than we did! We went to the Maine Diner for breakfast (Guy went for lunch) and overpaid for a below average diner breakfast. We were out in Anaheim and ran into another DDD restaurant, and I thought, well, maybe I should order what Guy ate...I did, and had one of the most overcooked pasta dishes I've ever had, haha.



Been to the Maine Diner many times and have never had a bad meal but it's not something that I would rank as outstanding or even way above average as far as breakfast goes... Of course you are definitely paying tourist prices as there are not many places to choose from in Wells.  Next time get the waffle.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hope you have better luck with those places than we did! We went to the Maine Diner for breakfast (Guy went for lunch) and overpaid for a below average diner breakfast. We were out in Anaheim and ran into another DDD restaurant, and I thought, well, maybe I should order what Guy ate...I did, and had one of the most overcooked pasta dishes I've ever had, haha.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Been to the Maine Diner many times and have never had a bad meal but it's not something that I would rank as outstanding or even way above average as far as breakfast goes... Of course you are definitely paying tourist prices as there are not many places to choose from in Wells.  Next time get the waffle.
Click to expand...


We really like Congdon's...but honestly, I'm more of a coffee and think about an early lunch guy anyways! Unfortunately, I now have to consider what my daughter needs...and she's hungry when she wakes up at 6:30!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


>


Mmmm... ferret-flavour!


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



Yeah, I'm going to need to see a time stamp on that shot. Better yet, so you can edit the information, I am going to want a picture of Bear and Possom, sitting on today's newspaper, with your a time-keeping device in the shot as well to prove the picture was taken AFTER you posted that jerky shot.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pęhévevóonä'o hóvahéhasęstse,
> 
> Two more days and the vacation begins.  Sitting here with a nice grumbly thunderstorm going on outside.  We've received a little over 1" of rain so far.  Time to do a little shopping and start packing.  Not looking forward to the 9 hour drive, but San Antonio has lots to see and lots of great places to eat.
> 
> Already picked out a few of the best looking Diners, Drive-ins and Dives locations to try as well as several promising places on the riverwalk where we are staying.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hope you have better luck with those places than we did! We went to the Maine Diner for breakfast (Guy went for lunch) and overpaid for a below average diner breakfast. We were out in Anaheim and ran into another DDD restaurant, and I thought, well, maybe I should order what Guy ate...I did, and had one of the most overcooked pasta dishes I've ever had, haha.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary like toast. But Gary doesn't have a toaster.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Gary must be better at finishing his breads than I am. The last third of mine always end up in a toaster.
Click to expand...

Plan on going to the Magnolia Pancake Haus, The Cove, Taco Taco Cafe and The Moroccan Bites.   All have high ratings from the customers, not just Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  Been to Taco Taco and the Moroccan Bites before and loved both.  Magnolia Pancake Haus is supposed to be on par With the Richard Walker Pancake House in San Diego.  Line from the moment they open till they close. The Cove sounds like good seafood with a large variety of fish tacos so it had to make the list. 

We always try some of the Triple D places but we always read the reviews on various sites first. Never been to a bad one but have been to a couple that were good, but not so good that I couldn't get as good at home.   Moroccan Bites is especially good, and the lamb is to die for.  The only person that I know makes better lamb is my wife Aunt.  But then her lamb is farm raised and she picks the lamb she wants.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> Oh...and the NFL starts tonight! Only problem is with the 8:30PM start, I'll be lucky to get the first half in before I pass out.


Schools back in session, you got to lay off the sauce man.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary like toast. But Gary doesn't have a toaster.


Does Gary have a cooking heat source and a coat hanger???


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


*O.M.G.  We Do Taste Like CHICKEN!!!!*


----------



## JonA_CT

gryphonslair99 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh...and the NFL starts tonight! Only problem is with the 8:30PM start, I'll be lucky to get the first half in before I pass out.
> 
> 
> 
> Schools back in session, you got to lay off the sauce man.
Click to expand...


From exhaustion! I swear. I am, however, impressed that you found that emoji.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh...and the NFL starts tonight! Only problem is with the 8:30PM start, I'll be lucky to get the first half in before I pass out.
> 
> 
> 
> Schools back in session, you got to lay off the sauce man.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> From exhaustion! I swear. I am, however, impressed that you found that emoji.
Click to expand...

Sorry there Pinokio,




If memory serves me correctly you are a middle school teacher.   I have a degree in education and have many friends that teach in middle schools.  "*Exhaustion*" sounds like the name of a micro brewery beer to me.


----------



## table1349

Well if I'm going to be gone for a week I best get the yard mowed before it rains.   The yard is too nice to let it go too long, besides the neighborhood all has nice lawns and I don't want to look like the neighborhood tramp by the time we get back.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I'm going to need to see a time stamp on that shot. Better yet, so you can edit the information, I am going to want a picture of Bear and Possom, sitting on today's newspaper, with your a time-keeping device in the shot as well to prove the picture was taken AFTER you posted that jerky shot.
Click to expand...


So, is there like a ransom demand in the immediate future or.. umm...


----------



## jcdeboever

I cooked my own food good


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> View attachment 127274View attachment 127274
> I cooked my own food good


You also type in english good.

Is there a reason for the same plate of good looking food being posted twice?  Just curious.  Thought maybe is was because it was twice gooder than the others.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 127274View attachment 127274
> I cooked my own food good
> 
> 
> 
> You also type in english good.
> 
> Is there a reason for the same plate of good looking food being posted twice?  Just curious.  Thought maybe is was because it was twice gooder than the others.
Click to expand...

I'm hungry


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 127274View attachment 127274
> I cooked my own food good
> 
> 
> 
> You also type in english good.
> 
> Is there a reason for the same plate of good looking food being posted twice?  Just curious.  Thought maybe is was because it was twice gooder than the others.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm hungry
Click to expand...

Got it....... Eat food then eat photo of food = full.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 127274View attachment 127274
> I cooked my own food good
> 
> 
> 
> You also type in english good.
> 
> Is there a reason for the same plate of good looking food being posted twice?  Just curious.  Thought maybe is was because it was twice gooder than the others.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm hungry
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Got it....... Eat food then eat photo of food = full.
Click to expand...

Saturated is more satisfying


----------



## jcdeboever

I like ham steak


----------



## terri

All this food discussion and pics is making me hungry.   I don't have anything special ready for dinner, either - veggie burgers and salad.   I mean, it's okay, but the NFL starts tonight and I may want a glass of wine to celebrate.   I usually validate my wine consumption with a good food pairing, and veggie burgers + CdP seems...contraindicated.


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> All this food discussion and pics is making me hungry.   I don't have anything special ready for dinner, either - veggie burgers and salad.   I mean, it's okay, but the NFL starts tonight and I may want a glass of wine to celebrate.   I usually validate my wine consumption with a good food pairing, and veggie burgers + CdP seems...contraindicated.


Ok, if you are drinking Chateauneuf du Pape with football then I would hate to invite you over to watch something like a concert.   I can't afford a 1996 Boerl & Kroff  Champagne just to satisfy your tastes.  

Sorry, around this house football and BEER go together.  Good beer, but still just beer.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like football and Terri's confusion on wine selection


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> I like football and Terri's confusion on wine selection


What next, pate Foie gras at NASCAR??? 

Violence or continual left turns and beer just naturally go together.  It is the American Way.    Kind of like you can divorce you wife in Louisiana, but she will still be your sister.


----------



## limr

Saturday is my football day, and nothing says college football like pizza  You'd think the natural pairing would be beer, and many times that would be correct, but I'm not really in a beer mood at the moment. Might change by Saturday, of course, and I suppose it depends on the beer selection, but for now, I'm thinking wine will be the beverage of choice.

Go Gators!!


----------



## terri

Hey!  I like beer.  Occasionally.   But I have to have a taste for it.   And tonight, I didn't.   I have a taste for a very nice 2010 Cote Rotie.

So, you know, nyahh. 

Plus, the Panthers lost in the final seconds.  Ha!


----------



## jcdeboever

Anderson scored me some points in one of my FFL leagues! YES!


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> Hey!  I like beer.  Occasionally.   But I have to have a taste for it.   And tonight, I didn't.   I have a taste for a very nice 2010 Cote Rotie.
> 
> So, you know, nyahh.
> 
> Plus, the Panthers lost in the final seconds.  Ha!






 

Funny, I never pictured you as a boxer person.


----------



## table1349

Pęhévevóonä'o hóvahéhasęstse,

Cool, soggy morning on the plains.  Rain gage says we have over 5" of rain overnight.   You Baja Californio's could have kept your Newton, but NOOOOOooooooooooo.  You had to send him our way.  This has been one wet summer on the plains.  One of the wettest in history.  Shouldn't complain though, we averaged 62 bushels to the acre on the wheat.  The beans, corn and sorghum has really profited from all the rain and we are looking at near record if not record harvests for all three.

The girls are sensing that something is amiss with the packing going on.  They will be satisfied campers though once they get to the doggysitters this afternoon.  They love the dog sitter, her family and dogs.  Besides little Maggie is in heaven when there as they have a doggie door.  Since retiring my schedule has looked something like this...........





And repeat often.  

Unfortunately we have no place to put a doggie door and little Maggie is the Queen of the back yard.  She goes out, checks the back yard, then trots up onto the deck and sits on the landing for the steps and surveys her kingdom.  She can see all the back yards in the neighborhood from her throne.  Sometimes she naps in the sun, but mostly she is holding court.  She also loves to go to the doggie sitters because of their son Wesley.  Apparently they are fast friends when she is there as he will give her lots of belly rubs.

Well there is much to do to get off early in the morning, pack, get the girls to the sitter, take the wife out for dinner tonight for her birthday, get to bed early and none of it gets done while I'm talking to you hosers.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Haven't been on here much, since the weather makes me want to hibernate and not do anything until it is cooler.  We are supposed to set another record today.  I was home yesterday, which helped, but dragged myself in to work today.  It was in the low 80's at 7 AM.  I hope you're all staying cool, wherever you are.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another gray, cool, overcast morning ... (what a surprise, right). Already a busy morning, making coffee for Gary, tea for Mary Lou, giving the Cook her "Good Morniong Rubdown", filling up the dry dog food dish, filling up a Hummingbird feeder, feeding the bread starter, emptying Mary Lou's shower bucket, downloading and printing a bunch of paperwork that needs to get done today. 

Interesting article in the Los Angeles Times under the headline of "That's not a novel, it's the voter guide". And Gary quotes, " ... The biggest surprise in the mailbox this fall may be the size of the Nov. 8 statewide voter guide, a record-setting 224 pages."  That guide only covers statewide ballot propositions, it does not cover local elections and ballot measures. $15,000,000 to print and mail a guide to each of our 18,000,000 voters. Democracy isn't cheap.


----------



## Gary A.

@gryphonslair99:  Gary suspects the lack of suitable dog door space is due to sliding glass door(s).  Under that assumption, they do make glass panels with built-in dog doors that just slip into the rails of the existing glass sliders. It takes about a minute to install.


----------



## Gary A.

Annnnd ... Kershaw is back!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Annnnd ... Kershaw is back!



Look out NL. The guy was insane before he blew the back out. This team has all the makings to beat the Cubs and Nationals.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Annnnd ... Kershaw is back!



Well isn't that nice, that he just feels like he can come traipsing in whenever he feels like it.  Anyone ask him where he's been?


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!






(I'll try to ignore the missing apostrophe only because Napoleon Dynamite is just funny.)


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> @gryphonslair99:  Gary suspects the lack of suitable dog door space is due to sliding glass door(s).  Under that assumption, they do make glass panels with built-in dog doors that just slip into the rails of the existing glass sliders. It takes about a minute to install.


Sorry Gary, but the assumption is wrong.  The patio/deck doors are true French doors with French screens.  I detest sliders and the old door was a patio door.  You know, the single door with the big window.  Hated it too.  On beautiful spring and fall days we love to open the house and those French doors let lots of breeze in.   Plus going in and out with a handful of meat destined for the smoker or the grill is so much easier this way.  

Also we have to have an electronic dog door as the cat is an inside cat only and they take up too much room to put under a window.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


Geeeeezzzz..........it's been 24 hours already.  Hasn't that thing figured out what water is YET????


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## jcdeboever

I fixed the neighbors desktop and he gave me a D70s for payment. I wanted $65 for the repair and asked if I wanted it instead. Clean. 453 clicks, to my surprise. No nothing about it but it helps them out.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I feel less energetic than a ferret. Old movies on a rainy day.

Hang in there Ken, hope you get some of the rain. Had flooding here last night but it seems to storm/rain to beat the band then break up, so don't know if it will fizzle out before it gets to the east coast or if some will come your way.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> I feel less energetic than a ferret. Old movies on a rainy day.
> 
> Hang in there Ken, hope you get some of the rain. Had flooding here last night but it seems to storm/rain to beat the band then break up, so don't know if it will fizzle out before it gets to the east coast or if some will come your way.


Yep, went out to check the rain gage instead of just looking at it from the window.  We had better than 6 inches of rain.  Gage records up to 5 inches but the funnel on top was full to the top, so it was more like 6-7 inches of rain late yesterday afternoon and over night.  The surrounding school districts closed due to flooding as well as several businesses.  Roads were just impassable this morning in low and outlying areas.  Might have a t-storm or two later this afternoon but no heavy rain predicted.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>



Jim... look, I'm a doctor, not a coroner.. but ya, he's still dead.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## snowbear

BBC America is running a Star Trek Original Series marathon . . . current episode: GORN!


----------



## snowbear

OK, peeps.  There is still plenty of time so I want every one of you hosers to enter the first Sm4him Memorial Photo Challenge.  There are a number of things I can think of that fit the "Volunteer" theme, but unfortunately, I can't enter so I'd really like all of you to put in something.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I fixed the neighbors desktop and he gave me a D70s for payment. I wanted $65 for the repair and asked if I wanted it instead. Clean. 453 clicks, to my surprise. No nothing about it but it helps them out.


Gary vividly remember the older D70.  After decades of shooting film Nikon and after using Nikon professionally under the most extreme conditions in the world, shooting from above the Arctic to Tropical Rainforests to windswept Deserts Nikon never failed Gary.  In 2005, when Gary compared the D70 to the 20D, Gary choose the Canon as his first dSLR.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I fixed the neighbors desktop and he gave me a D70s for payment. I wanted $65 for the repair and asked if I wanted it instead. Clean. 453 clicks, to my surprise. No nothing about it but it helps them out.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary vividly remember the older D70.  After decades of shooting film Nikon and after using Nikon professionally under the most extreme conditions in the world, shooting from above the Arctic to Tropical Rainforests to windswept Deserts Nikon never failed Gary.  In 2005, when Gary compared the D70 to the 20D, Gary choose the Canon as his first dSLR.
Click to expand...

What was your reason, just curious? 

I felt bad for him, his car broke down and I told him not to worry about it, just pay me whenever. He said he didn't feel right about it. Well, he sees me at all the grandkids games with my camera and wondered if I would want it. He bought it a long time ago and said he only used it a little in the beginning. He was right, 400 something clicks. He said he has a lens for it but doesn't know where it is but would look for it. It came with it but not sure what kit lens they shipped back then. Love the viewfinder. I don't really need it but what the heck, will see what it can do. Has a focus motor which is cool. Preliminary tests were good.


----------



## Gary A.

The Canon beat the Nikon in nearly every category.  The 20D was overall, a much better camera than the Nikon.  Gary's friends couldn't believe that Gary was walking around with a Canon swinging from his neck.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



THOSE LEEEEEETLE FACES!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

Cat after smoke break


----------



## vintagesnaps

Having good ol' fashioned thunderstorms this afternoon. Good thing I planned on some picture taking tomorrow instead of today.

At least there's hockey people! as it was said on ESPN, which brought back their old hockey music. Even if it is just exhibition games, I'll take it!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>


So you're good with the plan right?

Of course.  As soon as the dog distracts him we knock him out, you grab his wallet, I grab the keys... piece of cake..

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Date night, took the wife and her parents to the fancy movies that serve food and drinks. Seen Sully, good movie! Unfortunately, I have bad gas today and after a few window roll downs and making my own seat rumble, we still had a good time.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Typical gray morning, should burn off early for a 80-ish afternoon. Yesterday was a busy but pleasant day. Soccer game in the morning, chores in the afternoon.  Gary replaced a front turn signal bulb on Mary Lou's Escape. Gary had to go in from the wheel well after removing the wheel well liner.  Next year, Damn Ford will have the access from the radio. Guests came over.  Gary was gonna BBQ but after changing out the bulb decided to go out from sushi instead. We picked up some frozen yogurt on the way home and watched an episode of Narcos on Netflick and ate our dessert and drank some Coastline Carbernet Sauvignon. Tom, our photographer-physician friend has been talking about a new car for a month and arrived in same. Mary Lou asked him when did he get the car and he responded "... About an hour and a half ago ...". It was pretty funny. After the guests were gone, we fired up the projector again and watch a Netflix DVD movie, "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" and polished off the vino.  It was surprisingly good for a sappy, emotional, formula type movie.  The movie started out slow but about half way through you start getting pulled into the movie and at the end you were ... in hook, line and sinker. Four Stars.

It was all so comfortable watching movies on the ten foot screen in the house. Mary Lou said she really didn't see a reason to go to the cinema anymore.


----------



## Gary A.

This is 9/11 ... A moment of reflection ...


----------



## table1349

San Antonio at sunrise.  Lovely 71 degrees.  We got up and went and worked out in the gym then ate breakfast.  The Hyatt has a nice continental breakfast that is a real breakfast.  Cereals, breads, fruits, yogurt and the always necessary bagels.  But they also have eggs, ham, bacon, sausage etc.  Took a walk all around the riverwalk for more exercise.  

Going to take a water taxi tour in a while and then after lunch we are planning to drive out to a drive thru nature preserve for the afternoon.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Gary A.

Gary is full. Gary and Mary Lou dined in the patio on Gary's Famous Sweet & Sour Meatball. The meatballs were stuff with all kinds of stuff polished off with a Russian River Vineyard Chardonnay.

After dinner a movie on the big screen.


----------



## limr

I had more tacos today. Mmmmm, tacos...


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Casablanca is on TMC.


----------



## table1349

Fun day on the Riverwalk as well as a long day.  Plans changed as they are want to do.   Walked down the riverwalk from our Hotel to the the Riverwalk tour boats and decided to do lunch first.  Found a nice little Irish pub call Waxy O'Conner's with a lovely, large dark wood bar.  It was quite well stocked and nicely lit so I just left the camera sitting on the table and grabbed a quick snap




After a nice lunch, they have a great Ruben sandwich, we took the Riverwalk boat tour,  Was actually an interesting tour that had a mix of old, very old and new history.  I must say, I do believe that the "Captain" of the boat was a sardine fisherman in the past as he made sure we were well packed into the little barge before we left.  A quick snap from a rocking barge.  We had just been passed by a tour barge going the other direction.  


 

After the tour, we walked the Riverwalk and ended up at the Riverwalk mall that has an entrance right on the river.  Surprisingly the wife didn't buy too much although there were a lot of her favorite stores there.  After finishing up with the shopping we walked the rest of the Riverwalk and down the river to our hotel that is at the south end of the riverwalk.   Mid week we change hotels, from the Hyatt Place to the Hyatt Regency that is in the heart of the restaurant/bar area of the Riverwalk.  When we decided to come for a few additional days the Regency had no vacancies due to conferences.  

The last snap of the day is a little bungalow across the riverwalk from our hotel.  Turns out is is part of a small, highly rated, eclectic hotel/inn with 27 rooms.  This little bungalow has a veranda that faces the river and is wonderfully shaded from the morning sun.  Next time we are in San Antonio we may try to stay there in that bungalow.  The rate actually was pretty reasonable for what you get.  Of course they have no pool, workout room etc. but they are not looking for the business crowd.


----------



## terri

That looks like fun!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers! Happy Monday!

Sorry, please excuse me, I think I sprained something typing that...


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Morning, hosers! Happy Monday!
> 
> Sorry, please excuse me, I think I sprained something typing that...


*Whacks Leo with the ban-hammer*

Okay, that's better.  We certainly don't need *HER* type around here!


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Unlike some people, Monday morning does not fill me with joy, but at least it cooled off here.  So far nothing bad has happened here at work, but I'm keeping my eye on the place.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers! Happy Monday!
> 
> Sorry, please excuse me, I think I sprained something typing that...
> 
> 
> 
> *Whacks Leo with the ban-hammer*
> 
> Okay, that's better.  We certainly don't need *HER* type around here!
Click to expand...


I think we all know how I really feel about Mondays...


----------



## NancyMoranG

Wow, San Antonio looks like a nice vacation, have fun, enjoy.
We were there at Alamo years ago, on July 4, you know, Independence Day, and it was closed!?

Gary A....PLEASE, PLEASE  tell me you are kidding about the 224 page 'book' being mailed to voters??!!! That is NUTS!!


----------



## table1349

Ah, another lovely day on holiday in San Antonio.  Sunny, 72 degree day. Predicted high of 90 degrees.

 This morning we are off to tour the old historic part of the city by car.  Then a leisurely lunch. 

This afternoon we are taking a 45 minute drive to a game preserve.  One of those drive through places where you don't get out of the vehicle unless you want to be someone's lunch.

Dinner tonight is going to medetrainian at a triple D place called Morracan bites.  They say the lamb is to die for.  If you don't hear from me, then you can assume it is true.

Have a happy Monday and remember every day brings you one day closer to retirement.


----------



## table1349

NancyMoranG said:


> Wow, San Antonio looks like a nice vacation, have fun, enjoy.
> We were there at Alamo years ago, on July 4, you know, Independence Day, and it was closed!?
> 
> Gary A....PLEASE, PLEASE  tell me you are kidding about the 224 page 'book' being mailed to voters??!!! That is NUTS!!


Well motor on down here.  The wife's conference starts Wednesday and we will be staying 2 blocks from the Alamo.  I plan to visit it while she is working.  A block away is the Riplies Believe it or Not museum which I will also go to just for fun.

We could make this a San Antonio Party.


----------



## NancyMoranG

We thought it was funny to go to a place that is famous for fighting for independence and find it closed on Independence Day ?


----------



## table1349

Wrong Independence Day.  And being a national monument they try to let their folks have a day off now and again.   

It is definitely open on Texas Independance day.


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> *Whacks Leo with the ban-hammer*



Anyone else get a picture of him standing there in his Thor outfit, long golden locks flowing in the breeze?

Nah.. probably just me.. lol


----------



## robbins.photo

NancyMoranG said:


> Wow, San Antonio looks like a nice vacation, have fun, enjoy.
> We were there at Alamo years ago, on July 4, you know, Independence Day, and it was closed!?



Irony.  It's pretty much lost on the park service.. lol


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> *Whacks Leo with the ban-hammer*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone else get a picture of him standing there in his Thor outfit, long golden locks flowing in the breeze?
> 
> Nah.. *probably just me*.. lol
Click to expand...


Yeah, pretty much just you


----------



## minicoop1985

Well hello everyone. Been a while, hasn't it?

My laptop and camera gear have been gathering dust lately. Dealt with a particularly bad bout of depression, including ending up calling a crisis center. Still depressed, but not AS depressed at least. Business slowed to a halt, which probably was the catalyst for said depression. Oh well, I got it out and got to shoot the other day. Learned how to do that thing with a runner streaking past and flashed at the very end.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Yeah, pretty much just you



Wow..no wonder the God of Thunder is smacking you about with the mystical ban hammer.  Negative Nelly....

Lol


----------



## NancyMoranG

robbins.photo said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, San Antonio looks like a nice vacation, have fun, enjoy.
> We were there at Alamo years ago, on July 4, you know, Independence Day, and it was closed!?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Irony.  It's pretty much lost on the park service.. lol
Click to expand...


Yes, I know it's a different 'Independence' but as Robbins said, irony.
Do you think anyone scratched their heads and said, 'hmmm'?


----------



## robbins.photo

NancyMoranG said:


> Yes, I know it's a different 'Independence' but as Robbins said, irony.
> Do you think anyone scratched their heads and said, 'hmmm'?



We shall never abandon this fort!  Well, except on federal holidays.. oh, and when it snows too much..


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, pretty much just you
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow..no wonder the God of Thunder is smacking you about with the mystical ban hammer.  Negative Nelly....
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...


And I repeat...


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> And I repeat...



I get the sense she's trying to tell me something.  Use your words Limr.. use your words... 

Lol


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And I repeat...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I get the sense she's trying to tell me something.  Use your words Limr.. use your words...
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...


----------



## KenC

minicoop1985 said:


> Well hello everyone. Been a while, hasn't it?
> 
> My laptop and camera gear have been gathering dust lately. Dealt with a particularly bad bout of depression, including ending up calling a crisis center. Still depressed, but not AS depressed at least. Business slowed to a halt, which probably was the catalyst for said depression. Oh well, I got it out and got to shoot the other day. Learned how to do that thing with a runner streaking past and flashed at the very end.



Good to hear that the depression is a little better.  Going out with a camera was always one of the things that helped me, although it sounds like what you have is more severe.


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Well hello everyone. Been a while, hasn't it?
> 
> My laptop and camera gear have been gathering dust lately. Dealt with a particularly bad bout of depression, including ending up calling a crisis center. Still depressed, but not AS depressed at least. Business slowed to a halt, which probably was the catalyst for said depression. Oh well, I got it out and got to shoot the other day. Learned how to do that thing with a runner streaking past and flashed at the very end.



Hey, welcome back! Glad you're feeling better now. Every little bit helps.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Well hello everyone. Been a while, hasn't it?
> 
> My laptop and camera gear have been gathering dust lately. Dealt with a particularly bad bout of depression, including ending up calling a crisis center. Still depressed, but not AS depressed at least. Business slowed to a halt, which probably was the catalyst for said depression. Oh well, I got it out and got to shoot the other day. Learned how to do that thing with a runner streaking past and flashed at the very end.


Welcome back. Glad your feeling better.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Welcome back, sorry for your troubled days. When business is slow, what's something you said, 'man if I only had time to do...'
Ok, now is your chance to tackle it. (As I sit here avoiding something I should be doing ! )


----------



## JonA_CT

The college class I'm teaching this semester uses a lot of computer adaptive lesson planning and assessment. It's awesome because it meets my students where they are -- but I'm spending a lot of time waiting for them to ask for help. Very boring.


----------



## snowbear

Hello, and good night.  I'm attending a GIS/Emergency Preparedness summit tomorrow & Wednesday and have to be downtown by 7 AM . . . zero-4-30 rolls around pretty darn quick when you're not used to it.


----------



## Gary A.

Steaks tonight. Mary Lou thought her steak was the best she ever had. Mary Lou likes a little spice on her meat so Gary tossed in some salsa into the marinade. It was BBQ-ed to perfection (of course).  Paired with a Chapin Merlot. The salad was a kale-pepper-tomato-strawberry affair from the yard.


----------



## Gary A.

NancyMoranG said:


> Wow, San Antonio looks like a nice vacation, have fun, enjoy.
> We were there at Alamo years ago, on July 4, you know, Independence Day, and it was closed!?
> 
> Gary A....PLEASE, PLEASE  tell me you are kidding about the 224 page 'book' being mailed to voters??!!! That is NUTS!!


LOL, Gary couldn't make that up. Apparently, there is a ton of propositions on the ballot.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Alright Gary now you've really done it! I had a big dinner out and still could drool over that steak. Now I know what to get out of the freezer this week (although my little steak won't see a komodo smokin' grill thing).

I shouldn't have started watching Alfred Hitchcock but it's a good one, with a very young Richard Dawson. Who's trying to hire someone to kill his girlfriend's hubby who will probably turn out to be the guy he's actually hiring (which would make sense if you were watching it!).

Glad Michael you're doing better and getting out with your camera, noticed you hadn't been on in awhile so I'm glad you checked in.


----------



## JonA_CT

My coffee is good this morning.


----------



## KenC

JonA_CT said:


> My coffee is good this morning.



Yeah, I know, even when it's bad it's pretty good.

Morning, hosers!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It has been about ten degrees cooler this week from last week.  From highs in the mid 80's it's down to the mid 70's.   Today Gary is sipping an " 100% Organic Mayan Blend" coffee from Costco.  Gary wonders ... what the hell does that mean?  Gary gets the 100%, that means all of it, the whole enchilada. Organic ... So every bean comes from a plant, there's no non-plant generated beans in the bag?  Hopefully, it means no pesticides or chemical fertilizers ... A free range coffee plant, openly traveling across the entire Mayan peninsula to gather its subsistance and maybe an occasional cerveza and futbol game. Mayan, so the area of a collasped jungle civilization, huge cities one day and the next day ... Poof ... Gone. Being the consummate purest, Gary typically doesn't partake of blends, but this is 100% Arabica so none of that Robusta crappolla. Even though it is a blend, it is a good cup of coffee.  Not as strong as Gary's usual fare of Colombian Supremo, but a good cup nonetheless.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> ...Gary wonders ... what the hell does that mean?  Gary gets the 100%, that means all of it, the whole enchilada. Organic ... So every bean comes from a plant, there's no non-plant generated beans in the bag?  Hopefully, it means no pesticides or chemical fertilizers ...


Thank-you!!!!!  I am so sick and ****ing tired of the word "organic".  If they mean pesticide free or non-GMO, than SAY that, don't say, "organic".  All that means is 'carbon-based'.  Pretty much ALL food is organic (except maybe for margarine).


----------



## Gary A.

Above the fold front page stories in the Los Angeles Times: "SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES" under a photo of the LA Rams playing their first NFL game as the LA Rams since 1994. "New law sets an 8-hour standard for farmworkers", good for the farmworkers, bad for the price of produce.  "Signs of 'Clinton fatigue'" ... We all know about that, and "POTENT RIVAL IN SENATE RACE: APATHY", a sadly interesting article about the California Senate race, one of the candidates for Senate is polling at the same level as Californians who "... Don't plan not to vote for either candidate".  In a neck-to-neck race, the #2 candidate is at 16% and the 'I'm not voting for either' is at 16%.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Gary wonders ... what the hell does that mean?  Gary gets the 100%, that means all of it, the whole enchilada. Organic ... So every bean comes from a plant, there's no non-plant generated beans in the bag?  Hopefully, it means no pesticides or chemical fertilizers ...
> 
> 
> 
> Thank-you!!!!!  I am so sick and ****ing tired of the word "organic".  If they mean pesticide free or non-GMO, than SAY that, don't say, "organic".  All that means is 'carbon-based'.  Pretty much ALL food is organic (except maybe for margarine).
Click to expand...


And Cheez Whiz. I don't even want to know what that's made of. 

Morning, hosers!

It's cooler here too, which is Very Very Good, although what's bad is that traffic has been so horrible so far that I was late yesterday AND today. I haven't been late once in 3 months, and then all of a sudden, it's twice in a row. Tomorrow I'm going to be leaving super early. If I end up getting here and having to futz around for 45 minutes, that's fine. I refuse to be late again for at least another 3 months!

It's a funny thing. For most non-work things, I'm ten minutes late almost as a rule. At the admin job I had for 6 years (two jobs ago), I was also regularly late because I hated it there and no one ever even said boo to me in 6 years about it. But for everything else, I'm always on time, so it bugs the hell out of me that I was late twice in a row.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Gary wonders ... what the hell does that mean?  Gary gets the 100%, that means all of it, the whole enchilada. Organic ... So every bean comes from a plant, there's no non-plant generated beans in the bag?  Hopefully, it means no pesticides or chemical fertilizers ...
> 
> 
> 
> Thank-you!!!!!  I am so sick and ****ing tired of the word "organic".  If they mean pesticide free or non-GMO, than SAY that, don't say, "organic".  All that means is 'carbon-based'.  Pretty much ALL food is organic (except maybe for margarine).
Click to expand...

LOL ... I think that most processed/fast food may not pass the 'carbon-base' test.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Gary wonders ... what the hell does that mean?  Gary gets the 100%, that means all of it, the whole enchilada. Organic ... So every bean comes from a plant, there's no non-plant generated beans in the bag?  Hopefully, it means no pesticides or chemical fertilizers ...
> 
> 
> 
> Thank-you!!!!!  I am so sick and ****ing tired of the word "organic".  If they mean pesticide free or non-GMO, than SAY that, don't say, "organic".  All that means is 'carbon-based'.  Pretty much ALL food is organic (except maybe for margarine).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And Cheez Whiz. I don't even want to know what that's made of.
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> It's cooler here too, which is Very Very Good, although what's bad is that traffic has been so horrible so far that I was late yesterday AND today. I haven't been late once in 3 months, and then all of a sudden, it's twice in a row. Tomorrow I'm going to be leaving super early. If I end up getting here and having to futz around for 45 minutes, that's fine. I refuse to be late again for at least another 3 months!
> 
> It's a funny thing. For most non-work things, I'm ten minutes late almost as a rule. At the admin job I had for 6 years (two jobs ago), I was also regularly late because I hated it there and no one ever even said boo to me in 6 years about it. But for everything else, I'm always on time, so it bugs the hell out of me that I was late twice in a row.
Click to expand...

When Gary was working news, he made it a rule to arrive early for many of his assignments.  He found that arriving before expected, surprising those he was to photograph, paid off dividends ... Typically they weren't ready and were much nicer to me to make up for not being ready, causing me to wait.  (Gary would dive into his wrap of Fig Newtons, nicely stored in a lens compartment, as he waited.)


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Gary wonders ... what the hell does that mean?  Gary gets the 100%, that means all of it, the whole enchilada. Organic ... So every bean comes from a plant, there's no non-plant generated beans in the bag?  Hopefully, it means no pesticides or chemical fertilizers ...
> 
> 
> 
> Thank-you!!!!!  I am so sick and ****ing tired of the word "organic".  If they mean pesticide free or non-GMO, than SAY that, don't say, "organic".  All that means is 'carbon-based'.  Pretty much ALL food is organic (except maybe for margarine).
Click to expand...


I'm actually in trouble over that one.  My sister, grand niece and I were at the grocery store a few months ago and we passed by a big display for "organic" vegtables.  My niece looks up and asks me, what does "organic" mean.

I smiled and said, it means they were grown in poop honey.   That's what it means.  She has stone cold refused to eat anything "organic" since, she even asks her mom now if the vegetables on her plate are "organic" and if mom says yes, she won't eat them. 

So yes, in the doghouse over that one.. lol


----------



## terri

limr said:


> And Cheez Whiz. I don't even want to know what that's made of.



Me either.   I dunno what it is, but it's not food.  

Morning, hosers!!    I like organic, but in the sense that it means either a) grown without pesticides or b) grown in sustainable manner.   I agree it's been tossed around so much that it no longer seems clear.   Some of the crappiest looking, sugar-laden cereals on the shelves have the word printed on the box - so clearly, it's not meant as a guarantee that it's particularly good for you.


----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> Me either.   I dunno what it is, but it's not food.



Pretty much Vaseline with some food coloring mixed in.


----------



## HughGuessWho

Them cat-snakes have NOTHING on my Harley...


----------



## table1349

Pęhévevóonä'o hóvahéhasęstse,

Another beautiful sunny cool San Antonio morning.  Getting packed up to move to another hotel.  We tried to book the entire week at the Hyatt Regency where the wife's conference is, but there was one day they had no room for us.  So we booked the first part of the stay at the Hyatt Place, about a mile from the Regency.  Lovely hotel on the river just south a quarter mile south of the actual riverwalk proper.  Easy 3 minute walk to the riverwalk.  If it wasn't for the conference we would have no problem staying here as it really is a lovely property.

Sorry, no snaps today.  Took a bunch of photos but forgot to download them last night and the camera is now packed in the suitcase. 

Went toured the King William Historic District. Filled with 100 year + old homes from the founding of San Antonio.  If anyone is interested in a Texas vacation home there is a lovely stone home in the historic district on a corner lot for 850,000. 

The afternoon took us to the Safari Park.  Got some nice snaps of the free roaming critters.  Got a great snap of an Ostrich trying to make out with the wife as it stuck its head in her window.  She squealed like she say a mouse.   He was quite friendly and just wanted to look around a minute. 

I had a couple of Zebras stick their heads in my window.  One had to sniff my hand.  They were calm and funny.  They give you a bag of feed pellets when you drive in.  Obviously the Zebra's have the routine down.  Many of the animals were not particularly interested in the pellets. 

Once we check out we are homeless until 3 p.m. but we can leave the luggage at the hotel.  Not much on the schedule today other than getting moved into the new hotel. Tomorrow it the Alamo and Ripleys for me and conferencing for the wife. 

Sorry Nancy, I didn't see any Irony since the 4th of July is considered Independence Day here in the US as it was the day we declared our independence from Britain.  

March 2nd is the Texas Independence Day as it is the day that Texas declared their independence from Mexico.  The Alamo was just a massacre of the Texans that strengthened the resolve of the Texans to eventually defeat Santa Anna at San Jacinto.  Trust me on March 2nd the Alamo is quite open.


----------



## robbins.photo

Because... I don't have ferrets.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Gary wonders ... what the hell does that mean?  Gary gets the 100%, that means all of it, the whole enchilada. Organic ... So every bean comes from a plant, there's no non-plant generated beans in the bag?  Hopefully, it means no pesticides or chemical fertilizers ...
> 
> 
> 
> Thank-you!!!!!  I am so sick and ****ing tired of the word "organic".  If they mean pesticide free or non-GMO, than SAY that, don't say, "organic".  All that means is 'carbon-based'.  Pretty much ALL food is organic (except maybe for margarine).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And Cheez Whiz. I don't even want to know what that's made of.
Click to expand...


And diet soda - besides water and carbon dioxide, just a tiny amount of artificial sweetener (it takes far less of it than of sugar) and a little citric acid and maybe color


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Because... I don't have ferrets.



OH MY GOD, BABY TIGER!!!

We had a petting zoo on campus today. I got to pet some little goats and a couple of rabbits. This pleased me greatly.


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> Because... I don't have ferrets.


O.M.G.  A live animal in this thread.


----------



## minicoop1985

So I did something. I applied to two photo studios (national chains, nothing exciting). I have interviews with both. Tomorrow. Busy day to say the least... sheesh.


----------



## table1349




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


----------



## jcdeboever

Because the neighbor kids don't have a baseball...


----------



## JonA_CT

Anyone else hate ordering prints? I want them...but I don't want to soft proof, select sizes, and actually order.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Gary wonders ... what the hell does that mean?  Gary gets the 100%, that means all of it, the whole enchilada. Organic ... So every bean comes from a plant, there's no non-plant generated beans in the bag?  Hopefully, it means no pesticides or chemical fertilizers ...
> 
> 
> 
> Thank-you!!!!!  I am so sick and ****ing tired of the word "organic".  If they mean pesticide free or non-GMO, than SAY that, don't say, "organic".  All that means is 'carbon-based'.  Pretty much ALL food is organic (except maybe for margarine).
Click to expand...


Yes!  Rum and bourbon and even Uncle George's homemade stuff is organic.


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> Because... I don't have ferrets.


Awwww!  I want one!


----------



## b_twill

Pesticides are considered organic chemicals so that really adds to the confusion.
My pet peeve is full synthetic oil.  It's oil, it comes from dead dinosaures, yeah, they add a few things to it but it comes from the same place.


----------



## snowbear

Today's view from the Homeland Security Training Center


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Because the neighbor kids don't have a baseball...
> 
> View attachment 127557


Well no not now.  The dog took it from them.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, today's the day. Taken a bunch of my Diazepam in hopes to calm my damned nerves. Hope it doesn't knock me out...


----------



## pixmedic

minicoop1985 said:


> Well, today's the day. Taken a bunch of my Diazepam in hopes to calm my damned nerves. Hope it doesn't knock me out...


What's the dose?
0.5 or 1mg?


----------



## minicoop1985

10 mg, I think.


----------



## pixmedic

minicoop1985 said:


> 10 mg, I think.


In one dose? One pill?
Don't take 10mg of Valium man....
Each pill should be either 0.5 or 1mg of actual Valium.  I've never heard of 10mg pills. 
Just don't take 10mg


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 10 mg, I think.
> 
> 
> 
> In one dose? One pill?
> Don't take 10mg of Valium man....
> Each pill should be either 0.5 or 1mg of actual Valium.  I've never heard of 10mg pills.
> Just don't take 10mg
Click to expand...

Listen to the Doctor.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>


Hey mom, check this out!  Dad's furrier than I am!

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday, after a year or so of toying with the idea, Gary finally ordered a receiver for the inside.  Not that Gary needs one ... Presently Gary is only driving a pair of these Bose Jewel speakers which come with their own amplification system.  Gary just thinks it would be nice to get everything filtered and upscaled through the receiver ... The problem is now Gary wants some more speakers. 

Wow, UC Merced has joined the list of our country's best universities, according to U.S. News and World Report. UC Merced is the "newest, smallest and least prestigious campus" in the UC system, according to the LA Times. All of the UC's nine undergraduate campuses made the best university report with UC Berkely at #1 and UCLA @ #2.  The chancellor of UC Merced is Dorothy Leland and it was another Leland who started Stanford, the #1 private university in the nation.  Gary and Mary Lou were at a Berkeley's beginning of the new year, student orientation listening to the student body president delivery a fiery speech to the freshmen.  From his gut the asb president welcomed the new students to the "... Finest university in the world ...". Gary gave that some thought and arguably Berkely is such a place.  One of those crossroads of the world where people from all cultures and countries gravitate to.  When we walked through the campus, Mary Lou was taken back by the poor condition of Berkely.  Gary explained that the lack of shiney and pristine wasn't due to lack of care, but because of overuse ... It was constantly in repair because it was getting wornout. 

For Gary, places like UC Berkely takes the edge out of taxes ... worn out because of success, worn out for the future.

Gary spots off his soap box ... Takes a sip of his Mayan blend ... The old gray mare she's ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be ...".


----------



## pixmedic

Designer said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 10 mg, I think.
> 
> 
> 
> In one dose? One pill?
> Don't take 10mg of Valium man....
> Each pill should be either 0.5 or 1mg of actual Valium.  I've never heard of 10mg pills.
> Just don't take 10mg
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> He might be using an injector, like the one Hillary Clinton uses.
Click to expand...


maybe. 
10mg is a lot for a single dose. 
very difficult to OD on Valium though. 
definitely only take what the doctor has prescribed.


----------



## Gary A.

luv2negotiate said:


> Hi all!
> 
> We submitted this video to a local contest and wanted to share...
> 
> Guaranteed to make you smile!
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Cute and in time for the playoffs.  Welcome to the forum and the Coffee House. (Where did you get the music?)


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 10 mg, I think.
> 
> 
> 
> In one dose? One pill?
> Don't take 10mg of Valium man....
> Each pill should be either 0.5 or 1mg of actual Valium.  I've never heard of 10mg pills.
> Just don't take 10mg
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> He might be using an injector.
Click to expand...

Like an insulin pen?


----------



## minicoop1985

pixmedic said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 10 mg, I think.
> 
> 
> 
> In one dose? One pill?
> Don't take 10mg of Valium man....
> Each pill should be either 0.5 or 1mg of actual Valium.  I've never heard of 10mg pills.
> Just don't take 10mg
Click to expand...

I took as much as was prescribed, and I'm too damned lazy to go look at what the dose is. lol


----------



## minicoop1985

I ended up taking a nap, just like I figured I would.


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


>


Ok, so who did you steal the live ferret from???


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. Happy Hump Day!  

I'm having a fairly unsatisfactory cup of coffee at the moment. I had gotten a pack of one-use K-cups that you fill with your own coffee. The last office I worked at had a machine that didn't accept them, but this one does, so I brought them in along with some espresso roast. The flavor is fine but overall it's just too weak. I'll finish the pack because there's no point in throwing them away unused, but I'll have to remember to just use less water. After that, I'll just use my refillable K-cup.

The good news is that I wasn't late this morning. In fact, I was 15 minutes early. So today, I balanced out Monday's late arrival (15 minutes) and if I can manage the same feat tomorrow, I'll have balanced out Tuesday's lateness as well. That will please me


----------



## table1349

Pęhévevóonä'o hóvahéhasęstse,

Another lovely day in San Antonio.  The temperature is in the mid 80's as I type this.  This is the change over day.  Wife starts her conference this afternoon so as of 1:00 p.m. I am free to just be and go as I please.  So glad we drove down her instead of flying.  Other than the Alamo and Ripley's we have seen almost everything here on the river walk.  Probably go to the Alamo and Ripley's this afternoon since they are next door.  

Tomorrow is mine to do with as I please.  Haven't decided yet what I will do as there is much to choose from.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



Oh my god, I die   I can't imagine how comfortable that is for Possom, though when one of your cat snake powers is the ability to melt your own bones and form your body into interesting shapes, then I suppose it's fine. And Bear looks just SO happy!


----------



## Gary A.

@ Sharon: Hey, There is a World Cup of Hockey!


----------



## JonA_CT

There is the World Cup of Hockey! I hope the actual games are better...the tune-up match I watched the first period of last night was pretty ho-hum. It seemed like even the production team was mailing it in.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## pixmedic

Ferret distraction!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's first picked pomegranate.


----------



## snowbear

Well, the summit is over.  Useful information, overall, for both the participants and the sponsor organization.  This was first real foray into the world of Emergency Operations (aka those disaster "War Rooms")

I know I had to have been tired on the way home.  I decided to take the train, this AM.  If you're not familiar with our Metrorail system, the routes are color coded.  I parked at the southern terminus of Green, transfered to Red and went two stops to Union Station.  That gives me about a four block walk to DHS.  Coming home is just reversed - Red to Gallery Place/Chinatown, then Green to Branch Avenue.

There are areas where the color lines share the same track & stops. This was done, I guess, to keep from having a couple of short branches, so Orange an Blue (and now Silver) share the same route for a good portion of the system, and Yellow and Green share a bit but Yellow also shares the road with Blue.  If anyone cares, here's what the system looks like.

There was a baseball game today.  I inadvertently got on a train that was an "Anacostia Special" which means it ends well before Branch Avenue.  I figured it was for the game, however the stadium is at the Navy Yard stop, before Anacostia, but Metro does what it wants and I don't worry too much in order to stay out of the local Cardiac Care Unit.

I didn't really want to wait at Anacostia to grab the train I really needed (not the best area) so I figured I'd jump off at L'Enfant Plaza and wait there.  The next train arrives in six minutes, so I get on and settle in for a nice ride.  Before I realize what is happening, we come out of the tunnel and cross the Potomac River.  NO! Green goes UNDER the river!  I had done something I have never done before -- I had erroneoudsly gotten on Yellow instead of Green.  Next stop - the Pentagon.  I get off, go upstairs (single width tracking so Southbound is below the Northbound track), an go back to L'Enfant Plaza.

Remember the game?  All of those SOBs who have been crying about needing baseball in DC were out there, clogging up the platform.  There is no way in Georgetown I'm going to get on any of the next three trains.  So I go back across the platform, jump on a train going north for a couple of stops, go back over to Southbound and grab the train.  Guess what . . . yep . . . jammin' Yellow, again.  Back to L'Enfant; and by now the baseballers are gone so I finally get my Branch Avenue train.

Now, good night.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Well, the summit is over.  Useful information, overall, for both the participants and the sponsor organization.  This was first real foray into the world of Emergency Operations (aka those disaster "War Rooms")
> 
> I know I had to have been tired on the way home.  I decided to take the train, this AM.  If you're not familiar with our Metrorail system, the routes are color coded.  I parked at the southern terminus of Green, transfered to Red and went two stops to Union Station.  That gives me about a four block walk to DHS.  Coming home is just reversed - Red to Gallery Place/Chinatown, then Green to Branch Avenue.
> 
> There are areas where the color lines share the same track & stops. This was done, I guess, to keep from having a couple of short branches, so Orange an Blue (and now Silver) share the same route for a good portion of the system, and Yellow and Green share a bit but Yellow also shares the road with Blue.  If anyone cares, here's what the system looks like.
> 
> There was a baseball game today.  I inadvertently got on a train that was an "Anacostia Special" which means it ends well before Branch Avenue.  I figured it was for the game, however the stadium is at the Navy Yard stop, before Anacostia, but Metro does what it wants and I don't worry too much in order to stay out of the local Cardiac Care Unit.
> 
> I didn't really want to wait at Anacostia to grab the train I really needed (not the best area) so I figured I'd jump off at L'Enfant Plaza and wait there.  The next train arrives in six minutes, so I get on and settle in for a nice ride.  Before I realize what is happening, we come out of the tunnel and cross the Potomac River.  NO! Green goes UNDER the river!  I had done something I have never done before -- I had erroneoudsly gotten on Yellow instead of Green.  Next stop - the Pentagon.  I get off, go upstairs (single width tracking so Southbound is below the Northbound track), an go back to L'Enfant Plaza.
> 
> Remember the game?  All of those SOBs who have been crying about needing baseball in DC were out there, clogging up the platform.  There is no way in Georgetown I'm going to get on any of the next three trains.  So I go back across the platform, jump on a train going north for a couple of stops, go back over to Southbound and grab the train.  Guess what . . . yep . . . jammin' Yellow, again.  Back to L'Enfant; and by now the baseballers are gone so I finally get my Branch Avenue train.
> 
> Now, good night.



Yuk! Sounds like when I got on the wrong bus a couple of times in Istanbul. I knew it was bad when I saw the "Welcome to Asia" sign in the middle of the bridge.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like pomegranate


----------



## table1349

There is nothing wrong with pomegranates that a juicer and a bottle of Gray Goose vodka can't fix.


----------



## pixmedic

gryphonslair99 said:


> There is nothing wrong with pomegranates that a juicer and a bottle of Gray Goose vodka can't fix.


----------



## astroNikon

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 127593Gary's first picked pomegranate.


I we tried to grow these up here we'd just end up with frozen food straight from the tree.


----------



## terri

Happy Almost Friday, hosers! 

It's still too hot around here, even though the humidity is down, and the temps fall off quickly now, giving us nice evenings and cool mornings.   

I'm just over it.  I'm ready to make pots of soup and have crisp days.   Bring on the fall!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

It's the Day Before Friday 

It has cooled down a lot today. Storm went through yesterday and knocked down the temps and the humidity. Finally!! Oh, we'll get smacked in the head with Indian Summer in a couple of weeks, but I think fall is finally in the air. Thank Spaghetti Monster!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers! (and ferrets)  On top of the general issues with the trains here lately, they were running 30 minutes late this morning.  At least it's cool out.  Come to think of it I really wasn't in a hurry to get to work anyway ...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  You East Coasters have it tough. The Cook and Gary just came back from the daily walk and it is again the Randy Newman song.  Gary is sipping another cup of Organic Mayan Blend, coffee makes it well worth waking to actually get up.  Yesterday must have been a tough day for news.  On the front page of the Times ... A stupid health story on our wonderful presidential candidates, a story on a guy in India who sold a kidney and never got paid, a story on Cup Noodles getting a recipe "overhaul" ... The first in 45 years to a more healthful ramen.  On. The front page a story about noodles ... Pretty sad.  So Gary reviewed the Samy's Camera supplement.


----------



## limr




----------



## Gary A.

I had a placard on my desk which read, "If a job isn't worth doing ... It isn't worth doing well."


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> I had a placard on my desk which read, "If a job isn't worth doing ... It isn't worth doing well."



I just went with a framed print of one of Pix's ferrets.  Makes me look down right peppy in comparison.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


>


Ferret Love!


----------



## pixmedic

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ferret Love!
Click to expand...

They are buddies


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>


----------



## Gary A.

That is one big bunny.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## JonA_CT

Shitty couple weeks at work, so I've been self-medicating tonight with some Mount Gay Rum, a splash of triple sec, and some ginger ale.

I know most of y'all that post on this thread have kids that are out of school (or maybe not at all), but if you think your kids' teachers do a good job, take five minutes and send an e-mail to the teachers and to the principal. Unfortunately, usually they only hear from parents when things aren't going well.

EDIT: To clarify, because people who are vague suck....I've been getting raked over the coals because of something sarcastic that I said to a student I had last year (who I have a great relationship with...who laughed, and I had a full conversation after I said it). A different student heard it, told their parents, who called the superintendent, which resulted in me having an invitation to the principal with union representation (look up Weingarten Rights), which has led to me losing my edge for the last few weeks. Ugh.


----------



## Gary A.

What a perfect day weather wise.  Gary moved his desktop to the patio so he can work and partake of the perfect day.  Presently, he has some bread baking away and chicken on the BBQ and he's chugging down an Angry Orchard.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Shitty couple weeks at work, so I've been self-medicating tonight with some Mount Gay Rum, a splash of triple sec, and some ginger ale.
> 
> I know most of y'all that post on this thread have kids that are out of school (or maybe not at all), but if you think your kids' teachers do a good job, take five minutes and send an e-mail to the teachers and to the principal. Unfortunately, usually they only hear from parents when things aren't going well.
> 
> EDIT: To clarify, because people who are vague suck....I've been getting raked over the coals because of something sarcastic that I said to a student I had last year (who I have a great relationship with...who laughed, and I had a full conversation after I said it). A different student heard it, told their parents, who called the superintendent, which resulted in me having an invitation to the principal with union representation (look up Weingarten Rights), which has led to me losing my edge for the last few weeks. Ugh.


My business partner and I had a discussion on teachers and where this country would be if parents has custody of their kids 24/7 until they were 18 y/o.  God bless you teachers.


----------



## kundalini

I can't remember if this thread is about random thoughts.  On that premise, here goes....

I'm in the process of purchasing a 2nd row bungalow at Surf City, NC.  I'd prefer to be on the south end of the island, but you gotta start somewhere.


----------



## Gary A.

Yes, the more random the better.  Jason's been posting ferret images for the past month and he doesn't even own a ferret.  Dunno anything about Surf City, NC.  I used to live in the original Surf City in California.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Shitty couple weeks at work, so I've been self-medicating tonight with some Mount Gay Rum, a splash of triple sec, and some ginger ale.
> 
> I know most of y'all that post on this thread have kids that are out of school (or maybe not at all), but if you think your kids' teachers do a good job, take five minutes and send an e-mail to the teachers and to the principal. Unfortunately, usually they only hear from parents when things aren't going well.
> 
> EDIT: To clarify, because people who are vague suck....I've been getting raked over the coals because of something sarcastic that I said to a student I had last year (who I have a great relationship with...who laughed, and I had a full conversation after I said it). A different student heard it, told their parents, who called the superintendent, which resulted in me having an invitation to the principal with union representation (look up Weingarten Rights), which has led to me losing my edge for the last few weeks. Ugh.



Not a teacher but also had a shitty couple of weeks at work so I can relate.  And I have a middle schooler so I am well aware of how things are these days.  Sorry for us both!  Enjoy your drink and try to move past this without second guessing everything you say and do going forward.  I'm going to add my boss to my ever growing personal and professional "No Unnecessary Conversations" list and see if that works better for me.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Shitty couple weeks at work, so I've been self-medicating tonight with some Mount Gay Rum, a splash of triple sec, and some ginger ale.
> 
> I know most of y'all that post on this thread have kids that are out of school (or maybe not at all), but if you think your kids' teachers do a good job, take five minutes and send an e-mail to the teachers and to the principal. Unfortunately, usually they only hear from parents when things aren't going well.
> 
> EDIT: To clarify, because people who are vague suck....I've been getting raked over the coals because of something sarcastic that I said to a student I had last year (who I have a great relationship with...who laughed, and I had a full conversation after I said it). A different student heard it, told their parents, who called the superintendent, which resulted in me having an invitation to the principal with union representation (look up Weingarten Rights), which has led to me losing my edge for the last few weeks. Ugh.



Ugh, indeed. I know what it's like, how it can get into your head. To be a good teacher, you have to throw your entire self into it, often with little or no recognition, but when something positive finally happens or comes back to us, we can feed on it for weeks. Unfortunately, the same thing happens in reverse when something negative happens. It can feel like the rug has just been pulled out from under us and it really affects the work because now we are not putting our whole selves into it. We're distracted and fearful and second-guessing every move.

This too shall pass. You got this.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm feeling better about life this morning. Thanks for giving me a little encouragement. Fridays always help, too!

I have big plans for the weekend. UConn is playing Virginia tomorrow at home, and I'm going to the game (first time in probably 3 or 4 years). I have to iron out the tailgating plan and head to the grocery this afternoon.


----------



## SquarePeg

TGIFF People!


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> I'm feeling better about life this morning. Thanks for giving me a little encouragement. Fridays always help, too!



Good to hear you're feeling better - hopefully things will get normal soon.



JonA_CT said:


> I have big plans for the weekend. UConn is playing Virginia tomorrow at home, and I'm going to the game (first time in probably 3 or 4 years). I have to iron out the tailgating plan and head to the grocery this afternoon.


Bacon. Always bacon.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> TGIFF People!


Yea!  I'm going in late but not staying late, tonight.


----------



## KenC

JonA_CT said:


> Shitty couple weeks at work, so I've been self-medicating tonight with some Mount Gay Rum, a splash of triple sec, and some ginger ale.
> 
> I know most of y'all that post on this thread have kids that are out of school (or maybe not at all), but if you think your kids' teachers do a good job, take five minutes and send an e-mail to the teachers and to the principal. Unfortunately, usually they only hear from parents when things aren't going well.
> 
> EDIT: To clarify, because people who are vague suck....I've been getting raked over the coals because of something sarcastic that I said to a student I had last year (who I have a great relationship with...who laughed, and I had a full conversation after I said it). A different student heard it, told their parents, who called the superintendent, which resulted in me having an invitation to the principal with union representation (look up Weingarten Rights), which has led to me losing my edge for the last few weeks. Ugh.



Hang in there - sounds like something that blows over with no problem, although kind of a downer for a little while.

I guess things have gotten worse.  My wife was teaching a class in a community college about 20 years ago.  A disagreement with a student in class, the details of which I don't remember, but which basically involved the student whining about the work, culminated in my wife saying: "I don't give a flying f*** what you do."  The administration was a little disturbed, but no official meetings or anything like that.  She tried to quit for a variety of reasons, but they wouldn't let her.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Hang in there - sounds like something that blows over with no problem, although kind of a downer for a little while.
> 
> I guess things have gotten worse.  My wife was teaching a class in a community college about 20 years ago.  A disagreement with a student in class, the details of which I don't remember, but which basically involved the student whining about the work, culminated in my wife saying: "I don't give a flying f*** what you do."  The administration was a little disturbed, but no official meetings or anything like that.  She tried to quit for a variety of reasons, but they wouldn't let her.



I do agree that the climate has changed, although college has always been a whole different ballgame. Some of the things my teachers in elementary and middle school said and did probably would get "official inquiries" today, but in college, there's still a lot more freedom for a teacher to have conflict with a student without everyone getting their panties up in a bunch. Cursing would probably get a teacher called to see the dean, though that would depend on the administration of that department. Some departments wouldn't barely care and others would go apedoody. But just getting heated with a student who is giving you crap? Meh.


----------



## limr




----------



## limr

Okay, in my search for Friday memes, this one somehow showed up and it made me laugh and laugh and laugh. And laugh.






Still laughing


----------



## SquarePeg

I have a friend who posts this on FaceBook every Friday.  It's stupid but always makes me smile because it's so her.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## robbins.photo

What scares me is I think their serious....




20160903_0049 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr


----------



## robbins.photo

Dude.. dude.. come here.. you have to see this.  Hitman Monkey.  Now that's Funny!!!




20160903_0018 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr


----------



## vintagesnaps

I could take a nap... darn surveyors were back, roaming around and talking rather loudly on their phones/walkie talkies/bullhorns - 'to the left, over by the curb...'. Don't they know I'm one of the now no longer working - and I DIDN'T HAVE TO GET UP yet! lol Glad to have cool nights so the windows are open in the morning, I always wanted to know how to survey lots for the neighbor's fence building project.


----------



## SquarePeg

I've been on lock down all morning.  State police chopper hovering over my neighborhood looking for an "armed and dangerous" person who was last seen at the small plaza just up the road.  I saw at least 10 cruisers and there were several police and news choppers from about 8am through about half hour ago.  Just saw on our community FB page that the search has moved to a different part of town and choppers are no longer right above me.  Neighbor heard he took off when police tried to arrest him for rape and domestic assault.  Sitting here with all my windows locked and a can of wasp spray at the ready.


----------



## Designer

SquarePeg said:


> .. a can of wasp spray at the ready.


?  

The perp is a wasp?

Oh, I get it; W.A.S.P.

It makes sense now.


----------



## minicoop1985

Hey everyone. I got hired by that national chain. We'll see how that goes. It's commission based, but hopefully I can turn out a good average.


----------



## SquarePeg

wasp spray is supposedly more effective than pepper spray which usually gets the sprayer as much as the sprayee


----------



## vintagesnaps

Glad you got it Michael.

Good grief Sharon, at least good for you that the search has moved out of your neighborhood. I take it the wasp spray was anything handy to spray in someone's face in case of a home invasion. That ought to do the job! but hopefully you won't need it. Hope they catch him soon.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh nm... should've deleted what I just typed!

Was wondering if it was on the national news but since I flipped it on it's just mens sport coats are on sale, and cars... and I don't know if the news is ever going to come back on. How about some nasal spray? For allergy relief and/or keeping out burglars and other assorted riff raff.

Oh well guess your news isn't big enough so far anyway. Hope it's over for your area soon, guess you never know if he might head back. Did you see the semi on the run the other day?? guy who stole it did a U turn and went back, at least he pulled over finally and gave himself up. Didn't want to go back to jail, maybe he should have thought about that when he stole the truck.


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> wasp spray is supposedly more effective than pepper spray which usually gets the sprayer as much as the sprayee



Put a lighter in front of it and the effectiveness factor goes way, way up.  So does the resultant smell, granted... but still...


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Hey everyone. I got hired by that national chain. We'll see how that goes. It's commission based, but hopefully I can turn out a good average.



Congrats Coop.  Keeping my fingers crossed for you.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is recovering from a very long day.


SquarePeg said:


> I've been on lock down all morning.  State police chopper hovering over my neighborhood looking for an "armed and dangerous" person who was last seen at the small plaza just up the road.  I saw at least 10 cruisers and there were several police and news choppers from about 8am through about half hour ago.  Just saw on our community FB page that the search has moved to a different part of town and choppers are no longer right above me.  Neighbor heard he took off when police tried to arrest him for rape and domestic assault.  Sitting here with all my windows locked and a can of wasp spray at the ready.


WASP spray ... White-Anglo-Saxon-Portestant spray ... Gary wants a can of that, he is surround, neck deep in WASP's.

(Ps- disclaimer, Gary posted this prior to reading Designer's post. Lol)


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is home early, watching CNN, sipping an Angry Orchard and eating a Costco Fig bar, the Sun is low, it has been a nice warm day, the back is verdant and blooming ... Life is good.


----------



## Gary A.

@Sharon: Since you liked the steak ... chicken tonight, it is marinating away in my homemade BBQ sauce w/ some herbs and spices. Come on over. A Netflix came in today and we'll most likely toss it up on the big screen.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary, I had seriously forgotten that you could still get discs from Netflix. Crazy, right?

We went to the park for a picnic this evening. We met up with our friends who just had a baby. I hadn't had a chance to meet him yet...he is 4 weeks old and 8 pounds. With my 21 pound monster that climbs everything in sight and eats like a monster, I can't believe how small he is and she used to be.


----------



## Gary A.

Delish. (W/rice, sautéed kale and herbs and a Justin Cab)


----------



## Gary A.

@Jon: There is an entirely different catalog between streaming and mail.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 127666
> Delish. (W/rice, sautéed kale and herbs and a Justin Cab)


Man that looks pretty good.


----------



## jcdeboever

Those greens look incredible. My mouth is watering on the sensation of taste at those grill marks (chicken). The flavor must be dynamite.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 127666
> Delish. (W/rice, sautéed kale and herbs and a Justin Cab)
> 
> 
> 
> Man that looks pretty good.
Click to expand...

Yes, Gary wishes you lived in SoCal ... You'd have a permanent seat at my table.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 127666
> Delish. (W/rice, sautéed kale and herbs and a Justin Cab)
> 
> 
> 
> Man that looks pretty good.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, Gary wishes you lived in SoCal ... You'd have a permanent seat at my table.
Click to expand...


Man, that would be good times. Hopefully some day soon.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> @Jon: There is an entirely different catalog between streaming and mail.



Yeah -- it's just been a long time since I've gotten discs from them. I was an early Netflix adopter (2006 I believe...). If we watched more movies, I totally would get that part of the subscription again, but we don't even watch that much TV while school is in session (except for football).


----------



## pixmedic

Lazy Saturday morning for the ferrets


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another overcast morning.  Today will be a busy day.  Gary and MAry Lou will be taking Gary's youngest daughter Amy and her friend Erica to see Lion King in San Diego.  Mary Lou and Amy are both doing backflips they are so excited.  We are taking an inland route to San Diego, south through Temecula to pick up Gary's fall wine pick-ups. Definitely some breakfast in Temecula but no wine tasting as we don't have the time.  Gary is dropping off to Amy a dozen posters he framed for her new apartment.  That was tedious measuring and Gary was frustrated miscutting a few of the mats.  SC plays the first of its PAC 12 games today against Stanford. We'll see what kind of team their new head coach has put together.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon- With the kids out of the nest, you get to rediscover the joys of movies and food. Installing ten foot projector screens, (one inside and one outside), really brings the fun and scale of theater ... home. Nearly every day Mary Lou says that it is so nice to be home. The house is small, as a structure not much to speak of ... But we have packed a lot of entertainment and comfy value into a small space.

And when we feel like getting out ... At the end of the driveway we have California spreading out before us, the beaches, the mountains the deserts, the cities, the weather, the wineries (lol) ... All the world class geography and cultural venues of California within driving distances from our house.


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> Lazy Saturday morning for the ferrets


Uhh... as opposed to?


----------



## table1349




----------



## NancyMoranG

Careful on those invites Gary A, or you're going to need a waaaay bigger table


----------



## table1349

Good day in College Football so far.


----------



## EIngerson

Absolutely disgusted with my son's football coach tonight. Two of our players were absolute jack asses and disrespectful on the field. I can't believe he didn't sit them out. Instead, he argued with the ref's on their behalf. Absolute garbage. 

Not to mention we lost 48-7. Good job "coach"


----------



## Designer

EIngerson said:


> Absolutely disgusted with my son's football coach tonight. Two of our players were absolute jack asses and disrespectful on the field. I can't believe he didn't sit them out. Instead, he argued with the ref's on their behalf. Absolute garbage.
> 
> Not to mention we lost 48-7. Good job "coach"


Is this a paid position in a school?  I'm guessing you are not the only parent who is disgusted.


----------



## SquarePeg

EIngerson said:


> Absolutely disgusted with my son's football coach tonight. Two of our players were absolute jack asses and disrespectful on the field. I can't believe he didn't sit them out. Instead, he argued with the ref's on their behalf. Absolute garbage.
> 
> Not to mention we lost 48-7. Good job "coach"



That's likely where the two jack asses got their attitudes.

Last season went to pick my daughter up from cheerleading practice and was early so got out of the car to watch the football practice that was happening at the same time.  I was shocked by the foul language and screaming coming from the football coaches.  This was a middle school team.  What are these people doing coaching our children?  

I called the school principal and gave him an earful.  #thatmom


----------



## snowbear

Yeah - lead by example.
SharonCat - how did the landscape meetup go?


----------



## EIngerson

Designer said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Absolutely disgusted with my son's football coach tonight. Two of our players were absolute jack asses and disrespectful on the field. I can't believe he didn't sit them out. Instead, he argued with the ref's on their behalf. Absolute garbage.
> 
> Not to mention we lost 48-7. Good job "coach"
> 
> 
> 
> Is this a paid position in a school?  I'm guessing you are not the only parent who is disgusted.
Click to expand...



Yes, he's paid by the school. ALL the parents were talking about it last night. Even the disrespectful kids mom was yelling from the stands. "DISCIPLINE HIM!!!!" 

I guess I'll attend yet another booster club meeting and be that guy.......


----------



## Gary A.

NancyMoranG said:


> Careful on those invites Gary A, or you're going to need a waaaay bigger table


LOL ... There is always room for one more.


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> Absolutely disgusted with my son's football coach tonight. Two of our players were absolute jack asses and disrespectful on the field. I can't believe he didn't sit them out. Instead, he argued with the ref's on their behalf. Absolute garbage.
> 
> Not to mention we lost 48-7. Good job "coach"


It is sorta hard to be disrespectful on a football field when on every place one focuses on delivering as much violence and/or physical effort as possible against an opposing team on every play. Lack of discipline and disrespect would be totally out of bounds when Gary played football. Every player on the team knew the moment anyone opened our mouths inappropriately or acted without honor, we'd be pulled and benched so fast that our jocks would be spinning, mid-air, in place on the field where we were last standing.  That is not good coaching.

Competitive sports is all about winning, but a good coach instills and demands that HOW you win is as important the win. While there isn't any defense for being a jackass ... The frustration of losing by a ton, fuels the jackass in athletics. It is easy to be gracious when winning, but ... To play your hardest while losing ... To play with honor while losing ... That is the lesson a true coach brings to the field ... A coach that can instill that type of motivation and honor to the team is a coach Gary want for his kids.

Sorry Eric, you are in a sticky situation because if the coach hasn't learned those basic lessons by now ... You can't teach an old dog new tricks.


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Absolutely disgusted with my son's football coach tonight. Two of our players were absolute jack asses and disrespectful on the field. I can't believe he didn't sit them out. Instead, he argued with the ref's on their behalf. Absolute garbage.
> 
> Not to mention we lost 48-7. Good job "coach"
> 
> 
> 
> Is this a paid position in a school?  I'm guessing you are not the only parent who is disgusted.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, he's paid by the school. ALL the parents were talking about it last night. Even the disrespectful kids mom was yelling from the stands. "DISCIPLINE HIM!!!!"
> 
> I guess I'll attend yet another booster club meeting and be that guy.......
Click to expand...

If it gets ugly, follow Michelle Obama's lead, when they low you go high.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday's trip to San Diego was an exceptionally nice day.  Gary and Mary Lou skipped Temecula yesterday because we started out later than first projected. It was a nice drive until we hit San Diego County, then bam, we were slammed with very very bad traffic all the way down to the city limits.  There were no accidents we could see, no construction, just a ton of unexplainable very heavy traffic on a Saturday morning.

We delivered a ton of stuff to my youngest daughter and her new apartment including, but not limited to: a dozen framed and matted posters of all sizes from 24x18 down to 8x10, wine glasses (hand painted) and a big bag of kale/celery/peppers/lettuce/et al for her Guinea Pig.  A quick bite then off to see The Lion King.  It has been decades since Gary last saw the musical ... This production was as wonderful as the one Gary saw in Hollywood. The story line is ... Meh, the songs are above average, but the costumes and sets are amazingly stunning and beautiful.  As this took place in Africa, the dancers wore traditional-ish costumes of brilliant colors and prints ... Unfortunately all that is gone from Africa, the local textile shops have been replaced by containers of used clothing from America and Europe.

Gary and Mary Lou hit the 2:00 p.m. performance and ghost home at a decent time for some udon and ramen at our local sushi spot and a Netflix on the 'big screen', London Has Fallen. Lots of unrealistic action and decent suspense ... Gary gives it three stars, Mary Lou gave it four.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Gary was feeding his 'Starter' this morning and liked the lighting.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Yeah - lead by example.
> SharonCat - how did the landscape meetup go?



It was great.  Ended up being about 40 people but plenty of room for everyone at the location. Made some new friends and we plan to meet back there again for a sunrise shoot before it gets too cold.  I think I got a few keepers but it was really windy out so not as many as I hoped.  Going to spend the afternoon watching football while editing.   Tried a pano but a horizontal not vertical.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah - lead by example.
> SharonCat - how did the landscape meetup go?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was great.  Ended up being about 40 people but plenty of room for everyone at the lication. Made some new friends and we plan to meet back there again for a sunrise shoot before I it gets too cold.  I think I got a few keepers but it was really windy out so not as many as I hoped.  Going to spend the afternoon watching football while editing.   Tried a pano but a horizontal not vertical.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good time.  I've never tried a vertical pano (portrait orientation) as I don't have an "L" bracket.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 127720
> iPhone
> 
> Gary was feeding his 'Starter' this morning and liked the lighting.



Pulled a loaf of fresh biga-started bread out of the oven about a half hour ago, and just pulled out some focaccia with rosemary, sea salt, and grapes out of the oven for our football treat. 

It's become a nice Sunday routine.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah - lead by example.
> SharonCat - how did the landscape meetup go?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was great.  Ended up being about 40 people but plenty of room for everyone at the lication. Made some new friends and we plan to meet back there again for a sunrise shoot before I it gets too cold.  I think I got a few keepers but it was really windy out so not as many as I hoped.  Going to spend the afternoon watching football while editing.   Tried a pano but a horizontal not vertical.
Click to expand...

Wait.   SharonCat?  How'd you get such a cool nickname, SP?      First time seeing it.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah - lead by example.
> SharonCat - how did the landscape meetup go?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was great.  Ended up being about 40 people but plenty of room for everyone at the lication. Made some new friends and we plan to meet back there again for a sunrise shoot before I it gets too cold.  I think I got a few keepers but it was really windy out so not as many as I hoped.  Going to spend the afternoon watching football while editing.   Tried a pano but a horizontal not vertical.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wait.   SharonCat?  How'd you get such a cool nickname, SP?      First time seeing it.
Click to expand...


My first name is Sharon and my last name starts with Cat.  SharonCat... is my Flickr name.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I knew about the Sharon part but not the Cat part.  I just used something really creative, 'the other' lol. Because Sharon Monett was the original Sharon - miss her not being on here with her entertaining stories.

Watching World Cup of Hockey games - I love early hockey in September!! double header no less.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> I knew about the Sharon part but not the Cat part.  I just used something really creative, 'the other' lol. Because Sharon Monett was the original Sharon - miss her not being on here with her entertaining stories.
> 
> Watching World Cup of Hockey games - I love early hockey in September!! double header no less.



SquarePeg is a username I've had for years on a couple of other sites so I automatically used it here when I joined.  So much easier to have one username for everything.  The memory is the first thing to go ya know?


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


>


New, from Ronco... "Box O' Ferret"!


----------



## Designer

Avast, ye landlubbers!


----------



## KenC

Designer said:


> Avast, ye landlubbers!



Did you get wet?  It's raining pretty hard here, so we may be wetter than you.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> I knew about the Sharon part but not the Cat part.  I just used something really creative, 'the other' lol. Because Sharon Monett was the original Sharon - miss her not being on here with her entertaining stories.
> 
> Watching World Cup of Hockey games - I love early hockey in September!! double header no less.



So for those of us in the cheap seats who are easily confused maybe we can just use like a simple numbering system.  Sharon Mk I, Sharon MKII, Sharon MKIII and so on.


----------



## robbins.photo

Designer said:


> Avast, ye landlubbers!



I will have you know I've never lubbed a land in my entire life.  Ok, well that one time in Singapore but that really shouldn't count.


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> New, from Ronco... "Box O' Ferret"!
Click to expand...


Yes, but is it dishwasher safe?


----------



## pixmedic

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> New, from Ronco... "Box O' Ferret"!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, but is it dishwasher safe?
Click to expand...

Yes


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> New, from Ronco... "Box O' Ferret"!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, but is it dishwasher safe?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes
Click to expand...


Ok, so note to self.  Do not ask if it's microwave safe.. got it...


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> I knew about the Sharon part but not the Cat part.  I just used something really creative, 'the other' lol. Because Sharon Monett was the original Sharon - miss her not being on here with her entertaining stories.
> 
> Watching World Cup of Hockey games - I love early hockey in September!! double header no less.


I think we'll be missing Sharon and her great sense of humor for a long time.   

Well, Sharon continues to be a popular name around here.  I love the SharonCat thing.   Any cat association is instantly cool with me.


----------



## SquarePeg

Designer said:


> Avast, ye landlubbers!



Arrr me hearty!!  There'll be no quarter given to those who don't savvy.



KenC said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Avast, ye landlubbers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did you get wet?  It's raining pretty hard here, so we may be wetter than you.
Click to expand...


There's mutiny afoot me lad.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Avast, ye landlubbers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Arrr me hearty!!  There'll be no quarter given to those who don't savvy.
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Avast, ye landlubbers!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Did you get wet?  It's raining pretty hard here, so we may be wetter than you.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> There's mutiny afoot me lad.
Click to expand...


Arrrrr.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Avast, ye landlubbers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Arrr me hearty!!  There'll be no quarter given to those who don't savvy.
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Avast, ye landlubbers!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Did you get wet?  It's raining pretty hard here, so we may be wetter than you.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> There's mutiny afoot me lad.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Arrrrr.
Click to expand...


Yo-ho-ho!   You be on the right ship me bucko!


----------



## Designer

Crispy Creme Doughnuts will give you a free doughnut just fer talkin' like a pirate, mateys.  And If you dress like a pirate, it's full dozen!  

I see nothing about free coffee, though, the scurvy dogs.  ARRRGH!


----------



## pgriz

It was that time of the year.  The sun rises later every day, and sets earlier every evening.  The warm air has a few more breaths of coolness in it, enough at times to make one look for that sweater that was stored away.  And then there were phone calls, reminding us of family events to be celebrated, relatives to visit before too many more years are past, and those vague guilt feelings when you know some of them won't be around for much longer.  So we replied to the requested RSVP, made our plans, and headed south.

Some things never seem to change.  Whatever road you pick to get you from here to there, is guaranteed to have some road construction somewhere, and a least an accident or two to remind you of the dangers of loss of attention, and the frailty of life.  And so it was, with workers working their yellow trucks late past suppertime, doing necessary maintenance on roadways well travelled, and causing the rather sparse traffic to get into lines and form congestion.  We arrived finally at our destination, with my cousin waiting up to make sure we could find the guest bedroom and took care of our thirst and hunger.

The following day, we celebrated the 50th wedding anniversary of an aunt and uncle, glad that we could still be with them, and them with us, despite failing eyesight, and other body parts that seem to have expiry dates approaching.  Both in their 90-ies.  Both stubborn enough not take the hints about the falling night.  And after we got them safely home, we went to see the Jersey Shores, places we've driven by so many times, but never really stopped to explore.  We got there just in time to see the sun paint the clouds pink, and to see tired shopkeepers start to close their restaurants and stores down.  Perhaps it was an echo of where we were earlier in the day.

I took a few photos, which I am posting mainly as a memento of where we were.





At one point, we had a look at the beach which was by now rather quiet...




And finally, as we headed back to our car, the fading light played so nicely on one of the buildings, so I could not resist.




As we drove home, north toward NY state, we got word of something happening in NY City, and my cousin, an EMS supervisor got a message that something else was happening at another point on Jersey Shore.  We found the details the next morning, sketchy as the news was, that two bombs exploded.

I tried to set up a quick meeting with Leonore, but our schedules just didn't coincide enough.  No problem.  We'll be back.  Promise.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, fellow hosers. So the news is I start on Wednesday. Photographing for church directories/families. Like I was saying, I believe in the power of printing, so I am selling something I believe in.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That sound good Michael! seems like it'll be a worthwhile and enjoyable job.

Opening of today's World Cup afternoon game and they were showing a girl in the stands with a camera, maybe about middle school age. Photography and hockey, a girl after my own heart! you go girl!!

I'm a landlubber and like water frozen. But I do have a pirate camera.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## pgriz

Does that ferret have ANY bones?  Or are ferrets the land-based version of squid and octopi?


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## snowbear

Cancel the lookout - Paul's been located.



pgriz said:


> Does that ferret have ANY bones?  Or are ferrets the land-based version of squid and octopi?


Slugs with hair?


----------



## snowbear

I have to learn how to cook all over again.  Stainless ain't the same as teflon-or-whatever-carcinogenic-stick-free coating.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> That sound good Michael! seems like it'll be a worthwhile and enjoyable job.
> 
> Opening of today's World Cup afternoon game and they were showing a girl in the stands with a camera, maybe about middle school age. Photography and hockey, a girl after my own heart! you go girl!!
> 
> I'm a landlubber and like water frozen. But I do have a pirate camera.
> 
> View attachment 127760


Arrrgh Matey ... That is quite th' sea dog camera.  A treasure from Davey Jone's Locker for sure.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> I have to learn how to cook all over again.  Stainless ain't the same as teflon-or-whatever-carcinogenic-stick-free coating.


It is easy to use.  A little oil of your choice when necessary and start with a cold pan when no oil is used.  If you start with a cold pan when cooking meats as the pan warms the meat will render some of it's fat thereby providing the oil/ luberacation needed to keep the meat from sticking.  Generally Stainless steel is a low/medium/medium high cookware.  If you need real hot you need to use cast iron.

Of course any good kitchen needs a 10" & 12" no stick omelet pan preferably with Ceramic coating instead of the old teflon.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> I have to learn how to cook all over again.  Stainless ain't the same as teflon-or-whatever-carcinogenic-stick-free coating.



Patience is key.  I've found that trying to turn or remove the meat before it's ready is what usually ends in a mess.


----------



## snowbear

Is it THAT day, already?   Oy vey!


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have to learn how to cook all over again.  Stainless ain't the same as teflon-or-whatever-carcinogenic-stick-free coating.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Patience is key.  I've found that trying to turn or remove the meat before it's ready is what usually ends in a mess.
Click to expand...

You were looking over my shoulder, weren't you?

I used a spray cooking oil, but maybe not enough.  And the pan was apparently not hot enough.  I'll just have top keep practicing.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gaaah! I start in two days and I'm all kinds of sick...  This suuuuuuuucks.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary used to be an advisor to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, does that make Gary an environmental pirate?

*Sea Shepherd Conservation Society*


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have to learn how to cook all over again.  Stainless ain't the same as teflon-or-whatever-carcinogenic-stick-free coating.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Patience is key.  I've found that trying to turn or remove the meat before it's ready is what usually ends in a mess.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You were looking over my shoulder, weren't you?
> 
> I used a spray cooking oil, but maybe not enough.  And the pan was apparently not hot enough.  I'll just have top keep practicing.
Click to expand...

This is what Calphalon suggests for stainless steel. 

Stainless steel is the cookware of choice for many home cooks – some choose it for its superior performance and durability, while others prefer cooking on a traditional surface or just love its brilliant look in the kitchen. Stainless steel behaves differently than nonstick or hard-anodized aluminum cookware, but you can get great results every time you cook by following these simple steps for no-stick cooking.

• *Take the chill off foods before cooking.* Because cold food will stick to a hot pan, remove foods from the refrigerator before you start to cook and allow to gently warm up for 10 or 15 minutes. If you're cooking meat, gently pat dry to remove moisture.

• *Pre-heat your pan over medium heat.* Calphalon stainless steel cookware has an aluminum core or base, and it holds heat very well. Don't preheat on high thinking that you're going to save time – your pan will probably be too hot when you add the food. It only takes a couple of minutes to preheat Calphalon cookware at the proper temperature.

• *Use the butter test to see if your pan is properly preheated.* When you think the pan is warm enough to start cooking, test it by rubbing a teaspoon of butter over the inside of the pan. When the butter begins to bubble briskly (it should not brown), it’s properly preheated. If the butter begins to burn and turn brown, the heat setting is too high. Carefully wipe the burned butter out of the pan with a paper towel, lower the heat, wait a minute, and try the butter test again. 

• *DO NOT use aerosol cooking sprays.* Aerosol sprays contain a chemical propellant that is difficult to remove. Instead, use an oil mister filled with olive or vegetable oil, or dab a bit of oil on a paper towel and carefully wipe the interior of the pan.

• *Cook with less oil.* It's a common misconception that you need a lot of oil to keep food from sticking. If you have pre-heated properly, you only need just enough oil to coat the pan. No more than a teaspoon or so should pool if you pick up the pan and tilt it.

• *Turn down the heat!* Calphalon cookware is so heat-efficient that high heat can quickly cause food to stick and burn. Keep heat at medium-high or below. In most cases, you just don't need a high heat setting. (Think of your burner settings like the speedometer in your car. The numbers go up to 120 mph, but you really don't need to drive that fast.)

• *Give food room to cook.* Overcrowding can rapidly reduce the temperature of the pan, which can cause food to stick or cook unevenly.

• *Keep your cookware thoroughly clean.* Residue from previous cooking or aerosol cooking sprays is a common cause of sticking. While most stainless steel pans are dishwasher safe, we recommend hand washing to preserve the luster of the stainless steel. After each use, wash stainless steel surfaces in hot, sudsy water using a liquid dishwashing detergent such as Dawn® and a non-abrasive sponge or soft bristle brush – we recommend using Scotch-Brite™ Dobie® pads. Sometimes, pans develop a rainbow-like discoloration. To remove this, use Bar Keeper's Friend® cleanser (or other polish made especially for stainless steel) and a non-abrasive sponge or soft bristle brush.


----------



## Gary A.

There is a school out there who believes Olive oil turns into into a carcinagin when heated.  Olive oil breaks down at a lower temp than other oils.  For cooking Gary uses avocado or grape seed oil.


----------



## EIngerson

Eric puts dead animal on the grill. Boom! Safe to eat.


----------



## jcdeboever

Well, I work on commission and the company I work for told me they can not take any more work in. So, I can not make any more money. Time to look for another job. All shifts / workers hate me. So much for, you just get the work in here and we will figure it out. I am such an idiot. I am over 200% the sales to budget, and even more to expense to sales. Still have not seen a bonus on that either.


----------



## tirediron

EIngerson said:


> Eric puts dead animal on the grill. Boom! Safe to eat.


Ayeee-yep!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Well, I work on commission and the company I work for told me they can not take any more work in. So, I can not make any more money. Time to look for another job. All shifts / workers hate me. So much for, you just get the work in here and we will figure it out. I am such an idiot. I am over 200% the sales to budget, and even more to expense to sales. Still have not seen a bonus on that either.


Go west young man.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Well, I work on commission and the company I work for told me they can not take any more work in. So, I can not make any more money. Time to look for another job. All shifts / workers hate me. So much for, you just get the work in here and we will figure it out. I am such an idiot. I am over 200% the sales to budget, and even more to expense to sales. Still have not seen a bonus on that either.



Sorry bud.  That stinks.


----------



## oldhippy

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, I work on commission and the company I work for told me they can not take any more work in. So, I can not make any more money. Time to look for another job. All shifts / workers hate me. So much for, you just get the work in here and we will figure it out. I am such an idiot. I am over 200% the sales to budget, and even more to expense to sales. Still have not seen a bonus on that either.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry bud.  That stinks.
Click to expand...

Major sucks, sorry. Hoping for a new and better path for you. Ed


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> Well, I work on commission and the company I work for told me they can not take any more work in. So, I can not make any more money. Time to look for another job. All shifts / workers hate me. So much for, you just get the work in here and we will figure it out. I am such an idiot. I am over 200% the sales to budget, and even more to expense to sales. Still have not seen a bonus on that either.







Find the rest of the episode if you want some inspiration of how to go out


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  The usual stuff here.  Company asked me to take on some new work due to corporate restructuring (which also will cause some of my old work to leave), mainly because I have a good background for it and know the technology.  Today they asked me if I wanted to sit in a two-day course on this technology, which I politely declined so I can do some actual work.

@jcdeboever - sorry to hear about that mess, just another thing for the "employers suck" pile.


----------



## jcdeboever

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  The usual stuff here.  Company asked me to take on some new work due to corporate restructuring (which also will cause some of my old work to leave), mainly because I have a good background for it and know the technology.  Today they asked me if I wanted to sit in a two-day course on this technology, which I politely declined so I can do some actual work.
> 
> @jcdeboever - sorry to hear about that mess, just another thing for the "employers suck" pile.


Yup, to make matters worse, it's my father in law's business. I left once for the same reasons. He added equipment but finding people to work is the main challenge.


----------



## Gary A.

@JC:  You're saying your company cannot find enough people to work in the Detroit area ... Really.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> @JC:  You're saying your company cannot find enough people to work in the Detroit area ... Really.



Wow that's crazy!  Is it a highly skilled job and they're only looking for experienced operators?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The weather was crappy yesterday, hot and steamy according to Mary Lou.  It didn't seem all that terrible to Gary, not hot enough for the A/C, but Mary Lou complained.  Some immeasurable rain fell.  Mary Lou said she walked out of one side of her building and it was wet and rainy, she walked out the other side and it was perfectly dry.  She works in a school and the building is two classrooms wide.  Mary Lou and Gary returned to that newly discovered Japanese Resturant around the corner.  Gary wanted to walk, but Mary Lou insisted on driving because she had a long day filled with KenC meeting all day long, she was tired and didn't want to fight the high humidity.  Mary Lou had Popcorn Shrimp and an Avocado Roll, Gary had a Alaska Roll complete with free ice cream. The Avocado Roll was quite good and refreshing.

Then home for some cable news and talking heads on the presidential election, some wine and rounding out the evening with The Voice. The wine was good.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Then home for some cable news and talking heads on the presidential election, some wine and rounding out the evening with The Voice. The wine was good.



Also ended my evening with wine and The Voice.  Thought Miley was a breath of fresh air but found Alicia Keys to be a bit annoying which surprised me because I love her music.  The antics of Blake and Adam are getting tired.  The voice on that medical device salesman was phenomenal.  Based on his video I was expecting him to be horrible.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- On the sports front:
Dodgers beat SF last night extending their lead.  Gary and Mary Lou have tickets for Vin Scully night on Friday.
Kershaw is back ... almost.
Trojans are dumping their Q-back ... two games too late.
Parking for the Rams' Coliseum comeback game was as high as $180 within a half mile of the stadium and up to $1000 per space online. (The $1000 spaces are on the 50 yard line.)


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> Also ended my evening with wine and The Voice.



I went with beer and Top Gear myself.


----------



## Gary A.

What did the sales guy sing?  I remember the songs but not the faces? I enjoyed Levine climbing up on stage and singing 'The Way You Look Tonight' as duet with the contestant.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Also ended my evening with wine and The Voice.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I went with beer and Top Gear myself.
Click to expand...

If you ever run across Hangar 24 Orange-Wheat Beer, grab a six-pack.  Good stuff.


----------



## NancyMoranG

'On the sports front'.....Stand Up! 
35 yrs ago, my coworkers husband was in the Navy. They were getting 'shore leave/stop' in Greece I believe. They gave them the whole speech about time to be back, behavior, etc, and DO NOT touch their flag.
Well the ship left the next morning without 3 of them because they wanted a souvenir...just say in'

It's currently POURING rain here at Cape Cod. And I have a dentist appt to go to...


----------



## SquarePeg

Sports front?  Ok.  My beloved Red Sox are sporting a 4 game lead over Baltimore and Toronto in the AL East after sweeping the Evil Empire all but out of the galaxy over the weekend.  The Empire will try to strike back next week.  The first order of business for the resistance will be to awaken the forces of good.


----------



## pixmedic

Bear likes to use possums ear as a pacifier.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> Bear likes to use possums ear as a pacifier.



These two have just officially reached lethal levels of cute. Impending brain explosion in three....two...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Have on a replay of last night's World Cup game, then there's a live game at 3 and another tonight. No such thing as too much hockey.

But I'm not getting much done, and am (supposed to be) doing an online class (but am way behind) just for fun/'personal enrichment' thru TCM on slapstick comedy.


----------



## table1349

Wichita woman wins free ‘Starbucks For Life’


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> Wichita woman wins free ‘Starbucks For Life’


Sucks to be her!


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wichita woman wins free ‘Starbucks For Life’
> 
> 
> 
> Sucks to be her!
Click to expand...

For any real coffee hoser is sucks to not be her.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wichita woman wins free ‘Starbucks For Life’
> 
> 
> 
> Sucks to be her!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> For any real coffee hoser is sucks to not be her.
Click to expand...

"Coffee" and "Starbucks" are mutually exclusive.  Coffee is a hot, thick, BLACK liquid served in a white china mug.  It is not flavored (Except for coffee) and the only ingredients are coffee beans and hot water.  Anything else is not coffee, it's a chemical experiment!


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wichita woman wins free ‘Starbucks For Life’
> 
> 
> 
> Sucks to be her!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> For any real coffee hoser is sucks to not be her.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> "Coffee" and "Starbucks" are mutually exclusive.  Coffee is a hot, thick, BLACK liquid served in a white china mug.  It is not flavored (Except for coffee) and the only ingredients are coffee beans and hot water.  Anything else is not coffee, it's a chemical experiment!
Click to expand...


You can actually get that at starbucks.  You just have to ask.


----------



## waday

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wichita woman wins free ‘Starbucks For Life’
> 
> 
> 
> Sucks to be her!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> For any real coffee hoser is sucks to not be her.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> "Coffee" and "Starbucks" are mutually exclusive.  Coffee is a hot, thick, BLACK liquid served in a white china mug.  It is not flavored (Except for coffee) and the only ingredients are coffee beans and hot water.  Anything else is not coffee, it's a chemical experiment!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You can actually get that at starbucks.  You just have to ask.
Click to expand...

Stinks for her. She's only going to live until 63.

Or at least that's what Starbucks is assuming, since "For Life" means 30 years.

(But, I have to admit, that's freaking awesome.)


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wichita woman wins free ‘Starbucks For Life’
> 
> 
> 
> Sucks to be her!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> For any real coffee hoser is sucks to not be her.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> "Coffee" and "Starbucks" are mutually exclusive.  Coffee is a hot, thick, BLACK liquid served in a white china mug.  It is not flavored (Except for coffee) and the only ingredients are coffee beans and hot water.  Anything else is not coffee, it's a chemical experiment!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You can actually get that at starbucks.  You just have to ask.
Click to expand...

The last time I went in there (because there was NO other option) and asked for a "Large, black coffee" you'd have thought I just walked into a Mosque and asked for a bacon sandwich!


----------



## minicoop1985

I have to admit, I went into one today... And I like mochas....


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wichita woman wins free ‘Starbucks For Life’
> 
> 
> 
> Sucks to be her!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> For any real coffee hoser is sucks to not be her.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> "Coffee" and "Starbucks" are mutually exclusive.  Coffee is a hot, thick, BLACK liquid served in a white china mug.  It is not flavored (Except for coffee) and the only ingredients are coffee beans and hot water.  Anything else is not coffee, it's a chemical experiment!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You can actually get that at starbucks.  You just have to ask.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The last time I went in there (because there was NO other option) and asked for a "Large, black coffee" you'd have thought I just walked into a Mosque and asked for a bacon sandwich!
Click to expand...

You don't speak Starbucks, thats the problem.  Being unolingual can be quite trying for those of that are bilingual.  Here is a little translation lesson for you. 

*Starbucks 101......Ordering Basic Coffee*
For ordering basic coffee, beyond specifying the size you want, you will need to tell the server whether you want regular or decaffeinated coffee. If you do not say decaf, they will assume that you want regular. If you intend to add cream or milk to your coffee, say with room for cream, or simply, with room. Some servers automatically leave room; if you want a full cup, say no room. The basic coffee served is a medium roast coffee called Pike Place, but Starbucks offers other varieties as well. Read the list of roasts above the counter ahead of time, because they may not ask you which you would like. Finally, if you are very particular about the freshness of your coffee, you can ask before you order, “When was the coffee brewed?” If it has been a long while, they may offer to make a fresh batch; you will have to wait a few minutes for this new batch to brew. Once you have your coffee, you will find milk, cream (marked “half and half”), and sweeteners on a nearby counter.

When you order, say the _size_ you want first, then give the _name_ of the drink, and finally add the _special instructions_ last.

Example basic coffee order:
“I would like a tall decaf coffee with room.”


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> “I would like a tall decaf coffee with room.”


That's contradictory right there.... if'n it ain't caffeinated, t'ain't coffee!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> “I would like a tall decaf coffee with room.”
> 
> 
> 
> C'est contradictoire là .... if'n on ne contenant de la caféine, le café de t'ain't !!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

FIFY......  You must learn to communicate in other languages.  It's the law there I do believe.


----------



## JonA_CT

Starbucks is about as good as it gets for chain coffee, IMO. Unfortunately, I live in New England, so I'm surrounded by people who actually choose to drink coffee from Dunkin Donuts. It's terribly tragic. I very rarely buy coffee out (and only from Dunkin Donuts if it's 90 degrees out and the coffee is 33*). 

Honestly, though...I probably save a lot of money because I'd rather drink the coffee I make at home.


----------



## Gary A.

There are a few coffee shops out here who own their own trees, roast, grind and brew their own coffee.  Gary likes their coffee.  Gary is not a fan of Starbucks.


----------



## pixmedic

Gary A. said:


> There are a few coffee shops out here who own their own trees, roast, grind and brew their own coffee.  Gary likes their coffee.  Gary is not a fan of Starbucks.




i dont like starbucks either...
Duncan Donuts all the way!


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> “I would like a tall decaf coffee with room.”
> 
> 
> 
> C'est contradictoire là .... if'n on ne contenant de la caféine, le café de t'ain't !!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> FIFY......  You must learn to communicate in other languages.  It's the law there I do believe.
Click to expand...


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> "Coffee" and "Starbucks" are mutually exclusive.  Coffee is a hot, thick, BLACK liquid served in a white china mug.  It is not flavored (Except for coffee) and the only ingredients are coffee beans and hot water.  Anything else is not coffee, it's a chemical experiment!



No, they're not mutually exclusive. You don't HAVE to get flavored drinks. There's plenty of plain hot black coffee to be had, and I'm sure they'll serve it in a mug instead of a paper cup if you ask. If you don't like the coffee, fine, but don't try to claim they don't make coffee, ya big grump.


----------



## SquarePeg

I don't drink coffee. Runs and hides...


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> I don't drink coffee. Runs and hides...


Neither do I . . . inhale is more accurate.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> "Coffee" and "Starbucks" are mutually exclusive.  Coffee is a hot, thick, BLACK liquid served in a white china mug.  It is not flavored (Except for coffee) and the only ingredients are coffee beans and hot water.  Anything else is not coffee, it's a chemical experiment!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No, they're not mutually exclusive. You don't HAVE to get flavored drinks. There's plenty of plain hot black coffee to be had, and I'm sure they'll serve it in a mug instead of a paper cup if you ask. If you don't like the coffee, fine, but don't try to claim they don't make coffee, ya big grump.
Click to expand...

They produce a burned, watery black swill which one could, if under the effect of a strong hallucinogen, refer to as coffee in extreme circumstances.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> "Coffee" and "Starbucks" are mutually exclusive.  Coffee is a hot, thick, BLACK liquid served in a white china mug.  It is not flavored (Except for coffee) and the only ingredients are coffee beans and hot water.  Anything else is not coffee, it's a chemical experiment!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No, they're not mutually exclusive. You don't HAVE to get flavored drinks. There's plenty of plain hot black coffee to be had, and I'm sure they'll serve it in a mug instead of a paper cup if you ask. If you don't like the coffee, fine, but don't try to claim they don't make coffee, ya big grump.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They produce a burned, watery black swill which one could, if under the effect of a strong hallucinogen, refer to as coffee in extreme circumstances.
Click to expand...


So you'd rather drink the equivalent of some light brown crayons melted into super hot water to disguise how crappy it tastes? Knock yourself out. To each her own.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> I don't drink coffee. Runs and hides...


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> So you'd rather drink the equivalent of some light brown crayons melted into super hot water to disguise how crappy it tastes? Knock yourself out. To each her own.


I always add at least one black crayon for body!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So you'd rather drink the equivalent of some light brown crayons melted into super hot water to disguise how crappy it tastes? Knock yourself out. To each her own.
> 
> 
> 
> I always add at least one black crayon for body!
Click to expand...


Naturally!


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## table1349




----------



## KenC

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So you'd rather drink the equivalent of some light brown crayons melted into super hot water to disguise how crappy it tastes? Knock yourself out. To each her own.
> 
> 
> 
> I always add at least one black crayon for body!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Naturally!
Click to expand...


Am I the only one who thinks it's ironic that we meet here in "The Coffee House" and no two people seem to have the same idea of what coffee is?


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So you'd rather drink the equivalent of some light brown crayons melted into super hot water to disguise how crappy it tastes? Knock yourself out. To each her own.
> 
> 
> 
> I always add at least one black crayon for body!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Naturally!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Am I the only one who thinks it's ironic that we meet here in "The Coffee House" and no two people seem to have the same idea of what coffee is?
Click to expand...


Ah, I believe this lack of consensus is the very essence of a coffee house, at least in the Viennese tradition


----------



## Gary A.

While you all argue about silliness, Gary is doing some serious cooking, chicken that's been soaking in a Stella and steak fries mixed with herbs and veggies from the garden all fried harmoniously together.


----------



## limr

Well, all I know is that the first taste of that first cup of coffee is sometimes the only thing that gets me up in the morning. Whatever your tastes are when it comes to coffee (or whatever your morning poison is), may all of your cups tomorrow morning be hot, fresh, and invigorating!

Time for this hoser to hit the hay.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's receiver arrived!


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner is served at the pub table.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 127816
> Gary's receiver arrived!


  Good grief...  looks like the HF patch-panel at our old ship/shore transmitter site.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 127816
> Gary's receiver arrived!
> 
> 
> 
> Good grief...  looks like the HF patch-panel at our old ship/shore transmitter site.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it is equally daunting as it is great.


----------



## pixmedic

Not quite morning for the ferrets yet


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 127816
> Gary's receiver arrived!



Whatever happened to just left speaker, right speaker, phono, tape and aux?


----------



## Designer

KenC said:


> Am I the only one who thinks it's ironic that we meet here in "The Coffee House" and no two people seem to have the same idea of what coffee is?


It's not at all ironic.  In my years of considerable number, and having shared coffee with many people, I have yet to witness any two people who take their coffee exactly the same, or if they do, to grumble about it being not exactly how they would like it.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> Not quite morning for the ferrets yet



That is totally me right now.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Enjoying my store brand coffee, at home, with some 2% milk and sugar...mmmmm. Better yet, it cost me pennies 
I have never had a Starbucks coffee or anything for that matter. Have had  a couple of DD 's coffee and it's good but don't leave house til I have had my home brew, then I don't need anymore.
I do LOVE cinnamon donuts though, but that's a rare treat at DD.


----------



## HughGuessWho

Gary A. said:


> Gary's receiver arrived!



Holy crap, Batman. Did that thing come from NASA?


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 127816
> Gary's receiver arrived!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Whatever happened to just left speaker, right speaker, phono, tape and aux?
Click to expand...

I believe they went out at about the same time.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 127816
> Gary's receiver arrived!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Whatever happened to just left speaker, right speaker, phono, tape and aux?
Click to expand...

Yeah, me too ... This puppy has Bluetooth and WIFI, upscaling for video and audio and inputs for Tv, Game, BluRay, PC, USB, et al ... Eight HDMI inputs alone ... And it can run/power two separate video and/or audio for different zones/rooms. Gary isn't an audiophile, but this was a very good deal from the factory.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Am I the only one who thinks it's ironic that we meet here in "The Coffee House" and no two people seem to have the same idea of what coffee is?
> 
> 
> 
> It's not at all ironic.  In my years of considerable number, and having shared coffee with many people, I have yet to witness any two people who take their coffee exactly the same, or if they do, to grumble about it being not exactly how they would like it.
Click to expand...

People don't take it black in Iowa?


----------



## Gary A.

NancyMoranG said:


> Enjoying my store brand coffee, at home, with some 2% milk and sugar...mmmmm. Better yet, it cost me pennies
> I have never had a Starbucks coffee or anything for that matter. Have had  a couple of DD 's coffee and it's good but don't leave house til I have had my home brew, then I don't need anymore.
> I do LOVE cinnamon donuts though, but that's a rare treat at DD.


You should explore grinding your own coffee.  It will take the taste up a notch or two.


----------



## Gary A.

HughGuessWho said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's receiver arrived!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Holy crap, Batman. Did that thing come from NASA?
Click to expand...

LOL ... 47 lbs of acoustical power.  (This is way too much for Gary's little house ... But Gary is really enjoying his home theater setup and this should certainly improve every aspect of that experience ... even the popcorn.)


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> HughGuessWho said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's receiver arrived!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Holy crap, Batman. Did that thing come from NASA?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... 47 lbs of acoustical power.  (This is way too much for Gary's little house ... But Gary is really enjoying his home theater setup and this should certainly improve every aspect of that experience ... even the popcorn.)
Click to expand...


For some reason, I read the word "raw" into that first sentence and then was confused when I re-read the post and didn't see it.

And of course now I have this song in my head, so you have to promise to blast it when you have that beast hooked up:


----------



## Gary A.

ROCK 'N' ROLL!!!!  "Raw power is sho' to come a running to you ..." (Iggy's version is better than the original.)


----------



## Gary A.

Gary need speakers.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Gary need speakers.



I've got some on an old 8 track I'm not using.  I can hook you up...


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary need speakers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've got some on an old 8 track I'm not using.  I can hook you up...
Click to expand...

Gary just took a peek at the manual ... "Not Suitable for 8 Track".


----------



## astroNikon

limr said:


> Well, all I know is that the first taste of that first cup of coffee is sometimes the only thing that gets me up in the morning. Whatever your tastes are when it comes to coffee (or whatever your morning poison is), may all of your cups tomorrow morning be hot, fresh, and invigorating!
> 
> Time for this hoser to hit the hay.


what's coffee ??


----------



## astroNikon

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 127816
> Gary's receiver arrived!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Whatever happened to just left speaker, right speaker, phono, tape and aux?
Click to expand...

Years ago when my SONY ES amp/radio bit the dust I replaced it with a new one.  Except it was "Surround Sound'  with Dolby, Dolby B and Dolby C.  So much for left/right channels only.   I still have my turntable, and can plug in my iPod.  And my left/rights are still my old speaker with 18" woofers going up to mini ceramic tweeters add-ons.


----------



## limr

astroNikon said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, all I know is that the first taste of that first cup of coffee is sometimes the only thing that gets me up in the morning. Whatever your tastes are when it comes to coffee (or whatever your morning poison is), may all of your cups tomorrow morning be hot, fresh, and invigorating!
> 
> Time for this hoser to hit the hay.
> 
> 
> 
> what's coffee ??
Click to expand...


You hush, now


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary need speakers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've got some on an old 8 track I'm not using.  I can hook you up...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary just took a peek at the manual ... "Not Suitable for 8 Track".
Click to expand...


Not.. suitable?  Are they kidding?  Send that piece of junk back.  What good is it if it can't handle 8 track.  How the heck is a guy supposed to listen to Eagles Greatest Hits?  

Wow.. did you get ripped off...


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary need speakers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've got some on an old 8 track I'm not using.  I can hook you up...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary just took a peek at the manual ... "Not Suitable for 8 Track".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not.. suitable?  Are they kidding?  Send that piece of junk back.  What good is it if it can't handle 8 track.  How the heck is a guy supposed to listen to Eagles Greatest Hits?
> 
> Wow.. did you get ripped off...
Click to expand...

Story of Gary's life.


----------



## jcdeboever

Neighbor guy brought me over the lens he had on the D70s. It's a mint copy of a AF 70-300 f4-5.6g. took a couple of test shots, very sharp at f8.


----------



## JonA_CT

One of my beer-brewing, music-jamming buddies is getting married on Friday. We brewed all of the beer for his wedding -- roughly 30 gallons worth -- out of our friend's garage. Then, the venue told him we would not be allowed to serve from kegs. 

So...we spent the evening filling 300 bottles of beer, one at a time. 200 bottles of our award-winning cream ale, 50 bottles of our IPA, and 50 bottles of our stout. 

If there are any leftovers, I'll have to try to snag some...maybe I can send out some samples.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> One of my beer-brewing, music-jamming buddies is getting married on Friday. We brewed all of the beer for his wedding -- roughly 30 gallons worth -- out of our friend's garage. Then, the venue told him we would not be allowed to serve from kegs.
> 
> So...we spent the evening filling 300 bottles of beer, one at a time. 200 bottles of our award-winning cream ale, 50 bottles of our IPA, and 50 bottles of our stout.
> 
> If there are any leftovers, I'll have to try to snag some...maybe I can send out some samples.




Yikes, that must have been brutal. If they are like my family, there will not be any left overs.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> One of my beer-brewing, music-jamming buddies is getting married on Friday. We brewed all of the beer for his wedding -- roughly 30 gallons worth -- out of our friend's garage. Then, the venue told him we would not be allowed to serve from kegs.
> 
> So...we spent the evening filling 300 bottles of beer, one at a time. 200 bottles of our award-winning cream ale, 50 bottles of our IPA, and 50 bottles of our stout.
> 
> If there are any leftovers, I'll have to try to snag some...maybe I can send out some samples.


Gary would be willing to trade some California wines for some Connecticut beer.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

In order to leave my house in enough time to get to work on time, I had to forego making coffee and wait until I got to work. So I'm still trying to wake up the rest of the way. About to make cup #2.


----------



## astroNikon

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> In order to leave my house in enough time to get to work on time, I had to forego making coffee and wait until I got to work. So I'm still trying to wake up the rest of the way. About to make cup #2.


I made some water this morning.  Woke me right up.  And it's quick to prepare it too.
Sometimes I'll boil water and add it to dry oatmeal .. makes it more edible.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Just a hint of a marine layer this morning ... So another hot and humid day.  Gary doesn't mind the heat, but the humidity is a killer.  Gary has lived in other parts of the world with much higher humidity then what is being experienced here ... But one acclimatize after a spell. Gary is missing that "spell" period. Presently, a very nice cool breeze is swirling in from the outside ... Gary needs to check the weather app.  mmmmhhhh ... Apparently that cool breeze is gonna hang around all day, a high of 79F today.

Yesterday, Mary Lou and Gary purchased some new patio furniture. We've been looking at this one particular set for some time.  A few months ago, it was on sale at a very low price.  We went home, thought about it overnight, went back the next day and the sale was over.  The place wouldn't sell it at the sale price. Mary Lou and Gary went back every two weeks or so to see if we could shake their resolve ... Nope, they came down from the MSRP ... From their low price ... But never to that low price we were seeking. Yesterday they had a 30% off the entire stock of patio furniture ... We returned and haggled a free delivery which brought the whole deal to within $50 of the deal we wanted. Mary Lou and Gary are quite happy.


----------



## limr

astroNikon said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> In order to leave my house in enough time to get to work on time, I had to forego making coffee and wait until I got to work. So I'm still trying to wake up the rest of the way. About to make cup #2.
> 
> 
> 
> I made some water this morning.  Woke me right up.  And it's quick to prepare it too.
> Sometimes I'll boil water and add it to dry oatmeal .. makes it more edible.
Click to expand...


You hush, now!


----------



## pixmedic

Morning ferrets.
Well, one is up anyway. Kinda
Bear needs his coffee.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Gary, as a firefighter, thoughts on the Ca. Fires? Are they gaining on it and what's it gonna take to knock them down? Besides a typhoon class rainstorm...
We lost a house and possessions to a house fire in Massachusetts in the early '80s..


----------



## SquarePeg

I guess my boss didn't get my "no unnecessary conversations" memo.  Ugh!   <must. not. speak. thoughts.>

Argh!!!  Can't help it!!!!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## vintagesnaps

Jon I'm surprised a place would let you bring in anything these days. I remember a friend lived a block or so from a little (and I mean little) neighborhood bar (if you can call it that) and we'd walk over and they'd fill your bucket, jug, whatever! lol Actually there was another place not nearby that was a pony keg where you could take in your own container and they'd fill it up. I thought those days were over... well I think they are, I just wouldn't think a place would be able to allow someone to bring in their own home brew. Sounds good though!


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



The light! It burns us!!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>



That is so weird.

Ok, is it just me, or do the afternoon ferrets pretty much look exactly like the morning ferrets?


----------



## robbins.photo

pixmedic said:


>



So what would happen if we crossed a ferret with a Unicorn?


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



OH HAI!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


>



Good evening, Clarice...


----------



## pixmedic

limr said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good evening, Clarice...
Click to expand...

It puts the kibble in the cage,  or else it gets the weasels rage.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## snowbear

Spent the day taking two online FEMA classes in preparation for an Emergency Management GIS Specialist course in November.  As I've said before, Public Safety is like coal dust - once it's in your blood, it doesn't leave.


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


>


Are ferrets like chicken, the boneless ones are more expensive?


----------



## JonA_CT

Coffee is nicely contrasting the crisp, 53* air this morning. 

Leaving work early to make it on time to my friend's wedding. I haven't decided whether I'm going to bring my camera or not...when I do bring it, I end up getting nice photos of the friends who are not involved in the wedding party, but it's annoying have to watch it all night.


----------



## robbins.photo

I don't have coffee yet.  Need coffee.  Woman on facebook wants me to shoot a charity event on the 8th.  Tried to explain I don't do that, like talking to a wall.  So, ya, volunteered... Or drafted maybe.  Something like that.  Coffee maker staring at me, useless.  No coffee to put in it.  How did I forget to buy coffee?  The mega conglomerates track everything I buy so they can send me ads.. But nobody sends me an ad for coffee?  It's diabolical.  Need coffee.  Gas station.  Hopefully won't kill anybody driving down there.  Or in the store.  

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## astroNikon

robbins.photo said:


> I don't have coffee yet.  Need coffee.  Woman on facebook wants me to shoot a charity event on the 8th.  Tried to explain I don't do that, like talking to a wall.  So, ya, volunteered... Or drafted maybe.  Something like that.  Coffee maker staring at me, useless.  No coffee to put in it.  How did I forget to buy coffee?  The mega conglomerates track everything I buy so they can send me ads.. But nobody sends me an ad for coffee?  It's diabolical.  Need coffee.  Gas station.  Hopefully won't kill anybody driving down there.  Or in the store.


Coffee?
I had my water this morning.
Sometimes I drink flavored water from Meijers, fruitsations.  But I don't add that to oatmeal.  I only use *pure* water for oatmeal .. well, maybe according to the news all of our water is poisoned ...


----------



## robbins.photo

astroNikon said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't have coffee yet.  Need coffee.  Woman on facebook wants me to shoot a charity event on the 8th.  Tried to explain I don't do that, like talking to a wall.  So, ya, volunteered... Or drafted maybe.  Something like that.  Coffee maker staring at me, useless.  No coffee to put in it.  How did I forget to buy coffee?  The mega conglomerates track everything I buy so they can send me ads.. But nobody sends me an ad for coffee?  It's diabolical.  Need coffee.  Gas station.  Hopefully won't kill anybody driving down there.  Or in the store.
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee?
> I had my water this morning.
> Sometimes I drink flavored water from Meijers, fruitsations.  But I don't add that to oatmeal.  I only use *pure* water for oatmeal .. well, maybe according to the news all of our water is poisoned ...
Click to expand...

Flavoured water?  Do you wash your tutu in that too?



Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## astroNikon

robbins.photo said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't have coffee yet.  Need coffee.  Woman on facebook wants me to shoot a charity event on the 8th.  Tried to explain I don't do that, like talking to a wall.  So, ya, volunteered... Or drafted maybe.  Something like that.  Coffee maker staring at me, useless.  No coffee to put in it.  How did I forget to buy coffee?  The mega conglomerates track everything I buy so they can send me ads.. But nobody sends me an ad for coffee?  It's diabolical.  Need coffee.  Gas station.  Hopefully won't kill anybody driving down there.  Or in the store.
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee?
> I had my water this morning.
> Sometimes I drink flavored water from Meijers, fruitsations.  But I don't add that to oatmeal.  I only use *pure* water for oatmeal .. well, maybe according to the news all of our water is poisoned ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Flavoured water?  Do you wash your tutu in that too?
Click to expand...

No, only my monkeys wear tutu's.   And those are washing in the washing machine in Tide w/o bleach.


----------



## pixmedic

Gary A. said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are ferrets like chicken, the boneless ones are more expensive?
Click to expand...


i think all ferrets are boneless. 
it appears to be a natural hibernation mechanism.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> I don't have coffee yet.  Need coffee.  Woman on facebook wants me to shoot a charity event on the 8th.  Tried to explain I don't do that, like talking to a wall.  So, ya, volunteered... Or drafted maybe.  Something like that.  Coffee maker staring at me, useless.  No coffee to put in it.  How did I forget to buy coffee?  The mega conglomerates track everything I buy so they can send me ads.. But nobody sends me an ad for coffee?  It's diabolical.  Need coffee.  Gas station.  Hopefully won't kill anybody driving down there.  Or in the store.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr




----------



## limr

astroNikon said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't have coffee yet.  Need coffee.  Woman on facebook wants me to shoot a charity event on the 8th.  Tried to explain I don't do that, like talking to a wall.  So, ya, volunteered... Or drafted maybe.  Something like that.  Coffee maker staring at me, useless.  No coffee to put in it.  How did I forget to buy coffee?  The mega conglomerates track everything I buy so they can send me ads.. But nobody sends me an ad for coffee?  It's diabolical.  Need coffee.  Gas station.  Hopefully won't kill anybody driving down there.  Or in the store.
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee?
> I had my water this morning.
> Sometimes I drink flavored water from Meijers, fruitsations.  But I don't add that to oatmeal.  I only use *pure* water for oatmeal .. well, maybe according to the news all of our water is poisoned ...
Click to expand...


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Feeling draggy and dull today. Very fugue-y. Thus the reliance on memes to provide wit and pithiness. 'Cause mine ain't workin' so good this morning.

But, y'now. At least it's Friday, blah blah blah.


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are ferrets like chicken, the boneless ones are more expensive?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> i think all ferrets are boneless.
> it appears to be a natural hibernation mechanism.
Click to expand...

Or inebriated ... That could have been a photo of Gary in college ... on his way to chem class.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Feeling draggy and dull today. Very fugue-y. Thus the reliance on memes to provide wit and pithiness. 'Cause mine ain't workin' so good this morning.
> 
> But, y'now. At least it's Friday, blah blah blah.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another cool morning, 59F right now, but should warm up into the 80's.  Big day, Mary Lou and Gary have tickets for Vin Scully's last home game.  We're leaving at 4:00p.m., even though the game is at 7:00p.m. and the stadium is about 30 minutes away (with no traffic).  This is Vin Scully's appreciation night and the game has been sold out for months. Vinney is a big deal out here.  Sad to see him go.

More organic coffee this morning.  The Fuji XT2 is now being stocked by the big boy camera stores, Gary is eagerly waiting for his little camera store to get their stock. Gary's new patio furniture is to be delivered today ... Tomorrow guests are coming over to break-in the new stuff ... BBQ/pulled pork, pizza/flatbread, steak fries (Gary may dig up some potatoes) and football and/or movies on the big screen.


----------



## minicoop1985

Hey hosers. Man has it been a whirlwind the past few days. Absolutely nuts. I was supposed to be training on photography for a couple weeks, but yesterday, I was kinda forced into a situation where I had to act as the sole photographer. Good thing I have an idea of what I'm doing... yeesh.


----------



## Gary A.

Oooouuuuu ... Gary found an empanada ....


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> Feeling draggy and dull today. Very fugue-y. Thus the reliance on memes to provide wit and pithiness. 'Cause mine ain't workin' so good this morning.
> 
> But, y'now. At least it's Friday, blah blah blah.
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 127904
Click to expand...


And now I'll be giggling for the next five minutes. At least. Then later today, I'll be walking somewhere, maybe to drop off some papers or get a coffee, and I'll suddenly remember this meme and I'll start giggling again, and if anyone is watching me at that moment, they'll just see me suddenly start laughing for no apparent reason and wonder what the hell is wrong with me. And that will make me laugh even harder


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> And now I'll be giggling for the next five minutes. At least. Then later today, I'll be walking somewhere, maybe to drop off some papers or get a coffee, and I'll suddenly remember this meme and I'll start giggling again, and if anyone is watching me at that moment, they'll just see me suddenly start laughing for no apparent reason and wonder what the hell is wrong with me. And that will make me laugh even harder


The *RED* pencil, yeah, that's the one!


----------



## robbins.photo

Things I've discovered today:

Delayed coffee intake, no bueno.  

Still can't figure out if there's an accident on the shoulder why that brings 3 lanes of interstate traffic to an absolute standstill.

If your getting onto an elevator, let the people that are on the elevator get off first.  Why would something like this even be in doubt?


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Things I've discovered today:
> 
> Delayed coffee intake, no bueno.
> 
> Still can't figure out if there's an accident on the shoulder why that brings 3 lanes of interstate traffic to an absolute standstill.
> 
> If your getting onto an elevator, let the people that are on the elevator get off first.  Why would something like this even be in doubt?



Sounds like a productive morning so far.


----------



## terri

Yesterday we got a phone call from our small-ish town's utility department.   They wanted us to know of a sudden increase in water usage, to the tune of about 10 gallons an hour, just to let us know we suddenly need a plumber.   We crawled around this place until we found the one evil pipe that's giving out that telltale hiss.    Can't wait to hear what this is gonna cost me.    I'm glad they called and put us on alert, it just started a couple of days ago.    They called it a "slow leak," though it sounds like a lot to me.   Plumber here first thing tomorrow AM.   

So happy Friday!   Happy weekend!         I need more coffee!    And wine later!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Yesterday we got a phone call from our small-ish town's utility department.   They wanted us to know of a sudden increase in water usage, to the tune of about 10 gallons an hour, just to let us know we suddenly need a plumber.   We crawled around this place until we found the one evil pipe that's giving out that telltale hiss.    Can't wait to hear what this is gonna cost me.    I'm glad they called and put us on alert, it just started a couple of days ago.    They called it a "slow leak," though it sounds like a lot to me.   Plumber here first thing tomorrow AM.
> 
> So happy Friday!   Happy weekend!         I need more coffee!    And wine later!



Yikes! That was pretty great of the utility dept to let you know, though, so it didn't have to be worse. Good luck!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## pixmedic




----------



## JonA_CT

We already ran out of home brew. Luckily, my friend had a contingency plan with the caterer!


----------



## table1349

Y'all should have whipped up a batch of this.





Little shine and a little apple pie.

*Apple Pie Moonshine Recipe*
*Ingredients*
• 750ml moonshine
• 1-2 cups dark or spiced rum
• 1 quart apple juice
• 1 gallon apple cider
• 3 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 10 cinnamon sticks

*Directions*
1. Combine apple cider and apple juice in a large pot. Simmer on low to medium heat (you want to see a few bubbles are rising to the surface--NOT to the point of boiling) and then stir in sugars.
2. Continue to stir slowly for 5-10 minutes until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and let it cool until it reaches about room temperature. It's important to note that waiting for it to cool could take a few hours, and that's fine. You don't want to add the alcohol too soon because you don't want the heat to evaporate the alcohol.
3. After it reaches room temperature, stir in your vodka and rum.
4. Time to jar your moonshine! You can use bottles or mason jars, as long as the lid gives you a tight seal. in the mason jars. Put a cinnamon stick in each bottle for aging.
5. If you want to keep the proof high but cut down on a strong taste, allow it to age 2-3 weeks, as the cinnamon and sugar will really shine through and give it a smooth flavor profile.


If you had whipped up a batch of this stuff Y'all would still be at that wedding.


----------



## sw_

Made the move from South Florida to Flagstaff, AZ. We're about two weeks in now and everything has been great, then this morning happened. Walked out in my normal dog stroll clothes and darn near collapsed.  A nice balmy 31* windy hello was not what I expected.


----------



## table1349

USC vs UTAH is a barn burner at this point.


----------



## table1349

O.M.G. Utah just took the lead with 16 seconds left.  

USC in their territory with 8 seconds to go.  

And that's the game.....Utah 31, USC 27.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> O.M.G. Utah just took the lead with 16 seconds left.
> 
> USC in their territory with 8 seconds to go.
> 
> And that's the game.....Utah 31, USC 27.


What game?


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> O.M.G. Utah just took the lead with 16 seconds left.
> 
> USC in their territory with 8 seconds to go.
> 
> And that's the game.....Utah 31, USC 27.
> 
> 
> 
> What game?
Click to expand...

College Football of course.  Real football, none of that European shorty pants round ball stuff.


----------



## EIngerson

Sun burn, beer and good times at the Mira Mar Air show. 




Blue Angels-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr





Blue Angels-2 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

Tomorrow night's dinner.


----------



## JonA_CT

That sounds delicious. 

The morning after a wedding is always interesting. My wife let it rip for the first time in years last night...I knew by dinner time that I'd be driving, so I switched to water. She has already been through a couple of the stages of hangover this morning...she just recently moved from self-loathing stage to the "if I sleep some more this will go away" stage. The funniest part is that she says her legs are killing her, and she doesn't believe me that it was from all the dancing she did last night.

So it's me and my daughter this morning. I made some cheesy eggs for her, we've read a few books together, and she just went down for her nap. 

I have some flour and water autolysing for pizza dough for tonight. I haven't decided on toppings yet. Our favorite combination is asparagus, pancetta, and goat cheese, but I also might just go see what I can find at the farmer's market this morning.


----------



## minicoop1985

Hey Hosers. Holy crap. Past two days have been an absolute pressure cooker. I seem to thrive under pressure apparently... My trainer and supervisor are absolutely thrilled with what I've been doing so far.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> O.M.G. Utah just took the lead with 16 seconds left.
> 
> USC in their territory with 8 seconds to go.
> 
> And that's the game.....Utah 31, USC 27.


Even the mighty will fall. The only thing that can save Helton's job is if he beats Notre Dame and UCLA.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone images

Fortunately Gary was attending the Dodger-Rockies game instead of the SC-Utah match . After 67 years of announcing Dodger baseball, Scully is down to three outs.

A terrific game finishing with a "Win for Vin".  The above was the pregame ceremonies for Scully putting everybody in tears with a lot of baseball heros, including Sandy Koufax who made an appearance and a speech. The LA Phil marched to the pitching mound to performed the National Anthem with John Williams conducting.


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> Sun burn, beer and good times at the Mira Mar Air show.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Blue Angels-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Blue Angels-2 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


Nice Eric.  (I flew with the Blue Angels for a story.  They were in A4's back then.)


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 127958
> iPhone images
> 
> Fortunately Gary was attending the Dodger-Rockies game instead of the SC-Utah match . After 67 years of announcing Dodger baseball, Scully is down to three outs.
> 
> A terrific game finishing with a "Win for Vin".  The above was the pregame ceremonies for Scully putting everybody in tears with a lot of baseball heros, including Sandy Koufax who made an appearance and a speech. The LA Phil marched to the pitching mound to performed the National Anthem with John Williams conducting. View attachment 127957


I would hope so as the game was played at Utah.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is willing to travel with his team.


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sun burn, beer and good times at the Mira Mar Air show.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Blue Angels-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Blue Angels-2 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> Nice Eric.  (I flew with the Blue Angels for a story.  They were in A4's back then.)
Click to expand...


That would be AWESOME!


----------



## JonA_CT

Ended up going with a simple, uncooked San Marzano sauce and a mixture of provolone and mozzarella. 





Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr


----------



## minicoop1985

Had me a good 5 cheese pizza with fresh mozzarella. Mmmm


----------



## limr

Have had this song stuck in my head for the entire day. I went to see a classical string quartet concert tonight, and even on my way home after that, this song reappeared.


----------



## limr

And of course then there's this version by the Nevermind Orchestra, led by my friend and fellow filmwaster, Satish (on trumpet):


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 127958
> iPhone images
> 
> Fortunately Gary was attending the Dodger-Rockies game instead of the SC-Utah match . After 67 years of announcing Dodger baseball, Scully is down to three outs.
> 
> A terrific game finishing with a "Win for Vin".  The above was the pregame ceremonies for Scully putting everybody in tears with a lot of baseball heros, including Sandy Koufax who made an appearance and a speech. The LA Phil marched to the pitching mound to performed the National Anthem with John Williams conducting. View attachment 127957


I remember similar feeling when Ernie Harwell retired. Sad when he died as well. Such icons are truly missed.


----------



## Gary A.

sw_ said:


> Made the move from South Florida to Flagstaff, AZ. We're about two weeks in now and everything has been great, then this morning happened. Walked out in my normal dog stroll clothes and darn near collapsed.  A nice balmy 31* windy hello was not what I expected.


Lol, you're no longer at sea level.


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sun burn, beer and good times at the Mira Mar Air show.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Blue Angels-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Blue Angels-2 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> Nice Eric.  (I flew with the Blue Angels for a story.  They were in A4's back then.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That would be AWESOME!
Click to expand...

Yes!


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Lol, you're no longer at sea level.


Yep.  Look up "Adiabatic Cooling."  My sons went to Albuquerque a while back.  They had snow, and lazy_lobster couldn't believe there was snow in the desert.  He didn't realize they were between 5,000 and 6,000 feet, not to mention how quickly a desert cools off.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Coffee in the patio this fine morning. Gary is recovering from the full court press he made with yesterday's dinner. Above is a bite of his flatbread.

Dinner consisted of pulled pork w/ Gary's Famous BBQ sauce, kale-avocado salad from the garden, steak fries fried up with fistfuls of herbs and peppers from the garden, fruit salad and Gary's Famous handmade Sangria, which is served with a plate and utensils because it is a 50:50 blend of fruit and booze.

The guests brought various foods and we ate and drank until we couldn't move.  (For dessert coffee & espresso w/oatmeal cookies.)

Gary and Mary Lou had planned to hit Temecula today, but decided to have a day of rest and movies instead.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> And of course then there's this version by the Nevermind Orchestra, led by my friend and fellow filmwaster, Satish (on trumpet):


Cool!    Now that you've passed it along to my brain, perhaps it will leave yours.


----------



## table1349

What a productive morning here in the heartland.  Received two inches of rain overnight, the temp is 60 degrees F.  They predicted a high of 72 for today but I have my doubts that it will get there.  

Fall has finally reached us.  The house is now opened up and a wonderful breeze of rain cleaned air is passing thru.   It was worth it to have spent all that money on new windows this last spring as we can finally open up our house up and let the breeze blow thru.  Definitely better than running the AC plus now I can have my chilly bedroom to sleep in.  I love to sleep in a chilly bedroom under the blankets but I am too cheap to turn the AC down that low in the warmer months plus.   

Wife & I have been to the gym and worked out, had breakfast and are now taking a few minutes to relax a bit.   Lunch is a couple of home made artisan pizza's.   Dough has finished it's rise, been balled and wrapped and is resting nicely in the chill chest.  A lovely Sunday afternoon all in all.


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And of course then there's this version by the Nevermind Orchestra, led by my friend and fellow filmwaster, Satish (on trumpet):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cool!    Now that you've passed it along to my brain, perhaps it will leave yours.
Click to expand...

Perhaps this will get that song out of your brain.






Now get that song out of your brain.


----------



## snowbear

Birthday dinner at Cuba Libre, DC: Ropa Vieja.


----------



## table1349

A lovely 2" of rain so far this weekend with showers and some scattered thunderstorms into tomorrow morning.  With as much rain as we have had this season I wish I could send some towards the West coast.  They need it. 

The pizza is made and in the oven.  Will have dinner here in about 10 minutes.  

Good looking Birthday dinner there bear.  Making my mouth water just looking at it.


----------



## bogeyguy

I see that you're sending that rain out my way into the Pittsburgh area, not nice at all. Playing golf tomorrow morning about an hour North of the Burg, rain called for after noon, hopefully we'll be done and miss it.


----------



## bogeyguy

snowbear said:


> Birthday dinner at Cuba Libre, DC: Ropa Vieja.
> 
> View attachment 128026


are those plantains, yuk.


----------



## snowbear

bogeyguy said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Birthday dinner at Cuba Libre, DC: Ropa Vieja.
> 
> View attachment 128026
> 
> 
> 
> are those plantains, yuk.
Click to expand...


I normally pass on them but these were caramelized perfectly; just the right amount of sweetness.


----------



## snowbear

Now that I'm home and not fighting with the phone:




Cuba Libre, Washington, DC.  Birthday dinner. by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr




Cuba Libre, DC by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## minicoop1985

Evening, hosers. Things are quiet around here. Coop's getting ready for bed, wife's still at work, and the TV is off. Ah, life seems to be getting back to normal now. I have off tomorrow too, so three day weekend for me! Then it's finally some in class training.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Now that I'm home and not fighting with the phone:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cuba Libre, Washington, DC.  Birthday dinner. by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cuba Libre, DC by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr



Happy Birthday, Charlie!!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now that I'm home and not fighting with the phone:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cuba Libre, Washington, DC.  Birthday dinner. by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cuba Libre, DC by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Birthday, Charlie!!
Click to expand...


Didn't say it was mine. 


but, thank you.


----------



## Gary A.

Today was hot, 97F worth of hot. Gary replenished the Sangria today.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now that I'm home and not fighting with the phone:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cuba Libre, Washington, DC.  Birthday dinner. by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cuba Libre, DC by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Birthday, Charlie!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Didn't say it was mine.
> 
> 
> but, thank you.
Click to expand...


I know, and I figured if it wasn't your birthday, you'd just pass on the wishes to whosever it was


----------



## table1349

bogeyguy said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Birthday dinner at Cuba Libre, DC: Ropa Vieja.
> 
> View attachment 128026
> 
> 
> 
> are those plantains, yuk.
Click to expand...

I Like Plantains.


----------



## jcdeboever

Congrats to @Gary A.'s Dodgers for winning their division today. Not looking good for my Tigers to make a wild card birth. Oh well, I still have my Wolverines. Lord knows the Lions aren't going to do anything as usual.


----------



## table1349

bogeyguy said:


> I see that you're sending that rain out my way into the Pittsburgh area, not nice at all. Playing golf tomorrow morning about an hour North of the Burg, rain called for after noon, hopefully we'll be done and miss it.


Take an umbrella with you and remember..........


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.  *blink blink*


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Still too damned early... So le tired. Do have a day off with the wife while the kid's in school, so there's that.


----------



## robbins.photo

Ok, so totally unrelated ramblings.  Been looking at new lenses, think I've finally settled on a Nikkor 70-200mm VRI.  I looked long and hard at the VRII model but I can get a used VRI for a signifanct cost savings and it will do everything I need it to do, so unless I find a killer deal on a used VRII will most likely be going VRI.

Had a bang up time at the zoo this weekend.  I met a wonderful little girl who told me all about Zebras.  She is apparently their "bestus fan" and is quite the Zebra expert.  For example, I learned that zebras have stripes because flies don't like stripes and zebras don't like flies.

I was also informed that there are no baby zebras at the zoo because to have a baby zebra the mommy zebra and the daddy zebra have to kiss and they can't do that with so many people watching.  So, no baby zebras.  Honestly I'm kicking myself for not taking more detailed notes at this point.

I did however get mom's email address and sent her this so she could print it out and use it as a bookcover for her notebook for pre-school.


----------



## Designer

Flies, huh?  I did not know that.


----------



## Designer

Side note:  We took a tour of a wild animal (sanctuary/zoo/theme park?) and the guide pointed out that one of the mommy zebras was hanging with some antelope and staying away from the other zebras.  Presumably so she wouldn't have any baby zebras.  Apparently there's no kissing with the antelopes.


----------



## robbins.photo

Designer said:


> Flies, huh?  I did not know that.



Me either.  I was like, wow.. where did she get that.  So I googled it and I was like, wow.. ok, she really is the bestus zebra fan ever... lol


----------



## robbins.photo

Designer said:


> Side note:  We took a tour of a wild animal (sanctuary/zoo/theme park?) and the guide pointed out that one of the mommy zebras was hanging with some antelope and staying away from the other zebras.  Presumably so she wouldn't have any baby zebras.  Apparently there's no kissing with the antelopes.



I must admit I was completely unaware of the "Antelope Method" of birth control.  Huh.  It's been quite the educational weekend I guess... lol


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another hot-hot day today. Supposed to hit 103F. But Gary doubts the accuracy. Yesterday it was predicted to hit 102F but only reached 97F.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Flies, huh?  I did not know that.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Me either.  I was like, wow.. where did she get that.  So I googled it and I was like, wow.. ok, she really is the bestus zebra fan ever... lol
Click to expand...


I want stripes too! I don't like flies, either.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another hot-hot day today. Supposed to hit 103F. But Gary doubts the accuracy. Yesterday it was predicted to hit 102F but only reached 97F.


Gee Gary,  It was 45 when I woke up and is only 55 right now.  I would push some of these cool temps your way if I could.  Maybe you wouldn't complain as much as Bogey.  I pushed a little rain his way and he's griping cause he wants to play golf.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Flies, huh?  I did not know that.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Me either.  I was like, wow.. where did she get that.  So I googled it and I was like, wow.. ok, she really is the bestus zebra fan ever... lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I want stripes too! I don't like flies, either.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't that be interesting.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> I want stripes too! I don't like flies, either.



No worries.  

Zebra Toddler Costume - Small - Walmart.com


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I want stripes too! I don't like flies, either.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No worries.
> 
> Zebra Toddler Costume - Small - Walmart.com
Click to expand...


That would be great...if I were a child...or had a child.

But it suffers from the same weakness that Batman or Ironman suffers. It puts the source of my powers into an external covering. I need powers that are integral to my being so that I don't have to rely on a suit to fight the powers of insect evil!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I want stripes too! I don't like flies, either.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No worries.
> 
> Zebra Toddler Costume - Small - Walmart.com
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That would be great...if I were a child...or had a child.
> 
> But it suffers from the same weakness that Batman or Ironman suffers. It puts the source of my powers into an external covering. I need powers that are integral to my being so that I don't have to rely on a suit to fight the powers of insect evil!
Click to expand...

Ok, so let me Google recombinant DNA.  This might take a while... lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> Ok, so totally unrelated ramblings.  Been looking at new lenses, think I've finally settled on a Nikkor 70-200mm VRI.  I looked long and hard at the VRII model but I can get a used VRI for a signifanct cost savings and it will do everything I need it to do, so unless I find a killer deal on a used VRII will most likely be going VRI.


An important (IMO) and often overlooked reason NOT to go with the VRII is because on the VRII they removed the focus-lock buttons from the lens.


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, so totally unrelated ramblings.  Been looking at new lenses, think I've finally settled on a Nikkor 70-200mm VRI.  I looked long and hard at the VRII model but I can get a used VRI for a signifanct cost savings and it will do everything I need it to do, so unless I find a killer deal on a used VRII will most likely be going VRI.
> 
> 
> 
> An important (IMO) and often overlooked reason NOT to go with the VRII is because on the VRII they removed the focus-lock buttons from the lens.
Click to expand...


I also looked pretty hard at the 70-200mm F4.  It's a lot lighter which would be nice, but decided I really wanted the flexibility of the 2.8.  I'm guessing I probably won't get a ton of use out of the focus lock feature but I have to admit it would be nice to have.


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I want stripes too! I don't like flies, either.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No worries.
> 
> Zebra Toddler Costume - Small - Walmart.com
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That would be great...if I were a child...or had a child.
> 
> But it suffers from the same weakness that Batman or Ironman suffers. It puts the source of my powers into an external covering. I need powers that are integral to my being so that I don't have to rely on a suit to fight the powers of insect evil!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ok, so let me Google recombinant DNA.  This might take a while... lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

It would be easier if you just googled Tattoo Parlors.


----------



## astroNikon

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I want stripes too! I don't like flies, either.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No worries.
> 
> Zebra Toddler Costume - Small - Walmart.com
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That would be great...if I were a child...or had a child.
> 
> But it suffers from the same weakness that Batman or Ironman suffers. It puts the source of my powers into an external covering. I need powers that are integral to my being so that I don't have to rely on a suit to fight the powers of insect evil!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ok, so let me Google recombinant DNA.  This might take a while... lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

They make a machine .. or App for that ... just search on "The Fly"
and you should get plenty of hits.


----------



## robbins.photo

astroNikon said:


> They make a machine .. or App for that ... just search on "The Fly"
> and you should get plenty of hits.



I can't use apps anymore.  Somebody kept posting all these if you have a cell phone you don't need a camera threads.

So naturally I got rid of my cell phone...


----------



## JonA_CT

If you're looking to move your current telephoto zoom...let me know, haha.


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> If you're looking to move your current telephoto zoom...let me know, haha.



My Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 HSM I?  Yup.. I'll be putting it up for sale as soon as the replacement arrives.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Flies, huh?  I did not know that.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Me either.  I was like, wow.. where did she get that.  So I googled it and I was like, wow.. ok, she really is the bestus zebra fan ever... lol
Click to expand...

Gary likes Zebras too.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another hot-hot day today. Supposed to hit 103F. But Gary doubts the accuracy. Yesterday it was predicted to hit 102F but only reached 97F.
> 
> 
> 
> Gee Gary,  It was 45 when I woke up and is only 55 right now.  I would push some of these cool temps your way if I could.  Maybe you wouldn't complain as much as Bogey.  I pushed a little rain his way and he's griping cause he wants to play golf.
Click to expand...

I'll take the rain, you can keep the cold.  It's 100F right now, should hit 104F ... the A/C is on for the second time this month.  Tuesday it should drop by ten degrees and continue to drop through the rest of the week.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Congrats to @Gary A.'s Dodgers for winning their division today. Not looking good for my Tigers to make a wild card birth. Oh well, I still have my Wolverines. Lord knows the Lions aren't going to do anything as usual.



Tigers are still in it!  O's and Blue Jays are playing each other this week so someone has got to lose a few.  Yanks then play the O's and Sox play the Jays to close it out so it's possible that the Tigers could overtake the Jays or the O's as there will definitely be some losses handed out to both.  Tigers just need to win out the season and hope for a losing streak from Toronto or Baltimore.  Don't give up.


----------



## minicoop1985

Training for a new job always sucks. Always.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Congrats to @Gary A.'s Dodgers for winning their division today. Not looking good for my Tigers to make a wild card birth. Oh well, I still have my Wolverines. Lord knows the Lions aren't going to do anything as usual.


Thanks.  After three games, lol,  Rams are in first also.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another hot-hot day today. Supposed to hit 103F. But Gary doubts the accuracy. Yesterday it was predicted to hit 102F but only reached 97F.
> 
> 
> 
> Gee Gary,  It was 45 when I woke up and is only 55 right now.  I would push some of these cool temps your way if I could.  Maybe you wouldn't complain as much as Bogey.  I pushed a little rain his way and he's griping cause he wants to play golf.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'll take the rain, you can keep the cold.  It's 100F right now, should hit 104F ... the A/C is on for the second time this month.  Tuesday it should drop by ten degrees and continue to drop through the rest of the week.
Click to expand...

Cold...........COLD!!!!!!!

That is what we call lovely fall weather.  High today was 72, 1-2mph breeze and not a cloud in the sky.  Perfect sleeping weather and perfect daytime doing weather.  Got the yard aerated and over seeded today.  Should have a great crop of new grass next spring.


----------



## jcdeboever

Where are the food picks? I am hungry.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... I've been so busy cooking that I've haven't had time to take any snaps.


----------



## table1349

Beautiful 50 degree morning here on the flat lands.  Momma and I went to the Y and exercised at 5:30 a.m. Watched the sun rise, then came home and showered.  She is finishing getting ready for work and I am getting ready for the HVAC folks to come at 8:00.  Its fall HVAC check day. 

Grocery day as well and the puppies need manacures as their nails are getting long.  Another busy day for sure.  






For all you grumpies, who don't want to go to work, have a headache or just have a bad attitude this early in the morning, please disregard this message.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another hot-hot day today. Supposed to hit 103F. But Gary doubts the accuracy. Yesterday it was predicted to hit 102F but only reached 97F.
> 
> 
> 
> Gee Gary,  It was 45 when I woke up and is only 55 right now.  I would push some of these cool temps your way if I could.  Maybe you wouldn't complain as much as Bogey.  I pushed a little rain his way and he's griping cause he wants to play golf.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'll take the rain, you can keep the cold.  It's 100F right now, should hit 104F ... the A/C is on for the second time this month.  Tuesday it should drop by ten degrees and continue to drop through the rest of the week.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Cold...........COLD!!!!!!!
> 
> That is what we call lovely fall weather.  High today was 72, 1-2mph breeze and not a cloud in the sky.  Perfect sleeping weather and perfect daytime doing weather.  Got the yard aerated and over seeded today.  Should have a great crop of new grass next spring.
Click to expand...

70-ish is what we call normal.


----------



## SquarePeg

Rainy and cool here today.  We need that rain for sure.  Could not believe how low the local pond has gotten.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  106F yesterday, dry as dust.  Gary remembers working in triple digit weather, in dry as dust conditions.  One has to be careful because the sweat instantly evaporates and doesn't realize that they are getting dehydrated. Gary was actually comfortable walking around in the heat yesterday because it was so dog-gone-bone-dry. Today, the latest reports state a high of 95F (low of 69F) ... Gary is quite sure y'all Hosers are concerned about the unusually high temps Gary is experiencing.  Gary is excited, he is picking up his speakers today and now will wire-up and incorporate the receiver into his entertainment center.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another hot-hot day today. Supposed to hit 103F. But Gary doubts the accuracy. Yesterday it was predicted to hit 102F but only reached 97F.
> 
> 
> 
> Gee Gary,  It was 45 when I woke up and is only 55 right now.  I would push some of these cool temps your way if I could.  Maybe you wouldn't complain as much as Bogey.  I pushed a little rain his way and he's griping cause he wants to play golf.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'll take the rain, you can keep the cold.  It's 100F right now, should hit 104F ... the A/C is on for the second time this month.  Tuesday it should drop by ten degrees and continue to drop through the rest of the week.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Cold...........COLD!!!!!!!
> 
> That is what we call lovely fall weather.  High today was 72, 1-2mph breeze and not a cloud in the sky.  Perfect sleeping weather and perfect daytime doing weather.  Got the yard aerated and over seeded today.  Should have a great crop of new grass next spring.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 70-ish is what we call normal.
Click to expand...

Oh man, you are missing the best part of the weather.  Nothing better for sleeping than having the house opened up, a blanket on the bed and snuggling in under the covers in a cool/50's-60's degree house overnight.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Rainy and cool here today.  We need that rain for sure.  Could not believe how low the local pond has gotten.


I pushed as much as I could that way.  Bogey must have taken more than his fair share as the storm has really petered out by the time it reached you.  Sorry.   Our ponds are overflowing.  Wish I could send you some of ours.  They officially took us out of drought status over the weekend as we have had such an excess of rain this year.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  Weather is good here again today - more Fall-like than we've had lately.  Not enough rain for the plants, but that's what hoses are for.

Home today because a little renovation project is starting.  My boss may not be happy because I'm working from home again, but considering that not one person I've been working with lately is in the same city, I think this is nonsense.


----------



## Gary A.

Man, everybody but here has great weather. By the weekend the daytime temps will drop into the 70's.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Man, everybody but here has great weather. By the weekend the daytime temps will drop into the 70's.


Here, download this, put it on the big screen and turn you thermostat down to 60.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Saturday night we turned the heat on at Cape Cod. It was great. Now we have had windows open yee-haw. 
Rain today and cooler temps, we need rain. We are in a drought situation this year but not like Ca.


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> Saturday night we turned the heat on at Cape Cod. It was great. Now we have had windows open yee-haw.
> Rain today and cooler temps, we need rain. We are in a drought situation this year but not like Ca.



The heat?  What a wimp, lol!  Our annual goal is to hold out until 10/31 on the heat (well, it's my goal since I'm the one paying the bill).  We've made it quite a few times.  Our living and dining room face south so the sun really helps us and I put out really cozy throws on the couches.  My family knows not to even ask about turning on the heat unless they're already wearing at least one sweater and socks with slippers.


----------



## jcdeboever

My wife runs the AC full blast all the time because of menopause.  I walk around the house with purple finger nails and nipples.


----------



## NancyMoranG

SquarePeg said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Saturday night we turned the heat on at Cape Cod. It was great. Now we have had windows open yee-haw.
> Rain today and cooler temps, we need rain. We are in a drought situation this year but not like Ca.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The heat?  What a wimp, lol!  Our annual goal is to hold out until 10/31 on the heat (well, it's my goal since I'm the one paying the bill).  We've made it quite a few times.  Our living and dining room face south so the sun really helps us and I put out really cozy throws on the couches.  My family knows not to even ask about turning on the heat unless they're already wearing at least one sweater and socks with slippers.
Click to expand...


I know! We put the heat on for 64 degrees and it came  on at some point over the night. But my heat is free   the canal job gives us the RV site free with all utilities..
We are not adverse to the socks and sweaters..


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> My wife runs the AC full blast all the time because of menopause.  I walk around the house with purple finger nails and nipples.



You lucky bastard.   At least you can toss on more clothes. 

My wife likes a sheet on the bed year round.  She is too energy conscious to turn the AC down that much.  Ours is at 76 in the warm months and 68 in the cold months/60 at night.  I don't mind the 76 in warm weather, but can we at least have it cooler to sleep???

Nothing better than being chilly and under the covers when sleeping.


----------



## NancyMoranG

In the RV, We kick the air down to 65 at night so we can use a sheet and blanket. Sounds a little backwards doesn't it


----------



## table1349

NancyMoranG said:


> In the RV, We kick the air down to 65 at night so we can use a sheet and blanket. Sounds a little backwards doesn't it


No it sounds fabulous.  Have you got a spare bedroom??????

Studies have shown that people sleep better in a cool to cold room under covers than in a room at a more livable temperature.


----------



## NancyMoranG

We have a sleeper sofa


----------



## table1349

NancyMoranG said:


> We have a sleeper sofa


The car is full of gas and the bag and blankets are packed.  Where am I driving too?

P.S.  Let me know what groceries to pickup on the way.  My culinary skills cover a broad range so pick your poison.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Cape Cod til Oct 13, then Pa, Va, S.C. And Florida for winter


----------



## table1349

Works for me.  Will be there by the 13th.  P.S. that's my birthday and Chocolate Cake is my favorite. 

I know a guy in Florida who's wife will make us great lasagna, he will supply us with unlimited beer, scotch and bacon wrapped chocolate chip pecan cookies.  This could be a good winter.  On the down side we will have to sit through a 3 hour presentation of his photographs all of a couple of lifeless ferrets.  But what the heck, it's worth it for the food and the beer.  



Delete this one Terri.  It's off topic *in the off topic forum.*


----------



## table1349

NancyMoranG said:


> Cape Cod til Oct 13, then Pa, Va, S.C. And Florida for winter


I just noticed, looks like you have joined the rest of the world by passing N.C. on the way south.


----------



## jcdeboever

Kitty at the plant. Why do all kitties like my computer chairs?


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Kitty at the plant. Why do all kitties like my computer chairs?
> 
> View attachment 128110


Maybe they wouldn't if you would quit stuffing tuna down your pants.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Kitty at the plant. Why do all kitties like my computer chairs?
> 
> View attachment 128110


Leaderboard


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Kitty at the plant. Why do all kitties like my computer chairs?
> 
> View attachment 128110
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe they wouldn't if you would quit stuffing tuna down your pants.
Click to expand...


Clarity, tuna steak


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Kitty at the plant. Why do all kitties like my computer chairs?
> 
> View attachment 128110
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe they wouldn't if you would quit stuffing tuna down your pants.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Clarity, tuna steak
Click to expand...

"wink wink" say no more, say no more, know whatahmean, nudge nudge?


----------



## snowbear

The windows are open again tonight.  We had a thunder storm hit about 3:00 AM and we're expecting from 2" to 5" of rain over the region.  I took off today: ran a few errands and visited the lovely Sarah for a haircut; I'm no longer a shaggy bear.

Lots of training in the next couple of months - the All-Hazard GIS Specialist course, SAR GIS workshop, a new MOOC that started tonight (Imagery) and about 30 free online ESRI classes from earthquake and flood damage assessment to cartographic 3D modeling. 

On a sadder note, Wilmington, DE lost two firefighters on Saturday, FDNY lost one today, all in LODDs, and today marks the eighth anniversary of the MD State Police Trooper 2 crash.  They were flying two patients from a crash in Waldorf (where I live) to a trauma center but diverted to Andrews AFB due to bad weather.  The aircraft went down in a woody park before reaching Andrews, killing the MSP flight crew, the Waldorf VFD paramedic, and one of the patients.


----------



## snowbear

NancyMoranG said:


> Cape Cod til Oct 13, then Pa, Va, S.C. And Florida for winter



And we're trying to get north before Spring!  I've started some preliminary job hunting in the Boston area and north.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary picked up and installed the speakers. The speakers work ... the receiver works ... Gary is somewhat happy. Gary figured out enough to get the Tv and speakers working together ... can't mess with it anymore because Mary Lou is watching The Voice. Tomorrow, Gary will test everything else ... Gary thought this thing had two zones ... it has four different zones. Gary fears he may have to RTFM.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary fears he may have to RTFM.


For the love of all that is holy NOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooo!  Anything but Reading The F#€&king Manual.   The shame, the horror,of it all.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Snowbear, condolences all around. Where would we all be without our 1st responders ?! Heaven help us if that day comes.


----------



## minicoop1985

What? Read the MANUAL???? Why on earth would you do that?????


----------



## limr

It's Hump Day, hosers.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> It's Hump Day, hosers.



Yes, but some days it's harder to climb the hump.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's Hump Day, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, but some days it's harder to climb the hump.
Click to expand...


Totally. 

In other news, I am LOVING the cooler weather these days, and we're going to be getting some needed rain, but...


----------



## waday

So, I haven't been on in a while; apologies for that. I've started my new job, and the office has the "open office" layout, so I barely have any privacy. Ugh. I likely won't be on as much anymore, at least throughout the day.

That said, I'm happy I made the change. I look forward to the work I have, and I'm happy to be working with an awesome former supervisor again.

Happy Wednesday!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's Hump Day, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, but some days it's harder to climb the hump.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Totally.
> 
> In other news, I am LOVING the cooler weather these days, and we're going to be getting some needed rain, but...
Click to expand...

Where did you get a photo of Mary Lou?


----------



## KenC

waday said:


> So, I haven't been on in a while; apologies for that. I've started my new job, and the office has the "open office" layout, so I barely have any privacy. Ugh. I likely won't be on as much anymore, at least throughout the day.
> 
> That said, I'm happy I made the change. I look forward to the work I have, and I'm happy to be working with an awesome former supervisor again.
> 
> Happy Wednesday!



Congrats!  That must be one great work situation in other respects if it allows you to tolerate an open office layout.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...the office has the "open office" layout, so I barely have any privacy. ...
> That said, I'm happy I made the change. I look forward to the work I have, and I'm happy to be working with an awesome former supervisor again.
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats!  *That must be one great work situation in other respects if it allows you to tolerate an open office layout.*
Click to expand...


I was thinking exactly the same thing. An open office layout is one of Dante's circles.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  68F right now but will climb to 90F ... At least we're down to double digits. Gary is in the patio sipping his first cup of Organic Mayan working on a fig bar and putting together a mental todo list.  Front page story of the Wells Fargo chief forfetting $45,000,000 in compensation over the banking scandal.  What really saddens Gary about the whole deal is that he isn't surprised at lack of honor and the high level of systemic greed conducted in the everyday affairs of the bank.  I remember when banks were considered pillars of the community ... Now they seem no different than a numbers racket.  Gary warns his kids to hold tightly onto your wallet ... We're walking into a bank.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> So, I haven't been on in a while; apologies for that. I've started my new job, and the office has the "open office" layout, so I barely have any privacy. Ugh. I likely won't be on as much anymore, at least throughout the day.
> 
> That said, I'm happy I made the change. I look forward to the work I have, and I'm happy to be working with an awesome former supervisor again.
> 
> Happy Wednesday!


Good for you!!!

(As to the open office ... Get a tablet, easy to flip over and/or conceal.  Gary remembers when computers first started to appear in offices, that a few games had "WORKING" triggers.  Whenever someone entered your work space you could hit a certain key and the screen would go black and this large "WORKING ........" appeared with left to right consecutive pulsating dots under the lettering.  Computers were so slow back then that was actually a successful "pivot" to protect/conceal one's lack of productivity.


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm in the plant all week so more kitty pictures to follow... They to let go of my office girl for annoying the crap out of everyone. She didn't understand the concept of production. Best to do it within the first 30 days but now I am stuck in here and will have to train someone else. Hate letting people go but sometimes it really makes sense. I didn't hire her and kind of glad she is gone, very annoying and didn't listen well, too busy talking and couldn't focus. I noticed this with her when I called in.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> So, I haven't been on in a while; apologies for that. I've started my new job, and the office has the "open office" layout, so I barely have any privacy. Ugh. I likely won't be on as much anymore, at least throughout the day.
> 
> That said, I'm happy I made the change. I look forward to the work I have, and I'm happy to be working with an awesome former supervisor again.
> 
> Happy Wednesday!



Congrats on the new job, glad you're happy with it! 



Gary A. said:


> Gary remembers when computers first started to appear in offices, that a few games had "WORKING" triggers. Whenever someone entered your work space you could hit a certain key and the screen would go black



I also remember this.  

Squarepeg finds it difficult not to answer Gary in 3rd person.


----------



## waday

Thanks, all! It's currently working for me now, because the office I'm in is smaller and there's no one beside me or behind me at the moment. Once those vacant seats get filled, it'll definitely be interesting. My supervisor works out of a different office, so I'm assuming she'd be ok with me working from home when I need to focus more intently than normal, haha. It wouldn't impact our communication, since we mostly email/call/instant message.

Alas, I am too young to remember the panic buttons on software. By the time I started working, companies started to just completely remove the games from the computer. And they block access to mostly every site that is fun (they don't know how much fun TPF is, so they didn't block it ).


----------



## table1349

Won't bore you with the details of the weather.  Just look at my other recent posts on the subject and insert here.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Pouring/drizzling and whatever's in between... good soup day, especially working on coming down with a cold or whatever. Blech.

Hope you like the new job Wade!


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> Pouring/drizzling and whatever's in between... good soup day, especially working on coming down with a cold or whatever. Blech.
> 
> Hope you like the new job Wade!


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...the office has the "open office" layout, so I barely have any privacy. ...
> That said, I'm happy I made the change. I look forward to the work I have, and I'm happy to be working with an awesome former supervisor again.
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats!  *That must be one great work situation in other respects if it allows you to tolerate an open office layout.*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I was thinking exactly the same thing. An open office layout is one of Dante's circles.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know, one of the inner ones, right?  I have to move to a new work location next year and they spoke so much about open offices that I started to panic.  Now it looks like I have an actual office, but then I haven't seen anything yet ...


----------



## vintagesnaps

That sounds good, I could go for that...

Sharon even remembers DOS. And cleaning out a closet I found floppies and handbooks for Windows #1. (Not really, I don't remember what it was, but old Windows handbooks my dad gave me when he retired, and why he saved them and I have them I can't possibly explain.).

Sharon's glad to see that Jimmy is back.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> That sounds good, I could go for that...
> 
> Sharon even remembers DOS. And cleaning out a closet I found floppies and handbooks for Windows #1. (Not really, I don't remember what it was, but old Windows handbooks my dad gave me when he retired, and why he saved them and I have them I can't possibly explain.).
> 
> Sharon's glad to see that Jimmy is back.


Would you like my Fortran and Cobol books?


----------



## KenC

vintagesnaps said:


> That sounds good, I could go for that...
> 
> Sharon even remembers DOS. And cleaning out a closet I found floppies and handbooks for Windows #1. (Not really, I don't remember what it was, but old Windows handbooks my dad gave me when he retired, and why he saved them and I have them I can't possibly explain.).
> 
> Sharon's glad to see that Jimmy is back.


When Jimmy comes back he can be hard to get rid of.

I remember some of the early PC stuff from the mid-80's or so.  I suppose they could be considered antiques, like the early cell phones that were about the size of a shoe.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> I was thinking exactly the same thing. An open office layout is one of Dante's circles.


Yeah, I know, one of the inner ones, right?  I have to move to a new work location next year and they spoke so much about open offices that I started to panic.  Now it looks like I have an actual office, but then I haven't seen anything yet ...[/QUOTE]

Open offices definitely trigger anxiety in me. It's not even about privacy so much as it is about over-stimulation. It's sooooo hard to concentrate.

I remember the 80s-era computers very well. When we took "Computer" classes, it meant learning how to code. In 7th and 8th grades, we had to take computer classes. We did do more advanced programs, but of course the only one that stuck...sort of...was the basic go-to loop. One day, my friend Valerie and I were fooling around with silly sentences to loop across the screen (not just the one column) and I wrote "Val is a poo." I didn't leave a space at the end, so when I ran the program, the last word ran together with the first word of the next instance, so it would read "Val is a pooVal is a pooVal is a pooVal is a..." and so on, and so on... For the next three years, she was known as PooVal.

My college computer was my older sister's hand-me-down IBM PC. She majored in IT so she had already moved onto the next gadget, so I got her old computer. No hard drive, two 5 1/4 floppy drives, green monochrome screen (Green was the only way to go. Hated the orange.) Microsoft had a word processing program at that point, but I can't remember if it was Word already or the precursor. I used Multi Mate. And a dot matrix printer. My computer died about 30 minutes after I printed out an extra copy of my senior thesis - literally the last thing I had to print for my undergrad degree. I printed, saved, and was enjoying life when I looked over and saw the computer's soul, its life-force, leaving its earthly host in a puff of smoke from the power cord. So sad.

Man-o-manishewitz. That was a long time ago.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has half the entertainment center setup and somewhat integrated.  Gary needs to get the codes for the Blu Ray and Tv into the remote and figure out the Bluetooth ... but for now, when you hit tuner, the radio comes on and plays, press CBL/Sat the cable box turns on and changes channel, hitting DVD switches to the Blu Ray/DVD/Netflix player and hitting TV/CD plays the iPod/ipad/iPhone when wired in (need to figure out Bluetooth and wifi. So far no manual.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## tirediron

"DO YOU MIND????"


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> "DO YOU MIND????"


Breastfeeding Law: Know Your Legal Rights


----------



## Gary A.

It doesn't look like "breastfeeding" to Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just got home and tuned in to KUSC ... oh man, the room filled with clean, crisp and beautiful sounds.  Gary felt as if he had dived head first into a swimming pool of music ... totally immersed and enveloped.  Better than headphones ... Gary has upped his game.  Gary is happy.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary just got home and tuned in to KUSC ... oh man, the room filled with clean, crisp and beautiful sounds.  Gary felt as if he had dived head first into a swimming pool of music ... totally immersed and enveloped.  Better than headphones ... Gary has upped his game.  Gary is happy.



Oh, I love streaming KUSC. My favorite. What a treat.


----------



## jcdeboever

I met up with a craiglist camera ad tonight, on the way home from work. I was considering a Fujifilm x100s....  The guy ended up dealing with a real bad eye situation. I certainly crunched his orbital socket.  I have never had an issue until today. WTF is the matter with people? This was in farm country!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary just got home and tuned in to KUSC ... oh man, the room filled with clean, crisp and beautiful sounds.  Gary felt as if he had dived head first into a swimming pool of music ... totally immersed and enveloped.  Better than headphones ... Gary has upped his game.  Gary is happy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I love streaming KUSC. My favorite. What a treat.
Click to expand...

Gary gets it off-air.  

Gary is looking forward to having a a glass of vino, slump into a comfy chair and load up some Yo-Yo Ma or dial in KUSC and get totally immersed in the music with no other distractions.

Gary still need a sub.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> I met up with a craiglist camera ad tonight, on the way home from work. I was considering a Fujifilm x100s.... The guy ended up dealing with a real bad eye situation. I certainly crunched his orbital socket. I have never had an issue until today. WTF is the matter with people? This was in farm country!



Did he try to rob you?


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I met up with a craiglist camera ad tonight, on the way home from work. I was considering a Fujifilm x100s.... The guy ended up dealing with a real bad eye situation. I certainly crunched his orbital socket. I have never had an issue until today. WTF is the matter with people? This was in farm country!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did he try to rob you?
Click to expand...


That was the plan. I was was wise to it.


----------



## table1349

If you look in any modern dictionary under Craigs List it says "Robbers Weekly Journal."


----------



## SquarePeg

I've avoided buying or selling anything on CL because of all of the horror stories that I've heard.  When I wanted to sell some furniture a few years ago my brother recommended using CL but I was not letting some stranger into our home.  Such a shame that there are so many scumbags out there.  Glad you are ok.


----------



## table1349

Another glorious Thursday morning in doo-dah.  Perfect fall weather once again.  






Nothing like a hot cup of coffee and a warm sweater sitting on the deck watching the morning sun creep across the landscape.


----------



## JonA_CT

I've had a lot of success with craigslist...music stuff and camera stuff both. I usually meet people in very public places, although that doesn't always work for things like amplifiers and the like. I use Walmart or grocery store parking lots pretty frequently, because there are lots of people and usually cameras. A lot of the local police stations here will also let you use their parking lots for transactions.

I'm trying to get one more round of golf in this weekend, although the weather looks like it might be gross. We have Gary's marine layer for the next few days -- the easterly winds are blowing in off the ocean 15-2o mph sustained, and it's supposed to rain some tomorrow.  I do like, though, when the wind blows from that directions. My neighborhood smelled like salt and seaweed this morning.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Traveling again... Hour and 40 from home each way... And I'll be traveling home at night in deer territory.

The one shitty thing about this job: The camera settings are set in stone (for, obviously, consistency), and there's no changing them (the control wheels are taped over and the selector knob is locked down). And it's Nikon. lol


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> I've avoided buying or selling anything on CL because of all of the horror stories that I've heard.  When I wanted to sell some furniture a few years ago my brother recommended using CL *but I was not letting some stranger into our home*.  Such a shame that there are so many scumbags out there.  Glad you are ok.



Noooooo, no no no no, you are totally right! I understand it's difficult with furniture, but there are ways to make that public. For example, you could rent a storage unit for a couple of weeks and let people look at the furniture there. You could even ask for the facility manager to be present for the transaction. 



JonA_CT said:


> I've had a lot of success with craigslist...music stuff and camera stuff both. I usually meet people in very public places, although that doesn't always work for things like amplifiers and the like. I use Walmart or grocery store parking lots pretty frequently, because there are lots of people and usually cameras. A lot of the local police stations here will also let you use their parking lots for transactions.



This ^^^  Public places. Always. The one time I did buy something from Craigslist, I met the guy at Grand Central. Anywhere with people and cameras. Good to know that a police station parking lot could be a possibility. I am not looking to buy or sell anything at the moment, but the information might come in handy one day, who knows?

Oh yeah. Morning, hosers.

It's headache time.


----------



## table1349

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Traveling again... Hour and 40 from home each way... And I'll be traveling home at night in deer territory.
> 
> The one shitty thing about this job: The camera settings are set in stone (for, obviously, consistency), and there's no changing them (the control wheels are taped over and the selector knob is locked down). And it's Nikon. lol


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has had nothing but good luck with CL. Gary's desktop, laptop, 200mm and most recently his speakers are all CL. Most police stations out here don't mind having the transaction performed in the station and some have even a CL room.  You will find Gary doing business at Panera, Starbucks and even Philippe's, a landmark Resturant in LA. Tuesday, Gary drove to the seller's condo in Sherman Oaks to complete the speaker transaction.  Gary needs to call him and let him know how happy Gary is with the speakers.  A real nice guy.


----------



## Designer

Wake up!  

It's National Coffee Day!

NATIONAL COFFEE DAY – September 29


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> I've avoided buying or selling anything on CL because of all of the horror stories that I've heard.  When I wanted to sell some furniture a few years ago my brother recommended using CL but I was not letting some stranger into our home.  Such a shame that there are so many scumbags out there.  Glad you are ok.


Huh... I've purchased many of my lenses through CL as well as a lot of grip gear, reflectors, backgrounds....  probably in excess of half my gear has been bought from Craig and I've never had a problem.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> Wake up!
> 
> It's National Coffee Day!
> 
> NATIONAL COFFEE DAY – September 29


  We're limited to ONE day?????????????????


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Traveling again... Hour and 40 from home each way... And I'll be traveling home at night in deer territory.
> 
> The one shitty thing about this job: The camera settings are set in stone (for, obviously, consistency), and there's no changing them (the control wheels are taped over and the selector knob is locked down). And it's Nikon. lol


What job is this?


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Huh... I've purchased many of my lenses through CL as well as a lot of grip gear, reflectors, backgrounds....  probably in excess of half my gear has been bought from Craig and I've never had a problem.



I used to buy stuff of craigslist, not so much anymore.  Problem with CL at least in my local area is that especially when it comes to photography gear people want some pretty outrageous prices for used stuff, so much so that you can often buy new cheaper.

When you try to contact them and point out that they might have paid $900 for their D5100 years ago but that doesn't mean it's still worth anywhere near that much now, they generally get very upset and accuse you of "lowballing".  So yup, got out of the habit of checking craigslist.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Noooooo, no no no no, you are totally right! I understand it's difficult with furniture, but there are ways to make that public. For example, you could rent a storage unit for a couple of weeks and let people look at the furniture there. You could even ask for the facility manager to be present for the transaction.



Never though of the storage unit option, good idea.  In the end it worked out great.  I happened to ask my hairdresser if she knew anyone looking for a bedroom set and it turned out that she was!  We traded the furniture for services.  I got 8 free cut/color/highlights which was almost 2 years of free appointments - at a salon that would be at least $200 per for me...  she got the furniture without having to spend any money.  We both felt like we got a great deal.  My daughter barters her babysitting services for hair cuts with her now.

Sorry about the headache.


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Huh... I've purchased many of my lenses through CL as well as a lot of grip gear, reflectors, backgrounds....  probably in excess of half my gear has been bought from Craig and I've never had a problem.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I used to buy stuff of craigslist, not so much anymore.  Problem with CL at least in my local area is that especially when it comes to photography gear people want some pretty outrageous prices for used stuff, so much so that you can often buy new cheaper.
> 
> When you try to contact them and point out that they might have paid $900 for their D5100 years ago but that doesn't mean it's still worth anywhere near that much now, they generally get very upset and accuse you of "lowballing".  So yup, got out of the habit of checking craigslist.
Click to expand...

I don't worry too much about those ads; I cruise for the good deals.They don't come along very often, generally only a couple of times a year, but when they do...  such as the absolutely mint 85 1.4 AFD which I picked up for $600.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is checking out CL for a subwoofer.  The sub that came with his Bose system won't work with the new receiver.


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> Huh... I've purchased many of my lenses through CL as well as a lot of grip gear, reflectors, backgrounds.... probably in excess of half my gear has been bought from Craig and I've never had a problem.



For smaller portable stuff where you can meet publicly, then sure as long as you're feeling safe about the location.  There were many stories about CL "buyers" showing up to look at furniture for sale and casing the place to come back later to rob it.


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC, hope you didn't damage your hand.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Huh... I've purchased many of my lenses through CL as well as a lot of grip gear, reflectors, backgrounds.... probably in excess of half my gear has been bought from Craig and I've never had a problem.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For smaller portable stuff where you can meet publicly, then sure as long as you're feeling safe about the location.  There were many stories about CL "buyers" showing up to look at furniture for sale and casing the place to come back later to rob it.
Click to expand...

See there again, no issue.  Anyone that came out to look at something at my house would just walk away quietly and leave a $20 on the hall table out of sympathy!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary would be reluctant to have a transaction at his home. (You never know who might be a Health Inspector.  Once you're on the Hazardous Waste Site list it is hell to get off.)


----------



## Gary A.

The sad part is that JC would have loved a X100S.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Gary would be reluctant to have a transaction at his home. (You never know who might be a Health Inspector.  Once you're on the Hazardous Waste Site list it is hell to get off.)



Wait, so you can get off that list?  Really?  How?


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Noooooo, no no no no, you are totally right! I understand it's difficult with furniture, but there are ways to make that public. For example, you could rent a storage unit for a couple of weeks and let people look at the furniture there. You could even ask for the facility manager to be present for the transaction.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Never though of the storage unit option, good idea.  In the end it worked out great.  I happened to ask my hairdresser if she knew anyone looking for a bedroom set and it turned out that she was!  We traded the furniture for services.  I got 8 free cut/color/highlights which was almost 2 years of free appointments - at a salon that would be at least $200 per for me...  she got the furniture without having to spend any money.  We both felt like we got a great deal.  My daughter barters her babysitting services for hair cuts with her now.
> 
> Sorry about the headache.
Click to expand...


Okay, that right there is an awesome deal!! Good for you!

(And thanks   Luckily coffee helps, so I have a good excuse to have lots of it today!)


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary would be reluctant to have a transaction at his home. (You never know who might be a Health Inspector.  Once you're on the Hazardous Waste Site list it is hell to get off.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wait, so you can get off that list?  Really?  How?
Click to expand...

Large and many contributions to your federal elected officials ... Even then it was a pain. (Gary discovered that lead paint heavily applied, will mask radioactivity ... at least it minimizes the glow.)


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary would be reluctant to have a transaction at his home. (You never know who might be a Health Inspector.  Once you're on the Hazardous Waste Site list it is hell to get off.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wait, so you can get off that list?  Really?  How?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Large and many contributions to your federal elected officials ... Even then it was a pain. (Gary discovered that lead paint heavily applied, will mask radioactivity ... at least it minimizes the glow.)
Click to expand...


Well I was actually saving up for a new lens, but then I've never actually bought a state official before so that might be interesting.


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary would be reluctant to have a transaction at his home. (You never know who might be a Health Inspector.  Once you're on the Hazardous Waste Site list it is hell to get off.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wait, so you can get off that list?  Really?  How?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Large and many contributions to your federal elected officials ... Even then it was a pain. (Gary discovered that lead paint heavily applied, will mask radioactivity ... at least it minimizes the glow.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well I was actually saving up for a new lens, but then I've never actually bought a state official before so that might be interesting.
Click to expand...

Unless you know what you are going to do with them after you buy them, I would go for the lens instead.  Better investment in the long run.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just wanted to add a quick thought for all of the TPF folks and their families in the NJ/NY area.  Serious train crash at Hoboken.  Travel safe friends!


----------



## JonA_CT

So I'm going to buy my wife her own camera for Christmas...I had been thinking about getting her a Nikon D5200 with a DX fast zoom like the Sigma 17-70mm or the 17-50mm. KEH is having a big  sale today, so I'm thinking about pulling the trigger. I was thinking the 5XXX over the 3xxx because I think she'd appreciate the articulating screen. 

Then I thought...if I'm buying a DX lens anyways, should I look at something mirrorless for her instead? She might be more comfortable with something smaller (although she likes the way my D600 feels in her hand). Any thoughts from the peanut gallery? Only catch is she wouldn't be able to use any of my lenses, but honestly, none of them would be terribly practical on a DX camera anyways.


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> So I'm going to buy my wife her own camera for Christmas...I had been thinking about getting her a Nikon D5200 with a DX fast zoom like the Sigma 17-70mm or the 17-50mm. KEH is having a big  sale today, so I'm thinking about pulling the trigger. I was thinking the 5XXX over the 3xxx because I think she'd appreciate the articulating screen.
> 
> Then I thought...if I'm buying a DX lens anyways, should I look at something mirrorless for her instead? She might be more comfortable with something smaller (although she likes the way my D600 feels in her hand). Any thoughts from the peanut gallery? Only catch is she wouldn't be able to use any of my lenses, but honestly, none of them would be terribly practical on a DX camera anyways.



Id go with the D5200.  Marriage is all about sharing.  Especially lenses.


----------



## SquarePeg

Loved the articulating screen on the 5100 and it's my only regret after upgrading.  I thought the Sigma 17-70 and the 5100 were a great pair so I'm sure the 5300 would be even better with it.  The 17-70 is good because it can get in really close so you can take "marco" ish shots and it's not super heavy.  I've found 17-70 to be a great walk around focal range.  It's the lens that's on my camera 90% of the time.


----------



## limr

Sorry, this, um, peanut can't help. This is me when people start talking about digital gear:


----------



## limr




----------



## JonA_CT

So, Leo...I should buy "her" some sort of 120 loading camera instead?


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> So, Leo...I should buy "her" some sort of 120 loading camera instead?



Absolutely! This is definitely the way to go. "She" would love that


----------



## Gary A.

Gary suggests a Fuji X-E2 or the X-E2s.  Compact, beautiful rangefinder-ish style, wonderful JPEGS (many people say it is the best OOC JPEGS of any digital camera), best Kit lens for any platform and more expensive than an entry level dSLR, but you are paying for quality in both the lens and the camera.

Good Luck and Good Shooting,
The Fuji Fan Boy


----------



## SquarePeg

Dropped my daughter and her friends off at the field for this afternoon's game (middle school football, she's a cheerleader).  Went to Dunkin Donuts to get a hot chocolate and to kill a half hour before game time.  There are no drive thru's  allowed in my town (fancy right?) so I had to go inside.  Got back in my car and drove the 2 blocks back to the field.  While driving I heard a weird noise.  Shut off the radio and heard it again not quite a squeak, more like a cry.  Tested my brakes and that was not it.  Heard it again and again.  Sounded like a kitten or a baby crying.  Pulled into the parking lot and sat in silence waiting.  Heard it again.  Got out and looked around the car - saw and heard nothing.  Honestly I was afraid to look under the hood but also afraid to leave in case there was an animal hurt or stuck inside the engine.  I've read where they sometimes climb up inside the wheel well or into hood near the engine to get warm but frankly it wasn't all that cold today (high 50's).  

There I was, circling my car like a loon while people I didn't know looked at me like I was nuts.  Finally a friend of mine pulled in and I asked him to look under the hood of my car to see if there was a cat under there.  He knows I'm not nuts but he did laugh his ass off at me.  He looked, I looked, nothing.  He shut the hood and I shut the door and "meow!!!"  really loud this time.  He heard it too so I'm not going crazy.  We looked again, and again and again.  We both got on the ground and looked under the car and into each wheel well.  Nothing.  Looked under the hood again, this time him taking it a lot more seriously.  We could not find the darn thing and we never heard it again.  Had to give up after half hour of searching.  Checked the car again after the game.  Nothing.  I'm hoping it got out the same way it got in and is happily on it's way home...  I've gone back outside into the driveway twice already to see if I heard any crying.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary would either:

1) get a quick exorcism; or
2) immediately sell the haunted car.


----------



## table1349

That would be one cool add in the paper. 

For Sale:
One kitten - $10,00.00
Comes with free low mileage automobile.
Car runs on gasoline and Friskies.
Buyer responsible for getting the gasoline and Friskies in the proper place.


----------



## Gary A.

For JC ... Turkey Loaf, stuffed with cheeses, herbs, peppers, mushrooms, mushroom sauce, spices and Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 128173 For JC ... Turkey Loaf, stuffed with cheeses, herbs, peppers, mushrooms, mushroom sauce, spices and Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce.


Man I could eat that this morning for breakfast! Yummmmmy.


----------



## JonA_CT

Big day today -- our new mattress is coming in. We ordered from one of the bed-in-a-box companies...this will be our second one. We bought a cheapie memory foam mattress from Amazon about 8 years ago for about $500. It had a pretty good run for the price. We went with a Leesa mattress this time. Made 100% in the USA, and gets great reviews. 

We also upgraded from a queen to a california king. My wife will like the fact that I won't be as tempted to kick out the sheets at the end of the bed, and the dog and the kid will appreciate the extra room when they are allowed to join us.


----------



## table1349




----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Headache was bad when I woke up, but some coffee and medicine and it's starting to become manageable. And it's Friday, and it's cloudy and chilly, which is perfect Leo weather, and I wore jeans and a poncho to work and brought socks so I can be all cozy while I keep curled around my coffee, trying to force my fuzzy brain to get my work done. 

So things could be worse. I'm going to zen my way through it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Things are finally cooling off. Turned on the A/C yesterday while working in the kitchen. Turned it off in the evening. Gary and helper removed and replaced the oven. The turkey loaf was the first meal cooked in the new oven.  Turkey loaf and eggs sounds good for breakfast. 

TGIF Hosers!

Gary and Mary Lou are about five years into a Costco memory foam bed. Gary and Mary Lou were looking at a Sleep Number Bed, but they were so snooty there that Gary just walked out and on the way home stopped in Costco. We had a memory foam topper which added another four inches.  Still pretty happy with the mattress.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Things are finally cooling off. Turned on the A/C yesterday while working in the kitchen. Turned it off in the evening. Gary and helper removed and replaced the oven. The turkey loaf was the first meal cooked in the new oven.  Turkey loaf and eggs sounds good for breakfast.
> 
> TGIF Hosers!
> 
> Gary and Mary Lou are about five years into a Costco memory foam bed. Gary and Mary Lou were looking at a Sleep Number Bed, but they were so snooty there that Gary just walked out and on the way home stopped in Costco. We had a memory foam topper which added another four inches.  Still pretty happy with the mattress.



Buzz just got a foam mattress and seems pretty happy with it. I've got a relatively new traditional mattress that I'm happy with, but would love to get a cooling gel foam topper for it. I got a $100 pre-paid Amex card for an adjunct professional development day that I attended in August, and I can't decide if I want to spend it on the mattress topper or shoes 

I don't know if the Sleep Number beds have improved over the years, but if they are anything like they were about 6-7 years ago, then they are not worth the money. Everyone is different, of course, but Buzz and I were visiting my friend who had one in her guest room, and we both agreed it was horribly uncomfortable. It's just a glorified air mattress.


----------



## Gary A.

They get very good reviews ... so hopefully they have improved.  But Gary is glad he didn't get the Sleep Number ... since that time Gary has done some research and discovered that there is an entire universe to comfy sleeping.  Get the topper, you'll use that everyday.  Cookie has a cooling gel pad and she has expressed that she is quite pleased with the pad and uses it daily.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Buzz just got a foam mattress and seems pretty happy with it. I've got a relatively new traditional mattress that I'm happy with, but would love to get a cooling gel foam topper for it. I got a $100 pre-paid Amex card for an adjunct professional development day that I attended in August, and I can't decide if I want to spend it on the mattress topper or shoes
> 
> I don't know if the Sleep Number beds have improved over the years, but if they are anything like they were about 6-7 years ago, then they are not worth the money. Everyone is different, of course, but Buzz and I were visiting my friend who had one in her guest room, and we both agreed it was horribly uncomfortable. It's just a glorified air mattress.



My memory foam mattress was killing my back, had to get rid of it.  It wasn't the super expensive Sleep Number but it was not a cheapy either.  I'm now very happy with my traditional mattress from Bernie and Phyls with a gel foam topper that I got at Kohls for sale price plus 30% off coupon.  You can get the topper and still have $70 left for shoes...

The Big One Gel Memory Foam Mattress Topper


----------



## JonA_CT

A lot of people said that the Sleep Number is a great option once you add a gel-topper. I thought about that for a little while because Consumer Reports rated them highly, but my wife says that a bed that needs to be plugged in just isn't acceptable, haha.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> My memory foam mattress was killing my back, had to get rid of it.  It wasn't the super expensive Sleep Number but it was not a cheapy either.  I'm now very happy with my traditional mattress from Bernie and Phyls with a gel foam topper that I got at Kohls for sale price plus 30% off coupon.  You can get the topper and still have $70 left for shoes...
> 
> The Big One Gel Memory Foam Mattress Topper



Holy shnikees, that is a great deal! Is that a cooling topper?


----------



## table1349

Organic pure latex mattress.  Extremely comfortable and was customized for our two firmness preferences.   Latex mattresses have improved over the last few years and you can now get something besides just firm support and I like the way it doesn't get warm on you like our old memory foam mattress did.


----------



## Designer

We have an air-filled mattress (not the high-priced Sleep Number brand) and we put an ordinary mattress pad (quilted cloth) on it.  The air seeps out very slowly, so every couple of months I have to hit the pump to firm it up some.  

I think if we ever have to buy a new bed, it just might be a conventional mattress with a pillow top.  One of my pet peeves is that the fitted sheets don't fit very well, but that seems to be a common problem with any mattress.  You just have to luck out on selecting the right sheets so they actually fit.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> We have an air-filled mattress (not the high-priced Sleep Number brand) and we put an ordinary mattress pad (quilted cloth) on it.  The air seeps out very slowly, so every couple of months I have to hit the pump to firm it up some.
> 
> I think if we ever have to buy a new bed, it just might be a conventional mattress with a pillow top.  One of my pet peeves is that the fitted sheets don't fit very well, but that seems to be a common problem with any mattress.  You just have to luck out on selecting the right sheets so they actually fit.



They are starting to make sheets with deeper pockets now to accommodate the extra height added by mattress toppers. I have more of a problem with the top sheets not being long enough. I have a full size bed and am thinking of buying sheets separately - a full sized fitted sheet and a queen sized top sheet.


----------



## Designer

'K I found it:

Pure Green™ Natural Latex Mattress


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> They are starting to make sheets with deeper pockets now to accommodate the extra height added by mattress toppers. I have more of a problem with the top sheets not being long enough. I have a full size bed and am thinking of buying sheets separately - a full sized fitted sheet and a queen sized top sheet.


Yes!  That's a problem!  I think the top sheets should be about 2 feet longer than they are normally.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Holy shnikees, that is a great deal! Is that a cooling topper?



I don't know about cooling...It doesn't get hot like my memory foam mattress did.


----------



## table1349

Designer said:


> 'K I found it:
> 
> Pure Green™ Natural Latex Mattress


This was where we got ours.  They have a couple of stores in our area so we were able to go try out various firmness levels.

Savvyrest


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Holy shnikees, that is a great deal! Is that a cooling topper?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know about cooling...It doesn't get hot like my memory foam mattress did.
Click to expand...


Ah, that's mostly what I want to know. I've slept on beds with memory foam toppers and they do get hotter than regular mattresses, so if this one doesn't, that's good. The only thing is it's kind of thin, but at that price, I can get two and still have money left over for a pair of shoes from DSW


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Ah, that's mostly what I want to know. I've slept on beds with memory foam toppers and they do get hotter than regular mattresses, so if this one doesn't, that's good. The only thing is it's kind of thin, but at that price, I can get two and still have money left over for a pair of shoes from DSW



Was just in DSW last night and according to my teenager, moccasins are the hot item this year.  Who knew?  Also those adorable ankle boots are everywhere.  Love those.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, that's mostly what I want to know. I've slept on beds with memory foam toppers and they do get hotter than regular mattresses, so if this one doesn't, that's good. The only thing is it's kind of thin, but at that price, I can get two and still have money left over for a pair of shoes from DSW
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Was just in DSW last night and according to my teenager, moccasins are the hot item this year.  Who knew?  Also those adorable ankle boots are everywhere.  Love those.
Click to expand...


Huh. I just wore moccasins on Wednesday  Have had them for a while from Land's End. Super comfy and they hold up really well. Might have to get a few more colors! And I love boots of just about any kind. I am SO excited that it's almost time for me to switch to my winter "uniform" (skirt+turtleneck, tights, boots  )


----------



## JonA_CT

We men have it easy. I splurged on a pair of brown shoes from Cole Haan last year that can be serviced by a cobbler to replace and repair parts that wear out. I'm also lucky to have a cobbler right in the city I live in.  I wear those shoes 3-4 days a week to work.

On the other days, I pretty much get by with a pair of toms, rainbows, or occasionally hiking boots.


----------



## NancyMoranG

We had the Dormia foam that moved like a hospital bed. Head could go or feet etc. we loved it. When we hit the road in RV it wouldn't fit. My brother still has it and loves it.
Now we have Dormia queen that doesn't move and love it.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> We men have it easy. I splurged on a pair of brown shoes from Cole Haan last year that can be serviced by a cobbler to replace and repair parts that wear out. I'm also lucky to have a cobbler right in the city I live in.  I wear those shoes 3-4 days a week to work.
> 
> On the other days, I pretty much get by with a pair of toms, rainbows, or occasionally hiking boots.



You say this as if women are forced to have many different kinds of shoes and it's a burden to always have to go buy new ones. I don't _need_ new shoes. I just want new shoes because I like them. My favorite ones get repaired periodically.


----------



## robbins.photo

I spend most of my life in tennis shoes, which is odd since I don't play tennis.  I don't even like watching other people play tennis.  I just like the shoes.


----------



## NancyMoranG

For Pixmedic and  Snowbear...





Went into Plymouth and walking along the harbor came across this new memorial. so THANK YOU 1st responders!!


----------



## NancyMoranG

And others who may not rush out in to the field but are behind the scenes. I think Snowbear may fit in that category (?)


----------



## robbins.photo

NancyMoranG said:


> And others who may not rush out in to the field but are behind the scenes. I think Snowbear may fit in that category (?)


So he'd be... umm.. a 2nd responder then?

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## NancyMoranG

nothing 2nd place about Snowbear


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nice, Nancy.

Mrs. Snowbear too, isn't she? See how well I remember things? lol she does something..... in their county? agency? a dispatcher maybe? I need more coffee.


----------



## vintagesnaps

This head cold kinda thing is better but I'm tired today. And who's fault is that?? I hadn't meant to stay up watching the later replay of Later...with Jools Holland, but I did. I had to. I mean, Sting going back to his roots with an early tune by The Police...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hosers. Hmm, I think I could go for some Tim Hortons about now.


----------



## NancyMoranG

I surrender! I have not posted a photo of my pet but I feel left out...so here goes..


 
She was a stray 17 yrs ago and we, well my son and I, took her home. Hubby wasn't especially happy, but you can see that changed.
She was ONLY an outdoor cat until we got the RV. then she learned to use the litterbox and NOT run away when we let her out.
Yup, we travel and she has learned not to go too far away. People are amazed.
So, when hubby cleans a fish she is right there waiting for her bite


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> We men have it easy. I splurged on a pair of brown shoes from Cole Haan last year that can be serviced by a cobbler to replace and repair parts that wear out. I'm also lucky to have a cobbler right in the city I live in.  I wear those shoes 3-4 days a week to work.
> 
> On the other days, I pretty much get by with a pair of toms, rainbows, or occasionally hiking boots.


Amateur!  I'm still wearing the same two pairs of Justin boots I bought close to 25 years ago.  When the heel lifts & sole on one pair wear down, it goes in to the cobbler and the other pair comes out.  They're so well worn in now it's like wearing slippers!


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> We men have it easy. I splurged on a pair of brown shoes from Cole Haan last year that can be serviced by a cobbler to replace and repair parts that wear out. I'm also lucky to have a cobbler right in the city I live in.  I wear those shoes 3-4 days a week to work.
> 
> On the other days, I pretty much get by with a pair of toms, rainbows, or occasionally hiking boots.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You say this as if women are forced to have many different kinds of shoes and it's a burden to always have to go buy new ones. I don't _need_ new shoes. I just want new shoes because I like them. My favorite ones get repaired periodically.
Click to expand...


Fair enough!

I'm thinking about it from my wife's perspective, which I shouldn't project onto others, haha.  Her (female) boss puts a lot of pressure on her to look a certain way at work, and as a result, she gets stressed out about the shoes (and clothes) she wears to work.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Your pet seems to be handy with tools. Oh wait, you mean the cat...


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Your pet seems to be handy with tools. Oh wait, you mean the cat...



She meant the cat?

Huh...


----------



## NancyMoranG

I wondered that when posting it


----------



## robbins.photo

NancyMoranG said:


> I wondered that when posting it



Little bummed actually.  I mean that heartwarming story about how you took him in, eventually let him inside and even got him to use the litterbox.  Brought a tear to my eye.

Then I found out you were talking about the cat.  Sigh....


----------



## NancyMoranG

Well, I have had to teach him a lot too
He's been worth the trouble just like the cat..


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> We men have it easy. I splurged on a pair of brown shoes from Cole Haan last year that can be serviced by a cobbler to replace and repair parts that wear out. I'm also lucky to have a cobbler right in the city I live in.  I wear those shoes 3-4 days a week to work.
> 
> On the other days, I pretty much get by with a pair of toms, rainbows, or occasionally hiking boots.


Oh so true, nor does our underwear need to have extra frills need to match anything else we wear plus one color is fine for all.


----------



## table1349

All this mushy stuff reminded me of something my wife told me a few weeks ago.  She thought it was sweet that after 38 years of marriage when we go out I still walk side by side and still hold her hand in public.  I didn't have the heart to tell her that I figured out long ago that if I let go of her hand she would shop.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Things are finally cooling off. Turned on the A/C yesterday while working in the kitchen. Turned it off in the evening. Gary and helper removed and replaced the oven. The turkey loaf was the first meal cooked in the new oven.  Turkey loaf and eggs sounds good for breakfast.
> 
> TGIF Hosers!
> 
> Gary and Mary Lou are about five years into a Costco memory foam bed. Gary and Mary Lou were looking at a Sleep Number Bed, but they were so snooty there that Gary just walked out and on the way home stopped in Costco. We had a memory foam topper which added another four inches.  Still pretty happy with the mattress.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Buzz just got a foam mattress and seems pretty happy with it. I've got a relatively new traditional mattress that I'm happy with, but would love to get a cooling gel foam topper for it. I got a $100 pre-paid Amex card for an adjunct professional development day that I attended in August, and I can't decide if I want to spend it on the mattress topper or shoes
> 
> I don't know if the Sleep Number beds have improved over the years, but if they are anything like they were about 6-7 years ago, then they are not worth the money. Everyone is different, of course, but Buzz and I were visiting my friend who had one in her guest room, and we both agreed it was horribly uncomfortable. It's just a glorified air mattress.
Click to expand...

Sleep number = wake up feeling like you wrestled a bear


----------



## jcdeboever

I wear slip on comfort shoes... My belly is so big that when I ties my shoes I stop breathing and pass out.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> I wear slip on comfort shoes... My belly is so big that when I ties my shoes I stop breathing and pass out.


Oh I don't think that's from the belly.   I think you need some industrial strength food deodorant.


----------



## snowbear

NancyMoranG said:


> And others who may not rush out in to the field but are behind the scenes. I think Snowbear may fit in that category (?)


Yep -- helping them help you; though I did ride an engine for a while. many years ago.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Nice, Nancy.
> 
> Mrs. Snowbear too, isn't she? See how well I remember things? lol she does something..... in their county? agency? a dispatcher maybe? I need more coffee.



Yes - we both work for the Fire/EMS Department.  She's the Admin Aide to the Chief Deputy (there are five), I'm the "map guy".  We actually met when we both worked for the Police Department (same county) - I was a dispatcher (I got paid to tell cops where to go) and she was a station clerk.


----------



## Gary A.

When Gary tells cops where to go ... Gary gets a ticket.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> When Gary tells cops where to go ... Gary gets a ticket.


Not if you tell them where the nearest Dunkin Donuts is located and give them a coupon.


----------



## Gary A.

Dunkin' Donuts have only appeared out here this year.  Crispy Cream are the doughnuts of choice in Los Angeles. On the flip side, Gary thinks that had he suggested to law enforcement, to follow his directions to a house of doughnuts ... any house of doughnuts ... he would have enjoyed the privilege of receiving multiple tickets.


----------



## pgriz

So.  My oldest daughter lived most of her life with two real sisters and two "adopted" sisters.  The adopted ones were friends that met in preschool and stayed friends through school, high school and even college, although each went to a different place.  The three were so close that we knew that if we found one, the others were nearby.  One of them got married five years ago - big blowout wedding, and I was asked to do the photography.  Since I don't do weddings, they had professionals do that, but I supplied the "family" photos.  Tomorrow the other "adopted" daughter's getting married.  My daughter went to the rehearsal today and when I went to pick her up, let me know that, no pressure, if I feel like taking photos, I'm welcome to do so.  Oh, and no-one is taking any video of the ceremony, so maybe I could, um, consider doing it?  Guess that means that I should charge up all the batteries tonight, clear out the memory cards, and let my wife that I might not be sitting besides her again.  Then again, my cell phone takes pretty decent video, so maybe I don't have to haul too much stuff with me.  If I don't log in for the next three days, you'll know where I am and what I'm doing.  But I love my "adopted" daughter, so saying "no" isn't an option.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> Dunkin' Donuts have only appeared out here this year.  Crispy Cream are the doughnuts of choice in Los Angeles. On the flip side, Gary thinks that had he suggested to law enforcement, to follow his directions to a house of doughnuts ... any house of doughnuts ... he would have enjoyed the privilege of receiving multiple tickets.


And I suppose those wouldn't be to the annual Policeman ball, would it?


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Dunkin' Donuts have only appeared out here this year.  Crispy Cream are the doughnuts of choice in Los Angeles. On the flip side, Gary thinks that had he suggested to law enforcement, to follow his directions to a house of doughnuts ... any house of doughnuts ... he would have enjoyed the privilege of receiving multiple tickets.


Well there is your problem.  Crispy Cream is nothing more than cotton candy circles.  Real cops prefer cake donuts.    

Here's the thing, if you can make us laugh, you have a chance to out of the ticket.


----------



## jcdeboever

Hey y'all, I have to go away for a spell. I just wanted to say I love y'all. I have some things to attend to in the coming weeks. I am not going to be posting on here for two or three weeks and don't want any worry, I trust there would be. That may sound pretentious but if one or some of the regulars didn't post for a while, I would get worried. I have decided to not use my phone unless for emergency for this guesstimated time frame.


----------



## Gary A.

Whatever you're doing ... whether it be for good or ill ... Good Luck to you.  I hope it is all good.


----------



## SquarePeg

Ok but if the Tigers and Sox make it to the ALCS, I expect to hear from you in the tv thread!


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Hey y'all, I have to go away for a spell. I just wanted to say I love y'all. I have some things to attend to in the coming weeks. I am not going to be posting on here for two or three weeks and don't want any worry, I trust there would be. That may sound pretentious but if one or some of the regulars didn't post for a while, I would get worried. I have decided to not use my phone unless for emergency for this guesstimated time frame.



Thanks for letting us know! Good luck with the next few weeks. Pictures or it didn't happen  (I kid, I kid...)


----------



## minicoop1985

tirediron said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mornin, hosers. Traveling again... Hour and 40 from home each way... And I'll be traveling home at night in deer territory.
> 
> The one shitty thing about this job: The camera settings are set in stone (for, obviously, consistency), and there's no changing them (the control wheels are taped over and the selector knob is locked down). And it's Nikon. lol
> 
> 
> 
> What job is this?
Click to expand...


I'm working for a larger company that does church directories and families.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dunkin' Donuts have only appeared out here this year.  Crispy Cream are the doughnuts of choice in Los Angeles. On the flip side, Gary thinks that had he suggested to law enforcement, to follow his directions to a house of doughnuts ... any house of doughnuts ... he would have enjoyed the privilege of receiving multiple tickets.
> 
> 
> 
> And I suppose those wouldn't be to the annual Policeman ball, would it?
Click to expand...

LOL ... no.  When Gary was working news he was arrested and it went to trial.  Our reporter that was covering the trial was also working on a rather negative news story on the same police department that arrested Gary. One day, upon driving away from the courthouse, after covering my trial, she was pulled over three times and received three tickets within the span of one block.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dunkin' Donuts have only appeared out here this year.  Crispy Cream are the doughnuts of choice in Los Angeles. On the flip side, Gary thinks that had he suggested to law enforcement, to follow his directions to a house of doughnuts ... any house of doughnuts ... he would have enjoyed the privilege of receiving multiple tickets.
> 
> 
> 
> Well there is your problem.  Crispy Cream is nothing more than cotton candy circles.  Real cops prefer cake donuts.
> 
> Here's the thing, if you can make us laugh, you have a chance to out of the ticket.
Click to expand...







Gary used to drive with these plates on his car ... sort of a non-verbal, subliminal threat.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Gary used to drive with these plates on his car ... sort of a non-verbal, subliminal threat.


What does it mean?  What kind of threat?  Directed at whom?


----------



## NancyMoranG

I was not on here a lot for the first 6-7 months of the year. I haven't seen Snerd on here in quite a while, any news on him?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Mary Lou and Gary are having their tea, coffee and newspaper, (respectively), in the patio.  It's in the upper 60's and when Gary poured his coffee a nice head of steam came up adding a nice visual to his morning cup.  Today, Mary Lou and Gary will be attending Mary Lou son's graduation ceremony from Icon Collective, an audio certification program. It will be held at La Fonda, a restaurant/night club venu which specializes in mariachi music.  Gary likes La Fonda and their music.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary used to drive with these plates on his car ... sort of a non-verbal, subliminal threat.
> 
> 
> 
> What does it mean?  What kind of threat?  Directed at whom?
Click to expand...

Those plates are for "Press Photographer" ... a cop stopping you would know that you are a member of the media. So either a wink and a warning or the biggest ticket the cop can write.


----------



## pgriz

Update to my post re taking photos. at the wedding of my "adopted" daughter.  Turns out, my wife informed me this morning, that she was asked by the bride-to-be that our wedding gift was to be the photos taken by me.  She knew at least a month ago, but somehow neglected to tell me.  Or she has a level of unstated confidence in me that she doesn't express verbally.  So in an hour, I'll be leaving to case the place where the wedding will be held.  The good news for me is that the hall has lots of windows, the ceilings are light-coloured, and the outside conditions are a light overcast so the light conditions aren't too variable.  Also good is that my stuff is working, batteries are charged, and it takes almost no time for me to get ready - a distinct advantage to being a guy from the sartorial viewpoint (expectations start low, and I'm not going to upset THAT particular apple-cart).  Half an hour to departure - time to take a last review of everything.  Just saw wife - stunningly gorgeous as usual.  As are my daughters (both real and adopted).  I'm a lucky, lucky guy.


----------



## Gary A.

Go break a leg.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mornin, hosers. Traveling again... Hour and 40 from home each way... And I'll be traveling home at night in deer territory.
> 
> The one shitty thing about this job: The camera settings are set in stone (for, obviously, consistency), and there's no changing them (the control wheels are taped over and the selector knob is locked down). And it's Nikon. lol
> 
> 
> 
> What job is this?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm working for a larger company that does church directories and families.
Click to expand...

Head shots I can see, but I can't imagine HOW you could do a family without the freedom to move things around.


----------



## minicoop1985

It's tough, but we make it work. So far, yesterday and Thursday, I helped my trainer make over $1200 for HIMSELF, not the company. So I can only imagine what I'll pull in tomorrow and next week.


----------



## JonA_CT

Tonight's random thoughts:

I feel like a new man with this new mattress.

I played with a set of fitted golf clubs today, and dropped 8 strokes off my previous best score. Not a coincidence, I think.

I have 2 kilos of Biga going tonight for two foccacias and two loaves of bread. I think I've found my favorite recipe. 

My computer has 2% battery left, so I'm not sure I'll even make it through this post.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Hey y'all, I have to go away for a spell. I just wanted to say I love y'all. I have some things to attend to in the coming weeks. I am not going to be posting on here for two or three weeks and don't want any worry, I trust there would be. That may sound pretentious but if one or some of the regulars didn't post for a while, I would get worried. I have decided to not use my phone unless for emergency for this guesstimated time frame.


Hey if by chance you get this send me a pm.  With my old career I know the witness protection switchboard phone number, we can stay in touch.


----------



## NancyMoranG

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey y'all, I have to go away for a spell. I just wanted to say I love y'all. I have some things to attend to in the coming weeks. I am not going to be posting on here for two or three weeks and don't want any worry, I trust there would be. That may sound pretentious but if one or some of the regulars didn't post for a while, I would get worried. I have decided to not use my phone unless for emergency for this guesstimated time frame.
> 
> 
> 
> Hey if by chance you get this send me a pm.  With my old career I know the witness protection switchboard phone number, we can stay in touch.
Click to expand...


Good, stay right where you are...
Phone call: Guiddo, yeah, we found another one, get your stuff together...


----------



## table1349

NancyMoranG said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey y'all, I have to go away for a spell. I just wanted to say I love y'all. I have some things to attend to in the coming weeks. I am not going to be posting on here for two or three weeks and don't want any worry, I trust there would be. That may sound pretentious but if one or some of the regulars didn't post for a while, I would get worried. I have decided to not use my phone unless for emergency for this guesstimated time frame.
> 
> 
> 
> Hey if by chance you get this send me a pm.  With my old career I know the witness protection switchboard phone number, we can stay in touch.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Good, stay right where you are...
> Phone call: Guiddo, yeah, we found another one, get your stuff together...
Click to expand...

I'm not worried.  Guiddo is hiding out in Albion ID.  He's  too far away.  Besides his name is Larry now.


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is in the patio, clad in his pajamas, the morning fresh and cool, the Sunday paper in hand, about to plunge the filter down on the French press for his first cup of coffee ... the press ... the pour ... the steam floats out of the cup and the aroma is seductively enticing ... and now the first sip.  At  this very moment life is good.


----------



## table1349

I don't do the patio in pajamas since I don't wear pajamas.


----------



## NancyMoranG

gryphonslair99 said:


> I don't do the patio in pajamas since I don't wear pajamas.


u

Too much info


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nice, Nancy.
> 
> Mrs. Snowbear too, isn't she? See how well I remember things? lol she does something..... in their county? agency? a dispatcher maybe? I need more coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes - we both work for the Fire/EMS Department.  She's the Admin Aide to the Chief Deputy (there are five), I'm the "map guy".  We actually met when we both worked for the Police Department (same county) - I was a dispatcher (I got paid to tell cops where to go) and she was a station clerk.
Click to expand...

You got paid to tell a cop where to go?

Huh.  Every time I told a cop where to go I got arrested, not paid...  weird

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

NancyMoranG said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't do the patio in pajamas since I don't wear pajamas.
> 
> 
> 
> u
> 
> Too much info
Click to expand...

Better you know now than after I get there don't you think?  Don't worry RV's don't have patios.


----------



## NancyMoranG

gryphonslair99 said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't do the patio in pajamas since I don't wear pajamas.
> 
> 
> 
> u
> 
> Too much info
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Better you know now than after I get there don't you think?  Don't worry RV's don't have patios.
Click to expand...


Hey, I may live under a bridge in my RV, (waterfront on Cape Cod Canal  ;} ) but don't think we don't have patios!! Maybe you should take the screen room?


----------



## pgriz

Done.  Another wedding documented on video, digital media and neural synapses.  Processing completed during the day today, posted and distributed to the interested parties.  "Adopted daughter" and her new husband came by during the day to give thanks, and share in their happiness that all went well.

And no legs were broken, although there were a few drinks sloshed over during the dancing.  Live band was good too.  But I was tired.  Got there at 12 noon to scout and prepare my shooting positions, helped with the last minute decor, and by the time all was said and done, we managed to get home 2am-ish.  All in all, a successful weekend.


----------



## table1349

NancyMoranG said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't do the patio in pajamas since I don't wear pajamas.
> 
> 
> 
> u
> 
> Too much info
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Better you know now than after I get there don't you think?  Don't worry RV's don't have patios.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hey, I may live under a bridge in my RV, (waterfront on Cape Cod Canal  ;} ) but don't think we don't have patios!! Maybe you should take the screen room?
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is back in the patio after a day of this and that.  It took a while, but Gary moved the old speaker system from the living room and installed it in the patio. The patio already sounded nice ... but now it is significantly better.  The subwoofer makes a night and day difference ... a difference between good and rich.  Gary is pleased.


----------



## Gary A.

The coffee carafe and cup from this morning was still on the patio table.  Gary just polished off the coffee.


----------



## table1349

Another beautiful day to start a beautiful week.  The air is cool, a nice breeze going through the house.  The coffee smells and tastes great and the day is beautiful.  Remember Monday isn't all that bad.  If you are reading this then you woke up this morning and are alive, so go out there and take life by the tail and make it what you want.  















Ok, enough of this, I'm going back to bed for a while.


----------



## tirediron

People have been hurt for a lot less!


----------



## table1349




----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

It's Red October! Time to get your Ruski cameras out!  My Zorki will be out and about this month, and I'll probably be redscaling a few rolls as well.


----------



## SquarePeg

pgriz said:


> Done.  Another wedding documented on video, digital media and neural synapses.  Processing completed during the day today, posted and distributed to the interested parties.  "Adopted daughter" and her new husband came by during the day to give thanks, and share in their happiness that all went well.
> 
> And no legs were broken, although there were a few drinks sloshed over during the dancing.  Live band was good too.  But I was tired.  Got there at 12 noon to scout and prepare my shooting positions, helped with the last minute decor, and by the time all was said and done, we managed to get home 2am-ish.  All in all, a successful weekend.



Glad it went well.  Planning to share any of these?  Did I miss them in another thread?  It's been a busy weekend.  I'd be interested to see them.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Hey, hosers.
> 
> It's Red October! Time to get your Ruski cameras out!  My Zorki will be out and about this month, and I'll probably be redscaling a few rolls as well.



I don't own a russian camera.  Can I just talk like Sean Connery for the rest of the month?


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, hosers.
> 
> It's Red October! Time to get your Ruski cameras out!  My Zorki will be out and about this month, and I'll probably be redscaling a few rolls as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't own a russian camera.  Can I just talk like Sean Connery for the rest of the month?
Click to expand...

No,  Gorillas don't come from Scotland.  maidin mhaith


----------



## robbins.photo

Greetings fellow coffee hosers...

Big doings down at the circle K.   Found a deal I liked on a Nikkor 70-200mm 2.8 VRI, so got it purchased.  Will hopefully show up sometime this week.  Considered the VRII but for the price difference, well, went with the VRI instead.  Will see about selling the Sigma locally.  It's been a good little lens but boy am I happy to be upgrading.  

I'm shooting a charity event this weekend, which should be a little different.  They declined to have everyone dress up as gorillas, so I told them no promises on the final outcome but if nothing else it will be interesting to shoot some stuff a little out of the wheelhouse for a change.


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, hosers.
> 
> It's Red October! Time to get your Ruski cameras out!  My Zorki will be out and about this month, and I'll probably be redscaling a few rolls as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't own a russian camera.  Can I just talk like Sean Connery for the rest of the month?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No,  Gorillas don't come from Scotland.  maidin mhaith
Click to expand...


Immigration.  Duh.  

A runner dressed as a Scottish gorilla


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, hosers.
> 
> It's Red October! Time to get your Ruski cameras out!  My Zorki will be out and about this month, and I'll probably be redscaling a few rolls as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't own a russian camera.  Can I just talk like Sean Connery for the rest of the month?
Click to expand...


That's Scottish, silly  Even in the movie, he sounded like a Scot.


----------



## SquarePeg

Easier to talk like these guys...


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> That's Scottish, silly  Even in the movie, he sounded like a Scot.



Well it's Sean Connery.. so no matter what country he's pretending he's from he still sounds Scottish.  But that's ok because it's Sean Connery...


----------



## table1349




----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's Scottish, silly  Even in the movie, he sounded like a Scot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well it's Sean Connery.. so no matter what country he's pretending he's from he still sounds Scottish.  But that's ok because it's Sean Connery...
Click to expand...


Yeah, I would have agreed with you before I found out about the wife beating


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's Scottish, silly  Even in the movie, he sounded like a Scot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well it's Sean Connery.. so no matter what country he's pretending he's from he still sounds Scottish.  But that's ok because it's Sean Connery...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, I would have agreed with you before I found out about the wife beating
Click to expand...


Ugh.. really?  Man.  I quite following NFL football over that nonsense.  Guess I can't watch Hunt for Red October anymore either.  Yikes.  This is why I avoid the news, like the plague..


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's Scottish, silly  Even in the movie, he sounded like a Scot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well it's Sean Connery.. so no matter what country he's pretending he's from he still sounds Scottish.  But that's ok because it's Sean Connery...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, I would have agreed with you before I found out about the wife beating
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ugh.. really?  Man.  I quite following NFL football over that nonsense.  Guess I can't watch Hunt for Red October anymore either.  Yikes.  This is why I avoid the news, like the plague..
Click to expand...

No more early James Bond movies either.  Neither shaken or stirred.


----------



## tirediron

I wasn't aware that he'd been convicted.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's Scottish, silly  Even in the movie, he sounded like a Scot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well it's Sean Connery.. so no matter what country he's pretending he's from he still sounds Scottish.  But that's ok because it's Sean Connery...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, I would have agreed with you before I found out about the wife beating
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ugh.. really?  Man.  I quite following NFL football over that nonsense.  Guess I can't watch Hunt for Red October anymore either.  Yikes.  This is why I avoid the news, like the plague..
Click to expand...


Yeah, apparently he was accused by his first wife of abuse. Then in the 60s, he was quoted in Playboy as saying that it's okay to hit a woman "in the right circumstances." 20 years later, he told Barbara Walters in an interview that he hadn't changed his opinion, that it "wasn't good" to slap a woman, but it also "wasn't that bad in the right circumstances" which essentially means "when she is asking for it." Finally, in 2014, he denied making any of those statements, and his friends claim thusly: "But friends of Connery deny the Playboy quote and insist he actually said: 'You can do a woman a lot more harm by moral torture than with a slap.'" Of course, even if this were the actual quote (and remember that Connery was on camera admitting that he DID say it was okay to hit a woman), it's no better. The revised quote really just says that emotional abuse is even more effective than physical abuse, so men should totally emotionally abuse women.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> I wasn't aware that he'd been convicted.



He doesn't have to be convicted. Watching him explain the "certain circumstances" in which a woman "deserves" to be hit is all the evidence I need to think he's an arsehole and that women should just steer clear.


----------



## pgriz

SquarePeg said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Done.  Another wedding documented on video, digital media and neural synapses.  Processing completed during the day today, posted and distributed to the interested parties.  "Adopted daughter" and her new husband came by during the day to give thanks, and share in their happiness that all went well.
> 
> And no legs were broken, although there were a few drinks sloshed over during the dancing.  Live band was good too.  But I was tired.  Got there at 12 noon to scout and prepare my shooting positions, helped with the last minute decor, and by the time all was said and done, we managed to get home 2am-ish.  All in all, a successful weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glad it went well.  Planning to share any of these?  Did I miss them in another thread?  It's been a busy weekend.  I'd be interested to see them.
Click to expand...


Thank you for your interest.  Unfortunately, even though I did take the photos, I don't have their permission to publish them.  Keep in mind they HAD professional photographers covering the day, so my contribution was mainly from the "family" angle.  Most of my contribution was to record the video on my cell phone (surprisingly good on the LG-G4), of the key moments and the speeches.  From an artistic point of view, rather meh.  From a memory perspective, much different and appreciated.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wasn't aware that he'd been convicted.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He doesn't have to be convicted. Watching him explain the "certain circumstances" in which a woman "deserves" to be hit is all the evidence I need to think he's an arsehole and that women should just steer clear.
Click to expand...


Agreed.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wasn't aware that he'd been convicted.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He doesn't have to be convicted. Watching him explain the "certain circumstances" in which a woman "deserves" to be hit is all the evidence I need to think he's an arsehole and that women should just steer clear.
Click to expand...

What size are you in a black hood?


----------



## vintagesnaps

I must've missed something...

The birds are a little kooky today, they seem to think banging into the screen is a good idea. Not sure why since it's warming up some, but they seem to want to come in. I like my cardinals, they just chatter and perch on the front porch railing when it's starting to get dark. The little sparrows and what not can get kind of squirrelly.

Yeah, it's an exciting Monday...


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> I wasn't aware that he'd been convicted.



I'd pay real money to see him square off on Judge Judy...


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> I must've missed something...



Well apparently Sean Connery is neither Russian, nor a very nice person.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wasn't aware that he'd been convicted.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He doesn't have to be convicted. Watching him explain the "certain circumstances" in which a woman "deserves" to be hit is all the evidence I need to think he's an arsehole and that women should just steer clear.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What size are you in a black hood?
Click to expand...


Who needs a hood? I want a man to know exactly who is kicking him in the stones.


----------



## table1349




----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Who needs a hood? I want a man to know exactly who is kicking him in the stones.



So maybe a really nice note pinned to his chest with an icepick?  Ooohh... one of thoes manila heavy bond paper things with calligraphy.  That's always classy...


----------



## NancyMoranG

Maybe 'Dexter' is available for wife beaters :0


----------



## NancyMoranG

Too bad because I like Sean Connery...


----------



## robbins.photo

NancyMoranG said:


> Too bad because I like Sean Connery...



Well I guess in the long run it doesn't matter that much, Hunt for Red October really wasn't that good of a movie - I already despise Alec Baldwin so anything he's in is tough enough for me to watch to begin with.  Won't really miss watching the old bond films, for me Roger Moore was Bond, he had cooler gadgets anyway.  To be 100% honest I was never really that big of a fan of the Bond films.  They are for the most part just silly and fun to watch on rare occasion but I prefer stuff with like, well plot lines and actual acting, that sort of thing.


----------



## SquarePeg

But did you see his impression of He Who Shall Not Be Named on SNL?  It was hilarious.


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> But did you see his impression of He Who Shall Not Be Named on SNL?  It was hilarious.



I don't think I've actually watched Saturday Night Live since they had the Church Lady on there... I was a big fan of the original cast, kind of went down hill when they left, stopped watching altogether for a while, started again during the Dana Carvey/Mike Meyers time frame, left off again once they walked away, haven't really been back.


----------



## SquarePeg

robbins.photo said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> But did you see his impression of He Who Shall Not Be Named on SNL?  It was hilarious.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think I've actually watched Saturday Night Live since they had the Church Lady on there... I was a big fan of the original cast, kind of went down hill when they left, stopped watching altogether for a while, started again during the Dana Carvey/Mike Meyers time frame, left off again once they walked away, haven't really been back.
Click to expand...


I don't watch every week as a rule but during an election season it's must see tv for me.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy Hosers. I also haven't really cared for SNL for quite a while.

Wow have I been busy. Work days fly by so fast... Hard to believe how fast it goes. Did quite well on my first day solo. I'll take it.


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> But did you see his impression of He Who Shall Not Be Named on SNL?  It was hilarious.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think I've actually watched Saturday Night Live since they had the Church Lady on there... I was a big fan of the original cast, kind of went down hill when they left, stopped watching altogether for a while, started again during the Dana Carvey/Mike Meyers time frame, left off again once they walked away, haven't really been back.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't watch every week as a rule but during an election season it's must see tv for me.
Click to expand...

One of the reasons I quit watching actually.  The original SNL took potshots at both sides equally, but in later years not so much.  Don't know if they switched back to making fun of both sides or not, but really politics anymore is just a subject I find best to avoid at all costs.  

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Hey you guys and gals, I can't post a lot because I will get yuelled at. I love youi keep it coming when they give me a chance to use my fone.


----------



## jcdeboever

Oh, Im on vacation


----------



## jcdeboever

I have 36 messages to respond to from customers.... where is my camera....


----------



## Gary A.

The SNL debate skit was particularly entertaining.


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm hungry where's t fod


----------



## pgriz

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wasn't aware that he'd been convicted.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He doesn't have to be convicted. Watching him explain the "certain circumstances" in which a woman "deserves" to be hit is all the evidence I need to think he's an arsehole and that women should just steer clear.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What size are you in a black hood?
Click to expand...


I believe the hoods are one-size-fits-all.  The boots and corsets, on the other hand...


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Oh, Im on vacation


Yep, typical witness protection speak.  
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





Everyone goes to Jarbidge, NV on holiday Enjoy your "vacation."  Snap snap, grin grin, wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more.

Sorry, almost forgot, here's the food.


----------



## Gary A.

Nice.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary downloaded a free lightmeter for his phone.  Gary thinks he's doing okay judging/guessing exposures in daylight ... but not so sure indoors.  Gary's handhold meter isn't quite pocketable ... so often it is left at home.  Gary always has his phone.  (The meter is for my film camera.)


----------



## table1349




----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gary downloaded a free lightmeter for his phone.  Gary thinks he's doing okay judging/guessing exposures in daylight ... but not so sure indoors.  Gary's handhold meter isn't quite pocketable ... so often it is left at home.  Gary always has his phone.  (The meter is for my film camera.)



Is it this one? It's the one I use. I've found it quite useful.


----------



## Gary A.

Yes, that is the one.  One day soon Gary will compare it to his Sekonic.


----------



## table1349

If Leonardo da Vinci had coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The triple digit heat wave broke over the weekend, we're back into the 70's and more normal. The heat scorched a few plants. Last night Mary Lou and Gary had dinner at a  very nice place, Water Grill, a seafood place, the brand new one in Orange County.  The food was super, the service was super, the wine was super, but at the end of the meal Mary Lou said my food was better. Gary laughed and told her she didn't have to say that ... but she was serious ... and right. lol  Gary's wines came from many of the same wineries as Water Grill's wines, Gary's foods were more flavorful and spicier ... Water Grill has greater variety of foods and fusion ... Water Grill has valet parking ... at Gary's place you can eat in your pajamas with a movie afterwards. If you're in LA with a hankering for really good seafood try Water Grill ... or make a reservation at Gary's Place.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Yes, that is the one.  One day soon Gary will compare it to his Sekonic.


This looks interesting, but not free.
Cine Meter II for iOS


----------



## JonA_CT

I can tell I'm back in school...the creative doldrums are here. I'm thinking I'm going to talk a couple friends into a portrait session this weekend, or maybe I'll go for a hike. Either way, I think I'll load up some film.


----------



## EIngerson

You know what's not cool? Missing your flight because LAX has ZERO traffic control on their runway. Flight landed early, sat on the tarmac for 35 minutes. Had to walk 10 minutes to get to the shuttle. Shuttle takes another 30 minutes to get to domestic terminal. Flight left without 3 passengers (me include) that were already inbound to the gate. 


Fun times. Good job at sucking, American Airlines.....


----------



## tirediron

EIngerson said:


> You know what's not cool? Missing your flight because LAX has ZERO traffic control on their runway. Flight landed early, sat on the tarmac for 35 minutes. Had to walk 10 minutes to get to the shuttle. Shuttle takes another 30 minutes to get to domestic terminal. Flight left without 3 passengers (me include) that were already inbound to the gate.
> 
> 
> Fun times. Good job at sucking, American Every Commercial Carrier in North America! Airlines.....


FTFY


----------



## EIngerson

tirediron said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> You know what's not cool? Missing your flight because LAX has ZERO traffic control on their runway. Flight landed early, sat on the tarmac for 35 minutes. Had to walk 10 minutes to get to the shuttle. Shuttle takes another 30 minutes to get to domestic terminal. Flight left without 3 passengers (me include) that were already inbound to the gate.
> 
> 
> Fun times. Good job at sucking, American Every Commercial Carrier in North America! Airlines.....
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY
Click to expand...


AGREED!!!


----------



## SquarePeg

Ugh that really stinks @EIngerson.  Used to love traveling but lately the airlines are just too much work.  I'm flying tomorrow on a veryveryvery early flight headed to FL for some fun in the sun, ah I mean 50 mph winds and torrential downpours!  Of course once Matthew is done with FL he (and I) will head to the Northeast.  Apparently someone invited him on our vacation and forgot to tell me.


----------



## EIngerson

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh that really stinks @EIngerson.  Used to love traveling but lately the airlines are just too much work.  I'm flying tomorrow on a veryveryvery early flight headed to FL for some fun in the sun, ah I mean 50 mph winds and torrential downpours!  Of course once Matthew is done with FL he (and I) will head to the Northeast.  Apparently someone invited him on our vacation and forgot to tell me.



Be safe, that hurricane was getting close. Heading North from Haiti as we speak.


----------



## snowbear

Anyone using Thunderbird as an email client for gmail?


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Anyone using Thunderbird as an email client for gmail?



I've used it, though come to think of it, I haven't really opened it in a while. But I've also been using my big laptop a lot less lately and relying more on my Chromebook. I started using it because I have more than one gmail account, some of which I set up specifically for my classes so I didn't have to filter out student messages from all the other crap, and Thunderbird allowed me to sync multiple accounts so I could see them all at the same time and switch easily. It was a little glitchy - for example, I'd be in one account and sending a message, but the "reply to" message would somehow get switched to a different account, so I'd get the reply in a different account from the one I was expecting it to go to. 

So it got kind of annoying, and then Gmail made it much easier to log into all accounts and switch from one profile to another, and I didn't really feel the need anymore.


----------



## Gary A.

While waiting for the debate, Gary whipped up some bread and another turkey loaf.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone using Thunderbird as an email client for gmail?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've used it, though come to think of it, I haven't really opened it in a while. But I've also been using my big laptop a lot less lately and relying more on my Chromebook. I started using it because I have more than one gmail account, some of which I set up specifically for my classes so I didn't have to filter out student messages from all the other crap, and Thunderbird allowed me to sync multiple accounts so I could see them all at the same time and switch easily. It was a little glitchy - for example, I'd be in one account and sending a message, but the "reply to" message would somehow get switched to a different account, so I'd get the reply in a different account from the one I was expecting it to go to.
> 
> So it got kind of annoying, and then Gmail made it much easier to log into all accounts and switch from one profile to another, and I didn't really feel the need anymore.
Click to expand...


Same here.  I have two Gmail accounts (mine & the Photo Challenge),  and three other accounts, so Thunderbird and Outlook (in Winworld) are the only things I know that will place mail from multiple accounts into one directory for reading.  I really like Outlook: I think the Rules function is better than Thunderbird's equivalent, but my version is no longer supported so I switched (I am not upgrading to the Office 365 lease).

Thunderbird issued a "patch" update so I installed it last night.  Now I can't send on the Gmail account - I get an error about enabling cookies on the browser.  I can receive and I can receive on the AOL, so there must be a glitch in the patch.  I guess, for now, I'll try setting Gmail to IMAP or just use Chrome for that one account  I'll send Mozilla an email . . . oh, wait.


----------



## snowbear

In other stuff - I had to cancel out on the SAR (Search and Rescue) workshop - it's the same date as the other GIS course; I'll catch the next one.  We are planning on a little day trip this weekend to Pennsylvania for an apple festival, then a fall color (colour, for the Canucks) day trip to along Skyline Drive / Shenandoah / Appalachians ("apple-LATCH-uns") in a few weeks.


----------



## Designer

EIngerson said:


> Good job at sucking, American Airlines.....


That's the reason we will never fly United.  Not on-ground traffic, but first flight was delayed.  We got to the gate just after the door closed.  The plane was STILL AT THE GATE!!!!! Some BS that they absolutely HAD to get that second flight in the air, even though the same motivation was not present for our first flight.  

Good job at NOT customer service, United!


----------



## JonA_CT

I agree that most airlines have issues. United was really shifty over Christmas for us last year -- we were flying home from Chicago 2 days after a major winter storm messed up the flying schedules. I got multiple e-mails asking us to voluntarily bump to a different flight, but we were flying with an infant and didn't want to move to a non-direct flight. 

I went to check in online 24 hours before the flight, and again, it asked me to bump to another flight. I declined, and then clicked to get my boarding pass. It gave me an error, saying I needed to call customer service. I spent over two hours on hold to check into a flight that I bought tickets for 6 months ahead of time. I'm convinced that our seats would not have been there had we tried to check in at the airport.


----------



## table1349




----------



## EIngerson

gryphonslair99 said:


> View attachment 128402




Good advice, but sometimes you have to get yesterday out of your system first. LOL


----------



## table1349

EIngerson said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 128402
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good advice, but sometimes you have to get yesterday out of your system first. LOL
Click to expand...

As Master Oogway said, 

_“Yesterday is history. 
Tomorrow is a mystery. 
Today is a gift. 
That's why it's called the present.”_


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is still savoring last night's dinner.  The fresh bread, a mix of wheat and white flour, a handful of very sour starter and a bunch of honey was particularly good and the loaf fill with a bucketful of herbs and mixed with tons of stuff from the frig and pantry, all topped off with Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce and Bleu Cheese.

Interesting inside article in the LA Times and the headline reads: "China gives American football a go". Apparently the AFL, (Arena Football League), has started a pro league in China. Six teams in various cities are competing amongst themselves. It hasn't caught fire yet.  The story stated even after some very good plays, the crowd didn't come alive until free T-Shirts and footballs were tossed into the stands. "Meishi Ganlanqiu", it is called (American Style Football), watch for it.


----------



## table1349

Watching Food Factory and learned an astounding and wonderfully welcome bit of information.  
A cure for a hangover that i was not aware of. 
*
 BACON* helps cure a hangover by boosting the level of amines which clear the head, scientists have found.

Come to daddy, I feel a bender coming on.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

This week, I am reminded of the old (allegedly) Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> This week, I am reminded of the old (allegedly) Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times.


I prefer the Arabian, "May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your sock drawer!"


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> This week, I am reminded of the old (allegedly) Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times.
> 
> 
> 
> I prefer the Arabian, "May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your sock drawer!"
Click to expand...

I prefer Carnac the Magnificent, _"May you get your first French kiss from a diseased camel."_


----------



## Gary A.

Vin Scully: "Take two and go to right."


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday, Gary was listening to NPR and came across Alexandra Horowitz being interviewed about dogs. Horowitz founded the dog cognition lab at Barnhart College in New York.  Apparently the lab is is providing significant insight for training work dogs ... detection and police dogs. What Gary liked was that his treatment/training of Cookie was affirmed by the dog expert.  Gary just trained Cookie enough for safety, other than that, she is allowed to be herself. He taught her to come, sit, stop, look both ways before crossing a street, the essentials.  On our daily walks, Gary walks with Cook off the leash allowing her to explore and smell what she wants and often for as long as she wants. Horowitz confirmed Gary suspicion that dogs tend to smell their way through life as opposed to humans who see their way through life. Horowitz was able to explain much of dog behavior in layman terms and equally importantly, stated she doesn't know why to many questions/observations/activities. Horowitz has a new book out titled "Inside of a Dog".  Gary is going to check it out.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Yesterday, Gary was listening to Alexandra Horowitz speak about dogs on the radio. Horowitz founded the dog cognition lab at Barnhart College in New York.  Apparently the lab is is providing significant insight for training work dogs ... detection and police dogs. What Gary liked was that his treatment/training of Cookie was affirmed by the dog expert.  Gary just trained Cookie enough for safety, other than that is is allowed to be herself. He taught her to come, sit, stop, look both ways before crossing a street, the essentials.  On our daily walks, Gary walk with Cook off the leash allowing her to explore and smell what she wants and often for as long as she wants. Horowitz confirmed Gary suspicion that dogs tend to smell their way through life as opposed to humans who tend to see their way through life. Horowitz was able to explain much of dog behavior in layman terms and equally importantly, stated she doesn't know why to many questions/observations/activities. Horowitz has a new book out titled "Inside of a Dog".  Gary is going to check it out.



Is it scratch and sniff?


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yesterday, Gary was listening to Alexandra Horowitz speak about dogs on the radio. Horowitz founded the dog cognition lab at Barnhart College in New York.  Apparently the lab is is providing significant insight for training work dogs ... detection and police dogs. What Gary liked was that his treatment/training of Cookie was affirmed by the dog expert.  Gary just trained Cookie enough for safety, other than that is is allowed to be herself. He taught her to come, sit, stop, look both ways before crossing a street, the essentials.  On our daily walks, Gary walk with Cook off the leash allowing her to explore and smell what she wants and often for as long as she wants. Horowitz confirmed Gary suspicion that dogs tend to smell their way through life as opposed to humans who tend to see their way through life. Horowitz was able to explain much of dog behavior in layman terms and equally importantly, stated she doesn't know why to many questions/observations/activities. Horowitz has a new book out titled "Inside of a Dog".  Gary is going to check it out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is it scratch and sniff?
Click to expand...

With a dog's nose, scratching isn't necessary.  Just sniff.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> This week, I am reminded of the old (allegedly) Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times.





tirediron said:


> I prefer the Arabian, "May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your sock drawer!"


"I hope you have daughters and they date guys just like you are."


----------



## snowbear

Five points to whomever correctly identifies the item with the red cap:


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> Five points to whomever correctly identifies the item with the red cap:
> 
> View attachment 128409


Where I come from we call it a metal pipe.


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> Five points to whomever correctly identifies the item with the red cap:
> 
> View attachment 128409


Standpipe?


----------



## EIngerson

gryphonslair99 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Five points to whomever correctly identifies the item with the red cap:
> 
> View attachment 128409
> 
> 
> 
> Where I come from we call it a metal pipe.
Click to expand...


Beat me to it....


----------



## Gary A.

I would call it a standpipe ... my first take was that it was venting something, but the cap is solid, so yeah a standpipe.  Most standpiping is temporary, but this looks a bit permanent.  The pipe is too heavy to be a conduit and the surrounding area doesn't lend itself for that purpose.  The main reason for such a heavy pipe at that location would be for pressure ... so yeah a standpipe.


----------



## pixmedic

oh joy...
guess whos working tomorrow evacuating vented patients from hospitals....


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> oh joy...
> guess whos working tomorrow evacuating vented patients from hospitals....


Ralph?


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> oh joy...
> guess whos working tomorrow evacuating vented patients from hospitals....


The ferrets?


----------



## pixmedic

gryphonslair99 said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> oh joy...
> guess whos working tomorrow evacuating vented patients from hospitals....
> 
> 
> 
> The ferrets?
Click to expand...

Yes.


----------



## JonA_CT

pixmedic said:


> oh joy...
> guess whos working tomorrow evacuating vented patients from hospitals....



Stay safe. Do you have to stick around after?


----------



## pixmedic

JonA_CT said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> oh joy...
> guess whos working tomorrow evacuating vented patients from hospitals....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stay safe. Do you have to stick around after?
Click to expand...


i will probably on a  mandatory 12 hour shift right after my scheduled 24 hour shift tomorrow.  I just got off a 36  hour shift yesterday night.


----------



## jcdeboever

Nice. Just learned that 50 to 75℅ of my stomach lining will be healed if I don't eat for the next 6 months to a year. WTF is up with these doctors? I am fine but they have to make paperwork conform to potential lawsuits? No precise direction, just let you bleed to death and hopefully you inadvertently sign a document. Vacation over. I can't take it no more. I am bleeding out my ass and the hospital can't make a direct diagnosis for the insurance company in order to get paid for practicing services. I checked out, **** them. I am in a great deal of pain. Going to Detroit, Henry Ford. They hopefully will stop the leaks so I can continue to prosper. Thanks to @ Gary A. for holding steady Eddie on my poor communicating ass


----------



## pixmedic

jcdeboever said:


> Nice. Just learned that 50 to 75℅ of my stomach lining will be healed if I don't eat for the next 6 months to a year. WTF is up with these doctors? I am fine but they have to make paperwork conform to potential lawsuits? No precise direction, just let you bleed to death and hopefully you inadvertently sign a document. Vacation over. I can't take it no more. I am bleeding out my ass and the hospital can't make a direct diagnosis for the insurance company in order to get paid for practicing services. I checked out, **** them. I am in a great deal of pain. Going to Detroit, Henry Ford. They hopefully will stop the leaks so I can continue to prosper. Thanks to @ Gary A. for holding steady Eddie on my poor communicating ass




ulcer or GI bleed elsewhere? 
be careful if you have a lot of bleeding. it will drop your hemoglobin levels and you will need a transfusion. 
make sure you dont go too long before getting bloodwork done again. at the very least, SOME facility will need to monitor your hemaglobin and hematacrit levels.


----------



## snowbear

Not a standpipe.  Standpipes are for providing water to upper floors, but it is related to firefighting.  It's called a drafting hydrant.  There's a 10,000 gallon water tank underground and this is how to get to the wet stuff.  It's part of our rural water supply system.  I am setting up a web app that will allow the crews to collect the location of these and a dozen other features related to pre-planning - stuff like hazmat locations, building construction classes, potential medevac helo lzs.  I needed to do some testing so I went "into the field" -- great weather for it.


----------



## jcdeboever

pixmedic said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nice. Just learned that 50 to 75℅ of my stomach lining will be healed if I don't eat for the next 6 months to a year. WTF is up with these doctors? I am fine but they have to make paperwork conform to potential lawsuits? No precise direction, just let you bleed to death and hopefully you inadvertently sign a document. Vacation over. I can't take it no more. I am bleeding out my ass and the hospital can't make a direct diagnosis for the insurance company in order to get paid for practicing services. I checked out, **** them. I am in a great deal of pain. Going to Detroit, Henry Ford. They hopefully will stop the leaks so I can continue to prosper. Thanks to @ Gary A. for holding steady Eddie on my poor communicating ass
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ulcer or GI bleed elsewhere?
> be careful if you have a lot of bleeding. it will drop your hemoglobin levels and you will need a transfusion.
> make sure you dont go too long before getting bloodwork done again. at the very least, SOME facility will need to monitor your hemaglobin and hematacrit levels.
Click to expand...

Thanks buddy. I have had multiple skopes with burning to subside the recent black litres extracted from my stomach. I bloated exponentially for a spell, no blockage, tube through nose (still in place mother flupper). 12+ litres drained but looking up it is not looking black tonight. I am so tired and my gut is on fire. I think I need to ask them for pain meds, I have denied them up until now.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Nice. Just learned that 50 to 75℅ of my stomach lining will be healed if I don't eat for the next 6 months to a year. WTF is up with these doctors? I am fine but they have to make paperwork conform to potential lawsuits? No precise direction, just let you bleed to death and hopefully you inadvertently sign a document. Vacation over. I can't take it no more. I am bleeding out my ass and the hospital can't make a direct diagnosis for the insurance company in order to get paid for practicing services. I checked out, **** them. I am in a great deal of pain. Going to Detroit, Henry Ford. They hopefully will stop the leaks so I can continue to prosper. Thanks to @ Gary A. for holding steady Eddie on my poor communicating ass


Sorry to hear about the medical issue.  Hope it gets taken care of the best possible.  Praying for you.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nice. Just learned that 50 to 75℅ of my stomach lining will be healed if I don't eat for the next 6 months to a year. WTF is up with these doctors? I am fine but they have to make paperwork conform to potential lawsuits? No precise direction, just let you bleed to death and hopefully you inadvertently sign a document. Vacation over. I can't take it no more. I am bleeding out my ass and the hospital can't make a direct diagnosis for the insurance company in order to get paid for practicing services. I checked out, **** them. I am in a great deal of pain. Going to Detroit, Henry Ford. They hopefully will stop the leaks so I can continue to prosper. Thanks to @ Gary A. for holding steady Eddie on my poor communicating ass
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear about the medical issue.  Hope it gets taken care of the best possible.  Praying for you.
Click to expand...

Thanks bud. I am healed.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nice. Just learned that 50 to 75℅ of my stomach lining will be healed if I don't eat for the next 6 months to a year. WTF is up with these doctors? I am fine but they have to make paperwork conform to potential lawsuits? No precise direction, just let you bleed to death and hopefully you inadvertently sign a document. Vacation over. I can't take it no more. I am bleeding out my ass and the hospital can't make a direct diagnosis for the insurance company in order to get paid for practicing services. I checked out, **** them. I am in a great deal of pain. Going to Detroit, Henry Ford. They hopefully will stop the leaks so I can continue to prosper. Thanks to @ Gary A. for holding steady Eddie on my poor communicating ass
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear about the medical issue.  Hope it gets taken care of the best possible.  Praying for you.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks bud. I am healed.
Click to expand...

Feel better, then.  If it means taking the pain meds, then do it.


----------



## jcdeboever

Thanks bud, wife is due back soon, got to get off phone. She is yelling and making some serious noise. I trust I am moving towards Detroit. She is letting them have it. I need to get this drain out of my nose, that is a flippin hurt and annoyance it's own right. That **** hurt when they were stuffing it down, not looking forward to the pulling. MFer


----------



## jcdeboever

She won't take a pic of me on my phone. She just said **** photo forum ****ers.


----------



## jcdeboever

F


----------



## jcdeboever

Lol


----------



## jcdeboever

She is pissed, like when I got caught peeing in the laundry tub.... Oh ****, she see me texting...


----------



## table1349

You keep this up and your not going to need to go to Detroit.  There might not be enough left of you to take there.


----------



## snowbear

SWMBO - better listen.  Wives and girlfriends generally know best.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> SWMBO - better listen.  Wives and girlfriends generally know best.


Ok, can you type freely yet or is your wife still in the room?


----------



## jcdeboever

I just got a break after she grabbed my onion sack... She said nock it off, your not funny. I loudy farted (good sign)  and she walked away mumbling about the size of my sausage in its current state...  hospital coldness and lack of the act of pampering a loved one while tucking them in bed. She is annoyed with me...


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> I just got a break after she grabbed my onion sack... She said nock it off, your not funny. I loudy farted (good sign)  and she walked away mumbling about the size of my sausage in its current state...  hospital coldness and lack of the act of pampering a loved one while tucking them in bed. She is annoyed with me...


Ya Think???  What was your first clue????


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just got a break after she grabbed my onion sack... She said nock it off, your not funny. I loudy farted (good sign)  and she walked away mumbling about the size of my sausage in its current state...  hospital coldness and lack of the act of pampering a loved one while tucking them in bed. She is annoyed with me...
> 
> 
> 
> Ya Think???  What was your first clue????
Click to expand...

Her reaction to the pure perfection of the sound and clarity of the fart. It was epic and timely... She should have laughed and not grabbed my onion sack, it was truly well timed and epic sounding.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just got a break after she grabbed my onion sack... She said nock it off, your not funny. I loudy farted (good sign)  and she walked away mumbling about the size of my sausage in its current state...  hospital coldness and lack of the act of pampering a loved one while tucking them in bed. She is annoyed with me...
> 
> 
> 
> Ya Think???  What was your first clue????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Her reaction to the pure perfection of the sound and clarity of the fart. It was epic and timely... She should have laughed and not grabbed my onion sack, it was truly well timed and epic sounding.
Click to expand...

Never let it be said you are not perceptive.  Perhaps lacking a bit of tact, but you are perceptive.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just got a break after she grabbed my onion sack... She said nock it off, your not funny. I loudy farted (good sign)  and she walked away mumbling about the size of my sausage in its current state...  hospital coldness and lack of the act of pampering a loved one while tucking them in bed. She is annoyed with me...
> 
> 
> 
> Ya Think???  What was your first clue????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Her reaction to the pure perfection of the sound and clarity of the fart. It was epic and timely... She should have laughed and not grabbed my onion sack, it was truly well timed and epic sounding.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Never let it be said you are not perceptive.  Perhaps lacking a bit of tact, but you are perceptive.
Click to expand...

You had to here it and the timing. She is coming back....


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just got a break after she grabbed my onion sack... She said nock it off, your not funny. I loudy farted (good sign)  and she walked away mumbling about the size of my sausage in its current state...  hospital coldness and lack of the act of pampering a loved one while tucking them in bed. She is annoyed with me...
> 
> 
> 
> Ya Think???  What was your first clue????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Her reaction to the pure perfection of the sound and clarity of the fart. It was epic and timely... She should have laughed and not grabbed my onion sack, it was truly well timed and epic sounding.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Never let it be said you are not perceptive.  Perhaps lacking a bit of tact, but you are perceptive.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You had to here it and the timing. She is coming back....
Click to expand...

Really want to set her off.........


----------



## SquarePeg

Made it to beaUtiful sunny FL. No sign of that guy Matthew who was supposed to be joining us. I guess he's expected tomorrow afternoon. Just found out Our lodgings will need to be evacuated tomorrow unless M is downgraded to cat3.  We now have a back up hotel booked a few miles inland if needed.   We're well stocked with the "necessities" so should be good either way.


----------



## table1349

With enough good quality toilet paper, a case of Twinkies and bottled water you can weather anything.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> She won't take a pic of me on my phone. She just said **** photo forum ****ers.


Gary likes your wife.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Made it to beaUtiful sunny FL. No sign of that guy Matthew who was supposed to be joining us. I guess he's expected tomorrow afternoon. Just found out Our lodgings will need to be evacuated tomorrow unless M is downgraded to cat3.  We now have a back up hotel booked a few miles inland if needed.   We're well stocked with the "necessities" so should be good either way.


Hope it works out for you- stay safe, stay dry.  Give me a holler when you decide to roll back up 95.


----------



## jcdeboever

I think we are getting kicked out now. Not sure if its the epic farts or my wife's yelling. My ego is saying the farts but my onion sack is saying the wife.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just got a break after she grabbed my onion sack... She said nock it off, your not funny. I loudy farted (good sign)  and she walked away mumbling about the size of my sausage in its current state...  hospital coldness and lack of the act of pampering a loved one while tucking them in bed. She is annoyed with me...
> 
> 
> 
> Ya Think???  What was your first clue????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Her reaction to the pure perfection of the sound and clarity of the fart. It was epic and timely... She should have laughed and not grabbed my onion sack, it was truly well timed and epic sounding.
Click to expand...

Timing is everything.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Made it to beaUtiful sunny FL. No sign of that guy Matthew who was supposed to be joining us. I guess he's expected tomorrow afternoon. Just found out Our lodgings will need to be evacuated tomorrow unless M is downgraded to cat3.  We now have a back up hotel booked a few miles inland if needed.   We're well stocked with the "necessities" so should be good either way.


Great timing there Peg.   I never realized that Hurricanes were such a tourist attraction.  We just went for the sun, sand and Disney world.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Made it to beaUtiful sunny FL. No sign of that guy Matthew who was supposed to be joining us. I guess he's expected tomorrow afternoon. Just found out Our lodgings will need to be evacuated tomorrow unless M is downgraded to cat3.  We now have a back up hotel booked a few miles inland if needed.   We're well stocked with the "necessities" so should be good either way.


Stay safe!!   Crossing my fingers for you that you won't have to relocate, but do whatever they tell you to - repeat - stay safe!!   

Hope you can get some fun worked in there, too.


----------



## Gary A.

Good luck Peg. Keep you head down and ammo dry.


----------



## SquarePeg

Thanks all. We're safe and sound at our inland hotel. Decided to be cautious and leave early this morning since we didn't have a rental car and needed to depend on uber for a ride. Now just waiting for it to come and go. Hopefully the hotel will not lose power- my Red Sox are playing tonight!!


----------



## JonA_CT

One of my co-workers is getting married tomorrow and has a flight to his honeymoon in Orlando on Saturday at 5PM.   He's hopeful they'll be flying by then, but I'm not so sure.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Probably good you went inland, even here in the boring Midwest they're talking like it's going to be an intense storm. Actually they just called it historic, said there are some mandatory evacuations but I didn't here where. Get home safe Sharon.

You went clear to Florida with Uber?? or just using it there maybe, I came in on the middle. Here it seems to have been a fiasco, at the airport they had drivers blocking other drivers trying to block the signal so they'd get the call instead (or not, or whatever...). Sounds like a free for all. At least with cabs they're employed by a company so have to at least be responsible enough to uh, show up and not be an axe murderer or anything. (I guess this is just from my experiences having worked doing home visits in a city...)

How dare a storm think of interfering with your BoSox! Now Matthew who? I seem to have missed a good bit of what's going on.


----------



## SquarePeg

We flew in (on a plane) and took a taxi to our hotel on the beach. One of my friends uses uber all the time so she arranged our evac transport. I don't use uber very often since I almost always have my car or a rental but, I was impressed. Our driver and car were clean and shiny, arrived exactly on time and it was easily half the cost of a smelly taxi where the driver pretends the credit card machine doesn't work so you'll pay cash.


----------



## JonA_CT

Where were you staying? I did a bunch of work at Port Canaveral/Cocoa Beach back a few years ago. I was just looking at the surge maps vs. elevation maps and the entirety of the island the beach is on and the port is located at will be under water tomorrow. Crazy crazy crazy.

I also saw the traffic map on 528 West to Orlando from Cocoa. Gridlocked for the entire 50 miles.


----------



## vintagesnaps

For Leo, first song I heard on the radio this morning.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah cabs aren't exactly pretty here either... lol Seems like Uber could go either way since the drivers are out there pretty much on their own. I've just seen too much nutsiness if not outright weirdness. My luck I'd get the axe murderer type although if he was wearing a Jason hockey mask I guess that'd be a clue...


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Thanks all. We're safe and sound at our inland hotel. Decided to be cautious and leave early this morning since we didn't have a rental car and needed to depend on uber for a ride. Now just waiting for it to come and go. Hopefully the hotel will not lose power- my Red Sox are playing tonight!!


You are going to go out and get pictures of the storm at its height right????


----------



## vintagesnaps

I heard they've evacuated something like 2 million people?? and closed Disney World, which has only ever happened maybe three times before they said.

Anybody else there besides SharonCat on vacation, and Pixmedic? who I don't know if he's along that coast or not.


----------



## SquarePeg

gryphonslair99 said:


> You are going to go out and get pictures of the storm at its height right????



I did not bring my gear. Was just a long weekend at the beach with a few friends so left it all home. I tried to add a cell phone pic earlier but it was too big to load.


----------



## SquarePeg

shared a video with you from the Flickr app! Check it out:
https://www.flickr.com/gp/136838873@N08/5Tw085


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Where were you staying? I did a bunch of work at Port Canaveral/Cocoa Beach back a few years ago. I was just looking at the surge maps vs. elevation maps and the entirety of the island the beach is on and the port is located at will be under water tomorrow. Crazy crazy crazy.
> 
> I also saw the traffic map on 528 West to Orlando from Cocoa. Gridlocked for the entire 50 miles.



We WERE in Lauderdale by the Sea directly on the beach but moved inland this morning about 4 miles.  Looks like it is now expected to be a direct hit north of us.  Praying for all those in its path.  Just about everything is closed here including the roads except for the divest of dive bars which just happens to be directly across from the hotel.  We may or may not have spent the day there playing pool and darts.  Debating going back for the Sox game but the strongest winds for this area are predicted for 9pm so will probably stick to the hotel.


----------



## NancyMoranG

This is a serious storm but living in Florida for 33 yrs, I went through quite a few. Some not so serious but you have to be wary.
It was surreal to be still working when everyone around starts to make preparations. And for 3-4 days, the store shelves start to go bare, and the line at gas is a little longer, and then wham....
The grocery store is putting boards on the Windows, and you go, wow, I guess I need to pay attention....
We were on the Gulf side, so rarely had any direct 'hits', just winds/rain after it had come across from Miami..


----------



## NancyMoranG

Sorry SquarePeg got stuck in this 
We leave Cape Cod next week to head south....


----------



## JonA_CT

I'd be at that dive bar watching the sox. Sounds like a perfect night given the circumstances, although I'm hoping you guys bought out the liquor store on the way to that hotel.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.


----------



## snowbear

GOOD MORNING!
Today starts a four-day weekend!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary's usual schedule is to get out of bed at 6:00a.m.  Now it is still dark at 6:00 ... Gary doesn't like waking up to the dark. It's like ... what's the point?

Mary Lou just came in and reported in on her morning radio show.  There is a loud Hummer clucking away right outside the kitchen window.  It is quite annoying.  Gary needs more coffee. Where was I ... oh yeah the radio show ... the show starts off with 'Happy News' ... people call in with happy news, then the show moves to an open forum for call ins.  One guy called in saying that his happy news is that he's gonna climb Mt. Baldy, and the entire cast of the show erupted in laughter. It's not like climbing Kilimanjaro or something actually worth climbing ... Mt. Baldy is a local mountain peak, it isn't even that tallest peak in our local mountains ... about 10,000' but you can drive nearly to the top or at least three-quarters of the way. Half way up is Mt. Baldy Village where you can get a beer and pizza.  Okay, Gary definitely needs more coffee. Gary doesn't like starting his day in the dark.


----------



## snowbear

MLW got up about six, fed the kitties, then went back to bed; I got to sleep in until eight - very rare.


----------



## JonA_CT

I have 4 of the next 5 days off, so life is pretty good here. I can make it through today. 

Well. Mostly off. I still have to teach my college class M/W even if my middle school isn't in session.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary feels better after a few cups of coffee, sunlight hitting the front porch and feeding his starter.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Thought it sounded like the storm hadn't hit the coast or made landfall yet but they're saying surge could cause flooding, so I guess it ain't over yet. But sounds like they downgraded it some. Have we heard anymore from SharonCat, or Pixmedic and the ferrets? Hope everyone's staying safe.

There's something that I keep hearing clicking too... annoying constant click, click, click, click and it's just been the last year or two around this time of year. I keep wondering what is that thing?? We need a good frost! lol


----------



## robbins.photo

I'm hoping this hurricane will turn out to be like the majority of them, where we sit through days of the press hyping it but then it turns out to be little to nothing.  Fingers crossed at any rate.

Good news here from the Circle K, the 70-200mm VR I arrived.  Was very happy with it, the original owner obviously took very good care of it.  Once I got that godawful UV filter off of it I was very impressed with the IQ.




20161006_2277 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> I'm hoping this hurricane will turn out to be like the majority of them, where we sit through days of the press hyping it but then it turns out to be little to nothing.  Fingers crossed at any rate.
> 
> Good news here from the Circle K, the 70-200mm VR I arrived.  Was very happy with it, the original owner obviously took very good care of it.  Once I got that godawful UV filter off of it I was very impressed with the IQ.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 20161006_2277 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr


Awwwww.

I haven't been watching the progress, but (yesterday) it was expected to slide alongside the coast so everyone gets a piece of the action.  Anyone in those areas, stay safe.


----------



## table1349

What a beautiful day on the flatlands.  57 degrees right now, sunny with a nice breeze and not a cloud to be seen.  Had thunderstorms Tuesday and Thursday and ended up with a touch over an inch of rain.  Beautiful Columbus Day weekend forecast here.  Temps forecast to be in the low to mid 70's through most of next week.

  Will be wonderful Saturday to watch college football.  Sunday is the wife's family reunion so that will be nice and Monday is the 4 year old granddaughters 5th birthday.  

Sharoncat, hunker down and ride it out.  Sorry the timing wasn't what it could be and you ended up in the eye of the storm.  Stay safe. 

Cute tiger there ya big monkey.  I've always had a fondness for tigers.  Looks like you got a goodun with that lens.  Congrats.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> Thought it sounded like the storm hadn't hit the coast or made landfall yet but they're saying surge could cause flooding, so I guess it ain't over yet. But sounds like they downgraded it some. Have we heard anymore from SharonCat, or Pixmedic and the ferrets? Hope everyone's staying safe.
> 
> There's something that I keep hearing clicking too... annoying constant click, click, click, click and it's just been the last year or two around this time of year. I keep wondering what is that thing?? We need a good frost! lol


Most likely power and internet are down.  Lots and lots of outages reported in the 6 digit range.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> ...it was expected to slide alongside the coast so everyone gets a piece of the action.  Anyone in those areas, stay safe.* Charge your camera batteries and polish your rain slicker - photo op inbound!*


FTFY


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> Awwwww.



Ya, they have that effect on me too.. lol.




20161006_1165 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Have we heard anymore from SharonCat, or Pixmedic and the ferrets? Hope everyone's staying safe.



I'm good. Enjoying being back at the beach. It mostly missed Ft Lauderdale so we were able to go back to our original place this morning. Out now at the pub watching the Sox sleep through game 2.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary hears that the surf is pretty good. Maybe you should grab a board.


----------



## limr

Hosers.

It's been a hell of a week.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have we heard anymore from SharonCat, or Pixmedic and the ferrets? Hope everyone's staying safe.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm good. Enjoying being back at the beach. It mostly missed Ft Lauderdale so we were able to go back to our original place this morning. Out now at the pub watching the Sox sleep through game 2.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear you are doing well, back on the beach and having fun in the surf.  Probably not a lot of sun but you have sand and water, two out of three ain't bad.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy hosers. Been super busy, but have been making some good money. I'm $150 from making $1000 in my FIRST week out of training. $150 isn't hard to earn, either. More money than I've made in quite a while.


----------



## SquarePeg

gryphonslair99 said:


> Glad to hear you are doing well, back on the beach and having fun in the surf. Probably not a lot of sun but you have sand and water, two out of three ain't bad.



It was actually a really nice day yesterday. Managed to get a sunburn (ugh) when I was swimming. Surf was nice.  No board @Gary A.  just some body surfing for me but the surfers were out in full force.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Glad to hear you are doing well, back on the beach and having fun in the surf. Probably not a lot of sun but you have sand and water, two out of three ain't bad.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was actually a really nice day yesterday. Managed to get a sunburn (ugh) when I was swimming. Surf was nice.  No board @Gary A.  just some body surfing for me but the surfers were out in full force.
Click to expand...

From now on you will be affectionately known as "Hanging 10 Sharoncat."


----------



## table1349

Now this is funny.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.

Kershaw has broken his post-season, playoff curse the The Dodgers barely take their first game 4-3 over the Nationals.  "Close as you can bend without breaking," said an exhausted Kershaw after the game.  LA's bullpen was exceptional.

Today is a Temecula Run day.  Gary and Mary Lou are off to pick up our fall shipments from our membership wineries. Gary has been postponing the run for weeks and weeks due to scheduling conflicts.  But today is the day!  There are more holes than wine in Gary's wine cabinets.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Waiting to hear from my sister and brother-in-law who live in Jacksonville. Their house is right on the Intercoastal waterway so they moved to higher ground, so I know they are safe, but haven't heard anything about whether or not they can go back home yet.


----------



## JonA_CT

I've had my two cups of coffee, fed my levain culture to make some overnight blonde bread tomorrow, written two different brew recipes, fed my wife and daughter pancakes and bacon, showered, and now I'm getting my daughter up from her nap so we can meet some friends for lunch in a bit. Then, we are driving to the outlets to buy my daughter a new pair of shoes (why do shoes for a 15 month old cost $30 when she'll only wear them for like a month) and the home brew shop. Hopefully my daughter will be ready for nap number two by the time we get home, and then we are dropping her with grandma and grandpa to go out to dinner alone for first time maybe since she was born...it's hard to remember, haha. 

Sometimes I think weekend days are even crazier than a work day!


----------



## table1349

There's a bright golden haze on the meadow,
There's a bright golden haze on the meadow,
The corn is as high as an elephants eye,
An' it looks like it's climbing clear up in the sky.
Oh, what a beautiful mornin',
Oh, what a beautiful day.

That pretty much describes the flatlands today.  49 degrees outside right now, sunny, calm and lovely.  High for today is predicted to be 70.  Lovely day for getting the yard mowed and for College Football.  Fall colors are starting to come on and in a few days the Flint Hills should be in full fall regalia.  Mama came home from a conference yesterday afternoon not feeling good.  Sounds like she got a dose of the food poisoning while at the conference.  She seems to be feeling better today and is tolerating food pretty well.


----------



## Gary A.

Hosers!  Gary is halfway to Temecula. Massive freeway construction has been a significant impediment to Gary's travels.  Gary is taking the Leica for it's first wine tasting trip.  Cheers.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gee the thread got going today with singing, huh? lol For those of us having nice weather, real breezy but actually going to be nice for like, 2 or 3 days in a row, so getting out to do some picture taking probably tomorrow.


----------



## Gary A.

The weather is nice out here.


----------



## minicoop1985

I DID IT! I earned $1009 in my first week without a trainer! Holy cow, that was a lot of work.


----------



## Gary A.

Four wineries and pickups. Great food and vino to match ... and we're beating Colorado (so far).


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Waiting to hear from my sister and brother-in-law who live in Jacksonville. Their house is right on the Intercoastal waterway so they moved to higher ground, so I know they are safe, but haven't heard anything about whether or not they can go back home yet.



I hope it was ok for them.  I saw photos of St Augustine damage looked pretty awful.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Waiting to hear from my sister and brother-in-law who live in Jacksonville. Their house is right on the Intercoastal waterway so they moved to higher ground, so I know they are safe, but haven't heard anything about whether or not they can go back home yet.


Gary hopes all turns out well.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone images:




Lunch at Thornton




Lorenzi




Dinner at Goat & Vine.

This was a good day.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, it's time. My Canon 5D is getting some use today. Finally. Going out to a nature preserve for some shooting. It's been sitting in its bag for well over two months.


----------



## table1349

Beautiful day here in the Land of Ahhh's.  54 degrees with a slight cloud cover.  Chance of light rain in 67 minutes according to Accuweather. 

Planning on living down in the family room today.  The Mrs. came home from her conference Friday believing she had a bout with food poisoning the day before.   She spent yesterday recovering, she thought.  About an hour ago she determined it wasn't food poisoning. 

For my own safety I am staying downstairs for the day so I don't risk getting between her and the bathroom and end up getting run down.  Fortunately for me the downstairs has the family room, my den, a full bathroom and the bar, so I have all the amenities I need to survive. 

FYI if you are in the neighborhood stop by.   We were going to her family reunion today, but that's not happening.   Last night I made a 7 quart crockpot full of BBQ meatballs to take.  I now have plenty for me for todays games as well as plenty of extras.   They have been simmering nicely since midnight so they are nice and juicy as well as well flavored.   Fortunately we have a vacuum sealer and they will freeze nicely once vacuum packed.

FFYI.  I made the meatballs, she hasn't been anywhere near them.  They are safe.


----------



## JonA_CT

We are getting some Matthew-enhanced rain here in Southeastern CT today. The forecast said scattered showers in the morning yesterday, so I went and bought all my brewing ingredients yesterday. It has been absolutely pouring since I woke up, and brewing is an activity that is not allowed inside. Urgh. At least we don't have the damaging winds, storm surge, or 20 inches of rain that the folks are dealing with down south. My problems are minute in comparison.

So, instead, I have a full viewing schedule on the couch today. Pats at 1, Sox at 4, Giants at 8:30 (with some intermittent flipping to the debate...I can only take it for a few minutes at a time). My first completely wild-yeast risen bread is almost done with bulk fermenting and will be ready for proofing soon, and some butternut squash soup will be on the stove shortly for lunch.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 60F right now and should be well into the 80's by the afternoon.  Gary loves it. Nearly the entire front page of the Los Angeles Times is devoted to the recent comments by a presidential candiate.  The left hand column speaks about those who still support the candidate and the right hand column speaks to those who are no longer supporting the candidate.  The stories run on in the inside for pages and page, (The LA Times has always considered itself more of a writer's paper than a photographer's paper.)  Gary comes from a political family.  Gary's father held an elected position continuously for more than 45 years (Since Gary was two years old.) Gary has run nearly 20 campaigns himself ... and he has never seen the likes of this years presidental contest. It is without precedence and total fascinating. The race is so volatile, that like a boiling soup, all the elements and fragments of our society are rising to the top and then get recirculated. If this was a book or a movie, nobody would believe it ... most likely a comedy ... but interestingly enough, this year's campaigns seems to be a multi-faceted expression of the American people that seems to cut to the core, a deep look at who "We The People" actually are. Fascinating.

Consenquently, Gary will be, glued to the set, watching the debate. 

Yesterday, Gary woke to a flat tire on his car.  Today he needs to get it repaired which cuts into his day. Yesterday, during a NetFlix, Gary's new receiver went out.  The receiver is designed to handle input from all of one's entertainment devices, then it massages and upgrades the signal, then sends it out to the speakers or Tv/projector.  The damn thing quit functioning properly, Gary would get sound with no video.  So like the flat, another time consuming project just to stay even.  In a week, Gary has guests from Germany staying with him and he wants everything working.  Gary would much rather spent his time cleaning out the spare bedroom/storage room then fixing stuff.  In order to see SNL Gary had to bypass the receiver with the signal and use the Tv speakers. 

@ Jon- Free Range Yeast!  Look at you.  Gary uses free-range yeast just because, but there isn't any difference taste or performance wise differences between free-range and store yeast. Just a neat way to to get there.  (Like taking the scenic route.)   Gary's "starter" is now about three months old, nice and sour.


----------



## Gary A.

On NPR they were talking about the rash of people dressing like clowns with less than honorable intent.  NPR people said that the police took in a mime for questioning but he wouldn't talk.


----------



## SquarePeg

The tv speakers?  Oh the humanity!  I can't even...


----------



## SquarePeg

Missed SNL- was it worth tracking it down on demand?


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> The tv speakers?  Oh the humanity!  I can't even...


Yes ... horrific ... and Gary chipped a nail when he was physically moving things around.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Missed SNL- was it worth tracking it down on demand?


The opening presidential campaign scene was good. Other skits were ... meh.


----------



## NancyMoranG

We will be watching debate tonight also. I hope they let each other finish their thoughts without as much interruption. Although I do know who I am voting for, so it won't change my mind.


----------



## JonA_CT

Some bread p0rn for Gary...the smell in the house right now is incredible. This is the Overnight Country Blonde from Ken Forkish's book. 




Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Oooooouuuuuu!  That is nice.  I can smell it clear across the continent.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou are sipping fine California vino and watching the slug-fest ... ahhh ... debate.


----------



## JonA_CT

Yesterday it was too rainy to brew, today, too windy. Maybe after work tomorrow? I also have Yom Kippur off Wednesday, so that's a possibility too.

Columbus Day is still a head scratcher to me...I'm not always sure why we continue bad traditions just because it's a tradition. The city I live in is pretty progressive, and has mandated that it be referred to as Indigenous People's Day instead. My wife's calendar, who works for the city's high school, even has that as the designated reason to have off today. I haven't driven by it yet today, but indubitably, there will be a gathering of people protesting around Columbus Square, where we have a statue of "Colombo" as the centerpiece. At the Parade, there is a celebration for Indigenous People planned.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers.  I've been gone for a few days due to some sad news we received early last week.  We lost a 24-year old nephew to suicide.  There were mental health issues, which everyone knew, but no one quite knew the extent of it.  Still, if he hadn't cut everyone off, friends and family both, perhaps someone could have helped.  No one even knew where he was living - it turned out that he was living in his car.  There were many people (including his parents) who would have taken him in or tried to help in whatever way possible, but he was stubborn by nature and the illness I'm sure played a part, because he wouldn't accept help from any of us.


----------



## JonA_CT

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers.  I've been gone for a few days due to some sad news we received early last week.  We lost a 24-year old nephew to suicide.  There were mental health issues, which everyone knew, but no one quite knew the extent of it.  Still, if he hadn't cut everyone off, friends and family both, perhaps someone could have helped.  No one even knew where he was living - it turned out that he was living in his car.  There were many people (including his parents) who would have taken him in or tried to help in whatever way possible, but he was stubborn by nature and the illness I'm sure played a part, because he wouldn't accept help from any of us.



I'm so sorry to hear that, Ken. I lost my favorite uncle to suicide a few years ago, and I still have a really hard time coming to terms with it. I agree with you, at least in part, that people need to want help. My uncle was offered it many times and refused it, and in a lot of ways, that makes it harder.


----------



## SquarePeg

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers.  I've been gone for a few days due to some sad news we received early last week.  We lost a 24-year old nephew to suicide.  There were mental health issues, which everyone knew, but no one quite knew the extent of it.  Still, if he hadn't cut everyone off, friends and family both, perhaps someone could have helped.  No one even knew where he was living - it turned out that he was living in his car.  There were many people (including his parents) who would have taken him in or tried to help in whatever way possible, but he was stubborn by nature and the illness I'm sure played a part, because he wouldn't accept help from any of us.



So sorry for your family's loss.  There seems to be an epidemic of mental health issues in our country these days with little to no resources available for those in need.


----------



## terri

Ken, I'm so sorry to hear about your family's loss.   It's a tragic set of circumstances all the way around.   I'm sure there were people who would have helped if he had allowed it.   You have my condolences.


----------



## Gary A.

I am so sorry Ken for your loss.


----------



## snowbear

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers.  I've been gone for a few days due to some sad news we received early last week.  We lost a 24-year old nephew to suicide.  There were mental health issues, which everyone knew, but no one quite knew the extent of it.  Still, if he hadn't cut everyone off, friends and family both, perhaps someone could have helped.  No one even knew where he was living - it turned out that he was living in his car.  There were many people (including his parents) who would have taken him in or tried to help in whatever way possible, but he was stubborn by nature and the illness I'm sure played a part, because he wouldn't accept help from any of us.


So sorry to hear this.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Columbus Day is still a head scratcher to me...I'm not always sure why we continue bad traditions just because it's a tradition. The city I live in is pretty progressive, and has mandated that it be referred to as Indigenous People's Day instead. My wife's calendar, who works for the city's high school, even has that as the designated reason to have off today. I haven't driven by it yet today, but indubitably, there will be a gathering of people protesting around Columbus Square, where we have a statue of "Colombo" as the centerpiece. At the Parade, there is a celebration for Indigenous People planned.



"Columbus, he set-sail to find out if the world was round,
He kept on sailing to the west until he ran aground,
He thought he found the Indies, but he found the U.S.A.,
I know some navigators that can still do that, today."
--Tom Lewis, _I'm Marching Inland
_


----------



## NancyMoranG

So sorry for you and your loved ones Ken. Thoughts, prayers and family strength to you.


----------



## limr

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers.  I've been gone for a few days due to some sad news we received early last week.  We lost a 24-year old nephew to suicide.  There were mental health issues, which everyone knew, but no one quite knew the extent of it.  Still, if he hadn't cut everyone off, friends and family both, perhaps someone could have helped.  No one even knew where he was living - it turned out that he was living in his car.  There were many people (including his parents) who would have taken him in or tried to help in whatever way possible, but he was stubborn by nature and the illness I'm sure played a part, because he wouldn't accept help from any of us.



So sad  My condolences to you and your family, Ken. It's always hard to deal with the death of a loved one, but suicide makes it that much harder.


----------



## minicoop1985

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers.  I've been gone for a few days due to some sad news we received early last week.  We lost a 24-year old nephew to suicide.  There were mental health issues, which everyone knew, but no one quite knew the extent of it.  Still, if he hadn't cut everyone off, friends and family both, perhaps someone could have helped.  No one even knew where he was living - it turned out that he was living in his car.  There were many people (including his parents) who would have taken him in or tried to help in whatever way possible, but he was stubborn by nature and the illness I'm sure played a part, because he wouldn't accept help from any of us.



I'm so sorry to hear this. The one thing I will say, as someone who has struggled with suicidal issues in the past, is don't look down upon his decision. He may have cut people off because of his illness, not because he wanted to. And now he is free of whatever illness he had. I'm sorry to sound so blwunt and morbid, but it's how I would like people to think about me if my issues ever get to me like that. Which they have come VERY close.

Howdy to everyone. It's been nice having two days off in a row. Spent most of today sleeping, but it was worth it. I needed that so badly. Been feeling run down for a month now.


----------



## SquarePeg

minicoop1985 said:


> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.  I've been gone for a few days due to some sad news we received early last week.  We lost a 24-year old nephew to suicide.  There were mental health issues, which everyone knew, but no one quite knew the extent of it.  Still, if he hadn't cut everyone off, friends and family both, perhaps someone could have helped.  No one even knew where he was living - it turned out that he was living in his car.  There were many people (including his parents) who would have taken him in or tried to help in whatever way possible, but he was stubborn by nature and the illness I'm sure played a part, because he wouldn't accept help from any of us.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm so sorry to hear this. The one thing I will say, as someone who has struggled with suicidal issues in the past, is don't look down upon his decision. He may have cut people off because of his illness, not because he wanted to. And now he is free of whatever illness he had. I'm sorry to sound so blwunt and morbid, but it's how I would like people to think about me if my issues ever get to me like that. Which they have come VERY close.
> 
> Howdy to everyone. It's been nice having two days off in a row. Spent most of today sleeping, but it was worth it. I needed that so badly. Been feeling run down for a month now.
Click to expand...


I'm sorry that you have had these issues. I hope you have help available to you should you need it. There is no problem bad enough to make that the only option.  Sounds like you're enjoying the new job and very busy!  Enjoy your time off.


----------



## SquarePeg

Watching my Sox try to stay alive in the ALDS. Had home made soup and baguette for dinner.  Cool weather and post season baseball. Fall has definitely arrived here in New England.


----------



## Warhorse

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers.  I've been gone for a few days due to some sad news we received early last week.  We lost a 24-year old nephew to suicide.  There were mental health issues, which everyone knew, but no one quite knew the extent of it.  Still, if he hadn't cut everyone off, friends and family both, perhaps someone could have helped.  No one even knew where he was living - it turned out that he was living in his car.  There were many people (including his parents) who would have taken him in or tried to help in whatever way possible, but he was stubborn by nature and the illness I'm sure played a part, because he wouldn't accept help from any of us.


Good thoughts, and prayers sent for you and your family.


----------



## Gary A.

The pain ... Dodgers drop two games.  Those Bums.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> The pain ... Dodgers drop two games.  Those Bums.



Dodgers can't hit lefties. I would throw nothing but, at them. Only weakness on your team. Tigers are similar that way and they have a predominately right handed lineup, go figure. Lineups with power typically don't hit soft tossers well and the majority of lefties are that or at least 50% of their arsenal is. I still think you guys win this series. Dusty is going to start to out-think the world next game, he is his own worst enemy and best recipe for your lineup. Dusty is always messing with that pitching staff , I have always felt bad for his pitching coach's. He is brutal on a staff but brilliant in the clubhouse.


----------



## Gary A.

Baker should have more respect for his native hometown and the team that made Baker ... Dusty.  It was a bullpen chess fest ... hopefully the Nationals shot their wad.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Baker should have more respect for his native hometown and the team that made Baker ... Dusty.  It was a bullpen chess fest ... hopefully the Nationals shot their wad.



Oh no, Dusty is known for the mother load.... wait and see...


----------



## Gary A.

You're right about Dodger batting, Gary is surprised at the strength of the National's Bullpen.


----------



## minicoop1985

SquarePeg said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.  I've been gone for a few days due to some sad news we received early last week.  We lost a 24-year old nephew to suicide.  There were mental health issues, which everyone knew, but no one quite knew the extent of it.  Still, if he hadn't cut everyone off, friends and family both, perhaps someone could have helped.  No one even knew where he was living - it turned out that he was living in his car.  There were many people (including his parents) who would have taken him in or tried to help in whatever way possible, but he was stubborn by nature and the illness I'm sure played a part, because he wouldn't accept help from any of us.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm so sorry to hear this. The one thing I will say, as someone who has struggled with suicidal issues in the past, is don't look down upon his decision. He may have cut people off because of his illness, not because he wanted to. And now he is free of whatever illness he had. I'm sorry to sound so blwunt and morbid, but it's how I would like people to think about me if my issues ever get to me like that. Which they have come VERY close.
> 
> Howdy to everyone. It's been nice having two days off in a row. Spent most of today sleeping, but it was worth it. I needed that so badly. Been feeling run down for a month now.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm sorry that you have had these issues. I hope you have help available to you should you need it. There is no problem bad enough to make that the only option.  Sounds like you're enjoying the new job and very busy!  Enjoy your time off.
Click to expand...


Well, there may not be, but the urges to do so are powerful enough to cause that kind of thinking to literally take over. I had set in my mind that I was going to blow my head off with a shotgun on a specific day, but my wife stole my credit card, so I couldn't buy one. And my dad called right when I was about to attempt to buy it, so that stopped me.

As for the new job, I'm definitely enjoying the money I'm making... lol


----------



## SquarePeg

Sox get swept by our old friends Tito Francona and Coco Crisp.  Big Papi takes a final bow at Fenway, tipping his cap to the fans with tears in his eyes.  It's the end of an Era.  

Good Morning TPF!!!!!


----------



## KenC

Thanks to all for your kind words - it's been a rough week.

@minicoop1985 - I don't look down on his decision at all.  There's no way I could know what it was like for him.  I'm sure that his illness was primarily responsible for all of his actions.  It now appears that there were some very early warning signs of these issues that were not taken seriously.  This is not to blame anyone because it is much easier to analyze everything in hindsight, but in general potential mental health issues, including depression should not be taken lightly.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. 

NLDS game four is at 2:00 p.m. today at Chavez Revine. There are two great photos in the LA Times "Playoffs" sports section.  On page one the photo takes up three-quarter of the page showing  Dodger Right Fielder Josh Reddick, in the air and against the wall, arm outstretched, glove open and the ball hitting the wrist of his gloved hand ... "EMBLEMATIC OF HIS TEAM ..." reads the caption.

@ Peg- Sorry that you were swept out of the playoffs (insult to injury).  On the back page of the Sports Section is another wonderful image, about a half page worth of photograph, showing David Ortiz tipping his hat.  We will all miss the bat of Big Papi.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Sox get swept by our old friends Tito Francona and Coco Crisp.  Big Papi takes a final bow at Fenway, tipping his cap to the fans with tears in his eyes.  It's the end of an Era.
> 
> Good Morning TPF!!!!!


Again, in English please....


----------



## Gary A.

Really ... ? Come-on, you guys have ball up in Canada, ala The Bluejays (MLB) and all kinds of pro and college ball clubs.  John, you need to get out more and read a newspaper (from front to back (lol).


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Really ... ? Come-on, you guys have ball up in Canada, ala The Bluejays (MLB) and all kinds of pro and college ball clubs.  John, you need to get out more and read a newspaper (from front to back (lol).


Pass, thanks.  I make a concerted effort to avoid ALL forms of news.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Sox get swept by our old friends Tito Francona and Coco Crisp.  Big Papi takes a final bow at Fenway, tipping his cap to the fans with tears in his eyes.  It's the end of an Era.
> 
> Good Morning TPF!!!!!


It was emotional footage, seeing him wipe away the tears.  It's moments like these that make us feel close to our home teams, especially when they're so talented and give us reasons to cheer.


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> Again, in English please....



Some guys got together and didn't play hockey, eh?


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Really ... ? Come-on, you guys have ball up in Canada, ala The Bluejays (MLB) and all kinds of pro and college ball clubs.  John, you need to get out more and read a newspaper (from front to back (lol).
> 
> 
> 
> Pass, thanks.  I make a concerted effort to avoid ALL forms of news.
Click to expand...

Ohhhh, Lets really confuse him.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> John, you need to get out more and read a newspaper (from front to back (lol).





tirediron said:


> I make a concerted effort to avoid ALL forms of news.


You don't get news from a newspaper.


----------



## tirediron

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> John, you need to get out more and read a newspaper (from front to back (lol).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I make a concerted effort to avoid ALL forms of news.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You don't get news from a newspaper.
Click to expand...

You're right... I absolutely don't.  Nor the television, nor the radio, nor the Internet.


----------



## table1349

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> John, you need to get out more and read a newspaper (from front to back (lol).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I make a concerted effort to avoid ALL forms of news.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You don't get news from a newspaper.
Click to expand...

Wait........WHAT????????
You mean to tell me that there is no Bomber on the Moon????????


----------



## table1349

And in other Canadian News...........

Ground squirrel crashes Edmonton couple's mountain engagement photo shoot - CKA News

Police Chief Devon Clunis celebrates last day with 1st doughnut - CKA News

Canada's worst parking job leads police to hit-and-run suspect - CKA News

Canuck the Crow flies off with knife from crime scene in Vancouver - CKA News

Your missing some good stuff there Iron.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> was emotional footage, seeing him wipe away the tears. It's moments like these that make us feel close to our home teams, especially when they're so talented and give us reasons to cheer.



He will always be a legend here.  Not many people exit gracefully at the top of their game.  Too many hang around too long (and can you blame them with the crazy money that ball players make?).


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> was emotional footage, seeing him wipe away the tears. It's moments like these that make us feel close to our home teams, especially when they're so talented and give us reasons to cheer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He will always be a legend here.  Not many people exit gracefully at the top of their game.  Too many hang around too long (and can you blame them with the crazy money that ball players make?).
Click to expand...

They were flat. Maybe too much of a party for Big Papi? I watched some of it and it seemed like they just won the WS. Strange. Additionally, Ferrell didn't manage the lineup well IMO. I mean, Bradley, and Leon couldn't hit a lick yet he kept running them out there. I never liked Ferrell's managing style. He is pretty rigid.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> They were flat. Maybe too much of a party for Big Papi? I watched some of it and it seemed like they just won the WS. Strange. Additionally, Ferrell didn't manage the lineup well IMO. I mean, Bradley, and Leon couldn't hit a lick yet he kept running them out there. I never liked Ferrell's managing style. He is pretty rigid.



I think it _was_ a bit of a hangover from all of the Big Papi celebrations.  I was hoping the break between the season and the first game would be good for them because they finished the season on a losing streak but they just never got back into a groove.  Starting pitching was mediocre at best and hitting was just not there when there were men on base.  I agree about Farrell, he's not a favorite of mine.  I'll be switching my allegiance to the Cubs because I've been where they are as a fan and I hope they finally get a championship, also Theo Epstein would become a legend and I love a good story.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> And in other Canadian News...........
> 
> Ground squirrel crashes Edmonton couple's mountain engagement photo shoot - CKA News
> 
> Police Chief Devon Clunis celebrates last day with 1st doughnut - CKA News
> 
> Canada's worst parking job leads police to hit-and-run suspect - CKA News
> 
> Canuck the Crow flies off with knife from crime scene in Vancouver - CKA News
> 
> Your missing some good stuff there Iron.


Lalalalalaaa.... can't hear you!


----------



## limr

In other news, I HATE GRADING.

That is all. Carry on.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> In other news, I HATE GRADING.
> 
> That is all. Carry on.


Oh, come on, it can't be that bad!   All those A's to give to your eager students, who in return give you validation that they pay close attention to your words and really care.    Should be the best part of your week.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> And in other Canadian News...........
> 
> Ground squirrel crashes Edmonton couple's mount
> ain engagement photo shoot - CKA News
> 
> Police Chief Devon Clunis celebrates last day with 1st doughnut - CKA News
> 
> Canada's worst parking job leads police to hit-and-run suspect - CKA News
> 
> Canuck the Crow flies off with knife from crime scene in Vancouver - CKA News
> 
> Your missing some good stuff there Iron.
> 
> 
> 
> Lalalalalaaa.... can't hear you!
Click to expand...

Another Confused CANADIAN!!!

You LISTEN to the RADIO.  You *READ* the PAPER!!!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> In other news, I HATE GRADING.
> 
> That is all. Carry on.


Are you using the right equipment?


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, I HATE GRADING.
> 
> That is all. Carry on.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, come on, it can't be that bad!   All those A's to give to your eager students, who in return give you validation that they pay close attention to your words and really care.    Should be the best part of your week.
Click to expand...


You're right, what am I thinking?? Of course I love grading! 



tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, I HATE GRADING.
> 
> That is all. Carry on.
> 
> 
> 
> Are you using the right equipment?
Click to expand...


Now now, some of these papers stink, but there's no need to bury them!


----------



## robbins.photo

Well, got some rather bad news today.  I've been having vision problems for a while now - I have a cataract in my left eye that is so severe I have no vision in my left eye at all. 

I've been getting by in cyclops mode for about the last 5 years now, I went in to see the eye doctor today as the vision in my right eye is getting progressively worse and I've really been needing new glasses.

Turns out however that new glasses won't do a thing for me.  My right eye has also developed a cataract and the only way to correct it is surgery.  Unfortunately I am without health insurance, so needless to say it's a bit of a pickle.  My vision in my right eye will continue to degrade until I get it surgically corrected, or I'm blind.  

Not 100% sure what I'm going to do just yet.  Needless to say it hasn't been one of my better days today.  Hope you folks are doing better.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> In other news, I HATE GRADING.
> 
> That is all. Carry on.



Hear, hear. 


I'm getting ready to get sucker punched with it. I have an essay for my college students due tomorrow, and then their midterm is on Monday, which means that I have to get all the papers graded between tomorrow and then if I want to be a sane person. It's kind of like my car just died on the tracks and the 315 freight to Windrixville is coming and there is nothing to do but watch it get crushed.


----------



## JonA_CT

robbins.photo said:


> Well, got some rather bad news today.  I've been having vision problems for a while now - I have a cataract in my left eye that is so severe I have no vision in my left eye at all.
> 
> I've been getting by in cyclops mode for about the last 5 years now, I went in to see the eye doctor today as the vision in my right eye is getting progressively worse and I've really been needing new glasses.
> 
> Turns out however that new glasses won't do a thing for me.  My right eye has also developed a cataract and the only way to correct it is surgery.  Unfortunately I am without health insurance, so needless to say it's a bit of a pickle.  My vision in my right eye will continue to degrade until I get it surgically corrected, or I'm blind.
> 
> Not 100% sure what I'm going to do just yet.  Needless to say it hasn't been one of my better days today.  Hope you folks are doing better.



Ugh. That sucks. Hope you can figure something out.


----------



## SquarePeg

robbins.photo said:


> Well, got some rather bad news today. I've been having vision problems for a while now - I have a cataract in my left eye that is so severe I have no vision in my left eye at all.
> 
> I've been getting by in cyclops mode for about the last 5 years now, I went in to see the eye doctor today as the vision in my right eye is getting progressively worse and I've really been needing new glasses.
> 
> Turns out however that new glasses won't do a thing for me. My right eye has also developed a cataract and the only way to correct it is surgery. Unfortunately I am without health insurance, so needless to say it's a bit of a pickle. My vision in my right eye will continue to degrade until I get it surgically corrected, or I'm blind.
> 
> Not 100% sure what I'm going to do just yet. Needless to say it hasn't been one of my better days today. Hope you folks are doing better.



*Mission Cataract USA* is a program that provides free cataract surgery to people of all ages who have no other means to pay. Visit the Mission Cataract USA’s website to apply and to find a participating eye care professional in your state.
*Telephone:* 559-797-1629
*Website:* Mission Cataract USA


----------



## table1349

To the educators here I have one question for you.   When you decided to get into teaching did you do it for the unlimited supply of apples you thought you would receive or did you do some research and find out that an integral part of being a teacher involves Grading Papers from your students?  It's kind of like buying a car and then being surprised you have to put fuel in it to make it go.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Or we need to do a Go Fund Me or something... It's a laser procedure isn't it? In my experience it's not nearly the cost of major surgery - been there, done both. And not even close to stroke recovery, if I got thru that, c'mon we can figure this out.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Of course it's the apples - candy apples, caramel apples... especially the kind with nuts.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> Or we need to do a Go Fund Me or something... It's a laser procedure isn't it? In my experience it's not nearly the cost of major surgery - been there, done both. And not even close to stroke recovery, if I got thru that, c'mon we can figure this out.


Nope, it is a cut the top layer of the eye ball, remove the old cataract covered lens and put in a new man made lens.   Quick, simple and most of the time the persons vision improves dramatically, not only because of the removal of the cataract but the man made lens does not deform like the natural lens.  Vision often returns to somewhere in the neighborhood of 20/20, however most people have to wear reading glasses as it does not focus like the human lens.  

I too have cataracts but my Ophthalmologist says it will be about 6 to 10 years before I need to do something about them.   My drooping eyelids are another story that a plastic surgeon will be looking at in the next year or two.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> Of course it's the apples - candy apples, caramel apples... especially the kind with nuts.




Oh what a set up line.  You would make a great straight man.


----------



## JonA_CT

gryphonslair99 said:


> To the educators here I have one question for you.   When you decided to get into teaching did you do it for the unlimited supply of apples you thought you would receive or did you do some research and find out that an integral part of being a teacher involves Grading Papers from your students?  It's kind of like buying a car and then being surprised you have to put fuel in it to make it go.



Sure...but most teachers don't get into the business for the funsies of actually putting grades on papers. Feedback is the easy part of that equation. I do that every day, and all of my students know that the writing process is recursive. 

Unfortunately, grading is a political thing, especially at my middle school. All parents think their kid is an A student, and before I put a grade that is a C or below, my principal expects me to have done a whole laundry list of things to make sure it's not my fault.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> To the educators here I have one question for you.   When you decided to get into teaching did you do it for the unlimited supply of apples you thought you would receive or did you do some research and find out that an integral part of being a teacher involves Grading Papers from your students?  It's kind of like buying a car and then being surprised you have to put fuel in it to make it go.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sure...but most teachers don't get into the business for the funsies of actually putting grades on papers. Feedback is the easy part of that equation. I do that every day, and all of my students know that the writing process is recursive.
> 
> Unfortunately, grading is a political thing, especially at my middle school. All parents think their kid is an A student, and before I put a grade that is a C or below, my principal expects me to have done a whole laundry list of things to make sure it's not my fault.
Click to expand...

Oh I know, I have a degree in education and spent a few years in the classroom before the need for food and shelter became more important.  Been there, done that and have the t-shirt. 






And a whole box of dried apple cores.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Well, got some rather bad news today.  I've been having vision problems for a while now - I have a cataract in my left eye that is so severe I have no vision in my left eye at all.
> 
> I've been getting by in cyclops mode for about the last 5 years now, I went in to see the eye doctor today as the vision in my right eye is getting progressively worse and I've really been needing new glasses.
> 
> Turns out however that new glasses won't do a thing for me.  My right eye has also developed a cataract and the only way to correct it is surgery.  Unfortunately I am without health insurance, so needless to say it's a bit of a pickle.  My vision in my right eye will continue to degrade until I get it surgically corrected, or I'm blind.
> 
> Not 100% sure what I'm going to do just yet.  Needless to say it hasn't been one of my better days today.  Hope you folks are doing better.



Oh monkey boy, I'm sorry     Good ideas from the Sharons. I would totally contribute to a GoFund me campaign to help you out!



JonA_CT said:


> Sure...but most teachers don't get into the business for the funsies of actually putting grades on papers. Feedback is the easy part of that equation. I do that every day, and all of my students know that the writing process is recursive.
> 
> Unfortunately, grading is a political thing, especially at my middle school. All parents think their kid is an A student, and before I put a grade that is a C or below, my principal expects me to have done a whole laundry list of things to make sure it's not my fault.



I can only guess that someone who doesn't know anything about teaching made some snarky remark about teaching? Charming. 

Putting the grade on the paper is definitely more stressful than the feedback. I don't have to deal with the parents or administration, but there are students who are convinced that it's the end of the world if they don't get an A. "But I have a 4.0 and I need an A!"


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Baker should have more respect for his native hometown and the team that made Baker ... Dusty.  It was a bullpen chess fest ... hopefully the Nationals shot their wad.


You mean the Gnats?


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> Well, got some rather bad news today.  I've been having vision problems for a while now - I have a cataract in my left eye that is so severe I have no vision in my left eye at all.
> 
> I've been getting by in cyclops mode for about the last 5 years now, I went in to see the eye doctor today as the vision in my right eye is getting progressively worse and I've really been needing new glasses.
> 
> Turns out however that new glasses won't do a thing for me.  My right eye has also developed a cataract and the only way to correct it is surgery.  Unfortunately I am without health insurance, so needless to say it's a bit of a pickle.  My vision in my right eye will continue to degrade until I get it surgically corrected, or I'm blind.
> 
> Not 100% sure what I'm going to do just yet.  Needless to say it hasn't been one of my better days today.  Hope you folks are doing better.


Crap.  Sorry to hear this.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, got some rather bad news today.  I've been having vision problems for a while now - I have a cataract in my left eye that is so severe I have no vision in my left eye at all.
> 
> I've been getting by in cyclops mode for about the last 5 years now, I went in to see the eye doctor today as the vision in my right eye is getting progressively worse and I've really been needing new glasses.
> 
> Turns out however that new glasses won't do a thing for me.  My right eye has also developed a cataract and the only way to correct it is surgery.  Unfortunately I am without health insurance, so needless to say it's a bit of a pickle.  My vision in my right eye will continue to degrade until I get it surgically corrected, or I'm blind.
> 
> Not 100% sure what I'm going to do just yet.  Needless to say it hasn't been one of my better days today.  Hope you folks are doing better.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh monkey boy, I'm sorry     Good ideas from the Sharons. I would totally contribute to a GoFund me campaign to help you out!
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sure...but most teachers don't get into the business for the funsies of actually putting grades on papers. Feedback is the easy part of that equation. I do that every day, and all of my students know that the writing process is recursive.
> 
> Unfortunately, grading is a political thing, especially at my middle school. All parents think their kid is an A student, and before I put a grade that is a C or below, my principal expects me to have done a whole laundry list of things to make sure it's not my fault.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I can only guess that someone who doesn't know anything about teaching made some snarky remark about teaching? Charming.
> 
> Putting the grade on the paper is definitely more stressful than the feedback. I don't have to deal with the parents or administration, but there are students who are convinced that it's the end of the world if they don't get an A. "But I have a 4.0 and I need an A!"
Click to expand...


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> Well, got some rather bad news today.  I've been having vision problems for a while now - I have a cataract in my left eye that is so severe I have no vision in my left eye at all.
> 
> I've been getting by in cyclops mode for about the last 5 years now, I went in to see the eye doctor today as the vision in my right eye is getting progressively worse and I've really been needing new glasses.
> 
> Turns out however that new glasses won't do a thing for me.  My right eye has also developed a cataract and the only way to correct it is surgery.  Unfortunately I am without health insurance, so needless to say it's a bit of a pickle.  My vision in my right eye will continue to degrade until I get it surgically corrected, or I'm blind.
> 
> Not 100% sure what I'm going to do just yet.  Needless to say it hasn't been one of my better days today.  Hope you folks are doing better.


Damn... that sucks!  32" Hg worth!  

Not to be rude or anything, but I thought this was exactly what O'Bama's health-care plan was supposed to take care of?


----------



## snowbear

Good evening all - trying to get caught up.  I've been a bit scarce posting due to some family stuff; the weekend plans fell through but I've got another little photo thing going on from another site.


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, got some rather bad news today.  I've been having vision problems for a while now - I have a cataract in my left eye that is so severe I have no vision in my left eye at all.
> 
> I've been getting by in cyclops mode for about the last 5 years now, I went in to see the eye doctor today as the vision in my right eye is getting progressively worse and I've really been needing new glasses.
> 
> Turns out however that new glasses won't do a thing for me.  My right eye has also developed a cataract and the only way to correct it is surgery.  Unfortunately I am without health insurance, so needless to say it's a bit of a pickle.  My vision in my right eye will continue to degrade until I get it surgically corrected, or I'm blind.
> 
> Not 100% sure what I'm going to do just yet.  Needless to say it hasn't been one of my better days today.  Hope you folks are doing better.
> 
> 
> 
> Damn... that sucks!  32" Hg worth!
> 
> Not to be rude or anything, but I thought this was exactly what O'Bama's health-care plan was supposed to take care of?
Click to expand...

In theory, but last year I decided not to join.  I thought the company I was working for as a contractor would hire me on full time so I wouldn't need it.  Turns out they are much slower at doing that then I hoped.  Worst case scenario I have a chance to enroll in it come November but the prospect is not thrilling.  Not really one for government assistance.  So will investigate some other options.  If I have too I'll bite the bullet and enroll.   

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> my principal expects me to have done a whole laundry list of things to make sure it's not my fault.



The sad part of this to me is that when I was in the classroom it was still the job of the student to learn and the job of the teacher to provide the information to be learned.  That was another reason that I made the change.  Administration was just starting to journey down that road of never failing a student.  We do more disservice to the student that does not learn and we still pass them than we do by failing them and having them do it over again.  There is no shame in failing at something, but that does not make failure something to be rewarded either.  Sadly the same thinking is prevalent here as well and it has had it's consequences to the students and education in general.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, got some rather bad news today.  I've been having vision problems for a while now - I have a cataract in my left eye that is so severe I have no vision in my left eye at all.
> 
> I've been getting by in cyclops mode for about the last 5 years now, I went in to see the eye doctor today as the vision in my right eye is getting progressively worse and I've really been needing new glasses.
> 
> Turns out however that new glasses won't do a thing for me.  My right eye has also developed a cataract and the only way to correct it is surgery.  Unfortunately I am without health insurance, so needless to say it's a bit of a pickle.  My vision in my right eye will continue to degrade until I get it surgically corrected, or I'm blind.
> 
> Not 100% sure what I'm going to do just yet.  Needless to say it hasn't been one of my better days today.  Hope you folks are doing better.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh monkey boy, I'm sorry     Good ideas from the Sharons. I would totally contribute to a GoFund me campaign to help you out!
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sure...but most teachers don't get into the business for the funsies of actually putting grades on papers. Feedback is the easy part of that equation. I do that every day, and all of my students know that the writing process is recursive.
> 
> Unfortunately, grading is a political thing, especially at my middle school. All parents think their kid is an A student, and before I put a grade that is a C or below, my principal expects me to have done a whole laundry list of things to make sure it's not my fault.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I can only guess that someone who doesn't know anything about teaching made some snarky remark about teaching? Charming.
> 
> Putting the grade on the paper is definitely more stressful than the feedback. I don't have to deal with the parents or administration, but there are students who are convinced that it's the end of the world if they don't get an A. "But I have a 4.0 and I need an A!"
Click to expand...

No worries Lenny.  Appreciate the thought on the go fund me but won't be necessary.  I've got some money squirreled away in a rainy day fund, will just take a while to liquidate but hopefully will be enough.  I'll be looking at some other options as well.. Doesn't look like the place Sharon cat suggested had anyone here in Omaha at least not listed on the website but I'll call them in the am and double check, if not maybe the can recommend other options.

I'll also very reluctantly check out the Obama care thing, I guess desperate times call for desperate measures and all that.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's latest pizza. Mary Lou says it is the best Gary has ever cooked.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Well, got some rather bad news today.  I've been having vision problems for a while now - I have a cataract in my left eye that is so severe I have no vision in my left eye at all.
> 
> I've been getting by in cyclops mode for about the last 5 years now, I went in to see the eye doctor today as the vision in my right eye is getting progressively worse and I've really been needing new glasses.
> 
> Turns out however that new glasses won't do a thing for me.  My right eye has also developed a cataract and the only way to correct it is surgery.  Unfortunately I am without health insurance, so needless to say it's a bit of a pickle.  My vision in my right eye will continue to degrade until I get it surgically corrected, or I'm blind.
> 
> Not 100% sure what I'm going to do just yet.  Needless to say it hasn't been one of my better days today.  Hope you folks are doing better.


That is tough news. Gary sees nothing wrong with Obama Care when it comes to one's health.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.


----------



## limr




----------



## JonA_CT

Wednesday is pretty good for me this week...my school district is observing Yom Kippur, so I woke up with my wife and made her and my daughter breakfast, peacefully drank a cup of coffee while watching the news (well, as peacefully as a one-year old allows...I think we got three readings of Moo, Baa, La La La in...), threw some soup ingredients in the crock pot, and now I'm getting ready to go visit with grandma for a little bit. 

I do have to teach tonight at the college, but it's a small sacrifice, haha.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Wednesday is pretty good for me this week...my school district is observing Yom Kippur, so I woke up with my wife and made her and my daughter breakfast, peacefully drank a cup of coffee while watching the news (well, as peacefully as a one-year old allows...I think we got three readings of Moo, Baa, La La La in...), threw some soup ingredients in the crock pot, and now I'm getting ready to go visit with grandma for a little bit.
> 
> I do have to teach tonight at the college, but it's a small sacrifice, haha.


Gary loves crock pot cooking ... but Gary feels as if he is cheating when he uses it.  The other day we were quite busy so Gary just tossed in a chicken, spices, herbs and Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce ... and by the end of the day dinner was done and it was pretty good.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Gary loves crock pot cooking ... but Gary feels as if he is cheating when he uses it. The other day we were quite busy so Gary just tossed in a chicken, spices, herbs and Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce ... and by the end of the day dinner was done and it was pretty good.



Love my crock pot.  We use it at least weekly in the winter months.  One of our favorites is crock pot ribs.  When the weather is too nasty for grilling we put the ribs into the pot with pepper corns, brown sugar, carrots and onions - add some water and 5 hours later they're ready for a quick brush with BBQ sauce and a short pass through the broiler.  They are fall off the bone tender and delicious.  I also use my crock pot to simmer my sauce and meatballs for great texture and flavor without having to be tied to the stove stirring all day.


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary loves crock pot cooking ... but Gary feels as if he is cheating when he uses it. The other day we were quite busy so Gary just tossed in a chicken, spices, herbs and Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce ... and by the end of the day dinner was done and it was pretty good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Love my crock pot.  We use it at least weekly in the winter months.  One of our favorites is crock pot ribs.  When the weather is too nasty for grilling we put the ribs into the pot with pepper corns, brown sugar, carrots and onions - add some water and 5 hours later they're ready for a quick brush with BBQ sauce and a short pass through the broiler.  They are fall off the bone tender and delicious.  I also use my crock pot to simmer my sauce and meatballs for great texture and flavor without having to be tied to the stove stirring all day.
Click to expand...


I do the same with chili.. I can set it up and let it simmer overnight.  Works fantastic.  Good chili really does need to simmer for a very, very long time.


----------



## Gary A.

Rarely is the weather too nasty for grilling here. 
Gary doesn't do ribs very often, but when he does, it is all about smokin'. (Except Korean Ribs, that's on the grill.) Gary has used it for pork, Gary first smokes the sucker for about 4-6 hours ... then tosses the hot mess into the crock pot for a few hours which adds additional flavoring and the 'pulled' part of pulled pork.

Them Dodgers tried the series at two each. Tomorrow is it.


----------



## limr

I love my crock pot. I will throw a ton of veggies, spices, stock, and beans into the pot and let it sit overnight and I have meals for an entire week. Actually, it's often 2-weeks' worth of food (one meal per day - usually lunch because it's easy to pack) but I will freeze half of it so that I don't get sick of it. Sometimes I'll make a smooth soup and blend in some tofu for protein, or make something relatively bland so that I can vary the spices or throw in different fresh veggies each day for variety. When I run out of room in the freezer, I start pulling out whatever I feel like having that week.


----------



## table1349

Making Chili now in the crock pot, made BBQ meatballs this last Sunday in the crock pot.  Probably going to make a pulled pork this weekend in the crock pot as well.   The thing is too ridiculously simple to use and don't have to hover over it like you do cooking on the stove. 

If Gary wants a super easy Crock Pot pulled pork recipe it is as follows. 

1 Pork Loin
1 bottle Root Beer
Salt and Pepper to taste. 

Put pork loin in crock pot, salt and pepper to taste.  Pour on 16 oz bottle of root beer over pork loin.  Set crock pot on 8 hours low and walk away.   8 hours later pull pork loin and let cool 10 minutes under loose foil.  Pull pork by hand and add 1 Tsp Liquid Smoke per pound of pork loin.  Add BBQ sauce if you like.  

We buy the big hamburger buns  for pulled pork sandwiches or ciabatta buns.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary prefers Dr. Pepper to Root Beer.


----------



## table1349

I've used all three, Dr. Pepper, Root Beer and Coke.  Real Coke, the old stuff that is still made in Mexico with the real sugar in it.  All three are good but we prefer the root beer.  But then we have a local place that makes their own root beer and bottles it in the old fashion ceramic stopper bottles.  It puts the store bought stuff to shame.


----------



## KenC

Morning, hosers!  No soda for me, just lost my taste for it way back, so I can't weigh in on the whole Coke/Pepsi/Dr. Pepper thing.  Coffee does quite nicely, thank you.  I should be awake shortly.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.



KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  No soda for me, just lost my taste for it way back, so I can't weigh in on the whole Coke/Pepsi/Dr. Pepper thing.  Coffee does quite nicely, thank you.  I should be awake shortly.



I really don't drink soda anymore either. Gave up most of it in high school, had Diet Coke maybe a few times a week during college. These days if I have any soda, it's ginger ale (often mixed with whiskey  ). 

Having said that, if given the choice between root beer and any one of the colas, I'd choose the root beer.

But for now...


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> These days if I have any soda, it's ginger ale (often mixed with whiskey  ).



I never said I would turn it down if it had liquor in it.  That's just a whole different thing ...


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> I really don't drink soda anymore either. Gave up most of it in high school, had Diet Coke maybe a few times a week during college. These days if I have any soda, it's ginger ale (often mixed with whiskey  ).



Ginger ale (or it's stronger cousin Ginger beer, more likely) are the only things I ever have in the house or care to drink. They do pair quite nicely with some whiskey or with some dark rum. 

I need all the coffee today. I didn't work Monday, so Tuesday felt like Monday. I didn't work yesterday, so today feels like Monday. I've decided its quite a messed up week to have two Mondays but neither of them actually be on a Monday. At least tomorrow is Friday.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  LOL ... we're talkin' cookin' not drinkin'. Drop in a pork shoulder into a crock pot, seasonings, herbs and then empty a bottle of Coke, Root Beer or Dr. Pepper and cook for a few hours ... very tasty.  Gary And Mary Lou had a Dr. Pepper last night with out sushi. Mary Lou and Gary only have liquid sugar once in a blue moon ... maybe four times a year at most.

Lots in the paper today ... two stories really caught my eye, one a very sad story on the front page about a farming community north of Los Angeles which was swept up in the 36,000 acre Blue Cut Fire. The community was nicknamed Korean Valley because of the 70 or so Korean families which settled there to farm. One couple traveled for decades from South Korea to Canada then from one state to another looking for their "heavenly place".  They were told they could farm the land into their 90's if that's what they wanted. "In August, the Blue Cut Fire turned their heavenly valley into a giant ashtray of charred trees, shrubs and homes."  "'We've traveled the world,' Sarah Choi, 70, said,'only to end up in hell.'"  Gary would contribute to a Go Fund site for this community.

The Democratic candidate, Al Muratsuchi, running against a Republican incumbent, David Hadley, in a California State Assembly race, is posting bright red signs declaring TRUMP - HADLEY. The Republican Hadley called the signs linking him to his fellow Republican Trump, constitutes a "'desperate and dishonest election tactics'" by his opponent.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> ...At least tomorrow is Friday.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Gary's new cocktail shaker.


----------



## table1349

KenC said:


> Morning, hosers!  No soda for me, just lost my taste for it way back, so I can't weigh in on the whole Coke/Pepsi/Dr. Pepper thing.  Coffee does quite nicely, thank you.  I should be awake shortly.


Kinky, I have never tried pouring a pot of coffee over a pork loin in the crock pot before.  Wonder if the acid content is high enough to help break down the connective tissues in the pork loin so it pulls well?

Especially if you used Starbucks coffee.  I can hear that order now. "I would like a Grande, sugar-free, non-fat, vanilla soy, double shot, decaf, no foam, extra hot, peppermint white chocolate mocha, light whip, extra syrup, and pour it in this crock pot please."


----------



## KenC

gryphonslair99 said:


> Kinky, I have never tried pouring a pot of coffee over a pork loin in the crock pot before.  Wonder if the acid content is high enough to help break down the connective tissues in the pork loin so it pulls well?



Don't know about that or about using soda for that matter.  My mother used her pasta sauce, which seemed to work very well.  Of course that's not standard for a pulled pork sandwich I suppose - it's just from a different tradition.


----------



## SquarePeg

KenC said:


> Don't know about that or about using soda for that matter.  My mother used her pasta sauce, which seemed to work very well.  Of course that's not standard for a pulled pork sandwich I suppose - it's just from a different tradition.



My ex's grandmother used to cook a roast beef all day in her sauce and it would be oh so tender.  Could easily have been "pulled" and served on a sandwich like a Sloppy Joe - a Fancy Joe?


----------



## table1349

KenC said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Kinky, I have never tried pouring a pot of coffee over a pork loin in the crock pot before.  Wonder if the acid content is high enough to help break down the connective tissues in the pork loin so it pulls well?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't know about that or about using soda for that matter.  My mother used her pasta sauce, which seemed to work very well.  Of course that's not standard for a pulled pork sandwich I suppose - it's just from a different tradition.
Click to expand...

Tomatoes are acidic.  Thats the purpose of the soda, the acidity.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> My ex's grandmother used to cook a roast beef all day in her sauce and it would be oh so tender.  Could easily have been "pulled" and served on a sandwich like a Sloppy Joe - a Fancy Joe?


Crockecue.

I make a rub and put on a pork roast, sear it on the stove, than toss it in the crock-pot with a little broth, onion, some garlic cloves, a few herbs and a bottle of whatever beer is around.  If there's no beer, then I'll use wine or bourbon.  Pull it with a fork and serve on buns.


----------



## table1349

Yep there are so many ways to use a crock pot.   My favorite crock pot these days is my cook top and a porcelain coated cast iron ditch oven.  Our cook top is Induction and it holds temperatures better than any crock pot.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary holds up his glass of cabernet sauvignon to the east and to the latest recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature ... Salute Bob Dylan, well done.

(Gary empties his glass.)


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, hosers. Just checking in on you folks. Been a hectic week so far. Working almost 2 hours from home can be a pain in the ass, but for what they pay me in mileage, that's my freaking car payment right there.


----------



## jcdeboever

Jansen getting it done. Ruiz is clutch.


----------



## jcdeboever

Kershaw warming up....amazing.


----------



## Gary A.

4-3 Go Blue!


----------



## Gary A.

Jansen is out of gas.


----------



## Gary A.

Kershaw is a utility player.


----------



## Gary A.

Ball four ... in comes Kershaw.


----------



## jcdeboever

Best pitcher in game vs best hitter, doesn't get any better than this.


----------



## Gary A.

And he got 'em ... one to go.


----------



## Gary A.

YES!!!!!!

Kershaw gets the save.


----------



## Gary A.

Cubbies and Dodgers.

What a move by Roberts to bring in Kershaw.  But I still like how Baker thinks.


----------



## jcdeboever

Great series. Excellent management on both ends. Poor Dusty, he just can't win the big one. Roberts is one heck of a manager.


----------



## Gary A.

Yep ... poor Dusty is always the bridesmaid.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary hopes the Dodgers still have something left in the tank for the Cubbies.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Best pitcher in game vs best hitter, doesn't get any better than this.


Yes ... like a movie.


----------



## SquarePeg

minicoop1985 said:


> Howdy, hosers. Just checking in on you folks. Been a hectic week so far. Working almost 2 hours from home can be a pain in the ass, but for what they pay me in mileage, that's my freaking car payment right there.



2 hours each way?  Audio books!  You can download free from your local library.


----------



## JonA_CT

I mostly ran out of my normal coffee this morning, so I made a split cup with the old can of Cafe Bustelo from our camping sundries. An interesting combination for sure.

I had a pretty rough day at work yesterday...a student in mental health crisis in my classroom. It was the first time in a long time I got an adrenaline hit that left me shaking for a bit. I'm feeling much more centered this morning, fortunately. 

Since Gary updates on these things, I'll also let you all know that I fed my levain culture for bread this morning to be ready to bake with on Sunday. I have no shot to bake during the week, so I store the culture in the fridge all week, and it takes it a couple days to get back going.

Actually, things have been quite yeast driven in my house...my beer that is fermenting managed to blow the bucket lid off. It's the first time that's happened to me...and it'll never happen again, as I'll remember to install a blow-off tube from now on. I spent an hour scrubbing yeast and hop trub from all over my kitchen. My wife wasn't impressed, although the house smells delicious now.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Great series. Excellent management on both ends. Poor Dusty, he just can't win the big one. Roberts is one heck of a manager.



Being a Red Sox fan, I love me some Dave Roberts!!!!  However...



Gary A. said:


> Gary hopes the Dodgers still have something left in the tank for the Cubbies.



Being a Red Sox fan, I have to root for the Cubs to break their curse!  (and of course for Theo to become a legend)


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> I mostly ran out of my normal coffee this morning, so I made a split cup with the old can of Cafe Bustelo from our camping sundries. An interesting combination for sure.
> 
> I had a pretty rough day at work yesterday...a student in mental health crisis in my classroom. It was the first time in a long time I got an adrenaline hit that left me shaking for a bit. I'm feeling much more centered this morning, fortunately.
> 
> Since Gary updates on these things, I'll also let you all know that I fed my levain culture for bread this morning to be ready to bake with on Sunday. I have no shot to bake during the week, so I store the culture in the fridge all week, and it takes it a couple days to get back going.
> 
> Actually, things have been quite yeast driven in my house...my beer that is fermenting managed to blow the bucket lid off. It's the first time that's happened to me...and it'll never happen again, as I'll remember to install a blow-off tube from now on. I spent an hour scrubbing yeast and hop trub from all over my kitchen. My wife wasn't impressed, although the house smells delicious now.


Sorry to hear about the incident in the classroom.  It can always be trying when those things happen and a real disruption to the classroom and the students.  Hopefully the student is doing better.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Great series. Excellent management on both ends. Poor Dusty, he just can't win the big one. Roberts is one heck of a manager.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Being a Red Sox fan, I love me some Dave Roberts!!!!  However...
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary hopes the Dodgers still have something left in the tank for the Cubbies.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Being a Red Sox fan, I have to root for the Cubs to break their curse!  (and of course for Theo to become a legend)
Click to expand...


----------



## jcdeboever

Cubs definitely have an advantage. I picked them to win it all in spring training and then they got better at trade deadline. Dodgers better hope they are rusty from all that rest.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Cubs definitely have an advantage. I picked them to win it all in spring training and then they got better at trade deadline. Dodgers better hope they are rusty from all that rest.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Cubs definitely have an advantage. I picked them to win it all in spring training and then they got better at trade deadline. Dodgers better hope they are rusty from all that rest.


Too much rest  ... LOL!  You can tell how rusty they are when they go to bat.  If they hold the bat by the fat end that means they had too much rest and forgot which end to grab. 

The Cubbies are definitely the best club in the league.

@Peg: When Roberts stuck Jansen in at the seventh ... he already knew that Kershaw would be facing Murphy ... that's managing.

Remember that the Dodgers have Magic on their side.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon:




The classroom is like a box of chocolates ...

Gary is onto his third or fourth month with his starter.  It is quite sour.


----------



## terri

@Jon:   So sorry that happened in the classroom yesterday.   I'm glad you're having a better day (only a coffee crisis!), and I hope the student is getting the help (s)he needs.

Other than that - Happy Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    Go Cubs!

I got nuthin' else.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## EIngerson

NOT a fan of Flickr's changes.


----------



## table1349

What did they do now?


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Mary Lou and Gary are busy disinfecting this dump in preparations of visitors arriving Monday from Germany. Mary Lou suggested opening a window to freshen up the goat odors but that would let the chickens out and Gary needs the eggs.


----------



## table1349

Cook the goat and let the chickens free range.


----------



## SquarePeg

EIngerson said:


> NOT a fan of Flickr's changes.



I agree.  Of course I hate when people move my cheese.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> NOT a fan of Flickr's changes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I agree.  Of course I hate when people move my cheese.
Click to expand...

Stilton or Wensleydale?


----------



## table1349

Well this may be a long day for the K State defense against OU.


----------



## EIngerson

gryphonslair99 said:


> What did they do now?



Just a bunch of changes that pretty much make it look like Instagram. Not very good either.


----------



## table1349

That sucks.


----------



## table1349

K State went down quite handily to OU, but Bama is on the mark today against Tennessee.


----------



## table1349

Best game of the day is Arkansas and Ole Miss. In the 3rd quarter tied at 20.


----------



## Gary A.

Trojans 48 to 14 over Arizona.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is into his second cup of his organic Mayan, reading the paper, sipping away and enjoying the Koi from his patio.  A very pleasant morning, cool right now but it will warm up. A splash and a flash of color as a Koi breaches, a hummer flies in for its breakfast. Yes a nice and pleasant morning.


----------



## table1349

Jeeze dude, it's almost 11:30 here.  I've been up since 5:30 a.m.  You must be a real sleepy head on Sunday.

Oh I know, your going to lay claim to that old "We're two hours behind your time" routine.  

On a serious note where do you get the Xtabentún to make Mayan coffee?


----------



## Gary A.

Dodgers split the series with Chicago ... back to the City of the Angels for game three.


----------



## Gary A.

Kershaw, off the field goes by Clark Kent.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Dodgers split the series with Chicago ... back to the City of the Angels for game three.


Great pitching always beats good hitting. Jansen throws a heavy ball, man his ball explodes last second. Hendricks pitched well too. Good win.


----------



## Gary A.

I love Jansen.  He says "Hit This, it's another strike ... " on every pitch. The Dodgers could use verbal signs on offense and still nobody would hit Jansen.


----------



## Gary A.

Interestingly, after game one loss, the Dodgers got more confident and stronger.  They feared Chicago, but on game one they went toe-to-toe for nine innings.  Even though they lost, they learned the Cubs were mortal.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is pouring his second cup, cancelling a morning meeting and getting ready for the Germans to arrive.  And, it is raining. Sadly, the Germans drove from Santa Cruz down Highway 1 and it rained on them on route.  They spent the night in Cambria and will continue down Highway 1 to LA.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is pouring his second cup, cancelling a morning meeting and getting ready for the Germans to arrive.  And, it is raining. Sadly, the Germans drove from Santa Cruz down Highway 1 and it rained on them on route.  They spent the night in Cambria and will continue down Highway 1 to LA.



Wow... so you better prepare yourself for that "wet German" smell then.


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is pouring his second cup, cancelling a morning meeting and getting ready for the Germans to arrive.  And, it is raining. Sadly, the Germans drove from Santa Cruz down Highway 1 and it rained on them on route.  They spent the night in Cambria and will continue down Highway 1 to LA.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow... so you better prepare yourself for that "wet German" smell then.
Click to expand...

Does your dryer have a "Lederhosen" setting?


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Does your dryer have a "Lederhosen" setting?



Strangely no.. but in an even odder happenstance, my microwave does.  It's right between baked potato and popcorn.


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does your dryer have a "Lederhosen" setting?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Strangely no.. but in an even odder happenstance, my microwave does.  It's right between baked potato and popcorn.
Click to expand...

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh... is that what the little Tyrolean Hat button is for?  I've meaning to check the manual for that.


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Ohhhhhhhhhhhh... is that what the little Tyrolean Hat button is for?  I've meaning to check the manual for that.



Sadly the only manual I have for mine is in Spanish.. and it was translated to Spanish from Chinese.


----------



## jcdeboever

Well my D7200 refurb arrived today, $769 shipped. Zero shutter count. Like new, not a scratch on it. Came with battery, charger, strap, mount cover, eye cup, and cables. Came in a Nikon white box. USA model. It powered up and appears good. Reading manual and too many features I will never use. Tried my AIS 50mm 1.4 on it, sweet baby Jesus, it is nice and sharp. I absolutely love the view finder, this is what I have been missing. Oh, and the pic preview is a 100X better as well, can actually tell if something is right or wrong now. I think this camera can me make a little better at photography but honestly, I didn't really need it. However, my commission checks have been quite prosperous and wanted to spend a chunk on me for once. I was just purely frustrated with the D3300 viewfinder and having to crop everything. I want to crop when it makes sense, not because it's needed every shot. My wife didn't yell at me for getting it, she said, and I quote, "Honey, you deserve it. You work so hard and do so much for so many people.' I darn near fell over. I discussed it with her but that was over a month ago. She was totally supportive, I am going to go for it tonight, good odds.


----------



## Gary A.

Give her your old camera.  Or better yet, get her a Fuji XProII.


----------



## SquarePeg

@jcdeboever  congrats on the 7200. One of my favorite things about upgrading from the 5100 to the 7100 was the better view finder - makes a huge difference for my eyes. The review screen is also a huge plus.  I didn't think the 2 wheels were going to be a big deal but I have to say its so much easier to change settings without looking on the 7100 I think you're really going to love the upgrade.  I ordered a book that someone on this site recommended it's called Mastering the Nikon 7100 it is been hugely helpful in allowing me to really use all of the convenience features. I think it was @astroNikon Who suggested it.


----------



## astroNikon

SquarePeg said:


> @jcdeboever  congrats on the 7200. One of my favorite things about upgrading from the 5100 to the 7100 was the better view finder - makes a huge difference for my eyes. The review screen is also a huge plus.  I didn't think the 2 wheels were going to be a big deal but I have to say its so much easier to change settings without looking on the 7100 I think you're really going to love the upgrade.  I ordered a book that someone on this site recommended it's called Mastering the Nikon 7100 it is been hugely helpful in allowing me to really use all of the convenience features. I think it was @astroNikon Who suggested it.


The Mastering the Nikon xxxx book was a big help for me when I first got the d7000.  I was able to learn and experiment with each and every function.  The manual was non-sensical to me until I went through that book. 

It's a big learning step from the software/menu driven d3x00 and d5x00.  I've helped some friends with theirs for years and it drives me nuts.
Once you get settled in on the d7200 you'll love it.


----------



## JonA_CT

Nice upgrade, JC. I know you'll figure out to do with it in quick order. 

The weather is weird around here...80 degrees three days in a row in October?


----------



## astroNikon

JonA_CT said:


> Nice upgrade, JC. I know you'll figure out to do with it in quick order.
> 
> The weather is weird around here...80 degrees three days in a row in October?


we hit 81 here yesterday.   I like it


----------



## astroNikon

jcdeboever said:


> sweet baby Jesus, it is nice and sharp.


and that folks, is a good review of a camera upgrade upgrade   lol




jcdeboever said:


> Well my D7200 refurb arrived today, $769 shipped. Zero shutter count. Like new, not a scratch on it. Came with battery, charger, strap, mount cover, eye cup, and cables. Came in a Nikon white box. USA model.


I"ve been looking at the d7200 and d500.  d500 is unaffordable right now.  d7200 looks nice as it has a good buffer to support sports too.  But the d500 fps and flippy screen and all.


----------



## jcdeboever

astroNikon said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> sweet baby Jesus, it is nice and sharp.
> 
> 
> 
> and that folks, is a good review of a camera upgrade upgrade   lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well my D7200 refurb arrived today, $769 shipped. Zero shutter count. Like new, not a scratch on it. Came with battery, charger, strap, mount cover, eye cup, and cables. Came in a Nikon white box. USA model.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I"ve been looking at the d7200 and d500.  d500 is unaffordable right now.  d7200 looks nice as it has a good buffer to support sports too.  But the d500 fps and flippy screen and all.
Click to expand...

The D7200 has everything i wanted as did the D500. With my skill level and price, the D7200 is the sweet spot. I think if I had more experience and skill, the D500 would have made more sense.


----------



## SquarePeg

EIngerson said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> What did they do now?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just a bunch of changes that pretty much make it look like Instagram. Not very good either.
Click to expand...


Try going to "You" and selecting "People".  The view will be more like Explore mode.  Not perfect but better than those small floating photos against the white background.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> The weather is weird *all effed up *around here...80 degrees three days in a row in October?



FIFY


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> sweet baby Jesus, it is nice and sharp.
> 
> 
> 
> and that folks, is a good review of a camera upgrade upgrade   lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well my D7200 refurb arrived today, $769 shipped. Zero shutter count. Like new, not a scratch on it. Came with battery, charger, strap, mount cover, eye cup, and cables. Came in a Nikon white box. USA model.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I"ve been looking at the d7200 and d500.  d500 is unaffordable right now.  d7200 looks nice as it has a good buffer to support sports too.  But the d500 fps and flippy screen and all.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The D7200 has everything i wanted as did the D500. With my skill level and price, the D7200 is the sweet spot. I think if I had more experience and skill, the D500 would have made more sense.
Click to expand...

Congrats on the upgrade.  I am sure you will enjoy it.  Just a few tips for using you new D7200.

1.  Learn to hold the camera properly......



 
Steadiness with the view finder at proper height is essential.

2.  Always carry your camera at the ready.  


 
Remember children are replaceable, cameras are not. 

3. Make sure all your accessories work with your new body. 


 
You don't want to find out that they don't at the last minute. 

4. Always be ready to get the shot.  


 
Situational awareness is always important.  

5. Finally, don't be afraid to ask assistance from a Professional Photographer


 
They can always be of assistance when learning.  

Have fun and enjoy that new camera.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> Nice upgrade, JC. I know you'll figure out to do with it in quick order.
> 
> The weather is weird around here...80 degrees three days in a row in October?


Oh you nanmby pamby New Englanders, it got up to 90 here the last two days.


----------



## SquarePeg

gryphonslair99 said:


> Oh you nanmby pamby New Englanders, it got up to 90 here the last two days.



I resemble that remark.


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh you nanmby pamby New Englanders, it got up to 90 here the last two days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I resemble that remark.
Click to expand...


For the record my client wishes to state that at no time has she ever been nanmby.  She is unwilling to either confirm or deny that their may have been a few isolated incidents where she might have been considered pamby.  However she does wish it stated for the record that under no circumstances has she ever been both in combination.


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh you nanmby pamby New Englanders, it got up to 90 here the last two days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I resemble that remark.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For the record my client wishes to state that at no time has she ever been nanmby.  She is unwilling to either confirm or deny that their may have been a few isolated incidents where she might have been considered pamby.  However she does wish it stated for the record that under no circumstances has she ever been both in combination.
Click to expand...


For the record, tomorrows paper will have a front page article that emphatically refutes your clients above statement as 12 people good and true have come forward just today to state without doubt that your client not only nanmbied and pambed but she nanmby pambied  with each and ever one of the above mention 12 individuals. 

You should further be aware that your client was recorded on tape admitting that not only did she nanmbie pamby but she did so knowingly as she stated that Pegs that are Square can get away with such actions by virtue of them being Square Pegs.   That tape is being release to all the relevant news stations at 6:00 a.m when the morning edition hits the stands.


----------



## SquarePeg

gryphonslair99 said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh you nanmby pamby New Englanders, it got up to 90 here the last two days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I resemble that remark.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For the record my client wishes to state that at no time has she ever been nanmby.  She is unwilling to either confirm or deny that their may have been a few isolated incidents where she might have been considered pamby.  However she does wish it stated for the record that under no circumstances has she ever been both in combination.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For the record, tomorrows paper will have a front page article that emphatically refutes your clients above statement as 12 people good and true have come forward just today to state without doubt that your client not only nanmbied and pambed but she nanmby pambied  with each and ever one of the above mention 12 individuals.
> 
> You should further be aware that your client was recorded on tape admitting that not only did she nanmbie pamby but she did so knowingly as she stated that Pegs that are Square can get away with such actions by virtue of them being Square Pegs.   That tape is being release to all the relevant news stations at 6:00 a.m when the morning edition hits the stands.
Click to expand...


HUGELY totally false accusations with no evidence other than the words of people that I would never nanby nor pamby near.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh you nanmby pamby New Englanders, it got up to 90 here the last two days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *I resemble that remark.*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For the record my client wishes to state that at no time has she ever been nanmby.  She is unwilling to either confirm or deny that their may have been a few isolated incidents where she might have been considered pamby.  However she does wish it stated for the record that under no circumstances has she ever been both in combination.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For the record, tomorrows paper will have a front page article that emphatically refutes your clients above statement as 12 people good and true have come forward just today to state without doubt that your client not only nanmbied and pambed but she nanmby pambied  with each and ever one of the above mention 12 individuals.
> 
> You should further be aware that your client was recorded on tape admitting that not only did she nanmbie pamby but she did so knowingly as she stated that Pegs that are Square can get away with such actions by virtue of them being Square Pegs.   That tape is being release to all the relevant news stations at 6:00 a.m when the morning edition hits the stands.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> HUGELY totally false accusations with no evidence other than the words of people that I would never nanby nor pamby near.
Click to expand...

I would remind you of your own words regarding nanmby pambing.........



SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh you nanmby pamby New Englanders, it got up to 90 here the last two days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *I resemble that remark.*
Click to expand...


----------



## SquarePeg

It's a conspiracy.  I never said that.  The Russians hacked my TPF account.


----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349

Hey, thats what you get when you hire a gorilla as your lawyer


----------



## vintagesnaps

Is that what Robbins does in his spare time?!!?! Who's nambying and pambying and is it worth going back further in this thread? lol Nothing like a good laugh in the coffee house.

Tonight I had leftover pizza with some extra green pepper etc. to doctor it up. it is too hot to actually cook - it's too hot for October! I'll be glad when it rains and cools down, I want nice crisp cool days. This feels like it's still summer but dark early!


----------



## snowbear

Leftover pizza is a good breakfast.  We still haven't had dinner, yet.  We had to go up to Baltimore for MIL's prescription and are on the way back.  Another late night.


----------



## vintagesnaps

OK, just when I thought I was caught up on the namby pamby situation, now I gotta go back further to find out why Germans are showing up at Gary's. Hopefully it means plenty of barbeque and wine! I don't know where you boys have been buying appliances though...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Pizza for breakfast was the days of my youth. Same with nacho cheese tortillas and warm pop with a hangover, have never been able to eat those since.

How long has it been since I was on here?? now what happened in Jon's classroom? might be on here all night.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh, sorry Jon to see it was a serious situation to deal with. Hope this week is better for you.


----------



## table1349

What a co ink e dink.  I made a margarita pizza for dinner.  We have some leftovers for breakfast.  You have a good night.  Have to leave in a few minutes for a sleep test.  They already know I have sleep apnea but now they need to figure out where to set the cpap machine.


----------



## JonA_CT

Things are better, now! Just a test of all of those skills you don't ever want tested. The student was already receiving significant mental health supports, but I haven't seen anything in my classroom like that. We made a couple adjustments to her schedule, and she is back and doing well.


P.S. My dog keeps farting tonight. His hang time is extraordinary.


----------



## JonA_CT

gryphonslair99 said:


> What a co ink e dink.  I made a margarita pizza for dinner.  We have some leftovers for breakfast.  You have a good night.  Have to leave in a few minutes for a sleep test.  They already know I have sleep apnea but now they need to figure out where to set the cpap machine.



I hope they do it in a nice hotel like they do here...our local hospital has an entire floor in a Hilton Garden Inn that they do those tests in.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> What a co ink e dink.  I made a margarita pizza for dinner.  We have some leftovers for breakfast.  You have a good night.  Have to leave in a few minutes for a sleep test.  They already know I have sleep apnea but now they need to figure out where to set the cpap machine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hope they do it in a nice hotel like they do here...our local hospital has an entire floor in a Hilton Garden Inn that they do those tests in.
Click to expand...

Just got here. They have wifi so I am good for a while. Here it is at the clinic but the rooms are like hotel rooms minus the tv.  They have wifi so I am watching Netflix.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> My dog keeps farting tonight. His hang time is extraordinary.


Put a balloon on his @$$ to capture some, then let it go in some place you don't really like.

I will trade you - I have a cat that is wet sneezing all over.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Weather here at Gettysburg, Pa is warm also. I was hoping for some early morning mist to view the battlegrounds but I don't think it cooled off last night


----------



## table1349

Good morning  despite having nearly 40 probes attached to me as well as having my nose covered with a cpap device I feel more rested than ever.  They say things went very well and the Doctor will have the setting in a couple days.  

To my friends in New England the temp today is predicted to be 70 degrees and in the mid sixties the rest of the week.  We may not have much in the way of attractions here in the flatlands, but if you don't like the weather stick around five minutes, it will change.


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> Weather here at Gettysburg, Pa is warm also. I was hoping for some early morning mist to view the battlegrounds but I don't think it cooled off last night



Your mist/fog was back here in Boston.  It was pea soup Boston and North.

Check out this eerie fog covering Boston's skyline


----------



## astroNikon

Another refreshing morning.
With my cup of nice and refreshing crisp cold water and I'm all set for the day!!

I have an extra one for @limr too  lol  But I think she drinks the type that are strained through pulverized bean curd.


----------



## table1349

And on the political scene SquarePeg is rumored to be bringing Harambe's mother and Al Roker's estranged meteorologist to the debate tonight. 

Due to the importance of this debate Alcoa has decided to provide aluminum headwear to all audience members free of charge.


----------



## limr

astroNikon said:


> Another refreshing morning.
> With my cup of nice and refreshing crisp cold water and I'm all set for the day!!
> I have an extra one for @limr too  lol  But I think she drinks the type that are strained through pulverized bean curd.  kind that is heated to 200F and then mingled with the roasted, pulverized beans of pure magic goodness, strained, and then poured down her gullet



That's more like it


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Weather here at Gettysburg, Pa is warm also. I was hoping for some early morning mist to view the  battlegrounds but I don't think it cooled off last night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Your mist/fog was back here in Boston.  It was pea soup Boston and North.
> 
> Check out this eerie fog covering Boston's skyline
Click to expand...

COOL.....Reminds me of London.


----------



## SquarePeg

I'm giving myself the night off from politics and skipping the debate tonight.  There has never been even the smallest doubt as to who will get my vote so I see no need to subject myself to more of the torture.  I think I will read my D71oo manual which will be more enlightening.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> I'm giving myself the night off from politics and skipping the debate tonight.  There has never been even the smallest doubt as to who will get my vote so I see no need to subject myself to more of the torture.  I think I will read my D71oo manual which will be more enlightening.



I haven't watched any of them. Completely pointless for me to do so...well, unless I was bothered by my low blood pressure and wanted to raise it without the use of drugs


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> I'm giving myself the night off from politics and skipping the debate tonight.  There has never been even the smallest doubt as to who will get my vote so I see no need to subject myself to more of the torture.  I think I will read my D71oo manual which will be more enlightening.


I have pretty much given myself the year off from politics.  It is more pointless now than it has ever been in my 62 years.  Politicians and politics these days make the main characters of Dumb & Dumber seem down right brilliant.

I must correct myself, I did watch one debate.  The SNL parody.  
I would love to have the original SNL cast around for this whole thing.


----------



## astroNikon

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm giving myself the night off from politics and skipping the debate tonight.  There has never been even the smallest doubt as to who will get my vote so I see no need to subject myself to more of the torture.  I think I will read my D71oo manual which will be more enlightening.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I haven't watched any of them. Completely pointless for me to do so...well, unless I was bothered by my low blood pressure and wanted to raise it without the use of drugs
Click to expand...

Is that tonight?

I thought those were only on late night Saturday's ?


----------



## limr

astroNikon said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm giving myself the night off from politics and skipping the debate tonight.  There has never been even the smallest doubt as to who will get my vote so I see no need to subject myself to more of the torture.  I think I will read my D71oo manual which will be more enlightening.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I haven't watched any of them. Completely pointless for me to do so...well, unless I was bothered by my low blood pressure and wanted to raise it without the use of drugs
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Is that tonight?
> 
> I thought those were only on late night Saturday's ?
Click to expand...


That's the only way I'll watch it!


----------



## limr

Cat memes are going to get me through this day.


----------



## limr




----------



## astroNikon

limr said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> 
> Another refreshing morning.
> With my cup of nice and refreshing crisp cold water and I'm all set for the day!!
> I have an extra one for @limr too  lol  But I think she drinks the type that are strained through pulverized bean curd.  kind that is heated to 200F and then mingled with the roasted, pulverized beans of pure magic goodness, strained, and then poured down her gullet
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's more like it
Click to expand...

Yes, you are right.
This reminds me of my favorite place to go .. Starbucks.  their trucks are lovely too


----------



## JonA_CT

I think the melt-down on stage tonight will be worth at least a few minutes of my viewing time. It's pure entertainment at this point, as it is unlikely either of them will say something truly pertinent to the issues in our country.

Anyways, we had a fire drill this morning because the weather is nice. I think the custodial staff at my school is going to lose it tonight, though. We filed out on to a freshly-mowed, dew-moistened field (about 800 of us total, with staff), and then back into the school. Every stair-case, every hallway, every classroom is absolutely covered in grass clippings now.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I think the melt-down on stage tonight will be worth at least a few minutes of my viewing time. It's pure entertainment at this point, as it is unlikely either of them will say something truly pertinent to the issues in our country.
> 
> Anyways, we had a fire drill this morning because the weather is nice. I think the custodial staff at my school is going to lose it tonight, though. We filed out on to a freshly-mowed, dew-moistened field (about 800 of us total, with staff), and then back into the school. Every stair-case, every hallway, every classroom is absolutely covered in grass clippings now.



No need to watch the debate to see the meltdown.  Just go on Twitter at 3am. 

Oh no! about the grass clippings.  Nice day for a drill though.  Gorgeous here.  Took an extra long walk with the dog this morning and may take another one after lunch.  Our schools have an early release today so the kids will be everywhere!


----------



## Gary A.

Palos Verdes.




A spot of rain on Monday, this is Cookie, (AKA The Cook), sporting her new raincoat.




Fresh O.J.

The Germans are here. They arrived on Monday afternoon.  Of course we took a tour of the coast yesterday, this is a classic California cove on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.  (PV separates The Santa Monica Bay from LA Harbor.  The Germans loved the 70F weather.  Frank requested orange juice, so Gary trotted out to the back and pulled down a dozen oranges and squeezed out a pitcher of O.J. Frank was equally please and impressed.


----------



## SquarePeg

I see you rolled out the nice weather for them!  That pitcher of mimosa's looks a bit too orange though.


----------



## Gary A.

All from the iPhone with no processing.


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> I think the melt-down on stage tonight will be worth at least a few minutes of my viewing time. It's pure entertainment at this point, as it is unlikely either of them will say something truly pertinent to the issues in our country.



I don't recall anyone saying anything pertinent in any political debate I've ever seen, come to think of it.  They stick to their talking points and soundbites and never say anything real.

As for the rest, eh.. no plan on watching at all.  I've seen more than enough of people being nasty to one another for one lifetime.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou will be glued to the debate.  In fact we're having a bit of a debate party inviting others to watch the debate.  The Germans are excited to see the event as well.  Today we will head to Seal Beach for breakfast and a walk along the sand, then south to see the Mission San Juan Capistrano, then to Whole Foods or Costco for some stuff to BBQ for the debate dinner, then home to prep the food and watch the debate and drink vino.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm not surprised. One of my good friends works for a company that has German suppliers that he has to visit occasionally. He just got back a couple of weeks ago, and the minute everyone realized he was an American, he said he was bombarded with questions about Trump and our Presidential Election.

It's always amazing to how much other countries understand about politics on the global level compared to the average American (me included!). I wouldn't be able to ask intelligent questions about anything in German politics.


----------



## table1349

The Debate, Not A Chance.   Can't decide whether to watch the Cubs at the Dodgers or the Red Wings at the Rangers.    

For me even professional wrestling would be better than the debates.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> I'm not surprised. One of my good friends works for a company that has German suppliers that he has to visit occasionally. He just got back a couple of weeks ago, and the minute everyone realized he was an American, he said he was bombarded with questions about Trump and our Presidential Election.
> 
> It's always amazing to how much other countries understand about politics on the global level compared to the average American (me included!). I wouldn't be able to ask intelligent questions about anything in German politics.


The sad thing is most Americans don't want to know about many of the world problems since it was the US along with the British and a couple of other countries that have caused many of the issues now being dealt with these days, especially in the middle east and Africa.  Sadly for the world in some ways we are reaping what we sowed a few decades ago.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ugh, debates. Don't get me started there.

Howdy hosers. Still been super busy. I'm in the process of upgrading my personal stuff to Hasselblad H system too. I really regret selling my H1, but don't really miss the Mamiya other than the medium format magic. Trying to decide on a first lens for the system-80mm f2.8 or 150 f3.2. I'm leaning towards the 150. I'll be picking up the lens in November and the camera body next week. It'll be a film camera until tax returns come in and I can afford a digital back, like a Phase One P25.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Thank god there's a Rangers game on! I think if I had to watch even part of a debate with guests from another country I'd cringe the whole time.

I haven't watched much of them, and what else is there to see at this point? Kind of like the proverbial train wreck where you can't look away. I think the time to do something was at the Republican convention, although I don't know what options the party may have had. But now they have a candidate that's an embarrassment and who talks about doing things that realistically I don't think could be done by anyone holding the office (because holding an office or working in the gov't. means doing things within certain guidelines, within our system of checks and balances).

So, let's go Rangers!!


----------



## table1349




----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't have any one team I like, Detroit is one team I'll watch pretty often too, and I was into the Rangers more back in the Mess Gretz days, it depends on who's playing who... kind of like when the college team where I have tickets and have taken grad classes plays my alma mater - I want a tie game!! lol


----------



## table1349

I generally like hockey.  Lately it is a little boring, but then Hockey was fun in the days when the word Hockey stood for some pretty good fights in padding with a little hockey playing thrown in.


----------



## table1349

Wow, less than two minutes in and the Rangers score.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Go Tampa Bay Lightning!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Leaving Gettysburg this morning. Looks like beautiful driving weather.
Heading to Lynchburg, Va for 2 days, then south again..


----------



## SquarePeg

Safe travels @NancyMoranG


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> For me even professional wrestling would be better than the debates.



Actually it was kind of like a professional wrestling match, lots of hype and posturing, but nothing really substantial.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> I don't have any one team I like, Detroit is one team I'll watch pretty often too, and I was into the Rangers more back in the Mess Gretz days, it depends on who's playing who... kind of like when the college team where I have tickets and have taken grad classes plays my alma mater - I want a tie game!! lol


Jimmy Howard stole one from the Rangers last night. Not liking the defense on this team so far, they have a lot of work to do. The penalty kill has been much better but needs to improve.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> For me even professional wrestling would be better than the debates.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Actually it was kind of like a professional wrestling match, lots of hype and posturing, but nothing really substantial.
Click to expand...

Plus seeing either one of them is colorful tights is not something I want to see.  

Now picture the two of them in skin tight spandex tights, and try to SLEEP TONIGHT!!!


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not surprised. One of my good friends works for a company that has German suppliers that he has to visit occasionally. He just got back a couple of weeks ago, and the minute everyone realized he was an American, he said he was bombarded with questions about Trump and our Presidential Election.
> 
> It's always amazing to how much other countries understand about politics on the global level compared to the average American (me included!). I wouldn't be able to ask intelligent questions about anything in German politics.
> 
> 
> 
> The sad thing is most Americans don't want to know about many of the world problems since it was the US along with the British and a couple of other countries that have caused many of the issues now being dealt with these days, especially in the middle east and Africa.  Sadly for the world in some ways we are reaping what we sowed a few decades ago.
Click to expand...

Umm... reason I come here is to stay away from political rhetoric and opinions.

So please, stop.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not surprised. One of my good friends works for a company that has German suppliers that he has to visit occasionally. He just got back a couple of weeks ago, and the minute everyone realized he was an American, he said he was bombarded with questions about Trump and our Presidential Election.
> 
> It's always amazing to how much other countries understand about politics on the global level compared to the average American (me included!). I wouldn't be able to ask intelligent questions about anything in German politics.
> 
> 
> 
> The sad thing is most Americans don't want to know about many of the world problems since it was the US along with the British and a couple of other countries that have caused many of the issues now being dealt with these days, especially in the middle east and Africa.  Sadly for the world in some ways we are reaping what we sowed a few decades ago.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Umm... reason I come here is to stay away from political rhetoric and opinions.
> 
> So please, stop.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Good Lord, at least keep up.  That was 24 hours ago.


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> Good Lord, at least keep up.  That was 24 hours ago.



I have things like a day job that keep me busy sometimes.


----------



## table1349

Looks like tough work.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Now picture the two of them in skin tight spandex tights, and try to SLEEP TONIGHT!!





 MY EYES, MY EYES, STARING AT THE SUN MUST BURN THE IMAGE FROM MY BRAIN!!!


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now picture the two of them in skin tight spandex tights, and try to SLEEP TONIGHT!!
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 129001 MY EYES, MY EYES, STARING AT THE SUN MUST BURN THE IMAGE FROM MY BRAIN!!!
Click to expand...

Yeah and keep that thought in your brain if you get "lucky" with the little woman tonight.  There isn't enough viagra in the world to combat that image burned in your brain.  That just makes you want to take one of those Cialis bathtubs, turn it over and hide under it.


----------



## table1349

For all the kitten loves to go awwwwhhhh over. Playful Portraits of Kittens Mid-Pounce


----------



## NancyMoranG

SquarePeg said:


> Safe travels @NancyMoranG



Thanks. Just stopped for lunch. I've been in 4 states before lunch, what did you do today 
Left Pa, then scooted through a corner of Md and W.Va., now in Virginia.


----------



## table1349

NancyMoranG said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Safe travels @NancyMoranG
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks. Just stopped for lunch. I've been in 4 states before lunch, what did you do today
> Left Pa, then scooted through a corner of Md and W.Va., now in Virginia.
Click to expand...

If you can swing by here for desert.  Woodruff's Cafe and Pie Shop  You will take a couple of them with you.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Umm... reason I come here is to stay away from political rhetoric and opinions.
> 
> So please, stop.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk



I agree.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## SquarePeg

Going to an early Halloween costume party tomorrow night.  Not feeling it.  It's a benefit for a charity that my brother and sister-in-law run so can't skip it.  Thinking of going as a scarecrow so I can wear jeans and a flannel...


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Going to an early Halloween costume party tomorrow night.  Not feeling it.  It's a benefit for a charity that my brother and sister-in-law run so *can't skip it*.  Thinking of going as a scarecrow so I can wear jeans and a flannel...


Don'tcha' hate it when that eight hour flu hits you an hour before you need to leave for an event?


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Going to an early Halloween costume party tomorrow night.  Not feeling it.  It's a benefit for a charity that my brother and sister-in-law run so can't skip it.  Thinking of going as a scarecrow so I can wear jeans and a flannel...


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Going to an early Halloween costume party tomorrow night.  Not feeling it.  It's a benefit for a charity that my brother and sister-in-law run so can't skip it.  Thinking of going as a scarecrow so I can wear jeans and a flannel...


Go as a wind gust . . . blow through quickly, then disappear.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.

Today's activities will include tuning my "Preplan Collector App" with which our crews will collect the locations of potential Medevac Landing Zones, privately maintained hydrants and other water sullies, fire department connections, utility shut-offs, and harardous material storage locations.  They will also document building and roof construction types, roof loads, and other operational concerns.

The GIS boss is now the vice chair of the state GIS Committee (non-profit org) so he has to find places to hold the quarterly meetings.  The next one is supposed to be in one of the three Southern MD counties.  I've volunteered to help.  I'm hoping for my local library's meeting rooms; it's across the street from me.


----------



## NancyMoranG

snowbear said:


> Good morning, peeps.
> 
> Today's activities will include tuning my "Preplan Collector App" with which our crews will collect the locations of potential Medevac Landing Zones, privately maintained hydrants and other water sullies, fire department connections, utility shut-offs, and harardous material storage locations.  They will also document building and roof construction types, roof loads, and other operational concerns.
> 
> The GIS boss is now the vice chair of the state GIS Committee (non-profit org) so he has to find places to hold the quarterly meetings.  The next one is supposed to be in one of the three Southern MD counties.  I've volunteered to help.  I'm hoping for my local library's meeting rooms; it's across the street from me.



Thank you for taking such good care of us!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I love foggy autumn mornings in the Northeast


----------



## Designer

I'm not so big on foggy, but autumn and mornings are good.  

The leaves are changing, the insects are hibernating, it's not hot, and mostly dry these days of late.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> I'm not so big on foggy, but autumn and mornings are good.
> 
> The leaves are changing, *the insects are hibernating*, it's not hot, and mostly dry these days of late.



Not fast enough for me around here. I've somehow managed to acquire FOUR mosquito bites a couple of days ago. They always bite my legs below the knee, so even though I was wearing tights, it didn't seem to matter. Bastards. And about 2-3 weeks ago, I was stung by a yellow jacket through my corduroys. Bastards. C'MON OCTOBER, LET'S GET WITH THE BUG-KILLING FROSTS!


----------



## JonA_CT

The humidity has just been ridiculous for October, too.

But it's Friday, so life is good.


----------



## table1349




----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> The humidity has just been ridiculous for October, too.
> 
> But it's Friday, so life is good.



Definitely good that it's Friday. And it's a slow Friday around here. Our campus intranet is down and that means there is a lot of work that can't get done, so people are doing a lot of puttering.

Unfortunately, this means they also have time to fart around and be really jammin' loud. I'm just praying that the folks over in Financial Aid don't start talking politics. 

I think it's time to put the headphones on.


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday on the iPhone:


 

 

 Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  TGIF! (The Germans last full day.)


----------



## table1349

I love crisp cool autumn mornings.  A steaming hot bowl of Irish oatmeal, a serving of yogurt and a hot cup of tisane and all is right in the world.  Since we like to have the windows open as much as possible it is a brisk 61 degrees in here now.  The dogs are happily curled up in their beds sleeping, the cat is chasing his tail and Rocky is rolling around here somewhere.


----------



## SquarePeg

Guten Morgen


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... yesterday was a hot day ... even in summer it would have been a hot day. But the humidity was at 7% which made it quite bearable. Today is a trip to an art store in the City of Orange for a present for the wife of the German, then a run to The Getty Center wrapped up with a Laker game in Anaheim.  Mary Lou has taken the day off and is willing to take Kons, the 15 y/o to Disneyland.


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday was full of disappointments, we started in downtown, then drove to Hollywood, but then hit Dodger Stadium traffic.  We were going to the Chinese Theater but the entire block was sealed off for an event ... so we scooted up to the Hollywood Bowl, but it was closed because the police had a dog training exercise there (they didn't want us to be bitten) ... so we headed up the street to the Griffith Observatory and that was measurably crowded with the parking lots full and we had to park halfway down the hill.  But, for the view, the uphill walk was all worthwhile. We arrive at sunset, watched the sun dip into the Pacific and the lights of Los Angeles flicked on streaming from the Hollywood Hills to the Santa Monica Bay.


----------



## limr

Why I love cats: 






It me.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Why I love cats:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It me.





So I was talking about the rhetorical triangle this week with my college students, and I always like to start with stupid topics for them to argue. The first was whether the toilet paper should draw from the top or the bottom of the roll, and the second was whether cats or dogs were better. My students almost unanimously preferred dogs, and they had a lot of logical reasons to support them. For whatever reason, cat lovers seem to rely a lot on pathos to communicate their ideas


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why I love cats:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So I was talking about the rhetorical triangle this week with my college students, and I always like to start with stupid topics for them to argue. The first was whether the toilet paper should draw from the top or the bottom of the roll, and the second was whether cats or dogs were better. My students almost unanimously preferred dogs, and they had a lot of logical reasons to support them. For whatever reason, cat lovers seem to rely a lot on pathos to communicate their ideas
Click to expand...


Cat lovers can't be bothered to explain. We know you'll never understand. So why pathos? Because f*** you, that's why


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Guten Morgen


Guten Tag, 
Sprechen Sie fließend Deutsch?


----------



## SquarePeg

gryphonslair99 said:


> Guten Tag,
> Sprechen Sie fließend Deutsch?



No but I speak fluent Google.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why I love cats:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So I was talking about the rhetorical triangle this week with my college students, and I always like to start with stupid topics for them to argue. The first was whether the toilet paper should draw from the top or the bottom of the roll, and the second was whether cats or dogs were better. My students almost unanimously preferred dogs, and they had a lot of logical reasons to support them. For whatever reason, cat lovers seem to rely a lot on pathos to communicate their ideas
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Cat lovers can't be bothered to explain. We know you'll never understand. So why pathos? Because f*** you, that's why
Click to expand...

Yeah, I say!  Yeah!


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Guten Tag,
> Sprechen Sie fließend Deutsch?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No but I speak fluent Google.
Click to expand...

 

I wish I could speak it as fluently as I did when I was younger.  Lived in kitzingen am Main for 3 years when I was younger.  Back then I spoke better German than I did English.  After all these years and no one to speak it with I have pretty much lost the use of the language.  I can still follow some basic everyday conversations but can't converse in it myself anymore.


----------



## table1349




----------



## minicoop1985

And so it begins... Again.




Viewfinder by Michael Long, on Flickr

It's gonna start out as a film camera. Then come tax return time, it's going to morph into a digital camera with a Phase One back.  I can't wait I can't wait I can't wait

The camera body is coming next week, and the back the week after. Around my birthday (November 6) I plan to buy the lens. Still up in the air about the 80mm vs 150mm, but I think I'll go with the tele. Unless fortune smiles, and I can do both.


----------



## limr

Logical reasons to love cats:

1) Their f*** you attitude meshes with my own and makes it easier to understand each other
2) There is no need to wake up at 5am to walk the cats. They do not need humans' assistance to eliminate their waste, thankyouverymuch.
3) The neediness of dogs annoys me. Cats are not as needy, so they don't annoy me. Less annoyance=less stress=better.
4) They are better suited to smaller living areas, and can live happily staying inside.
5) They are easier and less expensive to care for. They bathe themselves, and require less food and fewer dedicated cat toys. In fact, most cat toys are a waste of money anyway, given that the cat would rather play with the crumpled-up receipt of said cat toys. So cat toys are readily available from objects you already have in your house.
6) They purr at a frequency that eases muscle tension and this relieves stress.
7) They don't bark and annoy me or the neighbors. Even the chattiest cat is quieter than a barking dog.
8) It's possible to leave them for longer periods of time, making day-trips or even errands or visits to friends/family much easier than with dogs, who require their humans to return soon enough to accompany them to the bathroom again.
9) They don't smell. Dogs smell.
10) They are a much better bug-alert system, and since they're born hunters, they'll help take care of an insect and/or rodent problem.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Logical reasons to love cats:
> 
> 1) Their f*** you attitude meshes with my own and makes it easier to understand each other
> 2) There is no need to wake up at 5am to walk the cats. They do not need humans' assistance to eliminate their waste, thankyouverymuch.
> 3) The neediness of dogs annoys me. Cats are not as needy, so they don't annoy me. Less annoyance=less stress=better.
> 4) They are better suited to smaller living areas, and can live happily staying inside.
> 5) They are easier and less expensive to care for. They bathe themselves, and require less food and fewer dedicated cat toys. In fact, most cat toys are a waste of money anyway, given that the cat would rather play with the crumpled-up receipt of said cat toys. So cat toys are readily available from objects you already have in your house.
> 6) They purr at a frequency that eases muscle tension and this relieves stress.
> 7) They don't bark and annoy me or the neighbors. Even the chattiest cat is quieter than a barking dog.
> 8) It's possible to leave them for longer periods of time, making day-trips or even errands or visits to friends/family much easier than with dogs, who require their humans to return soon enough to accompany them to the bathroom again.
> 9) They don't smell. Dogs smell.
> 10) They are a much better bug-alert system, and since they're born hunters, they'll help take care of an insect and/or rodent problem.


My mother is a recent convert to cats. She has a dog and two rescued (brother and sister) cats. The brother is such a bully.

That said, I'm definitely a dog person. Have been and always will be. I like cats, but I love dogs.

Dog or cat, there really isn't anything like the bond that pet owners have with an animal of a different species. Knowing their personality quirks, or what they like to eat. Knowing when they aren't feeling well, or what part of their back to scratch the most. And, finding out that they understand much more of our language than we realize.


----------



## SquarePeg

We always had cats growing up.  Never thought of myself as a dog person and avoided getting any pets for the longest time.  My daughter wore me down when she was 6 and we got our dog when he was just a tiny little puppy.  I can't imagine our lives without him, he's so much a part of the family.  He's supposed to be my daughter's dog but he's obsessed with me and is never far from my side.  He has been mistaken for a kitty a few times by toddlers.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> My mother is a recent convert to cats. She has a dog and two rescued (brother and sister) cats. The brother is such a bully.
> 
> That said, I'm definitely a dog person. Have been and always will be. I like cats, but I love dogs.
> 
> Dog or cat, there really isn't anything like the bond that pet owners have with an animal of a different species. Knowing their personality quirks, or what they like to eat. Knowing when they aren't feeling well, or what part of their back to scratch the most. And, finding out that they understand much more of our language than we realize.



I do actually quite like dogs. Owning one, however, doesn't suit me as well, and if I could only have cats OR dogs, I'd always choose cats. So I suppose if I _had_ to describe myself as one or the other, I'd say I was a cat person. But really, anyone who has paid attention here knows that if I had my druthers, I'd have a full zoo in my house, so I do prefer to call myself an all-animals kind of a person


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> We always had cats growing up.  Never thought of myself as a dog person and avoided getting any pets for the longest time.  My daughter wore me down when she was 6 and we got our dog when he was just a tiny little puppy.  I can't imagine our lives without him, he's so much a part of the family.  He's supposed to be my daughter's dog but he's obsessed with me and is never far from my side.  He has been mistaken for a kitty a few times by toddlers.



Those ears are killing me dead!


----------



## table1349

Cat's and their owners live in a world of tolerating each other.  
Dogs and their owners live in a world of loving each other.  
A cat will ignore you unless they need something, a dog will love you more than it loves itself.  

Fortunately our dogs have taught our cat to be a little more dog like.


----------



## limr

Does anyone have a Soda Stream thingy? I've been wanting to get one and can't figure out what the differences are between the different models.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Logical reasons to love cats:
> 
> 1) Their f*** you attitude meshes with my own and makes it easier to understand each other
> 2) There is no need to wake up at 5am to walk the cats. They do not need humans' assistance to eliminate their waste, thankyouverymuch.
> 3) The neediness of dogs annoys me. Cats are not as needy, so they don't annoy me. Less annoyance=less stress=better.
> 4) They are better suited to smaller living areas, and can live happily staying inside.
> 5) They are easier and less expensive to care for. They bathe themselves, and require less food and fewer dedicated cat toys. In fact, most cat toys are a waste of money anyway, given that the cat would rather play with the crumpled-up receipt of said cat toys. So cat toys are readily available from objects you already have in your house.
> 6) They purr at a frequency that eases muscle tension and this relieves stress.
> 7) They don't bark and annoy me or the neighbors. Even the chattiest cat is quieter than a barking dog.
> 8) It's possible to leave them for longer periods of time, making day-trips or even errands or visits to friends/family much easier than with dogs, who require their humans to return soon enough to accompany them to the bathroom again.
> 9) They don't smell. Dogs smell.
> 10) They are a much better bug-alert system, and since they're born hunters, they'll help take care of an insect and/or rodent problem.



You don't need to explain yourself to me! I was just making an observation, haha. 



limr said:


> Does anyone have a Soda Stream thingy? I've been wanting to get one and can't figure out what the differences are between the different models.



I don't, but I do have a way of forcing CO2 into liquids around 5 gallons at a time. I used a full sized regulator, attachments, a 10lb C02 tank, etc. Probably a bit of overkill for soda or seltzer, since my cylinder will carbonate about 50-60 gallons to 12 PSI. 

If I were to go smaller scale for soda, I'd be more likely to follow these directions:

How to Build a DIY Home Carbonation Rig

But I also understand that some people would rather not mess with things, haha.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> You don't need to explain yourself to me! I was just making an observation, haha.



Oh, I know, I was just being difficult and snarky 



> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does anyone have a Soda Stream thingy? I've been wanting to get one and can't figure out what the differences are between the different models.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't, but I do have a way of forcing CO2 into liquids around 5 gallons at a time. I used a full sized regulator, attachments, a 10lb C02 tank, etc. Probably a bit of overkill for soda or seltzer, since my cylinder will carbonate about 50-60 gallons to 12 PSI.
> 
> If I were to go smaller scale for soda, I'd be more likely to follow these directions:
> 
> How to Build a DIY Home Carbonation Rig
> 
> But I also understand that some people would rather not mess with things, haha.
Click to expand...


Yeah, kinda overkill. And I'd consider building a DIY one, but I don't have it in me right now. Got too much other stuff going on


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Logical reasons to love cats:


Continued: 

Cats will hop up into your lap and go to sleep, forcing hyper humans to calm the heck down.


----------



## table1349

Cat lovers, don't bother, you won't get it, but for you dog lovers, this looks like it just might be a pretty good movie.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> I don't, but I do have a way of forcing CO2 into liquids


As a kid, I found a really easy way to do this, which usually involved a straw.


----------



## SquarePeg

Scarin the dog!!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Boy, I am old. I am heading into bed and SquarePeg is just going out! You youngster you, have fun.
(Ok, i will read for a while..)


----------



## table1349

NancyMoranG said:


> Boy, I am old. I am heading into bed and SquarePeg is just going out! You youngster you, have fun.
> (Ok, i will read for a while..)


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

Today we ended up at The Getty Center.


----------



## table1349

I thought that was Gary's back yard.


----------



## smoke665

For the last 35 years save for a year break 16 years ago my wife and I have had dogs. We lost our last fur kid about two weeks ago. It's been hard adjusting our routines to life without them.


----------



## table1349

Sorry for your loss. I know how you feel. I'm 62 and haven't been without at least one canine pet since I was 5 years old.  I won't say this is for everybody but when one of my best friends comes to the end of their time with us we like most people morn their loss, but we also go to the rescue center to find another life we can make a positive impact on.  I have never had anything but mutts and rescues and would never change that.

The new dog is never thought of as a replacement for the one lost, rather it is giving another soul the chance to have a forever home and be loved and allowed to return that love as dogs so want to do.  Like I said it's not for everybody but it works for us.

I also have a scrap book with photos of every pet we have had.  I have never looked at our wedding album since we first got it, but we both look at the pet scrapbook from time to time.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> when one of my best friends comes to the end of their time with us we like most people morn their loss,



Our first one lived to be almost 19 yrs old. Took a year off before we made the plunge again. We added one, then a year later another, then later #3.  Unfortunately we lost the middle one at 10 yrs old, the first passed at 14 and the last was 12 when she passed. Won't say never, but not ready to take the plunge again just now.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> For the last 35 years save for a year break 16 years ago my wife and I have had dogs. We lost our last fur kid about two weeks ago. It's been hard adjusting our routines to life without them.



So sorry


----------



## table1349

Our current two are going to be really tough when one passes as they are very bonded sisters.  They are just 4 years old now but they were found at 5 months out on their own in the far reaches of our county fending for themselves.  They did not appear to have had much human contact.  We got them at about 9 months old and at that point they were quite shy, deafly quiet and very much attached at all times as well as being intense food hounds. 

Now 3 1/2  years later, they are extremely people friendly and very attached to the wife and I.  Gidget will play with anybody or anything.  They love Toby our cat and every dog at the dog park is a friend.  Maggie will only play with Gidget and with me a bit.  She is the shy one of the two, but has gotten to be a much stronger girl.  They both have gotten vocal and bark to let us know if there is someone coming to the house.  They were kennel trained when we got them, but now they only have their beds in our bedroom as there is no need for the kennels .  

We have worked hard with them to get them used to being without the other and for the most part they do well in that respect.  One can go with me and the other with my wife as they know they will get back together again.  They do get nervous when separated however by strangers or over night.  Gidget had to go to the vets for a week and Maggie was pretty nervous.   I do dread the day when one passes because it will not only effect the wife and I but it will effect the survivor.  

I wish you peace in dealing with your loss.  Remember, you and your family were everything to each and every one of those animals.  Not just a master and care giver, but a friend, a pal and someone to share their limitless love.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Our current two are going to be really tough when one passes as they are very bonded sisters.



Thank you for the kind words. 

We owned our own business for most of their lives, so all our fur kids, went to the office with us everyday. I think that probably helped a lot with their socialization, as they had full access to every office with an open door. Our first was an only child which made her pretty self reliant. The last three were siblings all entering the house as puppies. It's true about the bonding, but not only were they close, but they each developed their own "jobs" in the household. One was the "door keeper" and the "water bowl" monitor, who decided when everyone need to go outside or when the bowl was empty, one was the "meal clock" who knew exactly to the minute when it was meal time and the "snack monitor", who knew the second anyone had something to share, the last one to go was the "guard", who announced everyone's arrival with her bark. When the first two passed the last was pretty lost.


----------



## table1349

We were lucky to get them.  The no kill shelter that we got them from refused to split them up.  We were happy to take two. 

Gidget is and average looking terrier/border collie mix while her sister is the adorable looking terrier/schnauzer mix.  Everyone loved Maggie because she is so cute.  Thing is they are both so full of personality.  Gidget is a dogs dog, always there, an attention hound, always wanting to be with you and please. 

Maggie, being the shy one loves people and attention, but she prefers some alone time, especially when she wants to take a nap.  She is also the Queen of her outdoor kingdom.  She believes that our schedule revolves around letting her out and letting her in, letting her out and letting her in.  We have no good place to put a dog door so we get our exercise.  

Gidget




Maggie




Our big brother Toby


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> For the last 35 years save for a year break 16 years ago my wife and I have had dogs. We lost our last fur kid about two weeks ago. It's been hard adjusting our routines to life without them.



So sorry.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> when one of my best friends comes to the end of their time with us we like most people morn their loss,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Our first one lived to be almost 19 yrs old. Took a year off before we made the plunge again. We added one, then a year later another, then later #3.  Unfortunately we lost the middle one at 10 yrs old, the first passed at 14 and the last was 12 when she passed. Won't say never, but not ready to take the plunge again just now.
Click to expand...


I has a sad.


----------



## smoke665

Funny story, a year after our first (Brandy) had past, I was surfing the internet one day, and spied a little French Brittney puppy on a breeder webpage in KS. My wife was adamant she wasn't ready, despite my pestering her. In desperation one day, she said "if you'll upgrade the diamond in my engagement ring you can do it. Soooo, she got a new rock, and I got Millie. However a year later she decided she wanted a puppy, so turnabout is only fair. I told her she could get the puppy if I could buy some acreage I'd been looking at for hunting. I got the land and she got Muffin the Yorkie. Two years later along came Lola the Boxer which was supposed to be a therapy dog for our youngest son, but ended up being the 3rd fur kid. Not sure I can afford another round


----------



## table1349

Here is how you save yourself a little money.  When you are ready, take her out for a little drive.  After 30 minutes or so just kind of drive by a no kill shelter.  Stop, go into the shelter and let nature takes it course.  

Don't necessarily look for a puppy.  Older dogs need love and companionship to.  One of our best dogs was our last one.  His name was Mocha and he was a 4-5 year old shepherd that his owner could not keep.  He was instantly affectionate with the family when we got him home and was very quickly a part of the family.  He loved everyone and became very protective of our kids, while still being a very friendly dog to all that came in our home.  We only had him five years before an abdominal aneurism took him, but it was a wonderful 5 years that none of us would give up for anything. 

One of the things that makes it a little easier, for us at least, is that when one of our dogs passes we know that we have given that animal a much better life than it was living when we got him or her with lots of love.

Ron White has the right idea.......


----------



## table1349

A terribly sad story that highlights why dog owners cherish their dogs.  No other animal loves its humans more than itself.  Toddler Dies in Spokane Fire, His Dog Huddled at His Side


----------



## minicoop1985

Aww. Sorry to hear that. I dunno what I'd do without my dog. She's dumb as hell, but she's lovable and incredibly loyal.

Howdy hosers. Getting another step closer to the Hasselblad. Ordered a strap for it today. Even says Hasselblad right on it.


----------



## table1349

minicoop1985 said:


> Aww. Sorry to hear that. I dunno what I'd do without my dog. She's dumb as hell, but she's lovable and incredibly loyal.
> 
> Howdy hosers. Getting another step closer to the Hasselblad. Ordered a strap for it today. Even says Hasselblad right on it.


I have to tell you, your Hasselblad acquisition reminds me of this song.


----------



## SquarePeg

Congrats Cubs fans!!!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

My heart feels bad for Gary. Cubs are one heck of a young team. Loaded with great controllable players as well.


----------



## table1349

I would like to wish all of you the best as impending death will not let us communicate with each other again.  I have enjoyed our time here at the PhotoForum but I recognize that the Apocalypse is upon us………



















*THE CUBBIES WIN THE PENNANT!  *



*THE CUBBIES WIN THE PENNANT!  *



*THE CUBBIES WIN THE PENNANT! 



 
*


----------



## minicoop1985

gryphonslair99 said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Aww. Sorry to hear that. I dunno what I'd do without my dog. She's dumb as hell, but she's lovable and incredibly loyal.
> 
> Howdy hosers. Getting another step closer to the Hasselblad. Ordered a strap for it today. Even says Hasselblad right on it.
> 
> 
> 
> I have to tell you, your Hasselblad acquisition reminds me of this song.
Click to expand...

It totally does, doesn't it?

Ah, a day off. Actually, two in a row. Much wowe.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Ok, 3 more states today in our travels 
North Carolina, S.C., and Georgia..
Weather is perfect, traffic great...stopped for lunch but back on the road now...


----------



## Gary A.

There is no joy in Mudville ... mighty Casey has struck out.


----------



## table1349

Sorry Gary, but Chitown is rocking.


----------



## table1349

NancyMoranG said:


> Ok, 3 more stars today in our travels
> North Carolina, S.C., and Georgia..
> Weather is perfect, traffic great...stopped for lunch but back on the road now...


Stars????


----------



## SquarePeg

Spent the whole day out and about on Cape Ann and didn't take a single shot. Just not into any if it today. The beaches were too windy and not a cloud in the sky so super boring and the foliage was either not turned yet or already on the ground from too much wind/rain. Guess I'll see if the dog wants to pose for me...


----------



## table1349

We want to see photos from the costume party!!!! Photos......Photos.......Photos........Photos.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> I thought that was Gary's back yard.


Figuritively ... yes.  Lol


----------



## NancyMoranG

gryphonslair99 said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, 3 more stars today in our travels
> North Carolina, S.C., and Georgia..
> Weather is perfect, traffic great...stopped for lunch but back on the road now...
> 
> 
> 
> Stars????
Click to expand...


Sorry, changed it to 'states' but you probably figured that out from my listing the states we drove through 
Tonight in Jacksonville, Fl so just 3 hrs +|~ to our destination tomorrow.


----------



## table1349

You still got that pull out for me when you get to Clearwater?


----------



## NancyMoranG

Of course! But your wife said to leave the temp on 78 so you wouldn't stay long... Or was that my husband


----------



## table1349

NancyMoranG said:


> Of course! But your wife said to leave the temp on 78 so you wouldn't stay long... Or was that my husband


At 62 years of age the having the temp set at 78 would be just fine.


----------



## table1349

Figured I would try some of this cloud computing.


----------



## SquarePeg

gryphonslair99 said:


> We want to see photos from the costume party!!!! Photos......Photos.......Photos........Photos.



Sorry bud, what happens at the costume party stays at the costume party!   Didn't bring my camera or even take out my phone.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> We want to see photos from the costume party!!!! Photos......Photos.......Photos........Photos.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry bud, what happens at the costume party stays at the costume party!   Didn't bring my camera or even take out my phone.
Click to expand...

say no more, say no more, knowwhatahmean, snap snap, grin grin, wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more?


----------



## NancyMoranG

SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> We want to see photos from the costume party!!!! Photos......Photos.......Photos........Photos.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry bud, what happens at the costume party stays at the costume party!   Didn't bring my camera or even take out my phone.
Click to expand...


Wait, would you rather someone here just photoshopped your photo and made their own storyline? C'mon,,photos or at least details.. 
Did you have fun, there seemed to be some hesitatance in your original post?
What were some interestng costumes?


----------



## JonA_CT

Halloween is the worst. I get forced to dress up every year -- my school actively encourages teachers to dress up to celebrate rather than having students dress up, and my team-leader is very gung-ho. When my band was actively playing, Halloween was a big night for bars and we would have to dress up. We went the group costume route...last year, we were all contestants on the price is right. 

The last time I went to a halloween party at my own behest, my wife and I dressed up as a Greek god/goddess, and I thought it would be a good idea to drink wine all night to fit the costume. The following morning completed my participation in halloween with one of those "never again" headaches.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, hosers. I'm a f*cking idiot. My Hasselblad viewfinder (HV90X, in case anyone has one for parts they wanna sell me) had some fungus in it (I knew about it before I bought it). So I found I could get it apart and actually clean the fungus out. Well, I got it apart, and while putting it back together, I dropped the glass and a corner chipped off. Ugh. FAIL.


----------



## SquarePeg

Yeah, I was reluctant to go but once I got there I had a great time!!  Good food, strong drinks and lots of dancing.  I'm not that into Halloween and costume parties but I think I mentioned before that it was a fund raiser?  Unfortunately, turn out was a bit low because of the torrential downpours that hit right before.  There were flash flood alerts.  I was glad that I was already there when the weather went from gross to severe.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> Halloween is the worst. I get forced to dress up every year -- my school actively encourages teachers to dress up to celebrate rather than having students dress up, and my team-leader is very gung-ho. When my band was actively playing, Halloween was a big night for bars and we would have to dress up. We went the group costume route...last year, we were all contestants on the price is right.
> 
> The last time I went to a halloween party at my own behest, my wife and I dressed up as a Greek god/goddess, and I thought it would be a good idea to drink wine all night to fit the costume. The following morning completed my participation in halloween with one of those "never again" headaches.


I think the funniest costume I ever saw was a colleague of mine years ago.  She wore a baggy pair of sweat pants, a big ole baggy sweat shirt, mussed up her hair and went without make up.  When people asked her what she was dressed as she would tell them "her sex life".  She got lots of laughs with that one.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> Howdy, hosers. I'm a f*cking idiot. My Hasselblad viewfinder (HV90X, in case anyone has one for parts they wanna sell me) had some fungus in it (I knew about it before I bought it). So I found I could get it apart and actually clean the fungus out. Well, I got it apart, and while putting it back together, I dropped the glass and a corner chipped off. Ugh. FAIL.


Well... that sucks!  32" of Hg worth!


----------



## Gary A.

Sorry Appleton Guy.  Not only does that hurt but it also sucks.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers,  Man, what a week.  Everyday Gary took the Germans all over SoCal.  Gary was up at 3:00 a.m. Saturday to see them off by 4:30 a.m. ... then Mary Lou and Gary spent the rest of the day preparing a Thanksgiving dinner for nine ... turkey, ham, stuffing, mash potatoes, cranberries, veggies, Sangria, pumpkin pie, the whole enchilada.  We've known the family forever and the mom and Mary Lou and very close.  Her youngest son is in the Navy shipping out to the Mediterranean in a few week and she she having a very rough go in her marriage.  She isn't capable of generating a Thanksgiving Dinner for her family right now, so Mary Lou stepped up. The food was great, the weather perfect, the patio grand and we spend the evening popping champagne and toasting the Navy and Nick. (The older son was a Marine so there was plenty of fodder for interservice rivalry.)  We finished cleaning up everything that night, which was very nice to wake up to no dirty dishes, but we have a granddaughter's soccer match at 8:00 a.m.  Gary is soooo, so beat.  We ate breakfast on the way home and became very sedentary for the afternoon.  We are eating leftovers and we are into our second Netflix.


----------



## Gary A.

At breakfast the booth had this mural. The artist used a large aperture paint brush for an OOF background. 




The eatery sported an Oktoberfest Breakfast menu.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers,  Man, what a week.  Everyday Gary took the Germans all over SoCal.  Gary was up at 3:00 a.m. Saturday to see them off by 4:30 a.m. ...



Gary and Mary-Lou are our heroes. They made Kons (my son age 15) and me very, very happy. I was often moved to tears by all the love and friendship they offered and all the wonders of Southern California they shared with us. They provided a true home away from home and gave us further insight into real life in the USA.

I can only try to reciprocate when they come to visit us, but I fear I will fall short of their qualities. Hm. Now that I think about it ... together with my wife & friends we will sure be able to create another highlight in their lives when they come to Bonn in the beautiful Rhine Valley.

To finish this message I want to say: there are no church bells chiming in California ... here you hear them morning, noon & night calling for the Angelus Prayers.

Best thing to learn about the daily routine was walking the dog with Gary. Would not want to have missed one moment!

Thank you a Million times!


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> Sorry Appleton Guy.  Not only does that hurt but it also sucks.


You and John are right. It suuuuuucks. If I can find a replacement glass piece, I'm gonna have someone else put it in. lol

I'm having another issue with this. I can't seem to get my Yongnuo 622C flash trigger to mount on the hotshoe. The first two sets of contact pins go on fine after I shaved a ramp on the hot shoe (it's normally like completely flat, so I shaved a ramp in it). The last set of pins just WILL NOT go on for some reason. I need to try something else, perhaps. I couldn't get my speedlite on it either. WTF, mate...


----------



## minicoop1985

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand now the hotshoe came off. What the hell. I figured it out, mounted the flash controller, then BAM it falls off. WTF. Now I need a whole new HV90X.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. What's good today?


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. What's good today?



Candy corn


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. What's good today?



A surprise additional prep the second period of the day...PPT for a student I don't have, so it wasn't on my calendar, but the rest of the team I meet with at this time normally is at that meeting. 

I also have a roll of Kodak Ektar ready to be put into my camera...hoping to catch some of the waning, bucolic scenes of fall this week.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers. What's good today?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Candy corn
Click to expand...


Candy corn is kind of off-putting to me these days, but I do remember the heady days of childhood in October and November 



JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers. What's good today?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A surprise additional prep the second period of the day...PPT for a student I don't have, so it wasn't on my calendar, but the rest of the team I meet with at this time normally is at that meeting.
> 
> I also have a roll of Kodak Ektar ready to be put into my camera...hoping to catch some of the waning, bucolic scenes of fall this week.
Click to expand...


Boo to the extra prep, but yay to Ektar! 

Me, I'm off to a meeting. But it's all good


----------



## SquarePeg

But have you had a candy corn martini?


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> But have you had a candy corn martini?



Does make one wonder what sort of diabolical, twisted madman came up with that concoction...


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> But have you had a candy corn martini?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Does make one wonder what sort of diabolical, twisted madman came up with that concoction...
Click to expand...

I could answer your question but then this thread would take a political turn.


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> But have you had a candy corn martini?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Does make one wonder what sort of diabolical, twisted madman came up with that concoction...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I could answer your question but then this thread would take a political turn.
Click to expand...

Then your answer is invalid and you should simply inquire about membership in the shut the heck up club.

Frankly I can't imagine it to be even humanly possible to be more sick of politics than I am at this stage.


Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Only 16 more days


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> Only 16 more days


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, with all my viewfinder troubles, I decided to say to hell with it and ordered an H2 with an HV90x and a film back already attached. It was a better deal anyway.


----------



## minicoop1985

Also have a line on a Leica Mini for $5. Stay tuned for more info.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. What's good today?


My bowel movements... Thank God...


----------



## SquarePeg

nice


----------



## minicoop1985

My Leica Mini is still hovering at $5 with an hour left, so here's to hoping it doesn't move from there.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> But have you had a candy corn martini?



Hmmm, I have not. If it's not sickly sweet, I might give it a try, although I will say that I refuse to call it a martini. It's a cocktail. Sorry, I'm a purist AND a former bartender  A martini has gin and dry vermouth, garnished with olives.



jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers. What's good today?
> 
> 
> 
> My bowel movements... Thank God...
Click to expand...


Dude. Um...thanks for sharing?


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> But have you had a candy corn martini?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm, I have not. If it's not sickly sweet, I might give it a try, although I will say that I refuse to call it a martini. It's a cocktail. Sorry, I'm a purist AND a former bartender  A martini has gin and dry vermouth, garnished with olives.
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers. What's good today?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My bowel movements... Thank God...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Dude. Um...thanks for sharing?
Click to expand...


No problem.... It was like a plug was lifted from a laundry tub....


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> It's a cocktail. Sorry, I'm a purist AND a former bartender  A martini has gin and dry vermouth, garnished with olives.



Yes agree that gin is what a martini used to be. Now everything is all about the vodka. it's unusual for people to even order a gin martini these days.


----------



## minicoop1985

I have acquired the Leica for the grand total of.... $5.25. I think I can handle that.


----------



## Frank F.

Hey, hey, Universe speaks: Hasselblad destroyed, Leica won for no money .... fate calls: "shoot more Leica!" Your equipment experience as a Guru like messenger?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  It has been raining ... not the six inch rain we Southern Californians experience somewhat regularly, (where a raindrop hits every six inches).  It was a real rain with real lightening and real thunder and with the rain barrels filling with water.  It was great for the plants but gave a real fright to Cookie.  Gary spent much of the early morning providing console and solace to the Cook.  Mary Lou and Gary are drinking the last of the Thanksgiving dinner homemade Sangria, eating leftovers and watching the latest election news and commentary.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> I have acquired the Leica for the grand total of.... $5.25. I think I can handle that.


LOL  ... amazing.  Gary doesn't want to tell you what he paid for his M4-P.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a cocktail. Sorry, I'm a purist AND a former bartender  A martini has gin and dry vermouth, garnished with olives.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes agree that gin is what a martini used to be. Now everything is all about the vodka. it's unusual for people to even order a gin martini these days.
Click to expand...


It's true, and yet another reason why people often look at me funny 

Mmmm, I so want a martini this weekend...this week is shaping up to be a doozy!


----------



## Gary A.

BTW-  Gary picked up a XT-2 last week.  It is a very sweet little camera.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a cocktail. Sorry, I'm a purist AND a former bartender  A martini has gin and dry vermouth, garnished with olives.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes agree that gin is what a martini used to be. Now everything is all about the vodka. it's unusual for people to even order a gin martini these days.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's true, and yet another reason why people often look at me funny
> 
> Mmmm, I so want a martini this weekend...this week is shaping up to be a doozy!
Click to expand...


Bombay sapphire martini, dirty, garnished with blue cheese stuffed olives


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a cocktail. Sorry, I'm a purist AND a former bartender  A martini has gin and dry vermouth, garnished with olives.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes agree that gin is what a martini used to be. Now everything is all about the vodka. it's unusual for people to even order a gin martini these days.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's true, and yet another reason why people often look at me funny
> 
> Mmmm, I so want a martini this weekend...this week is shaping up to be a doozy!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Bombay sapphire martini, dirty, garnished with blue cheese stuffed olives
Click to expand...


Mmmm, Bombay Sapphire...

I'll sometimes go more traditional and get a sharper gin, like Plymouth, with more vermouth (the original recipe was one full part vermouth, 3 parts gin). And if I feel like Hendrick's then I like a couple of cucumber slices instead of olives.

My sisters and I are having a sleepover in a few weeks. They'll probably have margaritas, which is fine, but I might have to bring my own martini fixings.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  It has been raining ... not the six inch rain we Southern Californians experience somewhat regularly, (where a raindrop hits every six inches).  It was a real rain with real lightening and real thunder and with the rain barrels filling with water.  It was great for the plants but gave a real fright to Cookie.  Gary spent much of the early morning providing console and solace to the Cook.  Mary Lou and Gary are drinking the last of the Thanksgiving dinner homemade Sangria, eating leftovers and watching the latest election news and commentary.


Enjoy


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  It has been raining ... not the six inch rain we Southern Californians experience somewhat regularly, (where a raindrop hits every six inches).  It was a real rain with real lightening and real thunder and with the rain barrels filling with water.  It was great for the plants but gave a real fright to Cookie.  Gary spent much of the early morning providing console and solace to the Cook.  Mary Lou and Gary are drinking the last of the Thanksgiving dinner homemade Sangria, eating leftovers and watching the latest election news and commentary.
> 
> 
> 
> Enjoy
Click to expand...

Mary Lou just handed Gary some ice cream ... life is good.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a cocktail. Sorry, I'm a purist AND a former bartender  A martini has gin and dry vermouth, garnished with olives.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes agree that gin is what a martini used to be. Now everything is all about the vodka. it's unusual for people to even order a gin martini these days.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's true, and yet another reason why people often look at me funny
> 
> Mmmm, I so want a martini this weekend...this week is shaping up to be a doozy!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Bombay sapphire martini, dirty, garnished with blue cheese stuffed olives
Click to expand...

Holy crap!   Listen to y'all.   If the three of us ever sit down to drink and dish, I will be the only one sipping red wine.   Compared to you, I'm a total lightweight.


----------



## KenC

Hey, I disappear for a few days and you're all on the hard stuff now?  Well, I'll sit with you and drink my beer, or maybe red wine.


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Mmmm, I so want a martini this weekend...this week is shaping up to be a doozy!


I've never had a martini.  And now that I think about it more, I don't think I've ever had a cocktail.  Of any type.  

I guess I still could.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a cocktail. Sorry, I'm a purist AND a former bartender  A martini has gin and dry vermouth, garnished with olives.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes agree that gin is what a martini used to be. Now everything is all about the vodka. it's unusual for people to even order a gin martini these days.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's true, and yet another reason why people often look at me funny
> 
> Mmmm, I so want a martini this weekend...this week is shaping up to be a doozy!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Bombay sapphire martini, dirty, garnished with blue cheese stuffed olives
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Holy crap!   Listen to y'all.   If the three of us ever sit down to drink and dish, I will be the only one sipping red wine.   Compared to you, I'm a total lightweight.
Click to expand...

LOL ... not a lightweight, a Californian.  I was chatting with a bartender in Lake Tahoe.  He told me that it was easy for him to pick out the Californians.  They were the ones drinking wine and not smoking. Gary guesses that Lightweight = Californian, lol.

When Gary was young he drank cocktails.  Now, the only cocktail Gary drinks are Margaritas. Yep, that's about the only cocktail he drinks.  Gary used to drink scotch and other whiskeys ... but has evolved to wine in the last 20 years.  By definition, Gary thinks Sangria would be a cocktail. So, Margaritas and Sangria.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mmmm, I so want a martini this weekend...this week is shaping up to be a doozy!
> 
> 
> 
> I've never had a martini.  And now that I think about it more, I don't think I've ever had a cocktail.  Of any type.
> 
> I guess I still could.
Click to expand...

Gary doesn't know about taking that step ... being that adventurous would take out of your comfort zone ... out of the box.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's newest cocktail shaker.


----------



## astroNikon

I don't understand why one would make these cocktails into a drink.  
I would think it was too fuzzy even if liquified to drink ?


----------



## Gary A.

Gary had one of these once ... once was enough, it screamed in the shaker ...


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 129299 Gary's newest cocktail shaker.


My wife has one of those....


----------



## jcdeboever

Well, helped a bud set up his ground blind this morning and will try and use it as much as I can in the next few weeks. We seen some turkey, deer, and a couple hawks but of course I didn't bring a camera because I had to take my father in law to get an MRI on his hip. Poor guy is in some pain. Going to give my 150-600 some attention finally.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Y'all can drink whatever you want, it's all good. I don't judge 

Unless it's Bud. Or a white Zin. Or some cheap-ass bar pour.  Then I judge. I judge until the stars grow cold.


----------



## vintagesnaps

How about some mad dog? a sloe gin fizz? a Lawrence screwdriver? Boone's Farm strawberry? Any of that cheap ass enough for ya?

I think I'm gonna be sick thinking about any or all of the above. Especially followed by lukewarm pop and nacho cheese tortilla chips for breakfast. Which I still cannot eat to this day.


----------



## KenC

BumWine.com - MD 20/20


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> How about some mad dog? a sloe gin fizz? a Lawrence screwdriver? Boone's Farm strawberry? Any of that cheap ass enough for ya?
> 
> I think I'm gonna be sick thinking about any or all of the above. Especially followed by lukewarm pop and nacho cheese tortilla chips for breakfast. Which I still cannot eat to this day.





KenC said:


> BumWine.com - MD 20/20



Until the stars grow cold...


----------



## vintagesnaps

How about some mad dog before going to the dentist??

Or there's always grain alcohol for the truly brave? insane? young and stupid?


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> How about some mad dog? a sloe gin fizz? a Lawrence screwdriver? Boone's Farm strawberry? Any of that cheap ass enough for ya?
> 
> I think I'm gonna be sick thinking about any or all of the above. Especially followed by lukewarm pop and nacho cheese tortilla chips for breakfast. Which I still cannot eat to this day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KenC said:
> 
> 
> 
> BumWine.com - MD 20/20
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Until the stars grow cold...
Click to expand...


or at least fall from the sky.


----------



## vintagesnaps

You know, there's quite a bit of talk of imbibing stimulating beverages instead of coffee and it's only Tuesday....

Or according to Merriam Webster aperitif, snifter, brewski, shooter, chaser, snort, hooch...


----------



## JonA_CT

Mad Dog? Night train? My Dad actually talked about drinking those while he was in school for the Navy while he was studying. So gross.

I had a math major friend who went to all the liquor stores at UConn and did the math to find the cheapest buzz on campus. It was forties of Steel Reserve, by the way, and he drank two every night. Would you judge that?


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Mad Dog? Night train? My Dad actually talked about drinking those while he was in school for the Navy while he was studying. So gross.
> 
> I had a math major friend who went to all the liquor stores at UConn and did the math to find the cheapest buzz on campus. It was forties of Steel Reserve, by the way, and he drank two every night. Would you judge that?



I might, if I knew what it was


----------



## JonA_CT

Steel Reserve 211 (High Gravity) | Steel Brewing Company

To call it beer is kind. You'd judge it, haha. 

In other news, I loaded 120 film for the first time. Successfully...I think. I guess time will tell.


----------



## table1349

If it's not Talisker Distillers Edition Single Malt Scotch Whisky in a glass neat, it's not worth bothering with.  Having a college room mate that is now a pilot flying international routes has certainly upped the quality of what I drink these days.   Especially since he gets it cheap and brings it back.


----------



## snowbear

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!

JAMMIN' BALT-I-MORONS!!!!!


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> JAMMIN' BALT-I-MORONS!!!!!


Who did what now?


----------



## Frank F.

And you pour all of the mentioned stuff into your Coffee????


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> How about some mad dog before going to the dentist??
> 
> Or there's always grain alcohol for the truly brave? insane? young and stupid?


I like eating Oreo cookies prior to entering dentist


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> How about some mad dog before going to the dentist??
> 
> Or there's always grain alcohol for the truly brave? insane? young and stupid?
> 
> 
> 
> I like eating Oreo cookies prior to entering dentist
Click to expand...

Amateur,  if you really want to give them grief, eat a Caramel apple with nuts.


----------



## table1349

I forgot, don't forget the taffy chaser.  I usually have a double.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> And you pour all of the mentioned stuff into your Coffee????



I can't speak for these other hosers, but I refrain from booze + coffee, even if it _would_ make some work meetings a hell of a lot easier to sit through!


----------



## Frank F.

OK. Installed back in Old Germany (50 deg N) I miss the Californian light (34 deg N) and I miss the broad and wide of everything there: The streets, the houses, the gardens, the parks. California is a tad bigger than Germany with only half of its inhabitants. GDP wise Germany and California are roughly the same per Capita. Space and light is what California has so much more and COAST!!!

What I do not miss are the cars and the driving. I feel most of the Californians spend hours on the street every day. I live in a place where I can walk to my friends, to buy anything, to see the doctor, a place where I would not need a car and in fact did not have a car for a long time. If I need to transport something I take my bike with the trailer that fits two kids and a lot of Grocery...

My first measure this morning: Install a strong lamp in my office with blue continuuos daylight character. Much better!


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> Amateur,  if you really want to give them grief, eat a *garlic* Caramel apple with nuts.


FTFY


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Amateur,  if you really want to give them grief, eat a *garlic* Caramel apple with nuts.
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY
Click to expand...


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, my H2 will show up on Friday, but I have made the executive decision to sell it and go for an H3D 39, unless the one I have my eyes on goes hasta la bye bye. I'm apparently really indecisive.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Well, my H2 will show up on Friday, but I have made the executive decision to sell it and go for an H3D 39, unless the one I have my eyes on goes hasta la bye bye. I'm apparently really indecisive.



So, you put on a tie - said, yup, going with the H3D 39, then took the tie off?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is finally beginning to feel like fall.  Last night Gary cozied up with a blanket to watch the "political panels" on the pseudo news channels.  The days are still in the comfy 70's, but the nights are into the 50's. Another thin paper today, lots of news but the size is driven by ads. Gary has another visitor, this time from India (by way of Minnesota), arriving on Sunday.  Anirban, his wife and three year old will be visiting SoCal for a week.  Tuesday is Anirban's daughter's birthday and Gary arranged for them some birthday passes for Disneyland. 

On the materialistic side of life, Gary is pleased that his last remote came in yesterday. Now he has separate remote controls for his iPod, iPad, iPhone and laptop which allows him to play and operate his music without getting up.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has avocados and persimmons.


----------



## Frank F.

In fact, Gary has created a paradise garden:


----------



## Gary A.

After about two months, Gary's 35mm bulk film loader arrived. Gary is happy.

PS- And it came with a hand written Thank You note. Interestingly enough it was post marked Simi Valley which is about 40 miles north of Gary. Inside the yellow aged box is a very very time-aged-yellow registration post card.  Gary feels that the sucker is about 40 years old.

G


----------



## table1349

Nice.


----------



## Gary A.

The bulk loader effectively gives Gary a final cost of about $1.50 per 36 exposure roll of Tri-X ... as opposed to $4.95 for a 36 exposure roll of Tri-X.


----------



## table1349

Sorry Gary, not trying to be mean, but top of the 5th and Chicago is leading 2 runs to none.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... Gary doesn't have a dog in the World Series.  Gary and Mary Lou are drinking a Four Vines 'biker' Zinfandel from Paso Robles, and flipping between the game and the political panels on the cable news channels.


----------



## table1349

3-0 Cubbies, Zobrist just hit a triple down the first base line and Rizzo scored.  1 out.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... Gary doesn't have a dog in the World Series.  Gary and Mary Lou are drinking a Four Vines 'biker' Zinfandel from Paso Robles, and flipping between the game and the political panels on the cable news channels.


I know, I just didn't want to hurt the Dodger fans feelings.


----------



## table1349

Rizo just scored on a base hit by Schwarber.  4-0


----------



## table1349

Bases loaded 2 outs.


----------



## table1349

Shaw just walked Russel with the bases loaded.  5-0


----------



## table1349

3 Run inning for Chicago.


----------



## Gary A.

A walk is one of the worse things a pitcher can do.  Walks will kill you.


----------



## table1349

What's worse is the announcer talking about the no hitter that the Cubs had going.  It's now 5-1.


----------



## Gary A.

The jinx is in.


----------



## table1349

Top of the 8th, still 5-1.


----------



## table1349

Weather is looking good for games 3, 4, & 5 in Chitown.


----------



## table1349

Bottom of the 8th and a light rain is starting to come down.


----------



## table1349

If Gary wanted to make me happy he would send the Dodges back to Brooklyn where they rightfully belong in a trade for the Mets. I like the way The Los Angles Mets rolls off the tongue.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> If Gary wanted to make me happy he would send the Dodges back to Brooklyn where they rightfully belong in a trade for the Mets. I like the way The Los Angles Mets rolls off the tongue.


Where is Los Angles?


----------



## Gary A.

We have underground mass transit here ... so the moniker "Dodgers" fit here as easily as in New York.


----------



## table1349

Yeah Baby, the series is tied.  Looks like a great 3 days of baseball in Chicago.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If Gary wanted to make me happy he would send the Dodges back to Brooklyn where they rightfully belong in a trade for the Mets. I like the way The Los Angles Mets rolls off the tongue.
> 
> 
> 
> Where is Los Angles?
Click to expand...

Somewhere in that stupid Apple auto correct.  I typed Angeles and it changed it to Angles.  Apparently it doesn't know anything about Los Angeles.


----------



## Gary A.

Cubs' offense looked good and the pitching looked even better.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> We have underground mass transit here ... so the moniker "Dodgers" fit here as easily as in New York.


Yeah, but do you have any Trollies?  That's where their name came from, the Brooklyn Trolly Dodgers.


----------



## jcdeboever

Weird game IMO... Indians were chasing everything up in the zone, sure Cubs pitchers are noting that. Schwarber is a good looking hitter. Indians looked bad defensively, surprised by that. This one is going seven.


----------



## Gary A.

Yes, _Angles_ Flight.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary wants Schwarber on his team ... Last man standing.


----------



## SquarePeg

Cubbies looked good last night.  Francona gets his first ever WS loss!  What's with the promos of the Cubs players _almost_ touching the WS trophy?  Are they trying to give Cubs fans a stroke?  Hoping for a few closer games now that the Aces are done. Not much exciting about 5 run leads for either team.


----------



## minicoop1985

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, my H2 will show up on Friday, but I have made the executive decision to sell it and go for an H3D 39, unless the one I have my eyes on goes hasta la bye bye. I'm apparently really indecisive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So, you put on a tie - said, yup, going with the H3D 39, then took the tie off?
Click to expand...


LOL. Sorta. I should have. I was in my dress clothes for work, so perhaps that was the case...

Howdy Hosers. Been busy again. Traveling all over this state. With the fall colors, it's kind of a nice time to be doing it. Was in the UP of Michigan Tuesday. That was mighty pretty.

Still thinking I'm gonna let the H2 go in favor of the H3D. Or there is a possibility of a Phase One back, but we'll have to assess the H2 and the financial situation before moving forward on that.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. There is a very interesting front page article in the Los Angeles Times, the headline reads "Ballot for parts of L.A. County has GOP 'dead zones'".  California has a fairly new voting law, (approved by a statewide ballot measure), which states that the top two vote getters in the primary make it to the general regardless of party affiliation.  The presidential race notwithstanding, spanning parts of five state Assembly districts and one state Senate district, no other Republican candidate made it to the general election. (Along with the Democrats there are two Libertarians and one independent candidate on the November ballot.)  In summary, in L.A. County and apart from the presidential race, some 818,000 voters will be unable to vote for a Republican as none of them qualified for the November ballot.  For Federal Senate, Congress, State Senate and State Assembly no Republicans will be represented on the ballot.  Very interesting stuff ...


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. There is a very interesting front page article in the Los Angeles Times, the headline reads "Ballot for parts of L.A. County has GOP 'dead zones'".  California has a fairly new voting law, (approved by a statewide ballot measure), which states that the top two vote getters in the primary make it to the general regardless of party affiliation.  The presidential race notwithstanding, spanning parts of five state Assembly districts and one state Senate district, no other Republican candidate made it to the general election. (Along with the Democrats there are two Libertarians and one independent candidate on the November ballot.)  In summary, in L.A. County and apart from the presidential race, some 818,000 voters will be unable to vote for a Republican as none of them qualified for the November ballot.  For Federal Senate, Congress, State Senate and State Assembly no Republicans will be represented on the ballot.  Very interesting stuff ...



I could see top two vote getters AND candidates for major parties but not top two vote getters INSTEAD of candidates for the major parties...  Am I misunderstanding this?


----------



## JonA_CT

Well, it's snowing here in Connecticut today. It won't be enough to do anything other than make the trees pretty before the rain comes, but hey, it's technically the first snowfall of the season.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. There is a very interesting front page article in the Los Angeles Times, the headline reads "Ballot for parts of L.A. County has GOP 'dead zones'".  California has a fairly new voting law, (approved by a statewide ballot measure), which states that the top two vote getters in the primary make it to the general regardless of party affiliation.  The presidential race notwithstanding, spanning parts of five state Assembly districts and one state Senate district, no other Republican candidate made it to the general election. (Along with the Democrats there are two Libertarians and one independent candidate on the November ballot.)  In summary, in L.A. County and apart from the presidential race, some 818,000 voters will be unable to vote for a Republican as none of them qualified for the November ballot.  For Federal Senate, Congress, State Senate and State Assembly no Republicans will be represented on the ballot.  Very interesting stuff ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I could see top two vote getters AND candidates for major parties but not top two vote getters INSTEAD of candidates for the major parties...  Am I misunderstanding this?
Click to expand...

Two top voter getters only ... no special preference for any party. In a way, more democratic and less institutional ... a party has to perform, no more automatic primary wins to get you on the general ballot. Even the federal senate race is between two dems.


----------



## Frank F.

Now we will see if I understood your "US politics for Dummies" leson in the car: Not on the ballot means that the people have to be able to write the Name TRUMP (or other Republicanian candidate) on the Ballot, because the name is not printed?

Or am I confused and the new voting law means that ... what ... Help me ...

I read through all these comments in Awe, chin on my knees, breathless reports on games I do not even know the rules of...

I add some fish from Gary's pond for the calm:


----------



## jcdeboever

Picked up for @$1.99...lol. what the heck, should be fun. Fisheye 2


----------



## Designer

Frank F. said:


> Now we will see if I understood your "US politics for Dummies" leson in the car: Not on the ballot means that the people have to be able to write the Name TRUMP (or other Republicanian candidate) on the Ballot, because the name is not printed?


You are correct.

Since most people will not bother writing any name on the ballot, it means that the missing candidate will surely not win the most votes.  

The system is "rigged".


----------



## robbins.photo

Oh great.  More politics.


----------



## SquarePeg

Well, in all fairness that is what they talked about in the original coffee houses!


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> Well, in all fairness that is what they talked about in the original coffee houses!



Sorry, not feeling very fair right now.  I'm inundated daily by too many posts to count on facebook spouting massive ignorance from both sides of the aisle.  I'm fed up completely not just with the two worst candidates in the history of our nation, but with the entire process itself.

So when I come here I'm looking to escape the nonsense.  Not discuss it.


----------



## Frank F.

robbins.photo said:


> Oh great.  More politics.



No politics. Education. I just ask for the rules not the wishful outcome or if the jokes are really simultaneously translated from the Russian


----------



## Frank F.

robbins.photo said:


> So when I come here I'm looking to escape the nonsense.  Not discuss it.



Flowers accepted as "pardon my ignorance" ???


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Well, in all fairness that is what they talked about in the original coffee houses!



Yes, yes, but it's very hard to convey hushed Viennese-accented German on an Internet forum


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Now we will see if I understood your "US politics for Dummies" leson in the car: Not on the ballot means that the people have to be able to write the Name TRUMP (or other Republicanian candidate) on the Ballot, because the name is not printed?
> 
> Or am I confused and the new voting law means that ... what ... Help me ...
> 
> I read through all these comments in Awe, chin on my knees, breathless reports on games I do not even know the rules of...
> 
> I add some fish from Gary's pond for the calm:
> 
> View attachment 129381


No. Trump is the only Republican name on the ballot in certain election districts in L.A. County. 

I'll send an email to explain in detail how it works.  I know that our presidential election is important to most of the world.


----------



## robbins.photo

Can we get a "give it a rest" button?


----------



## robbins.photo

Frank F. said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh great.  More politics.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No politics. Education. I just ask for the rules not the wishful outcome or if the jokes are really simultaneously translated from the Russian
Click to expand...


There must be a gazillion places that info can be gathered from, or even PM - that way it's not being constantly shoved at people who are just sick to death of it in a forum that is frankly the absolutely wrong forum for it.

Make sense?


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> I know that our presidential election is important to most of the world.



  Really?  I didn't think it was even important to most of the people in North Mexico!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I can't even turn on the local news... I just catch the weather and change the channel. I'll be glad when it's over, I'm sick of hearing about it. What was that movie with Richard Pryor, none of the above! and be done with it already. lol

Letterman retired too soon, if he'd only known, he could've stayed on the air a season longer and had sooo much material!


----------



## vintagesnaps




----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey Cubs fans!


----------



## snowbear

Well, only one more round trip to Charm City that we can foresee.  I was supposed to be done yesterday but things don't always work out the way you'd like.  The traffic wasn't quite as bad, today.


----------



## Frank F.

I just did not dare to ask about what I guess was Baseball...


----------



## SquarePeg

Ugh.  Just spent 2 hours standing in 45 degree pouring rain watching my daughter cheer her way miserably through a middle school football game.  Ridiculous!  Those girls should not have been out there.  They were frozen and soaked to the bone by the time it was over.  #it'sonlysports


----------



## snowbear

The admins & mods pretty much leave this thread alone.  I guess they figure if we are here, we're not polluting the rest of the forum.  Still, let's please leave the politics out of it . . . the Forum FAQs state:



> * No general politics are allowed. If the political discussion involves photography, it may be allowed. Use common sense when posting anything of a political nature.



That said, I heard part of an interview with the current White House photographer, this morning.  He said he hasn't decided what to do after the Inauguration (his last day) but was looking forward to a little break.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh.  Just spent 2 hours standing in 45 degree pouring rain watching my daughter cheer her way miserably through a middle school football game.  Ridiculous!  Those girls should not have been out there.  They were frozen and soaked to the bone by the time it was over.  #it'sonlysports


Awww.  Give her some hot chocolate and a couple of cookies.


----------



## NancyMoranG

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh.  Just spent 2 hours standing in 45 degree pouring rain watching my daughter cheer her way miserably through a middle school football game.  Ridiculous!  Those girls should not have been out there.  They were frozen and soaked to the bone by the time it was over.  #it'sonlysports



Agree with Snowbear and her getting hot chocolate...do you have little marshmallows  too 
It does seem kind of tough on a middle school age to be out in that weather? Proud of her for living up to her team/school commitment..


----------



## Gary A.

Oh please people, Gary is only present what he considers interesting facts, which, in this case makes reference to the upcoming election. Gary has made it a point not to express an opinion. The only opinion expressed was by a mod. If you can't stomach a non op-ed reflection of, in this case, a ballot ... then put Gary on ignore. If necessary Gary would be more than happy to reciprocate with an equal ignore.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is at the USC - Cal game.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Oh please people, Gary is only present what he considers interesting facts, which, in this case makes reference to the upcoming election. Gary has made it a point not to express an opinion. The only opinion expressed was by a mod. If you can't stomach a non op-ed reflection of, in this case, a ballot ... then put Gary on ignore. If necessary Gary would be more than happy to reciprocate with an equal ignore.


In fairness, my opinion was said tongue-in-cheek, and if there was any concern about politicking, it would have been jumped on.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary agrees that your remark was tongue-in-cheek ... and Gary found it not offensive at all. But Gary thinks he is also quite a tolerant fella.


----------



## Gary A.

Plumaria from the front yard. iPhone image


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 129405
> Gary is at the USC - Cal game.


Watching the game right now, but just got done watching probably the best game of the entire season.  

California School for the Deaf - Fremont just defeated Woodland Christian 43-0.   Amazing to watch these kids play, especially the way they adapted their game.  Being deaf they have the most discipline of any team I have seen in a long long time.  They just didn't commit undisciplined mistakes at all.  They are 8 and 1 for the season.  

The best part was when ESPN had one of their drives as a silent drive.  Not one sound at all, to demonstrate what is was like for these kids as they play.   Watching their fans cheer with their hands was also great to see.  Just a fun game to watch.


----------



## Gary A.

Trojans are on the move.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. It's an early one for some reason. Woke up at 5:30 for no particularly good reason.

My H2 arrives today. I'm still torn between a Phase One back and scrapping the H2 and going for the H3D. I'll ask about that in another thread.


----------



## JonA_CT

Morning Coop. Morning y'all.

I'm off from work today because my day care provider lost her mother last weekend. Grandma watched Baby T from Monday through Wednesday, my wife watched her yesterday as I put a 13-hour day in because of parent teacher conferences, which left today for me. Not a bad choice, honestly. She is currently crushing pancakes and chicken sausage. I think we are up to four links of sausage and 1.5 adult-sized pancakes. This typically means that she will not be eating lunch today, haha.

I've got a bunch of things to do around the house today. I should grade some papers, start work on refinishing a radiator cover now that my wife used my being at work late the last few days to turn the heat on, cleaning beer lines and tapping two new creations in the homebrew kegerator, getting the levain culture going for this weekend's baking, and maybe doing some analysis on productions costs for a potential commercial brewing venture.


----------



## Designer

Frank F. said:


> I just did not dare to ask about what I guess was Baseball...


Ah, yes, baseball.  We fondly call it our "national pastime", although not all of us are fans, and some simply don't care for it.  The good news is that the rules are fairly consistent, unlike American football for which the rules seem to be changed on almost a weekly basis.  Seriously, every year anyway.

I would like to attend a major-league baseball game with someone who is just watching it for the first time and try to explain it to the point that it becomes enjoyable for the visitor.


----------



## SquarePeg

I also turned the heat on yesterday!  I usually have a hard rule that we wait until 10/31 no matter the temps.  In the past, if it was cold enough out we would turn it on right before leaving for trick or treating so we would return to a warm house.  Yesterday I worked from home wearing my light coat the entire day and sitting at my desk with a fleece blanket on my lap.  However, after watching my daughter shiver her way through that football game last night in the pouring cold rain, I turned it on when we got home so she would be warm when she came out of the shower.  I guess I'll leave it on at this point since we're so close.   

@gryphonslair99   Love the story about the silent drive.  I think people really can benefit from walking in other's shoes, even if only for a minute.  Too much me me me these days and not enough thoughts for others.


----------



## SquarePeg

Designer said:


> I would like to attend a major-league baseball game with someone who is just watching it for the first time and try to explain it to the point that it becomes enjoyable for the visitor.



I did this during the Spring!  Not a major league game but close.  Was working in NC for a few weeks and a group of us decided to go to a Durham Bulls game.  One of the guys who came along was a contractor from South Africa who had only been in the US for a short time.  On the way to the game he said he had never played baseball as a child or been to a baseball game or even watched a game on tv and didn't know the rules at all.  I think it was fairly easy for us to get him up to speed.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just did not dare to ask about what I guess was Baseball...
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, yes, baseball.  We fondly call it our "national pastime", although not all of us are fans, and some simply don't care for it.  The good news is that the rules are fairly consistent, unlike American football for which the rules seem to be changed on almost a weekly basis.  Seriously, every year anyway.
> 
> I would like to attend a major-league baseball game with someone who is just watching it for the first time and try to explain it to the point that it becomes enjoyable for the visitor.
Click to expand...


I paid attention when the Mets won the World Series in 1986. Other than that? Meh. I find the whole "mystique" and cultural history of baseball much more interesting than the game itself. If I ever have the urge to go to a game, I find minor league games more enjoyable. I think they give a much better sense of what baseball is both as a game and as a cultural and community institution.


----------



## Designer

I found that we have a semi-pro league here in Iowa.  One of the teams' home field is only a half-hour drive from my house.  This is the level at which they play on a park or high school field and the parking is just behind the bleachers.  Unfortunately, the local team had to suspend any organized play this past summer due to lack of support.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Grew up with baseball in the 60's. My dad took us to games on ball day, bat day...we'd come home with 4-6 bats or balls. Woo-hoo, we were set !
Then I quit watching when Alomar SPIT in the umpires face. 
You guys are too full of yourselves for me at that point...


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just did not dare to ask about what I guess was Baseball...
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, yes, baseball.  We fondly call it our "national pastime", although not all of us are fans, and some simply don't care for it.  The good news is that the rules are fairly consistent, unlike American football for which the rules seem to be changed on almost a weekly basis.  Seriously, every year anyway.
> 
> I would like to attend a major-league baseball game with someone who is just watching it for the first time and try to explain it to the point that it becomes enjoyable for the visitor.
Click to expand...

Gary uses a simple explanation for those visitors who haven't any knowledge of the game.  "The game is all about the pitcher and batter ... period. The pitcher attempts to get the batter out and the batter attempts to get on base.  The remaining players are merely support players."

Football is such a violent sport that most rule changes which reduces injury are probably a good thing.  But a benign football game is an oxymoron.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 129405
> Gary is at the USC - Cal game.
> 
> 
> 
> Watching the game right now, but just got done watching probably the best game of the entire season.
> 
> California School for the Deaf - Fremont just defeated Woodland Christian 43-0.   Amazing to watch these kids play, especially the way they adapted their game.  Being deaf they have the most discipline of any team I have seen in a long long time.  They just didn't commit undisciplined mistakes at all.  They are 8 and 1 for the season.
> 
> The best part was when ESPN had one of their drives as a silent drive.  Not one sound at all, to demonstrate what is was like for these kids as they play.   Watching their fans cheer with their hands was also great to see.  Just a fun game to watch.
Click to expand...

There are two California School for the Deaf schools. One in Fremont, up by San Francisco and another down in Riverside.  Both play outstanding football, both have large following of supporters and both elevate the spectator to a high level of respect.


----------



## Frank F.

Evening, Housers, I just came back from an assignment involving truckloads of lively kids, art and paedagogic personnell. Here is what happend: I arranged all the kids so that the prediscussed shot for my customer was perfect for my 24mm frame. I say ""Go kids" to finally toss the flowers and press the shutter release ... enters some newspaper guy with his 16mm lens, jumps into my frame, his bum in my face.

AND: click click click.

Sorry. Stealing another photographers arrangement is an absolute no-go. What do you think?





In the end I got a nice series anyway, just grabbed this one....


----------



## minicoop1985

Guess what? IT'S HEREEEEEE




2016-10-28_12-02-22 by Michael Long, on Flickr

I'll be financing a P40+ back for it too. So I'll happily be able to afford to get my MF setup taken care of within the next two weeks and get shooting!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Did the Great Pumpkin leave it for you?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nice photo Frank. These days what passes for a photographer, well, you never know... might be some person with a camera because the newspapers etc. have cut staff and contracted freelance. A freelance what, I couldn't say.

A photographer who knows what to do wouldn't or shouldn't cut into someone's photo. I've done sports and in my experience photographers respect each other and keep an eye out for each other's vantage point. Now when the TV crew shows up, they rule! lol

And FYI the term is 'hoser', you just need to watch a Canadian movie. Although this clip really does little to actually explain what it means.


----------



## snowbear

Well, I got home about 20 minutes ago from Bawlmer Merlin (why, don' t you now, that's what everyone else calls Baltimore, Maryland).  I have one more trip to coordinate a rental car delivery, then back to work, next week.

The back story is Mom-in-law has cancer and is staying at the "Hope Lodge" for the next 6-1/2 weeks while she goes through chemo and proton (apparently a radiation version) therapy; MLW is staying with her as the (mandated) care provider for first two weeks. The shuttle at the lodge does not have a wheelchair ramp/lift so I've been driving up because it's easier to get her in our car than in the mini-bus/van.

Tonight's dinner is breakfast - fried eggs, scrapple (that's mid-Atlantic USA haggis, Tirediron) and toast.  I'm too tired for anything else.


----------



## jcdeboever

Thoughts and prayers for mother in law's full recovery. I am believing she will recover fully.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Nice photo Frank. These days what passes for a photographer, well, you never know... might be some person with a camera because the newspapers etc. have cut staff and contracted freelance. A freelance what, I couldn't say.
> 
> A photographer who knows what to do wouldn't or shouldn't cut into someone's photo. I've done sports and in my experience photographers respect each other and keep an eye out for each other's vantage point. Now when the TV crew shows up, they rule! lol
> 
> And FYI the term is 'hoser', you just need to watch a Canadian movie. Although this clip really does little to actually explain what it means.



Oh my god, Sharon, I found it! The post when "Housers" became "Hosers"... The Coffee House



limr said:


> A quick hello, Coffee Housers!
> 
> Heh...I almost wrote 'Hosers.' You hosers.
> 
> It's 20F this morning and I have to find my warmer coats. I've only needed my faux pea coat up until now.
> 
> I think I might be one of the only ones who isn't depressed by this.
> 
> And now I have to go get ready for work. Just a hit-and-run good morning, though I'm heading towards my admin job, which means I'll mostly likely be stalking TPF again in an hour or so



I knew I posted that early on - it was still within three weeks of the opening of The Coffee House - but I didn't think it would take me 108 pages to find it! It was kinda fun to read through. I'd forgotten about some of it, like the "a lot of so much" phrase that came out of Leaderboard  It was bittersweet to read Sharon/sm4hm's posts though 



snowbear said:


> Well, I got home about 20 minutes ago from Bawlmer Merlin (why, don' t you now, that's what everyone else calls Baltimore, Maryland).  I have one more trip to coordinate a rental car delivery, then back to work, next week.
> 
> The back story is Mom-in-law has cancer and is staying at the "Hope Lodge" for the next 6-1/2 weeks while she goes through chemo and proton (apparently a radiation version) therapy; MLW is staying with her as the (mandated) care provider for first two weeks. The shuttle at the lodge does not have a wheelchair ramp/lift so I've been driving up because it's easier to get her in our car than in the mini-bus/van.
> 
> Tonight's dinner is breakfast - fried eggs, scrapple (that's mid-Atlantic USA haggis, Tirediron) and toast.  I'm too tired for anything else.



Best wishes for your mother-in-law's recovery!


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner was pizza/flatbread. The crust was stuffed with herbs and peppers. On top was marinated artichoke hearts and mushrooms, tomatoes from the garden, four cheeses and roasted chicken.  Half the pizza/flatbread was drizzeled with Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce and the remaining half with a spicy Verde Salsa.  Mary Lou whipped up some guacamole from our backyard avocados.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary hopes all goes for the best for your Mother-In-Law.


----------



## Frank F.

It is always a strange feeling for any of us to be reminded of our own mortality. The closer and dearer the people are that face death or the threat of death, the deeper we feel it. Let's hope that with each and every reminder we receive we learn to savour every minute of our conscious life all the more. God bless you and your mom in law!


----------



## jcdeboever

My backyard. Not feeling the leaf job that is about to rain on my lazy parade.  Took the dog for a walk and the golden light was peaking through the clouds. I am only posting this for fun as some on here may not see these colors where they live.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, guys; it's really appreciated.

The GIS boss gave me a line on a job with the State, and the Census Bureau is also hiring.  I guess today's main activity will be online applications.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> My backyard. Not feeling the leaf job that is about to rain on my lazy parade.  Took the dog for a walk and the golden light was peaking through the clouds. I am only posting this for fun as some on here may not see these colors where they live.
> 
> View attachment 129485



That's a pretty sight, thanks for sharing.  My area (just barely north of Boston) has had the most spotty, underwhelming, colorless fall that I can remember.  I'm still hopeful for some of the sugar maples and red maples in our neighborhood but I don't think I'll be getting any beautiful fall foliage shots this year.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> My backyard. Not feeling the leaf job that is about to rain on my lazy parade.  Took the dog for a walk and the golden light was peaking through the clouds. I am only posting this for fun as some on here may not see these colors where they live.
> 
> View attachment 129485
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's a pretty sight, thanks for sharing.  My area (just barely north of Boston) has had the most spotty, underwhelming, colorless fall that I can remember.  I'm still hopeful for some of the sugar maples and red maples in our neighborhood but I don't think I'll be getting any beautiful fall foliage shots this year.
Click to expand...


Thanks, your welcome. Nothing like last year that's for sure.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Evening, Housers, I just came back from an assignment involving truckloads of lively kids, art and paedagogic personnell. Here is what happend: I arranged all the kids so that the prediscussed shot for my customer was perfect for my 24mm frame. I say ""Go kids" to finally toss the flowers and press the shutter release ... enters some newspaper guy with his 16mm lens, jumps into my frame, his bum in my face.
> 
> AND: click click click.
> 
> Sorry. Stealing another photographers arrangement is an absolute no-go. What do you think?
> View attachment 129427
> 
> In the end I got a nice series anyway, just grabbed this one....


That is totally rude.  Gary would never step into another photogs setup. Especially on a 'feature' type story.  Now on hard news, on a story where it is unrolling in front of you, a story where there is no setup ... then yeah, Gary have his 20mm on and stepping in front of those who only have a 24mm.  (Most news photogs of my day, those film-only days of dinosaurs and non-auto cameras, a 24mm was considered wide.  Gary was one of the first, shooting news with a 20mm.  But Gary was respectful ... to a point, but when push came to shove, Gary would slap on the 20mm and went tight. Photojournalism is very competitive and the other photogs knew that was the name of the game.)  But Tv, electronic news is a whole different ballgame. In general, Tv reporters and videographers are a-holes.  They are quite disrespectful in the field.  While they feel they have carte blanc because they have to shoot live ... an hour of electronic news equals one page of a newspaper. When Tv people get overly obnoxious, and Gary is a tolerant fella, the news photogs would flash their cameras.  Back then, the video cameras had a weak tube, that when hit with a flash would put the whole video camera out-of-service for a spell. But Tv always had lights which were better than a flash, so Tv had some benefits.





Environmental portrait with the Nikkor 20mm, Nikon F w/Tri-X.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> My backyard. Not feeling the leaf job that is about to rain on my lazy parade.  Took the dog for a walk and the golden light was peaking through the clouds. I am only posting this for fun as some on here may not see these colors where they live.
> 
> View attachment 129485


Damn, now that is a backyard. Thank you for sharing.  A bit of a trade off, you get yellows and reds and Gary gets persimmons and avocados.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening, Housers, I just came back from an assignment involving truckloads of lively kids, art and paedagogic personnell. Here is what happend: I arranged all the kids so that the prediscussed shot for my customer was perfect for my 24mm frame. I say ""Go kids" to finally toss the flowers and press the shutter release ... enters some newspaper guy with his 16mm lens, jumps into my frame, his bum in my face.
> 
> AND: click click click.
> 
> Sorry. Stealing another photographers arrangement is an absolute no-go. What do you think?
> View attachment 129427
> 
> In the end I got a nice series anyway, just grabbed this one....
> 
> 
> 
> That is totally rude.  Gary would never step into another photogs setup. Especially on a 'feature' type story.  Now on hard news, on a story where it is unrolling in front of you, a story where there is no setup ... then yeah, Gary have his 20mm on and stepping in front of those who only have a 24mm.  (Most news photogs of my day, those film-only days of dinosaurs and non-auto cameras, a 24mm was considered wide.  Gary was one of the first, shooting news with a 20mm.  But Gary was respectful ... to a point, but when push came to shove, Gary would slap on the 20mm and went tight. Photojournalism is very competitive and the other photogs knew that was the name of the game.)  But Tv, electronic news is a whole different ballgame. In general, Tv reporters and videographers are a-holes.  They are quite disrespectful in the field.  While they feel they have carte blanc because they have to shoot live ... an hour of electronic news equals one page of a newspaper. When Tv people get overly obnoxious, and Gary is a tolerant fella, the news photogs would flash their cameras.  Back then, the video cameras had a weak tube, that when hit with a flash would put the whole video camera out-of-service for a spell. But Tv always had lights which were better than a flash, so Tv had some benefits.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Environmental portrait with the Nikkor 20mm, Nikon F w/Tri-X.
Click to expand...

Wow. That is an awesome shot!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> My backyard. Not feeling the leaf job that is about to rain on my lazy parade.  Took the dog for a walk and the golden light was peaking through the clouds. I am only posting this for fun as some on here may not see these colors where they live.
> 
> View attachment 129485
> 
> 
> 
> Damn, now that is a backyard. Thank you for sharing.  A bit of a trade off, you get yellows and reds and Gary gets persimmons and avocados.
Click to expand...


Well when the leaves fall I would rather be in your backyard amongst the persimmons, avocados, big screen TV, and some of that homemade wine watching game 7 of the World Series.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is in the patio sipping his first cup of coffee.  It is a cool morning, probably in the mid 60's. A week ago Gary had the Germans and tomorrow the Indians are arriving (from India).  Gary is making notes on what needs to be done for their arrival.  Mary Lou is sleeping in.  We discussed a quick trip to Temecula, but decided to stay home and round up the stray chickens and herd them out of the house.  Gary will be making a Costco run for BBQ stuff and to the BBQ store for a new rack for the smoker.  The Indians have a 2 y/o so Gary has to dig out some appropriate toys from the bottom of the garage as beer pong and darts most likely won't hold her attention long.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> My backyard. Not feeling the leaf job that is about to rain on my lazy parade.  Took the dog for a walk and the golden light was peaking through the clouds. I am only posting this for fun as some on here may not see these colors where they live.
> 
> View attachment 129485
> 
> 
> 
> Damn, now that is a backyard. Thank you for sharing.  A bit of a trade off, you get yellows and reds and Gary gets persimmons and avocados.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well when the leaves fall I would rather be in your backyard amongst the persimmons, avocados, big screen TV, and some of that homemade wine watching game 7 of the World Series.
Click to expand...

Okay then ... you're invited!


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

For Frank-
Your Gummy Bears made an appearance at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

(Frank presented Gary and Mary Lou with bags of Gummy Bears from his home town. Gummy Bears were discovered and are still being created in Bonn, Germany.)


----------



## Frank F.

I thought the Indians come from Minneapolis????
I thought they come today 29 October. 
Too bad I miss them, I am a big fan of Anirban!


----------



## Frank F.

*HA*ns *RI*egel *BO*nn

Company History | HARIBO

I always  bring a few Kilos of their stuff when I visit abroad...


----------



## table1349

Yummy, but I still prefer Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate with Hazelnuts.  Could eat them all day.  
The new RITTER SPORT site


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> I thought the Indians come from Minneapolis????
> I thought they come today 29 October.
> Too bad I miss them, I am a big fan of Anirban!


Yes, they are in Minneapolis now, temporarily, but they are from India and are scheduled to return to India in about a year.  They are arriving in California the 29th, but they are arriving here Sunday.


----------



## minicoop1985

Heya Hosers. Wow, what a week. So glad it's over. Time for a Halloween party then to crash. Don't work again until Friday. *yay*


----------



## minicoop1985

I totally get what you mean, Frank. I shot a wedding, and another guy with some DSLR with a shitty all in one lens kept taking shots of the poses we were doing. I was like dafuq mang


----------



## Frank F.

I went to a "Nachtflohmarkt" which is exactly what it sounds like, a flea market at night ... mostly visited by adults, young ones, meet and greet have a beer buy the occasional clothing or useless stuff. Like to see the pictures and answer with a honest opinion?

Teaser:


----------



## Frank F.

minicoop1985 said:


> I totally get what you mean, Frank. I shot a wedding, and another guy with some DSLR with a shitty all in one lens kept taking shots of the poses we were doing. I was like dafuq mang



The camera was one of the more adult CANON pieces, like a 1DxMK2 and the lens was a 16-35L ... he knew what he was doing, yet totally waiting behind me until I arranged it all and said "go, kids" ... a*hole


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers. 

So Michigan won, which was good. And it was oh-so lovely to watch Georgia lose to the Gators today (suck it, Bulldogs!). Now it's Clemson's turn to stomp all over Florida State. They're leading in the 3rd but it's still only a one-score game. Go Tigers!


----------



## Gary A.

Go Gators!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary wants to know what the heck happened to Chicago ... No pitching no offense ... are the Indians that good?


----------



## table1349

Yep, let's find out who the Crimson Tide is going to chew up and spit out this year.


----------



## Gary A.

Prepping the Tri-Tip for tomorrow's smoking.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Evening, hosers.
> 
> So Michigan won, which was good. And it was oh-so lovely to watch Georgia lose to the Gators today (suck it, Bulldogs!). Now it's Clemson's turn to stomp all over Florida State. They're leading in the 3rd but it's still only a one-score game. Go Tigers!


You watching the same game I'm watching.  28-20 Seminoles.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


>


That looks like my two granddaughters at the table.  To funny.


----------



## Gary A.

Yeah, the Goldie kicked butt.


----------



## minicoop1985

IT'S ALIVE




2016-10-29_10-48-23 by Michael Long, on Flickr

I'm back to debating about swapping it for the H3D again. If it's still available when I'm ready to buy, I'll have to check.


----------



## minicoop1985

After some quick calculations, I might keep the H2 and get the H3D. I can afford it, so why the hell not, I suppose.


----------



## Frank F.

Morning Hosers! Only one hour short of my return home last week, it is the first day that I did not wake up thinking I am still in America. I dreamt this morning that my garage tennant who has not paid his rent for 17 consecutive months finally conceded his losing in court last week and was on the move out with his cars. A good new start on the first day of the week? Hopefully. Lots of work ahead: book, house, photo business, the usual base load of family and household ... So I say my prayers and get started ... customers wait.

PS: I force more of the last night shots on you, just because I like them:


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers! I can't seem to help that I get up at 6 AM now. What the hell is wrong with me... I'm off today for cripe's sake.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. Well, barely morning.

I've spent the morning sniffling and sneezing and trying to get up to speed to get some stuff done today. Mornings are already SO not my thing, and my sinuses are certainly not making them any easier 

But Florida State can suck it along with Georgia, so it's all good


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary wants to know what the heck happened to Chicago ... No pitching no offense ... are the Indians that good?


Yes and no. Cubs are too caught up in the moment. Over reacting and chasing bad pitch's. Cleveland continues to young the strike zone early in count and then Cubs chase.


----------



## SquarePeg

All the pressure is on the Cubs even before they lost last night. Yes it's been a while for Cleveland but they are not in the same stratosphere as the Cubs when it comes to angst and hope associated with the team.  I was hoping the Cubs fans would get their long awaited WS win but it's looking pretty unlikely. 

Hoping the Cubs wake up and make it a series. Friday nights game ending was exciting! I want to see more of that tension and drama. 

Being from an American League town, I have to say I feel like this happens so often -  A NL team is considered great but they just can't match up against AL hitting.   Maybe just my perception, I have no stats to back it up and too lazy to check records during inter league play.


----------



## snowbear

Cub:




cmw3_d40_5078 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## vintagesnaps

I went to a hockey game last night. Took some pictures from the cheap AKA accessible seats. Which is what it is but at least I'm going to games. But I'm too pooped to even get the media card out of the camera. And my shoulder and hip on the side affected by the stroke are kind of sore, I'm out of 'game shape'! lol

And didn't take time to switch to a longer telephoto lens, we needed to get there early for this one, although students were all going to the bars in shorts so it wasn't the big crowd I expected. And lots of townies were uptown, everybody acts like it's summer! lol with leaves falling... Forgot to check and see if there has been any change in policy with telephoto lenses because there have been some changes of where they check bags, etc. I got a strip of smiley faces hanging on the strap of my 'bag' which is a purse about big enough to hold a lipstick! lol and the logic of the smiley faces escapes me...


----------



## SquarePeg

No. Motivation. To. Do. Anything.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Same for me SharonCat, it's green with some yellow, and leaves are really starting to come down. The weather's been so weird I don't think there's any chance of a pretty fall. The only orange is the Halloween decorations.

I figured Leo that it's probably hard enough for someone from another country to figure us out much less with Canadian hoser talk thrown in! lol I don't know how much sense we make anyway.

I'm going to watch a movie coming on where Bette Davis bumps off Bette Davis. And be lazy the rest of the day.


----------



## snowbear

Lazy day, here, too, but I need to hit the grocery store.  Ended up in Balto, again, again.  MIL admitted to UMD Hospital Center for an infection, at least.  They gave her a CT scan, but we don't know the results, yet.  MLW was home last night (first time in a week) and will be here tonight, then she's heading back up tomorrow.

I also have  a MOOC that I need to finish up (one more exercise & test to go).


----------



## Frank F.

Nighty night here. 1.36 am. Working night shift on my book. Switch off internet now.

Love making fun of myself. Look at this. Taken in Santa Clara 3 weeks ago. My first muscle shirt. Taken and edited on my phone.


----------



## SquarePeg

*W*


----------



## EIngerson

WINNING!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou just wrapped hosting a BBQ for the Indians. Gary also invited his photog/physician friend and a retired globetrotting professor. Gary deemed the smoked Tri-Tip and BBQed salmon dinner successful. Tons of food and wine with 70F afternoon. It seemed all had a good time.


----------



## Frank F.

Morning Hosers. US style breakfast is here to stay. Eggs over hard well done. Potates roasted crispy in the frying pan. Real English style bacon. Orange juice. Coffee. Real German style bread you can find nowhere in the world but here. With honey from the producer on creamy tasty real organic butter..... a breathe!


----------



## JonA_CT

Only mistake is the over hard eggs -- those yolks need to be soft for me! Although, that would be a weekend only meal for me, and probably more like brunch. Most mornings, coffee is all I manage to get down before I leave the house.


----------



## SquarePeg

I'm strictly egg whites and a dry english muffin these days unless it's the weekend then I am all about the pancakes and waffles!!!!


----------



## table1349

Biscuits and gravy.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary likes breakfast. Gary is in possession of a dozen doughnuts. They are destined for his early morning CSULA meeting. But he always gets a desperate bear claw which he consumes in route to the campus.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary likes breakfast. Gary is in possession of a dozen doughnuts. They are destined for his early morning CSULA meeting. But he always gets a desperate bear claw which he consumes in route to the campus.


Ahh, donut's, one of my many vices, old fashion plain and Boston creme are my favorite. Haven't had one in weeks, need to keep it that way.


----------



## Frank F.

For me eggs must be well done. Also meat. Soft juicy well done. Not easy to cook but ask Gary about "The Food Lab"....


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Only mistake is the over hard eggs -- those yolks need to be soft for me! Although, that would be a weekend only meal for me, and probably more like brunch. Most mornings, coffee is all I manage to get down before I leave the house.



I have to agree with you on the eggs. I like a gooey yolk and good bread for the dippin'! 

Weekdays, I usually have just enough time to make some coffee and then I grab a Belvita to have in the car on the way to work. Sometimes I don't even have time for coffee (have I mentioned that I'm not a morning person??) but I have my own Keurig at work, so at least I can have some as soon as I get to work.

I like the Belvita biscuits and they do a really good job keeping me going during the morning, but I don't like relying on packaged foods, so I'll probably start making my own granola bars again just to have something grab-able for breakfasts.


----------



## Frank F.

A wheat allery keeps me away from the bakery except for my Demeter Rye and Spices type of bread....


----------



## table1349




----------



## SquarePeg

This place is a local legend:







I swear each donut weighs over 1 lb.  @jcdeboever  look away now........


----------



## limr

Happy Hallowe'en, hosers.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Happy Hallowe'en, hosers.


I must say, you have never looked so good.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> This place is a local legend:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I swear each donut weighs over 1 lb.  @jcdeboever  look away now........


Just curious, how much do those donuts weigh once they have hit the thighs??  My ratio is about 2lbs per 1lb of donut.


----------



## SquarePeg

gryphonslair99 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> This place is a local legend:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I swear each donut weighs over 1 lb.  @jcdeboever  look away now........
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just curious, how much do those donuts weigh once they have hit the thighs??  My ratio is about 2lbs per 1lb of donut.
Click to expand...


I would guess you are right on that.  When we have out of town guests we usually will run out early one morning and get a dozen (they run out).  That's pretty much the only time we have them these days because they really are an indulgence.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> This place is a local legend:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I swear each donut weighs over 1 lb.  @jcdeboever  look away now........
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just curious, how much do those donuts weigh once they have hit the thighs??  My ratio is about 2lbs per 1lb of donut.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I would guess you are right on that.  When we have out of town guests we usually will run out early one morning and get a dozen (they run out).  That's pretty much the only time we have them these days because they really are an indulgence.
Click to expand...

Same here, they are a treat with the granddaughters every once in a while.  Our place is called LaMar's.  Outstanding donuts, that are big, but not quite that big.  This is their menu. 





And the front case.  





The Maple caramel long johns and the German Chocolate Knots are to die for.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Well Leo you said you aren't a morning person, if that's a selfie you aren't kidding.


----------



## Frank F.

gryphonslair99 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> And the front case.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Maple caramel long johns and the German Chocolate Knots are to die for.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...

I am not tempted. But when you come to Bonn I show you some French "PATISSERIE" that IS tempting, even for an allergic like me!


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Well Leo you said you aren't a morning person, if that's a selfie you aren't kidding.



A Gorn is never not funny


----------



## waday

Well, if we're going to post pictures of donuts...



Shelly Donuts by Wade, on Flickr


----------



## table1349

Frank F. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> And the front case.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Maple caramel long johns and the German Chocolate Knots are to die for.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I am not tempted. But when you come to Bonn I show you some French "PATISSERIE" that IS tempting, even for an allergic like me!
Click to expand...

I have been to Bonn, lovely city.  What shop are you speaking of.  For me nothing compares to Jacques Genin in Paris.  That is not to say that there are not wonderful Patisseries in other parts of the world for their most definitely are.

Personally while I love France I hate Paris.  Paris is a totally different world from the rest of France.


----------



## Frank F.

Today I had a planning session with my architects in Cologne. Afterwards I came out and enjoyed the autumnal light and esp. this tree!!!


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Halloween Hosers!  So, confess - were you hiding in your home with the lights out hoping no one will ring your bell or were you dressed in something not too scary waiting by the door for the next group of cute little trick or treaters?


----------



## snowbear

The light is on . . .




cmw3_d40_5186 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## table1349

I was too embarrassed for my two dogs to take a photo of them in their costumes the wife bought for them.  They looked sooo goofy.   The wife was J.P. Rockefeller with the candy to begin with so we had to turn off the light at 8:30 since she gave so much away in the beginning.  I keep telling her one kid, one piece of candy.


----------



## jcdeboever

The big thanks guys, I stopped by dunkin donuts today and purchased 2 old fashion plain, and 1 Boston creme. After eating them, I basically am so happy I could watch TV. Oh, my they were good. So much comfort in sugar, creme, and the thought of my wife yelling at me. I am content.


----------



## jcdeboever

I have major gas tonight. I wonder if it's the donuts? I scared my cat with the loudness of the fart....


----------



## Gary A.

It may not have been the sound which annoyed the cats ...


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> I have major gas tonight. I wonder if it's the donuts? I scared my cat with the loudness of the fart....


Rookie........


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> It may not have been the sound which annoyed the cats ...


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Happy Halloween Hosers!  So, confess - were you hiding in your home with the lights out hoping no one will ring your bell or were you dressed in something not too scary waiting by the door for the next group of cute little trick or treaters?



This house never gets trick or treaters - main road, no sidewalks. But if I lived in a place where we got a lot of foot traffic, I probably would be the person who turns out the lights and ignores the doorbell. I dunno, it would depend on my mood. Some years I might play along, but probably only a couple of times. I'm much more into Hallowe'en when just adults are involved


----------



## Gary A.

It is now dark and there are no Trick-Or-Treaters yet ... Gary and Mary Lou participates in the holiday.


----------



## SquarePeg

gryphonslair99 said:


> I was too embarrassed for my two dogs to take a photo of them in their costumes the wife bought for them. They looked sooo goofy. The wife was J.P. Rockefeller with the candy to begin with so we had to turn off the light at 8:30 since she gave so much away in the beginning. I keep telling her one kid, one piece of candy.



Here's our dog last year.  This year he was off the hook since my daughter went out without me tonight and she is the one who usually tortures him with a costume.








Stole this one off of FaceBook.  My vote for best Halloween costume of 2016.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was too embarrassed for my two dogs to take a photo of them in their costumes the wife bought for them. They looked sooo goofy. The wife was J.P. Rockefeller with the candy to begin with so we had to turn off the light at 8:30 since she gave so much away in the beginning. I keep telling her one kid, one piece of candy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here's our dog last year.  This year he was off the hook since my daughter went out without me tonight and she is the one who usually tortures him with a costume.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stole this one off of FaceBook.  My vote for best Halloween costume of 2016.
Click to expand...

Cute dog, cuter kid.  

Gidget was a pumpkin witch what ever that is and Maggie was a Pumpkin.  Both had frilly skirts.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is in good spirits, FedEx delivered six bottles of wine from our Sonoma winery membership.


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> I have major gas tonight. I wonder if it's the donuts? I scared my cat with the loudness of the fart....



GAS = Gear Aquisition System

Might also be Wheat Allergy


----------



## Frank F.

Tough guy, Gary. After six bottles my mood would be difficult to predict   ;?》


----------



## Frank F.

gryphonslair99 said:


> I have been to Bonn, lovely city.  What shop are you speaking of.  For me nothing compares to Jacques Genin in Paris.  That is not to say that there are not wonderful Patisseries in other parts of the world for their most definitely are. Personally while I love France I hate Paris.  Paris is a totally different world from the rest of France.




Quite new a development, called "C'est la vie" in Kölnstr. Unsere Pâtisserie - C'est la Vie

Very bad photos, have to sell them some real photography soon!!!


----------



## Gary A.

They are queued up ...


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> They are queued up ...



How is it going with your visitors?


----------



## table1349

Frank F. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have been to Bonn, lovely city.  What shop are you speaking of.  For me nothing compares to Jacques Genin in Paris.  That is not to say that there are not wonderful Patisseries in other parts of the world for their most definitely are. Personally while I love France I hate Paris.  Paris is a totally different world from the rest of France.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Quite new a development, called "C'est la vie" in Kölnstr. Unsere Pâtisserie - C'est la Vie
> 
> Very bad photos, have to sell them some real photography soon!!!
Click to expand...

Some good looking stuff there.  Making my mouth water.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> They are queued up ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How is it going with your visitors?
Click to expand...

We had a very nice BBQ yesterday.  Tomorrow I'm getting them into Disneyland.  The Indians are very very nice ... much nicer than the Germans.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> They are queued up ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How is it going with your visitors?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We had a very nice BBQ yesterday.  Tomorrow I'm getting them into Disneyland.  The Indians are very very nice ... much nicer than the Germans.
Click to expand...



Good to hear we catered to the general expectation...


----------



## FITBMX

Happy Halloween, be careful!


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have major gas tonight. I wonder if it's the donuts? I scared my cat with the loudness of the fart....
> 
> 
> 
> Rookie........
Click to expand...

Don't make me jerk


----------



## minicoop1985

I went as a tourist for Halloween. Grabbed as many cameras as I had straps for.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Dunno why, but Gary's arm is killing him this morning, like he pulled his upper bicep. Gary is receiving eight to ten political mail pieces a day.  One week to go until this political season is over ... man what a rollercoaster ride. Mary Lou is addicted and glued to the cable news channels the moment she gets home. She wants her life back.  Gary picked up the battery booster (vertical grip) for his XT2. The new grip triples the batteries from a standard XT2, very nice.  This week Gary will start developing film, hopefully on a regular basis. @ JC, if the Cubs win you gotta watch game seven here.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary: I'd like to see some of the shots you took when we were roaming greater LA ... film & digital!


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> I went as a tourist for Halloween. Grabbed as many cameras as I had straps for.


On the radio, people called in with descriptions of offensive costumes ... Gary would love to describe the most offensive costume(s) but due to the political nature of the costumes, many of those in this thread would clutch their pearls and throw down the TOS card.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary: I'd like to see some of the shots you took when we were roaming greater LA ... film & digital!


The film is still in the camera and the digital is still in the camera. Give Gary a couple of weeks and he will get to them.  Presently, he is starting to process a theatre production.


----------



## Frank F.

Good Afternoon, Hosers. Today I was on a strange photo shoot, where the people who were introduced to public service in our parish and quarter did not want to be photographed, not even from behind. I take the freedom to show a shot from behind, where noone can really identify them...


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!

I still have too many undeveloped rolls of film to go through   It's busy at work, then there are my longer days when I teach my evening class, I'm trying to get some other crap done around the house and get my exercise routine back up and running...there's just been no energy left over for developing and editing photos. I'm looking forward to the end of the semester when I get to sleep for a couple of days and then do some catching up before the craziness starts again. At least there's less grading now!


----------



## limr

And speaking of exercising, I worked out on Sunday and I still can barely move. It didn't even feel like that hard of a workout, but my legs are still like jelly! I'm walking around like a 90-year-old


----------



## Frank F.

Now that you remind me: there are tons of customer files to be developed, burned & delivered, plus a project of internet banners to be produced if I can extract information on the amount and sizes from them


----------



## NancyMoranG

vintagesnaps said:


> I'm going to watch a movie coming on where Bette Davis bumps off Bette Davis. And be lazy the rest of the day.



'Dead Ringer' by chance? That was a great movie.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy Hosers. I officially sold my Hasselblad film back today. The digital MF realm is getting closer... I can feel it. I'm burning with anticipation.


----------



## Frank F.

minicoop1985 said:


> Howdy Hosers. I officially sold my Hasselblad film back today. The digital MF realm is getting closer... I can feel it. I'm burning with anticipation.




Awaiting results in Awe


----------



## minicoop1985

As am I. I can't wait to see the raw files from this beast.


----------



## Frank F.

I contemplated to buy a P65+ for my Sinar. This is a good piece of IQ, yet due to the age of the electronics it is embedded into it does not integrate well into modern workflows. That is why I look forward to the Fuji GFX system.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou received only eight direct political mail pieces today.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Gary and Mary Lou received only eight direct political mail pieces today.


We haven't gotten any.   I've been saving insurance offers, automobile sale notices, and catalogs from places I'd never shop for the past 4 years, waiting to forward them on (postage due) to the first SOB that sends me political crap.  I guess fill the dumpster next Wednesday.


----------



## FITBMX

limr said:


> And speaking of exercising, I worked out on Sunday and I still can barely move. It didn't even feel like that hard of a workout, but my legs are still like jelly! I'm walking around like a 90-year-old



Even though it sounds mean, the best way to get over sore musicals is to exercise more. Not joking, it will really help!


----------



## Gary A.

FITBMX said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And speaking of exercising, I worked out on Sunday and I still can barely move. It didn't even feel like that hard of a workout, but my legs are still like jelly! I'm walking around like a 90-year-old
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Even though it sounds mean, the best way to get over sore musicals is to exercise more. Not joking, it will really help!
Click to expand...

So telling Leo to relax and have a beer IS actually mean ...


----------



## Gary A.

Game SEVEN!


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> FITBMX said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And speaking of exercising, I worked out on Sunday and I still can barely move. It didn't even feel like that hard of a workout, but my legs are still like jelly! I'm walking around like a 90-year-old
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Even though it sounds mean, the best way to get over sore musicals is to exercise more. Not joking, it will really help!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> So telling Leo to relax and have a beer IS actually mean ...
Click to expand...


Yes, it's mean! 

I didn't do another strength workout, but I did 5 miles on my stationary bike both last night and tonight. I would have done more, but last night, I didn't want to overdo it, and am not really sure I was capable of it anyway  And I didn't even get home tonight until almost 9pm, which was probably already too late to exercise but I did it anyway (and I'm still up at 12:30am, so you see? Not a good idea. But I did it anyway because I'm a fool  )

Tomorrow, I get home from work earlier (no teaching tomorrow evening) so I'll get in another proper workout.


----------



## Frank F.

My current spam report: I receive more applications for posts of many kinds than IBM ... kidding .... but who the heck thinks I am a big company searching employees like a thirsty man searches water in a desert?


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Game SEVEN!



This is happening!!!


----------



## minicoop1985

Frank F. said:


> I contemplated to buy a P65+ for my Sinar. This is a good piece of IQ, yet due to the age of the electronics it is embedded into it does not integrate well into modern workflows. That is why I look forward to the Fuji GFX system.


A P65+ is a serious chunk of hardware. Take a look at the IQ140. It's less expensive and probably does what you're looking for.


----------



## KenC

Cubs win!  Cubs win!

Sorry, I lived in Chicago for a little while, so outbursts like that go with the territory.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Though I generally don't care about baseball, I do find myself vaguely hoping that the Cubs win, despite their association with a jackass of an ex-boyfriend. Maybe it's because I really liked Wrigley Field


----------



## Frank F.

I can get the P65 for the price of a D5 refurbished directly from Phase One.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Though I generally don't care about baseball, I do find myself vaguely hoping that the Cubs win, despite their association with a jackass of an ex-boyfriend. Maybe it's because I really liked Wrigley Field


As you are a linguist ... isn't using the verbiage "ex-boyfriend" and "jackass" in the same sentence redundant?


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> I can get the P65 for the price of a D5 refurbished directly from Phase One.


Used P65's on Ebay are around $7500 USD, A new D5 body is around $6500 USD.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Though I generally don't care about baseball, I do find myself vaguely hoping that the Cubs win, despite their association with a jackass of an ex-boyfriend. Maybe it's because I really liked Wrigley Field
> 
> 
> 
> As you are a linguist ... isn't using the verbiage "ex-boyfriend" and "jackass" in the same sentence redundant?
Click to expand...


Not necessarily. My ex-fiance wasn't a jackass. He is a good guy, but we didn't fit. He didn't "get" me, and he dealt with it by trying to change me into something he could handle. I do *not* react to that well, and so the relationship didn't work, but looking back, I honestly feel he just didn't know how else to deal with it. He wasn't trying to do me any harm, but was just trying to make me fit into a mold that he _could_ understand. It still isn't the kind of relationship I would stay in, but I don't have any hard feelings towards him.

The ex-boyfriend was similar in two ways: he didn't "get" me, and he dealt with it by trying to change me. The difference was that he was incredibly insecure and didn't like any challenges, so he tried to build himself up by making me small. He took the attitude that he knew me better than I knew myself, and so he could "fix" me in a way that I never could for myself. I didn't realize it at the time, but now I can see that he was essentially gaslighting me: slowly eroding at my confidence and self-esteem by making me question my own judgement and perception, so that I would eventually depend on him for anything. For example, some nights I would want to go out with the other teachers after we finished teaching. He'd say that he didn't want to go, but told me to go, have a good time. He'd say that it was great that I was bonding with our colleagues and making friends. And he'd say it like he really meant it. So I would go out. More often than not, however, when I got home, he'd be sullen and all pissed that I actually went. Over time, I went out less and less so I could avoid the inevitable pissiness, and the result was that I ended up depending more and more on him for any kind of social activity.

So yeah, he was a jackass.


----------



## Gary A.

You are too kind to ex-boyfriend #1. 

(Gary was speaking from personal jackass experience of being an ex-boyfriend.)


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> You are too kind to ex-boyfriend #1.
> 
> (Gary was speaking from personal jackass experience of being an ex-boyfriend.)



Ex #1 pulled some jackass moves, but it wasn't his defining characteristic. I suspect the same is true of Gary


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Used P65's on Ebay are around $7500 USD, A new D5 body is around $6500 USD.



See, the D5 is more expensive in Germany, the P65s go for cheaper...


----------



## terri

Morning, hosers! 

I'm more into football than baseball, but I am happy the Cubs forced a Game 7.    I've been to Wrigley Field a couple of times, and love it there and love Chicago, period.  So I am pulling for them.   

Not unlike rooting for the runt of the litter when he grows up to be big and strong, strutting in front of the rest of the pack.


----------



## JonA_CT

It'll be fun to watch Game 7 tonight. I love Game 7 in all sports...nothing more exciting.

Colors are peaking in here in Southern CT this week. I have about 24 frames left on my roll of Ektar (and another 5 left on my test roll in my Isolette)...I need to get out there this week.


----------



## Frank F.

Afternoon, Hosers! Since I am back from California I need less  sleep and can get more work done per day. See where this will take me


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou are playing hooky and making a run to Temecula.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Trick or treating was rather entertaining this year. A huuuge group gathered at the elementary school up the street, must have been an entire grade! lol that was the biggest mob of kids.

Then I said to a dad carrying two little boys (little ones that were probably about done for the night) something about having his arms full of trick or treaters. He asked if they could go around back to go potty! Sure, why not... I flipped on the light back there and started to wonder since it been several minutes and all of sudden one of them darted out from behind the garage making a beeline down the driveway! lol (to the rest of their group waiting)... Then the dad came on around, said thanks for turning the light on and I said I figured they were too little to be embarrassed if anyone saw them. I've worked with kids going primitive camping etc. etc. etc. and live out in the country so it didn't seem all that out of the ordinary to me - but it was hilarious!

It being on a Monday night makes me glad I don't have to deal with the rest of an entire week of kids that are tired and wired on sugar and chocolate! And I'm glad our trick or treating is only an hour and a half, that's more than enough.


----------



## snowbear

FITBMX said:


> Even though it sounds mean, the best way to get over sore musicals is to exercise more. Not joking, it will really help!


You mean, like a musical version of _Plan 9 From Outer Space_?


----------



## snowbear

I finally got the motivation to post the Challenge voting and new Challenge and POTM threads; POTM voting goes up in a couple days.  I'm getting discouraged with the lack of entries.

On the good side, two Geography/GIS job applications submitted (Maryland State and a neighboring Fire Department) and two to go; three if I want to move to Billings, Montana.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> I finally got the motivation to post the Challenge voting and new Challenge and POTM threads; POTM voting goes up in a couple days.  I'm getting discouraged with the lack of entries.
> 
> On the good side, two Geography/GIS job applications submitted (Maryland State and a neighboring Fire Department) and two to go; three if I want to move to Billings, Montana.



I would guess there is nothing to win. I personally don't care because I am blessed with more than enough. I enter it every month because I just may have a chance. So many talented people on here. Maybe offer up a different venue of value. Start a fund from members in cents, not dollars necessarily.  A challenge to win something. I try to enter every month to support the staff but not to win, I think this is a fail on some level. I do it because I love @snowbear and TPF.... @vintagesnaps  is pretty groovy too. I bet she is stunning.


----------



## snowbear

I think it's just a general thing.  Although a dozen nominations for the POTM is pretty regular, the actual voting is not very high, IMO.  I've entered in the past, when I could think of, or find something, but it was just to participate,  If I'd ever won, knowing I did it was enough for me - I'm not very competitive.

I've got news for you -- ALL of the lades on TPF, especially the Coffee Housers, are smokin'


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> I think it's just a general thing.  Although a dozen nominations for the POTM is pretty regular, the actual voting is not very high, IMO.  I've entered in the past, when I could think of, or find something, but it was just to participate,  If I'd ever won, knowing I did it was enough for me - I'm not very competitive.
> 
> I've got news for you -- ALL of the lades on TPF, especially the Coffee Housers, are smokin'


nice.


----------



## SquarePeg

It's on!


----------



## tirediron

What?  The washing machine?  Television?


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> What?  The washing machine?  Television?



C'mon man!  Even the great frozen north loves a World Series game 7


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> What?  The washing machine?  Television?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> C'mon man!  Even the great frozen north loves a World Series game 7
Click to expand...

So a'splain this to me...  The US makes up a hair under 2% of the earth's land mass, so HOW is a game played exclusively there a "world" series.


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> What?  The washing machine?  Television?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> C'mon man!  Even the great frozen north loves a World Series game 7
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> So a'splain this to me...  The US makes up a hair under 2% of the earth's land mass, so HOW is a game played exclusively there a "world" series.
Click to expand...


Careful there, you're sibling rivalry is showing.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## SquarePeg

So, been visiting a non photo forum lately to get info and try to plan a big family reunion vacation...  I am totally frustrated looking for the "like' or "agree" or "informative" buttons.  I could never hang out there.  They have nothing!!!


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> So, been visiting a non photo forum lately to get info and try to plan a big family reunion vacation...  I am totally frustrated looking for the "like' or "agree" or "informative" buttons.  I could never hang out there.  They have nothing!!!



Just post some icons.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> So a'splain this to me...  The US makes up a hair under 2% of the earth's land mass, so HOW is a game played exclusively there a "world" series.


I've wondered about this for years.  I'd love to see the MLB play the NPBO.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> So a'splain this to me...  The US makes up a hair under 2% of the earth's land mass, so HOW is a game played exclusively there a "world" series.
> 
> 
> 
> I've wondered about this for years.  I'd love to see the MLB play the NPBO.
Click to expand...


Toronto Blue Jays.


----------



## minicoop1985

GO CUBBIES

I'VE FOUND THE DEAL I WAS LOOKING FOR!!!! I found a Phase One P30+ and H2 body for the right price, so it's MINE. ALL MINE. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


----------



## Frank F.

I had a serious case of gear acquisition syndrom too. The Oly OM E-M5 used as new for 295 plus the oly fish 9mm/f=8 for 89 plus the pana 42.5/1.7 for 319 ... pity this super complex camera comes with no printed documentation. I find it hard to work through the manual on my smartphone which I do now. Basic things like: "how do I set the EVF only?" I hate to use thr LCD because I need glasses or: "how do I set Auto White Balance?" For these and more I need a handbook. Not with Fuji or Nikon ....

Nearly all Fisheye shots were out of focus. Have to dig into this. Why???

The 42.5 shots are really nice since I found the AWB ....

Good night, hosers .... 3 am...


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Toronto Blue Jays.


Montreal Expos.  Oh, wait . . . they became the Washington Gnats.


----------



## snowbear

Frank F. said:


> Nearly all _Fisheye_ shots were out of focus. Have to dig into this. Why???.



Ich?


----------



## Frank F.

It might be the lens is not working properly or the lens and camera do not harmonize or I was to stupid to set up the shots right. Yet. The 42.5 worked as expected out if the box.


----------



## SquarePeg

Taking him out was a mistake.


----------



## snowbear

Goodnight, Frank.


----------



## jcdeboever

Man, I've got gas again. My cat disappeared. I didn't eat today, no reason for gas. I smell sewer.


----------



## snowbear

There goes another cubic meter of sea ice.  Polar bears hate you, too.


----------



## limr

It has somehow escaped my attention that the Cubs' opponents are from Cleveland. I knew they were playing the Indians, but the fact that the Indians are from Cleveland did not register at all. That's how little I pay attention to baseball.

So now I want the Cubs to win even more, gaslighting abusive jackass of an ex notwithstanding.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone
From Temecula


----------



## Gary A.

Lined up at Thornton.


----------



## SquarePeg

I'm having 1986 flashbacks.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> I'm having 1986 flashbacks.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't believe this... 1908??? The Cubs deserve this tonight for pete's sake! I saw the score was 6-3 and shouldn't have even thought, hey the Cubs might do this. Not being a baseball fan I hadn't been watching but tuned in - and it was 6-6. You got to be kidding.

'Oh my' the announcer just said. Yeah. But I wanna see what happens now...


----------



## Gary A.

A port at Lorenzi.


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> I don't believe this... 1908??? The Cubs deserve this tonight for pete's sake! I saw the score was 6-3 and shouldn't have even thought, hey the Cubs might do this. Not being a baseball fan I hadn't been watching but tuned in - and it was 6-6. You got to be kidding.
> 
> 'Oh my' the announcer just said. Yeah. But I wanna see what happens now...



So happy that I am not a Chicagoan tonight.  Having been there, it's torture!!!!!!  I like both of these teams but feel bad for the Cubs fans.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey Tirediron you got hockey up there, so what else do you want? lol There is no sport but hockey to us hockey fans anyway. 

The thing with baseball is it takes too long for somebody to whack something. Although they do have the occasional bench clearing brawl so they must on occasion think they're hockey players. Except they're not even allowed to clear the benches in hockey anymore so go figure.

Oh, going into the 10th... why when I decide to finally watch this it has to drag on all night?


----------



## vintagesnaps

O good lord a rain delay. At midnight. I wondered why they were showing a bunch of guys walking along the sidelines... I don't that often watch baseball and this is what I get. This is worse than Stanley Cup playoff games that go into 3 overtimes. At least there's an intermission, zam the ice, then play again; who knows how long this will take. I just want to see the Cubs win it over The Mistake on the Lake.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Okaay... grounds crew back on the field.  

A friend of mine shared this video the other day - Cleveland 'tourism'.


----------



## jcdeboever

Fantastic baseball game with a lot of bone head manager moves.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Darn I must've missed that. O this is taking too long.. somebody hit something and get this done.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> O good lord a rain delay. At midnight. I wondered why they were showing a bunch of guys walking along the sidelines... I don't that often watch baseball and this is what I get. This is worse than Stanley Cup playoff games that go into 3 overtimes. At least there's an intermission, zam the ice, then play again; who knows how long this will take. I just want to see the Cubs win it over The Mistake on the Lake.



Ha! The Mistake on the Lake. Haven't heard that in years  Hey, did you know what the only sign of life in Cleveland is? A traffic sign that says, 'Pittsburgh, 132 miles." 

Well, the Cubs got 2 runs in the 10th, so as long as they can get their three outs, then they've got this wrapped up. Fingers crossed! Damn, I was about to turn off the light, too. Harrumph!


----------



## limr

Oh dear LORD, baseball is so tedius!! I still can't be bothered to watch but am following a live feed, and it's just excruciatingly slow.


----------



## Gary A.

CUBS WIN!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Fireworks are being set off in Los Angeles ... go figure.


----------



## limr

The Cubs win!! 

Finally! And now, good night


----------



## jcdeboever

I think they have the making of a couple more


----------



## Frank F.

OK. The Fish has not AutoFocus! It ca do "near" "normal" "far"! This is how "near" looks like:


----------



## minicoop1985

Harry Caray would be crying tears of joy right now. Holy cow, Cubs are WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!!


----------



## SquarePeg

Great game. Great series. Now I can get back to my boycott of all things FOX. 

Have a great day Hosers. (Yawn)


----------



## Peeb

The goat finally died.

Congrats, Cubbies.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I.Need.Coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

The Getty Center:



 




Frank



 iPhone

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday was a good day.  The weather was perfect, in the 70's, good food and better wine.  Gary's guests from India only managed to hit two wineries, a couple hours at each chatting and tasting at our leisure.


----------



## JonA_CT

I fell asleep in the 7th inning. Whoops. Sounds like I missed quite the ending.

Normal work day today, and then I'm headed home right after to do some painting in the living room. We are doing some serious rearranging...still trying to figure out the best way to use our 1000 sq ft effectively. We really want to make the size work.

I am headed to Boston tomorrow with 180 7th Graders. It's about a 2 hour bus ride from here, and we will do a guided tour of the freedom trail ending at Quincy Market for lunch. Afterwards, it's on to the Science Museum.

It makes for a really long day, but even with Boston and NYC easily accessible, we still have students who have never been in a city. That makes it worth it, honestly.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> *I am headed to Boston tomorrow with 180 7th Graders.*



Sorry, I stopped reading after this sentence.  

Send this man some beer, STAT! He's going to need it!


----------



## Gary A.

Hopefully he has about 199 additional adults with him as backup.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I fell asleep in the 7th inning. Whoops. Sounds like I missed quite the ending.
> 
> Normal work day today, and then I'm headed home right after to do some painting in the living room. We are doing some serious rearranging...still trying to figure out the best way to use our 1000 sq ft effectively. We really want to make the size work.
> 
> I am headed to Boston tomorrow with 180 7th Graders. It's about a 2 hour bus ride from here, and we will do a guided tour of the freedom trail ending at Quincy Market for lunch. Afterwards, it's on to the Science Museum.
> 
> It makes for a really long day, but even with Boston and NYC easily accessible, we still have students who have never been in a city. That makes it worth it, honestly.



Middle school field trip - hahahahaha.  Sorry.  Hahahahaaha - oops that one slipped out.  Sorry.  

Love the MOS!  When my daughter was younger and we had a membership we went at least once a month.  We would go early on Saturday morning and get out of there when the crowds picked up.  Since it's a normal school day for most of MA, you should have some room to move tomorrow.  I hope your Freedom Trail tour is led by the guy who plays Ben Franklin, he's great.  

In Faneuil Hall for lunch, I highly recommend a turkey sandwich at the Prime Shoppe if it's still there... the rest of Quincy Market has become a boring outdoor mall with stores you can find anywhere.  It used to have some really unique little shops but they have all changed over to Gap and Abercrombie and clones.


----------



## Frank F.

snowbear said:


>



How I loved this camera. Just a perfect interface. Only my always-on was the 1.8/85mm D-Version.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> *I am headed to Boston tomorrow with 180 7th Graders.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, I stopped reading after this sentence.
> 
> Send this man some beer, STAT! He's going to need it!
Click to expand...




Gary A. said:


> Hopefully he has about 199 additional adults with him as backup.



It'll be fine honestly...we have 50 less students then last year, which means we don't need to bring nearly as many parents with us. It makes for less baby-sitting overall, because my actual student to me rate is 10-1 tomorrow, versus the 10-1 ratio plus two parent-led groups that I was responsible for last year making it more like 30-1. 

It's also way better than the trip I took with my previous school to NYC which had an teacher-student ratio of close to 30-1 with a dozen parents who had to be watched too. So many stories from that trip that I'll share at some point probably, haha. 

That being said...I'll be exhausted and probably ready for some bourbon or scotch when I get home, haha. 




SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I fell asleep in the 7th inning. Whoops. Sounds like I missed quite the ending.
> 
> Normal work day today, and then I'm headed home right after to do some painting in the living room. We are doing some serious rearranging...still trying to figure out the best way to use our 1000 sq ft effectively. We really want to make the size work.
> 
> I am headed to Boston tomorrow with 180 7th Graders. It's about a 2 hour bus ride from here, and we will do a guided tour of the freedom trail ending at Quincy Market for lunch. Afterwards, it's on to the Science Museum.
> 
> It makes for a really long day, but even with Boston and NYC easily accessible, we still have students who have never been in a city. That makes it worth it, honestly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Middle school field trip - hahahahaha.  Sorry.  Hahahahaaha - oops that one slipped out.  Sorry.
> 
> Love the MOS!  When my daughter was younger and we had a membership we went at least once a month.  We would go early on Saturday morning and get out of there when the crowds picked up.  Since it's a normal school day for most of MA, you should have some room to move tomorrow.  I hope your Freedom Trail tour is led by the guy who plays Ben Franklin, he's great.
> 
> In Faneuil Hall for lunch, I highly recommend a turkey sandwich at the Prime Shoppe if it's still there... the rest of Quincy Market has become a boring outdoor mall with stores you can find anywhere.  It used to have some really unique little shops but they have all changed over to Gap and Abercrombie and clones.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the sandwich tip! If they look like they'll travel well, I'll probably pick one up for dinner. Quincy Market is definitely the scariest part of the trip..we let the kids have free reign inside the market for lunch, and then hope the count is right at the end. 

We get to the museum late in the day...we pretty much had it to ourselves last year. The only bummer is that the last Lightening show is before we can arrive.

As far as the tours, I tipped my tour guide extra out of my own pocket last year because she was so good. The fact that they can get 30 kids to pay attention in the middle of a city is just amazing. 

I miss Boston a bit...one of my really good friends went to college at BU and I spent a lot of weekends up there with her. This trip brings back a lot of those great memories...although most of them are a bit foggy...for various reasons.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> although most of them are a bit foggy...for various reasons.



I bet most of those reasons are in Kenmore Sq.


----------



## terri

Happy "Cubs Win the World Series" Day!


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> although most of them are a bit foggy...for various reasons.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I bet most of those reasons are in Kenmore Sq.
Click to expand...


Not as many as you would think...a couple of rip-roaring nights there at...Jonathan Ivory's? A dueling piano bar that replaced with a pub. We were so mad. A night on a park bench on the Charles River...a night that we some how managed to end up by the Garden...really, I'm so thankful for reliable public transportation back to Commonwealth Ave,!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is planning on making some homemade ramen.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> although most of them are a bit foggy...for various reasons.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I bet most of those reasons are in Kenmore Sq.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not as many as you would think...a couple of rip-roaring nights there at...Jonathan Ivory's? A dueling piano bar that replaced with a pub. We were so mad. A night on a park bench on the Charles River...a night that we some how managed to end up by the Garden...really, I'm so thankful for reliable public transportation back to Commonwealth Ave,!
Click to expand...


Jake Ivory's


----------



## tirediron

So, what do_ you_ do when your hot-water tanks craps out a day before Halloween?


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> I am headed to Boston tomorrow with 180 7th Graders. It's about a 2 hour bus ride from here, and we will do a guided tour of the freedom trail ending at Quincy Market for lunch. Afterwards, it's on to the Science Museum.
> 
> It makes for a really long day, but even with Boston and NYC easily accessible, we still have students who have never been in a city. That makes it worth it, honestly.



Gaffing tape.  Lots of gaffing tape.  If it moves or makes noise, secure it.  I'm kidding.  Duct tape is cheaper than gaffing tape.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary dumped the ramen plans because Mary Lou brought home fish tacos and fish burrito. Gary and Mary Lou are stuffed on some wonderful tacos and burrito, feasting on some Gummy Bears from Bonn and Frank, drinking a nice Gloria Ferrer Pinot Noir, in our pj's and flipping between the cable news channels.


----------



## Gary A.

Surprisingly, Pinot pairs exceptionally well with Gummy Bears.


----------



## Frank F.

Lacroice pairs well with harsh red wines. Never tried gummy bears...


----------



## Frank F.

First night with sleep after America. Could still have been more. More America. More sleep.

General Observation. The unproductive, uncreative, humorless zombie masses feel generally annoyed by the lively productive funny and creative few. What do you think???


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.
The scratchy allergy throat has turned into full-blown sore throat.

MLW is looking for temporary nursing home for MIL to stay at while she goes through some physical therapy.  Our experience with home care therapists (and visiting nurses) has been consistently sucky.  Once she's done with the therapy, we'll move her into one of the SIL's places, near Balto, while she goes through her proton & chemo.

Since MLW is tied up, today, I get to take her place at a retirement luncheon, after which I am meeting up with an old high school buddy to get a bin on a wheelchair ramp @ MIL's.


----------



## snowbear

Don't forget to set clocks back (for those in Daylight Savings Time areas) this weekend, and change your smoke & CO detector batteries.


----------



## Frank F.

Good luck with your health and the health of your MIL!!!


----------



## Frank F.

Children at a certain age seem to view their parents as providers of their pleasure only, not as persons; babies and kids in puberty namely. They grind their teeth not to let out a faint "thank you" or it does not come to their mind or they have neither teeth nor words yet. The complaint department of their brains runs under full steam none the less. You know what I am talking about?


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> First night with sleep after America. Could still have been more. More America. More sleep.
> 
> General Observation. The unproductive, uncreative, humorless zombie masses feel generally annoyed by the lively productive funny and creative few. What do you think???


Gary agrees, but isn't that the same everywhere?


----------



## Frank F.

I was not speaking about the forum especially. But of course there are some serious cases of Troll here...


----------



## JonA_CT

It's actually kind of nice to be riding on a bus this morning. Our route takes us through the Connecticut River Valley and the leaves are transitioning from burnt orange to more of an umber color.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Children at a certain age seem to view their parents as providers of their pleasure only, not as persons; babies and kids in puberty namely. They grind their teeth not to let out a faint "thank you" or it does not come to their mind or they have neither teeth nor words yet. The complaint department of their brains runs under full steam none the less. You know what I am talking about?


Unfortunately yes. Samuel Clemens, (aka Mark Twain), wrote "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."


----------



## Frank F.

JonA_CT said:


> It's actually kind of nice to be riding on a bus this morning. Our route takes us through the Connecticut River Valley and the leaves are transitioning from burnt orange to more of an umber color.




Pictures???


----------



## Gary A.

Gary hopes Charlie gets through the day okay, sounds like a lot of chores with a bad throat. Make your first stop, the drug store, for some throat lozenges.


----------



## Frank F.

Last time my throat hurts it took a hot herbal tea with lots of honey, an Aspirin and 3 hours of extra sleep to cure.


----------



## JonA_CT

Bad cell phone pics from bus at 70mph...I'll try to get out there tomorrow for some better ones.


----------



## JonA_CT

My wife's English relatives swear the only sore throat cure is gargling gin.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The Cook's stomach is gurgling loudly this morning.  She has a chronic stomach/digestive problem which comes and goes. Mary Lou and Gary are both all stressed with this political season, they're up ... they're down, he says this and she says that.  Gary has never seen so many polls.  ... Gary's back, he had to take a business call at 7:00 a.m.  That really sucks ... but it was a good call.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Bad cell phone pics from bus at 70mph...I'll try to get out there tomorrow for some better ones.
> View attachment 129834


Nice.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> First night with sleep after America. Could still have been more. More America. More sleep.
> 
> General Observation. The unproductive, uncreative, humorless zombie masses feel generally annoyed by the lively productive funny and creative few. What do you think???



Yes, they generally do, and probably because it just shines a light on the mundane nature of their own lives. Although, I do wonder how you define "productive, funny, and creative few."

As for myself, I would not consider myself one of the zombies, but I'll get annoyed at them, too, though for different reasons   Sometimes people take themselves waaaaaaay too seriously.


----------



## vintagesnaps

So is today an official holiday in Chicago? might as well be, who _isn't_ out there screamin' and yellin' and cheerin'?? Dawned on me after the noon news that I get WGN, the parade was approaching the Water Tower so I missed them leaving Wrigley.

And now I wonder, where are they going anyway? not going to take the trophy for a ride on the L are they? lol They're showing that trophy on camera a lot! The announcers pretty much gave up talking which suits me fine, but said they're near the lake (well that doesn't narrow it down much).

Mentioned the Blackhawks a couple of times so a teeny tiny bit of hockey has been in the conversation. Kind of fun to watch but this is a looong parade.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I could explain why in child development with babies and toddlers that is, but it's Friday and I don't feel like a quasi professional conversation! lol  Frank if you think this place is trolly, there's a lot worse...

Speaking of, there's a troll movie coming out. But about the kind with hair in rainbow colors, not the kind that hang out on message boards.


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> Speaking of, there's a troll movie coming out. But about the kind with hair in rainbow colors, not the kind that hang out on message boards.



Wait, there's a difference?


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, hosers. I ordered my first Hassy lens today! 150mm 3.2. Now the next step is the back and a body.


----------



## limr




----------



## Frank F.

No the place is not trolly

But it is not Troll free either

The worst place I have been to had a herd of trolls running it. That was 10 years ago...


----------



## jcdeboever

Good evening hosers. I recently applied for a Detroit Tigers job in analytic statistical information, they are looking for the Cub (Epstein) programming guru's. I didn't get the job (dream job)... However they called me and I am going to produce something for them on a job basis, possibly contract forward. The pay is fair and I can't wait to dive in. Their software is antiquated (right up my alley) and I can produce a great solution for them in short order. My wife is already picking out new furniture.... geez, just shoot me now.


----------



## snowbear

Good evening, peeps. Thanks for the well wishes for family.

My throat is moving back to scratchy with the help of some Ricola.  We found a place for MIL to stay for a while on the west side of Balto; very nice area.  She is likely to be released Monday, though we will go up and sit with her a while one day this weekend.

The retirement lunch was fine, and my HS buddy is going to get a cost estimate to me in a few days.  On the job front, the state said I was missing one of the key qualifications, which I figured.  Still holding out for the other county the Fed job in Montana.  Census is also hiring, getting geared up for 2020.  

For the current job, I re-created a dozen data files for the latest app, including a copy of everything designated for training.  The DBA was supposed to get them moved to the enterprise-wide server today, so I can publish them to the web.  We're creating a setup to allow the station crews get the locations of "preplan" data - things that they want to know about a building in case there's a fire - utility shut-offs, construction type, where the stairwells, doors and elevators are, where disabled people might be located, etc.  We're trying to get this in electronic format, and rely less on paper.

Well, it's been a long day and I'm calling it quits.  POTM voting will get posted up tomorrow.

Later.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, Hosers. Tomorrow's my birthday, and somehow I got suckered into working today. Oh well. Birthday dinner will be tomorrow, then, I suppose. Makes sense.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Howdy, Hosers. Tomorrow's my birthday, and somehow I got suckered into working today. Oh well. Birthday dinner will be tomorrow, then, I suppose. Makes sense.


Happy birthday you old fart


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Howdy, Hosers. Tomorrow's my birthday, and somehow I got suckered into working today. Oh well. Birthday dinner will be tomorrow, then, I suppose. Makes sense.





Spoiler: Click here on Nov. 6



Happy Birthday!



We still owe MLW her dinner, since she was in Balto -- maybe next weekend (after payday)


----------



## Frank F.

Have to do my VAT returns for 3rd quartter 2016. Now. Certainly not my favourite. So I cleaned up after my son's cooking. Calming noise of dishwasher humming....

....and write to my dear hosers...

I'd rather edit away on my book
I'd rather edit some pictures e.g. The Getty Series ....

Have a great time

Frank


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Last night we had an impromptu dinner with only one guest.  Mary Lou just arrive home with a roasted chicken.  Gary popped open a Folie a Deux Merlot to sip before dinner while we settled down from a long week.  The Folie was quite good for a Merlot, (Gary's not a big fan of Merlot), and he texted a friend checking if he had brought the Merlot for our last group dinner.  He said he hadn't, but he had a some pre-cooked ribs ... Gary said he had some pre-cooked chicken, so we combined and conquered ... we had a very pleasant dinner in the patio.  We heated and spruced-up the ribs on the BBQ, a quick salad from the garden (the tomatoes were very tasty), brown rice, rolls, some mixed and steamed veggies and opened a Marimar Pinot (that was simply delish).  The Cook is anxious, so Gary is off for our morning walk. Tonight is Heartbreak Ridge.


----------



## Frank F.

Merlot? Difficult grape. Lots of bad & boring stuff out there. But when you get to Bordeaux, you will find some wines you will not even recognize als Merlot, although they are up to a very high percentage. On one side of the river. On the other side of the river you have the Cabernet (Franc / Sauvignion) and Pinot based wines which are also great. So, as in many cases in life, it has to do with the skill of the wine maker and favourable conditions that will remake a turd in to fertile ground...


----------



## SquarePeg

Frank F. said:


> Children at a certain age seem to view their parents as providers of their pleasure only, not as persons; babies and kids in puberty namely. They grind their teeth not to let out a faint "thank you" or it does not come to their mind or they have neither teeth nor words yet. The complaint department of their brains runs under full steam none the less. You know what I am talking about?



So true. My 13 yo daughter used to be so sweet and silly and fun. Now she is only like that with friends. With family she is a real selfish jerk lately. I know it's just becoming independent and self exploration but it's still tough to take. You have a teenager Frank?  My mom told me "They turn into little turds at 13 and don't snap out of it until their 20's, just have another glass of wine and wait it out."


----------



## snowbear

Kitten rescue


----------



## Frank F.

15. Can be very nice. Sometimes. Ask Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  Mary Lou, Tom and Gary watched Hacksaw Ridge ... a very very intense movie. After the movie we fired up the BBQ and cooked some Korean Ribs ... mmmmmmhhh, so good. Tom is Korean and his mother makes the best Korean ribs of all time.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy Hosers.  I'm so tired. I woke up a LOT last night. And I'm up early. Ugh.

YAY I'm closer to owning my dream camera! Now will it be the Phase/H2 of the H3D-39? We'll see what happens.


----------



## Frank F.

Now that is your birthday now? Congratulations!


----------



## minicoop1985

It is! Thanks! I'm older! Ugh!


----------



## Gary A.

Happy B-Day Appleton Guy!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is a very cool morning with lifting fog.  Gary is in the patio, reading the paper with a hot cup of tea, herbal tea. Reflecting upon the movie, Hacksaw Ridge is a true story.  Gary thinks the protagonist is one of the bravest, if not the bravest man he has ever encountered, (albeit in a movie). Amazing story, and Mel Gibson captured the action with haunting realism, not like the realism of a dream (which can be quite haunting), or the realism of a written story, or the realism of someone verbalising a first hand experience ... it was the realism of memory, of what a person remembers after experiencing an event.  The movie should be up for an Academy Award for Best Movie, but if you watch it ... be prepared for the raw intensity and realism of war. 

Gary's Trojans hold the Ducks to a seven year low for SC's fifth win in a row.  Next week #5 Washington.  With the Trojans having their groove back ... Gary's money is on SC.


----------



## snowbear

Happy b'day, ya old fart.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is back from a walk with Cook.  This is the first time he needed a windbreaker.  On the way back it warmed up.  He is now in the back drinking some tea and enjoying the day doing nothing. The koi are very active, hummers are humming about, Cook is on patrol, yellow finches are hopping through the trees, Mockingbirds are eating grapes, butterflies are swirling through the roses.


----------



## Frank F.

You live in the paradise you created. Be happy! All the best for you & Lou & Cookie!


----------



## Frank F.

Lots of writing and editing does not leave much time for reading. Yet, when one of my favourite authors strikes again .... say Ian Mc Ewan or Edward St Aubyn or Michael Chabon or John Lanchester I just have to sacrifice some sleep for breathing significant words ... this time it affected my book directly because I was talking with this author when I started my book and he his. He was faster finishing and writes for a different target group....

The book is very good. Erik Toensmeir: "The carbon farming solution" .... his third book on my shelves! A good guy.


----------



## snowbear

Tonight's adventure.


----------



## Gary A.

The MIL?


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> The MIL?


No, me.   I'm betting on sinus infection with associated sore throat.


----------



## Gary A.

Good luck.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou's and Gary's dinner.  The crust is stuffed with herbs and peppers, four different cheeses, tomatoes from the garden, cut up hot links, marinated mushrooms, artichoke hearts and green olives. All washed down with a Russian River Chardonnay.


----------



## Gary A.

German Gummy Bears and California Chardonnay pair very nicely.


----------



## Frank F.

The Pizza looks very nice, but you really have to work on your lighting! The red/orange/yellow is too dominant, you are missing the blue part of the spectrum here.


----------



## Frank F.

rain. cold. wind. finally autumnal inconvenience. They even announced snow for tomorrow. Gosh. People cannot drive in snow. Happy to not need to use my car!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I picked up Buzz this morning to drop him off at the train station on my way to work. He's giving himself a photo day down in the city. There was a massive traffic jam on the highway, but luckily this morning, I had a navigator, so I made it to work in good time. I wish he could always drive to work with me 

In other news, today marks 10 years since my father died. In his honor, I stopped for a bagel and coffee after I dropped off Buzz at the train station. This isn't because he loved bagels. I mean, he liked them and all, but it's a longer story than that.

I graduated college in December 1992 and was going to start grad school in Sept of 1993. In the interim, I moved home and my sister got me a temp job at Cambridge University Press where she worked. I had to start work at 8:15 and I lived clear across the county. In good traffic, it was a good 45-minute drive, but in morning rush PLUS highway construction, it meant I had to leave home by 7am at the very latest. 

As you all know (if you've been paying attention  ) I am NOT a morning person, so I was always rushing out the door at the last minute. My father was already awake and dressed, and was waiting for me in the kitchen with a fresh cup of coffee in a travel mug and a toasted bagel wrapped in a paper towel. Every.Single.Morning. All I had to do was grab my breakfast, give him a kiss goodbye, and get in my car to go to work.

And so now, 24 years later, I find myself once again with a daily morning commute. I still rush through my morning routine and normally have different things I can grab for breakfast, but today, it had to be a bagel. I do, however, draw the line at dunking it into my coffee like my father used to do  There was never a coffee cup of his that was not lined with crumbs when he was done.


----------



## KenC

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> I picked up Buzz this morning to drop him off at the train station on my way to work. He's giving himself a photo day down in the city. There was a massive traffic jam on the highway, but luckily this morning, I had a navigator, so I made it to work in good time. I wish he could always drive to work with me
> 
> In other news, today marks 10 years since my father died. In his honor, I stopped for a bagel and coffee after I dropped off Buzz at the train station. This isn't because he loved bagels. I mean, he liked them and all, but it's a longer story than that.
> 
> I graduated college in December 1992 and was going to start grad school in Sept of 1993. In the interim, I moved home and my sister got me a temp job at Cambridge University Press where she worked. I had to start work at 8:15 and I lived clear across the county. In good traffic, it was a good 45-minute drive, but in morning rush PLUS highway construction, it meant I had to leave home by 7am at the very latest.
> 
> As you all know (if you've been paying attention  ) I am NOT a morning person, so I was always rushing out the door at the last minute. My father was already awake and dressed, and was waiting for me in the kitchen with a fresh cup of coffee in a travel mug and a toasted bagel wrapped in a paper towel. Every.Single.Morning. All I had to do was grab my breakfast, give him a kiss goodbye, and get in my car to go to work.
> 
> And so now, 24 years later, I find myself once again with a daily morning commute. I still rush through my morning routine and normally have different things I can grab for breakfast, but today, it had to be a bagel. I do, however, draw the line at dunking it into my coffee like my father used to do  There was never a coffee cup of his that was not lined with crumbs when he was done.



My father died 17 years ago.  We didn't have a ritual (except maybe arguing about politics), but I think of him whenever I feel like saying any of the things he often said, or when I read something that I would have liked to tell him about.  Before he died he told me that I should mark the event by sleeping late and then going for a drink later.


----------



## minicoop1985

Thanks for the birthday wishes, folks. Was a pretty good day, even though the kid decided it would be a perfect opportunity to act up as much as possible. Ugh.


----------



## Frank F.

Good Luck America on your Highway to Hell tomorrow. God bless America! May the slightly less ugly candidate win.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> I picked up Buzz this morning to drop him off at the train station on my way to work. He's giving himself a photo day down in the city. There was a massive traffic jam on the highway, but luckily this morning, I had a navigator, so I made it to work in good time. I wish he could always drive to work with me
> 
> In other news, today marks 10 years since my father died. In his honor, I stopped for a bagel and coffee after I dropped off Buzz at the train station. This isn't because he loved bagels. I mean, he liked them and all, but it's a longer story than that.
> 
> I graduated college in December 1992 and was going to start grad school in Sept of 1993. In the interim, I moved home and my sister got me a temp job at Cambridge University Press where she worked. I had to start work at 8:15 and I lived clear across the county. In good traffic, it was a good 45-minute drive, but in morning rush PLUS highway construction, it meant I had to leave home by 7am at the very latest.
> 
> As you all know (if you've been paying attention  ) I am NOT a morning person, so I was always rushing out the door at the last minute. My father was already awake and dressed, and was waiting for me in the kitchen with a fresh cup of coffee in a travel mug and a toasted bagel wrapped in a paper towel. Every.Single.Morning. All I had to do was grab my breakfast, give him a kiss goodbye, and get in my car to go to work.
> 
> And so now, 24 years later, I find myself once again with a daily morning commute. I still rush through my morning routine and normally have different things I can grab for breakfast, but today, it had to be a bagel. I do, however, draw the line at dunking it into my coffee like my father used to do  There was never a coffee cup of his that was not lined with crumbs when he was done.


Such a sweet story. 

On a somewhat related note, I'm not sure if/what cell phone you have, but the Waze app is pretty neat. I've gotten myself out of hours worth of traffic using it. It is a crowdsourcing app that uses data from other users. It will pick the best route (although, sometimes silly*) based on current traffic. Just last week it alerted me to a 3 out of 4 lane closure nearby due to a very bad accident, which resulted in me taking a slightly different route home but saved 45+ minutes of traffic. Pretty nifty.

*The reason I say "sometimes silly" is because it has occasionally routed me 10 additional miles to save 3-4 minutes on my drive, which I don't think is worth the extra mileage.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leo's not a morning person, who knew? <--- sarcasm

My parents are still here with us. At family holidays usually at some point my brother and I just look at each other like - at least it's not an age thing, they've always been like this...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nobody wants a blue pizza Frank! lol

Happy belated Minicoop!

Feel better Snowbear.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I found that in some ways dealing with 2 year olds isn't a whole lot different than it was teaching jr. high... 7th and 8th graders anyway, by 9th grade it was possible to carry on at least some semblance of a conversation.

Like hall duty, the hall pass said library so why are they at the other end of the building? because um, I had to get this thing for my friend, um it was in my locker, and because um, I have practice after school and have to give my friend this thing because... NM just GET TO CLASS (and yes I'm watching you walk there...). Time to pick up toys, you can do it or - I can help you... hmm, the wheels are turning, they start picking up toys (or not and I start to help and _then_ they pick up toys). The task, the consequence, end of conversation! lol


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, I'll have some great news tomorrow, but today's news: I found a GREAT deal on a Minolta. Check the Camera Collectors area if you wanna see what I got.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Happy belated birthday MiniCoop. 
Sweet dad story Limr. 
Thanks for the Election Day wishes Frank!


----------



## jcdeboever

Printed out my sample ballot, ready to go tomorrow. Nice story about Daddy Limr, made me call mine.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is ready ...


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm so ready for all this election bullsh*t to be over. I just want it to be done. When will it be over? I'm voting Giant Meteor or Cthulhu. Haven't decided yet.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 130004 Gary is ready ...


What has Gary been shooting with? His GX680?


----------



## Gary A.

Nope his Leica M-4P.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Nope his Leica M-4P.


Bragger....


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nope his Leica M-4P.
> 
> 
> 
> Bragger....
Click to expand...

LOL ... Coop asked.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Do developer and fixer make you ready for election day? or are you going to stay in the darkroom til it all passes? lol

Frank, nobody knows how to drive in the snow here either. We don't get enough of it often enough so everybody just jumps in their cars and drive like maniacs, that seems to be the best way to deal with it. Oh wait, that's what happens every Friday...


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Do developer and fixer make you ready for election day? or are you going to stay in the darkroom til it all passes? lol
> 
> Frank, nobody knows how to drive in the snow here either. We don't get enough of it often enough so everybody just jumps in their cars and drive like maniacs, that seems to be the best way to deal with it. Oh wait, that's what happens every Friday...


Yep, what campaigns Gary couldn't DEVELOP ... he'll have FIXED.


----------



## JonA_CT

I woke up a little early to make sure I could get to polls as they opened because it was the only time I'd be able to go without my daughter. I got there around 5:55 and ended up being the 130th person to vote. The excitement in the line to check-in was palpable, especially for this time of morning.

The deed is done and now the final wait begins.


----------



## Frank F.

I was depressed this morning, not because of the elections ... as a Geman I do not have a say anyway and I hope the US citizens are strongly motivated to prevent the worst ... No, I was depressed because it was so dark and cold and wet outside ... and the air in our appartement was damp and stinky ... everything felt so narrow and small and grey ... then I took the laundry down to the washing machine, opened the windows, got rid of some too old rice with veggies emitting bad smell, read some encoraging stuff by Alex Steffen and through the Environmetal Protection Agency found him: Dino Giacomazzi ... then I stepped on the balcony, sun was shining on a tree wearing autumnal colors and a little bird sang a song ... it felt like "just for me" ... this made me thankful and cheer up a bit. 

Now it is 13:36 midday and I have not written a single word, while I should write at least 3 hours straight per day to finish my book anytime soon. I feel as soon as I am in the state to write I have to collect my little girl from the Kindergarden. Many things slow me down, I hope this somehow helps to publish a better book, connecting more to the real world and not just talking about dreams that seem too far away to reach. 

Yet, we have all of them who already manage to make a big difference like him: Brown's Ranch | "Regenerating Landscapes for a Sustainable Future" or him: Whole Systems Design - Who We Are and him: Holistic Management - The Savory Institute | Savory or them: Welcome | Transition Network


----------



## minicoop1985

IT'S COMING TODAY!!!!!! What will it be? Well it's a Hasselblad of course, but what iteration will it be? STAY TUNED, folks!

Frank, 3 hours of writing sounds insane. I salute you in writing your book.


----------



## minicoop1985

IT'S ON THE TRUCK FOR DELIVERY AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


----------



## KenC

Voted.  Waited on the long line - good to see people taking it seriously.  Get out there everyone.


----------



## minicoop1985

I'll be voting when my wife gets done with work.


----------



## limr

Voted at 7 a.m. this morning. I think I waited in line behind one person. I was in and then back on the road within 10 minutes. But I also live in a small town and I would be shocked if there were a line. 

The man handing out stickers gave me a huge smile and held my hand for a second when he handed me the sticker. Apparently, I was beaming


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Voted at 7 a.m. this morning. I think I waited in line behind one person. I was in and then back on the road within 10 minutes. But I also live in a small town and I would be shocked if there were a line.
> 
> The man handing out stickers gave me a huge smile and held my hand for a second when he handed me the sticker. Apparently, I was beaming



I was more "green around the gills" than "beaming".


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Such a sweet story.
> 
> On a somewhat related note, I'm not sure if/what cell phone you have, but the Waze app is pretty neat. I've gotten myself out of hours worth of traffic using it. It is a crowdsourcing app that uses data from other users. It will pick the best route (although, sometimes silly*) based on current traffic. Just last week it alerted me to a 3 out of 4 lane closure nearby due to a very bad accident, which resulted in me taking a slightly different route home but saved 45+ minutes of traffic. Pretty nifty.
> 
> *The reason I say "sometimes silly" is because it has occasionally routed me 10 additional miles to save 3-4 minutes on my drive, which I don't think is worth the extra mileage.



Thanks 
I've got Waze on my phone and use it from time to time. I believe it's what Buzz used to help me get around the traffic. And now I have to do a few more dry runs of that route so I can remember it without Waze the next time I hit traffic at that spot! 



vintagesnaps said:


> Leo's not a morning person, who knew? <--- sarcasm
> 
> My parents are still here with us. At family holidays usually at some point my brother and I just look at each other like - at least it's not an age thing, they've always been like this...



I know, it was shocking news, wasn't it? 



NancyMoranG said:


> Happy belated birthday MiniCoop.
> Sweet dad story Limr.
> Thanks for the Election Day wishes Frank!





jcdeboever said:


> Printed out my sample ballot, ready to go tomorrow. Nice story about Daddy Limr, made me call mine.



Thanks for reading  Hope you had a good conversation with your dad, JC.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Such a sweet story. [emoji2]
> 
> On a somewhat related note, I'm not sure if/what cell phone you have, but the Waze app is pretty neat. I've gotten myself out of hours worth of traffic using it. It is a crowdsourcing app that uses data from other users. It will pick the best route (although, sometimes silly*) based on current traffic. Just last week it alerted me to a 3 out of 4 lane closure nearby due to a very bad accident, which resulted in me taking a slightly different route home but saved 45+ minutes of traffic. Pretty nifty.
> 
> *The reason I say "sometimes silly" is because it has occasionally routed me 10 additional miles to save 3-4 minutes on my drive, which I don't think is worth the extra mileage.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks
> I've got Waze on my phone and use it from time to time. I believe it's what Buzz used to help me get around the traffic. And now I have to do a few more dry runs of that route so I can remember it without Waze the next time I hit traffic at that spot!
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leo's not a morning person, who knew? <--- sarcasm
> 
> My parents are still here with us. At family holidays usually at some point my brother and I just look at each other like - at least it's not an age thing, they've always been like this...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I know, it was shocking news, wasn't it?
> 
> 
> 
> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy belated birthday MiniCoop.
> Sweet dad story Limr.
> Thanks for the Election Day wishes Frank!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Printed out my sample ballot, ready to go tomorrow. Nice story about Daddy Limr, made me call mine.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks for reading  Hope you had a good conversation with your dad, JC.
Click to expand...

He didn't seem like he wanted to talk, pushed me off to mother. He is weird that way (phone calls). I always tell him I love him, he never says it back. Oh well, it's better to understand than to be understood.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> He didn't seem like he wanted to talk, pushed me off to mother. He is weird that way (phone calls). I always tell him I love him, he never says it back. Oh well, it's better to understand than to be understood.



My father was the same on the phone. I never really sat down and talked with my father the way some people do. When I called home, he would generally ask me two questions: "Are you okay/happy?" and "How's the car?" If the answers to those two questions were "yes" then he was satisfied. Then he'd put my mother on, who would blather on and read me the weekly grocery store flyer while I desperately wished she could get off the phone as easily as my father could.


----------



## Didereaux

whoever gets elected had better not find themselves in front of my old truck....its brakes are really shot!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. VOTO! VOTO! VOTO!

Gawd, Gary and Mary Lou are both so glad this is over.  Gary will wait until this evening to vote with Mary Lou. Gary will drive by his polling place earlier just to see if there are any 'poll watchers', (both federal and private).  Gary feels for those in the battleground states being pummeled every single day. On the flip side of the coin, Gary is sad that he missed all the action of a battleground state. A headline in today's LA Times "A deep-blue state again sits out the drama".  The most interesting story on the front page is "CHINESE SPIES IN A FIELD OF DREAMS". A very interesting story of Chinese industrial espionage stating that said espionage cost U.S. companies at least $150 billion annually. The story opens up with an Iowa farmer catching Mo Hailong, a Chinese national, digging up seeds in a cornfield, seeds that were so confidential that not even the farmer knew exactly what he was growing.  Mo Hailong was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison.  A real eye opener of an article. Another article which caught Gary's attention has the headline of "They have 270 reasons to not vote". A story about a small reservation in Nevada which has 270 mile round trip to the nearest polling place.  Gary felt bad/alarmed et cetera, then deeper in the story it mentioned that voting by mail was available ...


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> ... Oh well, it's better to understand than to be understood.



That is profound. Thanks for making Gary think.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Gary feels for those in the battleground states being pummeled every single day.


In central PA, we've been pummeled from both sides, with nearly every commercial break filled with political advertisements. Some are funny, some are frustrating. According to some misleading ads, the politicians seem to have much greater power than they actually have in their position.

I'm guessing Clinton to be favored in PA, as well as McGinty for senate against Toomey.

Trump signs litter our area, while Clinton signs are essentially non-existent. It's odd to see Trump signs aligned with Democratic senate/other on the same lawns. Interesting that they'll vote for Trump for president and Democrat everywhere else. It either tells you how they feel about Clinton or how they feel about politicians in general. Still, odd.

The wife and I already voted this morning. For my relatively less populated precinct (compared to some areas of the state), I was surprised to see about 30-40 people ahead of us in line.

Also saw people standing just outside the door with pro-one-side shirts on. I had thought they needed to be 100-feet away, but because I didn't know the laws well enough to quote, I chose not to speak up. But, I ignored their morning greetings, so take that, ha.

Person: Good Morning.
Wade: Looks straight ahead, ignores person.
Person (with lots of emphasis): GOOD MORNING
Wade: Looks straight ahead, walks in the building.​
I saw who they're electioneering for; I didn't need to take an extra look.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Also saw people standing just outside the door with pro-one-side shirts on. I had thought they needed to be 100-feet away, but because I didn't know the laws well enough to quote, I chose not to speak up. But, I ignored their morning greetings, so take that, ha.
> 
> Person: Good Morning.
> Wade: Looks straight ahead, ignores person.
> Person (with lots of emphasis): GOOD MORNING
> Wade: Looks straight ahead, walks in the building.​
> I saw who they're electioneering for; I didn't need to take an extra look.



A friend in PA experienced the same. She has reported it already.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> A friend in PA experienced the same. She has reported it already.


Hmm. I may have to do the same.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... Oh well, it's better to understand than to be understood.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is profound. Thanks for making Gary think.
Click to expand...

But... do you understand?


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary feels for those in the battleground states being pummeled every single day.
> 
> 
> 
> In central PA, we've been pummeled from both sides, with nearly every commercial break filled with political advertisements. Some are funny, some are frustrating. According to some misleading ads, the politicians seem to have much greater power than they actually have in their position.
> 
> I'm guessing Clinton to be favored in PA, as well as McGinty for senate against Toomey.
> 
> Trump signs litter our area, while Clinton signs are essentially non-existent. It's odd to see Trump signs aligned with Democratic senate/other on the same lawns. Interesting that they'll vote for Trump for president and Democrat everywhere else. It either tells you how they feel about Clinton or how they feel about politicians in general. Still, odd.
> 
> The wife and I already voted this morning. For my relatively less populated precinct (compared to some areas of the state), I was surprised to see about 30-40 people ahead of us in line.
> 
> Also saw people standing just outside the door with pro-one-side shirts on. I had thought they needed to be 100-feet away, but because I didn't know the laws well enough to quote, I chose not to speak up. But, I ignored their morning greetings, so take that, ha.
> 
> Person: Good Morning.
> Wade: Looks straight ahead, ignores person.
> Person (with lots of emphasis): GOOD MORNING
> Wade: Looks straight ahead, walks in the building.​
> I saw who they're electioneering for; I didn't need to take an extra look.
Click to expand...

States control voting ... in California all political messages must be 100' away from polls.

What is quite interesting is that Gary has yet to see any Trump or Clinton yard signs ... anywhere.  Today Gary will make a point of looking around for same.  Tons of down-ballot signs, especially all the propositions contained in the 270 page state published voter guide.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... Oh well, it's better to understand than to be understood.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is profound. Thanks for making Gary think.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> But... do you understand?
Click to expand...

Dunno, hence the thinking part ...


----------



## Frank F.

On a day that seeems so important to many, we can calibrate our vision by looking into the far past of 55,5 Million years ago.

Climate Change could possibly bring these times back in the very near future. Start here: Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum - Wikipedia


----------



## waday

Frank F. said:


> On a day that seeems so important to many, we can calibrate our vision by looking tnto the far past of 55,5 Million years ago.
> 
> Climate Change could possibly bring these times back in the very near future. Start here: Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum - Wikipedia


Thus, in this Anthropocene Epoch, we need to have leaders in the world that understand science. Electing such a leader starts at the voting booth*, at least in the USA.

*Arguably, it starts in our schools, as an educated electorate are much better for the positive progress of our world than an uneducated electorate.


----------



## robbins.photo

Frank F. said:


> On a day that seeems so important to many, we can calibrate our vision by looking into the far past of 55,5 Million years ago.
> 
> Climate Change could possibly bring these times back in the very near future. Start here:



Ok, so suffering through the election is bad enough.  Please lets not open a debate on some ridiculous political topic like Climate Change, etc.  Feel free to keep your opinions on the topic to yourself, or find a forum for such discussions.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Voted at 7 a.m. this morning. I think I waited in line behind one person. I was in and then back on the road within 10 minutes. But I also live in a small town and I would be shocked if there were a line.
> 
> The man handing out stickers gave me a huge smile and held my hand for a second when he handed me the sticker. Apparently, I was beaming


I voted last week, so I didn't have to think about it today.        I LOVE early voting!   

Hubby and I are driving out to a nursery to focus on whether or not to get some new trees planted this fall, before it gets too cold.   Somehow walking around a nursery will feel...nice.    Time enough to freak out later in the day.   I got wine for that!    

Get out and vote, everyone!


----------



## terri

robbins.photo said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> On a day that seeems so important to many, we can calibrate our vision by looking into the far past of 55,5 Million years ago.
> 
> Climate Change could possibly bring these times back in the very near future. Start here:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, so suffering through the election is bad enough.  Please lets not open a debate on some ridiculous political topic like Climate Change, etc.  Feel free to keep your opinions on the topic to yourself, or find a forum for such discussions.
Click to expand...

It's appropriate to remind everyone that politics or any *hot button* topic is generally frowned upon here in Off Topic.   However, let's be pleasant about it and skip the editorializing.     

It's an emotional day for Americans.   Let's be nice and supportive to one another as we celebrate our democracy by the act of voting.


----------



## Gary A.

What trees, kind of trees are you looking for? Fruit, ornamental, shade ... a combo ...

As an important update, Gary received two four inch tea and one four inch coffee plants.  The Coffee and one Tea are doing well, lost a Tea tree.


----------



## Frank F.

Wade: As long as we have democracy, politicial decisions will be as educated or uneducated as the people who vote for parliament and leaders. We have a physicist as Chancellor of Germany and she decides for stupid things just to stay in power. Things that she must know by her education cannot work the way she and the parliaments decided.

Yet she knows no one will vote for her if she simply does the right thing. His predecessor tried it, she is warned. What her predesessor did was mostly gather the best experts on any topic that needed a decision. Then let them figure and fight out a good solution, then pass that as a proposal on to the parliaments.

How people did not like it and how it is still the base of Germany's success today. How far down we were before he did it, how far up we are today. I wish there came another man or woman that couragous and push us into a sustainable world.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> What trees, kind of trees are you looking for? Fruit, ornamental, shade ... a combo ...


Actually, I am challenged because I am looking for a _small_ tree.   As in, one that won't grow much taller than 15-20'.    Plus not too wide a spread at maturity.    The area in question is a small plot of ground next to our open deck, where I'm looking for some eventual privacy from the leaves.    Right now, there is a partially-dead forsythia in there, which has a massive spread and not much height.   Kinda ugly, really, but it was here when we moved in and I'm just now deciding it must go.   I'm kinda/sorta leaning towards a type of Japanese maple - not the dwarf of the species, though.


----------



## Frank F.

terri said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> On a day that seeems so important to many, we can calibrate our vision by looking into the far past of 55,5 Million years ago.
> 
> Climate Change could possibly bring these times back in the very near future. Start here:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, so suffering through the election is bad enough.  Please lets not open a debate on some ridiculous political topic like Climate Change, etc.  Feel free to keep your opinions on the topic to yourself, or find a forum for such discussions.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's appropriate to remind everyone that politics or any *hot button* topic is generally frowned upon here in Off Topic.   However, let's be pleasant about it and skip the editorializing.      It's an emotional day for Americans.   Let's be nice and supportive to one another as we celebrate our democracy by the act of voting.
Click to expand...



Hi Terri,

I do not understand your message. "Climate Change" as discussed by me & in the book I currently write is *NOT* a political issue, it is a scientific issue. I am a physicist. In science the is right or wrong and there is proof or counter proof, in science there is no such thing as "opinion.

In politics these is right or left and every one can have an opinion without needing any knowledge or proof.

Plus: I can see *YOUR* message and your quoting "robbins.photo" but I cannot see the actual post you are reffering to.

Thank you for enlightening me.

Frank


----------



## Frank F.

the tree question could also be answered by one of my favourire gardeners: http://www.perennialsolutions.org/


----------



## terri

Frank F. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> On a day that seeems so important to many, we can calibrate our vision by looking into the far past of 55,5 Million years ago.
> 
> Climate Change could possibly bring these times back in the very near future. Start here:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, so suffering through the election is bad enough.  Please lets not open a debate on some ridiculous political topic like Climate Change, etc.  Feel free to keep your opinions on the topic to yourself, or find a forum for such discussions.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's appropriate to remind everyone that politics or any *hot button* topic is generally frowned upon here in Off Topic.   However, let's be pleasant about it and skip the editorializing.      It's an emotional day for Americans.   Let's be nice and supportive to one another as we celebrate our democracy by the act of voting.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Terri,
> 
> I do not understand your message. "Climate Change" as discussed by me & in the book I currently write is *NOT* a political issue, it is a scientific issue. I am a physicist. In science the is right or wrong and there is proof or counter proof, in science there is no such thing as "opinion.
> 
> In politics these is right or left and every one can have an opinion without needing and knowledge or proof.
> 
> Plus: I can see *YOUR* message and your quoting "robbins.photo" but I cannot see the actual post you are reffering to.
> Thank you for enlightening me.
> 
> Frank
Click to expand...

Hi Frank - climate change has become politicized in the U.S.    I understand you're from Germany, where perhaps it is not so.   So here, the very words can elicit strong reactions from those who feel deeply one way or another, as affiliated with their political party/personal beliefs.     Thank you for understanding!



Frank F. said:


> Plus: I can see *YOUR* message and your quoting "robbins.photo" but I cannot see the actual post you are reffering to.



That can be frustrating, can't it?   Click on the small "click to expand" words at the very bottom of quoted windows in any post; that opens up the entire line of messages so you can follow what's being replied to.


----------



## terri

Frank F. said:


> the tree question could also be answered by one of my favourire gardeners: http://www.perennialsolutions.org/


Thank you!


----------



## Frank F.

Thank you Terri. I figured it out myself now. The quoted message was on an earlier page. Sorry.


----------



## minicoop1985

Amidst all the political crap going on today, there's a bright spot:




IMG_0277 by Michael Long, on Flickr

IT'S HEREEEE


----------



## vintagesnaps

The Great Pumpkin came to your house again??!?!!


----------



## minicoop1985

Yes, bearing photographic gifts


----------



## vintagesnaps

Coop now you got me listening to REM on YouTube...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Orange Crush.


----------



## waday

Does it have a pop-up flash?


----------



## minicoop1985

waday said:


> Does it have a pop-up flash?


Sadly, yeah...


----------



## minicoop1985

I discovered that this has a full auto mode. Like... Who the hell buys a $30,000 camera and puts it on AUTO


----------



## b_twill

minicoop1985 said:


> I discovered that this has a full auto mode. Like... Who the hell buys a $30,000 camera and puts it on AUTO



How else is one supposed to take a selfie?


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> I discovered that this has a full auto mode. Like... Who the hell buys a $30,000 camera and puts it on AUTO


Lenny Kravitz


----------



## minicoop1985

Good point, guys.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, regardless of who won, I'[m moving to Europe probably. I have a friend in Belgium that has room for us.


----------



## JonA_CT

It's over. I can be thankful for that at least.

My week has been crazy regardless...we are redoing the two main livings areas in our house. Between work 1 and work 2 and spackling and painting and putting ikea furniture together...I'm absolutely exhausted. But things are coming together, and I think we will enjoy our living spaces much more.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> I discovered that this has a full auto mode. Like... Who the hell buys a $30,000 camera and puts it on AUTO


Lol.. you could have stopped that sentence at Who the he'll buys a $30,000 camera..

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> It's over. I can be thankful for that at least.
> 
> My week has been crazy regardless...we are redoing the two main livings areas in our house. Between work 1 and work 2 and spackling and painting and putting ikea furniture together...I'm absolutely exhausted. But things are coming together, and I think we will enjoy our living spaces much more.



Having spent many hours putting ikea furniture together (2 beds with 4 drawers for each) you have my total and complete sympathy.  May I recommend a good chiropractor followed by a 2 hour massage.


----------



## JonA_CT

KIVIK Sectional, 5-seat corner - Dansbo dark gray  - IKEA

That was the main project...we needed a small sectional and they were the only people who seem to sell furniture for small houses.

We did it on Monday after my normal teaching job plus faculty meeting, and then my 3 hour college class. We got started at about 9...finished at about 11:30. But honestly, the hardest part was figuring out how to get them home in the first place. We had two boxes that were 175 lbs each, and then two more that were close to 100lbs.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> KIVIK Sectional, 5-seat corner - Dansbo dark gray  - IKEA
> 
> That was the main project...we needed a small sectional and they were the only people who seem to sell furniture for small houses.
> 
> We did it on Monday after my normal teaching job plus faculty meeting, and then my 3 hour college class. We got started at about 9...finished at about 11:30. But honestly, the hardest part was figuring out how to get them home in the first place. We had two boxes that were 175 lbs each, and then two more that were close to 100lbs.



Agree.  If they had a better delivery option, we would have considered them when updating our other rooms but unless you have a van and a few strong helpers, it's not easy.


----------



## KenC

SquarePeg said:


> Having spent many hours putting ikea furniture together (2 beds with 4 drawers for each) you have my total and complete sympathy.  May I recommend a good chiropractor followed by a 2 hour massage.



Yeah, I've given up on them.  I did find that the big-box hardware stores carry a lot of the Ikea connectors, so if they screw up on the parts inventory you can always get the ones you need.


----------



## minicoop1985

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I discovered that this has a full auto mode. Like... Who the hell buys a $30,000 camera and puts it on AUTO
> 
> 
> 
> Lol.. you could have stopped that sentence at Who the he'll buys a $30,000 camera..
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


There is that too, isn't there...


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, hosers. It appears that my lens will be here Friday! YAY I'll have a chance to use it too! I can't wait to try this beast out. Now for some more 77mm filters...


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What trees, kind of trees are you looking for? Fruit, ornamental, shade ... a combo ...
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, I am challenged because I am looking for a _small_ tree.   As in, one that won't grow much taller than 15-20'.    Plus not too wide a spread at maturity.    The area in question is a small plot of ground next to our open deck, where I'm looking for some eventual privacy from the leaves.    Right now, there is a partially-dead forsythia in there, which has a massive spread and not much height.   Kinda ugly, really, but it was here when we moved in and I'm just now deciding it must go.   I'm kinda/sorta leaning towards a type of Japanese maple - not the dwarf of the species, though.
Click to expand...

We have a couple different Japanese Maples ... they tend to grow slow ... very slow.  How about a Flowering Maple, they grow fast, super blooms which attract Hummers ... and, while not dense foliage, thicker than a Japanese Maple, also Japanese Maples are deciduous, A Flowering Maple holds its leaves all year round.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> It's over. I can be thankful for that at least.
> 
> My week has been crazy regardless...we are redoing the two main livings areas in our house. Between work 1 and work 2 and spackling and painting and putting ikea furniture together...I'm absolutely exhausted. But things are coming together, and I think we will enjoy our living spaces much more.


When Gary and Mary Lou refinished their living room floor, we decided to paint as everything was pretty much moved out.  Three different colors, the ceiling was one color, the west wall was a different color and the remaining walls a third color. That was a real female dog ... it looks great ... but man it was a lot of work.  Therefore, Gary suggests you use multiple colors on your walls.


----------



## Gary A.

Quote from Will Rogers:

"There is only one redeeming thing about this whole election. It will be over at sundown, and let everybody pray that it's not a tie, for we couldn't go through with this thing again."


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What trees, kind of trees are you looking for? Fruit, ornamental, shade ... a combo ...
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, I am challenged because I am looking for a _small_ tree.   As in, one that won't grow much taller than 15-20'.    Plus not too wide a spread at maturity.    The area in question is a small plot of ground next to our open deck, where I'm looking for some eventual privacy from the leaves.    Right now, there is a partially-dead forsythia in there, which has a massive spread and not much height.   Kinda ugly, really, but it was here when we moved in and I'm just now deciding it must go.   I'm kinda/sorta leaning towards a type of Japanese maple - not the dwarf of the species, though.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We have a couple different Japanese Maples ... they tend to grow slow ... very slow.  How about a Flowering Maple, they grow fast, super blooms which attract Hummers ... and, while not dense foliage, thicker than a Japanese Maple, also Japanese Maples are deciduous, A Flowering Maple holds its leaves all year round.
Click to expand...

I had trouble finding much info on them, and it seems they are not a good choice for my latitude - too cold.   The Japanese maple I found yesterday is already 8' tall.   Expensive, since I'd have to pay to have someone install a root ball like that.   But the height is already pretty good for what I'm trying to achieve, and the crown is lovely.   I don't mind that it's deciduous, as we don't sit there much in the winter.   I have a screened in porch next to this open deck area, and we can plug a space heater in there.


----------



## Gary A.

Both the Maple and the Hummers would appreciate the heater.


----------



## minicoop1985

When I hear Hummer I think of the truck. lol

Tomorrow's the big day! I anticipate taking a nice sunrise shot on Sunday over Lake Michigan.


----------



## waday

minicoop1985 said:


> When I hear Hummer I think of the truck. lol


Since they were shut down, I don't see too many of them around here anymore. A good thing, IMO.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is into his second cup of Colombian Supremo.  He is busy working his little and stubby fingers down to the bone.  It is hot, hot, hot out here.  It is hotter now than summer.  Wierd.


----------



## jcdeboever

When I think back
On all the crap I learned in high school
It's a wonder
I can think at all
And though my lack of education
Hasn't hurt me none
I can read the writing on the wall

Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don't take my Kodachrome away

If you took all the girls I knew
When I was single
And brought them all together for one night
I know they'd never match
My sweet imagination
Everything looks worse in black and white

Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama… Full lyrics on Google Play Music


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> When I think back
> On all the crap I learned in high school
> It's a wonder
> I can think at all
> And though my lack of education
> Hasn't hurt me none
> I can read the writing on the wall
> 
> Kodachrome
> They give us those nice bright colors
> They give us the greens of summers
> Makes you think all the world's a sunny day
> I got a Nikon camera
> I love to take a photograph
> So mama don't take my Kodachrome away
> 
> If you took all the girls I knew
> When I was single
> And brought them all together for one night
> I know they'd never match
> My sweet imagination
> Everything looks worse in black and white
> 
> Kodachrome
> They give us those nice bright colors
> They give us the greens of summers
> Makes you think all the world's a sunny day
> I got a Nikon camera
> I love to take a photograph
> So mama… Full lyrics on Google Play Music


Kodachrome - Gary Ayala


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> When I think back
> On all the crap I learned in high school
> It's a wonder
> I can think at all
> And though my lack of education
> Hasn't hurt me none
> I can read the writing on the wall
> 
> Kodachrome
> They give us those nice bright colors
> They give us the greens of summers
> Makes you think all the world's a sunny day
> I got a Nikon camera
> I love to take a photograph
> So mama don't take my Kodachrome away
> 
> If you took all the girls I knew
> When I was single
> And brought them all together for one night
> I know they'd never match
> My sweet imagination
> Everything looks worse in black and white
> 
> Kodachrome
> They give us those nice bright colors
> They give us the greens of summers
> Makes you think all the world's a sunny day
> I got a Nikon camera
> I love to take a photograph
> So mama… Full lyrics on Google Play Music
> 
> 
> 
> Kodachrome - Gary Ayala
Click to expand...


You are so awesome brother. What a fantastic video! You really know how to cheer a guy up. Man, u bro!


----------



## b_twill

minicoop1985 said:


> Tomorrow's the big day! I anticipate taking a nice sunrise shot on Sunday over Lake Michigan.


Wait, wha?  Sunrise over Lake Michigan?  Oh yeah, you're on the other side of the puddle.  Don't hear sunrise and Lake Michigan in the same sentance over here.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary: All these photos are scanned slides? Wow. I loved you before, but this is even more awesome ....

... and the fairies are shipped to Germany!


----------



## minicoop1985

b_twill said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tomorrow's the big day! I anticipate taking a nice sunrise shot on Sunday over Lake Michigan.
> 
> 
> 
> Wait, wha?  Sunrise over Lake Michigan?  Oh yeah, you're on the other side of the puddle.  Don't hear sunrise and Lake Michigan in the same sentance over here.
Click to expand...

Lol. There is that, isn't there? It should be spectacular if the weather cooperates.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Today is Veteran's Day ... find a Vet and thank them.  Yesterday was the United States Marine Corp birthday ... Oorah!


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Today is Veteran's Day ... find a Vet and thank them.  Yesterday was the United States Marine Corp birthday ... Oorah!



Thank me for what?


----------



## minicoop1985

I thanked my vet friends. It's the right thing to do.

IT'S HEREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE THE LENS IS HERE I CAN USE MY HASSELBLAD YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Today is Veteran's Day ... find a Vet and thank them.  Yesterday was the United States Marine Corp birthday ... Oorah!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thank me for what?
Click to expand...

If you're a Veteran, thank you for your service!  If you're a veterinarian ... hey, thanks for saving dogs, cats, et al.


----------



## terri

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Today is Veteran's Day ... find a Vet and thank them.  Yesterday was the United States Marine Corp birthday ... Oorah!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thank me for what?
Click to expand...

Just for being you!


----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> Just for being you!



Huh...ok, well usually that gets me arrested.. or at the very least shot at.  But sure.. your welcome I guess...

Lol


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> If you're a Veteran, thank you for your service!  If you're a veterinarian ... hey, thanks for saving dogs, cats, et al.



Veteran.   When I was a kid I saw a veterinarian give the cow equivalent of a prostate exam.  Pretty much kiboshed that career field right there.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Okay so then it was good that my aunt and uncle raised pigs not cows...

You shipped fairies? couldn't they fly that far?

Thanks to all the vets for their service.

I don't plan to do jack sh$&# today. Watched a Hitchcock movie and deciding what to watch next.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Okay so then it was good that my aunt and uncle raised pigs not cows...
> 
> You shipped fairies? couldn't they fly that far?
> 
> Thanks to all the vets for their service.
> 
> I don't plan to do jack sh$&# today. Watched a Hitchcock movie and deciding what to watch next.


I'm watching Stalag 13. Git a new (old) VHS tape at the goodwill for .25¢


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you're a Veteran, thank you for your service!  If you're a veterinarian ... hey, thanks for saving dogs, cats, et al.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Veteran.   When I was a kid I saw a veterinarian give the cow equivalent of a prostate exam.  Pretty much kiboshed that career field right there.
Click to expand...

Then thank you very much for your service and sacrifice.  

(Growing up in an agrarian community and dating the daughter of a vet ... watching her father thrust an arm elbow deep into a cow or horse isn't for the squeamish.)


----------



## vintagesnaps

Thanks, that made me think... my grandma had a chicken coop where she lived when we were little although I don't think by then she was raising actual chickens. But after she passed away and I was helping my aunt clean out the house I found a capon kit and asked, what's a capon kit? my aunt just gave me a look and I was like, what? My dad used to talk about how they killed turkeys every year and he was the youngest and had to hold the rope. I'm glad I missed out on all that... and that my parents were not farmers even though his side of the family was.

How did we survive childhood?? Here kids go in the yard and toss these pointy darts at each other and then we'll tell ya horror stories about the Depression and farm life! lol or pile 10 kids in the back of the car with no seat belts - hang on going around corners!


----------



## jcdeboever

Correction, Stalag 17, 1953 with William Holden. Sorry for that. Can't wait.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> How did we survive childhood?? Here kids go in the yard and toss these pointy darts at each other and then we'll tell ya horror stories about the Depression and farm life! lol or pile 10 kids in the back of the car with no seat belts - hang on going around corners!


I lived in DC until I was about 8, then we moved to the suburbs.  We had a couple of gravel pits, bordered by woodlots which provided endless entertainment when I was a kid.  One area had many small poplar trees, perfect for making into hiking sticks, a few wild blackberry patches providing buckets-full of treats, open areas to launch model rockets, and a couple of creeks with plenty of minnows and tadpoles to catch.  I remember finding a large deposit of white sand amidst the dirt and quartz stones - maybe that's what started my interest in physical geography.


----------



## JonA_CT

My Dad (20 year Navy vet) was away on business today, so I didn't have the opportunity to take him to lunch as per our tradition.

I ended up going golfing instead...we got paired up with two Navy vets. We made sure they stayed hydrated throughout the round, of course, although it was pretty frustrating out there today. We had winds gusting to 40 mph and the leaves made it impossible to find even well-struck balls on the fairway. My personal favorite shot was on a short downhill par 3...without the wind, it would be lob wedge shot for me. Today, I took a longer club, got a hold of it, and watched it as it got caught by the wind. It ended up about 20 yards short of the hole and half buried in the fairway.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is watching The Battle of Midway.  During WWII, Gary's father and Uncle were Marines.  Dad was with the first wave at Guadacanal and Uncle Marcy was severely wounded at Bougainville. 

The Greatest Generation.


----------



## ZombiesniperJr

Thank you to all veterans for your service


----------



## jcdeboever

25° this morning....


----------



## minicoop1985

Thanks to all who served. We owe you everything.

My microwave might be shot. Didn't warm up my coffee. Ugh.


----------



## Frank F.

vintagesnaps said:


> You shipped fairies? couldn't they fly that far?



not on their own: beauty seen through a shop window


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> (Growing up in an agrarian community and dating the daughter of a vet ... watching her father thrust an arm elbow deep into a cow or horse isn't for the squeamish.)



My Granddad hat sheep, I once har a herd of goats. These animals sometimes need help giving birth, so that is what we did.

Strangely I feel not bad about helping an animal, yet I feel I could never do that to a human as a job. 

In case of emergency, different story. In case of emergency we grow beyond our normal height don't we all?


----------



## SquarePeg

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you're a Veteran, thank you for your service!  If you're a veterinarian ... hey, thanks for saving dogs, cats, et al.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Veteran.   When I was a kid I saw a veterinarian give the cow equivalent of a prostate exam.  Pretty much kiboshed that career field right there.
Click to expand...


Just wondering if you ever found any resources to help with your eyes?  Can the VA help?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  This will be another warm day, in the upper 80's.  But is so dry that Gary is quite comfortable walking around, even in a suit.  The temps have been a roller coaster, one week in the 70's then the next in the upper 80's even breaking 90F. It been warmer in October/November than in summer. Lots to do today ... including Dim Sum at 11;00.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm on my way to IKEA for the third time in 7 days.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> I'm on my way to IKEA for the third time in 7 days.


Sorry!


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you're a Veteran, thank you for your service!  If you're a veterinarian ... hey, thanks for saving dogs, cats, et al.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Veteran.   When I was a kid I saw a veterinarian give the cow equivalent of a prostate exam.  Pretty much kiboshed that career field right there.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Just wondering if you ever found any resources to help with your eyes?  Can the VA help?
Click to expand...

Well I bit the bullet and signed up for Obama care... Not that it's going to save me anything.

The premiums are so expensive and the deductible is so high that if I actually end up keeping the insurance for a full year I'll end up spending more than I would out of pocket.

All it really does is let me pay it in slightly smaller instalments so not a great option but only one I have atm.  





Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy hosers. Gonna be one long day. Sloooooow. And I'm so freaking tired.

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

USC (20) defeats Washington (4)
26-13


----------



## Gary A.

The Trojans are back.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I'm on my way to IKEA for the third time in 7 days.



and your still putting the crap together a week later....


----------



## jupsten

Gary A. said:


> Gary is watching The Battle of Midway.  During WWII, Gary's father and Uncle were Marines.  Dad was with the first wave at Guadacanal and Uncle Marcy was severely wounded at Bougainville.
> 
> The Greatest Generation.



1st MARDIV! OOHRAH! 
Utmost respect.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm on my way to IKEA for the third time in 7 days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> and your still putting the crap together a week later....
Click to expand...


... and you lose and/or break two pegs.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm on my way to IKEA for the third time in 7 days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> and your still putting the crap together a week later....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> ... and you lose and/or break two pegs.
Click to expand...


Here, make it a fun word game!


----------



## snowbear

The usual line we get from Ikea: LÖPSYDID


----------



## minicoop1985

Here's my assemble it yourself camera in action:




2016-11-13_10-56-29 by Michael Long, on Flickr

 Since we're on the topic of Swedish things you assemble, it seems fitting.


----------



## Frank F.

You should have gone to IKEA to get it.


----------



## JonA_CT

Anyone else dubious of some of these super moon photos? I know journalists wouldn't do it, but I just have a nagging feeling that there are a bunch of people
altering the photos I've seen on  social media. Even with my limited photo shop skills, it'd be pretty easy to move and resize the moon.

I might also just be cranky this morning, haha.


----------



## JonA_CT

While I am in a complaining mood...the same two camera ads have been posted for at least a year on Craigslist. 

No, someone will not buy your Canon AE-1 with no lenses for $250.

No, someone will not buy your Canon 40D with kit lens for $525. 

I think I need some more coffee.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> While I am in a complaining mood...the same two camera ads have been posted for at least a year on Craigslist.
> 
> No, someone will not buy your Canon AE-1 with no lenses for $250.
> 
> No, someone will not buy your Canon 40D with kit lens for $525.
> 
> I think I need some more coffee.



Yeah, you're not wrong about the ads, though you also probably need more coffee anyway  I know I do!

Hey there, the rest of you hosers.

I'm feeling the need for art therapy. Time to do some emulsion lifts!


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Anyone else dubious of some of these super moon photos? I know journalists wouldn't do it, but I just have a nagging feeling that there are a bunch of people
> altering the photos I've seen on  social media. Even with my limited photo shop skills, it'd be pretty easy to move and resize the moon.
> 
> I might also just be cranky this morning, haha.



Are there journalists anymore?  Seems like all the  shots I saw on news sights were courtesy of Sally in Sometown - loyal reader (or watcher or listener.) 

Drove an hour north tonight to shoot the super moon at Nubble Light in York ME only to have the clouds roll in right as it moved into position over the house. Disappointed and frozen, we got a pizza and a beer and headed back home.   This was the scene leading up to the moonrise:




 

It got much more crowded!  This one guy decided that he could squeeze in between me and this other woman who had also been there an hour before him and then while setting up he dropped his camera body and lens on the rocks. Karma?  Though I wouldn't wish that on anyone.   I did feel bad for him and it seemed no apparent damage, he got lucky.


----------



## Gary A.

Those are all photojournalists.


----------



## snowbear

It's going to be a l-o-n-g week.  I am attending a training class that will provide basic qualification to be a GIS Specialist (trainee) on wildland fire incidents.  The course has been modified to encompass _all hazards_ - hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, major snow storms, hazmat incidents, etc., keeping within the Incident Command System.

For the DC area residents, I will be commuting form Waldorf, MD to the Fair Lakes area of Fairfax Co. through Thursday.  I get to play on the MD 210, the WW Bridge, the Springfield-to-Tysons part of I-495, and I-66.  For those outside the area, tonight's adventure (I stayed in Fairfax last night, because, well - Monday morning) was just over two hours, door-to-door. The first part of the leg was "against the flow" and actually shorter than had I been going _to_ Fairfax.

I've been told that traffic is worse on Tuesday than Monday, so I guess I'd better allow two-one-half to three hours for the morning's drive.  I guess I should have made the hotel stay all week.  I will never learn.


----------



## jcdeboever

I would trip and fall on those rocks, crack my head open, bust my camera, and than have to listen to my wife yell at me all the way home... I'll take the shots and beers though.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ugh. Shot the super moon. Didn't get ANYTHING I liked out of it. Not the camera, it's the user. Of course.I can't find my card reader either, so I guess I'll never know if I did get something decent...


----------



## minicoop1985

Found my card reader. Nope, they all suck. I was too late for the moon rise. Sunday I saw it between buildings in Chicago... ugh I wish I would have stopped.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> It's going to be a l-o-n-g week.  I am attending a training class that will provide basic qualification to be a GIS Specialist (trainee) on wildland fire incidents.  The course has been modified to encompass _all hazards_ - hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, major snow storms, hazmat incidents, etc., keeping within the Incident Command System.
> 
> For the DC area residents, I will be commuting form Waldorf, MD to the Fair Lakes area of Fairfax Co. through Thursday.  I get to play on the MD 210, the WW Bridge, the Springfield-to-Tysons part of I-495, and I-66.  For those outside the area, tonight's adventure (I stayed in Fairfax last night, because, well - Monday morning) was just over two hours, door-to-door. The first part of the leg was "against the flow" and actually shorter than had I been going _to_ Fairfax.
> 
> I've been told that traffic is worse on Tuesday than Monday, so I guess I'd better allow two-one-half to three hours for the morning's drive.  I guess I should have made the hotel stay all week.  I will never learn.


Be careful, have fun!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Much cooler this morning then a few mornings from yesterdays. The Moon was awesome.  Gary thought about a beach shot of the Moon but guests were coming over.  It was a pleasant dinner of roasted chicken, turkey loaf, cole slaw, guacamole, garlic bread, mac & cheese with two red blends.  One from Costco the other from Lorenzi in Temecula.  Both were good but the Lorenzi was very very good ... then again it also cost three times more.

Listen up hosers.  Last week Gary stopped into a camera store in Whittier, Monty's Camera. Back in the film only days, Monty's was a decent camera store with full lines of Nikon, Canon, Pentax, et al and complete lines of enlargers and accessories. Now, Monty's looks as if it is ready for an autopsy.  Stuff/junk was spread out and piled up across the store most under a layer of dust. I asked the lone clerk how old the chemicals were.  "About two years" he answered. There was absolutely nothing digital in the store ... Gary's cell phone even stopped working.

So here's Gary's pitch ... Hosers, let's do a crowdfunding to save Monty's.  Gary's been thinking about a Coffee-Tea-Beer-Wine bar for the past year. So all you Hosers send Gary your monies and I'll open up a Coffee-Tea-Beer-Wine Bar in Monty's. Gary will move the photo stuff into about 20% of the floor space, then tables everywhere else.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> So here's Gary's pitch ... Hosers, let's do a crowdfunding to save Monty's.  Gary's been thinking about a Coffee-Tea-Beer-Wine bar for the past year. So all you Hosers send Gary your monies and I'll open up a Coffee-Tea-Beer-Wine Bar in Monty's. Gary will move the photo stuff into about 20% of the floor space, then tables everywhere else.



My brewing friends are meeting tonight to continue our production brewery business plan. You can be the only restaurant in California with our stuff! Maybe. The amount of liquid capital needed to open a brewery is daunting...our initial estimates are in the $250k range. I'm guessing your restaurant's start-up costs would be much cheaper, haha.


It honestly feels like a pipedream for us right now...but we have a really good vision, a development agency in my city that is begging for a business like this, and a great piece of real estate in mind. We will have the potential to make a lot of money, but the initial hurdle is steep.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Much cooler this morning then a few mornings from yesterdays. The Moon was awesome.  Gary thought about a beach shot of the Moon but guests were coming over.  It was a pleasant dinner of roasted chicken, turkey loaf, cole slaw, guacamole, garlic bread, mac & cheese with two red blends.  One from Costco the other from Lorenzi in Temecula.  Both were good but the Lorenzi was very very good ... then again it also cost three times more.
> 
> Listen up hosers.  Last week Gary stopped into a camera store in Whittier, Monty's Camera. Back in the film only days, Monty's was a decent camera store with full lines of Nikon, Canon, Pentax, et al and complete lines of enlargers and accessories. Now, Monty's looks as if it is ready for an autopsy.  Stuff/junk was spread out and piled up across the store most under a layer of dust. I asked the lone clerk how old the chemicals were.  "About two years" he answered. There was absolutely nothing digital in the store ... Gary's cell phone even stopped working.
> 
> So here's Gary's pitch ... Hosers, let's do a crowdfunding to save Monty's.  Gary's been thinking about a Coffee-Tea-Beer-Wine bar for the past year. So all you Hosers send Gary your monies and I'll open up a Coffee-Tea-Beer-Wine Bar in Monty's. Gary will move the photo stuff into about 20% of the floor space, then tables everywhere else.



So.. cocktails and cameras?

Umm... ya... think I'll take a pass on this wonderful investment opportunity.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Shame about a place like Monty's though. 

Jon that's a chunk of change. Investors?? There's a show on after Project Runway - which I doubt you watch, but... it's interesting to watch the people make a pitch and boy, tough crowd with those investors! lol And then one who got an offer, turned it down!! Didn't want to give up that much of the company but geez, probably will never be able to do much more than what it is now. What an opportunity lost.

Leo - Morrissey!!!!!!! (watching the umpteenth replay of various years' Glastonbury festivals in the UK).


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leo - Morrissey again!!!!!! This show wasn't exactly edited chronologically. Two  more songs at the end of the hour!! 

It's on MTV Live - Glastonbury 2011, Hour 4 - if you want to see it in reruns which I expect will be on again sometime.


----------



## Gary A.

Just back from Costco ... Gary broke his glasses and had to get a new exam for a new pair. Gary is wearing contacts which do not give him reading distance.  Life sucks.

@ robbins.photo, investors of $25K or more get free coffee.

If/when you set up a microbrewery out here, Monte's Camera & Cocktails will be proud to carry it.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Much cooler this morning then a few mornings from yesterdays. The Moon was awesome.  Gary thought about a beach shot of the Moon but guests were coming over.  It was a pleasant dinner of roasted chicken, turkey loaf, cole slaw, guacamole, garlic bread, mac & cheese with two red blends.  One from Costco the other from Lorenzi in Temecula.  Both were good but the Lorenzi was very very good ... then again it also cost three times more.
> 
> Listen up hosers.  Last week Gary stopped into a camera store in Whittier, Monty's Camera. Back in the film only days, Monty's was a decent camera store with full lines of Nikon, Canon, Pentax, et al and complete lines of enlargers and accessories. Now, Monty's looks as if it is ready for an autopsy.  Stuff/junk was spread out and piled up across the store most under a layer of dust. I asked the lone clerk how old the chemicals were.  "About two years" he answered. There was absolutely nothing digital in the store ... Gary's cell phone even stopped working.
> 
> So here's Gary's pitch ... Hosers, let's do a crowdfunding to save Monty's.  Gary's been thinking about a Coffee-Tea-Beer-Wine bar for the past year. So all you Hosers send Gary your monies and I'll open up a Coffee-Tea-Beer-Wine Bar in Monty's. Gary will move the photo stuff into about 20% of the floor space, then tables everywhere else.



How about something popular here - a paint parlor.  Get a bunch of easels, inexpensive canvas boards, quarts of acrylic (or even poster) paint and have painting and wine parties.


----------



## unpopular

My two year old just told me "i'm not tired, I'm working!"

Clearly we have a future artist.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Much cooler this morning then a few mornings from yesterdays. The Moon was awesome.  Gary thought about a beach shot of the Moon but guests were coming over.  It was a pleasant dinner of roasted chicken, turkey loaf, cole slaw, guacamole, garlic bread, mac & cheese with two red blends.  One from Costco the other from Lorenzi in Temecula.  Both were good but the Lorenzi was very very good ... then again it also cost three times more.
> 
> Listen up hosers.  Last week Gary stopped into a camera store in Whittier, Monty's Camera. Back in the film only days, Monty's was a decent camera store with full lines of Nikon, Canon, Pentax, et al and complete lines of enlargers and accessories. Now, Monty's looks as if it is ready for an autopsy.  Stuff/junk was spread out and piled up across the store most under a layer of dust. I asked the lone clerk how old the chemicals were.  "About two years" he answered. There was absolutely nothing digital in the store ... Gary's cell phone even stopped working.
> 
> So here's Gary's pitch ... Hosers, let's do a crowdfunding to save Monty's.  Gary's been thinking about a Coffee-Tea-Beer-Wine bar for the past year. So all you Hosers send Gary your monies and I'll open up a Coffee-Tea-Beer-Wine Bar in Monty's. Gary will move the photo stuff into about 20% of the floor space, then tables everywhere else.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How about something popular here - a paint parlor.  Get a bunch of easels, inexpensive canvas boards, quarts of acrylic (or even poster) paint and have painting and wine parties.
Click to expand...

Gary's never been to SoMD, (that he can recall anyway, but he is getting old and the memory is the first thing ...), is it like California?


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> @ robbins.photo, investors of $25K or more get free coffee.



Well why didn't you just say that in the first place?  $25,000 - That's like.. what, two trips to starbucks?


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ robbins.photo, investors of $25K or more get free coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well why didn't you just say that in the first place?  $25,000 - That's like.. what, two trips to starbucks?
Click to expand...

Exactly, and we'll ship.  

For $35K we'll toss in a free membership to the wine club ... discounts on California vino and quarterly deliveries to Nebraska. Amaze and impress your neighbors and friends with the nectar of the Gods.


----------



## Frank F.

Evening hosers!

16.11. Afternoon.Shocking news.
The ex-renter of the garage I bought
to build a house there has done
welding work on a car stored there and
caused the whole thing to burn down
the police say. Gosh. The guy is now in
hospital having burnt himself too.
I already have a court decision he has
to move out so I can tear down the
Garage and start building. No idea if
The thing goes faster or slower now...


----------



## JonA_CT

Our business meeting went pretty well last night. My numbers were off yesterday -- we are looking for more like $400 k in funding. We want to keep the investments private, so we spent most of the time brainstorming creative ways to attract investors and not lose equity. Our current research is on selling 20 shares at $20K with some healthy returns if the business is successful. Gotta get those numbers tight though to convince people to hand over that kind of cash.

More urgently, my sister and brother-in-law are going to be arriving on Sunday for the week. I'm looking for a solid roast pork recipe to cook out on the grill...anyone have any thoughts? I was thinking about butterflying a pork loin and stuffing with a mixture of dried fruit and apples, and then cooking it low and slow.


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Evening hosers!
> 
> 16.11. Afternoon.Shocking news.
> The ex-renter of the garage I bought
> to build a house there has done
> welding work on a car stored there and
> caused the whole thing to burn down
> the police say. Gosh. The guy is now in
> hospital having burnt himself too.
> I already have a court decision he has
> to move out so I can tear down the
> Garage and start building. No idea if
> The thing goes faster or slower now...
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 130394


Sorry to hear that. Probably will go faster now. You will have a solid base to start from anyway.


----------



## jcdeboever

Curious, are images less quality if the species is captive? So many times I get asked if it's wild or not. Does this really matter? I mean, I see some beautiful captive creatures and try to record it in my own way. Just curious what others think.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> For $35K we'll toss in a free membership to the wine club ... discounts on California vino and quarterly deliveries to Nebraska. Amaze and impress your neighbors and friends with the nectar of the Gods.



Gary, it's Nebraska.

My neighbors consider Budweiser to be suspicious because it's too high brow.  Lol


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Gary's never been to SoMD, (that he can recall anyway, but he is getting old and the memory is the first thing ...), is it like California?


Well, let's see:
We are bordered by an ocean; we have mountains; we have pro sports teams that play here; we have more than one winery; Amtrak runs through the state; we've had a president come from here; we have at least two seasons; we have had more than three earthquakes.  Yep, pretty much.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Evening hosers!
> 
> 16.11. Afternoon.Shocking news.
> The ex-renter of the garage I bought
> to build a house there has done
> welding work on a car stored there and
> caused the whole thing to burn down
> the police say. Gosh. The guy is now in
> hospital having burnt himself too.
> I already have a court decision he has
> to move out so I can tear down the
> Garage and start building. No idea if
> The thing goes faster or slower now...
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 130394


Most likely faster.  Part of the demo has already been performed and much of the remaining demo has been "weakened".  Less disposal also because the winds took some of the waste away for you.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are sipping some Lorenzi Estates "The Obsessive", a red blend ... it is wonderful.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mike is sipping a 2016 Pepsi and eating a flatbread with the finest ripened tomato reduction, Mozzarella, and authentic Pepperoni.


----------



## Gary A.

The guests have left.  It has finally cooled off and Gary made Chicken Soup and a few came over for dinner. Everybdy seemed quite content, homemade chicken soup, garlic bread and vino in the patio. It was a pleasant night and the guests brought their dogs. A good time was had my all.


----------



## Frank F.

It is still warm in your place. Warm enough to sit outside.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> It is still warm in your place. Warm enough to sit outside.


Yep, in the 60's ... around 18C, warm enough for long sleeves, no need to break out the heater.  The daytime temps are 70ish, 22C and the nighttime lows are in the 50's, 15C.  You'd like Gary's soup, full of big hunks of solid stuff, maybe 60% solid and 40% liquid.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like chunky chicken noodle soup


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I like chunky chicken noodle soup


Gary makes his own pasta ... Gary likes wheat pasta which is much healthier than most of the store bought stuff.  Gary has rice flour, potato flour and tapioca flour for his pastas and breads.


----------



## terri

I love making my own pasta!    But I am more of a traditionalist.   I stick with my blend of organic all-purpose flour and semolina flour.   

I have a couple of recipes that specifically ask for wheat pasta, and I use organic, store bought brands then.   I simply find it too intrusive a flavor profile for my tastes to use it all the time.   

I generally look for everything to be organic, though I appreciate the word annoys some consumers since it's used as a catch-all.   Bur for my shopping, it's either for produce minus the pesticides (which includes wheat milled into flour and breads), that may be either fresh, frozen or canned, or refers to dairy products from animals that have been fed strict diets.   I buy very little meat, and when I do it's also labeled "organic," but usually includes the dietary restrictions, zero hormones and antibiotics, and also raised according to what are called humane husbandry procedures.


----------



## waday

terri said:


> I love making my own pasta!    But I am more of a traditionalist.   I stick with my blend of organic all-purpose flour and semolina flour.
> 
> I have a couple of recipes that specifically ask for wheat pasta, and I use organic, store bought brands then.   I simply find it too intrusive a flavor profile for my tastes to use it all the time.
> 
> I generally look for everything to be organic, though I appreciate the word annoys some consumers since it's used as a catch-all.   Bur for my shopping, it's either for produce minus the pesticides (which includes wheat milled into flour and breads), that may be either fresh, frozen or canned, or refers to dairy products from animals that have been fed strict diets.   I buy very little meat, and when I do it's also labeled "organic," but usually includes the dietary restrictions, zero hormones and antibiotics, and also raised according to what are called humane husbandry procedures.


I believe there is lax oversight with the term organic, so I am personally cognizant of this when shopping for organic things. I'm also aware of the types of foods that don't necessarily need to be organic to be healthy (or even need to be labeled organic period).

With respect to humane husbandry procedures, we have a long way to go. Free range may not be what some people think it is, nor is it likely to be regulated in any meaningful way.

While I do not force my opinions on others, I am an advocate for animal rights. Factory farming is an industry, and their practices are extremely inhumane. It's such a powerful industry, that they can somehow have legislators propose and approve ag-gag laws preventing whistleblowers from exposing inhumane farming practices.

After learning how animals are treated, mutilated, and ultimately killed, I don't think I could ever go back to eating meat.

See: photo or photo or photo or....

Yeah, it's hard to look at. So, instead of pretending it doesn't exist, why not try to fight to abolish these horrible practices?


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Curious, are images less quality if the species is captive? So many times I get asked if it's wild or not. Does this really matter? I mean, I see some beautiful captive creatures and try to record it in my own way. Just curious what others think.


I think the perception is if the creature is captive then it's an easy shot.

I tend to disagree, I think that it's actually more of a challenge in some ways.  When I'm shooting in the wild, yes, it does take longer and there's usually more hiking and waiting involved.

However I don't have to contend with dirty, multi pained glass throwing reflections everywhere, distracting barriers, even more distracting and awful backgrounds, mixed natural and tungsten lighting, etc

I dunno, not to take anything away from the difficulties of shooting in the wild but in all honesty of the two I think shooting at the zoo involves a lot more curve balls on average.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> I'm also aware of the types of foods that don't necessarily need to be organic to be healthy (or even need to be labeled organic period).


Ummm... what food _isn't_ organic?


----------



## JonA_CT

I try to buy as much locally sourced food as I can -- most of the vendors at my farmer's market can't afford to get certified organic or any of the other buzz words, so I have to trust that they are telling the truth about their practices I guess. Winter is tough, though, of course.

I tried making pasta once. These dutch hands aren't made for it, unfortunately...at least not for orechiette. My wife's eyes would be rolling across the floor if I suggested getting a pasta machine, haha. She barely tolerates my bread baking habit (although she admitted that she had a damn fine piece of toast this morning!). This week, we had a Harvest Bread made with wheat germ and bran, and a sour Overnight Blonde to choose from...she isn't a fan of the all-wild yeast breads. I'll be baking like a machine for the family that's coming in this week. I probably need to write out my plan for that tonight...I should have started my levain again this morning.


----------



## Frank F.

The best story of a chunky soup is here (better watch all or if in a hurry start at 6:27 minutes. Make sure your mouth is empty or your have chunks on your monitor...):


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm also aware of the types of foods that don't necessarily need to be organic to be healthy (or even need to be labeled organic period).
> 
> 
> 
> Ummm... what food _isn't_ organic?
Click to expand...


Margarine.


----------



## Frank F.

Margarine is one food product that resembles the plastic package it comes in very closely...


----------



## terri

@waday: I don't disagree with you at all.   I'd say, although not 100% vegetarian, I'm about 90%.   I do get called to cook more traditional meals for family/friends, so that's when I say I take care where I shop and how I buy.  


waday said:


> With respect to humane husbandry procedures, we have a long way to go. Free range may not be what some people think it is, nor is it likely to be regulated in any meaningful way.


No disagreement there.    I'm happy to have a local farmer's market and purchase locally.   Factory farming and Big Ag are a far cry from the depictions shown on their advertisements.       I aim to be as aware and self-educated as I can be while living where I do, when I do.   


tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm also aware of the types of foods that don't necessarily need to be organic to be healthy (or even need to be labeled organic period).
> 
> 
> 
> Ummm... what food _isn't_ organic?
Click to expand...

Point taken, and you're the type of consumer that cringes at the mis-use of the word to promote foods that are produced without pesticides, or inhumane conditions (to the farmers/growers or to animals).    Like I said, it's a catch-all term that's been accepted and there's no need to reject the concept behind the term.   
Not a bad thing to check in periodically in places like this to see what's best to buy without pesticide use, and study those foods that may not be worth spending the extra $$ on.    Clearly not a blanket solution, but not a bad place to start.


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> Point taken, and you're the type of consumer that cringes at the mis-use of the word to promote foods that are produced without pesticides, or inhumane conditions (to the farmers/growers or to animals).    Like I said, it's a catch-all term that's been accepted and there's no need to reject the concept behind the term.
> Not a bad thing to check in periodically in places like this to see what's best to buy without pesticide use, and study those foods that may not be worth spending the extra $$ on.    Clearly not a blanket solution, but not a bad place to start.


I'm the type of person that cringes at the deliberately mis-leading use of the English language, but that's a discussion for another time.  My main issue is that so many people see "natural" as good, and "man-made" as bad.  While there are many naturally occurring pesticide solutions that are good (use of ladybugs, light plant oils, etc) that are better than their chemically compounded cousins, there are many that are far worse:  Introduced species (both plant & animal), a host of completely naturally occurring materials that will kill you dead in a heart beat, many more that will render you sick like a Tijuana dog...

Rather than abusing the English language and trying to mislead the consumer, all food should be required to carry standardized labeling which describes the environment in which it was produced and a checklist of common "bad" materials that could be used in that production.  That way the consumer can make an informed decision on what he or she buys.


----------



## terri

I think we're both saying basically the same thing(s) here.        In the US, we have a labelling system that would be well served to get re-visited, and look for uniformity in language, as you suggest above.    I don't know what you all have in Canada, but it's probably along the same lines, maybe better.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm also aware of the types of foods that don't necessarily need to be organic to be healthy (or even need to be labeled organic period).
> 
> 
> 
> Ummm... what food _isn't_ organic?
Click to expand...

Doughnuts.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm also aware of the types of foods that don't necessarily need to be organic to be healthy (or even need to be labeled organic period).
> 
> 
> 
> Ummm... what food _isn't_ organic?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Doughnuts.
Click to expand...

Heathen! o: One of nature's most perfect foods.  What could possibly be inorganic about a doughnut???????????????


----------



## jcdeboever

I like doughnuts


----------



## minicoop1985

Emily by Michael Long, on Flickr

Went for a nature walk today. Snuck a shot of the wife. OK, she kinda heard the loud ass shutter on my Hassy, so snuck isn't the right word.


----------



## JonA_CT

I know I kinda bitched about craigslist earlier...but should I buy this?

Camera Ansco Automatic Reflex 3.5


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> Ummm... what food _isn't_ organic?


Twinkies.


----------



## minicoop1985

Jon, go for it.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ummm... what food _isn't_ organic?
> 
> 
> 
> Twinkies.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... well... maybe....


----------



## snowbear

Diabetes in progress.

Photo of the Month -- Nominate; Vote; Save a Puppy!
Tired of the same old routine?  Enter the Sm4him Memorial Monthly Photo Challenge


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ummm... what food _isn't_ organic?
> 
> 
> 
> Twinkies.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Hmmm... well... maybe....
Click to expand...


Cheez-whiz. Cool Whip.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ummm... what food _isn't_ organic?
> 
> 
> 
> Twinkies.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Hmmm... well... maybe....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Cheez-whiz. Cool Whip.
Click to expand...

Those are good groups!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary makes a point of consuming his daily Cheez-Wiz requirement. Isn't Cheez-Wiz in the Food Pyramid?


----------



## EIngerson

Heading to Vegas for the Marine Corps ball. You suckas hold down the fort. I'll be back.



Oh, I'll be donating to the state of Nevada while I'm there. You're welcome!


----------



## Frank F.

Definitely in any Wizard's pyramid...


----------



## Frank F.

I love girls, forests and cameras. Nothing can go wrong basicly. Wonderful scene: "Jane, chimping" ... ;-)


----------



## Warhorse

EIngerson said:


> Heading to Vegas for the Marine Corps ball. You suckas hold down the fort. I'll be back.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I'll be donating to the state of Nevada while I'm there. You're welcome!


11/18/1775  ?


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Gary makes a point of consuming his daily Cheez-Wiz requirement. Isn't Cheez-Wiz in the Food Pyramid?


It is in Philly -- "wiz n wit" (Cheez Wiz and with onions)


----------



## minicoop1985

Ugh, Cheez Wiz. Gives me the poops just thinking about it.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

My Keurig coffee ain't cutting it this morning. I've been falling into a bad habit of getting up too late in the morning to make my own, and grabbing a cup of Starbucks at the cafeteria at work when I arrive on campus. While the coffee is good, I would rather be putting those couple of dollars each day into my Hassy Fund Exercise Jar. And the coffee often ends up costing me more because I always throw another dollar into the tip jar (3 of my former students work in the cafe - there's no way I'm not tipping them extra! And quite frankly, I tip extra even when they're not working that day.)

So I've been making an effort to limit myself to making my own with the machine I bought for that purpose. I have a refillable cup and my own ground coffee in the freezer, so I'm making it as economical as possible. And usually the coffee comes out good, but once in a while I put in too much water or not enough coffee and it comes out kind of weak.

Weak coffee is the worst, y'all.

I'm just exhausted.


----------



## Frank F.

Good news hosers. Yesterday the former owner of the building lot contacted me to tell me they want to get rid of the fire insurance. Insurance???? Yes. I did not know I had one.  Gosh. I got one! Fact of the matter is insurance say they cover anything immediately and try to get the money back from the renter later who seems to have burned down the hut welding and burnt himself too. Am I lucky? I do not know yet. Possible the renter gives up the lot he has not botherd to pay a Cent for since May last year but did obviosly use intensively. Currently I have the court ruling and am about to send out the justice people to force him out. Plus possibly I get some money from the insurance because the guy has burnt down my building.


----------



## EIngerson

Warhorse said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Heading to Vegas for the Marine Corps ball. You suckas hold down the fort. I'll be back.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I'll be donating to the state of Nevada while I'm there. You're welcome!
> 
> 
> 
> 11/18/1775  ?
Click to expand...


Can't have all units functions on the 10th. LOL the earth would burn down.


----------



## vintagesnaps

If you keep film and coffee in the freezer together, will it develop on its own?


----------



## vintagesnaps

I think I'm just about fed up with everybody and everything this week. I blame it on the full moon? the time change? the week before a holiday and who gives a rat's??


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> I'm the type of person that cringes at the deliberately mis-leading use of the English language, but that's a discussion for another time. <snip>
> 
> Rather than abusing the English language and trying to mislead the consumer, all food should be required to carry standardized labeling which describes the environment in which it was produced and a checklist of common "bad" materials that could be used in that production. That way the consumer can make an informed decision on what he or she buys.


Considering the use of the term, I wouldn't call it deliberately misleading the public*. I'm not trying to argue semantics (or sound like a donkey), but words can have more than one meaning. By saying that the use of the term organic is misleading, calling all food organic is also misleading. Do you mean from bodily organs, or do you mean from living matter? There's a difference, because "organic" has multiple definitions.

If you want to a "purist", wouldn't you just say that you're eating and drinking atoms? That way, you don't have to worry about misleading anyone.

In some cases, single words or phrases can be used to define a particular movement. For example, look at "green". Yes, it refers to a color, but it is now also typically used to refer to something that is environmentally friendly (and, yes, many people are also mislead on this front, as well). Or, what about "truck". Some people I know take "truck" to mean anything from a tractor trailer to an SUV.

I'd personally much rather have a single term be used (i.e., organic) and have that term be regulated to mean a specific set of criteria (i.e.,  pesticides, chemicals, practices). That way, you can easily and quickly decide between two similar products, one that is organic and one that is not. Otherwise, you'd be picking between products that may have a near infinite number of varying materials and/or practices.

For example, the question: 
"do you want organic chicken or chicken?"​versus
"do you want free-range chicken, free-range hormone free chicken, hormone free chicken, chicken, free-range hormone free natural diet chicken, hormone free natural diet chicken, natural diet chicken, pasture raised chicken, pasture raised natural diet hormone free free-range chicken, and etc?"​
If one defines and regulates the term organic, you'd know specifically what you're buying, rather than trying to figure out how the product is being packaged and possibly being mislead, whether deliberately or not.

*Unless, of course, the product is being deliberately being mislabeled.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm the type of person that cringes at the deliberately mis-leading use of the English language, but that's a discussion for another time. <snip>
> 
> Rather than abusing the English language and trying to mislead the consumer, all food should be required to carry standardized labeling which describes the environment in which it was produced and a checklist of common "bad" materials that could be used in that production. That way the consumer can make an informed decision on what he or she buys.
> 
> 
> 
> Considering the use of the term, I wouldn't call it deliberately misleading the public*. I'm not trying to argue semantics (or sound like a donkey), but words can have more than one meaning. By saying that the use of the term organic is misleading, calling all food organic is also misleading. Do you mean from bodily organs, or do you mean from living matter? There's a difference, because "organic" has multiple definitions.
> 
> If you want to a "purist", wouldn't you just say that you're eating and drinking atoms? That way, you don't have to worry about misleading anyone.
> 
> In some cases, single words or phrases can be used to define a particular movement. For example, look at "green". Yes, it refers to a color, but it is now also typically used to refer to something that is environmentally friendly (and, yes, many people are also mislead on this front, as well). Or, what about "truck". Some people I know take "truck" to mean anything from a tractor trailer to an SUV.
> 
> I'd personally much rather have a single term be used (i.e., organic) and have that term be regulated to mean a specific set of criteria (i.e.,  pesticides, chemicals, practices). That way, you can easily and quickly decide between two similar products, one that is organic and one that is not. Otherwise, you'd be picking between products that may have a near infinite number of varying materials and/or practices.
> 
> For example, the question:
> "do you want organic chicken or chicken?"​versus
> "do you want free-range chicken, free-range hormone free chicken, hormone free chicken, chicken, free-range hormone free natural diet chicken, hormone free natural diet chicken, natural diet chicken, pasture raised chicken, pasture raised natural diet hormone free free-range chicken, and etc?"​
> If one defines and regulates the term organic, you'd know specifically what you're buying, rather than trying to figure out how the product is being packaged and possibly being mislead, whether deliberately or not.
> 
> *Unless, of course, the product is being deliberately being mislabeled.
Click to expand...


Thank you, Wade, for understanding how language works


----------



## Dave442

vintagesnaps said:


> I think I'm just about fed up with everybody and everything this week. I blame it on the full moon? the time change? the week before a holiday and who gives a rat's??


Your just thinking too hard about all that organic stuff (organic stuffing anyone), and it's Friday.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Thank you, Wade, for understanding how language works


Haha, I try to understand, but it's a constant battle.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> ...I'd personally much rather have a single term be used (i.e., organic) and have that term be regulated to mean a specific set of criteria (i.e.,  pesticides, chemicals, practices). That way, you can easily and quickly decide between two similar products, one that is organic and one that is not. Otherwise, you'd be picking between products that may have a near infinite number of varying materials and/or practices.


  The problem is:  There are a multitude of standards for what constitutes "organic" food in order for the word to have any meaning in this sense, it needs to be standardized. 

For instance this definition (Merriam-Webster online):  (2) :  of, relating to, yielding, or involving the use of food produced with the use of feed or fertilizer of plant or animal origin *without employment of chemically formulated fertilizers, growth stimulants*, antibiotics, or* pesticides* <organic farming> <organic produce> By this definition a farmer using only horse manure and ladybugs could not be considered "organic".



waday said:


> ...For example, the question:
> "do you want organic chicken or chicken?"​versus
> "do you want free-range chicken, free-range hormone free chicken, hormone free chicken, chicken, free-range hormone free natural diet chicken, hormone free natural diet chicken, natural diet chicken, pasture raised chicken, pasture raised natural diet hormone free free-range chicken, and etc?"​


To which I would respond, "Can you show me an_ inorganic_ chicken?​


waday said:


> ...If one defines and regulates the term organic, you'd know specifically what you're buying, rather than trying to figure out how the product is being packaged and possibly being mislead, whether deliberately or not.


So how do we get an entire planet's worth of food producers, governments and other regulatory bodies to agree on one definition?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> So how do we get an entire planet's worth of food producers, governments and other regulatory bodies to agree on one definition?



Thunderdome.


----------



## waday

I hate arguing semantics. So, I don't know why I continue to.



tirediron said:


> The problem is:  There are a multitude of standards for what constitutes "organic" food in order for the word to have any meaning in this sense, it needs to be standardized.


Agreed. It needs standardized.



> For instance this definition (Merriam-Webster online):  (2) :  of, relating to, yielding, or involving the use of food produced with the use of feed or fertilizer of plant or animal origin *without employment of chemically formulated fertilizers, growth stimulants*, antibiotics, or* pesticides* <organic farming> <organic produce> By this definition a farmer using only horse manure and ladybugs could not be considered "organic".


I guess I read that differently than you do, because I assume "chemically formulated" to refer to the entire list: fertilizers, growth stimulants, antibiotics, or pesticides. That is, horse manure and ladybugs, unless they are somehow chemically formulated, would not be part of that list. Unless you're defining chemical formula to literally mean any combination of elements.

Personally, I know when to take words and phrases in context. Otherwise, one is just being intentionally difficult.

But, I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. Prior to arguing over these trivial matters, we'd have to define what each of those are. Otherwise, sunlight could be considered a growth stimulant.



> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...For example, the question:
> "do you want organic chicken or chicken?"​versus
> "do you want free-range chicken, free-range hormone free chicken, hormone free chicken, chicken, free-range hormone free natural diet chicken, hormone free natural diet chicken, natural diet chicken, pasture raised chicken, pasture raised natural diet hormone free free-range chicken, and etc?"​
> 
> 
> 
> To which I would respond, "Can you show me an_ inorganic_ chicken?​
Click to expand...

​I'm assuming all chicken would be inorganic, unless people have chickens as organs. By organs, I mean a bodily organ (e.g., heart, liver, stomach), not the instrument. Or, wait, did you have a different definition?



> So how do we get an entire planet's worth of food producers, governments and other regulatory bodies to agree on one definition?


Well, it'd be by country, but through regulation.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> I hate arguing semantics. So, I don't know why I continue to.


  It's fun and educational! 



waday said:


> Personally, I know when to take words and phrases in context. Otherwise, one is just being intentionally difficult.


Or.......... just being accurate!



waday said:


> I'm assuming all chicken would be inorganic, unless people have chickens as organs. By organs, I mean a bodily organ (e.g., heart, liver, stomach), not the instrument. Or, wait, did you have a different definition?


Inorganic (adj): "Not consisting of or deriving from living matter; relating to, or denoting compounds that are not organic (broadly, compounds not containing carbon)."



> Well, it'd be by country, but through regulation.


  Okay, then how do we address the issue (and I mean this in complete seriousness) of international food import/export?  Canada has one definition, the UK another.  How do I know if my "organic"  haggis is actually "organic" according to Canadian standards?


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hate arguing semantics. So, I don't know why I continue to.
> 
> 
> 
> It's fun and educational! :d
Click to expand...

That's true, I must have fun otherwise why do I continue! 



> Or.......... just being accurate!


To a fault.



> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm assuming all chicken would be inorganic, unless people have chickens as organs. By organs, I mean a bodily organ (e.g., heart, liver, stomach), not the instrument. Or, wait, did you have a different definition?
> 
> 
> 
> Inorganic (adj): "Not consisting of or deriving from living matter; relating to, or denoting compounds that are not organic (broadly, compounds not containing carbon)."
Click to expand...

I like my definition better. 



> Okay, then how do we address the issue (and I mean this in complete seriousness) of international food import/export?  Canada has one definition, the UK another.  How do I know if my "organic"  haggis is actually "organic" according to Canadian standards?


I don't want to know anything about your haggis. 

For import/export, the food would need to meet the standards of the importing country. For exporting countries with more stringent standards (i.e., meeting or exceeding the importing country's standards), this would be no problem. 

But, there's no difference between food and other goods in this respect. Take, for example, the Land Rover Defender. To sell the Defender in the North American market, the vehicle had to be modified extensively. Then, the US came out with additional standards for safety in the late 90's, which Land Rover found economically infeasible to implement considering costs of a major retrofit to the vehicle. So, good bye Defender.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or.......... just being accurate!
> 
> 
> 
> To a fault.
Click to expand...


I believe pedantic is the word you're both reaching for.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or.......... just being accurate!
> 
> 
> 
> To a fault.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I believe pedantic is the word you're both reaching for.
Click to expand...

 Or aspiring to at the very least!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or.......... just being accurate!
> 
> 
> 
> To a fault.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I believe pedantic is the word you're both reaching for.
Click to expand...

I prefer "exacting".  Inaccuracy leads to misunderstanding and error.  If I'm going somewhere with someone and I say, "We need to leave at 1.00pm", that means "1.00pm".  NOT 1.01pm.  If you're not ready at 1.00pm, better have bus-fare handy.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> I believe pedantic is the word you're both reaching for.



Well it does sound nicer than anal retentive.  I have to give you that...


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> I prefer "exacting".  Inaccuracy leads to misunderstanding and error.  If I'm going somewhere with someone and I say, "We need to leave at 1.00pm", that means "1.00pm".  NOT 1.01pm.  If you're not ready at 1.00pm, better have bus-fare handy.



You my friend would make a good German.


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I prefer "exacting".  Inaccuracy leads to misunderstanding and error.  If I'm going somewhere with someone and I say, "We need to leave at 1.00pm", that means "1.00pm".  NOT 1.01pm.  If you're not ready at 1.00pm, better have bus-fare handy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You my friend would make a good German.
Click to expand...

Actually, if we're going to be accurate, I make an excellent half-German!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or.......... just being accurate!
> 
> 
> 
> To a fault.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I believe pedantic is the word you're both reaching for.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I prefer "exacting".  Inaccuracy leads to misunderstanding and error.  If I'm going somewhere with someone and I say, "We need to leave at 1.00pm", that means "1.00pm".  NOT 1.01pm.  If you're not ready at 1.00pm, better have bus-fare handy.
Click to expand...


Oh, you can _prefer_ all you want. It's still pedantic


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or.......... just being accurate!
> 
> 
> 
> To a fault.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I believe pedantic is the word you're both reaching for.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I prefer "exacting".  Inaccuracy leads to misunderstanding and error.  If I'm going somewhere with someone and I say, "We need to leave at 1.00pm", that means "1.00pm".  NOT 1.01pm.  If you're not ready at 1.00pm, better have bus-fare handy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, you can _prefer_ all you want. It's still pedantic
Click to expand...

Says you!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or.......... just being accurate!
> 
> 
> 
> To a fault.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I believe pedantic is the word you're both reaching for.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I prefer "exacting".  Inaccuracy leads to misunderstanding and error.  If I'm going somewhere with someone and I say, "We need to leave at 1.00pm", that means "1.00pm".  NOT 1.01pm.  If you're not ready at 1.00pm, better have bus-fare handy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, you can _prefer_ all you want. It's still pedantic
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Says you!
Click to expand...


I _am _a trained linguist, after all.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> I _am _a trained linguist, after all.



Linguist training.  Ya.. I saw that on you tube...


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Actually, if we're going to be accurate, I make an excellent half-German!



Can we be that accurate without being pedantic at the same time?  If only we had say, a trained linguist to help us out on this one....

Hmm...


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, if we're going to be accurate, I make an excellent half-German!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can we be that accurate without being pedantic at the same time?  If only we had say, a trained linguist to help us out on this one....
> 
> Hmm...
Click to expand...


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, if we're going to be accurate, I make an excellent half-German!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can we be that accurate without being pedantic at the same time?  If only we had say, a trained linguist to help us out on this one....
> 
> Hmm...
Click to expand...

Now where could we find one of those?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, if we're going to be accurate, I make an excellent half-German!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can we be that accurate without being pedantic at the same time?  If only we had say, a trained linguist to help us out on this one....
> 
> Hmm...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Now where could we find one of those?
Click to expand...


The bird. Consider it flipped.


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, if we're going to be accurate, I make an excellent half-German!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can we be that accurate without being pedantic at the same time?  If only we had say, a trained linguist to help us out on this one....
> 
> Hmm...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Now where could we find one of those?
Click to expand...


Not sure.  Ebay?


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> The bird. Consider it flipped.



Well Tirediron no luck on finding one of those trained linguists but I did find a bird.  Can we keep it?  We could name it George...


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The bird. Consider it flipped.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well Tirediron no luck on finding one of those trained linguists but I did find a bird.  Can we keep it?  We could name it George...
Click to expand...

Mebbe could we trade it for a couple of ferrets?


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Mebbe could we trade it for a couple of ferrets?



Maybe.  Would be nice if somebody could flip us the ferret every now and again so we didn't have to get into this whole complicated NAFTA thing...


----------



## limr




----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


>



Ok, so this just doesn't look like a ferret to me.  Marvelous.  Like we didn't have enough on our plates trying to find a trained linguist, now it looks like we need to find a zoologist as well.

Sigh...


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are winding down the day sipping a Pine Ridge blend of Chenin Blanc and Viognier.  A very very nice combo.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone
The roses are popping in the yard. (Roses with a Chicken Soup filter.  Gary spilled soup on his phone and apparently much of it ended up on the lens.)


----------



## jcdeboever

I like doughnuts


----------



## Frank F.

waday said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm the type of person that cringes at the deliberately mis-leading use of the English language, but that's a discussion for another time. <snip>
> 
> Rather than abusing the English language and trying to mislead the consumer, all food should be required to carry standardized labeling which describes the environment in which it was produced and a checklist of common "bad" materials that could be used in that production. That way the consumer can make an informed decision on what he or she buys.
> 
> 
> 
> Considering the use of the term, I wouldn't call it deliberately misleading the public*. I'm not trying to argue semantics (or sound like a donkey), but words can have more than one meaning. By saying that the use of the term organic is misleading, calling all food organic is also misleading. Do you mean from bodily organs, or do you mean from living matter? There's a difference, because "organic" has multiple definitions.
> 
> If you want to a "purist", wouldn't you just say that you're eating and drinking atoms? That way, you don't have to worry about misleading anyone.
> 
> In some cases, single words or phrases can be used to define a particular movement. For example, look at "green". Yes, it refers to a color, but it is now also typically used to refer to something that is environmentally friendly (and, yes, many people are also mislead on this front, as well). Or, what about "truck". Some people I know take "truck" to mean anything from a tractor trailer to an SUV.
> 
> I'd personally much rather have a single term be used (i.e., organic) and have that term be regulated to mean a specific set of criteria (i.e.,  pesticides, chemicals, practices). That way, you can easily and quickly decide between two similar products, one that is organic and one that is not. Otherwise, you'd be picking between products that may have a near infinite number of varying materials and/or practices.
> 
> For example, the question:
> "do you want organic chicken or chicken?"​versus
> "do you want free-range chicken, free-range hormone free chicken, hormone free chicken, chicken, free-range hormone free natural diet chicken, hormone free natural diet chicken, natural diet chicken, pasture raised chicken, pasture raised natural diet hormone free free-range chicken, and etc?"​
> If one defines and regulates the term organic, you'd know specifically what you're buying, rather than trying to figure out how the product is being packaged and possibly being mislead, whether deliberately or not.
> 
> *Unless, of course, the product is being deliberately being mislabeled.
Click to expand...



I am green but I am also pro science and pro nuclear and I have all the reasons and numbers and you can convince me otherwise if you got better arguments and convincing testable numbers. So I am not ideologic. I am a free range pasture finished hormone chicken .... hahaha


----------



## Frank F.

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I prefer "exacting".  Inaccuracy leads to misunderstanding and error.  If I'm going somewhere with someone and I say, "We need to leave at 1.00pm", that means "1.00pm".  NOT 1.01pm.  If you're not ready at 1.00pm, better have bus-fare handy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You my friend would make a good German.
Click to expand...



I once had a Greek inmate. Her standard was +3 hours from the scheduled time but she rarely sticked to her standard ...


----------



## minicoop1985

Guten morgen, coffee hosers.

Debating shooting the sunrise this morning. I'd need to get cracking on it if I do. It's cold out there, and my sensor will probably fog up, but it would be worth trying.


----------



## JonA_CT

minicoop1985 said:


> Guten morgen, coffee hosers.
> 
> Debating shooting the sunrise this morning. I'd need to get cracking on it if I do. It's cold out there, and my sensor will probably fog up, but it would be worth trying.


 YOu seen this site, Mike?

SunsetWx, LLC – Innovation Beyond the Horizon

Looks like it's be worth it this morning.


----------



## minicoop1985

It's cloudy, unfortunately. 

But thanks for posting that. That's going in my favorites.


----------



## jcdeboever

It's snowing this morning... Did I mention I like doughnuts?


----------



## waday

Frank F. said:


> I am green but I am also pro science and pro nuclear


Same here! There's nothing that says you can't be all the above.


----------



## Frank F.

waday said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am green but I am also pro science and pro nuclear
> 
> 
> 
> Same here! There's nothing that says you can't be all the above.
Click to expand...






Stewart Brand is also a pasture finished hormone chicken


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I like doughnuts



(in a whisper- You know JC, Gary has a friend that owns a doughnut shop, Unlike most doughnut shops which use frozen dough, he makes his dough fresh everyday.  They are sooo, sooo much better than your normal, run-of-the-mill, cop eating doughnuts ... When you come out here we can make a run to LA or I'll just have him make a delivery.)


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.We have highs in the low 70's and lows in the high 50's ... things are beginning to cool off.  Today is the big local game USC-UCLA.  The city is decked out in either Cardinal & Gold or Baby Blue & Gold.  This is always a fun game with hearts pumping, fists flying and the adrenaline flowing ... that's just the spectators. It is an away game for the Trojans and they're playing at the Rose Bowl, so Gary will BBQ at home and watch it on the Big Screen. 

Sadly, there have been stories running in the local paper, that we have lost 102,000,000 trees in the Sierra Nevada due to the five year drought. According to the Forest Service "the scale of die-off in California is unprecedented in our modern history." Forest official are calling the die off an unparalleled ecological disaster.  Gary needs to check out if he can do anything to help mitigate this disaster.  Obviously, it can only be something small in comparison to the event, but he can always write a check and if enough peoples write checks, his small contribution, when combined with other small checks, may end up being significant. Gary will look up some past contacts at Tree People.


----------



## b_twill

jcdeboever said:


> It's snowing this morning...



Hard to believe it was near 70 yesterday and I biked to work in shorts.  Welcome to Michigan.


----------



## Frank F.

Yesterday the architects released the current plans for my house.
CAVEAT: they are way out of budget and the thing has to be
cleared by the building authority, which is the lesser problem.
Apart from that very very nice!


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Gary needs to check out if he can do anything to help mitigate this disaster.


I just now thought of a plan to get that area re-forested, and it would not involve Gary and his friends writing checks to buy seedlings.  Unfortunately, my idea only works in states that have adult elected officials, so sorry, California cannot use my idea.


----------



## Designer

Frank F. said:


> Yesterday the architects released the current plans for my house.


Interesting.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, hosers. Playing with fire. Fun!


----------



## Gary A.

The game is on. 7-7 right now with a pair of quick scores.  What is special, is that both teams wear their home jerseys.


----------



## jcdeboever

U of M won the snow bowl today, bring on the Buckeyes!


----------



## Gary A.

Half-Time 23-14, Trojans.  The Bruins are playing their best game of the year.  We'll see if they can keep it up in the second half.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another cool morning.  57F at 7:30 a.m., it should hit the high 60's.  The weather people are predicting rain, Lord knows we need some rain.  All is right in the world, SC had an easy win over UCLA. This game is so special, an entire city has an opinion and a team treasured and a team loathed. Skyscrapers vertically spell out USC or UCLA by lighting certain floors and parts of floors. The entire city comes alive with one thought, beat the guy from across town. Yeah all schools have rivalries, often from schools within the same state, one private the other public.  But this rivalry goes further,  same division, same state, private-public and same freakin' city.  The game was predicted to be one sided, but the gritty little Bruins came out fired up and actually lead.  But it was cheap early speed, (as we say at the speedway), and by the end of the second quarter, SC's defense took control of the game.

We watched the game at home on the big screen.  To add to the realism, Mary Lou charged Gary $50 to park. But the food was wonderful and the wine exceptional.  Gary cooked up some chicken in the Crock Pot. It cooked in spices, herbs and orange juice and until it fell apart. It was sooooo good.  Gary whipped up a new batch of BBQ sauce, every batch is different and this one was different good. Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce is very spicy, this time he added some rum to the bourbon and orange liqueur.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy there, hosers. I'm out of sugar. This r bad mmkay. I can't have coffee without it.

Man, the Hasselblad hasn't made me a better photographer, but it has had a tremendous effect on the photos I take.


----------



## JonA_CT

Family arrives in less than two hours. Four loaves of my favorite artisan bread recipes down...pizza dough is doing it's final rest in the refrigerator for the dinner tonight. I'm getting ready to start the beef and barley soup that will be dinner tomorrow night. The local beer and whiskey are ready. 

Life is pretty good right now.


----------



## Frank F.

Good night hosers. My day was less productive than I thought, yet some nice human realtions maintanece .... would have fancied an evening walk with friends, .... Sunday is familiy time ...


----------



## JonA_CT

Frank F. said:


> Good night hosers. My day was less productive than I thought, yet some nice human realtions maintanece .... would have fancied an evening walk with friends, .... Sunday is familiy time ...



Where in Germany do you live? One of my good friends travels there frequently for work, and my wife has some long lost relatives there.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary had a spur-of-the-moment run to Temecula.  A flight of Champagne with Eggs Benedict... life is good.


----------



## Frank F.

JonA_CT said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good night hosers. My day was less productive than I thought, yet some nice human realtions maintanece .... would have fancied an evening walk with friends, .... Sunday is familiy time ...
> 
> 
> 
> Where in Germany do you live? One of my good friends travels there frequently for work, and my wife has some long lost relatives there.
Click to expand...


Middle/West Bonn is the city, former capital. Very nice area landscapewise, just where the narrow Rhine valley opens into the plain ... rainy, sometimes coldish ... wet hot summers ... very good drinking water ... little air exchange, so air pollution is an issue ... very strong economically, cannot remember a time in my life when unemployment was an issue in the Bonn area ... even got better after the Government left ... currently 320.000 people projected to increase to 420.000 people within the next 20 years.


----------



## JonA_CT

Surprise snow squalls here this morning. DOT didn't pre-treat anything, so less than an inch of snow has managed to completely close I95 both directions at the Thames River. Fortunately, my commute sends me the other direction about 20 miles where it is sunny and the ground is clear.


----------



## SquarePeg

Snow on the ground here too.  Just a dusting but I'm not ready!!!!!!!  It was 60 on Saturday. Sigh...  Guess I'll have to admit that another winter is upon us.  Time to put my flip flops away and put up the Christmas lights and get into the spirit of the season. Have to say that 2016 has been a crappy year for several reasons and I won't be sorry to see it go.


----------



## JonA_CT

New England is a funny place sometimes...bright and sunny at my school in the southern third of our school district. The kids from the northern third aren't here yet because of snow that fell in the hills there. (our district is around 17 miles long north to south)


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Snow on the ground here too.  Just a dusting but I'm not ready!!!!!!!  It was 60 on Saturday. Sigh...  Guess I'll have to admit that another winter is upon us.  Time to put my flip flops away and put up the Christmas lights and get into the spirit of the season. Have to say that 2016 has been a crappy year for several reasons and I won't be sorry to see it go.



2016 should not let the door hit it in the ass on its way out. It sucked rocks.



JonA_CT said:


> New England is a funny place sometimes...bright and sunny at my school in the southern third of our school district. The kids from the northern third aren't here yet because of snow that fell in the hills there. (our district is around 17 miles long north to south)



Similar here. And what's funny is that the cross-county highways sort of marks the line. Most storms are worse north of I287. And then in the next county up, I84 marks the next boundary. We've got snow on the ground, but at my house and at work (both are north of 287) but if I went another, say 5 or 10 miles south, there probably would be no snow.


----------



## robbins.photo

Frank F. said:


> I once had a Greek inmate.



I'm assuming you meant "roommate" rather than "inmate"



> Her standard was +3 hours from the scheduled time but she rarely sticked to her standard ...



Which might go a long way towards explaining their economy...


----------



## Frank F.

I dunno the US expression. I rented the flat from the landlord, she rented, with permission of the landlord, one room in my flat ... maybe "dubtenant"????


----------



## Designer

Frank F. said:


> ... maybe "dubtenant"????


It's subtenant.  However, she would be a subtenant only if she was paying you, not paying the landlord.


----------



## Frank F.

Yes, she paid me, I paid the landlord. Payments worked, only appointments were "Greek"


----------



## vintagesnaps

So Frank sublet an apartment? or the garage that caught fire? Sorry to hear about that, by the way. 

Since I'm getting caught up, why did the ferret need a linguist?? Is Leo going to start tutoring ferrets? 

I think I missed some stuff...


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> 2016 should not let the door hit it in the ass on its way out. It sucked rocks.



John Oliver had a great segment on his HBO show last Sunday basically letting people say F-U 2016 and then he blew up a giant 2016 at the end.  It didn't make me feel any better but misery loves company.  Unfortunately my expectations for 2017 are pretty low.


----------



## terri

Heh.    I have to agree.   At least when you accept having low expectations, that makes anything good that happens that much sweeter, right? 

I'm generally an optimist, but I'm trying to make the glass half empty these days.


----------



## snowbear

Maybe 2016 isn't a full wipeout; I'll let you know in the next couple of weeks.


----------



## limr

Life is all about managing your expectations  If we set the bar low for 2017 and it sucks as bad as 2017, then the fact that we expected it takes much of the sting away. If it's better than expected, then hey, we'll take it! However, if we set the bar too high, we're only going to be disappointed.

And so, I predict 2017 will be the same old crap, different year.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> So Frank sublet an apartment? or the garage that caught fire? Sorry to hear about that, by the way.
> 
> Since I'm getting caught up, why did the ferret need a linguist?? Is Leo going to start tutoring ferrets?
> 
> I think I missed some stuff...



Who *doesn't* need a linguist???


----------



## Frank F.

The garage that caught fire is ... was ... mine ... but I am still waiting for the day that I might set my foot on my little piece of land. Till today it is occupied by the ex tenant of the ex owners. The ex owners already cancelled the contract with him because he did not pay the rent. I went to court to make him move out actually. Everybody understands that it is a very nice thing for him to use something for a long time and not pay his rent....

....the Subtenency of the Greek girl was 20 years ago. She rented the room that later becsme my office.


----------



## JonA_CT

24 hours without TPF? That's almost like 24 hours without coffee.


----------



## snowbear

It wasn't quite that long.  PMs were working but threads were read only.  Apparently there was an "upgrade".


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> 24 hours without TPF? That's almost like 24 hours without coffee.


I was on the verge of actually having to do work to pass the time!


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 24 hours without TPF? That's almost like 24 hours without coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> I was on the verge of actually having to do work to pass the time!
Click to expand...


You ok there big guy?  Maybe it would be a good idea to take a break from goofing off or something....


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 24 hours without TPF? That's almost like 24 hours without coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> I was on the verge of actually having to do work to pass the time!
Click to expand...


I did some work.  Then I went to the local medical house.  I'll be home tomorrow, again.  Conjunctivitis.


----------



## robbins.photo

I took the time to throw up an ad on craigslist for the Sigma 70-200mm 2.8, got a guy stopping buy tonight to pick it up.  So, it's sold.  

I will actually be sorry to see it go, it was a really good little lens for me.. but no point in keeping it now that I have the Nikkor.


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> I took the time to throw up an ad on craigslist for the Sigma 70-200mm 2.8


I hate that - I really prefer throwing up doesn't drag out.

(sneaks off to bedroom for the approching Theraflu coma)


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> I hate that - I really prefer throwing up doesn't drag out.
> 
> (sneaks off to bedroom for the approching Theraflu coma)



Nah, should be good.  If nothing else I'll have a few extra bucks in the budget for some more hair of the dog... lol


----------



## Frank F.

good night hosers ... tomorrow I visit my new neighbour who can tell me all about the history of the site...


----------



## jcdeboever

This dog wanted to bite my ass but he or she needs to get in line... Street shooting today, 6 days removed from surgery (Doctor's orders!).... Modern medicine, got to love it....


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's kind of a cool picture!

Now what did I miss, the site was down?? boy if you don't get on often enough you miss all the excitement.

Bummer Charlie, no fun having childhood ailments! It's not funny (not funny ha-ha, more funny unusual) but it kind of strikes me that way having worked with kids anytime I'm sick with kid stuff. Feel better, or at least enjoy the cold medicine induced coma-like state. I think you should spend tomorrow not moving from the couch all day.


----------



## snowbear

New cheap @$$ pen set for every day use: The blue one is a fountain pen, the pink one is a ballpoint.  $20 for the set in-store, $15 online.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> That's kind of a cool picture!
> 
> Now what did I miss, the site was down?? boy if you don't get on often enough you miss all the excitement.
> 
> Bummer Charlie, no fun having childhood ailments! It's not funny (not funny ha-ha, more funny unusual) but it kind of strikes me that way having worked with kids anytime I'm sick with kid stuff. Feel better, or at least enjoy the cold medicine induced coma-like state. I think you should spend tomorrow not moving from the couch all day.



Thanks.  I'm (we're) still battling the sore throats & sinus stuff.  lazy lobster and MLW are worse off than me - I seem to be in the recovery mode.  I think the pink eye is related to the other virus, or I got it at the doctor's office.

Work won't actually let me go back until I'm no longer contagious; when MLW came down with MRSA a couple years ago, they sent her home immediately and brought in someone to scrub down her work station.  They don't play around with infectious diseases.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I just ran out of ink in the cheapie pen I was using so now I have near the computer my bright orange alumni pen I got sent when I signed up to send welcoming postcards to incoming students. (It didn't take much incentive, a free pen did the trick.) At least if your school colors are orange you tend to not lose those school supplies.

I hadn't thought about how crappy much of 2016 was so I appreciate you hosers pointing it out!  Yep it's time to move along into a new year. Although having been a teacher I still function in a school year so this feels like midyear of a better year already than last year.  Or something like that...


----------



## snowbear

Actually, it's been pretty good for me: I finished a major project and was able to hand the maintenance off to someone else, went to San Dieggive a presentation on the project at a premier GIS conference, I met two TFPers for lunch & talk.  There's been a bunch of crap, but some good points, too.  I'll decide the overall quality next week.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> New cheap @$$ pen set for every day use: The blue one is a fountain pen, the pink one is a ballpoint.  $20 for the set in-store, $15 online.




The clip broke on one of my metros. Should I buy one of these? (Might take your Lamy suggestion anyways...)


----------



## snowbear

The fountian pen is shaped like the Metro but it is a bit smaller.  I don't know if these will take a converter (my desired ink supply) and the Sheaffer only comes in a medium nib; I find I prefer italic and fine nibs.

Since I seem to be a collector (I have over a dozen fountain pens, now) I went this route.  I am still trying to figure out how best to make a pen set using the Metropolitans.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> my bright orange alumni pen


Syracuse?


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Gary picked up these puppies a while back. He is quite pleased with them. They're Cross and made in America. Gary makes an effort to buy American.


----------



## snowbear

One of my Cross pens ("Bailey")




cmw3_d40_6448 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr




cmw3_d40_6446 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr




cmw3_d40_6447 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Nice.


----------



## Frank F.

Socialist Brutalism was in the 1950ies to 1970ies ... now Poland goes way way back ... the building you see in this morning's newspaper was opend at 11 11 2016 ... unbelievable ..... shows the spirit of a country longing for the grey days of Socialism ... escapist tendency ... too complicated a world for many it seems ... never thought I would see something like this again!  .... PS. This is a church!


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> View attachment 130706




A wonderful poetic picture!


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, everyone. I'm operating on 3 hours of sleep for some reason. I don't have to, but I am. Don't ask me why.


----------



## snowbear

@ clinic with MLW; she's not getting better and now her eye  is turning red.  This year's Thanksgiving may end being scrapple and eggs.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Socialist Brutalism was in the 1950ies to 1970ies ... now Poland goes way way back ... the building you see in this morning's newspaper was opend at 11 11 2016 ... unbelievable ..... shows the spirit of a country longing for the grey days of Socialism ... escapist tendency ... too complicated a world for many it seems ... never thought I would see something like this again!  .... PS. This is a church!
> 
> 
> View attachment 130723


LOL ... the gray concrete fortresses of Communism. Architecture by State Committee. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> @ clinic with MLW; she's not getting better and now her eye  is turning red.  This year's Thanksgiving may end being scrapple and eggs.


Aww....your family has just had the lick!    So sorry everyone hasn't turned the corner yet.        Hope everyone rallies soon so the holiday can be enjoyed peacefully!


----------



## snowbear

I'm getting back to normal; lazy lobster is improving a bit; MLW has bronchitis on top of it all.  Need some more kitty therapy.

On the good  end of the spectrum - I have a job interview on Tuesday (nearby county Fire Department) and I just found out one of my applications to the Feds (Naval Surface Weapons facility nearby) has actually been referred to the agency.  Still a long way to go, but better than "there are better qualified applicants."


----------



## terri

Wow - just to make it past that first level seems impressive!    Good luck!


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Wow - just to make it past that first level seems impressive!    Good luck!


I can't count how many fed applications I've filled out since I got my degree.


----------



## minicoop1985

Man I'm tired. I took a two hour nap, and now I'm still exhausted.


----------



## SquarePeg

minicoop1985 said:


> Man I'm tired. I took a two hour nap, and now I'm still exhausted.



Naps do nothing for me except to make me feel like I have a hangover for the first hour after I wake up.  I no longer take them voluntarily but sometimes if I'm comfy on my couch, watching a really boring late afternoon baseball game, after a day at the beach...


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... the gray concrete fortresses of Communism.



Is that where Superman hangs out?


----------



## Frank F.

My lot is a box. Enclosed in 4 meter high walls. Neighbour says that there used to be a roof all over the box when he was a boy.


----------



## Frank F.

Yearly eye check .... color picture ...


----------



## JonA_CT

Happy Thanksgiving, hosers! 

One of the many things I'm thankful for today is this forum and y'all. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday (or you know...A great Thursday for our international friends).


----------



## minicoop1985

If Instagram likes are any indication of how well I'm doing, then as of late, I've been rocking it apparently. Hasselblad, Riedel (high end glass company), and a Porsche magazine have liked my recent posts. This is awesome.


----------



## minicoop1985

Also, to all our American members, have a safe Thanksgiving. Let's post what we all are most thankful for, people first, then stuff. Mine is my family-Cooper and Emily. As for physical things, well, take a wild guess.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias and Happy Thanksgiving to all.  Let's be thankful for all that we have and not give a thought to the material things we covet.

(LA Times headline:
*There are 63,000 homeless youths in L.A. County. These are the children of skid row)*


----------



## limr

Happy Thanksgiving, American hosers!


----------



## jcdeboever

Happy Thanksgiving Day Pilgrims! GO LIONS!


----------



## Frank F.

Happy whatever & tasty Turkeys to all of you. Thank you for existing and being the H O S E R S !!!


----------



## Frank F.

Strange thing: My Aneurism in the right eye seems to be gone ....

... evaporated


... disappeared

...healed????


----------



## terri

Happy Thanksgiving, to all who celebrate!    Make it a day of relaxation and enjoyment.     

(Now, back to the kitchen for me!)


----------



## jcdeboever

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them."

John F. Kennedy


----------



## Frank F.

"All my life is a service to god. I do not know if god likes the service. I will probably know one day. Thank you!"

Frank K.C. Fremerey


----------



## EIngerson

Happy Thanksgiving clickers!!!!!


----------



## tirediron

Merry Turkeymas to all you down there in North Mexico!


----------



## Frank F.

"Mr. Putin! Bring down that wall." 


Donald R. R. Duck


----------



## jcdeboever

YES, LIONS!


----------



## Frank F.

I took a nice photo today. Smoking workmen:


----------



## Frank F.

From my morning paper:






"Expect a longer delay. Your burger is being fried in America."

Trump repatriates US-Jobs

(the scene outside MCD is Munich)


----------



## snowbear

Well, the holiday is winding down.  It was not as bad as it could have been: we had lazy-lobster's sweet potato casserole, the standard canned cranberry sauce, and a tiny store-bought pumpkin pie waiting to be cut.  With the sore throats, we opted for the softer side, though I did grab a bag of pre-cooked turkey strips in case anybody wanted it.

MLW ordered her Christmas present today: the Kitchen-aid Pro 5 stand-up mixer is $300 (60%) off and free shipping.  I'm hoping for the full frame after the new year.

Oh, and, yeah, apparently Dallas tromped that team up the road.


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Thanksgiving hosers!!!  

Had a fabulous dinner cooked by my brother and sister in law.  Great time with our extended family and friends. Thankful for my smart funny sweet and sassy daughter, my amazingly active and energetic mom and the rest of my crazy, loud, sarcastic, brilliant and loving family.


----------



## snowbear

Possible road trip coming up at the end of the year.  Son #1 is moving to Tulsa and needs help driving out.


----------



## jcdeboever

I am on a soft diet temporarily so I couldn't eat anything....[emoji22] I did the dishes 3x for the ladies, I should get lucky tonight for that. Nice day, won two LCR pots! Not sure if it will be a sympathy lay or a thanks for your a big help lay.... Either way, it's good.


----------



## limr

My pumpkin pie filling was delish (the secret? I didn't use pumpkin at all. I used kabocha squash) but my pie crust was crumbly. Not enough water. I have enough squash puree left for a small pie, so tomorrow I'll make another crust to redeem myself and get a little practice.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy Hosers. Looks like this guy's gonna be staying in Madison, WI tomorrow night. Got me a NICE hotel room booked. This should be an interesting adventure.


----------



## JonA_CT

Warm cup of coffee, a comfortable couch, a blanket, some soft Christmas music, the dog on one side, the wife and kid on the other...I'm still trying to figure out why people are out in a 40 degree drizzle to go shopping.


----------



## Warhorse

Happy day after Thanksgiving everyone!

Our Thanksgiving was a wonderful buffet at a fine restaurant with family.

Easy, peazy, no fuss or muss.


----------



## robbins.photo

Thanksgiving.. Well with just two of us not much point in spending a ton of time in the kitchen so we hit a local restaurant.  Confused our poor waitress, left her a very well earned tip and went to pay the bill.  She thought the tip was for the bill.  Had to explain my policy on tips.  She was getting not only her tip but the tips for the last 3 times I went out to eat and got horrible service.  So I left them nothing and set their tips aside for the next person who gave me great service.  So happy thanksgiving for Stacie, she got a nice little bonus for working the holiday

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Oh my, the leftover turkey and mayo in the fridge are hassling me.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Two solid days of cooking and cleaning.  On Wednesday we picked and chopped and prepped nearly all the sides thinking that on Thursday like would be easy.  It wasn't. Yesterday we had a cornucopia of foods and drinks and guests ... and the dirty dishes to prove it all.  The best part of Thanksgiving for Gary are the leftovers.  Wednesday, Gary was feeding his sourdough Starter, (you remove about half the mixture and replace with fresh flour/dough), and decided to make some bread instead of tossing it to the worms and compost. He used a quickie baguette recipe and it came out great.  Much better than the airy Costco rolls.

Gary takes another sip from his half full cup, the sunlight is making the hummingbird feeder sparkle and glow.  It will be in the 70's today ... perfect for the patio and avoid the chaos of the roads and stores. Gary is thankful for Amazon.  Today Gary is writing.  Sort of an interesting story.  While wine tasting last Sunday.  Mary Lou and Gary ran into a very nice and articulate young man at Cougar winery ... (as a side note- very good stuff.  They even have a sparkling dessert wine.  We are now members of Cougar.)  Maybe Gary's reporter instinct caught with him ... but over the course of our tastings Gary got him to open up.  To cut to the wick, the kid grew up in Newport Beach, attended Penn State under an athletic scholarship there he confronted/addressed that he was gay.  That started a downward spiral and he left Penn.  He is now applying to a few UC's and I volunteered to write his personal statement.  As such, Gary has best get to work and do his good deed of the day.

Gary takes another sip of his now cold Colombian Supremo and clicks on


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Oh my, the leftover turkey and mayo in the fridge are hassling me.


Put them in a blender.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Warm cup of coffee, a comfortable couch, a blanket, some soft Christmas music, the dog on one side, the wife and kid on the other...I'm still trying to figure out why people are out in a 40 degree drizzle to go shopping.



Because they are fools, FOOLISH FOOLS!

You couldn't pay me to walk into a store today. There is not a single material object that is important enough to get me to put up with that crap. Just so not worth it.

I'm having a pyjama day, just me and the cats


----------



## minicoop1985

I'm doing absolutely nothing of any importance until i have to leave for Madison.


----------



## Gary A.

With the waterfall turned off.


----------



## terri

I agree with the do-nothing day!     Cars are going in and out of the subdivision here, likely to be shopping, and I see at least 2 family groups outside banging around, putting up outdoor Christmas decorations.    Guess it's a good way to work off the Turkey Day food, but I say, bah!    Sitting down, I say, bah!   

I'm almost out of coffee, though, and completely out of cream.   So I will have to pull it together enough to get the necessities for the weekend at some point.    Rats!        Don't wanna leave the house.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Because they are fools, FOOLISH FOOLS!



It could just be me but I'm starting to sense a theme here...

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Happy day after.  Maxwell House k-cup, this morning.

I will venture out but for only two things - we do need some laundry bleach and the grocery stores are generally not part of the BF chaos.  I 'm going to take the car to the self-service VEIP (emissions testing) kiosk.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> . . . I see at least 2 family groups outside banging around, putting up outdoor Christmas decorations.


Oh, yes.  I have a polar bear to put up outside.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> . . . I see at least 2 family groups outside banging around, putting up outdoor Christmas decorations.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, yes.  I have a polar bear to put up outside.
Click to expand...

That sounds like work!


----------



## Frank F.

Guests are coming. All set.


----------



## SquarePeg

robbins.photo said:


> Thanksgiving.. Well with just two of us not much point in spending a ton of time in the kitchen so we hit a local restaurant.  Confused our poor waitress, left her a very well earned tip and went to pay the bill.  She thought the tip was for the bill.  Had to explain my policy on tips.  She was getting not only her tip but the tips for the last 3 times I went out to eat and got horrible service.  So I left them nothing and set their tips aside for the next person who gave me great service.  So happy thanksgiving for Stacie, she got a nice little bonus for working the holiday
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk



I love this idea. As a former waitress and bartender who is the child of a single mom who was a waitress, it's difficult for me to not tip even when service is terrible. I may have to try this next time. It would allow me to avoid the guilt and also reward the person who worked hard.



limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Warm cup of coffee, a comfortable couch, a blanket, some soft Christmas music, the dog on one side, the wife and kid on the other...I'm still trying to figure out why people are out in a 40 degree drizzle to go shopping.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Because they are fools, FOOLISH FOOLS!
> 
> You couldn't pay me to walk into a store today. There is not a single material object that is important enough to get me to put up with that crap. Just so not worth it.
> 
> I'm having a pyjama day, just me and the cats
Click to expand...


I went shopping at 3am this morning and saved hundreds of dollars on things I was needing to buy anyway like sheets, towels, a winter coat etc. it was well worth it.   The "doorbuster" crowd was done and the early birds were still in bed so the stores were pretty empty. 

It was a great excuse to go to bed early after the big turkey fest.  Also it was a fun girls outing with my sister in law, my cousin, my daughter and her friend. We shopped for 3 hours at the nearby mall then met my mom for a very early breakfast at our local diner.   After a nice 3 hour nap I'm ready to chill by the fireplace and binge watch some of our favorite movies with my Thanksgiving posse. 

Foolishly,
A Foolish Fooly Fool .


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Warm cup of coffee, a comfortable couch, a blanket, some soft Christmas music, the dog on one side, the wife and kid on the other...I'm still trying to figure out why people are out in a 40 degree drizzle to go shopping.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Because they are fools, FOOLISH FOOLS!
> 
> You couldn't pay me to walk into a store today. There is not a single material object that is important enough to get me to put up with that crap. Just so not worth it.
> 
> I'm having a pyjama day, just me and the cats
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I went shopping at 3am this morning and saved hundreds of dollars on things I was needing to buy anyway like sheets, towels, a winter coat etc. it was well worth it.   The "doorbuster" crowd was done and the early birds were still in bed so the stores were pretty empty.
> 
> It was a great excuse to go to bed early after the big turkey fest.  Also it was a fun girls outing with my sister in law, my cousin, my daughter and her friend. We shopped for 3 hours at the nearby mall then met my mom for a very early breakfast at our local diner.   After a nice 3 hour nap I'm ready to chill by the fireplace and binge watch some of our favorite movies with my Thanksgiving posse.
> 
> Foolishly,
> A Foolish Fooly Fool .
Click to expand...


No, silly lady, the foolish fools ARE STILL OUT THERE, fighting through crowds and waiting an hour on line to pay for the stuff that they don't actually need


----------



## EIngerson

My wife went out shopping last night and said it was absolutely dead. No crowds anywhere. I guess they've taken the hype off of black friday around here.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Watching old movies and, uh, that's about it! 

Well, I might shop online a little... but I haven't even motivated to do that yet.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> It was a great excuse to go to bed early after the big turkey fest. Also it was a fun girls outing with my sister in law, my cousin, my daughter and her friend. We shopped for 3 hours at the nearby mall then met my mom for a very early breakfast at our local diner. After a nice 3 hour nap I'm ready to chill by the fireplace and binge watch some of our favorite movies with my Thanksgiving posse.



Awww...the way you describe it, it almost sounds fun.   Except for the 3 AM part.   But kudos on saving some hard-earned cash and having breakfast with Mom.    And binge watching fave movies by the fire is always a wonderful plan!


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> My wife went out shopping last night and said it was absolutely dead. No crowds anywhere. I guess they've taken the hype off of black friday around here.


There's never a line at the PX.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like blender turkey and mayo


----------



## JonA_CT

We drank a bunch of curated beer tonight. And then whiskey.


----------



## Gary A.

The lifts are open and people are skiing in the local mountains.  77F here but snow and skiing an hour and a half away.


----------



## Frank F.

My Goulasch was great. We had a lot of wine and Whisky in the end and a very good discussion on the Economy chapter of my book


----------



## Designer

Frank F. said:


> My Goulasch was great.


I've never had goulash that was great.  I would be interested in learning how you make it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is cupping his coffee mug in his hands.  It is cold.  It is 66F but feel more like 44F. Rain is predicted so all the extra moisture plus cold = very cold. Yeah, Gary knows ... not living in the East or Midwest I don't know what real cold is ... but Gary will still grip his coffee cup and let the steam warm up his nose.

Another big rivalry game at 12:30 PST,  USC - Notre Dame. The game should be one sided. Gary gave his tickets away and will watch it on the big screen with some hot turkey soup. Fight On!


----------



## Gary A.

BTW- The UC personal statement/essay is fini.  Good to get that off my back.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## Gary A.

I like that.  

I also like UCLA's and the 12 clap.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## Gary A.

And then there is this:


----------



## Frank F.

Designer said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> My Goulasch was great.
> 
> 
> 
> I've never had goulash that was great.  I would be interested in learning how you make it.
Click to expand...


My recipee

Most important is the meat. Go to a good butcher who knows the people who sell him the animals personally, who does the slaugtering himself, who sells the meat when it is ready, not when it enters his point of sale. Take a well ripend muscular part with a nice texture, including some fat (pasture finished beef is the best, you can get it by mail order).

General rule: The darkest looking piece in the counter is the best, a tad lighter than color of dark blood. The best trained muscle has the shortest fibres (you can see these) and the nicest taste. If the meat is not that good, cut smaller pieces.

Cut the meat or have it cut into bigger chunks (roughly inch by inch by inch dices). Take a big pan with high walls and have a lid ready for it. Cast iron is good, it will live in your oven for some hours later... Stir the dices hot brown from all sides, add Onions (the big salad variety, we call the "Butcher-Onions"), add veggie broth (all natural powder) plus salt to your taste, you can replace all salt with veggie broth powder.

Per Kilo Meat use 2 big Onions and two Kilos of very ripe tasty tomatoes. Cut out the stem of the tomatoes, then make small pieces, throw them on the meat, stir after each tomatoe.

That is it. Put the lid on top, leave in the oven at 120 to 150 Celsius for several hours (I start at 12:30, have the pot ready by 13.00 and leave it in the oven till 18.00)

All the peels contribute to the taste, but they do also not have a great mouth feeling, so before serving, I put the result in a seive, set the meat chunks aside, and blend the peely stuff with a mixer (I take a hand mixer), then I reintegrate the fluid part and the blended part, afterwards I throw the meat dices in again.

This way you get a very thick Sauce that is really tasty just from the good ingredients no artificials added into the formula...


----------



## Designer

Thank you!  I will try that.


----------



## Gary A.

It is pouring in Los Angeles. Yeah!!!!

SC 10 - ND 7


----------



## jcdeboever

Oh well, we lost but pretty exciting game.


----------



## snowbear

Chicken veggie + pasta soup on the stove top, biscuits in the oven.  MLW bought me a black sport coat (I have black pants)  and three dress shirts(white, light blue & lavender - my choices) for the Fire Department interview (and potential one with the Navy).


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Oh well, we lost but pretty exciting game.


Yes it was ... all that overtime ran into Gary's game.  SC scored two non-offensive touchdowns in 17 seconds to close out the first half.


----------



## Frank F.

Designer said:


> Thank you!  I will try that.



You need some hot and some sweet pepper powder too. You put it on the meat right in the beginning after browning. together with the onions.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary just received _*"The Photographer's Cookbook"*_.

It is great.

It is not a book of clever little titles for recipes ... a la ... Aperture Apple Pie, or Slow Shutter Salmon, Wide Angle Waffles, Pixel Potatoes, Developer Dumplings, Stop-Bath Split Pea Soup, et cetera.  But rather a compilation of recipes from well known photographers.

Some Examples:

Ansel Adam's - Eggs Benedict Poached in Beer
William Eggleston's - Cheese Grits Casserole
Richard Avedon's - The Royal Pot Roast
Cole Weston's - California Beef and Barley
Minor White's - Steamed and Sauteed Vegetables
George Eastman's - Lemon Meringue Pie

This will be fun.

PS- The illustrations are pretty good also.
G


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> PS- The illustrations are pretty good also.
> G



You'd think they would be photographs


----------



## Gary A.

They are photos by the recipe providers.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## Gary A.




----------



## Frank F.

Great. A recipee and a photo. No photo of the actual food . Why not?


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Great. A recipee and a photo. No photo of the actual food . Why not?


Ask Eggleston.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## Derrel

LOVE these!


----------



## terri

Ha!    That book looks so cool.        Fun!


----------



## bobandcar

I've been away from the site for a few years. Trying to get back into things. Never stopped taking pictures just stopped posting. 
How is everyone!!!


Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Frank F.

welcome back, Bob! 

I am new here, but I loke it very much.


----------



## bobandcar

I'm still seeing some of the same people on here which is good to see, there are some awesome folks with a vast knowledge base.


Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Designer

bobandcar said:


> How is everyone!!!


Unfortunately, "Buckster" (Buck Cash) has died.  He is remembered fondly.  

Oh, also Sharon Monet died.  She will be missed.


----------



## terri

bobandcar said:


> I'm still seeing some of the same people on here which is good to see, there are some awesome folks with a vast knowledge base.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app




Welcome back!    Yes, we have had some very sad passings here recently, and we remember them fondly.    

It is always nice to see folks circle back around to the TPF family!


----------



## robbins.photo

Ok, so this looks like a good spot for some random tiger cub silliness:




20161126_4997 by Todd Robbins, on Flickr

Had a blast at the zoo on Saturday.  Hope everyone else had a great weekend as well


----------



## snowbear

Bei-Bei, the panda cub is recovering from bowel obstruction surgery.  The evening news reported he's eating sweet potatoes laced with antibiotics.
Giant Panda Cub Bei Bei Recovering from Successful Bowel Surgery.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Nochas Coffee Hosers.  A long day.  Starting with a seven o'clock meeting at CSULA ending up with the young Ken coving over for help on his remaining three college application essays (four total).  He's a great kid and I am happy to help.  We spent the afternoon and evening writing and perfecting the second essay and selecting and developing the the backbone for the final two.  All are due by November 30. While we wrote Gary crafted up a pizza for dinner.  He liked the backyard and all the herbs which we picked and incorporated into the the pizza crust.  Tomorrow, Gary has to play catch-up on the stuff he put on hold.  But kids are worth it all.

Mary Lou and Gary are drinking a Lorenzi Zin from Temecula ... it is sooooo good.


----------



## bobandcar

Homemade pizza is amazing! Try cooking it on the grill with some BBQ flavors. Chicken and such on the pizza.
DONT USE LIGHTERFLUID ON CHARCOAL.  Nasty



Picked up a new body last night. 80d after 6 years with the t3i. Raining next couple days and busy with work so won't be able to really test it till the weekend.   

But. Looks like I'll be visiting the national zoo so should be a good weekend


Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

A recent flatbread.



bobandcar said:


> Homemade pizza is amazing! Try cooking it on the grill with some BBQ flavors. Chicken and such on the pizza.
> DONT USE LIGHTERFLUID ON CHARCOAL.  Nasty
> 
> 
> 
> Picked up a new body last night. 80d after 6 years with the t3i. Raining next couple days and busy with work so won't be able to really test it till the weekend.
> 
> But. Looks like I'll be visiting the national zoo so should be a good weekend
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


BBQ is my preferred cooking methodology for pizza. This was actually a flat bread (no pizza sauce).  The crust was stuffed with basil, thyme, oregano, marjoram and parsley.  On top was Spanish Olives w/ pimento, artichoke hearts, marinated mushrooms, green pepper, hot pepper, onion, four cheeses and roasted chicken.  Gary cooks the meat separate so there is little grease on the crust. Gary has come to hate greasy pizza.

We were working inside on the essays so this flatbread was in the oven. Thanks for the tip, but Gary is aware of not using lighter fluid. Gary's only charcoal BBQ is a Kamado, for which Gary uses a heat gun to ignite the lump charcoal. (Gary makes his own BBQ sauce.)

PS- Welcome back.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Man, the past couple of nights has been cold ... in the 40F cold. Gary used the heater for the first time this season. Today's L.A. Times is full of intrigue today.  The most interesting story of the front section has a headline and subheading which reads "A SAILOR'S LONG JOURNEY HOME" and beneath "With the help of relatives and modern science, an unknown soldier killed 75 years ago at Pearl Harbor is finally buried with his family". A very touching story of a family's persistence to finally get the government to do the right thing and identify his remains. Welcome home Edwin Hopkins, RIP.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, hosers! Been a stressful past week, but now that's over and I can relax for the next couple days. Ahh.


----------



## Frank F.

Hello Hosers. Freezing cold here around Zero Celsius. Wife & Kids happy, I can write as long as I do not put too much pressure on myself. Relax. Walk in the sun. Fresh air in my lungs. Then I can sit and be productive.

If force is with me I block my creative juices and can often not even conduct routine editing work.

Keep the goal in sight and keep my body happy but not too happy. Creative work can throw a lot of contradictory request for service on me.

I am happy when I finish my first book and my first house. I hope there will be many more books and houses I will write and build in the future


----------



## JonA_CT

Cold, driving rain all day. It's still pouring...around 2 inches and counting. It's supposed to stop soon and start back up again tomorrow. We need the rain as we are short around 15 inches over the last two years, but it's damn depressing when it never feels like day time outside!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another cold morning, 45F outside, 60F inside.  Mary Lou turned on the heater for me. Mary Lou doesn't feel the cold like an average person.  I think she shares the same nervous system as a fish. We won't even hit 70F today.  Yesterday Gary received and installed this nice little infra-red heating unit for the patio. Gary has this tall, restaurant type heater, it is pretty with flames shooting up a glass column, but it doesn't heat worth a damn.  I mounted it on the ceiling, it come with a remote control and a single press of a button it instantly tosses out heat. Works great, but the glare from the heating element is distracting, so Gary is moving it from the west end of the patio to the east end where the patio roof butts up to the house.  

Gary is still working on the final two college application essays.  It sorta feels good to write again for a purpose.


----------



## terri

Morning, hosers!   We had beautiful rain all morning yesterday, and more is forecast for this afternoon.   We've had a bad drought in this part of the state, so every drop is welcomed.  

The hubby and I are celebrating - wait for it - 31 years of marriage today.   We look at each other and agree that it doesn't seem that long.   Which is a good thing, right?   

Dinner and a bottle of wine tonight at our favorite local restaurant.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Morning, hosers!   We had beautiful rain all morning yesterday, and more is forecast for this afternoon.   We've had a bad drought in this part of the state, so every drop is welcomed.
> 
> The hubby and I are celebrating - wait for it - 31 years of marriage today.   We look at each other and agree that it doesn't seem that long.   Which is a good thing, right?
> 
> Dinner and a bottle of wine tonight at our favorite local restaurant.


Glad you're getting some well needed rain.  We've had it for two days, now, but nothing heavy.

Happy Anniversary & congrat's on the three-one.


----------



## JonA_CT

Terri, hope you are being successful in dodging the tornadoes down there! Stay safe.

I'm at a crossroads gear wise. I have one of those decade birthdays in a few weeks and my parents want to buy me a piece of camera equipment. I know I'll want a new lens, but I'm having a hard time focusing down what exactly I want, because I want it all...wide-angle prime, telephoto zoom, macro...maybe an 85mm prime. I keep going through my photos and it seems like the wide-angle prime or the 85mm would make sense, but I feel like I would use the telephoto lens too.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Morning, hosers!   We had beautiful rain all morning yesterday, and more is forecast for this afternoon.   We've had a bad drought in this part of the state, so every drop is welcomed.
> 
> The hubby and I are celebrating - wait for it - 31 years of marriage today.   We look at each other and agree that it doesn't seem that long.   Which is a good thing, right?
> 
> Dinner and a bottle of wine tonight at our favorite local restaurant.


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> Terri, hope you are being successful in dodging the tornadoes down there! Stay safe.
> 
> I'm at a crossroads gear wise. I have one of those decade birthdays in a few weeks and my parents want to buy me a piece of camera equipment. I know I'll want a new lens, but I'm having a hard time focusing down what exactly I want, because I want it all...wide-angle prime, telephoto zoom, macro...maybe an 85mm prime. I keep going through my photos and it seems like the wide-angle prime or the 85mm would make sense, but I feel like I would use the telephoto lens too.



Split the difference, 70-200mm 2.8.


----------



## Designer

JonA_CT said:


> I have one of those decade birthdays in a few weeks and my parents want to buy me a piece of camera equipment.


What is the proposed budget for the gift?  The WA prime is less expensive, but that 85 prime is more, and is very nice, especially for portraiture.


----------



## JonA_CT

robbins.photo said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Terri, hope you are being successful in dodging the tornadoes down there! Stay safe.
> 
> I'm at a crossroads gear wise. I have one of those decade birthdays in a few weeks and my parents want to buy me a piece of camera equipment. I know I'll want a new lens, but I'm having a hard time focusing down what exactly I want, because I want it all...wide-angle prime, telephoto zoom, macro...maybe an 85mm prime. I keep going through my photos and it seems like the wide-angle prime or the 85mm would make sense, but I feel like I would use the telephoto lens too.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Split the difference, 70-200mm 2.8.
Click to expand...


Yeah, that's the zoom I was thinking. 



Designer said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have one of those decade birthdays in a few weeks and my parents want to buy me a piece of camera equipment.
> 
> 
> 
> What is the proposed budget for the gift?  The WA prime is less expensive, but that 85 prime is more, and is very nice, especially for portraiture.
Click to expand...


Budget is probably pretty flexible...I'm the adult kid who never asks for anything (my older brother constantly borrows money and my little brother (24 isn't that little) still lives at home and they pay all of his bills). 

I guess UWA prime is really what I'm talking about... either 20 or 24mm @ F1.8. Those lenses are a bit more than the 85mm. 

Anyways...don't want to stress the Coffee House out with this. I'll go bother one of the other forums with another "What lens" thread. Honestly, I should probably just rent one of each and play with them for a week to see what I think.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Terri, hope you are being successful in dodging the tornadoes down there! Stay safe.
> 
> I'm at a crossroads gear wise. I have one of those decade birthdays in a few weeks and my parents want to buy me a piece of camera equipment. I know I'll want a new lens, but I'm having a hard time focusing down what exactly I want, because I want it all...wide-angle prime, telephoto zoom, macro...maybe an 85mm prime. I keep going through my photos and it seems like the wide-angle prime or the 85mm would make sense, but I feel like I would use the telephoto lens too.



What do you primarily shoot?  What do you have already?


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Terri, hope you are being successful in dodging the tornadoes down there! Stay safe.



It's kinda nasty out there atm, but I don't think we're in line for some of the worst stuff that's been involved with this wicked front.   Thankful!   Good luck with the special birthday purchase!

@Gary A:    That's.... a lot of applause.      Thank you, my friend!



snowbear said:


> Happy Anniversary & congrat's on the three-one.



Thank you, Bear!!!


----------



## snowbear

Woohoo!  Brown Santa brought MLW's big red present.  We can't wait to break it in.




DSC_6801.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## bobandcar

That red Bacardi bat!!! Lol what a gift


Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## snowbear

bobandcar said:


> That red Bacardi bat!!! Lol what a gift
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


Yeah, but it's not that big, or anywhere near full.  It is, by the way, for cooking and medicinal purposes, only - we just got over sore throats.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Terri, hope you are being successful in dodging the tornadoes down there! Stay safe.
> 
> I'm at a crossroads gear wise. I have one of those decade birthdays in a few weeks and my parents want to buy me a piece of camera equipment. I know I'll want a new lens, but I'm having a hard time focusing down what exactly I want, because I want it all...wide-angle prime, telephoto zoom, macro...maybe an 85mm prime. I keep going through my photos and it seems like the wide-angle prime or the 85mm would make sense, but I feel like I would use the telephoto lens too.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What do you primarily shoot?  What do you have already?
Click to expand...


I do a lot of things with my family, but I spend more time on landscape-type things when I get a chance to get out on my own.

I use a D600, a Sigma 17-35mm, Sigma 50mm 1.4, and a Tamron 28-75mm. 

The 85mm or maybe a 70-200mm is probably  makes the most sense for what I mostly use my camera for...but I think I'd personally get the most enjoyment out of a super-sharp wide prime. That's the struggle, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

The 70-200 F/2.8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Fini, Gary finished the writing the fourth and final UC essay.  Gary's regular programing will now resume.


----------



## snowbear

I went to the local book-music-assorted-stuff chain and took a few phone pics.

     

And finally, a character that scares the bejesus out of me.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Terri, hope you are being successful in dodging the tornadoes down there! Stay safe.
> 
> I'm at a crossroads gear wise. I have one of those decade birthdays in a few weeks and my parents want to buy me a piece of camera equipment. I know I'll want a new lens, but I'm having a hard time focusing down what exactly I want, because I want it all...wide-angle prime, telephoto zoom, macro...maybe an 85mm prime. I keep going through my photos and it seems like the wide-angle prime or the 85mm would make sense, but I feel like I would use the telephoto lens too.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What do you primarily shoot?  What do you have already?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I do a lot of things with my family, but I spend more time on landscape-type things when I get a chance to get out on my own.
> 
> I use a D600, a Sigma 17-35mm, Sigma 50mm 1.4, and a Tamron 28-75mm.
> 
> The 85mm or maybe a 70-200mm is probably  makes the most sense for what I mostly use my camera for...but I think I'd personally get the most enjoyment out of a super-sharp wide prime. That's the struggle, haha.
Click to expand...


I think either of those would be a great add to your kit.  Skip the UWA unless you have a specific use in mind.  I find that I no longer use my Tokina 11-16.  I really wanted it for landscapes when I bought it but I quickly found I didn't like the distance it put everything at and ended up rarely liking anything I shot with it.  I was going to sell it but I have some pie in the sky aspirations of getting my act together on some night sky photography next year so it has a temporary reprieve.  If I don't get to it by then - it's on the block.


----------



## Frank F.

Morning Hosers.

With the 1.8 series of Primes Nikon released during the last few years you simply cannot go wrong.

20 24 28 35 50 85

All of them are superb

The 1.4 series is much heavier, more expensive and not always much better.

I had the 1.4/85D and the 1.8/85D and the 1.4/85G ... all very nice lenses. Very very nice. The 1.4/85G has the advantage of very silent AF over the 1.4/85D which is screwdriver with ugly sound. The G also has the smoothest of possible BG rendering.

In the end I decided for the 1.8/85G. I simply love that lens because it is light and balances perfectly with my D3 and the gripped D500. And I love the way it draws.

I just ordered the 1.4/105E as my christmas gift. I will see if it will stay with me for a while or will go because I do not use it. The pictures I have seen taken with this lens are dream come true.

Yet it is really huge an heavy. The good thing is I got a deal from amazon UK and got it for 1865 Euros while amazon DE wants 2349 Euros. So I can sure sell it for the price I paid if necessary.

Stay away from the 1.4/50G .... I feel this lens is not up to the task and sure needs an update .... I see you have the Sigma Art. Much better.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Hosers.  Dawn here, the Sun is lighting up the clouds but hasn't peaked above the horizon. Thursday is camera ad day in the L.A. Times.  Samy usually has three complete pages of advertising (as an insert). Other camera stores toss in ads as well.  As Gary shoots Fuji, there not much temptation going on, but it is always good to look. A brisk 49F outside right now but should hit the mid 60's. Depending on Gary's work schedule, he's moving the backyard heater (again) to get it closer to the patio table and toss up the outdoor Xmas lights ... and start processing some theatre stuff.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> I think either of those would be a great add to your kit.  Skip the UWA unless you have a specific use in mind.  I find that I no longer use my Tokina 11-16.  I really wanted it for landscapes when I bought it but I quickly found I didn't like the distance it put everything at and ended up rarely liking anything I shot with it.  I was going to sell it but I have some pie in the sky aspirations of getting my act together on some night sky photography next year so it has a temporary reprieve.  If I don't get to it by then - it's on the block.



For what it's worth, my three most popular images this year on social media were taken at an 17mm on FX. But I also intentionally put myself into situations where I could use it. My only problem is that the distortion on that lens is pretty bad, but I've been getting better at fixing it.

I think y'all have swung me the right way. I'll send my parents the links for both the 85mm and the 70-200mm lens I've been eyeing, and let them pick how generous they would like to be!


The sun is out today, and it pretty warm for December in CT. I might go looking for a nice outside location to get some Christmas card shots today when I get out of work.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!




Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another cold morning, 45F outside, 60F inside.  Mary Lou turned on the heater for me. Mary Lou doesn't feel the cold like an average person.  I think she shares the same nervous system as a fish.



I knew I liked her! 



terri said:


> The hubby and I are celebrating - wait for it - 31 years of marriage today.   We look at each other and agree that it doesn't seem that long.   Which is a good thing, right?
> 
> Dinner and a bottle of wine tonight at our favorite local restaurant.



Happy belated anniversary!!  
Hope you had a nice time at dinner last night!



JonA_CT said:


> I'm at a crossroads gear wise. I have one of those decade birthdays in a few weeks and my parents want to buy me a piece of camera equipment. I know I'll want a new lens, but I'm having a hard time focusing down what exactly I want, because I want it all...wide-angle prime, telephoto zoom, macro...maybe an 85mm prime. I keep going through my photos and it seems like the wide-angle prime or the 85mm would make sense, but I feel like I would use the telephoto lens too.



I thought I'd chime in and let you know that I haven't the foggiest idea 



snowbear said:


> Woohoo!  Brown Santa brought MLW's big red present.  We can't wait to break it in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_6801.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr



WANT!

Oh and that t-shirt, that "I do what I want" t-shirt you snapped a picture of? Yeah, that's on my wishlist already. Was going to wait to see if someone would get it for me for Christmas, but I think I need it sooner. Like RIGHT MEOW!


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> The sun is out today, and it pretty warm for December in CT. I might go looking for a nice outside location to get some Christmas card shots today when I get out of work.



Perfect weather here in MA for me to get out there during a break in the action to put out my Christmas lights!  A bit on the muddy side but we're going low key this year with just some tree lights and of course our famous (in our town at least) Christmas giraffe. 

Saw the cutest thing today while driving my daughter to school.  Going to try to get over there today to get a shot of it....  I'm sure the suspense if killing you!


----------



## terri

@limr:   Thanks Lenny!   Dinner was fun.   

Today the skies have cleared and are a gorgeous deep autumn blue.   Windy, windy, windy and colder.   Beautiful day!



SquarePeg said:


> I'm sure the suspense if killing you!


Yer darn right it is!   Hurry up!


----------



## jcdeboever

Thought some of y'all might get a kick out of these

1. Succulent Dress




2. Mossy Sport Jacket ensemble.


----------



## tirediron

Cool!


----------



## SquarePeg

Admit it, you sang that.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Oh and that t-shirt, that "I do what I want" t-shirt you snapped a picture of? Yeah, that's on my wishlist already. Was going to wait to see if someone would get it for me for Christmas, but I think I need it sooner. Like RIGHT MEOW!



PM me your address - it might show up.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Admit it, you sang that.




Best ad on TV this season:


----------



## snowbear

Oh, BTW;  I picked up a little $15 bit of vintage at The Barn Show (cross between upscale flea market and antique shop).


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> Oh, BTW;  I picked up a little $15 bit of vintage at The Barn Show (cross between upscale flea market and antique shop).
> 
> View attachment 131045



Ok, so couldn't really ask this in the other thread, but is your bookie Japanese by chance?

Lol...

Nice find at the barn show btw


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> I think either of those would be a great add to your kit.  Skip the UWA unless you have a specific use in mind.  I find that I no longer use my Tokina 11-16.  I really wanted it for landscapes when I bought it but I quickly found I didn't like the distance it put everything at and ended up rarely liking anything I shot with it.  I was going to sell it but I have some pie in the sky aspirations of getting my act together on some night sky photography next year so it has a temporary reprieve.  If I don't get to it by then - it's on the block.



The UWA are the most challenging of lenses for me:

if the geometry of the room you use it it is not very easy or the subject can bear a lot of distortion.

In all other cases UWA lenses require very very careful composition of a huge amount of elements in the picture.

Or you do it like in a childrens book:


----------



## Frank F.

Hello Hosers! All of my life I thought I was the good guy ... now I learn I am Frank'n'Stein ... In truth I am the bad guy, or just another bad guy ... at leat that is what people try to tell me or do not tell me and just do not talk to me any more. 

Now that I know this part (but still cannot believe of course) I ask myself: What will my MONSTER look like when I am finished?


----------



## Frank F.

terri said:


> ... 31 years ...




On 28th October my wife and I celebrated our 20th year as a couple ... I thought this was a lot.

Wow & congratulations!


----------



## robbins.photo

Frank F. said:


> Hello Hosers! All of my life I thought I was the good guy ... now I learn I am Frank'n'Stein ...



Somebody harnessed the power of lightning to bring you back from the dead, and your complaining?

Sheesh...


----------



## Frank F.

robbins.photo said:


> Somebody harnessed the power of lightning to bring you back from the dead, and your complaining?
> Sheesh...



Nono. Frankenstein was the mad professor, not the monster. The MONSTER was Frankenstein's monster...


----------



## robbins.photo

Frank F. said:


> Nono. Frankenstein was the mad professor, not the monster. The MONSTER was Frankenstein's monster...



Ok, well if your asking yourself what your monster will look like when it's finished, my personal recommendation would be you shoot for something that looks like a rainbow colored unicorn but has an insatiable craving for human flesh.


----------



## Frank F.

From "The Carbon Farming Solution" Eric Toensmeier, 2016 or "more fish in the sea than birds in the sky" ..... good night, hosers!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Ok, I am officially in a cheerier mood...I just finished watching 'Charlie Brown Christmas ' on t.v. 
We are currently only getting 3 channels so I was happy to catch a holiday show


----------



## NancyMoranG

On a reaaaallly opposite side of the equation, our son had us watching Game of Thrones for the past 2 weeks. All 6 seasons that we finished last night!
My husband says I have now watched more sex with our son than with just him :0
pretty graphic stuff.
But what a show with the conniving, back stabbing, family honor, alliances and all. 
Great sets, costumes, actors, and wow factors. Their battle scenes are really graphic, bloody and I do turn my head sometimes, BUT holy smokes how do they film and edit them to be a little too real ? 
I really have to give them credit. 
Trust me, we would not ever have watched it without our son assuring us it was worth it..


----------



## snowbear

NancyMoranG said:


> On a reaaaallly opposite side of the equation, our son had us watching Game of Thrones for the past 2 weeks. All 6 seasons that we finished last night!
> My husband says I have now watched more sex with our son than with just him :0
> pretty graphic stuff.
> But what a show with the conniving, back stabbing, family honor, alliances and all.
> Great sets, costumes, actors, and wow factors. Their battle scenes are really graphic, bloody and I do turn my head sometimes, BUT holy smokes how do they film and edit them to be a little too real ?
> I really have to give them credit.
> Trust me, we would not ever have watched it without our son assuring us it was worth it..



I read the books a while back (three came up for the Kindle for free or $0.99).  I haven't watched the show.


----------



## NancyMoranG

It is not for the faint hearted that's for sure, and the T & A in it is shocking to me. But I grew up when 'I Dream of Jeannie' couldn't show her belly button and Dick Van Dyke had twin beds in their shows !! 
Aahhh, the old days..


----------



## snowbear

Well, good night, peeps.  I have to actually go to work in the morning.

Going to order some 120 and give the Brownie a run.


----------



## Frank F.

Good luck with your oldie, snowbear!

All six seasons GoT? Gosh. I did see two episodes and felt I had wasted my life on hollow eye candy. I picked up "The Circle" instead. A very well written book I had on my reading list for quite some time....


----------



## vintagesnaps




----------



## Frank F.

yesterday I grilled some veggies
ISO 10.000
D500
NX-D
Auto White Balance


----------



## SquarePeg

I enjoy the GOT tv show quite a bit - the drama and characters are larger than life and, to me, that is what that type of entertainment should be - a temporary escape from reality.  I get plenty of reality in my daily life and have no desire to watch it on tv.  I've also read all of the books in the series (which I liked) but, had I known the series was unfinished and it was 7 years between the last 2 books, I would have never started them...  the storyline on the tv show has now past the point where the last book ended so not sure how they will reconcile that when the next book finally is released.


----------



## JonA_CT

It ended up being cloudy by the time I got home last night, and with the time of year, it was pretty darn dark. Gonna have to try those Christmas card photos tomorrow.

Besides that, we have nothing planned for the weekend. For the first time ever, it feels like.


----------



## runnah

SquarePeg said:


> I enjoy the GOT tv show quite a bit - the drama and characters are larger than life and, to me, that is what that type of entertainment should be - a temporary escape from reality.  I get plenty of reality in my daily life and have no desire to watch it on tv.  I've also read all of the books in the series (which I liked) but, had I known the series was unfinished and it was 7 years between the last 2 books, I would have never started them...  the storyline on the tv show has now past the point where the last book ended so not sure how they will reconcile that when the next book finally is released.



I ended up getting bored after season 5. Maybe that is why. Anyways I'm a firm believer that no show should last longer than 3-4 seasons.


----------



## JonA_CT

runnah said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I enjoy the GOT tv show quite a bit - the drama and characters are larger than life and, to me, that is what that type of entertainment should be - a temporary escape from reality.  I get plenty of reality in my daily life and have no desire to watch it on tv.  I've also read all of the books in the series (which I liked) but, had I known the series was unfinished and it was 7 years between the last 2 books, I would have never started them...  the storyline on the tv show has now past the point where the last book ended so not sure how they will reconcile that when the next book finally is released.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I ended up getting bored after season 5. Maybe that is why. Anyways I'm a firm believer that no show should last longer than 3-4 seasons.
Click to expand...


Agree completely. I thought Breaking Bad was brilliant...partially because they wrote a story arc, and when it was over, the show was over. They could have easily made millions of dollars to continue, but they didn't. That's art.

The Office is probably one of my favorite comedy shows ever...when Steve Carrell decided to leave, that show was done, and yet they produced two more seasons that were not very good.


----------



## Frank F.

I liked breaking bad until Mike died. I hope better call saul will be continued soon. After two seasons they did not even start


----------



## limr

I've never watched either show. And now I guess I know how Breaking Bad ends 

Morning, hosers!


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> I've never watched either show. And now I guess I know how Breaking Bad ends
> 
> Morning, hosers!



Same way as the walking dead ends... the zombies win.  

Morning!


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm contemplating roasting my own coffee. I was beating around the bush the other day with my wife, asking her if I could repurpose our Whirly-Pop, when I got this text message: "You want to literally roast your own damn coffee? Seriously? Wtf is wrong with you"

I think between the beer brewing, the photo taking, and the bread and pizza baking, she is over "hobbies" of mine that she would be perfectly happy to pay someone else to do, haha.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've never watched either show. And now I guess I know how Breaking Bad ends
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Same way as the walking dead ends... the zombies win.
> 
> Morning!
Click to expand...


Never watched that show, either. If the pattern of my life holds steady, all the popular shows will have been cancelled for about 5 years before I start watching them. I'm always a couple of years behind the trends  Part of that is because I can't really be bothered. Also, I'm very contrary and I'm about as far from a "joiner" as you can find  I mean, I'm not a full-on off-the-grid hermit non-joiner, but really, the best way to get me to _not_ do something is to tell me that everyone else is doing it. Except maybe running for the exit when the building is on fire...


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> I'm contemplating roasting my own coffee. I was beating around the bush the other day with my wife, asking her if I could repurpose our Whirly-Pop, when I got this text message: "You want to literally roast your own damn coffee? Seriously? Wtf is wrong with you"
> 
> I think between the beer brewing, the photo taking, and the bread and pizza baking, she is over "hobbies" of mine that she would be perfectly happy to pay someone else to do, haha.



I've totally been thinking of doing the same thing! You can find green coffee beans on Amazon and there's a hand roaster there, too. I need to do more research, though. I really want to try it, though.

Luckily my boyfriend has similar DIY tendencies, so he doesn't give me the stink eye when I tell him of my latest scheme


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm contemplating roasting my own coffee. I was beating around the bush the other day with my wife, asking her if I could repurpose our Whirly-Pop, when I got this text message: "You want to literally roast your own damn coffee? Seriously? Wtf is wrong with you"
> 
> I think between the beer brewing, the photo taking, and the bread and pizza baking, she is over "hobbies" of mine that she would be perfectly happy to pay someone else to do, haha.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've totally been thinking of doing the same thing! You can find green coffee beans on Amazon and there's a hand roaster there, too. I need to do more research, though. I really want to try it, though.
> 
> Luckily my boyfriend has similar DIY tendencies, so he doesn't give me the stink eye when I tell him of my latest scheme
Click to expand...


Stovetop Roasting Starter Kit


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Never watched that show, either. If the pattern of my life holds steady, all the popular shows will have been cancelled for about 5 years before I start watching them. I'm always a couple of years behind the trends  Part of that is because I can't really be bothered. Also, I'm very contrary and I'm about as far from a "joiner" as you can find  I mean, I'm not a full-on off-the-grid hermit non-joiner, but really, the best way to get me to _not_ do something is to tell me that everyone else is doing it. Except maybe running for the exit when the building is on fire...



If it's not on Netflix odds are good, I haven't seen it.  If it is on Netflix odds are good I watched 2, maybe 3 episodes and decided it wasn't worth any more time investment than that.

Walking Dead - oh gosh, were being attacked by zombies.  Hey, now would be a great time to stop and have a long winded discussion about the moral implications of our decision making paradigm.  Ugh.

Breaking Bad - I have cancer.. so you should feel sorry for me even though I'm getting your kids hooked on a deadly poison that will ruin their lives forever.  Because hey, I'm not that bad of a guy really, I just destroy peoples lives for money, that's all - Ugh

So ya, can't say as I was much of a fan of either.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I'm contemplating roasting my own coffee. I was beating around the bush the other day with my wife, asking her if I could repurpose our Whirly-Pop, when I got this text message: "You want to literally roast your own damn coffee? Seriously? Wtf is wrong with you"
> 
> I think between the beer brewing, the photo taking, and the bread and pizza baking, she is over "hobbies" of mine that she would be perfectly happy to pay someone else to do, haha.


LOL ... Jon, there are a ton of coffee roasting appliances from simple to complex, cheap to thousands of bucks on the internet (Amazon). This is what interests Gary.

https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Co...d=1480689375&sr=8-16&keywords=coffee+roasters

How are you brewing your coffee?




This is what you also need to complete you vertical monopoly.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm contemplating roasting my own coffee. I was beating around the bush the other day with my wife, asking her if I could repurpose our Whirly-Pop, when I got this text message: "You want to literally roast your own damn coffee? Seriously? Wtf is wrong with you"
> 
> I think between the beer brewing, the photo taking, and the bread and pizza baking, she is over "hobbies" of mine that she would be perfectly happy to pay someone else to do, haha.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Jon, there are a ton of coffee roasting appliances from simple to complex, cheap to thousands of bucks. This is what interests Gary.
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Co...d=1480689375&sr=8-16&keywords=coffee+roasters
> 
> How are you brewing your coffee?
Click to expand...


That might be a bit overkill for Leo


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ...


----------



## Gary A.

Damn you Jon.  Gary poked around Amazon checking out roasters and he stumbled across a nifty siphon brewing device.  Anybody use a siphon brewer?


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, hosers! Good morning! Gonna be a long day, but I hope it will be a good one. I hope.


----------



## JonA_CT

For single cup, I use an aeropress...which would be the primary purpose for any coffee I roast. 

No siphon brewing for me, but I am interested in a Chemex.


----------



## Gary A.

I tried a Aeropress ... went back to the French Press.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay, Gary is the proud owner of a siphon machine.


----------



## Parker219

lol


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Damn you Jon.  Gary poked around Amazon checking out roasters and he stumbled across a nifty siphon brewing device.  Anybody use a siphon brewer?



Around here I think we call those a still - lol


----------



## JonA_CT

They use those stills to make fuel alcohol, right?

My local homebrew shop sells fuel alcohol stills. Can't figure out why they have large jugs of molasses on display next to it, though.


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> They use those stills to make fuel alcohol, right?



Right.. for umm.. fuel... and stuff.


----------



## terri

Happy Friday!!!!!!!!!    

Because.


----------



## snowbear

Taking a short break.

Today's work project - cleanup.  Trying to finish up some things that have been thrown to the bottom of the pile and finish up some documentation.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary moved their ceiling mounted Patio heater... again,  Fourth move. Mary Lou and Gary just returned from the patio, enjoying a glass of Cougar Barbara.  The heater works and definitely cut the edge off the nighttime cold.  But Gary thinks he's gonna move it one final time.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just wrapped up dinner, leftovers.  But the leftovers was augmented with fresh avocados and Mandrian Oranges from the yard.  Ooohhhh is was soooo good.  Haas is a joke compared to these avocados.  Who wants an avocado? ... (PM Gary).


----------



## vintagesnaps

So now we're what, combining brewing coffee and moonshine?? I tell ya, if I miss a day on here I never know what you hosers are up to! 

I saw something labeled 'moonshine' in the beverage drive thru. Somehow I doubt it's anything like what used to come out of big copper pots & coils.


----------



## snowbear

If it's got an excise stamp, it ain't  shine.


----------



## minicoop1985

Moonshine, huh? Oh lawdy.

My dog is an idiot. That is all.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, folks.  It was a long night.
MLW and LL have been at MIL's for most of the week.  Brother in law has multiple health issues (diabetic, COPD to start) and is a "fall risk" so he really can't be left alone for too long.  We were on the way there, for dinner, when LL called saying he had fallen (fourth time that day) and maybe broke his ankle (he did).  He is stubborn and will not go to hospital in the ambulance, sayig if it's not life or death, the hospital will charge him a lot; he has to go to the VA.  We call the local fire/ems department to help get him out and down the steps (he is heavier than we can handle) and into our car so MLW & I can take him to the VA in DC (about 30 miles).  We got home (after going to pick up LL) about 05:30 this AM.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Good morning, folks.  It was a long night.
> MLW and LL have been at MIL's for most of the week.  Brother in law has multiple health issues (diabetic, COPD to start) and is a "fall risk" so he really can't be left alone for too long.  We were on the way there, for dinner, when LL called saying he had fallen (fourth time that day) and maybe broke his ankle (he did).  He is stubborn and will not go to hospital in the ambulance, sayig if it's not life or death, the hospital will charge him a lot; he has to go to the VA.  We call the local fire/ems department to help get him out and down the steps (he is heavier than we can handle) and into our car so MLW & I can take him to the VA in DC (about 30 miles).  We got home (after going to pick up LL) about 05:30 this AM.



That sucks. It will get better.


----------



## JonA_CT

Sorry things have been hard recently for you, Charlie. I hope things settle soon for you.

Got out to take some photos for our Christmas cards this morning. I'm importing them now...not sure how I did. The sun angle is a ***** this time of year, the wind was whipping, and 16 month old girls don't love to stand or sit still.


----------



## snowbear

The VA does a good job, for the most part but it takes so long to get out of there.  Yeah, MLW and I were discussing it on the ride home -- can't wait for this year to be done.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Sorry things have been hard recently for you, Charlie. I hope things settle soon for you.
> 
> Got out to take some photos for our Christmas cards this morning. I'm importing them now...not sure how I did. The sun angle is a ***** this time of year, the wind was whipping, and 16 month old girls don't love to stand or sit still.



Duct tape.  Pretty colored duct tape.


----------



## Gary A.

Hang in there Charlie. Getting old is tough.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas dias coffee hosers.  It was 41F this morning at 7 o'clock.  It's up to 51F.  Cook is staring at me for her walk ... I'm ignoring her for the cold.

@ Jon: Any luck with the roaster?  I've been looking at them also.  The one's I like are way expensive.  You know, you can simply toss beans into a frying pan and stir them by hand. One of the best cups of coffee I've ever had was by this guy in Jamaica brewing out of a sock.  So instead of a Chemex just use a sock and a pot.  (He roasted the beans and a can and crushed them with a hammer.)


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> @ Jon: Any luck with the roaster?  I've been looking at them also.  The one's I like are way expensive.  You know, you can simply toss into a frying pan and stir them by hand. One of the best cups of coffee I've ever had was by this guy in Jamaica brewing out of a sock.  So instead of a Chemex just use a sock and a pot.  (He roasted the beans and a can and crushed them with a hammer.)



I looked into your grill solution...I like it, but the reading I've done suggests you should only use the grill for coffee making. Can't sneak that by the wife. If I can convince her that she likes it too, though...maybe. That's how I convinced her that a kegerator was a great idea for homebrew (that, and because she was my bottling assistant(. 

The whirly-pop solution is probably what I'll end up with. I'm still in negotiations though. I typically win when I have a good argument...($6-7 per pound for single origin green beans vs. $15-16 a pound for the locally roasted ones here).


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

New car. I bought one.


----------



## snowbear

Pics!!

I'm guessing it isn't a lifted 2004 TJ


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Pics!!
> 
> I'm guessing it isn't a lifted 2004 TJ



Yeeeaaaahhhhh, no. it's not a lifted TJ 

It's a 2017 Mazda 3 Sport, 6-speed. No pics yet as the dealer has to find me a hatchback. I'll be picking it up in a week.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oooooh, Mazda, sport, 6 speed! and a 2017 no less. I like the sound of that.


----------



## snowbear

Cool.  Looking forward to seeing it.

We had the Camry cleaned, today - looks nice and shiny.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pics!!
> 
> I'm guessing it isn't a lifted 2004 TJ
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeeeaaaahhhhh, no. it's not a lifted TJ
> 
> It's a 2017 Mazda 3 Sport, 6-speed. No pics yet as the dealer has to find me a hatchback. I'll be picking it up in a week.
Click to expand...

Very happy for you. You will be safe and sporty at the same time! Woooooo hoooooo


----------



## JonA_CT

Nice taste in cars, Leo. I drive a '13 Mazda 3 Hatch with a six speed. Love it.


----------



## Gary A.

Good deal Leo.  Merry Christmas.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon: After some research, Gary purchased a popcorn popper (hot air) for roasting and a pound of green Ethiopian beans.


----------



## Frank F.

snowbear said:


> Good morning, folks.  It was a long night.
> MLW and LL have been at MIL's for most of the week.  Brother in law has multiple health issues (diabetic, COPD to start) and is a "fall risk" so he really can't be left alone for too long.  We were on the way there, for dinner, when LL called saying he had fallen (fourth time that day) and maybe broke his ankle (he did).  He is stubborn and will not go to hospital in the ambulance, sayig if it's not life or death, the hospital will charge him a lot; he has to go to the VA.  We call the local fire/ems department to help get him out and down the steps (he is heavier than we can handle) and into our car so MLW & I can take him to the VA in DC (about 30 miles).  We got home (after going to pick up LL) about 05:30 this AM.



Oh, no, poor guys. Subborn relatives are difficult to handle. You behaved like heroes. One cannot educate adults. Too bad.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> @ Jon: After some research, Gary purchased a popcorn popper (hot air) for roasting and a pound of green Ethiopian beans.



I treated myself with the 105E ... got a great deal on it at Amazon UK 1865 insdtead of 2349 at Amazon DE ... A price I can sure let it go for in while should I not like it, but after all I have seen this is a must have lens in the Nikon system. 105/1.4E was intended as the lens that celebrates the 100th anniversary (in 2017) of the foundation of Nikon company. So it is kind of a present of Nikon to Nikon and the seem to have put every thing they can into that piece of glass.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> It's a 2017 Mazda 3 Sport, 6-speed. No pics yet as the dealer has to find me a hatchback. I'll be picking it up in a week.




We still drive a red Golf build 1996. The last analogue version of that car. I actually need a key to open the doors (each on its own) and a crank to wind the windows up and down ... most of my lenses and cameras are more expensive per item than this car. But: It simply does what it is supposed to do, it needs only a little mending here and the parts go for cheap, there is no rust on that car anywhere. I am not so much into cars anyway, although I like what I see in the rentals I use professionally and on holidays abroad.


----------



## JonA_CT

Good morning, hosers!

I'm almost done processing my christmas card photos. I've spent a ridiculous amount of time...I had to burn down every single background, and since I don't do that kind of work very often, it takes me awhile. I'll probably post a few this morning. 

Gary, the air popper looks like a great route, especially since you live in a nice climate year-round. I know I'll have to do it outside though, and I've read that the air poppers struggle if it's cool/cold outside. At my latitude, that means that it'll struggle about 6 months out of the year, haha. Let me know how it goes...I'll be jealous. I can smell your freshly roasted coffee already.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary slept in this chilly Sunday morning.  Gary is in the kitchen with a space heater aimed at his legs, the morning paper and coffee next to the computer calling to him. The headlines of "TRAGEDY IN OAKLAND" are extremely stressful because Mary Lou's youngest son may have lost a friend in that fire.


----------



## JonA_CT

P.S. Grade reporting time is the worst.


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday was a good and lazy day. On our walk The Cook and Gary ran into Mike and Max, (Max is this very handsome Goldie mix).  We walked together then retired to Gary's backyard for coffee.  Mary Lou made a run for bagels and some smears. We spent the rest of the morning drinking coffee, eating, watching the dogs play. In the afternoon, Gary had the ladder set up to start hanging some Xmas lights when Mary Lou returned from her walk and said "I found a new tamale place, let's go." And we went.  We came back with two dozen tamales, red pork and green chile-cheese, and a bag of pan dulce.  Gary gave a dozen to the neighbor then he and Mary Lou headed to the back.  The rest of the afternoon we snacked on tamales with salsa, beans, pan dulce and a very nice Sonoma Chardonnay.  The newly installed patio heater worked well and we just relaxed sipped Chardonnay and watched the koi, hummers and butterflies.

When everything got dark, we tossed a chemical log in the fireplace, polished off the Chardonnay while watching four episodes of Celia until midnight.  

Today Gary will be back at the lights.


----------



## Frank F.

Good day hosers!

Interesting how some people cannot look any further than their little world and consider everything a tad outside as wrong or worthless. For me personally diversity is at first interesting.

How do you deal with people who are very dufferent from yourself?


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Oooooh, Mazda, sport, 6 speed! and a 2017 no less. I like the sound of that.



It's really fun to drive. I'm trying not to be impatient for next Saturday!



snowbear said:


> Cool.  Looking forward to seeing it.
> 
> We had the Camry cleaned, today - looks nice and shiny.



Will have pics when I have them! 



jcdeboever said:


> Very happy for you. You will be safe and sporty at the same time! Woooooo hoooooo







JonA_CT said:


> Nice taste in cars, Leo. I drive a '13 Mazda 3 Hatch with a six speed. Love it.



Nice!! A few years back, Buzz and I were in Slovenia and had a Mazda 3 as a rental, and I still remember thinking how nice it was to drive. 



Gary A. said:


> Good deal Leo.  Merry Christmas.



Merry Christmas indeed! (Everyone else is getting lumps of coal from me  )



Frank F. said:


> We still drive a red Golf build 1996. The last analogue version of that car. I actually need a key to open the doors (each on its own) and a crank to wind the windows up and down ... most of my lenses and cameras are more expensive per item than this car. But: It simply does what it is supposed to do, it needs only a little mending here and the parts go for cheap, there is no rust on that car anywhere. I am not so much into cars anyway, although I like what I see in the rentals I use professionally and on holidays abroad.



My current car is a 2005 Chevy Cobalt. It's a stripped-down, bare-bones car. I too have the crank windows and manual locks. It's 11.5 years old and has just shy of 201,000 miles on it (about 323, 478 km). I clearly don't mind having a bare-bones care  She's very well-maintained and I am sure I could get another 100K out of her, but a few things factored into my decision: 1) There are some more major repairs coming up (exhaust, suspension, clutch) and those won't be cheap or easy to do (my bf and I do much of the work ourselves); and 2) she's not as much fun to drive as she used to be. And I suppose this is mainly where we differ - I don't like a car to be an appliance that just gets me from Point A to Point B. There's nothing wrong with that and I know a lot of people are like that. But I _love_ to drive, and I spend a lot of time commuting, so I want that time to be as enjoyable as possible.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> Good day hosers!
> 
> Interesting how some people cannot look any further than their little world and consider everything a tad outside as wrong or worthless. For me personally diversity is at first interesting.
> 
> How do you deal with people who are very dufferent from yourself?



This is interesting and I'd like to answer this but I have to run at the moment, so I'll get to it later.


----------



## Frank F.

320.000 km ... that is about EOL. If we reach that point, we are still less than half of that, I contemplate to buy a Tesla Model 3. I am happy to live in a neighbourhood where I do not have to own a car at all. I can walk or take my bicycle  to reach next to anything I need in my life.

Currently my wife needs a car to get to work. Train service is currently very unreliable slow and uncomfortable.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> Good day hosers!
> 
> Interesting how some people cannot look any further than their little world and consider everything a tad outside as wrong or worthless. For me personally diversity is at first interesting.
> 
> How do you deal with people who are very dufferent from yourself?



I grew up just outside of NYC, which is a very diverse area as you probably know. So for my entire life, I have have been around people who are not like me. And because my parents are immigrants, I was, in fact, considered the "different" one to many people. I was always fascinated by "the new kid" and always tried to befriend them as far as I could, given that I'm quite shy around new people. When we had foreign exchange students, I was definitely part of the welcome wagon. My whole career has been working with immigrants (or, for a while, being an immigrant myself and working with the locals!  ) To this day, I feel more comfortable in a room full of different nationalities than I do in a room full of all the same people.

So I too have a hard time understanding why people are so fearful of those who are different from themselves.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

After a long day of yard work and Putin' up lights. Gary and Mary Lou are relaxing in the patio listening to hummers clucking and KUSC on the stereo.


----------



## Gary A.

A Thacher Zinfandel from Paso Robles. Pretty good stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

While getting our tamales yesterday, Gary ran into this one handed drummer.


----------



## Gary A.

Trojans are going to the Rose Bowl.  Fight On!


----------



## tirediron

You know you live in a small town when...








Okay... they were actually riding drag on the Santa Parade which had just finished, but...


----------



## snowbear

Traffic jam!


----------



## Frank F.

I wish I had the strength to savour wine in the frequency and quality I see here. Currently I cannot bear wine well. Pity. I have a lot of good wine in my cellar and love to drink with friends & family. To everyone's health!!!


----------



## Frank F.

tirediron said:


> You know you live in a small town when...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Okay... they were actually riding drag on the Santa Parade which had just finished, but...




You never see horses with lights around their necks here. Pity!


----------



## snowbear

Here, you rarely see horses.  Unless they are going around ovals.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> While getting our tamales yesterday, Gary ran into this one handed drummer.




Who said men can not multi task?


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning Hosers!!!!

Countdown to our big 27 person Christmas dinner: 20 days.  Yours truly is cooking/hosting/planning for the whole crew.  
On the to do list:  
finish decorating the house 
get the guest room ready
have the fireplace cleaned
find the Christmas cd's that I put away last year in a special place so they would not get lost - of course I now have no idea where that is
finalize the menu:  beef tenderloin with a red wine reduction sauce, potatoes au gratin, ...???? need new side dishes for this year - *suggestions?*
order the meat
restock the booze cabinet
make sure I have enough forks!
pick up the extra tables and chairs from my brother's house or talk my nephew into bringing them down from NH for me
make the desserts:  mini salted caramel mousse and chocolate brownie trifles, Boston cream cake, mini strawberry shortcakes
enjoy our nice quiet house the week before the holidays!!!!


----------



## tirediron

Frank F. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> You know you live in a small town when...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Okay... they were actually riding drag on the Santa Parade which had just finished, but...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You never see horses with lights around their necks here. Pity!
Click to expand...

Those are the new Tesla model!


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> need new side dishes for this year - *suggestions?*



New potatoes in butter and herbs.. always tasty.  Garlic roasted broccoli was always a hit.  Roasted green beans are always good.


----------



## snowbear

Asparagus with cheese sauce, cranberry chutney (with or without pomegranate vodka) , pasta, mozzarella and tomato salad, roasted red pepper soup.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Morning Hosers!!!!
> 
> Countdown to our big 27 person Christmas dinner: 20 days.  Yours truly is cooking/hosting/planning for the whole crew.
> On the to do list:
> finish decorating the house
> get the guest room ready
> have the fireplace cleaned
> find the Christmas cd's that I put away last year in a special place so they would not get lost - of course I now have no idea where that is
> finalize the menu:  beef tenderloin with a red wine reduction sauce, potatoes au gratin, ...???? need new side dishes for this year - *suggestions?*
> order the meat
> restock the booze cabinet
> make sure I have enough forks!
> pick up the extra tables and chairs from my brother's house or talk my nephew into bringing them down from NH for me
> make the desserts:  mini salted caramel mousse and chocolate brownie trifles, Boston cream cake, mini strawberry shortcakes
> enjoy our nice quiet house the week before the holidays!!!!


27 is such an unusual number.  PM your address and we can round it off to an even 30.


----------



## JonA_CT

I've had one of those weird, dull head/neck aches that doesn't seem to want to go away today. I blame it on the fact that I'm trying to do report comments...I've been taking it in chunks and have until Thursday to finish, but they seem to put on a real brain strain. Between the actual grades (which the parents see updated in real time) and my standards reporting (which includes a numerical number attached to specific skills and for citizenship/behavior), I really feel like I'm just sharing the same thoughts in different ways. I had to stop today because I couldn't find anything nice to say about a student. It'll be easier tomorrow.

In other news, I had a 12 year old boy today tell me that his stuffed animals have to earn their snuggle time.

Yeah.

Other random thoughts...I learned today that 90% of boys in 8th grade have watched pornography at least once. I guess I figured it would be high, but wow. I have to wonder what effect that has on their development...time to start looking into that research.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Morning Hosers!!!!
> 
> Countdown to our big 27 person Christmas dinner: 20 days.  Yours truly is cooking/hosting/planning for the whole crew.
> On the to do list:
> finish decorating the house
> get the guest room ready
> have the fireplace cleaned
> find the Christmas cd's that I put away last year in a special place so they would not get lost - of course I now have no idea where that is
> finalize the menu:  beef tenderloin with a red wine reduction sauce, potatoes au gratin, ...???? need new side dishes for this year - *suggestions?*
> order the meat
> restock the booze cabinet
> make sure I have enough forks!
> pick up the extra tables and chairs from my brother's house or talk my nephew into bringing them down from NH for me
> make the desserts:  mini salted caramel mousse and chocolate brownie trifles, Boston cream cake, mini strawberry shortcakes
> enjoy our nice quiet house the week before the holidays!!!!




*Hasselback Potatoes






*
Total Time:
1 hr 10 min
Prep:
10 min
Cook:
1 hr
Yield:6 servings
Level:Easy
Ingredients

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup finely chopped chives
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 medium russet potatoes, scrubbed
Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Stir together the butter, olive oil, chives and some salt and pepper in a small bowl.
Place a potato between the handles of 2 wooden spoons or 2 chopsticks. Slice the potato into thin slices, leaving 1/4 inch at the bottom unsliced; the spoon handles will prevent you from slicing the potato all the way through. Repeat with the remaining potatoes.
Put the potatoes on a baking sheet and brush on the butter mixture, making sure to get in between all the slices. Bake until tender and crisp, 55 to 60 minutes.

Serve with sour cream, butter and extra chives. 




*Roasted Asparagus with Hollandaise





*
Yield:8 servings
Ingredients

12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
4 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 pinches of cayenne pepper
2 pounds fresh asparagus
Good olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Melt the butter in a small sauce pan. Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 3/4 teaspoon pepper and cayenne in the jar of a blender. Blend for 15 seconds. With the blender running, slowly pour the hot butter into the blender and blend for 30 seconds, until the sauce is thick. (You can leave it in the blender at room temperature for up to 1 hour. If it is made in advance, add 1 tablespoon hot tap water and blend for a few seconds before serving.)
Break off the tough ends of the asparagus and, if they're thick, peel them. Place the asparagus on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, then toss to coat the asparagus completely. Spread the asparagus in a single layer and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast the asparagus for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender but still crisp.
Pour the hollandaise sauce over the warm asparagus and serve.

Had a standing rib roast last Christmas for 12.  These were two of the sides along with Parker house rolls and a holiday apple salad to start.  I suggest you make as one of the deserts a meringue pie of some sort to use up the egg whites. 

I made one of these.  It was different and quite good.  Very Christmas-e.  I made it the day before and refrigerated it.   I also make our must have cherry pie. 



*Chestnut Meringue Pie*






Total Time:
3 hr 5 min
Prep:
40 min
Inactive:
1 hr
Cook:
1 hr 25 min
Yield:8 servings
Level:Intermediate

Ingredients

For the crust:
3/4 teaspoon fennel seeds (optional)
8 ounces shortbread cookies (such as Lorna Doone; about 30 cookies)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:
1 1/2 cups peeled roasted chestnuts (sold in bags or jars)
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped out
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 large eggs

For the meringue:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
4 large egg whites


Directions

Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Toast the fennel seeds in a small dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Pulse the cookies in a food processor until finely ground. Add the fennel seeds and melted butter; pulse until moistened. Press the mixture evenly into the bottom and up the side of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake until lightly browned and set, about 8 minutes; let cool completely.
Make the filling: Combine the chestnuts, sugar, 1 cup heavy cream and the vanilla seeds and pod in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the cream is very thick and the chestnuts are softened, 25 to 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat; cook until it smells nutty and is golden brown, about 4 minutes. Discard the vanilla pod from the chestnut mixture; transfer the mixture to a food processor, add the browned butter and process until smooth. With the machine running, slowly add the remaining 1 1/2 cups heavy cream and the eggs; process until combined. Let stand until thickened and cooled, about 1 hour.
Carefully pour the filling into the crust (it will be full). Bake at 350 degrees F until the filling is set, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool completely.
Make the meringue: Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a large saucepan. Whisk the sugar, cream of tartar, salt and egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer. Set the bowl over the boiling water (don't let the bowl touch the water); continue whisking until the mixture is hot (135 degrees F) and the sugar dissolves, 2 to 3 minutes.
Transfer the bowl to the stand mixer; beat with the whisk attachment on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes. Increase the speed to high and beat until stiff, thick and glossy, 2 to 3 more minutes. Spread the meringue on top of the pie. Toast with a kitchen torch.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> 27 is such an unusual number. PM your address and we can round it off to an even 30.



I'm sure by the time Christmas week rolls around we'll pick up a few more! 



JonA_CT said:


> Other random thoughts...I learned today that 90% of boys in 8th grade have watched pornography at least once. I guess I figured it would be high, but wow. I have to wonder what effect that has on their development...time to start looking into that research.



As the mother of an 8th grade girl that horrifies but does not surprise me.  As the aunt of 3 9th grade boys that grosses me out.

Thanks @Gary A. @snowbear  and @robbins.photo for the menu suggestions!  I've got the potato dish covered with the au gratin and would probably have a protest on my hands from the 9th grade boys if I skipped that one.  Unless of course they are too busy watching porn to notice...  I could definitely roast some green beans or  asparagus.


----------



## JonA_CT

Not to be completely horrifying, but it wouldn't shock me if the number is pretty high for girls too. Our session today focused on boys though, so I'm not sure.

In happier thoughts, I like brussel sprouts on my holiday table. I like to prepare them raw, sliced thinly longitudinally, with nuts and craisins. I make a quick vinagrette to go with them. I think something cold and fresh help cut the richness of a holiday meal, but your 9th grade nephews would probably think that's BS too


----------



## jcdeboever

Cheese whiz


----------



## snowbear

I didn't know cheese could whiz.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> ... but your 9th grade nephews would probably think that's BS too


They're not alone!


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Other random thoughts...I learned today that 90% of boys in 8th grade have watched pornography at least once. I guess I figured it would be high, but wow. I have to wonder what effect that has on their development...time to start looking into that research.



Effects of Porn on Adolescent Boys

Porn: Many Teens Watch It, and Two Reasons That's a Problem | The Huffington Post

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/29/sunday-review/does-porn-hurt-children.html

40% of teenage girls pressured into having sex

Kids who watch porn won't necessarily turn into sex offenders


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg:

Tamales ... real ones steaming in the corn husks, oozing of masa and chili ... green pork chili, red beef chili, Ortega chili and cheese. ... and a pot of salsa to go within it.


----------



## Frank F.

gryphonslair99 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Hosers!!!!
> 
> Countdown to our big 27 person Christmas dinner: 20 days.  Yours truly is cooking/hosting/planning for the whole crew.
> On the to do list:
> finish decorating the house
> get the guest room ready
> have the fireplace cleaned
> find the Christmas cd's that I put away last year in a special place so they would not get lost - of course I now have no idea where that is
> finalize the menu:  beef tenderloin with a red wine reduction sauce, potatoes au gratin, ...???? need new side dishes for this year - *suggestions?*
> order the meat
> restock the booze cabinet
> make sure I have enough forks!
> pick up the extra tables and chairs from my brother's house or talk my nephew into bringing them down from NH for me
> make the desserts:  mini salted caramel mousse and chocolate brownie trifles, Boston cream cake, mini strawberry shortcakes
> enjoy our nice quiet house the week before the holidays!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Hasselback Potatoes
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *
> Total Time:
> 1 hr 10 min
> Prep:
> 10 min
> Cook:
> 1 hr
> Yield:6 servings
> Level:Easy
> Ingredients
> 
> 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened
> 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
> 1/3 cup finely chopped chives
> Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
> 6 medium russet potatoes, scrubbed
> Directions
> 
> Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
> Stir together the butter, olive oil, chives and some salt and pepper in a small bowl.
> Place a potato between the handles of 2 wooden spoons or 2 chopsticks. Slice the potato into thin slices, leaving 1/4 inch at the bottom unsliced; the spoon handles will prevent you from slicing the potato all the way through. Repeat with the remaining potatoes.
> Put the potatoes on a baking sheet and brush on the butter mixture, making sure to get in between all the slices. Bake until tender and crisp, 55 to 60 minutes.
> 
> Serve with sour cream, butter and extra chives.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Roasted Asparagus with Hollandaise
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *
> Yield:8 servings
> Ingredients
> 
> 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
> 4 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
> 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
> Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
> 2 pinches of cayenne pepper
> 2 pounds fresh asparagus
> Good olive oil
> 
> Directions
> 
> Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
> Melt the butter in a small sauce pan. Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 3/4 teaspoon pepper and cayenne in the jar of a blender. Blend for 15 seconds. With the blender running, slowly pour the hot butter into the blender and blend for 30 seconds, until the sauce is thick. (You can leave it in the blender at room temperature for up to 1 hour. If it is made in advance, add 1 tablespoon hot tap water and blend for a few seconds before serving.)
> Break off the tough ends of the asparagus and, if they're thick, peel them. Place the asparagus on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, then toss to coat the asparagus completely. Spread the asparagus in a single layer and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast the asparagus for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender but still crisp.
> Pour the hollandaise sauce over the warm asparagus and serve.
> 
> Had a standing rib roast last Christmas for 12.  These were two of the sides along with Parker house rolls and a holiday apple salad to start.  I suggest you make as one of the deserts a meringue pie of some sort to use up the egg whites.
> 
> I made one of these.  It was different and quite good.  Very Christmas-e.  I made it the day before and refrigerated it.   I also make our must have cherry pie.
> 
> 
> 
> *Chestnut Meringue Pie*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Total Time:
> 3 hr 5 min
> Prep:
> 40 min
> Inactive:
> 1 hr
> Cook:
> 1 hr 25 min
> Yield:8 servings
> Level:Intermediate
> 
> Ingredients
> 
> For the crust:
> 3/4 teaspoon fennel seeds (optional)
> 8 ounces shortbread cookies (such as Lorna Doone; about 30 cookies)
> 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
> 
> For the filling:
> 1 1/2 cups peeled roasted chestnuts (sold in bags or jars)
> 1/2 cup sugar
> 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
> 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped out
> 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
> 2 large eggs
> 
> For the meringue:
> 1/2 cup sugar
> 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
> Pinch of salt
> 4 large egg whites
> 
> 
> Directions
> 
> Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Toast the fennel seeds in a small dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Pulse the cookies in a food processor until finely ground. Add the fennel seeds and melted butter; pulse until moistened. Press the mixture evenly into the bottom and up the side of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake until lightly browned and set, about 8 minutes; let cool completely.
> Make the filling: Combine the chestnuts, sugar, 1 cup heavy cream and the vanilla seeds and pod in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the cream is very thick and the chestnuts are softened, 25 to 30 minutes.
> Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat; cook until it smells nutty and is golden brown, about 4 minutes. Discard the vanilla pod from the chestnut mixture; transfer the mixture to a food processor, add the browned butter and process until smooth. With the machine running, slowly add the remaining 1 1/2 cups heavy cream and the eggs; process until combined. Let stand until thickened and cooled, about 1 hour.
> Carefully pour the filling into the crust (it will be full). Bake at 350 degrees F until the filling is set, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool completely.
> Make the meringue: Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a large saucepan. Whisk the sugar, cream of tartar, salt and egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer. Set the bowl over the boiling water (don't let the bowl touch the water); continue whisking until the mixture is hot (135 degrees F) and the sugar dissolves, 2 to 3 minutes.
> Transfer the bowl to the stand mixer; beat with the whisk attachment on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes. Increase the speed to high and beat until stiff, thick and glossy, 2 to 3 more minutes. Spread the meringue on top of the pie. Toast with a kitchen torch.
Click to expand...



Did you take these wonderful food shots?

Yummy


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Just got me a new laptop. Never realized that my old one had a magenta tint to it. That was most definitely affecting my images.


----------



## snowbear

SharonCat - Lobster pot pie.  It's becoming a Thanksgiving regular for us.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Tamales ... real ones steaming in the corn husks, oozing of masa and chili ... green pork chili, red beef chili, Ortega chili and cheese. ... and a pot of salsa to go within it.



Gary we are in New England not CA.  The family would be in shock at such "new" food.  



snowbear said:


> SharonCat - Lobster pot pie. It's becoming a Thanksgiving regular for us.



Interesting idea but for 27 people that may be out of my budget when added to the beef tenderloin.  After all I have a very expensive hobby and a teenage daughter.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary took his new siphon coffee up for its first flight this morning.  It is good, very good.  Just a tad richer than Gary's French Press. But then the basic recipe uses 50% more beans for an equal amount of drink. But on Wednesday Gary should be set up to roast his beans.  Raw beans cost about 50% less than roasted beans, so Gary Thinks he's doing good.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> SharonCat - Lobster pot pie.  It's becoming a Thanksgiving regular for us.


Which of the ingredients costs more, the lobster or the pot?  (And don't the rolling papers get all soggy?)


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg: Exactly!  That would be the intent is to surprise and amaze.  Gary bets you could easily get ... four dozen online (frozen), micro them on the day of consumption, then stack them in a chafing tray or platter for distribution. Easy-Pezy.  You can print out instructions to remove the husks (while the husks are full of fiber, it isn't a good idea to eat them, unless you're Gerald Ford). Along with the instructions a short paragraph on Las Posadas.  Then an even greater surprise when the six piece Mariachi band arrives and entertains ... the horns hitting those high pitches and the strings filling in ... that would be a Christmas to remember. (Okay, now your dinner count is up to 33, but there wouldn't be any leftover tamales.)

You can thank Gary later.

Las Posadas in Los Angeles:


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tamales ... real ones steaming in the corn husks, oozing of masa and chili ... green pork chili, red beef chili, Ortega chili and cheese. ... and a pot of salsa to go within it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary we are in New England not CA.  The family would be in shock at such "new" food.
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> SharonCat - Lobster pot pie. It's becoming a Thanksgiving regular for us.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Interesting idea but for 27 people that may be out of my budget when added to the beef tenderloin.  After all I have a very expensive hobby and a teenage daughter.
Click to expand...

Forgot to mention this.  Make these once and your family will love you for ever.  Great to munch on before dinner.  Make them a day or two before. 



*Sugarplums
*
Total Time:
13 hr 45 min
Prep:
45 min
Inactive:
13 hr
Yield:approximately 80 (1/4 ounce) balls
Level:Easy

Ingredients

6 ounces slivered almonds, toasted
4 ounces dried plums
4 ounces dried apricots
4 ounces dried figs
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon anise seeds, toasted
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds, toasted
1/4 teaspoon caraway seeds, toasted
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
Pinch kosher salt
1/4 cup honey
1 cup coarse sugar

Directions

Put the almonds, plums, apricots, and figs into the bowl of a food processor and pulse 20 to 25 times or until the fruit and nuts are chopped into small pieces, but before the mixture becomes a ball.
Combine the powdered sugar, anise seeds, fennel seeds, caraway seeds, cardamom, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Add the nut and fruit mixture and the honey and mix using gloved hands until well combined.
Scoop the mixture into 1/4-ounce portions and roll into balls. If serving immediately, roll in the coarse sugar and serve. If not serving immediately, put the balls on a cooling rack and leave uncovered until ready to serve. Roll in the coarse sugar prior to serving.
The Sugarplums may be stored on the cooling rack for up to a week. After a week, store in an airtight container for up to a month.


----------



## Warhorse

gryphonslair99 said:


> Forgot to mention this.  Make these once and your family will love you for ever.  Great to munch on before dinner.  Make them a day or two before.
> 
> 
> 
> *Sugarplums
> *
> Total Time:
> 13 hr 45 min
> Prep:
> 45 min
> Inactive:
> 13 hr
> Yield:approximately 80 (1/4 ounce) balls
> Level:Easy
> 
> Ingredients
> 
> 6 ounces slivered almonds, toasted
> 4 ounces dried plums
> 4 ounces dried apricots
> 4 ounces dried figs
> 1/4 cup powdered sugar
> 1/4 teaspoon anise seeds, toasted
> 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds, toasted
> 1/4 teaspoon caraway seeds, toasted
> 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
> Pinch kosher salt
> 1/4 cup honey
> 1 cup coarse sugar
> 
> Directions
> 
> Put the almonds, plums, apricots, and figs into the bowl of a food processor and pulse 20 to 25 times or until the fruit and nuts are chopped into small pieces, but before the mixture becomes a ball.
> Combine the powdered sugar, anise seeds, fennel seeds, caraway seeds, cardamom, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Add the nut and fruit mixture and the honey and mix using gloved hands until well combined.
> Scoop the mixture into 1/4-ounce portions and roll into balls. If serving immediately, roll in the coarse sugar and serve. If not serving immediately, put the balls on a cooling rack and leave uncovered until ready to serve. Roll in the coarse sugar prior to serving.
> The Sugarplums may be stored on the cooling rack for up to a week. After a week, store in an airtight container for up to a month.


Oh man, this sounds good!!

I do not cook, but I am asking my wife to make these. Thanks for posting it!


----------



## table1349

Warhorse said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Forgot to mention this.  Make these once and your family will love you for ever.  Great to munch on before dinner.  Make them a day or two before.
> 
> 
> 
> *Sugarplums
> *
> Total Time:
> 13 hr 45 min
> Prep:
> 45 min
> Inactive:
> 13 hr
> Yield:approximately 80 (1/4 ounce) balls
> Level:Easy
> 
> Ingredients
> 
> 6 ounces slivered almonds, toasted
> 4 ounces dried plums
> 4 ounces dried apricots
> 4 ounces dried figs
> 1/4 cup powdered sugar
> 1/4 teaspoon anise seeds, toasted
> 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds, toasted
> 1/4 teaspoon caraway seeds, toasted
> 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
> Pinch kosher salt
> 1/4 cup honey
> 1 cup coarse sugar
> 
> Directions
> 
> Put the almonds, plums, apricots, and figs into the bowl of a food processor and pulse 20 to 25 times or until the fruit and nuts are chopped into small pieces, but before the mixture becomes a ball.
> Combine the powdered sugar, anise seeds, fennel seeds, caraway seeds, cardamom, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Add the nut and fruit mixture and the honey and mix using gloved hands until well combined.
> Scoop the mixture into 1/4-ounce portions and roll into balls. If serving immediately, roll in the coarse sugar and serve. If not serving immediately, put the balls on a cooling rack and leave uncovered until ready to serve. Roll in the coarse sugar prior to serving.
> The Sugarplums may be stored on the cooling rack for up to a week. After a week, store in an airtight container for up to a month.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh man, this sounds good!!
> 
> I do not cook, but I am asking my wife to make these. Thanks for posting it!
Click to expand...

They are.  My mother in law loves them so much I make a batch just for her as a Christmas present.


----------



## table1349

Squarepeg

If you really want to blow their socks off make a Christmas Pudding or two for desert.  I made this 4 years ago and it was a big hit.  If you need to just double the recipe. Pudding steamers are very cheap and can be found online if you can't find one locally.
Mrs. Anderson's Baking Steamed Pudding Mold

*Christmas Pudding*






Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 480 minutes
Marinating Time: 720 minutes

Total Time: 1,245 minutes
Yield: Serves 8
INGREDIENTS

450g (1lb ) dried mixed fruit (use golden raisins/sultanas* , raisins, currants)
25 g (1 oz ) mixed candied peel, finely chopped
1 small cooking apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
Grated zest and juice
½ large orange and
½ lemon
4 tbsp brandy, plus a little extra for soaking at the end
55 g (2 oz ) self-raising flour, sifted
1 level tsp ground mixed spice (pumpkin pie spice is fine or make a traditional  British mixed spice)
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
110 g (4 oz ) shredded suet, beef or vegetarian
110 g (4 oz)  soft, dark brown sugar
110 g (4 oz)  white fresh bread crumbs
25 g (1 oz) whole shelled almonds, roughly chopped
2 large, fresh eggs
PREPARATION

Lightly butter a 1.4-litre pudding basin (2½ pint) 17cm
Place the dried fruits, candied peel, apple, orange and lemon juice into a large mixing bowl. Add the brandy and stir well. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave to marinate for a couple of hours, preferably overnight.
Stir together the flour, mixed spice and cinnamon in a very large mixing bowl. Add the suet, sugar, lemon and orange zest, bread crumbs, nuts and stir again until all the ingredients are well mixed. Finally add the marinaded dried fruits and stir again.
Beat the eggs lightly in a small bowl then stir quickly into the dry ingredients. The mixture should have a fairly soft consistency.
Now is the time to gather the family for Christmas Pudding tradition of taking turns in stirring, making a wish and adding a few coins. (We left the coin part out.)
Spoon the mixture into the greased pudding basin, gently pressing the mixture down with the back of a spoon. Cover with a double layer of greaseproof paper or baking parchment, then a layer of aluminium foil and tie securely with string.
Place the pudding in a steamer set over a saucepan of simmering water and steam the pudding for 7 hours. Make sure you check the water level frequently, so it never boils dry. The pudding should be a dark brown colour when cooked. The pudding is not a light cake but instead is a dark, sticky and dense sponge.
Remove the pudding from the steamer, cool completely. Remove the paper, prick the pudding with a skewer and pour in a little extra brandy. Cover with fresh greaseproof paper and retie with string. Store in a cool, dry place until Christmas day. Note: The pudding cannot be eaten immediately, it does need to be stored and rested then reheated on Christmas Day. Eating the pudding immediately after cooking will cause it to collapse, and the flavours will not have had time to mature.
On Christmas day reheat the pudding by steaming again for about an hour. Serve with anyone of these lovely accompaniments. Brandy or Rum Sauce, Brandy Butter orCustard.
Left over Christmas pudding can be reheated by wrapping tightly in aluminum foil and heating through in a hot oven.

If you want the full true experience then this is your presentation method.

Turn out the steamed pudding onto a serving plate with a good-sized rim around the edge to catch any spirit.
The important thing is to get the spirit really hot. Pour 2-3 tablespoons of brandy, rum or whisky into a long-handled metal ladle and heat it over a gas flame until hot. (If you don’t have a gas stove, heat it in a small saucepan first, then transfer it to the ladle.)
Light the spirit by tilting the ladle slightly over the gas flame so the fumes ignite, or use a match, then immediately pour it over the pudding. Carefully take it to the table and wait for the flames to go out before serving.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Took me 1.5 hours to get to work this morning. Charming.

Still waiting to find out about the dealer finding me a hatchback with the manual tranny. He texted earlier to see if I minded a tan interior so he could expand the search (I don't. No kids, no dogs, so it's much easier to keep clean!). If he can find me the dark blue with tan interior, I'll be one happy girl. Fingers crossed, hosers!


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Las Posadas in Los Angeles:



Beautiful shots Gary!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Took me 1.5 hours to get to work this morning. Charming.
> 
> Still waiting to find out about the dealer finding me a hatchback with the manual tranny. He texted earlier to see if I minded a tan interior so he could expand the search (I don't. No kids, no dogs, so it's much easier to keep clean!). If he can find me the dark blue with tan interior, I'll be one happy girl. Fingers crossed, hosers!


----------



## terri

@SharonCat: my suggestion would be to add a *first,* like a soup that could be made a few days in advance.   A nice seasonal soup would be something like a butternut squash soup.   My recipe calls for 2 small/med butternut squash and 1 large baking potato - all peeled and cut in chunks.  Throw in diced yellow onion, carrots and celery, garlic and cook down in 4-5 cups of low-sodium vegetable broth.   Once it's all tender (only 30 minutes or so), you ladle it into your blender and blend it to this lovely smooth consistency (a few ladles at a time, of course).    You can then freeze or refrigerate and have it ready on the big day.   Heat it up and once in bowls, drizzle olive oil over the top.  It's quite amazing. 

In your part of the country, a good seafood bisque might go over better.   They're a bit more labor-intensive, but delicious and can still be done in advance.   Also, salad, rolls, and I agree with the roasted green veggie ideas. 

Every thing you've outlined sounds delicious so far!    What time should I be there??


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Took me 1.5 hours to get to work this morning. Charming.
> 
> Still waiting to find out about the dealer finding me a hatchback with the manual tranny. He texted earlier to see if I minded a tan interior so he could expand the search (I don't. No kids, no dogs, so it's much easier to keep clean!). If he can find me the dark blue with tan interior, I'll be one happy girl. Fingers crossed, hosers!


ugh - that sucks!!!    Been there, done that - both going and returning from work.    Ain't fun.  

Good luck on the hatchback search!    I drove a Buick Skyhawk for 8 years, 5 speed manual.    My only mistake was letting my ex drive it for a few months - he didn't tell me when the clutch started slipping and cost me $1100 to repair.    (That's partly why he's an ex.)         I loved that car!!


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 131263 View attachment 131262
> iPhone
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary took his new siphon coffee up for its first flight this morning.  It is good, very good.  Just a tad richer than Gary's French Press. But then the basic recipe uses 50% more beans for an equal amount of drink. But on Wednesday Gary should be set up to roast his beans.  Raw beans cost about 50% less than roasted beans, so Gary Thinks he's doing good.



Now THAT looks interesting.   Hubby is stumping for an AeroPress - he used one daily for a couple of weeks visiting his sister and swears by it.   Dunno.


----------



## JonA_CT

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131263 View attachment 131262
> iPhone
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary took his new siphon coffee up for its first flight this morning.  It is good, very good.  Just a tad richer than Gary's French Press. But then the basic recipe uses 50% more beans for an equal amount of drink. But on Wednesday Gary should be set up to roast his beans.  Raw beans cost about 50% less than roasted beans, so Gary Thinks he's doing good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now THAT looks interesting.   Hubby is stumping for an AeroPress - he used one daily for a couple of weeks visiting his sister and swears by it.   Dunno.
Click to expand...


The aero press is a minor investment ($20 maybe), you should let him have it! I'm biased though, of course.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. I'm shopping for a digital Hasselblad setup for a friend of mine. Oh darn, I don't know if I can handle that. lol


----------



## Frank F.

Took my new plaything 105E for a joyride:


----------



## Frank F.

Love the little angel, Gary.

Wow. This thread moves faster than I can follow


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> @SharonCat: my suggestion would be to add a *first,* like a soup that could be made a few days in advance.   A nice seasonal soup would be something like a butternut squash soup.   My recipe calls for 2 small/med butternut squash and 1 large baking potato - all peeled and cut in chunks.  Throw in diced yellow onion, carrots and celery, garlic and cook down in 4-5 cups of low-sodium vegetable broth.   Once it's all tender (only 30 minutes or so), you ladle it into your blender and blend it to this lovely smooth consistency (a few ladles at a time, of course).    You can then freeze or refrigerate and have it ready on the big day.   Heat it up and once in bowls, drizzle olive oil over the top.  It's quite amazing.
> 
> In your part of the country, a good seafood bisque might go over better.   They're a bit more labor-intensive, but delicious and can still be done in advance.   Also, salad, rolls, and I agree with the roasted green veggie ideas.
> 
> Every thing you've outlined sounds delicious so far!    What time should I be there??



Thanks all for the recipes!  We have found our winners with the butternut squash soup and the roasted green beans.  Butternut squash is my mom's favorite, I can make it ahead of time which is key and I can heat and serve it hot from a crock pot freeing up my stovetop and oven for the other items.  Green beans are one of my favs and not labor intensive so that decides it.  I really like to concentrate on getting the tenderloin just right and I've found that the best way to do that is not have to worry about anything else - I need to be able to cook it all ahead of time or just pop it in the oven and forget it except for the beef and the red wine sauce.  

With such a big crowd I've found it works best to do a sort of half buffet/half formal meal.  Passing platters and bowls around a table of 25+ is too chaotic and crazy (we've tried).  I set up a buffet table with all of the side dishes using some heated buffet servers to keep everything hot and once the beef tenderloin is ready, everyone helps themselves from the buffet and takes a seat at three long tables pushed together.  Luckily I have an open floor plan that lets us all sit together.  

What do you all do for your holiday meal?  Is your big celebration Christmas Eve or Day?  Do you cook or go to a relatives home or eat out?  Do you have a big crowd or a quiet family dinner?  Do you serve something different every year?  

@Frank F.  I like that shot of the boy in the wagon.  Nice colors and great expression on his face.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Thanks all for the recipes! We have found our winners with the butternut squash soup and the roasted green beans.



That's terrific!       What do we win??  

Our dinner is going to be very small this year - and we seem to always do it on Christmas Day, not Eve.    In past years, we've gone to my sister in law's house, and it's supremely casual - she has been known to cook in her jammies.   I never wore anything fancy and still managed to feel overdressed!    

Totally agree about cooking up certain dishes in advance so you can focus on the main event.   Glad the soup seems a winner - I haven't made it yet this season but just talking about it makes me want it!


----------



## snowbear

Mom-in-law is a traditionalist - early dinner on Christmas day, like Thanksgiving but a ham instead of turkey; opening presents afterwards.  It used to include the nieces & nephews that are in the area, but as they've grown and have their own families, they are hit or miss (not to mention which ones aren't talking to which other ones).

When I was growing up, we didn't do a formal dinner.  We would have a meat tray & veggies, maybe a pie or two, and dad's eggnog (commercial eggnog, poured over a gallon of eggnog ice cream, bourbon available for adults that wanted it.)  Some of the aunts, uncles, and cousins would come by to visit us during the day, and we'd go visit the others in the evening.  Most of (mom's) family lived fairly close together so it wasn't hard to do.

With the health issues MIL is having, we'll probably have a semi-formal dinner for her (we'll do the cooking).  If not, then we will definitely have something home as son #1 is supposed to be moving to Oklahoma the following week (I'm slated to help him drive the moving truck out.)


----------



## snowbear

When I was at the Police Department, I worked every Christmas.  Not a big deal, as it was part of the job and you got used to it.  One year, mom and dad got together and brought a deli tray, desserts, and drinks out to the center and had Christmas for the Police and Fire shifts working that day.  The PD supervisor had one of the troops go to a florist and bring back a HUGE poinsettia for them.  It was one of the best holidays I ever had.


----------



## Frank F.

@SquarePeg this magic lens really makes everything fall into place. The vignette and the eveness and the 1.4 aperture and the bokeh. A very bright window to let reality jump into my recording chip.


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> Mom-in-law is a traditionalist - early dinner on Christmas day, like Thanksgiving but a ham instead of turkey;


Our family tradition is turkey for Thanksgiving, beef for Christmas, and ham for Easter.


----------



## SquarePeg

Designer said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mom-in-law is a traditionalist - early dinner on Christmas day, like Thanksgiving but a ham instead of turkey;
> 
> 
> 
> Our family tradition is turkey for Thanksgiving, beef for Christmas, and ham for Easter.
Click to expand...


That's pretty much how we do it.  Although lately we have been eating out on Easter.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Sharon, good luck, sounds like a lot of work but all worth it. Someday, this will be one of the family stories of 'remember when we had Christmas at Aunt Sharon's..and we....'


----------



## robbins.photo

NancyMoranG said:


> Sharon, good luck, sounds like a lot of work but all worth it. Someday, this will be one of the family stories of 'remember when we had Christmas at Aunt Sharon's..and we....'



And then the cops showed up, and they...


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> This is one of the songs that helped me get through some really mindless crap at work today:





robbins.photo said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sharon, good luck, sounds like a lot of work but all worth it. Someday, this will be one of the family stories of 'remember when we had Christmas at Aunt Sharon's..and we....'
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And then the cops showed up, and they...
Click to expand...


stayed for dessert...


----------



## SquarePeg

That's funny because last year my cousin brought 2 of her state trooper friends to dinner since they were working that night and didn't have time to go home to NY for the holidays.


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> That's funny because last year my cousin brought 2 of her state trooper friends to dinner since they were working that night and didn't have time to go home to NY for the holidays.



Lol.. well one of my Uncles was fond of saying it's not an official Robbins family gathering till SWAT arrives..


----------



## JonA_CT

We don't have a yearly tradition, especially now that my wife's parents have moved to TX. We went to Chicago to visit her sister last Christmas. I think this year we will just be seeing my folks. We usually do dinner with my older brother and his family on Christmas Eve, and then just us and my parents on Christmas Day. Christmas Eve is almost always seafood -- my mom makes a mean Seafood Newburg and a mean Shrimp Creole. I'm not sure what's on the docket this year. Christmas day is usually a Rib Roast cooked outside over charcoal with roasted potatoes.


----------



## minicoop1985

We always go to my in-laws for Christmas day itself. We always get lottery tickets from them.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131263 View attachment 131262
> iPhone
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary took his new siphon coffee up for its first flight this morning.  It is good, very good.  Just a tad richer than Gary's French Press. But then the basic recipe uses 50% more beans for an equal amount of drink. But on Wednesday Gary should be set up to roast his beans.  Raw beans cost about 50% less than roasted beans, so Gary Thinks he's doing good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now THAT looks interesting.   Hubby is stumping for an AeroPress - he used one daily for a couple of weeks visiting his sister and swears by it.   Dunno.
Click to expand...

Nahhh, not the AeroPress.  Too cheap for good coffee.  Granted, it makes a good cup of coffee with a hint of espresso ... but would you drink your wines out of a plastic party cup?  After one gets into 'hand making' coffee, a la whole beans and grinding fresh as opposed to a commercial grind & blend, beans and water will make a significant difference in taste, the methodology much less so (the specialty brewing, like espresso and cold water, notwithstanding). The siphons are interesting, nostalgic, tastes exceptionally good and has production/entertainment value.

If you're using mass-produced, pre-ground, mixed blend beans, you will be delighted with the taste of the AeroPress.  If you're using fresh ground bean in a French Press, drip system, et al ... your taste buds will say "meh".

The AeroPress, Siphon and French Press are all pretty much equal in usage and cleaning effort.  But the French Press and the siphon have reusable filters, the AeroPress makes some waste with the paper filter. Albeit a very small amount of recyclable waste, but when you want a cup and haven't any filters ... well ... hell has no fury.   The siphon I have uses a power base to heat up the water.  I am thinking of getting a non-electric portable unit that uses an alcohol burner as the heat source for the backyard.

Another, coffee Christmas gift recommendation for the hubby, if he travels, I discovered these single cup, travel/portable, 15-16 bar, hand espresso makers, no power required.  Hot or cold brewed espresso wherever you may be.


----------



## Gary A.

For Thanksgiving and Christmas we have both turkey and ham.  For Christmas we toss in tamales.  We purchase dozens of tamales and pass them out as gifts.  All of our kids have left the nest.  Typically for both holidays we have an open house with family and friends come by when it is convienent for them.  Easter is ham.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, hosers. Looks like I'm the only one awake at this time in my house... again.


----------



## Frank F.

How late is at at your place? I have to finish work soon and collect daughter from Kindergarden at 15.00 .... afternoon.


----------



## snowbear

Just after 8 AM (Eastern time)


----------



## terri

@Gary: I always buy whole beans and grind at home.  To save time, I prefer to grind them all at once and make little bags that are ready to go.   

I'm not as picky about the coffee maker, as long as it's not some Keurig style thingy.  I do take issue with the tiny plastic cups.   Plus, I have yet to try one that doesn't taste like sawdust.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was a long day and today will be no different. Gary is working from home most of this week to accommodate Amazon.  Yesterday Mary Lou's Xmas present came in, a patio thingie and the boxes needed a signature. Today and tomorrow my wine club stuff is arriving from Sonoma and Paso Robles ... more signatures.  Yesterday and today Gary is on a panel of three interviewing high school seniors for scholarships. From 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. ... but the time just flies these kids are so awesome. One of the questions is "What do you wish to have accomplished in 30-40 years?".  The first student replied that she hopes to have been awarded the "Nobel Peace Prize". Then she back it up. Wow ... just wow. She passionately desires to be a human rights attorney, in particular, an advocate for women and women equality. While none of the other kids had their goals set as high, they were all exceptional.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg:  Gary is happy that you decided to go with his suggestion of a Mexican Theme for Christmas. He suggest one of these groups for the entertainment.











You have first pick, Gary will engage the remaining group for his Christmas fiesta.


----------



## JonA_CT

Weird day. Not sure why, but I know it must have been, because I got back from teaching my college course and had a hankering for waffles. So I came home and got right to work making batter and frying up some sausage. My wife just rolled her eyes, haha.

They went really nicely with a barrel-aged milk stout I had in the cellar.


----------



## JonA_CT

Going through all of my pictures to build a photo book for my parents/in-laws for Christmas. Found 80 photos of my daughter that I liked from the last 12 months. I took 9500 pictures total so far for the year...how about you guys?


----------



## minicoop1985

If you count work then probably 10k, but if you don't, probably 400. lol


----------



## Frank F.

50.000? I do not really know, did not count. But I can tell you how many NEF I took and did not delete since 29 May...

*36 295 NEF* (Nikon) and *922 ORF* (Olympus) and *2 657 RAF* (Fuji) and Film (one roll only)

I cannot answer the question how many of these I did not even review. If I have time to review I usually delete shiploads of stuff


----------



## minicoop1985

Holy cow Frank, that's nuts.

I bought a CD yesterday. Like what is this, 2003?


----------



## Frank F.

Today I visited my building lot for the first time.

The current building is garbage after a serious fire and will be replaced by a serious sum in my account.

The "valuable oldtimers" (words of the vehicle owner) seem to be garbage too. It seems I  have to employ the court officer to get rid of the stuff, 181 square meters full of

*"carbage collection"*

Gosh!

Do you find the "valuable" red VW Beetle under the cardboard boxes?
Do you find the "valuable" black VW Beetle standing on to of an unidentifiable other car?


----------



## Frank F.




----------



## Designer

My God, Frank!  I hope the seller of the building will be required to pay for the removal.


----------



## Gary A.

That looks like a teenager's room. Get some bids on the debris removal and dump fees and present them to the owner as a deduction from the final price of the property.


----------



## Frank F.

Currently it is in the sole responsibility of the ex-tenant to remove the stuff

I have a valid court ruling to have everything removed and send the ex-tenant the bill, which will happen inevitably in about one month from now.

But what if the ex-tenant has no money? We will see. Because the ex-tenant set fire to the house and the things and himself, I get a nice sum from MY insurance and I hope that it will be enough to cover all the costs the ex-tenant might have caused. Today his sons promised to get rid of the stuff, we will see. No hurry


----------



## tirediron

Frank F. said:


> View attachment 131314
> 
> View attachment 131315


What year is the van?  That could still be worth a few dollars.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  This is the third day with the siphon.  Gary is learning the adjustments.  The heat source is somewhat automated so Gary is figuring out the sequence of buttons to prolong or shorten the brewing cycles. Today he doubled up on the automated brewing cycle and this very tasty and rich coffee came pouring out. Delish. A simple alcohol burning heat source would make this dialing-in process much easier. Gary is now in possession of a pound of raw coffee beans and the recommended hot air popcorn popper. Tonight, he roasts.


----------



## terri

Frank F. said:


> Currently it is in the sole responsibility of the ex-tenant to remove the stuff
> 
> I have a valid court ruling to have everything removed and send the ex-tenant the bill, which will happen inevitably in about one month from now.
> 
> But what if the ex-tenant has no money? We will see. Because the ex-tenant set fire to the house and the things and himself, I get a nice sum from MY insurance and I hope that it will be enough to cover all the costs the ex-tenant might have caused. Today his sons promised to get rid of the stuff, we will see. No hurry


Good luck with all of this, Frank.    That looks like an awful mess to wade through.    You're obviously staying very calm about it and not trying to rush things, which is good.


----------



## minicoop1985

Sheesh Frank, that's insane.

Copying files from my old laptops onto my new one. I forgot how slow they were ALREADY.


----------



## Frank F.

Yes, life is an adventure with good & bad days. Today I consider a good day so far (19:28 in the evening)


----------



## vintagesnaps

I want more coffee.


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> I want more coffee.


Windy and cold, soon to be colder, in my neck of the woods.    Lows tonight in the 20's!    

Definitely a coffee day!


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm having a third coffee shortly. Interviews to fill a long-term sub position this afternoon until 6. I'm dying already.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> I want more coffee.


Gary had two cups of his double strength siphon coffee ... he thinks he is experiencing caffeine overload.  But man, it was tasty going down.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> I'm having a third coffee shortly. Interviews to fill a long-term sub position this afternoon until 6. I'm dying already.


 Eww, interviews.....         Just hire #....4!   Yeah!    Make it easy on yourself, man!   

Oh, how I do NOT miss those days.


----------



## Frank F.

I want more Laphroig 15 years old!


----------



## JonA_CT

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm having a third coffee shortly. Interviews to fill a long-term sub position this afternoon until 6. I'm dying already.
> 
> 
> 
> Eww, interviews.....         Just hire #....4!   Yeah!    Make it easy on yourself, man!
> 
> Oh, how I do NOT miss those days.
Click to expand...


Ugh. Temporary positions are the worst too...the 4 we are bringing in have a combined 3 years experience between them, and none of them have any experience in the instructional model we use. C'est la vie. My partner is going on maternity leave by the end of January, so we have to find someone soon.


----------



## JonA_CT

Frank F. said:


> I want more Laphroig 15 years old!



If I'm buying scotch from Islay, I prefer Lagavulin myself. But if someone else is pouring...


----------



## Gary A.

Godspeed John Glenn.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Godspeed John Glenn.


No...


----------



## terri

And Greg Lake, too!    I wish I could have seen them in concert back in the day.   Wasn't old enough.   *sigh*   

And of course, I will raise a glass to John Lennon this evening.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I want more Laphroig 15 years old!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If I'm buying scotch from Islay, I prefer Lagavulin myself. But if someone else is pouring...
Click to expand...

If it isn't a bottle of 25 Year Old Talisker Single Malt Scotch Distillers Edition then its just bar Scotch. 

Ok, I would take a Highland Park 50 Year Old Single Malt, but it would be my second choice.


----------



## snowbear

We bought a violin.  Well, it used to be a violin; now it's a stained glass piece of art.  Proceeds went to the Hamilton Fairfield (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra, and the reason a couple of hicks from Southern Maryland got into the auction is because our niece is the artist. Niece and Nephew are coming east for the holidays, so I'll post some better photos then.

https://scontent-dft4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/14917145_10154026852882283_1286148241590059104_o.jpg



Gary A. said:


> Godspeed John Glenn.



Although a couple of good things have happened for us, I'll be glad when this jammin' year is over.


----------



## JonA_CT

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm having a third coffee shortly. Interviews to fill a long-term sub position this afternoon until 6. I'm dying already.
> 
> 
> 
> Eww, interviews.....         Just hire #....4!   Yeah!    Make it easy on yourself, man!
> 
> Oh, how I do NOT miss those days.
Click to expand...


So #4 didn't show, Terri. Thanks, hahahaha. 

After the paper screen, I liked 1 and 4 the most. 1 was decent, 2+3 were terrible as predicted, and 4 didn't show because they got another job. 

So we are inviting #1 back to teach a sample lesson. Hopefully, she can make it work, otherwise we are in trouble.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm having a third coffee shortly. Interviews to fill a long-term sub position this afternoon until 6. I'm dying already.
> 
> 
> 
> Eww, interviews.....         Just hire #....4!   Yeah!    Make it easy on yourself, man!
> 
> Oh, how I do NOT miss those days.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> So #4 didn't show, Terri. Thanks, hahahaha.
> 
> After the paper screen, I liked 1 and 4 the most. 1 was decent, 2+3 were terrible as predicted, and 4 didn't show because they got another job.
> 
> So we are inviting #1 back to teach a sample lesson. Hopefully, she can make it work, otherwise we are in trouble.
Click to expand...

Just proves that #4 was likely the best candidate.    I stand by my blind pick!    

Sorry for your pain.   Really.  Maybe #1 will teach better than she interviews.    Interviews are rough.    *cough*    Yeah, that's the spirit!


----------



## snowbear

I got a mini commission for a drawing - somebody saw my stuff and either likes it or wants to line a birdcage.  It's a 9 x 12 ink (acrylic and India) done with pen and brush.  The rough sketch is done and I've started in with the color.  I can't post a photo until I know the person has received it - they might show up here.

Famous Dave's BBQ for dinner, tonight.  I filled up on their pink lemonade.  I have eight maps to put together tomorrow and try to decide on a layout on a ninth (a composite of three similar maps).  Still no word from the other county, so I'm guessing it's a no-go; oh well, I'm still in the running for the NSWC position.


----------



## snowbear

I just ordered a few rolls of 120 (HP5/400) for the Brownie.


----------



## snowbear

Morning peeps.

Bleh.  The sore throat has returned.  I'm debating on going to the office , or staying home.  I have eight maps to put together; I can do them at home but it's much easier at the office with the multiple monitors and faster data connection to the servers.


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning!  Had a day off from work yesterday but back to the grind today.  At least it's FRIDAY!!!


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Morning!  Had a day off from work yesterday but back to the grind today.  At least it's FRIDAY!!!



I've decided to go in.

Congrat's on mod status! Or did I just miss that before?


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Congrat's on mod status! Or did I just miss that before?



No, that is new for me as of yesterday.  Thanks!


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> I just ordered a few rolls of 120 (HP5/400) for the Brownie.


Don't forget sandpaper

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> I just ordered a few rolls of 120 (HP5/400) for the Brownie.



This is making me feel bad that I have 5 frames of 120 HP5 in my Isolette that need some love so I can see if the thing even works! Maybe I'll finish it off this weekend.



SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congrat's on mod status! Or did I just miss that before?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No, that is new for me as of yesterday.  Thanks!
Click to expand...


Worthy promotion! Congrats.


We are having a holiday dinner party tomorrow night. We used to do a huge ugly sweater party, but then we got old and had a child, and just have no desire to have 30 people in our tiny house anymore. So I'm cooking for a few close friends. The menu has a Rigatoni alla Vodka w/ pancetta and chicken, a green salad, and some homemade bread. We have a couple bottles of wine left over from Thanksgiving, and I have two fresh batches of homebrew to tap into, including Holly, my christmas ale. Should be a nice evening.

Tonight, my wife is still trying to convince me to go to the Festival of Lights at Olde Mystic Village tonight. We will see. I think I might actually pull out the victory here. (I hate crowds and things that mess with my daughter's bedtime)


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congrat's on mod status! Or did I just miss that before?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No, that is new for me as of yesterday.  Thanks!
Click to expand...

Wow, congrats.  Now I can be an even bigger jerk to you than I was before.

Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just ordered a few rolls of 120 (HP5/400) for the Brownie.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is making me feel bad that I have 5 frames of 120 HP5 in my Isolette that need some love so I can see if the thing even works! Maybe I'll finish it off this weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congrat's on mod status! Or did I just miss that before?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No, that is new for me as of yesterday.  Thanks!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Worthy promotion! Congrats.
> 
> 
> We are having a holiday dinner party tomorrow night. We used to do a huge ugly sweater party, but then we got old and had a child, and just have no desire to have 30 people in our tiny house anymore. So I'm cooking for a few close friends. The menu has a Rigatoni alla Vodka w/ pancetta and chicken, a green salad, and some homemade bread. We have a couple bottles of wine left over from Thanksgiving, and I have two fresh batches of homebrew to tap into, including Holly, my christmas ale. Should be a nice evening.
> 
> Tonight, my wife is still trying to convince me to go to the Festival of Lights at Olde Mystic Village tonight. We will see. I think I might actually pull out the victory here. (I hate crowds and things that mess with my daughter's bedtime)
Click to expand...



Not sure about coastal CT but MA is going to be frigid tonight and not a good idea to be by the ocean!!!  We have changed our outdoor plans due to the temps expected tonight.  There is a new "Winter Wonderland" at Boston City Hall Plaza with a skating rink and "European style marketplace" whatever that is... that we were going to check out but we're going to put it off until next week in hopes of a less chilly night.









robbins.photo said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congrat's on mod status! Or did I just miss that before?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No, that is new for me as of yesterday.  Thanks!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wow, congrats.  Now I can be an even bigger jerk to you than I was before.
> 
> Lol
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Looking forward to it!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!



SquarePeg said:


>



And here I am, "working." 

Actually, I am doing overtime tomorrow so in a way, it's not really Friday today so perhaps I should do some real work 

But I'm all hyped up because I can't wait to get my new car tomorrow!!! I finally heard from the dealer yesterday to confirm. The car they found for me is the dark blue (my first choice) and a tan interior (didn't realize it was an option, but I'm glad because I prefer it to the black). I'm picking it up tomorrow at 4:15 AND I CAN'T WAIT!!

Last night after teaching, I met Buzz at a gallery right near my school for a lecture on Andre Kertesz. It was given by Robert Gurbo (Robert Gurbo, Curator of the Andre Kertész Estate) who is the curator of his estate and knew Kertesz very well. 

It was such a wonderful presentation and there were some original prints on display. Really, I kind of floated all the way home thinking about it. Kertesz's work is so beautiful and it was fascinating to hear some of the stories behind the images and learn more about the artist. It's amazing how many times the man reinvented his work and career.

The thing that is still bouncing around my head is how Kertesz once told Gurbo, "I shoot what I feel." The whole thing was quite inspiring and I think I'll need to go out shooting soon. I've been in a dry spell


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another cup from the siphon.  Only one pass this morning but a longer brew time. The adjustments in time seem to make a greater difference in taste with the siphon than with the French Press. Gary is still low on the learning curve.

The passing of John Glenn is quite disturbing for me.  He was an American hero.  I remember in grade school that they piped the radio broadcast across the intercom system for the launch.  It seemed to me that all life stood still during the countdown.  The room full of kids was completely silent as we listened and stared at the bulky speaker mounted in the middle of the room above the chalk board. "3, 2, 1 ... ignition..." and we heard a rumble in the background ... then through the background rumble came "Godspeed John Glenn".

The world needs more John Glenn's and men of his character.  RIP John Glenn, you will be sorely missed.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Not sure about coastal CT but MA is going to be frigid tonight and not a good idea to be by the ocean!!!  We have changed our outdoor plans due to the temps expected tonight.  There is a new "Winter Wonderland" at Boston City Hall Plaza with a skating rink and "European style marketplace" whatever that is... that we were going to check out but we're going to put it off until next week in hopes of a less chilly night.



I'm not sure how cold it will be here...I think in the 30s. The water is still almost 50 degrees and that helps. Either way, I lost. One of our friends is going, and that sealed the deal for me.

That's a pretty cool use of that space in Boston. Please don't tell my wife about it, though  

She loves everything winter, Christmas, and European.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Last night after teaching, I met Buzz at a gallery right near my school for a lecture on Andre Kertesz. It was given by Robert Gurbo (Robert Gurbo, Curator of the Andre Kertész Estate) who is the curator of his estate and knew Kertesz very well.



I would have loved hearing that, too!   Sounds very special.   You're lucky to get stuff like that so close to the school.  



limr said:


> The thing that is still bouncing around my head is how Kertesz once told Gurbo, "I shoot what I feel." The whole thing was quite inspiring and I think I'll need to go out shooting soon. I've been in a dry spell



Yeah.   Me too.    Just a little frozen knot someplace in my brain that's supposed to be fluid.   Dammit.       But it's part of the whole process, so I try to let it alone.


----------



## Gary A.

Today, Mary Lou and Gary are playing hooky and going to a wine pick-up party in Temecula. The first stop will be Thornton, which has become a mandatory first stop.  Great food at Thornton and fun Champagnes, a flight with our meal. (Thornton was grandfathered in the 'Champagne' designation accord.)  Normally, we seek a new winery or two for tastes, then, we wrap everything up with a last call at either Doffo, which has great wines but usually quite crowded or our very favorite winery Lorenzi, which crafts wines on par with the better and older wine producing areas of California.

Two days ago, Mary Lou's Christmas gift arrived, a firepit for the patio.  Yesterday, Gary had it fully assembled and functioning.  In the cool of the 60F evening, the new furniture came to life and we sat in our Adirondacks and enjoyed our wine by the fire pit.

Last night Gary whipped up a new sauce for chicken.  The base was a combo of teriyaki and Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce.  Mary Lou loved it.  Even this morning, Mary Lou is still mentioning how good the chicken tasted.

@ Leo: You need to drive over and show Gary your new car.
@ Peg:  Congrats on being the new sheriff in town.

@ Leo: PS- Gary isn't in the same league as Kertesz ... but he sorta understands where Kertesz is coming from by shooting what he feels. Old-timers, who learned photography on their own and not in a formal educational process ... the learning was nearly entirely by trial and error as opposed to implementing Chapter 3.  Learning, via hands-on trial and error, is much more subliminal than learning by rote. Trial and error leads to more feel and less black and white decision process.  Kertesz started out shooting for and in a photojournalistic environment, where capturing the story is more important than ... the rule of thirds ... instinct over formality.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Last night after teaching, I met Buzz at a gallery right near my school for a lecture on Andre Kertesz. It was given by Robert Gurbo (Robert Gurbo, Curator of the Andre Kertész Estate) who is the curator of his estate and knew Kertesz very well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would have loved hearing that, too!   Sounds very special.   You're lucky to get stuff like that so close to the school.
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The thing that is still bouncing around my head is how Kertesz once told Gurbo, "I shoot what I feel." The whole thing was quite inspiring and I think I'll need to go out shooting soon. I've been in a dry spell
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah.   Me too.    Just a little frozen knot someplace in my brain that's supposed to be fluid.   Dammit.       But it's part of the whole process, so I try to let it alone.
Click to expand...


Yup, I was happy when I realized how close it would be. It was such a nice lecture and slideshow. And there was wine! 

Dry spots are tricky. The more you try to find inspiration, the less likely it is to find it. Gotta just ride it out, I guess.



Gary A. said:


> @ Leo: You need to drive over and show Gary your new car.
> @ Peg:  Congrats on being the new sheriff in town.
> 
> @ Leo: PS- Gary isn't in the same league as Kertesz ... but he sorta understands where Kertesz is coming from by shooting what he feels. Old-timers, who learned photography on their own and not in a formal educational process ... the learning was nearly entirely by trial and error as opposed to implementing Chapter 3.  Learning, via hands-on trial and error, is much more subliminal than learning by rote. Trial and error leads to more feel and less black and white decision process.  Kertesz started out shooting for and in a photojournalistic environment, where capturing the story is more important than ... the rule of thirds ... instinct over formality.



I'll start planning the cross-country road trip! 

I think that line stuck with me because it's really what I try to accomplish as well. It's the intent, but of course, the execution is the problem  It's probably why I respond so strongly to his work - it all just screams emotion to me. The Polaroids he took after his wife died are heartbreaking. They just slay me every time I look at them. Seriously, I can hardly ever talk about them without getting teary-eyed.

What was interesting was to see how many self-portraits he did. There was a point of time before he left Budapest for Paris when he would take pictures of himself in different poses, scenes, and costumes, as if he were trying on different personalities and trying to figure out who he was. So it was the use of photography not just to get a story, but to work through his own story. He was apparently very committed to documentation, telling his life through photographs. And he strove to show not just the events but the inner life that coincided with those events. When he was in New York working for House and Garden, for example, he did a series of shots of him stuck in the houses he was photographing. He felt trapped in what he considered hack work.


----------



## JonA_CT

Another newly minted moderator! Congrats!

I added a few web sites about Kertesz to my reading list. It's definitely time for me to start to learn more about the history of photography.

Every week or two we offered some free time outside for our students who are fulfilling all of our "core" values. I drew the short straw today, and spent the last 45 minutes outside. It's roughly 35, windy, and lightly snowing. It's official. Winter is here.


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## terri

JonA_CT said:


> It's roughly 35, windy, and lightly snowing. It's official. Winter is here.



Yuck.   None of that bothers me except the "windy" part.   I grew up in Michigan, and cold weather doesn't dismay me a bit.   But, I learned early on to despise the wind.   Without wind, even when it's 15' outside under a clear blue sky and weak winter sun, you can have a great time sledding, hiking and such.  

But wind is a deal-breaker for me!!   I stood outside of my car on too many mornings, having to pour tepid water over the lock just to melt the ice so I could get the key in, while being battered by the wind.    As crappy as having to pour the water was, it the _W-I-N-D _that really sucked!


----------



## snowbear

According to the weather gizmo in Windows: 35 and sunny with 12mph wind out of the WNW.  The weather peeps on TV were mentioning snow flurries in some areas (North & West, higher elevations).


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## snowbear

Congrat's on your upgrade, @limr!


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## limr

snowbear said:


> Congrat's on your upgrade, @limr!





JonA_CT said:


> Another newly minted moderator! Congrats!
> 
> I added a few web sites about Kertesz to my reading list. It's definitely time for me to start to learn more about the history of photography.
> 
> Every week or two we offered some free time outside for our students who are fulfilling all of our "core" values. I drew the short straw today, and spent the last 45 minutes outside. It's roughly 35, windy, and lightly snowing. It's official. Winter is here.



Thank you, my dears 

Yup, it's quite brisk out there these days, isn't it Jon?


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## Gary A.

iPhone

Luncheoning at Thornton.


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## terri

Gary, that flatbread looks delish!    I love eating like that, with a glass of red wine.   Yum!!


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## SquarePeg

did I mention that I got talked into going to the Jingle Ball with my daughter and her bff and bff's mom (who is awesome). Jingle Ball is the local pop music station holiday concert. And I mean pop not Pops. Sunday night. Me and Arianna Grande and Sean Mendez and a bunch of other "hot" artists I am forced to listen to when my daughter is in the car and 10000 youngsters.


----------



## JonA_CT

You New Englanders (and Eastern NYers) excited about the prospect of snow? I'll probably get a big mess here, but should be a nice little coating for you Hudson Valley folks and Boston folks.


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> did I mention that I got talked into going to the Jingle Ball with my daughter and her bff and bff's mom (who is awesome). Jingle Ball is the local pop music station holiday concert. And I mean pop not Pops. Sunday night. Me and Arianna Grande and Sean Mendez and a bunch of other "hot" artists I am forced to listen to when my daughter is in the car and 10000 youngsters.


I am happy to report I have no idea who any of those artists are, I suffered through the spice girls and various boy bands but the minute the youngest turned 16 and got her license I was merciful spared further acoustic assaults.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


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## Gary A.

IPhone

Fall has fallen


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## Gary A.

iPhone

Temecula wine tasting room.


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## vintagesnaps

I want wine. I'm easily swayed, coffee or wine, either way. So I got ice cream.

Gary maybe that's the reason too that I like Kertesz, he's my favorite; I just feel like I get how he's seeing photos. Of course he did many other types of photos like the distortions that I find interesting but aren't really my thing. Jon - get a book!!! lol I could loan you one.

SharonCat I hope you had a ball Jingling (bad pun I know). If you have any hearing left. There are some things I don't miss from teaching jr. high many years ago... but actually now I just get a laugh out of the memories (which are the kind of thing that may not have been that hilarious at the time but were not boring! lol).

Charlie congrats on the commissioned artwork - awesome!


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## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> SharonCat I hope you had a ball Jingling (bad pun I know). If you have any hearing left. There are some things I don't miss from teaching jr. high many years ago... but actually now I just get a laugh out of the memories (which are the kind of thing that may not have been that hilarious at the time but were not boring! lol).



Oh it's not until Sunday night.  During the snowstorm.  I'm just getting a head start on dreading it!


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## minicoop1985

Holy hell, hosers. Serious snowstorm headed this way. Gonna snow until Monday at least.


May be working a different job fairly soon. We'll see. Might be going back to commercial/product.


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## vintagesnaps

Oh well good then, you've got the whole weekend to look forward to the fun! I mean that for SharonCat, I guess Coop you get to enjoy your fun even sooner. And keep that damn snow up there, will ya?!!


----------



## Gary A.

This has been a very good day. Gary is leaving Temecula for home sweet home.


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## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 131360
> Luncheoning at Thornton.



Wow. This one looks tasty!!!


----------



## Gary A.

The food at Thornton is very very good. Their sparklings are good, the chocolate wines are interestingly good and flavorful, their reds and white are fair. Thornton makes this baked brie pastry with a caramel sauce which is wonderful.  Their meals are so filling that there isn't any room for desserts.  On Mary Lou's and Gary's next visit, we decided to have breakfast on route then stop at Thornton for some baked sweets.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is still dialing in the perfect combination of coffee : water : brew time for his new coffee machine.  Gary is sipping away at another delightful cup of Joe, brewed in the siphon.  Gary has retired his signature 'G' cup for a seasonal treat.  Outside the skies are uniformly gray from horizon to horizon.  The weather is cooling off for a high in the mid 60's.  Some beast in the night tumbled a few large rocks into the pond.  They are much too large for a net, so some time today, Gary will brave the chilly waters, dive in and fetch the wayward stones.

A friend is riding down from Sylmar to La Mirada for dinner. About 42 miles one way.  Gary will drive him home. Gary is thinking of Chicken Marsala and home made wheat pasta for dinner, maybe saute some kale from the backyard ... Gary has a ton of avocados, Mandarin Oranges, Valencia Oranges, Meyer Lemons, Mexican Limes and persimmons ... he needs how to wrap that stuff into a dish or two.


----------



## terri

Sounds like yesterday was a fun day, Gary!!    Although, the idea of chocolate wines, or other flavor-infused wines, is a personal turn-off for me.   Way too sweet for me.  

More up my alley: I had a 2004 Barolo last night:  





The last time we had it, it was still a tannic beast.   Now that it has 12 +/- years on it, it's calmed down and was great to cocktail with in front of the fire on a freezing cold night.   We only have 3 more in the cellar.    *sob*


----------



## Gary A.

Oooooo, the 2004 was a great year.  Barolos seems to be quite iffy and temperamental.  You would be surprised by Thornton's chocolates.  Gary was of the same mind as you, until he had his first taste and was pleasantly surprised.  It definitely does not pair well with a meal, but in lieu of a dessert wine, it is quite pleasant, drinkable and not nearly as sweet.

One of Gary's more recent adventures to he and Mary Lou to Cougar Winery in Temecula (I know a dumb name). Cougar specializes in the Italian end of the wine spectrum.  Gary is most familiar with French varietals but he is now really enjoying tasting and learning what Italy has to offer.


----------



## terri

When I make it out to your neck of the woods, I will happily let you pour one up for me!     

And really, the best way to taste and learn about Italian or French is to buy wines that grew in the area.   I know California has an exquisite terroir, but...it's not Italian or French terroir, so just growing those famous varietals can't _really_ show it to its best.   The appellations from the Rhone Valley, Chianti, or Piemonte, are unsurpassed in many ways...can't really be duplicated by the appellations of California.


----------



## Frank F.

I had 35 year old Barolos that were still young and nervous


----------



## vintagesnaps

I need more coffee. I think the weather getting cold was so abrupt I'm dragging trying to get going. Well, anyway off to go shopping someplace Christmassy regardless of not wanting to get up out of my nice snug house and actually do something. 

Maybe mocha coca coffee later (don't know the name of the recipe so call it whatever I think of at the time) - coffee and hot chocolate and cream etc. in a pan, mixed together and heated at low heat. I don't exactly follow the recipe just mix and taste til it tastes good! lol A gourmet chef I am not. But coffee and chocolate I can do.


----------



## terri

Mmm, mocha coffee!


----------



## jcdeboever

I like mocha coffee 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## JonA_CT

Getting ready for the dinner party tonight...bread is fresh out of the oven. The house smells great. 

Pot de cremes are the fridge. Salad dressing is made. Only thing left to do is to start the sauce for the pasta...so I have a couple of hours to relax.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> When I make it out to your neck of the woods, I will happily let you pour one up for me!
> 
> And really, the best way to taste and learn about Italian or French is to buy wines that grew in the area.   I know California has an exquisite terroir, but...it's not Italian or French terroir, so just growing those famous varietals can't _really_ show it to its best.   The appellations from the Rhone Valley, Chianti, or Piemonte, are unsurpassed in many ways...can't really be duplicated by the appellations of California.


But it is okay to be different.  Gary learned an important life and wine lesson from Robert Mondavi. It is great having standards ... but the bottom line ... all that truly matters, is the enjoyment of the drinker.  The more enjoyable and drinkable the wine, the better it is.

The Californian vintners, Gary has spoken with, are not attempting to duplicate European wines, but rather create wines to compete against and surpass what the finest Europeans have crafted.  Fortunately or unfortunately, wine is also history, a history of climate and of politics and of people.  Much of the labeling pays homage to this history ... but also may play to false advertising.

Most/many of the standards are as much about marketing, as they are about quality standards.  And yes, a Bordeaux comes from here and a Champagne comes from there ... but that doesn't lessen the value and taste of a sparkling wine from Chile or a Bordeaux-like wine from Guadalupe Valley.  Yes, climate, rain, sun, soil all play an important part in grape development. But to Gary, that doesn't mean a wine from anyplace else than Europe is inferior, but rather it is merely different.  Whether it is different good or different bad is a matter of personal taste.  A Rhone Valley Viognier will certainly have a distinctive taste and set a standard for that region, but that should not lessen the value and taste of a Viognier from Temecula. While there is a valid argument that the Appellation d'Origine Controlee (AOC) sets quality standards, it also protects and creates a market based upon a parochial and self-serving system.

The AOC, taken to an extreme, one can argue that the very first wines were produced in Georgia and that all wines produced in any other terroir are to be judged inferior.

Gary is finished with his rant ... he needs a mocha coffee.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hi All!  Had a busy morning and afternoon. It's frigid here today. Going to light the fireplace and sit and enjoy a book by the fire for a few hours.  I don't feel like wine or a martini but maybe a hot cocoa with a shot of Baileys. The ONLY good thing about it getting dark this early is starting cocktail hour sooner.


----------



## snowbear

It's been an odd day.  I finished the drawing in between med-naps.  Not much coffee today -- mainly juices and herbal tea.  I hope this crap goes away quickly.  My film should be here today so. hopefully, I'll feel better tomorrow so I can go shoot.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just came out of a hot shower.  He is still freezing, he spent nearly an hour in the pond reconstructing the waterfall and reconnecting one of the pumps.  When the large rock descended into the black depths of the pond it impacted with the pump and disconnected a hose.  Everything is back in working order except Gary.


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## SquarePeg

Sounds like Gary also needs some hot cocoa with Baileys.


----------



## terri

Gary: if you and my hubby get together and start discussing wine, we'll be there for...days.   Have plenty stocked, is all I'm sayin'.     

Mmm, hot cocoa and Baileys does not sound bad, SharonCat.   We're dipping down into the 20's again tonight...which is cold, but certainly nothing like what y'all have up there.   Stay warm!


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## Gary A.

LOL ... when I lived in Paris, California versus France was nearly a daily occurrence.


----------



## snowbear

Goodnight peeps.  @limr: I expect to see some snaps of your new ride, real soon.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Goodnight peeps.  @limr: I expect to see some snaps of your new ride, real soon.



You will have pictures tomorrow because I HAZ A NEW CAR!!!! AND I LOVE HER!!

It's been a looooooong day, hosers.

Worked overtime from 8-2 (we have started periodic "Saturday Enrollment Days" when a bunch of people from the registrar, bursar, counseling, financial aid, and testing offices come in to help students who can't really get to campus during the week). Then I drove home and left Lucille in the driveway and Buzz brought me to the dealership. It took a while because when we were looking at stock online, the closest manual transmission I could test out was at this dealership across the river (I'm east of the Hudson) so that's the dealership that I bought from. So, we arrived at about 3:45, did all the paperwork, and were ready to go at probably just shy of 4:30, just about 10 minutes after it had started to snow.

So my first ride home in my new car started off with about 30-45 minutes driving in heavy traffic in a pop-up squall. Not enough accumulation to need ploughing, but enough that it made things very tricky, and visibility was crap. Then eventually, we made it out of the squall, but still had another few miles of leftover snow from the first squall that had gone through very briefly on the way there. Finally, we got into the area that hadn't had any snow all day roads. By the time we got to the bridge, the roads were dry.

But it was still nighttime, there was still a lot of traffic, and the last leg of the journey is a very very twisty road that wends its way up the side of a mountain. The road is always just a bit nerve-wracking, but in a car that is still unfamiliar to you and in the dark, I had a few more white-knuckle moments.

And then there was pizza at Buzz's house, and then finally home and tea and crashy.

She hasn't revealed her name to me yet, but she is BEE-YOOOOOO-TIFUL!

Tomorrow there will be pics and more babbling about my new car  and also about my intense guilt at leaving Lucille out in the driveway instead of in the garage 

For now, I am shot. SHOT.

Night, hosers.


----------



## Frank F.

JonA_CT said:


> Getting ready for the dinner party tonight...bread is fresh out of the oven. The house smells great.
> View attachment 131392




Beautiful bread and beautiful photo of it


----------



## Frank F.

There is wine I like and wine I do not like. Yesterday we cooked at a friend's house, had some nice Whites from Mosel and Palantine, then drank a great Champagne ... I generally disregard Champagne but this one was really really nice. After that we opened 4 bottles of very great French red wine. Very good quality highly priced stuff. The fourth bottle needs more time before she will be drinkable. So that makes one white plus a rest, one champagne a good half a bottle of Bordeaux and 2 more I guess Bordeaux, the last one set aside to breathe more for a few days. And very good food. Not the best strategy if I wand to smallen my belly...


----------



## minicoop1985

Leonore: I wanna see!!!! The suspense is killing me!

Morning Hosers. It's the middle of a three day snowstorm. And I have to drive 2 1/4 hours (in good weather) to get to work. Ugh.


----------



## Frank F.

3 more shots @f=1.4/105mm
all involving glass


----------



## minicoop1985

Holy shallow DOF batman!


----------



## JonA_CT

It makes me want a lens that I don't have any business owning, haha. 

Cold this morning. My wife just left to do the weekly shopping, I'm snuggled with my daughter under a blanket and 85lbs of lab.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Goodnight peeps.  @limr: I expect to see some snaps of your new ride, real soon.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You will have pictures tomorrow because I HAZ A NEW CAR!!!! AND I LOVE HER!!
> 
> It's been a looooooong day, hosers.
> 
> Worked overtime from 8-2 (we have started periodic "Saturday Enrollment Days" when a bunch of people from the registrar, bursar, counseling, financial aid, and testing offices come in to help students who can't really get to campus during the week). Then I drove home and left Lucille in the driveway and Buzz brought me to the dealership. It took a while because when we were looking at stock online, the closest manual transmission I could test out was at this dealership across the river (I'm east of the Hudson) so that's the dealership that I bought from. So, we arrived at about 3:45, did all the paperwork, and were ready to go at probably just shy of 4:30, just about 10 minutes after it had started to snow.
> 
> So my first ride home in my new car started off with about 30-45 minutes driving in heavy traffic in a pop-up squall. Not enough accumulation to need ploughing, but enough that it made things very tricky, and visibility was crap. Then eventually, we made it out of the squall, but still had another few miles of leftover snow from the first squall that had gone through very briefly on the way there. Finally, we got into the area that hadn't had any snow all day roads. By the time we got to the bridge, the roads were dry.
> 
> But it was still nighttime, there was still a lot of traffic, and the last leg of the journey is a very very twisty road that wends its way up the side of a mountain. The road is always just a bit nerve-wracking, but in a car that is still unfamiliar to you and in the dark, I had a few more white-knuckle moments.
> 
> And then there was pizza at Buzz's house, and then finally home and tea and crashy.
> 
> She hasn't revealed her name to me yet, but she is BEE-YOOOOOO-TIFUL!
> 
> Tomorrow there will be pics and more babbling about my new car  and also about my intense guilt at leaving Lucille out in the driveway instead of in the garage
> 
> For now, I am shot. SHOT.
> 
> Night, hosers.
Click to expand...


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## Gary A.

Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car!


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## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car! Car!


Dude, decaf.


----------



## Gary A.

Yeah, I know, right ... Gary hasn't dialed in the siphon yet.


----------



## Frank F.

shallower...




carrying studio light into my kitchen...




and shooting these at ISO100 with f=1.4:


----------



## Frank F.

And a question to you hosers, please comment:

"Mitbringsel" is a wonderful German word meaning a little present you bring for a party or from a voyage

"Mit" = "with"
"Bring" = "bring"
"sel" = syllable for Dininutiv

So I would suggest a new English word

Withbringsel or
Withbringy or
Bringwithy or
Bringwithsel

What do you think? should we start a campaingn for the word by starting to use it and "spread it"?

Do you like it?
Does it sound German to you?


----------



## snowbear

cant type with two hands. trapped under a kitty.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Bringwithy

But no it doesn't really sound German, it sounds like nonsense slang but I like it. But what do I know, words I thought were German growing up I found out were Yiddish and don't ask me how my older relatives would have picked that up, but apparently it all kind of blurred together when they were younger. 

And I drank leftover half caf and decaf this morning instead of making more coffee and was up late so I don't know much of anything today.


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> shallower...
> View attachment 131439
> 
> carrying studio light into my kitchen...
> View attachment 131440
> 
> and shooting these at ISO100 with f=1.4:
> View attachment 131441



Going to start calling you Shallow Hal


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> And a question to you hosers, please comment:
> 
> "Mitbringsel" is a wonderful German word meaning a little present you bring for a party or from a voyage
> 
> "Mit" = "with"
> "Bring" = "bring"
> "sel" = syllable for Dininutiv
> 
> So I would suggest a new English word
> 
> Withbringsel or
> Withbringy or
> Bringwithy or
> Bringwithsel
> 
> What do you think? should we start a campaingn for the word by starting to use it and "spread it"?
> 
> Do you like it?
> Does it sound German to you?



Bringwithsel Braunschweiger please, don't forget the Grey Poupon and  grape MD2020.


----------



## snowbear

"Gift" works for me.


----------



## jcdeboever

Fell on my ass three times today on my slopey driveway, laying down salt after plowing 40ft. deep snow.... Broke my phone that was in my back pocket, pulled a groin muscle, and hurt my wrist. Geez, I am a mess.


----------



## snowbear

Ouch.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry to hear that. Glad it's so far not switching to snow here.


----------



## minicoop1985

@limr WHERE ARE THE CAR PICTURES UGH


----------



## Frank F.

@minicoop1985 I do not think it is wise to drive a car and take photos at the same time ... but hey, did I ever say I am a wise man? .... recommendation: a 300mm lens is difficult because the lens hood does conflict with the wind shield. A shorter lens is better and AF


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> @limr WHERE ARE THE CAR PICTURES UGH



Okay, okay!!  I actually tried earlier from my phone but the picture was apparently too big.


----------



## limr

I took her for a long drive today so I could start getting a feel for her when it's not dark and snowing. She's more and more fun to drive the more I get used to her 

Oh, and I forgot to say that after all the paperwork and the walk-through, etc, and even after I decided to pass on the extended warranty, the finance manager handed me a bottle of wine as a gift. A really nice wine, too. A Nero D'Avola from Sicily. Just finished the last of it 

And now it's snowing again, but I'm finally settled and in for the evening, and will get myself ready for work tomorrow and my first commute in the new car.

In two weeks, I'll finally get a week off! It will be much needed.


----------



## minicoop1985

Zoom zoom! Mazdas do tend to be pretty fun, don't they?


----------



## terri

Shiny!  Pretty!  

Congrats!


----------



## Gary A.

Nice.  You deserve it.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Spent a great deal of time last night learning focus stacking. It's fun! It's challenging! It's a great experience.


----------



## SquarePeg

Mornin' hosers.  Well I survived the Jingle Ball and the thousands of screaming shrieking tweens and teens.  The earplugs helped a lot, especially during the "house music" by someone named Diplo.  We had fun and several of the acts were pretty good.  It was a long day for me since we had a family party in the afternoon so I was on my feet pretty much the entire day/night.  Definitely not the day to wear the new boots!!  

Looking forward to this week being a "normal" week for me - no big after work plans or work travel or other pita obligations this week!!!  No sports or school events for my daughter.  Yeay!!!  I'm just going to try to catch up at work and relax at home getting rested for next week when I have something going on just about every day or night.  I might even get a chance to pick up my camera this week!  Not that there is anything to shoot with this sleety weather we're having.  Maybe some Christmas tree lights and ornament macro shots here at home...


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr WHERE ARE THE CAR PICTURES UGH
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, okay!!  I actually tried earlier from my phone but the picture was apparently too big.
> 
> View attachment 131453
Click to expand...


Very Sporty! Congrats.


----------



## Gary A.

Just took another look at Leo's car, and to echo the Appleton Guy, " Zoom-zoom".


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> shallower...
> View attachment 131439
> 
> carrying studio light into my kitchen...
> View attachment 131440
> 
> and shooting these at ISO100 with f=1.4:
> View attachment 131441


@ Frank, the figures are delightful, well worth the effort of purchase. I am glad that I went back and started the ball rolling.


----------



## Frank F.

I did call her and send email and it was very nice of you you kicked her a little to really do as promised. If she had been there at her opening hours I could have saved a lot on shipping and import duties BUT ... these fairies are very delicated ... they would have suffered in my baggage


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Thank you, thank you, everyone 

First commute in the new car this morning. It snowed last night and then the temps warmed up so it was only rain, but it was still a messy commute. Not ideal conditions for testing things out too much. Between the ride home from the dealership and the commute this morning, however, I can tell you that the Mazda is doing pretty well in winter weather!  And I just ordered snow tires last night, so I should be all set for the remainder of this winter.

Still getting used to all the bells and whistles that Lucille didn't have (she didn't have ANY bells or whistles at all!) I'm not sure that I'm crazy about the electronic emergency brake and the gas fill-up is on the wrong side of the car (it should be on the passenger side!!), but reverse is back in the correct spot (push down, then up and left). 

It's got a push-button ignition, which reminds me of the 1979 VW Dasher my sister drove in the late 80s. I drove it for a summer, too. The ignition switch was shot, so we had to hotwire it under the hood. Then my father got nervous about us doing that at night when we were getting off work at our mall job, so he wired it to a button. You'd just put the key in the ignition switch, turn it half way, and then press the button. So we were way ahead of our time


----------



## Frank F.

PS ... we found the wonderful Thai Place. That alone was worth the ride


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Since Saturday, the weather has finally turned Winter-esque. Overcast, gray skies that won't burn off, shorten daylight hours that don't fully charge the solar lights, a dampness in the air that lingers all day and basketball on the tele. 

Yesterday seemed wasted. Mary Lou professed a desire for a couch-potato day.  We would get some stuff done in the morning, then by afternoon we kick-back, wine and popcorn in hand and Netflix away the rest of the day. Never happened.  We spent the entire day running around doing piddly crap, then Tom came over and we left for sushi.  (This place around the corner dishes out free ice cream with meals.) Then we sat in the patio drinking wine and "discussing" politics. Tom, argues a lot. (I suspect that is why he is still single.) Speaking of politics, in the Los Angeles Times there is an article on the Op-Ed page titled "There's hope the world can still save itself". 

After interviewing 20+ Whitney kids for scholarships, I would have to agree with that headline.  (Tom would argue otherwise.) The kids were awesome, intelligent, motivated and most had a track record of success they were building upon for future successes. We Gary was in high school, all he cared about was making out.

Today's siphon coffee was brewed to perfection. Gary think's he is mastering the management of all the brewing variables. He is ready to plug in his popcorn popper and roast.


----------



## Frank F.

the foto kontext (photo context) in our kitchen:


----------



## JonA_CT

Can't wait to see the results, Gary!

Leo, the push button ignition is pretty nice, honestly. It does have a couple of downsides though -- I frequently toss my keys somewhere in the car and then can't figure out where they are immediately. I somehow get them under the seat with some frequency.

The other thing is that you'll go through batteries in your fob like nothing else, and they are a huge pain to change. The car will still work without them, although it's annoying -- so I'd heed the warning when it tells you the key battery is low. (says the guy who has that warning right now). The car still runs without it  -- just have to pop the cover where the ignition should be and shove the key in. I found this out in the middle of winter when it was about 4 degrees outside, of course. Surprised I can feel my hands now.


----------



## Gary A.

So odd that overnight the Persimmon tree lost nearly all of its leaves.




iPhone

Happiness is a bowl of Mandarin Oranges.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Can't wait to see the results, Gary!
> 
> Leo, the push button ignition is pretty nice, honestly. It does have a couple of downsides though -- I frequently toss my keys somewhere in the car and then can't figure out where they are immediately. I somehow get them under the seat with some frequency.
> 
> The other thing is that you'll go through batteries in your fob like nothing else, and they are a huge pain to change. The car will still work without them, although it's annoying -- so I'd heed the warning when it tells you the key battery is low. (says the guy who has that warning right now). The car still runs without it  -- just have to pop the cover where the ignition should be and shove the key in. I found this out in the middle of winter when it was about 4 degrees outside, of course. Surprised I can feel my hands now.



Ah, thank you. Good to know. I'm not too worried about losing the fob in the car. I'm very much a "everything needs its own place" sort of a person, so I'm already deciding between two places where the fob will "belong" when its in the car. But the battery warning will be heeded!

I really don't mind the push-button - it's just going to take some getting used to. I know it's only been 3 days, but whenever I go to turn the car off, my hand going searching for the key on the column 

The Bluetooth doesn't seem to like my phone music files all that much, so if I want to listen to music on my phone, I need to plug it into the USB, which also doesn't bother me. It's an extra step and the car takes a few minutes to load everything up and give access, but it won't run out the phone battery and it's a more reliable connection.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Thank you, thank you, everyone
> 
> First commute in the new car this morning. It snowed last night and then the temps warmed up so it was only rain, but it was still a messy commute. Not ideal conditions for testing things out too much. Between the ride home from the dealership and the commute this morning, however, I can tell you that the Mazda is doing pretty well in winter weather!  And I just ordered snow tires last night, so I should be all set for the remainder of this winter.
> 
> Still getting used to all the bells and whistles that Lucille didn't have (she didn't have ANY bells or whistles at all!) I'm not sure that I'm crazy about the electronic emergency brake and the gas fill-up is on the wrong side of the car (it should be on the passenger side!!), but reverse is back in the correct spot (push down, then up and left).
> 
> It's got a push-button ignition, which reminds me of the 1979 VW Dasher my sister drove in the late 80s. I drove it for a summer, too. The ignition switch was shot, so we had to hotwire it under the hood. Then my father got nervous about us doing that at night when we were getting off work at our mall job, so he wired it to a button. You'd just put the key in the ignition switch, turn it half way, and then press the button. So we were way ahead of our time



Congrats on the new car!!  Exciting stuff. 



JonA_CT said:


> Can't wait to see the results, Gary!
> 
> Leo, the push button ignition is pretty nice, honestly. It does have a couple of downsides though -- I frequently toss my keys somewhere in the car and then can't figure out where they are immediately. I somehow get them under the seat with some frequency.
> 
> The other thing is that you'll go through batteries in your fob like nothing else, and they are a huge pain to change. The car will still work without them, although it's annoying -- so I'd heed the warning when it tells you the key battery is low. (says the guy who has that warning right now). The car still runs without it -- just have to pop the cover where the ignition should be and shove the key in. I found this out in the middle of winter when it was about 4 degrees outside, of course. Surprised I can feel my hands now.



Having had several rental cars with the push button starts, I didn't see the point.  It would be nice if you could just toss it in your purse (well not you JonA I don't think) and forget about it but then how would you lock and unlock the doors?  So you have to keep taking it out and putting it away which is the same as with a normal key so what is the point? 



limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can't wait to see the results, Gary!
> 
> Leo, the push button ignition is pretty nice, honestly. It does have a couple of downsides though -- I frequently toss my keys somewhere in the car and then can't figure out where they are immediately. I somehow get them under the seat with some frequency.
> 
> The other thing is that you'll go through batteries in your fob like nothing else, and they are a huge pain to change. The car will still work without them, although it's annoying -- so I'd heed the warning when it tells you the key battery is low. (says the guy who has that warning right now). The car still runs without it  -- just have to pop the cover where the ignition should be and shove the key in. I found this out in the middle of winter when it was about 4 degrees outside, of course. Surprised I can feel my hands now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, thank you. Good to know. I'm not too worried about losing the fob in the car. *I'm very much a "everything needs its own place" sort of a person, so I'm already deciding between two places where the fob will "belong" when its in the car.* But the battery warning will be heeded!
> 
> I really don't mind the push-button - it's just going to take some getting used to. I know it's only been 3 days, but whenever I go to turn the car off, my hand going searching for the key on the column
> 
> The Bluetooth doesn't seem to like my phone music files all that much, so if I want to listen to music on my phone, I need to plug it into the USB, which also doesn't bother me. It's an extra step and the car takes a few minutes to load everything up and give access, but it won't run out the phone battery and it's a more reliable connection.
Click to expand...


That is the *key*!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Mornin' hosers. Well I survived the Jingle Ball and the thousands of screaming shrieking tweens and teens. The earplugs helped a lot, especially during the "house music" by someone named Diplo.



Sympathy card is on its way, SharonCat.   Whew!  

@Gary A. :   Where's the rake?   

@limr:   I've had 2 cars with the push button thingy.   One car had a nice "fob station" slot, or port, where you could at least store the thing while you were driving, and when you turned off the car, ye olde "reach for the key" habit was honored!    Made life easy.    My current car does NOT have any such fob-port thingy and it's a PITA.     I've learned to just leave my keys in my purse for the whole ride - like Jon was saying, it's too easy to lose them if you set them down.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Congrats on the new car!!  Exciting stuff.



Thanks! 



> Having had several rental cars with the push button starts, I didn't see the point.  It would be nice if you could just toss it in your purse (well not you JonA I don't think) and forget about it but then how would you lock and unlock the doors?  So you have to keep taking it out and putting it away which is the same as with a normal key so what is the point?



Yes, I can't just leave it in my purse because I'd just have to take it out anyway in order to lock it when I'm out (at home, I have the car in the garage, so I leave it unlocked.)

Overall, I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of the push button ignition is other than convenience. I prefer an actual key, but it was clearly not a deal-breaker for me. My real priorities are the manual transmission and the quality of the drive.



> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, thank you. Good to know. I'm not too worried about losing the fob in the car. *I'm very much a "everything needs its own place" sort of a person, so I'm already deciding between two places where the fob will "belong" when its in the car.* But the battery warning will be heeded!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is the *key*!
Click to expand...


Fair enough 

There are two possible places for me to keep the fob: the first is in a small well in the driver's side door. Fits just right. Also, at the bottom of the console where the USB ports are, there's a protected tray area where I plan on keeping my phone.

Lucille had manual locks, so for 11.5 years, I have established the firm habit of having the key in hand when I leave the car. I didn't need the key to lock the car, but it was too easy to lock myself out of the car (which I did only once in all that time!) so I made sure I locked it from the outside. So really, the only difference is instead of turning the key to lock the door, I'll be pressing a button.

Ultimately, it affects me very little because as I said, I like to keep things in their place, and I'm also a creature of habit, not only by nature, but through the teaching of my father, the mechanic. The traditionalist in me grumbles a bit about the key, and the lack of a mechanical emergency brake makes it harder for me to do donuts in a snowy parking lot, but there are work-arounds for all of these things if I'm very determined about them


----------



## snowbear

I've had a couple of rentals with the push button, and it is convenient but I prefer a key.  If I was one to put a bunch of fobs and keys with the car key, I can see a real advantage but I don't; my key fob is low weight:



2016-12-12_11-41-20 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## limr

Here's the interior. You can see the area right in front of the gear handle, below the climate control dials. That's where the USB ports are, where my phone will live, and probably where the fob will live as well. The little pocket in the door handle is good, but a) it could fall out if I forget to grab it before I open the door, and b) I'll be taking my phone with me anyway, so it's even more likely I'll have the fob in my hand before leaving the car.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> ...and the lack of a mechanical emergency brake makes it harder for me to do donuts in a snowy parking lot...



Crazy girl.    

The interior is so clean!   Sweet.   New car usually entails the creation of new habits.   For anal, just-so creatures like me, it's a real, though minor, THING.   <--- Not a good thing.


----------



## JonA_CT

Does yours have the push buttons on the door handle? When I remember to use those, the keys stay in my pocket. I don't always remember though (even after 3 years).


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...and the lack of a mechanical emergency brake makes it harder for me to do donuts in a snowy parking lot...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Crazy girl.
Click to expand...


Ah, you caught that, did ya? 



> The interior is so clean!   Sweet.   New car usually entails the creation of new habits.   For anal, just-so creatures like me, it's a real, though minor, THING.   <--- Not a good thing.



It would totally bug me, too, if I used to have a place and now I don't. Lucille had a great little hidden compartment that was perfect for my sunglasses. This car doesn't  It has a center console compartment, which is nice and new for me, but it's not really the perfect size for anything in particular, so it will probably have to house several things at once. And yes, this slightly offends my desire for nooks and crannies that can all have separate uses. Yeah, I'm a little broken


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Does yours have the push buttons on the door handle? When I remember to use those, the keys stay in my pocket. I don't always remember though (even after 3 years).



I am not 100% sure, but I don't think so. I'll confirm later.


----------



## vintagesnaps

How big is this fob??


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> How big is this fob??



Not big. 
http://blogmedia.dealerfire.com/wp-...unlock-your-mazda-3-with-a-broken-key-fob.jpg


----------



## limr

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> How big is this fob??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not big.
> http://blogmedia.dealerfire.com/wp-...unlock-your-mazda-3-with-a-broken-key-fob.jpg
Click to expand...


And there is a key that is inside the fob that can be used to unlock the driver's side door and according to Jon, start the car with the hidden key-start ignition switch.
http://imagehost.vendio.com/a/27892917/aview/412BLADE48.jpg


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> How big is this fob??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not big.
> http://blogmedia.dealerfire.com/wp-...unlock-your-mazda-3-with-a-broken-key-fob.jpg
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And there is a key that is inside the fob that can be used to unlock the driver's side door and according to Jon, start the car with the hidden key-start ignition switch.
> http://imagehost.vendio.com/a/27892917/aview/412BLADE48.jpg
Click to expand...

The slide out key is real important if your battery dies; you'll need it to get to the hood release if the doors are locked.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> How big is this fob??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not big.
> http://blogmedia.dealerfire.com/wp-...unlock-your-mazda-3-with-a-broken-key-fob.jpg
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And there is a key that is inside the fob that can be used to unlock the driver's side door and according to Jon, start the car with the hidden key-start ignition switch.
> http://imagehost.vendio.com/a/27892917/aview/412BLADE48.jpg
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The slide-out key is real important if your battery dies; you'll need it to get to the trunk release if the doors are locked.
Click to expand...


The driver's side door still has a keyhole, too.


----------



## ClickAddict

Many new push button start cars also have proximity unlock door capabilities.  I leave my FOB in my jacket / pants and simply lift the door handle.  It unlocks automatically if it detects the FOB and there's a little button to press to lock the doors when I leave.  That way you don't have to take your FOB out of your jacket / purse....  Got to liking the feature so much I installed a key-less entry to the house so I don't have to take my keys out there either.


----------



## snowbear

edit: ^posted as I was typing



limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> How big is this fob??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not big.
> http://blogmedia.dealerfire.com/wp-...unlock-your-mazda-3-with-a-broken-key-fob.jpg
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And there is a key that is inside the fob that can be used to unlock the driver's side door and according to Jon, start the car with the hidden key-start ignition switch.
> http://imagehost.vendio.com/a/27892917/aview/412BLADE48.jpg
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The slide-out key is real important if your battery dies; you'll need it to get to the trunk release if the doors are locked.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The driver's side door still has a keyhole, too.
Click to expand...


That's the way our Trailblazer was - keyhole on driver's side only.  You might not even have to push a button to get the door open.  We just had to have the key fob close and lift the door handle on one of the rentals.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone:



Chaff 




Roasting Away



 
Viola!

New cars are fun. 

Okay Hosers, the first batch of Gary's Famous Roasted Coffee Beans. (Ethiopian)


----------



## JonA_CT

It's going to be a long wait 'til morning, Gary. Looks good.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> It's going to be a long wait 'til morning, Gary. Looks good.


LOL ...the question is the French Press or the siphon?


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon not that big of a mess chaff wise. Directing the blow-by into a wet sink or into a wet towel in a bowl, will catch 90%+ of everything.  The aroma is very strong. Gary roasted on the back patio and the house is filled with the smells of coffee roasting.


----------



## snowbear

Hey!  I'm a member of the 10k club.


----------



## snowbear

Yay!  Santa arrived!


----------



## minicoop1985

Yay! My favorite B&W film! What camera are you throwing it through?


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Yay! My favorite B&W film! What camera are you throwing it through?


This:




cmw3_d40_6802 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Oh man, a Kodak camera needs Kodak film. 

(Wait ... is that a red Leica dot?)


----------



## snowbear

I started to get Tri-X but wanted to try something different.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'll be completing my 30th revolution around the sun in the next few minutes. I used to think of being 30 as old...funny how perspective changes.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> Hey!  I'm a member of the 10k club.



Does that mean you had sex in space?

Cool.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I'll be completing my 30th revolution around the sun in the next few minutes. I used to think of being 30 as old...funny how perspective changes.



OMG you're just a baby.  Being 30 these days is still just starting out.  Enjoy your youth!  50 will be here before you know it!


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> I'll be completing my 30th revolution around the sun in the next few minutes. I used to think of being 30 as old...funny how perspective changes.


 
I'd love to be 30 again. Well, I'd love my body to be 30 again anyway


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> OMG you're just a baby.



Considering the fact that you are still on your parents insurance at that point.. yup.. lol


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary's first cup of home roasted beans:
iPhone
#1




The grind lookin' down.

#2



From the side.

#3



Three ... Two ... One

#4



IGNITION

#5



Brewing.

#6



The Brew.

#7



Fini.

Gary's first batch is Ethiopian, in homage to the origins of coffee. This first cup has the slight acidity that Gary recalls being emblematic of Ethiopian beans.  It is a gorgeous cup of coffee.  A light roast, but rich, flavorful, smooth, with a hint of acid and absolutely no aftertaste. Gary is happy.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, hosers. Gonna try marketing the focus stacking a bit today. I don't know that anywhere else around here offers it on a freelance basis.


----------



## Gary A.

In other breaking and good news, the Dodgers appear to be re-signing a trio of Dodger free-agents, Turner, Jansen and Hill.  The team remains intact from last year, older but intact.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Good morning, hosers. Gonna try marketing the focus stacking a bit today. I don't know that anywhere else around here offers it on a freelance basis.


Hey Coop, do you have your own web site?


----------



## JonA_CT

That coffee looks great! 





robbins.photo said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG you're just a baby.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Considering the fact that you are still on your parents insurance at that point.. yup.. lol
Click to expand...


Hey now...I've been on my own insurance since I was 21 (graduated from college and started working).


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, hosers. Gonna try marketing the focus stacking a bit today. I don't know that anywhere else around here offers it on a freelance basis.
> 
> 
> 
> Hey Coop, do you have your own web site?
Click to expand...


I do, actually. www.mlongphoto.com


----------



## JonA_CT

I just happen to reading this story, Eleven, with my students today. I think the first few paragraphs are brilliant (well, I guess the rest of the story is pretty good too.)



			
				Sandra Cisneros said:
			
		

> What they don't understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you're eleven, you're also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don't. You open your eyes and everything's just like yesterday, only it's today. And you don't feel eleven at all. You feel like you're still ten. And you are --underneath the year that makes you eleven.
> 
> Like some days you might say something stupid, and that's the part of you that's still ten. Or maybe some days you might need to sit on your mama's lap because you're scared, and that's the part of you that's five. And maybe one day when you're all grown up maybe you will need to cry like if you're three, and that's okay. That's what I tell Mama when she's sad and needs to cry. Maybe she's feeling three.
> 
> Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one. That's how being eleven years old is. You don't feel eleven. Not right away. It takes a few days, weeks even, sometimes even months before you say Eleven when they ask you. And you don't feel smart eleven, not until you're almost twelve. That's the way it is.


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> Hey now...I've been on my own insurance since I was 21 (graduated from college and started working).



Let me guess, the basement to the parents has it's own separate entrance then too?  Lol

I guess it's just a little weird for me at my age, when I was a kid when you turned 18 they left your crap on the porch and changed the locks on the doors.  Now it's not at all uncommon to see kids living at home with their parents well into their 20's, and sometimes longer.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey now...I've been on my own insurance since I was 21 (graduated from college and started working).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Let me guess, the basement to the parents has it's own separate entrance then too?  Lol
> 
> I guess it's just a little weird for me at my age, when I was a kid when you turned 18 they left your crap on the porch and changed the locks on the doors.  Now it's not at all uncommon to see kids living at home with their parents well into their 20's, and sometimes longer.
Click to expand...


Yeah, that's becoming more and more common for Gen-Xers since you Baby Boomers tanked the world for us. Thanks. All the talk about how hard it is for Millennials? Yeah, we hit that shitstorm first. We're the first generation to be doing worse than our parents, but we just don't have the population numbers to make anyone give a crap about it.

Children staying with parents well into adulthood has always been common in Europe. It's part of the culture and a different emphasis on what family means and does for each other. It's common for people to live with their parents until they themselves get married.

Growing up both 1st-generation American AND a Gen-Xer, I've always had a hard time understanding why it's okay to make fun of people who live with their parents.


----------



## SquarePeg

Yes you see a lot more young people staying at home until and even after marriage these days.  I don't think there's anything wrong with it in general.  It's an expensive world and very difficult in some areas of the country for anyone to afford to live alone and still manage any type of savings for the future.  Sharing expenses makes sense.  Also, the previous path of school, job, marriage, house, kids... is really no longer standard.  Living with your parents is not the same as living OFF your parents.  You also have the opposite going on more and more - parents moving in with their grown children when they retire.  When I bought this house, one of the biggest selling points was the separate apartment for my mom.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> Yeah, that's becoming more and more common for Gen-Xers since you Baby Boomers tanked the world for us. Thanks.



Your welcome!  Always nice to be appreciated.. lol



> All the talk about how hard it is for Millennials? Yeah, we hit that shitstorm first. We're the first generation to be doing worse than our parents, but we just don't have the population numbers to make anyone give a crap about it.



It is pretty rough out there.  Hard to find good paying jobs, and any more even a college degree is no guarantee you'll be living anywhere way north of the poverty line.




> Children staying with parents well into adulthood has always been common in Europe. It's part of the culture and a different emphasis on what family means and does for each other. It's common for people to live with their parents until they themselves get married.



Well ya.. but... their.. European...   Lol



> Growing up both 1st-generation American AND a Gen-Xer, I've always had a hard time understanding why it's okay to make fun of people who live with their parents.



I guess it's just a different upbringing.. or perhaps mindset.  I knew that 18 was the cut off line, at that stage I was expected to make my own way in the world, good or bad.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm at the very edge of being a millennial, although I think that the phenomenon is mostly associated with people who are a bit younger than I am. I think there is a lot that goes into how people end up in their place in the world, and it's much more complicated than what it appears on the surface.

I graduated from college right as the stock market bit the big one in 2008. I was incredibly fortunate to get a job in a pretty stable industry to start, and lucky enough to make some decent money so I could go back to grad school and change career paths without having to move back in with my parents. Most of my friends were not so lucky, and some of them haven't been able to get out of working at restaurants or being middle-management in retail still. 

I also see it working at the community college too. I'm teaching a non-credit bearing course to prepare students for college-level writing. Most of my young students (18-20) are in college with me because they don't know what else to do. They realize they can't afford to live on their own with the best job they can get ($12 an hour maybe), but college probably isn't the best path for them either. We don't have a surefire way to be able to get young people into good paying jobs. 

Of course, this might just be heavily amplified in the Northeast. Living costs here are crazy. A studio apartment here runs $7-800 in a sketchy neighborhood. A two-bedroom apartment in a nice complex or house will be $1500-2000.


----------



## SquarePeg

robbins.photo said:


> I guess it's just a different upbringing.. or perhaps mindset. I knew that 18 was the cut off line, at that stage I was expected to make my own way in the world, good or bad.



Times have definitely changed.  I believe in teaching our children to become independent and I think anyone over 18, who is not a full time college student, should be working to support themselves, but that isn't the same as expecting them to make it totally on their own at such a young age.  Legal obligation may be over but it's not like parents stop caring when their child turns 18.


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> Times have definitely changed.  I believe in teaching our children to become independent and I think anyone over 18, who is not a full time college student, should be working to support themselves, but that isn't the same as expecting them to make it totally on their own at such a young age.  Legal obligation may be over but it's not like parents stop caring when their child turns 18.



Part of it might be that I grew up in a farming community as well - I was working for a living at age 5 for family and neighbors.  Chores were also part of the daily routine.  By the time I was 15 I had two jobs - I worked at a store stocking shelves and I also built pallets,  and of course I was going to high school.   That wasn't out of the norm for us, that was pretty much the way it worked.  Most of my friends at the time also worked and went to school.

But things have changed a lot since then.  It used to be you'd find a good company and stay with them and work your way up.  Anymore it doesn't usually work that way.  You start at an entry level position, maybe advance one or two steps beyond that, then they let you go because they figure they can hire somebody else new and pay them  lot less with fewer benefits than your getting because you've been there for a while.  Most companies just don't invest in their people anymore, but then again it's hard to put all the blame on their shoulders because most people don't stay with companies the way they used too.  Double edged sword I guess.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Children staying with parents well into adulthood has always been common in Europe. It's part of the culture and a different emphasis on what family means and does for each other. It's common for people to live with their parents until they themselves get married.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well ya.. but... their.. European...   Lol
Click to expand...


Ahem...



> I guess it's just a different upbringing.. or perhaps mindset.  I knew that 18 was the cut off line, at that stage I was expected to make my own way in the world, good or bad.



My oldest sister was in her mid-20s when she moved out. She was the first one to make the move. My father didn't speak to her for about 2 months, he was so upset at her "betrayal." Yes, it's a very different mindset. Children should be productive members of society who stick very very close to their families.


----------



## robbins.photo

limr said:


> My oldest sister was in her mid-20s when she moved out. She was the first one to make the move. My father didn't speak to her for about 2 months, he was so upset at her "betrayal." Yes, it's a very different mindset. Children should be productive members of society who stick very very close to their families.



Things were a bit different for me, I wound up joining the military a few years out of high school so ended up bouncing around a lot after that.  Once I got out though I moved back home.  Saw a lot of interesting places but in the end this is where I wanted to be most.


----------



## limr

And mind you, she was already out of college and she had a good job, so it's not like she was staying home all that time because she was lazing around or couldn't/didn't want to work. She was financially able to move out much sooner, but she was afraid to deal with my parents' reaction. All of my older siblings eventually moved out, but none of them were younger than mid-20s, some of them a bit older. My brother stayed until he got married. All of us started working in our mid-teens and haven't stopped since. So again, it wasn't about responsibility, but about tradition and family.

Really, the only reason I ended up out of the house at 18 was college. My oldest sister had moved to Florida with her then-fiance. UFlorida was cheap and I could live with her. Then, my parents would move down and I would live with them. What really happened? I moved to Gainesville and lived with my sister in her apartment for one semester. Then she and her fiance moved to Jacksonville and I took over her apartment and lived there alone for the rest of college (and though my parents helped me with the rent, I paid all of my own bills and tuition all through college. I had some savings, scholarship money, and financial aid, but I also worked all through college as well.) My parents never moved down.


----------



## Frank F.

I moved out when I was still in school. Did not like the scene at home. Felt like vampires sucking my blood. Better be on my own, my own money, not from the parents, not from the state, working & getting lucky sometimes.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Fini.
> 
> Gary's first batch is Ethiopian, in homage to the origins of coffee. This first cup has the slight acidity that Gary recalls being emblematic of Ethiopian beans. It is a gorgeous cup of coffee. A light roast, but rich, flavorful, smooth, with a hint of acid and absolutely no aftertaste. Gary is happy.



I'm happy it worked out - the final cup looks beautiful!       Though the pictures make you look like a borderline mad scientist, it seems to be worth it in the end.


----------



## Gary A.

The Daily Bread.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary ate almost half the loaf ... plus a huge dinner of crock pot cooked pot roast.  We are comatose on food.  Foodatose.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fini.
> 
> Gary's first batch is Ethiopian, in homage to the origins of coffee. This first cup has the slight acidity that Gary recalls being emblematic of Ethiopian beans. It is a gorgeous cup of coffee. A light roast, but rich, flavorful, smooth, with a hint of acid and absolutely no aftertaste. Gary is happy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm happy it worked out - the final cup looks beautiful!       Though the pictures make you look like a borderline mad scientist, it seems to be worth it in the end.
Click to expand...

Mary Lou doesn't use "borderline" in her description of Gary.


----------



## Frank F.

The Olive bread looks very tasty!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

It's Wednesday. I have one more class to teach, and then there's the final exam. Then I have a week off. Since I'm just a regular old cog now, I don't have the same amount of time off that I did when I was just teaching and doing part-time admin work. The good news, though, is that now I actually get paid over the breaks 

My school chooses to not give us the day off for holidays like Columbus or Presidents' Day. Instead, they give us the week between Christmas and New Year's off, which is absolutely lovely. And this year, New Year's Day is observed on a Monday, so I get a whole week plus one day. Which is mighty good, hosers, because I am Worn.Thin. right now.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> The Olive bread looks very tasty!


It is tasty.  One third-wheat and two-thirds white, with a cup's worth of starter (180 g), (six month old starter and going strong), flavored with Marjoram, Thyme and Parsley. Next time olives.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> It's Wednesday. I have one more class to teach, and then there's the final exam. Then I have a week off. Since I'm just a regular old cog now, I don't have the same amount of time off that I did when I was just teaching and doing part-time admin work. The good news, though, is that now I actually get paid over the breaks
> 
> My school chooses to not give us the day off for holidays like Columbus or Presidents' Day. Instead, they give us the week between Christmas and New Year's off, which is absolutely lovely. And this year, New Year's Day is observed on a Monday, so I get a whole week plus one day. Which is mighty good, hosers, because I am Worn.Thin. right now.



Sweet!  Enjoy your time off.  I'm working the week between Christmas and New Year's except Monday when our offices are closed for the holiday.  

I took vacation time next week, Wed - Fri, leading up to the holiday weekend which I'm really looking forward to.  However, as usual with me it started out being 3 full days off to relax and get a few things done before hosting on the weekend but I've now managed to stuff the 3 days full of plans to meet friends for lunch or drinks, bake cookies with my neighbor, get pedicures with Mom, see the new Star Wars movie, take photos of my cousins kids, get the dog groomed, take a shift at the food bank, drive my daughter and her friends all over the place...    An empty schedule is just too much for me to handle!


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm ready for a break too. My middle school unit is winding down, so my students are working furiously on their projects. I gave the final for my college class on Monday and have exit conferences today. Some of those conversations are going to be uncomfortable. The final is graded by the department and me. The department gives a Pass/Fail which is supposed to align with who passes the class and is able to move into next course. I have at least one case that I've been able to see so far where the department will probably fail the student, but their work in my class is in the low B range. 

I can override the department grade, and have done so in the past...I'm not sure I will for this student. I think he's been getting a lot of outside help, but haven't been able to find any real evidence. We'll see.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> It's Wednesday. I have one more class to teach, and then there's the final exam. Then I have a week off. Since I'm just a regular old cog now, I don't have the same amount of time off that I did when I was just teaching and doing part-time admin work. The good news, though, is that now I actually get paid over the breaks
> 
> My school chooses to not give us the day off for holidays like Columbus or Presidents' Day. Instead, they give us the week between Christmas and New Year's off, which is absolutely lovely. And this year, New Year's Day is observed on a Monday, so I get a whole week plus one day. Which is mighty good, hosers, because I am Worn.Thin. right now.


Nice!

Psh. My job doesn't give us days off for holidays like Columbus or Presidents Days, nor do they give us off for the week between Christmas and New Year's. Ugh. Only 7 holidays for us.

But, I am happy that "Mozart in the Jungle" is back. The wife and I have been binge watching like crazy this week.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary went for a slightly longer brew today.  When the water is in the upper chamber it is rapidly be circulated by the air pressure flowing upwards from the bottom chamber.  This aggressive agitation really shortens the brew time to at least half of a French Press. In the middle of the night Gary got up and wrapped Cook up in her blanket and ate another slice of bread. Mary Lou thinks it's the best bread I've made to date. It is baguette style with a hard, crisp crust and soft interior. Last night at dinner the cork crumbled under the cork screw, so Gray went with the Ah-So, but the cork got pushed into the bottle. Gary had to break out the aerator and strainer. The wine was a gift from a dinner guest, Gary think the aeration made a significant improvement to the Merlot ... (then aeration significantly improves all Merlots).

It will reach 70F today.  Mary Lou says it will be the last warm day of the week, then we're plunging into the 60's and 50's. Sounds like heater time.  At home, Mary Lou and Gary would rather change our clothing to match the environment than chance the environment to match our clothing, (within practical reason).


----------



## JonA_CT

Jon doesn't feel bad for Gary's 50s and 60s.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Soooo le tired, and my mom's coming up here today. Argh.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> we're plunging into the 60's and 50's. Sounds like heater time.


Isn't that "open windows" time?


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou works this week then gets the next two weeks off. We may make a mad wine dash up the coast ... maybe Paso ... maybe Sonoma.  Most wineries are dog friendly, which enables Cook to taste with us.





Cook entering Silver Oak.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> An empty schedule is just too much for me to handle!



Oh man, not me. I can slack with the best of 'em!  At the end of a semester, I usually need at least one full day to do nothing. And I mean nothing. Don't even get out of my jammies. Just chill with the kitties  



JonA_CT said:


> I'm ready for a break too. My middle school unit is winding down, so my students are working furiously on their projects. I gave the final for my college class on Monday and have exit conferences today. Some of those conversations are going to be uncomfortable. The final is graded by the department and me. The department gives a Pass/Fail which is supposed to align with who passes the class and is able to move into next course. I have at least one case that I've been able to see so far where the department will probably fail the student, but their work in my class is in the low B range.
> 
> I can override the department grade, and have done so in the past...I'm not sure I will for this student. I think he's been getting a lot of outside help, but haven't been able to find any real evidence. We'll see.



Oh man, I know those conversations all too well. I've also had students who never did a single assignment all semester long, but then passed the exam. Those students fail anyway.

Our department used to have an "Exit Exam" which, like yours, was graded by the department. We'd all get together and sequester ourselves in a room and read each other's final exams. Each exam would get two reads, and then a third if there was a disagreement in placement. If the exam was really borderline but the teacher knew the student could handle the next level (good coursework but bad test taker, was sick the day of the exam, etc...), then we could make our case and bump the score.

Our ESL classes followed the English department policy. About 2 years ago, they decided to get rid of the Exit Exam. They were worried that it was too much of a hindrance to place the entire decision on one test. What we do instead is have a higher passing grade. Students have to have a course grade of 70 or above to pass into Eng 101. We still have exams, but they are now figured into the course grade, and the whole thing is more of a portfolio approach.

Still, I had to have the conversation last night with one kid who is surely going to fail, and two who are really borderline. It's never fun.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Nice!
> 
> Psh. My job doesn't give us days off for holidays like Columbus or Presidents Days, nor do they give us off for the week between Christmas and New Year's. Ugh. Only 7 holidays for us.
> 
> But, I am happy that "Mozart in the Jungle" is back. The wife and I have been binge watching like crazy this week.



If I have to be a cog, at least I'm a cog in a college where I also still get snow days. Things are comin' up Leonore!


----------



## terri

@Jon: eek!  We're feeling lucky to have our high temps reach the upper 50s the next few days,  down to the 30s/upper 20s each night.   It's quite doable!

Holiday time off is always rough in the medical field.  I dreaded the bickering between staff members over who got what, and overall dealing with a skeleton staff. The goal in medical practice is to stay open as much as possible, and remind everyone we were there to serve.   It got old after 20 years.     I don't miss it!


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> we're plunging into the 60's and 50's. Sounds like heater time.
> 
> 
> 
> Isn't that "open windows" time?
Click to expand...

LOL, for Mary Lou yes, but she has a degenerative nervous system which doesn't register cold like a human, more like a fish.  Gary, being something like fifth generation Californian, has evolved to appreciate a more temperate clime.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Oh man, I know those conversations all too well. I've also had students who never did a single assignment all semester long, but then passed the exam. Those students fail anyway.
> 
> Our department used to have an "Exit Exam" which, like yours, was graded by the department. We'd all get together and sequester ourselves in a room and read each other's final exams. Each exam would get two reads, and then a third if there was a disagreement in placement. If the exam was really borderline but the teacher knew the student could handle the next level (good coursework but bad test taker, was sick the day of the exam, etc...), then we could make our case and bump the score.
> 
> Our ESL classes followed the English department policy. About 2 years ago, they decided to get rid of the Exit Exam. They were worried that it was too much of a hindrance to place the entire decision on one test. What we do instead is have a higher passing grade. Students have to have a course grade of 70 or above to pass into Eng 101. We still have exams, but they are now figured into the course grade, and the whole thing is more of a portfolio approach.
> 
> Still, I had to have the conversation last night with one kid who is surely going to fail, and two who are really borderline. It's never fun.



Since I'm a really adjunct-y adjunct, I'm never privy or able to be present at the conversations that the department has about all of these issues. In my experience, progress in pedagogy happens much more slowly at the college level than it does at the secondary level, and I think it's true with assessment too. I've been running my classes (even when I teach composition) as more of a writing lab than as a traditional college class, which really threw the professor who was assigned my evaluation for a loop. But my students are successful overall, and I know my approach at least plays into that. 

I have some qualms about the Exit Exam, honestly. The whole purpose of the course is to be able to read analytically and use the writing process to improve. We only write two formal papers in the class, and we spend weeks planning, drafting, and revising for each paper. Then, I ask my students to read one source, plan, and draft in 90 minutes (which is 15 minutes longer than it used to be...) for their final exam. All of the instructors for the course have been sending e-mail back and forth on the best way to prepare students for timed writing, and it reminds me of the school district I used to work for that made me teach to the standardized test. I've typed an e-mail stating that opinion several times (more professionally), but ultimately, it's not my place to interject an opinion.  

Ugh. I have 10 exit conferences scheduled for tonight. 8 of them will be fine. 1 of them didn't turn in half the work for the semester, so that conversation will be straight forward. The last one will be difficult. I guess the good news is that it's first.


----------



## terri

Ugh... good luck with it, Jon!    I hope it goes better than you think it will.


----------



## Gary A.

69F and it is still getting warmer.  Gary is in the back roasting more Ethiopian Yirgacheffe.  Gary just ordered a sampler of five green coffee packs from Sweet Maria's.


----------



## snowbear

NOAA Weather:

Tonight: Scattered snow showers between 10pm and 2am. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy, with a low around 24. Light north wind becoming northwest 6 to 11 mph after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Friday Night: A chance of snow before 1am, then snow, freezing rain, and sleet likely. Cloudy, with a low around 26. South wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

More of the same for early next week.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> NOAA Weather:
> 
> Tonight: Scattered snow showers between 10pm and 2am. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy, with a low around 24. Light north wind becoming northwest 6 to 11 mph after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
> 
> Friday Night: A chance of snow before 1am, then snow, freezing rain, and sleet likely. Cloudy, with a low around 26. South wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
> 
> More of the same for early next week.



We're currently at a balmy 20 degrees or so - but of course thanks to windchill it feels like about 15.  Not looking forward to Saturday, snow and a high of 12 degrees.  Should make the zoo walk fun if nothing else I guess.


----------



## Gary A.

Fini.


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> NOAA Weather:
> 
> Tonight: Scattered snow showers between 10pm and 2am. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy, with a low around 24. Light north wind becoming northwest 6 to 11 mph after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
> 
> Friday Night: A chance of snow before 1am, then snow, freezing rain, and sleet likely. Cloudy, with a low around 26. South wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
> 
> More of the same for early next week.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We're currently at a balmy 20 degrees or so - but of course thanks to windchill it feels like about 15.  Not looking forward to Saturday, snow and a high of 12 degrees.  Should make the zoo walk fun if nothing else I guess.
Click to expand...


Might be a good day to dedicate to post processing.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> Might be a good day to dedicate to post processing.



Nope, not really an option.  I run my aunt to dialysis on Saturdays.  I hit the zoo while I'm waiting for her, that way I don't end up driving the 35+ miles back to the house, then have to turn around a couple of hours later and drive back.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> View attachment 131590


Gross!


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131590
> 
> 
> 
> Gross!
Click to expand...

No street shooting tonight. My Nikon F is loaded with a 35-70 F/3.5 Ai-s and some HP5 400 just begging to be triggered. [emoji36] 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## JonA_CT

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131590
> 
> 
> 
> Gross!
Click to expand...

Do you live in the 8 square miles of Canada that isn't covered in snow?


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131590
> 
> 
> 
> Gross!
Click to expand...


Canadian summer in Michigan, film at 11


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131590
> 
> 
> 
> Gross!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Do you live in the 8 square miles of Canada that isn't covered in snow?
Click to expand...

Yep... 'though we're in a cold snap and it's been hovering around freezing off and on... bleah!


----------



## limr

Oh please. Snow is gross? It's cold? You are Canadian! Doesn't snow run through your veins? Don't you scoff at others who complain about a few flakes? Put your big boy wool pants on, already, and quit yer kvetchin'!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Oh please. Snow is gross? It's cold? You are Canadian! Doesn't snow run through your veins? Don't you scoff at others who complain about a few flakes? Put your big boy wool pants on, already, and quit yer kvetchin'!


There's a reason I live where I do!


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Might be a good day to dedicate to post processing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope, not really an option.  I run my aunt to dialysis on Saturdays.  I hit the zoo while I'm waiting for her, that way I don't end up driving the 35+ miles back to the house, then have to turn around a couple of hours later and drive back.
Click to expand...

Then dress in layers.


----------



## snowbear

(Hoping for a foot of flurries.  Each day.)


----------



## JonA_CT

I had those conferences. The one that I was worried about was as uncomfortable as advertised. People don't want to hear the truth sometimes (or the fact that I've been mentioning my concerns all semester, and I keep good notes...). Oh well.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> View attachment 131590


Gary has never seen a snowflake on his weather apps.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131590
> 
> 
> 
> Gross!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No street shooting tonight. My Nikon F is loaded with a 35-70 F/3.5 Ai-s and some HP5 400 just begging to be triggered. [emoji36]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...

Gary is still looking for a 'F' ... just hasn't found the right deal.


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers.



JonA_CT said:


> I had those conferences. The one that I was worried about was as uncomfortable as advertised. People don't want to hear the truth sometimes (or the fact that I've been mentioning my concerns all semester, and I keep good notes...). Oh well.



Yeah, those conversations are pretty awful, but I'm glad they're at least over with! Well, for this semester anyway.

So, as I'm getting more used to the new car, I'm enjoying her more and more, even though I still feel terribly guilty about Lucille  She's been very good to me for 11.5 years, and I've been good to her, and I know it's time to move on, but she's always going to be my first love   And it's better to part now than later after she turns on me. She's already started to make me kind of nervous and stressed, and I don't want that to turn sour and spoil all the good years we had together.

Her registration is still current (I got a new registration on the new car so I would be able to meet potential buyers at a location other than my house) so I might take her for a few more drives before she goes away. For closure. Kind of like break-up sex 




 

And yes, I become totally emotionally invested in my cars. I spent a lot of time since Saturday thinking about the Mazda and what her name would be. I tossed around a bunch of ideas and dismissed a lot of them while driving (that's when she tells me if I have the right name or not.) The names were all feminine since cars are always automatically female to me, but then a friend of mine mentioned that she might actually be a boy. And she was right - there's a very masculine vibe to the Mazda. But she still felt like a "she" to me. So she clearly needed a tomboy name, or to be named after a masculine woman. 

And so, she is Alice B. Jon might get this reference  Yes, it's literary, and from my favorite literary period (the early 20th century. I'm slightly obsessed with the Lost Generation for whatever reason.) It's after Alice B. Toklas, lover to Gertrude Stein and owner of a strong, black mustache that is vaguely reminiscent of the grill on the Mazda.

(As a reminder...)


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> and owner of a strong, black mustache that is vaguely reminiscent of the grill on the Mazda.
> 
> (As a reminder...)
> View attachment 131600


You could have called it pixmedic, then. 

I like that color.


----------



## snowbear

I got a nice little Amazon card from another site and ordered myself a Spyder5 Pro, last night.  It has shipped and should be here Tuesday.


----------



## Frank F.

maybe the Mazda is wonder woman?






Wonder Woman - Wikipedia


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Might be a good day to dedicate to post processing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope, not really an option.  I run my aunt to dialysis on Saturdays.  I hit the zoo while I'm waiting for her, that way I don't end up driving the 35+ miles back to the house, then have to turn around a couple of hours later and drive back.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Then dress in layers.
Click to expand...

Like a big onion.  Oh ya, absolutely.  Winter survival training comes in handy around here.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131590
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never seen a snowflake on his weather apps.
Click to expand...

 

<<  Crosses Gary off his Christmas list.


----------



## jcdeboever

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Frank F.

These darkish mornings when it simply does not get any brighter. No sun. Cloud cover. Let me see a little differently. Like this star in our window and the silhouette of the swing fairy


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy, hosers. Just ordered myself a proper macro lens for my Canon. Can't wait to try it out.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131590
> 
> 
> 
> Gross!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No street shooting tonight. My Nikon F is loaded with a 35-70 F/3.5 Ai-s and some HP5 400 just begging to be triggered. [emoji36]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary is still looking for a 'F' ... just hasn't found the right deal.
Click to expand...


I have a prism for an F. It's black too. Just don't have the rest of the camera.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131590
> 
> 
> 
> Gross!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No street shooting tonight. My Nikon F is loaded with a 35-70 F/3.5 Ai-s and some HP5 400 just begging to be triggered. [emoji36]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary is still looking for a 'F' ... just hasn't found the right deal.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have a prism for an F. It's black too. Just don't have the rest of the camera.
Click to expand...

That's worth some money


Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## SquarePeg

It's a balmy 26 degrees F here today.  Tonight it's going to dip into single digits (5) and they are discussing possible school closings tomorrow due to the extreme cold, wind and potential flurries expected in the morning.  No school buses here or in the neighboring towns.  Most of the kids are driven to school by their parents or they walk.  From the farthest points of town to the school it can be a 20-30 minute walk.  

Of course we will be back up to 55 F on Sunday.  There really is no pattern to the weather these past few years.


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131590
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never seen a snowflake on his weather apps.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> <<  Crosses Gary off his Christmas list.
Click to expand...

Not to worry Gary.  He always checks his list twice.  

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Howdy, hosers. Just ordered myself a proper macro lens for my Canon. Can't wait to try it out.


They were out of stock on improper macro lenses?  Hate it when that happens

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.



Frank F. said:


> maybe the Mazda is wonder woman?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wonder Woman - Wikipedia



Maybe *I* am Wonder Woman and Alice is my invisible plane 



SquarePeg said:


> It's a balmy 26 degrees F here today.  Tonight it's going to dip into single digits (5) and they are discussing possible school closings tomorrow due to the extreme cold, wind and potential flurries expected in the morning.  No school buses here or in the neighboring towns.  Most of the kids are driven to school by their parents or they walk.  From the farthest points of town to the school it can be a 20-30 minute walk.
> 
> Of course we will be back up to 55 F on Sunday.  There really is no pattern to the weather these past few years.



No kidding. I think I drove through about 5 different climate zones just on my way to work this morning. I woke up and it was just sort of greyish, sun peeking out. Then there was bright sunshine just before I went downstairs to make the coffee and leave. By the time I got to the garage, it was snowing. The first few miles on the highway were whiteout conditions - not a lot on the ground, but enough to cover the roads and go billowing around with the wind.

The next 20 miles were intermittently grey, sunny, sunny and flurries, dark grey and heavy flurries, dark grey with no flurries, and then back to partly sunny, no flurries. At the moment, I look out the window and it's dark grey and snowing.

It's kooky!


----------



## JonA_CT

Snowy squalls are weird. I couldn't see across the courtyard just a few minutes ago here, and now it's bright and sunny again.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Maybe *I* am Wonder Woman and Alice is my invisible plane



You're certainly more creative with your car naming than we are.  My daughter christened our Pilot "Rhonda the Honda" and unfortunately it stuck.


----------



## Gary A.

minicoop1985 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131590
> 
> 
> 
> Gross!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No street shooting tonight. My Nikon F is loaded with a 35-70 F/3.5 Ai-s and some HP5 400 just begging to be triggered. [emoji36]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary is still looking for a 'F' ... just hasn't found the right deal.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have a prism for an F. It's black too. Just don't have the rest of the camera.
Click to expand...

That's the hard part.  I'll take it. How much? Send Gary a PM. (Don't listen to JC.)


----------



## SquarePeg

Rough 24 hours over here.  My stepfather had a garbled speech incident last night and was rushed to the hospital thinking it was a stroke.  He was admitted for observation and testing and while running their tests to determine what happened, they found a small blockage in his carotid artery so just found out that he'll be having surgery tomorrow.  I can't go up to see him because I have a terrible cold and sore throat and my daughter came down with a bad case of hives yesterday for no apparent reason.  Her neck, back and stomach are covered with them so she is home from school and taking her to the doctor in an hour or so.  She kept me up most of the night keeping an eye on her and making sure she didn't scratch all her skin off.  He's not allowed any visitors that might be sick due to the impending surgery.  The good news, from what I have been able to piece together over the phone in my semi-comatose state, is that it looks like it wasn't a stroke that my stepfather had but a diabetic episode and because of that they found the blockage and can fix it with minor surgery.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Rough 24 hours over here.  My stepfather had a garbled speech incident last night and was rushed to the hospital thinking it was a stroke.  He was admitted for observation and testing and while running their tests to determine what happened, they found a small blockage in his carotid artery so just found out that he'll be having surgery tomorrow.  I can't go up to see him because I have a terrible cold and sore throat and my daughter came down with a bad case of hives yesterday for no apparent reason.  Her neck, back and stomach are covered with them so she is home from school and taking her to the doctor in an hour or so.  She kept me up most of the night keeping an eye on her and making sure she didn't scratch all her skin off.  He's not allowed any visitors that might be sick due to the impending surgery.  The good news, from what I have been able to piece together over the phone in my semi-comatose state, is that it looks like it wasn't a stroke that my stepfather had but a diabetic episode and because of that they found the blockage and can fix it with minor surgery.


Sorry to hear this. Sounds like it was caught in time though. Prayers done. 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary feels terrible.  Yesterday he noticed that the Hummingbird feeder in the patio was dry.  He just remembered to fill it up. Poor little guys. 53F right now, supposed to hit the mid 60's. Sweatshirt time.  Gary spent the last of the afternoon sloping Henry's into the gap that opened up between the rain gutters and the roof.  It is supposed to rain all day tomorrow ... we'll see how good a slopper Gary is.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Rough 24 hours over here.  My stepfather had a garbled speech incident last night and was rushed to the hospital thinking it was a stroke.  He was admitted for observation and testing and while running their tests to determine what happened, they found a small blockage in his carotid artery so just found out that he'll be having surgery tomorrow.  I can't go up to see him because I have a terrible cold and sore throat and my daughter came down with a bad case of hives yesterday for no apparent reason.  Her neck, back and stomach are covered with them so she is home from school and taking her to the doctor in an hour or so.  She kept me up most of the night keeping an eye on her and making sure she didn't scratch all her skin off.  He's not allowed any visitors that might be sick due to the impending surgery.  The good news, from what I have been able to piece together over the phone in my semi-comatose state, is that it looks like it wasn't a stroke that my stepfather had but a diabetic episode and because of that they found the blockage and can fix it with minor surgery.



Ouch! I hope the surgery goes well and he recovers quickly! You and your daughter, too!


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe *I* am Wonder Woman and Alice is my invisible plane
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You're certainly more creative with your car naming than we are.  My daughter christened our Pilot "Rhonda the Honda" and unfortunately it stuck.
Click to expand...

I call the Camry Take-Sumi (bamboo charcoal) though the color is a metallic black.  Before that, the last one I really named was the '85 Ranger pickup.  I just called it the SOB or "that bast***".


----------



## JonA_CT

Sorry to hear about the family troubles, Sharon. I hope things get better.

I've never had the urge to name a car, although my wife has been insistent on it until recently. She drove a gray Ford Focus wagon named Frank, and a red Subaru Impreza named Ruby (the Subie). She hasn't named her Outback, though, and we are approaching the year anniversary of buying that one so I'm guessing she won't.

As far as your Mazda...I dig the new "shark smile" grill on them. So maybe Bruce?


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Rough 24 hours over here.  My stepfather had a garbled speech incident last night and was rushed to the hospital thinking it was a stroke.  He was admitted for observation and testing and while running their tests to determine what happened, they found a small blockage in his carotid artery so just found out that he'll be having surgery tomorrow.  I can't go up to see him because I have a terrible cold and sore throat and my daughter came down with a bad case of hives yesterday for no apparent reason.  Her neck, back and stomach are covered with them so she is home from school and taking her to the doctor in an hour or so.  She kept me up most of the night keeping an eye on her and making sure she didn't scratch all her skin off.  He's not allowed any visitors that might be sick due to the impending surgery.  The good news, from what I have been able to piece together over the phone in my semi-comatose state, is that it looks like it wasn't a stroke that my stepfather had but a diabetic episode and because of that they found the blockage and can fix it with minor surgery.


I missed this post.

I'm sorry for your daughter, and glad stepdad's situation isn't _too_ serious.  This jamming year can't be over soon enough (though there were some good points for us).  It's going to be a sucky holiday, overall - MIL and BIL in hospital/rehab; oncologist says MIL is at 4A, son #1 leaves for Tulsa on 1st or 2nd, and it's very doubtful I got the FD job (haven't heard anything).  At least the Navy one is still in the works.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Rough 24 hours over here.  My stepfather had a garbled speech incident last night and was rushed to the hospital thinking it was a stroke.  He was admitted for observation and testing and while running their tests to determine what happened, they found a small blockage in his carotid artery so just found out that he'll be having surgery tomorrow.  I can't go up to see him because I have a terrible cold and sore throat and my daughter came down with a bad case of hives yesterday for no apparent reason.  Her neck, back and stomach are covered with them so she is home from school and taking her to the doctor in an hour or so.  She kept me up most of the night keeping an eye on her and making sure she didn't scratch all her skin off.  He's not allowed any visitors that might be sick due to the impending surgery.  The good news, from what I have been able to piece together over the phone in my semi-comatose state, is that it looks like it wasn't a stroke that my stepfather had but a diabetic episode and because of that they found the blockage and can fix it with minor surgery.


OMG, all that isn't good.  Gary is wishing you and family the best.  Garbled speech due to diabetic hypoglycemia is a pretty severe case.  Hypoglycemia is easily preventable and equally as easy to fix/resolve. Luckily, it led to the discovery of the blockage. (Gary's ex was a type 1 diabetic and Gary had a decade of responding to high and low blood sugars.)


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Sorry to hear about the family troubles, Sharon. I hope things get better.
> 
> I've never had the urge to name a car, although my wife has been insistent on it until recently. She drove a gray Ford Focus wagon named Frank, and a red Subaru Impreza named Ruby (the Subie). She hasn't named her Outback, though, and we are approaching the year anniversary of buying that one so I'm guessing she won't.
> 
> As far as your Mazda...I dig the new "shark smile" grill on them. So maybe Bruce?



Then every time I start to drive, I can sing, 'Don't let me doooowwwwwn...BRUCE!"


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear about the family troubles, Sharon. I hope things get better.
> 
> I've never had the urge to name a car, although my wife has been insistent on it until recently. She drove a gray Ford Focus wagon named Frank, and a red Subaru Impreza named Ruby (the Subie). She hasn't named her Outback, though, and we are approaching the year anniversary of buying that one so I'm guessing she won't.
> 
> As far as your Mazda...I dig the new "shark smile" grill on them. So maybe Bruce?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then every time I start to drive, I can sing, 'Don't let me doooowwwwwn...BRUCE!"
Click to expand...

"No no no no no no no no no."  Sorry, I couldn't resist


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> OMG, all that isn't good. Gary is wishing you and family the best. Garbled speech due to diabetic hypoglycemia is a pretty severe case. Hypoglycemia is easily preventable and equally as easy to fix/resolve. Luckily, it led to the discovery of the blockage. (Gary's ex was a type 1 diabetic and Gary had a decade of responding to high and low blood sugars.)



Despite years of nagging by all of us he really doesn't follow his diet plan very well, especially when left to his own devices.  It was good luck that they were thorough with their testing and found the blockage.  +1 for having excellent insurance after retiring from a union job that he held for 40+ years.


----------



## Frank F.

@SquarePeg As we get older we are more and more involved caring about others: parents, kids, friends and later start talking about our own conditions. Heroes we are and weak we become. But that is OK. That is life and I can only wish you and your loved ones luck and better health and many more good days than bad days


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Rough 24 hours over here.  My stepfather had a garbled speech incident last night and was rushed to the hospital thinking it was a stroke.  He was admitted for observation and testing and while running their tests to determine what happened, they found a small blockage in his carotid artery so just found out that he'll be having surgery tomorrow.  I can't go up to see him because I have a terrible cold and sore throat and my daughter came down with a bad case of hives yesterday for no apparent reason.  Her neck, back and stomach are covered with them so she is home from school and taking her to the doctor in an hour or so.  She kept me up most of the night keeping an eye on her and making sure she didn't scratch all her skin off.  He's not allowed any visitors that might be sick due to the impending surgery.  The good news, from what I have been able to piece together over the phone in my semi-comatose state, is that it looks like it wasn't a stroke that my stepfather had but a diabetic episode and because of that they found the blockage and can fix it with minor surgery.


Oh, I hope it all goes well!   It sounds like a mixed blessing - this blockage was found before it could have done him real harm.   Still, surgery is surgery and always going to be rattling for the family.      Hang in there - sounds like your daughter needs you, and you can't forget to take care of SharonCat, either!


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131590
> 
> 
> 
> Gross!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No street shooting tonight. My Nikon F is loaded with a 35-70 F/3.5 Ai-s and some HP5 400 just begging to be triggered. [emoji36]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary is still looking for a 'F' ... just hasn't found the right deal.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have a prism for an F. It's black too. Just don't have the rest of the camera.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's the hard part.  I'll take it. How much? Send Gary a PM. (Don't listen to JC.)
Click to expand...


PM sent chief.


----------



## minicoop1985

SquarePeg. that's... wow. That sucks. Best wishes to him.

Balmy 0 here with a -20 wind chill. Oh joy.


----------



## SquarePeg

Thanks all for the kind thoughts and prayers.  They are much appreciated.  

No firm explanation for the hives from our doctor - she basically said it could be viral (since my daughter also has a slight cold and now a sore throat) or it could have been something she ate or stress related...  she did give the ok for school tomorrow and didn't seem particularly worried which was calming for my daughter who is a bit freaked out about the hives.


----------



## JonA_CT

I finally got around to ordering the photobooks and calendars for family gifts. Luckily, mpix sent me a free-expedited shipping coupon. Even still...my procrastination (or ultimately perfectionist issues with some of these things) probably led to me spending 20-25% more than I should have if I had my stuff figured out. C'est la vie.

Sustained winds here are 40mph with gusts to 50+ at the moment. Combined with temps in the teens, I wish I had a little dog that could pee on one of those mats or in a huge litter box.


----------



## snowbear

MLW and I have come to the conclusion that we need to win the lottery.  I wouldn't mind a modest boat and a basic Jeep Wrangler; she said she'd take a blah-blah-blah dress.  Didn't catch the designer's name, not that it matters; the only designers I know are Sears, Roebuck and LL Bean, and I'm quite sure this one is a lot more than the three I know.


----------



## SquarePeg

Ha!  I'm always saying I need to win the lottery and then I remember that I never play the lottery so that is pretty unlikely.


----------



## Gary A.

Investing in Lotto tickets is Gary's retirement program.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Ha!  I'm always saying I need to win the lottery and then I remember that I never play the lottery so that is pretty unlikely.


Same here.  We might play 8 times in a year.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Ha!  I'm always saying I need to win the lottery and then I remember that I never play the lottery so that is pretty unlikely.


It extends the odds.


----------



## Gary A.

60F right now with a light rain (hooray).  It is forecasted to drop to 58F tonight.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> 60F right now with a light rain (hooray).  It is forecasted to drop to 58F tonight.




LALALALALA - ICAN'THEARYOU - LALALALALALALA


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has a sweater on.  Gary has made some chicken soup in order to cope with the cold.  There is some bread in the oven.  The loaf he made two days ago was dragged of the patio table and consumed by a Golden Retriever without manners or propriety.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> a Golden Retriever without manners or propriety.


The Cook hanging out with the wrong crowd?


----------



## jcdeboever

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> a Golden Retriever without manners or propriety.
> 
> 
> 
> The Cook hanging out with the wrong crowd?
Click to expand...

Max is a rescue and he hides behind that shield for all of his improprieties.  Max waited until we, Cook, Mike and Gary, were inside, and then he striked. Cookie has actually helped and improved the manners of many dogs. Gary fears that Max is incorrigible.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app



Burrrrrrrrrh.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Burrrrrrrrrh.
Click to expand...


It isn't that bad. My dog loves it. Good snuggle up to the wife weather wandering hands weather. She likes when it is cold too.


----------



## Gary A.

Better you than Gary.  When Gary wants really cold weather, he'll drive an hour up to the snow.


----------



## limr

I think y'all complain about the weather too much.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> I think y'all complain about the weather too much.


I'm not, I get additional action....

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> I think y'all complain about the weather too much.


One cannot over-complain about bad/cold weather.  All of my spare money goes into the stocks of coal-fire power plants in the hope of increasing global warming!


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> Ha!  I'm always saying I need to win the lottery and then I remember that I never play the lottery so that is pretty unlikely.



Scientifically the correlation between winning the lottery and being wealthy a reasonable amount of time after is pretty low.

Yet the correlation between playing the lottery and winning it is even lower. 

The feeling of having not enough money is quite common esp with people who do have lots of money.

The problem lies in the amount of wishes and expectations.

Strictly mathematically speaking:

Happiness = Reality - Expectations


----------



## Frank F.

PS imagine you had a credit card with unlimited funds and a never pay back plan. Sit and write down what you would do differently for a month. Take 5 minutes every day. I believe that human relations would suffer from using the power of the card and that you would very soon go back to search better human relations. Our "work" and our human relations are important. Note that I use the term "work" differently than many. If you do something that has no meaning to you for the money this might be a good survival strategy for a while but not "work" in my book. More later if interest exists here.


----------



## Frank F.

tirediron said:


> One cannot over-complain about bad/cold weather.  All of my spare money goes into the stocks of coal-fire power plants in the hope of increasing global warming!



You should invest in companies who build these plants if you want to make money. Till 2040 a lot of these will be built.

After that it will be more Nuclear plants, because the 4th or 5th gen clean new clear will be on the market by then.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think y'all complain about the weather too much.
> 
> 
> 
> One cannot over-complain about bad/cold weather.  All of my spare money goes into the stocks of coal-fire power plants in the hope of increasing global warming!
Click to expand...


----------



## JonA_CT

Don't worry. That global warming will probably submerge that island of his.


----------



## SquarePeg

Untitled by S Catalano, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 61F and raining.  It has rained all night ... wonderful, glorious rain. There is snow in the local mountains.  Cook always and excitedly accompanies Gary when he picks up the morning paper. This morning Gary buttoned up her raincoat and they both boldly stepped out to the front porch, then Cook watched as Gary braved the rain and retrieved the paper from the driveway. When Gary returned to the porch, Cook gave him a big body shake affirming that he did a good job. Then she pranced inside, without a single drop of rain hitting her.

(Cook doesn't bark.  She can bark, but chooses to shake her head causing her tags to clink in lieu of barking as her primary form of communicating with humans. She will bark at 'possums and at other dogs to play ... but that's about it.  When she is petted, she will purrrr.)


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 61F and raining.  It has rained all night ... wonderful, glorious rain. There is snow in the local mountains.  Cook always and excitedly accompanies Gary when he picks up the morning paper. This morning Gary buttoned up her raincoat and they both boldly stepped out to the front porch, then Cook watched as Gary braved the rain and retrieved the paper from the driveway. When Gary returned to the porch, Cook gave him a big body shake affirming that he did a good job. Then she pranced inside, without a single drop of rain hitting her.
> 
> (Cook doesn't bark.  She can bark, but chooses to shake her head causing her tags to clink in lieu of barking as her primary form of communicating with humans. She will bark at 'possums and at other dogs to play ... but that's about it.  When she is petted, she will purrrr.)



Beautiful girl!  Rain is our dogs least favorite thing.  He will run and hide when it's time to go out and he knows it is raining.  When he wants to communicate with me he paws at the ground with his back leg like a bull getting ready to charge.  It is hilarious and annoying.  Once he has my attention he just runs to whatever he wants (the cookie jar, the back door, his water bowl) and then starts pawing at the ground again.  If he doesn't get what he wants, he looks completely outraged and stomps his feet like a toddler having a tantrum and shakes his head no no no.  I'll have to film it next time as it is really too much.


----------



## JonA_CT

My dog...an 85 pound lab that will go swimming in Long Island Sound in February (and will slip on the ice running in...)...absolutely refuses to walk in the wet grass in our yard to go to the bathroom. As a result, he pees on the concrete sidewalk instead. I think he needs a therapist.

In an unrelated side note, he also has PTSD about bath time. I had to bring him in the bathroom with me this morning while I was showering (long story), and he started freaking out the second I closed the door. He ended up running around in a few circles, and then sitting as pretty as can be with the lab ears perked and the sad lab eyes, asking to be let out. He finally calmed down and laid down by the door. 

You'd think we tortured him. This is why he goes to the groomer, haha. (Plus, he is only really supposed to get bathed twice a year).


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think y'all complain about the weather too much.
> 
> 
> 
> One cannot over-complain about bad/cold weather.  All of my spare money goes into the stocks of coal-fire power plants in the hope of increasing global warming!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> View attachment 131663
Click to expand...

Bite.  Me.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> Don't worry. That global warming will probably submerge that island of his.


Chances of that happening in the next 25-30 years are pretty slim.  After that...  who cares?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think y'all complain about the weather too much.
> 
> 
> 
> One cannot over-complain about bad/cold weather.  All of my spare money goes into the stocks of coal-fire power plants in the hope of increasing global warming!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> View attachment 131663
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Bite.  Me.
Click to expand...


----------



## JonA_CT

tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't worry. That global warming will probably submerge that island of his.
> 
> 
> 
> Chances of that happening in the next 25-30 years are pretty slim.  After that...  who cares?
Click to expand...


Are you sure you shouldn't move to Texas?


----------



## jcdeboever

I didn't care for Texas, walked around with wet underwear all the time.


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> I didn't care for Texas, walked around with wet underwear all the time.


Ain't that the truth.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't worry. That global warming will probably submerge that island of his.
> 
> 
> 
> Chances of that happening in the next 25-30 years are pretty slim.  After that...  who cares?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Are you sure you shouldn't move to Texas?
Click to expand...


I don't think he'd like that. They are starting to adopt the zipper merge


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 61F and raining.  It has rained all night ... wonderful, glorious rain. There is snow in the local mountains.  Cook always and excitedly accompanies Gary when he picks up the morning paper. This morning Gary buttoned up her raincoat and they both boldly stepped out to the front porch, then Cook watched as Gary braved the rain and retrieved the paper from the driveway. When Gary returned to the porch, Cook gave him a big body shake affirming that he did a good job. Then she pranced inside, without a single drop of rain hitting her.
> 
> (Cook doesn't bark.  She can bark, but chooses to shake her head causing her tags to clink in lieu of barking as her primary form of communicating with humans. She will bark at 'possums and at other dogs to play ... but that's about it.  When she is petted, she will purrrr.)


Roxy says hi to Cook via barking, then because Cook is larger, by laying on her back submissively. Roxy is funny.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't worry. That global warming will probably submerge that island of his.
> 
> 
> 
> Chances of that happening in the next 25-30 years are pretty slim.  After that...  who cares?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Are you sure you shouldn't move to Texas?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't think he'd like that. They are starting to adopt the zipper merge
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> My dog...an 85 pound lab that will go swimming in Long Island Sound in February (and will slip on the ice running in...)...absolutely refuses to walk in the wet grass in our yard to go to the bathroom. As a result, he pees on the concrete sidewalk instead. I think he needs a therapist.
> 
> In an unrelated side note, he also has PTSD about bath time. I had to bring him in the bathroom with me this morning while I was showering (long story), and he started freaking out the second I closed the door. He ended up running around in a few circles, and then sitting as pretty as can be with the lab ears perked and the sad lab eyes, asking to be let out. He finally calmed down and laid down by the door.
> 
> You'd think we tortured him. This is why he goes to the groomer, haha. (Plus, he is only really supposed to get bathed twice a year).


Lol, Cook hates bathes.  Gary makes her step into the kiddie pool in warm weather or the tub when it is cold outside.  It kills her. When she sees the pool or tub being filled she hides and very, very reluctantly comes when Gary calls. But at the beach, she starts running full-tilt on the dry sand, when the sand turns wet  she will leap into the waves. She loves diving through the waves.





The Launch





Wave Diving





After a grooming


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 61F and raining.  It has rained all night ... wonderful, glorious rain. There is snow in the local mountains.  Cook always and excitedly accompanies Gary when he picks up the morning paper. This morning Gary buttoned up her raincoat and they both boldly stepped out to the front porch, then Cook watched as Gary braved the rain and retrieved the paper from the driveway. When Gary returned to the porch, Cook gave him a big body shake affirming that he did a good job. Then she pranced inside, without a single drop of rain hitting her.
> 
> (Cook doesn't bark.  She can bark, but chooses to shake her head causing her tags to clink in lieu of barking as her primary form of communicating with humans. She will bark at 'possums and at other dogs to play ... but that's about it.  When she is petted, she will purrrr.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Beautiful girl!  Rain is our dogs least favorite thing.  He will run and hide when it's time to go out and he knows it is raining.  When he wants to communicate with me he paws at the ground with his back leg like a bull getting ready to charge.  It is hilarious and annoying.  Once he has my attention he just runs to whatever he wants (the cookie jar, the back door, his water bowl) and then starts pawing at the ground again.  If he doesn't get what he wants, he looks completely outraged and stomps his feet like a toddler having a tantrum and shakes his head no no no.  I'll have to film it next time as it is really too much.
Click to expand...

Gary likes that pawing action.

Cook is much more settle, she'll repeatedly look at you then look at what she needs/wants addressed. She is not food driven.  In fact she wouldn't eat bacon.  What man or beast doesn't like bacon?  When Gary would place bacon in her dish, she would carefully pick it out and stack it next to her dish.  One day Gary got fed up and stuffed a piece into her mouth and then held her muzzle shut until she swallowed.  Now she likes bacon, but when given a piece she chews and chews.  She chews the hell out of it, savoring every morsel.





Summer coif.


----------



## terri

Aww... Cook looks so fluffy and pretty after a bath!    Odin was the same way...he would hide under the bed when we started the tub running in cold weather, or just seeing us assemble his bath gear (shampoo, a pile of towels) in the summer when he got a bath under the hose.

I know he hated it, but I also know he felt great when it was over.   Much prancing and pug-dancing, running with joy.     I still miss those antics.    

*sigh*

Aside from that...   Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## JonA_CT

A warmer day -- in the spring a few years ago. He loves this kinda thing...mud puddles, other things while hiking. But not baths or wet grass.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


>




good dog


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


>




P R I C E L E S S !!! Say Hello to you pretty ladies!


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> P R I C E L E S S !!! Say Hello to you pretty ladies!
Click to expand...


----------



## snowbear

Playing with some new stuff before heading home.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## snowbear

We came home early and I made short but overstuffed steak, egg & cheese subs with sauteed onion, roasted red pepper, lettuce, tomato & mayo.  The consensus is "stronger bread" next time. Still, our tummies are happy.


----------



## b_twill

Very jealous of you folks that still have grass, green, brown or whatever.  We're suppose to get another 4-8" of "winter wonderland" stuff tonight and tomorrow.  Where's tbis global warming that they keep talkimg about???


----------



## snowbear

The actual term is climate change, and it is very complex.  A lot of people tend to mix up weather with climate - they are not really the same.

We're supposed to get scattered flurries but mostly sleet & freezing rain, starting about 02:00.  At least it's a weekend and I don't need to go anywhere - I won't do ice in a Camry.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> We came home early and I made short but overstuffed steak, egg & cheese subs with sauteed onion, roasted red pepper, lettuce, tomato & mayo.  The consensus is "stronger bread" next time. Still, our tummies are happy.



Sounds yummy except for maybe the red peppers!  Though I used to like them, lately I find them really overpowering of just about every other flavor in any dish they're in.   What was up with the bread?  Did you use a sub roll?  Toasted?


----------



## JonA_CT

I had two cheese sticks and a bowl of cereal.


----------



## minicoop1985

I had Twizzlers and Subway.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We came home early and I made short but overstuffed steak, egg & cheese subs with sauteed onion, roasted red pepper, lettuce, tomato & mayo.  The consensus is "stronger bread" next time. Still, our tummies are happy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds yummy except for maybe the red peppers!  Though I used to like them, lately I find them really overpowering of just about every other flavor in any dish they're in.   What was up with the bread?  Did you use a sub roll?  Toasted?
Click to expand...

Red bell peppers - sweet, not hot.  They make a good soup, too.

We just used store bought Italian sub rolls, but they were short - 6 to a pack, and with all that (1/3 pound shaved beef for each one) they just broke.  Next time I'll just get a loaf or two of Italian bread.


----------



## jcdeboever

Nodal point

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> We came home early and I made short but overstuffed steak, egg & cheese subs with sauteed onion, roasted red pepper, lettuce, tomato & mayo.  The consensus is "stronger bread" next time. Still, our tummies are happy.








Leftover chicken soup from yesterday.  It is possibly the best chicken soup Gary has ever whipped up.  Tonight the soup was augmented with avocados.  Gary baked a replacement bread for the load the dog ate.  The bread is full of thyme and marjoram. 

Now Mary Lou and Gary are snacking on popcorn and watching more 'Celia'.  The revolutionaries are about to take over Cuba while Celia sings.


----------



## Gary A.

b_twill said:


> Very jealous of you folks that still have grass, green, brown or whatever.  We're suppose to get another 4-8" of "winter wonderland" stuff tonight and tomorrow.  Where's tbis global warming that they keep talkimg about???


Don't be too jealous ... Gary will be mowing the yards tomorrow.


----------



## Frank F.

b_twill said:


> Very jealous of you folks that still have grass, green, brown or whatever.  We're suppose to get another 4-8" of "winter wonderland" stuff tonight and tomorrow.  Where's tbis global warming that they keep talkimg about???




Global Warming is a statistical average like sea level rise. It means that it might get colder in some places and hotter in others.

Your situation is a bit like living in an Hippie Community while the Nation's hair get shorter


----------



## JonA_CT

First real snowfall of the year. About an inch and a half on the ground, with maybe another 2 or so to come before we switch over to ice and then rain. 

I love snow in the city...all I could hear when I walked outside with the dogwas the snow hitting the ground.


----------



## JonA_CT

Snow days call for hearty breakfasts...



 

New strategy for poaching eggs. Never doing it another way again.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.  One of the cats pushed me out of bed because she wanted my spot.  The other one is at my feet.

Sidewalks are wet and the sound of the cars passing by say the streets are wet, not icy.  It seems we only had rain, locally.  I'm guessing the colder stuff was more to the north and west of the city.  It is still a early for snow here - generally not until January.

Nothing major on the schedule today, though MLW is going to break in the new mixer and do some baking.  Rumor has i she may make some French onion soup, as well.  I might wander across the street to the library and nab a couple of Pokémon while browsing through the books.  There may also be a decent subject for the Secret Santa Photo Exchange.


----------



## snowbear

That looks good, Jon.  I have coffee and maybe some toast, later.


----------



## snowbear

And we have freezing rain.  Went to get yesterday's mail and almost fell on my @$$.  The library can wait until later.  Looks like a bad crash in Virginia involving a semi & trailer - one confirmed fatality.  If you are driving in any kind of bad weather - PLEASE BE CAREFUL.

@limr: Yay!  It's here.  Thank you and the card is sweet, too.


----------



## minicoop1985

Well, my old snowblower (close to 30 years old) bit the dust. So I fixed the problem. Bought a different one lol

Also my macro lens is on the truck for delivery.


----------



## jcdeboever

Not feeling well at all today and I have to go out and plow all day. I just want to lay around, maybe develop some film (catching up), do some scanning, post some shitty pics on here.... but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.... got to plow everybody's driveway then drive to the plant in Ohio and plow that... Freezing rain coming so I better get after it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is cold.  Gary is cold.  Gary can see his breath outside.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Gary, I don't think you are going to get any sympathy in this forum.
Stay safe folks, looks bad out there for a lot of you. 
We are in Florida so it's still hot....(sorry)
Been off for a while, so belated prayers to some of you. Am having some of my own...


----------



## Gary A.

It is 42F outside and nearly that inside.  Mary Lou turned on the central heating, Gary has turn it off in favor of a space heater oscillating across his cold legs as he keyboards this communique. Cook is funny.  In winter we cover her in a blanket.  She has learned how to get up, walk around, eat, et al and not lose her blanket.  Usually, Gary wakes up to see the blanket half-in and half-out the dog door, but not lately.  This morning Mary Lou and Gary saw her carefully maneuver her way through a dog door while keeping the blanket somewhat intact. A month ago, Mary Lou made some Cookie size blankets.  Much easier for Cookie to keep wrapped up as the smaller blankets do not trail.  One blanket has puppy faces the other says LA Dodgers, which, in turn, makes her a Dodger Dog, (somewhat amusing for those who have witnessed a game at Dodger stadium).


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has poured a second cup of really fine coffee.  Hand-roasted, fresh-ground, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe siphoned with RO water.  A delight.  You all are welcomed to come over anytime for a cup or two.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Sorry Nancy, but I will take a snowy day in New YOrk over Florida. I got more than my fair share of the state and its weather and will happily leave it for others to enjoy. Leo and Florida do not mix.

It stopped snowing about 20 minutes ago. Supposedly we're going to have a lull and then some rain through tomorrow. The real trouble may be Monday morning. It's going to be warm, in the low 50s, but then overnight the temps will drop to the teens again. If it has been raining all day long on Sunday and the wet roads freeze overnight, then it could be very icy for Monday morning's commute. I got my snow tires for Alice but need to put them on. Yes, ice is not snow, but winter tires will still be better than all-seasons for these conditions. Hoping the rains stops early enough to allow roads to dry before it freezes.

Might get the snows on today if Buzz and I can manage it, but I'm feeling rough and headachy, and I think I need a day to hunker down. Probably easier to do it tomorrow.


----------



## limr

Oh and @snowbear  I got your envelope last night, too - totally synchronized! Love it, darlin'


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Oh and @snowbear  I got your envelope last night, too - totally synchronized! Love it, darlin'


Happy.

For the uniformed, Leonore got me a map of Nice when she as there.  I sent her one of my infamous ink drawings.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hi Hosers!  My stepfather came through the surgery very well. He's being released this afternoon!!  I, on the other hand, am not feeling well (chills, sinus, sore throat, headache) and am stuck in the house watching the snow and regretting all of the things I had wanted to get done this weekend.  Unlike @jcdeboever, I am not going to suck it up and get out there. I am going to wallow.


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> Hi Hosers!  My stepfather came through the surgery very well. He's being released this afternoon!!  I, on the other hand, am not feeling well (chills, sinus, sore throat, headache) and am stuck in the house watching the snow and regretting all of the things I had wanted to get done this weekend.  Unlike @jcdeboever, I am not going to suck it up and get out there. I am going to wallow.


I'm wallowing too.. at the zoo.  Ok, so it's not a full blown wallow I guess.

Glad to hear dad is doing better, hope you get to feeling better soon as well

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Hi Hosers!  My stepfather came through the surgery very well. He's being released this afternoon!!  I, on the other hand, am not feeling well (chills, sinus, sore throat, headache) and am stuck in the house watching the snow and regretting all of the things I had wanted to get done this weekend.  Unlike @jcdeboever, I am not going to suck it up and get out there. I am going to wallow.


Glad stepdad is OK.  Sorry to hear you're getting sick.  MLW still has a scratchy throat.

Holiday bread dough is rising.


----------



## JonA_CT

Sharon, might I recommend a hot toddy?

2 oz of your favorite single malt (or something you don't mind wasting for this...I use glenmorangie)
4 oz boiling water
1 teaspsoon honey 
A cinnamon stick
A slice of lemon
A pinch of cloves
A pinch of nutmeg 

Put it all in a glass mug and let steep for 5 minutes before drinking. 


I'm that crazy person that went and did the rest of his Christmas shopping in the snow. I literally was the only person in book store this morning. It worked out quite nicely.


----------



## minicoop1985

YAY I GOT IT!!!!




2016-12-17_12-56-12 by Michael Long, on Flickr




2016-12-17 12-51-09 (B,Radius8,Smoothing4)-2 by Michael Long, on Flickr


----------



## minicoop1985

This lens is so ridiculously sharp, it's caused me to abandon medium format. I'm selling the Hasselblad and acquiring a 5D3.


----------



## limr

I would absolutely have gone out to shop in almost-empty stores today, but it's not gonna happen today. I'm not as sick as some of you all seem to be, but I'm still not feeling well. No energy, headache, congestion, sore-ish throat. Not doing Alice's tires today either.

So far, all I've managed to accomplish today is some lunch and some crashing on the couch with a snoozing Zelda.


----------



## Gary A.

Just back from walking the pooch, cleaning out the filters on the pond and cleaning up a fountain.  The Sun is out Gary is thinking of a BBQ later.


----------



## tirediron

minicoop1985 said:


> This lens is so ridiculously sharp, it's caused me to abandon medium format. I'm selling the Hasselblad and acquiring a 5D3.


You really need to slow down and take a breath now and then.  How much ya' want for the Hassy?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> So far, all I've managed to accomplish today is some lunch and some crashing on the couch with a snoozing Zelda.
> 
> View attachment 131714


that's really all you need.  Zoe asked to be picked up and held, earlier.  I think that's three or four times this week - a record.


----------



## Derrel

Snow and some melting of it,and freezing of the melt since Thursday in much of western Oregon. Some freezing rain. No salt is applied here. Only 20 percent of roads are sanded. Mostly one big cluster fudge roadway wi 
2nd day, melt off slowly begins on rooftops.


----------



## snowbear

Just went out to get something out of the car.  Sidewalks are mainly dried and it's 48, but a little windy.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> I would absolutely have gone out to shop in almost-empty stores today, but it's not gonna happen today. I'm not as sick as some of you all seem to be, but I'm still not feeling well. No energy, headache, congestion, sore-ish throat. Not doing Alice's tires today either.
> 
> So far, all I've managed to accomplish today is some lunch and some crashing on the couch with a snoozing Zelda.
> 
> View attachment 131714



I love Zelda, she is beautiful.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 131715 View attachment 131716 Just back from walking the pooch, cleaning out the filters on the pond and cleaning up a fountain.  The Sun is out Gary is thinking of a BBQ later.



Slapping Gary for green and sun in his photo' today.... however, they do lift my spirits so the slap will be remembered.


----------



## tirediron

Derrel said:


> Snow and some melting of it,and freezing of the melt since Thursday in much of western Oregon. Some freezing rain. No salt is applied here. Only 20 percent of roads are sanded. Mostly one big cluster fudge roadway wiView attachment 131721
> 2nd day, melt off slowly begins on rooftops.


Damn... you got it worse'n we did.  Just a dusting on the ground, 'though it has been below freezing for about three days in a row...


----------



## SquarePeg

Thanks all for the get wells and kind thoughts. I'm still wallowing. Decided to cancel all plans for today and tonight and just Netflix the night away. Binge watch suggestions?   I may even attempt some Christmas tree shots for the tree thread I saw earlier if I get a burst of energy. 

The upside of this plan, in addition to avoiding the mall on the last Saturday before Christmas is that the weather is supposed to be 58 tomorrow so by the time I head out in the morning the snow we got today will be gone with no shoveling from yours truly.


----------



## jcdeboever

I almost got stuck in a ditch at the plant plowing. The freezing rain got there before I did and I slid (going zero miles per hour on decline) into the ditch by the road out front of the business. I carry a couple of snatch blocks, and some cable come alongs, so I was able to winch my stuck truck out, thank the Lord. I also keep a small bag of chain material I welded into a blanket for these situations, worked perfect. Pulled three people out of ditch's while down there (around the plant). What a mess, OH or that area was way worse for the freezing rain than MI. I may have to go back tomorrow depending on what happens tonight. Called a contractor to salt the crap out of the docks and receiving areas tonight.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Thanks all for the get wells and kind thoughts. I'm still wallowing. Decided to cancel all plans for today and tonight and just Netflix the night away. Binge watch suggestions?   I may even attempt some Christmas tree shots for the tree thread I saw earlier if I get a burst of energy.
> 
> The upside of this plan, in addition to avoiding the mall on the last Saturday before Christmas is that the weather is supposed to be 58 tomorrow so by the time I head out in the morning the snow we got today will be gone with no shoveling from yours truly.



I knew all was going to be well, you and your family have been in my prayers since the original post. Maybe rent Documentary Film Finding Vivian Maier | Vivian Maier Photographer. You are so wonderfully creative. I think you would really like this.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> YAY I GOT IT!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2016-12-17_12-56-12 by Michael Long, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2016-12-17 12-51-09 (B,Radius8,Smoothing4)-2 by Michael Long, on Flickr



Pretty sweet but I want to see more film from that hassy.


----------



## Derrel

[QUOTE="tirediron"[/QUOTE]
Damn... you got it worse'n we did.  Just a dusting on the ground, 'though it has been below freezing for about three days in a row...[/QUOTE]

Yeah,a weird storm this one, in thst it came from southern Oregon and slowly crept North, and luckily for ya'll it petered out by the time it got to Vancouver Island.


----------



## JonA_CT

We got about 5 inches of snow and then we got some freezing rain, and now it's almost 40 degrees. I'll tell you...no one does slush puddles better than Southeastern CT.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

While catching up on some yard work ran into these little guys.


----------



## jcdeboever

Christmas presents ready.... Well 2 sales in there...






Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## snowbear

19" of bread dough, chocolate chips, cooked apples and dried cranberries.  Almost ready to be put in the oven.




cmw3_d40_6819 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Gary processed and printed some old photos of The Girls for Christmas tree ornaments.  Gary just realized that he hasn't processed in about six months or more.  Man, he was totally lost for a bit.  Gary thinks he was burnt out.  It was good to get back into stuff.  He has been shooting, just not processing. Gary has a ton of processing.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary processed and printed some old photos of The Girls for Christmas tree ornaments.  Gary just realized that he hasn't processed in about six months or more.  Man, he was totally lost for a bit.  Gary thinks he was burnt out.  It was good to get back into stuff.  He has been shooting, just not processing. Gary has a ton of processing.


I can relate. Totally behind, got about 20 rolls to go and no ambition after a long day of plowing. 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## snowbear

And it's done. 




cmw3_d40_6821 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary processed and printed some old photos of The Girls for Christmas tree ornaments.  Gary just realized that he hasn't processed in about six months or more.  Man, he was totally lost for a bit.  Gary thinks he was burnt out.  It was good to get back into stuff.  He has been shooting, just not processing. Gary has a ton of processing.
> 
> 
> 
> I can relate. Totally behind, got about 20 rolls to go and no ambition after a long day of plowing.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...


Me too. I've still got I think 9 or 10 rolls to develop.  I'm thankful that I at least marked the rolls that I want to push so I don't forget this time   But I've been in a slump. A lot has been happening at work this semester and with my family, and I just haven't had the energy to deal with it yet. 

One more week at work and then a break.


----------



## Frank F.

children crafted art in a project called "Mother Earth" -- noteworthy in my book:


----------



## Frank F.

[2] children crafted art in a project called "Mother Earth" -- noteworthy in my book:


----------



## Frank F.

[3] children crafted art in a project called "Mother Earth" -- noteworthy in my book:


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> We got about 5 inches of snow and then we got some freezing rain, and now it's almost 40 degrees. I'll tell you...no one does slush puddles better than Southeastern CT.



We got about 4 but the wife thinks it's 8, God, I love her...


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, hosers. Another early one... for no reason. Ugh.


----------



## Frank F.

minicoop1985 said:


>




A very nice lens for generations already!


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> While catching up on some yard work ran into these little guys.



Are there new growth avocados the caterpillars are feasting on?


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Gary processed and printed some old photos of The Girls for Christmas tree ornaments.  Gary just realized that he hasn't processed in about six months or more.  Man, he was totally lost for a bit.  Gary thinks he was burnt out.  It was good to get back into stuff.  He has been shooting, just not processing. Gary has a ton of processing.




There are so many shots I did not even review. Processing for me is first bake HDR and Panorama series ... then decide whether to print some


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 131715 View attachment 131716 Just back from walking the pooch, cleaning out the filters on the pond and cleaning up a fountain.  The Sun is out Gary is thinking of a BBQ later.




Ah the horse trail on your dog walk


----------



## minicoop1985

Frank F. said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A very nice lens for generations already!
Click to expand...


It's amazing. I love it. I bought it from KEH in EX condition and it's like new.


----------



## Frank F.

I dream of a hand painted backdrop for quite a while, difficult to decide which one to start with.

I am looking into Oilifant grey / green / brown.

I'd like to see something like these from my favourite painter Lukas Cranach the Elder, who 500 years ago painted this:






and this:





an this:





Now I like your American expertise. they say a background is: 6' x 10' is that squarefeet, so 182,88 x 304,8 square centimeters or is that inches?

Backdrops - Blue, Purple, & Green


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> While catching up on some yard work ran into these little guys.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are there new growth avocados the caterpillars are feasting on?
Click to expand...

Those are Monarch caterpillars.  They only eat the leaves and fruit of the Milkweed plant. We have several Milkweeds scattered across the yard and consequently, at any given time, we have all stages of Monarch life in the yard. Per Mary Lou, the Milkweed plants are sacrosanct and are not to be touched, hence the scattering. 

The avocados are ripening, we've been feasting on them all month. maybe a dozen or two left on the tree.  The avocados and Mandarin Oranges are real treats.


----------



## snowbear

the single quote '  means feet, so 6' x 10' = 6 feet by 10 feet (about 1.8m x 3m).  182,88 x 302,8 would be the European designation (US uses a period to delimit units from decimal units) for the same size in centimeters.

Feet:  6x10
Inches: 72x120
Meters: 1.8x3 (approximate)
Centimeters: 182.88x302.8
Millimeters: 1828.8x3028


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131715 View attachment 131716 Just back from walking the pooch, cleaning out the filters on the pond and cleaning up a fountain.  The Sun is out Gary is thinking of a BBQ later.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ah the horse trail on your dog walk
Click to expand...

Yes it is.  Cook knows a few of the horses and they run together. She comes back exhausted but exhilarated, feeling like a pup again.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes Elder.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone:


 



 



 



 



 
Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers from chilly Southern California.  These are what Gary has been printing.


----------



## Gary A.

Gawd ... Gary is busy keyboarding away and sipping his morning mocha ... when he just missed his mouth.  He is back from changing his shirt.


----------



## snowbear

Hopefully not too hot.


----------



## Gary A.

Nahhh, not much, but it was a white shirt. lol


----------



## snowbear

62° and rainy.  The saying about DC weather is true - if you don't like it, wait a couple of hours.


----------



## Gary A.

43F here, but it should get to the mid 60's.  Gonna catch the early showing of Star Wars then off to Downtown Disney for dinner with my youngest daughter.


----------



## snowbear

Sounds like fun.  I'm going to be stuck here while MLW and her sister visit rehab facilities for her mom.  I think I'll do some drawing or painting.


----------



## Gary A.

That is cool, having a tablet with you, kicking back and sketching seems much more soothing and less obtrusive (if you're in a public place) than photography.


----------



## snowbear

You tend to attract spectators, as opposed to making people shy away.  I'll be staying inside because of the off-and-on rain.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> You tend to attract spectators, as opposed to making people shy away.  I'll be staying inside because of the off-and-on rain.


I can see that with an easel, but with a tablet, sitting at a sidewalk table of a busy cafe, a glass of vino, a half eaten baguette leaving a few crumbs on the tablecloth, tablet out sketching between sips and bites of brie, your beret at a slight tilt, that's the life ... (note to self: find a beginning art class).


----------



## snowbear

I haven't worn a beret since I was a boy scout!  Many people will glance down at tables as they pass by.  I think it's just natural curiosity.  Some will stop and ask about the sketch and give a pleasant comment, others won't.  I tend to give a comment (not real C&C) if I like what I see.

I posted a scan of the drawing I did for Leonore in the Weekly Sketch thread.  I put it here at first, but thought it would be better with my other scribbles.

Check out the local community college for art classes.  You should do fine, at least at things like composition and tonal value.  I found that my interest in photography helped me in the drawing classes.


----------



## Gary A.

Then it is about time for a new beret.  Gary can see where photography and painting would feed off each other.


----------



## snowbear

Some of the same principals at the basic level.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks that seeing an image for the easel is similar to seeing an image for the printer.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> You tend to attract spectators, as opposed to making people shy away.  I'll be staying inside because of the off-and-on rain.
> 
> 
> 
> I can see that with an easel, but with a tablet, sitting at a sidewalk table of a busy cafe, a glass of vino, a half eaten baguette leaving a few crumbs on the tablecloth, tablet out sketching between sips and bite of brie, your beret at a slight tilt, that's the life ... (note to self: find a beginning art class).
Click to expand...

and a beret!


----------



## minicoop1985

Oui.


----------



## Gary A.

Oui, indeed.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Gary likes Elder.



Lucas Cranach a genious enterpreneur and artist and in both a role model for me. Go get a book on him. 500 years and modern seeing. Wow!!!


----------



## minicoop1985

So I said so long to Blad the 2nd Impaler today. I'm gonna miss it, but it's been a learning experience for me. Maybe I'll get into MF again someday, but it's gonna take a lot.


----------



## minicoop1985

Got me a couple replacements for the Hasselblad. Grabbed a 5D3 and a 24-70 f4L. The f4L should be ridiculously sharp.


----------



## Gary A.

Star Wars, very entertaining.


----------



## JonA_CT

So I've heard. At some point, we'll convince somebody to come watch our daughter long enough for us to go see the movie. The last movie we saw was The Force Awakens.


----------



## Frank F.

Like the last one. Better in 2D


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Like the last one. Better in 2D


We went to the 2D, the early 2D to miss the crowds.  For the 11:00 a.m. showing, the theater was filled equal to an evening showing of an average movie.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is enjoying his siphon.  There is more controls to brew a better or worse cup of coffee than his ol' French Press. With the Press, one dumps the coffee in, wait a few minutes or a few hours and the coffee wasn't much different and it was always good. With the siphon, a minute longer here or less time there and the coffee is significantly stronger or weaker. It takes a bit more time, a few more seconds to set up when compared to the French Press.  It also takes no longer than three to four minutes to brew.  But as Gary is low on the learning curve, a constant eye on the equipment and the brew progression is required.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is enjoying his siphon.  There is more controls to brew a better or worse cup of coffee than his ol' French Press. With the Press, one dumps the coffee in, wait a few minutes or a few hours and the coffee wasn't much different and it was always good. With the siphon, a minute longer here or less time there and the coffee is significantly stronger or weaker. It takes a bit more time, a few more seconds to set up when compared to the French Press.  It also takes no longer than three to four minutes to brew.  But as Gary is low on the learning curve, a constant eye on the equipment and the brew progression is required.



So, you enjoy the siphon because it gives you something to do while the coffee is brewing.. 

Sure, that works.. lol


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.  Today's schedule includes checking map data a contractor put together a few years ago.  I was tasked with updating the map books they made with current data (on a different server.)  I ran into a couple of issues but those have been fixed.  Now I just need to go over everything and make sure it lines up.

I'm carrying the camera and lenses.  Now that I have my Secret Santa assignment, I can actually take the photo.  I was waiting to see whom I got so I can come up with something they would be half-way interested in.  It means, though, that the print won't arrive until after the 25th.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is enjoying his siphon.  There is more controls to brew a better or worse cup of coffee than his ol' French Press. With the Press, one dumps the coffee in, wait a few minutes or a few hours and the coffee wasn't much different and it was always good. With the siphon, a minute longer here or less time there and the coffee is significantly stronger or weaker. It takes a bit more time, a few more seconds to set up when compared to the French Press.  It also takes no longer than three to four minutes to brew.  But as Gary is low on the learning curve, a constant eye on the equipment and the brew progression is required.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So, you enjoy the siphon because it gives you something to do while the coffee is brewing..
> 
> Sure, that works.. lol
Click to expand...

Not exactly that, because it give me greater opportunity to improve, screw-up or change the taste of the brew.  As in today, Monday, Gary went for a stronger brew.  The quality of the beans deliver much more coffee flavor without little to no bitterness, so there isn't any tradeoff in strength versus bad taste. (At least with the coffee, Gary will not comment on his tastes or lack thereof.)


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday, Gary daughter Amy, wanted to meet for dinner in Downtown Disney.  Gary thought she was nuts, but as it was her wishes ...  It was jammin' packed to the jammin' gills. We were diverted to three parking lots and then directed down the street to the convention center. Gary was born here.  Gary's folks were born here, Gary's folk's folk, et cetera ... Gary is so fed up with the jammin' traffic he has given consideration to jammin' moving.  There used to be rush hours, early morning and early evening commutes, but now the freeways are packed all jammin' day every day of the jammin' week. At 3:00 a.m. there is considerable traffic on the freeways, granted not bumper to bumper that will come in a few hours, but still unreasonably congested for that hour.  There are just too many jammin' people living here.

Okay, Gary is done. (maybe this was the tip of a siphon problem, lol)


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Good morning.  Today's schedule includes checking map data a contractor put together a few years ago.  I was tasked with updating the map books they made with current data (on a different server.)  I ran into a couple of issues but those have been fixed.  Now I just need to go over everything and make sure it lines up.
> 
> I'm carrying the camera and lenses.  Now that I have my Secret Santa assignment, I can actually take the photo.  I was waiting to see whom I got so I can come up with something they would be half-way interested in.  It means, though, that the print won't arrive until after the 25th.


Dude, I see all this work that you've been performing, on what Gary is assuming is volunteer work.  Gary hope there is much more to your compensation than a "'Atta Boy" from those assigning you tasks.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Not exactly that, because it give me greater opportunity to improve, screw-up or change the taste of the brew.  As in today, Monday, Gary went for a stronger brew.  The quality of the beans deliver much more coffee flavor without little to no bitterness, so there isn't any tradeoff in strength versus bad taste. (At least with the coffee, Gary will not comment on his tastes or lack thereof.)



Still having a real difficult time with this coffee is supposed to taste good thing.. but ok.. lol


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not exactly that, because it give me greater opportunity to improve, screw-up or change the taste of the brew.  As in today, Monday, Gary went for a stronger brew.  The quality of the beans deliver much more coffee flavor without little to no bitterness, so there isn't any tradeoff in strength versus bad taste. (At least with the coffee, Gary will not comment on his tastes or lack thereof.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Still having a real difficult time with this coffee is supposed to taste good thing.. but ok.. lol
Click to expand...

LOL ... you need to stop on by.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... you need to stop on by.



Drive halfway across the country for a cup of coffee?

Ya, that does sound like something I would do doesn't it.. lol


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... you need to stop on by.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Drive halfway across the country for a cup of coffee?
> 
> Ya, that does sound like something I would do doesn't it.. lol
Click to expand...

Okay, Gary will toss in a doughnut or two.

To quote the president elect "What do you have to lose ..."?


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... you need to stop on by.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Drive halfway across the country for a cup of coffee?
> 
> Ya, that does sound like something I would do doesn't it.. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Okay, Gary will toss in a doughnut or two.
> 
> To quote the president elect "What do you have to lose ..."?
Click to expand...

Probably a testicle.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, Gary will toss in a doughnut or two.
> 
> To quote the president elect "What do you have to lose ..."?
> 
> 
> 
> Probably a testicle.
Click to expand...


Wow..so in that case neither the French Press or the Siphon thing really sounds all that appealing..  Yikes


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning.  Today's schedule includes checking map data a contractor put together a few years ago.  I was tasked with updating the map books they made with current data (on a different server.)  I ran into a couple of issues but those have been fixed.  Now I just need to go over everything and make sure it lines up.
> 
> I'm carrying the camera and lenses.  Now that I have my Secret Santa assignment, I can actually take the photo.  I was waiting to see whom I got so I can come up with something they would be half-way interested in.  It means, though, that the print won't arrive until after the 25th.
> 
> 
> 
> Dude, I see all this work that you've been performing, on what Gary is assuming is volunteer work.  Gary hope there is much more to your compensation than a "'Atta Boy" from those assigning you tasks.
Click to expand...


I am gaining experience that one does not usually get in a classroom, and making professional contacts.  I have given presentations of my primary project at three different Geographic/GIS venues, one of them world class.  I enjoy what I'm doing, including the various challenges.  I have improved the geographic data for the county, and indirectly the state, simply by seeing a couple of shortcomings and improved them by deciding to expand or modify those data sets, or create new ones.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Yesterday, Gary daughter Amy, wanted to meet for dinner in Downtown Disney.  Gary thought she was nuts, but as it was her wishes ...  It was jammin' packed to the jammin' gills. We were diverted to three parking lots and then directed down the street to the convention center. Gary was born here.  Gary's folks were born here, Gary's folk's folk, et cetera ... Gary is so fed up with the jammin' traffic he has given consideration to jammin' moving.  There used to be rush hours, early morning and early evening commutes, but now the freeways are packed all jammin' day every day of the jammin' week. At 3:00 a.m. there is considerable traffic on the freeways, granted not bumper to bumper that will come in a few hours, but still unreasonably congested for that hour.  There are just too many jammin' people living here.
> 
> Okay, Gary is done. (maybe this was the tip of a siphon problem, lol)



Um, Gary was right. His daughter Amy IS nuts!


----------



## minicoop1985

With a bottle of rum and a YO HO HO

That phrase makes any sentence instantly better.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> With a bottle of rum and a YO HO HO
> 
> That phrase makes any sentence instantly better.



Ok, so to put that theory to the test...

Gary flattened my testicle in a french press, with a bottle of rum and a Yo Ho Ho.....

Ya.. no.  Not feeling any better about that sentence myself.  Hmm...


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning.  Today's schedule includes checking map data a contractor put together a few years ago.  I was tasked with updating the map books they made with current data (on a different server.)  I ran into a couple of issues but those have been fixed.  Now I just need to go over everything and make sure it lines up.
> 
> I'm carrying the camera and lenses.  Now that I have my Secret Santa assignment, I can actually take the photo.  I was waiting to see whom I got so I can come up with something they would be half-way interested in.  It means, though, that the print won't arrive until after the 25th.
> 
> 
> 
> Dude, I see all this work that you've been performing, on what Gary is assuming is volunteer work.  Gary hope there is much more to your compensation than a "'Atta Boy" from those assigning you tasks.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I am gaining experience that one does not usually get in a classroom, and making professional contacts.  I have given presentations of my primary project at three different Geographic/GIS venues, one of them world class.  I enjoy what I'm doing, including the various challenges.  I have improved the geographic data for the county, and indirectly the state, simply by seeing a couple of shortcomings and improved them by deciding to expand or modify those data sets, or create new ones.
Click to expand...

Yep and


robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> With a bottle of rum and a YO HO HO
> 
> That phrase makes any sentence instantly better.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, so to put that theory to the test...
> 
> Gary flattened my testicle in a french press, with a bottle of rum and a Yo Ho Ho.....
> 
> Ya.. no.  Not feeling any better about that sentence myself.  Hmm...
Click to expand...

Between your cameras, California's mountains and the shining sea ... you won't lose nuthin'. If anything you may grow an extra pair.


----------



## jcdeboever

Shrinkage 






Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> Shrinkage
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app



They sell a special kind of mittens for your problem. I'd post a link, but I'm at work.


----------



## minicoop1985

jcdeboever said:


> Shrinkage
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app




Waah. It was -9 this morning.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Between your cameras, California's mountains and the shining sea ... you won't lose nuthin'. If anything you may grow an extra pair.



Ok, well objectively speaking I think if the goal is to make the coffee taste better this probably isn't the best way to go about it.  I'll let the peanut gallery insert all the necessary humor about imparting a nutty flavor here...


----------



## vintagesnaps

So Gary's jammin', and I don't think I want to find a video for the rest of the conversation. Anyway I gotta quit hangin' out with you hosers and get last minute Christmas stuff done!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Okay there's this. Then I'm gonna go get something done.


----------



## snowbear

What's on my streaming radio, now;


----------



## robbins.photo

vintagesnaps said:


> So Gary's jammin', and I don't think I want to find a video for the rest of the conversation. Anyway I gotta quit hangin' out with you hosers and get last minute Christmas stuff done!



Just search youtube for how not to make delicious coffee, that pretty much covers the rest of the conversation..  rotfl


----------



## SquarePeg

Hey all!  I'm feeling slightly better but far from 100%.  Had to work today and as I'm only working 2 days this week it has been a very busy day!!!  So much for heading into the holidays with time to relax and enjoy the season.  My weekend of being out of commission has put me far behind my schedule of crap I still have to do before this weekend.  My current strategy is to start knocking things off the list by deciding that they are unnecessary and don't really need to be done.


----------



## snowbear

Glad you're feeling better.  MLW is only working two days, as well -- I'm hanging around the office all week, though there's not a whole lot to do.  I'm trying to get some things cleaned up before the new year (and a week off).


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Hey all!  I'm feeling slightly better but far from 100%.  Had to work today and as I'm only working 2 days this week it has been a very busy day!!!  So much for heading into the holidays with time to relax and enjoy the season.  My weekend of being out of commission has put me far behind my schedule of crap I still have to do before this weekend.  My current strategy is to start knocking things off the list by deciding that they are unnecessary and don't really need to be done.


Glad to hear your feeling better. A mother's work is never done.

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## JonA_CT

Whelp, got those exam results from the department. I had 6 students fail. I'm overriding 3 of them. The rubric is stupid and they failed on things that were silly. Again, can't verbally complain about it because I can't go to the meanings. Ergh. 

That being said...they will do just fine in Composition next semester.


----------



## JonA_CT

Our friends dropped this off to us today. He found a picture of our dog and made a rocker for our daughter. Feeling fortunate tonight.


----------



## limr

Awwww, how cute!


----------



## SquarePeg

It's adorable and so much more lovable in that it's unique and personal.


----------



## tirediron

VERY cool!


----------



## Gary A.

That is awesome!  Between the size of your daughter and the size of your dog ... your daughter can actually ride the real dog.


----------



## Frank F.

This is static picture & that is a live performace on video "Minnie the Moocher": Dropbox - DSCF9146.MOV


----------



## SquarePeg

@Frank F.  so sorry to see the terrible attack in your country.  The news made me think of the recent post with the pictures of the Christmas market and how very crowded it was (was that yours?).  The victims and their families are in my prayers and will be on my mind during the upcoming holidays.


----------



## minicoop1985

Morning, hosers. Ordered MORE stuff last night. This time a 600 w/s flash, octabox, and a boom stand.


----------



## Frank F.

@SquarePeg Thank you.

Generally I think we should silently fight the terrorists and not give them a huge platform mentioning their names in the media to make them heroes and making a big fuzz out of 12 people killed while remaining silent about thousands of other lives violently lost by other unjust causes like air pollution for profit every day.

Every life is important. Also the 12 lives lost to terrorism in Berlin yesterday.

Let's point our eyes to the future and see to not losing more lives to war, pollution, terrorism, malnutrition, hunger and avoidable diseases!

Lets start by stuffing the envelopes of aid organisations with money that really make a difference caring for clean air, water, for better agriculture, better medical service.

We cannot bring back the dead from the graves, but we can see that the lives of the living are saved


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> View attachment 131841
> 
> This is static picture & that is a live performace on video "Minnie the Moocher": Dropbox - DSCF9146.MOV


KONS!


----------



## Gary A.

@ Frank-  I feel for your country, I imagine most all Americans also are feeling sadness for your country and anger at those who performed the violence. 

I remember an American president once saying "... We are all Berliners...".  God Bless you guys.


----------



## Designer

Frank F. said:


> If we now calculate that wars and terrorism have roots in pollution, hunger and malnutrition ..
> 
> Does this make sense to you?


No.


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers!

It's my last day of class. I give my final tonight and then another semester is done.

This whole week feels like Friday. Anyone else feel the same?


----------



## robbins.photo

Ok, strange.. posted a response earlier but doesn't seem to be showing up now.  No indication or PM indicating that it might have been deleted.  

Curious.


----------



## robbins.photo

Frank F. said:


> Generally I think we should silently fight the terrorists and not give them a huge platform mentioning their names in the media to make them heroes and making a big fuzz out of 12 people killed while remaining silent about thousands of other lives violently lost by other unjust causes like air pollution for profit every day.



Frank,

While I certainly have a great deal of compassion for the folks that lost their lives in this attack and their families what your proposing above by presenting the idea that pollution causes terrorism is most certainly a political discussion, and as such can't really be responded to properly without violating forum rules.


----------



## Frank F.

You are right. Pollution does not directly lead to war but it leads directly to many deaths. Many more deaths than are caused by terrorism and war nowadays.

That is what I meant.

Hunger, povertry and young people esp. young males without any perspective fuel conflict.

I believe a world in which every body will be rich and is allowed to participate within the framework of his/her abilities will be more peaceful


----------



## Frank F.

I just experienced a crash of this site that sucked my earlier message into a digital grave. I experience a lot of script errors here but usually Firefox contains these and offers the opportunity to stop the script


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hey, hosers!
> 
> It's my last day of class. I give my final tonight and then another semester is done.
> 
> This whole week feels like Friday. Anyone else feel the same?


Yay!.

Yes, but only because I don't have any real assignments at work.  When that happens, things get dangerous, like seriously thinking about putting together a mini-workshop for the GIS conference @ Towson University (TuGIS) in March, when I absolutely hate public speaking.


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> Ok, strange.. posted a response earlier but doesn't seem to be showing up now.  No indication or PM indicating that it might have been deleted.
> 
> Curious.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Hey, hosers!
> 
> It's my last day of class. I give my final tonight and then another semester is done.
> 
> This whole week feels like Friday. Anyone else feel the same?


Whoooohooooo! Yes it does

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hey, hosers!
> 
> It's my last day of class. I give my final tonight and then another semester is done.
> 
> This whole week feels like Friday. Anyone else feel the same?









Wooohoooo!!!!!  I'm also done with work, until the 27th anyway.   Got a **** ton of work done in 2 days.  I had a bunch of things move at the end of last week for stuff that needed to be launched by the end of this year.  With so many people off next week it really meant everything had to be out by this Friday.  Since I am taking vacation the rest of the week that meant it had to be done by today.  I got the last one out at 6pm!  It's cocktail time!


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone:










 Gary just returned from a Christmas shopping spree in Temecula.


----------



## SquarePeg

Don't start without us @Gary A. !!!


----------



## snowbear

My favorite carol is "The Little Drummer Boy" --  I love the chorus: "My rum, rum, rum, rum, rum, rum, rum, rum, rum, rum rum, rum."

Slow week.  GIS boss is taking us out to lunch (real restaurant - not fast food) for the year-end celebration.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Don't start without us @Gary A. !!!


Wellll .... Gary doesn't isn't planning on waiting. But, as you can tell from the #3 photo (above), Gary has plenty of stock to go around.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy hosers! I'll be there in a few minutes, Gary. Time to get sh*tfaceded and make a complete ass of myself.

Got my 5D3. Yay! It's everything I needed.


----------



## jcdeboever

Not getting **** faced. Setting up my street shooting affair tomorrow in downtown Ann Arbor. Shooting TMax 100 with my Nikon FM/35-70 f3.5 #2 yellow Nikon filter and Fuji Superia x-tra 400 color with the Rollei Prego 140 P&S 38-140 zoom. That Rollei rocks. No digital tomorrow. Got my long johns, duck down jacket, and my antique over the ears wool cap. I won't look cool but I'll be warm. Then I will go to my doctor's appointment at U of M all filmed up. 






Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

Nothin's better than getting filmed up.


----------



## minicoop1985

jcdeboever said:


> Not getting **** faced. Setting up my street shooting affair tomorrow in downtown Ann Arbor. Shooting TMax 100 with my Nikon FM/35-70 f3.5 #2 yellow Nikon filter and Fuji Superia x-tra 400 color with the Rollei Prego 140 P&S 38-140 zoom. That Rollei rocks. No digital tomorrow. Got my long johns, duck down jacket, and my antique over the ears wool cap. I won't look cool but I'll be warm. Then I will go to my doctor's appointment at U of M all filmed up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app




I just bought a friend that exact lens.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. Happy Hump Day!


----------



## JonA_CT

The week before Christmas is the worst.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. Happy Hump Day!


You too. No work, rolls of film in may pocket, heading out.... Yay!!!!

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers. Happy Hump Day!
> 
> 
> 
> You too. No work, rolls of film in may pocket, heading out.... Yay!!!!
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...


Envious? Me? Nope, not at all, nope not me. Nope!


----------



## JonA_CT




----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> View attachment 131886



Okay, yeah, I'm _really_ not envious of you!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131886
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, yeah, I'm _really_ not envious of you!
Click to expand...

Ha ha, it warmed up today, it's 22°[emoji4] 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Been playing with my new camera/lens combo. Good god, why did I ever think I needed the Hasselblad?


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131886
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, yeah, I'm _really_ not envious of you!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ha ha, it warmed up today, it's 22°[emoji4]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...


Balmy.

(Don't forget - I'm the one who enjoys the cold!  )


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Been playing with my new camera/lens combo. Good god, why did I ever think I needed the Hasselblad?



I'm going to go with snowbear on this one...


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Been playing with my new camera/lens combo. Good god, why did I ever think I needed the Hasselblad?


They have medication for that....[emoji6] 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mornin, hosers. Been playing with my new camera/lens combo. Good god, why did I ever think I needed the Hasselblad?
> 
> 
> 
> They have medication for that....[emoji6]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...


Big question though, is it a pill or a creme of some sort?


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning Hosers!   

Star Wars movie - check
Alone (my friend bailed on me) - check
Middle of the day/ middle of the week - check

Hitting the geek trifecta today!


----------



## Gary A.

Don't wear pajama bottoms.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Don't wear pajama bottoms.



They make bottoms?

Huh.  Who knew?


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> Big question though, is it a pill or a creme of some sort?


Suppository!


----------



## Frank F.

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Been playing with my new camera/lens combo. Good god, why did I ever think I needed the Hasselblad?



Noone ever needed a Digital Hasselblad...  But I did not want to spoil it for you, you seemed spo happy while it lasted, but it did not last long.

Why did you buy Canon? Have you been invested in that system already?


----------



## Frank F.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't wear pajama bottoms.
> 
> 
> 
> They make bottoms? Huh.  Who knew?
Click to expand...


I wear a blanket at night ... OK, not in the summer


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Big question though, is it a pill or a creme of some sort?
> 
> 
> 
> Suppository!
Click to expand...


When the cure turns out to be worse than the disease...


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Don't wear pajama bottoms.



Sadly too late with this advice for 90% of my fellow movie goers.

At least 40 people at this showing, most of them too young to be retired and too old to be on school break. Doesn't anyone work anymore?  They must have jobs because they all had the latest iPhone! I'm always asking this when I try to do an errand during the day and I find a grocery store crowded or a line of people out the door at CVS.  Why aren't all these people at work!!!   Then again I'm sure they're looking at me and thinking the same.

Edit to add that like the true geek I have always been, I enjoyed the movie quite a lot.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't wear pajama bottoms.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sadly too late with this advice for 90% of my fellow movie goers.
> 
> At least 40 people at this showing, most of them too young to be retired and too old to be on school break. Doesn't anyone work anymore?  They must have jobs because they all had the latest iPhone! I'm always asking this when I try to do an errand during the day and I find a grocery store crowded or a line of people out the door at CVS.  Why aren't all these people at work!!!   Then again I'm sure they're looking at me and thinking the same.
> 
> Edit to add that like the true geek I have always been, I enjoyed the movie quite a lot.
Click to expand...

Telecommuting?  I used to see the same thing at the local Panera - 50% are young, on laptops or phones, the other 50% are retired.  I can't get a seat after about 8:30.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't wear pajama bottoms.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sadly too late with this advice for 90% of my fellow movie goers.
> 
> At least 40 people at this showing, most of them too young to be retired and too old to be on school break. Doesn't anyone work anymore?  They must have jobs because they all had the latest iPhone! I'm always asking this when I try to do an errand during the day and I find a grocery store crowded or a line of people out the door at CVS.  Why aren't all these people at work!!!   Then again I'm sure they're looking at me and thinking the same.
> 
> Edit to add that like the true geek I have always been, I enjoyed the movie quite a lot.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Telecommuting?  I used to see the same thing at the local Panera - 50% are young, on laptops or phones, the other 50% are retired.  I can't get a seat after about 8:30.
Click to expand...


Sitting at Panera with your laptop can at least pass the sniff test for telecommuting.  Being at the movies not so much.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't wear pajama bottoms.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sadly too late with this advice for 90% of my fellow movie goers.
> 
> At least 40 people at this showing, most of them too young to be retired and too old to be on school break. Doesn't anyone work anymore?  They must have jobs because they all had the latest iPhone! I'm always asking this when I try to do an errand during the day and I find a grocery store crowded or a line of people out the door at CVS.  Why aren't all these people at work!!!   Then again I'm sure they're looking at me and thinking the same.
> 
> Edit to add that like the true geek I have always been, I enjoyed the movie quite a lot.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Telecommuting?  I used to see the same thing at the local Panera - 50% are young, on laptops or phones, the other 50% are retired.  I can't get a seat after about 8:30.
Click to expand...


I kinda miss being one of those people out and about during normal business hours. Being an adjunct sucked on many different levels, but having a more flexible schedule was not one of those levels.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is busying his day with coffee roasting.  He just finished a pound of Sweet Maria's Costa Rica Chirripo Finca Jose.  They're trying to turn coffee into wine.


----------



## Gary A.

Interestingly enough, the beans expands quite a bit by roasting.

A full bag of green coffee beans comes in around 17 ounces, after roasting, the same size bag will only hold 11 ounces of beans.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is busying his day with coffee roasting.  He just finished a pound of Sweet Maria's Costa Rica Chirripo Finca Jose.



Shouldn't there be an upper end limit on the number of syllables used to name coffee?


----------



## Gary A.

Coffee is coffee, lol.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Coffee is coffee, lol.



Ok, so on that basis, isn't it just a whole lot easier to walk up the counter and say "Folgers" instead of "Pico de gallo feliz navidad ano nuevo"?


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee is coffee, lol.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, so on that basis, isn't it just a whole lot easier to walk up the counter and say "Folgers" "undrinkable brown swill" instead of "Pico de gallo feliz navidad ano nuevo"?
Click to expand...


FIFY


----------



## JonA_CT

I went out tonight to try to get a picture that I see in my head everyday, and one that would be awesome with light trails from the cars. The bridge over the river I live on bends about 25 degrees to the right as it hits the river. There is a perfect view looking down the apex of the corner from an overpass I drive to work on. I scoped it out tonight, and there just isn't enough space in the shoulder for me to be able to even be remotely comfortable taking the picture. Oh well.

While I was out, I looked at our city's tree. Sad compared to some others, but since it's completely erected and decorated with donations and volunteers, it definitely works for me.


----------



## SquarePeg

I think it's pretty.  Much better than our city's tree which just has white lights and nothing else. Bummer about the shot.  There are several spots like that on the Tobin bridge upper deck with stunning views of Boston but no where safe to stop.  Not worth taking a risk.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone:




 





This stuff makes the best hot chocolate ever. The chocolate of my youth.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just back from a fun dinner with old friends.  We all used to work for the same company 20+ years ago and we still get together several times a year for drinks and laughs.  Tonight we went to our favorite American style Italian place so it was red wine and pasta for everyone followed by brownie sundaes that are to die for.  I'm in a bit of a food coma right now.  Going to put my feet up and hang out on the couch with the dog.  As my Irish Nana was fond of saying - Goodnight Irene!


----------



## Gary A.

Roasting in the patio


----------



## jcdeboever

Shot a few rolls today in downtown Ann Arbor. It was fun and met about 6 interesting people. Everyone of them were curious about the film cameras. I met a musician, lawyer, waitress, sculpter, painter, and a preacher. All very nice and edifying individuals. No phone calls or emails from customers which is very unusual but welcomed. Wife dropped me off while she scouted property, she found one and it's $25.00 a square foot for 2400 sq. ft. Better than Chicago, which is $40+. 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## snowbear

Mom-in-law and brother-in-law were both transferred from their prospective hospitals to rehab today.  They are both in the same facility which makes it best for everyone involved.

We got home a little while ago and I haz a Spyder5!


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Mom-in-law and brother-in-law were both transferred from their prospective hospitals to rehab today.  They are both in the same facility which makes it best for everyone involved.
> 
> We got home a little while ago and I haz a Spyder5!



Good to hear snowbear. I trust they are on the fast track to recovery. Happy calibration my brother. 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

Hoping the best for your 'Laws.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, guys.

He is.  Will be in rehab for three weeks, will be able to put weight on foot after 3 months (broken 2 places).  Mom has some decisions to make - she's stage 4A.  Yes, with the exception of a couple of things, this year has jammin' sucked.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Thanks, guys.
> 
> He is.  Will be in rehab for three weeks, will be able to put weight on foot after 3 months (broken 2 places).  Mom has some decisions to make - she's stage 4A.  Yes, with the exception of a couple of things, this year has jammin' sucked.


Well, I am just going to lift her up in my prayers my brother. 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Frank F.

A day you shall not chase a dog out: cold, windy, rain. My child transport trailer on my bike turned into a little pool, my hands freezing red, wet, cold. I retreated to MCD to warm up waiting for the optician to open, sipping a hot black *coffee*.


----------



## Frank F.

At the optician I ordered new reading glasses which does not help much for computer work. Currently none of my glasses and spares works on my computer workspace whithout serious headache after only small amounts of work are done, Damn.

The testing apparatus caused flimmering and after a while I could not see clearly with any setup. So we postponed the project of ordering a pair of computer glasses.

Now I drink a herbal tea call "cleansing Horst" from a Los Angeles Star Bucks Pot


----------



## minicoop1985

Snowbear, I'm hoping for the best for your inlaws too. Here's to a speedy recovery.

Mornin, hosers. I feel like I'm up too early today. Ugh. That being said, I'm expecting a couple packages today. One from Amazon (my new flash controller) and one from Adorama (not sure what's in that one).


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, coop.  It seems, somewhere along the way (office, hospital, nursing home) my conjunctivitis (aka pink eye) has returned, so I guess I'm staying home today.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Thanks, coop. It seems, somewhere along the way (office, hospital, nursing home) my conjunctivitis (aka pink eye) has returned, so I guess I'm staying home today.



Ugh that sucks.  I hope things start to look up for you (no pun intended).  

@jcdeboever  looking forward to seeing your film shots!

@Frank F. I can sympathize about the glasses.  I have the opposite issue.  My glasses work great for using the computer but are terrible for reading.  I think I'm going to have to give in and have 3 pairs of glasses.  One for computer, one for reading a book, one for driving!  Do they make trifocals?

Mornin' folks.  I've got a great day lined up and I'm revving to go.  Taking mom out for breakfast then finishing up our gift shopping.  Back home this afternoon for the annual cookie bake with our neighbors (at almost 14, the girls are old enough to do it all and we moms just sip our wine and ignore the mess they're making).   I've got another holiday dinner and drinks with friends tonight - this time with my childhood friends.  Almost 50 years of laughter and tears with this gang and we don't get together nearly enough these days.


----------



## jcdeboever

So much for being off, I got to go in.   Uuug

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## minicoop1985

Pink eye eh? Ugh. That sucks.

So, so damned tired...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Rain yesterday and rained last night and it hasn't completely stopped. 54F right now, so winter has arrived with the solstice.  Gary doesn't mind the rain.  But then again Gary is somewhat weather agnostic, as long as he is properly attired, weather is one of those, it-is-what-it-is, type of things and Gary just acknowledges the conditions and plows ahead. Reflecting back, Gary thinks that more than half of his total on-the-job time, over the course of his life, required that he work outside. But Gary does appreciate nice weather.  The older he gets the more he appreciate nice weather. The worse thing about rain, here in LA, is that it makes rotten traffic even worse.  The good thing is the freshness in the air and seeing the snow in the mountains after the weather clears. Gary remembers sailing into Long Beach after playing baseball in Catalina.  The Sun was warm, the Pacific smooth as glass, the bay was full of boats and towering above the shoreline were these mountains covered with snow nearly to their base ... it seemed that one could reach out and touch them.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank is freezing, JC is working, Charlie has pinkeye, Appleton Guy is awake ... this place is going to hell in a handbasket.


----------



## Frank F.

Yea, weather is a kind of step-over-obstacle sometimes. Yet there are times when I prefer not to go out and still have to.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> At the optician I ordered new reading glasses which does not help much for computer work. Currently none of my glasses and spares works on my computer workspace whithout serious headache after only small amounts of work are done, Damn.
> 
> The testing apparatus caused flimmering and after a while I could not see clearly with any setup. So we postponed the project of ordering a pair of computer glasses.
> 
> Now I drink a herbal tea call "cleansing Horst" from an Los Angeles Star Bucks Pot



I swear by my computer glasses. I get headaches and my eyes are already very light-sensitive, and the computer glasses definitely help. I'm at an age when my distance vision has gotten a bit better (it was never that bad, but I do need to wear glasses for driving) but my close-up vision is getting worse, so I'm juggling distance glasses/no glasses/reading glasses all the time. I just recently got a pair of computer glasses with just a very small magnification (+0.5) and they are perfect so I can sit at the proper distance from the screen without straining my neck and back, but still can see clearly and have the protection of the anti-glare coating.



snowbear said:


> Thanks, coop.  It seems, somewhere along the way (office, hospital, nursing home) my conjunctivitis (aka pink eye) has returned, so I guess I'm staying home today.



Charlie, baby, what the hell? The universe seriously needs to start treating you and yours better! 



Gary A. said:


> But then again Gary is somewhat weather agnostic, as long as he is properly attired, weather is one of those, it-is-what-it-is, type of things and Gary just acknowledges the conditions and plows ahead.



While I definitely have preferences for what kind of weather I like (and yes, they are often the opposite of what most people like), I am also, as you say, "weather-agnostic." It matters most to me if I have to do something outside in unpleasant (to me) weather, but if I don't have to deal with it, why worry about it? I don't understand how, for example, people fret all day long about rain or wind when all they are doing is sitting in their offices or homes and never even going outside. Or when they ask about the weather somewhere else. When my mother visits my sister in Florida, for example, she'll call me and ask what the weather is like in NY. Now, there's 2 problems with this. First, I can't understand why she would care. Second, I've been weather-agnostic my entire life and no matter how many times she asks, my answer is always along the lines of "I don't know" or "I don't care, stop asking me." And yet, she still asks. Every time.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Rain yesterday and rained last night and it hasn't completely stopped. 54F right now, so winter has arrived with the solstice.  Gary doesn't mind the rain.  But then again Gary is somewhat weather agnostic, as long as he is properly attired, weather is one of those, it-is-what-it-is, type of things and Gary just acknowledges the conditions and plows ahead. Reflecting back, Gary thinks that more than half of his total on-the-job time, over the course of his life, required that he work outside. But Gary does appreciate nice weather.  The older he gets the more he appreciate nice weather. The worse thing about rain, here in LA, is that it makes rotten traffic even worse.  The good thing is the freshness in the air and seeing the snow in the mountains after the weather clears. Gary remembers sailing into Long Beach after playing baseball in Catalina.  The Sun was warm, the Pacific smooth as glass, the bay was full of boats and towering above the shoreline were these mountains covered with snow nearly to their base ... it seemed that one could reach out and touch them.


I shot with gloves on yesterday, it was overcast and 20°. I dressed perfectly and wasn't cold once. I walked 5.3 miles in my polo waterproof boots so my lower back is a little tight today as my body isn't used to wearing them. The boots were a good call as I stood in quite a few deep snow piles. First time shooting with the FM so I hope they turn out well. I used a yellow Nikon filter so curious to see they look. Not sure if they are essential in b & w film?  

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

Interesting lead story in the Times this morning, with some very good photographs (a double truck worth of photos inside).

Headline reading: "RISKING IT ALL TO REACH OUR DOOR".
Subhead: "Mexican border cities like Tijuana are overwhelmed as migrants from across the globe - Haiti, Africa and Asia - seek entry into the U.S."
Caption under Front Page Photo: "Nertho Thermitus ... waits to cross bridge leading from Tijuana to the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego. "I'm putting everything in God's hands." he says, "It is my last hope."
Opening lines of story: "One morning in January, five men from Nepal showed up at the Casa del Migrante in Tijuana, looking for a bed for the night.  That's odd, the shelter's director, Father Patrick Murphy, remembers thinking." ...

The Times pulled out all the plugs on this story.  It definitely will be nominated for a Pulitzer.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Frank is freezing, JC is working, Charlie has pinkeye, Appleton Guy is awake ... this place is going to hell in a handbasket.



I think we should probably decorate the basket.  Make it more festive...


----------



## snowbear

Another thing about rain the LA - it can eb


robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Frank is freezing, JC is working, Charlie has pinkeye, Appleton Guy is awake ... this place is going to hell in a handbasket.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think we should probably decorate the basket.  Make it more festive...
Click to expand...


Is it a Longaberger basket?  I have some little ornaments and tinsel.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Leo: Gary thinks playing organized sports really toughened Gary up for working outside.  Twice a day football practice in LA 1960's smog in 100F August heat, makes working in nearly any weather, a walk in the park.

@ JC:  The yellow filter just adds a touch of contrast.  It will bring out the clouds, but not much more ... maybe turn a yellow flower white.  Gary has worked in -20F+, (above the Arctic Circle in February). The camera repair guys removed all the liquid lubricants (grease) in my gear and replaced it with solid lubricants (graphite).  Gary had little battery pouches sewn into the armpits of my clothing.  Gary was given three instruction: 1) Do not take deep breaths; 2) Do not sweat; and 3) Do not put the camera up to your eye, it won't come off until Spring.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Frank is freezing, JC is working, Charlie has pinkeye, Appleton Guy is awake ... this place is going to hell in a handbasket.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think we should probably decorate the basket.  Make it more festive...
Click to expand...

Yeah, with empty beer cans.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> Is it a Longaberger basket?  I have some little ornaments and tinsel.



Well Gary didn't actually specify a basket type.. or dimensions for that matter.  Which, you know, would be helpful for those of us trying to make sure we have enough materials on hand to get it properly adorned.

Sheesh.


----------



## Gary A.

Personally, Gary would have enjoyed watching the Panda make the snowman rather than destroying the snowman.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it a Longaberger basket?  I have some little ornaments and tinsel.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well Gary didn't actually specify a basket type.. or dimensions for that matter.  Which, you know, would be helpful for those of us trying to make sure we have enough materials on hand to get it properly adorned.
> 
> Sheesh.
Click to expand...

Gary has this wild thought that you have plenty of empty beer cans at hand, ready for decorating any occasion.


----------



## terri

Happy Thursday, hosers!    Busy week for me.   Hubby is getting a crown put in and had his first of 2 visits, and it's making him both fearful and cranky.   Salt water baths interfere with the wine drinking, that's for sure.    

I have to go to the grocery store, and reeeeally don't want to.   The closer it gets to the weekend/holiday the more crowded it gets - I know this, and I'm still putting it off.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Gary has this wild thought that you have plenty of empty beer cans at hand, ready for decorating any occasion.



Depends on your definition of Plenty.  I mean sure, I have a few... but depending on the size of the basket I might have to make some compromises.  I might have to take the second story off the fort in the front yard, or maybe remove one or more strings of them from the back of the car.. etc...

So really "Plenty" is in the eye of the beholder.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


>



I LOVE HIM!!!!



Gary A. said:


> Personally, Gary would have enjoyed watching the Panda make the snowman rather than destroying the snowman.



Leo actually quite enjoys destruction 



terri said:


> Happy Thursday, hosers!    Busy week for me.   Hubby is getting a crown put in and had his first of 2 visits, and it's making him both fearful and cranky.   Salt water baths interfere with the wine drinking, that's for sure.
> 
> I have to go to the grocery store, and reeeeally don't want to.   The closer it gets to the weekend/holiday the more crowded it gets - I know this, and I'm still putting it off.



Sooooo in the same boat. I still have a few gifts to buy, too. I am SO not dealing with this holiday season very well.

And on that note, can I say how very much I despise whatever advertiser came up with this idea to make the holidays a competition? I find it crass and vile. Celebrating a holiday should not be about "winning."


----------



## table1349




----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Frank is freezing, JC is working, Charlie has pinkeye, Appleton Guy is awake ... this place is going to hell in a handbasket.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think we should probably decorate the basket.  Make it more festive...
Click to expand...

How about if we just ban the manufacture & sale of hand-baskets?


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> How about if we just ban the manufacture & sale of hand-baskets?



Then what are we supposed to take on the road that's paved with good intentions?


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> How about if we just ban the manufacture & sale of hand-baskets?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then what are we supposed to take on the road that's paved with good intentions?
Click to expand...

Didn't you get the memo?  It's closed for resurfacing.


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Didn't you get the memo?  It's closed for resurfacing.



Crap.  Well, guess I can get those beer cans hung back up in the trees then.  Just didn't look like Christmas.


----------



## tirediron

robbins.photo said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Didn't you get the memo?  It's closed for resurfacing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Crap.  Well, guess I can get those beer cans hung back up in the trees then.  Just didn't look like Christmas.
Click to expand...

Use Lucky & Bud...  red and white is Christmasy...


----------



## snowbear

Or maybe some empty Tim Horton's coffee cups.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> Or maybe some empty Tim Horton's coffee cups.



People would have to drink the stuff that's in them first.

Now tim-bits on the other hand...


----------



## Frank F.

tirediron said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> How about if we just ban the manufacture & sale of hand-baskets?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then what are we supposed to take on the road that's paved with good intentions?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Didn't you get the memo?  It's closed for resurfacing.
Click to expand...



If the basket cannot resurface future Moses will not appear at Pharaoes


----------



## robbins.photo

Frank F. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> How about if we just ban the manufacture & sale of hand-baskets?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then what are we supposed to take on the road that's paved with good intentions?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Didn't you get the memo?  It's closed for resurfacing.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> If the basket cannot resurface future Moses will not appear at Pharaoes
Click to expand...


Well truthfully I'm still a little hacked off at Gary.  He gets us all worked up about this really awesome road trip and now we find out we can't go.

Sheesh.  Thanks Gary.

Lol


----------



## Frank F.

We should alter the route and decorate with FULL beer cans. Hot spicy beer for christmas very possibly made of honey, so Met not as in "opera" but as in "alcoholic beverage". The state of the road and the movement are not so important any more you had enough you go to hell right on spot *ggg*


----------



## Frank F.

Today wet and cold. Edited raw always looks nicer than reality


----------



## JonA_CT

Since I'm not allowed to tell anyone else yet...I'm excited for 2017.


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> Since I'm not allowed to tell anyone else yet...I'm excited for 2017.
> 
> View attachment 131946



Ok, seriously.. is nobody taking Pixmedic's class on this stuff?


----------



## JonA_CT

robbins.photo said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Since I'm not allowed to tell anyone else yet...I'm excited for 2017.
> 
> View attachment 131946
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, seriously.. is nobody taking Pixmedic's class on this stuff?
Click to expand...


The irony is we just watched the reproduction video with my 7th graders today, haha.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Since I'm not allowed to tell anyone else yet...I'm excited for 2017.
> 
> View attachment 131946


That a big rectal thermometer

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Today wet and cold. Edited raw always looks nicer than realityView attachment 131941



Man, you flippin nail composition dude....


----------



## Gary A.

Home, finally ... home sweet home.  Man, Gary has been driving all jammin' day.  Cook's morning walk was rained out, so we just came back from our daily constitutional.  Ran around wrapping up little house chores and now sitting down to a cup of hot Mexican chocolate.  The kitchen table is filled with the tamales Mary Lou picked-up.  We will be meeting some people for Chinese at our local Chinese spoon. ... Gary is done with all his presents ... so no more rushing around. Cheers!


----------



## Gary A.

Hey Frank, remember this place...


----------



## Frank F.

Yes, I emptied the shop window in the Copperwood store in Orange & We had some great Thai food & The waitress wanted to marry me....


----------



## minicoop1985

Hi folks. Got my 5' octabox today. Fun times have been ensuing.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Since I'm not allowed to tell anyone else yet...I'm excited for 2017.
> 
> View attachment 131946
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, seriously.. is nobody taking Pixmedic's class on this stuff?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The irony is we just watched the reproduction video with my 7th graders today, haha.
Click to expand...


If teaching 7th grade hasn't put you off having children, nothing will.


----------



## Frank F.

Both kids are malad. Kons has been taken the metal from his arm. Moral still down, but he is hungry which is a good sign. Breakfast:





Theresa was vomiting all night and is on her way up now. She is in the parents bed I am on her side. Tired myself. Reading to her reading myself. Quite possibly sleeping soon both of us. Did not sleep much at night.


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Both kids are malad. Kons has been taken the metal from his arm. Moral still down, but he is hungry which is a good sign. Breakfast:
> 
> View attachment 131965
> 
> Theresa was vomiting all night and is on her way up now. She is in the parents bed I am on her side. Tired myself. Reading to her reading myself. Quite possibly sleeping soon both of us. Did not sleep much at night.


Those are some big wieners

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## minicoop1985

Holy wall of light Batman... This thing's intense. Not bright intense, but just freaking massive. Gonna make an awesome overhead light. I hope.


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Both kids are malad. Kons has been taken the metal from his arm. Moral still down, but he is hungry which is a good sign. Breakfast:
> 
> View attachment 131965
> 
> Theresa was vomiting all night and is on her way up now. She is in the parents bed I am on her side. Tired myself. Reading to her reading myself. Quite possibly sleeping soon both of us. Did not sleep much at night.
> 
> 
> 
> Those are some big wieners
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...



Big Wieners in small breadrolls mean a satisfatory filling


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> The irony is we just watched the reproduction video with my 7th graders today, haha.



Did they use CPR dummies?  Pix uses CPR dummies.. rotfl...


----------



## snowbear

Bonjour, peeps.  Eyes are still itchy so I'm planning on the Python workshop from home.  I may go with MLW to do a little shopping after she gets back from sitting with mom & Joe (BIL).

Sent my Secret Santa pic to be printed yesterday so it should be delivered by the end of next week.

The nephew and his wife from Ohio should roll into town today, sometime; they are bringing our stained glass violin.  Son #1 will be down Sunday.


----------



## Frank F.

@jcdeboever 23. December 2016 "Neo Bauhaus Alien" This supermarket trolley originates from the building supplies store "Bauhaus". I do not think we got one of these in 100km circumference from where this fell from the heavens...


----------



## Frank F.

Statistics for December: 2913 Nikon NEF I did not delete yet, 213 Fuji RAF I did not delete yet, no Olympus files. I sell all the Oly stuff. Not my thing.


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> @jcdeboever 23. December 2016 "Neo Bauhaus Alien" This supermarket trolley originates from the building supplies store "Bauhaus". I do not think we got one of these in 100km circumference from where this fell from the heavens...
> 
> View attachment 131969


Nice.... Cool shot!

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Major League laptop problems this morning.  Near the end of the boot the screen goes black.  After a bit Gary turned it off and tried a reboot, same-o.  One time it went to a logon for the iCloud and security code for the iPhone ... then back to black.  After a while a pop-up, popped up on top of the black screen and stated that a reboot was necessary for the OS update.  Gary waited and nada.  Recycled power again and at about 80% of the boot back to black ... but the cursor works.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Major League laptop problems this morning.  Near the end of the boot the screen goes black.  After a bit Gary turned it off and tried a reboot, same-o.  One time it went to a logon for the iCloud and security code for the iPhone ... then back to black.  After a while a pop-up, popped up on top of the black screen and stated that a reboot was necessary for the OS update.  Gary waited and nada.  Recycled power again and at about 80% of the boot back to black ... but the cursor works.



I'm assuming it's a Mac?  If so sounds like you need to reset the System Management controller.  It's been a while, but as I recall if you plug the system in and connect a magsafe adapter, then hold down the Shift+Control+Option+Power buttons all at the same time for a few seconds, then release them and boot it up it should fix the problem.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay, this is real odd, Twilight Zone odd.

Gary has two daughters, one lives in St. Louis and the other 2,500 miles away in San Diego. They both independently decided to gift Mary Lou something relating to tea, as Mary Lou likes tea.  They independently, without checking with each other, gave Mary Lou a tea mug.  We enter the Twilight Zone because both tea mugs came from the same manufacturer, the same style ... just different outside illustrations.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 131970
> Okay, this is real odd, Twightlight Zone odd.



That a man would buy mugs that look like that?  Oh ya.. total Rod Sterling moment there...


----------



## snowbear




----------



## Gary A.

Okay, the laptop is working ... Gary left it alone for a long while and it is back to normal.  Gary guesses it took a long time to install the OS upgrade.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131970
> Okay, this is real odd, Twightlight Zone odd.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That a man would buy mugs that look like that?  Oh ya.. total Rod Sterling moment there...
Click to expand...

LOL, you missed the edit explaining the details.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Okay, the laptop is working ... Gary left it alone for a long while and it is back to normal.  Gary guesses it took a long time to install the OS upgrade.



Good deal.  Haven't had any issues with my laptop lately but man they can be a pain.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> LOL, you missed the edit explaining the details.



Maybe.. but I'll bet it's funnier without them... lol

I'll head back up and read the whole story...


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


>


and a dimension of Tea mugs.


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy again, hosers. Been playing with all my new toys a lot lately. Hopefully my boom stand shows today. If not, ugh. The rest of my crap shows up Tuesday.


----------



## snowbear

I calibrated the laptop.  Not that different, just a little warmer, now.  I got a 90-day trial of adobe rental-ware; not sure of I'll activate it.  I don't want to lose or have to reinstall my current versions if I decide not to stay with CC.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 131970
> Okay, this is real odd, Twilight Zone odd.
> 
> Gary has two daughters, one lives in St. Louis and the other 2,500 miles away in San Diego. They both independently decided to gift Mary Lou something relating to tea, as Mary Lou likes tea.  They independently, without checking with each other, gave Mary Lou a tea mug.  We enter the Twilight Zone because both tea mugs came from the same manufacturer, the same style ... just different outside illustrations.



Those are beautiful!   I'm especially drawn to the red one, but the other is lovely, too.   

Sisters can do funny things like this.       I bet Mary Lou is tickled to have both of these mugs; one can always be in use while the other is getting washed.


----------



## limr

robbins.photo said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Since I'm not allowed to tell anyone else yet...I'm excited for 2017.
> 
> View attachment 131946
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, seriously.. is nobody taking Pixmedic's class on this stuff?
Click to expand...


Me! *raises hand*



SquarePeg said:


> If teaching 7th grade hasn't put you off having children, nothing will.



I really think that a huge part of my not wanting kids had to do with how much I worked with kids in my teens and twenties. 



robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131970
> Okay, this is real odd, Twightlight Zone odd.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That a man would buy mugs that look like that?  Oh ya.. total Rod Sterling moment there...
Click to expand...


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 131970
> Okay, this is real odd, Twilight Zone odd.
> 
> Gary has two daughters, one lives in St. Louis and the other 2,500 miles away in San Diego. They both independently decided to gift Mary Lou something relating to tea, as Mary Lou likes tea.  They independently, without checking with each other, gave Mary Lou a tea mug.  We enter the Twilight Zone because both tea mugs came from the same manufacturer, the same style ... just different outside illustrations.



I'm curious if they used Amazon to buy these and whether or not the company paid to have top billing in a search or if this was one of their Deals of the Day or similarly promoted. 



limr said:


> I really think that a huge part of my not wanting kids had to do with how much I worked with kids in my teens and twenties.



 I've noticed over the years that a lot of my daughters teachers do not have children   I'm assuming they get their fill at work


----------



## SquarePeg

Did some tipsy "baking" last night after my dinner with friends. Lost count of the measurements a few times, ate half the cookie dough raw, forgot to heat the oven, called it a day and went to bed. Cookies made = 0.


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @jcdeboever 23. December 2016 "Neo Bauhaus Alien" This supermarket trolley originates from the building supplies store "Bauhaus". I do not think we got one of these in 100km circumference from where this fell from the heavens...View attachment 131969
> 
> 
> 
> Nice.... Cool shot!
Click to expand...


The 1.4/105E has some really really exceptional rendering. A study in geometry:


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @jcdeboever 23. December 2016 "Neo Bauhaus Alien" This supermarket trolley originates from the building supplies store "Bauhaus". I do not think we got one of these in 100km circumference from where this fell from the heavens...View attachment 131969
> 
> 
> 
> Nice.... Cool shot!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The 1.4/105E has some really really exceptional rendering. A study in geometry:
> 
> View attachment 131971
Click to expand...

Wow, that is nice. Is the the new af-s 105 1.4 Ed?

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## JonA_CT

A couple things to catch up:

1. I followed Pixmedic's directions exactly, right down to making sure I had a mustache.

2. Just survived the last 4.5 hours with 100 sugared-up  10-14 year olds. 

3. I think being a teacher made me more interested in having children, and most people I work with also have kids (but not all).

4. The reason I love Apple products is because they seem to fix themselves.

5. I'm headed to play golf. Hoping to get 12ish holes in before dark.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Did some tipsy "baking" last night after my dinner with friends. Lost count of the measurements a few times, ate half the cookie dough raw, forgot to heat the oven, called it a day and went to bed. Cookies made = 0.


Oooohhhh ... tipsy baking is against the law in most states.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg: They both used Amazon.

Yesterday, Gary drove across Los Angeles, through rain and a freeway full of UPS trucks attempting to run Gary down, in order to deliver presents to his clients and associates.  He decided to start at the further destination north and work south to home.  When he arrived in Burbank he discovered he had forgotten to load up the gifts ... duh. Fortunately, this years theme is vino, so he found the local Trader's and re-loaded his Santa bag.  The Trader stuff isn't nearly as nice as the winery vino he was scheduled to deliver.  But it's okay, the big wigs were all out of town and will get the good stuff when they return and the minions got the less expensive Trader stuff ... and Gary ended up with some very good extra vino.


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Wow, that is nice. Is the the new af-s 105 1.4 Ed?



All of these.

Did you see this strange artifact?





Did I show the Botanical Garden Series???


----------



## Derrel

Frank, the 105/1.4 Nikkor lens and its example photos, well, that new lens deserves its OWN thread, not to be buried in a 1,870-page monstrosity....


----------



## Frank F.

some more...


----------



## Frank F.

Derrel said:


> Frank, the 105/1.4 Nikkor lens and its example photos, well, that new lens deserves its OWN thread, not to be buried in a 1,870-page monstrosity....



It happens to be such that I actually like the people on this thread...

...and that most of my shots come from that lens since I bought it a few weeks ago, complemented by some shots on assignment with all I got and that is a lot and the 23/2 Fujinon on my X100T


----------



## Derrel

Sure, some fine people here, no doubt. But your photos are being skipped by many. This is a nice little clique, but the photos are deserving to be seen. But WTF, right? Post 21,985 is a good post.


----------



## robbins.photo

Frank F. said:


> It happens to be such that I actually like the people on this thread...



Frank.. you've been drinking again haven't you?

Lol... great shots though.   Looks like a thumping good lens.


----------



## Frank F.

robbins.photo said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It happens to be such that I actually like the people on this thread...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank.. you've been drinking again haven't you? Lol... great shots though.   Looks like a thumping good lens.
Click to expand...


I have been drinking two glasses of very fine ten year old Bordeaux two days ago
I like diversity and peaceful coexistence of different characters
I am bored by the competition game many play
I like to take photos
I have my own style and
I like to discuss things on an aesthetic level and
I am not interested in people telling my my photo is not good because there is some CA in the lower left corner ... you know where people can stuff the CA into IMO???

PS: Yes the lens pairs exceptionally well with the D600. 
On the D500 it is a tad long for my purposes. 
The D3 is outdated. Very nice camera but I rarely use her. Pity. How I DID love her earlier!


----------



## robbins.photo

Frank F. said:


> I have been drinking two glasses of very fine ten year old Bordeaux two days ago
> I like diversity and peaceful coexistence of different characters
> I am bored by the competition game many play
> I like to take photos
> I have my own style and
> I like to discuss things on an aesthetic level and
> I am not interested in people telling my my photo is not good because there is some CA in the lower left corner ... you know where people can stuff the CA into IMO???



Lol... I think I might have a pretty good idea where you'd recommend people stuff the CA... but really since this is a family friendly forum I think our best bet would be to have Pixmedic demonstrate with the CPR dummies.



> PS: Yes the lens pairs exceptionally well with the D600.
> On the D500 it is a tad long for my purposes.
> The D3 is outdated. Very nice camera but I rarely use her. Pity. How I DID love her earlier!



I might have to look at getting one at some point.  Lot of other stuff on the list to take care of first, including eye surgery.


----------



## snowbear

Frank F. said:


> The D3 is outdated. Very nice camera but I rarely use her. Pity. How I DID love her earlier!


Yes, those are junk now.  Toss it in a box, send it to me and I will properly dispose of it for you.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> 3. I think being a teacher made me more interested in having children, and most people I work with also have kids (but not all).



People used to say that to me - that I would soon be clamoring for my own kids. The longer I worked with them, though, the less I wanted my own.

People also told me I would get used to the heat in Florida and soon would grow to love it. I would never want to move back north again. And yet, by the time I graduated, I hated the heat more than I ever had before. To this day, I despise it (not that I ever liked it, but I used to tolerate it better before college.)

I'm contrary and ornery like that, and am clearly the poster child for that old saying, "Familiarity breeds contempt."


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> View attachment 131978
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, that is nice. Is the the new af-s 105 1.4 Ed?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> All of these.
> 
> Did you see this strange artifact?
> View attachment 131975
> 
> 
> Did I show the Botanical Garden Series???
> View attachment 131976
> View attachment 131977
Click to expand...

Looks like some bodacious glass right there. Groovy rendering. 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Frank F.

For me the 2500 Euro listing price was insane .... although I was tempted I was looking for an opportunity ... I found it in the UK for 18xx and was in business ... very happy.


----------



## Frank F.

snowbear said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The D3 is outdated. Very nice camera but I rarely use her. Pity. How I DID love her earlier!
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, those are junk now.  Toss it in a box, send it to me and I will properly dispose of it for you.
Click to expand...



She is my old love. I can give her to my son but hardly sell her.


----------



## Frank F.

Good Night!!!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Did some tipsy "baking" last night after my dinner with friends. Lost count of the measurements a few times, ate half the cookie dough raw, forgot to heat the oven, called it a day and went to bed. Cookies made = 0.


Bahahahaha!!!!!!!!    Now that's having a holiday and a half.  


(I once did some tipsy enlargements while in the darkroom.   They sure_ felt_ like they were gonna be beautiful...and they were, as soon as I chucked them into the trash.)


----------



## terri




----------



## JonA_CT

When we got to the golf course, they told us that we were there "too late" to use a cart, so we ended up walking the course. I didn't have the right shoes or golf bag for that, so my feet and back and shoulders are killing me. We also caught up with the pair in front of us (who had a cart) on the third hole. We ended up only playing 10 because we realized that we'd be close to a mile away from the cars by the time it got dark. 

I guess the good news is that I walked off the two beers I drank upon my return home.

Anyone have any Christmas dessert ideas? I guess this is a little last minute, but my mom only asked this morning...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Monstrosity?? did Derrel just insult the highly esteemed Coffee House??! I'm shocked I say, shocked! Orrr.... he could be right on the money.

Teaching made you _want_ kids Jon?? I think you've been under some sort of hypnotic influence or mind meld by your students. 

I got out a box of sugar cookie mix, read the directions, realized it involved rolling out dough and cookie cutters and put the box back... I had in mind something easier like drop cookies, so maybe after Christmas. Playing with cookie cutters I like, but used to do it with play doh. With kids. Not mine. Nice thing about teaching is you send them home at the end of the day...

I'm recharging my Lego camera to take along on Christmas. I added a couple of Lego trees this year. Which may enhance the appearance but makes it hard to take pictures without knocking one off. What hardships us camera buffs endure.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Pumpkin Fluff comes to mind, but all I know is it involves pumpkin, pudding mix, whipped cream/cool whip, sugar/sweetener and pumpkin pie spices. The amounts I couldn't tell you, and this is as close as I get to a recipe.

Or open the freezer and get out the peppermint brownies and ice cream you bought (at least that's what I'm doing tomorrow night) - Dark Chocolate and Whiskey & Pecan ice cream no less.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> When we got to the golf course, they told us that we were there "too late" to use a cart, so we ended up walking the course. I didn't have the right shoes or golf bag for that, so my feet and back and shoulders are killing me. We also caught up with the pair in front of us (who had a cart) on the third hole. We ended up only playing 10 because we realized that we'd be close to a mile away from the cars by the time it got dark.
> 
> I guess the good news is that I walked off the two beers I drank upon my return home.
> 
> Anyone have any Christmas dessert ideas? I guess this is a little last minute, but my mom only asked this morning...



Our go to dessert when we don't know what to make is Boston Cream Cake. Bake a yellow cake mix using 2 round pans. While it cools mix 1 package instant vanilla pudding using just 1/2 of the milk on the recipe and pop that in the fridge. After the cakes cool you use the really thick pudding as filling between the layers then just add chocolate frosting or a ganache. It's delicious and easy.  The only drawback is it has to be kept cold. 

If you're up for something a bit more complicated, I have a great recipe for trifle using dark chocolate cake and salted caramel mousse.   We make them individually in these cute little footed glassdessert dishes we have but you could do one big trifle bowl..,

Then again you may not want to take recipe advice from the Tipsy Baker.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Monstrosity?? did Derrel just insult the highly esteemed Coffee House??! I'm shocked I say, shocked! Orrr.... he could be right on the money.


Haters gonna hate.  Just start charging his punk*** triple.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like Tipsy Baker Cookies, they melt in your imagination.


----------



## limr

Things that make me feel old #82:

In high school, I worked at a sporting goods store called Tom Kat in the local mall. It was a small local company with a few stores scattered throughout the area, and the one I worked at closed just after Christmas in 1989. I had moved to Fla for college in August of 1989, but the tradition was that employees could always work holiday hours when they were home during break, so I worked there during its last days. After it closed, an Olympia sports store moved into the space.

Last night, I went to that mall. My usual route takes me past Olympia and I saw a "Store closing" sale. I realized that it has been 27 years, almost to the exact day, when I worked the last days of Tom Kat in the same exact space.

27 years.

So I went in and bought a pair of running shoes. And suddenly, I felt very strongly that I was 18 all over again.

Then I went to some other stores to finish my Christmas shopping. I only went to a few stores and only bought anything at the last store I went into. I wasn't out for long. And yet, when I left the final store, I just needed to sit on a bench for a few minutes. 

Which is when I felt very strongly that I'm not 18 anymore.

Le sigh.


----------



## Frank F.

Rendering Panoramas on my DIY 16 core system with 32 threads is a breeze. Kolor Autopano Giga 4.2.3 uses all 32 threads. What needed a whole night's wait is now done in less than the time I need to prepare a coffee. Result is 12477 x 3519 qpixels. Here is a small & soft preview:





Originally shot 13 November 2009 with my Nikon D3 and a friend's 14-24/2.8 @14mm & f=1:11 on a Novoflex VR system, Linhof Tripod 3333



!!!MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!


----------



## JonA_CT

Good morning!

My daughter decided that she wanted to be up at 4:30, and then decided at around 5:15 that she wanted to go back to sleep. I'm up though, and won't be able to fall back to sleep. So I started a batch of yeasted waffles, and now I am calculating how many cups of coffee I will need today. If I make a pot now, I also need to be prepared to drink the cups I would normally drink when my wife wakes up.

I'm also didn't know there was a way to bake (especially sweet stuff) without being a little tipsy...but then again, I'm the person who forgot the baking powder in a cake last week completely sober.


----------



## Frank F.

Viva Döner!!!





105E@1.4 upper 4.5 lower


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Things that make me feel old #82:
> 
> In high school, I worked at a sporting goods store called Tom Kat in the local mall. It was a small local company with a few stores scattered throughout the area, and the one I worked at closed just after Christmas in 1989. I had moved to Fla for college in August of 1989, but the tradition was that employees could always work holiday hours when they were home during break, so I worked there during its last days. After it closed, an Olympia sports store moved into the space.
> 
> Last night, I went to that mall. My usual route takes me past Olympia and I saw a "Store closing" sale. I realized that it has been 27 years, almost to the exact day, when I worked the last days of Tom Kat in the same exact space.
> 
> 27 years.
> 
> So I went in and bought a pair of running shoes. And suddenly, I felt very strongly that I was 18 all over again.
> 
> Then I went to some other stores to finish my Christmas shopping. I only went to a few stores and only bought anything at the last store I went into. I wasn't out for long. And yet, when I left the final store, I just needed to sit on a bench for a few minutes.
> 
> Which is when I felt very strongly that I'm not 18 anymore.
> 
> Le sigh.


I need a drink after that story....

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## terri

Happy Christmas Eve, hosers!


----------



## minicoop1985

Sheesh, me too.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Things that make me feel old #82:
> 
> In high school, I worked at a sporting goods store called Tom Kat in the local mall. It was a small local company with a few stores scattered throughout the area, and the one I worked at closed just after Christmas in 1989. I had moved to Fla for college in August of 1989, but the tradition was that employees could always work holiday hours when they were home during break, so I worked there during its last days. After it closed, an Olympia sports store moved into the space.
> 
> Last night, I went to that mall. My usual route takes me past Olympia and I saw a "Store closing" sale. I realized that it has been 27 years, almost to the exact day, when I worked the last days of Tom Kat in the same exact space.
> 
> 27 years.
> 
> So I went in and bought a pair of running shoes. And suddenly, I felt very strongly that I was 18 all over again.
> 
> Then I went to some other stores to finish my Christmas shopping. I only went to a few stores and only bought anything at the last store I went into. I wasn't out for long. And yet, when I left the final store, I just needed to sit on a bench for a few minutes.
> 
> Which is when I felt very strongly that I'm not 18 anymore.
> 
> Le sigh.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I need a drink after that story....
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...


Don't we all.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

A front yard orchid spotted while retrieving the morning pager. Highs in the mid 50's today.  Mary Lou just turned on the heater.


----------



## Frank F.

Wäry Moddan. A pager instead of a paper


----------



## Frank F.

I survived


A church

X food (preparing)

B presents

F food (eating)


Now I am listening to really loud Reaggae Music drinking bitter herbal tea because I had a stomach condition in church and want to avoid vomiting....


----------



## Frank F.

I guess I am supposed to reveal the menue

Organic Salmon baked on the skin marinade of Mustard Honey and Olive oil.

Small red potatoes
Basmati rice
Baked tomatoes with herbalized salt and Mozzarella
Mousse au Chocolat
My wife had Tea with it
I had herbal tea bitter for stomach
Kids had water


----------



## vintagesnaps

That sounds good (well, not the upset stomach part that is!).

It figures that Leo would have worked at a store named Kat. And wore everybody out just reading about all that shopping and time travel.

Have a good evening this Christmas eve everyone!


(Went back a couple of pages and now I see what might have given Frank the upset stomach - what is in that pile of food??!! lol looks like tomato sauce over meatballs and roast/corned beef curls and french fries.)


----------



## Frank F.

DÖNER. German food with migrational background. This one prepared by a Kurd from Syria who opened the shop 20 years ago. You cannot eat that in The US, Kurdistan or Turkey. It is genuine German food. Some Turks and Kurds are trying to introduce it to the USA. A multi billion business. Bigger than Doghnuts, Bagels or Hotdogs!

And here is the rest of our Chistmas Eve dinner:



Not Döner


----------



## limr

Döner originated with the Ottomans, so yes, you can certainly find it in Turkey. Maybe that version has been "Germanized."


----------



## snowbear

I'll probably be scarce tomorrow.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah.  However you celebrate, please do it safely.


----------



## jcdeboever

Merry Christmas to all

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## snowbear

. . . and Peace on Earth.


----------



## EIngerson

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!





Merry Christmas from us! by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## Frank F.

Yesterday I was spontaeously appointed to be "official photographer" .... So I gave the D600/105E a ride...





23shots:   http://zentralkraft.com/erstes_set_heiligabend_2016_joseph.zip
41shots:  http://zentralkraft.com/zweites_set_heiligabend_2016_joseph.zip


----------



## minicoop1985

Merry mothaf**kin winter solstice/Christmas all you hosers.


----------



## snowbear

The bush (too small to be a tree) was put up last night.  It's still standing this morning, so apparently the kitties are good girls.

Because it's only the four of us, we have a ham and some mini rum cakes from the Honeybaked store.  The apples for the applesauce (cinnamon _and_ nutmeg) are cooking now, and we are also making sweet potato casserole, and homemade cranberry sauce.  Heading to the nursing home this afternoon and sometime in the next couple of days, linking up with the nieces and nephew, all camped out in Virginia.


----------



## SquarePeg

Merry Christmas Hosers!!  I hope you all have a wonderful day today.  Eat, drink and be MERRY!!!


----------



## JonA_CT

Merriment and bacon...

 

 

Happy Christmas!


----------



## Gary A.

Feliz Navidad Coffee Hosers.  39F here and the forecast is predicted not to break 60F.  

This being Christmas, so maybe something meaningful … (well at least meaningful to Gary). Gary has spent a number of Christmas’s in different countries.  Christmas in Korea, Gary was in a restaurant/bar in Pusan, a very nice place actually, and a couple of girls were all smiles and a bit on the giggling side with a birthday cake.  Gary inquired about the cake and they replied that it wasn't for them, but for Jesus.  Although they were not Christians, they still wanted to celebrate the birth of Jesus … so we all had a slice of cake.

Africa … Gary spent another Christmas in West Africa. A reporter and Gary were being shown the countryside when our host’s car broke down (again). It was late in the day and the nearest village didn’t have a BMW water pump. The village was so barren and non-descript that it wasn’t even on our maps.

We were stranded for the Christmas weekend in the village of no name. Weekend life in suburban Africa is as exciting as the rest of the week. Although the village lacked German auto parts, it did have a Catholic Mission and on Christmas morning Gary went to Mass.

The Church was French, with a few old wooden chairs scattered along the walls for the old, the interior was pew-less as well as window pane-less. The heat and dust poured through the portals where stained glass should have been. Gary hung in the back, as the room soon filled up with locals in their Christmas best.  Gary was more of an observer than a participant, watching the assembly picking out a child here, an adult there.  Using skills developed as a photojournalist, Gary melted into the crowd, taking a few snaps of interesting faces. 

Then Gary spotted her … the mother in rags. Please note that this was Africa and everybody was dressed in threadbare, worn attire, but this scarecrow of a woman was in rags. She had two children with her, also in rags. Life hadn’t been very gracious to this overly thin woman. As in all churches, the time came for the offerings. The Catholic services typically use baskets for donations, this Mission used a woven reed affair, about the size of a very large serving platter, dipping slightly in the center. When the platter ultimately made its way to this poorest of the poor, the Mother-in-Rags, Gary thought to his materialistic American self “… Boy, this ought to be good…”.

The Mother-in-Rags took the woven basket, carefully placed it on the ground, then stepped into the basket with the rest of the offerings. Back-lighted and diffused by shafts of light hitting the floating dust, she raised her eyes from her interlocked hands up to heaven. At the end of her prayer she stepped from the basket and passed it on with a humble dignity drawn from an inner place of strength Gary would never know.  

That was a message Gary has never forgotten. 

Merry Christmas


----------



## tirediron

Merry Ho-Ho everyone!!


----------



## Frank F.

Show us the picture of the scene in pixels


----------



## terri

Hope everyone is having a lovely day!


----------



## Gary A.

The herbs freshly picked for the turkey.


----------



## snowbear

Hoping everyone is have a wonderful holiday.  We decided not to go to Baltimore this evening, Miriam (MLW) and Jeremy (lazy lobster) will head there Tuesday after dropping me off at the office.

A few snaps.

The bush.  The topper is almost as big!



DSC_6836.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

We are not fancy.
Homemade cranberry sauce, fried rosemary potatoes.



DSC_6838.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

Ham, homemade applesauce, sweet potato casserole.



DSC_6839.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Frank F.

very fresh, Gary!


----------



## snowbear

Yay! Polar Bears!

"Bear-boggan"



000101.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

"A Gift So Fine From Madeline"  This one has apparently been sitting on the shelf since 1998 or 1999 - new in box.



000099.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Not much to look at, but the herbs elevate the taste a couple of notches.


----------



## Gary A.

Some Lorenzi Christmas bubbly in the patio.


----------



## limr

Merry Christmas, all you hosers who celebrate  Happy 2nd night of Hanukkah! 

Buzz and I spend Christmas Eve with my family and then we spend Christmas Day with his family. So yesterday, I got up, cooked, wrapped presents, picked up Buzz and drove to my sister's house, ate too much, opened presents, and then came home. As usual, dinner was a couple of hours after she planned and even though we started earlier this year, I still didn't get home until 11 p.m. 

Today, I woke up, cooked, wrapped presents, drove to Buzz's, ate too much, opened presents, and came home.

It's been a long weekend. It's hard to describe just how glad I am that I don't have to work for an entire week.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Merry Christmas, all you hosers who celebrate  Happy 2nd night of Hanukkah!
> 
> Buzz and I spend Christmas Eve with my family and then we spend Christmas Day with his family. So yesterday, I got up, cooked, wrapped presents, picked up Buzz and drove to my sister's house, ate too much, opened presents, and then came home. As usual, dinner was a couple of hours after she planned and even though we started earlier this year, I still didn't get home until 11 p.m.
> 
> Today, I woke up, cooked, wrapped presents, drove to Buzz's, ate too much, opened presents, and came home.
> 
> It's been a long weekend. It's hard to describe just how glad I am that I don't have to work for an entire week.


Sounds like a wonderful holiday. I can relate to the feeling of needing a week off. I was supposed to be off the final week of the year. Unfortunately, we have some challenges where I work and I am left to pickup the pieces. I have to go in tomorrow and fix some equipment but I will get it done and then go shoot some in downtown Bryan, OH and surrounding areas. Then I have to manage the plant for the remainder of the week due to the health challenges of the plant manager. I have had an overload of health challenges lately but doesn't seem to matter when it's a family business. I just suck it up and do what is nessecary so my father in law makes a great profit. I increased sales 500+% this year and he wants me to double it next year.... I will...uuug 

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----------



## EIngerson

Could not have asked for a better day. Good time with family and I'm actually home for the holiday. 


Hope you all had a fantastic day!!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS again!!!!!


----------



## minicoop1985

I don't know what I did, but as I was walking up the stairs I suddenly developed severe back pain. Now it's hard to bend down to pick up ANYTHING. Ow, this sucks. On the plus side, had me a fantabulous steak last night.


----------



## Frank F.

Have to tell you about the dream I had in the night 24 to 25 December: I looked into the mirror and saw I had become a black man. Clearly Frank of voice and finger prints very me .... yet my face looked younger my skin smoother my greybluegreen sparkle eyes were brown and my grey hair was black again. My skin color was dark black just not darkest black and I was astonished but happy with the transformation.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> I don't know what I did, but as I was walking up the stairs I suddenly developed severe back pain. Now it's hard to bend down to pick up ANYTHING. Ow, this sucks. On the plus side, had me a fantabulous steak last night.


When that happens to me, it's often something I did two or three days before.  Apparently I have a built-in shutter release delay.


----------



## Frank F.

Bonn. Train Station


----------



## Frank F.

Picture upload broken

Works again


----------



## snowbear

Frank F. said:


> Picture upload broken



Seems OK.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Yay! Polar Bears!


  I love the snowbabies!  We have a collection of them.



Gary A. said:


> Not much to look at, but the herbs elevate the taste a couple of notches.


  Drool worthy turkey pic Gary!   As that is probably the only thing I have NOT eaten in the last 24 hours, I am now totally craving some turkey.



minicoop1985 said:


> I don't know what I did, but as I was walking up the stairs I suddenly developed severe back pain. Now it's hard to bend down to pick up ANYTHING. Ow, this sucks. On the plus side, had me a fantabulous steak last night.


It doesn't take much to tweak a back muscle.  I have done it picking up a pencil and once just by reaching for something while standing at an awkward angle.



snowbear said:


> When that happens to me, it's often something I did two or three days before. Apparently I have a built-in shutter release delay.


  Yes!!!

Yesterday's star dessert:



DSC_3267_edited-1 by SharonCat..., on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yay! Polar Bears!
> 
> 
> 
> I love the snowbabies!  We have a collection of them.
Click to expand...

The Snowbabies polar bears are how the snowbear collection got started.

That dessert looks wonderful - please tell layers - i can guess whipped cream and what looks like butterscotch or caramel but I can't figure out bottom - berries?


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> That dessert looks wonderful - please tell layers - i can guess whipped cream and what looks like butterscotch or caramel but I can't figure out bottom - berries?



Dark chocolate cake, salted caramel mousse, caramel sauce, whipped cream.    The cake is least favorite layer/ may have to think about berries next time.


----------



## snowbear

It still sounds good - something to play with.


----------



## JonA_CT

Levain pizza dough, fresh mozz, homemade ricotta and pesto


----------



## terri

That dessert looks beautiful, Sharon!   Berries on the bottom might make it seem healthier.        And no danger of mushy cake if you wait too long to eat it (although the dark chocolate is a plus!).   

Hope everyone had/is having a lovely, long, lazy day-after Christmas.    I will never understand those who love to go right out and shop some more after Christmas - it's the last thing I want to do!!    I made oatmeal-walnut cookies this afternoon.   That was plenty of git-up and go!   Now I'm exhausted from the effort.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Levain pizza dough, fresh mozz, homemade ricotta and pesto
> 
> View attachment 132117


That looks fantastic, Jon!    I'll be right over.   With a slightly chilled bottle of Chianti and homemade oatmeal cookies.


----------



## Frank F.

A friend took my camera and with the camera this shot. Totally love it:


----------



## jcdeboever

Thats a nice image. 

Well I am stuck in the plant all week due to employee issues...uuug. Pretty slow out there anyway but I hate to be couped up inside.


----------



## JonA_CT

So I won my fantasy football league this year. Time to buy some flash triggers and an umbrella set up with the winnings.


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Thats a nice image.
> 
> Well I am stuck in the plant all week due to employee issues...uuug. Pretty slow out there anyway but I hate to be couped up inside.



You have to work? What is your ocvupation? Is that your company?


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thats a nice image.
> 
> Well I am stuck in the plant all week due to employee issues...uuug. Pretty slow out there anyway but I hate to be couped up inside.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You have to work? What is your ocvupation? Is that your company?
Click to expand...


I am the sales manager for my father in laws company.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is running low on beans, so today will be another roasting day. Time to order more beans as well. For Christmas, Gary gifted himself a Fuji 23mm and a grip for the XP2.  Slow news day today.  Lead story is about bad tamale masa, (lol).  The front page photo has people lined up with tubs of tamales that went goopy, waiting for a refund. "Unwrapping a tamale drama on Christmas" is the headline. 

Gary is taking it easy this week as far as work-work goes.  Some meetings tomorrow, but that should be it.  Maybe a run to Temecula on Friday would be nice.  The heavy winds on the 24th blew down a vine encrusted garden arch.  Yesterday, Gary took the sawzall to it, making little ones out of big ones. 

Gary and The Cook are off on morning constitutional. 54F right now, but may hit 70F in the afternoon.


----------



## JonA_CT

Oh! I ordered my air popper and first 3 pounds of green coffee beans. They should be here on Thursday.


----------



## Gary A.

Which air popper?


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Oh! I ordered my air popper and first 3 pounds of green coffee beans. They should be here on Thursday.



I bought my wife an air popper last year, she didn't like it and we gave it away. She still cooks it in a pan on the stove top, old school.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Back from the walk. Cook and Gary love the snow in the mountains.


----------



## jcdeboever

Nice, what's that green stuff?


----------



## JonA_CT

Carrier Fisher, too. 

My wife is literally crying. Her words..."She was the first person to really teach me that women could be bad-ass".


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> Carrier Fisher, too.
> 
> My wife is literally crying. Her words..."She was the first person to really teach me that women could be bad-ass".



Would somebody get this walking carpet out of my way....

Ya, don't think anyone else could have pulled that off quite like she did.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Carrier Fisher, too.
> 
> My wife is literally crying. Her words..."She was the first person to really teach me that women could be bad-ass".



Carrie Fisher
George Michael 
David Bowie 
Prince
Mrs Brady
Alan Thicke
Muhammad Ali
Nancy Regan
Alan Rickman
Gene Wilder

For someone who grew up in the 70's and 80's, it's like my childhood died this year.   Go away 2016.


----------



## Frank F.

Lemmy, the original 'Ace of Spades,' has died at 70

lemmy someone

ACE OF SPADES???


----------



## Frank F.

All the celebs who have died in 2016 - from Prince to George Michael

a quite complete list


----------



## terri

Frank F. said:


> All the celebs who have died in 2016 - from Prince to George Michael
> 
> a quite complete list



But the year's not over yet!      Geez.   It's been such a crappy year on so many levels!


----------



## snowbear

Well, I did not get the Fire Department GIS job from the nearby county.  I'm partly glad as, at the interview I found out it was getting things ready for their new dispatch system.  I just got through that type of gig and they are usually high pressure.  Additionally, I'm finding out that the minimum time to get vested in the pension system is ten years (I had five), and I really don't want to commit to that time frame in this area.

Now it get's interesting.  I just got an email from that county's IT department, advising of a limited term paid GIS position (1,500 hours or about 8 months).  It will primarily be to support (all of) Public Safety & Emergency Management, but open to working with other agencies.  I'll have to think about this; the timing is just about perfect for out anticipated migration.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone


 

Gary just came down from the patio ... with a near empty can of Henry's. A quick shower and Mary Lou strongly suggested he have a backyard naval orange. Man ... that was beyond a doubt one of the best oranges Gary has ever eaten ... a perfect orange.


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Lemmy, the original 'Ace of Spades,' has died at 70
> 
> lemmy someone
> 
> ACE OF SPADES???



Punk, speed metal, and thrash metal. He molded modern metal music. He was flippin scary talented. Unfortunately, drugs, alcohol, and woman were major stumbling blocks but he made it all work on different levels. Incredible noise with that double bass. Innovative for sure but to his design, the business industry hated him. They were the ultimate balls to the walls. Brilliant really. He is also a fantastic bass player.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> iPhone
> View attachment 132170
> 
> Gary just came down from the patio ... with a near empty can of Henry's. A quick shower and Mary Lou strongly suggested he have a backyard naval orange. Man ... that was beyond a doubt one of the best oranges Gary has ever eaten ... a perfect orange.



wonderful image


----------



## Gary A.

Gary worked on the roof, Mary Lou in the rose garden. Now is time for a bit of bubbly.


----------



## Gary A.

More oranges.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like oranges in festive bowls...

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> iPhone
> View attachment 132170
> 
> Gary just came down from the patio ... with a near empty can of Henry's. A quick shower and Mary Lou strongly suggested he have a backyard naval orange. Man ... that was beyond a doubt one of the best oranges Gary has ever eaten ... a perfect orange.



I agree, great image. You've been workin that iPhone lately G.


----------



## Gary A.

The best camera is the one you have with you.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> The best camera is the one you have with you.


Keep practicing... Lol....Lol......Lol....

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The best camera is the one you have with you.
> 
> 
> 
> Keep practicing... Lol....Lol......Lol....
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...

LOL ... one day ...


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lemmy, the original 'Ace of Spades,' has died at 70
> 
> lemmy someone
> 
> ACE OF SPADES???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Punk, speed metal, and thrash metal. He molded modern metal music. He was flippin scary talented. Unfortunately, drugs, alcohol, and woman were major stumbling blocks but he made it all work on different levels. Incredible noise with that double bass. Innovative for sure but to his design, the business industry hated him. They were the ultimate balls to the walls. Brilliant really. He is also a fantastic bass player.
Click to expand...


The band was Motörhead and he died last year. (And yes, the umlaut is completely superfluous. It was thing that metal bands did in the late 70s-80s. And yes, it's silly Metal umlaut - Wikipedia)


----------



## Frank F.

Garys image of the peeled oranges is wonderful!!!


----------



## SquarePeg

Good Morning Hoserville!  Back to the grind.  Not amused.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, back!

I'm at the office, but will be here only a couple of hours.  The niece and nephew are going to slide by for lunch and hand over the violin before heading to Baltimore and home to Ohio.  I'll head home with MLW.  I'm putting together a mini-workshop so I can set up the lessons and exercises from there.  I let the other county know I was interested in the temp job.  We'll see what happens.


----------



## SquarePeg

@snowbear  Is it me or do those links in your signature to the POTM and Challenge threads not work?


----------



## snowbear

They were not set as links, however I have now done so.


----------



## SquarePeg

Great!  I thought maybe my browser was not working correctly.  Chrome has been very sketchy lately.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. 50F right now, but it should beach 70F today.  Another easy day as none of my clients are working or working hard this week. Gary has been giving serious thought to retiring his zooms in favor of primes.  Zooms are different animals than primes, with different results, albeit slightly different.  Looks like they're moving the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl to Monday, a rain delay.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Cold. Gray. Some sun here and there.

Sneezed the other day nd threw out my back. Le ow.


----------



## robbins.photo

Morning hosers.  

Weather?  Sucks.  Thanks for asking though.  New developments?  Getting a lot of requests for prints off of Facebook, finally breaking down and setting up a website.  We'll see how it goes I guess.  No plans on quitting my day job, but who knows in a few months I might accumulate enough wealth to buy a filter.  From China.


----------



## Frank F.

In Bonn it was cold. Already dark as night now. 18.30. 4° Celsius, felt 2° as the weather people told me.

Today a package came with some fun gadget, a set of 3 glass lenses like these that are sold world wide for roughly 14 Currency: 
https://www.amazon.com/Amir-Fisheye-Camera-iPhone-Smartphones/dp/B0179JX8GC

pics follow


----------



## jcdeboever

primes always seem to produce better results.


Frank F. said:


> In Bonn it was cold. Already dark as night now. 18.30. 4° Celsius, felt 2° as the weather people told me.
> 
> Today a package came with some fun gadget, a set of 3 glass lenses like these that are sold world wide for roughly 14 Currency:
> https://www.amazon.com/Amir-Fisheye-Camera-iPhone-Smartphones/dp/B0179JX8GC
> 
> pics follow



Don't let Gary see that... He will be fisheying grapes on the vine and glass' of Gewürztraminer


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Morning hosers.
> 
> Weather?  Sucks.  Thanks for asking though.  New developments?  Getting a lot of requests for prints off of Facebook, finally breaking down and setting up a website.  We'll see how it goes I guess.  No plans on quitting my day job, but who knows in a few months I might accumulate enough wealth to buy a filter.  From China.


One of those leaded filters.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> In Bonn it was cold. Already dark as night now. 18.30. 4° Celsius, felt 2° as the weather people told me.
> 
> Today a package came with some fun gadget, a set of 3 glass lenses like these that are sold world wide for roughly 14 Currency:
> https://www.amazon.com/Amir-Fisheye-Camera-iPhone-Smartphones/dp/B0179JX8GC
> 
> pics follow


Gary likes the description:

"3 In 1 HD camera lens, meet all of your demand: expand the viewing by 4x, 140°super wide angle lens, enjoy the *high quality technical image effect*
High clarity & professional: _*made of high-class glass*_, professional HD lens reduces glass flare & ghosting caused by reflections"


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> primes always seem to produce better results.
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> In Bonn it was cold. Already dark as night now. 18.30. 4° Celsius, felt 2° as the weather people told me.
> 
> Today a package came with some fun gadget, a set of 3 glass lenses like these that are sold world wide for roughly 14 Currency:
> https://www.amazon.com/Amir-Fisheye-Camera-iPhone-Smartphones/dp/B0179JX8GC
> 
> pics follow
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't let Gary see that... He will be fisheying grapes on the vine and glass' of Gewürztraminer
Click to expand...

Too late.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> One of those leaded filters.



A man can dream.... 

Lol


----------



## Frank F.

OK. The Superprofessionalmulticoated 14-Euro lens set:



 
*THE MACRO
*



 
*THE EYEFISH*


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> OK. The Superprofessionalmulticoated 14-Euro lens set:
> View attachment 132236
> *THE MACRO
> *
> 
> View attachment 132237
> *THE EYEFISH*



Nominated December POTM. Well done sir.


----------



## Frank F.

The UWA is clearly the best optically, it also has the most glass in it.




*THE MACRO*





*THE UWA*


----------



## minicoop1985

Looking at listing agents to sell our house. It's time to move on to a newer place.


----------



## Gary A.

Moving is a two edged sword.


----------



## Gary A.

It is 82F today. Really weird. Gary has come in for some food all beat up from digging up the front and extending the wine bottle border. The front hasn't been disturbed in decades and it seems as solid as concrete. Gary has been using a roto-hammer to reach the required depth.  He is burying the entire bottle only leaving an inch or so above ground.  Mary Lou heated up some tamales and homemade beans.  While Gary's arms can barely move and his back aches ... Gary is content.

Tomorrow is projected to be 72F, then rain and much cooler weather on Friday.  Gary wants his winter back.


----------



## limr

Leo is _not_ back to the grind yet. This is her current view (okay, technically it was the view from about half an hour ago):


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Leo is _not_ back to the grind yet. This is her current view (okay, technically it was the view from about half an hour ago):


That is a cherry weather vane!

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

Now that looks like a bit of winter is in the air.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leo is _not_ back to the grind yet. This is her current view (okay, technically it was the view from about half an hour ago):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is a cherry weather vane!
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...

No it isn't, it's a Sperm Whale.


----------



## snowbear

Nice, Leonore.  Where is that?


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> No it isn't, it's a Sperm Whale.



Careful, Leo - Gary says it's loaded.


----------



## limr

There is indeed a bit of winter in the air, though this little corner of Massachusetts is supposed to get only rain and no snow. We are in New Bedford. Leo needs big water (i.e. ocean) to wind down from a very very intense 2016.


----------



## snowbear

OK.  There's a place NW of you that has wonderful New England clam chowder.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ugh. So we can't move for a while now, thanks to a bankruptcy we filed about a year and a half ago. I thought that was in the past...


----------



## Gary A.

Roasting away.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is upping his game from one pound deliveries to five pound puppies.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Leo is _not_ back to the grind yet. This is her current view (okay, technically it was the view from about half an hour ago):



A golden opportunity and you did not waste it!


----------



## waday

Why does Apple call the new photos "Live Photos"? They're short videos. Am I missing something (aside from a marketing degree)?


----------



## jcdeboever

Kitty hanging out, being a pest really....






Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Kitty hanging out, being a pest really....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app



Not a pest. HELPING! 

How can such a sweet face be a pest?


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Kitty hanging out, being a pest really....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not a pest. HELPING!
> 
> How can such a sweet face be a pest?
Click to expand...


Lol...uummm she keeps stealing my pens off the desk and when the phone rings, I have to scramble around.... geez. She like sitting on my shoulder too.


----------



## jcdeboever

She's sleepy now after eating some salami with grey poupon. ..






Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## jcdeboever

She wants more salami...





Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... Hello Kitty.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm ready to hunker down today -- rain is supposed to start soon, but the only thing I have to do outside the house is to go get my wife's car from the dealer after they finish the oil change.

I made a ridiculous day trip to Northern VT yesterday to visit some of my favorite breweries. In good weather, the trip should take about 4.5 hours each way. Unfortunately, un-forecasted snow squalls appeared and gummed up the back roads we take a little bit, so we got slowed down. I do have a large amount of fresh, world-class beer in my house now though. 

My air popper and green coffee beans arrive today. I'm hoping that it isn't too windy so I can get the first batch roasted on the porch even though it is supposed to rain.


----------



## JonA_CT

I also posted on Facebook to find some informal portrait volunteers. I'm hoping I get some takers...I'd love some practice.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  At 6:41 a.m. Gary received a business call. Not a good prognostication for the rest of the day.  Interesting article in a thin LA Times today. "He's 'the spirit' of Mt. Baldy" is the headline, the subhead reads, "Beloved 78-year-old still hiking after nearly 750 summits".  This guy Seuk Doo Kim, aka 'Sam', wants to climb Mt. Baldy 1,000 times.  At 10,000'+, Baldy the tallest peak in the San Gabriel Mountains. This year alone he has reached the domed top 240 times and at one time had a streak of climbing the peak 100 days in a row. Granted, the climb isn't tough by a mountaineer's standard.  Climbers use Mt. Baldy as a training peak in preparation for more difficult climbs.  Sam launches from Manker Flats, which is about 6,000' up the mountain and the trail is clearly marked and used ... but the man is 78 year old. A seasoned climber said that the 100 days in a row was an incredible feat of endurance at any age.  He attained his 100th daily assent on a Sunday, "'I'm feeling God's embrace - this is better than church,' Sam said on the way up." "'My shortcut is the Holy Spirit.'"

Sam is Gary's new hero.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I also posted on Facebook to find some informal portrait volunteers. I'm hoping I get some takers...I'd love some practice.


How about neighbors?


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> She wants more salami...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


OMG...look at that sweet face.         If she wants more salami, you must give it to her!   

(In small amounts, of course.)    What a beautiful girl!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I'm ready to hunker down today -- rain is supposed to start soon, but the only thing I have to do outside the house is to go get my wife's car from the dealer after they finish the oil change.
> 
> I made a ridiculous day trip to Northern VT yesterday to visit some of my favorite breweries. In good weather, the trip should take about 4.5 hours each way. Unfortunately, un-forecasted snow squalls appeared and gummed up the back roads we take a little bit, so we got slowed down. I do have a large amount of fresh, world-class beer in my house now though.
> 
> My air popper and green coffee beans arrive today. I'm hoping that it isn't too windy so I can get the first batch roasted on the porch even though it is supposed to rain.


We need to trade beer for wine.  4.5 hours would get Gary to the Paso Robles wine country.  Two hours up from Santa Ynez and the Santa Rita Hills (Santa Barbara County wine country).  Some of the best Pinots in the world come from the Santa Rita Hills. Another four hours from Paso Robles gets me to Sonoma and Napa. Temecula is little over an hour away, hence Gary's penchant for Temecula wines. Last night Gary and Mary Lou enjoyed a very peppery  Cabernet Sauvignon from Temecula while watching 'Celia' on Netflix. 

Gary doesn't know if he would drive 4.5 hour for a beer. lol


----------



## robbins.photo

Ok, news from the home front.  I was looking at signing up for Obamacare so I could get the cataract surgery I need.  Sadly though it looks like that will be a no-go.  The insurance after "tax credits" was roughly about $400 a month.

Not sure who decided that close to 1/3 of my my monthly income was "affordable", but desperate times call for desperate measures.  However I checked the schedule of benefits, along with the $1100 deductible that this level of insurance provides for, I'd also need to come up with a 30% copay.

So before I could have the operation once you add in the $400 first months premium I'd need to have almost 3 grand on hand to get the operation, which is almost what the operation costs without any insurance at all.

Yup, basically the insurance is almost completely useless.  So having to go with plan B.


----------



## SquarePeg

robbins.photo said:


> Ok, news from the home front.  I was looking at signing up for Obamacare so I could get the cataract surgery I need.  Sadly though it looks like that will be a no-go.  The insurance after "tax credits" was roughly about $400 a month.
> 
> Not sure who decided that close to 1/3 of my my monthly income was "affordable", but desperate times call for desperate measures.  However I checked the schedule of benefits, along with the $1100 deductible that this level of insurance provides for, I'd also need to come up with a 30% copay.
> 
> So before I could have the operation once you add in the $400 first months premium I'd need to have almost 3 grand on hand to get the operation, which is almost what the operation costs without any insurance at all.
> 
> Yup, basically the insurance is almost completely useless.  So having to go with plan B.



Trying to remember from our earlier conversations about this why you do not have medical insurance through the VA?  I thought you had served?


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> Trying to remember from our earlier conversations about this why you do not have medical insurance through the VA?  I thought you had served?



Yup..i served.  As it stands now the waiting list is.. well a bit of an issue.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Ok, news from the home front.  I was looking at signing up for Obamacare so I could get the cataract surgery I need.  Sadly though it looks like that will be a no-go.  The insurance after "tax credits" was roughly about $400 a month.
> 
> Not sure who decided that close to 1/3 of my my monthly income was "affordable", but desperate times call for desperate measures.  However I checked the schedule of benefits, along with the $1100 deductible that this level of insurance provides for, I'd also need to come up with a 30% copay.
> 
> So before I could have the operation once you add in the $400 first months premium I'd need to have almost 3 grand on hand to get the operation, which is almost what the operation costs without any insurance at all.
> 
> Yup, basically the insurance is almost completely useless.  So having to go with plan B.


I know nothing of Obamacare, but Mary Lou's son is in the program (Care California), and it is quite affordable for him.  Your situation seems very odd.


----------



## jcdeboever

Here's momma, she is taking a break from her 5 kittens that she has hidden away in the plant (3 weeks old). She is on my flannel shirt.  I can see the kittens but not disturbing them with the flash, two orange ones and 3 gray ones. She is a little slutty, 3 litters in a year. The GM lady keeps putting off getting her fixed....






Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, news from the home front.  I was looking at signing up for Obamacare so I could get the cataract surgery I need.  Sadly though it looks like that will be a no-go.  The insurance after "tax credits" was roughly about $400 a month.
> 
> Not sure who decided that close to 1/3 of my my monthly income was "affordable", but desperate times call for desperate measures.  However I checked the schedule of benefits, along with the $1100 deductible that this level of insurance provides for, I'd also need to come up with a 30% copay.
> 
> So before I could have the operation once you add in the $400 first months premium I'd need to have almost 3 grand on hand to get the operation, which is almost what the operation costs without any insurance at all.
> 
> Yup, basically the insurance is almost completely useless.  So having to go with plan B.
> 
> 
> 
> I know nothing of Obamacare, but Mary Lou's son is in the program (Care California), and it is quite affordable for him.  Your situation seems very odd.
Click to expand...

Can't say how odd it might be, no real clue how things work in other states.  In my state I had basically only one plan available where the deductible was actually less than the entire cost of the surgery, and that was the plan I described above.

It's an 1100 deductible, 30% copay and costs me $400 a month.  So in two months of paying premiums it would cost me more than what than it would to just pay for the surgery myself.

So it will actually be faster and less costly to take that 400, put it in the bank and pay for everything with no insurance.

Can't speak for California, but those are the only options I had here in Nebraska.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

I don't know it well enough, but for this specific instance at this one time, yes, it may not _seem_ to make sense. But once the deductible is hit, wouldn't any costs/follow-up appointments/medication(?)/etc be covered? And then, say, next year, hopefully there wouldn't be a surgery and the deductible can be reached gradually without a huge hit to the bank account.

I'm assuming this is still beneficial over not having insurance in the long run.

But, don't mind me. I support universal healthcare.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Here's momma, she is taking a break from her 5 kittens that she has hidden away in the plant (3 weeks old). She is on my flannel shirt.  I can see the kittens but not disturbing them with the flash, two orange ones and 3 gray ones. She is a little slutty, 3 litters in a year. The GM lady keeps putting off getting her fixed....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


Momma is pretty, too. Give her some treats.


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> I don't know it well enough, but for this specific instance at this one time, yes, it may not _seem_ to make sense. But once the deductible is hit, wouldn't any costs/follow-up appointments/medication(?)/etc be covered? And then, say, next year, hopefully there wouldn't be a surgery and the deductible can be reached gradually without a huge hit to the bank account.
> 
> I'm assuming this is still beneficial over not having insurance in the long run.
> 
> But, don't mind me. I support universal healthcare.



Ok, well not that it's at all deserved but I'll make one exception to post a response to you this one time. 

As usual your looking at this through the prism of politics.  I'm looking at it through the prism of holy crap I'm going blind and can't get any help at all from this useless government program.

The deductible is how much you have to pay for each individual operation.  It is not a maximum you have to pay for the entire year.  So if I want to have one eye done, I pay the $1100 deductible plus a 30% copay which is roughly 2 grand I have to have out of pocket for that operation.  So assuming I could get the operation in January I'd be out of pocket $2400.

But I don't have 2 grand to pay for all that up front..  So it will take at least a couple of months to save up the extra $900 I need for the copay, and probably a whole lot longer if I'm having to pay $400 a month in premiums that entire time.  400 a month is a huge chunk of change for me.

So when I run the numbers it's actually both cheaper and faster to put that $400 a month in the bank and pay for the entire operation out of pocket.

Now, if I wanted to have both eyes done?  Well see the 1100 deductible and $900 copay would apply to the second operation as well.  The max out of pocket on this policy is like 10 grand... so unless I spend more than that in one year every single operation/claim I pay that $1100 deductible and $900 copay for each operation, plus $400 a month.  Financially it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

The cheapest options available were around $200 a month but they had such high deductibles that I'd be paying everything out of pocket anyway, the policy would cover absolutely nothing.  Since there max out of pocket was even higher, both operations would be completely out of pocket, I'd save nothing and end up paying them $200 a month for nothing.

So ya, at this point I could give a fig less about universal health care, etc.. etc.   From my standpoint what matters is the fact that I'm going blind and I can't afford insurance that will actually do me any good.

Much like what matters to me is not whether or not you disagree with people politically, that doesn't give you the right to treat them like crap and not apologize.  If you disagree, hey that's fine.  Personal insults are not. 

As far as I'm concerned that ends any and all further discussions between us on any topic, until such time as the required apology is received.


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> Much like what matters to me is not whether or not you disagree with people politically, that doesn't give you the right to treat them like crap and not apologize. If you disagree, hey that's fine. Personal insults are not.
> 
> As far as I'm concerned that ends any and all further discussions between us on any topic, until such time as the required apology is received.




It's a two-way street.


----------



## robbins.photo

waday said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Much like what matters to me is not whether or not you disagree with people politically, that doesn't give you the right to treat them like crap and not apologize. If you disagree, hey that's fine. Personal insults are not.
> 
> As far as I'm concerned that ends any and all further discussions between us on any topic, until such time as the required apology is received.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's a two-way street.
Click to expand...

No, it's not.  Never was.  I called you out on your childish behavior, nothing more.  Your comments to me however were completely inexcusable.

That ends any further discussion with you as far as I'm concerned.  If you grow up at some point and wish to apologize then you can send a pm.

Otherwise there is absolutely nothing more to say.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Much like what matters to me is not whether or not you disagree with people politically, that doesn't give you the right to treat them like crap and not apologize. If you disagree, hey that's fine. Personal insults are not.
> 
> As far as I'm concerned that ends any and all further discussions between us on any topic, until such time as the required apology is received.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's a two-way street.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No, it's not.  Never was.  I called you out on your childish behavior, nothing more.  Your comments to me however were completely inexcusable.
> 
> That ends any further discussion with you as far as I'm concerned.  If you grow up at some point and wish to apologize then you can send a pm.
> 
> Otherwise there is absolutely nothing more to say.
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I personally think we're both at fault, but, anyways, that happened in a different thread in the subscriber's section. Please feel free to continue ignoring me.


----------



## tirediron

Sorry... what????  The levy the deductible for each operation?  Wow...  talk about about being wound hectically about a cylindrical tapered armature!!!!  All of a sudden $5/gallon gas doesn't seem so expensive!


----------



## jcdeboever

robbins.photo said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know it well enough, but for this specific instance at this one time, yes, it may not _seem_ to make sense. But once the deductible is hit, wouldn't any costs/follow-up appointments/medication(?)/etc be covered? And then, say, next year, hopefully there wouldn't be a surgery and the deductible can be reached gradually without a huge hit to the bank account.
> 
> I'm assuming this is still beneficial over not having insurance in the long run.
> 
> But, don't mind me. I support universal healthcare.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, well not that it's at all deserved but I'll make one exception to post a response to you this one time.
> 
> As usual your looking at this through the prism of politics.  I'm looking at it through the prism of holy crap I'm going blind and can't get any help at all from this useless government program.
> 
> The deductible is how much you have to pay for each individual operation.  It is not a maximum you have to pay for the entire year.  So if I want to have one eye done, I pay the $1100 deductible plus a 30% copay which is roughly 2 grand I have to have out of pocket for that operation.  So assuming I could get the operation in January I'd be out of pocket $2400.
> 
> But I don't have 2 grand to pay for all that up front..  So it will take at least a couple of months to save up the extra $900 I need for the copay, and probably a whole lot longer if I'm having to pay $400 a month in premiums that entire time.  400 a month is a huge chunk of change for me.
> 
> So when I run the numbers it's actually both cheaper and faster to put that $400 a month in the bank and pay for the entire operation out of pocket.
> 
> Now, if I wanted to have both eyes done?  Well see the 1100 deductible and $900 copay would apply to the second operation as well.  The max out of pocket on this policy is like 10 grand... so unless I spend more than that in one year every single operation/claim I pay that $1100 deductible and $900 copay for each operation, plus $400 a month.  Financially it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
> 
> The cheapest options available were around $200 a month but they had such high deductibles that I'd be paying everything out of pocket anyway, the policy would cover absolutely nothing.  Since there max out of pocket was even higher, both operations would be completely out of pocket, I'd save nothing and end up paying them $200 a month for nothing.
> 
> So ya, at this point I could give a fig less about universal health care, etc.. etc.   From my standpoint what matters is the fact that I'm going blind and I can't afford insurance that will actually do me any good.
> 
> Much like what matters to me is not whether or not you disagree with people politically, that doesn't give you the right to treat them like crap and not apologize.  If you disagree, hey that's fine.  Personal insults are not.
> 
> As far as I'm concerned that ends any and all further discussions between us on any topic, until such time as the required apology is received.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear this. This is an issue in many states and for good reason, going to be carefully reviewed by the next adminstration. Unfortunately, the plan has not really worked as advertised for many Americans. The bottom line is that you should be able to quality care for a reasonable amount. The only political statement I will make is that the politicians who push this, should be on the same plan. Why should they be any different than us? 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Sorry... what????  The levy the deductible for each operation?  Wow...  talk about about being wound hectically about a cylindrical tapered armature!!!!  All of a sudden $5/gallon gas doesn't seem so expensive!



Yup.  The deductible is the amount you pay for each procedure, plus the copay.  If you spend enough to hit your max out of pocket for the year, then you no longer have to pay either.

But the max out of pocket is so high I'd essentially be paying for both operations out of pocket plus the insurance premiums, which just makes no sense for me whatsoever.

So I'm having to come up with a plan B at the moment.  Such be life I guess.


----------



## robbins.photo

jcdeboever said:


> Sorry to hear this. This is an issue in many states and for good reason, going to be carefully reviewed by the next adminstration. Unfortunately, the plan has not really worked as advertised for many Americans. The bottom line is that you should be able to quality care for a reasonable amount. The only political statement I will make is that the politicians who push this, should be on the same plan. Why should they be any different than us?
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app



Yah, it sucks.  Seriously I don't care much about the politics on this from either side.  All I really care about is that I need to figure out a way to pay for this surgery before the lights go out completely.


----------



## terri

@robbins.photo:  the VA should be treating you better. 
@waday:  I agree about the universal health care.

To you both: please don't carry on your personal snits with one another out here.   Save it for the Subscribers forum, or take it to PM and spare the rest of us.    

Thankee!


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> Here's momma, she is taking a break from her 5 kittens that she has hidden away in the plant (3 weeks old). She is on my flannel shirt. I can see the kittens but not disturbing them with the flash, two orange ones and 3 gray ones. She is a little slutty, 3 litters in a year. The GM lady keeps putting off getting her fixed....



Oh dear... she really needs to be taken to the vet and fixed ASAP.   Clearly there are enough males in your area to pounce on her whenever she comes into heat.   It's not fair to her, to the kittens (the last thing the world needs is more unwanted/unplanned kittens!), or even to you, since you have to provide more for every litter.    I would bet that your vet could put you in touch with someone local who would do this minor procedure for a reduced rate, if that would help.    But this little sweetie should be spared all that she's going through, and let her get on with just being a beautiful (spayed!) girlie cat.        Just my two cents.


----------



## robbins.photo

terri said:


> The VA should be treating you better.



Such be life.



> To you both: please don't carry on your personal snits with one another out here.   Save it for the Subscribers forum, or take it to PM and spare the rest of us.
> 
> Thankee!



As previously stated as far as I'm concerned the matter is closed.


----------



## tirediron

Without meaning to re-open the whole "Obama-care" debate, I'm very interested in costs.  Canada has socialized medicine for years, and while there are many issues, I think on the whole it's a decent system.  One of the first things that you folks from North Mexico always remark on when you cross the border is the price of gasoline.  Victoria is just about the most expensive gasoline in Canada; we're paying probably $4.20 - $4.80 in US dollars for a US gallon (with a significant percentage of that going to support health care). 

On the flip side if I have to go to the emergency room for almost anything, there are NO out of pocket expenses.  Even my initial issue of medication(s) are normally free.  If I have planned, necessary surgery (anything from cataracts to joint replacement to an appendectomy) The total cost out of my pocket would be at MOST a couple of hundred dollars. 

Regular doctors visits are also normally no cost, and while vision, dental and most prescription medication (until you're 65, and then coverage varies depending on income) aren't covered  a $200 - 300/month supplemental plan (assuming you have no supplement from your employer) will cover you almost completely for all of those things. 

How does this compare with what you pay; both for fuel and health-care services?


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> Without meaning to re-open the whole "Obama-care" debate, I'm very interested in costs.  Canada has socialized medicine for years, and while there are many issues, I think on the whole it's a decent system.  One of the first things that you folks from North Mexico always remark on when you cross the border is the price of gasoline.  Victoria is just about the most expensive gasoline in Canada; we're paying probably $4.20 - $4.80 in US dollars for a US gallon (with a significant percentage of that going to support health care).
> 
> On the flip side if I have to go to the emergency room for almost anything, there are NO out of pocket expenses.  Even my initial issue of medication(s) are normally free.  If I have planned, necessary surgery (anything from cataracts to joint replacement to an appendectomy) The total cost out of my pocket would be at MOST a couple of hundred dollars.
> 
> Regular doctors visits are also normally no cost, and while vision, dental and most prescription medication (until you're 65, and then coverage varies depending on income) aren't covered  a $200 - 300/month supplemental plan (assuming you have no supplement from your employer) will cover you almost completely for all of those things.
> 
> How does this compare with what you pay; both for fuel and health-care services?


Well most health insurance plans here are tied to employers.  Those of us who are employed by folks who don't offer insurance like myself are in pretty bad shape as a result.

If your employer has decent insurance your usually looking at a deductible for most things,  or occasionally a small copay.

The insurance plans available.to those of us who don't get one from an employer at least in my state are horrible.  High premiums, high deductibles, massive copays and huge max out f pockets.

I can't really get into the why's and wherefores of it without sparking a political debate and like you I'm not interested at all in that.



Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


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## waday

@tirediron, I hope this helps. I'm not trying to get political here, but I think (generally) many liberals here in the US are in favor of universal healthcare, while many conservatives want it privatized. As a liberal, I would like to see everyone having free access to healthcare. It seems to make sense.

That said, to help with your query on costs:

My current healthcare costs are supplemented by my employer, but I pay around $500 a month for my wife and I (this price includes medical, dental, vision, and the health savings account*). My plan is a high deductible (~$7500), so I pay everything (using my HSA money) until I reach my deductible. After that, I don't pay anything else. Granted, I don't plan on hitting my deductible, but believe it or not, I'm on the most cost effective plan my employer offers.

Fuel, well, that varies throughout the country. The current average is about $2.30 per gallon, I think. The area I live in is slightly higher around $2.40. The West Coast generally has the highest costs per gallon; I think the average right now is about $2.70/$2.80?

I'd be all over raising gas prices to pay for universal healthcare. The only problem is that others do not. They would see their gas prices being doubled, but would fail to see their healthcare costs being eliminated.

*Not sure if you're aware of what an HSA is? I request a specific amount of money be put into an HSA prior to having any taxes being deducted. But, then I can only use that money for specific health-related expenses.


----------



## JonA_CT

It is very linked to what kind of benefits your employers offer and what state you live in. Connecticut runs its own health care exchange rather than relying on the federal one, and I think that the offerings and rates are quite different as a result. I just did a quick look at our exchange, and I had over 20 plans to choose from. Most of them were around $200-300 a month for an individual, $200 for an emergency visit, and a $40 primary copay, and a $1500 annual deductible.

That being said, one of the benefits of being a teacher is that our health care is quite good. I pay about $4000 over the course of my contract year for my family, and my employer pays about $20000. This also includes vision and dental. Well-visits and preventative care cost me nothing. Primary care visits are $15, Emergency room $75, and in-patient care is $200 (so for my daughter's birth, we only spent $200 for my wife's 3 day hospital stay.

I paid 2.29 a gallon for gas today. I buy about 15 gallons a gas of week. Even if you doubled the cost of my gas, it wouldn't come close to covering it.

I think the big difference is that Canada has a single-payer system whereas the US has many, many private insurers. As a result, it's hard to tell what anything actually costs because every entity negotiates a different price for something. If I go to the hospital and have a procedure done, what I get billed and what my insurer actually pays is different. If I had a different insurer, they might pay something different than the one I have now.


----------



## snowbear

MLW gets an option of a few different plans.

We have a $30 for each office visit (or clinic, emergency room, etc.), an annual deductible for prescriptions, and a vision plan that allows one eye exam per year and an allotment for frames/lenses every two years (I pay everything over whatever the amount is).  I get my prescriptions through my primary provider (a multi-state chain of clinics), usually generic, so I pay regular costs for them since I've never approached the $200 or so deductible.


----------



## tirediron

Hmmm...   I'm thinking our gas prices aren't so bad!


----------



## SquarePeg

@tirediron 

Personally I would rather see the high gas prices than the high medical costs.  High gas prices force people to car pool, economize on fuel usage, downsize their vehicles, use public transportation and many other environmentally friendly actions.  High medical costs don't have any redeeming factors that I can see.  I have employer healthcare so I can't speak from personal knowledge about Obamacare but I have family and friends who get their insurance via the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (which has had its own version of a healthcare plan since well before Obamacare).  The monthly payments can vary greatly based on your individual circumstances.  There are those who love it and those who don't.  But $200-$400/month pp seems to be the average range.  For a family of 4 with no employer coverage, that can be a financially crippling payment.    

So, taking your question about costs into consideration...  here is a my unscientific analysis.  

If I drove my car to work and I had to commute into the nearest large city or the office parks in the tech towns just north of me, I would expect to have to fill up 1-1.5 x per week which would be (@ $4.20/gallon ) roughly $400-500/month. Public transportation costs a bit less, for me it would be $380 (parking + train).  So for a family of 1 with 1 commuter you would be about even with what we would pay @ Canadian gas prices vs. what we pay at the high end for public healthcare/month.  For a family of 4 with 1 commuter, the Canadian universal plan sounds like a much better deal.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> Hmmm...   I'm thinking our gas prices aren't so bad!


As long as you don't smoke, too.  IIRC ciggies were close to $4 or $5 a pack when I visited NS in '99


----------



## jcdeboever

I like donuts

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


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## Gary A.

My physician friend and fellow photog ... is a firm believer in universal health care.  He feels that it should be a Constitutional right, like freedom of speech.  He feels, good health care, in a country as wealthy as the U.S., should not be a matter based upon income.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm...   I'm thinking our gas prices aren't so bad!
> 
> 
> 
> As long as you don't smoke, too.  IIRC ciggies were close to $4 or $5 a pack when I visited NS in '99
Click to expand...

$10-13 now!


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## Gary A.

Wow ... have any idea how easy tobacco is to grow.  Tobacco is one of those plants which was often used in bological experimentations betcause it grows easily, quickly and hard to kill.


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## jcdeboever

I like chewing tobacco

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


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## limr

@tirediron  The health care system in America is, in a word, a cluster****. Costs and insurance plans vary wildly. The Affordable Health Care Act is an imperfect system and it obviously didn't work for everyone (including me for various reasons, mostly because the situation for academic adjuncts is even more jammed up than health care is...), but it still enabled 20 million people to get coverage that they couldn't get before.

I finally got insurance when I got this full-time job. And because I'm civil service AND union, it's a good plan and at the moment, I don't have to contribute with a payroll deduction. That might change because the union has been in contract dispute for years (literally - it's been 6 years) and one of the things on the table is payroll contribution for health care, I might have to pay eventually, but it will probably be less than $100 a month. 

Before that, if I had needed any major procedure, it would have been cheaper for me to fly to Portugal and get it done there (I'm a citizen and they have universal health care.) I've even known people who went to foreign countries to get surgery done, even if they weren't citizens and had to pay out of pocket, rather than face the cost of having it done in the U.S.


----------



## Frank F.

Today. Cold. Great light.


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## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Wow ... have any idea how easy tobacco is to grow.  Tobacco is one of those plants which was often used in bological experimentations betcause it grows easily, quickly and hard to kill.


I'm in Southern Maryland.  Before the government buyouts to the farmers, there were more tobacco barns here than all other types of barn, combined.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> My physician friend and fellow photog ... is a firm believer in universal health care.  He feels that it should be a Constitutional right, like freedom of speech.  He feels, good health care, in a country as wealthy as the U.S., should not be a matter based upon income.




But this is only possibly with less liability jurisdiction on the health care process. It is bad enough in Germany. It is hell on Earth for Doctors in America!

People who are sworn in to do everything in their best ability and knowledge to help are under greatest existetial pressure to do things they consider unnecessary because they have to fear their patients lawyers.

In Germany we have similarly the dying profession of Midwifes. They cannot pay their insurance anymore.

Life is risky. Medicine saves lives. It is simply unfair and against public interest to put all risk on doctors.

Find a way to get out of this, America. Your health system is the most expensive per capita in the world but far from being the best. Not even all people are covered.

Bad solution. Find a better one that will also be cheaper.

Good luck!


----------



## jcdeboever

I like midwifes


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## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> I like midwifes


and (some) midriffs.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> @tirediron  The health care system in America is, in a word, a cluster****. Costs and insurance plans vary wildly. The Affordable Health Care Act is an imperfect system and it obviously didn't work for everyone (including me for various reasons, mostly because the situation for academic adjuncts is even more jammed up than health care is...), but it still enabled 20 million people to get coverage that they couldn't get before.
> 
> I finally got insurance when I got this full-time job. And because I'm civil service AND union, it's a good plan and at the moment, I don't have to contribute with a payroll deduction. That might change because the union has been in contract dispute for years (literally - it's been 6 years) and one of the things on the table is payroll contribution for health care, I might have to pay eventually, but it will probably be less than $100 a month.
> 
> Before that, if I had needed any major procedure, it would have been cheaper for me to fly to Portugal and get it done there (I'm a citizen and they have universal health care.) I've even known people who went to foreign countries to get surgery done, even if they weren't citizens and had to pay out of pocket, rather than face the cost of having it done in the U.S.


Wow...


----------



## snowbear

Yes, "Obamacare" is not perfect; far from it, but it is better than nothing.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Yes, "Obamacare" is not perfect; far from it, but it is better than nothing.


Probably, on most media levels.  In reality, it impacts working people with higher than average incomes. I guess that people who work their ass off are not as important.  You don't even want to know what the wife and I pay for health care as a percentage to our income. This doesn't include deductibles and max out of pocket expenses. 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, "Obamacare" is not perfect; far from it, but it is better than nothing.
> 
> 
> 
> Probably, on most media levels.  In reality, it impacts working people with higher than average incomes. *I guess that people who work their ass off are not as important. *
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...


That's not at all a fair characterization.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, "Obamacare" is not perfect; far from it, but it is better than nothing.
> 
> 
> 
> Probably, on most media levels.  In reality, it impacts working people with higher than average incomes. *I guess that people who work their ass off are not as important. *
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's not at all a fair characterization.
Click to expand...

Why? So,  I can't afford cancer treatments because my income is at a level where the max percentage is taken out for Obamacare, and the state I live in is worse than Robbins, and because of my income, I should be able to afford 20k in treatments that will probably kill me? OK it's not fair to compare to someone who could clgive a **** less about taking care of their family and gets full treatment on my dime. 


Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Probably, on most media levels.  In reality, it impacts working people with higher than average incomes. I guess that people who work their ass off are not as important.  You don't even want to know what the wife and I pay for health care as a percentage to our income. This doesn't include deductibles and max out of pocket expenses.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


Sorry, but MLW and I hav workedd our @$$es off for years and we are/were govern


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, "Obamacare" is not perfect; far from it, but it is better than nothing.
> 
> 
> 
> Probably, on most media levels.  In reality, it impacts working people with higher than average incomes. *I guess that people who work their ass off are not as important. *
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's not at all a fair characterization.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Why? So,  I can't afford cancer treatments because my income is at a level where the max percentage is taken out for Obamacare, and the state I live in is worse than Robbins, and because of my income, I should be able to afford 20k in treatments that will probably kill me? OK it's not fair to compare to someone who could clgive a **** less about taking care of their family and gets full treatment on my dime.
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...


It's not fair because it implies that _only_ people with more income rather than less are the ones who work their asses off. That's simply not true.

There are many complicated reasons that the health care situation developed into what it is right now, but it's simplistic and inaccurate to blame it all on people who earn less or need more assistance.


----------



## snowbear

.Sorry, but MLW and I have worked our @$$es off for years, and that's with the government.  Even through several years without as much as a COLA let alone a merit increase, furloughs without compensation (the Feds get their money after the shutdowns are over), and multiple organization-wide RIFs (the reason I retired early).  Even when the union folks were getting something, often I did not because I wasn't union and couldn't be.

In this area, try to get any _real_ care without insurance - good luck.  You'll be patched up and sent on your way, then have to fight with the bill collectors.  No, the system is not perfect, and may not be working as it was intended to, but I think, in most cases, it is better than having no insurance at all.  I have no idea what's in store with the next batch, but I hope it isn't any _worse_.

On another topic, I was asked for a resume and contact information.   One step at a time.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> On another topic, I was asked for a resume and contact information.   One step at a time.



Good luck!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, "Obamacare" is not perfect; far from it, but it is better than nothing.
> 
> 
> 
> Probably, on most media levels.  In reality, it impacts working people with higher than average incomes. *I guess that people who work their ass off are not as important. *
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's not at all a fair characterization.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Why? So,  I can't afford cancer treatments because my income is at a level where the max percentage is taken out for Obamacare, and the state I live in is worse than Robbins, and because of my income, I should be able to afford 20k in treatments that will probably kill me? OK it's not fair to compare to someone who could clgive a **** less about taking care of their family and gets full treatment on my dime.
> 
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's not fair because it implies that _only_ people with more income rather than less are the only ones who work their asses off. That's simply not true.
Click to expand...

OK. Well that's not what I meant. In other words, people who choose to work their asses off to take care of their family are penalized for people who work the system. It is not unlike living in Detroit where car insurance is not regulated, and 60% of your policy pays for uninsured motorist insurance. You can't argue this, you just move out. I can't go to Brazil for cancer treatments.

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> On another topic, I was asked for a resume and contact information.   One step at a time.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thanks.
Sending you a PM on something else


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> OK. Well that's not what I meant. In other words, people who choose to work their asses off to take care of their family are penalized for people who work the system. It is not unlike living in Detroit where car insurance is not regulated, and 60% of your policy pays for uninsured motorist insurance. You can't argue this, you just move out. I can't go to Brazil for cancer treatments.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app



This I will agree with.  Unfortunately, there is always someone who knows how to work the system.  And apparently DC is like Detroit with speed cameras.


----------



## terri

Medical care should never be a for profit entity, nor should it be on the backs of employers to cover it.  The better solution is universal health care.  

I was in health care management for 20 years, and the majority of the doctors I worked with held that view.


----------



## snowbear

I have thought this way for a few years, now, Terri.  I saw, first hand, what can happen when someone is without insurance and falls through the cracks.


----------



## limr

I also feel there's too much of a tendency to believe that people are _gaming_ the system when in fact they are simply _using_ it for its intended purpose because they have no other choice. There will always be people who abuse an opportunity, but the percentage of scammers vs people with actual need is often lower than expected.


----------



## snowbear

Good point.


----------



## jcdeboever

In the end I don't really give ****. I just deal with what's in front of me. The system is built to support people that are less fortunate and the people who are caught in the middle half to figure out a way to finance their way out of it. But that's what people do who have the drive to do so.

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## dxqcanada

Does ketchup flavoured Potato Chips exist outside of Canada ?


----------



## snowbear

They were available here (near Washington DC) a while back.  I don't think they lasted that long.


----------



## limr

dxqcanada said:


> Does ketchup flavoured Potato Chips exist outside of Canada ?



Um. Ew. You are free to keep them all up there.


----------



## dxqcanada

What, you really don't know ... most excellent !!!!


----------



## terri

dxqcanada said:


> What, you really don't know ... most excellent !!!!


But it sounds icky!!  

I like plain old Ruffles, if I'm even gonna eat a chip.   Flavored chips, like BBQ or sour cream, are so nasty.   Not to mention wildly overpriced for being total junk food.


----------



## Frank F.

dxqcanada said:


> Does ketchup flavoured Potato Chips exist outside of Canada ?




We have Currywurst flavoured Porato Chips in Germany which is basicly a Curry Cetchup taste plus a little wurst taste


----------



## Designer

Frank F. said:


> .. Currywurst flavoured Porato Chips ..


----------



## JonA_CT

Never had ketchup flavored chips...but the all-dressed chips you Canadian folks peddle in Northern New England? Yup, have to buy a few bags of those every time I see them.


----------



## minicoop1985

Heya Hosers. Got my ring flash. Guess what? IT DOESN'T WORK. UGH.


----------



## JonA_CT

I took the garbage out this morning and saw this...




Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr

We get the prettiest sunrises, especially, with the entering and exiting of winter storms. I wish I had been more strategic this morning with my D600 instead of my iPhone, and perhaps on the beach rather than on my back porch. 


I roasted my first batch of coffee yesterday, and I am enjoying the fruits of my labor this morning. I don't think I could have guessed that this is how truly fresh coffee is supposed to taste, and I'm going to guess it'll get even better as I figure out exactly how to roast it.




Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr

The beans are uneven because my air popper turned off due to overheating in the second batch. I've read up on how to modify it to ensure that doesn't happen in the future. That'll be a project for the next couple of days. 

We did have to make one batch of popcorn in the maker before I roasted coffee because my wife insisted. Now I may be buying a second one.


----------



## minicoop1985

Guess what, hosers? I HAVE A JOB INTERVIEW FOR A REAL JOB THAT HAS REAL HOURS.


----------



## waday

dxqcanada said:


> Does ketchup flavoured Potato Chips exist outside of Canada ?


We don't have them available here, so I just squirt some ketchup on a plate of potato chips.


----------



## SquarePeg

Ketchup is my Kryptonite.  I can't stand the stuff. The smell, the gross sound when it squirts out of those nasty plastic bottles, the smell...  Just the thought of ketchup flavored chips is making my skin crawl.


----------



## snowbear

Ketchup/Catsup is fine on french fries and meatloaf, but not on chips (for the Brits, OK for chips but not crisps). And curriewurst - no words.

Sorry to hear the ring light isn't working.  Does it just not light up or it's OK with a test flash but the camera doesn't trigger it?


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Ketchup is my Kryptonite.  I can't stand the stuff. The smell, the gross sound when it squirts out of those nasty plastic bottles, the smell...  Just the thought of ketchup flavored chips is making my skin crawl.


I'm the opposite. When I was a kid, my mother once found me eating ketchup packets from McDonalds.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ketchup is my Kryptonite.  I can't stand the stuff. The smell, the gross sound when it squirts out of those nasty plastic bottles, the smell...  Just the thought of ketchup flavored chips is making my skin crawl.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm the opposite. When I was a kid, my mother once found me eating ketchup packets from McDonalds.
Click to expand...


I love ketchup. If the chips are freshly made, I'll put ketchup on them. On commercially-made chips? No. And building the flavor into the chip itself? It just sounds wrong. I generally don't like any flavors built into potato chips. I don't like to think about all the crap they have to add to a potato to get all those different flavors.


----------



## Gary A.

Not a ketchup fan.  Not really anti-ketchup ... just not a fan.  Salsa, now were talking sauce. Gary thinks that mixing chunky salsa with a creamy ketchup might be a good thing.  Initially it doesn't sound appealing, but as with most fusion foods, the proof is in the pudding.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> I'm the opposite. When I was a kid, my mother once found me eating ketchup packets from McDonalds.



(Gagging noises).  Yuck.  

My brother uses so much ketchup on his french fries, that the restaurant we used to go to when we were children, the owner told my mom that he could have free french fries if she brought her own ketchup.


----------



## SquarePeg

Leaving this thread until all the ketchup talk is done...   lmk


----------



## waday

Not done, yet, @SquarePeg 



Gary A. said:


> Not a ketchup fan.  Not really anti-ketchup ... just not a fan.  Salsa, now were talking sauce. Gary thinks that mixing chunky salsa with a creamy ketchup might be a good thing.  Initially it doesn't sound appealing, but as with most fusion foods, the proof is in the pudding.


Never tried it, but that sounds pretty good! What kind of salsa?

I mix in a little hot sauce every now and then. Sometimes some BBQ sauce. Depends on what I'm eating.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> My brother uses so much ketchup on his french fries, that the restaurant we used to go to when we were children, the owner told my mom that he could have free french fries if she brought her own ketchup.


One time I was out with some coworkers for breakfast, and the one guy ordered an omelet. He asked for the ketchup, and then proceeded to literally cover the entire omelet in ketchup. That's a little too much. 

I'm definitely a Hunt's person. I don't like Heinz as much.


----------



## Frank F.

Today I bought my favourite kettle Crisps / Chips thick cut with a great hot and sweer Chilli. Simply perfect. On the other hand I really hate anything with artifivial BBQ flavour. Great to actually grill something to get the real BBQ taste and grill marks.

Home made potatoes roasted with Rosemary in the frying pan ... I love to put thick tomatoe sauce on them or ketchup...


----------



## Frank F.

Of course it can be difficult to get really tasty potatoes. The best simply cooked in salt water do not need anything on them


----------



## Frank F.




----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Not done, yet, @SquarePeg
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not a ketchup fan.  Not really anti-ketchup ... just not a fan.  Salsa, now were talking sauce. Gary thinks that mixing chunky salsa with a creamy ketchup might be a good thing.  Initially it doesn't sound appealing, but as with most fusion foods, the proof is in the pudding.
> 
> 
> 
> Never tried it, but that sounds pretty good! What kind of salsa?
> 
> I mix in a little hot sauce every now and then. Sometimes some BBQ sauce. Depends on what I'm eating.
Click to expand...

No se. We usually make our own here.  Mary Lou is the salsa Queen, we just pluck a bunch of stuff from the garden and blend it up. Then adjust to taste.  If it is, to this, or, to that, we'll just add different stuff to counterbalance the "to" part.  We have a nice variety of peppers from hot to sweet, a ton of different tomatoes, red onions, cilantro, parsley, marjoram, basil, et al.  Every time is different.  Sometimes we'll roast the peppers, sometimes artichoke hearts if in season, lime, roasted sage ... it is pretty much open season with salsa. You can sweeten it with pineapple, (from the store), or turn up the heat with jalapenos or habaneros.  Gary made a couple of batches with a mocahete.  It was a lot of work and the end result lacked a nice consistency.  So now we use a blender, much easier with a better result.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary, sometimes, makes his own chips.  He has Red and Yukon potatoes in the back.  He slices them them thin and dumps them into a pan of avocado or grapeseed oil. A bit thicker than store bought, a cross between a French Fry and Chip.  Gary has heard that Kale chips good also.  Dehydrate the Kale add some seasoning and viola!


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not done, yet, @SquarePeg
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not a ketchup fan.  Not really anti-ketchup ... just not a fan.  Salsa, now were talking sauce. Gary thinks that mixing chunky salsa with a creamy ketchup might be a good thing.  Initially it doesn't sound appealing, but as with most fusion foods, the proof is in the pudding.
> 
> 
> 
> Never tried it, but that sounds pretty good! What kind of salsa?
> 
> I mix in a little hot sauce every now and then. Sometimes some BBQ sauce. Depends on what I'm eating.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No se. We usually make our own here.  Mary Lou is the salsa Queen, we just pluck a bunch of stuff from the garden and blend it up. Then adjust to taste.  If it is, to this, or, to that, we'll just add different stuff to counterbalance the "to" part.  We have a nice variety of peppers from hot to sweet, a ton of different tomatoes, red onions, cilantro, parsley, marjoram, basil, et al.  Every time is different.  Sometimes we'll roast the peppers, sometimes artichoke hearts if in season, lime, roasted sage ... it is pretty much open season with salsa. You can sweeten it with pineapple, (from the store), or turn up the heat with jalapenos or habaneros.  Gary made a couple of batches with a mocahete.  It was a lot of work and the end result lacked a nice consistency.  So now we use a blender, much easier with a better result.
Click to expand...

Gotcha. I like blended salsa, but if I had to make it from scratch, I probably wouldn't go blended.

The wife and I also like hot salsa. Our "hot" is defined as about 100 times what my family considers hot and about 1/100 of the level from a friend's authentic curry. She made it "less spicy" by "only" adding 6 jalapenos and 3 habaneros. Yeah, no, it was still hot.


----------



## Gary A.

The trick is not to over blend. Over-blended salsa = ketchup.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou has it down to a science, it always comes out with chunky bits swimming in a sea of spicy sauce. (Well not really a sea, But Gary had to go for the alliteration ... but a very nice ratio of chunk to liquid.


----------



## robbins.photo

Ok, so things you can no longer discuss in polite company.  Politics.. sure, given.  Religion.  No brainer.  Ketchup.. ya, bit out of left field but ok sure.

Got another kick in the head today, had a local art gallery contact me via facebook.  They want to feature a few of my prints.  Weird.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is raining.  All my Henry's work on the patio roof was to no avail.  There are still drops dripping from a beam.  Gary will try one more time with a repair.  He has only Henry-ed up the seams, now he'll slop everything in-between.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Gary, sometimes, makes his own chips.  He has Red and Yukon potatoes in the back.  He slices them them thin and dumps them into a pan of avocado or grapeseed oil. A bit thicker than store bought, a cross between a French Fry and Chip.  Gary has heard that Kale chips good also.  Dehydrate the Kale add some seasoning and viola!



Easy kale chips: get a bunch of fresh dinosaur (lacinato) kale and give it a rough chop - so the pieces are large enough to be chips.   (If the kale has large ribs you can slice them off before chopping if desired.)  Throw in a large bowl and add olive oil and sea salt, maybe some fresh ground black pepper, and toss well to coat the kale.   Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet (or two if needed) and bake @ 350' for  about 15 minutes (325 and 11-12 minutes for a convection oven).   Test for desired crispness.

Delicious, fast and easy!


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary, sometimes, makes his own chips.  He has Red and Yukon potatoes in the back.  He slices them them thin and dumps them into a pan of avocado or grapeseed oil. A bit thicker than store bought, a cross between a French Fry and Chip.  Gary has heard that Kale chips good also.  Dehydrate the Kale add some seasoning and viola!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Easy kale chips: get a bunch of fresh dinosaur (lacinato) kale and give it a rough chop - so the pieces are large enough to be chips.   (If the kale has large ribs you can slice them off before chopping if desired.)  Throw in a large bowl and add olive oil and sea salt, maybe some fresh ground black pepper, and toss well to coat the kale.   Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet (or two if needed) and bake @ 350' for  about 15 minutes (325 and 11-12 minutes for a convection oven).   Test for desired crispness.
> 
> Delicious, fast and easy!
Click to expand...

Gracias.  I'll try that.  We have a few different types of kale growing about, including dinosaur.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> We have a few different types of kale growing about, including dinosaur.



Why am I not surprised?         Actually, I've used regular/green leafy kale too, and it bakes up just fine.   The pieces aren't as well defined as the dinosaur, though.


----------



## jcdeboever

I'll go to the store and get some Detroit, "Better Maid" chips. Geez you guys work hard to eat. I'll skip the ketchup however, and get the barbecued

I like chips


----------



## SquarePeg

still?....


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I'll go to the store and get some Detroit, "Better Maid" chips. Geez you guys work hard to eat. I'll skip the ketchup however, and get the barbecued
> 
> I like chips


Gary makes his own BBQ sauce.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Not a ketchup fan.  Not really anti-ketchup ... just not a fan.  Salsa, now were talking sauce. Gary thinks that mixing chunky salsa with a creamy ketchup might be a good thing.  Initially it doesn't sound appealing, but as with most fusion foods, the proof is in the pudding.


Way to ruin salsa.



waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> My brother uses so much ketchup on his french fries, that the restaurant we used to go to when we were children, the owner told my mom that he could have free french fries if she brought her own ketchup.
> 
> 
> 
> One time I was out with some coworkers for breakfast, and the one guy ordered an omelet. He asked for the ketchup, and then proceeded to literally cover the entire omelet in ketchup. That's a little too much.
> 
> I'm definitely a Hunt's person. I don't like Heinz as much.
Click to expand...

Omelets are for hot sauce (Crystal, not Tabasco.  It has a better flavor).  Heintz over Hunts, and then you put it on hot dogs (but only those that are not on the bun; those on the bun get mustard) fries, meatloaf (baked on - not added after cooking), and as a base for bbq sauce.

OK, Sharon Cat - I'm done.  You can come back in.


----------



## tirediron

Frank F. said:


> dxqcanada said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does ketchup flavoured Potato Chips exist outside of Canada ?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We have Currywurst flavoured Porato Chips in Germany which is basicly a Curry Cetchup taste plus a little wurst taste
Click to expand...

Sounds tasty to me.  My personal favorites are Mackie's...  Haggis & Black Pepper or Whisky & Haggis...


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Gary makes his own BBQ sauce.


Of course he does....


----------



## JonA_CT

Ketchup-free zone here...

I made griessknockerl (or as close to the way its spelled I as can figure out) for lunch. My wife doesn't eat a lot of German food even though she is 50% German. My mother-in-law catered pretty heavily to my father-in-law's British "cuisine" when she was growing up. This soup is one of the things that brings her a lot of comfort though, because her mom used to make it when she was home sick. When they moved to Texas I had to learn how to make it for her. 

They are farina-based dumplings, and in this case, they were cooked in a homemade turkey stock (very untraditional). Both the dumplings and the stock are liberally spiced with freshly grated nutmeg.


----------



## JonA_CT

tirediron said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> dxqcanada said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does ketchup flavoured Potato Chips exist outside of Canada ?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We have Currywurst flavoured Porato Chips in Germany which is basicly a Curry Cetchup taste plus a little wurst taste
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sounds tasty to me.  My personal favorites are Mackie's...  Haggis & Black Pepper or Whisky & Haggis...
Click to expand...


Do they just puree random organ meat and spray down the chips?


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> Do they just puree random organ meat and spray down the chips?


There's nothing 'random' about it... it's VERY specific organ meat thankyewverymuch!


----------



## snowbear

And neeps and tatties.  And Scotch.  Don't forget the Scotch.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ketchup can be good in the right circumstances. It's rare, but it happens.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Ketchup-free zone here...
> 
> I made griessknockerl (or as close to the way its spelled I as can figure out) for lunch. My wife doesn't eat a lot of German food even though she is 50% German. My mother-in-law catered pretty heavily to my father-in-law's British "cuisine" when she was growing up. This soup is one of the things that brings her a lot of comfort though, because her mom used to make it when she was home sick. When they moved to Texas I had to learn how to make it for her.
> 
> They are farina-based dumplings, and in this case, they were cooked in a homemade turkey stock (very untraditional). Both the dumplings and the stock are liberally spiced with freshly grated nutmeg.
> 
> View attachment 132337



I had something in a different bowl this morning that looked like that....


----------



## jcdeboever

My sister in law's home made pickles. Didn't realize the cat was there.. lol







Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Frank F.

JonA_CT said:


> Ketchup-free zone here...
> 
> I made griessknockerl (or as close to the way its spelled I as can figure out) for lunch. My wife doesn't eat a lot of German food even though she is 50% German. My mother-in-law catered pretty heavily to my father-in-law's British "cuisine" when she was growing up. This soup is one of the things that brings her a lot of comfort though, because her mom used to make it when she was home sick. When they moved to Texas I had to learn how to make it for her.
> 
> They are farina-based dumplings, and in this case, they were cooked in a homemade turkey stock (very untraditional). Both the dumplings and the stock are liberally spiced with freshly grated nutmeg.
> 
> View attachment 132337




Nockerln are Austrian food


----------



## Frank F.

My daily shot. Melancholic winter grass:


----------



## snowbear

Woohoo! For the second time today, we are having snow flurries!


----------



## minicoop1985

Ugh I wish it would snow here. Keep people off the roads.

Just bought a new suit because interview Monday.


----------



## snowbear

Over already.  No way it was going to stick as the ground is too warm.
Good luck on the interview.


----------



## snowbear

The office work for the year is done.  I've done some research, set up some material for the workshop I'll probably give, cleaned up around the (8') paper cutter and plotters, and put together something to fix during the road trip.  My main reason for being here this week was to handle requests from anyone that came into the office (be a warm body) - it has been very quiet. MLW just called and will be here in ten minutes, so it's time to turn out the lights and lock the door.


----------



## limr

Alice's first trip to the beach.


----------



## snowbear

Well, the local food & fuel has these (for Easter), I guess because it's almost New Year's.


----------



## dxqcanada

Why does Peanut Butter and Chocolate go together so well ?
I can eat Reese's Peanut Butter cups forever ... one reason I like Halloween.


----------



## jcdeboever

dxqcanada said:


> Why does Peanut Butter and Chocolate go together so well ?
> I can eat Reese's Peanut Butter cups forever ... one reason I like Halloween.


I like Resse's cups

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> dxqcanada said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why does Peanut Butter and Chocolate go together so well ?
> I can eat Reese's Peanut Butter cups forever ... one reason I like Halloween.
> 
> 
> 
> I like Resse's cups
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...


See, I'm not a big fan of the peanut butter cups, but I LOVE putting peanut butter on a piece of chocolate.


----------



## JonA_CT

Leo, do you like homemade peanut butter cups? The one my friend used to make in high school maintained the texture of normal peanut butter rather than the weird, sugary/powdery stuff in the Reese's. I've never tried to make it myself...I don't really mess with desserts unless truly necessary.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Leo, do you like homemade peanut butter cups? The one my friend used to make in high school maintained the texture of normal peanut butter rather than the weird, sugary/powdery stuff in the Reese's. I've never tried to make it myself...I don't really mess with desserts unless truly necessary.



Never tried them but now I'm intrigued. I agree that the "peanut butter" in the Reese's cups has a strange texture and is too sweet, so it would be nice to control that. It's all about texture and proportion of pb to chocolate. I've also gotten quite picky about the quality of the chocolate I eat.

I'll make some and report back!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I'll make some and send them out!


FIFY


----------



## snowbear

We went to Olive Garden for dinner; it has been several months since our last visit.  The food was mostly good, but saltier than I like or remember.  The server was excellent, though - very personable and very attentive.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. I do NOT want to be up this early. But my wife kicked me out of bed because I have a plugged nose. Oh joy.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> We went to Olive Garden for dinner; it has been several months since our last visit.  The food was mostly good, but saltier than I like or remember.  The server was excellent, though - very personable and very attentive.



The OG is my daughter's favorite restaurant.  I find their food extremely salty but we do go there when she gets to choose.  The only dish I like there is the alfredo, which is pretty good and not overly salty. Their salad dressing is also really good and we buy a bottle and use it at home.

Let me guess...  Gary makes his own dressing. Lol.

@minicoop1985  there is a nasty sinus thing going around over here.  I hope you have just a regular cold!


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We went to Olive Garden for dinner; it has been several months since our last visit.  The food was mostly good, but saltier than I like or remember.  The server was excellent, though - very personable and very attentive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The OG is my daughter's favorite restaurant.  I find their food extremely salty but we do go there when she gets to choose.  The only dish I like there is the alfredo, which is pretty good and not overly salty. Their salad dressing is also really good and we buy a bottle and use it at home.
> 
> Let me guess...  Gary makes his own dressing. Lol.
> 
> @minicoop1985  there is a nasty sinus thing going around over here.  I hope you have just a regular cold!
Click to expand...


We don't eat out much, but I can't tell you the last time we went to the Olive Garden...probably just for soup and salad when we did.

We have an awesome fresh pasta place that is closer than Olive Garden. Their food is seriously awesome, and significantly cheaper. We usually get half portions for lunch (still more than anyone should eat, haha), and the check will be somewhere around $25 for my wife, daughter, and me.


----------



## SquarePeg

You just wait Jon until your little one is old enough to have an opinion and you will find yourself at many restaurants that are not your first choice!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.  Mocha k-cup in the mug, some clothes in the washing machine and making a small shopping list.  I have a couple things I need to get for the road trip.  I was planning on coming back Wednesday but the better flight prices require booking a week out, so I'm going to hang around Tulsa until Friday evening.  They have a zoo, so there's one day.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> You just wait Jon until your little one is old enough to have an opinion and you will find yourself at many restaurants that are not your first choice!



I gotta start training her to like pizza and wings then!


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> You just wait Jon until your little one is old enough to have an opinion and you will find yourself at many restaurants that are not your first choice!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I gotta start training her to like pizza and wings then!
Click to expand...

Our oldest went through a phase where he would only eat hot dogs.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> You just wait Jon until your little one is old enough to have an opinion and you will find yourself at many restaurants that are not your first choice!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I gotta start training her to like pizza and wings then!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Our oldest went through a phase where he would only eat hot dogs.
Click to expand...


That was my little brother. Hot dogs and chicken nuggets. I can't eat either anymore as a result. 

He also used to douse them all in *******.


----------



## snowbear

Catch up?

Yeah, ours did the nugget thing too.


----------



## jcdeboever

Never been a fan of OG. 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## minicoop1985

Thankfully, in my case, it's allergies combined with dry weather.




SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We went to Olive Garden for dinner; it has been several months since our last visit.  The food was mostly good, but saltier than I like or remember.  The server was excellent, though - very personable and very attentive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The OG is my daughter's favorite restaurant.  I find their food extremely salty but we do go there when she gets to choose.  The only dish I like there is the alfredo, which is pretty good and not overly salty. Their salad dressing is also really good and we buy a bottle and use it at home.
> 
> Let me guess...  Gary makes his own dressing. Lol.
> 
> @minicoop1985  there is a nasty sinus thing going around over here.  I hope you have just a regular cold!
Click to expand...


----------



## SquarePeg

Heading out to do some errands and maybe buy something new to wear tonight. Haven't been to  NYE party in ages but tonight I'm heading to my favorite watering hole with some friends. They're featuring this really great Motown band that we love. Dancing and a few drinks with good friends is a great way to stick a fork in 2016.


----------



## minicoop1985

Oh, in other news, my back is nearly better.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Heading out to do some errands and maybe buy something new to wear tonight. Haven't been to  NYE party in ages but tonight I'm heading to my favorite watering hole with some friends. They're featuring this really great Motown band that we love. Dancing and a few drinks with good friends is a great way to stick a fork in 2016.


Now, that actually sounds like fun!   You had me at "Motown band."   

The last time I went out for NYE, the restaurant ran out of food!   The manager was appropriately chagrined and apologetic, but it was still pretty lame.

Everyone stay safe!   Happy New Year!


----------



## snowbear

I don't remember the last time I actually went out for NYE.  It's never been a big thing for me since I don't care for playing "dodging drunks."


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We went to Olive Garden for dinner; it has been several months since our last visit.  The food was mostly good, but saltier than I like or remember.  The server was excellent, though - very personable and very attentive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The OG is my daughter's favorite restaurant.  I find their food extremely salty but we do go there when she gets to choose.  The only dish I like there is the alfredo, which is pretty good and not overly salty. Their salad dressing is also really good and we buy a bottle and use it at home.
> 
> Let me guess...  Gary makes his own dressing. Lol.
> 
> @minicoop1985  there is a nasty sinus thing going around over here.  I hope you have just a regular cold!
Click to expand...

LOL ... Hey, that's a good idea. (But Gary does make his own salads.) As to Italian foods, Gary does make his own pastas.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... Hey, that's a good idea. (But Gary does *grow* his own salads.) As to Italian foods, Gary does make his own pastas.



FIFY


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> I don't remember the last time I actually went out for NYE.  It's never been a big thing for me since I don't care for playing "dodging drunks."


Being old, Gary doesn't get out much.  Fireworks really really upsets Cookie. She gets so upset that usually we find it best to drug her.  On Independance Day and NYE we stay home in order to keep an eye on the Cook.  She is getting old like us and this year we decided to just wrap her up and sooth her through all the noise, without knocking her out.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The coffee is especially good on this cool, gray, misty morning.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou has a project to clean out the garage sufficiently so we can use it to work out. Under all the box and crap is a weight machine.  Gary has been installing a wine bottle lawn border in the front.  (Gary sinks the bottles vertically into the ground so only an inch or two is at grass/dirt level.)  He has about four feet to finish, but yesterday he ran out of bottles. So Gary needs to work on building up his inventory of construction materials.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Being old, Gary doesn't get out much. Fireworks really really upsets Cookie. She gets so upset that usually we drug her. On Independance Day and NYE we stay home in order to keep an eye on the pooch. She is getting old like us and this year we'll just wrap her up and sooth her through all the noise and without knocking her out.



Our dog (Xing) doesn't like them either.  We are close enough to Boston Harbor that we can hear and feel the boom but at a far enough distance that it's not too disturbing.  Even though it's not very loud, it does make the dog a little skittish.  We also have a few neighbors who sometimes like to set off their own fireworks at the golf course a few blocks away.  Those take a bigger toll on him.  He usually heads for the basement and his spot on the couch down there where you can't really hear the noise.  My nephew will be here and will keep an eye on him for me.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou have been watching this Netflix series called Celia, (Celia Cruz).  80 jammin' episodes.  We are almost finished.  It has turned from interesting, especially reflecting the Cubano and Latino culture ... to odd ... to now being just bad writing.  This thing is so long that even the actors have changed along this journey.  But we are near episode 70 and  we feel compelled to complete the final episodes ... just so we won't consider ourselves quitters.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Being old, Gary doesn't get out much. Fireworks really really upsets Cookie. She gets so upset that usually we drug her. On Independance Day and NYE we stay home in order to keep an eye on the pooch. She is getting old like us and this year we'll just wrap her up and sooth her through all the noise and without knocking her out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Our dog (Xing) doesn't like them either.  We are close enough to Boston Harbor that we can hear and feel the boom but at a far enough distance that it's not too disturbing.  Even though it's not very loud, it does make the dog a little skittish.  We also have a few neighbors who sometimes like to set off their own fireworks at the golf course a few blocks away.  Those take a bigger toll on him.  He usually heads for the basement and his spot on the couch down there where you can't really hear the noise.  My nephew will be here and will keep an eye on him for me.
Click to expand...

We are close enough to Disneyland that we hear their fireworks nearly everyday.  We now have a routine that Cook goes out to the front for her last call, then off to bed she goes. (She has her own doors for the back but not the front.)  But if she can hear loud noises all bets are off and she trots back to the house.  So we have to time her last call to Disneyland.  Being close to Mexico, (two hours away), people load up on tons of fireworks, which isn't safe nor sane, and light up the nighttime sky. People just light them off at their homes, the sky is filled with skyrockets and explosions.


----------



## Frank F.

I made cheese cookies today. Knowing the proportions I started with weighing the Suisse Gryére cheese: 669g, which is 2,23x the amount needed. So I had to 2,23x take the amount of Flour and Magarine: 559g (exactly 557,5g) and 449g (exactly 446g) ... Why do I tell you? Because the phone number of my mother was 669559 for many many years. I remember, this must be 44 years ago, some adult asked me for the phone number of my parents and I said: "I am not sure if it is 669 or 559." Then I thought this is a messagre from my mother who died two years ago on 1.1.15, but went unconscious on 31.12.14 and never woke up again. Gosh. Life can be magic if you let it happen...


----------



## limr

Back in NY. Buzz and I don’t mind being social for NYE once in a while, but that usually means a house party rather than going out. This year, we're in for the night with a cocktail and a movie or The Twilight Zone. That's party enough for us 

Happy New Year, hosers!!! May 2017 be much much better than 2016 for all of us!


----------



## jcdeboever

40° today, shot a couple rolls of film on U of M campus today. Wife dropped me off and went shopping. My goal was to practice composition and focus fine tuning with manual lens. Time will tell. Did mess up though on one roll, forgot to set camera ISO to 100 and shot a roll at 400.

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

Color or B&W?  B&W can handle underexposure better than color.  Mark that roll for overdevelopment.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Color or B&W?  B&W can handle underexposure better than color.  Mark that roll for overdevelopment.


B & W, yes I did. 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

Gary used HC110 when he pushed film.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary used HC110 when he pushed film.


I haven't tried that yet. I've been using Clayton R76 with their Rapid fix. Almost out and will order either D76, HC110, or New R5 monobath. Probably will go with D76, Rapid fix, and hypo clear. Read good things on HC110. Monobath is a roll of the dice I suppose. 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

Normal ASA = D-76
Pushed = HC110

Microfine is pretty good stuff also.


----------



## waday

Happy New Year!


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Happy New Year!



Happy New Year!


----------



## Gary A.

Happy New Year.


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy New Year!!!


----------



## Frank F.

Goodbye old year, hello new year





Daily pic 31DEC02016


----------



## snowbear

Happy New Year, peeps.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Normal ASA = D-76
> Pushed = HC110
> 
> Microfine is pretty good stuff also.


OK, thanks. Ordering both. That was easy....

Happy New Year!

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Designer

Happy New Year!


----------



## minicoop1985

Happy new year, hosers! May your 2017 not suck as much as 2016. #harambe


----------



## table1349




----------



## snowbear

The year is off to an interesting, typical Wrenn-type start.
MLW promised Andrew cinnamon rolls.  She started the dough, a little after midnight, then went to lay down for an hour while it rose.  She got back up (loud alarm) ans finished putting them together and rolled them.  They have to rise again/more, so she went back to bed for another hour, or so.  Loud alarm again, so she gets up, puts them into the oven, and makes the icing which goes on while buns are still hot.

Lights come on in the bedroom (I'm still asleep).  I open my eyes and look at her.  "Do you think WaWa has cream cheese?"

With all of our running, yesterday, we forgot to see if we had enough cream cheese, something normally stockpiled.  I know the local WaWa gas station and micro mart has ice cream and other grocery items, but I've never seen cream cheese.  I rolled out of bed, grabbed the K. Fire and searched for 24-hour grocery stores.  None.  But the Safeway, close by, opens at 5:00 AM.  Luckily their New Year's hours were the same so we got our cinnamon rolls!

Doesn't it look good?


 

Well, off to West Virginia, then Oklahoma.


----------



## Frank F.

Cheese Cookies




Champagne




Daily pic 1JAN02017
CC&C Food


----------



## terri

Happy New Year, hosers!     

Those cheese cookies look crisp and delicious, Frank!

Rainy and chilly outside.   The cats don't want to venture out yet and are yawning in my face when I suggest "outside kitty time" to them.   I came across a recipe for cream of tomato soup, so it's a perfect day to make that.    Plus an excuse to try my immersion blender, which I was given many moons ago and have yet to use.  

Grilled cheese sammies and cream of tomato soup later.    Football on TV.   Life is going to be simple today.


----------



## Frank F.

terri said:


> Happy New Year, hosers!        Those cheese cookies look crisp and delicious, Frank!



Thank you. I gave the recipee further above.

Given that in America it is very easy to buy stuff that looks a lot like cheese but actually has no distinguishable taste at all, it is important to find a good source for cheese, possibly very expensive imported stuff OR some organic farmers who produces the stuff freshly from their own milk or you buy pateurized milk and do it yourself, if you can get a set of microorganisms that really make a good variety. Note that you should not use Camembert cultures, they are so strong and go everywhere you never will be able to make any other cheese in the house until you tear down the building. But you can use blue cheese or red cheese cultures or try to find Appenzeller or Gryére cultures that are not as aggressive. Or you can even find that some cheese culture resides within your walls by trying to let a spontaeus micro organism fight take place in your cheese room. Or you buy imported tasty cheese and use the cheese as starter.

I buy original Suisse Gryére of guaranteed and protected origin and make. Only a very small region in the world is allowed to make real Gryére.

It is a strong to very strong medium hard to hard fat cheese with a strong slightly nutty and acidic smell and taste. Even the best qualities vary in taste, so I looked to find the one that ist most typical and complex at the same time. I use spelt flour, not wheat (allergy), I could also use buckwheat, rice flour or rye flour, the last would IMO add some nice taste to it. Home made Flour is usually to wet for the recipee so take dry product from the shop.

Amounts: 3 parts cheese, 2.5 parts flour, 2 parts sunflower margarine without taste changing additives. The more flour you take the less cheesy and softer the dough. If you take more cheese you have to leave out a bit more of the margarine, because of the high fat content of the cheese. The more cheese the crispier!

Perparation: use a strong cutter / blender at high speed to convert the dice cut cheese and the flour to a kind of "cheese flour". Add salt, pepper, rosemary and or sage to it. Note that the wet dough tastes saltier than the ready made cokkies, so put a tad more salt in the dough to achieve the saltiness you want in the result.

Add the Margerine that should have been in the deep freeze or the dough will be too soft to roll & cut later. It is never a bad idea to leave the dough rest in the fridge even for a few days before baking it.

Roll it to slightly less thickness than the smallest of you fingers and cut it as you please.

Important: you need the oven preheated to 200°Celsius and the baking plate must be stuffed oven hot. The cookie dough goes right to the hot iron, nothing in between. Use a brush to apply uncooked scrambled egg as a topping.

Bake for roughly 10 minutes until brown. The browner the crispier. Do not overdo them. The cheese taste will then die.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Normal ASA = D-76
> Pushed = HC110
> 
> Microfine is pretty good stuff also.
> 
> 
> 
> OK, thanks. Ordering both. That was easy....
> 
> Happy New Year!
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...

BTW- Some people say that D-76 has a learning curve.  That was the standard developer at the LA Times.  We all had individual dark rooms and could use any developer we wanted.  But we all used D-76 and HC110. We all developed differently, different temps and different agitation. I only agitated at the start ... maybe flipped the tank four times and at the middle of development ... at most a two flip.  But I shot somewhat over-exposed and that agitation minimized grain.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> The year is off to an interesting, typical Wrenn-type start.
> MLW promised Andrew cinnamon rolls.  She started the dough, a little after midnight, then went to lay down for an hour while it rose.  She got back up (loud alarm) ans finished putting them together and rolled them.  They have to rise again/more, so she went back to bed for another hour, or so.  Loud alarm again, so she gets up, puts them into the oven, and makes the icing which goes on while buns are still hot.
> 
> Lights come on in the bedroom (I'm still asleep).  I open my eyes and look at her.  "Do you think WaWa has cream cheese?"
> 
> With all of our running, yesterday, we forgot to see if we had enough cream cheese, something normally stockpiled.  I know the local WaWa gas station and micro mart has ice cream and other grocery items, but I've never seen cream cheese.  I rolled out of bed, grabbed the K. Fire and searched for 24-hour grocery stores.  None.  But the Safeway, close by, opens at 5:00 AM.  Luckily their New Year's hours were the same so we got our cinnamon rolls!
> 
> Doesn't it look good?
> 
> View attachment 132479
> 
> Well, off to West Virginia, then Oklahoma.


Those are Gary's type of cinnamon rolls ...


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Cheese Cookies
> View attachment 132481
> 
> Champagne
> View attachment 132482
> 
> Daily pic 1JAN02017
> CC&C Food


Good looking cookies Frank.  Gary and Mary Lou are debating between starting the New Year in Temecula ... Great food and very good sparking wines.  Or do we stay put in our pajamas, kick-in the heaters in the patio, light the fire-pit and enjoy the day with the Koi and explore our in-house Champagnes ...


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Good looking cookies Frank.  Gary and Mary Lou are debating between starting the New Year in Temecula ... Great food and very good sparking wines.  Or do we stay put in our pajamas, kick-in the heaters in the patio, light the fire-pit and enjoy the day with the Koi and explore our in-house Champagnes ...



See my write up above. You might want to explore making cheese at home. It is not so difficult. I did make cheese and sell it in the 1980ies


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy New Year, hosers!        Those cheese cookies look crisp and delicious, Frank!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you. I gave the recipee further above.
> 
> Given that in America it is very easy to buy stuff that looks a lot like cheese but actually has no distinguishable taste at all, it is important to find a good source for cheese, possibly very expensive imported stuff OR some organic farmers who produces the stuff freshly from their own milk or you buy pateurized milk and do it yourself, if you can get a set of microorganisms that really make a good variety. Note that you should not use Camembert cultures, they are so strong and go everywhere you never will be able to make any other cheese in the house until you tear down the building. But you can use blue cheese or red cheese cultures or try to find Appenzeller or Gryére cultures that are not as aggressive. Or you can even find that some cheese culture resides within your walls by trying to let a spontaeus micro organism fight take place in your cheese room. Or you buy imported tasty cheese and use the cheese as starter.
> 
> I buy original Suisse Gryére of guaranteed and protected origin and make. Only a very small region in the world is allowed to make real Gryére.
> 
> It is a strong to very strong medium hard to hard fat cheese with a strong slightly nutty and acidic smell and taste. Even the best qualities vary in taste, so I looked to find the one that ist most typical and complex at the same time. I use spelt flour, not wheat (allergy), I could also use buckwheat, rice flour or rye flour, the last would IMO add some nice taste to it. Home made Flour is usually to wet for the recipee so take dry product from the shop.
> 
> Amounts: 3 parts cheese, 2.5 parts flour, 2 parts sunflower margarine without taste changing additives. The more flour you take the less cheesy and softer the dough. If you take more cheese you have to leave out a bit more of the margarine, because of the high fat content of the cheese. The more cheese the crispier!
> 
> Perparation: use a strong cutter / blender at high speed to convert the dice cut cheese and the flour to a kind of "cheese flour". Add salt, pepper, rosemary and or sage to it. Note that the wet dough tastes saltier than the ready made cokkies, so put a tad more salt in the dough to achieve the saltiness you want in the result.
> 
> Add the Margerine that should have been in the deep freeze or the dough will be too soft to roll & cut later. It is never a bad idea to leave the dough rest in the fridge even for a few days before baking it.
> 
> Roll it to slightly less thickness than the smallest of you fingers and cut it as you please.
> 
> Important: you need the oven preheated to 200°Celsius and the baking plate must be stuffed oven hot. The cookie dough goes right to the hot iron, nothing in between. Use a brush to apply uncooked scrambled egg as a topping.
> 
> Bake for roughly 10 minutes until brown. The browner the crispier. Do not overdo them. The cheese taste will then die.
Click to expand...

LOL ... in the supermarkets, yeah, the mass produced cheese is generally awful.  But there are plenty of speciality shops and which sell local/organic cheeses.




Marin French Cheese Factory - Is the oldest continuous running cheese plant in the United States.  It's been making cheeses since 1865 ... while that may not be long for Europe, it is pretty good for the United States.  It operates in Marin County just north of San Francisco, and just south of Sonoma County Wine Country.

They have a picnic area with a pond at the store/factory.


----------



## limr

Y'all are going to the wrong grocery stores!  Or maybe I'm just spoiled here in NY. I have never had a problem finding good cheese.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Y'all are going to the wrong grocery stores!  Or maybe I'm just spoiled here in NY. I have never had a problem finding good cheese.



I imagine there are some French, Suisse, Italian, EU-Spanish and other people in NYC who will never accept tasteless "american style" cheese


----------



## JonA_CT

Not everyone has Wegmans!

I don't have any trouble finding good cheese (both local and international) around here though. There are two cheese shops in my normal travels if I can't find what I need/want at the grocery store.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good looking cookies Frank.  Gary and Mary Lou are debating between starting the New Year in Temecula ... Great food and very good sparking wines.  Or do we stay put in our pajamas, kick-in the heaters in the patio, light the fire-pit and enjoy the day with the Koi and explore our in-house Champagnes ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> See my write up above. You might want to explore making cheese at home. It is not so difficult. I did make cheese and sell it in the 1980ies
Click to expand...

Many Latinos in SoCal make cheese at home.  Often they sell the 'Mexican' style cheese to local stores.  A few years ago many people were taken severely ill by contaminated, homemade cheese and the county health department really cracked down on the practice of selling non-inspected cheese to the public.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... in the supermarkets, yeah, the mass produced cheese is generally awful.  But there are plenty of speciality shops and which sell local/organic cheeses.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Marin French Cheese Factory - Is the oldest continuous running cheese plant in the United States.  It's been making cheeses since 1865 ... while that may not be long for Europe, it is pretty good for the United States.  It operates in Marin County just north of San Francisco, and just south of Sonoma County Wine Country.




You have been living in Paris. Is the cheese as good as European cheese?


----------



## JonA_CT

Frank F. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Y'all are going to the wrong grocery stores!  Or maybe I'm just spoiled here in NY. I have never had a problem finding good cheese.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I imagine there are some French, Suisse, Italian, EU-Spanish and other people in NYC who will never accept tasteless "american style" cheese
Click to expand...


Meh. I eat a lot of American made cheese that is not American Cheese.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good looking cookies Frank.  Gary and Mary Lou are debating between starting the New Year in Temecula ... Great food and very good sparking wines.  Or do we stay put in our pajamas, kick-in the heaters in the patio, light the fire-pit and enjoy the day with the Koi and explore our in-house Champagnes ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> See my write up above. You might want to explore making cheese at home. It is not so difficult. I did make cheese and sell it in the 1980ies
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Many Latinos in SoCal make cheese at home.  Often they sell the 'Mexican' style cheese to local stores.  A few years ago many people were taken severely ill by contaminated, homemade cheese and the county health department really cracked down on the practice of selling non-inspected cheese to the public.
Click to expand...



Yes you have to work cleanly to avoid Lysteria especially.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... in the supermarkets, yeah, the mass produced cheese is generally awful.  But there are plenty of speciality shops and which sell local/organic cheeses.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Marin French Cheese Factory - Is the oldest continuous running cheese plant in the United States.  It's been making cheeses since 1865 ... while that may not be long for Europe, it is pretty good for the United States.  It operates in Marin County just north of San Francisco, and just south of Sonoma County Wine Country.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You have been living in Paris. Is the cheese as good as European cheese?
Click to expand...

Mmmmmmmh, some yes and some no.  On average, I think you wouldn't be disappointed and their good stuff isn't nearly as expensive as the good stuff in France.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> BTW- Some people say that D-76 has a learning curve.  That was the standard developer at the LA Times.  We all had individual dark rooms and could use any developer we wanted.  But we all used D-76 and HC110. We all developed differently, different temps and different agitation. I only agitated at the start ... maybe flipped the tank four times and at the middle of development ... at most a two flip.  But I shot somewhat over-exposed and that agitation minimized grain.


Really?  I've always thought of D76 as "Developer for dummies"... it's pretty much impossible to f**k it up if you follow the directions.  Maybe not always the best result, but always a usable one...


----------



## Gary A.

That's just what Gary read recently.  They thought that the Agfa developers were for dummies.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> That's just what Gary read recently.  They thought that the Agfa developers were for dummies.


Can't recall...  I think I only ever used Agfa chemicals once or twice, back in school...


----------



## SquarePeg

Frank F. said:


> I imagine there are some French, Suisse, Italian, EU-Spanish and other people in NYC who will never accept tasteless "american style" cheese



That's a pretty elitist statement Frank.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Y'all are going to the wrong grocery stores!  Or maybe I'm just spoiled here in NY. I have never had a problem finding good cheese.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I imagine there are some French, Suisse, Italian, EU-Spanish and other people in NYC who will never accept tasteless "american style" cheese
Click to expand...


There is every kind of person in NY and so we are all used to many kinds of foods. And as Jon mentioned, not all American-style cheese is the typical mass-produced, single-wrapped, orange Kraft slices. Chances are you've never tried a good sharp Vermont cheddar, or a grass-fed goat cheese from New York, or any number of cheeses from Wisconsin. 

Gary's not the only person who has lived in Europe, and I can attest that it has its own fair share of tasteless, mass-produced "cheese product" in addition to the quality foods that are readily found. And I can also say with certainty that yes, _good_ American cheese can absolutely stand up against _good_ European cheese, just as _bad_ European cheeses stand next to _bad_ American cheeses.


----------



## Frank F.

@limr I tried to buy cheese in Safeways. They had 100 different looks but more or less one taste. In this thread I learned that you should not buy cheese in the super market. Although I went to a kind of organic Supermarket called "Wholefoods" and they had some really good ingredients there. Pity I did not try the cheese there.


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I imagine there are some French, Suisse, Italian, EU-Spanish and other people in NYC who will never accept tasteless "american style" cheese
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's a pretty elitist statement Frank.
Click to expand...


Maybe. Sorry. I do not want to hurt anyone. There are Americans with refined tastes and the average German is sure one very interested in experimenting with uncommon food product. But. The quality you get in Supermarkets and even discounters is quite good.

When you go to France the quality of food in the stores is way above the average in Germany. You really see that French put much more emphasis on cooking and eating. They know the differences and value them more.


----------



## Designer

Frank F. said:


> @limr I tried to buy cheese in Safeways. They had 100 different looks but more or less one taste. In this thread I learned that you should not buy cheese in the super market. Although I went to a kind of organic Supermarket called "Wholefoods" and they had some really good ingredients there. Pity I did not try the cheese there.


Our local supermarket has two very distinctly different shopping options.  They sell the standard cheap cheeses that most Americans will settle for, and then they have a specialty cooler in a different part of the store that stocks imported cheeses.  So we can have either!


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> @limr I tried to buy cheese in Safeways. They had 100 different looks but more or less one taste. In this thread I learned that you should not buy cheese in the super market. Although I went to a kind of organic Supermarket called "Wholefoods" and they had some really good ingredients there. Pity I did not try the cheese there.



The thing is, there is a huge variety in the choices that are available at different supermarkets, or even at the same company but different store or region. For example, the Safeway you went into might have had a completely different selection from the Safeway outside of Philadelphia.

There are two stores near where I live - same supermarket company (called Acme) and only about 5 miles apart from each other. One is a much smaller store and I go there when I need some basics. When I want a better selection of anything or am looking for something more special, I will go to the other store which is bigger and caters to a slightly different population.

Even in the same exact store, there might be a much better selection of cheeses but just displayed in a different area. The typical sort of sandwich cheeses tend to be displayed in the dairy section next to the yogurts or milks. Meanwhile, close to the produce section is usually a deli area where there is often an entire display-case filled with different kinds of better quality cheeses, both domestic and imported.

It's all there, but is just a matter of knowing where to find it. This is true just about anywhere in the world.

America, as I'm sure you realized, is _huge_ and regional differences can be just as stark within the same country as you might see going through Europe. You see "Germany" vs "France" in terms of attitudes towards food or the quality of a specific food (cheese or bread or fruit...), and we might see "New England" vs "the South" or "Texas" or "California" which all have their own particular attitudes and specialties but which are all still "American." So it's very difficult to generalize about what is good or not good.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ...So it's very difficult to generalize about what is good or not good.


Not at all.  In fact it's very easy.  If I like it, it's good.  If I don't like, it's not good.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...So it's very difficult to generalize about what is good or not good.
> 
> 
> 
> Not at all.  In fact it's very easy.  If I like it, it's good.  If I don't like, it's not good.
Click to expand...


Well, that's _personalizing_, not generalizing, isn't it?


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...So it's very difficult to generalize about what is good or not good.
> 
> 
> 
> Not at all.  In fact it's very easy.  If I like it, it's good.  If I don't like, it's not good.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, that's _personalizing_, not generalizing, isn't it?
Click to expand...

Nope, 'cause in general, I only care what I think.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...So it's very difficult to generalize about what is good or not good.
> 
> 
> 
> Not at all.  In fact it's very easy.  If I like it, it's good.  If I don't like, it's not good.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well, that's _personalizing_, not generalizing, isn't it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nope, 'cause in general, I only care what I think.
Click to expand...


----------



## tirediron

And while you're at it...  Get off'n my lawn!!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> BTW- Some people say that D-76 has a learning curve.  That was the standard developer at the LA Times.  We all had individual dark rooms and could use any developer we wanted.  But we all used D-76 and HC110. We all developed differently, different temps and different agitation. I only agitated at the start ... maybe flipped the tank four times and at the middle of development ... at most a two flip.  But I shot somewhat over-exposed and that agitation minimized grain.
> 
> 
> 
> Really?  I've always thought of D76 as "Developer for dummies"... it's pretty much impossible to f**k it up if you follow the directions.  Maybe not always the best result, but always a usable one...
Click to expand...

That's what I need

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----------



## NancyMoranG

I am looking forward to 2017. My 2016 was not great. 
Hubby spent 12/28-12/30 in hospital brought on by stress of some family issues going on. He is ok, but he had put off doing some other medical stuff because of deductions until 2017... 
So as of now, he is still scheduled for some wrist surgery Jan 4, and the other wrist 1/ 20...and he is not looking forward to the medical bills 2 days before the new year..ugh..
Carry on...I am so glad to read of a lot of your great celebration/happiness out there!!


----------



## Gary A.

Attention!

Mary Lou and Gary just saw one of the best 'feel good' movies we've seen in a long long time.  It is a seamless combo of an old time musical with a modern movie.  Just pure entertainment ... LA LA Land ... whimsical and romantic.


----------



## snowbear

Stopped at uncle's in Philippi, WV to get bedroom furniture, and back on the road.  About 265 miles from Lexington, KY, tonight's target.

Photo of the Month -- Nominate; Vote; Save a Puppy!
Tired of the same old routine?  Enter the Sm4him Memorial Monthly Photo Challenge


----------



## minicoop1985

Ugh environmental allergies SUCK.


----------



## minicoop1985

Having severe sinus allergies the day before a huge interview makes me all kinds of nervous.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Having severe sinus allergies the day before a huge interview makes me all kinds of nervous.


You will do great. Get a good night's rest, eat breakfast, and own it. Don't mention a thing about it unless asked. 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> I am looking forward to 2017. My 2016 was not great.
> Hubby spent 12/28-12/30 in hospital brought on by stress of some family issues going on. He is ok, but he had put off doing some other medical stuff because of deductions until 2017...
> So as of now, he is still scheduled for some wrist surgery Jan 4, and the other wrist 1/ 20...and he is not looking forward to the medical bills 2 days before the new year..ugh..
> Carry on...I am so glad to read of a lot of your great celebration/happiness out there!!



Sorry for your troubles Nancy.  I hope 2017 takes a better turn for you.

Happy New Year!!!


----------



## Frank F.

NancyMoranG said:


> I am looking forward to 2017. My 2016 was not great.
> Hubby spent 12/28-12/30 in hospital brought on by stress of some family issues going on. He is ok, but he had put off doing some other medical stuff because of deductions until 2017...
> So as of now, he is still scheduled for some wrist surgery Jan 4, and the other wrist 1/ 20...and he is not looking forward to the medical bills 2 days before the new year..ugh..
> Carry on...I am so glad to read of a lot of your great celebration/happiness out there!!



How I can understand that!

Health issues can be very annoying given you yourself are dependent on doctors and fate for resolving them. 

In my case the time since October 2015 was a good time, because I found the right Cortisone level to be ready for the challenge of my days. Since then I have doctors searching for a way to get rid of the Cortisone, till now invane.

I hope they find some rerplacement, because I have to fear for my bones and teeth...

Good luck with you doctors & fate when it comes to health issues!!!


----------



## Donde

Top of the morning to all. Here it would be tinto and pan de bono...


----------



## minicoop1985

jcdeboever said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Having severe sinus allergies the day before a huge interview makes me all kinds of nervous.
> 
> 
> 
> You will do great. Get a good night's rest, eat breakfast, and own it. Don't mention a thing about it unless asked.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...


With enough medication, they seem to have subsided. Whew.


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. Nerves like crazy this morning. I know what I have to do to get this job, and I very much look forward to starting if I get it. But there's that IF part.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Nerves like crazy this morning. I know what I have to do to get this job, and I very much look forward to starting if I get it. But there's that IF part.


You will do great. Own it. Chin up, your the best man for the job! It's not what they can do for you but what you can do for them. 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Mornin, hosers. Nerves like crazy this morning. I know what I have to do to get this job, and I very much look forward to starting if I get it. But there's that IF part.


Fingers crossed


----------



## snowbear

Mornin peeps.
Misty rain and fog; apparently we are on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.


----------



## Frank F.

my picture of the day for 01 01 02017

.Sage.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is kicking back, a USC blanket wrapped around his legs, working on his first cup of coffee while watching the Rose Parade.  Life is good.  Gary loves the parade and game. When Gary lived in Pasadena he was about four blocks from the parade.  That making watching easy.  There is a Never on Sunday rule for the parade and game.  When the parade first started in the mid 1800's, the organizers feared that the parade would spook the horses which were all tied up while people attended church.


----------



## Gary A.

Donde said:


> Top of the morning to all. Here it would be tinto and pan de bono...


Oooohhh the Columbian bagel, Delicioso!  

Que es el tinto? Tinto de verano? Es el vino tinto? Que tipo de vino? Gary le gusta el vino? Feliz Ano Nuevo, donde y bienvenidos a la casa de cafe.


----------



## Gary A.

The USC float and band are passing the Tv booth.  Fight On!


----------



## minicoop1985

Thanks for the encouraging words, peeps. It's almost time to get ready, and now I'm more nervous about what to eat beforehand that won't stain my brand new suit.


----------



## Gary A.

We all know you'll do well.


----------



## minicoop1985

I put on my suit and thought to myself, damn, I'd hire me.


----------



## EIngerson

I haven't left my house all year.


----------



## terri

NancyMoranG said:


> I am looking forward to 2017. My 2016 was not great.
> Hubby spent 12/28-12/30 in hospital brought on by stress of some family issues going on. He is ok, but he had put off doing some other medical stuff because of deductions until 2017...
> So as of now, he is still scheduled for some wrist surgery Jan 4, and the other wrist 1/ 20...and he is not looking forward to the medical bills 2 days before the new year..ugh..
> Carry on...I am so glad to read of a lot of your great celebration/happiness out there!!


Here's hoping that the hubby gets through the medical stuff with as little trouble as possible.  Best wishes for a Happy New Year to you and your family, Nancy!


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Attention!
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary just saw one of the best 'feel good' movies we've seen in a long long time.  It is a seamless combo of an old time musical with a modern movie.  Just pure entertainment ... LA LA Land ... whimsical and romantic.


It's definitely on my to-see list.  We saw the trailer a few weeks ago.   I also want to go see Hidden Figures.  

Shocking to even have 2 on the list, since I take a pass on so much of it these days.


----------



## jcdeboever

NancyMoranG said:


> I am looking forward to 2017. My 2016 was not great.
> Hubby spent 12/28-12/30 in hospital brought on by stress of some family issues going on. He is ok, but he had put off doing some other medical stuff because of deductions until 2017...
> So as of now, he is still scheduled for some wrist surgery Jan 4, and the other wrist 1/ 20...and he is not looking forward to the medical bills 2 days before the new year..ugh..
> Carry on...I am so glad to read of a lot of your great celebration/happiness out there!!


Totally missed this. Sorry to hear about family issues and hubby's health. You and your family will be in my prayers. 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am looking forward to 2017. My 2016 was not great.
> Hubby spent 12/28-12/30 in hospital brought on by stress of some family issues going on. He is ok, but he had put off doing some other medical stuff because of deductions until 2017...
> So as of now, he is still scheduled for some wrist surgery Jan 4, and the other wrist 1/ 20...and he is not looking forward to the medical bills 2 days before the new year..ugh..
> Carry on...I am so glad to read of a lot of your great celebration/happiness out there!!
> 
> 
> 
> Totally missed this. Sorry to hear about family issues and hubby's health. You and your family will be in my prayers.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...

Gary echos JC.  Best to you and family for the new year.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey Iowa and Florida ... Go Gators!


----------



## Frank F.

Do not forget. The world is good and getting better all the time:






Who thinks that this is not the case watches too much TV and is generally ill informed.

The facts are speaking for themselves, are 100% congruent with what I found doing the research for my book  and you can read more here: A history of global living conditions in 5 charts


----------



## Gary A.

Man, what a defensive battle.  3 - 3 in the second quarter. Fourth and inches to score ... Iowa attempted to punch it in up the middle and Florida threw a haymaker right back and stopped the Hawkeyes in the backfield.


----------



## SquarePeg

Therapy post - Just got the annual Christmas visit with the ex in-laws over with.  Normally my ex MIL visits alone throughout the year or takes my daughter out somewhere for a bite to eat or whatever but once a year during the holidays she brings my ex SIL and her husband and their two boys over to my house with her and I'm fake cordial to them for my daughter's sake even though I'd prefer to never set eyes on any of them again.  Now that my daughter is older I try to make myself scarce so they can visit her and not me (and so that I can escape the awkward politeness) but my daughter gets mad if I leave her alone with them for too long since she doesn't really know them very well.  Happy that the obligation is over with!


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Therapy post - Just got the annual Christmas visit with the ex in-laws over with.  Normally my ex MIL visits alone throughout the year or takes my daughter out somewhere for a bite to eat or whatever but once a year during the holidays she brings my ex SIL and her husband and their two boys over to my house with her and I'm fake cordial to them for my daughter's sake even though I'd prefer to never set eyes on any of them again.  Now that my daughter is older I try to make myself scarce so they can visit her and not me (and so that I can escape the awkward politeness) but my daughter gets mad if I leave her alone with them for too long since she doesn't really know them very well.  Happy that the obligation is over with!


Uuuugggggg. I feel for you. Tough situation, maybe little drinky poo is in order?  Possibly canibus mixed with hashish.... Or both? [emoji6] 

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----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy again, Hosers.  No immediate offer, but I've got a GREAT feeling that I will be working there. Base pay plus commission. Whew, living on straight commission SUCKS.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Howdy again, Hosers.  No immediate offer, but I've got a GREAT feeling that I will be working there. Base pay plus commission. Whew, living on straight commission SUCKS.


Cool. I would prefer NOT to work for base salary, plus commission. I have always made way more money that way. 

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----------



## minicoop1985

Well, in church directory photography, there's a slow season. And I mean SLOW. As in dead. As in no work at all. Because of that, I'm flat freaking broke right now. Which absolutely blows. I was told there WOULD be work.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Uuuugggggg. I feel for you. Tough situation, maybe little drinky poo is in order?  Possibly canibus mixed with hashish.... Or both? [emoji6]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app



Well, it is legal here in MA now.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Uuuugggggg. I feel for you. Tough situation, maybe little drinky poo is in order?  Possibly canibus mixed with hashish.... Or both? [emoji6]
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, it is legal here in MA now.
Click to expand...


If I were you, I'd figure out how to buy a license to dispense and put a shop on the borders of  I84, I91, I95, and maybe on I93 too, haha.


----------



## Donde

Gary A. said:


> Donde said:
> 
> 
> 
> Top of the morning to all. Here it would be tinto and pan de bono...
> 
> 
> 
> Oooohhh the Columbian bagel, Delicioso!
> 
> Que es el tinto? Tinto de verano? Es el vino tinto? Que tipo de vino? Gary le gusta el vino? Feliz Ano Nuevo, donde y bienvenidos a la casa de cafe.
Click to expand...


Tinto is black coffee with sugar...in Cali anyway. I think the rolos (bogotanos) call it perico. But in Cali perico is scramble eggs...it is also cocaine. It's all so confusing, In any case gracias por la bienvenida .


----------



## minicoop1985

Guess who has three thumbs and a new job? Well, I don't, but I do have a new job.  Working for a jewelry store. They're expanding dramatically and cleaned house recently. It was a great interview. It was actually FUN. Oddly enough.


----------



## terri

minicoop1985 said:


> Guess who has three thumbs and a new job? Well, I don't, but I do have a new job.  Working for a jewelry store. They're expanding dramatically and cleaned house recently. It was a great interview. It was actually FUN. Oddly enough.


That's awesome!   Congrats!  

The best interviews are the ones that are actually enjoyable - it signals good rapport, connection, whatever you want to call it.   Typically those are the ones where you find yourself hired.    Good for you!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Therapy post - Just got the annual Christmas visit with the ex in-laws over with.  Normally my ex MIL visits alone throughout the year or takes my daughter out somewhere for a bite to eat or whatever but once a year during the holidays she brings my ex SIL and her husband and their two boys over to my house with her and I'm fake cordial to them for my daughter's sake even though I'd prefer to never set eyes on any of them again.  Now that my daughter is older I try to make myself scarce so they can visit her and not me (and so that I can escape the awkward politeness) but my daughter gets mad if I leave her alone with them for too long since she doesn't really know them very well.  Happy that the obligation is over with!



You're doing the right thing.   Your daughter is being taught graciousness and the occasional utter hell of social etiquette.    Sucks, but you're the mom so the burden of these life lessons falls on you.    

So treat yourself well tonight, with whatever legal reward you like!


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Therapy post - Just got the annual Christmas visit with the ex in-laws over with.  Normally my ex MIL visits alone throughout the year or takes my daughter out somewhere for a bite to eat or whatever but once a year during the holidays she brings my ex SIL and her husband and their two boys over to my house with her and I'm fake cordial to them for my daughter's sake even though I'd prefer to never set eyes on any of them again.  Now that my daughter is older I try to make myself scarce so they can visit her and not me (and so that I can escape the awkward politeness) but my daughter gets mad if I leave her alone with them for too long since she doesn't really know them very well.  Happy that the obligation is over with!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You're doing the right thing.   Your daughter is being taught graciousness and the occasional utter hell of social etiquette.    Sucks, but you're the mom so the burden of these life lessons falls on you.   [emoji38]
> So treat yourself well tonight, with whatever legal reward you like!
Click to expand...

You know, I was just being silly....

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----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> You know, I was just being silly....



Sorry no backsies.


----------



## minicoop1985

Sounds like Taser Time!


Wait, any time is good for Taser Time.


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We went to Olive Garden for dinner; it has been several months since our last visit.  The food was mostly good, but saltier than I like or remember.  The server was excellent, though - very personable and very attentive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The OG is my daughter's favorite restaurant.  I find their food extremely salty but we do go there when she gets to choose.  The only dish I like there is the alfredo, which is pretty good and not overly salty. Their salad dressing is also really good and we buy a bottle and use it at home.
> 
> Let me guess...  Gary makes his own dressing. Lol.
> 
> @minicoop1985  there is a nasty sinus thing going around over here.  I hope you have just a regular cold!
Click to expand...

Pretty sure Gary makes his own bottles to put his own dressing in...

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> You just wait Jon until your little one is old enough to have an opinion and you will find yourself at many restaurants that are not your first choice!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I gotta start training her to like pizza and wings then!
Click to expand...

Don't.. Not pizza.  Sure, it looks good on paper.  Then you spend a few dozen of the kids birthdays at the 9th circle of hell.  Otherwise known as chucky cheese.

So take my advice, wait until the kid is at least in middle school until you suddenly discover this new miracle food... lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

SquarePeg said:


> Therapy post - Just got the annual Christmas visit with the ex in-laws over with.  Normally my ex MIL visits alone throughout the year or takes my daughter out somewhere for a bite to eat or whatever but once a year during the holidays she brings my ex SIL and her husband and their two boys over to my house with her and I'm fake cordial to them for my daughter's sake even though I'd prefer to never set eyes on any of them again.  Now that my daughter is older I try to make myself scarce so they can visit her and not me (and so that I can escape the awkward politeness) but my daughter gets mad if I leave her alone with them for too long since she doesn't really know them very well.  Happy that the obligation is over with!


Ok, not going to be the one to point out if they never find a body technically the person is just missing, not a murder victim.

Ya.  Not going to be the one to bring that up...

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Sounds like Taser Time!
> 
> 
> Wait, any time is good for Taser Time.


People schedule that?

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

OMG ... what a game, USC - Penn State.  SC dominated in the first half, but in the third quarter, Penn State couldn't do anything wrong ... 28 points worth of nothing wrong.  Combined score was 101 points.  SC 51 ... Penn State 49 ... field goal with two seconds on the clock.

Fight On!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou had a few unplanned guests with their dogs for the game.  Mary Lou made a mad dash to the store and Gary hosed down the house and shoo-ed out the chickens and goats.  We made Tri-Tip sandwiches with slaw.  We seasoned then bagged the Tri-tip and tossed in handfuls of herbs and Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce.  It was soooo good, the herbs were amazing in the bag.  Tri-Tip never tasted so good.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary broke open the wine frig ... everybody was happy.  Even when SC was down ... everybody was happy, (not as happy as when the Trojans were leading, but happy nonetheless).


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary broke open the wine frig ... everybody was happy.  Even when SC was down ... everybody was happy, (not as happy as when the Trojans were leading, but happy nonetheless).


I would have been stoked with the tritip Gary a barbeque sandwich....Or two....

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----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks that you would have.


----------



## Gary A.

The Tr-Tip was sandwiched between these huge Kaiser Roll or Mexican Bolillo Rolls which soaked up the herbie juices like a sponge.  It was a good day.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> The Tr-Tip was sandwiched between these huge Kaiser Roll or Mexican Bolillo Rolls which soaked up the herbie juices like a sponge.  It was a good day.


Oh man, that sounds good. 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## snowbear

We arrived in Tulsa without any major incidents.  soon, sleep.


----------



## minicoop1985

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like Taser Time!
> 
> 
> Wait, any time is good for Taser Time.
> 
> 
> 
> People schedule that?
> 
> Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Actually I got tazed in school. Also got pepper sprayed. It weren't fun.


----------



## Frank F.

My daily shot for Jan 03 02017
.street front garden.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Actually I got tazed in school. Also got pepper sprayed. It weren't fun.



Dating in the post 9-11 age... yikes.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Some cell phone snaps of the wharf across the street from the hotel in New Bedford:


----------



## limr

And from my walk on New Year's Day


----------



## oldhippy

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Some cell phone snaps from the wharf across the street from the hotel in New Bedford:
> 
> View attachment 132610
> 
> 
> View attachment 132611


.

Number two is awesome


----------



## terri

@limr : Wow!   Your NY Day was so much sunnier than mine!      We've had 5" of rain in the last 3 days.

Today the clouds have finally started to lift and the sun is coming out!    Poor kitties - been a little stir crazy (and my furniture shows it).   

I'm itching to get out myself and do some walking but it's still pretty sodden out there.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. This is not Tuesday, January 3 ... it is the day after the Trojans won the Rose Bowl. Gary is still exhausted from the game and he didn't even play.  According to the LA Times, the game "... lasted 4 hours and 12 minutes and, somehow, jammed action into every second." Yesterday's game was one of the best in the Rose Bowl 103 game history and certainly the best of USC's 25 Rose Bowl victories.  After the sanctions, the changes in coaches and athletic directors ... the Trojans have proclaimed, on the altar of college football, that USC is back.

Gary takes a sip of coffee and hits post reply.


----------



## limr

oldhippy said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Some cell phone snaps from the wharf across the street from the hotel in New Bedford:
> 
> View attachment 132610
> 
> 
> View attachment 132611
> 
> 
> 
> .
> 
> Number two is awesome
Click to expand...


Aww, thanks Ed 



terri said:


> @limr : Wow!   Your NY Day was so much sunnier than mine!      We've had 5" of rain in the last 3 days.
> 
> Today the clouds have finally started to lift and the sun is coming out!    Poor kitties - been a little stir crazy (and my furniture shows it).
> 
> I'm itching to get out myself and do some walking but it's still pretty sodden out there.



Yeah, Jan 1st was a good walking day, though yesterday was when the rain started for us and it's hasn't stopped yet. It seems like it's going to continue raining until tonight and keep warming up to a high of 50F tomorrow (YUK!) and then it'll go back to sunny but properly-cold winter temps for the rest of the week.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Cook and Gary have returned from a five mile walk to the Post Office.  On the way back we picked up some Panera bagels and now we're feasting on bagels and cream cheese.  The temp is in the 50's, Cook is in a sweater and Gary a sweatshirt.  Cook likes cream cheese. (And Gary suspects that JC does also.)


----------



## jcdeboever

I like cream cheese and bagels.

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Frank F.

I just found some Galaxy shots from Gary's visit to the Getty....


----------



## JonA_CT

I don't watch much college football, but damn, that was an exciting 4th quarter last night. Probably the best I've seen in a long while (I think it helps when you don't have a horse in the race...I get stressed when it's my NYG playing).

Other thoughts:

Back to work today. I love my job, but I also love being able to spend time with my daughter and wife, and on other intellectual pursuits. I'm lucky to get some built-in time for all of that every few months.


----------



## terri

@JonA_CT: I also root for the Giants, and totally agree about added stress when watching football when you care about the outcome.  But I also root for the Lions, Packers, pretty much any of the rust belt teams  (I grew up in Michigan.)   And my current home team is the Falcons.

I stress a lot during football season.   I don't watch college football, or I'd probably decompensate.


----------



## snowbear

Yay!  I am done with moving day, so the rest of the trip is social.  Here's Andrew, son#1 and Hannah, the main reason for the move.




2017-01-03_06-22-53 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Some cell phone snaps of the wharf across the street from the hotel in New Bedford:
> 
> View attachment 132610
> 
> 
> View attachment 132611


#2 for sure.


----------



## Frank F.

I recently finished "The Circle", the 1984 of our time ... taking a young idealistic employee to show how opportunism can lead to totalitarism. Very disconcerting. In many parts also very near to the reality of our children who have their smartphones as body parts.

What are you reading lately? Since abolishing TV 30 years ago I read more and find it very pleasing to exchange on books.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> I recently finished "The Circle", the 1984 of our time ... taking a young idealistic employee to show how opportunism can lead to totalitarism. Very disconcerting. In many parts also very near to the reality of our children who have their smartphones as body parts.
> 
> What are you reading lately? Since abolishing TV 30 years ago I read more and find it very pleasing to exchange on books.



I'm halfway through _Myra Breckenridge _by Gore Vidal. I love to read but don't read nearly as much as I want to.


----------



## jcdeboever

Flower picture taker's heaven spot in Grand Rapids, MI.  Frederick Meijer Gardens. One of best botanical gardens in the world apparently. This was taken on some super old Kodak film with my Agfa Isolette II. This is a spot I frequent for lunch and get many of my flower pics. My core customer revenue is in this area, so I spend a fair amount of time near by. I have never been here more than 45 minutes, I always pre-plan and in and out. The roll was a total bust but for some reason I like this one, may be the first one I took with it.


----------



## Frank F.

What kind of shot is that?

blurry in the middle, sharp on the borders. Very unusual if it is not some kind of panorama with a defocussed shot in the middle of the frame. And very well corrected geometrically.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Flower picture taker's heaven spot in Grand Rapids, MI.  Frederick Meijer Gardens. One of best botanical gardens in the world apparently. This was taken on some super old Kodak film with my Agfa Isolette II. This is a spot I frequent for lunch and get many of my flower pics. My core customer revenue is in this area, so I spend a fair amount of time near by. I have never been here more than 45 minutes, I always pre-plan and in and out. The roll was a total bust but for some reason I like this one, may be the first one I took with it.
> 
> View attachment 132673


Great lines.


----------



## minicoop1985

Wow. It was an interesting first day... whoo boy. Had what we believe is an attempted robbery. Wowza.


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> What kind of shot is that?
> 
> blurry in the middle, sharp on the borders. Very unusual if it is not some kind of panorama with a defocussed shot in the middle of the frame. And very well corrected geometrically.



It's called, I am not sure how to use this camera I just got shot.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Wow. It was an interesting first day... whoo boy. Had what we believe is an attempted robbery. Wowza.



Glad your here to post....


----------



## JonA_CT

JC, I just finished my first roll of film from my Isolette, and I'll be sending it out to get developed this week probably. I can't wait to see how terrible the photos are, especially since I know I straight up forgot to focus on at least 5 frames. 

It's such a cool, quirky thing to shoot with though, and it's kind of fun to rely on a completely different part of the exposure triangle. With 400 ASA film and a 1/200 top SS, I spent a significant amount of time above f16.


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC-  Frank makes some interesting points of sharp edges and soft center.  Hard to see any of that on my tablet.  It could mean that the film isn't being properly flattened at the point of exposure. Gary thinks that film is either too old ... or you load the developing tank with the lights on.  The film is fogged. Film isn't wine.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon- Welcome to the F/64 club.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> @ Jon- Welcome to the F/64 club.



I just want you to know I think what you people do on airplanes is just disgusting....

What?  Oh.. nevermind.  Wrong club.  Carry on...  lol


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @ JC-  Frank makes some interesting points of sharp edges and soft center.  Hard to see any of that on my tablet.  It could mean that the film isn't being properly flattened at the point of exposure. Gary thinks that film is either too old ... or you load the developing tank with the lights on.  The film is fogged. Film isn't wine.



I know. No more expired film. It was the film, it was curly to the point of cuss words and yelling. Just bizzare looking, which was the reason for posting. I wish never to duplicate...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias to the world of the Coffee Hosers.  Today Mary Lou and Gary are making a run to Temecula.  After the holidays, Gary wine collection is seriously deficient.  Presently, it is 45F in La Mirada and 41F in Temecula.  It should warm up to 60F, fortunately no wind.  A good place to test the new Fujinon 23mm F/2.  Mary Lou is not happy, she opened the frig for some milk and the raw roast leaked.  She said the inside of the frig looked like a murder scene.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias to the world of the Coffee Hosers.  Today Mary Lou and Gary are making a run to Temecula.  After the holidays, Gary wine collection is seriously deficient.  Presently, it is 45F in La Mirada and 41F in Temecula.  It should warm up to 60F, fortunately no wind.  A good place to test the new Fujinon 23mm F/2.  Mary Lou is not happy, she opened the frig for some milk and the raw roast leaked.  She said the inside of the frig looked like a murder scene.



I hate when that happens... My wife recently put a hazelnut coffee creamer on it's side and well, you know. It looked like the results of a gang bang porno scene....


----------



## Gary A.

Attention-  You Coffee Hosers probably toss away all those class action post cards you all get.  Mary Lou and Gary just received the first of two $400 payouts from some hotel chain.  And on another occasion $135 for some blue jeans. So fill out those cards.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ JC-  Frank makes some interesting points of sharp edges and soft center.  Hard to see any of that on my tablet.  It could mean that the film isn't being properly flattened at the point of exposure. Gary thinks that film is either too old ... or you load the developing tank with the lights on.  The film is fogged. Film isn't wine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know. No more expired film. It was the film, it was curly to the point of cuss words and yelling. Just bizzare looking, which was the reason for posting. I wish never to duplicate...
Click to expand...

Good call.  At least you learned how to roll film onto a reel.  Now go for the good stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Jon- Welcome to the F/64 club.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just want you to know I think what you people do on airplanes is just disgusting....
> 
> What?  Oh.. nevermind.  Wrong club.  Carry on...  lol
Click to expand...

Google F-64 club ...


----------



## Gary A.

Wasting more time ... Gary is informing you that our snow pack is about 50% under average ... but forecasters feel good about what we have so far and thinks a few more storms into Spring would get us close to normal.  Gary so badly wants the drought to be over.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  A gray day here but at least it has stopped raining.  We had some serious sideways rain yesterday and I'm grateful it wasn't colder out or I would be shoveling the walk right now.  Since the holidays are over and the nasty weather has arrived, I will resume my post processing tutorials on lynda.com and youtube.  I feel like I have forgotten everything I learned and tried last winter.  Only a few very small items seem to have stuck and been used over the very busy spring/summer/fall.  Gone are the days when my memory and confidence allowed me to plow through new things at a decent clip and retain most of the new info.  Now I forget things 10 minutes after I've learned them - I guess I'm running out of RAM.  Is it possible to delete the lyrics of every 80's rock ballad out of my brain to make room for more useful items?  I'd also be willing to sacrifice all of my childhood tv and radio jingles that I can recall with no effort at all.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg- You need some Ruskie hackers ...


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Attention-  You Coffee Hosers probably toss away all those class action post cards you all get.  Mary Lou and Gary just received the first of two $400 payouts from some hotel chain.  And on another occasion $135 for some blue jeans. So fill out those cards.



I've also had some unexpected checks arrive for class actions - one for an e-reader service I used back when they first came out (Sony) and another for a shampoo company.


----------



## Frank F.

I guess gary is right. If this was taken unsing film the sharp edges and soft center can mean that the film did not lie flat in the holder. What kind of film & holder, one of these?


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> I guess gary is right. If this was taken unsing film the sharp edges and soft center can mean that the film did not lie flat in the holder. What kind of film & holder, one of these?


It is pretty flat but the film was a nightmare start to finish, I did notice it was curling when I put it in but I thought closing the cover would fix that. I hope the roll in there now is not the expired kind, I have about 4 frames left. Another thing, I was leaving it in the truck so it got baked as well, learning as I go and not helping myself along the way.... Better exposures ahead I think.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Attention-  You Coffee Hosers probably toss away all those class action post cards you all get.  Mary Lou and Gary just received the first of two $400 payouts from some hotel chain.  And on another occasion $135 for some blue jeans. So fill out those cards.


I once got $8 from a big bank.


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> I guess gary is right. If this was taken unsing film the sharp edges and soft center can mean that the film did not lie flat in the holder. What kind of film & holder, one of these?
> 
> View attachment 132685



No, it's a 6x6 folding camera, I believe mine has the Apotar 3 element lens which is not the top of the line. Favourite Cameras: Agfa Isolette II | Film Advance
Loads rolls of 120. Here are 2 better pics using fresh film Kodak 400, but probably baked in the truck. Better. I am waiting on a pocket range finder to at least get the distance right. I am getting better at hand holding manual cameras for stability. Everything I am doing this year should result in better images on film. It is challenging for me and fun. These were developed in New55 R3 monobath, it is a developer and fixer in one product but is discontinued for the newer R5 product which I haven't tried yet. The R3 said not to agitate but I think this was wrong. I guess the R5 is supposed to be gently agitated.

1.




2.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Google F-64 club ...



Ok.. but before I do, I'm not going to wind up on some website about a guy who loves his dog more than the law allows, am I?

Lol


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC- It helps that once the film is loaded and locked in, to then rewind the film, without releasing the rollers, to take up any slack and tighten everything up.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @ JC- It helps that once the film is loaded and locked in, to then rewind the film, without releasing the rollers, to take up any slack and tighten everything up.


Really, didn't know that. Thanks for the tip. 

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

Some will say with the sprockets engaged, that it does no good ... but Gary says every little bit helps.  Just be careful not to rip the film, get it snug but don't overdo it.


----------



## snowbear

Blue sky, white clouds, 29°, wind is 8 mph out of the east.  Today I'm chillin'.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Some will say with the sprockets engaged, that it does no good ... but Gary says every little bit helps.  Just be careful not to rip the film, get it snug but don't overdo it.



I did a lot of double exposure slides with cameras that had no reliable mechanism for that. It worked somehow with rewind and tighten and lock and guess where the film was at any given time. Results were never 100% as expected...


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Lafayette, We have arrived.

Thornton for the food. Other vintners for the wines.


----------



## Gary A.

Sweet Angel's Waltz ... wonderful Champagne.


----------



## Gary A.

The meatballs. 



 
The flatbread


----------



## Gary A.

"Spending our class-action monies, lol," stated Mary Lou.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 132699
> The meatballs.
> 
> View attachment 132698
> The flatbread


I wish I wouldn't have seen that, now I am hungry....

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## minicoop1985

jcdeboever said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow. It was an interesting first day... whoo boy. Had what we believe is an attempted robbery. Wowza.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glad your here to post....
Click to expand...



Thanks. Today was MUCH more uneventful.


----------



## jcdeboever

Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Frank F.

Happy doggie!!!


----------



## minicoop1985

My dog does this too.


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Happy doggie!!!



Spoiled rotten doggie... Oh, the wife took that. She doesn't listen to my occasional instruction on framing and composition. When I try to help, she just gets this glazed look in her eyes, like she is on a beach somewhere...


----------



## terri

I wish I could be on a beach somewhere! 

It sounds pretty good at the moment.


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> I wish I could be on a beach somewhere!
> 
> It sounds pretty good at the moment.



Yup, it's like 10° here in MI and rather windy so it's like below zero.


----------



## SquarePeg

28 here in MA, 12 with the wind chill.  Today's plan is to get a workout in at lunchtime and throw away all the leftover candy and sweets from the holidays!  Tonight, the tree and decorations are heading back to the attic.  I do really hate how bare the house looks once I take down the Christmas stuff, especially the fireplace.  I need to figure out something that will allow me to leave the lights along the mantle.  Maybe some of those branches they sell at Michaels or some type of grapevine garland...


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.  Expecting some snow at home (up to an inch), but nothing here.  I had planned on going to the Tulsa zoo, today, but it's going to be too cold.  Head back home tomorrow.

Photo of the Month -- Nominate; Vote; Save a Puppy!
Tired of the same old routine?  Enter the Sm4him Memorial Monthly Photo Challenge


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> Good morning, peeps.  Expecting some snow at home (up to an inch), but nothing here.  I had planned on going to the Tulsa zoo, today, but it's going to be too cold.  Head back home tomorrow.
> 
> Photo of the Month -- Nominate; Vote; Save a Puppy!
> Tired of the same old routine?  Enter the Sm4him Memorial Monthly Photo Challenge



Too cold?  For a zoo trip?

Huh.

Didn't realize there was such a thing...


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Some will say with the sprockets engaged, that it does no good ... but Gary says every little bit helps.  Just be careful not to rip the film, get it snug but don't overdo it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I did a lot of double exposure slides with cameras that had no reliable mechanism for that. It worked somehow with rewind and tighten and lock and guess where the film was at any given time. Results were never 100% as expected...
Click to expand...

Gotta love film ... lol.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> I wish I could be on a beach somewhere!
> 
> It sounds pretty good at the moment.


Usually, Mary Lou and Gary hit the beach ... mmmhh ... twice a week for dinner, a stroll on the pier or to explore some tidepools.  But since Mary Lou's been on Winter break, we've barely left the house.  Yesterday being the exception, with our mad dash to Temecula. Gary thinks that we were determined to get through the 80 episodes of 'Celia' which made us homebound.  Plus all the efforts and improvements we've put into the yard has made it just so usable and enjoyable ... it's like what's the point of leaving.

Yesterday, Mary Lou said she misses Celia.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> 28 here in MA, 12 with the wind chill.  Today's plan is to get a workout in at lunchtime and throw away all the leftover candy and sweets from the holidays!  Tonight, the tree and decorations are heading back to the attic.  I do really hate how bare the house looks once I take down the Christmas stuff, especially the fireplace.  I need to figure out something that will allow me to leave the lights along the mantle.  Maybe some of those branches they sell at Michaels or some type of grapevine garland...


Gary has plenty of grapevines he will soon be pruning. You can soak them, then weave into any configuration.


----------



## SquarePeg

I fear that after binge watching several Masterpiece shows, I shall never get this very proper voice out of my head.  This morning my daughter asked me why I was talking funny.


----------



## SquarePeg

I said I assure you madam, I am not.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is raining.  A cold 55F rain. Not much of a wind, but The Cook doesn't like the rain.  She stays sheltered on the front porch watching me retrieve the morning paper.  Only a half page ad from Samy's Camera today.  Must be tied into the January doldrums. Gary plans on some bread making today.  He has grave reservations for his starter which has been refrigerated but untouched/unfed for quite some time.  It was shoved to the back of the frig and forgotten due to all the holiday excitement.  There is one bagel left, Gary needs to consume it before it turns into a hockey puck.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Some will say with the sprockets engaged, that it does no good ... but Gary says every little bit helps.  Just be careful not to rip the film, get it snug but don't overdo it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I did a lot of double exposure slides with cameras that had no reliable mechanism for that. It worked somehow with rewind and tighten and lock and guess where the film was at any given time. Results were never 100% as expected...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gotta love film ... lol.
Click to expand...


The D500 is superb in controlling multi exposure. The D3 also is. The D600 is soso...


----------



## Frank F.

My picture of the day for 5 January 02017
Not sure whether I shall name it "pigeon" or "Gesamtkunstwerk in glorious light"
What do you think?








Go Create!!!!
Come back & upload!!!


Technical: Galaxy Note 2, Photoshop


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> My picture of the day for 5 January 02017
> Not sure whether I shall name it "pigeon" or "Gesamtkunstwerk in glorious light"
> What do you think?
> 
> 
> View attachment 132722
> 
> 
> Go Create!!!!
> Come back & upload!!!
> 
> 
> Technical: Galaxy Note 2, Photoshop



Awesome image, bizzare in a good way. Call it what you want, the story is there to see.


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Awesome image, bizzare in a good way. Call it what you want, the story is there to see.



Thank you!

The story is about a bridge that is torn down to build a new bridge and the shot is just one foot note or side note in that big picture book.

Which reminds me that I need to develop lots of shots of that bridge in different phases of destruction...


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> Too cold?  For a zoo trip?
> 
> Huh.
> 
> Didn't realize there was such a thing...


This time it is.  More an issue of my packing very light.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Too cold?  For a zoo trip?
> 
> Huh.
> 
> Didn't realize there was such a thing...
> 
> 
> 
> This time it is.  More an issue of my packing very light.
Click to expand...


Ok, so you've got a T-shirt and bermuda shorts and its minus 10 out there.  Sure, I get that.  

But.. it's the zoo...

Lol


----------



## snowbear

robbins.photo said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Too cold?  For a zoo trip?
> 
> Huh.
> 
> Didn't realize there was such a thing...
> 
> 
> 
> This time it is.  More an issue of my packing very light.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ok, so you've got a T-shirt and bermuda shorts and its minus 10 out there.  Sure, I get that.
> 
> But.. it's the zoo...
> 
> Lol
Click to expand...

I'll be back.  I have family here, now.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> I need to figure out something that will allow me to leave the lights along the mantle.  Maybe some of those branches they sell at Michaels or some type of grapevine garland...



I say get a couple of those strings of Japanese lantern lights.


----------



## jcdeboever

OK, all my books are in. Got all my projects lined up for the year, now I have to get to having some fun. Each book cost a penny and $3.99 for shipping. 












Sent from my XT1254 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

On your way to being a Wedding Photog.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> On your way to being a Wedding Photog.



No flippin way, I have zero interest in that unless it's a red neck wedding out in the holler. I'd buy a circular fisheye for that...


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Waiting for some number-crunching to finish. Who'd'a thunk someone who dedicated more than half of her life to language and writing would be spending so much time in a state university data warehouse site?  And kind of enjoying it, too


----------



## Gary A.

Nerd ...


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Nerd ...



I've never claimed otherwise


----------



## SquarePeg

...


limr said:


> I've never claimed otherwise



That's right!  Own it sister!!!  Nerds are cool these days.


----------



## SquarePeg

Any other TPF ladies (or men) going to the Million Woman March on 1/21?  99% certain that I'm going and taking my 14 year old daughter.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Any other TPF ladies (or men) going to the Million Woman March on 1/21?  99% certain that I'm going and taking my 14 year old daughter.


I think it would be a thrill!   I'd love to go, see and feel all that energy.   I wish I lived closer.   It should be a great experience for your daughter.


----------



## JonA_CT

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any other TPF ladies (or men) going to the Million Woman March on 1/21?  99% certain that I'm going and taking my 14 year old daughter.
> 
> 
> 
> I think it would be a thrill!   I'd love to go, see and feel all that energy.   I wish I lived closer.   It should be a great experience for your daughter.
Click to expand...


I bet it's not all that much closer (if at all) for Sharon. Just sayin', haha.

I agree that it's awesome, and I'm glad that you're bringing your daughter. I have a feeling it will end up being one of those things she still talks about a long time after it happens. 

I won't be able to be a member of that specific fight, but I've been working really hard to be slightly subversive in my teaching. My partner and I are currently writing/implementing a unit on information literacy that attacking fake news and bias on the internet head-on. I'd share a little bit more on how and why, but this probably isn't the place.


----------



## jcdeboever

Dog sleeping on back again....


----------



## JonA_CT

Mine is too...but a bit more reserved in his stance, haha.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any other TPF ladies (or men) going to the Million Woman March on 1/21?  99% certain that I'm going and taking my 14 year old daughter.
> 
> 
> 
> I think it would be a thrill!   I'd love to go, see and feel all that energy.   I wish I lived closer.   It should be a great experience for your daughter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I bet it's not all that much closer (if at all) for Sharon. Just sayin', haha.
> 
> I agree that it's awesome, and I'm glad that you're bringing your daughter. I have a feeling it will end up being one of those things she still talks about a long time after it happens.
> 
> I won't be able to be a member of that specific fight, but I've been working really hard to be slightly subversive in my teaching. My partner and I are currently writing/implementing a unit on information literacy that attacking fake news and bias on the internet head-on. I'd share a little bit more on how and why, but this probably isn't the place.
Click to expand...

There's always the subscriber forum.    I'd like to hear more.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Any other TPF ladies (or men) going to the Million Woman March on 1/21?  99% certain that I'm going and taking my 14 year old daughter.



Intellectually, I would love to go. The rest of me breaks out in hives when I think about dealing with that kind of crowd. Makes me all claustrophobic. If I had a daughter, however, I'd suck it up and take her. That's the kind of thing that I would absolutely want the next generation of women to be exposed to.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any other TPF ladies (or men) going to the Million Woman March on 1/21?  99% certain that I'm going and taking my 14 year old daughter.
> 
> 
> 
> I think it would be a thrill!   I'd love to go, see and feel all that energy.   I wish I lived closer.   It should be a great experience for your daughter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I bet it's not all that much closer (if at all) for Sharon. Just sayin', haha.
> 
> I agree that it's awesome, and I'm glad that you're bringing your daughter. I have a feeling it will end up being one of those things she still talks about a long time after it happens.
> 
> I won't be able to be a member of that specific fight, but I've been working really hard to be slightly subversive in my teaching. My partner and I are currently writing/implementing a unit on information literacy that attacking fake news and bias on the internet head-on. I'd share a little bit more on how and why, but this probably isn't the place.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There's always the subscriber forum.    I'd like to hear more.
Click to expand...


Yassss!


----------



## Derrel

Anywhere there's a MILLION women...I'd wanna be near that!


----------



## minicoop1985

Howdy Hosers. Got my first major sale already! Haven't exactly had a lot of opportunities.


----------



## JonA_CT

terri said:


> There's always the subscriber forum.    I'd like to hear more.





limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> There's always the subscriber forum.    I'd like to hear more.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yassss!
Click to expand...


If I get my thoughts put together in a truly coherent way, it's a possibility, haha.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> I think it would be a thrill! I'd love to go, see and feel all that energy. I wish I lived closer. It should be a great experience for your daughter.



It's a 9 hour drive for us but we're going to fly in the day before and stay with a cousin who lives in Arlington so it should be fairly easy.



JonA_CT said:


> I won't be able to be a member of that specific fight, but I've been working really hard to be slightly subversive in my teaching. My partner and I are currently writing/implementing a unit on information literacy that attacking fake news and bias on the internet head-on. I'd share a little bit more on how and why, but this probably isn't the place.



Use the subscribers forum!



terri said:


> There's always the subscriber forum.  I'd like to hear more.



Beat me to it!



limr said:


> Intellectually, I would love to go. The rest of me breaks out in hives when I think about dealing with that kind of crowd. Makes me all claustrophobic. If I had a daughter, however, I'd suck it up and take her. That's the kind of thing that I would absolutely want the next generation of women to be exposed to.



I understand being anxious about it.  I say we're 99% going because my daughter is nervous that there could be a terrorist attack or some type of rioting.  I don't want to live our lives afraid of things like that so I am pushing to go but I also don't want her to be completely a wreck and not able to enjoy the experience.  I'm holding off on booking the flights for now and we're going to discuss it this weekend.  It's a quick shuttle for us that runs every hour so not usually an issue getting cheap seats.



Derrel said:


> Anywhere there's a MILLION women...I'd wanna be near that!



All are welcome!  We women will take all the support we can get.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any other TPF ladies (or men) going to the Million Woman March on 1/21?  99% certain that I'm going and taking my 14 year old daughter.
> 
> 
> 
> I think it would be a thrill!   I'd love to go, see and feel all that energy.   I wish I lived closer.   It should be a great experience for your daughter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I bet it's not all that much closer (if at all) for Sharon. Just sayin', haha.
> 
> I agree that it's awesome, and I'm glad that you're bringing your daughter. I have a feeling it will end up being one of those things she still talks about a long time after it happens.
> 
> I won't be able to be a member of that specific fight, but I've been working really hard to be slightly subversive in my teaching. My partner and I are currently writing/implementing a unit on information literacy that attacking fake news and bias on the internet head-on. I'd share a little bit more on how and why, but this probably isn't the place.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There's always the subscriber forum.    I'd like to hear more.
Click to expand...

I've been trying to be a supporting member but it seems all you got is PayPal and Gary doesn't like PayPal. Can Gary just send in a check or slip you a $20?


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Under all this crock pot mess is a roast. Mary Lou crafted about half a zillion chicken enchiladas. Gary ended his kitchen business today with brewing up some new orange liqueur.   Mary Lou and Gary are now celebrating the day with a glass of bubbly.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any other TPF ladies (or men) going to the Million Woman March on 1/21?  99% certain that I'm going and taking my 14 year old daughter.
> 
> 
> 
> I think it would be a thrill!   I'd love to go, see and feel all that energy.   I wish I lived closer.   It should be a great experience for your daughter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I bet it's not all that much closer (if at all) for Sharon. Just sayin', haha.
> 
> I agree that it's awesome, and I'm glad that you're bringing your daughter. I have a feeling it will end up being one of those things she still talks about a long time after it happens.
> 
> I won't be able to be a member of that specific fight, but I've been working really hard to be slightly subversive in my teaching. My partner and I are currently writing/implementing a unit on information literacy that attacking fake news and bias on the internet head-on. I'd share a little bit more on how and why, but this probably isn't the place.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There's always the subscriber forum.    I'd like to hear more.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I've been trying to be a supporting member but it seems all you got is PayPal and Gary doesn't like PayPal. Can Gary just send in a check or slip you a $20?
Click to expand...

Dang.  Only PayPal, no credit cards?   Sorry for sounding ignorant, but it's been awhile since I looked at that.  

We would certainly enjoy your company in the Subscriber forum.   Perhaps Gary should suck it up and use PayPal.   Or, you know, win a prize here.


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any other TPF ladies (or men) going to the Million Woman March on 1/21?  99% certain that I'm going and taking my 14 year old daughter.
> 
> 
> 
> I think it would be a thrill!   I'd love to go, see and feel all that energy.   I wish I lived closer.   It should be a great experience for your daughter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I bet it's not all that much closer (if at all) for Sharon. Just sayin', haha.
> 
> I agree that it's awesome, and I'm glad that you're bringing your daughter. I have a feeling it will end up being one of those things she still talks about a long time after it happens.
> 
> I won't be able to be a member of that specific fight, but I've been working really hard to be slightly subversive in my teaching. My partner and I are currently writing/implementing a unit on information literacy that attacking fake news and bias on the internet head-on. I'd share a little bit more on how and why, but this probably isn't the place.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There's always the subscriber forum.    I'd like to hear more.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I've been trying to be a supporting member but it seems all you got is PayPal and Gary doesn't like PayPal. Can Gary just send in a check or slip you a $20?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Dang.  Only PayPal, no credit cards?   Sorry for sounding ignorant, but it's been awhile since I looked at that.
> 
> We would certainly enjoy your company in the Subscriber forum.   Perhaps Gary should suck it up and use PayPal.   Or, you know, win a prize here.
Click to expand...

Where's the subscriber forum? Am I allowed in?


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think it would be a thrill! I'd love to go, see and feel all that energy. I wish I lived closer. It should be a great experience for your daughter.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's a 9 hour drive for us but we're going to fly in the day before and stay with a cousin who lives in Arlington so it should be fairly easy.
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I won't be able to be a member of that specific fight, but I've been working really hard to be slightly subversive in my teaching. My partner and I are currently writing/implementing a unit on information literacy that attacking fake news and bias on the internet head-on. I'd share a little bit more on how and why, but this probably isn't the place.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Use the subscribers forum!
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> There's always the subscriber forum.  I'd like to hear more.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Beat me to it!
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Intellectually, I would love to go. The rest of me breaks out in hives when I think about dealing with that kind of crowd. Makes me all claustrophobic. If I had a daughter, however, I'd suck it up and take her. That's the kind of thing that I would absolutely want the next generation of women to be exposed to.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I understand being anxious about it.  I say we're 99% going because my daughter is nervous that there could be a terrorist attack or some type of rioting.  I don't want to live our lives afraid of things like that so I am pushing to go but I also don't want her to be completely a wreck and not able to enjoy the experience.  I'm holding off on booking the flights for now and we're going to discuss it this weekend.  It's a quick shuttle for us that runs every hour so not usually an issue getting cheap seats.
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anywhere there's a MILLION women...I'd wanna be near that!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> All are welcome!  We women will take all the support we can get.
Click to expand...

I can understand a 14 year old feeling some jitters about an event like this.   I would have to fly in, too.  I would be tempted if I had relatives in the area.   And I'm not wild about huge crowds either, but like Leo, I could make an exception for this one.


----------



## jcdeboever

Something to make @limr sleep good tonight.... Sp1000 with Super Takumar 1.8/55


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Where's the subscriber forum? Am I allowed in?



Do you know the password?


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any other TPF ladies (or men) going to the Million Woman March on 1/21?  99% certain that I'm going and taking my 14 year old daughter.
> 
> 
> 
> I think it would be a thrill!   I'd love to go, see and feel all that energy.   I wish I lived closer.   It should be a great experience for your daughter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I bet it's not all that much closer (if at all) for Sharon. Just sayin', haha.
> 
> I agree that it's awesome, and I'm glad that you're bringing your daughter. I have a feeling it will end up being one of those things she still talks about a long time after it happens.
> 
> I won't be able to be a member of that specific fight, but I've been working really hard to be slightly subversive in my teaching. My partner and I are currently writing/implementing a unit on information literacy that attacking fake news and bias on the internet head-on. I'd share a little bit more on how and why, but this probably isn't the place.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There's always the subscriber forum.    I'd like to hear more.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I've been trying to be a supporting member but it seems all you got is PayPal and Gary doesn't like PayPal. Can Gary just send in a check or slip you a $20?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Dang.  Only PayPal, no credit cards?   Sorry for sounding ignorant, but it's been awhile since I looked at that.
> 
> We would certainly enjoy your company in the Subscriber forum.   Perhaps Gary should suck it up and use PayPal.   Or, you know, win a prize here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Where's the subscriber forum? Am I allowed in?
Click to expand...

It's a hidden forum unless you're a Supporting Member here (note the yellow banner on some members).   If you subscribe, you're in.   It can be kind of rough and tumble in there, since we don't moderate it for the most part.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Something to make @limr sleep good tonight.... Sp1000 with Super Takumar 1.8/55
> 
> View attachment 132748



Awww, a Spot 1000  You should check KEH for some Pentax M42 lenses, too. They're sweet


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Something to make @limr sleep good tonight.... Sp1000 with Super Takumar 1.8/55
> 
> View attachment 132748
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Awww, a Spot 1000  You should check KEH for some Pentax M42 lenses, too. They're sweet
Click to expand...


They don't have much. Etsy and ebay do but not sure which ones are good and cheap, any suggestions? The 55. 1.8 is super easy to focus and sharp.


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think it would be a thrill!   I'd love to go, see and feel all that energy.   I wish I lived closer.   It should be a great experience for your daughter.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I bet it's not all that much closer (if at all) for Sharon. Just sayin', haha.
> 
> I agree that it's awesome, and I'm glad that you're bringing your daughter. I have a feeling it will end up being one of those things she still talks about a long time after it happens.
> 
> I won't be able to be a member of that specific fight, but I've been working really hard to be slightly subversive in my teaching. My partner and I are currently writing/implementing a unit on information literacy that attacking fake news and bias on the internet head-on. I'd share a little bit more on how and why, but this probably isn't the place.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There's always the subscriber forum.    I'd like to hear more.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I've been trying to be a supporting member but it seems all you got is PayPal and Gary doesn't like PayPal. Can Gary just send in a check or slip you a $20?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Dang.  Only PayPal, no credit cards?   Sorry for sounding ignorant, but it's been awhile since I looked at that.
> 
> We would certainly enjoy your company in the Subscriber forum.   Perhaps Gary should suck it up and use PayPal.   Or, you know, win a prize here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Where's the subscriber forum? Am I allowed in?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's a hidden forum unless you're a Supporting Member here (note the yellow banner on some members).   If you subscribe, you're in.   It can be kind of rough and tumble in there, since we don't moderate it for the most part.
Click to expand...


I was a supporting member at one time, can't remember how to do it. Ive been looking for 5 minutes and can't find out how to do it....


----------



## SquarePeg

It's definitely something that should be advertised more.  I didn't know about it either.


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think it would be a thrill!   I'd love to go, see and feel all that energy.   I wish I lived closer.   It should be a great experience for your daughter.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I bet it's not all that much closer (if at all) for Sharon. Just sayin', haha.
> 
> I agree that it's awesome, and I'm glad that you're bringing your daughter. I have a feeling it will end up being one of those things she still talks about a long time after it happens.
> 
> I won't be able to be a member of that specific fight, but I've been working really hard to be slightly subversive in my teaching. My partner and I are currently writing/implementing a unit on information literacy that attacking fake news and bias on the internet head-on. I'd share a little bit more on how and why, but this probably isn't the place.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There's always the subscriber forum.    I'd like to hear more.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I've been trying to be a supporting member but it seems all you got is PayPal and Gary doesn't like PayPal. Can Gary just send in a check or slip you a $20?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Dang.  Only PayPal, no credit cards?   Sorry for sounding ignorant, but it's been awhile since I looked at that.
> 
> We would certainly enjoy your company in the Subscriber forum.   Perhaps Gary should suck it up and use PayPal.   Or, you know, win a prize here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Where's the subscriber forum? Am I allowed in?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's a hidden forum unless you're a Supporting Member here (note the yellow banner on some members).   If you subscribe, you're in.   It can be kind of rough and tumble in there, since we don't moderate it for the most part.
Click to expand...


I found it, looked in my journal... user name/account upgrades.... done.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Any other TPF ladies (or men) going to the Million Woman March on 1/21?  99% certain that I'm going and taking my 14 year old daughter.


Godspeed!


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Something to make @limr sleep good tonight.... Sp1000 with Super Takumar 1.8/55
> 
> View attachment 132748
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Awww, a Spot 1000  You should check KEH for some Pentax M42 lenses, too. They're sweet
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> They don't have much. Etsy and ebay do but not sure which ones are good and cheap, any suggestions? The 55. 1.8 is super easy to focus and sharp.
Click to expand...


28mm: 

wide open:



Elderly lobster by limrodrigues, on Flickr

stopped down a bit more (and from the other direction  )




Weary fishermen by limrodrigues, on Flickr





New Meadows Lobster by limrodrigues, on Flickr



55mm f2:




Bah Ram Ewe by limrodrigues, on Flickr

wide open:




Turkish coffee by limrodrigues, on Flickr

Sharp, good contrast:



Path by limrodrigues, on Flickr

And Extension tubes! 




Pods by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Something to make @limr sleep good tonight.... Sp1000 with Super Takumar 1.8/55
> 
> View attachment 132748
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Awww, a Spot 1000  You should check KEH for some Pentax M42 lenses, too. They're sweet
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> They don't have much. Etsy and ebay do but not sure which ones are good and cheap, any suggestions? The 55. 1.8 is super easy to focus and sharp.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 28mm:
> 
> wide open:
> 
> 
> 
> Elderly lobster by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> stopped down a bit more (and from the other direction  )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Weary fishermen by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> New Meadows Lobster by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 55mm f2:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bah Ram Ewe by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> wide open:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Turkish coffee by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> Sharp, good contrast:
> 
> 
> 
> Path by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> And Extension tubes!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pods by limrodrigues, on Flickr
Click to expand...


Your pretty awesome but I'm sure you hear that a lot. Thanks.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Something to make @limr sleep good tonight.... Sp1000 with Super Takumar 1.8/55
> 
> View attachment 132748
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Awww, a Spot 1000  You should check KEH for some Pentax M42 lenses, too. They're sweet
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> They don't have much. Etsy and ebay do but not sure which ones are good and cheap, any suggestions? The 55. 1.8 is super easy to focus and sharp.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 28mm:
> 
> wide open:
> 
> 
> 
> Elderly lobster by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> stopped down a bit more (and from the other direction  )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Weary fishermen by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> New Meadows Lobster by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 55mm f2:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bah Ram Ewe by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> wide open:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Turkish coffee by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> Sharp, good contrast:
> 
> 
> 
> Path by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> And Extension tubes!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pods by limrodrigues, on Flickr
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Your pretty awesome but I'm sure you hear that a lot. Thanks.
Click to expand...


Oh you ...


----------



## Derrel

jcdeboever said:
			
		

> which ones are good and cheap, any suggestions? The 55. 1.8 is super easy to focus and sharp.



135MM F/3.5 SUPER-TAKUMAR... a beautiful imager. Really, really nice. Pretty bokeh!

200mm f/4 SUPER-TAKUMAR..very sharp, has a long focusing throw, makes it better to work on a digital Canon, which has a terrible viewscreen and no real rangefinder like a film cam would have.

I have a 55/1.8...I think it is hard to focus on Canon digital...could be my moiddle-aged eyesight tho...the teles are easier for me...


----------



## Gary A.

Half the kids in college, during my day, either had the Pentax or a Minolta SRT 101.


----------



## Derrel

The SRT-101 retailed for $149.95 at Payless Drug in the summer of 1975. Man, I wanted one sooooooooo badly! Would look at it in the display case every time we went in to town...


----------



## Gary A.

Derrel said:


> The SRT-101 retailed for $149.95 at Payless Drug in the summer of 1975. Man, I wanted one sooooooooo badly! Would look at it in the display case every time we went in to town...


... With a bayonet mount ...


----------



## Derrel

Gary A. said:
			
		

> ... With a bayonet mount ...



And ClC...Contrast Light Compensating metering! And that honking DOF plunger button!


----------



## Gary A.

My cousin had a SRT 101.


----------



## jcdeboever

Derrel said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> which ones are good and cheap, any suggestions? The 55. 1.8 is super easy to focus and sharp.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 135MM F/3.5 SUPER-TAKUMAR... a beautiful imager. Really, really nice. Pretty bokeh!
> 
> 200mm f/4 SUPER-TAKUMAR..very sharp, has a long focusing throw, makes it better to work on a digital Canon, which has a terrible viewscreen and no real rangefinder like a film cam would have.
> 
> I have a 55/1.8...I think it is hard to focus on Canon digital...could be my moiddle-aged eyesight tho...the teles are easier for me...
Click to expand...

I have one of those but it I took it apart. I am cleaning the fungus and haze out of it. It was grungy but super cheap. I will have it back together by Sunday for a test run. I am going to try it for film street photography, shooting people at a distance. $5 investment.


----------



## Derrel

Gary A said:
			
		

> My cousin had a SRT 101.



I used one for my ninth grade's yearbook class photo assignments. It was pretty alright back in the day! My "personal" cams back then were a Zeiss-Ikon Contaflex Super, with 45mm f/2.8 Pantar lens, the camera which conked; replaced by one of the most-awful things ever, a *Cosmorex-SE*; a rebadged Russian-made Zenit B, with a 58mm f/2 swirly-bokeh "Auto-Cosmogon" lens in m42 mount, and a horrible selenium cell, external, top-deck meter....still have it...By comparison, the Minolta was like a BMW or Mercedes, and the Cosmorex was a used 1985 Yugo....


----------



## tirediron

Derrel said:


> ...a rebadged Russian-made Zenit B,....


A re-freakin'-badged Zenit???????  Really?  How the hell low could the bar be that you would re-badge a Zenit???


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... my first 35mm SLR was a Nikon F which I grabbed from a pawn shop.  I was in 6th grade, used monies I saved from my paper route.


----------



## Derrel

tirediron said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...a rebadged Russian-made Zenit B,....
> 
> 
> 
> A re-freakin'-badged Zenit???????  Really?  How the hell low could the bar be that you would re-badge a Zenit???
Click to expand...


Yeah....back in the mail-order days! From *Cambridge Camera in NYC.*..mail-order, like $79.95 with lens! The Contaflex was a '58 model I think, payed $49.95. Back then minimum wage was $2.75 hr. and a phone call was a dime! A gallon of milk was 59 cents at Safeway. Yeah, the Cosmorex SE...Uggggh! it was all I could afford as an 8th grader. It was an awful camera...buuuuut I had that cool swirly bokeh 58mm Soviet lens! But yeah--a rebadged freaking ZENIT!!!! I had no idea what it was back then!


----------



## tirediron

Mine was a Miranda 'D' back in 9th grade, with the 5cm (none of that 50mm stuff for this cat; mine was a 5cm lens!) 1.9.  This was actually a really cool camera in a number of respects.  It had a removable pentaprism, the shutter release was parallel to the lens axis (which makes a lot of sense when you think about it), and had both M42 and bayonet mounts.  No meter and 1/500 sec max shutter with a 1/60 x-sync.  Wooooooo-hooo... I was cookin' with gas!


----------



## Derrel

tirediron said:


> Mine was a Miranda 'D' back in 9th grade, with the 5cm (none of that 50mm stuff for this cat; mine was a 5cm lens!) 1.9.  This was actually a really cool camera in a number of respects.  It had a removable pentaprism, the shutter release was parallel to the lens axis (which makes a lot of sense when you think about it), and had both M42 and bayonet mounts.  No meter and 1/500 sec max shutter with a 1/60 x-sync.  Wooooooo-hooo... I was cookin' with gas!



Ohhhh...myyyyy Gosh...the  model with the* crank start *and the *ignition button* on the dash!!!! Was the transmission synchromesh? Or did you have to double clutch every shift? The *spark retarder* on those old Miranda rigs was nifty!

Jeeezis...how old ARE you!


----------



## Frank F.

Pic of the day. Wintersun.


----------



## minicoop1985

Man Hosers, it's freaking COLD around here. Low of -6, high of like 0. Good god mang this SUCKS.


----------



## SquarePeg

Snow on the ground this morning. Just a dusting. Carry on.


----------



## limr

Derrel said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mine was a Miranda 'D' back in 9th grade, with the 5cm (none of that 50mm stuff for this cat; mine was a 5cm lens!) 1.9.  This was actually a really cool camera in a number of respects.  It had a removable pentaprism, the shutter release was parallel to the lens axis (which makes a lot of sense when you think about it), and had both M42 and bayonet mounts.  No meter and 1/500 sec max shutter with a 1/60 x-sync.  Wooooooo-hooo... I was cookin' with gas!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ohhhh...myyyyy Gosh...the  model with the* crank start *and the *ignition button* on the dash!!!! Was the transmission synchromesh? Or did you have to double clutch every shift? The *spark retarder* on those old Miranda rigs was nifty!
> 
> Jeeezis...how old ARE you!
Click to expand...


People don't double-clutch anymore?  (Or as my father called it, "clutch-clutch" This is also the man who taught be to ditch hook before I could parallel park.)


----------



## JonA_CT

Perfect amount of snow this morning. My wife has Three Kings Day off, and my school delayed for 2 hours. Picturesque without being annoying.


----------



## Gary A.

Derrel said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...a rebadged Russian-made Zenit B,....
> 
> 
> 
> A re-freakin'-badged Zenit???????  Really?  How the hell low could the bar be that you would re-badge a Zenit???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah....back in the mail-order days! From *Cambridge Camera in NYC.*..mail-order, like $79.95 with lens! The Contaflex was a '58 model I think, payed $49.95. Back then minimum wage was $2.75 hr. and a phone call was a dime! A gallon of milk was 59 cents at Safeway. Yeah, the Cosmorex SE...Uggggh! it was all I could afford as an 8th grader. It was an awful camera...buuuuut I had that cool swirly bokeh 58mm Soviet lens! But yeah--a rebadged freaking ZENIT!!!! I had no idea what it was back then!
Click to expand...

Mail Order ... Cambridge Camera ... was that out of Popular Mechanics?  (And gas was $.28 a gal.)


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...a rebadged Russian-made Zenit B,....
> 
> 
> 
> A re-freakin'-badged Zenit???????  Really?  How the hell low could the bar be that you would re-badge a Zenit???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah....back in the mail-order days! From *Cambridge Camera in NYC.*..mail-order, like $79.95 with lens! The Contaflex was a '58 model I think, payed $49.95. Back then minimum wage was $2.75 hr. and a phone call was a dime! A gallon of milk was 59 cents at Safeway. Yeah, the Cosmorex SE...Uggggh! it was all I could afford as an 8th grader. It was an awful camera...buuuuut I had that cool swirly bokeh 58mm Soviet lens! But yeah--a rebadged freaking ZENIT!!!! I had no idea what it was back then!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mail Order ... Cambridge Camera ... was that out of Popular Mechanics?  (And gas was $.28 a gal.)
Click to expand...

Gerald Ford was President...geez


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Mine was a Miranda 'D' back in 9th grade, with the 5cm (none of that 50mm stuff for this cat; mine was a 5cm lens!) 1.9.  This was actually a really cool camera in a number of respects.  It had a removable pentaprism, the shutter release was parallel to the lens axis (which makes a lot of sense when you think about it), and had both M42 and bayonet mounts.  No meter and 1/500 sec max shutter with a 1/60 x-sync.  Wooooooo-hooo... I was cookin' with gas!


My Uncle knew how to develop and print.  When I was in grade school my cousin and I would walk around shooting my Uncle's Mamiya Sekor 500 DTL.  My first 35mm camera was a Yashica rangefinder ... maybe a Konica ... sans meter.  Sunny 16 was my best friend.  My Uncle would drive us 15 miles to the closest camera store in West Covina for chemicals and 100' rolls of bulk film.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...a rebadged Russian-made Zenit B,....
> 
> 
> 
> A re-freakin'-badged Zenit???????  Really?  How the hell low could the bar be that you would re-badge a Zenit???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah....back in the mail-order days! From *Cambridge Camera in NYC.*..mail-order, like $79.95 with lens! The Contaflex was a '58 model I think, payed $49.95. Back then minimum wage was $2.75 hr. and a phone call was a dime! A gallon of milk was 59 cents at Safeway. Yeah, the Cosmorex SE...Uggggh! it was all I could afford as an 8th grader. It was an awful camera...buuuuut I had that cool swirly bokeh 58mm Soviet lens! But yeah--a rebadged freaking ZENIT!!!! I had no idea what it was back then!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mail Order ... Cambridge Camera ... was that out of Popular Mechanics?  (And gas was $.28 a gal.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gerald Ford was President...geez
Click to expand...

Maybe Roosevelt ... way before my time.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...a rebadged Russian-made Zenit B,....
> 
> 
> 
> A re-freakin'-badged Zenit???????  Really?  How the hell low could the bar be that you would re-badge a Zenit???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah....back in the mail-order days! From *Cambridge Camera in NYC.*..mail-order, like $79.95 with lens! The Contaflex was a '58 model I think, payed $49.95. Back then minimum wage was $2.75 hr. and a phone call was a dime! A gallon of milk was 59 cents at Safeway. Yeah, the Cosmorex SE...Uggggh! it was all I could afford as an 8th grader. It was an awful camera...buuuuut I had that cool swirly bokeh 58mm Soviet lens! But yeah--a rebadged freaking ZENIT!!!! I had no idea what it was back then!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mail Order ... Cambridge Camera ... was that out of Popular Mechanics?  (And gas was $.28 a gal.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gerald Ford was President...geez
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Maybe Roosevelt ... way before my time.
Click to expand...

FDR was my dad's favorite Pres


----------



## Frank F.

Today my 1.8/75 Zuiko came. What ist that? Read here: Review: The Olympus ZD 75/1.8 for Micro Four Thirds

Pity they deliver these without a lens hood just to keep the price slightly below 1000!


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## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The Sun is out.  The Sun is casting shadows from the Flowering Maple and Hummingbird feeder across the kitchen blinds. It's 59F should hit mid 60's today.  But, (the big but), the headlines from the CALIFORNIA section of today's paper proclaim "California bracing for a 'once-in-10-year' storm.  The graphic shows the 'Atmospheric River' upper-cutting California coming in from the south and rolling over Central California. There is a small leak in the patio roof, Gary needs to find time to attack the patio roof with more Henry's before the big one hits.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Today my 1.8/75 Zuiko came. What ist that? Read here: Review: The Olympus ZD 75/1.8 for Micro Four Thirds


I have that lens for my EM1, (of which I never shoot).  I didn't know you shot MFT.


----------



## Frank F.

picture added above....



Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today my 1.8/75 Zuiko came. What ist that? Read here: Review: The Olympus ZD 75/1.8 for Micro Four Thirds
> 
> 
> 
> I have that lens for my EM1, (of which I never shoot).  I didn't know you shot MFT.
Click to expand...


I shoot Nikon, Sinar, Fuji and Olympus.

But I am not sure about the digital Olympus (I loved the Film OM-System!!!) yet. Before I sell the MFT stuff I want to be sure that this is not a mistake.

So I got the best lens they make, one of the best lenses ever made by anyone..


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## Frank F.

Another find this morning.


----------



## Derrel

Gary mentoned "Mamiya Sekor 500 DTL"...I almost bought one of those: it was on my fifith grade camera shopping short list, based on low cost. Brings back memories. It's clear as a bell here just outside Portland, Oregon, and 18 degrees at 8:30 AM, which is VERY cold for the Willamette Valley floor.

It has been cold for a span of about a week, so the ground is near frozen, or frozen, depending on where it is in relation to the weak winter sun. So, the great thing about that is, if any significant moistures comes in off the Pacific Ocean we could be trwated to beautiful, sparkly freezing rain on everything! Hooray!!! Downed power lines! Snapped-off tree branches! Un-drivable roads with a sheet of ice on them! No school for the kiddos! Lots of great fun times!

Saturday and Sunday the radio meterologist describes as, "A likely traffic nightmare with all that ice and snow." We shall see...hopefully it will just be snow-snow, not snow and freezing rain, which is a big problem we have here at times.


----------



## tirediron

Derrel said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mine was a Miranda 'D' back in 9th grade, with the 5cm (none of that 50mm stuff for this cat; mine was a 5cm lens!) 1.9.  This was actually a really cool camera in a number of respects.  It had a removable pentaprism, the shutter release was parallel to the lens axis (which makes a lot of sense when you think about it), and had both M42 and bayonet mounts.  No meter and 1/500 sec max shutter with a 1/60 x-sync.  Wooooooo-hooo... I was cookin' with gas!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ohhhh...myyyyy Gosh...the  model with the* crank start *and the *ignition button* on the dash!!!! Was the transmission synchromesh? Or did you have to double clutch every shift? The *spark retarder* on those old Miranda rigs was nifty!
> 
> Jeeezis...how old ARE you!
Click to expand...

Not as old you!   I was definitely NOT the first owner!


----------



## Derrel

Miranda...they were pretty interesting. They stole the best from everybody! Exacta, Nikon, Alpa,Pentax, and so on. I remember seeing a few of them, years after the company folded, and remarking on how good the engineering was, not just for their era, but overall! Gotta love the 1/60 second X-synch from, I would say a rubberized cloth, horizontal travel focal plane shutter: the kind that lasts 50,60 years or more!!! I was at one time considering a Miranda Sensorex, I wanna say Sensorex SE, back in high school, but I ended up with a brand-new Yashica FX-3 ( a Nikon FM copy I would describe it as). 50mm f/1.9 Yashinon on that thing.

You and I are probably close-ish in age. But I knew you'd know about a spark retarder mechanism!!

I recall all the defunct 35mm SLR companies...Petri,Miranda,Rolleiflex,Minolta,Konica, Ricoh (well, sort of defunct, sorta not),Mamiya/Sekor,maybe others I cannot recall...


----------



## tirediron

Derrel said:


> Miranda...they were pretty interesting. They stole the best from everybody! Exacta, Nikon, Alpa,Pentax, and so on. I remember seeing a few of them, years after the company folded, and remarking on how good the engineering was, not just for their era, but overall! Gotta love the 1/60 second X-synch from, I would say a rubberized cloth, horizontal travel focal plane shutter: the kind that lasts 50,60 years or more!!! I was at one time considering a Miranda Sensorex, I wanna say Sensorex SE, back in high school, but I ended up with a brand-new Yashica FX-3 ( a Nikon FM copy I would describe it as). 50mm f/1.9 Yashinon on that thing.
> 
> You and I are probably close-ish in age. But I knew you'd know about a spark retarder mechanism!!


  Yes, I suspect we are, and yes I do...  In fact, I regularly operate several vehicles that have spark retarders.  None of that new-fangled vacuum advance stuff here!!!  The Miranda was actually a really cool camera, and I put a lot of HP5, FP4 and PAN F through that thing...


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## Frank F.

Weather Bonn -4° Celsius sunny was it but night fell one hour ago.


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## snowbear

AM albedo increased.





Whoda thunk


----------



## otherprof

Derrel said:


> Gary mentoned "Mamiya Sekor 500 DTL"...I almost bought one of those: it was on my fifith grade camera shopping short list, based on low cost. Brings back memories. It's clear as a bell here just outside Portland, Oregon, and 18 degrees at 8:30 AM, which is VERY cold for the Willamette Valley floor.
> 
> It has been cold for a span of about a week, so the ground is near frozen, or frozen, depending on where it is in relation to the weak winter sun. So, the great thing about that is, if any significant moistures comes in off the Pacific Ocean we could be trwated to beautiful, sparkly freezing rain on everything! Hooray!!! Downed power lines! Snapped-off tree branches! Un-drivable roads with a sheet of ice on them! No school for the kiddos! Lots of great fun times!
> 
> Saturday and Sunday the radio meterologist describes as, "A likely traffic nightmare with all that ice and snow." We shall see...hopefully it will just be snow-snow, not snow and freezing rain, which is a big problem we have here at times.


Memories! My first slr was a Mamiya Sekor 1000tl with Pentax screw mount and spot metering.  After that disappeared, I bought a Nikon F, (no meter prism) and a Weston Ranger 9 meter souped up with the Zone System dial. It was the opposite of "auto."


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## tirediron

snowbear said:


> Whoda thunk
> View attachment 132775


Limr's got her own action figure?  Damn!


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## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Whoda thunk
> View attachment 132775
> 
> 
> 
> Limr's got her own action figure?  Damn!
Click to expand...

She dye her hair?


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## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> AM albedo increased.
> 
> View attachment 132774
> 
> Whoda thunk
> View attachment 132775


That has Leo's name written all over it.


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## SquarePeg

@snowbear   Where?  I have to have that for a friend of mine!!!


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## limr

I'M NOT THE ONLY CAT LOVER ON THIS FORUM, THANKYOUVERYMUCH!!






























Meh, who am I kidding, that's totally me.


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## SquarePeg

Got a chuckle out of this on FB this morning:


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## limr

All I'll say is that the Midwest is lucky that the roads are flat and straight, or maybe it wouldn't be so cocky


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## Frank F.

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Whoda thunk
> View attachment 132775
> 
> 
> 
> Limr's got her own action figure?  Damn!
Click to expand...


I love Nerds!


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## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Got a chuckle out of this on FB this morning:



So true!   We've already seen schools closing early (not a thing on the ground, or even in the air), and the run on milk and bread has started.    I grew up in Michigan, and I stay in around here when this stuff starts in Georgia - it's safer than trying to maneuver around the freakout.


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## jcdeboever

Another mass shooting, Fort Lauderdale airport. 5 reported dead at this point. Baggage claim area. Shooter caught


----------



## Frank F.

I started with mobile phone panoramas long ago with a Sony Eriksson 610. It featured a photo function of whooping 0.1 Megapixels!!!!
Now that my 2012 model phone has seen double spread magazine print that looked just perfect, I make this panorama with 6500 x 3200 qpixels in seconds.
And what can be seen on it? The ZURICH insurance company headquarter that will move to Cologne soon and in front of its signature Building a new round about connected to the bridge reconstruction and extension, on the left you see the "Old Cementary" where Beethoven's mother is buried and Robert & Clara Schumann the famous composers...


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## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Another mass shooting, Fort Lauderdale airport. 5 reported dead at this point. Baggage claim area. Shooter caught



And you all wonder why I'm well on my way to Crazy Nerdy Cat Ladydom. The world is falling apart, and I don't plan on being sane enough to watch it happen.


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## terri

limr said:


> I'M NOT THE ONLY CAT LOVER ON THIS FORUM, THANKYOUVERYMUCH!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> Meh, who am I kidding, that's totally me.



That action figure only comes with 6 cats!        Seriously - not impressed.    I don't call that "crazy;" I call that just getting started.


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## Derrel

We have hills (midwesterners would likely call them Mountains), and we have mountain ranges (Pacific Coast Range and the Cascade Range) and high dessert flatlands, and mountain passes that may accumulate up to 20 to 30 feet of snowfall on them during winters, and where "the pass" in one region (there are multiples from Washington to Oregon) is often closed for months at a time, and the eastern half of tboth of these two states is closed off for months on secondary roads, and it can be 100 miles just to get to a pass that is open and which has only 1 to 9 inches of snow on it.

People laugh about snow driving here, but in the span between December 24 and New Year's Eve, we had nine people die in traffic accidents, most on one snowy highway, Highway 97, which connects Bend with Salem, and the I-5 corridor. Pretty sad, but oregon Department of Transportation did a Facebook PSA that included the statement, "Don't do stupid things," in it. Yeah...like drive on an undivided, un-sanded,un-salted, no-guardrail mountain pass Highway 97.


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## Frank F.

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Another mass shooting, Fort Lauderdale airport. 5 reported dead at this point. Baggage claim area. Shooter caught
> 
> 
> 
> And you all wonder why I'm well on my way to Crazy Nerdy Cat Ladydom. The world is falling apart, and I don't plan on being sane enough to watch it happen.
Click to expand...


The world is not really falling apart. We just weigh the daily news to high.

Get rid of your TV and subscribe to a newspaper. No news is important enough to not wait for morning delivery. Today only very few people die of Terrorism compared to the 1970ies or 1980ies, but today there is more News coverage, today only very few people die of starvation compared to 50, 100 or 200 years ago, but today more cameras are pointed at them, today there are wars but these wars are less bloody and less people die there (think WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam). Think of all the vaccination that has prevented all the deaths of Spanish Fever or Black Death that cursed Humanity for Centuries and cleared whole continents of their population!

All the cameras make us feel the world is really in a very bad state, but the truth is the world has never been better: less war & terrorism, less starvation, more education, more democracy. Yet many people focus on the TV and the Internet for all the bad things that happen. I guess with 7.500.000.000 People in this world it could be worse. Look at ISIS: Only 50.000 Assholes agains 7.5 Billion people of good will. Sorry. No.

Switch off TV, switch on Reality.

Yes, every single death through terrorism, war, starvation or pollution is one death too much. Every ****ed up war is one war too much. But before we get these things in order we have to find back to a proportionate perspective!

Love & God bless ya

Frank


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> @snowbear   Where?  I have to have that for a friend of mine!!!


That was in a bookstore in downtown Tulsa; I think the name was "Decopolis" but you could probably find it and the associated book online.

Photo of the Month -- Nominate; Vote; Save a Puppy!
Tired of the same old routine?  Enter the Sm4him Memorial Monthly Photo Challenge


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I'M NOT THE ONLY CAT LOVER ON THIS FORUM, THANKYOUVERYMUCH!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Meh, who am I kidding, that's totally me.


I had a blonde you in mind when I  saw it.[emoji13] 

Photo of the Month -- Nominate; Vote; Save a Puppy!
Tired of the same old routine?  Enter the Sm4him Memorial Monthly Photo Challenge


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Got a chuckle out of this on FB this morning:


Yep, that's about right for the south, which would include DC.  Not too bad, here, though my flight out has been delayed 10 minutes. 

Photo of the Month -- Nominate; Vote; Save a Puppy!
Tired of the same old routine?  Enter the Sm4him Memorial Monthly Photo Challenge


----------



## limr

I have not watched the tv news in 30 years and I already get most of my news from print sources or their electronic version.


----------



## tirediron

Derrel said:


> We have hills (midwesterners would likely call them Mountains), and we have mountain ranges (Pacific Coast Range and the Cascade Range) and high dessert flatlands, and mountain passes that may accumulate up to 20 to 30 feet of snowfall on them during winters, and where "the pass" in one region (there are multiples from Washington to Oregon) is often closed for months at a time, and the eastern half of tboth of these two states is closed off for months on secondary roads, and it can be 100 miles just to get to a pass that is open and which has only 1 to 9 inches of snow on it.
> 
> People laugh about snow driving here, but in the span between December 24 and New Year's Eve, we had nine people die in traffic accidents, most on one snowy highway, Highway 97, which connects Bend with Salem, and the I-5 corridor. Pretty sad, but oregon Department of Transportation did a Facebook PSA that included the statement, "Don't do stupid things," in it. Yeah...like drive on an undivided, un-sanded,un-salted, no-guardrail mountain pass Highway 97.


Something else that's important to remember about coastal snow is that it's much wetter than snow in the interior.  I grew up in the south-east corner of BC and a typical winter there was 4-6 of snow on the ground.  Driving had to be done cautiously, but life didn't really slow down much.  That was dry snow...  Here in Victoria, even 1-2 inches of snow can mess things up beyond all recognition because the wet snow is like driving on grease.


----------



## snowbear

I see a lot of LEO shooting announcements on fb and wonder if there is actually an increase or if it's more that things are reported faster and more often.  I suspect the same for a lot of the news.  I should try some research when I get home.

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Tired of the same old routine?  Enter the Sm4him Memorial Monthly Photo Challenge


----------



## snowbear

For snow: we (DC region) will pretreatment and salt the roads, but we still can't drive in it.  Bread, milk and toilet paper will be gone from the shelves, as well as ice melt and rock salt.  At least the Feds realized you have to stagger early closings so the  roads don't get clogged.


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----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I see a lot of LEO shooting announcements on fb and wonder if there is actually an increase or if it's more that things are reported faster and more often.  I suspect the same for a lot of the news.  I should try some research when I get home.
> 
> Photo of the Month -- Nominate; Vote; Save a Puppy!
> Tired of the same old routine?  Enter the Sm4him Memorial Monthly Photo Challenge



LEO shooting announcements?

It depends on how you define "mass shooting." 
A visual guide: Mass shootings in America  - CNN.com

Though that's as far as I'm going to go in this thread. Just wanted to share a link with you that focuses on simple statistics and definitions. The last thing I want is a descent into gun talk, not to mention I'd have to report myself


----------



## snowbear

Law Enforcement Officers - cops getting shot.


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## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I see a lot of LEO shooting announcements on fb and wonder if there is actually an increase or if it's more that things are reported faster and more often.  I suspect the same for a lot of the news.  I should try some research when I get home.
> 
> Photo of the Month -- Nominate; Vote; Save a Puppy!
> Tired of the same old routine?  Enter the Sm4him Memorial Monthly Photo Challenge
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LEO shooting announcements?
> 
> It depends on how you define "mass shooting."
> A visual guide: Mass shootings in America  - CNN.com
> 
> Though that's as far as I'm going to go in this thread. Just wanted to share a link with you that focuses on simple statistics and definitions. The last thing I want is a descent into gun talk, not to mention I'd have to report myself
Click to expand...

Agreed, this isn't the place for detailed discussion on this.  I'll go over this at home when I have a real computer; phone screen is too small to do a lot of reading.


----------



## Designer

terri said:


> That action figure only comes with 6 cats!        Seriously - not impressed.    I don't call that "crazy;" I call that just getting started.


Misprint.  Should be 36 cats "starter kit".


----------



## Derrel

I thought you meant LEO shooting _announcements_ for Facebook, of things like blocked highways, car accidents, and one I watched last nigth from the Lincoln Country Sheriff's dasocam: last winter a two-year old boy was spotted by a deputy, the child was runnign right down the centerline of the highway!!! The officer stopped, and rushed out, and grabbed the little boy right in front of the cruiser! This was big, big news here. he escaped as his parents were claning up after an event, and sprinted out the door, and right into the highway.

We're starting here to see Facebook Live for new events; my neice as KBSW is doing FB Live for things like the Monterey Film Festival,etc.. We are starting to see more police departments shooting on-site videos on their phones, as well as spot news segments from regular folks who sell/give that footage to the network news stations.

[*QUOTE="tirediron]" Something else that's important to remember about coastal snow is that it's much wetter than snow in the interior.  I grew up in the south-east corner of BC and a typical winter there was 4-6 of snow on the ground.  Driving had to be done cautiously, but life didn't really slow down much.  That was dry snow...  Here in Victoria, even 1-2 inches of snow can mess things up beyond all recognition because the wet snow is like driving on grease.[*/QUOTE]

Fer sure on the wet, soggy snow along the west edge of the continent at lower elevations! In low-altitude western BC, western Washington, or western Oregon...we usually get snow from coastal marine air, in large volumes of moisture that originates at low altitudes, and is very high in water content. The last TRUE powder snow we had in the PDX area was 13 years ago...normally we have a high water percentage in this marine-origin snow, which creates the great "snowpack" we use for summer water supplies. Here in western Oregon, a snowball can almsot always be made from snow, even with gloves on, it is sooooo wet,and mushy! In real *powder snow*, the ice crystals are so dry that it cannot be made into a snowball unless held in the hands, and with gloves or mittens on? No dice, no snowball. The bad thing is a western/valley snowball is VERY heavy, and hurts like a SOB when it hits you!

We measure snow here by water content, on the part of the USGS, they have sophisticated measuring techniques to tell how much WATER is in a typical 15- to 30-foot deep mountain accumulation, for water use/storage forecasting.


----------



## snowbear

At Tulsa Int'l Airport. Pretty quiet and no lines but my flight is delayed 20 minutes.  I've been told I should have no problem making the connector.


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## Gary A.

We keep our snow up in the mountains where it belongs.


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## limr

Gary A. said:


> We keep our snow up in the mountains where it belongs.



Bah, what fun is that?


----------



## limr

Well, the latest storm is pretty much a non-issue for us in the Northeast, though I am quite enjoying the drop in temperatures. Not only do I like it anyway, but it also makes a huge difference driving on my snow tires. Just a few days ago, it was in the high 40s and it felt like I was driving on jelly doughnuts. I was so annoyed - I did NOT buy a brand new Mazda just to be the one poking along in the slow lane because I constantly feel like I'm seconds away from drifting off the road! 

But temperatures make a big difference and once it dipped back into the 20s and low 30s, driving became fun again 

And for the record, the Mazda's name is Oliver when he's being pokey and recalcitrant. She turns back into Alice when she goes zoom zoom  (Yes, my car is gender-fluid  )


----------



## minicoop1985

Man it's still cold as the f*cking Antarctic.

Had a pretty good day at work. Had some REALLY cranky people, of course, but that's retail after Christmas.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Well, the latest storm is pretty much a non-issue for us in the Northeast, though I am quite enjoying the drop in temperatures. Not only do I like it anyway, but it also makes a huge difference driving on my snow tires. Just a few days ago, it was in the high 40s and it felt like I was driving on jelly doughnuts. I was so annoyed - I did NOT buy a brand new Mazda just to be the one poking along in the slow lane because I constantly feel like I'm seconds away from drifting off the road!
> 
> But temperatures make a big difference and once it dipped back into the 20s and low 30s, driving became fun again
> 
> And for the record, the Mazda's name is Oliver when he's being pokey and recalcitrant. She turns back into Alice when she goes zoom zoom  (Yes, my car is gender-fluid  )



I mean, still not really an issue for me because I'll do what I need to do regardless...but our forecast has been creeping up by the hour it seems. They were talking nothing on Wednesday, maybe an inch or two yesterday, and our latest forecast was for 8 inches of snow (and maybe as much as a foot). 

I am supposed to be about 30 miles north east of here for most of the day tomorrow. If I still have to make the drive, my wife's Subaru allows me to turn on my classical music, crank the seat heater, and relax the entire way.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, the latest storm is pretty much a non-issue for us in the Northeast, though I am quite enjoying the drop in temperatures. Not only do I like it anyway, but it also makes a huge difference driving on my snow tires. Just a few days ago, it was in the high 40s and it felt like I was driving on jelly doughnuts. I was so annoyed - I did NOT buy a brand new Mazda just to be the one poking along in the slow lane because I constantly feel like I'm seconds away from drifting off the road!
> 
> But temperatures make a big difference and once it dipped back into the 20s and low 30s, driving became fun again
> 
> And for the record, the Mazda's name is Oliver when he's being pokey and recalcitrant. She turns back into Alice when she goes zoom zoom  (Yes, my car is gender-fluid  )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I mean, still not really an issue for me because I'll do what I need to do regardless...but our forecast has been creeping up by the hour it seems. They were talking nothing on Wednesday, maybe an inch or two yesterday, and our latest forecast was for 8 inches of snow (and maybe as much as a foot).
> 
> I am supposed to be about 30 miles north east of here for most of the day tomorrow. If I still have to make the drive, my wife's Subaru allows me to turn on my classical music, crank the seat heater, and relax the entire way.
Click to expand...


Maybe because you're closer to the coast than I am?  The forecast fore here says a 40% chance of snow flurries for about 3 hours or so tomorrow afternoon.

I almost got a Subaru.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Man it's still cold as the f*cking Antarctic.
> 
> Had a pretty good day at work. Had some REALLY cranky people, of course, but that's retail after Christmas.


Remember, Antarctica is in the Southern hemisphere so it has just turned the equivalent of summer, there.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, the latest storm is pretty much a non-issue for us in the Northeast, though I am quite enjoying the drop in temperatures. Not only do I like it anyway, but it also makes a huge difference driving on my snow tires. Just a few days ago, it was in the high 40s and it felt like I was driving on jelly doughnuts. I was so annoyed - I did NOT buy a brand new Mazda just to be the one poking along in the slow lane because I constantly feel like I'm seconds away from drifting off the road!
> 
> But temperatures make a big difference and once it dipped back into the 20s and low 30s, driving became fun again
> 
> And for the record, the Mazda's name is Oliver when he's being pokey and recalcitrant. She turns back into Alice when she goes zoom zoom  (Yes, my car is gender-fluid  )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I mean, still not really an issue for me because I'll do what I need to do regardless...but our forecast has been creeping up by the hour it seems. They were talking nothing on Wednesday, maybe an inch or two yesterday, and our latest forecast was for 8 inches of snow (and maybe as much as a foot).
> 
> I am supposed to be about 30 miles north east of here for most of the day tomorrow. If I still have to make the drive, my wife's Subaru allows me to turn on my classical music, crank the seat heater, and relax the entire way.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Maybe because you're closer to the coast than I am?  The forecast fore here says a 40% chance of snow flurries for about 3 hours or so tomorrow afternoon.
> 
> I almost got a Subaru.
Click to expand...



Maybe...and around 100 miles east.

My prefer my wife's car in wintry weather...but otherwise, it's soulless. My days are numbered though. With kid #2 on the way, my Mazda will unfortunately be looking for work by the summer probably. I straight-up can't fit a carseat behind the driver's seat in any sort of way that will allow me to use the clutch.


----------



## snowbear

Made it to St L, with the next leg due to begin in about 45 minutes.

Supposed to get some more snow tonight, into tomorrow afternoon.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Maybe...and around 100 miles east.
> 
> My prefer my wife's car in wintry weather...but otherwise, it's soulless. My days are numbered though. With kid #2 on the way, my Mazda will unfortunately be looking for work by the summer probably. I straight-up can't fit a carseat behind the driver's seat in any sort of way that will allow me to use the clutch.



Just get a bigger Mazda!  There's the 6, of course, though that's just in the sedan. Which is fine, but generally prefer hatches or coupes. Then there's the CX-3, which isn't really that much bigger than my 3 hatch. And it's got 4-wheel drive.

You described why I ultimately decided against the Impreza. I'd probably love it the handful of times I had to drive through a storm, but the rest of the year, driving it would be meh at best.


----------



## SquarePeg

You need a family size car.  And don't bother with the crossovers as you will not be able to fit all your stuff and your car seats and your kids.  I highly recommend the Honda Pilot.  It's a typical family suv but it's got some juice when you hit the gas.  Got to have something with some pick up!  There's plenty of room for 5 passengers with a hatch full of stuff which is great for a beach day or a long road trip.  When needed, and with kids it is needed at some point, you can fit driver plus 7 passengers.

Rhonda the Honda is already taken but you could name yours Sully.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary was hoping to roast some coffee today ... but was too busy.  Gary was up on the roof again trying to track down and kill the minor leak, a few drops actually, from the middle of the patio roof. A can ana half of Henry's and two cans of that rubber spray which turns your screen door into a boat.  Big rain coming in on Monday.  If those drops return, Gary will need to escalate the matter.  Gary took down the outdoor lighting, planted a half dozen tomatoes and three peppers, packed up the tree, rearranged the patio furniture, walked the pooch three miles and later pumped out a quick two miles on the treadmill. Gary is beat and deserves the wine he is now sipping.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> You need a family size car.  And don't bother with the crossovers as you will not be able to fit all your stuff and your car seats and your kids.  I highly recommend the Honda Pilot.  It's a typical family suv but it's got some juice when you hit the gas.  Got to have something with some pick up!  There's plenty of room for 5 passengers with a hatch full of stuff which is great for a beach day or a long road trip.  When needed, and with kids it is needed at some point, you can fit driver plus 7 passengers.
> 
> Rhonda the Honda is already taken but you could name yours Sully.




Yeah, the Pilot is on the shortlist with the Mazda CX-9, the Toyota Highlander, the Dodge Durango, and maybe the three-row Subaru that is supposed to be released this year. Who knows...we almost bought a mini-van when we bought the Outback. So that might be on the table too, but I'd rather have AWD if I'm going to be driving a large vehicle. 

Looks like I'll be making that drive today. Always fun.


----------



## minicoop1985

Ugh, hosers, my freaking back is still sore. What the hell, man. I've been taking it easy for the past week even.

I'm working for Lifetouch for the last time today. Then it's full on to working on trying to get a promotion at the jewelry store. I wanna be a manager, but I need to finish training first before I jump the gun on this stuff.


----------



## snowbear

Touched down in DC with no incidents, got home with only a minor stop at Krispy Kreme.  I have a creme filled doughnut with this morning's k-cup.

December 2016 POTM voting is posted.  I had it put together when I left but didn't take a real computer on the trip.  I like to leave the nominations open for a few days to catch any stragglers.



minicoop1985 said:


> Ugh, hosers, my freaking back is still sore. What the hell, man. I've been taking it easy for the past week even.
> 
> I'm working for Lifetouch for the last time today. Then it's full on to working on trying to get a promotion at the jewelry store. I wanna be a manager, but I need to finish training first before I jump the gun on this stuff.



Have you been to the doctor?  I frequently need muscle relaxers & anti-inflammatories.  Heating pad might help, too.
Good luck on the job.


----------



## Frank F.

Interesting how many Americans love Japanese or Korean cars. They are quite popular in Europe too but nothing beats the Germans here when it comes to sales.


----------



## Frank F.

2016 (Q1) Europe: Best-Selling Car Manufacturers, Brands and Models


----------



## JonA_CT

Frank F. said:


> Interesting how many Americans love Japanese or Korean cars. They are quite popular in Europe too but nothing beats the Germans here when it comes to sales.



Maintenance cost on German cars here is ridiculous...even on the cheaper Volkswagens. My family owned a TDI Jetta wagon for over a decade...it did get close to 50mpg before we changed our diesel fuel, but even an oil change was over $100. Independent mechanics didn't like working on it, and parts were scarce. Getting the clutch replaced was a 2.5 week ordeal.

That being said, if I had the cash, I'd totally buy an Audi. But the similar one to the cars I listed above cost almost twice as much, and while the fit, finish, and maybe driving characteristics are nicer, the reliability according to independent testing here is worse.


----------



## JonA_CT

Plus, save for their work van and their Hilux, all my relatives in England drive French cars.

Then again, they are sheep farmers haha


----------



## SquarePeg

minicoop1985 said:


> Ugh, hosers, my freaking back is still sore. What the hell, man. I've been taking it easy for the past week even.



Definitely see a good chiropractor.  Saved me when I threw my back out. But get someone who is recommended, lots of hacks in that field.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Interesting how many Americans love Japanese or Korean cars. They are quite popular in Europe too but nothing beats the Germans here when it comes to sales.


There are so many Porsches, Mercedes and BMW's in LA that flying into LAX it looks like Berlin with Palm Trees.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting how many Americans love Japanese or Korean cars. They are quite popular in Europe too but nothing beats the Germans here when it comes to sales.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maintenance cost on German cars here is ridiculous...even on the cheaper Volkswagens. My family owned a TDI Jetta wagon for over a decade...it did get close to 50mpg before we changed our diesel fuel, but even an oil change was over $100. Independent mechanics didn't like working on it, and parts were scarce. Getting the clutch replaced was a 2.5 week ordeal.
> 
> That being said, if I had the cash, I'd totally buy an Audi. But the similar one to the cars I listed above cost almost twice as much, and while the fit, finish, and maybe driving characteristics are nicer, the reliability according to independent testing here is worse.
Click to expand...

In the 70's and 80's Gary drove BMW's.  Then America improved their engineering and Gary picked up a '84 Mustang SVO and never looked back.  Then he had his first and dumped the SVO, (a big mistake ... he should have just parked it for 20 years), for a Scorpio, (a hatch back with the perfect height back deck for changing diapers).  As Frank would attest, Californians drive a lot ... tons of miles per year.  Gary had very good luck his Cherokee for hauling kids and stuff around. Got nearly 300,000 miles with minor repairs, (water pumps).  With a family in tow, Gary would be hard pressed to purchase a two-wheel drive vehicle.


----------



## Frank F.

Ah. The infrastructure is missing. I see. No know how. No parts. Very different here. You buy them like new for cheap and get them competently repaired by independent workshops for cheap or by official representatives for triple the price!


----------



## Frank F.

We just had a serving of light drizzle on deep frozen pavement. Blitzeis .... Flash-Ice we call that ... the place turns into a skating ground in seconds. In some spots wise people had applied sand and salt. In most places nothing. I went shopping with bicycle and trailer and was floored totally once and nearly several times


----------



## Frank F.

Did you hear that Hasselblad is sold off to the Chinese???

Not that I care, they do not make any products of interest to me. I just hope that does not affect the GFX sharing a lot of genes with the X1D...


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Did you hear that Hasselblad is sold off to the Chinese???
> 
> Not that I care, they do not make any products of interest to me. I just hope that does not affect the GFX sharing a lot of genes with the X1D...


I read it on here but never really checked it out. Hassy's are out of my league. The camera I kind of cherish is the Rolleiflex 2.8 F.


----------



## snowbear

DSC_6863.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Frank F.

Who made this instrument? Looks quite unusual to me


----------



## snowbear

Our niece did the stained glass work and placed LEDs inside for backlighting.  It was auctioned for the Hamilton, Ohio Symphony Orchestra.  We won the auction; have to keep it in the family.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> Ah. The infrastructure is missing. I see. No know how. No parts. Very different here. You buy them like new for cheap and get them competently repaired by independent workshops for cheap or by official representatives for triple the price!



There's know-how for sure. It's just more expensive. Parts are more expensive because they're imported, and the labor can be more expensive because it can be - the folks who buy BMWs and Audis can generally afford to pay it, and so they are charged for it. There are also a lot fewer people these days who are able to work on their own cars, and commercial mechanics know this, and so are able to charge high prices. 

If I had the money, I'd be looking at BMWs or VWs. My family owned about 12 different VWs over the years. My father - who was Portuguese and a mechanic - only wanted European or American cars. His work truck was always Chevy because he liked their diesel engines. I've only owned VWs or Chevy's for my entire life until I got the Mazda, and I'm still kind of shocked that I bought it! I can't help but think my father is spinning in his grave just a tiny little bit, although he might change his mind once he drove it 

The other thing to consider is that different cars are popular in different places because of the different climates and terrains. Up here in the Northeast, Subarus are a dime a dozen because they are very good in winter weather. Down South, they're not as common. Up here, there are also not a lot of classic Porsches, though these days there are more and more Porsche SUVs, which I personally think are an abomination.


----------



## limr

Speaking of cars, SOMEBODY got to see how hard she has to hit the breaks on snowy pavement to set off the ABS and see what it feels like  (Yes, it was on purpose. Gotta see what Alice and her snow tires can do.)


----------



## Frank F.

Subaru Imprezza is a hell of a Ralley machine judging from my "first hand" experience in "Colin Mc Rae Ralley" .... sounds great. Superb police chase in "Need for Speed - Hot Pursuit" too...


----------



## snowbear

I'll take something like this for snow.  And sun-sand.


----------



## JonA_CT

Subaru rocked it today.  I ended up leaving as the snow started and now there are about 8 inches on the ground. I drove about 120 miles round trip. 

Now, it's time for some pizza and a beer or three.


----------



## JonA_CT

I drove a stick shift 4x4 Cherokee for 8 years. I loved that thing in the snow...but the subie is better.


----------



## limr

We got more snow than I expected so my commute home was a bit messy (I had to work overtime this morning) but Alice did fine. I do love my snow tires 

And now the bummer is that our power went out   But I have candles and a fireplace and warm kitties and wine and _Myra Breckenridge_ to read and a wi-fi hotspot so I can complain to you hosers, so it's all good


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> We got more snow than I expected so my commute home was a bit messy (I had to work overtime this morning) but Alice did fine. I do love my snow tires
> 
> And now the bummer is that our power went out   But I have candles and a fireplace and warm kitties and wine and _Myra Breckenridge_ to read and a wi-fi hotspot so I can complain to you hosers, so it's all good


Sounds like a pinhole moment....


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> We got more snow than I expected so my commute home was a bit messy (I had to work overtime this morning) but Alice did fine. I do love my snow tires
> 
> And now the bummer is that our power went out   But I have candles and a fireplace and warm kitties and wine and _Myra Breckenridge_ to read and a wi-fi hotspot so I can complain to you hosers, so it's all good
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like a pinhole moment....
Click to expand...


Hey, there's an idea! In the meantime, a cell phone snap:


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> We got more snow than I expected so my commute home was a bit messy (I had to work overtime this morning) but Alice did fine. I do love my snow tires
> 
> And now the bummer is that our power went out   But I have candles and a fireplace and warm kitties and wine and _Myra Breckenridge_ to read and a wi-fi hotspot so I can complain to you hosers, so it's all good
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like a pinhole moment....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hey, there's an idea! In the meantime, a cell phone snap:
> 
> View attachment 132840
Click to expand...

What's the cat looking at?


----------



## snowbear

My bet is the candles . . . flames flicker and move.


----------



## limr

Yup, the candles. Then about a minute later, she was on my lap. Then, just when I thought "Aww, this is just nice" the power came back on. I might just turn the lights off and carry on


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Yup, the candles. Then about a minute later, she was on my lap. Then, just when I thought "Aww, this is just nice" the power came back on. I might just turn the lights off and carry on



You might just discontinue electrical service altogether and read this very interesting book: Whole Systems Design - The Resilient Farm and Homestead, By Ben Falk


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  I let my daughter invite a couple of friends over late this afternoon to hang out and watch a movie.  The snow has since gotten worse and the streets are very slippery so I said they could stay over.  Now I have a houseful of 14 year old girls who have taken over my nice comfy sectional and my plans to watch a movie on the big screen.  The dog and I have decamped to my bedroom to surf the net and watch something on my computer.  Suggestions?  I'm in the mood for some sci fi  or alternative reality I think.  Has anyone been watching Man in the High Castle on Prime?


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  I let my daughter invite a couple of friends over late this afternoon to hang out and watch a movie.  The snow has since gotten worse and the streets are very slippery so I said they could stay over.  Now I have a houseful of 14 year old girls who have taken over my nice comfy sectional and my plans to watch a movie on the big screen.  The dog and I have decamped to my bedroom to surf the net and watch something on my computer.  Suggestions?  I'm in the mood for some sci fi  or alternative reality I think.  Has anyone been watching Man in the High Castle on Prime?



I've never seen that, but for alternate reality, there's always Twilight Zone or Buffy or Star Trek  Oooh, or X Files!


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  I let my daughter invite a couple of friends over late this afternoon to hang out and watch a movie.  The snow has since gotten worse and the streets are very slippery so I said they could stay over.  Now I have a houseful of 14 year old girls who have taken over my nice comfy sectional and my plans to watch a movie on the big screen.  The dog and I have decamped to my bedroom to surf the net and watch something on my computer.  Suggestions?  I'm in the mood for some sci fi  or alternative reality I think.  Has anyone been watching Man in the High Castle on Prime?



I haven't, but everyone I know who has watched has said it's worth it.

We've been watching Mozart in the Jungle...it's been great, but very different than what you are looking for. 

I'm currently watching football, and I think my wife is watching one of the Divergent movies on her phone. Her choice...she started before I was home.

Random musing: I went to pick up pizza on the way home tonight, and our normal favorite was closed because of the snow. I ended up stopping at a greek-style place that we never go to a few blocks from the house. The pizza is bad, but good...if you know what I mean. Thick, greasy crust...over spiced sauce, stringy mozzarella. Something nostalgic about it.


----------



## snowbear

Our CATV "On Demand" had an old (c 1978) Doctor Who with Tom Baker and Lala Ward.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Random musing: I went to pick up pizza on the way home tonight, and our normal favorite was closed because of the snow. I ended up stopping at a greek-style place that we never go to a few blocks from the house. The pizza is bad, but good...if you know what I mean. Thick, greasy crust...over spiced sauce, stringy mozzarella. Something nostalgic about it.



Every once in a while I get a craving for Greek pizza and I know exactly what you mean about bad but good, lol.  Just open any phone book and find the nearest House of Pizza and you are all set.  It always takes me back in time to my teenage days hanging out at Mass House of Pizza in Cambridge.  There was a public indoor pool across the street that was a quarter to get in then it was about .75 for a slice and a coke so we could make a $1 into a whole day.  Now when my daughter heads to the Y for open swim I have to give her $5 to get in (we're not members anymore) and another $5-10 for something to eat from either Brueger's or Papa Gino's.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  I let my daughter invite a couple of friends over late this afternoon to hang out and watch a movie.  The snow has since gotten worse and the streets are very slippery so I said they could stay over.  Now I have a houseful of 14 year old girls who have taken over my nice comfy sectional and my plans to watch a movie on the big screen.  The dog and I have decamped to my bedroom to surf the net and watch something on my computer.  Suggestions?  I'm in the mood for some sci fi  or alternative reality I think.  Has anyone been watching Man in the High Castle on Prime?


HOW much more "alternate reality" do you need than a house full of 14 year old girls?????


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  I let my daughter invite a couple of friends over late this afternoon to hang out and watch a movie.  The snow has since gotten worse and the streets are very slippery so I said they could stay over.  Now I have a houseful of 14 year old girls who have taken over my nice comfy sectional and my plans to watch a movie on the big screen.  The dog and I have decamped to my bedroom to surf the net and watch something on my computer.  Suggestions?  I'm in the mood for some sci fi  or alternative reality I think.  Has anyone been watching Man in the High Castle on Prime?
> 
> 
> 
> HOW much more "alternate reality" do you need than a house full of 14 year old girls?????
Click to expand...

Throw the same out of 14 year old boys in there and see what you get....


----------



## SquarePeg

Watched the first 2 episodes of Man in the High Castle.  I think I'm hooked.   The girls went out to play in the snow and wore themselves out a bit so they are actually quieter than usual (not to say quiet) watching a movie now...


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Watched the first 2 episodes of Man in the High Castle.  I think I'm hooked.   The girls went out to play in the snow and wore themselves out a bit so they are actually quieter than usual (not to say quiet) watching a movie now...


Check the schnapps in liquor cabinet, make sure it is still there...


----------



## terri

We're watching the Lions-Seahawks game.  It's 25* outside.

Every time one of the commentators says "Jim Bob Cooter" we take a slug of wine.

Seriously, there is no better name in sports right now than Jim Bob Cooter.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> We're watching the Lions-Seahawks game.  It's 25* outside.
> 
> Every time one of the commentators says "Jim Bob Cooter" we take a slug of wine.
> 
> Seriously, there is no better name in sports right now than Jim Bob Cooter.



I want a new pet now, just so I can name it Jim Bob Cooter.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're watching the Lions-Seahawks game.  It's 25* outside.
> 
> Every time one of the commentators says "Jim Bob Cooter" we take a slug of wine.
> 
> Seriously, there is no better name in sports right now than Jim Bob Cooter.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I want a new pet now, just so I can name it Jim Bob Cooter.
Click to expand...

Well, if they can't score more than 6 in a playoff game, no more Jim Bob next year in Detroit


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're watching the Lions-Seahawks game.  It's 25* outside.
> 
> Every time one of the commentators says "Jim Bob Cooter" we take a slug of wine.
> 
> Seriously, there is no better name in sports right now than Jim Bob Cooter.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I want a new pet now, just so I can name it Jim Bob Cooter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well, if they can't score more than 6 in a playoff game, no more Jim Bob next year in Detroit
Click to expand...


Yeah, I really don't care about the actual player. I just want the name for a pet


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're watching the Lions-Seahawks game.  It's 25* outside.
> 
> Every time one of the commentators says "Jim Bob Cooter" we take a slug of wine.
> 
> Seriously, there is no better name in sports right now than Jim Bob Cooter.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I want a new pet now, just so I can name it Jim Bob Cooter.
Click to expand...


Sounds like a name for a ferret.  Or an armadillo.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're watching the Lions-Seahawks game.  It's 25* outside.
> 
> Every time one of the commentators says "Jim Bob Cooter" we take a slug of wine.
> 
> Seriously, there is no better name in sports right now than Jim Bob Cooter.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I want a new pet now, just so I can name it Jim Bob Cooter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well, if they can't score more than 6 in a playoff game, no more Jim Bob next year in Detroit
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, I really don't care about the actual player. I just want the name for a pet
Click to expand...

Jim Bob is a coach. Offensive coordinator.


----------



## limr

Or a turtle! He already has the "Bob" so maybe that is just short for Jim Bob Cooter


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're watching the Lions-Seahawks game.  It's 25* outside.
> 
> Every time one of the commentators says "Jim Bob Cooter" we take a slug of wine.
> 
> Seriously, there is no better name in sports right now than Jim Bob Cooter.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I want a new pet now, just so I can name it Jim Bob Cooter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well, if they can't score more than 6 in a playoff game, no more Jim Bob next year in Detroit
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, I really don't care about the actual player. I just want the name for a pet
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Jim Bob is a coach. Offensive coordinator.
Click to expand...


Yeah, still don't care 

I really don't follow pro football, just college. And once that is over, I'm more likely to watch hockey.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary were planning on watching Manchester ... but we got caught up in house stuff.  Mary Lou worked in the garage, clearing a pathway to and unearthing the weight machine.  Gary spend the afternoon on the patio roof with another can of Henry's tracking down a stubborn drip.

We were both beat ... so we cleaned up and headed out for an early Italian dinner. And now we're home, in our pj's, watching RED on the big screen and drinking an absolutely wonderful blend, Heritage Red crafted by Lorenzi in Temecula. Pairs up nicely with our frozen yogurt and cookies.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I really don't follow pro football, just college. And once that is over, I'm more likely to watch hockey.


or curling.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I really don't follow pro football, just college. And once that is over, I'm more likely to watch hockey.
> 
> 
> 
> or curling.
Click to expand...


Don't laugh, I found myself genuinely (or as my students would say, "straight up legit") fascinated by curling during the last Winter Olympics!


----------



## snowbear

I'm not laughing at all.  I'm considering a trip to catch the Potomac Curling Club in action.


----------



## snowbear

And for anyone that thinks curling is utterly nutterly, know that it is brought to the world by the same folks that popularized golf and bagpipes, the Scots.


----------



## unpopular

This morning I started a laundry load and shortly after got an error code. I thought to myself "I wonder if that dream I had about putting shampoo in the washing machine is coming true".

Yeah. The washer was all full of suds. :\


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  I let my daughter invite a couple of friends over late this afternoon to hang out and watch a movie.  The snow has since gotten worse and the streets are very slippery so I said they could stay over.  Now I have a houseful of 14 year old girls who have taken over my nice comfy sectional and my plans to watch a movie on the big screen.  The dog and I have decamped to my bedroom to surf the net and watch something on my computer.  Suggestions?  I'm in the mood for some sci fi  or alternative reality I think.  Has anyone been watching Man in the High Castle on Prime?




Dirk Gently on Netflix. An alt reality detective story inspired by Douglas Adams.

We had 12 youth mixed 15 year old here last night. Wife managed to have them sent home. Originally our son had planned to have them stay here....


----------



## Designer

Frank F. said:


> We had 12 youth mixed 15 year old here last night. Wife managed to have them sent home. Originally our son had planned to have them stay here....


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> Or a turtle! He already has the "Bob" so maybe that is just short for Jim Bob Cooter
> 
> View attachment 132851


TURTLE!!!!!

Ah, left Lifetouch on a high note with a pretty good sale. Went in with an attitude of I wasn't gonna take crap from anyone, and it was GREAT. Had a guy get pissed about my pink tie, so I made sure to be more goofy than usual. He got so mad, it was hilarious. I can guarantee he's gonna take the survey and give me a bad review. It's so great knowing that this, in no way, will ever affect me. This was a church well over 2 hours away, so I'll never see these people again.


----------



## JonA_CT

I have about 10 inches of snow to shovel before I can do anything else today, but the current 15* temperatures and 4* real feel are inhibiting any motivation to actually accomplish that task. So I'm sitting inside sipping a hot cup of coffee instead.


----------



## unpopular

Frank F. said:


> Dirk Gently on Netflix. An alt reality detective story inspired by Douglas Adams.



Is this the BBC version or the BBC-America/FX version with Elijah Wood? They're both equally good in very different ways. We bought the BBC-America version and just finished it up a few weeks ago.

It's nuts. Like completely bonkers crazy meth induced psychosis nuts.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Or a turtle! He already has the "Bob" so maybe that is just short for Jim Bob Cooter
> 
> View attachment 132851



I love him!!   He looks like a Jim Bob Cooter to me, too.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I have about 10 inches of snow to shovel before I can do anything else today, but the current 15* temperatures and 4* real feel are inhibiting any motivation to actually accomplish that task. So I'm sitting inside sipping a hot cup of coffee instead.



Yup it's nasty cold out there. Good thing I've got a houseful of teenagers and at least 4 shovels.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is a cool 52F presently, no wind and the Sun is shining brightly through the Flowing Maple, the Hummingbird feeder and against the blinds.  The front page photo of the LA Times is of a wide angle shot of a 4WD CHP Explorer stuck in snow.  Beneath the photo a headline proclaims "Northern California on a winter war footing". All along the entire length of the Sierra Nevada bordering the Central Valley, 60 inches of snow has fallen. Last year at this time there wasn't enough snow to make a Margarita. The snows closed the road to Yosemite.  The park was still open, you just couldn't get to it ... or out.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is now reading an inside story on "Winter storm blankets East Coast". "... with ice causing hundreds of crashes.  Thousands of people lost power ...".   Gary would much rather keep the snow up in the mountains, an hour drive away.  Drive an hour, toss some snowballs, take some photos, inner tube down some slopes, build a snowman, then drive home with a small snowman in the back of the truck and pluck it down in the front yard. Then warm up with dinner at the beach and a stroll along the pier.


----------



## Frank F.

unpopular said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dirk Gently on Netflix. An alt reality detective story inspired by Douglas Adams.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is this the BBC version or the BBC-America/FX version with Elijah Wood? They're both equally good in very different ways. We bought the BBC-America version and just finished it up a few weeks ago.
> 
> It's nuts. Like completely bonkers crazy meth induced psychosis nuts.
Click to expand...


Netflix features BBC USA with The Hobbit Frodo. Genius. I saw some parts twice


----------



## Frank F.

my pic of the day for 7 January:


----------



## Frank F.

my pic of the day for 8 January 02017:


----------



## Frank F.

and an alternative pic of the day for @jcdeboever who likes that kind of stuff...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is out of shape.  He just got off the treadmill sweating like a pig.  He wanted to hit two miles in 30 minutes ... took him 30 minutes and 40 seconds.  Next time.


----------



## Dave442

I'm sure Gary will soon be breaking that 30 minute mark.


----------



## limr

Guys! Guys! Guys, hosers! Hosers! HOSERS!

It's finally coming to NY and I have tickets and I cannot wait!! 

Here's the schedule: Kedi


----------



## JonA_CT

I hope Aaron Rodgers chokes on a cheese curd at half time. 

Okay, that's mean. I don't want him to die. I hope he trips and breaks his leg on the way out of the locker room for the second half.


----------



## Gary A.

Spotted this plate on a convertible beetle while walking into the movies.


----------



## Gary A.

It was another short sleeved perfect day. Mary Lou and I watched Manchester by the Sea and we are now relaxing in the back, drinking vino and enjoying the campfire.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou brought out some cheese and crackers.


----------



## Gary A.

If you want to be depressed, go watch Manchester by the Sea.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are working their way through the depression of Manchester.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 132887 Spotted this plate on a convertible beetle while walking into the movies.


Boy... someone is confused.  It's Yogi *BEAR*, *NOT* Yogi Man!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... I have a sneaky suspicion the owner was hoping that people would misread it as yogaman.


----------



## snowbear

Or maybe it's like "Yo, G.I. Man!" without all the spaces and punctuation.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 132893
> Mary Lou brought out some cheese and crackers.



I love cheese crackers!


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... I have a sneaky suspicion the owner was hoping that people would misread it as yogaman.



A Yogi is some guy following the path of Yoga, a 3000 year old monotheistic philosophy from India. Read Patañjali, who laid out the whole concept in his famous 119 sentences.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Frank F.

My picture of the day for 9 January 02017


----------



## minicoop1985

Mornin, hosers. I actually look forward to working with my for now manager. She's great. The other employee there is just annoyingly lazy.


----------



## snowbear

Good Monday, y'all.  Back to work, but I'm looking forward to what I hope to be a good week.  The GIS boss is taking me to lunch, as I was in OK when he took the others out ("Year-End GIS Celebration"), I have to figure out why some buildings are not showing up on a series of maps, and I'm hoping to hear from the other county IT manager about the temp position (she knew I was going to be out last week).

I started cleaning up the desktop PC a couple weeks ago, so I'll get that finished this week and then look at the laptop.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Frank F.

Message of the day:

"Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our mind, whoa
Have no fear for atomic energy
'Cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time
How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look?
Yes, some say it's just a part of it
We've got to fulfill the book"

Bob Marley


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Message of the day:
> 
> "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
> None but ourselves can free our mind, whoa
> Have no fear for atomic energy
> 'Cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time
> How long shall they kill our prophets
> While we stand aside and look?
> Yes, some say it's just a part of it
> We've got to fulfill the book"
> 
> Bob Marley


Truly spoken while smoking a fat blunt...


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Message of the day:
> 
> "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
> None but ourselves can free our mind, whoa
> Have no fear for atomic energy
> 'Cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time
> How long shall they kill our prophets
> While we stand aside and look?
> Yes, some say it's just a part of it
> We've got to fulfill the book"
> 
> Bob Marley
> 
> 
> 
> Truly spoken while smoking a fat blunt...
Click to expand...



Dunno. I think smoking weed & Rastafarism are just another form of "mental slavery"


----------



## robbins.photo

Frank F. said:


> Dunno. I think smoking weed & Rastafarism are just another form of "mental slavery"



Well, in the immortal words of Bob Marley...

I'm dead mon.  Give it a rest... 

Lol


----------



## Frank F.

Thank you all, supporting my effort to take one picture a day and post it, trying to make it mean something, not just a random exposure.

All of my pictures are original frames, except for geometrical correction and the rare 0.5° turn when I am not concentrated. I very very rarely crop, try to get it right in camera.

For pictures like the one today it is necessary to make the frame and hold still until figures and cars are correctly aligned. So I "waste some film" to get the one frame that makes me happy.


----------



## Frank F.

robbins.photo said:


> Well, in the immortal words of Bob Marley...Lol



I posted the Marley Lyrics as advertisement for "Atomic Energy" as you might have guessed 

Through the research for my book I know that by 2060 our cities will be powered blockwise by "Nuclear Batteries" in the sense of decentral combined heat and power stations delivering Heating, Refridgeration, Climate Control, Electricity and Fuel for Cars and Urban Agriculture.

But not many people know that already. Some people laugh me in the face think I am joking. After reading through my results they all have to concede.

Start here if interested: David MacKay FRS: : Contents


----------



## SquarePeg

Frank F. said:


> Thank you all, supporting my effort to take one picture a day and post it, trying to make it mean something, not just a random exposure.
> 
> All of my pictures are original frames, except for geometrical correction and the rare 0.5° turn when I am not concentrated. I very very rarely crop, try to get it right in camera.
> 
> For pictures like the one today it is necessary to make the frame and hold still until figures and cars are correctly aligned. So I "waste some film" to get the one frame that makes me happy.



You might get more responses and comments on the individual photos if you use the Gallery forums and start a 365/daily photo thread there.  The Coffee House thread has a loyal and boisterous following but many of the TPF members never visit it.


----------



## robbins.photo

Frank F. said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, in the immortal words of Bob Marley...Lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I posted the Marley Lyrics as advertisement for "Atomic Energy" as you might have guessed
> 
> Through the research for my book I know that by 2060 our cities will be powered blockwise by "Nuclear Batteries" in the sense of decentral combined heat and power stations delivering Heating, Refridgeration, Climate Control, Electricity and Fuel for Cars anbd Urban Agriculture.
> 
> But not many people know that already. Some people laugh me in the face think I am joking. After reading through my results they all have to concede.
> 
> Start here if interested: David MacKay FRS: : Contents
Click to expand...


Ya, sorry, no offense but not interested in this or any other discussion on global anything.  In my experience it's simply too tied into politics and causes people to act like a bunch of ridiculous children.


----------



## Frank F.

robbins.photo said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, in the immortal words of Bob Marley...Lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I posted the Marley Lyrics as advertisement for "Atomic Energy" as you might have guessed
> 
> Through the research for my book I know that by 2060 our cities will be powered blockwise by "Nuclear Batteries" in the sense of decentral combined heat and power stations delivering Heating, Refridgeration, Climate Control, Electricity and Fuel for Cars anbd Urban Agriculture.
> 
> But not many people know that already. Some people laugh me in the face think I am joking. After reading through my results they all have to concede.
> 
> Start here if interested: David MacKay FRS: : Contents
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ya, sorry, no offense but not interested in this or any other discussion on global anything.  In my experience it's simply too tied into politics and causes people to act like a bunch of ridiculous children.
Click to expand...



OK. Skipped.


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> You might get more responses and comments on the individual photos if you use the Gallery forums and start a 365/daily photo thread there.




OK. I ' ll give it a try


----------



## minicoop1985

Le. Ow. My back is killing me again, and I still don't know why.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> The Coffee House thread has a loyal and boisterous following but many of the TPF members never visit it.


This.  We are those that have been kicked out of the good forums.  Or the frequenters of the good forums are too scared to come down here.


----------



## snowbear

minicoop1985 said:


> Le. Ow. My back is killing me again, and I still don't know why.


Funkiness with the missus?


----------



## JonA_CT

I got my yearly migraine today. Because I've mostly figured out the triggers, I don't get them nearly as frequently, but I also don't carry my medication with me the way I should. I decided it wasn't really a migraine and sucked it up the entire work day. I felt like I wanted to puke the entire drive home. 

I took the meds and crashed for a couple hours. It's a dull ache now, but I always feel like I am super hung over the next day.


----------



## snowbear

laverne said:


> Smurfies!!! Lovely!


Welcome to the house.  Be careful of the wet spot on the floor - Frank spilled his latte and hasn't gotten back with the towel to clean it up.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like coffee cake


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I got my yearly migraine today. Because I've mostly figured out the triggers, I don't get them nearly as frequently, but I also don't carry my medication with me the way I should. I decided it wasn't really a migraine and sucked it up the entire work day. I felt like I wanted to puke the entire drive home.
> 
> I took the meds and crashed for a couple hours. It's a dull ache now, but I always feel like I am super hung over the next day.



So sorry. Migraines suck.  Some triggers like damp weather are not controllable. I know for me I have to take something at the first sign or I'm sunk.


----------



## snowbear

Good night, peeps.  Catch ya in the AM


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  Fourth quarter ... a very good game.  A very long day for Gary.  It rained in the morn but cleared up by the afternoon.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, in the immortal words of Bob Marley...Lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I posted the Marley Lyrics as advertisement for "Atomic Energy" as you might have guessed
> 
> Through the research for my book I know that by 2060 our cities will be powered blockwise by "Nuclear Batteries" in the sense of decentral combined heat and power stations delivering Heating, Refridgeration, Climate Control, Electricity and Fuel for Cars anbd Urban Agriculture.
> 
> But not many people know that already. Some people laugh me in the face think I am joking. After reading through my results they all have to concede.
> 
> Start here if interested: David MacKay FRS: : Contents
Click to expand...

Wow, very interesting stuff Frank.  Thanks for sharing.


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Coffee House thread has a loyal and boisterous following but many of the TPF members never visit it.
> 
> 
> 
> This.  We are those that have been kicked out of the good forums.  Or the frequenters of the good forums are too scared to come down here.
Click to expand...

It's almost as if it was.... by design.  Que twilight zone music

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## robbins.photo

snowbear said:


> laverne said:
> 
> 
> 
> Smurfies!!! Lovely!
> 
> 
> 
> Welcome to the house.  Be careful of the wet spot on the floor - Frank spilled his latte and hasn't gotten back with the towel to clean it up.
Click to expand...

I don't think that was a latte.  Lol

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

robbins.photo said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> laverne said:
> 
> 
> 
> Smurfies!!! Lovely!
> 
> 
> 
> Welcome to the house.  Be careful of the wet spot on the floor - Frank spilled his latte and hasn't gotten back with the towel to clean it up.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I don't think that was a latte.  LolTapatalk
Click to expand...


Big Black Ape is right:

Latte is German colloquial for prong

AND
I am allergic to dairy products

....


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  Fourth quarter ... a very good game.  A very long day for Gary.  It rained in the morn but cleared up by the afternoon.



Business good at Gary's? Frank happy!


----------



## minicoop1985

laverne said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Welcome to _The Coffee House_, where there is no competition, no Leaderboard, no C&C, and no stress. It was started by small group of TPF gnomes who not only like photography, but also like to share coffee, cinnamon buns, poems, and stories.
> 
> Pull up a seat, grab a cup, and unwind!
> 
> View attachment 88454
> _© Copyright Lewis Clarke and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons License_
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Smurfies!!! Lovely!
Click to expand...


HAHA NEWB

Welcome, sir. I shall be your guide... into madness.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

The last time I checked the score last night, it was the 3rd quarter and Clemson was down 14 to 31. I just checked again, just in case they rallied, and OH MY GOD, THEY RALLIED AND THEY BEAT 'BAMA!
 

Here's my "Bama lost!!!!" dance:


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> laverne said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Welcome to _The Coffee House_, where there is no competition, no Leaderboard, no C&C, and no stress. It was started by small group of TPF gnomes who not only like photography, but also like to share coffee, cinnamon buns, poems, and stories.
> 
> Pull up a seat, grab a cup, and unwind!
> 
> View attachment 88454
> _© Copyright Lewis Clarke and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons License_
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Smurfies!!! Lovely!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> HAHA NEWB
> 
> Welcome, sir. I shall be your guide... into madness.
Click to expand...


Please watch your step and be sure to keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times...


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> The last time I checked the score last night, it was the 3rd quarter and Clemson was down 14 to 31. I just checked again, just in case they rallied, and OH MY GOD, THEY RALLIED AND THEY BEAT 'BAMA!
> 
> 
> Here's my "Bama lost!!!!" dance:


I like that FedEx Field has been mothballed until the next season.


----------



## robbins.photo

Frank F. said:


> Latte is German colloquial for prong....



I thought prong was Australian for shrimp.

Wait.  That might be prawn...


----------



## snowbear

Welcome to Baltimore


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> Welcome to Baltimore


Don't mess with a man's food!


----------



## Frank F.

robbins.photo said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Latte is German colloquial for prong....
> 
> 
> 
> I thought prong was Australian for shrimp.
> Wait.  That might be prawn...
Click to expand...



My son read a current statistics on German prongs. The average is Australian prawn-size


----------



## robbins.photo

Frank F. said:


> My son read a current statistics on German prongs. The average is Australian prawn-size



See, now I'm trying to imagine what sort of people work in the government office that keeps track of those statistics...

Deiderich!  Have you gotten the data on the latest prong measurements from Stuttgart yet?

rotfl


----------



## pixmedic

Lookie what I got today!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Another long a$$ day.  Gary is again sweating like a pig after a 12 minute mile on the treadmill.  Gary has got to up his game.  Slowly walking the dog doesn't cut it.  Gary has decided to lose 20 pounds in 45 days.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Another long a$$ day.  Gary is again sweating like a pig after a 12 minute mile on the treadmill.  Gary has got to up his game.  Slowly walking the dog doesn't cut it.  Gary has decided to lose 20 pounds in 45 days.


It will make your Johnson look bigger...


----------



## snowbear

pixmedic said:


> Lookie what I got today!
> 
> View attachment 132994


Does the other side say "Banhammer"?


----------



## pixmedic

snowbear said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lookie what I got today!
> 
> View attachment 132994
> 
> 
> 
> Does the other side say "Banhammer"?
Click to expand...

It says
Pixmedic the banninnator


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> It will make your Johnson look bigger...



You think he got German ancestors?


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Gary has decided to lose 20 pounds in 45 days.



Good idea. I know I have 20 pounds of extra water due to Cortisone, but I decided to work on the other 160 pounds by reducing wine consumption to one, max two days per week. Weight is gained mostly by consuming short carbohydrates in the evening. So if you want to reduce weight and eat in the evening use long carbohydrates or no carbohytrates like meat with vegetables.


----------



## Frank F.

Short carbohydrates?

Alcohol
White bread, noodles etc.
All sugars


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> Short carbohydrates?
> 
> Alcohol
> White bread, noodles etc.
> All sugars



We use the term "simple" for what you are calling "short" and "complex" for what you're calling "long."


----------



## limr

Oh, and good morning, hosers! 

Temps are getting warmer (boo) so I imagine I'll be driving Oliver for the next two days. This morning wasn't too bad, but I'm expecting tonight to be worse since he'll have all day for his tires to get nice and warm. And tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer. Mid-50s! That's just wrong in January


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has decided to lose 20 pounds in 45 days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good idea. I know I have 20 pounds of extra water due to Cortisone, but I decided to work on the other 160 pounds by reducing wine consumption to one, max two days per week. Weight is gained mostly by consuming short carbohydrates in the evening. So if you want to reduce weight and eat in the evening use long carbohydrates or no carbohytrates like meat with vegetables.
Click to expand...

Gary knows all about losing weight.  Gary wrestled in high school, and lot tons of weight to attain and maintain "weight".  He'd lose hundreds of pounds a season.  He lost 15 pounds in one day once to make weight.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is raining again today. Yesterday, The Cook and Gary returned from our walk soaking wet being caught in a shower.  Fortunately, Cook had a raincoat and Gary a fedora. Gary and Cook are wet from retrieving the morning paper. The rain barrels have been filling up and Gary has been emptying them ... the plants seem quite happy with their smiling shiny faces and arms outstretched. All the wetness is forecasted to stop by mid morning and by the afternoon it supposed to hit a temperate 65F or so.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Fortunately, Cook had a raincoat and Gary a fedora. Gary and Cook are wet from retrieving the morning paper.



Leo loves a fedora. She also loves a newspaper. If she lived in the 40s, she'd SO have married a journalist 

And speaking of losing weight, I checked the scale this morning to get a baseline so I can restart my journey. I lost 25 lbs last year. Then I stalled and 5 lbs came back at the end of the year. I was a little afraid this morning, but apparently I have managed to stall the upwards creep, even if I haven't yet managed to get it to start creeping back down. So now it's time to get it to start creeping back down. I know myself and I know my metabolism (which, as it turns out, is more sluggish than it should be and now I'm on some medication so hopefully it will help) so I'm aiming for a less-ambitious target than Gary is. I'm looking to be 10lbs lighter by my birthday, which is in 2 months.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is raining again today. Yesterday, The Cook and Gary returned from our walk soaking wet being caught in a shower.  Fortunately, Cook had a raincoat and Gary a fedora. Gary and Cook are wet from retrieving the morning paper. The rain barrels have been filling up and Gary has been emptying them ... the plants seem quite happy with their smiling shiny faces and arms outstretched. All the wetness is forecasted to stop by mid morning and by the afternoon it supposed to hit a temperate 65F or so.




I want to see pictures of the happy plants!!!


----------



## JonA_CT

I've been eating more salad and drinking less beer, too. 

I used to be a gym rat before my daughter was born...finding the energy is much harder than before, and I don't have time in my schedule to frequently get to the gym (unless I wake up before 5AM). So I've been walking more and doing kettlebell work outs at home. I still want to get a power rack for my basement, but I haven't found the right deal yet. I miss squatting and deadlifting.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> I've been eating more salad and drinking less beer, too.
> 
> I used to be a gym rat before my daughter was born...finding the energy is much harder than before, and I don't have time in my schedule to frequently get to the gym (unless I wake up before 5AM). So I've been walking more and doing kettlebell work outs at home. I still want to get a power rack for my basement, but I haven't found the right deal yet. I miss squatting and deadlifting.



I've always enjoyed weight training. I do most of my exercising at home. Right now, I've got dumbbells up to 15lbs and two kettlebells (I'm either doing that workout wrong or it's not good for me - hurts my back. But I use them for other things), and an exercise bike. I just have to actually start up again. I can manage my food well and that definitely helps me keep things steady, but I know the key for actually losing is to increase my exercise.


----------



## Gary A.

For most of Gary's adult life he had the mentality that he was in shape because he did things which required that he moved.  He didn't want to move just be be in shape.  But time marches on ... he has found the convenience of a treadmill/stationary bike much more useful than a gym membership.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is raining again today. Yesterday, The Cook and Gary returned from our walk soaking wet being caught in a shower.  Fortunately, Cook had a raincoat and Gary a fedora. Gary and Cook are wet from retrieving the morning paper. The rain barrels have been filling up and Gary has been emptying them ... the plants seem quite happy with their smiling shiny faces and arms outstretched. All the wetness is forecasted to stop by mid morning and by the afternoon it supposed to hit a temperate 65F or so.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I want to see pictures of the happy plants!!!
Click to expand...

When it quits raining, lol.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Leo:  When Gary started at the Times, it was in the mid '70's and it was a real changing of the guards at the time.  A lot of kids were being hired to replace a ton of old time reporters and photogs that were retiring.  The first thing I noticed was that all the old farts there wore sport coats, ties and many even wore hats.

I did the sport coat and tie thing for a few months ... then eased into jeans and Adidas.

When I was working in the Tropics, I romanticized how cool it would be to work in a cold climate, strolling around in a trench coat and hat.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> For most of Gary's adult life he had the mentality that he was in shape because he did things he moved.  He didn't want to move just be be in shape.  But time marches on ... he has found the convenience of a treadmill/stationary bike much more useful than a gym membership.



Totally agree with this!  I have an elliptical at home and it gets a lot more use than the gym membership.  My true preference though is just to walk outdoors early morning or after dinner in the Spring and Summer.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> For most of Gary's adult life he had the mentality that he was in shape because he did things he moved.  He didn't want to move just be be in shape.  But time marches on ... he has found the convenience of a treadmill/stationary bike much more useful than a gym membership.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Totally agree with this!  I have an elliptical at home and it gets a lot more use than the gym membership.  My true preference though is just to walk outdoors early morning or after dinner in the Spring and Summer.
Click to expand...


I wish I could walk more easily in the winter, but I can't get myself up early enough to do it in the morning, and it's very dark by the time I'm done with work. I might try to go to the track at the local high school since that's well-lit and there's often other people walking at that time. I live in a rural area with no sidewalks, so I always have to travel somewhere else to go walking.

Spring and fall are okay for walking outside, but it's nearly impossible for me to do exercise outside in the summer. It will literally make me sick to my stomach.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Gary knows all about losing weight.  Gary wrestled in high school, and lot tons of weight to attain and maintain "weight".  He'd lose hundreds of pounds a season.  He lost 15 pounds in one day once to make weight.




Theach us!


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> For most of Gary's adult life he had the mentality that he was in shape because he did things he moved.  He didn't want to move just be be in shape.  But time marches on ... he has found the convenience of a treadmill/stationary bike much more useful than a gym membership.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Totally agree with this!  I have an elliptical at home and it gets a lot more use than the gym membership.  My true preference though is just to walk outdoors early morning or after dinner in the Spring and Summer.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I wish I could walk more easily in the winter, but I can't get myself up early enough to do it in the morning, and it's very dark by the time I'm done with work. I might try to go to the track at the local high school since that's well-lit and there's often other people walking at that time. I live in a rural area with no sidewalks, so I always have to travel somewhere else to go walking.
> 
> Spring and fall are okay for walking outside, but it's nearly impossible for me to do exercise outside in the summer. It will literally make me sick to my stomach.
Click to expand...


For me the only way to walk in summer is to go at the crack of dawn.  There is very little traffic and it hasn't heated up yet.  If I have time, I'll head to the nearest beach and walk there (it's about a 10 minute ride at that hour).  However, it can get blistering hot in the city in July and August so I do have to limit my walking to the milder days during those months - anything over 85 and I skip it in favor of something cooler like a swim and the dog stays home anytime it's over 70.  We have a mall less than a mile away that allows people in before opening to walk.  Lots of seniors but not all, especially when the weather outside is too hot or wet.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> For me the only way to walk in summer is to go at the crack of dawn.  There is very little traffic and it hasn't heated up yet.  If I have time, I'll head to the nearest beach and walk there (it's about a 10 minute ride at that hour).  However, it can get blistering hot in the city in July and August so I do have to limit my walking to the milder days during those months - anything over 85 and I skip it in favor of something cooler like a swim and the dog stays home anytime it's over 70.  We have a mall less than a mile away that allows people in before opening to walk.  Lots of seniors but not all, especially when the weather outside is too hot or wet.



I might be able to handle early morning summer temps, but I'm too much of a night owl to reliably force myself awake at that hour  Even so, I'm more like your dog - nothing strenuous over 70 degrees. I remember trying to go jogging one morning - it was about 7am and just about 70 degrees, but I had to stop after 10 minutes because I was seriously about to hurl. And to quote the great Wayne Campbell, ixnay on the urlhay!


----------



## jcdeboever

It wasn't me that took your sock, check with the cat, I am innocent.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> It wasn't me that took your sock, check with the cat, I am innocent.
> View attachment 133030View attachment 133031



Le sigh.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> @ Leo:  When Gary started at the Times, it was in the mid '70's and it was a real changing of the guards at the time.  A lot of kids were being hired to replace a ton of old time reporters and photogs that were retiring.  The first thing I noticed was that all the old farts there wore sport coats, ties and many even wore hats.
> 
> I did the sport coat and tie thing for a few months ... then eased into jeans and Adidas.
> 
> When I was working in the Tropics, I romanticized how cool it would be to work in a cold climate, strolling around in a trench coat and hat.



I imagine Gary being like Animal on "Lou Grant"


----------



## snowbear

Yay - One of the Michigan nieces is coming down this weekend.  Hope the weather stays half-way decent.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Yay - One of the Michigan nieces is coming down this weekend.  Hope the weather stays half-way decent.


I was thinking Columbo


----------



## vintagesnaps

Why are we talking about taking a walk (or not) in the summer heat in the not-quite-yet middle of January?


----------



## Derrel

Summertime walks yeah, baby,yeah!


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Why are we talking about taking a walk (or not) in the summer heat in the not-quite-yet middle of January?


We are expecting temps in the sixties in the next day or two.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why are we talking about taking a walk (or not) in the summer heat in the not-quite-yet middle of January?
> 
> 
> 
> We are expecting temps in the sixties in the next day or two.
Click to expand...


Ew.

It's supposed to be high 50s tomorrow. I say again, ew. Not to mention it means another day of driving Oliver instead of Alice 

Well, hosers, it seems that I'm going to get a good long break from teaching - or at least teaching the classes I usually teach. It seems that low enrollment meant that a colleague's evening class was cancelled. And because she has just ONE semester seniority on me, she gets to bump me from my class, which was the only other evening class. And since becoming full-time staff, I can't teach daytime classes, so the only teachers I could bump are ones teaching on Saturday.

And that just ain't gonna happen, folks. First, I have done more than my fair share of working on Saturdays and I feel that my dues on that point have been paid in full and then some. Second, one teacher likely needs the money more than I do, and I've already bumped the other teacher twice in the past, and if I do it one more time, she will cut my throat. Finally, what writing teacher does NOT want a good solid break from grading???

And speaking of grading, I've been invited back to do AP scoring again in June, so now I have to figure out how to arrange that.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh, yeah, we're having a heat wave. (And why would I ask why we're talking about anything we talk about??)


----------



## vintagesnaps

I think you're making me glad I'm retired. Although working for a county agency/program, we always had a neverending enrollment and always said we'd never be out of work. They'd always find more kids...

Is this your workplace??


----------



## jcdeboever

I want massive piles of snow and major dumps of salt (rust ) so I can attain my nut in 2017....


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I think you're making me glad I'm retired. Although working for a county agency/program, we always had a neverending enrollment and always said we'd never be out of work. They'd always find more kids...
> 
> Is this your workplace??



A little bit more like this


----------



## Gary A.

Rain in the morning, then the Sun broke out for a gorgeous, sun drenched, mid 60's afternoon.  Cook and Gary walked to the store getting the final fixin's for a very very good pot roast Gary had tossed into the crock pot.


----------



## Frank F.

Friday is said to bring snow and frost and the snow is said to stay with us for at least a week. 

We will see if the prognosis hoilds and I will show you the snow if it should really come to stay!


----------



## snowbear

Ugly news: Bad fire with building collapse in Baltimore; children unaccounted for.

Not so ugly news: The County GIS manager and his boss are trying to get me on as a contractor; pay without benefits, but I get the benefits through MLW.  I should know something in the next few days.

Mixed-to-not-good news: snow -> sleet on Saturday.  Not where we live, but where we work, and MLW is pulling a 12-hour OT shift Saturday might.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

It's in the mid-50s, raining and windy. Oliver behaved well-enough this morning. 

I'm starting to think my car is less "gender-fluid" and more "schizophrenic"  To be fair, though, it's really the tires that should be named Oliver, not the car itself. 

Going to dinner tonight in the city for Buzz's father's birthday. A nice side effect of being a homebody is that a rare night out tends to feel like an exciting event


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm not teaching this semester either, for the same reasons. For the class I normally teach, they only needed one adjunct for the spring, and not all of the classes are even close to full. While I'll miss the money a little bit, it's kind of nice to be able to spend my evenings focused on my family and other hobbies. 

I have 8lbs of green coffee beans arriving today, and some other coffee roasting paraphernalia. My wife has stopped drinking coffee because she can't stand the smell of it while she is pregnant (plus the other issues). I haven't decided whether this is good or bad for my coffee roasting cause yet.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Rain again this morning. It isn't that Gary has anything against rain ... but it would be nice if it was spread out a bit ... save some for Spring. Gary woke up to filled rain barrels again. Cook stayed on the front stoop while Gary retrieved the paper.  Frontpage headline in the LA Times (below the fold), "Is the great California drought finally ending?"  The answer in the third paragraph is "Maybe". lol "... the Sierra Nevada have seen as much snow, sleet, hail and rain as  during wettest years on record.  Rainy Los Angeles feels more like London than Southern California."  You know that after you wash your car, it rains ... well, Gary thinks all this rain is due that he dug up the grass in the front and replaced it with succulents and native, drought tolerant plants. Had Gary not waited to rip out the grass, the drought would have ended years ago.

Another sip of coffee ... man this stuff is so goooood.  Gary roasted another batch yesterday.  He mixed medium roast with a heavy roast and it is delish.  It has some complexity to it ... there is some 'non-coffee' flavor going on at the end of the sip ... the back of the tongue.  Nothing bitter, just a taste you don't find with most mass roasted/brewed coffees.  Interesting ... Gary is really beginning to enjoy all this coffee business.  

Last night Mike and Max came over for dinner.  Max is this beautiful Golden Retriever mix who just goes nuts at greeting people.  He's up on two legs hoping, rubbing and licking all over you.  I am teaching Max how to properly greet people with a look into their eyes, a single extended paw while sitting and a "How do you do ..." softly growl.  Max sheds.  Max sheds so jammin' much that after a short time we're all looking like Max.  (The Cook doesn't shed so the contrast between dogs is stark.)  Dinner was surprisingly good for a Crock Pot cooked pot roast.  Herbs, celery and peppers from back really livened up the meal.  The peppers gave it a good kick. Mary Lou picked a salad while Gary cut up a baguette and we started the evening with a Lorenzi Blanc de Noirs. Then we moved to a Complicated Chardonnay from Sonoma and we ended with cookies and Gary's siphon coffee.  A nice evening around the kitchen table.


----------



## unpopular

all dressed up for a second "informal" interview for a job I really want. Meeting at a pub.

TOTALLY bombed the first interview, so I'm really glad they're still interested. Wish me luck!


----------



## snowbear

It hit 72 this afternoon.


----------



## jcdeboever

unpopular said:


> all dressed up for a second "informal" interview for a job I really want. Meeting at a pub.
> 
> TOTALLY bombed the first interview, so I'm really glad they're still interested. Wish me luck!


Some things are not always as they appear. You will do fantastic.


----------



## Derrel

Still snow here, but blue skies today. On a brief walk around the neighborhood, I spotted this colorful football, lodged in the branches of a snow-laden tree. Kind of made me chuckle!


----------



## tirediron

A modern take on Charlie Brown's kite-eating tree?


----------



## Gary A.

The ball looks under-inflated.


----------



## JonA_CT

We don't need to make our footballs green and yellow here. But then again, we also don't lose them in trees.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary was able to work from home today, (postponed a few meetings). Cats and Dogs!!!!! All day long until the late afternoon.  Gary emptied the rain barrels numerous times throughout the day. Gary moved a spare Tv into the treadmill room with an off-air antenna.  Gary had no idea about the huge number of Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Iranian, Vietnamese, et al, stations there are out there lurking in the airwaves and broadcasting locally.  The Tv makes a night and day difference in making the time fly and minimizing the pain of boredom.


----------



## Gary A.

What's that white stuff in the tree?


----------



## Derrel

Gary A. said:
			
		

> The ball looks under-inflated.



Word is, this football was thrown by _a nephew of Tom Brady_...who was taught that, in cold weather, "Ya wanna let a lotta' air out of the ball!"



			
				JonA_CT said:
			
		

> We don't need to make our footballs green and yellow here. But then again, we also don't lose them in trees.



Looks like a University of Oregon _money-grab ball,_ sold in the classic U of O school hues of green and yellow.


----------



## SquarePeg

Derrel said:


> Word is, this football was thrown by _a nephew of Tom Brady_...who was taught that, in cold weather, "Ya wanna let a lotta' air out of the ball!"



As we say around here...  They hate us cuz they ain't us.


----------



## unpopular

jcdeboever said:


> unpopular said:
> 
> 
> 
> all dressed up for a second "informal" interview for a job I really want. Meeting at a pub.
> 
> TOTALLY bombed the first interview, so I'm really glad they're still interested. Wish me luck!
> 
> 
> 
> Some things are not always as they appear. You will do fantastic.
Click to expand...


They all seemed very impressed by my suggestion to replace the desk chairs with live ponys wearing slippers. And no, I'm not kidding. We had a ten minute discussion on the subject.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> Word is, this football was thrown by _a nephew of Tom Brady_...who was taught that, in cold weather, "Ya wanna let a lotta' air out of the ball!"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As we say around here...  They hate us cuz they ain't us.
Click to expand...


Nah, I hate Brady because he's an unbridled douchebag. I actually have nothing against the Patriots.


----------



## SquarePeg

Didn't realize you two had met!


----------



## Dave442

Fixed the coffee maker, had to test it out so I'm still up and just cleaned out a closet.


----------



## minicoop1985

Good morning, people. So tired. Not enough coffee out there.


----------



## robbins.photo

minicoop1985 said:


> Good morning, people. So tired. Not enough coffee out there.



You should head over to Gary's.  He's got bags and bags of the stuff.  Granted, it's some crazy foreign multisyllabic uber mix and you won't be able to pronounce the name of it - but bags and bags nonetheless.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, people. So tired. Not enough coffee out there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You should head over to Gary's.  He's got bags and bags of the stuff.  Granted, it's some crazy foreign multisyllabic uber mix and you won't be able to pronounce the name of it - but bags and bags nonetheless.
Click to expand...

... And your face won't hurt when you walk outside.


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> ... And you face won't hurt when you walk outside.



Well can't speak for coop of course but I live in Nebraska.  I haven't felt my face in like, a month and a half.. lol.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... if you come here bring a snorkel, (that's for the streets not the ocean). For good, face hurting weather in California, you gotta drive to the mountains. (We still have some glaciers up there.)


----------



## unpopular

Dave442 said:


> Fixed the coffee maker, had to test it out so I'm still up and just cleaned out a closet.



What the f*ck have I been drinking then?


----------



## JonA_CT

Not enough coffee?




 

Sounds like you need to manage your supply chain better! I think I'm set for at least a month.


----------



## limr

See, and my face hurts in summer, so I'll just stay right where I am, thankyouverymuch. Might vacation in Alaska over the summer, though


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Not enough coffee?
> 
> View attachment 133096
> 
> Sounds like you need to manage your supply chain better! I think I'm set for at least a month.



Holy crap!     Think you might get through the next month?         Those look beautiful, btw.  

It's too freakin' warm around here atm.    We had lovely sub-freezing temps all last week - which means I get to make soups, apple pie, and have a fire in the fireplace at night.  

Now we're getting some warm air pumped in from the Gulf, and it's like a spring day out there.   Ridiculous.   Gimme back my January!!


----------



## snowbear

unpopular said:


> Dave442 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fixed the coffee maker, had to test it out so I'm still up and just cleaned out a closet.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What the f*ck have I been drinking then?
Click to expand...


Has anyone seen my paint thinner?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> See, and my face hurts in summer, so I'll just stay right where I am, thankyouverymuch. Might vacation in Alaska over the summer, though


No, Leonore, go _South_ of the Equator.


----------



## JonA_CT

Okay...probably 6 weeks or so. I go through about a pound of roasted coffee a week, and each of those bags is a pound of green coffee (which roughly translates to 12 oz of roasted coffee). 

I got some sad (and weird) news. One of my former students, who is 18 now, has been missing since 12/26. He left his house on his dirt bike and never came back. A huge police and community search ensued, and they finally received a tip that lead to his remains being discovered today. I wouldn't say we had a great relationship when I had him in 7th and 8th grade, but it's so strange and sad to hear the news. It seems pretty likely that it was a homicide. I don't work in that community any more, but it's small and I'm guessing this news is crushing for them.


----------



## Frank F.

Went to the forest with a friends shooting in the snow. Some very nice shots we did take there. My computer is blocked. My whole small office is blocked. My wife and daughter decided to call Friday movie night and watch Miss Doubtfire today. So I can not show you the pictures now...


----------



## Frank F.

Wow. That is so cool. A hunter wanted to warn people not to step on the thin ice.

A fox says more than 1000 words!

FAZ.NET


----------



## Gary A.

unpopular said:


> Dave442 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fixed the coffee maker, had to test it out so I'm still up and just cleaned out a closet.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What the f*ck have I been drinking then?
Click to expand...




Frank F. said:


> Wow. That is so cool. A hunter wanted to warn people not to step on the thin ice.
> 
> A fox says more than 1000 words!
> 
> FAZ.NET


Pretty crazy. Sad but crazy.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> See, and my face hurts in summer, so I'll just stay right where I am, thankyouverymuch. Might vacation in Alaska over the summer, though
> 
> 
> 
> No, Leonore, go _South_ of the Equator.
Click to expand...


Yeah, but I'd have to go pretty far down for it to be proper winter. Too much time in am airplane. 

I will revise my plans, though, and head to Newfoundland. That will be chilly enough (I don’t need freezing temps ALL year  ) and getting there means a nice leisurely road trip. Much much better than air travel 



JonA_CT said:


> Okay...probably 6 weeks or so. I go through about a pound of roasted coffee a week, and each of those bags is a pound of green coffee (which roughly translates to 12 oz of roasted coffee).
> 
> I got some sad (and weird) news. One of my former students, who is 18 now, has been missing since 12/26. He left his house on his dirt bike and never came back. A huge police and community search ensued, and they finally received a tip that lead to his remains being discovered today. I wouldn't say we had a great relationship when I had him in 7th and 8th grade, but it's so strange and sad to hear the news. It seems pretty likely that it was a homicide. I don't work in that community any more, but it's small and I'm guessing this news is crushing for them.



That's really sad, I'm sorry


----------



## limr

In other news, for Christmas I got a gift certificate for a nail salon, so I'm about to go in to get a manicure. It feels weird. I've had manicures before and it's pleasant, and it's not like I'm even paying for it, but it's still hard for me to ask someone to do something I can easily do myself (and usually do.)


----------



## SquarePeg

Got a busy weekend planned!  Out to dinner tonight with the family for my daughter's birthday.  Breakfast tomorrow morning with my Mom, 3 of my aunts and 4 of my uncles (my mom is one of 12).  They go every Saturday morning (we call it the Breakfast Club) and I try to join them at least once/month - I enjoy their stories and I like to see them as often as I can.   Saturday night dinner and watching the Pats playoff game with some friends at my favorite spot.  Sunday committed to helping at a fundraiser from 5-11pm.  Working Monday morning!!!  While I love being busy, I also know that by the end of this weekend I'll be in need of a weekend, lol.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> I got some sad (and weird) news. One of my former students, who is 18 now, has been missing since 12/26. He left his house on his dirt bike and never came back. A huge police and community search ensued, and they finally received a tip that lead to his remains being discovered today. I wouldn't say we had a great relationship when I had him in 7th and 8th grade, but it's so strange and sad to hear the news. It seems pretty likely that it was a homicide. I don't work in that community any more, but it's small and I'm guessing this news is crushing for them.


Sorry to hear this. 



limr said:


> I will revise my plans, though, and head to Newfoundland. That will be chilly enough (I don’t need freezing temps ALL year  ) and getting there means a nice leisurely road trip. Much much better than air travel


Good idea - you could get one of those wonderful puppies, while you're there.



limr said:


> In other news, for Christmas I got a gift certificate for a nail salon, so I'm about to go in to get a manicure. It feels weird. I've had manicures before and it's pleasant, and it's not like I'm even paying for it, but it's still hard for me to ask someone to do something I can easily do myself (and usually do.)


Snowflake motif?


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Snowflake motif?



What, am I 12?


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Snowflake motif?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What, am I 12?
Click to expand...

I don't know... are you?


----------



## Frank F.

So I created "life on stage" ... see what the pepole do with the pearl ...


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Okay...probably 6 weeks or so. I go through about a pound of roasted coffee a week, and each of those bags is a pound of green coffee (which roughly translates to 12 oz of roasted coffee).
> 
> I got some sad (and weird) news. One of my former students, who is 18 now, has been missing since 12/26. He left his house on his dirt bike and never came back. A huge police and community search ensued, and they finally received a tip that lead to his remains being discovered today. I wouldn't say we had a great relationship when I had him in 7th and 8th grade, but it's so strange and sad to hear the news. It seems pretty likely that it was a homicide. I don't work in that community any more, but it's small and I'm guessing this news is crushing for them.


Sad.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Snowflake motif?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What, am I 12?
Click to expand...


I know you are but what am I?


----------



## snowbear

I just brewed some peach sweet tea; about half already gone.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> What, am I 12?


I'm sure you could pull it off.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg:  There have been 200 bus parking permit requests for Friday. For Saturday, the day of the march, there have been 1200 bus parking permit requests.

Godspeed.

(Corrected)


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> @ Peg:  There have been 200 bus parking permit requests for Thursday.  For Friday, the day of the march, there have been 1200 bus parking permit requests.
> 
> Godspeed.



Ugh.  The march is Saturday, Friday is the Inauguration (aka $%%#$@!!!).  I'm still hoping to go to the march but I've run into a family issue where I may be needed here.  If I go I'll use my ff miles for a last minute flight and stay with my cousin so I can leave off of booking anything until the last minute.  I'd love to enjoy the camaraderie of the 9 hour bus ride with 50 of my feminista soul mates but that is not in the cards this time!  If I don't get to go to the DC march, there is a sister march here in Boston that I will try to attend instead.  Wearing a pantsuit of course!


----------



## Gary A.

Of course.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg: You know I've been spilling the beans on you and your trip to Mary Lou and my daughters and you are now a hero to them.


----------



## SquarePeg

I bet there's a sister march in your area they can go to!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> I bet there's a sister march in your area they can go to!


It wouldn't be the same as delivering a message directly to the recipient.


----------



## JonA_CT

Good morning, all.

I didn't sleep much last night. The suspect (and another accomplice, too) are also my former students. I'm heartbroken.

Police charge suspect with murder of Sterling teenager


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning, all.
> 
> I didn't sleep much last night. The suspect (and another accomplice, too) are also my former students. I'm heartbroken.
> 
> Police charge suspect with murder of Sterling teenager



Ugh so sorry to see all this unfolding. I'm sure your current students will need your support.  Hang in there.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning, all.
> 
> I didn't sleep much last night. The suspect (and another accomplice, too) are also my former students. I'm heartbroken.
> 
> Police charge suspect with murder of Sterling teenager


So sad.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning, all.
> 
> I didn't sleep much last night. The suspect (and another accomplice, too) are also my former students. I'm heartbroken.
> 
> Police charge suspect with murder of Sterling teenager


Sorry. I'm sure this is confusing times, you are in my prayers.


----------



## Gary A.

Tragic.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The Sun is out, in force. It is bright and beautiful with sky blue skies, white and gray clouds, beams of light are streaming through the kitchen blinds backlighting the Flowering Maple and Hummingbird feeder.  Gary is sitting back drinking this all in while sipping his coffee and reading the paper. The faithful Cook leaping through the dog door patrolling the back for interlopers. Too bad that it is a cold 47F presently. But there is a big bowl of newly picked Naval, Valencia and Mandarin Oranges, Meyer Lemons and Mexican Limes within reach. The temp should hit the upper 60's ... maybe a good day to squeeze and freeze.

Mary Lou and Gary received 'Sully' yesterday.  We were all set to project the movie while sipping our wine ... but the cable news panels were pretty interesting so we postponed the movie until today.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning, all.
> 
> I didn't sleep much last night. The suspect (and another accomplice, too) are also my former students. I'm heartbroken.
> 
> Police charge suspect with murder of Sterling teenager



That's awful, I'm so sorry


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning, all.
> 
> I didn't sleep much last night. The suspect (and another accomplice, too) are also my former students. I'm heartbroken.
> 
> Police charge suspect with murder of Sterling teenager


I'm sure you are.   A horrible story.  I can't imagine knowing all the parties involved.  I'm so sorry.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  Just got my Amazon fire tv stick with voice remote delivered today.  Already regretting that I have plans to go out tonight to watch the Pats game with some friends.  I could happily sit, cozy and warm, on my couch with the dog and play with this gadget all night.  If you have Amazon prime this thing is awesome!  We have the Alexa on backorder, I will probably cancel that now and just stick with this since it meets most of our needs.  An impressive device for $40.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  Just got my Amazon fire tv stick with voice remote delivered today.  Already regretting that I have plans to go out tonight to watch the Pats game with some friends.  I could happily sit, cozy and warm, on my couch with the dog and play with this gadget all night.  If you have Amazon prime this thing is awesome!  We have the Alexa on backorder, I will probably cancel that now and just stick with this since it meets most of our needs.  An impressive device for $40.



Have you hacked it yet?


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  Just got my Amazon fire tv stick with voice remote delivered today.  Already regretting that I have plans to go out tonight to watch the Pats game with some friends.  I could happily sit, cozy and warm, on my couch with the dog and play with this gadget all night.  If you have Amazon prime this thing is awesome!  We have the Alexa on backorder, I will probably cancel that now and just stick with this since it meets most of our needs.  An impressive device for $40.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have you hacked it yet?
Click to expand...


I keep hearing about that.


----------



## jcdeboever

Developed 6 rolls today and in the process of scanning. Trying out the Ilford Isofol 3, Ilford rapid fix, that was given to me by my local camera store because I referred them so many new print customers since summer (I was surprised!). I guess one customer had put in a $5k order (My wife) for banners on a commercial student housing property. Anyway the Ilford is impressive stuff, no issues at all with fogging or spotting, everything clean today but no expired film to throw a literal curve into the situation. Not using a stop developer or hypo clears, so I was a little nervous but the distilled water seems to do the trick... I feel like I am wasting water so I may go back to it next batch.Well, at first glimpse of the initial 12 scans, I have a lot of practicing to do on manual focus. I am such a noob at this art form, very humbling to say the least. I really admire guys/gals like @Gary A. , @limr, @terri ,@Derrel , @cgw , @SoulfulRecover, @gsgary , @JonA_CT , @spiralout462 , @sabbath999 , @webestang64, and others using film on here. It is not easy like digital and I am very embarrassed by the start of my 2017 film directive.


----------



## JonA_CT

JC, I'm jealous of the effort you put towards the medium. You are doing way more with film than I probably ever will...I still send my film out. 

You are rocking it and producing some great images. Keep it up.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'll make sure to share the entire roll I shot with my Isolette when I get it back...it can only make you feel better.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

 Mary Lou and Gary worked in the yard all day. It is time to slow down with a spot of vino ... a Russian River Vineyard Pinot Noir. A real treat.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> JC, I'm jealous of the effort you put towards the medium. You are doing way more with film than I probably ever will...I still send my film out.
> 
> You are rocking it and producing some great images. Keep it up.


It's all about OCD with JC.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  Just got my Amazon fire tv stick with voice remote delivered today.  Already regretting that I have plans to go out tonight to watch the Pats game with some friends.  I could happily sit, cozy and warm, on my couch with the dog and play with this gadget all night.  If you have Amazon prime this thing is awesome!  We have the Alexa on backorder, I will probably cancel that now and just stick with this since it meets most of our needs.  An impressive device for $40.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have you hacked it yet?
Click to expand...


Elaborate please.  I'm not that technology advanced.


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> Developed 6 rolls today and in the process of scanning. Trying out the Ilford Isofol 3, Ilford rapid fix, that was given to me by my local camera store because I referred them so many new print customers since summer (I was surprised!). I guess one customer had put in a $5k order (My wife) for banners on a commercial student housing property. Anyway the Ilford is impressive stuff, no issues at all with fogging or spotting, everything clean today but no expired film to throw a literal curve into the situation. Not using a stop developer or hypo clears, so I was a little nervous but the distilled water seems to do the trick... I feel like I am wasting water so I may go back to it next batch.Well, at first glimpse of the initial 12 scans, I have a lot of practicing to do on manual focus. I am such a noob at this art form, very humbling to say the least. I really admire guys/gals like @Gary A. , @limr, @terri ,@Derrel , @cgw , @SoulfulRecover, @gsgary , @JonA_CT , @spiralout462 , @sabbath999 , @webestang64, and others using film on here. It is not easy like digital and I am very embarrassed by the start of my 2017 film directive.


Don't be embarrassed, you're kicking butt!

The hubby and I were watching the Falcons kicking the Seahawks to the curb, and after the victory, there was a post game interview between Dan Quinn and Pam Oliver.  Behind them, we both spied a photographer on the field shooting with a twin lens Rolleiflex!    He was using a waist level viewfinder, there was no mistaking it.

So film continues to impress.  It was pretty fun to see.


----------



## Gary A.

We had severe winds a couple of weeks ago which toppled an arch. This is the replacement arch we tossed up today.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  Just got my Amazon fire tv stick with voice remote delivered today.  Already regretting that I have plans to go out tonight to watch the Pats game with some friends.  I could happily sit, cozy and warm, on my couch with the dog and play with this gadget all night.  If you have Amazon prime this thing is awesome!  We have the Alexa on backorder, I will probably cancel that now and just stick with this since it meets most of our needs.  An impressive device for $40.


Love my Echo Dot.  Hooked to a Bose speaker in the bedroom.  No alarm clock, radio, or other crap anymore.  

As to your other question. (Provided for information only.  This is not an endorsement)
2 Minute Hack Amazon Fire TV Stick Install Kodi Fast and Easy - Hack My AppleTV


----------



## SquarePeg

Thanks.  I figured it was something that I wouldn't be comfortable with.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Thanks.  I figured it was something that I wouldn't be comfortable with.


Don't give up on the Alexa or Echo Dot, which ever suits your needs.  I love being able to go to bed, play some music and read, set a wake up alarm,  have the music turn off with a timer as I go to sleep and turn off the bedroom lights, all with the control of my voice.   A couple of these for the bedside lamps and one of these for the overhead lights. 

The Echo dot controls it all effortlessly.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Sully was good.  Mary Lou and Gary ate at the neighborhood Japanese place for dinner, picked up some Orville Redenbacher's at supermarket across the parking lot, then relaxed and watched Sully. A very peaceful evening. The above made Gary remember that he has voice command with his Tv. He's gonna set it up for Netflix, Amazon and internet. Presently, he's going through his Blu Ray for those services. Gary really needs to sit down and RTFM on his receiver.  It is a very high end receiver with beacoup capabilities ... but Gary is a low end guy with little to no capabilities.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. Or rather, good afternoon, as of 2 minutes ago.

I'm trapped under a Zelda:


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Gary and Mary Lou spent the day in the yard again.  Gary mowed the spent the afternoon in the pond, making a minor adjustment which turned into a major adjustment.  Gary is still frozen even after a shower.  

Today, all in all, was a good day.  A four mile walk with Cook.  She made a new friend, Ryan, an Irish Wolfhound.  They had fun romping about, Ryan ended up straddling Cook, they were both facing the same direction, Cook looked up between the wolfhounds legs and Ryan looked down ... the looks on the dogs faces was amusing.  Later, Cook made friends with a pony.  The pony was very nice, a bit bigger than the wolfhound and was just happy to be alive, skipping across the corral. 

Mary Lou and Gary are finally relaxing, sipping some Cabernet Sauvignon and watching Band of Brothers.


----------



## jcdeboever

Love Band of Brothers. Got it on VHS.


----------



## SquarePeg

Band of Brothers!!! Loved it. So many great performances in that series.  I'll watch anything WWII related.  I find the whole era fascinating.

Currently I'm addicted to all things related to England, no matter how historically accurate.  Recently binge watched the adaptation of Phillipa Gregory's The White Queen on Prime.  Final episode of Sherlock airs tonight and first episode of Victoria follows on Masterpiece.


----------



## JonA_CT

My best friend from growing up is back in town this weekend with his daughter. She's a few weeks older than my daughter...crazy how those things work. We went to the local aquarium today. My wife worked there through grad school, and we haven't had the desire to go there with my daughter. Needless to say, she loved it and we bought a membership on the way out.

I've spent a long time on the phone this weekend with my former colleague -- the murder was in the community I used to work in (my first teaching job). I spent 3.5 years there, but I've been gone for a few years. Those conversations have helped, and a few of my former students have reached out to me on Facebook. We've been reminiscing. It's such a small place...the school I worked in has less than 500 students K-8. The affected class was only 50 students. It is really tough on the whole community.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Love Band of Brothers. Got it on VHS.


We've had a can full of Band of Brothers DVD's sitting around collecting dust and Mary Lou insisted that we watch.  Haven't quite completed the first episode ... taking a break for Mary Lou to shower and Gary to get a Tri-Tip that's been swimming in wine and a ton of thyme into the cooker.  The Lorenzi, 2011 Cabernet is heaven ... it is exceptionally smooth yet bursting with all kinds of flavors.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Band of Brothers!!! Loved it. So many great performances in that series.  I'll watch anything WWII related.  I find the whole era fascinating.
> 
> Currently I'm addicted to all things related to England, no matter how historically accurate.  Recently binge watched the adaptation of Phillipa Gregory's The White Queen on Prime.  Final episode of Sherlock airs tonight and first episode of Victoria follows on Masterpiece.


You're crazy .... "addicted to all things related to England". LOL


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Band of Brothers!!! Loved it. So many great performances in that series.  I'll watch anything WWII related.  I find the whole era fascinating.
> 
> Currently I'm addicted to all things related to England, no matter how historically accurate.  Recently binge watched the adaptation of Phillipa Gregory's The White Queen on Prime.  Final episode of Sherlock airs tonight and first episode of Victoria follows on Masterpiece.
> 
> 
> 
> You're crazy .... "addicted to all things related to England". LOL
Click to expand...


When she starts eating Pork Pie and saying that she actually likes it, then you'll know she is in trouble.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> My best friend from growing up is back in town this weekend with his daughter. She's a few weeks older than my daughter...crazy how those things work. We went to the local aquarium today. My wife worked there through grad school, and we haven't had the desire to go there with my daughter. Needless to say, she loved it and we bought a membership on the way out.
> 
> I've spent a long time on the phone this weekend with my former colleague -- the murder was in the community I used to work in (my first teaching job). I spent 3.5 years there, but I've been gone for a few years. Those conversations have helped, and a few of my former students have reached out to me on Facebook. We've been reminiscing. It's such a small place...the school I worked in has less than 500 students K-8. The affected class was only 50 students. It is really tough on the whole community.


That stuff is always just so tough.  I think a donation to the family to help cover funeral/burial expenses would help a bit.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Band of Brothers!!! Loved it. So many great performances in that series.  I'll watch anything WWII related.  I find the whole era fascinating.
> 
> Currently I'm addicted to all things related to England, no matter how historically accurate.  Recently binge watched the adaptation of Phillipa Gregory's The White Queen on Prime.  Final episode of Sherlock airs tonight and first episode of Victoria follows on Masterpiece.
> 
> 
> 
> You're crazy .... "addicted to all things related to England". LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> When she starts eating Pork Pie and saying that she actually likes it, then you'll know she is in trouble.
Click to expand...

Pork Pie ... ???? How about any cooked meat ... lol


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My best friend from growing up is back in town this weekend with his daughter. She's a few weeks older than my daughter...crazy how those things work. We went to the local aquarium today. My wife worked there through grad school, and we haven't had the desire to go there with my daughter. Needless to say, she loved it and we bought a membership on the way out.
> 
> I've spent a long time on the phone this weekend with my former colleague -- the murder was in the community I used to work in (my first teaching job). I spent 3.5 years there, but I've been gone for a few years. Those conversations have helped, and a few of my former students have reached out to me on Facebook. We've been reminiscing. It's such a small place...the school I worked in has less than 500 students K-8. The affected class was only 50 students. It is really tough on the whole community.
> 
> 
> 
> That stuff is always just so tough.  I think a donation to the family to help cover funeral/burial expenses would help a bit.
Click to expand...


Yes, I already contributed to the GoFundMe. 



Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Band of Brothers!!! Loved it. So many great performances in that series.  I'll watch anything WWII related.  I find the whole era fascinating.
> 
> Currently I'm addicted to all things related to England, no matter how historically accurate.  Recently binge watched the adaptation of Phillipa Gregory's The White Queen on Prime.  Final episode of Sherlock airs tonight and first episode of Victoria follows on Masterpiece.
> 
> 
> 
> You're crazy .... "addicted to all things related to England". LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> When she starts eating Pork Pie and saying that she actually likes it, then you'll know she is in trouble.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Pork Pie ... ???? How about any cooked meat ... lol
Click to expand...


Pork Pie is just especially nasty. I think it's because it was talked about by our hosts like it was one of their favorite things...and then you take a bite, and you think it's a cruel joke, but they are very honestly looking for some aspect of satisfaction. Meanwhile, you are wondering how you are going to swallow the gelatinous mass in your mouth (woof). 

They do get some things right. The cheese, the whole spit-roasted lamb, the cask ales, tea...just not anything they call pie.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Band of Brothers!!! Loved it. So many great performances in that series.  I'll watch anything WWII related.  I find the whole era fascinating.
> 
> Currently I'm addicted to all things related to England, no matter how historically accurate.  Recently binge watched the adaptation of Phillipa Gregory's The White Queen on Prime.  Final episode of Sherlock airs tonight and first episode of Victoria follows on Masterpiece.


WWII totally fascinates me as well.  It's like a pretend time when people actually cared about stuff other than themselves. Not just the U.S. but all the sacrifices made by all the Allies and all the Axis countries is simply remarkable. A black and white world.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My best friend from growing up is back in town this weekend with his daughter. She's a few weeks older than my daughter...crazy how those things work. We went to the local aquarium today. My wife worked there through grad school, and we haven't had the desire to go there with my daughter. Needless to say, she loved it and we bought a membership on the way out.
> 
> I've spent a long time on the phone this weekend with my former colleague -- the murder was in the community I used to work in (my first teaching job). I spent 3.5 years there, but I've been gone for a few years. Those conversations have helped, and a few of my former students have reached out to me on Facebook. We've been reminiscing. It's such a small place...the school I worked in has less than 500 students K-8. The affected class was only 50 students. It is really tough on the whole community.
> 
> 
> 
> That stuff is always just so tough.  I think a donation to the family to help cover funeral/burial expenses would help a bit.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, I already contributed to the GoFundMe.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Band of Brothers!!! Loved it. So many great performances in that series.  I'll watch anything WWII related.  I find the whole era fascinating.
> 
> Currently I'm addicted to all things related to England, no matter how historically accurate.  Recently binge watched the adaptation of Phillipa Gregory's The White Queen on Prime.  Final episode of Sherlock airs tonight and first episode of Victoria follows on Masterpiece.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You're crazy .... "addicted to all things related to England". LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> When she starts eating Pork Pie and saying that she actually likes it, then you'll know she is in trouble.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Pork Pie ... ???? How about any cooked meat ... lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Pork Pie is just especially nasty. I think it's because it was talked about by our hosts like it was one of their favorite things...and then you take a bite, and you think it's a cruel joke, but they are very honestly looking for some aspect of satisfaction. Meanwhile, you are wondering how you are going to swallow the gelatinous mass in your mouth (woof).
> 
> They do get some things right. The cheese, the whole spit-roasted lamb, the cask ales, tea...just not anything they call pie.
Click to expand...

I did say "meats".


----------



## Frank F.

England has a lot of bad cooks esp proud of their fabrication. But since Jamie Oliver some were lifted from core hell to perogatory and their stuff is halfways edible. There are even some people who seem to have listened more closely to Jamie and can actually cook quite decently


----------



## Frank F.

I am still waiting in awe for Gary's weight loss tips. To me it seems my weight is stable. Only changes in the last 15 years came through changes in Cortisone dose or short time dehydration after climbing mountains. All water related and externally triggerd. Currently 20 pounds extra water.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The Cook on our morning walk.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I like Monty Python. 

Does this mean that Amazon figured out how to rub sticks together to make Fire? 

Having been a teacher should I think that if I tell something what to do, it will actually do what I said?? no way.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry to read about what happened Jon, that's awful.


----------



## Frank F.

I read that we lose 85% of weight by breezing. So to lose weight would it be a good idea to do sports with a breezing mask creating an oxegyn rich environment? Turning body fat into CO2?


----------



## jcdeboever

I like eating in a good  breeze.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Snowflake motif?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What, am I 12?
Click to expand...


12 is a good age.  It's at the fuzzy line that separates belief from suspicion, when stories that feel good get transformed into tales of unexplained hidden meaning, when the simple world starts kaleidoscoping into a different and more difficult-to-navigate reality.  Old enough to have the brain kick in, but not old enough for the hormones.  Don't diss being 12.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, Paul is back.

You need to come down and fix Gary's patio roof.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  At 44F, it's another chilly morning.  At night we wrap Cookie up in a blanket.  She likes her blankets.  On cold mornings, Cook likes to retrieve the newspaper wearing her blanket. She is quite cute.

@ JC: Gary has the answer to your figuring-out-the-distance-to-your-subject-for-the-Isolette problem.  Yesterday at Home Depot Gary purchased a laser tape measure.  It is a Bosch Blaze, it is tiny, 3"x1"x.75" (per my thumb), has a little lanyard, and works great up to 65' ... Gary figures the most you'd need is probably 30'. Best of all, it's fun to play with, (Gary has already aimed it at some passenger planes and a Sheriff's helo.)

A belated Happy MLK Day.  King is one of my hero's. Just thinking back to the 60's ... they were so turbulent, abroad and home, it a wonder there are any American's left.  Everyday the newspapers and Tv were filled with violence we perpetrated on other people as well as the violence we committed on ourselves. King, while reportedly having many personal flaws, still spoke with a righteous and truth which resonates today.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  At 44F, it's another chilly morning.  At night we wrap Cookie up in a blanket.  She likes her blankets.  On cold mornings, Cook likes to retrieve the newspaper wearing her blanket. She is quite cute.
> 
> @ JC: Gary has the answer to your figuring-out-the-distance-to-your-subject-for-the-Isolette problem.  Yesterday at Home Depot Gary purchased a laser tape measure.  It is a Bosch Blaze, it is tiny, 3"x1"x.75" (per my thumb), has a little lanyard, and works great up to 65' ... Gary figures the most you'd need is probably 30'. Best of all, it's fun to play with, (Gary has already aimed it at some passenger planes and a Sheriff's helo.)
> 
> A belated Happy MLK Day.  King is one of my hero's. Just thinking back to the 60's ... they were so turbulent, abroad and home, it a wonder there are any American's left.  Everyday the newspapers and Tv were filled with violence we perpetrated on other people as well as the violence we committed on ourselves. King, while reportedly having many personal flaws, still spoke with a righteous and truth which resonates today.


Sweet, I have to go there tonight. Are they expensive?


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> I read that we lose 85% of weight by breezing. So to lose weight would it be a good idea to do sports with a breezing mask creating an oxegyn rich environment? Turning body fat into CO2?



The basic principle behind losing weight is pretty simple.  Expend more energy than you take in. 

It is the discipline to do so which is the hard part.  Our bodies are designed to create and store fat.  Our bodies love calories. In order to lose and maintain that loss of weight, one has to overcome the basic/innate metabolic methodology.  In the past Gary had coaches who were ready and willing to kick Gary's @$$, which is a very strong motivator for burning up calories. Gary feared coaches telling him to work harder more, than his own body telling him to drink a Coke.

But with today's technology, there are a ton of devices to measure calorie intake and expenditure. They are very effective, they are very portable and over a short time cheaper than a gym and/or a personal trainer.  It just takes the daily discipline to use them religiously and follow the path they will create for you. Water is your best friend.  Drink plenty of water throughout the day and it will cut the hunger pains. 

Beyond the basics, (above), no fast foods or processed foods.  To Gary, fast food is nearly equal to military rations ... K Rats and C Rats ... lumpy, fat encrusted, barely digestible crap one eats in order to keep going. There are all kinds of guides out there to eating healthy ... the best message Gary has seen was this expert stating "90% of what you cook will be healthy.  If you prepare and cook it yourself, you should be okay."  Eat until you're satisfied, not full. Slowly, cut down on the portions.  

Mary Lou and Gary drink about three bottles of wine a week.  But we accommodate the carbs (carbs = sugar=calories=fat) by tracking our calorie intake and calorie usage.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  At 44F, it's another chilly morning.  At night we wrap Cookie up in a blanket.  She likes her blankets.  On cold mornings, Cook likes to retrieve the newspaper wearing her blanket. She is quite cute.
> 
> @ JC: Gary has the answer to your figuring-out-the-distance-to-your-subject-for-the-Isolette problem.  Yesterday at Home Depot Gary purchased a laser tape measure.  It is a Bosch Blaze, it is tiny, 3"x1"x.75" (per my thumb), has a little lanyard, and works great up to 65' ... Gary figures the most you'd need is probably 30'. Best of all, it's fun to play with, (Gary has already aimed it at some passenger planes and a Sheriff's helo.)
> 
> A belated Happy MLK Day.  King is one of my hero's. Just thinking back to the 60's ... they were so turbulent, abroad and home, it a wonder there are any American's left.  Everyday the newspapers and Tv were filled with violence we perpetrated on other people as well as the violence we committed on ourselves. King, while reportedly having many personal flaws, still spoke with a righteous and truth which resonates today.
> 
> 
> 
> Sweet, I have to go there tonight. Are they expensive?
Click to expand...

mmmmhhhh ... around $50.  There are different measuring distances, the longer the more bucks.  I think they start around 35' and move up to 150'.


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm hungry. I need to breeze on over for some donuts


----------



## table1349

I breeze every night.  But then that is what you do when you have sleep apnea and a CPAP machine.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> Hey, Paul is back.
> 
> You need to come down and fix Gary's patio roof.



Sure.  I'll get the work truck ready.  If I start driving tomorrow, I'll get to your place towards the end of the month.  Maybe.  Depends on the number of distractions along the way, the various byways and less-trodden paths that will need to be explored.  Oh, and I'll need a work permit - Homeland Security is very serious about things like that, and I do not want to piss them off.  After all, I can't be taking away any work from an American, for that would be both unneighbourly and against the edicts of the incoming president.  On the other hand, no-one does what we do as well as we so, so there's that.


----------



## table1349




----------



## Derrel

That one, single movie scene represents a mother lode of internet memes! That scene and its main theme was also a big  part of Steve Martin's 1982-era film, *Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid.* What a fun, fun film to watch, even decades later.

But....Gary DOES need a patio. He deserves a nice patio!

Here in PDX-land? Waiting for an afternoon under a NWS ice storm warning for the area. it's been cold for a long time now, still snow on the ground, a lot of ice in parking lots, and at intersections and turn lanes...major PITA driving on secondary roads.

After the ice event, it's supposed to rain, and flood everything as 4,5,6 inches of snow melts within two hours.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Too warm here for the rain to turn into ice. It's going to head up towards the 50s again this week. What the hell, man? This is JANUARY. In NEW YORK. Jeez.

In other news, tonight would have been my first day of class. Not teaching is...well, it's nice that I don't have to work late two nights per week, and it's nice that I don't have to grade. Okay, *really* nice. But it's also just....weird and lonely. And I feel kinda lame. I'm apparently having a hard time with having only one job


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> The basic principle behind losing weight is pretty simple. Expend more energy than you take in.



The corollary to that is "Take in less energy than you expend".  It's a lot easier to pass up the 400 calorie donut, than to ride a bike for an hour at a pretty fast clip to burn the same caloric value, at least for some people.  I'm lucky in this respect - my body internal set-point is such that I can eat what I want, but I reach my satiation point quite quickly.


----------



## table1349

Derrel said:


> That one, single movie scene represents a mother lode of internet memes! That scene and its main theme was also a big  part of Steve Martin's 1982-era film, *Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid.* What a fun, fun film to watch, even decades later.
> 
> But....Gary DOES need a patio. He deserves a nice patio!
> 
> Here in PDX-land? Waiting for an afternoon under a NWS ice storm warning for the area. it's been cold for a long time now, still snow on the ground, a lot of ice in parking lots, and at intersections and turn lanes...major PITA driving on secondary roads.
> 
> After the ice event, it's supposed to rain, and flood everything as 4,5,6 inches of snow melts within two hours.


Let us not forget this as well from Blazing Saddles.


----------



## table1349

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The basic principle behind losing weight is pretty simple. Expend more energy than you take in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The corollary to that is "Take in less energy than you expend".  It's a lot easier to pass up the 400 calorie donut, than to ride a bike for an hour at a pretty fast clip to burn the same caloric value, at least for some people.  I'm lucky in this respect - my body internal set-point is such that I can eat what I want, but I reach my satiation point quite quickly.
Click to expand...


"There are people who strictly deprive themselves of each and ever eatable, drinkable and smokable which has in any way acquired a shady reputation. They pay this price for health. And health is all they get for it. How strange it is. It is like paying out your whole fortune for a cow that has gone dry."
- _Mark Twain_

“I take my only exercise acting as a pallbearer at the funerals of my friends who exercise regularly.” 
_- Mark Twain_


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> [fter all, I can't be taking away any work from an American, for that would be both unneighbourly and against the edicts of the incoming president.  On the other hand, no-one does what we do as well as we so, so there's that.


Don't worry, too much; bunch of us are coming up this week.


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> [fter all, I can't be taking away any work from an American, for that would be both unneighbourly and against the edicts of the incoming president.  On the other hand, no-one does what we do as well as we so, so there's that.
> 
> 
> 
> Don't worry, too much; bunch of us are coming up this week.
Click to expand...


Hang in there.  Your country needs you now more than ever.


----------



## snowbear

Don't want to get political here, but we will survive.


----------



## table1349




----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  Raining here.  We're expecting the nasty weather that NY was having earlier.  I'm bummed to report that I can't go to the Million Woman March on Saturday.  Unfortunately, I'm needed here at home this weekend.  I still hope to go to the sister March here in Boston if I can get away on Saturday morning.  Lots of rules around no bags/backpacks being carried.  Thinking of just going with my cell, especially if the weather is poor.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  Raining here.  We're expecting the nasty weather that NY was having earlier.  I'm bummed to report that I can't go to the Million Woman March on Saturday.  Unfortunately, I'm needed here at home this weekend.  I still hope to go to the sister March here in Boston if I can get away on Saturday morning.  Lots of rules around no bags/backpacks being carried.  *Thinking of just going with my cell, especially if the weather is poor.*



I don't know, if it was me I would wear clothes and carry an umbrella, but that's just my mid-western thinking coming through.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, Paul is back.
> 
> You need to come down and fix Gary's patio roof.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sure.  I'll get the work truck ready.  If I start driving tomorrow, I'll get to your place towards the end of the month.  Maybe.  Depends on the number of distractions along the way, the various byways and less-trodden paths that will need to be explored.  Oh, and I'll need a work permit - Homeland Security is very serious about things like that, and I do not want to piss them off.  After all, I can't be taking away any work from an American, for that would be both unneighbourly and against the edicts of the incoming president.  On the other hand, no-one does what we do as well as we so, so there's that.
Click to expand...

Good.  You know, the meter doesn't start until you step on the roof.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> Good.  You know, the meter doesn't start until you step on the roof.


  Who says I was going to charge you?  I figured it was going to be pro-bono, given the service you've already given to this community!  Play it forward.  Always.


----------



## pgriz

gryphonslair99 said:


> View attachment 133452


Very kind of you to give us Alaska.  Although the lady who said she could see Russia from her backyard may object.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good.  You know, the meter doesn't start until you step on the roof.
> 
> 
> 
> Who says I was going to charge you?  I figured it was going to be pro-bono, given the service you've already given to this community!  Play it forward.  Always.
Click to expand...

The Henry's on moi. lol


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 133452
> 
> 
> 
> Very kind of you to give us Alaska.  Although the lady who said she could see Russia from her backyard may object.
Click to expand...

The bad news is the lady goes with Alaska (small print).


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 133452
> 
> 
> 
> Very kind of you to give us Alaska.  Although the lady who said she could see Russia from her backyard may object.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The bad news is the lady goes with Alaska (small print).
Click to expand...

Oh, she's welcome.  Although I don't know how long she'll hang around once we start her on the French lessons.


----------



## Gary A.

OOuuuu ... cela semble terriblement Antiamericaines.


----------



## pgriz

Jamais.  Nous sommes fières d'avoir des bons voisins. S'ils veux rester avec nous.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I read that we lose 85% of weight by breezing. So to lose weight would it be a good idea to do sports with a breezing mask creating an oxegyn rich environment? Turning body fat into CO2?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The basic principle behind losing weight is pretty simple.  Expend more energy than you take in. I meant tracking energy in / enery out.
> 
> It is the discipline to do so which is the hard part.  Our bodies are designed to create and store fat.  Our bodies love calories. In order to lose and maintain that loss of weight, one has to overcome the basic/innate metabolic methodology.  In the past Gary had coaches who were ready and willing to kick Gary's @$$, which is a very strong motivator for burning up calories. Gary feared coaches telling him to work harder more, than his own body telling him to drink a Coke.
> 
> But with today's technology, there are a ton of devices to measure calorie intake and expenditure. They are very effective, they are very portable and over a short time cheaper than a gym and/or a personal trainer.  It just takes the daily discipline to use them religiously and follow the path they will create for you. Water is your best friend.  Drink plenty of water throughout the day and it will cut the hunger pains.
> 
> Beyond the basics, (above), no fast foods or processed foods.  To Gary, fast food is nearly equal to military rations ... K Rats and C Rats ... lumpy, fat encrusted, barely digestible crap one eats in order to keep going. There are all kinds of guides out there to eating healthy ... the best message Gary has seen was this expert stating "90% of what you cook will be healthy.  If you prepare and cook it yourself, you should be okay."  Eat until you're satisfied, not full. Slowly, cut down on the portions.
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary drink about three bottles of wine a week.  But we accommodate the carbs (carbs = sugar=calories=fat) by tracking our calorie intake and calorie usage.
Click to expand...




OK. Please name the weapons of your choice tracking calorie intake and calorie usage.


----------



## Frank F.

Wife says all the cars are terribly frozen over.

I cant see the cars from the window. Still very dark outside

White car windows in street lights...

...ice not snow


----------



## Frank F.

Two extra shots for the sake of the ice cold morning:

View attachment 133469 

View attachment 133470


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Jamais.  Nous sommes fières d'avoir des bons voisins. S'ils veux rester avec nous.


Rester avec vous, lol ... L'enfer, nous avons meme essaye de prendre sur vous.

Quel est le francais pour "LOL"?   ... LOL oui?


----------



## table1349

pgriz said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 133452
> 
> 
> 
> Very kind of you to give us Alaska.  Although the lady who said she could see Russia from her backyard may object.
Click to expand...

Hey what can I say.  It was probably some 18 year old American kid that drew the thing. What did he know?


----------



## pgriz

On utilize le même mot.  Plein d'anglicisms maintenant.  C'est plus façile d'emprunter un mot que de trouver un nouvel.

We have our own Trump-like discussion going on at present with the Conservative Party of Canada going though a leadership campaign, with 14 (15 now with O'Leary joining) prospects haven thrown their hats into the ring.  Shades of the Republican nomination campaign when there were so many at the beginning.


----------



## table1349

pgriz said:


> On utilize le même mot.  Plein d'anglicisms maintenant.  C'est plus façile d'emprunter un mot que de trouver un nouvel.
> 
> We have our own Trump-like discussion going on at present with the Conservative Party of Canada going though a leadership campaign, with 14 (15 now with O'Leary joining) prospects haven thrown their hats into the ring.  Shades of the Republican nomination campaign when there were so many at the beginning.


S'il vous plaît suivez les lois linguistiques dans votre pays et publiez en français et en anglais. Vous ne voulez pas que vous soyez condamné à une amende.

If you please follow the language laws in your country and post in both English and French.  Don't want you getting fined.


----------



## pgriz

gryphonslair99 said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> On utilize le même mot.  Plein d'anglicisms maintenant.  C'est plus façile d'emprunter un mot que de trouver un nouvel.
> 
> We have our own Trump-like discussion going on at present with the Conservative Party of Canada going though a leadership campaign, with 14 (15 now with O'Leary joining) prospects haven thrown their hats into the ring.  Shades of the Republican nomination campaign when there were so many at the beginning.
> 
> 
> 
> S'il vous plaît suivez les lois linguistiques dans votre pays et publiez en français et en anglais. Vous ne voulez pas que vous soyez condamné à une amende.
> 
> If you please follow the language laws in your country and post in both English and French.  Don't want you getting fined.
Click to expand...


LOL!  It's perfectly legal to communicate in either official language without having to use the other.  The exceptions  are the writing of laws, and general communication with the public by the federal government, which publishes in both languages.  Provincial rules impose their own requirements.  As for fines, that's old school.  We just go with public shaming.  However, in a reasonably cosmopolitan region like Montreal, bilingualism is the norm, and trilingualism is quite common.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I read that we lose 85% of weight by breezing. So to lose weight would it be a good idea to do sports with a breezing mask creating an oxegyn rich environment? Turning body fat into CO2?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The basic principle behind losing weight is pretty simple.  Expend more energy than you take in. I meant tracking energy in / enery out.
> 
> It is the discipline to do so which is the hard part.  Our bodies are designed to create and store fat.  Our bodies love calories. In order to lose and maintain that loss of weight, one has to overcome the basic/innate metabolic methodology.  In the past Gary had coaches who were ready and willing to kick Gary's @$$, which is a very strong motivator for burning up calories. Gary feared coaches telling him to work harder more, than his own body telling him to drink a Coke.
> 
> But with today's technology, there are a ton of devices to measure calorie intake and expenditure. They are very effective, they are very portable and over a short time cheaper than a gym and/or a personal trainer.  It just takes the daily discipline to use them religiously and follow the path they will create for you. Water is your best friend.  Drink plenty of water throughout the day and it will cut the hunger pains.
> 
> Beyond the basics, (above), no fast foods or processed foods.  To Gary, fast food is nearly equal to military rations ... K Rats and C Rats ... lumpy, fat encrusted, barely digestible crap one eats in order to keep going. There are all kinds of guides out there to eating healthy ... the best message Gary has seen was this expert stating "90% of what you cook will be healthy.  If you prepare and cook it yourself, you should be okay."  Eat until you're satisfied, not full. Slowly, cut down on the portions.
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary drink about three bottles of wine a week.  But we accommodate the carbs (carbs = sugar=calories=fat) by tracking our calorie intake and calorie usage.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> OK. Please name the weapons of your choice tracking calorie intake and calorie usage.
Click to expand...

Buenos Dias Senor Frank.  For tracking our activity/calories, Mary Lou and Gary started out with Nike bands, but they broke after a few months. Next Gary used Garmin, which he really liked, worked well and was powered via a disposable battery.  The disposable battery ment that it was changed only once a year.  The rechargeable batteries needed to be hooked up to a charger once a day or so. During that time of recharging the band didn't count any steps or activity.  If you recharge at night, the tracker won't monitor your sleep.  Gary doesn't sleep well, and it is reassuring knowing how well he doesn't sleep. The Garmin was waterproof, so showering, swimming, working in the Koi pond ... was all good. Now Gary and Mary Lou use iWatches for tracking.  Gary tested the iWatch against the dedicated Garmin activity tracker and it was very close in their measurements.  So Gary dumped the Garmin and give it to his youngest daughter.

For intake,  Mary Lou and Gary use 'My Fitness Pal', a free app by Under Armour. Basically, you input a daily journal of your food and it figures out the calories.  It uses a database of specific foods from specific sources.  So if you eat a cheeseburger from In-N-Out, you plug in cheeseburger and a bunch of sources come up, McD's, Burger King, et al, and you select the specific food. If you eat pre-packaged food, plug it in and Costco or Whole Foods comes up. Example; Gary cooked up a pre-seasoned tri-tip from Costco and it was in the food/calorie database.  It is pretty good.  It is a bit tedious in the beginning, (at least for Gary), but as you build your own personal database, your searches become less and less. Gary doesn't know if My Fitness Pal has a database for German restaurants. My Fitness Pal also has a mobile app and will link to an iWatch. 

It is all about discipline, the discipline to track your intake on a daily basis and the discipline to match your activity level to your caloric intake on a daily basis. 

PS- No more orange juice.  The sugar in juice will spike your blood sugar levels kicking in fat production. But ... if you eat an orange or two instead of drinking a glass full, the fibers in the fruit actually slows down sugar absorption, removing the sugar spike and minimizing fat production.

PPS- Gary walks The Cook in the morn.  In the evening, a quick look at his watch shows his activity level and often, Gary will schedule another walk or now a quick mile or two on the treadmill to match intake to expenditure.  Remember, that it took you decades for your body to attain its present shape ... so take your time to reverse the process. A little bit every day, a tracker on your wrist and in your phone helps with the discipline ... friendly reminders.  

PPPS- Gary and Mary Lou will often check the caloric value of food prior to consumption and make our choices based upon what My Fitness Pal reports.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  Raining here.  We're expecting the nasty weather that NY was having earlier.  I'm bummed to report that I can't go to the Million Woman March on Saturday.  Unfortunately, I'm needed here at home this weekend.  I still hope to go to the sister March here in Boston if I can get away on Saturday morning.  Lots of rules around no bags/backpacks being carried.  Thinking of just going with my cell, especially if the weather is poor.


Oh!   I'm sorry it turned out that way.      I know you were looking forward to it as something unique to do with your daughter.    There's a similar event about an hour away from me, and I may go to that, weather and immediate circumstances permitting!


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> On utilize le même mot.  Plein d'anglicisms maintenant.  C'est plus façile d'emprunter un mot que de trouver un nouvel.
> 
> We have our own Trump-like discussion going on at present with the Conservative Party of Canada going though a leadership campaign, with 14 (15 now with O'Leary joining) prospects haven thrown their hats into the ring.  Shades of the Republican nomination campaign when there were so many at the beginning.


LOL ... American-English infecte le monde entier.  Et maintenant notre Trump est infecter votre Canada.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers!



Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> OK. Please name the weapons of your choice tracking calorie intake and calorie usage.
> 
> 
> 
> For intake,  Mary Lou and Gary use 'My Fitness Pal', a free app by Under Armour.
> ...
> It is pretty good.  It is a bit tedious in the beginning, (at least for Gary), but as you build your own personal database, your searches become less and less. Gary doesn't know if My Fitness Pal has a database for German restaurants. My Fitness Pal also has a mobile app and will link to an iWatch.
> ...
> phone helps with the discipline ... friendly reminders.
Click to expand...


I use that as well. The database contains a lot of generic listings as well, which can get a bit confusing since I believe it includes user entries. So I could create a recipe, get all the nutritional information per serving, and then add it to the database. Or I could measure 50g of avocado on my scale, get the calories (I have a scale that includes a database of foods so you can check the calories of what you are weighing), and then enter that as well. So then when you search for 'avocado', you'll get a ton of entries that all vary a bit.

So yeah, it can be a bit confusing, but it's also very convenient. As Gary said, the database includes a lot of dishes by restaurant or grocery chain. There's also a barcode scanner that comes in very handy for packaged foods.

As for the friendly reminders...I turn those off on my Jawbone fitness tracker, which I have named Judgy Bracelet  I know some people like the tips and reminders, but I find them obnoxious and also completely random. I remember one day it congratulated me for eating peanut butter and jelly for lunch. The very next day, it scolded me. So I ignore the tips and turn off reminders. I am a bit of a data nerd so I basically use the bracelet purely for that.



Gary A. said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> On utilize le même mot.  Plein d'anglicisms maintenant.  C'est plus façile d'emprunter un mot que de trouver un nouvel.
> 
> We have our own Trump-like discussion going on at present with the Conservative Party of Canada going though a leadership campaign, with 14 (15 now with O'Leary joining) prospects haven thrown their hats into the ring.  Shades of the Republican nomination campaign when there were so many at the beginning.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... American-English infecte le monde entier.  Et maintenant notre Trump est infecter votre Canada.
Click to expand...


Yeah, not just American English, though it's the bigger culprit these days. English has always been a word thief, but to be fair, it's also a whore and will give its words away to anyone at any time


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> Yeah, not just American English, though it's the bigger culprit these days. English has always been a word thief, but to be fair, it's also a whore and will give its words away to anyone at any time



The interesting thing about English is that one can make up words on the spot and usually the listener will understand what you're trying to say.  English lends itself quite well to word mashups (like that word).  Somewhat of a similar pattern I see in Russian, in that there are many words (both nouns and verbs) that are being borrowed from other languages (usually English), and then festooned with the appropriate declinations, tenses, and cases to fit them into the language.  It can be a bit jarring to see the language sausage that comes out based on the original (English) word input.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers!
> Yeah, not just American English, though it's the bigger culprit these days. English has always been a word thief, but to be fair, it's also a whore and will give its words away to anyone at any time
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The interesting thing about English is that one can make up words on the spot and usually the listener will understand what you're trying to say.  English lends itself quite well to word mashups (like that word).  Somewhat of a similar pattern I see in Russian, in that there are many words (both nouns and verbs) that are being borrowed from other languages (usually English), and then festooned with the appropriate declinations, tenses, and cases to fit them into the language.  It can be a bit jarring to see the language sausage that comes out based on the original (English) word input.
Click to expand...


Compounding is one of the beauties of Germanic languages. One of my favorites from German that has been in frequent rotation over the past few weeks (and probably for the next few years) is Backpfeifengesicht - a face that needs to be punched. Perhaps @Frank F. can confirm this word and usage 

The agglutinate languages are fun, too. Turkish is like that - prepositions and case are tacked onto the noun while auxiliary verbs and pronoun agreement are all suffixes on the verb. Many Native American languages are as well, which is how we end up with the myth that the Inuit have 5 gajillion words for 'snow.'


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I read that we lose 85% of weight by breezing. So to lose weight would it be a good idea to do sports with a breezing mask creating an oxegyn rich environment? Turning body fat into CO2?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The basic principle behind losing weight is pretty simple.  Expend more energy than you take in. I meant tracking energy in / enery out.
> 
> It is the discipline to do so which is the hard part.  Our bodies are designed to create and store fat.  Our bodies love calories. In order to lose and maintain that loss of weight, one has to overcome the basic/innate metabolic methodology.  In the past Gary had coaches who were ready and willing to kick Gary's @$$, which is a very strong motivator for burning up calories. Gary feared coaches telling him to work harder more, than his own body telling him to drink a Coke.
> 
> But with today's technology, there are a ton of devices to measure calorie intake and expenditure. They are very effective, they are very portable and over a short time cheaper than a gym and/or a personal trainer.  It just takes the daily discipline to use them religiously and follow the path they will create for you. Water is your best friend.  Drink plenty of water throughout the day and it will cut the hunger pains.
> 
> Beyond the basics, (above), no fast foods or processed foods.  To Gary, fast food is nearly equal to military rations ... K Rats and C Rats ... lumpy, fat encrusted, barely digestible crap one eats in order to keep going. There are all kinds of guides out there to eating healthy ... the best message Gary has seen was this expert stating "90% of what you cook will be healthy.  If you prepare and cook it yourself, you should be okay."  Eat until you're satisfied, not full. Slowly, cut down on the portions.
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary drink about three bottles of wine a week.  But we accommodate the carbs (carbs = sugar=calories=fat) by tracking our calorie intake and calorie usage.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> OK. Please name the weapons of your choice tracking calorie intake and calorie usage.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Buenos Dias Senor Frank.  For tracking our activity/calories, Mary Lou and Gary started out with Nike bands, but they broke after a few months. Next Gary used Garmin, which he really liked, worked well and was powered via a disposable battery.  The disposable battery ment that it was changed only once a year.  The rechargeable batteries needed to be hooked up to a charger once a day or so. During that time of recharging the band didn't count any steps or activity.  If you recharge at night, the tracker won't monitor your sleep.  Gary doesn't sleep well, and it is reassuring knowing how well he doesn't sleep. The Garmin was waterproof, so showering, swimming, working in the Koi pond ... was all good. Now Gary and Mary Lou use iWatches for tracking.  Gary tested the iWatch against the dedicated Garmin activity tracker and it was very close in their measurements.  So Gary dumped the Garmin and give it to his youngest daughter.
> 
> For intake,  Mary Lou and Gary use 'My Fitness Pal', a free app by Under Armour. Basically, you input a daily journal of your food and it figures out the calories.  It uses a database of specific foods from specific sources.  So if you eat a cheeseburger from In-N-Out, you plug in cheeseburger and a bunch of sources come up, McD's, Burger King, et al, and you select the specific food. If you eat pre-packaged food, plug it in and Costco or Whole Foods comes up. Example; Gary cooked up a pre-seasoned tri-tip from Costco and it was in the food/calorie database.  It is pretty good.  It is a bit tedious in the beginning, (at least for Gary), but as you build your own personal database, your searches become less and less. Gary doesn't know if My Fitness Pal has a database for German restaurants. My Fitness Pal also has a mobile app and will link to an iWatch.
> 
> It is all about discipline, the discipline to track your intake on a daily basis and the discipline to match your activity level to your caloric intake on a daily basis.
> 
> PS- No more orange juice.  The sugar in juice will spike your blood sugar levels kicking in fat production. But ... if you eat an orange or two instead of drinking a glass full, the fibers in the fruit actually slows down sugar absorption, removing the sugar spike and minimizing fat production.
> 
> PPS- Gary walks The Cook in the morn.  In the evening, a quick look at his watch shows his activity level and often, Gary will schedule another walk or now a quick mile or two on the treadmill to match intake to expenditure.  Remember, that it took you decades for your body to attain its present shape ... so take your time to reverse the process. A little bit every day, a tracker on your wrist and in your phone helps with the discipline ... friendly reminders.
> 
> PPPS- Gary and Mary Lou will often check the caloric value of food prior to consumption and make our choices based upon what My Fitness Pal reports.
Click to expand...

Wife and I started weight watchers last night and she bought me a Fitbit.,


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Wife and I started weight watchers last night and she bought me a Fitbit.,



Love my fitbit!  Did you get the one with the heart rate display?


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wife and I started weight watchers last night and she bought me a Fitbit.,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Love my fitbit!  Did you get the one with the heart rate display?
Click to expand...


No just the standard one. I am just using it for tracking my walking. Doctor doesn't want me doing anything super cardio like until I get some of the weight off. We decided to hold off on BP medicine for a few months to see if the weight takes care of it. My cholesterol levels were good which kind of surprised me.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Morning, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said: ↑ OK. Please name the weapons of your choice tracking calorie intake and calorie usage.Click to expand... For intake, Mary Lou and Gary use 'My Fitness Pal', a free app by Under Armour.
> ...
> It is pretty good. It is a bit tedious in the beginning, (at least for Gary), but as you build your own personal database, your searches become less and less. Gary doesn't know if My Fitness Pal has a database for German restaurants. My Fitness Pal also has a mobile app and will link to an iWatch.
> ...
> phone helps with the discipline ... friendly reminders.
> 
> 
> 
> I use that as well. The database contains a lot of generic listings as well, which can get a bit confusing since I believe it includes user entries. So I could create a recipe, get all the nutritional information per serving, and then add it to the database. Or I could measure 50g of avocado on my scale, get the calories (I have a scale that includes a database of foods so you can check the calories of what you are weighing), and then enter that as well. So then when you search for 'avocado', you'll get a ton of entries that all vary a bit.
> 
> So yeah, it can be a bit confusing, but it's also very convenient. As Gary said, the database includes a lot of dishes by restaurant or grocery chain. There's also a barcode scanner that comes in very handy for packaged foods.
Click to expand...




jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I read that we lose 85% of weight by breezing. So to lose weight would it be a good idea to do sports with a breezing mask creating an oxegyn rich environment? Turning body fat into CO2?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The basic principle behind losing weight is pretty simple.  Expend more energy than you take in. I meant tracking energy in / enery out.
> 
> It is the discipline to do so which is the hard part.  Our bodies are designed to create and store fat.  Our bodies love calories. In order to lose and maintain that loss of weight, one has to overcome the basic/innate metabolic methodology.  In the past Gary had coaches who were ready and willing to kick Gary's @$$, which is a very strong motivator for burning up calories. Gary feared coaches telling him to work harder more, than his own body telling him to drink a Coke.
> 
> But with today's technology, there are a ton of devices to measure calorie intake and expenditure. They are very effective, they are very portable and over a short time cheaper than a gym and/or a personal trainer.  It just takes the daily discipline to use them religiously and follow the path they will create for you. Water is your best friend.  Drink plenty of water throughout the day and it will cut the hunger pains.
> 
> Beyond the basics, (above), no fast foods or processed foods.  To Gary, fast food is nearly equal to military rations ... K Rats and C Rats ... lumpy, fat encrusted, barely digestible crap one eats in order to keep going. There are all kinds of guides out there to eating healthy ... the best message Gary has seen was this expert stating "90% of what you cook will be healthy.  If you prepare and cook it yourself, you should be okay."  Eat until you're satisfied, not full. Slowly, cut down on the portions.
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary drink about three bottles of wine a week.  But we accommodate the carbs (carbs = sugar=calories=fat) by tracking our calorie intake and calorie usage.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> OK. Please name the weapons of your choice tracking calorie intake and calorie usage.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Buenos Dias Senor Frank.  For tracking our activity/calories, Mary Lou and Gary started out with Nike bands, but they broke after a few months. Next Gary used Garmin, which he really liked, worked well and was powered via a disposable battery.  The disposable battery ment that it was changed only once a year.  The rechargeable batteries needed to be hooked up to a charger once a day or so. During that time of recharging the band didn't count any steps or activity.  If you recharge at night, the tracker won't monitor your sleep.  Gary doesn't sleep well, and it is reassuring knowing how well he doesn't sleep. The Garmin was waterproof, so showering, swimming, working in the Koi pond ... was all good. Now Gary and Mary Lou use iWatches for tracking.  Gary tested the iWatch against the dedicated Garmin activity tracker and it was very close in their measurements.  So Gary dumped the Garmin and give it to his youngest daughter.
> 
> For intake,  Mary Lou and Gary use 'My Fitness Pal', a free app by Under Armour. Basically, you input a daily journal of your food and it figures out the calories.  It uses a database of specific foods from specific sources.  So if you eat a cheeseburger from In-N-Out, you plug in cheeseburger and a bunch of sources come up, McD's, Burger King, et al, and you select the specific food. If you eat pre-packaged food, plug it in and Costco or Whole Foods comes up. Example; Gary cooked up a pre-seasoned tri-tip from Costco and it was in the food/calorie database.  It is pretty good.  It is a bit tedious in the beginning, (at least for Gary), but as you build your own personal database, your searches become less and less. Gary doesn't know if My Fitness Pal has a database for German restaurants. My Fitness Pal also has a mobile app and will link to an iWatch.
> 
> It is all about discipline, the discipline to track your intake on a daily basis and the discipline to match your activity level to your caloric intake on a daily basis.
> 
> PS- No more orange juice.  The sugar in juice will spike your blood sugar levels kicking in fat production. But ... if you eat an orange or two instead of drinking a glass full, the fibers in the fruit actually slows down sugar absorption, removing the sugar spike and minimizing fat production.
> 
> PPS- Gary walks The Cook in the morn.  In the evening, a quick look at his watch shows his activity level and often, Gary will schedule another walk or now a quick mile or two on the treadmill to match intake to expenditure.  Remember, that it took you decades for your body to attain its present shape ... so take your time to reverse the process. A little bit every day, a tracker on your wrist and in your phone helps with the discipline ... friendly reminders.
> 
> PPPS- Gary and Mary Lou will often check the caloric value of food prior to consumption and make our choices based upon what My Fitness Pal reports.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wife and I started weight watchers last night and she bought me a Fitbit.,
Click to expand...

I use My Fitness Pal, as well.

In 2013, I reached a weight that I never thought I'd be--I surpassed the weight that I promised myself I'd never reach. So, just by counting calories through My Fitness Pal, I lost ~30 pounds in four months. That showed me how much crap I was eating. Then, I added exercise and lost another ~20. Went up a bit since my lowest weigh-in, but I have generally kept my weight at a manageable level without too much exercise and counting calories.

The wife did the same, but lost more weight.

Learning how to eat and cook healthy helped us immensely. People asked us what diet we were on, and well, we didn't have one. We just started counting calories to learn what was needed to sustain us. We learned what to eat and how to eat. No diets needed. It was hard work at first. We had to measure our food out, which we never did before. We had days where we hated that we couldn't eat more. We had days where we broke down and ate pizza, soda, french fries, and cake--all in one meal.

But, most importantly, we had days where we found our pants no longer fit--they were too big. That made us happy and gave us motivation. We felt healthier, and that made us happier. I could take the dog out for longer walks, and we could go up flights of stairs without panting.

Since my heaviest, I have lost more than the equivalent weight of a checked-bag of luggage. I can't believe I used to carry that around on my body.

It's hard work, yes, but it's worth it.

[Edited: lost ~30 pounds in four months, not two.]


----------



## vintagesnaps

I need more coffee. Or the sun to come out. Or something... what the heck, I'll just go with the more coffee idea, warm up what was leftover because I made more than I thought I'd drink. What was I thinking?

I cook and eat healthier, and got used to smaller portions. Now I get what's supposed to be one serving and get maybe 3 meals out of it. Takes time for old doggies and kitties to learn new tricks (replace the old with new better habits). A lot of us are in the same boat I think.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> No just the standard one. I am just using it for tracking my walking. Doctor doesn't want me doing anything super cardio like until I get some of the weight off. We decided to hold off on BP medicine for a few months to see if the weight takes care of it. My cholesterol levels were good which kind of surprised me.



Walking is the way to go.  Just don't get impatient, keep at it.  It takes longer to see results on the scale from walking than from diet or other more strenuous exercise.  I gained a few over the fall and holidays and was feeling like crap by the end of December.  I've since been rocking my elliptical every day and trying to make better food choices but I'm not down any significant lbs so far (could be the martinis...), although I do feel a lot better and have more energy.  I think I'll need to break out the weights as I've found that is the fastest way for me to take off extra weight even though I really despise that type of workout.  I hope it works out for you without the meds as that is a viscous cycle of meds and side effects and more meds that, to me, is almost as bad as the original issue.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> No just the standard one. I am just using it for tracking my walking. Doctor doesn't want me doing anything super cardio like until I get some of the weight off. We decided to hold off on BP medicine for a few months to see if the weight takes care of it. My cholesterol levels were good which kind of surprised me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Walking is the way to go.  Just don't get impatient, keep at it.  It takes longer to see results on the scale from walking than from diet or other more strenuous exercise.  I gained a few over the fall and holidays and was feeling like crap by the end of December.  I've since been rocking my elliptical every day and trying to make better food choices but I'm not down any significant lbs so far (could be the martinis...), although I do feel a lot better and have more energy.  I think I'll need to break out the weights as I've found that is the fastest way for me to take off extra weight even though I really despise that type of workout.  I hope it works out for you without the meds as that is a viscous cycle of meds and side effects and more meds that, to me, is almost as bad as the original issue.
Click to expand...

Agree. Walking is great, and that's how I started exercising, as well. I used to watch Netflix while I worked out to keep my mind off exercising. Personally, I enjoyed watching comedies or science shows.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Agree. Walking is great, and that's how I started exercising, as well. I used to watch Netflix while I worked out to keep my mind off exercising. Personally, I enjoyed watching comedies or science shows.



I thought it would be the opposite but I've found that the time goes by faster if I have music instead of the tv.  Favorite workout song - This Is How We Do It...  Something about the beat of that song really works for me when I'm doing cardio.  If I start to get tired or bored I switch over to that one and am right back in it.


----------



## Frank F.

I used to weigh ~85 Kilos (178cm height) for 15 years without doing anything. I do not drive the car but go shopping, lugging the kids around and every thing in my daily life with a bicycle or walking. Then in 2013 I had to start taking Cortisone in different doses which caused my weight to change rapidly (very high doses used to bring down my weight to the mid 70ies, lower doses see weight increase). Since October 2015 I take 15mg per day and the weight has again stabilized at ~93kg. 

I like me better with roughly 82 Kilos, although I am very strong and fit, no trouble with stairs or mountain climbing or going with my bicycle at 25 or 30 km/h with a trailer & two kids, no panting. I just fear for my knees.

From earlier experience I can say that as soon as I reach ZERO Cortisone my weight will again swiotch back to ~ 85kg

BUT:

I saw Gary eat very small serving sizes per meal and several times he told Mary Lou that the Germans eat big servings, which gave me some food for thought.

My doctor told me that I should chew longer and I would be satisfied earlier. I cannot say that this worked for me. Only thing is I need longer to eat which is perfectly alright for me, because I cook for myself or I eat out at places where they serve very decent food made from fresh ingredients and longer eating means more pleasure.

I understand how a fitness tracker counts steps, but I do not understand how a fitnesstracker counts calories.


----------



## jcdeboever

My main issue has been sweets, especially donuts. I bought a donut maker a little over a year ago but it almost caught fire 4th or 5th batch, returned it. I love old fashion plain and Boston creme. I love those gummy orange slices with the crystal sugar on them, another major no no. Heath bars too. Oh well back at it.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I thought it would be the opposite but I've found that the time goes by faster if I have music instead of the tv.


My wife is the same way; she listens to music. I've tried that so many times, and I think it's a coordination thing for me. If the music is slower or faster than my feet hitting the treadmill, it throws me off and I can't walk/job, haha. Maybe I have a short attention span? haha



jcdeboever said:


> My main issue has been sweets, especially donuts.


That's my issue, as well. That's also why I work out. 

I work out so that I can eat crap.  If I don't work out, I think twice about any sweets.


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I thought it would be the opposite but I've found that the time goes by faster if I have music instead of the tv.
> 
> 
> 
> My wife is the same way; she listens to music. I've tried that so many times, and I think it's a coordination thing for me. If the music is slower or faster than my feet hitting the treadmill, it throws me off and I can't walk/job, haha. Maybe I have a short attention span? haha
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> My main issue has been sweets, especially donuts.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's my issue, as well. That's also why I work out.
> 
> I work out so that I can eat crap.  If I don't work out, I think twice about any sweets.
Click to expand...


I am just going to have maybe one donut a week. Actually, I never went to a donut store and came out with less than 3.... maybe I should give them up....


----------



## waday

Frank F. said:


> My doctor told me that I should chew longer and I would be satisfied earlier.


Not sure about chewing longer, but eating slower definitely helps me. I find that I eat much less when the wife and I are chatting while eating rather than watching TV and eating.



jcdeboever said:


> I am just going to have maybe one donut a week. Actually, I never went to a donut store and came out with less than 3.... maybe I should give them up....


Seriously, I am the same. I couldn't eat just one Oreo, I had to have 5. I couldn't eat a small ice cream cone, I had to have a large brownie sundae. Counting calories helps to keep me accountable, because I know that I'll have to enter the sweets, which will in turn blow away all of my calories for the day.

I thought I was being "good" once by having a small chocolate shake from Coldstone. Little did I know that a small chocolate shake (ok ok, it was one of those triple chocolate ones, but it was a SMALL) had over a 1,100 calories in it. I'm very happy that restaurants have started putting the calories next to items on the menu. Before they did that, it would have been very easy for me to eat 2,000 calories in a single meal. (That's 500 more than my daily intake now!)

The thing is, if you exercise and eat healthy, you'll have enough calories left to eat a donut every now and then. In fact, my personal opinion is that you should not give them up. That's not sustainable. Just eat them sparingly. You want donuts? Eat one or two a week. You'll appreciate them more.

The wife and I do "cheat meals". We have one cheat meal a week. We'll eat out, or order in. We don't go crazy, but we'll treat ourselves to a good meal. We look forward to it all week, haha.

Anyways, this is all my personal opinion of what has worked for me. Find what works for you and stick to it!


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> My doctor told me that I should chew longer and I would be satisfied earlier.
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure about chewing longer, but eating slower definitely helps me. I find that I eat much less when the wife and I are chatting while eating rather than watching TV and eating.
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am just going to have maybe one donut a week. Actually, I never went to a donut store and came out with less than 3.... maybe I should give them up....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Seriously, I am the same. I couldn't eat just one Oreo, I had to have 5. I couldn't eat a small ice cream cone, I had to have a large brownie sundae. Counting calories helps to keep me accountable, because I know that I'll have to enter the sweets, which will in turn blow away all of my calories for the day.
> 
> I thought I was being "good" once by having a small chocolate shake from Coldstone. Little did I know that a small chocolate shake (ok ok, it was one of those triple chocolate ones, but it was a SMALL) had over a 1,100 calories in it. I'm very happy that restaurants have started putting the calories next to items on the menu. Before they did that, it would have been very easy for me to eat 2,000 calories in a single meal. (That's 500 more than my daily intake now!)
> 
> The thing is, if you exercise and eat healthy, you'll have enough calories left to eat a donut every now and then. In fact, my personal opinion is that you should not give them up. That's not sustainable. Just eat them sparingly. You want donuts? Eat one or two a week. You'll appreciate them more.
> 
> The wife and I do "cheat meals". We have one cheat meal a week. We'll eat out, or order in. We don't go crazy, but we'll treat ourselves to a good meal. We look forward to it all week, haha.
> 
> Anyways, this is all my personal opinion of what has worked for me. Find what works for you and stick to it!
Click to expand...


I'm hungry now...


----------



## SquarePeg

Me too.  Firing up the elliptical instead!  This is how we do it....


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Me too.  Firing up the elliptical instead!  This is how we do it....


I am calling around to see if they deliver donuts....


----------



## SquarePeg

If they don't deliver donuts here in Mass, where Dunkin Donuts was founded and where you can't travel more than a block without seeing 2 Dunks (sometimes right across the street from eachother), then I suspect you will be out of luck in Michigan.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> If they don't deliver donuts here in Mass, where Dunkin Donuts was founded and where you can't travel more than a block without seeing 2 Dunks (sometimes right across the street from eachother), then I suspect you will be out of luck in Michigan.


Interesting


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> I used to weigh ~85 Kilos (178cm height) for 15 years without doing anything. I do not drive the car but go shopping, lugging the kids around and every thing in my daily life with a bicycle or walking. Then in 2013 I had to start taking Cortisone in different doses which caused my weight to change rapidly (very high doses used to bring down my weight to the mid 70ies, lower doses see weight increase). Since October 2015 I take 15mg per day and the weight has again stabilized at ~93kg.
> 
> I like me better with roughly 82 Kilos, although I am very strong and fit, no trouble with stairs or mountain climbing or going with my bicycle at 25 or 30 km/h with a trailer & two kids, no panting. I just fear for my knees.
> 
> From earlier experience I can say that as soon as I reach ZERO Cortisone my weight will again swiotch back to ~ 85kg
> 
> BUT:
> 
> I saw Gary eat very small serving sizes per meal and several times he told Mary Lou that the Germans eat big servings, which gave me some food for thought.
> 
> My doctor told me that I should chew longer and I would be satisfied earlier. I cannot say that this worked for me. Only thing is I need longer to eat which is perfectly alright for me, because I cook for myself or I eat out at places where they serve very decent food made from fresh ingredients and longer eating means more pleasure.
> 
> I understand how a fitness tracker counts steps, but I do not understand how a fitnesstracker counts calories.


The good trackers allow you to plug in your stats, weight, age, height and stride.  It counts the steps then calculates calories spent based upon a formula which incorporates your stats.  Mary Lou get pissed because on the same walk, Gary burns more calories even though she has more steps. Gary explains to her that a calorie is a unit of energy measurement.  Since Gary is much heavier than the diminutive Mary Lou, it takes more calories to move Gary's greater weight than her little body.


----------



## Gary A.

Chewing/taking one's time in eating is mentally helpful.  It takes a bit of time between being full and the stomach signalling to the brain to stop.  So eating longer, sort of gives the body and brain time to sync.  Hence, Gary's remark of eating until you're satisfied and not to eat until you're full. Eating a little bit, say 20-30 minutes before a meal, will get the stomach to start syncing with the brain and for many help curb their appetite. Usually the easiest thing in a restaurant is a roll or bread, but bread is a weight loss killer.  You're much better off munching on fruit or a veggie, an apple or celery or a carrot would be better than bread.  But bread is so delish.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Me too.  Firing up the elliptical instead!  This is how we do it....


Gary just got off the treadmill.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> If they don't deliver donuts here in Mass, where Dunkin Donuts was founded and where you can't travel more than a block without seeing 2 Dunks (sometimes right across the street from eachother), then I suspect you will be out of luck in Michigan.



Do you see that line between roughly Houston, TX and Washington, DC? That's where my summer road trip took me this year.  No coffee, unless you count the weird hotel coffee or the gas station burnt variety.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> My main issue has been sweets, especially donuts. I bought a donut maker a little over a year ago but it almost caught fire 4th or 5th batch, returned it. I love old fashion plain and Boston creme. I love those gummy orange slices with the crystal sugar on them, another major no no. Heath bars too. Oh well back at it.



Not me. I've never had a sweet tooth. I'm the weirdo who actually has a half-cup serving of ice cream and is just fine. Cheesecake? Literally 2 bites is enough and three is too much. Granted, I'm moderately lactose-intolerant, so that helps naturally limit my desire for things like that, but even desserts that don't involve dairy don't hold my interest for very long. I do have a thing for pie, though, and I think that's partly because pastry crusts tend to be less sweet.

Savory and salty are my demons. Even with the lactose intolerance, I'm a sucker for any savory combination of carbs and cheese. I love crackers so much that I almost welcome getting a stomach virus so I have a perfect excuse to eat nothing but saltines for 2 days 

As for tricks to help lose weight, I've been known to measure the weight that I have already lost in pounds, but measure the weight I still have to lose in kilos - or even better, in stone! "So far I've lost 20 pounds but I only have another 2.8 stone to go!"


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


>



Hex-point map!!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> If they don't deliver donuts here in Mass, where Dunkin Donuts was founded and where you can't travel more than a block without seeing 2 Dunks (sometimes right across the street from eachother), then I suspect you will be out of luck in Michigan.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you see that line between roughly Houston, TX and Washington, DC? That's where my summer road trip took me this year.  No coffee, unless you count the weird hotel coffee or the gas station burnt variety.
Click to expand...

There are travel brewing kits.  I just gave a combo French Press/Thermos as an Xmas present to a college kid I adopted.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> There are travel brewing kits.  I just gave a combo French Press/Thermos as an Xmas present to a college kid I adopted.


We're talking Dunkin Donuts, here - brown stuff and sugar ring.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> There are travel brewing kits.  I just gave a combo French Press/Thermos as an Xmas present to a college kid I adopted.
> 
> 
> 
> We're talking Dunkin Donuts, here - brown stuff and sugar ring.
Click to expand...

Remember that Jon is air popping his own beans.


----------



## Frank F.

Morning Hosers, 7 a.m. here

I learn:

Eat small before you eat big. Understand.
Avoid bread. Why?
Take in lots of water to fill stomach not to feel hungry
Eat slowly

Gosh. I am hungry now.





See? Only two eggs instead of four. I ate carrot while preparing. No bread. Herbal tea.


----------



## droaingsong

I was gifted fitbit for this Christmas. Still need to try it out and check the results to reduce some extra pounds laying around.


----------



## Frank F.

Next to impossible to get this organ in good light.
But today.
Bright winter sun outside, the Bonner Münster was lit by several windows and the organ was halfways visible
My picture is definitly better than the one at the maker site:
Orgelbau Klais Bonn: 1  Kirchenorgeln  Church Organs
And it is only a handheld panorama at f/1.4!


----------



## Frank F.

Fuji has some nice new prouct. Just announced: The Fujifilm GFX 50S Review – Portable Beast


----------



## JonA_CT

Indeed, Gary. This week is a dry process Brazilian varietal. I'd call the flavors dark and moody.

I was recently gifted an Apple Watch. I think I like the Activity app better than the Garmin one I used before.

That being said, I have a perfectly working Garmin Vivosmart HR and a Fitbit Alta sitting around the house. If anyone is looking to try one, send me a message. I'd be happy to send it to someone who will use it.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Indeed, Gary. This week is a dry process Brazilian varietal. I'd call the flavors dark and moody.
> 
> I was recently gifted an Apple Watch. I think I like the Activity app better than the Garmin one I used before.
> 
> That being said, I have a perfectly working Garmin Vivosmart HR and a Fitbit Alta sitting around the house. If anyone is looking to try one, send me a message. I'd be happy to send it to someone who will use it.



That's nice of you!  How do you like the Apple Watch?  Are you using it often in place of your phone for text, emails, reminders etc.  It's on my radar and I almost bought one when I was out shopping one day but decided to put it off to think about some more.  During a work trip last year one of my colleagues had one and it was pretty neat.  He seemed to get a lot of use out of it.  It is definitely in the want but don't need category for me.  It's a little gawky for a woman's wrist but if they made it smaller I wouldn't be able to read it, even with my reading glasses on.  Tough call for me but I love the whole futuristic tech aspect of it.  Very Bond.  Or Kirk.  Or Agent 99.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Indeed, Gary. This week is a dry process Brazilian varietal. I'd call the flavors dark and moody.
> 
> I was recently gifted an Apple Watch. I think I like the Activity app better than the Garmin one I used before.
> 
> That being said, I have a perfectly working Garmin Vivosmart HR and a Fitbit Alta sitting around the house. If anyone is looking to try one, send me a message. I'd be happy to send it to someone who will use it.


Dark and Moody in a good way or a bad way?  Oh yeah, you have that trial pack from Maria's.  Gary is near the end of his trial pack.  He has a five pound bag of "Organic Chiapas" waiting to be roasted.  (Gary traded some RPG rounds for the coffee on his last run.)  Gary also had a Fitbit, but he found the Garmin to be overall the best.  He liked the chest strap heart monitor of the Garmin, very accurate.  Gary doesn't put a lot of currency in precise accuracy of most of the tracking function of bands ... but he thinks that a heart monitor is one function that should be precise.  All the other functions, steps and distance, et al, ballpark is good enough ... but the heart, yeah, accuracy counts.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Fuji has some nice new prouct. Just announced: The Fujifilm GFX 50S Review – Portable Beast


Ooohhhh man, that looks very very nice.  Maybe Gary will dump his Fuji 680 GXIII and use the proceeds for this little puppy.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Indeed, Gary. This week is a dry process Brazilian varietal. I'd call the flavors dark and moody.
> 
> I was recently gifted an Apple Watch. I think I like the Activity app better than the Garmin one I used before.
> 
> That being said, I have a perfectly working Garmin Vivosmart HR and a Fitbit Alta sitting around the house. If anyone is looking to try one, send me a message. I'd be happy to send it to someone who will use it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's nice of you!  How do you like the Apple Watch?  Are you using it often in place of your phone for text, emails, reminders etc.  It's on my radar and I almost bought one when I was out shopping one day but decided to put it off to think about some more.  During a work trip last year one of my colleagues had one and it was pretty neat.  He seemed to get a lot of use out of it.  It is definitely in the want but don't need category for me.  It's a little gawky for a woman's wrist but if they made it smaller I wouldn't be able to read it, even with my reading glasses on.  Tough call for me but I love the whole futuristic tech aspect of it.  Very Bond.  Or Kirk.  Or Agent 99.
Click to expand...

If Gary can interject his experience with the iWatch. Gary used to wear Swiss mechanical watches. (But never a Rolex!)  He really like them, the craftsmanship and the statement they made to those in the know. He was gifted an iWatch ...  :<(  by Mary Lou.  He could not, not wear it. So he has and the Swiss watches are collecting dust.  :<(   At first he thought the iWatch was merely a conduit between phone and watch, which is fine, handy, but for him, grabbing his phone is no big deal and the phone has a larger screen. Over time he realized/learned/absorbed that the watch does much more than link phone to wrist and has appreciated the watch so much for its usefulness that he has gifted iWatches to Mary Lou, and his daughters. All three love the watches. :<)


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Indeed, Gary. This week is a dry process Brazilian varietal. I'd call the flavors dark and moody.
> 
> I was recently gifted an Apple Watch. I think I like the Activity app better than the Garmin one I used before.
> 
> That being said, I have a perfectly working Garmin Vivosmart HR and a Fitbit Alta sitting around the house. If anyone is looking to try one, send me a message. I'd be happy to send it to someone who will use it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's nice of you!  How do you like the Apple Watch?  Are you using it often in place of your phone for text, emails, reminders etc.  It's on my radar and I almost bought one when I was out shopping one day but decided to put it off to think about some more.  During a work trip last year one of my colleagues had one and it was pretty neat.  He seemed to get a lot of use out of it.  It is definitely in the want but don't need category for me.  It's a little gawky for a woman's wrist but if they made it smaller I wouldn't be able to read it, even with my reading glasses on.  Tough call for me but I love the whole futuristic tech aspect of it.  Very Bond.  Or Kirk.  Or Agent 99.
Click to expand...

Or Dick Tracy ... lol


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fuji has some nice new prouct. Just announced: The Fujifilm GFX 50S Review – Portable Beast
> 
> 
> 
> Ooohhhh man, that looks very very nice.  Maybe Gary will dump his Fuji 680 GXIII and use the proceeds for this little puppy.
Click to expand...


That looks like a gem of a camera. 8K to get started. The one thing that bothered me was they were charging for lens caps and battery chargers separately but if you can afford the camera, what's a $100 more...


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> That looks like a gem of a camera. 8K to get started.



Until recently it was difficult to get started in digital medium format for 8k in the used market


----------



## Frank F.

Gosh, DO I shoot a lot and AM I late editing stuff....





The high choir in the Bonner Münster Yesterday


----------



## Frank F.

Bonn (international ;-):


----------



## Frank F.

We have a lot of monument protected buildings in our quarter. Many of the owners cannot afford to keep them mended as law requires, so monument protection sometimes hinders people from renovating, because it makes it too expensive for them. This house is in pretty good shape.






Maybe the thinking is that one day rich people will buy the houses who can afford this? Currently already two academics working fulltime having two kids can afford a rented flat with 3 roomd but not buy a house.


----------



## JonA_CT

Dark and moody in a good way. Definitely more muted and dark in flavor than the coffees from Africa. Still probably won't be an every week choice for me.

I'm still getting used the Apple Watch. I use Siri much, much more with it because it's more accessible, so I'm much more likely to use the calendar and reminder functions through the phone rather than through my Outlook/Google accounts. I also really like using voice-to-text in the car with it. My phone connects via bluetooth and essentially loses its voice functions when in the car. It also means I'm less likely to carry my phone around with me. My wife likes it because I almost always pick up the "phone" now when she needs things because I can answer from my watch and I always notice it vibrating.

Like Gary said though, for some things, the phone screen is much more appropriate. I never read anything longer than a text message on it, for example.

The images from that Fuji camera are drool-worthy. Luckily, it is well into the "dreaming" category for me, and I will never have a need for something like that.


----------



## JonA_CT

Frank F. said:


> We have a lot of monument protected buildings in our quarter. Many of the owners cannot afford to keep them mended as law requires, so monument protection sometimes hinders people from renovating, because it makes it too expensive for them. This house is in pretty good shape.
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe the thinking is that one day rich people will buy the houses who can afford this? Currently already two academics working fulltime having two kids can afford a rented flat with 3 roomd but not buy a house.



Interesting perspective...I honestly wonder what is better. In the city I live in, there are many, many 100-150 year old (I understand that's nothing compared to the age of European real estate -- my English relatives live in a 600 year old former monastery dormitory)Victorian houses that have been converted to apartments. The apartments are nice and the properties are well kept, but the historical nature of the homes are lost. 

We do have some that are protected by the historical society, but like you are saying, many of them have fallen into disrepair due to the enormous costs.


----------



## Frank F.

Bonn is 2000 years old but we have very few inhabited houses that are more than 200 years old. The older houses are used as museums or University sites. Our university is quite big 40.000 students and old founded in 1818. The nicest inhabited buildings that sell so well were build between 1880 and 1920


----------



## SquarePeg

Since when does the Coffee House fall off page 1?  Get with it hosers!  I almost couldn't find it.  @Gary A.  - your post from last week about Band of Brothers put a bug in my ear and I just finished watching Ep 1.   Sucked right back into it.


----------



## snowbear

The neighbors are scaring everyone away.


----------



## Gary A.

It rained all night and most of the morning.  The sun broke through before noon and made for a beautiful afternoon with huge clouds backing up at the mountains. I arranged some business appointments at the house and we sat in the back, drank coffee, ate pastries and discussed business.  It was a very relaxing way to take care of business.


----------



## Frank F.

"Hof halten" nennt man das bei uns.


----------



## Frank F.

I dreamt of the GFX. Some parts fell off. The cover of the hot shoe and the click in mechanism of the pancake lens which felt plasticky like my Oly bodycap fisheye. Otherwise it was quite sturdy with a huge hole that does not need a body cap because is has a builtin protective metal sheet one has to open before one can attach a lens. 

I also met an ex girlfriend who came by just for a hug. Felt good. Have not seen her in years.

Then I was on a boat with my wife. One of those usually driven by a mini motor. But in this I had to row and my wife did the steering. Our daughter was also there. All fine.


----------



## jcdeboever

I need ...


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> I need ...
> 
> View attachment 133610


and some cheese curds


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I need ...
> 
> View attachment 133610
> 
> 
> 
> and some cheese curds
Click to expand...


What a cheese curds? I had 2 packets of Quaker grits (6) and 2 hard boiled eggs (4) for breakfast... 10 points.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.



Morning Sunshine and Zelda... and Buzz.... and Mrs. Parker


----------



## limr

Headache has been threatening for the past two days and I think it's finally starting to make good on those promises today. I'm hoping it doesn't go full-blown, but I'm going to have to be careful. Got my dark computer glasses on today.

I also managed to do something to my back during the night. I have no idea what, but it's all tied up into knots, especially on the top right side. Mornings like these, I seriously start to wonder if I've started sleepwalking again. As far as I know, I haven't done it since I was a kid (when falling out of bed was a semi-regular occurrence) but who knows? Only the cats, and they're not talking. Buzz can confirm that I do talk in my sleep, and every once in a while, I'll let out a blood-curdling scream.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Sunshine and Zelda
Click to expand...


Don't forget Mrs. Parker!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Sunshine and Zelda
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't forget Mrs. Parker!
Click to expand...

fixed


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Sunshine and Zelda
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't forget Mrs. Parker!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> fixed
Click to expand...


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Sunshine and Zelda
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't forget Mrs. Parker!
Click to expand...

Belly Rubs!!

Off to Baltimore.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Sunshine and Zelda
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't forget Mrs. Parker!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> fixed
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Can I send that pic to my sister? She loves cats and is a shut in, it would make her morning...


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Sunshine and Zelda
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't forget Mrs. Parker!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> fixed
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Can I send that pic to my sister? She loves cats and is a shut in, it would make her morning...
Click to expand...


Absolutely! If she wants any more, let me know. I've got tons


----------



## jcdeboever

Baby girl says, I want to play with Mrs. Parker


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  The rains are back. The drip in the patio is back.  Gary will rip out the new gutter where the house roof meets the patio roof and toss in some Henry's. Happy Inauguration Day!  

In other news, West Africa has ECOWAS which is ... well sorta equalivient to NATO.  The president of Gambia refuse to relinquish power to the president-elect and West African security forces have entered the country to correct the situation.  What struck Gary was that he recognized all the places mentioned in the story.  It's like Gary's head is this bowl of soup and reading the article is stirring up soup pieces that are resting on the bottom ... and a Senegal carrot rises to the top, then a piece of Nigerian celery floats up ... there's a a piece of chicken from Ghana.  Just all odd because it was a long long time ago when Gary was in West Africa.


----------



## Gary A.

Headline in the LA Times Business Section:
"Probe clears Autopilot in fatal Florida Tesla crash".

NHTSA investigator, "Mr. Autopilot, did you have any alcohol prior to the accident?"


----------



## Gary A.

Gary went shopping on the internet last night.  He picked up a bunch of small stuff, eye cup and remote shutter release for his XT2/XP2 and a 1.4x teleconverter.  The Fujinon 1.4x is interesting because Fuji claims that it is designed for the 50-140 F/2.8 and that AF and aperture will not be effected by the converter.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary went shopping on the internet last night.  He picked up a bunch of small stuff, eye cup and remote shutter release for his XT2/XP2 and a 1.4x teleconverter.  The Fujinon 1.4x is interesting because Fuji claims that it is designed for the 50-140 F/2.8 and that AF and aperture will not be effected by the converter.



So what would be the focal length? 105-294 ?


----------



## Frank F.

I stopped posting my daily shots here and instead post them here: Frank's daily photo 2017

The daily thread has the advantage to have them all in one place, but I do not think they attract more eyeballs there...


----------



## Frank F.

I stopped posting my daily shots here and instead post them here: Frank's daily photo 2017

The daily thread has the advantage to have them all in one place, but I do not think they attract more eyeballs there...


----------



## Frank F.

I watch Inauguration


----------



## Frank F.

I watch Inauguration


----------



## Frank F.

I watch Inauguration


----------



## Frank F.

Skript kaputt


----------



## Frank F.

Skript kaputt


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> I watch Inauguration



I do not.

Though to be fair, I never do. Ceremonies bore me.


----------



## Derrel

Listened this morning, off and on, on National Public Radio. It seemed so strange with the three-hour time delay between the far west coast and the east coast. Heard one swearing in, then the other, imagining the sights and mentally interpreting then envisioning the sounds that emanated from my thin, flat, Android phone's FM radio application, and the tiny phone speaker. Odd,listening to ceremonial stuff and a massive crowd on radio. My first-ever radio experience of this the 58th inaug in our history.


----------



## Derrel

Listened this morning, off and on, on National Public Radio. It seemed so strange with the three-hour time delay between the far west coast and the east coast. Heard one swearing in, then the other, imagining the sights and mentally interpreting then envisioning the sounds that emanated from my thin, flat, Android phone's FM radio application, and the tiny phone speaker. Odd,listening to ceremonial stuff and a massive crowd on radio. My first-ever radio experience of this the 58th inaug in our history.


----------



## Frank F.

Sushi in bad light & high ISO. Was to lazy for a proper set up! Very tasty Sushi!!!

Now get your brains working on how I took these shots (EXIF will not help you much)


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Sushi in bad light & high ISO. Was to lazy for a proper set up! Very tasty Sushi!!!
> 
> Now get your brains working on how I took these shots (EXIF will not help you much)
> 
> View attachment 133617 View attachment 133618
> View attachment 133619 View attachment 133620


You took them with a cell phone camera with a clip on macro thingy, while drinking German beer, and smoking a cigarette, and pondering what it would be like holding your ex girlfriend close to her bosom.


----------



## Gary A.

Everybody is stuttering.


----------



## Gary A.

Everybody is stuttering.


----------



## JonA_CT

I need an off spigot for my sinuses.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Everybody is stuttering.


Whoa


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Everybody is stuttering.


Whoa


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Everybody is stuttering.


Whoa


----------



## Frank F.




----------



## Frank F.




----------



## Gary A.

Gary received a battery powered sawzall today from Amazon.  Included with the delivery was a $100 wine voucher.  Gary is happy.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary received a battery powered sawzall today from Amazon.  Included with the delivery was a $100 wine voucher.  Gary is happy.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Sunshine and Zelda
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't forget Mrs. Parker!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> fixed
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Can I send that pic to my sister? She loves cats and is a shut in, it would make her morning...
Click to expand...

There are a few here that you can have, as well:


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Sunshine and Zelda
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't forget Mrs. Parker!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> fixed
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Can I send that pic to my sister? She loves cats and is a shut in, it would make her morning...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There are a few here that you can have, as well:
Click to expand...

Thank you


----------



## snowbear

No problem.  I don't think there's anything different on my Flickr page, but you can giver her whatever is there, as well.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary went shopping on the internet last night.  He picked up a bunch of small stuff, eye cup and remote shutter release for his XT2/XP2 and a 1.4x teleconverter.  The Fujinon 1.4x is interesting because Fuji claims that it is designed for the 50-140 F/2.8 and that AF and aperture will not be effected by the converter.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So what would be the focal length? 105-294 ?
Click to expand...

Yes.  A 294mm F/2.8 would be a nice lens.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Fuji has some nice new prouct. Just announced: The Fujifilm GFX 50S Review – Portable Beast


Gary's camera store called today and asked if he wanted one ... lol


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fuji has some nice new prouct. Just announced: The Fujifilm GFX 50S Review – Portable Beast
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's camera store called today and asked if he wanted one ... lol
Click to expand...

Well.,.. there will be a better one tomorrow....


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fuji has some nice new prouct. Just announced: The Fujifilm GFX 50S Review – Portable Beast
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's camera store called today and asked if he wanted one ... lol
Click to expand...



Go touch her. Tell us how she feels. I did not know they are out there already


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fuji has some nice new prouct. Just announced: The Fujifilm GFX 50S Review – Portable Beast
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's camera store called today and asked if he wanted one ... lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Go touch her. Tell us how she feels. I did not know they are out there already
Click to expand...

Not a good idea Frank. That's like telling an alcoholic to hold your drink...


----------



## JonA_CT

My sinus drainage has slowed slightly this morning. As this is day number 6, it is a welcome change. 


Big ambition today...the brew crew is coming over and we are brewing 25 gallons of beer. 10 gallons of Imperial Stout that is destined for freshly used whisky barrel we acquired, 10 gallons of Pilsner (Frank, I'm sorry...but I don't follow the Reinheitsgebot here..I used acid to adjust mash pH, haha), and 5 gallons of our signature IPA. 

Since we primarily work in 5 gallon batches, our work is cut out for us today. We'll be trying some 10 gallon batches for the first time.


----------



## jcdeboever

Glad your better Jon. Basketball, then Hedgcoe project this afternoon. Supposed to be 50° + today. Should get 3 to 5 miles walking  in.


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fuji has some nice new prouct. Just announced: The Fujifilm GFX 50S Review – Portable Beast
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's camera store called today and asked if he wanted one ... lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Go touch her. Tell us how she feels. I did not know they are out there already
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not a good idea Frank. That's like telling an alcoholic to hold your drink...
Click to expand...


Good idea. Then I do not have to drink it myself. Currently I am off Alc. I simply do not like the effect it has on my body and I lose the taste of wine too.


----------



## Frank F.

I forgot to post a coffee....


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, all.  Getting ready to take lazy lobster to the metro - they are meeting friends at the march, today.  I'm going to insist I be allowed to past a photo or two.


----------



## snowbear

I see the post hesitation/stuttering is still an issue.


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> Good morning, all.  Getting ready to take lazy lobster to the metro - they are meeting friends at the march, today.


I thought that march was for women.  

Is he going in drag?  Pics for sure!


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, all.  Getting ready to take lazy lobster to the metro - they are meeting friends at the march, today.
> 
> 
> 
> I thought that march was for women.
> 
> Is he going in drag?  Pics for sure!
Click to expand...

Makeup.  It is also for supporters.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is still a chilly 46F this morning.  But it is still early.  Gary has fired up the siphon for his first cup of fresh coffee.  Ahhhhh ... the first cup steaming away in its ceramic caldron, the elixir of the weary or soon to be weary.  A good cup of coffee is a delight.  Commercial coffee is just something hot to warm you up and keep you going ... or just an abomination. Sorta like a C-Rat, which was a gooey, fat encrusted, barely eatable abomination design just to keep you going sans any possible enjoyment.

Speaking of enjoyment, Gary ripped out the upper rain gutter troughs and patched with Henry's. While on the roof he was caught in a shower.  But it is done.  Prior, while Gary was out and about, it poured Lions and Newfoundlands.  The heavens just took this giant bucket of water and flipped it over the 'Southland' (what Tv weather people call the LA Basin).  Had it been warmer, Gary would have sworn he was in a Monsoon.  The wipers couldn't keep up with the downpour and he lost visibility for a moment or two. Fortunately, he wasn't on a freeway.  Gary is all in favor of ending the drought, but you don't have to end a six year drought in one day.  The Sun is out, streaming in through the kitchen blinds and he can hear the hummers clucking about. Life goes on.

More on enjoyment.  After ripping out the gutters, after getting a quick and dry walk into the Cook, after sailing through flooded streets of the Southland, (Gary had thoughts of Farragut's command at the battle of Mobile Bay, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead." as he wove through all the disabled vehicles.), after a quick run/walk on the treadmill, after a load of tomatoes from the store, (Gary hates buying tomatoes, but his are still small and green.), Gary devoted himself to cooking up some spaghetti sauce during the remaining afternoon.  Mary Lou made a long day and walked into a house overflowing with the warm smells of sauce and garlic bread. Mary Lou felt it was one of the best sauces Gary has ever whipped up and the best she has ever eaten.

Gary is on the verge of collecting all the camera stuff he doesn't use and dumping it as a down payment towards the new Fuji GFX.  So if anybody wants a deal on some stuff, let Gary know.  Gary's most loved digital camera, 1DsMKII, a barely used OM-D-E-M1, tons of FF and MFT lenses ... even his GFX 680III with four lenses.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary would be participating in the LA March today ... but we are sponsoring a birthday party at the Cosmic Bowl for Mary Lou's eleven y/o granddaughter.  :<(

They advertise the music as loud and not your grandmother's music.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- And a X-T1.


----------



## Frank F.

@Gary A.  Remember Post Office (novel) - Wikipedia where he nearly drowns in his huge USPS delivery van? That is what nearly happened to you.

The gods catch up six years and you do not have the means to store the water. Buy Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources: M. Kat Anderson: 9780520280434: Amazon.com: Books and see how it can be done. So much work to do!


----------



## b_twill

Good day everyone!  It's a rare sunny day and a wonderfully warm 60 here in the mitten.  Been outside cleaning up the mess under the bird feeders and then took off on a very short bike ride.  Only made it 6 miles, just long enough to find out how out of shape I am!  Really need to set up the trainer before the bike commuting season starts!


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are in route to the Cosmic Bowl. Gary has been catching all the marches on cable news. Shades of the '60's. So painful not to participate.


----------



## Frank F.

subject isolation: incredible!


----------



## Frank F.

foot fetish & dog love: gorgeous!


----------



## Gary A.

Appears to be a nice dog.


----------



## jcdeboever

The dogs feet are gorgeous


----------



## Frank F.

Is the Coffee House closed today? No post for 14 Hours!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  The rains have returned.  Nothing big like on Friday, at least not yet.   Guests ate out then came over for some bubbly.  We flipped on the overhead heater, the fire table and everybody was comfy. We spoke of the Marches, today's games and drank wine.

Having the birthday party at Cosmic Bowl was a hit and a very good idea. It saved the yard from 20 11 y/o's trampling everything then bringing all the mud and vegetation into the house and from the parents drinking all of Gary's wine. The bowl was expensive, but Gary figures a quid pro quo against the cost of his wines.  Mary Lou is still apologizing to Gary for the conflict between the party and the march. She told him to go to the march ... even Mary Lou wanted to march.  But family first.

From Inauguration Friday to Marching Saturday ... the U.S.A. is a vibrant, ever evolving, first class country.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Is the Coffee House closed today? No post for 14 Hours!
> 
> View attachment 133704


Gary thinks the employees took time off to march.

@Frank: Okay, how did you get so much light on the backed lighted, in the shadow, utility upright?  Gary hopes it wasn't done in post.  You have a slight tilt to the right. Why are there silhouettes of photographers painted on the sides of the train?


----------



## BananaRepublic

View attachment 133704[/QUOTE]
Gary thinks the employees took time off to march.

I don't know Donald Trump, I've never met Donald Trump but Donald Trump has ruined my life


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone images:




 

 

 

 


The Cook inspecting the debris flow from Friday's deluge.


----------



## Derrel

Wow, quite the debris line there! Must have been quite a bit of water.


----------



## Designer

BananaRepublic said:


> .. Donald Trump has ruined my life


Can we hear the story?


----------



## Gary A.

Yeah, it was like a Monsoon on Friday.


----------



## Gary A.

BananaRepublic said:


> View attachment 133704


Gary thinks the employees took time off to march.

I don't know Donald Trump, I've never met Donald Trump but Donald Trump has ruined my life[/QUOTE]
As president of the US or prior to being president?


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> @Frank: Okay, how did you get so much light on the backed lighted, in the shadow, utility upright?  Gary hopes it wasn't done in post.  You have a slight tilt to the right. Why are there silhouettes of photographers painted on the sides of the train?



There was a glass fascade behind me. That is what made the picture a picture. Then the train went through fast, so I pressed the shutter more quickly than I would have usually, because I was still framing. In post I then got rid of the tilt to the left and probably over compensated a bit ... more proper framing or better anticipation of the train would have led to better geometry in the BG ... 34 years of photography and still learning every day.


----------



## Frank F.

The hiccup is gone!



Gary A. said:


> iPhone images:
> View attachment 133706 View attachment 133707 View attachment 133708 View attachment 133709 View attachment 133710
> The Cook inspecting the debris flow from Friday's deluge.



Signs of some serious flooding!


----------



## SquarePeg

C'mon GB!!!  Was really hoping for a Rogers v Brady Super Bowl showdown to put all the talk about Rogers being in the same neighborhood of the GOAT to rest.


----------



## Frank F.

OK: Game on!

Here is a black and white development of the above shot as it came from the camera without any geometrical correction, not even the lens distortion was corrected:

http://KLIMAFARM.COM/fullsize_blackandwhite_6TG1570_v1_.JPG

How would you corect this geometrically? Show by posting results into this thread!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> C'mon GB!!!  Was really hoping for a Rogers v Brady Super Bowl showdown to put all the talk about Rogers being in the same neighborhood of the GOAT to rest.


It wouldn't have bothered me all that much, but the Falcons beat them like a drum.   Still pretty healthy overall, too.   And they actually look like they've developed a defense.

For a team that was slated to *maybe* take 5-6 wins this season, I'm as surprised as I am happy for them.         Last game in the Georgia Dome, too.   Sweet!


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> C'mon GB!!!  Was really hoping for a Rogers v Brady Super Bowl showdown to put all the talk about Rogers being in the same neighborhood of the GOAT to rest.
> 
> 
> 
> It wouldn't have bothered me all that much, but the Falcons beat them like a drum.   Still pretty healthy overall, too.   And they actually look like they've developed a defense.
> 
> For a team that was slated to *maybe* take 5-6 wins this season, I'm as surprised as I am happy for them.         Last game in the Georgia Dome, too.   Sweet!
Click to expand...

That's one heck of a football team. They have many weapons on offense. Their defense is fast and need to play within themselves. They will be hard to beat.


----------



## limr

Go Steelers!  Or, as it's pronounced in the 'Burgh, Go Stillers!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Go Steelers!  Or, as it's pronounced in the 'Burgh, Go Stillers!


They're not covering Hogan = Loss.... Funny nickname for Hogan, they call him 7-eleven because he's always open.... Jerry Rice gave him that name. Dudes been cut like 4 times.


----------



## SquarePeg

Jerry is my all time favorite player.   Also loved his bits with Kenny Main on Dancing with the Stars.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Jerry is my all time favorite player.   Also loved his bits with Kenny Main on Dancing with the Stars.


Yup, Rice was a great player, best receiver I have ever seen. Brady is my favorite player (U of M). Brady is the best QB, I have ever seen.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Jerry is my all time favorite player.   Also loved his bits with Kenny Main on Dancing with the Stars.
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, Rice was a great player, best receiver I have ever seen. Brady is my favorite player (U of M). Brady is the best QB, I have ever seen.
Click to expand...


Having spent my first 30 years watching the Pats at the bottom of the league, I have to say it's been awesome watching Brady and Bill make a run every year.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## Derrel

Wow....Falcons....loved how they were going to lose to Seattle, and how Green Bay was gonna throttle them.


Ooopsie! Guess the Falcons didn't listen to the "experts", and they whipped the Seahawks and the Packers in successive weeks. Who knew?


----------



## jcdeboever

Derrel said:


> Wow....Falcons....loved how they were going to lose to Seattle, and how Green Bay was gonna throttle them.
> 
> 
> Ooopsie! Guess the Falcons didn't listen to the "experts", and they whipped the Seahawks and the Packers in successive weeks. Who knew?


I did


----------



## terri

I didn't!    Or I should say:  I am a fan who is very familiar with the history of watching the Falcons choke in post-season play.   

They've been fun to watch this season.   If this is as far as they get, that's pretty amazing to me.   Beating the Pats...dunno about that.   But they are all still pretty healthy, which is hard enough this late in the season.   They are as well-oiled a machine as they've ever been, and the defense has indeed kicked it up.    I'm happy they made it past the Packers - it was almost as good as a Super Bowl win for me, just this decisive win today!    I regret they have to go into the real big dance knowing their defensive coordinator is leaving the team.   It's an unfortunate distraction.   Oh well.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary had a few guests and we did nothing but watch the games on the big screen and eat.  Gary drank more tea than wine.  Mary Lou made some great deli sandwiches for the first game then Gary's spaghetti and sauce for the second game. Gary and friends were pretty disappointed in the one-sidedness of both games.  The Falcons looked flawless ... the Pats like champions.  It rained hard all day, staying inside watching the games was a good use of inside time.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has been slowly replacing his zooms for primes.  Today Gary ordered another prime, a Fujinon 90mm F/2.  Gary needs a 200mm (FF) and a 300mm/400mm (FF) and his kit will be complete.


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> I didn't!    Or I should say:  I am a fan who is very familiar with the history of watching the Falcons choke in post-season play.
> 
> They've been fun to watch this season.   If this is as far as they get, that's pretty amazing to me.   Beating the Pats...dunno about that.   But they are all still pretty healthy, which is hard enough this late in the season.   They are as well-oiled a machine as they've ever been, and the defense has indeed kicked it up.    I'm happy they made it past the Packers - it was almost as good as a Super Bowl win for me, just this decisive win today!    I regret they have to go into the real big dance knowing their defensive coordinator is leaving the team.   It's an unfortunate distraction.   Oh well.


This team is going to be real good for the next few years. Dimitroff and McKay are superior talent evaluaters. Look at their last two drafts, and FA acquisitions, amazing really. If NE plays a shootout, they will lose, as there are huge matchup issues at their LB position against Freeman and Coleman. Falcons corners need to be real physical with NE receivers to take Brady off his game. Beasley in Brady's face is a good idea as well. Falcons 38  - 24.


----------



## SquarePeg

I think it's going to be a close and exciting game! Brady is now the only player ever to have made it to 7 Super Bowls. The 2 that he lost were so close and could easily have gone the other way. Even  if you hate him (limr), you have to respect that he's one of, if not _the_, GOAT.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> I think it's going to be a close and exciting game! Brady is now the only player ever to have made it to 7 Super Bowls. The 2 that he lost were so close and could easily have gone the other way. Even  if you hate him (limr), you have to respect that he's one of, if not _the_, GOAT.


My wife thinks he's dreamy.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> My wife thinks he's dreamy.



Lots of dreamies on the Pats this year.  It's been a season long topic of discussion among the women here.  There's even a Facebook page called New England Patriots Eye Candyland.  Tell the wife to check it out.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> I think it's going to be a close and exciting game! Brady is now the only player ever to have made it to 7 Super Bowls. The 2 that he lost were so close and could easily have gone the other way. Even  if you hate him (limr), you have to respect that he's one of, if not _the_, GOAT.



I'll admit that he's talented, but then you have to admit that he's a giant douchebag 

(And, um, I don't really know what the goat reference is  )

Now if you'll all excuse me, I've already paid more attention to pro football as I've had in years and it's time to return my attention to my boy Hank and his NY Rangers 

Mmmmmm, Swedish goalie...





(And before anyone reports me, the image is from Wikimedia Commons, labeled for reuse, permissions to share!   )


----------



## BananaRepublic

I don't know Donald Trump, I've never met Donald Trump but Donald Trump has ruined my life[/QUOTE]
As president of the US or prior to being president?[/QUOTE]

I not even from the Americas the protest just reminded me of an episode of the Simpsons when Homer was accused of assaulting a baby sitter.

I doubt that a different president would solve any of those issues.


----------



## limr

BananaRepublic said:


> I not even from the Americas the protest just reminded me of an episode of the Simpsons when Homer was accused of assaulting a baby sitter.
> 
> I doubt that a different president would solve any of those issues.



Well, that's just a big ole pile of randomness, isn't it?


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> My wife thinks he's dreamy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lots of dreamies on the Pats this year.  It's been a season long topic of discussion among the women here.  There's even a Facebook page called New England Patriots Eye Candyland.  Tell the wife to check it out.
Click to expand...


She's probably one of the ring leaders there. lol


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think it's going to be a close and exciting game! Brady is now the only player ever to have made it to 7 Super Bowls. The 2 that he lost were so close and could easily have gone the other way. Even  if you hate him (limr), you have to respect that he's one of, if not _the_, GOAT.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll admit that he's talented, but then you have to admit that he's a giant douchebag
> 
> (And, um, I don't really know what the goat reference is  )
> 
> Now if you'll all excuse me, I've already paid more attention to pro football as I've had in years and it's time to return my attention to my boy Hank and his NY Rangers
> 
> Mmmmmm, Swedish goalie...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (And before anyone reports me, the image is from Wikimedia Commons, labeled for reuse, permissions to share!   )
Click to expand...


I suppose you wouldn't kick him out of bed for eating crackers...


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think it's going to be a close and exciting game! Brady is now the only player ever to have made it to 7 Super Bowls. The 2 that he lost were so close and could easily have gone the other way. Even  if you hate him (limr), you have to respect that he's one of, if not _the_, GOAT.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll admit that he's talented, but then you have to admit that he's a giant douchebag
> 
> (And, um, I don't really know what the goat reference is  )
> 
> Now if you'll all excuse me, I've already paid more attention to pro football as I've had in years and it's time to return my attention to my boy Hank and his NY Rangers
> 
> Mmmmmm, Swedish goalie...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (And before anyone reports me, the image is from Wikimedia Commons, labeled for reuse, permissions to share!   )
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I suppose you wouldn't kick him out of bed for eating crackers...
Click to expand...


Not a chance. And he's on my Free Pass list


----------



## SquarePeg

GOAT - Greatest Of All Time


----------



## JonA_CT

Leo might argue that King Henrik is the only GOAT she has room in her life for...


I've got the end of the head cold croak going on today. I felt better this morning than on Friday, but I've been without most of the functionality of my voice since 2nd period. This makes teaching much harder than it needs to be. I've been using some of those honey lemon drops to get me through the most critical aspects of today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better and I won't need to take any time off, which is what my co-workers continually suggest.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Leo might argue that King Henrik is the only GOAT she has room in her life for...
> 
> 
> I've got the end of the head cold croak going on today. I felt better this morning than on Friday, but I've been without most of the functionality of my voice since 2nd period. This makes teaching much harder than it needs to be. I've been using some of those honey lemon drops to get me through the most critical aspects of today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better and I won't need to take any time off, which is what my co-workers continually suggest.



Sorry you've been sick!  I had that a few weeks ago and it was awful, especially the sinus part. Sounds like the worst of it is over because the laryngitis was at the end...


----------



## waday

I'm still getting over a cough that started two weeks ago with a very bad cold, possibly flu. Hope everyone here is getting better!

The bathroom at work is starting to annoy me. There are two sinks, each with a soap and paper towel dispenser. The one sink doesn't work, but it has soap and paper towels. The other sink works, but has no soap or paper towels. It sounds like a math problem, and it is. 

There are zero people fixing it!


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

It's been a...day. Started off normally enough. Got up, got ready, went to work. Around 1:30-ish, got a message that the campus was going to close at 2:35 because of weather. It was windy but nothing else was going on. I checked and sure enough, a storm was coming, although my area was only supposed to get rain. So I figured the school was just being extra cautious.

The next email had the news that a co-worker had died. I didn't know him well, but had been getting to know him since I got this new job in July. He'd had a few chronic issues that then suddenly got worse, so it was sad to hear that he died.

Campus closed and I did some errands. Started to rain a little, which was all the forecast predicted. Went to see Buzz for dinner. By 6:30, it was not raining but sleeting. I left to go home and had a lovely, slippery drive home in 3rd gear.

Now I'm going to develop some film, have some popcorn and tea, and hit the hay.


----------



## SquarePeg

Glad you made it safely. We're getting the sleet here now. And the wind.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  Gary had some good meetings today. It rained all night and off and on during the morning.  Between meetings the Cook and Gary had a nice walk.  Cook and Gary were hit by a few drops of rain, but Cook was wearing her raincoat, so, no harm ... no foul.  The Sun broke out in the afternoon generating blue skies, bulbous white clouds and shadows visible on the ground. Being a photographer, Gary loves the Sun. A run on the treadmill, a quick dinner at Mexico 1900 and now a mug of hot herbal tea, a peanut butter cookie and watching some cable news.


----------



## jcdeboever

Rainy and cool and today, 36°. Had to layoff off customer service girl Friday, she makes way too many mistakes, not paying attention to detail. Nice lady but kind of lives distracted, aloof. I have to pick up slack until we find a replacement.  Behind on my Hedgcoe projects as basketball is priority. Did get photo journalist project in over weekend but have to develop film. Took about 15 b & W tmax, and around 6 color Fuji 200. Next project on table, creative light part 1 of 3. Directional, natural, and triangle. Then hand project with medium format. Hedgcoe has some interesting instruction on capturing hands. 

I figured out what I was doing wrong with focus on the agfa Isollette, distance range varies per aperture. Not sure how I overlooked it but followed @Gary A. direction on buying the laser distance meter which forced me to revisit the manual. Blam! there it was on last page.  

Weight watchers seems to work for me, not hungry. Just counting points as opposed to calories, easier. First weigh in tonight. I lost 8 lbs., I think or close. 8000 steps a day is hard for me because of my busy schedule but when I street shoot, no problem. More street shooting.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Cold today, when Gary woke up the the temp was 37F.  Gary spent last night updating the firmware on his lenses and cameras.


----------



## SquarePeg

Icy and windy here with cold rain coming down.  The dog peed on the porch before I could shoo him down the steps.  He's such a wimp.  At least I didn't have to dry him off.

No cookie for him as he broke the terms of our agreement.


----------



## Derrel

Wow...California has had heavym, substabtial flooding and violent rain and snow storms, while we in Oregon (to the north of CA) are in Day Two of the longest dry spell since September! it might not rain here for another four or five days! Woo-hoo! After a week of snow and cold, we're nowq in days witrh blue skies and SUN! SUN! So,so rare in the Pacific Northwest, where we have on average 144 days of rain per year. It's making late January bearable.

Oddly, seeing a lot of pro-Falcons talk here, since the Falcons knocked off regional favorite Seattle a couple of weeks ago.


----------



## JonA_CT

Everyone hates Bill Belicheat and the Cheatriots. (Or so I hear...I live in hostile territory and avoid controversy)

The wind was impressive last night here too. I took my dog out for his end of night chore, and the wind caught and extended my retractable leash all the way out.


----------



## Frank F.

After two days of dark weather I miss the great sunny days we had


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Everyone hates Bill Belicheat and the Cheatriots. (Or so I hear...I live in hostile territory and avoid controversy)
> 
> The wind was impressive last night here too. I took my dog out for his end of night chore, and the wind caught and extended my retractable leash all the way out.









ETA:  Patriots fan who pulled alarm at Steelers' hotel told police, 'I'm drunk. I'm stupid.'


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Everyone hates Bill Belicheat and the Cheatriots. (Or so I hear...I live in hostile territory and avoid controversy)
> 
> The wind was impressive last night here too. I took my dog out for his end of night chore, and the wind caught and extended my retractable leash all the way out.


They all cheat, NE just gets caught.


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Everyone hates Bill Belicheat and the Cheatriots. (Or so I hear...I live in hostile territory and avoid controversy)
> 
> The wind was impressive last night here too. I took my dog out for his end of night chore, and the wind caught and extended my retractable leash all the way out.
> 
> 
> 
> They all cheat, NE just gets caught.
Click to expand...


Once.  anyone who understands PV=nRT knows the second one was garbage.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> They all cheat, NE just gets caught.



That's because BB is a bit on the arrogant side...


----------



## snowbear

Dang!  I passed 10k posts and the stars aren't going out!  _Nine Billion Names of God_ was telling me tales.  Maybe I'll live long enough to hit 15k


----------



## jcdeboever

Man, I am so embarrassed. I am the only guy in weight watchers and mainly joined to support the wife but I need it more than her. Anyway, we got weighed in (I lost 9.6 lbs in 1st week) and I used every single point they gave me. Problem today was, I had bad gas from all the broccoli I ate today (zero snacks points) . I ripped a huge (I mean people in parking lot could hear it) fart during the meeting, not trying but more like a pressure relief valve on an air tank! There was dead silence.... then a snaggled tooth, middle aged lady yelled out , THERE GOES TWO POINTS! Everyone was cracking up (tears in some) and the trainer said it was the best meeting ever. I lost the most in the first week and well, that spurred some more laughter. My wife didn't even yell at me.


----------



## SquarePeg

The guys always lose faster than the women.  It's just another perk of the plumbing I guess.  They laughed at you tonight but if you drop another 9 lbs next week they'll be shooting more than farts at you.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> The guys always lose faster than the women.  It's just another perk of the plumbing I guess.  They laughed at you tonight but if you drop another 9 lbs next week they'll be shooting more than farts at you.



I believe it. As I am posting, my wife is yelling down to me in the basement, "get up her claud van dam and do your homework'! Don't make me wait you ansel adams want a be.


----------



## jcdeboever

I might miss a hole


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Rainy and cool and today, 36°. Had to layoff off customer service girl Friday, she makes way too many mistakes, not paying attention to detail. Nice lady but kind of lives distracted, aloof. I have to pick up slack until we find a replacement.  Behind on my Hedgcoe projects as basketball is priority. Did get photo journalist project in over weekend but have to develop film. Took about 15 b & W tmax, and around 6 color Fuji 200. Next project on table, creative light part 1 of 3. Directional, natural, and triangle. Then hand project with medium format. Hedgcoe has some interesting instruction on capturing hands.
> 
> I figured out what I was doing wrong with focus on the agfa Isollette, distance range varies per aperture. Not sure how I overlooked it but followed @Gary A. direction on buying the laser distance meter which forced me to revisit the manual. Blam! there it was on last page.
> 
> Weight watchers seems to work for me, not hungry. Just counting points as opposed to calories, easier. First weigh in tonight. I lost 8 lbs., I think or close. 8000 steps a day is hard for me because of my busy schedule but when I street shoot, no problem. More street shooting.


If you no longer need the laser tape measure ... it still has a novelty value as a toy and a weapon for bringing down jets and helicopters. Or maybe a personal anti-ICBM in case of attack by North Korea.


----------



## Dave442

Off to LA for a couple days, hope Gary has cleared up the rains.


----------



## Gary A.

Derrel said:


> Wow...California has had heavym, substabtial flooding and violent rain and snow storms, while we in Oregon (to the north of CA) are in Day Two of the longest dry spell since September! it might not rain here for another four or five days! Woo-hoo! After a week of snow and cold, we're nowq in days witrh blue skies and SUN! SUN! So,so rare in the Pacific Northwest, where we have on average 144 days of rain per year. It's making late January bearable.
> 
> Oddly, seeing a lot of pro-Falcons talk here, since the Falcons knocked off regional favorite Seattle a couple of weeks ago.


Yeah, the atmospheric river has so much water that it can't make it all the way uphill to Oregon so it's dropping its load in Central and Northern Cal.  The spill-off of this river in the south has put us 200% above average at this date.  The snow is down to 4000', more than halfway down the mountains.  A stunning picture.


----------



## Gary A.

Dave442 said:


> Off to LA for a couple days, hope Gary has cleared up the rains.


Clear and beautiful for you to land!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Man, I am so embarrassed. I am the only guy in weight watchers and mainly joined to support the wife but I need it more than her. Anyway, we got weighed in (I lost 9.6 lbs in 1st week) and I used every single point they gave me. Problem today was, I had bad gas from all the broccoli I ate today (zero snacks points) . I ripped a huge (I mean people in parking lot could hear it) fart during the meeting, not trying but more like a pressure relief valve on an air tank! There was dead silence.... then a snaggled tooth, middle aged lady yelled out , THERE GOES TWO POINTS! Everyone was cracking up (tears in some) and the trainer said it was the best meeting ever. I lost the most in the first week and well, that spurred some more laughter. My wife didn't even yell at me.


The wife was looking to disavow not scold.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Man, I am so embarrassed. I am the only guy in weight watchers and mainly joined to support the wife but I need it more than her. Anyway, we got weighed in (I lost 9.6 lbs in 1st week) and I used every single point they gave me. Problem today was, I had bad gas from all the broccoli I ate today (zero snacks points) . I ripped a huge (I mean people in parking lot could hear it) fart during the meeting, not trying but more like a pressure relief valve on an air tank! There was dead silence.... then a snaggled tooth, middle aged lady yelled out , THERE GOES TWO POINTS! Everyone was cracking up (tears in some) and the trainer said it was the best meeting ever. I lost the most in the first week and well, that spurred some more laughter. My wife didn't even yell at me.


Gary was so scared of his wrestling coach that Gary lost 15lbs in one day, (he came in way overweight).  Gary was so beat up and hungry from losing all that water, that he had a pizza delivered to the gym.  The pizza guy walks into the gym, during the middle of the match, looking all bewildered and Gary motions him over to mat where he was sitting with the rest of the team.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> The guys always lose faster than the women.  It's just another perk of the plumbing I guess.  They laughed at you tonight but if you drop another 9 lbs next week they'll be shooting more than farts at you.


Nahhh ... not the plumbing.  Men tend to have more muscle mass than women, muscles tends to burn more calories than other parts.  Even a guy not moving will burn more calories than a non-moving gal.  Generally, this happens only at the beginning of a diet/exercise routine, over time calorie burning starts leveling out between the sexes.  In car racing we call this "Cheap early speed".


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Rainy and cool and today, 36°. Had to layoff off customer service girl Friday, she makes way too many mistakes, not paying attention to detail. Nice lady but kind of lives distracted, aloof. I have to pick up slack until we find a replacement.  Behind on my Hedgcoe projects as basketball is priority. Did get photo journalist project in over weekend but have to develop film. Took about 15 b & W tmax, and around 6 color Fuji 200. Next project on table, creative light part 1 of 3. Directional, natural, and triangle. Then hand project with medium format. Hedgcoe has some interesting instruction on capturing hands.
> 
> I figured out what I was doing wrong with focus on the agfa Isollette, distance range varies per aperture. Not sure how I overlooked it but followed @Gary A. direction on buying the laser distance meter which forced me to revisit the manual. Blam! there it was on last page.
> 
> Weight watchers seems to work for me, not hungry. Just counting points as opposed to calories, easier. First weigh in tonight. I lost 8 lbs., I think or close. 8000 steps a day is hard for me because of my busy schedule but when I street shoot, no problem. More street shooting.
> 
> 
> 
> If you no longer need the laser tape measure ... it still has a novelty value as a toy and a weapon for bringing down jets and helicopters. Or maybe a personal anti-ICBM in case of attack by North Korea.
Click to expand...

My cat loves it


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm home with my daughter today. She obviously caught whatever has been knocking me down for the last week and a half. She was up for half the night and fell asleep when she was sitting up with me in the rocker. 

I'm drinking a cup of a coffee made with beans from Rwanda this morning. Unlike the dark and moody Brazilian beans, these ones are bright and fruity. Or perhaps I'm enjoying this coffee so much because it is so necessary this morning.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another chilly morning.  Gary has just returned from refilling a Hummingbird feeder.  He really feels for Hummers in Winter ... cold, short days and not a lot blooming. 

@ Jon: Yeah, you can taste the red soil of east Africa. (You know you've just gotten hooked.)

Front page story in the California section of the LA Times reports of the restoration of the Anthony Quinn mural on Broadway Street in downtown. Quinn is called "The Pope of Broadway" because of the Latino links between Quinn and Broadway.  A nice piece.





Before restoration.


----------



## SquarePeg

Coffee House on page 3!!!!!  Eeeeek!  Where is everyone? 

I have spring fever very badly right now.  The holidays are over and now I wait for the nice weather to arrive.  I am really looking forward to spring this year.  Last year I was traveling for work and was out of town for most of April and May working long hours and not taking any photos.  I missed all of the spring blooms and most of my photo plans got put aside.  Prior to spring getting here again, I don't have any upcoming photo opportunities that I'm truly excited about.  Still bummed that I missed out on the marches.  Not into street shooting.  Don't like the cold.  Nothing planned in my photo meetup group.  No interesting flowers in the market yet.  Ugh, I really need to move somewhere warm for the winters.  As soon as I retire I'm becoming a snow bird. 

On the other hand, I've got some travel plans to think about.  Considering a possible Disneyland trip during April school vacation, or NYC if Disneyland doesn't pan out.  Frankly for the same money, I'd rather be in Disney.  Then Nashville for a long weekend with some friends in May.  Also booked on a family cruise to Bermuda in August for mom's 75th.  All that is great but I really need to be somewhere fun and warm right now! 

sorry for the whining - off to count my blessings and be thankful for all we have...


----------



## snowbear

I think someone build a wall around us.

I've just been lurking in the shadows for the most part; haven't really felt like posting.  At work, I got sucked into the NextGen911 project, but just the periphery.  One or two more steps, in the background and I'll be involved in even more of a variety of projects.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Coffee House on page 3!!!!!  Eeeeek!  Where is everyone?
> 
> I have spring fever very badly right now.  The holidays are over and now I wait for the nice weather to arrive.  I am really looking forward to spring this year.  Last year I was traveling for work and was out of town for most of April and May working long hours and not taking any photos.  I missed all of the spring blooms and most of my photo plans got put aside.  Prior to spring getting here again, I don't have any upcoming photo opportunities that I'm truly excited about.  Still bummed that I missed out on the marches.  Not into street shooting.  Don't like the cold.  Nothing planned in my photo meetup group.  No interesting flowers in the market yet.  Ugh, I really need to move somewhere warm for the winters.  As soon as I retire I'm becoming a snow bird.
> 
> On the other hand, I've got some travel plans to think about.  Considering a possible Disneyland trip during April school vacation, or NYC if Disneyland doesn't pan out.  Frankly for the same money, I'd rather be in Disney.  Then Nashville for a long weekend with some friends in May.  Also booked on a family cruise to Bermuda in August for mom's 75th.  All that is great but I really need to be somewhere fun and warm right now!
> 
> sorry for the whining - off to count my blessings and be thankful for all we have...


I feel similar. I love baseball and thoroughly enjoy going down to Florida for spring training. You can get closer to players and game. Additionally, there are some fantastic botanical gardens and wildlife opportunities in Florida.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> I feel similar. I love baseball and thoroughly enjoy going down to Florida for spring training. You can get closer to players and game. Additionally, there are some fantastic botanical gardens and wildlife opportunities in Florida.



You know, that could be why this year the winter is more depressing for me than usual even though the weather has been mild (knock on wood).  This will be the first winter that I have not gone to FL in many years.  We typically go visit friends or relatives even if only for a long weekend.  I may have to sneak in a solo trip while school is in session.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I feel similar. I love baseball and thoroughly enjoy going down to Florida for spring training. You can get closer to players and game. Additionally, there are some fantastic botanical gardens and wildlife opportunities in Florida.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You know, that could be why this year the winter is more depressing for me than usual even though the weather has been mild (knock on wood).  This will be the first winter that I have not gone to FL in many years.  We typically go visit friends or relatives even if only for a long weekend.  I may have to sneak in a solo trip while school is in session.
Click to expand...

Yup, probably. Love Florida, family owns quite a few condos down there. Between the wife and I we gather enough flyer miles to cover airfare and rental car. Very cheap vacations. We are looking at late February, early March this year.


----------



## SquarePeg

I think at some point I will be living in FL at least 6 months of the year.  My job is mobile but I have to wait until my daughter finishes school to make any moves.  I have friends in St. Pete, Tampa and Annamaria Island (gorgeous area) plus we have relatives in Hernando Beach so leaning toward west coast.  My BFF is in Delray Beach but I'm not that big of a fan of FL's east coast.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Hey, Gary is still pulling his weight around here. What's with all this talk of Florida? What good is Florida ... other than providing the Continental United States with a male organ? It is flat and humid, hot and humid, no decent waves and humid, bunch of cray-cray people running around and humid, everybody is carrying and humid, limited cultural opportunities and humid, huge jammin' insects and humid, huge man-eating lizards in every park and humid, awful Zika carrying mosquitos and humid, and those are just a few of the good things.  Did Gary mention that it is jammin' humid there ... 24/7, 365 days a year. The last time Gary was in Florida he ran into Ponce De Leon, he's still looking for the fountain of youth.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Hey, Gary is still pulling his weight around here. What's with all this talk of Florida? What good is Florida ... other than providing the Continental United States with a male organ? It is flat and humid, hot and humid, no decent waves and humid, *bunch of cray-cray people* running around and humid, *everybody is carrying* and humid, limited cultural opportunities and humid, huge jammin' insects and humid, huge man-eating lizards in every park and humid, awful Zika carrying mosquitos and humid, and those are just a few of the good things. Did Gary mention that it is jammin' humid there ... 24/7, 365 days a year. The last time Gary was in Florida he ran into Ponce De Leon, he's still looking for the fountain of youth.



So true!  All of my FL cousins carry everywhere which I think is a bit insane but whatever...  most are former military and know what they're doing.  One is both a minister and a prepper.  He's an interesting guy but bat **** crazy.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Hey, Gary is still pulling his weight around here. What's with all this talk of Florida? What good is Florida ... other than providing the Continental United States with a male organ? It is flat and humid, hot and humid, no decent waves and humid, bunch of cray-cray people running around and humid, everybody is carrying and humid, limited cultural opportunities and humid, huge jammin' insects and humid, huge man-eating lizards in every park and humid, awful Zika carrying mosquitos and humid, and those are just a few of the good things.  Did Gary mention that it is jammin' humid there ... 24/7, 365 days a year. The last time Gary was in Florida he ran into Ponce De Leon, he's still looking for the fountain of youth.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> What good is Florida ... other than providing the Continental United States with a male organ?




What good is Florida, hanging around while you now have a "president errect"


----------



## limr

I'm sorry, Florida lovers and residents, but I have no use for Florida. Except for the Gators. And the little plot of land where my sister and brother-in-law live.

And of all the friggin' states in the union, Florida is the one I've probably been to more often than any other state that's not in the Northeast   First it was college, then it was visiting the state while still engaged to the ex who still lived there (and as far as I know, still lives there now), then it was visiting my sister, and then it was visiting Buzz's grandmother and uncle while they were still alive, and in June, it's going to Tampa to score AP exams.

*What in the actual **** is wrong with me??*


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What good is Florida ... other than providing the Continental United States with a male organ?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What good is Florida, hanging around while you now have a "president errect"
Click to expand...


There's a 'flaccid' joke in there somewhere...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is at his morning place, sipping (in his Trump voice), a tremendous cup of coffee, tremendous ... (end of Trump voice), and watching the Hummingbird feeder wars begin.  Gary and Mary Lou have Anna's here and they are very very territorial. There are three birds going at it, one defending and two interlopers.  This feeder is surrounded by a Flowering Maple, the interlopers pretend to be harvesting Maple nectar from the blooms ... then, if they think the coast is clear ... they make a dash for the feeder.  Meanwhile, the owner of the feeder, (Gary is merely the caretaker, he gave up ownership a long time ago), sits quietly camouflaged deep in the Maple ... ambush mode ... or as a sentinel on-guard five feet away in the climbing Cecil Brunner.  Often, when the owner chases a thief away, another hummer zooms in to fill up.  The thieves are easy to spot because they never land when they drink.  The thieves take a drink, then pull back an inch or so, swivel their heads looking for the Man, then scoot in for another hit of hummingbird nectar. The owner, pulls in and rests on the perches and takes their time ... reads the menu, unfolds the nakin, rereads the menu, et cetera. In a month or two, after the hatchlings take up flight, the entire family will dine at the feeder at the same time.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What good is Florida ... other than providing the Continental United States with a male organ?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What good is Florida, hanging around while you now have a "president errect"
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> There's a 'flaccid' joke in there somewhere...
Click to expand...

Gary is known for that type of humor.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm with Gary and Leo on Florida. I can't say that I've found a lot of joy there...I had to spend lots of time in Port Canaveral for my old job. I remember being there for the first time in the middle of August. The airport tram ran counter-clockwise around the airport, and I needed to go clockwise one terminal to get to my rental car. It was maybe a quarter of a mile walk, so I just strapped everything down and made the hike. By the time I got there, I had sweat through my clothes and was desperately in need of a shower. Shortly there after, I realized I didn't have enough time in the day to shower every time that happened.

Sharon, even though I hate Florida, I am bummed by this winter. I'm wondering if it's because its not wintery enough. I think I'd be happier if it was colder and snowier...right now, it just feels like it's been an extension of mud season.


----------



## JonA_CT

In other news, my dog freaked out in the middle of the night. I came downstairs to find him looking through the window directly at a large coyote in our front yard. I live in a city. 

I'm secretly hoping that he took care of what the zoning officials couldn't at my neighbor's house.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Sharon, even though I hate Florida, I am bummed by this winter. I'm wondering if it's because its not wintery enough. I think I'd be happier if it was colder and snowier...right now, it just feels like it's been an extension of mud season.



Yes this winter has been off and depressing for me.  In my case, I suspect that it's more about the political climate than the actual climate.  



JonA_CT said:


> I'm secretly hoping that he took care of what the zoning officials couldn't at my neighbor's house.



chickens?


----------



## Gary A.

The other day Mary Lou was driving home at night and sees this dog jogging down the middle of our street.  She pulls up next to it, opens the doors and tries to get the pooch into the car.  The dog keeps jogging and Mary Lou takes a good look and realizes it's a coyote.  Needless To Say, she stopped using her soft friendly dog voice and let the coyote do its own thing.  Gary thinks the coyotes around here use middle of the streets to navigate in order to avoid all the motion detection lights in people's driveways. There is a large coyote population in our neighborhood.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sharon, even though I hate Florida, I am bummed by this winter. I'm wondering if it's because its not wintery enough. I think I'd be happier if it was colder and snowier...right now, it just feels like it's been an extension of mud season.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes this winter has been off and depressing for me.  In my case, I suspect that it's more about the political climate than the actual climate.
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm secretly hoping that he took care of what the zoning officials couldn't at my neighbor's house.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> chickens?
Click to expand...

Chickens are for foxes.


----------



## SquarePeg

We have coyotes here as well.  Used to be you rarely saw them but the past few years there are more and more sightings around town in people's yards and walking down the street.  I think a lot of the development that has happened here in the last 5 years has impacted them and forced them out of hiding.  We also have wild turkeys that roam around in packs (gaggles?  prides?  gangs!) and they are mean.  Usually they are out in the mornings.  They chase the joggers and get very aggressive if they feel challenged to give up their current spot which is sometimes in my neighbors drive blocking him from getting in his car.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Sharon, even though I hate Florida, I am bummed by this winter. I'm wondering if it's because its not wintery enough. I think I'd be happier if it was colder and snowier...right now, it just feels like it's been an extension of mud season.



Yup. For me it's definitely because I'm not getting a good, proper winter. That always bums me out. And yet, I'm not looking forward to spring because that just means that summer is coming, and dear lord, I hate summer like poison.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> I'm secretly hoping that he took care of what the zoning officials couldn't at my neighbor's house.



Hey!!      Rooster's gotta crow.


----------



## Derrel

Coyotes...as a kid I never saw them here in my region, not even one time. But now 40-some years later, they're inside towns and cities, riding a PDX airport shuttle train car, killing cats, killing small dogs, eating chickens, hunting the interstate freeway medians under the lights at night, and littering the roads with their run-over bodies. Last summer, I drove to the Oregon coast on Hwy. 22, and in a 2-mile stretch about 9 miles west of Salem, I saw one coyote that had been hit two or three days prior, one that had been hit a day prior, and one that had just been hit probably within an hour, and still had a puddle of blood next to it...all in the area I grew up in, and where for 25 years I had NEVER, not even once, sighted a coyote! Similarly, we're now experiencing a very fast growth rate/enconter rate with cougars in suburban, rial, and even in some urban areas.


----------



## Gary A.

Yep, people move into open space and then won't share the open space with all the critters that called it home before the Native Americans moved in.  In LA there is a real, Brown Bear and Cougar problem across the entire foothill region.  Cougar(s) have been slaughtering llamas ... apparently just for the pleasure of slaughtering a llama, in Malibu. At least once a week, in summer and fall, there will be videos on the local news of bears working on their strokes or just relaxing in swimming pools along the foothills.

Gary hates Peacocks.  He used to live in a community full of those horrible creatures.  Squawking all day and night, flying up to squawk from the roofs of the homes.  Strutting down the middle of the street ... not giving a hoot to the rules of the road.  If you reminded them of rules, they just stare at you and flash their tails... as in "Hey, jam it buster. I am beautiful.  I can do anything I want, at any time I want, because I am beautiful."  Gawd Gary hates Peacocks.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary drove along the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains today for about 50 miles.  They are beautiful with snow covering more than half their heights and what wasn't covered in snow was green. Plenty of cars on the freeway half covered in snow the other half with skis strapped to the roofs. The official word is that 50% of California is officially out of the drought. All the surface water lakes/reservoirs are filled, but it takes a long time for the below ground water storage to fill up.


----------



## JonA_CT

Just thought we might need more coffee in here. These are a different type of bean from Rwanda. Still figuring out how to get a nice Even roast...the next batch was better.


----------



## Gary A.

Seems to be a bit lighter than my typical roast.  Gary is set to roast soon. You make another mess? How do you stir the beans?

Today, Mary Lou requested a pesto pizza tonight.  Gary needs to get home early to harvest and blend up the basil and mix up some pizza dough.  Gary is gonna go for a thin cracker type crust today.


----------



## JonA_CT

I've really been enjoying the City to City+ roast on these African beans, but I did roast the next batch a bit darker...probably more like Full City. I'm probably going to Vienna or French roast the next batch of Brazilian beans.

That picture is looking down into a 3-cup flour sifter. I use that to agitate the beans. It's mounted to the popper. And no mess...I've wisely been using daylight and my back porch, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

Wow, quite the contraption ... a Macgyver roaster.  The vents on my air popper is all Gary needs for stirring.


----------



## snowbear

Good evening, peeps.  Picked up a three liter jug of cranberry juice on the way home; I got spoiled at the hotel in Tulsa with their always available fruit juice machine.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Gary's 90mm arrived yesterday.  When unpowered and rotated, one can feel and hear a "clunk". When hooked into a camera and powered, the clunk goes away ... so Gary figures it is normal. Maybe a Google is in order. Gary purchased it off Amazon to save on taxes.  For the same price a few lenses comes with a kit of a bunch of junk.  Not be a person opposed to junk, Gary went for a kit.  The kit had a cheap soft lens bag of a size about double the diameter required to contain the 90mm, a lens/camera cleaning kit with a rocket blower, a plastic gorilla pod type thing which Gary wouldn't use to support the worst camera ever made, a universal LCDS screen protectors packet, three Vivitar filters and a little camera/lens bag that's  a combo backpack and sling which may actually be useful.  So who wants some filters?


----------



## Dave442

As promised, Gary provided perfect weather in LA.  Took a long walk around the expanding Huntington gardens today with the camera and now making spaghetti sauce (I'm typing and my sister is cooking).  Ran into Terry Eagan at the Huntington and he is restoring all the original "concrete trees" through the arbor so check those out if you are ever over there.


----------



## jcdeboever

I just drank the last of @Gary A.'s Christmas coffee. What a treat. My wife gets horny every time I brew a pot. I think the aroma and my awareness to detail arouse her. Gary produces afrodisia coffee beans...


----------



## Gary A.

Dave442 said:


> As promised, Gary provided perfect weather in LA.  Took a long walk around the expanding Huntington gardens today with the camera and now making spaghetti sauce (I'm typing and my sister is cooking).  Ran into Terry Eagan at the Huntington and he is restoring all the original "concrete trees" through the arbor so check those out if you are ever over there.


Gary is glad you came when the mountains look spectacular ... The Huntington Gardens is full of photo opportunities and a very relaxing place to hang out.  Gary used to live in Pasadena.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes spaghetti.


----------



## Dave442

Gary A. said:


> Dave442 said:
> 
> 
> 
> As promised, Gary provided perfect weather in LA.  Took a long walk around the expanding Huntington gardens today with the camera and now making spaghetti sauce (I'm typing and my sister is cooking).  Ran into Terry Eagan at the Huntington and he is restoring all the original "concrete trees" through the arbor so check those out if you are ever over there.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is glad you came when the mountains look spectacular ... The Huntington Gardens is full of photo opportunities and a very relaxing place to hang out.  Gary used to live in Pasadena.
Click to expand...


Does Gary by chance know Iris Schneider, a neighbour over where I'm staying.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Gary's 90mm arrived yesterday.




In a way I fell 3mm (used on my DX-Format D500 it is 87mm FOV-wise) short of @Gary A.  with my yesterday arrival (used in mint condition from the UK): AF-S NIKKOR 58mm f/1.4G | Nikon D-SLR lenses


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Gary's 90mm arrived yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In a way I fell 3mm (used on my DX-Format D500 it is 87mm FOV-wise) short of @Gary A.  with my yesterday arrival (used in mint condition from the UK): AF-S NIKKOR 58mm f/1.4G | Nikon D-SLR lenses
Click to expand...


That looks like a sweet piece of glass


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> That looks like a sweet piece of glass



It is. And I have a lot of it now

1.4/24
1.4/35
1.8/50
1.4/58
2.8/60
1.8/85
1.4/105
4.0/200
4.0/300

All wonderful and I shoot a lot with my three DSLRs. Sometimes I do not have the time to edit all this work


----------



## JonA_CT

The other batch of beans from yesterday was a Tanzanian Peaberry. Citrusy and floral. My MacGyver-ing of my air popper has allowed me to greatly increase the amount of beans I can roast at one time. I finished with just over 8 oz from each of my batches...I was able to do about 3 oz before.

I'm going to try to brew beer again when I get home tonight. It can't possibly go as terribly as last time.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Dayum, I gotta start roasting, too!


----------



## Gary A.

Dave442 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dave442 said:
> 
> 
> 
> As promised, Gary provided perfect weather in LA.  Took a long walk around the expanding Huntington gardens today with the camera and now making spaghetti sauce (I'm typing and my sister is cooking).  Ran into Terry Eagan at the Huntington and he is restoring all the original "concrete trees" through the arbor so check those out if you are ever over there.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is glad you came when the mountains look spectacular ... The Huntington Gardens is full of photo opportunities and a very relaxing place to hang out.  Gary used to live in Pasadena.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Does Gary by chance know Iris Schneider, a neighbour over where I'm staying.
Click to expand...

The name is very very familiar, but she is not an acquaintance of Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Gary's 90mm arrived yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In a way I fell 3mm (used on my DX-Format D500 it is 87mm FOV-wise) short of @Gary A.  with my yesterday arrival (used in mint condition from the UK): AF-S NIKKOR 58mm f/1.4G | Nikon D-SLR lenses
Click to expand...

LOL ... if you want to play the FOV game, Gary's 90mm is 135mm.  The build quality of Fujinon lenses reminds Gary of the Nikkor lenses he used back in the film-only days.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> The other batch of beans from yesterday was a Tanzanian Peaberry. Citrusy and floral. My MacGyver-ing of my air popper has allowed me to greatly increase the amount of beans I can roast at one time. I finished with just over 8 oz from each of my batches...I was able to do about 3 oz before.
> 
> I'm going to try to brew beer again when I get home tonight. It can't possibly go as terribly as last time.


That works for Gary.  Gary's uncustomized machine is good for batches about half that, four ounces - about 3/4 of a cup.

Gary ordered another siphon coffee maker.  This one a butane puppy, so it's portable.  Mary Lou and Gary attend a very nice Super Bowl party.  They always expect something special from Gary. (Last year he bowled them over with his smoked tri-tip and Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce).  This year he's taking a wine & herbed-up tri-tip, slow cook in a bag and his coffee.  The portable siphon will be the flourish to his efforts.


----------



## SquarePeg

I need to shoot something.  It's been weeks!  I'm swamped with non photo stuff this weekend but maybe I can get out Sunday morning for a bit.  Super windy here and yesterday was recycle day.  A few people did not bring their bins back in last night and I can hear them blowing around out there.  Last time I tried to catch one before it went into traffic and I almost got run over so I'm putting that on ignore for now.  

In other news , I'm taking doggie-do to the vet today.  He's due for a shot and he's been a little off his routine lately so I want him to have a check up.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> I need to shoot something.  It's been weeks!  I'm swamped with non photo stuff this weekend but maybe I can get out Sunday morning for a bit.  Super windy here and yesterday was recycle day.  A few people did not bring their bins back in last night and I can hear them blowing around out there.  Last time I tried to catch one before it went into traffic and I almost got run over so I'm putting that on ignore for now.
> 
> In other news , I'm taking doggie-do to the vet today.  He's due for a shot and he's been a little off his routine lately so I want him to have a check up.


Well, just do it as Nike says!


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Gary's 90mm arrived yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In a way I fell 3mm (used on my DX-Format D500 it is 87mm FOV-wise) short of @Gary A.  with my yesterday arrival (used in mint condition from the UK): AF-S NIKKOR 58mm f/1.4G | Nikon D-SLR lenses
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... if you want to play the FOV game, Gary's 90mm is 135mm.  The build quality of Fujinon lenses reminds Gary of the Nikkor lenses he used back in the film-only days.
Click to expand...



Yes. But they are drive by wire


----------



## limr

@Frank F.  I've been meaning to share this picture with you. This is the from the newest store of a small regional (NY Tri-State area) chain of supermarkets:

Cheese!




And there's a third side of the display that I couldn't fit in the frame.


----------



## SquarePeg

Meh.  Not as good as European cheese...


----------



## terri

Yum!!   I bet I could find something in there, especially if it's local.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> @Frank F.  I've been meaning to share this picture with you. This is the from the newest store of a small regional (NY Tri-State area) chain of supermarkets:
> 
> Cheese!View attachment 134015
> 
> And there's a third side of the display that I couldn't fit in the frame.


Grommit, m'boy.... look at all the lovely cheese.  I could do with a nice slice of Wensleydale!


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> @Frank F.  I've been meaning to share this picture with you. This is the from the newest store of a small regional (NY Tri-State area) chain of supermarkets:
> Cheese!View attachment 134015
> And there's a third side of the display that I couldn't fit in the frame.



Does it taste good, Leonore? I must not eat cheese at the moment, hope one day I can do it again.


----------



## Dave442

Had an early departure out of LAX over to the Colorado mountains.  Some hot coffee right now to take off the chill after the dog walk. Definitely need to make a longer trip next time to the west coast.


----------



## Gary A.

This is Gary's setup.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Frank F.  I've been meaning to share this picture with you. This is the from the newest store of a small regional (NY Tri-State area) chain of supermarkets:
> Cheese!View attachment 134015
> And there's a third side of the display that I couldn't fit in the frame.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Does it taste good, Leonore? I must not eat cheese at the moment, hope one day I can do it again.
Click to expand...


Oh yeah, there's some good stuff in that case  Both imported and domestic.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 134023



Is Gary sure he's not from New York or Massachusetts? Those drivers would also take a picture like that, while flipping you the bird and somehow sipping coffee at the same time.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Is Gary sure he's not from New York or Massachusetts? Those drivers would also take a picture like that, while flipping you the bird and somehow sipping coffee at the same time.


Worse - Cali.

Actually, I think Cali drivers are better than east coasters


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 134023
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is Gary sure he's not from New York or Massachusetts? Those drivers would also take a picture like that, while flipping you the bird and somehow sipping coffee at the same time.
Click to expand...

Actually, Gary was on the phone (hands-free), taking the picture, frothing some milk for his espresso while passing another espresso an adjacent car. BTW- California drivers are courteous and would never made an obscene gesture at another driver ... never.


----------



## Gary A.

If you people recall, Gary received a $100 voucher for a wine club.  Gary cashed in the voucher and a case of vino came in today.  Gary has never heard of any of the vintners.  Gary and Mary Lou are sipping a Jac Cole Chardonnay and it is delish.   

This stuff comes from a very interesting club concept.  A member pays $40 per month into their account.  The member can spend the money at any time or withdraw the entire account if a member is no longer interested. The money is used to frontload the operations of small, "indie" vintners.  In return, the member receives a discount of 40%-60% on the wines.  Gary is signing up.  If anyone is interested check it all out at nakedwines.com.  

PS- Additionally, there is a Money Back Gaurantee ... per a letter tucked in with the wines, "If there is a single bottle that doesn't knock your socks off, remember you're covered by a 100% money back guarantee ... Thank you so much for your support.  You are changing the lives of independent winemakers, empowering them to make wines they are passionate about."


----------



## Gary A.

Update:  Gary's been floating around the Naked Wines website, it is very interesting what they're doing and the website is extensive as the wines which come from around the world. Gary is definitely signing up.  Gary will be closing out a couple of Temecula memberships to keep his boat with an even keel.


----------



## Frank F.

Fujifilm X100F pre-production sample gallery

I want to upgrady my X100T!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary loves the 24mp and the joystick on his Fuji's.  The X100F looks just fine.


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Fujifilm X100F pre-production sample gallery
> 
> I want to upgrady my X100T!


I will probably get one in March or April. Images look pretty incredible, colors really pop.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary loves the 24mp and the joystick on his Fuji's.  The X100F looks just fine.


The joystick made the final decision for me. I liked that feature on the upper models and kind of had me in limbo about buying a X100T.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary gave his X100S away and was waiting for the 24mp X100 ... but he has recently acquired a 23 F/2 Fujinon and is now thinking about keeping his money in his pocket and use the XP2/23mm combo as he would a X100F.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone
It is a gorgeous day, maybe 70F. 





iPhone

Mary Lou and Gary made a Temecula run.


----------



## JonA_CT

My sister-in-law is a newish Temecula resident. She never mentions the wine...maybe I should let her in.

I brewed a batch of pilsner today. It's my first lager (versus an ale). Should be interesting. It's the same ballpark but slightly different rules.

Tonight is a Tanqeray with Polar lime-scented tonic kind of night for me. Slipped while carrying ten pounds of water and my back is in knots. Quinine helps. Even if it's the placebo effect.


----------



## Derrel

Just got back from a free wine and cheese tasting event...came home with a gift basket, a new water botle, and a new set of headphones and a couple of pounds of cheese, and a slight wine buzz...very unusual Saturday for this guy!


----------



## jcdeboever

Derrel said:


> Just got back from a free wine and cheese tasting event...came home with a gift basket, a new water botle, and a new set of headphones and a couple of pounds of cheese, and a slight wine buzz...very unusual Saturday for this guy!


Just in time for the new move-ins!


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from a free wine and cheese tasting event...came home with a gift basket, a new water botle, and a new set of headphones and a couple of pounds of cheese, and a slight wine buzz...very unusual Saturday for this guy!
> 
> 
> 
> Just in time for the new move-ins!
Click to expand...

You'll need a whine wine buzz for that!


----------



## limr

Oh sure, @JonA_CT ... it's the "quinine"


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Oh sure, @JonA_CT ... it's the "quinine"



Evidently it's working wonders. My posts are full of errors.

P.S.  Fun fact. I recently read that quinine is a remedy for malaria, but it is incredibly bitter on it's own. So British soldiers stationed in tropical areas mixed it with water and sugar to make a "tonic". And then added gin 'cause they are British and all.


----------



## snowbear

Well, I made a quick shot for the Challenge this afternoon as I only had two entries.  I received a third one today, so I don't need to enter mine.  I might toss it out here next week.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh sure, @JonA_CT ... it's the "quinine"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Evidently it's working wonders. My posts are full of errors.
> 
> P.S.  Fun fact. I recently read that quinine is a remedy for malaria, but it is incredibly bitter on it's own. So British soldiers stationed in tropical areas mixed it with water and sugar to make a "tonic". And then added gin 'cause they are British and all.
Click to expand...


And I still consider it medicine every time I pour a G&T


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> And I still consider it medicine every time I pour a G&T


Pickle dem germs!


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Well, I made a quick shot for the Challenge this afternoon as I only had two entries. I received a third one today, so I don't need to enter mine. I might toss it out here next week.



I still have 3 days right?


----------



## snowbear

Yep.  I tend to not worry about the GMT thing; as long as I have the email by midnight, eastern time.  I'm happy to get four or five entries.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are back.  The traffic going and coming was horrific.  It took an extra 40 minutes getting there and an hour getting back. We hit a new winery, it was okay, not great but winery standards, but the layout and views were wonderful.  It was like a huge breezeway or hangar.  The north and south walls were wide open and the east and west were walls/doors/rooms.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> My sister-in-law is a newish Temecula resident. She never mentions the wine...maybe I should let her in.
> 
> I brewed a batch of pilsner today. It's my first lager (versus an ale). Should be interesting. It's the same ballpark but slightly different rules.
> 
> Tonight is a Tanqeray with Polar lime-scented tonic kind of night for me. Slipped while carrying ten pounds of water and my back is in knots. Quinine helps. Even if it's the placebo effect.


Odd, because there are signs all over directing you to 'Wine Country'.  There is only one main road to get in and out of Wine Country and on weekends it is heavily impacted.


----------



## Gary A.

A few iPhone snaps.


----------



## JonA_CT

I had a lovely day.

My parents bought my wife and me tickets to Mario Batali-hosted brunch at the Mohegan Sun Food and Wine Fest today. They watched our daughter for us too. The food was lovely, and Mario did a cooking demonstration and question-and-answer session. Pretty nice gift for us...we were very grateful.


----------



## SquarePeg

That sounds awesome!  Great gift idea.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone
A rose from the front.




iPhone
Another from Temecula. Bowling for vino.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.  This greeted me, this morning.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/R72bs3]
	
[/URL]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/R72bs3]DSC_6879.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr[/URL]


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning Hosers!  Chilly night last night here in New England and it's a cold morning at just below freezing.  Went to a fundraiser yesterday and 1/2 way through the meal the person sitting next to me lets on that he has a fever and sore throat and has not been feeling well all weekend!  Seriously?  Stay home you jackass!!  And it was a buffet which I hate and find super germy to begin with.  I stopped eating and spent the rest of the time avoiding touching anything at the table.  Hopefully my germaphobe applications of hand sanitizer before and after the meal protected me.  Feeling ok today...  I otherwise enjoyed the event.  Won a David Ortiz bobble head in the raffle!  Love him so super excited to have that.  Now to decide to keep it in the box as a collectible or put it on my desk and enjoy it every day...  I'm not much of a collector - except for lenses and exes, lol.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Morning Hosers!  Chilly night last night here in New England and it's a cold morning at just below freezing.  Went to a fundraiser yesterday and 1/2 way through the meal the person sitting next to me lets on that he has a fever and sore throat and has not been feeling well all weekend!  Seriously?  Stay home you jackass!!  And it was a buffet which I hate and find super germy to begin with.  I stopped eating and spent the rest of the time avoiding touching anything at the table.  Hopefully my germaphobe applications of hand sanitizer before and after the meal protected me.  Feeling ok today...  I otherwise enjoyed the event.  Won a David Ortiz bobble head in the raffle!  Love him so super excited to have that.  Now to decide to keep it in the box as a collectible or put it on my desk and enjoy it every day...  I'm not much of a collector - except for lenses and exes, lol.


People can be so inconsiderate. Enjoy Big Papi bobblehead, you'll never get rich selling it, even after he gets into HOF.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Monday again. I'll be having some extra coffee this morning.


----------



## JonA_CT

Me too, Leo. Me too.

My head is spinning right now looking at all of the lighting modifiers I'm considering. I think it's time to go simpler than I though...I'm going to buy a set up similar to the Strobist one and learn for a bit before I add other crazy modifers and the like. I have a reflector too...I'll buy a stand for that as well.


----------



## table1349

MMMmmmmmmm


----------



## JonA_CT

So the total number of my students implicated in that murder is up to three. Sigh.


----------



## Frank F.

I need a coffe before I can play "settlers" with my daughter- I had other plans but they did not work out.


----------



## SquarePeg

Frank F. said:


> I need a coffe before I can play "settlers" with my daughter- I had other plans but they did not work out.



Is this Settlers of Catan?


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> So the total number of my students implicated in that murder is up to three. Sigh.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> So the total number of my students implicated in that murder is up to three. Sigh.


I am so sorry.   What a nightmare.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> So the total number of my students implicated in that murder is up to three. Sigh.


I too am sorry for the situation.  It is never an easy one.

I would remind you however, no matter how much you teach them, nurture them, guide them, and love them they are all individuals.  They will have to make their own decision for better or for worse and live with the consequences either way knowing that they and they alone brought things upon themselves.   You did your part and that is all you could do or be expected to do.


----------



## snowbear

A 25-pound female bobcat walked away from her enclosure at the National Zoo, this morning.
Bobcat escapes from National Zoo


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> A 25-pound female bobcat walked away from her enclosure at the National Zoo, this morning.
> Bobcat escapes from National Zoo


So are they letting the animals keep spare keys to their enclosures there now?   They must be since there is no mention in the article about how Ollie managed to escape.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> So the total number of my students implicated in that murder is up to three. Sigh.


Sorry man.


----------



## jcdeboever

That is unfortunate


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Another perfect day ... upper 70's, nice Pacific breeze, no humidity to speak of.  Gary just came in from tossing a sear on a ribeye roast.  Gary has been marinating the roast since yesterday.  It is now cooking in the oven at a low temp.  It is stuffed in a oven bag filled with marinade and herbs.  It smells wonderful.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Gary's first tomatoes of the year are ready to pick. They are very sweet.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 134205
> iPhone
> 
> Gary's first tomatoes of the year are ready to pick. They are very sweet.


The one in the back looks like it is ready to bury.


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> A 25-pound female bobcat walked away from her enclosure at the National Zoo, this morning.
> Bobcat escapes from National Zoo
> 
> 
> 
> So are they letting the animals keep spare keys to their enclosures there now?   They must be since there is no mention in the article about how Ollie managed to escape.
Click to expand...

It was mentioned in the video (press conference) - broken wire in the fence.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> A 25-pound female bobcat walked away from her enclosure at the National Zoo, this morning.
> Bobcat escapes from National Zoo
> 
> 
> 
> So are they letting the animals keep spare keys to their enclosures there now?   They must be since there is no mention in the article about how Ollie managed to escape.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It was mentioned in the video (press conference) - broken wire in the fence.
Click to expand...

Ahh apparently journalism is only in video form these days as well.


----------



## JonA_CT

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> So the total number of my students implicated in that murder is up to three. Sigh.
> 
> 
> 
> I am so sorry.   What a nightmare.
Click to expand...




gryphonslair99 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> So the total number of my students implicated in that murder is up to three. Sigh.
> 
> 
> 
> I too am sorry for the situation.  It is never an easy one.
> 
> I would remind you however, no matter how much you teach them, nurture them, guide them, and love them they are all individuals.  They will have to make their own decision for better or for worse and live with the consequences either way knowing that they and they alone brought things upon themselves.   You did your part and that is all you could do or be expected to do.
Click to expand...




Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> So the total number of my students implicated in that murder is up to three. Sigh.
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry man.
Click to expand...


Thanks guys. Nothing can be done now. I appreciate it though.

In other news, it might snow a little bit tomorrow. That always cheers me up a bit. Covers up the dirt and mud and such. We are at least 6-7 months away from locally grown tomatoes here.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> So the total number of my students implicated in that murder is up to three. Sigh.
> 
> 
> 
> I am so sorry.   What a nightmare.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> So the total number of my students implicated in that murder is up to three. Sigh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I too am sorry for the situation.  It is never an easy one.
> 
> I would remind you however, no matter how much you teach them, nurture them, guide them, and love them they are all individuals.  They will have to make their own decision for better or for worse and live with the consequences either way knowing that they and they alone brought things upon themselves.   You did your part and that is all you could do or be expected to do.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> So the total number of my students implicated in that murder is up to three. Sigh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sorry man.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks guys. Nothing can be done now. I appreciate it though.
> 
> In other news, it might snow a little bit tomorrow. That always cheers me up a bit. Covers up the dirt and mud and such. We are at least 6-7 months away from locally grown tomatoes here.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear this (the first part).

We had an inch or so in Southern MD this morning.  The streets were wet, and it was above freezing (at 7:00 AM) so we delayed schools for two hours.  More snow possible this coming weekend, but I haven't heard any details.


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> A 25-pound female bobcat walked away from her enclosure at the National Zoo, this morning.
> Bobcat escapes from National Zoo
> 
> 
> 
> So are they letting the animals keep spare keys to their enclosures there now?   They must be since there is no mention in the article about how Ollie managed to escape.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It was mentioned in the video (press conference) - broken wire in the fence.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ahh apparently journalism is only in video form these days as well.
Click to expand...

or the reporter didn't think that detail was important.  Either way, it's sad.  I prefer to read, most of the time.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 134205
> iPhone
> 
> Gary's first tomatoes of the year are ready to pick. They are very sweet.
> 
> 
> 
> The one in the back looks like it is ready to bury.
Click to expand...

Gary is not a very attentive farmer.  The plant is a volunteer, so it is all bonus fruit.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> So the total number of my students implicated in that murder is up to three. Sigh.
> 
> 
> 
> I am so sorry.   What a nightmare.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> So the total number of my students implicated in that murder is up to three. Sigh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I too am sorry for the situation.  It is never an easy one.
> 
> I would remind you however, no matter how much you teach them, nurture them, guide them, and love them they are all individuals.  They will have to make their own decision for better or for worse and live with the consequences either way knowing that they and they alone brought things upon themselves.   You did your part and that is all you could do or be expected to do.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> So the total number of my students implicated in that murder is up to three. Sigh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sorry man.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks guys. Nothing can be done now. I appreciate it though.
> 
> In other news, it might snow a little bit tomorrow. That always cheers me up a bit. Covers up the dirt and mud and such. We are at least 6-7 months away from locally grown tomatoes here.
Click to expand...

We may have some rain around Thursday.  Gary has turned back on the irrigation systems.  The broccoli is about ready also.  Last month was the lowest water usage/bill Gary has ever had.  It is so nice, Mary Lou and Gary are discussing eating in the patio.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 134205
> iPhone
> 
> Gary's first tomatoes of the year are ready to pick. They are very sweet.
> 
> 
> 
> The one in the back looks like it is ready to bury.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary is not a very attentive farmer.  The plant is a volunteer, so it is all bonus fruit.
Click to expand...

It looks like you have it chained down . . . bad 'hood, eh.


----------



## Gary A.

There are video cameras also.  (The plant is growing out of a hanging basket.)


----------



## EIngerson

Political post


#rant
#rage
#insults
#onesidedargument



I think that sums it up. Carry on.


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner is served.

Mary Lou picked a salad, mainly Romaine, Broccoli and avocado and washed down with a Russian Vineyards Pinot Noir.  A perfect day with a very nice dinner.


----------



## SquarePeg

Yummm!


----------



## EIngerson

Nice Gary!


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I need a coffe before I can play "settlers" with my daughter- I had other plans but they did not work out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is this Settlers of Catan?
Click to expand...



Yes. She loves it more when she wins....


----------



## JonA_CT

A crisp 17*F starry this morning with a gorgeous pre-storm sunrise.

feels like winter a little bit.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning hosers. It's 26° and light snow. About 4" dropped last night, @limr would be pleased. Getting the blade on truck and going after it after I finish my grits, coffee, and read some Hebrews.


----------



## snowbear

High of 51 expected today, back down to 29 tonight.  I'm not sure whether to pack the baby bonsai in shredded newspaper or not.

Looks like a fight between a pickup and a pedestrian, with the expected results, in the work county.


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

Well, we're supposed to get a bit of snow today too, so I'll get my fix


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  47F presently.  Gary had to refill the hummingbird feeder ... and there's a little guy taking a sip.


----------



## Frank F.

Frank F. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I need a coffe before I can play "settlers" with my daughter- I had other plans but they did not work out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is this Settlers of Catan?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Yes. She loves it more when she wins....
Click to expand...




 

I win twice. Now she is crying. Gotta go.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I need a coffe before I can play "settlers" with my daughter- I had other plans but they did not work out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is this Settlers of Catan?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Yes. She loves it more when she wins....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> View attachment 134233
> 
> I win twice. Now she is crying. Gotta go.
Click to expand...


Meh, they gotta learn sometime.


----------



## table1349

__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=602481039924583


----------



## snowbear

MLW and LL are playing musical homes again so I got to the apartment about 15 minutes ago.  I guess Zoe missed me because she hasn't shut up since I walked in the door, and has bumped up against my leg so much I'm going to have a bruise.


----------



## jcdeboever

Lost another 7 lbs on weight watchers this week. I should be down to 190 by June, then the real work begins.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Buenos Nochas Coffee Hosers. Mary Lou and Gary zipped down to the beach for dinner.


----------



## limr

This was the view from my office this afternoon. Pretty 

Though, the Powers That Be apparently decided that this required extra heat in the building, but luckily I am able to open windows. No, it wasn't thrown wide open, relax


----------



## Gary A.

PS- That is Catalina Island in the background of image #1.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.  Zoe was in a "hold me" mood  while I was trying to have my coffee.  She is not a lap cat and doesn't ask to be picked up very often -- just call me "fuzzy face."

Off to gather MLW, then head for the office.  I'm creating a layer of "adequate water supply" so peeps looking for fire insurance, in the work county, can get their ISO-PPC rating online.


----------



## SquarePeg

Got a dusting here, similar to what @limr has in that pic above.  Temps today are expected to peak at 42 which to me says that it's going to melt on its own.  S0...no need to shovel, sweep, scrape, brush or otherwise exert myself about it as I'm working at home and it's not my day to drive my daughter and my neighbor's kids to school.  Not sure if I mentioned this previously but as of November I'm a full time teleworker.  I was forced to either give up my office or commit to using it full time.  I decided to go with the full time work at home route.  I do miss going into the office a few days/week but not enough to commit to going in all 5 days.  The problem with working at home is that you're always at work!


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm not sure I could handle telecommuting...but then again, based on my field, it won't ever be necessary, haha. 

We got a bit more snow than you guys. We had about 3 inches by the time everything was said and done. I didn't bother shoveling the driveway, although I did shovel the walk and the porch stairs. That was more for our postman than for us, and it might have melted anyways.

We looked at the space that will likely be our future commercial brewery last night. We have a few things we need to figure out...and then we have tighten up the business plan. The owner is willing to negotiate a build-out period for our lease, but we will need to show exactly how to ramp up rents to market-value, and why it will be worth it to him to have us as tenants. Its looking more possible that we might be able to sell beer in 2017.


----------



## jcdeboever

Grits, coffee, Corinthians, plow another 3", off to Ohio.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Good morning.  Zoe was in a "hold me" mood  while I was trying to have my coffee.  She is not a lap cat and doesn't ask to be picked up very often -- just call me "fuzzy face."
> 
> Off to gather MLW, then head for the office.  I'm creating a layer of "adequate water supply" so peeps looking for fire insurance, in the work county, can get their ISO-PPC rating online.



Awwww, Zoe! Oh, and good morning, Fuzzy Face! 



JonA_CT said:


> I'm not sure I could handle telecommuting...but then again, based on my field, it won't ever be necessary, haha.
> 
> We got a bit more snow than you guys. We had about 3 inches by the time everything was said and done. I didn't bother shoveling the driveway, although I did shovel the walk and the porch stairs. That was more for our postman than for us, and it might have melted anyways.
> 
> We looked at the space that will likely be our future commercial brewery last night. We have a few things we need to figure out...and then we have tighten up the business plan. The owner is willing to negotiate a build-out period for our lease, but we will need to show exactly how to ramp up rents to market-value, and why it will be worth it to him to have us as tenants. Its looking more possible that we might be able to sell beer in 2017.



Being an adjunct and not having any place to go on campus meant that most of my work was done at home anyway. It was only class time that had to be on campus (although with more stuff going online, I bet I could be a telecommuting adjunct if I really wanted to!) It's a tricky thing. On the one hand, you don't have to worry about the commute, which would be very nice. But you'd also have to be very disciplined as well. It helps if you can designate a home office that is only used for work. There were times when even that was just too distracting and I had to go camp out at a Starbucks for a few hours to get my grading done.

As for the brewery, Buzz and I will totally make a beer run when it opens!


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I'm not sure I could handle telecommuting...but then again, based on my field, it won't ever be necessary, haha.



You don't think virtual classrooms are in the future of education?  

Not that I support that!  IMO, get the kids out of the house and interacting with others as much as possible.  School is just as much about acquiring social skills and the ability to interact successfully with those in authority as it is about getting an education.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> As for the brewery, Buzz and I will totally make a beer run when it opens!



I'll meet you there!


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure I could handle telecommuting...but then again, based on my field, it won't ever be necessary, haha.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You don't think virtual classrooms are in the future of education?
> 
> Not that I support that!  IMO, get the kids out of the house and interacting with others as much as possible.  School is just as much about acquiring social skills and the ability to interact successfully with those in authority as it is about getting an education.
Click to expand...


Great question. I think flipped classrooms are more likely to be the trend In the "flipped" model, teachers/professors film or otherwise record the lecture or direct instruction piece of their curriculum, and that's the homework for the students. Then, they use classroom hours to answer questions and to be able to manipulate and apply those skills to appropriate situations -- like a classroom debate, writing lab time, and other authentic tasks. It's a good philosophy, in my opinion, because it puts the expert in the room when students are practicing. 

That being said, the model is most appropriate for college where class time is significantly limited. I think for middle school, the social and emotional growth is vital and can't be replaced in a virtual way, and currently, we have plenty of time to teach and practice in school. (At least where I work...I see my students for 90 minutes daily, and have another 45 flexible scheduling period to see students who need extra help within the school day).


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Overcast this morning and a brisk 45F.  It is predicted to hit 69F by the afternoon.  It has been two days since a hose disconnected from a pump in the Koi pond.  Instead of reconnecting the hose, Gary just turned off the pump. Gary decided that he should reconnect the hose today. He's been really busy of late. Telecommuting is great, it provides an environment with all the comforts of home. (Unfortunately for Gary, all the distractions as well.)  Gary finally got the butane for his outdoor siphon machine ... soon, he will be relaxing in the patio without having to tray a lot of stuff to the back.  There are three hummers fighting at the feeder.  One was on a perch while the owner buzzed around and around circling the feeder at six inches while the perched hummer swivelled its head. Finally, in a burst of speed the perched one took off with the circling hummer in chase.  They both returned, the owner sat on a perch and slowly lapped up breakfast, while the interloper landed a foot away in the Flowering Maple.  It was smaller than the owner and just sat there shaking or shivering.  It made Gary sat if it was shivering as there is plenty of food for all.  Meanwhile a third hummer was perched in the Cecil Brunner watching it all.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Grits, coffee, Corinthians, plow another 3", off to Ohio. View attachment 134282



We could use some plowing out here in the Sierra and our local San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> As for the brewery, Buzz and I will totally make a beer run when it opens!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll meet you there!
Click to expand...

Gary's in!


----------



## Gary A.

OMG ... fog has just rolled in ... it was perfectly clear a few minutes ago.  This is great.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon: I'd start marketing your beer now so that the moment you have product, there's a home for it.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> As for the brewery, Buzz and I will totally make a beer run when it opens!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll meet you there!
Click to expand...


New England TPF part-AY!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Grits, coffee, Corinthians, plow another 3", off to Ohio. View attachment 134282
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We could use some plowing out here in the Sierra and our local San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains.
Click to expand...


Drove through them before, no thanks, to steep and would probably go off the edge.


----------



## jcdeboever

Sharon was right.... I forgot to mention that while attending the weight watchers meeting, I got some snarky looks when they called out my weight loss.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure I could handle telecommuting...but then again, based on my field, it won't ever be necessary, haha.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You don't think virtual classrooms are in the future of education?
> 
> Not that I support that!  IMO, get the kids out of the house and interacting with others as much as possible.  School is just as much about acquiring social skills and the ability to interact successfully with those in authority as it is about getting an education.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Great question. I think flipped classrooms are more likely to be the trend In the "flipped" model, teachers/professors film or otherwise record the lecture or direct instruction piece of their curriculum, and that's the homework for the students. Then, they use classroom hours to answer questions and to be able to manipulate and apply those skills to appropriate situations -- like a classroom debate, writing lab time, and other authentic tasks. It's a good philosophy, in my opinion, because it puts the expert in the room when students are practicing.
> 
> That being said, the model is most appropriate for college where class time is significantly limited. I think for middle school, the social and emotional growth is vital and can't be replaced in a virtual way, and currently, we have plenty of time to teach and practice in school. (At least where I work...I see my students for 90 minutes daily, and have another 45 flexible scheduling period to see students who need extra help within the school day).
Click to expand...


"Flipped" classrooms are definitely becoming a trend in colleges. In August, we had an adjunct development day and I went to a workshop about them. If I'm honest? Nothing new. It's what we've been doing in ESL classrooms for the past 20 years. It's simply more student-oriented, hands-on strategies to get the students to interact with the information more actively and creating more ways to hold students accountable for daily work, rather than a few spaced-out term papers. It's like all of a sudden, college professors decided to actually pay attention to actual teaching methodology and learn how to _teach_ instead of just research and lecture.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> As for the brewery, Buzz and I will totally make a beer run when it opens!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll meet you there!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary's in!
Click to expand...


You'll have a longer drive


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> We looked at the space that will likely be our future commercial brewery last night. We have a few things we need to figure out...and then we have tighten up the business plan. The owner is willing to negotiate a build-out period for our lease, but we will need to show exactly how to ramp up rents to market-value, and why it will be worth it to him to have us as tenants. Its looking more possible that we might be able to sell beer in 2017.





limr said:


> As for the brewery, Buzz and I will totally make a beer run when it opens!





SquarePeg said:


> I'll meet you there!





Gary A. said:


> Gary's in!



Road Trip!  Count the Mid-Atlantic region in.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> As for the brewery, Buzz and I will totally make a beer run when it opens!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll meet you there!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary's in!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You'll have a longer drive
Click to expand...

Yeah, Gary may have to leave a few days early.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Grits, coffee, Corinthians, plow another 3", off to Ohio. View attachment 134282
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We could use some plowing out here in the Sierra and our local San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Drove through them before, no thanks, to steep and would probably go off the edge.
Click to expand...

As the Californian saying goes ... "Give me men to match my mountains."


----------



## Frank F.

.Poetry vs. Bureocrats 0:1.
01 02 02017
The beautiful poetic German word "Kindergarten" has found its place in many non German languages. Yet, German bureocrats started to replace this lovely designation by the more technical "Kindertagesstätte". Gosh. Why?
Have not found time and juice to post Monday and Tuesday, sorry for that.
Technical: In this situation terrible purple color fringing appeared on the printed word "Kindertagesstätte". I had to use all defringing NX-D has to offer. Is that the standard of the Neo-Noct? Am I spoiled by the 105?


----------



## Frank F.

gosh, this site is sooooo slooooow today!


----------



## JonA_CT

Wow, quite the contingent. Sounds like I have some extra pressure to do make this plan happen, haha! And to make sure that the beer is as good as advertised.

We have purchased our domain, and have Twitter and Facebook set up. We need to work on an Instagram account as well. You're right, Gary, that building a market will be necessary. We average several hundred views a week to our FB without any advertising at all (and definitely not to our target market). Once we have the location in place, we will be much more aggressive. Our business plan is going to rely on some amount of crowd-funding, so building interest will be important.


----------



## terri

@JonA_CT:   Well, this is exciting!    We might have to plan a TPF road trip to taste them all.   Good luck - sounds like you really have the ball rolling.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday Gary passed his smog test, (yeah).  A week ago he took his car in for a smog test and there was a problem with the computer reading the catalytic converter.  The computer reported an "Incomplete" on the readout.  So Gary took it to his mechanic and David tossed it on his computer and said I could drive it, put a lot of freeway miles on it and it may clear up or I could replace the catalytic converter.  He peeked under the car and said "... uh-oh, you have four catalytic converters, it's gonna be expensive".  He then went on to say that a customer had the same problem and kept coming back and back for computer readouts and after a few weeks it cleared up.  Gary took the same approach including a trip to Temecula. After about 400 freeway miles the "Incomplete" turned into "Completed".


----------



## SquarePeg

To jump in on the conversation from yesterday -  I love the flipped classroom idea.  I hope the idea becomes more widespread.


----------



## Gary A.

There is a big movement at our state universities (both UC's and CSU's) for flipping. Gary can see it working well in a disciplined environment like college where attendance is an act of volunteer.  But in an environment where much of the class doesn't want to learn ... Gary sees flipping as creating a bigger divide between teaching and babysitting, between those learning and those not learning.  Flipping makes perfect sense in a world where every member of the household has their own computer and every student having a suitable environment and time to study lessons at home.  But a very large and significant segment of our population doesn't live in a perfect world.


----------



## table1349

40 years ago when I was teaching I was lucky enough to be in an alternative school that our school district created.  We did a sort of flipping at the time.  We did not have the facility for the students to view the lectures at home, but rather gave short lectures/instruction in the classroom then the students worked on their own at their own pace.  

We the teachers were there as resources to assist them.  The thing that made it work for us was the fact that the students were chosen to be in that school.  They were not chosen for their intelligence as many supposed.  Rather, because we taught in clusters, 3 clusters consisting of 3 teachers/classes per cluster, and because we were designed for multi grade levels in the same class our students were chosen for their motivation.  They had to be self starters with the ability and desire to work for themselves on their own. 

This is the type of student that flipped classrooms work well for.  The student that is not at school to be given an education, rather the student that is there to TAKE and education from the resources (teachers) and gain as much knowledge as possible.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday Gary passed his smog test, (yeah).  A week ago he took his car in for a smog test and there was a problem with the computer reading the catalytic converter.  The computer reported an "Incomplete" on the readout.  So Gary took it to his mechanic and David tossed it on his computer and said I could drive it, put a lot of freeway miles on it and it may clear up or I could replace the catalytic converter.  He peeked under the car and said "... uh-oh, you have four catalytic converters, it's gonna be expensive".  He then went on to say that a customer had the same problem and kept coming back and back for computer readouts and after a few weeks it cleared up.  Gary took the same approach including a trip to Temecula. After about 400 freeway miles the "Incomplete" turned into "Completed".


Stick a straight pipe in its place. What's a little amore smog in CA.....


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> There is a big movement at our state universities (both UC's and CSU's) for flipping. Gary can see it working well in a disciplined environment like college where attendance is an act of volunteer.  But in an environment where much of the class doesn't want to learn ... Gary sees flipping as creating a bigger divide between teaching and babysitting, between those learning and those not learning.  Flipping makes perfect sense in a world where every member of the household has their own computer and every student having a suitable environment and time to study lessons at home. * But a very large and significant segment of our population doesn't live in a perfect world*.



Great point Gary.  Looked at from that perspective, I can see where it would not work for every school - or even most schools.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay, we've fixed our education system ... jobs, climate change or health care next?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Okay, we've fixed our education system, jobs, climate change or health care next?



Get Leo a raise!!


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday Gary passed his smog test, (yeah).  A week ago he took his car in for a smog test and there was a problem with the computer reading the catalytic converter.  The computer reported an "Incomplete" on the readout.  So Gary took it to his mechanic and David tossed it on his computer and said I could drive it, put a lot of freeway miles on it and it may clear up or I could replace the catalytic converter.  He peeked under the car and said "... uh-oh, you have four catalytic converters, it's gonna be expensive".  He then went on to say that a customer had the same problem and kept coming back and back for computer readouts and after a few weeks it cleared up.  Gary took the same approach including a trip to Temecula. After about 400 freeway miles the "Incomplete" turned into "Completed".
> 
> 
> 
> Stick a straight pipe in its place. What's a little amore smog in CA.....
Click to expand...

They take that $#!% seriously out there.  If memory serves me correctly that's a $10,000.00 fine if you get caught and with mandatory compliance checks getting caught is pretty easy.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday Gary passed his smog test, (yeah).  A week ago he took his car in for a smog test and there was a problem with the computer reading the catalytic converter.  The computer reported an "Incomplete" on the readout.  So Gary took it to his mechanic and David tossed it on his computer and said I could drive it, put a lot of freeway miles on it and it may clear up or I could replace the catalytic converter.  He peeked under the car and said "... uh-oh, you have four catalytic converters, it's gonna be expensive".  He then went on to say that a customer had the same problem and kept coming back and back for computer readouts and after a few weeks it cleared up.  Gary took the same approach including a trip to Temecula. After about 400 freeway miles the "Incomplete" turned into "Completed".
> 
> 
> 
> Stick a straight pipe in its place. What's a little amore smog in CA.....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They take that $#!% seriously out there.  If memory serves me correctly that's a $10,000.00 fine if you get caught and with mandatory compliance checks getting caught is pretty easy.
Click to expand...


Chump change for Gary


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, we've fixed our education system, jobs, climate change or health care next?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get Leo a raise!!
Click to expand...

Pleeese ... fixing health care is doable ....


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just renewed his vehicle registration. Done.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, we've fixed our education system, jobs, climate change or health care next?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get Leo a raise!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Pleeese ... fixing health care is doable ....
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday Gary passed his smog test, (yeah).  A week ago he took his car in for a smog test and there was a problem with the computer reading the catalytic converter.  The computer reported an "Incomplete" on the readout.  So Gary took it to his mechanic and David tossed it on his computer and said I could drive it, put a lot of freeway miles on it and it may clear up or I could replace the catalytic converter.  He peeked under the car and said "... uh-oh, you have four catalytic converters, it's gonna be expensive".  He then went on to say that a customer had the same problem and kept coming back and back for computer readouts and after a few weeks it cleared up.  Gary took the same approach including a trip to Temecula. After about 400 freeway miles the "Incomplete" turned into "Completed".
> 
> 
> 
> Stick a straight pipe in its place. What's a little amore smog in CA.....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They take that $#!% seriously out there.  If memory serves me correctly that's a $10,000.00 fine if you get caught and with mandatory compliance checks getting caught is pretty easy.
Click to expand...

Look what Volkswagen is paying out to California for cheating on their emissions testing.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Look what Volkswagen is paying out to California for cheating on their emissions testing.




I guess there will be more car manufactures caught. The manipulation is common place. Yet, after your EPA is being dismanteled who will care about air quality or soil fertility or drinking water????


----------



## Frank F.

.Phi.

02 02 02017

This is the entrance of the BImA, the Federal Institution for Real Estate management of the German Government. The German Government has a lot of Real Estate, so there is a lot of management to do.

The fence belongs to the building's former use as a historic train station for a local train connecting the agricultural area between Cologne and Bonn with both cities.

Frankly I do not know why the fence is crooked and why it contains the greek symbol Phi so often.

ΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦΦ





technical: D500 & Neo-Noct @f/1.4


----------



## Designer

Frank F. said:


> .. after your EPA is being dismantled ..


Is that a what you're getting over there?


----------



## SquarePeg

Designer said:


> Is that a what you're getting over there?



That's what I'm getting and I'm here.


----------



## Designer

SquarePeg said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is that a what you're getting over there?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's what I'm getting and I'm here.
Click to expand...

Time to chill, everybody.  

I would take a stab at explaining it, but then I would be banned.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Frank: There are multiple "EPA's" across the USA working for different governmental jurisdictions.  California, as an example, has higher standards and requirement for air, water and soils pollution than the Federal government.  In order to enforce the higher standards, California has state, regional and local agencies set up to monitor and enforce the higher standards.  In fact, California uses a different gasoline than other states, (a special summer and winter blend to meet a California standard).  Gary doesn't know about other states, but in California, should the EPA be dismantled, in many respects nothing would change here because of existing environmental agencies and regulations which exceed federal rules.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> @ Frank: There are multiple "EPA's" across the USA working for different governmental jurisdictions.  California, as an example, has higher standards and requirement for air, water and soils pollution than the Federal government.  In order to enforce the higher standards, California has state, regional and local agencies set up to monitor and enforce the higher standards.  In fact, California uses a different gasoline than other states, (a special summer and winter blend to meet a California standard).  I don't know about other states, but in California, should the EPA be dismantled, in many respects nothing would change here because of existing environmental agencies and regulations which exceed federal rules.



And those special standards meant that this East Coast girl would wonder what the hell "California emissions" meant whenever Bob Barker was giving away a car


----------



## Gary A.

Yep, all about different standards.  California also has a cap and trade program for stationary air pollution generators based upon various airsheds and incorporated into an overall state model.


----------



## jcdeboever

I love California, they are funny folk over there....

Not a joke: California to actually begin regulating cow farts


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, that's a picture of Gary's Bessie. lol

In order for that new regulation to become operational, two other cow farting laws have to be eliminated.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Hey, that's a picture of Gary's Bessie. lol
> 
> In order for that new regulation to become operational, two other cow farting laws have to be eliminated.


Quote from article...Unfortunately, California is big on "regulating" things and less big on actually solving problems.

Learn more: Not a joke: California to actually begin regulating cow farts

LMAO


----------



## Gary A.

California is the largest dairy producing state in our union.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, that's a picture of Gary's Bessie. lol
> 
> In order for that new regulation to become operational, two other cow farting laws have to be eliminated.
> 
> 
> 
> Quote from article...Unfortunately, California is big on "regulating" things and less big on actually solving problems.
> 
> Learn more: Not a joke: California to actually begin regulating cow farts
> 
> LMAO
Click to expand...

Everybody has an opinion.


----------



## snowbear

Well kiddies, thank you to those that have entered the Challenge.  The voting thread is up and we have a special treat (or maybe not so much) at the bottom.

Worked 9-1/2 today, finished one map, started the web app for it (I'll finish it tomorrow) and got a new little project that's tied to a FEMA grant.  Came home with a headache but a couple of glasses of Arnie Palmer Half-and-Half (Tea and Lemonade) and a can of Hormel chili, and it's mostly gone.  The calico is at my feet and the grey tux comes by and rubs against my leg every so often.

I got the retro camera strap I ordered last week.  Now I just have to decide what to put it on - the N90s or the Nikkormat.


----------



## snowbear

G'night.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> G'night.



Night, Charlie!


----------



## Gary A.

Night Charlie.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Well kiddies, thank you to those that have entered the Challenge.  The voting thread is up and we have a special treat (or maybe not so much) at the bottom.
> 
> Worked 9-1/2 today, finished one map, started the web app for it (I'll finish it tomorrow) and got a new little project that's tied to a FEMA grant.  Came home with a headache but a couple of glasses of Arnie Palmer Half-and-Half (Tea and Lemonade) and a can of Hormel chili, and it's mostly gone.  The calico is at my feet and the grey tux comes by and rubs against my leg every so often.
> 
> I got the retro camera strap I ordered last week.  Now I just have to decide what to put it on - the N90s or the Nikkormat.


Interestingly enough ... Gary also had a long day.  He was bushed when he got home.  But he climbed up the retaining wall and collected a bucket of Meyer Lemons and Mandarin Oranges.  He juiced a pair of lemons into a tall glass, topped off with water, ice and some sugar.  It was great and refreshing, combined with an orange, it was a great pick-me-up.  Gary shot a candlelight virgil tonight for a beloved Whitney High School teacher.  It was very very dark and Gary shot one camera @ ISO 128,000 and the other @ 6400.  It was a difficult shoot.


----------



## pgriz

It is 1:45 am in the morning, and I'm packing it in.  Spend a good portion of the day learning more about thermography (thermal infrared imaging), and about creating objects in 3D space.  Kid in the candy store.  So much potential!  and yet, since I'm no spring chicken any more, the boundless reserves of energy aren't quite as deep as they used to be.  Cat just stopped by, fixing me with a look that said "what are YOU still doing up?", and I had no good answer.   Dreamtime, or dreamless oblivion, here we come.  But the bed is warm, and my sleeping companion, even warmer.  G'nite.


----------



## Frank F.

Because my daily thread is actively ignored by most people here, I post this picture to our little coffee-planet too:


----------



## JonA_CT

I love the fact that it is Friday. I'm drinking the last of my Tanzanian Peaberry that I roasted last week, and my students are taking an assessment. My wife and I are spending our first night away from our daughter tomorrow. We honestly might just sit on our own couch, although a late showing movie is pretty tempting.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> It is 1:45 am in the morning, and I'm packing it in.  Spend a good portion of the day learning more about thermography (thermal infrared imaging), and about creating objects in 3D space.  Kid in the candy store.  So much potential!  and yet, since I'm no spring chicken any more, the boundless reserves of energy aren't quite as deep as they used to be.  Cat just stopped by, fixing me with a look that said "what are YOU still doing up?", and I had no good answer.   Dreamtime, or dreamless oblivion, here we come.  But the bed is warm, and my sleeping companion, even warmer.  G'nite.


For your line of work BIM would be useful.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Because nmy daily thread is actively ignored by most people here, I post this picture to our little coffee-planet too:
> 
> View attachment 134387


That doesn't look like Germany ...


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I love the fact that it is Friday. I'm drinking the last of my Tanzanian Peaberry that I roasted last week, and my students are taking an assessment. My wife and I are spending our first night away from our daughter tomorrow. We honestly might just sit on our own couch, although a late showing movie is pretty tempting.


Mary Lou and Gary are both enjoying our empty nest.  Nearly everyday we go where we want and do what we want. Now there is no homework, soccer, no softball, no swimming ... nada, but our own plans on weekdays and weekends.

In January, Mary Lou's granddaughter loves having her birthday party in our backyard. (Gary and Mary Lou love having dozens of kids throwing rocks at the fish, stomping through the gardens and bringing all the mud into the house.)  We were laughing because on Sunday ... Super Bowl Sunday, her 11 y/o cousin is having his birthday party.

@ Jon: Nothing wrong with being a couch potato and fill up those energy reserves.


----------



## robbins.photo

Frank F. said:


> Because nmy daily thread is actively ignored by most people here, I post this picture to our little coffee-planet too:
> 
> View attachment 134387



So now I'm going to have to actively ignore this in two threads?  Yikes. 

Lol.. nice shot btw


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Because nmy daily thread is actively ignored by most people here, I post this picture to our little coffee-planet too:
> 
> View attachment 134387
> 
> 
> 
> That doesn't look like German ...
Click to expand...


Good call Gary.  Maybe if he reshot this with her holding a beer....


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary just came back from inspecting the front hummingbird feeder ... and it's nearly empty.  Those hummers are pigs. Gary is starting his day with a dark roasted Chiapas roasted. Last time Gary ran some guns to the Zapatistas they tipped him with a bag of coffee.  Richly flavorful, good coffee is the best way to start a morning.


----------



## Gary A.

robbins.photo said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Because nmy daily thread is actively ignored by most people here, I post this picture to our little coffee-planet too:
> 
> View attachment 134387
> 
> 
> 
> That doesn't look like German ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Good call Gary.  Maybe if he reshot this with her holding a beer....
Click to expand...

I was thinking if the person was dressed in a lederhose ...


----------



## robbins.photo

Gary A. said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Because nmy daily thread is actively ignored by most people here, I post this picture to our little coffee-planet too:
> 
> View attachment 134387
> 
> 
> 
> That doesn't look like German ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Good call Gary.  Maybe if he reshot this with her holding a beer....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I was thinking if the person was dressed in a lederhose ...
Click to expand...


And holding a beer.. yes.. brilliant!  Now that's ART!


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> For your line of work BIM would be useful.



Had to look up "BIM".  Yep, I'm kinda dipping my toe in the water, and it's the puddle next to this very large ocean.  What I am realizing as I practice "reading " buildings with thermography, is that it reveals a lot of (formerly hidden) detail that needs to be joined with physical construction knowledge.  I used to make mockups of certain building assemblies to get my clients to understand what is going on in their house, partly because extensive demolition or deassembly will be required in order to fix the issues, and the mockups allow us to see and discuss the options available to fix the problem.  With 3D modelling software, I should be able to have a library of typical issues, and typical solutions in a form that can be rotated, and examined and virtually assembled and disassembled on a viewing device.  In reading up on "BIM", I've just came across "FreeCAD", which looks very intriguing.  Dang.  I'm going to need another lifetime to explore all this.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary just came back from inspecting the front hummingbird feeder ... and it's nearly empty.  Those hummers are pigs. Gary is starting his day with a dark roasted Chiapas roasted. Last time Gary ran some guns to the Zapatistas they tipped him with a bag of coffee.  Richly flavorful, good coffee is the best way to start a morning.


Au contraire Pierre.  The best way to start a morning is to live through the night.  89,000 people die every single night in there sleep for no reason at all. So be happy each morning when you wake up. You were the lucky one that made it.  Then enjoy the coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> For your line of work BIM would be useful.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Had to look up "BIM".  Yep, I'm kinda dipping my toe in the water, and it's the puddle next to this very large ocean.  What I am realizing as I practice "reading " buildings with thermography, is that it reveals a lot of (formerly hidden) detail that needs to be joined with physical construction knowledge.  I used to make mockups of certain building assemblies to get my clients to understand what is going on in their house, partly because extensive demolition or deassembly will be required in order to fix the issues, and the mockups allow us to see and discuss the options available to fix the problem.  With 3D modelling software, I should be able to have a library of typical issues, and typical solutions in a form that can be rotated, and examined and virtually assembled and disassembled on a viewing device.  In reading up on "BIM", I've just came across "FreeCAD", which looks very intriguing.  Dang.  I'm going to need another lifetime to explore all this.
Click to expand...

BIM is very very interesting stuff.  Sorta like a CAT scan of a building.  You can slice it and see what's going on in that slice from different perspectives.  Present your clients a BIM generated model would boost your marketing and give you a leg up over the competition.  BIM is used on many US government jobs.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> BIM is very very interesting stuff. Sorta like a CAT scan of a building. You can slice it and see what's going on in that slice from different perspectives. Presented your clients a BIM generated model would boost your marketing and give you a leg up over the competition.



Yeah, it can certainly help in getting ideas across.  I've just started working with Sketchup which is what one of my colleagues is using for HIS illustrations (he's into home renovation advice, with books, videos, TV shows, radio shows and now, webcasts) and obviously demonstrating the basic ideas is easier with a 3-D image than with a photograph (too much irrelevant detail in the latter). The challenge I'm having is to transition from a basic contractor approach to a more building engineering science  approach, without having an engineering degree.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Because nmy daily thread is actively ignored by most people here, I post this picture to our little coffee-planet too:
> 
> View attachment 134387
> 
> 
> 
> That doesn't look like Germany ...
Click to expand...



Morro Beach, California, October 2016


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> Au contraire Pierre.  The best way to start a morning is to live through the night.  89,000 people die every single night in there sleep for no reason at all. So be happy each morning when you wake up. You were the lucky one that made it.  Then enjoy the coffee.



Hey now.. whoa.  Back up a bit.  How do you know that's the best way of starting your morning?  Have you ever tried dying in the middle of the night?

Like mom always used to say, how do you know you don't like it if you haven't tried it?


----------



## pgriz

robbins.photo said:


> Like mom always used to say, how do you know you don't like it if you haven't tried it?



Because those that have, aren't talking?


----------



## Frank F.

pgriz said:


> Because those that have, aren't talking?




The old principle still works: Shoot first, ask questions later.....


----------



## robbins.photo

pgriz said:


> robbins.photo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Like mom always used to say, how do you know you don't like it if you haven't tried it?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Because those that have, aren't talking?
Click to expand...


I was never all that chatty either after I was force fed peas.  Lol


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> BIM is very very interesting stuff. Sorta like a CAT scan of a building. You can slice it and see what's going on in that slice from different perspectives. Presented your clients a BIM generated model would boost your marketing and give you a leg up over the competition.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, it can certainly help in getting ideas across.  I've just started working with Sketchup which is what one of my colleagues is using for HIS illustrations (he's into home renovation advice, with books, videos, TV shows, radio shows and now, webcasts) and obviously demonstrating the basic ideas is easier with a 3-D image than with a photograph (too much irrelevant detail in the latter). The challenge I'm having is to transition from a basic contractor approach to a more building engineering science  approach, without having an engineering degree.
Click to expand...

More of a mindset than a degree.  When Gary was estimating he saw things and thought them out in 2D.  When he put together scheduling and CPM's it was in 3D.  When he managed jobs it was all about praying for the inspectors to be blind and not see anything.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> More of a mindset than a degree. When Gary was estimating he saw things and thought them out in 2D. When he put together scheduling and CPM's it was in 3D. When he managed jobs it was all about praying for the inspectors to be blind.



My way of working is to have the client be a member of the team.  It is, after all, their property that we're working on, and I try to involve them in all the decision-making, especially when we find unexpected stuff and have to figure out what to do.  It's also one of the reasons why we spend a lot of time documenting the work in progress - so that we can explain how we did something and why.  I have a rather large library of installation photos that I use to explain the details, but I'm attracted to the 3D visualization tools as they can be an excellent way to make clear the key concepts.

Although formally we're a roofing company, in practice I find that we have to deal with the full house as a system, and do the analysis from that perspective.  In a climate like ours, when we can go from very cold temperatures (-20C from time to time, and very occasionally, down to -30C), and conversely up to 35-40C  (with instances of 100% humidity) in summer, with wild swings of wind, precipitation and temperature changes, it requires a good understanding of how the various systems interact and how certain weaknesses develop into major problems.  For example, the lack of air sealing in older buildings is usually not a major issue (other than the cost of heating/cooling, and general draftiness), until someone starts to "improve" by installing new doors and windows, and perhaps add insulation.  If this was done without understanding how these changes will affect the overall behaviour, the result is often unexpected condensation and mold issues, ice damming where this was not a factor previously,  and deterioration of internal air quality.  This is where I think the 3-D visualization tools can be useful, in relating the various elements of the building to its eventual performance.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary just came back from inspecting the front hummingbird feeder ... and it's nearly empty.  Those hummers are pigs. Gary is starting his day with a dark roasted Chiapas roasted. Last time Gary ran some guns to the Zapatistas they tipped him with a bag of coffee.  Richly flavorful, good coffee is the best way to start a morning.
> 
> 
> 
> Au contraire Pierre.  The best way to start a morning is to live through the night.  89,000 people die every single night in there sleep for no reason at all. So be happy each morning when you wake up. You were the lucky one that made it.  Then enjoy the coffee.
Click to expand...

Oh Gary doesn't know about that.  For those that only get a few hours of continuous sleep a night ... not waking is like a dream.  "... what dreams may come ..."


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> For your line of work BIM would be useful.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Had to look up "BIM".  Yep, I'm kinda dipping my toe in the water, and it's the puddle next to this very large ocean.  What I am realizing as I practice "reading " buildings with thermography, is that it reveals a lot of (formerly hidden) detail that needs to be joined with physical construction knowledge.  I used to make mockups of certain building assemblies to get my clients to understand what is going on in their house, partly because extensive demolition or deassembly will be required in order to fix the issues, and the mockups allow us to see and discuss the options available to fix the problem.  With 3D modelling software, I should be able to have a library of typical issues, and typical solutions in a form that can be rotated, and examined and virtually assembled and disassembled on a viewing device.  In reading up on "BIM", I've just came across "FreeCAD", which looks very intriguing.  Dang.  I'm going to need another lifetime to explore all this.
Click to expand...


I got to play with a software package that creates 3D meshes (and orthomosaics) from drone stills - neat stuff.  I messed around with some low-end CAD packages a number of years ago. I've also done the old school method of pencils and triangles, though nothing professional; I had to design and create a printed circuit board from the schematic, and build the project for an electronics drafting class back in the late 70s.  It was a real challenge - 25 components including at least two transistors or one IC chip and no jumper wires.  The teacher didn't care for my zero-ohm resistor.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> More of a mindset than a degree. When Gary was estimating he saw things and thought them out in 2D. When he put together scheduling and CPM's it was in 3D. When he managed jobs it was all about praying for the inspectors to be blind.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My way of working is to have the client be a member of the team.  It is, after all, their property that we're working on, and I try to involve them in all the decision-making, especially when we find unexpected stuff and have to figure out what to do.  It's also one of the reasons why we spend a lot of time documenting the work in progress - so that we can explain how we did something and why.  I have a rather large library of installation photos that I use to explain the details, but I'm attracted to the 3D visualization tools as they can be an excellent way to make clear the key concepts.
> 
> Although formally we're a roofing company, in practice I find that we have to deal with the full house as a system, and do the analysis from that perspective.  In a climate like ours, when we can go from very cold temperatures (-20C from time to time, and very occasionally, down to -30C), and conversely up to 35-40C  (with instances of 100% humidity) in summer, with wild swings of wind, precipitation and temperature changes, it requires a good understanding of how the various systems interact and how certain weaknesses develop into major problems.  For example, the lack of air sealing in older buildings is usually not a major issue (other than the cost of heating/cooling, and general draftiness), until someone starts to "improve" by installing new doors and windows, and perhaps add insulation.  If this was done without understanding how these changes will affect the overall behaviour, the result is often unexpected condensation and mold issues, ice damming where this was not a factor previously,  and deterioration of internal air quality.  This is where I think the 3-D visualization tools can be useful, in relating the various elements of the building to its eventual performance.
Click to expand...

Gary has never worked residential, mainly government, where the government has its own team of specialists/experts/engineers overseeing the project every single construction day.  It is a teaming relationship where trust goes a long way to minimizing paperwork, (for US government the paperwork is equally important as performing the work), and in getting paid (getting paid is important to the contractor on a government job).  Gary has worked in extreme temps.  Can you imagine a place so hot that the first thing you build is an ice plant?  The ice was added to the concrete mix so it wouldn't harden during transport from the plant to the job site.


----------



## Derrel

Well, son of a beehive...the entire greater North Willamette Valley is covered in freezing rain! Early this morning Interstate 5 was closed when a semi truck skidded out of control, and multiple cars domino'd into that, closing the state's biggest freeway for about two hours, from around 4:00 to 6:00 AM. 

On I-84, our east-west highway that runs along/through the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, a semi truck skidded off the road and 50 feet down an embankment; the driver got out, but his passenger was stuck in the sleeper cab, and authorities had to knock the windshield out to get the passenger free, and then both were pulled up the embankment by rope. The Columbia River Gorge is an area that often gets hit badly by ice storms; last month the I-84 freeway was closed for a couple of days due to freezing rain conditions.

Ughh...can not wait for warmer weather! There is ice everywhere here. Slippery as all get-out!~


----------



## JonA_CT

Derrel said:


> Well, son of a beehive...the entire greater North Willamette Valley is covered in freezing rain! Early this morning Interstate 5 was closed when a semi truck skidded out of control, and mukltiple cars domino'd into that, closing the state's biggest freeway for about two hours, from around 4:00 to 6:00 AM. On I-84, our east-west highway that runs along the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, a semi truck skidded off the road and 50 feet down an embankment; the driver got out, but his passenger was stuck in the sleeper cab, and authorities had to knock the windshield out to get the passenger free, and then both were pulled up the embankment by rope. The Columbia River Gorge is an area that often gets hit badly by ice storms; last month the I-84 freeway was closed for a couple of days due to freezing rain conditions.
> 
> Ughh...can not wait for warmer weather!



Long range forecasts don't necessarily look good for you, unfortunately. Here in the East, the meteorologists seems ready to stick a fork in true winter for us Southern New England folks. I think I'll be back to playing golf by March.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> For your line of work BIM would be useful.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Had to look up "BIM".  Yep, I'm kinda dipping my toe in the water, and it's the puddle next to this very large ocean.  What I am realizing as I practice "reading " buildings with thermography, is that it reveals a lot of (formerly hidden) detail that needs to be joined with physical construction knowledge.  I used to make mockups of certain building assemblies to get my clients to understand what is going on in their house, partly because extensive demolition or deassembly will be required in order to fix the issues, and the mockups allow us to see and discuss the options available to fix the problem.  With 3D modelling software, I should be able to have a library of typical issues, and typical solutions in a form that can be rotated, and examined and virtually assembled and disassembled on a viewing device.  In reading up on "BIM", I've just came across "FreeCAD", which looks very intriguing.  Dang.  I'm going to need another lifetime to explore all this.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I got to play with a software package that creates 3D meshes (and orthomosaics) from drone stills - neat stuff.  I messed around with some low-end CAD packages a number of years ago. I've also done the old school method of pencils and triangles, though nothing professional; I had to design and create a printed circuit board from the schematic, and build the project for an electronics drafting class back in the late 70s.  It was a real challenge - 25 components including at least two transistors or one IC chip and no jumper wires.  The teacher didn't care for my zero-ohm resistor.
Click to expand...

Those diagrammatic electrical drawings require a real skill set to interpret and construct.


----------



## Gary A.

It's raining here as well.  It was originally forecast for yesterday ... but it finally hit about an hour ago.  More of a sprinkle than a real rain ... not enough wetness to keep the Cook from her walk.  (She won't walk in a 'real' rain.)  There were two pigs comfortably feeding from the feeder at the same time.  They must be family.


----------



## snowbear

It's mainly design - where to place the symbols so they are in a (relatively) logical order and the flow is easy to follow.  The circuit boards are a bit more challenging (and spatial) in that you have to figure out how to get around all the pieces.  One of the reasons wire wrapping was so prevalent in larger computers.  Of course, once PCs were being built, multi-layered boards were available.  Of course, even a two-sided board (in mechanical drafting) requires things like light tables.


----------



## pgriz

Freezing rain is both very dangerous, and destructive.  When we got the freezing rain in 1998 (January 1998 North American ice storm - Wikipedia) we were out of power for about 5 days.  First two days were kinda fun.  After that it became a real grind.  Some people in the country were out of power for a month.  A number of suicides of cattle farmers that could no longer cope.  Atlantic Canada is getting hit right now (New Brunswick ice storm knocks out power for thousands of residents).  

Hopefully the system you're experiencing won't last long.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> Freezing rain is both very dangerous, and destructive.  When we got the freezing rain in 1998 (January 1998 North American ice storm - Wikipedia) we were out of power for about 5 days.  First two days were kinda fun.  After that it became a real grind.  Some people in the country were out of power for a month.  A number of suicides of cattle farmers that could no longer cope.  Atlantic Canada is getting hit right now (New Brunswick ice storm knocks out power for thousands of residents).
> 
> Hopefully the system you're experiencing won't last long.


It is a two-edged sword.  After six years of drought in California, water in most any form is welcomed.  Most likely, less welcomed, if you personally are affected by the aftermath ... but still welcomed.  Gary can't speak for Oregon.


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Au contraire Pierre.  The best way to start a morning is to live through the night.  89,000 people die every single night in there sleep for no reason at all. So be happy each morning when you wake up. You were the lucky one that made it.  Then enjoy the coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey now.. whoa.  Back up a bit.  How do you know that's the best way of starting your morning?  Have you ever tried dying in the middle of the night?
> 
> Like mom always used to say, how do you know you don't like it if you haven't tried it?
Click to expand...


How you ask.  Simple my simian friend.  Everything in life and death for that matter has a beginning, a first step.  One can not take the first step if one does not reach the starting line.  One can not start the morning if one does not reach the morning.  To reach the morning is the one and only way to start the morning.  Whether it is a happy one is up to you.

No I never tried dying in the middle of the night, I died at 16;42 hours and was brought back to life at 16:44 hours when I was 17 years old .  It is not something I suggest that one tries to often.  I have done nicely without trying it again all these years.

As for your mom, well I would beckon to suggest that she also told you about Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.  Didn't know the old girl was such a pathological liar now did you?


----------



## SquarePeg

Derrel said:


> Well, son of a beehive...the entire greater North Willamette Valley is covered in freezing rain! Early this morning Interstate 5 was closed when a semi truck skidded out of control, and multiple cars domino'd into that, closing the state's biggest freeway for about two hours, from around 4:00 to 6:00 AM.
> 
> On I-84, our east-west highway that runs along/through the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, a semi truck skidded off the road and 50 feet down an embankment; the driver got out, but his passenger was stuck in the sleeper cab, and authorities had to knock the windshield out to get the passenger free, and then both were pulled up the embankment by rope. The Columbia River Gorge is an area that often gets hit badly by ice storms; last month the I-84 freeway was closed for a couple of days due to freezing rain conditions.
> 
> Ughh...can not wait for warmer weather! There is ice everywhere here. Slippery as all get-out!~



Yikes!  Be careful out there.  Hunker down and wait it out.  And Thank You for changing the subject from the incomprehensible (to me) engineering (?) talk that has gone on for several posts.  It's Friday.  Time for some lighter conversation I think.  Hmmmm..........what should we discuss?  We could talk about the Super Bowl, or the Patriots, or Tom Brady...


----------



## SquarePeg

Seriously though - I'm hoping for another great game.  So many of the Pats Super Bowl wins and losses have come down to the final plays/final quarter.  So much more entertaining than the many years of blow outs that I remember from when I was younger.


----------



## JonA_CT

You guys throwing a big party up there in Massachusetts? My wife has been so morning sick, we aren't planning any super bowl food, haha.


----------



## table1349

Superbowl / Shooperbowl, it's just another form of entertainment.   I'm just looking forward to the great food!


----------



## table1349

Derrel, Ice is like Gas.  It too shall pass.  My hope for you is just that it is not a wet one.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> You guys throwing a big party up there in Massachusetts? My wife has been so morning sick, we aren't planning any super bowl food, haha.



I'm heading to my favorite watering hole to watch with some friends.  My sister-in-law will be behind the bar on Sunday and she'll save a prime seat for me.  There'll be lots of appetizers and good company but not a "sports bar" big Super Bowl party scene - been there done that!  I've never been a fan of house parties for the big game but we have had a few.  I much prefer going out these days. 

I had severe morning sickness when I was pregnant with my daughter.  The only thing that helped was lemon.  Lemon drops, lemon Italian ice, lemonade...  I think Luigi's Lemon Italian ice saved my life during the first few months - it was the only thing that helped with the nausea.  Even today, if I'm feeling sick, it's right back to the lemon ices.


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> How you ask.  Simple my simian friend.  Everything in life and death for that matter has a beginning, a first step.  One can not take the first step if one does not reach the starting line.  One can not start the morning if one does not reach the morning.  To reach the morning is the one and only way to start the morning.  Whether it is a happy one is up to you.
> 
> No I never tried dying in the middle of the night, I died at 16;42 hours and was brought back to life at 16:44 hours when I was 17 years old .  It is not something I suggest that one tries to often.  I have done nicely without trying it again all these years.



Scoff all you want. I'm not the one having a discussion of metaphysics with a Gorilla.  Lol



> As for your mom, well I would beckon to suggest that she also told you about Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.  Didn't know the old girl was such a pathological liar now did you?



Huh?  Wait, your not one of those people who don't believe in Santa are you?  Sad.  Just sad.


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> How you ask.  Simple my simian friend.  Everything in life and death for that matter has a beginning, a first step.  One can not take the first step if one does not reach the starting line.  One can not start the morning if one does not reach the morning.  To reach the morning is the one and only way to start the morning.  Whether it is a happy one is up to you.
> 
> No I never tried dying in the middle of the night, I died at 16;42 hours and was brought back to life at 16:44 hours when I was 17 years old .  It is not something I suggest that one tries to often.  I have done nicely without trying it again all these years.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Scoff all you want. I'm not the one having a discussion of metaphysics with a Gorilla.  Lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As for your mom, well I would beckon to suggest that she also told you about Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.  Didn't know the old girl was such a pathological liar now did you?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Huh?  Wait, your not one of those people who don't believe in Santa are you?  Sad.  Just sad.
Click to expand...

 “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!” 

― Charles Dickens


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> ... The teacher didn't care for my zero-ohm resistor.


----------



## robbins.photo

gryphonslair99 said:


> “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!”
> 
> ― Charles Dickens



Ok, well for the record, Tale of Two Cities?  Sucked.  It was worse than trying to follow one of those matrix movies.  You're in London, you're in Paris, you're in London.. ugh...

But Santa?  Oh ya.. he's real.  He's got his list.  He's checked it twice.  You've been warned.  Nuff said....


----------



## robbins.photo

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... The teacher didn't care for my zero-ohm resistor.
Click to expand...


I guess your teacher felt it fell a little short.

Wow... I can't believe I just went there....


----------



## table1349

robbins.photo said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!”
> 
> ― Charles Dickens
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, well for the record, Tale of Two Cities?  Sucked.  It was worse than trying to follow one of those matrix movies.  You're in London, you're in Paris, you're in London.. ugh...
> 
> But Santa?  Oh ya.. he's real.  He's got his list.  He's checked it twice.  You've been warned.  Nuff said....
Click to expand...


----------



## SquarePeg

I have to say, so far I agree with almost every decision he has made. I know some of those decisions have been very controversial and I know a lot of people don't like him. But he has surrounded himself with some of the greatest minds and I know that history will judge him as one of the best, if not THE very best we have ever seen. There's no denying his leadership qualities are superb. I know not everyone is going to agree with me but these are just a few of the reasons I love Bill Belichick.


----------



## Designer

SquarePeg said:


> I have to say, so far I agree with almost every decision he has made. I know some of those decisions have been very controversial and I know a lot of people don't like him. But he has surrounded himself with some of the greatest minds and I know that history will judge him as one of the best, if not THE very best we have ever seen. There's no denying his leadership qualities are superb. I know not everyone is going to agree with me..


The parallels with another are astounding!


----------



## table1349

Coincidence?  Makes one wonder.


----------



## table1349

Designer said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have to say, so far I agree with almost every decision he has made. I know some of those decisions have been very controversial and I know a lot of people don't like him. But he has surrounded himself with some of the greatest minds and I know that history will judge him as one of the best, if not THE very best we have ever seen. There's no denying his leadership qualities are superb. I know not everyone is going to agree with me..
> 
> 
> 
> The parallels with another are astounding!
Click to expand...

Must we play politics on the sly???


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have to say, so far I agree with almost every decision he has made. I know some of those decisions have been very controversial and I know a lot of people don't like him. But he has surrounded himself with some of the greatest minds and I know that history will judge him as one of the best, if not THE very best we have ever seen. There's no denying his leadership qualities are superb. I know not everyone is going to agree with me..
> 
> 
> 
> The parallels with another are astounding!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Must we play politics on the sly???
Click to expand...

I hope not.  Let's keep it clean and above the belt folks...


----------



## SquarePeg

My post was meant as a joke.  I hope it was not taken as an attempt to play politics on the sly!  It's just a funny Facebook joke that's making the rounds here in New England.  I'll delete it if you want!


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> My post was meant as a joke.  I hope it was not taken as an attempt to play politics on the sly!  It's just a funny Facebook joke that's making the rounds here in New England.  I'll delete it if you want!


Yours wasn't taken as any form of politics.  I found it funny, hence my followup post with the photo.  I assume that you recognize both individuals in the photo.


----------



## Derrel

I thought it was political...but then I read Bellichick...he is truly a GREAT coach. Like the way he stuck it to the NFL on this year's early-season tweak to the kickoff rule! He managed to skirt the rule's intent AND gain yards for his team! He just knows how to coach the game. I'm not a Pat's fan in any way (I still think of them as that not-very-good NFL franchise with the helmet decal that had the squatting patriot dude hiking a football...), but I do admire B.B. as a coach.


----------



## jcdeboever

Derrel said:


> I thought it was political...but then I read Bellichick...he is truly a GREAT coach. Like the way he stuck it to the NFL on this year's early-season tweak to the kickoff rule! He managed to skirt the rule's intent AND gain yards for his team! He just knows how to coach the game. I'm not a Pat's fan in any way (I still think of them as that not-very-good NFL franchise with the helmet decal that had the squatting patriot dude hiking a football...), but I do admire B.B. as a coach.


And he started with the Lions....Figures.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> I thought it was political...but then I read Bellichick...he is truly a GREAT coach. Like the way he stuck it to the NFL on this year's early-season tweak to the kickoff rule! He managed to skirt the rule's intent AND gain yards for his team! He just knows how to coach the game. I'm not a Pat's fan in any way (I still think of them as that not-very-good NFL franchise with the helmet decal that had the squatting patriot dude hiking a football...), but I do admire B.B. as a coach.
> 
> 
> 
> And he started with the Lions....Figures.
Click to expand...

Hey, the only direction from the Lions is UP.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> I thought it was political...but then I read Bellichick...he is truly a GREAT coach. Like the way he stuck it to the NFL on this year's early-season tweak to the kickoff rule! He managed to skirt the rule's intent AND gain yards for his team! He just knows how to coach the game. I'm not a Pat's fan in any way (I still think of them as that not-very-good NFL franchise with the helmet decal that had the squatting patriot dude hiking a football...), but I do admire B.B. as a coach.
> 
> 
> 
> And he started with the Lions....Figures.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Hey, the only direction from the Lions is UP.
Click to expand...

Don't remind me[emoji36]


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> I thought it was political...but then I read Bellichick...he is truly a GREAT coach. Like the way he stuck it to the NFL on this year's early-season tweak to the kickoff rule! He managed to skirt the rule's intent AND gain yards for his team! He just knows how to coach the game. I'm not a Pat's fan in any way (I still think of them as that not-very-good NFL franchise with the helmet decal that had the squatting patriot dude hiking a football...), but I do admire B.B. as a coach.
> 
> 
> 
> And he started with the Lions....Figures.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Hey, the only direction from the Lions is UP.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't remind me[emoji36]
Click to expand...

I was going to say it could be worse and remind you of the Cubs, but then it's only been since 1957 since the Lions won a Championship.  Just think they should win one by 2065.


----------



## Designer

gryphonslair99 said:


> Must we play politics on the sly???


Who, me?

She started it.


----------



## table1349

Designer said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Must we play politics on the sly???
> 
> 
> 
> Who, me?
> 
> She started it.
Click to expand...


Right,  Bill Belichick is politician.






Even Brady isn't buying that one.


----------



## table1349

Well I have to do some baking this weekend.   The wife thinks I am obligated to do so since I just finished making my own Vanilla extract.  Any suggestions.  I was thinking of cookies but am open to other ideas as long as it uses Vanilla.


----------



## Frank F.

Hello Hosers!

I saw the light today, but I had no camera on me. So I could only continue to say and repeat to say: "Look! At! That! Light!" and my daughter just said: "Paps, you said that already."

Frankly I have not seen such a light in my entire life. It was all the best lenses in the world require for the best pictures possible. All highs and lows, all detail rendening, no dust after the rain, revealing light!


----------



## Derrel

Great video link from the I-5 multi-crash on ice this AM!!! I counted 9 crashes...! From FOX 12 News here in Portland, submitted by a viewer. I noticed that the car that could have been #7 threaded the needle and made it through, missing all the trucks and the cars!





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10155094586833701


----------



## table1349

Derrel said:


> Great video link from the I-5 multi-crash on ice this AM!!! I counted 12 crashes...! From FOX 12 News here in Portland, submitted by a viewer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10155094586833701


----------



## JonA_CT

gryphonslair99 said:


> Well I have to do some baking this weekend.   The wife thinks I am obligated to do so since I just finished making my own Vanilla extract.  Any suggestions.  I was thinking of cookies but am open to other ideas as long as it uses Vanilla.



We just made a wine bottle worth using Mexican vanilla beans. Sooo good. I recommend sugar cookies. Ours shines in that.


----------



## table1349

I was thinking of that.  This bottle is Tahitian vanilla.  I have a Madagascar vanilla brewing.  Will be 3 more months before it is ready.  I make small bottles, 8 oz. at a time.  This is a short brew vanilla that I think turned out really nice.  We have a vacuum sealer so when I cut up my vanilla beans I vacuum sealed it in a ball jar.  Sucked out the air.  You could tell that it was going to be a fast brew as I had a nice rich dark amber color in just a couple of days.    

I think I will make my classic non Christmas sugar cookies.  I replace the sugar with lavender sugar.  I think this vanilla would work with the lavender.


----------



## terri

Go Falcons!!!!


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> Go Falcons!!!!


Terri, I'm sure the Friends University basketball team appreciates the support. 
Men's Basketball - Varsity vs McPherson - Friends University


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Go Falcons!!!!


Yes, the whole Falcon team!


----------



## terri

Haters gonna hate.


----------



## Gary A.

Rainy day today.  Great video, thanks Derrel. Gary is off the treadmill, took a quick shower and then proceeded to squeeze a couple of lemons and Gary is now kicking back and enjoying a tall lemonade and watching some cable news.  Fresh lemonade is soooo refreshing. Cheers.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Haters gonna hate.


Hey, Gary is in your corner.  Actually, Gary doesn't care about the game, but if he had to choose a Falcon team, he'd go with Atlanta.


----------



## snowbear

Superbowl?  Is that _this_ weekend?  Who's playing?

Sorry to break away from the silly $hit, but does anyone have any experience (doing the work, getting the work done or just seeing the results) of retro-fitting a minivan with wheelchair accessibility?  Mom-in-law is coming home tomorrow.  We have ordered a portable aluminum ramp so we can get her in and out of the minivan (Kia something or other).  We know the starboard side middle seat has to be removed, and possibly the front passenger seat, so that is no surprise.  What wasn't though about is how can we set up a wheelchair lock/clamp and how are seat belts handled in case we can't get her transferred from wheelchair to port side middle seat?

I've been in public buses with wheelchair access and they lock in so the passenger faces to the middle (against the side wall) - not really an option that I can see in a minivan.  We are not going redneck/ghetto on this (no 2x4s, bungee cords and lawn chair parts) but there's not a whole lot of budget.  I'm just trying to figure something out short of welding the port side middle door shut.


----------



## table1349

Unfortunately I have some experience.  What is the state of you mother-in-laws mobility?  Does she need to stay in the wheel chair or can she move to a seat? 

If she can move by herself from the wheel chair to a seat then there is no reason to remove a set, just get a rear bumper carrier for the chair.  Something like this. 

Usually the middle row of seats are removed and the vehicle is retro fitted with a securing system that is similar to a large seat belt that holds the person and the wheel chair in a locked position against the rear seats.  
http://www.discountramps.com/silver...pflKaH4aDdbCYLFOVHr9H4EC1SwdFZZCsPxoCgOLw_wcB
If she has to stay in the chair then you are looking at quite an expense.  I believe that Medicare will pay for some of it, but not all if she is of that age.  If not then you might want to check what her insurance will pay.  You may want to look at this site for a start.  They are not the only place that specializes in such needs but they can give you an idea of what's out there.  They handle both manual rams and hydraulic lifts.  Both built ins as well as other accessories etc.   This can be very expensive to equip a vehicle properly.  I wish you luck.  We recently were able to help one of our local LEO families get a good fully equipped van for their son.  He wasn't supposed to live past 2 years old and is now going on 11.  Insurance helped, but it was still quite expensive.  Good luck.


----------



## snowbear

She can barely move from one to the other by herself.  If we can get her from the wheelchair to the port middle seat, we'll go that route for now.  I know these are not cheap, but we'll do what we can.

Maybe 2x4s and bungee cords are not such a bad idea, after all.


----------



## table1349

Keep in mind, there are organizations out there as well that may be able to help defray some of the expenses.  You will just have to check in your area.  A good place to start is a mobility specialist.  We have one here in our little berg that was of great help finding the vehicle I mentioned above as well as knowing the resources that were able to assist with the purchase.


----------



## snowbear

Sounds like a start.  Thank you.


----------



## JonA_CT

Freshly roasted coffee from Honduras this morning. Very different than the citrusy and bright coffee from Africa. This one is more caramel-y and nutty. 

My wife and I have decided to go see a movie tonight. We still haven't seen the new Star Wars movie, so that's an option...but has anyone seen anything else good recently?


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Gary's new portable siphon in action.  More Chiapas this morning. The first sip .... [drum roll] ... and Wow!  Delish.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon: Gary keeps harping on La La Land.  A fun, feel good movie that will leave you toe tapping.  Okay, Gary can relate to the movie more than most because he lives in Los Angeles and he can identify all the locations ... and Mary Lou looks like Emma Stone and Gary is a twin of Ryan Gosling ... but beyond that, it is a well made, 'modern' musical which pays homage to the older Hollywood film musicals and ... most importantly ... while it is a love story, it does not have a sappy story line.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 134430 View attachment 134431
> iPhone
> 
> Gary's new portable siphon in action.  More Chiapas this morning. The first sip .... [drum roll] ... and Wow!  Delish.



Crap, Gary's running a meth lab now.... geez o petes.... I got to get me one... does it have a joystick?


----------



## jcdeboever

I only wanted to post these low quality photo's here of my little pumpkin at her brother's basketball game. She is my little buttercup and loves me big time. I love her more, is there anything better here on earth? I am watching the grandkids tonight, we just got done playing twister and I may have to go on the disabled list... my back....  I can't wait to get my Fujifilm 100F....


----------



## SquarePeg

She's adorable.


----------



## Gary A.

Overloaded on the butter.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 134430 View attachment 134431
> iPhone
> 
> Gary's new portable siphon in action.  More Chiapas this morning. The first sip .... [drum roll] ... and Wow!  Delish.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Crap, Gary's running a meth lab now.... geez o petes.... I got to get me one... does it have a joystick?
Click to expand...

No joystick, but you get to play with fire.


----------



## Frank F.

This morning I read about a judge that was appointed 100/100 senat votes earlier in life and is now discussed controvercially. I do not understand America. But then I read on and learened that in you country the same people want less abortions and more weapons. I thought: "They want to shoot them when they are older, so they must not allow them to be killed in the womb!"

Or am I totally on the wrong track here?


----------



## Frank F.

There was a joke on the Radio yesterday I want to share:

"Why are single women thinner than married women?"





"Single women come home, look what is in the fridge, then go to bed. Married women look what is in the bed then go to the fridge."


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> This morning I read about a judge that was appointed 100/100 senat votes earlier in life and is now discussed controvercially. I do not understand America. But then I read on and learened that in you country the same people want less abortions and more weapons. I thought: "The want to shoot them when they are older, so they must not allow them to be killed in the womb!"
> 
> Or am I totally on the wrong track here?


It's complicated Frank....


----------



## Designer

Frank F. said:


> I do not understand America.


That's understandable.

(PM sent)


----------



## terri

Let's remember to keep the political comments relegated to the Subscriber's forum.   

It's gotten quite lively in there, for anyone who has been considering a TPF subscription.


----------



## terri

And on another note:  go Falcons!   

Apparently not a single ESPN analyst has picked the Falcons over the Patriots.   They aren't considered a good match up.

Still, Matt Ryan IS the NFL MVP of the year.  No matter the game's outcome, the Falcons surprised a bunch of pundits this season, and kicked royal ass.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary feels good this morning as his Hollywood Bowl Sweet & Sour meatball recipe is ready for the Super Bowl. SNL was particularly interesting last night. Gary had to refill the backyard Pig Feeder.  A light rain is forecast for tonight and it is quite gray, cool and dreary right now.  Gary had best get going he needs to walk The Cook and mow the front before kickoff.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> And on another note:  go Falcons!
> 
> Apparently not a single ESPN analyst has picked the Falcons over the Patriots.   They aren't considered a good match up.
> 
> Still, Matt Ryan IS the NFL MVP of the year.  No matter the game's outcome, the Falcons surprised a bunch of pundits this season, and kicked royal ass.



That's funny because it seemed like everyone I saw was picking Atlanta!  Of course also rams like Marino, McNabb and the like are Pats haters and always pick against them. Brady and BB are 4 of 6 in the Super Bowl so I like their chances.  Most New Englanders are familiar with and like Ryan from his time at BC and Atlanta doesn't really have a "bad guy" for us to hate on... I had really wanted to see Brady vs Rogers but this looks like it should be a nice high scoring exciting game.  I'm going Pats 38-24.  Anyone else have any predictions?


----------



## SquarePeg

Oh and Terri before you 100% decide you're for Atlanta, check out NE Patriots Eye Candy on Facebook, lol.  It could change your mind.


----------



## minicoop1985

HELLOOOOO I'm back! My laptop's hard drive failed. Just got it back up and running.


----------



## Frank F.

minicoop1985 said:


> HELLOOOOO I'm back! My laptop's hard drive failed. Just got it back up and running.



Good to hear!
How long did this take?
Two minutes?
Ten minutes?
Three weeeks?


----------



## minicoop1985

The laptop died a few weeks ago. I just brought it in yesterday after I figured out it DOES carry a warranty if it's open box. Got it back today.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Oh and Terri before you 100% decide you're for Atlanta, check out NE Patriots Eye Candy on Facebook, lol.  It could change your mind.


That will not happen.        Just sayin'.    

I was as shocked as anyone when the Falcons took the Packers!    Until the 4th quarter started making it look inevitable, I was thinking they'd wake up any moment and start actually playing like Green Bay.


----------



## terri

minicoop1985 said:


> The laptop died a few weeks ago. I just brought it in yesterday after I figured out it DOES carry a warranty if it's open box. Got it back today.


Wondered where you've been!    Glad it's fixed.


----------



## snowbear

Pig roast being braised in ham stock (homemade) and beer, to be pulled for sandwiches.  Not for super bowl, but for the Watch Office - MLW is pulling a 24-hour shift.


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> Not for super bowl, but for the Watch Office ..


You have to feed the office?  How often does that happen?  

Where I used to spend time, we had to bring treats in on our birthday, and once a year we had a office fest (not a fe*A*st) when everybody brought food in.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh and Terri before you 100% decide you're for Atlanta, check out NE Patriots Eye Candy on Facebook, lol.  It could change your mind.
> 
> 
> 
> That will not happen.        Just sayin'.
> 
> I was as shocked as anyone when the Falcons took the Packers!    Until the 4th quarter started making it look inevitable, I was thinking they'd wake up any moment and start actually playing like Green Bay.
Click to expand...

The Green Bay we know was on the Disabled List.


----------



## Gary A.

Welcome back Appleton Guy.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just finished a second batch of meatballs.  Mary Lou and Gary are taking them in a crock pot and the first batch didn't fill the crock or the pot ... it wasn't to the top.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like meatballs


----------



## Frank F.

St Blasius blessing for health of body and soul:


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not for super bowl, but for the Watch Office ..
> 
> 
> 
> You have to feed the office?  How often does that happen?
> 
> Where I used to spend time, we had to bring treats in on our birthday, and once a year we had a office fest (not a fe*A*st) when everybody brought food in.
Click to expand...

It's not a big operation - three people and me.  These folks can't just go out and get lunch or dinner.  They have to monitor radio traffic and call status, making notifications to management (and other behind-the-scenes agencies) when there are working fires, chemical spills, fatalities; any major incident, really. They also coordinate swapping out broken fire trucks and ambulances for reserve units.  One of the people working has to have a CDL if the rehab bus is needed at a working fire.

Often, usually on holidays, they will grill burgers, chicken or brats.  I am always welcome to join them and "hang out."   We got a roast for the weekend, anyway, so when MLW signed up for the OT, I figured I'd cook and take it up to them.  Just part of the extended family.


----------



## JonA_CT

Pulled pork, hot wings, and tater tots is the final menu here.

I'm going Falcons 35-28.

And I might have started drinking too early.


----------



## jcdeboever

Falcons playing well and goes to show how you beat Brady, get physical on the corners and bust him in the chops


----------



## Derrel

jcdeboever said:
			
		

> Falcons playing well and goes to show how you beat Brady, get physical on the corners and bust him in the chops



Yeaaaah, I guess, if you call playing well being up 21-0 at the half...


----------



## table1349

What game you 


Derrel said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Falcons playing well and goes to show how you beat Brady, get physical on the corners and bust him in the chops
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeaaaah, I guess, if you call playing well being up 21-0 at the half...
Click to expand...

What game you watching.  The one I am watching has the score 21-3.


----------



## table1349

Chick-a-boom chick-a-boom don't ya jes' love it
Chick-a-boom chick-a-boom don't you jes' love it
Chick-a-boom chick-a-boom don't ya jes' love it
Chick-a-boom chick-a-boom-boom-boom


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> I like meatballs


Which one
Meatballs
Meatballs II
Meatballs III Summer Job 
Or Meatballs IV.

Personally I liked the original & IV the best.


----------



## SquarePeg

Ugh.


----------



## snowbear

Animal Planet's "Puppy Bowl"


----------



## jcdeboever

I like meatballs


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh.


Bill Murray isn't for everyone, but I find him funny.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> I like meatballs


Here; have a meatball sandwich.



#1B Something That Is Round.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Animal Planet's "Puppy Bowl"



And Hallmark Channel's Kitten Bowl!!


----------



## snowbear

The Puppy Bowl halftime show featured Kitty Gaga


----------



## jcdeboever

What a game


----------



## pgriz

jcdeboever said:


> What a game



Where?

Just kidding.  

Pretty amazing comeback...  and then win.


----------



## jcdeboever

In Houston, the Super Bowl silly rabbit


----------



## pgriz

So it is customary for the teams to change jerseys at halftime?


----------



## Derrel

COOL TOM BRADY graphic!  

16508968_10154996789642277_6217212876391489723_n.jpg


----------



## SquarePeg

You should see my heart rate graphic from my Fitbit last night.   What a game. Crazy!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> You should see my heart rate graphic from my Fitbit last night.   What a game. Crazy!


Wasn't it great?   Congrats to your team on a terrific Superbowl!  

I'm so proud of my Falcons.   They sure made them work for that victory.    Hardly the "mismatch" blowout some of the pundits had predicted.   It was great football!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Wasn't it great? Congrats to your team on a terrific Superbowl!
> 
> I'm so proud of my Falcons. They sure made them work for that victory.  Hardly the "mismatch" blowout some of the pundits had predicted. It was great football!



Falcons should have won it.  They played a fabulous game - Julio Jones is incredible, I would love to see him in a Patriots uniform!  Incredibly bad play calling in the 4th quarter when they were in field goal position.  All they needed to do was run the ball a couple of times then kick the field goal and the game would have been out of reach!  Not sure what the thinking was there in dropping back for a pass.  I'm sure BB will soon be accused of using mind control, lol.


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

I thought the Kitten Bowl was some exciting sports, too!  And no, I didn't watch the actual game. When I don't have a horse in the race, I find that I really don't care. 

What I did instead was to put together my new desk and clear out a whole bunch of old crap.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hey, hosers.
> 
> I thought the Kitten Bowl was some exciting sports, too!  And no, I didn't watch the actual game. When I don't have a horse in the race, I find that I really don't care.
> 
> What I did instead was to put together my new desk and clear out a whole bunch of old crap.



oooh you got a new desk?  What did you get?  I need a new one and have been really wanting one of those sit/stand desks.  I have one picked out from Ikea but have not had a chance to get down there and get it.  It's not the most convenient place for me to get to from north of Boston.  Have to cross through Boston and drive on the Southeast Expressway on the way there and back. That road is my driving nightmare.  Traffic at the weirdest times for no apparent reason.  No time, even really early or late on a weekend, is safe from construction, accidents and breakdowns causing ridiculous delays.  Last time we went to Ikea we sat in traffic for 2 hours on the way home on a Saturday afternoon.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Man, what a falcon game!  Well worth the price of admission. Jones is incredible and Edleman's miracle catch ... wow, wow, wow. BB is still a bad guy in Gary's book of bad guys ... but a worthy opponent nonetheless. (Like Lex Luthor)

It was a very large family affair.  The house is very very large in a very nice neighborhood (Richard Sherman recently purchased the house next door for his folks.)  It was pot luck and everybody brought multiple dishes.  Food was everywhere, there were even brownies shaped and decorated like footballs, (they weren't very good.)  There was a chili cook off, everybody brings a crock pot of chili for review/grading and consumption.  Last year my chili was a smoked Tri-Tip, this year my famous Hollywood Bowl Meatballs in a sweet & sour sauce.  Gary doesn't make chili.  In the fourth quarter Gary broke out the meth lab siphon and brewed up some Chiapas coffee. There were so many refills that he ran out of butane and ended up disassembling the siphon and resting the coffee chambers directly on top of the gas stove grill.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg:  Congrats!

@ Terri: Gary has some wine for you.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Hey, hosers.
> 
> I thought the Kitten Bowl was some exciting sports, too!  And no, I didn't watch the actual game. When I don't have a horse in the race, I find that I really don't care.
> 
> What I did instead was to put together my new desk and clear out a whole bunch of old crap.



I'll send you my address for the film stuff....


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> BB is still a bad guy in Gary's book of bad guys ... but a worthy opponent nonetheless. (Like Lex Luthor)



One man's Darth Vader is another woman's Yoda.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like french pressed Chiapas


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> BB is still a bad guy in Gary's book of bad guys ... but a worthy opponent nonetheless. (Like Lex Luthor)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One man's Darth Vader is another woman's Yoda.
Click to expand...

While Gary can understand the sentiment, after all those years of not having a pro team, (and an embarrassing silly logo). Gary doesn't think of BB as Darth Vader, a truly evil person without humor or capacity for redemption ... Gary equates BB to Lex Luthor, a smart guy that just went down the wrong path ... BB still has a soul and if shown the light and given encouragement, he can find redemption and atonement for his sins.  BB and LL, after some rehab, could be participating partners here in the Coffee House.  Vader is far too evil to use a camera.


----------



## jcdeboever

Kitten at work won't leave me alone. Tired girl....


----------



## Gary A.

aaahhhhhh ... what a sweet cat.  Mary Lou is highly allergic to cats.  Even if she keyboards the word Cat, her sinuses start shutting down.


----------



## Gary A.

It is raining.  Not a silly California six inch rain (where a drop hits every six inches) ... but a bonafide, card carrying and measurable rain. Gary decided to work from home where he can work and watch the hummers feed and waste time on the internet.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, hosers.
> 
> I thought the Kitten Bowl was some exciting sports, too!  And no, I didn't watch the actual game. When I don't have a horse in the race, I find that I really don't care.
> 
> What I did instead was to put together my new desk and clear out a whole bunch of old crap.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> oooh you got a new desk?  What did you get?  I need a new one and have been really wanting one of those sit/stand desks.  I have one picked out from Ikea but have not had a chance to get down there and get it.  It's not the most convenient place for me to get to from north of Boston.  Have to cross through Boston and drive on the Southeast Expressway on the way there and back. That road is my driving nightmare.  Traffic at the weirdest times for no apparent reason.  No time, even really early or late on a weekend, is safe from construction, accidents and breakdowns causing ridiculous delays.  Last time we went to Ikea we sat in traffic for 2 hours on the way home on a Saturday afternoon.
Click to expand...


Oh, I hear ya. To get to Ikea, I would have to drive into Jersey. Paramus. *shudder* 

I actually got it at Home Depot. Shopped online and got it shipped to the store. It's nothing too fancy - just a chipboard type construction - but it's an L-shape so I can maximize desktop space in a small room. I also wanted to use my laptop open as one screen and have my external monitor as a second screen. Once I got used to the dual monitors at work, it was all over 

I'll take a picture of the setup when I get home.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Oh, I hear ya. To get to Ikea, I would have to drive into Jersey. Paramus. *shudder*
> 
> I actually got it at Home Depot. Shopped online and got it shipped to the store. It's nothing too fancy - just a chipboard type construction - but it's an L-shape so I can maximize desktop space in a small room. I also wanted to use my laptop open as one screen and have my external monitor as a second screen. Once I got used to the dual monitors at work, it was all over
> 
> I'll take a picture of the setup when I get home.



Yes, please send me the pic.  I'm having desktop space issues in addition to wanting the stand up feature.  I have my work docking station and laptop with monitor and my personal laptop and monitor and keyboard...  Right now I'm using my work laptop stand alone without the nice screen and keyboard because I don't have space for everything.  I haven't considered L shape hmmm...  

I think I want this one:  SKARSTA Desk sit/stand   - IKEA    but they only have it in white which really doesn't go with my office area at home.  The other option is this one but I don't like the fact that the raise/lower mechanism is automated.  To me that is just one more thing that could break:  BEKANT 5-sided desk, sit/stand - black-brown/black  - IKEA    Also a lot more money!


----------



## JonA_CT

It's like they put Ikea in the worst place always. Or you know...the most busy place. Mine is in New Haven. We straight up can't go during the summer because I-95 traffic is so bad. 

As far as the game? Truly exciting. I agree with Sharon that the moment got too big for the Falcons coaching staff at the end. They blew it.

I was also very impressed with Lady Gaga's performance. It was flamboyant and over-the-top, but that's the best part about her. I might be biased though because I watched her CBS Sunday Morning interview too. It was really insightful, and worth finding if you have a few minutes. 

P.S. Whoever programmed those drones for the half-time presentation is a genius.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I hear ya. To get to Ikea, I would have to drive into Jersey. Paramus. *shudder*
> 
> I actually got it at Home Depot. Shopped online and got it shipped to the store. It's nothing too fancy - just a chipboard type construction - but it's an L-shape so I can maximize desktop space in a small room. I also wanted to use my laptop open as one screen and have my external monitor as a second screen. Once I got used to the dual monitors at work, it was all over
> 
> I'll take a picture of the setup when I get home.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, please send me the pic.  I'm having desktop space issues in addition to wanting the stand up feature.  I have my work docking station and laptop with monitor and my personal laptop and monitor and keyboard...  Right now I'm using my work laptop stand alone without the nice screen and keyboard because I don't have space for everything.  I haven't considered L shape hmmm...
> 
> I think I want this one:  SKARSTA Desk sit/stand   - IKEA    but they only have it in white which really doesn't go with my office area at home.  The other option is this one but I don't like the fact that the raise/lower mechanism is automated.  To me that is just one more thing that could break:  BEKANT 5-sided desk, sit/stand - black-brown/black  - IKEA    Also a lot more money!
Click to expand...

When I needed a new desk this is what I ended up with.   If you need more space you can even get a second corner and table and make a U shaped unit.  

I hadn't planned on buying one, but when we bought our present house the wife wouldn't let me move the falling apart chipboard unit I had for years.  I ended up with the whole system with just the L shaped desk.  Extremely sturdy.


----------



## jcdeboever

Here she is getting a fork truck ride by one of the workers. Out of focus like my d7200


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I hear ya. To get to Ikea, I would have to drive into Jersey. Paramus. *shudder*
> 
> I actually got it at Home Depot. Shopped online and got it shipped to the store. It's nothing too fancy - just a chipboard type construction - but it's an L-shape so I can maximize desktop space in a small room. I also wanted to use my laptop open as one screen and have my external monitor as a second screen. Once I got used to the dual monitors at work, it was all over
> 
> I'll take a picture of the setup when I get home.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, please send me the pic.  I'm having desktop space issues in addition to wanting the stand up feature.  I have my work docking station and laptop with monitor and my personal laptop and monitor and keyboard...  Right now I'm using my work laptop stand alone without the nice screen and keyboard because I don't have space for everything.  I haven't considered L shape hmmm...
> 
> I think I want this one:  SKARSTA Desk sit/stand   - IKEA    but they only have it in white which really doesn't go with my office area at home.  The other option is this one but I don't like the fact that the raise/lower mechanism is automated.  To me that is just one more thing that could break:  BEKANT 5-sided desk, sit/stand - black-brown/black  - IKEA    Also a lot more money!
Click to expand...


I'd really like a standing desk, too, but was thinking of saving up for one that I can just put on a standard desk, like one of these: Amazon.com: standing desk


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I hear ya. To get to Ikea, I would have to drive into Jersey. Paramus. *shudder*
> 
> I actually got it at Home Depot. Shopped online and got it shipped to the store. It's nothing too fancy - just a chipboard type construction - but it's an L-shape so I can maximize desktop space in a small room. I also wanted to use my laptop open as one screen and have my external monitor as a second screen. Once I got used to the dual monitors at work, it was all over
> 
> I'll take a picture of the setup when I get home.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, please send me the pic.  I'm having desktop space issues in addition to wanting the stand up feature.  I have my work docking station and laptop with monitor and my personal laptop and monitor and keyboard...  Right now I'm using my work laptop stand alone without the nice screen and keyboard because I don't have space for everything.  I haven't considered L shape hmmm...
> 
> I think I want this one:  SKARSTA Desk sit/stand   - IKEA    but they only have it in white which really doesn't go with my office area at home.  The other option is this one but I don't like the fact that the raise/lower mechanism is automated.  To me that is just one more thing that could break:  BEKANT 5-sided desk, sit/stand - black-brown/black  - IKEA    Also a lot more money!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'd really like a standing desk, too, but was thinking of saving up for one that I can just put on a standard desk, like one of these: Amazon.com: standing desk
Click to expand...

Gary's been thinking of one of those adjustables that sit on top of a standard desk, which adjusts up and down for sitting or standing as well.


----------



## Gary A.

In the Los Angeles Times: "A San Francisco bookstore offers free copies of George Orwell's '1984'".


----------



## table1349

I believe that this is the current standing desk as seen on TV.  If you give it a couple of months you should be able to pick it up at Walmart in the as seen on tv section.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> I'd really like a standing desk, too, but was thinking of saving up for one that I can just put on a standard desk, like one of these: Amazon.com: standing desk





Gary A. said:


> Gary's been thinking of one of those adjustables that sit on top of a standard desk, which adjusts up and down for sitting or standing as well.



If I had an existing desk that was big enough for my needs I would opt for that but since I need a new, larger desk anyway, I might as well get the one where the whole desk goes up and down instead of just a small section.,


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Once I got used to the dual monitors at work, it was all over


Try four.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> In the Los Angeles Times: "A San Francisco bookstore offers free copies of George Orwell's '1984'".



We're reading that for the book club meeting that I'm hosting next month.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> I'd really like a standing desk, too, but was thinking of saving up for one that I can just put on a standard desk, like one of these: Amazon.com: standing desk



For my fiftieth birthday I had this one, roughly 100 years old renovated. Before it was covered in ugly paint!


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'd really like a standing desk, too, but was thinking of saving up for one that I can just put on a standard desk, like one of these: Amazon.com: standing desk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For my fiftieth birthday I had this one, roughly 100 years old renovated. Before it was covered in ugly paint!
> 
> View attachment 134557
Click to expand...

Looks like a good spot to eat some wienerschnitzel. 

I like wienerschnitzel


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> In the Los Angeles Times: "A San Francisco bookstore offers free copies of George Orwell's '1984'".


I've had my copy for years.  Might get to re-reading it one of these days.


----------



## terri

I've been using my drafting table for a stand-up desk.   My laptop shares the space with my art supplies, so not a permanent solution.   But for now it's been great, except that I _would_ like to sit down every now and then and no longer have a decent drafting-table sized chair.   

I'm loathe to spend any money until I figure out the best approach.  I'm interested in reading some reviews/comments from people who have actually bought & used the kind of desk that can be raised & lowered.   The price of the desk-top model is about the same as the whole desk that SharonCat linked to - it's hard to know what would be the better purchase without some kind of feedback.    I keep thinking a regular desk with the desk-top style would be better, but having the whole thing raise would be fast, too - in theory.


----------



## jcdeboever

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> In the Los Angeles Times: "A San Francisco bookstore offers free copies of George Orwell's '1984'".
> 
> 
> 
> I've had my copy for years.  Might get to re-reading it one of these days.
Click to expand...


Why do you always try to bring people down? Your never align left or right, you tend to trend downward, straight at someone based on your opinion. Do you really hate life that much and get pleasure in going against the grain in your world? Your response implies a political affiliation towards @Gary A. In this format excluding, gary a, you fail to offer a reasonable solution.  I would trust a reasonable image of yours to counter your strong feelings is in order


----------



## jcdeboever

jcdeboever said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> In the Los Angeles Times: "A San Francisco bookstore offers free copies of George Orwell's '1984'".
> 
> 
> 
> I've had my copy for years.  Might get to re-reading it one of these days.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Why do you always try to bring people down? Your never align left or right, you tend to trend downward, straight at someone based on your opinion. Do you really hate life that much and get pleasure in going against the grain in your world? Your response implies a political affiliation towards @Gary A. In this format excluding, gary a, you fail to offer a reasonable solution.  I would trust a reasonable image of yours to counter your strong feelings is in order
Click to expand...



Of course not


----------



## terri

I removed Designer's political comment, but you were too quick for me in replying, JC.     

I (again) beg of everyone: no politics, no jabbing others for their assumed politics, etc.    All of this kind of stuff belongs in the Subscriber's Forum, an un-moderated forum here.  

Thankee!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> I've been using my drafting table for a stand-up desk.   My laptop shares the space with my art supplies, so not a permanent solution.   But for now it's been great, except that I _would_ like to sit down every now and then and no longer have a decent drafting-table sized chair.
> 
> I'm loathe to spend any money until I figure out the best approach.  I'm interested in reading some reviews/comments from people who have actually bought & used the kind of desk that can be raised & lowered.   The price of the desk-top model is about the same as the whole desk that SharonCat linked to - it's hard to know what would be the better purchase without some kind of feedback.    I keep thinking a regular desk with the desk-top style would be better, but having the whole thing raise would be fast, too - in theory.



Here is a review of the desk.  This guy's voice is a bit snore inducing but a decent review of its flaws:  





Edit to add a funny but true comment I just read in another review - if you're only using a laptop, just use an ironing board!


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've been using my drafting table for a stand-up desk.   My laptop shares the space with my art supplies, so not a permanent solution.   But for now it's been great, except that I _would_ like to sit down every now and then and no longer have a decent drafting-table sized chair.
> 
> I'm loathe to spend any money until I figure out the best approach.  I'm interested in reading some reviews/comments from people who have actually bought & used the kind of desk that can be raised & lowered.   The price of the desk-top model is about the same as the whole desk that SharonCat linked to - it's hard to know what would be the better purchase without some kind of feedback.    I keep thinking a regular desk with the desk-top style would be better, but having the whole thing raise would be fast, too - in theory.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here is a review of the desk.  This guy's voice is a bit snore inducing but a decent review of its flaws:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Edit to add a funny but true comment I just read in another review - if you're only using a laptop, just use an ironing board!
Click to expand...

Cool, if you change it enough times a day you get your workout in as well.  They need to put a crank on the right side as well otherwise you will have a normal sized right arm and a left arm that Popeye would envy.


----------



## limr

@SquarePeg The new desk set-up:


----------



## limr

Mrs Parker approves:


----------



## Frank F.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> In the Los Angeles Times: "A San Francisco bookstore offers free copies of George Orwell's '1984'".
> 
> 
> 
> I've had my copy for years.  Might get to re-reading it one of these days.
Click to expand...


For our times "The Circle" is better. I read both books in the last 40 months.

1984 describes the state of classical Fascism

The Circle describes a possible way into a new "digital" version of Fascism.

Other near future books worth reading are by Daniel Suarez: "Demon" "Freedom" and "Kill Decision"

demon and freedom is about a computer program dictator coming to reign the world in a kind of eco dictatorship.

Kill decision is about warfare with autonomous drones.

Both are very easily read, the 1000 pages of demon and freedom I read through in two or three nights. All three books are thriller style with some tech mixed in.


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'd really like a standing desk, too, but was thinking of saving up for one that I can just put on a standard desk, like one of these: Amazon.com: standing desk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For my fiftieth birthday I had this one, roughly 100 years old renovated. Before it was covered in ugly paint!
> 
> View attachment 134557
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Looks like a good spot to eat some wienerschnitzel.
> 
> I like wienerschnitzel
Click to expand...




No. This is for working a text or using a Laptop


----------



## Frank F.

Currently I read something else: 



 

Very int-REST-ting. Today my first consequence. After the morning hours in the office I took a recreational walk. No phone. No camera. Only without these I stop working, I stop creating, I get real REST.


----------



## JonA_CT

Don't have to be at work today until 10AM as a result of cold rain. Some districts in my area are closed due to cold rain. Those pesky forecasts...the difference between 31* and 33* is minute but the difference in consequences is immense.


----------



## JonA_CT

I found your next coffee toy, Gary...

Behmor Connected Temperature Control Coffee Maker - $169.99 + $5 standard shipping


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> I found your next coffee toy, Gary...
> 
> Behmor Connected Temperature Control Coffee Maker - $169.99 + $5 standard shipping


This is what I get when I click the link.


----------



## JonA_CT

gryphonslair99 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I found your next coffee toy, Gary...
> 
> Behmor Connected Temperature Control Coffee Maker - $169.99 + $5 standard shipping
> 
> 
> 
> This is what I get when I click the link.
> View attachment 134662
Click to expand...


Nice! It sold out and was replaced by something different in the time between I posted it and you clicked on it.

C'est la vie.


----------



## table1349

The state of our youth these days.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I found your next coffee toy, Gary...
> 
> Behmor Connected Temperature Control Coffee Maker - $169.99 + $5 standard shipping
> 
> 
> 
> This is what I get when I click the link.
> View attachment 134662
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nice! It sold out and was replaced by something different in the time between I posted it and you clicked on it.
> 
> C'est la vie.
Click to expand...

I did find a review of it though:  Behmor Connected Coffee Brewer review


----------



## JonA_CT

gryphonslair99 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I found your next coffee toy, Gary...
> 
> Behmor Connected Temperature Control Coffee Maker - $169.99 + $5 standard shipping
> 
> 
> 
> This is what I get when I click the link.
> View attachment 134662
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nice! It sold out and was replaced by something different in the time between I posted it and you clicked on it.
> 
> C'est la vie.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I did find a review of it though:  Behmor Connected Coffee Brewer review
Click to expand...


They make it sound like I need it. Of course,  I probably don't. My $25 French Press and $40 electric kettle that is at least 8 years olds does a pretty admirable job.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I found your next coffee toy, Gary...
> 
> Behmor Connected Temperature Control Coffee Maker - $169.99 + $5 standard shipping


LOL ... too high tech for Gary.  He's old school.  I've been sharing my coffee with a lot of people ... and either they are all very gracious and kind souls humoring Gary ... or ... they all really really like my coffee. Until the coffee plant matures ... Gary is putting his coffee exploration on the back burner.  But, he has finally decided on a kitchen knife manufacturer and is slowly building a set of kitchen knives. Gary has three or four books on winemaking that he shall start to read.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I found your next coffee toy, Gary...
> 
> Behmor Connected Temperature Control Coffee Maker - $169.99 + $5 standard shipping
> 
> 
> 
> This is what I get when I click the link.
> View attachment 134662
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nice! It sold out and was replaced by something different in the time between I posted it and you clicked on it.
> 
> C'est la vie.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I did find a review of it though:  Behmor Connected Coffee Brewer review
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> They make it sound like I need it. Of course,  I probably don't. My $25 French Press and $40 electric kettle that is at least 8 years olds does a pretty admirable job.
Click to expand...

Gary has a friend who is a coffee nut.  He has cold drips and all sorts of very expensive espressos and siphons, et al. He told Gary that he was flying on Air France and they served him a French Press coffee.  He remarked that he had forgotten how good coffee is coming out of a simple French Press.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I found your next coffee toy, Gary...
> 
> Behmor Connected Temperature Control Coffee Maker - $169.99 + $5 standard shipping
> 
> 
> 
> This is what I get when I click the link.
> View attachment 134662
Click to expand...

Worked for Gary.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I found your next coffee toy, Gary...
> 
> Behmor Connected Temperature Control Coffee Maker - $169.99 + $5 standard shipping
> 
> 
> 
> This is what I get when I click the link.
> View attachment 134662
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Worked for Gary.
Click to expand...

They must have found another case or two that they forgot about.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm getting ready to settle on a part of the world and order a bulk load of beans. Evidently, coffees from Africa are what I really enjoy. I had a cup from Burundi this morning that was very enjoyable. Haven't gotten into any of the Americas-sourced coffees, although I do have a bag from Costa Rica and a bag from Guatemala to try still.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> I'm getting ready to settle on a part of the world and order a bulk load of beans. Evidently, coffees from Africa are what I really enjoy. I had a cup from Burundi this morning that was very enjoyable. Haven't gotten into any of the Americas-sourced coffees, although I do have a bag from Costa Rica and a bag from Guatemala to try still.


Dude, have you tried Kona?  Your bank account won't like it but your taste buds will.


----------



## Gary A.

Ethiopia, Sumatra and Costa Rica are strong contenders for Gary's coffee taste buds.


oh ... and a peaberry from somewhere in the South Pacific ... like the Solomons or somewhere ...


----------



## tirediron

Dealing with winter roads... Canadian style!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Dealing with winter roads... Canadian style!


That is the greatest story of the year!!! Gary is still laughing ... (granted this isn't a laughing matter ... lol ... but he is still laughing nonetheless)!  Let's turn our roads into ice rinks ... lol!!!

(But $300 for a used Zamboni is a good deal.)


----------



## table1349

How could you expect anything less from the same people that have this hair styling contest.


----------



## tirediron

Yeah?  And?


----------



## JonA_CT

Definitely hard to justify $23/lb for green beans when I can get beans from pretty much every other location in the world for $5-6 a pound. Then again...I'm easily paying a third of what I'd pay for this single origin coffee locally roasted, so I guess I could argue I'm ahead and splurge at some point. I also have some interest in trying some of the Geisha coffee from Central America which is in the same $20/lb range.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> Yeah?  And?


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> I'm getting ready to settle on a part of the world and order a bulk load of beans. Evidently, coffees from Africa are what I really enjoy. I had a cup from Burundi this morning that was very enjoyable. Haven't gotten into any of the Americas-sourced coffees, although I do have a bag from Costa Rica and a bag from Guatemala to try still.



Whenever I finally get to roasting my own, I'd like to start with Ethiopia. I figured I would start at the beginning of it all 



tirediron said:


> Dealing with winter roads... Canadian style!



Do you mean to tell me that I can have a Zamboni for only $300????  I SO want to make my own ice rink in the back yard!


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> Definitely hard to justify $23/lb for green beans when I can get beans from pretty much every other location in the world for $5-6 a pound. Then again...I'm easily paying a third of what I'd pay for this single origin coffee locally roasted, so I guess I could argue I'm ahead and splurge at some point. I also have some interest in trying some of the Geisha coffee from Central America which is in the same $20/lb range.


Good coffee is like a fine Scotch.  It's for enjoying, not for guzzling.  Neither should be drunk in excess.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Ethiopia, Sumatra and Costa Rica are strong contenders for Gary's coffee taste buds.
> 
> 
> oh ... and a peaberry from somewhere in the South Pacific ... like the Solomons or somewhere ...


By my count, the only thing Gary is missing from his coffeeana collection is his own Civet Cat.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ethiopia, Sumatra and Costa Rica are strong contenders for Gary's coffee taste buds.
> 
> 
> oh ... and a peaberry from somewhere in the South Pacific ... like the Solomons or somewhere ...
> 
> 
> 
> By my count, the only thing Gary is missing from his coffeeana collection is his own Civet Cat.
Click to expand...

LOL ... The Cook prefers tea.


----------



## table1349

I think he could use some Black Ivory Coffee as well.

Plus the dedicated brewer is quite unique.  It would look good sitting out for all to see.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> I think he could use some Black Ivory Coffee as well.
> 
> Plus the dedicated brewer is quite unique.  It would look good sitting out for all to see.


Not manly enough. Looks to Canadian...[emoji6]


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think he could use some Black Ivory Coffee as well.
> 
> Plus the dedicated brewer is quite unique.  It would look good sitting out for all to see.
> 
> 
> 
> Not manly enough. Looks to Canadian...[emoji6]
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> I think he could use some Black Ivory Coffee as well.
> 
> Plus the dedicated brewer is quite unique.  It would look good sitting out for all to see.


Gary doesn't drink enough coffee to warrant an Elephantidae size portion.  (He has sipped a cup of kopi luwak.) 

As to the Belgian Royal Balance Syphon Coffee Maker ... no thanks, much to flamboyant for Gary ... apparently John's cup of tea.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ethiopia, Sumatra and Costa Rica are strong contenders for Gary's coffee taste buds.
> 
> 
> oh ... and a peaberry from somewhere in the South Pacific ... like the Solomons or somewhere ...
> 
> 
> 
> By my count, the only thing Gary is missing from his coffeeana collection is his own Civet Cat.
Click to expand...

PS- Mary Lou is highly allergic to cats.


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think he could use some Black Ivory Coffee as well.
> 
> Plus the dedicated brewer is quite unique.  It would look good sitting out for all to see.
> 
> 
> 
> Not manly enough. Looks to Canadian...[emoji6]
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Just kidding bud...lol


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think he could use some Black Ivory Coffee as well.
> 
> Plus the dedicated brewer is quite unique.  It would look good sitting out for all to see.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary doesn't drink enough coffee to warrant an Elephantidae size portion.  (He has sipped a cup of kopi luwak.)
> 
> As to the Belgian Royal Balance Syphon Coffee Maker ... no thanks, much to flamboyant for Gary ... apparently John's cup of tea.
Click to expand...

Oh my, it's Belgian and so am i, @tirediron will be pleased...


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm getting ready to settle on a part of the world and order a bulk load of beans. Evidently, coffees from Africa are what I really enjoy. I had a cup from Burundi this morning that was very enjoyable. Haven't gotten into any of the Americas-sourced coffees, although I do have a bag from Costa Rica and a bag from Guatemala to try still.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Whenever I finally get to roasting my own, I'd like to start with Ethiopia. I figured I would start at the beginning of it all
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dealing with winter roads... Canadian style!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Do you mean to tell me that I can have a Zamboni for only $300????  I SO want to make my own ice rink in the back yard!
Click to expand...

And don't forget - that's $300 Canadian.  So you might be able to pick one up down here for about $225


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think he could use some Black Ivory Coffee as well.
> 
> Plus the dedicated brewer is quite unique.  It would look good sitting out for all to see.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary doesn't drink enough coffee to warrant an Elephantidae size portion.  (He has sipped a cup of kopi luwak.)
> 
> As to the Belgian Royal Balance Syphon Coffee Maker ... no thanks, much to flamboyant for Gary ... apparently John's cup of tea.
Click to expand...

Me thinks you misunderstand. It is not elephantidae size portions.  The beans go in the elephants intake manifold as it were and exit through the tail pipe, to be collected, cleaned and roasted.  When they say that Shite is expensive coffee they aren't kidding.


----------



## JonA_CT

My wife went to bed early tonight. The morning sickness has really been kicking her butt, even with the medication they gave her. It's a Catch 22 -- the medicine makes her really drowsy, so she's constantly trying to balance her nausea with her sleepiness. I'm hoping that she'll be through this part in a few weeks.

When she goes to bed early, I end up staying up way later than I would normally. I just get started down all of these different rabbit holes with reading or writing or editing photos or whatever with no one to keep me in check. I think it's time to take the dog for his last walk of the evening and turn in before I get started on something else.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> My wife went to bed early tonight. The morning sickness has really been kicking her butt, even with the medication they gave her. It's a Catch 22 -- the medicine makes her really drowsy, so she's constantly trying to balance her nausea with her sleepiness. I'm hoping that she'll be through this part in a few weeks.
> 
> When she goes to bed early, I end up staying up way later than I would normally. I just get started down all of these different rabbit holes with reading or writing or editing photos or whatever with no one to keep me in check. I think it's time to take the dog for his last walk of the evening and turn in before I get started on something else.


Go To BED!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

On the phone for a great deal of the night with a very sick, dear friend. Him and I have both had our health challenges in the past year so I guess he felt comfortable calling me. It wasn't a good call either, it was a list of things "I need you to help me with when I'm gone" call.  Ironic he called, Gary A. and I were just PM'ing about him today.

On a stupid note, I went in for weight watchers weigh in and I stayed the same. Still got snarky looks but I think it was because I walked around with a bulge in my pants. I ate some (3 bars) weight watchers caramel bars today as a snack (9 points), it may have reacted with some medicine I have been taking. I called the doctor office and apparently it could be the culprit. My wife is cool with it.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like gooey caramel weight watcher bars....


----------



## SquarePeg

Crazy icy here this morning. There was a 10 car accident a few blocks away on my street. Also part of one of our major highways was shut down this morning due to a 50 car accident according to the news. Schools open on time no delay I think because there's a half-day today and because 90% of the kids didn't go to school yesterday with the parade!  Just heard from my daughter that they arrived safely at school. It was my neighbors turn to drive the carpool. Not me thankfully!  Traffic into Boston is at a standstill.   Glad to be a telecommuter today.


----------



## JonA_CT

I heard about those accidents on the radio (I usually listen to WEEI on the way into work). That's crazy...glad you and your daughter are safe and not sitting in traffic. I heard that they reported 2/100" of ice...crazy how little it takes to cause huge problems.


----------



## jcdeboever

No ice here. I'm off to doctors, this medication has me all goofed up. I've got hives all over and having breathing trouble. No more bulge. The med is for pain, it is a softer version from what I had been taking but not going to work. I may just convince him to let me try going drugless. This sucks.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think he could use some Black Ivory Coffee as well.
> 
> Plus the dedicated brewer is quite unique.  It would look good sitting out for all to see.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary doesn't drink enough coffee to warrant an Elephantidae size portion.  (He has sipped a cup of kopi luwak.)
> 
> As to the Belgian Royal Balance Syphon Coffee Maker ... no thanks, much to flamboyant for Gary ... apparently John's cup of tea.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Me thinks you misunderstand. It is not elephantidae size portions.  The beans go in the elephants intake manifold as it were and exit through the tail pipe, to be collected, cleaned and roasted.  When they say that Shite is expensive coffee they aren't kidding.
Click to expand...

Gary was eating like Anthony Bourdain before cable Tv.  If presented with a cup of Black Ivory, Gary would drink it.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think he could use some Black Ivory Coffee as well.
> 
> Plus the dedicated brewer is quite unique.  It would look good sitting out for all to see.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary doesn't drink enough coffee to warrant an Elephantidae size portion.  (He has sipped a cup of kopi luwak.)
> 
> As to the Belgian Royal Balance Syphon Coffee Maker ... no thanks, much to flamboyant for Gary ... apparently John's cup of tea.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Me thinks you misunderstand. It is not elephantidae size portions.  The beans go in the elephants intake manifold as it were and exit through the tail pipe, to be collected, cleaned and roasted.  When they say that Shite is expensive coffee they aren't kidding.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary was eating like Anthony Bourdain before cable Tv.  If presented with a cup of Black Ivory, Gary would drink it.
Click to expand...

Well if that's the case try the recipe. (yes I have)

1 Large Possum (skinned and gutted)
8 Big Taters
2 big spoons of butter
1 big spoon of sugar
a pinch or two of salt
Thyme, marjoram or pepper to taste
1 cooking pot with a good tight lid

Put the possum in the pot with just enough water to keep it from burning, cover with a good tight lid. Possums take longer to cook than taters so wait until your possum has stewed for about an hour before you add the taters to the pot. Place the taters along the sides of the possum and mix in sugar, salt and your choice of thyme, marjoram or pepper to taste.

Every 15 minutes or so take off the lid and baste the possum with the juices. By now the possums own fat will have rendered and the water will now make some delicious possum gravy.

When the possum is tender and the meat falls off the bones mix a little flour, if needed, to the water/possum fat and tater mixture.


If you need a possum let me know and I will run one over for you.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Rained last night.  Gary used to toss the captured rain barrel water onto the plants.  But now he is draining the rain barrels out to the street.  He hates wasting water, but any more and all the plants will need snorkels. The front pig feeder is nearly empty, again.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think he could use some Black Ivory Coffee as well.
> 
> Plus the dedicated brewer is quite unique.  It would look good sitting out for all to see.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary doesn't drink enough coffee to warrant an Elephantidae size portion.  (He has sipped a cup of kopi luwak.)
> 
> As to the Belgian Royal Balance Syphon Coffee Maker ... no thanks, much to flamboyant for Gary ... apparently John's cup of tea.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Me thinks you misunderstand. It is not elephantidae size portions.  The beans go in the elephants intake manifold as it were and exit through the tail pipe, to be collected, cleaned and roasted.  When they say that Shite is expensive coffee they aren't kidding.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary was eating like Anthony Bourdain before cable Tv.  If presented with a cup of Black Ivory, Gary would drink it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well if that's the case try the recipe. (yes I have)
> 
> 1 Large Possum (skinned and gutted)
> 8 Big Taters
> 2 big spoons of butter
> 1 big spoon of sugar
> a pinch or two of salt
> Thyme, marjoram or pepper to taste
> 1 cooking pot with a good tight lid
> 
> Put the possum in the pot with just enough water to keep it from burning, cover with a good tight lid. Possums take longer to cook than taters so wait until your possum has stewed for about an hour before you add the taters to the pot. Place the taters along the sides of the possum and mix in sugar, salt and your choice of thyme, marjoram or pepper to taste.
> 
> Every 15 minutes or so take off the lid and baste the possum with the juices. By now the possums own fat will have rendered and the water will now make some delicious possum gravy.
> 
> When the possum is tender and the meat falls off the bones mix a little flour, if needed, to the water/possum fat and tater mixture.
> 
> If you need a possum let me know and I will run one over for you.
Click to expand...

Gary has eaten much worse.  In Gary's youth, he traveled the world quite a bit ... he was on the road 1/3rd to 2/3rd of the time.  Often he spent months to a year on the road.  Most of the time he didn't end up in the 'best' of countries.  For entertainment, in less than best countries, he would eat at an indigenous/locals-only type of restaurant. He would order an item with the longest name ... then make himself eat it.  It was a game Gary played ... he lost most of the time.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think he could use some Black Ivory Coffee as well.
> 
> Plus the dedicated brewer is quite unique.  It would look good sitting out for all to see.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary doesn't drink enough coffee to warrant an Elephantidae size portion.  (He has sipped a cup of kopi luwak.)
> 
> As to the Belgian Royal Balance Syphon Coffee Maker ... no thanks, much to flamboyant for Gary ... apparently John's cup of tea.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Me thinks you misunderstand. It is not elephantidae size portions.  The beans go in the elephants intake manifold as it were and exit through the tail pipe, to be collected, cleaned and roasted.  When they say that Shite is expensive coffee they aren't kidding.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary was eating like Anthony Bourdain before cable Tv.  If presented with a cup of Black Ivory, Gary would drink it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well if that's the case try the recipe. (yes I have)
> 
> 1 Large Possum (skinned and gutted)
> 8 Big Taters
> 2 big spoons of butter
> 1 big spoon of sugar
> a pinch or two of salt
> Thyme, marjoram or pepper to taste
> 1 cooking pot with a good tight lid
> 
> Put the possum in the pot with just enough water to keep it from burning, cover with a good tight lid. Possums take longer to cook than taters so wait until your possum has stewed for about an hour before you add the taters to the pot. Place the taters along the sides of the possum and mix in sugar, salt and your choice of thyme, marjoram or pepper to taste.
> 
> Every 15 minutes or so take off the lid and baste the possum with the juices. By now the possums own fat will have rendered and the water will now make some delicious possum gravy.
> 
> When the possum is tender and the meat falls off the bones mix a little flour, if needed, to the water/possum fat and tater mixture.
> 
> If you need a possum let me know and I will run one over for you.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary has eaten much worse.  In Gary's youth, he traveled the world quite a bit ... he was on the road 1/3rd to 2/3rd of the time.  Often he spent months to a year on the road.  Most of the time he didn't end up in the 'best' of countries.  For entertainment, in less than best countries, he would eat at an indigenous/locals-only type of restaurant. He would order an item with the longest name ... then make himself eat it.  It was a game Gary played ... he lost most of the time.
Click to expand...

Same here, I have eaten many diverse and interesting things.  Rat, fried tarantula, bugs and larvae of all sorts.   Never got to try Rươi (Nereididae sandworms) and I am not dumb enough to try Sannakji (live octopus).  Little critters have been known to kill people by sticking in their throats.  The one dish I did turn down was Tiết canh.  I've eaten many a blood pudding, but I don't do fresh blood.


----------



## Peeb

gryphonslair99 said:


> ...
> Same here, I have eaten many diverse and interesting things.  Rat, fried tarantula, bugs and larvae of all sorts.   Never got to try Rươi (Nereididae sandworms) and I am not dumb enough to try Sannakji (live octopus).  Little critters have been known to kill people by sticking in their throats.  The one dish I did turn down was Tiết canh.  I've eaten many a blood pudding, but I don't do fresh blood.


In the words of the late great Charles Schultz of Peanuts fame:  "Blick".


----------



## table1349

Peeb said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...
> Same here, I have eaten many diverse and interesting things.  Rat, fried tarantula, bugs and larvae of all sorts.   Never got to try Rươi (Nereididae sandworms) and I am not dumb enough to try Sannakji (live octopus).  Little critters have been known to kill people by sticking in their throats.  The one dish I did turn down was Tiết canh.  I've eaten many a blood pudding, but I don't do fresh blood.
> 
> 
> 
> In the words of the late great Charles Schultz of Peanuts fame:  "Blick".
Click to expand...

You have to give some of them a try.  Here in America we are to prissy about what we eat.  Blood pudding is a very European dish with variants in most countries.  I don't do live blood for the health aspect of the blood.  Much like eggs.  I don't do raw eggs in general.  I will use eggs raw if necessary, but only the expensive pasteurized eggs in things like Caesar Salad dressing.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Crazy icy here this morning. There was a 10 car accident a few blocks away on my street. Also part of one of our major highways was shut down this morning due to a 50 car accident according to the news. Schools open on time no delay I think because there's a half-day today and because 90% of the kids didn't go to school yesterday with the parade!  Just heard from my daughter that they arrived safely at school. It was my neighbors turn to drive the carpool. Not me thankfully!  Traffic into Boston is at a standstill.   Glad to be a telecommuter today.



Holy Shnikies! Ice is no joke. I've dealt with it more times than I care to remember when I lived in Pittsburgh. I'll take snow to plough through any day.

Speaking of which, it's supposedly going to hit 60 or something this afternoon (WHAT IN THE ACTUAL JAMMING JAM?) and then start dropping. Snow will start overnight, so I'm keeping all available digits and limbs crossed for a snow day


----------



## Peeb

gryphonslair99 said:


> Peeb said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...
> Same here, I have eaten many diverse and interesting things.  Rat, fried tarantula, bugs and larvae of all sorts.   Never got to try Rươi (Nereididae sandworms) and I am not dumb enough to try Sannakji (live octopus).  Little critters have been known to kill people by sticking in their throats.  The one dish I did turn down was Tiết canh.  I've eaten many a blood pudding, but I don't do fresh blood.
> 
> 
> 
> In the words of the late great Charles Schultz of Peanuts fame:  "Blick".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You have to give some of them a try.  Here in America we are to prissy about what we eat.  Blood pudding is a very European dish with variants in most countries.  I don't do live blood for the health aspect of the blood.  Much like eggs.  I don't do raw eggs in general.  I will use eggs raw if necessary, but only the expensive pasteurized eggs in things like Caesar Salad dressing.
Click to expand...

I agree with the concept.  Escargot in France- cool.  Calimari in the Med? You bet.

Maybe it's just that I'm home from work nursing myself back to health with zero appetite, but I gotta stay with "blick" for most of that other stuff.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Speaking of which,* it's supposedly going to hit 60 or something this afternoon* (WHAT IN THE ACTUAL JAMMING JAM?) and then start dropping. Snow will start overnight, so I'm keeping all available digits and limbs crossed for a snow day



This is what caused the problem.  With the temps today expected to soar, and the snow turning to rain yesterday - the overnight freeze was worse than expected and didn't warm up as early as they had predicted so - crazy ice everywhere.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Holy Shnikies!


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Speaking of which,* it's supposedly going to hit 60 or something this afternoon* (WHAT IN THE ACTUAL JAMMING JAM?) and then start dropping. Snow will start overnight, so I'm keeping all available digits and limbs crossed for a snow day
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is what caused the problem.  With the temps today expected to soar, and the snow turning to rain yesterday - the overnight freeze was worse than expected and didn't warm up as early as they had predicted so - crazy ice everywhere.
Click to expand...

Well peddle yourself this way.  It's supposed to be 80 this weekend.


----------



## Gary A.

Fresh meat/fish and indigenous/locals-only eateries is a contradictory term.


----------



## table1349

Peeb said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Peeb said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...
> Same here, I have eaten many diverse and interesting things.  Rat, fried tarantula, bugs and larvae of all sorts.   Never got to try Rươi (Nereididae sandworms) and I am not dumb enough to try Sannakji (live octopus).  Little critters have been known to kill people by sticking in their throats.  The one dish I did turn down was Tiết canh.  I've eaten many a blood pudding, but I don't do fresh blood.
> 
> 
> 
> In the words of the late great Charles Schultz of Peanuts fame:  "Blick".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You have to give some of them a try.  Here in America we are to prissy about what we eat.  Blood pudding is a very European dish with variants in most countries.  I don't do live blood for the health aspect of the blood.  Much like eggs.  I don't do raw eggs in general.  I will use eggs raw if necessary, but only the expensive pasteurized eggs in things like Caesar Salad dressing.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I agree with the concept.  Escargot in France- cool.  Calimari in the Med? You bet.
> 
> Maybe it's just that I'm home from work nursing myself back to health with zero appetite, but I gotta stay with "blick" for most of that other stuff.
Click to expand...


*Jewish Penicillin:*

1 whole chicken, 3-4 lbs.
6 large carrots, peeled and sliced
6 celery stalks, peeled and sliced (including leaves)
1 brown (yellow) onion, skin on, rinsed and sliced in two halves
Handful of fresh parsley
Handful of fresh dill
2 tsp black peppercorns
3 whole cloves (optional- I add more because I like a strong clove flavor)
2 bay leaves
Kosher salt
1/4 tsp saffron threads (optional-- adds a rich yellow color and depth of flavor to the broth; only use high quality expensive saffron, the other kind has no flavor)
Total Time: 2 Hours
Servings: 3-3 1/2 quarts of soup broth
Kosher Key: Meat

Matzo balls are great in this as well.  Personally I like floaters, but sinkers are just as good.


----------



## Gary A.

Which reminds me I need to email my meatball recipe to people from the party.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Which reminds me I need to email my meatball recipe to people from the party.


You could post it here for those of us you Didn't invite to the party.


----------



## snowbear

Haggis (seasoned with Scotch), neeps and taties.

When I was a kid, the treat at Thanksgiving was my grandmother's homemade ravioli; it was the only time I got it.  When I was 18 or 19, I drove her to the Italian grocers's to get stuff for making it: calve's brains.  Knowing that never stopped me from looking forward to it.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like meatballs


----------



## table1349

For those of you in the Northeast, looks like time to get that snow shovel ready.  Weatherman here indicate that the Northeast part of the country is looking at a foot of snow or more.


----------



## JonA_CT

12-18" forecasted here, with blizzard conditions possible. Almost "hide yo wife, hide yo kids" status, but we've had a bunch of storms like this the last few years. 

The most annoying part is living in a city...we don't have any place to put the snow. I know it's a bigger problem in bigger cities, but it's enough to put the schools out until Monday probably. Too many kids need to walk to school, and this amount of snow makes it hard to clear off side walks.


----------



## table1349

I will think of you as I am grilling burgers Saturday with our mid to upper 70's weather.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> 12-18" forecasted here, with blizzard conditions possible. Almost "hide yo wife, hide yo kids" status, but we've had a bunch of storms like this the last few years.
> 
> The most annoying part is living in a city...we don't have any place to put the snow. I know it's a bigger problem in bigger cities, but it's enough to put the schools out until Monday probably. Too many kids need to walk to school, and this amount of snow makes it hard to clear off side walks.


Be safe, stay warm.


----------



## snowbear

Snow to the north and west of the city, here.  I think I heard up to 3".  We've had three days of upper 40s+ temps - I don't expect to see much of anything but rain where we live.


----------



## table1349

Don't forget the wine.


----------



## JonA_CT

gryphonslair99 said:


> Don't forget the wine.



I need a little bit more fortification...


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> 12-18" forecasted here, with blizzard conditions possible. Almost "hide yo wife, hide yo kids" status, but we've had a bunch of storms like this the last few years.
> 
> The most annoying part is living in a city...we don't have any place to put the snow. I know it's a bigger problem in bigger cities, but it's enough to put the schools out until Monday probably. Too many kids need to walk to school, and this amount of snow makes it hard to clear off side walks.



Y'all need a snow dragon.

DC carts it all to the RFK stadium parking lot where it mixes with cinder and airborne crap until we have large, black mounds that are hard as concrete and stay around for a month.  In the suburbs, the same thing happens at shopping centers.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Which reminds me I need to email my meatball recipe to people from the party.
> 
> 
> 
> You could post it here for those of us you Didn't invite to the party.
Click to expand...

It wasn't Gary's party, soooo he had no control over the invite list, (had it been Gary's party you most likely would still have not have been on the invited list ).

THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL COOKBOOK
Sweet and Sour Meatballs

2 lbs. Ground Beef
1 Potato (2 small)
1 Onion
2 Eggs
1 Teaspoon Salt
30 oz. Tomato Sauce
1 cup Brown Sugar
½ cup Lemon Juice
Optional: ½ to 1 cup Booze (Your call on the booze. Gary uses his homemade orange liqueur.)

Place ground beef into a large bowl.  Grate potato, onion and add to beef in bowl.  Add eggs and salt.  Mix well together and form into balls. Dump tomato sauce, brown sugar and lemon juice in skillet and bring to boil.  Lower heat to simmer.  Add meatballs, gently turning to coat with sauce.  Cover and simmer 1 hour.  Skim off fat.  Serve with rice or noodles. Serves 6-8


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> I will think of you as I am grilling burgers Saturday with our mid to upper 70's weather.


Mid 70's here today.


----------



## Derrel

Sitting here with wool socks on, and my feet on top of a heated ricebag...it's not "that" cold outside, only 38 or so. But man..this RAIN!!! We might have another two inches worth in the next few days. Uggh!


----------



## table1349

Derrel said:


> Sitting here with wool socks on, and my feet on top of a heated ricebag...it's not "that" cold outside, only 38 or so. But man..this RAIN!!! We might have another two inches worth in the next few days. Uggh!


I thought that was called Portland Mist.
movingtoportland


----------



## jcdeboever

Derrel said:


> Sitting here with wool socks on, and my feet on top of a heated ricebag...it's not "that" cold outside, only 38 or so. But man..this RAIN!!! We might have another two inches worth in the next few days. Uggh!


38° is shorts weather here in Michigan.


----------



## tirediron

Derrel said:


> Sitting here with wool socks on, and my feet on top of a heated ricebag...it's not "that" cold outside, only 38 or so. But man..this RAIN!!! We might have another two inches worth in the next few days. Uggh!


Quit'cher moanin'!!!!   There's probably 4" of snow on the ground here!


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sitting here with wool socks on, and my feet on top of a heated ricebag...it's not "that" cold outside, only 38 or so. But man..this RAIN!!! We might have another two inches worth in the next few days. Uggh!
> 
> 
> 
> Quit'cher moanin'!!!!   There's probably 4" of snow on the ground here!
Click to expand...

Oh, you mean SUMMER!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary, dressed in shortsleeves, just came in from the backyard BBQ after tossing a reverse sear on tonight's dinner.


----------



## SquarePeg

Nicely done @Gary A.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Nicely done @Gary A.


Gary oven bagged and marinaded the Tri-Tip in the morning.  In the late afternoon he dumped in some rosemary then tossed it in the oven at 200F.  When the meat was near its final tempeture Gary heated up the BBQ to high-high and put a reverse sear on the meat.  Mary Lou described it as wonderful.


----------



## Frank F.

I thought possums are Australian bag rats not to mistake for US opossums. Who can help?

I love cooked innards but I do not like to eat blood in any form. You can call that a religious prejudice although I am Roman Catholic and Paulus' no-blood-recommondation concerned the blood of Gladiators that was sucked by people from the fresh kill after the fights....

So I love The Haggis!!!! Here is a modern form served without the skin. I ate that in 2016 in Killin, a village north of Edinburgh, Scotland.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nicely done @Gary A.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary oven bagged and marinaded the Tri-Tip in the morning.  In the late afternoon he dumped in some rosemary then tossed it in the oven at 200F.  When the meat was near its final tempeture Gary heated up the BBQ to high-high and put a reverse sear on the meat.  Mary Lou described it as wonderful.
Click to expand...


That sounds delish. What do you use for a marinade?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nicely done @Gary A.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary oven bagged and marinaded the Tri-Tip in the morning.  In the late afternoon he dumped in some rosemary then tossed it in the oven at 200F.  When the meat was near its final tempeture Gary heated up the BBQ to high-high and put a reverse sear on the meat.  Mary Lou described it as wonderful.
Click to expand...

Juicy goodness


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> I thought possums are Australian bag rats not to mistake for US opossums. Who can help?
> 
> I love cooked innards but I do not like to eat blood in any form. You can call that a religious prejudice although I am Roman Catholic and Paulus' no-blood-recommondation concerned the blood of Gladiators that was sucked by people from the fresh kill after the fights....
> 
> So I love The Haggis!!!! Here is a modern form served without the skin. I ate that in 2016 in Killin, a village north of Edinburgh, Scotland.
> 
> View attachment 134789


Man, that looks yummy


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I thought possums are Australian bag rats not to mistake for US opossums. Who can help?
> 
> I love cooked innards but I do not like to eat blood in any form. You can call that a religious prejudice although I am Roman Catholic and Paulus' no-blood-recommondation concerned the blood of Gladiators that was sucked by people from the fresh kill after the fights....
> 
> So I love The Haggis!!!! Here is a modern form served without the skin. I ate that in 2016 in Killin, a village north of Edinburgh, Scotland.
> 
> View attachment 134789
> 
> 
> 
> Man, that looks yummy
Click to expand...


That is lighting, experience and world class equipment. The Neo Noct at f/5.6.

Plus I explicitly asked the cook to make it look nice for the photo.


----------



## JonA_CT

Thunder snow. Solid.


----------



## SquarePeg

Our city canceled school for today - this was announced yesterday afternoon well before the first flake was scheduled to fall.  Very unusual for our town to make any proactive decisions.  Also canceled are city services like trash pick-up and recycling - City Hall offices will close at noon.  Grocery stores were a nightmare last night and this morning as people panic and rush out to buy milk and bread as if they will never eat again.  I'm sure that 99% of the families in my town could easily live off the food in their cupboards and freezers for a month if needed.  I know we could survive several months without power or access to stores should it ever be necessary.  I always keep emergency supplies and firewood on hand.  While I'm not a doomsday prepper, I'm definitely a flu epidemic, major power outage, unplanned shelter in place prepper.  

The snow started a few minutes ago but it's coming down pretty light right now.  Very windy here and "thunder snow" is expected.  The dog will not be amused.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Our city canceled school for today - this was announced yesterday afternoon well before the first flake was scheduled to fall.  Very unusual for our town to make any proactive decisions.  Also canceled are city services like trash pick-up and recycling - City Hall offices will close at noon.  Grocery stores were a nightmare last night and this morning as people panic and rush out to buy milk and bread as if they will never eat again.  I'm sure that 99% of the families in my town could easily live off the food in their cupboards and freezers for a month if needed.  I know we could survive several months without power or access to stores should it ever be necessary.  I always keep emergency supplies and firewood on hand.  While I'm not a doomsday prepper, I'm definitely a flu epidemic, major power outage, unplanned shelter in place prepper.
> 
> The snow started a few minutes ago but it's coming down pretty light right now.  Very windy here and "thunder snow" is expected.  The dog will not be amused.


I do believe we got the start of a Farm Girl here.   Can you milk a cow or drive a tractor?


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> I thought possums are Australian bag rats not to mistake for US opossums. Who can help?
> 
> I love cooked innards but I do not like to eat blood in any form. You can call that a religious prejudice although I am Roman Catholic and Paulus' no-blood-recommondation concerned the blood of Gladiators that was sucked by people from the fresh kill after the fights....
> 
> So I love The Haggis!!!! Here is a modern form served without the skin. I ate that in 2016 in Killin, a village north of Edinburgh, Scotland.
> 
> View attachment 134789


True, a 'Possum' is different than an 'Opossum'.  While both creatures are marsupials and even look somewhat similar, they are both very different genetically.  The Opossum's name is derived from the Native American name for the creature as interpreted by early English colonists. The Possum is related closely to the Kangaroo.  The Opossum has a hairless tail while the Possum has a furry tail is is generally more cuddly looking and cute.

Most people in the U.S. have shorten 'Opossum' to 'Possum' not knowing of the Australian/South Pacific creature of the same name. Interestingly, both creatures play 'possum' when under stress.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> I do believe we got the start of a Farm Girl here.   Can you milk a cow or drive a tractor?


Can't everyone?


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do believe we got the start of a Farm Girl here.   Can you milk a cow or drive a tractor?
> 
> 
> 
> Can't everyone?
Click to expand...

What do you think?


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nicely done @Gary A.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary oven bagged and marinaded the Tri-Tip in the morning.  In the late afternoon he dumped in some rosemary then tossed it in the oven at 200F.  When the meat was near its final temperature Gary heated up the BBQ to high-high and put a reverse sear on the meat.  Mary Lou described it as wonderful.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That sounds delish. What do you use for a marinade?
Click to expand...

Nothing special, just stuff I find laying around the kitchen. First a rub of seasoned salt (not much), black pepper, lemon zest, chili powder (backyard chili's dried and ground) and some rosemary branches.  Next some red wine (of course), Gary's Famous Homemade BBQ Sauce, a splash of liquid smoke (as this will be oven cooked) and some homemade orange liqueur (for a bit of sweetness).  All was dumped into an oven bag and tied off.  The oven bag was stuffed into a Dutch Oven and set into the frig until dinner time.

When dinner time arrived, Gary put a few slits into the bag, inserted a remote thermometer probe into the meat, turned the oven to 200F and inserted the whole mess into the oven. 60 minutes to 90 minutes later, the meat reached an internal temp of 145F which is done.  Gary pulled the Dutch oven out and threw onto a very hot BBQ grill to sear the outside and give it a bit of crunch. (Gary also seared the rosemary branches to add what real smoke he could to the edges.)  Mmmmhhh ... maybe three or four minutes per side. (Gary should have removed the meat when the meat temp hit about 125F and let the sear rise the temp to 145F ... so Gary slightly overcooked the meat.)


----------



## limr

Snow day, hosers. It is white out there. I mean _white._


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do believe we got the start of a Farm Girl here.   Can you milk a cow or drive a tractor?
> 
> 
> 
> Can't everyone?
Click to expand...

Gary has never driven a tractor ... but he is an expert with a forklift and a front end loader.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do believe we got the start of a Farm Girl here.   Can you milk a cow or drive a tractor?
> 
> 
> 
> Can't everyone?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary has never driven a tractor ... but he is an expert with a forklift and a front end loader.
Click to expand...

Pushing is one thing, pulling is another.


----------



## SquarePeg

gryphonslair99 said:


> I do believe we got the start of a Farm Girl here. Can you milk a cow or drive a tractor?



I tried to milk a cow once when we took my daughter's girl scout troop to a farm for a field trip.  Not exactly my wheel house.  On the other hand, I can drive a stick and am fully confident in my ability to drive anything with wheels.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Snow day, hosers. It is white out there. I mean _white._
> View attachment 134801



limr land of loveliness


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do believe we got the start of a Farm Girl here.   Can you milk a cow or drive a tractor?
> 
> 
> 
> Can't everyone?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What do you think?
Click to expand...

Mehh... one too many wobbly-pops at lunch is all that is.


----------



## jcdeboever

Do people hand milks cows anymore? They hook them up to a machine from what I have seen in my neck of the woods. I suppose in Amish land, they still do it but that's another subject.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Do people hand milks cows anymore? They hook them up to a machine from what I have seen in my neck of the woods. I suppose in Amish land, they still do it but that's another subject.


Oh heck yes.  Why buy the milk when you can get it for free.  All it takes for a family of 4 is one milk cow.  Plenty of milk, cream and if you are ambitious enough, home made butter.  Tastes better than that pasteurized stuff and you know where it came from.  Same with eggs.  Fresh eggs are the best thing you can eat or cook with.  They don't come much fresher when you gather them daily.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Do people hand milks cows anymore? They hook them up to a machine from what I have seen in my neck of the woods. I suppose in Amish land, they still do it but that's another subject.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh heck yes.  Why buy the milk when you can get it for free.  All it takes for a family of 4 is one milk cow.  Plenty of milk, cream and if you are ambitious enough, home made butter.  Tastes better than that pasteurized stuff and you know where it came from.  Same with eggs.  Fresh eggs are the best thing you can eat or cook with.  They don't come much fresher when you gather them daily.
Click to expand...


Are they nice to you? Or do they bite like seals?


----------



## table1349

If you warm your hands first they are.  Plus a little udder butter never hurts.   Damn good stuff for dry cracked hands as well. ‍


----------



## Frank F.

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do believe we got the start of a Farm Girl here.   Can you milk a cow or drive a tractor?
> 
> 
> 
> Can't everyone?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What do you think?
Click to expand...


I can milk goats and sheep and produce cheese from the milk. Cows are a bit bigger but the idea is the same is'nit?

We had tractors on our farm which I drove but these were old and small compared to the huge modern giants


----------



## table1349

Frank F. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do believe we got the start of a Farm Girl here.   Can you milk a cow or drive a tractor?
> 
> 
> 
> Can't everyone?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What do you think?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I can milk goats and sheep. Cows are a bit bigger but the idea is the sam is'nit?
> 
> We had tractors on our farm but these were old and small compared to the huge modern giants
Click to expand...

Pretty much the same.   Larger teats but the process is the same.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like teats


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> I like teats


Well try one of these.  Calves actually do love them.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Our city canceled school for today - this was announced yesterday afternoon well before the first flake was scheduled to fall.  Very unusual for our town to make any proactive decisions.  Also canceled are city services like trash pick-up and recycling - City Hall offices will close at noon.  Grocery stores were a nightmare last night and this morning as people panic and rush out to buy milk and bread as if they will never eat again.  I'm sure that 99% of the families in my town could easily live off the food in their cupboards and freezers for a month if needed.  I know we could survive several months without power or access to stores should it ever be necessary.  I always keep emergency supplies and firewood on hand.  While I'm not a doomsday prepper, I'm definitely a flu epidemic, major power outage, unplanned shelter in place prepper.
> 
> The snow started a few minutes ago but it's coming down pretty light right now.  Very windy here and "thunder snow" is expected.  The dog will not be amused.





jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Do people hand milks cows anymore? They hook them up to a machine from what I have seen in my neck of the woods. I suppose in Amish land, they still do it but that's another subject.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh heck yes.  Why buy the milk when you can get it for free.  All it takes for a family of 4 is one milk cow.  Plenty of milk, cream and if you are ambitious enough, home made butter.  Tastes better than that pasteurized stuff and you know where it came from.  Same with eggs.  Fresh eggs are the best thing you can eat or cook with.  They don't come much fresher when you gather them daily.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Are they nice to you? Or do they bite like seals?
Click to expand...

They're gentle. We used to sneak out to the fields and ride them when Gary was a kid.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our city canceled school for today - this was announced yesterday afternoon well before the first flake was scheduled to fall.  Very unusual for our town to make any proactive decisions.  Also canceled are city services like trash pick-up and recycling - City Hall offices will close at noon.  Grocery stores were a nightmare last night and this morning as people panic and rush out to buy milk and bread as if they will never eat again.  I'm sure that 99% of the families in my town could easily live off the food in their cupboards and freezers for a month if needed.  I know we could survive several months without power or access to stores should it ever be necessary.  I always keep emergency supplies and firewood on hand.  While I'm not a doomsday prepper, I'm definitely a flu epidemic, major power outage, unplanned shelter in place prepper.
> 
> The snow started a few minutes ago but it's coming down pretty light right now.  Very windy here and "thunder snow" is expected.  The dog will not be amused.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Do people hand milks cows anymore? They hook them up to a machine from what I have seen in my neck of the woods. I suppose in Amish land, they still do it but that's another subject.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh heck yes.  Why buy the milk when you can get it for free.  All it takes for a family of 4 is one milk cow.  Plenty of milk, cream and if you are ambitious enough, home made butter.  Tastes better than that pasteurized stuff and you know where it came from.  Same with eggs.  Fresh eggs are the best thing you can eat or cook with.  They don't come much fresher when you gather them daily.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Are they nice to you? Or do they bite like seals?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They're gentle. We used to sneak out to the fields and ride them when Gary was a kid.
Click to expand...

Gary in his younger days.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our city canceled school for today - this was announced yesterday afternoon well before the first flake was scheduled to fall.  Very unusual for our town to make any proactive decisions.  Also canceled are city services like trash pick-up and recycling - City Hall offices will close at noon.  Grocery stores were a nightmare last night and this morning as people panic and rush out to buy milk and bread as if they will never eat again.  I'm sure that 99% of the families in my town could easily live off the food in their cupboards and freezers for a month if needed.  I know we could survive several months without power or access to stores should it ever be necessary.  I always keep emergency supplies and firewood on hand.  While I'm not a doomsday prepper, I'm definitely a flu epidemic, major power outage, unplanned shelter in place prepper.
> 
> The snow started a few minutes ago but it's coming down pretty light right now.  Very windy here and "thunder snow" is expected.  The dog will not be amused.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Do people hand milks cows anymore? They hook them up to a machine from what I have seen in my neck of the woods. I suppose in Amish land, they still do it but that's another subject.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh heck yes.  Why buy the milk when you can get it for free.  All it takes for a family of 4 is one milk cow.  Plenty of milk, cream and if you are ambitious enough, home made butter.  Tastes better than that pasteurized stuff and you know where it came from.  Same with eggs.  Fresh eggs are the best thing you can eat or cook with.  They don't come much fresher when you gather them daily.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Are they nice to you? Or do they bite like seals?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They're gentle. We used to sneak out to the fields and ride them when Gary was a kid.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary in his younger days.
Click to expand...


lol....that guy looks like an old lion football player whose name escapes me at the moment... where did you take that?


----------



## Derrel

Isn't that Alex Kerras? Am I spelling his last name right? it is widely reported that he accidentally KILLED a horse with a single punch during the filming of Blazing Saddles


----------



## jcdeboever

Derrel said:


> Isn't that Alex Kerras? Am I spelling his last name right? it is widely reported that he accidentally KILLED a horse with a single punch during the filming of Blazing Saddles



That's the guy! It looks a lot like him


----------



## limr

I keep thinking it's Saturday today.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> I keep thinking it's Saturday today.



It's not, it's Thursday.... go back to bed now....


----------



## SquarePeg

Boston called off school for tomorrow already.  No news yet for our little burg.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## JonA_CT

Worst of it is done here. Hard to tell with the wind and drifting, but probably around 12-15" on the ground. Wet, pasty cement snow.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Worst of it is done here. Hard to tell with the wind and drifting, but probably around 12-15" on the ground. Wet, pasty cement snow.



I haven't been out in it yet but it looks fluffy and drifty here.  The car is pretty much snow free but the back deck looks like about 2 ft deep.


----------



## jcdeboever

Limr would be out with her k1000 and shot a couple  rolls already, come on y'all, let's get it together


----------



## SquarePeg

The only thing I will see around here is neighbors out shoveling.  I'm on a fairly busy street it's not very scenic.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Limr would be out with her k1000 and shot a couple  rolls already, come on y'all, let's get it together



Limr is still in her flying sheep pyjamas and lobster slippers and doing her nails


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> doing her nails


Snowflakes?


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary in his younger days.


Mongo like sheriff Bart!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> doing her nails
> 
> 
> 
> Snowflakes?
Click to expand...


If by "snowflake" you mean "blood red" then sure


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary in his younger days.
> 
> 
> 
> Mongo like sheriff Bart!
Click to expand...


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary in his younger days.
> 
> 
> 
> Mongo like sheriff Bart!
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Best.  Movie.  EVER!


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone



SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Worst of it is done here. Hard to tell with the wind and drifting, but probably around 12-15" on the ground. Wet, pasty cement snow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I haven't been out in it yet but it looks fluffy and drifty here.  The car is pretty much snow free but the back deck looks like about 2 ft deep.
Click to expand...

The Cook and Gary just came back from a late afternoon walk. The only snow we saw was up in the mountains.


----------



## limr

Well, it was 60 degrees yesterday, today there's a foot of snow on the ground, and my school announced that they will be closed tomorrow as well. I'm not sure why, to be honest. I can only guess it's because there's still some snow and slush on the road and temps will not rise above freezing until Saturday, so they might be worried about icy roads. 

Buzz and I are headed into the city tomorrow. Assuming the roads will be good enough to just get to a train station, we should be fine. Going to finally see the Kedi film tomorrow!! We'll come back on Saturday when it will be 40 degrees so I'm not worried about the roads then.

For now, I think I'll have my tea and start getting ready for bed. I'm quite tired for having done nothing all day except for laundry and my nails.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 134843
> 
> View attachment 134844
> iPhone
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Worst of it is done here. Hard to tell with the wind and drifting, but probably around 12-15" on the ground. Wet, pasty cement snow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I haven't been out in it yet but it looks fluffy and drifty here.  The car is pretty much snow free but the back deck looks like about 2 ft deep.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The Cook and Gary just came back from a late afternoon walk. The only snow we saw was up in the mountains.
Click to expand...

What's that green stuff?


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Well, it was 60 degrees yesterday, today there's a foot of snow on the ground, and my school announced that they will be closed tomorrow as well. I'm not sure why, to be honest. I can only guess it's because there's still some snow and slush on the road and temps will not rise above freezing until Saturday, so they might be worried about icy roads.
> 
> Buzz and I are headed into the city tomorrow. Assuming the roads will be good enough to just get to a train station, we should be fine. Going to finally see the Kedi film tomorrow!! We'll come back on Saturday when it will be 40 degrees so I'm not worried about the roads then.
> 
> For now, I think I'll have my tea and start getting ready for bed. I'm quite tired for having done nothing all day except for laundry and my nails.


Well, that's what Saturdays are for...


----------



## JonA_CT

All of the schools around here are closed tomorrow, but the one I work in is about 30 miles from here and we will be in session albeit with a late start.

I honestly think it has more to do with clean-up on school properties than the roads. While the wind is still whipping here and causing some drifting issues, I feel it's more likely that snow removal overtime is being avoided.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> All of the schools around here are closed tomorrow, but the one I work in is about 30 miles from here and we will be in session albeit with a late start.
> 
> I honestly think it has more to do with clean-up on school properties than the roads. While the wind is still whipping here and causing some drifting issues, I feel it's more likely that snow removal overtime is being avoided.



That's a good point - the clean-up. They've got a lot of snow to deal with.


----------



## SquarePeg

Main roads are mostly cleared here but the snow just stopped about 2 hours ago so the side streets are still tough going.  School is canceled for tomorrow which was loudly celebrated by my daughter and her BFF who have been checking the school website every 5 minutes since this afternoon.  Our city was one of the last in the area to make the call.  I think they would have opened if tomorrow was not Friday.  The snow here was very light and fluffy - easy enough to push aside but I decided to rev up the snow blower and get it done quickly so I could come back in and make some chocolate chip cookies and play a couple of hands of Exploding Kittens with the girls.  Exploding Kittens - A card game for people who are into kittens and explosions and laser beams and sometimes goats


----------



## snowbear

Cold and windy.  Had some flurries at work and dusting at home.  MLW working normal day plus 3-11 tomorrow, as well as 11-7 tomorrow night.  Racking up as much OT as she can for the move.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 134843
> 
> View attachment 134844
> iPhone
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Worst of it is done here. Hard to tell with the wind and drifting, but probably around 12-15" on the ground. Wet, pasty cement snow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I haven't been out in it yet but it looks fluffy and drifty here.  The car is pretty much snow free but the back deck looks like about 2 ft deep.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The Cook and Gary just came back from a late afternoon walk. The only snow we saw was up in the mountains.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What's that green stuff?
Click to expand...

Mother Nature ... a glimpse of a year round outdoor lifestyle.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Well, it was 60 degrees yesterday, today there's a foot of snow on the ground, and my school announced that they will be closed tomorrow as well. I'm not sure why, to be honest. I can only guess it's because there's still some snow and slush on the road and temps will not rise above freezing until Saturday, so they might be worried about icy roads.
> 
> Buzz and I are headed into the city tomorrow. Assuming the roads will be good enough to just get to a train station, we should be fine. Going to finally see the Kedi film tomorrow!! We'll come back on Saturday when it will be 40 degrees so I'm not worried about the roads then.
> 
> For now, I think I'll have my tea and start getting ready for bed. I'm quite tired for having done nothing all day except for laundry and my nails.


Mary Lou and Gary are planning a run on Sunday to Temecula for our Valentine celebration. Temecula is forecasted to be 70F and sunny.  There are no passenger trains to Temecula. Gary thinks Valentine's Day is lame ... but wine makes it much more respectable.


----------



## Gary A.

Man, youse people sure go to bed early.  Pretty quiet in here.  Gary and Mary Lou are sipping another winner from the case of vino Gary received from Naked Wines.  A Coloma 2015 "Old Scary" Zinfandel from El Dorado County in California.  Very very nice.  Very relaxing and delicious, overflowing with flavors.


----------



## astroNikon

Many of us have to work 
Or don't I've in California 
Zzzzzzzzzz


----------



## jcdeboever

Boy, they sure sleep in late out there in wine country....


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> Boy, they sure sleep in late out there in wine country....



Agreed! Must be all the wine and olive oil and good food.

My school ended up canceling today. I did some clean up shoveling this morning, and just came into make myself a warm cup of coffee. The iPhone photos app has gotten much more interesting since the last time I actually looked at it. 




I think this is a cup made from the  Costa Rican beans I had around to try. I can't remember because my macgyvered roasting rig died an early death when I made a tatical error roasting Wednesday. May he Rest In Peace.

Need to shop around for a replacement today.


----------



## astroNikon

jcdeboever said:


> Boy, they sure sleep in late out there in wine country....


well they have to stomp on the grapes to make the wine.  That takes time in the afternoon/evening.  Then they have to drink the wine.  Makes for a long night.


----------



## jcdeboever

astroNikon said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Boy, they sure sleep in late out there in wine country....
> 
> 
> 
> well they have to stomp on the grapes to make the wine.  That takes time in the afternoon/evening.  Then they have to drink the wine.  Makes for a long night.
Click to expand...

Don't forget all that bean roasting ...


----------



## table1349

Ah what a beautiful day here in hick land.  Sun is shining, breeze is calm, it's 42 degrees with a predicted high of 71 degrees.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Boy, they sure sleep in late out there in wine country....


LOL.  Gary likes to get up late, that way he can go to bed early.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Boy, they sure sleep in late out there in wine country....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed! Must be all the wine and olive oil and good food.
> 
> My school ended up canceling today. I did some clean up shoveling this morning, and just came into make myself a warm cup of coffee. The iPhone photos app has gotten much more interesting since the last time I actually looked at it. View attachment 134848
> 
> I think this is a cup made from the  Costa Rican beans I had around to try. I can't remember because my macgyvered roasting rig died an early death when I made a tatical error roasting Wednesday. May he Rest In Peace.
> 
> Need to shop around for a replacement today.
Click to expand...

Gary need to roast more today, he just scooped out the last of his roasted Chiapas. Gary gave most of his roasted beans away at the Super Bowl party.

Bummer on the tactical error.  They used to keep track of my errors ... E-4, all that tracking gave Gary hives. What are your replacement plans? I've had absolutely no problems with my Poppery.

Gotta tell you, Gary pictured you as this multi-purposed utility player, like a D-Back or Shortstop ... but your selfie came up as a linebacker or catcher.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Boy, they sure sleep in late out there in wine country....
> 
> 
> 
> LOL.  Gary likes to get up late, that way he can go to bed early.
Click to expand...

_"I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting."_

Mark Twain


----------



## Gary A.

Mark Twain ... Gary thought Samuel Clemens said that ... Gary always gets those two confused.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Mark Twain ... Gary thought Samuel Clemens said that ... Gary always gets those two confused.


That's probably because the look so much alike.  The resemblance is uncanny.


----------



## Gary A.

Weren't they related through a previous marriage?


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Man, youse people sure go to bed early.  Pretty quiet in here.  Gary and Mary Lou are sipping another winner from the case of vino Gary received from Naked Wines.  A Coloma 2015 "Old Scary" Zinfandel from El Dorado County in California.  Very very nice.  Very relaxing and delicious, overflowing with flavors.


So this is a good zin?    I find red zin to be difficult - too often over-oaked.    I really do NOT like an oaky fruit bomb.    We used to drink certain Ravenswood zins (Dry Creek Valley in north Sonoma County) like Teldeschi.    Haven't seen it around in awhile, but it was very good.    I think the owner may have sold...?    Not sure, but that usually doesn't mean anything good for the vineyards.

White zin, of course, is not drinkable.    

Ah, nothing like thinking about high-octane zinfandel over coffee.


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> Ah, nothing like thinking about high-octane zinfandel over coffee.


Au Contraire Pierre.   Drinking coffee with a dash of Irish Whiskey included beats thinking about wine, any wine, any day.


----------



## JonA_CT

White zinfandel is my Mom's wine-go-to. Then again, she drinks an alcoholic beverage maybe once or twice a month, while eating out. 

I ended up buying another Poplite to continue the roasting. It's only $15 brand new, and I already have the supplies to turn it to coffee roasting glory. This time, I won't do something silly like over power the motor and reduce airflow intentionally. Yes, it does get your roasting area hotter. Yes, the motor does catch fire when you ask it to do things you shouldn't. So I just won't do those things this time


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> White zinfandel is my Mom's wine-go-to. Then again, she drinks an alcoholic beverage maybe once or twice a month, while eating out.
> 
> I ended up buying another Poplite to continue the roasting. It's only $15 brand new, and I already have the supplies to turn it to coffee roasting glory. This time, I won't do something silly like over power the motor and reduce airflow intentionally. Yes, it does get your roasting area hotter. Yes, the motor does catch fire when you ask it to do things you shouldn't. So I just won't do those things this time


By chance do you have a convection oven at home.  If so you may want to give convection roasting a try.


----------



## JonA_CT

gryphonslair99 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> White zinfandel is my Mom's wine-go-to. Then again, she drinks an alcoholic beverage maybe once or twice a month, while eating out.
> 
> I ended up buying another Poplite to continue the roasting. It's only $15 brand new, and I already have the supplies to turn it to coffee roasting glory. This time, I won't do something silly like over power the motor and reduce airflow intentionally. Yes, it does get your roasting area hotter. Yes, the motor does catch fire when you ask it to do things you shouldn't. So I just won't do those things this time
> 
> 
> 
> By chance do you have a convection oven at home.  If so you may want to give convection roasting a try.
Click to expand...


No convection oven, but it wouldn't be ideal for bean roasting anyways. You need to apply heat far more quickly. These air poppers work so well because they pump 500*plus heat into a small amount of space rapidly.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> White zinfandel is my Mom's wine-go-to. Then again, she drinks an alcoholic beverage maybe once or twice a month, while eating out.
> 
> I ended up buying another Poplite to continue the roasting. It's only $15 brand new, and I already have the supplies to turn it to coffee roasting glory. This time, I won't do something silly like over power the motor and reduce airflow intentionally. Yes, it does get your roasting area hotter. Yes, the motor does catch fire when you ask it to do things you shouldn't. So I just won't do those things this time



Must be a mom thing. It's my moms favorite too although only when a Black Russian would not be appropriate.


----------



## table1349

A preheated 475 -535 degree true convection oven works quite well.  Temp depends on the quality of the convection oven.  Beans on a fine screen mesh in a single layer over an oven rack.  Pizza screen over a pizza pan works wonderfully.  Takes about 10-12 minutes tops to get a good rich medium dark roast.  Once roasted drop the beans into a colander that has been cooled in freezer and shake/toss the beans well to cool quickly.


----------



## Gary A.

From the Cook and Gary's walk;


iPhone



 
California Snow



 
Bruce



 
A quick backyard harvest.


----------



## astroNikon

latest walk 






ooh ....


jcdeboever said:


> I wish someone would steal my photo's, that would mean I am good....


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Man, youse people sure go to bed early.  Pretty quiet in here.  Gary and Mary Lou are sipping another winner from the case of vino Gary received from Naked Wines.  A Coloma 2015 "Old Scary" Zinfandel from El Dorado County in California.  Very very nice.  Very relaxing and delicious, overflowing with flavors.
> 
> 
> 
> So this is a good zin?    I find red zin to be difficult - too often over-oaked.    I really do NOT like an oaky fruit bomb.    We used to drink certain Ravenswood zins (Dry Creek Valley in north Sonoma County) like Teldeschi.    Haven't seen it around in awhile, but it was very good.    I think the owner may have sold...?    Not sure, but that usually doesn't mean anything good for the vineyards.
> 
> White zin, of course, is not drinkable.
> 
> Ah, nothing like thinking about high-octane zinfandel over coffee.
Click to expand...

Yep, quite good, but not great ... as in ... "OMG, I want to pour the entire bottle over my body" ... great.  But very very enjoyable.  Almost no oak, very very smooth, but could use some complexity.  The tastes all just sorta trailed off smoothly at the end of the swallow.  An interesting combination of bold and smooth.  Gary remembers Ravenwood. In general, Gary prefers Sonoma over Napa.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Man, youse people sure go to bed early.  Pretty quiet in here.  Gary and Mary Lou are sipping another winner from the case of vino Gary received from Naked Wines.  A Coloma 2015 "Old Scary" Zinfandel from El Dorado County in California.  Very very nice.  Very relaxing and delicious, overflowing with flavors.
> 
> 
> 
> So this is a good zin?    I find red zin to be difficult - too often over-oaked.    I really do NOT like an oaky fruit bomb.    We used to drink certain Ravenswood zins (Dry Creek Valley in north Sonoma County) like Teldeschi.    Haven't seen it around in awhile, but it was very good.    I think the owner may have sold...?    Not sure, but that usually doesn't mean anything good for the vineyards.
> 
> White zin, of course, is not drinkable.
> 
> Ah, nothing like thinking about high-octane zinfandel over coffee.
Click to expand...

BTW- This is from the case of vino Gary acquired from NakedWine.com .  A collective of small wineries worldwide marketed by this umbrella group.  They have a money back guarantee ... if the wine "doesn't knock your socks off" they will refund your money.  So far, Gary has been pretty much sockless after drinking their wines.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> White zinfandel is my Mom's wine-go-to. Then again, she drinks an alcoholic beverage maybe once or twice a month, while eating out.
> 
> I ended up buying another Poplite to continue the roasting. It's only $15 brand new, and I already have the supplies to turn it to coffee roasting glory. This time, I won't do something silly like over power the motor and reduce airflow intentionally. Yes, it does get your roasting area hotter. Yes, the motor does catch fire when you ask it to do things you shouldn't. So I just won't do those things this time
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Must be a mom thing. It's my moms favorite too although only when a Black Russian would not be appropriate.
Click to expand...


When is a Black Russian not appropriate???

Had some teriyaki tofu for lunch, had a nice walk, stopped for some more pencils at the pencil store, and now there's only 24 minutes to Kedi!!


----------



## astroNikon

limr said:


> ... and now there's only 24 minutes to Kedi!!


I really shouldn't ask ....


----------



## limr

astroNikon said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... and now there's only 24 minutes to Kedi!!
> 
> 
> 
> I really shouldn't ask ....
Click to expand...


Google is your friend


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> When is a Black Russian not appropriate???



I should have said available, lol.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Man, youse people sure go to bed early.  Pretty quiet in here.  Gary and Mary Lou are sipping another winner from the case of vino Gary received from Naked Wines.  A Coloma 2015 "Old Scary" Zinfandel from El Dorado County in California.  Very very nice.  Very relaxing and delicious, overflowing with flavors.
> 
> 
> 
> So this is a good zin?    I find red zin to be difficult - too often over-oaked.    I really do NOT like an oaky fruit bomb.    We used to drink certain Ravenswood zins (Dry Creek Valley in north Sonoma County) like Teldeschi.    Haven't seen it around in awhile, but it was very good.    I think the owner may have sold...?    Not sure, but that usually doesn't mean anything good for the vineyards.
> 
> White zin, of course, is not drinkable.
> 
> Ah, nothing like thinking about high-octane zinfandel over coffee.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> BTW- This is from the case of vino Gary acquired from NakedWine.com .  A collective of small wineries worldwide marketed by this umbrella group.  They have a money back guarantee ... if the wine "doesn't knock your socks off" they will refund your money.  So far, Gary has been pretty much sockless after drinking their wines.
Click to expand...

Looks like you had green socks on a few posts ago


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is roasting his little brains out, listening to John Williams' Star Wars on KUSC and waiting for the predicted rains to hit.


----------



## Gary A.

Which reminded Gary ... Mary Lou and he attended Vin Scully Appreciation Night at Dodger Stadium last year and John Williams stood on the pitchers mound to conduct the LA Phil for the National Anthem.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Which reminded Gary ... Mary Lou and he attended Vin Scully Appreciation Night at Dodger Stadium and John Williams stood on the pitchers mound to conduct the LA Phil for the National Anthem.


That would be awesome!


----------



## jcdeboever

On my phone


----------



## Gary A.

During the 'season', John Williams makes many Hollywood Bowl appearances. Mary Lou and Gary have attended many of his concerts.  Speaking of SciFi, last year we also attended a Star Trek night.  Gary forgot which one, but a Star Trek was projected on a huge screen with the full complement of the LA Phil on stage playing all the background music throughout the showing.  Very entertaining evening.


----------



## jcdeboever

I have this one too and other albums.


----------



## jcdeboever

If I was single, I would probably move to SoCal for KUSC, Gary food, Gary darkroom, and Gary laundry tub, and Fuji fondling


----------



## astroNikon

jcdeboever said:


> If I was single, I would probably move to SoCal for KUSC, Gary food, Gary darkroom, and Gary laundry tub, and Fuji fondling


Go visit.  You can hide in his camera bag just like other folks are doing to Derrel.


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> Au Contraire Pierre.   Drinking coffee with a dash of Irish Whiskey included beats thinking about wine, any wine, any day.


or Single Malt Scotch.  We call it "sweetener."


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Fini!


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> stopped for some more pencils at the pencil store, and now there's only 24 minutes to Kedi!!



Perhaps you should share with others where to buy pencils.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Au Contraire Pierre.   Drinking coffee with a dash of Irish Whiskey included beats thinking about wine, any wine, any day.
> 
> 
> 
> or Single Malt Scotch.  We call it "sweetener."
Click to expand...

You....YOU......*YOU CAD YOU!!!!  *Even a cheap, poor single malt Scotch is too good to be used in such a manor.  That SIR is what Whiskey is for.


----------



## snowbear

Ach, me kilt is tartan, nay saffron.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> Ach, me kilt is tartan, nay saffron.


You’re talking mince laddie.


----------



## Gary A.

It has started to rain.  Mary Lou wants to light up the fire table, drink some wine and enjoy the rain.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

And Gary managed to hang this puppy up while it was still dry.


----------



## JonA_CT

I made The Food Lab meatloaf today. It's roughly a 3 hour process with prep and cooking. I've now decided I don't really want meatloaf, my wife never wanted it, and my daughter is already in bed.

Maybe I'll want a meatloaf sandwich tomorrow.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I made The Food Lab meatloaf today. It's roughly a 3 hour process with prep and cooking. I've now decided I don't really want meatloaf, my wife never wanted it, and my daughter is already in bed.
> 
> Maybe I'll want a meatloaf sandwich tomorrow.


Oh man, Gary loves meatloaf.  Typically, he will substitute ground turkey for ground beef.  Gary was gifted The Food Lab by Frank.  It is quite an interesting and very good book.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I made The Food Lab meatloaf today. It's roughly a 3 hour process with prep and cooking. I've now decided I don't really want meatloaf, my wife never wanted it, and my daughter is already in bed.
> 
> Maybe I'll want a meatloaf sandwich tomorrow.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh man, Gary loves meatloaf.  Typically, he will substitute ground turkey for ground beef.  Gary was gifted The Food Lab by Frank.  It is quite an interesting and very good book.
Click to expand...


The book is definitely interesting...I sometimes wonder if the extra time and effort are worth it, though. It's one of the few cookbooks where I think the rationale is much more useful than the recipes. I think his approach in certain areas is much more important than the actual recipes. A quick example: I put fish sauce in everything now, and I add gelatin to my stocks and broths to add body.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Sweet Angels Waltz. Mary Lou's favorite.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gary is roasting his little brains out, listening to John Williams' Star Wars on KUSC and waiting for the predicted rains to hit.



I have Star Wars on vinyl! 

Watched the Kedi film and loved every single millisecond of it! It made me homesick for Istanbul 

The theater that was showing the film is an old Art Deco space down in the East Village - beautiful theater. We reserved balcony seats and it was perfect. After the movie, we had a cocktail at the bar/restaurant that was part of the theater, and then hopped the subway back to midtown and went to our regular place for Italian food and martinis.

Now, we are winding down with a view of the Chrysler building, comfy jammies, and some tea.

Life was good today


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> I have Star Wars on vinyl!
> 
> Watched the Kedi film and loved every single millisecond of it! It made me homesick for Istanbul
> 
> The theater that was showing the film is an old Art Deco space down in the East Village - beautiful theater. We reserved balcony seats and it was perfect. After the movie, we had a cocktail at the bar/restaurant that was part of the theater, and then hopped the subway back to midtown and went to our regular place for Italian food and martinis.
> 
> Now, we are winding down with a view of the Chrysler building, comfy jammies, and some tea.
> 
> Life was good today



Now _that's_ how to do a snow day!


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 134903
> iPhone
> 
> And Gary managed to hang this puppy up while it was still dry.


I've got the countertenor, tenor and baritone sizes hanging in our Maple tree, but I just can't bring myself to spend the money on the bass version.  The only place that has them around here wants $400.00 + for them.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Enjoying the rain.


----------



## jcdeboever

Sad evening. Detroit Tigers and Red Wings owner, Mike Illitch passed away today. He has done so much for the city.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## jcdeboever

40° out today. Was thinking of going out shooting today with Astro but I am just not up to driving very far today. So I'm heading out locally to shoot some film (Holga 120) and a little digital with my Nikon P7100. Heading downtown Lansing and Old Town. Astro was going to look for eagles and I really wanted to go but I drove back & forth to plant all week (1.45 hours one way). Sometimes all the driving I do just wears me down to do it on the weekend.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> 40° out today. Was thinking of going out shooting today with Astro but I am just not up to driving very far today. So I'm heading out locally to shoot some film (Holga 120) and a little digital with my Nikon P7100. Heading downtown Lansing and Old Town. Astro was going to look for eagles and I really wanted to go but I drove back & forth to plant all week (1.45 hours one way). Sometimes all the driving I do just wears me down to do it on the weekend.


Gary used to drive drive drive most of my life. A few years ago Gary was commuting three days a week to Ft. Irwin and two days a week to San Diego ... both were a minimum of two hours one way.  Gary used to grab food on the way ... just to break up the drive.  Fast food/soft drinks and being sedentary don't mix well and Gary blew up into the Michelin man or if your were kind, the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Gary thinks working from home has contributed to the destabilization of the oil market.  In Gary's youth, he did so much driving and so much traveling that now he is ambivalent to both, he is just as happy driving as not and same for travel.  If he goes somewhere, great ... if he stays at home, equally great.

Or maybe he's just getting old and nothing matters anymore.

PS- Ft. Irwin is in the middle of the Mojave Desert. It butts up to Death Valley.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 40° out today. Was thinking of going out shooting today with Astro but I am just not up to driving very far today. So I'm heading out locally to shoot some film (Holga 120) and a little digital with my Nikon P7100. Heading downtown Lansing and Old Town. Astro was going to look for eagles and I really wanted to go but I drove back & forth to plant all week (1.45 hours one way). Sometimes all the driving I do just wears me down to do it on the weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary used to drive drive drive most of my life. A few years ago Gary was commuting three days a week to Ft. Irwin and two days a week to San Diego ... both were a minimum of two hours one way.  Gary used to grab food on the way ... just to break up the drive.  Fast food/soft drinks and being sedentary don't mix well and Gary blew up into the Michelin man or if your were kind, the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Gary thinks working from home has contributed to the destabilization of the oil market.  In Gary's youth, he did so much driving and so much traveling that now he is ambivalent to both, he is just as happy driving as not and same for travel.  If he goes somewhere, great ... if he stays at home, equally great.
> 
> Or maybe he's just getting old and nothing matters anymore.
> 
> PS- Ft. Irwin is in the middle of the Mojave Desert. It butts up to Death Valley.
Click to expand...

Death Valley is a place I would love to shoot. Maybe someday.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## Gary A.

ooooohhhh .... that Holga looks spiffy.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 40° out today. Was thinking of going out shooting today with Astro but I am just not up to driving very far today. So I'm heading out locally to shoot some film (Holga 120) and a little digital with my Nikon P7100. Heading downtown Lansing and Old Town. Astro was going to look for eagles and I really wanted to go but I drove back & forth to plant all week (1.45 hours one way). Sometimes all the driving I do just wears me down to do it on the weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary used to drive drive drive most of my life. A few years ago Gary was commuting three days a week to Ft. Irwin and two days a week to San Diego ... both were a minimum of two hours one way.  Gary used to grab food on the way ... just to break up the drive.  Fast food/soft drinks and being sedentary don't mix well and Gary blew up into the .   Michelin man or if your were kind, the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Gary thinks working from home has contributed to the destabilization of the oil market.  In Gary's youth, he did so much driving and so much traveling that now he is .  ambivalent to both, he is just as happy driving as not and same for travel.  If he goes somewhere, great ... if he stays at home, equally great.
> 
> Or maybe he's just getting old and nothing matters anymore.
> 
> PS- Ft. Irwin is in the middle of the Mojave Desert. It butts up to Death Valley.
Click to expand...

I find I am just the opposite.  I drove for years and still love to drive.  The difference being now I like to take the extra time and drive the old roads instead of the interstates. Love the scenery, the small towns over the faster speed of the interstate.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is into his second cup of coffee. The first was reheated from yesterday.  It wasn't bad, no staleness or bitter tastes ... but it tasted dull compared to the fresh stuff.  Morning excitement, The Cook was hopping around like a pup as she attempted to marshal in a pair of squirrels running on top of the fence and jumping thru the trees.  Mary Lou is inspecting some Monarch chrysalis in anticipation of them emerging.  They are in various stages 'aging' ... one is quite dark and she thinks it's ready to blow.  Gary need to refill the front Hummingpig feeder, again.

The debate of the morning is to change out of pj's for a bagel run ... or stay in pj's and brave the hunger.


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy SquarePeg's birthday to you all!!!  Had a nice sleep in followed by breakfast out at our favorite local greasy spoon where they make THE best pancakes in the world.  After a quick trip to Target for some supplies I am back at home and going to enjoy some serious couch/dvr time for the afternoon.  Did not buy myself my traditional photography related gift this year.  Open to suggestions on something splurgy but not too extravagant.  Maybe a monopod or a new type of bag.  Nothing in the lens or camera body price range...

Supposed to be heading out to dinner with some friends then a party (not in my honor but nicely timed) with a really fun disco band at the banquet hall in the town I grew up in.  We're calling it Prom 2.0    Hopefully the weather holds off until we are out the door.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Happy SquarePeg's birthday to you all!!!  Had a nice sleep in followed by breakfast out at our favorite local greasy spoon where they make THE best pancakes in the world.  After a quick trip to Target for some supplies I am back at home and going to enjoy some serious couch/dvr time for the afternoon.  Did not buy myself my traditional photography related gift this year.  Open to suggestions on something splurgy but not too extravagant.  Maybe a monopod or a new type of bag.  Nothing in the lens or camera body price range...
> 
> Supposed to be heading out to dinner with some friends then a party (not in my honor but nicely timed) with a really fun disco band at the banquet hall in the town I grew up in.  We're calling it Prom 2.0    Hopefully the weather holds off until we are out the door.


This. 

Or maybe this.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Happy SquarePeg's birthday to you all!!!  Had a nice sleep in followed by breakfast out at our favorite local greasy spoon where they make THE best pancakes in the world.  After a quick trip to Target for some supplies I am back at home and going to enjoy some serious couch/dvr time for the afternoon.  Did not buy myself my traditional photography related gift this year.  Open to suggestions on something splurgy but not too extravagant.  Maybe a monopod or a new type of bag.  Nothing in the lens or camera body price range...
> 
> Supposed to be heading out to dinner with some friends then a party (not in my honor but nicely timed) with a really fun disco band at the banquet hall in the town I grew up in.  We're calling it Prom 2.0    Hopefully the weather holds off until we are out the door.


Happy Birthday Sharon, hope your day is filled with joy!


----------



## table1349

Your not getting older Sharon,

Wait, I was wrong, you are getting older.   

Happy Birthday anyway.   Enjoy the day............ oops sorry.

ENJOY          THE         DAY!


----------



## JonA_CT

Happy birthday!

As far as what to get...I have some suggestions...

Yongnuo YN685 Wireless TTL Speedlite and Wireless Flash B&H

Impact  Umbrella Bracket 3117 B&H Photo Video

Impact Air-Cushioned Light Stand (Black, 8') LS-8AI B&H Photo

Photogenic Umbrella - "Eclipse" White, Black 909143


----------



## jcdeboever

What a good half day. I tell ya, the holga just calms me down, no fumbling with camera settings, just look. I even put the Coolpix P7100 on program auto and just had an enjoyable 5 mile walk in oldtown Lansing. I even stopped in a coffee shop and enjoyed a relaxing Greek coffee and a slice of homemade spinach pie that was delicious. The old lady kept giving me samples of Olives and leafy green looking turds that were scrumptious. She was so nice other than she smacked me on the hand trying to capture her, I have a lot to learn on being stealth.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Happy SquarePeg's birthday to you all!!!  Had a nice sleep in followed by breakfast out at our favorite local greasy spoon where they make THE best pancakes in the world.  After a quick trip to Target for some supplies I am back at home and going to enjoy some serious couch/dvr time for the afternoon.  Did not buy myself my traditional photography related gift this year.  Open to suggestions on something splurgy but not too extravagant.  Maybe a monopod or a new type of bag.  Nothing in the lens or camera body price range...
> 
> Supposed to be heading out to dinner with some friends then a party (not in my honor but nicely timed) with a really fun disco band at the banquet hall in the town I grew up in.  We're calling it Prom 2.0    Hopefully the weather holds off until we are out the door.



Happy Birthday!! I have no idea what you should get for yourself


----------



## oldhippy

Happy Birthday Sharon, hope it's your best ever. Ed


----------



## table1349

One last thought for your Birthday Sharon...........


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 40° out today. Was thinking of going out shooting today with Astro but I am just not up to driving very far today. So I'm heading out locally to shoot some film (Holga 120) and a little digital with my Nikon P7100. Heading downtown Lansing and Old Town. Astro was going to look for eagles and I really wanted to go but I drove back & forth to plant all week (1.45 hours one way). Sometimes all the driving I do just wears me down to do it on the weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary used to drive drive drive most of my life. A few years ago Gary was commuting three days a week to Ft. Irwin and two days a week to San Diego ... both were a minimum of two hours one way.  Gary used to grab food on the way ... just to break up the drive.  Fast food/soft drinks and being sedentary don't mix well and Gary blew up into the .   Michelin man or if your were kind, the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Gary thinks working from home has contributed to the destabilization of the oil market.  In Gary's youth, he did so much driving and so much traveling that now he is .  ambivalent to both, he is just as happy driving as not and same for travel.  If he goes somewhere, great ... if he stays at home, equally great.
> 
> Or maybe he's just getting old and nothing matters anymore.
> 
> PS- Ft. Irwin is in the middle of the Mojave Desert. It butts up to Death Valley.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I find I am just the opposite.  I drove for years and still love to drive.  The difference being now I like to take the extra time and drive the old roads instead of the interstates. Love the scenery, the small towns over the faster speed of the interstate.
Click to expand...


I do too but my body is not up to it this weekend. I am totally out of my routine at work. I am working inside for a spell, replacing the customer service lady and fixing all she undone. Gonna take me another week to stabilize the position, then hire someone in a month or so and train them better than what the GM did. Normally I would have no issue with the drive to Detroit.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Happy SquarePeg's birthday to you all!!!  Had a nice sleep in followed by breakfast out at our favorite local greasy spoon where they make THE best pancakes in the world.  After a quick trip to Target for some supplies I am back at home and going to enjoy some serious couch/dvr time for the afternoon.  Did not buy myself my traditional photography related gift this year.  Open to suggestions on something splurgy but not too extravagant.  Maybe a monopod or a new type of bag.  Nothing in the lens or camera body price range...
> 
> Supposed to be heading out to dinner with some friends then a party (not in my honor but nicely timed) with a really fun disco band at the banquet hall in the town I grew up in.  We're calling it Prom 2.0    Hopefully the weather holds off until we are out the door.


Happy B'day!


----------



## Derrel

Well I'll be! happy Birthday to you SquarePeg!!!

Birthday gifts? I dunno...maybe a really NICE, ultra high-speed memory card reader. Or a used Lensbaby lens. Or an old (aka 'vintage'), bargain grade lens from KEH.com, something like a 35mm f/2 OC Nikkor or 55/3.5 Ai'd. Or the fabulously skinny-barreled little 200mm f/4 Ai Nikkor manual focus lens. Something CHEAP, yet still good, and fun to experiment with.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey Peg, Happy B-DAY!


----------



## Derrel

Gary A. said:


> Hey Peg, Happy B-DAY!



Speaking of "*Peg*"....a photo-related song and lyrics!!!


I've seen your picture
Your name in lights above it
This is your big debut
It's like a dream come true
So won't you smile for the camera
I know they're gonna love it, Peg.

I like your pin shot
I keep it with your letter
Done up in blueprint blue
It sure looks good on you
And when you smile for the camera
I know I'll love you better

Peg
It will come back to you
Peg
It will come back to you


Then the shutter falls

You see it all in 3-D
it's your favorite foreign movie


(*musical interlude*)

I like your pin shot
I keep it with your letter
Done up in blueprint blue
it sure looks good on you
And when you smile for the camera
I know I'll love you better

Peg
It will come back to you
Peg
it will come back to you
Then the shutter falls
You see all in 3D
it' your favorite foreign movie


Then the shutter falls
You see all in 3D
It's your favorite foreign movie
Then the shutter falls
You see all in 3D
It's your favorite foreign movie


_[Fade]_



Video with LYRICS at


----------



## jcdeboever

Oopps, I thought her name was Sharon, what was I thinking.


----------



## SquarePeg

If you all break out into My Sharona I'm out of here.


----------



## JonA_CT

If I had only known that sooner...


I jest, I jest!


----------



## JonA_CT

The last of the week's "daily bread"

 

This week's loaves...

 

Tonight's pizza...one of my wife's favorites. Pancetta, asparagus, honeyed ricotta, olive oil, and lots of black pepper. A little toasty...the second one will be better.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> If you all break out into My Sharona I'm out of here.


Damn you for putting that song in my head!!!    

(Oh, wait - I guess it's not nice to cuss out the Birthday Girl.          I'll try again.)

Happy Birthday, SharonCat!    Have fun at the party tonight - fun is the best gift to give yourself.


----------



## table1349




----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


>


You're not right.....lol


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You're not right.....lol
Click to expand...

Hey, it's Not My Sherona.......


----------



## table1349

Ah, supper is over and it was delicious.  In the mid 70's today so I bought a 2 3/4 pound chuck roast, got out the grinder attachment for the Kitchenaid mixer sliced the meat into strips and did a double grind to make my on 80/20 ground chuck.  Since I know where the meat came from, was able to rinse the outer portion before grinding we had 5.5 oz burgers with just the right amount of pink in them.  Mamma and I are still licking our chops.  They were right tasty burgers with some left over for lunch next week.


----------



## snowbear

Spoiler: You know you want to


----------



## JonA_CT

gryphonslair99 said:


> Ah, supper is over and it was delicious.  In the mid 70's today so I bought a 2 3/4 pound chuck roast, got out the grinder attachment for the Kitchenaid mixer sliced the meat into strips and did a double grind to make my on 80/20 ground chuck.  Since I know where the meat came from, was able to rinse the outer portion before grinding we had 5.5 oz burgers with just the right amount of pink in them.  Mamma and I are still licking our chops.  They were right tasty burgers with some left over for lunch next week.



My buddy has been showing off his freshly ground chorizo all week. Need to steal the KA attatchment from my mom. We've had her mixer for 8 years so I don't think she will mind.


----------



## Gary A.

Oddly enough, Gary has been talking for the last week or so of picking up a grinder so he can start making his own sausages.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, supper is over and it was delicious.  In the mid 70's today so I bought a 2 3/4 pound chuck roast, got out the grinder attachment for the Kitchenaid mixer sliced the meat into strips and did a double grind to make my on 80/20 ground chuck.  Since I know where the meat came from, was able to rinse the outer portion before grinding we had 5.5 oz burgers with just the right amount of pink in them.  Mamma and I are still licking our chops.  They were right tasty burgers with some left over for lunch next week.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My buddy has been showing off his freshly ground chorizo all week. Need to steal the KA attatchment from my mom. We've had her mixer for 8 years so I don't think she will mind.
Click to expand...

In all honesty I hadn't planned to be that productive since its a bit early for grilling season here, but the butcher at the Mega Mart wanted $3.99 a pound for 80/20 loose grind chuck and they had the chuck roasts for $2.99 a pound.  Mamma didn't raise no stupid children just some ugly ones, so I had them find me a nice one that still had a nice band of fat on it so I could get a proper mix.


----------



## Gary A.

Rosemary-Lemon Chicken tonight.  Still in the oven and the smells are mouth watering.  A busy day of coffee with guests and their pooches, then yard work in the afternoon.  Gary planted some parsley, peppers and tomatoes.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, supper is over and it was delicious.  In the mid 70's today so I bought a 2 3/4 pound chuck roast, got out the grinder attachment for the Kitchenaid mixer sliced the meat into strips and did a double grind to make my on 80/20 ground chuck.  Since I know where the meat came from, was able to rinse the outer portion before grinding we had 5.5 oz burgers with just the right amount of pink in them.  Mamma and I are still licking our chops.  They were right tasty burgers with some left over for lunch next week.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My buddy has been showing off his freshly ground chorizo all week. Need to steal the KA attatchment from my mom. We've had her mixer for 8 years so I don't think she will mind.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> In all honesty I hadn't planned to be that productive since its a bit early for grilling season here, but the butcher at the Mega Mart wanted $3.99 a pound for 80/20 loose grind chuck and they had the chuck roasts for $2.99 a pound.  Mamma didn't raise no stupid children just some ugly ones, so I had them find me a nice one that still had a nice band of fat on it so I could get a proper mix.
Click to expand...

The local supermarket has Tri-Tip on sale for $2.99, so were loadin' up.


----------



## Gary A.

The chicken is done ... some vino is poured, Mary Lou just came in with a freshly picked salad, (she plucked the random lettuces growing in the front between the succulents),  ... wow ... speaking of citrus ... this Thornton Chardonnay is almost a lemonade ... very refreshing.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

This little guy is in the poppies about to start it's chrysalis.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 134969
> iPhone
> 
> This little guy is in the poppies about to start it's chrysalis.


Hors d'oeuvre?


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 134969
> iPhone
> 
> This little guy is in the poppies about to start it's chrysalis.
> 
> 
> 
> Hors d'oeuvre?
Click to expand...

Negatory ... that is a Monarch caterpillar ... per the boss and Supreme Leader, (Mary Lou), Monarchs and all things Monarchs are sancosant.


----------



## snowbear

Yeah - a bit toxic, too.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, supper is over and it was delicious.  In the mid 70's today so I bought a 2 3/4 pound chuck roast, got out the grinder attachment for the Kitchenaid mixer sliced the meat into strips and did a double grind to make my on 80/20 ground chuck.  Since I know where the meat came from, was able to rinse the outer portion before grinding we had 5.5 oz burgers with just the right amount of pink in them.  Mamma and I are still licking our chops.  They were right tasty burgers with some left over for lunch next week.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My buddy has been showing off his freshly ground chorizo all week. Need to steal the KA attatchment from my mom. We've had her mixer for 8 years so I don't think she will mind.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> In all honesty I hadn't planned to be that productive since its a bit early for grilling season here, but the butcher at the Mega Mart wanted $3.99 a pound for 80/20 loose grind chuck and they had the chuck roasts for $2.99 a pound.  Mamma didn't raise no stupid children just some ugly ones, so I had them find me a nice one that still had a nice band of fat on it so I could get a proper mix.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The local supermarket has Tri-Tip on sale for $2.99, so were loadin' up.
Click to expand...

Good price.  We like Tri-Tip but full packer brisket season is fast approaching.  That is where I spend my money on a bulk buy.  Well that and on my absolutely favorite cut of meat.  Last year I got my name in to late and didn't get one, but this year I am first on the list.  What pray tell am I speaking of?  A whole Buffalo Hump Roast.  OMG, roasted in the oven or low and slow on the smoker it is absolutely fabulous.


----------



## jcdeboever

Just watched a movie called American Graffiti 73. Pretty good flick. Some recognizable actors at a very young age. Liked the music and cars in it.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Just watched a movie called American Graffiti 73. Pretty good flick. Some recognizable actors at a very young age. Liked the music and cars in it.


OMG are you really that young.  It's after 9;00 p.m.  Shouldn't you be in bed by now?


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just watched a movie called American Graffiti 73. Pretty good flick. Some recognizable actors at a very young age. Liked the music and cars in it.
> 
> 
> 
> OMG are you really that young.  It's after 9;00 p.m.  Shouldn't you be in bed by now?
Click to expand...


I'm 52....


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just watched a movie called American Graffiti 73. Pretty good flick. Some recognizable actors at a very young age. Liked the music and cars in it.
> 
> 
> 
> OMG are you really that young.  It's after 9;00 p.m.  Shouldn't you be in bed by now?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm 52....
Click to expand...

And you have never see American Graffiti until now????    If you weren't aware, there was a pretty cool movie that came out four years later.  You might like it too. 

FYI, I got you beat by 10 years.


----------



## jcdeboever

Nope never seen it until tonight and I taped it probably a month ago. Just not that into movies and tv. I like to watch baseball mainly. I only go to movies if the wife makes me. The wife went out with friends tonight so I decided to watch it. Watching the Tigers 84 world series now, I got it on VHS.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Nope never seen it until tonight and I taped it probably a month ago. Just not that into movies and tv. I like to watch baseball mainly. I only go to movies if the wife makes me. The wife went out with friends tonight so I decided to watch it. Watching the Tigers 84 world series now, I got it on VHS.


And you told me _*"You're not right.....lol"*_ 
There are some movies that should be mandatory for all person to have seen.  American Graffiti is one. Star Wars, A New Hope is another.

If you pee standing up then the list also includes every Johns Wayne Western ever made.


----------



## Frank F.

I play a new funny game with my Backlist on this Swedish site: Photography - Inspiration, feedback, improvement - YouPic

I like it very much & you might like it too. Lots of banal stuff as always, but if you dig deeper there are some noteworty photos to be found there.

This is my page there: Frank Fremerey - YouPic


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> I play a new funny game with my Backlist on this Swedish site: Photography - Inspiration, feedback, improvement - YouPic
> 
> I like it very much & you might like it too. Lots of banal stuff as always, but if you dig deeper there are some noteworty photos to be found there.
> 
> This is my page there: Frank Fremerey - YouPic


You are extremely talented


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just watched a movie called American Graffiti 73. Pretty good flick. Some recognizable actors at a very young age. Liked the music and cars in it.
> 
> 
> 
> OMG are you really that young.  It's after 9;00 p.m.  Shouldn't you be in bed by now?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm 52....
Click to expand...



Me too.  Perk up Jc, 52 is the new 30! 

I've seen American Graffiti a few times.  I've always been into movies and that one is considered a classic coming of age film.  I love rewatching movies like that and seeing the actors before they became big stars.   It's the first film where Harrison Ford was directed by George Lucas.


----------



## table1349

Yeah baby, now this is how you celebrate Valentines Day!!!
How to make bacon roses for your Valentine


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

Snowing again.


----------



## JonA_CT

Its snowing here, too. They keep promising that it's going to switch to sleet and freezing rain, and then rain, here. We'll see. It was supposed to have happened already. 

I'm just now drinking my first cup of coffee. I don't know what happened this morning, but the headache reminded me I hadn't done my morning ritual. I went with the aeropress today after reading on some alternative pressing methods. It made a pretty delicious cup of coffee, although it lacks the body of the french press cup.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone
On the morning walk with The Cook. 

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It should hit 70F today and we are driving to Temecula.


----------



## SquarePeg

Snowing here too.  Some reports have it turning to rain this afternoon, others have it being more snow through tomorrow.  We are currently in a winter storm warning according to the National Weather Service.  Canceled my plans for tonight - just going to throw a nice Sunday sauce into the crock pot.  I have a softball board meeting this afternoon then going to have a nice relaxing dinner here at home.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is still full from last nights rosemary & lemon dinner.  Gary has fond memories, plus that Thornton Chardonnay was surprisingly and wonderfully citrus.  The skies are blue, the mountains white, the hills are green and the freeways crowded.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

We are past the construction zone, the freeway has opened up and we are back to low flying aircraft mode.  The green hills have huge swatches of yellow and orange poppies covering hilltops. Gary loves this place.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sun's actually peeking out hope it gets to those of you farther east. I'm stuck on a borrowed kindle since laptop battery died. What a pita! And been sick with some respiratory thing going around for like two weeks. I'll be glad for things to get back to normal. Well not that my life or life in the coffeehouse is normal! but I'll take my usual normal and a working computer. Enough hunt and pecking! Have a good week all you hosers.


----------



## Gary A.

Yes!


----------



## SquarePeg

And...  they just canceled school for tomorrow.  Ugh.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## Gary A.

Breakfast is served. (A crab and avocado omelette.)


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> And...  they just canceled school for tomorrow.  Ugh.



I can't imagine that makes your telecommuting any easier.

We'd better have school here tomorrow. I have things to get done by a certain date, haha, and I had two partial days with students and two days without students last week.


----------



## SquarePeg

And now got a call that the school closing report posted in "the patch" was wrong and they will not make a decision until later....  They love to wait until the last minute.  I feel for the parents who both work away from the home as it is hard to manage a snow day without sufficient notice.  But it's a no win for the schools.  Last year or the year before they preemptively called off school for a storm that totally missed us and everyone was bitchin and moanin about that too.  Can't please us all!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Doffo Winery parking lot.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

More of Doffo.


----------



## limr

"Doffo" sounds vaguely naughty.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> "Doffo" sounds vaguely naughty.


"Shall I meet you for a round of Doffo?"


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> "Doffo" sounds vaguely naughty.
> 
> 
> 
> "Shall I meet you for a round of Doffo?"
Click to expand...


"They were arrested for public Doffo."


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> "Doffo" sounds vaguely naughty.
> 
> 
> 
> "Shall I meet you for a round of Doffo?"
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> "They were arrested for public Doffo."
Click to expand...

Yeah, that works.

On the other hand, it could also be something else - "Watch out! Don't step in the dog doffo!"


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> "Doffo" sounds vaguely naughty.
> 
> 
> 
> "Shall I meet you for a round of Doffo?"
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> "They were arrested for public Doffo."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah, that works.
> 
> On the other hand, it could also be something else - "Watch out! Don't step in the dog doffo!"
Click to expand...


Or something to say when things have gone wrong:

"I tried to make you a birthday cake, but I used too much baking soda and the whole thing went all doffo!"


----------



## snowbear

or . . . <omitted> is a real ****ing doffo if ever I saw one!"


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone





More from Doffo. 




The booty from Doffo.


----------



## jcdeboever

Booty Doffo


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Danza del Sol


----------



## Gary A.

Cougar


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Booty Doffo



That's Doffo Boo-TAY


----------



## jcdeboever

Cougar Boo TAY!


----------



## Gary A.

Lorenzi.


----------



## Gary A.

It has been a very good day.


----------



## Gary A.

Lorenzi is amazing ... everything is amazing.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like amazing


----------



## JonA_CT

I liked that meatloaf sandwich I finally got around to eating. Onion roll, meatloaf crisped in the pan, some left over glaze, a slice of cheddar, and some pickles. Delish. My wife still chose not to partake. My daughter, on the other hand, ate almost as much as I did.


----------



## snowbear

MLW's roasted chicken, string beans, escalloped potatoes and crescent rolls.


----------



## limr

I mixed up some sweet potato pancakes for dinner. Included some roasted cauliflower and a little bit of pea protein, and used a bit of jelly on top. Lots of protein and veggies. Tasted a lot better than it probably sounds.


----------



## Gary A.

We are back home in La Mirada. Mary Lou slept the entire way. She doesn't even remember the freeway onramp. We just pulled into our local Japanese eatery. Udon for Mary Lou ramen for Gary.


----------



## Frank F.

@Gary A. I love Asian soup. 

If these are made by a good cook, they are more like medication than food. As Paracelsus said: "Your food shall be your medication"


----------



## jcdeboever

I like egg drop soup


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> I mixed up some sweet potato pancakes for dinner. Included some roasted cauliflower and a little bit of pea protein, and used a bit of jelly on top. Lots of protein and veggies. T*asted a lot better than it probably sounds*.


It couldn't taste worse!


----------



## JonA_CT

I have a delayed opening again this morning.

I haven't had a normal day of school since February 3rd. Feb 6 -- day after Patriots won...students useless. Feb 7 -- delayed. Feb 8 -- Early Dismissal. Feb 9+10 -- closed. Feb 13 -- delayed. 

The funny part...I was meeting with my colleagues and our literacy coach a few weeks ago, and we were all trying to remember why we scheduled 8 weeks for a unit that should take 6. I remember now!


----------



## Frank F.




----------



## Frank F.

Does not look much better than last time in 8 December 2016


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Reviving an old favorite (especially after a nice long 4-day weekend!):


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary thinks he didn't have any coffee yesterday.  He drank a flight of champagne with his breakfast.  Next to his table was a pair of gentlemen discussing business, construction.  One looked like an architect/engineer type the other a contractor.  They were drinking coffee. Gary thought "WTF- Who goes to a winery and drinks coffee ...". Per the images Gary uploaded yesterday ... not Gary or Mary Lou.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary thinks he didn't have any coffee yesterday.  He drank a flight of champagne with his breakfast.  Next to his table was a pair of gentlemen discussing business, construction.  One looked like an architect/engineer type the other a contractor.  They were drinking coffee. Gary thought "WTF- Who goes to a winery and drinks coffee ...". Per the images Gary uploaded yesterday ... not Gary or Mary Lou.



I think the curious thing is that a winery sells coffee....


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> @Gary A. I love Asian soup.
> 
> If these are made by a good cook, they are more like medication than food. As Paracelsus said: "Your food shall be your medication"





 


Last night's soup and a roll.


----------



## Gary A.

Another iPhone snap from yesterday.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Does not look much better than last time in 8 December 2016


Is that survey crew for your place?


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary thinks he didn't have any coffee yesterday.  He drank a flight of champagne with his breakfast.  Next to his table was a pair of gentlemen discussing business, construction.  One looked like an architect/engineer type the other a contractor.  They were drinking coffee. Gary thought "WTF- Who goes to a winery and drinks coffee ...". Per the images Gary uploaded yesterday ... not Gary or Mary Lou.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think the curious thing is that a winery sells coffee....
Click to expand...

This was at Thornton.  Thornton has a full restaurant attached to the tasting room. Thornton has great food ... ho-hum wines ... except their champagnes are quite nice and their chocolate wines are surprisingly good.  Gary and Mary Lou keep our membership at Thornton because we get a discount on the food and free flights to wash the food down.  In lieu of a flight, Mary Lou usually gets a full glass of champagne with her food.  Thornton for food has always been our first stop in Temecula ... from our very first trip to now, every trip to Temecula starts at Thornton.

Other wineries have some type of food service.  Cougar has a nice hot & cold deli.  We snacked on a pastrami panni at Cougar. At Doffo, (laugh all you want, but they are a superior vintner actually and one of our favs  ), they have little ol' ladies in the patio making empanadas.  They were delish.  At Danza del Sol, they gave you little bags of oyster crackers (like you get with clam chowder), lol.  No food, but live entertainment in the patio.  People we showing up with picnic baskets, lots of families with little kids.  Cougar has the entertainment indoors and Thornton has an entire concert series during the summer on their patio, a real stage with real entertainers with names you would recognize.  But the series isn't free.  The best winery, Lorenzi, has nada.  No food, no entertainment, just great wines.

There are about 40 to 60 wineries in Temecula.  Gary thinks he and Mary Lou have visited about half of them so far.  Danza del Sol was new to us.


----------



## SquarePeg

I have such wonderful neighbors!  Last night while watching tv waiting for the snow to stop so I could start digging out, I was getting annoyed at how loud my neighbor's snow blower was only to peek out the window and find that it was extra loud because he was clearing my driveway and front walk!  So sweet of him and something home baked will be heading their way this week.  We do try to reciprocate their good deeds - I'll sometimes cut their grass if they're out of town or we'll invite their grandchildren to come over and have a swim if it's hot out and they're visiting.  Really the sense of community here is very nice and one of the things that keeps us here in the cold northeast.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> I have such wonderful neighbors!  Last night while watching tv waiting for the snow to stop so I could start digging out, I was getting annoyed at how loud my neighbor's snow blower was only to peek out the window and find that it was extra loud because he was clearing my driveway and front walk!  So sweet of him and something home baked will be heading their way this week.  We do try to reciprocate their good deeds - I'll sometimes cut their grass if they're out of town or we'll invite their grandchildren to come over and have a swim if it's hot out and they're visiting.  Really the sense of community here is very nice and one of the things that keeps us here in the cold northeast.



Isn't that a great feeling! Life is way better having good neighbors.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does not look much better than last time in 8 December 2016
> 
> 
> 
> Is that survey crew for your place?
Click to expand...



The official sworn in gouvernmentally certified measuring troup for the "BAUANTRAG" ... yes. Things go forward...

I send you the current plans via Email....


----------



## Frank F.

This is more or less what goes to the building authority to check & okay. The tree side is roughly North-East, the street side is rougly South-West:


----------



## Gary A.

You're packing a lot into that space.  Reinforce the roof and turn it into a garden.  No windows on the sides?


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> You're packing a lot into that space.  Reinforce the roof and turn it into a garden.  No windows on the sides?



Roof Garden. I love the idea. Difficult to get the permit though. I will ask the architects if it is a wise move to ask for the green roof.

No chance to get windows to the side. The right side is open but no permission will be given. The left side has a house of roughly age 100 as big as mine.


----------



## JonA_CT

UPS has delayed my second day air shipment for a third day. It's been in town since Wednesday night, and sitting in their locked warehouse or on their locked truck since, without being able to be picked up because they aren't open. 

I don't usually call to complain, but it's ridiculous they couldn't deliver today. It's been bright and sunny. I'm also calling the retailer to get my money back for the expedited shipping. At this point, I would have paid the extra money to buy the things from a different retailer. 

Okay. Rant over.


----------



## Gary A.

Another beautiful day.  Sunny and in the 70's.  Mary Lou has the day off ... so Gary make this a half work day.  We've just returned from shopping for succulents at the Blue Hills nursery, which had nearly nada in succulents and herbs/veggies.  Gary grabbed a six pack of arugula and another six pack of snow peas.  We hit Lowe's and they had a very nice selection of succulents and Gary picked up a tomato (Blue Cherokee).


----------



## Frank F.

I lose weight not only by eating half but also by only eating within an 8 hour window from 11 til 19. Newer research found you will not be hungry if you do so.

My plan A was getting rid of the Cortisone and lose my 10 Extra Kilos of water which did not work. So I stay with the water and kill off the fat instead.

Plan B: Eat half. 16 hours rest 8 hours eating interval. Works quite well. Down from 93.8 to 89.x.

Water balance shows that I seem to actually acquire water not lose it.

The 16 hour rest seems to stimulate factors that work against auto immune deseases. Self healing power. So with luck and god's blessing I might even make Plan A work through implementing Plan B


----------



## Frank F.

PS 

Less food and less wine means less spending money too. And I seem to  be quite robust too. Today I spent the hours from 9 to 12.30 outside in freezing cold 2 degrees celsius plus windchill factor. That after three days in bed with a virus and still a bit fevery. 16 hours rest seem to activate power. Warm hands without gloves. All good. Breakfast at 12.30 .... supper was at 19.30....


----------



## Gary A.

The body likes fat and water.  It will fight you at every turn when you try to lose them.


----------



## table1349

Plan C has always worked for me quite nicely.  Three nutritionally balanced, properly proportioned meals a day.   I eat anything I want, but I do not eat anything all the time.  A balanced variety.  

Breakfast no later than 0900. 
Dinner no later that 1300. 
Supper no later than 1900.  

1 mid afternoon snack consisting of a serving of either a fruit or vegetable. 

1 very small bedtime snack consisting of a single piece of string cheese or a single slice of cheese and a single slice of thin cut deli ham.   Both a known to help you sleep.

If a meal is to be missed for some reason it should always be dinner.

Combine that with strenuous work or exercise at least 5 days a week and 7-9 hours of sleep a night and you are good to go.


----------



## jcdeboever

Received my loaner Fujifilm X-T1 from a good friend. Pretty much figured it out (generally) in short order. Popped a Zeiss 50mm macro on it and took a quick shot of the dog. This is right out of camera except for square crop. Acros film simulation mode. This thing blows away anything I currently have. Love the feel and weight of it. Going to test it out further if I have time tomorrow. This was shot without even trying.


----------



## Gary A.

Looks like the dog is even surprised at how sharp the image is.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Looks like the dog is even surprised at how sharp the image is.


I would say so sir.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'll buy a Fuji camera as long as UPS doesn't have to deliver it. I'm calling corporate tomorrow. It doesn't matter because they don't give a crap, but I got the most miserable customer service interaction ever at the pickup location (who still didn't have my packages even though they supposedly couldn't deliver in my city). Maybe it'll make me feel better. 

As for as those of you who are giving Frank a hard time about his Intermittent Fasting...this guy does follow it strictly...


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank is my main man


----------



## Gary A.

That guy is bald.


----------



## jcdeboever

Lol


----------



## Frank F.

I do not have these ugly mussles and red underwear....

My body can do what he wants. You can comment what you want. I will do what I want. I want 80 Kilos on the balance. 88.4 down from 93.8 this morning. Another 8 Kilos to go. Three weeks at the current pace.

After that a balanced diet and possible regular bone aware exercise


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> I do not have these ugly musles and red underwear....
> 
> My body can do what he wants. You can comment what you want. I will do what I want. I want 80 Kilos on the balance. 88.4 down from 93.8 this morning. Another 8 Kilos to go. Three weeks at the current pace.
> 
> After that a balanced diet and possible regular bone aware exercise


What the heck is a kilo?


----------



## Frank F.

Kilogramm. Measuring Mass. Some have lots of these they might measure in pumpkins. We call "pumpkin" = "Zentner" which is 50 Kilos. A "3-Zentner-Mann" means a man with an impressive statue. If it is a large man like 2 Meters high we might specify "Kante" (edge) meaning three Zentners of pure muscle mass not body fat.


----------



## JonA_CT

Translates to 2.2 pounds. The metric system is so much easier to use, but I don't think we will ever change here.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do not have these ugly musles and red underwear....
> 
> My body can do what he wants. You can comment what you want. I will do what I want. I want 80 Kilos on the balance. 88.4 down from 93.8 this morning. Another 8 Kilos to go. Three weeks at the current pace.
> 
> After that a balanced diet and possible regular bone aware exercise
> 
> 
> 
> What the heck is a kilo?
Click to expand...

What's a balance?

So 80 kilo would be like 12.5 stones.


----------



## Designer

gryphonslair99 said:


> What's a balance?


scale


----------



## Frank F.

Designer said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> What's a balance?
> 
> 
> 
> scale
Click to expand...


Thank you


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Mary Lou was very successful with her succulent searches yesterday and spent the afternoon planting and and adjust/moving plants around.  The succulents start out tall and green in one corner of the yard and blend into short and mauve/red in the opposite corner. Gary started to rototill the sidewalk parkway in order to complete the transformation from grass to drought tolerant plants, but after one pass which simply churned up some grass, he immediately realized the huge effort and decided to mow and edge instead.  Gary gardened in the back, planting a bunch of snow peas, arugula, poppies and mammoth sunflowers. He also surprised Mary Lou by rearranging all the backyard furniture.  Mary Lou had him move it back to how it was.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Another day in the salt mines. The girls were very snuggly this morning. It was cold last night. Usually Mrs. Parker is the one who is very insistent that I wake up and give them their breakfast, but this morning, she was still curled up contentedly against me. It was Zelda who started pacing on the pillows and nudging me to wake up. Then she planted herself right next to my head, put her paw on my arm, and stuck her little furry face right up against my nose and purred so loud that I couldn't deny her anymore.

Kitty alarm clocks


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... Cook doesn't bark.  She can, but just doesn't in her normal routine.  If she wants to play or spots a opossum she'll bark.  But otherwise she shakes her tags to communicate.  When she greets Gary or Mary Lou she shakes her tags, affirms things she'll shake her tags, wants something she'll shake her tags and looks in the direction of what she wants.  Gary's mornings vary from waking at 4:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. depending on Gary's schedule.  On work days, Mary Lou get out of bed at 6:00 a.m.  On the weekends we tend to sleep in.  If we oversleep, per Cook's timing, she comes in and shake her tags ... then walk away, lol. At 9:00 p.m. or so, she has a last call and we take her to the front for one final look around and some personal hygiene.  At nine o'clock she'll find us and shake her tags to get our attention.  Her dinner time is 4:00 p.m.  She'll find us and just stare.  If we're in the kitchen, where her food dish resides, she'll lay on her stomach, pointing to the dish with her legs and turn her head to make eye contact.  And she'll purr.  When Gary gives her a big rubdown, rubbing her shoulders or belly, she'll make a noisy, heavy breathing noise somewhere between a cat purr and a light snore.


----------



## snowbear

Hanging out with MLW on her 3-11 OT gig; confirmed shooting, victim DOA.


----------



## Gary A.

Happy Valentine's Day Coffee Hosers.  Gary told Mary Lou that he hated Valentine's Day.  Mary Lou confided she hated all holidays. We celebrated Valentine's Day with plates of Mexican take out, (Julian's in Hawaiian Gardens), and Gary popped a bottle of champagne, Sweet Angel's Waltz, Mary Lou's favorite sparkling wine.

Gary has been closely watching the Oroville Dam story.  Amazing story that seemingly we've been able to fix. 100,000 were evacuated but can now return to their homes and businesses.


----------



## table1349

Best thing about Valentines day was having a reason to cook an extra special meal.   Bought a couple of whole full aged tenderloins a couple of weeks ago.   Cut my own 2"  fillets and vacuum packed them.  Froze several for a little dinner we are having in a few weeks.  Two I kept out just for tonight.  

Dinner consisted of applewood bacon wrapped Fillets grilled, twice baked potatoes with butter, sour cream and chives, a garden salad and home made chocolate cake for desert.


----------



## Gary A.

Sweet Angels Waltz would make Coco Puffs a feast for the Gods.


----------



## jcdeboever

Happy Valentines Day. Here is a Fuji Color Kiss for y'all. X-T1 35mm f/2. What a piece of glass...


----------



## Gary A.

In the middle of dinner Mary Lou got a phone call from the Hollywood Bowl ... we're pretty much set for 2017.


----------



## SquarePeg

Oh February, I hate you so.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Oh February, I hate you so.


March is right around the corner. 58° and sunny for Saturday, how do say street shooting on Saturday?


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Oh February, I hate you so.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary mowed the back yesterday.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


>


----------



## terri

I don't mind February - mainly because it's a short month.    March, OTOH, takes forever.    ugh!  

But August is, by far, my most hated month.    Torture before the blessed cool of fall begins.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> I don't mind February - mainly because it's a short month.    March, OTOH, takes forever.    ugh!
> 
> But August is, by far, my most hated month.    Torture before the blessed cool of fall begins.



July is bad enough, but August is just EVIL. September gets my goat too, because it should be getting cooler, but it's not _really_ yet, and the bugs haven't started dying yet.

However, March being my birth month, is *indubitably* the Best Month Ever.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> I don't mind February - mainly because it's a short month. March, OTOH, takes forever. ugh!
> 
> But August is, by far, my most hated month. Torture before the blessed cool of fall begins.



We typically start to see some warmer days in March plus I'm usually looking forward to some type of April trip so it's bearable.  February is just the pits, IMO.


----------



## Gary A.

Upper 70's today.


----------



## jcdeboever

Upper 70's today, nanna nanna boo boo....., 28° here today, felt like 15°


----------



## Gary A.

LOL, but tomorrow is rain and much cooler temps.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> LOL, but tomorrow is rain and much cooler temps.


GOOD!


I like fujifilm


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary mowed the back yesterday.


Did you wax or shave?

I like Zeiss


----------



## Gary A.

Composted.


----------



## JonA_CT

What is it with people with March birthdays? My wife has had a birth MONTH to celebrate since I've known her. The whole DAY thing just doesn't begin to recognize the importance.


----------



## Designer

Not just March.  I do that too.  I figure the whole month is good for whatever.  If we want to have dinner in a restaurant, sure!  It's my birthday month.  If I NEED a present (up to several weeks after the actual day, then heck yeah!  It's still my birthday month!


----------



## snowbear

April.

It's (generally) not so "cold" that you have to have the windows closed at night (to keep the others you live with friendly) but the higher temps and humidity of May haven't arrived.


----------



## limr

I am totally down with the whole birthday month idea, especially because ever since they changed the daylight savings time date, I get cheated out of an hour when my birthday falls on a Saturday. And this year my birthday falls on a Saturday. So I will make up for that lost hour by celebrating all month long! 

Buzz's birthday is at the end of March, so we can have joint month-long celebrations. It is also the month when we have Spring Break, although now as full-time staff, I don't actually get Spring Break. Boo!


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Mary Lou and Gary made a dash to the beach for the sunset and dinner before the ugly weather hits.


----------



## Frank F.

Two days no change on the scale although I stayed hungry and moving and looked like death on wheels. Today daughter sick. No Kindergarden. No outdoor workout for me. Must make up indoor workout.


----------



## SquarePeg

Frank F. said:


> Two days no change on the scale although I stayed hungry and moving and looked like death on wheels. Today daughter sick. No Kindergarden. No outdoor workout for me. Must make up indoor workout.



Weighing yourself every day is not a good idea.  Weekly or bi-weekly is a much better snapshot of how you are doing and much healthier for you mentally.  Also, if you are working out, keep in mind that the change may not be on the scale but in the way the weight is being redistributed to muscle which you can usually tell by the way your clothes fit.


----------



## SquarePeg

@Gary A.  - looks like a nice night for a walk along the ocean!  What beach is that?


----------



## Frank F.

My wife says 1 Kilo per week is a good guideline. So 8 weeks to go. That is till easter.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> @Gary A.  - looks like a nice night for a walk along the ocean!  What beach is that?


Seal Beach, to the north is Long Beach (tall buildings in #3) and to the south is Huntington Beach (Surf City). We like Seal because it is very quaint, quiet and closest beach to La Mirada, about 20-30 minutes.  Long Beach is too commercial and Huntington is too crowded and loud. Seal is just right. Most of Gary's adult life he's lived within walking distance to the beach. A block away in Huntington, two blocks away in Manhattan and about a mile away on the Peninsula (Palos Verdes).  Gary likes the beach, he majored in Marine Biology.  Huntington and Manhattan are flat sandy affairs. Palos Verdes, (the hill mass in the background of Gary's Seal Beach iPhone images), is wonderful with cliffs 100' tall, small crescent shaped coves tucked into the cliffs with tide pools alive with crabs, fish, anemones and octopi.

Snaps of the Peninsula :





















(That is Catalina floating out there in the background.)


----------



## Frank F.

That is where we found the big yellow stone with the little knight on it?

Where you build the Whale watching station?

Where there are rattle snakes in Summer?


----------



## SquarePeg

__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=675823512590335


----------



## table1349

Never let the magic go.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Two days no change on the scale although I stayed hungry and moving and looked like death on wheels. Today daughter sick. No Kindergarden. No outdoor workout for me. Must make up indoor workout.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Weighing yourself every day is not a good idea.  Weekly or bi-weekly is a much better snapshot of how you are doing and much healthier for you mentally.  Also, if you are working out, keep in mind that the change may not be on the scale but in the way the weight is being redistributed to muscle which you can usually tell by the way your clothes fit.
Click to expand...


I agree, I'm only down for so many snarky looks per week.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=675823512590335


----------



## SquarePeg

$%&$&^!!

When your perfect Willie Wonka meme response won't post because it uses a banned word!!!

https://onsizzle.com/i/i-dont-sugar-coat-****-im-not-willy-wonka-kush-2338620


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> $%&$&^!!
> 
> When your perfect Willie Wonka meme response won't post because it uses a banned word!!!
> 
> Moms Meme: I Don't Sugar Coat **** I'm Not Willy Wonka KUSH AND WIZDO | SIZZLE


Let me fix that for you.


----------



## table1349

Ahhhhh.... Springtime in Boston.  






Just remember to "Harvest" early enough that the Robins will have nest building materials.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> That is where we found the big yellow stone with the little knight on it?
> 
> Where you build the Whale watching station?
> 
> Where there are rattle snakes in Summer?


Yes, that's the place.


----------



## SquarePeg

Can we revisit my stand up desk conversation?  I have it narrowed down to the one from Ikea that I posted previously or one of these:

Ikea - if it were black I would buy it tomorrow.  It only comes in white which doesn't match where it will go at all:  SKARSTA Desk sit/stand   - IKEA

This one has free shipping with Prime but I'm not sold on the dual levels, especially since you don't get the extra space underneath the "shelf":  Amazon.com: Crank Stand Up Desk (60", Silver Frame / Black Top) – Crank Adjustable Standing Desk with Four Casters: Kitchen & Dining

This one is just about perfect but a lot more $$ and add $50 shipping:  Amazon.com: 60" Crank Adjustable Height Standing Desk (Black Frame / Gloss Black Top): Kitchen & Dining

Thoughts?


----------



## JonA_CT

I'd probably go with the middle one...it looks to me like the monitors end up being at a better height. 

The pic in the last one made me smile. The standing desk is supposed to help your posture, and the woman in the photo has it placed in a terrible spot to make it comfortable. 

It's weird that IKEA only has one color. If it were $100 cheaper, I'd say just paint it.


----------



## JonA_CT

I played with my flashes and modifiers some more tonight. I'm having fun with it...it's kind of cool to be able to set all of the lighting variables yourself. I've been working on humans, but I think I might start playing with some still life soon.


----------



## snowbear

Black paint.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Can we revisit my stand up desk conversation?  I have it narrowed down to the one from Ikea that I posted previously or one of these:
> 
> Ikea - if it were black I would buy it tomorrow.  It only comes in white which doesn't match where it will go at all:  SKARSTA Desk sit/stand   - IKEA
> 
> This one has free shipping with Prime but I'm not sold on the dual levels, especially since you don't get the extra space underneath the "shelf":  Amazon.com: Crank Stand Up Desk (60", Silver Frame / Black Top) – Crank Adjustable Standing Desk with Four Casters: Kitchen & Dining
> 
> This one is just about perfect but a lot more $$ and add $50 shipping:  Amazon.com: 60" Crank Adjustable Height Standing Desk (Black Frame / Gloss Black Top): Kitchen & Dining
> 
> Thoughts?


What's the advantage to a full desk that raises rather than a smaller desktop unit that moves just what you are working on?


----------



## Gary A.

aade4drcjeu4w3q265


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> aade4drcjeu4w3q265


No truer words were never spoken. 






Dear National Security,

You might want to put the code crackers on this one.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> aade4drcjeu4w3q265


No.  You and your alternate facts.  It's aade4drcj*nw*4w3q2*9*5


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> I played with my flashes and modifiers some more tonight. I'm having fun with it...it's kind of cool to be able to set all of the lighting variables yourself. I've been working on humans, but I think I might start playing with some still life soon.


Come down here . . . there are people that haven't budged in years - just need to dust them off.


----------



## SquarePeg

gryphonslair99 said:


> What's the advantage to a full desk that raises rather than a smaller desktop unit that moves just what you are working on?



I frequently multi-task and don't want one of those small desktop risers.  If I already had a large desk that I liked, it might be an option but I need a new workspace now that I am telecommuting full time.  I'm going to order the multi-tiered one since it ships free and see if I like it.  



snowbear said:


> No. You and your alternate facts. It's aade4drcj*nw*4w3q2*9*5



No clue.


----------



## table1349

After Gary's last post I think he may be able to explain the word that this song is about.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> What's the advantage to a full desk that raises rather than a smaller desktop unit that moves just what you are working on?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I frequently multi-task and don't want one of those small desktop risers.  If I already had a large desk that I liked, it might be an option but I need a new workspace now that I am telecommuting full time.  I'm going to order the multi-tiered one since it ships free and see if I like it.
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> No. You and your alternate facts. It's aade4drcj*nw*4w3q2*9*5
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No clue.
Click to expand...

That makes sense.  The only ones that I was familiar with were the ones that people had at work.  Everyone already had a big L shaped desk and the people that wanted on always got the desk top version.  I suspect that some got it not so much for the adjustable height but the potential storage under the monitor riser.


----------



## Gary A.

Unfortunately, the most expensive is also the best looking ... the least expensive looks quite cheapo, like a folding chair.  The inbetween desk looks very utilitarian.  They all seem to work the same ... so for Gary, it would boil down to where the desk will reside. The more 'public' the home for the desk or the nicer the furniture surrounding the desk, would go to dictate which desk to purchase.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> After Gary's last post I think he may be able to explain the word that this song is about.


LOL ... Gary was cleaning food off the keyboard.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> After Gary's last post I think he may be able to explain the word that this song is about.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Gary was cleaning food off the keyboard.
Click to expand...

This is a Table for dining.   One would normally place food on it.

This is a keyboard.  One would not normally place food on it.

This is a Waterproof Keyboard Cover.  One would normally use it if they are confused about which is for dining and which is for typing.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary believes that the post in question will testify to his state of confusion.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary believes that the post in question will testify to his state of confusion.


State of Confusion???   I thought you lived in California.  Granted some might say they are the same place.


----------



## snowbear

Maybe next time, let the Cook clean the keyboard.


----------



## Gary A.

A food-free keyboard is much more straightforward and far less confusing than a keyboard covered in food.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Maybe next time, let the Cook clean the keyboard.


LOL ... never happen.  She is far to picky an eater to consume random food.  Hell, she wouldn't eat bacon for years.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Unfortunately, the most expensive is also the best looking ... the least expensive looks quite cheapo, like a folding chair. The inbetween desk looks very utilitarian. They all seem to work the same ... so for Gary, it would boil down to where the desk will reside. The more 'public' the home for the desk or the nicer the furniture surrounding the desk, would go to dictate which desk to purchase.



This is a great point and one of the reasons that I will try out the "utilitarian" looking model first.  The desk will not be in a public area - it will be in an alcove off of the master bedroom and hopefully someday soon in my new office if I ever get my act together on the home addition that I'm hoping to do next year.  I think it's the two tone that gives it that utilitarian feel so if I love the set up and the desk functionality I can always go with @snowbear 's black paint option.  If I don't like it I'll send it back via Amazon's easy return policy and I will be out nothing but some time.


----------



## Frank F.

Tree Bark with special rendering lens:


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning Hosers!  TGIFF!!!   I've been in a bad sleep pattern where I have been up til the wee hours for the past week or so and still having to wake up at 6 everyday.  The lack of sleep is starting to catch up with me.  Feeling cranky.  Going to sleep in tomorrow!

What are everyone's plans for the weekend?  I finally have a free weekend and am determined to get out and shoot but no idea what.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Morning Hosers!  TGIFF!!!   I've been in a bad sleep pattern where I have been up til the wee hours for the past week or so and still having to wake up at 6 everyday.  The lack of sleep is starting to catch up with me.  Feeling cranky.  Going to sleep in tomorrow!
> 
> What are everyone's plans for the weekend?  I finally have a free weekend and am determined to get out and shoot but no idea what.


Yes, definitely get some sleep this weekend.

I have to get my workshop lessons and exercises finished up, since they  have to be submitted to the conference by the 24th.  MLW is working Monday night (different building than normal), so I'll have to take her in, then pick her up in the way into the office on Tuesday.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Morning Hosers!  TGIFF!!!   I've been in a bad sleep pattern where I have been up til the wee hours for the past week or so and still having to wake up at 6 everyday.  The lack of sleep is starting to catch up with me.  Feeling cranky.  Going to sleep in tomorrow!
> 
> What are everyone's plans for the weekend?  I finally have a free weekend and am determined to get out and shoot but no idea what.


Relax and chill. Basketball game tonight to check out the XT1 for action focus and poor light conditions. Street shooting Saturday to check out the XF35 prime on the XT1 and to practice a couple Hedgcoe projects. Selling some camera gear to fund the XT2 purchase on Saturday as well. Sunday is Church and honeydoo list activities.


----------



## snowbear

I ran a roll through the Brownie and went to put in number two, but ran into a problem: the spool (from the first roll) won't fin in the take-up side of the camera.  The mount (basically a piece of spring steel) does not have as much travel distance as the unexposed-film side, and the newer plastic spools that the film is mounted on is thicker than the original steel spools.  I ordered a pack of ten 120 spools on Amazon to get me by for a while.  Once we move and I'm able to process, it won't be an issue.

I'll take this one to the lab in Wilmington (LL needs to get some driving practice) so I can be assured to get the spool back (yeah, I'm cheap).

On another issue, I am selling off some pf my dryer link collection - any takers?


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> I ran a roll through the Brownie and went to put in number two, but ran into a problem: the spool (from the first roll) won't fin in the take-up side of the camera.  The mount (basically a piece of spring steel) does not have as much travel distance as the unexposed-film side, and the newer plastic spools that the film is mounted on is thicker than the original steel spools.  I ordered a pack of ten 120 spools on Amazon to get me by for a while.  Once we move and I'm able to process, it won't be an issue.
> 
> I'll take this one to the lab in Wilmington (LL needs to get some driving practice) so I can be assured to get the spool back (yeah, I'm cheap).
> 
> On another issue, I am selling off some pf my dryer link collection - any takers?


Take a plastic spool and sand it


----------



## JonA_CT

I have a 4 day weekend again due to President's Day and the bonus day we get after. My school district used to do a full February break. I'm kind of happy we don't anymore...I'd rather take these days in school over days in the summer.

We will keep ourselves busy. We are doing the initial thinking/planning for a kitchen remodel, going to the aquarium one day and the children's museum another, and maybe a day where we just hang out at home.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Morning Hosers!  TGIFF!!!   I've been in a bad sleep pattern where I have been up til the wee hours for the past week or so and still having to wake up at 6 everyday.  The lack of sleep is starting to catch up with me.  Feeling cranky.  Going to sleep in tomorrow!
> 
> What are everyone's plans for the weekend?  I finally have a free weekend and am determined to get out and shoot but no idea what.


Tips to help you sleep.
1.  No drinking anything after 8:00 p.m. That will help with your *wee* hours issue.  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




2. Small bedtime snack.  Excellent snack would be a single slice of cheese and single slice of deli ham or turkey.  They produce tryptophan. Less than 100 calories.  A couple of crackers with cheese will also help.

3. No electronic entertainment(ie blue light) at least 1 hour before bedtime, such as the computer, tablet, smart phone or television.  Try reading a book, listening to relaxing music etc. 

4.  Before you lie down, sit on the edge of your bed, close your eyes, and allow any thoughts of unresolved business to arise, and then let them go. Center yourself with your breath. Allow your body to relax. Allow your mind to relax. Breathe and let go.


----------



## waday

gryphonslair99 said:


> 4. Before you lie down, sit on the edge of your bed, close your eyes, and allow any thoughts of unresolved business to arise, and then let them go. Center yourself with your breath. Allow your body to relax. Allow your mind to relax. Breathe and let go.


I like this suggestion!


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> ...
> 
> On another issue, I am selling off some pf my dryer link collection - any takers?



No thanks, Gary and Mary Lou have all the dryer lint we need.


----------



## waday

Hi all! Quick question/background:

The wife and I are going on an international trip in a few weeks. I want to take as little as possible. I have three lenses for my Olympus EM1: 

(1) 12-42 mm f/2.8, 
(2) 17 mm f/1.8, and 
(3) 14-150 mm variable (f/4-5.6).

I'm thinking of leaving the 17 mm at home. It's a redundant length, and I'm not sure I'll need the extra light if I take the f/2.8.

On the other hand, it's small enough that it could easily be taken. It's like 1.5 inches tall and 2 inches wide or something like that. Smaller than a baseball.

Thoughts?

Really, the only reason I thought about taking it was to possibly do a nighttime/star shot when we're in the mountains, but I'm wondering if the f/2.8 would be "good enough" on a M43? I think the 12-42 would likely be on most of the time, if not all the time, that the 17 mm would be on.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...
> 
> On another issue, I am selling off some pf my dryer link collection - any takers?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No thanks, Gary and Mary Lou has all the dryer lint we need.
Click to expand...

How is your supply of belly button lint?


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg:  Mary Lou and Gary were planned heading out to the desert tomorrow. Anza Borrego, sand dunes and wild flowers.  The wild flowers are going nuts this year.  But ... (the big but), the most powerful storm of the season is hitting this weekend, so we may put that plan on hold.

(This isn't Anza Borrego ... but an example of wildflowers out by Temecula.)


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I have a 4 day weekend again due to President's Day and the bonus day we get after. My school district used to do a full February break. I'm kind of happy we don't anymore...I'd rather take these days in school over days in the summer.
> 
> We will keep ourselves busy. We are doing the initial thinking/planning for a kitchen remodel, going to the aquarium one day and the children's museum another, and maybe a day where we just hang out at home.



Our schools do have February break next week.  I feel the same way you do about it and wish they would eliminate this or combine it with our Spring break and give them 2 weeks in late March.  February weather is too iffy, IMO, to book something with air travel and the prices are so inflated due to the airlines price gauging during school breaks!  And we don't ski so this break is totally wasted on us.  It's hard to keep the kids busy for a week at home in winter.  We're heading to CT on Tuesday for a few days at Foxwoods.  Thanks to her frequent visits there with friends, my sister-in-law gets a great discount on rooms.  My daughter and my nephew love it - swimming, bowling, ice skating, a huge arcade, the buffet, a designer outlet mall... They each get to bring a friend and then my SIL and I can enjoy the shopping and restaurants and spa and we even get a few hours in the casino once the kids are in their rooms with a movie. 

Remodeling our kitchen was the best decision I ever made.  Definitely have a professional designer take a look at the space before you make any decisions.  Also, if you can fit a trash compactor consider it.  I had one many years ago in my condo and miss it!  I regret not making room for one in the new kitchen and have been considering buying a stand alone one for the garage.



waday said:


> I'm thinking of leaving the 17 mm at home. It's a redundant length, and I'm not sure I'll need the extra light if I take the f/2.8.
> 
> On the other hand, it's small enough that it could easily be taken. It's like 1.5 inches tall and 2 inches wide or something like that. Smaller than a baseball.
> 
> Thoughts?



I'd rather have it and not need it than the opposite.



Gary A. said:


> (This isn't Anza Borrego ... but an example of wildflowers out by Temecula.)



Beautiful!  That second photo is gorgeous.


----------



## Gary A.

@wade: Just the 12-42 should be enough.  Your IBIS should make up for any difference in aperture.  But if you're bent on some star stuff, a small pod (Gorilla) would be better than F/1.8.


----------



## SquarePeg

gryphonslair99 said:


> Tips to help you sleep.



Thanks for the tips.  Once I decide to sleep I'm not having any trouble - I've just been too busy doing nothing important to go to bed.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tips to help you sleep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for the tips.  Once I decide to sleep I'm not having any trouble - I've just been too busy doing nothing important to go to bed.
Click to expand...

12 Ways to Shut Off Your Brain Before Bedtime | Psych Central


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...
> 
> On another issue, I am selling off some pf my dryer link collection - any takers?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No thanks, Gary and Mary Lou has all the dryer lint we need.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> How is your supply of belly button lint?
Click to expand...

Gary's cute little button gathers no lint.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tips to help you sleep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for the tips.  Once I decide to sleep I'm not having any trouble - I've just been too busy doing nothing important to go to bed.
Click to expand...

LOl ... Gary gets hung up on unimportant stuff also.  Gary was up late last night on a slug and snail killing spree. Slugs and snails are the bane of the garden.  The peppers are suffering.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Our schools do have February break next week.  I feel the same way you do about it and wish they would eliminate this or combine it with our Spring break and give them 2 weeks in late March.  February weather is too iffy, IMO, to book something with air travel and the prices are so inflated due to the airlines price gauging during school breaks!  And we don't ski so this break is totally wasted on us.  It's hard to keep the kids busy for a week at home in winter.  We're heading to CT on Tuesday for a few days at Foxwoods.  Thanks to her frequent visits there with friends, my sister-in-law gets a great discount on rooms.  My daughter and my nephew love it - swimming, bowling, ice skating, a huge arcade, the buffet, a designer outlet mall... They each get to bring a friend and then my SIL and I can enjoy the shopping and restaurants and spa and we even get a few hours in the casino once the kids are in their rooms with a movie.



Nice! Foxwoods is about a mile from where my parents live, and maybe 25 minutes from where I live. We moved in right before they decided to upgrade from a bingo hall to a world-class casino. It's still crazy to me that we get people from all over to come visit our little town. I've always wondered why people bring families, but what you're saying makes a lot of sense.

You should try to take a quick side trip to Mystic while you are in the area. It's about 15 minutes from Foxwoods, and can be an awesome place to do some photo-walking, especially because it will be quiet  during the week this time of year.  If you have an interest, shoot me a PM. I can give you directions to a couple of places in Downtown Mystic to start, and a couple of coastal reserves in case you wanted to take a walk outside. The weather is supposed to be beautiful.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The Hummingpig feeder has been refilled and Gary is settling down to a nice cup of Chiapas and snacking on Mandarin Oranges.  The rains were forecasted to hit early this morning, but nothing yet.  But rain is definitely in the air.  When Gary retrieved the paper from the driveway, The Cook hung back on the porch ... with a 'It's gonna rain any second now ...' look on her face. There's a hummer filling up now ... really topping off.  It's been there for about a minute with its beak in the brew. Interesting.


----------



## table1349

This is Gary's next new cooking device.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> This is Gary's next new cooking device.


ouuuu ... ooouuu .... ooouuu Gary needs one of those.  LOL, Gary has been in discussions with his much much better half on digging out a cooking pit in the back.


----------



## waday

@SquarePeg and @Gary A. , you both make good points! I don't have a gorilla pod, but have been wanting to try one out. I had a small one for my P&S until my Roxy decided to turn it into a chew toy. 

Hmm. I'm going to pack everything I need, and if I have space, I might just pop it in the bag. But, I don't really anticipate using it all that much with the 12-42.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...
> 
> On another issue, I am selling off some pf my dryer link collection - any takers?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No thanks, Gary and Mary Lou has all the dryer lint we need.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> How is your supply of belly button lint?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary's cute little button gathers no lint.
Click to expand...

Well then my friend you are in luck.  Yes a Ree, today and today only we are having a special on belly button lint.  Be the hit of the party, the envy of all your friends, a hero to your children.  Today only, for $19.95 (plus shipping and handling) we will send you a vial of personally selected belly button lint for your very own.

Do you wish that there had been a red head in your life?  Well now there can be.  You can choose any color you want.  Not only that you can specify whether you want wiry or soft, curly or straight, male or female.  Be adventurous and get a combo pack.

But that's not all, if you order in the next 10 minutes we will send you not one, but TWO bottles of belly button lint of your choice.  Just pay separate shipping and handling charges.  Don't wait, the next 100 customers will also get jar of toe jam scraping absolutely free with their purchase.

Call now to order. The number is 1-800-1SUCKER, that's 1-800 178-2537.


----------



## waday

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...
> 
> On another issue, I am selling off some pf my dryer link collection - any takers?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No thanks, Gary and Mary Lou has all the dryer lint we need.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> How is your supply of belly button lint?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary's cute little button gathers no lint.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well then my friend you are in luck.  Yes a Ree, today and today only we are having a special on belly button lint.  Be the hit of the party, the envy of all your friends, a hero to your children.  Today only, for $19.95 (plus shipping and handling) we will send you a vial of personally selected belly button lint for your very own.
> 
> Do you wish that there had been a red head in your life?  Well now there can be.  You can choose any color you want.  Not only that you can specify whether you want wiry or soft, curly or straight, male or female.  Be adventurous and get a combo pack.
> 
> But that's not all, if you order in the next 10 minutes we will send you not one, but TWO bottles of belly button lint of your choice.  Just pay separate shipping and handling charges.  Don't wait, the next 100 customers will also get jar of toe jam scraping absolutely free with their purchase.
> 
> Call now to order. The number is 1-800-1SUCKER, that's 1-800 178-2537.
Click to expand...

Shoot. I just ordered a bunch of vitameatavegamin.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our schools do have February break next week.  I feel the same way you do about it and wish they would eliminate this or combine it with our Spring break and give them 2 weeks in late March.  February weather is too iffy, IMO, to book something with air travel and the prices are so inflated due to the airlines price gauging during school breaks!  And we don't ski so this break is totally wasted on us.  It's hard to keep the kids busy for a week at home in winter.  We're heading to CT on Tuesday for a few days at Foxwoods.  Thanks to her frequent visits there with friends, my sister-in-law gets a great discount on rooms.  My daughter and my nephew love it - swimming, bowling, ice skating, a huge arcade, the buffet, a designer outlet mall... They each get to bring a friend and then my SIL and I can enjoy the shopping and restaurants and spa and we even get a few hours in the casino once the kids are in their rooms with a movie.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice! Foxwoods is about a mile from where my parents live, and maybe 25 minutes from where I live. We moved in right before they decided to upgrade from a bingo hall to a world-class casino. It's still crazy to me that we get people from all over to come visit our little town. I've always wondered why people bring families, but what you're saying makes a lot of sense.
> 
> You should try to take a quick side trip to Mystic while you are in the area. It's about 15 minutes from Foxwoods, and can be an awesome place to do some photo-walking, especially because it will be quiet  during the week this time of year.  If you have an interest, shoot me a PM. I can give you directions to a couple of places in Downtown Mystic to start, and a couple of coastal reserves in case you wanted to take a walk outside. The weather is supposed to be beautiful.
Click to expand...


We do usually go into Mystic if the weather is nice.  Would love the info on the coastal reserves and downtown.  If I get up early one of the mornings I will head out alone with my gear.  Last year I didn't bring my camera with me because it was rainy and cold but this time I will have it with me and would love some suggestions for a photo walk.  



waday said:


> @SquarePeg and @Gary A. , you both make good points! I don't have a gorilla pod, but have been wanting to try one out. I had a small one for my P&S until my Roxy decided to turn it into a chew toy.
> 
> Hmm. I'm going to pack everything I need, and if I have space, I might just pop it in the bag. But, I don't really anticipate using it all that much with the 12-42.



I have this and it travels well.  Have used it only about 10 times but it has come in handy when needed:  Amazon.com: Pedco UltraPod II Lightweight Camera Tripod: Sports & Outdoors


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Hi all! Quick question/background:
> 
> The wife and I are going on an international trip in a few weeks. I want to take as little as possible. I have three lenses for my Olympus EM1:
> 
> (1) 12-42 mm f/2.8,
> (2) 17 mm f/1.8, and
> (3) 14-150 mm variable (f/4-5.6).
> 
> I'm thinking of leaving the 17 mm at home. It's a redundant length, and I'm not sure I'll need the extra light if I take the f/2.8.
> 
> On the other hand, it's small enough that it could easily be taken. It's like 1.5 inches tall and 2 inches wide or something like that. Smaller than a baseball.
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
> Really, the only reason I thought about taking it was to possibly do a nighttime/star shot when we're in the mountains, but I'm wondering if the f/2.8 would be "good enough" on a M43? I think the 12-42 would likely be on most of the time, if not all the time, that the 17 mm would be on.



Leave it.  You want to fuss as little as possible.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I have this and it travels well. Have used it only about 10 times but it has come in handy when needed: Amazon.com: Pedco UltraPod II Lightweight Camera Tripod: Sports & Outdoors


Ooo! What's that! I might take a look at that...



limr said:


> Leave it. You want to fuss as little as possible.


Agh, that's 2 for leaving and 1 for taking. Hmm.


----------



## waday

This is my favorite sentence in National Geographic's TOS:



> By posting or transmitting any User Content on, through or in connection with the NG Services, you hereby grant to National Geographic and our NG Affiliates, licensees, assignees, and authorized users, a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, freely sublicensable and transferable (in whole or in part) right (including any moral rights) and license to use, modify, excerpt, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works and compilations based upon, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, sublicense, broadcast and distribute such User Content, including your name, voice, likeness and other personally identifiable information to the extent that such is contained in User Content, anywhere, in any form and on and through all media formats now known or hereafter devised, for any and all purposes including, but not limited to, promotional, marketing, trade or any non-commercial or commercial purposes.


----------



## Frank F.

waday said:


> This is my favorite sentence in National Geographic's TOS:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> By posting or transmitting any User Content on, through or in connection with the NG Services, you hereby grant to National Geographic and our NG Affiliates, licensees, assignees, and authorized users, a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, freely sublicensable and transferable (in whole or in part) right (including any moral rights) and license to use, modify, excerpt, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works and compilations based upon, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, sublicense, broadcast and distribute such User Content, including your name, voice, likeness and other personally identifiable information to the extent that such is contained in User Content, anywhere, in any form and on and through all media formats now known or hereafter devised, for any and all purposes including, but not limited to, promotional, marketing, trade or any non-commercial or commercial purposes.
Click to expand...


These and facebook and others should be boycotted by users and by contributers especially.

In the forum of BNI Networks they even wanted the right to patent your ideas if you were talking about them on theit network.

These indecent people should not be in any business at all.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> This is my favorite sentence in National Geographic's TOS:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> By posting or transmitting any User Content on, through or in connection with the NG Services, you hereby grant to National Geographic and our NG Affiliates, licensees, assignees, and authorized users, a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, freely sublicensable and transferable (in whole or in part) right (including any moral rights) and license to use, modify, excerpt, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works and compilations based upon, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, sublicense, broadcast and distribute such User Content, including your name, voice, likeness and other personally identifiable information to the extent that such is contained in User Content, anywhere, in any form and on and through all media formats now known or hereafter devised, for any and all purposes including, but not limited to, promotional, marketing, trade or any non-commercial or commercial purposes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> These and facebook and others should be boycotted by users and by contributers especially.
> 
> In the forum of BNI Networks they even wanted the right to patent your ideas if you were talking about them on theit network.
> 
> These indecent people should not be in any business at all.
Click to expand...

You mean attorneys?  

Remember they/anybody can write anything they want, just being in print doesn't make it legal.  Copy the above language, alter it to fit your needs ... as in "Terms Of Service" make it "Terms Of Presentation" or "Terms of Posting" ... and post it in your metadata ... or have a link in a visible copyright stamp which leads to your Terms Of Presentation/Posting which is available/visible on your website. Now you're set for court.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Take a plastic spool and sand it


I'd be afraid of weakening it too much.  The steel (ex-Kodak, allegedly) spools should be here by Tuesday.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leave it. You want to fuss as little as possible.
> 
> 
> 
> Agh, that's 2 for leaving and 1 for taking. Hmm.
Click to expand...


Speaking from experience, I have found that I never use the gear as much as I think I will, and I don't think I've ever had a moment when I left something at home and felt, "Damn, I really wish I had brought that." I just find it much less stressful to travel overseas as streamlined as possible; otherwise it just gets counterproductive. Lots of gear is more tiring to carry, and the fussiness of reaching in and out of the bag to change lenses makes me likely to use that gear. I find it's just not worth it.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Speaking from experience, I have found that I never use the gear as much as I think I will, and I don't think I've ever had a moment when I left something at home and felt, "Damn, I really wish I had brought that." I just find it much less stressful to travel overseas as streamlined as possible; otherwise it just gets counterproductive. Lots of gear is more tiring to carry, and the fussiness of reaching in and out of the bag to change lenses makes me likely to use that gear. I find it's just not worth it.


This is my concern. I'm not exactly the type of person to change lenses frequently, and even less so when doing tours/hikes. I want my hobby to be as unobtrusive as possible while we're on vacation.

I think I'll leave it home.


----------



## pgriz

waday said:


> I think I'll leave it home.



A smart move.  When you're in a different place, keeping track of all the bits that are important (passport, wallet, phone, camera) takes away from your ability to immerse yourself in the experience.  I have found that the less I have to keep track of, the better I remember the experience.


----------



## JonA_CT

We are doing a classic thing for us...we put the kid to bed, ordered some Thai delivery, and now we are getting ready to watch last night's episode of Top Chef.

The food isn't here yet...but our favorite Thai place always makes it sort of an adventure. I like my food spicy. They offer 4 heat levels, but it's never consistent. The question is whether it'll just make my face swell or whether my stomach will be cramping for the rest of the night.


----------



## JonA_CT

Womp womp. 

The food was merely "flavorful". No eye swelling, and my soups broth wasn't tinged red. Next time.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone 
Rescued Monarch Chrysalis

What a long long day. The rains have arrived, along with punishing wind and Monsoon type down pours. Gary had to refill the backyard humming pig feeder and he rescued a Monarch chrysalis from a dead cilantro plant. Man, the phones are going off with emergency alerts of flash flooding.


----------



## Gary A.

Now there is a Flash Flood Warning coming across the Tv. And we have a few more days of rain.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Now there is a Flash Flood Warning coming across the Tv. And we have a few more days of rain.


Wow, you guys needed the rain but man, y'all been getting dumped on lately.


----------



## Gary A.

Yep, we may lose a dam or two.  It is really pouring now ... a monsoon.  There was a Herculean effort occurred up in Northern California at the Oroville Dam.  Earlier in the week, 2oo,ooo people downstream were forced to evacuate because the spillway became unstable.  For three to four days after discovery of a huge hole in the spillway undermining the entire dam, quarries, trucks and helicopters work around the clock dumping in rip-rap and concrete shoring up the hole.  (The hole had grown to about 45-feet-deep and 300-feet-wide by 500-feet-long.)

Here’s a snapshot of the resources involved in the repair effort:

More than 125 construction crews;
40 truckloads of aggregate rock, 1,200 tons of rock deposited in eroded/damaged areas per hour;
Two helicopter drops of rocks, concrete and/or other materials every minute and a half.

Due to the repair efforts, the evacuation orders were rescinded.


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


>



LOL, in all of California.


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

1. No Traffic
3. Wine


----------



## Gary A.

Gary feels better, less stressed.  He and Mary Lou are having a glass of wine.  He just wrapped up cooking a brisket and it came out very very tasty. Mary Lou is roasting some potatoes and veggies and dinner will be served shortly.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Now there is a Flash Flood Warning coming across the Tv. And we have a few more days of rain.



Get that rain under control out there.  I am heading that way in April and expect beautiful sunny SoCal weather.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now there is a Flash Flood Warning coming across the Tv. And we have a few more days of rain.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get that rain under control out there.  I am heading that way in April and expect beautiful sunny SoCal weather.
Click to expand...

Pourquoi?


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Pourquoi?



Just going to stop by for some wine, tri-tip and coffee...




Lol.  I'm heading to Disneyland with my daughter and nephew and my sister-in-law for the kids school break week.  We'll be there for a few days following Easter.  We were supposed to go last year, had it all booked, but I had to cancel due to a work trip that I could not get out of.  Decided today that we would reschedule because the coast is clear.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pourquoi?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just going to stop by for some wine, tri-tip and coffee...
Click to expand...


You're on!


----------



## Gary A.

Not to interfere with your plans ... But ... I am more than happy to be a tour guide should you have an opening.  If you miss some home cooking ... hit me up.  (Wine and coffee included.)

PS- We're about 20 or so minutes away from D-Land.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Not to interfere with your plans ... But ... I am more than happy to be a tour guide should you have an opening.  If you miss some home cooking ... hit me up.  (Wine and coffee included.)
> 
> PS- We're about 20 or so minutes away from D-Land.


Shoot, that's a no-brainer.... Got to stop buy Gary A.'s house for some meatballs, tritip, wine, and a darkroom lesson.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pourquoi?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just going to stop by for some wine, tri-tip and coffee...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You're on!
Click to expand...




Gary A. said:


> Not to interfere with your plans ... But ... I am more than happy to be a tour guide should you have an opening. If you miss some home cooking ... hit me up. (Wine and coffee included.)
> 
> PS- We're about 20 or so minutes away from D-Land.





jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not to interfere with your plans ... But ... I am more than happy to be a tour guide should you have an opening.  If you miss some home cooking ... hit me up.  (Wine and coffee included.)
> 
> PS- We're about 20 or so minutes away from D-Land.
> 
> 
> 
> Shoot, that's a no-brainer.... Got to stop buy Gary A.'s house for some meatballs, tritip, wine, and a darkroom lesson.
Click to expand...


That's a very nice offer Gary, and much appreciated!  If we had more time and wouldn't have the teenagers in tow, I would definitely try to plan something.  But.. this trip we're staying 3 blocks from the park and not planning on even renting a car for the short time we're there.  

Any recommendations on where to eat in the parks and/or Downtown Disney area?


----------



## Gary A.

The parks and Downtown Disney are so crowded that Gary tends to stay away.  The restaurants at Downtown Disney have long waiting times so make reservations. A few blocks away is the Gardenwalk with a better selection of eateries and much shorter waits.

My daughters have season passes I'll check with them on food and stuff.





Street Performer @ Downtown Disney


----------



## Frank F.

Phantastic shot, Gary!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  The rains and winds have momentarily stopped.  If Gary was still working news, he would have been out there, cover from head to toe in rubber, sloshing around in freezing rain and flooded streets.  Covering storms during the day sucks, covering them at night is much worse.  When you're young it is great to get into the game ... but when you get old it's good to put a fire on and watch it all on Tv. Front page story has a photo of a cemetery underwater.  A little dark blue lake with headstones sticking up ... makes Gary uncomfortable ... cemeteries should never be flooded. Good photo.


----------



## Gary A.

The rains are back.  

The hummers are filling up.  Mary Lou has announced this to be a Couch Potato Day.  Last night we NetFlixed "Inferno" with Tom Hanks.  We gave it four stars.


----------



## Designer

SquarePeg said:


> Any recommendations on where to eat in the parks and/or Downtown Disney area?


We always planned on one sit-down meal per day, even though we ate mostly fast food stand-up for the other meals.  That place in New Orleans Square, (forget the name of it) is entirely worthwhile.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pourquoi?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just going to stop by for some wine, tri-tip and coffee...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You're on!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not to interfere with your plans ... But ... I am more than happy to be a tour guide should you have an opening. If you miss some home cooking ... hit me up. (Wine and coffee included.)
> 
> PS- We're about 20 or so minutes away from D-Land.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not to interfere with your plans ... But ... I am more than happy to be a tour guide should you have an opening.  If you miss some home cooking ... hit me up.  (Wine and coffee included.)
> 
> PS- We're about 20 or so minutes away from D-Land.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Shoot, that's a no-brainer.... Got to stop buy Gary A.'s house for some meatballs, tritip, wine, and a darkroom lesson.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's a very nice offer Gary, and much appreciated!  If we had more time and wouldn't have the teenagers in tow, I would definitely try to plan something.  But.. this trip we're staying 3 blocks from the park and not planning on even renting a car for the short time we're there.
> 
> Any recommendations on where to eat in the parks and/or Downtown Disney area?
Click to expand...

Breakfast - Plaza Inn
Lunch - Rainforest Cafe  or  Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria
Dinner - Ariel's Grotto or Blue Bayou Restaurant

I prefer the dining at Disney World over Disney land as their is a much wider variety, but that would make a long drive for you eat at Disney World in Orlando.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are back. We got a three walk into The Cook.  Meet a very nice fellow on the way, who was shooting an A6000.  Inspected some fallen palm trees.  (They were Black Palms, which are pricey.)  Emptied out some rain barrels, got the drainage hose draining and now enjoying a quesadilla in the patio with my second cup of Joe.


----------



## Designer

gryphonslair99 said:


> Breakfast - Plaza Inn
> Lunch - Rainforest Cafe  or  Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria
> Dinner - Ariel's Grotto or Blue Bayou Restaurant
> 
> I prefer the dining at Disney World over Disney land as their is a much wider variety, but that would make a long drive for you eat at Disney World in Orlando.


Yeah, *Blue Bayou*, thats the one I couldn't remember the name.

Thanks *Grif*!!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Good job Grif.


----------



## table1349

Designer said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Breakfast - Plaza Inn
> Lunch - Rainforest Cafe  or  Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria
> Dinner - Ariel's Grotto or Blue Bayou Restaurant
> 
> I prefer the dining at Disney World over Disney land as their is a much wider variety, but that would make a long drive for you eat at Disney World in Orlando.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, *Blue Bayou*, thats the one I couldn't remember the name.
> 
> Thanks *Grif*!!!!!!
Click to expand...




Gary A. said:


> Good job Grif.



I will explain it to you two as I did to derrel,  it's gryph, not grif.  I'm not working on a movie set for a director with a lisp.


----------



## Derrel

This is where I came up with the "grif" handle...Duly noted, there's a Y in there!!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

Well, I did it. I sold all my gear (not my film stuff) and I still have a store credit. Did way better than B & H, Adorama, or KEH, like 500.00 better. I still have to buy a couple more lens but I am thrilled to not have to shell out any cash today. I got a new Fujifilm X-T2, 18-50mm f/2.8-4 kit lens, 60mm f/2.4 macro (not the Zeiss), battery grip, extra batteries, couple of fast cards, and some rolls of Ektar. I am going to use the remaining credit on a 50-140mm f/2.8, 100-400mm, and a 1.4TC. I want to thank @Gary A. *big time* for guiding me through this whole thing, really feel like I am on the right path now. Batteries charging..... oh my.


----------



## Designer

gryphonslair99 said:


> I will explain it to you two as I did to derrel,  it's gryph, not grif.  I'm not working on a movie set for a director with a lisp.


Good grief!  Sorry for the gaff, Gryph!


----------



## table1349

Designer said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I will explain it to you two as I did to derrel,  it's gryph, not grif.  I'm not working on a movie set for a director with a lisp.
> 
> 
> 
> Good grief!  Sorry for the gaff, Gryph!
Click to expand...

I wasn't a gaffer either, nor a best boy.


----------



## Designer

gryphonslair99 said:


> I wasn't a gaffer either, nor a best boy.


I was a lot better as a boy.  Not so much now.


----------



## table1349

Designer said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wasn't a gaffer either, nor a best boy.
> 
> 
> 
> I was a lot better as a boy.  Not so much now.
Click to expand...

Is that what your are saying or the woman in your life is saying?   Just looking for clarification.


----------



## Derrel

jcdeboever said:


> Well, I did it. I sold all my gear (not my film stuff) and I still have a store credit. Did way better than B & H, Adorama, or KEH, like 500.00 better. I still have to buy a couple more lens but I am thrilled to not have to shell out any cash today. I got a new Fujifilm X-T2, 18-50mm f/2.8-4 kit lens, 60mm f/2.4 macro (not the Zeiss), battery grip, extra batteries, couple of fast cards, and some rolls of Ektar. I am going to use the remaining credit on a 50-140mm f/2.8, 100-400mm, and a 1.4TC. I want to thank @Gary A. *big time* for guiding me through this whole thing, really feel like I am on the right path now. Batteries charging..... oh my.



Hooooooo, boyyyy! NEW CAMERA setup! Not much better than that! I think it makes sense to go with the 60mm as the macro lens, instad of the 50mm, since at Min Focus, there's some focal length lost, and it's just better to have the narrower angle of view BEHIND the subject that the longer lens creates. Plus, at Infinity to 10 feet, the 60mm length is just, well, more-selective than the 50mm length. In the Leica-type-era, the difference between a 75mm and a 90mm e-View was always a big deal. And the 18-50 and then the 50-140 makes for a good pair of zooms.

Looking forward to seeing how well this X-T2 shoots for you. Your early days with the Fuji have already yielded some good stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary sorta likes Grif.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou braved some light rain/sprinkles and worked in the yard.  We just puddled around pulling up some giant succulents and a ton of Nasturtians. In the afternoon, the Sun broke through the clouds and created a glorious afternoon.


----------



## Gary A.

Congrats JC.  Gary hopes you like the Fujinon lenses.


----------



## Gary A.

Wow ... Mary Lou and Gary are sitting in the patio, sipping on some vino, when a Phoebe (a little bird) swoops in and snags a butterfly out of some flowering succulents. Then flies up to a tree and gulps down the butterfly.  Gary thought most butterflies tasted pretty bad ... he guesses not for a Phoebe.


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC:  Now you need to pick up Irident or Affinity to convert the RAW.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @ JC:  Now you need to pick up Irident or Affinity to convert the RAW.


Good call, didn't even think about that.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Congrats JC.  Gary hopes you like the Fujinon lenses.


All ready do, curious on the 60mm vs Zeiss. Liked what I seen in store. I'm not worried about the 1:2 magnification. The 18-50 is sharp


----------



## Gary A.

The 18-55 is pretty good for a jammin' kit lens.


----------



## Gary A.

Test out the IS. In early models the IS went to hell at higher shutter speeds.


----------



## Derrel

Gary A. said:


> Test out this IS. In early models the IS went to hell at higher shutter speeds.



Supposed to switch IS to OFF at speeds of 1/500 or faster in most situations...leaving IS set to On can cause a feedback loop, where the IS system tend to over-correct, and causes the most unusual, softened images. I runined a good portion of one summer's images shot at FAST speeds by leaving the stabilization ON when shooting at wide f/stops which lead me to fast speeds which lead me to many,many soft images.

Fuji is itself, a company with a history of having made some very fine, fine lenses. I had a Fujinon-W 150mm f/5.6 view lens that was astounding. They've made a few rare and sought-after lenses, like their old soft focus model based on the lotta-little-holes design; Hasselblad contracted Fuji to make lenses (and camera bodies too?) for various medium format cameras, and also for the Hasselblad-branded 35mm panoramic *X-Pan* camera. "Zeiss" is now just a product name, and asssembly is farmed out, these days to Cosina in Japan.


----------



## jcdeboever

Derrel said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Test out this IS. In early models the IS went to hell at higher shutter speeds.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Supposed to switch IS to OFF at speeds of 1/500 or faster in most situations...leaving IS set to On can cause a feedback loop, where the IS system tend to over-correct, and causes the most unusual, softened images. I runined a good portion of one summer's images shot at FAST speeds by leaving the stabilization ON when shooting at wide f/stops which lead me to fast speeds which lead me to many,many soft images.
> 
> Fuji is itself, a company with a history of having made some very fine, fine lenses. I had a Fujinon-W 150mm f/5.6 view lens that was astounding. They've made a few rare and sought-after lenses, like their old soft focus model based on the lotta-little-holes design; Hasselblad contracted Fuji to make lenses (and camera bodies too?) for various medium format cameras, and also for the Hasselblad-branded 35mm panoramic *X-Pan* camera. "Zeiss" is now just a product name, and asssembly is farmed out, these days to Cosina in Japan.
Click to expand...

Good info, didn't know this.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Well, I did it. I sold all my gear (not my film stuff) and I still have a store credit. Did way better than B & H, Adorama, or KEH, like 500.00 better. I still have to buy a couple more lens but I am thrilled to not have to shell out any cash today. I got a new Fujifilm X-T2, 18-50mm f/2.8-4 kit lens, 60mm f/2.4 macro (not the Zeiss), battery grip, extra batteries, couple of fast cards, and some rolls of Ektar. I am going to use the remaining credit on a 50-140mm f/2.8, 100-400mm, and a 1.4TC. I want to thank @Gary A. *big time* for guiding me through this whole thing, really feel like I am on the right path now. Batteries charging..... oh my.




Congrats!  Looking forward to seeing your work with the new gear.  Did you sell to a local camera store or use ebay/craigslist?


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, I did it. I sold all my gear (not my film stuff) and I still have a store credit. Did way better than B & H, Adorama, or KEH, like 500.00 better. I still have to buy a couple more lens but I am thrilled to not have to shell out any cash today. I got a new Fujifilm X-T2, 18-50mm f/2.8-4 kit lens, 60mm f/2.4 macro (not the Zeiss), battery grip, extra batteries, couple of fast cards, and some rolls of Ektar. I am going to use the remaining credit on a 50-140mm f/2.8, 100-400mm, and a 1.4TC. I want to thank @Gary A. *big time* for guiding me through this whole thing, really feel like I am on the right path now. Batteries charging..... oh my.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats!  Looking forward to seeing your work with the new gear.  Did you sell to a local camera store or use ebay/craigslist?
Click to expand...


Majority at local camera store. They treated me real good. Place was real busy.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm pooped. Pooped I say! Was watching a show about Tiki, seems it's back?!? Wonder if I still have a Hawaiian flowerdy shirt stashed away somewhere? Too pooped to even think about anything so mindless entertainment it is.


----------



## table1349

Just got home from a couple of events.  First went to the wife's holiday party.  She is the Sr. VP at a bank in charge of the Trust Division.  Party was supposed to be mid January, but was cancelled due to an ice storm.  Nice time even having to sit at the head table with the board members etc.  

Of course it was on the same night as the Blues & Brews fund raiser for the Boy Scout Council.  The wife is the Council President so she felt she should make an appearance.  We had tickets that we gave away when the Bank Party was rescheduled.  It's good to finally be home.  I have had enough being Arm Candy for the night.  

Have to be Arm Candy again Monday night.  The scout council is hiring a new District Exec. and Monday night is the cocktail party for the board to met the perspective candidates and their wives.  Tuesday I get to be chauffeur for one of the wives.    While the candidates are having their interviews, the wives will be driven around Wichita to check out housing, schools, etc. in case they end up moving here.


----------



## table1349

Porn for English Teachers.        Yes it is safe for work.


----------



## Derrel

"A Pro Weighs in on Pronouns"...wow...that sounds interesting!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Mary Lou and Gary were up late to watch SNL and it was a rerun.  Consequently, Gary has a late start on this morning. The dishes are cleared, the paper retrieved, laundry is being cleaned, side yard hummingbird feeder refilled and coffee has been brewed ... and now it is being consumed.


----------



## Gary A.

Quote from the Los Angeles Times:

"'(For) almost all of Northern California we are going to be telling people to get ready for area flooding,' said National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Rasch."


----------



## Gary A.

And now, Mary Lou has surprised Gary with a boatload of turkey bacon, eggs and pancakes.  Life is grand.


----------



## Gary A.

OMG ... Gary just got to the Sports Section ... UCLA 102 - USC 70.  There is no joy in Mudville.


----------



## limr

Hosers.

The afternoon grog is setting in. Eyelids are getting heavy. I am halfway through a coffee, but I think I'm going to need a quick walk around campus.

I soooo want a nap right now. Why can't I have a couch and kitties at work??


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> I soooo want a nap right now. Why can't I have a couch and kitties at work??


Apparently because the school wants you to get some work done.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Hosers.
> 
> The afternoon grog is setting in. Eyelids are getting heavy. I am halfway through a coffee, but I think I'm going to need a quick walk around campus.
> 
> I soooo want a nap right now. Why can't I have a couch and kitties at work??


What'cha need that for?  Tilt your chair back, put your feet on your desk close your eyes and sleep!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Hosers.
> 
> The afternoon grog is setting in. Eyelids are getting heavy. I am halfway through a coffee, but I think I'm going to need a quick walk around campus.
> 
> I soooo want a nap right now. Why can't I have a couch and kitties at work??


This might be a good time to open up your very own Charter School.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hosers.
> 
> The afternoon grog is setting in. Eyelids are getting heavy. I am halfway through a coffee, but I think I'm going to need a quick walk around campus.
> 
> I soooo want a nap right now. Why can't I have a couch and kitties at work??



I believe it's time to exercise your classic sleeping while standing at the blackboard technique.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  A very dreary day, gray skies and wet skies ... nothing measurable, but enough to require wipers every mile or so.  Cold and sucky day ... can't wait until Spring.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers.
> 
> The afternoon grog is setting in. Eyelids are getting heavy. I am halfway through a coffee, but I think I'm going to need a quick walk around campus.
> 
> I soooo want a nap right now. Why can't I have a couch and kitties at work??
> 
> 
> 
> This might be a good time to open up your very own Charter School.
Click to expand...


And there will be walls...and roof


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


>



That looks familiar. Was that your edit of the cell phone snap I posted many moons ago? Or was it an example shot that you posted to show what kind of editing you were suggesting for mine? My brain is not doing a remember...


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That looks familiar. Was that your edit of the cell phone snap I posted many moons ago? Or was it an example shot that you posted to show what kind of editing you were suggesting for mine? My brain is not doing a remember...
Click to expand...

Yes, your shot.  I like it.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That looks familiar. Was that your edit of the cell phone snap I posted many moons ago? Or was it an example shot that you posted to show what kind of editing you were suggesting for mine? My brain is not doing a remember...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, your shot.  I like it.
Click to expand...


Me too  And I like your processing. I mean, I liked my processing, too, but it just ended up being a very different picture - both good, but just different. Now I have to figure out where that original picture is.


----------



## Frank F.

Last night I had another strange dream. I shot my 300PF to bits and pieces. Literally. It all started by a half flooded river near my grandparents house. The flood ate the lens hood. It ended at Nikon Service who said that I bring the smallest amount of parts they ever got back from a lens but all the glass was there. So it was like all the shell parts were gone. Like a car of which all but the engine is gone. And I still took photos with that skeleton .... photos of trees in the fog and a little child cuddling a white huge chicken. This was a strange scene. They really loved each other. Very strange.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm hanging some of my landscape/seascape work publicly for the first time in a couple of weeks. I'm getting ready to order the prints and I'm slightly nervous/uneasy about it. I'm not sure why. The whole event is to benefit charity, but I don't even know how much to put as the "price" for the photos/frames. I'll be able to get back what I paid for the prints/frames, but I'm not sure what's reasonable to charge on top of it for an event like this. The numbers are all over the place on the event page.


----------



## Derrel

JonA_CT said:
			
		

> I'm hanging some of my landscape/seascape work publicly for the first time in a couple of weeks. I'm getting ready to order the prints and I'm slightly nervous/uneasy about it. I'm not sure why. The whole event is to benefit charity, but I don't even know how much to put as the "price" for the photos/frames. I'll be able to get back what I paid for the prints/frames, but I'm not sure what's reasonable to charge on top of it for an event like this. The numbers are all over the place on the event page.



How does 3.5 to 4.5 times the printing and matting and framing cost sound to you? If the sales are to benefit charity, perhaps people will be generous and will eagerly pay $300-$400 for a decent-sized framed image? Also, keep in mind that a higher price conveys more "worth" to many people.


----------



## Gary A.

Toss in a six-pack of award winning ale to sweeten the deal.


----------



## Gary A.

Sadly, Gary lost one of three goldfish he adopted when his daughter and family moved to St. Louis. Lukey, (named by the owner and grandson Luke), early on in it's life, got a fungus.  Gary treated it but to no avail.  It lived for about three years with the fungus and reached a length of about eight inches. All the adopted feeder goldfish were named Lukey.


----------



## table1349

This little boy said the sweetest goodbye to his pet goldfish


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Sadly, Gary lost one of three goldfish he adopted when his daughter and family moved to St. Louis. Lukey, (named by the owner and grandson Luke), early on in it's life, got a fungus.  Gary treated it but to no avail.  It lived for about three years with the fungus and reached a length of about eight inches. All the adopted feeder goldfish were named Lukey.


Sorry for your loss.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sadly, Gary lost one of three goldfish he adopted when his daughter and family moved to St. Louis. Lukey, (named by the owner and grandson Luke), early on in it's life, got a fungus.  Gary treated it but to no avail.  It lived for about three years with the fungus and reached a length of about eight inches. All the adopted feeder goldfish were named Lukey.
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry for your loss.
Click to expand...

LOL ... coming for the services?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sadly, Gary lost one of three goldfish he adopted when his daughter and family moved to St. Louis. Lukey, (named by the owner and grandson Luke), early on in it's life, got a fungus.  Gary treated it but to no avail.  It lived for about three years with the fungus and reached a length of about eight inches. All the adopted feeder goldfish were named Lukey.
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry for your loss.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... coming for the services?
Click to expand...

As long as there is barbeque


----------



## SquarePeg

Of course there will be BBQ.  Serving fish would be too insensitive.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Of course there will be BBQ.  Serving fish would be too insensitive.


I'd eat it....As long is it had Gary's black Cajun ju ju sauce on it


----------



## Gary A.

Of course Gary will barbeque after the service.  Speaking of food ... Yesterday Tom, (the crazy Korean physician photographer cyclist), brought by some Korean BBQ ribs, marinaded by his Mom in her special sauce.  So we fired up the BBQ, Gary toss on some salmon, Mary Lou grilled up some veggies and rice.  It was delish, we all dined and wined until comatosed.  We could only eat about half. You guys would have loved it.

Friday, Gary made a brisket.  It melted in one's mouth.  It fell apart so easily that it had to be served with tongs. Of late, Gary has been focusing on his homemade pastas.  He's using a lot of wheat flour to boost the good/better health content of his pasta.  A shipment of vino arrived from Sonoma today.  So we're set for some more BBQ.


----------



## Frank F.

Why not eat fish? You can eat salt water fish...


----------



## table1349

Frank F. said:


> Why not eat fish? You can eat salt water fish...


Eating the dearly departed goldfish some how just feels a trifle goschh.  Besides it wouldn't feed that many.


----------



## jcdeboever

Pretty good lighting in these. Love my Tigers! Can't wait for season to start.
Check out our 20 favorite portraits from the Detroit Tigers photo day


----------



## Gary A.

Very nice lighting, makes them look like 'Contenders'.


----------



## Frank F.

Gold fish not eat. Gold fish fresh water fish are. You also eat pigs in front of your cat


----------



## Gary A.

Gary doesn't eat pets.


----------



## Frank F.

5 Basic Steps To Improving Digestion
December 13th, 2005 · Dr. Kane's Articles · constipation, healthy diet

    I know you’ve heard this before, but it is SO important that it bears repeating: CHEW, CHEW, CHEW. This means both slowly and thoroughly. To be totally graphic about it, you want anything you swallow to be a soupy consistency. Especially meat. For starters, digestion starts in the mouth. There are thousands of tiny neuro-receptors in the mouth that send messages to the brain about what is about to come down the pike. These messages “prep” the entire digestive system to gear up for the meal or snack that’s on the way. Fatty foods will trigger the liver to produce extra bile, and cause the gallbladder to contract. The gallbladder is a handy little sack that hangs just under the liver, collecting an extra repository of bile in case you have a Mac-attack. Bile is extremely potent stuff (so precious to the body that 95% is recycled — the other 5% is responsible for the wonderful deep brown color of a healthy poop. Excuse me, I mean bowel movement). Bile is the main agent for digesting fat. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. Back to the mouth. Unlike cows, birds and certain lizards, we mere humans do NOT have small sharp objects in our stomachs to help pulverize food into smaller morsels. We have those small sharp objects in our mouths. You got it — they are called teeth. Please USE your teeth to grind and pulverize every mouthful of food. Then, you mix the thoroughly pulverized food with as much saliva as you can muster without drooling. Drooling is a waste of saliva, so please recognize that most circumstances don’t call for drooling. You want that saliva, which is loaded with amylase, the starch-digesting enzyme, to head down the esophagus and into the stomach where phase 2 of good digestion occurs.

    Try to avoid antacids, and this includes TUMS, Rolaids, the little purple pill and countless other varieties thereof. You absolutely and desperately NEED your stomach acid. There’s a handy book on the subject by Jonathan Wright MD (You NEED Your Stomach Acid). Stomach acid serves three critical functions. It sterilizes food, it breaks down protein into amino acids which can then be absorbed into the blood stream, and it provokes the pancreas to dump “neutralizing” bicarbonate of soda into the upper small intestine to allow the absorption of nutrients into the blood stream. Stomach acid is very caustic — a pH of about 2, optimally, which kicks in right after swallowing. The stomach is designed to handle this level of acid. If you suffer from heartburn, you need to repair the sphincter between the end of the esophagus and the stomach. If you have gastric ulcers, you need to heal the lining of the stomach so that it can again accommodate the acid levels required for proper digestion. Folks chronically popping antacids eventually impair their digestion, which leads to poor nutrient absorption, which ultimately leads to malnutrition including protein, mineral and vitamin deficiencies — despite plenty of calories.

    Please don’t drink while eating. This goes along with rule # 2, above. Fluids will DILUTE your stomach acid and all the digestive enzymes (amylase for starch in the saliva, proteases for protein from the pancreas and lipase for fats in the bile). The best time to drink, and pure water is definitely the best drink available, is first thing in the morning, during or around work-outs, and between meals. Sure, you can have a sip or two with meals to lubricate your swallowing. But keep the fluids with food down to a minimum.

    Try to eat sitting down and in a relaxed environment. Please don’t watch the news or have a heavy conversation during mealtime. Try to establish a “mealtime” pattern for yourself. Try not to eat within 2 hours of going to bed (4 is better). Make sure to “fast” for 12 hours daily. Give your digestive system a rest. It is enormously “expensive” to digest food, especially protein. That’s why people usually lose weight on high protein diets. It takes almost all the calories in the meat to digest that meat. Extra digestion, over a lifetime, will wear you out sooner. To date, the only proven method of life extension remains calorie restriction. This doesn’t mean Draconian self-denial. But it does mean no pigging out, and, as a general rule, stopping before you feel “full.” If you feel peckish between meals, try drinking water before reaching for a snack. If you are hypoglycemic, ignore that advice. Some people truly need to eat smaller, more frequent meals. You will need to determine for yourself whether “grazing” works better than a mealtime scheme. Either way, keep in mind that digestion is a parasympathetic function. You need to be calm and relaxed for the digestive juices to kick in optimally.

    Strive to poop at least once a day. Excuse me; evacuate a large, easy-to-pass, dark brown, slightly fluffy, bowel movement — optimally three times daily but most of us can’t find the time for that kind of enjoyment! By fluffy I mean somewhat floating. If you have a “sinker” — just hits the bottom of the porcelain pronto — then it (the poop) has been in there too long, compacting and getting altogether too dense. My favorite poop fluffers include freshly ground flax seeds (1-3 tablespoons of the stuff in water or juice in the AM), or celery, or the good old apple a day. If you prefer to have sticky, foul-smelling BMs, then make sure to include plenty of refined carbohydrates (including candy bars) into your diet.


----------



## Frank F.

Dr. Emily Kane >   5 Basic Steps To Improving Digestion


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Gary doesn't eat pets.



Who would eat pets???


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Good news, Mary Lou made reservations for San Francisco and Cambria. The trip is to attend the graduation ceremony of Sandra, an adopted student attending SFSU.  Then shoot up to Sonoma for some vino.  Then down to the Central Coast for the Elephant Seals sunning themselves on the beach, (Big Sur area).


----------



## terri

@Gary A. :   That sounds like a fun trip! 

Morning, hosers!   We're in the midst of painting the main interior of the house - living room, kitchen, and dining room.    Going through LOTS of paint, which has somehow gotten quite expensive.   I recall being able to get decent quality for under $20 a gallon - and am now paying $45.   The trend seems to be adding primer into the paint so it can be called "one coat coverage," which is kind of misleading.   It will cover the old color, but any wall looks better with two coats, so the same amount of paint has to be used.   

For the living room and dining room I picked a medium-dark shade of gray, with an accent wall of a light, silvery gray that also flows into the kitchen.   The LR has a weird sloping wall from above the fireplace up to the main ceiling, and I'm painting that slope an ivory color, and also adding the ivory in the kitchen where there's a small tray ceiling over the seating area (or "breakfast nook," as realtors are fond of saying to describe a small area for table & chairs!).   

We've reached the halfway point and are starting to get a) tired of ladders and b) pumped because it's starting to look really nice.    The cats show out every time we have to move furniture around, so there's usually some mess to clean up each day, as an added bonus.        Wish me luck!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> @Gary A. :   That sounds like a fun trip!
> 
> Morning, hosers!   We're in the midst of painting the main interior of the house - living room, kitchen, and dining room.    Going through LOTS of paint, which has somehow gotten quite expensive.   I recall being able to get decent quality for under $20 a gallon - and am now paying $45.   The trend seems to be adding primer into the paint so it can be called "one coat coverage," which is kind of misleading.   It will cover the old color, but any wall looks better with two coats, so the same amount of paint has to be used.
> 
> For the living room and dining room I picked a medium-dark shade of gray, with an accent wall of a light, silvery gray that also flows into the kitchen.   The LR has a weird sloping wall from above the fireplace up to the main ceiling, and I'm painting that slope an ivory color, and also adding the ivory in the kitchen where there's a small tray ceiling over the seating area (or "breakfast nook," as realtors are fond of saying to describe a small area for table & chairs!).
> 
> We've reached the halfway point and are starting to get a) tired of ladders and b) pumped because it's starting to look really nice.    The cats show out every time we have to move furniture around, so there's usually some mess to clean up each day, as an added bonus.        Wish me luck!



I have a love-hate relationship with painting. I'm super picky and I obsess over taping and straight lines and no bleeding colors, and that can get pretty tedious pretty fast. So I hate the fussiness of the prep and the tedium of finishing touches. But the rest of the process is actually fun and I LOVE the face lift the room gets when I'm done.

In other news, I seem to have been literally attacking myself this morning. First, I burned my hand a little bit pouring hot water into my travel cup to warm it up while the coffee was brewing. While I was driving, I was eating one of my homemade breakfast granola bars and I bit the ever-loving crap out of the inside of my cheek. Now I know what bloody tastes like with granola. Finally, I got to work and slammed my elbow on the car door as I was reaching back to close it after I got out of the car.

Good times, hosers. Good times.


----------



## JonA_CT

We painted the entire downstairs of our house before thanksgiving. It looks great, but you're right, it's miserable work while you are doing it. 

But we are suckers for punishment. We are actively looking at plans to remodel our kitchen. So that'll be like painting, but 50 times worse because we won't be able to cook or do dishes.


----------



## terri

Some of the fun, from my cell phone cam:










The top one (excuse the distortion!) shows a finished corner; _a finished corner! _over the front door, with the monster wall in the foreground.    

The second one shows the weird slanting piece of ceiling that, in my gush of "we can do it!" I thought would be a dandy place for a third color_.   _The ceilings in this house are high, and it's an open floor plan (which I really don't like), so everything has to kind of flow.   It's not a big house, square-footage wise, but the ceilings in this main area are 14 feet up.   (Much lower in secondary bedrooms and hallways.)    There is no escaping the ladders!    (Though the extension ladder isn't in either one of these shots.   We carry it out every night - I can't stand the sight of it in the evenings!)

I miss my old house, here in GA.    Normal-height ceilings, and a more traditional floor plan, with cozy rooms that were fairly easy to paint.    This so-called *smaller house* is a PITA - though it will look pretty nice when we limp across the finish line.


----------



## table1349

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary doesn't eat pets.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Who would eat pets???
Click to expand...

Any one that wasn't a sissified city kid.   

I bucket feed many a calf growing up because their mother wouldn't nurse.  They would follow me around whenever they could and were just like any other pet. They didn't house break worth a damn.  They were also real tasty beef when the got a little older.  Same thing with lamb.  

Every couple of years we would incubate a brooder house full of chicks.  They were fun to play with as well as a kid.  When the got big enough they were also a real tasty Sunday Dinner right after church along with mashed potatoes, cream gravy, fresh corn on the cob, home made bread and some kind of fruit pie for desert.   

I never understood why someone would keep bottom feeding poop machine fish for pets.  Carp are carp, whether they are pretty gold or not.


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> Some of the fun, from my cell phone cam:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The top one (excuse the distortion!) shows a finished corner; _a finished corner! _over the front door, with the monster wall in the foreground.
> 
> The second one shows the weird slanting piece of ceiling that, in my gush of "we can do it!" I thought would be a dandy place for a third color_.   _The ceilings in this house are high, and it's an open floor plan (which I really don't like), so everything has to kind of flow.   It's not a big house, square-footage wise, but the ceilings in this main area are 14 feet up.   (Much lower in secondary bedrooms and hallways.)    There is no escaping the ladders!    (Though the extension ladder isn't in either one of these shots.   We carry it out every night - I can't stand the sight of it in the evenings!)
> 
> I miss my old house, here in GA.    Normal-height ceilings, and a more traditional floor plan, with cozy rooms that were fairly easy to paint.    This so-called *smaller house* is a PITA - though it will look pretty nice when we limp across the finish line.


Rent this.  Pick a colour.  ONE.  1 day to mask windows & floor.  One to paint.  Done.


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> Some of the fun, from my cell phone cam:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The top one (excuse the distortion!) shows a finished corner; _a finished corner! _over the front door, with the monster wall in the foreground.
> 
> The second one shows the weird slanting piece of ceiling that, in my gush of "we can do it!" I thought would be a dandy place for a third color_.   _The ceilings in this house are high, and it's an open floor plan (which I really don't like), so everything has to kind of flow.   It's not a big house, square-footage wise, but the ceilings in this main area are 14 feet up.   (Much lower in secondary bedrooms and hallways.)    There is no escaping the ladders!    (Though the extension ladder isn't in either one of these shots.   We carry it out every night - I can't stand the sight of it in the evenings!)
> 
> I miss my old house, here in GA.    Normal-height ceilings, and a more traditional floor plan, with cozy rooms that were fairly easy to paint.    This so-called *smaller house* is a PITA - though it will look pretty nice when we limp across the finish line.


Personally I prefer to take the photos off the wall before I paint. Otherwise you end up with these weird patches of color if you take the photos down later.  Just the way we folks here in the mid-west roll I suppose.


----------



## terri

gryphonslair99 said:


> Personally I prefer to take the photos off the wall before I paint. Otherwise you end up with these weird patches of color if you take the photos down later. Just the way we folks here in the mid-west roll I suppose.



Oh, I promise I will!   Didn't see any tape there, did you?       Like I said, that shot was mainly to show the sloping part of the ceiling.  



limr said:


> In other news, I seem to have been literally attacking myself this morning. First, I burned my hand a little bit pouring hot water into my travel cup to warm it up while the coffee was brewing. While I was driving, I was eating one of my homemade breakfast granola bars and I bit the ever-loving crap out of the inside of my cheek. Now I know what bloody tastes like with granola. Finally, I got to work and slammed my elbow on the car door as I was reaching back to close it after I got out of the car.
> 
> Good times, hosers. Good times.


From my experience, self-inflicted injuries hurt the most!       That's no way to start the day.   Hope it got better!


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Personally I prefer to take the photos off the wall before I paint. Otherwise you end up with these weird patches of color if you take the photos down later. Just the way we folks here in the mid-west roll I suppose.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I promise I will!   Didn't see any tape there, did you?       Like I said, that shot was mainly to show the sloping part of the ceiling.
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, I seem to have been literally attacking myself this morning. First, I burned my hand a little bit pouring hot water into my travel cup to warm it up while the coffee was brewing. While I was driving, I was eating one of my homemade breakfast granola bars and I bit the ever-loving crap out of the inside of my cheek. Now I know what bloody tastes like with granola. Finally, I got to work and slammed my elbow on the car door as I was reaching back to close it after I got out of the car.
> 
> Good times, hosers. Good times.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> From my experience, self-inflicted injuries hurt the most!       That's no way to start the day.   Hope it got better!
Click to expand...

Apparently the builders forgot this on ceiling day.   We have 12' ceilings and I like them, but then it's 12' from the floor to the ceiling EVERWHERE!


----------



## terri

Wavy walls, quarter round that doesn't always meet the floor....yeah, nothing like painting your house to make you see all its flaws.


----------



## JonA_CT

I seared a patch on my hand taking bread out of a 500 degree Dutch oven. My wife says the bread is worth it. 

I also did some serious adulting...evidently, it's normal to refinance mortgages frequently? I made a couple of phone queries, and I guess paying into a mortgage from 2008 is crazy. My interest rate was cut in half and I cut 6 years from my mortgage for $50 more a month. Literally twice as much of my monthly payment will be going towards principal. It makes our 5 year plan so much easier.


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> Wavy walls, quarter round that doesn't always meet the floor....yeah, nothing like painting your house to make you see all its flaws.


Oh you are talking about a house.......I thought you were talking in code about marrying a boyfriend only to see his flaws.  The two processes are quite similar.


----------



## table1349

terri, apparently you are doing it wrong.





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1856956931210923


----------



## Frank F.

My goats had names but I would not have called them "pets" They were farm animals, living with us, living their lives. Living, because they were useful to us. For the milk, for the cheese for the meat. I say thank you, I kill you, I eat you. If I am not ready for the killing I am not ready for the meat, says a German philosopher.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> My goats had names but I would not have called them "pets" They were farm animals, living with us, living their lives. Living, because they were useful to us. For the milk, for the cheese for the meat. I say thank you, I kill you, I eat you. If I am not ready for the killing I am not ready for the meat, says a German philosopher.



Which is why I don’t eat it.


----------



## Gary A.

Another cool and gray morning.  Sorta like early summer, only in


gryphonslair99 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary doesn't eat pets.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Who would eat pets???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Any one that wasn't a sissified city kid.
> 
> I bucket feed many a calf growing up because their mother wouldn't nurse.  They would follow me around whenever they could and were just like any other pet. They didn't house break worth a damn.  They were also real tasty beef when the got a little older.  Same thing with lamb.
> 
> Every couple of years we would incubate a brooder house full of chicks.  They were fun to play with as well as a kid.  When the got big enough they were also a real tasty Sunday Dinner right after church along with mashed potatoes, cream gravy, fresh corn on the cob, home made bread and some kind of fruit pie for desert.
> 
> I never understood why someone would keep bottom feeding poop machine fish for pets.  Carp are carp, whether they are pretty gold or not.
Click to expand...

Gary doesn't kill his food, (meat/fish/chicken/et al), either.  Gary leaves that to professionals.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Some of the fun, from my cell phone cam:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The top one (excuse the distortion!) shows a finished corner; _a finished corner! _over the front door, with the monster wall in the foreground.
> 
> The second one shows the weird slanting piece of ceiling that, in my gush of "we can do it!" I thought would be a dandy place for a third color_.   _The ceilings in this house are high, and it's an open floor plan (which I really don't like), so everything has to kind of flow.   It's not a big house, square-footage wise, but the ceilings in this main area are 14 feet up.   (Much lower in secondary bedrooms and hallways.)    There is no escaping the ladders!    (Though the extension ladder isn't in either one of these shots.   We carry it out every night - I can't stand the sight of it in the evenings!)
> 
> I miss my old house, here in GA.    Normal-height ceilings, and a more traditional floor plan, with cozy rooms that were fairly easy to paint.    This so-called *smaller house* is a PITA - though it will look pretty nice when we limp across the finish line.
> 
> 
> 
> Rent this.  Pick a colour.  ONE.  1 day to mask windows & floor.  One to paint.  Done.
Click to expand...

Mary Lou and Gary recently, last year, painted our living room with three colors.  It was a royal pain.  Gary decided to power spray ... so everything had to be taped/draped and retaped/redraped three jammin' times.  Sure, only a second to spray, but for-jammin'-ever to tape and drape.  We use white on top, a dark sagey-green and a light sagey-green.  It actually turn out quite nicely.

We don't have crown moldings and the ceiling has a texture.  Mary Lou used a thin art brush to finish all the lines where the colors butt.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Pretty entranceway and ceilings Terry. Well, without the ladder etc. All the work will probably be worth it.

Leo did you get home in one piece? Your morning sounds like something out of a slapstick comedy.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Leo: Maybe you should call the suicide hotline ... all this self-destruction and all.


----------



## limr

I'm pleased to report that I am safe and sound at home, and going to bed early because the day needs fired!   Just finished knitting myself a pair of wrist warmers (I call them glovelets) and I'm about to tuck in and read a bit to get good and sleepy. I foresee about 5 pages before the light is out.

G'night, hosers. Wish me luck tomorrow morning!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> I'm pleased to report that I am safe and sound at home, and going to bed early because the day needs fired!   Just finished knitting myself a pair of wrist warmers (I call them glovelets) and I'm about to tuck in and read a bit to get good and sleepy. I foresee about 5 pages before the light is out.
> 
> G'night, hosers. Wish me luck tomorrow morning!
> 
> View attachment 135556


Sporty, best of luck in the morning.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> I'm pleased to report that I am safe and sound at home, and going to bed early because the day needs fired!   Just finished knitting myself a pair of wrist warmers (I call them glovelets) and I'm about to tuck in and read a bit to get good and sleepy. I foresee about 5 pages before the light is out.
> 
> G'night, hosers. Wish me luck tomorrow morning!
> 
> View attachment 135556


Nice work!   I have 2 pair of these and love them - but sure didn't knit them myself.   They have some decorative tooling, etc., but dunno if that makes them worth $35 a pair.   You just saved yourself some money - and I love that color.       Good job!    (No stabbing your hand with the knitting needles, now.)


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm pleased to report that I am safe and sound at home, and going to bed early because the day needs fired!   Just finished knitting myself a pair of wrist warmers (I call them glovelets) and I'm about to tuck in and read a bit to get good and sleepy. I foresee about 5 pages before the light is out.
> 
> G'night, hosers. Wish me luck tomorrow morning!
> 
> View attachment 135556
> 
> 
> 
> Nice work!   I have 2 pair of these and love them - but sure didn't knit them myself.   They have some decorative tooling, etc., but dunno if that makes them worth $35 a pair.   You just saved yourself some money - and I love that color.       Good job!    (No stabbing your hand with the knitting needles, now.)
Click to expand...


No stabbing myself, and a cat ate through the strand of yarn only once! 

Made it into work today with no further injuries. The tire pressure light came on just before I got to work, so I'll check that later, but I suspect it will be no big deal. I wasn't going over any bumps or anything and the car didn't drive any differently at all, so it's probably just a little low, not a flat.

Happy Hump Day, hosers!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ...The tire pressure light came on just before I got to work, so I'll check that later, but I suspect it will be no big deal. I wasn't going over any bumps or anything and the car didn't drive any differently at all, so it's probably just a little low, not a flat.


On a lot of cars that use a centrifugal TPMS, as little as a 5lb differential will cause the light to come on, especially on rough road.


----------



## jcdeboever

Little *hit at work being a super crazy today. She loves to play. I brought in the laser pointer and she's climbing the walls. The lady in the office never seen such a thing and pee'd her pants laughing so hard.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Little *hit at work being a super crazy today. She loves to play. I brought in the laser pointer and she's climbing the walls. The lady in the office never seen such a thing and pee'd her pants laughing so hard.
> 
> View attachment 135580



I think this needs to be your new profile pic 

The laser pointer is so much fun. Zelda chatters at it for the first few seconds, and I can get Mrs.Parker running in literal circles.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Little *hit at work being a super crazy today. She loves to play. I brought in the laser pointer and she's climbing the walls. The lady in the office never seen such a thing and pee'd her pants laughing so hard.
> 
> View attachment 135580
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think this needs to be your new profile pic
> 
> The laser pointer is so much fun. Zelda chatters at it for the first few seconds, and I can get Mrs.Parker running in literal circles.
Click to expand...


How's it look. I am at work and have a crappy monitor, is the conversion OK?


----------



## Gary A.

A pinch more contrast, or just hit the face a touch with the Dodge tool set on highlights.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> A pinch more contrast, or just hit the face a touch with the Dodge tool set on highlights.



OK, have to wait until I get home. The monitor is not helping me at all.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> A pinch more contrast, or just hit the face a touch with the Dodge tool set on highlights.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> OK, have to wait until I get home. The monitor is not helping me at all.
Click to expand...


Yup, what Tio said.


----------



## Derrel

I like the new jcdeboever cat pic profile shot!


----------



## jcdeboever

Rub my belly please!


----------



## terri

I worked for a physician once who rented an old house for her office, and we had cats.    Had to keep them away from the patients, of course, and since the business offices were downstairs, I got them most of the time.         I loved that job, except for the actual doc, who turned out to be kinda nutty.    But the cats!!!    At work!    So peaceful.

Love the new avatar, JC!


----------



## waday

Saw this the other day and couldn't stop laughing:


----------



## limr

terri said:


> I worked for a physician once who rented an old house for her office, and we had cats.    Had to keep them away from the patients, of course, and since the business offices were downstairs, I got them most of the time.         I loved that job, except for the actual doc, who turned out to be kinda nutty.    But the cats!!!    At work!    So peaceful.
> 
> Love the new avatar, JC!



This was our office cat in Istanbul. He actually belonged to the lawyer upstairs (whose name was Hussein Korkmaz, which means "Hussein Does Not Fear" - which I always loved...) but he would spend a good portion of his day hanging out in our teachers' office. Can't remember what his official name was, but I called him Big Head and the name stuck. He loved the head scratches but would swat if you tried to pet his back or go near the tail. He'd sleep pushed all the way up against the wall with his belly up but head and front legs twisted forward. I also made him a bed out of a box top that he loved. He was a good cat


----------



## table1349

Finally a reality TV show that I can stand to watch.
Cutest realisty show in the world: Keeping up with the Kattarshians


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Some of the fun, from my cell phone cam:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The top one (excuse the distortion!) shows a finished corner; _a finished corner! _over the front door, with the monster wall in the foreground.
> 
> The second one shows the weird slanting piece of ceiling that, in my gush of "we can do it!" I thought would be a dandy place for a third color_.   _The ceilings in this house are high, and it's an open floor plan (which I really don't like), so everything has to kind of flow.   It's not a big house, square-footage wise, but the ceilings in this main area are 14 feet up.   (Much lower in secondary bedrooms and hallways.)    There is no escaping the ladders!    (Though the extension ladder isn't in either one of these shots.   We carry it out every night - I can't stand the sight of it in the evenings!)
> 
> I miss my old house, here in GA.    Normal-height ceilings, and a more traditional floor plan, with cozy rooms that were fairly easy to paint.    This so-called *smaller house* is a PITA - though it will look pretty nice when we limp across the finish line.



LoOKs good!  I just bought a similarly colored couch so now my latte colored walls have to go   I've been considering gray   what brand/color did you go with?


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Some of the fun, from my cell phone cam:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The top one (excuse the distortion!) shows a finished corner; _a finished corner! _over the front door, with the monster wall in the foreground.
> 
> The second one shows the weird slanting piece of ceiling that, in my gush of "we can do it!" I thought would be a dandy place for a third color_.   _The ceilings in this house are high, and it's an open floor plan (which I really don't like), so everything has to kind of flow.   It's not a big house, square-footage wise, but the ceilings in this main area are 14 feet up.   (Much lower in secondary bedrooms and hallways.)    There is no escaping the ladders!    (Though the extension ladder isn't in either one of these shots.   We carry it out every night - I can't stand the sight of it in the evenings!)
> 
> I miss my old house, here in GA.    Normal-height ceilings, and a more traditional floor plan, with cozy rooms that were fairly easy to paint.    This so-called *smaller house* is a PITA - though it will look pretty nice when we limp across the finish line.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LoOKs good!  I just bought a similarly colored couch so now my latte colored walls have to go   I've been considering gray   what brand/color did you go with?
Click to expand...


My friend: do not do as I have done, and purchase the stuff I purchased!       We started off with this Sherwin Williams paint: Infinity.   We first used it in our laundry room, a much smaller room with regular ceilings - no issues.   So we bought some more when we moved into the main area to paint.   Horrible streaks/roller marks.    I have painted many a room over the years and I know what I'm doing - I actually like to paint, most of the time, but this stuff was a nightmare on taller walls.    We took all the palette samples over to a Benjamin Moore place for color-matching.    We've yet to do another wall with it, but apparently, this SW Infinity has a reputation for leaving roller marks.       Since the other room turned out ok, we didn't research further - PITA to add a third coat, carefully, to hide the worst of it.   (The hubby says he'll cover it yet again if the Benjamin Moore is streak free - personally I wouldn't bother, but he's kind of twitchy about it at this point.   )

Now, the color swatches I have no problem with - they're gorgeous!    I'm using SW "Rare Gray" (the darker gray) with accent wall and kitchen in "Useful Gray," (much lighter), and for the sloping wall and kitchen tray ceiling I'm using "Ivoire," a pale ivory/yellow color.    We haven't started that section yet, and I'm excited to see it.


----------



## table1349

We just got done painting the accent wall in the family room.  Went from a dark maroon to a lighter green.  We used Behr Marquee paint.  Their one coat coverage is actually one coat coverage.  

We do use Sherman Williams for the exterior, but it is Behr for interior.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary used Sherwin Williams and we had zero coverage problems.  Absolute/Pure ... some kind of White on the ceiling, Sea Salt on the windowless walls and Retreat on the sliding glass/windowed wall. (But then Gary sprayed ... maybe that was the difference.)


----------



## Designer

terri said:


> Horrible streaks/roller marks.


It might not have been shaken enough/stirred enough.  Streaks of mis-matched color indicate not being shaken enough.  Roller marks might be technique.

Side note: I quit using Sherwin Williams over 30 years ago in favor of better brands.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

The rescued Monarch emerged.


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Some of the fun, from my cell phone cam:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The top one (excuse the distortion!) shows a finished corner; _a finished corner! _over the front door, with the monster wall in the foreground.
> 
> The second one shows the weird slanting piece of ceiling that, in my gush of "we can do it!" I thought would be a dandy place for a third color_.   _The ceilings in this house are high, and it's an open floor plan (which I really don't like), so everything has to kind of flow.   It's not a big house, square-footage wise, but the ceilings in this main area are 14 feet up.   (Much lower in secondary bedrooms and hallways.)    There is no escaping the ladders!    (Though the extension ladder isn't in either one of these shots.   We carry it out every night - I can't stand the sight of it in the evenings!)
> 
> I miss my old house, here in GA.    Normal-height ceilings, and a more traditional floor plan, with cozy rooms that were fairly easy to paint.    This so-called *smaller house* is a PITA - though it will look pretty nice when we limp across the finish line.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LoOKs good!  I just bought a similarly colored couch so now my latte colored walls have to go   I've been considering gray   what brand/color did you go with?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My friend: do not do as I have done, and purchase the stuff I purchased!  [emoji38]   We started off with this Sherwin Williams paint: Infinity.   We first used it in our laundry room, a much smaller room with regular ceilings - no issues.   So we bought some more when we moved into the main area to paint.   Horrible streaks/roller marks.    I have painted many a room over the years and I know what I'm doing - I actually like to paint, most of the time, but this stuff was a nightmare on taller walls.    We took all the palette samples over to a Benjamin Moore place for color-matching.    We've yet to do another wall with it, but apparently, this SW Infinity has a reputation for leaving roller marks.       Since the other room turned out ok, we didn't research further - PITA to add a third coat, carefully, to hide the worst of it.   (The hubby says he'll cover it yet again if the Benjamin Moore is streak free - personally I wouldn't bother, but he's kind of twitchy about it at this point.   )
> 
> Now, the color swatches I have no problem with - they're gorgeous!    I'm using SW "Rare Gray" (the darker gray) with accent wall and kitchen in "Useful Gray," (much lighter), and for the sloping wall and kitchen tray ceiling I'm using "Ivoire," a pale ivory/yellow color.    We haven't started that section yet, and I'm excited to see it.
Click to expand...

S &W Super Paint all day long. Simple, quality, touches up great


----------



## table1349

You ever have things bother you that you can't off your mind like........

_People in Hell where do they tell people to go?

Why is there a disabled parking space in front of a liquor store?

Why is it your wife can see a little blonde hair on your coat and miss the garage door?

How can a kid 10 years old find a dope pusher and the police can't?_


----------



## terri

Designer said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Horrible streaks/roller marks.
> 
> 
> 
> It might not have been shaken enough/stirred enough.  Streaks of mis-matched color indicate not being shaken enough.  Roller marks might be technique.
> 
> Side note: I quit using Sherwin Williams over 30 years ago in favor of better brands.
Click to expand...

Nah, it was machine mixed while we watched - not worried about that aspect of it.    It's not hard to find pro painters online dinging this paint for being overpriced for the subpar results - we just didn't research it until it started happening.   Apparently, it's a known issue with the stuff, at $45 a gallon.   Boo!    

Can't say we've bought a lot of SW, really.    We've bought a ton of paint from various places over the years - never saw paint do this before.    We've painted just about every room in every home we've owned; we know how to mask, cut in and roll.    Promise.


----------



## terri

gryphonslair99 said:


> We just got done painting the accent wall in the family room.  Went from a dark maroon to a lighter green.  We used Behr Marquee paint.  Their one coat coverage is actually one coat coverage.
> 
> We do use Sherman Williams for the exterior, but it is Behr for interior.


That Behr pure white is about the prettiest white out there - makes other whites look kinda dingy!   It's such a high gloss I like it mostly outside - we repainted the screened-in porch completely with that stuff.   Gorgeous!


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.


----------



## jcdeboever

It's Friday for me, I am taking tomorrow off and going to take a half day to get to know my XT2 a little better, it's calling me....


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The Cook got a grooming yesterday.  She was looking like a ragamuffin shaggy dog, but now she is all gentile, fluffy and holds her tea cup with her pinky extended.  Today or tomorrow ... most likely tomorrow, Gary will be creating some Gary's Famous BBQ Sauce.  If anybody wants a sampling, PM me an address.  (Gary will read instruction on canning BBQ sauce.  He figures pouring while hot, tight lid on the container and two day delivery should be sufficient ... but he'll still read what the experts say.)  Two hummers are having their breakfast.  The Monarch is still in the Pencil Tree.  It is still cold out, hopefully when the Sun hits it, the warmth of the new day will inspire it to fly.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> It's Friday for me, I am taking tomorrow off and going to take a half day to get to know my XT2 a little better, it's calling me....



Nice!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> It's Friday for me, I am taking tomorrow off and going to take a half day to get to know my XT2 a little better, it's calling me....


Have you broken the joystick yet?


----------



## terri

Happy Thursday, hosers!

In honor of this amazing discovery, my inner science geek offers you this:


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> We just got done painting the accent wall in the family room.  Went from a dark maroon to a lighter green.  We used Behr Marquee paint.  Their one coat coverage is actually one coat coverage.
> 
> We do use Sherman Williams for the exterior, but it is Behr for interior.
> 
> 
> 
> That Behr pure white is about the prettiest white out there - makes other whites look kinda dingy!   It's such a high gloss I like it mostly outside - we repainted the screened-in porch completely with that stuff.   Gorgeous!
Click to expand...

The most useless color for the interior of a house is white.  Well unless you want to seal it up and let people look in the windows at the white walls, carpet etc, otherwise it is no longer white.  Especially if you have either children, grandchildren or pets.  Cats are the worst.  A cat will always choose the white carpet over a tile floor to hack up a hairball.


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> Happy Thursday, hosers!
> 
> In honor of this amazing discovery, my inner science geek offers you this:


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Happy Thursday, hosers!
> 
> In honor of this amazing discovery, my inner science geek offers you this:


Fascinating ... (a front page story in today's LA Times - but below the fold).  At only 39 light years away, a youngster could leave now and be completely dead upon arrival.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's Friday for me, I am taking tomorrow off and going to take a half day to get to know my XT2 a little better, it's calling me....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice!
Click to expand...


My SP1000 is feeling a little neglected as well, it's jealous of the Fuji so it won't let me put any Acros 100 through it.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Thursday, hosers!
> 
> In honor of this amazing discovery, my inner science geek offers you this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, very interesting, (a front page story in today's LA Times - but below the fold).  At only 39 light years away, a youngster could leave now and be completely dead upon arrival.
Click to expand...

Even more exciting!    We'll have to put together a colony and an entire fleet of ships to get there in a couple hundred thousand years.   What of it?


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Thursday, hosers!
> 
> In honor of this amazing discovery, my inner science geek offers you this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, very interesting, (a front page story in today's LA Times - but below the fold).  At only 39 light years away, a youngster could leave now and be completely dead upon arrival.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Even more exciting!    We'll have to put together a colony and an entire fleet of ships to get there in a couple hundred thousand years.   What of it?
Click to expand...

Gary's in.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's Friday for me, I am taking tomorrow off and going to take a half day to get to know my XT2 a little better, it's calling me....
> 
> 
> 
> Have you broken the joystick yet?
Click to expand...


Don't even say that, I would be lost without that, what a brilliant design. I like that they took the recess away from those rocker switch's. Funny thing, I was reading the manual and they kept referring to a lever, I'm like what the heck is that? That's what Fuji calls the joystick.


----------



## table1349

Well you all need to practice you application process.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Thursday, hosers!
> 
> In honor of this amazing discovery, my inner science geek offers you this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, very interesting, (a front page story in today's LA Times - but below the fold).  At only 39 light years away, a youngster could leave now and be completely dead upon arrival.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Even more exciting!    We'll have to put together a colony and an entire fleet of ships to get there in a couple hundred thousand years.   What of it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary's in.
Click to expand...

Me, too!    We could bring the wine, Gary!    And start the greenhouse for more vines.


----------



## table1349

Some how the idea of wine in space seems to loose it's Romantic luster.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Thursday, hosers!
> 
> In honor of this amazing discovery, my inner science geek offers you this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, very interesting, (a front page story in today's LA Times - but below the fold).  At only 39 light years away, a youngster could leave now and be completely dead upon arrival.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Even more exciting!    We'll have to put together a colony and an entire fleet of ships to get there in a couple hundred thousand years.   What of it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary's in.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Me, too!    We could bring the wine, Gary!    And start the greenhouse for more vines.
Click to expand...

Brilliant! 

(BTW- Mary Lou, The Cook and Gary are going up to Paso Robles for a few days then down to Cambria for the Elephant Seals.  If you guys have any Paso winery recommendations ... Gary is all ears.)


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Some how the idea of wine in space seems to loose it's Romantic luster.


Gary likes that ... "Wine in Space" ... that will be the name of a new Tv series.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Some how the idea of wine in space seems to loose it's Romantic luster.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary likes that ... "Wine in Space" ... that will be the name of a new Tv series.
Click to expand...

Here is what your voyage may be like.


----------



## Gary A.

That is precisely why we need more women at the helm ...


----------



## JonA_CT

It's been a crazy couple of days. My band is playing a show for the first time since September in a few weeks. The gig should be awesome...we'll be playing in a 40x70 tent that is at the end of the St. Patrick's Day parade route. The only problem is that I've played very little guitar over the last few months, and we haven't rehearsed together at all. We squeezed in a couple hours together last night...things didn't sound terrible everything considered, but we need a few more of those before the event.

I also just ordered 6 more pounds of green coffee beans. 4 pounds of a couple of different Ethiopian varietals, and 2 pounds of a Kenya varietal. I'm more excited than I should be, probably, for that shipment to arrive.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> It's been a crazy couple of days. My band is playing a show for the first time since September in a few weeks. The gig should be awesome...we'll be playing in a 40x70 tent that is at the end of the St. Patrick's Day parade route. The only problem is that I've played very little guitar over the last few months, and we haven't rehearsed together at all. We squeezed in a couple hours together last night...things didn't sound terrible everything considered, but we need a few more of those before the event.



Rock it, bay-bay!!!   IIRC, you posted about hanging it up with the band some months back.   I have a few musician buddies, and one thing they've taught me is this: musicians don't really retire.   They only pause long enough to justify more practice.    Good luck with the upcoming gig!


----------



## JonA_CT

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's been a crazy couple of days. My band is playing a show for the first time since September in a few weeks. The gig should be awesome...we'll be playing in a 40x70 tent that is at the end of the St. Patrick's Day parade route. The only problem is that I've played very little guitar over the last few months, and we haven't rehearsed together at all. We squeezed in a couple hours together last night...things didn't sound terrible everything considered, but we need a few more of those before the event.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Rock it, bay-bay!!!   IIRC, you posted about hanging it up with the band some months back.   I have a few musician buddies, and one thing they've taught me is this: musicians don't really retire.   They only pause long enough to justify more practice.    Good luck with the upcoming gig!
Click to expand...


Yeah, pretty much. We've had the discussion about selling all of our PA gear, but haven't had the heart to pull the trigger yet. This event will probably keep us on the hook for awhile afterwards if it goes anything like last year. The doubled the size of the tent and are putting up a stage this year. I should dig up some of the video. It was nuts. 

I'm also hoping it's not too cold. The tent will be "heated". But we know the owner pretty well, and he relies significantly on the volume of people and alcohol sales to provide additional warmth. It was in the 30s last year, which wreaks havoc with wood instruments.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary's in what?? OK gotta go back further... Have fun Jon!!


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> Gary's in what?? OK gotta go back further... Have fun Jon!!


California???


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's what I thought but I gather now he's going into outer space. Or maybe Terri is once she's done painting her living room. Or I could be mistaken... lol


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> That's what I thought but I gather now he's going into outer space. Or maybe Terri is once she's done painting her living room. Or I could be mistaken... lol


Those Californians were always kind of Spacey.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> It's been a crazy couple of days. My band is playing a show for the first time since September in a few weeks. The gig should be awesome...we'll be playing in a 40x70 tent that is at the end of the St. Patrick's Day parade route. The only problem is that I've played very little guitar over the last few months, and we haven't rehearsed together at all. We squeezed in a couple hours together last night...things didn't sound terrible everything considered, but we need a few more of those before the event.
> 
> I also just ordered 6 more pounds of green coffee beans. 4 pounds of a couple of different Ethiopian varietals, and 2 pounds of a Kenya varietal. I'm more excited than I should be, probably, for that shipment to arrive.


That's a lot of coffee.  You planning on joining a few more bands?


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> That's what I thought but I gather now he's going into outer space. Or maybe Terri is once she's done painting her living room. Or I could be mistaken... lol


Terri and Gary are signing up to visit the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system. Apparently there are a number of rocky planets which may support life.  It's only 39 light years away, so we plan to plant a few vineyards in the spacious space ship (SSS) in order to sustain life during the trip over ... (or at a minimum ... our lives).  

Yeah, we gotta wait for the paint to dry before we go.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's been a crazy couple of days. My band is playing a show for the first time since September in a few weeks. The gig should be awesome...we'll be playing in a 40x70 tent that is at the end of the St. Patrick's Day parade route. The only problem is that I've played very little guitar over the last few months, and we haven't rehearsed together at all. We squeezed in a couple hours together last night...things didn't sound terrible everything considered, but we need a few more of those before the event.
> 
> I also just ordered 6 more pounds of green coffee beans. 4 pounds of a couple of different Ethiopian varietals, and 2 pounds of a Kenya varietal. I'm more excited than I should be, probably, for that shipment to arrive.
> 
> 
> 
> That's a lot of coffee.  You planning on joining a few more bands?
Click to expand...


I mean...its all relative. I've been drinking and sharing. That should be about 6 weeks of roasted coffee for me including a couple of favors I need to pay back  .


----------



## snowbear

I can't make the XT2 party - I have to attend a Medical Mary-Wanna meeting.

No mini-workshop for me.  The conference was inundated with "how-to" presentations, plus they've added another day for just training sessions.

This is a blessing in disguise: I've been asked to "take my camera" since my GIS boss is going to be tied up all day, and MSGIC (State GIS Committee) likes having photos from events.  I took a few last year - just some candid snaps of the event, mainly members.  I have also signed up to be on MSGIC's NextGen911 working committee, and there a few presentations (and a statewide meeting) that I should go to.

I'll still have the "lightening talk" on our Fire Incident Pre-Planning setup, but that's only 7 minutes.


----------



## Gary A.

A recap of the iPhone images:




The rescued chrysalis




Gary hung it in a wine glass.  (Fallen Monarch chrysalis that are not hanging vertically will result in deformed butterflies or just death.)




A Monarch in a glass.  The Monarch hangs in the glass after emerging.




Gary moves Monarch outside to a Pencil Tree.  The Monarch was moved late in the afternoon.  The night was on the cold side and the Monarch was still hanging in the same place in the morning. 

Gary is so pleased that when he got home, the Monarch had moved on.


----------



## JonA_CT

I walked out into a misty 48* this morning. Is it February or April?

Happy Friday!


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> I walked out into a misty 48* this morning. Is it February or April?
> 
> Happy Friday!


Yesterday we had to use the car A/C, and turn on fans in the office.  It wasn't really hot, but Mr. Humidity put in an appearance.  The general weather pattern has been two or three warm days, a couple pf seasonally chilly days, then back to a couple warm days.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> I walked out into a misty 48* this morning. Is it February or April?
> 
> Happy Friday!



Ugh, don't get me started!


----------



## limr

But hey, at least it's Friday!






It should be "I wish it _were_ Monday..." but I'll let it slide


----------



## table1349

Good morning Friday, Glad to See Ya.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  40F here and now in La Mirada. Gary toying with the idea of two cups of coffee, one to drink and the other to pour down his boots.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... but here it will warm up to the mid 60's.   Mary Lou and Gary will be going to the beach for dinner tonight.  Should be a cold evening strolling along the tidepools or out on the pier.  Gary likes the beach when it's cold, keeps the tourists away.

Gary hopes his Monarch is doing well.


----------



## Gary A.

So does this odd weather youse guys are experiencing in the east and midwest ... does that mean anything?  Does the unseasonably warm weather forebode a hotter than normal summer?  Like red sky in morning, sailor take warning or if Punxsutawney Phil sees its shadow ...?

(Except for the copious amounts of rain, our winter out here seems pretty normal.)


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I walked out into a misty 48* this morning. Is it February or April?
> 
> Happy Friday!



Going to be in the 30's here this weekend after topping out at 72 yesterday!!!!  Yuck. 



Gary A. said:


> So does this odd weather youse guys are experiencing in the east and midwest ... does that mean anything?  Does the unseasonably warm weather forebode a hotter than normal summer?  Like red sky in morning, sailor take warning or if Punxsutawney Phil sees its shadow ...?
> 
> (Except for the copious amounts of rain, our winter out here seems pretty normal.)



There does not seem to be any correlation between one day and the next or one season and the next.  The last few summers have been pretty dry by New England standards but no hotter than usual.  Even the Spring/Summer after that crazy winter 2014-15 where we got hit with 108 inches of snow up here we had a pretty normal Spring/Summer.

ETA that "normal" Spring is full of crazy temp changes and lots of cold nasty rain.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> So does this odd weather youse guys are experiencing in the east and midwest ... does that mean anything?  *Does the unseasonably warm weather forebode a hotter than normal summer?*  Like red sky in morning, sailor take warning or if Punxsutawney Phil sees its shadow ...?



DEAR GOD, I HOPE NOT! Mostly it means more bugs (fewer killed by lack of good long hard freezes). It doesn't automatically mean a hotter summer, though. 

Like Sharon says...



SquarePeg said:


> There does not seem to be any correlation between one day and the next or one season and the next.  The last few summers have been pretty dry by New England standards but no hotter than usual.  Even the Spring/Summer after that crazy winter 2014-15 where we got hit with 108 inches of snow up here we had a pretty normal Spring/Summer.
> 
> ETA that "normal" Spring is full of crazy temp changes and lots of cold nasty rain.



And spring often lasts about 3 days


----------



## jcdeboever

Decided to go to the air museum today. Almost there, got my tripod, 18-55 kit, and a remote. Had a wonderful breakfast, maple oatmeal with raisins, and a side of sweet melon.


----------



## SquarePeg

Had a great couple of days at Foxwoods - no winnings but very entertaining fun times with the family.  Working today but then it's the weekend!!!!  My new desk arrived while I was away so I'll be putting that together tonight.  Have a Texas Hold 'Em poker night to go to tomorrow.  Cards are not really my thing and I never win but it's a great group of friends and is always a good time.  By request from the gang I'll  be making my Boston Cream Cupcakes  (yellow cupcakes, vanilla pudding inside, chocolate ganache on top) and some type of app.  Any suggestions?  No chicken wings since one of the guy is bringing the world's best wings.


----------



## Gary A.

Empanadas!!!  (... and some Mariachis ... Hey, Jon should be in a mariachi band!)


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> Decided to go to the air museum today. Almost there, got my tripod, 18-55 kit, and a remote. Had a wonderful breakfast, maple oatmeal with raisins, and a side of sweet melon.


How do you take pictures of air? Do they have air from around the world?


----------



## table1349

waday said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Decided to go to the air museum today. Almost there, got my tripod, 18-55 kit, and a remote. Had a wonderful breakfast, maple oatmeal with raisins, and a side of sweet melon.
> 
> 
> 
> How do you take pictures of air? Do they have air from around the world?
Click to expand...


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Had a great couple of days at Foxwoods - no winnings but very entertaining fun times with the family.


The last time we went into a casino, the wife put a dollar in the penny slots. And won 60 cents.

Little did she know that it was actually a dollar slot machine, and she won $60. Freaking lucky that one. Of course, her first reaction is, "Oh,  I think someone left their money on this machine."


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> How do you take pictures of air?


It's easy - go to a major city and you can actually *see* the air (and smell it and taste it).


----------



## snowbear

MedicalMaryWanna meeting postponed . . . I guess some had been sick, used, and were shut in their pantries.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a great couple of days at Foxwoods - no winnings but very entertaining fun times with the family.
> 
> 
> 
> The last time we went into a casino, the wife put a dollar in the penny slots. And won 60 cents.
> 
> Little did she know that it was actually a dollar slot machine, and she won $60. Freaking lucky that one. Of course, her first reaction is, "Oh,  I think someone left their money on this machine."
Click to expand...

Sorta a heads-up for the rest of the evening.


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner at the beach:



Sale




Catalina in the background.




Catalina on the left - the Palos Verdes Peninsula on the right

Sunsets




iPhone

Brisk but Clear.


----------



## Frank F.

We are on page 2000 of the Coffee House!!!!

What a tradition.


----------



## Frank F.

Frank Fremerey - YouPic

the longer I play this game, the more I like it. I discover more really good photographers. Of course I have to dig through the pixel crap to find them. But that is alright!


----------



## snowbear

Frank F. said:


> Frank Fremerey - YouPic
> 
> the longer I play this game, the more I like it. I discover more really good photographers. Of course I have to dig through the pixel crap to find them. But that is alright!


What are those tomatoes stuffed with - cream cheese?


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.

Short night - had to collect #1 from the airport at 11 (home at midnight), then take MLW for her OT gig (24 hours, again). Going to hit the hospital in a while, then, who knows.


----------



## Gary A.

A busy day for Charlie.


----------



## snowbear

Waiting for #1 to wake up - his yesterday was a bit more hectic.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  A very sunny morn.  A brisk coolness hit Gary when he and The Cook stepped out on the front porch to retrieve a newspaper which has yet to arrive. But when he stepped into the Sun it was refreshingly warm, energizing, a cup of coffee for the outside.  Mary Lou, Gary and Cook almost ... almost made a dash to Anza Borrego for the wildflowers.  But it was just too last minute for a three hour one way dash and next week we're going to the Central Coast (Paso Robles and Big Sur, about four hours) ... so we are reluctantly staying home. 

The hummingpig feeder was empty again, (it holds about two cups of food).


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou is on the phone with the LA Times to find out if they knew the location of our paper ... as she dialed she mentioned that she felt sorry for the person on the other end of the line, as they get blasted for something they have no control.  Gary told her to apologize first, then blast them.  Mary Lou agreed to that plan.


----------



## terri

Happy weekend, hosers!!     

Crap, as I'm typing this I think I hear one of the cats yakking up a hairball.   *sigh*    Excuse me as I divert from Happy Weekend mode to cat-puke cleanup.


----------



## Frank F.

snowbear said:


> What are those tomatoes stuffed with - cream cheese?



These are mildly hot cherry peppers filled with a fruity cream cheese:


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Happy weekend, hosers!!
> 
> Crap, as I'm typing this I think I hear one of the cats yakking up a hairball.   *sigh*    Excuse me as I divert from Happy Weekend mode to cat-puke cleanup.


LOL.  Not a good start for the weekend.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Happy weekend, hosers!!
> 
> Crap, as I'm typing this I think I hear one of the cats yakking up a hairball.   *sigh*    Excuse me as I divert from Happy Weekend mode to cat-puke cleanup.


I was awaken by that sound the other night.  Glad I keep a flashlight by the bed so I can see what's where I step when it's still dark.



Frank F. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> What are those tomatoes stuffed with - cream cheese?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> These are mildly hot cherry peppers filled with a fruity cream cheese:
> 
> View attachment 135694
Click to expand...

Thanks,  on the shopping list.


----------



## waday

Frank F. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> What are those tomatoes stuffed with - cream cheese?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> These are mildly hot cherry peppers filled with a fruity cream cheese:
> 
> View attachment 135694
Click to expand...

Looks amazingly delicious!


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> What are those tomatoes stuffed with - cream cheese?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> These are mildly hot cherry peppers filled with a fruity cream cheese:
> 
> View attachment 135694
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Looks amazingly delicious!
Click to expand...


Yes, indeed.


----------



## jcdeboever

Busy day today. Grandson playing in basketball tournament this weekend. Lost the first game by twenty points. These kids were way bigger. XT2 with 18-55 kit works well from what I see. Will know more when in front of PC. Focus tracking is fantastic.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers! Good news - So nice yesterday and today that I slept with the windows open - and not just "crack the window for fresh air in winter" open but full on "happy day spring has sprung" open.  Bad news - allergies have arrived early this year!  Incredibly painful sinus headache woke me from a sound sleep at 3am.  Rough night after that.  Eyes are so itchy and red, head very stuffy.  I still have the dregs of the headache but manageable now.  Despite my "issues" I'm going to the poker night at my friend's house but will be all doped up on allergy meds so no fun cocktails for me. 

Despite the headache I did manage to finish putting together my stand up/sit down desk (works great - pics tomorrow when I get my screens and laptops all set up) and I made the cupcakes for the poker party - still need to add the filling and frost before I leave.  Going to stop at our local Mexican place and pick up some of their fresh made chips and salsa in lieu of making an app since I never decided on what to make and don't have the ingredients to improvise anything that will travel well.   

On the photo front - have been asked to contribute a photo print to a charity event that my cousin is running.  Not sure if it will be a silent auction or part of a group of raffled prizes.  I have no idea what to choose.  Considering this one on a very glossy black wood block:




Red Daisy4

Thoughts?


----------



## Frank F.

waday said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> What are those tomatoes stuffed with - cream cheese?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> These are mildly hot cherry peppers filled with a fruity cream cheese:
> 
> View attachment 135694
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Looks amazingly delicious!
Click to expand...



Look at my customer rejects on youpic I linked above. This is only a packshot


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers! Good news - So nice yesterday and today that I slept with the windows open - and not just "crack the window for fresh air in winter" open but full on "happy day spring has sprung" open.  Bad news - allergies have arrived early this year!  Incredibly painful sinus headache woke me from a sound sleep at 3am.  Rough night after that.  Eyes are so itchy and red, head very stuffy.  I still have the dregs of the headache but manageable now.  Despite my "issues" I'm going to the poker night at my friend's house but will be all doped up on allergy meds so no fun cocktails for me.
> 
> Despite the headache I did manage to finish putting together my stand up/sit down desk (works great - pics tomorrow when I get my screens and laptops all set up) and I made the cupcakes for the poker party - still need to add the filling and frost before I leave.  Going to stop at our local Mexican place and pick up some of their fresh made chips and salsa in lieu of making an app since I never decided on what to make and don't have the ingredients to improvise anything that will travel well.
> 
> On the photo front - have been asked to contribute a photo print to a charity event that my cousin is running.  Not sure if it will be a silent auction or part of a group of raffled prizes.  I have no idea what to choose.  Considering this one on a very glossy black wood block:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Red Daisy4
> 
> Thoughts?




Picture looks good to my eyes. Someone at the cherry tree will be ready to pay for it


----------



## Designer

SquarePeg said:


> Thoughts?


It's awesome.  Print it BIG, and it will bring in the bucks.


----------



## SquarePeg

Frank F. said:


> Picture looks good to my eyes. Someone at the cherry tree will be ready to pay for it



Thanks!  What does "someone at the cherry tree" mean?


----------



## snowbear

Yes, Sharon - a good choice.  Either on a black wood block or in black mat and frame


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Picture looks good to my eyes. Someone at the cherry tree will be ready to pay for it
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks!  What does "someone at the cherry tree" mean?
Click to expand...

My guess is an accidental autocorrect charity misspelling  to "cherry tree"?


----------



## Frank F.

waday said:


> My guess is an accidental autocorrect charity misspelling  to "cherry tree"?




No. This was an intentional misspelling because "charity" rhymes "crerry tree"


----------



## snowbear

Frank F. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> My guess is an accidental autocorrect charity misspelling  to "cherry tree"?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No. This was an intentional misspelling because "charity" rhymes "crerry tree"
Click to expand...

so, what's a "crerry" tree?


----------



## Gary A.

Over the pass few days, Mary Lou and Gary have been hitting quite a few nurseries. Gary has a ton of plantings in the next few days, from a tree, to shrubs, to succulents, to foods and some worms for the vermiculture container.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg:  Nice photo. (But don't take a check from a Cherry Tree.)


----------



## Gary A.

The nice nice morning has turned into an overcast and cool afternoon.  Cook is fed, the car is emptied, time for a glass of vino and a Netflix.


----------



## snowbear

I have a new project.  I grabbed a box of my old (1975-1982).  What isn't tossed out will get scanned.  I suspect there won't be many keepers.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is wrapped up in a blanket, drinking a Temecula Red Blend (Doffo), snacking on a warm peach Cobbler and watching Arrival.


----------



## table1349

Very much looking forward to dinner tomorrow.  Got my new Paella pan, a 16"er.  My daughter got off with my old 14" pan.  The new pan fits the grill perfectly as well as the oven.  We have a specialty spice store here and they have real Spanish and Iranian Saffron of which I picked up an eighth of an ounce yesterday.  The chicken is soaking in a buttermilk brine, and I have just enough home made chicken stock left to make my Paella.  Perfect for a Sunday dinner.


----------



## table1349

Perfect for a Sunday Morning.






We shall now turn to Chapter Three of The Camera by Ansel Adams, verses 34-37.

Thus endth the sermon.  In the name of the Aperture, the Shutter Speed and the ISO.  Amen.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It rained last night and tapering off through the morning. Gary allergies are going nuts.  Due to all the rains, everything green is 'popping' here.  Strolling through all the nurseries was problematic ... but worth every second.  Mary Lou and Gary hit a new florist yesterday, 'The Enchanted Florist'.  OMG, JC would have been in heaven. Literary hundreds of orchids arranged by color and a zillion succulents, some in arrangements but most in racks for sale. The eight foot long checkout counter had a glass top and under the glass was a miniature tropical looking rainforest, crafted from tiny live succulents.


----------



## Gary A.

The Sun is breaking out of the overcast sky.  Mary Lou's son and g/f are coming over and Gary is sorting out his thoughts on food.  Mary Lou defrosted two Tri-Tips ... one Gary will sear, then bag and cook in the oven.  The other Gary will cook like a brisket in a pan.  Gary needs to conjure up some BBQ sauce and most likely squeeze out some pasta and/or whip up some bread to go with the meat.


----------



## Gary A.

The Cook and Gary truncated our walk due to intermittent wetness. The Sun has retreated behind the overcast and took the warmth with its retreat.  Gary is starting his cooking day with his Famous BBQ sauce.  This is a good day to cook indoors ... But everything tastes better outdoors.


----------



## jcdeboever

My Tigers are on MLB channel today at 1:00 eastern. I'm pretty excited to catch a game so early in the year.


----------



## terri

Quiet Sunday here, but still moving along.   I'm getting caught up with laundry while hubby does some grunge work of spackling walls and caulking along the crown moulding.  

Gorgeous outside, and much cooler than it's been the last few days - yay!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's Famous BBQ is fini.  The official taster approves ... took some fixing ... but an approval nonetheless.


----------



## SquarePeg

Sunny and cooler here too.  I'm ok with any Feb day that doesn't involve sleet or snow.  

Got the new sit/stand desk all set up.  Almost looking forward to working tomorrow...

Nope.  Could not even sell myself on that line.  Still hate Mondays. 

Sit:





Stand:







Changing from sit to stand is relatively easy and quick.   Just a few seconds on the hand crank on the left side and it's done.  Happy with my purchase so far.  Only time will tell.


----------



## terri

Very cool, Sharon!!    Thanks for those links and the review on this desk.   Looks great.  I might be making a similar purchase in the near future.   

Meanwhile, I am smelling paint in my sleep!


----------



## vintagesnaps

You mean the desk doesn't do your work for you?? What a waste of money!!  

Still can't shake this respiratory stuff not really sick but not that spiffy either so plan to ease into the week. Everyone have a good Monday. OK have a not too bad not totally sucky Monday.


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> Still can't shake this respiratory stuff not really sick but not that spiffy either so plan to ease into the week.



Sharon: I refer to that as "the creeping crud."   It's annoying - not really sick enough to avoid anything, but sick enough to hack, cough, and feel tired.   The worst!   Hope it passes quickly.


----------



## Gary A.

Nice desk, seems very functional.  After you're settled and happy with the affair, get some ties and bundle up all those wires.


----------



## Gary A.

Not that Gary really cares and not that anybody cares what Gary thinks ... but if pressured ... he wants the best pic going to La La Land.  He really enjoyed the movie.


----------



## limr

Speaking of movies, I finally saw _Rogue One_. Went to an 11am showing yesterday. There were about 12 other people in the theater. Now THAT is how Leo likes to go out to see a movie


----------



## SquarePeg

Designer said:


> It's awesome. Print it BIG, and it will bring in the bucks.





terri said:


> Very cool, Sharon!! Thanks for those links and the review on this desk. Looks great. I might be making a similar purchase in the near future.
> 
> Meanwhile, I am smelling paint in my sleep!



The smell will fade and you'll have a beautiful spot to enjoy for years.  I hope you'll post some pics when you're finished.  As you can see from the shot of the desk I'll be painting the baseboard in that area soon.  Can't believe how scuffed up it got from the old desk and printer set up getting hitting against it.  The rest of the room looks fine so I'm hoping I have the paint color in my notebook and can match it up and just retouch that one spot.



Gary A. said:


> Nice desk, seems very functional.  After you're settled and happy with the affair, get some ties and bundle up all those wires.



There are some that came with the desk but I have to make sure I have enough slack to raise and lower so I haven't quite gotten around to that yet.  I think I may leave the power strip secured to either the shelf or the side of the desk to make it easy access.


----------



## SquarePeg

um.... wow


----------



## Gary A.

Well, La La Land won best picture ... for about 45 seconds.


----------



## Derrel

Gary A. said:


> Not that Gary really cares and not that anybody cares what Gary thinks ... but if pressured ... he wants the best pic going to La La Land.  He really enjoyed the movie.





Gary A. said:


> Well, La La Land won best picture ... for about 45 seconds.



Was that flubbed announcement odd, or what!?


----------



## jcdeboever

Went for sunrise walk this morning before setting off to work. All you could hear was birds, cranes, and owls. The cranes are a couple miles away (just migrated this weekend) and dominated the music. I am truly blessed.


----------



## SquarePeg

The ending of the Oscars was totally bizarre.  I knew something was up the minute I saw the guy in the headset grabbing the envelopes behind the La La Land guys making their acceptance speeches.  I really felt bad for both the La La Land and Moonlight teams.  Horrible way to end the night for La La and Moonlight got cheated out of their winning moment.  I thought the guy from La La grabbing the mic and making the announcement himself was probably the best way out of the mess for everyone involved but still less than ideal.  

Jimmy Kimmel - "I blame Steve Harvey".   hahahhahahaha


----------



## JonA_CT

Not a big movie person so I didn't watch...but its kind of amazing to me that things like that don't happen more often with live shows.

Today is a special type of torture for teachers -- administrative rounds. Our district leadership team will be rotating through certain classrooms today. In a way its an honor...my principal chooses classrooms to show off the work they are doing, but it's a little stressful for me and my students are uncomfortable with so many adults in the room.


----------



## SquarePeg

Bald Eagle sighting in my town!  Heading out for a quick drive around the golf course and pond area to see if I can spot him.  So exciting!!!!!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> The ending of the Oscars was totally bizarre.  I knew something was up the minute I saw the guy in the headset grabbing the envelopes behind the La La Land guys making their acceptance speeches.  I really felt bad for both the La La Land and Moonlight teams.  Horrible way to end the night for La La and Moonlight got cheated out of their winning moment.  I thought the guy from La La grabbing the mic and making the announcement himself was probably the best way out of the mess for everyone involved but still less than ideal.
> 
> Jimmy Kimmel - "I blame Steve Harvey".   hahahhahahaha


Wasn't that wild?    Had to feel sorry for the team behind La La Land - having their hands literally on the prize, only to be told there had been a mistake.   Terrible!   But the main team rep was a class act; words to the effect of: "I'm happy to hand it right over to my friends behind 'Moonlight.'"    Best moment out of that muddle of confusion!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> The smell will fade and you'll have a beautiful spot to enjoy for years. I hope you'll post some pics when you're finished. As you can see from the shot of the desk I'll be painting the baseboard in that area soon. Can't believe how scuffed up it got from the old desk and printer set up getting hitting against it. The rest of the room looks fine so I'm hoping I have the paint color in my notebook and can match it up and just retouch that one spot.



I definitely will!   Hit a snag over the weekend - a self-inflicted snag, since I decided my color choice for the sloping wall over the fireplace was awful.   So awful, it had to go!   Another trip to the paint store, with the main body samples in hand.    The good news was that we called the game early, so to speak, and the tape was still in place, so it just had to be cut in again and re-rolled.    Much better, but blew a day and a half - and it's my own fault.   

Sharon, if you can't find the exact paint color, it's always fun to come up with an "accent wall" - it kind of frees you up from trying to match.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Bald Eagle sighting in my town!  Heading out for a quick drive around the golf course and pond area to see if I can spot him.  So exciting!!!!!


The things that excite city folks.  

Travel my way some time and I will show you eagles of all sorts, hawks, owls, falcons, coyotes, fox, deer, bison, and all kinds of waterfowl right here in the area.  Couple hours west and we might spot some cougar and elk.   If you come in the fall and bring a 12 gage we can even send you home with some pheasant, quail and prairie chicken.  Good eating.

Heck those folks in New York City must really be starved for entertainment when this is big back there.
Kansas filmmaker’s drone video of wheat harvest to premiere at NYC festival

Kid from my hometown.   Hate to burst some bubbles but I've harvested for years.  Nothing magical about it.  It's hot, with real long hours (18-23 hours at a time), boring and slow but it pays the bills most years and some you even make a profit.  Not what I would call exciting entertainment.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> The ending of the Oscars was totally bizarre.  I knew something was up the minute I saw the guy in the headset grabbing the envelopes behind the La La Land guys making their acceptance speeches.  I really felt bad for both the La La Land and Moonlight teams.  Horrible way to end the night for La La and Moonlight got cheated out of their winning moment.  I thought the guy from La La grabbing the mic and making the announcement himself was probably the best way out of the mess for everyone involved but still less than ideal.
> 
> Jimmy Kimmel - "I blame Steve Harvey".   hahahhahahaha


Gary appreciated the classy and gracious behavior from the La La Land producer to personally hand the Oscar to his Moonlight counterpart.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Not a big movie person so I didn't watch...but its kind of amazing to me that things like that don't happen more often with live shows.
> 
> Today is a special type of torture for teachers -- administrative rounds. Our district leadership team will be rotating through certain classrooms today. In a way its an honor...my principal chooses classrooms to show off the work they are doing, but it's a little stressful for me and my students are uncomfortable with so many adults in the room.


Congrats on being singled out ... (Gary hopes you wore a clean shirt.)

Gary and Mary Lou love movies. In the past we've made a point of watching all the best movie nominees prior to the Awards. With the introduction of our home projector, our theater attendance is way down as we are watching more and more on the big screen at home.  The consequence of watching at home is not everything up for an award has been released to Netflix or Amazon.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Not a big movie person so I didn't watch...but its kind of amazing to me that things like that don't happen more often with live shows.
> 
> Today is a special type of torture for teachers -- administrative rounds. Our district leadership team will be rotating through certain classrooms today. In a way its an honor...my principal chooses classrooms to show off the work they are doing, but it's a little stressful for me and my students are uncomfortable with so many adults in the room.



I've always hated when there were people in my class that weren't normally there. Even when it's for good reasons, it just messes up the juju.



Gary A. said:


> Congrats on being singled out ... (Gary hopes you wore a clean shirt.)
> 
> Gary and Mary Lou love movies. In the past we've made a point of watching all the best movie nominees prior to the Awards. With the introduction of our home projector, our theater attendance is way down as we are watching more and more on the big screen at home.  The consequence of watching at home is not everything up for an award has been released to Netflix or Amazon.



I like the idea of movies, and when I do decide to watch one, I enjoy it, but for whatever reason, I just don't watch a lot of movies, even in the comfort of my own home. Feels like a bigger investment than I'm often willing to make. I don't like to leave books or movies unfinished, so if I end up hating the movie, I'll still usually stick it out until the end, just for closure. And then I'll be mad that I wasted 2 hours of my life.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Gary is waiting for Mary Lou to arrive from work.  She had a very long day, Gary has some wine waiting for her arrival. It has been a sucky day, cool with barely measurable rain. We have a pair of Forest Redbud Pansy in the back.  These trees are as interesting as they are lovely.  The tree is deciduous and is now starting to bud.  The interesting part of this tree is that it first sports these tiny magenta blossoms and later, leaves come forth where the blossoms had bloomed.  The lovely part is that the leaves are very red when they first sprout. 

Mary Lou has arrived ... time to pour some wine.


----------



## limr

Welcome home, Mary Lou! How was your day?


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not a big movie person so I didn't watch...but its kind of amazing to me that things like that don't happen more often with live shows.
> 
> Today is a special type of torture for teachers -- administrative rounds. Our district leadership team will be rotating through certain classrooms today. In a way its an honor...my principal chooses classrooms to show off the work they are doing, but it's a little stressful for me and my students are uncomfortable with so many adults in the room.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've always hated when there were people in my class that weren't normally there. Even when it's for good reasons, it just messes up the juju.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats on being singled out ... (Gary hopes you wore a clean shirt.)
> 
> Gary and Mary Lou love movies. In the past we've made a point of watching all the best movie nominees prior to the Awards. With the introduction of our home projector, our theater attendance is way down as we are watching more and more on the big screen at home.  The consequence of watching at home is not everything up for an award has been released to Netflix or Amazon.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I like the idea of movies, and when I do decide to watch one, I enjoy it, but for whatever reason, I just don't watch a lot of movies, even in the comfort of my own home. Feels like a bigger investment than I'm often willing to make. I don't like to leave books or movies unfinished, so if I end up hating the movie, I'll still usually stick it out until the end, just for closure. And then I'll be mad that I wasted 2 hours of my life.
Click to expand...

We watch bad movies to the bitter end as well. The good thing about Netflix and Amazon, one can release some frustrations by bashing a movie in the ratings.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Welcome home, Mary Lou! How was your day?


"Crazy, but that is normal," states Mary Lou, "I can't wait to retire."


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Welcome home, Mary Lou! How was your day?
> 
> 
> 
> "Crazy, but that is normal," states Mary Lou, "I can't wait to retire."
Click to expand...


Preach, sistah.


----------



## pgriz

When you get to a certain age, birthdays need to be counted down, not up.  Meh.  But my daughters know me, and I got as a gift the book "On Food and Cooking" by Harold McGee (subtitle:  The science and lore of the kitchen).  Geek heaven.  I did my degree in biochemistry, and this stuff SPEAKS to me.  In discussing fruit aromas, we talk about esters and alcohols and  acetates.  Discussing dough and baking, we come across 2(C3H6O3) + K2CO3 -> 2(KC3H5O3) + H2O + CO2.  Of course.  The CO2 is necessary for the dough to rise.  In the section on sauces, we get a thorough discussion of emulsions, dispersants and stabilizers (all natural, but it really helps to know what each component contributes to the party).  Also I've learned that one can turn butter in to cream from which it came.  My wife, of course, is all for this, for she is quite happy to see me make the meals.  I've always appreciated cooking on the receiving end, but with some maturity, I am also beginning to clue in onto the phenomenon of food as a gift to the ones you love (hey - give me some slack - I'm a slow learner).  And with this book - I'm finally getting in touch with the underlying science of emulsions and sugars and peptides and fatty acids.  In the end, I might not always succeed at cooking up great meals, but now I'm going to have a much better idea of wher4 I screwed up.  And that's progress.


----------



## table1349

You might want to check some of Alton Browns cookbooks then.   Very geeky as well.  I have all of them. 
Anyone that makes ice cream with Carbon Dioxide in 10 seconds......






And makes pizza in a 54,000 watt easy bake oven.....




Has some redeeming scientific qualities.


----------



## Gary A.

pgriz said:


> When you get to a certain age, birthdays need to be counted down, not up.  Meh.  But my daughters know me, and I got as a gift the book "On Food and Cooking" by Harold McGee (subtitle:  The science and lore of the kitchen).  Geek heaven.  I did my degree in biochemistry, and this stuff SPEAKS to me.  In discussing fruit aromas, we talk about esters and alcohols and  acetates.  Discussing dough and baking, we come across 2(C3H6O3) + K2CO3 -> 2(KC3H5O3) + H2O + CO2.  Of course.  The CO2 is necessary for the dough to rise.  In the section on sauces, we get a thorough discussion of emulsions, dispersants and stabilizers (all natural, but it really helps to know what each component contributes to the party).  Also I've learned that one can turn butter in to cream from which it came.  My wife, of course, is all for this, for she is quite happy to see me make the meals.  I've always appreciated cooking on the receiving end, but with some maturity, I am also beginning to clue in onto the phenomenon of food as a gift to the ones you love (hey - give me some slack - I'm a slow learner).  And with this book - I'm finally getting in touch with the underlying science of emulsions and sugars and peptides and fatty acids.  In the end, I might not always succeed at cooking up great meals, but now I'm going to have a much better idea of wher4 I screwed up.  And that's progress.


Joyeux Anniversaire Paul!

(Gary detestait la chimie organique.)


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> When you get to a certain age, birthdays need to be counted down, not up.  Meh.  But my daughters know me, and I got as a gift the book "On Food and Cooking" by Harold McGee (subtitle:  The science and lore of the kitchen).  Geek heaven.  I did my degree in biochemistry, and this stuff SPEAKS to me.  In discussing fruit aromas, we talk about esters and alcohols and  acetates.  Discussing dough and baking, we come across 2(C3H6O3) + K2CO3 -> 2(KC3H5O3) + H2O + CO2.  Of course.  The CO2 is necessary for the dough to rise.  In the section on sauces, we get a thorough discussion of emulsions, dispersants and stabilizers (all natural, but it really helps to know what each component contributes to the party).  Also I've learned that one can turn butter in to cream from which it came.  My wife, of course, is all for this, for she is quite happy to see me make the meals.  I've always appreciated cooking on the receiving end, but with some maturity, I am also beginning to clue in onto the phenomenon of food as a gift to the ones you love (hey - give me some slack - I'm a slow learner).  And with this book - I'm finally getting in touch with the underlying science of emulsions and sugars and peptides and fatty acids.  In the end, I might not always succeed at cooking up great meals, but now I'm going to have a much better idea of wher4 I screwed up.  And that's progress.



Happy Birthday!!


----------



## terri

Aw, happy birthday!   Sounds like you had a happy one!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Happy birthday!

Juju, is that what it was?? Having observers seems to be a distraction whether it was going back to days teaching Jr. High or toddlers! Just messes with everyone's heads. We had parents in class so when it's the routine the kids are used to it.

Yeah, retirement is kinda nice! Of course mine was earlier than planned when you have a stroke in your early 50's. Sort of feels like summers off year round. Except for the wintry weather that is!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary spoke French!!


----------



## snowbear

Happy belated birthday, Paul.


As for today . . . MARDI GRAS!


----------



## snowbear

OK.  So I thought I was given the Minolta Hi-Matic in 1975.  Apparently it was 1974, at the latest.

Three of the 200 or so slides I need to go through.  These are of antique fire apparatus (even then, it was in my blood.)


----------



## table1349

So we are moving uptown in our little berg and getting a Cowboy Chicken restaurant.  Has any one ever eaten at Cowboy Chicken and are they any good?


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> Joyeux Anniversaire Paul!
> 
> (Gary detestait la chimie organique.)



Merci, Gary!

Personally, I love organic chemistry.  Think of it as the dance of molecules, jiggling their various bits at each other, angling for some connection, or even (gasp!) a union...  that then has progeny.  Enzymes are the matchmakers and facilitators, acids and bases are the mood music, and the solvents are the hallways and bedrooms where action happens.  Some molecules are wall-flowers, others are rather promiscuous.  Incompatibility can be overcome with some inspired bridging or cross-linking, although these usually don't last (yes, even molecules can go through dissolution of union).  Molecules know the truth that while differences may initially attract, it is the compatibility of likeminded partners and neighbours that promotes longevity.  Tis quite amazing what one can learn from organic chemistry.


----------



## pgriz

gryphonslair99 said:


> You might want to check some of Alton Browns cookbooks then. Very geeky as well. I have all of them.



Wow!  Thank you for that!  I will certainly look into them.  I love understanding why and how stuff works.  Of course, I did start from a very, very low level which considered using the can opener as "cooking a meal".  But that was before I met the beautiful lady who became my wife, and it was apparent very early on that I had to up my culinary game if I was to stay competitive.


----------



## table1349

pgriz said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Joyeux Anniversaire Paul!
> 
> (Gary detestait la chimie organique.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Merci, Gary!
> 
> Personally, I love organic chemistry.  Think of it as the dance of molecules, jiggling their various bits at each other, angling for some connection, or even (gasp!) a union...  that then has progeny.  Enzymes are the matchmakers and facilitators, acids and bases are the mood music, and the solvents are the hallways and bedrooms where action happens.  Some molecules are wall-flowers, others are rather promiscuous.  Incompatibility can be overcome with some inspired bridging or cross-linking, although these usually don't last (yes, even molecules can go through dissolution of union).  Molecules know the truth that while differences may initially attract, it is the compatibility of likeminded partners and neighbours that promotes longevity.  Tis quite amazing what one can learn from organic chemistry.
Click to expand...

You and my brother in law, always with the bio-chemistry porn.  

He's one of the bio-chemist working on the algae bio-fuel project.  He loves to wax poetically about his algae pits.


----------



## pgriz

gryphonslair99 said:


> He loves to wax poetically about his algae pits.



Oh, don't get me started on the shenanigans of the unicellular creatures.  They truly know no shame.


----------



## table1349

pgriz said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> He loves to wax poetically about his algae pits.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, don't get me started on the shenanigans of the unicellular creatures.  They truly know no shame.
Click to expand...

You might appreciate this. MNBSFW (might not be safe for work)


----------



## Gary A.

Gary understands algae pits ... he doesn't care to understand all the stuff you can't see, smell or taste.  Gary is quite simple.

PS- Gary has a few algae pits at home, they're called bathrooms.


----------



## table1349

I don't  understand my brother-in-law. He has his PhD in biochemistry and is now back at the University. He is missing his algae pits.   He is still working with the same company but has moved up to the lab from the pit.


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

Gary has used 'bugs' to cleanup hazardous waste sites, usually hydrocarbon based contaminants.  He and his team has designed and installed 'bug' release systems for the sewers in many SoCal cities to keep the channels sparkling clean and eliminate/minimize the need for mechanical cleaning methods.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary has used 'bugs' to cleanup hazardous waste sites, usually hydrocarbon based contaminants.  He and his team has designed and installed 'bug' release systems for the sewer system in many SoCal cities to keep the channels sparkling clean and eliminate/minimize the need for mechanical cleaning methods.


Exactly how many dung beetles does it take to keep a sewer clean?


----------



## snowbear

Guide to the modern sciences:
If it's green and wriggles, it's Biology;
If it stinks, it's Chemistry;
If it doesn't work, it's Physics.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has used 'bugs' to cleanup hazardous waste sites, usually hydrocarbon based contaminants.  He and his team has designed and installed 'bug' release systems for the sewer system in many SoCal cities to keep the channels sparkling clean and eliminate/minimize the need for mechanical cleaning methods.
> 
> 
> 
> Exactly how many dung beetles does it take to keep a sewer clean?
Click to expand...

If they're union bugs, they're better trained than the non-union bugs, but cost more.  But the non-union bugs don't complain when they have to work overtime, weekends, nights or holidays.


----------



## Gary A.

The 'bugs' Gary uses are unicellular organisms.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> The 'bugs' Gary uses are unicellular organisms.


So how do you teach them to balance and ride on one wheel?


----------



## Gary A.

Patience ...


----------



## jcdeboever

Quick walk this morning, dog ran after a fox but didn't catch it. Stepped in Mudd puddle, now my feet stink. Buying glass tomorrow, Definitely getting the 16mm 1.4 and want that 50-140 2.8 but getting cold feet on it, may opt for the 55-200 and the 23mm f2 instead. So that would bring me to 16, 23, 18-55, 55-200.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> Joyeux Anniversaire Paul!
> 
> (Gary detestait la chimie organique.)





limr said:


> Happy Birthday!!





terri said:


> Aw, happy birthday! Sounds like you had a happy one!





vintagesnaps said:


> Happy birthday!





snowbear said:


> Happy belated birthday, Paul.



Thank you all!  Getting older has its benefits.  One gets a more nuanced view of life, and the ability to understand the difference between "exciting" and "important".  One has the pleasure of seeing the results of one's child-rearing efforts.  One can decide to tolerate BS, or not.  On the flip side, the original equipment is showing some wear and tear, the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound is downgraded to getting on and off a ladder without experiencing vertigo, and going 24 hours without sleep is now seen as just silly.

It is also a time to count one's blessings.  I have been blessed by having good health, an excellent life partner, a supportive family and extended family, and opportunities that many do not have, such as living in a safe and stable country and in a (more-or-less) tolerant society.


----------



## table1349

Okay, last one.  I have things to get done.  Silly, but has always been a favorite. This one is for Paul courtesy of my brother in law.


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> Thank you all!  Getting older has its benefits.  One gets a more nuanced view of life, and the ability to understand the difference between "exciting" and "important".  One has the pleasure of seeing the results of one's child-rearing efforts.  One can decide to tolerate BS, or not.  On the flip side, the original equipment is showing some wear and tear, the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound is downgraded to getting on and off a ladder without experiencing vertigo, and going 24 hours without sleep is now seen as just silly.


Getting old is not for sissies.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you all!  Getting older has its benefits.  One gets a more nuanced view of life, and the ability to understand the difference between "exciting" and "important".  One has the pleasure of seeing the results of one's child-rearing efforts.  One can decide to tolerate BS, or not.  On the flip side, the original equipment is showing some wear and tear, the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound is downgraded to getting on and off a ladder without experiencing vertigo, and going 24 hours without sleep is now seen as just silly.
> 
> 
> 
> Getting old is not for sissies.
Click to expand...


Preach, brothah!


----------



## waday

Happy Belated Birthday!



pgriz said:


> going 24 hours without sleep is now seen as just silly.


When was it ever seen as not silly?  I've only ever done it once or twice in my life, and I've tended to always regret it, haha.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Happy Belated Birthday!
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> going 24 hours without sleep is now seen as just silly.
> 
> 
> 
> When was it ever seen as not silly?  I've only ever done it once or twice in my life, and I've tended to always regret it, haha.
Click to expand...


My record was about 60 hours and change. It was first year of grad school and I had two final projects due on a Monday. I got up and started working on Saturday morning and went to bed on Monday night. And mind you, I didn't just _start_ my projects on Saturday morning. I'd been working on them both for a couple of weeks, but that's how intense that first semester was. I don't actually remember what the second project was, but I know one of the papers I worked on was a semester-long project to decode the phonological system of a language we had not previously studied. We had to work with a native speaker of that language for several sessions over the course of the semester. My language was Luganda (a native language of Uganda.) Halfway through the semester, I realized it was a tonal language. 

So yeah, you try writing up that report, complete with phonological symbols and marks for tone, in a weekend, all on a Compaq Portable III (System Details. The Freeman PC Museum... Largest Collection of Vintage Computers On The Web.) while sitting on a floor working on your coffee table because you don't have any chairs yet.


----------



## limr

Wow, and here's the Trash-80s we had in middle school when it was decided that learning how to code was to be part of a standard public school education: System Details. The Freeman PC Museum... Largest Collection of Vintage Computers On The Web.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> Guide to the modern sciences:
> If it's green and wriggles, it's Biology;
> If it stinks, it's Chemistry;
> If it doesn't work, it's Physics.


I would respectfully disagree with the last part of your statement.  

If it works, it's Physics.
If it doesn't work it's engineering.


----------



## pgriz

waday said:


> Happy Belated Birthday!
> When was it ever seen as not silly?  I've only ever done it once or twice in my life, and I've tended to always regret it, haha.



When I was 18-20, I could go up to 48 hours without sleep doing things like programming (known as being "in the zone") and still make sense at the end of the period.  In my early 20ies, when working on crash (development) projects that HAD to be done by a certain deadline, I could (with others of the same age and mindset), work through the evening, night and next morning to ensure that our deliverable was complete.  A shower, nap and you're good for a party that evening (celebrating, of course, what we just pulled off).  By the time I got into my 40ies, I could work 12-18 hours, but the quality started dropping off really quickly towards the end of that stint.  By the time I got into my late 40ies, I decided that perhaps better planning would be a wiser way to handle these "crash" deadlines.  As one gets older, one's reserves of energy become less, and it starts to become important to wisely manage what one has.

My wife was kinda the same way.  When we just started going out, she was completing a degree in the arts and one course was on film animation.  For various reasons, she couldn't get into the animation studio until about two days before the deadline, and she ended up doing an entire animation project that should normally be done over a course of about 8 weeks, in one day and a half.  I was in there with her, stacking the acetates, doing some of the registration work, and running out from time to time to get another batch of coffees.  It was, in a way, a bonding experience, and we learned we could function well together even under pressure.  In retrospect, it could have been avoided if we had planned better, but foresight and planning are not well-developed skills in the young (at least in my own experience).


----------



## pgriz

Yes, Lenny, those were the days, and am I ever glad I don't have to do this any more.


----------



## table1349




----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Belated Birthday!
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> going 24 hours without sleep is now seen as just silly.
> 
> 
> 
> When was it ever seen as not silly?  I've only ever done it once or twice in my life, and I've tended to always regret it, haha.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My record was about 60 hours and change. It was first year of grad school and I had two final projects due on a Monday. I got up and started working on Saturday morning and went to bed on Monday night. And mind you, I didn't just _start_ my projects on Saturday morning. I'd been working on them both for a couple of weeks, but that's how intense that first semester was. I don't actually remember what the second project was, but I know one of the papers I worked on was a semester-long project to decode the phonological system of a language we had not previously studied. We had to work with a native speaker of that language for several sessions over the course of the semester. My language was Luganda (a native language of Uganda.) Halfway through the semester, I realized it was a tonal language.
> 
> So yeah, you try writing up that report, complete with phonological symbols and marks for tone, in a weekend, all on a Compaq Portable III (System Details. The Freeman PC Museum... Largest Collection of Vintage Computers On The Web.) while sitting on a floor working on your coffee table because you don't have any chairs yet.
Click to expand...




pgriz said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Belated Birthday!
> When was it ever seen as not silly?  I've only ever done it once or twice in my life, and I've tended to always regret it, haha.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When I was 18-20, I could go up to 48 hours without sleep doing things like programming (known as being "in the zone") and still make sense at the end of the period.  In my early 20ies, when working on crash (development) projects that HAD to be done by a certain deadline, I could (with others of the same age and mindset), work through the evening, night and next morning to ensure that our deliverable was complete.  A shower, nap and you're good for a party that evening (celebrating, of course, what we just pulled off).  By the time I got into my 40ies, I could work 12-18 hours, but the quality started dropping off really quickly towards the end of that stint.  By the time I got into my late 40ies, I decided that perhaps better planning would be a wiser way to handle these "crash" deadlines.  As one gets older, one's reserves of energy become less, and it starts to become important to wisely manage what one has.
> 
> My wife was kinda the same way.  When we just started going out, she was completing a degree in the arts and one course was on film animation.  For various reasons, she couldn't get into the animation studio until about two days before the deadline, and she ended up doing an entire animation project that should normally be done over a course of about 8 weeks, in one day and a half.  I was in there with her, stacking the acetates, doing some of the registration work, and running out from time to time to get another batch of coffees.  It was, in a way, a bonding experience, and we learned we could function well together even under pressure.  In retrospect, it could have been avoided if we had planned better, but foresight and planning are not well-developed skills in the young (at least in my own experience).
Click to expand...

Point(s) taken.

When I was in my teens, I could easily stay up to 3/4 AM without getting tired. I could wake up the next day at 5 AM with a skip in my step. It started to wane a bit in my 20s. Now that I'm in my 30s, I've been finding that I easily get tired around 9/10 PM; if I stay up long enough, I can get a "second wind" and stay up to about 2 AM. My wife was the opposite... she could EASILY stay up 24 hours...

I've had my share of reports being due, school and professional, where I've been up "burning the midnight oil" as many around me like to say. Applications to regulatory agencies with strict deadlines, reports to clients, etc. 

That said, I find that I can work really well between 11 PM and about 2 AM, assuming no one else is up. 2 AM for me tends to be a point of diminishing returns... not much gets done, and what does get done is often found to be fraught with spelling/grammar mistakes/etc when or if I do a read through the morning after. In addition, staying up too late made my work the next day suffer... 

Given that, I tend to work towards "good enough and on time" rather than "perfect and late". Mainly because I am never satisfied with my output, so it's never good enough for me. Ugh.  I tend to get sidetracked easily by small things that have no major impact on the final deliverable. If I don't work to good enough, I can and likely will waste time and money.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Wow, and here's the Trash-80s we had in middle school when it was decided that learning how to code was to be part of a standard public school education: System Details. The Freeman PC Museum... Largest Collection of Vintage Computers On The Web.


I was tutoring BASIC at the community college when TRS80s were installed in the lab; I learned on the IBM-360 mainframe (hard-wired VT100 terminals and TTY for printing (dial-up accoustic-coupler modems).  We had a coupe of CBM PETs, as well (pre-Commodore 64).


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, and here's the Trash-80s we had in middle school when it was decided that learning how to code was to be part of a standard public school education: System Details. The Freeman PC Museum... Largest Collection of Vintage Computers On The Web.
> 
> 
> 
> I was tutoring BASIC at the community college when TRS80s were installed in the lab; I learned on the IBM-360 mainframe (hard-wired VT100 terminals and TTY for printing (dial-up accoustic-coupler modems).  We had a coupe of CBM PETs, as well (pre-Commodore 64).
Click to expand...


Yup, we were learning BASIC, and we also had an Apple II in the lab to learn programming graphics. I think I remember coding a Nike swoop 

This was the PC I had all through college before I got the Compaq. Both computers were hand-me-downs from my older sister who went to college for Computer Science.





(Ruben de Rijcke File:Ibm pc 5150.jpg - Wikipedia)


----------



## table1349

OMG  you guys are taking me back.  I learned to program on an IBM 1130.  We were programing in FORTRAN on punched cards. 

We had to learn COBOL as well.


----------



## SquarePeg

I found, when I was working full time and raising a toddler by myself while I completed my Bachelor's degree that I could function on very little sleep.  In fact, I learned that I excelled under pressure and did some of my best work after midnight.


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> OMG  you guys are taking me back.  I learned to program on an IBM 1130.  We were programing in FORTRAN on punched cards.
> 
> We had to learn COBOL as well.


I had a keypunch machine stashed away and no place at home to put it; I coded COBOL for a few years, but on one of these:


----------



## table1349

Well it took a couple of days due to an unexpected delay, but the Paella was on the table tonight along with a nice loaf of rustic Pan Basico bread.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG  you guys are taking me back.  I learned to program on an IBM 1130.  We were programing in FORTRAN on punched cards.
> 
> We had to learn COBOL as well.
> 
> 
> 
> I had a keypunch machine stashed away and no place at home to put it; I coded COBOL for a few years, but on one of these:
> 
> View attachment 135832
Click to expand...

I.wamt thah


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG  you guys are taking me back.  I learned to program on an IBM 1130.  We were programing in FORTRAN on punched cards.
> 
> We had to learn COBOL as well.
> 
> 
> 
> I had a keypunch machine stashed away and no place at home to put it; I coded COBOL for a few years, but on one of these:
> 
> View attachment 135832
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I.wamt thah
Click to expand...

Well either chug a lug this way or here is the recipe.  My Paella pan is a 16" instead of the recommended 15" but worked just fine.  I also use my gas grill instead of charcoal for more even heat.  FYI this is and Alton Brown recipe.  The one thing I will say is Alton claims a 30 minute cook time.  I have found it is closer to 45 minutes.  If you can get Bomba Rice.  If not you can use Arborio but cut the chicken stock back to 2 cups of stock per cup of rice.  Bomba is a lower starch rice and needs 3 cups of liquid per cup of rice.

Ingredients

1 pound tomatoes
9 cups low-sodium chicken broth
3 cups short or medium-grain rice
20 threads saffron
2 sprigs rosemary, leaves stripped from sprigs
3 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 pounds bone-in, skin-on, chicken thighs and legs
1/2 pound fresh green beans, trimmed and halved
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced


Special equipment: Chimney starter, newspaper, vegetable oil, and 4 pounds natural lump charcoal, 15-inch carbon steel paella pan

Spritz 4 to 5 pieces of newspaper with vegetable oil and put in the bottom of a charcoal chimney starter. Fill the chimney with half of the charcoal and light the newspaper.

When the charcoal is lightly covered with gray ash, carefully pour onto the bottom grate of a kettle grill and spread evenly. Top with the remaining unlit charcoal, spreading evenly so as not to suffocate the lit charcoal. Set the second grate in the kettle and cover until ready to cook.

Meanwhile, halve the tomatoes and remove the seeds to a fine mesh strainer set over a small bowl to catch the juice. Grate the seeded halves on the large hole side of a box grater and discard the skins. Combine the reserved juice and grated tomato and set aside.

Warm the chicken broth in a kettle or 4-quart saucepan over high heat until it reaches 200 degrees F. Remove the broth from the heat and cover to keep warm.

Combine the rice, saffron, rosemary, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and paprika in a small mixing bowl.

Heat the olive oil in the paella pan on the prepared grill. Season the chicken on all sides with the remaining 2 teaspoons of salt. Once the olive oil shimmers, add the chicken and cook until golden brown on both sides, approximately 5 to 6 minutes per side. Move the chicken to the outer edges of the pan. Add the green beans, red bell pepper, green bell pepper and garlic to the center of the pan and cook until they begin to soften and darken in color, approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and their juice and cook until most of the liquid has dissipated and the tomatoes thicken and darken, approximately 4 to 5 minutes.

Add the rice mixture to the center of the pan and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute.

Redistribute the chicken pieces on top of the rice. Add 4 cups of the warm chicken broth and stir to distribute the rice evenly in the pan, making sure that all rice is completely submerged in liquid. From this point forward do not stir the paella. After 8 to 9 minutes, when all of the liquid is absorbed and the rice appears dry, add an additional 4 cups of broth. Continue to cook without stirring, until the liquid is absorbed, about 8 to 9 minutes. The rice should be firm to the bite and the grains have a tiny white dot in the center. Add the remaining cup of broth as needed, until the rice is cooked through. Watch the fire to make sure it is heating evenly and adjust the pan to prevent uneven cooking.

Remove the pan from the heat, cover with a tea towel and rest for 15 minutes before serving.


FYI a Paella pan can be had for under $20.00 and is great in the over as well as for making Paella.  Just remember to treat it like cast iron.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> I found, when I was working full time and raising a toddler by myself while I completed my Bachelor's degree that I could function on very little sleep.  In fact, I learned that I excelled under pressure and did some of my best work after midnight.



I've always been a night owl. Something that might take me hours to do during the day can take me much less time starting at about 9pm. It's just so much easier for me to concentrate at night. The only reason I don't take advantage of this and take work home with me is because I know I'd get on a roll and never go to sleep before 1am. It's already hard enough to get into bed before midnight. Which makes it even hard to concentrate during the day...Ugh! In some ways, it really sucks to be an incurable night owl in a morning bird world!


----------



## SquarePeg

Sleep is over rated.


----------



## pgriz

SquarePeg said:


> Sleep is over rated.


  Have another kid then.  That usually cures insomnia.  But it's a heck of an expensive cure.


----------



## SquarePeg

One is plenty for me.


----------



## Gary A.

Across my decades of work, Gary rarely had a job with hours set in concrete.  Gary has had to work at all hours of the day and often with little to no heads-up.  Gary can jump out of bed and by the time his feet hit the ground, he's wide awake and good-to-go.  Because of travel, Gary must wake up at different times nearly everyday.  Gary does not and has never needed an alarm clock for him to wake at the appropriate time.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Sleep is over rated.


Said no sane person ever.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> One is plenty for me.


Awwwww come on.  Kids are like potato chips, you can't have just one.


----------



## snowbear

It's no wonder that many animals eat their young.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> It's no wonder that many animals eat their young.


Yep civilization is a two way sword.  Because we are civilized we no longer eat our young like other animals, and now see what that the lack of selective dining has done to our civilization.


----------



## Frank F.

Flickr Carnival Picture Set 243 pics

Carnival was great and in all arrogance I took 99% of it with the 105 at f/1.4 which lead to a lot of culling because I forgot to check camera settings on my D600 after a repair only days before the feast.

I had one of the two release buttons on "save AF at half press" and the AF-C was accidentially set to "sharpness priorty" instead of "release priority". Third is I tried Program shift which did not work as expected. I had used it before on the F100, D3 and D500. All the same but not on the D600.

I do not listen to others again. I go for M+Auto ISO in low light and A+Auto ISO in bright light. I go for AF-C and save AF together with exposure via ael/afl button.

That does cut it better!!! MUCH BETTER FOR ME!


----------



## JonA_CT

Speaking of kids and not sleeping...I'm dragging today because my daughter decided that she needed to cry for an hour last night, and she ended up finally falling asleep after being rocked. 

Which put me in that precarious position of whether to try to put her down or not. I eventually did, but it takes me awhile to fall asleep after that.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Frank:  Good thing that you worked through all the settings to find what works for you. #2 is my fav.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Speaking of kids and not sleeping...I'm dragging today because my daughter decided that she needed to cry for an hour last night, and she ended up finally falling asleep after being rocked.
> 
> Which put me in that precarious position of whether to try to put her down or not. I eventually did, but it takes me awhile to fall asleep after that.


No sympathy from Gary, having two kids can empathize but won't sympathize.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

I have managed to avoid all child-related adjustments to my circadian rhythm. There's enough to mess with it already without adding to the problem


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Speaking of kids and not sleeping...I'm dragging today because my daughter decided that she needed to cry for an hour last night, and she ended up finally falling asleep after being rocked.
> 
> Which put me in that precarious position of whether to try to put her down or not. I eventually did, but it takes me awhile to fall asleep after that.
> 
> 
> 
> No sympathy from Gary, having two kids can empathize but won't sympathize.
Click to expand...


I will both empathize and sympathize!  The first couple of years are a seemingly never ending cycle of good/bad sleep patterns for the little ones.  You think you've got them settled down into a nice routine and bam!  you are right back to middle of the night crying.  It evens out around 3 which is when they turn into little terrors at dinner time - we used to call it the witching hour.  So...I can empathize with you.  

Because adorable little girls grow up to be eye rolling, sarcastic, sassy, uncooperative, teenage money pits - I can also sympathize with your future self.  

Can you tell that my teenage daughter is on my nerves this week?


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Speaking of kids and not sleeping...I'm dragging today because my daughter decided that she needed to cry for an hour last night, and she ended up finally falling asleep after being rocked.
> 
> Which put me in that precarious position of whether to try to put her down or not. I eventually did, but it takes me awhile to fall asleep after that.
> 
> 
> 
> No sympathy from Gary, having two kids can empathize but won't sympathize.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I will both empathize and sympathize!  The first couple of years are a seemingly never ending cycle of good/bad sleep patterns for the little ones.  You think you've got them settled down into a nice routine and bam!  you are right back to middle of the night crying.  It evens out around 3 which is when they turn into little terrors at dinner time - we used to call it the witching hour.  So...I can empathize with you.
> 
> Because adorable little girls grow up to be eye rolling, sarcastic, sassy, uncooperative, teenage money pits - I can also sympathize with your future self.
> 
> Can you tell that my teenage daughter is on my nerves this week?
Click to expand...


Hey, I get to see that all on the daily...I do work with 12 and 13 year-old girls. I have the opportunity to have at least a dozen teenagers roll their eyes at me at any given time, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Speaking of kids and not sleeping...I'm dragging today because my daughter decided that she needed to cry for an hour last night, and she ended up finally falling asleep after being rocked.
> 
> Which put me in that precarious position of whether to try to put her down or not. I eventually did, but it takes me awhile to fall asleep after that.
> 
> 
> 
> No sympathy from Gary, having two kids can empathize but won't sympathize.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I will both empathize and sympathize!  The first couple of years are a seemingly never ending cycle of good/bad sleep patterns for the little ones.  You think you've got them settled down into a nice routine and bam!  you are right back to middle of the night crying.  It evens out around 3 which is when they turn into little terrors at dinner time - we used to call it the witching hour.  So...I can empathize with you.
> 
> Because adorable little girls grow up to be eye rolling, sarcastic, sassy, uncooperative, teenage money pits - I can also sympathize with your future self.
> 
> Can you tell that my teenage daughter is on my nerves this week?
Click to expand...

Kids are great until they become teens ... once that happens, once the kids turn into teens, you have no choice but to kill them and start all over.


----------



## Gary A.

[/QUOTE] ... I have the opportunity to have at least a dozen teenagers roll their eyes at me at any given time, haha.[/QUOTE]
That's been the story of Gary's life.


----------



## jcdeboever

... I have the opportunity to have at least a dozen teenagers roll their eyes at me at any given time, haha.[/QUOTE]
That's been the story of Gary's life.[/QUOTE]
I get that a lot, from various people


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Last night Mary Lou brought home these bookends. It's a long story and wasn't her choice. ☕️

Anybody want some 120mm bookends?


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Morning Sun hitting flowers on the kitchen table.


----------



## jcdeboever

My Baby Girl. First shot with the 55-200mm Fujifilm lens. SOOC jpeg. Acros simulation.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> My Baby Girl. First shot with the 55-200mm Fujifilm lens. SOOC jpeg. Acros simulation.
> 
> View attachment 135867


Dude, we told you.................Get the color version of that lens!!!!  Black & White is like so 60's.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> My Baby Girl. First shot with the 55-200mm Fujifilm lens. SOOC jpeg. Acros simulation.
> 
> View attachment 135867



Baby kitteh!! 

PS - You and that lens are a really fantastic combination  And not just because it's a kitty. I've seen your other stuff with this gear and it's really on a new level.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nice bookends. Nice kitty photo. Nice this day is over... hoping tonight I don't keep getting woke up by storms. The way the windows are rattling I don't know. I shouldn't complain though because there were probable tornadoes south of me, saw lots of damage on the news. Glad people in some close calls are OK even though a lot of cleanup now.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> My Baby Girl. First shot with the 55-200mm Fujifilm lens. SOOC jpeg. Acros simulation.
> 
> View attachment 135867
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Baby kitteh!!
> 
> PS - You and that lens are a really fantastic combination  And not just because it's a kitty. I've seen your other stuff with this gear and it's really on a new level.
Click to expand...

Thank you, that is so encouraging, especially coming from you! I love this camera, like I love my K1000, SP1000, and my Nikon F. They all work similar.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm not sure who displayed more maturity sometimes, the jr. high kids I taught or the toddlers I worked with. Sort of the same techniques seemed to work! I'm kidding (or am I?). Jr. high wasn't boring nor was early intervention that's for sure. Never a dull moment.

I remember DOS.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> I'm not sure who displayed more maturity sometimes, the jr. high kids I taught or the toddlers I worked with. Sort of the same techniques seemed to work! I'm kidding (or am I?). Jr. high wasn't boring nor was early intervention that's for sure. Never a dull moment.
> 
> I remember DOS.


DOS, OS/2 rocks


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> @ Frank:  Good thing that you worked through all the settings to find what works for you. #2 is my fav.



#2 of 243 and counti g?


----------



## jcdeboever

My boy Webster


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure who displayed more maturity sometimes, the jr. high kids I taught or the toddlers I worked with. Sort of the same techniques seemed to work! I'm kidding (or am I?). Jr. high wasn't boring nor was early intervention that's for sure. Never a dull moment.
> 
> I remember DOS.
> 
> 
> 
> DOS, OS/2 rocks
Click to expand...


CP/M.  I had a Commodore 64 with a CP/M module, and a COBOL compiler.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> I'm not sure who displayed more maturity sometimes, the jr. high kids I taught or the toddlers I worked with. Sort of the same techniques seemed to work! I'm kidding (or am I?). Jr. high wasn't boring nor was early intervention that's for sure. Never a dull moment.
> 
> I remember DOS.


How is the *D*ean *O*f *S*tudents these days?


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Frank:  Good thing that you worked through all the settings to find what works for you. #2 is my fav.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #2 of 243 and counti g?
Click to expand...

Yes, in turns of you, Gary is always counting up.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just spent half an hour collecting a whole bin's worth of trash that ended up in our front yard.  Most of it not our brands so must have blew over from various neighbors.  Why is it always super windy on recycling day?


----------



## Gary A.

Karma ...


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Just spent half an hour collecting a whole bin's worth of trash that ended up in our front yard.  Most of it not our brands so must have blew over from various neighbors.  Why is it always super windy on recycling day?


For the same reason that it rains when you wash your car.    YOU JUST AIN"T LIVING RIGHT!!!!


For only $19.95, (plus shipping and handling) I will send you a good luck totem guaranteed to solve your bad luck problems for you.  But if you act in the next 10 minutes you will get not one but two good luck totems, one for you and one for a relative or friend. Just pay separate shipping and handling.  So order now and never have bad luck again.  

This is a shameless infomercial for Good Luck Totem inc.  The FDA has not tested or approved this totem for medical or nutritional value.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Karma ...



You would think Mother Nature would be happy about the recycling and cut us some slack.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Karma ...


I dated her once.  She's a, well you know.


----------



## Frank F.




----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Karma ...


Poor neiborhood recycling


----------



## Gary A.

Actually in very poor countries ... like many African countries ... as an example Somalia ... there isn't any litter to speak of.  Most anything/everything that is man made and on the ground is picked up, taken home and used for something.


----------



## snowbear

I'm beat; it's been a long day.  I have most of the POTM voting set up but still have to finish the coding for a couple of entries.  The Challenge voting needs top be done, but that doesn't take long, unless someone screws up and sends an image inline, instead of an attachment.

I might get the challenge done before I quit for the night, otherwise, it'll go up tomorrow.


----------



## snowbear

Challenge voting is up.  Of course there was one inline; there was also the noob (I think) whom couldn't figure out how to resize down to 1200px.  At least there's more than two or three entries.

Later.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is a big believer in mañana.


----------



## Frank F.

Seeds are seeds
Trees are trees
We have no magic potion that can compress growth time
So we sow and wait and harvest.


----------



## table1349

God I love surgical waiting rooms. NOT!  

Wife is having her thumb repaired. Bone spur removed and a new ligament put in. Got here at 1030. It's now almost 1230 and she is still not in surgery.   Gonna be a long day for sure.


----------



## snowbear

Oh, wow.

I'm shooting at the GIS conference for the MSGIC group in a few weeks, and I _really_ need AF.  Since the 55-200 is a bit long and the D40 needs AF-S, I bought a used AF-S 18-55 kit Nikkor off Amazon, to replace the one LL had break (he inherited my 18-135 and that's starting to act up).

Anyway, this is the VR-II version and there is now a barrel lock - like a parking position.  There's a button on the zoom ring
that you push to rotate out of, and back into, the Lock.  Curious if this is being put on all the new zooms; would be handy on those prone to zoom creep.


----------



## table1349

Holy Crap.  Apparently my wife's Orthopedic surgeon missed Estimating Surgery Time day.  Had to be there at 10:30 a.m. and they didn't start the surgery until 3:00 p.m.   The highlight of the day, my wife lost her left arm. 


No they didn't cut it off.  She literately lost her left arm.   They used a block in her shoulder instead of general anestetic and gave her some goofy juice to relax her.  Her arm had gone dead and when she shifted if fell off gurney and was hanging down.  She couldn't feel it and when I told her that I didn't know she could move her arm she looked over at her side and started searching for her missing arm.  She even checked under the sheets twice before she realized it was hanging off the gurney.  Obviously the block did it's job.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> Holy Crap.  Apparently my wife's Orthopedic surgeon missed Estimating Surgery Time day.  Had to be there at 10:30 a.m. and they didn't start the surgery until 3:00 p.m.


Send him a bill for 4.5 hours of your time.


----------



## snowbear

MLW had that in each arm when they did her carpal & cubital surgeries -- kind of like in the Harry Potter movie.


----------



## table1349

If I had a video camera with me that would have been $10,000 on AFV for sure.  She was looking around under the sheets trying to find her arm as she could not feel it at all.  It was priceless to say the least.


----------



## table1349

TTFN  Ta Ta For Now......Young Frankenstein is coming on Turner Classic Movies right now.  Love this movie.  Too funny.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Mary Lou the Cook and Gary have just entered into the Central Valley, the breadbasket of the world.


----------



## JonA_CT

I just hung my photos publicly for the first time ever. Two of my photos will be hanging for the next 6 weeks in the atrium local symphony hall/arts center/boutique movie theater. I ended up getting there in the second half of the hanging session, and the remaining space was sparse. The arts center representative ended up giving me two primo locations. One of my photos is behind the entry information podium, and one is hanging in a stairwell that's visible from outside. Pretty cool.

Here are the ones I chose...both have local significance, so I'm hoping they'll sell.



 

Now I'm running to the grocery store. My wife's birthday was yesterday (she's old now too). She's also pregnant, so she doesn't understand why I'm so unsure about her choice of pizza toppings for tonight: blackberries, sausage, and arugula. We'll see.


----------



## terri

Good luck with the prints!   Very nice choices.   

You'll have to let us know about the pizza.


----------



## Gary A.

The Cheese Store.


----------



## jcdeboever

Wow, that looks yummy, those olives!


----------



## Gary A.

We loaded up on a baguette, some cheeses and meats.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 136015 Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Mary Lou the Cook and Gary have just entered into the Central Valley, the breadbasket of the world.


With all respects to Gary on this one if you are not in Kansas you are not in the breadbasket of the world.  California is a leader in the production of grapes, fresh fruits and vegetables.  But bread implies wheat, and Kansas has the leadership role in wheat production.  We make the wheat for your bread and you make everything else.


----------



## snowbear

and the EU, China, Indian, and Russia each outproduce the US in wheat.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Wow, that looks yummy, those olives!



 The blue cheese stuffed olives are absolutely delish. I have some in my fridge right now, actually...excuse me while I go put a few of them into my belleh...


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> The blue cheese stuffed olives are absolutely delish. I have some in my fridge right now, actually...excuse me while I go put a few of them into my belleh...


Sounds good.  Except the olives.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, that looks yummy, those olives!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The blue cheese stuffed olives are absolutely delish. I have some in my fridge right now, actually...excuse me while I go put a few of them into my belleh...
Click to expand...

My mouth was watering the instant I laid eyes on them.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, that looks yummy, those olives!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The blue cheese stuffed olives are absolutely delish. I have some in my fridge right now, actually...excuse me while I go put a few of them into my belleh...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My mouth was watering the instant I laid eyes on them.
Click to expand...


The ones I have now come in a jar, but there's a store on my way home from work that makes them in-house for their olive bar. I'm trying to be good and not buying any of the fresh ones until I finish the ones I already have, but it's hard. I have to stay out of the store. It's bad enough that it's Irish soda bread season and they also make their own.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> and the EU, China, Indian, and Russia each outproduce the US in wheat.


The EU doesn't count.  China, Russia and India do outproduce the US.  If you want to add the EU then add Canada to the USA as North America and the EU falls away.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The blue cheese stuffed olives are absolutely delish. I have some in my fridge right now, actually...excuse me while I go put a few of them into my belleh...
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds good.  Except the olives.
Click to expand...


I love olives. 

The stuffed ones are good in a martini, too.

Damn, now I want a martini. Okay, fine fine, I'll wait until cocktail hour!


----------



## JonA_CT

My flour comes from Kansas, FWIW haha.

Pizza dough has been shaped. I always make a full batch because people seem to end up coming over every time I make pizza.

Still crazy to me...this dough is so simple. 1000 grams of flour, 750 grams of water, 20 grams of salt, a few grams of yeast, and some good technique is all that's necessary.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The blue cheese stuffed olives are absolutely delish. I have some in my fridge right now, actually...excuse me while I go put a few of them into my belleh...
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds good.  Except the olives.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I love olives.
> 
> The stuffed ones are good in a martini, too.
> 
> Damn, now I want a martini. Okay, fine fine, I'll wait until cocktail hour!
Click to expand...

You didn't hear? It started early today


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm on glass # 3 ish of a fresh keg of homemade pilsner. I rationalize by saying it's only 4%. You can rationalize by saying that you were "hungry" and the olives don't taste right without a hit of gin (or vodka I suppose...but that's heresy in my book).


----------



## snowbear

Hmmm . . . US and Canada vs EU:

*Wheat Production by Country*
(Values in Metric Tons - 2016)

*EU-27:* 144,862,000
*China:* 128,850,000
*India:* 87,000,000
*Russia:* 72,500,000
*United States:* 62,859,000
*Others:* 50,632,000
*Australia:* 33,000,000
*Canada:* 31,700,000
*Ukraine:* 26,800,000
*Pakistan:* 25,300,000
*Turkey:* 17,250,000
*Iran:* 15,500,000
*Argentina:* 15,000,000
*Kazakhstan:* 14,985,000
*Egypt:* 8,100,000
*Uzbekistan:* 7,200,000
*Brazil:* 6,700,000

US and Canada combined = 94,559,000 - between China and India, but no where near outproducing EU.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 136032 View attachment 136033 View attachment 136034


Dayum - lookit dem fishin bobbers.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> You didn't hear? It started early today





JonA_CT said:


> I'm on glass # 3 ish of a fresh keg of homemade pilsner. I rationalize by saying it's only 4%. You can rationalize by saying that you were "hungry" and the olives don't taste right without a hit of gin (or vodka I suppose...but that's heresy in my book).



I like the way you boys think 

And vodka would be heresy in mine as well. I have nothing against the combo of vodka, dry vermouth, and olives, but it's not a martini.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone


 

We broke out the cheese, meats and bread. A gorgeous day in the upper 60's, entertainment on the patio, awesome wines.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> Hmmm . . . US and Canada vs EU:
> 
> *Wheat Production by Country*
> (Values in Metric Tons - 2016)
> 
> *EU-27:* 144,862,000
> *China:* 128,850,000
> *India:* 87,000,000
> *Russia:* 72,500,000
> *United States:* 62,859,000
> *Others:* 50,632,000
> *Australia:* 33,000,000
> *Canada:* 31,700,000
> *Ukraine:* 26,800,000
> *Pakistan:* 25,300,000
> *Turkey:* 17,250,000
> *Iran:* 15,500,000
> *Argentina:* 15,000,000
> *Kazakhstan:* 14,985,000
> *Egypt:* 8,100,000
> *Uzbekistan:* 7,200,000
> *Brazil:* 6,700,000
> 
> US and Canada combined = 94,559,000 - between China and India, but no where near outproducing EU.


Okay let us pick 25 other countries to go with the US and Canada.


----------



## table1349

Something for the coffee hosers to think about unless they want to drink tea.

https://scontent.fmci1-2.fna.fbcdn....=a75ce23f556dd548ef57db63e1754b74&oe=593C3C30


----------



## Gary A.

While youse peoples argue about breadbasket, Mary Lou, Cook and Gary will sip our vino on the hilltop patio overlooking miles of rolling vineyards.


----------



## Gary A.

One of the best cheddar of all time. OMG.


----------



## SquarePeg

Square thinks Gary is living the dream!

Got a cut and color today.  Feeling a bit like the Inappropriately sexy dog from Lady and the Tramp.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Square thinks Gary is living the dream!
> 
> Got a cut and color today.  Feeling a bit like the Inappropriately sexy dog from Lady and the Tramp.


Wow - great job!   You look gorgeous!


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> While youse peoples argue about breadbasket, Mary Lou, Cook and Gary will sip our vino on the hilltop patio overlooking miles of rolling vineyards.


 
I wasn't arguing about nothin' - just plannin' my Saturday martini. And then I took a nap. More like an unexpected coma.

To be clear, I have NOT had the martini yet.


----------



## terri

Hey, that looks like my back yard!


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Square thinks Gary is living the dream!
> 
> Got a cut and color today.  Feeling a bit like the Inappropriately sexy dog from Lady and the Tramp.



Love it!


----------



## Gary A.

Clautiere Vineyard


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> Okay let us pick 25 other countries to go with the US and Canada.


Sounds like something I'd hear from DC.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Square thinks Gary is living the dream!
> 
> Got a cut and color today.  Feeling a bit like the Inappropriately sexy dog from Lady and the Tramp.
> 
> 
> 
> Wow - great job!   You look gorgeous!
Click to expand...




limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Square thinks Gary is living the dream!
> 
> Got a cut and color today.  Feeling a bit like the Inappropriately sexy dog from Lady and the Tramp.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Love it!
Click to expand...


Thanks ladies!  The hair in the face look lasted about an hour before it was put in its place behind my ears  :/


----------



## snowbear

First test of scanning the old slides.  I have a lot of cleaning to do on them.  Scanned to TIF with standard settings, cropping in Lightroom but no other tweaking.

Date on the cardboard is April 1978 so this is a Minolta: maybe the Hi-Matic 7S (45mm Rokker) but probably the SRT-201 with the 50mm kit Rokkor.  Film is Kodak HS Ektachrome (ASA 200, IIRC).  The subject is an oil painting I made, maybe a year earlier.




scan0042.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Square thinks Gary is living the dream!
> 
> Got a cut and color today.  Feeling a bit like the Inappropriately sexy dog from Lady and the Tramp.
> 
> 
> 
> Wow - great job!   You look gorgeous!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Square thinks Gary is living the dream!
> 
> Got a cut and color today.  Feeling a bit like the Inappropriately sexy dog from Lady and the Tramp.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Love it!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks ladies!  The hair in the face look lasted about an hour before it was put in its place behind my ears  :/
Click to expand...


I know what you mean. I actually got a haircut this morning, too, and she decided to give me a blowout (my hair is normally very wavy, bordering on curly). I could barely even wait until getting to my car before I pushed it back behind the ears.

No color at the salon. I do that myself. Even highlights. The roots are getting more prominent so I might do a touch-up before doing the whole shebang again.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Hey, that looks like my back yard!


Looks a bit like Gary's yard too. Gary tosses his spent wine corks into the garden. He also uses the empty wine bottles for lawn borders.


----------



## Gary A.

What a lovely day. The worse was an early start. But we made it to Paso around 10-ish. A few stops for the dog, but a little under a four hour drive.  After breakfast, nothing but wineries ... world class wine. What a great afternoon.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Square thinks Gary is living the dream!
> 
> Got a cut and color today.  Feeling a bit like the Inappropriately sexy dog from Lady and the Tramp.
> 
> 
> 
> Wow - great job!   You look gorgeous!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Square thinks Gary is living the dream!
> 
> Got a cut and color today.  Feeling a bit like the Inappropriately sexy dog from Lady and the Tramp.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Love it!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks ladies!  The hair in the face look lasted about an hour before it was put in its place behind my ears  :/
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I know what you mean. I actually got a haircut this morning, too, and she decided to give me a blowout (my hair is normally very wavy, bordering on curly). I could barely even wait until getting to my car before I pushed it back behind the ears.
> 
> No color at the salon. I do that myself. Even highlights. The roots are getting more prominent so I might do a touch-up before doing the whole shebang again.
Click to expand...


I don't know how you can do your own, I can't even paint my own nails.  No patience.  Fortunately my hairdresser is a good friend so I get the family discount.   Otherwise it would cost me a fortune.  It's unreal what they get at the salons for color and highlights


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Square thinks Gary is living the dream!
> 
> Got a cut and color today.  Feeling a bit like the Inappropriately sexy dog from Lady and the Tramp.
> 
> 
> 
> Wow - great job!   You look gorgeous!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Square thinks Gary is living the dream!
> 
> Got a cut and color today.  Feeling a bit like the Inappropriately sexy dog from Lady and the Tramp.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Love it!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks ladies!  The hair in the face look lasted about an hour before it was put in its place behind my ears  :/
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I know what you mean. I actually got a haircut this morning, too, and she decided to give me a blowout (my hair is normally very wavy, bordering on curly). I could barely even wait until getting to my car before I pushed it back behind the ears.
> 
> No color at the salon. I do that myself. Even highlights. The roots are getting more prominent so I might do a touch-up before doing the whole shebang again.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't know how you can do your own, I can't even paint my own nails.  No patience.  Fortunately my hairdresser is a good friend so I get the family discount.   Otherwise it would cost me a fortune.  It's unreal what they get at the salons for color and highlights
Click to expand...

Yup, she does that, plus pedicure, massages, and now eyelashes. She spends way more on that stuff than my camera gear. But her stuff doesn't count, it's not the same.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Square thinks Gary is living the dream!
> 
> Got a cut and color today.  Feeling a bit like the Inappropriately sexy dog from Lady and the Tramp.
> 
> 
> 
> Wow - great job!   You look gorgeous!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Square thinks Gary is living the dream!
> 
> Got a cut and color today.  Feeling a bit like the Inappropriately sexy dog from Lady and the Tramp.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Love it!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks ladies!  The hair in the face look lasted about an hour before it was put in its place behind my ears  :/
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I know what you mean. I actually got a haircut this morning, too, and she decided to give me a blowout (my hair is normally very wavy, bordering on curly). I could barely even wait until getting to my car before I pushed it back behind the ears.
> 
> No color at the salon. I do that myself. Even highlights. The roots are getting more prominent so I might do a touch-up before doing the whole shebang again.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't know how you can do your own, I can't even paint my own nails.  No patience.  Fortunately my hairdresser is a good friend so I get the family discount.   Otherwise it would cost me a fortune.  It's unreal what they get at the salons for color and highlights
Click to expand...


I don't do foils or caps. The kit I get has an overall color and highlights, and those go on with something that is essentially a big mascara brush. Super easy. The tricky part is the back. I have gotten used to using a hand mirror.

I usually do my own nails, too. Every once in a while I treat myself.

It's true that I do these things for myself in large part because of the cost, but also, in case you hadn't noticed from the film developing and knitting, I'm a stubbornly DIY kind of person


----------



## terri

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Square thinks Gary is living the dream!
> 
> Got a cut and color today.  Feeling a bit like the Inappropriately sexy dog from Lady and the Tramp.
> 
> 
> 
> Wow - great job!   You look gorgeous!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Square thinks Gary is living the dream!
> 
> Got a cut and color today.  Feeling a bit like the Inappropriately sexy dog from Lady and the Tramp.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Love it!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks ladies!  The hair in the face look lasted about an hour before it was put in its place behind my ears  :/
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I know what you mean. I actually got a haircut this morning, too, and she decided to give me a blowout (my hair is normally very wavy, bordering on curly). I could barely even wait until getting to my car before I pushed it back behind the ears.
> 
> No color at the salon. I do that myself. Even highlights. The roots are getting more prominent so I might do a touch-up before doing the whole shebang again.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't know how you can do your own, I can't even paint my own nails.  No patience.  Fortunately my hairdresser is a good friend so I get the family discount.   Otherwise it would cost me a fortune.  It's unreal what they get at the salons for color and highlights
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't do foils or caps. The kit I get has an overall color and highlights, and those go on with something that is essentially a big mascara brush. Super easy. The tricky part is the back. I have gotten used to using a hand mirror.
> 
> I usually do my own nails, too. Every once in a while I treat myself.
> 
> It's true that I do these things for myself in large part because of the cost, but also, in case you hadn't noticed from the film developing and knitting, I'm a stubbornly DIY kind of person
Click to expand...

Both you ladies are more ambitious than I.  If I wanted to ensure some kind of permanent Halloween look, I'd do my own highlights.   Frankly, I'd like to experiment with some shade of purple hair, since I don't have to look professional anymore, but I'd still prefer a licensed hair dresser over my own fumbling hands.   I don't do girlie stuff very well, and that translates into real expense sometimes!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Both you ladies are more ambitious than I. If I wanted to ensure some kind of permanent Halloween look, I'd do my own highlights. Frankly, I'd like to experiment with some shade of purple hair, since I don't have to look professional anymore, but I'd still prefer a licensed hair dresser over my own fumbling hands. I don't do girlie stuff very well, and that translates into real expense sometimes!



We did a DIY pink hair ombre thing on my daughters hair last summer.  It came out ok.  We used this stuff and followed this video.  It washed out in about a month.  My daughter was happy with it and I was glad it was gone before she went back to school.


----------



## snowbear

I'm just thankful to have hair - I don't care what color it is.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> I'm just thankful to have hair - I don't care what color it is.





I started thinning my senior year of college. Terrible hair genetics, but my maintenance costs are very low. Haven't paid for a barber in years.


----------



## snowbear

Baldness doesn't run in my family, but I had a few grey strands in high school.


----------



## SquarePeg

Speaking of High School...We watched the movie Edge of Seventeen last night. It was definitely made for a younger audience than me but it did bring back memories and make me lol a bunch of times.


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> I'm just thankful to have hair - I don't care what color it is.


Is hair that stuff that used to grow on top Gary's head?  Gary still has all his hair, it's just migrating south.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm just thankful to have hair - I don't care what color it is.
> 
> 
> 
> Is hair that stuff that used to grow on top Gary's head?  Gary still has all his hair, it's just migrating south.
Click to expand...

If you plug your ears long enough it will reverse itself and grow back out of the top of your head.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenoas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is a wet morning, the rain has stopped, all is damp with a freshness of Spring in the air.  Surprisingly, Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are a bit disappointed, the best wines we tasted yesterday did not surpass the best wines of Temecula.  This is only Gary's second trip to Paso Robles, so there is much to discover.  Paso has a history of being horse country.  Between the vineyards are horse ranches making the rolling hillsides spotted with oaks and wildflowers ... picturesque and beautiful.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm just thankful to have hair - I don't care what color it is.
> 
> 
> 
> Is hair that stuff that used to grow on top Gary's head?  Gary still has all his hair, it's just migrating south.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If you plug your ears long enough it will reverse itself and grow back out of the top of your head.  View attachment 136066
Click to expand...

What?


----------



## Gary A.

Coffee at Cafe Panolivo.

This place has exceptional coffee.


----------



## tirediron

You put a pat of butter in your coffee?????


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm just thankful to have hair - I don't care what color it is.
> 
> 
> 
> Is hair that stuff that used to grow on top Gary's head?  Gary still has all his hair, it's just migrating south.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If you plug your ears long enough it will reverse itself and grow back out of the top of your head.  View attachment 136066
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What?
Click to expand...

You didn't go bald.  Your hair got tired of working so hard and decided to grow out your ears instead.  If I could figure out how to reverse this trend as men grow older I would be rich.


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> You put a pat of butter in your coffee?????


I thought it was the tear off from his Splenda wrapper[emoji12]


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> You put a pat of butter in your coffee?????


Makes goin' down easier. (No, I am not Canadian, a light reflected from above.)


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Grey Wolf


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are beat.  Drinking wine is hard work.  Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are back at our cottage, munching take out food from the world's greatest fish place, ready to call it a night.  This has been a very good day.  Today we batted about 800 on wineries ... we left nobody on base.


----------



## Gary A.

Windward. Amazing Pinots.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 136115 View attachment 136116
> Windward. Amazing Pinots.



Pupper!!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 136115 View attachment 136116
> Windward. Amazing Pinots.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pupper!!
Click to expand...

A begging pupper.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  We are off to Cambria today, (20-30 minutes away). Moonstone Beach for .... Moonstones ... and San Simeon for the Elephant Seals.


----------



## Gary A.

Cook and Gary are back from our walk.  30F this morning, Cook wore a sweater and Gary gloves. The first time Gary has worn gloves in a year.  A crusty layer of frost coated the grass and tops of the wooden railings used for fencing.  An invigoring walk requing a cup of room brewed coffee for a warm up.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Cook and Gary are back from our walk.  30F this morning, Cook wore a sweater and Gary gloves. The first time Gary has worn gloves in a year.  A crusty layer of frost coated the grass and tops of the wooden railings used for fencing.  An invigoring walk requing a cup of room brewed coffee for a warm up.



Shoot, it was warmer by a few degrees here this morning. I did a strong french brew of your Mexican coffee this morning, delicious. My heart was palpitating on the drive down to Ohio...Lol


----------



## Gary A.

Coffee in Cambria. It is nicely warming up. So breakfast on the patio.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 136133
> Coffee in Cambria. It is nicely warming up. So breakfast on the patio.



What a sexy coffee mug


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 136133
> Coffee in Cambria. It is nicely warming up. So breakfast on the patio.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What a sexy coffee mug
Click to expand...

And an extremely tasty breakfast of Blueberry Pancakes.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 136147 View attachment 136148
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 136133
> Coffee in Cambria. It is nicely warming up. So breakfast on the patio.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What a sexy coffee mug
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And an extremely tasty breakfast of Blueberry Pancakes.
Click to expand...


Life is good


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Cambria


----------



## Gary A.

Cook on one of these driftwood benches scattered throughout the park.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary wants to live here!


----------



## Frank F.

Today I attended a Fuji road show at my brick & mortar shop....

The GFX. Three of these...


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Cook and Gary have checked-in. Gary decided he will shoot for the E-Seal News.


----------



## Frank F.

I am still on my diet. Have lost six kilos and counting. The 16 hour gap is the key. Currently I only lose 1 kilo every fourthnight soooo. Will I ever look like this again? My wife took these 20 years ago with my F4s plus 1.8/85D Nikkor:


----------



## jcdeboever

I like the lighting in these. I can not tell if your good looking or not but the images ooze the ever so popular vanity. You may have started a trend my friend. back in the day.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

 OMG peoples.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Mary Lou, Cook and Gary enjoyed the sunset with a glass of vino on the boardwalk.


----------



## Frank F.

Flickr

I added another 100 pictures today and sorted them by date shot...


----------



## JonA_CT

My school district has declining enrollment and they are cutting 18.5 FTE across all bargaining units. Not exactly the news you want to hear when you have a child due in August.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> My school district has declining enrollment and they are cutting 18.5 FTE across all bargaining units. Not exactly the news you want to hear when you have a child due in August.



The public school district? Or the community college? Wait, are you talking about FTE as it relates to teaching hours? Sorry, I get confused because I'm used to thinking of FTE in terms of student credit hours.

Either way, yikes!


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> My school district has declining enrollment and they are cutting 18.5 FTE across all bargaining units. Not exactly the news you want to hear when you have a child due in August.


Hey, stay positive! Maybe they will figure out ways to cut other things to lessen the severity of teacher cuts. Let's just believe you will not be affected. Worst case scenario is you get a better job or promotion. Sometimes things are not always as they appear.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My school district has declining enrollment and they are cutting 18.5 FTE across all bargaining units. Not exactly the news you want to hear when you have a child due in August.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The public school district? Or the community college? Wait, are you talking about FTE as it relates to teaching hours? Sorry, I get confused because I'm used to thinking of FTE in terms of student credit hours.
> 
> Either way, yikes!
Click to expand...


Public school district. The FTE related to teaching/work load. I'm non-tenured still in this district, so until they announce their plan, I'm going to assume I need to be looking for work. I've always fallen on my feet when I've been in this sort of trouble before, but I'm a little more nervous this time because the state budget is so messed up that school districts may not hire this year.


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My school district has declining enrollment and they are cutting 18.5 FTE across all bargaining units. Not exactly the news you want to hear when you have a child due in August.
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, stay positive! Maybe they will figure out ways to cut other things to lessen the severity of teacher cuts. Let's just believe you will not be affected. Worst case scenario is you get a better job or promotion. Sometimes things are not always as they appear.
Click to expand...


I hope so, JC. My wife says that it might have the benefit of greatly shortening my commute. Who knows.


----------



## Gary A.

FTE= Full Time Educators, Full Time Employee ?


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My school district has declining enrollment and they are cutting 18.5 FTE across all bargaining units. Not exactly the news you want to hear when you have a child due in August.
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, stay positive! Maybe they will figure out ways to cut other things to lessen the severity of teacher cuts. Let's just believe you will not be affected. Worst case scenario is you get a better job or promotion. Sometimes things are not always as they appear.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I hope so, JC. My wife says that it might have the benefit of greatly shortening my commute. Who knows.
Click to expand...

I will keep y'all in my prayers.


----------



## jcdeboever

jcdeboever said:


> I like the lighting in these. I can not tell if your good looking or not but the images ooze the ever so popular vanity. You may have started a trend my friend. back in the day.


Is it me or do you look like Bob Dylan....geez


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> FTE= Full Time Educators, Full Time Employee ?



Full-Time Equivalent. In terms of student hours, a full-time student takes 12 credit-hours a semester. A full-time equivalency number takes into account headcount - basically, how many students there are vs how many there would be if they were all full time.

For teachers or staff, it's essentially the equivalent of a full-time employee - how many full-time teachers who have a full load of credits vs teachers who teach a partial load. So you might have 10 full-teachers but 10 part-time teachers, which could give you 15 FTE (depending on how many hours each of those part-timers are teaching.)

So getting rid of 18.5 FTE could mean getting rid of a lot more than 18.5 people.

Jon, do I have that right in terms of the teaching?


----------



## SquarePeg

Sorry to hear that @JonA_CT     Hang in there!


----------



## JonA_CT

You have it right, Leo.

My principal came to see me after school today. She had positive things to say, but she doesn't have the full picture yet either, and staffing decisions like this ultimately aren't up to her. Time to be proactive. 

I have a love/hate relationship with my union. I know that my salary and benefits are what they are because of them, but I also know that good teachers will be laid off because of seniority rules.


----------



## snowbear

Sadness today.  One of our civilian employees (29+ years) collapsed at her desk.  She was shocked and being give CPR by HQ personnel when the ALS unit arrived.  Despite all of their efforts, she passed away at the hospital.


----------



## SquarePeg

Sorry for your loss @snowbear


----------



## snowbear

Thanks.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Sadness today.  One of our civilian employees (29+ years) collapsed at her desk.  She was shocked and being give CPR by HQ personnel when the ALS unit arrived.  Despite all of their efforts, she passed away at the hospital.



So sorry


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sadness today.  One of our civilian employees (29+ years) collapsed at her desk.  She was shocked and being give CPR by HQ personnel when the ALS unit arrived.  Despite all of their efforts, she passed away at the hospital.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So sorry
Click to expand...

Thanks.
The departmental announcement on my FB.  It's hard to lose a member of one's family, and Fire Departments (like Police Departments) are more family than most folks realize.

As for good news, my mom has been moved from ICU to a regular room.  She'll have to go to a rehab place for a while, but things are looking better for her.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## ZombiesniperJr

snowbear said:


> Sadness today.  One of our civilian employees (29+ years) collapsed at her desk.  She was shocked and being give CPR by HQ personnel when the ALS unit arrived.  Despite all of their efforts, she passed away at the hospital.


Sorry to hear this Snowbear


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Sadness today.  One of our civilian employees (29+ years) collapsed at her desk.  She was shocked and being give CPR by HQ personnel when the ALS unit arrived.  Despite all of their efforts, she passed away at the hospital.



Sorry bud. What a shame.


----------



## Gary A.

Sad Charlie.  So sorry.


----------



## Gary A.

Jon-  Unions are a two edged sword.  I hoping for the best.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are home.  Cook is very happy.  We have returned with a boatload of vino ... very fine vino. The Elephant Seals are amazing ... 5000 lbs of amazing ... the California Central Coast is amazingly beautiful. This has been a very pleasant little vacation.

Gary learned an interesting fact that Paso Robles produces such fine wines because in summer there can be as much as a 50F temperature change/swing between day and night.


----------



## Frank F.

I am currently working on the final version of the chapter on cities and traffic, so my perception shapes with it.

Good example: This morning I got up at 6 am, did a reacreational walk by the Rhine river at dawn, later walked my girl to her Kindergarden, the son walked to school alone an hour earlier. On the way back from Kindergarden I did all the necessary shopping, met some people for a chat and was in my office at 9:15 am. No one did even move a bicycle, let alone a car. Only my wife does still work half an hour car drive away, but she is constantly applying for jobs in walking or cycling distance, which will hopefully be successful very soon.


----------



## Frank F.

Amazon.com: Behold the Dreamers: A Novel (9780812998481): Imbolo Mbue: Books

Wonderful book. Great story teller. Mature writer of the highest quality.

In a nutshell: The American dream as experienced in 2007 and the following years by a family coming from Cameroon.

A must read book. Great entertainment, superbly written. Relevant content!


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> I am currently working on the final version of the chapter on cities and traffic, so my perception shapes with it.
> 
> Good example: This morning I got up at 6 am, did a reacreational walk by the Rhine river at dawn, later walked my girl to her Kindergarden, the son walked to school alone an hour earlier. On the way back from Kindergarden I did all the necessary shopping, met some people for a chat and was in my office at 9:15 am. No one did even move a bicycle, let alone a car. Only my wife does still work half an hour car drive away, but she is constantly applying for jobs in walking or cycling distance, which will hopefully be successful very soon.



While this does sound wonderful, for me it is not ideal. It requires living right in the thick of things. I've lived like this in various places, where I could walk everywhere and never even need a bike. Many things about it were good, but living in such close proximity to so many people was stressful for me. Plus, I _love_ to drive. So for me, a commute is worth the stress if that means I get to lay my head down at night in a place where "noise pollution" comes only from crickets and frogs and the breeze.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, guys.
----------
MLW & I went looking for rehab facilities for my mom today.  We visited three, entered two, toured one.  I ended up picking with one mom-in-law was in.
----------
I am at the top of a Google search, or rather, my San Diego presentation is.  I'm not sure if it's good or bad.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> MLW & I went looking for rehab facilities for my mom today.  We visited three, entered two, toured one.  I ended up picking with one mom-in-law was in.
> ----------
> I am at the top of a Google search, or rather, my San Diego presentation is.  I'm not sure if it's good or bad.


I'm sure you guys made a good decision. That is a hard thing to do my brother. I am believing that her experience is going to be wonderful and joyful.  She is going to love her new and exciting lifestyle.


----------



## snowbear

Not a normal relationship, to say the least (understatement of the decade), but I have support from aunt and cousins.  There is a lot of work ahead, but we will do what we can and go forward one day at a time.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone:




Spanish Moss




Steinbeck Vineyards




A fallen Oak




Oak Tunnel

A few more from Paso Robles.


----------



## tirediron

The Cook looks distinctly unimpressed!


----------



## Frank F.

@limr depending on where you live in the inner city of a small town like Bonn ... 320.000 people ... the bird wake us in the morning. Yes it is true that the workers buyers and sellers come from the cricket noise places and pollute our inner city air with noise and stink from their cars. This will get better with E-Cars as the norm in 20 years.


----------



## Frank F.

Wonderful pictures, Gary!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> The Cook looks distinctly unimpressed!


Yeah, she was pissed that she was carded. (She's only 13 y/o.)


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Wonderful pictures, Gary!



iPhone images:




Elephant Seals




More Elephant Seals with a lighthouse wayyyy in the background

Thank you Frank.  It was a wonderfully pleasant trip. Paso Robles and Cambria are part of the Central Coast of California, about 2/3rds of the way from Los Angeles to San Francisco, (Big Sur area). The first day in Cambria, which is along the Pacific and home to Moonstone Beach, it was very windy and cold.  The next day the winds had subsided and it was perfect.  Very comfortable sweater weather.  Big Sur is as beautiful as Yosemite, but with an ocean motif. The wines we tasted in Paso Robles, were pretty much equal to the better wines in Temecula. Gary thought that Paso would have blown away Temecula ... but was very surprised by his findings.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Thank you Frank. It was a wonderfully pleasant trip. Paso Robles and Cambria are part of the Central Coast of California, about 2/3rds of the way from Los Angeles to San Francisco, (Big Sur area). The first day in Cambria, which is along the Pacific and home to Moonstone Beach, it was very windy and cold. The next day the winds had subsided and it was perfect. Very comfortable sweater weather. Big Sur is as beautiful as Yosemite, but with an ocean motif. The wines we tasted in Paso Robles, were pretty much equal to the better wines in Temecula. Gary thought that Paso would have blown away Temecula ... but was very surprised by his findings.



I read recently that one of the bridges along hwy 1 right by Big Sur is closed due to structural issues.  We loved Big Sur on our CA coast trip a few years ago.  It's gorgeous!  Stayed at the very humble Big Sur Lodge on our one night in that area.  My daughter was horrified at no tv or wifi in the rooms.  I loved the area.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you Frank. It was a wonderfully pleasant trip. Paso Robles and Cambria are part of the Central Coast of California, about 2/3rds of the way from Los Angeles to San Francisco, (Big Sur area). The first day in Cambria, which is along the Pacific and home to Moonstone Beach, it was very windy and cold. The next day the winds had subsided and it was perfect. Very comfortable sweater weather. Big Sur is as beautiful as Yosemite, but with an ocean motif. The wines we tasted in Paso Robles, were pretty much equal to the better wines in Temecula. Gary thought that Paso would have blown away Temecula ... but was very surprised by his findings.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I read recently that one of the bridges along hwy 1 right by Big Sur is closed due to structural issues.  We loved Big Sur on our CA coast trip a few years ago.  It's gorgeous!  Stayed at the very humble Big Sur Lodge on our one night in that area.  My daughter was horrified at no tv or wifi in the rooms.  I loved the area.
Click to expand...

Yes, at Ragged Point about 15 miles north of Hearst Castle, (or 15 miles north of the Elephant Seals). Did you drive Highway 1?  (If you did from where to where?)


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wonderful pictures, Gary!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> iPhone images:
> View attachment 136279
> Elephant Seals
> 
> View attachment 136280
> More Elephant Seals with a lighthouse wayyyy in the background
> 
> Thank you Frank.  It was a wonderfully pleasant trip. Paso Robles and Cambria are part of the Central Coast of California, about 2/3rds of the way from Los Angeles to San Francisco, (Big Sur area). The first day in Cambria, which is along the Pacific and home to Moonstone Beach, it was very windy and cold.  The next day the winds had subsided and it was perfect.  Very comfortable sweater weather.  Big Sur is as beautiful as Yosemite, but with an ocean motif. The wines we tasted in Paso Robles, were pretty much equal to the better wines in Temecula. Gary thought that Paso would have blown away Temecula ... but was very surprised by his findings.
Click to expand...



Next time I bring more time for wine tasting at the makers place. But I insist to stay there overnight. I do not want any drinken driving caused by me. As you know.

Tonight we celebrate. MLW got the job she applied for. We had to shed some tears of happiness. No more Saturdays. No more late shifts. No more driving. The chance to get a higher paying job in the same institution over the years. Oh my...


We have a very special Rosé and Sparkles of course both from Spain but very good.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Yes, at Ragged Point about 15 miles north of Hearst Castle, (or 15 miles north of the Elephant Seals). Did you drive Highway 1? (If you did from where to where?)



We did.  We drove north all the way up to San Fran.  That was in 2014.  We spent almost 2 weeks and stayed at 6 different hotels.  It was a road trip with my mom and my daughter who was 11 at the time.  Mom had never been to CA before and she wanted to see it all.  We started the coastal road right out of Santa Monica IIRC although not sure if that is officially Hwy 1 and we drove along the coast just about the entire trip.  

We started in San Diego and we hit all of the hot tourist spots:  SD Zoo, Mission Beach, La Jolla, Disneyland, Santa Monica pier, Hollywood Blvd, Universal studios, Santa Barbara, Elephant seals, Hearst Castle, Big Sur, Julia Pfeiffer state park, Monterey Aquarium and then 3 days in San Fran.  It was a great trip but a lot of luggage carrying and driving for me!  I had read that the views are better north to south but we were meeting up with some family in SD on a certain date so that dictated our starting point for the trip.  It was a great experience and I hope to do it again someday.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> We started in San Diego and we hit all of the hot tourist spots:  SD Zoo, Mission Beach, La Jolla, Disneyland, Santa Monica pier, Hollywood Blvd, Universal studios, Santa Barbara, Elephant seals, Hearst Castle, Big Sur, Julia Pfeiffer state park, Monterey Aquarium and then 3 days in San Fran.  It was a great trip but a lot of luggage carrying and driving for me!  I had read that the views are better north to south but we were meeting up with some family in SD on a certain date so that dictated our starting point for the trip.  It was a great experience and I hope to do it again someday.



A little treat in SD:



20160626_160150.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## vintagesnaps

Our local breaking news - people in '70's attire needed as extras for a movie being made here. Why didn't I save my bell bottoms?? Darn it. Also want 70's cars - my parents had no foresight when they got rid of our Gremlin.  And they need a stand in for Robert Redford if any of you fine fellas of TPF want to come try for that claim to fame.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry to hear of all that Charlie.

I had to go to a rehab facility after the stroke - in my freakin' fifties. At least it made me feel young. I managed to avoid things like bingo. Lucky it was only a few weeks.

Jon I've been rif'd. Some things seem to work out for the best, next job I stayed at for 20 some years. Hope you find out soon what's happening, sometimes the not knowing is the worst.


----------



## snowbear

Thank you, Sharon.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, at Ragged Point about 15 miles north of Hearst Castle, (or 15 miles north of the Elephant Seals). Did you drive Highway 1? (If you did from where to where?)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We did.  We drove north all the way up to San Fran.  That was in 2014.  We spent almost 2 weeks and stayed at 6 different hotels.  It was a road trip with my mom and my daughter who was 11 at the time.  Mom had never been to CA before and she wanted to see it all.  We started the coastal road right out of Santa Monica IIRC although not sure if that is officially Hwy 1 and we drove along the coast just about the entire trip.
> 
> We started in San Diego and we hit all of the hot tourist spots:  SD Zoo, Mission Beach, La Jolla, Disneyland, Santa Monica pier, Hollywood Blvd, Universal studios, Santa Barbara, Elephant seals, Hearst Castle, Big Sur, Julia Pfeiffer state park, Monterey Aquarium and then 3 days in San Fran.  It was a great trip but a lot of luggage carrying and driving for me!  I had read that the views are better north to south but we were meeting up with some family in SD on a certain date so that dictated our starting point for the trip.  It was a great experience and I hope to do it again someday.
Click to expand...

Wow, a very nice trip.  The furthest north Gary has driven on Highway 1 is Fort Bragg.  In May we plan to explore Highway 1 north of Fort Bragg.  (Your Mom missed Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Kings Canyon, The wine country of Napa/Sonoma, Joshua Tree (Mojave Desert), Mt. Whitney (highest point in CONUS), Death Valley (lowest point in N. America), Catalina, et cetera.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

We returned to this. The Redbud Forest Pansy is popping.  The blossoms drop and are replaced by leaves ... red leaves.

In the 80's today.  Very nice and warm.  Mary Lou and Gary are having a splash of wine before dinner. A wine from a Malibu Winery and it is surprisingly good.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, at Ragged Point about 15 miles north of Hearst Castle, (or 15 miles north of the Elephant Seals). Did you drive Highway 1? (If you did from where to where?)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We did.  We drove north all the way up to San Fran.  That was in 2014.  We spent almost 2 weeks and stayed at 6 different hotels.  It was a road trip with my mom and my daughter who was 11 at the time.  Mom had never been to CA before and she wanted to see it all.  We started the coastal road right out of Santa Monica IIRC although not sure if that is officially Hwy 1 and we drove along the coast just about the entire trip.
> 
> We started in San Diego and we hit all of the hot tourist spots:  SD Zoo, Mission Beach, La Jolla, Disneyland, Santa Monica pier, Hollywood Blvd, Universal studios, Santa Barbara, Elephant seals, Hearst Castle, Big Sur, Julia Pfeiffer state park, Monterey Aquarium and then 3 days in San Fran.  It was a great trip but a lot of luggage carrying and driving for me!  I had read that the views are better north to south but we were meeting up with some family in SD on a certain date so that dictated our starting point for the trip.  It was a great experience and I hope to do it again someday.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wow, a very nice trip.  The furthest north Gary has driven on Highway 1 is Fort Bragg.  In May we plan to explore Highway 1 north of Fort Bragg.  (Your Mom missed Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Kings Canyon, The wine country of Napa/Sonoma, Joshua Tree (Mojave Desert), Mt. Whitney (highest point in CONUS), Death Valley (lowest point in N. America), Catalina, et cetera.
Click to expand...


Yes we stuck to the coast. Next trip will be more about the rest of the west!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, at Ragged Point about 15 miles north of Hearst Castle, (or 15 miles north of the Elephant Seals). Did you drive Highway 1? (If you did from where to where?)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We did.  We drove north all the way up to San Fran.  That was in 2014.  We spent almost 2 weeks and stayed at 6 different hotels.  It was a road trip with my mom and my daughter who was 11 at the time.  Mom had never been to CA before and she wanted to see it all.  We started the coastal road right out of Santa Monica IIRC although not sure if that is officially Hwy 1 and we drove along the coast just about the entire trip.
> 
> We started in San Diego and we hit all of the hot tourist spots:  SD Zoo, Mission Beach, La Jolla, Disneyland, Santa Monica pier, Hollywood Blvd, Universal studios, Santa Barbara, Elephant seals, Hearst Castle, Big Sur, Julia Pfeiffer state park, Monterey Aquarium and then 3 days in San Fran.  It was a great trip but a lot of luggage carrying and driving for me!  I had read that the views are better north to south but we were meeting up with some family in SD on a certain date so that dictated our starting point for the trip.  It was a great experience and I hope to do it again someday.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wow, a very nice trip.  The furthest north Gary has driven on Highway 1 is Fort Bragg.  In May we plan to explore Highway 1 north of Fort Bragg.  (Your Mom missed Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Kings Canyon, The wine country of Napa/Sonoma, Joshua Tree (Mojave Desert), Mt. Whitney (highest point in CONUS), Death Valley (lowest point in N. America), Catalina, et cetera.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes we stuck to the coast. Next trip will be more about the rest of the west!
Click to expand...

Isn't the next trip ... Disneyland?


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Isn't the next trip ... Disneyland?



The Disneyland trip doesn't count!  That's already planned and we're not seeing anything else because it's just a short visit.


----------



## SquarePeg

Snowing here again.  Yuck.  I am so ready for spring and warmer weather.  The last couple of weeks have been such a tease!


----------



## terri

It's been silly-warm here for the last couple of days - supposedly the bottom is going to drop out over the weekend, and it will feel more like March.   It will get hot and humid soon enough around here; I just ain't ready yet!    I want to make another pot of vegetable soup and have it with a nice crusty loaf of bread in front of the fire.    

I'll be ready for warmer temps by, say, the first of May.


----------



## snowbear

It was apparently snowing along the river, earlier (our niece was there).  Calling for a coastal storm Monday into Tuesday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @limr!


----------



## jcdeboever

Happy birthday @limr


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## waday

Happy birthday @limr!


----------



## Gary A.

Happy B-Day Leo!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Gary had an easy afternoon.  Sooooo ... He mowed and trimmed the back.  Cleaned out the filters on the pond.  Squeezed the juice ot of about 60 limes (Margaritas anyone?). And then crawled through the grass on his hands and knees pulling out everything that didn't look like grass.  While my allergies are going nuts, the sweet smell of grass made it all worthwhile.  It was around 80F today, warm, dry and a slight breeze.  Everything is blooming and coming back from its winter hibernation. Gary wore shorts and went barefoot.  He waiting for Mary Lou to get home so he can pop open a vino and toast Mother Nature.


----------



## tirediron

Merry Limr-mas!


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy birthday month!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> It was apparently snowing along the river, earlier (our niece was there).  Calling for a coastal storm Monday into Tuesday.
> 
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY @limr!





jcdeboever said:


> Happy birthday @limr





waday said:


> Happy birthday @limr!





Gary A. said:


> Happy B-Day Leo!





tirediron said:


> Merry Limr-mas!





SquarePeg said:


> Happy birthday month!



Thanks, boys and girls 

Buzz and I spent the day driving to Ogunquit, Maine. It was snowing when I woke up this morning but school wasn't closed because nothing was sticking on the roads, so I had to go into work for my half-day. Connecticut was fine, and so was most of Mass - snow was on the ground but the roads were perfectly clear. Had to take an alternate route to avoid the massive dark red line of traffic around Boston, and headed into a second storm. Not too bad, though, and Buzz has snow tires. 

Then, we were heading towards Portsmouth, we saw another huge dark red line: big accident on 95. So we headed around that and made it almost all the way through Portsmouth when we hit a road that was a solid sheet of ice. So we pulled off into a restaurant for dinner and to wait for the road to be salted. Snowing while we ate, but roads got salted. Kept snowing and roads were messy but manageable. 

For as many times as we've been to Maine, this is finally the first time that we are here in the snow. Happy birthday to meeeeeee!!  It's so pretty!! And my actual birthday is tomorrow when it will be good and cold.


----------



## pgriz

Happy Birthday, Lenny!  Personally, I like to visit Ogunquit when I can put my toes in the water and not worry about frostbite, but hey, I'm sure the crowds are less.  Have a safe visit and return.  Hope you took the camera.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary recinds his "Happy B-Day!" to be reactivated tomorrow.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Happy Birthday, Lenny!  Personally, I like to visit Ogunquit when I can put my toes in the water and not worry about frostbite, but hey, I'm sure the crowds are less.  Have a safe visit and return.  Hope you took the camera.



I've been here plenty of times when you could dip your toe in the water. Don't forget that the ocean here is always cold, so you either have to like cold water, or the air temperature has to be hot enough that you don't care that the water is cold. And I'm tired of Maine in the heat. It's about time I get some snowy Maine! 

I've got Oly and Holga with me.


----------



## SquarePeg

@limr  enjoy your weekend!  You very likely passed within a mile of my house if you took Rte 1 to get to 95.  You're not far from Nubble Light in York if you're wanting something to shoot.


----------



## Gary A.

Russian River Vineyards Gewurztraminer is a 10!


----------



## Derrel

jcdeboever said:
			
		

> Happy birthday @limr



Yes, indeed, happy birthday to a wonderful TPF'er!!! I had no idea it was your birthday, or I would have sprung for a TPF Cafe burrito lunch for you today!


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> @limr  enjoy your weekend!  You very likely passed within a mile of my house if you took Rte 1 to get to 95.  You're not far from Nubble Light in York if you're wanting something to shoot.



We didn't get on Rt 1 until after Portsmouth. We usually come across on 84 and then cut the corner to 495 to bypass Boston, and then hit 95 just at the Mass-NH border. So we bypassed 495 to the west and then north.

But I'll wave on the way back nonetheless!


----------



## tirediron

Derrel said:


> ...a TPF Cafe burrito lunch for you today!


----------



## limr

Derrel said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy birthday @limr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, indeed, happy birthday to a wonderful TPF'er!!! I had no idea it was your birthday, or I would have sprung for a TPF Cafe burrito lunch for you today!
Click to expand...


Hey, my birthday's technically tomorrow, so there's still time


----------



## Derrel

I've got the $1.99 for the burrito AND the 79 cents for the drink!!! Hang on!!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy birthday @limr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, indeed, happy birthday to a wonderful TPF'er!!! I had no idea it was your birthday, or I would have sprung for a TPF Cafe burrito lunch for you today!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hey, my birthday's technically tomorrow, so there's still time
Click to expand...

Hey, it's just after midnight, so I'm officially saying Happy Birthday, on your birthday. 

Have a great day and happy weekend, sweet pea!


----------



## Frank F.

_*Leonore* wonderful to have you here at the hosers! Celebrate yourself & your important others!_


----------



## JonA_CT

Happy birthday!

There's a piano bar in Ogunquit called The Front Porch. After my band was kicked out of an OPEN bar in York (long story...but I thought I'd never forgive our drummer at the time), we ended up there, and it ended up being one of the best nights out I've ever had. I'm sure the atmosphere will be a little different in February vs. June, but you should check it out if haven't already.

P.S. Best 5 inches of snow ever yesterday...it never stuck to the roads. It does look and feel a little like Hoth outside now. 15 degrees with a steady 30mph wind for our balmy -5 wind chill. The snow from yesterday is blowing everywhere.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Have a great day and happy weekend, sweet pea!



Thanks, darlin'! 



Frank F. said:


> _*Leonore* wonderful to have you here at the hosers! Celebrate yourself & your important others!_



Danke schön, Frank! I will be celebrating us all 



JonA_CT said:


> Happy birthday!
> 
> There's a piano bar in Ogunquit called The Front Porch. After my band was kicked out of an OPEN bar in York (long story...but I thought I'd never forgive our drummer at the time), we ended up there, and it ended up being one of the best nights out I've ever had. I'm sure the atmosphere will be a little different in February vs. June, but you should check it out if haven't already.
> 
> P.S. Best 5 inches of snow ever yesterday...it never stuck to the roads. It does look and feel a little like Hoth outside now. 15 degrees with a steady 30mph wind for our balmy -5 wind chill. The snow from yesterday is blowing everywhere.



Oooh, I like a piano! And a bar!  We've probably walked past that place at some point but never went in, but this time we might just go in. 

And yeah, it was a perfect snow - enough snow sticking on the ground and trees to make it look like a beautiful winter wonderland, but nothing stuck on the roads so you could drive without worrying about the mess. (Well, at least until you get to Portsmouth, apparently  )


----------



## Gary A.

Happy B-Day Leo!


----------



## jcdeboever

Happy Birthday @limr. Have a wonderful weekend!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. A beautiful morning here in God's country. The snow sound great.  Gary hasn't been to the snow this year.  Maybe he'll drive up to the local mountains tomorrow. Today ... today he is contemplating rototilling the parkway.  Mary Lou wants to work on the succulents in the front.  She is determined to take a section of the yard and create an underwater landscape effect.  Gary hasn't BBQ-ed in a long time ... maybe he'll smoke something today.  Rototilling is a lot of work ... maybe dinner at the beach.

Gary in emptying his first cup of coffee and watching the Sun stream through the kitchen windows.  He refilled the hummingpig feeder in the back and is about to go back to the paper.  Another little guy just arrived and tanking off at the front feeder.

Back to the paper.  Gotta say the new administration has certainly reinvigorated my desire to read a newspaper and watch news on Tv.


----------



## jcdeboever

Round two for coffee today. Went out this morning in the bitter cold to work on a Hedgecoe/Adams project with my Nikon F. This is a gift from @Gary A. his Mexican coffee and grinder that I modified. Time to warm up.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... OMG ... LOL!!!

At least a Dewalt or a Milwaukee.


----------



## JonA_CT

I feel ya, JC. That 20 grams of coffee sometimes feels like 200 first thing in the morning, haha.


----------



## limr

Mmm, time for more coffee. 

The Atlantic. The cold cold Atlantic.


----------



## table1349

And THIS is why dogs are better and more loved than cats.  




__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=272170823220046
			




No one has build a car for cats yet.


----------



## limr

@JonA_CT  Just got back from The Front Porch. Really fun place! It was a little loud so my repeated requests for "Freebird" went unnoticed, but folks were really nice (except Cyndi, because you know she spells it that way) and drinks were tasty, so it's all good (except for Cyndi. We hate her.)


----------



## JonA_CT

Dante added a layer in hell for cat callers who yell out Freebird to anyone other than Skynyrd. 

Glad you enjoyed it! Sorry about Cyndi.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> Dante added a layer in hell for cat callers who yell out Freebird to anyone other than Skynyrd.
> 
> Glad you enjoyed it! Sorry about Cyndi.


That would be the smooth jazz layer would it not?   Known I believe as the Kenny G layer.  All Kenny, All the time.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Dante added a layer in hell for cat callers who yell out Freebird to anyone other than Skynyrd.
> 
> Glad you enjoyed it! Sorry about Cyndi.



Aren't you at least a little bit curious to see what a lounge singer who plays everything in 2/4 time can do with Freebird??


----------



## table1349

Probably a bit like this....





Or this...





Or.....





There is only one Freebird.


----------



## pgriz

jcdeboever said:


> Round two for coffee today. Went out this morning in the bitter cold to work on a Hedgecoe/Adams project with my Nikon F. This is a gift from @Gary A. his Mexican coffee and grinder that I modified. Time to warm up.



Inquiring minds want to know....  What drill bit did the job?


----------



## jcdeboever

pgriz said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Round two for coffee today. Went out this morning in the bitter cold to work on a Hedgecoe/Adams project with my Nikon F. This is a gift from @Gary A. his Mexican coffee and grinder that I modified. Time to warm up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Inquiring minds want to know....  What drill bit did the job?
Click to expand...

No drill bit. There is a shaft that sticks up on the grinder for a hand crank.


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Round two for coffee today. Went out this morning in the bitter cold to work on a Hedgecoe/Adams project with my Nikon F. This is a gift from @Gary A. his Mexican coffee and grinder that I modified. Time to warm up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Inquiring minds want to know....  What drill bit did the job?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No drill bit. There is a shaft that sticks up on the grinder for a hand crank.
Click to expand...


I threw my drill on mine today. It was much nicer than hand cranking. I may go see if a cheap screw gun from Harbor Freight can get the job done...mine is too big to be left in the vicinity of the kitchen.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm sitting at the table looking over some rough drafts from my students. The table is right next to the window where the current outside temperature is in the teens, and it's quite drafty. I almost need a jacket, haha. Even though the windows are double paned and modern, there are definite downsides to a 105-year-old house.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It is a cool morning.  The light fog has turned into a very low overcast.  Gary is taking his coffee on the patio, paper in hand and snacking on a Mandarin Orange. Yesterday was backyard day.  Mary Lou has created huge piles of Nasturtium, onefour foot high, other three foot and smaller.  The Nasturtium is very nice with their yellow and orange flowers, but they were taking over the yard.  Gary was fearful that one day Cook would run into a patch of Nasturtium and not come out.  A ton of fodder for the composters. Meanwhile Gary demo-ed a brick patio approach inlaid in the soil.  Expanded the area to fit the full width of a rose and grape arch and installed a border of upside down wine bottles.  The bricks will be replaces with large stepping stones narrowing to a path across the yard to the side yard. Gary has run into several irrigation lines requiring that he cut the bottles or sever the lines.  He has a cheap bottle cutter and has misplaced, apparently, an integral tool of the cheapo bottle cutter.  A long rod with several bends which you insert into the bottle and proceed to tap the fracture from the inside in order to get a clean cut.  He has lost about four bottles in this time consuming battle between cheapo bottle cutter and expensive wine bottles. The singular good cut he produced was after he started the cut with the cheap bottle cutting tool, he fired up his Dremel and finished the process mechanically.  But he backed off from that thinking that breathing in all that glass dust most likely isn't very healthy for his little pink lungs.  

Coffee is better outside than inside.


----------



## Derrel

I HATE daylight savings time's first week or so!!!


----------



## JonA_CT

Derrel said:


> I HATE daylight savings time's first week or so!!!



I feel you. The research is pretty clear that it isn't necessary. I say this as someone lives on the eastern edge of a time zone too...(but then again, I'd love if New England went to the Atlantic Time Zone too, though.)


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Gary's second cup in the patio.


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC:  You know you probably losing a mile or so of steps if you were operating the grinder with your Fitbit hand.


----------



## Gary A.

BTW, last night we Netflixed Tarzan, great movie.  Mary Lou, Cook and Gary were torn between four or five stars.


----------



## smoke665

Wow @Gary A. would come and do my backyard???? Pllleeeeaaasssseeeee!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Wow @Gary A. would come and do my backyard???? Pllleeeeaaasssseeeee!!!!!!!!!


LOL ... dunno, it's a long commute to 'Bama, especially after the humiliation you subjected my Trojan to last year.

The house is a small piece of crap, but the yard and patio are very comfortable, lots to see, appreciate, eat and it's where we spend all our time.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... dunno, it's a long commute to 'Bama, especially after the humiliation you subjected my Trojan to last year



I promise to take down all memorabilia (at least till Sept 1).  All kidding aside I love the yard.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is anticipating Spring when everything really should takes off and fill in.


----------



## snowbear

Derrel said:


> I HATE daylight savings time's first week or so!!!


The only advantage to the Spring Fall Ahead was when I worked midnights; then we'd get paid for 12 and only work 11.  Of course, we were usually scheduled for the Fall Back, and everything was reversed.


----------



## SquarePeg

Derrel said:


> I HATE daylight savings time's first week or so!!!



Agree it takes me weeks to adjust but I love that it will still be light out after dinner!



JonA_CT said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> I HATE daylight savings time's first week or so!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I feel you. The research is pretty clear that it isn't necessary. I say this as someone lives on the eastern edge of a time zone too...(but then again, I'd love if New England went to the Atlantic Time Zone too, though.)
Click to expand...


I say we "fall back" only 1/2 hour and then just leave it there forever.


----------



## table1349

I say we leave the clocks alone. It worked for thousands of years.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has a broken clock and it's accurate twice a day.


----------



## Designer

As I walked around the house changing all the clocks, I began to feel a certain prideful self-congratulatory glow deep within myself for saving so much daylight.  

You're welcome.


----------



## jcdeboever

Designer said:


> As I walked around the house changing all the clocks, I began to feel a certain prideful self-congratulatory glow deep within myself for saving so much daylight.
> 
> You're welcome.


I didn't have to change mine, I didn't do it last time so now they're correct.


----------



## Gary A.

Next time, maybe you could change them with your drill.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary has a broken clock and it's accurate twice a day.



Years ago I was attending some training in Charlotte.  On the last day a bunch of us went out and partied heavily as we were not leaving until Sunday morning.   We didn't get back to the hotel until about 7:00 a.m or so.  As I walked by the desk clerk I asked her for a wake up call for 6:30.  She looked at me stating it was already past 6:30.   I stopped and advised her "I wanted the wake up call for the next one, I hear they running them twice a day in North Carolina don't you know."


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Early Spring from the morning walk.


----------



## JonA_CT

It's gonna snow tomorrow. Somewhere between 6 and 24 inches depending on who you ask, and with some brisk winds forecast to gust up to 70mph. 

The last time this happened, wires fell in our neighborhood and prevent plows from clearing us out. For four days.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> It's gonna snow tomorrow. Somewhere between 6 and 24 inches depending on who you ask, and with some brisk winds forecast to gust up to 70mph.
> 
> The last time this happened, wires fell in our neighborhood and prevent plows from clearing us out. For four days.



Ugh.  Stay safe, stock up on beer and snacks and diapers, charge all your devices and just hibernate.  We're expecting to get hit up here too.  I've read 12" for us but they are warning that it could be up to 20" in some areas depending on whatever!  I hate late winter storms the most.  I was ready to break out the spring clothes and patio furniture and instead I'm trying to find my gloves and checking to make sure the snow blower has enough gas.  Yuck.  I'm hoping it will be a dud and that the warm weather will quickly sweep in to melt whatever snow we get.  Wishful thinking I know but I have to have hope!


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's gonna snow tomorrow. Somewhere between 6 and 24 inches depending on who you ask, and with some brisk winds forecast to gust up to 70mph.
> 
> The last time this happened, wires fell in our neighborhood and prevent plows from clearing us out. For four days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh.  Stay safe, stock up on beer and snacks and diapers, charge all your devices and just hibernate.  We're expecting to get hit up here too.  I've read 12" for us but they are warning that it could be up to 20" in some areas depending on whatever!  I hate late winter storms the most.  I was ready to break out the spring clothes and patio furniture and instead I'm trying to find my gloves and checking to make sure the snow blower has enough gas.  Yuck.  I'm hoping it will be a dud and that the warm weather will quickly sweep in to melt whatever snow we get.  Wishful thinking I know but I have to have hope!
Click to expand...


I was hanging out with one of my bandmates yesterday, and he also is the baseball coach at the high school he works at. Their first game is scheduled for April 1. He thinks that with the snow tomorrow, that will never happen, and he suspects that his first time actually on a baseball field with his team will probably be for the next game on April 5th. Too bad he couldn't start last week.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is dark out.  Gary hasn't ventured into darkness in months.  Very odd this daylight savings.  The parks are full of guys and gals playing ball here.  In the evenings Gary can sometimes hear the pinning of an aluminum bat against a leather ball. Off to work, Ta-Ta ... into the darkness goes Gary.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 136449 View attachment 136447
> iPhone
> 
> Early Spring from the morning walk.





 

These are the same trees with a tele lens!


----------



## Frank F.

I learned today that I sometimes eat to compensate for some emptyness caused in another domain of my life. Frustration. Exhaustion. Others.

Interesting. The first 6 or so weeks into my diet I was very disciplined and followed the pattern 11 to 19 eat. No more than 1000 Kalories (Food).

Then hunger hit. I could not sleep because my body wanted or needed food in the evening. Or I could not work because my body wanted or needed food at early office hours.

Now that phase is gone. I can perform the 16 hour pause without trouble, but now a new "psychic hunger" I might say hits in the 11 to 19 eating phase and I do not meet the 1000 Kalories benchmark.

I hope I will overcome that phase too and get a few weeks of 11 to 19 + 1000 Calories only.


----------



## Gary A.

Very overcast this morning. About 200 yards of visibility. The overcast aka marine layer, keeps a lid on the heat.


----------



## Frank F.

We have a warm and sunny spring period here 18 to 22 Celsius but colder in the shadow and the evenings


----------



## terri

Happy Monday, hosers!    

We're not getting the snowstorm down here, just sub-freezing temps and possibly some sleet later in the week.   Our next door neighbor also got Spring fever, and rented a Bobcat to till up a new garden over the weekend - and he put about a dozen plants in the ground.   Dunno if they'll make it through the next few days or not; hopefully he'll cover them.    

It's been really hard not to believe winter was over, with the temps touching the 70's several times over the last week.    That's over for now!


----------



## jcdeboever

I woke up to two inches this morning and was very disappointed, the wife was as well.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's gonna snow tomorrow. Somewhere between 6 and 24 inches depending on who you ask, and with some brisk winds forecast to gust up to 70mph.
> 
> The last time this happened, wires fell in our neighborhood and prevent plows from clearing us out. For four days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh.  Stay safe, stock up on beer and snacks and diapers, charge all your devices and just hibernate.  We're expecting to get hit up here too.  I've read 12" for us but they are warning that it could be up to 20" in some areas depending on whatever!  I hate late winter storms the most.  I was ready to break out the spring clothes and patio furniture and instead I'm trying to find my gloves and checking to make sure the snow blower has enough gas.  Yuck.  I'm hoping it will be a dud and that the warm weather will quickly sweep in to melt whatever snow we get.  Wishful thinking I know but I have to have hope!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I was hanging out with one of my bandmates yesterday, and he also is the baseball coach at the high school he works at. Their first game is scheduled for April 1. He thinks that with the snow tomorrow, that will never happen, and he suspects that his first time actually on a baseball field with his team will probably be for the next game on April 5th. Too bad he couldn't start last week.
Click to expand...


Wow April 1 is early to try to get out on the fields.  So is the 5th.  I'm coaching my daughter's softball team this spring and have been on the board of the softball league for a couple of years now. We don't plan any games or practices until after our April break (this year it's the week of the 17th).  We've tried a few times to get start early but it rarely pans out.  Also, during the week, we play 6pm games on some fields that don't have lights so we have to wait until daylight lasts until at least 7:30pm which doesn't happen until around the 3rd week of April.  I've coached many games in the freezing and drizzly bitterness of mid April and it is not fun.


----------



## Derrel

Raining like a bastid here! Man..sooooo raiiiiiny! Rain,rain,rain. Unlike the central and eastern parts of the USA, the far west has been very wet: this year we've had THE rainiest February on record in Oregon; northern California had *the wettest* winter in 75 years, and March has been mostly rainy day after rainy day for two weeks now.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's gonna snow tomorrow. Somewhere between 6 and 24 inches depending on who you ask, and with some brisk winds forecast to gust up to 70mph.
> 
> The last time this happened, wires fell in our neighborhood and prevent plows from clearing us out. For four days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh.  Stay safe, stock up on beer and snacks and diapers, charge all your devices and just hibernate.  We're expecting to get hit up here too.  I've read 12" for us but they are warning that it could be up to 20" in some areas depending on whatever!  I hate late winter storms the most.  I was ready to break out the spring clothes and patio furniture and instead I'm trying to find my gloves and checking to make sure the snow blower has enough gas.  Yuck.  I'm hoping it will be a dud and that the warm weather will quickly sweep in to melt whatever snow we get.  Wishful thinking I know but I have to have hope!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I was hanging out with one of my bandmates yesterday, and he also is the baseball coach at the high school he works at. Their first game is scheduled for April 1. He thinks that with the snow tomorrow, that will never happen, and he suspects that his first time actually on a baseball field with his team will probably be for the next game on April 5th. Too bad he couldn't start last week.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Wow April 1 is early to try to get out on the fields.  So is the 5th.  I'm coaching my daughter's softball team this spring and have been on the board of the softball league for a couple of years now. We don't plan any games or practices until after our April break (this year it's the week of the 17th).  We've tried a few times to get start early but it rarely pans out.  Also, during the week, we play 6pm games on some fields that don't have lights so we have to wait until daylight lasts until at least 7:30pm which doesn't happen until around the 3rd week of April.  I've coached many games in the freezing and drizzly bitterness of mid April and it is not fun.
Click to expand...


Yeah -- he told me they have to start that early because that is what it takes to get the state-minimum 20 games in. If they don't get 20 games in, they can't qualify for the state tournament which begins the last week of May. They might have to play three games a week to make it as it is.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## tirediron

What Freud could do with that image!


----------



## pixmedic

tirediron said:


> What Freud could do with that image! [emoji38]


That a famous photoshopper?
What's his Instagram page?


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> I learned today that I sometimes eat to compensate for some emptyness caused in another domain of my life. Frustration. Exhaustion. Others.
> 
> Interesting. The first 6 or so weeks into my diet I was very disciplined and followed the pattern 11 to 19 eat. No more than 1000 Kalories (Food).
> 
> Then hunger hit. I could not sleep because my body wanted or needed food in the evening. Or I could not work because my body wanted or needed food at early office hours.
> 
> Now that phase is gone. I can perform the 16 hour pause without trouble, but now a new "psychic hunger" I might say hits in the 11 to 19 eating phase and I do not meet the 1000 Kalories benchmark.
> 
> I hope I will overcome that phase too and get a few weeks of 11 to 19 + 1000 Calories only.



You might want to consider a higher calorie limit. Long-term reduction slows your metabolism anyway, but too-severe of a reduction and it can really mess with you.

As for emotional eating? Yeah, that's an old tune that some of us have been familiar with for a while


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 136508


Has no one told you about the dangers of smoking?   You should perhaps speak to someone in the medical field about smoking and the dangers that it poses to human health.  Not only you own but the others around you, not just human but pets as well.


----------



## jcdeboever

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 136508


Man that cigar looks good. I haven't had one in 6 months. Now I'm really jonesing for one. Thanks....[emoji36]


----------



## pixmedic

jcdeboever said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 136508
> 
> 
> 
> Man that cigar looks good. I haven't had one in 6 months. Now I'm really jonesing for one. Thanks....[emoji36]
Click to expand...

It's a rare treat for me. There's a guy at the flea market that makes his own. Some really nice ones. About a dozen different sizes and "flavored". One of my favorites is a mixed leaf blend.


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> ...It's a rare treat for me. There's a guy at the flea market that makes his own. Some really nice ones. About a dozen different sizes and "flavored". One of my favorites is a mixed leaf blend.


Flea-market cee-gars?   Sounds...  interesting!


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...It's a rare treat for me. There's a guy at the flea market that makes his own. Some really nice ones. About a dozen different sizes and "flavored". One of my favorites is a mixed leaf blend.
> 
> 
> 
> Flea-market cee-gars?[emoji38] Sounds...  interesting!
Click to expand...

I love those. There was a guy in key West that had some winners.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Yeah -- he told me they have to start that early because that is what it takes to get the state-minimum 20 games in. If they don't get 20 games in, they can't qualify for the state tournament which begins the last week of May. They might have to play three games a week to make it as it is.



We have a 12 game schedule then playoffs and we struggle to get those in before school lets out mid-late June.  I can't imagine trying to get 20 games in by the end of May.  Although if we had only 1 team using the field we could probably do it.  But seeing as it's a city rec league, each of our fields has a 6 team league using it for all games so there is a game scheduled just about every night and at least 3 games each Saturday.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary used to play ball from grade school until he was into his 40's ... never worried about completing a schedule.


----------



## Frank F.

@limr thank you


----------



## JonA_CT

Sharon -- yeah, they play their games at a local short-season minor league park with a couple other high schools. But it's lighted, so they can play a 4pm and a 7pm game during the week.

Gary...there's a reason that there aren't a lot of big leaguers from around here (although Matt Harvey is still making Mets fans cry...). We even move our beer league softball inside by October. 

Seems like snowmagadeon has shifted its focus towards Leo. Still strong winds and decent snow here, but we should get more rain mixing in than initially thought.


----------



## snowbear

Ran into some light, fine flurries on way home.  We're only expected to get 1" or less at home - more rain and/or freezing rain.

Went to the viewing, this morning, but MLW didn't want to go through the service. She has a hard time with funerals.  Goodbye, Bridgette.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary worked in the yard this afternoon and he is exhausted.  While planting some radishes yesterday, he ran into a concrete footing.  Yesterday, he basically dug around it discovering the basic dimensions, roughly 1.5' circumference and 2' deep.  Today, under further review, Gary recognized he couldn't easily dig and pry the concrete up out of the ground. So he demo-ed about 90% of the sucker.  All Gary has at his disposal is a smallish Bosch Rotary Hammer, sledge and chisel. Fortunately Mary Lou is on her way home, Gary is done for today, he'll finish the final 10% tomorrow. Gary needed a larger rotohammer.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary worked in the yard today and he is exhausted.  While planting some radishes yesterday, he ran into a concrete footing.  Yesterday, he basically dug around it discovering the basic dimensions, roughly 1.5' circumference and 2' deep.  Today, under further review, Gary recognized he couldn't easily dig and pry the concrete up out of the ground. So he demo-ed about 90% of the sucker.  All Gary has at his disposal is a smallish Bosch Rotary Hammer, sledge and chisel. Fortunately Mary Lou is on her way home, Gary is done for today, he'll finish the final 10% tomorrow. Gary needed a larger rotohammer.


Truck and chain my brother.


----------



## table1349

*F R E E B I R D . . . . . . . . . . . . .*






Oops.  Sorry, I'm listening to Classic Vinyl on the radio.    Back to your regular conversation.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary worked in the yard today and he is exhausted.  While planting some radishes yesterday, he ran into a concrete footing.  Yesterday, he basically dug around it discovering the basic dimensions, roughly 1.5' circumference and 2' deep.  Today, under further review, Gary recognized he couldn't easily dig and pry the concrete up out of the ground. So he demo-ed about 90% of the sucker.  All Gary has at his disposal is a smallish Bosch Rotary Hammer, sledge and chisel. Fortunately Mary Lou is on her way home, Gary is done for today, he'll finish the final 10% tomorrow. Gary needed a larger rotohammer.
> 
> 
> 
> Truck and chain my brother.
Click to expand...

That was Gary's first thought yesterday. His last thought today was a brick of C-4.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 136513
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary worked in the yard today and he is exhausted.  While planting some radishes yesterday, he ran into a concrete footing.  Yesterday, he basically dug around it discovering the basic dimensions, roughly 1.5' circumference and 2' deep.  Today, under further review, Gary recognized he couldn't easily dig and pry the concrete up out of the ground. So he demo-ed about 90% of the sucker.  All Gary has at his disposal is a smallish Bosch Rotary Hammer, sledge and chisel. Fortunately Mary Lou is on her way home, Gary is done for today, he'll finish the final 10% tomorrow. Gary needed a larger rotohammer.
> 
> 
> 
> Truck and chain my brother.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That was Gary's first thought yesterday. His last thought today was a brick of C-4.
Click to expand...

I would use a hd threaded eye bolt, drill a good hole in the concrete, put a threaded insert, screw in eye bolt tight, attach chain, and out it comes. Drag it out, sledge it in two if too heavy.


----------



## jcdeboever

Actually, I be over in an hour with my bobcat.... I'll bring a bottle of grape MD2020


----------



## table1349

I think we still got a half a case of dynamite out in the shed if'n ya wanna use a couple a sticks.   Course they been weeping a bit the last few years so's I wouldn't suggest you drop one a them sticks lesen your feelen advernturesom.


----------



## limr

So, we're under a blizzard watch (we're expecting up to 2 feet of snow), NYC has already declared a state of emergency that will start at midnight, and my school still hasn't announced a closing for tomorrow. I don't think a single person is planning on driving to work tomorrow, and yet, they still seem reluctant to call it. Um, okay. Whatevs. 

There's drinking water, plumbing water, firewood, wine/gin/vodka, bread for french toast, full tank of gas, fresh batteries, working flashlights/storm lamps, candles, warm kitties, hundreds of books to read, hand coffee grinder...I think I'm ready.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> So, we're under a blizzard watch (we're expecting up to 2 feet of snow), NYC has already declared a state of emergency that will start at midnight, and my school still hasn't announced a closing for tomorrow. I don't think a single person is planning on driving to work tomorrow, and yet, they still seem reluctant to call it. Um, okay. Whatevs.
> 
> There's drinking water, plumbing water, firewood, wine/gin/vodka, bread for french toast, full tank of gas, fresh batteries, working flashlights/storm lamps, candles, warm kitties, hundreds of books to read, hand coffee grinder...I think I'm ready.


Stay safe. Give the kitties a head rub for me.


----------



## SquarePeg

Our city called off school for tomorrow at 4pm today.   Usually we are one of the last cities in the area to make the call. I was shocked they didn't keep us waiting all night. 

I just got back from dinner with a friend I haven't had a chance to check the weather yet to see if they've change our forecast.


----------



## terri

Stay safe, and keep us posted!


----------



## jcdeboever

I plowed tonight be only had a few inches. We're just calling for flurries tomorrow.


----------



## Derrel

limr said:


> So, we're under a blizzard watch (we're expecting up to 2 feet of snow), NYC has already declared a state of emergency that will start at midnight, and my school still hasn't announced a closing for tomorrow. I don't think a single person is planning on driving to work tomorrow, and yet, they still seem reluctant to call it. Um, okay. Whatevs.
> 
> There's drinking water, plumbing water, firewood, wine/gin/vodka, bread for french toast, full tank of gas, fresh batteries, working flashlights/storm lamps, candles, warm kitties, hundreds of books to read, hand coffee grinder...I think I'm ready.



Do you have a propane or white gas Coleman (or other brand) type of stove to cook on if the power goes out? Or do you have a gas stove and gas supply? Gotta make that coffee, you know, no matter what!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary hopes all you in the path of the Nor-Eastener stay safe and warm.  I know Gary often pokes at those living in places with worse climates than California.  But seriously, he hopes you all get through this unpleasantness intact.


----------



## limr

Derrel said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, we're under a blizzard watch (we're expecting up to 2 feet of snow), NYC has already declared a state of emergency that will start at midnight, and my school still hasn't announced a closing for tomorrow. I don't think a single person is planning on driving to work tomorrow, and yet, they still seem reluctant to call it. Um, okay. Whatevs.
> 
> There's drinking water, plumbing water, firewood, wine/gin/vodka, bread for french toast, full tank of gas, fresh batteries, working flashlights/storm lamps, candles, warm kitties, hundreds of books to read, hand coffee grinder...I think I'm ready.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you have a propane or white gas Coleman (or other brand) type of stove to cook on if the power goes out? Or do you have a gas stove and gas supply? Gotta make that coffee, you know, no matter what!
Click to expand...


There's a gas grill on the porch, and if that's not working properly (it's old and not always reliable), there's a little convenience store across the street with a generator. And if they're closed, I can heat water on the fireplace. The damper is stuck open and it's a massive stove, so I can get that fire crazy hot if I need to.


----------



## limr

Guys, guys, guys, GUYS! If you are a dog lover, you have to watch this.   I can't stop laughing.

WATCH: Olly The Terrier Face-Plants His Way To Dog Show Glory


----------



## Gary A.

^That is great!  Terriers are great!  

Gary and Mary Lou and wrapping up the day with a drop or two of Doffo Port.  So delicious.  Gary wishes you guys could be here sipping some port, warm and far away from that incoming storm.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> ^That is great!  Terriers are great!
> 
> Gary and Mary Lou and wrapping up the day with a drop or two of Doffo Port.  So delicious.  Gary wishes you guys could be here sipping some port, warm and far away from that incoming storm.


I'd love to hang out with you guys. A lot of good people hanging out here. That would be so cool. Could you imagine? We could have a film party, shoot one roll, exposures divided equally, process, and just look, talk, and enjoy the moment. I have a sneaking feeling that @tirediron would be the life of the party.

When I get moderately whealthy, I may buy the airplane tickets.


----------



## Gary A.

You haven't seen Gary juggle ...


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> You haven't seen Gary juggle ...


Juggle what? Lmao


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Guys, guys, guys, GUYS! If you are a dog lover, you have to watch this.   I can't stop laughing.
> 
> WATCH: Olly The Terrier Face-Plants His Way To Dog Show Glory


OMG, that was hilarious


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You haven't seen Gary juggle ...
> 
> 
> 
> Juggle what? Lmao
Click to expand...

Usually balls ... Bean Balls ...  Gary's bean balls.  He has three of them.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Gary worked in the yard this afternoon and he is exhausted.  While planting some radishes yesterday, he ran into a concrete footing.  Yesterday, he basically dug around it discovering the basic dimensions, roughly 1.5' circumference and 2' deep.  Today, under further review, Gary recognized he couldn't easily dig and pry the concrete up out of the ground. So he demo-ed about 90% of the sucker.  All Gary has at his disposal is a smallish Bosch Rotary Hammer, sledge and chisel. Fortunately Mary Lou is on her way home, Gary is done for today, he'll finish the final 10% tomorrow. Gary needed a larger rotohammer.




Looks like a foundation pillar. Was there another house on the lot in the past? Is it armed with rebar?


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.

Less than 1", locally and it's raining, but 32°.  Schools in DC and the two southern-most counties in MD are delayed two hours; the rest of the region is closed.  Governments are on liberal leave or delayed opening - work county opens at 11 except essential employees.   The news is saying some ice & slush on main roads.  We're going to give it a go in a bit.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 136513
> That was Gary's first thought yesterday. His last thought today was a brick of C-4.


Nah, 1/4 brick at the most.  I think simple dynamite would handle it.


----------



## JonA_CT

It looks like the forecast for my area is going to bust hard. The snow is already starting to mix with sleet, and we don't have an inch in the ground yet. When I went to bed, they were saying 8-14 inches. 

I feel for those guys though...the number of variables that go into weather forecasting is absolutely insane.


----------



## Designer

SquarePeg said:


> Wow April 1 is early to try to get out on the fields.  So is the 5th.  I'm coaching my daughter's softball team this spring and have been on the board of the softball league for a couple of years now. We don't plan any games or practices until after our April break (this year it's the week of the 17th).  We've tried a few times to get start early but it rarely pans out.  Also, during the week, we play 6pm games on some fields that don't have lights so we have to wait until daylight lasts until at least 7:30pm which doesn't happen until around the 3rd week of April.  I've coached many games in the freezing and drizzly bitterness of mid April and it is not fun.


Same here for soccer.  I don't know why, but our soccer play was always in the spring, which meant mud, MUD, and M U D !!!  The early practices were held in a school gym, but eventually we had to go out into the mud and practice/play on the actual fields.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary worked in the yard this afternoon and he is exhausted.  While planting some radishes yesterday, he ran into a concrete footing.  Yesterday, he basically dug around it discovering the basic dimensions, roughly 1.5' circumference and 2' deep.  Today, under further review, Gary recognized he couldn't easily dig and pry the concrete up out of the ground. So he demo-ed about 90% of the sucker.  All Gary has at his disposal is a smallish Bosch Rotary Hammer, sledge and chisel. Fortunately Mary Lou is on her way home, Gary is done for today, he'll finish the final 10% tomorrow. Gary needed a larger rotohammer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like a foundation pillar. Was there another house on the lot in the past? Is it armed with rebar?
Click to expand...

Nope, not a foundation pier.  It was formed/framed by the soil.  A structural foundation pier, (per our local codes), would also have a raised above ground feature.  There was a 4"x4" hole in the middle for a post.  Most old foundation piers have the post resting on top.  No rebar.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Actually, I be over in an hour with my bobcat.... I'll bring a bottle of grape MD2020


You have a Bobcat ... you are my hero. A Bobcat can do everything.  Fortified with MD2020 ... it will do anything.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 136513
> That was Gary's first thought yesterday. His last thought today was a brick of C-4.
> 
> 
> 
> Nah, 1/4 brick at the most.  I think simple dynamite would handle it.
Click to expand...

Gary has never used dynamite.  In the field, Gary's morning coffee was heated with C-4.


----------



## snowbear

Stay warm and safe, everyone.

Made it into work without any issues.  The streets are wet with a few slushy spots.  The trees are covered in wet, heavy snow and ice; more than a few with broken off branches.  Winds are supposed to pick up, and we are supposed to re-freeze tonight.  Downed powers lines will potentially be a problem. 

As a reminder, if you lose power, check on older neighbors and don't use charcoal or gas grills, power generators nor kerosene space heaters indoors.  Likewise, for them that gets deeper snow and have a fire hydrant adjoining your property, please remove snow 3' to the sides and rear of the hydrant, and from the front to the roadway.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Rain ... Snow ... Sleet ... Slush ... you guys are a bunch of babies.  Want to know what's rough?  Gary woke up again ... and it was dark outside.  Like nighttime dark, the streetlights are still on. Two jammin' days in a row.  Gary imagines that it will be no different tomorrow. By tomorrow it will have stopped snowing, raining, sleeting and slushing ... but it will still be dark in the morning here.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Stay warm and safe, everyone.
> 
> Made it into work without any issues.  The streets are wet with a few slushy spots.  The trees are covered in wet, heavy snow and ice; more than a few with broken off branches.  Winds are supposed to pick up, and we are supposed to re-freeze tonight.  Downed powers lines will potentially be a problem.
> 
> As a reminder, if you lose power, check on older neighbors and don't use charcoal or gas grills, power generators nor kerosene space heaters indoors.  Likewise, for them that gets deeper snow and have a fire hydrant adjoining your property, please remove snow 3' to the sides and rear of the hydrant, and from the front to the roadway.


Okay, rain, snow, sleet and slush may be worse than dark.  Gary hasn't consumed his coffee yet and still grumpy from all the surrounding darkness.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> ... but it will still be dark in the morning here.


I saved a bunch of daylight over the weekend.  Want me to send you some?


----------



## SquarePeg

Made it from my bed to my desk with only minor slipping and sliding.  Conditions were  treacherous with smudged glasses seriously limiting visibility and dog toys covering my route.  Knee pain and back ache made for a slower than usual commute.  8-10 hours of work is expected to fall on Sharon today.  Caution is advised as this work is extra heavy and could result in severe crankiness when posting.


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... but it will still be dark in the morning here.
> 
> 
> 
> I saved a bunch of daylight over the weekend.  Want me to send you some?
Click to expand...

If you could overnight it ...


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Made it from my bed to my desk with only minor slipping and sliding.  Conditions were  treacherous with smudged glasses seriously limiting visibility and dog toys covering my route.  Knee pain and back ache made for a slower than usual commute.  8-10 hours of work is expected to fall on Sharon today.  Caution is advised as this work is extra heavy and could result in severe crankiness when posting.


LOL ... working from home has its drawbacks.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

We have snow.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> We have snow.
> 
> View attachment 136528


That's nice.  Please keep it.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> If you could overnight it ...


Can't do that; the darkness just kills it.


----------



## jcdeboever

Plowed all morning, just enough snow to put the blade on. On my way to get our truck running, broke down. Gorgeous day but bitter cold.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Made it from my bed to my desk with only minor slipping and sliding.  Conditions were  treacherous with smudged glasses seriously limiting visibility and dog toys covering my route.  Knee pain and back ache made for a slower than usual commute.  8-10 hours of work is expected to fall on Sharon today.  Caution is advised as this work is extra heavy and could result in severe crankiness when posting.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... working from home has its drawbacks.
Click to expand...


Yes it does!  My top 3

1 - you're always at work
2 - no snow days
3 - too much sitting


----------



## table1349

*Happy  π  Day.*

http://www.kansas.com/entertainment/restaurants/dining-with-denise-neil/article137736768.html


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> We have snow.
> 
> View attachment 136528


I love it!!!    Looks like the perfect scene to be looking at while being hunkered down inside with coffee, cats and an extra couple of blankets.   

I like exciting weather, minus the dangers of tornadoes and such.    Glad everyone is doing well so far!


----------



## table1349

Hunkered down? HUNKERED DOWN???    Would you like me to send you some brochures on retirement homes to peruse?  Perhaps this is needed to go along with the coffee, cats and blankets. 

There are snowballs to throw and trails to be forged in the snow.  Frosty's Magic needs to be resurrected one more time.  This is the life you were given, grab it by the tail swing it around and have fun with it.  There are no do-overs, no mulligans, no All ye All ye In Come Free!

Just this last week the kids across the street were out playing and they began to look bored. They are 8-6-5 and 4. (Yep they are Catholic)  We live at the end of a cul-de-sac so I went to the closet and got out an eagle kite, went out and let her go into the wind.   In seconds it was high in the air.   These kids had never flown a kite in their lives. They came running over to watch.   I let each of them have turn after turn flying the thing till it was time for them to to into dinner.  We even made their dad wait a minute before he could pull into their driveway when he got home from work.  They had a ball as did I watching the amazement and joy on their faces as they held onto the string of that kite 200 feet in the air.  (that's how much line I had attached)

My body may be 62, but in my heart I'm still 10 and I have no plan to change.


----------



## JonA_CT

Well...we've been gusting over 50mph here with rain and ice pellets. That stuff hurts.


----------



## Derrel

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> We have snow.
> 
> View attachment 136528



Uggggh! Snow!


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> Hunkered down? HUNKERED DOWN???    Would you like me to send you some brochures on retirement homes to peruse?  Perhaps this is needed to go along with the coffee, cats and blankets.
> 
> There are snowballs to throw and trails to be forged in the snow.  Frosty's Magic needs to be resurrected one more time.  This is the life you were given, grab it by the tail swing it around and have fun with it.  There are no do-overs, no mulligans, no All ye All ye In Come Free!
> 
> Just this last week the kids across the street were out playing and they began to look bored. They are 8-6-5 and 4. (Yep they are Catholic)  We live at the end of a cul-de-sac so I went to the closet and got out an eagle kite, went out and let her go into the wind.   In seconds it was high in the air.   These kids had never flown a kite in their lives. They came running over to watch.   I let each of them have turn after turn flying the thing till it was time for them to to into dinner.  We even made their dad wait a minute before he could pull into their driveway when he got home from work.  They had a ball as did I watching the amazement and joy on their faces as they held onto the string of that kite 200 feet in the air.  (that's how much line I had attached)
> 
> My body may be 62, but in my heart I'm still 10 and I have no plan to change.


Do you still play "kick the can"?


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hunkered down? HUNKERED DOWN???    Would you like me to send you some brochures on retirement homes to peruse?  Perhaps this is needed to go along with the coffee, cats and blankets.
> 
> There are snowballs to throw and trails to be forged in the snow.  Frosty's Magic needs to be resurrected one more time.  This is the life you were given, grab it by the tail swing it around and have fun with it.  There are no do-overs, no mulligans, no All ye All ye In Come Free!
> 
> Just this last week the kids across the street were out playing and they began to look bored. They are 8-6-5 and 4. (Yep they are Catholic)  We live at the end of a cul-de-sac so I went to the closet and got out an eagle kite, went out and let her go into the wind.   In seconds it was high in the air.   These kids had never flown a kite in their lives. They came running over to watch.   I let each of them have turn after turn flying the thing till it was time for them to to into dinner.  We even made their dad wait a minute before he could pull into their driveway when he got home from work.  They had a ball as did I watching the amazement and joy on their faces as they held onto the string of that kite 200 feet in the air.  (that's how much line I had attached)
> 
> My body may be 62, but in my heart I'm still 10 and I have no plan to change.
> 
> 
> 
> Do you still play "kick the can"?
Click to expand...

Now he gets a kick in the can!


----------



## table1349

Fun In The Snow!!!


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hunkered down? HUNKERED DOWN???    Would you like me to send you some brochures on retirement homes to peruse?  Perhaps this is needed to go along with the coffee, cats and blankets.
> 
> There are snowballs to throw and trails to be forged in the snow.  Frosty's Magic needs to be resurrected one more time.  This is the life you were given, grab it by the tail swing it around and have fun with it.  There are no do-overs, no mulligans, no All ye All ye In Come Free!
> 
> Just this last week the kids across the street were out playing and they began to look bored. They are 8-6-5 and 4. (Yep they are Catholic)  We live at the end of a cul-de-sac so I went to the closet and got out an eagle kite, went out and let her go into the wind.   In seconds it was high in the air.   These kids had never flown a kite in their lives. They came running over to watch.   I let each of them have turn after turn flying the thing till it was time for them to to into dinner.  We even made their dad wait a minute before he could pull into their driveway when he got home from work.  They had a ball as did I watching the amazement and joy on their faces as they held onto the string of that kite 200 feet in the air.  (that's how much line I had attached)
> 
> My body may be 62, but in my heart I'm still 10 and I have no plan to change.
> 
> 
> 
> Do you still play "kick the can"?
Click to expand...

Nope, we play kickball instead.  The cul-de-sac is a perfect place to play.  Not much traffic at all.  

Snow would be nice right now, as our cul-de-sac is at the top of a hill.  We have a nice street to sled down as well.  Those kids had never seen a proper sled either.  I still have my Radio Flyer "Flexible Flyer" sled.   That was a real hit the last snow we had.  

Our granddaughters came over one day and we hitched the two dogs up to it.  The dogs had fun pulling and the girls had fun riding.


----------



## table1349

Well it's Tuesday afternoon, that means it's grocery store day.  Since spring is on it's way THIS is on my grocery list as well.  We always get the economy size as it is Very Popular.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> Well it's Tuesday afternoon, that means it's grocery store day.  Since spring is on it's way THIS is on my grocery list as well.  We always get the economy size as it is Very Popular.


Don't forget this....http://m.jcpenney.com/slip-n-slide-...-plaid^81646490018-sku^68316320018-adType^PLA


----------



## smoke665

I want to go back to S. Florida!!!!! Don't like cold!!


----------



## Gary A.

Worked from home today.  I am again exhausted. Gary took a break to finish up the demo, two hours later the concrete done and Gary is done-in.  Time to shower to get back to work. 

Gary has a grass sled.  Looks like a snow sled, but instead of rails it has wheels. Zoom-Zoom.


----------



## SquarePeg

Crazy windy right now.  I may lose power as the lights have been flickering all over town.  They are reporting winds of > 70 mph on Plum Island which is a small coastal town 20-25 miles north of where I live.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Crazy windy right now.  I may lose power as the lights have been flickering all over town.  They are reporting winds of > 70 mph on Plum Island which is a small coastal town 20-25 miles north of where I live.



Would that get you a snow day from work?


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Gary has a grass sled.


I've never seen one of those.  How does it steer?


----------



## SquarePeg

Caught on camera: Truck Jackknifes on the Zakim Bridge


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Crazy windy right now.  I may lose power as the lights have been flickering all over town.  They are reporting winds of > 70 mph on Plum Island which is a small coastal town 20-25 miles north of where I live.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Would that get you a snow day from work?
Click to expand...


Only after running through my work phone battery and the laptop battery.  If necessary, I can set up a mobile hotspot using my phone and run my laptop for at least a few hours so no snow day for me today!


----------



## Derrel

SquarePeg said:


> Caught on camera: Truck Jackknifes on the Zakim Bridge



As jackknife moves go, I gave it a score of 9.5; the Russian judge has awarded it only an 8.1; the Bolivian judge awarded it a score of 9.2, and the Canadian judge has awarded it a score of *Five Molsons*!


----------



## SquarePeg

Derrel said:


> As jackknife moves go, I gave it a score of 9.5; the Russian judge has awarded it only an 8.1; the Bolivian judge awarded it a score of 9.2, and the Canadian judge has awarded it a score of *Five Molsons*!



Best part was that, according to the local news, the driver got the truck completely turned back around and pointing the right way in about 5 minutes.  Pretty amazing grace under pressure.  Perfect example of why I totally avoid driving anywhere near large trucks in any type of inclement weather.  So lucky that no one is on the roads today.  That bridge is typically busy at all hours and that truck would have easily taken 10 cars out with that slide.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well it's Tuesday afternoon, that means it's grocery store day.  Since spring is on it's way THIS is on my grocery list as well.  We always get the economy size as it is Very Popular.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't forget this....http://m.jcpenney.com/slip-n-slide-wave-rider/prod.jump?ppId=ppr5007112603&country=US&currency=USD&selectedSKUId=68316320018&selectedLotId=6831632&fromBag=true&quantity=1&cm_mmc=ShoppingFeed-_-GooglePLA-_-Water Slides-_-68316320018&utm_medium=cse&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=water slides&utm_content=68316320018&cid=cse|google|004 - home furn leisure|water slides_68316320018&gclid=CjwKEAjwqZ7GBRC1srKSv9TV_iwSJADKTjaDngo8Ly5MaCo72U-mJE7cYk2lmrMh43UZ1qKdi-hqxhoC6c7w_wcB&kwid=productads-adid^60019616978-device^m-plaid^81646490018-sku^68316320018-adType^PLA
Click to expand...

We've had one for a couple of years now.  Granddaughters you know.  Their first hard plastic wading pool is now the dogs pool.  They are old enough to take next door to the neighbors in ground pool now.  The Mega Mart did have light sabers on clearance for $1.00 each.  I got three, one for each of the granddaughters and one for me.  They love Star Wars.  Of course they should, their dad is a super hero fan as are they.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Worked from home today.  I am again exhausted. Gary took a break to finish up the demo, two hours later the concrete done and Gary is done-in.  Time to shower to get back to work.
> 
> Gary has a grass sled.  Looks like a snow sled, but instead of rails it has wheels. Zoom-Zoom.


Cool.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Caught on camera: Truck Jackknifes on the Zakim Bridge


If he had been home playing with his kids like he should have been in this weather it would never have happened.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm thinking about picking it up a Nikon N75 for my film needs. It'll mount all of my Nikon lenses, has multiple metering modes, and autofocus. 

I can get one for $19 from KEH -- only problem is it has the sticky rubber problem, but I've read about a bunch of solutions on the interwebs.

Anyone ever own one?


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I'm thinking about picking it up a Nikon N75 for my film needs. It'll mount all of my Nikon lenses, has multiple metering modes, and autofocus.
> 
> I can get one for $19 from KEH -- only problem is it has the sticky rubber problem, but I've read about a bunch of solutions on the interwebs.
> 
> Anyone ever own one?


Don't, I'll send you one in great condition for free. PM me your address.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> I'm thinking about picking it up a Nikon N75 for my film needs. It'll mount all of my Nikon lenses, has multiple metering modes, and autofocus.
> 
> I can get one for $19 from KEH -- only problem is it has the sticky rubber problem, but I've read about a bunch of solutions on the interwebs.
> 
> Anyone ever own one?


Not me, but for that price, it sounds like a great deal.   KEH is always easy to deal with - any real issues with the camera, and they'll take it back.   Agreed that it's not too difficult to clean up that sticky stuff from degraded surfaces.   It really depends on how deep the degradation goes.


----------



## jcdeboever

It's a nice little camera but I prefer my F and FM and manual glass. Stick a 50 1.8d on it and you will love it. I have the manual as well.


----------



## jcdeboever

Lost 7.2 lbs this past week. Man, I'm on a roll and not hungry. Weight watchers works. Have to buy a new belt this weekend.. I already drilled two additional holes but I look like a cowboy


----------



## SquarePeg

They had to close the town square in Danvers because the flag pole is in danger of collapsing:





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1309939772405349


----------



## SquarePeg

One more from the road leading to Plum Island.  Not my photo, I'm not crazy enough to go out in this weather.  Photo posted by Newburyport police dept on their FB page.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> One more from the road leading to Plum Island.  Not my photo, I'm not crazy enough to go out in this weather.  Photo posted by Newburyport police dept on their FB page.


Dang


----------



## snowbear

A lot nastier than here.

We have some trees and wires down in the area; our stuff is underground, so we're fine, but the electrical coop has 5000+ customers without electrical (three counties and a smidgen of a fourth)


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> They had to close the town square in Danvers because the flag pole is in danger of collapsing:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1309939772405349


How do you know you live in a small town????  If they have to close the town because the flag pole may collapse, you are in a small town.


----------



## SquarePeg

Calling @Gary A.   - one of my nephews is doing an internship over the summer at a school in San Juan Capistrano, CA.  He's 19.  He'll be teaching English to 7th and 8th graders.  Safe area?  Is a car a necessity?  He's a city boy and though he has his license he doesn't drive that much.  We may have to find him something before he goes or line something up for him when he gets out there.  He likes photography so you'll have to send me some good photo spots to share with him.  He's been using my old D60 and 18-55 kit lens...

I may have to plan a visit over the summer to check up on him and drink Gary's wine.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> I'm not crazy enough to go out in this weather.


You gots that back to front; you're crazy for missing the opportunity!


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg:  San Juan is a very upscale Orange County community in a county where upscale is the norm. San Juan prides itself on being sorta rural and horse country. My partner lives in Capistrano and I know it quite well. It is a small, quiet town where a new driver would be quite comfortable. The train runs through Capistrano as well as Interstate 5. Driving any California freeway at any time, is an exercise in discomfort. There is a small mountain range east of Capistrano with a winding highway which connects San Juan to Temecula.

Gary's kids graduated from Santa Margarita Catholic High School (located in Rancho Santa Margarita) which butts up to San Juan Capistrano.

Gary is about 45 minutes away with good traffic should an emergency pop up.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- San Juan hasn't any beachfront, but the beach is about ten minutes away. Yeah, a car would be nice, this is California ... (and Mexico is only an hour or so away).


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is dog sitting Max.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 136555 Gary is dog sitting Max.


I like Max


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 136555 Gary is dog sitting Max.
> 
> 
> 
> I like Max
Click to expand...

Max looks happy!


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 136555 Gary is dog sitting Max.
> 
> 
> 
> I like Max
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Max looks happy!
Click to expand...

He just finished up mounting Cook is my guess...


----------



## Gary A.

Cook is a lady.  That would never happen.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Cook is a lady.  That would never happen.


Ok pimp daddy


----------



## Gary A.

Max hasn't a mean bone in his body.  (Like Cook.). Max is wonderfully sweet, but lacking in good manners.  Hopefully, he'll learn from Cook.


----------



## jcdeboever

If cook is sleepy tonight, you know max did a sneak around.....


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou whipped up some guacamole from our avocados ... so good.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> If cook is sleepy tonight, you know max did a sneak around.....


Cook is 13, she is always sleepy.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> If cook is sleepy tonight, you know max did a sneak around.....
> 
> 
> 
> Cook is 13, she is always sleepy.
Click to expand...

The older my wife gets.... Forget it...lol


----------



## Gary A.

When the wife hits 74 ... give me a call.


----------



## Gary A.

And the wonderful guac is being washed down wth a Danza del Sol, Pinot Grigio (Temecula).


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm thinking about picking it up a Nikon N75 for my film needs. It'll mount all of my Nikon lenses, has multiple metering modes, and autofocus.
> 
> I can get one for $19 from KEH -- only problem is it has the sticky rubber problem, but I've read about a bunch of solutions on the interwebs.
> 
> Anyone ever own one?
> 
> 
> 
> Don't, I'll send you one in great condition for free. PM me your address.
Click to expand...




jcdeboever said:


> It's a nice little camera but I prefer my F and FM and manual glass. Stick a 50 1.8d on it and you will love it. I have the manual as well.



That's extraordinarily generous...I'll be sending you a PM. 


I'm out of work again today. While you can barely tell that we got any snow here yesterday, the town I work in got between 12-18 inches -- only 30 miles away. I'm thinking that I'll take my daughter to either the children's museum or the aquarium today...haven't decided which yet. I do need to drop something off at my parent's house which is the same direction as the aquarium, so that might be the decision. Plus, my mom always enjoys some time with her granddaughter.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> @ Peg:  San Juan is a very upscale Orange County community in a county where upscale is the norm. San Juan prides itself on being sorta rural and horse country. My partner lives in Capistrano and I know it quite well. It is a small, quiet town where a new driver would be quite comfortable. The train runs through Capistrano as well as Interstate 5. Driving any California freeway at any time, is an exercise in discomfort. There is a small mountain range east of Capistrano with a winding highway which connects San Juan to Temecula.
> 
> Gary's kids graduated from Santa Margarita Catholic High School (located in Rancho Santa Margarita) which butts up to San Juan Capistrano.
> 
> Gary is about 45 minutes away with good traffic should an emergency pop up.



Thanks for the info Gary.  I'm sure he'll love it and we'll lose him to CA after he graduates.  He wanted to go to a West Coast school but his parents couldn't swing it so getting the internship was a big win for him.  He's going to be a wonderful teacher.  



JonA_CT said:


> I'm out of work again today. While you can barely tell that we got any snow here yesterday, the town I work in got between 12-18 inches -- only 30 miles away. I'm thinking that I'll take my daughter to either the children's museum or the aquarium today...haven't decided which yet. I do need to drop something off at my parent's house which is the same direction as the aquarium, so that might be the decision. Plus, my mom always enjoys some time with her granddaughter.



When I first started reading that you were "out of work" I thought you were referring to your district's layoffs that you had talked about the other day!  I'm glad I got that wrong.  Nice to have a snow day but no snow!  That sounds like a fun daddy and daughter day.  Enjoy!


----------



## JonA_CT

JonA_CT said:


> I'm out of work again today. While you can barely tell that we got any snow here yesterday, the town I work in got between 12-18 inches -- only 30 miles away. I'm thinking that I'll take my daughter to either the children's museum or the aquarium today...haven't decided which yet. I do need to drop something off at my parent's house which is the same direction as the aquarium, so that might be the decision. Plus, my mom always enjoys some time with her granddaughter.



When I first started reading that you were "out of work" I thought you were referring to your district's layoffs that you had talked about the other day!  I'm glad I got that wrong.  Nice to have a snow day but no snow!  That sounds like a fun daddy and daughter day.  Enjoy![/QUOTE]

Oh, not yet! I won't know anything for sure until May 1st. News hasn't been good or bad so far...just news. They are definitely cutting positions in my "pool" (ELA 7-12) but I'm staying optimistic.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Peg:  San Juan is a very upscale Orange County community in a county where upscale is the norm. San Juan prides itself on being sorta rural and horse country. My partner lives in Capistrano and I know it quite well. It is a small, quiet town where a new driver would be quite comfortable. The train runs through Capistrano as well as Interstate 5. Driving any California freeway at any time, is an exercise in discomfort. There is a small mountain range east of Capistrano with a winding highway which connects San Juan to Temecula.
> 
> Gary's kids graduated from Santa Margarita Catholic High School (located in Rancho Santa Margarita) which butts up to San Juan Capistrano.
> 
> Gary is about 45 minutes away with good traffic should an emergency pop up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for the info Gary.  I'm sure he'll love it and we'll lose him to CA after he graduates.  He wanted to go to a West Coast school but his parents couldn't swing it so getting the internship was a big win for him.  He's going to be a wonderful teacher.
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm out of work again today. While you can barely tell that we got any snow here yesterday, the town I work in got between 12-18 inches -- only 30 miles away. I'm thinking that I'll take my daughter to either the children's museum or the aquarium today...haven't decided which yet. I do need to drop something off at my parent's house which is the same direction as the aquarium, so that might be the decision. Plus, my mom always enjoys some time with her granddaughter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> When I first started reading that you were "out of work" I thought you were referring to your district's layoffs that you had talked about the other day!  I'm glad I got that wrong.  Nice to have a snow day but no snow!  That sounds like a fun daddy and daughter day.  Enjoy!
Click to expand...


LOL ... the kids out here want to go East Coast schools. My partner's son and son's wife are educators and live down the street in Mission Viejo and they would be happy to meet with him and give advice on local school districts. Additionally, Mary Lou's niece, a recent grad, just finished a Teach for America stint in Texas, she's hooked up with a charter school in Los Angeles and has been on many boards doing ... stuff that many boards do.  Last month she testified up in Sacramento (state capitol) to members of the state's legislature.  She would be a good resource for him as well.  Mary Lou worked for decades at Whitney High School, (WHS is the number 1 public high school in California per testing), we can get him a tour of Whitney, meet with teachers and admin, et cetera.  If that's what he wants.

Otherwise, we'd be happy to introduce him to Temecula and teach him how to surf.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers,  Man, the inside pages of the LA Times are bursting with "A late winter wallop in Northeast".  Seems you guys barely missed the knockout punch, but took a beating to the body.  Gary's hopes everybody is surviving the storm.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... the kids out here want to go East Coast schools. My partner's son and son's wife are educators and live down the street in Mission Viejo and they would be happy to meet with him and give advice on local school districts. Additionally, Mary Lou's niece, a recent grad, just finished a Teach for America stint in Texas, she's hooked up with a charter school in Los Angeles and has been on many boards doing ... stuff that many boards do. Last month she testified up in Sacramento (state capitol) to members of the state's legislature. She would be a good resource for him as well. Mary Lou worked for decades at Whitney High School, (WHS is the number 1 public high school in California per testing), we can get him a tour of Whitney, meet with teachers and admin, et cetera. If that's what he wants.
> 
> Otherwise, we'd be happy to introduce him to Temecula and teach him how to surf.



We'll probably take you up on most of that!  I'll PM you after I see him next weekend and talk to him about it.   Thanks so much for the info and the offer!


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers,  Man, the inside pages of the LA Times are bursting with "A late winter wallop in Northeast".  Seems you guys barely missed the knockout punch, but took a beating to the body.  Gary's hopes everybody is surviving the storm.



It was definitely a proper storm, though to be honest, we've had worse. At least where I live. Might have been worse elsewhere. We were lucky - in my county, only about 1,000 people lost power (out of 38,000+ customers in the county for our power company) but we were not one of them. As far as I heard, there weren't many outages overall in the region. We had gotten a message from the power company on Monday night saying they were going to monitor everything very closely and be prepared with crews, so I think they had done a lot of work before hand to prevent outages as much as they could.

The roads were never totally clear the whole day, but there was also a travel ban, so the plows didn't have to make as many passes as they normally would. The store across the street stayed open the whole day - they are usually a rest stop for the clean-up crews and private citizens with plows on their trucks.

I think we can all agree that my thorough preparations in getting necessary food and firewood in the house, charging all my electronics, and filling my gas tank all contributed to my NOT needing any of these things yesterday


----------



## JonA_CT

Are you on a milk, bread, and eggs diet for the rest of the week too?


----------



## limr

Only 7 inches in Central Park, but my town already had over a foot of snow by noon, and it kept snowing until probably around 9 or so. I can't find exact totals, but towns just one or two over from mine were reporting about 16 inches at 5pm. The county north of mine got 30 inches of snow. We definitely got more than a foot, but maybe not quite 1.5 feet.

It can be very variable around here. I'm in the lower Hudson Valley, which is quite hilly, so elevation changes can make a big difference from town to town. Then it sort of flattens out a little before you get into the Catskills.

The northern part of PA got hit pretty hard. That I-80 corridor is rough - there's a long sweeping ridge that gets weather a bit more extreme than nearby areas. I've driven it quite a number of times and even in summer, it can surprise you.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Are you on a milk, bread, and eggs diet for the rest of the week too?



Mostly  And peanut butter. Dont' forget the peanut butter. And of course I had to get a loaf of Irish soda bread. 'Tis the season, after all! 

Mmmmm, french toast. Haven't had time to get sick of it yet, so I think I'll have that for dinner tonight.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like french toast sticks


----------



## SquarePeg

BFD is one of our favorite meals.  We have it at least 1/week.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> BFD is one of our favorite meals.  We have it at least 1/week.



I'm really slow today and I'm probably going to feel quite silly when I hear the answer, but...what is BFD? "Big ******* deal"? For dinner?


----------



## table1349

What is this "snow" you speak of?  The wife has flowers blooming already.  



 

Some of the perennials she has in front of the house.  About time to plant the annuals and re-mulch.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> BFD is one of our favorite meals.  We have it at least 1/week.


I love Breakfast for Dinner.  Bacon, Eggs, Waffles or Pancakes.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> BFD is one of our favorite meals.  We have it at least 1/week.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm really slow today and I'm probably going to feel quite silly when I hear the answer, but...what is BFD? "Big ******* deal"? For dinner?
Click to expand...


we may not want to know, i can think of a couple silly, naughty ones....


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> I'm really slow today and I'm probably going to feel quite silly when I hear the answer, but...what is BFD? "Big ******* deal"? For dinner?



As stated above BFD - breakfast for dinner.  Sorry for the mysterious acronym.  We have it so often that we have been calling it BFD for years and it didn't occur to me that not everyone would know what I was talking about!



jcdeboever said:


> we may not want to know, i can think of a couple silly, naughty ones....



You are frisky these days.  Must be the new WW you.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> BFD is one of our favorite meals.  We have it at least 1/week.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm really slow today and I'm probably going to feel quite silly when I hear the answer, but...what is BFD? "Big ******* deal"? For dinner?
Click to expand...

Breakfast for dinner!    You're already doing it, since you're having french toast tonight.


----------



## SquarePeg

You may or may not know that NH folks frequently refer to those of us from MA as Massholes, especially when driving.  I know this because my favorite brother lives in NH and likes to use the expression all the time - even though he spent his first 25 years in MA, he considers himself a Live Free NH Die Hard.  Well, here is some evidence that he may be right.  I cannot believe the complete lack of concern for others that this moron has shown.  This pic was posted today on the MA State police website.  There are no words.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm really slow today and I'm probably going to feel quite silly when I hear the answer, but...what is BFD? "Big ******* deal"? For dinner?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As stated above BFD - breakfast for dinner.  Sorry for the mysterious acronym.  We have it so often that we have been calling it BFD for years and it didn't occur to me that not everyone would know what I was talking about!
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> we may not want to know, i can think of a couple silly, naughty ones....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You are frisky these days.  Must be the new WW you.
Click to expand...




terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> BFD is one of our favorite meals.  We have it at least 1/week.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm really slow today and I'm probably going to feel quite silly when I hear the answer, but...what is BFD? "Big ******* deal"? For dinner?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Breakfast for dinner!    You're already doing it, since you're having french toast tonight.
Click to expand...


Ahhhhh, okay  Yes, I love BFD too! My favorite days were when my mother couldn't be bothered to cook, so we got pancakes for dinner. Other days we'd have fritata, which is essentially a big ole omelet but which has been 'passing' for evening food for many years in some parts 




SquarePeg said:


> You may or may not know that NH folks frequently refer to those of us from MA as Massholes, especially when driving.  I know this because my favorite brother lives in NH and likes to use the expression all the time - even though he spent his first 25 years in MA, he considers himself a Live Free NH Die Hard.  Well, here is some evidence that he may be right.  I cannot believe the complete lack of concern for others that this moron has shown.  This pic was posted today on the MA State police website.  There are no words.



It's not just the NH folks who use the term!  If it makes you feel any better, it's still nicer than being called a "Jersey ****"


----------



## jcdeboever

I like captain crunch HH for dinner.... You know CCFD


----------



## JonA_CT

It has to be.


----------



## itsjustbreality

SquarePeg said:


> Calling @Gary A.   - one of my nephews is doing an internship over the summer at a school in San Juan Capistrano, CA.  He's 19.  He'll be teaching English to 7th and 8th graders.  Safe area?  Is a car a necessity?  He's a city boy and though he has his license he doesn't drive that much.  We may have to find him something before he goes or line something up for him when he gets out there.  He likes photography so you'll have to send me some good photo spots to share with him.  He's been using my old D60 and 18-55 kit lens...
> 
> I may have to plan a visit over the summer to check up on him and drink Gary's wine.


I lived in San Juan for a couple of years. Cute town! 10 minutes from the beach, 15-20 to Laguna Beach. Slightly less upscale than the surrounding towns (one of the last OC towns when going south), but is extremely charming. An hour to LA and Sand Diego. It's really in a great central spot! I'm sure your nephew will greatly enjoy himself there. May I highly suggest he visit Hidden House Coffee behind the train station in the Los Rios District (Great photography spot). Fantastic coffee and amazing chai!!

 Oh, and a car is almost a requirement if he wants to go outside the town, but many places are accessible via the train.  Overall it is a safe area, though there are a few parts I wouldn't go alone at night. (But that may be different considering my perspective as a female).



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> I like captain crunch HH for dinner.... You know CCFD


You don't like the roof of you mouth much do you.  What did it do to you?


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Cook and Max on morning walk.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary doesn't trust Max.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... you have not met Max.  Max has absolutely zero discipline.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's new bottle cutter arrived a couple of hours ago.  Three bottles ... three cuts.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gary's new bottle cutter arrived a couple of hours ago.  Three bottles ... three cuts.



Was the first cut the deepest?

(Sorry, couldn't resist  )


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## waday

limr said:


> Jersey


Jersey, America's armpit



SquarePeg said:


> You may or may not know that NH folks frequently refer to those of us from MA as Massholes, especially when driving.  I know this because my favorite brother lives in NH and likes to use the expression all the time - even though he spent his first 25 years in MA, he considers himself a Live Free NH Die Hard.  Well, here is some evidence that he may be right.  I cannot believe the complete lack of concern for others that this moron has shown.  This pic was posted today on the MA State police website.  There are no words.


Glad they pulled the person over. I've driven behind idiots like that all the time, not to mention the tractor trailers that have huge chunks of snow fly off the trailer at 65 mph.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

The girls didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. They were snuggled up as close to me as they could possibly get and would not budge. It's hard enough for me to get out of bed anyway, and this did not help. Furry little brats.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> The girls didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. They were snuggled up as close to me as they could possibly get and would not budge. It's hard enough for me to get out of bed anyway, and this did not help. Furry little brats.


So painful, to have to disturb them!  My girls have been flanking us extra close the last few days, too.

Miss Finn, in particular, does not like the cold.


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> The girls didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. They were snuggled up as close to me as they could possibly get and would not budge. It's hard enough for me to get out of bed anyway, and this did not help. Furry little brats.
> 
> 
> 
> So painful, to have to disturb them!  My girls have been flanking us extra close the last few days, too.
> 
> Miss Finn, in particular, does not like the cold.
Click to expand...

Well turn the heat on then.


----------



## snowbear

Unjammin believable.  But they are tasty.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary gave up sweets for Lent.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary gave up sweets for Lent.


Poor Mary Lou. To be given up like that.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Gary gave up sweets for Lent.



I gave up shopping.  Necessities only from now until Easter.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary gave up sweets for Lent.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I gave up shopping.  Necessities only from now until Easter.
Click to expand...

shopaholics anonymous


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary gave up sweets for Lent.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I gave up shopping.  Necessities only from now until Easter.
Click to expand...

No new Easter shoes ... you are going to heaven.


----------



## table1349

This would be considered an essential. Easter Hats for Women


----------



## table1349




----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Gary A.

Happy Saint Paddy's Day y'all.


----------



## table1349

Bealtaine grá agus solas gáire do laethanta,
agus te do chroí agus sa bhaile.
Bealtaine cairde maithe agus dílis a mise,
aon uair is féidir leat roam.
bless síochána Bealtaine agus neart do domhan le greann is go maireann fada.
Bealtaine gach saol ar séasúir a rith
a thabhairt ar an chuid is fearr a thabhairt duit agus mise!


----------



## limr

I gave up Lent.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Happy Saint Paddy's Day* y'all.*


Where you from, South Ireland???


----------



## Gary A.

*Some Favs from the Green Isle:

God invented whiskey so the Irish wouldn't rule the world!








I'll have what the man on the floor's having! 
*


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Saint Paddy's Day* y'all.*
> 
> 
> 
> Where you from, South Ireland???
Click to expand...

Dublin, Georgia


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> I gave up Lent.


----------



## table1349

Sharon, have you seen this?




__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1861985010698037
			



Autonomous SmartDesk | Height Adjustable Standing Desk


----------



## Gary A.

OOOOOhhhh , so much nicer than what Peg got ... and it costs less.  

(LOL )


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> OOOOOhhhh , so much nicer than what Peg got ... and it costs less.
> 
> (LOL )


Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  I wasn't trying to make her feel bad, I just thought it was pretty cool.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

 Sipping a Dust Zinfandel from Paso Robles.  Amazingly good. Dust is this tiny little winery with room for about four stools in the tasting room. But there weren't any stools.  The tastes were down to three different reds because everything has been sold except these final three wines.  We purchased everything we tasted.


----------



## pixmedic

Out at the flea market today


----------



## jcdeboever

pixmedic said:


> Out at the flea market today
> 
> View attachment 136713


Can I smack you? Man that looks good. My wife will kill me if I light one up... Hmmmmm, I am two hours away today at a tractor show, maybe the smell will be off me by the time I get home? There is a pickle park in Indiana that sports some fine leaf


----------



## pixmedic

jcdeboever said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Out at the flea market today
> 
> View attachment 136713
> 
> 
> 
> Can I smack you? Man that looks good. My wife will kill me if I light one up... Hmmmmm, I am two hours away today at a tractor show, maybe the smell will be off me by the time I get home? There is a pickle park in Indiana that sports some fine leaf
Click to expand...

This is a new one. Mixed leaf. Mild, easy draw, not too robust. Burns even. 
Very nice.


----------



## limr

I have been known to partake from time to time.

Here's my Castro impression:


----------



## Designer

limr said:


> Here's my Castro impression:


But you're not anything like Castro.  In any way.  Even with a cigar.  Impression fail.


----------



## snowbear

Never could stand them, myself.  Nice shirt, Pix.

U'r still hot, Leo.


----------



## SquarePeg

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> OOOOOhhhh , so much nicer than what Peg got ... and it costs less.
> 
> (LOL )
> 
> 
> 
> Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  I wasn't trying to make her feel bad, I just thought it was pretty cool.
Click to expand...


Thanks for thinking of me.  I'm happy with the one I bought.  I've been using it for a few weeks now and love the standing option.  I highly recommend any version of a sit/stand for anyone who has to be at a desk all day.  

This one looks good  but be aware that when you price it with the nicer finishes that are shown in the video and then add shipping it's twice the price.


----------



## limr

Designer said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here's my Castro impression:
> 
> 
> 
> But you're not anything like Castro.  In any way.  Even with a cigar.  Impression fail.
Click to expand...


Never said it was a _good _impression 



snowbear said:


> Never could stand them, myself.  Nice shirt, Pix.
> 
> U'r still hot, Leo.



Awww shucks, Charlie  And points for the correct punctuation even in the midst of texting abbreviations!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> OOOOOhhhh , so much nicer than what Peg got ... and it costs less.
> 
> (LOL )
> 
> 
> 
> Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  I wasn't trying to make her feel bad, I just thought it was pretty cool.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks for thinking of me.  I'm happy with the one I bought.  I've been using it for a few weeks now and love the standing option.  I highly recommend any version of a sit/stand for anyone who has to be at a desk all day.
> 
> This one looks good  but be aware that when you price it with the nicer finishes that are shown in the video and then add shipping it's twice the price.
Click to expand...

We was just being jerks ... funny jerks ... but jerks nonetheless.  (well not really too funny ... lol)


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  This is another overcast and cool morning. A ton of birds are singing, Max is by my side in the kitchen and Cook is in the bedroom keeping an eye on Mary Lou as she sleeps in.  Gary originally misspelled singing and typed 'sinning' ... which maybe ... and that would account for all the noise the birds are making.

Gary had a brick ramp/approach leading from the patio through an arch to the lawn.  Yesterday, Gary found the time to finally finished enlarging the ramp, replacing the bricks with stepping stones and lined with wine bottles. Okay, the wine bottles sounds pretty bad ... Sanford & Son bad, but they are actually a low key, interesting border.  Gary installs the bottles upside down and typically the entire bottle for strength.  In the front they are very low, barely sticking out of the ground, they look like sorta like giant JuJubes and to the untrained eye, they are not immediately recognizable at wine bottles. In the back they are higher to accommodate flower beds and slight elevation change. Now he has to set the pathway.


----------



## terri

Happy weekend, hosers!!  

Overcast and drizzling atm, and slightly warmer here.   This past week has been wonderful, cold and sunny.    Finished painting the beast of the living room, and the furniture is back in place - the cats are happy.    We've moved on to what is technically the house's dining room, but I bought a huge bookcase (to go with my small bookcase) and so I can call it "the library."    I always wanted a library at home.


----------



## Gary A.

Oooohhh a library sounds sooo good.  Gary can store his empty wine bottles in the library.


----------



## snowbear

We had some light rain this morning, but it has stopped; partly cloudy, cool, and the patio door is open.

LL and I just got back from the art store in DC.  I went and bought those better quality watercolor pencils, a couple of small brushes and a couple watercolor pads; LL got a few things to make some cyanotypes.  I'm trying to decide on where to go for dinner - MLW is working until seven so it will be too late to cook.


----------



## Derrel

A mustachioed cigar smoker, a pseudo-Cuban cigar smoker, a wine bottle mason, light rain, open patio doors,a sit/stand desk user,a Saturday,a tractor show...what's next!?


----------



## JonA_CT

Derrel said:


> A mustachioed cigar smoker, a pseudo-Cuban cigar smoker, a wine bottle mason, light rain, open patio doors,a sit/stand desk user,a Saturday,a tractor show...what's next!?



I'll post videos of several hundred drunk people singing along to my cover band playing after our gig tomorrow, haha.


----------



## tirediron

Derrel said:


> A mustachioed cigar smoker, a pseudo-Cuban cigar smoker, a wine bottle mason, light rain, open patio doors,a sit/stand desk user,a Saturday,a tractor show...what's next!?


Well... I'm just back home from a 40 mile run to recover a donated 1951 John Deere 'M' for our tractor club....


----------



## Gary A.

We, Mary Lou, Cook, Max and Gary are back from our walk.  The cool morning is nicely warming up.  Max is learning, no, No and NO!  We have a corned beef brisket for dinner, (couldn't eat it on St. Paddy's Day). And we will soon be off to Costco and Blue Hills Nursery for garden supply and stuff.  If anyone want some Brisket and Guinness, Gary and Mary Lou's place will be opened.  If you haven't seen Moonlight, we have it on DVD and will watch it on the big screen ... so bring popcorn.


----------



## JonA_CT

I've done it again. I've spent the last hour and a half working on a recipe from the Food Lab, and subsequently don't actually want to eat it. 

So instead, I'm sitting on the couch sipping a freshly brewed cup of Tanzanian coffee, and watching my wife and daughter disagree about the current activities.

My wife is headed for the casino tonight...to watch her school's girls basketball team play in the state championship game. They've been ranked in the top 5 all season, so the school is going crazy for the team. It does sound funny though, doesn't it? The casino has hosted the state championship games for the last few years in the same arena that the WNBA CT Sun play in. It's so much nicer than any of the other large venues in the state, and they give the state athletic conferences a sweet deal.


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> Well... I'm just back home from a 40 mile run to recover a donated 1951 John Deere 'M' for our tractor club....



Wow that's almost 2 marathons...


----------



## Derrel

tirediron said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> A mustachioed cigar smoker, a pseudo-Cuban cigar smoker, a wine bottle mason, light rain, open patio doors,a sit/stand desk user,a Saturday,a tractor show...what's next!?
> 
> 
> 
> Well... I'm just back home from a 40 mile run to recover a donated 1951 John Deere 'M' for our tractor club....
Click to expand...


When I was eight years old, I learned to drive a tractor on my grandfather's 1949 Model M!!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

Derrel said:


> A mustachioed cigar smoker, a pseudo-Cuban cigar smoker, a wine bottle mason, light rain, open patio doors,a sit/stand desk user,a Saturday,a tractor show...what's next!?


Butt crack macro shooter


----------



## tirediron

Derrel said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> A mustachioed cigar smoker, a pseudo-Cuban cigar smoker, a wine bottle mason, light rain, open patio doors,a sit/stand desk user,a Saturday,a tractor show...what's next!?
> 
> 
> 
> Well... I'm just back home from a 40 mile run to recover a donated 1951 John Deere 'M' for our tractor club....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> When I was eight years old, I learned to drive a tractor on my grandfather's 1949 Model M!!!!
Click to expand...

Nice!  Well, wander north a bit and in a few weeks you can relive your mis-spent youth!


----------



## Designer

JonA_CT said:


> It's so much nicer than any of the other large venues in the state, and they give the state athletic conferences a sweet deal.


Plus, they have free coffee and Pepsi!


----------



## EIngerson

Been a stranger, how is everyone?


----------



## Derrel

The sound of an old Johnny Popper is forever burned into the mind of any who has EVER heard one! A few years ago,one afternoon, I heard the UMISTAKABLE  sound of "ehhhrrehh-ehhher-ehhhr -pop-pop-popitty-pop-popitty-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop! and then a few throttle adjustments, and then a steady _putta-putta-putta-putt-putta_!

OH MY Gawd! An old John Deere M engine startup, in the middle of the suburbs....so, I go down toward the sound, and it's a pool service company dude with a HUGE swimming pool clean-out pump being run by an old John Deere M engine on this very small flatbed trailer! WTF!!!! He is pumping out the complex's swimming pool at super-speed with about a 150-foot length of 5- or 6-inch hose run right to the street sewer!

I KNEW what the sound was, just by the start-up ehhhhrrehh-ehhher-ehhher sound, and then that glorious piston-poppin tune!


----------



## Designer

I've run one for half a day.  Almost bought one.  Didn't.


----------



## terri

EIngerson said:


> Been a stranger, how is everyone?


Hey there, stranger!   As you can see, we're the usual bunch.   Putting the "fun" in dysfunctional.  

How ya been?


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> A mustachioed cigar smoker, a pseudo-Cuban cigar smoker, a wine bottle mason, light rain, open patio doors,a sit/stand desk user,a Saturday,a tractor show...what's next!?
> 
> 
> 
> Well... I'm just back home from a 40 mile run to recover a donated 1951 John Deere 'M' for our tractor club....
Click to expand...

Lucky club.  

If you ever get to the International Harvester museum take a look at their first Farmall tractor they have on display.  That was ours.  

A couple of years after Grandad died Grandma wanted to get rid of it and was going to scrap it.  I told her to let me make some calls.  I called IH and they were interested in it, probably for parts.   They showed up to get it and were having trouble getting the tractor trailer backed in to winch it up on the trailer.  I told the guy to hang on, went over turned the gas cock on pulled the crank handle from under the seat, couple of quick cranks and it fired right up.  I drove up on the trailer while the Museum rep from IH picked his jaw up off the ground.  They paid Grandma a heap more then they had figured.  I hadn't bothered to tell them it ran, as I figured they would come take a good look at it.  Only thing we didn't have anymore was the the wood tires. Had the hardware from the wood tires but the wood had rotted away.  

Our tractor is on display and the one they thought they would restore was set aside for parts.  That tractor we had was one of the first 10 Farmalls made.  They were given to 10 farmers across the country as a promotional thing.  Grandad got one of them.  They were stunned that the thing still worked all those years later.  Heck I had used it right before grandad died to haul his sorry butt out of the mud by the pond.  He drove too close to the edge and got the MY 1946 Ford pickup stuck.


----------



## jcdeboever

pre mature neonification


----------



## snowbear

Yo, Eric.  Welcome back.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> A mustachioed cigar smoker, a pseudo-Cuban cigar smoker, a wine bottle mason, light rain, open patio doors,a sit/stand desk user,a Saturday,a tractor show...what's next!?
> 
> 
> 
> Well... I'm just back home from a 40 mile run to recover a donated 1951 John Deere 'M' for our tractor club....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Lucky club.
> 
> If you ever get to the International Harvester museum take a look at their first Farmall tractor they have on display.  That was ours.
> 
> A couple of years after Grandad died Grandma wanted to get rid of it and was going to scrap it.  I told her to let me make some calls.  I called IH and they were interested in it, probably for parts.   They showed up to get it and were having trouble getting the tractor trailer backed in to winch it up on the trailer.  I told the guy to hang on, went over turned the gas cock on pulled the crank handle from under the seat, couple of quick cranks and it fired right up.  I drove up on the trailer while the Museum rep from IH picked his jaw up off the ground.  They paid Grandma a heap more then they had figured.  I hadn't bothered to tell them it ran, as I figured they would come take a good look at it.  Only thing we didn't have anymore was the the wood tires. Had the hardware from the wood tires but the wood had rotted away.
> 
> Our tractor is on display and the one they thought they would restore was set aside for parts.  That tractor we had was one of the first 10 Farmalls made.  They were given to 10 farmers across the country as a promotional thing.  Grandad got one of them.  They were stunned that the thing still worked all those years later.  Heck I had used it right before grandad died to haul his sorry butt out of the mud by the pond.  He drove too close to the edge and got the MY 1946 Ford pickup stuck.
Click to expand...

VERY cool!


----------



## snowbear

Rest in Peace.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Rest in Peace.


----------



## limr

EIngerson said:


> Been a stranger, how is everyone?



Howdy, stranger!


----------



## Gary A.

Hey Eric.


----------



## jcdeboever

Had a blast yesterday at the tractor show. Thanks to Derrel and John for the assignments, very fun. Really hit home that I should have a plan and goal in mind when I go out and shoot. I took very few frames compared to what I used too and the keeper rate was 95% by my low, noob standards. Thanks to Gary for his behind the scenes support as well.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Rest in Peace.
> A musical giant and a genuine trailblazer.
> 
> RIP.
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Rest in Peace.


RIP

I love Chuck Berry, but with all due respect to Mr. Berry, the biggest surprise of his death was that he was still alive.

The LA Times has a tribute to Mr. Berry, front page, above the fold.

(But this is a company town and the company is called entertainment.)


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Mary Lou, Max and Gary are on the patio having our coffee and tea. This is Max's last day with us.  His positives outshine his negatives.  Most of his negatives are due to lack of proper upbringing.  But his giant dumps and worse ... his endless supply of shedding hair is simply amazing ion quantity, daunting and frustrating.  Cook, doesn't shed.  Not only does she have all the Terrier positives and minimal Terrier negatives ... but she doesn't shed. Overall, I am impressed with Max, he would be a great companion, he is so totally loving and smart.

We watched Kong last night.  Well worth watching.  Four to five stars worth of entertainment.  The setting is the end of the Vietnam war, and the scenes of Saigon and Bancock ... man ... were true to memory.  Unfortunately, one of the key characters in the movie was a female war photojournalist shooting with a single Leica M3 w/meter and Summicron attachments.  She didn't have extra lenses, and it looked to be in a leather case.  So a single, leather bound, one lens, manual advanced camera was not realistic and half the time she stood there with her mouth gapped open instead of the camera to her eye. Adding salt to the open wound of unrealistic.  The movie played a lot of Credence, which was very cool.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Rest in Peace.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> RIP
> 
> I love Chuck Berry, but with all due respect to Mr. Berry, the biggest surprise of his death was that he was still alive.
> 
> The LA Times has a tribute to Mr. Berry, front page, above the fold.
> 
> (But this is a company town and that company is entertainment.)
Click to expand...


Not only was he still alive, but he was still working! He announced a new album less than 6 months ago: Chuck Berry's 90th Birthday Present: A New Album


----------



## vintagesnaps

Long live rock 'n roll.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Eric! Whatcha been up to ya hoser?


----------



## Derrel

jcdeboever said:


> Had a blast yesterday at the tractor show. Thanks to Derrel and John for the assignments, very fun. Really hit home that I should have a plan and goal in mind when I go out and shoot. I took very few frames compared to what I used too and the keeper rate was 95% by my low, noob standards. Thanks to Gary for his behind the scenes support as well.



Glad you had a good time at the show. I was impressed by the Fuji's image stabilization performance. Very sharp shots hand-held at slow speeds! Pwersonally, I am a fan of image stabilization in-lens. Besides indoors at small f/stops, it's also useful for slow-speed + flash shooting.


----------



## jcdeboever

Derrel said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a blast yesterday at the tractor show. Thanks to Derrel and John for the assignments, very fun. Really hit home that I should have a plan and goal in mind when I go out and shoot. I took very few frames compared to what I used too and the keeper rate was 95% by my low, noob standards. Thanks to Gary for his behind the scenes support as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glad you had a good time at the show. I was impressed by the Fuji's image stabilization performance. Very sharp shots hand-held at slow speeds! Pwersonally, I am a fan of image stabilization in-lens. Besides indoors at small f/stops, it's also useful for slow-speed + flash shooting.
Click to expand...

Yup, they have their purpose. Now to check it out with birds in flight and soccer games. I bought the 100-400 and the 55-200. The 100-400 works way better on initial tests using the battery grip, and boost mode enabled. I did try the macro but it was pretty useless in those light conditions, between getting it to focus and keeping it steady. I gave up on it pretty quick because I use it differently any way and didn't want to develop any bad habits.


----------



## Derrel

I've not had the best luck on indoor focusing (auto or manual) with any of my macro lenses when shooting beyond about 5 feet or so. Many macros lenses have hair-trigger focus at longer distances, and some have slower f/stops too, like f/2.8 on the Tamron 90mm. This is often offset by good AF at close-up ranges.

It's fun to have new equipment to check out, and to get to know. I think we've all been impressed to see the results you've been getting on your new Fuji voyage. One thing I hope is that when learning the new lenses that you really give the camera and the engineering every chance to work the way it was intended to work, and that you remain open minded, and let the Fuji engineering and algorithms and systems actually work as they were intended to work. Specifically thinking about the AF system, and using ALL the potential benefits that Fuji's engineers have built in. I've seen so many people complain about AF speed or AF sureness or AF reliability issues, and then it's revealed that they really do not leverage the system, and they do stupid s**+, such as say, switching off 9, or 10, or 20, or 50, out of say 51 total AF points, and then they complain the camera cannot _follow focus_ on a runner, or a horse, etc..


----------



## Gary A.

I used to shoot low light stuff with the 60mm macro. These are from the XP1.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> I used to shoot low light stuff with the 60mm macro. These are from the XP1.



Cool images, 1 looks like it's right out of the 30's. I would have done that under those conditions. That show I was at yesterday was really dim, I mean super dim. Now way I was getting those kind of shutter speeds, aperture settings.


----------



## table1349

Yep yesterday was a bad day.  We lost one of our own last night.
Wichita police k9-rooster killed in the line of duty


----------



## Designer

gryphonslair99 said:


> Yep yesterday was a bad day.  We lost one of our own last night.
> Wichita police k9-rooster killed in the line of duty


----------



## Gary A.

RIP Rooster


----------



## JonA_CT

So I played that gig today, but was too busy to get any videos. Sorry hosers. 

I will say that the 40x70 tent was completely full. I couldn't make it out to pee on our set break.


----------



## EIngerson

Hi Limr and Gary and others that said hello. Man, Lacrosse season and work have made life crazy. Just peeking in and saying hi.


----------



## SquarePeg

Blurry cell phone pic but wanted to share how cute and all ears my fur baby is after his hair cut:


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Blurry cell phone pic but wanted to share how cute and all ears my fur baby is after his hair cut:



EARS!!!


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> EARS!!!



Pretty sure he meowed at me yesterday.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> EARS!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty sure he meowed at me yesterday.
Click to expand...


Ack!


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 136827



Whatcha got today?


----------



## table1349

Looks like something Sharon's dog left in the back yard.


----------



## terri

Happy 1st Day of Spring, hosers!


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> Happy 1st Day of Spring, hosers!


Spring??? SPRING!!!!   It got up to 90 degrees here yesterday for the last day of winter and it's supposed to be 87 today.  If that's spring I don't want summer.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Blurry cell phone pic but wanted to share how cute and all ears my fur baby is after his hair cut:


She wants bacon


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Blurry cell phone pic but wanted to share how cute and all ears my fur baby is after his hair cut:



Woof!


----------



## pixmedic

limr said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 136827
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Whatcha got today?
Click to expand...

A medium blend. I want to say a Honduran leaf.


----------



## JonA_CT

Crappy pic, but something close to our view yesterday:




 

Even though I was home by 8 last night, I'm dragging today. Even forgot to make coffee this morning. No, I don't know how that happens.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Sadly, Max was retrieved by his owner yesterday. I sorta miss Max, aka Moose. Max just wanted to be petted and rubbed ... constantly.  In return he would jump on you, rub against you, wag his tail, lay across your feet, follow you constantly from place to place, lick you, incessantly drop his hair every-jammin'-where. Max was 80 pounds of pure love and a lot of smarts.  Gary just read the above to Mary Lou and she laughed and stated ... "But you have me, I do all that!".


----------



## Designer

pixmedic said:


> A medium blend. I want to say a Honduran leaf.


I've tried some of those Honduran and Dominican cigars, but my favorite by far was H. Upmann in (I think) this size:  

H. Upmann Magnum 46 - H. Upmann - List All Cigars - Brands - Finest Cuban Cigars

The website says they're Cuban, although I didn't have any issues with importation restrictions.  I bought factory seconds at far less money than list price.  

I smoked quite a few boxes of them, as well as some other well-known brands that I bought from Thompson.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Crappy pic, but something close to our view yesterday:
> 
> View attachment 136828
> 
> Even though I was home by 8 last night, I'm dragging today. Even forgot to make coffee this morning. No, I don't know how that happens.


Dude, if you every make a West Coast appearance ... I'll shoot you guys.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Blurry cell phone pic but wanted to share how cute and all ears my fur baby is after his hair cut:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> She wants bacon
Click to expand...


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Crappy pic, but something close to our view yesterday:
> 
> View attachment 136828
> 
> Even though I was home by 8 last night, I'm dragging today. Even forgot to make coffee this morning. No, I don't know how that happens.
> 
> 
> 
> Dude, if you every make a West Coast appearance ... I'll shoot you guys.
Click to expand...


We can't draw that type of crowd on our own. Like any good cover band, our name is only sort of important, whereas our ability to make sure that no one who walks into the tent leaves is paramount. 

There actually was a photographer who was there yesterday...I don't think she was hired by the bar (I guess we'll find out soon enough), but she kept yelling at us to look at her while we were playing. You know...instead of looking at the crowd in front of us. The crappy video I did get might show her...it was pretty annoying because she kept getting mad at us for not following her directions. I think that she misunderstood our purpose in this situation...


----------



## Gary A.

So you won't be at Coachella?


----------



## table1349

Now this is Basketball.
Meow Madness


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> So you won't be at Coachella?


Coachella?  Dude you gotta think big like *Lollapalooza & Newport.*


----------



## waday

First day back at work after spending the last two weeks in Ecuador. We visited the wife's family, and her grandmother for her grandmother's 90th birthday party. After the party, her grandmother got ill and passed away several days later with the entire family there. While everyone was sad, they were very happy that her grandmother got to see everyone before she passed. When I say everyone, the immediate family (children, grandchildren, spouses) party included about 60 people. Large family.

After that, we drove around the country for a total of about 1,050 miles (ok ok, ~1,680 km, since they don't use miles). Flew into Guayaquil, flew out of Quito.

Visited: Guayaquil, Santa Elena, Salinas, Ballenita, La Libertad, Montanita, Manglaralto, Cuenca, Riobamba, Cotopaxi, Otavalo, and Quito. 

Still in the process of culling/editing photos, but will hopefully be done soon.

Also, we're very tired.


----------



## Derrel

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> So you won't be at Coachella?
> 
> 
> 
> Coachella?  Dude you gotta think big like *Lollapalooza & Newport.*
Click to expand...


Sooooooo 1990's and soooooo 1960's! lol


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Crappy pic, but something close to our view yesterday:
> 
> View attachment 136828
> 
> Even though I was home by 8 last night, I'm dragging today. *Even forgot to make coffee this morning.* No, I don't know how that happens.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> First day back at work after spending the last two weeks in Ecuador. We visited the wife's family, and her grandmother for her grandmother's 90th birthday party. After the party, her grandmother got ill and passed away several days later with the entire family there. While everyone was sad, they were very happy that her grandmother got to see everyone before she passed. When I say everyone, the immediate family (children, grandchildren, spouses) party included about 60 people. Large family.
> 
> After that, we drove around the country for a total of about 1,050 miles (ok ok, ~1,680 km, since they don't use miles). Flew into Guayaquil, flew out of Quito.
> 
> Visited: Guayaquil, Santa Elena, Salinas, Ballenita, La Libertad, Montanita, Manglaralto, Cuenca, Riobamba, Cotopaxi, Otavalo, and Quito.
> 
> Still in the process of culling/editing photos, but will hopefully be done soon.
> 
> Also, we're very tired.



Sounds like an amazing trip!

It's sad that your wife's grandmother passed away, but I agree that at least it happened in the best way possible: after a long life and surrounded by loved ones.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Sadly, Max was retrieved by his owner yesterday. I sorta miss Max, aka Moose. Max just wanted to be petted and rubbed ... constantly.  In return he would jump on you, rub against you, wag his tail, lay across your feet, follow you constantly from place to place, lick you, incessantly drop his hair every-jammin'-where. Max was 80 pounds of pure love and a lot of smarts.  Gary just read the above to Mary Lou and she laughed and stated ... "But you have me, I do all that!".


I'll take the drop at my feet....


----------



## table1349

Derrel said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> So you won't be at Coachella?
> 
> 
> 
> Coachella?  Dude you gotta think big like *Lollapalooza & Newport.*
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Sooooooo 1990's and soooooo 1960's! lol
Click to expand...

If you can play there you can play anywhere.


----------



## Gary A.

An old friend came over and we drank champagne and wine in the afternoon. Before we started drinking we agreed to join forces on a new construction project. 

Needless to say, a very nice afternoon in the patio


----------



## SquarePeg

Can I show you all what I think is one of the most confusingly worded math question I've ever seen?   Is it just me?  Am I missing something?   I thought my daughter was making excuses when she said it was confusing then I read it. 35 times.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> First day back at work after spending the last two weeks in Ecuador. We visited the wife's family, and her grandmother for her grandmother's 90th birthday party. After the party, her grandmother got ill and passed away several days later with the entire family there. While everyone was sad, they were very happy that her grandmother got to see everyone before she passed. When I say everyone, the immediate family (children, grandchildren, spouses) party included about 60 people. Large family.
> 
> After that, we drove around the country for a total of about 1,050 miles (ok ok, ~1,680 km, since they don't use miles). Flew into Guayaquil, flew out of Quito.
> 
> Visited: Guayaquil, Santa Elena, Salinas, Ballenita, La Libertad, Montanita, Manglaralto, Cuenca, Riobamba, Cotopaxi, Otavalo, and Quito.
> 
> Still in the process of culling/editing photos, but will hopefully be done soon.
> 
> Also, we're very tired.



Welcome back!  Sorry to hear about your loss.  Glad you got the chance to see her.  Looking forward to seeing your photos from the rest of the trip.


----------



## Gary A.

So for Jon it's Nochella.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Can I show you all what I think is one of the most confusingly worded math question I've ever seen?   Is it just me?  Am I missing something?   I thought my daughter was making excuses when she said it was confusing then I read it. 35 times.
> 
> View attachment 136851



I think the part that is confusing is that they didn't start measuring on March 1st, they started reviewing their data on March 1st. I'm assuming all of the stated numbers happened before that date. 

So I think...

1. is Ella...230,000 snaps versus 225,o00 for Brooke. This is the baseline for the rest of the problem.

2. algebraic function that uses their current rate and their starting point. Makes sense to make a graph, but the numbers are big so that's annoying. 

3. Graph would be way easier here to0 -- the answer is where the lines intersect. 

I'm not sure what tools she's been given to solve the problem, but I'm pretty sure that you can use something like y=mx+b to answer it.

Now, all of that being said...I teach reading and writing  .


----------



## JonA_CT

Wow, that problem is annoying though. Because you can't answer the last question...the rate is the same for both girls. So she needs to explain why she can't solve it I'm guessing.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Can I show you all what I think is one of the most confusingly worded math question I've ever seen?   Is it just me?  Am I missing something?   I thought my daughter was making excuses when she said it was confusing then I read it. 35 times.
> 
> View attachment 136851



Damnit, now I feel compelled to try to answer it. (I purposely scrolled past Jon's post so I wouldn't see his answers!)

Before I start, though, do you have the answers so I won't be left forever wondering?


----------



## SquarePeg

No but they are reviewing the test tomorrow and I will have the answers then.   I read it about 50 times and then had a drink.


----------



## SquarePeg

To be clear, they already took the test and they received their grades back today and my daughter got a 70  because she got that question wrong. The class is reviewing the test tomorrow. I didn't want you to think I was trying to have somebody answer questions on a test for her.


----------



## table1349

I think that one is a close rival to my favorite math word problem.......

_"If a chicken and a half laid and egg and a half in a day and a half, how long would it take a monkey with a wooden leg to kick all the seeds out of a dill pickle?"  _- Harry Anderson


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Can I show you all what I think is one of the most confusingly worded math question I've ever seen?   Is it just me?  Am I missing something?   I thought my daughter was making excuses when she said it was confusing then I read it. 35 times.
> 
> View attachment 136851



Okay. First to answer your question: yes, it's confusing and poorly-written. It's a good thing that I have 20 years of practice reading really poorly-written pieces and am skilled at interpreting them 

Now the answers:

They are both sending snaps at the same rate: 423/day.
1) As of March 1st, Ella has more snaps. She has 230,000, but Brooke had her phone taken away. Adding the snaps before it was taken (106,020) to the number after it was returned (118,980), we see she has only 225,000. That's 5,000 snaps she missed out on. At 423 snaps a day, it means she didn't have her phone for 11.8 days.

2) In 26 weeks, Ella will still have sent more snaps because Brooke is behind by 11.8 days. This assumes that their daily rate is a constant. Because of course, anything teenaged girls do is consistent and regular 

3) When will they have the same number of snaps? When Ella is found snap chatting with a bookie in Queens to place bets on the ponies, and her parents take her phone away for 11.8 days. Brooke then has a chance to catch up.

How'd I do?


----------



## JonA_CT

That's a horse apples question for a test. JMO as a non-maths educator, and I routinely tell my students to stop whining about their math test questions haha.


----------



## snowbear

Wade: sorry for your loss, but at least she got to see everyone.

Sharon: too tired to muddle through the question like the others.  Of course, I'd be more interested in _where _the snaps were from!

In Towson (north of Baltimore) for tomorrow's conference.  I have both kit zooms and the speed light.  I doubt that I'll use the 55-200 but bought it along, anyway.  This isn't a serious event gig, just a bunch of shots for the organization's web site.  Hopefully they will be better than the usual phone and tablet snaps.


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

My condolences Wade.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can I show you all what I think is one of the most confusingly worded math question I've ever seen?   Is it just me?  Am I missing something?   I thought my daughter was making excuses when she said it was confusing then I read it. 35 times.
> 
> View attachment 136851
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Okay. First to answer your question: yes, it's confusing and poorly-written. It's a good thing that I have 20 years of practice reading really poorly-written pieces and am skilled at interpreting them
> 
> Now the answers:
> 
> They are both sending snaps at the same rate: 423/day.
> 1) As of March 1st, Ella has more snaps. She has 230,000, but Brooke had her phone taken away. Adding the snaps before it was taken (106,020) to the number after it was returned (118,980), we see she has only 225,000. That's 5,000 snaps she missed out on. At 423 snaps a day, it means she didn't have her phone for 11.8 days.
> 
> 2) In 26 weeks, Ella will still have sent more snaps because Brooke is behind by 11.8 days. This assumes that their daily rate is a constant. Because of course, anything teenaged girls do is consistent and regular
> 
> 3) When will they have the same number of snaps? When Ella is found snap chatting with a bookie in Queens to place bets on the ponies, and her parents take her phone away for 11.8 days. Brooke then has a chance to catch up.
> 
> How'd I do?
Click to expand...

eww.    Fortunately for me, I have no problem avoiding getting drawn in to questions like these.      I can dance right away from them!

Having said that - Sharon, it will be interesting to hear the final consensus on how the rest of the class handled that problem.   She can't have been the only student who was frustrated by it.    How'd the others fare?

@ Wade:    I'm sorry for your family's loss.


----------



## waday

Thank you all, much appreciated.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I read it about 50 times and then had a drink.





limr said:


> First to answer your question: yes, it's confusing and poorly-written.





JonA_CT said:


> That's a horse apples question for a test.


Totally agree with all of you.

The wording is terrible, and the time aspect is not defined. I had thought that "currently" was in the future (i.e., later than March 1), and that the first check in was 2-weeks after March 1. They can't start with several hundred thousand on day one. They have to start with 0, to be fair. So, the first check in shows they are at a constant pace of 423 snaps. "Currently" is not defined, so we have no idea when "currently" actually is. We can assume a constant 423 daily snap pace to find "currently", but then that means that 230,000 snaps into the future is over a year later (544 days), and I highly doubt anyone cares that much about the number of snaps they're sending that they'd want to continue this competition over a year later.

But, what kind of standard is this teacher allowing, where the kids are allowed to send over 400 snaps per day? That seems like an awful lot? Unless they are counting multiple recipients as multiple snaps, but that needs to be clarified in the beginning. And then the number of snaps would have to be turned into a percentage against the number of friends that person has, otherwise the person with more friends could simply spam their friends (likely what they're doing already) to win unfairly. So, the number of friends shouldn't come into play, and one snap should be considered one snap regardless of the number of recipients.

Also, where does Instagram come into play?

I miss the questions of yore... you know, John has 3 red marbles and 6 blue marbles, Leonore has XX marbles, Sharon has XX marbles, etc etc etc.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Even though I was home by 8 last night, I'm dragging today. Even forgot to make coffee this morning. No, I don't know how that happens.





terri said:


> eww. Fortunately for me, I have no problem avoiding getting drawn in to questions like these.  I can dance right away from them!
> 
> Having said that - Sharon, it will be interesting to hear the final consensus on how the rest of the class handled that problem. She can't have been the only student who was frustrated by it. How'd the others fare?
> 
> @ Wade:  I'm sorry for your family's loss.



We asked our neighbor during car pool this morning and she said that she answered #3 that it was unanswerable with the information provided.  Which is probably the right answer but it just annoys me that they would use that on a test.  What is the point of that?  It just frustrates and confuses the students.


----------



## limr

Leonore has no marbles


----------



## JonA_CT

I kid you not, the math teacher I work with had a warm-up problem with marbles and probability today on his smart board. I went to go grab a snap to prove it...but it's not up right now, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Even though I was home by 8 last night, I'm dragging today. Even forgot to make coffee this morning. No, I don't know how that happens.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> eww. Fortunately for me, I have no problem avoiding getting drawn in to questions like these.  I can dance right away from them!
> 
> Having said that - Sharon, it will be interesting to hear the final consensus on how the rest of the class handled that problem. She can't have been the only student who was frustrated by it. How'd the others fare?
> 
> @ Wade:  I'm sorry for your family's loss.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We asked our neighbor during car pool this morning and she said that she answered #3 that it was unanswerable with the information provided.  Which is probably the right answer but it just annoys me that they would use that on a test.  What is the point of that?  It just frustrates and confuses the students.
Click to expand...

And their parents.


----------



## waday

The answer to #3 would be never, assuming they have a constant rate of sending 423 snaps per day. If one is behind because their phone was taken away, they'll never catch up with a constant snap rate equal to that of the other person.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Leonore has no marbles


Well... she had them, but has since lost them.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Why are we talking math? Marbles I understand.

What kind of snaps, ginger snaps? I'm guessing probably not. I gotta go back and read it now.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Why are we talking math? Marbles I understand.


So you're the one with all the marbles?


----------



## vintagesnaps

If you say so.

Ella and Brooke need to go outside and play more often.

Sorry Jon about your wife's grandma, glad she got to spend time with  family before she passed away.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like ginger snaps


----------



## vintagesnaps

#1 same
#2 Brooke
#3 I give up, Ella and Brooke should both get outdoors more often.

And if the teacher thinks I can read my scribbles on a notepad to explain, forget it.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like marble cake


----------



## table1349

I like any cake, pie or cookies.


----------



## jcdeboever

Cake, cookies, pie.. ohh my


----------



## table1349

This is how you solve that math problem.





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=615600568638441


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Cake, cookies, pie.. ohh my


No, no, no.... Get it right.

Prime ribs and pork chops and scampi oh my.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

The leaves on Gary's Forest Pansy are beginning to pop.


----------



## SquarePeg

Math update - turns out my daughter's class dropped math today (they use what they call a waterfall schedule) so I won't have an answer until tomorrow.  Sorry @limr  I know you don't like to be left hanging!


----------



## Designer

SquarePeg said:


> Can I show you all what I think is one of the most confusingly worded math question I've ever seen?   Is it just me?  Am I missing something?   I thought my daughter was making excuses when she said it was confusing then I read it. 35 times.


It's not really a math problem, its a social studies problem trying to be relevant.  The authors are trying too hard to be cute.  The numbers are so huge as to be completely unrealistic, thereby confounding the intended lesson.  That is my opinion.

1. No mention of the starting date for the baseline rate, so Ella's rate must be assumed.  When was Ella's current total counted?  
2. March 1 plus 26 weeks, but the length of time Brooke is without her phone is not specified.
3. The rate of each must be interpolated, and must be assumed to be constant, since no variance is mentioned.  

Explain.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Math update - turns out my daughter's class dropped math today (they use what they call a waterfall schedule) so I won't have an answer until tomorrow.  Sorry @limr  I know you don't like to be left hanging!


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

It is raining, not hard but steady.  Gary just wrapped up roasting the last of the Chiapas.  Roasting in the rain, surrounded by all the backyard colors ... reminded him of drinking coffee in in the hills of Jamaica.  Gary has pour Mary Lou a glass of Petite Sirah from Steinbeck Winery in Paso Robles.  OMG, Mary Lou just deliver a fresh bowl of guacamole. Life is good.


----------



## table1349

Personally I prefer Dog wine.


----------



## SquarePeg

Guac!


----------



## Gary A.

Yes! (... and it is nearly gone)


----------



## snowbear

Home!  It's been a long day.  I attended three sessions, two of which were related to NextGen9-1-1. That is going to be an interesting monster.

I didn't take that many photos but they'll be happy with anything.  The GIS director of a neighboring county wants those I took at one session. Sure, why not; two snaps of people sitting at a table.

I did get a free book on validating remote sensing obtained data, a sweet insulated six-pack soft case, and a couple of flashing LED-lighted shot glasses.


----------



## b_twill

So looking at that math problem...my biggest issue is that they are sending/receiving 423 per day.  24 hrs x 60 minutes gives you 1440 minutes in a day.  Divide that by 423 and they are sending/receiving snaps at a rate of 1 every 3.5 minutes!  The 4th question should be, and this rate of snaps, what will their grades be at the end of the school year?


----------



## Frank F.

More than 1000 calories means I put on weight or at least do not lose weight.

Frustrating.

And now the festivities begin: eating drinking .....


----------



## jcdeboever

Sold three prints. Pretty fun.
Question though, is it me or do the glossy prints always pop the color better? Normally I would print matte but the glossy seem to look more life like.


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> .. a couple of flashing LED-lighted shot glasses.


Whah!  Whah!  LUCKYYYY!  All we ever got were pens and shopping bags.


----------



## JonA_CT

Congrats, JC. I got your package yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to do anything with yet. I'll make sure to share the contents tonight!

I remembered to make coffee this morning. Good thing, too.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Sold three prints. Pretty fun.
> Question though, is it me or do the glossy prints always pop the color better? Normally I would print matte but the glossy seem to look more life like.



I love the high gloss look for flower prints, especially when there are strong, darker primary colors involved.


----------



## smoke665

Monday was one of those days that just kept on giving. Took our fur kid out for her morning walk just after daylight, and noticed one of our heat pumps was covered in ice. It seemed like it hadn't been heating right for awhile. Waited till 8 to call the service then headed out to pick up our youngest who was being discharged from the hospital.  Mixup in his VA benefits left me holding the bag on his meds plus my mine and my wife's co-pays for meds ate up over a thousand for the day. Then the heating and air people called. Seems our 10 yr 4 month old unit was only covered for 10 yrs, and the cost to repair wasn't feasible so a new unit is on order for another 5k.

Looks like I'll only be looking at pictures of cameras and equipment for the foreseeable future.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Monday was one of those days that just kept on giving. Took our fur kid out for her morning walk just after daylight, and noticed one of our heat pumps was covered in ice. It seemed like it hadn't been heating right for awhile. Waited till 8 to call the service then headed out to pick up our youngest who was being discharged from the hospital.  Mixup in his VA benefits left me holding the bag on his meds plus my mine and my wife's co-pays for meds ate up over a thousand for the day. Then the heating and air people called. Seems our 10 yr 4 month old unit was only covered for 10 yrs, and the cost to repair wasn't feasible so a new unit is on order for another 5k.
> 
> Looks like I'll only be looking at pictures of cameras and equipment for the foreseeable future.


That sucks. Sorry Bud


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> Monday was one of those days that just kept on giving. Took our fur kid out for her morning walk just after daylight, and noticed one of our heat pumps was covered in ice. It seemed like it hadn't been heating right for awhile. Waited till 8 to call the service then headed out to pick up our youngest who was being discharged from the hospital.  Mixup in his VA benefits left me holding the bag on his meds plus my mine and my wife's co-pays for meds ate up over a thousand for the day. Then the heating and air people called. Seems our 10 yr 4 month old unit was only covered for 10 yrs, and the cost to repair wasn't feasible so a new unit is on order for another 5k.
> 
> Looks like I'll only be looking at pictures of cameras and equipment for the foreseeable future.



Ugh! As if Mondays weren't challenging enough. Sorry


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> . Sorry Bud



Thanks JC story of my life. Bad thing is the other unit is the same age as they were both put in when we built the house, and it will be quite a bit more expensive to replace. What really sucks is when we built, natural gas wasn't available but now it is, but the cost to convert is way more. However the lifespan of the natural gas units is more. From what I've seen on ours and of friends and neighbors who have heat pumps they require a lot of maintenance (capacitors, contactors, etc). Though they are very efficient, apparently the reason they have a 10 yr warranty, is because that's all they are good for. We built to be energy efficient and our all electric house power bill rarely runs over $300 a month, in the coldest or hottest months. Our previous home had gas furnaces, was larger, and less energy efficient, so bills were quite a bit higher.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> More than 1000 calories means I put on weight or at least do not lose weight.
> 
> Frustrating.
> 
> And now the festivities begin: eating drinking .....


That is very odd because your baseline calorie usage (Basal Metabolic Rate/BMR) gotta be around 2000 calories per day.

Your BRM = the minimum calories required for basic cellular function.  So how many calories required to keep you alive while sleeping.  Everytime you move an arm, take a step, you need calories above your BMR to do so.

At 1000 calories a day, you are slowly starving yourself to death. So you need to revisit your intake calculations.

BMR = 293 - (3.8 * age) + (456.4 * height) + (10.12 * weight)
(Where age is in years, height is in meters, and weight is in kilograms. For those imperially-inclined or metrically-challenged amongst us, one pound equals 0.4535924 kilogram, and one inch equals 0.0254 meter.)


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Monday was one of those days that just kept on giving. Took our fur kid out for her morning walk just after daylight, and noticed one of our heat pumps was covered in ice. It seemed like it hadn't been heating right for awhile. Waited till 8 to call the service then headed out to pick up our youngest who was being discharged from the hospital.  Mixup in his VA benefits left me holding the bag on his meds plus my mine and my wife's co-pays for meds ate up over a thousand for the day. Then the heating and air people called. Seems our 10 yr 4 month old unit was only covered for 10 yrs, and the cost to repair wasn't feasible so a new unit is on order for another 5k.
> 
> Looks like I'll only be looking at pictures of cameras and equipment for the foreseeable future.


Man, talk about bad karma.  All that in one day ... the good thing is now you can spend all your time perfecting your skills on the photographic tools you have, as opposed to diluting your time amongst what you have and new shiney photographic toys.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> More than 1000 calories means I put on weight or at least do not lose weight.
> 
> Frustrating.
> 
> And now the festivities begin: eating drinking .....
> 
> 
> 
> That is very odd because your baseline calorie usage (Basal Metabolic Rate/BMR) gotta be around 2000 calories per day.
> 
> Your BRM = the minimum calories required for basic cellular function.  So how many calories required to keep you alive while sleeping.  Everytime you move an arm, take a step, you need calories above your BMR to do so.
> 
> At 1000 calories a day, you are slowly starving yourself to death. So you need to revisit your intake calculations.
> 
> BMR = 293 - (3.8 * age) + (456.4 * height) + (10.12 * weight)
> (Where age is in years, height is in meters, and weight is in kilograms. For those imperially-inclined or metrically-challenged amongst us, one pound equals 0.4535924 kilogram, and one inch equals 0.0254 meter.)
Click to expand...


Yes, but not everything works according to formula. Changes in metabolism can mess with the formula. Calorie restriction slows the metabolism, which doesn't just bounce back once you're no longer restricting calories. Age affects metabolism as well, as does muscle mass vs body fat.

I'm trying to find the study that explains this, but basically, a person diets and loses weight. The metabolism slows. At the new weight, a person needs fewer calories just to sustain themselves - even lower than what that formula yields. If that person eats above that or doesn't counter it with enough exercise, the person gains weight. Now let's say that person gains enough weight that they are back at the weight they were before the diet. The metabolism is still slower than it was when the person was originally at that weight, which means you need fewer calories than you did before.

So if I weighed X and required a baseline of 1500 calories, then I lose 30 lbs and subsequently gain it back until I weigh X again, I might only require a baseline of 1300 calories. So before, I could eat 1400 calories and lose some weight, but now if I eat 1400 calories, I'll gain.

I think this is the study I'm thinking about (or at least a report of the study): 
Study Shows Why It’s Hard to Keep Weight Off

_"But now a group of Australian researchers have taken those investigations a step further to see if the changes persist over a longer time frame. They recruited healthy people who were either overweight or obese and put them on a highly restricted diet that led them to lose at least 10 percent of their body weight. They then kept them on a diet to maintain that weight loss. A year later, the researchers found that the participants’ metabolism and hormone levels had not returned to the levels before the study started."_


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> . Sorry Bud
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks JC story of my life. Bad thing is the other unit is the same age as they were both put in when we built the house, and it will be quite a bit more expensive to replace. What really sucks is when we built, natural gas wasn't available but now it is, but the cost to convert is way more. However the lifespan of the natural gas units is more. From what I've seen on ours and of friends and neighbors who have heat pumps they require a lot of maintenance (capacitors, contactors, etc). Though they are very efficient, apparently the reason they have a 10 yr warranty, is because that's all they are good for. We built to be energy efficient and our all electric house power bill rarely runs over $300 a month, in the coldest or hottest months. Our previous home had gas furnaces, was larger, and less energy efficient, so bills were quite a bit higher.
Click to expand...

Have you thought about solar?  Gary suspects solar, (plus the amortised cost of the equipment), would reduce your energy bill by 50%.  Out here, solar equipment is running about $100 a month and any additional energy pulled from the net is running about $6 to $12 per month (based upon a monthly energy bill of around $150 per month).


----------



## table1349

Frank F. said:


> More than 1000 calories means I put on weight or at least do not lose weight.
> 
> Frustrating.
> 
> And now the festivities begin: eating drinking .....


Expend more than you take in and you will loose weight.  I have lost 40 pounds in two months from 1 hour a day 5 days a week at the gym and eating normal meals.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> More than 1000 calories means I put on weight or at least do not lose weight.
> 
> Frustrating.
> 
> And now the festivities begin: eating drinking .....
> 
> 
> 
> That is very odd because your baseline calorie usage (Basal Metabolic Rate/BMR) gotta be around 2000 calories per day.
> 
> Your BRM = the minimum calories required for basic cellular function.  So how many calories required to keep you alive while sleeping.  Everytime you move an arm, take a step, you need calories above your BMR to do so.
> 
> At 1000 calories a day, you are slowly starving yourself to death. So you need to revisit your intake calculations.
> 
> BMR = 293 - (3.8 * age) + (456.4 * height) + (10.12 * weight)
> (Where age is in years, height is in meters, and weight is in kilograms. For those imperially-inclined or metrically-challenged amongst us, one pound equals 0.4535924 kilogram, and one inch equals 0.0254 meter.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, but not everything works according to formula. Changes in metabolism can mess with the formula. Calorie restriction slows the metabolism, which doesn't just bounce back once you're no longer restricting calories. Age affects metabolism as well, as does muscle mass vs body fat.
> 
> I'm trying to find the study that explains this, but basically, a person diets and loses weight. The metabolism slows. At the new weight, a person needs fewer calories just to sustain themselves - even lower than what that formula yields. If that person eats above that or doesn't counter it with enough exercise, the person gains weight. Now let's say that person gains enough weight that they are back at the weight they were before the diet. The metabolism is still slower than it was when the person was originally at that weight, which means you need fewer calories than you did before.
> 
> So if I weighed X and required a baseline of 1500 calories, then I lose 30 lbs and subsequently gain it back until I weigh X again, I might only require a baseline of 1300 calories. So before, I could eat 1400 calories and lose some weight, but now if I eat 1400 calories, I'll gain.
> 
> I think this is the study I'm thinking about (or at least a report of the study):
> Study Shows Why It’s Hard to Keep Weight Off
> 
> _"But now a group of Australian researchers have taken those investigations a step further to see if the changes persist over a longer time frame. They recruited healthy people who were either overweight or obese and put them on a highly restricted diet that led them to lose at least 10 percent of their body weight. They then kept them on a diet to maintain that weight loss. A year later, the researchers found that the participants’ metabolism and hormone levels had not returned to the levels before the study started."_
Click to expand...

Gary agrees the body fights weight loss at every step.  Which is why it is hard to maintain weight loss by diet alone.  But there is a level of caloric intake where the body cannot adjust its metabolism to maintain existing weight.  Gary thinks Frank, at 1,000 calories per day, is well below a BMR to which the body can adjust and maintain weight.  

My physician friend and Gary had an interesting discussion over the weekend.  He stated that in general, the only way to actually "cure" a chronic illness/ailment, is with exercise.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> More than 1000 calories means I put on weight or at least do not lose weight.
> 
> Frustrating.
> 
> And now the festivities begin: eating drinking .....
> 
> 
> 
> That is very odd because your baseline calorie usage (Basal Metabolic Rate/BMR) gotta be around 2000 calories per day.
> 
> Your BRM = the minimum calories required for basic cellular function.  So how many calories required to keep you alive while sleeping.  Everytime you move an arm, take a step, you need calories above your BMR to do so.
> 
> At 1000 calories a day, you are slowly starving yourself to death. So you need to revisit your intake calculations.
> 
> BMR = 293 - (3.8 * age) + (456.4 * height) + (10.12 * weight)
> (Where age is in years, height is in meters, and weight is in kilograms. For those imperially-inclined or metrically-challenged amongst us, one pound equals 0.4535924 kilogram, and one inch equals 0.0254 meter.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, but not everything works according to formula. Changes in metabolism can mess with the formula. Calorie restriction slows the metabolism, which doesn't just bounce back once you're no longer restricting calories. Age affects metabolism as well, as does muscle mass vs body fat.
> 
> I'm trying to find the study that explains this, but basically, a person diets and loses weight. The metabolism slows. At the new weight, a person needs fewer calories just to sustain themselves - even lower than what that formula yields. If that person eats above that or doesn't counter it with enough exercise, the person gains weight. Now let's say that person gains enough weight that they are back at the weight they were before the diet. The metabolism is still slower than it was when the person was originally at that weight, which means you need fewer calories than you did before.
> 
> So if I weighed X and required a baseline of 1500 calories, then I lose 30 lbs and subsequently gain it back until I weigh X again, I might only require a baseline of 1300 calories. So before, I could eat 1400 calories and lose some weight, but now if I eat 1400 calories, I'll gain.
> 
> I think this is the study I'm thinking about (or at least a report of the study):
> Study Shows Why It’s Hard to Keep Weight Off
> 
> _"But now a group of Australian researchers have taken those investigations a step further to see if the changes persist over a longer time frame. They recruited healthy people who were either overweight or obese and put them on a highly restricted diet that led them to lose at least 10 percent of their body weight. They then kept them on a diet to maintain that weight loss. A year later, the researchers found that the participants’ metabolism and hormone levels had not returned to the levels before the study started."_
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary agrees the body fights weight loss at every step.  Which is why it is hard to maintain weight loss by diet alone.  But there is a level of caloric intake where the body cannot adjust its metabolism to maintain existing weight.  Gary thinks Frank, at 1,000 calories per day, is well below a BMR to which the body can adjust and maintain weight.
> 
> My physician friend and Gary had an interesting discussion over the weekend.  He stated that in general, the only way to actually "cure" a chronic illness/ailment, is with exercise.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I burnt 948 calories in my one hour workout this morning.  I refuse to be one of those gym rats that talks a little, exercises a little, talks a little, repeat, repeat, repeat.  I hit the machines for 60 solid minutes of exercise then I am gone and on with the rest of my day.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> More than 1000 calories means I put on weight or at least do not lose weight.
> 
> Frustrating.
> 
> And now the festivities begin: eating drinking .....
> 
> 
> 
> That is very odd because your baseline calorie usage (Basal Metabolic Rate/BMR) gotta be around 2000 calories per day.
> 
> Your BRM = the minimum calories required for basic cellular function.  So how many calories required to keep you alive while sleeping.  Everytime you move an arm, take a step, you need calories above your BMR to do so.
> 
> At 1000 calories a day, you are slowly starving yourself to death. So you need to revisit your intake calculations.
> 
> BMR = 293 - (3.8 * age) + (456.4 * height) + (10.12 * weight)
> (Where age is in years, height is in meters, and weight is in kilograms. For those imperially-inclined or metrically-challenged amongst us, one pound equals 0.4535924 kilogram, and one inch equals 0.0254 meter.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, but not everything works according to formula. Changes in metabolism can mess with the formula. Calorie restriction slows the metabolism, which doesn't just bounce back once you're no longer restricting calories. Age affects metabolism as well, as does muscle mass vs body fat.
> 
> I'm trying to find the study that explains this, but basically, a person diets and loses weight. The metabolism slows. At the new weight, a person needs fewer calories just to sustain themselves - even lower than what that formula yields. If that person eats above that or doesn't counter it with enough exercise, the person gains weight. Now let's say that person gains enough weight that they are back at the weight they were before the diet. The metabolism is still slower than it was when the person was originally at that weight, which means you need fewer calories than you did before.
> 
> So if I weighed X and required a baseline of 1500 calories, then I lose 30 lbs and subsequently gain it back until I weigh X again, I might only require a baseline of 1300 calories. So before, I could eat 1400 calories and lose some weight, but now if I eat 1400 calories, I'll gain.
> 
> I think this is the study I'm thinking about (or at least a report of the study):
> Study Shows Why It’s Hard to Keep Weight Off
> 
> _"But now a group of Australian researchers have taken those investigations a step further to see if the changes persist over a longer time frame. They recruited healthy people who were either overweight or obese and put them on a highly restricted diet that led them to lose at least 10 percent of their body weight. They then kept them on a diet to maintain that weight loss. A year later, the researchers found that the participants’ metabolism and hormone levels had not returned to the levels before the study started."_
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary agrees the body fights weight loss at every step.  Which is why it is hard to maintain weight loss by diet alone.  But there is a level of caloric intake where the body cannot adjust its metabolism to maintain existing weight.  Gary thinks Frank, at 1,000 calories per day, is well below a BMR to which the body can adjust and maintain weight.
> 
> My physician friend and Gary had an interesting discussion over the weekend.  He stated that in general, the only way to actually "cure" a chronic illness/ailment, is with exercise.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Agreed, I burnt 948 calories in my one hour workout this morning.  I refuse to be one of those gym rats that talks a little, exercises a little, talks a little, repeat, repeat, repeat.  I hit the machines for 60 solid minutes of exercise then I am gone and on with the rest of my day.
Click to expand...

Good for you!  Mary Lou and Gary don't do gym.  We used to have memberships, but after the first month, the motivation starts tapering off. We have a treadmill inside, a weight machine in the garage and we're talking about a small treadmill for the patio. With all our exercise equipment it is easy to get a daily exercise routine going, but with our schedules and lack of motivation, it is hard to stick with it.  It is so much more fun to watch a movie and drink wine.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> More than 1000 calories means I put on weight or at least do not lose weight.
> 
> Frustrating.
> 
> And now the festivities begin: eating drinking .....
> 
> 
> 
> That is very odd because your baseline calorie usage (Basal Metabolic Rate/BMR) gotta be around 2000 calories per day.
> 
> Your BRM = the minimum calories required for basic cellular function.  So how many calories required to keep you alive while sleeping.  Everytime you move an arm, take a step, you need calories above your BMR to do so.
> 
> At 1000 calories a day, you are slowly starving yourself to death. So you need to revisit your intake calculations.
> 
> BMR = 293 - (3.8 * age) + (456.4 * height) + (10.12 * weight)
> (Where age is in years, height is in meters, and weight is in kilograms. For those imperially-inclined or metrically-challenged amongst us, one pound equals 0.4535924 kilogram, and one inch equals 0.0254 meter.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, but not everything works according to formula. Changes in metabolism can mess with the formula. Calorie restriction slows the metabolism, which doesn't just bounce back once you're no longer restricting calories. Age affects metabolism as well, as does muscle mass vs body fat.
> 
> I'm trying to find the study that explains this, but basically, a person diets and loses weight. The metabolism slows. At the new weight, a person needs fewer calories just to sustain themselves - even lower than what that formula yields. If that person eats above that or doesn't counter it with enough exercise, the person gains weight. Now let's say that person gains enough weight that they are back at the weight they were before the diet. The metabolism is still slower than it was when the person was originally at that weight, which means you need fewer calories than you did before.
> 
> So if I weighed X and required a baseline of 1500 calories, then I lose 30 lbs and subsequently gain it back until I weigh X again, I might only require a baseline of 1300 calories. So before, I could eat 1400 calories and lose some weight, but now if I eat 1400 calories, I'll gain.
> 
> I think this is the study I'm thinking about (or at least a report of the study):
> Study Shows Why It’s Hard to Keep Weight Off
> 
> _"But now a group of Australian researchers have taken those investigations a step further to see if the changes persist over a longer time frame. They recruited healthy people who were either overweight or obese and put them on a highly restricted diet that led them to lose at least 10 percent of their body weight. They then kept them on a diet to maintain that weight loss. A year later, the researchers found that the participants’ metabolism and hormone levels had not returned to the levels before the study started."_
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary agrees the body fights weight loss at every step.  Which is why it is hard to maintain weight loss by diet alone.  But there is a level of caloric intake where the body cannot adjust its metabolism to maintain existing weight.  Gary thinks Frank, at 1,000 calories per day, is well below a BMR to which the body can adjust and maintain weight.
> 
> My physician friend and Gary had an interesting discussion over the weekend.  He stated that in general, the only way to actually "cure" a chronic illness/ailment, is with exercise.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Agreed, I burnt 948 calories in my one hour workout this morning.  I refuse to be one of those gym rats that talks a little, exercises a little, talks a little, repeat, repeat, repeat.  I hit the machines for 60 solid minutes of exercise then I am gone and on with the rest of my day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Good for you!  Mary Lou and Gary don't do gym.  We used to have memberships, but after the first month, the motivation starts tapering off. We have a treadmill inside, a weight machine in the garage and we're talking about a small treadmill for the patio. With all our exercise equipment it is easy to get a daily exercise routine going, but with our schedules and lack of motivation, it is hard to stick with it.  It is so much more fun to watch a movie and drink wine.
Click to expand...

I have to gym, YMCA to be exact.  My physician and my orthopedic surgeon have both told me that they are not going to replace my arthritic knee until I am at least 70, as they only want to replace it once.  I used to walk for me, walk the dogs and use our tread mill.  That got stopped.  So now I ride the stationary bicycle or the recumbent walking machine which requires no pounding while taking strides.


----------



## Derrel

Yes, glossy prints tend to appear sharper, more-vibrant than matte surfaced prints. Blacks appear deeper on glossy paper as well. Glossy or matte is a personal preference, often held deeply by some people. The main drawback to glossy prints as I see it is their tendency to show a crisp,strong highlight from various light sources when viewed from some angles.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Monday was one of those days that just kept on giving. Took our fur kid out for her morning walk just after daylight, and noticed one of our heat pumps was covered in ice. It seemed like it hadn't been heating right for awhile. Waited till 8 to call the service then headed out to pick up our youngest who was being discharged from the hospital. Mixup in his VA benefits left me holding the bag on his meds plus my mine and my wife's co-pays for meds ate up over a thousand for the day. Then the heating and air people called. Seems our 10 yr 4 month old unit was only covered for 10 yrs, and the cost to repair wasn't feasible so a new unit is on order for another 5k.
> 
> Looks like I'll only be looking at pictures of cameras and equipment for the foreseeable future.



It's amazing to me how accurate they are with those warranties.  My furnace had a 7 year warranty and 7 years and 2 months after installing I had to have something fixed - thankfully nothing that was major $$ but the timing was just so perfect.  I had the same issue with the water tank.  Small leak immediately after warranty ran out and had to replace it.  The plumber said they have those warranties timed perfectly and he recommends replacing the tank every 6 years regardless of issues to avoid a disaster should it give out and flood the basement.   

The side by side fridge that we bought in 2001 and hated from day 1 was a different story.  The water dispenser broke just after warranty and was too much $$$ for the replacement parts so we didn't fix it but the fridge was fine so we did without the water feature.  Then the ice maker quit the next year and same issue with the cost of replacement parts so we hated that fridge even more and we started the death watch looking forward to buying a new one only to have that thing hang on for 15 long and annoying years...


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> . Sorry Bud
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks JC story of my life. Bad thing is the other unit is the same age as they were both put in when we built the house, and it will be quite a bit more expensive to replace. What really sucks is when we built, natural gas wasn't available but now it is, but the cost to convert is way more. However the lifespan of the natural gas units is more. From what I've seen on ours and of friends and neighbors who have heat pumps they require a lot of maintenance (capacitors, contactors, etc). Though they are very efficient, apparently the reason they have a 10 yr warranty, is because that's all they are good for. We built to be energy efficient and our all electric house power bill rarely runs over $300 a month, in the coldest or hottest months. Our previous home had gas furnaces, was larger, and less energy efficient, so bills were quite a bit higher.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Have you thought about solar?  Gary suspects solar, (plus the amortised cost of the equipment), would reduce your energy bill by 50%.  Out here, solar equipment is running about $100 a month and any additional energy pulled from the net is running about $6 to $12 per month (based upon a monthly energy bill of around $150 per month).
Click to expand...


Looked at solar when we built,  but the numbers just wouldn't work. We did however build the house to be energy efficient with insulation and windows. One end of the house faces southeast catching most of the sun through about 2 pm. It's a 21/2 story wall of  custom low-E  insulated glass, with UV blinds inside. In the winter it lets the warmth from the sun in, and in the summer due to change in the angle of the sun, it blocks the heat. Our total monthly bill for all electric home runs less than $300 even in the hottest/coldest months.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Monday was one of those days that just kept on giving. Took our fur kid out for her morning walk just after daylight, and noticed one of our heat pumps was covered in ice. It seemed like it hadn't been heating right for awhile. Waited till 8 to call the service then headed out to pick up our youngest who was being discharged from the hospital. Mixup in his VA benefits left me holding the bag on his meds plus my mine and my wife's co-pays for meds ate up over a thousand for the day. Then the heating and air people called. Seems our 10 yr 4 month old unit was only covered for 10 yrs, and the cost to repair wasn't feasible so a new unit is on order for another 5k.
> 
> Looks like I'll only be looking at pictures of cameras and equipment for the foreseeable future.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's amazing to me how accurate they are with those warranties.  My furnace had a 7 year warranty and 7 years and 2 months after installing I had to have something fixed - thankfully nothing that was major $$ but the timing was just so perfect.  I had the same issue with the water tank.  Small leak immediately after warranty ran out and had to replace it.  The plumber said they have those warranties timed perfectly and he recommends replacing the tank every 6 years regardless of issues to avoid a disaster should it give out and flood the basement.
> 
> The side by side fridge that we bought in 2001 and hated from day 1 was a different story.  The water dispenser broke just after warranty and was too much $$$ for the replacement parts so we didn't fix it but the fridge was fine so we did without the water feature.  Then the ice maker quit the next year and same issue with the cost of replacement parts so we hated that fridge even more and we started the death watch looking forward to buying a new one only to have that thing hang on for 15 long and annoying years...
Click to expand...

LOL ... Mechanical Fascism ...


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Monday was one of those days that just kept on giving. Took our fur kid out for her morning walk just after daylight, and noticed one of our heat pumps was covered in ice. It seemed like it hadn't been heating right for awhile. Waited till 8 to call the service then headed out to pick up our youngest who was being discharged from the hospital. Mixup in his VA benefits left me holding the bag on his meds plus my mine and my wife's co-pays for meds ate up over a thousand for the day. Then the heating and air people called. Seems our 10 yr 4 month old unit was only covered for 10 yrs, and the cost to repair wasn't feasible so a new unit is on order for another 5k.
> 
> Looks like I'll only be looking at pictures of cameras and equipment for the foreseeable future.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's amazing to me how accurate they are with those warranties.  My furnace had a 7 year warranty and 7 years and 2 months after installing I had to have something fixed - thankfully nothing that was major $$ but the timing was just so perfect.  I had the same issue with the water tank.  Small leak immediately after warranty ran out and had to replace it.  The plumber said they have those warranties timed perfectly and he recommends replacing the tank every 6 years regardless of issues to avoid a disaster should it give out and flood the basement.
> 
> The side by side fridge that we bought in 2001 and hated from day 1 was a different story.  The water dispenser broke just after warranty and was too much $$$ for the replacement parts so we didn't fix it but the fridge was fine so we did without the water feature.  Then the ice maker quit the next year and same issue with the cost of replacement parts so we hated that fridge even more and we started the death watch looking forward to buying a new one only to have that thing hang on for 15 long and annoying years...
Click to expand...


I know, it's scary, and they have the extended warranties set so you'll pay as much as you probably would anyhow.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> . Sorry Bud
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks JC story of my life. Bad thing is the other unit is the same age as they were both put in when we built the house, and it will be quite a bit more expensive to replace. What really sucks is when we built, natural gas wasn't available but now it is, but the cost to convert is way more. However the lifespan of the natural gas units is more. From what I've seen on ours and of friends and neighbors who have heat pumps they require a lot of maintenance (capacitors, contactors, etc). Though they are very efficient, apparently the reason they have a 10 yr warranty, is because that's all they are good for. We built to be energy efficient and our all electric house power bill rarely runs over $300 a month, in the coldest or hottest months. Our previous home had gas furnaces, was larger, and less energy efficient, so bills were quite a bit higher.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Have you thought about solar?  Gary suspects solar, (plus the amortised cost of the equipment), would reduce your energy bill by 50%.  Out here, solar equipment is running about $100 a month and any additional energy pulled from the net is running about $6 to $12 per month (based upon a monthly energy bill of around $150 per month).
Click to expand...


Looked at solar when we built,  but the numbers just wouldn't work. We did however build the house to be energy efficient with insulation and windows. One end of the house faces southeast catching most of the sun through about 2 pm. It's a 21/2 story wall of  custom low-E  insulated glass, with UV blinds inside. In the winter it lets the warmth from the sun in, and in the summer due to change in the angle of the sun, it blocks the heat.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> . Sorry Bud
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks JC story of my life. Bad thing is the other unit is the same age as they were both put in when we built the house, and it will be quite a bit more expensive to replace. What really sucks is when we built, natural gas wasn't available but now it is, but the cost to convert is way more. However the lifespan of the natural gas units is more. From what I've seen on ours and of friends and neighbors who have heat pumps they require a lot of maintenance (capacitors, contactors, etc). Though they are very efficient, apparently the reason they have a 10 yr warranty, is because that's all they are good for. We built to be energy efficient and our all electric house power bill rarely runs over $300 a month, in the coldest or hottest months. Our previous home had gas furnaces, was larger, and less energy efficient, so bills were quite a bit higher.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Have you thought about solar?  Gary suspects solar, (plus the amortised cost of the equipment), would reduce your energy bill by 50%.  Out here, solar equipment is running about $100 a month and any additional energy pulled from the net is running about $6 to $12 per month (based upon a monthly energy bill of around $150 per month).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Looked at solar when we built,  but the numbers just wouldn't work. We did however build the house to be energy efficient with insulation and windows. One end of the house faces southeast catching most of the sun through about 2 pm. It's a 21/2 story wall of  custom low-E  insulated glass, with UV blinds inside. In the winter it lets the warmth from the sun in, and in the summer due to change in the angle of the sun, it blocks the heat. Our total monthly bill for all electric home runs less than $300 even in the hottest/coldest months.
Click to expand...

Solar generation is getting better and cheaper.  There are some tax credits and subsidies out here to offset costs.  Sorta like Gary's succulent front yard ... it isn't making any impact on the drought, but at least he's doing what he can environmentally and it makes Gary feel better. The plus on the succulents, Mary Lou is having a great time with the variety of plants and the evolving design of the plantings.


----------



## table1349

Just because I can.  




__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1067025743432100


----------



## Gary A.

Gary feels better ...


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Solar generation is getting better and cheaper. There are some tax credits and subsidies out here to offset costs.



for now...


----------



## limr

The man is speaking Portuguese in the video. The accent is a bit difficult to pin down, though. It's more Brazilian than anything else, but not a standard accent. I'm guessing it's a northern regional accent, like they have in Bahia.



Gary A. said:


> Gary agrees the body fights weight loss at every step.  Which is why it is hard to maintain weight loss by diet alone.  But there is a level of caloric intake where the body cannot adjust its metabolism to maintain existing weight.  Gary thinks Frank, at 1,000 calories per day, is well below a BMR to which the body can adjust and maintain weight.
> 
> My physician friend and Gary had an interesting discussion over the weekend.  He stated that in general, the only way to actually "cure" a chronic illness/ailment, is with exercise.



Yup - exercise seems to be the key.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Monday was one of those days that just kept on giving. Took our fur kid out for her morning walk just after daylight, and noticed one of our heat pumps was covered in ice. It seemed like it hadn't been heating right for awhile. Waited till 8 to call the service then headed out to pick up our youngest who was being discharged from the hospital. Mixup in his VA benefits left me holding the bag on his meds plus my mine and my wife's co-pays for meds ate up over a thousand for the day. Then the heating and air people called. Seems our 10 yr 4 month old unit was only covered for 10 yrs, and the cost to repair wasn't feasible so a new unit is on order for another 5k.
> 
> Looks like I'll only be looking at pictures of cameras and equipment for the foreseeable future.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's amazing to me how accurate they are with those warranties.  My furnace had a 7 year warranty and 7 years and 2 months after installing I had to have something fixed - thankfully nothing that was major $$ but the timing was just so perfect.  I had the same issue with the water tank.  Small leak immediately after warranty ran out and had to replace it.  The plumber said they have those warranties timed perfectly and he recommends replacing the tank every 6 years regardless of issues to avoid a disaster should it give out and flood the basement.
> 
> The side by side fridge that we bought in 2001 and hated from day 1 was a different story.  The water dispenser broke just after warranty and was too much $$$ for the replacement parts so we didn't fix it but the fridge was fine so we did without the water feature.  Then the ice maker quit the next year and same issue with the cost of replacement parts so we hated that fridge even more and we started the death watch looking forward to buying a new one only to have that thing hang on for 15 long and annoying years...
Click to expand...

I won the hot water tank lottery last year.  In October, my nine-year warrantied hot-water tank developed a leak (Okay, truth, it turned my bathroom into a heated swimming pool...) at the eight year and seven month mark!  I got a brand-new 9 year tank for the gas to drive to the hardware store!


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary feels better ...


Glad to hear it.  We as people spend to much time looking for and complaining about the bad things, often trivial thing and over look the good.  I learned long ago from my best friends father to try and spend my life looking for the good.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Monday was one of those days that just kept on giving. Took our fur kid out for her morning walk just after daylight, and noticed one of our heat pumps was covered in ice. It seemed like it hadn't been heating right for awhile. Waited till 8 to call the service then headed out to pick up our youngest who was being discharged from the hospital. Mixup in his VA benefits left me holding the bag on his meds plus my mine and my wife's co-pays for meds ate up over a thousand for the day. Then the heating and air people called. Seems our 10 yr 4 month old unit was only covered for 10 yrs, and the cost to repair wasn't feasible so a new unit is on order for another 5k.
> 
> Looks like I'll only be looking at pictures of cameras and equipment for the foreseeable future.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's amazing to me how accurate they are with those warranties.  My furnace had a 7 year warranty and 7 years and 2 months after installing I had to have something fixed - thankfully nothing that was major $$ but the timing was just so perfect.  I had the same issue with the water tank.  Small leak immediately after warranty ran out and had to replace it.  The plumber said they have those warranties timed perfectly and he recommends replacing the tank every 6 years regardless of issues to avoid a disaster should it give out and flood the basement.
> 
> The side by side fridge that we bought in 2001 and hated from day 1 was a different story.  The water dispenser broke just after warranty and was too much $$$ for the replacement parts so we didn't fix it but the fridge was fine so we did without the water feature.  Then the ice maker quit the next year and same issue with the cost of replacement parts so we hated that fridge even more and we started the death watch looking forward to buying a new one only to have that thing hang on for 15 long and annoying years...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I won the hot water tank lottery last year.  In October, my nine-year warrantied hot-water tank developed a leak (Okay, truth, it turned my bathroom into a heated swimming pool...) at the eight year and seven month mark!  I got a brand-new 9 year tank for the gas to drive to the hardware store!
Click to expand...

Good for you.   I'm hoping to win the 10 year furnace motor warranty lottery.  When we bought the new house the furnace went out the first winter and it could not be fixed.  We put is a high efficiency (97%) unit. Long story short we paid for the 2 speed motor unit.  The supplier said they had one in.  They were wrong so they gave us the step up that has a variable speed motor.  Comes with a 10 year warranty for the entire furnace.  Good thing, the furnace is more energy efficient with that motor.  Bad thing is replacing it cost about $100 more over a 2 speed motor.


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> .. a couple of flashing LED-lighted shot glasses.
> 
> 
> 
> Whah!  Whah!  LUCKYYYY!  All we ever got were pens and shopping bags.
Click to expand...

You've got to start hanging out with geo-geeks!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Solar generation is getting better and cheaper. There are some tax credits and subsidies out here to offset costs.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> for now...
Click to expand...

Yeah, you only need them for the cost of the hardware and installation ... so if you're buying now ... for now is fine.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Solar generation is getting better and cheaper. There are some tax credits and subsidies out here to offset costs.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> for now...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah, you only need them for the cost of the hardware and installation ... so if you're buying now ... for now is fine.
Click to expand...

Bud of mine owns a business in Michigan and got off the grid with solar. Couple years back he sent me a pick of his first bill from Consumers power where they owned him money. Pretty cool.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Bud of mine owns a business in Michigan and got off the grid with solar. Couple years back he sent me a pick of his first bill from Consumers power where they owned him money



Some of the power companies become really difficult when you try to do that, make you jump through all kinds of hoops. I looked at several alternative power systems before we built, but laziness won out LOL. Actually a wood smoke fired 4 cylinder engine driving a generator, offered the most power, the fastest payback, and some serious energy revenue on the excess. Have enough land that I'd never run out of fuel, but there's a lot of labor in maintaining the gasifier. Had we built at another location we considered, there was a year round spring large enough to run a micro hydro-electric plant which would have been ideal.


----------



## b_twill

[/QUOTE]
Bud of mine owns a business in Michigan and got off the grid with solar. Couple years back he sent me a pick of his first bill from Consumers power where they owned him money. Pretty cool.[/QUOTE]

How well does that work in the winter when we're not exactly the sunshine state?  Our garage has an unobstructed southern exposure and I've always toyed with putting up some solar but our cloudy winters always put a damper on it.


----------



## jcdeboever

Bud of mine owns a business in Michigan and got off the grid with solar. Couple years back he sent me a pick of his first bill from Consumers power where they owned him money. Pretty cool.[/QUOTE]

How well does that work in the winter when we're not exactly the sunshine state?  Our garage has an unobstructed southern exposure and I've always toyed with putting up some solar but our cloudy winters always put a damper on it.[/QUOTE]
It is in place and works all the time as I understand it. It was professionally installed and it's placement, angle, etc. was strategic. It took some time as I recall to get the power company to pay him. Not sure how it works but I recall something about some of the energy is sent back into the grid, thus paying him monthly. I haven't talked to him in a while. I should probably touch base with him.


----------



## Derrel

How well does that work in the winter when we're not exactly the sunshine state?  Our garage has an unobstructed southern exposure and I've always toyed with putting up some solar but our cloudy winters always put a damper on it.[/QUOTE]

The first solar-powered house in the USA was built in Coos Bay, Oregon, one of the cloudiest areas in the USA. It is a myth that cloud cover eliminates solar rays; during daylight hours there is plenty of light that can be collected. If you want to see not exactly the sunshine state, Oregon qualifies, and Coos Bay is a rainy, dark, gloomy coastal town with more gray days than sunny. Oregon averages fewer than 144 sunny days per year. it rains here for months on end, from November to June. We have ONE month a year where rain is rare, and that is August.


----------



## Gary A.

Solar kicks-ass here.


----------



## Gary A.

This has been a good day.  Gary took a break from work and inspected the pond which was filled with those red blossoms he posted a few days ago.  They had clogged up his surface filter and he cleaned it out.  Then he kept going and planted some tomatillos, peppers, melons, dill and tomatoes.  All of his grapes are taking off, especially the Pinot Noir.


----------



## table1349

Buddy of mine lives in North West Nebraska and uses solar for his heating with no issues.  His system has a 1o00 gallon SS tank sunk under his basement inside insulted concrete.  Inside this tank is a 250 gallon SS tank that holds potable water.  His actual heat comes from in floor low pressure heating.  The big tank holds a 50/50 glycol/water mixture that heats the hot water in the smaller tank as well as providing the heat for the in floor system.  He has a back up boiler incase he does not get enough solar energy.  As well as his system is insulated he has used his back up boiler for exactly 38 hours since he built the house 7 years ago.  Its a very efficient system.  I didn't ask what it cost but I know it was damn expensive.

Forgot to mention when he built the house he made sure he had a long expanse of roof facing to the south just for his solar collectors.  Since they do get snowed in and since electricity can get cut he also has a propane fired 30kw generator.  Runs his whole house with ease.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary would go solar in a heartbeat, but for us it doesn't make economic sense.  Gary has a lot of energy saving considerations in the house and shells out about $80 a month for electricity.  A solar system would amortize out to about $100-$120 a month.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers,

Just bought this lens for myself on KEH: SMC Pentax-DA 35mm F2.4 AL Reviews - DA Prime Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database

I also decided that the conversation about diet and exercise was a sign that it's time to start kicking my ass again. I subscribe to a service called Daily Burn. I access it on my smart tv through the Amazon Fire stick and can get dozens of exercise videos, so I loaded one up and kicked my butt for 30 minutes. The gym at my college is also open late on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I've got a gym bag packed for tomorrow. 

Not trying to excuse anything, but it's been very difficult to force myself to exercise regularly when I've been exhausted all the time, no matter what I do. I was able to force it sometimes, but not consistently. Turns out that, as cliched as it sounds, I really did have a sluggish thyroid.  I've been on medication for 3 months and my last blood test showed improvement. Almost in a normal range now. I also showed very low levels of B12, which is odd because I've been taking supplements for years. I apparently don't absorb it very well, so I've started a liquid sublingual supplement and it makes a difference (better absorption.) And the other thing that I'm apparently deficient in is Vitamin D, so I've gotten a supplement (combined with K2) that dissolves under the tongue.

So addressing these issues has made it easier to start back on the right path. I lost 25 pounds over the course of last year, and then stalled, even gained about 5lbs back. But I'm hoping to turn that around. I'm going back to the doctor in 3 months to retest levels of thyroid and vitamins, and the nurse has me step on that damn scale every single time, so I'm determined that the number will be lower in 3 months when I go back!


----------



## table1349




----------



## limr

Huh.

I drive this road every weekday: The Deadliest Road In New York Is One You'll Want To Avoid


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Huh.
> 
> I drive this road every weekday: The Deadliest Road In New York Is One You'll Want To Avoid


I've driven that, no problem. Pretty tight, hopefully no one else is texting and driving that road these days. Speed traps as I recall too


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has never driven that road.


----------



## jcdeboever

My old manager leads USA to first World Baseball Classic! Couldn't be happier for Jim Leyland. My Tiger, Ian Kinsler has big game. GO USA! GO TIGERS! GO BLUE over ducks!


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> More than 1000 calories means I put on weight or at least do not lose weight.
> 
> Frustrating.
> 
> And now the festivities begin: eating drinking .....
> 
> 
> 
> That is very odd because your baseline calorie usage (Basal Metabolic Rate/BMR) gotta be around 2000 calories per day.
> 
> Your BRM = the minimum calories required for basic cellular function.  So how many calories required to keep you alive while sleeping.  Everytime you move an arm, take a step, you need calories above your BMR to do so.
> 
> At 1000 calories a day, you are slowly starving yourself to death. So you need to revisit your intake calculations.
> 
> BMR = 293 - (3.8 * age) + (456.4 * height) + (10.12 * weight)
> (Where age is in years, height is in meters, and weight is in kilograms. For those imperially-inclined or metrically-challenged amongst us, one pound equals 0.4535924 kilogram, and one inch equals 0.0254 meter.)
Click to expand...



1813 Calories is what I need according to you calculation.

88kg is where I still am and go sideways. I want to get to 80kg, 82kg would also be OK. So what do I do?

With 1000 Calories my body should take from the storage, shouldn't it?


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> More than 1000 calories means I put on weight or at least do not lose weight.
> 
> Frustrating.
> 
> And now the festivities begin: eating drinking .....
> 
> 
> 
> That is very odd because your baseline calorie usage (Basal Metabolic Rate/BMR) gotta be around 2000 calories per day.
> 
> Your BRM = the minimum calories required for basic cellular function.  So how many calories required to keep you alive while sleeping.  Everytime you move an arm, take a step, you need calories above your BMR to do so.
> 
> At 1000 calories a day, you are slowly starving yourself to death. So you need to revisit your intake calculations.
> 
> BMR = 293 - (3.8 * age) + (456.4 * height) + (10.12 * weight)
> (Where age is in years, height is in meters, and weight is in kilograms. For those imperially-inclined or metrically-challenged amongst us, one pound equals 0.4535924 kilogram, and one inch equals 0.0254 meter.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 1813 Calories is what I need according to you calculation.
> 
> 88kg is where I still am and go sideways. I want to get to 80kg, 82kg would also be OK. So what do I do?
> 
> With 1000 Calories my body should take from the storage, shouldn't it?
Click to expand...

Yes, you should be burning fat.  I suspect it is mostly water retention.  Chart your water/liquid intake.  Chart your activity level.  Chart how far you are walking everyday. Significantly, upping your exercise level, (i.e. walking), should work.  Running and sweating would work even better.  Don't rush it.  It took you decades to get to your present body state.  Don't attempt to get thin overnight or in a week. Patience and attention to everything you eat and a daily exercise routine are important.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> More than 1000 calories means I put on weight or at least do not lose weight.
> 
> Frustrating.
> 
> And now the festivities begin: eating drinking .....
> 
> 
> 
> That is very odd because your baseline calorie usage (Basal Metabolic Rate/BMR) gotta be around 2000 calories per day.
> 
> Your BRM = the minimum calories required for basic cellular function.  So how many calories required to keep you alive while sleeping.  Everytime you move an arm, take a step, you need calories above your BMR to do so.
> 
> At 1000 calories a day, you are slowly starving yourself to death. So you need to revisit your intake calculations.
> 
> BMR = 293 - (3.8 * age) + (456.4 * height) + (10.12 * weight)
> (Where age is in years, height is in meters, and weight is in kilograms. For those imperially-inclined or metrically-challenged amongst us, one pound equals 0.4535924 kilogram, and one inch equals 0.0254 meter.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 1813 Calories is what I need according to you calculation.
> 
> 88kg is where I still am and go sideways. I want to get to 80kg, 82kg would also be OK. So what do I do?
> 
> With 1000 Calories my body should take from the storage, shouldn't it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, you should be burning fat.  I suspect it is mostly water retention.  Chart your water/liquid intake.  Chart your activity level.  Chart how far you are walking everyday. Significantly, upping your exercise level, (i.e. walking), should work.  Running and sweating would work even better.  Don't rush it.  It took you decades to get to your present body state.  Don't attempt to get thin overnight or in a week. Patience and attention to everything you eat and a daily exercise routine are important.
Click to expand...


This ^^

While it's easier to lose weight through diet alone than through exercise alone, the combination is what is key. Rather than trying to create the entire 800-calorie deficit through diet, try a combination. Eat 1400 calories and burn 400 calories through exercise. To specifically burn fat, you need to start thinking about heart rate: How to Calculate Heart Rate for Fat Burn

"*Fat Burning Zone*
Your target heart rate for fat burning is approximately 55 percent to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. Multiply your MHR by 0.55 to get your lower level threshold, and multiply your MHR by 0.70 to get your upper level threshold. So, if you are 40 years old, your lower level threshold would be 180 x 0.55 = 99 beats per minute, and your upper level threshold would be 180 x 0.70 = 126 beats per minute. This would make your fat burning zone 99 to 126 beats per minute.

*Stay in The Zone*
Once you have calculated your fat burning zone, be sure to adjust your intensity during exercise to stay within those upper and lower limits. Periodically check on your heart rate using one of the methods listed above. Your percentage of calories burned from fat will decrease if you go over this range."


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Thursday is camera ad day in the LA Times.  Most notable Samy's Camera.  Today's ad is only a half page, but they have a headline proclaiming "BASEBALL SEASON IS COMING".  Under the headline are four lenses, a Canon 70-200, Nikkor 200-500, Sigma 150-600 and Tamron 150-600. Yep, baseball is all about long lenses.

At the Times we had a stockroom full of long lenses, "Baseball Lenses" we called them. I remember one being a little under three feet long and you could literally stick your face into the lens hood. Back then, in the film-only days, zooms were crappy, like the bottom of Coke bottles crappy, so all the lenses were primes. Those Baseball Lenses had a stick shift for quick focus.  You always went to Dodger games early, because the food was so good.  The team fed you in a bonafide restaurant, with waiters in white dinner jackets/tunics.  You'd sit down next to Vin Scully or Sandy Koufax and have a chat with your meal. Then up to the Press Box lugging the Baseball Lens. The Press Box had permanent tripod heads mounted in the window sills.  Once setup, you dialed in the Baseball Lens.  The stick shift had four positions and moved forward and back, you focus on the pitcher and clicked that focus into the first position of the stick shift, then second base, mid-center field and against the fence center and click them all in. Now you're set, if a ball is swatted to the warning track, you just used the external iron sight, (like the gunsight on a WWII fighter plane), and jammed the shifter into fourth.  lol  Amazing that anything was ever in focus.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> More than 1000 calories means I put on weight or at least do not lose weight.
> 
> Frustrating.
> 
> And now the festivities begin: eating drinking .....
> 
> 
> 
> That is very odd because your baseline calorie usage (Basal Metabolic Rate/BMR) gotta be around 2000 calories per day.
> 
> Your BRM = the minimum calories required for basic cellular function.  So how many calories required to keep you alive while sleeping.  Everytime you move an arm, take a step, you need calories above your BMR to do so.
> 
> At 1000 calories a day, you are slowly starving yourself to death. So you need to revisit your intake calculations.
> 
> BMR = 293 - (3.8 * age) + (456.4 * height) + (10.12 * weight)
> (Where age is in years, height is in meters, and weight is in kilograms. For those imperially-inclined or metrically-challenged amongst us, one pound equals 0.4535924 kilogram, and one inch equals 0.0254 meter.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 1813 Calories is what I need according to you calculation.
> 
> 88kg is where I still am and go sideways. I want to get to 80kg, 82kg would also be OK. So what do I do?
> 
> With 1000 Calories my body should take from the storage, shouldn't it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, you should be burning fat.  I suspect it is mostly water retention.  Chart your water/liquid intake.  Chart your activity level.  Chart how far you are walking everyday. Significantly, upping your exercise level, (i.e. walking), should work.  Running and sweating would work even better.  Don't rush it.  It took you decades to get to your present body state.  Don't attempt to get thin overnight or in a week. Patience and attention to everything you eat and a daily exercise routine are important.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> This ^^
> 
> While it's easier to lose weight through diet alone than through exercise alone, the combination is what is key. Rather than trying to create the entire 800-calorie deficit through diet, try a combination. Eat 1400 calories and burn 400 calories through exercise. To specifically burn fat, you need to start thinking about heart rate: How to Calculate Heart Rate for Fat Burn
> 
> "*Fat Burning Zone*
> Your target heart rate for fat burning is approximately 55 percent to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. Multiply your MHR by 0.55 to get your lower level threshold, and multiply your MHR by 0.70 to get your upper level threshold. So, if you are 40 years old, your lower level threshold would be 180 x 0.55 = 99 beats per minute, and your upper level threshold would be 180 x 0.70 = 126 beats per minute. This would make your fat burning zone 99 to 126 beats per minute.
> 
> *Stay in The Zone*
> Once you have calculated your fat burning zone, be sure to adjust your intensity during exercise to stay within those upper and lower limits. Periodically check on your heart rate using one of the methods listed above. Your percentage of calories burned from fat will decrease if you go over this range."
Click to expand...

Yes, stay in the zone.  Do it daily or every other day.  The best way to chart the zone is with an activity tracker, a Fitbit, Garmin, iWatch, et cetera.  (I didn't want to go into the expense of hardware, but the newer activity trackers are extremely useful. My Garmin had a chest belt/sensor for heartbeat, my iWatch takes it off the wrist and is surprisingly accurate, most fingertip type sensors are useless.)


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Huh.
> 
> I drive this road every weekday: The Deadliest Road In New York Is One You'll Want To Avoid
> 
> 
> 
> I've driven that, no problem. Pretty tight, hopefully no one else is texting and driving that road these days. Speed traps as I recall too
Click to expand...


Ah yes, well one can hope 

The road was widened to three lanes in Westchester county to handle volume, although it's still pretty crowded and regularly gets congested at the same places. As a matter of fact, just this morning I avoided it because of the big red line of traffic I saw on Google Maps before I left the house. Three accidents and it was actually closed for a shot time.

Through Putnam county, it's narrow and has nasty curves and it's also quite hilly. Once you pass Poughkeepsie, it's a much easier road to deal with. Still narrow, but the terrain flattens a bit for a while and the road is straighter. And there is a lot less traffic.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Huh.
> 
> I drive this road every weekday: The Deadliest Road In New York Is One You'll Want To Avoid
> 
> 
> 
> I've driven that, no problem. Pretty tight, hopefully no one else is texting and driving that road these days. Speed traps as I recall too
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ah yes, well one can hope
> 
> The road was widened to three lanes in Westchester county to handle volume, although it's still pretty crowded and regularly gets congested at the same places. As a matter of fact, just this morning I avoided it because of the big red line of traffic I saw on Google Maps before I left the house. Three accidents and it was actually closed for a shot time.
> 
> Through Putnam county, it's narrow and has nasty curves and it's also quite hilly. Once you pass Poughkeepsie, it's a much easier road to deal with. Still narrow, but the terrain flattens a bit for a while and the road is straighter. And there is a lot less traffic.
Click to expand...


I can't recall if it was three lanes in Westchester when I went through. I do recall a lot of traffic cops though. It's been a while and I am scheduled to go back in that area later spring, early summer. I have a couple customers in that region and a few prospects that I need to visit when I go there. That is what I call my east coast run. I sell powder coat equipment and supplies to a few tire retreaders along the coast line. Of course, I wasn't into photography the last time through, so I may have to strategically plan on where I staying this time out. I will probably PM you my routes pins in a couple weeks looking for photo spots.


----------



## Derrel

Hoping my University of Oregon Ducks beat the University of Michigan today..this Sweet 16 2017 game tipped off about three minutes ago...


----------



## jcdeboever

Derrel said:


> Hoping my University of Oregon Ducks beat the University of Michigan today..this Sweet 16 2017 game tipped off about three minutes ago...



Games tonight. Hope you lose but I still love ya man


----------



## limr

Ugh. I'd support the Ducks in most games, but my boyfriend's mother is from a long line of Wolverines, so I gotta go with Michigan on this one.


----------



## SquarePeg

Basketball?  Sorry - I'm still working on my math.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm winning my bracket pool right now (that one of my MS students filled out for me).

All of those parkways in NY (and the Merritt in CT for that matter, too) are terrifying, but it isn't because of the roads themselves. They were designed for 50mph traffic at half of the volume (or less) that does 70+mph through there now. No shoulders, hard curbs, tight turns and overpasses. It's no wonder really.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I'm winning my bracket pool right now (that one of my MS students filled out for me).
> 
> All of those parkways in NY (and the Merritt in CT for that matter, too) are terrifying, but it isn't because of the roads themselves. They were designed for 50mph traffic at half of the volume (or less) that does 70+mph through there now. No shoulders, hard curbs, tight turns and overpasses. It's no wonder really.



My kind of roads. Ohio sucks, talk about boring, flat, drab, and sleepy. The occasional hawk on the post in the turnpike but other then that, a plastic gallon jug, and lots of coffee.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I'm winning my bracket pool right now (that one of my MS students filled out for me).
> 
> All of those parkways in NY (and the Merritt in CT for that matter, too) are terrifying, but it isn't because of the roads themselves. They were designed for 50mph traffic at half of the volume (or less) that does 70+mph through there now. No shoulders, hard curbs, tight turns and overpasses. It's no wonder really.



I learned how to drive on a parkway, in my uncle's giant Caddy, in winter.  He said if you can drive this thing on the parkway in the snow you can drive anywhere.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> My old manager leads USA to first World Baseball Classic! Couldn't be happier for Jim Leyland. My Tiger, Ian Kinsler has big game. GO USA! GO TIGERS! GO BLUE over ducks!


Boring game, USA 8 - Puerto Rico 0. Best quote was Leyland stating that he was "... Making America great again...". lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'll take anybody over Michigan. And I like Ducks. Ducks like rain. 

I don't know about the safety of that parkway but it looks pretty there (seems like one of those we want writers but can't pay, and we want photographers too and you'll shoot for the exposure while we make money from ads, right? kind of things so I don't know how accurate it is.)

So did you get a math answer Sharon? Inquiring minds want to know. And us. 

And what bugs me even more is that a good example for kids as to how many contacts online are the norm that kids think they should have??


----------



## waday

My supervisor wants me to hire someone.. "take someone under your wing", so I'm/we're in the process of interviewing people. I never imagined I'd be interviewing at my age, nor did I imagine I'd have my own staff. 

I've found the process to be terrifying, humbling, and incredibly mentally draining. I hope that's normal.


----------



## Gary A.

Heads-up peoples. Gary is announcing that he has rototilled the parkway.  He is beat up from the processed, but he is 90% done from turning the thick grass lawn into a drought resistant, succulent and native plant, garden space.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> My supervisor wants me to hire someone.. "take someone under your wing", so I'm/we're in the process of interviewing people. I never imagined I'd be interviewing at my age, nor did I imagine I'd have my own staff.
> 
> I've found the process to be terrifying, humbling, and incredibly mentally draining. I hope that's normal.


Kinda, I found the lower on the food chain, the harder to find qualified people.  The higher up, the greater the responsibilies, the easier to find qualified people.  Firing is hard.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> My supervisor wants me to hire someone.. "take someone under your wing", so I'm/we're in the process of interviewing people. I never imagined I'd be interviewing at my age, nor did I imagine I'd have my own staff.
> 
> I've found the process to be terrifying, humbling, and incredibly mentally draining. I hope that's normal.


It's normal.   Your own staff become an extension of how you manage, or operate, so it's important to get the right fit.   You learn quickly what that actually means to you, and you become more adept at ID'ing your personal "right fit."    I'd know within a couple of minutes of an interview if someone wasn't going to make it, but I still wanted to give them the respect of more than a few minutes of my time - interviews are hard on both sides.   So, your time can and will be wasted as you weed out the pool of candidates.    

Even then, it's a crap shoot.   So yes - it's mentally draining from the get-go.      Good luck!


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> More than 1000 calories means I put on weight or at least do not lose weight.
> 
> Frustrating.
> 
> And now the festivities begin: eating drinking .....
> 
> 
> 
> That is very odd because your baseline calorie usage (Basal Metabolic Rate/BMR) gotta be around 2000 calories per day.
> 
> Your BRM = the minimum calories required for basic cellular function.  So how many calories required to keep you alive while sleeping.  Everytime you move an arm, take a step, you need calories above your BMR to do so.
> 
> At 1000 calories a day, you are slowly starving yourself to death. So you need to revisit your intake calculations.
> 
> BMR = 293 - (3.8 * age) + (456.4 * height) + (10.12 * weight)
> (Where age is in years, height is in meters, and weight is in kilograms. For those imperially-inclined or metrically-challenged amongst us, one pound equals 0.4535924 kilogram, and one inch equals 0.0254 meter.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 1813 Calories is what I need according to you calculation.
> 
> 88kg is where I still am and go sideways. I want to get to 80kg, 82kg would also be OK. So what do I do?
> 
> With 1000 Calories my body should take from the storage, shouldn't it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, you should be burning fat.  I suspect it is mostly water retention.  Chart your water/liquid intake.  Chart your activity level.  Chart how far you are walking everyday. Significantly, upping your exercise level, (i.e. walking), should work.  Running and sweating would work even better.  Don't rush it.  It took you decades to get to your present body state.  Don't attempt to get thin overnight or in a week. Patience and attention to everything you eat and a daily exercise routine are important.
Click to expand...


I Have been 85 +/- 2kg for rougly 15 years without caring for anything. Then, since Jan 2013 I take Cortisone which at low doses increases my weight possibly due to water retention. I walk 1 hour per day. Fast. I sweat. I think I burn some fat. For roughly 8 weeks I only ate between 11 and 19 which is said to repair guts and clean the body and kill fat without killing muscle. I did drink next to nothing starting New Year. Currently I am back to wine twice a week.

I am down 5 Kilos from my Christmas weight that was stable for 2016 at ~93.6kg

I had reached 87.7 lowest but I am back at 88.6. I hunger for veggies. Meat is only of minor interest. Has been different. Lots of meat before.

When I think a lot and write I demand sweets.

How can I measure water content in my body?


----------



## Designer

waday said:


> I've found the process to be terrifying, humbling, and incredibly mentally draining. I hope that's normal.


Probably.  I've been a supervisor and a business owner, so my adjectives of choice would be; stressful, irritating, tiring, and frustrating, but your adjectives fit right in with "normal".


----------



## Designer

Frank F. said:


> How can I measure water content in my body?


There is a test you can do that is quite easy, but it does not measure the amount of water retention.

Press your thumb into your arm or leg, then remove it.  If you see a dent that remains for a second, that is water retention.  

Edema (Water Retention) - Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment


----------



## Gary A.

@ Frank: Walk two hours a day and see what happens.  Walking is great exercise, the problem with walking is that you need a lot of it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Let's see, what's new ... Gary order two pounds of Costa Rica Tarrazu last night and it has already shipped.  A couple of days ago Gary roasted the last of his Chiapas, about a pound.  He gave it a light roast ... ugh!  Gary will not do that again.  The brew came out very weak in color and in taste. Hopefully, today he'll have time to re-roast the last batch. Last night was a delightful dinner.  While Gary BBQed up some steaks, Mary Lou poked and plucked around the garden collecting a great salad.  Gary is not a salad person, mind you, but the variety of greens and freshness turned a salad into something other than a salad. Gary broke open a red Italian blend from Temecula which added to the delightfulness of dinner. Gary doesn't know much about Italian varietals ... but he's willing to learn.


----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Happy Friday, hosers!



Happy Friday! 

It was me this morning. And kinda a little bit right now...


----------



## waday

Thank you all for your responses!



Gary A. said:


> Kinda, I found the lower on the food chain, the harder to find qualified people.  The higher up, the greater the responsibilies, the easier to find qualified people.  Firing is hard.


I can't imagine firing, especially after the current process. 



terri said:


> It's normal.   Your own staff become an extension of how you manage, or operate, so it's important to get the right fit.   You learn quickly what that actually means to you, and you become more adept at ID'ing your personal "right fit."    I'd know within a couple of minutes of an interview if someone wasn't going to make it, but I still wanted to give them the respect of more than a few minutes of my time - interviews are hard on both sides.   So, your time can and will be wasted as you weed out the pool of candidates.
> 
> Even then, it's a crap shoot.   So yes - it's mentally draining from the get-go.      Good luck!


Becoming more adept at finding the "right fit" is so true. I'm less "Type A" than some of my cohorts (which are all Type A), and I don't think our group can take another Type A person. I recommended passing on a few that were too high strung. It's amazing how much (unpaid) time has been drained just through emails/IMs/phones calls back and forth internally. And the meetings and conversations. I'm ready to take a nap.



Designer said:


> Probably.  I've been a supervisor and a business owner, so my adjectives of choice would be; stressful, irritating, tiring, and frustrating, but your adjectives fit right in with "normal".


Comforting to know that my adjectives are "normal", but sad that hiring someone new should be so full of negative descriptors when it's supposed to be a positive experience!


----------



## Designer

waday said:


> Comforting to know that my adjectives are "normal", but sad that hiring someone new should be so full of negative descriptors when it's supposed to be a positive experience!


For my last two hires I went somewhat against company hiring rules (bent, not broken) in order to get the best candidates.  I chose very well, and they turned out to be two of the most valuable employees in the office.  That was a positive result of bending the rules.


----------



## waday

Designer said:


> For my last two hires I went somewhat against company hiring rules (bent, not broken) in order to get the best candidates. I chose very well, and they turned out to be two of the most valuable employees in the office. That was a positive result of bending the rules.


That's great to hear! I hope we can do the same here!


----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349

There is a Chinese Proverb that goes something like this…

A farmer and his son had a beloved stallion who helped the family earn a living. One day, the horse ran away and their neighbors exclaimed, “Your horse ran away, what terrible luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”

A few days later, the horse returned home, leading a few wild mares back to the farm as well. The neighbors shouted out, “Your horse has returned, and brought several horses home with him. What great luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”

Later that week, the farmer’s son was trying to break one of the mares and she threw him to the ground, breaking his leg. The villagers cried, “Your son broke his leg, what terrible luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”

A few weeks later, soldiers from the national army marched through town, recruiting all the able-bodied boys for the army. They did not take the farmer’s son, still recovering from his injury. Friends shouted, “Your boy is spared, what tremendous luck!” To which the farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”

The moral of this story, is, of course, that no event, in and of itself, can truly be judged as good or bad, lucky or unlucky, fortunate or unfortunate, but that only time will tell the whole story. Additionally, no one really lives long enough to find out the ‘whole story,’ so it could be considered a great waste of time to judge minor inconveniences as misfortunes or to invest tons of energy into things that look outstanding on the surface, but may not pay off in the end.


----------



## Designer

waday said:


> That's great to hear! I hope we can do the same here!


One important thing: You don't want to "work with" the HR Dept., because they wrote the rules.  And they like people to adhere to the rules they wrote.


----------



## JonA_CT

It's amazing to me the way that HR departments write rules. My brother-in-law is a biomedical engineer. He has written successful software and designed several different types IV pumps that you would see being used at your local hospital.

A couple of years ago, a company bought his intellectual property, and then hired him as a consultant to maintain the equipment and software. Eventually, they decided they wanted to hire him full-time. The catch was that the role they wanted him for required him to have a Master's. At the time, he didn't have a degree. The HR department refused to allow them to hire him, even though they were paying him 200% of the salary as the consultant. It took months and months for them to decide that it would be okay to hire him, and only if he went and completed his Master's. They didn't care what he got it in, but they needed to get that box checked off. Ridiculous.

Hiring sucks though -- I've sat on a ton of committees over the last few years. It's so hard to be able to figure out what that person across the table will actually look like doing the job. Our most recent temporary hire is a classic example...he talked good game, but we are excited he is leaving in a few weeks.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone
A couple shots of some California Gold in the backyard.  

Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are relaxing in a the patio sipping a Carmen-Stevens Sauvignon Blanc. A very nice way to usher in the evening.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

The Carmen-Stevens is from South Africa. Quite refreshing.


----------



## Gary A.

Big game tonight, UCLA - Kentucky

Go Blue!   (Lol)


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Big game tonight, UCLA - Kentucky
> 
> Go Blue!   (Lol)


Hey now!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Watching endless college hockey, I'm happy as a clam (it can rain all weekend, I don't care!). So far an impressive glass shattering crash into the boards (of non breakable glass that crumbles so is less hazardous than it looks) which seemed to turn the tide of the game into 3 OTs that has the 6:30 game ready to start finally at almost 8:30. 

No such thing as too much hockey.


----------



## snowbear

Good Friday, hosers.

Went to the viewing and service for the mom of one of my two my best friends in High School.  I just can't seem to get away from funerals and hospital visits this year.

While out, I received an email from the IT Director of one of the municipalities in the work county, telling me to suggest some times, next week, for an interview.  Their GIS person left a few weeks ago (she's a MSGIC* friend) and my name came up while she and my GIS boss were thinking of replacements.

*Maryland State Geographic Information Committee (geogeeks)


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> Good Friday, hosers.
> 
> Went to the viewing and service for the mom of one of my two my best friends in High School.  I just can't seem to get away from funerals and hospital visits this year.
> 
> While out, I received an email from the IT Director of one of the municipalities in the work county, telling me to suggest some times, next week, for an interview.  Their GIS person left a few weeks ago (she's a MSGIC* friend) and my name came up while she and my GIS boss were thinking of replacements.
> 
> *Maryland State Geographic Information Committee (geogeeks)



Fingers are crossed for you. Seems like you could use a win.

My weekend should be interesting. My wife mentioned a month ago, hypothetically, that her sister and family might be visiting this weekend. We both forgot about it until she got a text yesterday asking when they should arrive. We'll see how this goes -- our house is pretty small to have us plus another family of four and their dog, and it's supposed to be cold and rainy.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good Friday, hosers.
> 
> Went to the viewing and service for the mom of one of my two my best friends in High School.  I just can't seem to get away from funerals and hospital visits this year.
> 
> While out, I received an email from the IT Director of one of the municipalities in the work county, telling me to suggest some times, next week, for an interview.  Their GIS person left a few weeks ago (she's a MSGIC* friend) and my name came up while she and my GIS boss were thinking of replacements.
> 
> *Maryland State Geographic Information Committee (geogeeks)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fingers are crossed for you. Seems like you could use a win.
> 
> My weekend should be interesting. My wife mentioned a month, hypothetically, that her sister and family might be visiting this weekend. We both forgot about it until she got a text yesterday asking when they should arrive. We'll see how this goes -- our house is pretty small to have us plus another family of four and their dog, and it's supposed to be cold and rainy.
Click to expand...


I'll send you the Job Rock, Charlie! 

Jon - YIKES!


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good Friday, hosers.
> 
> Went to the viewing and service for the mom of one of my two my best friends in High School.  I just can't seem to get away from funerals and hospital visits this year.
> 
> While out, I received an email from the IT Director of one of the municipalities in the work county, telling me to suggest some times, next week, for an interview.  Their GIS person left a few weeks ago (she's a MSGIC* friend) and my name came up while she and my GIS boss were thinking of replacements.
> 
> *Maryland State Geographic Information Committee (geogeeks)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fingers are crossed for you. Seems like you could use a win.
> 
> My weekend should be interesting. My wife mentioned a month, hypothetically, that her sister and family might be visiting this weekend. We both forgot about it until she got a text yesterday asking when they should arrive. We'll see how this goes -- our house is pretty small to have us plus another family of four and their dog, and it's supposed to be cold and rainy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'll send you the Job Rock, Charlie!
> 
> Jon - YIKES!
Click to expand...


I wish we could say -- hey, maybe next weekend. But they live in North Carolina, and are only in the neighborhood this week. Neighborhood being New Jersey...but it's only 3 hours here instead of 12.


----------



## limr

New Jersey, eh? Sorry   But yes, it's more "in the neighborhood" than NC.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks guys.  There is also something else in the works.  Hopefully it will be a race.

Free stuff from the TuGIS Conference:

A  Geogeek Book

 

and the LED shot glass




__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1845658119020350


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is presently in the patio re-roasting coffee beans.  His light roast was crap, so back to the salt mines in order to get a proper cup of coffee this morning.  He has just poured the last of the beans into the popcorn popper.  So not long now.

@ Jon: That seems like a bit of a rude awakening.  Good luck man.  Break out the home brew ales and all should be well.


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> the LED shot glass


Wonderful invention to help you find your glass in the dark! 

Unless you can't see the light.  

Which means you're under the table, and probably don't need anymore.


----------



## Derrel

Where can we buy such an LED shot glass?


----------



## Gary A.

Derrel said:


> Where can we buy such an LED shot glass?


LOL ... really?


----------



## snowbear

I guess you can attend the conference next year.


----------



## JonA_CT

It kinda looks sunny if you look through the homebrew...


----------



## snowbear

Derrel said:


> Where can we buy such an LED shot glass?


Here ya go.
Liquid Activated Light Up Shooter Glass - 2 oz. - 24 hr (Item No. 118442-24HR) from only $2.09 ready to be imprinted by 4imprint Promotional Products


----------



## Designer

Derrel said:


> Where can we buy such an LED shot glass?


Derrel; if you buy the first 287 of them, I will gladly buy one of them from you at $2.35!


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> Where can we buy such an LED shot glass?
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel; if you buy the first 287 of them, I will gladly buy one of them from you at $2.35!
Click to expand...


Don't forget the $55 setup if you want a logo.


----------



## Designer

snowbear said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> Where can we buy such an LED shot glass?
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel; if you buy the first 287 of them, I will gladly buy one of them from you at $2.35!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't forget the $55 setup if you want a logo.
Click to expand...

That's on Derrel.  It was his idea to buy one (or 288 of them).  This could turn into a money-maker for TPF.  The owner of TPF simply signs off on use of the logo for a fundraiser, somebody orders the glasses, and sells them to TPF members to benefit the Audubon Society.  (for instance)

I wish the lights came in different colors so we could tell our drink for everybody else's.  But then mine is probably going to be in my hand, so never mind.


----------



## snowbear

Designer said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Designer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> Where can we buy such an LED shot glass?
> 
> 
> 
> Derrel; if you buy the first 287 of them, I will gladly buy one of them from you at $2.35!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't forget the $55 setup if you want a logo.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's on Derrel.  It was his idea to buy one (or 288 of them).  This could turn into a money-maker for TPF.  The owner of TPF simply signs off on use of the logo for a fundraiser, somebody orders the glasses, and sells them to TPF members to benefit the Audubon Society.  (for instance)
> 
> I wish the lights came in different colors so we could tell our drink for everybody else's.  But then mine is probably going to be in my hand, so never mind.
Click to expand...

Oh, I know that is for Derrel.  I think he should buy 1,008 for the maximum discount.
This really would be a cool idea - contest prizes, and all.  TPF apparently had some camera straps available for purchase a few years ago.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Alice had her first oil change this afternoon and we switched out the tires so that I'm no longer driving on jelly doughnuts. Zoom zoom!


----------



## Derrel

So, who's down for their $86.49 LED shot glass? I have 285 of them for sale now! Send me a money order for $86.49 per glass to Derrel, C/O *The TPF Cafe*, Room 309, TPF World HQ, Atlanta, Georgia...I'll get back to you later with the zip code. Hurry! order now! And we'll send you this free bonus offer: a Comcast all-aluminum bottle opener and key ring! FREE SHIPPING!


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Alice had her first oil change this afternoon and we switched out the tires so that I'm no longer driving on jelly doughnuts. Zoom zoom!



Can you send me a self-addressed stamp envelope? I need it so I can send appropriate chain letters and the like when we get a foot or three of snow next week.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> Alice had her first oil change this afternoon and we switched out the tires so that I'm no longer driving on jelly doughnuts. Zoom zoom!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can you send me a self-addressed stamp envelope? I need it so I can send appropriate chain letters and the like when we get a foot or three of snow next week.
Click to expand...


I know, I know, I totally jinxed us an guaranteed us an April blizzard. Sorry  But those tires are just intolerable at 50 degrees! I had to!


----------



## limr

Got my new lens in the mail today. Pentax 35mm for the K7. Testing out to see how it performs at wider apertures (which is often how I like to shoot) and to start getting used to auto focus.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> Alice had her first oil change this afternoon and we switched out the tires so that I'm no longer driving on jelly doughnuts. Zoom zoom!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can you send me a self-addressed stamp envelope? I need it so I can send appropriate chain letters and the like when we get a foot or three of snow next week.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I know, I know, I totally jinxed us an guaranteed us an April blizzard. Sorry  But those tires are just intolerable at 50 degrees! I had to!
Click to expand...

It hit 79 today.  A/C is on.


----------



## Gary A.

Derrel said:


> So, who's down for their $86.49 LED shot glass? I have 285 of them for sale now! Send me a money order for $86.49 per glass to Derrel, C/O *The TPF Cafe*, Room 309, TPF World HQ, Atlanta, Georgia...I'll get back to you later with the zip code. Hurry! order now! And we'll send you this free bonus offer: a Comcast all-aluminum bottle opener and key ring! FREE SHIPPING!


Free shipping?


----------



## Derrel

Gary A. said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, who's down for their $86.49 LED shot glass? I have 285 of them for sale now! Send me a money order for $86.49 per glass to Derrel, C/O *The TPF Cafe*, Room 309, TPF World HQ, Atlanta, Georgia...I'll get back to you later with the zip code. Hurry! order now! And we'll send you this free bonus offer: a Comcast all-aluminum bottle opener and key ring! FREE SHIPPING!
> 
> 
> 
> Free shipping?
Click to expand...


Yes, *FREE* shipping _*for both*_ the awesome LED shot glass and for the FREE Comcast bottle opener and keychain bonus gift. But wait--there's MORE! Order before midnight tonight and we'll send you a colorful piece of chalk, perfect for writing cool sayings and quips on concrete, brick walls, or most painted surfaces! Chalk color varies by supply on hand. Hurry! Order before midnight and we'll throw in a second-SECOND BONUS gift*--a 100-count pad of genuine imitation Post-It Notes in flaming orange high-viz color!

*second-SECOND BONUS gift is called the third bonus gift in California,Idaho,Missouri,and Vermont. 

*second-SECOND BONUS gift is not available in Delaware.


----------



## JonA_CT

I think we topped out in the low 40s today. This is after the weather folks advertised a high of 60 all week for today.

Meh. It's mud season.


----------



## SquarePeg

It was bone chilling and raw here today with some sleet then rain.

Went to see the CHIPS movie this afternoon.  While it was not peemypants funny, it had some very funny moments, especially one scene.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Mary Lou, Cook, Gary and guests just finished dinner and now enjoying a dessert wine at the fire table. Another prefect day ... I love LA.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> ... While it was not peemypants funny...


Is that an official Siskel & Ebert humour rating?


----------



## snowbear

Back in the upper 40s.

MLW telling me to head back to bed . . . sinus - scratchy throat thing, and I'm smart enough to listen to her.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are back in Temecula.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

The patio at Doffo. Upper 60's, blue skies and great vino.

In the background is a dude who looks like a serial killer, but plays a mean classical Spanish guitar.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Lorenzi, our fav Temecula Winery.


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... While it was not peemypants funny...
> 
> 
> 
> Is that an official Siskel & Ebert humour rating?
Click to expand...


but of course!

peemypantsfunny = 2 thumbs up


----------



## terri

Happy Monday, hosers.    wheeeee!!!!


----------



## pgriz

terri said:


> Happy Monday, hosers.    wheeeee!!!!



Terri - just a word to the wise.  Anyone using "wheeeee!!!!" in relation to Monday is automatically subject to drug testing.  Just because.


----------



## terri

pgriz said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Monday, hosers.    wheeeee!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Terri - just a word to the wise.  Anyone using "wheeeee!!!!" in relation to Monday is automatically subject to drug testing.  Just because.
Click to expand...

Not worried.        wheeee!!!!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Monday, hosers.    wheeeee!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Terri - just a word to the wise.  Anyone using "wheeeee!!!!" in relation to Monday is automatically subject to drug testing.  Just because.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not worried.        wheeee!!!!
Click to expand...


Sounds like whatever you're on is totally worth it!


----------



## JonA_CT

It's Monday. It's raining and foggy. I'm tired. And I don't feel like doing a blessed thing today.


----------



## snowbear

Low 70's but 100% Humidity. 

My mom's back in hospital.  MLW & I just got her stuff from rehab.  We need to have her moved to another facility that's equipped for longer-term care.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Low 70's but 100% Humidity.
> 
> My mom's back in hospital.  MLW & I just got her stuff from rehab.  We need to have her moved to another facility that's equipped for longer-term care.


I'm sorry to hear that, Charlie.   Hope she recovers soon.


----------



## waday

Sorry to hear that, @snowbear


----------



## snowbear

Thanks.  We barely have a relationship, but I will do what's right.


----------



## waday

Regarding Monday:


----------



## pgriz

waday said:


> Regarding Monday:



Yes, I'd recognize Monday anywhere.


----------



## JonA_CT

When I got home, I did a couple of things to ensure the Monday blahs don't last through the week.



 



 

I think I like my coffee a hair lighter than Gary. The Ethiopian coffee on the right had a cooling error...made it even darker than I'd like. I'll still drink it though, no worries.


----------



## Gary A.

Is that thing legal?  Gary knows it is neither safe or sane.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone: Agave spotted on the morning walk with Cook. 

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was a very good in Temecula. In comparison, work sucks.


----------



## Gary A.

@charlie: Hang in there.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Is that thing legal?  Gary know it cannot be safe or sane.



It's totally UL-approved. Or was, until I disabled all of the safety features.


----------



## waday

So, the wife and I started watching Legion on FX.

I'm in love with this show. It's so incredibly out there, makes you think, and is just plain odd.

I'm also very sad that there are only 8 episodes this season. Just glad it got picked up for a second season. Very excited, but sad, for Wednesday's season finale. We have one more episode to catch up on.

Does anyone watch Legion?


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's too bad Charlie, hope things get situated OK. 

My eyes by now are undilated enough to more or less watch TV and read the computer screen. Sort of. Less like looking underwater and more like looking thru a gunky windshield on a rainy night.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks Gary & Sharon; one day at a time.

Heading in to work, today.  Feeling much better, though I have a bit of a cough.  My interview is tomorrow, so fingers will be crossed.  This job would mean a second vehicle will eventually be needed, but that's something we've talked about getting, anyway.


----------



## jcdeboever

Snowbear is in my thoughts and prayers. Doing the right things are not always easy but often bare the best fruit. Peace my brother, get well.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary was up all night, armed with a light and spritzer bottle, stalking slugs and taking them out with ammonia. Gary isn't a fan of slug killing pellets. There were much fewer slugs in the dedicated veggie area. Gary has been hitting the veggies regularly and the few slugs attest to his vigilance. But the slugs were massed and attacking some of his newly planted peppers in other areas of the yard. The peppers and strawberries were thankful.  Gary wants ducks and chickens to help him with pest control, but the boss is against it.  Cookie would like a chicken or two.


----------



## JonA_CT

Rainy and foggy again. The view from my classroom today...you should be able to see Long Island Sound on the horizon.



 

In other news, the freshly roasted Costa Rican coffee is helping my mood this morning immensely.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon: Hey, Gary's Costa Rican coffee, Tarrazu, arrived yesterday.  Man, Gary would love to compare the results from your MacGyver setup to his stock popcorn popper.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> @ Jon: Hey, Gary's Costa Rican coffee, Tarrazu, arrived yesterday.  Man, Gary would love to compare the results from your MacGyver setup to his stock popcorn popper.



I should be able to sneak an extra roast in this week while the wife is at work Thursday evening. I'll send you a PM later.


----------



## table1349

☁︎ *  ☈  *☔︎   56 ℉


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gray is a good description of the day. I've been ready for a nap since I got up.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> Gray is a good description of the day. I've been ready for a nap since I got up.


Well if gray is all it takes, we would be calling you Rip-Van-Sharon if you were here.  It got that way last Thursday and is supposed to be that way until next Monday or Tuesday.  Been kind of fun watching them put in my next door neighbors driveway FOR THE SECOND TIME.  

They poured it last Friday, as they were finishing the troweling the heavy rains hit washing out the underlayment.  They tore it out Saturday and Sunday.  They have poured it again today and of course it is supposed to rain tonight.  

My driveway is scheduled to be replaced starting tomorrow, however my concrete guy is watching the weather and will do it when the weather is right.  He doesn't want to pour me two driveways for the price of one.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah but - two for the price of one! whoo hoo! lol 

I'll just snooze til next week then...


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> I've been ready for a nap since I got up.


Same here. I had a bad night; tossed and turned the whole night. Sometimes I'd rather I not be able to sleep at all than wake up every 20 minutes.


----------



## pgriz

waday said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've been ready for a nap since I got up.
> 
> 
> 
> Same here. I had a bad night; tossed and turned the whole night. Sometimes I'd rather I not be able to sleep at all than wake up every 20 minutes.
Click to expand...

Isn't that why Netflix was invented?


----------



## table1349

Finally the rarest of all births captured.  Photographic Evidence.  (SFW)


----------



## pgriz

gryphonslair99 said:


> Finally the rarest of all births capture.  Photographic Evidence.  (SFW)



Good thing they didn't try the underwater birthing method.


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> Finally the rarest of all births capture.  Photographic Evidence.  (SFW)


Many years ago, we were driving along and saw a 10-wheeler crane towing a standard pickup-based tow truck.  My father, without hesitation said "LOOK! That tow truck had a baby!"


----------



## SquarePeg

Hi Hosers!  I've been a bit MIA lately. Crazy time of year at work, kicking off the softball season, daughter joined a volleyball league, spring cleaning, annual doctor visits for all, family in from out of town, fundraising for my favorite cause, attending political events, volunteering at school events, personal chauffeur for the daughter...  I'm exhausted!  I don't mind being busy but lately it's been "crazy busy" which I hate and usually I will not over commit like this.  It's going to be a full court press until schools out mid June.  

And, to further tick me off, those bastards are talking about more snow!!!!


----------



## JonA_CT

@jcdeboever was so kind to send me the Nikon N75 he had laying around, and he ended up sending a 70-300mm lens too. At some point, I'll get a roll of film shot and processed from the camera to share, but we finally had a nice day here, and I threw the lens on my D600 to get some shots with it. 

Thanks again, JC!

My daughter is definitely ready for spring so she can play outside... D600, 140mm, F8, 1/1000s, ISO 140. 




 

Some of the neighborhood kids were on the court next door...I'm terrible at anticipating this type of thing, especially because I didn't wand to be too conspicuous. D600, 270mm, F8, 1/1000, ISO 500.


----------



## snowbear

I survived the interview.  We'll see how I did in a few days.
Nailing down dates for a trip to New England.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> @jcdeboever was so kind to send me the Nikon N75 he had laying around, and he ended up sending a 70-300mm lens too. At some point, I'll get a roll of film shot and processed from the camera to share, but we finally had a nice day here, and I threw the lens on my D600 to get some shots with it.
> 
> Thanks again, JC!
> 
> My daughter is definitely ready for spring so she can play outside... D600, 140mm, F8, 1/1000s, ISO 140.
> 
> View attachment 137269
> 
> Some of the neighborhood kids were on the court next door...I'm terrible at anticipating this type of thing, especially because I didn't wand to be too conspicuous. D600, 270mm, F8, 1/1000, ISO 500.
> 
> View attachment 137270


Not bad for a $20 lens. I never tried it on my D7200 when I had it. I actually forgot about both until I organized my camera gear. Glad you can make use of it. I was paying forward Gary's generosity.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's 'official'! It's the start of orange barrel season!!!!!!!!! So what? do we celebrate this now that it's an 'official', uh, what?? lol I only turned on local news to check weather...


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> It's 'official'! It's the start of orange barrel season!!!!!!!!! So what? do we celebrate this now that it's an 'official', uh, what?? lol I only turned on local news to check weather...


Update your maps program


----------



## table1349

Orange barrel season?  Heck I didn't need that note to let me know it was construction season.  7:30 this morning my concrete guys were here tearing out my old driveway.  They are pouring me a whole new 30' wide driveway, straightening it out and already poured a sidewalk around the garage as well as adding an additional pad behind the garage.   The have formed the driveway.  In the morning they will put in additional sand pack it all good and pour in the afternoon.  

In the midst of that the new living room furniture was delivered.  Fortunately the roofers had to postpone the skylight replacement till next week.  With all the people I've had here today Orange barrels would have just been in the way.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> It's 'official'! It's the start of orange barrel season!!!!!!!!! So what? do we celebrate this now that it's an 'official', uh, what?? lol I only turned on local news to check weather...


What the hell is orange barrel season?


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Orange barrel season?  Heck I didn't need that note to let me know it was construction season.  7:30 this morning my concrete guys were here tearing out my old driveway.  They are pouring me a whole new 30' wide driveway, straightening it out and already poured a sidewalk around the garage as well as adding an additional pad behind the garage.   The have formed the driveway.  In the morning they will put in additional sand pack it all good and pour in the afternoon.
> 
> In the midst of that the new living room furniture was delivered.  Fortunately the roofers had to postpone the skylight replacement till next week.  With all the people I've had here today Orange barrels would have just been in the way.


Wow, sounds very nice.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Last night Gary shot Fiddler on the Roof.  Gary shot thousands of files.  The XT1 was set for JPEG and RAW and the XT2 was dialed in for RAW only. Gary thinks it was a good shoot.  Typically, Gary used a lot of primes, but yesterday only zooms.  Gary is getting more lazy than normal.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Orange barrel season = springtime along the CinDay corridor. Time for people to jump in their cars, start their engines, and drive like maniacs. Same thing everyone does when it snows, we enjoy all seasons here. Oh, and opening day is Monday, not sure which heralds spring more.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has ripe strawberries ... does that count for Spring?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gryph's house.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'd take that Gary. To make the 'official' start of spring even better, in the rain, at night... used to hear this on the radio and boy am I glad I don't commute in and out of the city anymore!


----------



## limr

These are NOT Zelda, Mrs. Parker, and Bob, but the scenario is not out of the question:


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's 'official'! It's the start of orange barrel season!!!!!!!!! So what? do we celebrate this now that it's an 'official', uh, what?? lol I only turned on local news to check weather...
> 
> 
> 
> What the hell is orange barrel season?
Click to expand...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Blue sky, white fluffy clouds, orange barrels, that looks about right - spring! 


Now that %$%&@ song is gonna be stuck in my head.


----------



## Gary A.

There's a jammin' song about Orange Barrels ... somebody needs to get a life. Lol


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are sipping a Clautiere Viognier from Paso Robles.  Delightfully fruity and clean. Gary's grapes are erupting with tiny little fruit. In particular his Pinot Noir are taking off like a rocket.  With all the rain we've had and the warm weather has everything exploding.  The citrus is into the its second crop of the year.  There are so many blossoms from the oranges, lemons and limes that the sweet scent fills the entire house. The grapes are going nuts, the apple tree has baby apples, the artichokes are huge, strawberries are ripening and all the greens are lush and overflowing.  This is gonna be a good year.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.


----------



## JonA_CT

Morning,  Leo.

We find out whether our next child is a boy or a girl today. Any bets?


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Morning,  Leo.
> 
> We find out whether our next child is a boy or a girl today. Any bets?


No bets, but a hunch, a boy this time.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Morning,  Leo.
> 
> We find out whether our next child is a boy or a girl today. Any bets?



No option for 'Both'? 

I'm gonna say girl.


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning,  Leo.
> 
> We find out whether our next child is a boy or a girl today. Any bets?
> 
> 
> 
> No bets, but a hunch, a boy this time.
Click to expand...


I hope so too, although not for the reasons some may think...I hope that if my wife has one of each, we can be done after this one!



limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning,  Leo.
> 
> We find out whether our next child is a boy or a girl today. Any bets?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No option for 'Both'?
> 
> I'm gonna say girl.
Click to expand...


We're already sure it's just one


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  The Sun is now hitting the front porch and Gary is watching a Hummer at the newly restocked feeder. Mary Lou just informed Gary that she forgot to defrost the fish, so we're debating between a veggie pizza or fish at the beach. Gary's Dodgers lose the opening game to the Angels, in the Freeway Series.  But Maeda is looking good. Maeda used only 29 pitches to get through three perfect innings.  23 of those pitches were strikes and he struckout Trout on three pitches.  Gary is so ready for baseball.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon:  We're all on pins & needles.  The family owned wineries out here all name wines after family members, even their dogs.  Maybe you should christen your beers after the kids.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> Morning,  Leo.
> 
> We find out whether our next child is a boy or a girl today. Any bets?


No bets, but one hope.........Healthy!


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> @ Jon:  We're all on pins & needles.  The family owned wineries out here all name wines after family members, even their dogs.  Maybe you should christen your beers after the kids.



It's a thing in beer too...I'll be sending you something from Hill Farmstead soon. They've had the land and farm the brewery are on in the family for two hundred years, and they name their beers after their ancestors. Of course, they also have one in honor of their favorite lab, Damon. 

The only question is whether I send you some Earl or some Anna. Maybe I'll let the test today decide.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Jon:  We're all on pins & needles.  The family owned wineries out here all name wines after family members, even their dogs.  Maybe you should christen your beers after the kids.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's a thing in beer too...I'll be sending you something from Hill Farmstead soon. They've had the land and farm the brewery are on in the family for two hundred years, and they name their beers after their ancestors. Of course, they also have one in honor of their favorite lab, Damon.
> 
> The only question is whether I send you some Earl or some Anna. Maybe I'll let the test today decide.
Click to expand...

Why worry about it, send both.


----------



## table1349




----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> We're already sure it's just one



Nah, I was thinking hermaphrodite


----------



## table1349

Making intersex jokes?  Really???


----------



## vintagesnaps

Aw, how great Jon!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary you're surrounded by acres of vineyards, we're surrounded by miles of orange barrels - that is life here! 

Now I'll have that song stuck in my head again, finally don't have to hear it in the car driving to work, so it's on here... gotta find the baseball song to post.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Rob Fetters | Saint Ain't | Free Music


----------



## SquarePeg

@JonA_CT   doesn't anyone like the surprise/suspense anymore?  I loved the it's a girl moment in the delivery room.  

SOS - sick of snow.


----------



## pixmedic

so....im too old to go back to school. 
but im going back to school. 

in a move that gets us one step closer to moving to Canada, I transferred the last class credits I needed to finish my AA in EMS degree and will (hopefully) be starting
Nursing school in August.  As a paramedic, (and already having a degree) I am eligible for an accelerated program which will get me my ASN (associates in nursing) in a little under a year, and ill already have a lot of the courses I will need to finish a BSN shortly thereafter. 

here we go again...I thought I was done with all this "school" stuff years ago.


----------



## waday

pixmedic said:


> so....im too old to go back to school.
> but im going back to school.
> 
> in a move that gets us one step closer to moving to Canada, I transferred the last class credits I needed to finish my AA in EMS degree and will (hopefully) be starting
> Nursing school in August.  As a paramedic, (and already having a degree) I am eligible for an accelerated program which will get me my ASN (associates in nursing) in a little under a year, and ill already have a lot of the courses I will need to finish a BSN shortly thereafter.
> 
> here we go again...I thought I was done with all this "school" stuff years ago.


That's awesome, good luck!


----------



## JonA_CT

@SquarePeg I suppose we could wait...but I sort of know what I'm looking at when the are doing the ultrasound, and our tech today is not a normally on the OB circuit, so I saw it well before he asked if we wanted know. 

We did have them check a box on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope for the first kid. We eventually looked anyways.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jason: We're all in your corner ... and we are expecting regular and positive reports!


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are enjoying the back while sipping a surprisingly good Fazali Petite Syrah.  It is bursting with flavor very enjoyable.


----------



## snowbear

pixmedic said:


> so....im too old to go back to school.
> but im going back to school.
> 
> in a move that gets us one step closer to moving to Canada, I transferred the last class credits I needed to finish my AA in EMS degree and will (hopefully) be starting
> Nursing school in August.  As a paramedic, (and already having a degree) I am eligible for an accelerated program which will get me my ASN (associates in nursing) in a little under a year, and ill already have a lot of the courses I will need to finish a BSN shortly thereafter.
> 
> here we go again...I thought I was done with all this "school" stuff years ago.



Way to go.  I was 45 when I went back to get my BS Geography.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I saw *it *well before he asked if we wanted know.



Well since it has an "it", am I safe in saying It's a Boy!!!?


----------



## jcdeboever

I drafted another great team this year.... Can't wait for baseball.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> I drafted another great team this year.... Can't wait for baseball.



What level are you coaching?  Or are you talking about fantasy baseball?


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I drafted another great team this year.... Can't wait for baseball.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What level are you coaching?  Or are you talking about fantasy baseball?
Click to expand...

Fantasy baseball.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou are wrapping up the evening.  Guests came over including Max, the golden retriever that Gary dog sat for about the week.  Max went nuts when he arrived.  He knocked Mary Lou off balance then took advantage of her being briefly off guard and snuck in a giant lick from her neck to her forehead.  We ended the night chatting around the fire table with an exceptional Lorenzi Cabernet Franc.


----------



## jcdeboever

Here is my Lineup for position players. Barring good health I should lead in HR, RBI's, Runs, towards the top in Average... I am weak on stolen bases which may be my demise, will see. 



 

My pitching staff looks very good. Many people do not pay attention to this, hopefully I can make up for my slow team. Rodney was my last pick, maybe lighting in a bottle one more time? Again, health is always an issue but I think I picked up guys that will be in there all year.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Here is my Lineup for position players. Barring good health I should lead in HR, RBI's, Runs, towards the top in Average... I am weak on stolen bases which may be my demise, will see.
> View attachment 137397
> 
> My pitching staff looks very good. Many people do not pay attention to this, hopefully I can make up for my slow team. Rodney was my last pick, maybe lighting in a bottle one more time? Again, health is always an issue but I think I picked up guys that will be in there all year.
> View attachment 137398


I love dungeons and dragons for sports fans.  Good luck with your team..


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here is my Lineup for position players. Barring good health I should lead in HR, RBI's, Runs, towards the top in Average... I am weak on stolen bases which may be my demise, will see.
> View attachment 137397
> 
> My pitching staff looks very good. Many people do not pay attention to this, hopefully I can make up for my slow team. Rodney was my last pick, maybe lighting in a bottle one more time? Again, health is always an issue but I think I picked up guys that will be in there all year.
> View attachment 137398
> 
> 
> 
> I love dungeons and dragons for sports fans.  Good luck with your team..
Click to expand...


I played that for years, all the way back to my first computer that I trash picked (in a rich neighborhood that bordered the inner city of Detroit) , A radio shack TRS80, 70's I think. It was broken but complete. I fixed it with the guiding help of a TV repair place in Detroit. I had to do odd jobs over a summer, for his TV repair shop to pay for the training and repair. I stopped playing in 2000. I was hooked on it for many years.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes your pitching roster.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Looks like another perfect day.  Gary has a granddaughter soccer match in the middle of the day.  The 2:00 p.m. match really messes up the day. Happy April Fool's Day.  Gary is too old to care about April 1 ... it is all fake news anyway.  Gary is finishing up his coffee and will soon be strolling through a park with the Cook.  Gary hopes y'all will be enjoying as nice weather as he.


----------



## terri

pixmedic said:


> so....im too old to go back to school.
> but im going back to school.
> 
> in a move that gets us one step closer to moving to Canada, I transferred the last class credits I needed to finish my AA in EMS degree and will (hopefully) be starting
> Nursing school in August.  As a paramedic, (and already having a degree) I am eligible for an accelerated program which will get me my ASN (associates in nursing) in a little under a year, and ill already have a lot of the courses I will need to finish a BSN shortly thereafter.
> 
> here we go again...I thought I was done with all this "school" stuff years ago.


You're never too old to go back to school - especially when you are following a trajectory and have a plan, as you do.   It makes sense.    Now, study hard and make us all proud.


----------



## terri

Weather this way is beautiful today - though I do wish the high temps would stop in the mid-70's and not poke into the 80's just yet.   Too soon, wayyyy too soon!

But there is a good light breeze and the birds are happy.    Oh - and my swallow has continued to sleep right outside my front door all week, which makes me very happy.   We had super-clear skies last night, and could see Mercury, Mars, Venus and an awesome little crescent moon.   We walked in and out the front door several times, and Young Swallow just watched us, no fear.    Love him!!!


----------



## JonA_CT

It's a boy.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here is my Lineup for position players. Barring good health I should lead in HR, RBI's, Runs, towards the top in Average... I am weak on stolen bases which may be my demise, will see.
> View attachment 137397
> 
> My pitching staff looks very good. Many people do not pay attention to this, hopefully I can make up for my slow team. Rodney was my last pick, maybe lighting in a bottle one more time? Again, health is always an issue but I think I picked up guys that will be in there all year.
> View attachment 137398
> 
> 
> 
> I love dungeons and dragons for sports fans.  Good luck with your team..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I played that for years, all the way back to my first computer that I trash picked (in a rich neighborhood that bordered the inner city of Detroit) , A radio shack TRS80, 70's I think. It was broken but complete. I fixed it with the guiding help of a TV repair place in Detroit. I had to do odd jobs over a summer, for his TV repair shop to pay for the training and repair. I stopped playing in 2000. I was hooked on it for many years.
Click to expand...

I call it that because of a guy I used to work with.  He was always complaining about kids, including one of his that played various "geek" games as he called them.  Dungeons and Dragons, War Craft etc.  His word for them was "Geek Games."  He however loved to play fantasy football.  One day I asked him how his Geek team was doing and he got all upset telling me it wasn't a geek game.  

I looked at him and told him that ANY GAME with the word Fantasy in the title was a GEEK GAME!   He quit complaining about the games his kid played after that.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone  

Artichokes are getting ready to be consume.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> It's a boy.


Aww, congrats!


----------



## limr

Congrats @JonA_CT ! 

Good thing I didn't put money on it


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I drafted another great team this year.... Can't wait for baseball.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What level are you coaching?  Or are you talking about fantasy baseball?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Fantasy baseball.
Click to expand...


I've never played that - maybe next year.  This spring I'll be busy on the field coaching my daughter and 12 other 13-15 year old girls.  We had our draft the other night.  Have to say I totally made out like a bandit.  Due to some seriously rogue behavior from a few other coaches, I scored the top pitcher in the league and 3 other girls that I had rated in our top 10.  Not sure what the other coaches were drinking before they got there but thankyouverymuch!  Also managed to get 3 of my daughters "squad" onto our team and was able to totally avoid everyone on my "daughter/dad is a pain in the ass" list.  All in all a very successful draft.  Now if it would just f^*%!ng stop snowing!    

Hey Ho Hosers!  How is everyone??????

@JonA_CT   great news!  Hope the wifey is past the yucks and feeling better.

@Gary A.  I'm counting down my days until our trip to Anaheim.  I'm happy to know you're having sit outside weather - firepit or no I'm sure it's better than the slushy mess we're getting this weekend.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I drafted another great team this year.... Can't wait for baseball.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What level are you coaching?  Or are you talking about fantasy baseball?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Fantasy baseball.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've never played that - maybe next year.  This spring I'll be busy on the field coaching my daughter and 12 other 13-15 year old girls.  We had our draft the other night.  Have to say I totally made out like a bandit.  Due to some seriously rogue behavior from a few other coaches, I scored the top pitcher in the league and 3 other girls that I had rated in our top 10.  Not sure what the other coaches were drinking before they got there but thankyouverymuch!  Also managed to get 3 of my daughters "squad" onto our team and was able to totally avoid everyone on my "daughter/dad is a pain in the ass" list.  All in all a very successful draft.  Now if it would just f^*%!ng stop snowing!
> 
> Hey Ho Hosers!  How is everyone??????
> 
> @JonA_CT   great news!  Hope the wifey is past the yucks and feeling better.
> 
> @Gary A.  I'm counting down my days until our trip to Anaheim.  I'm happy to know you're having sit outside weather - firepit or no I'm sure it's better than the slushy mess we're getting this weekend.
Click to expand...

I played baseball until I was 42 or 43. I coached one year of little league and that was enough for me.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> I played baseball until I was 42 or 43. I coached one year of little league and that was enough for me.



What turned you off?  The politics or the parents?  It's usually one or the other.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I played baseball until I was 42 or 43. I coached one year of little league and that was enough for me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What turned you off?  The politics or the parents?  It's usually one or the other.
Click to expand...

Parents

Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## vintagesnaps

Happy for you Jon! When can we expect his arrival?


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I drafted another great team this year.... Can't wait for baseball.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What level are you coaching?  Or are you talking about fantasy baseball?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Fantasy baseball.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've never played that - maybe next year.  This spring I'll be busy on the field coaching my daughter and 12 other 13-15 year old girls.  We had our draft the other night.  Have to say I totally made out like a bandit.  Due to some seriously rogue behavior from a few other coaches, I scored the top pitcher in the league and 3 other girls that I had rated in our top 10.  Not sure what the other coaches were drinking before they got there but thankyouverymuch!  Also managed to get 3 of my daughters "squad" onto our team and was able to totally avoid everyone on my "daughter/dad is a pain in the ass" list.  All in all a very successful draft.  Now if it would just f^*%!ng stop snowing!
> 
> Hey Ho Hosers!  How is everyone??????
> 
> @JonA_CT   great news!  Hope the wifey is past the yucks and feeling better.
> 
> @Gary A.  I'm counting down my days until our trip to Anaheim.  I'm happy to know you're having sit outside weather - firepit or no I'm sure it's better than the slushy mess we're getting this weekend.
Click to expand...

There is a 20-30 degree difference from day to night.  Pretty much dependant of the winds.  Saturday it was about 82F during the day and dropped to 52F at night. Today it is projected from 74F to 54F.  When are you coming?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is in the patio with his second cup of coffee.  The Sun is up and blue skies. Last night we had dinner in the patio.  Listening to some jazz and a giant salad Mary Lou plucked.  A ton of strawberries and peppers and mint ... delish.  On Friday, a guest brought pizza ... it was a piece of crap pizza.  We were running late and had a few pieces yesterday for lunch before the soccer match ... that was a mistake.  It tasted worse on Saturday than Friday and it just sat in our collective gut like a ball of crappy pizza.  The salad went a long way in recovering from eating a bad pizza. 

After dinner we watched a Netflix, Nocturnal Animals.  A very odd ... very suspenseful movie.  A story within a story which intertwined.  We gave it four stars ... not necessarily because it was a four star, but more because it was better than a three star. Time to get a walk in The Cook.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## Derrel

Will that watch fit around Tommy Lasorda's wrist?


----------



## Gary A.

Derrel said:


> Will that watch fit around Tommy Lasorda's wrist?


He has a tattoo of the watch on his wrist, in blue. It is accurate twice a day.


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

Taxes are done. It's amazing how crazy-making even super simple returns get seem.   Seriously - I own nothing, have no dependents, get the standard deduction...and it still takes a couple of hours to get through it. Thank you, HR Block online filing software!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> Will that watch fit around Tommy Lasorda's wrist?
> 
> 
> 
> He has a tattoo of the watch on his wrist, in blue. It is accurate twice a day.
Click to expand...

LMAO

Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Designer

SquarePeg said:


> We had our draft the other night.  Have to say I totally made out like a bandit.


Congratulations!  Here's wishing you all a very successful season!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 137452


$30 dollar watch a buck fifty? Geeeeeeez

Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## table1349

__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=456904328033360


----------



## JonA_CT

August for the new baby. Almost exactly halfway there.

It was beautiful here today. We missed out on Sharon's snow on Friday/Saturday, so I was able to get out and play my first 18 holes of golf of 2017, and I think I probably got my first sunburn to as a result. It was in the mid-5os with a gentle breeze for most of the day. My golf score accurately represented my 4 months without swinging. The problem with golf, of course, isn't the bad shots you hit. It's the 7 or 8 of them that I made today that felt completely natural. The problem is that I'll continue to think I can eventually get all of my shots to feel that way.


----------



## Gary A.

A beautiful day here also.  A noon-o'clock granddaughter soccer match cut the day in half.  Came back gave Cook a bath, then started on the first Kamado BBQ of the year.  A lot of cleaning up of spider webs, but she fired up just fine and there is a Tri-Tip cooking away to Classical USC (Go Trojans!).


----------



## terri

We had a gorgeous day here, as well.   So lovely, I left the front and back doors open to catch the breeze.  That turned out to be a mistake - one of the swallows that have been sleeping on a nook in the porch swooped right in the front door.

I had to run to switch the ceiling fan off, grab the very interested cats and toss them unceremoniously into the bedroom and shut the door, and figure out the next move.  Damned high ceilings made it impossible to toss a lacey old tablecloth over him.  He was clinging to the top of a tall window frame.   We closed all the blinds and, after about 10 frantic minutes, he headed for the light of the open back door and swooped out.  That left him trapped on the screened in porch -  a regular ceiling height, and we threw the tablecloth over him quickly, and freed him back to the wild.  High drama!  

Didn't see either of them for the rest of the afternoon - but, I just checked and he's back in usual nook, right outside the front door.     Love this bird!


----------



## Gary A.

Nicely done Terri.


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> We had a gorgeous day here, as well.   So lovely, I left the front and back doors open to catch the breeze.  That turned out to be a mistake - one of the swallows that have been sleeping on a nook in the porch swooped right in the front door.
> 
> I had to run to switch the ceiling fan off, grab the very interested cats and toss them unceremoniously into the bedroom and shut the door, and figure out the next move.  Damned high ceilings made it impossible to toss a lacey old tablecloth over him.  He was clinging to the top of a tall window frame.   We closed all the blinds and, after about 10 frantic minutes, he headed for the light of the open back door and swooped out.  That left him trapped on the screened in porch -  a regular ceiling height, and we threw the tablecloth over him quickly, and freed him back to the wild.  High drama! [emoji38]
> Didn't see either of them for the rest of the afternoon - but, I just checked and he's back in usual nook, right outside the front door.     Love this bird!


Should have let the cats have a little fun....


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon: Are you/your son registered anywhere?

Chester is the house dog. Cook and Chester had a good time being dogs. Then Chester headed out hitting all the tables looking for a handout. Cook doesn't beg, so she came back for some more tastings.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers!

You'll never ever guess what this night owl did this morning - and a _Monday_ morning, at that!

I got up early. Let me repeat that. I.Got.Up.Early. I rode my stationary bike for 30 minutes and got a decent heart rate and sweat going the whole time. Then I went to work. I actually feel really really good right now.

This is what I'm going to try to make my regular morning routine. It happened much more easily than I'd expected this morning, but I know that there will be mornings when it will totally suck rocks. Wish me luck, hosers!


----------



## waday

gryphonslair99 said:


> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=456904328033360


Apparently the videographer was getting thrown off by the butterfly, as well?


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Hey hosers!
> 
> You'll never ever guess what this night owl did this morning - and a _Monday_ morning, at that!
> 
> I got up early. Let me repeat that. I.Got.Up.Early. I rode my stationary bike for 30 minutes and got a decent heart rate and sweat going the whole time. Then I went to work. I actually feel really really good right now.
> 
> This is what I'm going to try to make my regular morning routine. It happened much more easily than I'd expected this morning, but I know that there will be mornings when it will totally suck rocks. Wish me luck, hosers!


Good for you. Great! Keep it up! Your worth it!


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers!
> 
> You'll never ever guess what this night owl did this morning - and a _Monday_ morning, at that!
> 
> I got up early. Let me repeat that. I.Got.Up.Early. I rode my stationary bike for 30 minutes and got a decent heart rate and sweat going the whole time. Then I went to work. I actually feel really really good right now.
> 
> This is what I'm going to try to make my regular morning routine. It happened much more easily than I'd expected this morning, but I know that there will be mornings when it will totally suck rocks. Wish me luck, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> Good for you. Great! Keep it up! Your worth it!
Click to expand...


Awww, thanks


----------



## limr

The thing that gives me hope that this will be sustainable is that I don't actually have to get out of bed much earlier. The thing is, I would set my alarm for 6am but hit the snooze a bunch of times (I am SO not a morning person) so I wasn't actually getting up at 6am. I figured I only really needed about 45 minutes to get ready, so I'd keep pushing back the time I was getting out of bed. 

But if I can get out of bed at 6am, it leaves me enough time to get in the 30-minute workout and still gives me an hour to get ready. So I'm setting my alarm for 5:45 because I know it's unrealistic to completely take the snooze button away from me. I'll never ever be the wake-up-and-jump-out-of-bed kind of a person. This gives me time for two snoozes, and when the alarm rings the third time at 6am, I'm out of bed.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> The thing that gives me hope that this will be sustainable is that I don't actually have to get out of bed much earlier. The thing is, I would set my alarm for 6am but hit the snooze a bunch of times (I am SO not a morning person) so I wasn't actually getting up at 6am. I figured I only really needed about 45 minutes to get ready, so I'd keep pushing back the time I was getting out of bed.
> 
> But if I can get out of bed at 6am, it leaves me enough time to get in the 30-minute workout and still gives me an hour to get ready. So I'm setting my alarm for 5:45 because I know it's unrealistic to completely take the snooze button away from me. I'll never ever be the wake-up-and-jump-out-of-bed kind of a person. This gives me time for two snoozes, and when the alarm rings the third time at 6am, I'm out of bed.


My wife used to hit the snooze all the time so I moved the alarm off the nightstand and on the dresser. She didn't like it at first but it did solve the problem. I don't need an alarm clock. I an up at 5 or 5:30 every day, I have an internal clock. Only time is if I am really sick or something. Normally, I get up, let the dog out, make coffee, breakfast, let dog in, read some Scripture, read my sports, validate my schedule, print out my goal list, get my wife a glass of ice with diet coke, and head out. That is literally my morning every day.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> My wife used to hit the snooze all the time so I moved the alarm off the nightstand and on the dresser. She didn't like it at first but it did solve the problem.



Tried that. I just climb back into bed. You underestimate my ability to return to sleep, even after standing up. Once in high school, I got out of bed, walked all the way downstairs to take a shower, and still ended up snoozing an extra 5 minutes curled up on the over-sized fluffy bath mat. 



> I don't need an alarm clock. I an up at 5 or 5:30 every day, I have an internal clock. Only time is if I am really sick or something. Normally, I get up, let the dog out, make coffee, breakfast, let dog in, read some Scripture, read my sports, validate my schedule, print out my goal list, get my wife a glass of ice with diet coke, and head out. That is literally my morning every day.



I will never ever be that person. I WILL, however, be the person who puts in an extra load of laundry at 10:30pm, knits, gets lunch ready for the next day, cleans up after the cats, gets ready for bed, and finally climbs into bed close to midnight and hopes she is sleepy enough to actually fall asleep.


----------



## terri

Morning, hosers!    No sign of the swallows this morning.   I hope t(he)y continue to come back to roost for a little while longer.

@Leo: There was a time, and it lasted for about a year, when I was doing as you described.   Got a bee in my bonnet about getting a workout in each morning.   It was oddly not as traumatic as expected!    I appreciated the extra energy throughout the day, plus the knowledge when I got home that I'd already *had* a workout, so anything extra I felt like doing was sheer bonus.    I think I kept it up until my work schedule eventually changed - I'm very sensitive to that kind of thing.


----------



## table1349

I love my morning work out these days.  I get to the Y right after 8:00 a.m. Monday thru Friday.   All the working stiffs have been there early and gone by then so the place is fairly empty from 8 to about 10.  Get the workout done, get a shower, change and on with my day.  Lost over 40 lbs so far and feel better than I have in a long time.  Physical exercise is good for the brain as well.  Reduces stress, depression, neurological issues like some forms of headaches and other aches and pains not related to a physical issue.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hey, hosers.
> 
> Taxes are done. It's amazing how crazy-making even super simple returns get seem.  Seriously - I own nothing, have no dependents, get the standard deduction...and it still takes a couple of hours to get through it. Thank you, HR Block online filing software!



I always have done my own but this year I had to call in a pro.  Had to file both a non resident NC state return and a MA resident state return and wanted to make sure I didn't end up paying taxes on the same income to both states.


----------



## vintagesnaps

This morning I apparently got up, turned off the buzzer, then got back into bed, and I don't remember hearing the buzzer or the getting up part. 

But it's an unofficial holiday being opening day so who needs to get up early on a day like this? not me... had a waffle, and watching the parade in the comfort of my home, a beer and hot dog started sounding good. Will see how long it takes for the joy of the day to be over and the kvetching to begin. But at least the rain held off so far.


----------



## waday

Just posted about my Ecuador trip. Wow, I didn't realize how long that post turned out to be...

Trip to Ecuador | Story and Picture Heavy


----------



## JonA_CT

Hey Coffee Hosers.

I finally cleared out the space in my basement and got this set up over the weekend...




 

I just finished my first Strong Lifts workout in probably 18 months. We just won't talk about the fact that I squatted  1/3 the load I left behind at that last workout. I'll get there.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Hey Coffee Hosers.
> 
> I finally cleared out the space in my basement and got this set up over the weekend...
> 
> View attachment 137556
> 
> I just finished my first Strong Lifts workout in probably 18 months. We just won't talk about the fact that I squatted  1/3 the load I left behind at that last workout. I'll get there.


Good deal my brother. Live strong!


----------



## snowbear




----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A's avacodo ready for consumption.


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A's avacodo ready for consumption.
> 
> View attachment 137564



Did you give it a sprinkle of salt and a little rub down with some nice olive oil?


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A's avacodo ready for consumption.
> 
> View attachment 137564
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did you give it a sprinkle of salt and a little rub down with some nice olive oil?
Click to expand...

I did.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> Hey Coffee Hosers.
> 
> I finally cleared out the space in my basement and got this set up over the weekend...
> 
> View attachment 137556
> 
> I just finished my first Strong Lifts workout in probably 18 months. We just won't talk about the fact that I squatted  1/3 the load I left behind at that last workout. I'll get there.


Nice clothes rack!


----------



## snowbear




----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Gary is reluctant to mention that this was a long day, but this was a long day.  Gary arrived home around 4:00 p.m. And wrapped up the remaining clearing of the parkway of all the grass. Much of work was hand work around the irrigation system. Now it is done, fini ... my demo work in the parkway is finished.  He is nibbling on some cheddar, a white sharp and a yellow mild, waiting for Mary Lou to arrive home. 

Gary did spotted a little cactus with a big bloom tucked away in the succulents.


----------



## Gary A.

Opening day for the Dodgers. In LA it was a perfect 72F, slight Pacific breeze and the Dodgers crushed Padres 14 to 3. (Who knew?)

(To be fair, had the opening been played in San Diego, odds are that it would also have been a perfect, 72F with a slight Pacific breeze, day.)


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Opening day for the Dodgers. In LA it was a perfect 72F, slight Pacific breeze and the Dodgers crushed Padres 14 to 3. (Who knew?)
> 
> (To be fair, had the opening been played in San Diego, odds are that it would also have been a perfect, 72F with a slight Pacific breeze, day.)


Tigers rained out


----------



## Gary A.

Princess Diana



iPhone

The roses have perfumed the entire yard.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Opening day for the Dodgers. In LA it was a perfect 72F, slight Pacific breeze and the Dodgers crushed Padres 14 to 3. (Who knew?)
> 
> (To be fair, had the opening been played in San Diego, odds are that it would also have been a perfect, 72F with a slight Pacific breeze, day.)
> 
> 
> 
> Tigers rained out
Click to expand...

That sucks.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A's avacodo ready for consumption.
> 
> View attachment 137564
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did you give it a sprinkle of salt and a little rub down with some nice olive oil?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I did.
> 
> View attachment 137565
Click to expand...

Looks like you spilled the avocado all over your walls?


----------



## limr

Dodgers never shoulda left Brooklyn.


----------



## SquarePeg

Red Sox win their first game in the post Big Papi Era (to be known as ABP from now on).


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Dodgers never shoulda left Brooklyn.


You mean the _Trolley Dodgers?_


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dodgers never shoulda left Brooklyn.
> 
> 
> 
> You mean the _Trolley Dodgers?_
Click to expand...

Not Draft?


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Hey hosers!
> 
> You'll never ever guess what this night owl did this morning - and a _Monday_ morning, at that!
> 
> I got up early. Let me repeat that. I.Got.Up.Early. I rode my stationary bike for 30 minutes and got a decent heart rate and sweat going the whole time. Then I went to work. I actually feel really really good right now.
> 
> This is what I'm going to try to make my regular morning routine. It happened much more easily than I'd expected this morning, but I know that there will be mornings when it will totally suck rocks. Wish me luck, hosers!



Please, please, please keep this up so ordinary mortals like your truly can aspire to health, happiness and the endorphin kick.


----------



## table1349




----------



## waday

Tuesday. 



> It’s considered the second day of the week. And everyone knows that “second” really means “first loser.” It should be called Luesday.



Haha. Found that quote above and a short list here.


----------



## limr

Day two of morning exercise routine: I managed it two days in a row! Woot!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Day two of morning exercise routine: I managed it two days in a row! Woot!


     It should only get easier!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Day two of morning exercise routine: I managed it two days in a row! Woot!


I do my morning exercise every day, without fail.  Of course, my morning exercise is actually getting out of bed.


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Day two of morning exercise routine: I managed it two days in a row! Woot!
> 
> 
> 
> It should only get easier!
Click to expand...

It should, but it won't.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Day two of morning exercise routine: I managed it two days in a row! Woot!
> 
> 
> 
> I do my morning exercise every day, without fail.  Of course, my morning exercise is actually getting out of bed.
Click to expand...

Don't forget your arm exercises. 

Lift a heavy cup of coffee to your mouth. Do several reps, refill with more coffee, then do another set of reps.


----------



## jcdeboever

Working the hood of Detroit today. Hand delivering price increases. Going well. Here is the historic train station being converted into something. All new windows as the others were all broken out. Taken with cell.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Day two of morning exercise routine: I managed it two days in a row! Woot!
> 
> 
> 
> It should only get easier!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It should, but it won't.
Click to expand...

Well maybe not in Canada.............


----------



## table1349

A positive attitude.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> Don't forget your arm exercises.
> 
> Lift a heavy cup of coffee to your mouth. Do several reps, refill with more coffee, then do another set of reps.


Tall table and straw - I just lower my head.


----------



## snowbear

Out of curiosity we bought a four-pack of S** V***** organic root beer.  In a word - nasty.  On further inspection, one of the ingredients is apple cider vinegar.


----------



## jcdeboever

jcdeboever said:


> Working the hood of Detroit today. Hand delivering price increases. Going well. Here is the historic train station being converted into something. All new windows as the others were all broken out. Taken with cell.
> 
> View attachment 137581



I used to hang out in that old railroad station growing up. We never were up to any good when there but I have some very interesting memories from it. I did a wax painting on a wood siding (panel) of some sort and I was kind of revered for it back in the day (talking 70's maybe early 80's) ... it was a Jimmy Hendrix portrait playing his guitar. I did it with like 3 large box's, full color spectrum crayola crayons, a bic lighter, and my sisters (stolen) makeup brush. It was a glorious render of another artists (photog) image. I even gave credit to the photog in the creation (Royal Albert Hall - 1969). I didn't really consider the camera then but someone thought it was pretty good and cut it out within a year. I went there one day to stare at my creation and a big blank 1:1 with chicken wired slats behind hit. Someone has that somewhere. It was 6 ft x 6 ft. I remember because the girls were making funny of me in my measurement acumen. 

https://www.needsomefun.net/wp-content/gallery/best-photos-of-jimi-hendrix-ever-82-photos/1.jpg


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A's avacodo ready for consumption.
> 
> View attachment 137564
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did you give it a sprinkle of salt and a little rub down with some nice olive oil?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I did.
> 
> View attachment 137565
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Looks like you spilled the avocado all over your walls?
Click to expand...


That would be the wife.... she is traveling now and after tonight all the avocados will be consumed. I will return her color choice happily upon her arrival... good things come in large packages. Free delivery.... OK, I'm going to confession tomorrow, @Frank F. , don't read this, you'll gain a pound......


----------



## limr

Hey yeah, where has Frank gone?


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Hey yeah, where has Frank gone?


O. An invisible diet


----------



## jcdeboever

Cooked my own dinner tonight. Same kinda challenge as @limr s morning workout. Ok.... This is all @Gary A.'s doing. I have been taking notes and so far it tastes pretty burnt but edible.


----------



## jcdeboever

jcdeboever said:


> Cooked my own dinner tonight. Same kinda challenge as @limr s morning workout. Ok.... This is all @Gary A.'s doing. I have been taking notes and so far it tastes pretty burnt but edible.


My pics are not here


----------



## jcdeboever

jcdeboever said:


> Cooked my own dinner tonight. Same kinda challenge as @limr s morning workout. Ok.... This is all @Gary A.'s doing. I have been taking notes and so far it tastes pretty burnt but edible.



Try it from the desktop then... I used the stove....  Go Gary, Go Gary, Go Gary

1. The main course



 

2. Desert




3. Finished


----------



## jcdeboever

yes, the chewed end of the knife is from my dog, Webster. Don't let your sausage hang, he will eat that too. what a nutbag that dog is.


----------



## pgriz

I can see that you've chosen an avocado green on the walls to complement your dinner.  Very nice.  

What do you paint the room when it's time for spaghetti a la carbonara or bruschetta?


----------



## jcdeboever

pgriz said:


> I can see that you've chosen an avocado green on the walls to complement your dinner.  Very nice.
> 
> What do you paint the room when it's time for spaghetti a la carbonara or bruschetta?


That's the wife's department. She picks the color, I hire the painter. My painting days are over unless it has wheels. She is a wonderful interior decorator, probably could do it for a living, she's that talented. If she seen my youngest son's home, she would have a field day. Typical bachelor pad.


----------



## JonA_CT

The spring rains have arrived for the first time in a few years. I know this because I'm up to 140 gallons of water pumped from my basement over the last 24 hours. 

I hope the weather folks got tomorrow's forecast of 2-3 inches of rain wrong.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> The spring rains have arrived for the first time in a few years. I know this because I'm up to 140 gallons of water pumped from my basement over the last 24 hours.
> 
> I hope the weather folks got tomorrow's forecast of 2-3 inches of rain wrong.


That doesn't sound good.  Gary doesn't have a basement.


----------



## table1349

THE END IS NEAR!

No worries about the rain you have been getting.   The end is nigh for us all.  I woke up this morning, got dressed and went out to go to the gym and a strange fiery golden orb in the sky.  This strange golden orb must be hot enough to have burned away our persistent clouds that we have had and is poised to burn all that it now left.   

The gym workout was good.  I want to be in shape when it all ends you know.


----------



## table1349

On a serious note we have had clouds and  rain for the last 10 days.  The rain gage has 4" in it now, and we emptied it once since the rains stated 10 days ago.   Hopefully it will dry enough for me to mow my yard tomorrow.  Well I call it a yard, it's more of a field right now.


----------



## smoke665

BASEBALL SIZE HAIL!!!!! 

Baseball-Sized Hail Falling in Southeastern Alabama

So far we've been lucking today, in that most of it has gone south of us. Now it's spinning up again, and just about everything has hail and high winds in it. Not a pleasant day in the south.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> BASEBALL SIZE HAIL!!!!!
> 
> Baseball-Sized Hail Falling in Southeastern Alabama
> 
> So far we've been lucking today, in that most of it has gone south of us. Now it's spinning up again, and just about everything has hail and high winds in it. Not a pleasant day in the south.


That's not good.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> BASEBALL SIZE HAIL!!!!!
> 
> Baseball-Sized Hail Falling in Southeastern Alabama
> 
> So far we've been lucking today, in that most of it has gone south of us. Now it's spinning up again, and just about everything has hail and high winds in it. Not a pleasant day in the south.


Stay safe, wear a football helmet if you go outside

http://americaswhiteboy.com/wp-cont...-football-helmet-scotch-tightend-yarmosky.jpg


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Secret


----------



## snowbear

A few miles from my old stomping grounds.  We still go to the farm store just down the road.
Military aircraft crashes miles from Joint Base Andrews pilot parachuted out


----------



## snowbear

Some video with the Fire Chief (MLW's boss) a couple minutes in.  "http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Figher-Jet-Crash-Near-Joint-Base-Andrews_Washington-DC-418438723.html"


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> A few miles from my old stomping grounds.  We still go to the farm store just down the road.
> Military aircraft crashes miles from Joint Base Andrews pilot parachuted out


That's going to go on someone's permanent record.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> @ Frank: Walk two hours a day and see what happens.  Walking is great exercise, the problem with walking is that you need a lot of it.



Walking feels like idling, although empirically I learn that the more I walk the more I write. So two hours of walking would mean I write 4 hours which would bring myself to a finish in no time.

Idiotically staring at the screen in my office feels more like "WORK" but is much less productive in reality.

Life seems to be a contratictory thing, especially when it comes to emotions.


----------



## Frank F.

My portfolio building effort:

Frank Fremerey - YouPic


----------



## snowbear

Actually, the plane seems to have had a mechanical failure and the pilot was able to aim it (I guess) to a wooded area about 100 yards from homes.


gryphonslair99 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> A few miles from my old stomping grounds.  We still go to the farm store just down the road.
> Military aircraft crashes miles from Joint Base Andrews pilot parachuted out
> 
> 
> 
> That's going to go on someone's permanent record.
Click to expand...

Apparently the plane had a mechanical failure ans started breaking up in the air; one of the tip-tanks (200 gallons of fuel) was found several miles away near National Harbor (on the Potomac just south of the I-95 crossing into VA).  The general consensus is the pilot did a great job of "aiming" the  plane so it didn't hit anything when it crashed.

One neighborhood is basically a command post - we and the Air Force are still there.  A bulletin was issued about what to do if anyone found one of the practice loads (electronic fired 20mm) has been issued.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> Actually, the plane seems to have had a mechanical failure and the pilot was able to aim it (I guess) to a wooded area about 100 yards from homes.
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> A few miles from my old stomping grounds.  We still go to the farm store just down the road.
> Military aircraft crashes miles from Joint Base Andrews pilot parachuted out
> 
> 
> 
> That's going to go on someone's permanent record.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Apparently the plane had a mechanical failure ans started breaking up in the air; one of the tip-tanks (200 gallons of fuel) was found several miles away near National Harbor (on the Potomac just south of the I-95 crossing into VA).  The general consensus is the pilot did a great job of "aiming" the  plane so it didn't hit anything when it crashed.
> 
> One neighborhood is basically a command post - we and the Air Force are still there.  A bulletin was issued about what to do if anyone found one of the practice loads (electronic fired 20mm) has been issued.
Click to expand...

At a cost of 18.8 million dollars each, I still say it's going to go on someone's permanent record.  Good thing they don't have a "You break it You bought it" policy.


----------



## snowbear

Whatever


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, the plane seems to have had a mechanical failure and the pilot was able to aim it (I guess) to a wooded area about 100 yards from homes.
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> A few miles from my old stomping grounds.  We still go to the farm store just down the road.
> Military aircraft crashes miles from Joint Base Andrews pilot parachuted out
> 
> 
> 
> That's going to go on someone's permanent record.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Apparently the plane had a mechanical failure ans started breaking up in the air; one of the tip-tanks (200 gallons of fuel) was found several miles away near National Harbor (on the Potomac just south of the I-95 crossing into VA).  The general consensus is the pilot did a great job of "aiming" the  plane so it didn't hit anything when it crashed.
> 
> One neighborhood is basically a command post - we and the Air Force are still there.  A bulletin was issued about what to do if anyone found one of the practice loads (electronic fired 20mm) has been issued.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> At a cost of 18.8 million dollars each, I still say it's going to go on someone's permanent record.  Good thing they don't have a "You break it You bought it" policy.
Click to expand...

It certainly will, but assuming that investigation reveals no pilot error, the main reason will be for potential medical issues down the road.  Fast air ejection is VERY hard on the body, and the medical weenies will want to know in 2, 3 or 10 years time if the sore neck or whatever is related to this.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> My portfolio building effort:
> 
> Frank Fremerey - YouPic


Okay Frank, Gary has just spent most of the day viewing all your photos.  Nicely done.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, the plane seems to have had a mechanical failure and the pilot was able to aim it (I guess) to a wooded area about 100 yards from homes.
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> A few miles from my old stomping grounds.  We still go to the farm store just down the road.
> Military aircraft crashes miles from Joint Base Andrews pilot parachuted out
> 
> 
> 
> That's going to go on someone's permanent record.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Apparently the plane had a mechanical failure ans started breaking up in the air; one of the tip-tanks (200 gallons of fuel) was found several miles away near National Harbor (on the Potomac just south of the I-95 crossing into VA).  The general consensus is the pilot did a great job of "aiming" the  plane so it didn't hit anything when it crashed.
> 
> One neighborhood is basically a command post - we and the Air Force are still there.  A bulletin was issued about what to do if anyone found one of the practice loads (electronic fired 20mm) has been issued.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> At a cost of 18.8 million dollars each, I still say it's going to go on someone's permanent record.  Good thing they don't have a "You break it You bought it" policy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It certainly will, but assuming that investigation reveals no pilot error, the main reason will be for potential medical issues down the road.  Fast air ejection is VERY hard on the body, and the medical weenies will want to know in 2, 3 or 10 years time if the sore neck or whatever is related to this.
Click to expand...

Usually, a fast air ejection is more favorable than no ejection at all.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Usually, a fast air ejection is more favorable than no ejection at all.


True, but that doesn't make it a fun experience.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Another day is breaking.  It is cool and overcast this morning.  Stuff is happening all over and all the time. mmmmhhh ... A Lamborghini just drove by the house ... it must be lost.  Yesterday Gary made a brisket.  Gary has found that a stovetop brisket is better than cooking it in the oven.  It was sooo tender and sooo good .... Mary Lou plucked a salad, Romaine, Oak, Red Leaf, Arugula, Spinach, Mint, Spring Peas, peppers, cucumber, guacamole and Blu Cheese. A can of Bush's and a bottle of a red blend from Lorenzi, The Obsessive, rounded out dinner.  Gary has a big bid due today, so Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho, back to work he goes.


----------



## jcdeboever

Snowing here


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Usually, a fast air ejection is more favorable than no ejection at all.
> 
> 
> 
> True, but that doesn't make it a fun experience.
Click to expand...

Usually, any experience which elevates your heart rate above 300 ... loses a lot of the fun factor.

@ Charlie: There are a lot of military training and advance training air bases in SoCal, especially over the desert areas, while aircraft failures are never routine, they are relatively common out here.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Update: The other day Mary Lou rescued a Monarch Chrysalis and today it has turned dark and you can see the wings. Gary expects the Monarch to emerge soon ...


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 137674
> iPhone
> 
> Update: The other day Mary Lou rescued a Monarch Chrysalis and today it has turned dark and you can see the wings. Gary expects the Monarch to emerge soon ...


Time lapse


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 137674
> iPhone
> 
> Update: The other day Mary Lou rescued a Monarch Chrysalis and today it has turned dark and you can see the wings. Gary expects the Monarch to emerge soon ...
> 
> 
> 
> Time lapse
Click to expand...

LOL ... Gary has a bid due by 11:00.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone


----------



## terri

whew!    Gary, you should call that flower shot "acid trip" - kinda stabs you in the brain.     

In other news, it's Thursday, hosers!


----------



## Derrel

Would love to see a clearer shot of the chrysalis...I had no idea those were see-through (?)...


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, the plane seems to have had a mechanical failure and the pilot was able to aim it (I guess) to a wooded area about 100 yards from homes.
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> A few miles from my old stomping grounds.  We still go to the farm store just down the road.
> Military aircraft crashes miles from Joint Base Andrews pilot parachuted out
> 
> 
> 
> That's going to go on someone's permanent record.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Apparently the plane had a mechanical failure ans started breaking up in the air; one of the tip-tanks (200 gallons of fuel) was found several miles away near National Harbor (on the Potomac just south of the I-95 crossing into VA).  The general consensus is the pilot did a great job of "aiming" the  plane so it didn't hit anything when it crashed.
> 
> One neighborhood is basically a command post - we and the Air Force are still there.  A bulletin was issued about what to do if anyone found one of the practice loads (electronic fired 20mm) has been issued.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> At a cost of 18.8 million dollars each, I still say it's going to go on someone's permanent record.  Good thing they don't have a "You break it You bought it" policy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It certainly will, but assuming that investigation reveals no pilot error, the main reason will be for potential medical issues down the road.  Fast air ejection is VERY hard on the body, and the medical weenies will want to know in 2, 3 or 10 years time if the sore neck or whatever is related to this.
Click to expand...

Yep, those things don't just break up for no reason.  The Dad-in-law is a retired full bird and pilot from the USAF. He has a degree in mechanical engineering.  Spent all of his career west of the Mississippi or in the Pacific.  He for 20+ years was on the USAF crash investigation team.  Anything like this happen west of the Mississippi to the Middle East and he was TDA as part of the investigation team.  It will go on someone's record for sure.  Maybe not the pilots, but on someone's.  The Air Force hates loosing 18+ million dollars.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, the plane seems to have had a mechanical failure and the pilot was able to aim it (I guess) to a wooded area about 100 yards from homes.
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> A few miles from my old stomping grounds.  We still go to the farm store just down the road.
> Military aircraft crashes miles from Joint Base Andrews pilot parachuted out
> 
> 
> 
> That's going to go on someone's permanent record.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Apparently the plane had a mechanical failure ans started breaking up in the air; one of the tip-tanks (200 gallons of fuel) was found several miles away near National Harbor (on the Potomac just south of the I-95 crossing into VA).  The general consensus is the pilot did a great job of "aiming" the  plane so it didn't hit anything when it crashed.
> 
> One neighborhood is basically a command post - we and the Air Force are still there.  A bulletin was issued about what to do if anyone found one of the practice loads (electronic fired 20mm) has been issued.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> At a cost of 18.8 million dollars each, I still say it's going to go on someone's permanent record.  Good thing they don't have a "You break it You bought it" policy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It certainly will, but assuming that investigation reveals no pilot error, the main reason will be for potential medical issues down the road.  Fast air ejection is VERY hard on the body, and the medical weenies will want to know in 2, 3 or 10 years time if the sore neck or whatever is related to this.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Usually, a fast air ejection is more favorable than no ejection at all.
Click to expand...

Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> whew!    Gary, you should call that flower shot "acid trip" - kinda stabs you in the brain.
> 
> In other news, it's Thursday, hosers!


I believe it is named Double Delight.


----------



## Gary A.

Derrel said:


> Would love to see a clearer shot of the chrysalis...I had no idea those were see-through (?)...


They start out yellow-green and opaque.  They turn translucent when the metamorphosing is fini.





This one is a minute or two old, it hasn't fully hardened.










When it's ready the skin splits to expose the soft/wet chrysalis.















It wiggles around to lose the caterpillar skin.


----------



## Derrel

Wow! I had NO idea, Gary! Thanks for posting these shots so we can see some of the developmental stages.


----------



## Gary A.

We have Milkweed in the yards, consequently, we have a front row seat for Monarch Butterflies. We watch them all year round.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Usually, a fast air ejection is more favorable than no ejection at all.
> 
> 
> 
> True, but that doesn't make it a fun experience.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Usually, any experience which elevates your heart rate above 300 ... loses a lot of the fun factor.
> 
> @ Charlie: There are a lot of military training and advance training air bases in SoCal, especially over the desert areas, while aircraft failures are never routine, they are relatively common out here.
Click to expand...

Pretty common here, too.  The 113th TAC is part of the air security (I don't recall full name).  Andrews is also home of Systems Command, the 89th MAC aka Air Force One, and a Navy Air Reserve squadron. Many AF helps running mil execs to/from Pentagon. 

Patuxent River NAS isn't that far from us, nor are the helicopters, both green and black, from Fort Meade (Army and NSA).  Fort AP Hill is a large training facility about 30 miles away.  Marine Base Quantico is across the river and a bit south.  There are two USCG stations in the area (DC and Annapolis).  About the only thing we don't have locally are large bombers and stealth craft.  We also have a couple of Naval Surface Weapons Centers in the region.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Emergence.


----------



## Gary A.

Cook and Gary took a walk and when we came back there was a full blown adult Monarch.


----------



## vintagesnaps

For a minute there I went - what?? monarch butterflies are part of air security...??? lol As usual, more than one conversation going here in the coffee house! 

It's going to snow!!! in April. After 70 degrees yesterday. Have been hearing the shutters rattling this afternoon, sounds like a wintry wind blowing in. Brr! 

Then it's going to do something really strange this weekend - SUN!!! and 60 degrees! how's that happening? lol


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## pgriz

Yeah, I get that all the time.  Wife:  "You know, there's more than one person living here. "
A few minutes later...  "Um, no that's not the way I do it."
A few more minute later...  " It  hurts less when I do it, than watching you do it."

On the other hand, when she comes home tired and there's a hot dinner waiting for her, I'm golden.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 137675
> iPhone


That's not a flower shot, that's one of those visual afterglow shots.    Stare at it for a minute, then look at a white background.

Yep.  Gary's running a mass experiment on us.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just upgraded the firmware for his XP2 and XT2.  Gary likes Fuji.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary just upgraded the firmware for his XP2 and XT2.  Gary likes Fuji.


9 frame bracketing. That's cool, if I knew what to do with it. Like that it has 6 single point focus sizes. Voice memo is handy.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary had a little Sony tape recorder when he was working in news for assignment notes.  Gary is giving serious thought to getting a second XT2. Presently, Gary is shooting with a XP2 and a XT2 ... shooting with identical camera is nicer than shooting with different cameras.


----------



## SquarePeg

The truth about cats and dogs...


----------



## smoke665

Yup its spring in the south. The weather goes from a warm 85 to a cool 55 this morning. At least all the wind and rain has cleared the pine tree pollen from the air for a couple days. Prior to the storms everything was "yellow" with pollen, like a heavy dust on everything outside. When the wind blows it picks it up and swirls it around till even the air has a yellow tint. It's easy to pick out someone from the south in the spring. Just look for red swollen, watery eyes, and red noses dripping (well you know). Thankfully it doesn't last very long, and there's Zyrtec D, to help me.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Yup its spring in the south. The weather goes from a warm 85 to a cool 55 this morning. At least all the wind and rain has cleared the pine tree pollen from the air for a couple days. Prior to the storms everything was "yellow" with pollen, like a heavy dust on everything outside. When the wind blows it picks it up and swirls it around till even the air has a yellow tint. It's easy to pick out someone from the south in the spring. Just look for red swollen, watery eyes, and red noses dripping (well you know). Thankfully it doesn't last very long, and there's Zyrtec D, to help me.


I seen a lot of those people at the hash bash.... But there was a greenish brown tint in the air...  Hemp pollen


----------



## limr

HAPPY FRIDAY, HOSERS!!


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> The truth about cats and dogs...


Proof that Dogs were created by God and Cats were created by Satan!  

FYI we are honoring Satan around here this evening as we are adopting a second cat to go with our current two dogs and one cat.


----------



## table1349

There is no rest for the retired. 

  My agenda for the day.........and every day.


----------



## JonA_CT

A few more hours until Spring Break for me. My wife is headed to Tampa tomorrow to see a friend she hasn't seen since her baby shower, so I'll be hanging with the kid for the next 5 days on my own. It should be fun.

I also accidentally ordered 10 pounds of green coffee beans last night. Accidentally, because I thought I was buying 5, 1lb bags but ended up buying 5, 2lb bags. I guess I won't have to buy any for awhile. It's all good though...I go through about $6 of green beans a week. That's significantly cheaper than the coffee I used to buy, and extraordinarily cheaper than stopping at Starbucks or DD daily.


----------



## Derrel

Voice memo, yes, I like it a lot.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> HAPPY FRIDAY, HOSERS!!


For some reason Gary thought yesterday was Friday and abstained from meat. Mary Lou, (God bless her), served dinner yesterday, a huge salad, baked beans and a pile of leftover brisket. Gary questioned her motive and dinner entree. She questioned my sanity and short term memory.


----------



## table1349

Here you go, dinner for this evening.  Mackerel is always good.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday afternoon, Gary took apart the high pressure filter for the pond and gave it a through cleaning.  It stands about three feet high and 18" in circumference and it is filled with hundreds of these 3/4" round plastic wheel thingies. The filter was filled with mud and debris. The filter if fed by a submersible pump, which Gary also hauled out of the pond and give a Spring cleaning.  The filter was tedious work and took hours to compete.  After Gary reassembled the complete filtration system and restored power ... nothing happened.  The pump is no longer working.  Gary is rather upset.  Last night he ordered a new pump, this one is an external/above ground pump.  Today, time permitting, Gary plans to disassemble the old pump and look for obvious infringements to functionality.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Here you go, dinner for this evening.  Mackerel is always good.


Gary's not going to Hell for eating a woman who has fallen off a bridge.  People are meat ... never eat meat on Fridays during Lent.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg:  That was very entertaining ... the cat's manifesto.


----------



## Gary A.

Newspaper update:

Los Angeles Times ran an "EXTRA" on the USA dropping missiles on a Syrian airbase. The Times rarely runs an EXTRAS. 

@ JC:  Opening paragraphs on a story in the Sports Section under the headline "Mercurial still rising":
"The mercurial right fielder who couldn't be trusted to be on time  for a hitters' meeting last season, let alone provide a much-needed boost to the offense, bashed two two-run home runs.

The veteran right-hander who could barely throw a strike last summer carved up an opponent with the precision of a pitching machine for much of the game.

There were two extremely encouraging developments for the Dodgers in their 10-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday.  Yasiel Puig flashing the kind of power  that made him a rookie sensation in 2013 and the pitcher Brandon McCarthy showing the crispness and command that could shore up the back of the rotation.

Puig, whom the Dodgers tried to trade before demoting him to triple-A last August, walloped an 85-mph Jered Weaver fastball an estimated 415 feet, well over the left-field wall, in the second inning.  He sent a 78-mph Weaver slider screaming the wall in left in the fourth." ...


----------



## Derrel

A major wind storm is hitting the Oregon coast,southern Washington and northward into parts of the Puget Sound region, and the PDX metro and greater Willamette Valley areas, with 30 to 40 MPH winds and gusts to 60 MPH. Garbage cans have flown this morning, and it's been going on for about an hour. I read last night on a weather watcherer site that this is an exceedingly rare April event, one that occurs only every _several million hours_; the last time an event like this happened in April was in the 1950's. Not a lot of rain, just a bit, but LOTS of wind! Supposed to last for the next 10 to 12 hours. This is due to a major low-pressure system of, as mentioned, exceedingly rare proportions for April in the PNW region.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Newspaper update:
> 
> Los Angeles Times ran an "EXTRA" on the USA dropping missiles on a Syrian airbase. The Times rarely runs an EXTRAS.
> 
> @ JC:  Opening paragraphs on a story in the Sports Section under the headline "Mercurial still rising":
> "The mercurial right fielder who couldn't be trusted to be on time  for a hitters' meeting last season, let alone provide a much-needed boost to the offense, bashed two two-run home runs.
> 
> The veteran right-hander who could barely throw a strike last summer carved up an opponent with the precision of a pitching machine for much of the game.
> 
> There were two extremely encouraging developments for the Dodgers in their 10-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday.  Yasiel Puig flashing the kind of power  that made him a rookie sensation in 2013 and the pitcher Brandon McCarthy showing the crispness and command that could shore up the back of the rotation.
> 
> Puig, whom the Dodgers tried to trade before demoting him to triple-A last August, walloped an 85-mph Jered Weaver fastball an estimated 415 feet, well over the left-field wall, in the second inning.  He sent a 78-mph Weaver slider screaming the wall in left in the fourth." ...


Story to be continued. Wouldn't get to excited hitting 2 off Weaver.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here you go, dinner for this evening.  Mackerel is always good.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's not going to Hell for eating a woman who has fallen off a bridge.  People are meat ... never eat meat on Fridays during Lent.
Click to expand...

In case you need the calorie content of the various parts of the human body...

Ancient Humans Didn't Turn to Cannibalism For the Calories


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here you go, dinner for this evening.  Mackerel is always good.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's not going to Hell for eating a woman who has fallen off a bridge.  People are meat ... never eat meat on Fridays during Lent.
Click to expand...

Opps, got my links crossed.  Try this.


----------



## table1349

This is just too damn funny.  They give us a badge and a gun and this happens.





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=3159835164063652


----------



## snowbear

Well, I got into the office this morning, and while getting my K-cup of rejuvenation, the boss poked his head into the kitchen area and told me he needed to see me ASAP.  When I got to his office, he asked me to have a seat and told me he had bad news - that today was my last day.

Starting Monday, I am working on the data storage contract as a (paid) GIS Analyst!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Well, I got into the office this morning, and while getting my K-cup of rejuvenation, the boss poked his head into the kitchen area and told me he needed to see me ASAP.  When I got to his office, he asked me to have a seat and told me he had bad news - that today was my last day.
> 
> Starting Monday, I am working on the data storage contract as a (paid) GIS Analyst!



 

(Edit: Wait - this is a good thing, right?)


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> he had bad news - that today was my last day.



Was there an alternative?

Like Leonore, I'm just slightly confused (not her, Leonore is NEVER  confused.  Me, on the other hand...)  Does this mean you're doing for pay what you were doing previously for free?  Or is this a "re-evaluation" of your contribution?


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> My portfolio building effort:
> 
> Frank Fremerey - YouPic
> 
> 
> 
> Okay Frank, Gary has just spent most of the day viewing all your photos.  Nicely done.
Click to expand...




That is the nicest thing anybody has every said to me. Except maybe for BEZ. BEZ and you are the two people in the world I respect when it comes to photography...

... both of you should meet. In England? Lake District? Or Bonn? Bonn is very nice.

All the best to Mary-Lou.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> (Edit: Wait - this is a good thing, right?)


Yes, it is a very good thing.  I am still in the same office (heck, the same chair) that I have occupied for the last 3.9 years.
I know my GIS boss has been trying to get this done for quite a while, and the approvals started in about 3 months ago; just a bunch of details and red tape to work through.



pgriz said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> he had bad news - that today was my last day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Was there an alternative?
> 
> Like Leonore, I'm just slightly confused (not her, Leonore is NEVER  confused.  Me, on the other hand...)  Does this mean you're doing for pay what you were doing previously for free?  Or is this a "re-evaluation" of your contribution?
Click to expand...

After I got my degree in 2010, I was offered a part-time internship with US NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Admin. - I don't think there's a direct equivalent in Canada but your Hydrologic and Weather Services covers part of it), preparing road and railroad network layers for use in electronic nautical navigation charts.  After that term was up, I spent 1-1/2 years playing house-husband and applying for jobs.  Getting no offers (maybe due to age, specific inexperience in GIS, or just plain being ugly) MLW was able to secure an unpaid internship with the Fire/EMS Department.  One of the Assistant Chiefs was in need of some GIS work and was willing to take a chance on me.  The advantage to me was practical experience, and the department got, what turned out to be a major project done at no cost.

A full-time GIS analyst, though proving to be beneficial to the department, was apparently not a priority, so the GIS manager started trying to get me on as a contractor.  It took some time, but it is now a thing.

I will be doing, for the most part, of what I've done for the Fire/EMS Department, but more related to how the County provides geographic-based data to the public - web based maps and apps.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Gary just got out of the pond having somewhat fixed the pump.  It is a glorious day.  Presently, it is 74F with a nice Pacific breeze shimmering the leaves in the backyard.  Gary has showered, fed the Cook and is barefoot in the patio drinking a Pear cider, snacking on some ice cold watermelon listening to some classical and enjoying the garden.  ... And there goes a Coopers Hawk being chased by a raven. 

Gary is shooting the annual founder's day parade for the City of Hawaiian Gardens ... which is neither Hawaiian or a Garden.  He has busied himself with clearing out cards and recharging batteries.


----------



## Gary A.

Charlie, if you're a contractor, you should incorporate yourself, (as type 'S' corp), that would allow you to maximize all your deductions against payments.  At a minimum, you could, most likely, write off camera(s), computer(s) and a percentage of your car.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Charlie, if you're a contractor, you should incorporate yourself, (as type 'S' corp), that would allow you to maximize all your deductions against payments.  You could, most likely, write off cameras and a percentage of your car.


I'm not sure how all that works, but I was hired by the business that is providing the contracted services to the County - I'm not a freelancer.

I have considered setting myself up as a GIS consultant, but that would be some time in the future - I'd have to learn how to run a business, first.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

The pink blossoms have been replaced by red leaves.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Charlie, if you're a contractor, you should incorporate yourself, (as type 'S' corp), that would allow you to maximize all your deductions against payments.  You could, most likely, write off cameras and a percentage of your car.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure how all that works, but I was hired by the business that is providing the contracted services to the County - I'm not a freelancer.
> 
> I have considered setting myself up as a GIS consultant, but that would be some time in the future - I'd have to learn how to run a business, first.
Click to expand...

Well, either you're a subcontractor to that business or an employee of that business.  Most likely you're a subcontractor.  PM me if/when you want/need some help and or clarifications.  Different states have different laws, but most contracting is roughly the same.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Charlie, if you're a contractor, you should incorporate yourself, (as type 'S' corp), that would allow you to maximize all your deductions against payments.  You could, most likely, write off cameras and a percentage of your car.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure how all that works, but I was hired by the business that is providing the contracted services to the County - I'm not a freelancer.
> 
> I have considered setting myself up as a GIS consultant, but that would be some time in the future - I'd have to learn how to run a business, first.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well, either you're a subcontractor to that business or an employee of that business.  Most likely you're a subcontractor.  PM me if/when you want/need some help and or clarifications.  Different states have different laws, but most contracting is roughly the same.
Click to expand...

will do.


----------



## Gary A.

A wine delivery from Marimar Winery in Sonoma has graced Gary's humble household. Life is good.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hey Hosers!  Hope everyone is well.  I'm glad you guys enjoyed the dogs vs. cats thing.  It pops up as a memory on FaceBook every year and it makes me laugh every time.  We had cats when I was growing up and I remember so well the cattitude!!!

It was a busy and hectic week for me but it ended on a high note.  Had a 90 minute massage appointment after work, picked up take-out from Carrabbas grille on the way home and enjoyed that with a nice BIG glass of chardonnay.  Now I'm finishing off my night with a small bag of pretzel M&M's (God's gift to sweet and salty lovers).  It was someone else's turn to drive the teenage gang around tonight.  Ahhhhhhh!!  Hot shower and an early night for me.  G'night TPF.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Congrats Charlie, that sounds great for you!

Good move Sharon, handing off the driving of the teenagers to someone else and replacing it with a nice wine!

Have fun shooting the parade Gary. 

The strangest thing... it's the weekend and - it's going to be sunny and 60 degrees!!! I'm going and doing some picture taking!!!!!!!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

And RIP David Peel. Read the other day about him having a heart attack and recognized the name but couldn't remember who he was, then saw today he'd passed away. Proto-punk music, before there was punk rock. Hippie from New York City.


David Peel and The Lower East Side, with John Lennon and Yoko Ono -


----------



## vintagesnaps

I seem to have listened to some really oddball music over the years...


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Charlie, if you're a contractor, you should incorporate yourself, (as type 'S' corp), that would allow you to maximize all your deductions against payments.  At a minimum, you could, most likely, write off camera(s), computer(s) and a percentage of your car.


Excellent recommendation.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning hosers. Going out to shoot today. Nikon FM with AIS 50mm, TMax 100, and my Rollei 140 with Agfa Vista 200 color. Sent my rolls out for developing this week, I just didn't have the time or enough chemicals left. Should be interesting to see what Dwayne's does with them in comparison to what I do. I'm sure their scanner is better. Will get by camera store next week for more chemicals. I'm going to try ilford this time, maybe @limr could throw a caffenal recipe my way, might try that. I really want to try some rodinal too.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary had a bit of rain.  Seems to be just a shower, but he thinks it has passed.  No rain for his parade.
@Leo & JC: Gary has been thinking of some coffee developer as well.

Front Page headline in the LA Times: "Brown says California's long drought finally over".
Gary will take significant credit for this.  He thinks the drought ending is a direct result from him digging up most of the front yard grass and replacing it with succulents and native plants. The remaining credit goes to God.

There is a wonderful little tree in the back, a Waterfall Maple. It is the lime green tree. A very slow grower, but Gary likes the shape and the color.


----------



## JonA_CT

I found my daughter completely naked in her crib this morning. She managed to get her zipped and buttoned footsie PJs off and her diaper with no adult assistance. 

I'm hoping she forgot how already. We were lucky because there was no collateral damage this morning.


----------



## Designer

JonA_CT said:


> I found my daughter completely naked in her crib this morning. She managed to get her zipped and buttoned footsie PJs off and her diaper with no adult assistance.


Now just toss in a new diaper, and today's clothing, and walk out.  You never know.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I found my daughter completely naked in her crib this morning. She managed to get her zipped and buttoned footsie PJs off and her diaper with no adult assistance.
> 
> I'm hoping she forgot how already. We were lucky because there was no collateral damage this morning.



Uhoh.  I have a friend whose daughter went through a "likes to be naked" phase.  She was about 18-24 months a the time I think.  One day we were shopping at Target and we were standing in the aisle talking and her daughter was standing next to us and within what could not have been more than 10 seconds she was suddenly naked and dancing in the aisle.  Another time she stripped naked at the park while waiting her turn for the slide.  I wasn't there to witness that one but I thought the story was hilarious  - my friend was mortified.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I found my daughter completely naked in her crib this morning. She managed to get her zipped and buttoned footsie PJs off and her diaper with no adult assistance.
> 
> I'm hoping she forgot how already. We were lucky because there was no collateral damage this morning.


You have a loose cannon there ... (see Peg above).


----------



## Gary A.

... or Canon ... as this is a photo forum.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I found my daughter completely naked in her crib this morning. She managed to get her zipped and buttoned footsie PJs off and her diaper with no adult assistance.
> 
> I'm hoping she forgot how already. We were lucky because there was no collateral damage this morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Uhoh.  I have a friend whose daughter went through a "likes to be naked" phase.  She was about 18-24 months a the time I think.  One day we were shopping at Target and we were standing in the aisle talking and her daughter was standing next to us and within what could not have been more than 10 seconds she was suddenly naked and dancing in the aisle.  Another time she stripped naked at the park while waiting her turn for the slide.  I wasn't there to witness that one but I thought the story was hilarious  - *my friend was mortified.*
Click to expand...

Which explains a lot about the hangups kids have when they grow up.  Kids need to just be kids.  We adults need to protect them from real dangers and let them be otherwise. The only way they learn is by seeing and doing.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> I have a friend whose daughter went through a "likes to be naked" phase.  She was about 18-24 months a the time I think.  One day we were shopping at Target and we were standing in the aisle talking and her daughter was standing next to us and within what could not have been more than 10 seconds she was suddenly naked and dancing in the aisle.  Another time she stripped naked at the park while waiting her turn for the slide.  I wasn't there to witness that one but I thought the story was hilarious  - my friend was mortified.


I knew someone like this.  She was 22 so it was kinda cool.


----------



## EIngerson

Always love seeing the updates in the National Museum of the Marine Corps.





Museum-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## limr

EIngerson said:


> Always love seeing the updates in the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Museum-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr



Cool shot, Eric.


----------



## EIngerson

limr said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Always love seeing the updates in the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Museum-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cool shot, Eric.
Click to expand...


Thank you very much.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Always love seeing the updates in the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Museum-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cool shot, Eric.
Click to expand...

Man,  that is on my bucket list...

Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## EIngerson

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Always love seeing the updates in the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Museum-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cool shot, Eric.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Man,  that is on my bucket list...
> 
> Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...


I've been 9 times now. There is something new every time I go. It's unbelievable that it is 100% free.


----------



## snowbear

EIngerson said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Always love seeing the updates in the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Museum-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cool shot, Eric.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Man,  that is on my bucket list...
> 
> Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've been 9 times now. There is something new every time I go. It's unbelievable that it is 100% free.
Click to expand...

You were in DC (or Quantico) recently?


----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> Always love seeing the updates in the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Museum-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


That is now on my bucket list.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are back from the parade.  After the parade we had lunch in Seal Beach.  Gary had a hankering for fish & chips.  Home, some light yard work and now we are kicking back, downloading the images, sipping some wine and enjoying the backyard.


----------



## NancyMoranG

JonA_CT said:


> I found my daughter completely naked in her crib this morning. She managed to get her zipped and buttoned footsie PJs off and her diaper with no adult assistance.
> 
> I'm hoping she forgot how already. We were lucky because there was no collateral damage this morning.



I am going with something less sinister..maybe she was too hot and figured out how to handle the situation..
You have a genius on your hands..!  Ok, or maybe a problem child...just kidding!
They are all unique...just like everyone else..
See where it goes..


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Secret.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Today Gary will start learning a new photo processing program.  Apple has quit supporting Aperture and the old Aperture doesn't read the new Fuji files. Gary has been avoiding avoiding this painful day for months ... but it is way past time to dive into his backlog of images. 

Okay, Gary has said it ... now back to some coffee and the morning paper ...


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. It's not even 11am and I'm already at my 7500 steps for the day.

Who the hell have I become???

(I got up at 7:30, did some weights, then went for a walk with Buzz. Saturdays are going to be my lazy days.)

Matzoh ball soup for lunch. Yum!


----------



## limr

If I can keep this up, I might be able to raise my step limit back up to 10,000 soon.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Today Gary will start learning a new photo processing program.  Apple has quit supporting Aperture and the old Aperture doesn't read the new Fuji files. Gary has been avoiding avoiding this painful day for months ... but it is way past time to dive into his backlog of images.
> 
> Okay, Gary has said it ... now back to some coffee and the morning paper ...



What did you decide to go with? Did you give into Adobe, or are you going with Affinity Photo or something else?


----------



## table1349

Well, we introduced a new member to the family Friday night.  A bouncing baby girl, 7 pounds two ounces.  We have named her Raven Brooke.  She is an active little thing that once she got used to being here has developed a wonderful appetite.  Her brother and two sisters have all gotten to love her and she has started to figure them out.  She is going to be a wonderful addition to our family.  



Here is her official first photo.


----------



## Gary A.

BTW- Yesterday, because of an email screw-up, the City of Hawaiian Gardens 'hired' a replacement photog for the parade. I'm a volunteer.  A couple days before the parade contact between the City and Gary was established and I again volunteered ... but it was too late to cancel the 'pro'.  Gary meet him about an hour prior to the start of the parade and we had time to chat. He was quite friendly and affable ... but a touch condescending, as in, I'm a pro and you're just a wannabe. It sorta ticked Gary off ... so Gary told him that as you're the hired-hand and he is the volunteer ... you do all the heavy lifting and shoot the required stuff.  A la, all the floats with attention to the sponsor's name, all the VIP's both close-ups and wide angles, et cetera. Gary would shoot all the color stuff, the people and the side bar stuff surrounding the parade.  He said okay, but I know he was a bit ticked.  I think he was shooting with a pair of 5D's. Dunno which ones.  One Canon had a 70-200 F/2.8 the other a wide zoom, maybe 24-70 F/2.8 with a fill flash.  The fill was a smart move as this was a noon time parade.  We didn't speak to equipment.  A less condensating pro would have asked about mirrorless.  Gary ran into an LA Times photog shooting the same event and he inquired about Gary's Fuji's. Gary told him that he used to work at the Times ... he looked at Gary and said that he heard of me ... after he left, Mary Lou laughed at Gary ... saying "... Yeah, he heard of you, but not in a good way ...". lol

PS- At lunch, Mary Lou said she sensed a bit of condescension in the guy. She was proud of me for holding my tongue and not saying anything. Gary looked at the other photog's web site ... Gary is better.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Today Gary will start learning a new photo processing program.  Apple has quit supporting Aperture and the old Aperture doesn't read the new Fuji files. Gary has been avoiding avoiding this painful day for months ... but it is way past time to dive into his backlog of images.
> 
> Okay, Gary has said it ... now back to some coffee and the morning paper ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What did you decide to go with? Did you give into Adobe, or are you going with Affinity Photo or something else?
Click to expand...

Gary doesn't like Adobe.  Adobe has a long history of very poor development of Fuji RAW images.  Gary understands that Adobe has finally fixed the RAW problem ... for now. For decades, Gary has always hated the UI of Adobe, but Gary uses many of the Adobe products as they are industry standards for printing.  Gary is not a fan of renting programs purely for the financial benefit of the company. Gary Has Affinity, Capture One (which works quite well but slows way down when loaded up with a ton of images) and Iridient (which does a great job but the UI isn't very slick). 

Gary has give given a cursory look at the above programs.  Affinity seems to have the best support.  He has about six 'assignments' to get processed, he's basically flipping a coin and it came up Affinity.  If Affinity slows down when loaded up, then he'll try Iridient.  In the past, Gary would use Aperture for RAW conversion to JPEG and global manipulations, then polish the image in Photoshop for specific area manipulation.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Well, we introduced a new member to the family Friday night.  A bouncing baby girl, 7 pounds two ounces.  We have named her Raven Brooke.  She is an active little thing that once she got used to being here has developed a wonderful appetite.  Her brother and two sisters have all gotten to love her and she has started to figure them out.  She is going to be a wonderful addition to our family.
> 
> 
> 
> Here is her official first photo.


Congrats on the latest family member.


----------



## vintagesnaps

At least with the snafu Gary you got to pretty much do what you wanted and let the schmuck (I mean other person who happened to have a camera) get the sponsor photos etc. (did that with hockey and now can't help but pay attention to the dasher ads at games). They'll find out the hard way who they should have used for the parade. 

And I like Mary Lou's sense of humor! 


Sharon is tired. Sharon didn't end up going picture taking which was fortunate because the interstate was shut down for 3 hours near where we were going. Instead Sharon's best friend who is something of a gardener was going to help figure out what to do with my flower beds in the back and put in a garden lantern thingy and sweep off the stones... but mostly all that got done was a good but of perusing. Well, too early to plant for awhile yet anyway, maybe Sharon shall peruse gardening websites.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> At least with the snafu Gary you got to pretty much do what you wanted and let the schmuck (I mean other person who happened to have a camera) get the sponsor photos etc. (did that with hockey and now can't help but pay attention to the dasher ads at games). They'll find out the hard way who they should have used for the parade.
> 
> And I like Mary Lou's sense of humor!
> 
> 
> Sharon is tired. Sharon didn't end up going picture taking which was fortunate because the interstate was shut down for 3 hours near where we were going. Instead Sharon's best friend who is something of a gardener was going to help figure out what to do with my flower beds in the back and put in a garden lantern thingy and sweep off the stones... but mostly all that got done was a good but of perusing. Well, too early to plant for awhile yet anyway, maybe Sharon shall peruse gardening websites.


The funny thing, he just stood in one location and shot each float/participant as it passed and chatted with parade officials.  Meanwhile Gary walked the entire parade route, repeatedly, shot 90% of the floats and participants and got tons of the local folks having a good time.  The local folk are much interesting and a greater challenge than the mayor.


----------



## jcdeboever

I think I got down to the bottom of my under exposure on my Nikon FM. I Noticed that the metering tab collar was at the 11 o'clock position (should be 2oclock). I didn't recall that ever being like that.  Looking at the parts breakdown, the tab appears to be connected with a wire or string to a pulley/spring, then to a rotary resistor. I could probably fix it but I emailed the guy I bought it from and he is sending me another  one and I will return this one. Pretty awesome. I emailed him looking for tips and didn't expect a replacement. 


Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

Arrived today.


----------



## jcdeboever

Wierd looking, I suppose that qualifies as a purchase for me. 

Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

It is surprisingly large, especially when Gary compares it to the original LensBaby he has for Canon.


----------



## NancyMoranG

So can we see a photo of a float?


----------



## table1349

NancyMoranG said:


> So can we see a photo of a float?


A Float


----------



## NancyMoranG

Smart Alec...you are officially uninvited when your wife ups the heat on you...


----------



## jcdeboever

First blooms of the year in my back yard. Hope you like them because I stepped in Webster doo doo to get them. 














Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## table1349

NancyMoranG said:


> Smart Alec...you are officially uninvited when your wife ups the heat on you...


You need to understand, I am the Man in this household and I make the decisions.  My wife tells me what the decisions are that I'm going to make and then I make them.


----------



## Gary A.

NancyMoranG said:


> So can we see a photo of a float?


These are from last year.  (Okay, Gary got carried away with ten images.  But out here Hawaiian Gardens gets a bum wrap as a community low on the socio-economic scale and with nothing to offer those think that money equates to self-worth.  But, Gary finds the community fascinating and full of interesting people.  The parade isn't stunning by any standard ... but is very self-reflective of the community and every participate was heartfully cheered.

#1





#2





#3





#4





#5





#6





#7





#8





#9





#10





Gary loves a parade.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone - Steamed and ready to go. 

Mary Lou and Gary just wrapped up a late dinner. Tonight we had the first artichoke of the season for dessert. It was great.


----------



## EIngerson

snowbear said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Always love seeing the updates in the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Museum-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cool shot, Eric.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Man,  that is on my bucket list...
> 
> Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've been 9 times now. There is something new every time I go. It's unbelievable that it is 100% free.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You were in DC (or Quantico) recently?
Click to expand...


Yes, I had a conference last week.  I wish I had 5 minutes to myself. LOL


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nice picture Eric, very nice. Did you go slightly sepia toned with it? I like it.

How old is she Jon? ___ and going on ___??!


----------



## vintagesnaps

None of that stinkin' root beer (float)!!


----------



## snowbear

EIngerson said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Always love seeing the updates in the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Museum-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cool shot, Eric.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Man,  that is on my bucket list...
> 
> Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've been 9 times now. There is something new every time I go. It's unbelievable that it is 100% free.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You were in DC (or Quantico) recently?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, I had a conference last week.  I wish I had 5 minutes to myself. LOL
Click to expand...


I know how that is.  Give me a shout next time.


----------



## JonA_CT

Good morning! Even on vacation, my body won't let me sleep in. 

My daughter turns 2 in July. 

My brother was over yesterday, and we were working on a batch of beer. I had hooked some pumps up and was circulating boiling beer when I managed to kick off a hose and shoot that very warm beer directly onto the ball of my ankle. I stuck my foot in the sink for about 20 minutes, and my brother went to go fix some of the things that went wrong outside. 

In the ensuing craziness, he gets back to my daughter who has been playing on her own, about 5 minutes later, and she's completely naked again, running around holding her onsie in one hand and her diaper in the other. I'm thinking duct tape.

The ankle is fine...I ended up going to the ER because it swelled and bunch and looked really angry, but running the water over it served its purpose and there shouldn't be any permanent damage. Time to invest in a safer set-up.


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> View attachment 137736




The Nikon looks really nice!


----------



## Frank F.

some signs of spring:


----------



## limr

Well well well, hosers. This is going to get interesting: NY to make state college tuition free for middle class under new budget


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Well well well, hosers. This is going to get interesting: NY to make state college tuition free for middle class under new budget


Hooray for New York.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Well well well, hosers. This is going to get interesting: NY to make state college tuition free for middle class under new budget



Nice!  What do you think about their income line of $125K as the cut off for middle class?  Seems spot on for the Northeast.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well well well, hosers. This is going to get interesting: NY to make state college tuition free for middle class under new budget
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice!  What do you think about their income line of $125K as the cut off for middle class?  Seems spot on for the Northeast.
Click to expand...


Seems about right. It's apparently going to start with a $100K cut-off for Fall 2017 (this coming school year! Damn, we're going to be busy this summer) and then raise up to $125K for Fall 2019 (I think.)

It doesn't cover fees, books, or room/board. The last is not as much of an issue for community colleges at least. The student must also be full-time and I think they are defining that as 15 credits a semester. That's a lot, though. Full-time has always been defined as 12 credits a semester. And there may be a minimum GPA requirement.

It sure would be nice if the state lets us know these things soon.

I think our attention is going to have to shift rapidly towards retention and graduation instead of enrollment.

I also wonder who is going to pay for the extra parking and classroom space we're going to need to handle the higher enrollments that we're almost guaranteed to see.

Yup...this is getting interesting.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> It doesn't cover fees, books, or room/board.



I recently helped a friend figure out her son's finances for this coming year and was shocked at the fees!  He's attending a state school so I was thinking it would be affordable but, although they keep the tuition low, the fees, dorms and meal plans almost doubled the annual cost.  Tuition and fees $15k/yr, Meal plan $5k/yr, Housing $6k/yr, Books $1k...


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It doesn't cover fees, books, or room/board.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I recently helped a friend figure out her son's finances for this coming year and was shocked at the fees!  He's attending a state school so I was thinking it would be affordable but, although they keep the tuition low, the fees, dorms and meal plans almost doubled the annual cost.  Tuition and fees $15k/yr, Meal plan $5k/yr, Housing $6k/yr, Books $1k...
Click to expand...


Yup. Our fees are reasonable, but books can get crazy.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I saw something about that. I'm not sure how that would work...I mean,well, because of what you're talking about. It sounds nice in theory but how it would be implemented, I don't quite get... just getting into a school or it being made available is one thing, staying in school is another. 

Supposedly the freshman year was always the make it or break it year, so what, will there be way more freshman fall term, then be gone by the end of the semester?? Or are there still grade point averages and whatnot to even get in? I'm not in the loop with high school (thank goodness!! lol). 

Oh boy, this makes me glad I'm not in education anymore...


----------



## vintagesnaps

So 900,00 over how many schools? wonder how much impact it would have on individual schools. 

Actually, this reminds me of when our state changed eligibility for our EI programs, and our caseloads went way up and time spent with families/number of home visits went down. But you adjust and adapt. (And there was talk of a motor home and we could drive down the street and pick up kids as we go... kidding of course!)


----------



## JonA_CT

I took my daughter to the aquarium this morning.

T and Charlotte the Sea Turtle (iPhone)...


----------



## jcdeboever

This makes me angry. Sell your United Airlines stock now... The guy was an old man and doctor. Didn't want to give up his seat for airline workers. So, they forced him off the plane
Twitter


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I took my daughter to the aquarium this morning.
> 
> T and Charlotte the Sea Turtle (iPhone)...
> 
> View attachment 137887



Mystic Aquarium?   I love that place. We used to go every spring. The beluga whales are my fav. Always smiling.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> This makes me angry. Sell your United Airlines stock now... The guy was an old man and doctor. Didn't want to give up his seat for airline workers. So, they forced him off the plane
> Twitter



Airline crews have, imo, gotten a bit obnoxious with their power over passengers in recent years. The one where they wouldn't let the young child up to use the bathroom and then gave the mom attitude when the poor thing peed in her seat...  and my favorite when they cut short a flight and landed somewhere else to deplane a young family because the mom dared to make a stink that they were playing a racy and violent movie on the overhead screen that she didn't want her young boys to see...


----------



## SquarePeg

Sharon did her best Gary A impersonation tonight and whipped up a perfectly medium rare prime rib like it was nbd.   Grabbed a very quick pic with my daughter's iPhone before we dug in.  Vegans, vegetarians, dieters---nothing to see here.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> This makes me angry. Sell your United Airlines stock now... The guy was an old man and doctor. Didn't want to give up his seat for airline workers. So, they forced him off the plane
> Twitter


Daily Darwin Award.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I took my daughter to the aquarium this morning.
> 
> T and Charlotte the Sea Turtle (iPhone)...
> 
> View attachment 137887
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mystic Aquarium?   I love that place. We used to go every spring. The beluga whales are my fav. Always smiling.
Click to expand...


Yup. It's about 15 minutes away from here. My wife worked in Education during grad school and we've had a membership since.


----------



## SquarePeg

What I don't get about that United Airlines madness...  if they ask for volunteers and don't get any, most airlines up the compensation until they have a few takers.  So no one wanted the $200 voucher they were offering?  Make it $400 or $500 or even $2k - all cheaper in the long run than the terrible PR they are getting with man handling a passenger off the plane.  Just a terrible management decision by the gate agents (I believe that is who is in charge in that situation).


----------



## JonA_CT

My wife flew Spirit Airlines to Tampa this weekend. She drove to Framingham with a friend, took the bus to Logan, and then they canceled their flight about 40 minutes before take-off because they didn't have a pilot. I'm going to guess they knew that awhile before. These airlines can say all they want about profits. They must be doing alright, because they put my wife up in a nice hotel  gave her 70$ in food vouchers, and refunded her one-way fare because they canceled her flight. I'm guessing they still made money on her fare.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> What I don't get about that United Airlines madness...  if they ask for volunteers and don't get any, most airlines up the compensation until they have a few takers.  So no one wanted the $200 voucher they were offering?  Make it $400 or $500 or even $2k - all cheaper in the long run than the terrible PR they are getting with man handling a passenger off the plane.  Just a terrible management decision by the gate agents (I believe that is who is in charge in that situation).


It was supposedly  $800. 

Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## EIngerson

snowbear said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Always love seeing the updates in the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Museum-1 by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cool shot, Eric.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Man,  that is on my bucket list...
> 
> Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've been 9 times now. There is something new every time I go. It's unbelievable that it is 100% free.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You were in DC (or Quantico) recently?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, I had a conference last week.  I wish I had 5 minutes to myself. LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I know how that is.  Give me a shout next time.
Click to expand...


I sure will! And thanks! Just a hectic trip this time.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Sharon did her best Gary A impersonation tonight and whipped up a perfectly medium rare prime rib like it was nbd.   Grabbed a very quick pic with my daughter's iPhone before we dug in.  Vegans, vegetarians, dieters---nothing to see here.


Nice.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

About a week ago, Gary received a package from Jon. A custom brew and coffee, roasted by his own hand. 





Sunday, Gary brewed his first cup of Jon Coffee. It was Delish. Jon needs to open up a coffee shop. Thank you Jon.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg: Today Gary BBQed up some chicken kabobs, chicken smothered in Gary's BBQ sauce and grilled some apples. "Crazy delicious," said Mary Lou.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.



vintagesnaps said:


> I saw something about that. I'm not sure how that would work...I mean,well, because of what you're talking about. It sounds nice in theory but how it would be implemented, I don't quite get... just getting into a school or it being made available is one thing, staying in school is another.
> 
> Supposedly the freshman year was always the make it or break it year, so what, will there be way more freshman fall term, then be gone by the end of the semester?? Or are there still grade point averages and whatnot to even get in? I'm not in the loop with high school (thank goodness!! lol).
> 
> Oh boy, this makes me glad I'm not in education anymore...



We are an open-enrollment school, so there are no GPA requirements to get in. Anyone who applies is accepted. However, there is a placement exam to see how college-ready someone is, and if there are skill gaps, the student has to take developmental education classes. This is already a hindrance since most dev.ed. classes don't carry any credits but students still have to pay. One of the conditions of the tuition vouchers (it's being called a scholarship) is that the student has 30 credits over the course of the first year. This includes summer and winter sessions, but even so, if 2 or 3 of the classes a student takes doesn't even carry any credits, it will be hard for them to hit that 30-credit requirement.

It'll also be difficult for anyone who may still have to work - just because tuition is free doesn't mean there will be any other financial supports, so it will be easier for traditional students who can stay home and commute, but the students who have to work to support themselves will find it much more difficult to maintain a full-time school schedule for the whole 2 years (the maximum a student can get free tuition in an Associate's program.) Some might end up dropping to part-time, which means they are no longer eligible for the 'scholarship.'

So so so so many variables.



vintagesnaps said:


> So 900,00 over how many schools? wonder how much impact it would have on individual schools.



It will depend on where those students are located. There are 64 schools across the system. And this program applies to the CUNY schools as well (City University of NY). Some schools will be hit harder than others, for sure. It's hard to say how this will all shake out. I just wish we had more time. I don't know how government AND higher education is expected to move fast enough to make this work smoothly for September.


----------



## Gary A.

On the theoretical side of higher education,  Gary likes what New York is doing.  In theory, taking the money out of higher education qualification/acceptance. By lowering the financial requirements, New York is on its way to offering college based solely on qualifying per testing ... as opposed to qualifying per testing and the ability to pay.   

(In practical terms, money is always a factor, as Leo points out, many students need to earn money as opposed to being a full time student.  But this is a giant step towards leveling the higher education acceptance playing field.  New York is ahead of California.)


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> This makes me angry. Sell your United Airlines stock now... The guy was an old man and doctor. Didn't want to give up his seat for airline workers. So, they forced him off the plane
> Twitter
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Airline crews have, imo, gotten a bit obnoxious with their power over passengers in recent years. The one where they wouldn't let the young child up to use the bathroom and then gave the mom attitude when the poor thing peed in her seat...  and my favorite when they cut short a flight and landed somewhere else to deplane a young family because the mom dared to make a stink that they were playing a racy and violent movie on the overhead screen that she didn't want her young boys to see...
Click to expand...

Flying used to be an enjoyable experience. It was pleasant.  Now Gary dreads flying, he flies as a last resort.  Now, being on a plane is like being in parochial school and all the nuns have rulers.


----------



## Derrel

United Airlines is paying for their misjudgement in a big, big way today!


----------



## table1349

After doing a little research this might actually be a workable solution.  The student/student family must be a resident for 1 year, which in New York requires either living there full time or maintaining a domicile in which you must be in New York for 180 days each year.  Secondly If you take the money, after graduation/quitting school you have to stay and work in New York for the same amount of years you took the tuition.  It is not just a free gift by the state rather it is an incentive to continue education with a responsibility attached to it.  This could either be a colossal failure or it could be come a model for other states. I am hoping for the latter. 

I know a few years ago the State of Missouri combined college and medical school for instate residents cutting two years off the normal time it took to become a physician.  They did not cut any of the necessary classes, rather allowed medical school classes to be counted as credits toward the college degree instead of taking a couple of art classes, government classes, etc. that had noting to do with being a physician.  They also had to stay in the State of Missouri and practice for I believe 6 years once they graduated.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> This makes me angry. Sell your United Airlines stock now... The guy was an old man and doctor. Didn't want to give up his seat for airline workers. So, they forced him off the plane
> Twitter
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Airline crews have, imo, gotten a bit obnoxious with their power over passengers in recent years. The one where they wouldn't let the young child up to use the bathroom and then gave the mom attitude when the poor thing peed in her seat...  and my favorite when they cut short a flight and landed somewhere else to deplane a young family because the mom dared to make a stink that they were playing a racy and violent movie on the overhead screen that she didn't want her young boys to see...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Flying used to be an enjoyable experience. It was pleasant.  Now Gary dreads flying, he flies as a last resort.  Now, being on a plane is like being in parochial school and all the nuns have rulers.
Click to expand...

Yep, we are taking 9 people to Hawaii for 9 days and 8 nights here in a couple of years.  If the kids could take enough time off to do so I would much rather take a cruse ship from San Diego to Hawaii and back than fly.  As it is we will not be flying United to Hawaii and back.


----------



## JonA_CT

Saw this in social media. People are awesome.


----------



## Frankinfuji

When we fly, we give up all human rights.  Jammed in like cattle, searched, scanned, prodded and queued, with no guarantee of arriving on time, or at all.


----------



## Gary A.

Frankinfuji said:


> When we fly, we give up all human rights.  Jammed in like cattle, searched, scanned, prodded and queued, with no guarantee of arriving on time, or at all.


... And it is worse for the luggage.


----------



## SquarePeg

gryphonslair99 said:


> Yep, we are taking 9 people to Hawaii for 9 days and 8 nights here in a couple of years.  If the kids could take enough time off to do so I would much rather take a cruse ship from San Diego to Hawaii and back than fly.  As it is we will not be flying United to Hawaii and back.



Look into Alaska Air to Hawaii.  They fly out of SF, SD, LA, Portland, Seattle...  They have a credit card offered through BoA that gives you a $122 companion pass each year ($99 plus fees).  The last time we went to Hawaii we used them and had 2 of the companion passes so for 4 of us we paid a total of $2k (so $500 pp) for our airfare which was a great price for rt from Boston to Maui and then Oahu to Boston.  We overnighted in Portland on the way there which was a nice way to break up the long trip if you have young ones traveling with you.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep, we are taking 9 people to Hawaii for 9 days and 8 nights here in a couple of years.  If the kids could take enough time off to do so I would much rather take a cruse ship from San Diego to Hawaii and back than fly.  As it is we will not be flying United to Hawaii and back.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look into Alaska Air to Hawaii.  They fly out of SF, SD, LA, Portland, Seattle...  They have a credit card offered through BoA that gives you a $122 companion pass each year ($99 plus fees).  The last time we went to Hawaii we used them and had 2 of the companion passes so for 4 of us we paid a total of $2k (so $500 pp) for our airfare which was a great price for rt from Boston to Maui and then Oahu to Boston.  We overnighted in Portland on the way there which was a nice way to break up the long trip if you have young ones traveling with you.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will look into them.  It will depend on where we can find a flight.   One codicil to this, I have never flown first class, (usually too cheap to do so) but this is going to be a long enough flight that the wife and I are going first class.  We have already told the kids that they are welcome to fly first class with us, *but*......we will pay for the standard fare and they have to pay the difference.  After all of 2 seconds discussion among the kids and their spouses we are going to need 9 first class seats.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep, we are taking 9 people to Hawaii for 9 days and 8 nights here in a couple of years.  If the kids could take enough time off to do so I would much rather take a cruse ship from San Diego to Hawaii and back than fly.  As it is we will not be flying United to Hawaii and back.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look into Alaska Air to Hawaii.  They fly out of SF, SD, LA, Portland, Seattle...  They have a credit card offered through BoA that gives you a $122 companion pass each year ($99 plus fees).  The last time we went to Hawaii we used them and had 2 of the companion passes so for 4 of us we paid a total of $2k (so $500 pp) for our airfare which was a great price for rt from Boston to Maui and then Oahu to Boston.  We overnighted in Portland on the way there which was a nice way to break up the long trip if you have young ones traveling with you.
Click to expand...

Take a cruise ship to SF, SD, LA, Portland or Seattle.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep, we are taking 9 people to Hawaii for 9 days and 8 nights here in a couple of years.  If the kids could take enough time off to do so I would much rather take a cruse ship from San Diego to Hawaii and back than fly.  As it is we will not be flying United to Hawaii and back.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look into Alaska Air to Hawaii.  They fly out of SF, SD, LA, Portland, Seattle...  They have a credit card offered through BoA that gives you a $122 companion pass each year ($99 plus fees).  The last time we went to Hawaii we used them and had 2 of the companion passes so for 4 of us we paid a total of $2k (so $500 pp) for our airfare which was a great price for rt from Boston to Maui and then Oahu to Boston.  We overnighted in Portland on the way there which was a nice way to break up the long trip if you have young ones traveling with you.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks, I will look into them.  It will depend on where we can find a flight.   One codicil to this, I have never flown first class, (usually too cheap to do so) but this is going to be a long enough flight that the wife and I are going first class.  We have already told the kids that they are welcome to fly first class with us, *but*......we will pay for the standard fare and they have to pay the difference.  After all of 2 seconds discussion among the kids and their spouses we are going to need 9 first class seats.
Click to expand...

I've been upgraded to first class a few times ... sorta like that guy who was hauled off the plane, solely the luck of a draw type of thing.  It is quite nice and a lot less painful.


----------



## Derrel

Got upgraded to First Class only one time,  on our way from PDX to Newark, NJ, a non-stop cross country flight with the former Missus. Ehhhh...a wider seat, a little bit better food, and a hot towel, not that much difference to me. I cannot see a $900 or more cost jump being worth what First Class really "is". But to some, I guess the experience sounds like it's worth the added expense.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep, we are taking 9 people to Hawaii for 9 days and 8 nights here in a couple of years.  If the kids could take enough time off to do so I would much rather take a cruse ship from San Diego to Hawaii and back than fly.  As it is we will not be flying United to Hawaii and back.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Look into Alaska Air to Hawaii.  They fly out of SF, SD, LA, Portland, Seattle...  They have a credit card offered through BoA that gives you a $122 companion pass each year ($99 plus fees).  The last time we went to Hawaii we used them and had 2 of the companion passes so for 4 of us we paid a total of $2k (so $500 pp) for our airfare which was a great price for rt from Boston to Maui and then Oahu to Boston.  We overnighted in Portland on the way there which was a nice way to break up the long trip if you have young ones traveling with you.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Take a cruise ship to SF, SD, LA, Portland or Seattle.
Click to expand...

I would, I'm retired and the wife would as she has the vacation time, but she isn't going to without the granddaughters.  The kids.....eh who care, but the granddaughters


----------



## table1349

Derrel said:


> Got upgraded to First Class only one time,  on our way from PDX to Newark, NJ, a non-stop cross country flight with the former Missus. Ehhhh...a wider seat, a little bit better food, and a hot towel, not that much difference to me. I cannot see a $900 or more cost jump being worth what First Class really "is". But to some, I guess the experience sounds like it's worth the added expense.


I'm 6'3" tall, a little more room in the sardine can is always appreciated, especially if we are going to be in the air for 11 hours or so.


----------



## limr

I was flying back to NY one year from Europe and was sick as a dog. In the last hour of the flight, a flight attendant finally took pity on me and let me finish the flight in an empty first-class seat. It was nice. Woulda have been nicer if the pity was offered at the start of the flight, but still. It's the only time I've ever been in first class.

Having flown 10 hours in coach, in the middle seat of the middle aisle, stuck between a large, talkative Turkish man and a quiet teenager with her broken leg extended halfway across my leg space - and this being closer to my typical flying experience than not - I would sell my left kidney for a chance to fly first class the whole way, just once in my life.


----------



## SquarePeg

From what I've read on flyer talk, domestic 1st class is just meh compared to international 1st class on some of the carriers where they have lay flat seats, private cubicles, 5* meals, pj's and slippers and even the in flight showers (Emirates I think?).  I've had a few domestic 1st class upgrades (back when it was more about who you knew than your airline frequent flyer status) and some business class flights when someone else was paying and it is definitely a 1000% improvement over coach but...  for me it's not worth the extra money.  

@gryphonslair99  - it's too bad this wasn't a few years ago.  The BoA companion pass used to be good for 1st class as well but now is only for coach.


----------



## Designer

Derrel said:


> United Airlines is paying for their misjudgement in a big, big way today!


Figure it cost them $3,200 (paying customers $800 ea. x 4 bumped customers) to get four crew to the next city.  

I wonder how much it would cost to charter a small aircraft to get them there?  

Or they could just create a public relations nightmare by dragging someone off a flight, and lose oh, I dunno, say  several $million in potential revenue from all those passengers NOT buying tickets.  

Do the math.

BTW: we have sworn off United *years ago* for P.P. customer non-service.  They send us "invites" in the mail and we don't even open them.  Trash, just like their customer relations mission statement.


----------



## Designer

Derrel said:


> I cannot see a $900 or more cost jump being worth what First Class really "is".


Oh, but wait!  

The first class passengers actually arrive at their destination a couple of milliseconds BEFORE the coach passengers do.  

Think about that while you're standing in line at the gate!  That's got to be worth something.


----------



## Frankinfuji

Designer said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> I cannot see a $900 or more cost jump being worth what First Class really "is".
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, but wait!
> 
> The first class passengers actually arrive at their destination a couple of milliseconds BEFORE the coach passengers do.
> 
> Think about that while you're standing in line at the gate!  That's got to be worth something.
Click to expand...


Not on a double deck A380!  Coach arrive at thr same time as First.  Ha!


----------



## snowbear

I only fly on the Grace L. Ferguson Airline (and Storm Door Co.)


----------



## JonA_CT

I haven't purchased my own airfare on anything other than Southwest in probably 6-7 years. I don't fly often (usually no more than 2-3 times a year, and usually less), but I've never had a single problem.

United tried to screw us over when we were flying back from Chicago with my daughter as a lap infant, but we didn't buy those tickets. (They weren't sure they could change the seat assignment to make sure that my wife and daughter were sitting in a row with an extra oxygen mask. They did.)


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> From what I've read on flyer talk, domestic 1st class is just meh compared to international 1st class on some of the carriers where they have lay flat seats, private cubicles, 5* meals, pj's and slippers and even the in flight showers (Emirates I think?).  I've had a few domestic 1st class upgrades (back when it was more about who you knew than your airline frequent flyer status) and some business class flights when someone else was paying and it is definitely a 1000% improvement over coach but...  for me it's not worth the extra money.
> 
> @gryphonslair99  - it's too bad this wasn't a few years ago.  The BoA companion pass used to be good for 1st class as well but now is only for coach.


Yep we are aware.  The wife retired from BoA as a vice president in the trust division.  The retirement benefits are nice but that's not one of them anymore.


----------



## jcdeboever

I used to travel 70% not that  long ago, for quite a few years. It wears on you. I used to fly so much, I'd frequently get bumped to 1st class. I was basically only home on weekends for several years. Those days are gone, thank the Lord.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I used to travel 70% not that  long ago, for quite a few years. It wears on you. I used to fly so much, I'd frequently get bumped to 1st class. I was basically only home on weekends for several years. Those days are gone, thank the Lord.


Gary's father used to fly Sacramento every Monday and fly back to SoCal every Friday, nine months of the year for twenty years.  When he retired the airline, literarily, threw him a party.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I used to travel 70% not that  long ago, for quite a few years. It wears on you. I used to fly so much, I'd frequently get bumped to 1st class. I was basically only home on weekends for several years. Those days are gone, thank the Lord.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's father used to fly Sacramento every Monday and fly back to SoCal every Friday, nine months of the year for twenty years.  When he retired the airline, literarily, threw him a party.
Click to expand...

Soooooo..............did they love him or hate him that much that they threw a party when he quite flying?


----------



## Gary A.

Well, if they hated him, the celebration would have been only for the airline employees ... as he was the headliner, I guess they must have appreciated the decades of patronage.


----------



## table1349

Anyone can be a dog whisperer............





 

It takes talent to bring a 9 month old kitten into the domain of a grumpy 6 year old cat and in four days have them not just tolerating each other, but playing together, sleeping together and eating together each from their own bowl, happy as you please.     

Yes they eat on the guest bathroom vanity.  Otherwise the dogs will eat whatever food they don't finish.


----------



## Gary A.

Sooooo, your cats take their supper in the loo ...


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> Anyone can be a dog whisperer............
> 
> 
> View attachment 137974
> 
> It takes talent to bring a 9 month old kitten into the domain of a grumpy 6 year old cat and in four days have them not just tolerating each other, but playing together, sleeping together and eating together each from their own bowl, happy as you please.
> 
> Yes they eat on the guest bathroom vanity.  Otherwise the dogs will eat whatever food they don't finish.


Never happen im my house. I love my cats but....

Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## snowbear

I brought home a mountain of paperwork to read, initial and sign for HR, so I guess it's official: I am a GIS Developer.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Sooooo, your cats take their supper in the loo ...


Yep they are cats, they don't get a place at the dining room table.  Besides it's the guest bathroom.  The wife and I never use it.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone can be a dog whisperer............
> 
> 
> View attachment 137974
> 
> It takes talent to bring a 9 month old kitten into the domain of a grumpy 6 year old cat and in four days have them not just tolerating each other, but playing together, sleeping together and eating together each from their own bowl, happy as you please.
> 
> Yes they eat on the guest bathroom vanity.  Otherwise the dogs will eat whatever food they don't finish.
> 
> 
> 
> Never happen im my house. I love my cats but....
> 
> Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...

We have two dogs and two cats now.  They all get along great.  Raven, the new kitten is even playing with the dogs now.  She has lots of personality as do all our animals.  That is one thing we look for, animals with personality.  They are much more fun, especially when they all get along.  

Our dogs are the same way with their food.  Gidget and Maggie are sisters, rescue dogs we got 3 years ago now.  When we got them we discovered that if we fed them from one bowl, Gidget would rush in and eat first.  She would take  two or three big gulps of food, then take a mouthful and dump it on the floor a couple of feet a way.  She would then eat that kibble by kibble while Maggie ate.  When Maggie had almost finished the food in the bowl Gidget would go back to the bowl and they would finish it together.  Since they got along with food so well they now each have their own bowl and never try to eat or take the others food.  Gidget is however the neat one.  She licks both bowls clean once the food is gone, just to make sure they are ready for the next meal.


----------



## jcdeboever

No cats where I brush my teeth. They are just as nasty as they think we are.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> No cats where I brush my teeth. They are just as nasty as they think we are.


Like I said, I don't brush my teeth there.  That's the *Guest Bathroom. *


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> No cats where I brush my teeth. They are just as nasty as they think we are.
> 
> 
> 
> Like I said, I don't brush my teeth there.  That's the *Guest Bathroom. *
Click to expand...

Do you have a laundry tub?


----------



## Frankinfuji

I fly about 50% of my time (with camera and laptop, and never have chrcked luggage) and the hassles at the airports are becoming a drag.  

Queue to check in, queue for security,  liquids, laptop, batteries, shoes, belt and in China, unbrella out/off, queue for immigration,  queue at gate.  If I'd been dragged off after all that I'd be homicidal. 

#frequentflyerslivesmatter


----------



## JonA_CT

Good morning, hosers.

Burns are no joke. The little homebrew accident on Sunday has caused me some issues. I'll spare you the details, but when they say that it can take 72 hours for the damage to truly show from a burn, they weren't kidding.

I'll be headed back to the doctor today. I'm hoping they'll be able to take care of some of the discomfort. I'll start at the walk-in clinic, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll end up back at the hospital. If not though, my co-pay is significantly less at the walk-in. Luckily, I have this week off from work. The only thing I can wear on my feet are flip flops. I'm not sure that would fly with my boss.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning, hosers.
> 
> Burns are no joke. The little homebrew accident on Sunday has caused me some issues. I'll spare you the details, but when they say that it can take 72 hours for the damage to truly show from a burn, they weren't kidding.
> 
> I'll be headed back to the doctor today. I'm hoping they'll be able to take care of some of the discomfort. I'll start at the walk-in clinic, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll end up back at the hospital. If not though, my co-pay is significantly less at the walk-in. Luckily, I have this week off from work. The only thing I can wear on my feet are flip flops. I'm not sure that would fly with my boss.



Yikes! I hope they can do something for you. 

I'm dragging today. It's headache time. I still got up and did my 30 minutes on the bike, though. I just wish I could have a nap right now.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> No cats where I brush my teeth. They are just as nasty as they think we are.
> 
> 
> 
> Like I said, I don't brush my teeth there.  That's the *Guest Bathroom. *
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Do you have a laundry tub?
Click to expand...

Nope, laundry room with a working SS sink.  No laundry tub.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning, hosers.
> 
> Burns are no joke. The little homebrew accident on Sunday has caused me some issues. I'll spare you the details, but when they say that it can take 72 hours for the damage to truly show from a burn, they weren't kidding.
> 
> I'll be headed back to the doctor today. I'm hoping they'll be able to take care of some of the discomfort. I'll start at the walk-in clinic, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll end up back at the hospital. If not though, my co-pay is significantly less at the walk-in. Luckily, I have this week off from work. The only thing I can wear on my feet are flip flops. I'm not sure that would fly with my boss.


Gary doesn't know about days after the burn .... but, Gary has heard that significant relief can be attained by thrusting the burn into flour, (an anecdote from Vietnam).  While it is vitally important to immediately cool the burn area, icing as in frozen water ... not the sweet stuff on cakes, is not a good treatment.  Cooling the area for five+ minutes with cold, running water is considered the best first aid. 

If the ankle is still painful, throw a handful of flour at the burn and rub it in ... just to see if that helps. (At worst it will make your ankle/foot appear to have a sock which is a fashion don't with flip-flops.) Good luck.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning, hosers.
> 
> Burns are no joke. The little homebrew accident on Sunday has caused me some issues. I'll spare you the details, but when they say that it can take 72 hours for the damage to truly show from a burn, they weren't kidding.
> 
> I'll be headed back to the doctor today. I'm hoping they'll be able to take care of some of the discomfort. I'll start at the walk-in clinic, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll end up back at the hospital. If not though, my co-pay is significantly less at the walk-in. Luckily, I have this week off from work. The only thing I can wear on my feet are flip flops. I'm not sure that would fly with my boss.


Call me if'n yall want some help setten up that stil sos that it wont blow up on ya.  



Get better quick.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary has started processing the parade photos with Iridient.  Solely because his little cream-cheese brain can sorta figure Iridient out and because it has a built in review/light table mode.  One can upload an entire folder of images.  The images appear as a strip of thumbs and the bottom of the window while a selected image is 'full size' in the edit window.  Gary's workflow is to review each image at full-size in the edit window and mark/rate the images he desires to process with a single star.  After initial review Gary will upload only the images with a star and process/cull those images.  This is nearly identical to Aperture and a system Gary likes. Affinity, as best as Gary can initially determine, hasn't a review/light table mode.  In Affinity, one has to load up each image one at a time, which is extremely time consuming.  Gary attempted load up multiple images into Affinity and the cursor just spun and spun and after a bit, Gary tired of the game and loaded Iridient.  Gary did read that Iridient does the best job on Fuji RAW, but he thinks the differences between Affinity, Iridient and Capture 1 are down to the pixel peeping level.

Gary has ordered an Affinity tutorial book.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, hosers.
> 
> Burns are no joke. The little homebrew accident on Sunday has caused me some issues. I'll spare you the details, but when they say that it can take 72 hours for the damage to truly show from a burn, they weren't kidding.
> 
> I'll be headed back to the doctor today. I'm hoping they'll be able to take care of some of the discomfort. I'll start at the walk-in clinic, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll end up back at the hospital. If not though, my co-pay is significantly less at the walk-in. Luckily, I have this week off from work. The only thing I can wear on my feet are flip flops. I'm not sure that would fly with my boss.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary doesn't know about days after the burn .... but, Gary has heard that significant relief can be attained by thrusting the burn into flour, (an anecdote from Vietnam).  While it is vitally important to immediately cool the burn area, icing as in frozen water ... not the sweet stuff on cakes, is not a good treatment.  Cooling the area for five+ minutes with cold, running water is considered the best first aid.
> 
> If the ankle is still painful, throw a handful of flour at the burn and rub it in ... just to see if that helps. (At worst it will make your ankle/foot appear to have a sock which is a fashion don't with flip-flops.) Good luck.
Click to expand...


Huh. Never heard of the flour trick. Growing up, I was taught to use toothpaste for minor burns and also for mosquito bites. Always worked pretty well for me, but I also don't know how bad Jon's burns are or the feasibility of using toothpaste on them.

The worst burns I ever got happened when I was too young to really remember (although I do have a flash of a memory of my feet being bundled up and hanging over the side of the crib.) According to family stories, my father was holding me up and bouncing me around, and there was a cup of hot coffee on the table in front of him. Half the family says I kicked the cup, and the other half says that my father just bounced me too low and hit the cup. Either way, I ended up with scalding hot coffee all over my feet. Apparently my skin was just peeling right off.

I don't have scars, but I still have discoloration on my ankles that I've always called my leopard spots.


----------



## table1349

That's why we keep one of these growing in the house.  Great for burn treatment.


----------



## Gary A.

Toothpaste is for filling in small pinholes in drywall ... not for burns.  (Gary guesses some cultures use toothpaste as a cure-all similar to chicken soup ... )


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has tried filling small pinholes with chicken soup, (... he is no longer allowed into offices at the Wells Fargo building.)


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Toothpaste is for filling in small pinholes in drywall ... not for burns.  (Gary guesses some cultures use toothpaste as a cure-all similar to chicken soup ... )



Toothpaste has many uses 

To be clear, I'd only put it on after the cold water treatment. The cooling effect would reduce the pain of the burn for me.


----------



## JonA_CT

No ketchup, no toothpaste,  and no flour.

The doctor recommended honey instead.

Medihoney, that is. It's pretty cool stuff.

MEDIHONEY | Derma Sciences


----------



## vintagesnaps

When I first saw that clip from that airplane I wondered who was screaming and what on earth was going on. From a short clip obviously you can't tell what happened prior for the situation to escalate to the point it did, that police/airport security was called in. (Apparently once they're called to remove a passenger, they _have_ to get them off the plane...) Wonder why they didn't do what's typically done and offer compensation? and see if someone will volunteer to take that for a later flight - _before_ they all got on the plane and before it got totally out of control.

I was just thinking... what this reminds me of is over the years kids who maybe had a dual diagnosis (cognitive impairment and emotional disorder etc.) having a complete meltdown. Or any kid, or toddler, really, to be worn out and scream and throw themselves on the ground, etc. But this just doesn't seem typical adult behavior. It probably would be a more typical adult reaction to be upset, angry, etc.and go back in the airport and raise holy heck with somebody about being bumped, but this reaction seems out of the ordinary. Made me wonder if there was something else going on with this guy. Not that he should have been carried off the plane in that manner, it certainly should have been resolved without that happening.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> No ketchup, no toothpaste,  and no flour.
> 
> The doctor recommended honey instead.
> 
> Medihoney, that is. It's pretty cool stuff.
> 
> MEDIHONEY | Derma Sciences



Honey has some pretty powerful antibacterial properties, and it is also a humectant, so it can help keep the area hydrated.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Medical honey??? That sounds funny. I've taken first aid over the years and the running cool water is what I learned to do. Hope Jon it gets better, you must've had a pretty nasty burn.


----------



## JonA_CT

Yeah, I hit with cool running water for about 20 minutes right after it happened. The damage was done. I won't get too graphic, but I have a deep 2nd degree burn. Hopefully, with the medihoney and keeping everything clean, I won't end up with any scarring.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Ouch, second degree, yeah the running water I suppose only did so much, although maybe that kept it from even being worse. 

It goes back to ancient Greece and comes from plants in New Zealand... well, you learn something new every day. And I have stuff to do that I don't feel like doing so of course I'm sitting here reading about ancient honey.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Toothpaste is for filling in small pinholes in drywall ... not for burns.  (Gary guesses some cultures use toothpaste as a cure-all similar to chicken soup ... )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Toothpaste has many uses
> 
> To be clear, I'd only put it on after the cold water treatment. The cooling effect would reduce the pain of the burn for me.
Click to expand...

And reduces gum disease.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Ouch, second degree, yeah the running water I suppose only did so much, although maybe that kept it from even being worse.
> 
> It goes back to ancient Greece and comes from plants in New Zealand... well, you learn something new every day. And I have stuff to do that I don't feel like doing so of course I'm sitting here reading about ancient honey.


The cold water is to cool the skin and stop the cooking.  After getting the cooking extinguished, the water does little good on the healing end of the spectrum.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Toothpaste is for filling in small pinholes in drywall ... not for burns.  (Gary guesses some cultures use toothpaste as a cure-all similar to chicken soup ... )


Tooth paste will also fill divot holes in cinder block walls.  Don't ask.  It's a long story.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Toothpaste is for filling in small pinholes in drywall ... not for burns.  (Gary guesses some cultures use toothpaste as a cure-all similar to chicken soup ... )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Toothpaste has many uses
> 
> To be clear, I'd only put it on after the cold water treatment. The cooling effect would reduce the pain of the burn for me.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And reduces gum disease.
Click to expand...

Depends on the gum disease.  One kind of gum disease that it won't cure is the  high school age gum smacker.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> When I first saw that clip from that airplane I wondered who was screaming and what on earth was going on. From a short clip obviously you can't tell what happened prior for the situation to escalate to the point it did, that police/airport security was called in. (Apparently once they're called to remove a passenger, they _have_ to get them off the plane...) Wonder why they didn't do what's typically done and offer compensation? and see if someone will volunteer to take that for a later flight - _before_ they all got on the plane and before it got totally out of control.
> 
> I was just thinking... what this reminds me of is over the years kids who maybe had a dual diagnosis (cognitive impairment and emotional disorder etc.) having a complete meltdown. Or any kid, or toddler, really, to be worn out and scream and throw themselves on the ground, etc. But this just doesn't seem typical adult behavior. It probably would be a more typical adult reaction to be upset, angry, etc.and go back in the airport and raise holy heck with somebody about being bumped, but this reaction seems out of the ordinary. Made me wonder if there was something else going on with this guy. Not that he should have been carried off the plane in that manner, it certainly should have been resolved without that happening.


They offered compensation, but had no takers. The airlines wanted four seats so their employees could get to the Louisville airport for a flight the next day. Apparently they 'randomly' choose four passengers to kick off the plane in order to make room for their employees.  Three went without making a stink.  The fourth protested and refused to leave his seat for which he was dragged and bloodied for insisting the airline keep their end of the bargain. As United owns the aircraft, Gary figures that United feels they can breach the contract between passenger and airline with impunity and if they must, with complete disregard to passengers.

PS- The passenger told United that he was a doctor and needed to see patients.  He also said he was singled out because he was Chinese.  The first remark is true, the second hasn't been verified.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Toothpaste is for filling in small pinholes in drywall ... not for burns.  (Gary guesses some cultures use toothpaste as a cure-all similar to chicken soup ... )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Toothpaste has many uses
> 
> To be clear, I'd only put it on after the cold water treatment. The cooling effect would reduce the pain of the burn for me.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And reduces gum disease.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Depends on the gum disease.  One kind of gum disease that it won't cure is the  high school age gum smacker.
Click to expand...

If administered in the proper quantities, it should.


----------



## vintagesnaps

They can chew gum in class?? nah... not when I taught jr. high. Not that they didn't try... brought in all kinds of stuff to be confiscated - I had a drawer. (Gave it back later, I didn't want their toys cluttering up my desk! lol)

Now I read that the guy had gotten back on the plane. Why/how that happened I don't get. There was a high school teacher traveling with a few of his students that said the guy was cornered in the back of the plane near where they were seated (so at that point he got his students off the plane). Apparently there were two security guys on walkie talkies and a third one came up and started dragging the guy, and he since got suspended (I would hope so, at the very least). More to the story than what was first reported.


----------



## JonA_CT

People who do product photography have a lot more patience than I do. It's a nightmare. But, I gave it my best shot because I got a lovely gift in the mail today from @Gary A. 

Thanks Gary! Sorry I managed to get some sort of yellow alien to float in this picture :/


----------



## Gary A.

Dodger - Cubs!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> People who do product photography have a lot more patience than I do. It's a nightmare. But, I gave it my best shot because I got a lovely gift in the mail today from @Gary A.
> 
> Thanks Gary! Sorry I managed to get some sort of yellow alien to float in this picture :/
> 
> View attachment 138020


Cheers!


----------



## Gary A.

Dodgers shut out Cubs: 2 - 0


----------



## terri

Happy Thursday, hosers!    Almost the weekend....


----------



## Gary A.

Hey New Yorkers, for the last few months the State of New York has been advertising on Tv in the LA market, trolling for investors/investments and recently, New York universities are advertising in the LA market.  

I was wondering if there are advertisements for other states in New York?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Hey New Yorkers, for the last few months the State of New York has been advertising on Tv in the LA market, trolling for investors/investments and recently, New York universities are advertising in the LA market.
> 
> I was wondering if there are advertisements for other states in New York?



I see a lot of ads for California similar to this one:
Misconceptions - Visit California Commercial | Daily Mail Online

I've also seen ads for Texas, though not as often. As for universities, the biggest sector that's advertising around here are online universities. And the ads are probably going to be coming at us faster after this week's announcement about tuition (officially called the Excelsior Scholarship, btw.)


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Hey New Yorkers, for the last few months the State of New York has been advertising on Tv in the LA market, trolling for investors/investments and recently, New York universities are advertising in the LA market.
> 
> I was wondering if there are advertisements for other states in New York?


Dunno, but here in GA we see similar ads about the wisdom of doing business in NY State.    I've shrugged it off since we're at least on the same coast, same time zone, etc.   I agree that LA seems a bit of a stretch.    Some marketing guru has apparently looked at the potential from certain large cities - guess it's worth the investment.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey New Yorkers, for the last few months the State of New York has been advertising on Tv in the LA market, trolling for investors/investments and recently, New York universities are advertising in the LA market.
> 
> I was wondering if there are advertisements for other states in New York?
> 
> 
> 
> Dunno, but here in GA we see similar ads about the wisdom of doing business in NY State.    I've shrugged it off since we're at least on the same coast, same time zone, etc.   I agree that LA seems a bit of a stretch.    Some marketing guru has apparently looked at the potential from certain large cities - guess it's worth the investment.
Click to expand...


I can see why NY state would try to attract businesses. It's not the easiest state to do business in, so they're constantly trying to pull more companies in because lord knows the tax structure isn't doing that on its own.

Edit: NYC is one thing. It's expensive and very competitive, but could be quite lucrative. I think more of the ads are probably aimed at getting more business upstate. It's a whole different story. There are some severely economically-depressed areas upstate, and it can be difficult to attract investment to those parts.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey New Yorkers, for the last few months the State of New York has been advertising on Tv in the LA market, trolling for investors/investments and recently, New York universities are advertising in the LA market.
> 
> I was wondering if there are advertisements for other states in New York?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I see a lot of ads for California similar to this one:
> Misconceptions - Visit California Commercial | Daily Mail Online
> 
> I've also seen ads for Texas, though not as often. As for universities, the biggest sector that's advertising around here are online universities. And the ads are probably going to be coming at us faster after this week's announcement about tuition (officially called the Excelsior Scholarship, btw.)
Click to expand...

They run that ad here as well, lol. 

Gary can see advertising for a piece of the travel/tourism pie ... but the ads here are targeting investors, companies and the college bound.


----------



## Gary A.

We're getting a ton of tourism ads for Utah.  Utah is promoting they have five, (count 'em five), National Parks. California has 14 National Parks.

Gary was just wondering if there were similar ads luring investors and students away from the Empire State to the Golden State.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey New Yorkers, for the last few months the State of New York has been advertising on Tv in the LA market, trolling for investors/investments and recently, New York universities are advertising in the LA market.
> 
> I was wondering if there are advertisements for other states in New York?
> 
> 
> 
> Dunno, but here in GA we see similar ads about the wisdom of doing business in NY State.    I've shrugged it off since we're at least on the same coast, same time zone, etc.   I agree that LA seems a bit of a stretch.    Some marketing guru has apparently looked at the potential from certain large cities - guess it's worth the investment.
Click to expand...

Gary guesses they're running those ads all over the place from Georgia to California to North Korea.

California has the sixth largest economy ... so pulling investors from here makes sense. Students from the west coast like to study on the east coast and vice verse.  A few years ago, then Governor Perry of Texas, toured California meeting with companies attempting to get them to move to Texas. (California's GNP is greater than Russia.)

Gary just hasn't seen such wide spectrum Tv advertising aimed at investors/investments/students.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey New Yorkers, for the last few months the State of New York has been advertising on Tv in the LA market, trolling for investors/investments and recently, New York universities are advertising in the LA market.
> 
> I was wondering if there are advertisements for other states in New York?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I see a lot of ads for California similar to this one:
> Misconceptions - Visit California Commercial | Daily Mail Online
> 
> I've also seen ads for Texas, though not as often. As for universities, the biggest sector that's advertising around here are online universities. And the ads are probably going to be coming at us faster after this week's announcement about tuition (officially called the Excelsior Scholarship, btw.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They run that ad here as well, lol.
> 
> Gary can see advertising for a piece of the travel/tourism pie ... but the ads here are targeting investors, companies and the college bound.
Click to expand...


Hmmm, the ads to pull in college students could be interesting. There are residency requirements for the Excelsior Scholarship, not just before applying, but after graduating. You'd have to stay in the state for as many years as you got the scholarship. The maximum time after graduating would be four years, but that's still tax revenue for the state for that whole time (coming early to get residency, four years for a bachelor's, and then four years working). Maybe some people will stay. Maybe more residents will end up with college educations, increasing their earnings and thus increasing the tax revenue for the state. But they'll need jobs, and they'll need them to be IN New York. For that tax revenue to come in, NYS will need to figure out how to provide those jobs.

Oh, it's a tangled web we weave.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey New Yorkers, for the last few months the State of New York has been advertising on Tv in the LA market, trolling for investors/investments and recently, New York universities are advertising in the LA market.
> 
> I was wondering if there are advertisements for other states in New York?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I see a lot of ads for California similar to this one:
> Misconceptions - Visit California Commercial | Daily Mail Online
> 
> I've also seen ads for Texas, though not as often. As for universities, the biggest sector that's advertising around here are online universities. And the ads are probably going to be coming at us faster after this week's announcement about tuition (officially called the Excelsior Scholarship, btw.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They run that ad here as well, lol.
> 
> Gary can see advertising for a piece of the travel/tourism pie ... but the ads here are targeting investors, companies and the college bound.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hmmm, the ads to pull in college students could be interesting. There are residency requirements for the Excelsior Scholarship, not just before applying, but after graduating. You'd have to stay in the state for as many years as you got the scholarship. The maximum time after graduating would be four years, but that's still tax revenue for the state for that whole time (coming early to get residency, four years for a bachelor's, and then four years working). Maybe some people will stay. Maybe more residents will end up with college educations, increasing their earnings and thus increasing the tax revenue for the state. But they'll need jobs, and they'll need them to be IN New York. For that tax revenue to come in, NYS will need to figure out how to provide those jobs.
> 
> Oh, it's a tangled web we weave.
Click to expand...

Here, the legislature had to get involved with our UC's because they were admitting a ton of "foreign" students for the higher fee's at the expense of native California students.  The NY scholarship not only has a residency requirement for receiving the monies, they also have a two year residency requirement post graduation.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon: Really enjoying your coffee.  Gary doesn't know if the difference between your coffee and Gary's coffee is due to your beans (peaberries), the roasting or both.  You roast at a higher temp than Gary ... he wonders if that makes a difference.  You need to bring your MacGyver Coffee Contraption out here for some proper testing. (Your daughter would love Disneyland. )


----------



## jcdeboever

Lunch spot, OH


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

From our morning walk.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 138048
> iPhone
> 
> From our morning walk.


Will this be the photo from this evenings meal?


----------



## JonA_CT

The deck of cards sized blister (maybe bigger)  on my ankle burst a little while ago. It feels much better but I have to be super careful now to keep it clean. 

In other news, we took my daughter to the dentist for the first time today. Most amusing for me is the dichotomy medical professionals. The dentist wants her to only eat 5 times a day (including snacks) because she is worried plaque. The pediatrician expects my daughter to eat when she feels like it, and told us that it's fine if she eats on the run because toddlers don't necessarily have the attention span for a full meal at a time. The pediatrician wins this round, I think.


----------



## table1349

Dentist correction 101:  Follow dentists instructions to the letter.  Next take crying, hungry child to dentist's office and sit in the waiting room until next feeding.  Finally feed child as the pediatrician and now converted dentist recommends.


----------



## terri

Ugh - glad that thing has finally burst - I agree you'll start to feel better.   Keep it clean, and it should really heal quickly from here on out.   

@Gary:    BABY MALLARDS!!


----------



## Gary A.

The first dentist visit for both my daughter, the dental assistants were dismayed because they found no plague.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Ugh - glad that thing has finally burst - I agree you'll start to feel better.   Keep it clean, and it should really heal quickly from here on out.
> 
> @Gary:    BABY MALLARDS!!


LOL ... there are a number of Mallard 'rafts' waddling in the park and stream/flood control channels.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 138048
> iPhone
> 
> From our morning walk.
> 
> 
> 
> Will this be the photo from this evenings meal?
Click to expand...

Nope, but in a month or two ... then there will be this.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Hey New Yorkers, for the last few months the State of New York has been advertising on Tv in the LA market, trolling for investors/investments and recently, New York universities are advertising in the LA market.
> 
> I was wondering if there are advertisements for other states in New York?


University of Maryland, College Park used to - had a "Fear The Turtle" ad in Times Square.  They used to draw some students from Jersey, not sure if they still try to recruit form there.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just came from the tax lady...despite all the typing and frowning and sighing she was doing, I don't owe anything.  I had income from multiple states this year and some other unusual circumstances that needed special attention.  She seemed put out that I was not there with a cookie cutter situation.  Well hell if it was easy I would have just e-filed myself like I usually do.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 138048
> iPhone
> 
> From our morning walk.


But... but...  they're not in a row!!!


----------



## astroNikon

I'm curious if a $12 cup of Starbucks can process film better than a $3 can of instant?


----------



## Gary A.

According to our in-house expert, the crappier the instant the better the development.  (Jon's coffee is so good it would most likely not even leave a trace of a silver  bromide crystal.)


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Lunch spot, OH
> View attachment 138047



I love a good diner. It's one of the things I missed the most whenever I wasn't living in the northeast.



Gary A. said:


> View attachment 138048
> iPhone
> 
> From our morning walk.



I die. *thud*  



Gary A. said:


> The first dentist visit for both my daughter, the dental assistants were dismayed because they found no *plague*.



That's a funny typo and I giggled 



astroNikon said:


> I'm curious if a $12 cup of Starbucks can process film better than a $3 can of instant?



A cup of Starbucks coffee costs less than $2.  It's all that other stuff they sell that people _think_ is coffee that gets costly. If you just order a plain old cup of coffee, it's the same price as you'd pay for Dunkin' Donuts and only a little bit more expensive than gas station coffee. 

And yes, the cheaper the instant coffee, the better it is for Caffenol. The chemistry of the robusta beans works better for developing than arabica, which of course is the higher quality bean preferred for drinking.


----------



## Frank F.

I apologise for not being a regular reader and contributer here  for a while. I have been very busy with my other projects. ... see you soon ... again ... Happy Easter Time!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary spent the afternoon at Home Depot finding the best/easiest/non-Rube-Goldbergesque fittings and pipe to integrate his new 2" pond pump into the existing 1.5" filtration system.  Gary is exhausted.


----------



## Gary A.

Cubs shutout Dodgers 4-0.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Anaheim is up 1-0 but it's only halfway into the first. What ducks do you have in a row?? I got redirected to something but no pics! It's too warm to wear my Ducks ugly Christmas sweater but I suppose it doesn't really matter for watching games on TV! lol Ooops Calgary just scored.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary lives halfway between the Ducks rink in Anaheim and the Kings rink in LA.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I haven't seen ads from anyone trying to lure anyone to here or outta here. Guess nobody wants us or wants to come here! lol probably for good reason.


----------



## vintagesnaps

So which team do you watch, none of the above?? lol or do you ever catch a game? Local hockey's over so all I have left is a hockey banquet, and may go to an ice show which isn't hockey but at least it's on ice.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh those ducks (now I see the picture).

I prefer ducks like the one that just slapped the heck out of that puck, and whichever ones helped send two Calgary players to the box.

Friend of mine is a big LA fan because he's a big Gretzky fan. I got to see Gretz play in one exhibition game when he was first with LA and he outskated his own team; they looked like the Keystone Cops trying to change direction to keep up.

Now why do you suppose they're showing a surfer and it looks like it's in redscale? It's a feed from one of the Canadian networks, I think they must be seeing everything in red & white what with the Worlds and CHL and NHL playoffs all going on.

(edit - Several more ocean scenes during breaks, always in red... I don't even know what the ads are for! lol and ducks just went ahead by one late in the second but I don't think I'm going to make it staying up for another period.)


----------



## Gary A.

If I had to choose it would be the Kings, due to a longer history.  I have a hockey stick used and autographed by The Great One.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Jump Around! Jump Around! OK, now done for the night.
(We do this one at local college games during a late 3rd period stoppage but never get thru much of the song - you can't make out any of the lyrics over the speaker which is probably just as well.)


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Jump Around! Jump Around!



That's a great WAKE THE F UP song.  

Got our first scrimmage game tonight.  The team is looking pretty spunky even if a little undisciplined at this point.  Not sure if I mentioned already that our #2 pick dislocated her knee cap playing basketball and is out for half the season!  Poor kid was on crutches last year for the other knee.  My only regret about coaching this season is that I won't have any good pics of my daughter and her friends playing since I'll be on the field the whole time!  I may have to let my sister-in-law take over at one of the practices so I can at least get some candids of the team.  Maybe I'll bring my camera to a few games and try to sneak in a pic or 2 from the dugout while they're in the field.  My daughter will be thrilled that I'm not "lurking" on the sidelines with my 70-300 "looking like a stalker" and being all "annoying".


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Jump Around! Jump Around!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's a great WAKE THE F UP song.
> 
> Got our first scrimmage game tonight.  The team is looking pretty spunky even if a little undisciplined at this point.  Not sure if I mentioned already that our #2 pick dislocated her knee cap playing basketball and is out for half the season!  Poor kid was on crutches last year for the other knee.  My only regret about coaching this season is that I won't have any good pics of my daughter and her friends playing since I'll be on the field the whole time!  I may have to let my sister-in-law take over at one of the practices so I can at least get some candids of the team.  Maybe I'll bring my camera to a few games and try to sneak in a pic or 2 from the dugout while they're in the field.  My daughter will be thrilled that I'm not "lurking" on the sidelines with my 70-300 "looking like a stalker" and being all "annoying".
Click to expand...


I bet she'd love the look of that Tameon 150-600mm then. Time to up your game


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Jump Around! Jump Around!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's a great WAKE THE F UP song.
> 
> Got our first scrimmage game tonight.  The team is looking pretty spunky even if a little undisciplined at this point.  Not sure if I mentioned already that our #2 pick dislocated her knee cap playing basketball and is out for half the season!  Poor kid was on crutches last year for the other knee.  My only regret about coaching this season is that I won't have any good pics of my daughter and her friends playing since I'll be on the field the whole time!  I may have to let my sister-in-law take over at one of the practices so I can at least get some candids of the team.  Maybe I'll bring my camera to a few games and try to sneak in a pic or 2 from the dugout while they're in the field.  My daughter will be thrilled that I'm not "lurking" on the sidelines with my 70-300 "looking like a stalker" and being all "annoying".
Click to expand...

Gary's daughter's swam in high school.  He used the Bigma for their matches. Hard to stalk with a Bigma ... so take Jon's advice and up your game.


----------



## jcdeboever

Soccer starts tonight for me. Smaller field, so the 55-200 is the choice for me. Games tonight, and tomorrow. Gonna bring my Nikon F with  the 80-200 as well. . Got my replacement FM yesterday.


----------



## Gary A.

How does the replacement look? You need one of these:


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> How does the replacement look? You need one of these:


Do you have one,?


----------



## Gary A.

And one of these for your FTn:






and room for more film:


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> And one of these for your FTn:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> and room for more film:


Love the bottom photo.  That is how one of my F2's is set up.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> How does the replacement look? You need one of these:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you have one,?
Click to expand...

Gary had one. KEH has 'em, ranging from $6 (as is) to $39 (EX+).





Under my right elbow is a FM with the MD12 motordrive.  The shiney square on the motordrive is duct tape to keep the battery door in place.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> And one of these for your FTn:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> and room for more film:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Love the bottom photo.  That is how one of my F2's is set up.
Click to expand...

With the 250 frame back ... you are The Man!

Gary is holding a F2 (above).


----------



## Gary A.

Motordrives are great.  They remove the need for an opposing thumb.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Motordrives are great.  They remove the need for an opposing thumb.


Is the FM loud?


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Motordrives are great.  They remove the need for an opposing thumb.
> 
> 
> 
> Is the FM loud?
Click to expand...

That is subjective.  But it makes a lot more noise than hand cranking.  In a quiet church, you'd want to hand crank.


----------



## Gary A.

The motordrive does not disable the crank, so you could use either method.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## table1349

Easter cookies are made for the granddaughters.  


 
Tomorrow morning I am making an Easter Dirt Cake.  It's supposed to be warm here tomorrow so a refrigerator cake will be just right for the occasion.


----------



## JonA_CT

Got some new beans in from Sweet Maria's today. These ones were grown in Colombia. First cup in the morning.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Easter cookies are made for the granddaughters.
> View attachment 138102
> Tomorrow morning I am making an Easter Dirt Cake.  It's supposed to be warm here tomorrow so a refrigerator cake will be just right for the occasion.


Mary Lou and Gary gave up sweets for Lent (Cook gave up chocolate). Tomorrow, Mary Lou and Gary would stack those fine looking cookies as tall as we could stack ... then eat every, single, one of them ... without stopping.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another day, another cup of Jon's merveilleux beans. Yesterday, Gary labored in the afternoon, grubbing, digging, measuring, more digging, cutting, assembling, more cutting, reassembling, measuring all the piping for the new pond pump.  He is about 80% completed.  All the is required now is final gluing of all the pipe and fittings, the connection to the pump. He does have some concerns regarding the outflow.  As this pump is more powerful than the former pump, he has a suspicion that the new pump will drown the waterfall and he will have to redirect the water directly into the pond.  Gary is planning a ceremony in the afternoon to christen the launching of the new pump with champagne. The champagne will most likely kill the fish.


----------



## pixmedic

A little longer than I'm used to, but im good at adapting to any size.





Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Felices Pascuas Hosers Cafe.


----------



## jcdeboever

Cherry Blossom bloomed overnight. Cell phone. Droid Max Turbo. Packing for vacation. Bringing my XT2, 16mm, 60mm macro, 18-55mm, 100-400mm, and Rollei 140 with color film.


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> A little longer than I'm used to, but im good at adapting to any size.
> 
> View attachment 138139
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday was long, exhausting but all worth the effort.  Family and guests over for a Easter ham dinner.  Gary made one of his best flatbreads ever, tons of food and great wines.  The back yard is in great shape with everything blooming, verdant with millions of butterflies and hummers.  Gary wished you guys live out here.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Cherry Blossom bloomed overnight. Cell phone. Droid Max Turbo. Packing for vacation. Bringing my XT2, 16mm, 60mm macro, 18-55mm, 100-400mm, and Rollei 140 with color film.
> View attachment 138228


Enjoy your trip.  That must be one of the worst bokeh Gary has seen.


----------



## pgriz

Gary A. said:


> Gary is planning a ceremony in the afternoon to christen the launching of the new pump with champagne. The champagne will most likely kill the fish.


 
Champagne is wasted on the fish.  Wave the bottle over the pump mechanism, give it a gentle tap to let it know it's been baptized, open the bottle, and proceed to imbibe the blessings.  At least, that's what I would do.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cherry Blossom bloomed overnight. Cell phone. Droid Max Turbo. Packing for vacation. Bringing my XT2, 16mm, 60mm macro, 18-55mm, 100-400mm, and Rollei 140 with color film.
> View attachment 138228
> 
> 
> 
> Enjoy your trip.  That must be one of the worst bokeh Gary has seen.
Click to expand...

Lol, only reason I posted it. I've seen better bokeh from a 500mm reflex yakasheeta lens....


----------



## JonA_CT

Well...I'm officially looking for a new job. The board of ed will be non-renewing my contract (along with 4 of my fellow teachers) at tomorrow night's board meeting. Sigh.

Upward and onward. I'll be applying for other teaching jobs, but it might be time to leave the profession. I have a feeling I can probably make more money doing other things, even with my oddly specific specialization.


----------



## terri

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, Jon.   Even when you're confident you can find other employment (as I have been when something similar happened to me), it's still much better when you can start looking because you feel like it, not because circumstances are forcing you to.    Good luck!    Hopefully you'll end up with something you actually like better, including the paycheck!


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Well...I'm officially looking for a new job. The board of ed will be non-renewing my contract (along with 4 of my fellow teachers) at tomorrow night's board meeting. Sigh.
> 
> Upward and onward. I'll be applying for other teaching jobs, but it might be time to leave the profession. I have a feeling I can probably make more money doing other things, even with my oddly specific specialization.


Sorry to hear this but I can see you are destined for something better.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Well...I'm officially looking for a new job. The board of ed will be non-renewing my contract (along with 4 of my fellow teachers) at tomorrow night's board meeting. Sigh.
> 
> Upward and onward. I'll be applying for other teaching jobs, but it might be time to leave the profession. I have a feeling I can probably make more money doing other things, even with my oddly specific specialization.



Sorry to hear that Jon!  I hope you find something soon.


----------



## SquarePeg

@Gary A.  - heading to SoCal tomorrow.  Looks like we're bringing the heat for the weekend!   The weather report from Tuesday to Sunday calls for everything from 50's to 90's!


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Well...I'm officially looking for a new job. The board of ed will be non-renewing my contract (along with 4 of my fellow teachers) at tomorrow night's board meeting. Sigh.
> 
> Upward and onward. I'll be applying for other teaching jobs, but it might be time to leave the profession. I have a feeling I can probably make more money doing other things, even with my oddly specific specialization.



Damn, that sucks, I'm sorry


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> @Gary A.  - heading to SoCal tomorrow.  Looks like we're bringing the heat for the weekend!   The weather report from Tuesday to Sunday calls for everything from 50's to 90's!


Yesterday it was in the 80's and for me, it felt perfect.  80's in the early afternoon and 50's at night.  Layer up.

Bon Voyage.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Well...I'm officially looking for a new job. The board of ed will be non-renewing my contract (along with 4 of my fellow teachers) at tomorrow night's board meeting. Sigh.
> 
> Upward and onward. I'll be applying for other teaching jobs, but it might be time to leave the profession. I have a feeling I can probably make more money doing other things, even with my oddly specific specialization.


Oh man ... that sucks.  I'm wishing you well in your employment quest.


----------



## Gary A.

No work on the new pump yesterday.  Today, Gary finally got the system working without any drips.  He needs to change out some white piping for black piping and toss in a swing check valve ... then fini.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary just finished watch a Dutch Western on NetFlix.  It was titled 'The Salvation" and it was really good.  A lot of attention to detail in the costumes, most of the actors were white and blond (lol), good plot with an odd reference to "The Dutch Defeat".  Gary had to Google that and discovered that as best he can determine, it was the defeat of the Dutch by the Balinese in the East Indies.  Somehow, the Dutch soldiers ended up in the American West and became the protagonists in a Clint Eastwood type western.  Gary rarely watches westerns, but when he does, he is not disappointed.

The oddest thing, besides all the Dutch actors, was the title idenfying the movie's location as "America".  A Hollywood movie would have said, Utah, or the Arizona Territories, et al.  Gary thinks that to the Dutch, all America is like the Wild West, dry, rocky with plateaus, table mesas and cowboys.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou and Gary just finished watch a Dutch Western on NetFlix.  It was titled 'The Salvation" and it was really good.  A lot of attention to detail in the costumes, most of the actors were white and blond (lol), good plot with a odd reference to "The Dutch Defeat".  Gary had to Google that and discovered that as best he can determine, it was the defeat of the Dutch by the Balinese in the East Indies.  Somehow, the Dutch soldiers ended up in the American West and became the protagonists in a Clint Eastwood type western.  Gary rarely watches westerns, but when he does, he is not disappointed.
> 
> The oddest thing, besides all the Dutch actors, was the title idenfying the movie's location as "America".  A Hollywood movie would have said, Utah, or the Arizona Territories, et al.  Gary thinks that to the Dutch, all America is like the Wild West, dry, rocky with plateaus and table mesas.


I'm Belgian, Dutch derivative


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary just finished watch a Dutch Western on NetFlix.  It was titled 'The Salvation" and it was really good.  A lot of attention to detail in the costumes, most of the actors were white and blond (lol), good plot with a odd reference to "The Dutch Defeat".  Gary had to Google that and discovered that as best he can determine, it was the defeat of the Dutch by the Balinese in the East Indies.  Somehow, the Dutch soldiers ended up in the American West and became the protagonists in a Clint Eastwood type western.  Gary rarely watches westerns, but when he does, he is not disappointed.
> 
> The oddest thing, besides all the Dutch actors, was the title idenfying the movie's location as "America".  A Hollywood movie would have said, Utah, or the Arizona Territories, et al.  Gary thinks that to the Dutch, all America is like the Wild West, dry, rocky with plateaus and table mesas.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm Belgian, Dutch derivative
Click to expand...

You guys make a mean western.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary just finished watch a Dutch Western on NetFlix.  It was titled 'The Salvation" and it was really good.  A lot of attention to detail in the costumes, most of the actors were white and blond (lol), good plot with a odd reference to "The Dutch Defeat".  Gary had to Google that and discovered that as best he can determine, it was the defeat of the Dutch by the Balinese in the East Indies.  Somehow, the Dutch soldiers ended up in the American West and became the protagonists in a Clint Eastwood type western.  Gary rarely watches westerns, but when he does, he is not disappointed.
> 
> The oddest thing, besides all the Dutch actors, was the title idenfying the movie's location as "America".  A Hollywood movie would have said, Utah, or the Arizona Territories, et al.  Gary thinks that to the Dutch, all America is like the Wild West, dry, rocky with plateaus and table mesas.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm Belgian, Dutch derivative
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You guys make a mean western.
Click to expand...

My wife likes it when I wear chaps with no pants. She likes to ride a cowboy now and then.


----------



## jcdeboever

Off to Florida!


----------



## jcdeboever

Redirect Notice


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> My wife likes it when I wear chaps with no pants. She likes to ride a cowboy now and then.


----------



## JonA_CT

Today's inspiration: I only need to make my current salary minus the $1600 I'd pay for daycare, and be able to spend the daytime watching my children. Adjuncting and telecommuting/flexible work might make this not so bad.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Today's inspiration: I only need to make my current salary minus the $1600 I'd pay for daycare, and be able to spend the daytime watching my children. Adjuncting and telecommuting/flexible work might make this not so bad.


Excellent attitude. I made sure no one raised my kids but their mother and I. I never trusted anyone to take on what was our responsibility. 

I guess I am an old fashioned, nuclear family traditionalist. 

Generally speaking, kids are not being nurtured, and the man has lost his place in the family unit. Generally speaking, men are only needed for romance.

Our society has changed and will continue to evolve.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary just finished watch a Dutch Western on NetFlix.  It was titled 'The Salvation" and it was really good.  A lot of attention to detail in the costumes, most of the actors were white and blond (lol), good plot with a odd reference to "The Dutch Defeat".  Gary had to Google that and discovered that as best he can determine, it was the defeat of the Dutch by the Balinese in the East Indies.  Somehow, the Dutch soldiers ended up in the American West and became the protagonists in a Clint Eastwood type western.  Gary rarely watches westerns, but when he does, he is not disappointed.
> 
> The oddest thing, besides all the Dutch actors, was the title idenfying the movie's location as "America".  A Hollywood movie would have said, Utah, or the Arizona Territories, et al.  Gary thinks that to the Dutch, all America is like the Wild West, dry, rocky with plateaus and table mesas.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm Belgian, Dutch derivative
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You guys make a mean western.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My wife likes it when I wear chaps with no pants. She likes to ride a cowboy now and then.
Click to expand...

As previously stated, you guys make a mean western.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today's inspiration: I only need to make my current salary minus the $1600 I'd pay for daycare, and be able to spend the daytime watching my children. Adjuncting and telecommuting/flexible work might make this not so bad.
> 
> 
> 
> Excellent attitude. I made sure no one raised my kids but their mother and I. I never trusted anyone to take on what was our responsibility.
> 
> I guess I am an old fashioned, nuclear family traditionalist.
> 
> Generally speaking, kids are not being nurtured, and the man has lost his place in the family unit. Generally speaking, men are only needed for romance.
> 
> Our society has changed and will continue to evolve.
Click to expand...

The 'ex', wanted to be home and raise the kids, so we lowered our living-level to accommodate a one income household. Gary remembers reading studies showing that children who were 'nannied' are pretty much equal to those children who were raised by their parents, (no real psychological harm).  From what I see by looking at parents around me, many of them seem so completely unfit for parenting, that a professional parent seems better for the kids than their self-centered, untrained biological parent(s). 

At $400 a week, how many kids would you need to make a profitable day-care?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is having tea this morning, herbal tea.  Gary has brewed the last of Jon's wonderful coffee yesterday and failed to roast any beans for this morning.  The tea was already made so Gary is being lazy.  JC is off to Florida, Peg is off to California ... Gary is home.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is having tea this morning, herbal tea.  Gary has brewed the last of Jon's wonderful coffee yesterday and failed to roast any beans for this morning.  The tea was already made so Gary is being lazy.  JC is off to Florida, Peg is off to California ... Gary is home.



Leo is still in New York. For now, anyway. Got some travel coming up in May (Colorado for vacation) and then in June (Tampa for AP scoring.)

For now, I think I need more coffee.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Today's inspiration: I only need to make my current salary minus the $1600 I'd pay for daycare, and be able to spend the daytime watching my children.



Lot of people do it. It's also difficult for some to stay focused with so many distractions at home. After I sold out the trucking company, I kept the freight brokerage alive for a bit working from home. I hated it. Even though I was highly mobile due to technology, I resented the business interfering with my personal life. Before things were segregated work/play, but working from home they got jumbled up.


----------



## jcdeboever

Landing in Tampa. At the condo.


----------



## Gary A.

Is that a United wing?


----------



## jcdeboever

Delta


----------



## Gary A.

Welcome to Florida.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Welcome to Florida.


The airlines were kissing major booty today. Thanks United.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> I'm Belgian, Dutch derivative


I'm (part) Scottish.  Hadrian had the foresight to built a wall across the country, trying to protect civilization from a bunch of my ancestors.


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner is finished. Watching the news panels, sipping a Sonoma Albariño and eating cheesecake.  Life is good.


----------



## rexbobcat

I got my first "real" job offer today. It's basically at the opposite side of the career spectrum from photography but it gives me a stable schedule that is easier to plan around. 

It's helped to quell some of my existential panic. Yay. I guess.


----------



## DanOstergren

rexbobcat said:


> I got my first "real" job offer today. It's basically at the opposite side of the career spectrum from photography but it gives me a stable schedule that is easier to plan around.
> 
> It's helped to quell some of my existential panic. Yay. I guess.


Real jobs never work well for me. When I work full time, I have zero energy for photography. I miss editing and magazine submission deadlines, and eventually I just stop shooting.


----------



## jcdeboever

Out to seize the botanical world. No work, just pure artistic fun. No customers, calling, no sales closing, just blissful captured moments in time. Sun not even up yet.


----------



## limr

DanOstergren said:


> rexbobcat said:
> 
> 
> 
> I got my first "real" job offer today. It's basically at the opposite side of the career spectrum from photography but it gives me a stable schedule that is easier to plan around.
> 
> It's helped to quell some of my existential panic. Yay. I guess.
> 
> 
> 
> Real jobs never work well for me. When I work full time, I have zero energy for photography. I miss editing and magazine submission deadlines, and eventually I just stop shooting.
Click to expand...


Congrats, Rex!! There are always trade-offs and having that "real" job will be great some days and will suck rocks other days. I've lived most of my adult life with very little employment stability and I know what it's like to finally get something more permanent - how that is both a relief but also a little stifling at the same time. I hope it works out for you!

Dan - I'm the opposite, at least with writing. When my paid work involves a lot of writing and editing, I have no energy left over for my own work. But when my days are spent doing something entirely different, I feel like I have more creative energy that gets pent up and needs to get out, and so I find myself much more likely to write or work on some pictures after work.


----------



## Gary A.

rexbobcat said:


> I got my first "real" job offer today. It's basically at the opposite side of the career spectrum from photography but it gives me a stable schedule that is easier to plan around.
> 
> It's helped to quell some of my existential panic. Yay. I guess.


I hope it all works out.  Sometimes, having limited time for photography, will enhance the experience and makes you appreciate photography even more.


----------



## Gary A.

DanOstergren said:


> rexbobcat said:
> 
> 
> 
> I got my first "real" job offer today. It's basically at the opposite side of the career spectrum from photography but it gives me a stable schedule that is easier to plan around.
> 
> It's helped to quell some of my existential panic. Yay. I guess.
> 
> 
> 
> Real jobs never work well for me. When I work full time, I have zero energy for photography. I miss editing and magazine submission deadlines, and eventually I just stop shooting.
Click to expand...

When I was working full time in photography, I didn't touch a camera on vacation.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Jon I've been RIF'd. Sorry you're having to go thru that. I ended up at a job where I stayed for 20 years! sometimes things seem to work out the way it was meant to be.

Gary that seems to be the case in my experience; I've been to kids' homes and seen kids in day cares and both can be good or not so much depending on what's going on in a home or preschool environment.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Smokey I've done some of that too, working at home instead of going to the office first, or more so after home visits, and it got old... a little of that can be convenient but then gets harder to feel like you're getting a break


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> feel like you're getting a break



Having separation is essential for the mind to switch between work time and personal time. At least it was for me.


----------



## Gary A.

While Gary has an office.  He rarely goes in.  He much prefers working from home.  As Gary is an owner, working after hours from home is routine ... so a physical separation between work and home isn't a reality. Even when Gary was shooting news, he was on-call 24/7.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary is an owner, working after hours from home is routine



Owned my own businesses as well. Started out at 22, the last 25+ yrs, my days consisted of getting to the office between 6 & 6:30 and lucky to leave by 7. Saturdays I took off early mid afternoon. Operated coast to coast with employees and customers scattered through 4 time zones. I had to have a stress free zone to shut it off so the mind could rebuild. Still own passive investments in other enterprises without day to day time requirement, so working for home, road wherever isn't such a problem.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is an owner, working after hours from home is routine
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Owned my own businesses as well. Started out at 22, the last 25+ yrs, my days consisted of getting to the office between 6 & 6:30 and lucky to leave by 7. Saturdays I took off early mid afternoon. Operated coast to coast with employees and customers scattered through 4 time zones. I had to have a stress free zone to shut it off so the mind could rebuild. Still own passive investments in other enterprises without day to day time requirement, so working for home, road wherever isn't such a problem.
Click to expand...

Owners make less per hour than the employees.


----------



## jcdeboever

Play ball


----------



## Gary A.

The Boys of Summer.


----------



## rexbobcat

DanOstergren said:


> rexbobcat said:
> 
> 
> 
> I got my first "real" job offer today. It's basically at the opposite side of the career spectrum from photography but it gives me a stable schedule that is easier to plan around.
> 
> It's helped to quell some of my existential panic. Yay. I guess.
> 
> 
> 
> Real jobs never work well for me. When I work full time, I have zero energy for photography. I miss editing and magazine submission deadlines, and eventually I just stop shooting.
Click to expand...


I love photography...

But I'm just tired of being a martyr for art.
I'm tired of having no money to go do things worth photographing.
I'm tired of having to tell my family I can't come see them because I can't afford a $250 plane ticket or 3 days of driving.
I'm tired of not having steady photography work and having to tell people I placate middle-aged adult tantrums all day (part-time retail).
I'm tired of lying to my parents about how successful I've been.

I can always come back to photography. It's a pretty open-ended career. But, I'm a very anxious person for whom luck doesn't generally favor. It has taken me two years to get an interview where they didn't ask, "Okay, so you've done a lot of photography. Can't you do _anything _else?"

I'm terrified of waking up at 40, poor, bored, with 15 years of what is essentially seen as an employment gap. I'm much too neurotic to handle that possibility.

The "starving artist" trope is only appealing if you are making progress, which you have. I've been spinning my wheels for the past two years.

After hitting a breaking point, this is basically me right now:


----------



## Gary A.

rexbobcat said:


> DanOstergren said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> rexbobcat said:
> 
> 
> 
> I got my first "real" job offer today. It's basically at the opposite side of the career spectrum from photography but it gives me a stable schedule that is easier to plan around.
> 
> It's helped to quell some of my existential panic. Yay. I guess.
> 
> 
> 
> Real jobs never work well for me. When I work full time, I have zero energy for photography. I miss editing and magazine submission deadlines, and eventually I just stop shooting.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I love photography...
> 
> But I'm just tired of being a martyr for art.
> I'm tired of having no money to go do things worth photographing.
> I'm tired of having to tell my family I can't come see them because I can't afford a $250 plane ticket or 3 days of driving.
> I'm tired of not having steady photography work and having to tell people I placate middle-aged adult tantrums all day (part-time retail).
> I'm tired of lying to my parents about how successful I've been.
> 
> I can always come back to photography. It's a pretty open-ended career. But, I'm a very anxious person for whom luck doesn't generally favor. It has taken me two years to get an interview where they didn't ask, "Okay, so you've done a lot of photography. Can't you do _anything _else?"
> 
> I'm terrified of waking up at 40, poor, bored, with 15 years of what is essentially seen as an employment gap. I'm much too neurotic to handle that possibility.
> 
> The "starving artist" trope is only appealing if you are making progress, which you have. I've been spinning my wheels for the past two years.
Click to expand...


That all is very sad.  You were born a few decades too late.  The darkroom made the photographer valuable and necessary. I hope this is just a change of the road you take and does not reflect changing of your goal as a full time photographer.

Good luck and Keep Shooting.


----------



## jcdeboever

Tigers lost a heart breaker. Long, 45 minute ride home.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

It's the 3rd week of my morning bike routine. It's rough going some mornings. I'm fine once I'm out of bed, but getting there is an issue this week. I've been having some trouble sleeping, so the waking up process is harder than it needs to be.

Yeesh, taking care of these stupid meat sacks humans have to be shoved into is such a hassle.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Yeesh, taking care of these stupid meat sacks humans have to shoved into is such a hassle.



Could not agree more!!   Time consuming, too.   Our bodies should simply act the way our brains tell them to, and be done with it!


----------



## Gary A.

The nervous system and associated feedback is overrated.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary has started his day with a cup of coffee and rating his parade images on Iridient. The images load slowly making the culling time painful.  But, the Fujinon 100-400 is a winner. Gary loves his Fujinon lenses.


----------



## JonA_CT

Sounds like I'm heading to DC next week with 225 8th graders.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> Sounds like I'm heading to DC next week with 225 8th graders.


Better you than me.  By the time you get back I am sure you will understand why tigers sometimes eat their young.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Sounds like I'm heading to DC next week with 225 8th graders.


I'd request some help.  That's a lot of squirrelly kids.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like I'm heading to DC next week with 225 8th graders.
> 
> 
> 
> Better you than me.  By the time you get back I am sure you will understand why tigers sometimes eat their young.
Click to expand...

I thought that was Saturn.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like I'm heading to DC next week with 225 8th graders.
> 
> 
> 
> I'd request some help armed escorts, tasers and CS gas.  That's a lot of squirrelly kids.
Click to expand...

FTFY


----------



## table1349

8th Graders - Kindergartners.  Not a whole lot of difference other than the Kindergartners are smaller and better behaved.






Good Luck, and remember the gang will save a place for you.


----------



## table1349

Gary A.  We have a guest bedroom available for you and Mary Lou if you like.  You can bring the cook as long as he likes other dogs and cats. 
Midwest Winefest wraps up Saturday with Grand Tasting


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Sounds like I'm heading to DC next week with 225 8th graders.


You have my sympathies.  I would try to arrange a meet up but with that many ride-alongs, "difficult" would be an understatement.


----------



## JonA_CT

I am the extra muscle on this trip...the principal asked me, and since she is calling in favors to several different school districts...I figured out how to make it work.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> I am the extra muscle on this trip...the principal asked me, and since she is calling in favors to several different school districts...I figured out how to make it work.



This is extra muscle. 

Best of luck to you on this little adventure.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am the extra muscle on this trip...the principal asked me, and since she is calling in favors to several different school districts...I figured out how to make it work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is extra muscle.
> 
> Best of luck to you on this little adventure.
Click to expand...

A few of these wouldn't go amiss...


----------



## table1349

Dinner tonight:


----------



## jcdeboever

Loving Florida and my 100-400, need to practice more on birds in flight, got some good ones though. So much to photograph.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A.  We have a guest bedroom available for you and Mary Lou if you like.  You can bring the cook as long as he likes other dogs and cats.
> Midwest Winefest wraps up Saturday with Grand Tasting


Gary is a fan of the Guadalupe Clinic. So keep a light on for Mary Lou, Cook and Gary. Cook is the most benign creature on Earth.  She has befriended strange cats on our walk.

And thank you.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has never been to Wichita.


----------



## Gary A.

Are these all wines from the Midwest?


----------



## jcdeboever

This is for @limr fuji color is splendid 




Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary has never been to Wichita.


You have not missed much.  If you want to experience it, put a piece of cardboard on a flat table, spread some dirt on the cardboard and place the table in front of your oven, turn on the oven with the door open, put a fan in the door blowing out across the cardboard and sit on the opposite side of the cardboard facing the oven.  If you want the full experience plant some grass seed in the dirt and watch it grow.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Are these all wines from the Midwest?


Pretty much, yes.  It is a wide variety and some interesting wines.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Are these all wines from the Midwest?
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty much, yes.  It is a wide variety and some interesting wines.
Click to expand...

My daughter lives in St. Louie and every now and then ships me a bottle of Midwest vino. The last bottle was from Norton, IIRC. Meh ... I rate the Norton as middle grade for a grocery store ... would never be served at a winery out here.


----------



## table1349

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never been to Wichita.
> 
> 
> 
> You have not missed much.  If you want to experience it, put a piece of cardboard on a flat table, spread some dirt on the cardboard and place the table in front of your oven, turn on the oven with the door open, put a fan in the door blowing out across the cardboard and sit on the opposite side of the cardboard facing the oven.  If you want the full experience plant some grass seed in the dirt and watch it grow.
Click to expand...


For a change, as Kansas weather changes wildly at a drop of a hat,  turn you air conditioner down to 60, strip off you clothes and watch the grass go dormant until the weather gets hot again.   

If you want the total complete authentic experience, cut the cardboard into the shape of Kansas before you set it up and put one small hill in the far south central portion of the dirt.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> This is for @limr fuji color is splendid
> View attachment 138460
> 
> Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


A cat on LSD.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never been to Wichita.
> 
> 
> 
> You have not missed much.  If you want to experience it, put a piece of cardboard on a flat table, spread some dirt on the cardboard and place the table in front of your oven, turn on the oven with the door open, put a fan in the door blowing out across the cardboard and sit on the opposite side of the cardboard facing the oven.  If you want the full experience plant some grass seed in the dirt and watch it grow.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For a change, as Kansas weather changes wildly at a drop of a hat,  turn you air conditioner down to 60, strip off you clothes and watch the grass go dormant until the weather gets hot again.
> 
> If you want the total complete authentic experience, cut the cardboard into the shape of Kansas before you set it up and put one small hill in the far south central portion of the dirt.
Click to expand...

What, no coastline?  (I bet you live on that hill ...)


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never been to Wichita.
> 
> 
> 
> You have not missed much.  If you want to experience it, put a piece of cardboard on a flat table, spread some dirt on the cardboard and place the table in front of your oven, turn on the oven with the door open, put a fan in the door blowing out across the cardboard and sit on the opposite side of the cardboard facing the oven.  If you want the full experience plant some grass seed in the dirt and watch it grow.
Click to expand...

But you don't have traffic, air pollution, high taxes and over population.  You do have affordable housing and plenty of water.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> This is for @limr fuji color is splendid
> View attachment 138460
> 
> Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> 
> 
> A cat on LSD.
Click to expand...

Yup, it was far out. I've got a trippier one that I took, reflective window shot. They had one on display and the owner came out and asked me what the hell I was doing.... Being of good cheer and in my happy zone, she invited me in the store to get a wall display shot. She kept touching me the whole time though, I think she was the waitress @smoke665 was talking about from the Greek restaurant. Geez, old ladies and gay guys flirting with me that day....


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never been to Wichita.
> 
> 
> 
> You have not missed much.  If you want to experience it, put a piece of cardboard on a flat table, spread some dirt on the cardboard and place the table in front of your oven, turn on the oven with the door open, put a fan in the door blowing out across the cardboard and sit on the opposite side of the cardboard facing the oven.  If you want the full experience plant some grass seed in the dirt and watch it grow.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For a change, as Kansas weather changes wildly at a drop of a hat,  turn you air conditioner down to 60, strip off you clothes and watch the grass go dormant until the weather gets hot again.
> 
> If you want the total complete authentic experience, cut the cardboard into the shape of Kansas before you set it up and put one small hill in the far south central portion of the dirt.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What, no coastline?  (I bet you live on that hill ...)
Click to expand...

Au contraire mon frere,  We live on a bump, not to be confused with a hill.  A hill you can sled down in the winter.  A bump you slow for when driving.  We sit proudly on the top of the bump.  

Define coastline.  Do lakes, ponds and streams count?


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never been to Wichita.
> 
> 
> 
> You have not missed much.  If you want to experience it, put a piece of cardboard on a flat table, spread some dirt on the cardboard and place the table in front of your oven, turn on the oven with the door open, put a fan in the door blowing out across the cardboard and sit on the opposite side of the cardboard facing the oven.  If you want the full experience plant some grass seed in the dirt and watch it grow.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> But you don't have traffic, air pollution, high taxes and over population.  You do have affordable housing and plenty of water.
Click to expand...

We have people that couldn't drive in traffic to save their souls, we do have air pollution as it is range burning time, instead of taxes the state can't meet it's debt because we have a total moron for a Governor, our water is like yours, weather dependent.  We were in a state of drought just two years ago (remember the dust bowl, you grew because we dried up).

As for housing you are oh so correct.  When we were in San Diego last I got to talking to a realtor and after telling him about our house, showing him some pictures and telling him of the 1/4 acre it sits on he said that our $250,000 house here would go for around 5, million there.   Here we buy houses to own them someday, there you buy houses to live in.

Had to throw this in.  When did this happen in California???
All at fault in Kansas Turkey hunting accident in which man shot brother, friend


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never been to Wichita.
> 
> 
> 
> You have not missed much.  If you want to experience it, put a piece of cardboard on a flat table, spread some dirt on the cardboard and place the table in front of your oven, turn on the oven with the door open, put a fan in the door blowing out across the cardboard and sit on the opposite side of the cardboard facing the oven.  If you want the full experience plant some grass seed in the dirt and watch it grow.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For a change, as Kansas weather changes wildly at a drop of a hat,  turn you air conditioner down to 60, strip off you clothes and watch the grass go dormant until the weather gets hot again.
> 
> If you want the total complete authentic experience, cut the cardboard into the shape of Kansas before you set it up and put one small hill in the far south central portion of the dirt.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What, no coastline?  (I bet you live on that hill ...)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Au contraire mon frere,  We live on a bump, not to be confused with a hill.  A hill you can sled down in the winter.  A bump you slow for when driving.  We sit proudly on the top of the bump.
> 
> Define coastline.  Do lakes, ponds and streams count?
Click to expand...

No. (With all due respect to Michigan.)


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never been to Wichita.
> 
> 
> 
> You have not missed much.  If you want to experience it, put a piece of cardboard on a flat table, spread some dirt on the cardboard and place the table in front of your oven, turn on the oven with the door open, put a fan in the door blowing out across the cardboard and sit on the opposite side of the cardboard facing the oven.  If you want the full experience plant some grass seed in the dirt and watch it grow.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> But you don't have traffic, air pollution, high taxes and over population.  You do have affordable housing and plenty of water.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We have people that couldn't drive in traffic to save their souls, we do have air pollution as it is range burning time, instead of taxes the state can't meet it's debt because we have a total moron for a Governor, our water is like yours, weather dependent.  We were in a state of drought just two years ago (remember the dust bowl, you grew because we dried up).
> 
> As for housing you are oh so correct.  When we were in San Diego last I got to talking to a realtor and after telling him about our house, showing him some pictures and telling him of the 1/4 acre it sits on he said that our $250,000 house here would go for around 5, million there.   Here we buy houses to own them someday, there you buy houses to live in.
> 
> Had to throw this in.  When did this happen in California???
> All at fault in Kansas Turkey hunting accident in which man shot brother, friend
Click to expand...

LOL ... that is like a SNL skit.

Yeah, $250,000 wouldn't go very far here.


----------



## table1349

It makes me so proud to live in the Midwest:  Why do mushroom hunters keep finding dead people?

At least we are providing some kind of service.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never been to Wichita.
> 
> 
> 
> You have not missed much.  If you want to experience it, put a piece of cardboard on a flat table, spread some dirt on the cardboard and place the table in front of your oven, turn on the oven with the door open, put a fan in the door blowing out across the cardboard and sit on the opposite side of the cardboard facing the oven.  If you want the full experience plant some grass seed in the dirt and watch it grow.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> But you don't have traffic, air pollution, high taxes and over population.  You do have affordable housing and plenty of water.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We have people that couldn't drive in traffic to save their souls, we do have air pollution as it is range burning time, instead of taxes the state can't meet it's debt because we have a total moron for a Governor, our water is like yours, weather dependent.  We were in a state of drought just two years ago (remember the dust bowl, you grew because we dried up).
> 
> As for housing you are oh so correct.  When we were in San Diego last I got to talking to a realtor and after telling him about our house, showing him some pictures and telling him of the 1/4 acre it sits on he said that our $250,000 house here would go for around 5, million there.   Here we buy houses to own them someday, there you buy houses to live in.
> 
> Had to throw this in.  When did this happen in California???
> All at fault in Kansas Turkey hunting accident in which man shot brother, friend
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... that is like a SNL skit.
> 
> Yeah, $250,000 wouldn't go very far here.
Click to expand...

It can get you a nice 1 car driveway and some lawn seed.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> It makes me so proud to live in the Midwest:  Why do mushroom hunters keep finding dead people?
> 
> At least we are providing some kind of service.


Sounds like The title of the TV series ... "The Mushroom Hunters of Wichita County", (Gary knows Wichita County is in Texas ... but "County" sounds better than plain-ol' Wichita.)

Law Enforcement out here say that if you ever disc the Mojave Desert, that you would resolve all the unsolved murders in LA.


----------



## Gary A.

This is the first time for Gary to process RAW files from the new Fuji 24mp sensor.  I am totally blown away by everything.  Gary has twice the number of keepers shooting the XT2 than he ever had shooting 1Ds w/ L lenses.

The files are so clean, the color so accurate, the exposures so spot on ... Gary may soon evolve to shooting JPEGS only.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> It makes me so proud to live in the Midwest:  Why do mushroom hunters keep finding dead people?
> 
> At least we are providing some kind of service.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like The title of the TV series ... "The Mushroom Hunters of Wichita County", (Gary knows Wichita County is in Texas ... but "County" give better than plain-ol' Wichita.)
> 
> Law Enforcement out here say that if you ever disc the Mojave Desert, that you would resolve all the unsolved murders in LA.
Click to expand...

I am happy, and a bit sad, to say that this is a problem for our border neighbors in Missouri.  Happy because it fits in with the state we all call Misery.  Sad in the fact that in my yard we have 3, yep that is right THREE trees.  In Kansas that is a forest.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> This is the first time for Gary to process RAW files from the new Fuji 24mp sensor.  I am totally blown away by everything.  Gary has twice the number of keepers shooting the XT2 than he ever had shooting 1Ds w/ L lenses.
> 
> The files are so clean, the color so accurate, the exposures so spot on ... Gary may soon evolve to shooting JPEGS only.


That's what my experience is as well. Haven't shot a raw on vacation yet.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> This is for @limr fuji color is splendid
> View attachment 138460
> 
> Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


Psychodelic Kitteh!!  Far out, man.


----------



## snowbear

Typical MD storm - 15 minutes of distant thunder, 5 minutes of intense rain & hail, now some sunshine making the leaves look pretty (except those knocked to the ground).  Ten minutes until go-home time.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> Typical MD storm - 15 minutes of distant thunder, 5 minutes of intense rain & hail, now some sunshine making the leaves look pretty (except those knocked to the ground).  Ten minutes until go-home time.


I can relate.  Cooler this morning, turning into a thunderstorm that got everything nice and wet over about a half hours time. By noon it was sunny but still cool.  Shuffle on to 3 p.m. or so and it clouded over again and has been an on and off drizzle.  Much cooler tonight with thunderstorms predicted.  Cooler and rainy tomorrow.  We just can't decide what weather to have around here this spring.  

On the bright side, this is the first daytime rain since we put in the new electric skylight.  It has a rain sensor that is supposed to close the skylight in the event of significant moisture.  The sensor works and the skylight closed.  Yeah.


----------



## table1349

Lord I love people.  You just can't make stuff like this up.  And of course it had to happen at of all places Walmart. 
Man sets underwear on fire while passed out in Walmart bathroom


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I think she was the waitres



No gay guys or old ladies for me JC. Mine was young enough to be attractive and old enough to know how to play the "older" for fat tips


----------



## Gary A.

Gary had a windfall today. He was scooting around in Costco inroute to the patio area, when he stumbled across a Waterford box sorta randomly tossed on a shelf. The box was a bit beat up and Gary doesn't recall Costco selling Waterford, ever. Gary scoops up the box and after a quick inspection places it in his cart, thinking that it may have been left by a customer.  He'll decided to give it to the clerk on the way out. Gary gets his stuff and at checkout inquires if the bowl was for sale. The clerk scans the box's bar code and it came up under "Heritage" ... Gary says not a peep ... tosses it with the rest of his stuff and walks away with a 10' Waterford bowl for $20.


----------



## Gary A.

Today it got hot. Upper 80's hot. So Gary is in the pond fine tuning the new piping.


----------



## smoke665

Back in one of our favorite haunts,  Gulf Shores, Al, for a week of meeting up with friends, enjoying fresh seafood, and a few photos ops.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another warm day.  The day should again hit the upper 80's.  By 9:00 a.m. it was already 70F. Gary is in the patio thankful for mowing yesterday.  Today will be a minimal day of labor.  Mary Lou and Gary are planning to NetFlix the afternoon while enjoying Gary's Famous Snowball Margaritas.


----------



## unpopular

Today my son announced that someday he'll have a shotgun, and he'll carry it in his purse.


----------



## smoke665

Anyone else experiencing issues with images??? Sometimes there, sometimes not, sometimes really slow to load other times not????


----------



## Gary A.

Great and relaxing afternoon. Eating popcorn, drinking Perrier and watching NetFlixs. Picked a couple of artichokes for later.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Anyone else experiencing issues with images??? Sometimes there, sometimes not, sometimes really slow to load other times not????


I haven't been on here a lot, today, but it's been fine.


----------



## table1349

unpopular said:


> Today my son announced that someday he'll have a shotgun, and he'll carry it in his purse.


One like this I hope.


----------



## unpopular

gryphonslair99 said:


> unpopular said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today my son announced that someday he'll have a shotgun, and he'll carry it in his purse.
> 
> 
> 
> One like this I hope.
Click to expand...


His favorite color is pink.


----------



## Gary A.

Nothin' wrong with pink.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Nothin' wrong with pink.


WRONG!!!  WRONG!!!  WRONG!!!!  
When your wife washes you tighty whities with her new red blouse, having a whole drawer full of tighty pinkies is just plain WRONG!!!


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nothin' wrong with pink.
> 
> 
> 
> WRONG!!!  WRONG!!!  WRONG!!!!
> When your wife washes you tighty whities with her new red blouse, having a whole drawer full of tighty pinkies is just plain WRONG!!!
Click to expand...

They will color coordinate with Gary's shotgun.


----------



## Frank F.

The first 4 Kilos are gone for good.

I stopped trying to force the body below 89.7kg. The original 93.8kg are gone.

Now my research into current research found that fat loss, muscle gain and healthier well being can be reached by workout combined with a ketonic diet. 

Max 30g of Carbohydrates per day and 90% calories by fat. The body will burn fat and build muscle mass at the same time.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nothin' wrong with pink.
> 
> 
> 
> WRONG!!!  WRONG!!!  WRONG!!!!
> When your wife washes you tighty whities with her new red blouse, having a whole drawer full of tighty pinkies is just plain WRONG!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They will color coordinate with Gary's shotgun.
Click to expand...

If you can wear size 34" waist I will send you a dozen pair or so.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Kid's gonna need an awfully big purse. 

Wash your own undies if you don't want them pink!l lol See, that'll teach ya to not complain about the laundry. lol

Plenty of hockey to watch today, international games then NHL playoffs, yeah I can watch 4 games a day.


----------



## Gary A.

Yeah ... wash you own undies.


----------



## jcdeboever

Yeah, don't forget the stain remover for the skid marks!

Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm exhausted. And now I get to go to work tomorrow. 

Home ownership is rough sometimes.


----------



## jcdeboever

Wife and I ate here tonight. Week is fly by.


----------



## Gary A.

Yep, Gary spent most of the morning cleaning the filters on the pond.  Not difficult, but tedious.  The skimmer was cleaned and restarted according to plan.  But the external/new pump wouldn't primp up. Finally got it working again, but not happy.  Gary may go back to a submersible pump.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Wife and I ate here tonight. Week is fly by.
> View attachment 138676


Apparently, they deliver.


----------



## Gary A.

After hours working on the new filtration system, Gary installed four more stepping stone on the path leading from the patio to the South Gate. Now Mary Lou and Gary are enjoying their Tuscany Villa patio (lol) sipping an exceptional Chardonnay from Marimar Estate in the Russian River Valley, Sonoma.  Things have cooled off from yesterday, down about ten degrees from upper 80's to mid 70's.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm headed for my 3 day jaunt to DC early Wednesday morning. My daughter hasn't been falling asleep for anyone but me for the last few days (naps and at night). She knows.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> Kid's gonna need an awfully big purse.
> 
> Wash your own undies if you don't want them pink!l lol See, that'll teach ya to not complain about the laundry. lol
> 
> Plenty of hockey to watch today, international games then NHL playoffs, yeah I can watch 4 games a day.


I do.  These days she's the one that complains about laundry not me.  She doesn't see to remember that old adage to wash new colored clothes by them selves the first time.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Yeah, don't forget the stain remover for the skid marks!
> 
> Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


I may live in Kansas but Dude we use toilet paper here.  Send me your address and I will ship you some.  It's much better than those corn cobs you must be using.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, don't forget the stain remover for the skid marks!
> 
> Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> 
> 
> I may live in Kansas but Dude we use toilet paper here.  Send me your address and I will ship you some.  It's much better than those corn cobs you must be using.
Click to expand...

Sears and B & H catalog to be more precise. 

Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

From Cook's and Gary's walk.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Spotted this. Anybody know what this thing is?


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 138689
> iPhone
> 
> Spotted this. Anybody know what this thing is?


No, that is not an iPhone.  It is a pay phone.  You have it mislabeled.


----------



## Frank F.

I went to a Russian supermarket today for groceries and there it stood: a pot full of delightfully fresh pickled gherkins. If it was only for the photos I would not have been able to not buy them. But they are also very tasty and healthy. In fact together with the fat smoked red perch it made for a whole meal of the old motto: nutrients minus calories equals health!

gherkin photos here: Frank Fremerey - YouPic


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

From the front yard.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 138729 iPhone
> 
> From the front yard.


Gary,  that's not an iPhone either.    Them there is some pretty roses.


----------



## table1349




----------



## snowbear

More recent stomping grounds (University of MD):  A five-alarm fire in an apartment building under construction; there are still some hot spots after 22 hours.  Investigators are unable to go in until after the structural integrity is assessed.  Estimated damage at around $40 million.

200 firefighters battle five-alarm blaze at College Park construction site


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning






Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

We're on page 2112, one of my favorite albums


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> We're on page 2112, one of my favorite albums


hee hee, you rocker girl, you!


----------



## jcdeboever

Time to go home[emoji26]

I do miss my my dog and cat though. Everything else can, well... **#*`°*":#


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> We're on page 2112, one of my favorite albums
> 
> 
> 
> hee hee, you rocker girl, you!
Click to expand...


Ever since I heard it the first time when I was about 7 or 8. Used to sneak it out of my brother's room to memorize the lyrics


----------



## smoke665

Just when you think the progressive young can't be more hopeless a company brings out a product that shows how far they've sunk. $425 for a pair of dirty jeans????Heck for a half that, I'd give them the dirty shirt, underwear and socks to go with the pants. Seriously?????

For $425, Nordstrom will sell you a pair of dirty jeans


----------



## table1349

Feeling a bit Greek tonight so the Pastitso is in the oven and the veggies are prepared for the salad.  Once it is out of the oven I will try to remember to snap a pic.


----------



## SquarePeg

I'm back Hosers!  Had a wonderful vacation.  Thanks Gary for the great weather in your homeland.  Everything was green and flowery and sunshine everywhere we turned.  Went to Disneyland/California Adventure, Universal Studios, and Huntington Beach.  Had such a nice time.  Haven't downloaded my pics from the 7100 yet but did get a few iPhone shots that I'll share for those who are interested.  Have to jump over to my phone to post them...  

to be continued


----------



## table1349

The Pastitso.


----------



## SquarePeg

Mickey, beach girl, someone made a friend, and TSA **** show at LAX.


----------



## table1349

Glad you had a wonderful time on your vacation.   Can't wait to see the photos.   

Please tell me though that you were not one of these people. Flash Mountain


----------



## snowbear

A drone operator was arrested at the big fire; moron almost flew it into the PD helicopter assisting in the efforts.  Airspace around the incident was set as temporary flight restrictions, and he might have been within 5 miles of the College Park airport (also a no-no)


----------



## snowbear

Well, I bought a little photography related something.  It should be here Friday.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> I'm back Hosers!  Had a wonderful vacation.  Thanks Gary for the great weather in your homeland.  Everything was green and flowery and sunshine everywhere we turned.  Went to Disneyland/California Adventure, Universal Studios, and Huntington Beach.  Had such a nice time.  Haven't downloaded my pics from the 7100 yet but did get a few iPhone shots that I'll share for those who are interested.  Have to jump over to my phone to post them...
> 
> to be continued


Gary is  happy you had a good time.  Gary is also disappointed that he didn't have a chance to BBQ up a dinner for you all.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm back Hosers!  Had a wonderful vacation.  Thanks Gary for the great weather in your homeland.  Everything was green and flowery and sunshine everywhere we turned.  Went to Disneyland/California Adventure, Universal Studios, and Huntington Beach.  Had such a nice time.  Haven't downloaded my pics from the 7100 yet but did get a few iPhone shots that I'll share for those who are interested.  Have to jump over to my phone to post them...
> 
> to be continued
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is  happy you had a good time.  Gary is also disappointed that he didn't have a chance to BBQ up a dinner for you all.
Click to expand...


Sharon is also disappointed that she didn't get any of Gary's BBQ.  Next time for sure!  And of course if you and the missus are ever in Boston...


----------



## JonA_CT

Alarm went off at 3:45AM.

Current view:


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Alarm went off at 3:45AM.
> 
> Current view:
> 
> View attachment 138840


Have a safe trip down.  I'm not sure about the city but it's raining to the south.


----------



## snowbear

Esther888 said:


> Hi! I’m an amateur photographer. Every day I learn something new in photography. Mostly I am inspired by nature, big cities and people. Fortunately, there are many interesting online contests for photographers now...


and the spammy part has been reported.


----------



## limr

I'm also on an early morning...well, train, not bus. Commuter rail. I'm involved in a new project at work that involves some professional development in the city and some site visits to other community colleges in Brooklyn and Queens. Today, tomorrow, and Friday.

I could have taken a later train, but I wanted to be sure of a parking spot and time to have a bit of a stroll in the city before starting work. Forgot my camera, though  Meh, it's all grey and cloudy this morning anyway. Tomorrow will be a better photo day. I'll load up the Rollei tonight and throw it in my backpack.

Rolling into Grand Central right now. When I'm above ground, I'll post a couple cell snaps taken out of the train window.


----------



## JonA_CT

Just crossed the Tappan Zee. 2.5 hours...not bad on a bus and with traffic. We also drove north to I84 instead of taking the more direct route on I95. 

One of my kids has been puking for the last hour. Bus sick. Feel so bad for him.


----------



## limr




----------



## limr

Chrysler in the fog.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Just crossed the Tappan Zee. 2.5 hours...not bad on a bus and with traffic. We also drove north to I84 instead of taking the more direct route on I95.
> 
> One of my kids has been puking for the last hour. Bus sick. Feel so bad for him.



I95 is the direct route on paper but not necessarily in reality 

Hope the kid feels better!


----------



## Derrel

Yes, hope the kiddo feels better soon. I heard about the district's plans...Wishing all the best for you.


----------



## table1349

__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=736383796534306


----------



## JonA_CT

Derrel said:


> Yes, hope the kiddo feels better soon. I heard about the district's plans...Wishing all the best for you.



Thanks, Derrel. 

They let go of essentially my whole team. We were the youngest one in the building, and none of us were protected by tenure. The union is sometimes more take than give unfortunately. 

I'm not too stressed yet. I'll be the among the most qualified candidates anywhere I apply. The only part that is uncomfortable is that my partner was also let go, and she will be applying for and interviewing in many of the places that I will. It sucks to be  competing with a good friend.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone images:





In the middle of Gary's succulent yard, some red lettuce has appeared. Mary Lou has been plucking at it for the last two months.  It looks a bit ragged now because it is about to go to seed. But it was delicious and lush.




On Cook's walk yesterday, she spotted this artichoke doing well along the sidewalk.



It is slightly different when what is found in Gary's yard.  This 'choke has longer pointed leaves, while Gary's 'choke has stubby, rounded leaves.




Just a random poppy that decided it liked Gary's rose garden.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Mary Lou had the stitches removed yesterday. She took some painkillers and pretty much slept the entire day. I have a spongy rubber mat across the patio. The mat feels great to walk on, but isn't make for the great outdoors. The mats along the edges in the Sun take a beating and look beat up. Yesterday, Gary replaced the rubber mats in the Sun with outdoor plastic-rubbery tile. It looks nicer than the spongy beat-up mats. The two different size tiles don't quite match up, so Gary has some finish work to complete.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=736383796534306


You keep losing your balls.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon: God bless you.  Being responsible for hundreds of squirrely middle schoolers, far away from home, is not on Gary's Bucket List. Better you than Gary.  (Gary suspects the kids would definitely see it that way as well.)

The drama teacher at Whitney High School, (the WHS program combines middle with high, 7-12), has escorted the eighth graders to Washington D.C. every year for the past 20 years or so ... the school is contemplating sainthood for her.

Regarding the vomiting kid.  Gary was covering the annual Whale Watching Story on a boat out of San Pedro. (Gary doesn't do well in anything smaller than an aircraft carrier.) He's on a boat loaded with Cub Scouts, running amuck in their blue caps and yellow kerchiefs.  Gary told them stories of walking the fun plank, hoping a few of them would try it out for size.  A minute or two after leaving the breakwater and into the open ocean ... the puking started.  It was a pandemic, one than another and another ... a chain reaction heading his way. Gary had no choice, but to roll up his sleeves and run up into the bridge. Above, the now slippery deck, Gary stuck his head into the fresh air and attempted to chat with the captain, avoiding all the carnage below.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=736383796534306


Reminded me of my journey with the D7200


----------



## Gary A.

It is Gary's understanding that the Aussies have more euphemisms for vomiting than any other culture.  "Talking to the toilet" is one of Gary's favorites along with "Technicolour Yawn".


----------



## SquarePeg

Driving the porcelain bus.


----------



## JonA_CT




----------



## Gary A.

You have arrived and ready to conquer Washington.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Driving the porcelain bus.


We told you, "DON'T DRINK THE CALIFORNIA WATER!!!! ONLY THE WINE.


----------



## table1349

Felt like doing a little baking so I made the Oatiest Oatmeal Cookies ever.  



 
The above photo was taken with my iPhone, it is not an iPhone.

Anyway, if you like oatmeal cookies and want something different here is the recipe: Oatiest Oatmeal Cookie

To make them a bit more grown up, I soaked the raisins in Spiced Rum for an hour before adding them to the cookie dough.


----------



## smoke665

@gryphonslair99 any chance you'd want to visit us for a few days???? We have a nice room we could put you up in and would supply all the ingredients so you could cook to your hearts content!!!


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> @gryphonslair99 any chance you'd want to visit us for a few days???? We have a nice room we could put you up in and would supply all the ingredients so you could cook to your hearts content!!!


Only if you have a really big kitchen and a dishwasher, not just the machine kind, but the human kind.  I would have to bring a whole lot of stuff as I have improved my kitchen lot over the past few years.  Top quality knives, appliances and tools.  Like camera's it's not the tools but the chef.  Thing is good tools make it much easier to get the job not only done but done well.  Except for the steak, that should be medium rare.


----------



## JonA_CT

A better view...walking into the new National Museum of African American History.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> and a dishwasher, not just the machine kind



At least until the parts come in the "human kind" of DW is the only one we have. Standing at the counter this morning making coffee and realized that the water I dreamed I was standing in wasn't a dream.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> and a dishwasher, not just the machine kind
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At least until the parts come in the "human kind" of DW is the only one we have. Standing at the counter this morning making coffee and realized that the water I dreamed I was standing in wasn't a dream.
Click to expand...

That works for me,  My knives always get hand washed as do all of my pots and pans.  Your current DW may demand a raise while I am there.  I have the sous chef gene in me.  I always prep everything before I cook or bake.  Lots of prep bowls to wash etc.  One reason I do so is due to our replacing the junk electric stove that was in the house when we bought it with a 5 burner induction stove and true convection oven.  When you cook on induction you cook now, as it is even more responsive than gas.  

When I say the electric stove was junk, I mean junk.  I don't think that thing cost $50.00 new.  The temperatures on the oven dial were just suggestions, and poor ones at that.  

Sorry to hear about your mechanical DW.  Hope you get it fixed soon.  If it becomes to costlyell the  to fix and you end up replacing it, tell the wife to go out and get the best she can find.   After dealing with two ok dish washers that is what we did.  The wife took me at my word and did so, trust me.  Thing is, it does not only a wonderful job cleaning, it is so quiet we can run it while company is here all gathered in the living room.  It is so quiet I have opened it in mid cycle before as I could not hear it run.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Sorry to hear about your mechanical DW. Hope you get it fixed soon. If it becomes to costlyell the to fix and you end up replacing it, tell the wife to go out and get the best she can find. After dealing with two ok dish washers that is what we did. The wife took me at my word and did so, trust me. Thing is, it does not only a wonderful job cleaning, it is so quiet we can run it while company is here all gathered in the living room. It is so quiet I have opened it in mid cycle before as I could not hear it run.



We've always had good luck with Kenmore (Whirlpool). When we built the house 10yrs. ago we stayed with them. The low end is junk but the top of the line isn't bad. So far I've replaced the soap dispenser (don't use cheap DW detergent it's not worth it), and now the water valve $14 from fleabay, and another $13 for a new door gasket while I was at it. Ours is also very quiet, and gets used a lot, as my wife and I both hate washing dishes.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sellin' Buicks. But you have to say it 'Buuuu... icks'. Or LeSaaaaabres. 

Why do I remember dumb stuff like that from years ago but don't know where I sat something down I had 5 minutes ago?

Ohhhh school field trips... I'm glad to leave those well in the past! lol Have fun Jon!!

What a great picture Leo!


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> induction stove and true convection oven.



Standard fare in our home kitchen. Convection oven in the RV but we haven't really used it much. We also have a Nuwave portable induction cooktop, that we bought right after they came out, that we carry with us. It gets a lot of use. Really wish we would have gotten the induction cooktop option instead of the gas


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> View attachment 138858


Yay! Y'all made it..


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> induction stove and true convection oven.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Standard fare in our home kitchen. Convection oven in the RV but we haven't really used it much. We also have a Nuwave portable induction cooktop, that we bought right after they came out, that we carry with us. It gets a lot of use. Really wish we would have gotten the induction cooktop option instead of the gas
Click to expand...


We  were actually looking at a duel fuel professional grade 5 burner gas stove with electric convection oven.  The plumber figured that since our house is fully finished upstairs and down, (we have a view out lower level) that it would cost nearly $1,000.00 to run a gas line and re-sheet rock and finish the ceilings in the lower level.   I thought it was going to be $1000.00 for a gas line or $1200.00 for new cookware that would work on induction as we had looked at induction but knew our cookware wouldn't work. 

A friend told me to call and talk to Calphalon.  Fortunately Calphalon has a ridiculous warranty for their top end stuff.  It was triple clad stainless exteriors with the aluminum core that ran all the way up the pan sides.  Same stuff as the All Clad.  It was the old non magnetic 304 grade SS .  I call Calphalon since they had come out with the same set that I already had in the new 304 magnetic SS.  

I spoke with the district Calphalon manager and he was amazing to say the least.  He asked one question. "Will your Calphalon work on the induction stove?"  I answered no and he advised that Calphalons professional grades are warranted for life. PERIOD.  If it won't work then it is defective.  He instructed me to go to the local Bed Bath & Beyond and take my cookware with me.  He called them and the next day I got a call from the B. B. & B. store manager who told me to bring it all in and they would trade me out piece for piece for the new stuff.  I had the entire set plus a couple of extra sauce pans.  

I went home with new induction ready cookware at no cost.  That made the decision on the stove simple.  Induction it was and we have never looked back.  My power burner will boil a gallon of water in 2 1/2 minutes at a rolling boil and will turn down so low that it will keep food at 150 for hours.  It also made a lifetime Calphalon owner out of us.  

How good is the Nuewave at maintaining a set temp?  I know on my stove with my cookware what the temps are for all 20 settings.  We have talked about getting a Nuewave or two just for entertaining.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> How good is the Nuewave at maintaining a set temp



Never had a way to test it for accuracy but it gets A+ for fast and convient


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> How good is the Nuewave at maintaining a set temp
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Never had a way to test it for accuracy but it gets A+ for fast and convient
Click to expand...

Thanks.  I may have to pick one up and try it.  We have seen caterers using them at various events we attend.  It could be handy when hosting a gathering for keeping various foods at a proper temp.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> How good is the Nuewave at maintaining a set temp
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Never had a way to test it for accuracy but it gets A+ for fast and convient
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks.  I may have to pick one up and try it.  We have seen caterers using them at various events we attend.  It could be handy when hosting a gathering for keeping various foods at a proper temp.
Click to expand...


It is handy. Love bacon or sausage and eggs for breakfast occasionally when we're out, or shrimp boil when we're on the coast but the inside of the RV doesn't do well with cooking odor. Put this outside set the temp and perfectly cooked every time.


----------



## JonA_CT

It's been awhile I've seen all the sights in DC. Sobering at moments, but I love my country a little more than I did when I left today.

This is a reflection for @jcdeboever . 



 

Korean Memorial


----------



## jcdeboever

The image is sad but I love it! Thanks brother. Well done by the way.


----------



## smoke665

Canon shooters beware of cheap equipment available. 

Auburn police investigating heist at Cameragraphics


----------



## jcdeboever

I hope they catch them.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I hope they catch them.



I do as well, this is  one of the very few remaining brick and mortar photography stores in the entire state.


----------



## smoke665

Morning Rant!!!!! The water inlet valve on our dishwasher developed a small drip. No problem I pulled it off and called our local appliance parts store.Yes they had it in stock, and I could pick it up for only $60 including tax. That didn't sound right for this little plastic toy of a valve. Quick check on fleabay found the same OEM valve from an appliance parts vendor in Texas for $14 including shipping. 

I always try to buy local before I go to the internet, but this is just ridiculous. I'm starting to think that the internet isn't putting brick and mortar stores out of business, greed and stupidity of the store owners is putting them out of business. My son had a similar experience this week on his A/C unit. The fan went out on his condenser. The HVAC repair company quoted him $800 to replace. Since it's a relatively simple fix, he ordered the motor and capacitors for less than $90.00 and is putting it on himself. Seriously, I believe everyone is entitled to fair wage, but where do you draw the line on fair and raping your customer???? Thankfully my son grew up in a mechanically inclined environment and paid attention to the things I taught him.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> Canon shooters beware of cheap equipment available.
> 
> Auburn police investigating heist at Cameragraphics





jcdeboever said:


> I hope they catch them.





smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hope they catch them.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I do as well, this is  one of the very few remaining brick and mortar photography stores in the entire state.
Click to expand...


Personally, deep down in side there is a little part of me that hopes they don't.  Well not right off.

There are some pretty curvy roads in Alabama, and well, if they were to get spotted, decided to run from the law and just by chance happened to slip of the roadway on one of them curves into say a big ole tree, then they might have themselves a nice long time in the hospital to think about what they did.   Sometimes experience is the best teacher.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> Morning Rant!!!!! The water inlet valve on our dishwasher developed a small drip. No problem I pulled it off and called our local appliance parts store.Yes they had it in stock, and I could pick it up for only $60 including tax. That didn't sound right for this little plastic toy of a valve. Quick check on fleabay found the same OEM valve from an appliance parts vendor in Texas for $14 including shipping.
> 
> I always try to buy local before I go to the internet, but this is just ridiculous. I'm starting to think that the internet isn't putting brick and mortar stores out of business, greed and stupidity of the store owners is putting them out of business. My son had a similar experience this week on his A/C unit. The fan went out on his condenser. The HVAC repair company quoted him $800 to replace. Since it's a relatively simple fix, he ordered the motor and capacitors for less than $90.00 and is putting it on himself. Seriously, I believe everyone is entitled to fair wage, but where do you draw the line on fair and raping your customer???? Thankfully my son grew up in a mechanically inclined environment and paid attention to the things I taught him.


I feel your pain.  More and more folks these days can't fix a good cup of coffee much less fix something mechanical.  That means more suckers out there for the greedy who have either the parts and or the know how.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> That means more suckers out there for the greedy who have either the parts and or the know how.



And even the manufacturers get into the game. Every day you hear about a recall, but what about the ones you don't??? Last year the ice dispenser on our big expensive side by side quit working. When I took it apart I found one of the little plastic ears that held the lever to actuate a micro switch had broke. Quick google search reveled there was known problem with a weak part, but once it was out of warranty the manufacturer wouldn't cover it. A replacement plate (same design) was close to a $100, and would likely fail again. Little redneck engineering and scrap from the shop I was able to redesign and fix their broken part. I fully expect it to last forever now.  I just don't understand how businesses can continue to operate like they do.


----------



## table1349

Why?  The answer is simple.  Most people can't or won't make most of the things for themselves, plus they still want all the conveniences of life.  The manufacture's know this and they know that they are still going to keep right on selling their products.  No one wants an ice box these days and no one wants to deliver ice so in the long run you are stuck.


----------



## pixmedic

The wife is doing some commissioned work for autism awareness.  It's a hooded towel.






Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> That means more suckers out there for the greedy who have either the parts and or the know how.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And even the manufacturers get into the game. Every day you hear about a recall, but what about the ones you don't??? Last year the ice dispenser on our big expensive side by side quit working. When I took it apart I found one of the little plastic ears that held the lever to actuate a micro switch had broke. Quick google search reveled there was known problem with a weak part, but once it was out of warranty the manufacturer wouldn't cover it. A replacement plate (same design) was close to a $100, and would likely fail again. Little redneck engineering and scrap from the shop I was able to redesign and fix their broken part. I fully expect it to last forever now.  I just don't understand how businesses can continue to operate like they do.
Click to expand...

Yep... 'few years ago the family bought Dad [what we thought was] a very high-end floor model drill press for his new shop.  He called after a few months and said that the table wouldn't raise or lower properly anymore.  This is especially odd since he rarely changes the table height.  We estimated that the table had probably travelled less than 10' in total over the period of four-ish months.

Removed the table and found that teeth of the small spur gear that acts on the rack were worn to half or less of their depth across about 2/3 of the face and that the shaft on which the gear was mounted had almost 1/8" play at each end.  Given how little movement the gear had, I was astounded at the wear.  I removed  it, ran a file across it and found that it was only slightly harder than warm butter.

Bought a new gear from the manufacturer ($25), hardened it in the forge to about RKc 49, machined two bronze bushings for the shaft, and presto... works like a charm and has for over ten years.  The manufacturer would have been happy to replace the gear free of charge, all I had to was ship the complete drill press back to them.


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> The wife is doing some commissioned work for autism awareness.  It's a hooded towel.
> 
> View attachment 138913
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk



That's beautiful work, and not just the the towel itself. Give Mrs. Pix a hug.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. The end of Day 2 of professional development. In the train on the way home.


----------



## snowbear

Well, my little gift to myself is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.  It's not really a big deal, but I'll post snaps when it's here.

The big fire is still hot-spotting away; we have a high nozzle streaming water onto the roof.  I heard the initial investigation is leaning towards "accidental" cause, but it will be a few weeks before we know any details.  Structural integrity is still in question.

A new contractor is starting in the office on Monday.  He is actually taking the place of the guy that left a couple of weeks ago (I am an added feature).  He will have to sit with each of us, to see what goes on, and I'm first . . . I guess I have to behave myself.


----------



## JonA_CT

Didn't take many pictures today, even with my phone. 

It doesn't mean I didn't get to see the importance of photography though. I spent 2 hours in the Holocaust Museum today. That place flat doesn't work without photography, and large amounts of it. There is an entire section of photographs made by a family of Eastern European Jews who focused on rural life. The portraits are beautiful, and it's amazing to me that they were all saved. It was so strange to see Hitler live and in color, for that matter. 

After lugging my D600 for 9 miles today, I understand the appeal of your Fujis.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Didn't take many pictures today, even with my phone.
> 
> It doesn't mean I didn't get to see the importance of photography though. I spent 2 hours in the Holocaust Museum today. That place flat doesn't work without photography, and large amounts of it. There is an entire section of photographs made by a family of Eastern European Jews who focused on rural life. The portraits are beautiful, and it's amazing to me that they were all saved. It was so strange to see Hitler live and in color, for that matter.
> 
> After lugging my D600 for 9 miles today, I understand the appeal of your Fujis.


Going there is a very emotional experience; especially the shoes.


----------



## snowbear

I really need to stop playing "chase" with Zoe.  She went to jump into a box, but there was something in it that startled her.  She shifted direction in mid-air and came down on top of my foot.

Of course, her claws were out and she has gained a few kilos (heavier than a pound - felt like 20) so I have three good sized scratches.  I had to unfold a 4x4 to cover them.  Good thing she's cute.


----------



## smoke665

Why McDonald's Workers May Not Be Entitled to $15/hr

In a hurry this evening so we went through the drive through on the way home. My wife was driving, so she did the ordering, as we pulled up to the speaker. Now my wife is the epitome of the graceful southern woman, who does not get flustered, nor speak ill of others.

Wife: I'd like two Big Mac Meals and two Diet Cokes, please
Order Girl: Pepsi?
Wife: Ok diet Pepsi then
Order Girl: I'm sorry but we don't have Pepsi, would Coke be ok
Wife: (holding temper), yes that's fine
Order Girl: Ok two regular Cokes
Wife: (Teeth clenching) I said DIET COKE
Order Girl: Ok that's two Big Macs and two DIET cokes, that'll be $$$$ please drive to the first window.
Wife: YOUNG LADY!!!!
Order Girl: Yes Ma'am
Wife: I told you from the start I wanted MEALS.
Order Girl: Oh
     Speaker goes dead and we sit, and we sit, and we sit
Wife: YOUNG LADY ARE YOU STILL THERE?
Order Girl: Yes Ma'am we're trying to figure out how to change your order
     Speaker noise in the background we hear multiple people trying to explain to the girl how to cancel and re-enter      the order. Finally multiple heads prevailed and we think they've got it.
Order Girl: Ok Ma'am I have two Big Macs and two diet Cokes
Wife: I WANT MEALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Order Girl: Oh I'm sorry I meant meals, that'll be $$$$ please drive around
     We drive to the window, and the lo and behold here is the Order Girl
Order Girl: that's two Big Macs and two diet Cokes
Me & Wife: IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE MEALS!!!!
Order Girl: That's what I meant.

When we pulled to the second window, couldn't help but look to see if Abbot and Costello were behind the counter!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Why McDonald's Workers May Not Be Entitled to $15/hr
> 
> In a hurry this evening so we went through the drive through on the way home. My wife was driving, so she did the ordering, as we pulled up to the speaker. Now my wife is the epitome of the graceful southern woman, who does not get flustered, nor speak ill of others.
> 
> Wife: I'd like two Big Mac Meals and two Diet Cokes, please
> Order Girl: Pepsi?
> Wife: Ok diet Pepsi then
> Order Girl: I'm sorry but we don't have Pepsi, would Coke be ok
> Wife: (holding temper), yes that's fine
> Order Girl: Ok two regular Cokes
> Wife: (Teeth clenching) I said DIET COKE
> Order Girl: Ok that's two Big Macs and two DIET cokes, that'll be $$$$ please drive to the first window.
> Wife: YOUNG LADY!!!!
> Order Girl: Yes Ma'am
> Wife: I told you from the start I wanted MEALS.
> Order Girl: Oh
> Speaker goes dead and we sit, and we sit, and we sit
> Wife: YOUNG LADY ARE YOU STILL THERE?
> Order Girl: Yes Ma'am we're trying to figure out how to change your order
> Speaker noise in the background we hear multiple people trying to explain to the girl how to cancel and re-enter      the order. Finally multiple heads prevailed and we think they've got it.
> Order Girl: Ok Ma'am I have two Big Macs and two diet Cokes
> Wife: I WANT MEALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> Order Girl: Oh I'm sorry I meant meals, that'll be $$$$ please drive around
> We drive to the window, and the lo and behold here is the Order Girl
> Order Girl: that's two Big Macs and two diet Cokes
> Me & Wife: IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE MEALS!!!!
> Order Girl: That's what I meant.
> 
> When we pulled to the second window, couldn't help but look to see if Abbot and Costello were behind the counter!!!


Lol, funny story... I haven't had McDonalds in 4 months. That was 60 lbs ago. Not one donut either. Talk about transformation in eating habits. I have replaced the big Macs with ham, turkey, or pastrami on oatmeal bread, donuts replaced with fruit or cold vegetables. I hated it at first but have grown to like them. I just bought new belts, and pulled out the jeans and kakis from a salvation army bag that I never got around to dropping off. I am going to get down to 190 by the end of the year.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever  since November of last year I've lost 30# by calorie counting with an app on my phone. Basically you calculate the total calories you need during the day based on your activity level and hold your intake under that. My goal is 195, and right now I'm hovering in the 197 to 201 range.


----------



## snowbear

I like the McD's parfaits - yogurt, blueberries and strawberries.  As far as customer service, they are better than some of the other chains.


----------



## jcdeboever

Oh, I stopped in a brick & mortar camera store yesterday to inquire on a unusually inexpensive used lens for my Fuji, to good to be true but condition was listed as fair to good. Well, they sold it before I got there. No biggy, I really wanted to buy one of those peak straps anyway which was the main reason for the stop, besides, I was working the area. I walked out with a 5K shutter count Fujifilm X-Pro 2 for a grand. Looked brand new, box and all. They were asking 1295 but since I didn't need it, I said I would walk out with it for $1000 out the door. He checked with boss, and it was mine. Charger, box, instructions, strap, two Fuji batteries. Now I have my second shooter. I ended up buying 2 of those straps. He even threw in a 1 year warranty for free. Such a pretty camera. Of course, had to call Gary and he just laughed, I think, he think JC is crazy....lol


----------



## JonA_CT

That's been one of the terrible parts of this trip. Here are my meals so far...rest area food court, bertuccis, hotel breakfast, McDonald's, mall food court, and hotel breakfast. I need some vegetables in my life.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> That's been one of the terrible parts of this trip. Here are my meals so far...rest area food court, bertuccis, hotel breakfast, McDonald's, mall food court, and hotel breakfast. I need some vegetables in my life.



To much of anything can be bad. Years ago, when I traveled with a very forgiving expense account, I enjoyed the finer restaurants across the country. So much so that by the end of the trip I was craving McDonald's. LOL


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> That's been one of the terrible parts of this trip. Here are my meals so far...rest area food court, bertuccis, hotel breakfast, McDonald's, mall food court, and hotel breakfast. I need some vegetables in my life.


Sounds like road trip/vacation food to me!       Quick, fast, and easy - and usually sub-par.  It can be challenging to eat well when you're away from home - the mystery is why we seldom consider it until we're on vacation looking for better food!     

In other news, happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> That means more suckers out there for the greedy who have either the parts and or the know how.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And even the manufacturers get into the game. Every day you hear about a recall, but what about the ones you don't??? Last year the ice dispenser on our big expensive side by side quit working. When I took it apart I found one of the little plastic ears that held the lever to actuate a micro switch had broke. Quick google search reveled there was known problem with a weak part, but once it was out of warranty the manufacturer wouldn't cover it. A replacement plate (same design) was close to a $100, and would likely fail again. Little redneck engineering and scrap from the shop I was able to redesign and fix their broken part. I fully expect it to last forever now.  I just don't understand how businesses can continue to operate like they do.
Click to expand...

Gary thinks society in general, including most business have lost their souls to money.  At one time society had a premium on reputation, craftsmanship and honor.  It seems, that focus has shifted and now it is all about money and profits and "me". For people their first thoughts, are no longer about right or wrong, their first thoughts are not about ethics, but rather, "What do I want right now ..." or "What would make me feel good right now ...".  In business it is getting the most return for the least amount of effort ... as opposed to performing/crafting the best you can and tack on a fair profit.  Gary has a friend, a judge actually, who used to work for Marantz.  His job was to inspect prototypes, remove/replace all the expensive stuff and install cheap stuff while still maintaining the same output. Cheap stuff, typically, doesn't last as long as good stuff. 

Society has always had people and businesses that were just looking out for themselves, but Gary thinks that segment of society has dramatically increased.  If looking out for yourself means embracing one's honor, reputation with ethical actions ... then that works. But if looking out for yourself means having a good time here and now or acquiring the most material things, without regards to others ... then Gary thinks it is a big step backwards.

Gary misses the magnanimous people and companies of the good ol' days.

*Gary steps down from his soap box.*


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> The wife is doing some commissioned work for autism awareness.  It's a hooded towel.
> 
> View attachment 138913
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk


Gary has never seen a 'hooded towel'.  Is a hooded towel just a clever/cute thing or does it has beneficial/usefulness for autistic people?  Gary's youngest daughter works as a behavior therapist with autistic kids.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> That means more suckers out there for the greedy who have either the parts and or the know how.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And even the manufacturers get into the game. Every day you hear about a recall, but what about the ones you don't??? Last year the ice dispenser on our big expensive side by side quit working. When I took it apart I found one of the little plastic ears that held the lever to actuate a micro switch had broke. Quick google search reveled there was known problem with a weak part, but once it was out of warranty the manufacturer wouldn't cover it. A replacement plate (same design) was close to a $100, and would likely fail again. Little redneck engineering and scrap from the shop I was able to redesign and fix their broken part. I fully expect it to last forever now.  I just don't understand how businesses can continue to operate like they do.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yep... 'few years ago the family bought Dad [what we thought was] a very high-end floor model drill press for his new shop.  He called after a few months and said that the table wouldn't raise or lower properly anymore.  This is especially odd since he rarely changes the table height.  We estimated that the table had probably travelled less than 10' in total over the period of four-ish months.
> 
> Removed the table and found that teeth of the small spur gear that acts on the rack were worn to half or less of their depth across about 2/3 of the face and that the shaft on which the gear was mounted had almost 1/8" play at each end.  Given how little movement the gear had, I was astounded at the wear.  I removed  it, ran a file across it and found that it was only slightly harder than warm butter.
> 
> Bought a new gear from the manufacturer ($25), hardened it in the forge to about RKc 49, machined two bronze bushings for the shaft, and presto... works like a charm and has for over ten years.  The manufacturer would have been happy to replace the gear free of charge, all I had to was ship the complete drill press back to them.
Click to expand...

The devil is in the details.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Why McDonald's Workers May Not Be Entitled to $15/hr
> 
> In a hurry this evening so we went through the drive through on the way home. My wife was driving, so she did the ordering, as we pulled up to the speaker. Now my wife is the epitome of the graceful southern woman, who does not get flustered, nor speak ill of others.
> 
> Wife: I'd like two Big Mac Meals and two Diet Cokes, please
> Order Girl: Pepsi?
> Wife: Ok diet Pepsi then
> Order Girl: I'm sorry but we don't have Pepsi, would Coke be ok
> Wife: (holding temper), yes that's fine
> Order Girl: Ok two regular Cokes
> Wife: (Teeth clenching) I said DIET COKE
> Order Girl: Ok that's two Big Macs and two DIET cokes, that'll be $$$$ please drive to the first window.
> Wife: YOUNG LADY!!!!
> Order Girl: Yes Ma'am
> Wife: I told you from the start I wanted MEALS.
> Order Girl: Oh
> Speaker goes dead and we sit, and we sit, and we sit
> Wife: YOUNG LADY ARE YOU STILL THERE?
> Order Girl: Yes Ma'am we're trying to figure out how to change your order
> Speaker noise in the background we hear multiple people trying to explain to the girl how to cancel and re-enter      the order. Finally multiple heads prevailed and we think they've got it.
> Order Girl: Ok Ma'am I have two Big Macs and two diet Cokes
> Wife: I WANT MEALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> Order Girl: Oh I'm sorry I meant meals, that'll be $$$$ please drive around
> We drive to the window, and the lo and behold here is the Order Girl
> Order Girl: that's two Big Macs and two diet Cokes
> Me & Wife: IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE MEALS!!!!
> Order Girl: That's what I meant.
> 
> When we pulled to the second window, couldn't help but look to see if Abbot and Costello were behind the counter!!!


Sounds like someone in training, or very bad communication hardware or a combo of both.  Hopefully incompetence hasn't reached the pinnacle of corporate America.


----------



## pixmedic

Gary A. said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> The wife is doing some commissioned work for autism awareness.  It's a hooded towel.
> 
> View attachment 138913
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never seen a 'hooded towel'.  Is a hooded towel just a clever/cute thing or does it has beneficial/usefulness for autistic people?  Gary's youngest daughter works as a behavior therapist with autistic kids.
Click to expand...

It's mostly a thing for kids.  It's basically a towel with a hood built in.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's been one of the terrible parts of this trip. Here are my meals so far...rest area food court, bertuccis, hotel breakfast, McDonald's, mall food court, and hotel breakfast. I need some vegetables in my life.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like road trip/vacation food to me!       Quick, fast, and easy - and usually sub-par.  It can be challenging to eat well when you're away from home - the mystery is why we seldom consider it until we're on vacation looking for better food!
> 
> In other news, happy Friday, hosers!
Click to expand...

Jon is somewhat corralled by 225 squirrely kids as to what food trough he can visit.  Gary wonders how you feed 225 squirrely kids at one time at a McDonald's?

Yelp (or equal), is one's best friend when traveling (replaces Michelin).  Gary and Mary Lou usually dine at local only, off the beaten path, places when we travel.


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's been one of the terrible parts of this trip. Here are my meals so far...rest area food court, bertuccis, hotel breakfast, McDonald's, mall food court, and hotel breakfast. I need some vegetables in my life.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like road trip/vacation food to me!    [emoji38]   Quick, fast, and easy - and usually sub-par.  It can be challenging to eat well when you're away from home - the mystery is why we seldom consider it until we're on vacation looking for better food!
> 
> In other news, happy Friday, hosers!
Click to expand...

I lost 4 lbs. on vacation. I ate fish and veggies for dinner every night. Zero fast food. 

Grocery are good places to get a healthy sandwich, some fruit, and a salad. If the wife doesn't pack me a lunch or I stay overnight while working on the road, I'll stop by one now and get a deli sandwich, piece of fruit, and a salad.


----------



## jcdeboever

pixmedic said:


> The wife is doing some commissioned work for autism awareness.  It's a hooded towel.
> 
> View attachment 138913
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk


Very clever.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday was a busy day for Gary.  He worked from home and in between work stuff he he the detail work on the patio deck, cleaned out the pond skimmer, trimmed up the grapes, moved a small fountain from the BBQ patio to the regular patio, he installed a new pump of the pressurized bio-filter and after about an hour of frustrations Gary finally sealed off the leaks and he made some flatbread, plucked some fruit and made lemonade.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> Why McDonald's Workers May Not Be Entitled to $15/hr
> 
> In a hurry this evening so we went through the drive through on the way home. My wife was driving, so she did the ordering, as we pulled up to the speaker. Now my wife is the epitome of the graceful southern woman, who does not get flustered, nor speak ill of others.
> 
> Wife: I'd like two Big Mac Meals and two Diet Cokes, please
> Order Girl: Pepsi?
> Wife: Ok diet Pepsi then
> Order Girl: I'm sorry but we don't have Pepsi, would Coke be ok
> Wife: (holding temper), yes that's fine
> Order Girl: Ok two regular Cokes
> Wife: (Teeth clenching) I said DIET COKE
> Order Girl: Ok that's two Big Macs and two DIET cokes, that'll be $$$$ please drive to the first window.
> Wife: YOUNG LADY!!!!
> Order Girl: Yes Ma'am
> Wife: I told you from the start I wanted MEALS.
> Order Girl: Oh
> Speaker goes dead and we sit, and we sit, and we sit
> Wife: YOUNG LADY ARE YOU STILL THERE?
> Order Girl: Yes Ma'am we're trying to figure out how to change your order
> Speaker noise in the background we hear multiple people trying to explain to the girl how to cancel and re-enter      the order. Finally multiple heads prevailed and we think they've got it.
> Order Girl: Ok Ma'am I have two Big Macs and two diet Cokes
> Wife: I WANT MEALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> Order Girl: Oh I'm sorry I meant meals, that'll be $$$$ please drive around
> We drive to the window, and the lo and behold here is the Order Girl
> Order Girl: that's two Big Macs and two diet Cokes
> Me & Wife: IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE MEALS!!!!
> Order Girl: That's what I meant.
> 
> When we pulled to the second window, couldn't help but look to see if Abbot and Costello were behind the counter!!!


Sounds like she got her college degree in Art History.


----------



## jcdeboever

My new girlfriend.... She's pretty....Having two cameras at the same time is nice. The wife rolled her eyes and let out a big sigh when she noticed it. I have a feeling this one is gonna cost me some new kitchen counter tops... Dang, camera gear is expensive. I want the square metal hood for this 16mm, $69 bucks though.... What a super piece of glass.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I have a feeling this one is gonna cost me some new kitchen counter tops...



Good looking lines on that new girlfriend. I see you have the one of those equal pay to play clauses in your house also!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have a feeling this one is gonna cost me some new kitchen counter tops...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good looking lines on that new girlfriend. I see you have the one of those equal pay to play clauses in your house also!!!
Click to expand...

Somehow, she gets the cars, countertops, massages, hair, eyelashes, nails. I could buy 4 GFX fujis for what she got in the past year.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's been attempting to lose weight as well.  He's just not willing to give up enough of his lifestyle to be more successful. Too much work where he's stationary, while he doesn't eat any fast food, the his food is on the rich side and the biggest barrier between him and his weight loss is vino.  He has a couple of glasses three to four days a week which combined with all the spider webs on his exercise equipment ... makes losing weight more of a dream than a reality.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> My new girlfriend.... She's pretty....Having two cameras at the same time is nice. The wife rolled her eyes and let out a big sigh when she noticed it. I have a feeling this one is gonna cost me some new kitchen counter tops... Dang, camera gear is expensive. I want the square metal hood for this 16mm, $69 bucks though.... What a super piece of glass.
> 
> View attachment 138956


Yes, with the square hood you will be mistaken for Henri Cartier-Bresson.  The XP2 is simply beautiful.  I much prefer the larger viewfinder of the XT2, but the XP2 is great to have hanging around your neck or shoulder.  (Sorta like dating the cutest cheerleader in school.)


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> My new girlfriend.... She's pretty....Having two cameras at the same time is nice. The wife rolled her eyes and let out a big sigh when she noticed it. I have a feeling this one is gonna cost me some new kitchen counter tops... Dang, camera gear is expensive. I want the square metal hood for this 16mm, $69 bucks though.... What a super piece of glass.
> 
> View attachment 138956
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, with the square hood you will be mistaken for Henri Cartier-Bresson.  The XP2 is simply beautiful.  I much prefer the larger viewfinder of the XT2, but the XP2 is great to have hanging around your neck or shoulder.  (Sorta like dating the cutest cheerleader.)
Click to expand...

And she puts out when ever I ask....


----------



## table1349

Well I know what I'm going to this weekend since the wife is going to be gone all day tomorrow.  We may be hicks in the sticks but by God we got our priorities straight:

Beer and bacon festival returns to Hartman Arena


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have a feeling this one is gonna cost me some new kitchen counter tops...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good looking lines on that new girlfriend. I see you have the one of those equal pay to play clauses in your house also!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Somehow, she gets the cars, countertops, massages, hair, eyelashes, nails. I could buy 4 GFX fujis for what she got in the past year.
Click to expand...


Same here!!!!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's first Fuji camera was the XP1. He was in his brick & mortar store and spotted it on a shelf.  He knew nothing of Fuji ... nothing of their limited lens (at the time) or of their different non-Bayer sensor ... but he thought it was so beautiful with the aperture ring on the lens ... that it was love at first sight.  He purchased the XP1 the moment he touched it and it felt like an old time metal rangefinder.  Little did he know that it was a slow camera, it did everything slow. It couldn't focus worth a damn and that in low light the EVF just went smeary ... but it was beautiful.  He still has the XP1.


----------



## Gary A.

BEER & BACON!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL  .... what could go wrong ... (nice photo)


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> He's just not willing to give up enough of his lifestyle to be more successful.



Gary, I've used this method several times, when my eating habits got out of control, and always found it to work for me.  Free Calorie Counter, Diet & Exercise Journal | MyFitnessPal.com The nice thing about it is you don't "give up" anything. You eat what you want, when you want, you just learn to control yourself and manage your intake. By calculating your daily calorie requirement and setting small weight reduction goals, it automatically adjusts your intake down for that goal. You don't feel like your starving, and you learn that if you want that dessert, then to get the extra calories for the day, you're gonna have to get off you butt and exercise to burn off calories. Since the end of November I've lost 30# and while I'm not quite to my goal of 35, I'm getting close. More importantly I've started leveling off and maintaining as I'm approaching my goal.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have a feeling this one is gonna cost me some new kitchen counter tops...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good looking lines on that new girlfriend. I see you have the one of those equal pay to play clauses in your house also!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Somehow, she gets the cars, countertops, massages, hair, eyelashes, nails. I could buy 4 GFX fujis for what she got in the past year.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Same here!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

I could buy 4 of them just on the living room furniture she bought.  We went to buy a single rocking chair for the bedroom as it was my Christmas present. The dogs no longer need their kennels so we have a sitting area again.  

 We (she) ended up buying my rocking chair, new living room furniture as well as a display hutch for the dining room.   It's all hand crafted amish made stuff and will last two lifetimes, but we only went for a chair for Petes sake.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> BEER & BACON!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL  .... what could go wrong ... (nice photo)


The tickets are $30 in advance and $35 at the door.  At $30 a ticket THE HOUSE HAS LOST IT"S ADVANTAGE.  

*Show Me The Buffet.  *


----------



## Gary A.

@ smoke665:  Thank you for the tips.  Gary has a lot of expertise in weight control and losing weight. Gary has used My Fitness Pal, successfully in conjunction with activity trackers.  Gary is just complaining out loud of not upping his exercise game to keep pace with his intake.  The difference is the wine, if Gary didn't enjoy wine, his weight would be dropping much faster than now ... much is a very slow drop. (It took Gary about two months to dump the holiday weight gain, a month of staying even and now he is beginning to dip into 'real' weight loss. But it is slow.  With the longer days and better weather, his activity levels should increase.  Again, thanks for the tips.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> BEER & BACON!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL  .... what could go wrong ... (nice photo)


I like bacon


----------



## pixmedic

Gary A. said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> The wife is doing some commissioned work for autism awareness.  It's a hooded towel.
> 
> View attachment 138913
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never seen a 'hooded towel'.  Is a hooded towel just a clever/cute thing or does it has beneficial/usefulness for autistic people?  Gary's youngest daughter works as a behavior therapist with autistic kids.
Click to expand...

 The hooded towel on my wife's mannequin. The dress form doesn't have a head, but u can get the general idea.
She does these in many different patterns.




Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk


----------



## pixmedic

A few of the other hooded towels the wife has done.
And a bib.











Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

pixmedic said:


> A few of the other hooded towels the wife has done.
> And a bib.
> 
> View attachment 138961View attachment 138962View attachment 138963View attachment 138964
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk


You need those with the ferrets.


----------



## JonA_CT

On our way home now. I've logged about 55,000 steps over the last three days.

I wore bad shoes (on purpose, because of the still recovering burn area), and my shins hurt. I've negotiated rest for the weekend.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I love the Snoopy one!

Bacon at least is low carb... (not so much the beer unfortunately).


----------



## vintagesnaps

And a mechanical pig!! Oh you have to take some pictures.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. my downfall is sweets, ice cream and snacks, usually consumed at night before bed. Using My Fitness Pal, I can calculate the number steps I'm going to have to log in order to have that treat, sometimes I decide it's worth it, sometimes it's not. The point is it helps me make a better choice.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> On our way home now. I've logged about 55,000 steps over the last three days.
> 
> I wore bad shoes (on purpose, because of the still recovering burn area), and my shins hurt. I've negotiated rest for the weekend.



<scratchy recording> "Thank you for visiting the Nation's Capital.  Please have a safe trip back.  click. click. click . . ."


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> And a mechanical pig!! Oh you have to take some pictures.


Ohhhh - that reminds me!

On one of this morning's traffic reports:  The Harry Nice Bridge which carries US 301 across the Potomac River between near Newberg in Charles County, MD and Dalhlgren in King George County, VA was at one lane (normally two - one each way) because of a pig in the roadway.  The pig's direction of travel, and thus the state to which he/she was trying to escape, was not divulged.  Gotta love Southern MD!


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> BEER & BACON!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL  .... what could go wrong ... (nice photo)


Nothing as far as I am concerned.  I have rented a portable defibrillator for the day and bought one of these.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> The wife is doing some commissioned work for autism awareness.  It's a hooded towel.
> 
> View attachment 138913
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never seen a 'hooded towel'.  Is a hooded towel just a clever/cute thing or does it has beneficial/usefulness for autistic people?  Gary's youngest daughter works as a behavior therapist with autistic kids.
Click to expand...


I don't know if the hooded towel is specifically FOR the autistic kids, or just that the proceeds will go towards autism research, but one of the issues many autistic children/people have is a high sensitivity to sensory input and get overloaded quickly. There is research that shows the efficacy of "swaddling" as a way to calm a person when they are hitting overload; I've heard of weighted blankets, or blankets designed to be tied tightly around someone, so perhaps if that towel is FOR autistic children, the hood is there to help facilitate that protective swaddling for younger children.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. my downfall is sweets, ice cream and snacks, usually consumed at night before bed. Using My Fitness Pal, I can calculate the number steps I'm going to have to log in order to have that treat, sometimes I decide it's worth it, sometimes it's not. The point is it helps me make a better choice.


I can't eat ice cream unless I want soil my drawers. I love ice cream too, especially pistachio, butter pecan. No more sweets for me except the weight watchers ones, only 2 points each. I really have cut a bunch of stuff out, sweets, fast food, regular pizza, etc. I was eating way too much. 6 donuts a day would put me way over my points allowed for a day (50). 6 donuts = 144 and I was doing that 3 days a week on top of dinner, fast food lunch, snacks....what a glutton I was.... I used to be pretty studly or the wife said I was. When I was a Marine, I was a 185 lbs, lean, mean, fighting Marine. I was all the up to a left guard weight of 320. I'm teetering on the 260's right now, hopefully by next weigh in.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> The wife is doing some commissioned work for autism awareness.  It's a hooded towel.
> 
> View attachment 138913
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never seen a 'hooded towel'.  Is a hooded towel just a clever/cute thing or does it has beneficial/usefulness for autistic people?  Gary's youngest daughter works as a behavior therapist with autistic kids.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't know if the hooded towel is specifically FOR the autistic kids, or just that the proceeds will go towards autism research, but one of the issues many autistic children/people have is a high sensitivity to sensory input and get overloaded quickly. There is research that shows the efficacy of "swaddling" as a way to calm a person when they are hitting overload; I've heard of weighted blankets, or blankets designed to be tied tightly around someone, so perhaps if that towel is FOR autistic children, the hood is there to help facilitate that protective swaddling for younger children.
Click to expand...


Gary would look good in a hooded towel


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> The wife is doing some commissioned work for autism awareness.  It's a hooded towel.
> 
> View attachment 138913
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never seen a 'hooded towel'.  Is a hooded towel just a clever/cute thing or does it has beneficial/usefulness for autistic people?  Gary's youngest daughter works as a behavior therapist with autistic kids.
Click to expand...

We bought some for the granddaughters a couple of years ago.  They were Disney Prices designs.  They are great when we take the girls to the beach, pool etc.  When it is time to go home they can wrap up in them and stay warm or just use them to warm up in if they get cold.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> The wife is doing some commissioned work for autism awareness.  It's a hooded towel.
> 
> View attachment 138913
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never seen a 'hooded towel'.  Is a hooded towel just a clever/cute thing or does it has beneficial/usefulness for autistic people?  Gary's youngest daughter works as a behavior therapist with autistic kids.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't know if the hooded towel is specifically FOR the autistic kids, or just that the proceeds will go towards autism research, but one of the issues many autistic children/people have is a high sensitivity to sensory input and get overloaded quickly. There is research that shows the efficacy of "swaddling" as a way to calm a person when they are hitting overload; I've heard of weighted blankets, or blankets designed to be tied tightly around someone, so perhaps if that towel is FOR autistic children, the hood is there to help facilitate that protective swaddling for younger children.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Gary would look good in a hooded towel
Click to expand...

Especially in this one.  

Good looking he would be.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever while I love ice cream.,Chocolate is like crack to me, I crave it. I can go without it for awhile but if I ever get even a smell of it, I'll pig out for as long as it's near. Bad thing is the wife is just as bad as I am.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever while I love ice cream.,Chocolate is like crack to me, I crave it. I can go without it for awhile but if I ever get even a smell of it, I'll pig out for as long as it's near. Bad thing is the wife is just as bad as I am.


Does that mean we are not going to diAmano when I get there??? I would love me some Georgia Peach and Pecan bark.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @jcdeboever while I love ice cream.,Chocolate is like crack to me, I crave it. I can go without it for awhile but if I ever get even a smell of it, I'll pig out for as long as it's near. Bad thing is the wife is just as bad as I am.
> 
> 
> 
> Does that mean we are not going to diAmano when I get there??? I would love me some Georgia Peach and Pecan bark.
Click to expand...


Need to get things on the calendar.  First we can go to the  Alabama Chocolate Festival - Rainbow City - Alabama.travel, then follow up with Smoke on the Falls (2017-04-07) Then head on out your way for Beer and Bacon. What a month April would be!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @jcdeboever while I love ice cream.,Chocolate is like crack to me, I crave it. I can go without it for awhile but if I ever get even a smell of it, I'll pig out for as long as it's near. Bad thing is the wife is just as bad as I am.
> 
> 
> 
> Does that mean we are not going to diAmano when I get there??? I would love me some Georgia Peach and Pecan bark.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Need to get things on the calendar.  First we can go to the  Alabama Chocolate Festival - Rainbow City - Alabama.travel, then follow up with Smoke on the Falls (2017-04-07) Then head on out your way for Beer and Bacon. What a month April would be!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

I'm down with that.  We need to stop by the Texas State Chili Cookoff on April 30th for a bite of lunch though.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> We need to stop by the Texas State Chili Cookoff on April 30th for a bite of lunch though.



Shame it's the 30th, we'd have to back track to make Central Alabama Crawfish Festival


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> We need to stop by the Texas State Chili Cookoff on April 30th for a bite of lunch though.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shame it's the 30th, we'd have to back track to make Central Alabama Crawfish Festival
Click to expand...

Ain't no thing.  We do Beer & Bacon tomorrow, Texas State Chili Cookoff for lunch and the Central Alabam Crawfish Festival for dinner.  On Sunday we go to diAmano then to the Alabama Chocolate Festival on Monday.   Don't worry youngun, you are going to be tutored by a professional on the hows of eating all kinds of great places in a short amount of time.   

To make traveling a bit easier, well at least a bit more fun,  hows bout you scrounge us up a couple of mason jars of snake bite medicine.  You always got to watch out for snake bites when your traveling ya know.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> scrounge us up a couple of mason jars of snake bite medicine



I might know a couple of suppliers of snake bite medicine


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> scrounge us up a couple of mason jars of snake bite medicine
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I might know a couple of suppliers of snake bite medicine
Click to expand...

Outstanding.  I here that Georgia is rife with copper heads this year, and the rattlers stretch from Texas into Kansas.  Can't be too careful when traveling, or when over at a friends house, or sitting at home, or any other time for that matter.


----------



## table1349

Good follow up story about the Student Journalist that outed the New Principle who had false credentials.  How a teacher prepared her students to take on the adults and win


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. my downfall is sweets, ice cream and snacks, usually consumed at night before bed. Using My Fitness Pal, I can calculate the number steps I'm going to have to log in order to have that treat, sometimes I decide it's worth it, sometimes it's not. The point is it helps me make a better choice.


I agree.  I've been using MyFitnessPal for awhile. But lately, I haven't been following it to a 'T'.  When I was watching it more closely, I often would take The Cook out for a evening walk or hit the threadmill.  I have all the tools I need, I just lack the will.   I rationalize it all by telling myself, it me years to get overweight ... so it's okay not to lose it all overnight.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> BEER & BACON!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL  .... what could go wrong ... (nice photo)
> 
> 
> 
> Nothing as far as I am concerned.  I have rented a portable defibrillator for the day and bought one of these.
Click to expand...

A must for a true beer gourmand.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> The wife is doing some commissioned work for autism awareness.  It's a hooded towel.
> 
> View attachment 138913
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never seen a 'hooded towel'.  Is a hooded towel just a clever/cute thing or does it has beneficial/usefulness for autistic people?  Gary's youngest daughter works as a behavior therapist with autistic kids.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't know if the hooded towel is specifically FOR the autistic kids, or just that the proceeds will go towards autism research, but one of the issues many autistic children/people have is a high sensitivity to sensory input and get overloaded quickly. There is research that shows the efficacy of "swaddling" as a way to calm a person when they are hitting overload; I've heard of weighted blankets, or blankets designed to be tied tightly around someone, so perhaps if that towel is FOR autistic children, the hood is there to help facilitate that protective swaddling for younger children.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Gary would look good in a hooded towel
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Especially in this one.
> 
> Good looking he would be.
Click to expand...

Gary ordered one, he did.


----------



## Gary A.

Listen up you-all coffee hosers.  Gary is all jazzed up.  Gary and Mary Lou adopted a kid while visiting a new winery in Temecula. He was a pouring and was down on his luck.  He was a world class swimmer with a full ride at Penn State.  He sorta imploded at Penn and returned home to California.  He applied at a few universities and was accepted at none.  Gary and Mary Lou adopted him and I wrote his personal statement.  He applied at a number of UC and Cal States, with his dream college being Berkeley.  During the last month he has been accepted at every university he applied with no rejections.  UC Santa Cruz, UC Santa Barbara, Sonoma, San Luis Obispo ... 100% ... and today UC Berkeley accepted him.  

A few years ago, I was at the East Gate for Cal Day (Cal Day is an open house for incoming freashmen).  The ASB prez welcomed the freshmen to the "... Greatest university in the world ...".  I took it all in, I ran through my memory banks ... and being a Trojan it was hard to admit, but arguably he was right.  Cal could be the greatest public university in the whole jammin' world.  

Congrats Matt and Godspeed.


----------



## snowbear

​


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> View attachment 138984​


Wait!.....................What???..............................That's it?????  With all the build up I was expecting a Russian Mail Order Bride, or at least a new X1D or something along that line.  




Okay seriously, enjoy the new triggers.


----------



## snowbear

It doesn't take much to make me happy.  Next steps are a second flash and receiver, a couple of stands and umbrellas.  Once I get used to them (and we move to a larger place), I'll start looking at monolights.


----------



## JonA_CT

I love that trigger. It works great. You may not even need another receiver if you buy the right flask next. My YN-685 works beautifully with the trigger, and I run my other flash as an optical space.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> It doesn't take much to make me happy.  Next steps are a second flash and receiver, a couple of stands and umbrellas.  Once I get used to them (and we move to a larger place), I'll start looking at monolights.


Hey, my Momma taught me to be either Cheap or Easy, but never be both.  I chose to be easy instead of cheap.  You get more offers and it's better stuff.


----------



## snowbear

I've read some decent reviews on this model.  I figure I'll start out small.


----------



## jcdeboever

Good morning hosers, Happy rainy Saturday. Have to do some painting today on the neighbors rear bumper cover as she got into a little fender bender and didn't want to turn in it to her insurance company. Last night, I prepped and pre-fitted the aftermarket cover and of course it was a royal aftermarket piece of crap (keystone) nightmare. I literally had to shave each flippin tab that snaps the bumper cover on, and there was like 20 tabs / areas that had to be shaved with a curved exacto knife, tedious and annoying. She couldn't afford the OEM. The things I get myself into, plus the color match is a known color variance issue but I knew that going in and fixed that prior to application. She better not pick the thing apart or I may have a meltdown. Then grand daughters soccer game (if not rained out). Lastly, shooting a retirement party tonight. Well, got to get to it already.


----------



## jcdeboever

Oh, on a separate note... I have finally decided on editing software for my Winblows Box. I have tried many and the the one that works for me the best is... Alien Skin Exposure 2. I am not into editing and this one is powerful enough for me, reads the Fujifilm Raw, and accurately renders the Fujifilm simulation modes out of the camera. All the ones I tried (Including LR) just don't accurately represent what I do in the camera. As some of you are aware, I have been continually working hard at getting it right in camera so rendering the simulation modes correctly are very important to me. It was the only software I tried (out of 6) that got the simulations correct, color or B & W. This is not a promotion of the software but a testimony for Fujifilm / Windows users. It can do a lot but I won't use an 1/8 of what it can do. They earned my business, I sent them various emails about certain things during the trial period and they always had a quick response and spot on answers. Still waiting on answers from all the others. They were the only ones that responded to my stupid questions.


----------



## Gary A.

There are no stupid questions.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary doesn't use flash.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> There are no stupid questions.


Said by one who has never taught middle school kids.


----------



## smoke665

Our plans with friends got messed up so we ended up with 15#s of raw peanuts, that were intended for the wife's famous Cajun style boiled peanuts. She went ahead and made a batch just for me, now I'm miserable after to much sampling and quality control checking.


----------



## table1349

Geeze.....it's 10:36 local time (CTZ) and no one has checked in yet.  I know you all ain't that religious.  Bunch of sleepy heads if you as me.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yup. Off to Easter lunch at my parents. Yes you read that right. Kinda past it at this point but - free ham! My brother got a Honeybaked thru work, but we probably should call this a Mother's Day brunch or something... or just an excuse for free ham.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> Yup. Off to Easter lunch at my parents. Yes you read that right. Kinda past it at this point but - free ham! My brother got a Honeybaked thru work, but we probably should call this a Mother's Day brunch or something... or just an excuse for free ham.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> just an excuse for free ham



I'm past making excuses for "Free Ham".


----------



## table1349

Well I went to the Bacon & Beer event last night.  OMG!!!

*"I ate too much bacon." * Was said by *NO ONE!!!!*
*


 *


----------



## smoke665

Beer and Bacon ranks up there with my fetish for homebrew and homade chocolate chip cookies. They don't sound like they should go together but they do.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> Beer and Bacon ranks up there with my fetish for homebrew and homade chocolate chip cookies. They don't sound like they should go together but they do.




 

Here we tend to use the word Fetish in a slightly different context, but then for all I know you may be using it in the same context that we would.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The Cook, Mary Lou and Gary are having breakfast in Santa Maria, about 20 minutes from our final destination of the wineries around San Luis Obispo.


----------



## Gary A.

The Cook not eating bacon. Gary had to get a doggie bag.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 139053
> The Cook not eating bacon. Gary had to get a doggie bag.


Where I come from when a dog doesn't eat bacon it is dead.  You better have that dog examined.  Either that or that it the best stuffed toy dog I have ever seen.  Steiff doesn't make stuffed toys that realistic.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thought that Cook may be Jewish, but then Gary saw her gobble up a cheeseburger...


----------



## Gary A.

We are at Laetitia, a place for sparkling wine.

It is quite beautiful here, rolling hills covered in grapes and oaks. The uncultivated hills yellow with mustard.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary thought that Cook may be Jewish, but then Gary saw her gobble up a cheeseburger...


So maybe she's just not orthodox.  

Cute Jewish Joke on food prohibitions. 

_Moses is up on Mount Sinai and the Almighty is conveying the text of the Torah to him. They come to “Do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk,” and Moses looks up and says, “By this I assume you mean we should not eat meat and milk dishes at the same time.” 

“No,” replies the Almighty, “I simply said, ‘Do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk.’”


“OK,” says Moses, “So you mean we should have separate dishes for meat and milk.”


“No,” says the Master of the Universe, “I simply said, ‘Do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk.’”


“Fine,” says Moses, “So you mean we should wait six hours after meat before we can eat milk?”


“Alright, Moses,” says the Holy One, “have it your way.”_


----------



## Gary A.

*rim-shot*


----------



## table1349

As you wish.


----------



## table1349

Well Just another spring day in Kansas.  Storm pounds western Kansas, closes I-70

Dodge City area had received as much as 5-plus inches of snow as of 11:30 a.m. Sunday.


----------



## Gary A.

We had a lovely three hour drive with the Pacific and the Channel Islands accompanying us on most of the journey.


----------



## Gary A.

It has been a great day.


----------



## terri

^^  It sure looks like it from here!    Beautiful spot to raise a glass or three.    <clink>   

Happy Monday morning, hosers!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> ^^  It sure looks like it from here!    Beautiful spot to raise a glass or three.    <clink>
> 
> Happy Monday morning, hosers!



Happy Monday morning back atcha 

So I had a very long week that involved early days commuting into the city and traipsing through Brooklyn and Queens on Wed-Fri, and then overtime on Saturday morning starting at 8am. When I was finally done, I went home, fell into a coma for about an hour, and then went to see Buzz for dinner.

He had these for me when he opened the door:




He had also gone shopping for dinner and bought me trout and broccoli rabe, which I dearly love, and he made our favorite gnocchi pan-seared in white wine.

I heart him 

(I had to bring the flowers to work because my furry brats wouldn't stop trying to eat them. The tiki cup is a new acquisition from one of our regular junk shop haunts. Because how can you not love a tiki cup? Plans for summer umbrella drinks are in the works...)


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday was simply lovely, it was like a movie. Driving up the coast highway escorted by surfers and Channel Islands along the way. We visited some awesome wineries, chatted with interesting people, sipped some wonderful wines all while basking in perfect 80F warm and dry weather surrounded by hundreds of miles of rolling hills covered in oaks, wildflowers of yellow, orange and blue, ranches and farms and of course vineyards.

The wines were sooooo good, that Gary became a member of two more wineries.  Two little Ma & Pop type wineries.  Small time growers with limited production but crafting such refined and flavorful drink at extremely reasonable prices.  Wolf and Saucelito were as fun and relaxing as the vino was delicious. Gary, Mary Lou and Cook much prefer the small and friendly over the large and glitzy. 

Gary and Cook will be dropping two Temecula wineries to accommodate these San Luis Obispo (SLO).  Better wines at half the cost.  Gary is revisiting his plans to go back to school and become a Master Sommelier.  California in a bottle.

Gary loves this State.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> ^^  It sure looks like it from here!    Beautiful spot to raise a glass or three.    <clink>
> 
> Happy Monday morning, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Monday morning back atcha
> 
> So I had a very long week that involved early days commuting into the city and traipsing through Brooklyn and Queens on Wed-Fri, and then overtime on Saturday morning starting at 8am. When I was finally done, I went home, fell into a coma for about an hour, and then went to see Buzz for dinner.
> 
> He had these for me when he opened the door:
> 
> View attachment 139105
> 
> He had also gone shopping for dinner and bought me trout and broccoli rabe, which I dearly love, and he made our favorite gnocchi pan-seared in white wine.
> 
> I heart him
> 
> (I had to bring the flowers to work because my furry brats wouldn't stop trying to eat them. The tiki cup is a new acquisition from one of our regular junk shop haunts. Because how can you not love a tiki cup? Plans for summer umbrella drinks are in the works...)
Click to expand...

Awwwwe , good guy you got there. My cat slowed down on eating flowers once I changed her cat food to an all natural type suitable for human consumption. Name eludes me but if your interested, I can upload a pic of the brand. I read online that cats tend to eat flowers because their diet lacks natural food ingredients. I really was bothered by her throwing up a lot, and was surprised by the flower thing. It did make a difference to my surprise and she likes the food, she is real picky too.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> ^^  It sure looks like it from here!    Beautiful spot to raise a glass or three.    <clink>
> 
> Happy Monday morning, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Monday morning back atcha
> 
> So I had a very long week that involved early days commuting into the city and traipsing through Brooklyn and Queens on Wed-Fri, and then overtime on Saturday morning starting at 8am. When I was finally done, I went home, fell into a coma for about an hour, and then went to see Buzz for dinner.
> 
> He had these for me when he opened the door:
> 
> View attachment 139105
> 
> He had also gone shopping for dinner and bought me trout and broccoli rabe, which I dearly love, and he made our favorite gnocchi pan-seared in white wine.
> 
> I heart him
> 
> (I had to bring the flowers to work because my furry brats wouldn't stop trying to eat them. The tiki cup is a new acquisition from one of our regular junk shop haunts. Because how can you not love a tiki cup? Plans for summer umbrella drinks are in the works...)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Awwwwe , good guy you got there. My cat slowed down on eating flowers once I changed her cat food to an all natural type suitable for human consumption. Name eludes me but if your interested, I can upload a pic of the brand. I read online that cats tend to eat flowers because their diet lacks natural food ingredients. I really was bothered by her throwing up a lot, and was surprised by the flower thing. It did make a difference to my surprise and she likes the food, she is real picky too.
Click to expand...


Oh, please do! My girls also throw up, especially Mrs. Parker (though I suspect this is because she also eats too fast.) Right now I'm using Blue Buffalo for sensitive stomachs, which has helped a little. I'm thinking of trying to grow some cat grass.


----------



## EIngerson

Prom season is here. How's everyone been doing? 





Prom Ninjas. by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

First stop of the morning is the drug store for Flonase. Both Gary's and Mary Lou's noses are going nuts.


----------



## JonA_CT

Love Flonase. Hate that it now costs me 4 times as much out of pocket as it did when it was a presciption only drug, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

The Mexican Mocha at Kreuzberg Coffee Company in downtown SLO.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone images

This is Santa Margarita, a one horse hamlet, at the southern edge of the Paso Robles American Viticulture Area. We are tasting at Ancient Peaks which farms on five distinct soils. This is another home run. The last photo is a reflection for JC.


----------



## snowbear

I have a ride-along at work, today.  It's hot as anything in here.

I'll get the new contest stuff out when I get home, tonight; still thinking of a Challenge theme.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> I'll get the new contest stuff out when I get home, tonight; still thinking of a Challenge theme.


Wine!   

Could be fun.   Just sayin'.


----------



## EIngerson

Gary A. said:


> First stop of the morning is the drug store for Flonase. Both Gary's and Mary Lou's noses are going nuts.



Thats no fun. My house has been stuffed up too.


----------



## Gary A.

Tolosa

The vines go up to the hills.


----------



## Gary A.

And another home run.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 139125
> And another home run.


That is the saddest wine glass I think I have ever seen.  Poor thing sitting there all empty and useless.  Someone should take pity on it, fill it up and let it have meaning again.


----------



## Gary A.

It just keeps getting better and better.  This specialty Pinot at Tolosa is amazing.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 139125
> And another home run.
> 
> 
> 
> That is the saddest wine glass I think I have ever seen.  Poor thing sitting there all empty and useless.  Someone should take pity on it, fill it up and let it have meaning again.
Click to expand...

It has more meaning empty than filled.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 139125
> And another home run.
> 
> 
> 
> That is the saddest wine glass I think I have ever seen.  Poor thing sitting there all empty and useless.  Someone should take pity on it, fill it up and let it have meaning again.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It has more meaning empty than filled.
Click to expand...

My friend, to me an empty glass is without purpose at that point.  Once it is filled again, it is provided with a purpose and me with sustenance thereby enriching both of our existences.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'll get the new contest stuff out when I get home, tonight; still thinking of a Challenge theme.
> 
> 
> 
> Wine!
> 
> Could be fun.   Just sayin'.
Click to expand...

As a theme or as an incentive to (try to) get things done?

I am supposed to participate in a contract bid conference (via Skype) for a county in the PNW.  My company doesn't normally offer GIS services, but they are trying to expand, and apparently, I am the GIS expert for the Public Sector services.  I've been with them for two weeks and have been doing GIS for four years.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'll get the new contest stuff out when I get home, tonight; still thinking of a Challenge theme.
> 
> 
> 
> Wine!
> 
> Could be fun.   Just sayin'.
Click to expand...

Your wish, my dear, is my command.


----------



## Gary A.

Back to Wolff. As we are now members, the wine was free.


----------



## terri

Great going, Charlie!    

@Gary:  Lovely vineyards AND free wine.           Nice!


----------



## Gary A.

We also returned to Saucelito. They have some old Zinfandel vines that were originally brought over from Croatia in 1880.  Mary Lou and Gary sipped glasses of their "1880" vintage also free for members. Wonderful stuff. Mary Lou has repeated said today she likes SLO better than Paso.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> ^^  It sure looks like it from here!    Beautiful spot to raise a glass or three.    <clink>
> 
> Happy Monday morning, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Monday morning back atcha
> 
> So I had a very long week that involved early days commuting into the city and traipsing through Brooklyn and Queens on Wed-Fri, and then overtime on Saturday morning starting at 8am. When I was finally done, I went home, fell into a coma for about an hour, and then went to see Buzz for dinner.
> 
> He had these for me when he opened the door:
> 
> View attachment 139105
> 
> He had also gone shopping for dinner and bought me trout and broccoli rabe, which I dearly love, and he made our favorite gnocchi pan-seared in white wine.
> 
> I heart him
> 
> (I had to bring the flowers to work because my furry brats wouldn't stop trying to eat them. The tiki cup is a new acquisition from one of our regular junk shop haunts. Because how can you not love a tiki cup? Plans for summer umbrella drinks are in the works...)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Awwwwe , good guy you got there. My cat slowed down on eating flowers once I changed her cat food to an all natural type suitable for human consumption. Name eludes me but if your interested, I can upload a pic of the brand. I read online that cats tend to eat flowers because their diet lacks natural food ingredients. I really was bothered by her throwing up a lot, and was surprised by the flower thing. It did make a difference to my surprise and she likes the food, she is real picky too.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, please do! My girls also throw up, especially Mrs. Parker (though I suspect this is because she also eats too fast.) Right now I'm using Blue Buffalo for sensitive stomachs, which has helped a little. I'm thinking of trying to grow some cat grass.
Click to expand...

As promised. The food is smaller too, she doesn't seem to eat as much either which is a good thing. Bought at Petsmart


----------



## smoke665

Anyone notice the site is acting funky this morning when posting???


----------



## jcdeboever

Yes. It's slow at the reply end using mobile version.


----------



## table1349

Silly joke for the Florida cigar muncher.


----------



## smoke665

It double posted on me once, before I realized it. I've noticed some other double posts by others.

Edit: looks like it's working again now


----------



## limr

Yup, it had gone all wonky again for a little while earlier, but it seems to be fine now.

Morning, hosers.


----------



## Gary A.

The inside tasting room at Tolosa.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Leaving SLO this morning and heading south to Los Olivos and the wine country of Santa Barbara County.  Yesterday a bus load of kids arrived at our hotel (possibly here for freshman orientation at Cal Poly), filling up the pool and raising the noise factor to about 110 decibels from running feet and falling bodies (apparently).  Gary thinks that 110 decibels in well into a range of sound causing physical pain.

Mary Lou, Cook and Gary have enjoyed the city, wineries and countryside.  But it gets hot here in summer, much hotter than the LA Basin.  But Morro Bay and Pismo Beach are both about 15 minutes away ... so when Gary's retirement plan goes active, (also known as winning the lotto), maybe Mary Lou and Gary could get a little place on the beach.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 139158
> The inside tasting room at Tolosa.
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Leaving SLO this morning and heading south to Los Olivos and the wine country of Santa Barbara County.  Yesterday a bus load of kids arrived at our hotel (possibly here for freshman orientation at Cal Poly), filling up the pool and raising the noise factor to about 110 decibels from running feet and falling bodies (apparently).  Gary thinks that 110 decibels in well into a range of sound causing physical pain.
> 
> Mary Lou, Cook and Gary have enjoyed the city, wineries and countryside.  But it gets hot here in summer, much hotter than the LA Basin.  But Morro Bay and Pismo Beach are both about 15 minutes away ... so when Gary's retirement plan goes active, (also known as winning the lotto), maybe Mary Lou and Gary could get a little place on the beach.


Wonderful image.


----------



## Gary A.

Kay's chili verde omelette.

Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are having breakfast in Orcutt at Kay's Country Kitchen. Orcutt, just outside Santa Maria is so small, that it doesn't merit a single horse. But we often stop at Kay's the food is country sumptuous and filling.

Kay's is funny. They have tables outside for "Take Out", but no service. But you can order take-out and eat at the tables. Due to The Cook and health rules, we ordered take-out and ate on the sidewalk tables.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou's Eggs Benedict had a slab of thick savory ham that could feed a family of four.

We are away from the coast and the temps are rising.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like omelettes


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> I like omelettes


You like food.


----------



## Gary A.

Cambria the Winery.


----------



## snowbear

I used part of my first paycheck to get someone special, something special.




DSC_6956.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> I used part of my first paycheck to get someone special, something special.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_6956.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


Aw you shouldn't have you big lug.  They are beautiful.  Let me run and get a vase to put them in.


----------



## jcdeboever

I want her to sit on my lap, shecwould get a head rub





Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## jcdeboever

Bob's great, great, great, grandpa... grandpa gary




Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

Riverbench




Cambria







Riverbench


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## Gary A.

Vincent Winery


 



Vincent was a dancer and in movies. Peter O'Toole and he were good friends. A costume worn by O'Toole in one of the greatest movie of all time, was on display at the winery.


----------



## Gary A.

We had dinner at Cold Springs Tavern.  Cold Springs Tavern is an old stage coach / Pony Express stop. The Tavern is in the middle of the San Marcos Pass. The pass is a shortcut from Santa Barbara through the Santa Ynez Mountains to the wine country of the Ynez Valley.


----------



## limr

Oh my god, hosers, hosers, HOSERS.

Pivot tables. My world has been thoroughly rocked. I'm geeking hard right now.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Oh my god, hosers, hosers, HOSERS.
> 
> Pivot tables. My world has been thoroughly rocked. I'm geeking hard right now.


I create them frequently. They are very useful.


----------



## table1349

limr said:


> Oh my god, hosers, hosers, HOSERS.
> 
> Pivot tables. My world has been thoroughly rocked. I'm geeking hard right now.


Welcome to the 20th century.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is all tables - all the time.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are in Buellton a small city next to Solvang. The hotel offers a breakfast buffet ... with a mechanical automatic pancake maker. Press a button and in two minutes it squeezes two pancakes out of its backside.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary is all tables - all the time.




This is Gary's type of table.   It will allow Gary to extract and ingest all the data that is necessary.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh my god, hosers, hosers, HOSERS.
> 
> Pivot tables. My world has been thoroughly rocked. I'm geeking hard right now.
> 
> 
> 
> I create them frequently. They are very useful.
Click to expand...


They're wonderful


----------



## Gary A.

Lol ... Gary has so much vino ... he will be set up for the rest of the year. Dunno if any of youse have seen the movie Sideways, but Mary Lou is scheduling some stops based on the movie. 

(Sideways is an indie movie based in the Santa Ynez wine country.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 139272 Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are in Buellton a small city next to Solvang. The hotel offers a breakfast buffet ... with a mechanical automatic pancake maker. Press a button and in less than two minutes it squeezes out two pancakes out of the backside.


Somehow I just do not envision the ability to "poop pancakes" as a selling feature for this machine.   When we were at Disney a few years ago the first time down in Orlando we stayed at the Marriott resort. They too had the breakfast buffet but instead of pancakes they had several Mickey Mouse head shaped Belgian  waffle makers and cups of premeasured waffle batter. In two minutes you could have a Mickey Mouse waffle for breakfast.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like waffles


----------



## Gary A.

Starting out at Kalyra. They specialize in dessert wines.


----------



## Gary A.

Cook and Lincoln.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> I like waffles


I do too, but not at the price Disney wanted for the Mickey head Belgian waffle maker.  It was the Waring professional grade waffle maker in the Mickey head design.  My wife wanted one until she saw the $300.00 price tag.  We bought the one I linked to for about $100 at the time.

We use it at least 3 or 4 times a month.  All the kids and the in-laws always want waffles for breakfast when they are here.  It makes perfect waffles every time.  Sadly you can't get the one I linked to any longer except at some ridiculous price.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like waffles
> 
> 
> 
> I do too, but not at the price Disney wanted for the Mickey head Belgian waffle maker.  It was the Waring professional grade waffle maker in the Mickey head design.  My wife wanted one until she saw the $300.00 price tag.  We bought the one I linked to for about $100 at the time.
> 
> We use it at least 3 or 4 times a month.  All the kids and the in-laws always want waffles for breakfast when they are here.  It makes perfect waffles every time.  Sadly you can't get the one I linked to any longer except at some ridiculous price.
Click to expand...

No return on investment with that device.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like waffles
> 
> 
> 
> I do too, but not at the price Disney wanted for the Mickey head Belgian waffle maker.  It was the Waring professional grade waffle maker in the Mickey head design.  My wife wanted one until she saw the $300.00 price tag.  We bought the one I linked to for about $100 at the time.
> 
> We use it at least 3 or 4 times a month.  All the kids and the in-laws always want waffles for breakfast when they are here.  It makes perfect waffles every time.  Sadly you can't get the one I linked to any longer except at some ridiculous price.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No return on investment with that device.
Click to expand...

Not now at that 300+ price, but we have had the one we bought for 11 years now and it has been used thousands of times while costing us 1/3 of the cost.  Actually it was 20% less than that 1/3 price as B,B,&B always has 20% off coupons. 

It will make 30 waffles and hour so it is quite handy when feeding 8-10 people.  We just set it up on the sideboard in the dining room and people can have at it.  I think the price spiked when it was featured on several cooking channel and food network shows.


----------



## snowbear

snowbear said:


> I used part of my first paycheck to get someone special, something special.



I got myself a little something, too:
"Petrol" and "Pacific" - this year's limited editions.

I've decided to concentrate collecting only a few lines of pen - the less expensive Lamys and a few Sheaffers, though I will occasionally try to pick up something that just appeals to me.




cmw3_d40_6976.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## JonA_CT

I like that Pacific. Hmmmmm


----------



## snowbear

There's a matching ink that I didn't get - I already have a turquoise and not much space for another bottle.  Maybe I'll pick up some before the year ends.


----------



## Gary A.

In reference to the waffle maker: That's what Gary has. Most likely Costco and most likely it wasn't no $300.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> In reference to the waffle maker: That's what Gary has. Most likely Costco and most likely it wasn't no $300.


I like Costco hamburger patties


----------



## SquarePeg

Cuisinart Belgian waffle maker is the way to go.  This one gets a ton of use in our house.  My teenage daughter makes waffles for the gang whenever she has friends over and they're hungry.  Saves me a ton of money not having to order them pizza all the time.  

WAF-150 - Waffle Makers - Products - Cuisinart.com

When we're feeling nostalgic for Disney we got this knock off Mickey waffle maker that we'll pull out of the pantry once in a while...

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Disney-4-Mickey-Waffles-On-A-Stick-Black/35463616


----------



## SquarePeg

Howdy Hosers!  How is everyone?  I've been trying to check in and keep up with what you all have been up to but I've been a bit MIA lately - was on vacation then I was so sick (cold?  flu?  hot flashes?  allergies?  who can tell at this point?)...  I was forced back into action tonight due to the softball schedule.   My  team won a very close high scoring game tonight with a walk off hit in the bottom of the 6th (we sometimes play 7 but only if time allows).   Final score 21-20.  It doesn't say much for our defense but my girls can hit!!!


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> In reference to the waffle maker: That's what Gary has. Most likely Costco and most likely it wasn't no $300.


Yeah we didn't pay that much either.   Can't believe how much they want for one now.  That is ridiculous.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Cuisinart Belgian waffle maker is the way to go.  This one gets a ton of use in our house.  My teenage daughter makes waffles for the gang whenever she has friends over and they're hungry.  Saves me a ton of money not having to order them pizza all the time.
> 
> WAF-150 - Waffle Makers - Products - Cuisinart.com
> 
> When we're feeling nostalgic for Disney we got this knock off Mickey waffle maker that we'll pull out of the pantry once in a while...
> 
> https://www.walmart.com/ip/Disney-4-Mickey-Waffles-On-A-Stick-Black/35463616


Or this one.  https://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-Ro...rd_wg=nW24e&psc=1&refRID=G5WBPF7MMDFW71Y2XKS2    Looks like a rebranded Waring that we have.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Cuisinart Belgian waffle maker is the way to go.  This one gets a ton of use in our house.  My teenage daughter makes waffles for the gang whenever she has friends over and they're hungry.  Saves me a ton of money not having to order them pizza all the time.


We'll swing by on our way north.


----------



## Gary A.

Sunstone.  Interesting Vinos ... everything was surprisingly dry and well done.




Artiste has an easle and paints set up for patrons in a corner of the shop.  The paintings go up on the ceiling. 

Everywhere we went we were told to go to Artiste in Los Olivos. At different locations, were given these Two-for-One tasting cards (buy one tasting and get one tasting free).  We had collected four freebie cards for Artiste. It was crazy good. The shop combines art with wine.  The shop commissions artists to create labels for their wines. Really good stuff ... one of the artist is this incredible blind guy from Texas. He was sighted but became blind later in life. He has different grades of sand inserted into the paints. Amazing stuff for a sighted person. Gary purchased all eight of his labels/wines. The shop also sells prints from the artists.

When we were in the Saucelito Winery tasting room up in San Luis Obispo, we ran into a fun couple and we contributed to a discussion about the purchase of a necklace.

At Artiste, Mary Lou recognized the necklace and asked the shop owner if she purchased the necklace she was wearing at Saucelito Winery.  They looked at each other and started laughing when they realized how small the world is.

Her boy friend arrived with some raw garlic. He was a garlic farmer. Gary and he started drinking wine and eating garlic. Garlic comes in many different flavors and raw garlic is pretty good.  Who knew?

And finally ... Gary suggested that Artiste should expand their labels to photography. Gary backed his suggestion by showing her some images from his web site. Discussions are in progress ... and Gary's photos may be used as art for vino.


The Garlic guy suggested Mary Lou and Gary have dinner at Sides in Los Olivos. It was very very good. The extra butter was all that was left.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Her boy friend arrived with some raw garlic. He was a garlic farmer. Gary and he started drinking wine and eating garlic. Garlic comes in many different flavors and raw garlic is pretty good.  *Who knew?*



I did  I looooove garlic. It's got quite a bite when raw. My go-to meal when I'm sick is vegetable broth with a ton of fresh garlic thrown in a great big bowl. After it's heated, I drop in a big handful of fresh spinach, which then wilts into the broth. I can literally feel the healing as I eat


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... okay who else knew ...

Paul (the Garlic King) and Gary just stood there in the tasting room, surrounded by wine with these wonderful labels and other customers, eating garlics, each with a different taste (one was spicy like a jalapeno), so fresh that the soil caught up in the roots was still warm ... munching away between sips of wine. Gary took a ton of photos with his Fuji's but nothing with his iPhone, consequently no image to post in TPF. (All these wine trip images are from the iPhone.)  Gary has some garlic, onions and scallions growing at home, but he is too lazy to dig them up.

Mary Lou, Cook and Gary like SLO and Los Olivos better than Paso Robles. Gary would love to get a little weekend place somewhere on the beach between Santa Barbara and Pismo Beach.  Until he wins the lotto, Gary has to settle for drives of two to three hours and hauling a boatload of wine back.


----------



## JonA_CT

Onions and garlic remind middle school teachers of other smells. It's a job hazard.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cuisinart Belgian waffle maker is the way to go.  This one gets a ton of use in our house.  My teenage daughter makes waffles for the gang whenever she has friends over and they're hungry.  Saves me a ton of money not having to order them pizza all the time.
> 
> 
> 
> We'll swing by on our way north.
Click to expand...

Come on by.  Be glad to have you.

You want regular waffles, buttermilk waffles, pecan waffles, or apple cinnamon waffles?  I can make them with wheat flour or oat flour if you are want to be a little more healthy.

Sides are usually Apple wood smoked bacon or ham and eggs.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 139302
> Sunstone.  Interesting Vinos ... everything was surprisingly dry and well done.
> 
> View attachment 139303
> Artiste has an easle and paints set up for patrons in a corner of the shop.  The paintings go up on the ceiling.
> 
> Everywhere we went we were told to go to Artiste in Los Olivos. At different locations, were given these Two-for-One tasting cards (buy one tasting and get one tasting free).  We had collected four freebie cards for Artiste. It was crazy good. The shop combines art with wine.  The shop commissions artists to create labels for their wines. Really good stuff ... one of the artist is this incredible blind guy from Texas. He was sighted but became blind later in life. He has different grades of sand inserted into the paints. Amazing stuff for a sighted person. Gary purchased all eight of his labels/wines. The shop also sells prints from the artists.
> 
> When we were in the Saucelito Winery tasting room up in San Luis Obispo, we ran into a fun couple and we contributed to a discussion about the purchase of a necklace.
> 
> At Artiste, Mary Lou recognized the necklace and asked the shop owner if she purchased the necklace she was wearing at Saucelito Winery.  They looked at each other and started laughing when they realized how small the world is.
> 
> Her boy friend arrived with some raw garlic. He was a garlic farmer. Gary and he started drinking wine and eating garlic. Garlic comes in many different flavors and raw garlic is pretty good.  Who knew?
> 
> And finally ... Gary suggested that Artiste should expand their labels to photography. Gary backed his suggestion by showing her some images from his web site. Discussions are in progress ... and Gary's photos may be used as art for vino.View attachment 139304
> The Garlic guy suggested Mary Lou and Gary have dinner at Sides in Los Olivos. It was very very good. The extra butter was all that was left.


Love garlic, but then while my heritage may be Scotch and Irish, my stomach is Italian.  

Just happen to have a slab of ribs going in the slow cooker for dinner in Honey, Tamari and 10 cloves of garlic.    Potato salad and baked beans for the sides. 

Next time Gary and Mary Lou are eating in an Italian Restaurant tell the waiter when they arrive at the table _"Sono affamto."_ Follow that up with _"morendo di fame."_  They will feed you alright.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I like Mickey Mouse. 

What are pivot tables...? I'm so not in the loop.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I like Costco hamburger patties



JC it seems like there's a common denominator in your posts - I like (insert food). Are you on a diet after your Florida vacation???


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like Costco hamburger patties
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JC it seems like there's a common denominator in your posts - I like (insert food). Are you on a diet after your Florida vacation???
Click to expand...

Yup. I lost 4 more at weigh in on Tuesday. I like lots of food, just may not be eating it. Lol, tonight I am having 2 costco hamburgers, no buns, broccoli, carrots, and tomato slices. Melon for dessert. I lost 4 on vacation too! 

Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> I like Mickey Mouse.
> 
> What are pivot tables...? I'm so not in the loop.


Create a PivotTable to analyze worksheet data - Office Support


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like Costco hamburger patties
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JC it seems like there's a common denominator in your posts - I like (insert food). Are you on a diet after your Florida vacation???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yup. I lost 4 more at weigh in on Tuesday. I like lots of food, just may not be eating it. Lol, tonight I am having 2 costco hamburgers, no buns, broccoli, carrots, and tomato slices. Melon for dessert. I lost 4 on vacation too!
> 
> Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...


Good for you.  
I've lost 40 pounds in 6 months and am still loosing.  The secret.  


 


Getting off my fat butt and moving, every day.   30 minutes at the Y, 5 days a week on a recumbent walker.  I usually get 3300 steps in and climb about 3200 feet in elevation.  That makes getting 10,000 steps in a day a breeze.  So does taking the stairs instead of the elevator, escalator etc.  I also have cut out junk snacks.  Fruit, vegetables for snacks instead of cookies, candy, chips etc.   I eat healthy, portioned, but non restricted meals.  On Saturday mornings I treat myself to my favored McDonalds Sausage McMuffin.   Other than that fast food is only eaten when I am so busy I do not have time to get home to eat which is rare.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> I've lost 40 pounds in 6 months and am still loosing.



30# here in 5 months. The goal was 35, so I've sort of tapered off to slide into my goal, but I may have tapered off a little to much, because I seem to have died short of the mark. I haven't gained any but I'm not losing anymore. I have upped my walking game averaging  about 3 miles a day, depending on weather.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Yup. I lost 4 more at weigh in on Tuesday. I like lots of food, just may not be eating it.



If you can maintain on vacation, you're really doing well. Losing some on vacation is fantastic.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yup. I lost 4 more at weigh in on Tuesday. I like lots of food, just may not be eating it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you can maintain on vacation, you're really doing well. Losing some on vacation is fantastic.
Click to expand...

I walked a lot out shooting. Plus I ate grilled fish for dinner every night.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I ate grilled fish for dinner every night.



Whenever I get close to the coast I eat a lot of fresh seafood, but there's usually butter, heavy sauce or deep frying involved.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary drank a lot of wine on vacation.


----------



## Gary A.

The first of many loads. 

Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are home, ever be it so humble.


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> Love garlic, but then while my heritage may be Scotch and Irish, my stomach is Italian.


_Scots_ is the correct term for your heritage.  "Scotch is what a Scot uses to wet his whistle" -- James Doohan

And, yes, the Scots may be great in the field, but the Italians know how to live.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Love garlic, but then while my heritage may be Scotch and Irish, my stomach is Italian.
> 
> 
> 
> _Scots_ is the correct term for your heritage.  "Scotch is what a Scot uses to wet his whistle" -- James Doohan
> 
> And, yes, the Scots may be great in the field, but the Italians know how to live.
Click to expand...

Ah me boy-o, it can be spelled either way.  And in my particular case I am not Scots Irish, as my Scottish ancestry did not come from the Ulster area in Ireland, but rather the Loch Ness area in Scotland, while my Irish ancestry came from County Donegal, near Castle Donegal.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary isn't Scottish or Irish.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Gary isn't Scottish or Irish.


Nor am I, but I love precious little more than a good feed of haggis washed down with a few pints of Guinness!


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary drank a lot of wine on vacation.


That's like saying the sun rises in the east.  If Gary didn't drink a lot of wine we would be shocked.


----------



## snowbear

A happy and safe Cinco de Mayo, hosers.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary isn't Scottish or Irish.
> 
> 
> 
> Nor am I, but I love precious little more than a good feed of haggis washed down with a few pints of Guinness!
Click to expand...


I'm with you on the Guinness, but the haggis?


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> I'm with you on the Guinness, but the haggis?


Ever tried it?


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary isn't Scottish or Irish.
> 
> 
> 
> Nor am I, but I love precious little more than a good feed of haggis washed down with a few pints of Guinness!
Click to expand...

FIFY- "Nor am I, but I love ... a good feed ... washed down with a few pints of ... booze!


----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!     

Time to start thinking about the weekend food and wine festival, aka dining at home and pulling special bottles from the cellar.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Happy Drinko de Mayo.

Mary Lou and Gary had a great trip. (Not so much Cookie, as the designated drinker she got the raw end of the deal.)  The worst part was driving across Los Angeles to get home.  We left early on the weekend and just sailed through LA.  But coming home we attempted to minimize traffic by hitting LA around midday, but it was still bumper-to-bumper hell. Home sweet home, it is much much cooler here than the inland-ish wine valleys of the Central Coast.  Gary has too many winery memberships and needs to drop three in order to maintain an even keel. Tonight is Westside Story at the local theatre and tomorrow is Relay for Life.  There is no rest for the weary.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> Time to start thinking about the weekend food and wine festival, aka dining at home and pulling special bottles from the cellar.


mmmmhh ... Anything Gary might like ... ?


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> Time to start thinking about the weekend food and wine festival, aka dining at home and pulling special bottles from the cellar.



Woohoo.  It's Friday!!!  I'm heading to Nashville for a long weekend with some of the girls.  We're leaving the hubbies, boyfriends and kiddies at home for this trip.  I'm not a huge country music fan but I've been wanting to visit Nashville for a while because it looks like such a fun city.  We're going to the Opry tomorrow night and just found out the line-up includes Brad Paisley, Charles Anderson, Charles Esten and Rhonda Bryant.  Leaving my dslr and the nasty rainy weather at home!   

Have a great weekend Hosers!


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> A happy and safe Cinco de Mayo, hosers.
> 
> View attachment 139349


You know that Cinco de Mayo ... is more of a .... mmmhhh ... Mexican-American holiday than a Mexican holiday.  Except in Puebla, it's like a normal day south of the border.


----------



## Gary A.

@Peg:  Have a good trip.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> Time to start thinking about the weekend food and wine festival, aka dining at home and pulling special bottles from the cellar.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Woohoo.  It's Friday!!!  I'm heading to Nashville for a long weekend with some of the girls.  We're leaving the hubbies, boyfriends and kiddies at home for this trip.  I'm not a huge country music fan but I've been wanting to visit Nashville for a while because it looks like such a fun city.  We're going to the Opry tomorrow night and just found out the line-up includes Brad Paisley, Charles Anderson, Charles Esten and Rhonda Bryant.  Leaving my dslr and the nasty rainy weather at home!
> 
> Have a great weekend Hosers!
Click to expand...

What????? Your leaving the husband AND the boyfriend?????


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm with you on the Guinness, but the haggis?
> 
> 
> 
> Ever tried it?
Click to expand...


Never have, never will. Vegetarian here, remember?  Even when I ate meat, I could only handle the leanest cuts. I rarely ate beef - the veins of fat and gristle grossed me out. I always preferred white meat to dark on chicken or turkey, and if a pork chop was on the bone, I'd leave half of the meat on the plate because the texture as you got closer to the bone was really unpleasant.

So no, the thought of eating a mash-up of organ meats is thoroughly horrifying to me. This is not a matter of "you haven't tried it so you don't know if you would like it or not." I guarantee you, I would not like it. The texture alone would trigger the gag reflex.

And yes, this is one of the major reasons I gave up eating all land animals and most water animals.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> Time to start thinking about the weekend food and wine festival, aka dining at home and pulling special bottles from the cellar.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Woohoo.  It's Friday!!!  I'm heading to Nashville for a long weekend with some of the girls.  We're leaving the hubbies, boyfriends and kiddies at home for this trip.  I'm not a huge country music fan but I've been wanting to visit Nashville for a while because it looks like such a fun city.  We're going to the Opry tomorrow night and just found out the line-up includes Brad Paisley, Charles Anderson, Charles Esten and Rhonda Bryant.  Leaving my dslr and the nasty rainy weather at home!
> 
> Have a great weekend Hosers!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What????? Your leaving the husband AND the boyfriend?????
Click to expand...

I'd be more worried about leaving the DSLR home....


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm with you on the Guinness, but the haggis?
> 
> 
> 
> Ever tried it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Never have, never will. Vegetarian here, remember?  Even when I ate meat, I could only handle the leanest cuts. I rarely ate beef - the veins of fat and gristle grossed me out. I always preferred white meat to dark on chicken or turkey, and if a pork chop was on the bone, I'd leave half of the meat on the plate because the texture as you got closer to the bone was really unpleasant.
> 
> So no, the thought of eating a mash-up of organ meats is thoroughly horrifying to me. This is not a matter of "you haven't tried it so you don't know if you would like it or not." I guarantee you, I would not like it. The texture alone would trigger the gag reflex.
> 
> And yes, this is one of the major reasons I gave up eating all land animals and most water animals.
Click to expand...

Try he Irish version; it's made with piano-meat!


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> visit Nashville for a while because it looks like such a fun city. We're going to the Opry tomorrow night



Nashville is a great place to visit, lots going on. Personally like the Ryman over the glitz of the Opry.  Big mall right there where you'll be (my wife could stay there for days). If you have the time you  need to do the downtown at night WITH your camera. There should be a shuttle from where you're at that will take you to the middle of the action.


----------



## SquarePeg

gryphonslair99 said:


> What????? Your leaving the husband AND the boyfriend?????



and the kid.



smoke665 said:


> Nashville is a great place to visit, lots going on. Personally like the Ryman over the glitz of the Opry. Big mall right there where you'll be (my wife could stay there for days). If you have the time you need to do the downtown at night WITH your camera. There should be a shuttle from where you're at that will take you to the middle of the action.



We're staying right downtown about 2 blocks from the Ryman.  It's only a 3 night trip so not sure that we'll have time to go to 2 shows but you never know...  



jcdeboever said:


> I'd be more worried about leaving the DSLR home....



I won't have a lot of time on my own and I don't want to lug it around but... I always say I'm leaving it home then at the last minute I take it with me and then after lugging it all around I swear I'm leaving it home the next trip... and repeat.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Seeing the Ryman would be cool. I'm not so much into country but like bluegrass. Sounds like fun. 

Terry's plans sound pretty good too! I'm apparently going to spend the weekend in and avoid the gray gloom that is the outdoors because I can't breathe thru my nose and may just sit here with a tissue stuffed up there all day. 

And thanks Leo for that lively description of haggis since I didn't know what exactly it is and now know better than to ever eat it, look at it, taste it, smell it...


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg downtown, the nightclubs, bars, etc. are interesting, as are all the street musicians and the NEON LIGHTS are a photographers dream. Last time we were there I didn't take my camera and regretted it ever since. If you decide you don't want to walk, you could always hop on a "pedal bar", so you could drink, ride and snap away, though pedaling gets old fast. The Ryman has such a "classic and comfortable" feel to it, you'll enjoy it if you get the chance to go.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> Time to start thinking about the weekend food and wine festival, aka dining at home and pulling special bottles from the cellar.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Woohoo.  It's Friday!!!  I'm heading to Nashville for a long weekend with some of the girls.  We're leaving the hubbies, boyfriends and kiddies at home for this trip.  I'm not a huge country music fan but I've been wanting to visit Nashville for a while because it looks like such a fun city.  We're going to the Opry tomorrow night and just found out the line-up includes Brad Paisley, Charles Anderson, Charles Esten and Rhonda Bryant.  Leaving my dslr and the nasty rainy weather at home!
> 
> Have a great weekend Hosers!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What????? Your leaving the husband AND the boyfriend?????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'd be more worried about leaving the DSLR home....
Click to expand...


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> What????? Your leaving the husband AND the boyfriend?????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> and the kid.
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nashville is a great place to visit, lots going on. Personally like the Ryman over the glitz of the Opry. Big mall right there where you'll be (my wife could stay there for days). If you have the time you need to do the downtown at night WITH your camera. There should be a shuttle from where you're at that will take you to the middle of the action.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We're staying right downtown about 2 blocks from the Ryman.  It's only a 3 night trip so not sure that we'll have time to go to 2 shows but you never know...
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'd be more worried about leaving the DSLR home....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I won't have a lot of time on my own and I don't want to lug it around but... I always say I'm leaving it home then at the last minute I take it with me and then after lugging it all around I swear I'm leaving it home the next trip... and repeat.
Click to expand...


----------



## vintagesnaps

SharonCat, you better take that camera...  or you'll be in Nashville going, why didn't I bring my camera? lol 

There's hockey on all day!! I almost forgot, my head's too clogged to even remember that! Hockey is a small world, one of our former players is doing color for the game, and Team USA's coach is a former assistant coach for a college here.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> Time to start thinking about the weekend food and wine festival, aka dining at home and pulling special bottles from the cellar.
> 
> 
> 
> mmmmhh ... Anything Gary might like ... ?
Click to expand...

Gary might want to try this: Danish brewer puts the 'P' in pilsner


----------



## table1349

__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1907060656002696


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> Time to start thinking about the weekend food and wine festival, aka dining at home and pulling special bottles from the cellar.
> 
> 
> 
> mmmmhh ... Anything Gary might like ... ?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary might want to try this: Danish brewer puts the 'P' in pilsner
Click to expand...

Gary is willing to try it ... he's in ... ur-ine?


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> Time to start thinking about the weekend food and wine festival, aka dining at home and pulling special bottles from the cellar.
> 
> 
> 
> mmmmhh ... Anything Gary might like ... ?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary might want to try this: Danish brewer puts the 'P' in pilsner
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary is willing to try it ... he's in ... ur-ine?
Click to expand...

 Are you kidding me? You're asking this of the guy that has eaten damn near anything there is in the world that won't Poison you?  Not just yes, but hell yes.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> Time to start thinking about the weekend food and wine festival, aka dining at home and pulling special bottles from the cellar.
> 
> 
> 
> mmmmhh ... Anything Gary might like ... ?
Click to expand...

Only if you'd like a penne tomato, basil and spinach dish, topped with chopped walnuts and parmigiano reggiano, washed down with a 2013 Barbera.   Small side salad topped with my homemade vinaigrette.    You and Mary Lou want to spring for dessert?


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> Time to start thinking about the weekend food and wine festival, aka dining at home and pulling special bottles from the cellar.
> 
> 
> 
> mmmmhh ... Anything Gary might like ... ?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Only if you'd like a penne tomato, basil and spinach dish, topped with chopped walnuts and parmigiano reggiano, washed down with a 2013 Barbera.   Small side salad topped with my homemade vinaigrette.    You and Mary Lou want to spring for dessert?
Click to expand...

Well if they don't I would gladly bring a lovely decadent Tiramisu.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> Time to start thinking about the weekend food and wine festival, aka dining at home and pulling special bottles from the cellar.
> 
> 
> 
> mmmmhh ... Anything Gary might like ... ?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Only if you'd like a penne tomato, basil and spinach dish, topped with chopped walnuts and parmigiano reggiano, washed down with a 2013 Barbera.   Small side salad topped with my homemade vinaigrette.    You and Mary Lou want to spring for dessert?
Click to expand...

Sure, how about a Mar-a-Lago Chocolate Cake.


----------



## jcdeboever

Bob's great,, great, great, great grandpa 





Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## unpopular

I love how there are 25K replies, and only four likes.

Statistically, this is probably the least popular thread in the history of the internet.


----------



## jcdeboever

unpopular said:


> I love how there are 25K replies, and only four likes.
> 
> Statistically, this is probably the least popular thread in the history of the internet.


Thank God


----------



## unpopular

Which kind of makes me wonder, what is the average number of likes/post?

Here on TPF, it's prob close to 0.000000000000000001


----------



## vintagesnaps

Don't these west coast teams know that it's well after 1am here??!!! Although it was worth being up for that 3rd period goal by Anaheim with under 20 seconds left. Right thru the 5 hole. Again a small world, two of our former players out there, and a former Ohio State player I've seen play. But I don't think I'm going to make it thru OT, the Ducks better score fast. OK back to the duck pond...


----------



## vintagesnaps

We don't need no stinkin' likes, we've got and. And .


Anyway we're all  .


----------



## unpopular

In other news, I just realized that Ivanka Trump and Lana Del Rey are the same glitch in reality. #truth


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is pleased with roses on the arch.



iPhone images

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  After drinking hotel coffee for a week, it is a real pleasure to sip on the real stuff.  Cook is extremely happy to be home and back to her normal routine.  She's been all smiles. Gary has to sharpen his knives and prepare to help feed 500 peoples over the next 24 hours for his annual Relay for Life thing.  Presently, there is a heavy drizzle which should turn into a real rain, not good for the Relay but good for the plants.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. you need to do a video or slide show of your beautiful garden. These bits and pieces just leave me wanting more!!


----------



## table1349

Me thinks I have found what Mary Lou should get Gary for Christmas.





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=950389728435964


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Me thinks I have found what Mary Lou should get Gary for Christmas.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=950389728435964


LOL ... actually that's not a bad idea.  Gary has looked at a few of those contractions but never found a need ... Gary still doesn't hasn't found a need ... but it would certainly be convenient. Gary and Mary Lou, more often than not, will not finish an entire bottle at a meal. So we stop it up, refrig and use it the next day or two.  The sheer convenience of that machine would most likely, up our consumption, which in turn would cause us to join more wine clubs, which in turn would deplete our monies at a faster rate, simultaneously lowering our desire for work, productivity and monetary replacement, while raising our level of uselessness and Gary's time in TPF. 

How much are they?


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. you need to do a video or slide show of your beautiful garden. These bits and pieces just leave me wanting more!!


Take a drive and just come on by.  Gary has some very good spirits, better beers and great wines and coffee.  Gary thinks you'll enjoy his BBQ's, breads and Mary Lou's salads.  You won't like the political banter of a Blue State household, but you will be mesmerized by the beauty and extreme diversification of the Golden State.


----------



## Gary A.

Previous Relay of Life:





Luminaries





Afternoon taco snack.





Candlelight procession





Some Entertainment





Participant





The watermelon eating contest, (the gentleman is wearing a hat because he lost his hair to chemo).


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. I never been known to NOT enjoy food and spirit, and I've learned that politics, food and spirits never bode well with digestion, so I tend to let them slide off like water on a ducks back. If I left now considering my self imposed daily driving limits I could probably be there in about 9 days, unless I got lost on one of my notorious short cuts off the interstate, then it's anyone's guess!!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. I never been known to NOT enjoy food and spirit, and I've learned that politics, food and spirits never bode well with digestion, so I tend to let them slide off like water on a ducks back. If I left now considering my self imposed daily driving limits I could probably be there in about 9 days, unless I got lost on one of my notorious short cuts off the interstate, then it's anyone's guess!!


Gary is marking his calendar ... nine days. (Train ... Plane?)  It took Lewis and Clark more than two years to complete the round trip and they had a head start leaving from St. Louis ...  Nine days is pretty good.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers (for the next 8 minutes anyway.)

Met Buzz after work for dinner, and then to meet with our musician/fellow filmwaster friend who was playing with a band that night. He usually plays in the city or out of town, but last night's gig was up in the burbs and close to us, so we came out. He's the guy playing the trumpet. Band leader is Don Dilego and they were fantastic. Stayed out until midnight. Haven't done that in a while. It was a wonderful Friday night.


----------



## limr

Buzz and Satish had their film cameras with them and I didn't - I had forgotten my Rollei on the table next to my purse that morning   And I got in this shot and one more before my phone battery ran out.

A bit annoying, yes, but it also allowed me to be more fully present in the moment and I felt...unburdened I guess, by the lack of photo-taking devices. 

At one point, the singer ran over to the far side of the bar and hopped up on it. There was very little lighting and he asked anotjer singer to join him for an impromptu cover of Midnight Special. Her voice was beautiful. She sat on the bar next to him, Satish and a guy with a tambourine were in the crowd and we all sang along with the chorus. The music just sort of surrounded us all. For a little while, we were all friends just singing and being together.

By that point, my phone was dead and Buzz and Satish were out of film, so there are no physical reminders of that moment, but I know for sure that the image is engraved more firmly in my memory because I wasn't fussing with a camera and could let myself get carried into the moment.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> nine days. (Train ... Plane?) It took Lewis and Clark more than two years to complete the round trip and they had a head start leaving from St. Louis ... Nine days is pretty good.



We pull a 40' mobile condo when we travel. Nine days if I drove straight through, or got side tracked. Since I have the attention span of a gnat, it's easy for me to get sidetracked LOL


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ...Stayed out until midnight...


What's "midnight"?


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> nine days. (Train ... Plane?) It took Lewis and Clark more than two years to complete the round trip and they had a head start leaving from St. Louis ... Nine days is pretty good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We pull a 40' mobile condo when we travel. Nine days if I drove straight through, or got side tracked. Since I have the attention span of a gnat, it's easy for me to get sidetracked LOL
Click to expand...

You can park in our neighbor's driveway.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Ok, can I use the sewer drain in front of his house also????


----------



## Gary A.

No need, you can use their bathroom(s) and which ever neighbor you choose, they both have pools that can accommodate any drainage needs.

(We don't have street sewer drains out here. The street gutter/drainage/flood control system flows directly into the ocean, bypassing the water treatment plants.  People get fines for dumping 'pollutants' into the street gutter as it is harmful to the ocean/intertidal ecosystems.)


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Stayed out until midnight...
> 
> 
> 
> What's "midnight"?
Click to expand...


It's the witchin' hour, man


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Me thinks I have found what Mary Lou should get Gary for Christmas.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=950389728435964
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... actually that's not a bad idea.  Gary has looked at a few of those contractions but never found a need ... Gary still doesn't hasn't found a need ... but it would certainly be convenient. Gary and Mary Lou, more often than not, will not finish an entire bottle at a meal. So we stop it up, refrig and use it the next day or two.  The sheer convenience of that machine would most likely, up our consumption, which in turn would cause us to join more wine clubs, which in turn would deplete our monies at a faster rate, simultaneously lowering our desire for work, productivity and monetary replacement, while raising our level of uselessness and Gary's time in TPF.
> 
> How much are they?
Click to expand...

But what Gary doesn't realize is that this is the true meaning of Trickle Down Economics.  Besides this way Gary could have his favored wine, Mary Lou could have hers, Terri could have hers and Gryph could enjoy his.  This would be the host's delight.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Me thinks I have found what Mary Lou should get Gary for Christmas.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=950389728435964
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... actually that's not a bad idea.  Gary has looked at a few of those contractions but never found a need ... Gary still doesn't hasn't found a need ... but it would certainly be convenient. Gary and Mary Lou, more often than not, will not finish an entire bottle at a meal. So we stop it up, refrig and use it the next day or two.  The sheer convenience of that machine would most likely, up our consumption, which in turn would cause us to join more wine clubs, which in turn would deplete our monies at a faster rate, simultaneously lowering our desire for work, productivity and monetary replacement, while raising our level of uselessness and Gary's time in TPF.
> 
> How much are they?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> But what Gary doesn't realize is that this is the true meaning of Trickle Down Economics.  Besides this way Gary could have his favored wine, Mary Lou could have hers, Terri could have hers and Gryph could enjoy his.  This would be the host's delight.
Click to expand...

Aha ... point well taken and Gary has been re-educated.  Gary needs to find a five bottle machine in order to accomodate the Cook.


----------



## Gary A.

The Dacor (pictured) is a mere $8000.  This is more of a Kansas item than for a poor, Latino from LA.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> The Dacor (pictured) in a mere $8000.  This is more of a Kansas item than for a poor, Latino from LA.


Na, in Kansas it would still be an oak icebox and the ice wagon once a week and siphon tubes sticking out of the clay jugs.


----------



## limr

Every once in a while, it hits me how weird it is to live in the future.

91 albums are saved on this little thing. Days' worth of music. And it's only 3/4 full.


----------



## limr

And yes, palm readers have a field day with mine.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Those darn Ducks had me up til like 2 in the morning - finally early in the 2nd OT they scored, I was about to give up and go to bed. 

After watching international hockey and college lacrosse all day, a bit of a switch - looks wet and muddy at Churchill Downs. I think it'd be fun to take pictures at that. Maybe of all the hats more than the horses... it looks downright sloppy. 

Soup for lunch and about the same for dinner. This congestion is better but didn't help this morning to cough mid gulp and inhale coffee up my nose! What a waste of a good slurp of coffee.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey, there's a former hockey player who does commentary for the Derby! He does know the riders aren't going to start whacking at pucks or anything I hope.


----------



## table1349

Wonderfull Sunny Sunday in the Flatlands.  Been a good weekend so far.  Got my new wifi sprinkler controller installed and programed.  Added a rain sensor to the equation as well.  Even though we water the lawn with well water there is no reason not to water smart and only use the amount of water needed.  Put in a Rachio controller.  It follows the weather forecasts in real time and waters accordingly to the the temperature, humidity, moisture etc.  all for the type of vegetation, soil content and amount of shade in each zone.  A friend of ours on city water put one in last season and cut his water bill last summer by better than a third and still had a beautiful lawn.  

Also got a new Lilac bush planted in the north corner.  Had a bare corner where the neighbors fence and my fence meet.  Should fill that space real nicely.  Bought a really bright purple variety that is supposed to be the most fragrant of the lot.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday was cold out here ... damn cold. Gary had cooking duties at a Relay for Life event and the temps reached no higher than 60F with winds and rain. The event was in Claremont, which butts up to the San Gabriel Mountains. Snow was predicted in the San Gabriel's ... down to 5000'. It was pretty miserable cooking under a canvas canopy. Last year I was provided with a heavy cleaver to chop up the carne asada and chicken.  After feeding the first couple hundred participants my arm kept getting heavier and heavier and I feared it would eventually fall off. Yesterday I took my knives ... what a difference between slicing cleanly through the meat and bludgeoning the meat into small pieces. If you have bones, then hammer away with a cleaver, but if the meat is boneless ... then slicing works much better.

The rain hit home in the middle of the night. It felt and sounded as if a fire hydrant had be snapped off by a car ...  Loud, furious and pounding.


----------



## terri

@Gary:  Eeek!   Sounds like it was service to a good cause, and the weather decided not to cooperate!    But you can't wish away rain in California, either - anyone who's lived through a drought (like those of us in the SE USA, as well) learns to grin and bear it.    We've been getting much cooler temps and unexpected rains here, as well.   Since it could easily be dry as a bone with temps inching up towards the 90's, I'm having to grin and bear it, too.

It's moved out now, and this morning has been cloudless, sunny and cooler.  Beautiful May day!


----------



## Gary A.

Here too, the Sun has returned, the butterflies are out and the plants are happy.  I would never wish away rain ... but there is nothing wrong with 24 hours of showers rather than five minutes of cats and dogs.


----------



## table1349

Sorry for the less than ideal weather Gary.  Would have pushed ours your way if I could.  84, sunny with a slight breeze yesterday and only 82 today.  First part of the week low 80's switching to thunderstorms Wednesday and Thursday then back to sunny in in the middle 70's through next weekend.  

On a productive note, got the garden mulched and watered in.  Only took 25 bags this year.  The wife is going out to plant her annuals in a little bit.  Tomorrow is mowing day.  

Really happy with the new sprinkler controller.  Checked it today and it has revised the watering schedule.  Two zones are going to get a small water tomorrow as they are in full sunshine.  The whole yard doesn't get watered until Wednesday.  I usually water every three days in weather like this, going to every other day in June.  Once the heat hits then it's everyday.  Like most people we probably over watered.  This thing should save on the amount of water I put down.  

I've always been interested in the weather and now this has sparked my interest again in putting in a PWS, since I can hook it up to the controller as well and have actual on property readings for it to use.


----------



## table1349

If you like coffee, like to read and do so electronically then you might be interested in this.  Download Coffee by H. E. Jacob - BookBub


----------



## Gary A.

The grapes are exploding.  These are Chardonnay.



 

Gary is beat.  His little body is aching all over from yard work and yesterday's cooking for 300 peoples. Lots of yard work, mainly tree trimming.  Mary Lou cuts the branches and Gary makes small ones out of big ones then he spreads the small ones throughout the rose garden paths. Gary has a rather large blood blister on his middle finger from the clippers. But it is done and we are relaxing in the patio watching lightening, listening to the thunder and rain and sipping on some vino from Provence.  The Hummers are still out and about but the butterflies have retired.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou has brought out some artichokes ... now were eating artichokes and drinking wine.  Lots of fighting at the hummingbird feeder.


----------



## Gary A.

Three artichokes later, Gary is ready to move inside.  Gary has never had three artichokes before. Gary is full.


----------



## table1349

For all of you trudging off to a job this fine Monday morning.....


----------



## terri

Happy Monday, hosers!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Happy Monday, hosers!



Back atcha


----------



## Gary A.

Gary returned from his early morning appointments and went to bed.  Gary is on the edge of being under the weather.  He is kicking back and watching the Yates/Clapper hearing.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary is on the edge of being under the weather.



Feel for you. Sinus congestion, drainage, headache, for the past week. Think the changing weather brought on some respiratory infection.


----------



## EIngerson

Hi everyone. Hope your Monday went well. 

I found myself in a debate with a "$50 photoshoot" photographer today. I don't judge honestly, It just baffles me that people aren't honest about their talent level. I was as polite as I could be, but had to be clear that her work was not "Professional quality" as she advertised. 

I really have no idea why that bothers me so much. 

Sorry, rant over.


----------



## EIngerson

Man, feel better Gary.


----------



## jcdeboever

Get well soon Gary. 

Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## smoke665

Verizon has been running this ad all day. Anyone feeling irrelevant yet? iPhone 7


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is off the disabled list, not 100% but well enough to play. Yesterday, he pretty much slept all day.  He tried to take a nap but slept right through it.  Gary took some time off from sleeping for some wor wonton soup ... then went right back for more of that sleep. While he got more than his fair share of sleep yesterday ... he's sorta missing it now.


----------



## jcdeboever

I wish I could sleep.


----------



## terri

Sleep hasn't been a problem for me since I got out of healthcare management.    hmm...any correlation between the two, I wonder?     

Morning, hosers!    Glad you dodged a full-on illness, Gary!


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> Verizon has been running this ad all day. Anyone feeling irrelevant yet? iPhone 7



Nope


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Verizon has been running this ad all day. Anyone feeling irrelevant yet? iPhone 7
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope
Click to expand...


LOL. To me the commercial, seemed to be insinuating (intentional or not) that this phone would make anyone a pro.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Verizon has been running this ad all day. Anyone feeling irrelevant yet? iPhone 7
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> LOL. To me the commercial, seemed to be insinuating (intentional or not) that this phone would make anyone a pro.
Click to expand...


Yup, and no doubt there will be people who will believe it. And of course, there will eventually be a new photo exhibit somewhere of photos taken "exclusively with an iPhone 7" and that will be the 'proof' of how good the camera is.

Disregarding the artistic talent of the person _using_ the photographic equipment is pretty much par for the course at this point


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> no doubt there will be people who will believe it.



Not just limited to cell phones. I have an acquaintance that has conservatively $5k in camera and lenses. He knows how to turn it on, snap the shutter and change lenses, but other than that it stays on full auto. Has no clue about how anything works, and doesn't want to know, but can't understand why his images look mediocre when he's spent all that money.


----------



## snowbear

Wow!  I am giving a demo, tomorrow, on our "Next Steps in GIS" so I'm looking for data to place on the map.  I'm in a geology mood, but our's is pretty boring eastern coastal plain.  I did find US Coal Fields, and was surprised to see two near Richmond, VA but even more  surprised to see an anthracite (AKA "hard coal")  around  Providence and  Portsmith, Rhode Island!  It's labeled "Anthracite/Other Uses" which I'm guessing is not fuel grade, so I wouldn't expect the UMWA setting up shop anytime soon.


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

Sad day over here. Buzz's kitty died.  She was about 16, and was having some issues but they were manageable. Then she just took a turn within the past week. She went quietly in her sleep this afternoon.

Good bye, sweet Piglet. You were a good and fine girl.


----------



## Gary A.

Sad.  Piglet looks very sweet.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Hey, hosers.
> 
> Sad day over here. Buzz's kitty died.  She was about 16, and was having some issues but they were manageable. Then she just took a turn within the past week. She went quietly in her sleep this afternoon.
> 
> Good bye, sweet Piglet. You were a good and fine girl. [emoji813]pump:
> 
> View attachment 139630


Sorry for your loss. Beautiful kitty


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Good bye, sweet Piglet.



So sorry for your loss.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Sad.  Piglet looks very sweet.



She was very sweet. Hard to tell in this picture, but she had huge eyes in a little face. She used her voice loudly and often, and loved to be around her people. She wasn't particularly snuggly but always needed to be near someone.



jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, hosers.
> 
> Sad day over here. Buzz's kitty died.  She was about 16, and was having some issues but they were manageable. Then she just took a turn within the past week. She went quietly in her sleep this afternoon.
> 
> Good bye, sweet Piglet. You were a good and fine girl. [emoji813]pump:
> 
> View attachment 139630
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry for your loss. Beautiful kitty
Click to expand...


Thanks, sweetie


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good bye, sweet Piglet.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So sorry for your loss.
Click to expand...


Thanks.


----------



## snowbear

So sorry.


----------



## jcdeboever

Tigers playing the best position player in the game tonight,  Paul Goldschmidt

Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry Leo about Buzz's loss, a pet's like a member of the family.

I was just thinking today I was feeling pretty good after being under the weather last week because of the weather... and this evening my eye's been watering and I'm getting stuffed up and now I'm sniffling - noooooo!!!!!!!! I don't want it to come back!! darn it. Bummer Gary you were starting with something, and you don't even live in Sinus Valley!


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Sorry Leo about Buzz's loss, a pet's like a member of the family.
> 
> I was just thinking today I was feeling pretty good after being under the weather last week because of the weather... and this evening my eye's been watering and I'm getting stuffed up and now I'm sniffling - noooooo!!!!!!!! I don't want it to come back!! darn it. Bummer Gary you were starting with something, and you don't even live in Sinus Valley!


LOL ... On our trip to Central California, the air was thick with pollens.  On the first morning in San Luis Obispo we stopped in a CVS for some allergy medicine.  The allergy medicine shelves looked like Mother Hubbard's cupboard ... they were stripped bare, fortunately there was a Flonase left which we used quite liberally.


----------



## JonA_CT

Swimming in cover letter and resume variations. I didn't miss this work.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Hey, hosers.
> 
> Sad day over here. Buzz's kitty died.  She was about 16, and was having some issues but they were manageable. Then she just took a turn within the past week. She went quietly in her sleep this afternoon.
> 
> Good bye, sweet Piglet. You were a good and fine girl.
> 
> View attachment 139630


Oh, I missed this before.   Such a pretty and sweet looking girl!   So glad she passed quietly in her sleep, at home, undisturbed and feeling secure.   That's all we can hope for with our babies.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

Mary Lou plucked some Sweet Peas.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, hosers.
> 
> Sad day over here. Buzz's kitty died.  She was about 16, and was having some issues but they were manageable. Then she just took a turn within the past week. She went quietly in her sleep this afternoon.
> 
> Good bye, sweet Piglet. You were a good and fine girl.
> 
> View attachment 139630
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I missed this before.   Such a pretty and sweet looking girl!   So glad she passed quietly in her sleep, at home, undisturbed and feeling secure.   That's all we can hope for with our babies.
Click to expand...


It's true. When there's nothing more we can do, all we can hope is that they are peaceful, comfortable, and loved.

On Monday, she was restless and couldn't get comfortable, kept trying to move even though she could barely walk. She'd get up, walk a few steps, and then she'd have to stop and rest again. At one point, the sliding glass door was opened when Buzz went out to the grill, and she must have smelled the fresh air because she got right up and hobbled to the door. She loved being outside. So after dinner, we put her in her favorite box and brought her outside so she could be out without having to try to walk. So she had one last nice adventure. 

I've been squeezing my girls a lot and giving them tons of kisses this week.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, hosers.
> 
> Sad day over here. Buzz's kitty died.  She was about 16, and was having some issues but they were manageable. Then she just took a turn within the past week. She went quietly in her sleep this afternoon.
> 
> Good bye, sweet Piglet. You were a good and fine girl.
> 
> View attachment 139630
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I missed this before.   Such a pretty and sweet looking girl!   So glad she passed quietly in her sleep, at home, undisturbed and feeling secure.   That's all we can hope for with our babies.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's true. When there's nothing more we can do, all we can hope is that they are peaceful, comfortable, and loved.
> 
> On Monday, she was restless and couldn't get comfortable, kept trying to move even though she could barely walk. She'd get up, walk a few steps, and then she'd have to stop and rest again. At one point, the sliding glass door was opened when Buzz went out to the grill, and she must have smelled the fresh air because she got right up and hobbled to the door. She loved being outside. So after dinner, we put her in her favorite box and brought her outside so she could be out without having to try to walk. So she had one last nice adventure.
> 
> I've been squeezing my girls a lot and giving them tons of kisses this week.
Click to expand...


Poor baby.  At least she's no longer in pain


----------



## Gary A.

Today, on the news there was a clip of Putin being asked what he thought about the Comey firing.  Putin was dressed in a hockey outfit, pads, stick and all.  Gary is wondering if it was just he ... or do others think that an interview of the president of Russia while dressed in hockey regalia is weird?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Today, on the news there was a clip of Putin being asked what he thought about the Comey firing.  Putin was dressed in a hockey outfit, pads, stick and all.  Gary is wondering if it was just he ... or do others think that an interview of the president of Russia while dressed in hockey regalia is weird?



Weird but doesn't surprise me

Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Today, on the news there was a clip of Putin being asked what he thought about the Comey firing.  Putin was dressed in a hockey outfit, pads, stick and all.  Gary is wondering if it was just he ... or do others think that an interview of the president of Russia while dressed in hockey regalia is weird?


My personal fave is the one of him barechested on the horse.        Weird doesn't begin to cover it.    

Makes for lively discussions in the Subscriber Forum these days, I can assure you.


----------



## tirediron




----------



## Gary A.

You have a leak?


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> You have a leak?


His iron is tired.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> You have a leak?





terri said:


> His iron is tired.


Yes...  and yes.  Got the boiler to 85# on a cold squeeze, heard a funny sort of "whump" in the firebox, followed by Niagara Falls out the bottom of the fire box.  Guess we're not running at the show on the 23rd...


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Today, on the news there was a clip of Putin being asked what he thought about the Comey firing.  Putin was dressed in a hockey outfit, pads, stick and all.  Gary is wondering if it was just he ... or do others think that an interview of the president of Russia while dressed in hockey regalia is weird?


As compared to the shirtless Putin riding a horse? What about the scuba diving Putin? There's no shortage of staged photo ops with Putin.


----------



## waday

Sorry for your loss, @limr


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Sorry for your loss, @limr



Thanks.


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday's roast.  The beans are from Costa Rica.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 139746
> 
> Yesterday's roast.  The beans are from Costa Rica.



Mmmm, oily coffee bean goodness...


----------



## waday

So, I haven't had time to really be around here lately. Things at work are good, but very, very, very busy. Next two weeks will likely be 60+ hour weeks, minimum. Not looking forward to that.

On top of that, we found out that we're expecting in November! Very excited, very nervous. The wife wants to post on FB, so I said we should do an announcement photo. We settled on the slightly overdone Converse sneaker shot, since we both like Converse (despite my wife being more of a Vans person).

I took about two dozen different shots for my wife to pick, and the one where Roxy photobombed took first prize. If she hadn't stuck her head in, we wouldn't have liked the photo. It was the personal touch that did it for us. (I am mad that I cropped Roxy's ears, but I was working with a 90mm equivalent focal length with a moving pup.) I've slapped on a transparent box at the bottom, added Baby [Last Name], and "Coming November 2017". Wife likes it, so I'm happy.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> So, I haven't had time to really be around here lately. Things at work are good, but very, very, very busy. Next two weeks will likely be 60+ hour weeks, minimum. Not looking forward to that.
> 
> On top of that, we found out that we're expecting in November! Very excited, very nervous. The wife wants to post on FB, so I said we should do an announcement photo. We settled on the slightly overdone Converse sneaker shot, since we both like Converse (despite my wife being more of a Vans person).
> 
> I took about two dozen different shots for my wife to pick, and the one where Roxy photobombed took first prize. If she hadn't stuck her head in, we wouldn't have liked the photo. It was the personal touch that did it for us. (I am mad that I cropped Roxy's ears, but I was working with a 90mm equivalent focal length with a moving pup.) I've slapped on a transparent box at the bottom, added Baby [Last Name], and "Coming November 2017". Wife likes it, so I'm happy.
> 
> View attachment 139748



Congrats! Love the shot. I agree that Roxy saved the day


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Congrats! Love the shot. I agree that Roxy saved the day


Thank you!


----------



## terri

Aw, that's wonderful news!    And Roxy's inspection of the new shoes makes the shot perfect - those little shoes aren't in the usual lineup, and she knows it.   Perfection!


----------



## Gary A.

Wonderful news and a very nice image. Roxy was necessary to complete the 'Family' photo.


----------



## waday

terri said:


> Aw, that's wonderful news!    And Roxy's inspection of the new shoes makes the shot perfect - those little shoes aren't in the usual lineup, and she knows it.   Perfection!





Gary A. said:


> Wonderful news and a very nice image. Roxy was necessary to complete the 'Family' photo.



Thank you!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You have a leak?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> His iron is tired.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes...  and yes.  Got the boiler to 85# on a cold squeeze, heard a funny sort of "whump" in the firebox, followed by Niagara Falls out the bottom of the fire box.  Guess we're not running at the show on the 23rd...
Click to expand...

Don't make boilers like they used too.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today, on the news there was a clip of Putin being asked what he thought about the Comey firing.  Putin was dressed in a hockey outfit, pads, stick and all.  Gary is wondering if it was just he ... or do others think that an interview of the president of Russia while dressed in hockey regalia is weird?
> 
> 
> 
> My personal fave is the one of him barechested on the horse.        Weird doesn't begin to cover it.
> 
> Makes for lively discussions in the Subscriber Forum these days, I can assure you.
Click to expand...

Yours and SNL's fav as well.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Yours and SNL's fav as well.



SNL promises to be amusing this weekend.   Unless you don't find the circumstance of the press secretary hiding in the bushes to avoid the press amusing.    

I don't watch the show much, but occasionally there are hints that it might up its game.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yours and SNL's fav as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SNL promises to be amusing this weekend.   Unless you don't find the circumstance of the press secretary hiding in the bushes to avoid the press amusing.
> 
> I don't watch the show much, but occasionally there are hints that it might up its game.
Click to expand...

Gary watches the "Panels" on CNN, MSNBC and Fox every night.  This week Melissa McCarthy can play both Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  A busy day is scheduled for today.  Yesterday Gary cancelled his wine club membership at three wineries in order to make room for the new clubs he joined in Paso/SLO and Los Olivos. One winery in Sonoma and two in Temecula bit the dust.

Lately, Gary has been sampling some very delicious tortillas, both corn and flour which are not available at supermarkets. Gary is giving thought to making tortillas and attempt to emulate those delicious ones he's ate at restaurants.  Anybody wanna help?  You gotta drink beer, vino and taste tortillas.


----------



## table1349

I found out long ago how to make absolutely fabulous tortillas and has never changed since.  Find an old Hispanic lady, preferably a grandmother.  They will make tortillas that will knock your socks off every time, even in her sleep.  

Before I retired I had a Hispanic secretary.  She loved to cook and often brought food to work.  She made wonderful Tamales,  enchiladas, deserts etc. , but even she would defer to her mother for her tortillas.   She is one of the very few people I miss from there.  Not only was she an outstanding secretary, but she was a lovey, kind, person who was enjoyable to work with or to socialize with.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You have a leak?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> His iron is tired.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes...  and yes.  Got the boiler to 85# on a cold squeeze, heard a funny sort of "whump" in the firebox, followed by Niagara Falls out the bottom of the fire box.  Guess we're not running at the show on the 23rd...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't make boilers like they used too.
Click to expand...

Well... in fairness, that boiler is a 105 years old, and some of those tubes could easily be 50+ years old, so....


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You have a leak?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> His iron is tired.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes...  and yes.  Got the boiler to 85# on a cold squeeze, heard a funny sort of "whump" in the firebox, followed by Niagara Falls out the bottom of the fire box.  Guess we're not running at the show on the 23rd...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't make boilers like they used too.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... in fairness, that boiler is a 105 years old, and some of those tubes could easily be 50+ years old, so....
Click to expand...

Yeah ... so it's retirement time ... recently, Gary has been diagnosed similarly.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You have a leak?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> His iron is tired.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes...  and yes.  Got the boiler to 85# on a cold squeeze, heard a funny sort of "whump" in the firebox, followed by Niagara Falls out the bottom of the fire box.  Guess we're not running at the show on the 23rd...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't make boilers like they used too.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... in fairness, that boiler is a 105 years old, and some of those tubes could easily be 50+ years old, so....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah ... so it's retirement time ... recently, Gary has been diagnosed similarly.
Click to expand...

Nah... she's just getting broken in!


----------



## Gary A.

Abuela always makes the best.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You have a leak?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> His iron is tired.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes...  and yes.  Got the boiler to 85# on a cold squeeze, heard a funny sort of "whump" in the firebox, followed by Niagara Falls out the bottom of the fire box.  Guess we're not running at the show on the 23rd...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't make boilers like they used too.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... in fairness, that boiler is a 105 years old, and some of those tubes could easily be 50+ years old, so....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah ... so it's retirement time ... recently, Gary has been diagnosed similarly.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nah... she's just getting broken in!
Click to expand...

Well at least it wasn't the safety plugs.  Nothing like crawling through the firebox to replace the lead safety plugs cause you let the water level get to low.   That is the time not to be the skinny one in the group.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Abuela always makes the best.


Don't you know it.  We have three or four tortilla makers/factories here.    The one I always go to literally is staffed by a bunch of older Hispanic ladies hand pressing tortillas.  They are a bit more expensive than the place across the street that has a mechanical press, but they are definitely worth the expense.


----------



## table1349

Dang, if you can't trust Aunt Jemima who can you trust these days???  Your frozen waffles, pancakes and french toast may be contaminated with Listeria


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You have a leak?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> His iron is tired.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes...  and yes.  Got the boiler to 85# on a cold squeeze, heard a funny sort of "whump" in the firebox, followed by Niagara Falls out the bottom of the fire box.  Guess we're not running at the show on the 23rd...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't make boilers like they used too.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... in fairness, that boiler is a 105 years old, and some of those tubes could easily be 50+ years old, so....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah ... so it's retirement time ... recently, Gary has been diagnosed similarly.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nah... she's just getting broken in!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well at least it wasn't the safety plugs.  Nothing like crawling through the firebox to replace the lead safety plugs cause you let the water level get to low.   That is the time not to be the skinny one in the group.
Click to expand...

Yeahbut... replacing the fusible plug is easy.  A 3/4" drive ratchet, 1 1/4" socket... out in comes, new one goes in... done.  Replacing tubes is NOT a fun job.  Not in any way, shape, or form.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes...  and yes.  Got the boiler to 85# on a cold squeeze, heard a funny sort of "whump" in the firebox, followed by Niagara Falls out the bottom of the fire box.  Guess we're not running at the show on the 23rd...
> 
> 
> 
> Don't make boilers like they used too.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well... in fairness, that boiler is a 105 years old, and some of those tubes could easily be 50+ years old, so....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah ... so it's retirement time ... recently, Gary has been diagnosed similarly.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nah... she's just getting broken in!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well at least it wasn't the safety plugs.  Nothing like crawling through the firebox to replace the lead safety plugs cause you let the water level get to low.   That is the time not to be the skinny one in the group.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeahbut... replacing the fusible plug is easy.  A 3/4" drive ratchet, 1 1/4" socket... out in comes, new one goes in... done.  Replacing tubes is NOT a fun job.  Not in any way, shape, or form.
Click to expand...

If it was fun and easy we would all be using steam tractors.  It's not like photography these days where anyone can go buy a camera and start a photography business.

Besides I've seen pictures of you.  At your age you aren't the skinny one that would have to crawl in the firebox, so your appreciation of that little issue is jaded.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't make boilers like they used too.
> 
> 
> 
> Well... in fairness, that boiler is a 105 years old, and some of those tubes could easily be 50+ years old, so....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah ... so it's retirement time ... recently, Gary has been diagnosed similarly.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nah... she's just getting broken in!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well at least it wasn't the safety plugs.  Nothing like crawling through the firebox to replace the lead safety plugs cause you let the water level get to low.   That is the time not to be the skinny one in the group.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeahbut... replacing the fusible plug is easy.  A 3/4" drive ratchet, 1 1/4" socket... out in comes, new one goes in... done.  Replacing tubes is NOT a fun job.  Not in any way, shape, or form.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If it was fun and easy we would all be using steam tractors.  It's not like photography these days where anyone can go buy a camera and start a photography business.
> 
> Besides I've seen pictures of you.  At your age you aren't the skinny one that would have to crawl in the firebox, so your appreciation of that little issue is jaded.
Click to expand...

I wish... I may not be the skinny one, but I still seem to spend a fair amount of time in the firebox...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Congrats Wade! is this your first? Love the picture. 

I don't think it's odd to see Putin in a hockey sweater, skates, pads, stick, heading out to get on the ice - really! I was watching an international tournament (junior worlds, around the holidays I think) and Putin was there. The announcers were saying nobody knew he was there til shortly before he was heading out to present awards/medals. Hockey's a big deal in Russia. Look up Tretiak, or the '80 Olympics Team USA gold medal win. (Yeah, I've been a hockey fan a looong time!)


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well... in fairness, that boiler is a 105 years old, and some of those tubes could easily be 50+ years old, so....
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah ... so it's retirement time ... recently, Gary has been diagnosed similarly.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nah... she's just getting broken in!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well at least it wasn't the safety plugs.  Nothing like crawling through the firebox to replace the lead safety plugs cause you let the water level get to low.   That is the time not to be the skinny one in the group.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeahbut... replacing the fusible plug is easy.  A 3/4" drive ratchet, 1 1/4" socket... out in comes, new one goes in... done.  Replacing tubes is NOT a fun job.  Not in any way, shape, or form.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If it was fun and easy we would all be using steam tractors.  It's not like photography these days where anyone can go buy a camera and start a photography business.
> 
> Besides I've seen pictures of you.  At your age you aren't the skinny one that would have to crawl in the firebox, so your appreciation of that little issue is jaded.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I wish... I may not be the skinny one, but I still seem to spend a fair amount of time in the firebox...
Click to expand...

Are you talking tractors now or relations ships with a woman???


----------



## vintagesnaps

What, d'ya mean all the talk of things getting steamy?? here I thought it had to do with tractors.


----------



## EIngerson

Been a good month for sharks here in SoCal. Lots of activity going on here.


----------



## table1349

EIngerson said:


> Been a good month for sharks here in SoCal. Lots of activity going on here.


Two legged or finned?


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah ... so it's retirement time ... recently, Gary has been diagnosed similarly.
> 
> 
> 
> Nah... she's just getting broken in!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well at least it wasn't the safety plugs.  Nothing like crawling through the firebox to replace the lead safety plugs cause you let the water level get to low.   That is the time not to be the skinny one in the group.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeahbut... replacing the fusible plug is easy.  A 3/4" drive ratchet, 1 1/4" socket... out in comes, new one goes in... done.  Replacing tubes is NOT a fun job.  Not in any way, shape, or form.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If it was fun and easy we would all be using steam tractors.  It's not like photography these days where anyone can go buy a camera and start a photography business.
> 
> Besides I've seen pictures of you.  At your age you aren't the skinny one that would have to crawl in the firebox, so your appreciation of that little issue is jaded.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I wish... I may not be the skinny one, but I still seem to spend a fair amount of time in the firebox...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Are you talking tractors now or relations ships with a woman???
Click to expand...

Izzer a difference?


----------



## EIngerson

gryphonslair99 said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Been a good month for sharks here in SoCal. Lots of activity going on here.
> 
> 
> 
> Two legged or finned?
Click to expand...


Finned. Been filling the news lately.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nah... she's just getting broken in!
> 
> 
> 
> Well at least it wasn't the safety plugs.  Nothing like crawling through the firebox to replace the lead safety plugs cause you let the water level get to low.   That is the time not to be the skinny one in the group.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeahbut... replacing the fusible plug is easy.  A 3/4" drive ratchet, 1 1/4" socket... out in comes, new one goes in... done.  Replacing tubes is NOT a fun job.  Not in any way, shape, or form.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If it was fun and easy we would all be using steam tractors.  It's not like photography these days where anyone can go buy a camera and start a photography business.
> 
> Besides I've seen pictures of you.  At your age you aren't the skinny one that would have to crawl in the firebox, so your appreciation of that little issue is jaded.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I wish... I may not be the skinny one, but I still seem to spend a fair amount of time in the firebox...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Are you talking tractors now or relations ships with a woman???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Izzer a difference?
Click to expand...

Oh if you don't know the difference by now you are in deep doo-doo.  

Both are high maintenance and need stoking constantly, but one runs on steam with a gentle touch, the other lets off steam, a lot of steam, at the drop of a hat.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well at least it wasn't the safety plugs.  Nothing like crawling through the firebox to replace the lead safety plugs cause you let the water level get to low.   That is the time not to be the skinny one in the group.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeahbut... replacing the fusible plug is easy.  A 3/4" drive ratchet, 1 1/4" socket... out in comes, new one goes in... done.  Replacing tubes is NOT a fun job.  Not in any way, shape, or form.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If it was fun and easy we would all be using steam tractors.  It's not like photography these days where anyone can go buy a camera and start a photography business.
> 
> Besides I've seen pictures of you.  At your age you aren't the skinny one that would have to crawl in the firebox, so your appreciation of that little issue is jaded.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I wish... I may not be the skinny one, but I still seem to spend a fair amount of time in the firebox...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Are you talking tractors now or relations ships with a woman???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Izzer a difference?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh if you don't know the difference by now you are in deep doo-doo.
> 
> Both are high maintenance and need stoking constantly, but one runs on steam with a gentle touch, the other lets off steam, a lot of steam, at the drop of a hat.
Click to expand...

I'm deep doo-doo regardless.


----------



## table1349

EIngerson said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> Been a good month for sharks here in SoCal. Lots of activity going on here.
> 
> 
> 
> Two legged or finned?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Finned. Been filling the news lately.
Click to expand...


----------



## JonA_CT

I brewed beer tonight and didn't give myself a large partial thickness burn in the process.

I'd say that makes this week a win.


----------



## Gary A.

Finned with an infinite number of big, sharp, pointy teeth and a matching appetite. From Long Beach to Oceanside there is a standing shark alert.  In particular Great White Sharks, but most are juvies, after rays in the shallows.  Gary really liked the recording of a lifeguard on a bullhorn saying "... Attention paddleboarders, CALMLY, get out of the water.  You are surrounded by 15 Great White Sharks ...". Another recording "... There are Great White Sharks in the surf line, leave the water now ...".


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I brewed beer tonight and didn't give myself a large partial thickness burn in the process.
> 
> I'd say that makes this week a win.


Anytime you can brew and not get wounded, Gary would chalk up as a win.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like tortillas

Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## jcdeboever

Geez, my dad is going to be 80.... where has time gone? I took them to a real nice place tonight and told them to dress business casual.... oh my, lost in translation. What do i expect from a man that wears black dress socks with sandles, and a dirty wife beater. Got to love them. We had a great tiime and told them to order whatever they wanted. They are frugal in reality but they know when the gift horse has appeared. I love that they order enough for a 3 day doggie bag. Embarrassing but worth the glutton looks. Who orders 3 lobster rolls? My fat ass can barely eat one in an undisciplined state, lol. Anyway, mom got some relief from cooking for my dad and won $500 on the bingo scrath off i bought her 6 months ago in Hell Michigan. 






Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## jcdeboever

Do any of you ever feel you don't know your parents? 

Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## EIngerson

no, I know them petty well.


----------



## jcdeboever

EIngerson said:


> no, I know them petty well.


Your blessed. My father makes it a point to keep me wondering. 

Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## EIngerson

jcdeboever said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> 
> no, I know them petty well.
> 
> 
> 
> Your blessed. My father makes it a point to keep me wondering.
> 
> Sent from my SM-T377V using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...



HAHAHA! I do that to my sons. They're 19 and 22.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's folks were pretty simple, salt of the earth folks.


----------



## Gary A.

The best TV weather report Gary ever saw was from Hell, Michigan


----------



## Gary A.

Speaking of Tv, local news was covering the opening practice of the LA Chargers ... Sounds a bit odd.


----------



## snowbear

I am getting a couple of new lenses: the kind that go behind the camera.  Yep, I got cataracts. 
Traffic and car lights are real fun - I get three distinct lights for each one IRL.  As they get closer, they merge into a three-bladed propeller (four blades with non-dominant right eye) and finally become a single light at about 20-30 yards out.  I go in next week to get measured with surgery sometime in June (after the Maine trip).

Now I have to decide what focal range to get: do I want to "fix" the nearsightedness so I won't need glasses for distance but likely have reading glasses, or do I want to fine tune the nearsightedness so I still have glasses for distance and not need them for up-close.  My instinct is to stay nearsighted, which is what I was used to before bifocals.  With the exception of driving, almost everything I do is close: art, reading, and computer work (office and home).


----------



## terri

That's an interesting issue to face, Bear.    I tend to agree with you on your decision - reading, doing artwork, being on the computer - all day long.    Driving, movies or TV - reach for the specs.   Good luck with this - hope it goes smoothly!     

Happy weekend, hosers!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary hopes all goes well Charlie.


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

First beer in Colorado.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Stay nearsighted. I would, I think... 

My brother had cataracts, I've had a laser procedure done, they just sit you in a chair, put in drops to numb everything (well, not _every_thing!) and zap it with a laser (or whatever). I had a cyst and they numbed the eye and 'excised' it - they don't have to describe the details! All I could think was it sounds kind of like exorcism, but it didn't involve chanting or anything. Had to put drops in but my eye just felt really dry for a couple of days and looked kind of red and then it felt OK. I don't know for cataracts maybe it'd be more sore than just a cyst being removed, but I'm sure you'll be fine after. The beforehand to me is usually the worst part.


----------



## table1349

My cataracts are starting to bother me as well, but are not bad enough to treat yet.  I am actually looking foward to the surgery as it will correct your normal vision. I will just need glasses to read.  It will get rid of my astigmatism which causes me most of my issues.  It seems to change as often as most people change their underwear.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Hey, hosers.
> 
> First beer in Colorado.
> View attachment 139882



When they say 2 gummy worms will do you...they really mean 2. Or 1 and a half.

Or so a friend told me.


----------



## snowbear

I was told that I am a bit young for cataracts, in general (I'm 58 for a few more months) but the flavor I have come on quickly - I noticed this a few weeks ago and went to the optician.  She diagnosed them but wanted me to get another opinion.


----------



## table1349

I'm only 62 and from what my Optometrist says cataracts usually start in the late 40's early 50's.  They are usually slow growing and hard to detect for several years.  Mine right now are starting to give me that slight star filter effect at night when driving.  No cloudiness at all.   My Ophthalmologist doesn't figure I will need cataract surgery until I am about 70.   She's thinking I am going to need lid surgery before cataract surgery.  

70 is also happens to be the age my physician and orthopedic surgeon have both told me is the soonest that will replace my right knee with an artificial one.  Seems like they both feel that they don't want to do it twice.  Apparently the average life span for a knee joint in an active person is only 12 to 15 years.


----------



## snowbear

Went downtown with lazy_lobster.  The line for "Infinity Mirrors" at the Hirshhorn was over 1/2 mile so we went to the "twin" galleries - Sackler and African art.  On the way out we stopped by one of the tables set up and got some free Arabic/Islamic calligraphy done (our names); we passed on the henna.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Hey, hosers.
> 
> First beer in Colorado.
> View attachment 139882


That is beautiful.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Went downtown with lazy_lobster.  The line for "Infinity Mirrors" at the Hirshhorn was over 1/2 mile so we went to the "twin" galleries - Sackler and African art.  On the way out we stopped by one of the tables set up and got some free Arabic/Islamic calligraphy done (our names); we passed on the henna.
> 
> View attachment 139886


That is beautiful also.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Stay nearsighted. I would, I think...
> 
> My brother had cataracts, I've had a laser procedure done, they just sit you in a chair, put in drops to numb everything (well, not _every_thing!) and zap it with a laser (or whatever). I had a cyst and they numbed the eye and 'excised' it - they don't have to describe the details! All I could think was it sounds kind of like exorcism, but it didn't involve chanting or anything. Had to put drops in but my eye just felt really dry for a couple of days and looked kind of red and then it felt OK. I don't know for cataracts maybe it'd be more sore than just a cyst being removed, but I'm sure you'll be fine after. The beforehand to me is usually the worst part.


I'm not really worried about it, just making sure I go the right way.   The Dr was telling me how there was a chance that, much later, there might be some residue that gets on the back of the lens and they get it off with a laser.  All I could think of was "fungus, like on old camera lenses."  Yea, I'm going to ask for short focal length macro.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Stay nearsighted. I would, I think...
> 
> My brother had cataracts, I've had a laser procedure done, they just sit you in a chair, put in drops to numb everything (well, not _every_thing!) and zap it with a laser (or whatever). I had a cyst and they numbed the eye and 'excised' it - they don't have to describe the details! All I could think was it sounds kind of like exorcism, but it didn't involve chanting or anything. Had to put drops in but my eye just felt really dry for a couple of days and looked kind of red and then it felt OK. I don't know for cataracts maybe it'd be more sore than just a cyst being removed, but I'm sure you'll be fine after. The beforehand to me is usually the worst part.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not really worried about it, just making sure I go the right way.   The Dr was telling me how there was a chance that, much later, there might be some residue that gets on the back of the lens and they get it off with a laser.  All I could think of was "fungus, like on old camera lenses."  Yea, I'm going to ask for short focal length macro.
Click to expand...

I don't know, I think I would as for a 50mm f1.2 personally.


----------



## Gary A.

Happy Mother's Day!





Gary's Mother


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Happy Mother's Day!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's Mother


I must respectfully submit that the lovely lady pictured could not possibly be Gary's Mother.  She's too pretty, and looks to kind and sweet to be Gary's Mother.  She doesn't appear to have one ornery bone in her body.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Mother's Day!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's Mother
> 
> 
> 
> I must respectfully submit that the lovely lady pictured could not possibly be Gary's Mother.  She's too pretty, and looks to kind and sweet to be Gary's Mother.  She doesn't appear to have one ornery bone in her body.
Click to expand...

Your objections are sustained.  Unfortunately, parents can't choose who gets the stinky kids.





Mom graduating from college.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is taking a break for a quick breakfast, then back to the salt mines.  Gary has a Tri-Tip cooking brisket style on the stove another Tri-Tip in the smoker and a salmon marinating its brains out in the frig. Between all the cooking he is making himself busy with a vacuum, duster, cleaning rags, et al ... in an attempt to deceive our guests into thinking we are reasonably, or at least somewhat, clean.


----------



## pixmedic

pro tip:

dont tell your wife of 20 years that she's started getting gray hairs. 
or she will tell you exactly WHY she is getting them. 







dont ask me how I know this.


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> pro tip:
> 
> dont tell your wife of 20 years that she's started getting gray hairs.
> or she will tell you exactly WHY she is getting them.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> dont ask me how I know this.




 

Dude, even if women came with a user manual that little tidbit would not need to be in it.   

So tell us, what are you looking for in your future wife?


----------



## pixmedic

gryphonslair99 said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> pro tip:
> 
> dont tell your wife of 20 years that she's started getting gray hairs.
> or she will tell you exactly WHY she is getting them.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> dont ask me how I know this.
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 139934
> 
> Dude, even if women came with a user manual that little tidbit would not need to be in it.
> 
> So tell us, what are you looking for in your future wife?
Click to expand...


i cant say outside the subscribers NSFW section.


----------



## snowbear

"Oh, honey; that's a lovely shade."


----------



## jcdeboever

My wife said she started getting gray hair her senior year in highschool. She dyes it every month at a salon. I'm still in trouble, regardless.


----------



## limr

Jeez, we women are such nagging harpies, aren't we?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Jeez, we women are such nagging harpies, aren't we?


Yes, you are.  But men are bigger babies, so it kinda evens out.

Besides, women are my favorite gender.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> "Oh, honey; that's a lovely shade."


Lamp or color????   Inquiring minds want to know.


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was exhausting, successful but exhausting. Surprising, among six guests we only went through a bottle and a half of wine.  A bottle of champagne to start, for all you mothers.  Then only about a half bottle of pinot noir after that.  There were two tons of food and now a ton of leftovers.


----------



## table1349

That's going to be use the Sunday before Memorial Day.  My mother-in-laws brother and his wife are coming back to Kansas.  They are all coming down to stay with us for the weekend.   That Sunday we are having the whole family over that evening.  Going to grill burgers, hot dogs, brats and all the fixings.  Going to make a fire in the fire pit and make S'mores, (it's a tradition in their family) and just have a good time.  Last time we had 34 people over.  

My wife is especially looking forward to it.  Last time she had colon cancer surgery that morning and missed the festivities.  I walked into a house with 34 family members having a good time.  All was good though.


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

For Gary, there is a law of diminishing returns with guests. After about six - eight, the more guests the less interaction. Less is more for Gary.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. There's also the one that goes "House guests and fish start to stink after after a couple days"


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. There's also the one that goes "House guests and fish start to stink after after a couple days"


"Fish and visitors stink after three days", attributed to our good friend and founding father, Ben Franklin.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A. There's also the one that goes "House guests and fish start to stink after after a couple days"
> 
> 
> 
> "Fish and visitors stink after three days", attributed to our good friend and founding father, Ben Franklin.
Click to expand...


Yep, but if you'll note I said "they start to stink after 2 days", we live in the south where it gets warm!!! By 2 days, there's a smell, by the 3rd they stink LOL


----------



## table1349

So much for that Southern Hospitality. 

 Sides, the only thing that stinks after 3 days is a Yankee carpet bagger.  Good ole southern folk don't stink till after 5 days.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Good ole southern folk don't stink till after 5 days.



Had  21 family members for 5 days over Christmas at our old house one year. 4 bedrooms, plus couches, plus air mattresses everywhere. It was absolute chaos but absolutely the most memorable Christmas in our history. After 5 days, I think every toilet in the house was plugged, and the septic tank overloaded.


----------



## snowbear

Our door mat doesn't say "Welcome" -- it says "Bugger Off."


----------



## Gary A.

You have a door mate ...? That's pretty good. We only have a doorbell and it only buzzes in the backyard.


----------



## limr

Mountains, hosers.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> You have a door mate ...? That's pretty good. We only have a doorbell and it only buzzes in the backyard.



Meh.  Don't jammin' care about spelling right now


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good ole southern folk don't stink till after 5 days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Had  21 family members for 5 days over Christmas at our old house one year. 4 bedrooms, plus couches, plus air mattresses everywhere. It was absolute chaos but absolutely the most memorable Christmas in our history. After 5 days, I think every toilet in the house was plugged, and the septic tank overloaded.
Click to expand...


Wait, you live in Alabama and have a septic tank???     Shoot you must be one of them uppity southerners, with  indoor plumbing, septic tank, and all.  Next your gonna tell me you have a water pump right there in the kitchen so you don't have to haul water from the well.

You wouldn't had all them problem if you'd had a two seater at the end of a path don't ya know.


----------



## jcdeboever

Shop cat, Saddy


----------



## table1349

Nice photos.  The expression on the cats face reminds me of a kid having to eat broccoli.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> Nice photos.  The expression on the cats face reminds me of a kid having to eat broccoli.


She is a sweet little cat.


----------



## table1349

For all the science teachers........


----------



## Gary A.

The Corpse Flower.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 140051
> The Corpse F



Gross. We had one of those at the UConn greenhouse one of the years  I was there. One experience was enough for me.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, hosers.  Getting measured for my new lenses, this afternoon.  I'm going to ask if they are Leica or Nikkor!


----------



## smoke665

Morning all. Recovering from our trip today. Not quite 1600 miles in 4 days, (3 days driving). Hard to believe I could do twice that in 5 at one time. What a difference age makes.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Morning all. Recovering from our trip today. Not quite 1600 miles in 4 days, (3 days driving). Hard to believe I could do twice that in 5 at one time. What a difference age makes.



Yup, welcome to my world, 2x in 5. I do get mentally drained from it, sometimes when I get in off the road, I just stare at the TV for an hour but not really watching it... it's like I have to mentally reboot. Next month will be like that... Kentucky, Indy, OH, Indiana....


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever I expected my best drivers to average 3000 miles per week - every week. Some could do it a week or two, but only the best could do it week in and week out. I could do it, but I was thankful I didn't have to because it's tough! As you said it will drain you mentally, especially in a big rig, because the degree of concentration on everything around you goes up, and the mental exhaustion is cumulative. That's the reasoning behind the 36 hr reset for over the road drivers, even that might not be enough, after they changed the rules to not allow drivers to split their daily 10 hr break. It forces drivers to continue to drive when a couple of hours sleep would help, or eat into their daily on duty hrs.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever I expected my best drivers to average 3000 miles per week - every week. Some could do it a week or two, but only the best could do it week in and week out. I could do it, but I was thankful I didn't have to because it's tough! As you said it will drain you mentally, especially in a big rig, because the degree of concentration on everything around you goes up, and the mental exhaustion is cumulative. That's the reasoning behind the 36 hr reset for over the road drivers, even that might not be enough, after they changed the rules to not allow drivers to split their daily 10 hr break. It forces drivers to continue to drive when a couple of hours sleep would help, or eat into their daily on duty hrs.



Yeah I can do that, been doing that most of my salesman life. I only average 1560 miles per week currently but that is all that's required or that makes since from expense to sales ratio. However, I have many weeks where the prospecting takes me in chunks of 3000+ miles per week, like next month. This number doesn't include the spot over the road I do when there are employee challenges. I am currently executing a viable 3rd shift of production. Produced a viable 2nd shift last calendar year. After this year, it's expansion or cruise control. You can only produce so many pieces in a day.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Yeah I can do that, been doing that most of my salesman life



Many years in sales, I sometimes would lay the phone book on the night stand beside the bed, so when I woke up in the morning, I'd know where I was. LOL Having driven the roads in a car, and fill in for sick drivers when needed, I can tell you there is a substantial difference in a 5,000#, 20' long vehicle and a 80,000#, 75' long vehicle.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 140051
> The Corpse F
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gross. We had one of those at the UConn greenhouse one of the years  I was there. One experience was enough for me.
Click to expand...

Gary and Mary Lou were fascinated and we both thought it was simply wonderful.  It took ten years for this plant to bloom ... then the bloom only lasts 24 hours.  The exhibit was set up yesterday and by the afternoon, petals were already deteriorating. The owner had cut away a front section to expose the sexual parts of the flower.  The smell of rotting flesh didn't affect me ... (or anyone else who's been over for one of Gary's BBQ's).  It's isn't a bucket list thing, but still totally fascinating and well worth the 20 minute drive to the Cal State Fullerton arboretum.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks that driving for a living is a tough career. Between work and just going places, Gary used to put 100,000 miles a year.  Since Gary has set up a home office and fixed up the backyard, Gary's mileage has been significantly lowered.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> Good morning, hosers.  Getting measured for my new lenses, this afternoon.  I'm going to ask if they are Leica or Nikkor!


Make sure it comes with two pairs of pants. 



Those of you old enough to remember getting a suit from a real live tailor will understand.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> Morning all. Recovering from our trip today. Not quite 1600 miles in 4 days, (3 days driving). Hard to believe I could do twice that in 5 at one time. What a difference age makes.





jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning all. Recovering from our trip today. Not quite 1600 miles in 4 days, (3 days driving). Hard to believe I could do twice that in 5 at one time. What a difference age makes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, welcome to my world, 2x in 5. I do get mentally drained from it, sometimes when I get in off the road, I just stare at the TV for an hour but not really watching it... it's like I have to mentally reboot. Next month will be like that... Kentucky, Indy, OH, Indiana....
Click to expand...


I guess I am just the opposite.  When I got my license at 16 the folks had a brand new Chrysler New Yorker.   If you are old enough to remember the Chrysler New Yorker you realize it was a converted WW II Air Craft carrier.  They were big.  When ever we went anywhere I drove.   All I needed was a chauffeur cap and I would have been set.  

Long story short, if we are going somewhere I am quite content to drive.  I enjoy it.  I get drained when I have to be a passenger.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 140051
> The Corpse F
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gross. We had one of those at the UConn greenhouse one of the years  I was there. One experience was enough for me.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary and Mary Lou were fascinated and we both thought it was simply wonderful.  It took ten years for this plant to bloom ... then the bloom only lasts 24 hours.  The exhibit was set up yesterday and by the afternoon, petals were already deteriorating. The owner had cut away a front section to expose the sexual parts of the flower.  The smell of rotting flesh didn't affect me ... (or anyone else who's been over for one of Gary's BBQ's).  It's isn't a bucket list thing, but still totally fascinating and well worth the 20 minute drive to the Cal State Fullerton arboretum.
Click to expand...


Oh for sure -- I don't regret going to see it. It was the first time one had bloomed in New England in quite some time. When it made it's return appearance in 2011 though -- I watched the live webcam feed


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary thinks that driving for a living is a tough career. Between work and just going places, Gary used to put 100,000 miles a year.  Since Gary has set up a home office and fixed up the backyard, Gary's mileage has been significantly lowered.


Gary is the only guy I know that has Bucket Seat Butt.  Similar to saddle sores but from a 4 wheeled beast instead of a 4 legged beast.


----------



## JonA_CT

Some one cranked the heat here today. 90* is not acceptable for hearty boy from Connecticut like me. 

Not only did they turn the AC off when the kids left at noon today, I have 4 yards of loam/compost to move when I get home (using a shovel and a wheel barrow, to clarify). I might melt.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Some one cranked the heat here today. 90* is not acceptable for hearty boy from Connecticut like me.
> 
> Not only did they turn the AC off when the kids left at noon today, I have 4 yards of loam/compost to move when I get home (using a shovel and a wheel barrow, to clarify). I might melt.


I can't resist


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> I have 4 yards of loam/compost to move when I get home (using a shovel and a wheel barrow, to clarify). I might melt.



Ah, but look at the positive side. Good exercise that you didn't have to pay to get at gym. Sweating is a good way to lose pounds. Physical labor will make your muscles ache, so if you're careful you can play that for sympathy from the wife and kids. It's a win, win, win.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have 4 yards of loam/compost to move when I get home (using a shovel and a wheel barrow, to clarify). I might melt.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, but look at the positive side. Good exercise that you didn't have to pay to get at gym. Sweating is a good way to lose pounds. Physical labor will make your muscles ache, so if you're careful you can play that for sympathy from the wife and kids. It's a win, win, win.
Click to expand...

My man boobs are getting close to training bra size... However, I'm to Sexy for my polo, too sexy for my polo, too oo sexy


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> My man boobs are getting close to training bra size... However, I'm to Sexy for my polo, too sexy for my polo, too oo sexy


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> My man boobs are getting close to training bra size... However, I'm to Sexy for my polo, too sexy for my polo, too oo sexy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 140075
Click to expand...

I was getting close to being a cheap drag queen...


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I was getting close to being a cheap drag queen...



You're killing me JC, wish you lived closer you'd be a hoot to have around!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> My man boobs are getting close to training bra size... However, I'm to Sexy for my polo, too sexy for my polo, too oo sexy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 140075
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I was getting close to being a cheap drag queen...
Click to expand...

As opposed to being an expensive drag queen?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> My man boobs are getting close to training bra size... However, I'm to Sexy for my polo, too sexy for my polo, too oo sexy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 140075
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I was getting close to being a cheap drag queen...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> As opposed to being an expensive drag queen?
Click to expand...

Yes, very pricey...


----------



## JonA_CT

Between my normal running around at school, my workout this morning, and moving half the soil tonight...


 

My wife handed me 3 Advil and a gin and tonic when I came in for dinner.


----------



## JonA_CT

All of the soil is for 2, 4'x8'x18" raised vegetable garden beds. It's way easier to move the nice loose mix that was dumped in my driveway than to attempt to dig up my rocky natural soil. 

Plus...vegetables are healthy, right? So this will be a win win. Hopefully, I'll be swimming in produce between the middle of August and the first freeze in October.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Between my normal running around at school, my workout this morning, and moving half the soil tonight...
> 
> View attachment 140078
> 
> My wife handed me 3 Advil and a gin and tonic when I came in for dinner.


Nice


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> My man boobs are getting close to training bra size... However, I'm to Sexy for my polo, too sexy for my polo, too oo sexy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 140075
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I was getting close to being a cheap drag queen...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> As opposed to being an expensive drag queen?
Click to expand...

That is sooo wrong on sooo many levels.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Between my normal running around at school, my workout this morning, and moving half the soil tonight...
> 
> View attachment 140078
> 
> My wife handed me 3 Advil and a gin and tonic when I came in for dinner.


1810 calories is pretty damn good.  Gary has never even come close to 1800 as a daily goal ... (maybe as a weekly goal). Interestingly, we have nearly identical daily goals.


----------



## snowbear

From fb; that time of year.


----------



## smoke665

Been stung by all three, but the last one is definitely the worst


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> From fb; that time of year.
> 
> View attachment 140088


Help all pollinators!!!    Even the last kind listed here.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> From fb; that time of year.
> 
> View attachment 140088
> 
> 
> 
> Help all pollinators!!!    Even the last kind listed here.
Click to expand...

Including flies?


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> From fb; that time of year.
> 
> View attachment 140088
> 
> 
> 
> Help all pollinators!!!    Even the last kind listed here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Including flies?
Click to expand...

Unless they're pollinating sh!t.     

Bees of all kinds do need support these days, however, and it's no laughing matter.   Awareness of pesticides is a good start.


----------



## tirediron

I wasn't aware that wasps were pollinators.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> From fb; that time of year.
> 
> View attachment 140088
> 
> 
> 
> Help all pollinators!!!    Even the last kind listed here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Including flies?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Unless they're pollinating sh!t.
> 
> Bees of all kinds do need support these days, however, and it's no laughing matter.   Awareness of pesticides is a good start.
Click to expand...

There was a story yesterday about a guy who stole about a million bucks worth of commercial beehives from the fields/orchards where the the bees were working.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> I wasn't aware that wasps were pollinators.


Technically, they're not.  You need a hairy body to be a 'true' pollinator.  (I believe most Canadians are 'true' pollinators.)


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> All of the soil is for 2, 4'x8'x18" raised vegetable garden beds. It's way easier to move the nice loose mix that was dumped in my driveway than to attempt to dig up my rocky natural soil.
> 
> Plus...vegetables are healthy, right? So this will be a win win. Hopefully, I'll be swimming in produce between the middle of August and the first freeze in October.


That's a lot of work for only a few months of veggies.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> I wasn't aware that wasps were pollinators.


Wasps Pollinating.  NSFW


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> All of the soil is for 2, 4'x8'x18" raised vegetable garden beds. It's way easier to move the nice loose mix that was dumped in my driveway than to attempt to dig up my rocky natural soil.
> 
> Plus...vegetables are healthy, right? So this will be a win win. Hopefully, I'll be swimming in produce between the middle of August and the first freeze in October.
> 
> 
> 
> That's a lot of work for only a few months of veggies.
Click to expand...


The growing season here is short. We just cleared our "last frost" date this week. I'll get some things in befor August...peas and greens. Everything else we will have to wait.


----------



## table1349

Animals you might not know pollinate flowers


----------



## table1349

The Moussaka is cooling and the Greek salad is all made.   Will see how the wife likes it.  First time I have made it with Lamb.  She likes lamb, but is used to roasted lamb with a mint sauce.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wasn't aware that wasps were pollinators.
> 
> 
> 
> Technically, they're not.  You need a hairy body to be a 'true' pollinator.  (I believe most Canadians are 'true' pollinators.)
Click to expand...

Ha-friggin'-ha!


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wasn't aware that wasps were pollinators.
> 
> 
> 
> Technically, they're not.  You need a hairy body to be a 'true' pollinator.  (I believe most Canadians are 'true' pollinators.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ha-friggin'-ha!
Click to expand...

See it's not just me that kids with our norther brothers.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wasn't aware that wasps were pollinators.
> 
> 
> 
> Technically, they're not.  You need a hairy body to be a 'true' pollinator.  (I believe most Canadians are 'true' pollinators.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ha-friggin'-ha!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> See it's not just me that kids with our norther brothers.
Click to expand...

Nope...  t'isn't...


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wasn't aware that wasps were pollinators.
> 
> 
> 
> Technically, they're not.  You need a hairy body to be a 'true' pollinator.  (I believe most Canadians are 'true' pollinators.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ha-friggin'-ha!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> See it's not just me that kids with our norther brothers.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nope...  t'isn't...
Click to expand...

Canadian guy getting groomed for summer?


----------



## Gary A.

The Jacarandas are in bloom.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> There was a story yesterday about a guy who stole about a million bucks worth of commercial beehives from the fields/orchards where the the bees were working.



I saw that story, apparently there's big money renting out hives


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> The growing season here is short. We just cleared our "last frost" date this week. I'll get some things in befor August...peas and greens. Everything else we will have to wait.



Haven't put in a garden in a couple of years now, even sold the big freezer. Have a tractor and equipment to put out a large one. Last time I had about 2 acres of sweet corn - thinking it would be enough for us and the deer. The night before we were to pick, they completely stripped the field.  Barely got enough for ourselves. Now we hit the farmers market. Less money and a whole lot less effort.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 140160
> 
> View attachment 140161
> 
> View attachment 140162
> 
> The Jacarandas are in bloom.


Purple Rain, Purple Rain. ..


----------



## Gary A.

Uno mas.


----------



## table1349

Love our farmers market. We have an Amish community about 20 miles from here.  Several families bring vegetables and fruits. One family does baked good.  I love the gooseberry pies they make.  It's hard to find gooseberries these days.  Everything they bake is all fresh home grown ingredients.


----------



## table1349




----------



## smoke665

@gryphonslair99 Aren't you retired????  Fridays, Saturdays, and even Mondays have no special meaning for me anymore, as being retired, makes every day a weekend. Can get a little boring sometimes LOL


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Here comes the first sip ... ahhhhh, delish. So far a tough morning, the coffee brewer slightly overflowed creating a slight mess, there is an algae bloom in the pond that so far I haven't been able to bring into control, it is warming up here - going from the 70's (yesterday) to the 80's (today), my desktop crashed ... but the coffee is good.


----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> @gryphonslair99 Aren't you retired????  Fridays, Saturdays, and even Mondays have no special meaning for me anymore, as being retired, makes every day a weekend. Can get a little boring sometimes LOL


Yes, yes I am.  However Friday's are date nite and it's the wife's turn to buy.  It's all the same money, but she has to decide on where we eat as well.  Plus I get rid of her next week.  She's heading to Orlando for the national Boy Scout conference.  I was originally going to go, but we have family coming into town next weekend and are hosting a family reunion for around 35 to 40 people.  Next week is going to be busy since I am chief cook, head bottle washer and maid.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> it's the wife's turn to buy. It's all the same money, but she has to decide on where we eat as well.



Oh no, I'd starve to death waiting on my wife to decide where to eat! These conversations go something like this- Me - where do you want to eat? Her- I don't care anywhere. Me-how about so, and so. Her- I guess if that's my only choice. Me - you have something else in mind. Her- no just anywhere. and on and on and on it goes. Now I just drive to a place, get out and go in.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> it's the wife's turn to buy. It's all the same money, but she has to decide on where we eat as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh no, I'd starve to death waiting on my wife to decide where to eat! These conversations go something like this- Me - where do you want to eat? Her- I don't care anywhere. Me-how about so, and so. Her- I guess if that's my only choice. Me - you have something else in mind. Her- no just anywhere. and on and on and on it goes. Now I just drive to a place, get out and go in.
Click to expand...

LOL ... if you drive separately ... there wouldn't be any complaints by either party.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> it's the wife's turn to buy. It's all the same money, but she has to decide on where we eat as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh no, I'd starve to death waiting on my wife to decide where to eat! These conversations go something like this- Me - where do you want to eat? Her- I don't care anywhere. Me-how about so, and so. Her- I guess if that's my only choice. Me - you have something else in mind. Her- no just anywhere. and on and on and on it goes. Now I just drive to a place, get out and go in.
Click to expand...

Well since we swap turns every other week we have a week to think about where to go.  Plus we like to try new places all the time and the Go section on Friday in the local news rag lists all the entertainment, new places to eat etc.  Makes for some adventurous eating at times, but I'm good with that.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> it's the wife's turn to buy. It's all the same money, but she has to decide on where we eat as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh no, I'd starve to death waiting on my wife to decide where to eat! These conversations go something like this- Me - where do you want to eat? Her- I don't care anywhere. Me-how about so, and so. Her- I guess if that's my only choice. Me - you have something else in mind. Her- no just anywhere. and on and on and on it goes. Now I just drive to a place, get out and go in.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... if you drive separately ... there wouldn't be any complaints by either party.
Click to expand...

We have been known to do that during tax season.  The wife is 5 years younger than I, the senior VP at a bank in charge of the Trust Division, and has no plans to retire until she is 65.  (she likes being the boss)  

During Tax Season I am usually pretty much a bachelor.   We have met on Friday evenings during tax season, eaten and then she goes back to work and I go home, movies what ever.   Works well.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... if you drive separately ... there wouldn't be any complaints by either party.



At our age, and after all the years we've been married, sometimes the complaints are part of the fun


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... if you drive separately ... there wouldn't be any complaints by either party.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At our age, and after all the years we've been married, sometimes the complaints are part of the fun
Click to expand...

That is a healthy attitude, lol.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... if you drive separately ... there wouldn't be any complaints by either party.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At our age, and after all the years we've been married, sometimes the complaints are part of the fun
Click to expand...

That comment makes me picture you and the misses as the couple from the Pickles comic.   One of my all time favorite comics.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. and @gryphonslair99 This is a second marriage for both of us. Her first husband passed away from cancer at a young age, and unfortunately my ex hasn't yet. We found each other by accident or fate, and 38 years later we're still going strong. Most of our friends say the secret to our longevity is that neither one of us will leave because we each have to have the last word.

For 25 years we worked together, her office on one end of the building and mine on the other. She thought she had me over a barrel at work, claiming if I made her mad, she'd quit, go home, pack her stuff, and leave. Never will forget the day the Lions Club came by selling brooms, she bought one. Shortly thereafter we had a "business disagreement", and she headed out the door new broom under her arm. God help me, I couldn't resist I asked her loud enough for most of the office to hear, if she was planning to clean house or fly somewhere.  After that for several months she kept an open box in our bedroom, she would add to or take stuff out of it depending how mad I'd made her that day,  but she couldn't stay away from the office any longer than I could.

Now that we've been retired for several years we still argue, but both our memories are so bad, that by the next day, it's all forgotten. We can have the same argument several times in the same week now 

Since she was diagnosed in 2009 with Multiple Myeloma, I get worried when she isn't arguing with me. Wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.


----------



## jcdeboever

Speaking of good wives. Mine put this in my underwear drawer. I got out of the shower and found this snuggled close to a permanent skid marks. Now have to figure out how to use it.


----------



## jcdeboever

jcdeboever said:


> Speaking of good wives. Mine put this in my underwear drawer. I got out of the shower and found this snuggled close to a skid permanent skid marks. Now have to figure out how to use it.


Shoot, attachment fail. How in the heck she knew I wanted one these is beyond me.


----------



## tirediron

Sweet... nice toy!


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> Sweet... nice toy!


Is it any good?


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sweet... nice toy!
> 
> 
> 
> Is it any good?
Click to expand...

Not sitting in your underwear drawer, no.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sweet... nice toy!
> 
> 
> 
> Is it any good?
Click to expand...

A lot of people seem to rate it highly.  I believe it is a rebranded Minolta VF but I could be wrong.  It definitely gets good reviews.  You have a good wife there.  Enjoy.


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sweet... nice toy!
> 
> 
> 
> Is it any good?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not sitting in your underwear drawer, no.
Click to expand...

It's only been a few days


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Speaking of good wives. Mine put this in my underwear drawer. I got out of the shower and found this snuggled close to a permanent skid marks. Now have to figure out how to use it.



So glad you followed up with a picture of a meter. My mind was wandering


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> ...I believe it is a rebranded Minolta VF but I could be wrong.  ...


Surprisingly, in this case, you're not.


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...I believe it is a rebranded Minolta VF but I could be wrong.  ...
> 
> 
> 
> Surprisingly, in this case, you're not.
Click to expand...

Cool


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...I believe it is a rebranded Minolta VF but I could be wrong.  ...
> 
> 
> 
> Surprisingly, in this case, you're not.
Click to expand...

Touché my Canadian Friend.


----------



## tirediron




----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


>


I figured it out watching this video


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I figured it out watching this video
Click to expand...

In case you need it.  http://www.kenkoglobal.com/pdf/KFM-1100_INSTRUCTION MANUAL.pdf


----------



## Gary A.

Good for her ... Lucky for you!


----------



## JonA_CT

Good morning, Hosers. I have a first interview at the high school in my city next week. I'm hopeful that it will go well...my commute would be 7 minutes. 

I'm drinking a cup of dry process Brazilian coffee this morning. Initially, I wasn't a fan...but...I'm trying to branch out a little bit, so I've roasted it a couple of different ways now. This morning's roast is a little lighter than I'd been going...I'm getting lots of dried currant and peanuts from it. Interesting and delicious. 

This morning, we'll be planting the garden for the year. My mom is part of a garden club, and they have a plant sale today. We'll start there...the veggies they are selling were started by the horticulture department at my alma mater. I'm hoping that I'll be able to buy the rest of my planting needs at the local hardware store and nursery afterwards. They're the only game in the area at this point, so if they don't have it, I'll probably have to hit up Home Depot or Lowes.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning, Hosers. I have a first interview at the high school in my city next week. I'm hopeful that it will go well...my commute would be 7 minutes.
> 
> I'm drinking a cup of dry process Brazilian coffee this morning. Initially, I wasn't a fan...but...I'm trying to branch out a little bit, so I've roasted it a couple of different ways now. This morning's roast is a little lighter than I'd been going...I'm getting lots of dried currant and peanuts from it. Interesting and delicious.
> 
> This morning, we'll be planting the garden for the year. My mom is part of a garden club, and they have a plant sale today. We'll start there...the veggies they are selling were started by the horticulture department at my alma mater. I'm hoping that I'll be able to buy the rest of my planting needs at the local hardware store and nursery afterwards. They're the only game in the area at this point, so if they don't have it, I'll probably have to hit up Home Depot or Lowes.


Watch the feet!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning, Hosers. I have a first interview at the high school in my city next week. I'm hopeful that it will go well...my commute would be 7 minutes.
> 
> I'm drinking a cup of dry process Brazilian coffee this morning. Initially, I wasn't a fan...but...I'm trying to branch out a little bit, so I've roasted it a couple of different ways now. This morning's roast is a little lighter than I'd been going...I'm getting lots of dried currant and peanuts from it. Interesting and delicious.
> 
> This morning, we'll be planting the garden for the year. My mom is part of a garden club, and they have a plant sale today. We'll start there...the veggies they are selling were started by the horticulture department at my alma mater. I'm hoping that I'll be able to buy the rest of my planting needs at the local hardware store and nursery afterwards. They're the only game in the area at this point, so if they don't have it, I'll probably have to hit up Home Depot or Lowes.


Gary prefers the dry, traditional process.  Costa Rican on this bright, sunny and warm morning. Gary has been dialing in his coffee to water ratio ... this is just about perfecto.

Gary just moved to the patio, blue skies and bird songs. Little progress on the algae bloom ... more charcoal and some chemicals.  Gary hates using chemicals.

Gary has a few tomatoes, peppers and an interesting lime basil which need planting.  Gary plants stuff at different times of the year which results in veggies all year round.


----------



## table1349

Perhaps Gary should invest in some of these little boogers.

*1*. Pond Snail
2. Siamese Algae Eater
3. Common Plecostomus
4. Chinese Algae Eater
5. Flying Fox
6. Gold Nugget Pleco

Some may not be suitable if Gary has a small pond.  

We never bothered with algae in our ponds, but then they are full of catfish and cow poop, so who gets picky about a little algae.


----------



## Gary A.

Nope, those won't work.  It is free algae not a substrate algae.  Mary Lou opened up the tree canopy above the pond and the warmer day with additional sunshine resulted in a bloom and a dense discoloration of water.


----------



## table1349

Well the only suggestion I got left then is catfish and/or cow poop.  Good luck with the bloom.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> Well the only suggestion I got left then is catfish and/or cow poop.  Good luck with the bloom.


2l of chlorine bleach to 10l of water will take care of that bloom.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well the only suggestion I got left then is catfish and/or cow poop.  Good luck with the bloom.
> 
> 
> 
> 2l of chlorine bleach to 10l of water will take care of that bloom.
Click to expand...

Hope that is for Gary's bloom.  We like fried catfish and our way we don't have to refrigerate them until it is time to eat them.


----------



## table1349

Gary's Pond

Our Pond

The aesthetics just aren't the same.


----------



## Gary A.

Man ... you have some big jammin' Koi.  

Actually, what I need is a UV clarifier.  The UV on the pressure filter went out and I haven't replaced it.


----------



## table1349

They be some tasty Koi that's for sure.   That's probably something we actually have here and you don't in California,  "Koi Milking Contests."


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> They be some tasty Koi that's for sure.   That's probably something we actually have here and you don't in California,  "Koi Milking Contests."


I like teets


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well the only suggestion I got left then is catfish and/or cow poop.  Good luck with the bloom.
> 
> 
> 
> 2l of chlorine bleach to 10l of water will take care of that bloom.
Click to expand...

And Gary's Koi?


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well the only suggestion I got left then is catfish and/or cow poop.  Good luck with the bloom.
> 
> 
> 
> 2l of chlorine bleach to 10l of water will take care of that bloom.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And Gary's Koi?
Click to expand...

What you get when you mix bleach and Koi.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning, Hosers. I have a first interview at the high school in my city next week. I'm hopeful that it will go well...my commute would be 7 minutes.
> 
> I'm drinking a cup of dry process Brazilian coffee this morning. Initially, I wasn't a fan...but...I'm trying to branch out a little bit, so I've roasted it a couple of different ways now. This morning's roast is a little lighter than I'd been going...I'm getting lots of dried currant and peanuts from it. Interesting and delicious.
> 
> This morning, we'll be planting the garden for the year. My mom is part of a garden club, and they have a plant sale today. We'll start there...the veggies they are selling were started by the horticulture department at my alma mater. I'm hoping that I'll be able to buy the rest of my planting needs at the local hardware store and nursery afterwards. They're the only game in the area at this point, so if they don't have it, I'll probably have to hit up Home Depot or Lowes.



Good luck at the interview, Jon! Keeping my fingers crossed for ya.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, Hosers. I have a first interview at the high school in my city next week. I'm hopeful that it will go well...my commute would be 7 minutes.
> 
> I'm drinking a cup of dry process Brazilian coffee this morning. Initially, I wasn't a fan...but...I'm trying to branch out a little bit, so I've roasted it a couple of different ways now. This morning's roast is a little lighter than I'd been going...I'm getting lots of dried currant and peanuts from it. Interesting and delicious.
> 
> This morning, we'll be planting the garden for the year. My mom is part of a garden club, and they have a plant sale today. We'll start there...the veggies they are selling were started by the horticulture department at my alma mater. I'm hoping that I'll be able to buy the rest of my planting needs at the local hardware store and nursery afterwards. They're the only game in the area at this point, so if they don't have it, I'll probably have to hit up Home Depot or Lowes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck at the interview, Jon! Keeping my fingers crossed for ya.
Click to expand...

Me too, forgot to mention that....


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon: Gary knows you will do well!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary ordered a replacement UV bulb for the pressurized filter.  He paid an extra $3.99 for same day delivery.  He also ordered another UV unit that will sit in his skimmer filter.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning, Hosers. I have a first interview at the high school in my city next week. I'm hopeful that it will go well...my commute would be 7 minutes.


Good luck.


----------



## JonA_CT

Thanks y'all.

My dirt guy uses a heavy portion of composted cow manure for his loam mixture. Now that I've been playing in the wet dirt for a few hours, I smell a bit like manure myself. I'm gonna blame the soil.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary doesn't have a 'Dirt Guy'.  He has to hand shovel his compost from his composters.  He does have worms.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Gary doesn't have a 'Dirt Guy'.  He has to hand shovel his compost from his composters.  He does have worms.



That's the plan from here on out. I have a nice pile of leaf clippings that have been turned, and a more general purpose compost bin is in the plans for the next few weeks.


----------



## table1349

Directions for Gary and his problem.


----------



## Gary A.

Much better than the suppository methodology Gary has been forced to endure.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. Heading back to NY from Denver. Not a big fan of flying.  Wish me smooth flying and a quiet cabin!


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Hey hosers. Heading back to NY from Denver. Not a big fan of flying.  Wish me smooth flying and a quiet cabin!



Safe travels! 

If you survived the descent into Denver, the trip home is easy!


----------



## snowbear

Smooth skies


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Hey hosers. Heading back to NY from Denver. Not a big fan of flying.  Wish me smooth flying and a quiet cabin!


Smooth flying and a quiet ride!


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Heading back to NY from Denver.



Big storm front north to south, in the midwest. Hang on!


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> The aesthetics just aren't the same.



Adds flavor to the Carp, excuse me "Koi". LOL


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Hey hosers. Heading back to NY from Denver. Not a big fan of flying.  Wish me smooth flying and a quiet cabin!


How about just a "Not on United" trip?


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The aesthetics just aren't the same.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Adds flavor to the Carp, excuse me "Koi". LOL
Click to expand...

You realize of course that if swap the two middle letters in the word Carp you come up with the description of their flavor.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The aesthetics just aren't the same.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Adds flavor to the Carp, excuse me "Koi". LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You realize of course that if swap the two middle letters in the word Carp you come up with the description of their flavor.
Click to expand...

I have had good smoked carp. A friend of mine in Detroit owns a barbeque stand and makes some tasty smoked fish, not to mention his chicken and ribs. Not the kind you catch in the Detroit river either. Farm raised type. His smoked walleye cheaks are to die for.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever People intentionally raise Carp? Get out of here!! I found out people from Michigan had strange tastes when I saw Drum on the menu at a restaurant there. I grew up using Drum for bait! LOL As a kid money was tight so nothing went to waste. My Grandmother would can the Carp we caught in the local drainage ditches. I remember they had a lot of fine bones. Somehow the canning process would turn the bones to mush, but it never got rid of the muddy taste. Never again!


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever People intentionally raise Carp? Get out of here!! I found out people from Michigan had strange tastes when I saw Drum on the menu at a restaurant there. I grew up using Drum for bait! LOL As a kid money was tight so nothing went to waste. My Grandmother would can the Carp we caught in the local drainage ditches. I remember they had a lot of fine bones. Somehow the canning process would turn the bones to mush, but it never got rid of the muddy taste. Never again!


Drum is what we called "sheep head" another bottom feeder. When you catch them, it's like you hooked a tire. I'm not sure where he gets the carp. He doesn't do it often but I have had it. The walleyes are locally caught at the power plant in Monroe Michigan.


----------



## smoke665

Been so long since I've had Walleye I have no idea if they're good or not. Think I'll stick to our local fare of Bass, Crappie, Catfish and occasionally trout (when we go to the Smokies). There's a producer in Mississippi, Delta Pride, that raises some of the best catfish in the south. From birth to processing their quality control is such that you never get an off taste in their fish.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Been so long since I've had Walleye I have no idea if they're good or not. Think I'll stick to our local fare of Bass, Crappie, Catfish and occasionally trout (when we go to the Smokies). There's a producer in Mississippi, Delta Pride, that raises some of the best catfish in the south. From birth to processing their quality control is such that you never get an off taste in their fish.


Walleye and perch are my favorite. I like mine grilled or pan, not fried. Of course, nothing compares to the ocean fish in Florida.


----------



## snowbear

We're lucky enough to be close to salt water (Chesapeake Bay) and mountains so trout, bass, crappie, catfish, striped bass ("rock", the State Fish), perch, spot, blues and flounder, not to mention blue crabs, oysters (I can't stand them) and clams.


----------



## table1349

Give me a nice Mahi mahi filet, lobster, shirmp or oysters and I am good.  If I have my choice I will go with sea food over fresh water fish any day.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary and Mary Lou made hamburgers last night for dinner.  The first time in ages, maybe ten years since we've made hamburgers.  Gary's usually made turkey burgers, stuffed with cheeses and peppers ... but not plain ol' hamburgers. They were good, hamburgers and vino.

Yesterday was hot, summer hot ... summer in a hot place hot ... Mary Lou decided it was a good day to couch potato ... so we fired up a Netflix, Hidden Figures, an easy five stars. Then some guests made a surprise visit and we retired to the patio for some dessert wine and relaxation.  The overhead fans provided a nice breeze.

After the guests left, back to NetFlix with a documentary on the 1936 Olympic USA rowing team from the University of Washington (Go Huskies) and their victory of the German team at the Berlin Olympics.  

Speaking of fish ... lots of good stuff out here.  Mary Lou has been cooking up some fish tacos about once a week.  If we want to get up early, we can get the stuff as it unloads from the boats, various fisherman markets are all along the coast, tuna, tons of rock fish ... halibut, sea bass, snapper (snapper used to be a junk fish),  shark, swordfish, yellowtail, yellowfin, whole salmon and tuna for about $3 a pound, crabs of all sorts, shrimp, lobster, oysters ... if you want to get early. At Ports of Call (Worldport Los Angeles), you can buy fish/shrimp/et al at one stall then walk to another stall and they'll cook it for you with all the sides. Then you eat at the public tables on the wharf watching all the boats go by.  Gary hasn't done that in a while ... maybe today.


----------



## table1349

If you ever mosey down San Diego way try the Blue Water Seafood.  Owned by a couple of brothers that actually catch part of what they sell and buy the rest fresh from other fisherman every morning.  They only serve fish, no shrimp, crab etc.  Great food.  Plan to wait a bit, there is usually a line.  The wife likes their fish tacos.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou has been cooking up some fish tacos



Love good fish taco!!!!! Being 6 hrs from the coast, 4 hrs from the mountains, and next door to the fish farms, we are blessed with an abundance of both freshwater and seafood.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's brother is a commercial fisherman out of Portland.  Every couple of months he brings me a portion of his haul.

When Gary lived at the beach, he would routinely liberate a lobster from a trap for his own personal use.  He always substituted a bottle of wine for the crustacean.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> He always substituted a bottle of wine for the crustacean.



Don't you know that created some "surprised looks" on the faces of the fishermen. LOL


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou has been cooking up some fish tacos
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Love good fish taco!!!!! Being 6 hrs from the coast, 4 hrs from the mountains, and next door to the fish farms, we are blessed with an abundance of both freshwater and seafood.
Click to expand...

Hence Gary desire to craft up the perfect tortilla.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Hence Gary desire to craft up the perfect tortilla.



There is a craft to the process of a "good" fish taco. From the tortilla, to the preparation of the fish, to the sauce. Get it right and it's a culinary delight. Get it wrong and it's ............not so good.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> He always substituted a bottle of wine for the crustacean.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't you know that created some "surprised looks" on the faces of the fishermen. LOL
Click to expand...

Initially yeah.  But they were fine with it. When Gary started that custom, often he'd make a run to the fish market looking for a bottle of wine with a partially washed off label.  The fishermen who trapped the wine would say it was their lucky day and I'd give them a smile and they smiled back.


----------



## table1349

Fish tacos are fine, but I prefer a nice fish burrito or chimichanga.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hence Gary desire to craft up the perfect tortilla.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There is a craft to the process of a "good" fish taco. From the tortilla, to the preparation of the fish, to the sauce. Get it right and it's a culinary delight. Get it wrong and it's ............not so good.
Click to expand...

Gary, from his explorations, has discovered that there are far higher keeper rate for "good" fish tacos amongst the sidewalk carts and small/local eateries catering to the taste buds of the indigenous peoples, than at the better restaurants that brings the food to your table.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Fish tacos are fine, but I prefer a nice fish burrito or chimichanga.


Most shops out here offer all three, the same fish, the same sauces, but in a different wrapper. A couple of shops dips the fish bites into a batter, fries the fish, then stuffs the fish bites into tacos/burritos with this light orange sauce ... Gary's salivary glands are moving into high gear just thinking about the place.


----------



## table1349

Last time in San Diego I ran across a street vendor that had Baha style taco boats.  Not only delicious but much neater to eat.  One of the local tortilla factories is now making fresh tortilla boats.  That is what we buy for tacos now.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just finished up squeezing out a bucket of a Lemon-Orange-Lime ... Ade it is delightful.  (Essentially, Gary Famous Lemonade with the other citrus tossed in.)


----------



## terri

That looks delicious, Gary!


----------



## JonA_CT

I think my scalp base tan is complete.


----------



## snowbear

It's been a nice, cool 66 degrees today - 72 inside.  I've been sitting at the desk/drawing table, listening to our bamboo wind chimes and doing some electronic window shopping; I might be able to upgrade either the laptop or the D40 in a couple of weeks (I'm leaning towards the camera).


----------



## table1349

Been 70 here today, 75 in the house.  Hot week last week so we fired up the AC on last Sunday to our normal 75 summer temp.  May turn it off tomorrow and open the house again.  Supposed to be in the mid to upper 60's and rainy until Thursday.  Just got the yard work done.  Yard is mowed, edged, weed wacked and the driveway and sidewalks swept.  

Been real happy that I upgraded my 21 year old sprinkler controller.  Went from a very outdated only one program controller to a smart controller by Rachio.   Only had it 3 weeks but so far it has saved over 3000 gallons that would have been wasted and has adjusted itself nicely according to the weather.  We watered on the 6th and the 14th so far.  It skipped two in between waterings due to the weather/rain we had.  It's scheduled to water tomorrow unless we get more rain.  Yard looks as green as always and we have not watered near as much as we did with the old controller.


----------



## Gary A.

Crazy weather here, today was about ten degrees cooler than yesterday.  Gary and Mary Lou are watching a NetFlix, 5 to 7, it is very well written, quirky but entertaining movie.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Yard looks as green as always and we have not watered near as much as we did with the old controller.



we laid Centipede sod around the house when we built. They call it the "lazy man's" grass because it grows really slow, plus tolerates heat and drought. In 10 years we've never had to water, because it goes into a dormant stage and waits for rain. Last year the heat and drought was bad, it got so dry that it actually crunched when you walked on it. I was afraid it wouldn't survive. Fortunately all but about a 30x30 area, has come back fine. The area in question is slowly starting to fill back in, plus I've been able to plug some of it with cuttings from the good sections.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yard looks as green as always and we have not watered near as much as we did with the old controller.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> we laid Centipede sod around the house when we built. They call it the "lazy man's" grass because it grows really slow, plus tolerates heat and drought. In 10 years we've never had to water, because it goes into a dormant stage and waits for rain. Last year the heat and drought was bad, it got so dry that it actually crunched when you walked on it. I was afraid it wouldn't survive. Fortunately all but about a 30x30 area, has come back fine. The area in question is slowly starting to fill back in, plus I've been able to plug some of it with cuttings from the good sections.
Click to expand...

I contemplated Zoysia plugs, but in our area cool grasses grow really well so the whole housing addition was sodded with a very high end local Fescue mix.  

I'm not super worried about water as almost everyone waters their lawns via a well.  However if I can save water, while still having a nice looking lawn I am glad to do that.  Plus I can do so much more with this new controller.  It figures out what we need based on the grass/plant type, soil type, amount of sun each zone gets, slope of the ground etc.  I also can set up to 16 water schedules per zone.  That will come in handy in a couple of weeks.  

We put in a new driveway a few weeks ago and in doing so added a sidewalk around the garage and an additional pad behind the garage.  The landscaper is going to come in and landscape along the new sidewalk as it is now about 4-6" higher than the grass.  I would do it myself but this is on the short side of the house and I want to be a good neighbor and not just dump a bunch of water into her yard.  They are going to survey it first and then lay the proper grade so the water disperses properly all the way around.  When they do this the are going to sod the yard and I can set that zone up to water once and hour every hour during the daylight for 5 minutes to keep it moist until it takes if I wanted.  I will set that zone to water as the horticulturalist tells me to get the sod to take.  

This was the other option.  The wife and I both really like it, but not enough to spend $3600 to have it done.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary ripped out most of the grass in the front and replaced it with succulents.


----------



## terri

Happy Monday, hosers!    Humidity has skyrocketed around here after some lovely weekend downpours.    We're supposed to be in for a relatively cool week, with on and off showers.    I'm happy for it, since the blazing August sun will be here soon enough to wilt everything in sight.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary ripped out most of the grass in the front and replaced it with succulents.


Succulent yards in Kansas pretty much don't exist.  At least not in front of the home.    

Our neighbors behind us have a combination of a whole lot of concrete and succulents in river rock for a back yard.  Easy to maintain which is probably good for them.  The husband travels constantly, he could probably match Gary's travel mileage except he fly's, and the wife is, well a bit odd.  She is rarely seen outside, even when their kids and grandkids are over and they are in the back yard.  She seems nice enough, but just never seems to get out.


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> Happy Monday, hosers!    Humidity has skyrocketed around here after some lovely weekend downpours.    We're supposed to be in for a relatively cool week, with on and off showers.    I'm happy for it, since the blazing August sun will be here soon enough to wilt everything in sight.


I'm sorry, I thought the Humidity was naturally high in the part of the country you live.  Apparently soaring there is going from 90% humidity to 95% humidity.  

Seriously though, I know what you mean.  We love 10% humidity the last part of June/first part of July as that is wheat harvest time.  The lower the humidity the longer you can cut.  The longer you can cut the sooner you get done.   After that well, then it is just hot and dry until fall.  We have been pretty wet this spring though which is good for the wheat.  Hopefully the moisture will carry on through the summer for the sorghum, soy beans and corn.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The marine layer has returned after taking the weekend off.  This was a gray and overcast morning, The Sun is burning through the overcast earlier than normal, consequently temps in the low 80's ... which is fine.  All this talk of weather make's Gary wonder .. what is humidity? It sounds nasty ... maybe something a good stick of Old Spice can fix?


----------



## vintagesnaps

What is humidity??? lol hard to describe, feels like the air is heavy, looks hazy, feels damp and hot and sticky. It's charming... 

Supposed to be not too hot and relatively clear this week - til the long holiday weekend of course! 

I'm trying to motivate to get stuff done early in the week but so far today I'm not exactly kicking it into gear but more easing into the week.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> what is humidity? It sounds nasty ... maybe something a good stick of Old Spice can fix?



When it goes above 90% you better have more than "Old Spice in a can". Time to drag out the heavy duty antiperspirant. LOL You've heard the expression "the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife"?? Been some times I've wished I had a machete just to clear a path


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

We had choppy air leaving Denver, had to divert around bad weather over Indiana, and had some more choppy air a bit after that. And there was a child in the back row who cried during take-off and landing, and during the rest of the flight, felt the need to let out loud hoots at intervals regular enough that earphones were required, but thankfully not regular enough that jumping from the plane seemed like a good idea.

So yeah, "thanks" for all your wishes for a smooth, quiet flight  

Colorado was lovely. For only having one week, we managed to cover quite a bit of ground. We flew into Denver and immediately drove our rental car over to Durango. It was a long day and we were quite tired - 4 hours in a plane and 6 hours in a Nissan with an anemic transmission and a mushy AF suspension - but it was a beautiful drive and we got a flavor of what it feels like to move from flat to foothills to mountains.

Four days in Durango, including a ride on the narrow gauge railway train to Silverton. We got seats in an open car and it was fantastic - really felt like we were in the environment rather than being cooped up in a closed stuffy train car. We saw a ton of prairie dogs (I know they are a nuisance to ranchers, but I am not a rancher so I can enjoy their adorableness with total abandon!  ), a mountain goat scurrying along a steep mountainside, and some elk.

We then drove to Ouray via Rt 550, which is said to be one of the most scenic roads in the country. It certainly was gorgeous. It would be scary in the best of circumstances, but we also were driving in a snow storm. I thank my lucky stars that it was the kind of late-spring snowstorm that will dump a dry powder that sticks on the ground and in trees, but not on the roads, so it looked beautiful but just made the roads wet instead of snowy and icy. Million Dollar Highway

It snowed most of the next day, though it continued to not stick on the road, so we ventured out in the other direction for lunch (it was nice and flat through the valley! Whew!), and then came back and walked around the town a bit, took some pictures. Ouray is in a box canyon, so we were surrounded by beautiful snow-covered mountains, and our hotel was right next to to the river so we had a built-in "sounds of nature" sleep-sounds machine 

The next day was our last full day and we planned to stay the night in Grand Junction so we could be right on the highway to shoot across for our flight to Denver. We decided to drive from Ouray to Grand Junction via a more circuitous route, and it turned out to be the right decision. We ended up driving along an outstandingly beautiful canyon. It was like a mini Grand Canyon. We were quite stunned but delighted because we didn't expect it at all. And it was doubly good because we found Grand Junction itself to be somewhat...soulless. So it was a nice contrast.

We stayed right near the highway, got up, ate breakfast, and set off for Denver. First part of the trip was fast and easy. Then we had to go over the mountain passes. The highest was the Eisenhower Tunnel approaches, at 11,158 feet. And yes, it was snowing all through the mountains (no real accumulation on roads - whew!) But we still made it to Denver without incident and in plenty of time for our flight.

And now I'm back. The end.


----------



## limr

What is humidity?

Evil.

At least in the summer when it makes you feel like you are swimming through the air.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> what is humidity?


The amount of water vapor in the air. 

Old Spice only fixes the one of the results of humidity...


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> what is humidity?
> 
> 
> 
> The amount of water vapor in the air.
> 
> Old Spice only fixes the one of the results of humidity...
Click to expand...

Not famunda cheese


----------



## pixmedic

Gearing up for my next photo contest. Keep an eye out because this one is going to be a doozy.  Double the themes and double the prize money! 


Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

pixmedic said:


> Gearing up for my next photo contest. Keep an eye out because this one is going to be a doozy.  Double the themes and double the prize money!
> 
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk


Can't wait! Bring it![emoji7]


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> what is humidity?
> 
> 
> 
> The amount of water vapor in the air.
> 
> Old Spice only fixes the one of the results of humidity...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not famunda cheese
Click to expand...

Exactly.


----------



## terri

pixmedic said:


> Gearing up for my next photo contest. Keep an eye out because this one is going to be a doozy.



You're awesome to be doing these, Jason.     

@Lenny:   It sounds like a fabulous trip.    I've personally only traveled through a sliver of Colorado and never got to the good stuff.   Will be looking forward to the pictures!

As an adult, I've lived in Georgia, Michigan, and Texas.   All states have bad humidity when the conditions are right - but Texas was the drop-dead worst (Houston area).   The mosquitoes are large enough to carry you away, too.    Whew!


----------



## Gary A.

Cookin' up some potatoes outside.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 140323


Shiny.........pretty..........my precious.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 140323
> 
> 
> 
> Shiny.........pretty..........my precious.
Click to expand...

LOL ... a very nice evening and Gary decided to cook outside.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 140323
> 
> 
> 
> Shiny.........pretty..........my precious.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... a very nice evening and Gary decided to cook outside.
Click to expand...

I decided to cook inside since it was raining.  I have no desire to grill chicken in the rain.  So tomorrow nights breakfast for dinner became tonight's dinner and tonight's planned dinner of BBQ thighs and legs are set for tomorrow night as it is supposed to be sunny and mild tomorrow.  

Mamma didn't raise no stupid children just some ugly ones.


----------



## tirediron

Quick iPhone shot of our club's 1936 McCormick-Deering in the storage barn (under repair, awaiting a magneto recharge) caught in the beam of a skylight.


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> Quick iPhone shot of our club's 1936 McCormick-Deering in the storage barn (under repair, awaiting a magneto recharge) caught in the beam of a skylight.


I'm in love


----------



## bluewanders

JonA_CT said:


> All of the soil is for 2, 4'x8'x18" raised vegetable garden beds. It's way easier to move the nice loose mix that was dumped in my driveway than to attempt to dig up my rocky natural soil.
> 
> Plus...vegetables are healthy, right? So this will be a win win. Hopefully, I'll be swimming in produce between the middle of August and the first freeze in October.


We always end up with way more than we can eat, just the two of us.  Make sure you have a plan for your excess if you end up with any.  Canning and pickling are really easy and will help you keep the cost down and the healthfulness up even in the winter months.

Good luck!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Last night Gary and Mary Lou shared a delightful dinner, pan cooked Tilapia with backyard herb, a freshly picked tomato salad with green beans, snow peas and peppers and Gary's Famous Mashed Potatoes filled with herbs and butter and Mexican Cream and cheeses and washed down with this Wolfe Chardonnay (SLO) which was full of complexity but still retained a silky smoothness.  With the first hit, Gary says to himself "Wow ... this is a Chardonnay!"  Gary has been appreciating wine for some long that a "Wow" is hard to come by. So much wow from a simple Chardonnay.  Gary and Mary Lou have a small circular pub height table which has a view of the Tv.  We ate at The Pub watching the news in the background, (Gary and Mary Lou are news geeks), then after dinner retired to the patio with our Chardonnay.  A very pleasant evening was had by all.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Gary ordered some Adrano Volcano Coffee from Brazil.  We'll see how that roasts up.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Last night Gary and Mary Lou shared a delightful dinner, pan cooked Tilapia with backyard herb, a freshly picked tomato salad with green beans, snow peas and peppers and Gary's Famous Mashed Potatoes filled with herbs and butter and Mexican Cream and cheeses and washed down with this Wolfe Chardonnay (SLO) which was full of complexity but still retained a silky smoothness.  With the first hit, Gary says to himself "Wow ... this is a Chardonnay!"  Gary has been appreciating wine for some long that a "Wow" is hard to come by. So much wow from a simple Chardonnay.  Gary and Mary Lou have a small circular pub height which has a view of the Tv.  We ate at The Pub watching the news in the background, (Gary and Mary Lou are news geeks), then after dinner retired to the patio with our Chardonnay.  A very pleasant evening was had by all.


Sounds good..................but did you wash and shine my precious???


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Last night Gary and Mary Lou shared a delightful dinner, pan cooked Tilapia with backyard herb, a freshly picked tomato salad with green beans, snow peas and peppers and Gary's Famous Mashed Potatoes filled with herbs and butter and Mexican Cream and cheeses and washed down with this Wolfe Chardonnay (SLO) which was full of complexity but still retained a silky smoothness.  With the first hit, Gary says to himself "Wow ... this is a Chardonnay!"  Gary has been appreciating wine for some long that a "Wow" is hard to come by. So much wow from a simple Chardonnay.  Gary and Mary Lou have a small circular pub height which has a view of the Tv.  We ate at The Pub watching the news in the background, (Gary and Mary Lou are news geeks), then after dinner retired to the patio with our Chardonnay.  A very pleasant evening was had by all.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds good..................but did you wash and shine my precious???
Click to expand...

Ahhhh ... The Precious ... the precious is being well taken care of.  The Precious likes cast iron. (Gary like The Precious for outdoor cooking because he doesn't have to worry about propane. Gary is too lazy to run a gas line to the BBQ patio, so he struggles keeping the propane tanks filled.)


----------



## Gary A.

PS- ... Your Precious?


----------



## jcdeboever

I like Tilapia. It's shaped like my state.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> PS- ... Your Precious?






I'm coming for my precious.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... in a few minutes you gotta hang a right.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> I like Tilapia. It's shaped like my state.


The bottom part of your state is shaped like a hand (the square is Detroit)


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> PS- Gary ordered some Adrano *Volcano Coffee* from Brazil.  We'll see how that roasts up.


I'd think it would be pre-roasted.


----------



## Gary A.

It has arrived and appears quite green to Gary.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I gotta love junior hockey... guy selling the beer is fixing the glass! lol Not really, but the beer guy was on camera standing there with the post that popped out in one hand and his tray of beers on his shoulder talking to people in the stands. Gave the announcer a laugh. 4 minute game delay while somebody came out and really fixed the glass (while the beer guy apparently went back to selling his beers). Obvious who is more favored by the fans!


----------



## vintagesnaps

2 goals and another stoppage... I don't know what for, but one of the officials has been on the phone awhile. Meantime the camera guy was talking to one of the linesman, had him on camera on the ice with no sound standing there talking and laughing... just reminds me of our minor pro games. One time during a wild game I was taking pictures at ice level and one of the linesman getting ready to drop the puck looked at me and shook his head... and I just laughed... That's what's fun about the minors and juniors and local hockey, you're in the game even when you're not in the game. 

Goal review, now one team is up 3-0. This Canadian junior tournament has had some lopsided scores. Good grief they scored again, 4-0. Another game 'over' halfway thru. 

edit - Goalie change, and they score again. OMG I can't even finish a sentence, 6-0. If this was a high school, they call the game when it's 10-0, that's at least merciful, this has been 5 goals in 3 minutes. Whoa.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... in a few minutes you gotta hang a right.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I wanna see what this green coffee looks like in the morning. 

And the game I've been watching is in one quiet hockey arena, I think everybody left! Score's 7-0. Guess I'll see what's happening in the NHL playoff then I'm done for the night. 

Gryph let us know tomorrow how your trip is going to find The Precious.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> I wanna see what this green coffee looks like in the morning.
> 
> And the game I've been watching is in one quiet hockey arena, I think everybody left! Score's 7-0. Guess I'll see what's happening in the NHL playoff then I'm done for the night.
> 
> Gryph let us know tomorrow how your trip is going to find The Precious.



Playoffs have been great with the few games I have watched.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> I wanna see what this green coffee looks like in the morning.
> 
> And the game I've been watching is in one quiet hockey arena, I think everybody left! Score's 7-0. Guess I'll see what's happening in the NHL playoff then I'm done for the night.
> 
> Gryph let us know tomorrow how your trip is going to find The Precious.


Gryph on trail of his precious. 

Gryph walking down Gary's Garden of Goodness.

Gryph find at end of trail Gary's Shack of Cooking.

Gryph look and look and finally Gryph FINDS HIS PRECIOUS!!!!

Now Gryph is Happy!!!


----------



## table1349

This looks interesting for those on the go.  This could have been quite nice before I retired.  Leave for the office and as I pull into the parking lot tell it to brew with my iPhone.  By the time I was in my office I would have a fresh hot cup of coffee. 




Orenda | Your Specialty Coffee Maker | Your Personal Barista


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, The Cook and Gary are on our way to San Francisco.  We just finished breakfast in Santa Maria, about two-thirds of the way to the City on the Bay.  Very cold, at least to Gary's sensibilities. It is 10:30 a.m. and 54F. Gary took the coast route and it was foggy and wet all the way up.  Mary Lou saved some bacon for Cook. Cook wouldn't eat the bacon.  Gary stuffed a corner into her mouth and Cook spat it out.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> ...Cook wouldn't eat the bacon.  Gary stuffed a corner into her mouth and Cook spat it out.


Gary needs to immediately divert to the nearest Vet!  The Cook is gravely ill!


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou, The Cook and Gary are on our way to San Francisco.  We just finished breakfast in Santa Maria, about two-thirds of the way to the City on the Bay.  Very cold, at least to Gary's sensibilities. It is 10:30 a.m. and 54F. Gary took the coast route and it was foggy and wet all the way up.  Mary Lou saved some bacon for Cook. Cook wouldn't eat the bacon.  Gary stuffed a corner into her mouth and Cook spat it out.


Who knew that Cook was Orthodox.  Gary and Mary Lou are going to have to start keeping Kosher for Cook.
Keeping Kosher - Learn the Basics of a Kosher Lifestyle


----------



## table1349

Gary, Some links you may need for Cook. 

Best Mohels in Chino, CA
What to Expect at a Bris   I hope you know where Cooks grandfather can be reached. 

Don't forget the Bar Mitzvah.  Bar and Bat Mitzvah - Coming of Age


----------



## JonA_CT

Through to the second round. They called the administrator in half way through my interview and told me that I'll be teaching a demo lesson before I left.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> Through to the second round. They called the administrator in half way through my interview and told me that I'll be teaching a demo lesson before I left.


What they didn't tell you was that THIS is the class you will be teaching.  




Good luck.


----------



## snowbear

Gotta get some stuff done tonight -- road trip in the AM.  Camera upgrade when it gets in stock.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Cook and Gary have finally arrived at our hotel for the first leg of our trip.  We are in Gilroy, the self-proclaimed garlic capital of the world.  We took the long way up, along the coast, enjoying the sights of the sand and surf, rolling oak dotted hills and hundreds of miles of vegetables and vineyards.  We made multiple stops along the way, coffee, tea and blueberry scones in Santa Barbara, breakfast in Santa Maria, three wineries in the Edna Valley and clam chowder and fish & chips in San Luis Obispo.  Mary Lou, The Cook and Gary are beat.  We have a SFSU graduation to attend tomorrow at the AT&T Park.


----------



## Gary A.

A skydiver drops in at breakfast.


----------



## JonA_CT

I over roasted this batch of coffee. More of a vienna roast than I would normally like. It seems to fit this drizzly/foggy morning though...dark and syrupy as it is.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou, Cook and Gary have finally arrived at our hotel for the first leg of our trip.  We are in Gilroy, the self-proclaimed garlic capital of the world.  We took the long way up, along the coast, enjoying the sights of the sand and surf, rolling oak dotted hills and hundreds of miles of vegetables and vineyards.  We made multiple stops along the way, coffee, tea and blueberry scones in Santa Barbara, breakfast in Santa Maria, three wineries in the Edna Valley and clam chowder and fish & chips in San Luis Obispo.  Mary Lou, The Cook and Gary are beat.  We have a SFSU graduation to attend tomorrow at the AT&T Park.



When I was teaching ESL as a TA in grad school, we would sometimes use speaking lessons built on real NPR interviews/news pieces. One of the lessons was about a vineyard in Gilroy that made garlic wine. Many of the people who tasted it commented that it reminded them of salad dressing. I wonder if Gary is going to try some while in the garlic capital of the world


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 140423
> A skydiver drops in at breakfast.


Oh how fun.  Staying at the D Day Hotel in Normandy I see.  Does it come with an LCVP ride and perhaps the storming of La Selva Beach?


Okay, inquiring minds want to know, why is there a parachutist on the upstairs banister?


----------



## waday

Garlic capital of the world? That would be the lunch my sister made when she thought that one clove of garlic was the entire bulb. 

She added 3 "cloves" of garlic.


----------



## table1349

waday said:


> Garlic capital of the world? That would be the lunch my sister made when she thought that one clove of garlic was the entire bulb.
> 
> She added 3 "cloves" of garlic.


That would make her ALMOST Italian.  5 "cloves of garlic" and she gets automatic citizenship.


----------



## table1349

Is it just me or does anyone else see a "are you kidding me" factor to this?  Woman sues Jelly Belly, claiming she didn’t know jelly beans were packed with sugar


----------



## waday

gryphonslair99 said:


> Is it just me or does anyone else see a "are you kidding me" factor to this?  Woman sues Jelly Belly, claiming she didn’t know jelly beans were packed with sugar


Ignorance isn't an excuse. She didn't read the packaging, so that's all on her.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> Is it just me or does anyone else see a "are you kidding me" factor to this?  Woman sues Jelly Belly, claiming she didn’t know jelly beans were packed with sugar


On a common-sense level, yeah, agree totally, but this:


> ...Also, the first ingredient listed is evaporated cane juice...


IMO, is totally misleading, and a clearly under-handed, albeit [I assume] legal attempt to obfuscate the real nutritional Information.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it just me or does anyone else see a "are you kidding me" factor to this?  Woman sues Jelly Belly, claiming she didn’t know jelly beans were packed with sugar
> 
> 
> 
> On a common-sense level, yeah, agree totally, but this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Also, the first ingredient listed is evaporated cane juice...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> IMO, is totally misleading, and a clearly under-handed, albeit [I assume] legal attempt to obfuscate the real nutritional Information.
Click to expand...

There are some subtle differences.  Evaporated cane juice has a smidge more vitamin A, C and calcium than processed white sugar.   There are also a healthier version of evaporated cane juice called Rapadura.  Unlike most cane juices it is pressed but not boiled to cause evaporation.  After pressing the juice is stirred over low heat until the moisture is gone.  It is also not spun like most other sugar products.  Natural sugar cane is brimming with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, fibers, and phytonutrients.  Almost all are lot with most refining methods.

Is Jelly Belly using Rapadura?  Who knows.  However anyone that knows anything about candy knows it is filled with sugar.

* Definition of candy *
_plural_
*candies*

_1_ :  crystallized sugar formed by boiling down sugar syrup


_2a_ :  a confection made with sugar and often flavoring and filling_b_ :  a piece of such confection


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it just me or does anyone else see a "are you kidding me" factor to this?  Woman sues Jelly Belly, claiming she didn’t know jelly beans were packed with sugar
> 
> 
> 
> On a common-sense level, yeah, agree totally, but this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Also, the first ingredient listed is evaporated cane juice...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> IMO, is totally misleading, and a clearly under-handed, albeit [I assume] legal attempt to obfuscate the real nutritional Information.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There are some subtle differences.  Evaporated cane juice has a smidge more vitamin A, C and calcium than processed white sugar.   There are also a healthier version of evaporated cane juice called Rapadura.  Unlike most cane juices it is pressed but not boiled to cause evaporation.  After pressing the juice is stirred over low heat until the moisture is gone.  It is also not spun like most other sugar products.  Natural sugar cane is brimming with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, fibers, and phytonutrients.  Almost all are lot with most refining methods.
> 
> Is Jelly Belly using Rapadura?  Who knows.  However anyone that knows anything about candy knows it is filled with sugar.
> 
> * Definition of candy *
> _plural_
> *candies*
> 
> _1_ :  crystallized sugar formed by boiling down sugar syrup
> 
> 
> _2a_ :  a confection made with sugar and often flavoring and filling_b_ :  a piece of such confection
Click to expand...

Agree, BUT....  at the end of the day, it's a form of sugar, plain and simple.  If they want to call it "Evaporated cane juice" it should require clarification, eg:  "Evaporated Cane Juice (Purified and enhanced white sugar)" or something.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I over roasted this batch of coffee. More of a vienna roast than I would normally like. It seems to fit this drizzly/foggy morning though...dark and syrupy as it is.



Watch your feet


----------



## waday

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it just me or does anyone else see a "are you kidding me" factor to this?  Woman sues Jelly Belly, claiming she didn’t know jelly beans were packed with sugar
> 
> 
> 
> On a common-sense level, yeah, agree totally, but this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Also, the first ingredient listed is evaporated cane juice...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> IMO, is totally misleading, and a clearly under-handed, albeit [I assume] legal attempt to obfuscate the real nutritional Information.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There are some subtle differences.  Evaporated cane juice has a smidge more vitamin A, C and calcium than processed white sugar.   There are also a healthier version of evaporated cane juice called Rapadura.  Unlike most cane juices it is pressed but not boiled to cause evaporation.  After pressing the juice is stirred over low heat until the moisture is gone.  It is also not spun like most other sugar products.  Natural sugar cane is brimming with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, fibers, and phytonutrients.  Almost all are lot with most refining methods.
> 
> Is Jelly Belly using Rapadura?  Who knows.  However anyone that knows anything about candy knows it is filled with sugar.
> 
> * Definition of candy *
> _plural_
> *candies*
> 
> _1_ :  crystallized sugar formed by boiling down sugar syrup
> 
> 
> _2a_ :  a confection made with sugar and often flavoring and filling_b_ :  a piece of such confection
Click to expand...

Despite not explicitly stating "sugar" in the ingredients, "sugars" are clearly labeled on the nutrition facts portion of the packaging.

Anyone buying this from an "athletic performance" perspective (i.e., the lady) should be well-versed in nutrition fact labels.

This seems nothing short of a quick money grab through the hope of settling out of court.


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it just me or does anyone else see a "are you kidding me" factor to this?  Woman sues Jelly Belly, claiming she didn’t know jelly beans were packed with sugar
> 
> 
> 
> On a common-sense level, yeah, agree totally, but this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Also, the first ingredient listed is evaporated cane juice...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> IMO, is totally misleading, and a clearly under-handed, albeit [I assume] legal attempt to obfuscate the real nutritional Information.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There are some subtle differences.  Evaporated cane juice has a smidge more vitamin A, C and calcium than processed white sugar.   There are also a healthier version of evaporated cane juice called Rapadura.  Unlike most cane juices it is pressed but not boiled to cause evaporation.  After pressing the juice is stirred over low heat until the moisture is gone.  It is also not spun like most other sugar products.  Natural sugar cane is brimming with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, fibers, and phytonutrients.  Almost all are lot with most refining methods.
> 
> Is Jelly Belly using Rapadura?  Who knows.  However anyone that knows anything about candy knows it is filled with sugar.
> 
> * Definition of candy *
> _plural_
> *candies*
> 
> _1_ :  crystallized sugar formed by boiling down sugar syrup
> 
> 
> _2a_ :  a confection made with sugar and often flavoring and filling_b_ :  a piece of such confection
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Agree, BUT....  at the end of the day, it's a form of sugar, plain and simple.  If they want to call it "Evaporated cane juice" it should require clarification, eg:  "Evaporated Cane Juice (Purified and enhanced white sugar)" or something.
Click to expand...

If they added "cane juice", they have to say "cane juice", no? They can't say "sugar" if they didn't add sugar explicitly.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> ...If they added "cane juice", they have to say "cane juice", no? They can't say "sugar" if they didn't add sugar explicitly.


Absolutely, but the key word is "evaporated".  Once a juice has been evaporated, it's no longer a juice.  Again, I'm not disagreeing that this is clearly a money grab, nor that you would have to be three flavours of a moron to make a claim like, "I didn't know jelly beans had sugar in them!".  What I am saying is that using a term such as "evaporated [sugar] cane juice" instead of sugar, or, even "Sweetener derived from evaporated sugar cane juice" is a deliberate attempt to mislead the consumer.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...If they added "cane juice", they have to say "cane juice", no? They can't say "sugar" if they didn't add sugar explicitly.
> 
> 
> 
> Absolutely, but the key word is "evaporated".  Once a juice has been evaporated, it's no longer a juice.  Again, I'm not disagreeing that this is clearly a money grab, nor that you would have to be three flavours of a moron to make a claim like, "I didn't know jelly beans had sugar in them!".  What I am saying is that using a term such as "evaporated [sugar] cane juice" instead of sugar, or, even "Sweetener derived from evaporated sugar cane juice" is a deliberate attempt to mislead the consumer.
Click to expand...

Yes, but not always. The word Sugar covers a lot of territory other than just that white crystalline stuff we all think of.  Brown sugars are less refined containing  various amounts of molasses, a sugar refining by product.  Sugars also does not just come from sugar cane.  There is beet sugar, as well as other plants that can be used to extract the monosaccharides.  There is molasses that comes from beets as well.   

The term sugar in itself is misleading, but using terms such as sucrose, dextrose, fructose, and galactose would be too confusing for most people.  Corn syrup is also a monosaccharide being refined into fructose.  It is a different form of monosaccharide than is sucrose, that is why whenever you are working with sugar in the kitchen and heating it alone to melt, it is good to add just a touch of corn syrup to white sugar.  If white sugar is heated, melted and disturbed or it is contaminated in the least it will re crystallize.  Fructose, not being a crystal, will prevent this this from happening due to it's molecular nature.  

Yes I watch Alton Brown.  It is good to understand the science behind what we eat.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it just me or does anyone else see a "are you kidding me" factor to this?  Woman sues Jelly Belly, claiming she didn’t know jelly beans were packed with sugar
> 
> 
> 
> Ignorance isn't an excuse. She didn't read the packaging, so that's all on her.
Click to expand...


Not necessarily in our legal system the courts have on several occasions  added the test of whether the individual in question had the ability to determine the degree of the risk.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it just me or does anyone else see a "are you kidding me" factor to this?  Woman sues Jelly Belly, claiming she didn’t know jelly beans were packed with sugar
> 
> 
> 
> Ignorance isn't an excuse. She didn't read the packaging, so that's all on her.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not necessarily in our legal system the courts have on several occasions  added the test of whether the individual in question had the ability to determine the degree of the risk.
Click to expand...

I have no doubt that in some circumstances that may be true.

In a situation where someone is buying candy, I think the likelihood of that candy containing sugar is pretty high. If the person is specifically buying it for "athletic performance", the likelihood that the person would have read the nutrition facts is even higher. If the person is specifically buying it because they thought that it didn't have sugar, the likelihood that they would have read the nutrition facts should be even higher.

I'd be interested to hear how this woman thought it was sugar free in the first place. If you do an image search for "jelly belly sport beans", you'll see the packaging. No where does it say "sugar free".

It'll be interesting to see how this case turns out.


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...If they added "cane juice", they have to say "cane juice", no? They can't say "sugar" if they didn't add sugar explicitly.
> 
> 
> 
> Absolutely, but the key word is "evaporated".  Once a juice has been evaporated, it's no longer a juice.  Again, I'm not disagreeing that this is clearly a money grab, nor that you would have to be three flavours of a moron to make a claim like, "I didn't know jelly beans had sugar in them!".  What I am saying is that using a term such as "evaporated [sugar] cane juice" instead of sugar, or, even "Sweetener derived from evaporated sugar cane juice" is a deliberate attempt to mislead the consumer.
Click to expand...

I have no idea. If it was sugar they put in, I would agree. But, I've seen evaporated milk, and that's not evaporated at all!


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> have no doubt that in some circumstances that may be true



It was in the McDonald's case and more recently Starbucks. The whole mentality these days seems to be eliminating any responsibility for personal actions.


----------



## table1349

waday said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...If they added "cane juice", they have to say "cane juice", no? They can't say "sugar" if they didn't add sugar explicitly.
> 
> 
> 
> Absolutely, but the key word is "evaporated".  Once a juice has been evaporated, it's no longer a juice.  Again, I'm not disagreeing that this is clearly a money grab, nor that you would have to be three flavours of a moron to make a claim like, "I didn't know jelly beans had sugar in them!".  What I am saying is that using a term such as "evaporated [sugar] cane juice" instead of sugar, or, even "Sweetener derived from evaporated sugar cane juice" is a deliberate attempt to mislead the consumer.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I have no idea. If it was sugar they put in, I would agree. But, I've seen evaporated milk, and that's not evaporated at all!
Click to expand...

Au contraire mon frere. Evaporated milk is evaporated.  Do not confuse evaporated with dried or powdered.   Get a can evaporated milk, open it and pour it out.  It is thicker than milk, hence the evaporation. 

Compare it to Condensed milk.  Condensed milk is evaporated milk with sugar added.   I often use evaporated milk in place of whole milk in things like custards as it adds a rich creaminess that whole milk does not.   Evaporated milk can also be thinned with water to a milk like consistency if whole milk is needed although it does not make a good substitute for fresh milk for drinking.


----------



## waday

gryphonslair99 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...If they added "cane juice", they have to say "cane juice", no? They can't say "sugar" if they didn't add sugar explicitly.
> 
> 
> 
> Absolutely, but the key word is "evaporated".  Once a juice has been evaporated, it's no longer a juice.  Again, I'm not disagreeing that this is clearly a money grab, nor that you would have to be three flavours of a moron to make a claim like, "I didn't know jelly beans had sugar in them!".  What I am saying is that using a term such as "evaporated [sugar] cane juice" instead of sugar, or, even "Sweetener derived from evaporated sugar cane juice" is a deliberate attempt to mislead the consumer.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I have no idea. If it was sugar they put in, I would agree. But, I've seen evaporated milk, and that's not evaporated at all!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Au contraire mon frere. Evaporated milk is evaporated.  Do not confuse evaporated with dried or powdered.   Get a can evaporated milk, open it and pour it out.  It is thicker than milk, hence the evaporation.
> 
> Compare it to Condensed milk.  Condensed milk is evaporated milk with sugar added.   I often use evaporated milk in place of whole milk in things like custards as it adds a rich creaminess that whole milk does not.   Evaporated milk can also be thinned with water to a milk like consistency if whole milk is needed although it does not make a good substitute for fresh milk for drinking.
Click to expand...

I was trying to make a funny. It didn't work out.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> have no doubt that in some circumstances that may be true
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was in the McDonald's case and more recently Starbucks. The whole mentality these days seems to be eliminating any responsibility for personal actions.
Click to expand...

Actually both cases do not revolve around eliminating responsibility, rather around the lack of responsibility to a reported, known issue.  

In the McDonalds case, _Liebeck v. McDonald's,  _ prior to the aforementioned incident McDonalds admitted that they had received over 700 complaints of coffee being to hot with some people complaining about minor burns to the mouth etc as well as faulty cup design.  They did nothing about the issue.  If you notice, since that law suit McDonalds had not lowered the temp of their coffee, rather they have switched to a stronger cup/lid combo and upped their warnings about the danger of hot liquids.  

As for Starbucks, the situation is similar.  A Starbucks representative testified that the company gets 80 complaints a month about lid leaks and lids popping off.  Starbucks’ attorneys argued that it “would not be relevant” to warn customers of the risk.  

As of now, the Starbucks case is I believe sth ill in Limbo.  Starbucks was considering appealing.  

In both cases the issue was lack of warning/defective cups and lids.


----------



## table1349

waday said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...If they added "cane juice", they have to say "cane juice", no? They can't say "sugar" if they didn't add sugar explicitly.
> 
> 
> 
> Absolutely, but the key word is "evaporated".  Once a juice has been evaporated, it's no longer a juice.  Again, I'm not disagreeing that this is clearly a money grab, nor that you would have to be three flavours of a moron to make a claim like, "I didn't know jelly beans had sugar in them!".  What I am saying is that using a term such as "evaporated [sugar] cane juice" instead of sugar, or, even "Sweetener derived from evaporated sugar cane juice" is a deliberate attempt to mislead the consumer.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I have no idea. If it was sugar they put in, I would agree. But, I've seen evaporated milk, and that's not evaporated at all!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Au contraire mon frere. Evaporated milk is evaporated.  Do not confuse evaporated with dried or powdered.   Get a can evaporated milk, open it and pour it out.  It is thicker than milk, hence the evaporation.
> 
> Compare it to Condensed milk.  Condensed milk is evaporated milk with sugar added.   I often use evaporated milk in place of whole milk in things like custards as it adds a rich creaminess that whole milk does not.   Evaporated milk can also be thinned with water to a milk like consistency if whole milk is needed although it does not make a good substitute for fresh milk for drinking.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I was trying to make a funny. It didn't work out.
Click to expand...

You mean that the humor evaporated in the translation???  Not to say it was dry humor.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou, Cook and Gary have finally arrived at our hotel for the first leg of our trip.  We are in Gilroy, the self-proclaimed garlic capital of the world.  We took the long way up, along the coast, enjoying the sights of the sand and surf, rolling oak dotted hills and hundreds of miles of vegetables and vineyards.  We made multiple stops along the way, coffee, tea and blueberry scones in Santa Barbara, breakfast in Santa Maria, three wineries in the Edna Valley and clam chowder and fish & chips in San Luis Obispo.  Mary Lou, The Cook and Gary are beat.  We have a SFSU graduation to attend tomorrow at the AT&T Park.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When I was teaching ESL as a TA in grad school, we would sometimes use speaking lessons built on real NPR interviews/news pieces. One of the lessons was about a vineyard in Gilroy that made garlic wine. Many of the people who tasted it commented that it reminded them of salad dressing. I wonder if Gary is going to try some while in the garlic capital of the world
Click to expand...

Yes, Garlic wine, Garlic ice cream ... Garlic everything ... the whole enchilada.  Every strip mall here is named, Garlic Plaza, Garlic Marketplace, Garlic Salt, et al.  Gary remembers in summer, stopping in Gilroy for gasoline and being overpowered by the garlic fragrance as soon as the door is opened.


----------



## smoke665

@gryphonslair99 as with all things legal the line gets blurred. In the case of the McDonald's case, regardless of the exact temperature of the coffee or prior complaints, the woman admitted to placing the cup (she testified on top of her knees, but there's no way to verify that it wasn't between her knees) while she removed the lid. Now regardless of if it's on top or between, the last a place a rational person would put a Styrofoam cup of hot coffee is on your lap, while attempting to remove the lid. It's an accident waiting to happen. Being a road junkie familiar with drive through food, I never place drinks (hot or cold) in my lap to remove the lid.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 140423
> A skydiver drops in at breakfast.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh how fun.  Staying at the D Day Hotel in Normandy I see.  Does it come with an LCVP ride and perhaps the storming of La Selva Beach?
> 
> 
> Okay, inquiring minds want to know, why is there a parachutist on the upstairs banister?
Click to expand...

The D-Day Cafe ... lol ... the eatery is named Moxie and it is next to the airport in Santa Maria.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, The Cook and Gary are in San Francisco.  We are grabbing a snack at Java Beach Cafe, this San Francisco, Bohemian type of coffee bar with fresh baked goods and sandwiches.  It is freezing here ... Leo type of cold ... she would love San Francisco ... it is like Skull Island ... in perpetual fog and overcast with stiff freezing winds. Mary Lou loves this Esther ... Gary wants Sun.  The coffee is quite good here.  Many flavors, but all good.

The Java Beach Cafe was crowded and we sat at a common table.  We met a very nice couple from Ireland.  They have a river in their backyard.  And also at our table was a San Francisco nut job ... (Gary figures that most people would consider San Francisco and nut job to be a redundant).


----------



## Gary A.

Wolff Winery

Gary is having a terrible time communicating with his iPhone and TPF.  His laptop and tablet are okay, but the iPhone sucks.


----------



## Gary A.

More iPhone Stuff:


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> @gryphonslair99 as with all things legal the line gets blurred. In the case of the McDonald's case, regardless of the exact temperature of the coffee or prior complaints, the woman admitted to placing the cup (she testified on top of her knees, but there's no way to verify that it wasn't between her knees) while she removed the lid. Now regardless of if it's on top or between, the last a place a rational person would put a Styrofoam cup of hot coffee is on your lap, while attempting to remove the lid. It's an accident waiting to happen. Being a road junkie familiar with drive through food, I never place drinks (hot or cold) in my lap to remove the lid.


Not disagreeing, however McDonalds was stupid to admit in open court that there were over 700 prior complaints, and even stupider for not addressing the issue when it surfaced.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou, The Cook and Gary are in San Francisco.  We are grabbing a snack at Java Beach Cafe, this San Francisco, Bohemian type of coffee bar with fresh baked goods and sandwiches.  It is freezing here ... Leo type of cold ... she would love San Francisco ... it is like Skull Island ... in perpetual fog and overcast with stiff freezing winds. Mary Lou loves this Esther ... Gary wants Sun.  The coffee is quite good here.  Many flavors, but all good.
> 
> The Java Beach Cafe was crowded and we sat at a common table.  We met a very nice couple from Ireland.  They have a river in their backyard.  And also at our table was a San Francisco nut job ... (Gary figures that most people would consider San Francisco and nut job to be a redundant).


Be careful while in San Francisco.  It's okay for Cook to run around naked, but not for Gary and Mary Lou any longer.  Apparently San Francisco is trying to become or at least seem more main stream.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> More iPhone Stuff:


Cool, what is it??????


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> McDonalds was stupid to admit in open court that there were over 700 prior complaint



Probably had no way of knowing if opposing counsel knew it. Still 3 mill was a chunk when the plaintiff bore some of the responsibility. 

On another note am I the only one who dislikes scalding hot coffee anyhow? Either my tongue is overly heat sensitive or their are a bunch of masochist coffee drinkers out there with blisters on their tongue. I always have to tell them to add a ice to mine, so i can drink it without scalding.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> McDonalds was stupid to admit in open court that there were over 700 prior complaint
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Probably had no way of knowing if opposing counsel knew it. Still 3 mill was a chunk when the plaintiff bore some of the responsibility.
> 
> On another note am I the only one who dislikes scalding hot coffee anyhow? Either my tongue is overly heat sensitive or their are a bunch of masochist coffee drinkers out there with blisters on their tongue. I always have to tell them to add a ice to mine, so i can drink it without scalding.
Click to expand...


Yes and no.  Look at Toyota and their Air Bag issues.  They new about the defective air bags for a long time, however if no one ever got into an accident then the defective air bags would not have hurt or killed anyone since they would not have gone off.  

Me, I solve the issue the easy way.  I always, and I mean always have a metal Tervis type cup with me.  Big for cold drinks and smaller for hot.  If I go through the drive through I hand them the cup and let them pour it into my cup.   Stays colder or hotter longer and is much safer than any Styrofoam, paper or plastic cup.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 140464 View attachment 140463
> 
> Wolff Winery
> 
> Gary is having a terrible time communicating with his iPhone and TPF.  His laptop and tablet are okay, but the iPhone sucks.


Gryph wants to be with Gary, Mary Lou and Cook.  Gryph spent the day cleaning house from top to bottom, vacuuming, dusting, Mopping tile floors and wood floors, cleaning bathrooms, putting fresh sheets on all the guest beds, completely cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom.  Gryph is tired but Gryph is ready to host 25-35 people this weekend for a family reunion.  The wife will be there too unless United decides to throw her from the plane Friday night between Orlando and here.  

Gryph was originally going to go back to Orlando again, but when the family reunion came up Gryph decided to not go and prepare for this instead.  Seems like Orlando/Kissimmee and San Diego are our second homes these days.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Seems like Orlando/Kissimmee and San Diego are our second homes these days.



May I suggest the Naples, FL and Marco Island as an alternative to kick back and rejuvenate. Beautiful place, manicured streets and medians, not real touristy, just a nice place to relax.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Seems like Orlando/Kissimmee and San Diego are our second homes these days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> May I suggest the Naples, FL and Marco Island as an alternative to kick back and rejuvenate. Beautiful place, manicured streets and medians, not real touristy, just a nice place to relax.
Click to expand...




 Are you freaking crazy or are you just trying to get me killed???  

My wife is a certified, Bona fide, platinumn card carrying Disney Freak.  We are in Orlando to land at the airport and attend her conferences only, then it is off to the Kissimmee house that is 5 minutes away from Disney's front gate.  Dude, I know the waiters by first name at all the eating establishments in downtown Disney.



She is unhappy that the National Boy Scout conference she is attending is in Orlando and not on Disney Property.    If I would have gone we would have stayed for a long weekend and I would end up on the Epcot Death March once again. 

Besides, I have friends in Key Largo.  If I want to get away that is the place for me.  A few day on their sloop and I am oh so good.

Thanks for the suggestions though, but it ain't gonna happen with my wife.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> More iPhone Stuff:
> 
> 
> 
> Cool, what is it??????
Click to expand...


It is called an iPhone that doesn't communicate with TPF. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

But Tapatalk seems to work. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone


----------



## Gary A.

Java Beach Cafe


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Seems like Orlando/Kissimmee and San Diego are our second homes these days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> May I suggest the Naples, FL and Marco Island as an alternative to kick back and rejuvenate. Beautiful place, manicured streets and medians, not real touristy, just a nice place to relax.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> View attachment 140471 Are you freaking crazy or are you just trying to get me killed???
> 
> My wife is a certified, Bona fide, platinumn card carrying Disney Freak.  We are in Orlando to land at the airport and attend her conferences only, then it is off to the Kissimmee house that is 5 minutes away from Disney's front gate.  Dude, I know the waiters by first name at all the eating establishments in downtown Disney.
> View attachment 140470
> She is unhappy that the National Boy Scout conference she is attending is in Orlando and not on Disney Property.    If I would have gone we would have stayed for a long weekend and I would end up on the Epcot Death March once again.
> 
> Besides, I have friends in Key Largo.  If I want to get away that is the place for me.  A few day on their sloop and I am oh so good.
> 
> Thanks for the suggestions though, but it ain't gonna happen with my wife.
Click to expand...


Gary lives 20 minutes away from Disneyland.  Gary's daughters have annual passes. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has spent time in Florida. California is so much better ... there is no comparison.  


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

The 16th Avenue steps in San Francisco. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> My wife is a certified, Bona fide, platinumn card carrying Disney Freak



Know a few of those around here. My wife and I like Disney there two years ago, but we've gotten burned out on it and the traffic. Found Naples by accident we hadn't planned on going that way, but will be there for January again in 2018. Key West via the shuttle is very economical,


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Seems like Orlando/Kissimmee and San Diego are our second homes these days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> May I suggest the Naples, FL and Marco Island as an alternative to kick back and rejuvenate. Beautiful place, manicured streets and medians, not real touristy, just a nice place to relax.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> View attachment 140471 Are you freaking crazy or are you just trying to get me killed???
> 
> My wife is a certified, Bona fide, platinumn card carrying Disney Freak.  We are in Orlando to land at the airport and attend her conferences only, then it is off to the Kissimmee house that is 5 minutes away from Disney's front gate.  Dude, I know the waiters by first name at all the eating establishments in downtown Disney.
> View attachment 140470
> She is unhappy that the National Boy Scout conference she is attending is in Orlando and not on Disney Property.    If I would have gone we would have stayed for a long weekend and I would end up on the Epcot Death March once again.
> 
> Besides, I have friends in Key Largo.  If I want to get away that is the place for me.  A few day on their sloop and I am oh so good.
> 
> Thanks for the suggestions though, but it ain't gonna happen with my wife.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Gary lives 20 minutes away from Disneyland.  Gary's daughters have annual passes.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I know the feeling.  The wife wears her Magic Band around here!!  

I must say that I did exacerbate the problem when I gave here a custom made Mickey Mouse necklace as a 5 year cancer free gift.  Since it was for being cancer free the center diamond is a pink sapphire with diamond ears identical to the ones in the link.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary has spent time in Florida. California is so much better ... there is no comparison.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



What part of FL? Been a few years since I was on the left coast, I'm just not a big fan of traffic and crowds any more. Naples downtown is a breath of continental class. Lots of restaurants for every taste. Tin City, is a unique place to eat at several places on the water. All are surprisingly reasonable. Marco Island beaches are beautiful.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 140480View attachment 140481
> More from the steps.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> My wife is a certified, Bona fide, platinumn card carrying Disney Freak
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Know a few of those around here. My wife and I like Disney there two years ago, but we've gotten burned out on it and the traffic. Found Naples by accident we hadn't planned on going that way, but will be there for January again in 2018. Key West via the shuttle is very economical,
Click to expand...

I feel the same.  Having 3 granddaughters, especially a 5 and a 7 year old Disney World is not just a journey it is a Death March.  As mentioned in a previous post we are there when the staff is arriving to prepare the park for opening and say good by to them as they leave to go home.  

Did you know that there was once a gold tea cup in Disney's Mad Tea Party Ride or that Alice often rides the tea cups?   Those are the kind of thing that diehard (nut job) Disney fanatics like my wife would know.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 140478
> iPhone
> 
> The 16th Avenue steps in San Francisco.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I know that place.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has spent time in Florida. California is so much better ... there is no comparison.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What part of FL? Been a few years since I was on the left coast, I'm just not a big fan of traffic and crowds any more. Naples downtown is a breath of continental class. Lots of restaurants for every taste. Tin City, is a unique place to eat at several places on the water. All are surprisingly reasonable. Marco Island beaches are beautiful.
Click to expand...


Miami and the Atlantic side. Traffic sucks here ... but from the Sierra to the Mojave to the Pacific, the World Class cities and World Class cultural/entertainment venues and the weather ... nah ... no comparison. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary has spent time in Florida. California is so much better ... there is no comparison.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Gryph is waiting to see Gary in the crowd at Lucha Underground.  It is filmed in LA.   
Gryph is kicking back watching silly, but fun Shaolin kung fu movies on the El Ray network.


----------



## Gary A.

From the top. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary has spent time in Florida. California is so much better ... there is no comparison.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


If we could afford the housing Gryph and wife would live in the San Diego area.  Love it, love it, love it.


----------



## Gary A.

For JC- The ceremonies are being held at AT&T Park. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

Does Gary, Mary Lou and Cook ever get over to the Mount Sutro open reserve space?  Love the walking paths there.


----------



## Gary A.

Not yet ... but we're here often. Gary will make a point of it on our next trip. There is so much right about San Francisco. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has spent time in Florida. California is so much better ... there is no comparison.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> If we could afford the housing Gryph and wife would live in the San Diego area.  Love it, love it, love it.
Click to expand...

San Diego is cheap. San Francisco is the most expensive city in the U.S. to live. Los Angeles is number two. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

According to Kiplingers, Manhattan is the most expensive, followed by Sunnyvale, CA,  Honolulu, then San Francisco.  LA doesn't make the top 10.  That is based on the cost of living index.  They are all expensive compared to little ole flat land Kansas.  

If you get a chance and want some great sea food try Pier 23 Cafe in Embarcadero.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's info came from a recent electronic media report. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes Alioto's. [emoji854]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It was a nice ceremony. Mary Lou, Cook and Gary will be winding their way down to SoCal today. Mary Lou and Gary used a service, Rover.com, to watch Cook during the graduation.  It got into the mid 50's F last night with a stiff wind blowing off the bay. Mary Lou loved it, Gary suffered. 






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It was a nice ceremony. Mary Lou, Cook and Gary will be winding their way down to SoCal today. Mary Lou and Gary used a service, Rover.com, to watch Cook during the graduation.  It got into the mid 50's F last night with a stiff wind blowing off the bay. Mary Lou loved it, Gary suffered.
> View attachment 140515
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Poor,.poor, Gary.... Maybe we should take up a "Gary freezing his *ss off fund"
For one of these....


----------



## Gary A.

If Gary lived here, he'd have one of those.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hi Hosers!  Been a while.  I've been trying to get back  here to check in but it's been a struggle lately.  Busy at work and busy with the softball team plus my back has been on the fritz which has made for a pretty crazy month of May.  I'm hoping things will start to calm down now!  Still haven't sorted through any of my Nashville pics.  @smoke665  you were right about the neon.  I was glad I brought my gear but lugging it around probably contributed to my back issues.  It was already feeling the pain but then I really threw it out when I tried to pick up my suitcase from an awkward angle on the way home from Nashville.  Sitting at my desk has been painful.  Been using the desk in stand up mode for most of the past 2 weeks.  

How has everyone been?  I see @Gary A. has been traveling and @JonA_CT has been interviewing...  good times!

As to the FL vs. CA debate:  SoCal over FL anyday.  Disney World over Disneyland by a mile.  Once again proving that you can't have it all.  

@jcdeboever  how is it going with the Fuji?  I'm debating getting a mirrorless for some upcoming travel.  I hated lugging the 7100 and lenses around with me in CA and Nashville.  Considering the XT-1 vs the XT-2 because of the price difference.  Refurb Xt1 with 18-55 for $870.  What do you think?  


@limr and @terri  - how are you ladies?


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Still haven't sorted through any of my Nashville pics. @smoke665 you were right about the neon. I was glad I brought my gear but lugging it around probably contributed to my back issues.



Tell the truth now you sure the back problems aren't related to riding the Pedal Bars downtown?  All kidding aside the neon lights and people could keep a street photographer occupied for a long time. Last time there we rode the shuttle in with a large group and I didn't have room or time to do much except with phone. Going back when we can go on our own.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. It was a nice ceremony. Mary Lou, Cook and Gary will be winding their way down to SoCal today. Mary Lou and Gary used a service, Rover.com, to watch Cook during the graduation.  It got into the mid 50's F last night with a stiff wind blowing off the bay. Mary Lou loved it, Gary suffered.
> View attachment 140515
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Maybe if Gary owned a pair of long pants instead of just those So Cal shorts, Gary wouldn't have been so cold.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Hi Hosers!  Been a while.  I've been trying to get back  here to check in but it's been a struggle lately.  Busy at work and busy with the softball team plus my back has been on the fritz which has made for a pretty crazy month of May.  I'm hoping things will start to calm down now!  Still haven't sorted through any of my Nashville pics.  @smoke665  you were right about the neon.  I was glad I brought my gear but lugging it around probably contributed to my back issues.  It was already feeling the pain but then I really threw it out when I tried to pick up my suitcase from an awkward angle on the way home from Nashville.  Sitting at my desk has been painful.  Been using the desk in stand up mode for most of the past 2 weeks.
> 
> How has everyone been?  I see @Gary A. has been traveling and @JonA_CT has been interviewing...  good times!
> 
> As to the FL vs. CA debate:  SoCal over FL anyday.  Disney World over Disneyland by a mile.  Once again proving that you can't have it all.
> 
> @jcdeboever  how is it going with the Fuji?  I'm debating getting a mirrorless for some upcoming travel.  I hated lugging the 7100 and lenses around with me in CA and Nashville.  Considering the XT-1 vs the XT-2 because of the price difference.  Refurb Xt1 with 18-55 for $870.  What do you think?
> 
> 
> @limr and @terri  - how are you ladies?


While I can agree with Disney World over Disney Land, sorry, but San Diego over anywhere else.   

For one thing the gas stations along the highways do not have "Beware of Alligators" signs posted next to the pumps.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's youngest daughter lives in San Diego. 

@ Peg, while I'm not JC, the XT2 is a definite upgrade over the XT1.  Well worth the extra bucks.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Hi Hosers!  Been a while.  I've been trying to get back  here to check in but it's been a struggle lately.  Busy at work and busy with the softball team plus my back has been on the fritz which has made for a pretty crazy month of May.  I'm hoping things will start to calm down now!  Still haven't sorted through any of my Nashville pics.  @smoke665  you were right about the neon.  I was glad I brought my gear but lugging it around probably contributed to my back issues.  It was already feeling the pain but then I really threw it out when I tried to pick up my suitcase from an awkward angle on the way home from Nashville.  Sitting at my desk has been painful.  Been using the desk in stand up mode for most of the past 2 weeks.
> 
> How has everyone been?  I see @Gary A. has been traveling and @JonA_CT has been interviewing...  good times!
> 
> As to the FL vs. CA debate:  SoCal over FL anyday.  Disney World over Disneyland by a mile.  Once again proving that you can't have it all.
> 
> @jcdeboever  how is it going with the Fuji?  I'm debating getting a mirrorless for some upcoming travel.  I hated lugging the 7100 and lenses around with me in CA and Nashville.  Considering the XT-1 vs the XT-2 because of the price difference.  Refurb Xt1 with 18-55 for $870.  What do you think?
> 
> 
> @limr and @terri  - how are you ladies?



Welcome back. 

Love my Fuji, I picked up a used X-Pro2 used for a backup, love it too. The XT-2 is a pretty big upgrade in terms of focus speed, and sensor technology. However, if your not doing a lot of birds in flight, probably not a big deal. There is also the XT20 which is a little smaller, newer sensor. You would love the 60mm macro 1:2. Great for flowers and portraits. The 50-230 is an underated zoom for the money, as is the 18-135. I rented both of them as well as the 55-200, settled on the 55-200 because I had a nice commission check. Heck, the 18-55 kit lens is fantastic as well. I have the 16mm, 23mm, 60mm, 18-55, 55-200, and the 100-400 with 1.4tc.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary's youngest daughter lives in San Diego.
> 
> @ Peg, while I'm not JC, the XT2 is a definite upgrade over the XT1.  Well worth the extra bucks.


She is one smart girl.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are back in Gilroy. Gary just signed up for a membership at Sarah's Vineyard for his oldest daughter, Sarah. 



This is the Santa Clara Valley and the wines are quite good here. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

If you're ever in Gilroy, Barbecue 152 is very good. 




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Still haven't sorted through any of my Nashville pics. @smoke665 you were right about the neon. I was glad I brought my gear but lugging it around probably contributed to my back issues.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tell the truth now you sure the back problems aren't related to riding the Pedal Bars downtown?  All kidding aside the neon lights and people could keep a street photographer occupied for a long time. Last time there we rode the shuttle in with a large group and I didn't have room or time to do much except with phone. Going back when we can go on our own.
Click to expand...


I didn't try the pedal bar but I did line dance at the Wild Horse, go to open mic at the Blue Bird and go to Santas pub.  Anyone familiar with that last one?


----------



## snowbear




----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Anyone familiar with that last one



No is that downtown?


----------



## snowbear

Downtown.  Along Congress Street.




DSC_7020.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone familiar with that last one
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No is that downtown?
Click to expand...

No. It's outside the city.  A double wide trailer with Christmas lights on it.  Beer only. An interesting place.  Fun. Unfortunately they allow smoking in there so we had to go after an hour.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> @limr and @terri - how are you ladies?



We've missed ya, babe!   Glad to see you.  

Sorry about your back - and I am sending fervent wishes for a speedy recovery.   Mine has been plaguing me on and off for the last couple of years  - I'm better than I was a year ago, still not 100%.   I stand most of the time when working, too.   Take care of yourself!     

Looking forward to seeing your latest pics, whenever time permits to get them posted.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are home ... ever be it so humble.


----------



## vintagesnaps

OK Charlie I don't really think that picture was supposed to be funny... but it was! Sorry it's not working, just stick a post-it on it... I can't help it, too many years working for a county agency! lol


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone familiar with that last one
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No is that downtown?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No. It's outside the city.  A double wide trailer with Christmas lights on it.  Beer only. An interesting place.  Fun. Unfortunately they allow smoking in there so we had to go after an hour.
Click to expand...


Ok I see  it, south Nashville close to 100 Oaks. You are a brave soul. Though I'll admit I was known to frequent a few out of the way places when I was younger. Business took me to Houston a lot where no trip was complete without a trip to the original Gilleys (before the movie) Pasadena. Did you have time for a show at the Ryman?


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> OK Charlie I don't really think that picture was supposed to be funny... but it was! Sorry it's not working, just stick a post-it on it... I can't help it, too many years working for a county agency! lol


Oh, it's funny.  I almost LOL'ed when I saw it.


----------



## snowbear

Glad you'r back, Sharon.  I can relate to the back problems - mine's bothering me a bit now.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It was only a three day trip, but it felt like a week. Mary Lou's travel plan was to bit the graduation, then get home early beating the Memorial Day traffic.  Coming home, leaving Sarah's Vineyard in Gilroy, we decided to drive over the mountains via the Pacheco Pass and drive down Interstate 5 through the Central Valley.  Between Gilroy and the pass was absolutely horrible traffic. Other than that section of road, traffic was fine, as-expected ... even travelling across Los Angeles was actually pretty good and didn't hit any real traffic until downtown. 

Gary is sipping his second cup of coffee, snacking on leftover car snacks of dried pineapple and Fig Newtons. The ball fields across the street are filled with teams, the algae bloom in the pond is under control and The Cook is ready for her walk.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone familiar with that last one
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No is that downtown?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No. It's outside the city.  A double wide trailer with Christmas lights on it.  Beer only. An interesting place.  Fun. Unfortunately they allow smoking in there so we had to go after an hour.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ok I see  it, south Nashville close to 100 Oaks. You are a brave soul. Though I'll admit I was known to frequent a few out of the way places when I was younger. Business took me to Houston a lot where no trip was complete without a trip to the original Gilleys (before the movie) Pasadena. Did you have time for a show at the Ryman?
Click to expand...


No Ryman. We saw Brad Paisley at the Grand Ole Opry.  its a fun city.


----------



## EIngerson

I wish all of you a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend. I thank each and every person that has sacrificed on my behalf. And a special thanks to Sergeant Michael Bitz and Corporal Kemaphoom Chanawongse (pronounced Chon-ot-wa) You will never be forgotten brothers. Semper Fi! 




Sgt Rice. Never forgotten by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

And to you and others who are serving, or have served, thank you.


----------



## snowbear

Today we walked through old Port.







I want this truck


----------



## snowbear

MLW for 33 years next week.


----------



## tirediron

Just how long did it take you to remove the camera from your donkey after you took that picture?


----------



## snowbear

Actually, she tolerated my antics.


----------



## tirediron

"Play now, pay later" then?


----------



## snowbear

Nah - she's good with it.  She even bought me lobster and a couple of drinks.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> Nah - she's good with it.  She even bought me lobster and a couple of drinks.


At least you're not a cheap date!


----------



## snowbear

And, then there's Lazy Lobster.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nah - she's good with it.  She even bought me lobster and a couple of drinks.
> 
> 
> 
> At least you're not a cheap date!
Click to expand...

Cheap - no; just easy.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nah - she's good with it.  She even bought me lobster and a couple of drinks.
> 
> 
> 
> At least you're not a cheap date!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Cheap - no; just easy.
Click to expand...

I should hope so!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Eric that's a wonderful photo, and very moving.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Charlie you have a LF, lovely family.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Charlie you have a LF, lovely family.


Thank you.  There's one missing; he wasn't able to get away from Tulsa.


----------



## smoke665

Day two of cooking for tomorrow's meal for family get together. Yesterday I slow smoked the Butts in the smoker. Today the ribs are loaded up and smoking away. Stripped the pork from the Butts for pulled pork, man it is so moist and tender, that it melts in your mouth. Got to quit doing quality control samples or there might not be any left for Monday, plus I might need to do some quality control samples on the ribs later LOL


----------



## JonA_CT

I was gonna smoke some pork butt, but decided to go the burgers and dogs route today. Didn't feel like babysitting my Weber all day. 

I am going to make my mom's famous chicken wings, though. Those will get a bit of some applewood chunks as my little alteration.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> I was gonna smoke some pork butt,


Don't the rolling papers get all soggy from the sauce?


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I was gonna smoke some pork butt, but decided to go the burgers and dogs route today. Didn't feel like babysitting my Weber all day.
> 
> I am going to make my mom's famous chicken wings, though. Those will get a bit of some applewood chunks as my little alteration.


Watch your feet


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm burning some barbeque chicken and pork  steak on the grill... for family today.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> I was gonna smoke some pork butt, but decided to go the burgers and dogs route today. Didn't feel like babysitting my Weber all day.
> 
> I am going to make my mom's famous chicken wings, though. Those will get a bit of some applewood chunks as my little alteration.


 
I've got an electric cabinet model that can hold up to 40# of meat at a time if I'm really energetic. Set the temperature/time and it does it's thing. Add some chips to the pan every so often, check on the drip pan and baste it every 2 hrs. Hardest part is getting the meat ready the day before.


----------



## limr

I have no plans to grill or barbecue anything at all.


----------



## EIngerson

vintagesnaps said:


> Eric that's a wonderful photo, and very moving.



Thank you Sharon!


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> I was gonna smoke some pork butt, but decided to go the burgers and dogs route today. Didn't feel like babysitting my Weber all day.
> 
> I am going to make my mom's famous chicken wings, though. Those will get a bit of some applewood chunks as my little alteration.



Smartest thing I ever got. Yoder Smokers | Competition Grade BBQ Grills And Smokers


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Day two of cooking for tomorrow's meal for family get together. Yesterday I slow smoked the Butts in the smoker. Today the ribs are loaded up and smoking away. Stripped the pork from the Butts for pulled pork, man it is so moist and tender, that it melts in your mouth. Got to quit doing quality control samples or there might not be any left for Monday, plus I might need to do some quality control samples on the ribs later LOL


QC is the most important part of cooking.  (Gotta QC the vino as well.)


----------



## jcdeboever

Didn't burn too bad


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was gonna smoke some pork butt, but decided to go the burgers and dogs route today. Didn't feel like babysitting my Weber all day.
> 
> I am going to make my mom's famous chicken wings, though. Those will get a bit of some applewood chunks as my little alteration.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Smartest thing I ever got. Yoder Smokers | Competition Grade BBQ Grills And Smokers
Click to expand...




gryphonslair99 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was gonna smoke some pork butt, but decided to go the burgers and dogs route today. Didn't feel like babysitting my Weber all day.
> 
> I am going to make my mom's famous chicken wings, though. Those will get a bit of some applewood chunks as my little alteration.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Smartest thing I ever got. Yoder Smokers | Competition Grade BBQ Grills And Smokers
Click to expand...

Gary is quite please with his electric Masterbuilt smoker. Easy-Peasy.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## Gary A.

EIngerson said:


> I wish all of you a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend. I thank each and every person that has sacrificed on my behalf. And a special thanks to Sergeant Michael Bitz and Corporal Kemaphoom Chanawongse (pronounced Chon-ot-wa) You will never be forgotten brothers. Semper Fi!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sgt Rice. Never forgotten by Eric Ingerson, on Flickr


A respectful Memorial Day Eric. God Bless you guys.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I'm burning some barbeque chicken and pork  steak on the grill... for family today.


Interestingly enough, Gary was gonna ask you about BBQ-in' ... if you do and all the details thereof.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Didn't burn too bad
> View attachment 140600


You have big feet.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> View attachment 140601


Why is there a circular cutout in your grill?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm burning some barbeque chicken and pork  steak on the grill... for family today.
> 
> 
> 
> Interestingly enough, Gary was gonna ask you about BBQ-in' ... if you do and all the details thereof.
Click to expand...

Well I pulled it off. The pork steak was tender and the chicken juicy. I read on YouTube to cook the meat first, spread barbeque sauce on at the end. I sprinkled on some Lawry's seasoned salt prior. I cooked the potatoes in a glove of foil.d... turned out good. I guess I am an official coffee house nut job now that I did barbeque....geez


----------



## jcdeboever

However, they all made fun of me because I was wearing casual shoes, white socks, with shorts... I thought I looked pretty sporty today.... Guess not....


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 140601
> 
> 
> 
> Why is there a circular cutout in your grill?
Click to expand...

For superior venting temperature technology? Hell, I don't know, it's a Weber grill, gets hot and burns stuff....

Looks like center weighted metering to me, so I put my meat on it....hot


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are having an easy afternoon of NetFlix and beacoup snacks, (Mary Lou whipped up some guacamole, yum) and vino.  Perfect weather, temps in the 70's ... nice Pacific breeze.  Did Gary say vino ...?  A wonderful Pinot Nior from Kynsi in the Edna Valley.

PS- Gary cleared up algae bloom completely cleared up and the pond looks wonderful.
G.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> However, they all made fun of me because I was wearing casual shoes, white socks, with shorts... I thought I looked pretty sporty today.... Guess not....


LOL ... I was wearing shorts, white socks w/Nikes and Mary Lou said I was wearing "little boy socks".


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Day two of cooking for tomorrow's meal for family get together. Yesterday I slow smoked the Butts in the smoker. Today the ribs are loaded up and smoking away. Stripped the pork from the Butts for pulled pork, man it is so moist and tender, that it melts in your mouth. Got to quit doing quality control samples or there might not be any left for Monday, plus I might need to do some quality control samples on the ribs later LOL
> 
> 
> 
> QC is the most important part of cooking.  (Gotta QC the vino as well.)
Click to expand...


Gonna be a long dry spell for me Gary. On going sinus infection had just about done me in. Went to the doctor last week, 2 shots, a heavy round of antibiotic, and steroids, but I'd gladly go dry for awhile to be rid of this crud. 

Ribs are off and finished. So tender they fall off the bone. Gonna be miserable full tomorrow night this time.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Smoke:  Bummer on the sinsuses.  You just gotta power through it all ... but you know that.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> @ Smoke:  Bummer on the sinsuses.  You just gotta power through it all ... but you know that.



One of the down sides of living in the south, in the woods, is the Pine tree pollen in the spring. Brings up all kinds of problems that can sometimes linger on for weeks.


----------



## Gary A.

Two movies and a bottle of Pinot later, Mary Lou and Gary have retired to the patio for a dinner of chicken soup, tortillas and water. Very pleasant evening. Mary Lou is wrapping up with the Sunday paper and Gary is enjoying Dudamel on KUSC. Gary and the fish are extremely happy that the opaque green water of the pond is now crystal clear. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 140601
> 
> 
> 
> Why is there a circular cutout in your grill?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> For superior venting temperature technology? Hell, I don't know, it's a Weber grill, gets hot and burns stuff....
> 
> Looks like center weighted metering to me, so I put my meat on it....hot
Click to expand...

@Gary A. ...Actually, now that I think about it, it came with a griddle cast iron pan that may fit in the hole. Not sure what that is for but maybe it's for it? I am no cook like you but getting better as I didn't over do anything yesterday.


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 140601
> 
> 
> 
> Why is there a circular cutout in your grill?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> For superior venting temperature technology? Hell, I don't know, it's a Weber grill, gets hot and burns stuff....
> 
> Looks like center weighted metering to me, so I put my meat on it....hot
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> @Gary A. ...Actually, now that I think about it, it came with a griddle cast iron pan that may fit in the hole. Not sure what that is for but maybe it's for it? I am no cook like you but getting better as I didn't over do anything yesterday.
Click to expand...


Yup. I have a similar model...you can lift that section out and put a shallow cast iron pan in it's place. The only thing I ever use it for is when I'm cooking fish. 

I know its the morning after a cook out because breakfast was a cold cheeseburger.


----------



## JonA_CT

I call this..."Sometimes you need to take the 85mm lens off." My little girl yesterday.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I call this..."Sometimes you need to take the 85mm lens off." My little girl yesterday.
> 
> View attachment 140625


She's cute as a button!


----------



## Gary A.

Memorial Day.  

God Bless our troops, yesterday, today and tomorrow.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> My little girl yesterday.



2nd JC's comment she is a cutey. Looks like she might have a little attitude to go with that cute, from you or the mom? LOL


----------



## terri

@JonA_CT :    She is too cute for words!         She does look like she's informing you of something quite important - love it!

@Gary A. :    That's a great image.   Thanks for posting.    Bless our troops around the world!    

Hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day, as we remember those who fought for us.


----------



## smoke665

To all our vets, thank you for your service. Some paid the ultimate price and for some the battle still rages in inside. For my son and all the countless others who struggle with the daily problems of PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injuries from that cursed piece of desert, may you one day find peace. OIF Tour, somewhere inside Iraq 03/09, the Fighting 5th.




O.I.F. tour 015.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Godspeed PFC Raber.


----------



## jcdeboever

On this Memorial Day, I am thankful for the sacrifice so many throughout our history have made, for the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice and for their families who had to carry on without them. It is a sacrifice that is easy to forget. For those who have it, freedom is like oxygen. It’s something we just have. Many will not understand just how precious either is until they are at risk of being taken away. There are encroachments being made on our freedoms right now by those who think they know better. This is a conversation for another time. Today I remember a sacrifice made and a debt I cannot repay. Today I pray for the God of heaven to bless the families of those who have lost loved ones while serving our great nation. I pray for Him to bless and comfort the walking wounded who are still with us, and bless their families as well. It is also my prayer that we remember their sacrifice and the precious gift of freedom every day, not just once a year or when they are in danger of being taken away.
Read more at 15 Inspirational Prayers for Memorial Day


----------



## Gary A.

BTW- For those with flags:

If the flag is on a flagpole and can be raised and lowered, it is to be quickly raised to full staff at dawn then slowly lowered to half mast until noon.  At noon the flag is to be raised rapidly to full height of the pole.  If you have a stationary flag on a pole, you are to have a black banner/stripe between the top of the flag and the top emblem.


----------



## Gary A.

Under Cook's supervision, Mary Lou and Gary are doing some like yard work in the front. Along with our clippers and trowels we also brought our wine. Mary Lou has decided that wine makes yard work so much better than without. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is grilling up some sausages for chili dogs!  Next to the propane grill is this wonderful little Serrano pepper plant. It is a couple of years old and it just keeps on giving. 





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm currently sipping a cup of coffee and watching cartoons with my daughter. My mom will be over at about 9 this morning so that I can head off to my second interview at the local high school. I'll be teaching a lesson to 18 Freshman today. I haven't taught in a high school classroom in 7 years (Middle School and College. Weird, right?). I think the lesson is planned well, and it's material and skills that I'm comfortable and confident with. Just time to make it happen.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I'm currently sipping a cup of coffee and watching cartoons with my daughter. My mom will be over at about 9 this morning so that I can head off to my second interview at the local high school. I'll be teaching a lesson to 18 Freshman today. I haven't taught in a high school classroom in 7 years (Middle School and College. Weird, right?). I think the lesson is planned well, and it's material and skills that I'm comfortable and confident with. Just time to make it happen.


Cool, you're going to do great bud! Woo hoo! 2nd interview is serious interest!


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I'm currently sipping a cup of coffee and watching cartoons with my daughter. My mom will be over at about 9 this morning so that I can head off to my second interview at the local high school. I'll be teaching a lesson to 18 Freshman today. I haven't taught in a high school classroom in 7 years (Middle School and College. Weird, right?). I think the lesson is planned well, and it's material and skills that I'm comfortable and confident with. Just time to make it happen.


Teach Like a Champion.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> I'm currently sipping a cup of coffee and watching cartoons with my daughter. My mom will be over at about 9 this morning so that I can head off to my second interview at the local high school. I'll be teaching a lesson to 18 Freshman today. I haven't taught in a high school classroom in 7 years (Middle School and College. Weird, right?). I think the lesson is planned well, and it's material and skills that I'm comfortable and confident with. Just time to make it happen.


Good luck, though it seems you'll easily ace it.       Let us know how it went!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The other day, on the front page of the Times, was an article on doughnut boxes, pink doughnut boxes.  Quite an interesting article, but it sorta bogged down about halfway through.  Apparently, doughnut boxes are not regulated and can be identified by region.  The orange Dunkin Doughnut box of the east, the white Krispy Kreme box of the south and the pink doughnut boxes of SoCal (now invading Texas and Arizona).  The article mentioned that if you're watching something on Tv taking place in NY or DC and there is a pink box of doughnuts, it was filmed in Los Angeles.

Another overcast morning, temps in the low 70's.  Interestingly for Gary, that in his youth weather was relatively unimportant, it just dictated your clothing.  As Gary grows older, weather becomes increasing more important ... and enjoyable. It is no longer something to ignore or work around ... but something to savor. Sorta like booze, when Gary was young, booze was something you did with others, a sidebar to being social ... but now it is something to be scrutinized and enjoyed in and of itself. Before it was all about the entertainment, the people you were socializing with and it didn't matter if it was beer or wine or spirits or even good beer, wine or spirits.  Now, the quality of the booze is equal to the quality of the entertainment and socialization ... both have to above par for a successful time. Just talkin' ...


----------



## snowbear

You mean these pink boxes?  GTCC has opened stores in NYC, LA and Boston.


----------



## Gary A.

Yes, those pink boxes.  It all started back in the the 1970's in SoCal because those pink boxes were cheaper than white.


----------



## snowbear

But the cupcakes (more important) are from DC.


----------



## JonA_CT

I laid it all out there. Now the wait begins.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I laid it all out there. Now the wait begins.


Did you wear a tie?


----------



## limr

The orange was only Dunkin' Donuts (and these days, they're white with orange writing and brown accents). If you went to a "real" bakery, the traditional boxes were white tied with red and white string: bakery boxes


----------



## jcdeboever

I like donuts


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Presently, even as Gary keyboards this communique, he is busying himself with some coffee roasting while sipping on the same.


----------



## Gary A.

Another cool and overcast morning. Very comfortable roasting in the patio and doing the odd clean-up.  Today Gary's oldest daughter and family are visiting from St. Louis. Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are preparing the food and games for the day.


----------



## Gary A.

Since coming back from San Francisco, Gary cannot get that Tony Bennett song out of his little mind.  Gary thinks it is the greatest song about a city ever written.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't know what donut boxes we have here in the middle... something square that a person can stick a bunch of donuts in.

Good luck, Jon. From what I remember 9th graders are halfway reasonable to deal with. I did say halfway... Only taught that age a few years but it was never a dull moment. But seriously, I hope you get it! 

I think the headache I have is due to whatever truck was making a lot of racket and woke me up early. Well, early for me anyway... That and the weather, hot and cold, wet and dry, make up your mind already!


----------



## jcdeboever

In my hour of lunch photography (really breakfast), I was getting attacked today by a redwing blackbird. I thought the feller just wanted his pic taken, so I obligated. Well, I must of been near his wife's nest or something, he was pissed as I soon realized. Darting, diving, and actually touching my head several times. I was laughing so hard, I pert near pee'd my pants. I will post some real close ups later. I had a 55-200 and I didn't need to zoom out all the way if that tells you anything. Geez....


----------



## jcdeboever

Crazy red wing blackbird

1.



 

2.


 

3.


----------



## jcdeboever

Bob escaped to Michigan, he said @limr keeps the house freezing.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Bob escaped to Michigan, he said @limr keeps the house freezing.
> View attachment 140783



Imposter! (Imbobster!) If Bob were too cold, why would he escape to...MICHIGAN???


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bob escaped to Michigan, he said @limr keeps the house freezing.
> View attachment 140783
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Imposter! (Imbobster!) If Bob were too cold, why would he escape to...MICHIGAN???
Click to expand...


Cause Bob is an indoor turtle, and besides, he'said getting some action now.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bob escaped to Michigan, he said @limr keeps the house freezing.
> View attachment 140783
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Imposter! (Imbobster!) If Bob were too cold, why would he escape to...MICHIGAN???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Cause Bob is an indoor turtle, and besides, he'said getting some action now.
Click to expand...


Bob's still a teenager. He's all talk. He doesn't even know what action is yet.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bob escaped to Michigan, he said @limr keeps the house freezing.
> View attachment 140783
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Imposter! (Imbobster!) If Bob were too cold, why would he escape to...MICHIGAN???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Cause Bob is an indoor turtle, and besides, he'said getting some action now.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Bob's still a teenager. He's all talk. He doesn't even know what action is yet.
Click to expand...


I'll be darn, he had me fooled, jive talking Testudine


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> He doesn't even know what action is yet.



But obviously Bob's cousin does!!!! Sometimes LOL


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Testudine


That ain't Testudo, either.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> He doesn't even know what action is yet.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But obviously Bob's cousin does!!!! Sometimes LOL
> 
> View attachment 140784
Click to expand...


I'm sure ole Jimmy will take Bob under his wing...er, shell when he's old enough to understand


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Mary Lou, Cook and Gary survived yesterday. Gary oldest daughter arrived family in tow all the way from St. Louis. Breakfast, lunch and dinner was crafted and served.  Pancakes, eggs and turkey bacon for starters, (the kids wanted cereal ... too bad no cereal).   Food/drink wise, they were blown away by Gary's coffee and his orange-lemonade concoction. And they were completely entertained by his siphon coffee maker.  Lunch was more of a snack of deli cuts on rolls.  But Dinner ... dinner was wonderful.  A huge salmon with a seasoned teriyaki crust ... dark and crusty on the outside tender and juicy on the inside.  Next to the salmon was Gary's, now famous, Tri-Tip brisket. Gary cooked it outside on the induction cooktop for four+ hours.  Swimming in fistfuls of herbs from the garden and Gary's Famous Homemade BBQ Sauce. Sarah, (Gary's daughter), went to serve up the kids she asked for a knife to cut the Tri-Tip.  Gary replied that all she needed was the serving fork ... she looked concerned ... but once the fork hit the meat, the meat simply fell apart.  She was all smiles. 

Interestingly enough, Tri-Tip is a regional cut and name ... like the pink doughnut boxes.  In other parts of the country it is called Santa Maria Steak, Bottom Sirloin or Newport Steak.  There is some controversy as to the origins of the cut and name. 

Horseshoes, Puzzles, Cornhole, Action Figures (Rocket and Groot for Luke, Wonder Woman for Claire), planting sunflowers and fidgit spinners occupied the kids.  The parents sat in the patio by the fire table drinking California wine, (Sarah Vineyard, Santa Clara Valley, lol), listening to classical music and commenting that they feel really relaxed ... they never realized how, even though they thought they were relaxing ... they really weren't when compared to the retreat of the backyard.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Mary Lou, Cook and Gary presented Sarah with a membership to Sarah's Vineyard to commemorate her being appointed the new director of St. Luke's Preschool Program.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary's, now famous, Tri-Tip brisket. Gary cooked it outside on the induction cooktop for four+ hours. Swimming in fistfuls of herbs from the garden and Gary's Famous Homemade BBQ Sauce



We had never tried Tri-Tip till one day in the store they were passing out samples. The samples were good, so we bought two pkgs.  Followed the directions for cooking given by the store, it was so tough you could have used if for brake pads on a freight train.  The second one I tried the slow cook method, and still it was pretty much inedible. Ended up throwing it out. Haven't tried it since.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's, now famous, Tri-Tip brisket. Gary cooked it outside on the induction cooktop for four+ hours. Swimming in fistfuls of herbs from the garden and Gary's Famous Homemade BBQ Sauce
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We had never tried Tri-Tip till one day in the store they were passing out samples. The samples were good, so we bought two pkgs.  Followed the directions for cooking given by the store, it was so tough you could have used if for brake pads on a freight train.  The second one I tried the slow cook method, and still it was pretty much inedible. Ended up throwing it out. Haven't tried it since.
Click to expand...

Now I know your my brother, leather beef meat...


----------



## SquarePeg

Just ordered the Fuji XT2 with the 18-55 2.8-4 kit lens.  Very excited!  I was going to go with the XT20 because I just wanted something smaller and lighter than my 7100 for vacations and family events but then I decided at the last minute to step it up to the XT2 as a possible replacement to my Nikon gear.  I haven't been using my gear all that much lately because I've been so busy but also due to me not wanting to lug it around all the time.  After hauling it all over Disneyland and then Nashville, I'm ready to lighten the load.  I'll probably keep the 7100 and the macro lens for the artsy flowery stuff and maybe the 70-300 for the occasional portrait but if I like the Fuji as much as everyone is telling me I will, I'm going to sell off the 5100 and all of my other lenses. 

It did almost kill me to pay full price since there is nothing available on the used/refurb market at this point.  I am definitely a bargain hunter and not getting a great deal was tough to take but it was difficult even finding it in stock anywhere!  I found it online at Best Buy for delivery on Saturday.  Everywhere else had a least a warning about backorder or a 1-3 month delay in shipping.  

@jcdeboever   and @Gary A.     I'll be haunting you with questions.


----------



## Gary A.

My Tri-Tip is like a Filet Mignon ... tender and melty... more steak-like than roast. Sorry about your experience. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's, now famous, Tri-Tip brisket. Gary cooked it outside on the induction cooktop for four+ hours. Swimming in fistfuls of herbs from the garden and Gary's Famous Homemade BBQ Sauce
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We had never tried Tri-Tip till one day in the store they were passing out samples. The samples were good, so we bought two pkgs.  Followed the directions for cooking given by the store, it was so tough you could have used if for brake pads on a freight train.  The second one I tried the slow cook method, and still it was pretty much inedible. Ended up throwing it out. Haven't tried it since.
Click to expand...




SquarePeg said:


> Just ordered the Fuji XT2 with the 18-55 2.8-4 kit lens.  Very excited!  I was going to go with the XT20 because I just wanted something smaller and lighter than my 7100 for vacations and family events but then I decided at the last minute to step it up to the XT2 as a possible replacement to my Nikon gear.  I haven't been using my gear all that much lately because I've been so busy but also due to me not wanting to lug it around all the time.  After hauling it all over Disneyland and then Nashville, I'm ready to lighten the load.  I'll probably keep the 7100 and the macro lens for the artsy flowery stuff and maybe the 70-300 for the occasional portrait but if I like the Fuji as much as everyone is telling me I will, I'm going to sell off the 5100 and all of my other lenses.
> 
> It did almost kill me to pay full price since there is nothing available on the used/refurb market at this point.  I am definitely a bargain hunter and not getting a great deal was tough to take but it was difficult even finding it in stock anywhere!  I found it online at Best Buy for delivery on Saturday.  Everywhere else had a least a warning about backorder or a 1-3 month delay in shipping.
> 
> @jcdeboever   and @Gary A.     I'll be haunting you with questions.


Gary has no doubts that you will absolutely love everything Fuji.  There is nothing cheap with Fuji but you really do get good value for every dollar.  (Example: Manual dials on the camera and lens are much more expensive to implement per camera than software equivalent.)


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Just ordered the Fuji XT2 with the 18-55 2.8-4 kit lens.  Very excited!  I was going to go with the XT20 because I just wanted something smaller and lighter than my 7100 for vacations and family events but then I decided at the last minute to step it up to the XT2 as a possible replacement to my Nikon gear.  I haven't been using my gear all that much lately because I've been so busy but also due to me not wanting to lug it around all the time.  After hauling it all over Disneyland and then Nashville, I'm ready to lighten the load.  I'll probably keep the 7100 and the macro lens for the artsy flowery stuff and maybe the 70-300 for the occasional portrait but if I like the Fuji as much as everyone is telling me I will, I'm going to sell off the 5100 and all of my other lenses.



I've been starting to have the same feelings regarding gear size and not wanting to lug it around. The D600 is about the same size as your 7100, and it has almost collected dust (it feels better to admit it). Some of it is just because my life has had it's challenges over the past couple of months, but a decent chunk is that it's just a lot to carry around. Fortunately for me, the cost of equipment probably will convince me to stay with my Nikon gear for awhile.


----------



## Gary A.

There is a Green Backed Heron eating Misquito Fish in the pond.  Better entertainment than Tv.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg:  The kit lens will make you a believer.  You'll be thinking to yourself, "Man, if the kit is this sharp ... how good will 'real' lenses be ...?"


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Just ordered the Fuji XT2 with the 18-55 2.8-4 kit lens.  Very excited!  I was going to go with the XT20 because I just wanted something smaller and lighter than my 7100 for vacations and family events but then I decided at the last minute to step it up to the XT2 as a possible replacement to my Nikon gear.  I haven't been using my gear all that much lately because I've been so busy but also due to me not wanting to lug it around all the time.  After hauling it all over Disneyland and then Nashville, I'm ready to lighten the load.  I'll probably keep the 7100 and the macro lens for the artsy flowery stuff and maybe the 70-300 for the occasional portrait but if I like the Fuji as much as everyone is telling me I will, I'm going to sell off the 5100 and all of my other lenses.
> 
> It did almost kill me to pay full price since there is nothing available on the used/refurb market at this point.  I am definitely a bargain hunter and not getting a great deal was tough to take but it was difficult even finding it in stock anywhere!  I found it online at Best Buy for delivery on Saturday.  Everywhere else had a least a warning about backorder or a 1-3 month delay in shipping.
> 
> @jcdeboever   and @Gary A.     I'll be haunting you with questions.


Your gonna love it. If your not getting the battery grip, buy some of those wasabe batteries for back up. Only downfall to mirrorless is battery life.View attachment 140837


SquarePeg said:


> Just ordered the Fuji XT2 with the 18-55 2.8-4 kit lens.  Very excited!  I was going to go with the XT20 because I just wanted something smaller and lighter than my 7100 for vacations and family events but then I decided at the last minute to step it up to the XT2 as a possible replacement to my Nikon gear.  I haven't been using my gear all that much lately because I've been so busy but also due to me not wanting to lug it around all the time.  After hauling it all over Disneyland and then Nashville, I'm ready to lighten the load.  I'll probably keep the 7100 and the macro lens for the artsy flowery stuff and maybe the 70-300 for the occasional portrait but if I like the Fuji as much as everyone is telling me I will, I'm going to sell off the 5100 and all of my other lenses.
> 
> It did almost kill me to pay full price since there is nothing available on the used/refurb market at this point.  I am definitely a bargain hunter and not getting a great deal was tough to take but it was difficult even finding it in stock anywhere!  I found it online at Best Buy for delivery on Saturday.  Everywhere else had a least a warning about backorder or a 1-3 month delay in shipping.
> 
> @jcdeboever   and @Gary A.     I'll be haunting you with questions.


----------



## limr

When I don't feel like lugging too much gear, I just grab my Rollei 

And sorry, but I had to scroll quickly through those meat pictures of yours, Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

@Peg: MPB (MPB.com) has a used XT2 for $1429.  Amazon has a used one for $1349.  Dunno if it's worth the savings versus new.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @ Peg:  The kit lens will make you a believer.  You'll be thinking to yourself, "Man, if the kit is this sharp ... how good will 'real' lenses be ...?"


I agree. Every time I use a different lens it becomes my favorite. Firmware updates are pretty awesome too. My favorite features are the manual focus peaking, film simulation modes, and ability to edit raw and convert in camera.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> When I don't feel like lugging too much gear, I just grab my Rollei
> 
> And sorry, but I had to scroll quickly through those meat pictures of yours, Gary.


Delish ... you would have enjoy the veggie mix Mary Lou grilled up from the backyard.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. something is obviously different in the cut of meat. JC's comment about being used for shoe soles more aptly describes Tri-Tip here, than filet. They even ran it through a tenderizer. All that did was make it mad!!


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. something is obviously different in the cut of meat. JC's comment about being used for shoe soles more aptly describes Tri-Tip here, than filet. They even ran it through a tenderizer. All that did was make it mad!!


Well Gary was talking to me today about blue tooth temperature probing. Ummm, is that manual or Auto?


----------



## Gary A.

Sad.  Tri-Tip is one of Gary's go to meats.  For him it is a cross between a steak and a roast.  He charcoal's Tri-Tip on high heat. He slow cooks charcoal's Tri-Tip on low heat, he smokes Tri-Tip, he has stove-topped Tri-Tip as a brisket ... all successfully.  At least once a week Gary dances with Tri-Tip.  

When you drive out here and park your RV in the neighbor's driveway ... Gary will whip up a Tri-Tip for you.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A. something is obviously different in the cut of meat. JC's comment about being used for shoe soles more aptly describes Tri-Tip here, than filet. They even ran it through a tenderizer. All that did was make it mad!!
> 
> 
> 
> Well Gary was talking to me today about blue tooth temperature probing. Ummm, is that manual or Auto?
Click to expand...

The thermometer probe is visible in the first Tri-Tip image.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A. something is obviously different in the cut of meat. JC's comment about being used for shoe soles more aptly describes Tri-Tip here, than filet. They even ran it through a tenderizer. All that did was make it mad!!
> 
> 
> 
> Well Gary was talking to me today about blue tooth temperature probing. Ummm, is that manual or Auto?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The thermometer probe is visible in the first Tri-Tip image.
Click to expand...

Nice. I'm a ways away from probing my meat


----------



## Gary A.

Probing your meat is the best.

The proper name for meat probing is covfefe.


----------



## limr

Um...can we stop talking about meat for half a second here? I mean, I get that this has become a bit of a good ol' boys club in here, but surely there are other subjects, no? Television and/or movies? Music? Non-political current events?

K, thx!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Um...can we stop talking about meat for half a second here? I mean, I get that this has become a bit of a good ol' boys club in here, but surely there are other subjects, no? Television and/or movies? Music? Non-political current events?
> 
> K, thx!


Bob's jive talking made me do it...


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Um...can we stop talking about meat for half a second here? I mean, I get that this has become a bit of a good ol' boys club in here, but surely there are other subjects, no? Television and/or movies? Music? Non-political current events?
> 
> K, thx!



My daughter is loving the little slide we put in the yard.


----------



## JonA_CT

The garden is coming along too...it'll be time to thin some of the sprouts this weekend.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Nice. I'm a ways away from probing my meat





Gary A. said:


> Probing your meat is the best.



And it's not even Friday "yet"


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> .it'll be time to thin some of the sprouts this weekend.



Planted seeds from some oranges we "liberated" from a field in south Florida in January. Curious to see if they come up.  For some reason, we have a bumper crop of Oakleaf Hydrangea growing wild all over our mountain. On Memorial Day all the women  went out gathering cuttings. Scratch that the women told the men which ones they wanted, because they wouldn't walk out in  the weeds!!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has P L E N T Y of orange/lemon/lime seeds ... if you want more.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary doesn't thin out the veggies.  He's a softy, the veggie areas now have multiple canopies of green. A couple of days ago Gary tossed a zucchini the size of a baseball bat.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Um...can we stop talking about meat for half a second here? I mean, I get that this has become a bit of a good ol' boys club in here, but surely there are other subjects, no? Television and/or movies? Music? Non-political current events?
> 
> K, thx!




Apricot
Broccoli
Celery
Date
Eggplant
Fennel
Green Bean
Honeydew Melon
Iceburg Lettuce
Jerusalem Artichoke
Kale
Lemon
Mandarin Orange
Nectarine
Olive
Pea
Quince
Red Pepper
Spinach
Tomato
Ugli Fruit
Victoria Plum
Watermelon
(X)
Yam
Zuccini


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Fortunately for me, the cost of equipment probably will convince me to stay with my Nikon gear for awhile.



I bought 90% of my stuff used so not as big of an investment but still pricey.  I had been eyeing a pricey and heavy zoom when I realizes it would just be too much weight for me.  



jcdeboever said:


> Your gonna love it. If your not getting the battery grip, buy some of those wasabe batteries for back up. Only downfall to mirrorless is battery life.



I think the battery grip would defeat the purpose of the swap - smaller, lighter.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Um...can we stop talking about meat for half a second here? I mean, I get that this has become a bit of a good ol' boys club in here, but surely there are other subjects, no? Television and/or movies? Music? Non-political current events?
> 
> K, thx!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Apricot
> Broccoli
> Celery
> Date
> Eggplant
> Fennel
> Green Bean
> Honeydew Melon
> Iceburg Lettuce
> Jerusalem Artichoke
> Kale
> Lemon
> Mandarin Orange
> Nectarine
> Olive
> Pea
> Quince
> Red Pepper
> Spinach
> Tomato
> Ugli Fruit
> Victoria Plum
> Watermelon
> (X)
> Yam
> Zuccini
Click to expand...


Replace iceberg with romaine and we're good


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Replace iceberg with romaine and we're good


Can't do it.  I'd lose Red Pepper and have to find something else that starts with an "I"; it would be pure chaos.


----------



## jcdeboever

I ...


----------



## snowbear

Well, he doesn't look like a veggie.  I guess I could use Idaho Potato.


----------



## snowbear

Well, it's time to start my Benadryl® coma.  Good night.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Um...can we stop talking about meat for half a second here? I mean, I get that this has become a bit of a good ol' boys club in here, but surely there are other subjects, no?


This is what is meant as a sausage party, I believe.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> @Peg: MPB (MPB.com) has a used XT2 for $1429.  Amazon has a used one for $1349.  Dunno if it's worth the savings versus new.



With the 18-55 kit lens it was only $200 more to buy new. Definitely not enough of a savings to sacrifice the warranty/return perks of buying it new.    I'm excited.  I haven't bought a camera new since my original foray into photography with the d60!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another gray, cool and overcast morning leading into another perfect day. Temecula today.  Mary Lou and Gary will be making a run if anybody wants anything ... let me know. 

@smoke665: On that Tri-Tip, Gary removes most of the fat on the meat, especially the side with the connective tissue.  On the side the butcher doesn't display, there is a sheet of very tough connective tissue and fat.  Gary removes most of that tissue and inflicts severe damage to what remains.  That, my friend, may be the dif between shoe leather and prime rib.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm supposed to take some maternity photos of my wife this afternoon. Hopefully, the thunderstorms will hold.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr - look away!



Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another gray, cool and overcast morning leading into another perfect day. Temecula today.  Mary Lou and Gary will be making a run if anybody wants anything ... let me know.
> 
> @smoke665: On that Tri-Tip, Gary removes most of the fat on the meat, especially the side with the connective tissue.  On the side the butcher doesn't display, there is a sheet of very tough connective tissue and fat.  Gary removes most of that tissue and inflicts severe damage to what remains.  That, my friend, may be the dif between shoe leather and prime rib.



Removing the membrane (silver skin) is definitely the key.  You have to get that thin membrane off of there or you will not have that melt in your mouth texture.  It won't render and is tasteless so it's got to go.  Nothing worse than tough, chewy beef.   I use the back of a spoon to remove - same as with ribs.  A trick I saw on a Martha Stewart video before she started using a prison shank instead.  Just make a small slit and slip the spoon under the edge and then grasp the edge of the silver skin with a paper towel and pull it off - if it's stubborn you can slide the spoon across to separate it from the meat.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary removes most of that tissue and inflicts severe damage to what remains. That, my friend, may be the dif between shoe leather and prime rib.



I do that on ribs, but I don't remember if I did it on the Tri-Tip. I know it was run though one of those needle tenderizers at the market.


----------



## SquarePeg

Here is how I justified buying the XT2...   we needed a new kitchen set, and I have been looking everywhere for the past month to find something that I liked. Finally found something but it was around $1600 and it wasn't really exactly what I wanted.   Monday morning I was scrolling through Facebook on our local community yard sale site found this awesome pub height table and 6 chairs for $200!    It's a beautiful set and was really well taken care of. Can't believe they were giving it away for $200.    Picked it up, set it up and it's perfect. $1400 available just like that.   And bonus that I don't have to worry about my daughter and her friends scratching it up because it's not brand-new.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary doesn't think that the needle tenderizer will do the trick. The entire bottom side, (most like the top when in the cow), has a sheet of connective membrane ... if it is tenderized you end up with a sheet of extremely tough membrane netting. On steaks and such, the the connective tissue and fat cuts off easily ... but this sheet is like superglued to the meat. Sometimes you can pull the tissue out in bits and pieces, (A la Peg and her spoon, or Martha Stewart and her shank), ...  but Gary finds it best to slice it out.  You'll end up with fat, membrane and more meat then you like ... but Gary just cooks that up and augments Cook's dinner with the stuff.  Cook likes Tri-Tip also.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg: Nice!  Gary has been looking for years to replace our kitchen table.  Mary Lou is a tough sell. Nuthin' wrong with pre-owned ... especially if it doesn't have any moving parts.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Picked it up, set it up and it's perfect. $1400 available just like that. And bonus that I don't have to worry about my daughter and her friends scratching it up because it's not brand-new.



LOL  I like your reasoning. I bought a new set of tires for the wife's car that had a $100 rebate visa gift card promotion. Guess who got $100 to spend on camera gear


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 140874 View attachment 140875 Here is how I justified buying the XT2...   we needed a new kitchen set, and I have been looking everywhere for the past month to find something that I liked. Finally found something but it was around $1600 and it wasn't really exactly what I wanted.   Monday morning I was scrolling through Facebook on our local community yard sale site found this awesome pub height table and 6 chairs for $200!    It's a beautiful set and was really well taken care of. Can't believe they were giving it away for $200.    Picked it up, set it up and it's perfect. $1400 available just like that.   And bonus that I don't have to worry about my daughter and her friends scratching it up because it's not brand-new.


Sweet deal. You stole it


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 140874 View attachment 140875 Here is how I justified buying the XT2...   we needed a new kitchen set, and I have been looking everywhere for the past month to find something that I liked. Finally found something but it was around $1600 and it wasn't really exactly what I wanted.   Monday morning I was scrolling through Facebook on our local community yard sale site found this awesome pub height table and 6 chairs for $200!    It's a beautiful set and was really well taken care of. Can't believe they were giving it away for $200.    Picked it up, set it up and it's perfect. $1400 available just like that.   And bonus that I don't have to worry about my daughter and her friends scratching it up because it's not brand-new.


Good score!  Serious question though... What is the benefit to those overly tall tables and chairs?  I find them very annoying and uncomfortable.  Am I missing something?


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 140874 View attachment 140875 Here is how I justified buying the XT2...   we needed a new kitchen set, and I have been looking everywhere for the past month to find something that I liked. Finally found something but it was around $1600 and it wasn't really exactly what I wanted.   Monday morning I was scrolling through Facebook on our local community yard sale site found this awesome pub height table and 6 chairs for $200!    It's a beautiful set and was really well taken care of. Can't believe they were giving it away for $200.    Picked it up, set it up and it's perfect. $1400 available just like that.   And bonus that I don't have to worry about my daughter and her friends scratching it up because it's not brand-new.
> 
> 
> 
> Sweet deal. You stole it
Click to expand...


I did feel like I was stealing it and had to stop myself from offering her more.  They had just remodeled and installed a nice island eating area so wanted something regular height for their new nook and just wanted this gone asap.  I live a few blocks away and have a big suv and a teenager to help carry everything so it was a perfect match.  It wasn't like I was taking advantage of a little old lady or anything but still...  when she started to help carry the chairs out I was ready to throw more money at her!  



tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 140874 View attachment 140875 Here is how I justified buying the XT2...   we needed a new kitchen set, and I have been looking everywhere for the past month to find something that I liked. Finally found something but it was around $1600 and it wasn't really exactly what I wanted.   Monday morning I was scrolling through Facebook on our local community yard sale site found this awesome pub height table and 6 chairs for $200!    It's a beautiful set and was really well taken care of. Can't believe they were giving it away for $200.    Picked it up, set it up and it's perfect. $1400 available just like that.   And bonus that I don't have to worry about my daughter and her friends scratching it up because it's not brand-new.
> 
> 
> 
> Good score!  Serious question though... What is the benefit to those overly tall tables and chairs?  I find them very annoying and uncomfortable.  Am I missing something?
Click to expand...


I don't think there's any "benefit", it's just a style that's popular the past few years.  The height of the table was not really the attraction for me but I like that the base has 2 storage compartments and a shelf.  The chairs are very comfortable although the dog is unhappy that he can now only paw at my feet instead of jumping up on my leg when he wants to beg for people food.  I was worried that you can't just pull up a couple of extra chairs but we have several bar stools in another room that we can use if we need to seat more than 6.  The table has a self storing leaf and seats 8 with room to spare.


----------



## Frank F.

Just to tell you I am still alive and very busy, here a shot of a sax player I just developed:






The wonderful D500 with the gorgeous Nikkor 1.8/20G @ISO6400

Love you!


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr - look away!
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another gray, cool and overcast morning leading into another perfect day. Temecula today.  Mary Lou and Gary will be making a run if anybody wants anything ... let me know.
> 
> @smoke665: On that Tri-Tip, Gary removes most of the fat on the meat, especially the side with the connective tissue.  On the side the butcher doesn't display, there is a sheet of very tough connective tissue and fat.  Gary removes most of that tissue and inflicts severe damage to what remains.  That, my friend, may be the dif between shoe leather and prime rib.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Removing the membrane (silver skin) is definitely the key.  You have to get that thin membrane off of there or you will not have that melt in your mouth texture.  It won't render and is tasteless so it's got to go.  Nothing worse than tough, chewy beef.   I use the back of a spoon to remove - same as with ribs.  A trick I saw on a Martha Stewart video before she started using a prison shank instead.  Just make a small slit and slip the spoon under the edge and then grasp the edge of the silver skin with a paper towel and pull it off - if it's stubborn you can slide the spoon across to separate it from the meat.
Click to expand...


Buzz informs me that the name for that cut that he's familiar with is a hanger or flank steak. He says the key is to not overcook it - to cook no more than medium, and ideally just shy of it.

Leo has no idea if he's correct or not. Just passing on the advice of a man who grills meat all through the year, even when he has to wear a head lamp in the snow in the dark evenings of winter 

As for pub tables, I'm not sure why, but I tend to prefer the higher tables. That's a great set and a great deal you got there, Sharon!

In other news, I finally have some pictures of Colorado scanned in. I'll clean some up and post a thread at some point. I'm also picking up a new phone today, along with some cat food and a set of size 11 (US) circular knitting needles for my next project - a big soft cozy blanket for snuggling with cats and boyfriend!


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> Just to telly you I am still alive and very busy, here a shot of a sax player I just developed:
> 
> View attachment 140877
> 
> The wonderful D500 with the gorgeous Nikkor 1.8/20G @ISO6400



Hey Frank! Nice to hear from you!


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Just to tell you I am still alive and very busy, here a shot of a sax player I just developed:
> 
> View attachment 140877
> 
> The wonderful D500 with the gorgeous Nikkor 1.8/20G @ISO6400
> 
> Love you!


Frank who? Geez, welcome back


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> What is the benefit to those overly tall tables and chairs?



We have one in the corner of our basement next to the kitchen area of the rec room. Nice to be able to sit, semi stand, stand, and still see the TV over the ones sitting down in between.


----------



## terri

@SharonCat:  that table looks fantastic!    Don't feel you need to apologize for a great deal - she wanted to be rid of it in a hurry so priced it accordingly.   Everyone wins!   It sure looks great in your kitchen.

@ Frank: Hi!   We miss you!    

@ Leo:  ooo!   Looking forward to seeing the CO pics, my dear.    You'll have to show us the blanket when it's done, too!    

Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## Gary A.

Hey Frank, welcome home. Do you remember driving south along California Highway 1, below San Jose ... that road has been cut in two places in the Big Sur area. The excessive rains weakened a bridge, rendering it undrivable and a landslide, 100 meters wide x 330 meters tall took out another section. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Mary Lou and Gary have arrived in Temecula. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Lorenzi, the end of the road. 




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

New phone. Galaxy S7. I am actually impressed with the camera on this thing.

Of course, my first tests were on cats 
(inserting as thumbnails but check them out full-sized)





Edit: Have no idea why Zelda has loaded sideways but it's annoying AF.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hey, hosers.
> 
> New phone. Galaxy S7. I am actually impressed with the camera on this thing.
> 
> Of course, my first tests were on cats
> (inserting as thumbnails but check them out full-sized)
> 
> View attachment 140925
> 
> View attachment 140928
> 
> Edit: Have no idea why Zelda has loaded sideways but it's annoying AF.


Nice.  Check the "Auto Rotate" setting.  I seem to recall it rotates for viewing but doesn't transfer or upload the rotated image.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Wine and jazz? - excellent!!!

I like the look of pub tables but couldn't do much perching on a stool, but for kids it might be handy to have something to perch them on! lol

Glad you stopped in Frank! 

I'm taking a break from trying to get stuff done around the house. Kind of a nothing going on get caught up weekend. Might involve pizza later.


----------



## Gary A.

Thornton has a very nice music program going on with some decent names. Coming up is a Latin jazz guy, Poncho Sanchez (Grammy Award winner).  The setting is very intimate, but it ain't cheap (at least by Gary's standards).






Poncho Sanchez at the Brea Jazz Festival


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, hosers.
> 
> New phone. Galaxy S7. I am actually impressed with the camera on this thing.
> 
> Of course, my first tests were on cats
> (inserting as thumbnails but check them out full-sized)
> 
> View attachment 140925
> 
> View attachment 140928
> 
> Edit: Have no idea why Zelda has loaded sideways but it's annoying AF.
> 
> 
> 
> Nice.  Check the "Auto Rotate" setting.  I seem to recall it rotates for viewing but doesn't transfer or upload the rotated image.
Click to expand...


Auto Rotate settings on what? The phone or the app?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, hosers.
> 
> New phone. Galaxy S7. I am actually impressed with the camera on this thing.
> 
> Of course, my first tests were on cats
> (inserting as thumbnails but check them out full-sized)
> 
> View attachment 140925
> 
> View attachment 140928
> 
> Edit: Have no idea why Zelda has loaded sideways but it's annoying AF.
> 
> 
> 
> Nice.  Check the "Auto Rotate" setting.  I seem to recall it rotates for viewing but doesn't transfer or upload the rotated image.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Auto Rotate settings on what? The phone or the app?
Click to expand...

Phone.


----------



## limr

The auto rotate setting is on. Not sure. The settings were the same for the old phone and it never did this. Even when I rotate the photo and save it as a new one, that uploads in the same orientatio as the original. 

PITA.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> The auto rotate setting is on. Not sure. The settings were the same for the old phone and it never did this. Even when I rotate the photo and save it as a new one, that uploads in the same orientatio as the original.
> 
> PITA.


I thought 'orientation' was a taboo subject now....


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The auto rotate setting is on. Not sure. The settings were the same for the old phone and it never did this. Even when I rotate the photo and save it as a new one, that uploads in the same orientatio as the original.
> 
> PITA.
> 
> 
> 
> I thought 'orientation' was a taboo subject now....
Click to expand...

Only at 1600 PA Ave and a few red states


----------



## limr

Figured it out. Had to do with Chrome being able to access the right file directory where picture info included correct orientation.


----------



## snowbear

OK.


----------



## snowbear

Well, Nikon has done it: they've lowered the price of the D750 $500 (now the same as the D610), and they are including the MB-D16 grip at no cost.  For that price, both lazy_lobster and I are getting one.  Now I only have to wait for them to get in stock, as they are back-ordered.


----------



## Gary A.

" ... Where little cable cars, climb halfway to the stars ..."


----------



## smoke665

Sadly Big Willis Creek claimed two more victims today. Big Willis is a small tributary that winds through our valley  (not far from our house) untill it finally dumps into the Coosa River. Normally it's a shallow stream with a few rapids that's fun to kayak.  Downstream from us about 10 miles is a Head Dam, that served to create a deep pool from which the former steel plant drew water. This pool has been a popular swimming spot for years, despite all the warning signs of the dangers. That's where the two were apparently attempting to swim.  During periods of heavier rainfall (which we've had) the water rushes over the dam creating an undertow that sucks people under, holding them tight against the dam. In 2015 it claimed the lives of two kayakers who tried to ride over the dam after a heavy rain, rather than portage around. As rescue workers attempted to retrieve the bodies from the downstream side, two of the rescue boats got to close to the dam, and capsized. One of the rescuers was sucked into the undertow and drowned, two more ended up in the hospital with various broken bones from being pummeled by the current.

Strange thing is even without the signs, everyone knows how dangerous it is, and yet the number of lives claimed by this one spot over the years keeps rising. I guess it's the fact that it is so deceptively calm, that you don't realize you're in trouble until it's to late.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Sadly Big Willis Creek claimed two more victims today. Big Willis is a small tributary that winds through our valley  (not far from our house) untill it finally dumps into the Coosa River. Normally it's a shallow stream with a few rapids that's fun to kayak.  Downstream from us about 10 miles is a Head Dam, that served to create a deep pool from which the former steel plant drew water. This pool has been a popular swimming spot for years, despite all the warning signs of the dangers. That's where the two were apparently attempting to swim.  During periods of heavier rainfall (which we've had) the water rushes over the dam creating an undertow that sucks people under, holding them tight against the dam. In 2015 it claimed the lives of two kayakers who tried to ride over the dam after a heavy rain, rather than portage around. As rescue workers attempted to retrieve the bodies from the downstream side, two of the rescue boats got to close to the dam, and capsized. One of the rescuers was sucked into the undertow and drowned, two more ended up in the hospital with various broken bones from being pummeled by the current.
> 
> Strange thing is even without the signs, everyone knows how dangerous it is, and yet the number of lives claimed by this one spot over the years keeps rising. I guess it's the fact that it is so deceptively calm, that you don't realize you're in trouble until it's to late.


Sad.


----------



## terri

@smoke: That's a tragic story, as it shows that even trained personnel sometimes lose the fight in situations like this.   My heart goes out to your community!

We've continued having more rain than usual around here, as well.   I always welcome it, but it can lead to disasters with flash floods that catch folks off guard like this.

Hope everyone is gearing up for a good week!


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> That's a tragic story, as it shows that even trained personnel sometimes lose the fight in situations like this.



Yeah, one of the officers in the boat that had the member drown is a good friend on mine. The memories have been really hard on him. The Chief of the rescue squad at that time was relieved of command and has since been charged negligent homicide for allowing the boats in the water.

However through tragedy comes better training and response. It's unfortunate, but the body of the second victim has still not been recovered. They're pretty sure, it's locked into a slight cavity on the downstream side of the dam, but the water flow over the dam is still causing hazardous conditions. SOP's have been changed to prevent any risk of life on a recovery effort, so divers are cooling their heels until either the water can be diverted or the level goes down.


----------



## jcdeboever

Wife is testing my good nature today.... She charged 1600 at a Coach store today in Philadelphia. We just sat down and hammered out a plan of paying off the house in two years to be debt free. Must have been someone else in the room or I was possibly slipped some LSD. I may have to wave the white flag tomorrow or buy some bourbon. Maybe both. **CK!


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Wife is testing my good nature today.... She charged 1600 at a Coach store today in Philadelphia. We just sat down and hammered



Get even with her!!!! BUY MORE CAMERA GEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Wife is testing my good nature today.... She charged 1600 at a Coach store today in Philadelphia. We just sat down and hammered out a plan of paying off the house in two years to be debt free. Must have been someone else in the room or I was possibly slipped some LSD. I may have to wave the white flag tomorrow or buy some bourbon. Maybe both. **CK!



Yikes!  What did she buy?  Does it have leather seats and a sunroof?    



smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wife is testing my good nature today.... She charged 1600 at a Coach store today in Philadelphia. We just sat down and hammered
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get even with her!!!! BUY MORE CAMERA GEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...


I would totally do this.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wife is testing my good nature today.... She charged 1600 at a Coach store today in Philadelphia. We just sat down and hammered out a plan of paying off the house in two years to be debt free. Must have been someone else in the room or I was possibly slipped some LSD. I may have to wave the white flag tomorrow or buy some bourbon. Maybe both. **CK!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yikes!  What did she buy?  Does it have leather seats and a sunroof?
Click to expand...


At Coach? Probably a purse.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That'd be a heckuva purse! Now if it was a really big purse that opened up into a mini car...


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wife is testing my good nature today.... She charged 1600 at a Coach store today in Philadelphia. We just sat down and hammered out a plan of paying off the house in two years to be debt free. Must have been someone else in the room or I was possibly slipped some LSD. I may have to wave the white flag tomorrow or buy some bourbon. Maybe both. **CK!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yikes!  What did she buy?  Does it have leather seats and a sunroof?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> At Coach? Probably a purse.
Click to expand...

I mentioned the outlet stores on the eastern shore of MD and the fact that they have a Peppridge Farm (AKA "Goldfish" crackers) outlet to MLW.  She said I could go there and she'd go to the Coach outlet . . . we didn't stop.

Fire/EMS has gotten a new sucker  intern and I've been given the task of mentor/tutor.  So far, so good.  We're working through getting the closest hydrant to each address.  I get new left lens Thursday, so I'm pretty anxious/excited.  I can't wait to see again.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Sadly Big Willis Creek claimed two more victims today. Big Willis is a small tributary that winds through our valley  (not far from our house) untill it finally dumps into the Coosa River. Normally it's a shallow stream with a few rapids that's fun to kayak.  Downstream from us about 10 miles is a Head Dam, that served to create a deep pool from which the former steel plant drew water. This pool has been a popular swimming spot for years, despite all the warning signs of the dangers. That's where the two were apparently attempting to swim.  During periods of heavier rainfall (which we've had) the water rushes over the dam creating an undertow that sucks people under, holding them tight against the dam. In 2015 it claimed the lives of two kayakers who tried to ride over the dam after a heavy rain, rather than portage around. As rescue workers attempted to retrieve the bodies from the downstream side, two of the rescue boats got to close to the dam, and capsized. One of the rescuers was sucked into the undertow and drowned, two more ended up in the hospital with various broken bones from being pummeled by the current.
> 
> Strange thing is even without the signs, everyone knows how dangerous it is, and yet the number of lives claimed by this one spot over the years keeps rising. I guess it's the fact that it is so deceptively calm, that you don't realize you're in trouble until it's to late.


Mother nature is not biased - she doesn't care who you are.  These things are traumatic, regardless of the circumstances.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> That'd be a heckuva purse! Now if it was a really big purse that opened up into a mini car...



Rogue in Glovetanned Leather With Exotic Tea Rose


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> That'd be a heckuva purse! Now if it was a really big purse that opened up into a mini car...


Maybe it was a purse with a matching wallet; that'd be worth a new D750 with lit lens.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> That'd be a heckuva purse! Now if it was a really big purse that opened up into a mini car...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Rogue in Glovetanned Leather With Exotic Tea Rose
Click to expand...


It sounds like you've window shopped.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Last night I watched Sunday Silents on TCM and in one of the movies, playing the role of 'His Playmate', was 'Pepper the cat comedian'. Who has a page with a filmography...
Overview for Pepper, the cat comedian
That seems to have been Pepper's only film appearance, in 1920. 


edit - Hey, in three years they could have a Pepper the Cat Comedian 100th film retrospective. And we could have an excuse for a party. With lots of wine and coffee and tuna fish. 

And Goldfish crackers.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wife is testing my good nature today.... She charged 1600 at a Coach store today in Philadelphia. We just sat down and hammered out a plan of paying off the house in two years to be debt free. Must have been someone else in the room or I was possibly slipped some LSD. I may have to wave the white flag tomorrow or buy some bourbon. Maybe both. **CK!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yikes!  What did she buy?  Does it have leather seats and a sunroof?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> At Coach? Probably a purse.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I mentioned the outlet stores on the eastern shore of MD and the fact that they have a Peppridge Farm (AKA "Goldfish" crackers) outlet to MLW.  She said I could go there and she'd go to the Coach outlet . . . we didn't stop.
> 
> Fire/EMS has gotten a new sucker  intern and I've been given the task of mentor/tutor.  So far, so good.  We're working through getting the closest hydrant to each address.  I get new left lens Thursday, so I'm pretty anxious/excited.  I can't wait to see again.
Click to expand...


Now, now, YLW could very well have gotten a good deal! 

I have a small Coach bag that my sister got me. Now mind you, my sister does well for herself AND she is married to a man who was a patent lawyer for a pharmaceutical company, so she could afford to buy a Coach bag, and yet, she is the queen of bargains and sales and coupons. I can guarantee you that my bag cost her a fraction of the full price. And Coach isn't even that bad, considering how much other designer bags can cost. Most of them run in the hundreds, not thousands. And on sale, the small ones even dip below $100.

Even so, $1500 doesn't get you a whole lot of stuff at Coach if you're paying full price.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> That'd be a heckuva purse! Now if it was a really big purse that opened up into a mini car...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Rogue in Glovetanned Leather With Exotic Tea Rose
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It sounds like you've window shopped.
Click to expand...


Nah, just a quick perusal of the Coach site to see if I was right about the price. Granted, that purse is $1500 exactly, but to be fair, JC's wife might have gotten *three *overpriced purses at $500 a pop rather than the one *super* overpriced purse at $1500


----------



## snowbear

And once we are caught up on some debt (since I didn't get paid for a while), I will gladly take her to Coach.  She is, after all, helping lazy lobster and I get those D750s.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever  wife and I were out shopping one day in one of those big fancy malls. Went by one of those stores that had big sign up 50% off sale. Big Dummy me said "Look, do you need a new purse????" Being far smarter then me she took me in, pointed at the 50% off sign, then showed me the price tag on the first one she picked up. WTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARE THEY OUT OF THEIR $$%^%$$ MIND????? Now still being in shock she could have really taken advantage of me, but instead she quietly took my hand and led me out of the store. Learned a valuable lesson that day from a woman who never said a word the whole time.


----------



## vintagesnaps

You gotta shop at The Rack, or Zappo's. I confess, I bought one Coach dinky little purse on the 'bay apparently not big enough for an iphone which is why the seller was selling it. It had Snoopy on it, I had to.

How about $16 without the extra hundreds behind it?! 
Coach, Bags, $50.00 And Under | Shipped Free at Zappos


----------



## JonA_CT

I guess I don't mind as much about my wife's 2 pairs of Tieks.  Not that I complain much anyways...she never shops much.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wife is testing my good nature today.... She charged 1600 at a Coach store today in Philadelphia. We just sat down and hammered out a plan of paying off the house in two years to be debt free. Must have been someone else in the room or I was possibly slipped some LSD. I may have to wave the white flag tomorrow or buy some bourbon. Maybe both. **CK!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yikes!  What did she buy?  Does it have leather seats and a sunroof?
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wife is testing my good nature today.... She charged 1600 at a Coach store today in Philadelphia. We just sat down and hammered
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Get even with her!!!! BUY MORE CAMERA GEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![emoji3]
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I would totally do this.
Click to expand...

Not sure what she bought, not answering texts


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> That'd be a heckuva purse! Now if it was a really big purse that opened up into a mini car...





snowbear said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> That'd be a heckuva purse! Now if it was a really big purse that opened up into a mini car...
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe it was a purse with a matching wallet; that'd be worth a new D750 with lit lens.
Click to expand...


A really big purse with a wallet full of money!

Actually have a nice Coach tote bag that I bought partly because it's big enough to fit my dslr with a lens and flash if I want to bring it somewhere "nice" and don't want to be sporting my camera backpack or my big lowepro sling bag.  My view is that if the straps every break because I'm toting around 5+ lbs of gear I can bring it back to the store and they will replace it.  It's also a great "personal item" for when I fly because it can hold tablet and snacks!


ETA - got it on sale at an outlet for at least 50% off original price which was still over $200.


----------



## jcdeboever

Matching purse, wallet, and carry on bag. [emoji26]


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> Matching purse, wallet, and carry on bag. [emoji26]


That sounds like a fast prime and another speedlight to me!


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Matching purse, wallet, and carry on bag. [emoji26]
> 
> 
> 
> That sounds like a fast prime and another speedlight to me!
Click to expand...

Well, I might have to sell something in order to maintain the goals she so causally ignored. If I was by a wall right now, I would bang my head up against it hard....


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Wife is testing my good nature today.... She charged 1600 at a Coach store today in Philadelphia. We just sat down and hammered out a plan of paying off the house in two years to be debt free. Must have been someone else in the room or I was possibly slipped some LSD. I may have to wave the white flag tomorrow or buy some bourbon. Maybe both. **CK!


As Norm from Cheers always said.......  "Women, you can't live with em, Pass the beernuts."


----------



## snowbear

Well, dinner was from the local Caribbean place ("Dat Jerk").  I had 



Spoiler: Don't look, Leo



Island Chicken and a taste of Jerk pork rib with


 stir fried veggies, peach iced tea and Old Bay fries.  Desert was their rum cake.  I just touched up the sky on a watercolor pencil sketch I did yesterday.  I might post it on Sunday.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Purses ... seems Gary didn't miss much.  Gary was sick over the weekend.  When to Temecula on Friday and returned sick as a dog.  One of those 24 hour deals, in bed Saturday.  Sunday he was in recovery mode. He watched a lot of basketball.  Go Warriors. His head has been in a computer all day Monday and the rest of the week. He is way behind on processing and has some deadlines.  He is finally messing with the new Fuji RAW and images from the XP2 and XT2.  Gary sees where and why JC does it all in-camera ... under normal lighting there's not much needed if you're careful with the metering.  Unfortunately, Gary is processing theatre crap and the white balance is all over the place. But Fuji lenses and cameras are absolutely wonderful. The lenses are better than his Canon 'L' lenses. Toss a Fuji lens on a Costco Membership Card camera and you'd have a great camera.  Back to the salt mine. Iridient really works well, but loads slow ... maybe more computer than Iridient.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Gary has a wine corner and between the wine corner and frig he has storage for about 100 bottles.  He has cases of wine stacked up in a bedroom ... if anyone wants to come over and help get rid of some of the wine ... Gary will give you a bottle as a parting gift for your participation.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> PS- Gary has a wine corner and between the wine corner and frig he has storage for about 100 bottles.  He has cases of wine stacked up in a bedroom ... if anyone wants to come over and help get rid of some of the wine ... Gary will give you a bottle as a parting gift for your participation.


I will personally fly out there and take Gary, Mary Lou and Cook out for dinner at the Restaurant of Gary's choosing (yes *any* place you choose) if Gary has a bottle of 1929 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac, he wants to part with.  I only have one bottle left and would really like to have one more for a special occasion.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Matching purse, wallet, and carry on bag. [emoji26]
> 
> 
> 
> That sounds like a fast prime and another speedlight to me!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well, I might have to sell something in order to maintain the goals she so causally ignored. If I was by a wall right now, I would bang my head up against it hard....
Click to expand...

I think I have the answer to your problem....  Do you like to gamble by chance???  Saudi Prince loses $350 millions and 5 of his wives in 6 hours at the casino


----------



## smoke665

My oldest son has helped me a lot with my DYI construction projects over the years and I'm proud to say he learned a lot. Last week one of his heat pumps went out so yesterday the A/C crew was out installing a new unit. Today I received the following text and picture:

"Is this wire big enough to run my unit?"


 

He said he started counting as soon as he pushed send, and didn't get to five before I was on the phone calling him. Little %$#& got me good, Payback is coming for him.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- Gary has a wine corner and between the wine corner and frig he has storage for about 100 bottles.  He has cases of wine stacked up in a bedroom ... if anyone wants to come over and help get rid of some of the wine ... Gary will give you a bottle as a parting gift for your participation.
> 
> 
> 
> I will personally fly out there and take Gary, Mary Lou and Cook out for dinner at the Restaurant of Gary's choosing (yes *any* place you choose) if Gary has a bottle of 1929 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac, he wants to part with.  I only have one bottle left and would really like to have one more for a special occasion.
Click to expand...

Oh man, had Gary known he would have saved you a bottle, (he had a couple laying around). Last week Gary opened his last bottle, poured most in the BBQ sauce but save enough for a glass or two.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- Gary has a wine corner and between the wine corner and frig he has storage for about 100 bottles.  He has cases of wine stacked up in a bedroom ... if anyone wants to come over and help get rid of some of the wine ... Gary will give you a bottle as a parting gift for your participation.
> 
> 
> 
> I will personally fly out there and take Gary, Mary Lou and Cook out for dinner at the Restaurant of Gary's choosing (yes *any* place you choose) if Gary has a bottle of 1929 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac, he wants to part with.  I only have one bottle left and would really like to have one more for a special occasion.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh man, had Gary known he would have saved you a bottle, (he had a couple laying around). Last week Gary opened his last bottle, poured most in the BBQ sauce but save enough for a glass or two.
Click to expand...

I seriously am down to my last bottle, although I was joking with Gary about taking a bottle of such vintage from him.  

Many years ago when I was a senior in high school I was 18, and I was living in an 18 year old to drink state.  At the time i happened to be dating a wonderful Italian girl whose father owned the largest Liquor Store chain in western Missouri. The were also the purveyors of fine wines.   For my graduation my girlfriend gave me 4 bottles of  1929 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac.  At the time it was not nearly as expensive, and much more plentiful, than it is today.  That will give Gary an idea of how long ago I was in high school.  

It happened to be a favorite wine of Mama Rosa.  Mama Rosa was the Nonnina, and she had a liking for that particular vintage so it was often served with the Sunday dinner of which I attended many.  The daily drinking wine was usually a Chianti.   They were a traditional Italian family.  There were 4 generations living under their roof.  Much of my appreciation for wine and fine wine came from dating Gaby, Gabriella.  

We drank one bottle the night of our graduation.  Gaby and I shared one of the bottles a few years later while we were both in college.  We were no longer dating then, but were and remain very good friends.  Sadly we drank that bottle in memory of Mama Rosa at her passing.  There was a woman Gary would have really appreciated.  Books could have been written about Rosa Maria Angelina Giancana. (her maiden name)   

The third bottle was consumed for my wedding of my wife and I.  The 4th.  The 4th  has been held in reserve all these years for a most special occasion.  Sadly as I grow older, I can see the possibility of more special, not necessarily happy, but special occasions arising.


----------



## SquarePeg

It's June 7th and I am tempted to turn the heat back on!  I will be wearing my winter coat and gloves to coach our softball game tonight unless things seriously improve in the next 5 hours.  Our local HS had graduation on Friday night and there were many parties that had to be moved indoors over the weekend due to the weather.  At least it has finally stopped raining!


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> It's June 7th and I am tempted to turn the heat back on!  I will be wearing my winter coat and gloves to coach our softball game tonight unless things seriously improve in the next 5 hours.  Our local HS had graduation on Friday night and there were many parties that had to be moved indoors over the weekend due to the weather.  At least it has finally stopped raining!


Ahhhh good old Boston Weather.  You know what I miss the most about Boston weather????



*NOT ONE DAMN THING!!!!  
	

	
	
		
		

		
			



*

Good luck with the game Peg.


----------



## vintagesnaps

He's heeeere... I think, the local news is showing Air Force One landing, although they can't decide is it AF One? or Two? Lots of black SUVs and guys in black suits.

I can't quite figure out coming all the way here to a small airport to go to a marina... lots of boat docks and a picnic shelter is all it seems to have. Seems like more the kind of private event held during campaigns, this is members only. Waiting for him to get off the plane, then I'm probably changing channels before any speechifying starts.

And sunglasses, these dudes in black all have on black sunglasses. And look to be good at parking cars! lol Funny the stuff you notice while killing time.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That was short and sweet, just waiting to see the 'parade' of black SUVs drive off. They're showing the boat dock where this event is being held, I don't know why it just looks funny them all sitting on that dock... Wow the local stations all cut away quick, have to hurry up and get back to the soaps and cooking shows! lol


----------



## Gary A.

The designation of AF 1 or AF 2 goes with the P or VP and not assigned to any particular aircraft.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Lots of black SUVs


One time, I had decided to go to the store. I got in my car, got on the highway like normal, and then realized that I was THE ONLY CAR ON THE HIGHWAY DRIVING IN EITHER DIRECTION. I freaked out... what's happening. Then, I started seeing police cars on all the side streets and at all on and off ramps.

Cheney was in town, and I apparently got on the highway at one of the on-ramps they either didn't block off or one of the last to get closed.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh, well, the local news obviously didn't know that! lol The plane was light blue and white and I have to say, that didn't look like what I thought you usually see. But going to a small airport maybe they used a smaller plane? Guess they didn't want to interrupt service at the international airport. It isn't like he hasn't been here before, but it wasn't such a big deal when running for office I guess.

He's on the boat dock. What a lousy view, all you can see in the background is gray water. The river's moving pretty quick today it looks like. 

Wade, at least none of them came after you! If the highways here were empty I'd think I was in the twilight zone.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Wade, at least none of them came after you! If the highways here were empty I'd think I was in the twilight zone.


That's exactly how I felt. "Just make it to the store without a policeman pulling me over or getting impacted by some sort of apocalypse." Haha.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Now why do you suppose they're showing a split screen of a barge going by... lol Turned the sound back up to see if they were saying anything then they all of a sudden went back to the speech. Boy is the camera bouncing, must be fun sitting out on that dock! lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

Huh. They were just saying they do bring a smaller plane to smaller airports because the runways are shorter. The windshield on the plane looks like it's fogged up, welcome to sinus valley. 

One of the local stations saying the speech didn't mention the Brent Spence bridge, why would it? So what if nobody can get to work if they gotta cross the river?? lol that's normal. Just glad I didn't have to drive it, you white knuckle it on there on a good day much less with construction and lane closures. Did I already say I'm glad I'm retired and waaay out of the city?! 

Alright I gotta go get something done...


----------



## jcdeboever

The wife yelled uncontrollable at me today when I asked her about the coach store purchase. I calmly & simply asked how we were going to make up 1675.45 in budget this month. It was from deserving... to working... and none of answering the question. On top of that, she bought 800 in cloths yesterday. This is out of control.... I would be alright with it if I was loved sincerely for who I am. This is not going to end good for her.


----------



## snowbear

The 89th Airlift Wing (aka Air Force One, et al) has several planes: a few Gulfstreams (think corporate executive jets - C-20B, C 37A, C-37B), 737 (C-40B), 747 (VC-25A) and 757 (C-32A); I don't know how many of each.  AF1 is generally one of the 747s, but as Gary mentioned, any fixed wing aircraft with POTUS aboard uses the designation "Air Force One" (maybe even civilan aricraft?).  There is also the airborne command center which I have always called "the white whale" because it's a white 747.  There is also an Air Force helecopter squadron at Joint Base Andrews that handles (other) executive and distinguished visitor transportation.  They apparently still use Hueys, the two-blade helicopters that gained fame in Viet Nam.

Any Marine Corps aircraft with POTUS aboard is designated "Marine One"; These are usually the big green helicopters (Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King or VH-60N "White Hawk") and are assigned to the 1st Marine Corp Helicopter Squadron at Quantico, VA.

Enough boring facts for today.  I got an email from Nikon that the D750s are back in stock, so I should be hearing from the store in the next day or two.
Time to head home.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> The wife yelled uncontrollable at me today when I asked her about the coach store purchase. I calmly & simply asked how we were going to make up 1675.45 in budget this month. It was from deserving... to working... and none of answering the question. On top of that, she bought 800 in cloths yesterday. This is out of control.... I would be alright with it if I was loved sincerely for who I am. This is not going to end good for her.




 

On a serious note,  I sincerely hope that you two can get things worked out.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> The wife yelled uncontrollable at me today when I asked her about the coach store purchase. I calmly & simply asked how we were going to make up 1675.45 in budget this month. It was from deserving... to working... and none of answering the question. On top of that, she bought 800 in cloths yesterday. This is out of control.... I would be alright with it if I was loved sincerely for who I am. This is not going to end good for her.
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 141191
> 
> On a serious note,  I sincerely hope that you two can get things worked out.
Click to expand...

No working anything out. Just do what you say your going to do. Simple.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't know JC, seems like more than just the money issue and the last sentence doesn't sound so good although I don't know for sure what was meant by it. If you really don't think you're loved for who you are, I don't know... hope it gets resolved and tomorrow is a better day.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Thanks Charlie, maybe the local news should have called you! One of the local stations was there during the evening news, all that was left were the porta potties.


----------



## limr

*nods*  Hosers.


----------



## JonA_CT

The rainy weather has put a cramp on my outdoor coffee roasting. My wife has requested that I wait to do it outside...she greatly prefers the smell in rather than out. So I only had about 10 grams of beans left this morning, and had to slum it over to DD on the way to work to get the appropriate dosage of caffeine this morning.

My dryer has also been broken for almost a week now. I thought I had isolated the problem...but then I hadn't. So I ordered some parts last night, and hopefully I'll be able to fix it tomorrow afternoon with as little bloodshed as possible. Our neighbors must think we've surrendered...all of our sheets and towels are hanging off our front porch this morning since we finally got a nice day.

Oh yeah..5 days of school left after today.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> The rainy weather has put a cramp on my outdoor coffee roasting. My wife has requested that I wait to do it outside...she greatly prefers the smell in rather than out. So I only had about 10 grams of beans left this morning, and had to slum it over to DD on the way to work to get the appropriate dosage of caffeine this morning.
> 
> My dryer has also been broken for almost a week now. I thought I had isolated the problem...but then I hadn't. So I ordered some parts last night, and hopefully I'll be able to fix it tomorrow afternoon with as little bloodshed as possible. Our neighbors must think we've surrendered...all of our sheets and towels are hanging off our front porch this morning since we finally got a nice day.
> 
> Oh yeah..5 days of school left after today.



Yes the weather has been terrible this spring.  Would love to see a pic of your unconditional surrender to the appliance gods.   

As a middle school teacher, you'll appreciate this - my daughter has to be at the school tomorrow at 5am for her 8th grade field trip.  They are going to NYC for the day - which I think is ridiculous from Boston.  4.5 hours each way is not a day trip, IMO.  They leave at 5:30am and go first to the 911 Memorial and then Statue of Liberty then one other stop depending on the group... then they get back on the bus and come home arriving back 11pm-midnight.  The timing puts them right in rush hour in NY both coming and going.  

They should either stay over or go somewhere closer.  There are so many other things they could do with less than a 3 hour drive or they could stay at least one night!  I know several towns that do 4 or 5 day trips to DC for 8th graders.  They say it's only a day trip so they can keep it affordable for everyone but in all honesty, if you can afford to live in my town, you can afford a couple of hundred dollars for a field trip and even a few extra bucks to pay for the one or two kids whose parents genuinely can't swing it.  Sorry if that sounds harsh but really, you should see the homes around here.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> The rainy weather has put a cramp on my outdoor coffee roasting. My wife has requested that I wait to do it outside...she greatly prefers the smell in rather than out. So I only had about 10 grams of beans left this morning, and had to slum it over to DD on the way to work to get the appropriate dosage of caffeine this morning.
> 
> My dryer has also been broken for almost a week now. I thought I had isolated the problem...but then I hadn't. So I ordered some parts last night, and hopefully I'll be able to fix it tomorrow afternoon with as little bloodshed as possible. Our neighbors must think we've surrendered...all of our sheets and towels are hanging off our front porch this morning since we finally got a nice day.
> 
> Oh yeah..5 days of school left after today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes the weather has been terrible this spring.  Would love to see a pic of your unconditional surrender to the appliance gods.
> 
> As a middle school teacher, you'll appreciate this - my daughter has to be at the school tomorrow at 5am for her 8th grade field trip.  They are going to NYC for the day - which I think is ridiculous from Boston.  4.5 hours each way is not a day trip, IMO.  They leave at 5:30am and go first to the 911 Memorial and then Statue of Liberty then one other stop depending on the group... then they get back on the bus and come home arriving back 11pm-midnight.  The timing puts them right in rush hour in NY both coming and going.
> 
> They should either stay over or go somewhere closer.  There are so many other things they could do with less than a 3 hour drive or they could stay at least one night!  I know several towns that do 4 or 5 day trips to DC for 8th graders.  They say it's only a day trip so they can keep it affordable for everyone but in all honesty, if you can afford to live in my town, you can afford a couple of hundred dollars for a field trip and even a few extra bucks to pay for the one or two kids whose parents genuinely can't swing it.  Sorry if that sounds harsh but really, you should see the homes around here.
Click to expand...


The school district I went to for K-9 had a 3-day trip to D.C. for the 8th graders. I wasn't allowed to go, of course. My parents couldn't afford it but they were also suuuuuper strict, so I would not have been able to go even if they could afford it. So instead, I stayed home. All the other kids who stayed were essentially kids that the _school_ wouldn't allow on the trip because they had detention or something. So we watched Wrestlemania for 3 days and I got myself some street cred with the "burnout" crowd, which probably saved me from getting picked on as a nerd


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> The rainy weather has put a cramp on my outdoor coffee roasting. My wife has requested that I wait to do it outside...she greatly prefers the smell in rather than out. So I only had about 10 grams of beans left this morning, and had to slum it over to DD on the way to work to get the appropriate dosage of caffeine this morning.
> 
> My dryer has also been broken for almost a week now. I thought I had isolated the problem...but then I hadn't. So I ordered some parts last night, and hopefully I'll be able to fix it tomorrow afternoon with as little bloodshed as possible. Our neighbors must think we've surrendered...all of our sheets and towels are hanging off our front porch this morning since we finally got a nice day.
> 
> Oh yeah..5 days of school left after today.


You have school left still???   School here was out a week ago.  Of course they go back a week before Laborday. 

School hours are getting longer again next year.  Any more and the high schoolers will be in school from 8 to 5.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Yes the weather has been terrible this spring.  Would love to see a pic of your unconditional surrender to the appliance gods.
> 
> As a middle school teacher, you'll appreciate this - my daughter has to be at the school tomorrow at 5am for her 8th grade field trip.  They are going to NYC for the day - which I think is ridiculous from Boston.  4.5 hours each way is not a day trip, IMO.  They leave at 5:30am and go first to the 911 Memorial and then Statue of Liberty then one other stop depending on the group... then they get back on the bus and come home arriving back 11pm-midnight.  The timing puts them right in rush hour in NY both coming and going.
> 
> They should either stay over or go somewhere closer.  There are so many other things they could do with less than a 3 hour drive or they could stay at least one night!  I know several towns that do 4 or 5 day trips to DC for 8th graders.  They say it's only a day trip so they can keep it affordable for everyone but in all honesty, if you can afford to live in my town, you can afford a couple of hundred dollars for a field trip and even a few extra bucks to pay for the one or two kids whose parents genuinely can't swing it.  Sorry if that sounds harsh but really, you should see the homes around here.



If my wife hasn't taken the laundry down when by the time I get home, I'll definitely post a picture!

I did that exact NYC trip a few years ago when I worked in Northeastern CT, so a little closer than Boston...I think we were probably an hour or so closer from there. We were scheduled to go park at the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island ferry terminal in Bayonne, NJ. We hit significant traffic on the way there and ended up being 2 hours later than expected. Then, by the time we got our kids through security, we missed the next ferry and had to wait 45 minutes for the next one. By the time we finally got to the Statue of Liberty, we only had 35 minutes there before we had to take the ferry to Ellis Island...where we had 35 minutes before we had to take the ferry to Battery Park to walk up to Ground Zero. We couldn't be late for our Ground Zero tickets, and that ended up being the only place we spent any time. 

The bus ride back was also a nightmare with traffic. My personal hell...we had a kid who ate who knows how much Popeye's Chicken and Starbucks Frappucino at our dinner stop and lost his kibbles about an hour from home,which then caused another kid to lose their kibbles across from him. Physics took over from there, and as the bus accelerated and decelerated, sent the carnage everywhere. I swore off long bus trips after that.

I went with our 8th graders this year to DC. We went for 3 days. We had bag inspections and the final guideline shake down done by 5:30AM so we could hit the road. We managed to hit the African-American Musuem, all of the memorials, the Holocaust Museum, Air+Space (plus another smithsonian), Arlington, and Udvar Hazy before coming home late the third day. I think it cost our students about $500...but since it's been going on for the last 20 years and they have over a year to fundraise, any kid who wants to go can even if they can't afford it.


----------



## table1349

Okay, I have been sitting here scanning the news and came across the new fashion trend for men, the romper or as it is named the Romphim.  It is a real thing.  Somehow I just can't see me wearing one.  Gary on the other hand might look good sitting next to Mary Lou sipping wine in one. 

I for one hopes this is not a trend that catches on.


----------



## tirediron

Good.  Gawd.  Shoot.  Me.   Now.


----------



## SquarePeg

Me too!  Aim for my eyes please.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> Good.  Gawd.  Shoot.  Me.   Now.





SquarePeg said:


> Me too!  Aim for my eyes please.


That gives a whole new meaning to Red Eye.  I was thinking though, there is a current thread where the OP was wondering what to wear at the photographer to a "White Clothing" party.  This might be just the thing.  

Put epaulets on it and you would look like a deranged refugee from The Love Boat.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> Good.  Gawd.  Shoot.  Me.   Now.


I don't know, I'm thinking that this little number is what you need.   Look at it this way,  you would never ever and I do mean *EVER* have a problem getting a client to smile.   You might have to wait for them to stop laughing, but they would smile.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Okay, I have been sitting here scanning the news and came across the new fashion trend for men, the romper or as it is named the Romphim.  It is a real thing.  Somehow I just can't see me wearing one.  Gary on the other hand might look good sitting next to Mary Lou sipping wine in one.
> 
> I for one hopes this is not a trend that catches on.


Actually that's Gary in the polkadot ...  Gary's romper is quite comfy.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That might be cute on a 2 year old. 

Gotta give the students at Northwestern who put this on Kickstarter credit for initiative! This will end up being another questionable fashion choice - I can't talk, I used to wear bell bottom jeans dragging on the ground and bib overalls and cruel shoes.


----------



## jcdeboever

$350.00 in parking tickets, wife in Chicago, to add salt to the wound... I think a Fujifilm GX690 III is in order.


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> Okay, I have been sitting here scanning the news and came across the new fashion trend for men, the romper or as it is named the Romphim.  It is a real thing.  Somehow I just can't see me wearing one.  Gary on the other hand might look good sitting next to Mary Lou sipping wine in one.
> 
> I for one hopes this is not a trend that catches on.



From what I could see (which is jammin' little at the moment), it wasn't _too_ bad.  I'll take a purple one.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, I have been sitting here scanning the news and came across the new fashion trend for men, the romper or as it is named the Romphim.  It is a real thing.  Somehow I just can't see me wearing one.  Gary on the other hand might look good sitting next to Mary Lou sipping wine in one.
> 
> I for one hopes this is not a trend that catches on.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From what I could see (which is jammin' little at the moment), it wasn't _too_ bad.  I'll take a purple one.
Click to expand...

Okay, we have you down for a purple Romphim.  Would you like matching or contrasting buttons and/or stitching???

How about this one instead.  You can't get much more patriotic than that.


----------



## snowbear

It makes no difference.  I don't plan on wearing it; I'm going to hoist it up the flag pole of a local establishment.


----------



## table1349

Humanity as we know it is over.  I can not wait to see someone wearing one of these in public.  This is getting out of hand.   Peg, only look with one eye.  

This is too scary.


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> $350.00 in parking tickets, wife in Chicago, to add salt to the wound... I think a Fujifilm GX690 III is in order.


HOW do you get $350 in parking tickets in one lifetime????


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> $350.00 in parking tickets, wife in Chicago, to add salt to the wound... I think a Fujifilm GX690 III is in order.
> 
> 
> 
> HOW do you get $350 in parking tickets in one lifetime????
Click to expand...

Well it's only $350 as of now.  Woman in Chicago fighting more than $100,000 in parking fines and penalties on her junk car


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> $350.00 in parking tickets, wife in Chicago, to add salt to the wound... I think a Fujifilm GX690 III is in order.
> 
> 
> 
> HOW do you get $350 in parking tickets in one lifetime????
Click to expand...

Park in the space marked "Reserved for Mayor"


----------



## jcdeboever

Picked up a super clean Pentax P30T with a flash, 50mm SMC A f/2. Salvation Army, $8.00. All plastic but feels good in hand. Meter works, viewfinder clear and clean. Light seals in good order. Don't really need it but for $8.00, can't go wrong. Real basic starter camera.


----------



## JonA_CT

Nice find, JC. I've almost got the first roll of film finished in the N75. (yes...the fact that its taken me a couple months to get through a 36 exposure roll is ridiculous. I hope that I got some nice shots to share. I have like 3-4 old rolls to send in to be developed too...I've been slacking like crazy.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> $350.00 in parking tickets, wife in Chicago, to add salt to the wound... I think a Fujifilm GX690 III is in order.
> 
> 
> 
> HOW do you get $350 in parking tickets in one lifetime????
Click to expand...

When Gary was working news and before being issued a company car ... Gary collected 26 parking tickets.  Gary was at a party and asked a judge friend what he should do as they were 'unpaid' ... the judge initially walked away ... then he returned and said to plea-bargain the mess down to manslaughter.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> $350.00 in parking tickets, wife in Chicago, to add salt to the wound... I think a Fujifilm GX690 III is in order.
> 
> 
> 
> HOW do you get $350 in parking tickets in one lifetime????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> When I was working news and before being issued a company car ... I collected 26 parking tickets.  I was at a party and asked a judge friend what I should do as they were 'unpaid' ... he initially walked away ... then he returned and said to plea-bargain the mess down to manslaughter.
Click to expand...

That's funny.  

The city prosecutor would always come to us with the defense attorney and ask our opinion of what we should do on a particular case.  On the traffic cases, unless the cited individual was a complete jerk, I would tell them to just take it to court and we would see that they got a fair trial and a clean hanging.  It didn't take long for them to figure out that if I said that, what ever they and the court worked out was fine with me.

The interesting question to me would be who's name is on the parking summons.  Here if you fail to pay your parking tickets the First name on the title is the one that the warrant is issued for.  That is why my car has me listed first and my wife listed second.  On her car SHE is listed first and me second.  First time a warrant notice showed up in our mailbox in her name for her parking tickets also became the last time she had an unpaid parking ticket.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> $350.00 in parking tickets, wife in Chicago, to add salt to the wound... I think a Fujifilm GX690 III is in order.
> 
> 
> 
> HOW do you get $350 in parking tickets in one lifetime????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> When I was working news and before being issued a company car ... I collected 26 parking tickets.  I was at a party and asked a judge friend what I should do as they were 'unpaid' ... he initially walked away ... then he returned and said to plea-bargain the mess down to manslaughter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's funny.
> 
> The city prosecutor would always come to us with the defense attorney and ask our opinion of what we should do on a particular case.  On the traffic cases, unless the cited individual was a complete jerk, I would tell them to just take it to court and we would see that they got a fair trial and a clean hanging.  It didn't take long for them to figure out that if I said that, what ever they and the court worked out was fine with me.
Click to expand...

... Gary decided to sell the car. (Between the sale and statute of limitations, Gary thinks he got cleanly away.)

Gary used to run political campaigns on the side.  The money was good, but it was more of a hobby/moonlighting than an occupation.  Gary ran a few judicial races and consequently spent a lot of time in court, waiting for a break to speak to the judge/candidate.  All the judges would ask Gary for input on sentencing.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> $350.00 in parking tickets, wife in Chicago, to add salt to the wound... I think a Fujifilm GX690 III is in order.
> 
> 
> 
> HOW do you get $350 in parking tickets in one lifetime????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> When I was working news and before being issued a company car ... I collected 26 parking tickets.  I was at a party and asked a judge friend what I should do as they were 'unpaid' ... he initially walked away ... then he returned and said to plea-bargain the mess down to manslaughter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's funny.
> 
> The city prosecutor would always come to us with the defense attorney and ask our opinion of what we should do on a particular case.  On the traffic cases, unless the cited individual was a complete jerk, I would tell them to just take it to court and we would see that they got a fair trial and a clean hanging.  It didn't take long for them to figure out that if I said that, what ever they and the court worked out was fine with me.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ... Gary decided to sell the car. (Between the sale and statute of limitations, Gary thinks he got cleanly away.)
> 
> Gary used to run political campaigns on the side.  The money was good, but it was more of a hobby/moonlighting than an occupation.  Gary ran a few judicial races and consequently spent a lot of time in court, waiting for a break to speak to the judge/candidate.  All the judges would ask Gary for input on sentencing.
Click to expand...

The Judges here would often ask for my input on my cases.  Again, unless the person was a certified Jerk or there were certain extenuating circumstances, I would leave it to the discretion of the court.  I figure that I did my part up front, and again when I had to go to court, besides there aren't enough jail cells. locks, and places to throw the key away to solve the problem.  Besides if we put them all in jail and threw away the keys there would be no one to ask me if I wanted fries with that.


----------



## Gary A.

Fries are important.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't remember any school field trips, maybe they hadn't invented those yet.  I remember trips when I was first teaching; going to the circus was a zoo and going to the zoo was a three ring circus! Once I got into EI that was thankfully the last of field trips and report cards and study hall etc. - I liked the nontraditional teaching job better. Although I do have some funny memories of teaching jr. high, those kids were a trip all on their own, we didn't need to take them anywhere. The county was going to build a juvenile justice center on adjacent property and our principal said then we could just walk them next door!


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> I don't remember any school field trips, maybe they hadn't invented those yet.  I remember trips when I was first teaching; going to the circus was a zoo and going to the zoo was a three ring circus! Once I got into EI that was thankfully the last of field trips and report cards and study hall etc. - I liked the nontraditional teaching job better. Although I do have some funny memories of teaching jr. high, those kids were a trip all on their own, we didn't need to take them anywhere. The county was going to build a juvenile justice center on adjacent property and our principal said then we could just walk them next door!



Hahaha - don't give our school any ideas!  They are mostly a good bunch but very privileged without even realizing it.  You want to see some Coach bags @jcdeboever  just check out the Middle and High Schools here in my town.  I can't even be too judgey about it since my own princess has one.  Although her's is just a little wristlet/phone clutch that was a hand me down from my sister-in-law...  I would have taken it myself but my super sized 6s+ didn't fit in there.  Princess uses it for her phone and allowance when she goes to the mall.  I have seen some of the girls with not just Coach but the quilted Michael Kors mini backpacks and at least one Dooney and Bourke satchel - not sure if her mom knew she was using that at school!  

Update - they left on time and invaded NYC at 11:25am.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Update - they left on time and invaded NYC at 11:25am.



I wouldn't wait up tonight. Traffic coming North from the city is a nightmare on summer Fridays. No way around it, either.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Update - they left on time and invaded NYC at 11:25am.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I wouldn't wait up tonight. Traffic coming North from the city is a nightmare on summer Fridays. No way around it, either.
Click to expand...


We have a text alert system that will notify us when they reach the MA border and then again when they are 15 minutes away from the school.  Expected arrival is 11:30pm but they have been late the past few years according to my friends who have older kids.


----------



## SquarePeg

Update. Elvis has left NYC.  Princess says traffic is epic.  They had great weather and made all of their stops (which has been an issue in the past) and even managed to take some pics.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Update. Elvis has left NYC.  Princess says traffic is epic.  They had great weather and made all of their stops (which has been an issue in the past) and even managed to take some pics.


Um...Peg.......well, um,  I don't know if you saw the headlines, but um, Elvis left NYC, and everywhere else a long time ago. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





Hopefully traffic will not be too bad, but then we are talking about Friday night and the East Coast, so "not too bad" takes on a whole new connotation.


----------



## SquarePeg

They are expected back at the school about 11:30pm.  Princess has been texting me wanting the gang to sleep over.  Um....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!  NO way!  Not happening.  A group of exhausted, smelly kids who have been cooped up on a bus eating candy and carbs for 5 hours is NOT coming to my house.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> They are expected back at the school about 11:30pm.  Princess has been texting me wanting the gang to sleep over.  Um....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!  NO way!  Not happening.  A group of exhausted, smelly kids who have been cooped up on a bus eating candy and carbs for 5 hours is NOT coming to my house.


----------



## SquarePeg

And she's home.  Last bus to arrive of course.  I was tracking it using the find my iphone app so I knew they were gong to be late.  G'night TPF!


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> And she's home.  Last bus to arrive of course.  I was tracking it using the find my iphone app so I knew they were gong to be late.  G'night TPF!


Did you let her have the sleep over?


----------



## SquarePeg

gryphonslair99 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> And she's home.  Last bus to arrive of course.  I was tracking it using the find my iphone app so I knew they were gong to be late.  G'night TPF!
> 
> 
> 
> Did you let her have the sleep over?
Click to expand...


No means no.


----------



## SquarePeg

And for the record, they were all hating on each other by the time the bus arrived.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> And for the record, they were all hating on each other by the time the bus arrived.


Their middle schoolers, go figure.


----------



## SquarePeg

I knew they'd be all cranky and tired and annoyed with each other after 5 hours on the bus.   I was not having that at my house.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> And she's home.  Last bus to arrive of course.  I was tracking it using the find my iphone app so I knew they were gong to be late.  G'night TPF!
> 
> 
> 
> Did you let her have the sleep over?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No means no.
Click to expand...


----------



## JonA_CT

Two cups of coffee, three air conditioners installed, kitchen cleaned and sanitized, pizza dough for dinner proofing, dryer taken apart twice (used the OHM meter the second time to isolate the problem, duh), and emptied the room that is going to be the "nursery lite". 

Still to do: 

Paint nursery.
Clean and finish new dresser/changing table. 
Whatever else my wife deems necessary.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> Two cups of coffee, three air conditioners installed, kitchen cleaned and sanitized, pizza dough for dinner proofing, dryer taken apart twice (used the OHM meter the second time to isolate the problem, duh), and emptied the room that is going to be the "nursery lite".
> 
> Still to do:
> 
> Paint nursery.
> Clean and finish new dresser/changing table.
> Whatever else my wife deems necessary.


Wife deems necessary: Go to store and pick up a gallon of Butter Brickle Ice Cream and a large jar dill pickles.


----------



## JonA_CT

gryphonslair99 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Two cups of coffee, three air conditioners installed, kitchen cleaned and sanitized, pizza dough for dinner proofing, dryer taken apart twice (used the OHM meter the second time to isolate the problem, duh), and emptied the room that is going to be the "nursery lite".
> 
> Still to do:
> 
> Paint nursery.
> Clean and finish new dresser/changing table.
> Whatever else my wife deems necessary.
> 
> 
> 
> Wife deems necessary: Go to store and pick up a gallon of Butter Brickle Ice Cream and a large jar dill pickles.
Click to expand...


You think we run out of ice cream or pickles? Pfffft.


----------



## table1349

But is it Butter Brickle and Kosher Dills.  Garlic dills at that?  The proper combination of flavors are important, otherwise this could be you.


----------



## snowbear

Hello, peeps.  I've been in and out, but mostly out.  I got caught up on The Doctor and placed the order for the camera bodies and assorted stuff that was tacked on for free.  The spare batteries, being in stock, will ship; the rest when the bodies and grips arrive at the store (Nikon USA says they have them in stock, now; should be a few days.)

Will try to get some crap paid down by Christmas and land one of the trinity.  I'm still not sure what to do with the D40 - keep, sell or IR conversion.


----------



## JonA_CT

New pizza book, new pizza look


----------



## table1349

Looks-a like-a nice-a  tasty Margaretta pizza.  Job well done.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> New pizza book, new pizza look
> 
> View attachment 141382


I'll take two


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes pizza.


----------



## limr

Well, hosers. Happy Sunday. I've spent the morning getting myself to Tampa for another round of AP scoring. 

Oh, Florida. Why do I keep having to come back here??


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning!  Well afternoon now.  My morning was sucked away by some errands and house keeping stuff then had to build a bench/shoe rack that I bought for our garage.  Getting tired of tripping over shoes when I come home.  In the mess out there I found 2 pairs of shoes that are way to big to belong to me or princess.  I'm assuming they belong to one of her pals but that makes me wonder how they got home with no shoes!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> then had to build a bench/shoe rack that I bought for our garage.



Hey, I've been in the market for something similar - where'd you find yours?   Are you satisfied with the way it turned out?   

I've come up with nothing that will suffice, and we have shoes kicked all over the place, too!


----------



## SquarePeg

I like it and it took less than an hour to assemble by myself.  Although I am very experienced at that having several IKEA beds and dressers under my belt already.

Amazon.com: Winsome Dayton Storage Hall Bench with Shelves: Kitchen & Dining

 Price seems to have jumped by $20 since I ordered it two weeks ago but that could just be because I didn't bother blocking the cookies when I signed into get you the link.   Delivery was free with Prine.

ETA- the shelves are removable and adjustable for winter when you have boots instead of flip flops.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just back from a late afternoon trip to the beach. I've always been a go early beach bum, getting there to enjoy my breakfast by the sea and home in time to cook dinner and relax but I couldn't make that work today so... we left for the beach at 3:30 which is the time we're typically packing up to come home.  A lot of that has to do with crowded parking lots around here and a lack of "good spots" if you get there after 10.  today, however, I discovered that the clock resets after 3. Everyone is going home so there's lots of parking - prime spots because it's the early birds leaving.  Front row parking, no lines at the snack bar, lots of good spots, traffic all heading the other way, sleeping in, not having to wake a cranky and tired teenager up at 9am...   I may never go to the beach early again.  Why has this never occurred to me before?


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Just back from a late afternoon trip to the beach. I've always been a go early beach bum, getting there to enjoy my breakfast by the sea and home in time to cook dinner and relax but I couldn't make that work today so... we left for the beach at 3:30 which is the time we're typically packing up to come home.  A lot of that has to do with crowded parking lots around here and a lack of "good spots" if you get there after 10.  today, however, I discovered that the clock resets after 3. Everyone is going home so there's lots of parking - prime spots because it's the early birds leaving.  Front row parking, no lines at the snack bar, lots of good spots, traffic all heading the other way, sleeping in, not having to wake a cranky and tired teenager up at 9am...   I may never go to the beach early again.  Why has this never occurred to me before?



I used to love that in college. I worked a summer job that would frequently let me out in that 2-4PM range, and it was about a 15 minute ride down to the beach. I'd meet a friend and we'd hang out on the beach and grab dinner at one of the beach bars after. By the time we left for dinner, the beach would pretty much be ours.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers.


----------



## smoke665

Went for our morning walk at 6:00 this morning came back wringing wet. Humidity already terrible, and will get more stifling as the day progresses.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers.



Jeeze, you just getting up???  I've been tiptoeing around here since 5 a.m.  Put the wife on a plane for your part of the world this morning.  She is headed to DC for 4 sweltering days to meet with legislators.  Lucky her.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Jeeze, you just getting up???  I've been tiptoeing around here since 5 a.m.  Put the wife on a plane for your part of the world this morning.  She is headed to DC for 4 sweltering days to meet with legislators.  Lucky her.



Nah, been up since before 5, just waiting for the light. Where we walk I like to see what's on the ground "before" the foot goes down.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Jeeze, you just getting up???  I've been tiptoeing around here since 5 a.m.  Put the wife on a plane for your part of the world this morning.  She is headed to DC for 4 sweltering days to meet with legislators.  Lucky her.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nah, been up since before 5, just waiting for the light. Where we walk I like to see what's on the ground "before" the foot goes down.
Click to expand...


Rule #1.  Don't go barefoot.  
Rule #2.  Clean up after your dog. (Rule #2 is for doggie #2)


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Rule #1. Don't go barefoot.
> Rule #2. Clean up after your dog. (Rule #2 is for doggie #2)



We walk the fire lanes and trails on the property, so what happens in the woods - stays in the woods. No way I'd go barefoot, my concern is with the critters in the grass or in the woods. We have the occasional snake to deal with, and on more rare occasions Bobcats, Black bears,  Cougars (4 legged),  Panthers, and Coyotes. Though since the cats moved in, the Coyotes have vanished. The cats tend be nocturnal especially during summer heat, preferring the coolness of the caves they use as dens.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Rule #1. Don't go barefoot.
> Rule #2. Clean up after your dog. (Rule #2 is for doggie #2)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We walk the fire lanes and trails on the property, so what happens in the woods - stays in the woods. No way I'd go barefoot, my concern is with the critters in the grass or in the woods. We have the occasional snake to deal with, and on more rare occasions Bobcats, Black bears,  Cougars (4 legged),  Panthers, and Coyotes. Though since the cats moved in, the Coyotes have vanished. The cats tend be nocturnal especially during summer heat, preferring the coolness of the caves they use as dens.
Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, what is the difference between a cougar and a panther in your neck of the woods.   My understanding is that what we west of the Mississippi call a cougar is called a panther east of the Mississippi.  From what I understand, and I have not studied it, they are genetically the same.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Rule #1. Don't go barefoot.
> Rule #2. Clean up after your dog. (Rule #2 is for doggie #2)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We walk the fire lanes and trails on the property, so what happens in the woods - stays in the woods. No way I'd go barefoot, my concern is with the critters in the grass or in the woods. We have the occasional snake to deal with, and on more rare occasions Bobcats, Black bears,  Cougars (4 legged),  Panthers, and Coyotes. Though since the cats moved in, the Coyotes have vanished. The cats tend be nocturnal especially during summer heat, preferring the coolness of the caves they use as dens.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Out of curiosity, what is the difference between a cougar and a panther in your neck of the woods.   My understanding is that that what we west of the Mississippi call a cougar is called a panther east of the Mississippi.  From what I understand, and I have not studied it, they are genetically the same.
Click to expand...


Nope here a Couger is brown or tan in color. Panthers are coal black, and slightly smaller. I thought it was unusual for them to be seen together, but here locally we have two Cougars and one Panther that run together. My neighbor captured them on his game camera last year.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is beat.  Learning a new photo processing program is a b****. Gary finally, finally finished processing Whitney High School's Fiddler on the Roof.  All last week Gary worked on them every jammin' day ... hours and hours and hours ... every jammin' day.  Seems nothing is easy nowadays. Gary started with 1500+ images and culled them down to 355 (for the kids) and he need to get that down to about 30 or so for his best of files. Mary Lou just left for work with the DVD ... now back to bed for some rest, (Gary worked until the wee hours) ... and back at the WHS Talent show.

WHS production consisted of a lot of teachers in the cast. A few from Fiddler:
#1





Drama teacher demonstrating how to throw a punch.

#2





#3





#4





#5





#6





#7


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.


----------



## terri

Morning, hosers (back atcha, Leo!)!

@Gary A. :  looks like a very nice production.   Good stuff!    (Though having to process 350 images sounds like hell on earth to me.)


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 141451 I like it and it took less than an hour to assemble by myself.  Although I am very experienced at that having several IKEA beds and dressers under my belt already.
> 
> Amazon.com: Winsome Dayton Storage Hall Bench with Shelves: Kitchen & Dining
> 
> Price seems to have jumped by $20 since I ordered it two weeks ago but that could just be because I didn't bother blocking the cookies when I signed into get you the link.   Delivery was free with Prine.
> 
> ETA- the shelves are removable and adjustable for winter when you have boots instead of flip flops.


This is terrific!   I'm going to check the dimensions and actually might get the same thing.    Thanks, SharonCat!


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> A few from Fiddler:



Out of 1500 images I would hope you can find 30 LOL Having that many would drive me bananas trying to narrow it down (to many choices cause brain overload) LOL

#2,5 & 6 are my favorites.


----------



## SquarePeg

gryphonslair99 said:


> Out of curiosity, what is the difference between a cougar and a panther in your neck of the woods...



Cougars wear more make-up and think they can pull off yoga pants.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Morning, hosers (back atcha, Leo!)!
> 
> @Gary A. :  looks like a very nice production.   Good stuff!    (Though having to process 350 images sounds like hell on earth to me.)


Gary had to cull through 1500+ images, each image took about ten seconds to load, (Gary timed it).  All on Iridient which was new to Gary. It was a week long painful process.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers (back atcha, Leo!)!
> 
> @Gary A. :  looks like a very nice production.   Good stuff!    (Though having to process 350 images sounds like hell on earth to me.)     [emoji38]
> 
> 
> 
> Gary had to cull through 1500+ images, each image took about ten seconds to load, (Gary timed it).  All on Iridient which was new to Gary. It was a week long painful process.
Click to expand...

That would suck. Nice images.


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeeze, you just getting up???  I've been tiptoeing around here since 5 a.m.  Put the wife on a plane for your part of the world this morning.  She is headed to DC for 4 sweltering days to meet with legislators.  Lucky her.
Click to expand...

And it is . . . 91 today; more of same tomorrow.  Where's she staying? I've got some things to tell her.


----------



## SquarePeg

Lost our first round playoff game tonight.  Sloppy defense wasted a stellar pitching performance by our ace.  Season is over!  Relieved I can get back to slacking off on the web and early morning shoots.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeeze, you just getting up???  I've been tiptoeing around here since 5 a.m.  Put the wife on a plane for your part of the world this morning.  She is headed to DC for 4 sweltering days to meet with legislators.  Lucky her.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And it is . . . 91 today; more of same tomorrow.  Where's she staying? I've got some things to tell her.
Click to expand...

I actually don't know.  If you find a whole bunch of Midwest bankers wandering around you will find her though.  Members of the Missouri and Kansas bankers association (MOKAN) are there to lobby congressional leaders.  Since she is one of the officers her trip is paid for so I'm guessing it's somewhere nice.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Lost our first round playoff game tonight.  Sloppy defense wasted a stellar pitching performance by our ace.  Season is over!  Relieved I can get back to slacking off on the web and early morning shoots.


Sorry for the loss, deep playoff runs are exciting and memorable.


----------



## Gary A.

The Rabbi from Fiddler.


----------



## table1349




----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Lost our first round playoff game tonight.  Sloppy defense wasted a stellar pitching performance by our ace.  Season is over!  Relieved I can get back to slacking off on the web and early morning shoots.


College World Series ... Gary's Titans (CSUF) is moving on to Omaha after beating the Dirtbags (CSULB).  Gary thinks they're playing the Ducks.


----------



## table1349

How Teachers be on the last day of school.  Enjoy the summer teachers, school will be with you all too soon.


----------



## waday

gryphonslair99 said:


>


Agree. I came in here to complain about today, as well, but you beat me to it.

Ugh, Tuesdays, amirite?


----------



## table1349

waday said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Agree. I came in here to complain about today, as well, but you beat me to it.
> 
> Ugh, Tuesdays, amirite?
Click to expand...

Sorry, but I am in day 4 of my summer cold.  There is not very much in this world that is more annoying than a summer cold.  Oh well, life goes on.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  As we are speaking of baseball, there is an article in the LA Times Sports section on the Angel's Yunel Escobar.  He carries a "Big Stick".  Apparently, not only a big stick but the biggest stick in the majors. Interestingly, Escobar is a contact hitter, the leadoff batter and single's specialist ... not a clean-up guy. The bat is 36 inch x 34 ounces ... that is huge.

In other sports news, a la the NBA Final:
KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  As we are speaking of baseball, there is an article in the LA Times Sports section on the Angel's Yunel Escobar.  He carries a "Big Stick".  Apparently, not only a big stick but the biggest stick in the majors. Interestingly, Escobar is a contact hitter, the leadoff batter and single's specialist ... not a clean-up guy. The bat is 36 inch x 34 ounces ... that is huge.
> 
> In other sports news, a la the NBA Final:
> KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!!!


That is a big bat. He needs it though because he has tremendous bat speed. IMO, it helps him roll through the strike zone as opposed to hacking through it.
Dude can play D too.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  As we are speaking of baseball, there is an article in the LA Times Sports section on the Angel's Yunel Escobar.  He carries a "Big Stick".  Apparently, not only a big stick but the biggest stick in the majors. Interestingly, Escobar is a contact hitter, the leadoff batter and single's specialist ... not a clean-up guy. The bat is 36 inch x 34 ounces ... that is huge.
> 
> In other sports news, a la the NBA Final:
> KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!, KD!!!
> 
> 
> 
> That is a big bat. He needs it though because he has tremendous bat speed. IMO, it helps him roll through the strike zone as opposed to hacking through it.
> Dude can play D too.
Click to expand...

Apparently, he's been hitting off the tip of the bat, the extra length should solve that problem.  First time up with the big bat he hit a homer against the Yankees.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary that picture is just beautiful. 

Sad news locally, the young man transported back from N. Korea is from the area. The news yesterday was just appalling that he's been in a coma for a year... Last update on tonight's news doesn't sound too encouraging, apparently the longer someone is in a coma the less likely they'll come out of it. I guess at least he's back home and getting good medical care is the best you can say about it. Just heart wrenching.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Then today... I tell you, hard to watch and hard to not watch when you're home all day. 

I think I'd take a nice normal boring day tomorrow.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> he's been in a coma for a year



Saw this on the news but I never did see or understand why he was in a coma???


----------



## Gary A.

Botulism is what Gary heard.


----------



## Gary A.

BTW- Mary Lou and Gary attend the Playboy Jazz Festival over the weekend. It was a glorious time.


----------



## limr

Leo was down in Ybor City  in Tampa tonight. 



 

Hey, @pixmedic - I don't have a lot of free time but if you find yourself in Tampa one night before Sunday, let me know


----------



## pixmedic

limr said:


> Leo was down in Ybor City  in Tampa tonight.
> 
> View attachment 141581
> 
> Hey, @pixmedic - I don't have a lot of free time but if you find yourself in Tampa one night before Sunday, let me know



 im on shift tomorrow, so off friday and saturday.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Leo was down in Ybor City in Tampa tonight.



That looks a lot like the front of the Columbia. They have great coffee. We just used the last of our horde.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leo was down in Ybor City in Tampa tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That looks a lot like the front of the Columbia. They have great coffee. We just used the last of our horde.
Click to expand...


That indeed is the Columbia. Had dinner and saw some flamenco dancers. Came outside to see this.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leo was down in Ybor City in Tampa tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That looks a lot like the front of the Columbia. They have great coffee. We just used the last of our horde.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That indeed is the Columbia. Had dinner and saw some flamenco dancers. Came outside to see this.
> 
> View attachment 141597
Click to expand...


I thought it was going to be a mustachioed man with a churchillian cigar. A rainbow is nice too 

Last day of school. 11 weeks of Saturdays start tomorrow.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Came outside to see this.



Well it's kind of a "magical place". LOL


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Leo was down in Ybor City  in Tampa tonight.
> 
> View attachment 141581
> 
> Hey, @pixmedic - I don't have a lot of free time but if you find yourself in Tampa one night before Sunday, let me know


Cool place. I went on a Friday or Saturday night. Place was hopping.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  This week it is predicted to be a heat wave, the 70's along the beaches, 80's in the coastal basin, 90's in the valleys and 100+ in the deserts. At least it cools off 20 to 30 degrees at night. Gary has an attic fan which is remarkably efficient at keeping the house cool. Gary has been giving some serious thought to solar ... but his monthly energy bill is so low that numbers-wise it doesn't make a lot of sense to install solar. 

Thursday is camera ad day in the paper.  Samy's has three full pages of advertisement.  Hey, Leica has an instant film camera ... looks like a rebadged Fuji.


----------



## jcdeboever

Thrift store find. ,$7


----------



## tirediron

Damn... those big Gra Lab timers are nice.  I miss mine!


----------



## smoke665

Great snag JC! Maybe I need to start checking the thrift stores.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Great snag JC! Maybe I need to start checking the thrift stores.


Yup, $5 for the timer, plugged in and it works, $2 for the tank, never used with instructions, warranty card, and adverts for their chemicals. They also had a working on scope that I could use to measure shutter times, $50. I would snag it it but don't plan on fixing cameras.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> This week it is predicted to be a heat



Phhhfffttt! When the temperature AND the humidity top 95, then I'll sympathize


----------



## Gary A.

... Gary suspects he'll never get your sympathy.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay big guy, dump the developing tank ... keep the timer.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Okay big guy, dump the developing tank ... keep the timer.



Lol, yup....the tank is poo poo, I failed to inspect it closely.... poop. Lol. 

Cook's long lost first love, Tmax


----------



## table1349

Well it's 7:27 p.m., it's still 91 degrees outside and a big ole' thunderstorm is about to roll through town.  70 mph winds, golf ball size hail, torrential rain, the typical flat lands thunderstorm.  Hatches are battened down and the wife is on the road to Chicago for the weekend.  Two cats and one dog are pertnear dead asleep, and the other dog would be watching the weather channel with a frown on her face if she could operate the remote.  She hates thunder and fireworks.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> Well it's 7:27 p.m., it's still 91 degrees outside and a big ole' thunderstorm is about to roll through town.  70 mph winds, golf ball size hail, torrential rain, the typical flat lands thunderstorm.  Hatches are battened down and the wife is on the road to Chicago for the weekend.  Two cats and one dog are pertnear dead asleep, and the other dog would be watching the weather channel with a frown on her face if she could operate the remote.  She hates thunder and fireworks.


Get out and shoot!


----------



## table1349

Well they say the wind is up to 90mph. The leading edge is past us, but the storm is moving from NW to SE which is unusual for us.  Lots of rain, wind, limbs down in some places.  Typical Kansas weather.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> Well they say the wind is up to 90mph. The leading edge is past us, but the storm is moving from NW to SE which is unusual for us.  Lots of rain, wind, limbs down in some places.  Typical Kansas weather.


No problem, get out there.


----------



## snowbear

Pics or it isn't happening.


----------



## jcdeboever

Nice mild night. Backyard view, cell phone


----------



## table1349

Got to love it.  Went from 91 to 63 in less than 5 minutes.  When storms roll across the plains they roll.


----------



## vintagesnaps

What's wrong with the tank? And the scope what?? lol You got my attention!! I have a Gra Lab timer, so far in darkroom equipment I mostly have trays & tongs and a wonderful Kodak squeegee for prints etc. I've used for alt processes. 

The update so far on the young man just sent back from N. Korea is that originally it was said he'd had botulism/food poisoning and they gave him a sleeping pill and he never work up. There was a press conference today with the doctors and he has neurological damage with significant brain tissue loss. They said it's usually the type thing seen in someone who's had cardio pulmonary arrest with an inadequate blood supply to the brain for a long period of time. It's just, I don't know, so inhumane to have kept him over there this long; seeing on the news him coming back to the airport that night, the dad spoke at his high school today, just brought tears to my eyes.

Anyway, I've actually been kind of watching some baseball tonight, the Congressional game, which has been pretty cool. I'd usually be watching a Caps hockey game!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I thought you meant there were fireworks and a storm tonight and started wondering what holiday is on June 15?!? lol realized you meant the dog is scared of both, not that they're both happening tonight. Yeah, the weather here has been weird too, unseasonably hot for June with some storms off and on. 

Big crowd at that ball game, had about 24 thou and usually it's maybe 12-13 thou.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> I thought you meant there were fireworks and a storm tonight and started wondering what holiday is on June 15?!? lol realized you meant the dog is scared of both, not that they're both happening tonight. Yeah, the weather here has been weird too, unseasonably hot for June with some storms off and on.
> 
> Big crowd at that ball game, had about 24 thou and usually it's maybe 12-13 thou.


We have fireworks after some of the ball games at the stadium down the road.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like fireworks


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Anyway, I've actually been kind of watching some baseball tonight, the Congressional game, which has been pretty cool. I'd usually be watching a Caps hockey game!


Have they talked much about the shooting?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Not much that I heard, but they made reference to it during the open. C-Span at first just had audio from the stadium, crowd noise and the game announcer in the background; then all of a sudden audio of announcers came on from a radio station in DC that I think carries Nationals and Caps games. Said MLB and the Nationals were providing the video. 

The Capitol police officer that was injured at the practice the other day came out on crutches and tossed out the first ball with Joe Torre to catcher Roberto Clemente Jr. 

End of the game the winning Dems gave the trophy to the Republicans to take to Representative Scalise's room at the hospital.


----------



## vintagesnaps

C-SPAN started replaying the open and the game after it was over. Don't know if they'll show it again.


----------



## Gary A.

All the shootings yesterday marked another unnecessarily sad and violent day in the USA.

The cable news channels are broadcasting live from the game, lots of interviews and the occasional play-by-play by Speaker Ryan. One of the Capitol Police agents, David Bailey, who was injured when he engaged the shooter, threw the first pitch.  That was the best and most touching part of the game. 

Personally, if Congress was sincere about diminishing the polarizing, partisan, vitriol that seems to have enveloped our political process ... Gary thinks it would have been much nicer if both baseball rosters reflected a mixed lineup of all parties and independents playing on the same teams. In other words, not the Republicans versus the Democrats ... but simply Americans playing Americans.


----------



## Gary A.

A night shot from the Playboy Jazz Fedtival.


----------



## Gary A.

Some peppers collected in the morning.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I finally watched the press conference with the three doctors who are treating the young man returned from N. Korea. He isn't actually in a coma, it's a state of wakefulness where he opens his eyes and blinks but hasn't responded to speech and doesn't seem to be aware of his surroundings. There was apparently tissue damage that means dead brain cells, but there's been new cell growth since.

They received two scans and those are consistent with what they're seeing now so they seem to think some sort of trauma happened not long after his detainment over a year ago. They said usually what they're seeing happens related to respiratory or cardiovascular distress. At his age they usually only see that caused due to alcohol or some type of trauma. He didn't have any broken bones and they didn't detect botulism but said that wouldn't have stayed in the system that long anyway. No prognosis given at the family's request.

Other than that, I'm puttering around the house and it's actually not raining. But hot and I'm staying in the AC. My best friend is using a few 'staycation' days next week and the weather's supposed to be - nice! whad'ya know!


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Well it's 7:27 p.m., it's still 91 degrees outside and a big ole' thunderstorm is about to roll through town.  70 mph winds, golf ball size hail, torrential rain, the typical flat lands thunderstorm.  Hatches are battened down and the wife is on the road to Chicago for the weekend.  Two cats and one dog are pertnear dead asleep, and the other dog would be watching the weather channel with a frown on her face if she could operate the remote.  She hates thunder and fireworks.



So does this mean Toto has left Kansas ---Again?

And another thing around here its "purtnear" with a "u". Is this a regional thing up there to spell it with an "e" , or was that spell checker trying to figure out what you were saying. To me the "e" doesn't sound as good especially when used in the past tense adjective  version - "purtneart". As in "I purtneart got shot last night when I drew that straight flush on the last card".


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> They said usually what they're seeing happens related to respiratory or cardiovascular distress. At his age they usually only see that caused due to alcohol or some type of trauma.



Dealing with a disabled vet (son) with PTSD and TBI, from experience I can say that the effects of trauma and/or lack of oxygen to the brain are cumulative. Each time cells die the brain does its best to rewire itself. Unfortunately it's never as good as the original. 

In other news we are kicked back in our home away from home. Enjoying the cooler breezes of the Smokies.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well it's 7:27 p.m., it's still 91 degrees outside and a big ole' thunderstorm is about to roll through town.  70 mph winds, golf ball size hail, torrential rain, the typical flat lands thunderstorm.  Hatches are battened down and the wife is on the road to Chicago for the weekend.  Two cats and one dog are pertnear dead asleep, and the other dog would be watching the weather channel with a frown on her face if she could operate the remote.  She hates thunder and fireworks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So does this mean Toto has left Kansas ---Again?
> 
> And another thing around here its "purtnear" with a "u". Is this a regional thing up there to spell it with an "e" , or was that spell checker trying to figure out what you were saying. To me the "e" doesn't sound as good especially when used in the past tense adjective  version - "purtneart". As in "I purtneart got shot last night when I drew that straight flush on the last card".
Click to expand...

Nope, I got Toto, her sister and the two cats.  The Wicked Witch of the West is gone though, until late Sunday Night that is.  

FYI... It's a Texas thing.


----------



## JonA_CT

One of those weird weather days. My coworker who lives 30 miles west of me got 0.1 inches of rain today. I've nearly had 3 inches. The wind is blowing at just the perfect direction and speed over Long Island Sound to kick up moisture and drench us.


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> One of those weird weather days. My coworker who lives 30 miles west of me got 0.1 inches of rain today. I've nearly had 3 inches. The wind is blowing at just the perfect direction and speed over Long Island Sound to kick up moisture and drench us.


  Sounds like a distance thing.   

If I can find it I will scan and old b&w I took as a kid.  Neighbors down the road had their house taken by a tornado, 20 feet from the house was their picnic table.  On the table were a pair of wellingtons and a glass of ice tea.  They and the table were untouched, while the house took a Wizard of Oz ride.  None of us could figure out how that tornado could take the house and not disturb the picnic table.


----------



## snowbear

Package en route from NYC; should be here Monday.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> Package en route from NYC; should be here Monday.


Breaking News: UPS Package Routing System Down, Delays to be Expected.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Heating up here, well into the 80's. Guests over for dinner last night, Mike and his Golden Retriever Max.  Grilled up some Swordfish, baked up some flatbread, sliced up a tomato salad (first of the year), Mike brought a Gazpacho and all the fixin'.  It was all washed down with some awfully fine vino topped off with a port and some ice cream cupcakes. (The Temecula wine was better than the Paso wine.) We just relaxed in the patio and enjoyed the cool evening/night breezes, listening to KUSC, the rushing water and nice easy banter. A lovely evening and the food was damn good.

Gary discovered a leak in his RO system, the overflow at the faucet hood is dripping. He is thinking it might be less stressful and quicker to just get a new system than to attempt to track down and repair the existing.

Mary Lou and Gary are thinking of avoiding the heat by watching Guardians of the Galaxy in the early afternoon.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hi all.  Princess came home from a dance at one of our local churches with a raging case of pink eye that she apparently hid from me so she wouldn't have to miss the dance.  The sunglasses she was wearing were said to be part of the Hawaiian theme of the dance.  Had to miss the Tall ships parade of sail to take her grounded butt to the Urgent Care.


----------



## EIngerson

SquarePeg said:


> Hi all.  Princess came home from a dance at one of our local churches with a raging case of pink eye that she apparently hid from me so she wouldn't have to miss the dance.  The sunglasses she was wearing were said to be part of the Hawaiian theme of the dance.  Had to miss the Tall ships parade of sail to take her grounded butt to the Urgent Care.




Oh man, no bueno. Hope it heals up quick.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Hi all.  Princess came home from a dance at one of our local churches with a raging case of pink eye that she apparently hid from me so she wouldn't have to miss the dance.  The sunglasses she was wearing were said to be part of the Hawaiian theme of the dance.  Had to miss the Tall ships parade of sail to take her grounded butt to the Urgent Care.


The joys of parenthood.  When they become teens, often you just have to kill them and start all over.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Hi all.  Princess came home from a dance at one of our local churches with a raging case of pink eye that she apparently hid from me so she wouldn't have to miss the dance.  The sunglasses she was wearing were said to be part of the Hawaiian theme of the dance.  Had to miss the Tall ships parade of sail to take her grounded butt to the Urgent Care.


And now you know why many adult species eat their young!


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> Breaking News: UPS Package Routing System Down, Delays to be Expected.


Nice try -- it rolled into town this morning.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Hi all.  Princess came home from a dance at one of our local churches with a raging case of pink eye that she apparently hid from me so she wouldn't have to miss the dance.  The sunglasses she was wearing were said to be part of the Hawaiian theme of the dance.  Had to miss the Tall ships parade of sail to take her grounded butt to the Urgent Care.


Not fun; I still have drops left over from my last bout.  Tell her she has to write "I'm Sorry" notes to everyone at the dance for potentially infecting them.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi all.  Princess came home from a dance at one of our local churches with a raging case of pink eye that she apparently hid from me so she wouldn't have to miss the dance.  The sunglasses she was wearing were said to be part of the Hawaiian theme of the dance.  Had to miss the Tall ships parade of sail to take her grounded butt to the Urgent Care.
> 
> 
> 
> Not fun; I still have drops left over from my last bout.  Tell her she has to write "I'm Sorry" notes to everyone at the dance for potentially infecting them.
Click to expand...

Yep, that's the main thing - she was wildly contagious at the time.   It's pretty easy to knock it out once you start with the drops, but until then she should have been in her room.  But oh, the dance!  

Choices, choices - and now the consequences.    Git 'er, mom!


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi all.  Princess came home from a dance at one of our local churches with a raging case of pink eye that she apparently hid from me so she wouldn't have to miss the dance.  The sunglasses she was wearing were said to be part of the Hawaiian theme of the dance.  Had to miss the Tall ships parade of sail to take her grounded butt to the Urgent Care.
> 
> 
> 
> Not fun; I still have drops left over from my last bout.  Tell her she has to write "I'm Sorry" notes to everyone at the dance for potentially infecting them.
Click to expand...


I'm sure she picked it up from one of those little darlings at school this week.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Isn't school out yet??!!! field trips, school dances, pinkeye - make it stop! lol Schools here start early and get out earlier than we used to but still, even I would've been done by now!


----------



## SquarePeg

Last day is Tuesday because of making up the 5 snow days they had this year.  

Our town gets out early compared to some others around here.  We start the Tuesday before Labor Day each year.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good grief.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Last day is Tuesday because of making up the 5 snow days they had this year.
> 
> Our town gets out early compared to some others around here.  We start the Tuesday before Labor Day each year.


I grew up in Michigan, and we always returned to school the day after Labor Day - no matter what.    We didn't get out until June, and that date was flexible because of what you mentioned - snow days.   Memorial Day was the last official school holiday, and we had to go back for at least a couple of weeks after that.  

When I moved to the SE USA, it amazed me that the kids went back in the middle of August - August!!    That means the schools have to keep the A/C blasting a lot longer than they would if they stayed out till Labor Day.   Stores selling back to school clothes are pushing a fall-oriented line that has nothing to do with what the weather dictates.   So silly!


----------



## Gary A.

Just hit 90F here. Dry as a bone. Mary Lou and Gary escaped into a theater ... Guardians of the Galaxy ... a great way to beat the heat. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

We made it to 98.  The thought was we would see our first 100 degree day, but looks like we are going to fall short.  Due to the recent rains the humidity is in the 40% range which is on the high side for this time of year.


----------



## Gary A.

Guardians!  Very entertaining, (if you like that sort of thing).  Temps have dropped 5 degrees ... cooling off fast.  We are back in the patio eating some Habit Burgers, sweet potato fries, vino and enjoying the evening.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Guardians!  Very entertaining, (if you like that sort of thing).  Temps have dropped 5 degrees ... cooling off fast.  We are back in the patio eating some Habit Burgers, sweet potato fries, vino and enjoying the evening.



I loved the first Guardians movie.  Haven't had a chance to catch this one yet.  Trying to get there while it's still on the bigger screens.  I hate when I go to the movies and the screen is only slightly bigger than my big TV at home!


----------



## Gary A.

Down to 76F, still dropping and we're still enjoying the evening. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Down to 76F, still dropping and we're still enjoying the evening.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Time to break out the long johns.


----------



## Gary A.

The second Guardian is much of the same ... not as good as the first ... but still a good tale. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

Does today's Pickles Comic remind any one besides me of jcdeboever ?


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Down to 76F, still dropping and we're still enjoying the evening.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Time to break out the long johns.
Click to expand...

Yep, eventually dropped into the upper 60's.  Mary Lou and Gary decided that the night was still young and we finished our wine with a NetFlix.


----------



## Gary A.

Happy Father's Day!


----------



## table1349

A glorious 75 degrees after hitting 98 yesterday.  Thunderstorms again over night.  In the last 48 hours we have had 2+ inches of rain.  It's now a cool, calm, semi-sunny day in the flatland.  Just got done watching a couple of episodes of Doc Martin on Netflix.  Plan to watch some more a bit later since the wife won't be home until late tonight.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Happy Father's Day!


Gracias; to you, too.  We went to the tapas brunch at Cuba Libre in DC.  Lot's of wonderful food and a pitcher of white sangria (with white peaches).  As we were paying the bill, the waitress handed me a rum and Coke - the restaurant's gift to all the dads.  I'm glad I wasn't driving.  Just got up from the required nap.


----------



## table1349

The potato has been on the upper shelf in the grill for 30 minutes and the strip steak is on counter seasoned and resting.  It goes on at 6:35.  Nothing like a nice quiet dinner by myself before continuing my Doc Martin marathon.


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Father's Day Hoser Dads!


----------



## jcdeboever

Happy Father's Day! I worked outside.


----------



## snowbear

Yes, happy dad's day.



SquarePeg said:


> Happy Father's Day Hoser Dads!





jcdeboever said:


> Happy Father's Day! I worked outside.



I had great Cuban-inspired food and got a wee bit tipsy on sangria and rum.

I'll get to open the (sort of) present tomorrow.


----------



## The_Traveler

Watched 'Episode 6' of American Gods and strangely enough, my wife, who is has a CNS disease, seems to like it. It may be the incredibly interesting photography.


----------



## snowbear

Hello, Lew.  I'll have to check it out.


----------



## The_Traveler

snowbear said:


> Hello, Lew.  I'll have to check it out.



Watch from the beginning.


----------



## Gary A.

Evening all. Gary had a very pleasant Father's Day. His daughter and dog came up from San Diego. Weather cooled off into the mid 80's and Gary brisket-ed up Tri-Tip. It was Delish. Amy and Holly just left to go back home, Mary Lou and Gary are watching the sun fade and the solar lights flick on, sipping the last of our wine. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear




----------



## vintagesnaps

The local news this evening was about the young man from here who was just returned from N. Korea, that he passed away this afternoon. I'm glad at least that he got home. They did say his face and appearance seemed more relaxed and peaceful once he was home than when he first arrived, and I suppose that's some comfort to the family. I"m glad at least they were able to be with him.


----------



## SquarePeg

Such a horror at what happened to him over such a trivial infraction.  I still can't believe we couldn't get him back sooner.  They essentially murdered him.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I guess it being on local news, and seeing a clip of his dad speaking at his high school the other day, it just has brought tears to my eyes. Probably will bring out a lot of different emotions. They said the state dept. had been working on trying to get him home ever since it happened. I guess what can make it tricky is dealing with a regime that we don't have any foreign relations with at all, and not wanting to put at jeopardy the others being held there. They even said something about for us to handle it too assertively or try any military action there could be a risk of them retaliating by taking it out against a neighboring country. I can't even imagine what it must be like there.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Such a horror at what happened to him over such a trivial infraction.  I still can't believe we couldn't get him back sooner.  They essentially murdered him.


That's the problem; it seems trivial to us, but people forget that there are lots of places in the world where certain things are taken a lot more seriously than they might be in North America.  Try getting into a car accident with a Saudi citizen in Riyadh or or spray-painting your name on a sidewalk in downtown SIngapore!  People REALLY need to think about where they are and what the local customs and laws are there.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Such a horror at what happened to him over such a trivial infraction.  I still can't believe we couldn't get him back sooner.  They essentially murdered him.


I echo Peg.  It is very difficult to lawfully punish a country which is pretty much totally isolated and acts without regard to law(s).


----------



## vintagesnaps

I got to thinking, seems so long ago that certain things in history happened, to think there are countries that are still so oppressive. I imagine you wouldn't think something that wasn't much worse than a prank and would have been a misdemeanor at most here, would be so serious in another country. I'm just glad at least that he was back here at home before he died and seemed to be at peace, and his was family able to be with him. Probably gave them some peace of mind.


----------



## Gary A.

We are in a heat wave.  Temps hit 91F today.  Gary came in from resting outside, soaking up the cool breezes like a tall beer.  Gary rarely does nothing.  But he lounged in a low slung patio chair, the cool 74F air flowing over him and he closed his eyes. Gary needs a hammock.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Such a horror at what happened to him over such a trivial infraction.  I still can't believe we couldn't get him back sooner.  They essentially murdered him.
> 
> 
> 
> I echo Peg.  It is very difficult to lawfully punish a country which is pretty much totally isolated and acts without regard to law(s).
Click to expand...

There is the problem isn't it, we expect them to conform to our expectations.  If we were serious about this we would allow no travel there and cut off all money and materials to them and any country that supports them.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Such a horror at what happened to him over such a trivial infraction.  I still can't believe we couldn't get him back sooner.  They essentially murdered him.
> 
> 
> 
> I echo Peg.  It is very difficult to lawfully punish a country which is pretty much totally isolated and acts without regard to law(s).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There is the problem isn't it, we expect them to conform to our expectations.  If we were serious about this we would allow no travel there and cut off all money and materials to them and any country that supports them.
Click to expand...

We pretty much have that allready in place.  It is China which needs to come to the table and limit their support/trade of N. Korea.  China is very reluctant to do so as it is in their 'best interests' to keep N. Korea as a buffer between them and a bustling, capitalistic, democratic S. Korea.  The difference between the USA's rule by law, is our government is designed to improve the lives of its citizenry. Whereas, the rule by decree of N. Korea is designed to improve the wellbeing of only one person.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Front page photo of the Los Angeles Times depicts snow skiers zipping down the slope of Squaw Valley, in the foreground the guy is bare chested wearing shorts, (knot boxers if you ask Gary), and in the background a lady sporting a bikini. Meanwhile, we lowlanders suffer in another 91F day.


----------



## waday

I am thoroughly enjoying this weather. I love the heat. I could open all the windows, but the wife likes her AC. I don't blame her, though. Especially since she's pregnant.

On a side note:

Do you ever have one of those times where someone asks you a question you know, but your mind goes blank, and then you flub the answer so badly that you feel like you're going down in flames? Well, that was me five minutes ago.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Such a horror at what happened to him over such a trivial infraction.  I still can't believe we couldn't get him back sooner.  They essentially murdered him.


The US does similar things, but the general population tends to turn a blind eye to it. One example: GTMO.


----------



## Gary A.

Good news and Bad news for the boys of summer.  The Bad: Gary's Titans are out leaving Omaha. Up by one over Florida State, Fullerton walked in two runs and lost the game in the seventh inning.  The Good:  Rookie Bellinger hit two home runs and Turner one homer to secure another win for Kershaw.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Such a horror at what happened to him over such a trivial infraction.  I still can't believe we couldn't get him back sooner.  They essentially murdered him.
> 
> 
> 
> The US does similar things, but the general population tends to turn a blind eye to it. One example: GTMO.
Click to expand...

An interesting and arguably a good/bad point. It is easy to turn a blind eye to such matters in a representative democracy.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> I am thoroughly enjoying this weather. I love the heat. I could open all the windows, but the wife likes her AC. I don't blame her, though. Especially since she's pregnant.
> 
> On a side note:
> 
> Do you ever have one of those times where someone asks you a question you know, but your mind goes blank, and then you flub the answer so badly that you feel like you're going down in flames? Well, that was me five minutes ago.


Internally, yeah ... everyday.  But for the external consumption/communication, Gary is very good at BS-ing.  So when others may fumble with an answer, Gary speaks with confidence and reassurance.  By the time others realize his answer was wrong he is out of the room.  (This also works particularly well with Scrabble.)


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> I am thoroughly enjoying this weather. I love the heat. I could open all the windows, but the wife likes her AC. I don't blame her, though. *Especially since she's pregnant.*
> 
> On a side note:
> 
> Do you ever have one of those times where someone asks you a question you know, but your mind goes blank, and then you flub the answer so badly that you feel like you're going down in flames? Well, that was me five minutes ago.



Congrats!


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Internally, yeah ... everyday. But for the external consumption/communication, Gary is very good at BS-ing. So when others may fumble with an answer, Gary speaks with confidence and reassurance. By the time others realize his answer was wrong he is out of the room. (This also works particularly well with Scrabble.)



That's it!  Say it with authority and confidence and no one will question your answer.

@waday  - I hate when that happens!  Of course the correct answer always comes along after you've made yourself feel like an idiot.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> I am thoroughly enjoying this weather. I love the heat. I could open all the windows, but the wife likes her AC. I don't blame her, though. Especially since she's pregnant.
> 
> On a side note:
> 
> Do you ever have one of those times where someone asks you a question you know, but your mind goes blank, and then you flub the answer so badly that you feel like you're going down in flames? Well, that was me five minutes ago.


Cheers! (Gary lifts and extends his coffee to the East.)


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Internally, yeah ... everyday. But for the external consumption/communication, Gary is very good at BS-ing. So when others may fumble with an answer, Gary speaks with confidence and reassurance. By the time others realize his answer was wrong he is out of the room. (This also works particularly well with Scrabble.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's it!  Say it with authority and confidence and no one will question your answer.
> 
> @waday  - I hate when that happens!  Of course the correct answer always comes along after you've made yourself feel like an idiot.
Click to expand...

It's not that Wade didn't know the answer ... couldn't spit it out in a logical sequence ... hence the fumbling. Most likely it was a technical matter and Wade, Gary is assuming, he didn't know how much background info he needed to provide in order for his answer to make sense/be correct. Technical answers are tough to get out off-the-cuff with a clear and incomplex speech.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Congrats!



Thank you!  Did you see the picture I posted in this thread? I might have posted it when you were on vacation?



Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am thoroughly enjoying this weather. I love the heat. I could open all the windows, but the wife likes her AC. I don't blame her, though. Especially since she's pregnant.
> 
> On a side note:
> 
> Do you ever have one of those times where someone asks you a question you know, but your mind goes blank, and then you flub the answer so badly that you feel like you're going down in flames? Well, that was me five minutes ago.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cheers! (Gary lifts and extends his coffee to the East.)
Click to expand...

Cheers! (Wade lifts and extends his coffee to the West.)



Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Internally, yeah ... everyday. But for the external consumption/communication, Gary is very good at BS-ing. So when others may fumble with an answer, Gary speaks with confidence and reassurance. By the time others realize his answer was wrong he is out of the room. (This also works particularly well with Scrabble.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's it!  Say it with authority and confidence and no one will question your answer.
> 
> @waday  - I hate when that happens!  Of course the correct answer always comes along after you've made yourself feel like an idiot.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's not that Wade didn't know the answer ... he couldn't spit it out in a logical sequence ... hence the fumbling. Most likely it was a technical matter and Wade, Gary is assuming, he didn't know how much background info he needed to provide in order for his answer to make sense/be correct. Technical answers are tough to get out off-the-cuff with a clear and incomplex speech.
Click to expand...

This was the exact situation. It was regarding sensible heat transfer vs. latent heat transfer—trying to explain it easily to a fresh out of school engineer. It clearly went right over their head, so when I tried to make it easier to understand in the moment, it was pretty much me stammering with incomprehensible speech. Agree with @SquarePeg, as the perfect example came to me afterwards. Ugh.


----------



## terri

Wade's pregnant?        Congrats!!    Best wishes to your wife (yes, keep her cool and comfortable!).  

Raining here again, hosers.   It's been a fabulously cool and wet spring.        It could easily be in the mid-90's and dry as a bone by now.

Edit:  if you told us already, I don't remember.   Dude, it happens.   So repeat congrats, and maybe this time it'll stick!


----------



## waday

terri said:


> Wade's pregnant?        Congrats!!    Best wishes to your wife (yes, keep her cool and comfortable!).
> 
> Raining here again, hosers.   It's been a fabulously cool and wet spring.        It could easily be in the mid-90's and dry as a bone by now.
> 
> Edit:  if you told us already, I don't remember.   Dude, it happens.   So repeat congrats, and maybe this time it'll stick!


Thank you!

The wife wanted a baby photo announcement, and I wanted to use Converse. On the final announcement photo, I've slapped on a transparent box at the bottom, added "Baby [Last Name]", and "Coming November 2017".





Original Post


----------



## Gary A.

Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?


Did you have a dairy or simulated dairy product in your coffee?


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?



Are you in high school?


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?


Sure, but M&Ms are better for you.



SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you in high school?
Click to expand...

High school breakfast =  coffee and Hostess orange cupcakes.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wade's pregnant?        Congrats!!    Best wishes to your wife (yes, keep her cool and comfortable!).
> 
> Raining here again, hosers.   It's been a fabulously cool and wet spring.        It could easily be in the mid-90's and dry as a bone by now.
> 
> Edit:  if you told us already, I don't remember.   Dude, it happens.   So repeat congrats, and maybe this time it'll stick!
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> The wife wanted a baby photo announcement, and I wanted to use Converse. On the final announcement photo, I've slapped on a transparent box at the bottom, added "Baby [Last Name]", and "Coming November 2017".
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Original Post
Click to expand...

Ding ding ding!!    Of course, I remember this shot.         I'm happy I provided you an excuse to show it again, because it's baby-announcement perfection!


----------



## jcdeboever

I like Cheetos


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Such a horror at what happened to him over such a trivial infraction.  I still can't believe we couldn't get him back sooner.  They essentially murdered him.
> 
> 
> 
> I echo Peg.  It is very difficult to lawfully punish a country which is pretty much totally isolated and acts without regard to law(s).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There is the problem isn't it, we expect them to conform to our expectations.  If we were serious about this we would allow no travel there and cut off all money and materials to them and any country that supports them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We pretty much have that allready in place.  It is China which needs to come to the table and limit their support/trade of N. Korea.  China is very reluctant to do so as it is in their 'best interests' to keep N. Korea as a buffer between them and a bustling, capitalistic, democratic S. Korea.  The difference between the USA's rule by law, is our government is designed to improve the lives of its citizenry. Whereas, the rule by decree of N. Korea is designed to improve the wellbeing of only one person.
Click to expand...

And that is the rub, we like to talk and pat ourselves on the back by putting meaningless sanctions into place.  For the sanctions to work the entire free world needs to do what they have no courage to do.  Stop having any dealings with China until THEY deal with their unruly bastard stepchild in N. Korea.  The world is not ready to take that kind of responsibility because we all want our cheap goods.   As for the "rule of law" one size does not fit all.  I'm not defending the N. Korean system, but it is the western countries pushing their agenda as well as the greed that has created many of the situations we now face in the world, that includes the Middle East.


----------



## JacaRanda

Sheesh.  I read page 2205 and am quickly reminded how freaking, stinking wonderful you all are.  A wee bit of watery eyes (most likely from allergies because I am so macho).
I heart you all and Wade!  Really?  CONGRATULATIONS to you and the Mrs.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Front page photo of the Los Angeles Times depicts snow skiers zipping down the slope of Squaw Valley, in the foreground the guy is bare chested wearing shorts, (knot boxers if you ask Gary), and in the background a lady sporting a bikini. Meanwhile, we lowlanders suffer in another 91F day.


Well quite bitching put on your knot boxers, have Mary Lou put on her bikini, grab your skis and hit the slopes.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?


No, but Pop Tarts and a Coke does.  Breakfast of champions everywhere.  Sugar and Caffeine all rolled into one meal.


----------



## limr

JacaRanda said:


> Sheesh.  I read page 2205 and am quickly reminded how freaking, stinking wonderful you all are.  A wee bit of watery eyes (most likely from allergies because I am so macho).
> I heart you all and Wade!  Really?  CONGRATULATIONS to you and the Mrs.



JACA!!


----------



## JacaRanda

limr said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sheesh.  I read page 2205 and am quickly reminded how freaking, stinking wonderful you all are.  A wee bit of watery eyes (most likely from allergies because I am so macho).
> I heart you all and Wade!  Really?  CONGRATULATIONS to you and the Mrs.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JACA!!
Click to expand...

 L-Train!


----------



## table1349




----------



## waday

Jaca!



JacaRanda said:


> I heart you all and Wade! Really? CONGRATULATIONS to you and the Mrs.


Thank you!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?
> 
> 
> 
> Did you have a dairy or simulated dairy product in your coffee?
Click to expand...

ahhhh ... No ... ?


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you in high school?
Click to expand...

oooohhhh, Gary so  wishes that. With a car and wine frig and a credit card ...





Gary in High School.


----------



## jcdeboever

Congrats @wayday


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?
> 
> 
> 
> Sure, but M&Ms are better for you.
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Are you in high school?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> High school breakfast =  coffee and Hostess orange cupcakes.
Click to expand...

It has been a while since Gary was in high school. If I recall accurately ... way back then breakfast was a couple of dobers and a quick run to Jack-in-the-Box. 

Speaking of high school... Gary sorta mentored this really bright kid, (he earned a perfect 1600 on his SAT).  He went on to Harvard and ultimately received a MD from same.  Gary was very disappointed when he started working for a pharmaceutical company in sales.  Gary was thinking that all his education was wasted because he took a seat in medical school away from someone who would actively be saving lives.  Gary just heard today that he is leaving for Zurich to join an oncological research team.  Godspeed David!


----------



## Gary A.

JacaRanda said:


> Sheesh.  I read page 2205 and am quickly reminded how freaking, stinking wonderful you all are.  A wee bit of watery eyes (most likely from allergies because I am so macho).
> I heart you all and Wade!  Really?  CONGRATULATIONS to you and the Mrs.


Jack!!!! ...  you are right next door, let's get together and shoot something. If you're ever up this way Gary has plenty of coffee, vino and Cheetos.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Front page photo of the Los Angeles Times depicts snow skiers zipping down the slope of Squaw Valley, in the foreground the guy is bare chested wearing shorts, (knot boxers if you ask Gary), and in the background a lady sporting a bikini. Meanwhile, we lowlanders suffer in another 91F day.
> 
> 
> 
> Well quite bitching put on your knot boxers, have Mary Lou put on her bikini, grab your skis and hit the slopes.
Click to expand...

Squaw Valley is about half a day's drive ... maybe.  We'll see how hot the weekend to projected to be. (For the record, Gary in a bikini is an equal mix of disgust and scary.)


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?
> 
> 
> 
> No, but Pop Tarts and a Coke does.  Breakfast of champions everywhere.  Sugar and Caffeine all rolled into one meal.
Click to expand...

Gary likes Pop Tarts.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?
> 
> 
> 
> Sure, but M&Ms are better for you.
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Are you in high school?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> High school breakfast =  coffee and Hostess orange cupcakes.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It has been a while since Gary was in high school. If I recall accurately ... way back then breakfast was a couple of dobers and a quick run to Jack-in-the-Box.
> 
> Speaking of high school... Gary sorta mentored this really bright kid, (he earned a perfect 1600 on his SAT).  He went on to Harvard and ultimately received a MD from same.  Gary was very disappointed when he started working for a pharmaceutical company in sales.  Gary was thinking that all his education was wasted because he took a seat in medical school away from someone who would actively be saving lives.  Gary just heard today that he is leaving for Zurich to join an oncological research team.  Godspeed David!
Click to expand...

I knew someone who had a high SAT like that but didn't go to college. Last time I seen him, he was homeless in Detroit. Strange. 

Jack in the Boxes no longer in Michigan. I remember eating a burger their as a kid and got real sick.


----------



## JacaRanda

Gary A. said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sheesh.  I read page 2205 and am quickly reminded how freaking, stinking wonderful you all are.  A wee bit of watery eyes (most likely from allergies because I am so macho).
> I heart you all and Wade!  Really?  CONGRATULATIONS to you and the Mrs.
> 
> 
> 
> Jack, you are right next door, let's get together and shoot something. If you're ever up this way Gary has plenty of coffee, vino and Cheetos.
Click to expand...


Ohhh, yes.  If I recall, you aren't too far away from San Pedro where folks have been getting lots of great shots of the Peregrin Falcons, and family of foxes.  Point Fermin?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you in high school?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> oooohhhh, Gary so  wishes that. With a car and wine frig and a credit card ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary in High School.
Click to expand...

Nikon F photomic.... Nice hair.


----------



## Gary A.

JacaRanda said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sheesh.  I read page 2205 and am quickly reminded how freaking, stinking wonderful you all are.  A wee bit of watery eyes (most likely from allergies because I am so macho).
> I heart you all and Wade!  Really?  CONGRATULATIONS to you and the Mrs.
> 
> 
> 
> Jack, you are right next door, let's get together and shoot something. If you're ever up this way Gary has plenty of coffee, vino and Cheetos.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ohhh, yes.  If I recall, you aren't too far away from San Pedro where folks have been getting lots of great shots of the Peregrin Falcons, and family of foxes.  Point Fermin?
Click to expand...

Gary actually used to live a mile or so away from Point Fermin, (Point Fermin Park). Gary is in La Mirada now, slightly out of the way for you, (unless you live in Yorba Linda, Orange, La Habra, Brea or Fullerton).  If you want to go, PM Gary and we'll work out the details.





Pt. Fermin


----------



## jcdeboever

Strange day. Street shooting at lunch today at a park that is separated by a narrow river, other side older homes. Old lady walks out her house shirtless, boobs down to her knees, checks the mail box, walks back into house. ..... No, I didn't take a pic either. Bizzare


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> Strange day. Street shooting at lunch today at a park that is separated by a narrow river, other side older homes. Old lady walks out her house shirtless, boobs down to her knees, checks the mail box, walks back into house. ..... No, I didn't take a pic either. Bizzare


Bizarre that she did that, or bizarre that you didn't take a picture?


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Strange day. Street shooting at lunch today at a park that is separated by a narrow river, other side older homes. Old lady walks out her house shirtless, boobs down to her knees, checks the mail box, walks back into house. ..... No, I didn't take a pic either. Bizzare
> 
> 
> 
> Bizarre that she did that, or bizarre that you didn't take a picture?
Click to expand...

I thought about it for a second....


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Gary likes Pop Tarts.


Wouldn't those be Soda Tarts?


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?
> 
> 
> 
> No, but Pop Tarts and a Coke does.  Breakfast of champions everywhere.  Sugar and Caffeine all rolled into one meal.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary likes Pop Tarts.
Click to expand...

I like Pop Tarts, as well, but don't eat the ones with frosting, unfortunately. They have gelatin. Not a fan of gelatin. Thus, must stick with the unfrosted ones.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you in high school?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> oooohhhh, Gary so  wishes that. With a car and wine frig and a credit card ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary in High School.
Click to expand...

Wow, I have to say, that is the best looking Daguerreotype I have ever seen.  Did you scan it in and Photoshop it or is that just a straight scan???


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary likes Pop Tarts.
> 
> 
> 
> Wouldn't those be Soda Tarts?
Click to expand...

No THIS is a soda tart.


----------



## table1349

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?
> 
> 
> 
> No, but Pop Tarts and a Coke does.  Breakfast of champions everywhere.  Sugar and Caffeine all rolled into one meal.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary likes Pop Tarts.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I like Pop Tarts, as well, but don't eat the ones with frosting, unfortunately. They have gelatin. Not a fan of gelatin. Thus, must stick with the unfrosted ones.
Click to expand...

Does that mean you don't eat meat??? Gelatin is a mixture of peptides and proteins produced by partial hydrolysis of collagen extracted from the skin, bones, and connective tissues of animals such as domesticated cattle, chicken, pigs, and fish.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like peptides


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Jack in the Boxes no longer in Michigan. I remember eating a burger their as a kid and got real sick.


Talk to the clown.



jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Strange day. Street shooting at lunch today at a park that is separated by a narrow river, other side older homes. Old lady walks out her house shirtless, boobs down to her knees, checks the mail box, walks back into house. ..... No, I didn't take a pic either. Bizzare
> 
> 
> 
> Bizarre that she did that, or bizarre that you didn't take a picture?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I thought about it for a second....
Click to expand...

Gravity and time claim another victim, eh?


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> I like peptides


I particularly like deep fried peptides from the Sus Scrofa Scrofa.


----------



## snowbear

I've been on a watermelon kick, lately.  Not necessarily the actual fruit but the juice.  Even the opening drink for brunch, on Sunday, was a watermelon mimosa.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like watermelon freeze pops


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> I like watermelon freeze pops


So plain, so blase, now this is how to enjoy watermelon.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you in high school?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> oooohhhh, Gary so  wishes that. With a car and wine frig and a credit card ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary in High School.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wow, I have to say, that is the best looking Daguerreotype I have ever seen.  Did you scan it in and Photoshop it or is that just a straight scan???
Click to expand...

It's a selfie.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you in high school?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> oooohhhh, Gary so  wishes that. With a car and wine frig and a credit card ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary in High School.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wow, I have to say, that is the best looking Daguerreotype I have ever seen.  Did you scan it in and Photoshop it or is that just a straight scan???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's a selfie.
Click to expand...

Ok let me rephrase the question is the" selfie" Daguerreotype Photoshopped or straight from the scanner???  I suspect Photoshopped as the sepia tone is missing.  This was the camera we were using in high school.


----------



## waday

gryphonslair99 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does coffee and Cheetos Puffs constitute a breakfast?
> 
> 
> 
> No, but Pop Tarts and a Coke does.  Breakfast of champions everywhere.  Sugar and Caffeine all rolled into one meal.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary likes Pop Tarts.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I like Pop Tarts, as well, but don't eat the ones with frosting, unfortunately. They have gelatin. Not a fan of gelatin. Thus, must stick with the unfrosted ones.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Does that mean you don't eat meat??? Gelatin is a mixture of peptides and proteins produced by partial hydrolysis of collagen extracted from the skin, bones, and connective tissues of animals such as domesticated cattle, chicken, pigs, and fish.
Click to expand...

Regardless of one's diet, I don't see a reason to include beef into a Pop Tart. 

If it were to be included anywhere, I would have expected it to be in the filling, not the frosting.


----------



## snowbear

Beef, no.  But, bacon, on the other hand . . .


----------



## table1349

Ah I love fresh strawberry season.  Especially the smaller homegrown variety.  Most things taste better if they are home grown, however with strawberries, even when I have to get them at the Mega Mart I look for the smaller ones as they are generally the sweetest, most flavorful.  Currently I have 1 lb of fresh picked berries simmering away in 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water.  Once the mixture has thickened a bit and the strawberries are nicely soft (10 minutes +/-) I will take the immersion blender and puree the strawberries then vacuum seal the fresh strawberry syrup in a canning jar.  We prefer it this way instead of strained and clear as it has more flavor with the pureed berries in it.  

We have pancakes or waffles virtually every weekend. I always offer real maple syrup, butter pecan syrup, blueberry syrup (homemade) and strawberry syrup (homemade).  The homemade stuff never lasts long.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> I like Pop Tarts, as well, but don't eat the ones with frosting, unfortunately. They have gelatin. Not a fan of gelatin. Thus, must stick with the unfrosted ones.



Haven't eaten Pop Tarts of any variety in probably 30 years, but I always hated the frosting. It was just sickly-sweet and vile. Unfrosted blueberry was my favorite.


----------



## table1349

Ah but the frosted Pop Tarts can be considered Healthy food, were the unfrosted is not. 
Gelatine in jelly can boost your immune system, beat hangovers and banish cellulite 

Jelly in British Terms is what we here across the pond would call Jello.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like Pop Tarts, as well, but don't eat the ones with frosting, unfortunately. They have gelatin. Not a fan of gelatin. Thus, must stick with the unfrosted ones.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Haven't eaten Pop Tarts of any variety in probably 30 years, but I always hated the frosting. It was just sickly-sweet and vile. Unfrosted blueberry was my favorite.
Click to expand...

The only one that I really like, but only comes with frosting, is the brown sugar one. Outside of that, I do enjoy the blueberry and strawberry ones, since they're essentially the only options.


----------



## table1349

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like Pop Tarts, as well, but don't eat the ones with frosting, unfortunately. They have gelatin. Not a fan of gelatin. Thus, must stick with the unfrosted ones.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Haven't eaten Pop Tarts of any variety in probably 30 years, but I always hated the frosting. It was just sickly-sweet and vile. Unfrosted blueberry was my favorite.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The only one that I really like, but only comes with frosting, is the brown sugar one. Outside of that, I do enjoy the blueberry and strawberry ones, since they're essentially the only options.
Click to expand...

Au Contraire Pierre.   https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kellogg-...75035&wl11=online&wl12=10818635&wl13=&veh=sem


----------



## waday

gryphonslair99 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like Pop Tarts, as well, but don't eat the ones with frosting, unfortunately. They have gelatin. Not a fan of gelatin. Thus, must stick with the unfrosted ones.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Haven't eaten Pop Tarts of any variety in probably 30 years, but I always hated the frosting. It was just sickly-sweet and vile. Unfrosted blueberry was my favorite.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The only one that I really like, but only comes with frosting, is the brown sugar one. Outside of that, I do enjoy the blueberry and strawberry ones, since they're essentially the only options.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Au Contraire Pierre.   https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kellogg-...75035&wl11=online&wl12=10818635&wl13=&veh=sem
Click to expand...

Thank you! I had no idea they had those! I'll have to see if I can find those locally.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has Cheeto crumbs/flavoring all over his mouse. It is close to being disgusting.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary has Cheeto crumbs/flavoring all over his mouse. It is close to being disgusting.


Is your wife turned on?


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has Cheeto crumbs/flavoring all over his mouse. It is close to being disgusting.
> 
> 
> 
> Is your wife turned on?
Click to expand...

By Gary's Cheeto encrusted mouse ... no.


----------



## jcdeboever

I once had spaghetti sauce misplaced on my face and it threw my wife into a wild frenzy. Last week, I opened up a can of spaghettios and acted like a makeup martist.... she said, I thought  you we really going out to take pictures....


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary has Cheeto crumbs/flavoring all over his mouse. It is close to being disgusting.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Haven't eaten Pop Tarts of any variety in probably 30 years


So you gave them up as an infant.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Haven't eaten Pop Tarts of any variety in probably 30 years
> 
> 
> 
> So you gave them up as an infant.
Click to expand...


You charmer, you


----------



## snowbear

Well, I resisted since the first day but finally had to succumb to the forces of evil.  I'm installing Adobe CC for photographers.  LR3 can't handle the new raw files and converting to TIF via ViewNX will be more of a PITA than I thought.  I'll stick it out for a year and see what happens (it's a dinner out in DC, I guess).


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Haven't eaten Pop Tarts of any variety in probably 30 years
> 
> 
> 
> So you gave them up as an infant.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You charmer, you
Click to expand...


Welcome back from FLA.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Most here were/are bitching about the heat ... it was 127F in Death Valley yesterday. 

From the Los Angeles Times: "In Death Valley, the heat brought even the roadrunners to a stop.  They stood arched to the sky with their beaks wide open, as if in a stupor or indignant at what the sun was up to.  The landscape blurred and undulated. People moved as if they were walking in glue.  When a light breeze came in the afternoon, it stung their faces so badly they had to turn away from it. Water mains burst in the baking dirt, while the 'cold' tap water came out of faucets the temperature of a Jacuzzi."


----------



## terri

@Gary: I hope this heat wave breaks out there soon.   The humans can get by; but it is certainly rough for the wildlife as the paper noted.   ugh!    

Happy Hump Day, hosers!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps!

Things on the latest work projects (two of them) are coming together.  I'm only "assisting" or "directing" on these so I have to hold myself back to keep from taking over and doing most of the work (an old habit from my dispatch and tech support days, I guess).  The new Fire/EMS GIS intern is doing the grunt work on getting the closest hydrant to each address. That should be finished today so I'll have to find something else for him to learn.  The new(er) contractor is working on identifying the buildings (working with actual building footprints) are within the University of Maryland, the old "building number, and what is in each (classrooms, food or retail services, administrative, etc.).  I found the building names and numbers as a map layer, online, as well as the phone directory so now he just has to join up everything and create a new file with all the right info.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Haven't eaten Pop Tarts of any variety in probably 30 years
> 
> 
> 
> So you gave them up as an infant.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You charmer, you
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Welcome back from FLA.
Click to expand...


Thanks, darlin'!

Morning, hosers.


----------



## waday

Whoa, 127F.. that's way too hot.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> Whoa, 127F.. that's way too hot.


Too low for serving chickens, to hot for breathing


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Whoa, 127F.. that's way too hot.
> 
> 
> 
> Too low for serving chickens, to hot for breathing
Click to expand...

I don't think chickens like those temperatures, either.


----------



## waday

Spammers are getting creative. I used to get emails from the president, vice president, etc all the time. I just got a spam email from "Agent Dana Scully".

I miss X-Files.


----------



## SquarePeg

Am I the only Sci-Fi enthusiast who never watched X Files?  I may have to binge watch it all some day.

Favorite Sci-Fi series?


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> Spammers are getting creative. I used to get emails from the president, vice president, etc all the time. I just got a spam email from "Agent Dana Scully".
> 
> I miss X-Files.



The emails spam filter takes care of most of them. What I hate are the telemarketers spamming phone numbers. Its bad enough that I get suckered into answering because I recognize the number, but I hate when people (spoof victims) call me back. The other day I got a call from an elderly lady saying she was returning my missed call. When I tried to tell her I hadn't called her she got irate and told me "yes you did your number is on my caller id". Efforts to explain that it was a telemarketer spoofing numbers just made  her madder. I finally hung up in the middle of her tirade that she was going to call the phone company and report me.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Am I the only Sci-Fi enthusiast who never watched X Files?  I may have to binge watch it all some day.
> 
> Favorite Sci-Fi series?



Another no here also.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Am I the only Sci-Fi enthusiast who never watched X Files?  I may have to binge watch it all some day.
> 
> Favorite Sci-Fi series?


Yes, yes you are.  It is inconceivable that you missed it.  You have confirmed your amateur status.  

Dr Who
Mork & Mindy
Firefly
Star Wars


----------



## waday

gryphonslair99 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Am I the only Sci-Fi enthusiast who never watched X Files?  I may have to binge watch it all some day.
> 
> Favorite Sci-Fi series?
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, yes you are.  It is inconceivable that you missed it.  You have confirmed your amateur status.
> 
> Dr Who
> Mork & Mindy
> Firefly
> Star Wars
Click to expand...

I miss Firefly, as well.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Am I the only Sci-Fi enthusiast who never watched X Files?  I may have to binge watch it all some day.
> 
> Favorite Sci-Fi series?


X-Files is probably one of my favorite series, if not my favorite. I also thoroughly enjoy the Star Trek franchise. 

Dr. Who, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, etc. 

Twin Peaks.

I like Star Wars, but I'm a Trekkie.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> I miss Firefly, as well.


  Aha!  Seen that one!



waday said:


> X-Files is probably one of my favorite series, if not my favorite. I also thoroughly enjoy the Star Trek franchise.
> 
> Dr. Who, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, etc.
> 
> Twin Peaks.
> 
> I like Star Wars, but I'm a Trekkie.



Older Star Wars (Ep IV-VI) movies over Star Trek reboot movies.
Star Trek reboot movies over newest Star wars movies (Force Awakens, Rogue One).
Newest Star Wars movies over Star Trek tv series.
Star Trek tv series over all Star Trek movies (Original and TNG)
Old Star Trek movies over TNG and Deep Space Nine tv and movies.
Star Trek TNG over Deep Space Nine.
Everything over terrible Star Wars movies (Ep I- III)

ETA - I love BSG series except for the last season.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Am I the only Sci-Fi enthusiast who never watched X Files?  I may have to binge watch it all some day.
> 
> Favorite Sci-Fi series?


I watched it a number of times, but not enough to call myself a fan.

For me: Dr. Who, Torchwood, Star trek (OS, TNG).

edit: Oh, yes - Firefly.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Spammers are getting creative. I used to get emails from the president, vice president, etc all the time. I just got a spam email from "Agent Dana Scully".
> 
> I miss X-Files.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The emails spam filter takes care of most of them. What I hate are the telemarketers spamming phone numbers. Its bad enough that I get suckered into answering because I recognize the number, but I hate when people (spoof victims) call me back. The other day I got a call from an elderly lady saying she was returning my missed call. When I tried to tell her I hadn't called her she got irate and told me "yes you did your number is on my caller id". Efforts to explain that it was a telemarketer spoofing numbers just made  her madder. I finally hung up in the middle of her tirade that she was going to call the phone company and report me.
Click to expand...

I was getting a bunch of calls for the person that previously had my number.  It was so bad that, at one point I answered and told the caller that "she's gone to a better place" -- let them try to figure it out.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> It was so bad that, at one point I answered and told the caller



I make it a point in election years to note all the state and local politicians  (especially the local) that robocall me. Then I look up their home numbers. When a telemarketer calls I tell them they caught me at work, and I'm really interested but I can't talk would they call back after work to my home number (insert politicians number)?


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Am I the only Sci-Fi enthusiast who never watched X Files?  I may have to binge watch it all some day.
> 
> Favorite Sci-Fi series?



I have been watching it on Netflix. I did enjoy it when it was in its first run, but I never saw more than a few episodes. I missed a lot of 90s television - most of that decade was spent in grad school or overseas, and so I have to play catch up  I didn't start watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for example, until well past its final season. I missed the last couple of seasons of Seinfeld and all of Firefly. Thankfully, I also missed the whole beginning of the Survivor-type reality shows.

It's also kind of my modus operandi - I'm always late to the party, regardless of a show being current or not! For example, I have a feeling I'd probably love the Walking Dead, but I never started watching it. At this point, I'd rather just wait for it to be over and then start from the beginning. And I didn't start watching Orange is the New Black until it had just released Season 3.

I like Star Trek (original series, natch, but also Next Gen. I also watched a bit of Deep Space Nine) but I'm definitely more of a Star Wars fan. When I was a kid, I loooooved sci-fi and/or fantasy series and movies and books, so I've always been a geek 

Lost in Space, Buck Rogers, The 6-Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman, Voyagers, Logan's Run, Planet of the Apes... These days, I must confess a small obsession with Supernatural. 

Never got into Dr. Who, though.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I remember going to see the first Star Wars. For some unknown reason we ended up near the front of the theater, which turned out to be kind of cool because it seemed like things were zooming over our heads. I'll always like the original. 

I like Next Generation, and BBC America has been showing the various Star Treks - thank you friends across the sea! Late night I've been watching Twilight Zone sometimes but some of those are just comical, the things they came up with... a Martian walked into a diner and met a man from Venus...


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I remember going to see the first Star Wars. For some unknown reason we ended up near the front of the theater, which turned out to be kind of cool because it seemed like things were zooming over our heads. I'll always like the original.
> 
> I like Next Generation, and BBC America has been showing the various Star Treks - thank you friends across the sea! Late night I've been watching Twilight Zone sometimes but some of those are just comical, the things they came up with... a Martian walked into a diner and met a man from Venus...



Oh yeah, the Twilight Zone!! Loved that show. Of course, my all time favorite is "Time Enough At Last" with Burgess Meredith. Though it's hard to resist the Shatner episodes 

Speaking of Star Trek and Shatner, did y'all know that he starred in the film "Incubus" which was filmed entirely in Esperanto? He can overact in more than one language!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yes! I've actually seen that!!! Twice, late night on TCM Underground (2am Saturdays on Turner Classic Movies, which I usually record...) What a strangely fascinating movie. I found myself picking up Esperanto just watching it. But had to look up exactly what it was.


----------



## jcdeboever

Twilight Zone for me. Have all the episodes on DVR, watch occasionally.


----------



## jcdeboever

Oh, last two days working, at lunch found some factory decay, and old buildings. Smart enough not to go in because they were in bad shape. A cop, walked through one factory and I managed to snap his pic as he was coming towards me. I had my camera pointed through a broken window, he kind of startled me. He seen my truck and thought to check me out. Nice guy, glad I wasn't in inside, we spoke for about 5 minutes and ripped off a portrait of him and his modern, bad boy M16. He was cool as heck. Can't wait to develop them....


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I have been watching it on Netflix.


How do you like it?

Also, have you watched Stranger Things? I forgot about that one, but I really liked the first season.

Does anyone else on here watch Twin Peaks? It was only out for two seasons in the early 90's; the third season is now currently on Showtime (which the wife and I currently have a free trial, which is slated to end mid-season ).


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have been watching it on Netflix.
> 
> 
> 
> How do you like it?
> 
> Also, have you watched Stranger Things? I forgot about that one, but I really liked the first season.
> 
> Does anyone else on here watch Twin Peaks? It was only out for two seasons in the early 90's; the third season is now currently on Showtime (which the wife and I currently have a free trial, which is slated to end mid-season ).
Click to expand...


The X Files is great. I haven't gotten sucked into that one yet like I have some other shows that I discovered on Netflix, but it's not the kind of show that lends itself to binge-watching, at least the first season (which I am still on.) I don't think they quite hit their stride yet in the first season, so the episodes feel more like a series of stand-alones and you don't yet get sucked into the story arc. 

Haven't watched Stranger Things or Twin Peaks, but they're on my short list. But after I finish Orange is the New Black. Haven't started on that one yet. I'm saving those for when I resume my morning workout routine next week.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have been watching it on Netflix.
> 
> 
> 
> How do you like it?
> 
> Also, have you watched Stranger Things? I forgot about that one, but I really liked the first season.
> 
> Does anyone else on here watch Twin Peaks? It was only out for two seasons in the early 90's; the third season is now currently on Showtime (which the wife and I currently have a free trial, which is slated to end mid-season ).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The X Files is great. I haven't gotten sucked into that one yet like I have some other shows that I discovered on Netflix, but it's not the kind of show that lends itself to binge-watching, at least the first season (which I am still on.) I don't think they quite hit their stride yet in the first season, so the episodes feel more like a series of stand-alones and you don't yet get sucked into the story arc.
> 
> Haven't watched Stranger Things or Twin Peaks, but they're on my short list. But after I finish Orange is the New Black. Haven't started on that one yet. I'm saving those for when I resume my morning workout routine next week.
Click to expand...

X-Files is kinda like a series of mini stand-alones, but they do tend to mesh and have a common theme the further you get into the series.

Twin Peaks is really weird, but oddly addicting. The wife and I binge watched the first two seasons. The third season right now on Showtime is kinda crazy. It's much more violent and definitely more out-there (hard to believe) than the first two seasons. I feel like I need a CliffsNotes for this season. 

The wife and I need to start OITNB's latest season--we've been slacking. The wife's one friend is on that show, so it's always neat to see her in the episodes.

Do you watch Master of None? I love Aziz Ansari (and his show) so much!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Twilight Zone for me. Have all the episodes on DVR, watch occasionally.


Gary watched all the originals as they were released. lol


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have been watching it on Netflix.
> 
> 
> 
> How do you like it?
> 
> Also, have you watched Stranger Things? I forgot about that one, but I really liked the first season.
> 
> Does anyone else on here watch Twin Peaks? It was only out for two seasons in the early 90's; the third season is now currently on Showtime (which the wife and I currently have a free trial, which is slated to end mid-season ).
Click to expand...

Gary and Mary Lou both enjoyed Stranger Things ... Gary's main complaint is that it looks as if it was shot with only one or two cameras.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Gary's main complaint is that it looks as if it was shot with only one or two cameras.


I think that's part of the styling of the show?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Things are cooling off, the Marine Layer is back and we have more June Gloom and thick morning overcast. It is predicted to hit the low 80's today.  The other day when it was 127F in Death Valley, that didn't mean much to Gary, other than an interesting statistic.  Death Valley is off the beaten path, and it's not like "real" people have "real" lives there ... with a "real" economy and a high school with a football team, et cetera. Death Valley, in spite of its geological beauty and extreme biological adaptations, is just this quirky destination place for quirky visitors. But the same day the temps reached 122F in Palm Springs.  Real people live in Palm Springs with real lives and real families.  122F in Palm Springs is more than a statistic, that is hot. Gary remembers one August day walking down the main drag in Palm Springs ...  Not the sidewalk, in the middle of the street.  It was early afternoon and hot.  It was so hot that nobody was out in the open air, no cars, no buses, no trucks, no pedestrians, no birds, no lizards ... nada.  Gary decided to walk down the middle of the street and photograph the ghost town.  It was so hot that the glue which held the leather to his Hasselblad liquified and the leather started slipping around.  At that point Gary decided that maybe getting out of the sun wasn't a bad idea and ducked into the Hamburger Hamlet which was across the street. 

Back then, Palm Springs was like a ski resort.  The big department stores and half the city closed down for the summer to reopen in the winter.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's main complaint is that it looks as if it was shot with only one or two cameras.
> 
> 
> 
> I think that's part of the styling of the show?
Click to expand...

Gary thinks it's the accounting department dictating how to shoot the scenes.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's main complaint is that it looks as if it was shot with only one or two cameras.
> 
> 
> 
> I think that's part of the styling of the show?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary thinks it's the accounting department dictating how to shoot the scenes.
Click to expand...

Sure, maybe, maybe not? It sounds like neither of us know the answer. That said, the show is heavily influenced by 1980's films/filmmaking, so the creators were going specifically for the 1980's style.

15 Things You Need to Know About Stranger Things


> Watching the show, it would be very easy to believe it had actually been filmed in the 1980s. There’s a very specific feel to movies such as _E.T._, _Halloween_, and _A Nightmare on Elm Street_ that makes them immediately identifiable as 80s movies. The Duffers did their best to emulate some of the techniques used in those films, and the effort paid off. The result is a wonderfully nostalgic throwback.
> 
> To achieve the 80s feel, the Duffers incorporated as much camera movement as they could, as long as it was justified. This results in some of those long tracking shots through the house and those quintessential 80s slow zooms. And although the filmmakers shot on digital, they added a film grain effect in post-production to better imitate the fuzzy quality of that decade. These techniques all come together in a cohesive way that makes the audience feel immediately immersed in the 80s. Clicking that Netflix play button is like taking a step back in time.



In any event, I'm sure their budget for next season will be bigger, since the show was a hit.


----------



## b_twill

Has any one watched "One Step Beyond"?  Sorta like Twighlight Zone, only based on real stories of paranormal and other unexplainable events.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is a cocky photographer.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Gary is a cocky photographer.



Confident, Gary. Confident. You're only cocky if you can't back it up.


I'm a finalist in another school district, and I have hopefully my last interview for awhile this morning. Wish me luck. This job is a perfect match for me -- much better fit than the high school I interviewed with late last month (who still hasn't made a hiring decision...they had their last finalist in for the last time yesterday). Middle school is really where I'm meant to be, though. And I know all of you think I'm crazy for that...but I'm the guy you want your kids learning to read and write with at that age. (Cocky or confident? Confident, I hope.)

Maybe once I'm not worried about a job, I'll pull my camera out again. It's been bad recently. I also have 4 rolls of film that I literally just need to put into an envelope and throw in a mail box to be processed, and I haven't managed to do that recently.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Maybe once I'm not worried about a job, I'll pull my camera out again.



Terrible the way life problems get in the way of the fun things!


----------



## limr

Happy Fridays, hosers! 

On Sunday, the 11th, I flew to Florida. I worked for the following 7 days. On Monday, I flew back from Florida. Back to work on Tuesday. Done today at noon, though I think I'll probably end up bringing some stuff home and working on it after my hair cut this afternoon. 

I need a weekend!

I am still a tad bit disoriented from Tampa. The whole experience is pretty intense - a strange mixture of hyper-organized and chaotic. Only read about 750 essays this year. It's a long and boring explanation that I won't bother with, but the short story is: the group I was assigned to was trained on four different questions (normally, you get trained on one question at the start, and then you read essays for that question all week long.) So that took some time. Also, there were two afternoons when we were either waiting to start training on the next question, or there was a back-up in a different question room and we had to wait for more essays to grade for our assigned question. So both of these things cut down on my total. I can tell, though, that if it weren't for that, I would have surpassed last year's total of about 850, so though I read slower than a lot of people at my table, I read faster than I did last year.

Here's a haiku inspired by the last question we read (about the role of artifice in politics and pop culture):

Artifice is fake!
Politicians lie to us.
A Kardashian.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Artifice is fake!
> Politicians lie to us.
> A Kardashian.


I like your haiku
Hard to believe its Friday
Ready for a break


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon and Leo:  Welcome back to the world.


----------



## limr

No one's here today
But there is still work to do.
A fly's on my desk.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The heatwave is over and we're back to overcast mornings with temps in the mid to low 80's. Gary doesn't mind the heat all that much, but the plants sure take a beating. Gary is fighting a lot of foam in the pond. He figures that the death of the algae bloom left a ton of dissolved organics in its wake. A few days ago Gary turned off the UV light which was an apocalyptic force against the sea of algae.  Gary wants some algae for the fish to feed upon and to help trap/consume some of the dissolved organic compounds (DOC's) causing the foam. Gary has recognized the need for more plant life in the pond, but hasn't moved his butt into gear to address said deficiency. He did order and received some floating water vegetation, but realized that those small floating plants would be gobbled up by the skimmer. Gary tossed those plants into the fountain where they are doing quite well.  Gary has acquired a number of lotus seeds of various types. But the instructions are not to simply to toss the seeds into the water. He has assigned such nontrivial matter to his better half. In conclusion, today Gary shall perform a deep cleaning of the skimmer and maybe a partial water change.  Does anybody know if the DOC's are equally distributed throughout the water or do they tend to congregate at the top of the water column?


----------



## Gary A.

Of late, Gary has encountered many and boisterous shouts from our feathered friends.  These calls were not the normal calls from the indigenous birds found in this region. This morning Gary spotted the mysterious source of the many and boisterous birds calls ... parrots.  A pandemonium of parrots flew over the house as the Cook and Gary retrieved the morning paper. When Gary lived on the peninsula, companies of large green squawking parrots were fairly common skimming up and down the cliffs.  This is a first for Gary seeing them inland.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Does anybody know if the DOC's are equally distributed throughout the water or do they tend to congregate at the top of the water column?


Sounds like you have too many nutrients in your pond, which led to the algal bloom and now foam?

I have no idea about fish/koi ponds, but am somewhat familiar with water chemistry (enough to be dangerous, haha). I'm guessing a water change would help. I'm assuming you use public water and dechlorinate?


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Artifice is fake!
> Politicians lie to us.
> A Kardashian.




Oh! Look what’s here now –
Leo posted a haiku
Seems we are now doomed.


----------



## snowbear

I tend to stay late
and do what I can get done.
Screw it, out of here.


----------



## waday

Gary has a pond
His pond has lots of algae
Poor little fishies


----------



## table1349

Five Sylabes here,
Seven more Sylabes there
are you happy now?


----------



## table1349

This one is for jcdeboever

I really like sauce
Especially when it's hot
And it's called hot sauce


----------



## snowbear

I'd like some coffee
Or tea, that would be nice, too
Rum makes me stupid


----------



## jcdeboever

JC likes Gary's barbeque sauce, Gary needs to bottle that concoction.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is a cocky photographer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Confident, Gary. Confident. You're only cocky if you can't back it up.
> 
> 
> I'm a finalist in another school district, and I have hopefully my last interview for awhile this morning. Wish me luck. This job is a perfect match for me -- much better fit than the high school I interviewed with late last month (who still hasn't made a hiring decision...they had their last finalist in for the last time yesterday). Middle school is really where I'm meant to be, though. And I know all of you think I'm crazy for that...but I'm the guy you want your kids learning to read and write with at that age. (Cocky or confident? Confident, I hope.)
> 
> Maybe once I'm not worried about a job, I'll pull my camera out again. It's been bad recently. I also have 4 rolls of film that I literally just need to put into an envelope and throw in a mail box to be processed, and I haven't managed to do that recently.
Click to expand...


Best of luck on this one!  Middle school teachers are a special breed and we can't afford to lose any good ones to the high schools.  Having just hosted a 7 middle school graduates sleepover all I can say is Thank you!


----------



## limr

Twenty minutes more,
The clock slowly ticks away.
I need a haircut.


----------



## table1349

__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=686048178234535


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary has a pond
> His pond has lots of algae
> Poor little fishies


Not anymore, just DOC and foam now.


----------



## waday

gryphonslair99 said:


> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=686048178234535


Generalizations on top of generalizations.

Needless to say, I disagree with almost everything she says.

I also really don't get the point of generation blaming.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I did have a thought.
But it went out of my head.
No great loss I guess.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I liked teaching Jr. High. But I might just be nuts.

Then got RIF'd, and one thing leads to another, and I ended up going into Early Intervention which I did for 20+ years. Talk about going from one extreme to another! lol Hope you get this one Jon.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> I liked teaching Jr. High. But I might just be nuts.
> 
> Then got RIF'd, and one thing leads to another, and I ended up going into Early Intervention which I did for 20+ years. Talk about going from one extreme to another! lol Hope you get this one Jon.


Don't worry, there is still time to be helped.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nah, it's hopeless! lol Started as a volunteer at summer camp when I was in junior high and that was it. I did think about majoring in journalism but by high school and time to make college decisions I knew it would be working with kids. 


Nice rainy day for movies.
Black and white and nineteen forties.
The dryer calls my name.


----------



## snowbear

Fake chemical spill
Plume modeling for dummies
Mapping the wasteland


----------



## JonA_CT

This guy won't need to
stand in unemployment lines
gon drink all the beer


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> This guy won't need to
> stand in unemployment lines
> gon drink all the beer


Sounds like someone got a new job?


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> This guy won't need to
> stand in unemployment lines
> gon drink all the beer



Congrat's


----------



## JonA_CT

gryphonslair99 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> This guy won't need to
> stand in unemployment lines
> gon drink all the beer
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like someone got a new job?
Click to expand...


And a 40% raise! It's amazing the difference between district contracts. 

I'm working 30 minutes closer to home and getting paid 40% more. I've been miserable since March, but I think it's going to be worth it in the end.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> This guy won't need to
> stand in unemployment lines
> gon drink all the beer
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrat's
Click to expand...


Thanks Charlie!


----------



## table1349

JonA_CT said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> This guy won't need to
> stand in unemployment lines
> gon drink all the beer
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like someone got a new job?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And a 40% raise! It's amazing the difference between district contracts.
> 
> I'm working 30 minutes closer to home and getting paid 40% more. I've been miserable since March, but I think it's going to be worth it in the end.
Click to expand...

Good for you.  Congrats.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> And a 40% raise! It's amazing the difference between district contracts.
> 
> I'm working 30 minutes closer to home and getting paid 40% more. I've been miserable since March, but I think it's going to be worth it in the end.



YASSSSSS!


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> Fake chemical spill
> Plume modeling for dummies
> Mapping the wasteland


That sounds interesting. What model are you using?


----------



## Gary A.

CONGRATS JON!!


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> And a 40% raise! It's amazing the difference between district contracts.
> 
> I'm working 30 minutes closer to home and getting paid 40% more. I've been miserable since March, but I think it's going to be worth it in the end.



That's the stuff!


----------



## waday

Congrats Jon!


----------



## jcdeboever

Sweet


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Sweet


I like sweets.


----------



## jcdeboever

Way to go Jon! I never had a doubt!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary's lightly coated barbeque sauce on tri tip, slow cooked in oven. So delicious.


----------



## table1349

I like Tri Tip.  




And our butcher has Tri Tip.


----------



## table1349

In the world of the weird or unusual this guy is dedicated.  
*He’s been visiting Disneyland every day since 2012. That’s 2,000 days in a row*


----------



## terri

Congrats, Jon!!    I love it when what seems like a traumatic work experience turns out much better in the end.   Yay!

Around here: 

Baby birds chirping
Kids yell: Ice cream man coming!
The sounds of summer.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fake chemical spill
> Plume modeling for dummies
> Mapping the wasteland
> 
> 
> 
> That sounds interesting. What model are you using?
Click to expand...


EPA and NOAA: ALOHA


----------



## snowbear

Deli for dinner
But now it's time for dessert
Peaches and spice - yes!


----------



## terri

Pesto for dinner
Hand-picked, wonderful basil!
Will have with red wine.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like pesto


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm 53 today... wife made me scrambled eggs, left over tri tip, and tomato slices, @Gary A.s French pressed Adrano, Brazil Volcano coffee. Off to huge tractor steam show with my XT2-16mm 1.4, XPro 2 60mm macro 2.4. life is good! OMG, that coffee is smooth as silk, what flavor!


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> I'm 53 today... wife made me scrambled eggs, left over tri tip, and tomato slices, @Gary A.s French pressed Adrano, Brazil Volcano coffee. Off to huge tractor steam show with my XT2-16mm 1.4, XPro 2 60mm macro 2.4. life is good! OMG, that coffee is smooth as silk, what flavor!



Happy birthday!!!


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> I'm 53 today... wife made me scrambled eggs, left over tri tip, and tomato slices, @Gary A.s French pressed Adrano, Brazil Volcano coffee. Off to huge tractor steam show with my XT2-16mm 1.4, XPro 2 60mm macro 2.4. life is good! OMG, that coffee is smooth as silk, what flavor!



Enjoy your day!!!


----------



## Derrel

First whole, entire weekend off in six weeks...preparing for a heat wave of 97 today, 100 on Sunday, then back to rain by Tuesday. Happy 53rd birthday to @jcdeboever. That breakfast sounds great! I'm enjoying some basic coffee and milk and sugar, French press prepared and filled with the skimmed crema off the top (the main reason I like French press coffee making!). Might head over to the Oregon coast sometime this weekend, where the high temp is expected to be 80 degrees--rare for that area!


----------



## EIngerson

jcdeboever said:


> I'm 53 today... wife made me scrambled eggs, left over tri tip, and tomato slices, @Gary A.s French pressed Adrano, Brazil Volcano coffee. Off to huge tractor steam show with my XT2-16mm 1.4, XPro 2 60mm macro 2.4. life is good! OMG, that coffee is smooth as silk, what flavor!




Happy Birthday! Enjoy my friend. Hope you have a fantastic day.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> I'm 53 today... wife made me scrambled eggs, left over tri tip, and tomato slices, @Gary A.s French pressed Adrano, Brazil Volcano coffee. Off to huge tractor steam show with my XT2-16mm 1.4, XPro 2 60mm macro 2.4. life is good! OMG, that coffee is smooth as silk, what flavor!


Happy birthday, you old fart.  You're catching up to me.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> I'm 53 today... wife made me scrambled eggs, left over tri tip, and tomato slices, @Gary A.s French pressed Adrano, Brazil Volcano coffee. Off to huge tractor steam show with my XT2-16mm 1.4, XPro 2 60mm macro 2.4. life is good! OMG, that coffee is smooth as silk, what flavor!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary's lightly coated barbeque sauce on tri tip, slow cooked in oven. So delicious.
> View attachment 142038


mmmhhh ... mmmmh ... mmmhhhhh


----------



## Gary A.

Some pork on the BBQ.


 
Dinner is served, pork, steak fries, slaw and some crab.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is recovering from stuffing himself from a BBQ last night. Guests came over, Mary Lou and he overcooked a bit. Way too much food with a ton of leftovers ... it was all very very good ... the guests were all happy with the doggie bags.  The pork was basted with a mix of Gary Famous BBQ sauce w/honey/sherry/spices.  Gary has a propane fired camp stove in the BBQ patio and fried up the potatoes while he grilled the pork.  Worked out nicely and kept the house cool without turning on the A/C.

Wine was a collection from Sarah's Vineyard in Gilroy (lol) and Doffo in Temecula. Coffee and cheesecake for dessert. 

@ Terri: Gary needs to make some pesto also (he's been putting it off). What do you use to sauce it up?


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> I'm 53 today... wife made me scrambled eggs, left over tri tip, and tomato slices, @Gary A.s French pressed Adrano, Brazil Volcano coffee. *Off to huge tractor steam show *with my XT2-16mm 1.4, XPro 2 60mm macro 2.4. life is good! OMG, that coffee is smooth as silk, what flavor!


*PICHURS!!!!!!!!!!!!*


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm 53 today... wife made me scrambled eggs, left over tri tip, and tomato slices, @Gary A.s French pressed Adrano, Brazil Volcano coffee. *Off to huge tractor steam show *with my XT2-16mm 1.4, XPro 2 60mm macro 2.4. life is good! OMG, that coffee is smooth as silk, what flavor!
> 
> 
> 
> *PICHURS!!!!!!!!!!!!*
Click to expand...

1
2
3


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm 53 today... wife made me scrambled eggs, left over tri tip, and tomato slices, @Gary A.s French pressed Adrano, Brazil Volcano coffee. *Off to huge tractor steam show *with my XT2-16mm 1.4, XPro 2 60mm macro 2.4. life is good! OMG, that coffee is smooth as silk, what flavor!
> 
> 
> 
> *PICHURS!!!!!!!!!!!!*
Click to expand...

Here's a little tease, posting from the infield, ah the smells, see if you can guess what it is.


----------



## terri

Happy birthday, JC!


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> Happy birthday, JC!







What??????    Wait!!!!!!   It's Not CHRISTMAS, it's only June.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Haiku, beer, and a new job!!! way to go Jon! Glad you got it, it sounds grreat!

Happy Birthday JC, hope you enjoy your rusty farm equipment viewing! lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

Wait, didn't someone say it was his birthday...?? Oh well we don't care we'll celebrate anything!! Happy 1/2 way to the next birthday!


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm 53 today... wife made me scrambled eggs, left over tri tip, and tomato slices, @Gary A.s French pressed Adrano, Brazil Volcano coffee. *Off to huge tractor steam show *with my XT2-16mm 1.4, XPro 2 60mm macro 2.4. life is good! OMG, that coffee is smooth as silk, what flavor!
> 
> 
> 
> *PICHURS!!!!!!!!!!!!*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Here's a little tease, posting from the infield, ah the smells, see if you can guess what it is.
> View attachment 142170
Click to expand...

Field cultivator/ripper on an Allis-Chalmers 'G'?


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> Wait, didn't someone say it was his birthday...?? Oh well we don't care we'll celebrate anything!! Happy 1/2 way to the next birthday!


Yes it is jcdeboever's birthday, but where ever Terri is it must be Christmas as well.


----------



## smoke665

It's JC's Birthday and no one threw a party? Man leave town for a few days and everything goes to Heck! 

Happy Birthday JC


----------



## snowbear

I have an intern
She loves to help me daily
Thank you, my Zoe.




DSC_0016.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm 53 today... wife made me scrambled eggs, left over tri tip, and tomato slices, @Gary A.s French pressed Adrano, Brazil Volcano coffee. *Off to huge tractor steam show *with my XT2-16mm 1.4, XPro 2 60mm macro 2.4. life is good! OMG, that coffee is smooth as silk, what flavor!
> 
> 
> 
> *PICHURS!!!!!!!!!!!!*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Here's a little tease, posting from the infield, ah the smells, see if you can guess what it is.
> View attachment 142170
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Field cultivator/ripper on an Allis-Chalmers 'G'?
Click to expand...

Yup, you iron head!


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Haiku, beer, and a new job!!! way to go Jon! Glad you got it, it sounds grreat!
> 
> Happy Birthday JC, hope you enjoy your rusty farm equipment viewing! lol


Thanks. They ran out of wood early, way, way early, and used coal. Ummm, it will take me two hours to clean my cameras. Holy crap they got trashed today. I'm wore out, my Fitbit says I walked 15 thousand steps, my back...oh my aching back. Sooooooooo maaaaany steamers. [emoji20]


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm 53 today... wife made me scrambled eggs, left over tri tip, and tomato slices, @Gary A.s French pressed Adrano, Brazil Volcano coffee. *Off to huge tractor steam show *with my XT2-16mm 1.4, XPro 2 60mm macro 2.4. life is good! OMG, that coffee is smooth as silk, what flavor!
> 
> 
> 
> *PICHURS!!!!!!!!!!!!*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Here's a little tease, posting from the infield, ah the smells, see if you can guess what it is.
> View attachment 142170
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Field cultivator/ripper on an Allis-Chalmers 'G'?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yup, you iron head!
Click to expand...

  Gotta have one skill in life; it's not very useful, but I'm a hit at parties!


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm 53 today... wife made me scrambled eggs, left over tri tip, and tomato slices, @Gary A.s French pressed Adrano, Brazil Volcano coffee. *Off to huge tractor steam show *with my XT2-16mm 1.4, XPro 2 60mm macro 2.4. life is good! OMG, that coffee is smooth as silk, what flavor!
> 
> 
> 
> *PICHURS!!!!!!!!!!!!*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Here's a little tease, posting from the infield, ah the smells, see if you can guess what it is.
> View attachment 142170
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Field cultivator/ripper on an Allis-Chalmers 'G'?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yup, you iron head!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gotta have one skill in life; it's not very useful, but I'm a hit at parties! [emoji38]
Click to expand...


----------



## snowbear

I forgot about this one.



DSC_7026.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> I forgot about this one.
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_7026.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


While I am an adventurous eater, I'm just not sure I would want to drink a wine made from cats.   I much prefer the grape or honey variety.


----------



## Gary A.

That is certainly something. (The tractor.)


----------



## table1349

They certainly can be something.  My grandad grew up with 4 mules while his dad used 4 horses.  When steam tractors came about they were able to eventually afford one and the animals retired from most of the field work.  Grandad used to tell me he love their steam tractor for the ease it made out of the work but he hated it when the fusible plug(s) would melt out.  You had to watch your water level pretty carefully.

Seems he was the skinniest one around so of course when that happened he was the one that would end up being selected to crawl through the fire box to replace them.  According to him it was hot, dirty and stifling work.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> They certainly can be something.  My grandad grew up with 4 mules while his dad used 4 horses.  When steam tractors came about they were able to eventually afford one and the animals retired from most of the field work.  Grandad used to tell me he love their steam tractor for the ease it made out of the work but he hated it when the fusible plug(s) would melt out.  You had to watch your water level pretty carefully.
> 
> Seems he was the skinniest one around so of course when that happened he was the one that would end up being selected to crawl through the fire box to replace them.  According to him it was hot, dirty and stifling work.



Took this today, XT2, XF16mm 1.4, tribute to gryphon grandad . SOOC, tiny crop


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> They certainly can be something.  My grandad grew up with 4 mules while his dad used 4 horses.  When steam tractors came about they were able to eventually afford one and the animals retired from most of the field work.  Grandad used to tell me he love their steam tractor for the ease it made out of the work but he hated it when the fusible plug(s) would melt out.  You had to watch your water level pretty carefully.
> 
> Seems he was the skinniest one around so of course when that happened he was the one that would end up being selected to crawl through the fire box to replace them.  According to him it was hot, dirty and stifling work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Took this today, XT2, 16mm 1.4, tribute to gryphon grandad . SOOC, tiny crop
> View attachment 142188
Click to expand...


Beautiful, JC.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> They certainly can be something.  My grandad grew up with 4 mules while his dad used 4 horses.  When steam tractors came about they were able to eventually afford one and the animals retired from most of the field work.  Grandad used to tell me he love their steam tractor for the ease it made out of the work but he hated it when the fusible plug(s) would melt out.  You had to watch your water level pretty carefully.
> 
> Seems he was the skinniest one around so of course when that happened he was the one that would end up being selected to crawl through the fire box to replace them.  According to him it was hot, dirty and stifling work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Took this today, XT2, 16mm 1.4, tribute to gryphon grandad . SOOC, tiny crop
> View attachment 142188
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Beautiful, JC.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jon


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm 53 today... wife made me scrambled eggs, left over tri tip, and tomato slices, @Gary A.s French pressed Adrano, Brazil Volcano coffee. *Off to huge tractor steam show *with my XT2-16mm 1.4, XPro 2 60mm macro 2.4. life is good! OMG, that coffee is smooth as silk, what flavor!
> 
> 
> 
> *PICHURS!!!!!!!!!!!!*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Here's a little tease, posting from the infield, ah the smells, see if you can guess what it is.
> View attachment 142170
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Field cultivator/ripper on an Allis-Chalmers 'G'?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yup, you iron head!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gotta have one skill in life; it's not very useful, but I'm a hit at parties! [emoji38]
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...

75?


----------



## vintagesnaps

That looks a little like a trip back in time JC. 

Charlie do the cats stomp the grapes? 
(Can you picture a bunch of cats romping in grapes, batting them around... probably no actual wine making would get done if left to cats.)


----------



## smoke665

Morning all. Back to the day to day life, after our last adventure. First thing this afternoon, (hopefully - weather permitting) is mowing. After 10 days and lots of rain, our yard is looking like a jungle! At least the humidity is down today.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> That looks a little like a trip back in time JC.
> 
> Charlie do the cats stomp the grapes?
> (Can you picture a bunch of cats romping in grapes, batting them around... probably no actual wine making would get done if left to cats.)


I guess it's possible - it's Maine.


----------



## table1349

The perfect way to start a Sunday.  Homemade Pop-Tarts a tasty trend at Wichita eateries

No where did I put that Coke?


----------



## snowbear

Except they need to be careful calling them "Pop-Tarts."


----------



## Gary A.

According to the article "... or toaster pastries as they’re generically called ...". 

Gary has heard that Wichita was a center of epicurean discovery ... but only for the adventurous and bold. And homemade Pop Tarts punctuates that claim with an exclamation point.  Covfefe to Kansas.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Temperature's rising and it is gonna be a Shvitsbod today.  The Cook and Gary took an early walk today in an attempt to beat the rising temperatures ... whenever Gary looked over his shoulder he saw the heat rapidly catching up. Gary and Cook quicken our pace but the heat was gaining on us.  At the end of our walk we had to sprint home, slamming the door in the angry face of heat as it swept across the threshold drying up all that it touched.


----------



## vintagesnaps

How about dunking a Pop Tart in your covfefe?


----------



## Gary A.

87F at City Hall and rising ... it is getting quite warm in the patio.  The fans are on gently blowing a stream of warm air across Gary's old body as he sips his coffee.  No Pacific breeze today, the tree leaves are still, Swallowtails, Monarchs, Whites and a Morning Cloak fill the yard. A fiery red dragonfly is being chased by a sex-charged Monarch.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> How about dunking a Pop Tart in your covfefe?


No...no....no.  Didn't you hear, The Pop Tart Blizzard will be replacing the current Guardian of the Galaxy Blizzard at Dairy Queen.


----------



## Gary A.

Up to 95F at City Hall.  Gary is making some orange-lemonade.  He worked up a bit of a shvits picking the lemons.


----------



## JonA_CT

Camping on the Cape this week. My daughter figured out how to climb out of her pack and play, and the neighbors have about 8 little dogs that won't shut up.

In other words, bedtime is going really well right now.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's orange-lemonade ... refreshing. 





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary's orange-lemonade .



I have a little stronger concoction in mind after my trip to TN last week. It's called Orange Creamsicle Moonshine. I need to gather up a few more ingredients before I can make a batch, but if it turns out as well as the sample I tried. Well lets just say dessert will go to a new level.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's orange-lemonade .
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have a little stronger concoction in mind after my trip to TN last week. It's called Orange Creamsicle Moonshine. I need to gather up a few more ingredients before I can make a batch, but if it turns out as well as the sample I tried. Well lets just say dessert will go to a new level.
Click to expand...

Offhand, I'd guess you start with corn, molasses and, if you're in a hurry, yeast.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary crafts an orange liqueur but nothing requiring distillation.  He is quite interested in the process and results.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Offhand, I'd guess you start with corn, molasses and, if you're in a hurry, yeast.



Nah, I'm lazy already bought the "basics" LOL Just have to spend a little time in the kitchen.


----------



## b_twill

I'm interested in Gary's orange liqueur.  Been playing mad scientist and turning inocent apple juice into something a bit more harder lately.


----------



## smoke665

b_twill said:


> I'm interested in Gary's orange liqueur.  Been playing mad scientist and turning inocent apple juice into something a bit more harder lately.



I've used freeze distillation to turn hard cider into Apple Jack. It's ok, but I prefer my Apple Pie recipe.


----------



## snowbear

Tonight was chicken
In the teriyaki way
Now, watermelon.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like watermelon


----------



## jcdeboever

I like Apple Jack's.


----------



## Gary A.

b_twill said:


> I'm interested in Gary's orange liqueur.  Been playing mad scientist and turning inocent apple juice into something a bit more harder lately.


Gary uses vodka as his base. (Okay, he cheats.)

Ingredients:
8 oranges (roughly)
4 cups sugar
1 cup water
4 cups vodka

Cooking:
1) With a vegetable peeler, peel the 8 oranges.  Take extreme care not to peel up the pith (white part).  The pith is bitter;
2) Juice the oranges.  Strain away as much of the solids as possible;
3) In a saucepan add the sugar and water and boil away until clear (simple syrup);
4) Pour 1 cup of orange juice into the simple syrup and bring to boil (sometimes I'll use all the juice, about two cups):
5) Cool the entire mess;
6) Divide and stuff the orange peels into two, 1 liter containers/bottles.  I use the kind with the wired in ceramic stopper;
7) Divide and pour the orange/simple syrup stuff into the containers/bottles;
8) Pour 2 cups of vodka into the containers;
9) Seal containers and store in a cool and dark place for 30 days, (mark the calendar); and
10) Drink.

I use this stuff in my Margaritas, Sangria, BBQ sauce and general cooking and drinking.  Much different than Grand Marnier which uses cognac as its base.  This stuff is less harsh and Much smoother than Grand Marnier.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. That sounds pretty good. My computer is updating but I'll copy and save this to try. I'll post up the Apple Pie tomorrow- it's great for fall or winter evening warmer. Will post the other after I try it.


----------



## Gary A.

Thanks smoke665.

Mary Lou and Gary are finally relaxing today.  We've been busy this 95F day.  Yesterday was a bust as we had to attend a fundraiser.  Today we sorta doubled up for losing yesterday and worked on prepping the food for tomorrow.  Finally, we're relaxing with some vino and kicking back in the patio watch the Koi breach and the damn Mockingbirds eat my Pinot Noir grapes. They hang around everyday squeezing the grapes for ripeness.  The Pinots are turning and the Mocking birds are picking out the purple clusters. Gary is thinking of sprinkling some chili powder on the grapes. The vino is very good, a Santa Yenez Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.  The vintner is an old Hollywood guy, Vincent. His best buddy was Peter O'Tool and scattered amongst the tasting rooms are photos and memorabilia of him and O'Tool including ... robes O'Tool wore in the movie Lawrence of Arabia, which was possibly and arguably one of, if not, The, greatest movie ever made.


----------



## jcdeboever

Come on girls, why the girly drink? vodka is best straight  out of bottle.  Next thing you know, y'all be experts on wine coolers


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Come on girls, why the girly drink? vodka is best straight out of bottle. Next thing you know, y'all be experts on wine coolers



Uh, just so you know the "kick your butt" ingredient in the Apple Pie is 190 proof clear. The Orange Creamsicle has both 190 and Vanilla Vodka. These are not the watered down versions you see in the stores.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Come on girls, why the girly drink? vodka is best straight out of bottle. Next thing you know, y'all be experts on wine coolers
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Uh, just so you know the "kick your butt" ingredient in the Apple Pie is 190 proof clear. The Orange Creamsicle has both 190 and Vanilla Vodka. These are not the watered down versions you see in the stores.
Click to expand...

Ok whew, you guys had me worried there for a sec


----------



## Gary A.

O M G Peoples ... Gary has been cooking a pork loin roast for half the day in a crock pot. He just tasted it and it is amazing. Gary made a simmering stock of herbs, spices, wine, BBQ sauce and chicken stock and it is turning out wonderfully.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is ready to invite Anthony Bourdain over for dinner.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.  Time to go to work; goodbye.


----------



## table1349

Have fun at work snowbear.   

Lovely morning in the flatlands.  73 degrees just a wisp of a breeze.  Just got home from a long work out a little bit ago at the gym.  M.W,&F are my long gym days as I spend 30 minutes on the recumbent walker then hit the weight machines.  3 sets of 10 reps at each of the machines.  T&Th I just do the recumbent walker. 

Enjoying a late breakfast,on the veranda, will probably will skip lunch.  The dogs are on the landing for the stairs soaking up sun.  Monday is vacuum and dusting day so I will have to get busy here in a couple of minutes.   There is some left over grilled chicken thighs for dinner along with potato salad (always better the next day) and baked beans since the wife has a meeting tonight.  I would definitely let the summer weather stay like this.


----------



## table1349

Monday Morning Coffee Needs.


----------



## vintagesnaps

There was some thingy on PBS about Kansas, just a short uh, time filler I guess at the end of Mystery. It was just music, and time lapse... it was a whole lot of open space. I thought, do any people live there?? and then went yeah, somebody in the coffee house does... 

We accidently made hard cider in college once. I think it just sat around too long, we weren't trying to actually do anything with it...

Now they sell 'moonshine' in the drive thru beverage barn, what have things come to?? lol I doubt it's really any sort of shine if it's there along with whatever now replaced wine coolers and mad dog that's the crap you drink when you're young and broke.


----------



## SquarePeg

Moonshine is very trendy right now.  I had a really good drink in Nashville that the menu referred to as a Mule Kicker but the bartender called a Moonshine Lemonade.  It was delicious and had a definite kick.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I think it's a little more, uh, I don't know, sophisticated? without extra ingredients that supposedly people put in homemade versions. I remember grain alcohol and hard apple cider; nobody around here was making moonshine but it was still a thing in rural areas. But then supposedly it all went downhill, people started putting crap like gasoline and whatnot in it so that pretty much ended it. 

There have been a couple of shows about somebody going into production of 'today's' moonshine, guess it's potent but cleaned up and actually safe enough to drink! Wonder what started it up again anyway?? The one show I doubt they ever got it off the ground, so much bickering. But what they can sell in a drive thru is usually just low % of alcohol and watered down crap. I just buy pop there.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> There was some thingy on PBS about Kansas, just a short uh, time filler I guess at the end of Mystery. It was just music, and time lapse... it was a whole lot of open space. I thought, do any people live there?? and then went yeah, somebody in the coffee house does...
> 
> We accidently made hard cider in college once. I think it just sat around too long, we weren't trying to actually do anything with it...
> 
> Now they sell 'moonshine' in the drive thru beverage barn, what have things come to?? lol I doubt it's really any sort of shine if it's there along with whatever now replaced wine coolers and mad dog that's the crap you drink when you're young and broke.


If it was on Kansas I am surprised it was long enough for you to have seen it or remember it.  We are long on crops and short on excitement.   

What they sell as moonshine isn't moonshine.  It is just watered down alcohol that has not been aged.  True home brew (moonshine) is neither aged nor cut.  It generally comes in at around 98% alcohol.  The best stuff is triple distilled and if properly done can result in 100% alcohol.  I was not kidding a while back when I said that I would pour the leftover corn liquor into the tank of my car and it ran.  Were talking high octane leaded gas with 98% pure alcohol added.  

For the record I do live in Kansas, I actually in many ways like living in Kansas and I do make fun of my home state of Kansas as I do of myself.  If one can't find humor in their own self and their situation they are a poorer person for it.  Besides, as Mark Twain said, "If you can't go by an easy road........Don't Go."


----------



## vintagesnaps

It was maybe 15? minutes or so. Some hills, I forget what they were called. Kept me watching that long anyway. There was a fire, or maybe a burn, then winter, then spring and things were growing... wasn't sure if it was a particular occurrence since there was only music and they did kind of circle around the same hills and trees a bit. It was kind of cool and I couldn't tell if I was looking at dirt or sand or what in low sunlight. But not quite as much adventure as in the episode of Mystery on Masterpiece I'd watched.

I agree about finding humor in your own life. I live in the state that's round on the ends and hi in the middle... nothing to laugh at here! <--- sarcasm


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Moonshine is very trendy right now.  I had a really good drink in Nashville that the menu referred to as a Mule Kicker but the bartender called a Moonshine Lemonade.  It was delicious and had a definite kick.



Uncle George's stuff goes well with spring water. Well, it goes with pert' near everything, 'ceptin' the preacher's wife.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> It was maybe 15? minutes or so. Some hills, I forget what they were called. Kept me watching that long anyway. There was a fire, or maybe a burn, then winter, then spring and things were growing... wasn't sure if it was a particular occurrence since there was only music and they did kind of circle around the same hills and trees a bit. It was kind of cool and I couldn't tell if I was looking at dirt or sand or what in low sunlight. But not quite as much adventure as in the episode of Mystery on Masterpiece I'd watched.
> 
> I agree about finding humor in your own life. I live in the state that's round on the ends and hi in the middle... nothing to laugh at here! <--- sarcasm


It was probably one of two things,  The Flint Hills which is a large swath of rolling pasture land.  Not too good for much else.  It does contain some of the only public pasture lands in the state.  They do controlled burns every year to improve the grazing.  Of course the major N/S interstate in the state runs through the Flint Hills.

If it was not that then it would have been what we have gotten from our friends to the south in Oklahoma.  Being north of Oklahoma the predominant winds travel of course NORTH in the spring and summer.  The last few years we have had some considerable wildfires roll into south central/south west Kansas because the Okies can't put out a damn cigarette.  The last one burnt 650,000 acres in Kansas earlier this spring.  Fence posts are at a premium in Kansas right now.  What we lack for trees and forests we make up for with fences and fence posts.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. It hit 90F again today.  The A/C is on.  First day this year for the A/C.  Gary is comfy inside with no A/C when it's 90F outside, but Cook is old ... we turned it on to make her comfortable. Gary is excited, this evening is Queen at the Bowl.


----------



## JonA_CT

Finally got around to sending the first rolls of film in on Saturday. Got the color scans back today (they are so fast). 

This is off the roll of Vista 200 that JC sent me to shoot through the accompanying Nikon N75.

I think this is my Sigma 50mm f1.4...but I can't remember.

This is straight from the scan folder with only a crop on my phone.


----------



## Gary A.

Great color, good expression, good bokeh ... could be sharper.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Moonshine is very trendy right now.  I had a really good drink in Nashville that the menu referred to as a Mule Kicker but the bartender called a Moonshine Lemonade.  It was delicious and had a definite kick.


If it was served by a bartender, it was NOT moonshine!


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> nobody around here was making moonshine but it was still a thing in rural areas. But then supposedly it all went downhill, people started putting crap like gasoline and whatnot in it so that pretty much e



I can remember time not so long ago that when you were thirsty you went to a certain hollow tree not far from where I live now, put your money in, came back a few mins later and picked up your shine. Would knock you on your rear, but man was it smooth. When Alabama went wet that pretty much ended moonshine here. By the way I recently found the old still site that used to operate on the back side of my property. Here's a picture of the remains of thumper after the revenuers broke it up.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Great color, good expression, good bokeh ... could be sharper.



Agreed...in the shadows. Probably not enough speed with the shutter.

Another from the same roll...


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Great color, good expression, good bokeh ... could be sharper.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed...in the shadows. Probably not enough speed with the shutter.
> 
> Another from the same roll...
> 
> View attachment 142309
Click to expand...

Lovely color in both images. Glad your getting some use out of it. Scanner makes a big difference too. Your probably right, on shutter speed on the child. The second is sharper. However, both images are beautiful and have that lovely film quality. That Agfa Vista is some nice film. I don't mind the Fujifilm Superia for color either.

I prefer to shoot film.


----------



## Gary A.

Kodak Vericolor was Gary's favorite color print film. He hasn't seen it for awhile. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's what I was going to say, lovely color. You got a couple of keepers. I don't mind the less than perfect focus for the first one, the softness suits the subject and setting and that is just too nice. (I usually keep to a smaller print if I didn't quite nail the focus but like a picture anyway, maybe use a larger mat or double mat - those kind of little tricks.)

I remember a little house/neighborhood bar near a friends' house where you could walk over with a jug/jar, pay them and they'd fill it up for you (beer). (Closest thing we had, not enough out in the country for actual stills.) Somehow I doubt places do that anymore.

I think it was the Flint Hills, definitely rolling. I should look up what that show was. I don't know why it struck me that maybe it was a controlled burn, I guess because it was in a winding line. It all made for some pretty scenic footage.


----------



## jcdeboever

Fujifilm GX680 III project in planning. What a wonderful system. A good friend sent me this to capitalize on my enthusiasm for Photography. I have the option to purchase since he doesn't gravitate to it's use. I have been studying up on mechanical operation and getting close to burn some art. It is a masterpiece in of itself, almost telling me you can't handle me. Well get ready Betsy, I am going to ride you like Barry White .


----------



## jcdeboever

Oh, I golfed well tonight, using only a 7 iron up to the green. I only brought a putter and a 7 iron. I can't hit any of my clubs other than these. Crazy. I birdied a Par 5 too.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Moonshine is very trendy right now.  I had a really good drink in Nashville that the menu referred to as a Mule Kicker but the bartender called a Moonshine Lemonade.  It was delicious and had a definite kick.
> 
> 
> 
> If it was served by a bartender, it was NOT moonshine!
Click to expand...

Are you sure we are talking about the same thing.  Were talking about Moonshine, not Mooseshine eh.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> nobody around here was making moonshine but it was still a thing in rural areas. But then supposedly it all went downhill, people started putting crap like gasoline and whatnot in it so that pretty much e
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I can remember time not so long ago that when you were thirsty you went to a certain hollow tree not far from where I live now, put your money in, came back a few mins later and picked up your shine. Would knock you on your rear, but man was it smooth. When Alabama went wet that pretty much ended moonshine here. By the way I recently found the old still site that used to operate on the back side of my property. Here's a picture of the remains of thumper after the revenuers broke it up.
> View attachment 142308
Click to expand...


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> That's what I was going to say, lovely color. You got a couple of keepers. I don't mind the less than perfect focus for the first one, the softness suits the subject and setting and that is just too nice. (I usually keep to a smaller print if I didn't quite nail the focus but like a picture anyway, maybe use a larger mat or double mat - those kind of little tricks.)
> 
> I remember a little house/neighborhood bar near a friends' house where you could walk over with a jug/jar, pay them and they'd fill it up for you (beer). (Closest thing we had, not enough out in the country for actual stills.) Somehow I doubt places do that anymore.
> 
> I think it was the Flint Hills, definitely rolling. I should look up what that show was. I don't know why it struck me that maybe it was a controlled burn, I guess because it was in a winding line. It all made for some pretty scenic footage.


If you ever mosey this way, not sure why you would want to being a back east gal with all there is there, definitely come in the fall.  The Flint Hills are beautiful then.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Oh, I golfed well tonight, using only a 7 iron up to the green. I only brought a putter and a 7 iron. I can't hit any of my clubs other than these. Crazy. I birdied a Par 5 too.


I found that when playing golf my best shot was always my 4th putt.


----------



## table1349

*"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!"
*
Perfect morning to listen to a little Old Time Radio.  After the Shadow is Mr. & Mrs. North.  Earlier was back to back episodes of Dragnet.  

Nice sunny 73 degree morning after a night of thunderstorms.  Maggie, one of our canine children has now calmed down. She hates thunderstorms and fireworks.  Her sister doesn't mind them nearly as much.


----------



## SquarePeg

Has anyone watched the first episode of Prime Suspect: Tennison on PBS?  I loved the old Prime Suspect series with Helen Mirren.  This one is about her backstory.  I missed recording it and now wondering if I should bother trying to find a replay to record...


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm in the midwest, but I guess that's east if you're west. Or something... lol I'd say it's a bit more populated here, although I worked in a city but now live in what was my grandma's house just barely out in the country. Farms and tractors and things I can't say I know a lot about but it's quite peaceful. But just 10 minutes out of a midsize town which is handy, sort of the best of both worlds. 

A chicken ran thru my yard once and walked on down the street... there's no traffic which is nice. I wondered if it was some kid's 4H project and was looking for the fair.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yes!! Tennison was good! Maybe look at local PBS stations and see if anyone's replaying it midweek. I liked Prime Suspect with Helen Mirren, that was a good show.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Has anyone watched the first episode of Prime Suspect: Tennison on PBS?  I loved the old Prime Suspect series with Helen Mirren.  This one is about her backstory.  I missed recording it and now wondering if I should bother trying to find a replay to record...


Missed that one.  I will have to see if I can find it.  Been binging on Netflix watching Doc Martin lately.


----------



## jcdeboever

Man, tons of photo opportunity in Gary Indiana but I don't have time. Pretty rough but black & white everywhere. Got to keep moving on this trip. Hitting some big sales today, it's a good day. Gary reminds me of Detroit, big time. Lots of gang element though, very, very noticeable. Did pick up a super clean Olympus Epic zoom for .50 ¢ (thrift store) with case and manual. Popped a battery in it, loaded some film, ready to go.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Oh, I golfed well tonight, using only a 7 iron up to the green. I only brought a putter and a 7 iron. I can't hit any of my clubs other than these. Crazy. I birdied a Par 5 too.


I drive 500 yards.  Unfortunately, I putt the same way: 500 yards.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> *"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!"
> *
> Perfect morning to listen to a little Old Time Radio.  After the Shadow is Mr. & Mrs. North.  Earlier .


Nice!  I've got about 70Gb worth of OTR; everything from "Philip Marlow" to "Life with Luigi".  It's what I listen to 99% of the time on my MP3 player.


----------



## jcdeboever

South Bend bound....


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> *"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!"
> *
> Perfect morning to listen to a little Old Time Radio.  After the Shadow is Mr. & Mrs. North.  Earlier .
> 
> 
> 
> Nice!  I've got about 70Gb worth of OTR; everything from "Philip Marlow" to "Life with Luigi".  It's what I listen to 99% of the time on my MP3 player.
Click to expand...

Love Philip Marlow and all of the detective/mystery series especially Dragnet.  I have never liked  Life with Luigi,  Life of Riley, or the Fred Allen Show.  Fibber McGee & Molly, Jack Benny Show and The Red Skelton show are my all time favorite comedies.  Haven't found a western I don't like.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Oh, I golfed well tonight, using only a 7 iron up to the green. I only brought a putter and a 7 iron. I can't hit any of my clubs other than these. Crazy. I birdied a Par 5 too.


Gary gets killed in golf.  He can never get past the windmill.  Mostly, Gary only uses a putter.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm no good at Putt Putt, takes me too many whacks at the ball. The windmill and thingys are way more fun than real golf though. To watch that is, never tried real golf. If I want something involving whacking things give me hockey anytime.

I went to the Dr. Just a check up, watch this watch that yeah yeah yeah. 

I liked Dragnet, and like Jack Benny. My dad likes Fibber McGee and used to listen to tapes of those radio shows. 

I'm taking an online course about Hitchcock thru Turner Classic. There's a syllabus! ewww a syllabus, I mean, c'mon! lol Like it's going to kill me to look at a syllabus... It's just a continuing ed for fun course but is done by a professor at Ball State so he had to get that in there! lol But there is a Hitch Pitch card game...


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> I'm no good at Putt Putt, takes me too many whacks at the ball. The windmill and thingys are way more fun than real golf though. To watch that is, never tried real golf. If I want something involving whacking things give me hockey anytime.
> 
> I went to the Dr. Just a check up, watch this watch that yeah yeah yeah.
> 
> I liked Dragnet, and like Jack Benny. My dad likes Fibber McGee and used to listen to tapes of those radio shows.
> 
> I'm taking an online course about Hitchcock thru Turner Classic. There's a syllabus! ewww a syllabus, I mean, c'mon! lol Like it's going to kill me to look at a syllabus... It's just a continuing ed for fun course but is done by a professor at Ball State so he had to get that in there! lol But there is a Hitch Pitch card game...


Love TCM. Seriously thinking of joining Back Lot.


----------



## jcdeboever

Got tripod today. Bogen 3022 w/ 3025 head. Got it in South Bend. It's pretty rough and needs to be cleaned up but it will safely hold the beast.


----------



## jcdeboever

Shooting some film at University of Notre Dame. I'm going back with that GX 680 III and shooting inside that amazing church, The Basilica of the Sacred Heart. 
Cell pic


----------



## jcdeboever

Cat fish barbeque...


----------



## Gary A.

iphone Images

This time yesterday, Mary Lou and Gary were at the Hollywood Bowl for QUEEN.  It was absolutely and completely wonderful. The show opened up loudly self-proclaiming "WE WILL, WE WILL ... ROCK YOU..." and they proceeded to unquestionably do so.  Adam Lambert was great, with a healthy amount of humility for himself and praise for Mercury and Queen. There were a few tributes to Mercury, all very sentimental, touching and integrated amazingly well into the live performance.  To say it was a hell of a show doesn't give the concert, the Jumbotrons the lasers and lights ... the whole enchilada, the merit it deserves ... it was a spectacular one-hell-of-a-show.  After all, this was The Hollywood Bowl.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


>


Love that first image


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Love that first image



Accidental abstract.  I actually used the "Sports" mode, maxed ISO; 18-135 kit.  I started to trash it but kind of liked how it came out.

Here's another from the same concert


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Love that first image
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Accidental abstract.  I actually used the "Sports" mode, maxed ISO; 18-135 kit.  I started to trash it but kind of liked how it came out.
> 
> Here's another from the same concert
Click to expand...

I'd print it. Nice accident IMO.


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Love that first image
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Accidental abstract.  I actually used the "Sports" mode, maxed ISO; 18-135 kit.  I started to trash it but kind of liked how it came out.
> 
> Here's another from the same concert
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'd print it. Nice accident IMO.
Click to expand...



Agreed. Nominated for POTM


----------



## vintagesnaps

That explains the neon bicycles, I wondered about that...

I'm worn out. A day out and about somewhat still does me in, but it's more being pooped and not my hip aching so bad anymore. I can do more all the time slowly but surely, but it still tires me out. So I plan to sit here and yawn all day and be glad I'm paying somebody to be out there cutting the grass! lol

Getting late in the morning for more coffee, but so it must be. Gonna finish off the pot. (coffee not funny cigarettes)


----------



## table1349




----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Love that first image
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Accidental abstract.  I actually used the "Sports" mode, maxed ISO; 18-135 kit.  I started to trash it but kind of liked how it came out.
> 
> Here's another from the same concert
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'd print it. Nice accident IMO.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed. Nominated for POTM
Click to expand...

I really appreciate it but, as the contest moderator, I am not eligible. Thank you, anyway.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Love that first image
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Accidental abstract.  I actually used the "Sports" mode, maxed ISO; 18-135 kit.  I started to trash it but kind of liked how it came out.
> 
> Here's another from the same concert
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'd print it. Nice accident IMO.
Click to expand...

I might do that.


----------



## snowbear

It's been a very long night snd day.  Went to Baltimore last night as MIL is back in hospital.  Today I've been trying to clean mom's kitchen and bathroom with MLW since she comes home from rehab on Friday.  We're heading back home in a bit, and then back up to Balto.  I might come back on site later tonight.

Tomorrow is the surgery on the other eye.  I'll probably lurk in the AM but will be too cranky to post since I can't  have food or drink after midnight.


----------



## smoke665

You would think that after all the years I've been married I would learn to RUN, when wife says "you know what I think WE should do?" Instead like a deer in the headlights I stand there stupidly and ask "What", knowing full well that the "we" really means "me". Such was the case this past weekend when "we" (she) decided that a rock garden just off our back deck needed to be "completely" redone.  Three days later the rocks are gone the area leveled, topsoil hauled in and spread, edging installed, landscape fabric down,  most of the new perennials planted, and new beds for annuals. Tomorrow should finish up our "we" project, and I can relax again.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just sat down looking about the patio and you know smoke665 ... there our some project around here we can do also.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> You would think that after all the years I've been married I would learn to RUN, when wife says "you know what I think WE should do?" Instead like a deer in the headlights I stand there stupidly and ask "What", knowing full well that the "we" really means "me". Such was the case this past weekend when "we" (she) decided that a rock garden just off our back deck needed to be "completely" redone.  Three days later the rocks are gone the area leveled, topsoil hauled in and spread, edging installed, landscape fabric down,  most of the new perennials planted, and new beds for annuals. Tomorrow should finish up our "we" project, and I can relax again.


Well, at least she ain't buying some 1500 dollar coach ****. I am annoyed right now. I just got home from three days away and guess what, another *ucking Coach purse with matching wallet, 975. I am calling a *ucking lawyer. I am so mad I can spit.

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. we discussed this, agreed twice, and this. I'm at a loss. Give me a rock garden to move.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You would think that after all the years I've been married I would learn to RUN, when wife says "you know what I think WE should do?" Instead like a deer in the headlights I stand there stupidly and ask "What", knowing full well that the "we" really means "me". Such was the case this past weekend when "we" (she) decided that a rock garden just off our back deck needed to be "completely" redone.  Three days later the rocks are gone the area leveled, topsoil hauled in and spread, edging installed, landscape fabric down,  most of the new perennials planted, and new beds for annuals. Tomorrow should finish up our "we" project, and I can relax again.
> 
> 
> 
> Well, at least she ain't buying some 1500 dollar coach ****. I am annoyed right now. I just got home from three days away and guess what, another *ucking Coach purse with matching wallet, 975. I am calling a *ucking lawyer. I am so mad I can spit.
Click to expand...


Could she be trying to send you a message? Is this her way of trying to get your attention? Have you talked to her about it? I mean talked to her when you weren't spittin' angry?


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You would think that after all the years I've been married I would learn to RUN, when wife says "you know what I think WE should do?" Instead like a deer in the headlights I stand there stupidly and ask "What", knowing full well that the "we" really means "me". Such was the case this past weekend when "we" (she) decided that a rock garden just off our back deck needed to be "completely" redone.  Three days later the rocks are gone the area leveled, topsoil hauled in and spread, edging installed, landscape fabric down,  most of the new perennials planted, and new beds for annuals. Tomorrow should finish up our "we" project, and I can relax again.
> 
> 
> 
> Well, at least she ain't buying some 1500 dollar coach ****. I am annoyed right now. I just got home from three days away and guess what, another *ucking Coach purse with matching wallet, 975. I am calling a *ucking lawyer. I am so mad I can spit.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Could she be trying to send you a message? Is this her way of trying to get your attention? Have you talked to her about it? I mean talked to her when you weren't spittin' angry?
Click to expand...

She's not even home. I'm venting. Yes, we talked about it several times, last one was about her purchase  blowing our budgeted  goal. The plan was to pay the mortgage off as it is the only debt, save up and buy a RV with cash or short loan. It's like she is doing it on purpose. I don't yell or control the conversations. I am calm because it is only money. It is more about what I thought was a plan for our retirement. I am at a loss, I just want her to be happy in our golden years. She wants a lot, I am a frugal, simple man. Probably time to move on and be alone. I could live on the street.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You would think that after all the years I've been married I would learn to RUN, when wife says "you know what I think WE should do?" Instead like a deer in the headlights I stand there stupidly and ask "What", knowing full well that the "we" really means "me". Such was the case this past weekend when "we" (she) decided that a rock garden just off our back deck needed to be "completely" redone.  Three days later the rocks are gone the area leveled, topsoil hauled in and spread, edging installed, landscape fabric down,  most of the new perennials planted, and new beds for annuals. Tomorrow should finish up our "we" project, and I can relax again.
> 
> 
> 
> Well, at least she ain't buying some 1500 dollar coach ****. I am annoyed right now. I just got home from three days away and guess what, another *ucking Coach purse with matching wallet, 975. I am calling a *ucking lawyer. I am so mad I can spit.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Could she be trying to send you a message? Is this her way of trying to get your attention? Have you talked to her about it? I mean talked to her when you weren't spittin' angry?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> She's not even home. I'm venting. Yes, we talked about it several times, last one was about her purchase  blowing our budgeted  goal. The plan was to pay the mortgage off as it is the only debt, save up and buy a RV with cash or short loan. It's like she is doing it on purpose. I don't yell or control the conversations. I am calm because it is only money. It is more about what I thought was a plan for our retirement. I am at a loss, I just want her to be happy in our golden years. She wants a lot, I am a frugal, simple man. Probably time to move on and be alone. I could live on the street.
Click to expand...


I didn't mean to suggest that your only conversation was yelling at her. I just wondered if she has been acting this way on purpose for some other reason and she feels this is her way of communicating that.

ETA: And for the record, I also believe you have every right to be spittin' angry - didn't mean to imply that you didn't. I don't understand spending that kind of money on a purse and wallet, especially if it's already a bone of contention. But I'm not her and don't understand her motivations, and standing from a distance, I can't help but wonder what those motivations would be. The first purchase you talked about is one thing - maybe she was just thoughtless or unaware how much of an impact it would make. To do the same thing again so soon seems intentionally provocative, intended as a means to anger you or get your attention. But why? (That's a rhetorical question, not one you need to answer. I'm apparently just in a ponderin' sort of a mood  )


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Well, at least she ain't buying some 1500 dollar coach ****. I am annoyed right now. I just got home from three days away and guess what, another



Dang JC, I'd be ill too.  Despite her minor flaws , I've been fortunate that I found a life partner, wasn't that way with the first one (big mistake, 9 years of hell). We fuss and carry on at each other, but after 38 years, no way either of us would leave. Last week we were at a big outlet mall that just happened to have a Coach outlet, asked her if she wanted to go in. She knows she could buy as many as she wanted and never have an issue, but it's just not her thing. She did buy several things that day including two purses of another brand, and still didn't spend much. 

Hate to hear of others having issues, hope you're able to talk it out and resolve the reasons behind it. Wasn't always roses for us either, there was a time when for several months, mine kept packing boxes in the bedroom. I could generally tell how well it was going by how full they were. Thankfully they eventually emptied out. I also recall some counseling over the years that helped us see things differently, might be time to seek out some help.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary just sat down looking about the patio and you know smoke665 ... there our some project around here we can do also.



What's your wife's definition of "we" 

On a more serious note I'm not really complaining because of everything my wife has gone through I'm just thankful to see her moving about, whatever she wants, she'll get. We have to be careful because the cancer causes her bones to be weak. She's already had a serious compression fracture in the spine, and overall has lost 4 1/2" in that area. She's on a drug that helps, but falls could still be serious. And of course her name should have been Grace, because despite watching her and trying to work, she fell today, barely missing a BBQ grill. Fortunately nothing was injured but her pride. Me on the other hand, mashed two fingers, in my haste to get things finished.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You would think that after all the years I've been married I would learn to RUN, when wife says "you know what I think WE should do?" Instead like a deer in the headlights I stand there stupidly and ask "What", knowing full well that the "we" really means "me". Such was the case this past weekend when "we" (she) decided that a rock garden just off our back deck needed to be "completely" redone.  Three days later the rocks are gone the area leveled, topsoil hauled in and spread, edging installed, landscape fabric down,  most of the new perennials planted, and new beds for annuals. Tomorrow should finish up our "we" project, and I can relax again.
> 
> 
> 
> Well, at least she ain't buying some 1500 dollar coach ****. I am annoyed right now. I just got home from three days away and guess what, another *ucking Coach purse with matching wallet, 975. I am calling a *ucking lawyer. I am so mad I can spit.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Could she be trying to send you a message? Is this her way of trying to get your attention? Have you talked to her about it? I mean talked to her when you weren't spittin' angry?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> She's not even home. I'm venting. Yes, we talked about it several times, last one was about her purchase  blowing our budgeted  goal. The plan was to pay the mortgage off as it is the only debt, save up and buy a RV with cash or short loan. It's like she is doing it on purpose. I don't yell or control the conversations. I am calm because it is only money. It is more about what I thought was a plan for our retirement. I am at a loss, I just want her to be happy in our golden years. She wants a lot, I am a frugal, simple man. Probably time to move on and be alone. I could live on the street.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I didn't mean to suggest that your only conversation was yelling at her. I just wondered if she has been acting this way on purpose for some other reason and she feels this is her way of communicating that.
Click to expand...


Its ok. Her last comment  was to sell more for her dad and it will eventually  even out. I don't  know what she is trying to say other than what she tells me. I think I'm being used and not loved. simply trying to accommodate her wishes on to buy an RV for retirement.  We already have condos, don't see the logic in that but budgeting for her wants and not my needs. I just want to make her happy and make pictures. I probably will leave soon, pay the house off, she can have it. Move to California and eat at Gary's house once a week for nourishment.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary just sat down looking about the patio and you know smoke665 ... there our some project around here we can do also.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What's your wife's definition of "we"
> 
> On a more serious note I'm not really complaining because of everything my wife has gone through I'm just thankful to see her moving about, whatever she wants, she'll get. We have to be careful because the cancer causes her bones to be weak. She's already had a serious compression fracture in the spine, and overall has lost 4 1/2" in that area. She's on a drug that helps, but falls could still be serious. And of course her name should have been Grace, because despite watching her and trying to work, she fell today, barely missing a BBQ grill. Fortunately nothing was injured but her pride. Me on the other hand, mashed two fingers, in my haste to get things finished.
Click to expand...




I think I understand the frustration, though. It's not really being upset at the work, but more about how it's introduced. It drives me nuts when my mother wants a favor but rather than just say, 'Could you do me a favor?' she follows this long, circuitous route: So what are your plans for the weekend? or Gee, I would really like to get this done. Etc. Nine times out of ten - because I recognize her pattern - I just ignore her actual question and tell her to just spit it out and say exactly what she is asking me to do.

If it were me, I'd prefer, "I think it would look really nice if we did this, but because of my limitations, you'd end up doing the bulk of the work. What do you think?"


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> You would think that after all the years I've been married I would learn to RUN, when wife says "you know what I think WE should do?" Instead like a deer in the headlights I stand there stupidly and ask "What", knowing full well that the "we" really means "me". Such was the case this past weekend when "we" (she) decided that a rock garden just off our back deck needed to be "completely" redone.  Three days later the rocks are gone the area leveled, topsoil hauled in and spread, edging installed, landscape fabric down,  most of the new perennials planted, and new beds for annuals. Tomorrow should finish up our "we" project, and I can relax again.


I would trade you.  Got called last night from the Assisted Living Home my mother is in.  Her Alzheimers has been slowly getting worse.  Last night for the first time she went AWOL.  Got confused and took her little dog out about 9:15 last night for a walk and went out the front door instead of into the enclosed court yard where she has always taken the dog after 5:00 p.m.  Had the entire staff looking for her.  Found her pretty quickly.  She was still on the grounds but they have a large plot of ground the facility is on.  Found her about an hour later.  Spent part of the day getting her scheduled to go to the secured memory care unit.  It will be a few days before that can happen so they will take her there during the day.   Spent the rest of the day getting a home care person set up to spend the nights with her for a few days.  Staff is working to get things arranged so she can't wander off in the evenings until we can get her into the lock down memory care unit.  

As a result we just finished dinner a few minutes ago. (8:30) p.m.  Pork Chops, potato salad and fresh corn on the cob.  




Beat so I am going to veg out for a little while and go to bed.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Her Alzheimers has been slowly getting worse



That's tough to deal with and one of my fears as I get older.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Hey Frank, welcome home. Do you remember driving south along California Highway 1, below San Jose ... that road has been cut in two places in the Big Sur area. The excessive rains weakened a bridge, rendering it undrivable and a landslide, 100 meters wide x 330 meters tall took out another section.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk




The picture was in my morning paper that day!


----------



## Frank F.

Every day I clean up the kitchen, empty the dishwasher, refill it start it and empty it again. Only to see the full chaos reinstated after family returns from school, work and Kindergarten. Sisiphos is my hero!!!


----------



## Frank F.

Thank you all for your kind words and prayers. The judicial officer has finally opened the door to my lot for me yesterday.

In the legal sense the ex tennant of the ex owners would have to have vacated the space at 2 May last year. Due to slow work in the German judicial system he only started one week ago to empty it and was still not finished when I finally gained full ownership yesterday at 8:15 in the morning.

Now I have to get rid of the remains of a fire the ex tennant of the ex owners incinerated last fall. Then I have to got to court to make him pay for the expenses.

After the clean up under the watchful eyes of the Local Environmental Authority, which is perfectly OK for me, I will tear down the unaffected parts of the building and then have to call the archeolologists to check the site for Roman remains. Uninterrupted settlement for over 2000 years here. After that I can build my house.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary just sat down looking about the patio and you know smoke665 ... there our some project around here we can do also.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What's your wife's definition of "we"
> ...
Click to expand...


You and Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

Welcome back Frank. You have a long way to go until your dream house is finished ... but at least now you can actually start.


----------



## SquarePeg

@jcdeboever whose idea was it to buy a RV?  Is this her way of telling you she doesn't want that type of retirement lifestyle?


----------



## table1349

Any of you guys have a copy of the wife manual I can borrow, I seem to have misplaced mine.  She's a 1959, blonde model.  She's a bit out of sorts today and I have 24 hours to get to the bottom of the issue.   

I have Sleep Apnea and use a cpap machine having been diagnosed with moderately serious apnea a while back.  For years she has been a horrific snorer and I have observed periods where she has stopped breathing in her sleep and times where she gasps so hard she wakes herself up.  I have been bugging her for two or three years now to check into it.  She finally got tired of me bugging her and mentioned it to our family physician.   He sent her to a sleep specialist and the specialist thought that she should take a home study as my wife didn't seem to think there was a problem.  She took her home study Monday night.  

Yesterday morning they called with her results,  She is averaging 66 incidents of apena an hour which puts here in the extremely sever category. When I was tested I was averaging only 26 incidents.  

They called her at work and she is going in tonight for an immediate in house study and will not be leaving there in the morning without either a cpap or bipap machine depending on what she needs.  This is a life threatening situation and she seems a little put out right now with all the fuss.  Perhaps it comes down to not being happy when the husband just happens to be right. 

As Norm from cheers used to say,  "Women, can't live with them, pass the beer nuts."


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> @jcdeboever whose idea was it to buy a RV?  Is this her way of telling you she doesn't want that type of retirement lifestyle?


I'm thinking kind of the same thing.  I was wondering if she had watched the movie RV lately.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> Any of you guys have a copy of the wife manual I can borrow, I seem to have misplaced mine.  She's a 1959, blonde model.  She's a bit out of sorts today and I have 24 hours to get to the bottom of the issue.
> 
> I have Sleep Apnea and use a cpap machine having been diagnosed with moderately serious apnea a while back.  For years she has been a horrific snorer and I have observed periods where she has stopped breathing in her sleep and times where she gasps so hard she wakes herself up.  I have been bugging her for two or three years now to check into it.  She finally got tired of me bugging her and mentioned it to our family physician.   He sent her to a sleep specialist and the specialist thought that she should take a home study as my wife didn't seem to think there was a problem.  She took her home study Monday night.
> 
> Yesterday morning they called with her results,  She is averaging 66 incidents of apena an hour which puts here in the extremely sever category. When I was tested I was averaging only 26 incidents.
> 
> They called her at work and she is going in tonight for an immediate in house study and will not be leaving there in the morning without either a cpap or bipap machine depending on what she needs.  This is a life threatening situation and she seems a little put out right now with all the fuss.  Perhaps it comes down to not being happy when the husband just happens to be right.
> 
> As Norm from cheers used to say,  "Women, can't live with them, pass the beer nuts."  [emoji38]


I sleep 2.25 hours per night according to my B Pap, she will need one of those.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Any of you guys have a copy of the wife manual I can borrow,



I'd let you borrow mine, but after I bought it many years ago, I found out the pages were blank. That way they can change them up as they see it. LOL


 

We go through the same issue here. I had a really bad Sleep Apnea problem that was causing cardiac problems before it I finally found out. So it's not something that should be put off. My wife has an occasional snoring problem that will rattle the windows, but has refused to go for a sleep study. So for now, on the nights it's a problem, a poke in the back will cause her to roll over  and quit.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> @jcdeboever whose idea was it to buy a RV?  Is this her way of telling you she doesn't want that type of retirement lifestyle?
> 
> 
> 
> I'm thinking kind of the same thing.  I was wondering if she had watched the movie RV lately.
Click to expand...

Her idea


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any of you guys have a copy of the wife manual I can borrow,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd let you borrow mine, but after I bought it many years ago, I found out the pages were blank. That way they can change them up as they see it. LOL
> 
> View attachment 142418
> 
> We go through the same issue here. I had a really bad Sleep Apnea problem that was causing cardiac problems before it I finally found out. So it's not something that should be put off. My wife has an occasional snoring problem that will rattle the windows, but has refused to go for a sleep study. So for now, on the nights it's a problem, a poke in the back will cause her to roll over  and quit.
Click to expand...

This was the one I was looking for.  Pretty complete.

I think she is upset because she is going to the Boy Scout Jamboree next month.  She is the president of the Local Area Boy Scout Council.  She may have to change her sleeping arrangements since there may not be electricity in her tent area.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any of you guys have a copy of the wife manual I can borrow, I seem to have misplaced mine.  She's a 1959, blonde model.  She's a bit out of sorts today and I have 24 hours to get to the bottom of the issue.
> 
> I have Sleep Apnea and use a cpap machine having been diagnosed with moderately serious apnea a while back.  For years she has been a horrific snorer and I have observed periods where she has stopped breathing in her sleep and times where she gasps so hard she wakes herself up.  I have been bugging her for two or three years now to check into it.  She finally got tired of me bugging her and mentioned it to our family physician.   He sent her to a sleep specialist and the specialist thought that she should take a home study as my wife didn't seem to think there was a problem.  She took her home study Monday night.
> 
> Yesterday morning they called with her results,  She is averaging 66 incidents of apena an hour which puts here in the extremely sever category. When I was tested I was averaging only 26 incidents.
> 
> They called her at work and she is going in tonight for an immediate in house study and will not be leaving there in the morning without either a cpap or bipap machine depending on what she needs.  This is a life threatening situation and she seems a little put out right now with all the fuss.  Perhaps it comes down to not being happy when the husband just happens to be right.
> 
> As Norm from cheers used to say,  "Women, can't live with them, pass the beer nuts."  [emoji38]
> 
> 
> 
> I sleep 2.25 hours per night according to my B Pap, she will need one of those.
Click to expand...

We will see what she needs.  At her age and health level cpap may well be enough.  I know that with my cpap I am averaging 0.3 events and hour now with a setting of 9.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> I'm thinking kind of the same thing. I was wondering if she had watched the movie RV lately.



A $1500 purse is nothing compared to the cost of owning an RV. Motorhomes are the worst, you can almost see the dollars flying away as it's value declines. A friend of ours paid $300k 5 years ago for their coach, now health problems are forcing them to sell.  So far their best offer has only been $150k.  Sadly in 5 more years it will lose another 50%. 5th wheels and diesel trucks are slightly less expensive, and don't have quite the horrendous loss of value, but it can still amount to a lot.

Both of them have yearly cost of ownership, and repairs (there will be repairs) can get expensive. A new A/C unit can run $1k with/labor, a refrigerator upwards of $3k, tires $300+ per tire, etc.


----------



## table1349

We talked about doing the same thing when the wife retires, however after looking into it we have changed our mind.  Instead we are looking into the unmoved RV option.  There are communities down in Arizona where people buy their very nice RV's and have it delivered there, both motorized and luxury 5th wheels.  Difference is, they leave them there.  In the winter they go there and live in their RV community and when the weather gets hot the secure the RV up and leave it where it is for the next year.  Many of them buy a golf cart for using in the community and either drive their own vehicle or have one that they leave there.  With the climate the RV ages very well just sitting there year after year.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Instead we are looking into the unmoved RV option.



We see a few of these type, however they usually are what's called "park model", kind of across between an RV and a mobile home. We've also looked at buying a lot in one of the upscale parks, but unless you use that location frequently association fees make it unfeasible. Our average stay out runs from 10 days to 4 weeks. We like the flexibility of moving when we want.


----------



## vintagesnaps

People around here do that, I have neighbors that go somewhere after the holidays, then they come back... A lot of people just set up a camper at the state park or the lake nearby, end of the summer you see the boats and trailers and campers all coming back for winter storage. I used to like working at summer camp and going camping but not doing that anymore! lol will take the comfort of home. Or some nice indoor room service. Enough of hot dogs and burnt marshmellows on sticks.

I think people just handle things differently Smoke, like a potential medical diagnosis, sometimes it can be worse for people dreading it. Maybe your wife was not exactly wanting to find out how bad it was and that she'll need to use one of those contraptions. It might be different for her than it has been for you so maybe give her time to adjust. 

So I thought too that the RVing was the problem JC, I don't know what's up with the spending if you're trying to save/pay off expenses toward an RV she wants. It seems like there's more to it than that anyway. I'd usually think someone would need to figure out if things can be worked out or talk to a marriage counselor etc., but it kind of sounds like you're already thinking about transitioning out of the marriage. Guess you'll have to bring up that you're unhappy and she seems unhappy and you seem to have different plans for the future etc. and see... I don't know, hope something gets resolved.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Welcome back Frank. You have a long way to go until your dream house is finished ... but at least now you can actually start.



My guess is the house will be ready by Christmas 2018. This is neither ambitious not pessimistic, just a hunch


----------



## Frank F.

No one will ever understand the wife. Wifes are not for understanding. Love them and take them as they are, kind of nicely wrapped gift with unknown content every day afresh. I love mine and I take her as is. We come along best if she reciprocates in this respect: "I use mine up as he is. I will not change him anyways."

When will coffee house be on sale as a book?

An edited version of digestible length could be cover to cover packed with unrivalled wisdom of sorts....


----------



## Frank F.

The house:


----------



## vintagesnaps

If you say so Frank! lol I'm not sure our conversations would make sense to anyone else! 

And what is that under the wooden counter in your picture? it's cool looking, couldn't tell if it was a stove? or storage? Looks very homey and comforting place to be.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oooh!! The house?? that looks like an apartment building.


----------



## Frank F.

vintagesnaps said:


> Oooh!! The house?? that looks like an apartment building.



Two Maisonettes with roughly 120 sqm, the garden M. and the Penthouse M. and in the Middle one Flat for a single or a couple with 75 sqm.

All three units to rent out, to sell or to live and work in myself with family.

To my eyes it is a sustainable building of very high aesthetic value.

At the moment it is a side project. My book is still my main focus apart from every day family and household and work for money.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Very nice! Put a coffee shop on the ground floor and you'd be good to go. (I'm kidding, of course.)


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Instead we are looking into the unmoved RV option.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We see a few of these type, however they usually are what's called "park model", kind of across between an RV and a mobile home. We've also looked at buying a lot in one of the upscale parks, but unless you use that location frequently association fees make it unfeasible. Our average stay out runs from 10 days to 4 weeks. We like the flexibility of moving when we want.
Click to expand...

Hadn't seen those.  I think I saw this on the Travel Channel a couple of years ago.   They were full blown RV's, all higher end with some being the full blow diesel bus models.  They were all capable of going where ever.  Sometimes the people would take off for a few days to the mountains, Vegas etc. and then come back.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Hadn't seen those.



Some of the Park Models are on the clunky side, but the newer ones are really neat. The recent tiny house shows might have had an influence. Typically the Park Models are little more like a residential residence, with better insulation, and residential appliances, but still have the ability to be moved. Park Model RVs | Go RVing 

RV's of any type don't typically do well sitting. Tires hardly ever wear out, they dry rot, diesel engines have seals that dry and leak, batteries fail from  sulfation from sitting hooked to a charger.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> I used to like working at summer camp and going camping but not doing that anymore! lol will take the comfort of home.



The groups we travel with call it glamping. 400 sq ft with the slides out, King bed, 4 door refrigerator/freezer, couch and recliners, fireplace, 50" big screen in the coach, 32" in the bedroom and in the basement pullout (for watching football outside), satellite system, surround sound, heat pumps. It's not much different from home, and we know "who" the last person was to sleep in the bed.


----------



## Frank F.

vintagesnaps said:


> Very nice! Put a coffee shop on the ground floor and you'd be good to go. (I'm kidding, of course.)



The house is small. If there will be work it will be my photo businesses. The greatest luxury of all: a fully walkable neighbourhood and for work I do not even need to leave the house!


----------



## SquarePeg

Frank F. said:


> The house is small. If there will be work it will be my photo businesses. The greatest luxury of all: a fully walkable neighbourhood and for work I do not even need to leave the house!



I had no idea I was living such a luxurious life!  You're right though - being able to walk downtown to shop or go to a restaurant or just enjoy the neighborhood is wonderful.  I don't do it often enough.  Working from home, while convenient, does have almost as many  cons as pros.  The isolation can be depressing. Easy access to the fridge and too much sitting can lead to weight gain.  And the #1 con - you're always at work.


----------



## limr

For me, the ability to go to sleep hearing nothing but crickets and frogs beats out the convenience of living in an urban neighborhood. Ideally, I wouldn't even be able to see any neighbors at all. Noise is stressful for me and driving, for the most part, isn't, so it's a compromise I can easily live with.


----------



## SquarePeg

Lol, I'm so used to the street and neighbor noise that I can't sleep without it.  Just wrapping up a couple of nights in VT and had a hard time getting used to the quiet.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Lol, I'm so used to the street and neighbor noise that I can't sleep without it.  Just wrapping up a couple of nights in VT and had a hard time getting used to the quiet.



If it's _too _quiet, I tend to fixate on every tiny little noise I hear, so I do prefer some white noise or very very soft music. A real rainstorm is just a delicious sound to fall asleep to. That, plus a nice cool breeze, and I sleep _hard.  _I have lived in cities - both large and small - and so I do understand how you get used to typical street noise, but for me, those noises always created an underlying tension. I would get accustomed to that, too, but when I went away somewhere quiet, I noticed the absence of that tension, and when I returned to town, I would feel it settling in again. After a while, that just wore me down and I have no interest in ever carrying it with me again.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Lol, I'm so used to the street and neighbor noise that I can't sleep without it.  Just wrapping up a couple of nights in VT and had a hard time getting used to the quiet.


Like the story of the guy who lived next to the tracks.  One night the 2:30 a.m. train didn't go by and he woke up saying "What was that ...?".


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  The heat wave is broken.  The past three days tem temps have been in the lower 90's upper 70's. 

@ Leo: Gary has been ordering Fidget Spinners for his daughter, grandson and granddaughter.  There are a zillion models and types.  Gary thinks you need use a Fidget Spinner.

Sleep is dear and always in short supply. Gary remembers talking to a guy in his sleep.  His answers were slow coming and sounded ... hollow ... with no vocal inflections.  The odd part was the guy was standing up at the end of the NCO Bar holding a beer.  The next day I questioned him about the occurrence, he just laughed and said he does it all the time. Most people can train themselves to work-around normal inconveniences to grab some shut eye. Gary thinks the greatest sleepers are found in the military. Gary is a very light sleeper.  He cannot sleep in a moving vehicle.  Even in the middle of the night on a plane crossing an ocean, Gary is looking out the window not wanting to miss something.  In contrast, Gary has seen soldiers fall asleep the moment they quit moving.  The moment they sit down in a truck or helicopter an LZ ... bam ... they're grabbing some z's.  But the same guys will instantly wake up from a dead sleep, not if a truck or tank rambles by, but if they register something signaling potential danger, a generator stopping, a faint whisper or the click of charging a weapon, they're at attention.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Very nice! Put a coffee shop on the ground floor and you'd be good to go. (I'm kidding, of course.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The house is small. If there will be work it will be my photo businesses. The greatest luxury of all: a fully walkable neighbourhood and for work I do not even need to leave the house!
Click to expand...

Guten Morgen, Frank. Wir haben Sie um hier verpasst.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> @ Leo: Gary has been ordering Fidget Spinners for his daughter, grandson and granddaughter.  There are a zillion models and types.  Gary thinks you need use a Fidget Spinner.



Hmmm, curious. Why do you think I need one?

I can sleep in cars and trains, but not on airplanes. Not without drugs.


----------



## Gary A.

They seem to relax many people.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Lol, I'm so used to the street and neighbor noise that I can't sleep without it.  Just wrapping up a couple of nights in VT and had a hard time getting used to the quiet.


Ah yes, nothing like being able to step out of the house, walk to the corner bar for a cocktail or two before retiring to bed in the heart of the city.  





As compared to the peace and quiet of the country.


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The house is small. If there will be work it will be my photo businesses. The greatest luxury of all: a fully walkable neighbourhood and for work I do not even need to leave the house!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had no idea I was living such a luxurious life!  You're right though - being able to walk downtown to shop or go to a restaurant or just enjoy the neighborhood is wonderful.  I don't do it often enough.  Working from home, while convenient, does have almost as many  cons as pros.  The isolation can be depressing. Easy access to the fridge and too much sitting can lead to weight gain.  And the #1 con - you're always at work.
Click to expand...



I also work at customer sites, but if they send their products it is better to have a fully equipped kitchen studio ready.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> For me, the ability to go to sleep hearing nothing but crickets and frogs beats out the convenience of living in an urban neighborhood. Ideally, I wouldn't even be able to see any neighbors at all. Noise is stressful for me and driving, for the most part, isn't, so it's a compromise I can easily live with.




Frogs can be more noisy than a near by Street....

In the middle of a lively quarter I know my neighbours and can talk to them friendly if it gets too loud. My neighbours are my friends, they tell me if there is something annoying with what I do or what my children do and vice versa. We also sit in the gardens together to have tea, coffee, wine or beer. All on speaking terms and destined to keep it that way.

To sustainably comfort 10 Billion people on Earth we need less sprawl and more intelligent density, less driving, more access.


----------



## table1349

Beautiful Friday morning here in Doo Dah, especially knowing that once again I have totally pissed off our family physician.  Had a physical Wednesday and he sent me the lab results back.  I know this one is really killing him as he did blood work.  He didn't bother to call, he just sent me the results.  My blood work was great and my cholesterol was *114*.  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




I'm 62 and eat any damn thing I want when I want.  I never eat anything all the time so my diet includes almost anything.  He's 48 and a had a triple by pass about 5 years ago and lives on cholesterol medicines.  He's not only my Dr. but he is a friend so we joke back and forth about things and he always gives me a hard time about my low cholesterol and how it just isn't right.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Very nice! Put a coffee shop on the ground floor and you'd be good to go. (I'm kidding, of course.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The house is small. If there will be work it will be my photo businesses. The greatest luxury of all: a fully walkable neighbourhood and for work I do not even need to leave the house!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Guten Morgen, Frank. Wir haben Sie um hier verpasst.
Click to expand...



Vermisst habt Ihr mich? Das ist so lieb!

You missed me? That is so lovely!

To gain access to my lot was quite some work. Now I am free to get rid of the remains of the tenant, the garage and the Romans.

Then I am Frank the Builder!!!


----------



## Frank F.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Ah yes, nothing like being able to step out of the house, walk to the corner bar for a cocktail or two before retiring to bed in the heart of the city.




Or to walk half a block, evacuate some nice old wine bottles, then walk home without thinking drunken driving. In urban Sprawl you either abstain from drinking, drive drunken or have sleep over parties.

Or I fall out the door and have a choice of French, German, Turkish or Organic bakery within 5 minutes walk.

Same for groceries: Vietnamese? Turkish? Morrocanian? Latino? German discount? Or Delicatessen? Late Night Beer shop with a selection of 85 different brands.

Same for Pubs and Restaurants, same for the City Government and all of their services


----------



## terri

Hiya, Frank!   

The nest outside my front door is getting crowded, hosers.   





Just a cell phone pic, taken through the window - which is about all I can get right now.   I don't want to spook them.    They sit outside the nest most of the day now.    I'm gonna miss them when they take off!


----------



## smoke665

Don't know if our 911 dispatch got a another new dispatcher that someone is having fun with or I need to be worried. Just got the following text:

(E911-Page)
CFS: 20170630-007778
MSG: ANNOUNCEMENT
WE ARE UNDER AN AREAL FLOOD WARNING UNITL 330 PM THIS DATE

ETOWAH COUNTY

SVFD:

Not sure if they mean "a real" flood is on the way and I should head to high ground, or if there's an "aerial" flood coming in which case I need to go grab an SCBA.

With them you never know. They once toned us out on a wreck. In route to the scene the dispatcher came back on the radio to advise, that a passerby had called to advise "That there was BLOOD EVEEEERRRYYYYWWWHHEERE!"


----------



## snowbear

Areal refers to an area, just as zonal refers to a zone.

Up and about, eye is feeling better.


----------



## snowbear

A quick note about my wife and spending money.

Her LG phone decided to take a dump, today: no service/can't read the sim card.  I swap cards with her, I can read her's fine, her phone still can't read the card.  We stop by the local T-Mobile store to get her a new phone.  She decides we all should upgrade phones, if Aurelia and I want one.  We leave with her and Aurelia each carrying an iPhone6s/32GB and her insisting that I order the 128GB (not in stock at the store).


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> For me, the ability to go to sleep hearing nothing but crickets and frogs beats out the convenience of living in an urban neighborhood. Ideally, I wouldn't even be able to see any neighbors at all. Noise is stressful for me and driving, for the most part, isn't, so it's a compromise I can easily live with.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frogs can be more noisy than a near by Street....
> 
> In the middle of a lively quarter I know my neighbours and can talk to them friendly if it gets too loud. My neighbours are my friends, they tell me if there is something annoying with what I do or what my children do and vice versa. We also sit in the gardens together to have tea, coffee, wine or beer. All on speaking terms and destined to keep it that way.
> 
> To sustainably comfort 10 Billion people on Earth we need less sprawl and more intelligent density, less driving, more access.
Click to expand...


Well, it's nice that you are able to live in an atmosphere that you enjoy.

I would not enjoy it. I will take the sounds of frogs over urban noises any day of the week.


----------



## jcdeboever

House I grew up in, Dickerson / Jefferson, Detroit. Still someone living there. I shot from car, my parents didn't want me to get out of car, lol. Pentax P30T 50mm f/2, 400 TX. Still a rough hood, maybe more so today, looks the same to me.


----------



## terri

Well, I love the house, jc - plywood be damned!        It looks like it was a fine old house in its day.   I'm hoping Detroit rallies eventually, and neighborhoods like this can be reclaimed.    Detroit still has lots of soul.


----------



## smoke665

In the kitchen to mix up a batch of Orange Creamsicle Moonshine that I had read about. After modifications I ended up with this recipe:

Ingredients:

1 gallon fresh 100% Orange Juice (the less pulp the better).
1-3/4 cups sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons Vanilla Extract
3/4 cup French Vanilla liquid coffee creamer
1 Fifth of 190 proof Everclear (150 proof can be substituted just won't be as stout)
1/2 cup Vanilla vodka (You may want to adjust this to taste at the mixing stage)
Mason Jars with lids.
Instructions:

You need a big pot with extra room for when it foams up (and it will - don't ask). Mix the orange juice, sugar, vanilla extract together over medium heat. After it heats up add in the creamer. Stir until creamer is fully incorporated. 
Bring the mixture to a rolling boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 mins stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.
Add the Everclear (WARNING DO NOT BE AROUND OPEN FLAME WHEN DOING THIS). Stir mixture.
Add the vanilla vodka. I'd start with the 1/2 cup mix and taste. I think I finally added just over 3/4 cup total.
Pour the mixture into the mason jars, and refrigerate.
NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU'RE TEMPTED - Let it age for at least 2 weeks, as it will only get better.
Shake before serving over ice
Enjoy


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> House I grew up in, Dickerson / Jefferson, Detroit. Still someone living there. I shot from car, my parents didn't want me to get out of car, lol. Pentax P30T 50mm f/2, 400 TX. Still a rough hood, maybe more so today, looks the same to me.
> 
> View attachment 142545


A little reminiscent of the house MLW lived in when she was in S. Rockwood


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> House I grew up in, Dickerson / Jefferson, Detroit. Still someone living there. I shot from car, my parents didn't want me to get out of car, lol. Pentax P30T 50mm f/2, 400 TX. Still a rough hood, maybe more so today, looks the same to me.
> 
> View attachment 142545




Ist that typical for the area? Seems to be a modest and friendly form to accommodate a little family.


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> House I grew up in, Dickerson / Jefferson, Detroit. Still someone living there. I shot from car, my parents didn't want me to get out of car, lol. Pentax P30T 50mm f/2, 400 TX. Still a rough hood, maybe more so today, looks the same to me.
> 
> View attachment 142545
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ist that typical for the area? Seems to be a modest and friendly form to accommodate a little family.
Click to expand...

Not really, most of the houses are burned out, torn down. But the ones standing and occupied look like these. At one time there were a house on either side, no longer. It's Urban decay mostly in this east side neiborhood. All the liquor stores are still open and running strangely enough.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> House I grew up in, Dickerson / Jefferson, Detroit. Still someone living there. I shot from car, my parents didn't want me to get out of car, lol. Pentax P30T 50mm f/2, 400 TX. Still a rough hood, maybe more so today, looks the same to me.
> 
> View attachment 142545
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ist that typical for the area? Seems to be a modest and friendly form to accommodate a little family.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not really, most of the houses are burned out, torn down. But the ones standing and occupied look like these. At one time there were a house on either side, no longer. It's Urban decay mostly in this east side neiborhood. All the liquor stores are still open and running strangely enough.
Click to expand...

That is so sad.  All of it from urban decay to the liquor stores.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> House I grew up in, Dickerson / Jefferson, Detroit. Still someone living there. I shot from car, my parents didn't want me to get out of car, lol. Pentax P30T 50mm f/2, 400 TX. Still a rough hood, maybe more so today, looks the same to me.
> 
> View attachment 142545
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ist that typical for the area? Seems to be a modest and friendly form to accommodate a little family.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not really, most of the houses are burned out, torn down. But the ones standing and occupied look like these. At one time there were a house on either side, no longer. It's Urban decay mostly in this east side neiborhood. All the liquor stores are still open and running strangely enough.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That is so sad.  All of it from urban decay to the liquor stores.
Click to expand...

Yes it is.


----------



## snowbear

I'm guessing the house was built in the '40s or early '50s.  There are a number of them in older neighborhoods in the DC area.


----------



## smoke665

Footnotes to those who might be inclined to make the Orange Creamsicle Moonshine recipe I posted above:

I had forgotten just how much cooling and aging will intensify the flavors. Sampled last night and think that on the next one I'll back off the vanilla extract to 2 Tablespoons, and back off the French Vanilla Creamer to 1/2 cup.


----------



## Frank F.

I created a nice portrait of our priest in the dying light at ISO6400 and f/2.0 with my little X100:


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> I'm guessing the house was built in the '40s or early '50s.  There are a number of them in older neighborhoods in the DC area.


House built in 1910. See the asbestos shingle siding on the home front? Before the 67 riots, there was a project where they were tearing down homes in order to rebuild safer, or better dwellings. Unfortunately, the riots halted that. It wasn't until the current Mayor, Dugan, had begun a campaign to continue with this process and around 12000 have been demolished and another 50000 is on slate. Unfortunately, there is some unethical suspected contractor stuff  going on and putting a halt to the progress due to law suits. Haz mat has to come in on many of these and properly dispose of the asbestos materials. This home was obviously well built and includes a huge "Michigan basement" where my uncle had a repair shop. Additionally, the amount of dead trees canopy the city streets, left untrimmed, and add to the blight of Urban decay. City sidewalks, dangerously in decay, feature weeds 3ft tall growing from their dangerous, cracks, and ruins. Sad, very, very, sad. It's a mess.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> That is so sad. All of it from urban decay to the liquor stores



Even more so when you consider that most times the "decay" is not due to the age of the structure, but to the lack of attention by the inhabitants. My wife and I had this conversation the other day. We grew up in a time and in an area where cleanliness, and pride in your surroundings was not dependent on the amount of money you had. Your jeans might be worn, but you didn't leave the house unless they were clean and patched and  you had clean underwear on, because Mom always said " you never knew when you might have to go to the emergency room".  I had a few childhood  accidents that sent me to the doctor, but never had to validate Mom's advice, but I could have. People took care of what little they might have.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> That is so sad. All of it from urban decay to the liquor stores
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Even more so when you consider that most times the "decay" is not due to the age of the structure, but to the lack of attention by the inhabitants. My wife and I had this conversation the other day. We grew up in a time and in an area where cleanliness, and pride in your surroundings was not dependent on the amount of money you had. Your jeans might be worn, but you didn't leave the house unless they were clean and patched and  you had clean underwear on, because Mom always said " you never knew when you might have to go to the emergency room".  I had a few childhood  accidents that sent me to the doctor, but never had to validate Mom's advice, but I could have. People took care of what little they might have.
Click to expand...

True. Additionally, the city government was in total corruption for years, following the riots. You know the saying, **it rolls downhill, I think some of this applies to the city. We took care of our stuff because that's how we were raised. As kids, we had our chores, and if we didn't do them, things got bad swiftly.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> things got bad swiftly.



One of the most "agonizing decisions" ever made was when Mom or Grandma told me to go get a hickory switch. To big? To Little? To stiff? To limber?  Seems funny now.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday was a California perfect day, in the 70's, slight Pacific breeze, Marine Layer in the morning with blue skies afternoon.  Gary hade guests for a BBQ of Korean Short Ribs and steaks. Mike brought appitezers and Max (the Goldie) and Tom brought his mother's delicious homemade ribs. Max had a great time being feed little pieces of steak and ribs while depositing a few pounds of fur in the patio.  There was so much meat the meal could have been called Carne con Carne.  Some excellant vino from Temecula and Paso Robles, and some espresso with dessert.  Gary is the patio and the Cook is ready for our daily constitutional. Cook will be 14 in a month and the poor ol' girl is getting old.  She is practically deaf now. Gary has to interact with her visually and make sure there is always a line of sight between her and Gary on our walks. The Cook and Gary are off getting our day started.  More guests this afternoon, salmon on the Komado and a Tri-Tip in the smoker, a tomato salad from the garden and some flatbread. Gary juiced up some orange-lemonade and straight lemonade for the afternoon.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> That is so sad. All of it from urban decay to the liquor stores
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Even more so when you consider that most times the "decay" is not due to the age of the structure, but to the lack of attention by the inhabitants. My wife and I had this conversation the other day. We grew up in a time and in an area where cleanliness, and pride in your surroundings was not dependent on the amount of money you had. Your jeans might be worn, but you didn't leave the house unless they were clean and patched and  you had clean underwear on, because Mom always said " you never knew when you might have to go to the emergency room".  I had a few childhood  accidents that sent me to the doctor, but never had to validate Mom's advice, but I could have. People took care of what little they might have.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> True. Additionally, the city government was in total corruption for years, following the riots. You know the saying, **it rolls downhill, I think some of this applies to the city. We took care of our stuff because that's how we were raised. As kids, we had our chores, and if we didn't do them, things got bad swiftly.
Click to expand...

Yep, we grew up on the lower end of middle class.  We all worked hard and I didn't understand what entitlement meant until I became an adult.  My jeans had patches, but they were clean patches.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> but they were clean patches.



As kids we played outside everyday, so yeah, we got dirty, but you could count on not going to bed that way!


----------



## Frank F.

Prälat Schlösser today
Unedited ooc JPEG
D500 & 1.4/105E


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers. 

Buzz and I shot up to Brattleboro, VT on Fri, just for the hell of it. Stayed at a little B&B called One Cat Inn. They had two cat, actually, and yes, I spent as much time as I could petting them both. 

Found a record store and got the following 10 pieces of vinyl for the grand total of $53:

1. The Door - 13
2. Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends
3. Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child 
4. James Taylor - Sweet Baby James 
5. Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits
6. Dave Brubeck - All-Time Greatest Hits
7. Cheap Trick - Dream Police
8. David Bowie - David Live
9. The Beatles - Abbey Road
10. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Evening, hosers.
> 
> Buzz and I shot up to Brattleboro, VT on Fri, just for the hell of it. Stayed at a little B&B called One Cat Inn. They had two cat, actually, and yes, I spent as much time as I could petting them both.
> 
> Found a record store and got the following 10 pieces of vinyl for the grand total of $53:
> 
> 1. The Door - 13
> 2. Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends
> 3. Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child
> 4. James Taylor - Sweet Baby James
> 5. Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits
> 6. Dave Brubeck - All-Time Greatest Hits
> 7. Cheap Trick - Dream Police
> 8. David Bowie - David Live
> 9. The Beatles - Abbey Road
> 10. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band



Nice choices!  We probably passed each other on the road on Friday.   I drove from Stowe VT to Mass 89 to 93.


----------



## Derrel

limr said:
			
		

> Found a record store and got the following 10 pieces of vinyl for the grand total of $53:
> 
> 1. The Door - 13
> 2. Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends
> 3. Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child
> 4. James Taylor - Sweet Baby James
> 5. Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits
> 6. Dave Brubeck - All-Time Greatest Hits
> 7. Cheap Trick - Dream Police
> 8. David Bowie - David Live
> 9. The Beatles - Abbey Road
> 10. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band



NICE! Some most excellent music you bought! Score! A little over five dollars on average over the 10 discs. Sweet! I have six of those albums myself. Ones I do not have would be numbers 1,2,3,and 5. Of course, when I moved earlier this year, I got rid of all my vinyl (donated it to my brother) and all of my "albums" are in .MP3 format on drives and CDs or computer discs.


----------



## limr

Derrel said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Found a record store and got the following 10 pieces of vinyl for the grand total of $53:
> 
> 1. The Door - 13
> 2. Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends
> 3. Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child
> 4. James Taylor - Sweet Baby James
> 5. Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits
> 6. Dave Brubeck - All-Time Greatest Hits
> 7. Cheap Trick - Dream Police
> 8. David Bowie - David Live
> 9. The Beatles - Abbey Road
> 10. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
> 
> 
> 
> 
> NICE! Some most excellent music you bought! Score! A little over five dollars on average over the 10 discs. Sweet! I have six of those albums myself. Ones I do not have would be numbers 1,2,3,and 5. Of course, when I moved earlier this year, I got rid of all my vinyl (donated it to my brother) and all of my "albums" are in .MP3 format on drives and CDs or computer discs.
Click to expand...


I do have a large digital library of music, but there's something about dropping that needle on a record that is so satisfying, and there are records that I have had for most of my life that I couldn't get rid of (you'll have to pry my copy of Rush _2112_ out of my cold dead hands!) So a few years back, I got a small turntable and started collecting some more records. I'm at the point now when I feel like I need to get a proper system that sounds better.

The ones I got in VT weren't in the best shape, of course, but none of them are warped so they all sound the way they should, and I find it very meditative and relaxing to once again sit on the floor, listen to a record while looking at the cover art or liner notes, just like I did as a kid


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening, hosers.
> 
> Buzz and I shot up to Brattleboro, VT on Fri, just for the hell of it. Stayed at a little B&B called One Cat Inn. They had two cat, actually, and yes, I spent as much time as I could petting them both.
> 
> Found a record store and got the following 10 pieces of vinyl for the grand total of $53:
> 
> 1. The Door - 13
> 2. Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends
> 3. Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child
> 4. James Taylor - Sweet Baby James
> 5. Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits
> 6. Dave Brubeck - All-Time Greatest Hits
> 7. Cheap Trick - Dream Police
> 8. David Bowie - David Live
> 9. The Beatles - Abbey Road
> 10. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice choices!  We probably passed each other on the road on Friday.   I drove from Stowe VT to Mass 89 to 93.
Click to expand...


I may have waved at you!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Evening, hosers.
> 
> Buzz and I shot up to Brattleboro, VT on Fri, just for the hell of it. Stayed at a little B&B called One Cat Inn. They had two cat, actually, and yes, I spent as much time as I could petting them both.
> 
> Found a record store and got the following 10 pieces of vinyl for the grand total of $53:
> 
> 1. The Door - 13
> 2. Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends
> 3. Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child
> 4. James Taylor - Sweet Baby James
> 5. Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits
> 6. Dave Brubeck - All-Time Greatest Hits
> 7. Cheap Trick - Dream Police
> 8. David Bowie - David Live
> 9. The Beatles - Abbey Road
> 10. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band



OMG ... Speaking of home runs ... that is an amazing collection at any price.  For $53 you most likely ran from the store with the expectation of the employees running behind you shouting "Stop Thief!!!"

(Additionally the list points to your good taste in music.)

PS- Due to my extreme age, I have actually attended concerts of each and every artist/group (the exception being the Beatles and Iggy).


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Found a record store and got the following 10 pieces of vinyl for the grand total of $53:
> 
> 1. The Door - 13
> 2. Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends
> 3. Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child
> 4. James Taylor - Sweet Baby James
> 5. Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits
> 6. Dave Brubeck - All-Time Greatest Hits
> 7. Cheap Trick - Dream Police
> 8. David Bowie - David Live
> 9. The Beatles - Abbey Road
> 10. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
> 
> 
> 
> 
> NICE! Some most excellent music you bought! Score! A little over five dollars on average over the 10 discs. Sweet! I have six of those albums myself. Ones I do not have would be numbers 1,2,3,and 5. Of course, when I moved earlier this year, I got rid of all my vinyl (donated it to my brother) and all of my "albums" are in .MP3 format on drives and CDs or computer discs.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I do have a large digital library of music, but there's something about dropping that needle on a record that is so satisfying, and there are records that I have had for most of my life that I couldn't get rid of (you'll have to pry my copy of Rush _2112_ out of my cold dead hands!) So a few years back, I got a small turntable and started collecting some more records. I'm at the point now when I feel like I need to get a proper system that sounds better.
> 
> The ones I got in VT weren't in the best shape, of course, but none of them are warped so they all sound the way they should, and I find it very meditative and relaxing to once again sit on the floor, listen to a record while looking at the cover art or liner notes, just like I did as a kid
Click to expand...

You need a fidget spinner.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are way too old for two consecutive days of guests. But we pulled it off.  Saturday was the normal crowd, people who come over once or twice a week.  But Sunday was a visit from a couple, Geno and Diane, who have never visited.  We run into them often at events, but they have never come over. Diane is Mary Lou's cousin, and they are pretty close.  Diane's mother and my mother were best friends since kindergarden. Geno was a local from the same area I grew up and he's now a high-powered attorney.  Geno settled into the patio, and much of the time just quietly sucked up all the colors, the grape clusters hanging along the edge of the patio roof, hummingbirds and butterflies, the koi pond and waterfall, the bright red Japanese Maple, the roses, Flowering Maples and Plumerias all in bloom. As we walked them to their car, Geno remarked that he is soooo relaxed and refreshed by the backyard.

Geno is active in AA, and they are teetotalers.  Gary brewed up some herbal teas and juiced up some orange-lemonade and regular lemonade.  Finished off with Gary's roasted coffee. Gary smoked a Tri-Tip and tossed a marinated salmon with a teriyaki glaze into the Komado. It was a very pleasant afternoon and evening.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening, hosers.
> 
> Buzz and I shot up to Brattleboro, VT on Fri, just for the hell of it. Stayed at a little B&B called One Cat Inn. They had two cat, actually, and yes, I spent as much time as I could petting them both.
> 
> Found a record store and got the following 10 pieces of vinyl for the grand total of $53:
> 
> 1. The Door - 13
> 2. Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends
> 3. Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child
> 4. James Taylor - Sweet Baby James
> 5. Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits
> 6. Dave Brubeck - All-Time Greatest Hits
> 7. Cheap Trick - Dream Police
> 8. David Bowie - David Live
> 9. The Beatles - Abbey Road
> 10. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice choices!  We probably passed each other on the road on Friday.   I drove from Stowe VT to Mass 89 to 93.
Click to expand...


Y'all stayed in my favorite VT towns.

Either of you ever spent a night or two in Northampton, MA? It's one of our favorite one night getaways. The used book store there (The Raven, I believe?) keeps me busy for a long time, and there are other vintage shops around. 

Of course, the best used book store ever is just a few minutes away from me...
The Book Barn

Lots and lots of kitties roam freely there as well.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Evening, hosers.
> 
> Buzz and I shot up to Brattleboro, VT on Fri, just for the hell of it. Stayed at a little B&B called One Cat Inn. They had two cat, actually, and yes, I spent as much time as I could petting them both.
> 
> Found a record store and got the following 10 pieces of vinyl for the grand total of $53:
> 
> 1. The Door - 13
> 2. Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends
> 3. Iggy Pop - Real Wild Child
> 4. James Taylor - Sweet Baby James
> 5. Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits
> 6. Dave Brubeck - All-Time Greatest Hits
> 7. Cheap Trick - Dream Police
> 8. David Bowie - David Live
> 9. The Beatles - Abbey Road
> 10. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band


Nice


----------



## jcdeboever

Golf yesterday, golf today. I went this morning to shoot and brought my 100-400 & XT2. Gary had told me a few times, "you don't use it because you don't use it", well Gary, I used it... I was hoping to get some bird shots on MSU campus but none to be found. Last time there, all kinds. So I used it to shoot flowers and plants. Worked fine, I think... I didn't chimp at all for reasons unknown, so will see if any keepers. I changed my IS setting to 2, default is 1. I stumbled across this reading manual. Supposedly, when shooting in single point focus, OIS on, nailing the focus is greatly improved. Will see...I noticed the image was a little jumpier in the view finder. Got to remember to turn it back when shooting Continuous


----------



## vintagesnaps

Iggy and Bowie and Cheap Trick, excellent! All I had to do was read Dream Police and the song keeps going thru my head - who needs a record player?! lol Actually I've been wanting one for awhile since my old stereo is in the basement and no it's not going to be worth having someone drag it up here! I want something more compact. 

I like Vincent Price in these old B&W movies before he got into horror movies, makes you see how smarmy and weaselly he can be in other roles. 

I'm behind on my 'homework', I gotta get something done today!


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Y'all stayed in my favorite VT towns.
> 
> Either of you ever spent a night or two in Northampton, MA? It's one of our favorite one night getaways. The used book store there (The Raven, I believe?) keeps me busy for a long time, and there are other vintage shops around.
> 
> Of course, the best used book store ever is just a few minutes away from me...
> The Book Barn
> 
> Lots and lots of kitties roam freely there as well.



Oooh, kitties and books? Now you're talkin'  

We haven't stayed in Northampton, but now I'll put it on the list. I think my friend lives in that town, or near it anyway. We hit a book store in Brattleboro, too (of course!) I got a book on the Dada movement, Philip Roth _The Human Stain_ and Kurt Vonnegut _A Man Without a Country_.


----------



## Frank F.

Yesterday at my father's


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Mary Lou, Cook and Gary are way too old for two consecutive days of guests. But we pulled it off.  Saturday was the normal crowd, people who come over once or twice a week.  But Sunday was a visit from a couple, Geno and Diane, who have never visited.  We run into them often at events, but they have never come over. Diane is Mary Lou's cousin, and they are pretty close.  Diane's mother and my mother were best friends since kindergarden. Geno was a local from the same area I grew up and he's now a high-powered attorney.  Geno settled into the patio, and much of the time just quietly sucked up all the colors, the grape clusters hanging along the edge of the patio roof, hummingbirds and butterflies, the koi pond and waterfall, the bright red Japanese Maple, the roses, Flowering Maples and Plumerias all in bloom. As we walked them to their car, Geno remarked that he is soooo relaxed and refreshed by the backyard.
> 
> Geno is active in AA, and they are teetotalers.  Gary brewed up some herbal teas and juiced up some orange-lemonade and regular lemonade.  Finished off with Gary's roasted coffee. Gary smoked a Tri-Tip and tossed a marinated salmon with a teriyaki glaze into the Komado. It was a very pleasant afternoon and evening.




Yes your, all three of you, house is special, the garden, the pond the BBQ. I hope you come over when my house is finished. You can suck up the contents of my kitchen and cellar and Mary Lou and you can sleep over in my Studio...

I plan to plant "Spalier Obst" all around the walls of the terraces and walls. In my imagination it will be a paradise. I am sure it will be even better in reality.

Very village like atmosphere in the street all people come over say hello are interested. Very nice. Hope to integrate well into the neighborhood.

In the new place I am sure you will feel at home away from home.

All the best to Cook and Mary Lou, so strange you are so far away in Trumpland, so close to our hearts. Kons and me I mean.

Love

Frank


----------



## Frank F.

Ich will Bilder von Spalierobst sehen - Google-Suche


----------



## snowbear

"I haz boxess!!1" yep, she'll squeeze her wide-load @$$ into most any box around.




DSC_0028.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> "I haz boxess!!1" yep, she'll squeeze her wide-load @$$ into most any box around.


----------



## snowbear

I want to go a little deeper in the DoF on this one.  Luckily it's between work and home.




DSC_0060.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> ... I didn't chimp at all for reasons unknown, so will see if any keepers.



I've read a bunch of the do's and don'ts on the habit, and I'm comfortable with why I do it, but tell me again why "you" don't.


----------



## smoke665

Last week was a pretty good week. For many years, I've been a member and served on the board of  directors of our local Volunteer Fire Department. I'm retired from active response on calls, but still remain active in the department and on the board. For the last 8 years myself and a fellow retired member, have been writing the FEMA grant applications. Last week we got notification that one of this years applications had been successful, resulting in a $72,000 equipment grant. That makes 6 grants so far in 8 years, which I think is pretty cool, and we still have two applications out there. The grant couldn't come at a better time, as the county is transitioning to digital, and our old analog radios are no longer going to be supported. For a department with an annual operating budget of $45k, we just didn't have the money to buy new radios. Thanks to this we will be able to outfit our members and trucks with the latest in digital communications from Motorola. Life is good


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... I didn't chimp at all for reasons unknown, so will see if any keepers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've read a bunch of the do's and don'ts on the habit, and I'm comfortable with why I do it, but tell me again why "you" don't.
Click to expand...


I don't  have a rule not too but I think I have been shooting so much film, I literally  didn't  think about it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Gary just finished installing the tubing, fittings and valves connecting the frig to the new RO system. And ................................ Viola!  It works.  This was a long day.  Two consecutive days of guests wore Gary out.  Gary and Mary Lou are sipping a Tolosa Chardonnay, (Edna Valley).  It is sooooooo clean.  A touch of sweet, a bit of fruit but a ton of good, clean crispness. Salud.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... I didn't chimp at all for reasons unknown, so will see if any keepers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've read a bunch of the do's and don'ts on the habit, and I'm comfortable with why I do it, but tell me again why "you" don't.
Click to expand...



I did not do it in film days and I currently do not do it if I have reliable equipment. The most reliable piece of hardware currently is the D500. She just does as expected. Like my FM2 did or my F4s or my F100. I did not have technically bad shots. I threw shots out only because of design flaws.


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... I didn't chimp at all for reasons unknown, so will see if any keepers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've read a bunch of the do's and don'ts on the habit, and I'm comfortable with why I do it, but tell me again why "you" don't.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I did not do it in film days and I currently do not do it if I have reliable equipment. The most reliable piece of hardware currently is the D500. She just does as expected. Like my FM2 did or my F4s or my F100. I did not have technically bad shots. I threw shots out only because of design flaws.
Click to expand...

Kind of what I have found other than the occasional manual focus error on my end using the F, FM, or Pentax. The XT2 and XP2 are wonderful cameras.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> don't have a rule not too but I think I have been shooting so much film, I literally didn't think about it.



Maybe once I get more sure of myself I won't but for now I'm pretty much on a 4 shot rule. I meter with the Seconic, and the camera meter, for my staring point, shoot my WB card, and dial in the exposure based on the histogram on the next two, then take the final keeper. Working well for now, but then I'm not big on street shots or other spur of the moment shots.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary rarely chimps, partially due to his film upbringing.  But he will chimp when he takes a break.  As Gary is shooting mirrorless, what he sees in the viewfinder is what's he gets. Chimping is more for focus check than anything else. Of late, Gary uses the viewfinder for metering and fine tunes with the spot meter.


----------



## Frank F.

I cannot focus check chimping because I need my glasses to focus the screen. Only my little X100T allows me to check focus in the diopter corrected view finder. There is no word for view finder chack yet though ....


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> I cannot focus check chimping because I need my glasses to focus the screen.



My eyesight is getting worse even with trifocals. making it almost impossible to use the viewfinder unless it's on autofocus. Since I use manual most of the time, I use the 10x view on the LCD screen to focus.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I cannot focus check chimping because I need my glasses to focus the screen.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My eyesight is getting worse even with trifocals. making it almost impossible to use the viewfinder unless it's on autofocus. Since I use manual most of the time, I use the 10x view on the LCD screen to focus.
Click to expand...


The zoom in feature on the Fuji xt2 efv allows me to check focus in the moment even with my poor eyesight.


----------



## Gary A.

Happy Independance Day to all you Americans. There is a very touching front page story in the L.A. Times about an American, (Hiroshi Miyamura), an American town, (Gallup, N.M.), and the Medal of Honor.


----------



## Gary A.

It is warming up agin here, so Cook and Gary will get their walk in before Cook starts complaining.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I cannot focus check chimping because I need my glasses to focus the screen.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My eyesight is getting worse even with trifocals. making it almost impossible to use the viewfinder unless it's on autofocus. Since I use manual most of the time, I use the 10x view on the LCD screen to focus.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The zoom in feature on the Fuji xt2 efv allows me to check focus in the moment even with my poor eyesight.
Click to expand...

Any regrets to moving to Fuji?  What do you miss from your Nikon?


----------



## Ella Chen

I cup of coffee at night!


----------



## terri

Happy 4th of July to all you U.S. hosers!

Stay safe and have fun!


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> ...Stay safe and have fun!


Make up your mind, it's one or the other!


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I cannot focus check chimping because I need my glasses to focus the screen.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My eyesight is getting worse even with trifocals. making it almost impossible to use the viewfinder unless it's on autofocus. Since I use manual most of the time, I use the 10x view on the LCD screen to focus.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The zoom in feature on the Fuji xt2 efv allows me to check focus in the moment even with my poor eyesight.
Click to expand...

I can't get used to that feature, keep trying it but I think I shoot too much film and have standardized the routine for film and digital.


----------



## snowbear

Happy and safe Fourth.  Make a safe place for the pets so they can escape the fireworks noise.


----------



## Gary A.

Ella Chen said:


> I cup of coffee at night!


Welcome to the Coffee House Ella Chen.  What do you shoot?


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I can't get used to that feature



You also have to be in a situation where the time to take the shot isn't an issue. In situations where needed, I either switch to AF or manual zone focus and hope for the best.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Any regrets to moving to Fuji? What do you miss from your Nikon?



I still haven't found raw processing options that I like.  I love the jpegs but I need to be able to save pics when I blow the exposure. Also miss my 105mm.  Still holding onto that and the 7100


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any regrets to moving to Fuji? What do you miss from your Nikon?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I still haven't found raw processing options that I like.  I love the jpegs but I need to be able to save pics when I blow the exposure. Also miss my 105mm.  Still holding onto that and the 7100
Click to expand...

You can do it in camera. 
Have you tried Alien Skin Exposure 2 (Windows)?


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Some of the leftover tomatoes after two days of tomato salad.


----------



## snowbear

My



DSC_0052.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

Well, not exactly.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any regrets to moving to Fuji? What do you miss from your Nikon?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I still haven't found raw processing options that I like.  I love the jpegs but I need to be able to save pics when I blow the exposure. Also miss my 105mm.  Still holding onto that and the 7100
Click to expand...

Capture 1, Affinity, Iridient are my suggestions.  Gary has all three and has been using Iridient the most of the three.

Closest thing Fuji has right now will be the Fujinon 90mm F/2.  Gary has a 90mm and it is very nice.  As you know this will come up a step or two short when compared to the 105mm.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Early casual dinner with a friend to be able to avoid the fireworks traffic (which used to be at the fairgrounds, then they didn't have them for years, then put in boat docks on the river so have them there...). 

A Tuesday is a weird day for a holiday. lol It just is. But hope everyone is having a nice 4th!


----------



## table1349

A fireworks show that the animals won't mind.


----------



## SquarePeg

Spent the day at the ocean, back home for dinner and a swim in less arctic waters, now trying to stay awake until it's time to leave for the Boston fireworks on the Charles river.  Not until 1030!!!!   That's just too late for many families.  I don't get it.


----------



## terri

Agreed, that's kinda late.  Much darker, of course so better viewing, but still.

Around here, they're cranking them up between 9 and 9:30, which is a bit early but more family friendly.   

The girls will be indoors by 8:30.  Hopefully they'll come in on their own.


----------



## snowbear

The stadium had some kids' games, food wagons, a few crafts and a local cover band.  This caught my eye, but I'm not surprised: a local mini-military school, I guess, had a table for enrollment.  Maryland is a Navy state, being the home to the Academy.



cmw3_d750_0069.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

Stopped by the mall on the way home.  There are a couple of small ponds around it.  Saw mom, dad and the teenagers out for a stroll.



cmw3_d750_0075.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Gary lives about a block and a half from a regional park which has fireworks.  What is odd is that La Mirada celebrates Independence Day on the on the 3rd. The city fathers decided to leave the fourth open to celebrate with family at home. On Sunday, RV's started parking along the street securing prime spots, blankets and yellow tape were set up protecting the homesteads of others in the park. Last night, for the celebrations, food booths, softball games, live music, et al, people parked bumper to bumper through out the neighborhoods including blocking part of my driveway. The fireworks scare the hell out of the Cook, so we stayed home, drank wine, watched a Netflix (Sloan), and I cradled Cook until the noise stopped.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary lives about a block and a half from a regional park which has fireworks.  What is odd is that La Mirada celebrates Independence Day on the on the 3rd. The city fathers decided to leave the fourth open to celebrate with family at home. On Sunday, RV's started parking along the street securing prime spots, blankets and yellow tape were set up protecting the homesteads of others in the park. Last night, for the celebrations, food booths, softball games, live music, et al, people parked bumper to bumper through out the neighborhoods including blocking part of my driveway. The fireworks scare the hell out of the Cook, so we stayed home, drank wine, watched a Netflix (Sloan), and I cradled Cook until the noise stopped.


Poor Cook, she is lucky to have you.


----------



## Gary A.

We used to drug her ... but she's getting old.  She's gonna be 14 next month.  So hugs instead of drugs.  I hold her tight and she trembles.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> We used to drug her ... but she's getting old.  She's gonna be 14 next month.  So hugs instead of drugs.  I hold her tight and she trembles.


Poor girl.


----------



## Ella Chen

snowbear said:


> Happy and safe Fourth.  Make a safe place for the pets so they can escape the fireworks noise.


nature scenery. and you?


----------



## snowbear

Ella Chen said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy and safe Fourth.  Make a safe place for the pets so they can escape the fireworks noise.
> 
> 
> 
> nature scenery. and you?
Click to expand...

yes, a little.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't get used to that feature
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You also have to be in a situation where the time to take the shot isn't an issue. In situations where needed, I either switch to AF or manual zone focus and hope for the best.
Click to expand...



Yes food and stills in general do not run away. That is when I combine glasses and live view, tethered or not. Tethered live view means I have an external display, 24 inches typically, to judge focus distribution, esp with the Sinar setup


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any regrets to moving to Fuji? What do you miss from your Nikon?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I still haven't found raw processing options that I like.  I love the jpegs but I need to be able to save pics when I blow the exposure. Also miss my 105mm.  Still holding onto that and the 7100
Click to expand...



I swear to photo ninja for Fuji Raw Files


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any regrets to moving to Fuji? What do you miss from your Nikon?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I still haven't found raw processing options that I like.  I love the jpegs but I need to be able to save pics when I blow the exposure. Also miss my 105mm.  Still holding onto that and the 7100
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Capture 1, Affinity, Iridient are my suggestions.  Gary has all three and has been using Iridient the most of the three.
> 
> Closest thing Fuji has right now will be the Fujinon 90mm F/2.  Gary has a 90mm and it is very nice.  As you know this will come up a step or two short when compared to the 105mm.
Click to expand...



Thank you for suggesting three more options I did not try yet.

Do you develop at all?

Which 105? The Nikkor 1.4/105E, one of my favourite lenses too?

Should work on a metabones


----------



## SquarePeg

Well if you weren't on the Boston Esplanade last night you missed the most unbelievable display of mediocrity in years!  So disappointing. 

Apparently a new group has taken over the traditionally spectacular fireworks show and boy did they blow it.  We did not have a lot invested as my uncle lives within walking distance from of a (formerly) great spot to watch from so we parked at his building and walked about 15 minutes.  If I had been waiting all afternoon or dragging a couple of kids on the train to get there or spent a fortune on a night at one of the nearby hotels, I would have been furiously disappointed.   

It was so crazy.  The fireworks barge was in a different place than all previous years and they shot them really low which cut off the view for hundreds of people who had been camped out with their families for hours.  The already late 10:30 start was missed by about 10 minutes and then the usual 30-40 minute show was only 20 minutes at the most.  There were no really cool shapes - only two really underwhelming attempts to spell out USA. 

I felt bad for the families and the tourists.  People who had waited for hours were leaving half way through the show.  

I only took a few quick shots hand held sine I wasn't there for photos.   So glad I didn't lug everything in only to be underwhelmed.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  A weary and tired Gary has brewed his first cup of steaming dark rich coffee.  It was a long and loud night for Cook and Gary as our little house was surrounded by booming fireworks all jammin' night. Being a couple of hours from Mexico, all of Southern California was saturated with illegal fireworks and this otherwise quiet neighborhood was no different.  We buttoned up the house and turned on the A/C in an attempt to minimize the affect on Cook. But the explosions were too loud and too close and too continuous to be minimized. It was so bad, Gary thought he was back in Nam. 

Some interesting news delivered via Mary Lou.  She just heard that the test kitchen for Taco Bell is in Irvine (headquarters), and you can try out their new foods and recipes for free. One of the downsides is reservations are required ... another downside is that it's Taco Bell.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 142712 View attachment 142713 Well if you weren't on the Boston Esplanade last night you missed the most unbelievable display of mediocrity in years!  So disappointing.
> 
> Apparently a new group has taken over the traditionally spectacular fireworks show and boy did they blow it.  We did not have a lot invested as my uncle lives within walking distance from of a (formerly) great spot to watch from so we parked at his building and walked about 15 minutes.  If I had been waiting all afternoon or dragging a couple of kids on the train to get there or spent a fortune on a night at one of the nearby hotels, I would have been furiously disappointed.
> 
> It was so crazy.  The fireworks barge was in a different place than all previous years and they shot them really low which cut off the view for hundreds of people who had been camped out with their families for hours.  The already late 10:30 start was missed by about 10 minutes and then the usual 30-40 minute show was only 20 minutes at the most.  There were no really cool shapes - only two really underwhelming attempts to spell out USA.
> 
> I felt bad for the families and the tourists.  People who had waited for hours were leaving half way through the show.
> 
> I only took a few quick shots hand held sine I wasn't there for photos.   So glad I didn't lug everything in only to be underwhelmed.


----------



## Gary A.

According to unnamed sources ... one of the best this year was in San Diego, where they had multiple barges in Mission Bay timed to live music which was also simulcast across the radio for all to hear and see.

Big Bay Boom

Unfortunately, the link is to a Fox News video, and like most Fox News reporting, leaves much to be desired.


----------



## jcdeboever

I just ripped a huge manly fart...



I feel better now, take that Coach lover!


----------



## Frank F.

I got my own personal water tower by the bed side currently....


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I feel better now, take that Coach lover!



LOL


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> I just ripped a huge manly fart...
> View attachment 142745
> I feel better now, take that Coach lover!



Wow!  Sweet.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 142712 View attachment 142713 Well if you weren't on the Boston Esplanade last night you missed the most unbelievable display of mediocrity in years!  So disappointing.
> 
> Apparently a new group has taken over the traditionally spectacular fireworks show and boy did they blow it.  We did not have a lot invested as my uncle lives within walking distance from of a (formerly) great spot to watch from so we parked at his building and walked about 15 minutes.  If I had been waiting all afternoon or dragging a couple of kids on the train to get there or spent a fortune on a night at one of the nearby hotels, I would have been furiously disappointed.
> 
> It was so crazy.  The fireworks barge was in a different place than all previous years and they shot them really low which cut off the view for hundreds of people who had been camped out with their families for hours.  The already late 10:30 start was missed by about 10 minutes and then the usual 30-40 minute show was only 20 minutes at the most.  There were no really cool shapes - only two really underwhelming attempts to spell out USA.
> 
> I felt bad for the families and the tourists.  People who had waited for hours were leaving half way through the show.
> 
> I only took a few quick shots hand held sine I wasn't there for photos.   So glad I didn't lug everything in only to be underwhelmed.



DC's were rather anti-climatic, at least on TV.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  A weary and tired Gary has brewed his first cup of steaming dark rich coffee.  It was a long and loud night for Cook and Gary as our little house was surrounded by booming fireworks all jammin' night. Being a couple of hours from Mexico, all of Southern California was saturated with illegal fireworks and this otherwise quiet neighborhood was no different.  We buttoned up the house and turned on the A/C in an attempt to minimize the affect on Cook. But the explosions were too loud and too close and too continuous to be minimized. It was so bad, Gary thought he was back in Nam.
> 
> Some interesting news delivered via Mary Lou.  She just heard that the test kitchen for Taco Bell is in Irvine (headquarters), and you can try out their new foods and recipes for free. One of the downsides is reservations are required ... another downside is that it's Taco Bell.



Poor little guy!  My fur baby gets a bit freaked out and usually heads for the basement.  He's glad it's over.


----------



## snowbear

Frank F. said:


> I got my own personal water tower by the bed side currently....
> 
> View attachment 142747


Ouch.  ??


----------



## snowbear

Neither cat paid any attention, and Zoe is normally skittish.  I guess with closed windows and the sound of the A/C, it really wasn't too bad.


----------



## limr

My girls were a bit unsettled at times, and once or twice, a particularly loud boom startled Mrs. Parker enough for her to launch off of my lap, leave me a brand new fresh set of puncture marks, and run into the next room. Literally half a minute later, the brat wandered back in and started grooming her shenalies.


----------



## jcdeboever

My dog isn't bothered by it, nor the cat.


----------



## Frank F.

snowbear said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I got my own personal water tower by the bed side currently....
> 
> View attachment 142747
> 
> 
> 
> Ouch.  ??
Click to expand...


At least they try to get me off the corticosteroids....


----------



## Gary A.

Damn Frank, that's not a good place.  Gary was thinking you'd be down at the G20 meeting.  Hope it all goes well for you.


----------



## Gary A.

Riots breaking out in Hamburg.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Damn Frank, that's not a good place.



Bloody reality literally


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Riots breaking out in Hamburg.



Did Trump Twitter????


----------



## JonA_CT

I got another levain culture going...so here is some Pain de Champagne.






I also officially signed my contract in my new school district today.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like bread


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yay, Jon, it's official! 

I wondered too if the rioting was because of a certain person being in the house, but they're saying it's people protesting the summit. Of course trouble makers show up too... when everybody's in summer clothes you know the ones in all black and hoodies are up to no good. Hope it doesn't get any more out of hand. 

Meanwhile I have 'homework' I should be doing but probably I'll just watch the Hitchcock movies I recorded overnight.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Whatever you're in for Frank I hope you're better soon. 

Not much in fireworks here, Labor Day is the big weekend for those. But yeah, local radio stations being bought out and no longer locally owned has meant for a disappointing soundtrack... was better last summer at least. Mostly Tuesday were firecrackers and loud bangs & booms provided by what people went across state lines to buy.


----------



## SquarePeg

Town In Italy Switches To Silent Fireworks To Reduce Anxiety In Animals - Dogtime


----------



## Frank F.

Good luck, dear Angela. You do not have an easy job between the big egos and the big anti everything people...


----------



## Frank F.

I found an interesting book on making our guts happy. Read a lot of reviews and want to try it. Did someone here try it already?

Dr. Kellmann "The Microbiome Diet"

Scientific cutting edge knowledge translated into tasty recipes


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Town In Italy Switches To Silent Fireworks To Reduce Anxiety In Animals - Dogtime


The neighbor behind us has suddenly decided that he would quite shooting his illegal firework until late at night.  Local laws prohibit any of the exploding kind as well as anything that goes over 6 feet in the air.  Basically smoke bombs, fountains and sparklers are all that are allowed.  Out in the county a different story.  Simple rule, shoot em where you buy em.  Also the law says fireworks end at midnight

Neighbor decided to shoot off his very illegal class B crap late into the night, well past midnight  At 4:30 a.m. I rang his doorbell, he came to the door a bit perplexed, a bit perturbed and a bit sleepy.   I proceeded to profusely thank him for shooting off his illegal fireworks at all hours of the night.  He did as I expected and asked me "Who the Hell I thought I was."   I proceeded to explain to him exactly who I was and went on to explain what the law is.  During the explanation the words search warrant, & unlicensed possession of class B fireworks brought him fully awake.  I then left him to dwell on the situation.

He caught up with me today and apologized and assured me that he would not shot them off again.  I think that when he got with his supplier, who had to be a licensed fireworks purveyor, that person explained to him that the neighbors actions placed his license in sever jeopardy.    Will see what happens next year.


----------



## Gary A.

Yeah, I hate rude neighbors.  A few months ago, 2:30 a.m. Gary got fed up with a live band, (mostly brass and drums), on a weekday, playing in the back of a pick-up parked at curbside in front of the party house. Gary the Grinch shuffled through beer cans to find the owner.  As Gary explained that most people needed their sleep, the homeowner claimed it was the last song.  As Gary shuffled in his pj's home, the band struck up another song ... Gary turned towards the party and lighted up his phone.  Needless to say, the music died.


----------



## Gary A.

FYI- Yesterday, The Cook had an appointment with The Vet for her sudden deafness. The Vet was surprised it took 14 years for her to go deaf and everything was normal.  Gary described the suddenness of hearing loss, and the Vet replied that the ears don't go at the same time.  Therefore, she was most likely running on one ear for a spell, which accounts for the slow drop-off of hearing.  Then, her second ear went accounting for the sudden deafness. On the flip side, he thought Cook was in great shape and whatever we were doing to continue. Fortunately, most of Gary's verbal commands/instructions to Cook were accompanied by handsigns ... so we pretty high on the visual communications learning curve.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> FYI- Yesterday, The Cook had an appointment with The Vet for her sudden deafness. The Vet was surprised it took 14 years for her to go deaf and everything was normal.  Gary described the suddenness of hearing loss, and the Vet replied that the ears don't go at the same time.  Therefore, she was most likely running on one ear for a spell, which accounts for the slow drop-off of hearing.  Then, her second ear went accounting for the sudden deafness. On the flip side, he thought Cook was in great shape and whatever we were doing to continue. Fortunately, most of Gary's verbal commands/instructions to Cook were accompanied by handsigns ... so we pretty high on the visual communications learning curve.



Poor girl. She is lucky to have y'all and I'm sure she feels your love as much as she feels yours.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> FYI- Yesterday, The Cook had an appointment with The Vet for her sudden deafness. The Vet was surprised it took 14 years for her to go deaf and everything was normal.  Gary described the suddenness of hearing loss, and the Vet replied that the ears don't go at the same time.  Therefore, she was most likely running on one ear for a spell, which accounts for the slow drop-off of hearing.  Then, her second ear went accounting for the sudden deafness. On the flip side, he thought Cook was in great shape and whatever we were doing to continue. Fortunately, most of Gary's verbal commands/instructions to Cook were accompanied by handsigns ... so we pretty high on the visual communications learning curve.


Sorry to hear about Cooks hearing loss.  It is all too common as dogs age.  Sadly they age far more rapidly than we humans do and leave us all too soon.  Our girls are 4 now going on 5 in a few months.  It seems like it was just yesterday that we rescued them as puppies.   Hopefully Cook will live out the rest of her life in peaceful comfort.





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=649335928604255


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Town In Italy Switches To Silent Fireworks To Reduce Anxiety In Animals - Dogtime
> 
> 
> 
> The neighbor behind us has suddenly decided that he would quite shooting his illegal firework until late at night.  Local laws prohibit any of the exploding kind as well as anything that goes over 6 feet in the air.  Basically smoke bombs, fountains and sparklers are all that are allowed.  Out in the county a different story.  Simple rule, shoot em where you buy em.  Also the law says fireworks end at midnight
> 
> Neighbor decided to shoot off his very illegal class B crap late into the night, well past midnight  At 4:30 a.m. I rang his doorbell, he came to the door a bit perplexed, a bit perturbed and a bit sleepy.   I proceeded to profusely thank him for shooting off his illegal fireworks at all hours of the night.  He did as I expected and asked me "Who the Hell I thought I was."   I proceeded to explain to him exactly who I was and went on to explain what the law is.  During the explanation the words search warrant, & unlicensed possession of class B fireworks brought him fully awake.  I then left him to dwell on the situation.
> 
> He caught up with me today and apologized and assured me that he would not shot them off again.  I think that when he got with his supplier, who had to be a licensed fireworks purveyor, that person explained to him that the neighbors actions placed his license in sever jeopardy.    Will see what happens next year.
Click to expand...



I saved up through out the year. I have a giant Fireworks cylinder that was giving to me years ago. I throw change in it and every year, I buy nice fireworks for the kids. It'seems a big hit with the inlaws. This year there was $425.00 in it. Bought all kinds, mostly decent stuff. We fire them off around 10:00 and last about an hour. I dedicate the names to the people at the party.... example, pretty in pink was for granddaughter, bling bling for the wife, angry boss for father in law, etc. It's a good time and the wife has to clean up the mess the next day.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Town In Italy Switches To Silent Fireworks To Reduce Anxiety In Animals - Dogtime
> 
> 
> 
> The neighbor behind us has suddenly decided that he would quite shooting his illegal firework until late at night.  Local laws prohibit any of the exploding kind as well as anything that goes over 6 feet in the air.  Basically smoke bombs, fountains and sparklers are all that are allowed.  Out in the county a different story.  Simple rule, shoot em where you buy em.  Also the law says fireworks end at midnight
> 
> Neighbor decided to shoot off his very illegal class B crap late into the night, well past midnight  At 4:30 a.m. I rang his doorbell, he came to the door a bit perplexed, a bit perturbed and a bit sleepy.   I proceeded to profusely thank him for shooting off his illegal fireworks at all hours of the night.  He did as I expected and asked me "Who the Hell I thought I was."   I proceeded to explain to him exactly who I was and went on to explain what the law is.  During the explanation the words search warrant, & unlicensed possession of class B fireworks brought him fully awake.  I then left him to dwell on the situation.
> 
> He caught up with me today and apologized and assured me that he would not shot them off again.  I think that when he got with his supplier, who had to be a licensed fireworks purveyor, that person explained to him that the neighbors actions placed his license in sever jeopardy.    Will see what happens next year.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I saved up through out the year. I have a giant Fireworks cylinder that was giving to me years ago. I throw change in it and every year, I buy nice fireworks for the kids. It'seems a big hit with the inlaws. This year there was $425.00 in it. Bought all kinds, mostly decent stuff. We fire them off around 10:00 and last about an hour. I dedicate the names to the people at the party.... example, pretty in pink was for granddaughter, bling bling for the wife, angry boss for father in law, etc. It's a good time and the wife has to clean up the mess the next day.
Click to expand...


I used to love them too, but there is too much irresponsibility with them these days.  We had several fires here in Wichita from people shooting off illegal fireworks.  If they had shot them where they bought them it wouldn't have been an issue.  

My grandad used to do the same thing.  Difference was we lived in the country.  South of the house was one of our tilled fields.  If it was wheat we were always done with Harvest by the 4th.  Grandad would make sure to go out before the forth and plow under the stubble just so he could safely shoot off fireworks over the field.  If it was in Sorghum then he didn't worry as it was green enough to not light.  We never had a problem.  

In a city however houses are too close together with too many ignorant people.   Personally I wouldn't mind if they allowed firecrackers in the city, but the aerials, especially illegal class B aerials like the neighbor had don't belong there.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Town In Italy Switches To Silent Fireworks To Reduce Anxiety In Animals - Dogtime
> 
> 
> 
> The neighbor behind us has suddenly decided that he would quite shooting his illegal firework until late at night.  Local laws prohibit any of the exploding kind as well as anything that goes over 6 feet in the air.  Basically smoke bombs, fountains and sparklers are all that are allowed.  Out in the county a different story.  Simple rule, shoot em where you buy em.  Also the law says fireworks end at midnight
> 
> Neighbor decided to shoot off his very illegal class B crap late into the night, well past midnight  At 4:30 a.m. I rang his doorbell, he came to the door a bit perplexed, a bit perturbed and a bit sleepy.   I proceeded to profusely thank him for shooting off his illegal fireworks at all hours of the night.  He did as I expected and asked me "Who the Hell I thought I was."   I proceeded to explain to him exactly who I was and went on to explain what the law is.  During the explanation the words search warrant, & unlicensed possession of class B fireworks brought him fully awake.  I then left him to dwell on the situation.
> 
> He caught up with me today and apologized and assured me that he would not shot them off again.  I think that when he got with his supplier, who had to be a licensed fireworks purveyor, that person explained to him that the neighbors actions placed his license in sever jeopardy.    Will see what happens next year.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I saved up through out the year. I have a giant Fireworks cylinder that was giving to me years ago. I throw change in it and every year, I buy nice fireworks for the kids. It'seems a big hit with the inlaws. This year there was $425.00 in it. Bought all kinds, mostly decent stuff. We fire them off around 10:00 and last about an hour. I dedicate the names to the people at the party.... example, pretty in pink was for granddaughter, bling bling for the wife, angry boss for father in law, etc. It's a good time and the wife has to clean up the mess the next day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I used to love them too, but there is too much irresponsibility with them these days.  We had several fires here in Wichita from people shooting off illegal fireworks.  If they had shot them where they bought them it wouldn't have been an issue.
> 
> My grandad used to do the same thing.  Difference was we lived in the country.  South of the house was one of our tilled fields.  If it was wheat we were always done with Harvest by the 4th.  Grandad would make sure to go out before the forth and plow under the stubble just so he could safely shoot off fireworks over the field.  If it was in Sorghum then he didn't worry as it was green enough to not light.  We never had a problem.
> 
> In a city however houses are too close together with too many ignorant people.   Personally I wouldn't mind if they allowed firecrackers in the city, but the aerials, especially illegal class B aerials like the neighbor had don't belong there.
Click to expand...

Unfortunate. It is not dry here so it is easily managed with common sense. My dog sat out there with everyone and enjoyed it. His bully buddy, in law's dog was inside hiding and shaking. You couldn't get near him to comfort him, he would have broke bones with his bite...he was pissed. Interesting difference in dogs.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou has a friend who has a block party of fireworks celebration.  The entire block contributes to the fireworks and they literally buy $3000 to $4000 worth of fireworks.  Gary is thinking man, they're just burning money, they'd be better off buying some food and drink, set up a projection screen and have the entire block watch Patton, then use the remaining monies for a scholarship or grant to a block family(s) or individual(s).


----------



## snowbear

Arg.  Accidentally changed file names on Flickr, then changed back.  It screwed up what I posted from the weekend, but I think I've got them fixed.  The links were fine, but the images weren't showing.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou has a friend who has a block party of fireworks celebration.  The entire block contributes to the fireworks and they literally buy $3000 to $4000 worth of fireworks.  Gary is thinking man, they're just burning money, they'd be better off buying some food and drink, set up a projection screen and have the entire block watch Patton, then use the remaining monies for a scholarship or grant to a block family(s) or individual(s).


It really is burning money. I wouldn't do t if it wasn't expected. Would be nice if they would contribute a little... Crap, I bought the meat too. People are so inconsiderate but what ever. I bought lean steak and instructed my father in law on it's cooking based on butchers recommendation. He yelled at me and knew how to cook it. He ruined $100 worth of prime, lean steak. It was as tough as the coach purses I keep buying for the wife.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Town In Italy Switches To Silent Fireworks To Reduce Anxiety In Animals - Dogtime
> 
> 
> 
> The neighbor behind us has suddenly decided that he would quite shooting his illegal firework until late at night.  Local laws prohibit any of the exploding kind as well as anything that goes over 6 feet in the air.  Basically smoke bombs, fountains and sparklers are all that are allowed.  Out in the county a different story.  Simple rule, shoot em where you buy em.  Also the law says fireworks end at midnight
> 
> Neighbor decided to shoot off his very illegal class B crap late into the night, well past midnight  At 4:30 a.m. I rang his doorbell, he came to the door a bit perplexed, a bit perturbed and a bit sleepy.   I proceeded to profusely thank him for shooting off his illegal fireworks at all hours of the night.  He did as I expected and asked me "Who the Hell I thought I was."   I proceeded to explain to him exactly who I was and went on to explain what the law is.  During the explanation the words search warrant, & unlicensed possession of class B fireworks brought him fully awake.  I then left him to dwell on the situation.
> 
> He caught up with me today and apologized and assured me that he would not shot them off again.  I think that when he got with his supplier, who had to be a licensed fireworks purveyor, that person explained to him that the neighbors actions placed his license in sever jeopardy.    Will see what happens next year.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I saved up through out the year. I have a giant Fireworks cylinder that was giving to me years ago. I throw change in it and every year, I buy nice fireworks for the kids. It'seems a big hit with the inlaws. This year there was $425.00 in it. Bought all kinds, mostly decent stuff. We fire them off around 10:00 and last about an hour. I dedicate the names to the people at the party.... example, pretty in pink was for granddaughter, bling bling for the wife, angry boss for father in law, etc. It's a good time and the wife has to clean up the mess the next day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I used to love them too, but there is too much irresponsibility with them these days.  We had several fires here in Wichita from people shooting off illegal fireworks.  If they had shot them where they bought them it wouldn't have been an issue.
> 
> My grandad used to do the same thing.  Difference was we lived in the country.  South of the house was one of our tilled fields.  If it was wheat we were always done with Harvest by the 4th.  Grandad would make sure to go out before the forth and plow under the stubble just so he could safely shoot off fireworks over the field.  If it was in Sorghum then he didn't worry as it was green enough to not light.  We never had a problem.
> 
> In a city however houses are too close together with too many ignorant people.   Personally I wouldn't mind if they allowed firecrackers in the city, but the aerials, especially illegal class B aerials like the neighbor had don't belong there.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Unfortunate. It is not dry here so it is easily managed with common sense. My dog sat out there with everyone and enjoyed it. His bully buddy, in law's dog was inside hiding and shaking. You couldn't get near him to comfort him, he would have broke bones with his bite...he was pissed. Interesting difference in dogs.
Click to expand...

There is the problem, common sense.  A bunch of teens were having roman candle wars.  No not the shoot it in the air the prettiest one wins, but the shoot them at each other like paint ball guns kind.  What could go wrong there.  I bet the kid that took one to the eye and now has a hollow socket where the eye was can tell you in great detail.  Waiting to see who and for how much the parents sue the other parents for.  Interest always seems to comp0und quicker when it is stupid on stupid.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou has a friend who has a block party of fireworks celebration.  The entire block contributes to the fireworks and they literally buy $3000 to $4000 worth of fireworks.  Gary is thinking man, they're just burning money, they'd be better off buying some food and drink, set up a projection screen and have the entire block watch Patton, then use the remaining monies for a scholarship or grant to a block family(s) or individual(s).
> 
> 
> 
> It really is burning money. I wouldn't do t if it wasn't expected. Would be nice if they would contribute a little... Crap, I bought the meat too. People are so inconsiderate but what ever. I bought lean steak and instructed my father in law on it's cooking based on butchers recommendation. He yelled at me and knew how to cook it. He ruined $100 worth of prime, lean steak. It was as tough as the coach purses I keep buying for the wife.
Click to expand...

Well in that case I won't tell you about the perfectly smoked brisket I did for the 4th.  Used a new pellet in the pellet smoker that is surely going to become the favorite.  The high dollar stuff I was using was about 35% flavor wood and 65% oak.  This new stuff is just the opposite.  Beautiful smoke ring with a great hickory taste, and pull apart tender.  Sliced like butter after sitting for an hour wrapped in towels in the cooler.  If you want you can send me one of those Coach purses and I will slow smoke it for you.  Would you like Hickory, Oak, Cherry, Apple or Pecan?     That way the father in laws steaks and the wife's purse would have the same tenderness.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> There is the problem, common sense.  A bunch of teens were having roman candle wars.  No not the shoot it in the air the prettiest one wins, but the shoot them at each other like paint ball guns kind.  What could go wrong there.  I bet the kid that took one to the eye and now has a hollow socket where the eye was can tell you in great detail.  Waiting to see who and for how much the parents sue the other parents for.  Interest always seems to comp0und quicker when it is stupid on stupid.


They say you can't fix stupid, but this seems like a good start.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou has a friend who has a block party of fireworks celebration.  The entire block contributes to the fireworks and they literally buy $3000 to $4000 worth of fireworks.  Gary is thinking man, they're just burning money, they'd be better off buying some food and drink, set up a projection screen and have the entire block watch Patton, then use the remaining monies for a scholarship or grant to a block family(s) or individual(s).


Patton,  PATTON???  Saints Preserve us Not PATTON.   It has to be Will Smith and Independence Day.  Remember, the 4th of July was the day he saved the earth from alien invaders.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> There is the problem, common sense.  A bunch of teens were having roman candle wars.  No not the shoot it in the air the prettiest one wins, but the shoot them at each other like paint ball guns kind.  What could go wrong there.  I bet the kid that took one to the eye and now has a hollow socket where the eye was can tell you in great detail.  Waiting to see who and for how much the parents sue the other parents for.  Interest always seems to comp0und quicker when it is stupid on stupid.
> 
> 
> 
> They say you can't fix stupid, but this seems like a good start.
Click to expand...

Nah, it didn't fix stupid, it just made stupid blind in one eye.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou has a friend who has a block party of fireworks celebration.  The entire block contributes to the fireworks and they literally buy $3000 to $4000 worth of fireworks.  Gary is thinking man, they're just burning money, they'd be better off buying some food and drink, set up a projection screen and have the entire block watch Patton, then use the remaining monies for a scholarship or grant to a block family(s) or individual(s).
> 
> 
> 
> It really is burning money. I wouldn't do t if it wasn't expected. Would be nice if they would contribute a little... Crap, I bought the meat too. People are so inconsiderate but what ever. I bought lean steak and instructed my father in law on it's cooking based on butchers recommendation. He yelled at me and knew how to cook it. He ruined $100 worth of prime, lean steak. It was as tough as the coach purses I keep buying for the wife.
Click to expand...

Yeah. Gary doesn't want to be a wet blanket, but spending thousands of dollars on front yard fireworks, Gary thinks is a waste.  There are a number of local venues offering professional fireworks, The Rose Bowl, The Colleseum, et cetera, all have spectacular fireworks.  Gary just thinks that kind of money could be used more constructively than being spent on thousands of dollars of front yard fireworks.

When Gary's kids were little, he would buy a box of fireworks, but that box was a two-figure box.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou has a friend who has a block party of fireworks celebration.  The entire block contributes to the fireworks and they literally buy $3000 to $4000 worth of fireworks.  Gary is thinking man, they're just burning money, they'd be better off buying some food and drink, set up a projection screen and have the entire block watch Patton, then use the remaining monies for a scholarship or grant to a block family(s) or individual(s).
> 
> 
> 
> It really is burning money. I wouldn't do t if it wasn't expected. Would be nice if they would contribute a little... Crap, I bought the meat too. People are so inconsiderate but what ever. I bought lean steak and instructed my father in law on it's cooking based on butchers recommendation. He yelled at me and knew how to cook it. He ruined $100 worth of prime, lean steak. It was as tough as the coach purses I keep buying for the wife.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well in that case I won't tell you about the perfectly smoked brisket I did for the 4th.  Used a new pellet in the pellet smoker that is surely going to become the favorite.  The high dollar stuff I was using was about 35% flavor wood and 65% oak.  This new stuff is just the opposite.  Beautiful smoke ring with a great hickory taste, and pull apart tender.  Sliced like butter after sitting for an hour wrapped in towels in the cooler.  If you want you can send me one of those Coach purses and I will slow smoke it for you.  Would you like Hickory, Oak, Cherry, Apple or Pecan?     That way the father in laws steaks and the wife's purse would have the same tenderness.  [emoji38]
Click to expand...

I like brisket


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> There is the problem, common sense.  A bunch of teens were having roman candle wars.  No not the shoot it in the air the prettiest one wins, but the shoot them at each other like paint ball guns kind.  What could go wrong there.  I bet the kid that took one to the eye and now has a hollow socket where the eye was can tell you in great detail.  Waiting to see who and for how much the parents sue the other parents for.  Interest always seems to comp0und quicker when it is stupid on stupid.
> 
> 
> 
> They say you can't fix stupid, but this seems like a good start.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nah, it didn't fix stupid, it just made stupid blind in one eye.
Click to expand...


Yeah - there's one in work county that tried to remove his hand.


----------



## jcdeboever

Say a prayer for me y'all. I'm going into the hood of Detroit tomorrow at lunch. I have Tri-X and Kodak color plus 200 loaded and ready to go. Urban decay project under way.


----------



## Gary A.

Stay safe and alert.


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> Say a prayer for me y'all. I'm going into the hood of Detroit tomorrow at lunch. I have Tri-X and Kodak color plus 200 loaded and ready to go. Urban decay project under way.


You have named me in your will right?


----------



## Gary A.

Hey John, Gary just learned that in WWII, Canada and the USA created a joint special forces unit, named the Black Devils.  Interesting stuff.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Hey John, Gary just learned that in WWII, Canada and the USA created a joint special forces unit, named the Black Devils.  Interesting stuff.


The First Special Service Force, AKA 'The Devil's Brigade'.  

If you haven't seen the movie, it's WELL worth watching!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has seen the movie, but didn't think it was based upon factual events.


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Say a prayer for me y'all. I'm going into the hood of Detroit tomorrow at lunch. I have Tri-X and Kodak color plus 200 loaded and ready to go. Urban decay project under way.
> 
> 
> 
> You have named me in your will right?
Click to expand...

You get my bottle cap collection


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Say a prayer for me y'all. I'm going into the hood of Detroit tomorrow at lunch. I have Tri-X and Kodak color plus 200 loaded and ready to go. Urban decay project under way.



Take your tripod - fully extended, even a moderate swing speed will inflict damage.
Looking forward to your results.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Say a prayer for me y'all. I'm going into the hood of Detroit tomorrow at lunch. I have Tri-X and Kodak color plus 200 loaded and ready to go. Urban decay project under way.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take your tripod - fully extended, even a moderate swing speed will inflict damage.
> Looking forward to your results.
Click to expand...

Lol. I have a Bogen I just picked one up for a 10lb camera. That thing would crush a skull for sure.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey John, Gary just learned that in WWII, Canada and the USA created a joint special forces unit, named the Black Devils.  Interesting stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> The First Special Service Force, AKA 'The Devil's Brigade'.
> 
> If you haven't seen the movie, it's WELL worth watching!
Click to expand...

Inquiring minds want to know John, do you have the knees to wear a kilt???


----------



## Frank F.

We


snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Say a prayer for me y'all. I'm going into the hood of Detroit tomorrow at lunch. I have Tri-X and Kodak color plus 200 loaded and ready to go. Urban decay project under way.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take your tripod - fully extended, even a moderate swing speed will inflict damage.
> Looking forward to your results.
Click to expand...



Wear a blue helmet and a yellow high visibility jacket and will be completely invisible to anyone. Ignore human and other life in general and try to look as belonging there doing exactly what every one expects from you. If there are real officials you can arrange them for a group shot and command them. Always be friendly and demanding. Ignore questions.

Works nearly everywhere.

Either people think you are entitled to do so OR they think you might be a potentially dangerous moron.

Either way, they will comply and not ask questions


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Lots of interesting stuff in today's paper. Trump stuff from Poland. Our governor Jerry Brown stuff from Hamburg. (At an international climate meeting in Hamburg Brown announces a global environmental summit in San Francisco for next year.) UCLA became the first university in the nation to receive more than 100,000 freshman applications for only 5,950 openings. And a tease that Turner joins the All-Star team.

Gary's Dodgers are hot. The Diamondback's Fernando Rodney couldn't close it for Arizona as the Blue crew scored three runs in a ninth inning come from behind win.


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey John, Gary just learned that in WWII, Canada and the USA created a joint special forces unit, named the Black Devils.  Interesting stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> The First Special Service Force, AKA 'The Devil's Brigade'.
> 
> If you haven't seen the movie, it's WELL worth watching!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Inquiring minds want to know John, do you have the knees to wear a kilt??? View attachment 142864
Click to expand...

The knees and everything else thankyouverymuch!


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Gary has seen the movie, but didn't think it was based upon factual events.


Hollywood's interpretation of factual!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has seen the movie, but didn't think it was based upon factual events.
> 
> 
> 
> Hollywood's interpretation of factual!
Click to expand...

LOL ... Hollywood doesn't let the facts interfere with a good story. (Gary had a place in Hollyweird.)


----------



## limr

Hey hosers,

It's monsooning in NY today.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hey hosers,
> 
> It's monsooning in NY today.



Ugh that means it's heading my way!  We always get the NY/NJ weather 5 or 6 hours later.


----------



## SquarePeg

Has anyone else noticed weird double posting of words/phrases today and yesterday?  Is it just my pc because I haven't updated to the latest Windows?  I like to avoid that until it's mandatory!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Hey hosers,
> 
> It's monsooning in NY today.


Next comes the schitz.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers,
> 
> It's monsooning in NY today.
> 
> 
> 
> Next comes the schitz.
Click to expand...


I know what a schvitz is.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Has anyone else noticed weird double posting of words/phrases today and yesterday?  Is it just my pc because I haven't updated to the latest Windows?  I like to avoid that until it's mandatory!


No double posting here, but it has been very slow to update.  Maybe, you're hitting the "Post Reply" twice while waiting for the posting.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers,
> 
> It's monsooning in NY today.
> 
> 
> 
> Next comes the schitz.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I know what a schvitz is.
Click to expand...

The rain gives some relief from the heat ... but once it stops ... it becomes a schvitz.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers,
> 
> It's monsooning in NY today.
> 
> 
> 
> Next comes the schitz.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I know what a schvitz is.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The rain gives some relief from the heat ... but once it stops ... it becomes a schvitz.
Click to expand...


Oy, don't I know it.


----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has seen the movie, but didn't think it was based upon factual events.
> 
> 
> 
> Hollywood's interpretation of factual!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... Hollywood doesn't let the facts interfere with a good story. (Gary had a place in Hollyweird.)
Click to expand...

If Hollywood made factual movies most people wouldn't go.  Not exciting enough for them.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Hey hosers,
> 
> It's monsooning in NY today.


We had a bad storm at 4:00 ,am. Patio furniture all over, patio umbrella broke on other side of yard, siding off house. Dog said, I'll hold it, no thanks.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey John, Gary just learned that in WWII, Canada and the USA created a joint special forces unit, named the Black Devils.  Interesting stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> The First Special Service Force, AKA 'The Devil's Brigade'.
> 
> If you haven't seen the movie, it's WELL worth watching!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Inquiring minds want to know John, do you have the knees to wear a kilt??? View attachment 142864
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The knees and everything else thankyouverymuch!
Click to expand...

Well do you now boy'o.  Do ya hav a clan kilt or is (was) it a regimental?


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers,
> 
> It's monsooning in NY today.
> 
> 
> 
> We had a bad storm at 4:00 ,am. Patio furniture all over, patio umbrella broke on other side of yard, siding off house. Dog said, I'll hold it, no thanks.
Click to expand...

Just curious, does Coach make an umbrella???


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers,
> 
> It's monsooning in NY today.
> 
> 
> 
> We had a bad storm at 4:00 ,am. Patio furniture all over, patio umbrella broke on other side of yard, siding off house. Dog said, I'll hold it, no thanks.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Just curious, does Coach make an umbrella???
Click to expand...

Ha ha....[emoji36]


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers,
> 
> It's monsooning in NY today.
> 
> 
> 
> We had a bad storm at 4:00 ,am. Patio furniture all over, patio umbrella broke on other side of yard, siding off house. Dog said, I'll hold it, no thanks.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Just curious, does Coach make an umbrella???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ha ha....[emoji36]
Click to expand...

Oh Look, they do and it's only $85.00.


----------



## JonA_CT

It's Friday? Nice.

The rain here forced us to head to the Children's Musuem this morning. We spent an hour...my daughter is still a little shy around a lot of kids, especially bigger kids, so I'm not sure how much she loved it.

I also just finished a roast beef with horseradish and cheddar on the featured bread from yesterday. Delicious.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers,
> 
> It's monsooning in NY today.
> 
> 
> 
> We had a bad storm at 4:00 ,am. Patio furniture all over, patio umbrella broke on other side of yard, siding off house. Dog said, I'll hold it, no thanks.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Just curious, does Coach make an umbrella???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ha ha....[emoji36]
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh Look, they do and it's only $85.00.
Click to expand...

She has one, probably three


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> It's Friday? Nice.
> 
> The rain here forced us to head to the Children's Musuem this morning. We spent an hour...my daughter is still a little shy around a lot of kids, especially bigger kids, so I'm not sure how much she loved it.
> 
> I also just finished a roast beef with horseradish and cheddar on the featured bread from yesterday. Delicious.


I like roast beef


----------



## jcdeboever

Detroit, Salvation Army find. $2.00, had blue tag which was 50% off so paid $1.00. Thing is like brand new. Had the date set (battery still had juice) 7-1-11. It is super clean, like new really. Came with case, manual, strap. I had to buy it for a buck anyway. Loaded a roll of 400 tx, will see how she performs, her name is Coach. They had a broken Pentagon too but it was in bad, bad shape.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Was Bogie in that? or am I thinking of something else called Devil's something. ..

The weather at noon showed what's coming is from the north, thanks a lot JC! Just cloudy so far, but a nice rainy day for old B&W movies, especially one with Raymond Burr when he played slimeballs before he 'reformed' and became Perry Mason. 

Pictures, John, pictures... If you're going to wear plaid, do it up good and get a jacket like one of Grapes' to go with it.


----------



## Frank F.

I fancy sitting now in Gary's garden sipping Sauvignon blanc eating fresh from the tree avocado salad with roasted chicken marinated in fruit and chilli....

Instead I spend the weekend in the hospital with two other old farts in a room under the roof with no climatisation and no shower at 30 Celsius in a bed, drinking herbal tea, sweating liters literally. And my wife is complaining....


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image
The Pinot Noir ceiling/roof of the BBQ patio

@Frank: Gary wishes your were here also.  He has some gluten free four for some fresh bread to go with the vino.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 142878



Next: Gary's feet dyed deep magenta from crushing those grapes, a homer bucket, and some yeast.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 142878
> iPhone image
> The Pinot Noir ceiling of the BBQ patio
> 
> @Frank: Gary wishes your were here also.  He has some gluten free four for some fresh bread to go with the vino.


Finally got around to reading the local paper today.  Gary should come for the weekend.  One of the local wineries this Saturday will be allowing connoisseurs the opportunity to mix their own bottle of wine or wines and will then cork it/them for them.


----------



## terri

So, photo bucket sucks!  Looks like every image I ever hotlinked from there will no longer show up.   I've been here for many moons, and never had a broken link.  

Annoying, but I won't be held hostage for  $400.   They can pound sand.  

They're already seeing a lawsuit over their new "business model. "


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> So, photo bucket sucks!  Looks like every image I ever hotlinked from there will no longer show up.   I've been here for many moons, and never had a broken link.
> 
> Annoying, but I won't be held hostage for  $400.   They can pound sand.
> 
> They're already seeing a lawsuit over their new "business model. "


Must we bring up old news???
Photobucket must have been hacked ?


----------



## snowbear

I had one photo there, and just removed it


----------



## table1349

I never used Photobucket.  Never like the interface and for some reason it always seemed slow.  It may have been the network we were using then, the lag time to their servers was always terrible.

Used to use imageshack until they decided to charge a monthly subscription fee.


----------



## limr

That sucks.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Stay safe and alert.



I was but didn't get time to shoot today. I was in an area that is on my mapped project but business dictated a lost lunch hour. Glad I packed some Skippy peanut butter sandwiches with avocado slices, and cottage cheese. I like hot sauce on my avocado slices.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> The rain gives some relief from the heat .



Yeah but the one we seem to be getting every day around 3 pm, drives the humidity through the roof. Last night at 7 it was still 99%. Unfortunately humidity is one my Asthma triggers, so I was stuck inside. Today the temperatures have been about the same but the humidity was way down this morning at least for a bit.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> So, photo bucket sucks!  Looks like every image I ever hotlinked from there will no longer show up.   I've been here for many moons, and never had a broken link.
> 
> Annoying, but I won't be held hostage for  $400.   They can pound sand.
> 
> They're already seeing a lawsuit over their new "business model. "


Gary is a fan of Smugmug.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The rain gives some relief from the heat .
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah but the one we seem to be getting every day around 3 pm, drives the humidity through the roof. Last night at 7 it was still 99%.
Click to expand...


Yup, like we said - the schvitz


----------



## SquarePeg

ok it's raining and my dvr is empty!  I need tv series recommendations so I can do a little binge watching tonight.  Here are the parameters:

Despite my obsession with TWD, I don't like horror or creepy.
I've already been through a Sci Fi and a Masterpiece phase this year.
Nothing with Woody Allen, Holly Hunter, Nicholas Cage, Jennifer Morrison


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 142878
> iPhone image
> The Pinot Noir ceiling of the BBQ patio
> 
> @Frank: Gary wishes your were here also.  He has some gluten free four for some fresh bread to go with the vino.
> 
> 
> 
> Finally got around to reading the local paper today.  Gary should come for the weekend.  One of the local wineries this Saturday will be allowing connoisseurs the opportunity to mix their own bottle of wine or wines and will then cork it/them for them.
Click to expand...

A number of the wineries that Gary is a member, offers that service to its membership.


----------



## terri

gryphonslair99 said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, photo bucket sucks!  Looks like every image I ever hotlinked from there will no longer show up.   I've been here for many moons, and never had a broken link.
> 
> Annoying, but I won't be held hostage for  $400.   They can pound sand.
> 
> They're already seeing a lawsuit over their new "business model. "
> 
> 
> 
> Must we bring up old news???
> Photobucket must have been hacked ?
Click to expand...



It wasn't a PSA, dear.  It was a complaint.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> ok it's raining and my dvr is empty!  I need tv series recommendations so I can do a little binge watching tonight.  Here are the parameters:
> 
> Despite my obsession with TWD, I don't like horror or creepy.
> I've already been through a Sci Fi and a Masterpiece phase this year.
> Nothing with Woody Allen, Holly Hunter, Nicholas Cage, Jennifer Morrison


We just watched Genius, and it was terrific!


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, photo bucket sucks!  Looks like every image I ever hotlinked from there will no longer show up.   I've been here for many moons, and never had a broken link.
> 
> Annoying, but I won't be held hostage for  $400.   They can pound sand.
> 
> They're already seeing a lawsuit over their new "business model. "
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is a fan of Smugmug.
Click to expand...

I might take a look.   They might do the same thing, though.   I may just have to stick with upload & attach.  Ugh.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 142878
> iPhone image
> The Pinot Noir ceiling of the BBQ patio
> 
> @Frank: Gary wishes your were here also.  He has some gluten free four for some fresh bread to go with the vino.
> 
> 
> 
> Finally got around to reading the local paper today.  Gary should come for the weekend.  One of the local wineries this Saturday will be allowing connoisseurs the opportunity to mix their own bottle of wine or wines and will then cork it/them for them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> A number of the wineries that Gary is a member, offers that service to its membership.
Click to expand...

I like wine.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 142878
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next: Gary's feet dyed deep magenta from crushing those grapes, a homer bucket, and some yeast.
Click to expand...

LOL ... Gary doesn't grow enough grapes to make a single bottle.  But he does have a few books on winemaking ... soon he may travel down that path.  Gary has Zinfandel, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Thompson, Flame and Concord vines. The wine grapes have much more flavor than the table grapes, if you can put up with the seeds.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, photo bucket sucks!  Looks like every image I ever hotlinked from there will no longer show up.   I've been here for many moons, and never had a broken link.
> 
> Annoying, but I won't be held hostage for  $400.   They can pound sand.
> 
> They're already seeing a lawsuit over their new "business model. "
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is a fan of Smugmug.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I might take a look.   They might do the same thing, though.   I may just have to stick with upload & attach.  Ugh.
Click to expand...

What same thing?


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The rain gives some relief from the heat .
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah but the one we seem to be getting every day around 3 pm, drives the humidity through the roof. Last night at 7 it was still 99%. Unfortunately humidity is one my Asthma triggers, so I was stuck inside. Today the temperatures have been about the same but the humidity was way down this morning at least for a bit.
Click to expand...

What is humidity?


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> ok it's raining and my dvr is empty!  I need tv series recommendations so I can do a little binge watching tonight.  Here are the parameters:
> 
> Despite my obsession with TWD, I don't like horror or creepy.
> I've already been through a Sci Fi and a Masterpiece phase this year.
> Nothing with Woody Allen, Holly Hunter, Nicholas Cage, Jennifer Morrison


If you have Netflix, watch Okja.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, photo bucket sucks!  Looks like every image I ever hotlinked from there will no longer show up.   I've been here for many moons, and never had a broken link.
> 
> Annoying, but I won't be held hostage for  $400.   They can pound sand.
> 
> They're already seeing a lawsuit over their new "business model. "
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is a fan of Smugmug.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I might take a look.   They might do the same thing, though.   I may just have to stick with upload & attach.  Ugh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What same thing?
Click to expand...

Suddenly cut your links and tell you that you simply need to upgrade your plan to enable hotlinking again.  You know, extortion under the guise of a business plan.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> ok it's raining and my dvr is empty!  I need tv series recommendations so I can do a little binge watching tonight.  Here are the parameters:
> 
> Despite my obsession with TWD, I don't like horror or creepy.
> I've already been through a Sci Fi and a Masterpiece phase this year.
> Nothing with Woody Allen, Holly Hunter, Nicholas Cage, Jennifer Morrison



I recently binge-watched my way through Nurse Jackie on Netflix. 

Yes, I know it ended in 2015, but that's how I roll - several years behind everyone else


----------



## terri

Aw, look!





Rainy all around us while the sun is setting.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, photo bucket sucks!  Looks like every image I ever hotlinked from there will no longer show up.   I've been here for many moons, and never had a broken link.
> 
> Annoying, but I won't be held hostage for  $400.   They can pound sand.
> 
> They're already seeing a lawsuit over their new "business model. "
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is a fan of Smugmug.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I might take a look.   They might do the same thing, though.   I may just have to stick with upload & attach.  Ugh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What same thing?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Suddenly cut your links and tell you that you simply need to upgrade your plan to enable hotlinking again.  You know, extortion under the guise of a business plan.
Click to expand...

Gary has been with Smugmug since, 2007 .... (he thinks ... a long time in any event).  They have never pulled anything like that.  They are family owned and there is always seems to be someone/a person there to take your call.   My first account there was a low level account.  When they bumped up prices, those with existing accounts were grandfathered in at the old rate. On one occasion, across there forum, a thread appeared requesting help on making a college. As the story unfolded, the request was from a pro in your neck of the woods.  His youngest client and her family were recently killed in a terrible car accident and a collage of the 11 y/o, (IIRC), was requested for the funeral. Smugmug put their own staff on the matter, personally contacting forum member with graphics expertise, managed the entire project, printed poster sized photos/collages and FedEx the entire package back to Georgia in time for the funeral ... all on their nickel. Not only is Smugmug rarely down, not only is it quite easy to speak with an employee/manager which can handle a request. ... but they also have a human face and compassion.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> What is humidity?



Atmospheric moisture. A relative humidity of 100% means that the air can't hold any more water vapor. It's totally saturated. With heat, humidity and Asthma it's like being waterboarded.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What is humidity?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Atmospheric moisture. A relative humidity of 100% means that the air can't hold any more water vapor. It's totally saturated. With heat, humidity and Asthma it's like being waterboarded.
Click to expand...

What you have along the SD coast this time of year.


----------



## snowbear

The deluge has arrived.  Humidity will follow.  I'll pack some up and send it to @Gary A.


----------



## snowbear

I need a break.  I might disappear for a while after the contest voting ends.  We'll see.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What is humidity?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Atmospheric moisture. A relative humidity of 100% means that the air can't hold any more water vapor. It's totally saturated. With heat, humidity and Asthma it's like being waterboarded.
Click to expand...

Oh, we don't have much of that here.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> The deluge has arrived.  Humidity will follow.  I'll pack some up and send it to @Gary A.


Thanks, Gary enjoys being waterboarded.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> I need a break.  I might disappear for a while after the contest voting ends.  We'll see.



If I can pick up any slack for you during your hiatus let me know.  I'll be around for the next month before my vacation.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What is humidity?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Atmospheric moisture. A relative humidity of 100% means that the air can't hold any more water vapor. It's totally saturated. With heat, humidity and Asthma it's like being waterboarded.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What you have along the SD coast this time of year.
Click to expand...

SD ... as in San Diego? SD in winter averages 65F in summer 75F ... Gary's understanding is that humidity needs high heat to be uncomfortable.  In winter here, when it rains, Gary doesn't feel the humidity.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I need a break.  I might disappear for a while after the contest voting ends.  We'll see.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If I can pick up any slack for you during your hiatus let me know.  I'll be around for the next month before my vacation.
Click to expand...

I'ts mainly keeping an eye on the forums and look for spam and noobs trying to nominate their own stuff.  I just need to go shoot stuff, whether it's hot or not.  I'll be back in full force at the end of the month.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> needs high heat to be uncomfortable



Not necessarily 40 degree temperature with high humidity "feels" colder than 20 degrees with low humidity. For those with Asthma, temperatures at either end can cause flare ups, but cooler air is denser and the attack doesn't seem to last as long. Most of my ER visits have been in the heat of summer, only one that I can remember occurred during cooler weather.


----------



## Gary A.

40F ... typically, only gets that cold in the mountains.  My youngest daughter has asthma.  Gary doesn't think it is as severe as your asthma.  She lives in San Diego.


----------



## The_Traveler

Why is Gary always talking about Gary as if he is standing next to him?


----------



## Gary A.

The_Traveler said:


> Why is Gary always talking about Gary as if he is standing next to him?


Gary is a Gemini ... or maybe bipolar ... wait, that's snowbear.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> ..... or maybe bipolar ... wait, that's snowbear.


Ehhh... strictly speaking, wouldn't be Snowbear be monopolar?  Given that his furry, white teddy-bear cousins only live in the north...


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, photo bucket sucks!  Looks like every image I ever hotlinked from there will no longer show up.   I've been here for many moons, and never had a broken link.
> 
> Annoying, but I won't be held hostage for  $400.   They can pound sand.
> 
> They're already seeing a lawsuit over their new "business model. "
> 
> 
> 
> Must we bring up old news???
> Photobucket must have been hacked ?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> It wasn't a PSA, dear.  It was a complaint.
Click to expand...

That's the way the "other" thread started.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> ok it's raining and my dvr is empty!  I need tv series recommendations so I can do a little binge watching tonight.  Here are the parameters:
> 
> Despite my obsession with TWD, I don't like horror or creepy.
> I've already been through a Sci Fi and a Masterpiece phase this year.
> Nothing with Woody Allen, Holly Hunter, Nicholas Cage, Jennifer Morrison


Doc Martin on Netflix


----------



## Gary A.

Bi ... Mono ... what matters is that he is out of his closet.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> needs high heat to be uncomfortable
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not necessarily 40 degree temperature with high humidity "feels" colder than 20 degrees with low humidity. For those with Asthma, temperatures at either end can cause flare ups, but cooler air is denser and the attack doesn't seem to last as long. Most of my ER visits have been in the heat of summer, only one that I can remember occurred during cooler weather.
Click to expand...

To me high humidity is high humidity.  It always no matter the temperature makes the air heavy when breathing.  That is the big reason that St. Louis has never been one of my favorite places.  It is always humid there, summer, winter, rain shine, doesn't matter it is always humid.  It's like breathing a glass of water.  

El Paso on the other hand is comfortable in July.   Last time I was there in July the temps were in the mid 90's everyday, but the humidity was like 2%.  You could wear a long sleeve shirt in the middle of the day and be comfortable because your perspiration wicked away so fast you it kept you cool.  You didn't even fell like you were perspiring.


----------



## Gary A.

That kind of heat is deceptive.  If you're not acclimatize to dry heat it will take you down. When I was with the Marines in the Middle East during the summer, in the field fresh, troops were required to drink water/liquids until they were urinating every 20 minutes for a few days, until they adapted and learned about dry heat.  When I was working at Ft. Irwin, which butts up to Death Valley, and a training center for deployment to Afgahnistan/Iraqi, the uniform of the day for some of the troops included a Camelback.


----------



## table1349

Ahh summer time in Kansas and the algae blooms are in full swing.   5 lakes closed so far, two more under warnings at this point.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> That find of heat is deceptive.  If you're not acclimatize to dry heat it will take you down. When I was with the Marines in the Middle East during the summer, the fresh troops were required to drink water/liquids until they were urinating every 20 minutes for a few days until they adapted and learned about dry heat.  When I was working at Ft. Irwin, which butts up to Death Valley, and a training center for deployment to Afgahnistan/Iraqi, the uniform of the day for some of the troops included a Camelback.


True, but then on the high plains it is a dry heat as well.  Not quite that dry, but a dry heat none the less.  That is why wheat harvest could go for 20 hours or more at a stretch.  Sometimes we could cut 24/7 as humidity would stay low enough that the moisture content of the wheat would never rise high enough to cause you to stop.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and an engineer were laying out the footprint for a new building and curbing at Ft. Irwin, in August, during the afternoon, on a blacktopped parking lot.  Gary was wearing a safety vest, as this was a government project and rules are rules.  The layout was intensive because we only had a tape and a string line, so it took longer than normal.  At the end, Gary removed his vest and was totally surprised to find a foot wide wide band of white salt completely wrapping his midsection.  Gary never noticed or felt that he was sweating the entire time.  (Again, Ft. Irwin is in the middle of the Mojave Desert, about 30 miles northeast of Barstow.)


----------



## JonA_CT

Evaporative cooling is a beautiful thing. I've never had the pleasure of experiencing it work so efficiently. We don't ever get heat here in New England without humidity, and I've only spent small amounts of time in the desert. I remember getting on a flight on the tarmac in Phoenix at 10PM and it still being 100 degrees. But, my flight was to Flagstaff. 120 miles north and 6000 feet higher. It was in the 50s when I landed 40 minutes later. 

It's Saturday, right? I'm awake ahead of my ladies (even the damn dog is still sleeping), and I'm enjoying the quiet time to get some reading done this morning. I'm on book #4 for the summer. I read an Englishman's accounts of staying with Sheriff Joe in Maricopa County Jail, and his trip to prison. I'm onto some quick hitting historical fiction from Ken Follett. I think I'm going to hit up some Tom Wolfe after that, as the prison memoir fellow referenced his work a lot.


----------



## JonA_CT

Shameless.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary removed his vest and was totally surprised to find a foot wide wide band of white salt completely wrapping around his midsection.



Heat used to not bother me. I've worked jobs during college that at the end of the day the the clothes would stand up by themselves from all the salt. Over the years as a VFF the heat/humidity didn't seem to bother me until about 8-9 years ago. I had my first heat stroke at a fire. Kind of surprised me, because I'd just come out of the house, and in the process of shedding gear when I went down. Safety Officer kept me from falling on my face. In 2010 I had bad chest pains on July 4th after completing a canoe trip that sent me to the hospital. Asthma and severe sleep apnea were later discovered to be the problems, causing low blood oxygen levels


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Ahh summer time in Kansas and the algae blooms are in full swing.   5 lakes closed so far, two more under warnings at this point.



Same here. Plus with all the rain we've had this year the mold spores and allergens are really bad in the air.


----------



## limr

Humidity is a problem in Northern Portugal in the winter time. It rains constantly - umbrellas essentially become an extension of your arm for those months. (The upside of this is that I've never seen so many people so adept at the skill of passing each other on crowded sidewalks with umbrellas. It's a dance, really.) It's so humid that the condensation gathers on walls and black mold is a problem. I lost a big chunk of my wardrobe and caught myself a nasty lung infection because of it.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> The_Traveler said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why is Gary always talking about Gary as if he is standing next to him?
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is a Gemini ... or maybe bipolar ... wait, that's snowbear.
Click to expand...

Nope - North Pole, only.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary has lived and worked in conditions from the Arctic to the Equator. Weather never seemed to bother him much back then.  He accepted it as another it-is-what-it-is type of deal and carried on.  He remember a place called Mutter's Ridge, where the Marine's were dropping like flies due to heat exhaustion, turning a pale-gray color and being dragged down to the LZ.  Gary had an algae bloom a month ago.  Took him a week to get it under control.  Most of the algae bloom we get out here are in the form of a Red Tide ... don't eat the shellfish.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> don't eat the shellfish



Don't swim with them either, at least not along our Gulf Coast. Alabama health officials issue warning about flesh-eating bacteria


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> He remember a place called Mutter's Ridge, where the Marine's were dropping like flies due to heat exhaustion, turning a pale-gray color and being dragged down to the LZ.



SSgt. Alberto Anzadula

LCpl. Sam Catalano

Pfc. William R Dickey

LCpl Lawrence K Dowd

Pfc. Donald L Elliott

Lcpl. Stephen Glowe

Pfc. Joseph Hesson

Pfc. James G Hilliard

Pfc. Richard A Johnson, Jr.

Pfc. Peter Kristof

Pfc. Robert Marmie

Pfc. Michael Mooney

Pfc. Ronald R Ozimek

Pfc. Charles A Poe

Pfc. Reginald M Sater

SSgt. Charles B Seminara

Pfc. Michael F Sheridan

Pfc. Lindsay C Turner

Pfc. Luther Walker, Jr.

Pfc. Dale Wilkinson

Pfc Brian E Wolfe


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> don't eat the shellfish
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't swim with them either, at least not along our Gulf Coast. Alabama health officials issue warning about flesh-eating bacteria
Click to expand...


THIS IS WHY THE OUTDOORS IS OVERRATED!


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> He remember a place called Mutter's Ridge, where the Marine's were dropping like flies due to heat exhaustion, turning a pale-gray color and being dragged down to the LZ.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SSgt. Alberto Anzadula
> 
> LCpl. Sam Catalano
> 
> Pfc. William R Dickey
> 
> LCpl Lawrence K Dowd
> 
> Pfc. Donald L Elliott
> 
> Lcpl. Stephen Glowe
> 
> Pfc. Joseph Hesson
> 
> Pfc. James G Hilliard
> 
> Pfc. Richard A Johnson, Jr.
> 
> Pfc. Peter Kristof
> 
> Pfc. Robert Marmie
> 
> Pfc. Michael Mooney
> 
> Pfc. Ronald R Ozimek
> 
> Pfc. Charles A Poe
> 
> Pfc. Reginald M Sater
> 
> SSgt. Charles B Seminara
> 
> Pfc. Michael F Sheridan
> 
> Pfc. Lindsay C Turner
> 
> Pfc. Luther Walker, Jr.
> 
> Pfc. Dale Wilkinson
> 
> Pfc Brian E Wolfe
Click to expand...

RIP Leathernecks. 

Gary came home shortly after Mutter's Ridge.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are on our way to Temecula, where we are meeting up with Gary's youngest daughter. Temecula is about halfway between La Mirada and San Diego so it works out well.  (Gary's daughter lives in San Diego.).  Temecula is also on the very edge of the desert, hot and dry, 101F worth of hot today. The heat doesn't bother Gary much ... it is there, deal with it ... but Mary Lou definitely doesn't like it.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou and Gary are on our way to Temecula, where we are meeting up with Gary's youngest daughter. Temecula is about halfway between La Mirada and San Diego so it works out well.  (Gary's daughter lives in San Diego.).  Temecula is also on the very edge of the desert, hot and dry, 101F worth of hot today. The heat doesn't bother Gary much ... it is there, deal with it ... but Mary Lou definitely doesn't like it.



My Temecula relatives are in Edinburgh, UK (and Northern England) for a couple weeks. Last check, it was a lovely summer day there with a high around 65 and a heavy mist.  I hear that they are finding it quite chilly, and are wearing all of the clothing they packed.


----------



## Frank F.

Welcome back from lune, TT


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> That kind of heat is deceptive.  If you're not acclimatize to dry heat it will take you down. When I was with the Marines in the Middle East during the summer, in the field fresh, troops were required to drink water/liquids until they were urinating every 20 minutes for a few days, until they adapted and learned about dry heat.  When I was working at Ft. Irwin, which butts up to Death Valley, and a training center for deployment to Afgahnistan/Iraqi, the uniform of the day for some of the troops included a Camelback.




I once worked a 4 day 4 cities event between 35 and 40 Celsius dry. I drank 8 liters per day and did not pee once.


----------



## Frank F.

Still in hospital. Bleeding stopped. I am on the way up again. Found some motifs here. Only capture device is my Moto phone...


----------



## Gary A.

The best way to beat the heat is with sparkling vino and A/C.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sounds like an improvement Frank, keep getting better. That last photo is cool. 

I think Gary is having some jazz with his wine... 

Today didn't get to be quite such a nice day as expected, guess the front is still going thru, weather can't decide on sun or clouds. So planning on some picture taking tomorrow instead.


----------



## table1349

Off to a memorial celebration in a few minutes for one of my Captains who was also a good friend.  Today was his birthday so his wife decided to have it today.  He spent his last few years after he retired traveling around the country with his son and wife.  They made it their mission to attend a game in every major league ball park, both National League and American League.  He was from Chicago so last year was extremely special to him as a Cub fan.  

Eating BBQ just won't be quite the same, nor will hearing Polka music.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary is The Jimmy.
Lew should stop by more often.
Sometimes there's Haiku.


Sharon thinks Gary is funny when he's being The Jimmy.
Sharon has watched too much Seinfeld.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Off to a memorial celebration in a few minutes for one of my Captains who was also a good friend.  Today was his birthday so his wife decided to have it today.  He spent his last few years after he retired traveling around the country with his son and wife.  They made it their mission to attend a game in every major league ball park, both National League and American League.  He was from Chicago so last year was extremely special to him as a Cub fan.
> 
> Eating BBQ just won't be quite the same, nor will hearing Polka music.


Gary spent a summer with Lou Brock. (A la the St. Louis Lou Brock).  Gary asked Brock to name his favorite stadium. He said Dodger Stadium. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

It is hot and humid in Temecula. View attachment 142931


----------



## table1349

Well, I finally made it back.  It was an outstanding time actually.  We didn't morn his passing as much as we celebrated his life and how our lives intertwined.  His wife, who I have also known for years, made sure that we got to spend some time.  I was probably the only person where I worked that would play practical jokes on not just the people I worked with but on those I worked for.  My colleagues were always telling me I was going to get into trouble for screwing with the brass including the Chief.  They were wrong.  

His wife had to tell me that they still had two mementos of my practical jokes that they absolutely would not part with.  This Captain and I regularly had lunch together.  We always went to this all you could eat bbq buffet place.  Every time we went he would stuff three napkins under his chin to protect his shirt and tie from getting sauce on it.  I happened to run into one of the Lieutenants on the Honor Guard and got an old Ascot from him.  Took it home, printed on an inkjet transfer sheet his name at the top, a pig clip art in the middle and BBQ Bib on the bottom.  The next week when we went to lunch I gave it to him just as we sat down with our plates thinking I would have a good laugh.  He loved the thing and proceeded to put it on.  He wore that thing every time we went to lunch there and every time he ate BBQ anywhere.  

The second thing they kept was a bathroom stall sign I made.  You could literally set your watch  by this bowels.  Every day at 9:00 A.M. he walked past my office, out the door, across the hall to the bathroom like freaking clockwork.  He always use the Handicap stall so it was quite spacious.  While he and his family were on vacation I rounded up a little corner table, a vase with artificial flowers. a batter powered radio/tape player, printed a couple of froo froo pictures and got a couple of cheap 8X10 frames from the Chiefs office that were normally used for award certificates, a documents holder like you see outside a doctors exam room, some magazines from the Chiefs waiting room and made a sign proclaiming that this was the private stall reserved for him.  On his first day back about 10 minutes to 9 I went in real quick and decorated the stall completely complete with music from the radio.  

He told me what happened.   He always took the paper with him and was not paying attention when he went in missing the sign on the stall door.  He had just settled himself down when he noticed the music, looked up, saw the froo froo pictures, the corner stand with flowers on it and the radio below.  He said he panicked and rushed out because he thought he had gone into the wrong bathroom.  When he discovered it was the right bathroom he went back in, saw the sign on the stall door and knew I had been a work.  He told me it was so relaxing and peaceful that he sat there until his legs fell asleep.  His wife told me that he had brought that sign home that night and it was still hanging in their bathroom at home.   

I will definitely miss him for he was not just a good person to work for, but he was just plain good people and a good friend.


----------



## Frank F.

I fancy delicious food satisfactory sex and a bottle of more than decent wine. Instead I have a bed in hospital, an 87 year old great grandpa with asbestos lung that inhibits all thought of pleasure and no common room where I could fire up my notebook and do some picture editing or book writing.

Could be worse...

There is a shower down the aisle. Could go there to get the sweat off my body at least. You could stage a wheelchair wrestling inside this room.

I might just take a little walk though the quarter. Not allowed of course but better than sit idle or read in bed, which I already did for the better part of the last three hours after three hours of very deep sleep.

Maybe there is a wine bar near the hospital that ist still open?


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> I fancy delicious food satisfactory sex and a bottle of more than decent wine. Instead I have a bed in hospital, an 87 year old great grandpa with asbestos lung that inhibits all thought of pleasure and no common room where I could fire up my notebook and do some picture editing or book writing.
> 
> Could be worse...
> 
> There is a shower down the aisle. Could go there to get the sweat off my body at least. You could stage a wheelchair wrestling inside this room.
> 
> I might just take a little walk though the quarter. Not allowed of course but better than sit idle or read in bed, which I already did for the better part of the last three hours after three hours of very deep sleep.
> 
> Maybe there is a wine bar near the hospital that ist still open?


Oh I lived there, I'd bring you some mad dog 20 20


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I fancy delicious food satisfactory sex and a bottle of more than decent wine. Instead I have a bed in hospital, an 87 year old great grandpa with asbestos lung that inhibits all thought of pleasure and no common room where I could fire up my notebook and do some picture editing or book writing.
> 
> Could be worse...
> 
> There is a shower down the aisle. Could go there to get the sweat off my body at least. You could stage a wheelchair wrestling inside this room.
> 
> I might just take a little walk though the quarter. Not allowed of course but better than sit idle or read in bed, which I already did for the better part of the last three hours after three hours of very deep sleep.
> 
> Maybe there is a wine bar near the hospital that ist still open?
> 
> 
> 
> Oh I lived there, I'd bring you some mad dog 20 20
Click to expand...

Better yet, send him a Coach purse.


----------



## jcdeboever

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I fancy delicious food satisfactory sex and a bottle of more than decent wine. Instead I have a bed in hospital, an 87 year old great grandpa with asbestos lung that inhibits all thought of pleasure and no common room where I could fire up my notebook and do some picture editing or book writing.
> 
> Could be worse...
> 
> There is a shower down the aisle. Could go there to get the sweat off my body at least. You could stage a wheelchair wrestling inside this room.
> 
> I might just take a little walk though the quarter. Not allowed of course but better than sit idle or read in bed, which I already did for the better part of the last three hours after three hours of very deep sleep.
> 
> Maybe there is a wine bar near the hospital that ist still open?
> 
> 
> 
> Oh I lived there, I'd bring you some mad dog 20 20
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Better yet, send him a Coach purse.
Click to expand...

Oh my, he isn't in for a sex change is he?


----------



## Gary A.

@ Frank:  Due to the hot weather, Gary would bring you a few of his snowball Margaritas.


----------



## Gary A.

Back from a good trip to Temecula.  Dodgers 3 - Kansas City 2 ^6

And the Blue Crew doubles KC up. 5-4-3


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I fancy delicious food satisfactory sex and a bottle of more than decent wine. Instead I have a bed in hospital, an 87 year old great grandpa with asbestos lung that inhibits all thought of pleasure and no common room where I could fire up my notebook and do some picture editing or book writing.
> 
> Could be worse...
> 
> There is a shower down the aisle. Could go there to get the sweat off my body at least. You could stage a wheelchair wrestling inside this room.
> 
> I might just take a little walk though the quarter. Not allowed of course but better than sit idle or read in bed, which I already did for the better part of the last three hours after three hours of very deep sleep.
> 
> Maybe there is a wine bar near the hospital that ist still open?
> 
> 
> 
> Oh I lived there, I'd bring you some mad dog 20 20
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Better yet, send him a Coach purse.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh my, he isn't in for a sex change is he?
Click to expand...

No, but think of the fun when someone finds one missing.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Back from a good trip to Temecula.  Dodgers 3 - Kansas City 2 ^6
> 
> And the Blue Crew doubles KC up. 5-4-3


And in the top of the 7th the score is all tied up at 3-3 with 1 out and Royals have the bases loaded.


----------



## table1349

Perez just made it 4 -3.  Go Royals.


----------



## Gary A.

The games not over until it's over.


----------



## table1349

Bottom of the 8th and tied up 4-4


----------



## Gary A.

The rookie Berlinger ties it at four all.


----------



## table1349

Top of the 9th and the Royals have the top of the order up.


----------



## snowbear

All right, you two - take it outside.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> All right, you two - take it outside.


Um, hate to tell you this, but that is where baseball is played - Outside.


----------



## Gary A.

The teams with the two best records.


----------



## Gary A.

Tie game, bottom of the 10th, no outs, bases loaded ... up comes the Rookie and All-Star, Berlinger ... watch this space.


----------



## Gary A.

Ball One


----------



## Gary A.

Ball Two


----------



## Frank F.

I hit the walkway. 90 minutes. Took my phone as sorry excuse for a camera and finally found a pub serving me a pint of warm but stale imported Murphy's from Cork for 5€.

They even smoked down there and it was not pure tobacco.

Impressions of a Cortisone Zombie in a full moon night, roughly 3 a.m. follow in next posts


----------



## Gary A.

Strike One ... 99mph


----------



## Gary A.

Ball Three


----------



## table1349

And The Fat Lady Sings......................................................


----------



## Gary A.

Foul Ball


----------



## Frank F.




----------



## jcdeboever

Bellinger is well beyond his years, great at bat, game over


----------



## Frank F.




----------



## Gary A.

Full Count  and KC walks the Rookie.  Dodgers win in extra innings on four straight walks, 5-4.


----------



## Frank F.




----------



## table1349

Dang, you have quite a lag there.  I knew that a full minute ago or so.


----------



## Frank F.

Here is where your president has a cellar full of debt:


----------



## jcdeboever

Bellinger MVP first half


----------



## Frank F.

The place to eat decent cake for 120 years:


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> View attachment 142951


Gary thought you were in the hospital.


----------



## Frank F.

The place to buy expensive HiFi equipment, very good Spanish Wine and ECM records and CDs. You can spend 200.000€ on a turntable an amplifier and a pair of loudspeakers there


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Dang, you have quite a lag there.  I knew that a full minute ago or so.


Nahhh ... just enjoying the show and keyboarding slowly.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 142951
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thought you were in the hospital.
Click to expand...

He went for a walk, nurses going crazy


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 142951
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thought you were in the hospital.
Click to expand...



I did a little walk, could not sleep


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 142951
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thought you were in the hospital.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I did a little walk, could not sleep
Click to expand...

Hey, your ass is hanging out!


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 142951
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thought you were in the hospital.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I did a little walk, could not sleep
Click to expand...

Put your IV in your back pocket ... lol.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 142951
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thought you were in the hospital.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I did a little walk, could not sleep
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Put your IV in your back pocket ... lol.
Click to expand...

Hey, he's going through shutter withdrawal


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 142951
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thought you were in the hospital.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> He went for a walk, nurses going crazy
Click to expand...



No real nurses. Medicine students who could be my grand children easily. The children watch over sleeping adults


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 142951
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thought you were in the hospital.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I did a little walk, could not sleep
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Put your IV in your back pocket ... lol.
Click to expand...

Stuffed it between his cheeks


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 142951
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thought you were in the hospital.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I did a little walk, could not sleep
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Put your IV in your back pocket ... lol.
Click to expand...



The IV is 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at bed time. Other than that I have to kill time read write talk .... I got books and newspapers and I got coffeehouse


----------



## Gary A.

Walking out of the hospital, hang out in a pub and get back before the morning bed check ... you are Gary's hero.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Walking out of the hospital, hang out in a pub and get back before the morning bed check ... you are Gary's hero.


Don't be walking in no gay bar with your ass hanging out


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank on his escape....

Redirect Notice


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Walking out of the hospital, hang out in a pub and get back before the morning bed check ... you are Gary's hero.


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Walking out of the hospital, hang out in a pub and get back before the morning bed check ... you are Gary's hero.
> 
> 
> 
> Don't be walking in no gay bar with your ass hanging out
Click to expand...



I decide who got to see my precious a&p


----------



## Frank F.

Good night says Mr Cortisone Zombie:





It is 6 a.m. and I was awake starting midnight. Escape was 90 minutes only and they got 6 staircases in case sneaking is needed....


----------



## limr

Dear lord, you boys all need to go to bed.


----------



## Frank F.

Dear Leonora, Night is over, scans are run, pulse it taken, blood pressure and sugar. I am all in the green and OK


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> Dear Leonora, Night is over, scans are run, pulse it taken, blood pressure and sugar. I am all in the green and OK


----------



## terri

Lovely, quiet Sunday around here.        

Happy that you're doing better, Frank!


----------



## snowbear

Yes, glad to hear you're doing better, Frank.

"Only" 79* so I'm heading to river and try to get some Osprey shots.  Yesterday was a bust so maybe today will be better.  Back in a week or two (though I might lurk once or twice)


----------



## limr

Had lunch at a good Turkish place yesterday with my sisters and mother. Today I will be with Buzz and his family for a joint birthday celebration (his mother and nephew.) 

Both these things sound less stressful than they are in reality. Sometimes Leo is more relaxed at work than at social functions.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another day in California of Heat, Wind and Fire.  190,000 acres so far at a fire in Santa Barbara County.  The fire is still out of control. Guests today, so Gary has to get his day started.  He's making some Tri-Tip brisket and bread ... if you're in the neighborhood come-on by.

Yesterday, Gary's youngest daughter gave her father an ice cream maker.  Most likely ice cream or a sorbet for dessert.


----------



## Frank F.

I am treating myself. My doctor's in the weekend:


----------



## limr

That looks yummy, Frank!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> That looks yummy, Frank!


Ehhh????  There's nothing to eat there, it's all food food.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> That looks yummy, Frank!
> 
> 
> 
> Ehhh????  There's nothing to eat there, it's all food food.
Click to expand...

 
Um... Is food food not food?


----------



## table1349




----------



## SquarePeg

I've  got my toes in the sand today.  It's a perfect beach day here with none of that much discussed humidity and lots of sunshine and gentle breezes.  The water is a bit cold for most but never too cold for a quick ride on the boogie boards.   They are saying that today could turn out to be the best beach day of the year.  

You can see in this pic that the beach is crowded (it always is a crush at high tide) but only the bravest and usually the youngest will venture in the water. At low tide this beach goes on forever.


----------



## Frank F.

gryphonslair99 said:


>




The beef was on the other plate. The animal held a speech starting: "you have to meet the meat ..." (long live Douglas Adams) so delivery was halted...


----------



## Frank F.

When in hospital, important medication, especially fermented Riesling grape juice has to be carefully stored and hidden from eager eyes. Otherwise enjoying life will be half as pleasent and healing as it would be without the real treat


----------



## Frank F.

Details:


----------



## vintagesnaps

If you have to be in the hospital, I guess that's the way to do it! What are in there for anyway? I must have missed reading it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Love the picture of the vintage car, in front of the building where you can buy hifi equipment and Spanish wine...? quite a combination. I'm trying not to imagine Frank walking down the street in a hospital gown, shopping in there...

You boys had an interesting evening.

Change of plans today so picture taking will wait for another day. Going to be a lazy Sunday.


----------



## Gary A.

Brisket is brisketing away, dough is resting, tomato salad is in the fridge ... patio cleaned up ... dishes washed ... just gotta chase the chickens out of the house take a shower and Gary will be ready for guests.


----------



## Frank F.

vintagesnaps said:


> Love the picture of the vintage car, in front of the building where you can buy hifi equipment and Spanish wine...? quite a combination. I'm trying not to imagine Frank walking down the street in a hospital gown, shopping in there...
> 
> You boys had an interesting evening.
> 
> Change of plans today so picture taking will wait for another day. Going to be a lazy Sunday.




We should create a meetup in my area.

The first world wide coffee house summit.

Be my guest


----------



## Frank F.

vintagesnaps said:


> Love the picture of the vintage car, in front of the building where you can buy hifi equipment and Spanish wine...? quite a combination. I'm trying not to imagine Frank walking down the street in a hospital gown, shopping in there...
> 
> You boys had an interesting evening.
> 
> Change of plans today so picture taking will wait for another day. Going to be a lazy Sunday.




You all think I leave the house with my naked butt exposed to the weather? We are, I must say, quite civilized here in good old Germany. We even have a female as "leader of the free world" to offer. OK. We are badly Celsius and Meters and not "god's own country"...

Have you tried German wine or one of 292 Michelin star restaurants recently?

You will be overwhelmed of how much our small country has to offer. Condensed to the area of California we easily put in 2000 years of living history per square meter.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Love the picture of the vintage car, in front of the building where you can buy hifi equipment and Spanish wine...? quite a combination. I'm trying not to imagine Frank walking down the street in a hospital gown, shopping in there...
> 
> You boys had an interesting evening.
> 
> Change of plans today so picture taking will wait for another day. Going to be a lazy Sunday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You all think I leave the house with my naked butt exposed to the weather? We are, I must say, quite civilized here in good old Germany. We even have a female as "leader of the free world" to offer. OK. We are badly Celsius and Meters and not "god's own country"...
> 
> Have you tried German wine or one of 292 Michelin star restaurants recently?
> 
> You will be overwhelmed of how much our small country has to offer. Condensed to the area of California we easily put in 2000 years of living history per square meter.
Click to expand...


I will be thrilled to visit your lovely country at the first opportunity I have. And I say "will" instead of "would" because I know it's just a matter of time. 

Buzz recently came back from Berlin, but sadly, I was unable to accompany him. It may take a few years, but one day I will get to see Germany.


----------



## Frank F.

Drop me a line if you come. I need a few days in advance to prepare for a visit and clear my schedule.


----------



## table1349

Frank F. said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Love the picture of the vintage car, in front of the building where you can buy hifi equipment and Spanish wine...? quite a combination. I'm trying not to imagine Frank walking down the street in a hospital gown, shopping in there...
> 
> You boys had an interesting evening.
> 
> Change of plans today so picture taking will wait for another day. Going to be a lazy Sunday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You all think I leave the house with my naked butt exposed to the weather? We are, I must say, quite civilized here in good old Germany. We even have a female as "leader of the free world" to offer. OK. We are badly Celsius and Meters and not "god's own country"...
> 
> Have you tried German wine or one of 292 Michelin star restaurants recently?
> 
> You will be overwhelmed of how much our small country has to offer. Condensed to the area of California we easily put in 2000 years of living history per square meter.
Click to expand...

I would love to visit again.  Lived in Kitzingen an Main for almost 3 years.  Germany was a lovely country and we traveled it extensively as well as the rest of Europe.  I do have a special love of the Bavarian region.  The people, the food, the beer, the culture as well as the beautiful German Alps to the south.


----------



## SquarePeg

Check our new super cool snorkel masks.  Very excited to try these out in the ocean.  Heading to Bermuda next month for some snorkeling. These things are great.   So much nicer to breathe normally through your nose and mouth instead of using the traditional snorkel mouth piece.


----------



## limr

Those look interesting. Have fun in Bermuda!

In other news, our power is out again. Went out for about half a day yesterday and when I came home tonight, it was out again. Charming.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Check our new super cool snorkel masks.  Very excited to try these out in the ocean.  Heading to Bermuda next month for some snorkeling. These things are great.   So much nicer to breathe normally through your nose and mouth instead of using the traditional snorkel mouth piece.
> 
> View attachment 143006


Okay, I have to ask, what happens if you click the button that says "Click"?  Inquiring minds want to know.


----------



## SquarePeg

gryphonslair99 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Check our new super cool snorkel masks.  Very excited to try these out in the ocean.  Heading to Bermuda next month for some snorkeling. These things are great.   So much nicer to breathe normally through your nose and mouth instead of using the traditional snorkel mouth piece.
> 
> View attachment 143006
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, I have to ask, what happens if you click the button that says "Click"?  Inquiring minds want to know.
Click to expand...


That's just a sticker for the assembly.   The snorkel pipe is removable for easier storage/travel.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Check our new super cool snorkel masks.  Very excited to try these out in the ocean.  Heading to Bermuda next month for some snorkeling. These things are great.   So much nicer to breathe normally through your nose and mouth instead of using the traditional snorkel mouth piece.
> 
> View attachment 143006


Good stuff.  Most likely an easier learning curve than the old fashion kind.  I think most people had a problem keeping a proper seal around the mouthpiece.

With the larger faceplate = more air ... is it tough to dive?  How hard is it to clear?


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Those look interesting. Have fun in Bermuda!
> 
> In other news, our power is out again. Went out for about half a day yesterday and when I came home tonight, it was out again. Charming.


That sucks.  Gary can't remember the last time he lost power.  Today he cooked the brisket outside on the inductive cookware for about five hours.  No power = no dinner.


----------



## Frank F.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Love the picture of the vintage car, in front of the building where you can buy hifi equipment and Spanish wine...? quite a combination. I'm trying not to imagine Frank walking down the street in a hospital gown, shopping in there...
> 
> You boys had an interesting evening.
> 
> Change of plans today so picture taking will wait for another day. Going to be a lazy Sunday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You all think I leave the house with my naked butt exposed to the weather? We are, I must say, quite civilized here in good old Germany. We even have a female as "leader of the free world" to offer. OK. We are badly Celsius and Meters and not "god's own country"...
> 
> Have you tried German wine or one of 292 Michelin star restaurants recently?
> 
> You will be overwhelmed of how much our small country has to offer. Condensed to the area of California we easily put in 2000 years of living history per square meter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I would love to visit again.  Lived in Kitzingen an Main for almost 3 years.  Germany was a lovely country and we traveled it extensively as well as the rest of Europe.  I do have a special love of the Bavarian region.  The people, the food, the beer, the culture as well as the beautiful German Alps to the south.
Click to expand...



Bavaria is easily understood but this is not the only great part.

The Rhine Valley offers a plethora of culinary and landscape forms, starting from Basel in Suisse, through the French border, mixing the best of German and French culture, further down to the "Weinstraße" and the Frankfurt conglomerate, up the Mittelrhein with all the Castles and extraordinary wine selection, the Moselle part and then the most Italian kind of Street culture in Bonn and Cologne with Carnival and beer.

I cannot say that there is anything worth mentioning in the Rhine valley North of Cologne, but the people who live there have a different view...

Beyond:

The Münsterland teeming of history. Best place to bike, no hills, great infrastructure. Eat directly in the villages at the places where the locals eat and eat what the locals eat, drink what they drink. Just perfect. Münster itself is as great as Bonn. Highly recommended!

Thuringia, Goethe's own country. Wow. What a cool place to lay low and calm.

Berlin, Hamburg, ....


----------



## Frank F.

So the guy who wrote the book that marks a change of tide in medicine also writes a blog. Get the book! Do not wait. If you want to read a bit beforehand, start here:

Functional Medicine New York City | Microbiome Diet Principle

Microbiome Diet Plan | Rebalance Gut Flora

Microbiome Diet | Microbiome Diet Supplements


----------



## vintagesnaps

I have a distant cousin from Hameln. Maybe not that distant, her grandfather and mine were brothers - mine came here, hers stayed there. Lost touch so don't know if she still lives there, but she found us and came to visit once; she spent the summer traveling around the US, and brought us a family tree she did going back to around the 1500s. 

I dunno, the way you boys were talking I thought Frank went trotting around the neighborhood in a hospital gown dragging along a plastic bag on a pole... jk


That snorkeling attire is so fashionable too!


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Check our new super cool snorkel masks.  Very excited to try these out in the ocean.  Heading to Bermuda next month for some snorkeling. These things are great.   So much nicer to breathe normally through your nose and mouth instead of using the traditional snorkel mouth piece.
> 
> View attachment 143006
> 
> 
> 
> Good stuff.  Most likely an easier learning curve than the old fashion kind.  I think most people had a problem keeping a proper seal around the mouthpiece.
> 
> With the larger faceplate = more air ... is it tough to dive?  How hard is it to clear?
Click to expand...


they  arrived when we got home from the beach so have not used other than the pool.  My daughter did some shallow free dives and flips in the pool and no water got in.  She did say her head kept floating up so a bit more difficult to dive.  There is some type of contraption in the snorkel pipe that closes when water tries to enter so you don't need to clear it.  The instructions say for surface only not for diving.  There is a drain mechanism in the chin just in case it leaks so you don't have to take it off to get any water out.  They didn't fog up which is nice.  Much better than the old style with the mouthpiece.  Not recommended for those with beards as you won't be able to get it to seal.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Check our new super cool snorkel masks.  Very excited to try these out in the ocean.  Heading to Bermuda next month for some snorkeling. These things are great.   So much nicer to breathe normally through your nose and mouth instead of using the traditional snorkel mouth piece.
> 
> View attachment 143006
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, I have to ask, what happens if you click the button that says "Click"?  Inquiring minds want to know.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's just a sticker for the assembly.   The snorkel pipe is removable for easier storage/travel.
Click to expand...

Okay, that makes sense.  

That is a pretty techie looking mask that reminded me of the underwater fight scene from Thunderball.  I didn't want someone coming up, pushing the button and the mask coming all apart so SPECTRE could get away with the two nuclear bombs.


----------



## Frank F.

Beethoven's birthplace has Beethoven at the centre


----------



## Frank F.

Tonight I escaped with my father for a very decent supper in the Schumann's .... Yet another composer who lived in Bonn, a couple of composers Robert & Clara to be exact


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Check our new super cool snorkel masks.  Very excited to try these out in the ocean.  Heading to Bermuda next month for some snorkeling. These things are great.   So much nicer to breathe normally through your nose and mouth instead of using the traditional snorkel mouth piece.
> 
> View attachment 143006
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, I have to ask, what happens if you click the button that says "Click"?  Inquiring minds want to know.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's just a sticker for the assembly.   The snorkel pipe is removable for easier storage/travel.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Okay, that makes sense.
> 
> That is a pretty techie looking mask that reminded me of the underwater fight scene from Thunderball.  I didn't want someone coming up, pushing the button and the mask coming all apart so SPECTRE could get away with the two nuclear bombs.
Click to expand...

Pretty much the same. Press the button, remove the snorkel and water floods the mask ... grab the nukes and run.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Check our new super cool snorkel masks.  Very excited to try these out in the ocean.  Heading to Bermuda next month for some snorkeling. These things are great.   So much nicer to breathe normally through your nose and mouth instead of using the traditional snorkel mouth piece.
> 
> View attachment 143006
> 
> 
> 
> Good stuff.  Most likely an easier learning curve than the old fashion kind.  I think most people had a problem keeping a proper seal around the mouthpiece.
> 
> With the larger faceplate = more air ... is it tough to dive?  How hard is it to clear?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> they  arrived when we got home from the beach so have not used other than the pool.  My daughter did some shallow free dives and flips in the pool and no water got in.  She did say her head kept floating up so a bit more difficult to dive.  There is some type of contraption in the snorkel pipe that closes when water tries to enter so you don't need to clear it.  The instructions say for surface only not for diving.  There is a drain mechanism in the chin just in case it leaks so you don't have to take it off to get any water out.  They didn't fog up which is nice.  Much better than the old style with the mouthpiece.  Not recommended for those with beards as you won't be able to get it to seal.
Click to expand...

As Gary doesn't see a way to easily equalize one's ears ... it makes sense that the mask is best used as a floater. The beard eliminating the seal would be a problem for Gary's ex.


----------



## Frank F.

Interesting how the US perspective on the world differs so much from my European perspective that I often feel like an alien in this thread


----------



## Frank F.

Shape & Shadow


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> Interesting how the US perspective on the world differs so much from my European perspective that I often feel like an alien in this thread



I'm curious - what are the the biggest differences you see?

And just as a comment, it might be interesting to remember that you are getting perspectives from people who are from completely different parts of the country, and that the cultural norms are not necessarily uniform across our expanse. There are places in my own country in which I feel quite foreign.


----------



## Frank F.

Habits, Leonora, habits mostly.

For me Independence Day is a film by German Robert Emmerich, our man in Hollywood.

For you it is the Barbecue and Fireworks Force of July.

In Germany it is Christmas and done, you always think about other Religions or say Happy Chanukah if you know which religious belief someone might belong to.
I know the expression, but would have to look up what it really is that Chanukah.

I know that Easter is connected to Pesach. That is in my book.  I am Roman Catholic as you might say. Here Religious belief is a non topic most of the time. The only people who always confess are vegans.

Sports. I neither know the rules of Baseball or Am. Football and Basketball is a minority report in Europe, even Ice Hockey seems to be more popular and horseback riding.

Football, I mean real football, played 11 vs 11, is what people get excited about and Tennis and Formula One if there are successful Germans playing.

I know that Baseball is a Cricket derivative which is a British colonial habit shared with India and Australia. But who cares???


----------



## tirediron

Frank F. said:


> ...I know that Baseball is a Cricket derivative which is a British colonial habit shared with India and Australia. But who cares???


Given the combined population of those three countries versus that of Germany, I would suspect far more than those who don't!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Man, the weather has sucked this weekend. The was Max humidity Saturday and Sunday.  Sunday Gary cooked outside but entertained inside. Saturday and Sunday we ran the A/C.  Today, it is drying out and no A/C.  Yesterday, to get every everybody cooled off, we started with a sparkling wine from Paso Robles, then moved to a Sauvignon Blanc and ended with a Tempranillo.  The sparkling wine was extremely nice.


----------



## Frank F.

I did do my morning sports and now I feel fresh like Hulk!!!!

Details: due to hospital regulations I am not supposed to leave the house. They told me to use their 6 Staircases for my workout. My routine is: walk down 4 stories in 90 seconds, run up same in 30 seconds. Repeat, pause for ten minutes, repeat. Half an hour of that is as good as an hour worth of light jogging, quite possibly two hours. Check details on HIIT via Google search.

High
Intensity 
Interval
Training


----------



## Frank F.

Because Cortisone keeps me busy in the night, I had time to do the math. This official supper at 17 hours is 1090 KiloJoule!





In the morning I get the same and at midday I took photos of the food and calculated. It was roughly 1200 to 1500 KiloJoule, 1300 typical average.

My base burning is 8000 KiloJoule table based, man, 51, 178cm, 91 Kilos. I do a lot of sports and receive high dose Cortisone IV so my energy required for the day is roughly 15000 KiloJoule.

This hospital delivers 3500 KiloJoule per day, meaning one quarter of what I need.

I guess I am meant to receive 3500 KiloCalories which equals 15000 KiloJoule.

Someone made a mistake here. Obviously. I would be starving if I would follow the rules.


----------



## Frank F.

After a protest note to management I receive better food:



 
Hospital breakfast



 
Hospitable breakfast




Hospital lunch

Now I am really hungry!!!!


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> it might be interesting to remember that you are getting perspectives from people who are from completely different parts of the country, and that the cultural norms are not necessarily uniform across our expanse.



So true, think for a minute the US has roughly 3.8 million square miles, vs Germany's 138 thousand sq miles. Within our borders are nationalities from every country in the world. While on a local level those individual pockets have certain beliefs they hold dear,  on a national level we all band together for the common good. Yes we have our disagreements, and yes we sometimes argue, but there's little in the way of any other country/countries that have stood the test of time as a union of such a diverse population.  I find it humorous  that the only thing even close has been Europe's attempt with the EU and as we've seen so far it's crumpling.

I might add that we have been a staunch ally to the European countries, over the years, putting blood, not words behind those commitments. Over a half million of our military died protecting European interests during WW 1 & 2 alone. So yeah, we honor the sacrifices of our forefathers and fallen family members. We bow our heads on Memorial Day, and wave the flag every chance we get, it's not a movie for us, it's in remembrance of those we loved. Despite the European elitism and criticism of our great country, the next time they need someone to defend them, guess who they'll call on?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers ... und Guten Morgen Frank. Gary wird nicht mit Frühstück in Ihrem Krankenhaus. Das abendessen sah... okay.

@Frank: While customs and habits are influenced greatly by the particular needs and desires of a region, America is much different than Europe because we purposely went out of our way not to British or even European. America had fought a long, hard, bloody war against the the most powerful country in the world, Britain and their German mercenaries.  It was tragically more difficult, bloody and destructive because much of the population wanted to remain in the Commonwealth ... which created an internal war and struggle of family members against family members and neighbors against neighbors. By the end of the American Revolutionary War, Americans wanted nothing to do with Britain or Europe.  From small things to big things America purposely changed its habits and customs.  A dairy farmer told me that the Brits milked cows from the left side so after the war, Americans milked cows from the right side. Et Cetera.  And we had this huge ocean, an isolationist mentality and a largely unpopulated continent to usurp, allowing America to go its own way. 

American football certainly evolved from British Rugby, some argued that Baseball derived from the English Rounders, Cricket or the Scot's Dog & Cat. Others argument that it is a purely American game created by Abner Doubleday, (an American Civil War hero), and played by his troops. American basketball was clearly invented in Springfield, Massachusetts by a Canadian physical education instructor James Naismith, as a sport less violent than football. But I digress.

The country, unlike Germany, did not evolve over centuries into the modern state.  America was born on July 4, 1776.*1  That was the day our Declaration of Independence was adopted, signed and we became the United States of America.

As far as declarations go, it is a pretty good non-binding document.

"In Congress, July 4, 1776,

THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

*We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.* That, to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed. That, whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such Principles and organizing its Powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world."

... next comes a long list of grievances against the King George III which we can skip to the summary ...

"In every stage of these Oppressions, We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in GENERAL CONGRESS assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions, DO, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly PUBLISH and DECLARE, That these United Colonies are, and of Right, ought to be free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that, as FREE and INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do. AND for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

Gary read somewhere that the American Revolution is the first war to be fought solely over a change of political/government system.

Yes Frank, America's customs and habits are much different than Europe's. Much of that was purposeful adoption and much was created in of a vacuum of European influence. Yes, by European standards, we are a very new people/country ... but Gary thinks that in our short time of existence we're done pretty good for ourselves.

PS- Our freedoms are based upon what we tolerance ... not upon what we accept. Many/Most Americans give respect and tolerance to the cultures of our neighbors by recognizing and acknowledging the special customs of those difference than ourselves ... hence the broad spectrum of holidays on our calendars.


*1 With all due respect to the history of Native Americans


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Many/Most Americans give respect and tolerance to the cultures of our neighbors by recognizing and acknowledging the special customs of those difference than ourselves ..



Yup and therein lies some of the confusion with those who come from a more totalitarian society. They have difficulty understanding how we can respect "their" customs/beliefs, as long as they don't violate the law of the land, but refuse to allow them to force "their" customs/beliefs on us. The concept of "your rights end where mine begin" is a foreign idea to them.


----------



## Frank F.

Interesting document full of justification. Why?

My version would read: "English ursupators go home. We are sick and tired of you. Do you not dare to come back and involve in our matters. We are free people, make our own choices and will forcefully defend that position. With all due respect: f*ck off."

Germans were always rough people worshipping rough gods under rough trees in rough forests in rough ways.

Civilization came from outside. Romans, Russians, Austrians, French, Americans. Whoever was able to beat us in the field has later become our teacher.

Rule and obey are two sides of the same coin, stand tall and bow too. That is Germany.

I am German, because I was born to German parents. You are Americans because you were born to American soil.

Germans and Danes are the only people with a female sun and a male moon.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> I am German, because I was born to German parents. You are Americans because you were born to American soil.



Actually I'm what we call in the south "a fence climber"  A mixture of German, Swiss, Scot, and English (that I know of), all immigrants dating back to 116 years prior to the American Revolution. Unlike many Europeans who's lineage is more limited, we do consider ourselves Americans first, that's who we are, but because of the melting pot nature of our country we can share the customs of others without bias.


----------



## Gary A.

Here Frank, Gary agrees with you ... with a caveat to disagree:

"I am German, because I was born to German parents. You are Americans because you were born to American soil."

Certainly, a citizen by birthright is obviously true in most countries.  But ... Gary believes that being American is also more of a mindset than the happenstance of where one was born.

This is where you start with the mindset:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

Recognizing that our own unalienable Rights of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness are best protected and preserved by respecting and tolerating the unalienable rights of others is another cornerstone of the American mindset.

Unfortunately ... or Fortunately, the tolerance designed into our Constitution is broad enough to encompass the contradictions and pragmatism you have highlighted.  No system is perfect.  But Gary has observed from small communities to the nation as a whole, we try to keep what works, dump what doesn't work and amend that which needs improvement.  But the process in many cases isn't very pretty.

America is certainly a place ... to many, being American is also a state of mind.  A while ago, an American president visited Germany.  He made a pretty good speech about our system and mindset.






"I am proud to come to this city as the guest of your distinguished Mayor, who has symbolized throughout the world the fighting spirit of West Berlin. And I am proud to visit the Federal Republic with your distinguished Chancellor who for so many years has committed Germany to democracy and freedom and progress, and to come here in the company of my fellow American, General Clay, who has been in this city during its great moments of crisis and will come again if ever needed.

Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was "civis Romanus sum". Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner".

I appreciate my interpreter translating my German!

There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world.

Let them come to Berlin.

There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists.

Let them come to Berlin.

And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin.

Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us. I want to say, on behalf of my countrymen, who live many miles away on the other side of the Atlantic, who are far distant from you, that they take the greatest pride that they have been able to share with you, even from a distance, the story of the last 18 years. I know of no town, no city, that has been besieged for 18 years that still lives with the vitality and the force, and the hope and the determination of the city of West Berlin. While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the Communist system, for all the world to see, we take no satisfaction in it, for it is, as your Mayor has said, an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together.

What is true of this city is true of Germany - real, lasting peace in Europe can never be assured as long as one German out of four is denied the elementary right of free men, and that is to make a free choice. In 18 years of peace and good faith, this generation of Germans has earned the right to be free, including the right to unite their families and their nation in lasting peace, with goodwill to all people. You live in a defended island of freedom, but your life is part of the main. So let me ask you as I close, to lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today, to the hopes of tomorrow, beyond the freedom merely of this city of Berlin, or your country of Germany, to the advance of freedom everywhere, beyond the wall to the day of peace with justice, beyond yourselves and ourselves to all mankind.

Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.

All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner'."


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Interesting document full of justification. Why?
> 
> My version would read: "English ursupators go home. We are sick and tired of you. Do you not dare to come back and involve in our matters. We are free people, make our own choices and will forcefully defend that position. With all due respect: f*ck off."
> 
> Germans were always rough people worshipping rough gods under rough trees in rough forests in rough ways.
> 
> Civilization came from outside. Romans, Russians, Austrians, French, Americans. Whoever was able to beat us in the field has later become our teacher.
> 
> Rule and obey are two sides of the same coin, stand tall and bow too. That is Germany.
> 
> I am German, because I was born to German parents. You are Americans because you were born to American soil.
> 
> Germans and Danes are the only people with a female sun and a male moon.


The revolutionaries wanted to show eloquence and intelligent thought. The revolutionaries, our founding fathers, believed the Englanders thought of them as lesser and not worthy/capable of self-governance.  The Brits were not usurpations in the classical sense of a foreign power dominating another country by force of arms.  The colonists were "British", but Brits with less rights and recourse than those enjoyed in England. Sorta like a teenager standing up to an over-controlling parent.

As to beating the Germans in the field ... that was always a tall order.  Unfortunately, you guys seem to bite off more than you could chew.


----------



## SquarePeg

Please keep politics and political statements out of the Coffee House thread and the main forums.  The Subscriber's Forum provides plenty of opportunity to discuss, debate and opine about national and international politics.  I've deleted a few posts here that crossed the line.  

Thanks!


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Please keep politics and political statements out of the Coffee House thread and the main forums.  The Subscriber's Forum provides plenty of opportunity to discuss, debate and opine about national and international politics.  I've deleted a few posts here that crossed the line.
> 
> Thanks!


Just when I started to reply, darn.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Please keep politics and political statements out of the Coffee House thread and the main forums.  The Subscriber's Forum provides plenty of opportunity to discuss, debate and opine about national and international politics.  I've deleted a few posts here that crossed the line.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> 
> 
> Just when I started to reply, darn.
Click to expand...



Too late.  Get thee to the Subscriber's forum!  (Sorry just watched Ep 1 of Will on TNT - horrible btw)


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thought we were discussing history and culture.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The thing about a free country is that people can for example make movies that contain violence, or go watch them, but it doesn't mean I have to do it. It doesn't necessarily mean the majority of people want it either, but somebody has the freedom to make or watch those type movies if they so choose. 

And what makes the news or ends up all over the internet is usually the more extreme or notable things that happen, not most of us living our daily lives - we're boring, not newsworthy! lol  

Gee we're on a serious conversation today!


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Sorry just watched Ep 1 of Will on TNT - horrible btw


Hmm. I hadn't heard of that, but after searching the internet, I'm not sure I want to view it.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Gary thought we were discussing history and culture.



And Gary was...


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thought we were discussing history and culture.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And Gary was...
Click to expand...

LOL ...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh, well, now I read SharonCat's post! Anyway my family is part German, but didn't come here all that long ago (great grandfather). Some are from Ireland, and on the other side, some from England. We're descended from one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence so that part of my ancestry has been here awhile.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's ex is a Krupp.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary's ex is a Krupp.


A coffee maker?  It all makes sense now...[emoji6]


----------



## vintagesnaps

Change the letters around and you'd have a Kcup. 

Yucky weather today, good bit of rain but still warm and stuffy. Possible severe storms or at least a whole lotta rain coming later. So this should be a good day to get caught up on my online class... but I don't feel very motivated at the moment! lol maybe later...


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> Change the letters around and you'd have a Kcup.
> 
> Yucky weather today, good bit of rain but still warm and stuffy. Possible severe storms or at least a whole lotta rain coming later. So this should be a good day to get caught up on my online class... but I don't feel very motivated at the moment! lol maybe later...


I saw one of those the other day at the grocery store.   Poor woman couldn't tell if her shoes matched even with a full length mirror.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> ...
> 
> Gee we're on a serious conversation today!



Nahhh, Frank is just bored.


----------



## vintagesnaps

What are they feeding you Frank?? that one picture looks like sliced turkey on rice cakes with burnt black something in the middle. Egads! at least the 'improved' meal of rice cakes without the burnt black crap looks a little better. (What put you in the hospital anyway?)

Would watching the Food Network help? right now they're dipping marshmellows in different colors of icing, now there's a healthy snack! especially dipping them in sprinkles etc. That looks nauseating...

Oh, the whole episode is desserts to decorate for kid parties or something, I think it's definitely time to go get something done...


----------



## smoke665

On a less serious note. Don't know if anyone else caught it but on the news yesterday, a man was picked up in Arizona (under the influence of drugs obviously) He had painted his nude body gold, and lips/eyebrows purple. Police were called after he decided to take a stroll through the local Walmart store. There are so many one-liners that come to mind on this!!


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> On a less serious note. Don't know if anyone else caught it but on the news yesterday, a man was picked up in Arizona (under the influence of drugs obviously) He had painted his nude body gold, and lips/eyebrows purple. Police were called after he decided to take a stroll through the local Walmart store. There are so many one-liners that come to mind on this!!



Eyebrows are a very important fashion accessory right now.


----------



## jcdeboever

Attention shoppers, blue light special, isle 4, golden rod, 6 inches for a dollar.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Eyebrows are a very important fashion accessory right now



True but gold is comprised mostly of yellow, and we all know primaries advance and secondaries recede. Given the state of his out of shape condition and all that gold there was lot of advancing going on


----------



## limr

Hey man, live and let live!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Hey man, live and let live!


Gary doesn't know abut that ... Walmart is more Dog Eat Dog ...


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> On a less serious note. Don't know if anyone else caught it but on the news yesterday, a man was picked up in Arizona (under the influence of drugs obviously) He had painted his nude body gold, and lips/eyebrows purple. Police were called after he decided to take a stroll through the local Walmart store. There are so many one-liners that come to mind on this!!


I'm sorry, we are talking about Walmart.  I see no news item it this story.  Now if it had been any other store besides Walmart then yes it would be a hilarious news story, but it was Walmart.  

If you have never been to a Walmart after midnight, pack up the kids, pop a big bag of popcorn, take some soda's and enjoy a couple of hours of entertainment.  They can't make that stuff up on TV.


----------



## smoke665

Actually he had already been to Wal-Mart, and was arrested at 11 pm.
Naked man painted gold, on drugs arrested after strolling through Walmart in Arizona  maybe you're not supposed to wear gold "before" midnight.


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> Please keep politics and political statements out of the Coffee House thread and the main forums.  The Subscriber's Forum provides plenty of opportunity to discuss, debate and opine about national and international politics.  I've deleted a few posts here that crossed the line.
> 
> Thanks!




Total documentation of Euro-American misunderstanding. I was never talking politics in the post you accidentally deleted following the misconception.

Weapons
Abortion
Creationism
Sex
Violence
Climate change

Why are these innocent words so emotionally entangled?

Why are scientific facts not accepted as non political?

Abortion is to kill a child in the womb.
Weapons are designed to kill people and animals.

Creationism is the idea that a belief equals a scientific theory, although both are true and disjunct.

Sex is what you define it to be a non discussion.

Violence is Violence.

Climate change is a scientific theory that can be right or wrong. Unemotional.

BUT THIS IS JUST THE EUROPEAN VIEW.

Please do not delete this.


----------



## SquarePeg

Frank F. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Please keep politics and political statements out of the Coffee House thread and the main forums.  The Subscriber's Forum provides plenty of opportunity to discuss, debate and opine about national and international politics.  I've deleted a few posts here that crossed the line.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Total documentation of Euro-American misunderstanding. I was never talking politics in the post you accidentally deleted following the misconception.
> 
> Weapons
> Abortion
> Creationism
> Sex
> Violence
> Climate change
> 
> Why are these innocent words so emotionally entangled????
Click to expand...


I didn't accidentally delete your post.  I deleted it because guns, abortion, religion (creationism) and climate change are all very political issues here in the US.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Please keep politics and political statements out of the Coffee House thread and the main forums.  The Subscriber's Forum provides plenty of opportunity to discuss, debate and opine about national and international politics.  I've deleted a few posts here that crossed the line.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Total documentation of Euro-American misunderstanding. I was never talking politics in the post you accidentally deleted following the misconception.
> 
> Weapons
> Abortion
> Creationism
> Sex
> Violence
> Climate change
> 
> Why are these innocent words so emotionally entangled????
Click to expand...


Frank, while these words and concepts may seem innocent to you, they are completely politicized in the US, and especially now, the atmosphere is very volatile. I understand that this was a miscommunication, and that you didn't bring these subjects up with the intention of starting a political discussion, but what you need to understand is that regardless of your intention, those subjects _will_ send this thread down a political rabbit hole.

And here's another (generalized) cultural difference between Europeans and Americans: politics and religion are topics we almost never bring up in social settings unless we want to start a fight. (Of course, sometimes we _do _want to pick a fight  We just don't want anyone to do so here in the Coffee House or on other public forums on TPF.)

Now, having said that, there _is _the Subscriber's forum (which, as a Supporting Member, you have access to) where these topics can be discussed. Out in the public forums, however, these subjects are off-limits.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am German, because I was born to German parents. You are Americans because you were born to American soil.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Actually I'm what we call in the south "a fence climber"  A mixture of German, Swiss, Scot, and English (that I know of), all immigrants dating back to 116 years prior to the American Revolution. Unlike many Europeans who's lineage is more limited, we do consider ourselves Americans first, that's who we are, but because of the melting pot nature of our country we can share the customs of others without bias.
Click to expand...



My ancestors are noble men, military men and scientists. For most of them a border was just a piss mark, so marriage across cultural divides is common. Jews and Christians and non believers from all European Countries intermingled.

Now I am here, with a German passport and Greek Ancestors as well as ancestors from many other places.

I am a "fence climber" or a we say in Europe, a COSMOPOLITAN.


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Please keep politics and political statements out of the Coffee House thread and the main forums.  The Subscriber's Forum provides plenty of opportunity to discuss, debate and opine about national and international politics.  I've deleted a few posts here that crossed the line.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Total documentation of Euro-American misunderstanding. I was never talking politics in the post you accidentally deleted following the misconception.
> 
> Weapons
> Abortion
> Creationism
> Sex
> Violence
> Climate change
> 
> Why are these innocent words so emotionally entangled????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I didn't accidentally delete your post.  I deleted it because guns, abortion, religion (creationism) and climate change are all very political issues here in the US.
Click to expand...



This is a world wide forum
 on the I n t e r n e t, the W o r l d W i d e W e b.

The view considers 300 Million of 7550 Million potential customers here.


----------



## table1349

Busy day in the kitchen this afternoon.  Went to the grocery store as I always do on Tuesday's.  A lot less shoppers than on Saturday Mornings and with Monday being restock day, I rarely find that them out of what I am looking for.   Needed to make a new batch of Taco Seasoning.  So much cheaper and better than store bought packaged stuff.  And when vacuum packed in a pint mason jar it will last for ages.  If you have a vacuum sealer and or want the recipe just pm me.  

Dinner is prepared to go in the smoker.  Something most people don't think of as being a smoked food however it actually is quite nice in the smoker.  Lasagna, a twin meat lasagna to be exact.   To add to the flavor I picked up some smoked mozzarella from the cheese monger.

Since I have a pellet smoker now instead of my old side box smoker it is easy to make all kinds of meals in it that you wouldn't think of.  It has a thermocouple controlled hopper I can set at what ever temp I desire and it keeps the temp within 10 degrees +/- of the target temp.

Smoked Pineapple Upside Down Cake has quickly become a family favorite this year.  Simple to make, moist, tender with just a hint of smokey goodness.  Great with whipped cream or ice cream.


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's ex is a Krupp.
> 
> 
> 
> A coffee maker?  It all makes sense now...[emoji6]
Click to expand...



Krupp's make steel.


----------



## Frank F.

I guess I managed to make some serious points about European and American world view. I can go to bed now


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> I am a "fence climber" or a we say in Europe, a COSMOPOLITAN



Cosmopolitan, that has a much more sophisticated ring to it than "fence climber", but in my world the connotation the locals would assign to it would likely be worse than "fence climber"


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's ex is a Krupp.
> 
> 
> 
> A coffee maker?  It all makes sense now...[emoji6]
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Krupp's make steel.
Click to expand...

And diamond(s).


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is reading the directions to the ice cream maker ...


----------



## Frank F.

Some pictures taken today, last day in hospital:


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am a "fence climber" or a we say in Europe, a COSMOPOLITAN
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cosmopolitan, that has a much more sophisticated ring to it than "fence climber", but in my world the connotation the locals would assign to it would likely be worse than "fence climber"
Click to expand...

Cosmopolitan, fence climber, what ever.  Around here we just call it a "well bred mutt."


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary is reading the directions to the ice cream maker ...


What kind?


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. My ex was a diamond in the rough. Does that count? Unfortunately she always remained in the rough!


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's ex is a Krupp.
> 
> 
> 
> A coffee maker?  It all makes sense now...[emoji6]
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Krupp's make steel.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And diamond(s).
Click to expand...


And vertical transport


----------



## Frank F.

gryphonslair99 said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am a "fence climber" or a we say in Europe, a COSMOPOLITAN
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cosmopolitan, that has a much more sophisticated ring to it than "fence climber", but in my world the connotation the locals would assign to it would likely be worse than "fence climber"
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Cosmopolitan, fence climber, what ever.  Around here we just call it a "well bred mutt."
Click to expand...



More muddy than mutty


----------



## SquarePeg

Frank F. said:


> I guess I managed to make some serious points about European and American world view. I can go to bed now



Please.


----------



## Frank F.

PS: I am green when I am happy, see above picture as a proof


----------



## table1349

Frank F. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am a "fence climber" or a we say in Europe, a COSMOPOLITAN
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cosmopolitan, that has a much more sophisticated ring to it than "fence climber", but in my world the connotation the locals would assign to it would likely be worse than "fence climber"
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Cosmopolitan, fence climber, what ever.  Around here we just call it a "well bred mutt."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> More muddy than mutty
Click to expand...

Nah, just mutts.  One side of the family has a Kilt wearing limey that married a Mick.  The other side of the family is a Kilt wearing limey that married a Kraut.   Some how in the mix I managed to ended up with an Italian stomach.  Go figure.   

That's not to say I don't like Corn beef and Cabbage,  Mince and Tatties, or Sauerbraten and Spätzle as well as most other foods, but I have a particular liking for Italian.  Not Americanized Italian, rather true Italian food.  Ribollita, Arancini, Caponata, or Ossobuco.  Things you rarely if ever see on an Italian menu here.  

In all seriousness I am interested to see what my make up would be.  The wife and I have talked about each taking one of those 23 and Me type DNA tests just to see.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> In all seriousness I am interested to see what my make up would be. The wife and I have talked about each taking one of those 23 and Me type DNA tests just to see.



Not me. As the one to whom all the "family stories (dirt)" was handed down to, there's probably a few genes I don't want to be confirmed.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is reading the directions to the ice cream maker ...
> 
> 
> 
> What kind?
Click to expand...

Oster.  It has an electric motor ... but you gotta add the ice and salt and make the concoction for icing.  Gary has a bowl of ol' fashion vanilla cooling in the frig.  In about an hour it will be good for churning. The ice cream maker was a gift from Gary's youngest daughter.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> In all seriousness I am interested to see what my make up would be. The wife and I have talked about each taking one of those 23 and Me type DNA tests just to see.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not me. As the one to whom all the "family stories (dirt)" was handed down to, there's probably a few genes I don't want to be confirmed.
Click to expand...

I would.  Somewhere in the line since crossing the pond is a Northern Cheyenne orphan member that was adopted, to much consternation of others, at the time in the early 1800's.  I would like to know what else is mixed in their.   We are supposedly related to Nobility as well as known to be related to some famous outlaws.   The outlaws are the reason I would tell people I took up the profession I did.  I figured since we couldn't beat em, we might as well join em.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is reading the directions to the ice cream maker ...
> 
> 
> 
> What kind?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oster.  It has an electric motor ... but you gotta add the ice and salt and make the concoction for icing.  Gary has a bowl of ol' fashion vanilla cooling in the frig.  In about an hour it will be good for churning. The ice cream maker was a gift from Gary's youngest daughter.
Click to expand...

Ah yes, as a farm boy I am far too familiar with the hand cranked model.  Guess who was the motor to run that thing.  

My current ice cream maker is the attachment kind for the Kitchen aid mixer.  I cheat though, instead of placing it in the freezer before use, I buy a pound of dry ice and break it up.  I put part of the ice in a small cooler just the size of the bowl, put the bowl in and then put the rest of the dry ice inside the bowl.   It gets REAL COLD that way.  A touch of vodka in the ice cream mix keeps it from freezing too fast or getting grainy with ice crystals.  

Enjoy the ice cream, home made always tastes the best, just because it is home made.


----------



## table1349

Fun week listening to Radio Classics on Sirius XM.  It's Christmas in July week.  All Christmas themed shows for the entire week.  Especially since we managed to make it to 100 today for the first time this summer.


----------



## tirediron

Frank F. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's ex is a Krupp.
> 
> 
> 
> A coffee maker?  It all makes sense now...[emoji6]
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Krupp's make steel.
Click to expand...

Among other things...


----------



## limr

Well,  Gary may have his Hollywood Bowl, but Leo has her Boscobel and Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival 




 

From inside the tent,  just before the performance of _Pride and Prejudice _began (they do more than just Shakespeare.)


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Well, Gary may have his Hollywood Bowl, but Leo has her Boscobel and Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival



I would love that.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, Gary may have his Hollywood Bowl, but Leo has her Boscobel and Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would love that.
Click to expand...


I believe you would. It's a gorgeous setting and the productions are always outstanding. The first time I went was almost 30 years ago when my high school English teacher brought a few of us to see _A Midsummer Night's Dream. _I have been hooked ever since


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, Gary may have his Hollywood Bowl, but Leo has her Boscobel and Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would love that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I believe you would. It's a gorgeous setting and the productions are always outstanding. The first time I went was almost 30 years ago when my high school English teacher brought a few of us to see _A Midsummer Night's Dream. _I have been hooked ever since
Click to expand...


There was a Shakespeare in the Park production of Romeo and Juliet on the Boston Common recently but we were out of town and I missed it.  I really wanted to take my daughter because they read that one in English class this past year (8th grade).  We used to go to the shows at the amphitheater along the Charles River in Brighton when we were too young to appreciate it.  It closed for a few years but I read recently that it was going to reopen!


----------



## limr

Reading Shakespeare and seeing it performed are such completely different things. Even when I taught Shakespeare in class,  I would show a movie and not make students only read. So much gets lost when the words are just sitting there on a page instead of being spoken and acted. Seeing a play would surely give your daughter an appreciation for it,  or even a greater one if she liked reading it. I hope the theater reopens! If not, road trip to the Hudson Valley!


----------



## Gary A.

Not to appear competitive ... but ... Gary has 'Shakespeare by the Sea'. An annual event Gary and Mary Lou attend at Pt. Fermin Park in San Pedro/Palos Verdes Peninsula.  About 100 feet south from the amphitheater and 100 feet straight down a cliff, is the wonderful cold Pacific. (The first lighthouse for the Port of Los Angeles is next to the amphitheater.)

#1





#2





#3





#4





#5


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, Gary may have his Hollywood Bowl, but Leo has her Boscobel and Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would love that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I believe you would. It's a gorgeous setting and the productions are always outstanding. The first time I went was almost 30 years ago when my high school English teacher brought a few of us to see _A Midsummer Night's Dream. _I have been hooked ever since
Click to expand...



You are older than 30?


----------



## Frank F.

The Gary takes wonderful photos


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, Gary may have his Hollywood Bowl, but Leo has her Boscobel and Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would love that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I believe you would. It's a gorgeous setting and the productions are always outstanding. The first time I went was almost 30 years ago when my high school English teacher brought a few of us to see _A Midsummer Night's Dream. _I have been hooked ever since
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> You are older than 30?
Click to expand...


The math would suggest it,  yes


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Not to appear competitive ... but ... Gary has 'Shakespeare by the Sea'. An annual event Gary and Mary Lou attend at Pt. Fermin Park in San Pedro/Palos Verdes Peninsula.  About 100 feet south from the amphitheater and 100 feet straight down a cliff, is the wonderful cold Pacific. (The first lighthouse for the Port of Los Angeles is next to the amphitheater.)
> 
> #1
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #2
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #3
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #4
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #5



Copy cats


----------



## waday

I want another one of these, please. Posthaste.




Wildwood-51 by Wade, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> I want another one of these, please. Posthaste.



Gained 5# just looking at the image!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> I want another one of these, please. Posthaste.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wildwood-51 by Wade, on Flickr


Can I slap you now? I like donuts...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary's Famous Homemade Ice Cream. It was a success. There is more in the freezer if anyone has a sweet tooth. Next ... maybe ... is a sorbet from stuff in the backyard, berries, pomegranate, kale, et al.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Gained 5# just looking at the image!!!


After one of these, your sugar intake for the week has been exceeded. But, they are exceedingly delicious.



jcdeboever said:


> Can I slap you now? I like donuts...


These are the only cream-filled donuts that I've found that actually have cream-filling with every bite.  These put the local grocer's baking section to shame.


----------



## waday

And, @jcdeboever , they have other options, as well:




Wildwood-52 by Wade, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Gary like doughnuts.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gained 5# just looking at the image!!!
> 
> 
> 
> After one of these, your sugar intake for the week has been exceeded. But, they are exceedingly delicious.
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can I slap you now? I like donuts...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> These are the only cream-filled donuts that I've found that actually have cream-filling with every bite.  These put the local grocer's baking section to shame.
Click to expand...

Doughnut shops are everywhere out here ... most likely due to competition ... or the State of California's mandated 'Training for Ethical Doughnut Shoppe' program (TEDS), one get's a taste of cream/jelly in every bite.


----------



## limr

Damnit, I don't even have a sweet tooth but now I kinda want a doughnut. Luckily for me, the craving will pass pretty quickly, so as long as one doesn't magically appear in front of me within the next 5 minutes, I'll be fine.


----------



## SquarePeg

Ugh. No donut pics please !  I'm on a pre cruise diet.  Too much take out during softball season when I had no time to shop or cook.  I gained 10 lbs!


----------



## SquarePeg

Turns out I didn't miss it after all!  I thought it was June, not July.

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company


----------



## JonA_CT

The film fairy came today!


----------



## waday

Ok, fine. No more pictures of donuts.

What about french fries?




Wildwood-24 by Wade, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

Here in our part of the world we have Krispy Kreme.
Krispy Kreme - Doughnuts, Coffee, Sundaes, Shakes & Drinks

Curse them, they're running another special - buy a dozen get a dozen for 80 cents on Friday. They're like potato chips, you can't just eat one, and having only a dozen helped limit me. Oh well, at least I've got two days of not eating to prepare!!!!


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> View attachment 143128
> 
> The film fairy came today!


I love the film fairy!     I just had a visit and she left me the same Ilford stock.      

It's been so long since I've shot color film...don't know if I've ever shot any color aside from slide film, and I haven't shot any of that since I can't use my Daylab anymore with Polaroid.    *sniffle*


----------



## table1349

Okay,  Am I the only one that sees the obvious here?   On your way to Shakespeare in the Park, stop and pick up a dozen doughnuts.   Shakespeare and doughnuts, what could be better on a cool summer evening???


----------



## limr

No. Just no.


----------



## BrentC

smoke665 said:


> Here in our part of the world we have Krispy Kreme.
> Krispy Kreme - Doughnuts, Coffee, Sundaes, Shakes & Drinks
> 
> Curse them, they're running another special - buy a dozen get a dozen for 80 cents on Friday. They're like potato chips, you can't just eat one, and having only a dozen helped limit me. Oh well, at least I've got two days of not eating to prepare!!!!



Living in a country where there is a donut shop, or two, on almost every corner, you Americans can find a way to make an already unhealthy food even more unhealthy.   Krispy Kreme has got to be made with 95% sugar.   Even by donut standards it is sickly sweet.   I don't know how you can eat those.  They tried coming into Canada and did not do well, not sure if there are any shops left here.


----------



## table1349

BrentC said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here in our part of the world we have Krispy Kreme.
> Krispy Kreme - Doughnuts, Coffee, Sundaes, Shakes & Drinks
> 
> Curse them, they're running another special - buy a dozen get a dozen for 80 cents on Friday. They're like potato chips, you can't just eat one, and having only a dozen helped limit me. Oh well, at least I've got two days of not eating to prepare!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Living in a country where there is a donut shop, or two, on almost every corner, you Americans can find a way to make an already unhealthy food even more unhealthy.   Krispy Kreme has got to be made with 95% sugar.   Even by donut standards it is sickly sweet.   I don't know how you can eat those.  They tried coming into Canada and did not do well, not sure if there are any shops left here.
Click to expand...

Yep there's nothing better than a big'O doughnut slathered in maple caramel sauce topped with big'O chunks of crispy fried *BACON!!!!!!!!!*


----------



## BrentC

gryphonslair99 said:


> BrentC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here in our part of the world we have Krispy Kreme.
> Krispy Kreme - Doughnuts, Coffee, Sundaes, Shakes & Drinks
> 
> Curse them, they're running another special - buy a dozen get a dozen for 80 cents on Friday. They're like potato chips, you can't just eat one, and having only a dozen helped limit me. Oh well, at least I've got two days of not eating to prepare!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Living in a country where there is a donut shop, or two, on almost every corner, you Americans can find a way to make an already unhealthy food even more unhealthy.   Krispy Kreme has got to be made with 95% sugar.   Even by donut standards it is sickly sweet.   I don't know how you can eat those.  They tried coming into Canada and did not do well, not sure if there are any shops left here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yep there's nothing better than a big'O doughnut slathered in maple caramel sauce topped with big'O chunks of crispy fried *BACON!!!!!!!!!*
Click to expand...


Now bacon is good with anything!   Chocolate covered bacon mmmm.


----------



## table1349

waday said:


> Ok, fine. No more pictures of donuts.
> 
> What about french fries?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wildwood-24 by Wade, on Flickr


I like french fries.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Now I want some fries... especially in a cup like that! 

I gotta put a notepad and pencil by the bed, been occasionally having dreams like last night that I woke up and was thinking, this could be a story, I should write this down, and now I don't even know what it was. 

Going to be a hot one today but decent weather this weekend so I'll take it.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like French Fries with German musturd.


----------



## smoke665

BrentC said:


> I don't know how you can eat those.



Maybe it's an acquired taste. We do love anything fried in the south. We buy little Krystal burgers by the bag  or box here. The bun is just right for soaking up the grease from the burger. Then head over to Krispy Kreme for dessert. Grease and sugar, part of the essential food group LOL


We have a saying, if it's good - deep frying it will make it even better. Check out the "fried butter" top right. Only reason I haven't tried it is I haven't got to it yet.  I have had most of the other delicacies on the list, plus deep fried ice cream and deep fried Oreo.


----------



## table1349

I suppose it depends on where you happen to be attending Shakespeare in the park.  I went to a performance of Hamlet once in Georgia.  It was a tad bit different. 

To hang around, or not hang around--that there be the question:
Whether it be better in the brain to suffer
The sling shots and arrows of dumb luck
Or grab a shotgun against a sea of troubles
And by fight’em, end’em. To die, ain’t gonna be sleeping--
No more--and by a sleep I mean you be grave yard dead so’s there won't be
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is kin to. ‘It be an end
Devoutly to be wished fer. To die, to sleep--
To sleep—perhaps even to dream, there's the heap,
For in that there sleep of death what dreams might come along
When we have shambled off this here foggy bottom,
It’s gotta give ya pause. There's the re-spect
That makes cattywampus of such a long life.
For who would tote the whoopin’s of time,
The slave driver’s wrong, the proud man's insult,
The pain of unrequited love, the law's delay,
The contempt of office, and the snub
The worst people take of the best part of the hog,
When he might as well make his final blow
With a naked Arkansas toothpick? Who would bear such a burden,
To grunt and sweat like a pig under such a weary life,
But that ya’ll be a dreading of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose thicket
No traveller returns, puzzles Will and all his kin,
And makes us tote those ills we have
Rather than run to others that got ills we know nothing about?
Your conscience does make cowards of us all,
And causes you to make up your mind,
A chore of great importance and moment
With this regard their thoughts turn all crooked
And lose the name of action. -- Soft you now,
O fair Daisy Mae! -- Goddess, in adderation
That all my sins remembered.


----------



## waday

BrentC said:


> 95% sugar


Did you say sugar?




Wildwood-104 by Wade, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> It was a tad bit different.



You have way to much time on your hands


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> BrentC said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know how you can eat those.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe it's an acquired taste. We do love anything fried in the south. We buy little Krystal burgers by the bag  or box here. The bun is just right for soaking up the grease from the burger. Then head over to Krispy Kreme for dessert. Grease and sugar, part of the essential food group LOL
> View attachment 143143
> 
> We have a saying, if it's good - deep frying it will make it even better. Check out the "fried butter" top right. Only reason I haven't tried it is I haven't got to it yet.  I have had most of the other delicacies on the list, plus deep fried ice cream and deep fried Oreo.
> 
> View attachment 143144
Click to expand...

Yes er ree. 
Fried Peanut Butter And Jelly Sandwich

Fried Chicken Skin

Fried Cheesecake

Chicken Fried Bacon

Pizza


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> It was a tad bit different.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You have way to much time on your hands
Click to expand...

Well Duh.  I'm Retired.


----------



## BrentC

waday said:


> BrentC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 95% sugar
> 
> 
> 
> Did you say sugar?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wildwood-104 by Wade, on Flickr
Click to expand...


At least they are honest and upfront.    Actually I surprised they haven't changed their name.  It can't help business these days.


----------



## limr

BrentC said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here in our part of the world we have Krispy Kreme.
> Krispy Kreme - Doughnuts, Coffee, Sundaes, Shakes & Drinks
> 
> Curse them, they're running another special - buy a dozen get a dozen for 80 cents on Friday. They're like potato chips, you can't just eat one, and having only a dozen helped limit me. Oh well, at least I've got two days of not eating to prepare!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Living in a country where there is a donut shop, or two, on almost every corner, you Americans can find a way to make an already unhealthy food even more unhealthy.   Krispy Kreme has got to be made with 95% sugar.   Even by donut standards it is sickly sweet.   I don't know how you can eat those.  They tried coming into Canada and did not do well, not sure if there are any shops left here.
Click to expand...


This is generally why doughnuts tempt me in theory but not in reality.

I usually feel sick to my stomach by the end of ONE. The idea of eating an entire box is horrifying.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> The idea of eating an entire box is horrifying.



You have to know how to pace yourself


----------



## waday

limr said:


> BrentC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here in our part of the world we have Krispy Kreme.
> Krispy Kreme - Doughnuts, Coffee, Sundaes, Shakes & Drinks
> 
> Curse them, they're running another special - buy a dozen get a dozen for 80 cents on Friday. They're like potato chips, you can't just eat one, and having only a dozen helped limit me. Oh well, at least I've got two days of not eating to prepare!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Living in a country where there is a donut shop, or two, on almost every corner, you Americans can find a way to make an already unhealthy food even more unhealthy.   Krispy Kreme has got to be made with 95% sugar.   Even by donut standards it is sickly sweet.   I don't know how you can eat those.  They tried coming into Canada and did not do well, not sure if there are any shops left here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> This is generally why doughnuts tempt me in theory but not in reality.
> 
> I usually feel sick to my stomach by the end of ONE. The idea of eating an entire box is horrifying.
Click to expand...

While I like Krispy Kreme every now and then, I dislike them for a different reason (somewhat alluded to by smoke): I don't feel like I'm eating anything. I definitely enjoy a doughnut every now and then, but I want a good, substantial doughnut. The ones from Krispy Kreme are too soft for me, and I don't feel satisfied with just one.


----------



## waday

Thoughts on caramel popcorn?




Wildwood-136 by Wade, on Flickr


----------



## table1349

I like caramel popcorn.


----------



## BrentC

smoke665 said:


> BrentC said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know how you can eat those.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe it's an acquired taste. We do love anything fried in the south. We buy little Krystal burgers by the bag  or box here. The bun is just right for soaking up the grease from the burger. Then head over to Krispy Kreme for dessert. Grease and sugar, part of the essential food group LOL
> View attachment 143143
> 
> We have a saying, if it's good - deep frying it will make it even better. Check out the "fried butter" top right. Only reason I haven't tried it is I haven't got to it yet.  I have had most of the other delicacies on the list, plus deep fried ice cream and deep fried Oreo.
> 
> View attachment 143144
Click to expand...



Last year they introduced fried butter at the Toronto Exhibition place.  Not sure how well it did but I don't see anybody selling it.   Actually every year the exhibition introduces what they call 'Wacky food'.  Chocolate covered mars bars was there many years ago and there are a few places that sell them.  This year they are having bug hotdog, hotdog with crispy mustard cricket on top.  Also a pickle hotdog which might be right up your alley.  It's a classic corndog featuring a cored pickle with a hotdog centre, dipped in corndog batter and deep-fried.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> Thoughts on caramel popcorn?



Is it deep fried?


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The idea of eating an entire box is horrifying.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You have to know how to pace yourself
Click to expand...


Pace what, the vomiting?

Seriously, by the time I'm ready to think about a second doughnut, they would be beyond stale.


----------



## smoke665

BrentC said:


> Also a pickle hotdog which might be right up your alley.



Oh yeah that might be good. We have fried pickle slices here (dipped in batter then deep fried) and green beans served the same. Both are great!!!


----------



## limr

Caramel popcorn depends entirely on the ratio of caramel to popcorn, and whether or not nuts are involved. I do enjoy salty and sweet together, but caramel popcorn is very often too heavy on the caramel and a handful is usually plenty for me. If it's a better balance with the salt and there are some nuts thrown in, I might be in for a second or third handful. 

Even then, I could never eat as much caramel popcorn as I could plain popcorn.

When I say I don't have a sweet tooth, I really mean it.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like Garrett's popcorn, from Chicago


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Caramel popcorn depends entirely on the ratio of caramel to popcorn, and whether or not nuts are involved. I do enjoy salty and sweet together, but caramel popcorn is very often too heavy on the caramel and a handful is usually plenty for me. If it's a better balance with the salt and there are some nuts thrown in, I might be in for a second or third handful.
> 
> Even then, I could never eat as much caramel popcorn as I could plain popcorn.
> 
> When I say I don't have a sweet tooth, I really mean it.


Nuts would be a good addition, but these are purely caramel popcorn, slightly heavy on the caramel. Definitely sweet.

I'm the opposite regarding sweet tooth, which is quite unfortunate. However, I'm not a fan of lots of oil. I had a funnel cake last summer, which wasn't cooked properly (I assume the oil wasn't to the right temperature). It was squishy and tasted like straight oil. After nearly vomiting upon the first bite, I promptly threw it in the trash. *barf*


----------



## limr

waday said:


> I'm the opposite regarding sweet tooth, which is quite unfortunate. However, I'm not a fan of lots of oil. I had a funnel cake last summer, which wasn't cooked properly (I assume the oil wasn't to the right temperature). It was squishy and tasted like straight oil. After nearly vomiting upon the first bite, I promptly threw it in the trash. *barf*



Yeah, fried food has to be done properly or else I find it inedible as well. I don't like very oily things either.

My vices are basically cheese and carbs. Any combination of these two things and I have a hard time limiting myself. The good news is that I'm moderately lactose-intolerant, so that puts a natural limit on my cheese consumption. Lately, I've been cutting more of it out and I find that I do feel better in general, so even if the effects aren't always immediate, eating too much cheese can affect me in a more chronic way. 

Carbs, though? Popcorn, pasta, bread, crackers...I could eat them all until the cows come home. I've been trying to at least pair carbs with proteins or good fats like avocado or nut butters, so they can help me feel full and therefore limit my intake.

Stupid meatsacks. Being alive is exhausting.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> My vices are basically cheese and carbs. Any combination of these two things and I have a hard time limiting myself. The good news is that I'm moderately lactose-intolerant, so that puts a natural limit on my cheese consumption. Lately, I've been cutting more of it out and I find that I do feel better in general, so even if the effects aren't always immediate, eating too much cheese can affect me in a more chronic way.
> 
> Carbs, though? Popcorn, pasta, bread, crackers...I could eat them all until the cows come home. I've been trying to at least pair carbs with proteins or good fats like avocado or nut butters, so they can help me feel full and therefore limit my intake.
> 
> Stupid meatsacks. Being alive is exhausting.


Agree, we are stupid, exhausting meatsacks.

Cheese, yes. Carbs, yes. Cheese and carbs together, double yes.

As a vegetarian, I'm somewhat conflicted with cheese. I mean, I love it (especially on pizza), but when I think about it too much--like what it actually is and how it's made... and then think about the consistency of hard cheese and soft cheeses--it makes me nauseous. 

Just like eggs. I can usually eat them when prepared correctly, but every now and then... ehhhhh...


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Yeah, fried food has to be done properly



I will agree with you on that. It has to be done properly. Frying to long is almost as bad as not enough.



waday said:


> As a vegetarian,



Tried it, not by choice. Over the last 6 months have had to have extensive dental work, implants and bridges. There was a time when it seemed like mashed potatoes was the only thing I could eat unless it went through a blender. Don't get me wrong, I can be extremely happy with a vegetable plate, but but there's a lot of satisfaction in good steak. Finally completed all the dental work, so steak has been on the menu a lot lately


----------



## terri

I could easily go completely vegetarian.  Menus are easy!  I genuinely like salads, pasta, and make killer soups in the winter.  If the hubby didn't suggest menus involving meat, I'd likely leave it behind. 

I've probably already eaten my last steak.  Over a year ago, we went out to dinner with friends at a very nice steakhouse.  But it was odd.  Since I consume it so rarely, I guess, I felt like I carried it in my gut for a few days afterwards.  Not likely to want to do that again.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> I could easily go completely vegetarian.  Menus are easy!  I genuinely like salads, pasta, and make killer soups in the winter.  If the hubby didn't suggest menus involving meat, I'd likely leave it behind.
> 
> I've probably already eaten my last steak.  Over a year ago, we went out to dinner with friends at a very nice steakhouse.  But it was odd.  Since I consume it so rarely, I guess, I felt like I carried it in my gut for a few days afterwards.  Not likely to want to do that again.



That reminds me of my last hamburger. It was in college when I first decided to cut out red meat (but was still eating chicken and turkey.) After a month or so, I had an intense craving for a burger, so I figured the vegetarian diet was not for me. So I went to Skeeters and ordered a big ole burger. Halfway through, I was thoroughly disgusted. Haven't had a beef burger since then, probably 25 years ago. I really don't think my body could handle a steak at this point.

It was a few years later in grad school when I cut out the rest of the land animals. Because I do still eat some seafood, I'm not technically a 'vegetarian' and I eat dairy so I'm obviously not a vegan. But I really don't miss meat. And I'm eating fish even less often than I used to.


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> And, @jcdeboever , they have other options, as well:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wildwood-52 by Wade, on Flickr



No more slaps, now a kick in the onion sack....


----------



## waday

Since I'm often on the receiving end of such comments, I have a few responses. Don't get me wrong, I'm not mad. Just having some fun with some low-hanging fruit. 



smoke665 said:


> Tried it, not by choice. Over the last 6 months have had to have extensive dental work, implants and bridges. There was a time when it seemed like mashed potatoes was the only thing I could eat unless it went through a blender.


You didn't try it, you were apparently only able to eat soft or pureed food. So, you could have chosen to eat pureed steak, no? In this case, you can't say that it wasn't for you, because you didn't actually try a vegetarian diet. 

Pureed food, no matter the diet, is pretty disgusting when it's not supposed to be pureed. Both vegetarians and omnivores can agree that pureed vegetables are not exactly delicious (with a few exceptions). And a diet only in soft foods is, again, pretty horrible. Something we can both agree on.



> Don't get me wrong, I can be extremely happy with a vegetable plate, but but there's a lot of satisfaction in good steak.


It is often assumed that vegetarians only eat vegetables. I guess it's easy to confuse "vegetarian" with "vegetable" given the first six characters are the same, but believe me, they are not the same. If your diet only consists of steak, vegetables, and mashed potatoes, I can also easily see why you'd be confused. However, I have a diet rich in a multitude of delicious, satisfying foods. These foods also range from typical American fare to Arabic food to Japanese cuisine.

Fortunately, restaurants that used to think "vegetable only plates for vegetarians" are starting to realize that they'll get more business if they provide various vegetarian options. They get my business, and good reviews. If they don't provide these options, they don't get my money, and they get poor reviews.



> Finally completed all the dental work, so steak has been on the menu a lot lately


Glad to hear the dental work is finished, but sorry to hear your wallet will be hurting again with steak on the menu.


----------



## waday

I could totally eat some pizza right about now...




Wildwood-224 by Wade, on Flickr


----------



## waday

Or some ice cream.




Wildwood-346 by Wade, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> If your diet only consists of steak, vegetables, and mashed potatoes,



Not all, mashed potatoes was the only thing that required little chewing! Love nuts and berries, but of course the nuts were off the list for awhile. Never been big on fruit (unless it was fermented LOL). Pretty much a fan of any vegetable as a part of the diet (but not the only ingredient). We did have a large garden, until it became more feasible to go to the farmers market. We eat a lot of fresh  steamed vegetables. Raw anything is off the menu because the wife's low immune system (including tomatoes) which I also loved sliced.


----------



## SquarePeg

Damn you people are killing my diet!!!



BrentC said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> BrentC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 95% sugar
> 
> 
> 
> Did you say sugar?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wildwood-104 by Wade, on Flickr
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> At least they are honest and upfront.    Actually I surprised they haven't changed their name.  It can't help business these days.
Click to expand...


There is a chain of candy stores in New England (not sure if national) that are called just "Sugar".



waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> BrentC said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here in our part of the world we have Krispy Kreme.
> Krispy Kreme - Doughnuts, Coffee, Sundaes, Shakes & Drinks
> 
> Curse them, they're running another special - buy a dozen get a dozen for 80 cents on Friday. They're like potato chips, you can't just eat one, and having only a dozen helped limit me. Oh well, at least I've got two days of not eating to prepare!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Living in a country where there is a donut shop, or two, on almost every corner, you Americans can find a way to make an already unhealthy food even more unhealthy.   Krispy Kreme has got to be made with 95% sugar.   Even by donut standards it is sickly sweet.   I don't know how you can eat those.  They tried coming into Canada and did not do well, not sure if there are any shops left here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> This is generally why doughnuts tempt me in theory but not in reality.
> 
> I usually feel sick to my stomach by the end of ONE. The idea of eating an entire box is horrifying.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> While I like Krispy Kreme every now and then, I dislike them for a different reason (somewhat alluded to by smoke): I don't feel like I'm eating anything. I definitely enjoy a doughnut every now and then, but I want a good, substantial doughnut. The ones from Krispy Kreme are too soft for me, and I don't feel satisfied with just one.
Click to expand...


There is a locally famous donut shop here called Kanes that is unreal.  You don't get the empty feeling when eating them.  I think each donut weighs about 8-10 ounces!



waday said:


> Thoughts on caramel popcorn?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wildwood-136 by Wade, on Flickr



Thoughts on caramel popcorn?


----------



## SquarePeg

Alright you all win, I'm going to make some dinner.  TTYL.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Alright you all win, I'm going to make some dinner.  TTYL.


Make me some, too, Mom!!!     Pleeeeeeeze!!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Alright you all win, I'm going to make some dinner.  TTYL.


I reckon you could fix me up some of them bisquits and musturd.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> If your diet only consists of steak, vegetables, and mashed potatoes,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not all, mashed potatoes was the only thing that required little chewing! Love nuts and berries, but of course the nuts were off the list for awhile. Never been big on fruit (unless it was fermented LOL). Pretty much a fan of any vegetable as a part of the diet (but not the only ingredient). We did have a large garden, until it became more feasible to go to the farmers market. We eat a lot of fresh  steamed vegetables. Raw anything is off the menu because the wife's low immune system (including tomatoes) which I also loved sliced.
Click to expand...

You should have had some boiled okra.  No chewing to it.  It just slides right on down.


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> I could easily go completely vegetarian.  Menus are easy!  I genuinely like salads, pasta, and make killer soups in the winter.  If the hubby didn't suggest menus involving meat, I'd likely leave it behind.
> 
> I've probably already eaten my last steak.  Over a year ago, we went out to dinner with friends at a very nice steakhouse.  But it was odd.  Since I consume it so rarely, I guess, I felt like I carried it in my gut for a few days afterwards.  Not likely to want to do that again.


Well I'll gladly take care of your share of the meat then.  

I could never be a vegetarian, just as I could never be pure a carnivore.  I am a through and through omnivore.  I want and eat some of everything.  I personally do not like lentil, peanut butter and corn sandwiches.  Just not my taste, and it is hard to get complete proteins with vegetables alone and the very few that do get a bit boring quickly.  I have always eaten just about anything, and everything, but other than water and yogurt, there is nothing I consume on a constant day to day basis.  The most constant is usually a whole oat grain of some kind for breakfast.  My diet is constantly and purposefully varied in makeup.     

One of the reasons I don't worry about it is we eat very few processed foods these days.  I scratch make almost everything I possibly can these days.  The lasagna I made was made with scratch made pasta, home made marinara, fresh carrots, egg plant and fresh mozzarella,  The Italian sausage, lean beef and Ricotta were all store bought.  I made a large lasagna so I could freeze some since the wife will be gone the next two weeks.  I hate to cook meals for one so I will freeze part of this and reheat it in the oven for some of my evening meals.  Breakfasts will consist of a whole grain cereal and yogurt, lunches of either a sandwich and fruit or fruit, cheese and home made bread.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> The Italian sausage, lean beef and Ricotta were all store bought.



We have to plan ahead when the wife makes this. First of all we have raise the hog for the sausage, the steer for the beef, and milk the cow to make the cheese.

Just kidding, though I can remember a time as a child that the ingredients  you mention were all produced on our farm. Corn meal and flour was purchased, only because there weren't any millers close. 

Probably wise to avoid the processed foods. We prefer fresh grown local, fortunately there are two nice farmers markets within 15 miles of us.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Italian sausage, lean beef and Ricotta were all store bought.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We have to plan ahead when the wife makes this. First of all we have raise the hog for the sausage, the steer for the beef, and milk the cow to make the cheese.
> 
> Just kidding, though I can remember a time as a child that the ingredients  you mention were all produced on our farm. Corn meal and flour was purchased, only because there weren't any millers close.
> 
> Probably wise to avoid the processed foods. We prefer fresh grown local, fortunately there are two nice farmers markets within 15 miles of us.
Click to expand...

I don't produce the meat nor the ricotta, but I do make my own mozzarella.  The funny thing is making ricotta is easier than mozzarella. It is actually quite simple.  I just happened to start making mozzarella first and have just continued to do so.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary, with few exceptions, eats everything and has attempted to reinforce that concept when he travel or finds a new eatery.  Gary thinks he would be find going veretarian or paleo ... (he has to give some thought on vegan).

Like gryphoslair99, Gary eats very little process foods.  Gary grows most of his greens and veggies, he whips up most stuff from scratch from breads to pastas to sauces (bbq, chili, salsa, spaghetti, et cetera) to beverages/booze and now ice creams and sorbets.

Gary has watched and read many many health/food related books and movies.  One movie has the usual extremists discussing this and that ... but one talking head made the most sense to Gary.  He said that in general, if you cooked your own food, you will be eating healthy. Prior to that epiphany, Gary was eating 80% of his meals out.  Now, 80% of his meals are made at home from scratch. (Tonight he is meeting friends for Mexican, lol.)


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Last week Gary picked up a mincer and will soon be making his sausages from scratch.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- 




(Watch this space ...)


----------



## The_Traveler

Illeism - Wikipedia


----------



## Gary A.

The_Traveler said:


> Illeism - Wikipedia


Thank you Lew for this clarification. Until now, Gary thought this was all about Jimmy.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. I used to make my own deer sausage and jerky till I got lazy. Does that count? However I  do make dried sweet potato treats for Sadie Mae. She likes them and they're better for her than the store bought kind.


----------



## Gary A.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> PS- View attachment 143161
> 
> (Watch this space ...)


I sometimes make my own wet sausage, breakfast sausage, Italian sausage etc. when I have the time.  I usually make it when I can get a good buy on a large amount of meats, make a big batch and then freeze it in one pound quantities.  Having a vacuum sealer makes it possible and have a good product.   Also having a grinder, sausage stuffer attachment for the Kitchenaid mixer makes it easier.  

I on occasion will make a cased sausage and smoke it in the smoker, but it is a lot of trouble for something that doesn't last long.  My smoker isn't made for smoking large amounts of cased sausage as it is better to be able to hang it for smoking.


----------



## table1349

This is the next addition to the kitchen.   It will replace the microwave which will go to the rec room.  The microwave only gets used to heat up leftovers in a hurry.  Usually I reheat in the oven as the food comes out better.   A couple of friends have them and love them for their versatility.   Not just a toaster oven, it also is a convection oven, a proofer, dehydrator, and air fryer as well as being big enough to hold a full size 9X13 for baking.  It will be much more convenient for holidays, entertaining as it will give us two different ovens that can be run at two different temps.  Makes bringing a meal together all at once.


----------



## table1349

I was going to post this in the Wacky thread, but since we have been talking about food I thought I would post this here. 

* Thank God for Satan! *

And God populated the earth with broccoli and cauliflower and spinach, green and yellow vegetables of all kinds, so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives.

And Satan created McDonald's. And McDonald's brought forth the 99 cent double cheeseburger. And Satan said to Man, "You want fries with that?" And Man said, "Super size them." And Man gained pounds.

And God created the healthful yogurt, that woman might keep her figure that man found so fair.

And Satan froze the yogurt, and he brought forth chocolate, nuts and brightly colored sprinkle candy to put on the yogurt. And woman gained pounds.

And God said, "Try my crispy fresh salad." And Satan brought forth creamy dressings, bacon bits, and shredded cheese. And there was ice cream for dessert. And woman gained pounds.

And God said, "I have sent your heart healthy vegetables and olive oil with which to cook them."

And Satan brought forth chicken fried steak so big it needed its own platter. And Man gained pounds, and his bad cholesterol went through the roof.

And God brought forth running shoes, and Man resolved to lose those extra pounds. And Satan brought forth cable TV with remote control so Man would not have to toil to change channels between ESPN and ESPN2. And Man gained pounds.

And God said, "You're running up the score, Devil." And God brought forth the potato, a vegetable naturally low in fat and brimming with nutrition. And Satan peeled off the healthful skin and sliced the starchy center into chips and deep fat fried them. And he created sour cream dip also.

And Man clutched his remote control and ate the potato chips swaddled in cholesterol. And Satan saw and said; "It is good." And Man went into cardiac arrest. And God sighed and created quadruple bypass surgery...

And Satan created HMOs.

_ --Bob Ewegen_


----------



## SquarePeg

That looks interesting.   I can see how it would come in handy.  We Have a stove with double oven and it's very useful.  The smaller oven is great for reheating and for broiling.  Not good for baking though. Not enough air flow I suspect.

This refers to the oven, not the "wacky thread".


----------



## SquarePeg

Social media rant - At least give me a "like" on my photo before you steal it and post it on your own page with a bunch of your own crappy phone pics and then say "Thanks!" when someone else comments nice photo! 

Ok, I'm over it.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, Gary may have his Hollywood Bowl, but Leo has her Boscobel and Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would love that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I believe you would. It's a gorgeous setting and the productions are always outstanding. The first time I went was almost 30 years ago when my high school English teacher brought a few of us to see _A Midsummer Night's Dream. _I have been hooked ever since
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> You are older than 30?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The math would suggest it,  yes
Click to expand...



As long as looking in the mirror tells you that you cannot be more than 29 ....


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I want another one of these, please. Posthaste.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gained 5# just looking at the image!!!
Click to expand...



Remember the book I recommended earlier?






The second chapter explains that "your fat is not your fault".

There are roughly 2 Million and 20 Thousand genes in the room that our body takes up: 20.000 in human and 2.000.000 in alien cells.

The human cells are like the brick and mortar of London's underground tubes, "our aliens" are the commuters inside this tube system.

If we pass edible garbage down the tubes we will cater to some nasty commuters that cause inflammatory disorders, obesity, psychotic disorders and other unwanted "riots" in our guts.

Kellman teaches, after having tried this with his patients for decades, that you can cause riots within days and silence them with a little more effort within weeks.

The book contains a step by step manual on how to create and maintain a peaceful coexistence of the "commuters inside your tubes".

I did invent the Metaphors, the basic ideas are cutting edge research on the Microbiome, which I knew before Kellman. Kellnan's merits come from translating cutting edge research into a practical guide.

Frank

See also: Kellman Center | Better. For a lifetime.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Damnit, I don't even have a sweet tooth but now I kinda want a doughnut. Luckily for me, the craving will pass pretty quickly, so as long as one doesn't magically appear in front of me within the next 5 minutes, I'll be fine.




God bless my wheat allergy!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes Chicken Fried Steak.


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh. No donut pics please !  I'm on a pre cruise diet.  Too much take out during softball season when I had no time to shop or cook.  I gained 10 lbs!




Take the Microbiome Diet and you will be off all diets forever. Like DTAG is a non carrier, the term "diet" is misleading. It is more a healing that will uproot your carvings, because they are not yours, they are the one's of unbehaved commuters in your tubes


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Gary, with few exceptions, eats everything and has attempted to reinforce that concept when he travel or finds a new eatery.  Gary thinks he would be find going veretarian or paleo ... (he has to give some thought on vegan).
> 
> Like gryphoslair99, Gary eats very little process foods.  Gary grows most of his greens and veggies, he whips up most stuff from scratch from breads to pastas to sauces (bbq, chili, salsa, spaghetti, et cetera) to beverages/booze and now ice creams and sorbets.
> 
> Gary has watched and read many many health/food related books and movies.  One movie has the usual extremists discussing this and that ... but one talking head made the most sense to Gary.  He said that in general, if you cooked your own food, you will be eating healthy. Prior to that epiphany, Gary was eating 80% of his meals out.  Now, 80% of his meals are made at home from scratch. (Tonight he is meeting friends for Mexican, lol.)




A diverse diet of unprocessed and home made food will cause a diverse microbiology, healthy guts, weight loss, better skin and the like.

But: If our tubes are already damaged by the riots in our Microbiome, we first have to send down a renovation or even reconstruction team, which will need a few weeks and you will be done for the rest of your life.

After 3 weeks only 90% compliance in needed, after 7 weeks 70% compliance is necessary to keep riot control permanent


----------



## Gary A.

@Frank:  Gary has a fair understanding of biological microenvironments and ecological microenvironments ... he's getting the book.


----------



## jcdeboever

I am getting bad vibes from this forum lately. Is it me?


----------



## pixmedic

jcdeboever said:


> I am getting bad vibes from this forum lately. Is it me?


Its just you. TPF is the epitome of good vibrations.

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

pixmedic said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am getting bad vibes from this forum lately. Is it me?
> 
> 
> 
> Its just you. TPF is the epitome of good vibrations.
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Ok, just checking.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> I am getting bad vibes from this forum lately. Is it me?





Morning Hosers.  What's everyone doing this weekend?  I'm determined to get out and shoot looking for some inspiration.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am getting bad vibes from this forum lately. Is it me?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Hosers.  What's everyone doing this weekend?  I'm determined to get out and shoot looking for some inspiration.
Click to expand...

Walmart


----------



## pixmedic

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am getting bad vibes from this forum lately. Is it me?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Hosers.  What's everyone doing this weekend?  I'm determined to get out and shoot looking for some inspiration.
Click to expand...

I'm working a 36 hour shift

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

pixmedic said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am getting bad vibes from this forum lately. Is it me?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Hosers.  What's everyone doing this weekend?  I'm determined to get out and shoot looking for some inspiration.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm working a 36 hour shift
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Yuk


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am getting bad vibes from this forum lately. Is it me?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Hosers.  What's everyone doing this weekend?  I'm determined to get out and shoot looking for some inspiration.
Click to expand...


Working overtime on Saturday morning, and then changing the oil in Alice. As for Sunday? Who the hell knows


----------



## waday

I found a video of me putting out fires at work this morning...


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou has been looking forward to the upcoming Nothing Planned weekend.  No soccer, no guests (so far), no day trips, nada, zilch, gornischt. Mary Lou is speaking of trimming the persimmon tree.  Gary should vacuum.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Walmart


  Is that what you're doing this weekend or is that inspiration for my shooting?



pixmedic said:


> I'm working a 36 hour shift


  Ugh.  Stay safe!



limr said:


> Working overtime on Saturday morning, and then changing the oil in Alice. As for Sunday? Who the hell knows


  Spending the money that you made on Saturday!



waday said:


> I found a video of me putting out fires at work this morning...


  Our company gives us these to put out fires:








Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou has been looking forward to the upcoming Nothing Planned weekend. No soccer, no guests (so far), no day trips, nada, zilch, gornischt. Mary Lou is speaking of trimming the persimmon tree. Gary should vacuum


  I both love and hate a "nothing planned" weekend.  Love it while it's happening but when it's over I always feel like I wasted my weekend...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. 'Tis a thin paper this overcast and cool morning. Things are drying up and cooling off ... getting back to a more normal and reasonable clime.  Speaking of a slow news day, above the fold, three column with photo, the headline reads "Disneyland can't work its magic on wait times" with a corresponding story w/ graphs describing the average wait time. What a waste of the front page.

@wade: Under the Disneyland story is a real story with potentially a huge fallout. Inyo County (Owens Valley) turns to eminent domain in bid for LADWP land.  In the early 1900's, the City of Los Angeles, swooped into the Owens Valley (eastern Sierra Nevada), and bought up land and water rights.  Over the decades, the lush Owens Valley dried up and the Owens Lake turned into a dust bowl, as the water was drained to Los Angeles. (see the movie 'Chinatown')  Gary has never heard of one public jurisdiction playing the eminent domain card on another public jurisdiction. In any event this will be interesting. According to Mark Twain, Whiskey's for drinking ... Water's for fighting.


----------



## terri

pixmedic said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am getting bad vibes from this forum lately. Is it me?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Hosers.  What's everyone doing this weekend?  I'm determined to get out and shoot looking for some inspiration.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm working a 36 hour shift
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

mmm, sounds like we'd better watch out, then.   Jason gets cranky during those last 6 hours.      

I like an unplanned weekend, especially with lovely weather.   You can lounge around and enjoy it, or get inspired to do something spontaneous with nothing scheduled to stop you.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg: Trimming the persimmon tree and vacuuming the house are both significant accomplishments.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> @ Peg: Trimming the persimmon tree and vacuuming the house are both significant accomplishments.



Yes but not "fun" to do.  After working all week I want to have a little fun on the weekends.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg: What lenses do you have?


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Peg: Trimming the persimmon tree and vacuuming the house are both significant accomplishments.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes but not "fun" to do.  After working all week I want to have a little fun on the weekends.
Click to expand...

The fun comes in when Gary vacuums out the wine cellar.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has been giving some thought to a "Hot Pot" dinner over this weekend.  Maybe setting up the projection in the patio for an outdoor movie.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> @ Peg: What lenses do you have?



For the XT2 I have the 18-55, the 50-230 and the 60

For the 7100 I still have Nikon 35, 50, 105, Sigma 17-70 and Tamron 70-300


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> I am getting bad vibes from this forum lately. Is it me?


Of course not.    

There are members here whose main objective seems to be floating through and dropping bits of napalm in threads, offering no value to this forum.    If any of that has been directed your way, I'm sorry.    If you're just noticing it and commenting in general, all I can say is shrug and ignore it, and don't feed a troll.    The vast majority of our members rock it.   You're one of them!


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Gary has been giving some thought to a "Hot Pot" dinner over this weekend.  Maybe setting up the projection in the patio for an outdoor movie.


Now that sounds fun - I couldn't get away with that in our neck of the woods right now.   Way too humid!   September is when things start to get lovely here.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am getting bad vibes from this forum lately. Is it me?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Hosers.  What's everyone doing this weekend?  I'm determined to get out and shoot looking for some inspiration.
Click to expand...

Getting rid of the wife for two whole weeks. 

Sending her to West Virginia to sleep in a tent and show a bunch of "VIP's" around for a couple of weeks.  Me, I am going party likes it's 1999.  Do what I want when I want, scratch where it itches and just enjoy a little peace and quiet.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has been giving some thought to a "Hot Pot" dinner over this weekend.  Maybe setting up the projection in the patio for an outdoor movie.
> 
> 
> 
> Now that sounds fun - I couldn't get away with that in our neck of the woods right now.   Way too humid!   September is when things start to get lovely here.
Click to expand...

That how it was on Sunday, a real shvitz, the dinner party was forced into the safety of the house and it's A/C. But now it is getting back to normal.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Peg: What lenses do you have?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For the XT2 I have the 18-55, the 50-230 and the 60
> 
> For the 7100 I still have Nikon 35, 50, 105, Sigma 17-70 and Tamron 70-300
Click to expand...

Slap the 60mm on the XT2 and hit an arboretum. Toss some vino in a thermos and a packable folding chair and do the flowers.  Every now and then, set up the chair, sip some wine, listen to some classical on the headset and chimp your images. (take the 50-230 for some creamy bokeh, shoot at 230)


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Under the Disneyland story is a real story with potentially a huge fallout. Inyo County (Owens Valley) turns to eminent domain in bid for LADWP land. In the early 1900's, the City of Los Angeles, swooped into the Owens Valley (eastern Sierra Nevada), and bought up land and water rights. Over the decades, the lush Owens Valley dried up and the Owens Lake turned into a dust bowl, as the water was drained to Los Angeles. (see the movie 'Chinatown') Gary has never heard of one public jurisdiction playing the eminent domain card on another public jurisdiction. In any event this will be interesting. According to Mark Twain, Whiskey's for drinking ... Water's for fighting.


If only people realized how much of a water problem we really do have in this country (and this world). This will be interesting to follow, so thank you for the heads up. I found the article online here.

If only political borders aligned themselves with watersheds, we may have had a better appreciation of water. This is an interesting read: Natural Boundary / Political Boundary. There are a lot of websites out there though that discuss this topic.

Many people unfortunately and very erroneously think that water is a right. Whether it be to their business or their health. Sure, maybe it should be, but it costs money to get to your faucet, it costs money to treat, and it is very much a dwindling resource. Many of us here in America expect that water will flow when we turn the faucet on, just as we expect that the lights will turn on when we flip the switch. All of this comes at a cost, both literally and figuratively.

Around here, the one water basin commission in charge of protecting water resources is being slandered (my choice of word) from local politicians who claim they are "charging too much" for permits and water use (despite the fact that the communities specifically chose payments as their mitigation method*--and that they get a municipality discount). Essentially saying that they're lining their pockets. This is just plain wrong and is a bid to gain votes literally at the expense of their own voting electorate. But, they don't care, as long as they get the votes. These old politicians don't care, since they'll be long gone by the time water issues become a problem, especially in the Northeast, where water isn't a hot topic issue, yet.

The next few decades will be very interesting.

*They have several options for mitigating their consumptive water use, one of those is payment of a fee for the commission to find water elsewhere through storage or release of water from dams during periods of drought. They had the option of coming up with their own mitigation methods, but likely found them to be more expensive than simply paying the commission to do it. So, now, they don't want to pay, either. The problem is that the Commission has to balance these communities' water consumption along with all the other people. This **** really ****ing annoys me, because it's not in the best interest of anyone except the ****ing stupid politicians. Apologies for my curse words.


----------



## Gary A.

... Water's for Fighting ...

We have mandated levels for water consumption and associated fines to enforce the consumption regulations.  There were some very "rude" abusers of the mandates in Beverly Hills.  Folks who had enough FU money not to care about the fines.  Their water was turned off. Laws and regulations apply to all, regardless of how much money you have.

PS- It was a well written and interesting article.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Peg: What lenses do you have?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For the XT2 I have the 18-55, the 50-230 and the 60
> 
> For the 7100 I still have Nikon 35, 50, 105, Sigma 17-70 and Tamron 70-300
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Slap the 60mm on the XT2 and hit an arboretum. Toss some vino in a thermos and a packable folding chair and do the flowers.  Every now and then, set up the chair, sip some wine, listen to some classical on the headset and chimp your images. (take the 50-230 for some creamy bokeh, shoot at 230)
Click to expand...


Remarkably accurate for my plans Saturday late afternoon.  It's going to rain in the morning then stop and be partly cloudy.  Heading to the public gardens to test out the xt2 with the macro.  I need to decide if I can give up the 7100 and 105mm...  Since the lenses are so light I'll be bringing all 3.


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am getting bad vibes from this forum lately. Is it me?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Hosers.  What's everyone doing this weekend?  I'm determined to get out and shoot looking for some inspiration.
Click to expand...

Some good things in your area for this weekend to go enjoy.  Here that would take a month of Sundays to have that many events.
The Boston Calendar - Boston events that don't suck


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Walmart



K-Mart has the best underwear


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Walmart
> 
> 
> 
> 
> K-Mart has the best underwear
Click to expand...

Somehow I just can't picture you in K-Mart underwear.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Somehow I just can't picture you in K-Mart underwear.



Never know, I might have a little "Rainman" in me.


----------



## smoke665

This weekend will be work making final preparation for a trip to Helen, Ga on Tuesday  for a week, of visiting with friends, enjoying some goid food and I hope a few photo oportunities.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Walmart
> 
> 
> 
> 
> K-Mart has the best underwear
Click to expand...

Gary purchases all his clothing at Costco.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> This weekend will be work making final preparation for a trip to Helen, Ga on Tuesday  for a week, of visiting with friends, enjoying some goid food and I hope a few photo oportunities.


Gary likes goid food.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> goid



Big fingers on a little keyboard!


----------



## Gary A.

Every morning Gary enjoys goid with his covfefe.


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> I am getting bad vibes from this forum lately. Is it me?




I am getting great fun of this forum. Is it my mistake?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hot Pot is what it's like outside today. It is hot and beyond steamy out there. All I did was try to get a largish box in from the porch just out of reach - luckily being a hockey fan I have hockey sticks handy but this one I could barely get! thank goodness most of my deliveries are by the brown truck with a regular route driver who toodles his horn as he makes his way down the street (small town America...). 

We have our own water dept. and our own water tower that is about 2 ft off the ground. Not sure why that is... we're actually part of the regional water whatever, just got the annual report. It's a boring read but good that someone's checking these things. Lately we have plenty of water, in the ground, on the grass, in the air. All it's doing is causing the AC to steam up the window. 

Now listen you boys, we already had Frank out trotting around in his hospital gown, now Gryph's gonna be running around in his skivvies...


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am getting bad vibes from this forum lately. Is it me?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Hosers.  What's everyone doing this weekend?  I'm determined to get out and shoot looking for some inspiration.
Click to expand...


I am not in the hospital anymore. So: Much better. My son has new Brackets. Look like a prep for alien heart surgery.


----------



## limr

Creepy.


----------



## Frank F.

I have a photo related question:

Nikon USA has coined a term called: "grey market purchase". They claim they will not repair these items.

I now try to find people who actually tested this claim, ie tried to have such a purchase serviced and were sent away.

Until I find significant proof I will call this SCARECROW.

PLEASE HELP.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Somehow I just can't picture you in K-Mart underwear.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Never know, I might have a little "Rainman" in me.
Click to expand...

If you wore those things it would be more like *MOON* River.


----------



## Frank F.

gryphonslair99 said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Walmart
> 
> 
> 
> 
> K-Mart has the best underwear
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Somehow I just can't picture you in K-Mart underwear.
Click to expand...


Who wears underwear anyway. According to our grumpy Gorilla, whom I miss, what happened to him? .... wearing underwear is an overrated hype. Wearing anything below the waste line is unnecessary. As long as you sit on a table you are safe (the table should be ... Well ... Look

Video removed. 

gvcthu


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> Hot Pot is what it's like outside today. It is hot and beyond steamy out there. All I did was try to get a largish box in from the porch just out of reach - luckily being a hockey fan I have hockey sticks handy but this one I could barely get! thank goodness most of my deliveries are by the brown truck with a regular route driver who toodles his horn as he makes his way down the street (small town America...).
> 
> We have our own water dept. and our own water tower that is about 2 ft off the ground. Not sure why that is... we're actually part of the regional water whatever, just got the annual report. It's a boring read but good that someone's checking these things. Lately we have plenty of water, in the ground, on the grass, in the air. All it's doing is causing the AC to steam up the window.
> 
> Now listen you boys, we already had Frank out trotting around in his hospital gown, now Gryph's gonna be running around in his skivvies...


Yep that's me. 

























Now try to get that picture out of your mind when you go to sleep tonight.


----------



## smoke665

Excuse me, I need to step out and look at the sun for just a bit


----------



## table1349

Frank F. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Walmart
> 
> 
> 
> 
> K-Mart has the best underwear
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Somehow I just can't picture you in K-Mart underwear.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Who wears underwear anyway. According to our grumpy Gorilla, whom I miss, what happened to him? .... wearing underwear is an overrated hype. Wearing anything below the waste line is unnecessary. As long as you sit on a table you are safe (the table should be ... Well ... Look
> 
> Video removed.
> 
> 
> gvcthu
Click to expand...

Were right behind you Frank.  In fact, next time you go to a place that has a sign posted that Reads:

*No Shirt......
No Shoes.....
No Service!
*
Take everything off except your shirt and shoes and report back to us on what happens.


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm in the mood for clams


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> Excuse me, I need to step out and look at the sun for just a bit


I see a bad moon a rising, I see trouble on the way.


----------



## vintagesnaps

At least she didn't go all Basic Instinct sitting at that glass desk.

Glad you're out of the hospital Frank. From what I understand, 'gray' market isn't quite 'black' market as it isn't illegally obtained goods (I don't know the exact definition of it). But gray market means in the US the manufacturers will not honor warranties that are not US warranties. So if the thing breaks or falls apart I guess you're SOL.


Why clams...?? an unusual craving.

The picture hasn't loaded, yet... so thankfully I'll be able to sleep well! lol

edit - And yeah, where is the big Gorilla?? haven't seen him on in ages.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> I'm in the mood for clams


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> From what I understand, 'gray' market isn't quite 'black' market as it isn't illegally obtained goods (I don't know the exact definition of it). But gray market means in the US the manufacturers will not honor warranties that are not US warranties.



Gray Market - The legal sale of a product through distribution channels not authorized by the manufacturer, by a 3rd party. In the case of sales in other countries, the product may or may not conform to the certifications of that country. IE: In the US there was a significant import of used Chinese sub-compact tractors. They brought them in by the container, cleaned them up, slap some paint on them, and sold them. While it wasn't illegal, the problem for the consumer is that the tractors didn't meet basic US safety standards. There was no roll-over protections, the throttle worked backwards from US operation, and the PTO could be operated far above the US standard (which could seriously damage equipment or harm the operator), to name a few.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Hot Pot is what it's like outside today. It is hot and beyond steamy out there. All I did was try to get a largish box in from the porch just out of reach - luckily being a hockey fan I have hockey sticks handy but this one I could barely get! thank goodness most of my deliveries are by the brown truck with a regular route driver who toodles his horn as he makes his way down the street (small town America...).
> 
> We have our own water dept. and our own water tower that is about 2 ft off the ground. Not sure why that is... we're actually part of the regional water whatever, just got the annual report. It's a boring read but good that someone's checking these things. Lately we have plenty of water, in the ground, on the grass, in the air. All it's doing is causing the AC to steam up the window.
> 
> Now listen you boys, we already had Frank out trotting around in his hospital gown, now Gryph's gonna be running around in his skivvies...


Gary has a hockey stick used and signed by The Great One.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hot Pot is what it's like outside today. It is hot and beyond steamy out there. All I did was try to get a largish box in from the porch just out of reach - luckily being a hockey fan I have hockey sticks handy but this one I could barely get! thank goodness most of my deliveries are by the brown truck with a regular route driver who toodles his horn as he makes his way down the street (small town America...).
> 
> We have our own water dept. and our own water tower that is about 2 ft off the ground. Not sure why that is... we're actually part of the regional water whatever, just got the annual report. It's a boring read but good that someone's checking these things. Lately we have plenty of water, in the ground, on the grass, in the air. All it's doing is causing the AC to steam up the window.
> 
> Now listen you boys, we already had Frank out trotting around in his hospital gown, now Gryph's gonna be running around in his skivvies...
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has a hockey stick used and signed by The Great One.
Click to expand...

Gordie Howe?


----------



## Gary A.

The Other Great One.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> The Other Great One.


Patrik Stefan?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> The Other Great One.


Gretzky... He was special.
California Golden Seals... Lol


----------



## Gary A.

The Great One was a King.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> The Great One was a King.


I know.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Literally. Saw Gretz when he was first with the Kings, his teammates looked more like Keystone Kops turning to go the other way to catch up! (Granted it was exhibition and probably guys who were sent down to the minors.)

Gordie Howe is Mr. Hockey. Even though he since passed away nobody else will have that nickname. Saw him at an autograph signing and he wasn't exactly young them and boy when he shook your hand did you know it, he had a grip!

The sticks I have are either former local players or a couple of guys who played for our college team (Ken Morrow who played on the '80 Olympic team, and Mike Liut who was an NHL goalie and the stick I have looks like he broke it over the goal post). 

Except for the one I grabbed today which isn't game used but team autographed so it's prettier than most. Also came in handy when I literally shot a Polaroid out the window, stuck tape on the end to get it (at the time better than trying to go around and get it hobbling and wobbling on a cane). Was going to leave it and get it later but noticed it was turning redscale so wanted to save it. Yep, it's still redscale, so need to try it on purpose! Anything for hockey or photography.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Literally. Saw Gretz when he was first with the Kings, his teammates looked more like Keystone Kops turning to go the other way to catch up! (Granted it was exhibition and probably guys who were sent down to the minors.)
> 
> Gordie Howe is Mr. Hockey. Even though he since passed away nobody else will have that nickname. Saw him at an autograph signing and he wasn't exactly young them and boy when he shook your hand did you know it, he had a grip!
> 
> The sticks I have are either former local players or a couple of guys who played for our college team (Ken Morrow who played on the '80 Olympic team, and Mike Liut who was an NHL goalie and the stick I have looks like he broke it over the goal post).
> 
> Except for the one I grabbed today which isn't game used but team autographed so it's prettier than most. Also came in handy when I literally shot a Polaroid out the window, stuck tape on the end to get it (at the time better than trying to go around and get it hobbling and wobbling on a cane). Was going to leave it and get it later but noticed it was turning redscale so wanted to save it. Yep, it's still redscale, so need to try it on purpose! Anything for hockey or photography.


I met Mr. Howe at my son's grade school science exhibit. His grandson was in my son's class, Sylvania, OH, first marriage. He was such a nice and gentle souled man. He was healthy then (late 80's).  Hard to believe he was that way (gentle) after watching a lot of tape on him. He invited me and the family to his son's house (Marty or Mark, can't remember but he was a doctor and former player) for a party the next day. Down to earth and loving family. What a collection of memorabilia!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Great One was a King.
> 
> 
> 
> I know.
Click to expand...

Gary knows that you know.  You're the only one who remembers that Oakland had a hockey team.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is home.  It was warm today, in the 80's, but the humidity is down. Gary has opened up the house, turned on the patio fans, fed The Cook, grabbed two mugs and filled one mug with an herbal ice tea the other with Gary's Famous Homemade Ice Cream. He has settled down catching up on the news of the day. Ice cream greatly improves Gary's disposition.


----------



## Frank F.

Kim Chee is my poison,
Kim Chee is my healing.

One of the best complex probiotics you can get on this planet


----------



## table1349

Made it to 101 today, the temp is however dropping fast as the rain started about 10 minutes ago.  Slated for thunderstorms off and on all night long, with cooler temps through the weekend.


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Kim Chee is my poison,
> Kim Chee is my healing.
> 
> One of the best complex probiotics you can get on this planet
> 
> View attachment 143228


You sure about that? Study disease charts geographic wise.


----------



## Frank F.

Lowest count of inflammatory gut disorders (IBD) in Asia.

Biggest reasons: warm breakfast, very few wheat and dairy dishes, fermented food, food diversity resulting in biodiverse Microbiome with huge resilience factor.





User experience: The Korean food called kimchi has helped me - General Discussion

Scientific examination: https://page-one.live.cf.public.springer.com/pdf/preview/10.1007/s12275-017-6447-y


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes kimchi. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

Frank F. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Walmart
> 
> 
> 
> 
> K-Mart has the best underwear
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Somehow I just can't picture you in K-Mart underwear.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Who wears underwear anyway.....
> 
> Video removed.
Click to expand...



Cultural divide EU ... USA ... Live at work


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> @Frank:  Gary has a fair understanding of biological microenvironments and ecological microenvironments ... he's getting the book.




Looking forward to reading your comments.


----------



## limr

Forum rules. Terms of Service and Rules | Photography Forum


----------



## Frank F.

Integrative Medicine NYC | Dr Kellman NYC

For anyone who wants to stop short of buying the book but is interested enough in the issue of personal health to take the Microbiome Challenge. You will find things like this:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
1) Heal the gut wall with these compounds:


DGL
Aloe
Glutamine
Zinc carnosine
Glucosamine
Quercitin
Vitamin D
2) Targeted Probiotics can help rebalance the immune system including:


Saccharomyces Boulardii
B infantis 35624
A good quality broad-spectrum probiotic including several different strains of both Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium
3) Improve the health of endogenous bacteria already living in the gut:


Take SCFA like butyrate
Prebiotic supplements including GOS, GOS, inulin and arabinogalactan
4) Diet, diet, diet!


Include large quantities of organically grown plants
Eat fermented and probiotic living foods like kimchi, yogurt and sauerkraut
Prebiotic fibers as found in radish, Jerusalem artichoke, jicama, garlic and onion
Clean filtered water
Grass fed hormone free meats
Wild, low mercury fish
Healthy fats
5) Improve detoxification and inflammation


turmeric/curcumin
resveratrol
glutathione
milk thistle
1820 Clary Sage Omega 3 Oil
GLA sources like borage oil and EPO              <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Forum rules. Terms of Service and Rules | Photography Forum



Rules are made by people reflecting their personal values and cultural background.

In that sense this forum is an US forum with very clear US centric views. I savour that to learn more about US cultural habits.

Cultural divide just means: I see things differently because I was brought up in Europe. Not in the sense of one better one worse. Just different.

Body parts (as in anatomy) are just that. In the video one can clearly see part of a body (lingerie, not anatomy). What is the point of deleting?


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Forum rules. Terms of Service and Rules | Photography Forum
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Rules are made by people reflecting their personal values and cultural background.
> 
> In that sense this forum is an US forum with very clear US centric views. I savour that to learn more about US cultural habits.
> 
> Cultural divide just means: I see things differently because I was brought up in Europe. Not in the sense of one better one worse. Just different.
> 
> Body parts (as in anatomy) are just that. In the video one can clearly see part of a body (lingerie, not anatomy). What is the point of deleting?
Click to expand...


If you have an issue, please send a PM.


----------



## waday

Rainy today. Ugh.


----------



## table1349

waday said:


> Rainy today. Ugh.


Said by no farmer ever.


----------



## JonA_CT

First beet from my garden.


----------



## SquarePeg

Can't beat that.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> First beet from my garden.



Only one way I like beets - pickled. Unfortunately the wife doesn't, so we don't get them that often, because even if you like them there's only so many that one person can enjoy.


----------



## waday

gryphonslair99 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Rainy today. Ugh.
> 
> 
> 
> Said by no farmer ever.
Click to expand...

That's a big claim.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone image

Gary's tomatillos are dropping like flies.  Time for some chili verde!


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> Can't beat that.


----------



## table1349

waday said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Rainy today. Ugh.
> 
> 
> 
> Said by no farmer ever.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's a big claim.
Click to expand...

Well considering we just got done cutting the wheat, and still have sorghum, soybeans and corn in the ground turning your nose up at rain is like cutting it off.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Not raining but the mugginess hasn't improved much yet, but - it's supposed to be nice this weekend!!! maybe will get in the photography I planned to do last weekend. 

Maybe all this wet can be too much of a good thing. It might be the timing, but I live up the street from the mill and it's been awfully quiet this week; last week tractors and whatnot were up and down the street every day. Makes me wonder if it's too wet to do much of anything.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The rain should be done.
It's time to stop being wet.
Let the sun shine on!


Sing along... you got to feel it!  






I didn't know Tom Jones had a TV show?  

Edited because... I'm wasting time...


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 143289
> iPhone image
> 
> Gary's tomatillos are dropping like flies.  Time for some chili verde!



I'm sure you have a great recipe already...but I make this one every few weeks...

Easy Pressure Cooker Pork Chile Verde Recipe

It's really good considering you don't roast everything ahead of time...and 45 minutes from start to finish is pretty solid.

Can you get Hatch chiles there? That would make me eternally jealous.


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> I didn't know Tom Jones had a TV show??



That's not unusual.


----------



## waday

terri said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't know Tom Jones had a TV show??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's not unusual.
Click to expand...

Was it loved by anyone?


----------



## terri

waday said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't know Tom Jones had a TV show??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's not unusual.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Was it loved by anyone?
Click to expand...

Only when it's hanging about with anyone.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't know Tom Jones had a TV show??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's not unusual.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Was it loved by anyone?
Click to expand...


She's a lady.


----------



## Frank F.

JonA_CT said:


> First beet from my garden.
> 
> View attachment 143286




Lovely. Tasty.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> First beet from my garden.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Only one way I like beets - pickled. Unfortunately the wife doesn't, so we don't get them that often, because even if you like them there's only so many that one person can enjoy.
Click to expand...



Did you try to sauteé them? With a tad of garlic or mild onions and fine cut herbs and other veggies to pop up on the color side? A short sauteé with olive oil, sea salt, pepper. Simple. Effective. Opens the Carotenoids for digestion, makes them great.

But of course you are right that beets in pickle sauce are great too.

I just envision a version as a chutney with sour sweet plums in the Chinese or Eastern European style, a cross over between east Asia, south Asia and the Baltic tradition


----------



## Frank F.

Today The fish arrived which I ordered last week and it does not stink in any sense of the expression. Look:


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## Frank F.

I will be offline for a week, so if you miss me stock up on Cleenex for the tears *rotfl*

Here is my little black dress for taking holiday snapshots.

I hope I am not overdressed: 8-15 (equals minus seven), 20, 24, 50, 58, 60, 85, 105, 300


----------



## vintagesnaps

You wanted him, you can have him.






I don't know which is funnier, the hip action or the guy conducting in the background.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.


JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 143289
> iPhone image
> 
> Gary's tomatillos are dropping like flies.  Time for some chili verde!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sure you have a great recipe already...but I make this one every few weeks...
> 
> Easy Pressure Cooker Pork Chile Verde Recipe
> 
> It's really good considering you don't roast everything ahead of time...and 45 minutes from start to finish is pretty solid.
> 
> Can you get Hatch chiles there? That would make me eternally jealous.
Click to expand...

Yes. The Hatch people come out to supermarkets and setup their roasters along the sidewalk.  If Gary remembers correctly, five pounds was the minimum order.  All the orders are roasted while you wait.  We still have a few pounds in the freezer.  Gary has a number of peppers similar Hatch in his garden.  Same size and texture, some hotter and some not as hot as a Hatch.


----------



## pixmedic

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

pixmedic said:


> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


I like that


----------



## Gary A.

Gary received a big package today:


----------



## table1349

I'm not saying Gary A.  drinks a lot of wine, but if he did this with his leftovers there would be a *whole lot* of happy bird families. 





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1119378988194582


----------



## Frank F.

More fishy stuff:


----------



## Gary A.

The bird families may not be overjoyed ... but there is one happy granddaughter.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon: Thanks for the recipe ... but ... Gary doesn't own a pressure cooker.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Gary is in the patio waiting for Mary Lou to arrive.  It is a glorious afternoon/evening. The temps in the 80's, cannot feel any humidity, a nice breeze is shimming the leaves and sweeping across the patio.  Gary is sipping on a Perrier watching the roses swing gently in time with the wind, the strings from KUSC synchronizing with the waterfall.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou is home and walking around the yard tasting the berries, grapes and only the Lord know what else.  Time for some vino and catch up on the news of the day.  (And she just pick a zucchini... lol)


----------



## Gary A.

... make that two zucchinis ...


----------



## Gary A.

... and some tomatoes (one is this large wonderful irregularly shaped heirloom ...

Oops ... make that two large wonderful irregularly shaped heirlooms ...

(See Below)


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## Gary A.

And it only get better with a sparkling Laetitia Brut Rose.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> @ Jon: Thanks for the recipe ... but ... Gary doesn't own a pressure cooker.



I'm not surprised I guess...you know how to enjoy the time that things take. 

During the school year, mine gets a serious workout. I like making real food but don't always have the time to get it out before my daughter needs to eat. The pressure cooker does a great job, and by taking that short cut, I don't have to take as many others. 

I picked our first crookneck squash, carrot, and onion today too. This garden thing is treating me well...I've already got an overly ambitious plan for next year.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has onions, garlic, scallions, potatoes, radish, carrots all over the yard.  But Gary is reluctant to dig them up ... so they just go on and on ...


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary were discussing dinner plans ... we unanimously agreed that all we wanted was to continue drinking the champagne.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm transferring 300GB of photos to long-term back up storage. Anyone else amazed (but annoyed at the same time) that you can transfer that amount of data in about 40 minutes?


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is finally making some dinner.  Pork Chops/Loins, rice and whatever tomato/zucchini/kale salad Mary Lou comes up with.  I love this inductive stuff.  The pork is cooking away on the inductive hot plate and the rice just finished in its own inductive rice cooker. Tomorrow Gary will hit Costco for another inductive hot plate.


----------



## Frank F.

See you on 22nd. All packed. Digital detox. No computer, No internet, No Smartphone. Just Forest & Horses on a Pony Farm. Relax, read, write, wander, workout, play, sing ....


----------



## Gary A.

@ Frank: You have the life.


----------



## jcdeboever

Mr. Hockey, Nikon FM, AIS 50mm 1.8, 400TX


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Y'all Coffee Hosers.  Gary is taking his coffee in the patio.  It is a cool and refreshing morning, but it is predicted to heat up.  The Cook and Gary will leave early this morning while the walking is good.


----------



## Gary A.

Headline in the LA Times Sports Section "Puig's moon shot over Miami".

The Dodgers are hot!


----------



## table1349

Do you walk in Foster Park?  I bet Cook would live it.  Lots of trees and wide open spaces.


----------



## Derrel

JonA_CT said:


> I'm transferring 300GB of photos to long-term back up storage. Anyone else amazed (but annoyed at the same time) that you can transfer that amount of data in about 40 minutes?



Wow.._*three hunnnerd gigs in 40 minutes! @JonA_CT
*
What kind of drives to you own? RAID arrays? SSD's? MY transfers take a looooooooot longer than yours do! I did 179 gigs last week and it seemed to take forever._


----------



## table1349

Derrel said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm transferring 300GB of photos to long-term back up storage. Anyone else amazed (but annoyed at the same time) that you can transfer that amount of data in about 40 minutes?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow.._*three hunnnerd gigs in 40 minutes!
> *
> What kind of drives to you own? RAID arrays? SSD's? MY transfers take a looooooooot longer than your do!_
Click to expand...

Derrel, we keep telling you, you have to upgrade that computer of yours.


----------



## Derrel

NOPE!!! Not until the stone drive bird drops dead from overwork!


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Do you walk in Foster Park?  I bet Cook would live it.  Lots of trees and wide open spaces.


Foster Park ... Gary suspects you are referring to La Mirada Regional Park ... yes we do, but not everyday. There are four parks within easy walking distance from Cook's house. The Regional Park (as the locals call it), Creek Park South (runs into Biola University), Creek Park North and a park to the east which may be privately owned by the surrounding homes.  Typically, Gary let's Cook chose which direction and which park we visit. Creek Park South is the most visited because it relatively unknown with fewer dogs.  Cook walk without a leash, so she can explore and generally just be a dog. When Gary sees an unknown dog approach, he will leash her up.  After 14 years of walks in Creek Park, Cook and Gary rarely run into an unknown pooch. Lots of dogs in the Regional Park and Creek Park North restricting Cook's freedom.  Regional Park has ballparks, tennis courts, lake, Frisbee Golf, et al.





Creek Park North





Creek Park North





Creek Park South





Regional Park





Regional Park





Regional Park


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Do you walk in Foster Park?  I bet Cook would live it.  Lots of trees and wide open spaces.
> 
> 
> 
> Foster Park ... Gary suspects you are referring to La Mirada Regional Park ... yes we do, but not everyday. There are four parks within easy walking distance from Cook's house. The Regional Park (as the locals call it), Creek Park South (runs into Biola University), Creek Park North and a park to the east which may be privately owned by the surrounding homes.  Typically, Gary let's Cook chose which direction and which park we visit. Creek Park South is the most visited because it relatively unknown with fewer dogs.  Cook walk without a leash, so she can explore and generally just be a dog. When Gary sees an unknown dog approach, he will leash her up.  After 14 years of walks in Creek Park, Cook and Gary rarely run into an unknown pooch. Lots of dogs in the Regional Park and Creek Park North restricting Cook's freedom.  Regional Park has ballparks, tennis courts, lake, Frisbee Golf, et al.
Click to expand...




> Creek Park North


_Would you hurry up, I got pee mail to sniff!!!!_


> Creek Park North


That's the biggest dog I have ever seen.



> Creek Park South


Max the collie is dating a poodle????



> Regional Park


I bet I can outrun my human.



> Regional Park



_See I told you I could._ 




> Regional Park



Don't even think about it dog, this is not a fetch ball!!


----------



## table1349

Gary, what is the name of the park between Imperal highway and La Miranda Blvd?  Is it part of Creek Park?

This is where I generally walk our girls.


 

It is a huge wildlife refuge with a creek running through it and several miles of meandering walkways.  It can be entered from three different locations, one of them easily walked to from our house.


----------



## Gary A.

That would be Creek Park South.  There is a horse trail connecting Creek Park South with Creek Park North with tunnels under Imperial Highway and La Mirada Blvd. The tunnel under La Mirada Blvd. takes you to Biola University, which is always fun to walk.





Northern Tunnel

Saying hi to friends along the way




Cook & 'Kitty'




Cook & Bruno




Cook & Mariposa




Cook & Val





The horse trail between the Creek Parks





Heading South


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary, what is the name of the park between Imperal highway and La Miranda Blvd?  Is it part of Creek Park?
> 
> This is where I generally walk our girls.
> View attachment 143379
> 
> It is a huge wildlife refuge with a creek running through it and several miles of meandering walkways.  It can be entered from three different locations, one of them easily walked to from our house.


That park looks like a lot of fun.  We walk about 2.5 to 3.5 daily depending on the direction. Round trip to the end of Creek Park North is about five miles.  The Cook is getting a bit too old for that.


----------



## table1349

Thanks it is a lot of fun for the girls.  Here they take leash laws quite seriously so I have two 30' retractable leashes for them and let them have full run of the leashes.  It is one of those parks where keeping them on a leash is really necessary.  There are deer and lots of other wild critters that live in the park.  

My girls would love to chase the deer and other critters.  They firmly believe that all animals were put on earth to play with them.  We have a rabbit that lives in our hedges and it has learned that if our dogs caught it they wouldn't know what to do.  It used to fly out of the fenced yard, now it leads them on a merry chase before leaving the back yard.  

I do worry about the family room sometimes.  We have the two dogs and two cats that all play together.  When you get the four of them chasing each other around and playing it can be a danger zone for sure.


----------



## vintagesnaps

How the heck do you have that many photos??? gracious.

Have fun Frank! 

Gotta watch a Hitchcock movie, it's homework. Not a bad day out but I've got some respiratory thing going on again so staying in. As one of the weather dudes said, there's not even any pollen... I hate being sick in the summer, who wants chicken soup in July?!! lol


----------



## table1349

The Godfather Trilogy is on AMC this afternoon.   Good day to enjoy the whole series.


----------



## pixmedic

Stopped for some tartaaaaaarrrrr sauce
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Derrel said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm transferring 300GB of photos to long-term back up storage. Anyone else amazed (but annoyed at the same time) that you can transfer that amount of data in about 40 minutes?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow.._*three hunnnerd gigs in 40 minutes! @JonA_CT
> *
> What kind of drives to you own? RAID arrays? SSD's? MY transfers take a looooooooot longer than yours do! I did 179 gigs last week and it seemed to take forever._
Click to expand...


Hahaha nothing fancy. I went from my Macbook Pro to an external solid state. I honestly can't remember if the onboard HD is solid state or not. 

Either way...the estimate was 40 minutes. I left it running and went to bed. I did another 100 something gig transfer this morning and it was pretty quick though.


----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> Stopped for some tartaaaaaarrrrr sauce
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


I fixed it for you if you will give me permission to post it.


----------



## table1349




----------



## pixmedic

gryphonslair99 said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Stopped for some tartaaaaaarrrrr sauce
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> I fixed it for you if you will give me permission to post it.
Click to expand...

But of course

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


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## table1349




----------



## table1349

pixmedic said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
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> pixmedic said:
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> Stopped for some tartaaaaaarrrrr sauce
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> I fixed it for you if you will give me permission to post it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> But of course
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

Black before 6p.m. Is a fashion don't.


----------



## Gary A.

This has pretty much been a nothing burger day. Gary did make it to Costco for his second inductive cooktop and a bunch of other stuff he doesn't need ... but really nice to have. MaryLou's son and family unexpectedly dropped by and ate up the entire afternoon.  Gary wasted another hour researching ceiling mounted Tv brackets.  He finally ordered one that  extends from 22" to 38", swivels 90 degrees and rotates 60 degrees. He will mount it to the patio ceiling for patio Tv when desired and it swings out of the way (to the ceiling) when not desired.  Gary hopes you all had a more productive day.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Black before 6p.m. Is a fashion don't.


A black hat is acceptable at any time of night or day.


----------



## table1349

gryphonslair99 said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
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> pixmedic said:
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> Stopped for some tartaaaaaarrrrr sauce
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> I fixed it for you if you will give me permission to post it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> But of course
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> View attachment 143404
Click to expand...

Am I the only one that thinks that this may be pixmedic at a younger age????


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> This has pretty much been a nothing burger day. Gary did make it to Costco for his second inductive cooktop and a bunch of other stuff he doesn't need ... but really nice to have. MaryLou's son and family unexpectedly dropped by and ate up the entire afternoon.  Gary wasted another hour researching ceiling mounted Tv brackets.  He finally ordered one that  extends from 22" to 38", swivels 90 degrees and rotates 60 degrees. He will mount it to the patio ceiling for patio Tv when desired and it swings out of the way (to the ceiling) when not desired.  Gary hopes you all had a more productive day.



Heh...nothing burger 

My day needs fired: worked 5 hours of OT before 2pm, got a headache, came home to find central air is broken, bought a portable unit and spent a sweaty hour with the boyfriend jury-rigging a seal for my Anderson windows, then had to kill a Godzilla-sized unidentified insect in the basement. I swear I unloaded so much poison on that thing that I probably just gave myself some sort of cancer. And I may or may not have screamed. Loudly. Several times.

But now I'm finally cool and I have cats and wine, so the day may have redeemed itself a little bit, but it still needs fired. Especially since there are plans for afternoon margaritas tomorrow!


----------



## Gary A.

IPhone images:


 
A wonderfully beautiful tomato from the garden.



 
The new setup for the BBQ patio.




Grillin' some apples on the inductive.


----------



## terri

One of the cats deposited a dead bird under my stool this morning.   I'm pretty sure it was Finn.  She's the crafty one.  Bex isn't that interested beyond watching them.

This afternoon, she also brought in a mouse, which escaped and hid behind our largest bookcase.   There's no moving that thing.  It only took half an hour to capture the scared little thing, and transport him back outside.   

Her a $$ is staying inside for awhile.


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning Hosers!  Beach bound today.  Got to get an early start for this one as there is limited parking. Need to be on the road to pick up Sophia's friends by 8:30 and in Gloucester by 9:30 to be sure to get in. This beach is my favorite but with the parking situation we go only once or twice a summer. Breakfast will be on the beach today!

Pics from last year.  Main part of beach





Lazy river inlet





Bridge over lazy river that the kids like to jump off of at high tide




Lazy river


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Morning Hosers!  Beach bound today.  Got to get an early start for this one as there is limited parking. Need to be on the road to pick up Sophia's friends by 8:30 and in Gloucester by 9:30 to be sure to get in. This beach is my favorite but with the parking situation we go only once or twice a summer. Breakfast will be on the beach today!
> 
> Pics from last year.  Main part of beach
> View attachment 143463
> 
> Lazy river inlet
> 
> View attachment 143464
> 
> Bridge over lazy river that the kids like to jump off of at high tide
> View attachment 143465
> 
> Lazy river
> 
> View attachment 143466


Have a relaxing day! You deserve it!


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm a little sore this morning, Yesterday, painted peeling paint around trim on exterior pull barn and garage trim. Trimmed Bush's out front of house, got a couple of spider bites as I invaded about thirty of their homes. I use a little hand held black & decker trimmer (works great). Edged, trimmed, and pulled ivy in front and back yards. Fixed garage door opener. Hooked up new hot spot on all in-laws devices and backed, plus sprayed their wicker old wicker furniture. I did manage to talk with Gary somehow between on all this on my failed 120 B & W developing test using Arista EDU ultra, Gary thinks JC over agitated but I was following instructions. JC thought the instructions were a little strange so he went over to dev chart and was the same, so he went for it. Don't like putting that stuff on the reel, very curly, and frustrating. 

Today, off to Church where I have to usher today. We got the grand kids all day and night. Gonna fire off the rocket grandson and I built a couple weeks ago, got a six pack of engines to use providing we don't lose it before all engines are spent. I may play softball though, waiting on a call back as I am a sub on a really, really, good team. I play 3rd, SS, or 2B. They like it when I play because I hit the long ball, don't like to run around the bases, I'd rather trot. My D is steady but not as good as the regulars. I've subbed a couple games so far and have hit 7 round trippers. I did hit a double too and almost died of a heart attack as my mind thought I was 18 and my body reminded me I'm 53.  Lastly, a park photo shoot with the wife and grandkids around golden hour.


----------



## SquarePeg

Sounds like a great weekend jc


----------



## smoke665

Wow @jcdeboever can you bottle some of that energy and send me a couple of quarts. Lot of stuff I needed to get done yesterday, but the heat and humidity was horrible yesterday morning. Then most of the afternoon it rained. At times that was an understatement, as the drops were more the size of gallon jugs. Never seen such large drops.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Wow @jcdeboever can you bottle some of that energy and send me a couple of quarts. Lot of stuff I needed to get done yesterday, but the heat and humidity was horrible yesterday morning. Then most of the afternoon it rained. At times that was an understatement, as the drops were more the size of gallon jugs. Never seen such large drops.


Send me your address, handle with Care, it's mainly piss and vinegar.


----------



## smoke665

On the news this morning. You just can't fix stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess she should be given credit for taking the crying 2 year old out after the wagon went up on two wheels.

Mum arrested for towing children behind her car in toy wagon


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> On the news this morning. You just can't fix stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess she should be given credit for taking the crying 2 year old out after the wagon went up on two wheels.
> 
> Mum arrested for towing children behind her car in toy wagon


They still getting news via the Pony Express down there?

Daily Darwin Award.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Send me your address, handle with Care, it's mainly piss and vinegar.



Might need more than that, current conditions 72 degrees and rising rapidly.

Winds from the E
4 mph
*Humidity: 100%*
Pressure: 30.05 in
UV Index: 0
Cloud Cover: 20%
Ceiling: 949 ft
Dew Point: 72° F
Visibility: 3 mi
Check out that humidity level!!!!!


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Send me your address, handle with Care, it's mainly piss and vinegar.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Might need more than that, current conditions 72 degrees and rising rapidly.
> 
> Winds from the E
> 4 mph
> *Humidity: 100%*
> Pressure: 30.05 in
> UV Index: 0
> Cloud Cover: 20%
> Ceiling: 949 ft
> Dew Point: 72° F
> Visibility: 3 mi
> Check out that humidity level!!!!!
Click to expand...

Around these parts we call that rain.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Around these parts we call that rain.



We call it liquid air!


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## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Around these parts we call that rain.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We call it liquid air!
Click to expand...

It's not that cold there to have liquid air.  You have to get below -194.35 °C for liquid air.  Your never going to get that cold in Georgia in the summer.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Your never going to get that cold in Georgia in the summer



Not sure as I'm in Alabama LOL


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Your never going to get that cold in Georgia in the summer
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure as I'm in Alabama LOL
Click to expand...

Well we all have our crosses to bear?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Cook and Gary are back from our walk.  We ran into Max and his human Mike, who came over for some coffee and grilled apples with ice cream. Yesterday was trimming the Silk Tree and the Persimmon tree. Today will be Apple and the west side grapes.  The Japanese Beetles are back.  They are so jammin' destructive.  Last year they destroyed ... about 80% of the grapes, 90% of the roses and 30% of the apples. They lay their eggs in the ground and their grubs eat roots. Mary Lou and Gary are setting up traps with oranges as bait in an attempt to slow them down.

In the paper today, there is a very interesting article on the Maryland 400, "The Old Line". Way to go Maryland, kudos to Charlie and his people for saving the Revolution.


----------



## snowbear

Afternoon hosers.
Posted some stuff, now it's time for a power nap.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  82F but at 57% humidity it seems warmer.  Mary Lou and Gary have been busy in the yard for most of the day. Trimming the apple tree, Flowering Maple tree, grapes and planting a new Plumeria (red).  All-in-all a very pleasant day, time for a glass of vino.


----------



## Gary A.

A Venteux Fleur Blanc, from Paso Robles.  As former FBI Director Comey stated, "... Lordy ..." this is sooooo good.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Morning Hosers!  Beach bound today.  Got to get an early start for this one as there is limited parking. Need to be on the road to pick up Sophia's friends by 8:30 and in Gloucester by 9:30 to be sure to get in. This beach is my favorite but with the parking situation we go only once or twice a summer. Breakfast will be on the beach today!



My wife and I will be up that way next week. We are spending a couple of nights in Rockport. Any suggestions or must sees for that area? We are leaving our daughter with Grandma (how scandalous  ).


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 143491
> 
> A Venteux Fleur Blanc, from Paso Robles.  As former FBI Director Comey stated, "... Lordy ..." this is sooooo good.


Gary needs to be more careful of his stemware.  Looks like Gary dropped that one on the patio.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 143491
> 
> A Venteux Fleur Blanc, from Paso Robles.  As former FBI Director Comey stated, "... Lordy ..." this is sooooo good.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary needs to be more careful of his stemware.  Looks like Gary dropped that one on the patio.
Click to expand...

Nah ... it's just cracking up over some of Gary's jokes.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 143491
> 
> A Venteux Fleur Blanc, from Paso Robles.  As former FBI Director Comey stated, "... Lordy ..." this is sooooo good.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary needs to be more careful of his stemware.  Looks like Gary dropped that one on the patio.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nah ... it's just cracking up over some of Gary's jokes.
Click to expand...


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## Gary A.

.... Gary is here all week ...


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> 82F but at 57% humidity it seems warmer



No sympathy here, it was 95 a little while ago, with humidity mid 80's. Guess we're fortunate we had a mild spring and early summer, because it will be mid to late September before we get any significant break.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are taking a break feasting on snacks of backyard Flame Grapes, sweet potato chips and vino ...


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 82F but at 57% humidity it seems warmer
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No sympathy here, it was 95 a little while ago, with humidity mid 80's. Guess we're fortunate we had a mild spring and early summer, because it will be mid to late September before we get any significant break.
Click to expand...

It's the 57% that is unusual and sucks. Normally, Gary would expect the humidity to be in the 30's.  On weekends, we spent 80-90 percent of our time in the backyard/patio, all year round, from breakfast through dinner.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> It's the 57% that is unusual and sucks



We'd think a cold front had come through with 57% humidity LOL it really does make a difference on how you perceive heat or cold.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> .... Gary is here all week ...


Did you hear about the photographer who asked all his friends to save their burnt out light bulbs for him???

















He wanted to set up a DARK ROOM.


----------



## Gary A.

.... Don't forget to tip the waiters ...


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's the 57% that is unusual and sucks
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We'd think a cold front had come through with 57% humidity LOL it really does make a difference on how you perceive heat or cold.
Click to expand...

Things are different out here.


----------



## smoke665

Wow one of the best old westerns of all time,  is on tonight. 1953 Alan Ladd, in Shane. My copy disappeared a couple years ago and I keep forgetting to get another copy.  Going to be a good night


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> Wow one of the best old westerns of all time,  is on tonight. 1953 Alan Ladd, in Shane. My copy disappeared a couple years ago and I keep forgetting to get another copy.  Going to be a good night


It's a good western, but not a great western.  To be a great western they would have cast Randolph Scott.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is finishing up with the yard and the vino.  He cleaned out the pond filters which dropped the pond water level revealing a leak in a 1.5" water line.  Gary repaired the leak but is now refreshingly soaking wet. Time for a shower and dinner. 

Speaking of movies.  Last night Mary Lou and Gary watched "Loving" the movie about the marriage of an interracial couple which became 'The' Supreme Court case which overturned State Law which did not allow interracial marriages .  It received high ratings and it had a happy ending ... but Gary was unimpressed with the movie. Has anybody else seen this movie and have an opinion?


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> To be a great western they would have cast Randolph Scott



Randolph who?? LOL Some of his were okay, but Shane still ranks in my favorite list. I can't remember the number of times I've watched it. Lot of movies back then had a relatively simple plot, but Shane had multiple lines going. The battle between good and bad, forbidden love, honor, bravery. Every time I watch it I catch something else.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Hosers!  Beach bound today.  Got to get an early start for this one as there is limited parking. Need to be on the road to pick up Sophia's friends by 8:30 and in Gloucester by 9:30 to be sure to get in. This beach is my favorite but with the parking situation we go only once or twice a summer. Breakfast will be on the beach today!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My wife and I will be up that way next week. We are spending a couple of nights in Rockport. Any suggestions or must sees for that area? We are leaving our daughter with Grandma (how scandalous  ).
Click to expand...


Good for you!  Love Rockport. Was just there last week for a nice afternoon.  



 

Get out on the water if you can while you're there.  Good Harbor is our favorite beach - not too far from Rockport.   Spent the day there today 



 
Rockport beaches are a little too rocky, lol.  Halibut Point park is nice to see the sunset.  Roy Moore's for lobster.  It's byob so plan accordingly. 

Lots of galleries in Bearskin Neck section. And Sundays is there for homemade ice cream. 

Check out the twin lighthouses on Thacher Island (I think you can go inside) and definitely check out the view of the harbor from the overlook.  It's a nice photo spot.


----------



## benhasajeep

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Hosers!  Beach bound today.  Got to get an early start for this one as there is limited parking. Need to be on the road to pick up Sophia's friends by 8:30 and in Gloucester by 9:30 to be sure to get in. This beach is my favorite but with the parking situation we go only once or twice a summer. Breakfast will be on the beach today!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My wife and I will be up that way next week. We are spending a couple of nights in Rockport. Any suggestions or must sees for that area? We are leaving our daughter with Grandma (how scandalous  ).
Click to expand...

Kittery Trading Post, Cabelas, LL Bean.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary was unimpressed with the movie. Has anybody else seen this movie and have an opinion?



Haven't seen the movie, but our Pastor and his wife are an interracial couple who've been married 30 plus years now. I can't  think of two people more made for eaxh other or a better choice for our Church.


----------



## SquarePeg

benhasajeep said:


> Kittery Trading Post, Cabelas, LL Bean



Rockport MA, not ME


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Hosers!  Beach bound today.  Got to get an early start for this one as there is limited parking. Need to be on the road to pick up Sophia's friends by 8:30 and in Gloucester by 9:30 to be sure to get in. This beach is my favorite but with the parking situation we go only once or twice a summer. Breakfast will be on the beach today!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My wife and I will be up that way next week. We are spending a couple of nights in Rockport. Any suggestions or must sees for that area? We are leaving our daughter with Grandma (how scandalous  ).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Good for you!  Love Rockport. Was just there last week for a nice afternoon.
> View attachment 143507
> 
> Get out on the water if you can while you're there.  Good Harbor is our favorite beach - not too far from Rockport.   Spent the day there today
> 
> View attachment 143508
> Rockport beaches are a little too rocky, lol.  Halibut Point park is nice to see the sunset.  Roy Moore's for lobster.  It's byob so plan accordingly.
> 
> Lots of galleries in Bearskin Neck section. And Sundays is there for homemade ice cream.
> 
> Check out the twin lighthouses on Thacher Island (I think you can go inside) and definitely check out the view of the harbor from the overlook.  It's a nice photo spot.
Click to expand...


Thanks! We'll definitely check out some of those spots. 

I haven't decided what camera gear to bring yet, but it'll be nice to be child-free, since my wife has slightly more tolerance for dallying.


----------



## benhasajeep

SquarePeg said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> Kittery Trading Post, Cabelas, LL Bean
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Rockport MA, not ME
Click to expand...

Kittery is only hour by car depending on where in Rockport they will be.  Scarborough is only 1/2 further north.  Freeport only up the road from Scarborough.  Can hit the trifecta of outdoors companies in less that 1 hour of driving and 1 hour between the stores themselves.  

I lived in Hingham on the South Shore for 5 years.  Wife is from Duxbury.


----------



## SquarePeg

benhasajeep said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> Kittery Trading Post, Cabelas, LL Bean
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Rockport MA, not ME
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Kittery is only hour by car depending on where in Rockport they will be.  Scarborough is only 1/2 further north.  Freeport only up the road from Scarborough.  Can hit the trifecta of outdoors companies in less that 1 hour of driving and 1 hour between the stores themselves.
> 
> I lived in Hingham on the South Shore for 5 years.  Wife is from Duxbury.
Click to expand...


I realize that and that you're just making suggestions but there is enough to see and do in Rockport and the immediately surrounding area that there is no need to drive an additional 2+ hours to Freeport Maine for LL Bean.  Definitely a great stop if you're on your way further north though.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> Wow one of the best old westerns of all time,  is on tonight. 1953 Alan Ladd, in Shane. My copy disappeared a couple years ago and I keep forgetting to get another copy.  Going to be a good night


Read _Monte Walsh_, also written by Jack Schaefer.    _Shane_ gets the bulk of the attention but IMHO, _Monte Walsh_ blows it out of the water.   The book, I mean, not film.


----------



## table1349

terri said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow one of the best old westerns of all time,  is on tonight. 1953 Alan Ladd, in Shane. My copy disappeared a couple years ago and I keep forgetting to get another copy.  Going to be a good night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Read _Monte Walsh_, also written by Jack Schaefer.    _Shane_ gets the bulk of the attention but IMHO, _Monte Walsh_ blows it out of the water.   The book, I mean, not film.
Click to expand...

I can agree on the books BUT the Tom Selleck version of Monte Walsh was a good portrayal of the character and the times of Monte Walsh.  The Lee Marvin version was a little to Sam Peckinpah'ish in style and presentation.


----------



## smoke665

@terri there were so many really good old westerns. They didn't need to use shock or gore to be good. Another favorite is John Wayne, The Shepard Of the Hills.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> The Lee Marvin version was a little to Sam Peckinpah'ish in style and presentation.



But the early version had Jack Palance, another favorite of mine

1990 Quigley Down Under wasn't bad


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Lee Marvin version was a little to Sam Peckinpah'ish in style and presentation.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But the early version had Jack Palance, another favorite of mine
> 
> 1990 Quigley Down Under wasn't bad
Click to expand...

Palance wasn't bad but never a favorite of mine.  Ben Johnson, was probably my favorite supporting role actor in westerns.  One thing that set him apart from most of the other actors like Palance, who was born and raised in Pennsylvania,  Ben Johnson was born in Oklahoma the son of a rancher and rodeo professional.  He was a born and bred cowboy and it showed in his western movie roles.


----------



## jcdeboever

Not really a western per say but I recently watched a movie  call Tender Mercies starring Robert Duval, excellent movie. He portraits a country western singer. Really, really good acting.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Lee Marvin version was a little to Sam Peckinpah'ish in style and presentation.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But the early version had Jack Palance, another favorite of mine
> 
> 1990 Quigley Down Under wasn't bad
Click to expand...

Remember Chuck Conners? The Rifleman, Old Yeller. He was also a professional basketball and baseball player.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @terri there were so many really good old westerns. They didn't need to use shock or gore to be good. Another favorite is John Wayne, The Shepard Of the Hills.


Is there a bad Western? Horses, guns, good guys, bad guys ... what could be bad ...


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Not really a western per say but I recently watched a movie  call Tender Mercies starring Robert Duval, excellent movie. He portraits a country western singer. Really, really good acting.


Lee Marvin was a plummer.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @terri there were so many really good old westerns. They didn't need to use shock or gore to be good. Another favorite is John Wayne, The Shepard Of the Hills.
> 
> 
> 
> Is there a bad Western? Horses, guns, good guys, bad guys ... what could be bad ...
Click to expand...


Meh.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not really a western per say but I recently watched a movie  call Tender Mercies starring Robert Duval, excellent movie. He portraits a country western singer. Really, really good acting.
> 
> 
> 
> Lee Marvin was a plummer.
Click to expand...

And turned into boxing robot on Twilight Zone.


----------



## benhasajeep

Gunsmoke - Was the longest running scripted TV show (until Simpsons).  20 years!!!!  Now that's good TV.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Whatever happened to Randolph Scott? ridin' the trail alone...

I like Alan Ladd and Jack Palance and Randolph Scott when they're in some private eye movie. Or a comedy. In B&W. Jack Palance makes for a good bad guy.

I hate being sick with a cold or whatever in the summer when it's hot. Even tho I'm in the AC, still. Good thing I had some chicken soup in the freezer, that came in handy.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Remember Chuck Conners? The Rifleman



Oh yeah, that and the Lone Ranger followed in later years by Gunsmoke an Bonaza


----------



## limr

My roommate and I used to watch the opening credits of _Rawhide_ because we liked to sing along to the theme song and make up new lyrics. It came on right after _Vegas_ reruns so we sang that song just about every night.

Also, I like _Blazing Saddles._ That's a western, right? 

Otherwise, as I said, meh. I was more likely to sit through a Saturday kung-fu matinee than a western.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> I like Alan Ladd and Jack Palance and Randolph Scott when they're in some private eye movie



I'm not sure when movies became less concerned with acting and story line, and more with shock and disgust. Don't get me wrong I'm not a prude but so often I've seen vulgarity used in a movie when it added nothing, and the story line is either non-existent or so simple that it should be. I would much rather watch a well done older movie of any genre.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes a Western (he was gonna say a 'Good" Western, but that would be redundant).


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> . I was more likely to sit through a Saturday kung-fu matinee



Oh I loved those also. Remember how there was a lag between them speaking on screen and the English audio?? As dumb little kids we didn't know better so when we played kung fu fighters, we would move our mouths the same way then speak


----------



## jcdeboever

Is it just me or did I just get old in this thread?


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Is it just me or did I just get old in this thread?



Nah you just realized you were fortunate enough to grow up in a time when kids could actually be kids, and the heroes of the big screen actually stood for decency. As you got older you and your buddies might talk trash on the street, but you made certain your parents, your grandparents,or the people who knew either, didn't hear you. Not if you wanted to sit down or speak without blowing soap bubbles. Now a lot of parents and grandparents are worse than the kids.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> . I was more likely to sit through a Saturday kung-fu matinee
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh I loved those also. Remember how there was a lag between them speaking on screen and the English audio?? As dumb little kids we didn't know better so when we played kung fu fighters, we would move our mouths the same way then speak
Click to expand...


I do remember that perfectly! And we are not the only ones


----------



## smoke665

@limr I'd forgotten the sounds effects we made emulating the movies. Never did figure out how to do the floating thing though. No matter how hard we tried to defy gravity, we invariably ended up flat on our back!


----------



## jcdeboever

I was always amazed by the dexterity and balance of Kareem Abdul Jabbar. The dude was 7' 2 and gave Bruce Lee all he could handle. Time to take my Geritol


----------



## SquarePeg

Howdy Pardners!  I mean Hosers... Treasure of the Sierra Madre is probably my favorite old western.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @terri there were so many really good old westerns. They didn't need to use shock or gore to be good. Another favorite is John Wayne, The Shepard Of the Hills.
> 
> 
> 
> Is there a bad Western? Horses, guns, good guys, bad guys ... what could be bad ...
Click to expand...

Have you ever seen any of the "My Name is Trinity" movies?  Bow Wow westerns at the head of the pack.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> . I was more likely to sit through a Saturday kung-fu matinee
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh I loved those also. Remember how there was a lag between them speaking on screen and the English audio?? As dumb little kids we didn't know better so when we played kung fu fighters, we would move our mouths the same way then speak
Click to expand...

El Ray network tomorrow night Starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern time.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ...Also, I like _Blazing Saddles._ That's a western, right?   ...


That's the *BEST* western!


----------



## tirediron

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @terri there were so many really good old westerns. They didn't need to use shock or gore to be good. Another favorite is John Wayne, The Shepard Of the Hills.
> 
> 
> 
> Is there a bad Western? Horses, guns, good guys, bad guys ... what could be bad ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Have you ever seen any of the "My Name is Trinity" movies?  Bow Wow westerns at the head of the pack.
Click to expand...

Also the "Nobody" series.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Also, I like _Blazing Saddles._ That's a western, right?   ...
> 
> 
> 
> That's the *BEST* western!
Click to expand...

I would agree if we are talking about the best Western Comedy.   Best  Western of all time is pretty tough.  Stagecoach comes to mind as does The Shootist.  It's pretty hard to not put The Outlaw Jose Wales in the bunch along with High Noon.  There are just too many great Western's that were made.


----------



## table1349

tirediron said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @terri there were so many really good old westerns. They didn't need to use shock or gore to be good. Another favorite is John Wayne, The Shepard Of the Hills.
> 
> 
> 
> Is there a bad Western? Horses, guns, good guys, bad guys ... what could be bad ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Have you ever seen any of the "My Name is Trinity" movies?  Bow Wow westerns at the head of the pack.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Also the "Nobody" series.
Click to expand...

Yep all Terrance Hill movies and all stinkers.


----------



## smoke665

Sorry Blazing Saddles didn't do much for me.  For comedic westerns, James Garner in Support Your Local Sheriff and Maverick, Paint Your Wagon, Paleface and Son Of Paleface, Cat Bellou, there's a list a mile long of good ones. Shanghai Noon combined kung fu and and cowboys, how much better can you get.  Most of John Wayne's westerns were good Mclintock, Big Jake, Eldorado, and the others already mentioned. I could lock the doors and load the DVD player up for a 24/7 weekend of the Duke. Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter, Two Mules For Sister Sara, Fistfull of Dollars.


----------



## terri

I was never much for Western movies.  The books were always so much better.    I don't like John Wayne in anything but _True Grit. _Never cared for Clint Eastwood in anything but _Play Misty for Me, _and that's not a Western.   Overrated actors, both of them.

_High Noon _was terrific, but really more of a thriller with spurs.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## table1349

terri said:


> I was never much for Western movies.  The books were always so much better.    I don't like John Wayne in anything but _True Grit. _Never cared for Clint Eastwood in anything but _Play Misty for Me, _and that's not a Western.   Overrated actors, both of them.
> 
> _High Noon _was terrific, but really more of a thriller with spurs.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> I was never much for Western movies.  The books were always so much better.    I don't like John Wayne in anything but _True Grit. _Never cared for Clint Eastwood in anything but _Play Misty for Me, _and that's not a Western.   Overrated actors, both of them.
> 
> _High Noon _was terrific, but really more of a thriller with spurs.


Not liking Westerns, John Wayne and Clint Eastwood ... is ... is .... Un-American.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Second that. Next she'll be saying she's never seen Law & Order, The Last Outpost, Tennessee Partners,  Cattle Queen, Bad Man, or Santa Fe Trail, by the most famous cowboy actor of all


----------



## table1349




----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. Second that. Next she'll be saying she's never seen Law & Order, The Last Outpost, Tennessee Partners,  Cattle Queen, Bad Man, or Santa Fe Trail, by the most famous cowboy actor of all


Bonzo????


----------



## Gary A.

@gryphonslair99: Gary just picked up an inductive heating transfer plate.  It is just a round stainless steel/ferric disk w/handle.  It sandwichs between the inductive active area and a non-indicative pot/pan and transfer the heat.  You lose some efficiency with the intermediary plate, but it makes everything work.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> @gryphonslair99: Gary just picked up an inductive heating transfer plate.  It is just a round stainless steel/ferric disk w/handle.  It sandwichs between the inductive active area and a non-indicative pot/pan and transfer the heat.  You lose some efficiency with the intermediary plate, but it makes everything work.


Yep, I looked at one of those when we were looking at the induction range as my cookware at the time wasn't induction ready.  Fortunately Calphalon replaced all my cookware for free with their newer line that was induction ready.  

Ho well does the plate work as far as even heat?  That is something that is very important to me as my cookware is for the most part SS interiors.


----------



## Gary A.

John Wayne was a Trojan, (aka Marion Morrison).


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> John Wayne was a Trojan.


Yes he was.  It is fortunate for us however that he got hurt playing football and left school.  Otherwise he would probably never made it into the movies.


----------



## table1349

Such a lovely quite day and evening.  The wife left for West Virginia for two weeks.  Only down side is it looks like one of the dogs got bit on the top of the nose by a suspected brown recluse.  It was looking pretty bad Saturday morning.  Looking better today, but still a lump.  The vet said to watch it.  If it starts to ulcerate then to bring her in and they will treat her otherwise it will just take some time to heal.  Unfortunately both cats and both dogs love to play with little critters and the only little critters we have in the house are brown recluse.  There is no real way to get rid of them and there isn't a structure in this part of the country that doesn't have them hiding out of site.


----------



## terri

gryphonslair99 said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was never much for Western movies.  The books were always so much better.    I don't like John Wayne in anything but _True Grit. _Never cared for Clint Eastwood in anything but _Play Misty for Me, _and that's not a Western.   Overrated actors, both of them.
> 
> _High Noon _was terrific, but really more of a thriller with spurs.
Click to expand...

Funny you should post that.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was never much for Western movies.  The books were always so much better.    I don't like John Wayne in anything but _True Grit. _Never cared for Clint Eastwood in anything but _Play Misty for Me, _and that's not a Western.   Overrated actors, both of them.
> 
> _High Noon _was terrific, but really more of a thriller with spurs.
> 
> 
> 
> Not liking Westerns, John Wayne and Clint Eastwood ... is ... is .... Un-American.
Click to expand...

Nah.   I just like real acting, that's all.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has Calphalon and so far no problem.  He has picked up some cast iron but his stock pots are non-ferrous. So this thing will be helpful for the odd stuff.  Last week Gary hit a moving sale for a restaurant equipment/supply store and picked up some stuff.  Man, the commercial stuff is so much better than the good home stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was never much for Western movies.  The books were always so much better.    I don't like John Wayne in anything but _True Grit. _Never cared for Clint Eastwood in anything but _Play Misty for Me, _and that's not a Western.   Overrated actors, both of them.
> 
> _High Noon _was terrific, but really more of a thriller with spurs.
> 
> 
> 
> Not liking Westerns, John Wayne and Clint Eastwood ... is ... is .... Un-American.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nah.   I just like real acting, that's all.
Click to expand...

Tough crowd.


----------



## table1349

Love my Calphalon, it is their tri ply.  I have used Calphalon, All Clad and Viking.  I would take Viking if I could afford it but it is stupid priced.  The Calphalon and All Clad are the same in performance. The one advantage to All Clad is how complete their line is.  Everything you can think of as well as items you wouldn't think of. 

I do have some cast iron, a 5qt dutch oven as well as a 10" and 12" fry pan.  The 12" is the go too for fried chicken.   I do have an 8", 10", and 12"  Zwilling ceramic non stick omelet  pans as they are one of the few tri-ply non sticks on the market.  They are my only non stick.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> John Wayne was a Trojan.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes he was.  It is fortunate for us however that he got hurt playing football and left school.  Otherwise he would probably never made it into the movies.
Click to expand...

The athletic department good him a summer job at a studio lot where he was discovered.


----------



## limr

Westerns ain't all that.


----------



## table1349

Gary should be watching the Cooking Channel.  Good Eats is on and it is the Loin series.


----------



## Gary A.

Luckily, Gary's largest Dutch Oven, while looks aluminum, is a hybrid and can be used on the inductive.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Westerns ain't all that.


*Gary whistles the theme to The Good, The Bad and the Ugly*


----------



## table1349

My biggest dutch oven is the 5qt.  Never needed bigger.  The one thing that was nice, when I get the replacement cookware Calpalon no longer had an 8 qt stock pot.  I had to settle for their 12 qt instead.  It has come in handy many, many times.  You never realize how much you can use such a big pot until you have one.


----------



## table1349

I am a happy camper.  Just check my e-mail and was informed that La Tienda has Spanish cooking chorizo back in stock.  Just ordered two packages (4 lbs).  Been Jonesing to make shrimp, chicken and chorizo paella.   Should be here by the time the wife gets home.  I would make the paella the proper way with rabbit instead of chicken, but the wife doesn't like eating little bunny foo foo.


----------



## smoke665

We got into cast iron cooking over a fire. The Lodge factory is only about 70 miles from us. Built a fire pit with hangers. Not sure it's really better but it seems like it. Never had any complaints anyhow.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> We got into cast iron cooking over a fire. *The Lodge factory is only about 70 miles from us.* Built a fire pit with hangers. Not sure it's really better but it seems like it. Never had any complaints anyhow.


Oh sure rub it in. 

 Do they have a factory outlet store there???  We do have a St Louis dutch oven in the camping stuff.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Do they have a factory outlet store there???



Of course they do. Interesting place. We have a nice collection of Dutch ovens in several sizes, griddles, skillets and other items. I'm surprised they're still in business because it never wears out.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Do they have a factory outlet store there???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Of course they do. Interesting place. We have a nice collection of Dutch ovens in several sizes, griddles, skillets and other items. I'm surprised they're still in business because it never wears out.
Click to expand...

I'm jealous.  I would love to have a bigger set, but the wife has never really cooked with or cleaned cast iron, plus she doesn't like the weight.  

All of my cast iron other than the camping stuff is enamel coated.  Doesn't scratch the glass top of the induction range and is usable for high acidic foods, unlike standard cast iron.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Westerns ain't all that.
> 
> 
> 
> *Gary whistles the theme to The Good, The Bad and the Ugly*
Click to expand...


*whistles Dixie*


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> All of my cast iron other than the camping stuff is enamel coated. Doesn't scratch the glass top of the induction range



Have 3 of the enamel coated Dutch ovens that we use in the oven, but it just isn't the same.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> All of my cast iron other than the camping stuff is enamel coated. Doesn't scratch the glass top of the induction range
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have 3 of the enamel coated Dutch ovens that we use in the oven, but it just isn't the same.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but chili comes out of the enamel coated much better than a pure cast iron dutch oven.  My St. Louis style dutch oven has only had one thing made in it for it's entire life.  It is the bet biscuit oven you can find.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> Yeah, but chili comes out of the enamel coated much better than a pure cast iron dutch



I'd have to call "show me" on that. Properly seasoned cast iron with an aged patina something else.


----------



## benhasajeep

My wife baked me a birthday cake in a dutch oven camping one time.  It came out very good.  We have quite a bit of cast iron cook ware including a cast iron pizza pan.

My inlaws had a house fire before I met my wife.  My mother in law kept her mothers cast iron even though it was heavily sooted from the fire.  They were storing them in my storage building while they were building their new retirement home.   I took them to my bead blaster and cleaned off all the soot and carbon.  And we re-seasoned them for her.  Then gave them back to her for Christmas.  She was more excited about those 100 year old pans than anything.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, but chili comes out of the enamel coated much better than a pure cast iron dutch
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd have to call "show me" on that. Properly seasoned cast iron with an aged patina something else.
Click to expand...

Come by and bring your cast iron dutch oven.  My chili cooks for 8 to 10 hours on a low heat, and it doesn't come out with that iron flavor to it.  Hi acidic food is fine in cast iron for a short cook but a long cook in cast iron with hi acidic ingredients will draw out that iron flavor.


----------



## smoke665

benhasajeep said:


> . I took them to my bead blaster and cleaned off all the soot and carbon.



My grandmother would gather up the cast iron that needed cleaning every year in the cold of winter. We had a big coal/ wood furnace in the basement, that she'd get me to build a hot fire in. The cast iron went into the furnace overnight the next morning it was fished out brushed off and oiled while it was still hot..


----------



## benhasajeep

smoke665 said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> . I took them to my bead blaster and cleaned off all the soot and carbon.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My grandmother would gather up the cast iron that needed cleaning every year in the cold of winter. We had a big coal/ wood furnace in the basement, that she'd get me to build a hot fire in. The cast iron went into the furnace overnight the next morning it was fished out brushed off and oiled while it was still hot..
Click to expand...


It must have been from cooling after the fire.  But these had buildup of carbon and soot adhered to the pans.  Had been stored that way for over 10 years.  She said she always wanted to send them to get redone.  But didn't know where to send them.  Bead blasting took the carbon right off.  We seasoned each pan twice to make sure they took in all the oil they could.  Not quite the same patina as an old properly taken care of pan, but they came out pretty good.  They were Erie brand and I guess that's pretty old ones.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Whatever happened to Randolph Scott? ridin' the trail alone...
> 
> I like Alan Ladd and Jack Palance and Randolph Scott when they're in some private eye movie. Or a comedy. In B&W. Jack Palance makes for a good bad guy.
> 
> I hate being sick with a cold or whatever in the summer when it's hot. Even tho I'm in the AC, still. Good thing I had some chicken soup in the freezer, that came in handy.



Sorry to hear it. Speedy recovery is in order.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary echos JC on your recovery.  If you need more chicken soup, Gary has some containers in the freezer.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has a few Lodge pieces, including his favorite pizza pan.  Gary just pan fried some talipia outside on the inductive in a cast iron skillet. Delish.

@gryphonslair99:  Gary has silicon mats to protect the glass inductive surface. You should look into them.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary just pan fried some talipia outside on the inductive in a cast iron skillet.



We have a counter top induction unit in the RV, so we can use it outside when needed. Wife said we needed special pans for it. Never thought about the cast iron. I think wife might have pulled one over on me! LOL


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary just pan fried some talipia outside on the inductive in a cast iron skillet.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We have a counter top induction unit in the RV, so we can use it outside when needed. Wife said we needed special pans for it. Never thought about the cast iron. I think wife might have pulled one over on me! LOL
Click to expand...

At least it wasn't a Coach purse.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary has a few Lodge pieces, including his favorite pizza pan.  Gary just pan fried some talipia outside on the inductive in a cast iron skillet. Delish.
> 
> @gryphonslair99:  Gary has silicon mats to protect the glass inductive surface. You should look into them.


I've seen some but none fit my needs.  I need something that will handle high heat.  Supposedly there is one made that will handle 1800 degrees, but I haven't found one.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary tends to cook low and slow and so far no problem with the mats melting.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> Gary tends to cook low and slow and so far no problem with the mats melting.


My very favorite method to cook a perfect steak starts with a square cash iron grill pan on the stove.  It is the home version of how some of the very best steak houses cook their steaks.  The process is quite simple but employs high heat.  Bring your oven up to 500 degrees (260C).  Once the oven is to temp put a cast iron pan on your largest burner.  I like to use a square cast iron grill pan instead of a 12" cast iron skillet.  Heat it on high for about 5 minutes until it reaches a temp of 500 degrees.  To reduce cleanup issues I sprinkle course kosher salt into the ridges of the grill pan.

Take your steak, I prefer ribeye but any thick cut steak (1 1/2") will work, that has been sitting out for 30 minutes. Lightly coat the steak with canola oil then season it liberally with salt, and pepper as well as any seasoning you might like.  I use my "house seasoning" which is a mix of salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Put the steak down in the hot pan for 30 seconds, do not touch the steak or the pan.  After 30 seconds flip the steak and let it cook for 30 seconds.  Preferably you flipped it to an unused portion of the pan.  After 30 seconds take the pan and put it in the oven for 2 minutes on the center rack.  Do not touch the steak.  After 2 minutes flip the steak and put it back into the oven for another 2 minutes.  When the 2 minutes are up take the steak out, put it on a platter that has been warmed and cover with a double layer of aluminum foil for at least 5 minutes.  This will give you a perfect medium rare steak.  If you prefer you steak to be medium then add 1 minute to each side in the oven.

Top the steaks with your favorite compound butter and serve.

That is why I am looking for those really high heat silicon mats I heard about.  I don't want my induction range to have a melted silicon top stuck to it so for now I am just real careful with my cast iron grill.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary prefers the Komado, goes up to 750F if needed and adds some smoke to the flavor. I close the lid and it's a proper oven. Temps are controlled via air flow. Giving it more thought ... that's basically how Gary cooks his steaks.  Gary uses the Komado as both grill and oven.


----------



## SquarePeg

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary tends to cook low and slow and so far no problem with the mats melting.
> 
> 
> 
> My very favorite method to cook a perfect steak starts with a square cash iron grill pan on the stove.  It is the home version of how some of the very best steak houses cook their steaks.  The process is quite simple but employs high heat.  Bring your oven up to 500 degrees (260C).  Once the oven is to temp put a cast iron pan on your largest burner.  I like to use a square cast iron grill pan instead of a 12" cast iron skillet.  Heat it on high for about 5 minutes until it reaches a temp of 500 degrees.  To reduce cleanup issues I sprinkle course kosher salt into the ridges of the grill pan.
> 
> Take your steak, I prefer ribeye but any thick cut steak (1 1/2") will work, that has been sitting out for 30 minutes. Lightly coat the steak with canola oil then season it liberally with salt, and pepper as well as any seasoning you might like.  I use my "house seasoning" which is a mix of salt, pepper and garlic powder.
> 
> Put the steak down in the hot pan for 30 seconds, do not touch the steak or the pan.  After 30 seconds flip the steak and let it cook for 30 seconds.  Preferably you flipped it to an unused portion of the pan.  After 30 seconds take the pan and put it in the oven for 2 minutes on the center rack.  Do not touch the steak.  After 2 minutes flip the steak and put it back into the oven for another 2 minutes.  When the 2 minutes are up take the steak out, put it on a platter that has been warmed and cover with a double layer of aluminum foil for at least 5 minutes.  This will give you a perfect medium rare steak.  If you prefer you steak to be medium then add 1 minute to each side in the oven.
> 
> Top the steaks with your favorite compound butter and serve.
> 
> That is why I am looking for those really high heat silicon mats I heard about.  I don't want my induction range to have a melted silicon top stuck to it so for now I am just real careful with my cast iron grill.
Click to expand...


I use a heavy grill pan indoors to cook our steaks also.  @Gary A.  stop reading here.  I think they come out better than on the grill.  

I heat the pan on high but I use butter instead of canola oil then salt and pepper to taste.  Usually we'll cook filet mignon but occasionally a t-bone or ny sirloin.  2-3 minutes on each side depending on thickness then rest for 5 minutes on a platter for perfect medium rare.  We can only do this with butter because our stove has a very powerful exhaust system since butter smokes so much but it does give a very nice crust on the steaks.  Even with the exhaust on high it does occasionally cause a bit of eye watering for the chef.

Your method above is what I use for pork chops and they come out perfect if you do 4 mins each side then 4 mins in the oven.  

None of this is induction - just a plain old ceramic cooktop.


----------



## benhasajeep

We also have the ribbed cast iron pan for searing steaks and such.  We need a better vent though. 

Wife wants a new kitchen.  I keep buying lenses.


----------



## waday

I hope you feel better, @vintagesnaps !

Headache today. Ugh. 

I'm totally buying this book for our kid. General Relativity for Babies - Board Book


----------



## table1349

SquarePeg said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary tends to cook low and slow and so far no problem with the mats melting.
> 
> 
> 
> My very favorite method to cook a perfect steak starts with a square cash iron grill pan on the stove.  It is the home version of how some of the very best steak houses cook their steaks.  The process is quite simple but employs high heat.  Bring your oven up to 500 degrees (260C).  Once the oven is to temp put a cast iron pan on your largest burner.  I like to use a square cast iron grill pan instead of a 12" cast iron skillet.  Heat it on high for about 5 minutes until it reaches a temp of 500 degrees.  To reduce cleanup issues I sprinkle course kosher salt into the ridges of the grill pan.
> 
> Take your steak, I prefer ribeye but any thick cut steak (1 1/2") will work, that has been sitting out for 30 minutes. Lightly coat the steak with canola oil then season it liberally with salt, and pepper as well as any seasoning you might like.  I use my "house seasoning" which is a mix of salt, pepper and garlic powder.
> 
> Put the steak down in the hot pan for 30 seconds, do not touch the steak or the pan.  After 30 seconds flip the steak and let it cook for 30 seconds.  Preferably you flipped it to an unused portion of the pan.  After 30 seconds take the pan and put it in the oven for 2 minutes on the center rack.  Do not touch the steak.  After 2 minutes flip the steak and put it back into the oven for another 2 minutes.  When the 2 minutes are up take the steak out, put it on a platter that has been warmed and cover with a double layer of aluminum foil for at least 5 minutes.  This will give you a perfect medium rare steak.  If you prefer you steak to be medium then add 1 minute to each side in the oven.
> 
> Top the steaks with your favorite compound butter and serve.
> 
> That is why I am looking for those really high heat silicon mats I heard about.  I don't want my induction range to have a melted silicon top stuck to it so for now I am just real careful with my cast iron grill.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I use a heavy grill pan indoors to cook our steaks also.  @Gary A.  stop reading here.  I think they come out better than on the grill.
> 
> I heat the pan on high but I use butter instead of canola oil then salt and pepper to taste.  Usually we'll cook filet mignon but occasionally a t-bone or ny sirloin.  2-3 minutes on each side depending on thickness then rest for 5 minutes on a platter for perfect medium rare.  We can only do this with butter because our stove has a very powerful exhaust system since butter smokes so much but it does give a very nice crust on the steaks.  Even with the exhaust on high it does occasionally cause a bit of eye watering for the chef.
> 
> Your method above is what I use for pork chops and they come out perfect if you do 4 mins each side then 4 mins in the oven.
> 
> None of this is induction - just a plain old ceramic cooktop.
Click to expand...

Got to agree, lets the full flavor of the meat come through.  A good cut of meat should be able to stand on it's own flavor wise with just a touch of seasoning. In fact, it sounded so good that when I went shopping today I had the butcher cut me a nice rib eye for tomorrow night.  No wife to cook for so I am fixing 1 person meals and just because she is gone for a couple of weeks there is not reason for me not to eat well.  

Give Gary's idea of a stand alone induction plate a try.  I wouldn't be without Induction now or if I had to gas.  They just control too easy.  Only thing with induction, unlike electric/ceramic you need to be ready to cook.  There is no time to prep while cooking since you get instant heat on and off.


----------



## table1349

Just got done ordering a hand cranked butter churn.  I can see this being a morning chore on Saturday's and making buttermilk pancakes for breakfast with the left over butter milk.


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

Is it really only Tuesday afternoon? Excel is messing with me and I'm convinced it is pure spite on its part.

Are we _sure_ it's only Tuesday afternoon?


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hey, hosers.
> 
> Is it really only Tuesday afternoon? Excel is messing with me and I'm convinced it is pure spite on its part.
> 
> Are we _sure_ it's only Tuesday afternoon?



Yes, it's only Tuesday.  Or as I like to call it this week: Monday2.0    We need to get with the European program and get on the 4 day work week with multiple months vacations.  See @Frank F.  we do agree on something.


----------



## JonA_CT

I played golf today and was paired up with a couple of geezers. I out drove them by a solid 40 yards each hole. 

I still lost by 15 strokes. These guys were awesome, and they started calling me grasshopper by the time we hit the turn, haha.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I played golf today and was paired up with a couple of geezers. I out drove them by a solid 40 yards each hole.
> 
> I still lost by 15 strokes. These guys were awesome, and they started calling me grasshopper by the time we hit the turn, haha.


Yup, my mother in law kicks my butt. She hits them straight but around 150 on a drive. Consistent. Rarely two putts the green. She said drive is for show but putt for dough. I can hit a drive 300 yards down the middle and it all falls apart from there. Lol


----------



## terri

It took awhile this year, but summer has officially arrived, heat wise.   We had an amazing May and June!    This week is shaping up to be in the upper 90's in a day or two - ugh!!  My basil doesn't like it at all.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> It took awhile this year, but summer has officially arrived, heat wise.   We had an amazing May and June!    This week is shaping up to be in the upper 90's in a day or two - ugh!!  My basil doesn't like it at all.



Your basil: it me.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, hosers.
> 
> Is it really only Tuesday afternoon? Excel is messing with me and I'm convinced it is pure spite on its part.
> 
> Are we _sure_ it's only Tuesday afternoon?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, it's only Tuesday.  Or as I like to call it this week: Monday2.0    We need to get with the European program and get on the 4 day work week with multiple months vacations.  See @Frank F.  we do agree on something.
Click to expand...

Tuesday is the worst day in the week.


----------



## JonA_CT

It was definitely hot today. I drank 3 liters of water while playing today and biofeedback says that wasn't enough.


----------



## waday




----------



## table1349




----------



## snowbear

Thursday is my Friday.  I have a meeting on the Eastern Shore so I'll be out of the office all day.  MLW is not going to work, so I don't have to go pick her up; I'll go to the after-meeting social for the first time; though I will likely sit in the corner and sip iced tea.

Tomorrow is a tabletop exercise at the Emergency Ops Center.  It's designed to evaluate the GIS departments in the region.  The event: Tornado?  Haz-mat spill?  Train wreck?  Active shooter?  It's a surprise!


----------



## pixmedic

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

After golfing today, I went and took some photos on my own for the first time in month.

Anyone have any idea what this weird flare is? I think it's in all of my photos from today...


----------



## snowbear

pixmedic said:


> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk



How are your burgers doing, Your Majesty?


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> After golfing today, I went and took some photos on my own for the first time in month.
> 
> Anyone have any idea what this weird flare is? I think it's in all of my photos from today...
> 
> View attachment 143630


----------



## snowbear

Interesting that there is a similar green reflection to the left.  My  first thought was the opening in the trees, but if it was on more shots, then it's something else; almost double exposure-ish.


----------



## smoke665

Yuk. In the North GA mountains for the next few days. Barely a cell signal and no internet


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Yuk. In the North GA mountains for the next few days. Barely a cell signal and no internet


I wouldn't mind the first - enjoy it, actually.  And the second is probably a good thing.


----------



## Gary A.

It was fine out here today, mid 80's and under 50% humidity. Gary made more ice cream today.  Gary is trying to use up all the milk before it spoils.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> I wouldn't mind the first - enjoy it, actually. And the second is probably a good thing.



It's kind of like quitting smoking. The first day is the worst. Plus I'm involved in a FEMA grant that requires communication


----------



## Derrel

JonA_CT said:


> After golfing today, I went and took some photos on my own for the first time in month.
> 
> Anyone have any idea what this weird flare is? I think it's in all of my photos from today...
> 
> View attachment 143630



Huh...Could it be an accidental fingerprint swipe that has left a slight residue on the lens? On a cell phone camera, this could be from pocket-sweat, which can at times be crreated when the lens is close to the body, and then the phone is whipped out, and a shot snapped. On a camera lens, it is sometimes on the REAR element. If a lens is really pretty scratched up on the front elelement, it can also cause a sort of halo-effect, foggy,misty-like type of flaring (my iPhone 4's front lens filter/cover got scratched up, and ALL back-light types of light sources cause a foggy flare now).


----------



## jcdeboever

Jona butt juice


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Jona butt juice


----------



## table1349

Another Sunny day in Do-Dah.  Me thinks that Gary is being too generous with his weather.  I remember Gary mentioning a few days ago about how hot it was out there in the land of Paradise.  Apparently Gary decided to share some of that temperature bounty with us flatlanders as the forecast is for a high of 102 ℉.  

This is definitely a day to work indoors instead of outdoors and fortunately our unfortunately the house could use a good vacuuming and dusting.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's hot here too from all accounts but I'm not goin' out there to find out personally! Thanks for the wishes on feeling better, I slept away half the day yesterday but am feeling much better! And staying in the AC.


----------



## table1349

vintagesnaps said:


> It's hot here too from all accounts but I'm not goin' out there to find out personally! Thanks for the wishes on feeling better, I slept away half the day yesterday but am feeling much better! And staying in the AC.


Old cure for a cold.  Get one bottle of whiskey.  Drink the whole bottle in 1 hours time.  *IF* you wake up your cold will be cured.  If you don't wake up, well you won't care about the cold anyway.  

Seriously, hope it gets better.  Take care of yourself, rest, drink plenty of fluids and get to feeling better.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't see flare, I see haze. Which looks naturally occurring! lol at least here it is lately. I do see what almost looks like movement blur in the upper right.

Maybe Derrel's right and somewhere there's a schmear. Had you been eating something finger lickin' good last time you changed lenses?


Jon if you try Gryph's cold cure that probably would keep you from noticing any lens flare, or caring about it!


----------



## table1349

Well, doesn't look like I will get housework done this afternoon.  Friday night, Saturday morning one of our two dogs, Gidget, decided to play tag with a brown recluse spider and got bit on top of here nose   Had to be a brown recluse as the only other insects/crawlies we ever see in the house is the occasional fly that manages to time their entrance when the door is open. 

Call the vet Monday and was told to watch it and wait.  Might clear up and might get worse depending on how much venom the spider released and to give her 25mg Benadryl to help with pain or itching.  This morning the lump on her nose looked to be receding.  Checked her a few minutes ago and it receded alright, but has now turned an ugly purple and the lump has split open.  Looks like dermonecrosis has set in.

Update.  
The vet confirmed it was a bite and probably a spider bite as described.  She sent us home with an antibiotic and a pain reliever and said to keep some neosporin or polysporin on it and watch it.  Currently where it opened this morning has scabbed over which is a good sign.  If however it turns pussey or and open sore that won't scab over develops they will have to treat it by removing as much of the flesh as they can to stop the necrosis.  Where it is could be potentially fatal, only time will tell.


----------



## table1349

Well it only made it to 101 today.  Forecast is for 101 tomorrow, 102 Friday and 103 Saturday, then 93 Sunday.  Gary is being too generous with sharing his California heat.


----------



## smoke665

Not quite that bad in N. GA mountains but close. Don't like to wish my life away, but July, August and the first half of September could disappear from the calendar and it wouldn't hurt my feelings. Hate being stuck inside.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> Not quite that bad in N. GA mountains but close. Don't like to wish my life away, but July, August and the first half of September could disappear from the calendar and it wouldn't hurt my feelings. Hate being stuck inside.


So inquiring minds want to know, are you in Alabama or Georgia???


----------



## snowbear

I have a half-day tomorrow - MLW's turn at the ophthy for evaluation.  Exercise went well with a couple of hiccups: CCTA (Complex Coordinated Terrorist Attack), with three jurisdictions involved.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Jona butt juice
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 143637
Click to expand...

Nice map.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Jona butt juice
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 143637
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nice map.
Click to expand...


I knew you would notice that


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Jona butt juice
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 143637
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nice map.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I knew you would notice that
Click to expand...

Yep.

Had an odd dream with you in it the other night, but you looked like Rosie Perez and you had a friend (Marie) that looked like Molly Shannon.  The cats were there, too but looked like themselves.


----------



## Gary A.

85F Today, but the humidity was around 50%. Gary is on the shuttle heading to the Hollywood Bowl. He is wearing long sleeves as the evening is cooling off.


----------



## Gary A.

A night of Ella and Dizzy.


----------



## bribrius

Hi peeps! How has everyone been?


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> inquiring minds want to know, are you in Alabama or Georgia



This week we are in NE GA, just outside Helen, GA. Then back to Alabama, for two weeks. Then in Stone Moutain, (Atlanta) for a few days, back to Alabama for two weeks, then headed for Smokies.


----------



## waday

bribrius said:


> Hi peeps! How has everyone been?


I just said this in the other thread, but good to see you again!


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> inquiring minds want to know, are you in Alabama or Georgia
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This week we are in NE GA, just outside Helen, GA. Then back to Alabama, for two weeks. Then in Stone Moutain, (Atlanta) for a few days, back to Alabama for two weeks, then headed for Smokies.
Click to expand...

Would you do me a little favor then and post your travel schedule.  It makes it a whole lot easier to have a bit of fun with you about living in the south if I KNEW where you were at the time.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers and Brian.  It was a wonderfully pleasant night at the Bowl. A California Perfect evening. Typically, Gary will cook up a storm and we would feast at the tables lining the roadway leading up to our seats. Yesterday was a very busy day, consequently Mary Lou and Gary stopped at Philippe's, the self-proclaimed inventor of the French Dip. The sandwiches are soooooo good.  Gary routinely takes visitors to Philippe's as an example of LA cuisine.  The Bowl has many reasons for platitudes, one of which allowing patrons to bring their own food and drink into the venue and eat at their seats.  Mary Lou and Gary took two bottles of vino, one we had with our dinner.  The other we drank at our seats, and shared with those around us, during the performance.  The music was spectacular. The 'Dizzy' half was performed by his grandson Radji Birks Bryson-Barrett and his band.  The band and Bryson-Barrett were consistently hitting those high notes, like it was a walk in the park.  Unbelievably good.  At one point Gary told Mary Lou that he is glad their wine glasses were metal.  Billy Childs was on piano and Lewis Nash on the drums. The highlight was when Charles McPherson walked on stage and performed. 

The Ella side was simply ... grand.  A good sized band filled the bowl and was conducted by Vince Mendoza. Her songs were sung by Andra Day, Jane Monheit, Leslie Odom, Jr. and Lizz Wright. Regina Carter weighed on violin with Patrice Rushen on piano. Ella's songs are all so classically ... grand. It was a great night.


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 143696 A night of Ella and Dizzy.


Looking at the goblet one might think that Gary was at Medieval Times instead of a Jazz concert.


----------



## Gary A.

Those are Gary's and Mary Lou's Bowl glasses.  If they get dropped, one can keep drinking.  The glasses get a lot of nice comments by patrons and a lot of appreciation by Bowl Staff, (at the end of the night they sweep up a ton of glass shards).


----------



## table1349

We have a few of these around for outdoor living. Amazon.com | Polycarbonate Cabernet, Wine Glasses Set of 4: Shatter Proof Wine Glasses: Wine Glasses

I don't trust guests with my good pewter goblets.  They dent to easily.


----------



## bribrius

waday said:


> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi peeps! How has everyone been?
> 
> 
> 
> I just said this in the other thread, but good to see you again!
Click to expand...

I think i do this stuff because i show up. And it is for good causes. Kind of a honor to meet talented people.


----------



## waday

bribrius said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bribrius said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi peeps! How has everyone been?
> 
> 
> 
> I just said this in the other thread, but good to see you again!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I think i do this stuff because i show up. And it is for good causes. Kind of a honor to meet talented people.View attachment 143737 View attachment 143736
Click to expand...

Awesome!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey Bri how are ya doin'? nice to see you stop by.


----------



## snowbear

Good news - MLW is cataract free, but goes back in 3 months.


----------



## table1349

snowbear said:


> Good news - MLW is cataract free, but goes back in 3 months.


Outstanding...


----------



## table1349

Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington dies in LA at 41

R.I.P.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> inquiring minds want to know, are you in Alabama or Georgia
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This week we are in NE GA, just outside Helen, GA. Then back to Alabama, for two weeks. Then in Stone Moutain, (Atlanta) for a few days, back to Alabama for two weeks, then headed for Smokies.
Click to expand...

You might want to stay in Georgia.
Alabama man shoots huge wild boar in his front garden - BBC News

That is a garden pest to top all garden pests.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> We have a few of these around for outdoor living. Amazon.com | Polycarbonate Cabernet, Wine Glasses Set of 4: Shatter Proof Wine Glasses: Wine Glasses
> 
> I don't trust guests with my good pewter goblets.  They dent to easily.


Plastic and wine ... just does seem to go together.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> We have a few of these around for outdoor living. Amazon.com | Polycarbonate Cabernet, Wine Glasses Set of 4: Shatter Proof Wine Glasses: Wine Glasses
> 
> I don't trust guests with my good pewter goblets.  They dent to easily.
> 
> 
> 
> Plastic and wine ... just does seem to go together.
Click to expand...

It ruins mad dog 20 20 fo sho


----------



## table1349

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> We have a few of these around for outdoor living. Amazon.com | Polycarbonate Cabernet, Wine Glasses Set of 4: Shatter Proof Wine Glasses: Wine Glasses
> 
> I don't trust guests with my good pewter goblets.  They dent to easily.
> 
> 
> 
> Plastic and wine ... just does seem to go together.
Click to expand...

Not plastic, Polycarbonate.  Polycarbonate is a fancy plastic, not just plastic.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> We have a few of these around for outdoor living. Amazon.com | Polycarbonate Cabernet, Wine Glasses Set of 4: Shatter Proof Wine Glasses: Wine Glasses
> 
> I don't trust guests with my good pewter goblets.  They dent to easily.
> 
> 
> 
> Plastic and wine ... just does seem to go together.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It ruins mad dog 20 20 fo sho
Click to expand...

Nothing ruins Mad Dog 20/20.  Thunderbird on the other hand.........


----------



## table1349

Medium Rare Pan Steak and baked potato with sour cream and chives.


----------



## benhasajeep

gryphonslair99 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> We have a few of these around for outdoor living. Amazon.com | Polycarbonate Cabernet, Wine Glasses Set of 4: Shatter Proof Wine Glasses: Wine Glasses
> 
> I don't trust guests with my good pewter goblets.  They dent to easily.
> 
> 
> 
> Plastic and wine ... just does seem to go together.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It ruins mad dog 20 20 fo sho
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nothing ruins Mad Dog 20/20.  Thunderbird on the other hand.........
Click to expand...


MadBoonesRippleBird


----------



## jcdeboever

I like pan steak


----------



## Derrel

jcdeboever said:


> I like pan steak



Me too.


----------



## limr

Derrel said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like pan steak
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Me too.
Click to expand...


Not me.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> You might want to stay in Georgia



Might want to if every day was like yesterday. Found enough gold flakes to take the wife out for fast food, then came on these. 2 Rubies, a Smokey Quartz,  Aquamarine and a cup full of assorted smaller gems. Fun day. Wife sees some new jewelry when we get back. Maybe something to go with the full carat diamond she found last year.


----------



## waday

5 teens who recorded, mocked drowning man will not be charged in his death

I'm done reading news today. It's too depressing.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah, that was awful. 

Sad about Linkin Park's singer, especially on the birthday of his best friend who'd been with Soundgarden and ended his life too... wow, just hard to understand but I guess for some people it all becomes overwhelming. 

On a lighter note, I was thinking earlier about a nice steak and baked potato, but didn't feel like cooking. Going with spring rolls and shrimp and rice since that involves mostly doing nothing while the rice absorbs the water... At least I'm feeling like real food instead of chicken soup.


----------



## table1349

Ah, oriental food.  That is on the menu tonight.  Pork Egg rolls, sweet & sour chicken with sticky rice.  Even with the wife out of town I do not cook on Friday night so I will be frequenting our favorite Chinese place.  Fabulous food and a decor that Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack would love.  It is soooooooo wood panel 60's with red checkered table cloths.


----------



## smoke665

Guess even the best have a bad day. Ate at a moderately expensive old well known restaurant. Food was great till. I crunched down on a piece of glass. They replaced the meal, apologized profusely and bought us a round of drinks. No harm done so far.


----------



## jcdeboever

I took the day off an installed a new counter top, sink, island counter, and back splash. Looks good and wife is happy, hoping to see how really happy she is. The hardest part was getting those sink screws in place. No leaks, looks good, cleaning up putty, silicone edges with shim. Flippin slate is some heavy you stuff, I had that budgeted to be installed  professional, coach purse ruined my laziness.


----------



## table1349

smoke665 said:


> Guess even the best have a bad day. Ate at a moderately expensive old well known restaurant. Food was great till. I crunched down on a piece of glass. They replaced the meal, apologized profusely and bought us a round of drinks. No harm done so far.


Glad to hear that you didn't get hurt.  Glass is not in any of the food groups that I am aware of. 

This apparently is the night for mixed up meals out.  Didn't get my sweet and sour chicken.  The put me in a nice little quiet corner table.  While I was sitting there the owner came up and sat down.  I have known her for 40+ years.  Her husband was a young college professor when I was in school and he and I happened to share a hospital room for 4 days having both had some surgery.  We became good friends.  He died young and his wife sold their restaurant near the college and kept the one on the other side of town.  Since I hadn't ordered yet she didn't let me.  Instead she said something to the waiter and we sat and talked.  We ended up eating off menu family style.  The only thing we had of our own was bowls of white rice.   The rest was in bowls and plates we both ate from.  I couldn't pronounce the names of what we ate, much less spell the names of them, but it was great food.  It was really nice to get a chance to catch up since she has retired from running the place.


----------



## table1349

jcdeboever said:


> I took the day off an installed a new counter top, sink, island counter, and back splash. Looks good and wife is happy, hoping to see how really happy she is. The hardest part was getting those sink screws in place. No leaks, looks good, cleaning up putty, silicone edges with shim. Flippin slate is some heavy you stuff, I had that budgeted to be installed  professional, coach purse ruined my laziness.


Sorry, I can't help myself, I just have to ask.   Is it a Coach sink?


----------



## benhasajeep

gryphonslair99 said:


> This apparently is the night for mixed up meals out.  Didn't get my sweet and sour chicken.  The put me in a nice little quiet corner table.  While I was sitting there the owner came up and sat down.  I have known her for 40+ years.  Her husband was a young college professor when I was in school and he and I happened to share a hospital room for 4 days having both had some surgery.  We became good friends.  He died young and his wife sold their restaurant near the college and kept the one on the other side of town.  Since I hadn't ordered yet she didn't let me.  Instead she said something to the waiter and we sat and talked.  We ended up eating off menu family style.  The only thing we had of our own was bowls of white rice.   The rest was in bowls and plates we both ate from.  I couldn't pronounce the names of what we ate, much less spell the names of them, but it was great food.  It was really nice to get a chance to catch up since she has retired from running the place.



I had some of the best Mexican food ever in a similar situation.  We went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant with a person who was contracting to us.  We had probably eaten lunch there together probably 2 times a week for several weeks.  Well the contractor was from FL and bilingual.  And always talked Spanish to the restaurant owner.  So one day we went in and the owner seated us and asked for our drinks.  And started a conversation with the other guy.  As I was looking at the menu the other guy goes hey Ben.  You want to try something really good.  I said sure I'm game.  I have no idea what it was, but they brought out this mini spread of food.  Definitely was not on the menu.  The spices and different flavors were incredible.

Every time I went back after we were done using the contractor.  I was a little disappointed.  Just lets you know how much they bland things down for the general public.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Guess even the best have a bad day. Ate at a moderately expensive old well known restaurant. Food was great till. I crunched down on a piece of glass. They replaced the meal, apologized profusely and bought us a round of drinks. No harm done so far.


Whoa, I'd have been done. Glad it worked out but I would have left from just the thought of how that got in the food. Scary.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Whoa, I'd have been don



But was really good!! LOL I didn't finish it, they brought me another plate. I figured they'd check it closer, and the additional liquid courage helped.


----------



## table1349

benhasajeep said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> This apparently is the night for mixed up meals out.  Didn't get my sweet and sour chicken.  The put me in a nice little quiet corner table.  While I was sitting there the owner came up and sat down.  I have known her for 40+ years.  Her husband was a young college professor when I was in school and he and I happened to share a hospital room for 4 days having both had some surgery.  We became good friends.  He died young and his wife sold their restaurant near the college and kept the one on the other side of town.  Since I hadn't ordered yet she didn't let me.  Instead she said something to the waiter and we sat and talked.  We ended up eating off menu family style.  The only thing we had of our own was bowls of white rice.   The rest was in bowls and plates we both ate from.  I couldn't pronounce the names of what we ate, much less spell the names of them, but it was great food.  It was really nice to get a chance to catch up since she has retired from running the place.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had some of the best Mexican food ever in a similar situation.  We went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant with a person who was contracting to us.  We had probably eaten lunch there together probably 2 times a week for several weeks.  Well the contractor was from FL and bilingual.  And always talked Spanish to the restaurant owner.  So one day we went in and the owner seated us and asked for our drinks.  And started a conversation with the other guy.  As I was looking at the menu the other guy goes hey Ben.  You want to try something really good.  I said sure I'm game.  I have no idea what it was, but they brought out this mini spread of food.  Definitely was not on the menu.  The spices and different flavors were incredible.
> 
> Every time I went back after we were done using the contractor.  I was a little disappointed.  Just lets you know how much they bland things down for the general public.
Click to expand...

Abso-freaking-loteley!  I have 3 or 4 places that we can go and order off menus.  The Chinese place I went to last night, a Japanese place that is amazing, a Mexican place that rocks all other Mexican food in town and the one that would be the death of me if I let it.  I have made no secret that me heritage is mostly Scottish and Irish that but my stomach is Italian.  A couple of years ago a guy and his wife moved here from New York City to get away from all the hustle and bustle.  He was an Italian resteraunter and opened a little place here.  Got to know him pretty well.

 OMG! I haven't had food like that since I lived in Germany.  Well that's not quite true.  In college I was dating for a while a Sicilian girl who's family was old world.  Three generations under one roof.  Sunday meals went on for hours, but lord that food was good.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is recovering from yesterday. Lots of yard work, cleaning and cooking for guests. It was ALL soooo damn good.  The main course was Tri-Tip, cooked a la brisket and some very interesting chipotle sausages from grass fed cows.  The stock was full of herbs and veggies from the garden.  Mary Lou brought out a mango salsa and chips for starters, she also crafted a cucumber and tomato salad from the garden w/rice, (we have a new rice cooker which whips up an exceptionally light and tasty rice ... it even keeps it warm until served). And ... the piece de resistance was the flatbread.  Slightly raised, a medium brown crust, very light to the taste, topped with three different cheeses, chopped marinated artichoke hearts, sliced Spanish Olives filled with pimento, peppers, tomatoes and herbs from the garden. The flatbread looked beautiful, tasted better and was a meal unto itself. (Gary mixes herbs into the dough and sows some them on top.) The finale was Gary's homemade ice cream and dessert vino.  Nobody wanted coffee, as it was late, but a few people actually snacked on coffee beans ... just to taste Gary's roast. In totality, one of the better meals at the house of Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

@Jon:  Thank you.  Gary waited for the appropriate time to unleash the golden liquid contained in the bottle. After a warm summer's day of cleaning and cooking this was very refreshing, albeit different, but refreshing nonetheless. Gary shared the beer with his dinner guests and there were many different opinions.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are in our pajamas in the backyard.  It is 78F with a nice breeze. We are under attack by Japanese Beetles. Last year they destroyed most of our grapes and apples and all of our roses. We have set up 'traps' of sliced oranges is strategic locations amongst the roses.  The beetles congreate on the oranges, where we capture them. 

Gary is sipping the last of his coffee.  ... Gary just got all excited ... he thought he saw the Mother of All Beetles fly by ... but it was a Hummer, lol.   Mary Lou is busy devising different mechanical means for capturing beetles.


----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou and Gary are in our pajamas in the backyard.  It is 78F with a nice breeze. We are under attack by Japanese Beetles. Last year they destroyed most of our grapes and apples and all of our roses. We have set up 'traps' of sliced oranges is strategic locations amongst the roses.  The beetles congreate on the oranges, where we capture them.
> 
> Gary is sipping the last of his coffee.  ... Gary just got all excited ... he thought he saw the Mother of All Beetles fly by ... but it was a Hummer, lol.   Mary Lou is busy devising different mechanical means for capturing beetles.



Gary needs chickens!!!


----------



## Gary A.

benhasajeep said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary are in our pajamas in the backyard.  It is 78F with a nice breeze. We are under attack by Japanese Beetles. Last year they destroyed most of our grapes and apples and all of our roses. We have set up 'traps' of sliced oranges is strategic locations amongst the roses.  The beetles congreate on the oranges, where we capture them.
> 
> Gary is sipping the last of his coffee.  ... Gary just got all excited ... he thought he saw the Mother of All Beetles fly by ... but it was a Hummer, lol.   Mary Lou is busy devising different mechanical means for capturing beetles.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary needs chickens!!!
Click to expand...

Gary has desired a couple of chickens for years, but gets trumped by the boss. Why do you think Gary needs chickens?


----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary are in our pajamas in the backyard.  It is 78F with a nice breeze. We are under attack by Japanese Beetles. Last year they destroyed most of our grapes and apples and all of our roses. We have set up 'traps' of sliced oranges is strategic locations amongst the roses.  The beetles congreate on the oranges, where we capture them.
> 
> Gary is sipping the last of his coffee.  ... Gary just got all excited ... he thought he saw the Mother of All Beetles fly by ... but it was a Hummer, lol.   Mary Lou is busy devising different mechanical means for capturing beetles.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary needs chickens!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary has desired a couple of chickens for years, but gets trumped by the boss. Why do you think Gary needs chickens?
Click to expand...


They love Japanese Beetles!!!


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> @ Frank: You have the life.




pars pro toto





I am back from the farm


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary are in our pajamas in the backyard.  It is 78F with a nice breeze. We are under attack by Japanese Beetles. Last year they destroyed most of our grapes and apples and all of our roses. We have set up 'traps' of sliced oranges is strategic locations amongst the roses.  The beetles congreate on the oranges, where we capture them.
> 
> Gary is sipping the last of his coffee.  ... Gary just got all excited ... he thought he saw the Mother of All Beetles fly by ... but it was a Hummer, lol.   Mary Lou is busy devising different mechanical means for capturing beetles.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary needs chickens!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary has desired a couple of chickens for years, but gets trumped by the boss. Why do you think Gary needs chickens?
Click to expand...



Before I answer that I smash some eggs over hard with spices


----------



## Gary A.

benhasajeep said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary are in our pajamas in the backyard.  It is 78F with a nice breeze. We are under attack by Japanese Beetles. Last year they destroyed most of our grapes and apples and all of our roses. We have set up 'traps' of sliced oranges is strategic locations amongst the roses.  The beetles congreate on the oranges, where we capture them.
> 
> Gary is sipping the last of his coffee.  ... Gary just got all excited ... he thought he saw the Mother of All Beetles fly by ... but it was a Hummer, lol.   Mary Lou is busy devising different mechanical means for capturing beetles.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary needs chickens!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary has desired a couple of chickens for years, but gets trumped by the boss. Why do you think Gary needs chickens?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> They love Japanese Beetles!!!
Click to expand...

No way ... ? I've never heard that.  Japanese Beetles have these hard armored shells and they fly and feed a few feet above ground.  How do the chickens get the beetles?


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> How do the chickens get the beetles?



Chicken stilts LOL


----------



## benhasajeep

They will dig up the grubs first.  But I have read some people set up some beetle traps that the beetles always fall out of.  And chickens will be there to gobble them up.  We have 4 bee hives.  So, stopped using chemical bug killers.  And we have not done chickens yet.  I think next spring we will order chicks.  As we get the beetles bad.  Several sites I found about chickens and Japanese Beetles, says the beetles are like crack to the chickens.

Some animal digs up our yard when there is lots of the grubs.  Was going to set up a trail cam to see what does it.  But in the spring a very large area will look like we took a garden weasel to it.

We have a friend who designed a movable coop.  That way they don't tear up a single space in the yard.


----------



## Frank F.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary are in our pajamas in the backyard.  It is 78F with a nice breeze. We are under attack by Japanese Beetles. Last year they destroyed most of our grapes and apples and all of our roses. We have set up 'traps' of sliced oranges is strategic locations amongst the roses.  The beetles congreate on the oranges, where we capture them.
> 
> Gary is sipping the last of his coffee.  ... Gary just got all excited ... he thought he saw the Mother of All Beetles fly by ... but it was a Hummer, lol.   Mary Lou is busy devising different mechanical means for capturing beetles.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary needs chickens!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary has desired a couple of chickens for years, but gets trumped by the boss. Why do you think Gary needs chickens?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Before I answer that I smash some eggs over hard with spices
Click to expand...



Gosh. What a midnight snack. Now wine? Or sleep? Did you see the horse?


----------



## smoke665

Hey I can vouch for the effect that pheromones have on insects. When we built our house the cypress siding was sprayed with a clear uv protection. Within hours red wasps started appearing. By the next day it looked like something in a sci-fi movie. The sky was literally red with wasps. Quick call to the paint Store revealed the product gave off a vapor that resembles a red wasp in heat apparently. Thankfully within 3 days it was gone and so were the wasps.


----------



## Frank F.

More horses


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. 69F right now, we are expecting highs in the low 80's. Even with the higher than normal humidity in the 50% arena ... still pretty comfortable with no need of A/C.  

@ Ben: Gary only has a average backyard, no acreage of any size. But, due to the water (pond) and fruit trees and stuff, the backyard attracts a lot of stuff, most benign some destructive. The beetles seem to favor soil with high nutrient value.  Gary composts in place with the rose garden and has two large compost bins which has more than its fair share of grubs.  While Gary has no experience with chickens and beetles, the Koi love the grubs as if they too were crack. Gary tried nematodes in the rose garden ... but it is hard to really know if they helped any. Over the years we have made our our traps ... essentially sliced oranges hanging from trees.  The oranges fill quickly and Gary shakes the bait and the beetles fall into a net.  Gary then transfer the captured beetles to some spent container, a milk/water jug or wide mouth pretzel container ... and the container is recycled into the "Jar of Death". When Gary is home this is process is repeated throughout the day.  Often he will just bare hand a single beetle or work on his eye-hand coordination and swing the net at them in flight.

The beetle first instinct when disturbed is to drop, then take flight.  So a net under the bait is quite effective.  The beetle are very hungry during the mornings and for the past few days we get a dozen or so beetle on a single slice of orange.  

As you alluded to earlier ... Gary is constantly running calculations in his cream cream brain about significant benefits of setting traps.  Obviously, the oranges attract a lot more beetles than normal ... Gary just hopes that he is trapping more than the 'extra' beetle attracted to the bait. The grapes are turning and the beetle love the grapes (back to crack), Gary again just hopes the easy mark of a slice orange would be of greater attraction than a bunch of sweet Pinot Noir.


----------



## snowbear

Who uses a Mac?  I have a small favor to ask (screen shots)


----------



## smoke665

Great trip, (except for the heat), left for home at 7 am, arrived just after 11. Temperatures just starting to climb into the 90's when we pulled in. At just under $400/tire on the 5th wheel, I really don't care to risk one just to sleep in and drive in the heat.  Enjoyed the mountains of North Ga, but glad to be home for a few days.


----------



## Frank F.

went to my father's garden today. Used the Nikkor 300PF on a 23mm full AF-S-contacts extension made for me from a 14E teleconverter:


----------



## Frank F.

This lens does not have vignetting, but the BG can be carefully chosen if needed:


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just came back from watching Dunkirk on 4DX ... 4DX is quadruple lame.


----------



## Gary A.

IMAX is the way to go.  This was a big screen ... but not IMAX big.  I was disappointed in the movie.


----------



## limr

Happy Monday, hosers.

The temperatures have dropped dramatically this week. From the 90s last week to 70s all week long. I'm in heaven!  It's even raining today.


----------



## Frank F.

Good Night, rough times, many photos, every day


----------



## JonA_CT

It felt like April today. Wind-driven rain and 60 degrees. The garden and lawn are enjoying the liquid gold though.

I might have bought the Song a6000 in the marketplace today for my wife. I think she'll like using it. My D600 is intimidating so she never picks it up. Either way, the deal was too good to pass up.


----------



## jowensphoto

Hey y'all. long time no see!

So i quit my tech job. Now What?

Anyone in the DMV who needs a second, DM me. Looking to second weddings and take on my own "infinite events " like elements, births and boudoir. 


But seriously. Wtf.  I quit without a real plan.


----------



## jowensphoto

Intimate.  Not infinite, damn it.

...and elopements.  Lol


----------



## limr

jowensphoto said:


> Hey y'all. long time no see!
> 
> So i quit my tech job. Now What?
> 
> Anyone in the DMV who needs a second, DM me. Looking to second weddings and take on my own "infinite events " like elements, births and boudoir.
> 
> 
> But seriously. Wtf.  I quit without a real plan.



Hey there! Nice to see you around again!

Forgive me, but the only DMV I can think of at this late hour with my addled brain is the Dept. of Motor Vehicles. And I'm pretty sure you aren't referring to that, yes?


----------



## jowensphoto

limr said:


> jowensphoto said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey y'all. long time no see!
> 
> So i quit my tech job. Now What?
> 
> Anyone in the DMV who needs a second, DM me. Looking to second weddings and take on my own "infinite events " like elements, births and boudoir.
> 
> 
> But seriously. Wtf.  I quit without a real plan.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey there! Nice to see you around again!
> 
> Forgive me, but the only DMV I can think of at this late hour with my addled brain is the Dept. of Motor Vehicles. And I'm pretty sure you aren't referring to that, yes?
Click to expand...

Lol DC, Maryland, Virginia.

I do need to renew my registration though. Thanks for reminder


----------



## SquarePeg

jowensphoto said:


> Hey y'all. long time no see!
> 
> So i quit my tech job. Now What?
> 
> Anyone in the DMV who needs a second, DM me. Looking to second weddings and take on my own "infinite events " like elements, births and boudoir.
> 
> 
> But seriously. Wtf.  I quit without a real plan.



Plans change so not having one is not the end of the world.   Life is short.  Go for what you want!


----------



## Frank F.

Development Of Digital SLR Camera Nikon D850

I just pre-ordered the D850 with NPS Germany. Today is 100 years of Nikon. Happy birthday!!!!

I will keep you posted.

Till then I am happy to use the D500 and D600 and D3


----------



## snowbear

jowensphoto said:


> Hey y'all. long time no see!
> 
> So i quit my tech job. Now What?
> 
> Anyone in the DMV who needs a second, DM me. Looking to second weddings and take on my own "infinite events " like elements, births and boudoir.
> 
> 
> But seriously. Wtf.  I quit without a real plan.


Well, hello, stranger!  Welcome back.


----------



## Frank F.

My new house. Planned to be ready by Christmas 2018. I am soooooo exited!






From the Garden:





Really really looking forward to moving in!!!


----------



## terri

jowensphoto said:


> Hey y'all. long time no see!
> 
> So i quit my tech job. Now What?
> 
> Anyone in the DMV who needs a second, DM me. Looking to second weddings and take on my own "infinite events " like elements, births and boudoir.
> 
> 
> But seriously. Wtf.  I quit without a real plan.


Welcome back!!    

Meh.   Plans are useful, no doubt, but not always mandatory.        Sometimes taking a little risk is just the jump-start we need, maybe without having realized it.


----------



## waday

Good luck, @jowensphoto!

Does anyone have a Sleep Number bed or have any thoughts on them? We need a new mattress, and the wife and I have different sleeping styles. Thought this would be a good compromise?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Of late, it has been surprisingly cool here.  Gary suspects that it may not break 80F today.  Over the weekend, Gary installed a Tv in the patio.  It is mounted on the patio ceiling and it is capable of swinging out of the way when not in use.  The swinging action is Gary's idea, not the designer's idea ... so now Gary has to figure out a locking mechanism for the ceiling as well as possibly a device to easily and safely swing the Tv up and down.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Good luck, @jowensphoto!
> 
> Does anyone have a Sleep Number bed or have any thoughts on them? We need a new mattress, and the wife and I have different sleeping styles. Thought this would be a good compromise?


We checked out Sleep Number Beds a year or two ago ... the salesperson was rude.  They work, but if I recall correctly, there are much better beds in or near a similar price point. (IIRC- they nickled and dimed you ... the bed is $800, but the doohickey is another $$$ and the thingamajig will be $$$ extra, and the whatchamacallit ... that's extra.)  We sorta got frustrated and ended up with a Costco foam mattress.  No complaints, but it doesn't have the movements of the Sleep Number.  But there are many beds with movements.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Of late, it has been surprisingly cool here.  Gary suspects that it may not break 80F today.  Over the weekend, Gary installed a Tv in the patio.  It is mounted on the patio ceiling and it is capable of swinging out of the way when not in use.  The swinging action is Gary's idea, not the designer's idea ... so now Gary has to figure out a locking mechanism for the ceiling as well as possibly a device to easily and safely swing the Tv up and down.



57 and raining here today.  It's Fall weather!  Just 3 days ago I was at the beach praying for a breeze.


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> Good luck, @jowensphoto!
> 
> Does anyone have a Sleep Number bed or have any thoughts on them? We need a new mattress, and the wife and I have different sleeping styles. Thought this would be a good compromise?


If you like waking up feeling like you've been beaten in an alley, then get a sleep number. Worst decision I ever made, that thing went in the dump after a year. We went with a Sealey PP firm euro pillow top. Not sore anymore when I get up.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary echos well wishes at jowensphoto.


----------



## JonA_CT

I bought our foam mattress on Amazon. $700 or so for  a Cali King, and it's awesome. We had the same one in queen size for 8 years with no complaints.

I stayed in a hotel that had sleep number beds...my primary complaint was that you can feel the transition from side to side. I also am skeptical of anything that requires power to work...although we live in a pretty good nor'easter/hurricane area. Not everyone has had 30-40 days without power since 2011 haha.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> 57 and raining here today. It's Fall weather! Just 3 days ago I was at the beach praying for a breeze.



I could easily hate you for posting this LOL Mid 90's this afternoon, with close to matching humidity, but hope is on the horizon. Mid to high 80's by the weekend. Our version of a summer cold snap!!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Of late, it has been surprisingly cool here.  Gary suspects that it may not break 80F today.  Over the weekend, Gary installed a Tv in the patio.  It is mounted on the patio ceiling and it is capable of swinging out of the way when not in use.  The swinging action is Gary's idea, not the designer's idea ... so now Gary has to figure out a locking mechanism for the ceiling as well as possibly a device to easily and safely swing the Tv up and down.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 57 and raining here today.  It's Fall weather!  Just 3 days ago I was at the beach praying for a breeze.
Click to expand...

57F ... that just seems crazy. Gary daughter lives in St. Louis, it is equally crazy there, 90+ temps with 90+ humidity.  Gary is quite happy with overcast mornings, 80F and 50% humidity. Beaches here are @ 70F. (Not so much the 50% humidity ... but it is doable.)


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Of late, it has been surprisingly cool here.  Gary suspects that it may not break 80F today.  Over the weekend, Gary installed a Tv in the patio.  It is mounted on the patio ceiling and it is capable of swinging out of the way when not in use.  The swinging action is Gary's idea, not the designer's idea ... so now Gary has to figure out a locking mechanism for the ceiling as well as possibly a device to easily and safely swing the Tv up and down.


Get a tall boy servant. He can also fetch you some wine and rub your wife's feet.


----------



## Gary A.

But what does Gary do when the servants take a holiday?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> But what does Gary do when the servants take a holiday?


Travel


----------



## waday

Thank you, all!



Gary A. said:


> We checked out Sleep Number Beds a year or two ago ... the salesperson was rude.  They work, but if I recall correctly, there are much better beds in or near a similar price point. (IIRC- they nickled and dimed you ... the bed is $800, but the doohickey is another $$$ and the thingamajig will be $$$ extra, and the whatchamacallit ... that's extra.)  We sorta got frustrated and ended up with a Costco foam mattress.  No complaints, but it doesn't have the movements of the Sleep Number.  But there are many beds with movements.


One, I hate rude salespeople. Two, ugh, I was afraid of that. I looked up and saw that you have to buy the mattress and the bed. And, of course, after you get excited about the features they show you on advertisements, it's like a $10,000 bed/base combo. No way.

We tried a foam topper for our current mattress a few years ago (when it was still firm and not saggy). We liked it for a month or so, but then the wife started complaining about back pain. Also, I got really warm on it. I think we need to try a full foam mattress, rather than just a topper.

We don't have a Costco membership, but with a baby on the way, we'll probably have to get one just for the diapers/baby wipes. Ugh.



jcdeboever said:


> If you like waking up feeling like you've been beaten in an alley, then get a sleep number. Worst decision I ever made, that thing went in the dump after a year. We went with a Sealey PP firm euro pillow top. Not sore anymore when I get up.


This is exactly what I'm worried about. I've read so many reviews that say, "I don't know if it's the settings, but I've been sleeping on it for 6 months and I don't like it, but I guess it's my fault so here, take my five star rating." Hmm, 5 stars? That seems weird.



JonA_CT said:


> I bought our foam mattress on Amazon. $700 or so for  a Cali King, and it's awesome. We had the same one in queen size for 8 years with no complaints.
> 
> I stayed in a hotel that had sleep number beds...my primary complaint was that you can feel the transition from side to side. I also am skeptical of anything that requires power to work...although we live in a pretty good nor'easter/hurricane area. Not everyone has had 30-40 days without power since 2011 haha.


What brand on Amazon? We saw those Casper mattresses and were intrigued. 

The transition from side to side is one of the major reasons why we've been so hesitant. I don't want a huge cliff between my side and my wife's side, which is what will likely happen.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> 57 and raining here today. It's Fall weather! Just 3 days ago I was at the beach praying for a breeze.


It's supposed to be a high of around 78 here today, which is much cooler than the past week. I don't mind it, but I miss the summer heat already.

Also, we're supposed to get more rain later this week. Ugh.

It's been raining so much here that it'd be nice to have a couple days without rain.


----------



## JonA_CT

We tried one of the other mail-order mattresses -- Leesa. We returned it. It was advertised as 10 inches thick but was really only 8ish and wasn't supportive enough. Haven't heard much about the other companies.

This is the one we bought...

Amazon.com: Sleep Innovations Shiloh 12-inch Memory Foam Mattress, Queen: Kitchen & Dining

We have the quilted cover, but honestly, it doesn't make a difference.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Good luck, @jowensphoto!
> 
> Does anyone have a Sleep Number bed or have any thoughts on them? We need a new mattress, and the wife and I have different sleeping styles. Thought this would be a good compromise?



My friend had one in her guest room and Buzz and I slept on it for a few days. Hated it. So uncomfortable. The "soft" settings just felt like a deflated air mattress, and the "firm" settings felt like an overfilled air mattress.

There are cooling gel mattress toppers that are pretty decent. I get warm very easily and I put a couple of those toppers on my bed and have never had an issue with getting too warm. (I used two because I found a really great sale but the toppers were pretty thin - the sale was so good, though, that I just bought two for less than the price of the thicker one.) Whatever bed you end up with, I bet you could get separate toppers and just put them side by side.


----------



## Frank F.

On Construction

There is a lot of interaction with interesting people.

The one who parked and repaired his cars there and did not pay any rent in years for example. I had to expell him using the German judicial system. Needed 13 Months.

Now I have to get rid of all the contamination he caused using the site as a illegal car repair facility for 30 years. Then I have to make him pay for it.

After the environmental cleaning I tear down the rest and let the Archaeological Officials examine the site. Over 2000 years of settlement, esp a Roman fortress have left traces. I have not only to tolerate them but PAY THEM TOO.

In the meantime I try to convince the neighborhood that the building is much better for them than the current status and obtain their consent as needed.

Interactive project management of nice people, business people, egoistis and some lunatics too.

In parallel I work with the architects, the building authority and construction workers to prepare the actual construction phase after the site is clean and ready for prime time.

This all in parallel to my company, running in slow motion, my family, household, friends and my main project the BOOK on sustainability.

I am not bored at all.

Plus my body's auto immune condition has to be treated and the doctors are anything but helpful there. My research for the next book is exactly on the cutting edge research on immune system and auto immune conditions and their real cause.

I found a guy in NYC whose medical experience treating Auto Immune Diseases for more than 20 years gives me some hope to finally unproot the cause and not doctor the symptoms.

Pray for me if you believe in God, otherwise wish me luck.

Yours sincerely

Frank


----------



## waday

limr said:


> My friend had one in her guest room and Buzz and I slept on it for a few days. Hated it. So uncomfortable. The "soft" settings just felt like a deflated air mattress, and the "firm" settings felt like an overfilled air mattress.
> 
> There are cooling gel mattress toppers that are pretty decent. I get warm very easily and I put a couple of those toppers on my bed and have never had an issue with getting too warm. (I used two because I found a really great sale but the toppers were pretty thin - the sale was so good, though, that I just bought two for less than the price of the thicker one.) Whatever bed you end up with, I bet you could get separate toppers and just put them side by side.


Thank you!

Ok, Sleep Number is completely off the table. I wonder if your friend moved it to the guest room specifically because she didn't like it? Haha. I am surprised (although I don't know why) to hear everyone say that it felt like an air mattress. I mean, I know it is, but I was hoping that for >$1,500, it wouldn't feel like one!

Thanks for the suggestions on the toppers! Didn't realize there were cooling gel mattress toppers! My wife gets warm very easily, as well, so this would be great for her.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> My friend had one in her guest room and Buzz and I slept on it for a few days. Hated it. So uncomfortable. The "soft" settings just felt like a deflated air mattress, and the "firm" settings felt like an overfilled air mattress.
> 
> There are cooling gel mattress toppers that are pretty decent. I get warm very easily and I put a couple of those toppers on my bed and have never had an issue with getting too warm. (I used two because I found a really great sale but the toppers were pretty thin - the sale was so good, though, that I just bought two for less than the price of the thicker one.) Whatever bed you end up with, I bet you could get separate toppers and just put them side by side.
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> Ok, Sleep Number is completely off the table. I wonder if your friend moved it to the guest room specifically because she didn't like it? Haha. I am surprised (although I don't know why) to hear everyone say that it felt like an air mattress. I mean, I know it is, but I was hoping that for >$1,500, it wouldn't feel like one!
> 
> Thanks for the suggestions on the toppers! Didn't realize there were cooling gel mattress toppers! My wife gets warm very easily, as well, so this would be great for her.
Click to expand...


That is exactly why she moved it into the guest bedroom, actually! Her boyfriend wanted one so they tried it. It was a while ago, but if I remember correctly, they broke up and he didn't like it enough to take it with him, and she hated it, so she put it into the guest bedroom. It was kind of funny one night to see how soft it would go. We just sank so far into the middle that we both ended up rolled over and nose to nose with each other. And yeah, Lindsay Wagner's number is 35? She is a masochist, then. It would be like sleeping in a string hammock. The mechanism was loud, too.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> My friend had one in her guest room and Buzz and I slept on it for a few days. Hated it. So uncomfortable. The "soft" settings just felt like a deflated air mattress, and the "firm" settings felt like an overfilled air mattress.
> 
> There are cooling gel mattress toppers that are pretty decent. I get warm very easily and I put a couple of those toppers on my bed and have never had an issue with getting too warm. (I used two because I found a really great sale but the toppers were pretty thin - the sale was so good, though, that I just bought two for less than the price of the thicker one.) Whatever bed you end up with, I bet you could get separate toppers and just put them side by side.
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> Ok, Sleep Number is completely off the table. I wonder if your friend moved it to the guest room specifically because she didn't like it? Haha. I am surprised (although I don't know why) to hear everyone say that it felt like an air mattress. I mean, I know it is, but I was hoping that for >$1,500, it wouldn't feel like one!
> 
> Thanks for the suggestions on the toppers! Didn't realize there were cooling gel mattress toppers! My wife gets warm very easily, as well, so this would be great for her.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That is exactly why she moved it into the guest bedroom, actually! Her boyfriend wanted one so they tried it. It was a while ago, but if I remember correctly, they broke up and he didn't like it enough to take it with him, and she hated it, so she put it into the guest bedroom. It was kind of funny one night to see how soft it would go. We just sank so far into the middle that we both ended up rolled over and nose to nose with each other. And yeah, Lindsay Wagner's number is 35? She is a masochist, then. It would be like sleeping in a string hammock. The mechanism was loud, too.
Click to expand...

Haha! A number of reviewers said they did the same thing! I had heard that the pump/mechanism thing was loud. I remember a celebrity (can't remember who) was joking about it.

I get that the higher end models may be more comfortable, but that doesn't mean that the lower end models should be uncomfortable/unusable.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> lus my body's auto immune condition has to be treated and the doctors are anything but helpful there.



We've been very fortunate that we found my wife's Onocologist at the very start. He has been a blessing as he's guided us through the process since 2009. Her immune system has been low for some time, but a year ago she went through an autologous stem cell transplant which totally destroyed all of her immune system including all of the childhood immunizations. The recovery has been an arduous process. In two weeks we go back for a full workup, and hopefully she will be able to start getting her childhood vaccinations again.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck, @jowensphoto!
> 
> Does anyone have a Sleep Number bed or have any thoughts on them? We need a new mattress, and the wife and I have different sleeping styles. Thought this would be a good compromise?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My friend had one in her guest room and Buzz and I slept on it for a few days. Hated it. So uncomfortable. The "soft" settings just felt like a deflated air mattress, and the "firm" settings felt like an overfilled air mattress.
> 
> There are cooling gel mattress toppers that are pretty decent. I get warm very easily and I put a couple of those toppers on my bed and have never had an issue with getting too warm. (I used two because I found a really great sale but the toppers were pretty thin - the sale was so good, though, that I just bought two for less than the price of the thicker one.) Whatever bed you end up with, I bet you could get separate toppers and just put them side by side.
Click to expand...


Went through several mattresses before finding what is most comfortable for me.  The foam mattress (firm model from Macys) was good for about a month then it softened up so much that I started to notice that I was sore in the mornings and had to push myself out of it which was killing my back.  Also annoying that you can't comfortably sit on the edge of the bed when you want to.  Having had back problems for many years, I need a mattress that has a little bit of comfort but is firm.  I found a firm mattress with a quilted outer layer (Beautyrest).   Then I did the same and added a foam egg crate topper followed by a gel foam "cooling" topper.  It's perfect and as my needs change, I can add/subtract the toppers to suit which is a lot cheaper than buying a new mattress.   Keep an eye on Kohls for the toppers as they frequently go on sale and you can use the 30% off discount codes (retailmenot.com).


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck, @jowensphoto!
> 
> Does anyone have a Sleep Number bed or have any thoughts on them? We need a new mattress, and the wife and I have different sleeping styles. Thought this would be a good compromise?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My friend had one in her guest room and Buzz and I slept on it for a few days. Hated it. So uncomfortable. The "soft" settings just felt like a deflated air mattress, and the "firm" settings felt like an overfilled air mattress.
> 
> There are cooling gel mattress toppers that are pretty decent. I get warm very easily and I put a couple of those toppers on my bed and have never had an issue with getting too warm. (I used two because I found a really great sale but the toppers were pretty thin - the sale was so good, though, that I just bought two for less than the price of the thicker one.) Whatever bed you end up with, I bet you could get separate toppers and just put them side by side.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Went through several mattresses before finding what is most comfortable for me.  The foam mattress (firm model from Macys) was good for about a month then it softened up so much that I started to notice that I was sore in the mornings and had to push myself out of it which was killing my back.  Also annoying that you can't comfortably sit on the edge of the bed when you want to.  Having had back problems for many years, I need a mattress that has a little bit of comfort but is firm.  I found a firm mattress with a quilted outer layer (Beautyrest).   Then I did the same and added a foam egg crate topper followed by a gel foam "cooling" topper.  It's perfect and as my needs change, I can add/subtract the toppers to suit which is a lot cheaper than buying a new mattress.   Keep an eye on Kohls for the toppers as they frequently go on sale and you can use the 30% off discount codes (retailmenot.com).
Click to expand...

Thank you!


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> lus my body's auto immune condition has to be treated and the doctors are anything but helpful there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We've been very fortunate that we found my wife's Onocologist at the very start. He has been a blessing as he's guided us through the process since 2009. Her immune system has been low for some time, but a year ago she went through an autologous stem cell transplant which totally destroyed all of her immune system including all of the childhood immunizations. The recovery has been an arduous process. In two weeks we go back for a full workup, and hopefully she will be able to start getting her childhood vaccinations again.
Click to expand...



Read Raphael Kellnan's "The Microbiome Diet" just to see that the human cells are outnumbered by our inhabitants 1:10 and the human genes 1:100.

Our complete digestive, hormone and immune system is THEM not US.

To treat any medical condition one has to treat them to treat us.

With stress, industrial food and other "civilisational" factors we feed the fraction of THEM who make us sick.

With probiotics, prebiotics and by avoiding stress and industrial food we can change THEM into healing us.

Or, to put it into another perspective: If we ARE one part human cells and nine part inhabitant's cells / one part human genes and ninety nine part inhabitant's genes we might as person BE more inhabitant than human.

Or in an integrative perspective:

Each of us is an Ecosystem. Medicine is a way of steering this Ecosystem to success.

How? Try reading Kellman. I knew the things he says before but to know does not mean to have practical and useful knowledge. Kellman tells you how to eat exactly for 5 weeks to turn your Microbiome into a healthy and healing one. A good way to start.

I wish you and your family all the best. God bless you.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> To treat any medical condition one has to treat them to treat us.



I haven't always followed a healthy diet. Most of those years in business it was either a sandwich here and there, lots of McDonald's Big Macs and fries. However since retiring I try to eat a more healthy fare, and I will admit my general overall feeling of well being is better when I eat right.  I'll have to look into The Microbiome Diet.

In the case of the wife and the Stem Cell transplant, think atomic bomb set off in the blood stream. The chemo is so powerful that it literally kills everything in the blood within days, leaving a barren liquid. That's the treatment part, like spraying non selective weed killer on a patch of ground, it leaves it bare. The chemo though powerful is very short lived, the next day her previously harvested stem cells ( the seed) can be safely reinserted into the blood stream and start the rebuilding process for all the components of the blood. Even though she is pretty much back to normal now on blood counts, all those cells (red, white, platelets, etc.) are now virgin cells, they've never been exposed to illness or immunizations, and as such have no immune record. They liken the procedure to being "reborn", and like a newborn baby she is without protection.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey JOwens nice to see you! Sometimes things work out the way they seem meant to be. 

I'm remembering some friend or other having a water bed back when that was, uh, a thing. Sitting on it was like sitting in a canoe sloshing around in shallow water. What a dumb idea! Sounds like those sleep number beds aren't much better. 

Leo you probably would have been entertained with a Murphy bed; had a friend who had an apt. with one of those. Although they were more funny I think in old slapstick movies than in reality.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Went through several mattresses before finding what is most comfortable for me.  The foam mattress (firm model from Macys) was good for about a month then it softened up so much that I started to notice that I was sore in the mornings and had to push myself out of it which was killing my back.  Also annoying that you can't comfortably sit on the edge of the bed when you want to.  Having had back problems for many years, I need a mattress that has a little bit of comfort but is firm.  I found a firm mattress with a quilted outer layer (Beautyrest).   Then I did the same and added a foam egg crate topper followed by a gel foam "cooling" topper.  It's perfect and as my needs change, I can add/subtract the toppers to suit which is a lot cheaper than buying a new mattress.   Keep an eye on Kohls for the toppers as they frequently go on sale and you can use the 30% off discount codes (retailmenot.com).



Yup, I got my cooling gel toppers at Kohls. I need the same sort of setup as you have - firm mattress "customized" with the toppers that currently suit my needs.



vintagesnaps said:


> Hey JOwens nice to see you! Sometimes things work out the way they seem meant to be.
> 
> I'm remembering some friend or other having a water bed back when that was, uh, a thing. Sitting on it was like sitting in a canoe sloshing around in shallow water. What a dumb idea! Sounds like those sleep number beds aren't much better.
> 
> Leo you probably would have been entertained with a Murphy bed; had a friend who had an apt. with one of those. Although they were more funny I think in old slapstick movies than in reality.



Buzz's parents have an apartment in the city and there's a Murphy bed in the living room that we sleep in every time we go down there. It has never once tried to kill us


----------



## snowbear

Funny looking bird outside the office building


----------



## snowbear

I'm in Southern Maryland; we live in the past.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like carrots


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> To treat any medical condition one has to treat them to treat us.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I haven't always followed a healthy diet. Most of those years in business it was either a sandwich here and there, lots of McDonald's Big Macs and fries. However since retiring I try to eat a more healthy fare, and I will admit my general overall feeling of well being is better when I eat right.  I'll have to look into The Microbiome Diet.
> 
> In the case of the wife and the Stem Cell transplant, think atomic bomb set off in the blood stream. The chemo is so powerful that it literally kills everything in the blood within days, leaving a barren liquid. That's the treatment part, like spraying non selective weed killer on a patch of ground, it leaves it bare. The chemo though powerful is very short lived, the next day her previously harvested stem cells ( the seed) can be safely reinserted into the blood stream and start the rebuilding process for all the components of the blood. Even though she is pretty much back to normal now on blood counts, all those cells (red, white, platelets, etc.) are now virgin cells, they've never been exposed to illness or immunizations, and as such have no immune record. They liken the procedure to being "reborn", and like a newborn baby she is without protection.
Click to expand...



I am quite familiar with this. My mother was said to survive her condition for one year. She survived 8 years running through the procedure correctly described by you.

It is a very strenuous process for the body and the psyche and I wish you strength and friendly people to support you.

Medicine is in permanent development and doctors usually do the things they have learned in University, which can be good or can be outdated and wrong.

That is why I gave the hint to Kellman. He already sees and helps people with something that will be in Med School's text book in 20 years. It is now cutting edge research and experimental practice. Because it is not dangerous one can give it a try and see if it helps in their cases without more risk than a discipline in eating for 5 weeks only. That on a scientifically proven Foundation. I know worse suggestions.

If you look into Kellman forget about what you knew to date concerning "healthy food". "Healthy Food" can make you sick if the wrong bacteria reside in your guts. He describes that in clear and simple terms. Good book.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> I am quite familiar with this. My mother was said to survive her condition for one year. She survived 8 years running through the procedure correctly described by you.



November of this year will be 8 years and counting. 

Not sure how doctors are there but most here have been slow to accept any type of holistic treatment. Many years ago I was having a gum problem that would allow painful infections to spring up suddenly. One time I had to visit an emergency doc who after he prescribed all the normal antibiotics pulled me aside in an empty room. In a whisper he said "The other doctors here would have my head for telling you this, but there are three vitamin supplements you can take that will stop this" I followed his advice and that was the last infection I ever had.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am quite familiar with this. My mother was said to survive her condition for one year. She survived 8 years running through the procedure correctly described by you.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> November of this year will be 8 years and counting.
> 
> Not sure how doctors are there but most here have been slow to accept any type of holistic treatment. Many years ago I was having a gum problem that would allow painful infections to spring up suddenly. One time I had to visit an emergency doc who after he prescribed all the normal antibiotics pulled me aside in an empty room. In a whisper he said "The other doctors here would have my head for telling you this, but there are three vitamin supplements you can take that will stop this" I followed his advice and that was the last infection I ever had.
Click to expand...



Medicine is in practical terms less scientific as they claim. Real knowledge is very limited and it is a pity that patients suffer and die because scientific evidence is ignored


----------



## JonA_CT

Hey hosers.

I lifted this morning after a few weeks off.

Tomorrow and Friday: Delayed onset muscle soreness - Wikipedia

It's beautiful outside, and I'm feeling thankful for a lot of things this morning. There are three people specifically...I was filling out employment paperwork today, and I kept thinking about them because they are the people who provided me the most support in my career. I literally wouldn't be where I am without them -- time to send a couple notes off.


----------



## terri

Happy Hump Day, hosers!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hosers! it's actually a - a - nice day! There's sunshine, but not too hot, and blue sky, and, well... it'll only last a day because it's supposed to rain tomorrow! lol but it is a nice day. Actually it's supposed to be pretty nice this weekend and I want to finally get out and do a little picture taking - yay! 

OK commercial's over, back to a Miss Fisher Murder Mystery. Which I watch as much for the clothes as anything.


----------



## Gary A.

The technical elements of the movie making was nothing short of superb.  Period authenticity is spot on and the actions of the actors were quite realistic.

Gary's Disappointment:
Dunkirk is not only a key pivot point for WWII, but also historically significant in a political history of man and significant in a war history of man.  History notwithstanding, Dunkirk is an incredible story, in and of itself.

To me, it is the size, breadth and scope of Dunkirk which is the story.  An entire British army (BEF) plus French, Polish and Belgian forces, were surrounded, holed up and squeezed into this little French seaside village.  The Germans outmanned them, out gunned them, out fightered and bombered them and most importantly out armored them.  The Germans thought it was just a matter of time, the Allies were trapped and even dropped leaflets printed in English and French with a map of the situation, indicating that there was no hope for an escape and to surrender.

The Germans never took into account this, gritty seafaring island of a nation, giving a call to all civilians to volunteer and rescue the army on the verge of destruction across the channel.  By God, the Brits answered that call, in trawlers, ferries, yachts and anything that could float across the channel ... they came and they rescued their own BEF plus another 130,000 of the Allies. 330,000 men in all.

For Gary, the sheer scope of the operation and the grit of the British people, each thinking that individually, they could make a difference, that their fishing boat or yacht could save and army ... For Gary, that is the story of Dunkirk.  Dunkirk is the story of an entire people, a story of collective resolve and individual action.  The movie, while an excellent movie, did not capture Gary's vision of the event.  It told a realistic story of three individual, but the real story is of the collective, of 400,000+ soldiers on the edge of annihilation, of a handful of fighters defending the channel and beaches from waves of German aircraft and of a gritty, stubborn people ... overcoming their fears of war ... without wavering, piling into their tiny little boats, time and time again ... rescuing their army.

The movie only showed glimpses of the scope of the battle, the number of the rescued, the collective courage of the civilians and the size of the rescue armada. That is where Gary's disappointment lies.

(It is like making a documentary of the Caribou migration, herds of tens of thousand of Caribou marching across the tundra to their spring calving grounds ... Caribou stretching from horizon to horizon ... but only filming two or three of the beasts.)



gryphonslair99 said:


> @Gary A  My friend, I believe we will have to agree to disagree in regards to Dunkirk.  I found the movie to be quite enjoyable.  The weakest part of the plot was the "survival story" of the initial character.  Hollywood always has to have something like that.  As for the rest, very good and quite realistic in terms of attitudes and actions all the way around.  The Luftwaffe's bombing was a bit too accurate perhaps in the movie, but overall it was as good of depiction of one of the greatest military Cluster Flucks in history, modern or ancient.  Only Lee's battle plan at Gettysburg, Picketts Charge in particular, comes close.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Maybe you have more imagination than most. Good description since I can't say I know anything about it. 

I think I should dye my hair, cut it into a bob, wear long dangly earrings and a flapper dress. And get a victrola.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> The technical elements of the movie making was nothing short of superb.  Period authenticity is spot on and the actions of the actors were quite realistic.
> 
> Gary's Disappointment:
> Dunkirk is not only a key pivot point for WWII, but also historically significant in a political history of man and significant in a war history of man.  History notwithstanding, Dunkirk is an incredible story, in and of itself.
> 
> To me, it is the size, breadth and scope of Dunkirk which is the story.  An entire British army (BEF) plus French, Polish and Belgian forces, were surrounded, holed up and squeezed into this little French seaside village.  The Germans outmanned them, out gunned them, out fightered and bombered them and most importantly out armored them.  The Germans thought it was just a matter of time, the Allies were trapped and even dropped leaflets printed in English and French with a map of the situation, indicating that there was no hope for an escape and to surrender.
> 
> The Germans never took into account this, gritty seafaring island of a nation, giving a call to all civilians to volunteer and rescue the army on the verge of destruction across the channel.  By God, the Brits answered that call, in trawlers, ferries, yachts and anything that could float across the channel ... they came and they rescued their own BEF plus another 130,000 of the Allies. 330,000 men in all.
> 
> For Gary, the sheer scope of the operation and the grit of the British people, each thinking that individually, they could make a difference, that their fishing boat or yacht could save and army ... For Gary, that is the story of Dunkirk.  Dunkirk is the story of an entire people, a story of collective resolve and action.  The movie, while an excellent movie, did not capture Gary's vision of the event.  It told a realistic story of three individual, but the story is of the collective, off 400,000+ soldiers on the edge of annihilation, of a handful of fighters defending the channel and beaches from waves of German aircraft and of a gritty, stubborn people ... overcoming their fears of war ... without wavering piling into their tiny little boats, time and time again ... they rescue their army.
> 
> The movie only showed glimpses of the scope of the battle, the number of the rescued, the collective courage of the civilians and the size of the rescue armada. That is where Gary's disappointment lies.
> 
> (It is like making a documentary of the Caribou migration, herds of tens of thousand of Caribou marching across the tundra to their spring calving grounds ... Caribou stretching from horizon to horizon ... but only filming two or three of the beasts.)
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A  My friend, I believe we will have to agree to disagree in regards to Dunkirk.  I found the movie to be quite enjoyable.  The weakest part of the plot was the "survival story" of the initial character.  Hollywood always has to have something like that.  As for the rest, very good and quite realistic in terms of attitudes and actions all the way around.  The Luftwaffe's bombing was a bit too accurate perhaps in the movie, but overall it was as good of depiction of one of the greatest military Cluster Flucks in history, modern or ancient.  Only Lee's battle plan at Gettysburg, Picketts Charge in particular, comes close.
Click to expand...


When I lived in downtown Chicago, I could walk to the main library. They had a floor dedicated to just reference books. I read a history book just on Dunkirk, it was fascinating. It took me many visits to read, I seem to recall around two months, probably 10-12 visits. It is as you say and more. It was an epic moment in World history. I can only imagine the volume of story one would have to tell to make a movie, and to condense it to two hours. To do it proud would probably have to be seen as  a TV series, like Band of Brothers.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Maybe you have more imagination than most. Good description since I can't say I know anything about it.
> 
> I think I should dye my hair, cut it into a bob, wear long dangly earrings and a flapper dress. And get a victrola.


I'd like to see that, post pics...


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> The movie only showed glimpses of the scope of the battle, the number of the rescued, the collective courage of the civilians and the size of the rescue armada. That is where Gary's disappointment lies.
> 
> (It is like making a documentary of the Caribou migration, herds of tens of thousand of Caribou marching across the tundra to their spring calving grounds ... Caribou stretching from horizon to horizon ... but only filming two or three of the beasts.)



Part of the reason for this was the director's insistence on making the movie with as little cgi as possible: Dunkirk: How Christopher Nolan's film found real war ships

He also seemed more interested in telling the more subjective story: Christopher Nolan explains the biggest challenges in making his latest movie 'Dunkirk' into an 'intimate epic'


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The movie only showed glimpses of the scope of the battle, the number of the rescued, the collective courage of the civilians and the size of the rescue armada. That is where Gary's disappointment lies.
> 
> (It is like making a documentary of the Caribou migration, herds of tens of thousand of Caribou marching across the tundra to their spring calving grounds ... Caribou stretching from horizon to horizon ... but only filming two or three of the beasts.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Part of the reason for this was the director's insistence on making the movie with as little cgi as possible: Dunkirk: How Christopher Nolan's film found real war ships
> 
> He also seemed more interested in telling the more subjective story: Christopher Nolan explains the biggest challenges in making his latest movie 'Dunkirk' into an 'intimate epic'
Click to expand...

Gary fully understands the difficulty of filming an Epic (as JC so rightfully described) Event of WWII. Gary also understands how Nolan's artistic interpretation led him to 'Dunkirk on a Diet' ... minimizing the scope of Dunkirk not only showed his vision and poetic license but also made the movie easier to shoot. For Dunkirk, Gary would have preferred the style of Cecil B. De Mille to the Nolan version. It is all a matter of taste ... had the movie not been based on an epic historical event ... it would have been a great movie ... but as there is a lot of historic background, to a movie which bends over backwards to represent a factual account ... Gary is disappointed that more film time wasn't devoted to the big picture.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just finished reading the interview ... interesting interview ... but it doesn't change my opinion of the movie.


----------



## b_twill

vintagesnaps said:


> OK commercial's over, back to a Miss Fisher Murder Mystery. Which I watch as much for the clothes as anything.



Wife and I just watched all 3 seasons on Netflix.  Really wish they would make a 4th!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I like those Poirot mysteries, haven't seen those in a long time. 


And a hat, I'll need a hat. 




Did flappers drink tea?? 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/..._1088734.html?slideshow=true#gallery/196711/0


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I like those Poirot mysteries, haven't seen those in a long time.
> 
> 
> And a hat, I'll need a hat.
> View attachment 144123
> Did flappers drink tea??



Sure. Spiked with gin, probably


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am quite familiar with this. My mother was said to survive her condition for one year. She survived 8 years running through the procedure correctly described by you.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> November of this year will be 8 years and counting.
> 
> Not sure how doctors are there but most here have been slow to accept any type of holistic treatment. Many years ago I was having a gum problem that would allow painful infections to spring up suddenly. One time I had to visit an emergency doc who after he prescribed all the normal antibiotics pulled me aside in an empty room. In a whisper he said "The other doctors here would have my head for telling you this, but there are three vitamin supplements you can take that will stop this" I followed his advice and that was the last infection I ever had.
Click to expand...


Oregano oil capsules?


----------



## limr

Happy Thursday, hosers.


----------



## waday

Yay, Thursday!

*Counting down the minutes until 5:00 PM on Friday*


----------



## waday




----------



## Frank F.

Made a strawberry bowl for my 3*17 One Wine one Sparkler and a Kilo of fresh strawberries. Contemplate to add triple orange and Fresh mint leafs. What do you think?


----------



## JonA_CT

It's Thursday? Weird. Feels like Saturday.

I might become a mirrorless convert. The form factor and speed of the Sony a6000 is pretty impressive, and I love the flippy screen. I think I'll end up taking more family snap shots as a result.


----------



## terri

Just got back from taking both cats to the vet for their routine shots and exam.    My ears are still ringing from all the yowling.   In stereo.   

They were cooperative and sweet for the vet and the techs, of course.   Both girls always get rave reviews.    Then they get put back in their carriers and back in the car.   The decibel level is impressive!        Brats.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> It's Thursday? Weird. Feels like Saturday.
> 
> I might become a mirrorless convert. The form factor and speed of the Sony a6000 is pretty impressive, and I love the flippy screen. I think I'll end up taking more family snap shots as a result.



The mirrorless plague is sweeping TPF!


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's Thursday? Weird. Feels like Saturday.
> 
> I might become a mirrorless convert. The form factor and speed of the Sony a6000 is pretty impressive, and I love the flippy screen. I think I'll end up taking more family snap shots as a result.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The mirrorless plague is sweeping TPF!
Click to expand...

It is! I've gone mirrorless, too! I feel so naughty.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's Thursday? Weird. Feels like Saturday.
> 
> I might become a mirrorless convert. The form factor and speed of the Sony a6000 is pretty impressive, and I love the flippy screen. I think I'll end up taking more family snap shots as a result.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The mirrorless plague is sweeping TPF!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It is! I've gone mirrorless, too! I feel so naughty.
Click to expand...


Easiest 10 lbs I ever lost.


----------



## vintagesnaps

How shocking! disgraceful! OK, I'm ready for a nap... lol nice rainy day for one.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Made a strawberry bowl for my 3*17 One Wine one Sparkler and a Kilo of fresh strawberries. Contemplate to add triple orange and Fresh mint leafs. What do you think?
> 
> View attachment 144151


Perfect refreshment for a summer day.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's Thursday? Weird. Feels like Saturday.
> 
> I might become a mirrorless convert. The form factor and speed of the Sony a6000 is pretty impressive, and I love the flippy screen. I think I'll end up taking more family snap shots as a result.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The mirrorless plague is sweeping TPF!
Click to expand...

Blasphemy! *Gary spits on the ground*


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Just got back from taking both cats to the vet for their routine shots and exam.    My ears are still ringing from all the yowling.   In stereo.
> 
> They were cooperative and sweet for the vet and the techs, of course.   Both girls always get rave reviews.    Then they get put back in their carriers and back in the car.   The decibel level is impressive!        Brats.



That may be me in a couple of weeks. Haven't made the appointment but I need to get it done before the school year starts.

Zelda's always been super easy to get into the carrier, but Mrs. Parker howls her fool head off and fights all the way. They now have separate soft-sided carriers and it's much easier. Zelda actually likes it in her little Zelda cave and usually goes to sleep during the car ride. Mrs. Parker paces nervously the whole time and tries to head-butt her way through the netting. At the vet's office, though, she doesn't want to come out. 

I've been keeping the carriers out between visits so they get used to them and they smell familiar. Zelda likes to hang out in her carrier sometimes. Mrs. Parker won't, but they also don't freak her out anymore. So we'll see how it goes in a couple of weeks.


----------



## Gary A.

Maybe it's not the carrier ... but the driver ...


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's Thursday? Weird. Feels like Saturday.
> 
> I might become a mirrorless convert. The form factor and speed of the Sony a6000 is pretty impressive, and I love the flippy screen. I think I'll end up taking more family snap shots as a result.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The mirrorless plague is sweeping TPF!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It is! I've gone mirrorless, too! I feel so naughty.
Click to expand...


Me too!


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  I confess that I've been cheating on this forum quite a bit the past week or so while planning our vacation.  I've been on the tripadvisor and cruise news discussion boards trying to get info and recommendations for our trip.  Boy do those other boards make me appreciate TPF and especially you Hosers!  First of all - there are so many sanctimonious jackholes out there in interwebland!  Yikes.  We are a friendly and welcoming bunch in comparison.  Secondly - never realized how much I use the Like and Agree and Funny ratings until I go to click on them and they aren't there!   Makes for a very boring experience.  Sometimes you just want to Like something without quoting and responding.  And don't even get me going about Multi Quote and jumping to the first unread message...


----------



## terri

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from taking both cats to the vet for their routine shots and exam.    My ears are still ringing from all the yowling.   In stereo.
> 
> They were cooperative and sweet for the vet and the techs, of course.   Both girls always get rave reviews.    Then they get put back in their carriers and back in the car.   The decibel level is impressive!        Brats.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That may be me in a couple of weeks. Haven't made the appointment but I need to get it done before the school year starts.
> 
> Zelda's always been super easy to get into the carrier, but Mrs. Parker howls her fool head off and fights all the way. They now have separate soft-sided carriers and it's much easier. Zelda actually likes it in her little Zelda cave and usually goes to sleep during the car ride. Mrs. Parker paces nervously the whole time and tries to head-butt her way through the netting. At the vet's office, though, she doesn't want to come out.
> 
> I've been keeping the carriers out between visits so they get used to them and they smell familiar. Zelda likes to hang out in her carrier sometimes. Mrs. Parker won't, but they also don't freak her out anymore. So we'll see how it goes in a couple of weeks.
Click to expand...

Agreed - I brought the carriers out several days ago, propped them open, put their little beds inside, a little toy, etc.   They had days to inspect them and crawl over them.    But yeah, I do put them away afterwards because I don't have the room, so we start over each time.   

Neither cat would budge, of course, from these torture chambers once we got inside.   And Bex literally dove back inside (after having to be pulled out topside) once the shots were over with.    I like the idea of the soft-sided carriers.   I could easily give them a try and donate one set after seeing whatever works best.



Gary A. said:


> Maybe it's not the carrier ... but the driver ...



Yer funny.       'Twas the hubby behind the wheel, as I sat in between the carriers in the back seat while being serenaded the whole drive over.    

They're both collapsed atm, peaceful and exhausted.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> Made a strawberry bowl for my 3*17 One Wine one Sparkler and a Kilo of fresh strawberries. Contemplate to add triple orange and Fresh mint leafs. What do you think?



Sounds good I might try this with a few modifications. Maybe leave out the sparkler, the strawberries, and mint leafs. Might keep the triple orange if that's the same as Triple Sec here? LOL


----------



## vintagesnaps

Frank's strawberry bowl looked refreshing on a hot day. Especially if triple orange means triple sec.

SharonCat I forget where you're going, I guess that post was a ways back and maybe I missed it. Is it somewhere involving water and sand? that is away from home?? lol and away from children??


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Frank's strawberry bowl looked refreshing on a hot day. Especially if triple orange means triple sec.
> 
> SharonCat I forget where you're going, I guess that post was a ways back and maybe I missed it. Is it somewhere involving water and sand? that is away from home?? lol and away from children??



2 out of 3 ain't bad!

Family vacation.  Cruise to Bermuda with 31 family members for my mom's 75th birthday and my uncle's 70th.  Lots of aunts and uncles and cousins will be on board.  5 teenagers including my daughter (14).  I didn't have a choice on the ship or the destination since it was predetermined by the family travel agents so I just booked it without researching and now that we leave in 8 days I decided I needed to get informed!  Haven't been to Bermuda in almost 30 years.  I've been on many cruises but not on this line (NCL).  Good news/bad news - the booking came with "free" drinks/the booking came with "free" drinks.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Ooh, Bermuda, a big trip! and free drinks, what could be better?? Well, there are the 5 teenagers but you've got them outnumbered.

I don't think I could do a cruise, I'd be worse than the kids by the second day - are we there yet? are we there yet? Maybe the first day. Canoeing with kids and a family motorboat (that we hauled thru a McD's drivethru once) was all the boating I ever want to do. I like to take pictures of scenic boats, that I can do...


----------



## benhasajeep

snowbear said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's Thursday? Weird. Feels like Saturday.
> 
> I might become a mirrorless convert. The form factor and speed of the Sony a6000 is pretty impressive, and I love the flippy screen. I think I'll end up taking more family snap shots as a result.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The mirrorless plague is sweeping TPF!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It is! I've gone mirrorless, too! I feel so naughty.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Me too!
Click to expand...


Ummm, they are not all mirrorless!!!  Matter of fact 2 has mirrors


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Ooh, Bermuda, a big trip! and free drinks, what could be better?? Well, there are the 5 teenagers but you've got them outnumbered.
> 
> I don't think I could do a cruise, I'd be worse than the kids by the second day - are we there yet? are we there yet? Maybe the first day. Canoeing with kids and a family motorboat (that we hauled thru a McD's drivethru once) was all the boating I ever want to do. I like to take pictures of scenic boats, that I can do...



The big cruise ships are a lot of fun.  There's plenty to do to keep busy or to just relax.  Usually we would cruise out of Miami and be in a port the next day but Boston to Bermuda has a bit more time at sea.  Some of my favorite cousins will be with us so I know it will be a blast!


----------



## Frank F.

Look what arrived today. Question is: do the film scans now in 24MP or wait for the D850 to arrive and do it for good?


----------



## snowbear

benhasajeep said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's Thursday? Weird. Feels like Saturday.
> 
> I might become a mirrorless convert. The form factor and speed of the Sony a6000 is pretty impressive, and I love the flippy screen. I think I'll end up taking more family snap shots as a result.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The mirrorless plague is sweeping TPF!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It is! I've gone mirrorless, too! I feel so naughty.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Me too!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ummm, they are not all mirrorless!!!  Matter of fact 2 has mirrors
Click to expand...

But they are not between the lens and the "sensor", are they?


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Look what arrived today. Question is: do the film scans now in 24MP or wait for the D850 to arrive and do it for good?
> 
> View attachment 144161


That looks nifty. Try a couple scans. I'm curious. Did it come with a PS4 or 5 film adapter?


----------



## benhasajeep

snowbear said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's Thursday? Weird. Feels like Saturday.
> 
> I might become a mirrorless convert. The form factor and speed of the Sony a6000 is pretty impressive, and I love the flippy screen. I think I'll end up taking more family snap shots as a result.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The mirrorless plague is sweeping TPF!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It is! I've gone mirrorless, too! I feel so naughty.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Me too!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ummm, they are not all mirrorless!!!  Matter of fact 2 has mirrors
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> But they are not between the lens and the "sensor", are they?
Click to expand...

They are located between the lens and the film plane.    Just not in direct line between them.    I should be a lawyer.


----------



## snowbear

benhasajeep said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's Thursday? Weird. Feels like Saturday.
> 
> I might become a mirrorless convert. The form factor and speed of the Sony a6000 is pretty impressive, and I love the flippy screen. I think I'll end up taking more family snap shots as a result.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The mirrorless plague is sweeping TPF!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It is! I've gone mirrorless, too! I feel so naughty.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Me too!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ummm, they are not all mirrorless!!!  Matter of fact 2 has mirrors
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> But they are not between the lens and the "sensor", are they?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They are located between the lens and the film plane.    Just not in direct line between them.    I should be a lawyer.
Click to expand...


Meh, close enough. Now go back to sleep.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from taking both cats to the vet for their routine shots and exam.    My ears are still ringing from all the yowling.   In stereo.
> 
> They were cooperative and sweet for the vet and the techs, of course.   Both girls always get rave reviews.    Then they get put back in their carriers and back in the car.   The decibel level is impressive!        Brats.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That may be me in a couple of weeks. Haven't made the appointment but I need to get it done before the school year starts.
> 
> Zelda's always been super easy to get into the carrier, but Mrs. Parker howls her fool head off and fights all the way. They now have separate soft-sided carriers and it's much easier. Zelda actually likes it in her little Zelda cave and usually goes to sleep during the car ride. Mrs. Parker paces nervously the whole time and tries to head-butt her way through the netting. At the vet's office, though, she doesn't want to come out.
> 
> I've been keeping the carriers out between visits so they get used to them and they smell familiar. Zelda likes to hang out in her carrier sometimes. Mrs. Parker won't, but they also don't freak her out anymore. So we'll see how it goes in a couple of weeks.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Agreed - I brought the carriers out several days ago, propped them open, put their little beds inside, a little toy, etc.   They had days to inspect them and crawl over them.    But yeah, I do put them away afterwards because I don't have the room, so we start over each time.
> 
> Neither cat would budge, of course, from these torture chambers once we got inside.   And Bex literally dove back inside (after having to be pulled out topside) once the shots were over with.    I like the idea of the soft-sided carriers.   I could easily give them a try and donate one set after seeing whatever works best.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe it's not the carrier ... but the driver ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yer funny.       'Twas the hubby behind the wheel, as I sat in between the carriers in the back seat while being serenaded the whole drive over.
> 
> They're both collapsed atm, peaceful and exhausted.
Click to expand...

Mmmmmhhhh ... Mary Lou has had my suitcase opened up in the livingroom with a few of my toys inside ... should Gary be alarmed that he is making a trip to the vet ...


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Look what arrived today. Question is: do the film scans now in 24MP or wait for the D850 to arrive and do it for good?
> 
> View attachment 144161


Wait ...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes free drinks.


----------



## snowbear

I want this.  Bye, now.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Mmmmmhhhh ... Mary Lou has had my suitcase opened up in the livingroom with a few of my toys inside ... should Gary be alarmed that he is making a trip to the vet ...



Wouldn't that depend on which of Gary's toys were packed in your suitcase. So many different ways this story line could go!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Presently, Mary Lou and Gary are lounging on their new couch.  It is a two seater affair with motorized movements.  It has replaced two tub type chairs.  This thing is a great overstuffed couch.  With a touch of a finger, one can go from upright to fully flat with a separate control for the back.  Mary Lou is on her laptop, Gary on a tablet, sipping on iced water and eating clusters of Pinot Noir grapes while watching the latest discussions on the cable news channels on the Trump stuff. The life of Riley.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from taking both cats to the vet for their routine shots and exam.    My ears are still ringing from all the yowling.   In stereo.
> 
> They were cooperative and sweet for the vet and the techs, of course.   Both girls always get rave reviews.    Then they get put back in their carriers and back in the car.   The decibel level is impressive!        Brats.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That may be me in a couple of weeks. Haven't made the appointment but I need to get it done before the school year starts.
> 
> Zelda's always been super easy to get into the carrier, but Mrs. Parker howls her fool head off and fights all the way. They now have separate soft-sided carriers and it's much easier. Zelda actually likes it in her little Zelda cave and usually goes to sleep during the car ride. Mrs. Parker paces nervously the whole time and tries to head-butt her way through the netting. At the vet's office, though, she doesn't want to come out.
> 
> I've been keeping the carriers out between visits so they get used to them and they smell familiar. Zelda likes to hang out in her carrier sometimes. Mrs. Parker won't, but they also don't freak her out anymore. So we'll see how it goes in a couple of weeks.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Agreed - I brought the carriers out several days ago, propped them open, put their little beds inside, a little toy, etc.   They had days to inspect them and crawl over them.    But yeah, I do put them away afterwards because I don't have the room, so we start over each time.
> 
> Neither cat would budge, of course, from these torture chambers once we got inside.   And Bex literally dove back inside (after having to be pulled out topside) once the shots were over with.    I like the idea of the soft-sided carriers.   I could easily give them a try and donate one set after seeing whatever works best.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe it's not the carrier ... but the driver ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yer funny.       'Twas the hubby behind the wheel, as I sat in between the carriers in the back seat while being serenaded the whole drive over.
> 
> They're both collapsed atm, peaceful and exhausted.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mmmmmhhhh ... Mary Lou has had my suitcase opened up in the livingroom with a few of my toys inside ... should Gary be alarmed that he is making a trip to the vet ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I don't know, did she by chance see this anywhere?
Click to expand...

Gary did have an argument with Mary Lou ... she said Gary needs to be fixed ... Gary argued he wasn't broken.


----------



## Gary A.

gryphonslair99 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Presently, Mary Lou and Gary are lounging on their new couch.  *It is a two seater affair with motorized movements. * It has replaced two tub type chairs.  This thing is a great overstuffed couch.  With a touch of a finger, one can go from upright to fully flat with a separate control for the back.  Mary Lou is on her laptop, Gary on a tablet, sipping on iced water and eating clusters of Pinot Noir grapes while watching the latest discussions on the cable news channels on the Trump stuff. The life of Riley.
> 
> 
> 
> ^^^^
> Perhaps THIS explains the suitcase of toys.
Click to expand...

Gary's Fidget Spinners ... ?


----------



## vintagesnaps

So Leo was in a bed going up and down, now Gary's in a motorized barcalounger , you hosers have an interesting way of lounging and relaxing.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> I want this.  Bye, now.


Will it fit on my M4P or will Gary need an adaptor?


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> So Leo was in a bed going up and down,



And the double entendres continue


----------



## smoke665

So sad about the saga of little Charlie Gard. My heart goes out to the parents, and now after being blocked at every turn by bureaucrats in their attempts to save him,  they aren't even being given the dignity to take him home to die. Things must certainly be different there than here, because had it been my child and I thought there was any chance to save him, no hospital or court could have stopped me from removing my child.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I want this.  Bye, now.



Don't know what that is but it totally looks like a Picasso face.


----------



## Designer

Welcome me back from Arizona!  We drove.  Gone 12 days.  DinDoMuch.  Carried some photographic gear along in the hopes of catching a model or two.   

As it was, the eldest granddaughter was willing to pose, but everybody was pressed for time.  I had about one hour to set up and get some photos of the four grandchildren before the family schedule put a stop to it.  

Being in a hurry is not the best situation, so I made some serious mistakes.  I also took shortcuts in setting up the venue.  The walls are painted a medium gray, so I selected a piece of wall that had some space in front of it, and moved some furniture around to set it up.  

I set up two speedlights shooting through white umbrellas, and dialed one to half power.  Set my camera on a tripod, and forgot to use the cable release. 

I used my new portrait lens (manual focus only) but used the wrong WB setting.  

My main model was in a play, and I totally was not prepared.  I took only one lens, (the wrong one, as it turned out) and was stuck in the back with a lens that was too long for the front row of seats.  So I basically blew it.  

The eldest is only 13-1/2 years old, but she has the figure and mannerisms of a much more mature girl.  Her mother calls her "Barbie".  She mostly knew how to model, so I coached her only once or twice.


----------



## Gary A.

Welcome back.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I want this.  Bye, now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't know what that is but it totally looks like a Picasso face.
Click to expand...


It contains a few cameras, some laser scanners, GPS and GNSS.  It gets mounted on top of a vehicle and used to capture LIDAR and 360 imagery - think Google Street View with 3D modeling built in. Good for inventorying things along the road like hydrants, signs, ADA ramps, trees, and what not.  Yeah - it's a geo-geek thing.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I want this.  Bye, now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't know what that is but it totally looks like a Picasso face.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It contains a few cameras, some laser scanners, GPS and GNSS.  It gets mounted on top of a vehicle and used to capture LIDAR and 360 imagery - think Google Street View with 3D modeling built in. Good for inventorying things along the road like hydrants, signs, ADA ramps, trees, and what not.  Yeah - it's a geo-geek thing.
Click to expand...


It's a geo-geek thing that looks like a Picasso face


----------



## Frank F.

New Smock from Skye Batics for Birthday


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> New Smock from Skye Batics for Birthday
> 
> View attachment 144194


Oh my, my wife would slap the stupid out of me if I came home in one of those. I like it.


----------



## Frank F.

For my guests I created Gazpacho


----------



## jcdeboever

I like gazpacho soup


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Friday Hosers!  What's everyone up to this weekend?


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm having a party with Church leaders at my house on Saturday. 1:30 till whenever. Cooking ribs and chicken, well my father in law is cause I can't cook. Probably skip Church on Sunday and shoot the big tractor show that is by my crib. Got the house straight as the cleaning ladies threw down today. I touched paint up yesterday evening, little spots all over. Took Webster to get a shedding bath an nails grinded. He's a good boy, the groomer loves him because he is so easy to do. Little things left to do tonight.


----------



## terri

I have some film to develop; expired Delta 400.   Not expecting much, but we'll see.   Aside from that, things involve cooking, drinking wine and relaxing away from the heat & humidity.


----------



## smoke665

Hoping for the cooler weather they are talking about so I can get outside and catch up on some things. Today it only got to 80 but with the humidity bumping 100% it was still miserable.


----------



## waday

Whelp, was going to go sit outside and finish off the last hour or so of work from home, but looks like the rain is going to start any second.

Ugh. More rain.


----------



## SquarePeg

I'm going to photograph all my remaining Nikon stuff and post it up for sale this weekend!  Then I am also taking dog to groomer for mani/pedi and a bath. Still recovering from being sick so going to take it easy tonight and tomorrow.  Beach day on Sunday (taking my daughter and 6 of her friends what was I thinking - or more likely drinking - when I said yes to that) then my usual Sunday night dinner and drinks at my favorite watering hole.  I might sneak in some shooting in the morning tomorrow if I'm feeling better.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I'm going to photograph all my remaining Nikon stuff and post it up for sale this weekend!


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> I'm going to photograph all my remaining Nikon stuff and post it up for sale this weekend!  Then I am also taking dog to groomer for mani/pedi and a bath. Still recovering from being sick so going to take it easy tonight and tomorrow.  Beach day on Sunday (taking my daughter and 6 of her friends what was I thinking - or more likely drinking - when I said yes to that) then my usual Sunday night dinner and drinks at my favorite watering hole.  I might sneak in some shooting in the morning tomorrow if I'm feeling better.


Take your time -- it will take a few days for the check to clear when we hit the number tonight; I'll buy the whole lot.


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm going to photograph all my remaining Nikon stuff and post it up for sale this weekend!
Click to expand...

Yes, the XT2 is that good.


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm going to photograph all my remaining Nikon stuff and post it up for sale this weekend!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, the XT2 is that good.
Click to expand...

I'd do the same with my Canon equipment since the procurement of my Oly EM1.1, but the Rebel isn't worth anything. At least not enough to sell it.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm going to photograph all my remaining Nikon stuff and post it up for sale this weekend!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, the XT2 is that good.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'd do the same with my Canon equipment since the procurement of my Oly EM1.1, but the Rebel isn't worth anything. At least not enough to sell it.
Click to expand...


I was surprised and encouraged by how easy it was to sell the 5100.  Hardly any effort at all required by me.  That's my type of sale!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nice shades Frank! 

SharonCat it seems like when you post about going somewhere you pick up more teenagers every time! lol


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Gary just spent a couple of hours replacing an 1.5" intake hose and then rebuilding the jammin' waterfall.  Gary is tired, the water was on the cold side, many of the rocks were on the large size, but the repair is made and Gary is somewhat clean from the chest down.


----------



## Gary A.

Absolutely no plans for the weekend. (Which is a good thing.) Gary can sit around and enjoy the repaired pond and new waterfall.  Mary Lou suspects a call from friends to see the new monkey movies.  So maybe Hollywood.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is taking a break.  The pooch is fed, Mary Lou and Gary are sipping a Wolff Vineyard Dry Riesling ... delish and snacking on some Merlot grapes.  Mary Lou prefers the Merlot to the Pinots because the Merlots are much larger and a bit sweeter. mmmhhh ... Mary Lou just handed Gary a recipe for Sweet Hot Coriander Chicken.  Back to work.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary recently went through administrating the final days of his parents.  It is such a two-edged sword.  Continue your path of hanging in there and doing your best.  There is a lot to say about doing your best, doing the right thing and no regrets.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are done for the day.  Mary Lou is an eleven month-er for her employer (school district) and this is her month off.  Mary Lou dived into gardening today, then hit the treadmills and is bushed.  We are relaxing our aching bones in the patio, with a cool breeze is sweeping in from the Pacific bringing the temps down to to a pleasant 75F.  Gary has opened up a bottle of sparkling, a very dry Exit 43 Bollicine in Blanco ... Mary Lou has paired the Exit 43 with Cheetos.  The chicken is marinading away ... dinner in the great outdoors tonight.


----------



## Gary A.

When Gary first described San Juan Capistrano, you stated ... we'll lose him to California ... apparently you called it.  Wait until he spends a winter in SoCal ... lol. If he is planning to transfer, Mary Lou was a college counselor at the #1 public high school academically in California (by testing). Gary will volunteer her if your nephew has any questions.


----------



## Gary A.

The evening had begun ...




iPhone image - we've moved on to more Merlot grapes

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

PS- the Exit 43 is sooooo good. [emoji41]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> New Smock from Skye Batics for Birthday
> 
> View attachment 144194
> 
> 
> 
> Oh my, my wife would slap the stupid out of me if I came home in one of those. I like it.
Click to expand...



My wife gave it to me as her birthday present


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> I'm going to photograph all my remaining Nikon stuff and post it up for sale this weekend!  Then I am also taking dog to groomer for mani/pedi and a bath. Still recovering from being sick so going to take it easy tonight and tomorrow.  Beach day on Sunday (taking my daughter and 6 of her friends what was I thinking - or more likely drinking - when I said yes to that) then my usual Sunday night dinner and drinks at my favorite watering hole.  I might sneak in some shooting in the morning tomorrow if I'm feeling better.




You are really sure? Fuji is your love to last? Wow.


----------



## Frank F.

We had a house full of friends yesterday.

We were so engaged in mixing my prepared fresh fruit mixes with fresh peppermint and alcohol, that we nearly forgot about the fridge full of food: meat, olives, cheese, Gazpacho. The people are bread and Simit and Aioli in desperation. I was in the another room with the other half of the party, while the kitchen was so loud and crowded that I just went over there for yet another bottle to keep the thirsty going. Very nice. Pity noone made an effort to pull the food from the fridge....


----------



## SquarePeg

Frank F. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm going to photograph all my remaining Nikon stuff and post it up for sale this weekend!  Then I am also taking dog to groomer for mani/pedi and a bath. Still recovering from being sick so going to take it easy tonight and tomorrow.  Beach day on Sunday (taking my daughter and 6 of her friends what was I thinking - or more likely drinking - when I said yes to that) then my usual Sunday night dinner and drinks at my favorite watering hole.  I might sneak in some shooting in the morning tomorrow if I'm feeling better.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You are really sure? Fuji is your love to last? Wow.
Click to expand...


I'm waffling between selling it all or keeping one or two lenses and getting an adapter.  But, yes, I'm sure about the full switch over.


----------



## Gary A.

If you're gonna sell ... sell it all. Fujinon is, at a minimum, the equal of Nikkor's best.  If the Princess is interested or might have an inclination in photography, then give the stuff to her ... otherwise dump it now and get the most monies you can.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> If you're gonna sell ... sell it all. Fujinon is, at a minimum, the equal of Nikkor's best.  If the Princess is interested or might have an inclination in photography, then give the stuff to her ... otherwise dump it now and get the most monies you can.




I like the lenses but I have an allergic reaction towards drive by wire


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> If you're gonna sell ... sell it all. Fujinon is, at a minimum, the equal of Nikkor's best.  If the Princess is interested or might have an inclination in photography, then give the stuff to her ... otherwise dump it now and get the most monies you can.



She's not into it.  I tried to give her the 5100 and she used it for about a week and then lost interest.  She's a dedicated iPhone shooter (sigh).  My nephew that's out your way has some interest.  He's got my old d60 and 18-55 kit lens with him.


----------



## SquarePeg

@Gary A. thanks for  the offer of Mary Lou's expertise.  I'll let him know.


----------



## jcdeboever

Party went great. lots of food, corn hole, horse shoes, laughs. Hardly any food left over as guests cleaned up on the take home food. No dishes, we used paper everything. Went through at least 79 bottles of water. I had to pull out plastic out of garbage for recycle, I guess a lot of people don't do it. I had the bin right there too, there was like 12 in there, probably 8 from me. Pop cans too, 10 cents each. One of the guys I golf with occasionally, texted me and had the nerve to ask what's with all the coons at your house? My wife had to calm me down, I was gonna jump in my cart and have a little talk with the *sshole. I only responded, this is not 1947, we are in the year 2017. Man, some people are so ignorant and vial.


----------



## snowbear

Glad to hear it went well (except for a'hole)


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Glad to hear it went well (except for a'hole)



Thanks bud. It would have been perfect except for that.


----------



## Gary A.

Glad to hear the party was a success! (See Charlie above.)


----------



## terri

Sounds like it was a fun time!   Guess you've lost a golf buddy, though.    Jerk.

Good on ya for digging out all those recyclables - that's something I would have done, too.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Sounds like it was a fun time!   Guess you've lost a golf buddy, though.    Jerk.
> 
> Good on ya for digging out all those recyclables - that's something I would have done, too.


LOL ... in California if you don't put out a container for recyclables ... you would be banned and forced to move to Texas. Lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

At a party... who cares? lol depends I guess on what's in the cups and bottles how much party guests would be inclined to aim their empties at a particular bin.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like it was a fun time!   Guess you've lost a golf buddy, though.    Jerk.
> 
> Good on ya for digging out all those recyclables - that's something I would have done, too.   [emoji38]
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... in California if you don't put out a container for recyclables ... you would be banned and forced to move to Texas. Lol
Click to expand...

They pick them up? Shoot, you got it made. I have to take mine in on Saturdays between 10-1:00


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> . Man, some people are so ignorant and vial.



Racism has no geographic nor skin color boundaries.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like it was a fun time!   Guess you've lost a golf buddy, though.    Jerk.
> 
> Good on ya for digging out all those recyclables - that's something I would have done, too.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... in California if you don't put out a container for recyclables ... you would be banned and forced to move to Texas. Lol
Click to expand...

When we lived in Texas, we were given a separate large garbage can, green-colored, for the recyclables.    There was a separate regular pick-up for them; the trash pickup came later and was done by a different crew.   Very organized.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like it was a fun time!   Guess you've lost a golf buddy, though.    Jerk.
> 
> Good on ya for digging out all those recyclables - that's something I would have done, too.   [emoji38]
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... in California if you don't put out a container for recyclables ... you would be banned and forced to move to Texas. Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They pick them up? Shoot, you got it made. I have to take mine in on Saturdays between 10-1:00
Click to expand...

Really ... ? You don't have separate containers for waste, recyclables and green waste?


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like it was a fun time!   Guess you've lost a golf buddy, though.    Jerk.
> 
> Good on ya for digging out all those recyclables - that's something I would have done, too.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... in California if you don't put out a container for recyclables ... you would be banned and forced to move to Texas. Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> When we lived in Texas, we were given a separate large garbage can, green-colored, for the recyclables.    There was a separate regular pick-up for them; the trash pickup came later and was done by a different crew.   Very organized.
Click to expand...

LOL ... don't get all defensive ... out here for households we use a three container system, waste, recyclables and green wastes. We have similar separations for street and parks (sans the green waste).


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like it was a fun time!   Guess you've lost a golf buddy, though.    Jerk.
> 
> Good on ya for digging out all those recyclables - that's something I would have done, too.   [emoji38]
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... in California if you don't put out a container for recyclables ... you would be banned and forced to move to Texas. Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They pick them up? Shoot, you got it made. I have to take mine in on Saturdays between 10-1:00
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Really ... ? You don't have separate containers for waste, recyclables and green waste?
Click to expand...

No. I have to separate myself, load in truck, drive about a mile to dump. I separate plastic, glass, cardboard, metal. I separate them in plastic tubs the day before. This way, there is no cost, and I'm in and out. Bottles and cans of soda have a 10¢ deposit, those get taken back to grocery store and I save that money for vacation. I compost leaves and shrub clippings that turns to dirt eventually, along with dog waste. I do not bag my grass clippings, I just mulch back into grass. Very small amount of actual trash gets picked up, maybe half a trash can, tops. I typically save Branch's, twigs and small amount of leaves for bonfires.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sharon thinks you need to save all your recycling til May for the Mother lode of holidays then borrow a mail truck...


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... don't get all defensive ... out here for households we use a three container system, waste, recyclables and green wastes. We have similar separations for street and parks (sans the green waste).


Who's defensive?  I merely gave my own experience where I lived in Texas - it was a better system than what I currently have.    Them's just the facts.   



jcdeboever said:


> I have to separate myself, load in truck, drive about a mile to dump. I separate plastic, glass, cardboard, metal. I separate them in plastic tubs the day before.



That sounds like a lot of work!    I miss that pick-up crew in Texas, but I'm not having to do that, either.    Yet.


----------



## snowbear

We are in an apartment and everything goes into a dumpster; single family homes have the recycle bins.


----------



## Frank F.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like it was a fun time!   Guess you've lost a golf buddy, though.    Jerk.
> 
> Good on ya for digging out all those recyclables - that's something I would have done, too.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... in California if you don't put out a container for recyclables ... you would be banned and forced to move to Texas. Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> When we lived in Texas, we were given a separate large garbage can, green-colored, for the recyclables.    There was a separate regular pick-up for them; the trash pickup came later and was done by a different crew.   Very organized.
Click to expand...


In Germany they started the garbage religion in the late 1990ies making is a big Multi-Billion-a-year business.

In the beginning it was a good idea to collect every fraction seperately like they still do with glass (you cannot make white glass from brown, it really makes sense).

They started even with collecting newspapers seperated from other paper.

Then law created the "green dot" system in cooperation with the big Supermarkets. Basic idea is: you pay a little with every product you buy (geen-dot-labes on packaging) and the system puts a yellow bin in your front yard which is free of charge, ditto with paper, cardboard and the like into the blue bin and biologicals into the green. glass collection is every other corner on public ground, red for electronics, batteries etc not far away also. Bigger things like computers, printers, TV-Sets you have to drive to a recycling yard 10 minutes by car.

YOU HAVE TO PAY FO THE BLACK BIN, so in you own interest it is good to get rid of stuff into the others, because you are free to order a smaller black bin which costs significantly less. City council requires you to buy 10 liters per week and head. Our yard is for 8 flats with rougly 20 people in them, so we would have to order 2 x 240 liter bins collected every fourthnight. But neighbours do not like the thought so we still have 660 liters per week, so we roughly pay three times the bill that would be necessary and the neighbours get really aggressive if anyone mentions that fact.

In Money this is 2600€ per year instead of 900€ or 325€ instead of 112€ per flat.

Curiously we pay garbage per flat not per head or --- per bag, like they do in Suisse.

Irony is that with 2017 tech it would be more economically and ecologically to put everything into one big bin and let robots sort through it to collect worthy things and dangerous stuff from the burnables etcetera. But: it is such a big business with so many people earning a lot of money, that noone really wants to chance it...


----------



## Gary A.

Here, homes are taxed per household per month.  The municipalities contract out to the lowest bidder for pick-up and processing. Multi-dwelling housing units individually contract with the waste hauler. We are provided three bins which are picked up weekly, One for waste, recyclables (mixed) and green wastes.  The waste goes to the landfill, the recyclables go to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) and the green waste recycling facility.  The MRF uses mechanical means (size, magnetic, Eddy current, air, et cetera) to separate the various materials and finally a hand picking conveyor at the end. The green wastes has some size separation but eventually most everything ends up in chippers and grinders for mulch, compost and worm food. Some communities have Waste to Energy Facilities which will separate the total waste stream by caloric values.  The higher caloric materials ... plastics, paper, et al being diverted and processed for fuel to generate electricity.

Gary composts in place (e.i. not bagging the grass clippings but cuts the grass with a mulch generating mower), composts in compost bins and diverts his vegetable food wastes to the vermiculture bin (worms). He also cuts up all his woody material (tree branches, grape vines, et cetera) and uses them as a mulch for the pathways in the rose garden and side yard. Typically, the only material tossed into the green waste bin are stuff with thorns.


----------



## SquarePeg

Here we have a separate pick up for recycling.  Everything can go in one bin and is allegedly sorted by the collectors. We pay a $75 quarterly charge for trash collection which was put into effect when the tax override failed.


----------



## terri

A bed is where you find it.  Says Miss Finn.


----------



## tirediron

Sounds like something that would be on the shelf of a British 'corner shop'; "Potted Kitty With Greens".


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> A bed is where you find it.  Says Miss Finn.
> 
> View attachment 144312


Probably a couple poo poo nuggets in there.


----------



## snowbear

I have a desk ornament.


----------



## tirediron

Well... d'uhh... leave a mouse on your desk and it's bound to attract a cat or two!


----------



## benhasajeep

snowbear said:


> I have a desk ornament.



When I am at the desk.  My cat will paw at my leg.  I will move and make room for him to jump to my knee, and then to my shoulder.  He then lays across the back of the chair.  Big leather executive rolling chair.  I always have to remember to give him fair warning if I'm going to get up.


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> A bed is where you find it.  Says Miss Finn.
> 
> View attachment 144312
> 
> 
> 
> Probably a couple poo poo nuggets in there.
Click to expand...

Cats don't poop where they sleep.   Finn in particular is way too fastidious for such a thing.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> I have a desk ornament.



Pretty kitty!


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have a desk ornament.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty kitty!
Click to expand...

Yes, she is;l so i Miss Finn.  Zoe's lovable but not a lap-cat.


----------



## vintagesnaps

A lap-top cat then.


----------



## Frank F.

vintagesnaps said:


> A lap-top cat then.




Possibly incorporated the mouse and now has USB connection....


----------



## SquarePeg

Hey Hosers!  

Great day at the beach yesterday topped off with ice cream sundaes on the way home and an early night!  I was wiped out by the sun and waves and could barely keep my eyes open by 9pm.  Up at the cracka this morning and was going to head to the pond in search of some birds but didn't have the motivation necessary for that.  Countdown to my vacation in 4 days!  So much to do but I don't seem to want to do any of it, lol.  Instead I'm rearranging my bookcase and recalibrating my monitor while I catch up on my dvr.  Pro pro pro-crastination!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Pro pro pro-crastination!



You're being way too hard on yourself.    I think you should refer to this behavior as pre-pre-pre-vacation!


----------



## Gary A.

Screw Oreo's ... Gary is making some sorbet, Spiced Cider Sorbet.


----------



## JonA_CT

Maybe it's my passive aggressive New England nature, but I think we need the "eye-roll" post rating function.

In other news, my friends and I placed 2nd in a home brew competition this weekend, my wife is working her last week at work until October, and the countdown to the arrival of our baby boy is 21 days. 

I also bought an Asian cookbook and woking my ass off. It's cool to play with a completely new cuisine.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


>



I'm assuming it was the wok pun.

But seriously...I need it to be more passive than that. I'd love to be able to rate the post that way, haha.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm assuming it was the wok pun.
> 
> But seriously...I need it to be more passive than that. I'd love to be able to rate the post that way, haha.
Click to expand...


Yeah that is a little passive aggressive, lol.  It's a good suggestion.  There was a thread a while ago that had some funny suggestions for rating buttons.  I wanted a "snark" button...  any other suggestions?


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Maybe it's my passive aggressive New England nature, but I think we need the "eye-roll" post rating function.
> 
> In other news, my friends and I placed 2nd in a home brew competition this weekend, my wife is working her last week at work until October, and the countdown to the arrival of our baby boy is 21 days.
> 
> I also bought an Asian cookbook and woking my ass off. It's cool to play with a completely new cuisine.


Congrats on the brew

I like egg fu young


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> hat's okay, My personality says you should not trust me to care for you children. Well not unless you are okay with the idea of them Sky Diving.



Thank Goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought I was the only one.....................At least to admit it! LOL


----------



## vintagesnaps

Shaking your head, rolling your eyes, and smacking yourself in the forehead. For another smiley face thingy that is. See, that would cover Gryph, Gary, and Smokey all at one time. Snarky, snide, smart a@$, anything along those lines would do.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Yeah that is a little passive aggressive, lol.  It's a good suggestion.  There was a thread a while ago that had some funny suggestions for rating buttons.  I wanted a "snark" button...  any other suggestions?


"Meh", "Troll", and "Are You Jammin' Nuts?"  It'll take me a while to work out the imagery.


----------



## snowbear

gryphonslair99 said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> hat's okay, My personality says you should not trust me to care for you children. Well not unless you are okay with the idea of them Sky Diving.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thank Goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought I was the only one.....................At least to admit it! LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well it's like we used to always tell the kids when they were young................
> _"Never take candy from a stranger unless they also offer you a ride."
> _
Click to expand...

"Want to go swimming?  Sure, but make sure you have a nice, big lunch first."


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Want to go swimming? Sure, but make sure you have a nice, big lunch first."



So the water is a little murky and you don't know what's under the surface - dive shallow! Quit being a wuss.


----------



## snowbear

"Them ain't gators - they're . . . they're swamp otters.  They'll play with you."


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah that is a little passive aggressive, lol.  It's a good suggestion.  There was a thread a while ago that had some funny suggestions for rating buttons.  I wanted a "snark" button...  any other suggestions?
> 
> 
> 
> "Meh", "Troll", and "Are You Jammin' Nuts?"  It'll take me a while to work out the imagery.
Click to expand...


Oh yeah we really need a troll button.  And maybe a crying baby button.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary knew parents who told their children the when the ice cream truck plays music, it means they're out of ice cream.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is kicking back after dinner and a long long day ... he is enjoying his recently finished Spiced Cider Sorbet.  It is amazingly good.


----------



## snowbear

I got my eyeglass update last night.  I just had them put the new lenses in the old frames since they are a little less than two years old.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> I got my eyeglass update last night.  I just had them put the new lenses in the old frames since they are a little less than two years old.



That's a good idea!  I'm overdue.  I think I'll probably have to go with some type of transition lens this time instead of just for reading/computer use. I've been holding off as long as I can because I feel like once I start wearing glasses 24/7, I'll no longer be able to see anything without them. Right now I don't need them for tv, movies, driving etc...


----------



## snowbear

Our insurance covers (at least partially) an exam every year, glasses or contacts every two.  I've had to go a bit early because of the cataracts.


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg  unfortunately whether because of the eyes getting lazy or the natural aging process, once I started wearing glasses they've become increasingly worse.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Our insurance covers (at least partially) an exam every year, glasses or contacts every two.  I've had to go a bit early because of the cataracts.



My wife had cataract surgery this year, and now she only wears glasses for reading the small print. Big change. They could have fully corrected her vision but insurance wouldn't pay the additional which we never fully understood.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah that is a little passive aggressive, lol.  It's a good suggestion.  There was a thread a while ago that had some funny suggestions for rating buttons.  I wanted a "snark" button...  any other suggestions?
> 
> 
> 
> "Meh", "Troll", and "Are You Jammin' Nuts?"  It'll take me a while to work out the imagery.
Click to expand...


I'd be all over that "Meh" button.


----------



## smoke665

I have several buttons in mind, though the moderators would likely not approve! LOL


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. There is a heavy Marine Layer this cool and overcast day.  LA got the 2028 Olympics ...  
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 .


----------



## limr

Howdy, hosers.


----------



## vintagesnaps

'Mister, all we serve is coffee - scotch coffee, whiskey mash coffee...' Some Like It Hot is on, thought that was a great line! Uh-oh, the place is getting raided - George Raft, 'What's the rap?' The Cop, 'Embalming people with 80 proof coffee...' 

OK back to my late morning cup of coffee.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> 'Mister, all we serve is coffee - scotch coffee, whiskey mash coffee...' Some Like It Hot is on, thought that was a great line! Uh-oh, the place is getting raided - George Raft, 'What's the rap?' The Cop, 'Embalming people with 80 proof coffee...'
> 
> OK back to my late morning cup of coffee.



Love that movie.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> There is a heavy Marine Layer


Expeditionary Force or Special Ops Battalion?


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. There is a heavy Marine Layer this cool and overcast day.  LA got the 2028 Olympics ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> .


Airbnb your house for like $30,000 a week?


----------



## terri

limr said:


> I'd be all over that "Meh" button.


   <<  Small, but gets the job done!


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Maybe it's my passive aggressive New England nature, but I think we need the "eye-roll" post rating function.
> 
> In other news, my friends and I placed 2nd in a home brew competition this weekend, my wife is working her last week at work until October, and the countdown to the arrival of our baby boy is 21 days.
> 
> I also bought an Asian cookbook and woking my ass off. It's cool to play with a completely new cuisine.


Congrats on 2nd place!   Very impressive.    

We're counting down with you - very exciting times.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. There is a heavy Marine Layer this cool and overcast day.  LA got the 2028 Olympics ...
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 
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> 
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> .


I thought Detroit was going to get it for sho


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. There is a heavy Marine Layer this cool and overcast day.  LA got the 2028 Olympics ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> .



Passive aggressively not commenting...


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> There is a heavy Marine Layer
> 
> 
> 
> Expeditionary Force or Special Ops Battalion?
Click to expand...

Actually, an entire division, the First Division down near San Diego.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. There is a heavy Marine Layer this cool and overcast day.  LA got the 2028 Olympics ...
> 
> 
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> Passive aggressively not commenting...
Click to expand...

?????????


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. There is a heavy Marine Layer this cool and overcast day.  LA got the 2028 Olympics ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .
> 
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> 
> Passive aggressively not commenting...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ?????????
Click to expand...


Was just joking around because @JonA_CT   was asking for a passive/aggressive eye roll button so I was trying to say, in a very unclear way apparently, that you could be passive aggressive by not commenting which is what I usually do when I want to eye roll without eye rolling.


----------



## jcdeboever

I had a dream last night. I don't remember the last time I had a dream. I owned a coconut factory and had a pet monkey that wore a sombrero in my office.


----------



## SquarePeg

hmmmm  did you perhaps try some Captain Morgain Loco Nut before bed?


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> hmmmm  did you perhaps try some Captain Morgain Loco Nut before bed?


Nope. A diet Vernors


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> I had a dream last night. I don't remember the last time I had a dream. I owned a coconut factory and had a pet monkey that wore a sombrero in my office.


Cool.   Draw it.   Dreams are so great for surreal inspiration!


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Coffee and Popcorn.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Coffee and Popcorn.



So you're saying if I run coffee beans through my air popper, it'll come out looking like popcorn but taste like coffee????  Or is that a West Coast thing???


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee and Popcorn.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So you're saying if I run coffee beans through my air popper, it'll come out looking like popcorn but taste like coffee????  Or is that a West Coast thing???
Click to expand...

Maybe ...

Gary uses a popcorn air popper to roast his coffee beans.  It works quite well ... not very romantic, but still does a good job on the roast.  Today Gary decided see how well the popper, pops corn.  So he cleaned up the coffee residue and tossed in a handful of corn.  It worked well making good tasting popcorn with little waste. Gary imagines that without a cleanout the popcorn would have had a coffee taste and kept you up at night.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. There is a heavy Marine Layer this cool and overcast day.  LA got the 2028 Olympics ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .
> 
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> 
> Passive aggressively not commenting...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ?????????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Was just joking around because @JonA_CT   was asking for a passive/aggressive eye roll button so I was trying to say, in a very unclear way apparently, that you could be passive aggressive by not commenting which is what I usually do when I want to eye roll without eye rolling.
Click to expand...

???? Lol ... okay got it.  As this was the third go around for the Olympics in LA ... it was like ... been there, done that.


----------



## Gary A.

Dodgers pick up Darvish.


----------



## bribrius

hey guys...girls.. whichever. Both.. hell i dunno anymore. How is everyone?


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> I had a dream last night. I don't remember the last time I had a dream. I owned a coconut factory and had a pet monkey that wore a sombrero in my office.


I like coconuts and monkeys and sombreros.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had a dream last night. I don't remember the last time I had a dream. I owned a coconut factory and had a pet monkey that wore a sombrero in my office.
> 
> 
> 
> I like coconuts and monkeys and sombreros.
Click to expand...

Me too. I like dreams. I want more of them. I like it when monkeys are speaking Spanish to me and I have to text Gary in my dream to translate.


----------



## snowbear

bribrius said:


> hey guys...girls.. whichever. Both.. hell i dunno anymore. How is everyone?


Oh, $hit!  I thought you passed!


----------



## Gary A.

Today was totally uncomfortable 85F and 60% humidity. Thunderstorm and Flashflood warnings in the deserts and mountains.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Me too. I like dreams. I want more of them



Every now and then I have "mini series" dreams where they continue over several days, picking up where they left off the night before. They seem freaky real and I always have total recall the next morning. The longest running one lasted over a week. I dreamt my wife and I went to South America to buy a large ranch, and while there a civil war broke out. The rest of the dream involved our fighting our way out. Wife was ready and waiting at breakfast for the next installment of the previous night's adventure during that one.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Me too. I like dreams. I want more of them
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Every now and then I have "mini series" dreams where they continue over several days, picking up where they left off the night before. They seem freaky real and I always have total recall the next morning. The longest running one lasted over a week. I dreamt my wife and I went to South America to buy a large ranch, and while there a civil war broke out. The rest of the dream involved our fighting our way out. Wife was ready and waiting at breakfast for the next installment of the previous night's adventure during that one.
Click to expand...


Cool!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Me too. I like dreams. I want more of them
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Every now and then I have "mini series" dreams where they continue over several days, picking up where they left off the night before. They seem freaky real and I always have total recall the next morning. The longest running one lasted over a week. I dreamt my wife and I went to South America to buy a large ranch, and while there a civil war broke out. The rest of the dream involved our fighting our way out. Wife was ready and waiting at breakfast for the next installment of the previous night's adventure during that one.
Click to expand...

Gary thinks that is very odd. Gary doesn't remember his dreams.


----------



## Gary A.

Spiced Cider Sorbet.  Is is soooooo good.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary thinks that is very odd. Gary doesn't remember his dreams.



Really, you're missing out some great stuff. The mind in sleep can be very creative. One morning I woke up to a wife that was in seriously mad mode. I racked my brain trying to think what I might have done and kept coming up empty.  Every question I asked, she respond to with those terse little one syllable answers  (the kind reserved for only my worst infractions). Finally she told me that she had a dream in which I had done some mean things. When I said "but it was a dream I didn't do those things", her response was "but it was so real!".


----------



## JonA_CT

I stole my borrowed my mom's kitchen aid mixer about 9 years ago, and I finally got around to borrowing the attachment kit that includes a meat grinder. I made some breakfast sausage, and about 10 minutes later, had a fantastic breakfast. I should have borrowed it years ago.

Next on the docket is chorizo I think. I paid 9 bucks for a 9 lb picnic shoulder that I think will make at least three batches. I should have borrowed it years ago.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I stole my borrowed my mom's kitchen aid mixer about 9 years ago, and I finally got around to borrowing the attachment kit that includes a meat grinder. I made some breakfast sausage, and about 10 minutes later, had a fantastic breakfast. I should have borrowed it years ago.
> 
> Next on the docket is chorizo I think. I paid 9 bucks for a 9 lb picnic shoulder that I think will make at least three batches. I should have borrowed it years ago.


Or returned it.... I like breakfast sausage.


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I stole my borrowed my mom's kitchen aid mixer about 9 years ago, and I finally got around to borrowing the attachment kit that includes a meat grinder. I made some breakfast sausage, and about 10 minutes later, had a fantastic breakfast. I should have borrowed it years ago.
> 
> Next on the docket is chorizo I think. I paid 9 bucks for a 9 lb picnic shoulder that I think will make at least three batches. I should have borrowed it years ago.
> 
> 
> 
> Or returned it.... I like breakfast sausage.
Click to expand...


Perhaps. She knows where it is if she wants it, haha. Has house keys and everything. 

The reason it's at my house and not hers is because she didn't use it for at least a decade prior to my borrowing it. She likes doing things the old school way.


----------



## jcdeboever

Great, great grandpa Bob, waiting on grandson to come back to MI for more sex education


----------



## snowbear

Power outage at the office, our outlets and A/C are not on generator and my UPS just died.  The power company's estimate for restoration has jumped from 11:00 to 4:00.  It's 79F inside and going up to the 90s today.  I'm going to give it an hour of staring at a blank screen the call it a day; I'll take the hit on the paycheck.


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> Great, great grandpa Bob



Hey, I can see the family resemblance!    



smoke665 said:


> The mind in sleep can be very creative.


Totally agree!    I like your mini-series dream, very detailed and totally cool.   In a parallel universe, it could be your first novel or a screenplay.

I haven't had mine for a few years now, but I definitely had a recurring dream of being some kind of field nurse during the Civil War.    Dunno which side, but there was always lots of action, mayhem, bandaging of wounds and, sometimes, great speeches.    I was always wearing a damnably hot hoop skirt of the period, constantly pushing it out of the way while I worked.   I had the dream frequently for many, many years.  Strange stuff.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Power outage at the office, our outlets and A/C are not on generator and my UPS just died.  The power company's estimate for restoration has jumped from 11:00 to 4:00.  It's 79F inside and going up to the 90s today.  I'm going to give it an hour of staring at a blank screen the call it a day; I'll take the hit on the paycheck.


Stay long enough for the brass to let everyone know it's on their dime, if you can - you didn't do anything wrong.     This has happened to me a couple of times, in different places, during my career in healthcare management - patients were uncomfortable enough to leave, as well.   Once we'd get the word, I could have staff reschedule.    

PITA, but better in the long run for actual productivity.


----------



## snowbear

It's just a matter of Government making a decision.  I'm hoping they will decide to let us telecommute but they are slow to react sometimes.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> I haven't had mine for a few years now, but I definitely had a recurring dream of being some kind of field nurse during the Civil War. Dunno which side, but there was always lots of action, mayhem, bandaging of wounds and, sometimes, great speeches. I was always wearing a damnably hot hoop skirt of the period, constantly pushing it out of the way while I worked. I had the dream frequently for many, many years. Strange stuff.



Wow, I'm a Civil War History nut, so I'd love to have one of these. I suspect that in my case there is something during the day that triggers the dream. However, I have noticed that since I started using a C Pap a few years ago, the dreams are not as long lasting, nor quite as vivid. Possibly because of a longer deep sleep stage??


----------



## terri

Could be that, or you're still having them but the recall ability is obscured.    I would venture we all have dreams, but we don't all share the same recall ability upon waking up.


----------



## jcdeboever

I've lost so much weight, I can literally put every pair of pants I own on with the zipper up, and buttoned. If I took my belt off, my pants would be at my ankles. Time to go to the good will. I've got 50 lbs more to go so gonna tread light on the purchases. Two pairs of dress pants, two pairs of kakis, and two pair of jeans. I'm swimming in my 3x polos too, fortunately I have a couple of 2x and xl. I've been lifting dumbbells every night while I read or watch baseball so I have little to no fat on my arms. I've shed 6.5 inches off my belly.  Crazy.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Power outage at the office, our outlets and A/C are not on generator and my UPS just died.  The power company's estimate for restoration has jumped from 11:00 to 4:00.  It's 79F inside and going up to the 90s today.  I'm going to give it an hour of staring at a blank screen the call it a day; I'll take the hit on the paycheck.



No option to work from home?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is back from The Cook's walk.  Lately, ever since her second ear went out, she's been depressed and really starting to show/act her age.  This was the first time in a week for a 'full' walk as opposed to the abbreviated strolls of just around the block or less that she's been approving. The Cook and Gary departed early to minimize the sun, as Cook, being Irish, avoids walking in bright sun like a vampire. But the sun came out and really warmed things up, making the high humidity quite ugly.

If Gary is working he ignores the weather ... but when he has options, he recognizes that heat plus humidity really sucks. (Yeah ... duh ... of course it does ... but usually we don't get the wetness we've been experiencing lately.)  The weather people are calling it monsoonal moisture being swept in from the Gulf of Mexico. Must be illegal.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I've lost so much weight, I can literally put every pair of pants I own on with the zipper up, and buttoned. If I took my belt off, my pants would be at my ankles. Time to go to the good will. I've got 50 lbs more to go so gonna tread light on the purchases. Two pairs of dress pants, two pairs of kakis, and two pair of jeans. I'm swimming in my 3x polos too, fortunately I have a couple of 2x and xl. I've been lifting dumbbells every night while I read or watch baseball so I have little to no fat on my arms. I've shed 6.5 inches off my belly.  Crazy.


Good for you!


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> No option to work from home?


Yes but I have to wait until they say to go.  They gave us all the options of telecommute or take leave; we left at 11.


----------



## Frank F.

The girls went to an art workshop. Very nice


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou are in the patio.  Gary is working, sorta ... and Mary Lou is watching The View.  She with her tea and Gary with his coffee.  Gary's roast came out especially nice and today's brew tastes great.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has been watching three Dragonflies zipping across the roses and the pond like a trio of P51's.  Whoops, a pair are screwing in midair.  Now a bright red Dragonfly is repeatedly dipping its tail into the water near the papyrus. Cool ... hopefully we get some nymphs soon.


----------



## SquarePeg

Nice shot Gary ^^


----------



## jcdeboever

Nice, fairies next?


----------



## jcdeboever

Wife's out of town. Raided the green beans. This is what I came up with. Pretty good for a guy who is the ramen noodle king.


----------



## snowbear

Cereal, peanut butter toast, and ramen noodles . . . sounds like a chopped kitchen challenge to me.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Cereal, peanut butter toast, and ramen noodles . . . sounds like a chopped kitchen challenge to me.



Come on over and have at it.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes ramen.  He is very close to starting a ramen journey with numerous flours for the noodles.  One reason for the multiple and portable inductive cookers is to realize Gary's desire for hot pots with various homemade noodles in the patio.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon:  A big thumbs up on the sausage. Gary recently purchased a grinder for sausages.  Maybe later this week Gary will try the grinder.  Good chorizo is hard to make. Good luck.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> @ Jon:  A big thumbs up on the sausage. Gary recently purchased a grinder for sausages.  Maybe later this week Gary will try the grinder.  Good chorizo is hard to make. Good luck.



Did Frank gift you a copy of the Food Lab? His recipe/research on sausage is super useful. I have his chorizo recipe resting in the fridge to grind later today. It's not an ingredient that's easy to find here, so I won't have much to compare it to, but I'll let you know what I think.

It's a beautiful morning here. We had a pretty good line of thunderstorms last night that has dramatically cut the humidity for the time being. The only problem is that I'm out of roasted coffee. Such an amateur move.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is back from The Cook's walk.  Lately, ever since her second ear went out, she's been depressed and really starting to show/act her age.  This was the first time in a week for a 'full' walk as opposed to the abbreviated strolls of just around the block or less that she's been approving. The Cook and Gary departed early to minimize the sun, as Cook, being Irish, avoids walking in bright sun like a vampire. But the sun came out and really warmed things up, making the high humidity quite ugly.
> 
> If Gary is working he ignores the weather ... but when he has options, he recognizes that heat plus humidity really sucks. (Yeah ... duh ... of course it does ... but usually we don't get the wetness we've been experiencing lately.)  The weather people are calling it monsoonal moisture being swept in from the Gulf of Mexico. Must be illegal.




We are exposed to similar conditions here in the Rhine valley. Xtremly wet and hot most of the time so sweat sweat sweat is the rhyme.

Go jogging in the early morning when it is still bearable and all stuff you wear will be soaked if you return. Liters. Literally.

Yesterday internet said 0% rain probability. But we had a light drizzle most of the afternoon.

I did explain that as humidity of 120% , condensating .... Does not make much difference anyway, steam pressure from the inside was higher than water flow from the outside. A rain coat would only have increased the flow of sweat!


----------



## Gary A.

@ Frank: But that is normal for Germany.  Dry is the normal here, very very wonderfully dry. Fortunately it gets significantly cool at night for some relief. These monsoonal moisture arriving via an atmospheric river is drowning us in humidity.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thinks that is very odd. Gary doesn't remember his dreams.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Really, you're missing out some great stuff. The mind in sleep can be very creative. One morning I woke up to a wife that was in seriously mad mode. I racked my brain trying to think what I might have done and kept coming up empty.  Every question I asked, she respond to with those terse little one syllable answers  (the kind reserved for only my worst infractions). Finally she told me that she had a dream in which I had done some mean things. When I said "but it was a dream I didn't do those things", her response was "but it was so real!".
Click to expand...



Sometimes dreams can feel more real than reality. I once sat in a café with friends and closed my eyes for tiredness. Suddenly the same scene opened up behind closed eyes, revealing very different relations between the people. Same scene, deeper truth.

Or as recent as a few days back I did a power nap to regain some strength after a long morning worth of work, but it did feel like anything but sleep. I met a friend who seemed quite rational and friendly for many years but suddenly started paranoid rants via Email, stating eg I was trying to manipulate him and gain power over him by giving him a book I like as a birthday present. I told him, thank you would be the normal answer in a case like that and not read the book if you do not like it, which caused even more absurd accusations. This friend I met in the dream that afternoon and he was drooling and gibbering .... I said: I see you drool but I do not understand what you are saying ....

This felt like freeing my heart from losing a friend ....


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> Same scene, deeper trut



But interpretation of the truth can be difficult. Yesterday my youngest was telling me about his VA C&P evaluation on his combat disabilities. Last night I dreamed that he was sitting in the back seat of an old Land Rover, the VA doctor was in the driver seat and I was standing at the passenger window, as we all talked back and forth. Strange?


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Jon:  A big thumbs up on the sausage. Gary recently purchased a grinder for sausages.  Maybe later this week Gary will try the grinder.  Good chorizo is hard to make. Good luck.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did Frank gift you a copy of the Food Lab? His recipe/research on sausage is super useful. I have his chorizo recipe resting in the fridge to grind later today. It's not an ingredient that's easy to find here, so I won't have much to compare it to, but I'll let you know what I think.
> 
> It's a beautiful morning here. We had a pretty good line of thunderstorms last night that has dramatically cut the humidity for the time being. The only problem is that I'm out of roasted coffee. Such an amateur move.
Click to expand...

Yes, Frank did give Gary a copy of the Food Lab.  It is in the living room by Gary's chair and he often will pick it up to peruse. Frank is a gentleman. 

The right combo of chili and spices is the key and that is an individual's palate thing.  At one time getting decent tortillas on the East Coast was not a trivial matter ... Gary think's a good selection of herbs/spices/chilies from Greater Mexico, lands of sun and vivid colors and bold music, may be difficult at best ... and just the right amount of fat so the sausage sizzles' in the pan but not too much to drown the flavors. Gary is salivating. Gary prefers beef to pork, he'll be going to the garden for Fresno, Anaheim and Serrano peppers along with cilantro, herbs and maybe garlic.  There was a chorizo in San Antonio which Gary really liked. It was a beef chorizo, but the beef wasn't put through a grinder, it was pulled/string beef.  The spices were ground up into a paste and combined with the beef.  Gary may attempt something along that line ... but first a look at the Food Lab.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Same scene, deeper trut
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But interpretation of the truth can be difficult. Yesterday my youngest was telling me about his VA C&P evaluation on his combat disabilities. Last night I dreamed that he was sitting in the back seat of an old Land Rover, the VA doctor was in the driver seat and I was standing at the passenger window, as we all talked back and forth. Strange?
Click to expand...

Nope ...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Thursday is camera ad day in the Los Angeles Times. Samy's runs the largest ads.  Today's was only a half page, but they devoted some space to film. Interesting ... Gary doesn't remember Samy's ever advertising film stuff before.


----------



## jcdeboever

My first job other than paper route, was at a meat market. I used to stuff the casing with Belgian sausage (pork) and blood sausage (hearts and liver). Strangely, it was fun. Also did hotdogs (little bit of everything).


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> My first job other than paper route, was at a meat market. I used to stuff the casing with Belgian sausage (pork) and blood sausage (hearts and liver). Strangely, it was fun. Also did hotdogs (little bit of everything).


Gary has a grinder and a job for you.


----------



## JonA_CT

Got it through the grinder and cooked a little sample to try. Not super hot, but wow the spices! So much more flavorful than the examples I've had around here. A kick of vinegar and garlic and then the warming spices start in with a really pleasant finish. 

I like the sound of yours, Gary. I'd like a version with more of a pepper presence too.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hey @JonA_CT  - how was Rockport?  I hope you weren't here during that nasty weather we had.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I remember my aunt using a grinder, one of those hand crank deals for home kitchens. Making ham salad and whatnot. Life on the farm.

How am I so behind on an online class that's only adult continuing ed. no credit - and on Hitchcock? lol Not that I have to take the quizzes etc. but this far along I want to get caught up and get it done. So I better get busy...

I don't feel like doing my homework.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's pasta dryer has arrived.  Gary is happy.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Jon:  A big thumbs up on the sausage. Gary recently purchased a grinder for sausages.  Maybe later this week Gary will try the grinder.  Good chorizo is hard to make. Good luck.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did Frank gift you a copy of the Food Lab? His recipe/research on sausage is super useful. I have his chorizo recipe resting in the fridge to grind later today. It's not an ingredient that's easy to find here, so I won't have much to compare it to, but I'll let you know what I think.
> 
> It's a beautiful morning here. We had a pretty good line of thunderstorms last night that has dramatically cut the humidity for the time being. The only problem is that I'm out of roasted coffee. Such an amateur move.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, Frank did give Gary a copy of the Food Lab.  It is in the living room by Gary's chair and he often will pick it up to peruse. Frank is a gentleman.
> 
> The right combo of chili and spices is the key and that is an individual's palate thing.  At one time getting decent tortillas on the East Coast was not a trivial matter ... Gary think's a good selection of herbs/spices/chilies from Greater Mexico, lands of sun and vivid colors and bold music, may be difficult at best ... and just the right amount of fat so the sausage sizzles' in the pan but not too much to drown the flavors. Gary is salivating. Gary prefers beef to pork, he'll be going to the garden for Fresno, Anaheim and Serrano peppers along with cilantro, herbs and maybe garlic.  There was a chorizo in San Antonio which Gary really liked. It was a beef chorizo, but the beef wasn't put through a grinder, it was pulled/string beef.  The spices were ground up into a paste and combined with the beef.  Gary may attempt something along that line ... but first a look at the Food Lab.
Click to expand...



I am a great fan of Merguez - Wikipedia

Not easy to buy good ones, best possibly at a Morrocanian Butcher. I really want to start making my own sausages. Not so difficult to do and you really know the ingredients. 

You might find them at Maghreb Butchers in bigger US cities. One of the more refined and complex tastes to experience


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's pasta dryer.


----------



## jcdeboever

All this sausage talk is making me hungry. Think I'll stop on the way home and grab an order to go from Mexican restaurant.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 144599 View attachment 144600 View attachment 144601
> Gary's pasta dryer.


I bought a similar one at the Goodwill, though it was for ties.... Oopppps


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 144599 View attachment 144600 View attachment 144601
> Gary's pasta dryer.
> 
> 
> 
> I bought a similar one at the Goodwill, though it was for ties.... Oopppps
Click to expand...

LOL  ... they do make similar devices for ties.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Jon:  A big thumbs up on the sausage. Gary recently purchased a grinder for sausages.  Maybe later this week Gary will try the grinder.  Good chorizo is hard to make. Good luck.
> 
> 
> 
> Mexican Chorizo or Spanish Chorizo?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Out here when one says Chorizo it is Mexican.
Click to expand...


Bah! It's Portuguese chouriço.


----------



## snowbear

Totally unplanned trip, or rather unplanned schedule.  At the airport; fly to Boston tonight, then drive to Portland, Maine in the morning.  Return on Sunday, again via Boston.

I'll get the contest voting up when I get back since I'm not taking the laptop.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> Totally unplanned trip, or rather unplanned schedule.  At the airport; fly to Boston tonight, then drive to Portland, Maine in the morning.  Return on Sunday, again via Boston.
> 
> I'll get the contest voting up when I get back since I'm not taking the laptop.



Enjoy! Safe travels!


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Hey @JonA_CT  - how was Rockport?  I hope you weren't here during that nasty weather we had.



We came home the day before...don't worry, it was like that here too!

We had a good time. The B+B we stayed at was nice, and right on the water...we were able to swim in a nice warm pool while getting ocean breeze and seaweed funk. My wife's been struggling with some spinal misalignment that they can't really fix while she's pregnant, so walking was tough, but we still enjoyed some time in Rockport and in Gloucester. We found some cool nook-like beaches while were walking/driving around, and I think when our kids are a little older we will return. 

I have two rolls of film from the trip that I sent out earlier this week. Hopefully everything will come out nicely, and I'll be able to share here.


----------



## Gary A.

Unusual and awful weather out here.  The Tv keeps getting interrupted with Flash Flooding Warnings. Major humidity and 90F temps ... the A/C is on ... too hot for Cook's walk ... Gary had to exercise on the indoor treadmill in order to get his daily steps.  Bah ... boring.


----------



## Frank F.

In the morning we were down from 30 Celsius to 20 so bearable. I took a long walk, then long cooking. Now I am tired and ready for a nap .... CU


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Unusual and awful weather out here.  The Tv keeps getting interrupted with Flash Flooding Warnings. *Major humidity and 90F temps *... the A/C is on ... too hot for Cook's walk ... Gary had to exercise on the indoor treadmill in order to get his daily steps.  Bah ... boring.



Welcome to a NY summer. 

I hate summer. I hate it like poison.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> I hate summer. I hate it like poison.



Give me 72 degrees and 50% humidity year round & I'd be a happy camper.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I hate summer. I hate it like poison.


I love summer. But, fall, winter, and spring are close seconds. 

That said, major headache today that isn't going away without a fight.


----------



## smoke665

gryphonslair99 said:


> you would be in San Diego.



Nope the "other atmosphere" wouldn't be conducive to my tolerance.


----------



## waday




----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> In the morning we were down from 30 Celsius to 20 so bearable. I took a long walk, then long cooking. Now I am tired and ready for a nap .... CU


Naps are good.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hate summer. I hate it like poison.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Give me 72 degrees and 50% humidity year round & I'd be a happy camper.
Click to expand...

Welcome to San Diego. (LOL - I posted before reading gryphonslair99's post.)


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hate summer. I hate it like poison.
> 
> 
> 
> I love summer. But, fall, winter, and spring are close seconds.
> 
> That said, major headache today that isn't going away without a fight.
Click to expand...

Take Frank's advice, get a nap.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> [
> 
> Nope the "other atmosphere" wouldn't be conducive to my tolerance.


Or lack thereof ... 

(Assuming you are referencing a 'political climate' ... San Diego is quite conservative, being a military town. A ton of conservative elected officials from congress down to city council. SD is two hours away from the heretics of Hollywood.  San Diego has a pretty good MLB team, but their pro basketball and football teams moved to the bright lights of Los Angeles.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Or lack thereof



I think the reason most foreign  people have difficulty understanding America is because of the vast cultural differences, that flourish over such a large geographic area. We have many states larger than whole countries. Yet in times of need will set aside those difference to unite for the common good.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Great fishing, from tuna to swordfish to rock fish ... (surfing is just average).  Gary can see you waking up every morning, stretching as you open the blinds, a fresh cup of coffee steaming in your hand, filling your nose with its fragrance, seals bark below as you stare out to the bright blue Pacific rolling across the rocks and cliffs of La Jolla.

Yep, under all that crusty Alabama exterior ... your heart says La Jolla.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hate summer. I hate it like poison.
> 
> 
> 
> I love summer. But, fall, winter, and spring are close seconds.
> 
> That said, major headache today that isn't going away without a fight.
Click to expand...


Yup, I've got one of my headaches today too, and it's showing no signs of backing down.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or lack thereof
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think the reason most foreign  people have difficulty understanding America is because of the vast cultural differences, that flourish over such a large geographic area. We have many states larger than whole countries. Yet in times of need will set aside those difference to unite for the common good.
Click to expand...

I cannot agree with you more.  Unfortunately and of late, we seem to bicker about what that common good may be instead of seeking the common ground of compromise and cooperation.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hate summer. I hate it like poison.
> 
> 
> 
> I love summer. But, fall, winter, and spring are close seconds.
> 
> That said, major headache today that isn't going away without a fight.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup, I've got one of my headaches today too, and it's showing no signs of backing down.
Click to expand...

Nap time for Leo.


----------



## terri

A happy Friday to all, hosers!    Especially Leo, who sounds like she needs to be able to drug up, find the kitties and be left alone for awhile.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or lack thereof
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think the reason most foreign  people have difficulty understanding America is because of the vast cultural differences, that flourish over such a large geographic area. We have many states larger than whole countries. Yet in times of need will set aside those difference to unite for the common good.
Click to expand...

When Gary was a Los Angeles City Commissioner, often he would be volunteered to entertain foreign delegations as they would tour the city.  They were amazed at the integration and assimilation of the various ethnic/racial/religious groups in LA.  In the Los Angeles Unified School District, there were approximately 100 different languages spoken.  Gary feels that LA had a long long way to go to lower social tensions.  But to the visiting delegations, it was remarkable what we have attained here tossing all these very different people together without being separated by the government.

The best were the Ruskies ... they didn't care about culture clashes or getting along ... they wanted to know how:
1) How we handled our parking; and
2) They wanted to see our Police Academy.

Gary remembers the first time a Ruskie delegation entered a supermarket, they thought it was like a "museum", set up to impress foreigners.

Politics aside, Gary thinks that the average Russian and the average American are very similar.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary and The Cook retrieved the morning paper and looked up at the bright blue sky ladened with sharp edged clouds.  "No Marine Layer" Gary told Cook, "Its gonna be a schvitz."  As least the temps are projected to be cooler today.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## Gary A.

Damn, any colder and you'll have snow.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> PS- Great fishing, from tuna to swordfish to rock fish ... (surfing is just average).  Gary can see you waking up every morning, stretching as you open the blinds, a fresh cup of coffee steaming in your hand, filling your nose with its fragrance, seals bark below as you stare out to the bright blue Pacific rolling across the rocks and cliffs of La Jolla.
> 
> Yep, under all that crusty Alabama exterior ... your heart says La Jolla.



No dis of San Diego intended, because there are many other places I wouldn't care to live either. I would agree that the further you move north from Hollywood it's probably better. Being as mobile as we are, we feel fortunate that we can experience many different climates, without being encumbered to living there permanently.



Gary A. said:


> Unfortunately and of late, we seem to bicker about what that common good may be instead of seeking the common ground of compromise and cooperation.





Gary A. said:


> and assimilation of the various ethnic/racial/religious groups in LA. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, there were approximately 100 different languages spoken.



Yes we agree on the lack of cooperation, but something you said in the last quote I feel has contributed to some of the disharmony in this country. I can remember a time not so long ago when English was the language of the land. Yes the local communities might have spoken their native languages in their home, but there was also a pride in learning the language of this country.  People wanted to be recognized as American, and not so much as a native of their homeland.  In the rush to "assimilate and accommodate" we've forgotten the "united" part of what made this country great.  Assimilate means to become a part of the society, not a separatist within. To often people forget the lesson of Aesop’s Fable,  "The Miller, His Son and  Their Ass", in the misguided effort to accommodate and the reluctance to offend anyone, they are actually depriving these groups of privilege of becoming a part of the larger society.

When everyone, realizes that they have to act on what is the best for the country as a whole and not their own personal agendas, then maybe change will come. Time for the country to grow up and learn to say Yes to the good for the majority, and No when it's required, because as the fable goes "when you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one".


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- Great fishing, from tuna to swordfish to rock fish ... (surfing is just average).  Gary can see you waking up every morning, stretching as you open the blinds, a fresh cup of coffee steaming in your hand, filling your nose with its fragrance, seals bark below as you stare out to the bright blue Pacific rolling across the rocks and cliffs of La Jolla.
> 
> Yep, under all that crusty Alabama exterior ... your heart says La Jolla.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No dis of San Diego intended, because there are many other places I wouldn't care to live either. I would agree that the further you move north from Hollywood it's probably better. Being as mobile as we are, we feel fortunate that we can experience many different climates, without being encumbered to living there permanently.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Unfortunately and of late, we seem to bicker about what that common good may be instead of seeking the common ground of compromise and cooperation.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> and assimilation of the various ethnic/racial/religious groups in LA. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, there were approximately 100 different languages spoken.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes we agree on the lack of cooperation, but something you said in the last quote I feel has contributed to some of the disharmony in this country. I can remember a time not so long ago when English was the language of the land. Yes the local communities might have spoken their native languages in their home, but there was also a pride in learning the language of this country.  People wanted to be recognized as American, and not so much as a native of their homeland.  In the rush to "assimilate and accommodate" we've forgotten the "united" part of what made this country great.  Assimilate means to become a part of the society, not a separatist within. To often people forget the lesson of Aesop’s Fable,  "The Miller, His Son and  Their Ass", in the misguided effort to accommodate and the reluctance to offend anyone, they are actually depriving these groups of privilege of becoming a part of the larger society.
> 
> When everyone, realizes that they have to act on what is the best for the country as a whole and not their own personal agendas, then maybe change will come. Time for the country to grow up and learn to say Yes to the good for the majority, and No when it's required, because as the fable goes "when you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one".
Click to expand...


Do not assume that just because people speak another language that they don't also speak English. Also don't assume that just because they haven't mastered it doesn't mean it's because they aren't trying or that they have no interest. Trying to learn a second language in a new country is not as simple a task as some try to make it out to be.

One can have pride in more than one language. There is richness in diversity. "United" does not automatically mean absolute conformity.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- Great fishing, from tuna to swordfish to rock fish ... (surfing is just average).  Gary can see you waking up every morning, stretching as you open the blinds, a fresh cup of coffee steaming in your hand, filling your nose with its fragrance, seals bark below as you stare out to the bright blue Pacific rolling across the rocks and cliffs of La Jolla.
> 
> Yep, under all that crusty Alabama exterior ... your heart says La Jolla.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No dis of San Diego intended, because there are many other places I wouldn't care to live either. I would agree that the further you move north from Hollywood it's probably better. Being as mobile as we are, we feel fortunate that we can experience many different climates, without being encumbered to living there permanently.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Unfortunately and of late, we seem to bicker about what that common good may be instead of seeking the common ground of compromise and cooperation.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> and assimilation of the various ethnic/racial/religious groups in LA. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, there were approximately 100 different languages spoken.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes we agree on the lack of cooperation, but something you said in the last quote I feel has contributed to some of the disharmony in this country. I can remember a time not so long ago when English was the language of the land. Yes the local communities might have spoken their native languages in their home, but there was also a pride in learning the language of this country.  People wanted to be recognized as American, and not so much as a native of their homeland.  In the rush to "assimilate and accommodate" we've forgotten the "united" part of what made this country great.  Assimilate means to become a part of the society, not a separatist within. To often people forget the lesson of Aesop’s Fable,  "The Miller, His Son and  Their Ass", in the misguided effort to accommodate and the reluctance to offend anyone, they are actually depriving these groups of privilege of becoming a part of the larger society.
> 
> When everyone, realizes that they have to act on what is the best for the country as a whole and not their own personal agendas, then maybe change will come. Time for the country to grow up and learn to say Yes to the good for the majority, and No when it's required, because as the fable goes "when you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Do not assume that just because people speak another language that they don't also speak English. Also don't assume that just because they haven't mastered it doesn't mean it's because they aren't trying or that they have no interest. Trying to learn a second language in a new country is not as simple a task as some try to make it out to be.
> 
> One can have pride in more than one language. There is richness in diversity. "United" does not automatically mean absolute conformity.
Click to expand...

Wait wait wait, so you mean when someone is speaking another language, they're not always either (A) talking about me or (B) a terrorist? They may actually just be having a normal conversation in a language they feel more comfortable with?

Please see this as both tongue-in-cheek and biting my tongue at the same time.


----------



## waday

Also, we need to start speaking in terms of "integration" as opposed to "assimilation".


----------



## vintagesnaps

It was in more recent years at work that we started getting more Spanish speaking families here. Adults don't usually learn a new language that easily but the kids do. I remember one family that the dad was bilingual, mom only spoke Spanish but got tapes and books trying to learn English, but when the older elementary age kids were home on school breaks, those two jabbered away like any kids their age - you wouldn't have known listening to them that they didn't grow up in a home with two English speaking parents. It just takes time and maybe a generation. 

And I found usually that the families/parents couldn't wait to tell us that their child had said a new word - in English. They seemed pleased and I guess if you come here from another country that you want your kids to be bilingual and to be able to communicate in school with the other kids. 

Lunch break is over and I gotta get something done. This is just like college cramming for a test... not gonna pull an all nighter though!


----------



## waday

Integration/assimilation and acceptance/expectation are two different things.

We need to integrate, as well as accept.

For example, we should accept different cultures and peoples by integrating them into our society. We should be able to celebrate our differences, while also being a united country.

If we are to assimilate and have expectations, we will not be united; people are different, even across the US.

For example, people from NYC are completely different than people from California. People from California are completely different than people from Texas. If we were to expect people to assimilate, which group is a baseline for assimilation? Which accent should we start using? Do people need to learn the dialects from across the country?

Or should we respect and celebrate the differences? The fact that we're all different should bring us closer together.


----------



## Gary A.

That's easy ... California.


----------



## Gary A.

In favor of San Francisco ... What's wrong with the center of the known universe?


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Yep, under all that crusty Alabama exterior ... your heart says La Jolla.



You know I really hope that one day we can increase our time between doctor visits to the point that we can visit that area as well as all the coast line all the way up to Washington. I suspect that we could enjoy a spirited debate on many subjects and I know there is some beautiful country


----------



## smoke665

@limr and @Wayday rather than delve into a debate on things that will most likely get me censored by the moderators, I'll simply repeat this line from my earlier post.

"When *everyone*, realizes that they have to act on what is the best for the country as a whole and not their own personal agendas, then maybe change will come."


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep, under all that crusty Alabama exterior ... your heart says La Jolla.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You know I really hope that one day we can increase our time between doctor visits to the point that we can visit that area as well as all the coast line all the way up to Washington. I suspect that we could enjoy a spirited debate on many subjects and I know there is some beautiful country
Click to expand...

The geological/biological/environmental diversity of California is unmatched anywhere in the world.  Other places may come close ... but fade because of California takes all of it's wonders into extremes.


----------



## Braineack

braineack today on TFP:





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2880008345355539


----------



## smoke665

This was on a Birmingham station, at least they were compassionate?


----------



## Gary A.

Nope ... more like this:





and this ...






This ..






Some of this ...






smoke's new house ...





and a whole lot of this ...


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. beautiful country to be sure, but we aren't without here, and no way I would ever settle in a house with visible neighbors again. We have a few neighbors but our elevation and tree cover puts them out of view.  We do like to travel, but frankly there are also times when we never leave our little mountain for days.


----------



## JonA_CT

Braineack said:


> braineack today on TFP:



You directed me to the right threads to read tonight, haha.


----------



## terri

The New England coast can make you weep with its beauty!    It has scenery to rival the CA coast.   Heck, the lighthouses along Michigan's Great Lakes are beautiful, for that matter.   

North America in general is pretty amazing.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> North America in general is pretty amazing



No argument there.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> @limr and @Wayday rather than delve into a debate on things that will most likely get me censored by the moderators, I'll simply repeat this line from my earlier post.
> 
> "When *everyone*, realizes that they have to act on what is the best for the country as a whole and not their own personal agendas, then maybe change will come."



Then I'll simply reiterate my comment as well: the idea that "acting on what's best for the country" is in direct opposition to "continuing to speak one's native language" is a false dichotomy that drastically oversimplifies an imaginary problem.

The subscribers' forums are available if further discussion is desired.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> The subscribers' forums are available if further discussion is desired.



I'll pass on the subscribers forum as it falls somewhere in the realm of the 24 hr news channels which I also pass on. Lots of negativity and little in the way of solutions.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes Netflix.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes cable news channels, CNN, MSNBC and Fox.


----------



## limr

Gary likes movies, too.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary likes movies, too.


Yep, he's about to drop one into the player.


----------



## Gary A.

A movie and a glass of vino. (Split)


----------



## Frank F.

Not really. I tried to be helpful and funny but they just tried to win a rethoric war. We were on the same page but obviously not in the same book and on the same planet ....


----------



## Frank F.

Another non-political difference comes to mind when I think of Germany and the US: Even on a lonely beach Americans love to see your finer parts covered all the time while in Germany esp Eastern Germany it is totally acceptable to spontaneusly jump into a river or lake "as god made us" if you eg did not think about swimming and forgot you trunks...

... adversely it is considered rude to wear anything but your own skin on FKK beaches (FKK = free body culture), which are defined as RAW ONLY.

So when in Germany be ready to face Adam and Eve in the raw, even in the middle of the Munic public park called the "English Garden". US-compatible representation: English Garden, Munich


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> Another non-political difference comes to mind when I think of Germany and the US:



Ah but times may be changing slightly. We travel a lot in an RV and have noticed that there are more resorts geared toward the "all natural" experience. Earlier this month I was surprised to note that there was one just down the road. I knew this because the sign at the road was pretty clear about the amenities. What surprised me was it's location in an otherwise conservative family vacation area.

I thought it would be a good place to practice my "people" photography but the wife wasn't buying it


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary likes cable news channels, CNN, MSNBC and Fox.



The problem I have with all the cable news channels is the commentary. In my previous ,news days we were very careful to report the news, and not become a part of the news, unlike today's "Jerry Springerish" fare. I haven't looked at the stats lately but back in 2012 Pew did a study and found that 85% of MSNBC's programming was commentary, Fox was 56%, and CNN was 46%. I would suspect that it's only gotten worse. The other issue is that to many otherwise intelligent people in this country form opinions based on the comments provided by the "so called" experts, who spout their opinions as the gospel, never stopping to think who might be actually paying for the "opinions", nor doing their own research. If ever we needed a reincarnation of Walter Kronkite, it's now.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary likes cable news channels, CNN, MSNBC and Fox.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The problem I have with all the cable news channels is the commentary. In my previous ,news days we were very careful to report the news, and not become a part of the news, unlike today's "Jerry Springerish" fare. I haven't looked at the stats lately but back in 2012 Pew did a study and found that 85% of MSNBC's programming was commentary, Fox was 56%, and CNN was 46%. I would suspect that it's only gotten worse. The other issue is that to many otherwise intelligent people in this country form opinions based on the comments provided by the "so called" experts, who spout their opinions as the gospel, never stopping to think who might be actually paying for the "opinions", nor doing their own research. If ever we needed a reincarnation of Walter Kronkite, it's now.
Click to expand...

In Gary's opinion cable "news" is closer to 100% commentary.  For real news Gary looks to mainstream newspapers, LA Times (of course), NY Times, Washington Post, and AP. In the evenings, after a cycle of cable news, Gary and Mary Lou will watch the local Tv channels ... more news and less commentary.  Gary is highly suspect of news sources of which he didn't grow up with or know them in his previous life.  Things like BuzzFeed, Huffington, Mother Jones, Breitbart, Infowars, Politico, et al, Gary is very very leery.  Because Gary grew up in a political family and later became a journalist, he devours news, especially world event and political. 

Unfortunately and in general, because the stakes are so high in politics for special interests, there is a lot of money to be made generating and planting fabricated, made up, stories on web sites that look legitimate but were actually created to host "fake" news.  Real news isn't cheap.  Real news requires resources and money and staff to research and interview.  Investigative reporting is terribly expensive, all the hours, weeks even months of research and following leads and not generating anything printable/airable is very very expensive. Few news organizations have the resources for investigative reporting. News organizations have staff who get paid week-in and week-out cross checking stories for accuracy prior to publication, staffers who check grammar and word usage.

You are right smoke, to beware of cable news. As it is far more commentary than news.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> For real news Gary looks to mainstream newspapers,



My news feeds are set to search primarily on articles on those companies in which I have an interest in or am looking for future opportunities. Other than that I generally scan the WP,WSJ, and USA Today. During the day I might leave it on FoxB or CNBC for little tidbits. Local Morning and Evening news round out the news. 

Regardless of the choice, you still have to take what you read sometimes with a grain of salt.  Funny point to illustrate - Many years ago our steel plant closed putting so many people out of work. The WSJ contacted our mayor at the time (a shrewd politician) about coming to town to do a story of the sad state of affairs. The Mayor and a couple of other good old boys, met the reporters at the airport shortly after lunch on the appointed day. They immediately drove them to the largest and most popular country western honky tonk  in the county "The Fuzzy Duck". A rowdy place where the music and food was always good, and the females plentiful and friendly. By the time the Duck closed at 4 am, they only had time to gather their stuff for the ride back to the airport. The delegation had to help the still inebriated reporters on the plane. A few days later the headline read something to the effect "Economy Bad, But The Fuzzy Duck Is Alive And Well" with  glowing reports of prosperity in the midst of adversity.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> For real news Gary looks to mainstream newspapers,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My news feeds are set to search primarily on articles on those companies in which I have an interest in or am looking for future opportunities. Other than that I generally scan the WP,WSJ, and USA Today. During the day I might leave it on FoxB or CNBC for little tidbits. Local Morning and Evening news round out the news.
> 
> Regardless of the choice, you still have to take what you read sometimes with a grain of salt.  Funny point to illustrate - Many years ago our steel plant closed putting so many people out of work. The WSJ contacted our mayor at the time (a shrewd politician) about coming to town to do a story of the sad state of affairs. The Mayor and a couple of other good old boys, met the reporters at the airport shortly after lunch on the appointed day. They immediately drove them to the largest and most popular country western honky tonk  in the county "The Fuzzy Duck". A rowdy place where the music and food was always good, and the females plentiful and friendly. By the time the Duck closed at 4 am, they only had time to gather their stuff for the ride back to the airport. The delegation had to help the still inebriated reporters on the plane. A few days later the headline read something to the effect "Economy Bad, But The Fuzzy Duck Is Alive And Well" with  glowing reports of prosperity in the midst of adversity.
Click to expand...

That is funny.  That's an assignment I wouldn't mind to have covered.


----------



## snowbear

Bradford, Mass.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The subscribers' forums are available if further discussion is desired.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll pass on the subscribers forum as it falls somewhere in the realm of the 24 hr news channels which I also pass on. Lots of negativity and little in the way of solutions.
Click to expand...

Years back, we used to call it "The Vent Room."    Just a place away from the main forum where anyone can 'vent' on stuff/issues that aren't allowed in the open forum.   People are free to vent about stuff that bugs them, so I'm sure it can sound negative at times.   No biggie, but I agree it's likely not for everyone.   We still don't want fights or other general nastiness in there.   

This thread pushes the envelope enough, at times.


----------



## snowbear

Maybe it's time to collect the tabs and close the doors.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Years back, we used to call it "The Vent Room."



For those who wish to view it, more power to them, and no judgments here. For me as a supporting member, I do wish there was a way to disable the feed though so it doesn't show up in my active topics.  I enjoy TPF as a relaxing outlet away from the negativity and drama of the news and social media, and the appearance in the feed is a distraction.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Had some chocolate brownie coffee today. I'm not that into a lot of flavored coffees, but it was good! After all, chocolate... Good on a cloudy day, but at least it's not hot! was nice to have windows open for a change. 

Gotta get back to cramming for a class that's just for fun and counts for nothing anyway! lol the week I was sick got me behind, but I want to at least finish it. Of course I stayed up too late and overslept so I may end up close to doing an all nighter yet.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> For real news Gary looks to mainstream newspapers,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My news feeds are set to search primarily on articles on those companies in which I have an interest in or am looking for future opportunities. Other than that I generally scan the WP,WSJ, and USA Today. During the day I might leave it on FoxB or CNBC for little tidbits. Local Morning and Evening news round out the news.
> 
> Regardless of the choice, you still have to take what you read sometimes with a grain of salt.  Funny point to illustrate - Many years ago our steel plant closed putting so many people out of work. The WSJ contacted our mayor at the time (a shrewd politician) about coming to town to do a story of the sad state of affairs. The Mayor and a couple of other good old boys, met the reporters at the airport shortly after lunch on the appointed day. They immediately drove them to the largest and most popular country western honky tonk  in the county "The Fuzzy Duck". A rowdy place where the music and food was always good, and the females plentiful and friendly. By the time the Duck closed at 4 am, they only had time to gather their stuff for the ride back to the airport. The delegation had to help the still inebriated reporters on the plane. A few days later the headline read something to the effect "Economy Bad, But The Fuzzy Duck Is Alive And Well" with  glowing reports of prosperity in the midst of adversity.
Click to expand...


Smoke, you may consider adding BBC to your browse list, too.


----------



## limr

Well, I just got done with my Saturday overtime (but am not done with my headache.) Stopped at Starbucks and guzzled some coffee and then decided that I deserve a manicure. 

Current nail state, soon to be rectified:


----------



## limr

Current nail state, post-manicure:

 

I don't get manicures often, but when I do, I generally give big fat tips to the manicurist.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Current nail state, post-manicure:
> 
> View attachment 144678
> 
> I don't get manicures often, but when I do, I generally give big fat tips to the manicurist.


Nice. You must be young, my guess looking at your hands, 25? Pretty


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Smoke, you may consider adding BBC to your browse list, too



I do occasionally.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Current nail state, post-manicure:
> 
> View attachment 144678
> 
> I don't get manicures often, but when I do, I generally give big fat tips to the manicurist.
> 
> 
> 
> Nice. You must be young, my guess looking at your hands, 25? Pretty
Click to expand...


That guess of 25 just made you my Favorite Person of the Day


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Current nail state, post-manicure:
> 
> View attachment 144678
> 
> I don't get manicures often, but when I do, I generally give big fat tips to the manicurist.
> 
> 
> 
> Nice. You must be young, my guess looking at your hands, 25? Pretty
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That guess of 25 just made you my Favorite Person of the Day
Click to expand...

Lucky you, Gary's last chat with JC he threatened to slap me.


----------



## snowbear

Not 25; 23.  Nice color, Leonore.


----------



## snowbear

Anyone recognize this place?


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Anyone recognize this place?
> 
> View attachment 144679


Gary's favorite winery?


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone recognize this place?
> 
> View attachment 144679
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's favorite winery?
Click to expand...

Not even close. Wrong side of the country, anyway.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone recognize this place?
> 
> View attachment 144679
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's favorite winery?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not even close. Wrong side of the country, anyway.
Click to expand...

No distance too far for a Gary winery.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Anyone recognize this place?
> 
> View attachment 144679


Not I.  Given your last location, I'm guessing you think we *should* know it...      A scary government building, perhaps?


----------



## snowbear

It could be, though I'd be more afraid of Fort Meade where NSA is located.  Funny, there is a Snowden Road in that area.


----------



## terri

Oh!!   Now I'm seeing the other shot up there - FBI, maybe?    That's scary.


----------



## snowbear

Well, it's time to disappear for a bit.  As in one of my favorite lines in _The Russians are Coming! the Russians are Coming!
"Nohman! They've opened up the bah"_


----------



## JonA_CT

Today's haul.



 

I picked all of the cukes that were ready 3 days ago. I'm running out of places to stick pickles.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary likes cable news channels, CNN, MSNBC and Fox.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The problem I have with all the cable news channels is the commentary. In my previous ,news days we were very careful to report the news, and not become a part of the news, unlike today's "Jerry Springerish" fare. I haven't looked at the stats lately but back in 2012 Pew did a study and found that 85% of MSNBC's programming was commentary, Fox was 56%, and CNN was 46%. I would suspect that it's only gotten worse. The other issue is that to many otherwise intelligent people in this country form opinions based on the comments provided by the "so called" experts, who spout their opinions as the gospel, never stopping to think who might be actually paying for the "opinions", nor doing their own research. If ever we needed a reincarnation of Walter Kronkite, it's now.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> In Gary's opinion cable "news" is closer to 100% commentary.  For real news Gary looks to mainstream newspapers, LA Times (of course), NY Times, Washington Post, and AP. In the evenings, after a cycle of cable news, Gary and Mary Lou will watch the local Tv channels ... more news and less commentary.  Gary is highly suspect of news sources of which he didn't grow up with or know them in his previous life.  Things like BuzzFeed, Huffington, Mother Jones, Breitbart, Infowars, Politico, et al, Gary is very very leery.  Because Gary grew up in a political family and later became a journalist, he devours news, especially world event and political.
> 
> Unfortunately and in general, because the stakes are so high in politics for special interests, there is a lot of money to be made generating and planting fabricated, made up, stories on web sites that look legitimate but were actually created to host "fake" news.  Real news isn't cheap.  Real news requires resources and money and staff to research and interview.  Investigative reporting is terribly expensive, all the hours, weeks even months of research and following leads and not generating anything printable/airable is very very expensive. Few news organizations have the resources for investigative reporting. News organizations have staff who get paid week-in and week-out cross checking stories for accuracy prior to publication, staffers who check grammar and word usage.
> 
> You are right smoke, to beware of cable news. As it is far more commentary than news.
Click to expand...



You are right, research is expensive and still sometimes leads to the conclusion that the smoke was no smoke and there was no fire. So no article, no broadcast, only expenses. That can happen. It is in fact the same in science. But for me this is glorious, that people bear the effort even if it might lead to nothing. Real heroes.

I cannot bear all the news these days, not because the world is in a bad state, but because many people look at the world at an angle that makes the world look bad.

Today so many people live on this planet, roughly three times the amount who lived when I was born. They live longer, are better educated, less are hungry, more live in democratic states and in relative security. The world has gotten significantly better in the last 50 years and is continuing to become better.

The principle that "only bad news is news at all" leads to a completely wrong state of alarm in many people, of whom many are then discouraged to change the things the can influence to the better. But look at people like Elon Musk or Bill & Melinda Gates: The see the opportunities to make our lifes better, them an many Millions more.

So sleeves up and work for a brighter future, however you may define it. Even work in a direction one might considers wrong is better than sit and stare at the wall or the TV depressed and discouraged.

My opionion is that the world is much better than it was 50 years ago and in 50 years we will look back and say: "WOW, the world has still become a much better place, more peaceful, more educated and finally humanity has learned to live in harmony with their natural environment!"


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> ... I'm running out of places to stick pickles.


40 minutes and no one has bit on this yet?  Yeesh!


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... I'm running out of places to stick pickles.
> 
> 
> 
> 40 minutes and no one has bit on this yet?  Yeesh!
Click to expand...

We've been warned once, so I guess nobody want's to piss mom off.  But, yeah, you can try to stuff 'em in the tripod socket.


----------



## snowbear

Dinner was here:
 

When you see this outside and only one guy goes in, you can sure it's good.
 

No photos of food because I was too busy stuffing it in.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... I'm running out of places to stick pickles.
> 
> 
> 
> 40 minutes and no one has bit on this yet?  Yeesh!
Click to expand...


I believe we've got some triple innuendos going on here.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just finished a quick three miles on the treadmill and is now recovering in the patio in the patio drinking iced water and eating refrigerated Chardonnay and Merlot grapes. 




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Dessert


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> I cannot bear all the news these days, not because the world is in a bad state, but because many people look at the world at an angle that makes the world look bad.



Unfortunately bad news presents more opportunities to peal away the layers of the onion. The more they can do that the more circulation/ratings = more ad revenue. I get it, they want to make money. However despite the fact that the world is a pretty large place, you have a situation where nothing happens today. In the old days when the news was an hour long, it wasn't hard to fill that slot, there was more time for research, more time for investigation. When you're running 24/7 you can't have dead air space, and you don't have time for a reporter to work in depth on a story. So you either fill it with talking heads or hire more reporters, which is why the cable news is more like a Jerry Springer free for all then legitimate news.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I cannot bear all the news these days, not because the world is in a bad state, but because many people look at the world at an angle that makes the world look bad.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Unfortunately bad news presents more opportunities to peal away the layers of the onion. The more they can do that the more circulation/ratings = more ad revenue. I get it, they want to make money. However despite the fact that the world is a pretty large place, you have a situation where nothing happens today. In the old days when the news was an hour long, it wasn't hard to fill that slot, there was more time for research, more time for investigation. When you're running 24/7 you can't have dead air space, and you don't have time for a reporter to work in depth on a story. So you either fill it with talking heads or hire more reporters, which is why the cable news is more like a Jerry Springer free for all then legitimate news.
Click to expand...

Advertising dollars. And ratings, which can lead to more advertising dollars.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I cannot bear all the news these days, not because the world is in a bad state, but because many people look at the world at an angle that makes the world look bad.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Unfortunately bad news presents more opportunities to peal away the layers of the onion. The more they can do that the more circulation/ratings = more ad revenue. I get it, they want to make money. However despite the fact that the world is a pretty large place, you have a situation where nothing happens today. In the old days when the news was an hour long, it wasn't hard to fill that slot, there was more time for research, more time for investigation. When you're running 24/7 you can't have dead air space, and you don't have time for a reporter to work in depth on a story. So you either fill it with talking heads or hire more reporters, which is why the cable news is more like a Jerry Springer free for all then legitimate news.
Click to expand...



Some wise man said that no news is important enough that it cannot wait until the morning paper arrives...

As a decades long subsriber to one of the most reliable newspapers, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung", I can even say that most news can wait till the weekend, when I find some time to catch up with the paper. Sometimes I listen to the radio, forcasting weather mostly, very vaguely, more guessing than casting, the TV was abolished decades ago when I got my newspaper subscription.

I must say the price hurts. At over 800€ it is roughly the price of a decent new TV set every year. Used to be 500€ only and that is not long ago, just before the advertizing crisis hit.

But I get a lot of paper delivered to my door 7 days a week. A lot of intersting stuff to read & think.

Now I go to bed or I will sleep through church service tomorrow...

good night


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I cannot bear all the news these days, not because the world is in a bad state, but because many people look at the world at an angle that makes the world look bad.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Unfortunately bad news presents more opportunities to peal away the layers of the onion. The more they can do that the more circulation/ratings = more ad revenue. I get it, they want to make money. However despite the fact that the world is a pretty large place, you have a situation where nothing happens today. In the old days when the news was an hour long, it wasn't hard to fill that slot, there was more time for research, more time for investigation. When you're running 24/7 you can't have dead air space, and you don't have time for a reporter to work in depth on a story. So you either fill it with talking heads or hire more reporters, which is why the cable news is more like a Jerry Springer free for all then legitimate news.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Advertising dollars. And ratings, which can lead to more advertising dollars.
Click to expand...

Actually, good news doesn't sell.  There have been a few 'experiments' with news companies only printing Good News. After an initial sales based on curiousity ... every Good News endeavor quickly failed.


----------



## Gary A.

The weather has cool and the humidity has dropped significantly.  No A/C today.  Gary may zip to the beach for dinner and a walk down the pier. Gary is watching the local weather on Tv ... lol ... the marine layer will be back tomorrow morning, so this cooling trend is getting us back to normal.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Frank: We pay $54 a month for the Los Angeles Times which is about 549 euros a year.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... I'm running out of places to stick pickles.
> 
> 
> 
> 40 minutes and no one has bit on this yet?  Yeesh!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I believe we've got some triple innuendos going on here.
Click to expand...

Okay...  and?


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> Some wise man said that no news is important enough that it cannot wait until the morning paper arrives...



I know the quote but I can't place the source????  I've also heard it said that newspapers are dying because they cater to the old. Like you I enjoy sitting down, and reading an article at my own pace, maybe go back and read it again, but so much of the younger generation is of the immediate here and now.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Today's haul.
> 
> View attachment 144681
> 
> I picked all of the cukes that were ready 3 days ago. I'm running out of places to stick pickles.


I like pickles.My wife like cukes.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... I'm running out of places to stick pickles.
> 
> 
> 
> 40 minutes and no one has bit on this yet?  Yeesh!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I believe we've got some triple innuendos going on here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Okay...  and?
Click to expand...


...and I approve.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... I'm running out of places to stick pickles.
> 
> 
> 
> 40 minutes and no one has bit on this yet?  Yeesh!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I believe we've got some triple innuendos going on here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Okay...  and?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> ...and I approve.
Click to expand...


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Today's haul.
> 
> View attachment 144681
> 
> I picked all of the cukes that were ready 3 days ago. I'm running out of places to stick pickles.


Gorgeous haul!


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Today's haul.
> 
> View attachment 144681
> 
> I picked all of the cukes that were ready 3 days ago. I'm running out of places to stick pickles.



Do you know about Brine Fermentation? My grandmother made pickles and sour kraut in big stone crocks using this method, but I think you can use the same process on other vegetables.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today's haul.
> 
> View attachment 144681
> 
> I picked all of the cukes that were ready 3 days ago. I'm running out of places to stick pickles.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you know about Brine Fermentation? My grandmother made pickles and sour kraut in big stone crocks using this method, but I think you can use the same process on other vegetables.
Click to expand...


Indeed! The pickings from earlier this week are fermenting as we speak.



 

2.5% salt brine, a couple sprigs of dill, a couple cloves of garlic, and a tablespoon each of whole pepper and coriander. In about a week, you'll have the kosher pickles that we can get in delis here in the Northeast (although probably everywhere else too.)

I try to keep in touch with wild beasties as a brewer (same type of bacteria that makes sour beer makes the sour pickles) and as a baker.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> you'll have the kosher pickles that we can get in delis here in the Northeast (



It was alive and fermenting in the Midwest when I was a kid. Now not so much. My wife didn't care for them so it's not really worth it for just myself. Glad to see someone keeping the process alive.


----------



## Gary A.

Artichoke bloom.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> you'll have the kosher pickles that we can get in delis here in the Northeast (
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was alive and fermenting in the Midwest when I was a kid. Now not so much. My wife didn't care for them so it's not really worth it for just myself. Glad to see someone keeping the process alive.
Click to expand...


I feel like a lot of these things are coming back. Hell, you can buy a sauerkraut crock at Walmart these days. That might be next, or maybe some kimchi. But I think my wife is close to limiting the number of things growing in the kitchen.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I cannot bear all the news these days, not because the world is in a bad state, but because many people look at the world at an angle that makes the world look bad.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Unfortunately bad news presents more opportunities to peal away the layers of the onion. The more they can do that the more circulation/ratings = more ad revenue. I get it, they want to make money. However despite the fact that the world is a pretty large place, you have a situation where nothing happens today. In the old days when the news was an hour long, it wasn't hard to fill that slot, there was more time for research, more time for investigation. When you're running 24/7 you can't have dead air space, and you don't have time for a reporter to work in depth on a story. So you either fill it with talking heads or hire more reporters, which is why the cable news is more like a Jerry Springer free for all then legitimate news.
Click to expand...

An hour of Tv news is about equal to one page from a newspaper.


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner at Mexico 1900.   Mary Lou and Gary were too beat-up from the treadmill to make dinner.

Carnitas Before:


 

Carnitas After:


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Some wise man said that no news is important enough that it cannot wait until the morning paper arrives...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know the quote but I can't place the source????  I've also heard it said that newspapers are dying because they cater to the old. Like you I enjoy sitting down, and reading an article at my own pace, maybe go back and read it again, but so much of the younger generation is of the immediate here and now.
Click to expand...



I just read a super interesting piece on the North Korean rockets in the Sunday Paper. Scientists who build such rockets themselves and were in charge of controlling military disarming agreements analysed the video feeds. It seems these rockets are made from disassembled old Russian rockets. Disarming seems to mean disassemble not destroy. These parts were then probably sold through well established smuggling routes. The "North Korean Rocket Program" then reassemble the old Russian parts, sometimes in unconventional ways. Very interesting how much rocket experts can read from some short video footage!


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Some wise man said that no news is important enough that it cannot wait until the morning paper arrives...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know the quote but I can't place the source????  I've also heard it said that newspapers are dying because they cater to the old. Like you I enjoy sitting down, and reading an article at my own pace, maybe go back and read it again, but so much of the younger generation is of the immediate here and now.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I just read a super interesting piece on the North Korean rockets in the Sunday Paper. Scientists who build such rockets themselves and were in charge of controlling military disarming agreements analysed the video feeds. It seems these rockets are made from disassembled old Russian rockets. Disarming seems to mean disassemble not destroy. These parts were then probably sold through well established smuggling routes. The "North Korean Rocket Program" then reassemble the old Russian parts, sometimes in unconventional ways. Very interesting how much rocket experts can read from some short video footage!
Click to expand...

Wow, that is very interesting.  That is why their rocket program advanced so quickly.  Gary wonders what a scrap rocket goes for on the black market.  He could use one in his line of work.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Some wise man said that no news is important enough that it cannot wait until the morning paper arrives...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know the quote but I can't place the source????  I've also heard it said that newspapers are dying because they cater to the old. Like you I enjoy sitting down, and reading an article at my own pace, maybe go back and read it again, but so much of the younger generation is of the immediate here and now.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I just read a super interesting piece on the North Korean rockets in the Sunday Paper. Scientists who build such rockets themselves and were in charge of controlling military disarming agreements analysed the video feeds. It seems these rockets are made from disassembled old Russian rockets. Disarming seems to mean disassemble not destroy. These parts were then probably sold through well established smuggling routes. The "North Korean Rocket Program" then reassemble the old Russian parts, sometimes in unconventional ways. Very interesting how much rocket experts can read from some short video footage!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wow, that is very interesting.  That is why their rocket program advanced so quickly.  Gary wonders what a scrap rocket goes for on the black market.  He could use one in his line of work.
Click to expand...



They do not have a rocket program. They buy parts on the black market and pay some old Russian Engineers to create fireworks. We cannot say if this is really dangerous or if it is only fireworks to please the ego of Kim Yong Un with no consequence for anyone


----------



## Gary A.

But all those rockets are getting 'long-in-the-tooth' and must require massive overhauling and reconditioning.  You gotta be right about the Ruskie involvement ... minimal risk and investment by Putin for a massive monetary response by the US. And, the Russia and N. Korea actually share a border, about 17km worth of land border and about 21km of maritime border. Very interesting.  If it is all true, we've been seriously out-played by Putin.


----------



## tirediron

Frank F. said:


> ...They do not have a rocket program. They buy parts on the black market and pay some old Russian Engineers to create fireworks. We cannot say if this is really dangerous or if it is only fireworks to please the ego of Kim Yong Un with no consequence for anyone


I think you need to go back and do a little more research Frank.  They most definitely DO have a rocket program.  Yes a great deal of it is based on olderSoveit-era technology, some of it going back as far as the SS-15, however a lot of it is much more modern (relatively speaking) SS-25 and newer.  In the past they did have Soviet "mentors", however now the program is almost wholly indigenous, there may still one or two ex-Soviet missile experts on the payroll, the Kims are very untrusting of any outsiders and once they have figured out the basics, I suspect they got rid of everyone who wasn't a loyal NK citizen.  

As for the "black market" - not really.  This stuff trades openly, albeit quietly every day.  Countries are like consenting adults; they can do pretty much whatever they want between themselves.  It was shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union (1993-4 IIRC) that Jane's Fighting Ships and Jane's Aircraft (as well as possibly others) carried full-page ads where one could, through a broker, buy their very own airworthy MiG 29, or FAC(M). That said, very little, if anything at all in the weapons department has moved from either FSU or China into the DPRK in a long time.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary pick a boatload of Basil.



Maybe Pesto ... maybe something else.


----------



## snowbear

Back Home.

At Logan, I ran into an oddity: a TSA person with a sense of humor!  Somehow I got TSA Pre-check status so this may be part of it, since they apear to deal with hundreds of travelers per day instead of thousands.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> Back Home.
> 
> At Logan, I ran into an oddity: a TSA person with a sense of humor!  Somehow I got TSA Pre-check status so this may be part of it, since they apear to deal with hundreds of travelers per day instead of thousands.


Probably already been fired.


----------



## Frank F.

tirediron said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...They do not have a rocket program. They buy parts on the black market and pay some old Russian Engineers to create fireworks. We cannot say if this is really dangerous or if it is only fireworks to please the ego of Kim Yong Un with no consequence for anyone
> 
> 
> 
> I think you need to go back and do a little more research Frank.  They most definitely DO have a rocket program.  Yes a great deal of it is based on olderSoveit-era technology, some of it going back as far as the SS-15, however a lot of it is much more modern (relatively speaking) SS-25 and newer.  In the past they did have Soviet "mentors", however now the program is almost wholly indigenous, there may still one or two ex-Soviet missile experts on the payroll, the Kims are very untrusting of any outsiders and once they have figured out the basics, I suspect they got rid of everyone who wasn't a loyal NK citizen.
> 
> As for the "black market" - not really.  This stuff trades openly, albeit quietly every day.  Countries are like consenting adults; they can do pretty much whatever they want between themselves.  It was shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union (1993-4 IIRC) that Jane's Fighting Ships and Jane's Aircraft (as well as possibly others) carried full-page ads where one could, through a broker, buy their very own airworthy MiG 29, or FAC(M). That said, very little, if anything at all in the weapons department has moved from either FSU or China into the DPRK in a long time.
Click to expand...



The analysis of the latest rocket lauches diagnosed engines from the SS7 and SS9 aera even. I did not do research. I just summarized what the FAZ on Sunday printed this morning. And they got the Article online (in German): Technik aus Russland?: Nordkoreas fleißiger Helfer

It was all about reading real paper papers in the morning, as dinosaurs like Gary & me & OLWs do it and love it.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> At Logan, I ran into an oddity: a TSA person with a sense of humor!



Should have gotten a picture and sent it to Ripley's. They pay for things like that


----------



## vintagesnaps

Since when is posting in the coffeehouse on a message board rocket science? lol

Taking a break from trying to get this stuff done for this class that counts for nothing... but this far in I wanna get it finished! never again will I get this behind on something! (yeah, right) Old habits (from late night studying in the dorm) die hard.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Since when is posting in the coffeehouse on a message board rocket science? lol



Good one!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is done with the pesto, getting hammered by the treadmill and cleaning out the filtration on the pond.  His next task to to make some pasta to go with the pesto and leftover turkey meatloaf.  Gary takes a break and inspects the sports page ... omg ... the Dodgers have won 47 out of their last 50 games.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary is done with the pesto, getting hammered by the treadmill and cleaning out the filtration on the pond.  His next task to to make some pasta to go with the pesto and leftover turkey meatloaf.  Gary takes a break and inspects the sports page ... omg ... the Dodgers have won 47 out of their last 50 games.


The Dodgers are playing out of their minds. 

Sunday scramble today. My partner got a hole in one. Snapped it on my wife's iPhone. Took one on my Holga 35 as well , in color. This was his tenth Ace in his career. Never seen one until today. He is 68 and an excellent golfer.


----------



## JonA_CT

10 in total? That's incredible.

That's also a huge green. Also known as a blessing and a liability...


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> 10 in total? That's incredible.
> 
> That's also a huge green. Also known as a blessing and a liability...


And there is a huge, deep bunker right in front.


----------



## tirediron

Frank F. said:


> The analysis of the latest rocket lauches diagnosed engines from the SS7 and SS9 aera even. I did not do research. I just summarized what the FAZ on Sunday printed this morning. And they got the Article online (in German): Technik aus Russland?: Nordkoreas fleißiger Helfer
> 
> It was all about reading real paper papers in the morning, as dinosaurs like Gary & me & OLWs do it and love it.


Newspaper accounts of stuff like this are generally sketchy at best.  Probably a 1000% more accurate than Fox News, etc, but still lacking a lot of accurate information.


----------



## Gary A.

The new pasta dryer in action.


----------



## waday

Ugh.

More. Rain.

Very tired of rain. The streams are very high for a good portion of the state. We don't need another major flood here so soon. Last major flood (at least for central/southcentral PA) was in 2011.


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> Ugh.
> 
> More. Rain.
> 
> Very tired of rain. The streams are very high for a good portion of the state. We don't need another major flood here so soon. Last major flood (at least for central/southcentral PA) was in 2011.
> 
> View attachment 144735


Man, doesn't look good.


----------



## jcdeboever

Don Baylor died today at 68. I met him years ago at Tiger Stadium and was a very kind guy.  I had snuck in to Tiger stadium,  over the players parking lot. He was there yucking it up with Lou Whitiker and Ron Leflore . They busted me and my buddy jumping the high, sharp, fence but were totally cool about it. Ron Leflore gave us a ten dollar bill and said to stay out of trouble. Baylor said, "I doubt that's gonna happen". I think it was 79. Baylor was very kind as where the others. Good memory.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers, No rain here in the Southland. The Marine Layer is back, a refreshing 73F presently, may hit the low 80's by the afternoon. Sorry about Don Baylor. I remember him with the Angels and as the manager for Colorado. I remember him getting a lot of HBP's. Cool that you met him.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers, No rain here in the Southland. The Marine Layer is back, a refreshing 73F presently, may hit the low 80's by the afternoon. Sorry about Don Baylor. I remember him with the Angels and as the manager for Colorado. I remember him getting a lot of HBP's. Cool that you met him.


Yes, he was with the Angels when I met him. He was a large hulk of a man. Dan Petry pitched that day and seem to recall he pitched lights out. My buddy also caught a Champ Summers hone run ball during BP, I didn't catch it but nabbed a Bobby Grich home that was ping ponging all over the place.


----------



## JonA_CT

Rain is on the way for here.  I also got my scans in from my two most recent rolls of film. I'm extremely happy, and I'll be littering them around here once they've completely downloaded.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I heard cows this morning going by... then in a few minutes heard one again, guess they were out joy riding. 
(Actually was thinking the fair here is done... then realized the state fair just ended so I'm guessing they'd been showing there.) 

I sort of like a nice rainy day and just slept in today, it was nice having windows open and the rain smelled so good. But we've had enough rain already! not hot but not really cool either, can't make up its mind what season it is today. After today supposed to be dry. I'm ready for grass that stops growing and doesn't need to be cut.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> I sort of like a nice rainy day and just slept in today, it was nice having windows open and the rain smelled so good. But we've had enough rain already! not hot but not really cool either, can't make up its mind what season it is today. After today supposed to be dry. I'm ready for grass that stops growing and doesn't need to be cut.


Agree! I love rainy days here and there.

It feels like we've had more rainy days than non-rainy days in the past few months. I come home to find my potted hibiscus in 3-4 inches of water every day. It now needs a support to keep it upright, because it's so waterlogged.


----------



## limr

I feel bad about the areas that will probably be dealing with flooding, but I have to say that I personally have been quite delighted with this summer so far and the fact that it's been mild and rainy. Now if we can keep this pattern (or at least keep it "mild and cloudy" - doesn't _have_ to be rainy) for the next month or so, I'll be able to breathe a sigh of relief. Yeah, we still get the Indian summer heat wave towards the end of Sept/beginning of Oct, but I know that it's just one last temper tantrum and that I will have gotten through another dreaded summer.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I sort of like a nice rainy day and just slept in today, it was nice having windows open and the rain smelled so good. But we've had enough rain already! not hot but not really cool either, can't make up its mind what season it is today. After today supposed to be dry. I'm ready for grass that stops growing and doesn't need to be cut.
> 
> 
> 
> Agree! I love rainy days here and there.
> 
> It feels like we've had more rainy days than non-rainy days in the past few months. I come home to find my potted hibiscus in 3-4 inches of water every day. It now needs a support to keep it upright, because it's so waterlogged.
Click to expand...


That's what winters in northern Portugal are like. It rains constantly. Umbrellas are an absolute necessity and mold becomes a serious problem. One of the nicknames that my mother said they had for the town when she was growing up was "penico do céu" or "chamberpot of the sky."


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I sort of like a nice rainy day and just slept in today, it was nice having windows open and the rain smelled so good. But we've had enough rain already! not hot but not really cool either, can't make up its mind what season it is today. After today supposed to be dry. I'm ready for grass that stops growing and doesn't need to be cut.
> 
> 
> 
> Agree! I love rainy days here and there.
> 
> It feels like we've had more rainy days than non-rainy days in the past few months. I come home to find my potted hibiscus in 3-4 inches of water every day. It now needs a support to keep it upright, because it's so waterlogged.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's what winters in northern Portugal are like. It rains constantly. Umbrellas are an absolute necessity and mold becomes a serious problem. One of the nicknames that my mother said they had for the town when she was growing up was "penico do céu" or "chamberpot of the sky."
Click to expand...

Yuck!

I hate mold (when it's not desired) with a passion. Desired mold would be food and penicillin?


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Rain is on the way for here.  I also got my scans in from my two most recent rolls of film. I'm extremely happy, and I'll be littering them around here once they've completely downloaded.


Is that with the camera I gifted you?


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Rain is on the way for here.  I also got my scans in from my two most recent rolls of film. I'm extremely happy, and I'll be littering them around here once they've completely downloaded.
> 
> 
> 
> Is that with the camera I gifted you?
Click to expand...


And the lens! I'm at the mechanic getting my oil changed. I'll post the results when I get home.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I sort of like a nice rainy day and just slept in today, it was nice having windows open and the rain smelled so good. But we've had enough rain already! not hot but not really cool either, can't make up its mind what season it is today. After today supposed to be dry. I'm ready for grass that stops growing and doesn't need to be cut.
> 
> 
> 
> Agree! I love rainy days here and there.
> 
> It feels like we've had more rainy days than non-rainy days in the past few months. I come home to find my potted hibiscus in 3-4 inches of water every day. It now needs a support to keep it upright, because it's so waterlogged.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's what winters in northern Portugal are like. It rains constantly. Umbrellas are an absolute necessity and mold becomes a serious problem. One of the nicknames that my mother said they had for the town when she was growing up was "penico do céu" or "chamberpot of the sky."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yuck!
> 
> I hate mold (when it's not desired) with a passion. Desired mold would be food and penicillin?
Click to expand...


Oh, I am right there with you. I had a huge problem with black mold in my apartment, and I got pretty sick one year. Can't remember if the diagnosis was ultimately bronchitis or walking pneumonia. Either way, I was out of work for 2 weeks.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I sort of like a nice rainy day and just slept in today, it was nice having windows open and the rain smelled so good. But we've had enough rain already! not hot but not really cool either, can't make up its mind what season it is today. After today supposed to be dry. I'm ready for grass that stops growing and doesn't need to be cut.
> 
> 
> 
> Agree! I love rainy days here and there.
> 
> It feels like we've had more rainy days than non-rainy days in the past few months. I come home to find my potted hibiscus in 3-4 inches of water every day. It now needs a support to keep it upright, because it's so waterlogged.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's what winters in northern Portugal are like. It rains constantly. Umbrellas are an absolute necessity and mold becomes a serious problem. One of the nicknames that my mother said they had for the town when she was growing up was "penico do céu" or "chamberpot of the sky."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yuck!
> 
> I hate mold (when it's not desired) with a passion. Desired mold would be food and penicillin?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, I am right there with you. I had a huge problem with black mold in my apartment, and I got pretty sick one year. Can't remember if the diagnosis was ultimately bronchitis or walking pneumonia. Either way, I was out of work for 2 weeks.
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's Sekonic Studio Deluxe Lightmeter (circa 1970's) was missing the dome which rendered the meter unusable.  The parts came in making the meter complete. Gary used this puppy in conjunction with a Pentax Spotmeter for his metering needs.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> Ugh.
> 
> More. Rain.
> 
> Very tired of rain. The streams are very high for a good portion of the state. We don't need another major flood here so soon. Last major flood (at least for central/southcentral PA) was in 2011.
> 
> View attachment 144735


Yay! Maps!


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Can't remember if the diagnosis was ultimately bronchitis or walking pneumonia.



Had Bronchitis  many times that I thought was bad till I spent a week in the hospital last Sumner with Pneumonia.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can't remember if the diagnosis was ultimately bronchitis or walking pneumonia.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Had Bronchitis  many times that I thought was bad till I spent a week in the hospital last Sumner with Pneumonia.
Click to expand...


Ouch. I didn't have to go to the hospital, but I had frequent doctor visits and a note from her forbidding me from work for a week, and then extending that to another week when my chest x-ray showed I still needed more recovery time.

Interesting thing about the health care system in Portugal? You get to keep your x-rays. I still have my 2 chest films.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Front yard Plumeria.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can't remember if the diagnosis was ultimately bronchitis or walking pneumonia.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Had Bronchitis  many times that I thought was bad till I spent a week in the hospital last Sumner with Pneumonia.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ouch. I didn't have to go to the hospital, but I had frequent doctor visits and a note from her forbidding me from work for a week, and then extending that to another week when my chest x-ray showed I still needed more recovery time.
> 
> Interesting thing about the health care system in Portugal? You get to keep your x-rays. I still have my 2 chest films.
Click to expand...

And giving away the negatives hasn't collapsed the X-ray photo market?


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can't remember if the diagnosis was ultimately bronchitis or walking pneumonia.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Had Bronchitis  many times that I thought was bad till I spent a week in the hospital last Sumner with Pneumonia.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ouch. I didn't have to go to the hospital, but I had frequent doctor visits and a note from her forbidding me from work for a week, and then extending that to another week when my chest x-ray showed I still needed more recovery time.
> 
> Interesting thing about the health care system in Portugal? You get to keep your x-rays. I still have my 2 chest films.
Click to expand...

Time to do some cyanotype prints....


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can't remember if the diagnosis was ultimately bronchitis or walking pneumonia.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Had Bronchitis  many times that I thought was bad till I spent a week in the hospital last Sumner with Pneumonia.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ouch. I didn't have to go to the hospital, but I had frequent doctor visits and a note from her forbidding me from work for a week, and then extending that to another week when my chest x-ray showed I still needed more recovery time.
> 
> Interesting thing about the health care system in Portugal? You get to keep your x-rays. I still have my 2 chest films.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And giving away the negatives hasn't collapsed the X-ray photo market?
Click to expand...


No, but apparently digital has made a big impact on it


----------



## waday

The wife and I are on a cold brew kick, but I miss a good hot cup of coffee in the morning.

Cold brew is so easy to make, not sure why it took us so long to do it.


----------



## waday

waday said:


> Cold brew is so easy to make, not sure why it took us so long to do it.


We bought it a few times, but at ~$10 for a small bottle of concentrate (enough for 8 servings), it wasn't cost effective. Making it ourselves has doubled the output for half to two-thirds the cost.


----------



## jcdeboever

I drink cold coffee, I brew it, it gets cold, I still drink it.


----------



## smoke665

Apparently I "brew cold coffee". Stumbling around in the dark this morning trying to make coffee with only one eye open, I put in fresh coffee, filled the reservoir and turned it on. When I checked the pot in what I thought was a few minutes, I was pleasantly surprised to find a full cup ready to go. Unfortunately I forgot to empty out the remainder from the day before. Cold coffee does nothing to clear the cobwebs!!


----------



## waday

Mini rant about shipping.

While I can complain about the megaphoto store company I bought it from, I will refrain from doing for now.

Bought some solar glasses to view solar eclipse. I figured the "standard purposefully and horribly long shipping just because it's free" option was "good enough" since the eclipse wasn't for a few weeks. 7-10 business days. I should be good.

Day 1, ordered. Should get shipped to PA.
Day 2, order processed; shipped from Brooklyn. That was fast, awesome. 
Day 3, it's in Queens. Ok? That's weird. Gets shipped back out same day. Ok.
Day 7, it's in Spokane, WA. Umm, what?
Day 8, USPS: "whoops, it's on it's way".
Ugh.

I understand that they deal with many packages on a daily basis, so I can appreciate that things will get screwed up from time to time. What bugs me is that these things seem to happen too often, no matter who I order from and no matter the courier. 

In the past several years (in several locations with several different couriers), the wife and I have experienced: 

Packages sent elsewhere;
Envelopes found opened with nothing inside after weeks;
Packages that were opened with everything inside;
Packages left at neighbors' doors;
A package that was purposefully left in the rain*;
Packages that have been reported as delivered but not;
Drivers who purposefully didn't deliver the package and made us pick up at distribution center;
Packages that have been damaged badly but the products are generally ok;
Packages that have the products inside damaged;
Packages not arriving on-time (especially when express service was paid for); and,
Packages that have gone missing.
It may be working "well enough", but when it doesn't, it sure causes a headache.

*For the package purposefully left in the rain. Long story short, we used to live at a place that had a small overhang above a small stoop (imagine a 3-ft by 3-ft concrete pad about 4 inches above the ground) at our front door. Packages were always left on our front stoop, whether raining or not. It was raining heavily one day, and the delivery person left the package several feet in front of our stoop, near the sidewalk. The package was soaked so badly that the box crumbled when I picked it up. Pictures taken, sent to company, along with a very angry complaint. I believe the delivery person was either fired or relocated, but I have nothing to back that up--aside from the fact that I never saw that person again.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> Mini rant about shipping.
> 
> While I can complain about the megaphoto store company I bought it from, I will refrain from doing for now.
> 
> Bought some solar glasses to view solar eclipse. I figured the "standard purposefully and horribly long shipping just because it's free" option was "good enough" since the eclipse wasn't for a few weeks. 7-10 business days. I should be good.
> 
> Day 1, ordered. Should get shipped to PA.
> Day 2, order processed; shipped from Brooklyn. That was fast, awesome.
> Day 3, it's in Queens. Ok? That's weird. Gets shipped back out same day. Ok.
> Day 7, it's in Spokane, WA. Umm, what?
> Day 8, USPS: "whoops, it's on it's way".
> Ugh.
> 
> I understand that they deal with many packages on a daily basis, so I can appreciate that things will get screwed up from time to time. What bugs me is that these things seem to happen too often, no matter who I order from and no matter the courier.
> 
> In the past several years (in several locations with several different couriers), the wife and I have experienced:
> 
> Packages sent elsewhere;
> Envelopes found opened with nothing inside after weeks;
> Packages that were opened with everything inside;
> Packages left at neighbors' doors;
> A package that was purposefully left in the rain*;
> Packages that have been reported as delivered but not;
> Drivers who purposefully didn't deliver the package and made us pick up at distribution center;
> Packages that have been damaged badly but the products are generally ok;
> Packages that have the products inside damaged;
> Packages not arriving on-time (especially when express service was paid for); and,
> Packages that have gone missing.
> It may be working "well enough", but when it doesn't, it sure causes a headache.
> 
> *For the package purposefully left in the rain. Long story short, we used to live at a place that had a small overhang above a small stoop (imagine a 3-ft by 3-ft concrete pad about 4 inches above the ground) at our front door. Packages were always left on our front stoop, whether raining or not. It was raining heavily one day, and the delivery person left the package several feet in front of our stoop, near the sidewalk. The package was soaked so badly that the box crumbled when I picked it up. Pictures taken, sent to company, along with a very angry complaint. I believe the delivery person was either fired or relocated, but I have nothing to back that up--aside from the fact that I never saw that person again.


I can feel your pain.  We have recently experienced the drive-by on two different routes: work and home. In the first case, I saw the driver pass the building without slowing, and five minutes later I get a text that the package couldn't be delivered because the business was closed (it wasn't).

The second time, the truck didn't show and the message was the same (it's an apartment, fool).  This time I called the customer service center and complained (the package contained the cameras).  After being told that the driver said it couldn't be delivered, I questioned the integrity of the company's drivers and hung up. The package was magically delivered within an hour.

At one time the drivers got a bonus for frequently delivering everything on the truck. Apparently brown has stopped that practice.


----------



## smoke665

I can't complain about the "Brown" trucks that make regular deliveries at our house. We have a long, very steep gravel driveway. Most of the drivers make it up without issue but occasionally we get a new one who will try to go  slow, and spin out. The last one to not make it, spun out before he got very far, so he backed up then walked the package all the way up to the house, a good 3/4 mile.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary had a delivery person open the screen door and place the package inside the house.  While I can appreciate the desire to thwart thieves, I did not appreciate an uninvited stranger opening my door and entering my home.  I had just stepped out of the shower when I heard the screen door slam shut ... sent the hairs on the back of my neck straight up.


----------



## snowbear

We've had good service in the past but recently it's been hit or miss.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary had a delivery person open the screen door and place the package inside the house.  While I can appreciate the desire to thwart thieves, I did not appreciate an uninvited stranger opening my door and entering my home.  I had just stepped out of the shower when I heard the screen door slam shut ... sent the hairs on the back of my neck straight up.


Your kids don't resemble him, right?


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> I can feel your pain.  We have recently experienced the drive-by on two different routes: work and home. In the first case, I saw the driver pass the building without slowing, and five minutes later I get a text that the package couldn't be delivered because the business was closed (it wasn't).
> 
> The second time, the truck didn't show and the message was the same (it's an apartment, fool).  This time I called the customer service center and complained (the package contained the cameras).  After being told that the driver said it couldn't be delivered, I questioned the integrity of the company's drivers and hung up. The package was magically delivered within an hour.
> 
> At one time the drivers got a bonus for frequently delivering everything on the truck. Apparently brown has stopped that practice.


A family friend used to deliver for one company and said they had problems with drivers doing that all the time. I think they've since cracked down on it, but still happens way too often.



smoke665 said:


> I can't complain about the "Brown" trucks that make regular deliveries at our house. We have a long, very steep gravel driveway. Most of the drivers make it up without issue but occasionally we get a new one who will try to go  slow, and spin out. The last one to not make it, spun out before he got very far, so he backed up then walked the package all the way up to the house, a good 3/4 mile.


That's one long driveway!



Gary A. said:


> Gary had a delivery person open the screen door and place the package inside the house.  While I can appreciate the desire to thwart thieves, I did not appreciate an uninvited stranger opening my door and entering my home.  I had just stepped out of the shower when I heard the screen door slam shut ... sent the hairs on the back of my neck straight up.


Oof.. Closest we've come to that is a pizza delivery guy trying to open the door--which was locked. I guess just not thinking, but still creepy.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like the deal where companies use fedex, and they ship it to your local post office (mine less than a mile away because I live in Mayberry) post office and it takes an additional 3 days to get to me. I forget what they call it but it should be called something like, Paul Revere shipping. You know someone at the top of fed ex got into bed with someone at usps, sparks were a flying for a couple minutes at best, now...honeymoon over. 

Consumerism is hard on shipping companies. We have turned into a fat, consumerist nation. We have all these things we can buy and not enough drivers. 

To consume, equals collect. Additionally, there are strict driver hour / operator limits which compound the issue. Has anyone noticed all the driver jobs being advertised? I love our Country but our politicians hardly ever think things through. We are so smart but really stupid on so many levels when it comes to our electoral election system.


----------



## smoke665

Back on our mountain away from the city bustle. Had to be in Atlanta yesterday for an all day battery of tests for wife at Emory. So glad to be away from Atlanta traffic. No wonder they are some of the most aggressive drivers in the country. I'd be p****d off to if I had to do that every day!


----------



## smoke665

"I can hear you through the whine
And the Wichita lineman is still on the line"

His memory will live on through his music. RIP Glen Campbell


----------



## Gary A.

RIP Glen.  I remember Campbell when he was a Beach Boy.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I drink cold coffee, I brew it, it gets cold, I still drink it.


Gary uses the same brewing methodology.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> RIP Glen.  I remember Campbell when he was a Beach Boy.



 I had forgotten all about that. I attended a Beach Boys concert during that time frame which means I probably saw him. Thanks for reminding me, cool memory.


----------



## Gary A.

Before he made the big time, he's an incredible guitarist and worked in Hollywood as a backup guitarist for ... well most everybody.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't remember him being with the Beach Boys. RIP Rhinestone Cowboy. 

It's SurePost or SmartPost, I forget which is UPS and which is FedEx. Not good for me because mail doesn't get delivered so a package will go right past my house then just sit up at the post office... and not driving I do a lot of online shopping for supplies. Thankfully there's a regular driver of the brown truck who's great about waiting at the door, and even the subs at least leave it on the table by the front door, while the white truck can't seem to keep regular drivers all that long. 

With UPS there's a routine going, he toodles the horn for us regulars who he knows are usually home. I'm well trained like Pavlov's dogs - if I hear the horn down the street I'm up out of the chair then realize it's not for me it's for one of the neighbors!


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Before he made the big time, he's an incredible guitarist and worked in Hollywood as a backup guitarist for ... well most everybody.



I knew that, I'd just forgotten the Beach Boys gig.



vintagesnaps said:


> I'm well trained like Pavlov's dogs - if I hear the horn down the street I'm up out of the chair then realize it's not for me it's for one of the neighbors



That's funny!!! I wouldn't let that out to those close or you may have some prank "toodles" LOL


----------



## vintagesnaps

One of the local TV stations was handing out eclipse viewing glasses and were saying they were about out of them, showed a line about a mile long! lol Said they're doing it again one day next week. 

I'll probably just do a pinhole thing. Remember doing that with kids the last big one of these eclipses. 

Or it'll pour rain and the heck with it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary and Mary Lou are in the patio watching The View. What a pleasant morning, blue skies, 77F, acceptable humidity. (Mary Lou is watching The View, Gary is working on a spreadsheet.)  Gary has a Tri-Tip in the slow cooker, expecting a pulled beef/brisket  end product.  Gary just touched it his eye, which is burning like hell from the oil rediuse left on his fingers from the peppers he chopped and tossed into the slow cooker.


----------



## tirediron

vintagesnaps said:


> One of the local TV stations was handing out eclipse viewing glasses and were saying they were about out of them, showed a line about a mile long! lol Said they're doing it again one day next week.
> 
> I'll probably just do a pinhole thing. Remember doing that with kids the last big one of these eclipses.
> 
> Or it'll pour rain and the heck with it.


A piece of #14 welding glass (<$5.00 at a tool/welding supply store).


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's what they said... that and be careful buying cheap knockoffs on Amazon etc. Apparently it should be one with the ISO logo on it (the official one from the international standards org.). Said to look on NASA's websiteI think. 

All this and watch it rain... last one I remember it was sunny. Kind of cool seeing everything looking polarized, like wearing polarized sunglasses but not as dark.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just picked up a bunch of film stuff if anybody is interested.  Mainly darkroom stuff, trays, tanks, et al.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Gary just picked up a bunch of film stuff if anybody is interested.  Mainly darkroom stuff, trays, tanks, et al.



If you're gonna wet print, you've just added another reason for me to fly out to SoCal.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary just picked up a bunch of film stuff if anybody is interested.  Mainly darkroom stuff, trays, tanks, et al.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you're gonna wet print, you've just added another reason for me to fly out to SoCal.
Click to expand...

I'm going for the food


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary just picked up a bunch of film stuff if anybody is interested.  Mainly darkroom stuff, trays, tanks, et al.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you're gonna wet print, you've just added another reason for me to fly out to SoCal.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm going for the food
Click to expand...


And wine. And the company, perhaps, too...


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary just picked up a bunch of film stuff if anybody is interested.  Mainly darkroom stuff, trays, tanks, et al.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you're gonna wet print, you've just added another reason for me to fly out to SoCal.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm going for the food
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And wine. And the company, perhaps, too...
Click to expand...

Yup. Don't forget about the tall boy servant and the patio theatre


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has always had wet printing capability. Presently, that capability is in the garage.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary just picked up a bunch of film stuff if anybody is interested.  Mainly darkroom stuff, trays, tanks, et al.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you're gonna wet print, you've just added another reason for me to fly out to SoCal.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm going for the food
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And wine. And the company, perhaps, too...
Click to expand...

Definitely the wine .


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary just picked up a bunch of film stuff if anybody is interested.  Mainly darkroom stuff, trays, tanks, et al.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you're gonna wet print, you've just added another reason for me to fly out to SoCal.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm going for the food
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And wine. And the company, perhaps, too...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yup. Don't forget about the tall boy servant and the patio theatre
Click to expand...


The patio theater just got internet streaming. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Gary just picked up a bunch of film stuff if anybody is interested.  Mainly darkroom stuff, trays, tanks, et al.


I wish I had room for it; I'd take it in a heartbeat.  Is there a decent timer?


----------



## Gary A.

Maybe, I'll check after I get home. Presently, Mary Lou and Gary are at the Hollywood Bowl. [emoji41]





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

People just sat next to us ...  they just setup an entire jammin' bar on their table, complete with mixers. Those ladies know how to party at the Bowl. ... And it's a Wednesday night. Lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Happy Thursday, hosers!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Leonore.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Happy Thursday Fourth Monday of the Week, hosers!


FTFY


----------



## Gary A.

@snowbear:  This is what I got.  A small bit of rust in the corners ... but that is normal for a darkroom timer that has years of hanging around a darkroom.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

The Bowl was rocking with Musica Cubana.  The first half of the evening was traditional Buena Vista Social Club type stuff.  There was an intro band, heavy on the congo's ... then came Angelique Kidjo ... OMG ... she brought the house down.  A voice like Celia Cruz with four times the energy.  Everybody ... everybody was dancing in their seats, in the aisles, in food lines ... the place was electrified.  LA is a tough crowd, because we have more entertainment here than most anyplace else in the world ... we are a very sophisticated and jaded crowd ... but Kidjo had all of us in the palm of her hand. Amazing performance and music performed in a venue second to none. 

The second half was all Gente de Zona.  Again people were dancing in the streets.

Gente de Zona • Angélique Kidjo’s Tribute to Salsa • The Pedrito Martinez Group


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary's got the goodies! the darkroom stuff, well, now that I think about it, the food and wine too.

Trying to think what I might want, if you get a list or pictures together let us know! We can at least drool over it.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 144853
> 
> @snowbear:  This is what I got.  A small bit of rust in the corners ... but that is normal for a darkroom timer that has years of hanging around a darkroom.


Sending a PM


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 144854
> iPhone
> 
> The Bowl was rocking with Musica Cubana.  The first half of the evening was traditional Buena Vista Social Club type stuff.  There was an intro band, heavy on the congo's ... then came Angelique Kidjo ... OMG ... she brought the house down.  A voice like Celia Cruz with four times the energy.  Everybody ... everybody was dancing in their seats, in the aisles, in food lines ... the place was electrified.  LA is a tough crowd, because we have more entertainment here than most anyplace else in the world ... we are a very sophisticated and jaded crowd ... but Kidjo had all of us in the palm of her hand. Amazing performance and music performed in a venue second to none.
> 
> The second half was all Gente de Zona.  Again people were dancing in the streets.
> 
> Gente de Zona • Angélique Kidjo’s Tribute to Salsa • The Pedrito Martinez Group


Sound like a good time.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Gary's got the goodies! the darkroom stuff, well, now that I think about it, the food and wine too.
> 
> Trying to think what I might want, if you get a list or pictures together let us know! We can at least drool over it.


I have everything from developing tanks to a NIB Bessler color head to paper ... a ton of various camera and lens bags ... toss me a PM on what you desire and I'll see what I have.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 144854
> iPhone
> 
> The Bowl was rocking with Musica Cubana.  The first half of the evening was traditional Buena Vista Social Club type stuff.  There was an intro band, heavy on the congo's ... then came Angelique Kidjo ... OMG ... she brought the house down.  A voice like Celia Cruz with four times the energy.  Everybody ... everybody was dancing in their seats, in the aisles, in food lines ... the place was electrified.  LA is a tough crowd, because we have more entertainment here than most anyplace else in the world ... we are a very sophisticated and jaded crowd ... but Kidjo had all of us in the palm of her hand. Amazing performance and music performed in a venue second to none.
> 
> The second half was all Gente de Zona.  Again people were dancing in the streets.
> 
> Gente de Zona • Angélique Kidjo’s Tribute to Salsa • The Pedrito Martinez Group
> 
> 
> 
> Sound like a good time.
Click to expand...

Best Wednesday Gary and Mary Lou have enjoyed in a long long time. Prefect weather, incredible venue, great food and vino, easy parking (shuttled in and out) ... world class entertainment ... yep, all the indegrients for a good time.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  A very cool and overcast summer morn ... yes!  TGIF ya'll. The Cook and Gary are off for their walk.


----------



## waday

So, uh, is it Friday evening, yet? I'd like to go home.


----------



## jcdeboever

Working from home office today, burning up the cell phone making  appointments. Nice out. Gonna play 9 holes a little bit later with the guy that got the hole in one. I printed out that pic of him on 8 x 10 and used my label machine to put info on matting. Came out real nice and he was very surprised I went through all that. I'm pretty good at framing and matting but I have to be in the proper mood for it. He has helped me a lot this year, I've eliminated 10 strokes off my handicap. I still suck but the baseball swing is slowly going away. He put on double oversized grips on my clubs and it has helped. He happened to notice how big my hands were and immediately thought it was part of my problem. He has a pro shop and I bought all my second hand lefty clubs from him, Caliways. He made a special gap wedge for me to out of an old Cleveland, love it.
Haven't lost a ball in three consecutive rounds. The new swing has me hitting it about 30 yards shorter on drives but straighter. I still hit them 300 but am I am learning it's not about power.


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> Haven't lost a ball in three consecutive rounds.


When I used to play, I never lost them. I knew exactly where they went. I just chose not to retrieve them from the water, woods, and thick brush.


----------



## snowbear

Good evening, all.  I had a first, today: FOIA request.  I just had to document what the data is and how I got it.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Haven't lost a ball in three consecutive rounds.
> 
> 
> 
> When I used to play, I never lost them. I knew exactly where they went. I just chose not to retrieve them from the water, woods, and thick brush.
Click to expand...

I lose balls ... usually on the windmill hole.


----------



## jcdeboever

Well shot 44 out of 36. Not bad for me. No lost balls. One bad hole, 7 on a 4. Really helps having someone there guiding you.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou has arrived home ... it is a very very pleasant evening, we're in the patio catching up on the news enjoying our vino with Gary's pesto and crackers.


----------



## smoke665

At one time I played 2 or 3 times a week on some of the most beautiful courses in the country, as it was part of the job of entertaining customers. Now it's been so many years that I'm not sure I could even tee up a ball, much less swing a club.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Well shot 44 out of 36. Not bad for me. No lost balls. One bad hole, 7 on a 4. Really helps having someone there guiding you.


The best I ever did was a 74 . . . on nine holes.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well shot 44 out of 36. Not bad for me. No lost balls. One bad hole, 7 on a 4. Really helps having someone there guiding you.
> 
> 
> 
> The best I ever did was a 74 . . . on nine holes.
Click to expand...

It's a frustrating sport to say the least. I have no idea why I like it. I almost quit six weeks ago but that guy I golfed with today, really helped me out.


----------



## snowbear

I haven't played in years.  I have a consistent slice, and never had the time to dedicate to it.  Dad and I used to play a twice-yearly charity tournament (best ball) which was fun, but stopped when he got sick.

I think the best I really ever did was a 98 or 99 on 18 holes.


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well shot 44 out of 36. Not bad for me. No lost balls. One bad hole, 7 on a 4. Really helps having someone there guiding you.
> 
> 
> 
> The best I ever did was a 74 . . . on nine holes.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's a frustrating sport to say the least. I have no idea why I like it. I almost quit six weeks ago but that guy I golfed with today, really helped me out.
Click to expand...



I keep playing because of these moments that happen interspersed with utter horse apples...

the hole that I hit my 5 iron off the tee because my driver swing is broken, and stick a 7 iron to 4 feet for birdie on my second shot,

or the par 3 that I miss left, chip/pitch to 12 feet and sink a long par putt

or the hole where I top the ball off the tee and hit the green with my 4 iron on the next shot to save a chance for par. 

You know, those holes where I sort of look like I know what I'm doing.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well shot 44 out of 36. Not bad for me. No lost balls. One bad hole, 7 on a 4. Really helps having someone there guiding you.
> 
> 
> 
> The best I ever did was a 74 . . . on nine holes.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's a frustrating sport to say the least. I have no idea why I like it. I almost quit six weeks ago but that guy I golfed with today, really helped me out.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I keep playing because of these moments that happen interspersed with utter horse apples...
> 
> the hole that I hit my 5 iron off the tee because my driver swing is broken, and stick a 7 iron to 4 feet for birdie on my second shot,
> 
> or the par 3 that I miss left, chip/pitch to 12 feet and sink a long par putt
> 
> or the hole where I top the ball off the tee and hit the green with my 4 iron on the next shot to save a chance for par.
> 
> You know, those holes where I sort of look like I know what I'm doing.
Click to expand...

That guy fixed my driver off the tee. This how. I brought out a bag of tees to the driving range. Place ball on tee. Put one tee about 6 to 8 inches behind ball, and one 6 to 8 inches in front of ball. The goal is to knock down tees. If you miss any of them, it will hook, slice, top, or ground head before hits ball. I must have hit 10 large buckets over a course of a week or little more before I got it fixed. Also, the new over sized grips helped a lot.


----------



## Gary A.

In high school, for one season Gary tried out for the golf team.  Made the squad.  Haven't played golf since then. 

Now if golf was on a timer ... or there was contact ... or both, now you have a sport.  I can see a pair of competitors running towards the green beating each other with clubs. 

Speaking of time.  Gary covered Steve Scott, the indoor miler, on a run he made for the quickest 18 holes.  Gary thinks it was about 45 or 48 minutes. Guinness was there to oversee the event for the world record books. At the end of the day he set a new world record for completing 18 holes. Gary signed the Guinness book as a witness and Scott signed a ball for me.  After he finished signing the ball, he looked at me and said "... Hey, this is my first outdoor world record...".


----------



## Gary A.

Inside page headline in today's Los Angeles Times, "Sessions is not high on marijuana".


----------



## limr

Happy Saturday, hosers.

I played golf once. It was okay. Made it over the water trap. Didn't hit into the sand traps. That's all I remember.


----------



## snowbear

Golf was invented by the Scots to help keep the English at bay.

Heading down to the local Amish/Farmer's market to look for some wedding reception room decor.  Hopefully some photo ops will present themselves.


----------



## vintagesnaps

How about posing a cow? Local PBS station is showing sale of champions from the state fair... they were trying to do a group photo with the winner of champion market and it was taller than the girl trying to lead the thing. It just kept on going across the stage, she'd turn it to go the other way and it'd just keep on going... lol this went on for several trips back and forth across the stage and finally the thing stopped so she smiled and they got a picture! whew I wouldn't want to be the official photographer for that. That little girl trying to get that cow to stop was priceless. 

Had it on while I've been checking laundry and what not because I wanted to see a local kid who won champion barrow (hog) and the dadblasted thing sold in the auction for $41,000! Wooh, guess that'll help the college fund. 

And where are these guys with cowboy hats any other time? Once in awhile I see a guy in a pickup wearing one but mostly here they wear caps with some farm logo on it. They do all walk alike, too many hours on those big tractors, the ones with AC... that's the way to do it! lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

And... local hockey season starts in a month!!!!!!!!


----------



## Frank F.

Came home from another week in the middle of nowhere with horses. My daughter loves horses. I took a lot of photos of chickens and pigs and horses and my happy daughter on horses. For me it was a week as her personal assistant. Driving cooking cleaning playing cards reading books to her. A rather rainy August here in Germany....


----------



## SquarePeg

I used to golf every Sunday with my ex and his dad.  Then I had a child.  No mom with a child and a full time job has 4-5 hours free on a weekend to play golf!  Haven't played in 15 years. Don't miss it at all.


----------



## jcdeboever

Playing in scramble today, just about every Sunday. Church, breakfast, scramble. I keep my Holga 135 in the cart. I have about 15 exposures left to take. I have mostly flowers on it. Wife let's out a big sigh every time I pull it out. Lol


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Wife let's out a big sigh every time I pull it out. Lol


----------



## Frank F.

Here is a dog called "Tobi" chasing water from a hose...


----------



## Frank F.

a flower in fading light...


----------



## Frank F.

impressions (1)...


----------



## Frank F.

more impressions...


----------



## Frank F.

tools & machinery...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is back from Cook's walk.  Mary Lou and Gary are in the patio.  Gary is drinking his hot brewed but now cold coffee.  The paper is on the patio, partially digested by Gary.  No concrete plans for today.  Gary has a new internet streaming box for the inside Tv.  The Tv has internet, but the on-board system is restrictive and a bit slow to use ... so Gary has a third party box for convenience.  He hopes to be able to drop his cable with the streaming boxes.


----------



## terri

These are lovely, Frank!  

Do you post in the Galleries at all?    You really should.


----------



## Derrel

Frank F. said:


> a flower in fading light...View attachment 144992



With all that negative space above, this specific floral photo would make a fine greeting card image; same with some of your other similarly-frame shots. Very nice, delicate images. Good work,Frank!


----------



## Frank F.

terri said:


> These are lovely, Frank!
> 
> Do you post in the Galleries at all?    You really should.




Nö. But feel free to nominate my shots if applicable


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is watching Comrade Detective on Amazon. It is a cop show series, but it was written and filmed in Romania during the communist era.  It is all quite interesting especially the reinforcement of the communist line and portrayal of Americans and western values. When frustrated, one of the lead cops would say to himself ... "What would Lenin do?".  And ... "What do we do now?" ... "We are workers ... we work."


----------



## SquarePeg

Post vacation blues.  My house looks like a laundromat exploded in it.  Q: How many outfits can a 14 year old wear in a week?  A: All of them. 

Had a great cruise/family reunion.  We had excellent weather, food was good-great, Bermuda was gorgeous and the cruise kept us well entertained.   Unlimited free drinks didn't hurt.  We'll, except for that one morning, lol.  

Looking around wondering when Dian is going to come and make up my room and bring me clean towels...


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Front yard ginger. 

Mary Lou and Gary are sweaty and filthy from yard work. In particular pruning the avocado tree. We in the patio resting our sweaty, filthy bodies drinking vino, a Brecon blend of Cabernet Sauvignon & Petite Sirah. Nectar of the Gods from Paso Robles, Delish. Gary has turned on episode 3 of Comrade Detective... propaganda with a plot is very entertaining. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Welcome back Peg.


----------



## Gary A.

Episode 4 starts with a flash-back to NYC in the "West" ... OMG, this is so gooooooood!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

I just listened to Flash Dance in Romanian.
"Do you think you live in America where life is cheap?"

Simply Great Stuff.


----------



## ronald_michael

I'll take a mug of Community Coffee with a shot of bourbon, please !


----------



## Gary A.

Kulua is better ... the boss can't smell Kulua in the coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

Welcome to the Coffee House Ronald ... or is it Michael?


----------



## terri

Frank F. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> These are lovely, Frank!
> 
> Do you post in the Galleries at all?    You really should.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nö. But feel free to nominate my shots if applicable
Click to expand...


Ah, not likely from a thread like this.   

It's okay to post random, occasional shots in here, but for these really lengthy series, TPF has provided Galleries for a reason.   

The Coffee House thread, in the Off Topic section of TPF, isn't here to post every single picture you take. 

Just letting you know, ok?   Thanks.


----------



## snowbear

It's been a long day.  Mom-in-law passed away this morning, at home and peacefully.  Cancer jammin' sucks.
A month ago, we helped her celebrate her 84th birthday.  Rest in peace, Mary.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> It's been a long day.  Mom-in-law passed away this morning, at home and peacefully.  Cancer jammin' sucks.
> A month ago, we helped her celebrate her 84th birthday.  Rest in peace, Mary.



I'm so sorry, Charlie


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> It's been a long day.  Mom-in-law passed away this morning, at home and peacefully.  Cancer jammin' sucks.
> A month ago, we helped her celebrate her 84th birthday.  Rest in peace, Mary.



Condolences and prayers friend.


----------



## tirediron

I'm sorry!


----------



## snowbear

Thanks guys.  We'll miss her, but on the other hand we are relieved as she's no longer in pain.


----------



## Gary A.

Condolences Charlie. I am sorry. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Thanks guys.  We'll miss her, but on the other hand we are relieved as she's no longer in pain.


Bless her heart.   I'm sorry for your family's loss.  Condolences, my friend.


----------



## Frank F.

A


SquarePeg said:


> Post vacation blues.  My house looks like a laundromat exploded in it.  Q: How many outfits can a 14 year old wear in a week?  A: All of them.
> 
> Had a great cruise/family reunion.  We had excellent weather, food was good-great, Bermuda was gorgeous and the cruise kept us well entertained.   Unlimited free drinks didn't hurt.  We'll, except for that one morning, lol.
> 
> Looking around wondering when Dian is going to come and make up my room and bring me clean towels...
> 
> View attachment 145038


 

A 14 year old can wear more than all outfits in one week. Because they can buy more outfits than they can wear. Good thing is: God made their wallets smaller than their wishlist.


----------



## Frank F.

snowbear said:


> It's been a long day.  Mom-in-law passed away this morning, at home and peacefully.  Cancer jammin' sucks.
> A month ago, we helped her celebrate her 84th birthday.  Rest in peace, Mary.




Great portrait. Seems to have been a lively and energetic person. My condolences


----------



## Frank F.

The galleries are full of morons claiming to have found coma or chromatic aberration in shots where I intentional use old lenses featuring these.

Most of the people there are not qualified to speak about composition or other aspects. Very few Derrels. Lots of "Travelers" and people who only shoot encaged animals in Zoos or other boring subjects like snow owls or all these other birds of prey ....

No time for this.

The coffee house is a friendly place. I stay here.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's been a long day.  Mom-in-law passed away this morning, at home and peacefully.  Cancer jammin' sucks.
> A month ago, we helped her celebrate her 84th birthday.  Rest in peace, Mary.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Condolences and prayers friend.
Click to expand...




terri said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> These are lovely, Frank!
> 
> Do you post in the Galleries at all?    You really should.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nö. But feel free to nominate my shots if applicable
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ah, not likely from a thread like this.
> 
> It's okay to post random, occasional shots in here, but for these really lengthy series, TPF has provided Galleries for a reason.
> 
> The Coffee House thread, in the Off Topic section of TPF, isn't here to post every single picture you take.
> 
> Just letting you know, ok?   Thanks.
Click to expand...

Sorry for your lost Charlie. You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> It's been a long day. Mom-in-law passed away this morning, at home and peacefully. Cancer jammin' sucks.
> A month ago, we helped her celebrate her 84th birthday. Rest in peace, Mary.


Sorry to hear this; my condolences.


----------



## smoke665

@snowbear our condolences for you and the family.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, folks; it is really appreciated.  MLW is holding up very well, being relieved that mom is no longer in pain.


----------



## terri

Frank F. said:


> The galleries are full of morons claiming to have found coma or chromatic aberration in shots where I intentional use old lenses featuring these.
> 
> Most of the people there are not qualified to speak about composition or other aspects. Very few Derrels. Lots of "Travelers" and people who only shoot encaged animals in Zoos or other boring subjects like snow owls or all these other birds of prey ....
> 
> No time for this.
> 
> The coffee house is a friendly place. I stay here.


You know,  Frank, I understand your position.   Sounds like you want to avoid any less than positive comments on anything you shoot.  Lots of people here feel like that.

But you don't get to call this forum "friendly " while referring to your fellow TPF'ers as "morons."

Post only your most casual images in here, and try to limit them to 2-3 at a time.  That's perfectly fine.    Anything more than that, or more serious a photographic effort involved, belongs in one of the Galleries or the Just for Fun forum - where no critique is expected.

Thanks for your cooperation and support!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. 

Dodgers are up by 18 in their division.  Who's gonna stand between them and the winning the WS ... the Nationals ... the Cardinals ... the Cubs?

For you golfing fans, headline on the sports section  of the LA Times: "There's simply no doubting Thomas".


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.
> 
> Dodgers are up by 18 in their division.  Who's gonna stand between them and the winning the WS ... the Nationals ... the Cardinals ... the Cubs?
> 
> For you golfing fans, headline on the sports section  of the LA Times: "There's simply no doubting Thomas".



The Red Sox.  The Astros.  The Nats.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.
> 
> Dodgers are up by 18 in their division.  Who's gonna stand between them and the winning the WS ... the Nationals ... the Cardinals ... the Cubs?
> 
> For you golfing fans, headline on the sports section  of the LA Times: "There's simply no doubting Thomas".


I would keep an eye on Arizona. They have a real good team and their lineup can present a challenge for your lefty dominant rotation. The Cubs have experience and that means something, besides, they are playing well now. So I thinks it's Cubs and Diamondbacks. Rockies are interesting but Coors field is a Dodger playground.


----------



## Gary A.

Certainly the Astros is a bonafide hurdle ... the Nationals are a serious contender ... but Peg, the Red Sox ... they're not far above a 50% winning percentage (at this point in the season)


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.
> 
> Dodgers are up by 18 in their division.  Who's gonna stand between them and the winning the WS ... the Nationals ... the Cardinals ... the Cubs?
> 
> For you golfing fans, headline on the sports section  of the LA Times: "There's simply no doubting Thomas".
> 
> 
> 
> I would keep an eye on Arizona. They have a real good team and their lineup can present a challenge for your lefty dominant rotation. The Cubs have experience and that means something, besides, they are playing well now. So I thinks it's Cubs and Diamondbacks. Rockies are interesting but Coors field is a Dodger playground.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the D-Backs are always competitive when they play the Dodgers. Gary thinks the depth of the Dodgers and the chessmaster which is Roberts ... the Dodgers will ultimately beat the Cubs in a series.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.
> 
> Dodgers are up by 18 in their division.  Who's gonna stand between them and the winning the WS ... the Nationals ... the Cardinals ... the Cubs?
> 
> For you golfing fans, headline on the sports section  of the LA Times: "There's simply no doubting Thomas".
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Red Sox.  The Astros.  The Nats.
Click to expand...


Nats? Harper is hurt again. Their bullpen is full of guys that choke under pressure. Astros are playing horrible as of late without Correa, so they are not on my radar anymore. 

The Red Sox have Sale and he can't pitch every game. Which Porcello is going to show up? Is the Price right? They have the lineup but... No Big Papi. Now the Royals are playing poorly right now but if they manage to sneak in, I would be worried with all that post game experience.  But Gary is only worried about getting to the WS so the Nats only apply from your list. Nats bullpen will rear it's ugly head in post season. Of course, I'm no expert.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.
> 
> Dodgers are up by 18 in their division.  Who's gonna stand between them and the winning the WS ... the Nationals ... the Cardinals ... the Cubs?
> 
> For you golfing fans, headline on the sports section  of the LA Times: "There's simply no doubting Thomas".
> 
> 
> 
> I would keep an eye on Arizona. They have a real good team and their lineup can present a challenge for your lefty dominant rotation. The Cubs have experience and that means something, besides, they are playing well now. So I thinks it's Cubs and Diamondbacks. Rockies are interesting but Coors field is a Dodger playground.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah, the D-Backs are always competitive when they play the Dodgers. Gary thinks the depth of the Dodgers and the chessmaster which is Roberts ... the Dodgers will ultimately beat the Cubs in a series.
Click to expand...

I think so too. Dodgers are deep, and play great D. Roberts makes zero mistakes, he should have been a chess master.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.
> 
> Dodgers are up by 18 in their division.  Who's gonna stand between them and the winning the WS ... the Nationals ... the Cardinals ... the Cubs?
> 
> For you golfing fans, headline on the sports section  of the LA Times: "There's simply no doubting Thomas".
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Red Sox.  The Astros.  The Nats.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nats? Harper is hurt again. Their bullpen is full of guys that choke under pressure. Astros are playing horrible as of late without Correa, so they are not on my radar anymore.
> 
> The Red Sox have Sale and he can't pitch every game. Which Porcello is going to show up? Is the Price right? They have the lineup but... No Big Papi. Now the Royals are playing poorly right now but if they manage to sneak in, I would be worried with all that post game experience.  But Gary is only worried about getting to the WS so the Nats only apply from your list. Nats bullpen will rear it's ugly head in post season. Of course, I'm no expert.
Click to expand...


Gary said "winning" the WS, not getting there.  The Price has never been right.  Can't wait to see him go bye bye.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.
> 
> Dodgers are up by 18 in their division.  Who's gonna stand between them and the winning the WS ... the Nationals ... the Cardinals ... the Cubs?
> 
> For you golfing fans, headline on the sports section  of the LA Times: "There's simply no doubting Thomas".
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Red Sox.  The Astros.  The Nats.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nats? Harper is hurt again. Their bullpen is full of guys that choke under pressure. Astros are playing horrible as of late without Correa, so they are not on my radar anymore.
> 
> The Red Sox have Sale and he can't pitch every game. Which Porcello is going to show up? Is the Price right? They have the lineup but... No Big Papi. Now the Royals are playing poorly right now but if they manage to sneak in, I would be worried with all that post game experience.  But Gary is only worried about getting to the WS so the Nats only apply from your list. Nats bullpen will rear it's ugly head in post season. Of course, I'm no expert.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Gary said "winning" the WS, not getting there.  The Price has never been right.  Can't wait to see him go bye bye.
Click to expand...

Yup, I miss read it. If Correa gets back and they get right heading into playoffs, that is the team that can beat them. They are fantastic defensively and have a good rotation, underated IMO. Solid bullpen. I would have zero issue pitching Morton on a game 3. Diamondbacks are a different team with JD Martinez and can't as easily pitch around Goldschmidt now. Cubs are peaking at right time and excellent defensively so they could thump them but unlikely, Dodgers are playing out of their minds.


----------



## jcdeboever

The Indians are the most dangerous. Stellar bullpen, great manager, but do they have enough pop? It's going to be fun.


----------



## limr

Yeah yeah, baseball, blah blah blah...

COLLEGE FOOTBALL STARTS IN TWO WEEKS, HOSERS!!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry to hear that Charlie, condolences to your wife.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Certainly the Astros is a bonafide hurdle ... the Nationals are a serious contender ... but Peg, the Red Sox ... they're not far above a 50% winning percentage (at this point in the season)



Sox have some nice momentum going right now and the kids are hot.  I like their chances to go deep into the playoffs.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hockey starts in a month. 

OK, it's only local Jr. B but still... ice.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Certainly the Astros is a bonafide hurdle ... the Nationals are a serious contender ... but Peg, the Red Sox ... they're not far above a 50% winning percentage (at this point in the season)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sox have some nice momentum going right now and the kids are hot.  I like their chances to go deep into the playoffs.
Click to expand...

Yes they do. But can the establish their version of Andrew Miller? Is Moreland gonna be their Big Papi come playoff time?


----------



## Frank F.

terri said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The galleries are full of morons claiming to have found coma or chromatic aberration in shots where I intentional use old lenses featuring these.
> 
> Most of the people there are not qualified to speak about composition or other aspects. Very few Derrels. Lots of "Travelers" and people who only shoot encaged animals in Zoos or other boring subjects like snow owls or all these other birds of prey ....
> 
> No time for this.
> 
> The coffee house is a friendly place. I stay here.
> 
> 
> 
> You know,  Frank, I understand your position.   Sounds like you want to avoid any less than positive comments on anything you shoot.  Lots of people here feel like that.
> 
> But you don't get to call this forum "friendly " while referring to your fellow TPF'ers as "morons."
> 
> Post only your most casual images in here, and try to limit them to 2-3 at a time.  That's perfectly fine.    Anything more than that, or more serious a photographic effort involved, belongs in one of the Galleries or the Just for Fun forum - where no critique is expected.
> 
> Thanks for your cooperation and support!
Click to expand...



I accept all kinds critique as long as it is competent. Like Darrell's or Gary's. They really know what they are talking about. Same goes for most of the people over at Nikongear. I can learn from these people because they are deep into photography and can help me advance my craft. I do not see this here very much.

Some people teach me by posting excellent shots. I do not see this here very much either. When it comes to technology and techniques there are very few people on the net I can learn from, most are on Nikongear too, some are Bloggers or the guys at Luminous Landscape, which I subscribe to.

For me the best thing about this place is The Coffee House. The pictures I just posted are impressions from my holidays which I shared with you exclusively. Will not happen often. Holiday snapshots to warm your heart.


----------



## tirediron

Frank F. said:


> I accept all kinds critique as long as it is competent.


Sooooooooo...  who determines competence?  Critique is purely subjective.   



Frank F. said:


> ...I can learn from these people because they are deep into photography and can help me advance my craft. I do not see this here very much.
> 
> Some people teach me by posting excellent shots. I do not see this here very much either. When it comes to technology and techniques there are very few people on the net I can learn from, most are on Nikongear too, some are Bloggers or the guys at Luminous Landscape, which I subscribe to.


I can only hope to reach your elevated level of skill eventually.  I find that I can learn from almost every post here.  Even something as simple as, "I don't like that image" can be useful.  WHY doesn't one person like it when another (or many) does?  As for technology and techniques, I am a mere neophyte in the technology world and rarely does a day go by when I don't pick up some crumb of useful information (or more likely an entire loaf).


----------



## Frank F.

I guess I did take roughly one million shots in my life. I did try and try and discuss and discuss and ask and ask. Most I did learn from museums and from people on the net who see the world completely differently compared to my way to see it.

I strongly feel:

1. Wether one likes a shot or not is fully random

2. It is also not interesting because popularity means appealing to average competence which is low

3. It is very important for me to tell myself what I see and how I feel about it. I like to share my thoughts with the people who took the pictures. Most are not interested. They want to hear praise. I do not sing praise. I share what I see and feel.


----------



## terri

Frank F. said:


> I do not sing praise. I share what I see and feel.



So it's okay for you, but not for others to do so - especially when it's directed at one of your photos?    

When people learn to just thank others for commenting/critiquing, regardless of what they perceive as the person's level of competence, the forum would be a lot more enjoyable.


----------



## Frank F.

PS: I still take a lot of crappy pictures in the fields I do not know about. Most fields. But I am still getting better with every shot.

PPS: Most photos posted on the net are boring reproduction of things the people have seen before. I consider these AF waste of time for all.


----------



## Overread

MODERATOR NOTICE
​Please take all further discussion of critique to its own thread. You are free to make one to debate that issue, but otherwise lets leave that stone OUT of this thread. Please return to your holiday snaps and chats and your coffee slurping/sipping/whatevers. 

Any further attempts to return to the topic of critique/commenting with be deleted from this thread.


----------



## limr




----------



## Overread

snowbear/Charlie my sincere condolences!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


>


Sorry sunshine but your going down week 1. Don't cry....


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry sunshine but your going down week 1. Don't cry....
Click to expand...


Oh puh-LEEEEEEZ! Gators gonna chomp yer Wolverine butts! 

(PS - I can't trash talk with Buzz's mother, so I'll have to overcompensate with you )


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Sorry to hear that Charlie, condolences to your wife.


Thanks.


----------



## snowbear

Overread said:


> snowbear/Charlie my sincere condolences!


Thanks.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Oh puh-LEEEEEEZ! Gators gonna chomp yer Wolverine butts!
> 
> (PS - I can't trash talk with Buzz's mother, so I'll have to overcompensate with you )


Whoa whoa whoa... keep it PG!

I'm kidding. _That's_ trash talk?


----------



## snowbear

Frank F. said:


> PS: I still take a lot of crappy pictures in the fields I do not know about. Most fields. But I am still getting better with every shot.
> 
> PPS: Most photos posted on the net are boring reproduction of things the people have seen before. I consider these AF waste of time for all.



I'd suggest the "For Fun" forum or the appropriate theme threads for those you fee are less than par.  In all honesty, I'm surprised if I get more than three comments on mine, but that's OK.  I figure if nobody gives me critique, I must be doing OK.

Not just on the web, but almost everything you photograph has already been photographed (actual subject or theme) many times.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry sunshine but your going down week 1. Don't cry....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh puh-LEEEEEEZ! Gators gonna chomp yer Wolverine butts!
> 
> (PS - I can't trash talk with Buzz's mother, so I'll have to overcompensate with you )
Click to expand...



Back in the day, someone would just say "Yo Momma!"
Me - I'm mostly neutral in this battle.  UMD's rival used to be Duke, but I'm not sure who it is now; maybe Penn State.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh puh-LEEEEEEZ! Gators gonna chomp yer Wolverine butts!
> 
> (PS - I can't trash talk with Buzz's mother, so I'll have to overcompensate with you )
> 
> 
> 
> Whoa whoa whoa... keep it PG!
> 
> I'm kidding. _That's_ trash talk?
Click to expand...


Hey, I'm rusty, and I'm only getting warmed up!


----------



## terri

I don't care much about college football.    I watch NFL games.    

(Turns to flee.)


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


>


It's Leo!


----------



## pixmedic

I let the ferret get caught up reading the coffee house thread. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Ahem.... did someone say football??????


----------



## SquarePeg

Oops I mean, did someone say FOOTBALL?????


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Oops I mean, did someone say FOOTBALL?????



Ayuh...


----------



## SquarePeg

That's what we here in New England like to call "old news" limr.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's Trojans are ranked higher than both the Gators and Wolverines.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Oops I mean, did someone say FOOTBALL?????



Oh yes, rub it in!    Because I was just starting to *not* feel the pain!        Brat.

I happen to genuinely follow several teams, not just my sad Falcons.   I love most of the Rust Belt teams: the Lions, Green Bay, and I'm a Giants fan too.   Seriously getting ready for some football.


----------



## tirediron

Feetsball... thassa one with the brown, pointy ball?  Rugger with the funny rules?


----------



## JonA_CT

As I need to remind my friends around here frequently, the Giants are 2-0 in Superbowls against the Pats.

Oh, and 18-1


----------



## Gary A.

Pro - ugh and meh.  But LA did pick up a pair of teams in the off season.  

College is more fun, more spirit and more better.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> That's what we here in New England like to call "old news" limr.



Yeah, it's what we call "future news" in NY 



Gary A. said:


> Gary's Trojans are ranked higher than both the Gators and Wolverines.



For now, my California Tio. For now.


----------



## jcdeboever

Lions....


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Lions....
> 
> View attachment 145114



I don't see any lions. I want lions!!!

In other news, one of my credit cards has a negative balance of about $130, so I put that towards a new toy: an Asus Chromebook Flip. To be fair, it's partly a toy and partly teaching supplies. I plan on trying a new way to grade essays electronically so I can avoid printing and wasting paper, while still being able to grade as efficiently as when I'm handwriting my comments (using comments and edit tracking via keyboard is a major PITA and takes twice as long.)

Fingers crossed that it works as well as I hope! If not, well, I get a new toy


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lions....
> 
> View attachment 145114
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't see any lions. I want lions!!!
> 
> In other news, one of my credit cards has a negative balance of about $130, so I put that towards a new toy: an Asus Chromebook Flip. To be fair, it's partly a toy and partly teaching supplies. I plan on trying a new way to grade essays electronically so I can avoid printing and wasting paper, while still being able to grade as efficiently as when I'm handwriting my comments (using comments and edit tracking via keyboard is a major PITA and takes twice as long.)
> 
> Fingers crossed that it works as well as I hope! If not, well, I get a new toy
Click to expand...



I hope it works out! I'm sure the technology has improved since the last time I tried it. Then again, I think the tablet/pen interface also exacerbated my handwriting issues because it's hard to write small.

I'm reading Romeo and Juliet for the first time in a decade. It's required reading for my 8th graders in the spring. 8th grade hormones cranked to 11 and an iconic love tragedy. I can't wait.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I hope it works out! I'm sure the technology has improved since the last time I tried it. Then again, I think the tablet/pen interface also exacerbated my handwriting issues because it's hard to write small.
> 
> I'm reading Romeo and Juliet for the first time in a decade. It's required reading for my 8th graders in the spring. 8th grade hormones cranked to 11 and an iconic love tragedy. I can't wait.



My daughter read it this past year.  I had to hear all her complaints that she was made to read as Juliet with a boy that she hates (and maybe also likes?) reading Romeo.  They were all fascinated when they found out the ages of Romeo and Juliet.


----------



## snowbear

Only pre-season but


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lions....
> 
> View attachment 145114
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't see any lions. I want lions!!!
> 
> In other news, one of my credit cards has a negative balance of about $130, so I put that towards a new toy: an Asus Chromebook Flip. To be fair, it's partly a toy and partly teaching supplies. I plan on trying a new way to grade essays electronically so I can avoid printing and wasting paper, while still being able to grade as efficiently as when I'm handwriting my comments (using comments and edit tracking via keyboard is a major PITA and takes twice as long.)
> 
> Fingers crossed that it works as well as I hope! If not, well, I get a new toy
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I hope it works out! I'm sure the technology has improved since the last time I tried it. Then again, I think the tablet/pen interface also exacerbated my handwriting issues because it's hard to write small.
> 
> I'm reading Romeo and Juliet for the first time in a decade. It's required reading for my 8th graders in the spring. 8th grade hormones cranked to 11 and an iconic love tragedy. I can't wait.
Click to expand...

When Gary traveled internationally for work, often he would seek out an English book store and reread the classics.  So much better the second time around.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lions....
> 
> View attachment 145114
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't see any lions. I want lions!!!
> 
> In other news, one of my credit cards has a negative balance of about $130, so I put that towards a new toy: an Asus Chromebook Flip. To be fair, it's partly a toy and partly teaching supplies. I plan on trying a new way to grade essays electronically so I can avoid printing and wasting paper, while still being able to grade as efficiently as when I'm handwriting my comments (using comments and edit tracking via keyboard is a major PITA and takes twice as long.)
> 
> Fingers crossed that it works as well as I hope! If not, well, I get a new toy
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I hope it works out! I'm sure the technology has improved since the last time I tried it. Then again, I think the tablet/pen interface also exacerbated my handwriting issues because it's hard to write small.
> 
> I'm reading Romeo and Juliet for the first time in a decade. It's required reading for my 8th graders in the spring. 8th grade hormones cranked to 11 and an iconic love tragedy. I can't wait.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I am sure I'll have to practice, though I've actually done a lot of this in class. I almost always teach in a computer lab with a 'smart' monitor and have been using that to write notes (instead of writing on the whiteboard) and then saving the class notes as a pdf to upload to our online Blackboard shell. As much as I loooooove a good old-fashioned chalkboard, I hate white boards. They're dirty and just not as fun to write on. Plus I've found it very convenient to be able to do, for example, an editing exercise in class and save it for them for future reference. And I've also incorporated a sneaky way to get them to review the class notes I post: after they leave the classroom, I'll upload a silly picture of an animal and ask them about which animal was doing what as extra credit questions on quizzes.


----------



## limr




----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> As much as I loooooove a good old-fashioned chalkboard, I hate white boards. They're dirty and just not as fun to write on.


They can be hard to read, as well.


----------



## Frank F.

terri said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do not sing praise. I share what I see and feel.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So it's okay for you, but not for others to do so - especially when it's directed at one of your photos?
> 
> When people learn to just thank others for commenting/critiquing, regardless of what they perceive as the person's level of competence, the forum would be a lot more enjoyable.
Click to expand...


Maybe. I wish people would be more able to speak their heart. My experience is: they are not. Instead they try to be polite which is not helpful.

I am interested in what my customers think, I want to make them happy, make them pay my bills with a good feeling and make them order again. The competence level of my customers is not important in that sense.

I am really interested in what people think who are competent not necessarily in the domain of photography but in the domain of looking at a picture and telling me what they see.

Politeness is not the only trouble, also many people try to impress others with their utterings. I am not born to impress anyone. I am who I am whether you like it or not. I simply do not care enough. It is my image in the mirror I look at in the morning and my answer to the image should be a good feeling. Why should I try to impress anyone? Makes no sense for me. Playing games for ranks like goats in a stable? Ridiculous!


----------



## Overread

Regardless of your personal quirks you've been told to post your photos in the galleries; that's what we have them for. You've got just for fun and topic specific. 

You'll just have to be friendly when you share your photos and get comments from those you don't agree with. It's part of growing up and being mature in being able to respect a person taking their free time to comment on your creation even if you don't agree with the commentary. You are not required to agree with them, only to conduct yourself in a polite and respectful manner. 

You might also want to have an attitude change in how you address and describe people you don't agree with. Continually regarding them as morons or people trying to score points or whatever else is silly. Most are just eager photographers who enjoy their hobby trying to help others. They are taking their free time to chat about photos and share their viewpoints and opinions; that is what a forum or club or group or gathering is about. 

You are also fully free to start your own "coffee house" type thread where you can post your own photos in series if you so choose.


----------



## Frank F.

You remember I go through this Microbiome Diet? Currently I try to compose tasty food from the allowed ingredients.

My first recipe is chick pea soup with veggies and lamb. You need roughly one pound of lamb goulash meat cut to finger tip size. Two medium size red onions. One big can of chick peas or roughly one good pound after washing and peeling. Two handful of celery root. Three big tomatoes and two peppers of different colour.

Fry the meat in hot ghee. Add the washed and peeled chick peas. If you have enough time take dried ones and soak them in water over night. They will start to stick after a few minutes. Add water. Add cut veggies and stir cook until the soup is creamy soft after 15 or 20 minutes. Add salt and black pepper to your taste and the sap of a whole lemon to round it up.

Taste is comparable to the Northern African famous lentil soup called Taboulee


----------



## Frank F.

These are the allowed ingredients for the toughest part, the first three weeks, of the diet. I feel every halfway ambitious cook will be able to create wonderful dishes from these ingredients. No need to starve, more of a feast I think.

Plus the book features a lot of recipes


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> You remember I go through this Microbiome Diet? Currently I try to compose tasty food from the allowed ingredients.
> 
> My first recipe is chick pea soup with veggies and lamb. You need roughly one pound of lamb goulash meat cut to finger tip size. Two medium size red onions. One big can of chick peas or roughly one good pound after washing and peeling. Two handful of celery root. Three big tomatoes and two peppers of different colour.
> 
> Fry the meat in hot ghee. Add the washed and peeled chick peas. If you have enough time take dried ones and soak them in water over night. They will start to stick after a few minutes. Add water. Add cut veggies and stir cook until the soup is creamy soft after 15 or 20 minutes. Add salt and black pepper to your taste and the sap of a whole lemon to round it up.
> 
> Taste is comparable to the Northern African famous lentil soup called Taboulee



I think you're getting your foods mixed up. Tabouleh is a vegetarian salad made with bulgur (or cous cous) and tomatoes, onions, and herbs (mainly parsley) and spices. Not a lentil soup.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like tabouleh


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> I like tabouleh



Me, too. I can make a mean tabouleh


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks he would like chick pea soup.  Thanks for the recipe Frank.  Gary, Mary Liu and Cook have guests tonight.  First time here so nothing 'experimental', Gary will smoke some Tri-Tip and toss a salmon on the charcoals.  Most likely a flat bread, tomato salad, green salad w/grapes & apples, (maybe an avocado if they're ripe), homemade lemonade, and homemade sorbet for dessert.


----------



## SquarePeg

I don't see peppers (of any color) on the approved ingredients list.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> I don't see peppers (of any color) on the approved ingredients list.



Why we fell for clean eating


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> I don't see peppers (of any color) on the approved ingredients list.


Frank is taking some poetic license.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't see peppers (of any color) on the approved ingredients list.
> 
> 
> 
> Frank is taking some poetic license.
Click to expand...


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You remember I go through this Microbiome Diet? Currently I try to compose tasty food from the allowed ingredients.
> 
> My first recipe is chick pea soup with veggies and lamb. You need roughly one pound of lamb goulash meat cut to finger tip size. Two medium size red onions. One big can of chick peas or roughly one good pound after washing and peeling. Two handful of celery root. Three big tomatoes and two peppers of different colour.
> 
> Fry the meat in hot ghee. Add the washed and peeled chick peas. If you have enough time take dried ones and soak them in water over night. They will start to stick after a few minutes. Add water. Add cut veggies and stir cook until the soup is creamy soft after 15 or 20 minutes. Add salt and black pepper to your taste and the sap of a whole lemon to round it up.
> 
> Taste is comparable to the Northern African famous lentil soup called Taboulee
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think you're getting your foods mixed up. Tabouleh is a vegetarian salad made with bulgur (or cous cous) and tomatoes, onions, and herbs (mainly parsley) and spices. Not a lentil soup.
Click to expand...



You are right. Let's all may recipe "Chick pea soup Northern African or Arabic style" ...

Now I remember I this style of soup first in a Lebanese Restaurant in Hannover, Germany.

The Lebanon is the cradle of our civilization, but the Levante is certainly not Afrika. I guess I could have the same style of soup in Tunis or Algier or Fez.

PS there is no problem leaving out the meat to make the soup vegan. I cooked it for my son and me and he loves to eat meat. Add some more olive oil or walnut oil to replace the fat from the meat...


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't see peppers (of any color) on the approved ingredients list.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Why we fell for clean eating
Click to expand...

Interesting read.  Every now and then Gary and Mary Lou (sometimes Cook) would watch a food/documentary movie (a la 'Supersize Me').  Similar to the read above, most all declared that their way was the only route to salvation.  In one of the movies a gentleman stated that the easiest way to healthy eating is to cook your own food.  If you cook your cook, (as opposed to eating out or heating up pre-cook food), then 90% of what you eat will be healthy. Gary gave that some thought, it seems quite reasonable, fairly easy and a good graduate to measure healthy intake. After one starts cooking, it is easy to start selecting better choices ... like grapeseed or avocado oil is better to cook with than olive oil (low smoke point, et cetera).  The next step is to recognize that pesticide free homegrown food is better with much more flavor than the much prettier looking stuff from corporate farms.  Our cooking has improved to the point where we are reluctant to go out because our food at home, is at a minimum, equal to very good restaurant food.  Now we have a steady flow of friends coming over because our food is soooo good ... an entire social circle/structure has evolved around Gary's BBQ's with guests popping in about three times a week.


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> I don't see peppers (of any color) on the approved ingredients list.



You got a fine sense of humour !!!

Peppers are good. They even allow eggplants generally considered bad by any nutritional advisory. I cannot eat eggplants, they bite my gums and foul my stomach.

As I read the list all veggies are ok.

The nono list mentions all grains, all dairy of any milk, all soy products, eggs, all processed meats and fabricated and canned foods, all sugary stuff including agave and others, only the listed fruits are allowed as a whole. So their recipees involve a heavy duty blender which I bought yesterday (you can use a peeled avocado with the pit), will arrive soon. All denatured fats are bad for the gut esp hydrogenated and trans fats.

Recipee to make trans fats: take a really good olive oil. Pour in a really hot frying pan!

Better to add your best oil later, when cooking is done. Use ghee for frying. It will not crack when you hear it.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't see peppers (of any color) on the approved ingredients list.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Why we fell for clean eating
Click to expand...



This is the Extreme they are talking about. I just try to heal my gut to get away from the immune suppressors....

Will last 7 weeks. After that I am back to normal.

The nono list for the rest of my life is very short. It reads like: no soy, no processed and packaged and canned food with some exceptions, no denatured fats and be careful with gluten, use no more than twice a week.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Frank: What blender did you get.  Gary thinks you should get a Molcajete.

Look Here


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @ Frank: What blender did you get.  Gary thinks you should get a Molcajete.
> 
> Look Here


My great, great, great, great, great, grandmammy had one of those....


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> *If you cook your cook*, (as opposed to eating out or heating up pre-cook food), then 90% of what you eat will be healthy.



Sounds like Gary better watch out.


----------



## jcdeboever

Fellow TPF'r gift. What a beauty. So, easy to use. Love the sound and feel. Hope the images out of her first roll are as enjoyable as it's use. Smooth as silk, pure enjoyment.


----------



## jcdeboever

[emoji90] forgot to add the photo


----------



## Frank F.

@Gary: of course I use my mortar and pestle all the time:





but this is not the right thing for smoothies that will blend fresh fruit, frozen fruit and hard piecy spices like nutmeg and star anis with almonds and stuff in no time and very very smoothly. After a lot of research also into long term stability and blending efficiency I chose this blender:

Design Mixer Advanced Professional

The listing price is 550€ but I got mine as a demonstration unit for 400€. As most of these it's sound is as loud as a starting jetplane. So no midnight smoothie and no Sunday morning smoothie or I have to get a silencer / blimp for it or my neighbours will silence me ... Any ideas?

Gary is right. My own garden with my own cooking is the way to go. Local food homegrown and home cooking with friends. Southern California is a great place for that. Gary can grow most things all year round. But in my neighborhood I can buy a lot of stuff in great quality conventionally or organically grown all in walking distance!

For my own farm I am still working to bring the money together. Land is very expensive here and the prices are still increasing.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Yeah yeah, baseball, blah blah blah...
> 
> COLLEGE FOOTBALL STARTS IN TWO WEEKS, HOSERS!!!



And yet something else we agree on. Shall we try for SEC



terri said:


> I don't care much about college football.    I watch NFL games.
> 
> Bless your heart!
> (Turns to flee.)


----------



## vintagesnaps

Frank, in the coffeehouse people are usually just stopping by for a quick hi how ya' doin'? and a (virtual) cup of coffee... and it takes time for the pictures to load, and to look at them all, and meanwhile the coffee's getting cold... lol so maybe it would be better to figure out a way to post/share pictures so we can see and enjoy them besides when we stop in for a quick cup of coffee. Or to get a recipe. Or see what Gary has on the grill...


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  Sorry to make a post that's not about Frank or football but wanted to see how everyone was doing today?  In my world, today is day 2 back at work after vacation aka OMFGgetmeoutofhere Day.  Today is also day 6 of Princess not having a phone (long story involving rocks, salt water, stitches and xrays while on our cruise).  The dog is still not talking to me after we all left him for a whole week and I've got a to do list a mile long for house and yard maintenance.  I think I need another week off.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  Sorry to make a post that's not about Frank or football but wanted to see how everyone was doing today?  In my world, today is day 2 back at work after vacation aka OMFGgetmeoutofhere Day.  Today is also day 6 of Princess not having a phone (long story involving rocks, salt water, stitches and xrays while on our cruise).  The dog is still not talking to me after we all left him for a whole week and I've got a to do list a mile long for house and yard maintenance.  I think I need another week off.



Finally going to see Wonder Woman tonight


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah yeah, baseball, blah blah blah...
> 
> COLLEGE FOOTBALL STARTS IN TWO WEEKS, HOSERS!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And yet something else we agree on. Shall we try for SEC
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't care much about college football.    I watch NFL games.
> 
> Bless your heart!
> (Turns to flee.)
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


SEC is clearly the best conference in the country! Big Ten...feh  

Although here is where we part ways:







Don't worry, we're not playing 'Bama this season, so we have time to bond over other stuff before we start football trash-talkin' to each other


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah yeah, baseball, blah blah blah...
> 
> COLLEGE FOOTBALL STARTS IN TWO WEEKS, HOSERS!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And yet something else we agree on. Shall we try for SEC
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't care much about college football.    I watch NFL games.
> 
> Bless your heart!
> (Turns to flee.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> SEC is clearly the best conference in the country! Big Ten...feh
> 
> Although here is where we part ways:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't worry, we're not playing 'Bama this season, so we have time to bond over other stuff before we start football trash-talkin' to each other
Click to expand...

Ummm, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Wisconsin would disagree with you. GO BLUE! Team will be wearing some gator boots in a few weeks.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  Sorry to make a post that's not about Frank or football but wanted to see how everyone was doing today?  In my world, today is day 2 back at work after vacation aka OMFGgetmeoutofhere Day.  Today is also day 6 of Princess not having a phone (long story involving rocks, salt water, stitches and xrays while on our cruise).  The dog is still not talking to me after we all left him for a whole week and I've got a to do list a mile long for house and yard maintenance.  I think I need another week off.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Finally going to see Wonder Woman tonight
Click to expand...


I saw it last month.  Looking forward to hearing your review.  I'll reserve mine until you've seen it.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah yeah, baseball, blah blah blah...
> 
> COLLEGE FOOTBALL STARTS IN TWO WEEKS, HOSERS!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And yet something else we agree on. Shall we try for SEC
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't care much about college football.    I watch NFL games.
> 
> Bless your heart!
> (Turns to flee.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> SEC is clearly the best conference in the country! Big Ten...feh
> 
> Although here is where we part ways:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't worry, we're not playing 'Bama this season, so we have time to bond over other stuff before we start football trash-talkin' to each other
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ummm, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Wisconsin would disagree with you. GO BLUE! Team will be wearing some gator boots in a few weeks.
Click to expand...


So this means, until such time when Florida plays 'Bama, Smoke and I can gang up on ya!


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Don't worry, we're not playing 'Bama this season,



Yeah we have the "other" bunch from FL 1st game.  So you don't think the Gators will be playing us for the SEC Champonship this year?


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Ummm, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Wisconsin would disagree with you.



@limr bless their hearts no one told them Big 10 wasn't a real conference


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ummm, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Wisconsin would disagree with you.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> @limr bless their hearts no one told them Big 10 wasn't a real conference
Click to expand...


ooooh when a southerner says "bless their hearts" thems fighting words!

Bless your heart - Wikipedia


----------



## jcdeboever

Verlander tipping pitch's again


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't worry, we're not playing 'Bama this season,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah we have the "other" bunch from FL 1st game.  So you don't think the Gators will be playing us for the SEC Champonship this year?
Click to expand...


You mean beating y'all? It's about damn time someone did, so it might as well be the big Orange and Blue!


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  Sorry to make a post that's not about Frank or football but wanted to see how everyone was doing today?  In my world, today is day 2 back at work after vacation aka OMFGgetmeoutofhere Day.  Today is also day 6 of Princess not having a phone (long story involving rocks, salt water, stitches and xrays while on our cruise).  The dog is still not talking to me after we all left him for a whole week and I've got a to do list a mile long for house and yard maintenance.  I think I need another week off.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Finally going to see Wonder Woman tonight
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I saw it last month.  Looking forward to hearing your review.  I'll reserve mine until you've seen it.
Click to expand...


Will say more tomorrow (too tired right now) but all I will say for now is that it hit the spot and I'm glad I saw it on a big screen.


----------



## Frank F.

About books. I can recommend the book "Behold the Dreamers" very much. It features an African family trying to live the American Dream in contemporary America. The language is vivid and phantastic, the characters are as real life as literature can draw them, of the best I read in a very long time. Huge talent. Only the storyline is a tad conventional.

Second recommendation: "Patti Smith Collected Lyrics 1970 to 2015" Wow. This woman can write! Although I don't share her opinions and world view I love the language.

And a question: My German Newspaper says today that I should read "Underground Railroad" to understand current America better. BUT they also recommended "falling man" the worst book I read in decades. So: Anyone here read "Underground Railroad"??? And: Can you recommend it?

Thank you


----------



## Frank F.

The concept that a picture needs time to load is a call from the dark past in my world. Nowadays fast Internet is a reality in Germany fixed line as well as mobile. Only far far out in the countryside there are a few grey and white points where Internet is as slow as it was in general 20 years ago.

From your reaction and also from other people's reactions on this US centered forum I conclude that fast internet is not a commodity in America?


----------



## JonA_CT

Frank F. said:


> From your reaction and also from other people's reactions on this US centered forum I conclude that fast internet is not a commodity in America?



As you know, the US is a huge country, and there are large discrepancies in internet services depending on where you live.







This map is a few years old, but I'm fortunate to live in one of the blue areas, and I can affordably get high-speed internet. I currently pay around $60 a month (with fees and taxes) for 100mbps service. My aunt and uncle who live in Upstate NY in one of the orangish areas don't have that type of service available, and they pay the same thing to get 30 mbps service. Until recently, they didn't even have anything that fast.

Population density plays a large role in the implementation of telecom services. In the United States, we average about 85 people per square mile. In Germany, that number is 235. It wouldn't be surprising to me that those services are easier and cheaper to access in Germany.

It also wouldn't surprise me if there are places in Germany where there are similarly limited options. My wife's aunt and uncle live in a small market town in Cumbria, UK, (UK's population density is 650 people per square mile) and the only "high speed" internet service available in their town is a satellite service.

Fiber optic is coming to my city within the next couple of months. They've just completed the surveying, and the cost to complete the work is immense. It's a gamble for them to recoup the costs.  I'm sure there are places here that will only get that service when the line costs are much cheaper. We have a lot of space to cover at 3-5$ per foot of cable.


----------



## smoke665

Att made the mistake of laying a fiber optic cable to nowhere along the road that borders our property taking federal funds to do so with no intention of hooking anyone up. Unfortunately for them their county franchise for more lucrative video came up, at a time when my good friend and neighbor was the county commission chairman. At his request I was invited to speak on AT&T' s failure to provide services. They ended up running a special line for me, to shut me up, but the distance from the box, limits me to 8 gb. If they ever bring the box closer to me on line, I'll have 50 gb. Franchise comes up for renewal in 2 more years


----------



## SquarePeg

The cost of laying the fiber far outweighs the potential revenue in many rural areas.  With only residential and small business customers there is no way to recoup the huge investment required to provide high speed service.   

Even in densely populated areas with large businesses, like Boston, the age of the infrastructure can be restrictive and make providing service a poor ROI.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  Sorry to make a post that's not about Frank or football but wanted to see how everyone was doing today?  In my world, today is day 2 back at work after vacation aka OMFGgetmeoutofhere Day.  Today is also day 6 of Princess not having a phone (long story involving rocks, salt water, stitches and xrays while on our cruise).  The dog is still not talking to me after we all left him for a whole week and I've got a to do list a mile long for house and yard maintenance.  I think I need another week off.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Finally going to see Wonder Woman tonight
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I saw it last month.  Looking forward to hearing your review.  I'll reserve mine until you've seen it.
Click to expand...


So here's a very quick review. Probably shouldn't worry about spoilers at this point, but just in case, I won't say anything specific.

There were a few things that didn't quite work, a few plot holes that bugged me - no movie is perfect, of course - but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's over 2 hours but it didn't feel long at all. It managed to feel uplifting without being overly corny. And the choreography of the fight scenes was fantastic. I would definitely watch it again.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  Sorry to make a post that's not about Frank or football but wanted to see how everyone was doing today?  In my world, today is day 2 back at work after vacation aka OMFGgetmeoutofhere Day.  Today is also day 6 of Princess not having a phone (long story involving rocks, salt water, stitches and xrays while on our cruise).  The dog is still not talking to me after we all left him for a whole week and I've got a to do list a mile long for house and yard maintenance.  I think I need another week off.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Finally going to see Wonder Woman tonight
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I saw it last month.  Looking forward to hearing your review.  I'll reserve mine until you've seen it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> So here's a very quick review. Probably shouldn't worry about spoilers at this point, but just in case, I won't say anything specific.
> 
> There were a few things that didn't quite work, a few plot holes that bugged me - no movie is perfect, of course - but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's over 2 hours but it didn't feel long at all. It managed to feel uplifting without being overly corny. And the choreography of the fight scenes was fantastic. I would definitely watch it again.
Click to expand...


My take - I was so looking forward to seeing this after so many of my friends (both male and female) hyped it as the best super hero movie ever, empowering for women, loved it loved it etc, even my mom wanted to see it!  I thought it was good (not great) but there were a few times when I was a bit bored.  I love super hero movies and have seen just about all of them and I would have to rank this below most of the Iron Man and Spiderman movies, for me, as far as entertainment value goes.  The plot was boring - could have been so much better!  The fight scenes were cool but to be honest that is probably the least important thing about these type of movies for me.  I really enjoyed the scenes on the island and wish they had paid more attention to that part of the origin story.  

Having seen the new Spiderman movie the week before may have contributed to my disappointment in Wonder Woman.  I loved the humor and goofiness of Spiderman.  WW had a few attempts at fish out of water scenes when they got to the real world but they didn't work, IMO.  I thought Chris Pine was good and the woman who played Wonder Woman was excellent - I read that she was 5 months pregnant during filming and had to wear a green screen on her baby bump that they then CGI'd - you would never guess that from the final product.  I'll definitely watch it again when it comes out on HBO or whatever but all in all, disappointed because I expected more based on all the hype.


----------



## SquarePeg

@Gary A. 

I'm an American League girl but if I had to choose my favorite NL team, it would be the Dodgers.  I even have 2 LAD hats around here somewhere (the Dodger blue really brings out my eyes, lol).  When I wear them and my fellow Sox fans get on my case I just tell them I'm supporting Dave Roberts.  We love Dave "the steal" Roberts here and he is always welcome in Boston so hope to see Sox vs. LAD in the WS.   






I always look forward to seeing how the "great" NL teams hold up against the AL.  So many times NL teams are touted for their pitching and defense and then the AL just beats them up with their big bats.  The White Sox and Tigers are not top tier (sorry jc) but will be interesting to see how LA pitching does against them.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  Sorry to make a post that's not about Frank or football but wanted to see how everyone was doing today?  In my world, today is day 2 back at work after vacation aka OMFGgetmeoutofhere Day.  Today is also day 6 of Princess not having a phone (long story involving rocks, salt water, stitches and xrays while on our cruise).  The dog is still not talking to me after we all left him for a whole week and I've got a to do list a mile long for house and yard maintenance.  I think I need another week off.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Finally going to see Wonder Woman tonight
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I saw it last month.  Looking forward to hearing your review.  I'll reserve mine until you've seen it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> So here's a very quick review. Probably shouldn't worry about spoilers at this point, but just in case, I won't say anything specific.
> 
> There were a few things that didn't quite work, a few plot holes that bugged me - no movie is perfect, of course - but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's over 2 hours but it didn't feel long at all. It managed to feel uplifting without being overly corny. And the choreography of the fight scenes was fantastic. I would definitely watch it again.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My take - I was so looking forward to seeing this after so many of my friends (both male and female) hyped it as the best super hero movie ever, empowering for women, loved it loved it etc, even my mom wanted to see it!  I thought it was good (not great) but there were a few times when I was a bit bored.  I love super hero movies and have seen just about all of them and I would have to rank this below most of the Iron Man and Spiderman movies, for me, as far as entertainment value goes.  The plot was boring - could have been so much better!  The fight scenes were cool but to be honest that is probably the least important thing about these type of movies for me.  I really enjoyed the scenes on the island and wish they had paid more attention to that part of the origin story.
> 
> Having seen the new Spiderman movie the week before may have contributed to my disappointment in Wonder Woman.  I loved the humor and goofiness of Spiderman.  WW had a few attempts at fish out of water scenes when they got to the real world but they didn't work, IMO.  I thought Chris Pine was good and the woman who played Wonder Woman was excellent - I read that she was 5 months pregnant during filming and had to wear a green screen on her baby bump that they then CGI'd - you would never guess that from the final product.  I'll definitely watch it again when it comes out on HBO or whatever but all in all, disappointed because I expected more based on all the hype.
Click to expand...


See, I'm really not into superhero movies very much. I enjoyed the first two Christopher Reeve Superman movies, and I think I also saw the first 2 Batman movies (Michael Keaton played a much better Batman than I ever would have expected.) Oh, and the "first" Spiderman with Tobey whatshisface and Kirsten Dunst.

But otherwise? Meh. So I can't really compare Wonder Woman to the other DC comic reboots. I did catch part of...I dunno, maybe it was Thor...on tv once? It was okay. I also caught the second half of another movie...I have no idea which one. It had a bunch of the heroes - Iron Man, Thor, the arrow guy, the Hulk, Captain America, and Black Widow (?) - I think they were fighting Loki. Again, it was okay - it held enough of my attention that I didn't immediately change the channel, but not so much that I felt like I had to sit and watch instead of just having it on while doing other chores. And it didn't really make me feel like I wanted to rent it so I could watch the first half that I missed.

So no, this latest bunch of superhero movies really aren't my thing, which meant I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this one.

I found the plot itself to be no more or less compelling than other superhero plots, but I very much enjoyed her character arc, moreso than, say, Thor has to redeem himself, or Superman needs to figure out how to be stronger than villians who have the same super powers. I felt her development and the build-up throughout the movie was much more interesting.

As for the action scenes - well, I figure if I am going to bother watching an action film, then it had better be some good action, and I really enjoyed those scenes in this movie. I felt they went on long enough but it wasn't labored and overwrought like it is in some others, where the scenes just go on and on and on.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Verlander tipping pitch's again


Grab your bat ... and put on your rally cap.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> @Gary A.
> 
> I'm an American League girl but if I had to choose my favorite NL team, it would be the Dodgers.  I even have 2 LAD hats around here somewhere (the Dodger blue really brings out my eyes, lol).  When I wear them and my fellow Sox fans get on my case I just tell them I'm supporting Dave Roberts.  We love Dave "the steal" Roberts here and he is always welcome in Boston so hope to see Sox vs. LAD in the WS.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I always look forward to seeing how the "great" NL teams hold up against the AL.  So many times NL teams are touted for their pitching and defense and then the AL just beats them up with their big bats.  The White Sox and Tigers are not top tier (sorry jc) but will be interesting to see how LA pitching does against them.


Roberts broke the curse. (He is an amazing manager.  The Dodgers are lucky to have him.)


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers,  Another overcast and cool morning which most likely will burn off and leave a nice warm summer afternoon.  ... Yep, Gary just checked, upper 70's this afternoon. Gary is wrapping up his second cup-o-coffee and eating bunches of Merlot grapes.


----------



## Frank F.

The list I posted earlier is incomplete. Today I took the shopping list for the first week to collect the ingredients and there are lots of fruit, vegetables and even a bottle of red wine on the recipes that are missing from the master list.

Second observation is that here in the middle of Germany a lot of ingredients is seasonal while it seem to be all year stuff in the USA.

Northern USA is the same height as Southern Europe, Southern California is like Tunesia sunwise. So you factually got a greater selection of natural ingredients than us in the North...

Third is the whole Diet is rather expensive if you do it by the book my wife critzizes...

I cannot afford bad health so I invest in this super tasty food. Love it!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Guests yesterday for dinner. As this was their first time over, Gary and Mary Lou seriously over cooked.  If anybody is hungry come on over ... smoked Tri-Tip, salmon with a teriyaki crust, tomato salad, rice, flat bread, fruit salad, sauteed veggies.  The guests brought pies ... we never touched them we were all soooo jammin' full. We drank champagne all evening topped off with a dessert wine. It was a very enjoyable and pleasant evening.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> The list I posted earlier is incomplete. Today I took the shopping list for the first week to collect the ingredients and there are lots of fruit, vegetables and even a bottle of red wine on the recipes that are missing from the master list.
> 
> Second observation is that here in the middle of Germany a lot of ingredients is seasonal while it seem to be all year stuff in the USA.
> 
> Northern USA is the same height as Southern Europe, Southern California is like Tunesia sunwise. So you factually got a greater selection of natural ingredients than us in the North...



What experiences in the US - other than your visit to parts of Southern California - do you have on which to base your comparisons?


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> The list I posted earlier is incomplete. Today I took the shopping list for the first week to collect the ingredients and there are lots of fruit, vegetables and even a bottle of red wine on the recipes that are missing from the master list.
> 
> Second observation is that here in the middle of Germany a lot of ingredients is seasonal while it seem to be all year stuff in the USA.
> 
> Northern USA is the same height as Southern Europe, Southern California is like Tunesia sunwise. So you factually got a greater selection of natural ingredients than us in the North...
> 
> Third is the whole Diet is rather expensive if you do it by the book my wife critzizes...
> 
> I cannot afford bad health so I invest in this super tasty food. Love it!!!


Gary still remembers the morning you wanted an orange juice, so I walked into the backyard and picked a bunch of oranges for squeezing.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers,  Another overcast and cool morning which most likely will burn off and leave a nice warm summer afternoon.  ... Yep, Gary just checked, upper 70's this afternoon. Gary is wrapping up his second cup-o-coffee and eating bunches of Merlot grapes.




I will have a cup of coffee for dinner. I might become immune to coffee like I am to tea....

Often I ask myself if coffee only pushes me up because my expectations are such of of the biochemistry really does her job to keep me going..


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The list I posted earlier is incomplete. Today I took the shopping list for the first week to collect the ingredients and there are lots of fruit, vegetables and even a bottle of red wine on the recipes that are missing from the master list.
> 
> Second observation is that here in the middle of Germany a lot of ingredients is seasonal while it seem to be all year stuff in the USA.
> 
> Northern USA is the same height as Southern Europe, Southern California is like Tunesia sunwise. So you factually got a greater selection of natural ingredients than us in the North...
> 
> Third is the whole Diet is rather expensive if you do it by the book my wife critzizes...
> 
> I cannot afford bad health so I invest in this super tasty food. Love it!!!
> 
> 
> 
> Gary still remembers the morning you wanted an orange juice, so I walked into the backyard and picked a bunch of oranges for squeezing.
Click to expand...



You were so generous. And your wife. The photos I took of you that morning are in some gallery here. Mamma Google helped me find it:. Orange Juice


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Guests yesterday for dinner. As this was their first time over, Gary and Mary Lou seriously over cooked.  If anybody is hungry come on over ... smoked Tri-Tip, salmon with a teriyaki crust, tomato salad, rice, flat bread, fruit salad, sauteed veggies.  The guests brought pies ... we never touched them we were all soooo jammin' full. We drank champagne all evening topped off with a dessert wine. It was a vey enjoyable and pleasant evening.


Be there in 5 minutes.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers,  Another overcast and cool morning which most likely will burn off and leave a nice warm summer afternoon.  ... Yep, Gary just checked, upper 70's this afternoon. Gary is wrapping up his second cup-o-coffee and eating bunches of Merlot grapes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I will have a cup of coffee for dinner. I might become immune to coffee like I am to tea....
> 
> Often I ask myself if coffee only pushes me up because my expectations are such of of the biochemistry really does her job to keep me going..
Click to expand...

The body treats caffeine, similarly, as if it's a poison and  accelerates one's metabolism in order to get rid of it. Over time, one's body will/can/might/may become more tolerant and accept higher levels of caffeine.  Tea, generally, has half the caffeine of coffee.  The body is open to expectations, lol.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Guests yesterday for dinner. As this was their first time over, Gary and Mary Lou seriously over cooked.  If anybody is hungry come on over ... smoked Tri-Tip, salmon with a teriyaki crust, tomato salad, rice, flat bread, fruit salad, sauteed veggies.  The guests brought pies ... we never touched them we were all soooo jammin' full. We drank champagne all evening topped off with a dessert wine. It was a vey enjoyable and pleasant evening.
> 
> 
> 
> Be there in 5 minutes.
Click to expand...

Perfect, peach or berry pie?


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> The cost of laying the fiber far outweighs the potential revenue in many rural areas.  With only residential and small business customers there is no way to recoup the huge investment required to provide high speed service.
> 
> Even in densely populated areas with large businesses, like Boston, the age of the infrastructure can be restrictive and make providing service a poor ROI.




Thank you for the insight. I feel in some areas of infrastructure the public hand should probably provide services the market can and will not provide. A road must lead to the small rural villages even if only ten people travel it per day. I feel the same shall hold true for Internet connection. In these small places there live people providing us with important goods and services!

What do you think?

Hope this is not political...


----------



## limr

limr said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The list I posted earlier is incomplete. Today I took the shopping list for the first week to collect the ingredients and there are lots of fruit, vegetables and even a bottle of red wine on the recipes that are missing from the master list.
> 
> Second observation is that here in the middle of Germany a lot of ingredients is seasonal while it seem to be all year stuff in the USA.
> 
> Northern USA is the same height as Southern Europe, Southern California is like Tunesia sunwise. So you factually got a greater selection of natural ingredients than us in the North...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What experiences in the US - other than your visit to parts of Southern California - do you have on which to base your comparisons?
Click to expand...


Crickets.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It feeeeels like August. 

Gary what's the recipe for teriyaki salmon? That sounds good.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Guests yesterday for dinner. As this was their first time over, Gary and Mary Lou seriously over cooked.  If anybody is hungry come on over ... smoked Tri-Tip, salmon with a teriyaki crust, tomato salad, rice, flat bread, fruit salad, sauteed veggies.  The guests brought pies ... we never touched them we were all soooo jammin' full. We drank champagne all evening topped off with a dessert wine. It was a vey enjoyable and pleasant evening.
> 
> 
> 
> Be there in 5 minutes.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Perfect, peach or berry pie?
Click to expand...

Uuuummmm duuhhhhh, BOTH!


----------



## jcdeboever

I like pie


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> I feel in some areas of infrastructure the public hand should probably provide services the market can and will not provide. A road must lead to the small rural villages even if only ten people travel it per day. I feel the same shall hold true for Internet connection. In these small places there live people providing us with important goods and services!



As part of my previous post ATT and many others took advantage of funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to build infrastructure where there was none before. Of 7.2 billion funding almost 5 billion of that was to go to broadband access. Under the funds allocated anyone who would expand into a previously unserved area could not only recoup their cost but could make a nice little profit on the project. It never occurred to government officials that there needed to be oversight to prevent building fiber optic networks to nowhere. A lot of the companies who took the funds did so in good faith and went on to set up some fantastic networks. I have a friend that lives on a mountain 40 miles from the nearest town of any size. His electric provider added a fiber cable as part of their service, his Internet had to be throttled at 100 gb. Others like ATT at my location took the money and stopped, because further hookups were at their expense.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> The cost of laying the fiber far outweighs the potential revenue in many rural areas.  With only residential and small business customers there is no way to recoup the huge investment required to provide high speed service.
> 
> Even in densely populated areas with large businesses, like Boston, the age of the infrastructure can be restrictive and make providing service a poor ROI.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you for the insight. I feel in some areas of infrastructure the public hand should probably provide services the market can and will not provide. A road must lead to the small rural villages even if only ten people travel it per day. I feel the same shall hold true for Internet connection. In these small places there live people providing us with important goods and services!
> 
> What do you think?
> 
> Hope this is not political...
Click to expand...

Gary used to do Cable Tv Franchising ... Gary used to be responsible for putting together the bid(s) for government RFP's.  There has to be a give-and-take and compromise between a purely capitalistic venture, government and the public. Even in a densely populated municipality, there are areas within the city which isn't profitable to install/build infrastructure.  Areas which are heavy industrial and areas which are on the lower end of the economical scale make it challenging to make it all pencil out for a win-win for everybody. Gary remembers working closely with manufacturers/industry, government and environmental/waste experts designing a local recycling marketplace linking up all parties via cable in order to increase cable usage and revenues in heavy manufacturing areas.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> It feeeeels like August.
> 
> Gary what's the recipe for teriyaki salmon? That sounds good.


Easy as pie.  Gary marinades the fish in Mr. Yoshida, (a teriyaki sauce), for a few hours prior to cooking. In a lidded container, he seasons the salmon to his taste, (seasoned salt, garlic, lemon and orange zest and lots of black pepper), then adds Mr. Yoshida.  He flips the fish and repeats seasoning.  Gary uses a flat grill basket, (this), as the salmon easily sticks to the grill and easily falls apart. When on the grill Gary basks the salmon with more teriyaki sauce which caramelizes into a nice, tasty crust.

Gary finds that his charcoal Kamado grill, cooks the fish up better than a propane type of grill.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I can do that... well, the sauce part not the grilling part, but I don't see why it couldn't work in a pan/skillet just fine. I gotta watch stuff so finding some sort of teriyaki sauce that isn't so high in salt/sugar will be the thing - or I'll have to look for a recipe that works for me. Thanks! I don't know why it sounded like it would be more involved but it isn't!

If a recipe has along list of ingredients that's pretty much a deal breaker! lol


----------



## jcdeboever

Me thinks Gary should open a portable food truck. Ayala Mobile Bistro.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks "Food - Good - Eat"


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> I can do that... well, the sauce part not the grilling part, but I don't see why it couldn't work in a pan/skillet just fine. I gotta watch stuff so finding some sort of teriyaki sauce that isn't so high in salt/sugar will be the thing - or I'll have to look for a recipe that works for me. Thanks! I don't know why it sounded like it would be more involved but it isn't!
> 
> If a recipe has along list of ingredients that's pretty much a deal breaker! lol


A pan should work, you'll miss out a bit on smoke ... but should work fine.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The list I posted earlier is incomplete. Today I took the shopping list for the first week to collect the ingredients and there are lots of fruit, vegetables and even a bottle of red wine on the recipes that are missing from the master list.
> 
> Second observation is that here in the middle of Germany a lot of ingredients is seasonal while it seem to be all year stuff in the USA.
> 
> Northern USA is the same height as Southern Europe, Southern California is like Tunesia sunwise. So you factually got a greater selection of natural ingredients than us in the North...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What experiences in the US - other than your visit to parts of Southern California - do you have on which to base your comparisons?
Click to expand...



The guy who wrote the book is from NYC and he seems to see it as a given that the reader can buy the stuff he mentions all year.

I read through some of the ~300 reviews of the book on amazon.com and there were very few who complained about shopping difficulty...


----------



## snowbear

Various ingredients are available in the US, or at least in the more populous areas of the US, throughout the year because we can quickly import things from other places or get items that are grown in hot houses.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> It feeeeels like August.
> 
> Gary what's the recipe for teriyaki salmon? That sounds good.
> 
> 
> 
> Easy as pie.  Gary marinades the fish in Mr. Yoshida, (a teriyaki sauce), for a few hours prior to cooking. In a lidded container, he seasons the salmon to his taste, (seasoned salt, garlic, lemon and orange zest and lots of black pepper), then adds Mr. Yoshida.  He flips the fish and repeats seasoning.  Gary uses a flat grill basket, (this), as the salmon easily sticks to the grill and easily falls apart. When on the grill Gary basks the salmon with more teriyaki sauce which caramelizes into a nice, tasty crust.
> 
> Gary finds that his charcoal Kamado grill, cooks the fish up better than a propane type of grill.
Click to expand...



Now I am hungry and have to find a midnight snack that is compatible with the diet


----------



## vintagesnaps

Then you'll have breakfast before we do! so let us know in the morning how your coffee was.

I just got a package I ordered from a regional gourmet (sort of, not fancy schmancy but good) grocery store that's in a nearby city - of four different kinds of coffee! mmm which to open first will be the big decision tomorrow.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Depends on where you live I guess... not sure everything out of season makes it to those of us here in the middle, at least not all the time. Have had fresh peaches lately because they're in season, but some things like kiwi the stores only have certain times of the year. Guess most things are shipped from somewhere year round. Or maybe we just don't know what we're missing!


----------



## snowbear

We can get cantaloupes any time at all but they just don't taste as good as those we get during the summer, from the shore.  Same with 'maters and silver queen corn.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> We can get cantaloupes any time at all but they just don't taste as good as those we get during the summer, from the shore.  Same with 'maters and silver queen corn.



I agree on the melons.  Available does not equal good.  Like for most apples - once fall is gone they are not crisp enough.  Red grapes are good all year, but green are only good in summer here.  I'd rather they left them off the shelves entirely in the off seasons.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like big melons


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is growing some melons.


----------



## dxqcanada

Gary needs to get off the couch.


----------



## limr

Corn on the cob is another item that tends to be seasonal.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Corn on the cob is another item that tends to be seasonal.




Strange. We got that all year but not all year in the same quality...


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We can get cantaloupes any time at all but they just don't taste as good as those we get during the summer, from the shore.  Same with 'maters and silver queen corn.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I agree on the melons.  Available does not equal good.  Like for most apples - once fall is gone they are not crisp enough.  Red grapes are good all year, but green are only good in summer here.  I'd rather they left them off the shelves entirely in the off seasons.
Click to expand...



Difficult to define off season in a global market.

Asparagus is March to June here and it is white or green, white being the traditional variety here. The book, written in NYC claims asparagus as 1. Green and 2. Available.

Yes, you can get green asparagus in specialist shops for 20€ a kilo from Chile or China, but that is not what I want.

Plus. Even in the season, meaning locally, you can get a range of qualities from barely edible to delicious.

Apples: depends on the species. Some 30 different species are available here. Some are good for storage and taste well all winter, some have to be eaten immediately. Some are for sap, some for eating as a whole, some are only for cooking or baking.


----------



## jcdeboever

Man them Dodgers are crazy good. Someone different every night contributing to wins. They remind me of the 84 Tigers. I don't see anyone stopping them. Every time I watch them when they're behind, I can feel a comeback win. That is what makes championship teams. Just think where Puig was at last year in August, minors, trade rumors, antics. Now he is getting some big hits and making stellar plays in the outfield. What a difference a year makes.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is not impressed with Darvish.  Gary is impressed with Puig's comeback. This time last last Puig was in Triple A ball. The Dodgers seem to Rope-A-Dope for six innings, then wake-up and play ball.  Unusual team, but good to watch.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. California is a cornucopia of sports.  On the front page of the sports section: LA Dodgers and Puig, Sparks and Oqwumike, UCLA and Pabico, Lakers and Hawkins (RIP Tommy), Chargers and Oliver. Inside pages:  Stanford and Wilson, Rancho Santa Margarita and Little League World Series, Galaxy and Van Damme, US Amateur and Theegala, Manhattan Beach and Volleyball, Angels and Nolasco, Kershaw, Rams and Watkins, USC and Jones.  ... and this is just a Thursday.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary is not impressed with Darvish.  Gary is impressed with Puig's comeback. This time last last Puig was in Triple A ball. The Dodgers seem to Rope-A-Dope for six innings, then wake-up and play ball.  Unusual team, but good to watch.


10 walk off this year, amazing. The Dodgers should have got Verlander. His nasty mound presence rivals Lackey, and Arrieta of the Cubs. Darvish can pitch doesn't have that demeanor.


----------



## waday

My take on sports:


----------



## Frank F.

I just bought half of the recommended supplements. They were nearly 300€

Either I find a cheaper supply line or I have to give up on the diet after a few weeks.






The other half of supplements I did not get in Germany. I have to order from abroad:

Microbiome Diet | Microbiome Diet Supplements

berberine, caprylic acid, garlic, grapefruit seed extract, oregano oil and wormwood

I could not find yet. The Doctors Idea is to have them all together as a capsule...

protease, lipase, amylase and even some DPP IV

My pharmacy could not even find DPPIV at all....

carnosine, N-acetyl glucosamine, quercetin

Very expensive and too low in the dosage

So the whole thing is not easy. But it seems to be easier in the USA where this stuff is available through the sources named in the book and other sources.

Sometimes I feel like an explorer exploring unknown territory.


----------



## limr

That's a big assumption. 

The author of the book may choose to believe that what is available to him in NYC is also available everywhere, but NYC is not representative of America. Neither are 300 reviewers on Amazon who are lucky enough to have access to decent grocery stores and who are able to afford the ingredients, as well as what seems to be a metric sh** ton of supplements. Access to fresh food is _not_ a given in the USA, even in urban areas. This is a link to the map of food deserts in America.
USDA ERS - Go to the Atlas

If that many people have trouble getting access to or affording fresh food, imagine what it would be like if they had to buy pills, powders, and tonics on top of all that.

My guess is that there's a lot of snake oil in those supplements.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> My guess is that there's a lot of snake oil in those supplements.


I have friends on FB that talk up the so-called benefits of supplements all the time. It's no coincidence that they have a vested interest in said products, since they're in a pyramid scheme--wait, not pyramid, it's now called MLM--multi-level marketing.

My favorite is when the supplements must be taken with regular exercise and diet. Yep, _supplements_ hard at work.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> My guess is that there's a lot of snake oil in those supplements.
> 
> 
> 
> I have friends on FB that talk up the so-called benefits of supplements all the time. It's no coincidence that they have a vested interest in said products, since they're in a pyramid scheme--wait, not pyramid, it's now called MLM--multi-level marketing.
> 
> My favorite is when the supplements must be taken with regular exercise and diet. Yep, _supplements_ hard at work.
Click to expand...


If someone needs to supplement a nutrient that they are a) deficient in, and b) can't get through diet alone, then that's one thing. For example, I have been taking a Vit B complex for many years because I don't eat meat. (My doctor actually found that my B12 levels were still pretty low, so she suggested going to a liquid sublingual form that is more easily-absorbed, and my levels went up.) However, when supplements are marketed as the proverbial magic bullet? Yeeeeeeaaaaaaah, no.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Did your doctor tell you to take all that? Maybe it's worth trying for a short time if you get better (I never did quite get why you were in the hospital) but I'm not sure long term if that'll work. Is a dietician working with you at all? or did a doctor or dietician give you any info. or suggestions when you left the hospital?

Edit - Wait, the doctor wants them all in a capsule? how are you supposed to have them all in one capsule if they aren't available as one capsule? I'm confused...


----------



## waday

limr said:


> If someone needs to supplement a nutrient that they are a) deficient in, and b) can't get through diet alone, then that's one thing.


Totally agree. 

I'm strictly speaking to MLM supplements.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> supplements must be taken with regular exercise and diet.



I find that a balanced diet of  Tennessee's finest whiskey, McDonald's Big Mac with fries, the occasional bag of Krystal cheeseburgers, Krispy Kreme donuts, and lots of coffee  may not guarantee I live longer, but I'm pretty d*** sure I'll die happy.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> supplements must be taken with regular exercise and diet.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I find that a balanced diet of  Tennessee's finest whiskey, McDonald's Big Mac with fries, the occasional bag of Krystal cheeseburgers, Krispy Kreme donuts, and lots of coffee  may not guarantee I live longer, but I'm pretty d*** sure I'll die happy.
Click to expand...

I'm on the wrong diet plan...


----------



## vintagesnaps

So that's what, the JackMac Krystal Krispy diet?? 

What in heck are Krystal burgers anyway?? 

Bet they're up there with Dixie Burger, where the story was that the cook pressed the burger patties under his armpits before tossing them on the grill... That may have been a bit of uh, folklore, but if you got in somebody's car and they'd had Dixie burgers you could smell it for weeks after.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> supplements must be taken with regular exercise and diet.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I find that a balanced diet of  Tennessee's finest whiskey, McDonald's Big Mac with fries, the occasional bag of Krystal cheeseburgers, Krispy Kreme donuts, and lots of coffee  may not guarantee I live longer, but I'm pretty d*** sure I'll die happy.
Click to expand...


I'm with you on the Tennessee sippin' whiskey and the coffee! Haven't had a burger made out of any kind of land animal for 20+ years. I do still eat fish occasionally, and sometimes that comes in salmon burger form. I do enjoy a doughnut from time to time (I'm in Dunkin' Donuts territory, though) but my real devils are the savory, not the sweet, temptations. Basically just about any combinations of carbs and cheese, and I am in troooouuuuble! 

I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, then, that I've recently discovered that I'm getting less tolerant of cheese. I've always been somewhat lactose-intolerant, but mostly what affected me was milk, ice cream, and really rich cheeses like brie. It seems lately, however, I am starting to react to more cheeses and to smaller amounts of cheese, and I feel noticeably better when I keep the cheese intake pretty limited. I suppose it's helpful for my waistline but it's so so so sad for the rest of me!


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Basically just about any combinations of carbs and cheese, and I am in troooouuuuble!


Oh how true this is... The wife and I have been on a bagel and cream cheese kick lately. I can't stop. I'm debating stopping at the supermarket to pick up some pumpernickel bagels. 



limr said:


> I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, then, that I've recently discovered that I'm getting less tolerant of cheese. I've always been somewhat lactose-intolerant, but mostly what affected me was milk, ice cream, and really rich cheeses like brie. It seems lately, however, I am starting to react to more cheeses and to smaller amounts of cheese, and I feel noticeably better when I keep the cheese intake pretty limited. I suppose it's helpful for my waistline but it's so so so sad for the rest of me!


Nooooooooooo!


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> I'm with you on the Tennessee sippin' whiskey and the coffee!



We seem to keep finding more and more to agree on!!!!



limr said:


> I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, then, that I've recently discovered that I'm getting less tolerant of cheese. I've always been somewhat lactose-intolerant, but mostly what affected me was milk, ice cream, and really rich cheeses like brie



Only milk product that I'm not intolerant of is Blue Bell Ice Cream and Nacho cheese (when mixed with jalapenos and served warm on chips) 



vintagesnaps said:


> What in heck are Krystal burgers anyway?



Tiny little bits of heaven!! The bun is just the right size to soak up all the grease so nothing is lost  We buy the cheese burgers by the sack (dozen). Just the right size for snacking on while driving down the road. Menu | Krystal Hamburgers | Local Fast Food the chili cheese pup is pretty good also, though it's to messy to eat and drive. And oh yeah, you know someone's had a bag of Krystals in the car for days after LOL


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> The wife and I have been on a bagel and cream cheese kick lately.



Can I send my wife to visit???? She gets on the bagel and cream cheese kicks -  I can tolerate them with enough cream cheese. Shame those little tubs aren't 3x larger


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> The wife and I have been on a bagel and cream cheese kick lately.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can I send my wife to visit???? She gets on the bagel and cream cheese kicks -  I can tolerate them with enough cream cheese. Shame those little tubs aren't 3x larger
Click to expand...

My wife barely puts any cream cheese on. If I can see the bagel through the layer of cream cheese, the layer is too thin!


----------



## terri

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> The wife and I have been on a bagel and cream cheese kick lately.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can I send my wife to visit???? She gets on the bagel and cream cheese kicks -  I can tolerate them with enough cream cheese. Shame those little tubs aren't 3x larger
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My wife barely puts any cream cheese on. If I can see the bagel through the layer of cream cheese, the layer is too thin!
Click to expand...

She does it the way I do it.     

It's annoying as hell to have one's peripheral brain lecturing you while you try to enjoy something clearly not in your best interests.   So I try to shut it down with these little tricks, when these goodies are in front of me.    I have to just admit that the best thing for me is just to avoid them, so I don't become annoyed either way - by giving in to temptation or trying to moderate said temptation!    Just shrug and find something else.    blah!


----------



## limr

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> The wife and I have been on a bagel and cream cheese kick lately.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can I send my wife to visit???? She gets on the bagel and cream cheese kicks -  I can tolerate them with enough cream cheese. Shame those little tubs aren't 3x larger
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My wife barely puts any cream cheese on. If I can see the bagel through the layer of cream cheese, the layer is too thin!
Click to expand...


I'm like your wife - a shmear is usually enough. Part of it depends on the bagel. What I'm ultimately concerned with is not the overall amount of cream cheese, but the ratio. Some bagels can handle a bit more, but some bagels are so good on their own that anything more than a shmear would be criminal


----------



## jcdeboever

I like bagels


----------



## smoke665

Enjoyed a new delicacy this week, deep fried corn on the cob. I love fried corn so I assumed I would this wasn't disappointed it was great. Unfortunately I was stuffed before I got to sample the deep fried deviled eggs. Will be back in that area in a month so it's on my bucket list.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Enjoyed a new delicacy this week, deep fried corn on the cob. I love fried corn so I assumed I would this wasn't disappointed it was great. Unfortunately I was stuffed before I got to sample the deep fried deviled eggs. Will be back in that area in a month so it's on my bucket list.


Deep fried fart machine.. .


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Deep fried fart machine.. .



I don't know, but there was a disclaimer about staying away from open flames for 48 hours


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> I'm like your wife - a shmear is usually enough



I'd always wondered why the cream cheese came in those little containers until one day I realized that it's almost the exact size of the bagel, so you can turn it upside down on one!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

I like celery with cream cheese.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes diets ... he's on two diets ... there's not enough food in one diet.


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm hungry


----------



## smoke665

The only diet I've ever had any success with, the calorie counting app on my phone. I lost my 25# goal, over the course of about 5 months, and didn't starve myself that bad in the process. Now if I start to gain, I'll go back on it for a week or so, rather then let it climb out of control again.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank's digestive system/biochemically isn't normal.  Frank loves food and drink ... but his body doesn't hesitate to let him know when he crosses the line between what Frank wants to eat and what his body will violently reject.  Frank not only listens to his doctors but he is also exploring, on his own initiative, other alternatives to attain his own particular good health.  For most of us, supplements are a waste of money ... but for Frank, supplements may be an answer or part of an answer.  Keep turning over those stones Frank.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's been eating mostly leftovers since the little dinner party.

@ JC: Gary had coffee and berry pie for breakfast.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary's been eating mostly leftovers since the little dinner party.
> 
> @ JC: Gary had coffee and berry pie for breakfast.


Nice. I had grits and a banana.


----------



## JonA_CT

I went on a beer hunt today. Much success.

Snagged 20 cans of this...


Green | Tree House Brewing Company


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I went on a beer hunt today. Much success.
> 
> Snagged 20 cans of this...
> 
> 
> Green | Tree House Brewing Company


Is it better than Hamm's?


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I went on a beer hunt today. Much success.
> 
> Snagged 20 cans of this...
> 
> 
> Green | Tree House Brewing Company
> 
> 
> 
> Is it better than Hamm's?
Click to expand...


It's better than Schlitz but not as good as Colt.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> I like celery with cream cheese.



Me, too. I also like celery with peanut butter.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> s it better than Hamm's?



That's a name I haven't heard in years.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like celery with cream cheese.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Me, too. I also like celery with peanut butter.
Click to expand...

Me too, crunchy jiff


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> s it better than Hamm's?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's a name I haven't heard in years.
Click to expand...

Still popular in Detroit. Strohs too, Bohemian style. Although, Strohs not the same formula, I think they took the Bohemia out of it or Miller did. Carlings Black Label gone along with Atlas.


----------



## smoke665

Don't remember Atlas but Strobe and Black Label got me in trouble a few times. Mable was a "bad influence"

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUd6lYNc_EE&ved=0ahUKEwjh-eub2d_VAhWB6YMKHW9fDwsQyCkIKjAA&usg=AFQjCNGdVR79Yf2HJAJpBGU2cBvI9Y_7FA


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like celery with cream cheese.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Me, too. I also like celery with peanut butter.
Click to expand...

I like peanut butter with peanut butter.

Had to come back into the office - Emergency Management needed a couple of maps for "an incident that's going to occur soon."  After talking to them, it's a hurry up and wait thing, but they'd really like to get stuff together sooner than later.  The DBA was in and took care of the hard copy maps while I threw together a web map and viewer app.  I didn't ask what the deal was but I think it has to do with a building evacuation and possible condemnation; something that's been in the works for a while.  It's a couple of hours that I can use for filling in where I had to leave early.

MIL's viewing is Sunday, the internment is on Tuesday; we leave to deliver Lazy-Lobster to Maine after the internment.  We're probably going to take the cross sound ferry and stay around new London / Mystic Tuesday night.


----------



## Gary A.

Gershwin under the stars.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 145243
> 
> Gershwin under the stars.


I adore Gershwin. He is so street.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> supplements must be taken with regular exercise and diet.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I find that a balanced diet of  Tennessee's finest whiskey, McDonald's Big Mac with fries, the occasional bag of Krystal cheeseburgers, Krispy Kreme donuts, and lots of coffee  may not guarantee I live longer, but I'm pretty d*** sure I'll die happy.
Click to expand...



I am not sure of that. Depending on what makes you happy. I found many of the things that are generally considered making happy like sex and drugs and Rock'n'Roll are nice, but after a while they make you tired and get boring. Boring by repetition I mean.

So I set off for another kind of satisfaction that is longer lasting or to use a word of fashion: "sustainable".

It is what the iGing book of wisdom calls "creativity is heaven".

Meaning: My aim is to create words of meaning and pictures that are more than a constructivist exercise, houses worth living in and I hope music.

All stuff that will hopefully survive me and feed my children and grandchildren as long as I am alive.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> supplements must be taken with regular exercise and diet.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I find that a balanced diet of  Tennessee's finest whiskey, McDonald's Big Mac with fries, the occasional bag of Krystal cheeseburgers, Krispy Kreme donuts, and lots of coffee  may not guarantee I live longer, but I'm pretty d*** sure I'll die happy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm with you on the Tennessee sippin' whiskey and the coffee! Haven't had a burger made out of any kind of land animal for 20+ years. I do still eat fish occasionally, and sometimes that comes in salmon burger form. I do enjoy a doughnut from time to time (I'm in Dunkin' Donuts territory, though) but my real devils are the savory, not the sweet, temptations. Basically just about any combinations of carbs and cheese, and I am in troooouuuuble!
> 
> I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, then, that I've recently discovered that I'm getting less tolerant of cheese. I've always been somewhat lactose-intolerant, but mostly what affected me was milk, ice cream, and really rich cheeses like brie. It seems lately, however, I am starting to react to more cheeses and to smaller amounts of cheese, and I feel noticeably better when I keep the cheese intake pretty limited. I suppose it's helpful for my waistline but it's so so so sad for the rest of me!
Click to expand...




If that is so you should try some enzyme supplements when you eat cheese.... ;-)

But really: go on a holiday to Switzerland and eat the best fondues and Raclettes of your life. Cheesy and not US cheese, real Suisse made cheese!!!!


----------



## Frank F.

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> supplements must be taken with regular exercise and diet.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I find that a balanced diet of  Tennessee's finest whiskey, McDonald's Big Mac with fries, the occasional bag of Krystal cheeseburgers, Krispy Kreme donuts, and lots of coffee  may not guarantee I live longer, but I'm pretty d*** sure I'll die happy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm on the wrong diet plan...
Click to expand...







Visual of my diet plan ...

The Supplements I do not plan to take forever, although it is better for my body than taking corticosteroids forever.

The whole plan is to get me off immune suppressors for good. I try to repair my gut using Raphael Kellman's plan. A temporary measure for long term health stability.

Yes, I think his rich-NYC-guy-perspective limits the usefulness of his plan. If I can only get half of the food stuff in my organic food markets and supermarkets and only half of the supplements in my pharmacy the whole thing is a tad questionable.

BUT: there are some US pharmaceutical companies selling worldwide also through amazon.de. This way I can bypass the pharmacy and get the stuff in good quality and cheaper.

This day four of seven weeks. I will tell you if it helps my condition and if it heals my auto immune issues.

PS: now that Amazon bought WholeFoods you should be able to get anything and everything everywhere in the US. If you can afford it


----------



## Frank F.

terri said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> The wife and I have been on a bagel and cream cheese kick lately.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can I send my wife to visit???? She gets on the bagel and cream cheese kicks -  I can tolerate them with enough cream cheese. Shame those little tubs aren't 3x larger
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My wife barely puts any cream cheese on. If I can see the bagel through the layer of cream cheese, the layer is too thin!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> She does it the way I do it.
> 
> It's annoying as hell to have one's peripheral brain lecturing you while you try to enjoy something clearly not in your best interests.   So I try to shut it down with these little tricks, when these goodies are in front of me.    I have to just admit that the best thing for me is just to avoid them, so I don't become annoyed either way - by giving in to temptation or trying to moderate said temptation!    Just shrug and find something else.    blah!
Click to expand...



It depends on how you want to feel afterwards. If you're best idea of life is being a stranded whale on a couch in front of a TV set it is just the way to go.

If you love to be sportive active sexy another way of feeding your inhabitants is preferable.

My goal is to be a happy father and friend and husband as well as a creator of books, pictures, houses and music that change the life of people savouring them.


----------



## Frank F.

I forgot: no potatoes of any kind for three weeks. Chick peas and Jerusalem Artichoke as allowed alternative are not so bad.

No grains, no soy, no sugar, no potatoes, no dairy, no eggs for three weeks.

I try to starve my unhealthy inhabitants to death. A new concept and on a very firm scientific base.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> MIL's viewing is Sunday, the internment is on Tuesday; we leave to deliver Lazy-Lobster to Maine after the internment.  We're probably going to take the cross sound ferry and stay around new London / Mystic Tuesday night.



I'll probably still be at the hospital with my wife and new child Tuesday and Wednesday, but let me know if you need any local area knowledge!


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> I am not sure of that. Depending on what makes you happy. I found many of the things that are generally considered making happy like sex and drugs and Rock'n'Roll are nice, but after a while they make you tired and get boring.



Frank, my Rock'n'Roll days have been replaced by Country Western, Bluegrass, and Oldies stations. The only drugs in my life are those prescribed by my doctor, and the sex ......gentleman don't tell.

According to my last checkup I'm still healthy as a horse (except for the d*** Asthma). This past week I've logged close to 15 miles of hiking, and still managed to consume most of "my" major food groups.  I'm 67 and have outlived both parents, and both grandfather's. I'm not knocking your healthy diet, if it works for you, so be it. For me I just reached a point where I decided that I wanted to live on my terms.


----------



## waday

Frank F. said:


> I try to starve my unhealthy inhabitants to death. A new concept and on a very firm scientific base.


What's the basis for this again? If I remember correctly, you posted a few links before: one was to a forum and one was to a paper that didn't really discuss the diet. I'm interested in reading the scientific basis for certain foods killing off very specific, targeted microorganisms in your body. Could you please link me to it again?


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> If that is so you should try some enzyme supplements when you eat cheese.... ;-)
> 
> But really: go on a holiday to Switzerland and eat the best fondues and Raclettes of your life. Cheesy and not US cheese, real Suisse made cheese!!!!



Hey, here's a crazy thought: cheese is cheese, no matter where it's made and no matter if someone believes it is superior or not. It's still going to affect me in the same way and I'm really not looking to add supplements when simply limiting my intake is the obvious solution.

For the record, I don't like Swiss cheese. And yes, I have had very good European cheese. However, if I feel like splurging, I have plenty of local handmade cheeses made at farms within 50 miles of me to choose from, and they will be just as delicious.

Your insistence that something is better because it's European is quite tiresome.




JonA_CT said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> MIL's viewing is Sunday, the internment is on Tuesday; we leave to deliver Lazy-Lobster to Maine after the internment.  We're probably going to take the cross sound ferry and stay around new London / Mystic Tuesday night.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll probably still be at the hospital with my wife and new child Tuesday and Wednesday, but let me know if you need any local area knowledge!
Click to expand...


Hey, congrats! Did I miss an announcement? Or is this your announcement? Either way, woot!! (Forgive me - it's Friday, I'm exhausted, am starting allergy season, and haven't had enough coffee yet this morning :/ )


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> MIL's viewing is Sunday, the internment is on Tuesday; we leave to deliver Lazy-Lobster to Maine after the internment.  We're probably going to take the cross sound ferry and stay around new London / Mystic Tuesday night.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll probably still be at the hospital with my wife and new child Tuesday and Wednesday, but let me know if you need any local area knowledge!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hey, congrats! Did I miss an announcement? Or is this your announcement? Either way, woot!! (Forgive me - it's Friday, I'm exhausted, am starting allergy season, and haven't had enough coffee yet this morning :/ )
Click to expand...


Not yet! Imminently, though. She needs a c-section and it's scheduled for Monday morning, but it could happen sooner!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If that is so you should try some enzyme supplements when you eat cheese.... ;-)
> 
> But really: go on a holiday to Switzerland and eat the best fondues and Raclettes of your life. Cheesy and not US cheese, real Suisse made cheese!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, here's a crazy thought: cheese is cheese, no matter where it's made and no matter if someone believes it is superior or not. It's still going to affect me in the same way and I'm really not looking to add supplements when simply limiting my intake is a simple solution.
> 
> For the record, I don't like Swiss cheese. And yes, I have had very good European cheese. However, if I feel like splurging, I have plenty of local handmade cheeses made at farms within 50 miles of me to choose from, and they will be just as delicious.
> 
> Your insistence that something is better because it's European is quite tiresome.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> MIL's viewing is Sunday, the internment is on Tuesday; we leave to deliver Lazy-Lobster to Maine after the internment.  We're probably going to take the cross sound ferry and stay around new London / Mystic Tuesday night.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'll probably still be at the hospital with my wife and new child Tuesday and Wednesday, but let me know if you need any local area knowledge!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hey, congrats! Did I miss an announcement? Or is this your announcement? Either way, woot!! (Forgive me - it's Friday, I'm exhausted, am starting allergy season, and haven't had enough coffee yet this morning :/ )
Click to expand...

Let's face facts:  Cheese comes in 3x3" squares, 1/16" thick, and individually wrapped in cellophane.


----------



## terri

Frank F. said:


> It depends on how you want to feel afterwards. If you're best idea of life is being a stranded whale on a couch in front of a TV set it is just the way to go.
> 
> If you love to be sportive active sexy another way of feeding your inhabitants is preferable.
> 
> My goal is to be a happy father and friend and husband as well as a creator of books, pictures, houses and music that change the life of people savouring them.


I feel great, actually.   How you read someone having a bagel with limited cream cheese = a stranded whale on a couch in front of a TV is beyond me.   



Frank F. said:


> My goal is to be a happy father and friend and husband as well as a creator of books, pictures, houses and music that change the life of people savouring them.


Bully for you.   As long as you keep things realistic, eh?


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> I'll probably still be at the hospital with my wife and new child Tuesday and Wednesday, but let me know if you need any local area knowledge!


   How can it be this close already?!    So happy for you guys!


Happy Friday, hosers!    It's been a long, hot heat around here.   I'm so ready for FALL!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Let's face facts:  Cheese comes in 3x3" squares, 1/16" thick, and individually wrapped in cellophane.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'll probably still be at the hospital with my wife and new child Tuesday and Wednesday, but let me know if you need any local area knowledge!
> 
> 
> 
> How can it be this close already?!    So happy for you guys!
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!    It's been a long, hot heat around here.   I'm so ready for FALL!
Click to expand...


I've been ready for fall since spring ended!


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> MIL's viewing is Sunday, the internment is on Tuesday; we leave to deliver Lazy-Lobster to Maine after the internment.  We're probably going to take the cross sound ferry and stay around new London / Mystic Tuesday night.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll probably still be at the hospital with my wife and new child Tuesday and Wednesday, but let me know if you need any local area knowledge!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hey, congrats! Did I miss an announcement? Or is this your announcement? Either way, woot!! (Forgive me - it's Friday, I'm exhausted, am starting allergy season, and haven't had enough coffee yet this morning :/ )
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not yet! Imminently, though. She needs a c-section and it's scheduled for Monday morning, but it could happen sooner!
Click to expand...


Good luck! I wish her as speedy and painless a delivery as is humanly possible


----------



## terri

@ Leo:  oh, I totally understand that!    For the South, we actually had a beautiful spring and early/mid summer.    Anything that brings us closer to August without oppressive heat and humidity is welcomed.   This week has been the nastiest of the summer, and we're past the halfway mark of the dreaded month - so it's a win!   

(From my personal book: how to be a weather optimist when you live in the SE USA.)


----------



## limr

terri said:


> @ Leo:  oh, I totally understand that!    For the South, we actually had a beautiful spring and early/mid summer.    Anything that brings us closer to August without oppressive heat and humidity is welcomed.   This week has been the nastiest of the summer, and we're past the halfway mark of the dreaded month - so it's a win!
> 
> (From my personal book: how to be a weather optimist when you live in the SE USA.)



I have been so so grateful that we've had a very mild summer this year. It's not as bad as the south, but NY summers can be brutal. The word "humid" is woefully inadequate to describe the sensation of swimming through the air for 3 solid months. At least this year the temperatures have stayed relatively low and a lot of cloudy-to-partly-cloudy days so that the sun hasn't gotten too oppressive.

It's a good thing, too, since the 45-year-old central air system decided this was a good year to die  Luckily, I grew up learning how to jerry-rig just about anything, so having Anderson windows is not a deterrent to using a portable ac unit


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> MIL's viewing is Sunday, the internment is on Tuesday; we leave to deliver Lazy-Lobster to Maine after the internment.  We're probably going to take the cross sound ferry and stay around new London / Mystic Tuesday night.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll probably still be at the hospital with my wife and new child Tuesday and Wednesday, but let me know if you need any local area knowledge!
Click to expand...

Yes, speedy recovery and best wishes for all.

I appreciate it.  We'll probably just grab dinner, stay overnight and head out in the morning but there's another trip planned for the second week of September.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If that is so you should try some enzyme supplements when you eat cheese.... ;-)
> 
> But really: go on a holiday to Switzerland and eat the best fondues and Raclettes of your life. Cheesy and not US cheese, real Suisse made cheese!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, here's a crazy thought: cheese is cheese, no matter where it's made and no matter if someone believes it is superior or not. It's still going to affect me in the same way and I'm really not looking to add supplements when simply limiting my intake is a simple solution.
> 
> For the record, I don't like Swiss cheese. And yes, I have had very good European cheese. However, if I feel like splurging, I have plenty of local handmade cheeses made at farms within 50 miles of me to choose from, and they will be just as delicious.
> 
> Your insistence that something is better because it's European is quite tiresome.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> MIL's viewing is Sunday, the internment is on Tuesday; we leave to deliver Lazy-Lobster to Maine after the internment.  We're probably going to take the cross sound ferry and stay around new London / Mystic Tuesday night.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'll probably still be at the hospital with my wife and new child Tuesday and Wednesday, but let me know if you need any local area knowledge!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hey, congrats! Did I miss an announcement? Or is this your announcement? Either way, woot!! (Forgive me - it's Friday, I'm exhausted, am starting allergy season, and haven't had enough coffee yet this morning :/ )
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Let's face facts:  Cheese comes in 3x3" squares, 1/16" thick, and individually wrapped in cellophane.
Click to expand...


Unless it's from the government - then you loose the cellophane.


----------



## snowbear

I got home yesterday to find a package at the door, originating in Cali, with lots of goodies.  I'll post photos when I get home tonight.
Now I have some art work to do, and it has to be some of my best.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> MIL's viewing is Sunday, the internment is on Tuesday; we leave to deliver Lazy-Lobster to Maine after the internment.  We're probably going to take the cross sound ferry and stay around new London / Mystic Tuesday night.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll probably still be at the hospital with my wife and new child Tuesday and Wednesday, but let me know if you need any local area knowledge!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, speedy recovery and best wishes for all.
> 
> I appreciate it.  We'll probably just grab dinner, stay overnight and head out in the morning but there's another trip planned for the second week of September.
Click to expand...


There's a pizza place in Mystic called Pizzetta. Some of the best pizza around and they have a great tap list. My friend Luke will be playing acoustic music out on the patio starting at 6.

But honestly...as long as you stay away from Mystic Pizza, there aren't many dud restaurants around here.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> MIL's viewing is Sunday, the internment is on Tuesday; we leave to deliver Lazy-Lobster to Maine after the internment.  We're probably going to take the cross sound ferry and stay around new London / Mystic Tuesday night.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll probably still be at the hospital with my wife and new child Tuesday and Wednesday, but let me know if you need any local area knowledge!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, speedy recovery and best wishes for all.
> 
> I appreciate it.  We'll probably just grab dinner, stay overnight and head out in the morning but there's another trip planned for the second week of September.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> There's a pizza place in Mystic called Pizzetta. Some of the best pizza around and they have a great tap list. My friend Luke will be playing acoustic music out on the patio starting at 6.
> 
> But honestly...as long as you stay away from Mystic Pizza, there aren't many dud restaurants around here.
Click to expand...


I actually like the pizza from Mystic - tourist trap or no it was pretty good when I had it last summer.  Of course if it had been made with European cheese, it would have been much better.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> MIL's viewing is Sunday, the internment is on Tuesday; we leave to deliver Lazy-Lobster to Maine after the internment.  We're probably going to take the cross sound ferry and stay around new London / Mystic Tuesday night.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll probably still be at the hospital with my wife and new child Tuesday and Wednesday, but let me know if you need any local area knowledge!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, speedy recovery and best wishes for all.
> 
> I appreciate it.  We'll probably just grab dinner, stay overnight and head out in the morning but there's another trip planned for the second week of September.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> There's a pizza place in Mystic called Pizzetta. Some of the best pizza around and they have a great tap list. My friend Luke will be playing acoustic music out on the patio starting at 6.
> 
> But honestly...as long as you stay away from Mystic Pizza, there aren't many dud restaurants around here.
Click to expand...

And we like Mystic Pizza, though the one in town seemed to be better than the the second one in the 'burbs.  I will certainly give Pizzetta a try, though I'm not sure what time we will get in - guessing about 8 PM.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> ...Of course if it had been made with European cheese, it would have been much better.


Yeahbut... how does European cellophane compare?


----------



## JonA_CT

Y'all just hope that Julia Roberts from the 80s is gonna serve your Pizza


----------



## snowbear

It's another opportunity to be on the bridge when the horn starts blaring.

I'm hoping one of these trips we'll be able to get to the Bee and Thistle.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> It's another opportunity to be on the bridge when the horn starts blaring.
> 
> I'm hoping one of these trips we'll be able to get to the Bee and Thistle.



I think @coastalconn is the chef there...or was, at least.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's another opportunity to be on the bridge when the horn starts blaring.
> 
> I'm hoping one of these trips we'll be able to get to the Bee and Thistle.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think @coastalconn is the chef there...or was, at least.
Click to expand...

He was when I asked a while ago.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's almost baby time already?? goody! 

Oh yeah, the school cheese... with my job I didn't eat at our school too often, usually packed on class days and ate out on home visit days. But sometimes on a Friday end of the month 'paperwork' day they'd have grilled cheese... yup, cheese is cheese, melty and toasted on bread with some tomato soup, yeah I'll eat govt. subsidized cheese! lol

Even better/worse was cookie baking mornings - occasionally I'd have a morning visit cancel so had time for some extra coffee and they'd be baking cookies... the smell coming down the hall, I had to go buy one. Or two.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> It's almost baby time already?? goody!
> 
> Oh yeah, the school cheese... with my job I didn't eat at our school too often, usually packed on class days and ate out on home visit days. But sometimes on a Friday end of the month 'paperwork' day they'd have grilled cheese... yup, cheese is cheese, melty and toasted on bread with some tomato soup, yeah I'll eat govt. subsidized cheese! lol
> 
> Even better/worse was cookie baking mornings - occasionally I'd have a morning visit cancel so had time for some extra coffee and they'd be baking cookies... the smell coming down the hall, I had to go buy one. Or two.



. . . or home made cinnanoms.


Running some Fire/EMS call kernel densities for the past 4 years.  No, it has nothing to do with how much corn is in an ear.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Today's coffee was Jamaican Me Crazy. Caramel and vanilla (which is mostly what I smelled) and some sort of Mexican liqueur and Latin Am. coffee beans. Being from Lake Erie I don't think it was exactly authentic, but tasty!


----------



## snowbear

I just had Maxwell House k-cup at home, Dunkin Donuts on the way in to the office.  I've been drinking plain tap water, since.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I drank tap water, filtered thru the coffee.


----------



## snowbear

So far it seems to work just fine.  I'll get the roll finished tomorrow and toss the lens on the digital.


----------



## snowbear

Goody #2


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> So far it seems to work just fine.  I'll get the roll finished tomorrow and toss the lens on the digital.


Nice. I shot 3 rolls through my Canon AE1. It was clean and has a sweet 50mm f3.5 macro. I will probably develop next week. I have about 10 rolls to soup up. From the images I seen on Flickr with this camera/lens combo, I'm excited to see the results.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Goody #2


Ooooo, that's a beauty....


----------



## jcdeboever

Can JC's Tigers sweep Gary's Dodgers? Bring it on big boy! Dodgers are going down!


----------



## Frank F.

waday said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I try to starve my unhealthy inhabitants to death. A new concept and on a very firm scientific base.
> 
> 
> 
> What's the basis for this again? If I remember correctly, you posted a few links before: one was to a forum and one was to a paper that didn't really discuss the diet. I'm interested in reading the scientific basis for certain foods killing off very specific, targeted microorganisms in your body. Could you please link me to it again?
Click to expand...


I can link you to the Harward scientist who work on the Microbiome and Health connection if you like some hard reading. 

Trouble with the science today is that microorganisms in our gut do not live outside our gut. 

Your statement that certain foods kill of certain microorganisms has no scientific basis. The combination of using enzymes, probiotics, prebiotics and a certain diet combined works as long as you do not want to name the organisms by full name.

We already know that some unhealthy inhabitants feast on short carbohydrates while oligosaccharides feed the more healthy ones. 

We also know that the more biodiverse your Microbiome the thinner and healthier you are and that this it transplantable. Fat and thick persons tend to have a Microbiome with very few species.

Get yourself a good book summarizing the current research or read the original papers you will find using Google:

[Microbiome Health Food].pdf


----------



## snowbear

The N8008 has the feel of the F/N90 without the (somewhat sticky) rubber coating.  I'm trying to decide whether to keep this one or give it away, though I am keeping the lens.  There is also a F55 consumer camera that seem in good shape.  I'll test that one, too then donate to someone.  A few digital P&S and a decent bridge camera that might get an IR conversion.


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> Let's face facts: Cheese comes in 3x3" squares, 1/16" thick, and individually wrapped in cellophane.



We buy the more expensive Kraft brand which is a little thicker but at the expense of not being individually wrapped


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Goody #2



Should you discover you don't like this goody, it would be a great imposition, but I will reluctantly take it off your hands to dispose of properly


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Goody #2
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Should you discover you don't like this goody, it would be a great imposition, but I will reluctantly take it off your hands to dispose of properly
Click to expand...

I will keep you in mind should I decide to redistribute the goodies.


----------



## jcdeboever

Classic baseball tonight. Totally stoked, Dodgers vs. Tigers. Dick Enberg is commentating, this is great! I love Gary but his Dodgers got to be brought back to life.


----------



## jcdeboever

Crap, these guys are good. Of course I knew that. Just want to have fun with Gary. Looks bad for me.


----------



## snowbear

Well, here's most of the goodies that Gary sent east.

4 or 5 bags, a Nikon F55, the N8008s, a Coolpix 5700 bridge (likely to be converted to IR), a Nikon and a Sony P&S, darkroom timer (my original request), 35 & 120 tanks and reels, a few 9x12 trays, chargers, cables, a Vivitar flash and an older Sekonik zoom meter.  I understand another box is on the way.





Funky crop because the apartment is a wee bit messy.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary 1 - JC 0.


----------



## Gary A.

Who's pitching tomorrow?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Who pitching tomorrow?



I think Boyd vs. Wood, just from memory, may be wrong. I can't watch it, I am interviewing a couple of the board members for the museum and taking portraits shots of them. I am going to get a history lesson on their museum in hopes of making a valid article and promotion for them. I am going to wear a Gary Fedora tomorrow. I am shooting it all in film. Bringing godzilla. They are super excited, I just hope I can sell the editor of the Lansing State Journal when I compIle it all. Jk, I am not wearing a fedora but I am going to act like you....


----------



## SquarePeg

Sox just came back in the bottom of the 8th to beat the Yanks!  Look out Gary.


----------



## snowbear

O's pulled it off!


----------



## Frank F.

You can well do your research yourself my dear! I am not here for justification I'm here for the coffee.

For the Public I will give one example:

They did twin studies with genetically identical twins one of the twins was obese the other of the twins was thin.

By barcoding the feces of the two they found that the obese had a low biodiversity in their gut, while the thin had a high biodiversity in their gut.

Of course we do not know all the species we found, we only know there barcodes, we do not know their metabolism.

What we know is: for every edible plant and animal in the course of history of mankind have developed gut microorganisms who are able to digest these plants and animals.

Research is not advanced enough to tell us the exact names of these microorganisms, but we know: if we eat a diverse diet of food that is not far from its natural  form, we will foster the diversity of our gut bacteria and other microorganisms.

We also know that by lowering the biodiversity of gut microorganisms, for example by using antibiotics, we Forster obesity. This knowledge is used in livestock. To make livestock gain weight faster, some breeders feed them antibiotics.

And we know that by transferring the feces of the obese to the thin, the thin will stay thin, while if we transfer the feces from thin to the obese the obese will become thin.

Enough for now. Most of the original research is available free of charge on the internet or in public libraries. Help yourself.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> *You can well do your research yourself my dear!* I am not here for justification I'm here for the coffee.



Who are you talking to? The only thing I saw was a post to waday who just asked for a link but you already responded to him. I'm confused.


----------



## jcdeboever

Dodgers picked up Granderson. He is a fine human being and a clutch hitter. Great in the clubhouse. Dodgers aren't messing around. Great pickup, didn't see that one coming. The Tigers never should have got rid of him, he was the straw that stirred the drink. He is about the nicest human being you could ever meet. He did some amazing, genuine, volunteer work in Detroit and abroad. He will make an impact in any community he is in. LA is perfect for him. He has to be excited. Gary is gonna love reading about him while sipping his Brazilian coffee.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Who are you talking to?


I'm assuming he's still talking to me.



Frank F. said:


> You can well do your research yourself my dear! I am not here for justification I'm here for the coffee.





Frank F. said:


> Most of the original research is available free of charge on the internet or in public libraries. Help yourself.


Frank, I'm very happy that you found a diet that you like and that has been working for you. Good luck with it!

The only thing that I'm trying to point out is that the burden of proof is on you, not me, to provide this evidence. 

As someone in the science/engineering field, please understand that I'm not attacking you. I'm just trying to read the underlying science of a diet that claims it's based on science. If it's too difficult to provide this evidence, I start to question the legitimacy of the claim.

I agree, I'm here for the coffee, as well. If we need to discuss more, we can surely do it via conversation.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> *You can well do your research yourself my dear!* I am not here for justification I'm here for the coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Who are you talking to? The only thing I saw was a post to waday who just asked for a link but you already responded to him. I'm confused.
Click to expand...

And if you're here for the coffee, can you please quit with the talk about feces and gut bacteria?   

If you can't back up all this pseudo science with a link to an actual credible study, then quit citing "reports" as fact-based.  I invite you again to open your own thread for all of this detail about your interest in this stuff, but for the Coffee House, it's not a good fit.


----------



## jcdeboever

Are these not the most adorable little shoes? My granddaughter left them here last night. She walks around barefoot all the time, if she had her way, she would never wear shoes. As a result, her parents have to really work on getting her shoes that she will wear. She's had issues with that at school too. She is my little pumpkin butt.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Are these not the most adorable little shoes?



Our granddaughter should have been named Imelda, between her Mom and Mimi, I don't think she's worn the same pair twice. Some of those suckers get a little pricey!!!


----------



## JonA_CT

The price of kids' shoes makes me sick. We typically only shop at outlets, so we can get sneakers for a reasonable price (25-30$). But...for my daughter's summer/fall shoes, we ended up splurging on a pair of Keens. They let her foot breath while still being safe. But damn...$55 for a pair of shoes that can fit in my hand. The good news is that we have a pretty solid sharing network set-up. We had the first girl in our group of friends, but our next will be the third boy. So we have all sorts of awesome hand-mes for the new baby, including shoes that should last us for the next couple of years.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> The price of kids' shoes makes me sick. We typically only shop at outlets, so we can get sneakers for a reasonable price (25-30$). But...for my daughter's summer/fall shoes, we ended up splurging on a pair of Keens. They let her foot breath while still being safe. But damn...$55 for a pair of shoes that can fit in my hand. The good news is that we have a pretty solid sharing network set-up. We had the first girl in our group of friends, but our next will be the third boy. So we have all sorts of awesome hand-mes for the new baby, including shoes that should last us for the next couple of years.



$55 for a pair of shoes that will fit her for only a few months?  Yikes!  As the mother of the only girl in our family (no hand-me-downs available!), I highly recommend cheaping out on everything but winter coats and snow boots until she stops growing.   They grow so fast that you'll be giving away clothes and shoes that were only worn once or still have the tags on.  It only gets worse and so much more expensive as they get older.  I remember when all the girls at my daughter's school were wearing Uggs in 2nd grade.  I thought it was insane to pay $100 for boots that will only fit for one season - if that!  We bought $30 Target brand Uggs and they were fine and she never knew the difference.  

Princess has pretty much stopped growing at this point so she got a couple of expensive pairs of boots last winter (Timberlands and LL Bean duck boots) that I expect her to have for the next 5+ years.   This year her backpack, winter coat, jeans, yoga pants and dresses from last year all still fit!  Easily saving me $500+ in back to school shopping - which I needed to pay for the new phone I had to get her after the salt water damage ruined hers.  

Can't wait to see pics of the new baby!


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> The price of kids' shoes makes me sick. We typically only shop at outlets, so we can get sneakers for a reasonable price (25-30$). But...for my daughter's summer/fall shoes, we ended up splurging on a pair of Keens. They let her foot breath while still being safe. But damn...$55 for a pair of shoes that can fit in my hand. The good news is that we have a pretty solid sharing network set-up. We had the first girl in our group of friends, but our next will be the third boy. So we have all sorts of awesome hand-mes for the new baby, including shoes that should last us for the next couple of years.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> $55 for a pair of shoes that will fit her for only a few months?  Yikes!  As the mother of the only girl in our family (no hand-me-downs available!), I highly recommend cheaping out on everything but winter coats and snow boots until she stops growing.   They grow so fast that you'll be giving away clothes and shoes that were only worn once or still have the tags on.  It only gets worse and so much more expensive as they get older.  I remember when all the girls at my daughter's school were wearing Uggs in 2nd grade.  I thought it was insane to pay $100 for boots that will only fit for one season - if that!  We bought $30 Target brand Uggs and they were fine and she never knew the difference.
> 
> Princess has pretty much stopped growing at this point so she got a couple of expensive pairs of boots last winter (Timberlands and LL Bean duck boots) that I expect her to have for the next 5+ years.   This year her backpack, winter coat, jeans, yoga pants and dresses from last year all still fit!  Easily saving me $500+ in back to school shopping - which I needed to pay for the new phone I had to get her after the salt water damage ruined hers.
> 
> Can't wait to see pics of the new baby!
Click to expand...

Our church had a back to school basketball camp. We handed out 350 backpacks filled with school supplies. Walgreens donated all the supplies. We bought the backpacks. They went like hot cakes. Parents were very happy. They were jam packed too. Walgreens really stepped up.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> *You can well do your research yourself my dear!* I am not here for justification I'm here for the coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Who are you talking to? The only thing I saw was a post to waday who just asked for a link but you already responded to him. I'm confused.
Click to expand...

Hopefully to all of us.  There is some good info in Frank's post. Gary was a bio major and much of what Frank stated Gary remembers from college.  The implantation of micro organisms via feces between people, while not a great topic over coffee, is more common than one would want to think.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> *You can well do your research yourself my dear!* I am not here for justification I'm here for the coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Who are you talking to? The only thing I saw was a post to waday who just asked for a link but you already responded to him. I'm confused.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And if you're here for the coffee, can you please quit with the talk about feces and gut bacteria?
> 
> If you can't back up all this pseudo science with a link to an actual credible study, then quit citing "reports" as fact-based.  I invite you again to open your own thread for all of this detail about your interest in this stuff, but for the Coffee House, it's not a good fit.
Click to expand...

Gary replied before reading Terri's response, lol.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Are these not the most adorable little shoes? My granddaughter left them here last night. She walks around barefoot all the time, if she had her way, she would never wear shoes. As a result, her parents have to really work on getting her shoes that she will wear. She's had issues with that at school too. She is my little pumpkin butt.
> View attachment 145339


Being a country boy, Gary doesn't like wearing shoes either.  But he would wear those. (He would draw-the-line at being your pumpkin butt.)


----------



## Derrel

Foods with a low glycemic index. Lotta weight lost, health and nutrition improved. Better food choices, again with the emphasis on the low glycemic index of the foods bought and eaten. 

My coffee this AM is a mix of multiple types, with Tanzanian being the overall flavor leader. French Press, 3 minute brew, sugar,milk, one quart total.


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> Our church had a back to school basketball camp. We handed out 350 backpacks filled with school supplies. Walgreens donated all the supplies. We bought the backpacks. They went like hot cakes. Parents were very happy. They were jam packed too. Walgreens really stepped up.


I heartily support these kinds of community efforts.   The parents of these kids shop at these stores all year long - it's a drop in the bucket for them to give back to the community, and no doubt already written into the annual budget.    

For locals who just donate because they care, your good deeds don't go unnoticed.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> The price of kids' shoes makes me sick. We typically only shop at outlets, so we can get sneakers for a reasonable price (25-30$). But...for my daughter's summer/fall shoes, we ended up splurging on a pair of Keens. They let her foot breath while still being safe. But damn...$55 for a pair of shoes that can fit in my hand. The good news is that we have a pretty solid sharing network set-up. We had the first girl in our group of friends, but our next will be the third boy. So we have all sorts of awesome hand-mes for the new baby, including shoes that should last us for the next couple of years.


Similarily, we had a pre-school network for clothes and toys.  Worked out pretty well. Plus, we lived near a very exclusive, very expensive area and frequented the local thrift stores for infant/toddler items ... but shoes, we felt, should be fitted. Recycling ...


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> The price of kids' shoes makes me sick. We typically only shop at outlets, so we can get sneakers for a reasonable price (25-30$). But...for my daughter's summer/fall shoes, we ended up splurging on a pair of Keens. They let her foot breath while still being safe. But damn...$55 for a pair of shoes that can fit in my hand. The good news is that we have a pretty solid sharing network set-up. We had the first girl in our group of friends, but our next will be the third boy. So we have all sorts of awesome hand-mes for the new baby, including shoes that should last us for the next couple of years.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> $55 for a pair of shoes that will fit her for only a few months?  Yikes!  As the mother of the only girl in our family (no hand-me-downs available!), I highly recommend cheaping out on everything but winter coats and snow boots until she stops growing.   They grow so fast that you'll be giving away clothes and shoes that were only worn once or still have the tags on.  It only gets worse and so much more expensive as they get older.  I remember when all the girls at my daughter's school were wearing Uggs in 2nd grade.  I thought it was insane to pay $100 for boots that will only fit for one season - if that!  We bought $30 Target brand Uggs and they were fine and she never knew the difference.
> 
> Princess has pretty much stopped growing at this point so she got a couple of expensive pairs of boots last winter (Timberlands and LL Bean duck boots) that I expect her to have for the next 5+ years.   This year her backpack, winter coat, jeans, yoga pants and dresses from last year all still fit!  Easily saving me $500+ in back to school shopping - which I needed to pay for the new phone I had to get her after the salt water damage ruined hers.
> 
> Can't wait to see pics of the new baby!
Click to expand...

Gary's children had school uniforms ... OMG what a great idea.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> The price of kids' shoes makes me sick. We typically only shop at outlets, so we can get sneakers for a reasonable price (25-30$). But...for my daughter's summer/fall shoes, we ended up splurging on a pair of Keens. They let her foot breath while still being safe. But damn...$55 for a pair of shoes that can fit in my hand. The good news is that we have a pretty solid sharing network set-up. We had the first girl in our group of friends, but our next will be the third boy. So we have all sorts of awesome hand-mes for the new baby, including shoes that should last us for the next couple of years.
> 
> 
> 
> Similarily, we had a pre-school network for clothes and toys.  Worked out pretty well. Plus, we lived near a very exclusive, very expensive area and frequented the local thrift stores for infant/toddler items ... but shoes, we felt, should be fitted. Recycling ...
Click to expand...


We got 4 pairs of shoes that had never been worn from our friends. The mom just likes shopping. We also got lots of clothes with tags still on them. Kids can only wear so much! 

My wife does most of the children's clothes shopping, she does most of it at Walmart and Target, with occasional trips to the outlets when there are sales/coupons. Hard to complain, honestly.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> The price of kids' shoes makes me sick. We typically only shop at outlets, so we can get sneakers for a reasonable price (25-30$). But...for my daughter's summer/fall shoes, we ended up splurging on a pair of Keens. They let her foot breath while still being safe. But damn...$55 for a pair of shoes that can fit in my hand. The good news is that we have a pretty solid sharing network set-up. We had the first girl in our group of friends, but our next will be the third boy. So we have all sorts of awesome hand-mes for the new baby, including shoes that should last us for the next couple of years.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> $55 for a pair of shoes that will fit her for only a few months?  Yikes!  As the mother of the only girl in our family (no hand-me-downs available!), I highly recommend cheaping out on everything but winter coats and snow boots until she stops growing.   They grow so fast that you'll be giving away clothes and shoes that were only worn once or still have the tags on.  It only gets worse and so much more expensive as they get older.  I remember when all the girls at my daughter's school were wearing Uggs in 2nd grade.  I thought it was insane to pay $100 for boots that will only fit for one season - if that!  We bought $30 Target brand Uggs and they were fine and she never knew the difference.
> 
> Princess has pretty much stopped growing at this point so she got a couple of expensive pairs of boots last winter (Timberlands and LL Bean duck boots) that I expect her to have for the next 5+ years.   This year her backpack, winter coat, jeans, yoga pants and dresses from last year all still fit!  Easily saving me $500+ in back to school shopping - which I needed to pay for the new phone I had to get her after the salt water damage ruined hers.
> 
> Can't wait to see pics of the new baby!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary's children had school uniforms ... OMG what a great idea.
Click to expand...



Agreed. So cheap, too. 5 sets of Old Navy uniforms will only set you back $100 this time of year. From a teacher stand point, it would solve a lot of other problems too.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our church had a back to school basketball camp. We handed out 350 backpacks filled with school supplies. Walgreens donated all the supplies. We bought the backpacks. They went like hot cakes. Parents were very happy. They were jam packed too. Walgreens really stepped up.
> 
> 
> 
> I heartily support these kinds of community efforts.   The parents of these kids shop at these stores all year long - it's a drop in the bucket for them to give back to the community, and no doubt already written into the annual budget.
> 
> For locals who just donate because they care, your good deeds don't go unnoticed.
Click to expand...

Comes out of their advertising budget plus a tax nenefit on top of it all. A win-win for all.


----------



## Frank F.

Depending on your kids style and needs good leatger shoes can cost 75€ per pair easily. Sneakers go for 25€ to 30€ a pair. I recently bought well made leather boots for horseback riding that were 35€ only. It also seems to depend on where you buy. The horse boots we bought in the countryside in some farm supply market.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> The price of kids' shoes makes me sick. We typically only shop at outlets, so we can get sneakers for a reasonable price (25-30$). But...for my daughter's summer/fall shoes, we ended up splurging on a pair of Keens. They let her foot breath while still being safe. But damn...$55 for a pair of shoes that can fit in my hand. The good news is that we have a pretty solid sharing network set-up. We had the first girl in our group of friends, but our next will be the third boy. So we have all sorts of awesome hand-mes for the new baby, including shoes that should last us for the next couple of years.
> 
> 
> 
> Similarily, we had a pre-school network for clothes and toys.  Worked out pretty well. Plus, we lived near a very exclusive, very expensive area and frequented the local thrift stores for infant/toddler items ... but shoes, we felt, should be fitted. Recycling ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We got 4 pairs of shoes that had never been worn from our friends. The mom just likes shopping. We also got lots of clothes with tags still on them. Kids can only wear so much!
> 
> My wife does most of the children's clothes shopping, she does most of it at Walmart and Target, with occasional trips to the outlets when there are sales/coupons. Hard to complain, honestly.
Click to expand...

Good Stuff.  Much of the our local thrift store clothes still had tags on them.  But don't assume you'll get bargains at thrift stores.  When Mary Lou's son went off to college we thrift stored his dining wares, later buying more stuff in Target we noticed new plates and cups for the same price we paid at a thrift store.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> *You can well do your research yourself my dear!* I am not here for justification I'm here for the coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Who are you talking to? The only thing I saw was a post to waday who just asked for a link but you already responded to him. I'm confused.
Click to expand...



It was a PS to the former post


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If that is so you should try some enzyme supplements when you eat cheese.... ;-)
> 
> But really: go on a holiday to Switzerland and eat the best fondues and Raclettes of your life. Cheesy and not US cheese, real Suisse made cheese!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, here's a crazy thought: cheese is cheese, no matter where it's made and no matter if someone believes it is superior or not. It's still going to affect me in the same way and I'm really not looking to add supplements when simply limiting my intake is the obvious solution.
> 
> For the record, I don't like Swiss cheese. And yes, I have had very good European cheese. However, if I feel like splurging, I have plenty of local handmade cheeses made at farms within 50 miles of me to choose from, and they will be just as delicious.
> 
> Your insistence that something is better because it's European is quite tiresome.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> MIL's viewing is Sunday, the internment is on Tuesday; we leave to deliver Lazy-Lobster to Maine after the internment.  We're probably going to take the cross sound ferry and stay around new London / Mystic Tuesday night.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'll probably still be at the hospital with my wife and new child Tuesday and Wednesday, but let me know if you need any local area knowledge!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hey, congrats! Did I miss an announcement? Or is this your announcement? Either way, woot!! (Forgive me - it's Friday, I'm exhausted, am starting allergy season, and haven't had enough coffee yet this morning :/ )
Click to expand...

Sorry, I somehow seem to represent some kind of European Supremacy Movement in your eyes. Sorry. Not intentional. Just my limited experience of US ingredients. My very limited experience. Buy handmade cheese from local farmers seems just right for me.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> . Buy handmade cheese from local farmers seems just right for me.



Frank I think part of the difference lies in the way most people in the US buy groceries. We have farmers markets scattered around and we try to buy from them when possible, but it's difficult. Usually they are only open on certain days, or for certain times, while the supermarkets are open pretty much 24/7. At least in our area there is a movement among the supermarkets to carry more locally grown produce.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> . Buy handmade cheese from local farmers seems just right for me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank I think part of the difference lies in the way most people in the US buy groceries. We have farmers markets scattered around and we try to buy from them when possible, but it's difficult. Usually they are only open on certain days, or for certain times, while the supermarkets are open pretty much 24/7. At least in our area there is a movement among the supermarkets to carry more locally grown produce.
Click to expand...


And to piggy back on this - not all grocery stores are the same. There are regional chains that offer pretty fresh, local produce but other national chains are less likely to have locally-sourced food. If I want to buy corn on the cob, for example, by a certain time in the corn season, a lot of the smaller stores will have NY corn, but larger chains will have corn from other places in the country. In addition, there are a lot of farm stands within driving distance where I can buy corn that was probably picked that morning. Other local produce might only be sold at weekend farmers' markets, though.

There are just so many variables that depend on where a person lives that it's hard to generalize about what is or isn't available, or what is or isn't regularly consumed.

I'm lucky - I live not too far from where NYS farming country starts, so there are decent options for fresh, local food; I also have a car and can actually get to the farmers' markets or better grocery stores; I am only feeding myself and I have enough income to afford to be (relatively) picky about my vegetables and dairy products (if I am going to risk stomach upset by having dairy, then it is going to be GOOD dairy!)

Others, as seen in the food desert map, aren't so lucky.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our church had a back to school basketball camp. We handed out 350 backpacks filled with school supplies. Walgreens donated all the supplies. We bought the backpacks. They went like hot cakes. Parents were very happy. They were jam packed too. Walgreens really stepped up.
> 
> 
> 
> I heartily support these kinds of community efforts.   The parents of these kids shop at these stores all year long - it's a drop in the bucket for them to give back to the community, and no doubt already written into the annual budget.
> 
> For locals who just donate because they care, your good deeds don't go unnoticed.
Click to expand...


I remember one year buying school supplies at Staples and the tab was almost $100 (this from a list provided by the school).  When I was paying I made a comment about the cost to my bf and the cashier (a teenager) chimed in with "my brother's school just gave him a new backpack with everything he needs in it already".  I found out that they live in a city nearby where most families are struggling to stay afloat.  There aren't many in our town who don't have everything they need and more so my initial annoyance was just reflex.    



Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> The price of kids' shoes makes me sick. We typically only shop at outlets, so we can get sneakers for a reasonable price (25-30$). But...for my daughter's summer/fall shoes, we ended up splurging on a pair of Keens. They let her foot breath while still being safe. But damn...$55 for a pair of shoes that can fit in my hand. The good news is that we have a pretty solid sharing network set-up. We had the first girl in our group of friends, but our next will be the third boy. So we have all sorts of awesome hand-mes for the new baby, including shoes that should last us for the next couple of years.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> $55 for a pair of shoes that will fit her for only a few months?  Yikes!  As the mother of the only girl in our family (no hand-me-downs available!), I highly recommend cheaping out on everything but winter coats and snow boots until she stops growing.   They grow so fast that you'll be giving away clothes and shoes that were only worn once or still have the tags on.  It only gets worse and so much more expensive as they get older.  I remember when all the girls at my daughter's school were wearing Uggs in 2nd grade.  I thought it was insane to pay $100 for boots that will only fit for one season - if that!  We bought $30 Target brand Uggs and they were fine and she never knew the difference.
> 
> Princess has pretty much stopped growing at this point so she got a couple of expensive pairs of boots last winter (Timberlands and LL Bean duck boots) that I expect her to have for the next 5+ years.   This year her backpack, winter coat, jeans, yoga pants and dresses from last year all still fit!  Easily saving me $500+ in back to school shopping - which I needed to pay for the new phone I had to get her after the salt water damage ruined hers.
> 
> Can't wait to see pics of the new baby!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary's children had school uniforms ... OMG what a great idea.
Click to expand...


I would love to see school uniforms the norm in public schools.  IMO, there are lot of pros and not a lot of cons.  The time savings alone sells it for me.



JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> The price of kids' shoes makes me sick. We typically only shop at outlets, so we can get sneakers for a reasonable price (25-30$). But...for my daughter's summer/fall shoes, we ended up splurging on a pair of Keens. They let her foot breath while still being safe. But damn...$55 for a pair of shoes that can fit in my hand. The good news is that we have a pretty solid sharing network set-up. We had the first girl in our group of friends, but our next will be the third boy. So we have all sorts of awesome hand-mes for the new baby, including shoes that should last us for the next couple of years.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> $55 for a pair of shoes that will fit her for only a few months?  Yikes!  As the mother of the only girl in our family (no hand-me-downs available!), I highly recommend cheaping out on everything but winter coats and snow boots until she stops growing.   They grow so fast that you'll be giving away clothes and shoes that were only worn once or still have the tags on.  It only gets worse and so much more expensive as they get older.  I remember when all the girls at my daughter's school were wearing Uggs in 2nd grade.  I thought it was insane to pay $100 for boots that will only fit for one season - if that!  We bought $30 Target brand Uggs and they were fine and she never knew the difference.
> 
> Princess has pretty much stopped growing at this point so she got a couple of expensive pairs of boots last winter (Timberlands and LL Bean duck boots) that I expect her to have for the next 5+ years.   This year her backpack, winter coat, jeans, yoga pants and dresses from last year all still fit!  Easily saving me $500+ in back to school shopping - which I needed to pay for the new phone I had to get her after the salt water damage ruined hers.
> 
> Can't wait to see pics of the new baby!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary's children had school uniforms ... OMG what a great idea.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed. So cheap, too. 5 sets of Old Navy uniforms will only set you back $100 this time of year. From a teacher stand point, it would solve a lot of other problems too.
Click to expand...


I bet!


----------



## Gary A.

Some of the public school and many of the charter school are going uniform.  Some public schools are making it optional.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> ... Some public schools are making it optional.


If it's optional, it's not really uniform....


----------



## jcdeboever

We buy all our fruit and vegetables from local farmers during season. Freeze alot for winter. Grocery stores stuff is from Mexico mostly.


----------



## smoke665

Personally, seeing some of the dress of public school kids makes me think the uniforms would be mostly "pros". Our grandsons attended a private school for several years where uniforms were not optional. It really simplified things for parents and kids. Something the school did that I thought was neat was they had an "exchange store", where parents could go to either buy or exchange used uniforms as the kids outgrew the old.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Grocery stores stuff is from Mexico mostly.



Surprisingly most of the produce in our big box stores is US grown. Very little from Mexico anymore.


----------



## Frank F.

Very interesting topic: where do we buy our food and how is it produced....


.... and what will happen to our food source, when we see a big power outage due to computer failure and are we prepared?

Interesting read for the rural or would be rural population:

Whole Systems Design - The Resilient Farm and Homestead, By Ben Falk

I loved the book very much. Full of practical knowledge embedded in a rationalized paranoid world view. Funny and charming!


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> and what will happen to our food source, when we see a big power outage due to computer failure and are we prepared?



I think that would be the least of your worries, computer failures, power outages, can likely be repaired. Biological disasters could take years. Think for minute if the Honey Bee population continues to decline.  Or, something goes wrong on the GMO front. This year at our farm in Missouri there was a major scare  when a herbicide designed for genetically modified soybeans, was causing widespread damage to non-modified soybeans because of uncontrollable drift, sometimes as much as 20-30 miles away.  Most don't think about these things but if the temperature rises above 92 degrees corn starts to get stress damage. What if normal summer  temperatures  were to hover in the 100 degree range for 90 days? You'd see a a substantial drop in corn yields, for the year, but what if that were the new norm every year? You'd see major shortage which would in turn cause problems feeding livestock.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Look up Lehman's, it's a store in Ohio that carries lots of nonelectric stuff. I buy things like their canned broth and no added sugar fruit preserves, etc. not the appliances and whatnots. But living out in the country I stock up on stuff so if power's out I have things on hand. We had power out one time for almost a week when hurricane force winds made it clear to Ohio where our trees couldn't withstand it. Cell towers lost power but I have a landline; worst was gas pumps not working and my car was low on gas so couldn't run into town where power was back on. Took time to get all the limbs off power lines but we managed... read, listened to the radio, hung out in the yard talking to the neighbors, lit candles, used flashlights - a little like going primitive camping. Except I'm getting too old for that crap! lol

Depends on if you go to a chain grocery store or smaller stores that carry more local produce, etc. There seems to be a trend toward more of that. 

Seems like some of what you're reading Frank doesn't always give a realistic portrayal, or maybe is rather limited and doesn't give the whole picture of things. When I was working with kids and families I was in a large city but some areas seemed like you almost drove all of a sudden into a rural area with a lot of real poverty - I doubt people realize those places even exist. I took toys to use on home visits and on occasion, I left a toy or two because the family literally didn't have any. (Not school property, but ones I'd bought at resale shops, etc.) Then of course got the family hooked up with appropriate services. 

I don't know why lately we seem to be having these serious conversations in the coffeehouse but maybe we could start posting those somewhere else - in, I don't know, off topic? so we can carry on with those conversations elsewhere that people can spend time on the discussion if they want.


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> I don't know why lately we seem to be having these serious conversations in the coffeehouse but maybe we could start posting those somewhere else - in, I don't know, off topic? so we can carry on with those conversations elsewhere that people can spend time on the discussion if they want.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary 2 - JC 0. Bummed. Tigers are playing bad. Times are a changing. 

I am going to relax and watch Band of Brothers the next few nights on VHS. I really miss my Marine Brothers and often think of them, our challenges, our losses. There is something special when you can love your enough to sacrifice your life for him, let alone the people back home. I am in a bad space lately with all this hatred talk in the media. My oldest has been to all of them and I can't stand the thought of him going to Korea. So I'm going to OD on love and hatred watching this volume. 

 Thank the Lord for my camera, wife, cat, and dog. The emotion of love seems absent in this world.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Gary 2 - JC 0. Bummed. Tigers are playing bad. Times are a changing.
> 
> I am going to relax and watch Band of Brothers the next few nights on VHS. I really miss my Marine Brothers and often think of them, our challenges, our losses. There is something special when you can love your enough to sacrifice your life for him, let alone the people back home. I am in a bad space lately with all this hatred talk in the media. My oldest has been to all of them and I can't stand the thought of him going to Korea. So I'm going to OD on love and hatred watching this volume.
> 
> Thank the Lord for my camera, wife, cat, and dog. The emotion of love seems absent in this world.



Oh sweet honey child, we are all soul-weary these days and it's so so so important to take care of yourself. But also don't ever feel like love is absent in this world. It may be outshouted from time to time, but it's always here and it will not be silenced.


----------



## limr

So pretty much, what I'm saying is that I think what we all pretty clearly need right now is........Cute Animal Meme Saturday!!!


----------



## limr




----------



## limr




----------



## limr




----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


>


That is the truth


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is the truth
Click to expand...


Ain't it, though?? Little brats. 

Though to be fair, I love 'em even more for being brats


----------



## limr




----------



## limr




----------



## limr




----------



## snowbear

Went to the local mall.  I told MLW I really needed a shirt or two for work (I almost always wear polos).  We scored a sale with stuff in extra fat!


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever I find myself becoming more weary everyday of the media fascination with hatred. It seems like they are in a feeding frenzy. I have to turn it off.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever I find myself becoming more weary everyday of the media fascination with hatred. It seems like they are in a feeding frenzy. I have to turn it off.


I don't normally but I keep stumbling into it.


----------



## snowbear

It's a cycle.  The media gets fixated on something (demonstrations, plane over bookings, what-have-you) for about two weeks, then something new comes along.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> It's a cycle.  The media gets fixated on something (demonstrations, plane over bookings, what-have-you) for about two weeks, then something new comes along.



I've also noticed they almost seem disappointed when bad things don't happen


----------



## limr

Noooooooooo!!!! We are not going down this path!

MOAR MEMES!!!


----------



## limr




----------



## snowbear

Well, since I'm in the DC Metro, it's pretty constant.  We get the bad and the moderately bad that most places miss


----------



## limr




----------



## limr




----------



## limr




----------



## limr




----------



## snowbear




----------



## snowbear




----------



## snowbear




----------



## limr




----------



## limr




----------



## limr

Okay, one more (for now... ) because I worked 6 hours of OT with a headache today and my Advil PM is kicking in...


----------



## snowbear

And it's off to bed - big day tomorrow.


----------



## terri

Bless you both, Charlie and Leo!    That's the most this thread has made me laugh in weeks.   

About time.   

Night, hosers!


----------



## snowbear

Goes well with coffee.




My goldfish bowl by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

Eclipse Reminder


----------



## smoke665

The married life of a man and woman. Sorry, you gotta admit it's funny though.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever I find myself becoming more weary everyday of the media fascination with hatred. It seems like they are in a feeding frenzy. I have to turn it off.


In order to sell ads/generate revenue, the media gives the people what they want.  Extremely competitive, and much of the electronic media is more commentary than news.  The race to be first, to scoop the competition, the fear of the competition having the same story ... is cause to publish stories with questionable fact checking. Newspapers have always fed the electronic news with most of their stories ... but now with newspapers on the edge of extinction, combined with their own internet sites and their chummy-ish and close association with Tv media ... newspapers are also feeling that need-for-speed which to often is of greater importance than getting-the-story-straight. Accuracy declines as speed increases.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a cycle.  The media gets fixated on something (demonstrations, plane over bookings, what-have-you) for about two weeks, then something new comes along.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've also noticed they almost seem disappointed when bad things don't happen
Click to expand...

Tragedy sells ... people want to see dead puppies rather than a happy pooch.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> The race to be first, to scoop the competition, the fear of the competition having the same story ... is cause to publish stories with questionable fact checking.



Going back several years to my newspaper years, I fear that the moral integrity of those doing the reporting is becoming questionable.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  A very interesting story on the front page of the LA Times of a WWII pilot who crashed in a remote area of China and was enslaved for 11 years by the local "Lolos" tribespeople.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The race to be first, to scoop the competition, the fear of the competition having the same story ... is cause to publish stories with questionable fact checking.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Going back several years to my newspaper years, I fear that the moral integrity of those doing the reporting is becoming questionable.
Click to expand...

I think the integrity comes from the top ... the editors responding to the competition for speed ... and ... possibly more importantly, responding to their corporate accountants demanding a 30% return.  The investor based/non-journalistic corporate board of directors will keep those who will run a company based upon profits not upon accuracy.

Which is good for shareholders, news media's survival but hell on accurate reporting.


----------



## JonA_CT

T-minus 15 hours 17 minutes.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> think the integrity comes from the top



Hate to disagree with you but integrity comes from within the individual.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> think the integrity comes from the top
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hate to disagree with you but integrity comes from within the individual.
Click to expand...

Yes it does, but the average reporter(s) with integrity, who doesn't like their stories published before being properly vetted, will quit ... repeatedly ... until a replacement is found with the integrity which matches the corporate line of profits over accuracy. There is always somebody who's job is more important to them than integrity.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> T-minus 15 hours 17 minutes.


For the newest Jonathan or the eclipse or both?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Now they're saying possibly some clouds tomorrow, which I'm beginning to think wouldn't be the worst thing the way this is being hyped. I hope people don't end up with permanent vision loss over this. 

I think we're in about the 80% coverage area so I'll be curious to see how dark it gets, but I figure it'll just be like a day with thunderstorms coming in or something.  

Buzz Aldrin tweeted something about he's seen this every time he went around the earth or some such thing - talk about  been there, done that! lol


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is in the patio, drinking tea, (finished the coffee), and reading the sports section.  Granderson for Peterson, (back to the minors), the Dodgers are working the details. According to the LA Times "... The departure strung, Granderson explained. 'The destination do not.'"  Gonzales is back and healthy, Ryu tosses a shut-out ... the Tigers are kitty cats.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary is in the patio, drinking tea, (finished the coffee), and reading the sports section.  Granderson for Peterson, (back to the minors), the Dodgers are working the details. According to the LA Times "... The departure strung, Granderson explained. 'The destination do not.'"  Gonzales is back and healthy, Ryu tosses a shut-out ... the Tigers are kitty cats.


Granderson will be very valuable for the stretch run. He probably will retire after this season. He is going to do important things after baseball. He would make a great U.S. President.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is in the patio, drinking tea, (finished the coffee), and reading the sports section.  Granderson for Peterson, (back to the minors), the Dodgers are working the details. According to the LA Times "... The departure strung, Granderson explained. 'The destination do not.'"  Gonzales is back and healthy, Ryu tosses a shut-out ... the Tigers are kitty cats.
> 
> 
> 
> Granderson will be very valuable for the stretch run. He probably will retire after this season. He is going to do important things after baseball. He would make a great U.S. President.
Click to expand...

LOL ... I just want him to hit 320 and keep Puig in line.


----------



## Gary A.

@JC: Another Tri-Tip is in the smoker and a salmon is marinading away in the fridge.  This is gonna be tasty.


----------



## coastalconn

JonA_CT said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's another opportunity to be on the bridge when the horn starts blaring.
> 
> I'm hoping one of these trips we'll be able to get to the Bee and Thistle.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think @coastalconn is the chef there...or was, at least.
Click to expand...


I am indeed still the chef there


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @JC: Another Tri-Tip is in the smoker and a salmon is marinading away in the fridge.  This is gonna be tasty.


Nice. I had puffed wheat for dinner. JV dominated today I see. I taped it. Gary wins 2 -1


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is in the patio, drinking tea, (finished the coffee), and reading the sports section.  Granderson for Peterson, (back to the minors), the Dodgers are working the details. According to the LA Times "... The departure strung, Granderson explained. 'The destination do not.'"  Gonzales is back and healthy, Ryu tosses a shut-out ... the Tigers are kitty cats.
> 
> 
> 
> Granderson will be very valuable for the stretch run. He probably will retire after this season. He is going to do important things after baseball. He would make a great U.S. President.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... I just want him to hit 320 and keep Puig in line.
Click to expand...

He ain't gonna hit that. But... He is gonna help you in a big way win the WS, wait and see. He is gonna do far better things in life, after baseball. He is a special man and if you ever meet him, you will see. Get to a game early and get his autograph, tell him some guy from Detroit told you (Gary), he (Granderson) is a great man and you (Granderson) made a significant impact in his (JC) life.


----------



## Gary A.

Mmmmhhhh ... okay, Gary will do that.  I will keep an eye on him on and off the field.


----------



## JonA_CT

Do I bring the bounce flash to the hospital, or do I rely on my modern sensors and fast lenses?

They won't let me use flash during the delivery but I can in the recovery area for the next few days.


----------



## snowbear

I'd take it.  Better to have it and not need it than the other way around.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Do I bring the bounce flash to the hospital, or do I rely on my modern sensors and fast lenses?
> 
> They won't let me use flash during the delivery but I can in the recovery area for the next few days.



Whatever you do don't do like our oldest son did on his 1st born. He filmed the delivery then made a "highly" edited version for family viewing. At the first big family gathering he brought out the video. Unfortunately it wasn't the "made for family" version but the full feature version that he grabbed in error. It was a long time before our daughterinlaw forgave him


----------



## Gary A.

For the delivery of our children, (two), Gary had two stills, one shoulder video camera and a Polaroid. No flash whatsoever.  Gary is an available light guy. Gary hopes that all goes well.


----------



## Gary A.

Guests are gone.  Mary Lou and Gary are relaxing finishing up the chocolate dessert wine.  It is soooooo good.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Since she's going to be there a few days maybe try it without first and see what you get. I've done existing light with lots of events. Well, not this particular 'event' but you may not need it. You probably don't want to spend too much time messing with camera equipment. Keep it to a minimum like Gary did.  
I can't seem to help but post smarta#% comments in this coffeehouse.

Is this the countdown everybody's talking about?? Enjoy your time with your new little one. (I confess, I forget if it's a boy or girl, but I'm sure you'll show us a picture soon enough.)


----------



## jcdeboever

That is great, new baby boy! Can't wait to see the little feller. 

Well, I am not happy with my Canoscan 8800f, so I'm getting a better one that I researched. Should be better quality scans and faster. I bought a Reflecta Crystal Scan 7200 + ICE. Reflecta ProScan 7200 Professional detailed film scanner test report; image quality and scan speed, measured values and image demonstrations

I have been shooting more film and this should serve me well over the Plustek 8200. I need to be able to print up to 8 x 11


----------



## Frank F.

JonA_CT said:


> Do I bring the bounce flash to the hospital, or do I rely on my modern sensors and fast lenses?
> 
> They won't let me use flash during the delivery but I can in the recovery area for the next few days.




I used two rolls of film, ISO 400 was enough, before my first born son was 10 minutes old. Do better not use flash. The litter ones are very sensitive. Current DSLRs do not require flash. USO 1600 they can all do in good quality. Better use a faster lens like a cheap 1.8/50mm .... Good luck with the delivery. All births are exciting


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Do I bring the bounce flash to the hospital, or do I rely on my modern sensors and fast lenses?
> 
> They won't let me use flash during the delivery but I can in the recovery area for the next few days.



Ask yourself this: if you had just pushed a new living creature through a small opening in your body, would you want flashy lights anywhere near you or said new living creature? If you're not sure how to answer that, ask your wife


----------



## vintagesnaps

Now there's some good advice. 

The NASA coverage is kinda cool (even though I was getting sick of hearing about the 'Great' eclipse - what, they had to name it?? lol). Various feeds, some of the audio is kinda goofy but the visuals are interesting. Here they're saying chance of pop up thunderstorms later, probably won't be able to tell if it's still the eclipse or a thunderstorm rolling in. 

Sunny for now so I might try a pinhole thing but I think I'm out of foil so will have to see what I can scrounge up.


----------



## JonA_CT




----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh! he's here!!! Aww...


----------



## Frank F.

What is a tri-tip???

Google's answer: Tri-tip - Wikipedia


----------



## Frank F.

JonA_CT said:


> View attachment 145448



Congratulations. Your first one???


----------



## vintagesnaps

OK now that was kinda cool... Jon's baby's arrival of course, but I mean the total eclipse they just showed happening in Oregon. It did get dark all of a sudden but the sky still looked dark blue, but wasn't long till it brightened up again. Didn't look like it was dark til just before totality. 

Some dude from the Smithsonian said Venus was just the west side of it. So if they show totality again as it moves across I might watch again.


----------



## JonA_CT

Frank F. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 145448
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congratulations. Your first one???
Click to expand...


Second! I have a 2 year old daughter, too.


----------



## Frank F.

JonA_CT said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 145448
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congratulations. Your first one???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Second! I have a 2 year old daughter, too.
Click to expand...



Total Eclipse Baby! How probable is that?

I was born during the Soccer World Cup in London. Birth needed 48 hours, started during the semi finals and was finished before the finals....


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> View attachment 145448


Beautiful, congrats to you and the the family. When's the next one? Lol


----------



## jcdeboever

Here's my image, 80% MI. Cell phone.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> View attachment 145448


Beautiful!   Congrats!


----------



## smoke665

Tried multiple different filter and couldn't dim the beast. I was amazed at how BRIGHT it was at 95%. Best I got was the projection from a pin hole using my cell phone.


----------



## jcdeboever

What's his name?


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> What's his name?



Heh - for a second, I thought you were responding to Smokey's post and I thought, "Uhhhh, I think he just called it the beast?....Ohhhhhhhh, he meant Jon's new kid!"


----------



## smoke665

@limr still a little groggy from the weekend are we??


----------



## JonA_CT

Henry? Maybe?


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Henry? Maybe?


I like it.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> @limr still a little groggy from the weekend are we??



More than just a little apparently


----------



## Gary A.

Gary looked directly at the sun.


----------



## terri

Well, that's one way to go blind.


----------



## smoke665

I'm afraid we are doomed if this is the intelligence we have in the world today. Son told me about seeing a US Attorney standing on the street outside their building today looking at the sun. The attorney had the special glasses on, but also had his hand over one eye. When son asked him what he was doing, he claimed that he heard there might be problems with the glasses he had purchased to watch the eclipse, and he was afraid of risking both eyes!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously dude, you practice law -  do you ever win????


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Henry? Maybe?


 . . . or Sol.
Congratulations to the Ms and you.


----------



## Gary A.

Congratulations Jon, Gary hopes all is well with wife and son.


----------



## snowbear

I didn't see it; way too busy today.  I did notice the light outside my tinted office window looked a little more subdued than usual, but that was the extent of my eclipseness.  I've seen partials. before, so I don't feel like I missed anything.  We plan on moving to Maine before the next one, so that should get us closer.


----------



## SquarePeg

Congrats @JonA_CT!!!!!!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I didn't see it; way too busy today.  I did notice the light outside my tinted office window looked a little more subdued than usual, but that was the extent of my eclipseness.  I've seen partials. before, so I don't feel like I missed anything.  We plan on moving to Maine before the next one, so that should get us closer.



Buzz and I want to road trip to Nova Scotia for the next one.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't see it; way too busy today.  I did notice the light outside my tinted office window looked a little more subdued than usual, but that was the extent of my eclipseness.  I've seen partials. before, so I don't feel like I missed anything.  We plan on moving to Maine before the next one, so that should get us closer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Buzz and I want to road trip to Nova Scotia for the next one.
Click to expand...

You're so vain.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't see it; way too busy today.  I did notice the light outside my tinted office window looked a little more subdued than usual, but that was the extent of my eclipseness.  I've seen partials. before, so I don't feel like I missed anything.  We plan on moving to Maine before the next one, so that should get us closer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Buzz and I want to road trip to Nova Scotia for the next one.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You're so vain.
Click to expand...


But I didn't think that song was about me!


----------



## snowbear

As I started to say - hopefully that will be a short trip for us.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't see it; way too busy today.  I did notice the light outside my tinted office window looked a little more subdued than usual, but that was the extent of my eclipseness.  I've seen partials. before, so I don't feel like I missed anything.  We plan on moving to Maine before the next one, so that should get us closer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Buzz and I want to road trip to Nova Scotia for the next one.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You're so vain.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> But I didn't think that song was about me!
Click to expand...

I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee Clouds in my coffee


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Well, that's one way to go blind.


Thank goodness for autocorrect.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> @limr still a little groggy from the weekend are we??



My son had his third Birthday party Monday night. Another derailed excess. Two children had to be collected in the night by their fathers, one needed hospital treatment at 1.6 Promille Alc content in the blood. We thought the 14th and 15th birthday were bad. Seen from today the past ones were more creative than excessive. After this 16th there will be no 17th or a strictly non alcoholic party.


----------



## SquarePeg

Frank F. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr still a little groggy from the weekend are we??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My son had his third Birthday party Monday night. Another derailed excess. Two children had to be collected in the night by their fathers, one needed hospital treatment at 1.6 Promille Alc content in the blood. We thought the 14th and 15th birthday were bad. Seen from today the past ones were more creative than excessive. After this 16th there will be no 17th or a strictly non alcoholic party.
Click to expand...


Alcohol is served to 16 year olds at birthday parties?


----------



## jcdeboever

View attachment 145405


SquarePeg said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr still a little groggy from the weekend are we??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My son had his third Birthday party Monday night. Another derailed excess. Two children had to be collected in the night by their fathers, one needed hospital treatment at 1.6 Promille Alc content in the blood. We thought the 14th and 15th birthday were bad. Seen from today the past ones were more creative than excessive. After this 16th there will be no 17th or a strictly non alcoholic party.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Alcohol is served to 16 year olds at birthday parties?
Click to expand...


I was thinking the same thing.... Yikes, that's jail time here in the US. I was blessed my kids didn't get into any of that but to be honest, they were to scared of me because I was brutally honest with them. I had a lot of heart to heart talks with them about drugs and alcohol. An area of great, expert experience for me, unfortunately.


----------



## Overread

This assumes that it was adults offering the booze - many a teenager finds ways to gain booze without the knowledge of their parents. Heck my sister had a party a few (well ok quite a few) years back and my brothers had to turn away random strangers (well ok likely kids from the area/same school but not invited); several of which had brought their own.

Parties tend to make some go a little silly/daft/stupid esp once the peer pressure sets in and they all want to party and drink like its shown on the TV where booze flows as fast as water.


----------



## SquarePeg

Overread said:


> This assumes that it was adults offering the booze - many a teenager finds ways to gain booze without the knowledge of their parents. Heck my sister had a party a few (well ok quite a few) years back and my brothers had to turn away random strangers (well ok likely kids from the area/same school but not invited); several of which had brought their own.
> 
> Parties tend to make some go a little silly/daft/stupid esp once the peer pressure sets in and they all want to party and drink like its shown on the TV where booze flows as fast as water.



 It wasn't an assumption it was a question based on what he wrote about the previous and next parties.   Made it seem that this had happened before and it could be controlled in the future so I concluded that they knew about the alcohol or at least expected it.  Since Frank is always saying how different and more sophisticated Europe is, I wondered if this was another one of those cultural differences.  Having never been to Germany I wasn't sure how to take his remark which is why I asked the question.


----------



## limr

What Overread said, for one. Also, the legal drinking age in Germany and much of Europe is 16 for wine and beer, 18 for spirits.


----------



## smoke665

Overread said:


> This assumes that it was adults offering the booze - many a teenager finds ways to gain booze without the knowledge of their parents.



That can happen here in the US as well, but if a parent fails to act they could still be held criminally responsible, as well as face potential civil liabilities if the kids get injured.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Overread said:
> 
> 
> 
> This assumes that it was adults offering the booze - many a teenager finds ways to gain booze without the knowledge of their parents. Heck my sister had a party a few (well ok quite a few) years back and my brothers had to turn away random strangers (well ok likely kids from the area/same school but not invited); several of which had brought their own.
> 
> Parties tend to make some go a little silly/daft/stupid esp once the peer pressure sets in and they all want to party and drink like its shown on the TV where booze flows as fast as water.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It wasn't an assumption it was a question based on what he wrote about the previous and next parties.   Made it seem that this had happened before and it could be controlled in the future so I concluded that they knew about the alcohol or at least expected it.  Since Frank is always saying how different and more sophisticated Europe is, I wondered if this was another one of those cultural differences.  Having never been to Germany I wasn't sure how to take his remark which is why I asked the question.
Click to expand...


To be honest, I'm not sure if the 'excesses' of the previous birthday parties were about alcohol or just about the craziness of hosting a back of 14-year-olds. I'm still chuckling at myself because the phrase "third birthday party" made me think that it was a party for a 3-year-old and it took me until the end of the post to realize we were talking about teenagers 

As for alcohol consumption in Europe, it _is_ thought of somewhat differently than it is here. And people drink differently, too - they might drink more often but not the kind of weekend binge-drinking that Americans will do. My parents would have a glass of wine every night for dinner, for example, and during family celebrations, we generally had more (though to be fair, our celebrations lasted probably about 5-6 hours minimum) but no one really ever got drunk.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## limr




----------



## limr




----------



## snowbear




----------



## snowbear




----------



## JonA_CT




----------



## JonA_CT




----------



## JonA_CT

Consensus: Jonathan James. Not a junior, but he'll probably go by Jack.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another day and another cup of coffee.  Overcast and cool again, the clouds should burn off by noon leaving a warm afternoon in the lower 80's. Gary's morning chores are finished, the house is opened up, the pond pumps are up and running (Gary turns them off at night), the paper is retrieved, yesterday's dishes returned to their storage, Gary's coffee and Mary Lou's tea at the proper temps.  Yesterday, unscheduled guests arrived, five in total. At the last minute we were scrambling up dinner for all. Leftover smoked Tri-Tip, freshly roasted chicken, watermelon & cantaloupe salad, cole slaw and some mac & cheese were scrounged up. Worked out okay. 

As to alcohol in Europe.  Having lived in Europe, Gary's initial response was similar to Leo's ... but giving it more thought he realized he really doesn't know/understand the cultural differences between European drinking and American drinking.  And, of course, the different countries of Europe will have different drinking customs and tolerances ... but then so do we on a per state scale.  (i.e.: A bartender in Lake Tahoe told Gary he could easily differentiate Californians from those from other states.  The Californians tend to "sip wine" while non-Californians tend to "hit the hard stuff".)

Initially, Gary's experience of living in France, he saw older French children having a small glass of vino at a dinner.  Something most Americans would never do. Again, my initial thoughts were that doing so would lead to a better understanding and consumption of alcohol than waiting until a defining age and saying "Okay, you can drink now ... we know you have no experience will mind altering substances and when you drink now there will be no supervision ...". Gary is sure that many in the French culture find early introduction as helpful ... but then Gary remembers seeing all the mid-week, late night examples of staggering alcohol abuse in major European cities. Which was similar to mid-week, late night examples of staggering alcohol abuse in major American cities. That's when Gary realized that he only has antidotal understanding of drink with no understanding of differences and how those differences relate to abuse.


----------



## smoke665

As a kid I  remember well the local Catholic churches would have "Picnics/dances", at which beer was sold in buckets. Don't ever recall being questioned about my age or refused service, but then neither do I recall anyone getting out of line. Different times.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Consensus: Jonathan James. Not a junior, but he'll probably go by Jack.


What does little sister think about her new brother?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Another day and another cup of coffee.  Overcast and cool again, the clouds should burn off by noon leaving a warm afternoon in the lower 80's. Gary's morning chores are finished, the house is opened up, the pond pumps are up and running (Gary turns them off at night), the paper is retrieved, yesterday's dishes returned to their storage, Gary's coffee and Mary Lou's tea at the proper temps.  Yesterday, unscheduled guests arrived, five in total. At the last minute we were scrambling up dinner for all. Leftover smoked Tri-Tip, freshly roasted chicken, watermelon & cantaloupe salad, cole slaw and some mac & cheese were scrounged up. Worked out okay.
> 
> As to alcohol in Europe.  Having lived in Europe, Gary's initial response was similar to Leo's ... but giving it more thought he realized he really doesn't know/understand the cultural differences between European drinking and American drinking.  And, of course, the different countries of Europe will have different drinking customs and tolerances ... but then so do we on a per state scale.  (i.e.: A bartender in Lake Tahoe told Gary he could easily differentiate Californians from those from other states.  The Californians tend to "sip wine" while non-Californians tend to "hit the hard stuff".)
> 
> Initially, Gary's experience of living in France, he saw older French children having a small glass of vino at a dinner.  Something most Americans would never do. Again, my initial thoughts were that doing so would lead to a better understanding and consumption of alcohol than waiting until a defining age and saying "Okay, you can drink now ... we know you have no experience will mind altering substances and when you drink now there will be no supervision ...". Gary is sure that many in the French culture find early introduction as helpful ... but then Gary remembers seeing all the mid-week, late night examples of staggering alcohol abuse in major European cities. Which was similar to mid-week, late night examples of staggering alcohol abuse in major American cities. That's when Gary realized that he only has antidotal understanding of drink with no understanding of differences and how those differences relate to abuse.


My parents used to give me a shot of wiskey when we had an ear ache or bad cold. Today, probably not done. Did it help? I don't remember.


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Consensus: Jonathan James. Not a junior, but he'll probably go by Jack.
> 
> 
> 
> What does little sister think about her new brother?
Click to expand...


My mom with 2/3 of her grandkids...T wants to look at him, but what she really wants is her momma. It's gonna be a tough couple of days for her as momma heals up, and then another couple tough days while she realizes how much time he is gonna take up...


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> My parents used to give me a shot of wiskey when we had an ear ache or bad cold. Today, probably not done. Did it help? I don't remember.



I heard folks would also rub bourbon on a baby's gums for teething pain. Over the past day or so, one of my back teeth has developed a really bad sensitivity to anything even remotely hot or cold. Maybe I just need a few shots of bourbon?


----------



## limr

Dentist appointment made for tomorrow after work. Tonight I'll test the bourbon theory...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Jack, I like that. Glad your wife and baby are doing well and it'll probably be nice to get everybody home.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Dentist appointment made for tomorrow after work. Tonight I'll test the bourbon theory...


I like bourbon


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> I heard folks would also rub bourbon on a baby's gums for teething pain. Over the past day or so, one of my back teeth has developed a really bad sensitivity to anything even remotely hot or cold. Maybe I just need a few shots of bourbon?



We did this with the kids, worked like a charm.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dentist appointment made for tomorrow after work. Tonight I'll test the bourbon theory...
> 
> 
> 
> I like bourbon
Click to expand...


Me, too.



smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I heard folks would also rub bourbon on a baby's gums for teething pain. Over the past day or so, one of my back teeth has developed a really bad sensitivity to anything even remotely hot or cold. Maybe I just need a few shots of bourbon?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We did this with the kids, worked like a charm.
Click to expand...


I'm convinced! *trots off to find some bourbon*


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC: Then you'd like my BBQ sauce.


----------



## Crystal Photographic

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> My parents used to give me a shot of wiskey when we had an ear ache or bad cold. Today, probably not done. Did it help? I don't remember.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I heard folks would also rub bourbon on a baby's gums for teething pain. Over the past day or so, one of my back teeth has developed a really bad sensitivity to anything even remotely hot or cold. Maybe I just need a few shots of bourbon?
Click to expand...

Cocaine was also used quite a bit for teething pain. I don't recommend drugs or alcohol as both are toxic to humans.


----------



## limr

Crystal Photographic said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> My parents used to give me a shot of wiskey when we had an ear ache or bad cold. Today, probably not done. Did it help? I don't remember.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I heard folks would also rub bourbon on a baby's gums for teething pain. Over the past day or so, one of my back teeth has developed a really bad sensitivity to anything even remotely hot or cold. Maybe I just need a few shots of bourbon?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Cocaine was also used quite a bit for teething pain. I don't recommend drugs or alcohol as both are toxic to humans.
Click to expand...


Um. Okay.


----------



## smoke665

Long day, but well worth it.  We left early this morning for Atlanta, and just got back a short while ago. In July of 2016 after the drug protocols she had been on finally failed,  my wife underwent an Autologous Stem Cell transplant at Windship Cancer Center, for the treatment of Multiple Myeloma. So, for the past year we've had to wait to see if it worked. 2 weeks ago we were there for her 1 year follow up tests, and today we went back for the results.  For the first time since her diagnoses in 2009 she has achieved what they call Stringent Complete Remission (SCR).  Which basically means that all the tests they ran showed "0" cells detected. For now she will remain on maintenance oral chemo, and the monthly infusions will go to every 3 months. For us that's like being set free from a cage, as our life and travel has revolved around 4 week increments, since she was diagnosed!


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> Long day, but well worth it.  We left early this morning for Atlanta, and just got back a short while ago. In July of 2016 after the drug protocols she had been on finally failed,  my wife underwent an Autologous Stem Cell transplant at Windship Cancer Center, for the treatment of Multiple Myeloma. So, for the past year we've had to wait to see if it worked. 2 weeks ago we were there for her 1 year follow up tests, and today we went back for the results.  For the first time since her diagnoses in 2009 she has achieved what they call Stringent Complete Remission (SCR).  Which basically means that all the tests they ran showed "0" cells detected. For now she will remain on maintenance oral chemo, and the monthly infusions will go to every 3 months. For us that's like being set free from a cage, as our life and travel has revolved around 4 week increments, since she was diagnosed!



Great news, Smokey!!!!


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Great news, Smokey!!!!



We're excited. They got it into what they call a slumbering state (meaning it was there, but it wan't doing anything) once for about 2 years, but this is the first true remission.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Long day, but well worth it.  We left early this morning for Atlanta, and just got back a short while ago. In July of 2016 after the drug protocols she had been on finally failed,  my wife underwent an Autologous Stem Cell transplant at Windship Cancer Center, for the treatment of Multiple Myeloma. So, for the past year we've had to wait to see if it worked. 2 weeks ago we were there for her 1 year follow up tests, and today we went back for the results.  For the first time since her diagnoses in 2009 she has achieved what they call Stringent Complete Remission (SCR).  Which basically means that all the tests they ran showed "0" cells detected. For now she will remain on maintenance oral chemo, and the monthly infusions will go to every 3 months. For us that's like being set free from a cage, as our life and travel has revolved around 4 week increments, since she was diagnosed!


Super.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dentist appointment made for tomorrow after work. Tonight I'll test the bourbon theory...
> 
> 
> 
> I like bourbon
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Me, too.
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I heard folks would also rub bourbon on a baby's gums for teething pain. Over the past day or so, one of my back teeth has developed a really bad sensitivity to anything even remotely hot or cold. Maybe I just need a few shots of bourbon?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We did this with the kids, worked like a charm.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm convinced! *trots off to find some bourbon*
Click to expand...




smoke665 said:


> Long day, but well worth it.  We left early this morning for Atlanta, and just got back a short while ago. In July of 2016 after the drug protocols she had been on finally failed,  my wife underwent an Autologous Stem Cell transplant at Windship Cancer Center, for the treatment of Multiple Myeloma. So, for the past year we've had to wait to see if it worked. 2 weeks ago we were there for her 1 year follow up tests, and today we went back for the results.  For the first time since her diagnoses in 2009 she has achieved what they call Stringent Complete Remission (SCR).  Which basically means that all the tests they ran showed "0" cells detected. For now she will remain on maintenance oral chemo, and the monthly infusions will go to every 3 months. For us that's like being set free from a cage, as our life and travel has revolved around 4 week increments, since she was diagnosed!




Great news!


----------



## snowbear

Crystal Photographic said:


> I don't recommend drugs or alcohol as both are toxic to humans.


I'm jammin' glad I'm a bear.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good news Smokey! glad for you and your wife.


----------



## snowbear

Mom was laid to rest, today.  I'm not much on funerals, but it was nice.  It was good to see a few of the nieces and nephews, especially those from Michigan.

We got a Much later start than I wanted (lazy azz cargo wasn't ready) but we made it to Mystic, CT.  Onward to Portland in the AM.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Great news, Smokey!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We're excited. They got it into what they call a slumbering state (meaning it was there, but it wan't doing anything) once for about 2 years, but this is the first true remission.
Click to expand...

One step at a time; congrat's.


----------



## Crystal Photographic

snowbear said:


> Crystal Photographic said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't recommend drugs or alcohol as both are toxic to humans.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm jammin' glad I'm a bear.
Click to expand...

Yep, no need for drugs or alcohol for a bear.


----------



## Frank F.

snowbear said:


> Mom was laid to rest, today.  I'm not much on funerals, but it was nice.  It was good to see a few of the nieces and nephews, especially those from Michigan.
> 
> We got a Much later start than I wanted (lazy azz cargo wasn't ready) but we made it to Mystic, CT.  Onward to Portland in the AM.




Funeral (ongoing upload sequence, visit daily)

When my mum was buried, I took photos...


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> One step at a time; congrat's.



Thank you. 

Condolences to you and your family on your loss also.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> When my mum was buried, I took photos...



That's something you don't see happening here anymore, and I'm not sure why. When I was younger it wasn't that uncommon.


----------



## snowbear

Crystal Photographic said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Crystal Photographic said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't recommend drugs or alcohol as both are toxic to humans.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm jammin' glad I'm a bear.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yep, no need for drugs or alcohol for a bear.
Click to expand...

Plenty of need.


----------



## JonA_CT

any of y'all have a good online tea purveyor?

My wife has been enjoying some fancy bottled tea at around $3 a bottle. I figure I can brew my own for cheaper...


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> any of y'all have a good online tea purveyor?
> 
> My wife has been enjoying some fancy bottled tea at around $3 a bottle. I figure I can brew my own for cheaper...



Being in the area of the country we are, there's only one way to drink tea - on ice and perfectly sweetened. Over the years my wife has learned the art quite well, but there is a local restaurant chain that became famous for their tea. So much so, that they started selling it in grocery stores, not sure how big their distribution area is, but if you see this buy it, drinkmilos.com - Welcome -  you won't be disappointed.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Long day, but well worth it.  We left early this morning for Atlanta, and just got back a short while ago. In July of 2016 after the drug protocols she had been on finally failed,  my wife underwent an Autologous Stem Cell transplant at Windship Cancer Center, for the treatment of Multiple Myeloma. So, for the past year we've had to wait to see if it worked. 2 weeks ago we were there for her 1 year follow up tests, and today we went back for the results.  For the first time since her diagnoses in 2009 she has achieved what they call Stringent Complete Remission (SCR).  Which basically means that all the tests they ran showed "0" cells detected. For now she will remain on maintenance oral chemo, and the monthly infusions will go to every 3 months. For us that's like being set free from a cage, as our life and travel has revolved around 4 week increments, since she was diagnosed!


Great news!


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> any of y'all have a good online tea purveyor?
> 
> My wife has been enjoying some fancy bottled tea at around $3 a bottle. I figure I can brew my own for cheaper...



I've become a big fan of Harney and Sons, which seems to be more common these days even in grocery stores. They have an Amazon store, but their selection of loose teas isn't that great. If you're just going for your typical English Breakfast or Earl Grey type of tea, then they have the loose teas on Amazon. If you want to venture further and get, for example, pure oolongs or darjeelings, or different kinds of blends, then go to the website: Fine Teas by Master Tea Blenders Harney & Sons

I'm lucky enough to live within striking distance of a Harney and Sons brick and mortar store and cafe, so Buzz and I usually head up to taste and buy in person, but the website has everything they offer. I've tried quite a few of the teas at the cafe if you have any questions.


----------



## jcdeboever

The wife makes sun tea. I drink it but don't know the brand. Unsweetened. She puts lemons in it too. She usually makes a  gallon batch or two on weekends.


----------



## waday

Hi all, I have a quick request. I'm in need of some ideas.

The wife and I would like to do a babymoon, one last trip together before the baby gets here in November. A few things that we're trying to keep in mind:

Relaxing. We thought about exploring a city, but the wife gets tired easy with the baby.
Beach or mountains. We're ok with either. We don't need amusement parks, since wife can't do them and I get sick on them.  No camping, either. We'd love camping in a year, but not while the wife is preggos.
Amenities. Quiet and relaxing. Rowboating, laying on a beach, etc. are all a-ok. Neither of us are spa people.
Drive there. While we'd like to fly somewhere, we're trying to keep costs down. Harrisburg International Airport is ridiculously expensive to fly out of, so if we'd fly, we'd have to travel to NYC, Philly, Baltimore, etc. All drive up costs (pardon the pun), so if we could drive there (within 5-8 hours of the capital of PA), that would be best. To give an idea of range, we've looked as far north as Finger Lakes/Boston, and as far south as North Carolina coast.
Cozy. We'd like the place we stay at to be cozy, whether a hotel or B&B.
Cost. Probably the most important. We'd like to keep costs as low as possible, under $1000 if we can. This doesn't include driving costs/tolls, but does include food, if possible. I guess I'm getting older, since I keep finding myself saying, "How can they charge that much for a room for one night?!"
Does anyone have ideas or recommendations on places?


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> any of y'all have a good online tea purveyor?
> 
> My wife has been enjoying some fancy bottled tea at around $3 a bottle. I figure I can brew my own for cheaper...


Gary recently planted/buried a tea bush. Mary Lou flavors a lot of her water with backyard stuff, Lemon Verbena, Tarragon, Mint, Lemon Balm, et al.  Out here, there are a ton of tea stores in the Asian malls. Gary buys his black, green, oolong and pu-erh teas over the counter. Gary hasn't purchased tea online ... so no tips. But, when you make it to LA he'll take you on a tea buying tour.


----------



## JonA_CT

How long and when?


----------



## Gary A.

@ smoke 665: Very good news on the wife.  Whatever you guys are doing, keep it up.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Hi all, I have a quick request. I'm in need of some ideas.
> 
> The wife and I would like to do a babymoon, one last trip together before the baby gets here in November. A few things that we're trying to keep in mind:
> 
> Relaxing. We thought about exploring a city, but the wife gets tired easy with the baby.
> Beach or mountains. We're ok with either. We don't need amusement parks, since wife can't do them and I get sick on them.  No camping, either. We'd love camping in a year, but not while the wife is preggos.
> Amenities. Quiet and relaxing. Rowboating, laying on a beach, etc. are all a-ok. Neither of us are spa people.
> Drive there. While we'd like to fly somewhere, we're trying to keep costs down. Harrisburg International Airport is ridiculously expensive to fly out of, so if we'd fly, we'd have to travel to NYC, Philly, Baltimore, etc. All drive up costs (pardon the pun), so if we could drive there (within 5-8 hours of the capital of PA), that would be best. To give an idea of range, we've looked as far north as Finger Lakes/Boston, and as far south as North Carolina coast.
> Cozy. We'd like the place we stay at to be cozy, whether a hotel or B&B.
> Cost. Probably the most important. We'd like to keep costs as low as possible, under $1000 if we can. This doesn't include driving costs/tolls, but does include food, if possible. I guess I'm getting older, since I keep finding myself saying, "How can they charge that much for a room for one night?!"
> Does anyone have ideas or recommendations on places?


Gary can't help you in PA ... but in CA he'd recommend Mendocino.  It is very scenic, quiet, quaint and cool: Wineries, Wilderness, Redwoods and Coast.  Honestly, it would be perfect, if you're into cool weather. It is off the crowded, beaten tourist track.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> The wife makes sun tea. I drink it but don't know the brand. Unsweetened. She puts lemons in it too. She usually makes a  gallon batch or two on weekends.


Gary makes a lot of tea.  Nearly everyday, Gary brews up coffee for hisself (lol) and tea for Mary Lou.  He also brews up a herbal tea in a tall infusion carafe.  After brewing, the herbal tea just sits on the countertop waiting for ice and consumption. This usually occurs in the evening to avoid the ugliness of a caffeine driven restless night.







Mary Lou's tea pot. (There is a warmer under the pot for a tea candle.)


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> How long and when?


Next weekend, Labor Day weekend: Friday through Monday. We're kicking ourselves for waiting this long to book anything! 



Gary A. said:


> Gary can't help you in PA ... but in CA he'd recommend Mendocino.  It is very scenic, quiet, quaint and cool: Wineries, Wilderness, Redwoods and Coast.  Honestly, it would be perfect, if you're into cool weather. It is off the crowded, beaten tourist track.


Thanks Gary, that sounds fantastic! We looked at flying to CA. Surprisingly inexpensive flights, but still higher than we'd like for this vacation.  At some point, the wife and I are going to make a long trip out to CA, but that won't be for a while.


----------



## waday

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> How long and when?
> 
> 
> 
> Next weekend, Labor Day weekend: Friday through Monday. We're kicking ourselves for waiting this long to book anything!
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary can't help you in PA ... but in CA he'd recommend Mendocino.  It is very scenic, quiet, quaint and cool: Wineries, Wilderness, Redwoods and Coast.  Honestly, it would be perfect, if you're into cool weather. It is off the crowded, beaten tourist track.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks Gary, that sounds fantastic! We looked at flying to CA. Surprisingly inexpensive flights, but still higher than we'd like for this vacation.  At some point, the wife and I are going to make a long trip out to CA, but that won't be for a while.
Click to expand...

Ok, so the wife and I finally decided. We're staying at a place along the Lake Erie coast.


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> How long and when?
> 
> 
> 
> Next weekend, Labor Day weekend: Friday through Monday. We're kicking ourselves for waiting this long to book anything!
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary can't help you in PA ... but in CA he'd recommend Mendocino.  It is very scenic, quiet, quaint and cool: Wineries, Wilderness, Redwoods and Coast.  Honestly, it would be perfect, if you're into cool weather. It is off the crowded, beaten tourist track.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks Gary, that sounds fantastic! We looked at flying to CA. Surprisingly inexpensive flights, but still higher than we'd like for this vacation.  At some point, the wife and I are going to make a long trip out to CA, but that won't be for a while.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ok, so the wife and I finally decided. We're staying at a place along the Lake Erie coast.
Click to expand...


I'm glad you guys found something. I was worried about going over the holiday weekend on short notice. Enjoy!


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> any of y'all have a good online tea purveyor?
> 
> My wife has been enjoying some fancy bottled tea at around $3 a bottle. I figure I can brew my own for cheaper...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've become a big fan of Harney and Sons, which seems to be more common these days even in grocery stores. They have an Amazon store, but their selection of loose teas isn't that great. If you're just going for your typical English Breakfast or Earl Grey type of tea, then they have the loose teas on Amazon. If you want to venture further and get, for example, pure oolongs or darjeelings, or different kinds of blends, then go to the website: Fine Teas by Master Tea Blenders Harney & Sons
> 
> I'm lucky enough to live within striking distance of a Harney and Sons brick and mortar store and cafe, so Buzz and I usually head up to taste and buy in person, but the website has everything they offer. I've tried quite a few of the teas at the cafe if you have any questions.
Click to expand...


I'll definitely check them out. Thanks! We have a Spice and Tea Exchange in Mystic...but I feel like if something is set up in Mystic, it's not worth the money you pay for it, haha. 




Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> any of y'all have a good online tea purveyor?
> 
> My wife has been enjoying some fancy bottled tea at around $3 a bottle. I figure I can brew my own for cheaper...
> 
> 
> 
> Gary recently planted/buried a tea bush. Mary Lou flavors a lot of her water with backyard stuff, Lemon Verbena, Tarragon, Mint, Lemon Balm, et al.  Out here, there are a ton of tea stores in the Asian malls. Gary buys his black, green, oolong and pu-erh teas over the counter. Gary hasn't purchased tea online ... so no tips. But, when you make it to LA he'll take you on a tea buying tour.
Click to expand...


I really need to start an indoor herb garden. With some tree work the neighbors did, I get enough light in my kitchen now to make it happen. Some of those are probably too hearty for inside, though. 

Tea stores in the Asian malls...sounds like I need to move to California. I bet you can buy galangal too...a critical ingredient to my favorite soup that I can't buy anywhere around here. (I've thought about asking the thai restaurant I normally buy my Tom Yum from if they have any I can take of their hands, but then they'd lose quite a bit of soup money during cold season).


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> I'm glad you guys found something. I was worried about going over the holiday weekend on short notice. Enjoy!


Thanks!  We were worried about that, as well!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> any of y'all have a good online tea purveyor?
> 
> My wife has been enjoying some fancy bottled tea at around $3 a bottle. I figure I can brew my own for cheaper...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've become a big fan of Harney and Sons, which seems to be more common these days even in grocery stores. They have an Amazon store, but their selection of loose teas isn't that great. If you're just going for your typical English Breakfast or Earl Grey type of tea, then they have the loose teas on Amazon. If you want to venture further and get, for example, pure oolongs or darjeelings, or different kinds of blends, then go to the website: Fine Teas by Master Tea Blenders Harney & Sons
> 
> I'm lucky enough to live within striking distance of a Harney and Sons brick and mortar store and cafe, so Buzz and I usually head up to taste and buy in person, but the website has everything they offer. I've tried quite a few of the teas at the cafe if you have any questions.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'll definitely check them out. Thanks! We have a Spice and Tea Exchange in Mystic...but I feel like if something is set up in Mystic, it's not worth the money you pay for it, haha.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> any of y'all have a good online tea purveyor?
> 
> My wife has been enjoying some fancy bottled tea at around $3 a bottle. I figure I can brew my own for cheaper...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary recently planted/buried a tea bush. Mary Lou flavors a lot of her water with backyard stuff, Lemon Verbena, Tarragon, Mint, Lemon Balm, et al.  Out here, there are a ton of tea stores in the Asian malls. Gary buys his black, green, oolong and pu-erh teas over the counter. Gary hasn't purchased tea online ... so no tips. But, when you make it to LA he'll take you on a tea buying tour.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I really need to start an indoor herb garden. With some tree work the neighbors did, I get enough light in my kitchen now to make it happen. Some of those are probably too hearty for inside, though.
> 
> Tea stores in the Asian malls...sounds like I need to move to California. I bet you can buy galangal too...a critical ingredient to my favorite soup that I can't buy anywhere around here. (I've thought about asking the thai restaurant I normally buy my Tom Yum from if they have any I can take of their hands, but then they'd lose quite a bit of soup money during cold season).
Click to expand...

Bangkok Market in Los Angeles for starters.  Gary think it is relatively easy to get in SoCal. Gary grows his own ginger.


----------



## Gary A.

The ginger is blooming. 





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Rich Hill is dealing tonight for the Dodgers, masterful!


----------



## jcdeboever

Wow tough loss for Hill


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are at the Bowl tonight, so he missed the game.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> When my mum was buried, I took photos...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's something you don't see happening here anymore, and I'm not sure why. When I was younger it wasn't that uncommon.
Click to expand...


I guess death is considered a kind of accident and people think it should not happen so they try to ignore the unevitable...

For me it was possible to take the photos at the buriel, because I was alone with her dead body at the cremation. I did take photos there two to contain and document my emotions: Krematorium

In our family people are normally buried in coffins, so the dead body is present at the funural. My mother who died in 2015 though wanted to be cremated and then buried in an urn. Her death was 1 Jan 2015, cremation 9 Jan 2015, buriel of the urn was end of February.

Very important was the use of a minimally invasive camera, the X100T


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou and Gary are at the Bowl tonight, so he missed the game.


One of the best pitched games I've seen in a long time. One of the best games in a long time. Rich Hill is from Charlotte, MI. He is crafty, and I look forward to seeing him pitch in the playoffs, savy, crafty, veteran.


----------



## limr

HOSERS!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> HOSERS!!!


SMOSERS


----------



## waday

Happy Friday Eve!


----------



## JonA_CT

waiting to go home...been cleared for 2 hours. Jammin' paperwork.


----------



## waday

My continued dislike of shipping companies...


----------



## Frank F.

waday said:


> My continued dislike of shipping companies...
> 
> View attachment 145635



What's init?


----------



## limr

waday said:


> My continued dislike of shipping companies...
> 
> View attachment 145635



Yeesh!


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> My continued dislike of shipping companies...
> 
> View attachment 145635


I hate to say it but it doesn't look like a good package job for what it's worth.


----------



## waday

Frank F. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> My continued dislike of shipping companies...
> 
> View attachment 145635
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What's init?
Click to expand...

We've been having wifi issues throughout the house, so new router (one of those "mesh networks" comprised of a couple smaller nodes that work together). Seems to be working well enough.. time will tell.



jcdeboever said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> My continued dislike of shipping companies...
> 
> View attachment 145635
> 
> 
> 
> I hate to say it but it doesn't look like a good package job for what it's worth.
Click to expand...


I would estimate that I could fit at least 8, maybe 10, of the router boxes within the shipping box. It was ridiculously over-sized. The only packing material included two sheets of bubble wrap thrown into the shipping box.

So, I partly blame the shipping company (because no package should end up at my door like that), but also partly blame Best Buy for their bad packaging.


----------



## Frank F.

waday said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> My continued dislike of shipping companies...
> 
> View attachment 145635
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What's init?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We've been having wifi issues throughout the house, so new router (one of those "mesh networks" comprised of a couple smaller nodes that work together). Seems to be working well enough.. time will tell.
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> My continued dislike of shipping companies...
> 
> View attachment 145635
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I hate to say it but it doesn't look like a good package job for what it's worth.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I would estimate that I could fit at least 8, maybe 10, of the router boxes within the shipping box. It was ridiculously over-sized. The only packing material included two sheets of bubble wrap thrown into the shipping box.
> 
> So, I partly blame the shipping company (because no package should end up at my door like that), but also partly blame Best Buy for their bad packaging.
Click to expand...



It might have been some high tech airbag concept behind the packaging....


----------



## vintagesnaps

Look at Jack, ready and waiting and prayin', get that paperwork done and daddy take me home!


----------



## snowbear

Another trip completed.  Battling a headache with a pint of Brewster's Cherry Vanilla.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  This has been a rough week.  Gary's cousin had a stroke and has been in intensive care for two weeks.  Seems he may be over the hump and finally on the road to a long recovery.

Last night, while at the Bowl (Herbie Hancock and Kamasi Washington), texts and phones calls came streaming.  Gary's good friend, photographer and physician, had a heart attack.  Tom is young (mid-40's) and had an attack while on a bike ride.  His life was most likely saved because the attack hit while passing a fire station ... and because he was riding with a cycling group he founded comprising of Huntington Hospital employees. 

Gary is now flipping between hospitals.  It's been a tough week and there are three days to go.

@ JC:  Man, Hill almost made history.  Huge story with a huge image of Hill on the front page of the Sports section in the LA Times.  Great photo of Hill, long lens with a very tight crop.  Full of drama, just like the game.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  This has been a rough week.  Gary's cousin had a stroke and has been in intensive care for two weeks.  Seems he may be over the hump and finally on the road to a long recovery.
> 
> Last night, while at the Bowl (Herbie Hancock and Kamasi Washington), texts and phones calls came streaming.  Gary's good friend, photographer and physician, had a heart attack.  Tom is young (mid-40's) and had an attack while on a bike ride.  His life was most likely saved because the attack hit while passing a fire station ... and because he was riding with a cycling group he founded comprising of Huntington Hospital employees.
> 
> Gary is now flipping between hospitals.  It's been a tough week and there are three days to go.
> 
> @ JC:  Man, Hill almost made history.  Huge story with a huge image of Hill on the front page of the Sports section in the LA Times.  Great photo of Hill, long lens with a very tight crop.  Full of drama, just like the game.



I'm so sorry, Tio    I hope both your cousin and your friend continue to get stronger and better.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> Another trip completed.  Battling a headache with a pint of Brewster's Cherry Vanilla.


Recently had their black raspberry. I don't know what took me so long to try it! Delicious!


----------



## waday

Gary, hope your cousin and friend get better!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary, your cousin and friend are in my prayers. I'm believing for a speedy recovery.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  This has been a rough week.  Gary's cousin had a stroke and has been in intensive care for two weeks.  Seems he may be over the hump and finally on the road to a long recovery.
> 
> Last night, while at the Bowl (Herbie Hancock and Kamasi Washington), texts and phones calls came streaming.  Gary's good friend, photographer and physician, had a heart attack.  Tom is young (mid-40's) and had an attack while on a bike ride.  His life was most likely saved because the attack hit while passing a fire station ... and because he was riding with a cycling group he founded comprising of Huntington Hospital employees.
> 
> Gary is now flipping between hospitals.  It's been a tough week and there are three days to go.
> 
> @ JC:  Man, Hill almost made history.  Huge story with a huge image of Hill on the front page of the Sports section in the LA Times.  Great photo of Hill, long lens with a very tight crop.  Full of drama, just like the game.


Sorry to hear this.  Prayers and thoughts going your way.


----------



## Gary A.

Thank you all, for your thoughts and prayers.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  TGIFF!

@Gary A.  sorry to hear all of the bad things that are going on in your world right now.  

@snowbear  hope your headache has gone.

What's everyone up to this weekend?  I find myself unexpectedly free of obligations!!!!  Princess was invited last minute to the Cape with a friend's family, the house and yard are in good shape and fall softball season doesn't start until 9/9.  And I think I might be all set with the beach until next year.  Weather here is expected to be slightly cool at 70's and sunny.  What to do, what to do?????  Need some late summer shooting ideas.  I'm meeting friends tonight for some dancing to one of our favorite bands so no sunrise shoots tomorrow but otherwise I'm open to suggestions.


----------



## smoke665

Morning all. What a great day, it's Saturday, the sun is shining, and more importantly it's only 7 more days till FOOTBALL IN THE SOUTH starts with Alabama vs Florida State. Or to be more exact 183 hrs and counting down. What an exciting way to start the season!!!


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. missed your post earlier. Sorry to hear of the health issues of your cousin and friend. Prayers for both that recovery will be speedy.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> What a great day, it's Saturday


WHAT TRICKERY IS THIS?!


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> What a great day, it's Saturday
> 
> 
> 
> WHAT TRICKERY IS THIS?!
Click to expand...

He ate his Wheaties and ahead of schedule.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> What a great day, it's Saturday
> 
> 
> 
> WHAT TRICKERY IS THIS?!
Click to expand...


No bogarting the time machine, Smokey!!


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> WHAT TRICKERY IS THIS?!



LOL. Well for me EVERYDAY is Saturday!!!!! I got so excited when my wife reminded me of the game that I forgot what day it was!!!!


----------



## SquarePeg

I guess when you're retired you lose track of what day it is????


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg You lose track of a lot of things!!!!  At least it's good to know that my posts are actually getting read LOL


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> @SquarePeg You lose track of a lot of things!!!!  At least it's good to know that my posts are actually getting read LOL



I've never seen so many Hosers respond so quickly!  I can picture everyone huddled at their work desks like Bob Cratchit, squinting over some spreadsheet or term paper, then suddenly they're checking their calendars in excitement in case they came to work for no reason!


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> then suddenly they're checking their calendars in excitement in case they came to work for no reason!



I hope they checked and didn't just run out the door!!! I'll have a bunch of people mad at me LOL


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @SquarePeg You lose track of a lot of things!!!!  At least it's good to know that my posts are actually getting read LOL
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've never seen so many Hosers respond so quickly!  I can picture everyone huddled at their work desks like Bob Cratchit, squinting over some spreadsheet or term paper, then suddenly they're checking their calendars in excitement in case they came to work for no reason!
Click to expand...


I was totally looking at a spreadsheet, although it also didn't change much for me because I have to work tomorrow anyway! 

(Yup, it's another OT Saturday for me. Longer this time: 8-4. It sucks when I'm waking up, but it's great when I get my paycheck  )


----------



## smoke665

@limr the downside to retirement is that you don't have the weekend to look forward to EXCEPT during football season.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> @limr the downside to retirement is that you don't have the weekend to look forward to EXCEPT during football season.



Long live Game Day!!


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> What's everyone up to this weekend?  I find myself unexpectedly free of obligations!!!!  Princess was invited last minute to the Cape with a friend's family, the house and yard are in good shape and fall softball season doesn't start until 9/9.  And I think I might be all set with the beach until next year.  Weather here is expected to be slightly cool at 70's and sunny.  What to do, what to do?????  Need some late summer shooting ideas.  I'm meeting friends tonight for some dancing to one of our favorite bands so no sunrise shoots tomorrow but otherwise I'm open to suggestions.


I need to verify a road name & speed limit but I'll try to do that on the way home tonight.  Other than that, I intend to art (draw and paint).

I could easily photo the clogged roads leading to the beaches but I don't want to go near them; I did enough driving this week!  But maybe look for those things that "announce" the ending of summer or beginning of autumn: back to school, roadside food stands, etc.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  TGIFF!
> 
> @Gary A.  sorry to hear all of the bad things that are going on in your world right now.
> 
> @snowbear  hope your headache has gone.
> 
> What's everyone up to this weekend?  I find myself unexpectedly free of obligations!!!!  Princess was invited last minute to the Cape with a friend's family, the house and yard are in good shape and fall softball season doesn't start until 9/9.  And I think I might be all set with the beach until next year.  Weather here is expected to be slightly cool at 70's and sunny.  What to do, what to do?????  Need some late summer shooting ideas.  I'm meeting friends tonight for some dancing to one of our favorite bands so no sunrise shoots tomorrow but otherwise I'm open to suggestions.


Come on by and bring your macro.  The ginger is blooming, wonderful fragrance and the blooms only last a single day.  We'll BBQ, Gary will make some pasta or breads, watch some ball in the patio.  If you have ants in your pants, there's: 

Hollywood






 Santa Monica





The Getty Center





Mission San Juan Capistrano





The Huntington Library (Pasadena)





The Griffith Observatory





Downtown Disney





Santa Barbara





The Queen Mary





Tidepools





Wine Tasting


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I was totally looking at a spreadsheet, although it also didn't change much for me because I have to work tomorrow anyway!
> 
> (Yup, it's another OT Saturday for me. Longer this time: 8-4. It sucks when I'm waking up, but it's great when I get my paycheck  )


You, too?


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was totally looking at a spreadsheet, although it also didn't change much for me because I have to work tomorrow anyway!
> 
> (Yup, it's another OT Saturday for me. Longer this time: 8-4. It sucks when I'm waking up, but it's great when I get my paycheck  )
> 
> 
> 
> You, too?
Click to expand...


Yup. The good news is that it is the last Saturday I'll have to work until at least Nov. And yes, the extra pay is nice. But still. Two Saturdays in a row. I am knackered. 

And it's no good to go into a semester knackered. Good thing I am only teaching one class...well, in addition to my FT job, and possibly an online class that I might take. Okay, so maybe I am doing this to myself  

Which is why, @SquarePeg , when faced with a weekend alone with nothing to do, my answer to "what should I do?" is usually SLEEEEEEEEP!


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Which is why, @SquarePeg , when faced with a weekend alone with nothing to do, my answer to "what should I do?" is usually SLEEEEEEEEP!


Hmm. Sleep is good. I'd rather just blow my brain cells watching TV.

Caught up on all shows we're currently watching. Have to wait until Sunday for new Twin Peaks, Game of Thrones, and John Oliver.

What the heck do I watch now? I guess I could finish the Great British Baking Show. I think the last episode I watched was pastry?

Anyone watch GOT, no _major_ spoilers below, but just in case, its in spoiler quotes:


Spoiler



The last season has felt really rushed and kinda thrown together in a very haphazard way. The whole "let's go beyond the wall and capture a white walker" thing is just stupid. Who would do that? I mean, I know it was to essentially try to unite all the forces/etc, but come on.

And, where did all those "red shirts" come from when they went beyond the wall?


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Which is why, @SquarePeg , when faced with a weekend alone with nothing to do, my answer to "what should I do?" is usually SLEEEEEEEEP!
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm. Sleep is good. I'd rather just blow my brain cells watching TV.
> 
> Caught up on all shows we're currently watching. Have to wait until Sunday for new Twin Peaks, Game of Thrones, and John Oliver.
> 
> What the heck do I watch now? I guess I could finish the Great British Baking Show. I think the last episode I watched was pastry?
> 
> Anyone watch GOT, no _major_ spoilers below, but just in case, its in spoiler quotes:
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> The last season has felt really rushed and kinda thrown together in a very haphazard way. The whole "let's go beyond the wall and capture a white walker" thing is just stupid. Who would do that? I mean, I know it was to essentially try to unite all the forces/etc, but come on.
> 
> And, where did all those "red shirts" come from when they went beyond the wall?
Click to expand...


I have not yet started the latest season of Orange is the New Black. I know that as soon as I do, I'm going to be obsessed. I might have to leave that for Labor Day weekend. The rest of the world is out and about and having bbqs and driving to beaches, and I'll be sequestered with Netflix, cats, and popcorn


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I have not yet started the latest season of Orange is the New Black


Yes! Totally forgot about that. Definitely need to watch that.

And, Transparent...


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Which is why, @SquarePeg , when faced with a weekend alone with nothing to do, my answer to "what should I do?" is usually SLEEEEEEEEP!
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm. Sleep is good. I'd rather just blow my brain cells watching TV.
> 
> Caught up on all shows we're currently watching. Have to wait until Sunday for new Twin Peaks, Game of Thrones, and John Oliver.
> 
> What the heck do I watch now? I guess I could finish the Great British Baking Show. I think the last episode I watched was pastry?
> 
> Anyone watch GOT, no _major_ spoilers below, but just in case, its in spoiler quotes:
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> The last season has felt really rushed and kinda thrown together in a very haphazard way. The whole "let's go beyond the wall and capture a white walker" thing is just stupid. Who would do that? I mean, I know it was to essentially try to unite all the forces/etc, but come on.
> 
> And, where did all those "red shirts" come from when they went beyond the wall?
Click to expand...




Spoiler: Don't read if you're not caught up on GOT or if you don't care about GOT.



I was thinking the same thing about the red shirts, lol.  Everytime someone was getting eaten by the dead I was trying to see who it was and then thinking Who TF is that?  The parallels with TWD and them being called Walkers is kind of weird right?  The scene on the little island in the lake reminded me of TWD season 1 when Rick was trapped in the tank. 

I don't feel like it's rushed so much as moving faster than previous seasons.  I'm ok with that.  I wonder how much of that is due to being beyond the books????  The books were excruciatingly slow paced and now the series is one season removed from them.  What's your bet on who gets to kill Cersei?  I'm going with Sansa.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Come on by and bring your macro. The ginger is blooming, wonderful fragrance and the blooms only last a single day. We'll BBQ, Gary will make some pasta or breads, watch some ball in the patio. If you have ants in your pants, there's:



Very tempting...you should be getting paid by CA travel and tourism budget.  I've got enough ff miles to take me there but unfortunately CA is a bit too far away for a one night trip!


----------



## SquarePeg

Wherever I go this weekend will need to include the dog.  He's been left alone too much this summer.  Looks like a hike will be on the agenda!


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Which is why, @SquarePeg , when faced with a weekend alone with nothing to do, my answer to "what should I do?" is usually SLEEEEEEEEP!
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm. Sleep is good. I'd rather just blow my brain cells watching TV.
> 
> Caught up on all shows we're currently watching. Have to wait until Sunday for new Twin Peaks, Game of Thrones, and John Oliver.
> 
> What the heck do I watch now? I guess I could finish the Great British Baking Show. I think the last episode I watched was pastry?
> 
> Anyone watch GOT, no _major_ spoilers below, but just in case, its in spoiler quotes:
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> The last season has felt really rushed and kinda thrown together in a very haphazard way. The whole "let's go beyond the wall and capture a white walker" thing is just stupid. Who would do that? I mean, I know it was to essentially try to unite all the forces/etc, but come on.
> 
> And, where did all those "red shirts" come from when they went beyond the wall?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Don't read if you're not caught up on GOT or if you don't care about GOT.
> 
> 
> 
> I was thinking the same thing about the red shirts, lol.  Everytime someone was getting eaten by the dead I was trying to see who it was and then thinking Who TF is that?  The parallels with TWD and them being called Walkers is kind of weird right?  The scene on the little island in the lake reminded me of TWD season 1 when Rick was trapped in the tank.
> 
> I don't feel like it's rushed so much as moving faster than previous seasons.  I'm ok with that.  I wonder how much of that is due to being beyond the books????  The books were excruciatingly slow paced and now the series is one season removed from them.  What's your bet on who gets to kill Cersei?  I'm going with Sansa.
Click to expand...




Spoiler: GOT Talk



I don't watch TWD, so I can't help with any parallels! 

The red shirts. I'm somewhat angry at that, because when they had all those scenes (which were beautiful cinematography, BTW) of them walking beyond the wall to meet the white walkers, there weren't like 20 of them. Only the main 7 guys. So, to have so many red shirts get killed was annoying to me, because it didn't follow logic.

But, the whole being trapped in the middle of the island thing... if the Night King has such good aim with throwing things -- namely killing the dragon, why didn't he just throw a few spears at the men on the island?

Also, if the white walkers can't swim, how did they get those chains on the dragon to pull the dragon out of the water?

Also, why wasn't there enough time for Benjen to get on the horse with Jon Snow? The white walkers were like a quarter mile away.

I didn't read the books (  ) but from what I gather, Martin hasn't had any real say in the last few seasons, so it's really just the HBO writing team that got us to where we are now.

RE: Cersei, oh, that's a good question. Who says she's going to die? Ha. I hope she does, but she is a good villain. I actually kinda think she's going to die from a side character, rather than from any main character. But, if I had to pick a main character, I'd say either Sansa or Jon Snow or Dany.

I'm waiting for Littlefinger to die, as well. That guy bugs me, he's so creepy. Kinda hoping that the whole Sansa/Arya spat is just for LF's amusement and that they're actually going to eff him over in the end.

Also also, I think that Arya is going to use her assassin powers to kill the Night King, since we now know that they essentially only need to kill one person to make the entire dead army fall. Poor planning on the Night King part.. unless the Wights don't get killed from killing the Night King.


----------



## Overread

Today is a BAD DAY.....

Two weeks ago our dog had a painful shoulder/limp that wet took her too get checked just in case; perfectly fine from that a few days later. However since then she's gone downhill in other ways and this last week has hardly eaten any food. But despite that she's got bright eyes, has moments of being bouncy and even caught a pheasant the other day. So today we took her in for a full scan and discovered that she's got extensive lung cancer. She's 11 1/2 years old and its way beyond any treatment - sadly those breathless/huffing/puffing moments that one can so easily see as signs now were put down more to her just getting a little older and being an active dog most of the time (pulling on walks - charging around and generally being a husky). 
So she's on antibiotics and steroids. Vet thinks she's got weeks to maybe two months before it will be time to put her down. So time for her to enjoy life a bit; have good food and such. Lung cancer apparently doesn't cause pain due to a lack of pain receptors or such in the lungs themselves and she's not showing pain overtly. Still a very grim and dark day  


Then to add insult a company who produces miniatures/games that I play and was running a Kickstarter to launch new factions into the game has closed shop today. Granted this is nothing like as bad as our dog but its still a bad thing. 


So yeah bad day today


----------



## waday

Overread said:


> Today is a BAD DAY.....
> 
> Two weeks ago our dog had a painful shoulder/limp that wet took her too get checked just in case; perfectly fine from that a few days later. However since then she's gone downhill in other ways and this last week has hardly eaten any food. But despite that she's got bright eyes, has moments of being bouncy and even caught a pheasant the other day. So today we took her in for a full scan and discovered that she's got extensive lung cancer. She's 11 1/2 years old and its way beyond any treatment - sadly those breathless/huffing/puffing moments that one can so easily see as signs now were put down more to her just getting a little older and being an active dog most of the time (pulling on walks - charging around and generally being a husky).
> So she's on antibiotics and steroids. Vet thinks she's got weeks to maybe two months before it will be time to put her down. So time for her to enjoy life a bit; have good food and such. Lung cancer apparently doesn't cause pain due to a lack of pain receptors or such in the lungs themselves and she's not showing pain overtly. Still a very grim and dark day
> 
> 
> Then to add insult a company who produces miniatures/games that I play and was running a Kickstarter to launch new factions into the game has closed shop today. Granted this is nothing like as bad as our dog but its still a bad thing.
> 
> 
> So yeah bad day today


So sorry to hear this.


----------



## SquarePeg

Overread said:


> Today is a BAD DAY.....
> 
> Two weeks ago our dog had a painful shoulder/limp that wet took her too get checked just in case; perfectly fine from that a few days later. However since then she's gone downhill in other ways and this last week has hardly eaten any food. But despite that she's got bright eyes, has moments of being bouncy and even caught a pheasant the other day. So today we took her in for a full scan and discovered that she's got extensive lung cancer. She's 11 1/2 years old and its way beyond any treatment - sadly those breathless/huffing/puffing moments that one can so easily see as signs now were put down more to her just getting a little older and being an active dog most of the time (pulling on walks - charging around and generally being a husky).
> So she's on antibiotics and steroids. Vet thinks she's got weeks to maybe two months before it will be time to put her down. So time for her to enjoy life a bit; have good food and such. Lung cancer apparently doesn't cause pain due to a lack of pain receptors or such in the lungs themselves and she's not showing pain overtly. Still a very grim and dark day
> 
> 
> Then to add insult a company who produces miniatures/games that I play and was running a Kickstarter to launch new factions into the game has closed shop today. Granted this is nothing like as bad as our dog but its still a bad thing.
> 
> 
> So yeah bad day today



Oh no!  Poor pup.  So sorry for the bad news.  It's terrible when they're sick and can't communicate with us.


----------



## limr

Overread said:


> Today is a BAD DAY.....
> 
> Two weeks ago our dog had a painful shoulder/limp that wet took her too get checked just in case; perfectly fine from that a few days later. However since then she's gone downhill in other ways and this last week has hardly eaten any food. But despite that she's got bright eyes, has moments of being bouncy and even caught a pheasant the other day. So today we took her in for a full scan and discovered that she's got extensive lung cancer. She's 11 1/2 years old and its way beyond any treatment - sadly those breathless/huffing/puffing moments that one can so easily see as signs now were put down more to her just getting a little older and being an active dog most of the time (pulling on walks - charging around and generally being a husky).
> So she's on antibiotics and steroids. Vet thinks she's got weeks to maybe two months before it will be time to put her down. So time for her to enjoy life a bit; have good food and such. Lung cancer apparently doesn't cause pain due to a lack of pain receptors or such in the lungs themselves and she's not showing pain overtly. Still a very grim and dark day
> 
> 
> Then to add insult a company who produces miniatures/games that I play and was running a Kickstarter to launch new factions into the game has closed shop today. Granted this is nothing like as bad as our dog but its still a bad thing.
> 
> 
> So yeah bad day today



Oh no!!!  I'm so sorry  At least she's not in pain and can end her days on this earth being spoiled rotten like a little doggo queen


----------



## Gary A.

Overread said:


> Today is a BAD DAY.....
> 
> Two weeks ago our dog had a painful shoulder/limp that wet took her too get checked just in case; perfectly fine from that a few days later. However since then she's gone downhill in other ways and this last week has hardly eaten any food. But despite that she's got bright eyes, has moments of being bouncy and even caught a pheasant the other day. So today we took her in for a full scan and discovered that she's got extensive lung cancer. She's 11 1/2 years old and its way beyond any treatment - sadly those breathless/huffing/puffing moments that one can so easily see as signs now were put down more to her just getting a little older and being an active dog most of the time (pulling on walks - charging around and generally being a husky).
> So she's on antibiotics and steroids. Vet thinks she's got weeks to maybe two months before it will be time to put her down. So time for her to enjoy life a bit; have good food and such. Lung cancer apparently doesn't cause pain due to a lack of pain receptors or such in the lungs themselves and she's not showing pain overtly. Still a very grim and dark day
> 
> 
> Then to add insult a company who produces miniatures/games that I play and was running a Kickstarter to launch new factions into the game has closed shop today. Granted this is nothing like as bad as our dog but its still a bad thing.
> 
> 
> So yeah bad day today


Sorry about your dog.  They are like family members.  Cook has taken ill and has barely eaten the last week or so.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Wherever I go this weekend will need to include the dog.  He's been left alone too much this summer.  Looks like a hike will be on the agenda!


Because of Cook's age (14), she travels with us on all our trips.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Overread said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today is a BAD DAY.....
> 
> Two weeks ago our dog had a painful shoulder/limp that wet took her too get checked just in case; perfectly fine from that a few days later. However since then she's gone downhill in other ways and this last week has hardly eaten any food. But despite that she's got bright eyes, has moments of being bouncy and even caught a pheasant the other day. So today we took her in for a full scan and discovered that she's got extensive lung cancer. She's 11 1/2 years old and its way beyond any treatment - sadly those breathless/huffing/puffing moments that one can so easily see as signs now were put down more to her just getting a little older and being an active dog most of the time (pulling on walks - charging around and generally being a husky).
> So she's on antibiotics and steroids. Vet thinks she's got weeks to maybe two months before it will be time to put her down. So time for her to enjoy life a bit; have good food and such. Lung cancer apparently doesn't cause pain due to a lack of pain receptors or such in the lungs themselves and she's not showing pain overtly. Still a very grim and dark day
> 
> 
> Then to add insult a company who produces miniatures/games that I play and was running a Kickstarter to launch new factions into the game has closed shop today. Granted this is nothing like as bad as our dog but its still a bad thing.
> 
> 
> So yeah bad day today
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry about your dog.  They are like family members.  Cook has taken ill and has barely eaten the last week or so.
Click to expand...


No, not the Cook, too!! Sending 'get well and eat!' wishes to her.


----------



## jcdeboever

Overread said:


> Today is a BAD DAY.....
> 
> Two weeks ago our dog had a painful shoulder/limp that wet took her too get checked just in case; perfectly fine from that a few days later. However since then she's gone downhill in other ways and this last week has hardly eaten any food. But despite that she's got bright eyes, has moments of being bouncy and even caught a pheasant the other day. So today we took her in for a full scan and discovered that she's got extensive lung cancer. She's 11 1/2 years old and its way beyond any treatment - sadly those breathless/huffing/puffing moments that one can so easily see as signs now were put down more to her just getting a little older and being an active dog most of the time (pulling on walks - charging around and generally being a husky).
> So she's on antibiotics and steroids. Vet thinks she's got weeks to maybe two months before it will be time to put her down. So time for her to enjoy life a bit; have good food and such. Lung cancer apparently doesn't cause pain due to a lack of pain receptors or such in the lungs themselves and she's not showing pain overtly. Still a very grim and dark day
> 
> 
> Then to add insult a company who produces miniatures/games that I play and was running a Kickstarter to launch new factions into the game has closed shop today. Granted this is nothing like as bad as our dog but its still a bad thing.
> 
> 
> So yeah bad day today


Man that is unfortunate. Sorry to hear this. Amazing how much they become a part if us.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Overread said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today is a BAD DAY.....
> 
> Two weeks ago our dog had a painful shoulder/limp that wet took her too get checked just in case; perfectly fine from that a few days later. However since then she's gone downhill in other ways and this last week has hardly eaten any food. But despite that she's got bright eyes, has moments of being bouncy and even caught a pheasant the other day. So today we took her in for a full scan and discovered that she's got extensive lung cancer. She's 11 1/2 years old and its way beyond any treatment - sadly those breathless/huffing/puffing moments that one can so easily see as signs now were put down more to her just getting a little older and being an active dog most of the time (pulling on walks - charging around and generally being a husky).
> So she's on antibiotics and steroids. Vet thinks she's got weeks to maybe two months before it will be time to put her down. So time for her to enjoy life a bit; have good food and such. Lung cancer apparently doesn't cause pain due to a lack of pain receptors or such in the lungs themselves and she's not showing pain overtly. Still a very grim and dark day
> 
> 
> Then to add insult a company who produces miniatures/games that I play and was running a Kickstarter to launch new factions into the game has closed shop today. Granted this is nothing like as bad as our dog but its still a bad thing.
> 
> 
> So yeah bad day today
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry about your dog.  They are like family members.  Cook has taken ill and has barely eaten the last week or so.
Click to expand...

Poor girl. Maybe a different foot? Sorry to hear this. She is special.


----------



## Overread

My thanks all! 



Gary A. said:


> Sorry about your dog.  They are like family members.  Cook has taken ill and has barely eaten the last week or so.



Sorry to hear about Cook - hope that Cook can pull through!

Sadly with animals they tend to try to hide pain/problems so when they go down they tend to go down fast. Then again people can be like that too.


----------



## limr

Overread said:


> My thanks all!
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry about your dog.  They are like family members.  Cook has taken ill and has barely eaten the last week or so.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear about Cook - hope that Cook can pull through!
> 
> Sadly with animals they tend to try to hide pain/problems so when they go down they tend to go down fast. Then again people can be like that too.
Click to expand...


Cats are even worse than dogs. In living or in dying, they are particularly stubborn creatures.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Overread said:
> 
> 
> 
> My thanks all!
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry about your dog.  They are like family members.  Cook has taken ill and has barely eaten the last week or so.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear about Cook - hope that Cook can pull through!
> 
> Sadly with animals they tend to try to hide pain/problems so when they go down they tend to go down fast. Then again people can be like that too.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Cats are even worse than dogs. In living or in dying, they are particularly stubborn creatures.
Click to expand...

I know that's right. It was a bad time when my Ping was ill. Couldn't do anything to help him. The trip to the vets pretty much did him in.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Overread said:
> 
> 
> 
> My thanks all!
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry about your dog.  They are like family members.  Cook has taken ill and has barely eaten the last week or so.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear about Cook - hope that Cook can pull through!
> 
> Sadly with animals they tend to try to hide pain/problems so when they go down they tend to go down fast. Then again people can be like that too.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Cats are even worse than dogs. In living or in dying, they are particularly stubborn creatures.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I know that's right. It was a bad time when my Ping was ill. Couldn't do anything to help him. The trip to the vets pretty much did him in.
Click to expand...


Poor Ping  

My little Gomer Pyle went downhill so fast that I ended up putting him to sleep less than a week after I realized he wasn't well.


----------



## vintagesnaps

So sorry to hear that Overread, and Gary I hope Cook's OK.


----------



## tirediron

Overread said:


> Today is a BAD DAY.....
> 
> Two weeks ago our dog had a painful shoulder/limp that wet took her too get checked just in case; perfectly fine from that a few days later. However since then she's gone downhill in other ways and this last week has hardly eaten any food. But despite that she's got bright eyes, has moments of being bouncy and even caught a pheasant the other day. So today we took her in for a full scan and discovered that she's got extensive lung cancer. She's 11 1/2 years old and its way beyond any treatment - sadly those breathless/huffing/puffing moments that one can so easily see as signs now were put down more to her just getting a little older and being an active dog most of the time (pulling on walks - charging around and generally being a husky).
> So she's on antibiotics and steroids. Vet thinks she's got weeks to maybe two months before it will be time to put her down. So time for her to enjoy life a bit; have good food and such. Lung cancer apparently doesn't cause pain due to a lack of pain receptors or such in the lungs themselves and she's not showing pain overtly. Still a very grim and dark day
> 
> 
> Then to add insult a company who produces miniatures/games that I play and was running a Kickstarter to launch new factions into the game has closed shop today. Granted this is nothing like as bad as our dog but its still a bad thing.
> 
> 
> So yeah bad day today


Very sorry!


----------



## Overread

Thanks all for the continued support!

Our husky certainly is very sure that she HATES the vets. In her defence she only goes there when she's feeling really bad and then they do nasty things with needles!! It's not like she's been there very often but she knows as soon as she steps out the car that she's there and really doesn't want to be there any more! But yes going to the vets can certainly take it out of an animal who is already weakened.


----------



## Frank F.

I was shooting insects and flowers in the botanical garden Bonn today, when I heared a unique voice sing. I went there and asked him for a portrait:






Someone in Bonn can afford to have Herman van Veen play at their private party....


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary sorry to hear about what's going on with your cousin, and your friend. I don't know if you know I had a stroke, if you want to ask me about it. Seems like it varies how it can affect someone. It can be a long recovery but it's possible to keep getting better, the brain has a rather amazing ability to heal (the nerves are apparently what take time). Hope your cousin gets better.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Gary sorry to hear about what's going on with your cousin, and your friend. I don't know if you know I had a stroke, if you want to ask me about it. Seems like it varies how it can affect someone. It can be a long recovery but it's possible to keep getting better, the brain has a rather amazing ability to heal (the nerves are apparently what take time). Hope your cousin gets better.



Thank you. This is extremely severe and complicated. His BP and temp have been extremely high they've had to execute a tracheotomy and he's had a drain in and out since being admitted. He's is finally responding relatively definitively to outside stimuli. We think he has turned a corner. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

I wondered if it might be more involved than what I experienced, that there were other medical things going on. Needing a trach etc., that sounds serious. I'd been thinking I hadn't been in intensive care, then realized, I'm not really sure; I remember only maybe 3 brief moments of the first week or so. Hope he's over the worst.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Overread said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today is a BAD DAY.....
> 
> Two weeks ago our dog had a painful shoulder/limp that wet took her too get checked just in case; perfectly fine from that a few days later. However since then she's gone downhill in other ways and this last week has hardly eaten any food. But despite that she's got bright eyes, has moments of being bouncy and even caught a pheasant the other day. So today we took her in for a full scan and discovered that she's got extensive lung cancer. She's 11 1/2 years old and its way beyond any treatment - sadly those breathless/huffing/puffing moments that one can so easily see as signs now were put down more to her just getting a little older and being an active dog most of the time (pulling on walks - charging around and generally being a husky).
> So she's on antibiotics and steroids. Vet thinks she's got weeks to maybe two months before it will be time to put her down. So time for her to enjoy life a bit; have good food and such. Lung cancer apparently doesn't cause pain due to a lack of pain receptors or such in the lungs themselves and she's not showing pain overtly. Still a very grim and dark day
> 
> 
> Then to add insult a company who produces miniatures/games that I play and was running a Kickstarter to launch new factions into the game has closed shop today. Granted this is nothing like as bad as our dog but its still a bad thing.
> 
> 
> So yeah bad day today
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry about your dog.  They are like family members.  Cook has taken ill and has barely eaten the last week or so.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Poor girl. Maybe a different foot? Sorry to hear this. She is special.
Click to expand...


Assuming "foot" = food ... Gary's been all over that. Normally she dry food available 24/7 and she snacks. In the evening she eats a can of wet. 

When she shut down eating ... I've been trying everything. She was just eating the only dog treat she likes, a chicken jerky treat ... then she stopped, then sliced deli turkey ... then she stopped, next was cook ground turkey ... then she stopped ... next was sliced deli cooked ham ... then she stopped ... then Tri-tip and now we're on roasted grocery store chicken. All hand fed. The vet thinks it all due to age. For a week+ no walks. Two days ago, after a decent meal of chicken, we walked almost a block and yesterday we made a block. Gary gave her tri-tip and chicken this morning ... nada. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

PS- She does better when fed by hand so ... hand feeding it is. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> I wondered if it might be more involved than what I experienced, that there were other medical things going on. Needing a trach etc., that sounds serious. I'd been thinking I hadn't been in intensive care, then realized, I'm not really sure; I remember only maybe 3 brief moments of the first week or so. Hope he's over the worst.



The docs say he most likely won't remember his stay. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

On a more positive note ... the kid Gary and Mary Lou adopted and helped secure a spot at Berkeley... text me today that after his first week he cannot believe how tough it is ... but he's loving it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## benhasajeep

Overread said:


> Thanks all for the continued support!
> 
> Our husky certainly is very sure that she HATES the vets. In her defence she only goes there when she's feeling really bad and then they do nasty things with needles!! It's not like she's been there very often but she knows as soon as she steps out the car that she's there and really doesn't want to be there any more! But yes going to the vets can certainly take it out of an animal who is already weakened.


Our dogs love the vets.  Anywhere for that matter.   Our lab had to have ACL surgery done at about 2 years old. Lots of vet  visits afterwards.  Very social dog.  Big problem now at 11 he has hard time with the stairs up to the bedroom.  Hes always slept up there.  He comes up but it takes him a while to get going up.  If you leave him down there he cries and barks.  Wife wants a doggy lift on the stairs for him.


----------



## Frank F.

Mascha Kaléko writes, roughly translated:

I do not fear my own death
I only fear the death of those near to me
How can I live if they are no longer here?
your own death, you just have to die
but with the death of others, you have to live


----------



## SquarePeg

benhasajeep said:


> Overread said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks all for the continued support!
> 
> Our husky certainly is very sure that she HATES the vets. In her defence she only goes there when she's feeling really bad and then they do nasty things with needles!! It's not like she's been there very often but she knows as soon as she steps out the car that she's there and really doesn't want to be there any more! But yes going to the vets can certainly take it out of an animal who is already weakened.
> 
> 
> 
> Our dogs love the vets.  Anywhere for that matter.   Our lab had to have ACL surgery done at about 2 years old. Lots of vet  visits afterwards.  Very social dog.  Big problem now at 11 he has hard time with the stairs up to the bedroom.  Hes always slept up there.  He comes up but it takes him a while to get going up.  If you leave him down there he cries and barks.  Wife wants a doggy lift on the stairs for him.
Click to expand...


My dog is the same.  He loves going anywhere, including the vets.  The only place he doesn't like is the dog park.  That's because he has no idea that he's a dog.


----------



## smoke665

@Overread so sorry to hear. Hardest thing in the world is saying goodbye to a loyal and loving friend. 

@Gary A. sure hope Cook is on the mend quickly.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> Mascha Kaléko writes roughly translated:
> 
> I do not fear my own death
> I only fear the death of those near to me
> How can I live if they are no longer here?
> your own death, you just have to die
> but with the death of others, you have to live



Very aptly says what I've unfortunately felt many times during my life.


----------



## snowbear

Overread said:


> Today is a BAD DAY.....
> 
> Two weeks ago our dog had a painful shoulder/limp that wet took her too get checked just in case; perfectly fine from that a few days later. However since then she's gone downhill in other ways and this last week has hardly eaten any food. But despite that she's got bright eyes, has moments of being bouncy and even caught a pheasant the other day. So today we took her in for a full scan and discovered that she's got extensive lung cancer. She's 11 1/2 years old and its way beyond any treatment - sadly those breathless/huffing/puffing moments that one can so easily see as signs now were put down more to her just getting a little older and being an active dog most of the time (pulling on walks - charging around and generally being a husky).
> So she's on antibiotics and steroids. Vet thinks she's got weeks to maybe two months before it will be time to put her down. So time for her to enjoy life a bit; have good food and such. Lung cancer apparently doesn't cause pain due to a lack of pain receptors or such in the lungs themselves and she's not showing pain overtly. Still a very grim and dark day
> 
> 
> Then to add insult a company who produces miniatures/games that I play and was running a Kickstarter to launch new factions into the game has closed shop today. Granted this is nothing like as bad as our dog but its still a bad thing.
> 
> 
> So yeah bad day today


Sorry to hear about pups.  Game place, too.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Overread said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today is a BAD DAY.....
> 
> Two weeks ago our dog had a painful shoulder/limp that wet took her too get checked just in case; perfectly fine from that a few days later. However since then she's gone downhill in other ways and this last week has hardly eaten any food. But despite that she's got bright eyes, has moments of being bouncy and even caught a pheasant the other day. So today we took her in for a full scan and discovered that she's got extensive lung cancer. She's 11 1/2 years old and its way beyond any treatment - sadly those breathless/huffing/puffing moments that one can so easily see as signs now were put down more to her just getting a little older and being an active dog most of the time (pulling on walks - charging around and generally being a husky).
> So she's on antibiotics and steroids. Vet thinks she's got weeks to maybe two months before it will be time to put her down. So time for her to enjoy life a bit; have good food and such. Lung cancer apparently doesn't cause pain due to a lack of pain receptors or such in the lungs themselves and she's not showing pain overtly. Still a very grim and dark day
> 
> 
> Then to add insult a company who produces miniatures/games that I play and was running a Kickstarter to launch new factions into the game has closed shop today. Granted this is nothing like as bad as our dog but its still a bad thing.
> 
> 
> So yeah bad day today
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry about your dog.  They are like family members.  Cook has taken ill and has barely eaten the last week or so.
Click to expand...

Awww.


----------



## Gary A.

Tom had a successful surgery, so he's on the way to recovery from his heart attack.  Patrick, the stroke victim, was pretty much unresponsive for the few hours Gary was by his bedside. Cook isn't eating today.  I spooned gravy over a mixture of chicken and tri-tip and I opened up a container of wet ... nada. Monday or tomorrow we'll be back to the vet.  If she continues not to eat ... well, sadly, this may be it.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Tom had a successful surgery, so he's on the way to recovery from his heart attack.  Patrick, the stroke victim, was pretty much unresponsive for the few hours Gary was by his bedside. Cook isn't eating today.  I spooned gravy over a mixture of chicken and tri-tip and I opened up a container of wet ... nada. Monday or tomorrow we'll be back to the vet.  If she continues not to eat ... well, sadly, this may be it.



Good news on Tom! Patrick in my daily thoughts and prayers. Come on Cook, we're pulling for yah! I like spooned gravy over a mixture of chicken and tri-tip.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wherever I go this weekend will need to include the dog.  He's been left alone too much this summer.  Looks like a hike will be on the agenda!
> 
> 
> 
> Because of Cook's age (14), she travels with us on all our trips.
Click to expand...



I love the Cook.

Yesterday, talking to a photo customer who owns a lot of horses, she told me about a still born foal this summer. I was only days to delivery, horses carry 11 months. She just broke together by its side to cry. They are no professional breeders and the horses are not well protected from people walking by, feeding them poisonous plants unintentionally or other horses possibly kicking them in play .... It was the second miscarriage of that horse so they will refrain from another insemination. Horses mourn like humans do.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is taking a break from another stressful day and roasting some coffee and eating some grapes in the patio.  He made some chicken fettuccine and the sauce is simmering away.  (It's not that roasting coffee is a stress breaker ... but Gary is out of coffee ... so ... one less thing to think of, is one thing less stressful.)


----------



## snowbear

Running out of coffee is stressful; unless you have some decent tea.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary I hope your cousin is doing better when you see him again. I don't remember much to know, really, how I was at that point afterwards. (Because I was too out of it to know.) Later I kept getting told I was lucky because I was in better shape than I should have been. And Cook on top of that, I'm not even a dog person but I like Cook, I'm sorry to hear about that too. My goodness, you had some end to your week.


----------



## terri

Gracious, a lot of sad news today.  @Gary A. ,glad to hear that the people in your life are on the mend; crossing my fingers for Cook!

@Overread, I am so sorry to hear about your dog's sudden illness.        It's been a year now since we lost Odin, who was 15 years old.   Regardless of whether you think you're prepared, or it's something unexpected, it knocks us back when one of our precious furry family members takes a bad turn.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Gary is taking a break from another stressful day and roasting some coffee and eating some grapes in the patio.  He made some chicken fettuccine and the sauce is simmering away.  (It's not that roasting coffee is a stress breaker ... but Gary is out of coffee ... so ... one less thing to think of, is one thing less stressful.)




I need to buy meat for the third week of three. Have been hungry sometimes. Have been hardcore hypoglycemic several times, needed wall support to process to a chair or bed. The Microbiome Diet in the first three weeks has no source of fast carbohydrates nor fast protein sources. So if you miss a meal you have to crawl to the oven to prepare some fruit & veggies in the frying pan and add almond butter or the like.

Or you do as told and prepare mountains of snacks like roasted chick peas and the like for emergencies. If you have appointments and demanding children I can assure you, there will be emergencies!

Inconcistencies are lots of. E.g. all legumes are forbidden except for lentils and chick peas. 





But the shopping list for week two features a big bag of frozen green peas. The recipes feature cooking with beer and wine which does mean significant amounts of Alcohol are in the finished product, etc.

A second edition is needed with the errors and inconcistencies corrected.


----------



## Gary A.

If there a danger of hypoglycemic ... man ... Gary would be on two diets as there isn't enough food in one.  Gary's ex was a Type 1 diabetic ... hypoglycemic was a very real and daily threat. Speaking of food, yesterday Gary made Chicken Fettuccine for his first time. It was very very tasty, it came out well, but Gary and Mary Lou just clogged up 70% of their remaining arteries and veins.  Never again will Gary use that recipe: two cakes of cream cheese, two sticks of butter, a cup ana half of whole milk, a cup ana half of Parmigiana Cheese ... my heart took a beating just in the preparation.

Cook didn't eat at all yesterday, she completely stressed Gary out as all day he tried different foods, tri-tip, store roasted chicken, wet dog food, ham off the bone, cooked ham, gravy ... nada.  This morning she ate quite a bit (at least for her) of store roasted chicken ... but no ham. She seems much more energetic than the past week or so. In the past, if she heard an odd noise in the back, she would blast out the doggie door to investigate.  Since she has lost hearing in both of her ears, that practiced has stopped ... but last night ... in the middle of the night she blasted out the door barking.  Maybe a dream ... but the fact that she did it Gary hopes is a sign of improvement. Mary Lou and Gary have enjoyed Cook's Blasts ... we have wooden floors and much of her acceleration is retarded as she peels-out on the slippery floors seeking traction.  (The turns were wild.)

There is plenty of leftovers, so if anyone desires some Chicken Fettuccine worthy of stopping your heart, PM Gary.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Cook's Blasts ... we have wooden floors and much of her acceleration is retarded as she peels-out on the slippery floors seeking traction. (The turns were wild.)



We crack up when this happens to our dog.  He's running in place on the hardwood floor, feet flying and getting nowhere - we call it Scooby-Do ing.


----------



## SquarePeg

Glad Cook is showing improvement.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary doesn't know if it's the calm before the storm type of thing or if it is truly an improvement. Thank you for the sentiment.


----------



## Gary A.

Anybody know what this is?



iPhone image

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

Looks like a spikey cousin to a Japanese Lantern.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Anybody know what this is?View attachment 145777
> iPhone image
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


That is a Ballon plant after its flowering stage. Next it will turn color and eventually burst open with seeds for next year. 
Balloon Plant, Gomphocarpus physocarpus – Master Gardener Program


----------



## Gary A.

Not a Chinese lantern?


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anybody know what this is?View attachment 145777
> iPhone image
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> That is a Ballon plant after its flowering stage. Next it will turn color and eventually burst open with seeds for next year.
> Balloon Plant, Gomphocarpus physocarpus – Master Gardener Program
Click to expand...

Yep ... a giant Milkweed or in this case Milktree plant.  It produces hairy balls (above).


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Not a Chinese lantern?


Nope, check the link I posted


----------



## Gary A.

We planted it for the Monarchs.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anybody know what this is?View attachment 145777
> iPhone image
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> That is a Ballon plant after its flowering stage. Next it will turn color and eventually burst open with seeds for next year.
> Balloon Plant, Gomphocarpus physocarpus – Master Gardener Program
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yep ... a giant Milkweed or in this case Milktree plant.  It produces hairy balls (above).
Click to expand...


My grandma used to call them monkey balls. I drew them once at the farm and grandma said, oh, honey, you shouldn't be drawing monkey balls...we would laugh are butt off.


----------



## Gary A.

Grandma was right ... never draw monkey balls.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Grandma was right ... never draw monkey balls.



Well I had too because I didn't  know what hairy balls were then....


----------



## jcdeboever

I like Chicken Fettuccine


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is taking a break from another stressful day and roasting some coffee and eating some grapes in the patio.  He made some chicken fettuccine and the sauce is simmering away.  (It's not that roasting coffee is a stress breaker ... but Gary is out of coffee ... so ... one less thing to think of, is one thing less stressful.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I need to buy meat for the third week of three. Have been hungry sometimes. Have been hardcore hypoglycemic several times, needed wall support to process to a chair or bed. The Microbiome Diet in the first three weeks has no source of fast carbohydrates nor fast protein sources. So if you miss a meal you have to crawl to the oven to prepare some fruit & veggies in the frying pan and add almond butter or the like.
> 
> Or you do as told and prepare mountains of snacks like roasted chick peas and the like for emergencies. If you have appointments and demanding children I can assure you, there will be emergencies!
> 
> Inconcistencies are lots of. E.g. all legumes are forbidden except for lentils and chick peas.
> 
> View attachment 145763
> 
> But the shopping list for week two features a big bag of frozen green peas. The recipes feature cooking with beer and wine which does mean significant amounts of Alcohol are in the finished product, etc.
> 
> A second edition is needed with the errors and inconcistencies corrected.
Click to expand...


Man, that has the makings of a great fart party. Bring your lighters girls and boys... (limrs eyes rolling back deep)


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. There could be several reasons for Cook not eating including age. I'm assuming that a vet has checked out for medical/dental reasons, if you haven't you need to.  Sometimes they also just get a little off, in those cases boiling chicken to create a broth, then cut up the chicken in small pieces and mix in rice. Use enough broth to sufficently wet the rice but not make it overly soupy. Feed thus for a couple days then gradually work start adding more of their normal food.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. There could be several reasons for Cook not eating including age. I'm assuming that a vet has checked out for medical/dental reasons, if you haven't you need to.  Sometimes they also just get a little off, in those cases boiling chicken to create a broth, then cut up the chicken in small pieces and mix in rice. Use enough broth to sufficently wet the rice but not make it overly soupy. Feed thus for a couple days then gradually work start adding more of their normal food.


She's been to the vet.  Gary will try the broth.  Gary tried gravy yesterday to 'sweeten' and soften, but to no avail.  Everything is cut-up and shredded for her.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Everything is cut-up and shredded for her.



Think very small pieces  chicken, not much bigger than 2 or 3 grains of rice, and NEVER use canned broth (make your own).  Our Vet has recommended the chicken, broth, rice mix as a very bland diet many times over the years. It requires little chewing if they're experiencing teeth/gum/jaw problems, and the blandness allows the intestinal tract to recover. 

Try feeding smaller batches (3-4) times during the day at same time each day. If they don't eat, try again at the next scheduled time. Once they start on this bland diet after a day or so, add in a teaspoon of plain full fat yogurt. If they refuse the yogurt (some do) try scrambled eggs made in a little butter. 

Dogs go off feed for many reasons but usually its due to:

An illness that has not been diagnosed yet.
Some type of gastrointestinal irritation.
If they're on medications, that can sometimes trigger a lack of appetite.
Aches and pains of getting older. They hurt just like we do.
Problems with teeth, gums or jaws.
Loss of smell from age
Boredom and lack of activity.
If Cook persists in not eating for more than a couple days, it would probably be wise to visit your Vet again. If they still can't pin down a source for the lack of appetite they may prescribe a mild pain reliever, and/or an appetite enhancer. Hope you find the answers quickly.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary was planning on the vet today. But she ate some shredded chicken this morning.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Gary was planning on the vet today. But she ate some shredded chicken this morning.


It's so hard, watching them.   Glad she ate something today.    With a little energy, she might feel like getting around a bit more.    Not eating-->no energy-->not feeling like eating, and around you go.    Moving around more might encourage that appetite!


----------



## Gary A.

Cook and Gary used to take 2 to 3 mile walks everyday. Cook was typically off leash and could explore and sniff and just be a dog for the entire trek. When she doesn't eat, we don't walk. When she does eat, we only walk to the end of the block. 

Mary Lou and Gary are returning from visiting Tom (the triple bypass guy). He was conscience and talking and generally in good spirits for a person who was minutes away from death. Some of his cycling pals dropped by, and were with him when he had the heart attack. Even though paramedics started giving CPR within a few minutes of his fall, (he was cycling with others), he was already turning blue when the paramedics arrived. His life was most likely saved because he literally fell in front of a fire station. One can tell in his eyes that he fully understands how lucky he was. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Cook and Gary used to take 2 to 3 mile walks everyday. Cook was typically off leash and could explore and sniff and just be a dog for the entire trek. When she doesn't eat, we don't walk. When she does eat, we only walk to the end of the block.
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary are returning from visiting Tom (the triple bypass guy). He was conscience and talking and generally in good spirits for a person who was minutes away from death. Some of his cycling pals dropped by, and were with him when he had the heart attack. Even though paramedics started giving CPR within a few minutes of his fall, (the was cycling with other), he was already turning blue when the paramedics arrived. His life was most likely saved because he literally fell in front of a fire station.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Good news.


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is taking a break from another stressful day and roasting some coffee and eating some grapes in the patio.  He made some chicken fettuccine and the sauce is simmering away.  (It's not that roasting coffee is a stress breaker ... but Gary is out of coffee ... so ... one less thing to think of, is one thing less stressful.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I need to buy meat for the third week of three. Have been hungry sometimes. Have been hardcore hypoglycemic several times, needed wall support to process to a chair or bed. The Microbiome Diet in the first three weeks has no source of fast carbohydrates nor fast protein sources. So if you miss a meal you have to crawl to the oven to prepare some fruit & veggies in the frying pan and add almond butter or the like.
> 
> Or you do as told and prepare mountains of snacks like roasted chick peas and the like for emergencies. If you have appointments and demanding children I can assure you, there will be emergencies!
> 
> Inconcistencies are lots of. E.g. all legumes are forbidden except for lentils and chick peas.
> 
> View attachment 145763
> 
> But the shopping list for week two features a big bag of frozen green peas. The recipes feature cooking with beer and wine which does mean significant amounts of Alcohol are in the finished product, etc.
> 
> A second edition is needed with the errors and inconcistencies corrected.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Man, that has the makings of a great fart party. Bring your lighters girls and boys... (limrs eyes rolling back deep)
Click to expand...



The fart is a function of mixing healthy and unhealthy foods. Esp bacteria that crave for short carbohydrates produce air in the intestinal tract. Eat Sauerkraut with a lot of sugar and Salad with a sugary desert following...


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is taking a break from another stressful day and roasting some coffee and eating some grapes in the patio.  He made some chicken fettuccine and the sauce is simmering away.  (It's not that roasting coffee is a stress breaker ... but Gary is out of coffee ... so ... one less thing to think of, is one thing less stressful.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I need to buy meat for the third week of three. Have been hungry sometimes. Have been hardcore hypoglycemic several times, needed wall support to process to a chair or bed. The Microbiome Diet in the first three weeks has no source of fast carbohydrates nor fast protein sources. So if you miss a meal you have to crawl to the oven to prepare some fruit & veggies in the frying pan and add almond butter or the like.
> 
> Or you do as told and prepare mountains of snacks like roasted chick peas and the like for emergencies. If you have appointments and demanding children I can assure you, there will be emergencies!
> 
> Inconcistencies are lots of. E.g. all legumes are forbidden except for lentils and chick peas.
> 
> View attachment 145763
> 
> But the shopping list for week two features a big bag of frozen green peas. The recipes feature cooking with beer and wine which does mean significant amounts of Alcohol are in the finished product, etc.
> 
> A second edition is needed with the errors and inconcistencies corrected.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Man, that has the makings of a great fart party. Bring your lighters girls and boys... (limrs eyes rolling back deep)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> The fart is a function of mixing healthy and unhealthy foods. Esp bacteria that crave for short carbohydrates produce air in the intestinal tract. Eat Sauerkraut with a lot of sugar and Salad with a sugary desert following...
Click to expand...

Frank, I was being silly...


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is taking a break from another stressful day and roasting some coffee and eating some grapes in the patio.  He made some chicken fettuccine and the sauce is simmering away.  (It's not that roasting coffee is a stress breaker ... but Gary is out of coffee ... so ... one less thing to think of, is one thing less stressful.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I need to buy meat for the third week of three. Have been hungry sometimes. Have been hardcore hypoglycemic several times, needed wall support to process to a chair or bed. The Microbiome Diet in the first three weeks has no source of fast carbohydrates nor fast protein sources. So if you miss a meal you have to crawl to the oven to prepare some fruit & veggies in the frying pan and add almond butter or the like.
> 
> Or you do as told and prepare mountains of snacks like roasted chick peas and the like for emergencies. If you have appointments and demanding children I can assure you, there will be emergencies!
> 
> Inconcistencies are lots of. E.g. all legumes are forbidden except for lentils and chick peas.
> 
> View attachment 145763
> 
> But the shopping list for week two features a big bag of frozen green peas. The recipes feature cooking with beer and wine which does mean significant amounts of Alcohol are in the finished product, etc.
> 
> A second edition is needed with the errors and inconcistencies corrected.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Man, that has the makings of a great fart party. Bring your lighters girls and boys... (limrs eyes rolling back deep)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> The fart is a function of mixing healthy and unhealthy foods. Esp bacteria that crave for short carbohydrates produce air in the intestinal tract. Eat Sauerkraut with a lot of sugar and Salad with a sugary desert following...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Frank, I was being silly...
Click to expand...

So was Frank ... nobody eats sauerkraut with sugar ... lol


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> The fart is a function of mixing healthy and unhealthy foods.



Soooo, the beer and pickled eggs we consumed at the hunting camps over the years. Which was healthy and which was unhealthy???


----------



## smoke665

Wasted day yesterday. Before I retired I was a firm believer in the "7 P's" on any project. Now I've gotten lazy. Yesterday I started a project only to find I didn't have everything I needed, after the 3rd trip to the store, only to find I was still short something, I gave up. Will try again this afternoon. Anyone else find this happening to them as they retired and got older?


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> Wasted day yesterday. Before I retired I was a firm believer in the "7 P's" on any project. Now I've gotten lazy. Yesterday I started a project only to find I didn't have everything I needed, after the 3rd trip to the store, only to find I was still short something, I gave up. Will try again this afternoon. Anyone else find this happening to them as they retired and got older?


I always made lists - working or not working.   Staff members passing me in the hall would holler something - "Hey, I'm putting in for time off around Labor Day.   Just letting you know so you can think about coverage."   Or, tell me that they needed me to order them something.   My reply would be in the realm of: "Put it in writing, email me, come see me in my office - if you don't see me writing it down, this discussion never happened!"

I learned long ago not to rely on my memory.     Not a good idea!


----------



## Gary A.

Yes, lists, lists and lists.  A carry over from Gary's news days, he always carries a Reporter's Notebook and a pen.  Gary finds it a higher level of guilt, if he doesn't carry out a written task, then if he simply ignores the task.  He gets great satisfaction striking out an item as completed.

At work, everything is written down in one form or another.  Even phone calls will get follow-up email describing the outcome of said call(s). Gary and Comey are much alike, .


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Wasted day yesterday. Before I retired I was a firm believer in the "7 P's" on any project. Now I've gotten lazy. Yesterday I started a project only to find I didn't have everything I needed, after the 3rd trip to the store, only to find I was still short something, I gave up. Will try again this afternoon. Anyone else find this happening to them as they retired and got older?



I had a similarly frustrating morning yesterday but with other issues than memory - just one of those days where nothing went right.  Since I had the day free I decided to take the dog and go for a hike at one of the local nature preserves.  I had a bunch of softball equipment in my car that needed to be dropped off at our league storage locker so I thought I'd take care of that first since it's on the way.  Here is how my morning went.  

Arrive at storage facility and get out of car to unlock outer gate.
Drive in, get out again and re-lock outer gate (there are multiple signs warning against leaving the gate unlocked and it's not the best area so I didn't' want to leave it unlocked).
Drive to storage locker and spend 20 minutes getting key to work in rusted padlock.  Success!!
Load stuff into locker.
Spend 20 minutes trying to get key out of lock so I can lock up the locker.  No such luck.
Drive out of storage facility, getting out of car and unlock gate, drive through, get out and re-lock gate.
Drive to Lowe's down the road and buy new lock (dog poops on floor in Lowe's so have to clean that up).  
Drive back to storage facility, get out and unlock gate, drive through, get back out and re-lock gate.
Drive to locker, cannot get new lock out of ridiculous packaging.  Don't have anything sharp with me.  Keys and lock are packaged like they're thousand dollar electronics or razors at the drug store!  Have to get help.  Drive around facility, no one else is at any of the other lockers.  
Drive out again getting out of the car to open then again to re-lock the outer gate (getting really annoyed now...).
Drive back to Lowe's and have the guy in the lock department look at my receipt then cut the lock packaging off for me.
Drive back to storage place and get out to open then again to re-lock the outer gate. 
Drive back to storage locker and guess what?  New lock does not fit in the hole for the padlock.  
Take photo of lock on storage locker next to ours.
Drive out again getting out to open and then again to re-lock the outer gate.
Drive back to Lowe's.  Return first lock and buy duplicate of the one in the photo, ignoring condescending attitude of lock guy.
Drive back to storage locker, get out of car to open then again to re-lock outer gate.
Drive to storage locker, put new lock on (hooray!)
Drive out of storage facility getting out again to unlock then again to re-lock the outer gate.
Drive home and open bottle of wine for me and bacon snacks for dog.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are enjoying a quiet morning taking our coffee and tea in the patio. It is mid-morning and we are still in our pj's. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg: LOL ... In retrospect, Gary thinks you should not have cleaned up after the dog.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wasted day yesterday. Before I retired I was a firm believer in the "7 P's" on any project. Now I've gotten lazy. Yesterday I started a project only to find I didn't have everything I needed, after the 3rd trip to the store, only to find I was still short something, I gave up. Will try again this afternoon. Anyone else find this happening to them as they retired and got older?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had a similarly frustrating morning yesterday but with other issues than memory - just one of those days where nothing went right.  Since I had the day free I decided to take the dog and go for a hike at one of the local nature preserves.  I had a bunch of softball equipment in my car that needed to be dropped off at our league storage locker so I thought I'd take care of that first since it's on the way.  Here is how my morning went.
> 
> Arrive at storage facility and get out of car to unlock outer gate.
> Drive in, get out again and re-lock outer gate (there are multiple signs warning against leaving the gate unlocked and it's not the best area so I didn't' want to leave it unlocked).
> Drive to storage locker and spend 20 minutes getting key to work in rusted padlock.  Success!!
> Load stuff into locker.
> Spend 20 minutes trying to get key out of lock so I can lock up the locker.  No such luck.
> Drive out of storage facility, getting out of car and unlock gate, drive through, get out and re-lock gate.
> Drive to Lowe's down the road and buy new lock (dog poops on floor in Lowe's so have to clean that up).
> Drive back to storage facility, get out and unlock gate, drive through, get back out and re-lock gate.
> Drive to locker, cannot get new lock out of ridiculous packaging.  Don't have anything sharp with me.  Keys and lock are packaged like they're thousand dollar electronics or razors at the drug store!  Have to get help.  Drive around facility, no one else is at any of the other lockers.
> Drive out again getting out of the car to open then again to re-lock the outer gate (getting really annoyed now...).
> Drive back to Lowe's and have the guy in the lock department look at my receipt then cut the lock packaging off for me.
> Drive back to storage place and get out to open then again to re-lock the outer gate.
> Drive back to storage locker and guess what?  New lock does not fit in the hole for the padlock.
> Take photo of lock on storage locker next to ours.
> Drive out again getting out to open and then again to re-lock the outer gate.
> Drive back to Lowe's.  Return first lock and buy duplicate of the one in the photo, ignoring condescending attitude of lock guy.
> Drive back to storage locker, get out of car to open then again to re-lock outer gate.
> Drive to storage locker, put new lock on (hooray!)
> Drive out of storage facility getting out again to unlock then again to re-lock the outer gate.
> Drive home and open bottle of wine for me and bacon snacks for dog.
Click to expand...


We've had days close to that.  We keep a pair of scissors in the car glove box, as well as a package of pens.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> @ Peg: LOL ... In retrospect, Gary thinks you should not have cleaned up after the dog.


But those that were behind you really appreciate it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday, Mary Lou and Gary hit Tom at the Huntington Library.  He was quite conscience and alert.  There was a giant tube coming out of his neck and into this cool bubbly machine.  Gary thinks a similar machine would work well for airiating vino.  Patrick, the stroke guy, is still in ICU, been two weeks, with slow improvements coupled  with incremental setbacks. The Cook ate a bit this morning, about a handful of shredded chicken.  Two days in a row of eating, which is an improvement.  Today, Gary will whip up smoke's sick dog recipe, chicken w/rice stew.  Yesterday, she was trotting down to the end of the block but coming back she was having problems and Gary carried her home.  This morning she seemed to have a bit of a spring in her step. Monday we're back to the vets.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Peg: LOL ... In retrospect, Gary thinks you should not have cleaned up after the dog.
> 
> 
> 
> But those that were behind you really appreciate it.
Click to expand...

Gary would call that collateral damage.


----------



## Gary A.

For Seniors Gary saw this in the LA Times:

This is a lifetime pass to Federal parks.  This is the last day to purchase at $10 (plus another tenner for processing). On Monday the pass will spike to $80.   The catch is that it is a senior pass (so how much lifetime does a senior have ... right?).

Goto: lat.ms/seniorpass to purchase.

"About the Senior Pass:
The Senior Pass is a lifetime pass available to United States citizens or permanent residents 62 years of age or older. The Pass can be used at over 2000 Federal recreation sites across the nation, including National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, and many National Forest lands. The Senior Pass admits the Pass owner and any passengers traveling with him/her in a single non-commercial vehicle at per-vehicle fee areas or the Pass owner and three additional adults where per-person fees are charged. The Senior Pass may also offer a discount on some expanded amenity fees, such as camping. Discounts offered by the Pass vary widely across the many different types of recreation sites. Pass owners are encouraged to check with sites they plan to visit before obtaining a pass to verify that their Pass will be accepted. Anytime a Pass is used, photo identification will be requested to verify Pass ownership."


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> I always made lists - working or not working



My wife and I keep multiple lists that sync with each other's cell phones. To do lists, Shopping list, Medication lists, etc., etc. We couldn't live with out them. My problem had to do with lack of following the first two P's  Prior Planning on the project. I just assumed I had the necessary items to complete the project.


----------



## snowbear

Hopefully the Sr NPS Pass will drop in price by the time I hit 62.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Hopefully the Sr NPS Pass will drop in price by the time I hit 62.


In a decade ... Gary thinks not.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> This is a lifetime pass to Federal parks. This is the last day to purchase at $10 (plus another tenner for processing). On Monday the pass will spike to $80. The catch is that it is a senior pass (so how much lifetime does a senior have ... right?).



We bought ours several years ago at a Federal Park location that sold them, so we only paid the $10. Over the years we've more than gotten our money back.

_so how much lifetime does a senior have??  _Never sure, but in our case we hope it's many more years!!!!!


----------



## snowbear

A bit less than a decade.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Hopefully the Sr NPS Pass will drop in price by the time I hit 62.



I doubt you'll ever see it drop, but even at the $80 amount it's a good deal, for seniors.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hopefully the Sr NPS Pass will drop in price by the time I hit 62.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I doubt you'll ever see it drop, but even at the $80 amount it's a good deal, for seniors.
Click to expand...

Probably not, but (trying to avoid a political discussion) increased budgets can, and have, lowered usage fees.


----------



## smoke665

Well *&^%$%^&*(*&&, went to the auto parts store for the last remaining item I needed to complete my project. Disassembled the first wheel on our 5th wheel, got the new brake shoes on, everything cleaned up. Started reassembly, and I find they shipped the wrong seals, not even close to what I ordered, and what was reflected on the packing list. So I've ground to a halt again!!!! Only store that might have them in stock won't be open till Monday or it will be Tuesday until I get replacements from the other place. I'm beginning to think someone's trying to tell me something!!!! Time to put tools up, pull out the camera and go relax shooting something!!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Well *&^%$%^&*(*&&, went to the auto parts store for the last remaining item I needed to complete my project. Disassembled the first wheel on our 5th wheel, got the new brake shoes on, everything cleaned up. Started reassembly, and I find they shipped the wrong seals, not even close to what I ordered, and what was reflected on the packing list. So I've ground to a halt again!!!! Only store that might have them in stock won't be open till Monday or it will be Tuesday until I get replacements from the other place. I'm beginning to think someone's trying to tell me something!!!! Time to put tools up, pull out the camera and go relax shooting something!!!!


I hate when that happens.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I hate when that happens.



I routinely do a lot of my own maintenance, and don't normally have these issues. So far this weekend I'm 10 hours into what should be a 4 hour job. Frustrated.


----------



## snowbear

I run into that crap (ha ha) when I try to do plumbing.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> I run into that crap (ha ha) when I try to do plumbing



Always better to run into, where you can at least back out of it, then to have it fall on you with no place to go


----------



## vintagesnaps

I used to be organized and keep track of things... not anymore - because I don't have to! lol I couldn't even stay on top of the online course I took just for fun, and ended up cramming the last couple of days... oh wait, that is what I used to do pulling those all nighters in the college dorm. 

Glad your friend is better Gary. I was thinking about your cousin, hope he gets to doing better this week. Glad Cook is eating a little more.


----------



## SquarePeg

All right people! I know it's Monday but the coffee house thread fell to Paige 2!  What????  

Morning Hosers! Hope you have a great week.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> All right people! I know it's Monday but the coffee house thread fell to Paige 2!  What????
> 
> Morning Hosers! Hope you have a great week.


OMG! What are we to do?


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> All right people! I know it's Monday but the coffee house thread fell to Paige 2!  What????
> 
> Morning Hosers! Hope you have a great week.
> 
> 
> 
> OMG! What are we to do?
Click to expand...


Time to postwhore!!! 

Good


----------



## limr

Morning,


----------



## limr

Hosers!!!


----------



## limr




----------



## Frank F.

I cook meatballs in the oven and serve them in home made beef broth cooked from meat and bones leek Onions and Carrots.

Another inconsistent recipee: Eggs are forbidden, but I have to add egg to stick ... To the recipee


----------



## Frank F.

I hope the following Photo is bad enough to be allowed here


----------



## vintagesnaps

There isn't enough coffee on a gray gloomy morning to get motivated to do anything, I have laundry going and it's been waiting for awhile now... And Frank's already working on dinner! lol


----------



## waday

Wife and I finally finished the last season of Great British Baking Show. The winner totally deserved it.

Also, attempted Paul's fougasse Friday night. Delicious. Hopefully I made it right, haha. Next time, I need to exaggerate the holes on the sides more.

Hard exterior, soft interior. Yum!


----------



## Frank F.

vintagesnaps said:


> There isn't enough coffee on a gray gloomy morning to get motivated to do anything, I have laundry going and it's been waiting for awhile now... And Frank's already working on dinner! lol




Yes, Dinner Time here. My morning was really bad, felt half dead due to side effects of medication. Evening is better.


----------



## Frank F.

PS: the meat balls are part of the superscrict diet weeks!!!!


----------



## JonA_CT

Back to work today. Students on Wednesday. It's weird being a different classroom in a different building. It's also weird leaving home at 7:15 and getting to work at 7:20.


----------



## Frank F.

JonA_CT said:


> Back to work today. Students on Wednesday. It's weird being a different classroom in a different building. It's also weird leaving home at 7:15 and getting to work at 7:20.




Superb. A five minute walk to work? Many people envy you!!!


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Back to work today. Students on Wednesday. It's weird being a different classroom in a different building. It's also weird leaving home at 7:15 and getting to work at 7:20.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Superb. A five minute walk to work? Many people envy you!!!
Click to expand...


I'm going to guess it is a 5-minute drive.


----------



## Frank F.

Results!!!!


----------



## JonA_CT

5 minute drive. It's walkable I suppose...it's about 3 miles each way. Definitely doable, but justifying 5 minutes in the car vs. 45 minutes walking with a newborn and a 2-year-old at home is tough. I'm considering a bike though...that would make it more like 15-20 minutes, and much more manageable with my schedule.


----------



## SquarePeg

Frank F. said:


> I hope the following Photo is bad enough to be allowed here


. What exactly do you mean by that?  I'd like to know for sure so nothing gets lost in translation.  



JonA_CT said:


> Back to work today. Students on Wednesday. It's weird being a different classroom in a different building. It's also weird leaving home at 7:15 and getting to work at 7:20.



Sounds like a good weird.  Best of luck with the new job!!


----------



## smoke665

Well this morning has been my morning in the barrel with crappy customer service. 1st it took three hours for the company that screwed up and sent me the wrong part to finally agree they were at fault and then to tell me the best they could do was to have the right parts to me in  3 days. (these will fit in a fedex letter envelope) Spent another hour with local places and finally found one that will have the parts for me in the morning no extra charges, just good customer service. Then had to spend another hour on the line with a lab that had charged us for things they shouldn't have. I hope it's several days before I have to talk to anyone with the title Customer Service.


----------



## Frank F.

I understand that I am only allowed casual smartphone snaps here. Good photos only allowed in galleries, right? This is the state after the recipee is finished:

The Meatballsoup!


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Well this morning has been my morning in the barrel with crappy customer service. 1st it took three hours for the company that screwed up and sent me the wrong part to finally agree they were at fault and then to tell me the best they could do was to have the right parts to me in  3 days. (these will fit in a fedex letter envelope) Spent another hour with local places and finally found one that will have the parts for me in the morning no extra charges, just good customer service. Then had to spend another hour on the line with a lab that had charged us for things they shouldn't have. I hope it's several days before I have to talk to anyone with the title Customer Service.




Those are the days where people need a good dinner after surviving them!!!


----------



## terri

waday said:


> Wife and I finally finished the last season of Great British Baking Show. The winner totally deserved it.
> 
> Also, attempted Paul's fougasse Friday night. Delicious. Hopefully I made it right, haha. Next time, I need to exaggerate the holes on the sides more.
> 
> Hard exterior, soft interior. Yum!
> 
> View attachment 145911


That looks beautiful!!    If it were in front of me, say with some olive oil to dip in and a glass of red wine nearby, I can assure you I wouldn't be commenting on the holes.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> The Meatballsoup!



Looks like it might be good to try. Is it spicy or bland?


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> Wife and I finally finished the last season of Great British Baking Show. The winner totally deserved it.
> 
> Also, attempted Paul's fougasse Friday night. Delicious. Hopefully I made it right, haha. Next time, I need to exaggerate the holes on the sides more.
> 
> Hard exterior, soft interior. Yum!
> 
> View attachment 145911


Yummy. I want a piece. I'm on my way over....


----------



## pixmedic

4 lbs of top round London broil with sweet Asian BBQ marinade. Soon to be jerky.
Well, in 6-8 hours. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Well, since bad pictures of food are allowed, here is my lunch: dyi cup-a-soup!
Veggie bouillon, zucchini, curried seitan, black rice noodles. Add boiling water, cover for 5 minutes, and it's all cooked and ready to go.


----------



## waday

terri said:


> That looks beautiful!!    If it were in front of me, say with some olive oil to dip in and a glass of red wine nearby, I can assure you I wouldn't be commenting on the holes.


Thank you! 



jcdeboever said:


> Yummy. I want a piece. I'm on my way over....


Come on over! We don't have any left (and it made 2 loaves!), but still have all the ingredients needed to make more.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> That looks beautiful!!    If it were in front of me, say with some olive oil to dip in and a glass of red wine nearby, I can assure you I wouldn't be commenting on the holes.
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yummy. I want a piece. I'm on my way over....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Come on over! We don't have any left (and it make 2 loaves!), but still have all the ingredients needed to make more.
Click to expand...


RECIPE!


----------



## limr

Um...please.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> RECIPE!


It was actually pretty easy. I don't bake often, but I love baking.

Mix ingredients. Mix more ingredients. Proof. Divide in two. Shape. Proof. Bake.

Probably took me 2-2.5 hours or so, including prep/proof time.

Fougasse Recipe | Great British Baking Show | PBS Food


----------



## waday

I would highly recommend a scale, and to prep all herbs before hand. I forgot to chop the herbs, and then had to rush chop them. Thankfully, all fingers are still intact.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> RECIPE!
> 
> 
> 
> It was actually pretty easy. I don't bake often, but I love baking.
> 
> Mix ingredients. Mix more ingredients. Proof. Divide in two. Shape. Proof. Bake.
> 
> Probably took me 2-2.5 hours or so, including prep/proof time.
> 
> Fougasse Recipe | Great British Baking Show | PBS Food
Click to expand...


Woot! Thanks  I think I'm going to try that next weekend when I have a little time to breathe. Three out of the last four work weeks were 6-day weeks, so I'm feeling fairly shot at the moment. Lots of stuff going on this week, too. I'm sooooo looking forward to a long weekend!

In other news, I started up my morning exercise routine again. I also started using my magnesium oil at night again to help improve the quality of my sleep (it helps soothe the jimmy leg, aka Restless Leg Syndrome.) These two things should hopefully help my energy levels to recover!


----------



## limr

waday said:


> I would highly recommend a scale, and to prep all herbs before hand. I forgot to chop the herbs, and then had to rush chop them. Thankfully, all fingers are still intact.



I do have a kitchen scale, and I know baking is pretty precise, so I'll definitely use it. Good tip about the herbs!


----------



## jcdeboever

I burn when I bake. Only time I didn't was when I used my sister's easy bake oven. We used to make stool softener brownies. Sister always made me clean up. When I got older, I blew it up with an m80 and made younger sister cry. (Limrs  eyes twisting deep in her eye sockets)


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> All right people! I know it's Monday but the coffee house thread fell to Paige 2!  What????
> 
> Morning Hosers! Hope you have a great week.



I've given up coffee.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> I've given up coffee



For me that will be the day after I've left this world. Did some quick calculations and if my math is right I've downed right at 11,000 gallons of coffee in my life.


----------



## JonA_CT

184 to go. No 1cam1lens photos today. Too busy.

In other news, I found a delicious watermelon at the store. I ate maybe half of it tonight.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> All right people! I know it's Monday but the coffee house thread fell to Paige 2!  What????
> 
> Morning Hosers! Hope you have a great week.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've given up coffee.
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> RECIPE!
> 
> 
> 
> It was actually pretty easy. I don't bake often, but I love baking.
> 
> Mix ingredients. Mix more ingredients. Proof. Divide in two. Shape. Proof. Bake.
> 
> Probably took me 2-2.5 hours or so, including prep/proof time.
> 
> Fougasse Recipe | Great British Baking Show | PBS Food
Click to expand...

Thanks - printed


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> All right people! I know it's Monday but the coffee house thread fell to Paige 2!  What????
> 
> Morning Hosers! Hope you have a great week.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've given up coffee.
Click to expand...

You and Mary Lou.


----------



## smoke665

Finished out my day on a good note.  I actually accomplished something. Moved several tons of rock in preparation for finally paving our drive. Always enjoy operating equipment. Now it's time to relax and enjoy one of my favorite local brews.


----------



## snowbear

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> All right people! I know it's Monday but the coffee house thread fell to Paige 2!  What????
> 
> Morning Hosers! Hope you have a great week.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've given up coffee.
Click to expand...

OK.  That was long enough.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Finished out my day on a good note.  I actually accomplished something. Moved several tons of rock in preparation for finally paving our drive. Always enjoy operating equipment. Now it's time to relax and enjoy one of my favorite local brews.
> 
> View attachment 145940


Those go good with a shot of bourbon


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  Gary has been as busy as a one legged man in a butt kicking contest.  Very little Marine Layer this morning, consequently it was hot and getting hotter.  We're heading into a heat fest.  August has been near perfect ... but now August is pulling out the rug from all of us in SoCal. Yesterday Gary grilled up a lovely dinner.  Gary has heard of a "wonderful" fish market in Fullerton, Drydock, which supplies many many restaurants in the area.  Gary expected Drydock to be this edifice like structure, huge walk-in freezers with oil-skinned clad and rubber-booted fishermen hauling fish and nets in and out of a frozen warehouse.  The public section was smaller than a 7-11, there were only three parking spaces in from of the store ... one glassed in display case and one multi-doored wall freezer.  Gary and Mike walked out with some Alaska Halibut and eight huge ... the size of small apples, huge ... scallops. Gary seasoned and wrapped the scallops with bacon and marinated the fish in Gary's secret citrus marinade, fired up the Kamado, added some Chicken Fettuccine, a fresh kale and apple salad, corn on the cob ... topped off with some tasty vino ... it was a memorable meal.  It was soooooo good ...


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Those go good with a shot of bourbon



I prefer not mixing the two.


----------



## Gary A.

LA County has sent some Swift Water Rescue Teams and equipment to Houston.


----------



## jcdeboever

I hope the Mark Rothko Chapel wasn't damaged in the storm there in Houston. I know there are more important things but man, that place left a mark on me. If you love art and ever there, you have to see it. 

Well, traveling the rest of the week in the state of Ohio, won't be home until Friday. Getting ready to hit the road at 5:30 am. More coffee, thermos to go I reckon.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> I hope the Mark Rothko Chapel wasn't damaged in the storm there in Houston. I know there are more important things but man, that place left a mark on me. If you love art and ever there, you have to see it.
> 
> Well, traveling the rest of the week in the state of Ohio, won't be home until Friday. Getting ready to hit the road at 5:30 am. More coffee, thermos to go I reckon.



Safe travels!


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> LA County has sent some Swift Water Rescue Teams and equipment to Houston.


I think Fairfax County, VA and Montgomery County, MD also have crews also on the way - both are FEMA response teams.  I took a basic GIS course for this program.  I found I really need to get a lot faster before I even think about participating.


----------



## snowbear

This is a crowdsourced story map put together by NAPSG (National Alliance for Public Safety GIS) of the damage from Harvey.
https://napsg.maps.arcgis.com/apps/...x.html?appid=b6ef838e4d26489e8f62102639dc3d91


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever , safe travels.


----------



## vintagesnaps

There were rescue teams from here too that went down there I saw on both Cincy and Dayton news maybe Sat. or Sun.

What exciting places in Ohio are you going to JC? If you find any... lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

My hip aches so bad today, did yesterday too although it eased up as the day went on but two days in a row of waking up with cramps and just couldn't get comfortable. Kinda forgot after the stroke I had this like every damn night! lol I hope it's the damp and it eases up, maybe I'll just keep the AC on tonight and see if that helps. Or I'll just moan and groan and complain to you people!


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> There were rescue teams from here too that went down there I saw on both Cincy and Dayton news maybe Sat. or Sun.
> 
> What exciting places in Ohio are you going to JC? If you find any... lol


Nothing exciting, just work. Basically, Findlay, Lima, Cleveland, Columbus. Brought a camera but not sure if I am going to do anything.


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> My hip aches so bad today, did yesterday too although it eased up as the day went on but two days in a row of waking up with cramps and just couldn't get comfortable. Kinda forgot after the stroke I had this like every damn night! lol I hope it's the damp and it eases up, maybe I'll just keep the AC on tonight and see if that helps. Or I'll just moan and groan and complain to you people!


Complain all you need to, sister!    It sounds painful.    Has anyone given you any PT, or recommended any yoga?   Some of the yogic hip openers can help.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> My hip aches so bad today, did yesterday too although it eased up as the day went on but two days in a row of waking up with cramps and just couldn't get comfortable. Kinda forgot after the stroke I had this like every damn night! lol I hope it's the damp and it eases up, maybe I'll just keep the AC on tonight and see if that helps. Or I'll just moan and groan and complain to you people!


Sorry. Anything you can do or take? Something bring it on?


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever , safe travels.


Thanks bud, so far, so good. I'm at the pickle park now eating my lunch. Raining, gloomy.


----------



## jcdeboever

@limr..... Lookie at what I got today for $20.00.... yeah baby. Other than the leather, looks to be in good order. Hard to say until I get a pack of film in it.


----------



## terri

I got me one of them!     Actually, I have 2 SX-70 cameras, but one of them was the *cheap* model of the day and didn't have this fancy covering, which now looks about as nice as this one does.   Dry rot or some icky kind of decay.

Pop it open, clean those rollers, bay-bay!!!    Pretty sure you can make it workable, look here.


----------



## SquarePeg

Running a quick errand today and saw a lemonade stand to benefit victims of Harvey in Houston.  The mom said the kids had raised over $400 today just with people stopping when they saw their sign.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Running a quick errand today and saw a lemonade stand to benefit victims of Harvey in Houston.  The mom said the kids had raised over $400 today just with people stopping when they saw their sign.


Love this!


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> @limr..... Lookie at what I got today for $20.00.... yeah baby. Other than the leather, looks to be in good order. Hard to say until I get a pack of film in it.
> View attachment 146017



Nice!!

My suggestion is to also get yourself a frog tongue for that thing. Polaroid camera film shield for folding-type cameras

Impossible Project film is crazy sensitive to light exposure and it's really important to keep it shielded from light while it processes (takes 30-45 minutes). No matter how fast you are grabbing that print after it shoots out of the camera, the damage has been done. I even go as far as to turn the camera towards me and bring it close, so that when I take the print out of the camera, it can be immediately pressed against my body to keep it shielded and then slipped into a pocket or camera bag.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr..... Lookie at what I got today for $20.00.... yeah baby. Other than the leather, looks to be in good order. Hard to say until I get a pack of film in it.
> View attachment 146017
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is helpful. Appreciate it.
> 
> Nice!!
> 
> My suggestion is to also get yourself a frog tongue for that thing. Polaroid camera film shield for folding-type cameras
> 
> Impossible Project film is crazy sensitive to light exposure and it's really important to keep it shielded from light while it processes (takes 30-45 minutes). No matter how fast you are grabbing that print after it shoots out of the camera, the damage has been done. I even go as far as to turn the camera towards me and bring it close, so that when I take the print out of the camera, it can be immediately pressed against my body to keep it shielded and then slipped into a pocket or camera bag.
Click to expand...


----------



## JonA_CT

One of the churches I drove by this afternoon had huge stacks of clothes, towels, and shoes they were getting ready to package up for Houston.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Running a quick errand today and saw a lemonade stand to benefit victims of Harvey in Houston.  The mom said the kids had raised over $400 today just with people stopping when they saw their sign.


That kind of stuff is great.  Usually, I just give the kids a few bucks and keep going.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Running a quick errand today and saw a lemonade stand to benefit victims of Harvey in Houston.  The mom said the kids had raised over $400 today just with people stopping when they saw their sign.
> 
> 
> 
> That kind of stuff is great.  Usually, I just give the kids a few bucks and keep going.
Click to expand...

I get the drink too.


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg Not sure if it was the same one but on the national news this evening there was a  little boy selling lemonade to help the TX victims. Didn't catch the location but I thought it was NE. His family had recently moved from TX. The kid was in a cowboy hat and a Superman cape. To cute.


----------



## jcdeboever

Now folks, don't get this twisted. If it were my kids, I would teach them to do something good for someone and don't tell anyone and they may have not. Just saying.


----------



## snowbear

I haven't seen anything around here for Houston/Corpus Christy but I haven't had time to look, today.

I am contemplating a jaunt to the *Dark Side* . . . GIS boss brought this in for me to look at.  It's his wife's so he can't negotiate but he told me to bring it home and look over it. I've loaded a 24 exposure roll of Fujifilm XTRA 400 to see how it performs.  Batteries are dead so there's no meter but I can around that.




Running a roll through it. by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## jcdeboever

I am at 15k pounds, half way there. If I can pick up 15 tomorrow, I bonus. I am feeling confident and hope to be home tomorrow night, providing I don't get dogged by travel log. I had to fix a couple lights, I was lucky I didn't get pulled over. Maintenance guy didn't do it. I should have double checked before I took off. That irritated me.  Now I'm dirty and thirsty. I'm glad I packed a maintenance box.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> I haven't seen anything around here fro Houston/Corpus Christy but I haven't had time to look, today.
> 
> I am contemplating a jaunt to the *Dark Side* . . . GIS boss brought this in for me to look at.  It's his wife's so he can't negotiate but he told me to bring it home and look over it. I've loaded a 24 exposure roll of Fujifilm XTRA 400 to see how it performs.  Batteries are dead so there's no meter but I can around that.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Running a roll through it. by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


Nice glass. I love my AE-1.


----------



## snowbear

It seems to be in real good shape.  The case has got a white-grey haze on it - I guess mildew or dry rot, but the camera seems clean.  If I get it, I'll check into some leather conditioner.  I saw a body for $80 and a similar lens for $85 to $99 so I have a rough idea what to offer.

If I get this thing, one of the nieces is going to give me what-for -- I make fun of her Canon.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> @SquarePeg Not sure if it was the same one but on the national news this evening there was a  little boy selling lemonade to help the TX victims. Didn't catch the location but I thought it was NE. His family had recently moved from TX. The kid was in a cowboy hat and a Superman cape. To cute.



I didn't see any costumes but there were at least 3 kids under 10 and they were so cute waiving signs at the passing cars and jumping up and down and high fiving each other when anyone stopped. 

@jcdeboever  I agree with you that a silent good deed is the way to go but I would assume it was someone other than the family doing the good deed that tipped off the news.  I know the news people stalk our community Facebook forum because that's how my brother and nephew ended up on World News Tonight for their charity work. Local news saw it on Facebook and ran a story that got picked up by national news.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> I am contemplating a jaunt to the *Dark Side* . . . GIS boss brought this in for me to look at. It's his wife's so he can't negotiate but he told me to bring it home and look over it. I've loaded a 24 exposure roll of Fujifilm XTRA 400 to see how it performs. Batteries are dead so there's no meter but I can around that.



I have an old EF that belonged to my Dad. I pulled it out the closet a few weeks ago to see how/if it still works. Course the batteries were dead, but fortunately no corrosion. Can't remember now what the deal was but for some reason the shutter didn't work properly without batteries. I just got the batteries last week, but haven't had the time to work on it yet.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am contemplating a jaunt to the *Dark Side* . . . GIS boss brought this in for me to look at. It's his wife's so he can't negotiate but he told me to bring it home and look over it. I've loaded a 24 exposure roll of Fujifilm XTRA 400 to see how it performs. Batteries are dead so there's no meter but I can around that.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have an old EF that belonged to my Dad. I pulled it out the closet a few weeks ago to see how/if it still works. Course the batteries were dead, but fortunately no corrosion. Can't remember now what the deal was but for some reason the shutter didn't work properly without batteries. I just got the batteries last week, but haven't had the time to work on it yet.
Click to expand...

Get to it Pappa. Man, do I have to come down your way and do shots with you


----------



## smoke665

I stopped at my favorite store in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago, Wings Camera to get batteries for the EF. They are a used equipment gold mine. The store isn't that big but they have boxes, and boxes of stuff that hold all sorts of treasures. I was somewhat surprised that in one of the few glass display cases in the place, were a couple of EF's for sale. I think they were asking $250 each for them.


----------



## snowbear

I tested the shutter before loading the film and it's working so I guess we'll see.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Now folks, don't get this twisted. If it were my kids, I would teach them to do something good for someone and don't tell anyone and they may have not. Just saying.


Nothing finer than being magnanimous ... but if the return/help increases with marketing ... little price to pay.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now folks, don't get this twisted. If it were my kids, I would teach them to do something good for someone and don't tell anyone and they may have not. Just saying.
> 
> 
> 
> Nothing finer than being magnanimous ... but if the return/help increases with marketing ... little price to pay.
Click to expand...

Maybe


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I am at 15k pounds, half way there. If I can pick up 15 tomorrow, I bonus. I am feeling confident and hope to be home tomorrow night, providing I don't get dogged by travel log. I had to fix a couple lights, I was lucky I didn't get pulled over. Maintenance guy didn't do it. I should have double checked before I took off. That irritated me.  Now I'm dirty and thirsty. I'm glad I packed a maintenance box.


So you're a driver now!


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> I am at 15k pounds, half way there. If I can pick up 15 tomorrow, I bonus. I am feeling confident and hope to be home tomorrow night, providing I don't get dogged by travel log. I had to fix a couple lights, I was lucky I didn't get pulled over. Maintenance guy didn't do it. I should have double checked before I took off. That irritated me.  Now I'm dirty and thirsty. I'm glad I packed a maintenance box.


Some of my in-laws are drivers.  FIL was, but he was also an @$$#0!e - not that one has anything to do with the other.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @SquarePeg Not sure if it was the same one but on the national news this evening there was a  little boy selling lemonade to help the TX victims. Didn't catch the location but I thought it was NE. His family had recently moved from TX. The kid was in a cowboy hat and a Superman cape. To cute.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't see any costumes but there were at least 3 kids under 10 and they were so cute waiving signs at the passing cars and jumping up and down and high fiving each other when anyone stopped.
> 
> @jcdeboever  I agree with you that a silent good deed is the way to go but I would assume it was someone other than the family doing the good deed that tipped off the news.  I know the news people stalk our community Facebook forum because that's how my brother and nephew ended up on World News Tonight for their charity work. Local news saw it on Facebook and ran a story that got picked up by national news.
Click to expand...

The "Fake News"?  ... Opps, did Gary cross a TPF line ...


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Some of my in-laws are drivers. FIL was, but he was also an @$$#0!e - not that one has anything to do with the other.



So now I'm confused are you driving a truck?


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am at 15k pounds, half way there. If I can pick up 15 tomorrow, I bonus. I am feeling confident and hope to be home tomorrow night, providing I don't get dogged by travel log. I had to fix a couple lights, I was lucky I didn't get pulled over. Maintenance guy didn't do it. I should have double checked before I took off. That irritated me.  Now I'm dirty and thirsty. I'm glad I packed a maintenance box.
> 
> 
> 
> Some of my in-laws are drivers.  FIL was, but he was also an @$$#0!e - not that one has anything to do with the other.
Click to expand...

I'm a salesman.  Challenge at work with drivers so I am handling it. I can out drive and service them in my sleep. It's me doing this or losing 3k in commission. I miss my cat


----------



## snowbear

Best wishes, then.  Take the cat along, next time.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  We are in a heat wave ... maybe 100F.  Didn't bother me, but I turned on the A/C for Cook.  After some blood tests, the Vet felt that it was kidneys malfunctioning causing her malaise and the root of not eating.  We are subq-ing fluids and hoping all the extra fluids will jumpstart her kidneys.  If not then maybe iv's ... but at her age, nothing may work. She is getting two treatments a day.  Sunday Gary cooked up a chicken, a la smoke ... she ate a few bites. She didn't eat Monday or today.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> miss my cat



I actually prefer my F350 dually to a car. Comfortable, with all bells and whistles. Didn't mind driving a tractor/trailer combination when I  had to in years past.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary crock potted some tarragon pork loins. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  We are in a heat wave ... maybe 100F.  Didn't bother me, but I turned on the A/C for Cook.  After some blood tests, the Vet felt that it was kidneys malfunctioning causing her malaise and the root of not eating.  We are subq-ing fluids and hoping all the extra fluids will jumpstart her kidneys.  If not then maybe iv's ... but at her age, nothing may work. She is getting two treatments a day.  Sunday Gary cooked up a chicken, a la smoke ... she ate a few bites. She didn't eat Monday or today.



Hate to head that about Cook. Been down that road with our previous fur kids and it's not easy


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  We are in a heat wave ... maybe 100F.  Didn't bother me, but I turned on the A/C for Cook.  After some blood tests, the Vet felt that it was kidneys malfunctioning causing her malaise and the cause of not eating.  We are subq-ing fluids and hoping all the extra fluids will jumpstart her kidneys.  If not then maybe iv's ... but at her age, nothing may work. She is getting two treatments a day.  Sunday Gary cooked up a chicken, a la smoke ... she ate a few bites. She didn't eat Monday or today.


Proverbs 12:10 (NIV) “The righteous care for the needs of their animals,but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.”

Psalm 145:9 (NIV) “The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made.”

Exodus 23:12 (NIV) “Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.”

Ponder these 3 prior to praying for Cook. Put her name on them and speak them out.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  We are in a heat wave ... maybe 100F.  Didn't bother me, but I turned on the A/C for Cook.  After some blood tests, the Vet felt that it was kidneys malfunctioning causing her malaise and the root of not eating.  We are subq-ing fluids and hoping all the extra fluids will jumpstart her kidneys.  If not then maybe iv's ... but at her age, nothing may work. She is getting two treatments a day.  Sunday Gary cooked up a chicken, a la smoke ... she ate a few bites. She didn't eat Monday or today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hate to head that about Cook. Been down that road with our previous fur kids and it's not easy
Click to expand...

The good thing is that there is no oblivious pain.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  We are in a heat wave ... maybe 100F.  Didn't bother me, but I turned on the A/C for Cook.  After some blood tests, the Vet felt that it was kidneys malfunctioning causing her malaise and the root of not eating.  We are subq-ing fluids and hoping all the extra fluids will jumpstart her kidneys.  If not then maybe iv's ... but at her age, nothing may work. She is getting two treatments a day.  Sunday Gary cooked up a chicken, a la smoke ... she ate a few bites. She didn't eat Monday or today.



I am so sorry to hear this.  I have a charcoal sketch of Cook that I am not happy with at all, but I will forward out.  I'm still going to do the acrylic or watercolor - MLW has to do some shopping this weekend so that will give me some time.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  We are in a heat wave ... maybe 100F.  *Didn't bother me*,



Didn't. Bother. You. What kind of unnatural beast are you???



> but I turned on the A/C for Cook.  After some blood tests, the Vet felt that it was kidneys malfunctioning causing her malaise and the root of not eating.  We are subq-ing fluids and hoping all the extra fluids will jumpstart her kidneys.  If not then maybe iv's ... but at her age, nothing may work. She is getting two treatments a day.  Sunday Gary cooked up a chicken, a la smoke ... she ate a few bites. She didn't eat Monday or today.



Pupper


----------



## Gary A.

@Leo: LOL ... Mary Lou is like you ... she loves San Francisco (per Samuel Clemens - "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."). It was rather odd being chased inside for dinner.

@smoke: Gary cooked the chicken until the meat fell off the bones then mixed the remaining liquid with the chicken ... it was quite tasty without seasoning.  It would be great as a starter for tacos and enchiladas.


----------



## Gary A.

OMG- That Tarragon Pork was sooooooo good. (and easy to make)


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> OMG- That Tarragon Pork was sooooooo good. (and easy to make)


Recipe!


----------



## Gary A.

2 pounds pork loin, trimmed
1 teaspoon ground paprika 
1 teaspoon black pepper 
1/3 cup chicken or vegetable broth
2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon minced fresh tarragon

Sprinkle pork with paprika and pepper. Place pork in slow cooker.  Combine broth, mustard, juice and tarragon; spoon over pork. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours. Cover loosely with foil, let stand 10-15 minutes before slicing.


----------



## snowbear

I'm trying it this weekend - we have a little to celebrate.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary paired it with a dry Riesling, which is an odd combo (dry and Riesling) but it's a great wine and paired nicely.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Meatballsoup!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like it might be good to try. Is it spicy or bland?
Click to expand...


Spicey


----------



## Frank F.

pixmedic said:


> 4 lbs of top round London broil with sweet Asian BBQ marinade. Soon to be jerky.
> Well, in 6-8 hours.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk




I cannot read the picture. It looks like eggplant pieces roasted, but they seem to rest on a plastic structure? Confused.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Well, since bad pictures of food are allowed, here is my lunch: dyi cup-a-soup!
> Veggie bouillon, zucchini, curried seitan, black rice noodles. Add boiling water, cover for 5 minutes, and it's all cooked and ready to go.
> 
> View attachment 145918




Looks very tasty. I love vegetarian food as well as food with meat. Only the cook has to be good to prepare a tasty meal and in my case leave out allergens


----------



## Frank F.

snowbear said:


> I haven't seen anything around here for Houston/Corpus Christy but I haven't had time to look, today.
> 
> I am contemplating a jaunt to the *Dark Side* . . . GIS boss brought this in for me to look at.  It's his wife's so he can't negotiate but he told me to bring it home and look over it. I've loaded a 24 exposure roll of Fujifilm XTRA 400 to see how it performs.  Batteries are dead so there's no meter but I can around that.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Running a roll through it. by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr




Very good lens


----------



## pixmedic

Frank F. said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 4 lbs of top round London broil with sweet Asian BBQ marinade. Soon to be jerky.
> Well, in 6-8 hours.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I cannot read the picture. It looks like eggplant pieces roasted, but they seem to rest on a plastic structure? Confused.
Click to expand...

Well, the post States exactly what it is.
The device is a dehydrator. 5 racks that get rotated. 

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

pixmedic said:


> The device is a dehydrator. 5 racks that get rotated



We have one that we have really used. Everything from jerky (beef and venison) to dried fruit and vegetables. The latest use is making sweet potato treats for our fur kid, she loves them. Easy to make and no harmful chemicals. Take a large sweet potato, microwave (depending on size) for a min or two. You want it soft enough to make slicing easy, but not soft. (microwaving them first gives them a nice color when dried). Slice to about about a 1/4" and put on the dehydrator. 1/4" slices make the treats more chewy, thinner makes them more like potato chips.


----------



## Frank F.

Never seen a dehydrator in my life.

Never heared the words "top round London broil" ... No idea what that means? Meat? Veggies?

"Asian BBQ Marinade" is what I can imagine, sweet curry with chilly or the like, mango possibly


----------



## pixmedic

Frank F. said:


> Never seen a dehydrator in my life.
> 
> Never heared the words "top round London broil" ... No idea what that means? Meat? Veggies?
> 
> "Asian BBQ Marinade" is what I can imagine, sweet curry with chilly or the like, mango possibly


Its a steak. 
This batch was sweet Asian bbq marinaid.

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> Never seen a dehydrator in my life.



This is the one we have, it's been a workhorse for several years.  FD-61WHCK Food Dehydrator (6 Tray/Jerky Gun) | NESCO®   We also have a sheet that fits the trays for fruit. The fruit is pureed then goes in the jerky gun to be squeezed out on the sheet. Very similar to the fruit rollups in the store.


----------



## pixmedic

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Never seen a dehydrator in my life.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is the one we have, it's been a workhorse for several years.  FD-61WHCK Food Dehydrator (6 Tray/Jerky Gun) | NESCO[emoji768]   We also have a sheet that fits the trays for fruit. The fruit is pureed then goes in the jerky gun to be squeezed out on the sheet. Very similar to the fruit rollups in the store.
Click to expand...

We are obligate carnivores so only meat goes on ours

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> The Meatballsoup!



Frank, I went back in the thread but didn't see any posts or links on the recipe. I download a Bavarian Meatball Stew recipe that I think is similar, but I'm not sure. Care to share yours' or a link?


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, since bad pictures of food are allowed, here is my lunch: dyi cup-a-soup!
> Veggie bouillon, zucchini, curried seitan, black rice noodles. Add boiling water, cover for 5 minutes, and it's all cooked and ready to go.
> 
> View attachment 145918
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looks very tasty. I love vegetarian food as well as food with meat. Only the cook has to be good to prepare a tasty meal and in my case leave out allergens
Click to expand...


Thank you, Frank. It was quite tasty. I gave up all meat more than 20 years ago. I still eat some fish once in a while. My diet is mostly vegetarian. You probably wouldn't have been able to eat my soup, though, because seitan is made from vital wheat gluten, so it's probably on your no-no list. This particular seitan was store-bought, but I often make my own. 



smoke665 said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> The device is a dehydrator. 5 racks that get rotated
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We have one that we have really used. Everything from jerky (beef and venison) to dried fruit and vegetables. The latest use is making sweet potato treats for our fur kid, she loves them. Easy to make and no harmful chemicals. Take a large sweet potato, microwave (depending on size) for a min or two. You want it soft enough to make slicing easy, but not soft. (microwaving them first gives them a nice color when dried). Slice to about about a 1/4" and put on the dehydrator. 1/4" slices make the treats more chewy, thinner makes them more like potato chips.
Click to expand...


I have a dehydrator too. I used to use it a lot more, but space issues made it kind of a PITA, so in the past couple of years, I really don't use it nearly as much as I want to. Might be time to break it out. Those sweet potato treats sound yummy (not just for the cats, either!  )


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Those sweet potato treats sound yummy (not just for the cats, either!  )



I've tried them, but they are way to bland for my taste. Sadie Mae loves them though. If I were making them for my own treat, I'd need to experiment some coatings, spices, etc. Hmmm just had an idea - Dried Sweet Potato treats with Red Hots and Marshmallows, that could work!!


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Those sweet potato treats sound yummy (not just for the cats, either!  )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've tried them, but they are way to bland for my taste. Sadie Mae loves them though. If I were making them for my own treat, I'd need to experiment some coatings, spices, etc. Hmmm just had an idea - Dried Sweet Potato treats with Red Hots and Marshmallows, that could work!!
Click to expand...

Fried sweet potato


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Those sweet potato treats sound yummy (not just for the cats, either!  )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've tried them, but they are way to bland for my taste. Sadie Mae loves them though. If I were making them for my own treat, I'd need to experiment some coatings, spices, etc. Hmmm just had an idea - Dried Sweet Potato treats with Red Hots and Marshmallows, that could work!!
Click to expand...




jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Those sweet potato treats sound yummy (not just for the cats, either!  )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've tried them, but they are way to bland for my taste. Sadie Mae loves them though. If I were making them for my own treat, I'd need to experiment some coatings, spices, etc. Hmmm just had an idea - Dried Sweet Potato treats with Red Hots and Marshmallows, that could work!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Fried sweet potato
Click to expand...


See, I really like the taste of sweet potato all by itself. I'll often cut them up into thin slices or strips, just coat with enough olive oil to hold a bit of salt and pepper, and throw them in the oven for a while. I don't really have a sweet tooth, so the natural sugars in the potato are already enough to make them actually taste sweet to me.


----------



## SquarePeg

I follow a similar recipe limr. Roasted with salt, pepper, garlic salt and oregano.  It's a great sweet n salty side dish.  So much better than that grossly sweet marshmallow concoction everyone makes at Thanksgiving.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary uses this one:

Dehydrator 

It gets more use by others than himself.

@Frank: These puppies are used to preserve foods.  Pixmedic uses his for meats and makes jerky.  Gary uses his mainly for the extra fruits and veggies from the yard.  He has dried oranges, persimmons, peppers, apples, et al.


----------



## JonA_CT

I don't dehydrate foods, and if I buy another kitchen tool, my wife might disown me even if it means she'll go hungry as a result, haha.

First day with students today. Feels good to get back into that groove. I might even take some photos for the one week challenge today. Maybe.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary uses his mainly for the extra fruits and veggies from the yard. He has dried oranges, persimmons, peppers, apples, et al.



How do you prep your fruit for drying? Unless I puree and use the Jerky tool, to squeeze out bands, mine doesn't seem to do well.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I like baked sweet potatoes, or a variation of thick cut fries. Never tried your mix of seasonings SharonCat, I might try that. If I remember next time I have sweet potatoes, that'll be the tricky part. 

Well as long as you are all considerate enough to let me moan and groan... better last night but a rough getting going this morning. I don't know what I did over the weekend... not like I haven't had something similar just not in a long time. Funny (odd, not ha ha) how after a stroke recovery can go on for years but stuff can come back you thought was well behind you. Now that I think of it, it is funny ha ha too sometimes. My leg has a mind of its own, I used to be able to tell when the message wasn't getting thru (all that distance from the brain to the leg and slow healing nerves). You know, I used to not be able to feel it so much, that's some of it, thanks leg for communicating so well to the brain that you ache! lol and are being a total PITA this week.


----------



## vintagesnaps

My goodness, I can only stand the news for a short time at this point, I didn't expect worse flood news from Texas today. Heartbreaking story of a little girl they rescued but the mom had already not made it. Now they're having to relocate people in a shelter that's flooding. I didn't expect by now for it to be worse again down there, hope the last of the storm moves thru soon.


----------



## jcdeboever

Tragic situation down there. I can't fathom how people are dealing with this. I just hope that the clean up and repair is swift so people can get on with their lives.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am at 15k pounds, half way there. If I can pick up 15 tomorrow, I bonus. I am feeling confident and hope to be home tomorrow night, providing I don't get dogged by travel log. I had to fix a couple lights, I was lucky I didn't get pulled over. Maintenance guy didn't do it. I should have double checked before I took off. That irritated me.  Now I'm dirty and thirsty. I'm glad I packed a maintenance box.
> 
> 
> 
> So you're a driver now!
Click to expand...

And mechanic, and salesman, and customer service rep, and the list goes on. I actually don't mind helping out but only when there is no alternative. Unfortunately, I am very easy going and overly helpful to a fault so I'm easy to take advantage of.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I like baked sweet potatoes, or a variation of thick cut fries. Never tried your mix of seasonings SharonCat, I might try that. If I remember next time I have sweet potatoes, that'll be the tricky part.
> 
> Well as long as you are all considerate enough to let me moan and groan... better last night but a rough getting going this morning. I don't know what I did over the weekend... not like I haven't had something similar just not in a long time. Funny (odd, not ha ha) how after a stroke recovery can go on for years but stuff can come back you thought was well behind you. Now that I think of it, it is funny ha ha too sometimes. My leg has a mind of its own, I used to be able to tell when the message wasn't getting thru (all that distance from the brain to the leg and slow healing nerves). You know, I used to not be able to feel it so much, that's some of it, thanks leg for communicating so well to the brain that you ache! lol and are being a total PITA this week.



Ah, the meat sacks are fickle. Hope yours feels better soon!


----------



## jcdeboever

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr..... Lookie at what I got today for $20.00.... yeah baby. Other than the leather, looks to be in good order. Hard to say until I get a pack of film in it.
> View attachment 146017
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is helpful. Appreciate it.
> 
> Nice!!
> 
> My suggestion is to also get yourself a frog tongue for that thing. Polaroid camera film shield for folding-type cameras
> 
> Impossible Project film is crazy sensitive to light exposure and it's really important to keep it shielded from light while it processes (takes 30-45 minutes). No matter how fast you are grabbing that print after it shoots out of the camera, the damage has been done. I even go as far as to turn the camera towards me and bring it close, so that when I take the print out of the camera, it can be immediately pressed against my body to keep it shielded and then slipped into a pocket or camera bag.
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Of course, the film is out of stock....
Should I spray the photos with UV spray? I have heard some things that the images don't hold up and disappear after a year or so, is that true?


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr..... Lookie at what I got today for $20.00.... yeah baby. Other than the leather, looks to be in good order. Hard to say until I get a pack of film in it.
> View attachment 146017
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is helpful. Appreciate it.
> 
> Nice!!
> 
> My suggestion is to also get yourself a frog tongue for that thing. Polaroid camera film shield for folding-type cameras
> 
> Impossible Project film is crazy sensitive to light exposure and it's really important to keep it shielded from light while it processes (takes 30-45 minutes). No matter how fast you are grabbing that print after it shoots out of the camera, the damage has been done. I even go as far as to turn the camera towards me and bring it close, so that when I take the print out of the camera, it can be immediately pressed against my body to keep it shielded and then slipped into a pocket or camera bag.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Of course, the film is out of stock....
Click to expand...


Where?


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr..... Lookie at what I got today for $20.00.... yeah baby. Other than the leather, looks to be in good order. Hard to say until I get a pack of film in it.
> View attachment 146017
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is helpful. Appreciate it.
> 
> Nice!!
> 
> My suggestion is to also get yourself a frog tongue for that thing. Polaroid camera film shield for folding-type cameras
> 
> Impossible Project film is crazy sensitive to light exposure and it's really important to keep it shielded from light while it processes (takes 30-45 minutes). No matter how fast you are grabbing that print after it shoots out of the camera, the damage has been done. I even go as far as to turn the camera towards me and bring it close, so that when I take the print out of the camera, it can be immediately pressed against my body to keep it shielded and then slipped into a pocket or camera bag.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Of course, the film is out of stock....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Where?
Click to expand...

At impossible.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> At impossible.



Looks like they have some black and white stock. Also, it looks like B&H has stock of both color and black and white. Film Photography Project is out of stock.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> At impossible.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like they have some black and white stock. Also, it looks like B&H has stock of both color and black and white. Film Photography Project is out of stock.
Click to expand...

I think if you sign up (create an account) they'll let you know when new stock arrives.    I've not kept up with them, honestly - when they first started the product was simply not good.    Looks like they've made huge strides recently, though.


----------



## vintagesnaps

What??

Oh, I forgot JC, you got a Stormtrooper (that's what the white ones are called). I love using my SX-70 and like Terri have more than one (in varying conditions).

So far The Impossible Project film has held up fine, I haven't had any deterioration. Never heard of spraying it with anything. They have plenty of film last I looked. Only thing I've had happen if it's too far expired it starts drying up and you get divots. Which you can figure out how to use if you want to be experimental. 

I like the monochrome, the cyan more than the magenta.

edit - Yeah, it's an improvement over the original. Supposedly you don't have to shield it but I'm so in the habit of flipping it face down on a table, under a book, or sticking it in a pocket, or in something I have with me.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> My leg has a mind of its own, I used to be able to tell when the message wasn't getting thru (all that distance from the brain to the leg and slow healing nerves)



Please don't think I'm making light of a stroke, they are nasty things, that can have life changing consequences for years, but your comment about the signals not getting through to the leg reminded me of a funny true story of my brother in law during stroke recovery. Maybe it will cheer you up.

     Following his stroke my brother in law was still having significant problems walking he just couldn't seem to make his leg work. You also have to know my sister in law is a little on the dingy side during the best of times. In order to increase his mobility the doctors installed an electrical stimulation device that worked wonders for him. When it was on he could actually manage a walk of sorts. 
     One day while enjoying his new found mobility they were in the checkout line of a busy Walmart, when the sister in law noticed that he wasn't moving quite as quickly as she thought he should, so she says loud enough to be heard over the background noise, "Are you turned on?" Course that immediately caused a quiet to fall over the line. My brother in law, thought he hadn't heard her right, so he asked "What did you say". Still not aware of her Freudian slip and no clue that everyone had stopped talking and were listening only to her, she repeated even louder, "I SAID ARE YOU TURNED ON?". Never one to let a good lead in go to waste he said "Honey that  depends on what you had in mind but shouldn't we wait till we get home or they might not let us shop at Walmart anymore?"  Their checkout and the ones next to them broke out in raucous laughter and the sister in law's face went beet red as it finally sunk in what she'd said.


----------



## terri

Priceless!


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's better than any story I have! lol It has been funny at times, I mean, what else do you do sometimes but laugh? I went thru the same stages the toddlers I'd been working with did, I'd be like oh, good, I'm walking in the high guard position, mark that down on a birth to 3 assessment! lol no sarcasm or anything. I knew I was getting better when I started bitchin' and complainin'. 

I mostly walk with a cane but can walk across the room without it sometimes, it goes in spurts as things 'come back' as it's called. I seem to hit plateaus and then all of a sudden something kicks into gear. 

The brown truck got me up out of my chair tootling his horn coming down the street. I was thinking, I don't have anything coming today do I? and he stopped at the neighbors. Dammitanyway! lol Well I puttered around awhile which is better than sitting too much, it's easing up. I'm going to dig out some of my old exercises and see if there are any gentle stretching ones that I might try a little.


----------



## waday

Has anyone seen someone else (from afar) see a spider come down from the ceiling right in front of them and how they react to it?

If not, I just did, and it was hilarious.

It started as surprise with a jump backward, then a frantic brushing of shoulders and hair, with a slight bend forward from the hips. Then, add in a little dancing. Followed by looking up at the ceiling to see where the spider came from, and the finally looking around to see if anyone saw this.

It took all I had not to laugh out loud.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Tragic situation down there. I can't fathom how people are dealing with this. I just hope that the clean up and repair is swift so people can get on with their lives.


Nope, ain't gonna happen.  It will take at least a decade to get back to where Houston was a week ago.  Houston has lost some 30,000 single family dwellings (IIRC) , their infrastructure is shot and their chemical processing facilities (major economic sector) are gone and may never come back.  In California it will take about 30 and sometimes as long as 90 days, to dry out a house (stick built) ... in Houston, the houses will never dry out (period). Houston has a lot of brick and block homes, the exterior materials are good with some anti-bacterial treatments, but the wood and gyp board interiors have all got to be gutted.  Gary suspects that most if not ALL of the medium and heavy construction equipment and trucks will be monopolized for demo with no spares for reconstruction.  Gary had an environmental company which performed clean-up and recycling after the Northridge Earthquake.  The company worked for an entire year in the City of Santa Clarita (north of Northridge) cleaning up after the earthquake.  This is much much worse in size and type of disaster. 

When the rain stops and with what little natural water flow there is in Houston, it will begin to stink ... bigtime.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tragic situation down there. I can't fathom how people are dealing with this. I just hope that the clean up and repair is swift so people can get on with their lives.
> 
> 
> 
> Nope, ain't gonna happen.  It will take at least a decade to get back to where Houston was a week ago.  Houston has lost some 30,000 single family dwellings (IIRC) , their infrastructure is shot and their chemical processing facilities (major economic sector) are gone and may never come back.  In California it will take about 30 and sometimes as long as 90 days, to dry out a house (stick built) ... in Houston, the houses will never dry out (period). Houston has a lot of brick and block homes, the exterior materials are good with some anti-bacterial treatments, but the wood and gyp board interiors have all got to be gutted.  Gary suspects that most if not ALL of the medium and heavy construction equipment and trucks will be monopolized for demo with no spares for reconstruction.  Gary had an environmental company which performed clean-up and recycling after the Northridge Earthquake.  The company worked for an entire year in the City of Santa Clarita (north of Northridge) cleaning up after the earthquake.  This is much much worse in size and type of disaster.
> 
> When the rain stops and with what little natural water flow there is in Houston, it will begin to stink ... bigtime.
Click to expand...

Man, that is so unfortunate.


----------



## SquarePeg

Wanted to share an update on the Help Harvey Victims lemonade stand.  Final tally $794 per a Facebook update late last night.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Gary uses this one:
> 
> Dehydrator
> 
> It gets more use by others than himself.
> 
> @Frank: These puppies are used to preserve foods.  Pixmedic uses his for meats and makes jerky.  Gary uses his mainly for the extra fruits and veggies from the yard.  He has dried oranges, persimmons, peppers, apples, et al.



Very interesting. Quite unusual here meaning an American could come to Germany and sell shiploads of these with clever marketing. Fully underdeveloped country, drying wise...


----------



## Frank F.

Interesting how some people try to gain attention with this. A photoshopped picture of La Guardia Airport got abused as "Houston Airport after the flood':

This photo of Harvey flooding at Houston airport is totally fake


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Gary paired it with a dry Riesling, which is an odd combo (dry and Riesling) but it's a great wine and paired nicely.




In fact some of the mildly sweet (Halbtrocken) and dry (trocken) Riesling wines in Germany mark the top of the mountain, best of best every year.

The longer Tradition is of course in the super complex super sweet Eiswein and Trockenbeerenauslese, TBA.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Meatballsoup!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank, I went back in the thread but didn't see any posts or links on the recipe. I download a Bavarian Meatball Stew recipe that I think is similar, but I'm not sure. Care to share yours' or a link?
Click to expand...


I did some variation to the original because some ingredients were missing and I do only like nutmeg in very small doses. Remember. This is the strict phase one of the microbiomr diet and the soup was like other recipes very attractive to my wife and my son too!!!!


----------



## smoke665

@Frank F. your recipe is pretty close to what I have. Going to print it out to compare side by side.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> I mostly walk with a cane but can walk across the room without it sometimes, it goes in spurts as things 'come back' as it's called. I seem to hit plateaus and then all of a sudden something kicks into gear.



One of my good friends and neighbors had a stroke the end of 2015, he walks mostly without a cane, but still pulls it out when he knows he's going to be in a crowd, because even now, he's still a little unsteady on his feet.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> It will take at least a decade to get back to where Houston was a week ago.



If ever. Not criticizing the people by any means, so many have lost everything they had, but one of my pet peeves for years has been the constant destruction of the wet lands, and riparian buffers along coastal waters. In this case I doubt even storm surge protection would have helped though, because the latest reports claim they had 52" of rain, but it might have helped.  I am critical of the politicians, that gave waivers and changed laws that allowed developers to build in areas that should have been offlimits to prevent such catastrophic destruction. 

I suspect that many of the areas destroyed will be allowed to revert back to nature when the flood waters recede and the rebuilding starts.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> I suspect that many of the areas destroyed will be allowed to revert back to nature when the flood waters recede and the rebuilding starts.



I don't know about that.   They will probably want to rebuild every scrap - since there's no state tax there, state and local Texas government gets a bulk of its income from property taxes, as well as other ad valorem taxes.    They just have no financial incentive to *not* let people build where they shouldn't.   

Maybe this kind of natural disaster will have them re-think this, but I wouldn't bet on it.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Maybe this kind of natural disaster will have them re-think this, but I wouldn't bet on it.



Like you I doubt it. We have the same issues in our state. Greedy politicians and developers put naive buyers at risk


----------



## terri

I'm also thinking about the mosquitoes.  I lived there for 3 years.  I know about those persistent little buggers.  

When the sun breaks back out, they're going to explode.   All the standing water breeds them quickly.   It stays quite warm in SE Texas until October, even November.   Could be hazardous. Ugh!


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> What??
> 
> Oh, I forgot JC, you got a Stormtrooper (that's what the white ones are called). I love using my SX-70 and like Terri have more than one (in varying conditions).
> 
> So far The Impossible Project film has held up fine, I haven't had any deterioration. Never heard of spraying it with anything. They have plenty of film last I looked. Only thing I've had happen if it's too far expired it starts drying up and you get divots. Which you can figure out how to use if you want to be experimental.
> 
> I like the monochrome, the cyan more than the magenta.
> 
> edit - Yeah, it's an improvement over the original. Supposedly you don't have to shield it but I'm so in the habit of flipping it face down on a table, under a book, or sticking it in a pocket, or in something I have with me.



Does that mean when I replace the leather, I should go with black? What do you mean cyan, more than magenta?


----------



## jcdeboever

Boston terrier I think. Just a pup, 8 months old. He was bad, being trained when I pulled up. He was full of love.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> @Frank F. your recipe is pretty close to what I have. Going to print it out to compare side by side.




I guess they took traditional recipes and adapted them to the needs of the diet. That might be the reason for some inconsistent ingredient lists. In my dreams I would not have thought of combining cinnamon with Sauerkraut and nutmeg in a broth of home cooked beef'n'bones with Meatballs. But it turns out to be a great combination!

Must be some eastern European origin. I love the soups from Poland and Russia!


----------



## Frank F.

Yesterday we sat by the dying dog of a friend. The friend was more in pain than the dog. The dog was desoriented, aphatic but only seemed to feel pain when someone touched the left eye area. It stopped moving as if it had forgotten what to do, how to continue. It did not bark when we rang the bell, no storm of love declaration. It is a large dog. Berner Sennen Hund. It drank some buttermilk mixed with water and did not raise his leg when peeing. Not a lot left of his former personality. Possibly had a stroke, sure had an epileptic episode and a lot of other throuble.... Pity.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Always a shame for someone to lose their pet.

edit - Goodness, more evacuations this morning, this just isn't letting up. Although they do seem to be getting power restored, it must depend on where people are. I guess places like that became cities early on because of the ports but then to have so many people living in low lying areas leaves so many in the flooded parts.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> I guess they took traditional recipes and adapted them to the needs of the diet. That might be the reason for some inconsistent ingredient lists. In my dreams I would not have thought of combining cinnamon with Sauerkraut and nutmeg in a broth of home cooked beef'n'bones with Meatballs. But it turns out to be a great combination!



Sometimes it's the ingredients that don't sound like they should work that end up tasting fantastic. My wife makes meatballs in a sauce that combines grape jelly and chili sauce. They are so good.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah, my mom had some recipe for meatballs that used grape jelly - I guess it's a substitute for wine. Seemed to work! tasted good.

There is somebody that does replacement leatherette that's precut, but I can't think of the name. The Impossible Project did film that was monochrome, cyan and magenta, but I don't know if they have any now. I liked the cyan better, the magenta was too, I don't know, bubble gum pink in the light areas. Couldn't find much that worked so well in pink but took some outdoor winter shots in the cyan, etc.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I guess they took traditional recipes and adapted them to the needs of the diet. That might be the reason for some inconsistent ingredient lists. In my dreams I would not have thought of combining cinnamon with Sauerkraut and nutmeg in a broth of home cooked beef'n'bones with Meatballs. But it turns out to be a great combination!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sometimes it's the ingredients that don't sound like they should work that end up tasting fantastic. My wife makes meatballs in a sauce that combines grape jelly and chili sauce. They are so good.
Click to expand...


Those meatballs are one of my favorite things at the tailgating events they inevitably end up at. Easy way to get that awesome sweet/sour/spicy thing going.

I've been making only quick foods since the baby has been born. I'm about done with grilled chicken and hamburgers. I need to pull out my pressure cooker again.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> Yesterday we sat by the dying dog of a friend. The friend was more in pain than the dog. The dog was desoriented, aphatic but only seemed to feel pain when someone touched the left eye area. It stopped moving as if it had forgotten what to do, how to continue. It did not bark when we rang the bell, no storm of love declaration. It is a large dog. Berner Sennen Hund. It drank some buttermilk mixed with water and did not raise his leg when peeing. Not a lot left of his former personality. Possibly had a stroke, sure had an epileptic episode and a lot of other throuble.... Pity.



So sad


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary paired it with a dry Riesling, which is an odd combo (dry and Riesling) but it's a great wine and paired nicely.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In fact some of the mildly sweet (Halbtrocken) and dry (trocken) Riesling wines in Germany mark the top of the mountain, best of best every year.
> 
> The longer Tradition is of course in the super complex super sweet Eiswein and Trockenbeerenauslese, TBA.
Click to expand...

Gary loves Eiswein ...


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I suspect that many of the areas destroyed will be allowed to revert back to nature when the flood waters recede and the rebuilding starts.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know about that.   They will probably want to rebuild every scrap - since there's no state tax there, state and local Texas government gets a bulk of its income from property taxes, as well as other ad valorem taxes.    They just have no financial incentive to *not* let people build where they shouldn't.
> 
> Maybe this kind of natural disaster will have them re-think this, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Click to expand...

I dunno, the hit of reconstruction and the revenue loss from nonproduction is cause for many/most companies to think thrice about going back to the same location with the same annual threat of disaster.  Last year it was Louisiana this year Texas ...


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It will take at least a decade to get back to where Houston was a week ago.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If ever. Not criticizing the people by any means, so many have lost everything they had, but one of my pet peeves for years has been the constant destruction of the wet lands, and riparian buffers along coastal waters. In this case I doubt even storm surge protection would have helped though, because the latest reports claim they had 52" of rain, but it might have helped.  I am critical of the politicians, that gave waivers and changed laws that allowed developers to build in areas that should have been offlimits to prevent such catastrophic destruction.
> 
> I suspect that many of the areas destroyed will be allowed to revert back to nature when the flood waters recede and the rebuilding starts.
Click to expand...

Some cities in Texas have no zoning codes.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, hosers.  Got an email on the way to work for a station wall map - luckily I've set things up so they are pretty uniform - all I have to do is set the station's area, zoom to the area and change a couple of details.

Losing a pet sucks.

MLW is getting a promotion.  The Fire Chief's administrative aide is retiring and the chief picked her to be his acting aide; it will become permanent once the paperwork and approvals are done.  She's worked for him when he was a Deputy Fire Chief (aka Lt. Colonel) and again when he was appointed to "Chief Deputy" (we have four Deputies) so they have a good working relationship.

Working on my Python skills.  The newest version of the mapping software upgrades to Python Version 3 (I use 2).  There aren't a lot of differences but enough that I have to unlearn some things.  Likewise the module that interfaces python with the mapping software has changed so I'm trying to get a handle on that.  The boss told me I'm ahead of the others in the office and Python with Desktop Pro (mapping software version) will be a very desired skill in the GIS world.


----------



## jcdeboever

Python is the bomb


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I suspect that many of the areas destroyed will be allowed to revert back to nature when the flood waters recede and the rebuilding starts.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know about that.   They will probably want to rebuild every scrap - since there's no state tax there, state and local Texas government gets a bulk of its income from property taxes, as well as other ad valorem taxes.    They just have no financial incentive to *not* let people build where they shouldn't.
> 
> Maybe this kind of natural disaster will have them re-think this, but I wouldn't bet on it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I dunno, the hit of reconstruction and the revenue loss from nonproduction is cause for many/most companies to think thrice about going back to the same location with the same annual threat of disaster.  Last year it was Louisiana this year Texas ...
Click to expand...

Time will tell; this is hardly their first rodeo and, as you noted, many areas don't have zoning codes.   It's all about calculating their potential revenue gains against events like this, but the point was, there's not much in the way of anyone to tell anyone else No - so far.   And they like it that way in Texas.



snowbear said:


> MLW is getting a promotion. The Fire Chief's administrative aide is retiring and the chief picked her to be his acting aide; it will become permanent once the paperwork and approvals are done. She's worked for him when he was a Deputy Fire Chief (aka Lt. Colonel) and again when he was appointed to "Chief Deputy" (we have four Deputies) so they have a good working relationship.



That is so cool!   Congrats to her, Charlie!     I'm sure she'll be great.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe this kind of natural disaster will have them re-think this, but I wouldn't bet on it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Like you I doubt it. We have the same issues in our state. Greedy politicians and developers put naive buyers at risk
Click to expand...

Those are nation-wide issues and Gary strongly suspects even world-wide.

While many my frown upon the liberal policies of California ... But .... development in this state is not easy (or cheap) due to the numerous and varied hoops from state mandates down to local restrictions.  e.i.  Ventura county has a zero growth policy ... in order to put up a building/house one as to come down. Ventura desires to maintain its existing quality of life and mix of agriculture with urban.  With all the levels and opportunities for public input and mandatory legal reportings (CEQA), development is very tricky and difficult.  But, having a few politicians in your back pocket always helps and in some cases hurdles public input and legal obligations. Overpopulation requires over-governance.

We have a board overseeing coastal development, named the Coastal Commission (oddly enough, lol).  It was created in the 1970's out of an initiative process and voted into creation by the citizens of California.  The Coastal Commission mandate was to restrict unbridled development along our 800+ mile coastline. For decades the Commission took its mandate seriously and was resolute in its charge of protecting the coast and balancing development with public benefit and was so powerful that it was actually feared by developers big and small.  There was a good balance balance of board members  between pro-develop advocates and pro-public advocates. Within the past few years pro-development members have crept into the majority. There has been a lot of controversy and outrage regarding the pro-development  makeup of the board resulting in the firing of the Commission's executive director (a pro-public advocate).

*Sigh*, but Gary is digressing ...


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Frank F. your recipe is pretty close to what I have. Going to print it out to compare side by side.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I guess they took traditional recipes and adapted them to the needs of the diet. That might be the reason for some inconsistent ingredient lists. In my dreams I would not have thought of combining cinnamon with Sauerkraut and nutmeg in a broth of home cooked beef'n'bones with Meatballs. But it turns out to be a great combination!
> 
> Must be some eastern European origin. I love the soups from Poland and Russia!
Click to expand...

Yes, a seemingly unholy mix of flavors.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Yesterday we sat by the dying dog of a friend. The friend was more in pain than the dog. The dog was desoriented, aphatic but only seemed to feel pain when someone touched the left eye area. It stopped moving as if it had forgotten what to do, how to continue. It did not bark when we rang the bell, no storm of love declaration. It is a large dog. Berner Sennen Hund. It drank some buttermilk mixed with water and did not raise his leg when peeing. Not a lot left of his former personality. Possibly had a stroke, sure had an epileptic episode and a lot of other throuble.... Pity.


That is sad.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I suspect that many of the areas destroyed will be allowed to revert back to nature when the flood waters recede and the rebuilding starts.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know about that.   They will probably want to rebuild every scrap - since there's no state tax there, state and local Texas government gets a bulk of its income from property taxes, as well as other ad valorem taxes.    They just have no financial incentive to *not* let people build where they shouldn't.
> 
> Maybe this kind of natural disaster will have them re-think this, but I wouldn't bet on it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I dunno, the hit of reconstruction and the revenue loss from nonproduction is cause for many/most companies to think thrice about going back to the same location with the same annual threat of disaster.  Last year it was Louisiana this year Texas ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Time will tell; this is hardly their first rodeo and, as you noted, many areas don't have zoning codes.   It's all about calculating their potential revenue gains against events like this, but the point was, there's not much in the way of anyone to tell anyone else No - so far.   And they like it that way in Texas.
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> MLW is getting a promotion. The Fire Chief's administrative aide is retiring and the chief picked her to be his acting aide; it will become permanent once the paperwork and approvals are done. She's worked for him when he was a Deputy Fire Chief (aka Lt. Colonel) and again when he was appointed to "Chief Deputy" (we have four Deputies) so they have a good working relationship.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That is so cool!   Congrats to her, Charlie!     I'm sure she'll be great.
Click to expand...

@ Terri: Gary's view is that reconstruction for larger companies, will be determined by the company's accounting department, which will develop a risk analysis document.  For smaller companies, they may have no choice but to build where they are.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Tom, my friend with the heart attack, who, according to the charts actually died and was brought back, has moved in and is recuperating from his triple bypass surgery.  My cousin is still in ICU hopefully recovering from his stroke and The Cook is about the same.  Gary has his hands full.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Tom, my friend with the heart attack, who, according to the charts actually died and was brought back, has moved in and is recuperating from his triple bypass operation.  My cousin is still in ICU hopefully recovering from his stroke and The Cook is about the same.  Gary has his hands full.


----------



## jcdeboever

Pawn shop kitty. Not for sale....


----------



## Gary A.

Everything has a price ... lol.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Tom, my friend with the heart attack, who, according to the charts actually died and was brought back, has moved in and is recuperating from his triple bypass surgery.  My cousin is still in ICU hopefully recovering from his stroke and The Cook is about the same.  Gary has his hands full.


Good news for your friend.  Thoughts and prayers for your cousin and the Cook


----------



## jcdeboever

This^^^


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Everything has a price ... lol.



Several years ago an arm of the Corp of Engineers cleaned out a large channel under their control that ran through a portion of our property. As part of the process the leveled the berm on each side. Shortly there after we received a letter from NRCS that we had destroyed a wetland and would be fined $10,000/day until it was restored. We finally prevailed over the action, but since then I've seen cities/counties routinely fill, drain, clear real wetlands with impunity,. 

So apparently the federal laws don't apply equally.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Everything has a price ... lol.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Several years ago an arm of the Corp of Engineers cleaned out a large channel under their control that ran through a portion of our property. As part of the process the leveled the berm on each side. Shortly there after we received a letter from NRCS that we had destroyed a wetland and would be fined $10,000/day until it was restored. We finally prevailed over the action, but since then I've seen cities/counties routinely fill, drain, clear real wetlands with impunity,.
> 
> So apparently the federal laws don't apply equally.
Click to expand...

More than likely they are not _enforced_ equally.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Everything has a price ... lol.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Several years ago an arm of the Corp of Engineers cleaned out a large channel under their control that ran through a portion of our property. As part of the process the leveled the berm on each side. Shortly there after we received a letter from NRCS that we had destroyed a wetland and would be fined $10,000/day until it was restored. We finally prevailed over the action, but since then I've seen cities/counties routinely fill, drain, clear real wetlands with impunity,.
> 
> So apparently the federal laws don't apply equally.
Click to expand...


At one time, most of the California coastal areas were wetlands. Out here we are spending a ton of money restoring damaged wetlands and restoring much of destruction done by the Corps of Engineers. The Corps' primary concern was to control water and used copious amounts of concrete and rip-rap to attain said control. We are now undoing the sins of the past and restoring our rivers and wetlands back to a 'more' natural state. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Where I'm from the Mississippi River is a classic example of when man tries to put shackles on Mother Nature. For hundreds of miles through the flat lands on it's way to the gulf, the Mississippi would spread out on either side as the load became to great for the channel to contain. The pressure was relieved and the flooding brought in rich nutrients to the river bottom land.  The forests grew and all was good. Then man cleared the woods and found the rich bottom ground, but was unhappy with their crops being flooded occasionally. So the Corp built levees to contain the river. As the river became more contained along it's route, it became necessary to build higher and higher levees. The Corp was confident that they had finally contained Mother Nature, and people came, the farmers, industry, housing all found protection behind the high dirt banks. However, Mother Nature can be a vindictive shrew, and has shown on many occasions that she can't be controlled. However, instead of limited flooding along a wide swath, that harms no one, you now have catastrophic loss of property and even lives, when a levee breaks, or the water over-runs the top.


----------



## Gary A.

The LA River at one time was close to 100% concrete.  That concrete is now being ripped out in bits and pieces.

The LA Basin is naturally problematic.  It doesn't rain here very often, but when it does rain, it's Cats & Dogs.  One of the main rivers in the LA Basin is the San Gabriel River, which sourced at 9,600' (Prairie Fork) in elevation and ends at the Pacific in only 58 miles, making it a river with one of the steepest drops/fall in the world. Which is why Houston specifically requested Swift Water Rescue Teams from LA County FD.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers.  The heat fest continues.  Gary was in Pomona today visiting his cousin in the hospital. Pomona is about 20 miles east of LA and the Pacific.  In the parking lot off the asphalt, the car thermometer was reading 110F.  Gary had a discussion with the infectious MD ... it seems that Pat has plateaued out and hopefully will begin his recovery.  Tom is on a roller coaster of feeling good, over exertion, recovery.  When he overexerts Gary keeps a close eye on his status.  Tom, a physician, updates me on specifics to tell the paramedics should they be called. Gary feels as if he's in a movie along the lines of Pulp Fiction. No change in Cook, she still isn't eating, but she is a bit more active today.  My cousin's brother's ex was at the hospital today.  She used to work for a vet.  We had a long long talk on Cookie.  It was a good talk and reinforced what Gary thought and helped with his course of action.

Gary is in the back patio drinking a nice herbal iced tea, watching Comarde Detective waiting for Mary Lou to arrive and signaling the start of tonight's BBQ.


----------



## Frank F.

I just ate a Kiwi, the fruit, not the bird, and it felt like really good sex, like paradise, orgasmic. Wow. Does the Microbiome send more positive feelings for eating the stuff it needs to heal? This is day 18 of 21 of the hard diet phase one. I did not notice much change yet, except for losing on the waistline. But what I just experienced was something interesting. Satisfaction by eating. Gosh.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> The LA River at one time was close to 100% concrete.  That concrete is now being ripped out in bits and pieces.
> 
> The LA Basin is naturally problematic.  It doesn't rain here very often, but when it does rain, it's Cats & Dogs.  One of the main rivers in the LA Basin is the San Gabriel River, which sourced at 9,600' (Prairie Fork) in elevation and ends at the Pacific in only 58 miles, making it a river with one of the steepest drops/fall in the world. Which is why Houston specifically requested Swift Water Rescue Teams from LA County FD.




Is is common to build Cisterns when you build houses or have space where water can stay and slowly drain into the ground? The slower water goes down the drain, the better for the people.

Example: In a project in Aethiopia they started with a Mountain slope fully eroded. The water went down in 48 hours. Then they started to contain the water and use it over and over again in terraced agriculture. Plus they build a small dam at the bottom to keep the feet of the mountain wet. Result was that dry creeks and rivers and wells started to lead water again and that they even could produce electricity at the dam and that hundreds of families found new work and food source and meaning. The speed of the water was slowed down from 48 to 480 hours top to bottom.


----------



## Frank F.

Our girl, nearly seven now, had her first school day yesterday. I helped her carry some larger stuff to her class today. On the way back hundreds of pupils of all countries and colours and religions flooded towards me: walking, running, biking, rollering, .... What a peaceful scene.

And I thought: If all people in the world could start their lives like these kids do, how peaceful and wonderful a world this could be???


----------



## limr

Hosers.


----------



## terri

Not only is it Friday, hosers..... it's the first Friday in September.   



    That's right.    September.    (!)      


It's SEPTEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!           


Buh-bye, August!    Did I mention you suck?   

Never mind.    September is here, to make it all better.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> I just ate a Kiwi, the fruit, not the bird, and it felt like really good sex, like paradise, orgasmic.



I enjoy a good meal/food/treats as much as anyone, but either I don't know about enjoying food, or you don't know about enjoying....................


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The LA River at one time was close to 100% concrete.  That concrete is now being ripped out in bits and pieces.
> 
> The LA Basin is naturally problematic.  It doesn't rain here very often, but when it does rain, it's Cats & Dogs.  One of the main rivers in the LA Basin is the San Gabriel River, which sourced at 9,600' (Prairie Fork) in elevation and ends at the Pacific in only 58 miles, making it a river with one of the steepest drops/fall in the world. Which is why Houston specifically requested Swift Water Rescue Teams from LA County FD.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is is common to build Cisterns when you build houses or have space where water can stay and slowly drain into the ground? The slower water goes down the drain, the better for the people.
> 
> Example: In a project in Aethiopia the found a Mountain slope fully eroded. The water went down in 48 hours. Then they started to contain the water and use it over and over again in terraced agriculture. Plus they build a small dam at the bottom to keep the feet of the mountain wet. Result was that dry creeks and rivers and wells started to lead water again and that they even could produce electricity at the dam and that hundreds of families found new work and food source and meaning. The speed of the water was slowed down from 48 to 480 hours top to bottom.
Click to expand...

Yes, but it is not directly mandated.  Due to a six year drought, the regional water authorities have mandated a restrictive water allotment policy.  This policy causes many/most to conserve and reclaim water, from low flow toilets to low flow shower heads to landscape usage even car washes are mandated to recycle their water, et cetera.  If you measured the entire South West USA and calculated the rainfall, it is basically a semi-arid desert.  In California, (and Gary imagines other states - but Gary is only familiar with here), existing homes are being retrofitted with rain capturing infrastructure complete with cisterns and filtration. Newer homes have integrated water reclamation into the design.  Gary installed rain gutters and diverts water to rain barrels for later use in the garden.

The rainfall in the LA Basin is again problematic because of the steep 10,000' high local mountains adding significant amounts of destructive energy to the runoff.  The Army Corps of Engineers decided that the best way to control the rivers which routinely jumped their banks, was with concrete and riprap.  The Corps only saw water as a menace and disregarded the benefits of water in a semi-arid ecosystem.  Recently, regional governments have been installing gravel spreading fields along the flood control and rivers to help recharge the aquifers.  The demolition of the concrete encasement of all our rivers in Southern California, it not only for esthetics but also for water seepage.  The overpopulation and paving of our Southern California cities, the destruction of our wetlands, the concreting of our rivers and the geology of the LA Basin have all contributed to a severe reduction of our regional groundwater.  Much of the water Southern California receives is from the Northern Sierra Nevada snowpack (700+ miles of canals), the Southern Sierra Nevada snowpack (City of Los Angeles only, 400+ miles of canals).  There are government programs giving away free rain barrels and cisterns to homeowners.

When Gary was an Environmental Commissioner for Los Angeles, he did learn/hear that surface water was infinitely replenishable, but groundwater was like oil ... and takes time to replenish.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Hosers.




Yawning is the word of the day!


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Not only is it Friday, hosers..... it's the first Friday in September.
> 
> 
> 
> That's right.    September.    (!)
> 
> 
> It's SEPTEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> Buh-bye, August!    Did I mention you suck?
> 
> Never mind.    September is here, to make it all better.


With the exception of this last week, August out here was exceptionable.  Quite a lovely time with near perfect weather.  Now the Summer Gods are making up for all the nice weather.


----------



## Frank F.

terri said:


> Not only is it Friday, hosers..... it's the first Friday in September.
> 
> 
> 
> That's right.    September.    (!)
> 
> 
> It's SEPTEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> Buh-bye, August!    Did I mention you suck?
> 
> Never mind.    September is here, to make it all better.




Our August was really hot and very very rainy. The winemakers are happy the apple harvesters are not. Very humid in Bonn


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The LA River at one time was close to 100% concrete.  That concrete is now being ripped out in bits and pieces.
> 
> The LA Basin is naturally problematic.  It doesn't rain here very often, but when it does rain, it's Cats & Dogs.  One of the main rivers in the LA Basin is the San Gabriel River, which sourced at 9,600' (Prairie Fork) in elevation and ends at the Pacific in only 58 miles, making it a river with one of the steepest drops/fall in the world. Which is why Houston specifically requested Swift Water Rescue Teams from LA County FD.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is is common to build Cisterns when you build houses or have space where water can stay and slowly drain into the ground? The slower water goes down the drain, the better for the people.
> 
> Example: In a project in Aethiopia the found a Mountain slope fully eroded. The water went down in 48 hours. Then they started to contain the water and use it over and over again in terraced agriculture. Plus they build a small dam at the bottom to keep the feet of the mountain wet. Result was that dry creeks and rivers and wells started to lead water again and that they even could produce electricity at the dam and that hundreds of families found new work and food source and meaning. The speed of the water was slowed down from 48 to 480 hours top to bottom.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, but it is not mandated.  If you measured the entire USA South West and calculated the rainfall, it is basically a semi-arid desert.  In California, (and Gary imagines other states - but Gary is only familiar with here), existing homes are being retrofitted with rain capturing infrastructure complete with cisterns and filtration. Some new homes have integrated water reclamation into the design.  Gary installed rain gutters and diverts water to rain barrels for later use in the garden.
> 
> The rainfall in the LA Basin is again problematic because of the steep 10,000' high local mountains adding significant amounts of destructive energy to the runoff.  The Army Corps of Engineers decided that the best way to control the rivers which routinely jumped their banks, was with concrete and riprap.  The Corps only saw water as a menace and disregarded the benefits of water in a semi-arid ecosystem.  Recently, regional governments have been installing gravel spreading fields along the flood control and rivers to help recharge the aquifers.  The demolition of the concrete encasement of all our rivers in Southern California, it not only for esthetics but also for water seepage.  The overpopulation and paving of our Southern California cities, the destruction of our wetlands, the concreting of our rivers and the geology of the LA Basin have all contributed to a severe reduction of our regional groundwater.  Much of the water Southern California receives is from the Northern Sierra Nevada snowpack (700+ miles of canals), the Southern Sierra Nevada snowpack (City of Los Angeles only, 400+ miles of canals).  There are government programs giving away free rain barrels and cisterns to homeowners.
> 
> When Gary was an Environmental Commissioner for Los Angeles, he did learn/hear that surface water was infinitely replenishable, but groundwater was like oil ... and takes time to replenish.
Click to expand...



I linked you to Bill de Jaeger from Nikongear, accomplished photographer, biologist like you, specialist for the plants of the Southern USA and employed at level of planning  Engineer for Water, esp Dyks by the Bay Area Administration. Talk to him. Great exchange this will be. It is really a territory to be explored, esp in terms of wasting water is wasting money and managing water wrong today will be seed for future draught and flood


----------



## Gary A.

Gary should return to Nikongear, but time seems always to be short.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Gary should return to Nikongear, but time seems always to be short.




I know I should have internet free days!!!


----------



## Gary A.

@Frank: PS- Mary Lou and Gary shower with buckets, we water the front roses with the shower water.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hosers.





terri said:


> Not only is it Friday, hosers..... it's the first Friday in September.
> 
> 
> 
> That's right.    September.    (!)
> 
> 
> It's SEPTEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> Buh-bye, August!    Did I mention you suck?
> 
> Never mind.    September is here, to make it all better.



AND ... it's Friday before a long-weekend!


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> @Frank: PS- Mary Lou and Gary shower with buckets, we water the front roses with the shower water.



Durn city folks got it to easy. Down in our parts we have to take baths in the crick. Why I bet you even have one them newfangled pump things to fill your buckets without havin to tote them from the crick.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @Frank: PS- Mary Lou and Gary shower with buckets, we water the front roses with the shower water.


No wonder you got hairy balls growing in your front yard.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Frank: PS- Mary Lou and Gary shower with buckets, we water the front roses with the shower water.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Durn city folks got it to easy. Down in our parts we have to take baths in the crick. Why I bet you even have one them newfangled pump things to fill your buckets without havin to tote them from the crick.
Click to expand...

We shower in the streets using the fire hydrants.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Frank: PS- Mary Lou and Gary shower with buckets, we water the front roses with the shower water.
> 
> 
> 
> No wonder why you got hairy balls growing in your front yard.
Click to expand...







Still laughing!


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> We shower in the streets using the fire hydrants.



We might try that depending on the hydrant you opened. We have some that are barely a trickle an some tested at 500 psi.


----------



## snowbear

It also helps to have real hydrant wrench, instead of vise grips and a 24" length of pipe


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Frank: PS- Mary Lou and Gary shower with buckets, we water the front roses with the shower water.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Durn city folks got it to easy. Down in our parts we have to take baths in the crick. Why I bet you even have one them newfangled pump things to fill your buckets without havin to tote them from the crick.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but we have to use our water twice ... you folk down in 'Bama gets to use it once, then poof, flush it away, down the drain.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Wow ... tomorrow is gonna be a big day for two big games.  Alabama (1) vs Florida State (3) ... Michigan (11) vs. Florida (17) ...


----------



## SquarePeg

Hmmmm suspiciously little mention of the LAD and their 5 game slide...


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Hmmmm suspiciously little mention of the LAD and their 5 game slide...


Or Houston outbidding Boston for Verlander.....[emoji6] butt chin Dombroski failed to convince the Tigers.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Hmmmm suspiciously little mention of the LAD and their 5 game slide...


LOL ... After Gary removes the knife from his intestines ... he'll register a remark.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmmm suspiciously little mention of the LAD and their 5 game slide...
> 
> 
> 
> Or Houston outbidding Boston for Verlander.....[emoji6] butt chin Dombroski failed to convince the Tigers.
Click to expand...

Verlander is SCUBA qualified.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmmm suspiciously little mention of the LAD and their 5 game slide...
> 
> 
> 
> Or Houston outbidding Boston for Verlander.....[emoji6] butt chin Dombroski failed to convince the Tigers.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Verlander is SCUBA qualified.
Click to expand...

Uses Kate's boobies for floating devices.


----------



## JonA_CT

Beer is good.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Beer is good.



Liquor is quicker


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Uses Kate's boobies for floating devices.


I like floating devices.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Uses Kate's boobies for floating devices.
> 
> 
> 
> I like floating devices.
Click to expand...

Me too... Fun...


----------



## Gary A.

Wine is Divine.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Wine is Devine.


Liquor is quicker


----------



## Gary A.

Wine is divine.


----------



## jcdeboever

Liquor is slicker


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Yeah, but we have to use our water twice ... you folk down in 'Bama gets to use it once, then poof, flush it away, down the drain.



Not necessarily, it depends on where you are in the crick. The higher up the mountain, the less the water's been used.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> It also helps to have real hydrant wrench, instead of vise grips and a 24" length of pipe



We've got a few in the valley, that even with the hydrant wrench, you need a 24" cheater pipe.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> tomorrow is gonna be a big day for two big games. Alabama (1) vs Florida State (3) ... Michigan (11) vs. Florida (17) ...


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> It also helps to have real hydrant wrench, instead of vise grips and a 24" length of pipe
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We've got a few in the valley, that even with the hydrant wrench, you need a 24" cheater pipe.
Click to expand...

I broke a hydrant wrench using a cheater.  Took two of us to get the b@$&*%d open.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> tomorrow is gonna be a big day for two big games. Alabama (1) vs Florida State (3) ... Michigan (11) vs. Florida (17) ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 146185
Click to expand...

Not from Gary.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> I broke a hydrant wrench using a cheater. Took two of us to get the b@$&*%d open.



We are somewhat unique in that we are a rural fire district with hydrants. Only one in the county. However with an all volunteer department and 60 square miles they don't get checked as often as they should. So I know what you mean.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Not from Gary.



Ah come on Gary you know you want to. I bet you'd look good in a houndstooth fedora.


----------



## snowbear

I have news for you -- I'm with a combination department and ours don't get checked as often as they should.


----------



## limr

Ahhhhh, Saturdays in the fall. Best time of the year, hosers!!!!!

GO GATORS!!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Ahhhhh, Saturdays in the fall. Best time of the year, hosers!!!!!
> 
> GO GATORS!!


I'm betting Bob is secretly a Maryland fan.  Fear the Turtle, Fear Bob.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## snowbear




----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ahhhhh, Saturdays in the fall. Best time of the year, hosers!!!!!
> 
> GO GATORS!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm betting Bob is secretly a Maryland fan.  Fear the Turtle, Fear Bob.
Click to expand...


He is allowed. There is a hierarchy, of course. The Gators are first, natch. Then comes Michigan (Buzz's mother comes from a Michigan family - I would be a fool to put them lower than #2!). So now, I can place the Terps next (I will allow Bob to have them as #1 - can't really argue with his reasoning, either  )

In the very bottom are Ohio State, Florida State, Alabama (sorry Smoky!), and of course Georgia. No one will ever be as low as Georgia for a Gator.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> View attachment 146187


----------



## limr

Tio Gary, that big fat red X just caused your California team to slide down the hierarchy


----------



## smoke665

Finally!! It's football time y'all! Let the smack talk begin!


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> the very bottom are Ohio State, Florida State, Alabama (sorry Smoky!), and of course



And you thought I wouldn't catch this? LOL


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> the very bottom are Ohio State, Florida State, Alabama (sorry Smoky!), and of course
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And you thought I wouldn't catch this? LOL
> 
> View attachment 146195
Click to expand...

How bout a MI vs Bama playoff!


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> How bout a MI vs Bama playoff!



I guess Michigan can always dream. 

Sorry JC, couldn't resist that setup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> How bout a MI vs Bama playoff!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I guess Michigan can always dream.
> 
> Sorry JC, couldn't resist that setup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

We are gonna be good, despite what media is saying.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> How bout a MI vs Bama playoff!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I guess Michigan can always dream.
> 
> Sorry JC, couldn't resist that setup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

You wear these on game day, don't you...


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> You wear these on game day, don't you...



Our players do in the 4th quarter. Same idea as restrictor plates in NASCAR. Keeps them from running up the score once they won.


----------



## terri

All this talk of college football is so cute!



....in a boring kind of way.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> the very bottom are Ohio State, Florida State, Alabama (sorry Smoky!), and of course
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And you thought I wouldn't catch this? LOL
> 
> View attachment 146195
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> How bout a MI vs Bama playoff!
Click to expand...

It will be SC and bama in the title game.  (SC is way underrated this year.)


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> How bout a MI vs Bama playoff!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I guess Michigan can always dream.
> 
> Sorry JC, couldn't resist that setup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You wear these on game day, don't you...
> 
> View attachment 146197
Click to expand...

The famous one cleat 'Bama football shoes ... first introduced by Bear Bryant in the 1970 matchup against USC.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> All this talk of college football is so cute!
> 
> 
> 
> ....in a boring kind of way.


lol ... Alabama doesn't have any 'Pro' teams ...


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> The famous one cleat 'Bama football shoes ...







Gary A. said:


> lol ... Alabama doesn't have any 'Pro' teams ...



Yup allows us to concentrate on college football!!!!!!!!! We live for the season. When it's over (even though we generally win the Championship ) life just isn't the same without Saturdays to look forward to!!!


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> All this talk of college football is so cute!
> 
> 
> 
> ....in a boring kind of way.



It's like sweet tea, fried green tomatoes, boiled peanuts, po'boys, and shrimp and grits ------ It's an acquired taste!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Smoke, if you were local, I'd turn on the projector and we watch the game on a ten foot screen, fire up the BBQ for some real vittles, hometown vino ... we'd watch Michigan lose, Alabama lose and SC win.  But if you were local, you'd be happy with those results.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Smoke, if you were local, I'd turn on the projector and we watch the game on a ten foot screen, fire up the BBQ for some real vittles, hometown vino ... we'd watch Michigan lose, Alabama lose and SC win.  But if you were local, you'd be happy with those results.



And if you were local we'd kick back in the those big overstuffed recliners, while watching it in 4k on the 60", while enjoying chicken wings, veggies and dip, cheese, sliders, and either/or/both some of the local brewed beer and shine. Watching Michigan lose (sorry JC, but the Gators are going to be tough), Alabama win, and if you're talking Clemson, then duh, look who they're playing. Course after enough of that potent local brew, you'd probably go home a Bama fan for life!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

The picture in the lower left is a 55' Tv .


----------



## terri

If the Coffee House is going to devolve into....men comparing "TV screen size" discussions....*cough* then we're doomed.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> All this talk of college football is so cute!
> 
> 
> 
> ....in a boring kind of way.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's like sweet tea, fried green tomatoes, boiled peanuts, po'boys, and shrimp and grits ------ It's an acquired taste!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Doesn't everyone love boiled peanuts?!?


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> If the Coffee House is going to devolve into....men comparing "TV screen size" discussions....*cough* then we're doomed.


Size Matters ... (rim-shot)


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has never eaten boiled peanuts.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> If the Coffee House is going to devolve into....men comparing "TV screen size" discussions....*cough* then we're doomed.



It's never just the size.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary has never eaten boiled peanuts.



My wife makes a mean batch of Cajun boiled peanuts.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never eaten boiled peanuts.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My wife makes a mean batch of Cajun boiled peanuts.
Click to expand...

Okay, smoke is bringing the boiled peanuts.  Game starts in a few hours, we're having pulled pork sliders with boiled peanuts.


----------



## Gary A.

If one didn't procrastinate, one would never get good at it.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 146205 View attachment 146206
> The picture in the lower right is a 55' Tv .



My smartphone shows the small screen in the lower left. Do I need to recalibrate the screen?


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 146205 View attachment 146206
> The picture in the lower right is a 55' Tv .
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My smartphone shows the small screen in the lower left. Do I need to recalibrate the screen?
Click to expand...

Opps ...


----------



## Gary A.

Change in menu, slow cooked Tri-Tip cooked in Root Beer, spices and onions.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> If the Coffee House is going to devolve into....men comparing "TV screen size" discussions....*cough* then we're doomed.



Best line of the day.


----------



## snowbear

Football . . . wish they played the games day-after-day and the season ended in two weeks.  I guess I'll leave the thread until February, sometime.


----------



## Gary A.

Florida spotted Michigan ten players.


----------



## smoke665

@snowbear but, but, but, but-------It's football LOL

@Gary A. Sorry I didn't think about it earlier, but by "SC" you were talking about the Trojans. Sorry, I tend to forget there is football outside the SEC  

@jcdeboever just came in from working in the yard, and saw the half time score. WOW!!! they're still in this thing. Switched over to watch this game.... may prove interesting. Love the SEC, but I may have to start rooting for the Wolverines to snack on the Gators, for obvious reasons. LOL (sorry @limr payback ).


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @snowbear but, but, but, but-------It's football LOL
> 
> @Gary A. Sorry I didn't think about it earlier, but by "SC" you were talking about the Trojans. Sorry, I tend to forget there is football outside the SEC
> 
> @jcdeboever just came in from working in the yard, and saw the half time score. WOW!!! they're still in this thing. Switched over to watch this game.... may prove interesting. Love the SEC, but I may have to start rooting for the Wolverines to snack on the Gators, for obvious reasons. LOL (sorry @limr payback ).


Go back in the yard, wear your pumps


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh woe is me, still waiting for hockey season...

Now I'm waiting for dinner... friend came up and ran into town for errands and to pick up dinner I called in. edit - nm, just this -


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'd watch something like this... 
I do watch college football if it's local/regional teams but they're rarely on anymore.


----------



## SquarePeg

No time for football.  Been out looking at the iPad Pro (I'm 99% sold) and then wandering around our very own Main St USA taking photos for the Home Town challenge.


----------



## JonA_CT

I bought a Wacom tablet today. Any of y'all use them to edit with? Any tips?


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> How bout a MI vs Bama playoff!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I guess Michigan can always dream.
> 
> Sorry JC, couldn't resist that setup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You wear these on game day, don't you...
> 
> View attachment 146197
Click to expand...


The implication that the weak party wears women's shoes? Because women are weak, are we? Do you know how quickly a stiletto heel can smash through an eyeball to become embedded in your brain and give you an instant Jimmy Choo lobotomy?


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> How bout a MI vs Bama playoff!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I guess Michigan can always dream.
> 
> Sorry JC, couldn't resist that setup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You wear these on game day, don't you...
> 
> View attachment 146197
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The implication that the weak party wears women's shoes? Because women are weak, are we? Do you know how quickly a stiletto heel can smash through an eyeball to become embedded in your brain and give you an instant Jimmy Choo lobotomy?
Click to expand...

No, just old men wearing them on game day, in their shivies, because they like feeling beautiful while smoking a cigar and drinking a bourbon. You know, your typical Sabin type fan.


----------



## limr




----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @snowbear but, but, but, but-------It's football LOL
> 
> @Gary A. Sorry I didn't think about it earlier, but by "SC" you were talking about the Trojans. Sorry, I tend to forget there is football outside the SEC
> 
> @jcdeboever just came in from working in the yard, and saw the half time score. WOW!!! they're still in this thing. Switched over to watch this game.... may prove interesting. Love the SEC, but I may have to start rooting for the Wolverines to snack on the Gators, for obvious reasons. LOL (sorry @limr payback ).


You ignore the PAC 12 ... easily the most successful Division 1 conference in the nation, of all sports.


----------



## Gary A.

The University of Southern California, (AKA USC, AKA SC), has a totally blind center.  He played today.  He made a perfect PAT snap on SC's last score.  The Western Michigan coach did not rush on the play.

A class act by both teams.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> The University of Southern California, (AKA USC, AKA SC), has a totally blind center.  He played today.  He made a perfect PAT snap on SC's last score.  The Western Michigan coach did not rush on the play.
> 
> A class act by both teams.


That is too cool


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> View attachment 146224


You read too much between the invisable lines.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 146224
> 
> 
> 
> You read too much between the invisable lines.
Click to expand...


I disagree.


----------



## Gary A.

The kid has been on the team for a few years and never played. Today he did.  He's a big kid, lineman size.  He ran out on the field gripping the shoulder pad of a teammate. The guards set him up ... a perfect snap and a perfect boot.  On the field he was congratulated by both sides ... when he reached the bench and took off his helmet, he had this huge grin from ear-to-ear as other teammates roughed him up.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> The kid has been on the team for a few years and never played. Today he did.  He's a big kid, lineman size.  He ran out on the field gripping the shoulder pad of a teammate. The guards set him up ... a perfect snap and a perfect boot.  On the field he was congratulated by both sides ... when he reached the bench and took off his helmet, he had this huge grin from ear-to-ear as other teammates roughed him up.



So awesome.


----------



## Gary A.

Sometimes the score doesn't matter.


----------



## Frank F.

terri said:


> If the Coffee House is going to devolve into....men comparing "TV screen size" discussions....*cough* then we're doomed.




I do not even own a TV or a car. I guess I do not need a substitute for anything 


Excuse me for my camera gear, I need it for work


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Sometimes the score doesn't matter.




Esp if you cannot read it and sing or play out of tune


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> You ignore the PAC 12 ... easily the most successful Division 1 conference in the nation, of all sports.



Nope, I'm aware that their overall standing in all sports is quite strong, but lest you forget 2016's season opener was a devastating blow at the hands of Bama. Also aware of their #4 spot on the AP, going into the season, though the talk is they may slip on Tuesday.

I wasn't aware of the blind center, that's cool that he got to play. 

@jcdeboever Michigan made a fine showing not only did they play well, but they were able to capitalize on Gator mistakes. I'm betting they will move up on Tuesday.

The Alabama/FSU game was billed as the greatest opener in history. It didn't disappoint. The newness on the offensive and defensive line, was evident in the first half as Bama struggled to hold FSU at bay, but we've always been a four full quarters team. The second half was a different showing as things started to come together.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You ignore the PAC 12 ... easily the most successful Division 1 conference in the nation, of all sports.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope, I'm aware that their overall standing in all sports is quite strong, but lest you forget 2016's season opener was a devastating blow at the hands of Bama. Also aware of their #4 spot on the AP, going into the season, though the talk is they may slip on Tuesday.
> 
> I wasn't aware of the blind center, that's cool that he got to play.
> 
> @jcdeboever Michigan made a fine showing not only did they play well, but they were able to capitalize on Gator mistakes. I'm betting they will move up on Tuesday.
> 
> The Alabama/FSU game was billed as the greatest opener in history. It didn't disappoint. The newness on the offensive and defensive line, was evident in the first half as Bama struggled to hold FSU at bay, but we've always been a four full quarters team. The second half was a different showing as things started to come together.
Click to expand...

@smoke665. Michigan's defense played extremely well, very fast, and we'll executed. I was hoping they would come out that way. Good thing last year's freshman got a fair amount of playing time, it really paid off to start the year. They have a slew of running backs that should keep them fresh all year. A lot of versatility on the O Line as well. The thing is, they should continue to get better as a team, great start.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever Had to go back and watch that fumble recovery in the end zone a couple of times!!!


----------



## smoke665

Going to be/already is a long weekend for us on the mountain. Met with the paving contractor on Friday, they will be here on Tuesday to start paving. It's been 10 years since we built our house, and frankly ran out of money with to many addons, so the drive got cut. At a little under a 1/2 mile long with landings and turn outs, it's not cheap, but we finally saved up the cash. Yesterday I started the process of grading, and moving rock, in preparation. With today and tomorrow, I should be able to be ready in time - I hope.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Going to be/already is a long weekend for us on the mountain. Met with the paving contractor on Friday, they will be here on Tuesday to start paving. It's been 10 years since we built our house, and frankly ran out of money with to many addons, so the drive got cut. At a little under a 1/2 mile long with landings and turn outs, it's not cheap, but we finally saved up the cash. Yesterday I started the process of grading, and moving rock, in preparation. With today and tomorrow, I should be able to be ready in time - I hope.



We expect pics.



cmw3_d40_6219 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## terri

@smoke665 -  Whew!   What a project this will be.    Y'all must be pumped to finally get it going!    Hope it goes smoothly without any unexpected obstacles.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> @smoke665 -  Whew!   What a project this will be.    Y'all must be pumped to finally get it going!    Hope it goes smoothly without any unexpected obstacles.



We are for sure. Part of the drive is over a 12% grade, so just getting in without the hassle will be exciting. Not having the constant maintenance after every rain will be another added benefit.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You ignore the PAC 12 ... easily the most successful Division 1 conference in the nation, of all sports.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope, I'm aware that their overall standing in all sports is quite strong, but lest you forget 2016's season opener was a devastating blow at the hands of Bama. Also aware of their #4 spot on the AP, going into the season, though the talk is they may slip on Tuesday.
> 
> I wasn't aware of the blind center, that's cool that he got to play.
> 
> @jcdeboever Michigan made a fine showing not only did they play well, but they were able to capitalize on Gator mistakes. I'm betting they will move up on Tuesday.
> 
> The Alabama/FSU game was billed as the greatest opener in history. It didn't disappoint. The newness on the offensive and defensive line, was evident in the first half as Bama struggled to hold FSU at bay, but we've always been a four full quarters team. The second half was a different showing as things started to come together.
Click to expand...


@smoke: Since Carroll's untimely departure, the football program has been in shambles. Sarkesian turned out to be a drunk and Helton was just a nice guy to keep the boat from capsizing until a 'real' coach was found. Last year, a very very good Alabama caught SC with their pants down. Harvard could have beaten SC at the beginning of last year's season.  A loss is a loss, not making any excuses, Alabama showed up to play big time college football and SC showed up just looking pretty.

As they played in the first three quarters, SC should fall in the polls.  As long as they won, slipping a bit shouldn't matter this early in the season.  And traditionally, SC has a tough schedule which helps in the polls but it is also a two-edged sword.  

What does matter is beating Stanford next week.  Apparently, SC was using only half their playbook on offense and defense, as an attempt to hide the good stuff from the Stanford scouts and film reviewers.  Those farmers and city roughs from Michigan, weren't cooperating and played some tough ball.  Each team score a touchdown through the first three quarters, then SC pulled out the stops and scored 28 points in the fourth.  SC's defense needs a lot of polishing to get near being a final product.

Gary thinks the Wolverines' kicker should get a lot of credit for keeping Michigan in the game and giving them the spirit and momentum to finish off the Gators.

Alabama's defense were the victors against FSU ... SC's defense (lack of tackling) made the game close.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> @smoke665 -  Whew!   What a project this will be.    Y'all must be pumped to finally get it going!    Hope it goes smoothly without any unexpected obstacles.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We are for sure. Part of the drive is over a 12% grade, so just getting in without the hassle will be exciting. Not having the constant maintenance after every rain will be another added benefit.
Click to expand...







Free Curb & Gutters

You know smoke, Gary used to be a partner in a paving company ... if you lived out here your drive could have been installed at cost.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. if you lived here could I have still got it at cost LOL  Shame there is so much distance, I suspect we could have a big time regardless of team colors!!  

We lost some good players both offensive and defensive, plus the havoc at the end of last year with our offensive coordinators. First Kiffin, then Sarkisian, then none. Time will tell if Daboll, is the one for us, but the first half was pretty much a learning experience for all at Alabama. I did like what I started to see in the 2nd half. It's easy to forget that Jalen Hurt was a freshman last year when he started at QB, any improvements there will make him formidable.

Michigan came to play, Florida didn't, end of story.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> The kid has been on the team for a few years and never played. Today he did.  He's a big kid, lineman size.  He ran out on the field gripping the shoulder pad of a teammate. The guards set him up ... a perfect snap and a perfect boot.  On the field he was congratulated by both sides ... when he reached the bench and took off his helmet, he had this huge grin from ear-to-ear as other teammates roughed him up.


Isn't that kind of going to mess up the plays?  I don't know a lot about feetsball, but this sounds like it would make it awfully hard to win a game...


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Sometimes the score doesn't matter.


In other news...  California Bookies Union pickets Gary's house.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's company had an annual maintenance contract with the City of Los Angeles. Gary would have diverted the trucks to your place and pave your drive with the daily leftovers. Over time, it would have been paved for free.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The kid has been on the team for a few years and never played. Today he did.  He's a big kid, lineman size.  He ran out on the field gripping the shoulder pad of a teammate. The guards set him up ... a perfect snap and a perfect boot.  On the field he was congratulated by both sides ... when he reached the bench and took off his helmet, he had this huge grin from ear-to-ear as other teammates roughed him up.
> 
> 
> 
> Isn't that kind of going to mess up the plays?  I don't know a lot about feetsball, but this sounds like it would make it awfully hard to win a game...
Click to expand...

Just one play, a Point After Touchdown (PAT). He hiked long and the kicker punted it through the uprights.  The SC band always has a little concert before the game (on campus) and after the game on the field.  There's a photo in the LA Time of Jake Olson (the blind center) leading the band during the post game ceremonies. He had a good day. The Times ran a sidebar on Olson with the subhead "For Olson and Trojans, truly a sight to behold".

From the LA Times article:

"Jake Olson will never behold his perfect snap, the wondrous kick, that glorious final point of USC's opening-day victory. But he felt it in the hugs, heard it in the roars and basked in its triumph as he trotted from the Coliseum field into the arms of his Trojans teammates. Turns out, USC's blind long snapper saw it better than anyone.  'There's a beauty in it,' said Olson, ... 'If you can't see how God work things out, then I think you're the blind one.'   ... He lost both of his eyes to retinoblastoma, a rare form of cancer, and three years after he joined the team as a walk-on, Olson snapped the ball in an official game for the first time.

This was not practice. This was not an exhibition.  This was real, and the 20-year-old junior from Huntington Beach nailed it. ... 'Certain things are bigger than the game,' USC special teams coach John Baxter said. This was one of those things, a moment during which all the statistics and expectations and hype around this Trojan football team was whittled into one small play for one giant of a kid. ..."

Both coaches worked out a deal before the game.  On Western Michigan's first score, USC didn't rush the PAT, in return, on USC's last score, the Bronco's didn't rush the PAT.


----------



## Gary A.

Lester, the Western Michigan University coach said, "'I told them the entire situation,' and said, 'You can't touch him, you can't yell at him, everybody get down so it looks like a football play but nobody move.' Lester recalled, 'I told them what we're about to do is bigger than the game.  This is about what kind of people we want to be, what we represent, this is bigger than us.'"

"... Everything good about sports emerging from this afternoon of pain and sweat, Helton and Lester shining like true leaders, the Trojans and Broncos acting like real men. 'I commend and thank coach Lester and entire Western Michigan family for giving us this honor,' Helton said, 'That's a first class organization.'  

In the stand, Jake Olson's family screamed."




PS- For the past three years, Olson has worked-out with the team everyday.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Lester, the Western Michigan University coach said, "'I told them the entire situation,' and said, 'You can't touch him, you can't yell at him, everybody get down so it looks like a football play but nobody move.' Lester recalled, 'I told them what we're about to do is bigger than the game.  This is about what kind of people we want to be, what we represent, this is bigger than us.'"
> 
> "... Everything good about sports emerging from this afternoon of pain and sweat, Helton and Lester shining like true leaders, the Trojans and Broncos acting like real men. 'I commend and thank coach Lester and entire Western Michigan family for giving us this honor,' Helton said, 'That's a first class organization.'
> 
> In the stand, Jake Olson's family screamed."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> PS- For the past three years, Olson has worked-out with the team everyday.


What a great story.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lester, the Western Michigan University coach said, "'I told them the entire situation,' and said, 'You can't touch him, you can't yell at him, everybody get down so it looks like a football play but nobody move.' Lester recalled, 'I told them what we're about to do is bigger than the game.  This is about what kind of people we want to be, what we represent, this is bigger than us.'"
> 
> "... Everything good about sports emerging from this afternoon of pain and sweat, Helton and Lester shining like true leaders, the Trojans and Broncos acting like real men. 'I commend and thank coach Lester and entire Western Michigan family for giving us this honor,' Helton said, 'That's a first class organization.'
> 
> In the stand, Jake Olson's family screamed."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> PS- For the past three years, Olson has worked-out with the team everyday.
> 
> 
> 
> What a great story.
Click to expand...

Gary didn't get the details until this morning reading the paper.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Recently, Gary acquired internet streaming devices for his Tv's. Yesterday, Gary was able to watch the USC - WMU live, even though it was only carried by the PAC 12 Network, a pay service. 

It wasn't perfect, as the signal would occasionally drop out ... but Gary got it and it was free.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  It's a rainy and cold Sunday here in New England.  Mac and cheese in the oven and looking for movie suggestions.  On Demand or Netflix.  No horror or romance.  Comedy, Action or Drama!  Suggestions???


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  It's a rainy and cold Sunday here in New England.  Mac and cheese in the oven and looking for movie suggestions.  On Demand or Netflix.  No horror or romance.  Comedy, Action or Drama!  Suggestions???



We just rewatched "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and thoroughly enjoyed it. I would also randomly suggest "Midnight in Paris" if you are a fan of Woody Allen and early 20th century literature  There is a sort of romance subplot iirc, but I don't remember it really being the point of the movie. I just remember liking it.

Hmmm, now I am thinking it will be a movie night for me, too. A cold and rainy Sunday with a day off work tomorrow? Movie night it is!


----------



## terri

I want a cold and rainy Sunday, too!  

Instead, I got blue skies and upper 80s with low humidity.   We went out for a long walk.

Doesn't suck, but I am more ready for long afternoons of NFL football while I have something simmering in the soup pot.  I need lower temps, hosers!


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> We just rewatched "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and thoroughly enjoyed it. I would also randomly suggest "Midnight in Paris" if you are a fan of Woody Allen and early 20th century literature  There is a sort of romance subplot iirc, but I don't remember it really being the point of the movie. I just remember liking it.
> 
> Hmmm, now I am thinking it will be a movie night for me, too. A cold and rainy Sunday with a day off work tomorrow? Movie night it is!



I have a moral objection to anything involving Woody Allen.  

I've seen Raiders so many times but it's definitely one of those rewatchable movies!


----------



## Gary A.

Netflix:

Gold, Passengers, Girl On the Train.  Gary also boycotts Mr. Allen. 

Hot and Humid. Sucks.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You ignore the PAC 12 ... easily the most successful Division 1 conference in the nation, of all sports.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope, I'm aware that their overall standing in all sports is quite strong, but lest you forget 2016's season opener was a devastating blow at the hands of Bama. Also aware of their #4 spot on the AP, going into the season, though the talk is they may slip on Tuesday.
> 
> I wasn't aware of the blind center, that's cool that he got to play.
> 
> @jcdeboever Michigan made a fine showing not only did they play well, but they were able to capitalize on Gator mistakes. I'm betting they will move up on Tuesday.
> 
> The Alabama/FSU game was billed as the greatest opener in history. It didn't disappoint. The newness on the offensive and defensive line, was evident in the first half as Bama struggled to hold FSU at bay, but we've always been a four full quarters team. The second half was a different showing as things started to come together.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> @smoke: Since Carroll's untimely departure, the football program has been in shambles. Sarkesian turned out to be a drunk and Helton was just a nice guy to keep the boat from capsizing until a 'real' coach was found. Last year, a very very good Alabama caught SC with their pants down. Harvard could have beaten SC at the beginning of last year's season.  A loss is a loss, not making any excuses, Alabama showed up to play big time college football and SC showed up just looking pretty.
> 
> As they played in the first three quarters, SC should fall in the polls.  As long as they won, slipping a bit shouldn't matter this early in the season.  And traditionally, SC has a tough schedule which helps in the polls but it is also a two-edged sword.
> 
> What does matter is beating Stanford next week.  Apparently, SC was using only half their playbook on offense and defense, as an attempt to hide the good stuff from the Stanford scouts and film reviewers.  Those farmers and city roughs from Michigan, weren't cooperating and played some tough ball.  Each team score a touchdown through the first three quarters, then SC pulled out the stops and scored 28 points in the fourth.  SC's defense needs a lot of polishing to get near being a final product.
> 
> Gary thinks the Wolverines' kicker should get a lot of credit for keeping Michigan in the game and giving them the spirit and momentum to finish off the Gators.
> 
> Alabama's defense were the victors against FSU ... SC's defense (lack of tackling) made the game close.
Click to expand...


PS- Kiffin is an A$$ (upper case A and dollar signs) that became unleashed as a head coach.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> PS- Kiffin is an A$$ (upper case A and dollar signs) that became unleashed as a head coach.



It was a love/hate relationship with Kiffin, for both Saban and the fans. Last year a reporter asked Saban about his argument with Kiffen on the sidelines during the Western Kentucky game Saban told him it wasn't an argument it was an "Old Fashion A$$ Chewing".  There were a lot of fans who would have gladly assisted. 

On another line, how's the heat out there, any letup in sight????


----------



## terri

Eww.  I just realized by my join date that yesterday marked another anniversary for me here.   I've been here a long time.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You ignore the PAC 12 ... easily the most successful Division 1 conference in the nation, of all sports.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope, I'm aware that their overall standing in all sports is quite strong, but lest you forget 2016's season opener was a devastating blow at the hands of Bama. Also aware of their #4 spot on the AP, going into the season, though the talk is they may slip on Tuesday.
> 
> I wasn't aware of the blind center, that's cool that he got to play.
> 
> @jcdeboever Michigan made a fine showing not only did they play well, but they were able to capitalize on Gator mistakes. I'm betting they will move up on Tuesday.
> 
> The Alabama/FSU game was billed as the greatest opener in history. It didn't disappoint. The newness on the offensive and defensive line, was evident in the first half as Bama struggled to hold FSU at bay, but we've always been a four full quarters team. The second half was a different showing as things started to come together.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> @smoke: Since Carroll's untimely departure, the football program has been in shambles. Sarkesian turned out to be a drunk and Helton was just a nice guy to keep the boat from capsizing until a 'real' coach was found. Last year, a very very good Alabama caught SC with their pants down. Harvard could have beaten SC at the beginning of last year's season.  A loss is a loss, not making any excuses, Alabama showed up to play big time college football and SC showed up just looking pretty.
> 
> As they played in the first three quarters, SC should fall in the polls.  As long as they won, slipping a bit shouldn't matter this early in the season.  And traditionally, SC has a tough schedule which helps in the polls but it is also a two-edged sword.
> 
> What does matter is beating Stanford next week.  Apparently, SC was using only half their playbook on offense and defense, as an attempt to hide the good stuff from the Stanford scouts and film reviewers.  Those farmers and city roughs from Michigan, weren't cooperating and played some tough ball.  Each team score a touchdown through the first three quarters, then SC pulled out the stops and scored 28 points in the fourth.  SC's defense needs a lot of polishing to get near being a final product.
> 
> Gary thinks the Wolverines' kicker should get a lot of credit for keeping Michigan in the game and giving them the spirit and momentum to finish off the Gators.
> 
> Alabama's defense were the victors against FSU ... SC's defense (lack of tackling) made the game close.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> PS- Kiffin is an A$$ (upper case A and dollar signs) that became unleashed as a head coach.
Click to expand...

The defense showed up and yes, it looks like we finally have a kicker.... A gator kicker...


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Eww.  I just realized by my join date that yesterday marked another anniversary for me here.   I've been here a long time.



By the tone of your comment, not sure if I should congratulate you on the anniversary, or say "Bless your heart".


----------



## terri

I'd say the latter!  

As in, Bless her heart, the girl needs a life.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- Kiffin is an A$$ (upper case A and dollar signs) that became unleashed as a head coach.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was a love/hate relationship with Kiffin, for both Saban and the fans. Last year a reporter asked Saban about his argument with Kiffen on the sidelines during the Western Kentucky game Saban told him it wasn't an argument it was an "Old Fashion A$$ Chewing".  There were a lot of fans who would have gladly assisted.
> 
> On another line, how's the heat out there, any letup in sight????
Click to expand...

Yep, this is the last day.  Supposed to drop about ten degrees tomorrow. So odd to be forced indoors.


----------



## jcdeboever

Shot my tail off tonight in golf. Our team (scramble) ended up 14 under for a score of 58 (out of 72). 2 eagles on par 5's, I got us pretty close to the pin on both with a 3 wood off the fairway plus used my drives. I only sank 1 putt. My mother in law (I played for my father in law) had 4 birdie putts and 2 eagle putts. She really is a fantastic putter, excellent read of the green, perfect touch. She can't hit the ball very far (she probably weighs 100lbs soaking wet) but she hits everything straight. We split $104, four ways. We laughed our butts off the whole 18, we kept saying too each other, please yell at me, this is too weird (my wife, her husband yell at us all the time). I pretended to be falling asleep at the wheel a few times, that made her pert near pee her pants. I farted super loud on a drive (on the back swing), couldn't hold it, it came all of a sudden (seriously) and the force I used to drive, pushed it out of some tight cheeks during the power stroke, best drive of the day.... that was the gem for a few holes. The other team lady was appalled by the shear vulgarity of the sound and volume, that made my mother in law and I laugh uncontrollably for a few holes. To be fair, the lady did have a lot of class. I was not bringing any class on that hole we eagled, but it was an epic, timed, fart. It was my finest moment of this golf season.


----------



## Frank F.

Sometimes I am bold and only take my little Fuji X100T to shoot an event. Now I discovered that my favourite RAW converter for Fuji, Photo Ninja, is a source of excellent black & white conversions, much better than those I can later make starting from the color version in photoshop. An iconic example from a long series:


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Sometimes I am bold and only take my little Fuji X100T to shoot an event. Now I discovered that my favourite RAW converter for Fuji, Photo Ninja, is a source of excellent black & white conversions, much better than those I can later make starting from the color version in photoshop. An iconic example from a long series:
> View attachment 146285


Why wouldn't you just convert in camera?


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sometimes I am bold and only take my little Fuji X100T to shoot an event. Now I discovered that my favourite RAW converter for Fuji, Photo Ninja, is a source of excellent black & white conversions, much better than those I can later make starting from the color version in photoshop. An iconic example from a long series:
> View attachment 146285
> 
> 
> 
> Why wouldn't you just convert in camera?
Click to expand...



I might try that. Usually in camera I let it make a CC = Classic Chrome JPEG. Usually I do not touch the JPEG though and go straight to the RAW. Why? Because in my book I get much more details and thus resolution from the RAW in high ISO. It seems to me the internal RAW converter uses too much noise reduction and irons out the high frequency signals = fine details.


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sometimes I am bold and only take my little Fuji X100T to shoot an event. Now I discovered that my favourite RAW converter for Fuji, Photo Ninja, is a source of excellent black & white conversions, much better than those I can later make starting from the color version in photoshop. An iconic example from a long series:
> View attachment 146285
> 
> 
> 
> Why wouldn't you just convert in camera?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I might try that. Usually in camera I let it make a CC = Classic Chrome JPEG. Usually I do not touch the JPEG though and go straight to the RAW. Why? Because in my book I get much more details and thus resolution from the RAW in high ISO. It seems to me the internal RAW converter uses too much noise reduction and irons out the high frequency signals = fine details.
Click to expand...

I convert almost everything in camera (X-T2, XP2). I made custom presets for my B&W and shoot those in raw, sometimes in jpeg, they turn out great for me, either way. Sports, I use in camera jpegs, custom STD jpeg. Almost everything I shoot goes unedited except for cropping occasionally. I love the Acros simulations and I tweaked 3 different ones for customs and I have them in q menu. In tough lighting conditions, I will shoot the customs in raw and push or pull the conversion based on histogram, all in camera.


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sometimes I am bold and only take my little Fuji X100T to shoot an event. Now I discovered that my favourite RAW converter for Fuji, Photo Ninja, is a source of excellent black & white conversions, much better than those I can later make starting from the color version in photoshop. An iconic example from a long series:
> View attachment 146285
> 
> 
> 
> Why wouldn't you just convert in camera?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I might try that. Usually in camera I let it make a CC = Classic Chrome JPEG. Usually I do not touch the JPEG though and go straight to the RAW. Why? Because in my book I get much more details and thus resolution from the RAW in high ISO. It seems to me the internal RAW converter uses too much noise reduction and irons out the high frequency signals = fine details.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I convert almost everything in camera (X-T2, XP2). I made custom presets for my B&W and shoot those in raw, sometimes in jpeg, they turn out great for me, either way. Sports, I use in camera jpegs, custom STD jpeg. Almost everything I shoot goes unedited except for cropping occasionally. I love the Acros simulations and I tweaked 3 different ones for customs and I have them in q menu. In tough lighting conditions, I will shoot the customs in raw and push or pull the conversion based on histogram, all in camera.
Click to expand...



Point me to a how-to on making custom presets for the X100T, please. Is it possible to exchange such profiles?


----------



## JonA_CT

Hops for this morning's Double IPA.  They keep increasing the potency (oils/acids) in the hops. Noble hops are around 5%. Most modern varietals have been coming in around 12-15%. These are 20%. They are sticky...never had that experience.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Hops for this morning's Double IPA.  They keep increasing the potency (oils/acids) in the hops. Noble hops are around 5%. Most modern varietals have been coming in around 12-15%. These are 20%. They are sticky...never had that experience.
> 
> View attachment 146290


Bon Appetit.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It rained twice yesterday, cats & dogs for a short period of time.  Rain in summer is very odd for here.  The rain did give a big boost in controlling all the wildfires, especially the one(s) in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, many California Firefighters are being recalled from Houston to address the wildfires out here in the west.  Recently, Gary found out that California's militia (National Guard), has even sent air assets to Harvey.  Numerous rescue helicopters, fixed wing planes and crews have been assisting in the rescues. There has been some excellent photo stories in the Times highlighting California's contribution the emergency. God Bless you people in Houston, you have a long long way to go ... just to dig out ... and another epic journey through reconstruction and recovery.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Hops for this morning's Double IPA.



This has been on the news the last few days. IPAs Are Giving You Man Boobs

Guess it could give you something to do with the hand not holding the glass


----------



## Gary A.

Speaking of recovery, Gary's house guest, Dr. Tom, seems to be mending nicely.  He wants to return home to Pasadena this evening and start a reduced pace at work tomorrow.  He first has to pass Dr. Gary's and Dr. Mary Lou's examination first.  Additional guests came by yesterday for dinner and they even brought some meat for the BBQ. We had a feast yesterday, Gary had cooked up another Tri-Tip brisket (different recipe - a nice kick of spice), a triple berry sorbet (delish), Mike brought these thick lamb chops for the BBQ, corn, pasta, salad and vino.  Gary is still full. A very nice meal.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hops for this morning's Double IPA.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This has been on the news the last few days. IPAs Are Giving You Man Boobs
> 
> Guess it could give you something to do with the hand not holding the glass
Click to expand...

Wow, what an interesting article ... not the man-boobs part ... but the rest of the article is quite interesting.  Gary is off  doing more research.  Good thing this is a holiday, otherwise Gary won't get any work done.


----------



## Gary A.

BTW- Anyone watch the UCLA - Texas A&M game?  At some point in the third quarter, UCLA was down by 34 points.  UCLA score 35 unanswered points to win 45 to 44.

From the LA Times: "UCLA won. The Bruins really won.  Honestly, they won. No, seriously, they won. ... have we written this already? - UCLA won, 45-44, In a result that still bears repeating. Thirty-four points down and they won. ..."


----------



## vintagesnaps

This headline seems to pretty well sum it up 'The Internet Falls In Love with Ancient Crackpot Study...'.


----------



## SquarePeg

Well @limr I may be a day late but just found Raider's on tv (EPIX).


----------



## limr

I am up far too late. First day of school tomorrow. And while I don't actually have to teach until Wednesday evening, traffic around campus and parking is going to be a cluster**** so I need to get there early to arrive before all the bs starts.

But I caught the end of the Tennessee vs Georgia Tech game and couldn't help but think about how happy our dear Sharon M, whom I still miss, would be  I'm not a big fan of sweet liquor, but I'm thinking I might get a bottle of Fireball and take a shot every time the Vols win.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary will join you. A salute to Ms. Sharon.


----------



## smoke665

@limr just reading the highlights of that game, I  had intended on watching it but started doing something else and forgot. Wow I'm sorry I missed it! Despite my allegiance to Bama football I have a fondness for the Volunteers going back almost 40 years.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> @limr just reading the highlights of that game, I  had intended on watching it but started doing something else and forgot. Wow I'm sorry I missed it! Despite my allegiance to Bama football I have a fondness for the Volunteers going back almost 40 years.



I didn't even know it was on - just sort of caught parts of it here and there. I haven't been a big fan of the Vols. Despite what the sports writers like to claim, they aren't "archrivals" or anything (that's Georgia, of course!) - sure, there's a rivalry, but nothing really much more than what exists between a lot of SEC teams. But I remember there was some bad blood in the early 90s. They pounded on us in 1990 and then we pounded back the year after. The game was in Gainesville in 1991 and I remember some kind of scandal (just looked it up: Florida–Tennessee football rivalry - Wikipedia Scroll down to 'Faxgate') but really what I remember was Tennessee fans behaving very badly in town after their loss. Left a bad taste in my mouth.

But then came Ms.Sharon, and though we'd trash talk all through football season, ultimately what happened was that I now associate the Vols with her, and I can't be mad at them anymore


----------



## smoke665

@limr my first introduction to SEC was in September 1980 (Auburn/Tennessee) as the guest of the president of the company I worked for at the time. All I heard on the 3 hr trip down was how great Auburn was, and how strong they were. At the end of the end of every quarter, he'd tell me they were going to come alive. When he told me that at the start of the 4th quarter, I told him I didn't think others shared his opinion, as they were leaving in droves. Final score Tennessee 42-0. I've had this soft spot for them ever since. LOL


----------



## Frank F.

On Saturday we had our yearly family reunion and I took the yearly group shot:

http://zentralkraft.com/gruppe_trimborn_2017.jpg


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> On Saturday we had our yearly family reunion and I took the yearly group shot:
> 
> http://zentralkraft.com/gruppe_trimborn_2017.jpg



Wow, that's a large group to shoot!!! Nice job


----------



## jcdeboever

I like lamb chops


----------



## vintagesnaps

Are you hosers still talking football?? 

It's taking a long time for that large group of people to load! You got a picture of somebody (to the left) taking a picture of you taking the picture.

Where are you from Frank? I forget. We have relatives/ancestors from Bremen. We have a cousin who came here once, traveling across the US, but unfortunately we since lost touch. She brought us a family chart going back to the 1500s.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I like Lambchop.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like puppets


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Are you hosers still talking football??



Get used to it 'cause we'll be talking about it well into Jan 2018   And then into Feb for those who are talking about NFL and not college ball.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Are you hosers still talking football??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Get used to it 'cause we'll be talking about it well into Jan 2018   And then into Feb for those who are talking about NFL and not college ball.
Click to expand...


Shortly after that we switch over to talking about next year!!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> But then came Ms.Sharon, and though we'd trash talk all through football season, ultimately what happened was that I now associate the Vols with her, and I can't be mad at them anymore


This.


----------



## snowbear

For any Whovians, MLW has been watching ER, something I haven't been able to do, until I heard a familiar voice and looked to see familiar very wavy blonde hair . . . Alex Kingston aka River Song ("Hell in high heels").


----------



## snowbear

Not a fan but it's near the office.




DSC_0432.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Not a fan but it's near the office



Son's corner office overlooks the new Mercedes Stadium in Atlanta. Tried to talk him into buying me a seat, but the tight wad wouldn't do it LOL


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> For any Whovians, MLW has been watching ER, something I haven't been able to do, until I heard a familiar voice and looked to see familiar very wavy blonde hair . . . Alex Kingston aka River Song ("Hell in high heels").



I was a huge ER fan and I knew her there first.


----------



## snowbear

I dread Monday night home games . . . traffic is bad enough without this place being open.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> On Saturday we had our yearly family reunion and I took the yearly group shot:
> 
> http://zentralkraft.com/gruppe_trimborn_2017.jpg
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, that's a large group to shoot!!! Nice job
Click to expand...



Originally I did a single shot but found the resolution is low. So I started to create panoramic images from three or more shots to make everyone recognizable. The family meets every year since 1972 and there must be an archive somewhere with all these group shots. Someone in the family paints the outlines, numbers the figures and then adds names to all participants and the geanological number showing the relativeness to our founding father Cornelius Balduin. In 50 years our ancestors can go back, look at the picture and know who was there in 2017....


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> I started to create panoramic images from three or more shots to make everyone recognizable. The



Not the easiest of things to do with a large group, as invariably someone in the bunch will move at the wrong time, right at the point where you're trying to stich the image.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I started to create panoramic images from three or more shots to make everyone recognizable. The
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not the easiest of things to do with a large group, as invariably someone in the bunch will move at the wrong time, right at the point where you're trying to stich the image.
Click to expand...




Nö. The programs stitch seamlessly and I have them folks well under control. They are allowed to breathe and laugh basically. That is it. I position every one of them, not perfect here, then I do my clownesque performance with two cameras and two lenses on a staircase or ladder...


----------



## SquarePeg

One of Princess's friends got a new puppy. He came to visit yesterday. He was ADORABLE. Our dog was not amused.


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg I think we need a "Heart" rating for the to cute photos!


----------



## SquarePeg

I agree!!!!  He is cuteness overload.  His name is Zeus. Having him visit is part of my daughter's master plan to convince me to get another dog.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 146387 One of Princess's friends got a new puppy. He came to visit yesterday. He was ADORABLE. Our dog was not amused.


My dog loves other dogs. Funny how they are all different. However, my dog was kind of attacked by another dog last week as he was being friendly. Webster turned all Hyde on him though and put him in his place in a hot second. I didn't realize other than one other time he could be aggressive because he is a sweet dog. I didn't have him on a leash, he was riding in my golf cart.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 146387 One of Princess's friends got a new puppy. He came to visit yesterday. He was ADORABLE. Our dog was not amused.
> 
> 
> 
> My dog loves other dogs. Funny how they are all different. However, my dog was kind of attacked by another dog last week as he was being friendly. Webster turned all Hyde on him though and put him in his place in a hot second. I didn't realize other than one other time he could be aggressive because he is a sweet dog. I didn't have him on a leash, he was riding in my golf cart.
Click to expand...


Xing is not usually a fan of other dogs. He's super sweet with all people especially kids but when I took him to the dog park he looked around then looked at me like "get me outta here"!  We joke that it's because he doesn't know he's a dog lol.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> I dread Monday night home games . . . traffic is bad enough without this place being open.


You're preaching to the choir ... try living in LA.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 146387 One of Princess's friends got a new puppy. He came to visit yesterday. He was ADORABLE. Our dog was not amused.


The Cook would have loved the pup.  It is funny that we will often dog sit while the dog's humans leave town.  Invariably, the humans say that their dog is better behaved after its stay than before being dropped off.  Gary thinks it's all about Cookie teaching them proper manners.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> I agree!!!!  He is cuteness overload.  His name is Zeus. Having him visit is part of my daughter's master plan to convince me to get another dog.


LOL ... get a Wheaten, (you can thank Gary later).


----------



## Gary A.

Cook at the Dog Park:
















Gary's Fave-




(Not Cook, lol)


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 146387 One of Princess's friends got a new puppy. He came to visit yesterday. He was ADORABLE. Our dog was not amused.
> 
> 
> 
> My dog loves other dogs. Funny how they are all different. However, my dog was kind of attacked by another dog last week as he was being friendly. Webster turned all Hyde on him though and put him in his place in a hot second. I didn't realize other than one other time he could be aggressive because he is a sweet dog. I didn't have him on a leash, he was riding in my golf cart.
Click to expand...


Gomer Pyle surprised me like that. I lived in the lower half of a split-level ranch for a few years, and being a cat, he liked sitting in the window. This meant that stray cats would essentially be at more or less the same level as him if they happened by the house. He would get mildly aggressive at some of the strays once in a while (luckily there weren't that many), which was already surprising because he was normally such a super sweet cat and typically afraid of his own shadow. One night, I woke up to an unholy screeching. It was Gomer trying to get at a stray, seeming like he wanted to tear that thing apart. I had never seen him like that. I have no idea what it was about that cat in particular, but it certainly did bring out the fierce beast in my little mushy lovebug.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I agree!!!!  He is cuteness overload.  His name is Zeus. Having him visit is part of my daughter's master plan to convince me to get another dog.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... get a Wheaten, (you can thank Gary later).
Click to expand...


I think I have mentioned that whenever I see a dog that even remotely looks like a Wheaten, I call him or her "Cookie"


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 146387 One of Princess's friends got a new puppy. He came to visit yesterday. He was ADORABLE. Our dog was not amused.
> 
> 
> 
> My dog loves other dogs. Funny how they are all different. However, my dog was kind of attacked by another dog last week as he was being friendly. Webster turned all Hyde on him though and put him in his place in a hot second. I didn't realize other than one other time he could be aggressive because he is a sweet dog. I didn't have him on a leash, he was riding in my golf cart.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Gomer Pyle surprised me like that. I lived in the lower half of a split-level ranch for a few years, and being a cat, he liked sitting in the window. This meant that stray cats would essentially be at more or less the same level as him if they happened by the house. He would get mildly aggressive at some of the strays once in a while (luckily there weren't that many), which was already surprising because he was normally such a super sweet cat and typically afraid of his own shadow. One night, I woke up to an unholy screeching. It was Gomer trying to get at a stray, seeming like he wanted to tear that thing apart. I had never seen him like that. I have no idea what it was about that cat in particular, but it certainly did bring out the fierce beast in my little mushy lovebug.
Click to expand...

OMG, my late Ping was evil to everyone except me, he tolerated the wife but really paid no mind to her. When we lived in an apartment, there were cats messing with him in the window and he went nuts, crazy devil stuff. He was a strange cat, only had affection for me. He was by my side, always. He even slept between my legs or in my arm pit, or in the back side of knees. Had to shut the door if wife wanted me all to herself. I miss him even though he could be annoying.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I dread Monday night home games . . . traffic is bad enough without this place being open.
> 
> 
> 
> You're preaching to the choir ... try living in LA.
Click to expand...

I bet it's worse here - we don't know how to drive in normal, low-density conditions.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I dread Monday night home games . . . traffic is bad enough without this place being open.
> 
> 
> 
> You're preaching to the choir ... try living in LA.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I bet it's worse here - we don't know how to drive in normal, low-density conditions.
Click to expand...

A French race car driver described LA drivers as " ... professional, because they have to be."


----------



## JonA_CT

Worst thunderstorms in awhile around here.  We had straight-line gusts over 70mph this morning. Trees are down all over the place. We had 25 students here at school whose parents had to make arrangements for them to be picked up because an entire neighborhood is sealed off with down power lines, and the buses can't get through.

We are so close to the coast that the sea breeze usually kills the storms before they get here. Today, they generated right off the Sound.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Worst thunderstorms in awhile around here.  We had straight-line gusts over 70mph this morning. Trees are down all over the place. We had 25 students here at school whose parents had to make arrangements for them to be picked up because an entire neighborhood is sealed off with down power lines, and the buses can't get through.
> 
> We are so close to the coast that the sea breeze usually kills the storms before they get here. Today, they generated right off the Sound.


Stay safe.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Worst thunderstorms in awhile around here.  We had straight-line gusts over 70mph this morning. Trees are down all over the place. We had 25 students here at school whose parents had to make arrangements for them to be picked up because an entire neighborhood is sealed off with down power lines, and the buses can't get through.
> 
> We are so close to the coast that the sea breeze usually kills the storms before they get here. Today, they generated right off the Sound.



Scary.  That storm came through here and the thunder was some of the loudest I've ever heard. Lots of rain too. It it ended quickly and we didn't have much wind. Glad you're ok.


----------



## JonA_CT

Ryan Hanrahan on Twitter

I thought it was an Irma video at first. But...the highest verified gust here was 84mph. And it was over in 20 minutes. I can't imagine those islands that are getting hours of 100+ sustained winds and who knows what gusts with Irma.


----------



## terri

My sister lives in central Florida - horse country.   They've been told to stay put if they aren't in a flood zone, which she isn't.   She said that wasn't particularly reassuring, but they've lived through a few of these without any major trauma.   They are well stocked with water, food, etc., so she's resigned to just riding it out.    She said she loves Florida, "minus this kind of occasional terror."


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Sounds pretty tough out there in the east. You all stay dry. Gary heard that Irma's bringing 180mph winds with her when she hits PR. Unbelievable ... Gary's been in a lot of tough caca... but not 180mph worth of caca. Everybody be safe, Gary is tired of hospital visits. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers are choking ... back when they were winning, they weren't winning by much ... barely winning deep into the innings and extra innings. Gary was holding his breath that the injured would be back about the time the Dodgers' luck ran out ... it hasn't quite turned out that way. 

@ Peg: Gary didn't run away ... just that life sorta overwhelmed him ... Dodgers were not high on his todo list. 

Gary's addressing this now because he on a bus with some time to kill. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Irma's getting close and Jose is pushing in; I wonder if they'll team up and really put on an @$$ kicking show.  And then there's Katia heading for the gulf coast of Mexico.  There's almost two whole months left in the season.


----------



## Gary A.

The heat wave has broke, still some lingering humidity ... but overall warm and pleasant.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Tardes Coffee Hosers. Sounds pretty tough out there in the east. You all stay dry. Gary heard that Irma's bringing 180mph winds with her when she hits PR. Unbelievable ... Gary's been in a lot of tough caca... but not 180mph worth of caca. Everybody be safe, Gary is tired of hospital visits.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



I saw some photos of the devastation in St. Maarten and it's terrible.  I hope it starts to weaken soon.

@Gary A.   dodgers and sox not winning as much as they could/should. Hate to go into post season on a down slide but there's still a lot of ball to be played.

Coaching Princess in fall softball and our first double header is on Saturday afternoon!  6 weeks with a double header each Saturday. It's a super short season around here!

Before the game I have a photo Meetup at a huge sunflower field. Hoping for some nice early morning light and not too windy!


----------



## Gary A.

OMG... what a great night. Quincy Jones night, simply fantastic.  The Q was on stage. Gary thinks he was asleep most of the time, but he was here, at the Bowl, for his night.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Meanwhile, the Dodgers are choking ... back when they were winning, they weren't winning by much ... barely winning deep into the innings and extra innings. Gary was holding his breath that the injured would be back about the time the Dodgers' luck ran out ... it hasn't quite turned out that way.
> 
> @ Peg: Gary didn't run away ... just that life sorta overwhelmed him ... Dodgers were not high on his todo list.
> 
> Gary's addressing this now because he on a bus with some time to kill.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


They were bound to come back to earth. It didn't help coming up against a red hot Diamondbacks team. If anything haunts them, it could be not going after Verlander. Still time to get things in order before playoffs, this up coming series is a good place to start. A lot of times it's who is the hottest team coming into playoffs. Should be an interesting October, looking forward to it. Unfortunately, the Dodgers could open up against the Diamondbacks which hopefully isn't going to be a mental block.


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC: There is a local burger chain that Mary Lou and Gary like, The Habit. (Their fish sandwich is a thick tuna steak, yum.) They are having a seasonal special with Hatch Chilies on their food.  We had fast food last night at the Bowl, Mary Lou had a Hatch Burger with Pepper Jack and Gary had a chicken salad with Hatch Chilies. (see image above)


----------



## waday

Have in-laws in Florida and Puerto Rico. Hoping that all are well, and evacuating to safe areas.

Models show Irma in a few different paths, all affecting Florida to a certain extent. Also looks like SC could get hit badly...





Looks like Jose is (hopefully) going out to sea (sorry Bermuda!). Hopefully it doesn't come back in and hit the Northeast like Sandy did.


----------



## Frank F.

First pictures with my new Camera

some tools come, some tools go, some tools stay:


----------



## vintagesnaps

Pretty boxes.


----------



## Frank F.

vintagesnaps said:


> Pretty boxes.




yes, golden ;-)


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> Have in-laws in Florida and Puerto Rico. Hoping that all are well, and evacuating to safe areas.
> 
> Models show Irma in a few different paths, all affecting Florida to a certain extent. Also looks like SC could get hit badly...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like Jose is (hopefully) going out to sea (sorry Bermuda!). Hopefully it doesn't come back in and hit the Northeast like Sandy did.


The office has been told to stay close in case the Emergency Operations Center is activated next week.  The boss watches a forum full of weather geeks with known track record for acuracy; they're saying Jose may track closer to the coast and Irma may hit a bit further north.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> First pictures with my new Camera
> 
> some tools come, some tools go, some tools stay:
> View attachment 146428


Nice.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  Got hit by the ball twice coaching softball practice tonight.  Missed a very hard throw while I was warming up our pitcher and she got me right on the ankle of my right foot.  Ouch.  Then I took a foul ball off my left knee.  Just missed my kneecap which would have been ugly. Instead hit just to the outside.  My reflexes are so much slower than they used to be!  

In other news - GO PATS!!!!!


----------



## JonA_CT

Just sayin'....

My parents bought my juniors coach on after I broke his toe on a comebacker...whoops...


----------



## JonA_CT

Of course...now that I actually read your post...that wouldn't have helped, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  Got hit by the ball twice coaching softball practice tonight.  Missed a very hard throw while I was warming up our pitcher and she got me right on the ankle of my right foot.  Ouch.  Then I took a foul ball off my left knee.  Just missed my kneecap which would have been ugly. Instead hit just to the outside.  My reflexes are so much slower than they used to be!
> 
> In other news - GO PATS!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks you'd look good in red.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  Got hit by the ball twice coaching *soft*ball practice tonight.  Missed a very hard throw while I was warming up our pitcher and she got me right on the ankle of my right foot.  Ouch.  Then I took a foul ball off my left knee.  Just missed my kneecap which would have been ugly. Instead hit just to the outside.  My reflexes are so much slower than they used to be!
> 
> In other news - GO PATS!!!!!


Ummm... if'n it's a soft ball, what's the issue?


----------



## SquarePeg

I plan to wrap myself in bubble wrap and wear a football helmet to the next practice.


----------



## snowbear

Have them use tennis balls until they get the hang of it.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## Gary A.

@Jason & Terri and all you photogs in Irma's path.  Take care, be safe, be overly prepared and overly cautious ... and don't forget the extra batteries.


----------



## limr

Yeah, what Gary said!


----------



## SquarePeg

Yes, FL and other southern TPF folks, stay safe!!  Don't take unnecessary chances and if you're given the evacuation order please get out don't wait. 

In a lucky coincidence most of my FL family will be here in MA for the next week.  They have battened down the hatches, boarded the dogs with friends and put the lawn furniture in the pool.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> The heat wave has broke, still some lingering humidity ... but overall warm and pleasant.



You'd like it here!! Bounced out of the house this morning shortly after daylight for my morning walk with Sadie. Short sleeve shirt, no jacket, WTH was I thinking. It was COLD. Temperature over night had dropped to 45. Fastest 2 mile walk we've done in awhile!!!


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.


----------



## limr

My sister and brother-in-law live in Jacksonville. They are heading inland to higher ground. Or as high as you can get in Florida, flat as it is. Fingers are crossed for them.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The heat wave has broke, still some lingering humidity ... but overall warm and pleasant.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You'd like it here!! Bounced out of the house this morning shortly after daylight for my morning walk with Sadie. Short sleeve shirt, no jacket, WTH was I thinking. It was COLD. Temperature over night had dropped to 45. Fastest 2 mile walk we've done in awhile!!!
Click to expand...

LOL ... nighttime temps only drop into the mid 60's here. At the bowl on Wednesday, Gary was quite comfortable in a lightweight knit long sleeve shirt and Mary Lou went sleeveless ... but don't use Mary Lou as a barometer, her nervous system doesn't react to cold like a normal human. It may break 80F today, presently 66F.


----------



## snowbear

Fingers crossed for the Southeasterners.  Then Mexico gets a double whammy with the earthquake and Hurricane Katia's impending landfall tonight.
Lazy_lobster is back in town for the weekend (Wedding tomorrow).  They haz a 4x5 view camera for the semester.


----------



## Gary A.

@smoke: When Gary lived on the peninsula, August night time temps would drop into the 50's at night. We would bundle up in jackets, blankets, scarves and knit hats to watch the evening events at the Pt. Fermin Amphitheatre.  The amphitheatre is on top of a 100' high cliff steps away from the Pacific.





This is Pt. Fermin Park which is home to LA's first lighthouse. That wall in the background, separates the park from a 100' drop onto rocks, tide pools and the cold Pacific Ocean.  On the right is the red tile roof of the offices and restrooms of the amphitheatre.





A Midsummer's Night Dream at the amphitheatre.





The sun setting before the show, viewed from the amphitheatre.


----------



## jcdeboever

Wow, Patriots didn't go undefeated, lol.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary ain't sayin' nuthin' as the Dodgers lost again ... no joy in Mudville.


----------



## Gary A.

But, as of today, the PAC 12 is 12-0, undefeated in football.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary ain't sayin' nuthin' as the Dodgers lost again ... no joy in Mudville.


Don't, they will be fine.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Wow, Patriots didn't go undefeated, lol.


----------



## SquarePeg

just sayin...


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> just sayin...


Don't worry, they'll lose the Super Bowl if they play against the Giants. 

My wife is a Giants fan, so I must stick up for her.

Otherwise, I don't really care about football.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> just sayin...


Yup, they're gonna right that ship. Man, that Hunt kid out of Toledo never fumbled in college, first carry NFL, fumble. Then he just dominated there on out. Looks like Hightower is gonna be OK.


----------



## vintagesnaps




----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


>


Wake up! The NHL Prospect Tournament starts today in Traverse City, MI!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Ooh ooh!! Is it going to be on? 

What am I sayin'... in my dreams.


----------



## jcdeboever

jcdeboever said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wake up! The NHL Prospect Tournament starts today in Traverse City, MI!
Click to expand...


I'd be going there if it weren't for the golf tournament. Personally, I would skip that and go to the tourny like I have in the past but happy wife = happy life. It's a good time and you get to meet the kids when your out and about at night time. Most of them can't speak a lick of English. Great, fast, skilled hockey, very fun to watch.

NHL Prospect Tournament

NHL Prospects Tournament: Preview and How to Watch

NHL Prospect Tournament


----------



## vintagesnaps

I like tournaments.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> I like tournaments.



I like hockey, and girls that like it. My wife liked it for a minute until we were married, then it was all downhill hockey from there. She wants to see their butts, lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

At this point in the year I'd take broom ball. 

That tourney would be fun. I went to the Blue Jackets own in-house prospects camp/games they used to have in the summer til they started going to these tournaments. It was fun. 

Thanks for the links, it's not showing yet if it's available in my area; I get the Detroit Fox feed sometimes on the Fox College Sports channels (but not this early in the year). Gonna check the site that's showing our junior team and see if by chance they're showing it. 

Otherwise there are reruns of last year's World Cup. Whoop tee doo.


----------



## JonA_CT

I made some Panang-style curry tonight. Sooooo good. I've got the heat down to where it barely starts to make you sweat. I like full-on eyeball swelling spice, but my 2 year old isn't quite there yet.

I'm a little nervous for my Tampa-area friends tonight. The shift in forecast has left them exposed, and they weren't ready to leave. Fingers crossed they can get out tonight/tomorrow.


----------



## limr

The bad news? Root canal #3 is underway as of this afternoon. At least this will hopefully resolve the blinding pain that shoots through my jaw when anything even remotely hot or cold hits that back tooth. Oh and as it turns out, that tooth was developing a crack, so had it not been discovered, I probably would have lost it in a couple of years, so the root canal now will either save the tooth or at the very least, buy me more time before I have to deal with anything like that (and with any luck, a lot more time.)

The good news that takes the edge off of the root canal?


----------



## Gary A.

Hey Hosers ... Ice cream at Gary's.

Gary's new ice cream maker arrived. Gary can make Gelato, Sorbet, Ice Cream, Granita, Frozen Yogurt, Fresh Fruit Freezes, Et Al.

The best part is that no ice is needed.  Gary also picked up Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book and the Ultimate Ice Cream Book (over 500 ice creams, sorbets, granitas, and more).

Gary is pretty excited. So day or night, at any time ... Gary can have fresh ice cream in under an hour.


----------



## smoke665

@limr hope you have better luck with your root canal then I had with my last one. After spending $$$ for the root canal, and waiting with a temporary for the permanent crown, it split. All that money wasted  then I had to wait for healing before an implant could be installed.


----------



## Gary A.

@Leo: Gary is glad you're finally getting that tooth fixed.  He wants no excuses between you and wolfing down some ice cream.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> @limr hope you have better luck with your root canal then I had with my last one. After spending $$$ for the root canal, and waiting with a temporary for the permanent crown, it split. All that money wasted  then I had to wait for healing before an implant could be installed.



Oooh, ouch! Yeah, I hope it goes better than that, too. The very first one I had was done...oh crap, gotta think and do math now...huh! More than 10 years ago. So far it is rock solid. It was the same dentist that I go to now, so I am hoping this is a sign that he'll do good work for #3


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr hope you have better luck with your root canal then I had with my last one. After spending $$$ for the root canal, and waiting with a temporary for the permanent crown, it split. All that money wasted  then I had to wait for healing before an implant could be installed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oooh, ouch! Yeah, I hope it goes better than that, too. The very first one I had was done...oh crap, gotta think and do math now...huh! More than 10 years ago. So far it is rock solid. It was the same dentist that I go to now, so I am hoping this is a sign that he'll do good work for #3
Click to expand...

Pull that puppy, heck with the root canal


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr hope you have better luck with your root canal then I had with my last one. After spending $$$ for the root canal, and waiting with a temporary for the permanent crown, it split. All that money wasted  then I had to wait for healing before an implant could be installed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oooh, ouch! Yeah, I hope it goes better than that, too. The very first one I had was done...oh crap, gotta think and do math now...huh! More than 10 years ago. So far it is rock solid. It was the same dentist that I go to now, so I am hoping this is a sign that he'll do good work for #3
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Pull that puppy, heck with the root canal
Click to expand...


----------



## smoke665

@limr hope it does as well. I've gone with implants on the bottom with great success. The price has come down and the process has improved to the point that I would never do a root canal on bottom teeth. Upper is another matter because of the nerve channel.


----------



## snowbear

Good luck on the root canal, Leo.

Gary - we have one that doesn't use ice - the container is filled with cold-pack fluid and goes into the freezer for a day before use.  It's not great, but it does fine.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> We have one that doesn't use ice - the container is filled with cold-pack fluid and goes into the freezer for a day before use.  It's not great, but it does fine.



We have one we bought at the PX at FT Leonardwood. Only makes a quart but it works great


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> @limr hope it does as well. I've gone with implants on the bottom with great success. The price has come down and the process has improved to the point that I would never do a root canal on bottom teeth. Upper is another matter because of the nerve channel.



Well that's good to know if it gets to that point in the future. But I'll jump off that bridge when I get to it


----------



## smoke665

I can truthfully say the implant is a lot less traumatic then a root canal.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Good luck on the root canal, Leo.
> 
> Gary - we have one that doesn't use ice - the container is filled with cold-pack fluid and goes into the freezer for a day before use.  It's not great, but it does fine.


This puppy has a little compressor ... no pre-planning. (Gary guesses that you can always keep the pack in the freezer ... therefore no pre-planning. Gary's old ice cream maker instructs you to freeze the mixer canister ... Gary always had difficulty finding the freezer space to accomplished that task.)


----------



## dxqcanada

Gary, that Gary dude is an odd fellow.


----------



## Gary A.

dxqcanada said:


> Gary, that Gary dude is an odd fellow.


Liking ice cream makes Gary odd ...?


----------



## Frank F.

I hear in the morning radio about preparations in Florida and that the storm got stronger again. That the highways are full of cars and gasoline is scarce.

I hope you all will be safe!


----------



## SquarePeg

iPhone preview of my early morning trip to a local sunflower field.


----------



## terri

Well, that'll get your mind off of hurricane force winds for a few moments.....gorgeous!!

It's been a few years since we planted sunflowers (my avatar is a lith print I made from one of the tallest ones).   Love 'em!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> I hear in the morning radio about preparations in Florida and that the storm got stronger again. That the highways are full of cars and gasoline is scarce.
> 
> I hope you all will be safe!


Gary is hearing the same thing.


----------



## snowbear

The wedding is in a bit.  Can't decide to take the camera or just the phone - not going to be Uncle Bob either way.
These are going on the tables are the reception.




DSC_0443-2.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Frank F.

I went to the horses with my girl and there was a horse with a temprament!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Have we heard from Jason (Pixmedic)? not sure where he lives. Heard they downgraded it to a Category 3 which is probably good news, but then it's supposed to regain strength so I hope this isn't quite as bad as it sounds and that everyone there stays safe.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Have we heard from Jason (Pixmedic)? not sure where he lives. Heard they downgraded it to a Category 3 which is probably good news, but then it's supposed to regain strength so I hope this isn't quite as bad as it sounds and that everyone there stays safe.



I think he's north of Orlando. Talked with my cousin yesterday who lives just NE of Orlando. She said they were they going to ride it out and didn't anticipate it being that bad


----------



## Gary A.

Jason's in Central Florida, south of Ocala and north of Orlando.


----------



## vintagesnaps

On a lighter note, why is it when I remembered hockey is on (even if it's just reruns, I'll take it) that the cable wasn't working... couldn't change a channel. Now I'm not getting the color red, unless I keep the cable box pulled a little farther out... 

Only need a new cable/cord but of course, they may not have them on the truck. So guess I'll get a new one or just look at everything in sickly blue green, pretend everybody's a Smurf. Or just watch B&W movies.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sounds like Jason's not in the worst of it so that's good.


----------



## Gary A.

He's up in the mountains.  Seriously, Gary is hoping for the best.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> On a lighter note, why is it when I remembered hockey is on (even if it's just reruns, I'll take it) that the cable wasn't working... couldn't change a channel. Now I'm not getting the color red, unless I keep the cable box pulled a little farther out...
> 
> Only need a new cable/cord but of course, they may not have them on the truck. So guess I'll get a new one or just look at everything in sickly blue green, pretend everybody's a Smurf. Or just watch B&W movies.


Home Depot and Best Buy carry them.  They're called coaxial wire.


----------



## snowbear

Needs a little work.


----------



## JonA_CT

My Tampa friends were able to evacuate. I guess the most challenging part was finding someplace to go that takes pets and is within one tank's worth of gas, since you can't buy it anywhera on Florida at this point.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary fired up the ice cream maker. First batch is frozen yogurt strawberry ... Delish and less than an hour to make.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Jason's in Central Florida, south of Ocala and north of Orlando.


Besides, it'd take a lot more than a measly old Cat 4 to disrupt that 'stache.  I suppose though there's a slim chance it might actually wake the ferts up.


----------



## snowbear

I pm'ed him.  It hasn't gotten there but he was going into work in the morning, for the duration.


----------



## Gary A.

#6 SC vs #14 Stanford has started.


----------



## Gary A.

SC is running right up the middle at Stanford.


----------



## Gary A.

OMG ... opening series for SC is a slug fest ... off center right ... off center left ... off tackle left ... off tackle right ... and a pass ...

SC 7 - Stanford 0


----------



## Gary A.

OMG ... Stanford scores on the first play after touchdown. Stanford 7 - USC 7.


----------



## Gary A.

SC scores.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> My Tampa friends were able to evacuate. I guess the most challenging part was finding someplace to go that takes pets and is within one tank's worth of gas, since you can't buy it anywhera on Florida at this point.



Glad they found somewhere to go.  My friend was evacuated from St Pete and wound up with her niece at USF dorms.  She had to bring her theee cats with her.  Gas to get out was an issue.  Everyone was buying it for their generators.   My cousin is sticking it out at home in Hernando County area. The rest of my FL family came up here a few days ago for our annual family reunion and horseshoe tournament tomorrow. 

Praying that everyone in FL stays safe.


----------



## Gary A.

Stanford scores.


----------



## Gary A.

SC scores.


----------



## Gary A.

SC holds.


----------



## Gary A.

Stanford Intercepts.


----------



## Gary A.

Stanford Field Goal.


----------



## Gary A.

SC scores a TD!


----------



## Gary A.

Half ... SC 28 - Stanford 17


----------



## Gary A.

3rd quarter no change.


----------



## Gary A.

SC Scores! 35 - 17 ... Trojans.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My Tampa friends were able to evacuate. I guess the most challenging part was finding someplace to go that takes pets and is within one tank's worth of gas, since you can't buy it anywhera on Florida at this point.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glad they found somewhere to go.  My friend was evacuated from St Pete and wound up with her niece at USF dorms.  She had to bring her theee cats with her.  Gas to get out was an issue.  Everyone was buying it for their generators.   My cousin is sticking it out at home in Hernando County area. The rest of my FL family came up here a few days ago for our annual family reunion and horseshoe tournament tomorrow.
> 
> Praying that everyone in FL stays safe.
Click to expand...

I'm so glad.   I wanted my sister to come up from her home in central Florida, but she thinks it's too much trouble - she does have a lot of critters at any given time (she volunteers at a local animal shelter and fosters a lot), plus the gasoline shortage, made her more willing to ride it out.   There won't be any danger of storm surge in her area, just the power outage and high winds.   She said she's getting a little nervous, especially since the damn thing has slowed down so much, but she's fairly confident that they'll get through it all right.     Ugh.    Scram, Irma!


----------



## smoke665

We have friends who live SW of Homestead. They posted awhile ago on FB that it had started there and so far they were okay. Power going off and on.


----------



## Gary A.

Stanford scores ... 35 - 24.


----------



## Gary A.

SC Scores!  42 - 24


----------



## Gary A.

SC spanks #14 Stanford 42 -24.


----------



## jcdeboever

Glad to see OSU lose


----------



## smoke665

Bama win over Fresno Bulldogs, was uneventful. 2nd string got some play time. Auburn/Clemson closer than I thought it would be. Actually thought Auburn might pull it off for awhile.


----------



## SquarePeg

Millennium softball dropped both games in the double header vs TriTown yesterday.  Despite some stellar defensive plays and fierce hitting, they could not overcome the walks and passed balls. Currently they're ranked 4th out of 8 but AP will likely drop them down to #8 after their dual losses to #2 TriTown.


----------



## Gary A.

Walks will kill you every time.  Gary thought Millenium would at least get a split if not dominate both games. They've been watching too much Dodger ball.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Bama win over Fresno Bulldogs, was uneventful. 2nd string got some play time. Auburn/Clemson closer than I thought it would be. Actually thought Auburn might pull it off for awhile.


There is a 'Bama boy on the SC squad.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> There is a 'Bama boy on the SC squad.



No wonder they whupped up on Stanford!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is sipping his coffee reading the paper. With all this Irma news ... one would have thought it would have hit Florida weeks ago.  Gary thinks earthquakes are better than hurricanes ... no build-up, no drama, no winds or water, just a wham-bam thank you Ma'am ... the buildings are down. An earthquake also takes care of half the demolition and there's no mold and very little below ground damage so there's no turds floating around in the streets.


----------



## Gary A.

Wow ... Ooooooo-klahoma, where the winds come sweeping down the plains, defeats Ohio State.  Who-knew?


----------



## smoke665

Well this isn't what I was looking for. Tropical Storm Warning for Etowah County, Alabama


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> There is a 'Bama boy on the SC squad.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No wonder they whupped up on Stanford!
Click to expand...

A Velus Jones jr., a freshman wide receiver from Saraland.  He got a few plays in. Gary heard that he applied at Alabama, but was turn down because his SAT scores were too high.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> but was turn down because his SAT scores were too high.



Sat Scores, we don't need no stinkin Sat Scores...............


----------



## terri

This storm has everyone on edge because it's moving so slowly.   Every slight wobble has a new impact.    We're under TS warnings, as well.    Irma still might enter the state as a Cat 1 hurricane; too soon to tell.    It's going to be a long, slow churn up the western coast of Florida.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Well this isn't what I was looking for. Tropical Storm Warning for Etowah County, Alabama


Gusts up to 60 mph ... that's serious. Time to button up those windows and get a generator if you don't got one.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gusts up to 60 mph ... that's serious. Time to button up those windows and get a generator if you don't got one



Well I've got one, but I doubt it will start without cleaning the carb.  It doesn't get run that often. May have to "appropriate" one on temporary loan from the Fire Station, before some others grab them all.


----------



## Gary A.

As you live in a forrest, in a 60mph gust there will be a lot of flying tree branches aimed at your windows. Take care.


----------



## Dragster3

I got nothing here in West Palm Beach...30 mph winds and drizzle.
I'm bored that's what I got...boredom.





Sent from my RS988 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg: What's with you Bostonians ... and cheating?


----------



## Gary A.

Dragster3 said:


> I got nothing here in West Palm Beach...30 mph winds and drizzle.
> I'm bored that's what I got...boredom.
> View attachment 146589
> 
> Sent from my RS988 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


We're all pulling for you that you stayed bored.  Trust me, drama isn't worth all the pre and post hype it promotes.

Now you have time to work on your photography ... that last image your skies are too muddy and gray ... you need to punch it up a bit.  Or work on the lawn, that grass seems a bit long ...


----------



## Dragster3

Gary A. said:


> Dragster3 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I got nothing here in West Palm Beach...30 mph winds and drizzle.
> I'm bored that's what I got...boredom.
> View attachment 146589
> 
> Sent from my RS988 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> 
> 
> We're all pulling for you that you stayed bored.  Trust me, drama isn't worth all the pre and post hype it promotes.
> 
> Now you have time to work on your photography ... that last image your skies are too muddy and gray ... you need to punch it up a bit.  Or work on the lawn, that grass seems a bit long ...
Click to expand...

That's from my cell phone...lol

Sent from my RS988 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> As you live in a forrest, in a 60mph gust there will be a lot of flying tree branches aimed at your windows. Take care.



As the threat from fire is the greatest danger we face we maintain sufficient buffer areas around the house. The likelihood of limbs causing damage even with 60 mph winds is slim


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is perusing the Sports Section ... gotta tell ya, The USC-Stanford game was a totally entertaining and well played game by both sides.  It was like two heavy weight fighters in a slug fest, especially in the first half. With very little dancing and boxing ... just two big guys slamming rights and lefts at each other.  No trick plays, no sleight of hand ... I'm running at you and you're running at me. The game was won in the trenches ... big guys knocking down big guys.  In the first half Stanford stood toe-to-toe with the Trojans with SC slightly winning on the line of scrimmage.  But in the second half, Stanford was getting the worse of it ... winded ... by the fourth quarter Stanford was on their knees getting pounded.  As the game progressed SC's running plays were gaining more yards until SC broke a play which would have produced three or four yards in the first quarter into a score. Conversely, Stanford was making less yardage on running plays as the game progressed.

After all the ups and downs and sanctions ... The Trojans may be back.  Back as in the John McKay days of Studentbody-Right and Studentbody-Left. ... of a thundering herd and dust.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> As you live in a forrest, in a 60mph gust there will be a lot of flying tree branches aimed at your windows. Take care.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As the threat from fire is the greatest danger we face we maintain sufficient buffer areas around the house. The likelihood of limbs causing damage even with 60 mph winds is slim
Click to expand...

Whew ...


----------



## jcdeboever

Man I sucked at golf today, only won $150.00. Should have won double that +. We had an all persons longest drive hole with a ridiculously long-shafted steel handled driver, right handed (I'm a lefty). Well I gave it my best shot, I hit it well but just off the fairway while the club came off at the handle.... hilarious. I temporarily had closest to the pin on both men's holes but some how lost both, I was literally within less than a foot on both. I did win $50 bucks on the mens longest drive from the throne though. There was literally a toilet on the tee box, you had to hit it, cloths on, off the toilet... my best drive of the day. I actually had to go poop after sitting on it... weird. It sparked an inner region of the lower, middle quadrant of my brain, and activated a colon quiver... which I thankfully responded to on the outhouse next hole. Our golfing couple where in tears, especially because I rigged an super long as trailer of toilet paper coming out of my shorts upon release of the plastic poop box.... Nice touch by me, the wife of the couple literally wet her pants which added to the jocularity of the situation. Good times.... I had at least a 12 foot stream of paper trailing me.


----------



## benhasajeep

smoke665 said:


> Wasted day yesterday. Before I retired I was a firm believer in the "7 P's" on any project. Now I've gotten lazy. Yesterday I started a project only to find I didn't have everything I needed, after the 3rd trip to the store, only to find I was still short something, I gave up. Will try again this afternoon. Anyone else find this happening to them as they retired and got older?


My wife asks "how many trips" when I display my finished handy work.


----------



## benhasajeep

jcdeboever said:


> Man I sucked at golf today, only won $150.00. Should have won double that +. We had an all persons longest drive hole with a ridiculously long-shafted steel handled driver, right handed (I'm a lefty). Well I gave it my best shot, I hit it well but just off the fairway while the club came off at the handle.... hilarious. I temporarily had closest to the pin on both men's holes but some how lost both, I was literally within less than a foot on both. I did win $50 bucks on the mens longest drive from the throne though. There was literally a toilet on the tee box, you had to hit it, cloths on, off the toilet... my best drive of the day. I actually had to go poop after sitting on it... weird. It sparked an inner region of the lower, middle quadrant of my brain, and activated a colon quiver... which I thankfully responded to on the outhouse next hole. Our golfing couple where in tears, especially because I rigged an super long as trailer of toilet paper coming out of my shorts upon release of the plastic poop box.... Nice touch by me, the wife of the couple literally wet her pants which added to the jocularity of the situation. Good times.... I had at least a 12 foot stream of paper trailing me.


So, what went farther?  The club head or the ball?


----------



## jcdeboever

benhasajeep said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Man I sucked at golf today, only won $150.00. Should have won double that +. We had an all persons longest drive hole with a ridiculously long-shafted steel handled driver, right handed (I'm a lefty). Well I gave it my best shot, I hit it well but just off the fairway while the club came off at the handle.... hilarious. I temporarily had closest to the pin on both men's holes but some how lost both, I was literally within less than a foot on both. I did win $50 bucks on the mens longest drive from the throne though. There was literally a toilet on the tee box, you had to hit it, cloths on, off the toilet... my best drive of the day. I actually had to go poop after sitting on it... weird. It sparked an inner region of the lower, middle quadrant of my brain, and activated a colon quiver... which I thankfully responded to on the outhouse next hole. Our golfing couple where in tears, especially because I rigged an super long as trailer of toilet paper coming out of my shorts upon release of the plastic poop box.... Nice touch by me, the wife of the couple literally wet her pants which added to the jocularity of the situation. Good times.... I had at least a 12 foot stream of paper trailing me.
> 
> 
> 
> So, what went farther?  The club head or the ball?
Click to expand...

 The ball but the shaft / head went to the womans tee box.... didn't have to drop my drawers.


----------



## Frank F.

I was at the horses again, with my daughter and my sister, holding an apple for the horse in the saddle chamber.






Horses: A new world for me and a world of its own...

Nikon D850, 105E, f/1.4, t 1/125 s


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> @ Peg: What's with you Bostonians ... and cheating?



???  Is this sports related?  Been at a family reunion all day and then wTching storm stuff.  What's everyone whining about now... I mean what happened?


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Peg: What's with you Bostonians ... and cheating?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ???  Is this sports related?  Been at a family reunion all day and then wTching storm stuff.  What's everyone whining about now... I mean what happened?
Click to expand...

Deflate gate, apple gate....


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Peg: What's with you Bostonians ... and cheating?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ???  Is this sports related?  Been at a family reunion all day and then wTching storm stuff.  What's everyone whining about now... I mean what happened?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Deflate gate, apple gate....
Click to expand...


Have to admit I was unaware of this scandal.  What a bunch of morons!  Why taint what could be a nice run to the playoffs with a bs stunt like that.  

Been busy tonight with my new toy.  Going full mobile with my photo hobby!


----------



## Gary A.

The Tablet Lives!


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Tom (the heart attack guy) and Gary NetFlixed Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ... a five star in Gary's book.  While Gary has never been to Afghanistan, this was a very very accurate look into the life of a war correspondent.  Granted, it only a cursory look ... but still a very good glimpse.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou, Tom (the heart attack guy) and Gary NetFlixed Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ... a five star in Gary's book.  While Gary has never been to Afghanistan, this was a very very accurate look into the life of a war correspondent.  Granted, it only a cursory look ... but still a very good glimpse.



I enjoyed that movie also.  A bit hard to categorize. Not really a comedy although a few funny Tina Fey moments but not really a Drama or RomCom either.  If I'm remembering correctly it was based on a true story?


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> The Tablet Lives!



Oh it lives alright!  The screen and colors on this thing are magical.  I may never sit at my desk again.


----------



## JonA_CT

I have an iPad 2 and a mini iPad in the house, and neither have been used in forever. My wife and I mostly used them for e-books, and our kindles are significantly better at that task than the iPads, although the iPads can clearly do significantly more. Maybe it's because I have a plus-sized iPhone...but most things I'm comfortable doing on my phone, and I don't mind pulling  out my laptop for the other stuff.

Then again...I'm sure a lot has changed in the 4 years since we've purchased one.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I have an iPad 2 and a mini iPad in the house, and neither have been used in forever. My wife and I mostly used them for e-books, and our kindles are significantly better at that task than the iPads, although the iPads can clearly do significantly more. Maybe it's because I have a plus-sized iPhone...but most things I'm comfortable doing on my phone, and I don't mind pulling  out my laptop for the other stuff.
> 
> Then again...I'm sure a lot has changed in the 4 years since we've purchased one.



Since I couldn't convert RAW Fuji images with my PSE11, I was looking for another option for processing my stuff and Affinity Photo for iPad kept coming up.  I was due for a new laptop or desktop soon.  For everything else but photos, my laptop and HD monitor is great but the loading and processing time with PSE11 was getting on my nerves.  So instead of upgrading that, I decided to get the iPad Pro to get some processing speed and get out from behind my desk!  

Just starting with it and not sure yet if Affinity for iPad would be sufficient for a pro but for me I think it will be more than enough.  With Nikon I felt like I needed to tweak every RAW file to sharpen and make micro adjustments to exposure, contrast, saturation etc.  With the Fuji jpegs, I usually only need to crop and rarely make a few small adjustments.  I think a lot of that, for me, comes with the EVF showing the exposure before I shoot.  I'm not under or over exposing as often as I was before.  I've been shooting RAW on one card and jpeg on the other and have only needed to adjust exposure on the RAW files once or twice - and that I was able to do in camera.

We'll see how it goes!  Now if Flickr would only make it easy to post the bb code from a mobile Apple device!


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have an iPad 2 and a mini iPad in the house, and neither have been used in forever. My wife and I mostly used them for e-books, and our kindles are significantly better at that task than the iPads, although the iPads can clearly do significantly more. Maybe it's because I have a plus-sized iPhone...but most things I'm comfortable doing on my phone, and I don't mind pulling  out my laptop for the other stuff.
> 
> Then again...I'm sure a lot has changed in the 4 years since we've purchased one.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Since I couldn't convert RAW Fuji images with my PSE11, I was looking for another option for processing my stuff and Affinity Photo for iPad kept coming up.  I was due for a new laptop or desktop soon.  For everything else but photos, my laptop and HD monitor is great but the loading and processing time with PSE11 was getting on my nerves.  So instead of upgrading that, I decided to get the iPad Pro to get some processing speed and get out from behind my desk!
> 
> Just starting with it and not sure yet if Affinity for iPad would be sufficient for a pro but for me I think it will be more than enough.  With Nikon I felt like I needed to tweak every RAW file to sharpen and make micro adjustments to exposure, contrast, saturation etc.  With the Fuji jpegs, I usually only need to crop and rarely make a few small adjustments.  I think a lot of that, for me, comes with the EVF showing the exposure before I shoot.  I'm not under or over exposing as often as I was before.  I've been shooting RAW on one card and jpeg on the other and have only needed to adjust exposure on the RAW files once or twice - and that I was able to do in camera.
> 
> We'll see how it goes!  Now if Flickr would only make it easy to post the bb code from a mobile Apple device!
Click to expand...

Have you looked at silky pics? It is free download from fujifilm. I downloaded on my winblows machine. It seems to be accurate on the simulations. I was using Alienware Exposure but they did something in the last version and now it doesn't render the raws accurately. I haven't figured out how to use Silky pix yet but haven't tried real hard. I have only  loaded an image that was a custom simulation and was happy with it, looks like what's in camera. I think it's what I'm going to use from here on out. I did notice there was a Mac download as well.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have an iPad 2 and a mini iPad in the house, and neither have been used in forever. My wife and I mostly used them for e-books, and our kindles are significantly better at that task than the iPads, although the iPads can clearly do significantly more. Maybe it's because I have a plus-sized iPhone...but most things I'm comfortable doing on my phone, and I don't mind pulling  out my laptop for the other stuff.
> 
> Then again...I'm sure a lot has changed in the 4 years since we've purchased one.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Since I couldn't convert RAW Fuji images with my PSE11, I was looking for another option for processing my stuff and Affinity Photo for iPad kept coming up.  I was due for a new laptop or desktop soon.  For everything else but photos, my laptop and HD monitor is great but the loading and processing time with PSE11 was getting on my nerves.  So instead of upgrading that, I decided to get the iPad Pro to get some processing speed and get out from behind my desk!
> 
> Just starting with it and not sure yet if Affinity for iPad would be sufficient for a pro but for me I think it will be more than enough.  With Nikon I felt like I needed to tweak every RAW file to sharpen and make micro adjustments to exposure, contrast, saturation etc.  With the Fuji jpegs, I usually only need to crop and rarely make a few small adjustments.  I think a lot of that, for me, comes with the EVF showing the exposure before I shoot.  I'm not under or over exposing as often as I was before.  I've been shooting RAW on one card and jpeg on the other and have only needed to adjust exposure on the RAW files once or twice - and that I was able to do in camera.
> 
> We'll see how it goes!  Now if Flickr would only make it easy to post the bb code from a mobile Apple device!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Have you looked at silky pics? It is free download from fujifilm. I downloaded on my winblows machine. It seems to be accurate on the simulations. I was using Alienware Exposure but they did something in the last version and now it doesn't render the raws accurately. I haven't figured out how to use Silky pix yet but haven't tried real hard. I have only  loaded an image that was a custom simulation and was happy with it, looks like what's in camera. I think it's what I'm going to use from here on out. I did notice there was a Mac download as well.
Click to expand...


I did try Silky pix.  Same as you I didn't quite figure out how to use it.  It's not very intuitive and it was slow on my laptop.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have an iPad 2 and a mini iPad in the house, and neither have been used in forever. My wife and I mostly used them for e-books, and our kindles are significantly better at that task than the iPads, although the iPads can clearly do significantly more. Maybe it's because I have a plus-sized iPhone...but most things I'm comfortable doing on my phone, and I don't mind pulling  out my laptop for the other stuff.
> 
> Then again...I'm sure a lot has changed in the 4 years since we've purchased one.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Since I couldn't convert RAW Fuji images with my PSE11, I was looking for another option for processing my stuff and Affinity Photo for iPad kept coming up.  I was due for a new laptop or desktop soon.  For everything else but photos, my laptop and HD monitor is great but the loading and processing time with PSE11 was getting on my nerves.  So instead of upgrading that, I decided to get the iPad Pro to get some processing speed and get out from behind my desk!
> 
> Just starting with it and not sure yet if Affinity for iPad would be sufficient for a pro but for me I think it will be more than enough.  With Nikon I felt like I needed to tweak every RAW file to sharpen and make micro adjustments to exposure, contrast, saturation etc.  With the Fuji jpegs, I usually only need to crop and rarely make a few small adjustments.  I think a lot of that, for me, comes with the EVF showing the exposure before I shoot.  I'm not under or over exposing as often as I was before.  I've been shooting RAW on one card and jpeg on the other and have only needed to adjust exposure on the RAW files once or twice - and that I was able to do in camera.
> 
> We'll see how it goes!  Now if Flickr would only make it easy to post the bb code from a mobile Apple device!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Have you looked at silky pics? It is free download from fujifilm. I downloaded on my winblows machine. It seems to be accurate on the simulations. I was using Alienware Exposure but they did something in the last version and now it doesn't render the raws accurately. I haven't figured out how to use Silky pix yet but haven't tried real hard. I have only  loaded an image that was a custom simulation and was happy with it, looks like what's in camera. I think it's what I'm going to use from here on out. I did notice there was a Mac download as well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I did try Silky pix.  Same as you I didn't quite figure out how to use it.  It's not very intuitive and it was slow on my laptop.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it draws a little slow, I did notice that but I have old hardware. It's fast enough for me but you can see it drawing the changes. The help file blows  chunks, got to get on YouTube. Is think it accurately represents what's in the camera raw and that's what I'm after, nothing I've seen comes close to it. Even darkroom is fairly off in comparison which bums me out as I am Linux user. I think if I can master Silky, I will move into a Mac at some point. Lord knows I've fixed enough of them. I could pickup a used one fairly cheap from a good source but probably will opt for a new one with a retina display.


----------



## terri

Irma has barely stuck a toe into south Georgia and we've already lost power.  It's been raining since last night, and the winds are just beginning to pick up.   Kind of surprised to have lost power so soon; I was prepared for it later today. 

On my phone only, and reserving the charge, so just swinging through.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Irma has barely stuck a toe into south Georgia and we've already lost power.  It's been raining since last night, and the winds are just beginning to pick up.   Kind of surprised to have lost power so soon; I was prepared for it later today.
> 
> On my phone only, and reserving the charge, so just swinging through.



That stinks!  My Tampa and St. Pete family and friends still have power and they were in the direct path!


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Been busy tonight with my new toy. Going full mobile with my photo hobby!


----------



## pixmedic

At the 36 hour mark at work. Back to running calls this morning. Have not been able to get in contact with the wife since yesterday evening. We live west of Orlando so not sure how bad it got out that way

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

pixmedic said:


> At the 36 hour mark at work. Back to running calls this morning. Have not been able to get in contact with the wife since yesterday evening. We live west of Orlando so not sure how bad it got out that way
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


Glad to see you're ok!


----------



## waday

@SquarePeg , I'll use a variety of apps on my iPhone, including Snapseed. Not sure if they have it on iPad, but it works pretty well on my phone. A little clunky, but it gets me there. Although, if I had the iPad Pro, I'd be aching to use PS on there! It seemed pretty power when I tried it out at Best Buy.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> At the 36 hour mark at work. Back to running calls this morning. Have not been able to get in contact with the wife since yesterday evening. We live west of Orlando so not sure how bad it got out that way
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Glad to see you're ok!
Click to expand...


Definitely glad! Hope all is well at home, too!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Irma has barely stuck a toe into south Georgia and we've already lost power.  It's been raining since last night, and the winds are just beginning to pick up.   Kind of surprised to have lost power so soon; I was prepared for it later today.
> 
> On my phone only, and reserving the charge, so just swinging through.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That stinks!  My Tampa and St. Pete family and friends still have power and they were in the direct path!
Click to expand...

My sister was just outside the direct path (from what I can tell so far), and made it through better than feared.  Power is out, and she said they'll be cleaning up for days, but the roof held, no blown windows, so they're feeling okay about it all.   

We're still without power.  Probably won't be back until the wind calms down in the morning.   At least we know it'll be over soon, and we have a good coffee house nearby.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good thing you live near a coffeehouse! But seriously, I'm glad it wasn't as bad as expected. Not that it was exactly a picnic out there but still better than it might have been,


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou, Tom (the heart attack guy) and Gary NetFlixed Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ... a five star in Gary's book.  While Gary has never been to Afghanistan, this was a very very accurate look into the life of a war correspondent.  Granted, it only a cursory look ... but still a very good glimpse.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I enjoyed that movie also.  A bit hard to categorize. Not really a comedy although a few funny Tina Fey moments but not really a Drama or RomCom either.  If I'm remembering correctly it was based on a true story?
Click to expand...

Yep, the memoirs of Kim Barker a print journalist. Tina Fey play Kim Baker in the movie, the author thought it was a typo. 

A very interesting interview with Kim Barker is here. 

If you have a minute or two, well worth the read.

I appreciated the realism and authenticity the filmmakers brought to the movie.  Mary Lou call the press compound/hotel the party house ... I explained the lobby was where the journalists left off steam and decompressed. et cetera


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> At the 36 hour mark at work. Back to running calls this morning. Have not been able to get in contact with the wife since yesterday evening. We live west of Orlando so not sure how bad it got out that way
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


Hang in there Jason. Thank you for your service.


----------



## jcdeboever

pixmedic said:


> At the 36 hour mark at work. Back to running calls this morning. Have not been able to get in contact with the wife since yesterday evening. We live west of Orlando so not sure how bad it got out that way
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


You are the man, prayers your way my brother...


----------



## Gary A.

@ Terri: You need to find a wine shop not a coffee shop.  Gary's fingers are crossed and he hopes the best for you guys.


----------



## jcdeboever

I found a wonderful combination sandwich tonight... Peanut butter and cottage cheese. Delicious. Wife not home, playing Gary A and Jona T with my limited cooking ability. She's mad at me for asking her permission on free Photography gigs off of Craigslist. She asked me if there was a happy ending... I said, I guess not.

Oh, she said, isn't it time for you to pee in the laundry tub? Hmmm, I'm in the dog house prior to going up north tomorrow. What is a guy to do.....


----------



## smoke665

As we start to get the remnants of Irma (directly in her path), I'm thankful that she's lost some of her fury. We lost power momentarily but it reset itself, quickly. Wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph predicted. Lots of rain. Yesterday for the first time in memory, the county EMA called all the county fire departments in for a briefing and activated a state of emergency (well before the storm).


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Oh, she said, isn't it time for you to pee in the laundry tub? Hmmm, I'm in the dog house prior to going up north tomorrow. What is a guy to do.....



At least you took the clothes out first --------right?


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, she said, isn't it time for you to pee in the laundry tub? Hmmm, I'm in the dog house prior to going up north tomorrow. What is a guy to do.....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At least you took the clothes out first --------right?
Click to expand...

It's always clean, that's where I develop my film.


----------



## Gary A.

Leo develops in coffee ... you develop in pee ... do you drink coffee?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Leo develops in coffee ... you develop in pee ... do you drink coffee?


Yes. However....forget it, I felt limr's eyes going dangerously inside her sockets.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay, Gary forgets it.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> @ Terri: You need to find a wine shop not a coffee shop.  Gary's fingers are crossed and he hopes the best for you guys.


The wine shop is in the cellar, honey....  

Coffee is more of a challenge .

Still no power, hosers.  Widespread over a few counties.  Tomorrow will be a better day.   Tonight, it's candlelight, red wine and a movie in the laptop.    We'll get by.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Still no power



Despite the hype, Irma lost her sting by the time she reached us. Little wind, a little rain, no problems. Some areas lost power when trees fell over on the lines, but here on the mountain, I've summer storms worse.


----------



## Dragster3

I don't have juice...it blows

Sent from my RS988 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Dragster3

Cooking in the dark





Sent from my RS988 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## JonA_CT

Dragster3 said:


> Cooking in the dark
> View attachment 146644
> 
> Sent from my RS988 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app



Sorry to hear about your power loss...but umm....how do you like that grill? I'm thinking about picking one up from the same company. Just waiting for home depot or lowes to clearance them for the winter.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Terri: You need to find a wine shop not a coffee shop.  Gary's fingers are crossed and he hopes the best for you guys.
> 
> 
> 
> The wine shop is in the cellar, honey....
> 
> Coffee is more of a challenge .
> 
> Still no power, hosers.  Widespread over a few counties.  Tomorrow will be a better day.   Tonight, it's candlelight, red wine and a movie in the laptop.    We'll get by.
Click to expand...

When nature strikes, Gary uses a portable butane unit for his coffee.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 146646 View attachment 146647
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Terri: You need to find a wine shop not a coffee shop.  Gary's fingers are crossed and he hopes the best for you guys.
> 
> 
> 
> The wine shop is in the cellar, honey....
> 
> Coffee is more of a challenge .
> 
> Still no power, hosers.  Widespread over a few counties.  Tomorrow will be a better day.   Tonight, it's candlelight, red wine and a movie in the laptop.    We'll get by.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> When nature strikes, Gary uses a portable butane unit for his coffee.
Click to expand...


Bringing out the big bong again aye?


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leo develops in coffee ... you develop in pee ... do you drink coffee?
> 
> 
> 
> Yes. However....forget it, I felt limr's eyes going dangerously inside her sockets.
Click to expand...


Meh, urine as a developer is nothing new. And yes, it can be done. I have not tried it, nor to I intend to, but hey, if you want to try it, knock yourself out!


----------



## waday

Hmm.

Coffee. Urine as developer. Grills. Power Loss.

Must be the coffee house.

That said, I must be getting older. Our fairly new TV wouldn't cooperate yesterday. The set-top box wouldn't show up, nor would anything connected to any HDMI port. I fiddled around with it for a half-hour, turned it on and off, unplugged everything, plugged everything back in, tried various combinations, etc.

Then the wife says, did you restart it? "Yes, I turned it on and off several times." We go into the settings, and there's a "restart" setting.

Ugh. Who? What? When did this happen?


----------



## smoke665

@waday in the media room, we have TV, satellite box,  sound system, DVD, and assorted switches. Most of which will function off one remote ------- until granddaughter comes over, catches us not watching and starts punching buttons  then it takes me an hour of reading all the manuals to reprogram everything.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Dragster3 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cooking in the dark
> View attachment 146644
> 
> Sent from my RS988 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear about your power loss...but umm....how do you like that grill? I'm thinking about picking one up from the same company. Just waiting for home depot or lowes to clearance them for the winter.
Click to expand...




limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leo develops in coffee ... you develop in pee ... do you drink coffee?
> 
> 
> 
> Yes. However....forget it, I felt limr's eyes going dangerously inside her sockets.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Meh, urine as a developer is nothing new. And yes, it can be done. I have not tried it, nor to I intend to, but hey, if you want to try it, knock yourself out!
Click to expand...

@ Leo: As you seem to know much more about this than Gary ... does it matter what you drink prior to developing? Does drinking Starbucks or a Fresca change the development time(s). From experience, when developing with D-76, if Gary had a few beers the development time(s) got extended.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @waday in the media room, we have TV, satellite box,  sound system, DVD, and assorted switches. Most of which will function off one remote ------- until granddaughter comes over, catches us not watching and starts punching buttons  then it takes me an hour of reading all the manuals to reprogram everything.


Sounds like you need a portable remote carrier.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon: Regards to grills ... that Akorn sorta looks like a Kamado (egg shaped ceramic grills).  Gary has a number of grills but the Kamado is his favorite. (The Kamado looks more like a kettle than a Kamado.)  Gary's research on the Kamado what that they all cook about the same, the value comes in the form of the extras.  But this was a few years ago.


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> Hmm.
> 
> Coffee. Urine as developer. Grills. Power Loss.
> 
> Must be the coffee house.
> 
> That said, I must be getting older. Our fairly new TV wouldn't cooperate yesterday. The set-top box wouldn't show up, nor would anything connected to any HDMI port. I fiddled around with it for a half-hour, turned it on and off, unplugged everything, plugged everything back in, tried various combinations, etc.
> 
> Then the wife says, did you restart it? "Yes, I turned it on and off several times." We go into the settings, and there's a "restart" setting.
> 
> Ugh. Who? What? When did this happen?



Seriously. I have to restart my Apple TV every three days to get the Siri function of the remote to work again. Because typing in commands is just way too arduous .


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @waday in the media room, we have TV, satellite box,  sound system, DVD, and assorted switches. Most of which will function off one remote ------- until granddaughter comes over, catches us not watching and starts punching buttons  then it takes me an hour of reading all the manuals to reprogram everything.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like you need a portable remote carrier.
Click to expand...

Like a Sherpa?


----------



## jcdeboever

Or a tall servant boy


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> @ Jon: Regards to grills ... that Akorn sorta looks like a Kamado (egg shaped ceramic grills).  Gary has a number of grills but the Kamado is his favorite. (The Kamado looks more like a kettle than a Kamado.)  Gary's research on the Kamado what that they all cook about the same, the value comes in the form of the extras.  But this was a few years ago.



I love the idea of a Kamado grill -- this Chargriller model is made from two layers of steel with some insulation between it, so it operates in a similar function as the ceramic ones, but stays relatively cool to the touch on the outside (so my little ones are a little safer on the porch), and is a lot cheaper. Most people who have used both says it gets about 90% there. We'll see. My Weber kettle is dying. (I've had it for 9 years...and who knows how long my parents had it before then...)


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm.
> 
> Coffee. Urine as developer. Grills. Power Loss.
> 
> Must be the coffee house.
> 
> That said, I must be getting older. Our fairly new TV wouldn't cooperate yesterday. The set-top box wouldn't show up, nor would anything connected to any HDMI port. I fiddled around with it for a half-hour, turned it on and off, unplugged everything, plugged everything back in, tried various combinations, etc.
> 
> Then the wife says, did you restart it? "Yes, I turned it on and off several times." We go into the settings, and there's a "restart" setting.
> 
> Ugh. Who? What? When did this happen?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously. I have to restart my Apple TV every three days to get the Siri function of the remote to work again. Because typing in commands is just way too arduous .
Click to expand...

Gary uses Alexa with an Amazon Fire on one of his Tv's .... works like a charm.  Gary also just picked up a Rveal Internet Streaming device ...there is so much content available ... it is mind-boggling.  Once Gary get's the Rveal dialed in he's dumping the cable.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm.
> 
> Coffee. Urine as developer. Grills. Power Loss.
> 
> Must be the coffee house.
> 
> That said, I must be getting older. Our fairly new TV wouldn't cooperate yesterday. The set-top box wouldn't show up, nor would anything connected to any HDMI port. I fiddled around with it for a half-hour, turned it on and off, unplugged everything, plugged everything back in, tried various combinations, etc.
> 
> Then the wife says, did you restart it? "Yes, I turned it on and off several times." We go into the settings, and there's a "restart" setting.
> 
> Ugh. Who? What? When did this happen?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously. I have to restart my Apple TV every three days to get the Siri function of the remote to work again. Because typing in commands is just way too arduous .
Click to expand...

That's a good point! Our Roku needed to be restarted, because it would get glitchy--but that stayed on all the time. I _thought_ turning the TV on and off was "resetting" it, but I guess not!


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> I love the idea of a Kamado grill



Call me lazy I know, but we grill year round. We like the convince of turning on the gas, hitting the igniter, and within minutes ready to grill.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> @waday in the media room, we have TV, satellite box,  sound system, DVD, and assorted switches. Most of which will function off one remote ------- until granddaughter comes over, catches us not watching and starts punching buttons  then it takes me an hour of reading all the manuals to reprogram everything.


We have a universal remote with a little LCD screen from Logitech that controls the TV, STB, and speakers. I love it.

Our remote plugs into our computer and connects to software. I've only ever needed to reprogram it once, and that was after we got a new TV. I was a bit worried that if we took the batteries out, it'd need to be reprogrammed, but it doesn't!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Jon: Regards to grills ... that Akorn sorta looks like a Kamado (egg shaped ceramic grills).  Gary has a number of grills but the Kamado is his favorite. (The Kamado looks more like a kettle than a Kamado.)  Gary's research on the Kamado what that they all cook about the same, the value comes in the form of the extras.  But this was a few years ago.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I love the idea of a Kamado grill -- this Chargriller model is made from two layers of steel with some insulation between it, so it operates in a similar function as the ceramic ones, but stays relatively cool to the touch on the outside (so my little ones are a little safer on the porch), and is a lot cheaper. Most people who have used both says it gets about 90% there. We'll see. My Weber kettle is dying. (I've had it for 9 years...and who knows how long my parents had it before then...)
Click to expand...

With kids, Gary would get a propane grill.  Charcoal is the best, but it requires setup time and cleanup time.  With a propane grill, a flick of a dial and the thrust of a finger ... and viola! You're cooking with propane.  If you miss the wood flavoring, get some chips and a Smoker Box. Even in inclimate weather, a propane fires up so quickly that grilling is still possible.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I love the idea of a Kamado grill
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Call me lazy I know, but we grill year round. We like the convince of turning on the gas, hitting the igniter, and within minutes ready to grill.
Click to expand...

You're lazy.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I love the idea of a Kamado grill
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Call me lazy I know, but we grill year round. We like the convince of turning on the gas, hitting the igniter, and within minutes ready to grill.
Click to expand...


Oh, I grill in snow storms. Usually on the gas grill, but I love cooking on charcoal and wood when I have the time. Honesty, with a chimney starter, it only takes the charcoal grill an extra 5 minutes to get going, and I understand that these Kamado grills are even easier with the way they draw air into the fuel chamber. I haven't had an oven-cooked roast or bird of any sort in a long time.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @waday in the media room, we have TV, satellite box,  sound system, DVD, and assorted switches. Most of which will function off one remote ------- until granddaughter comes over, catches us not watching and starts punching buttons  then it takes me an hour of reading all the manuals to reprogram everything.
> 
> 
> 
> We have a universal remote with a little LCD screen from Logitech that controls the TV, STB, and speakers. I love it.
> 
> Our remote plugs into our computer and connects to software. I've only ever needed to reprogram it once, and that was after we got a new TV. I was a bit worried that if we took the batteries out, it'd need to be reprogrammed, but it doesn't!
Click to expand...

Gary's receiver has a universal remote and about six HMDI inputs and more RCA connectors.  The miracle of science.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I love the idea of a Kamado grill
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Call me lazy I know, but we grill year round. We like the convince of turning on the gas, hitting the igniter, and within minutes ready to grill.
Click to expand...

Gary uses a number of grills, charcoal, propane, electric and selects a grill based on ultimate flavor, food and time.

Gary has an outdoor prep table, which helps significantly in speeding up the efficiency of outdoor cooking. Mary Lou and Gary used to eat out ... mmmh ... about five time a week.  Since Gary has been working on his culinary skills, we are now eating out about twice a week. 90% of Gary's meals are cooked outside.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT as Gary suggested if we want a little smoke flavor we have wood chips we add to a pan. Now for real smoked flavor I have an electric smoker that holds 40# of meat and has a built in pan for wood chips. We'll load it to the max when we fire it up, then divide the portions up and freeze in seal a meal packets.


----------



## Dragster3

JonA_CT said:


> Dragster3 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cooking in the dark
> View attachment 146644
> 
> Sent from my RS988 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear about your power loss...but umm....how do you like that grill? I'm thinking about picking one up from the same company. Just waiting for home depot or lowes to clearance them for the winter.
Click to expand...

It's pretty good...doesn't do well out in the elements...besides that it's great.

Sent from my RS988 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @JonA_CT as Gary suggested if we want a little smoke flavor we have wood chips we add to a pan. Now for real smoked flavor I have an electric smoker that holds 40# of meat and has a built in pan for wood chips. We'll load it to the max when we fire it up, then divide the portions up and freeze in seal a meal packets.


Gary has an electric smoker as well, but not nearly as large as smoke665's. Gary has a sidecar for it which cooks up the wood chips for smoke then pipes the smoke into smoker.  The high heat needed for smoke is separate from the heat used for cooking.  Works great, Gary can even smoke cheese this way.


----------



## Gary A.

Dragster3 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dragster3 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cooking in the dark
> View attachment 146644
> 
> Sent from my RS988 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear about your power loss...but umm....how do you like that grill? I'm thinking about picking one up from the same company. Just waiting for home depot or lowes to clearance them for the winter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's pretty good...doesn't do well out in the elements...besides that it's great.
> 
> Sent from my RS988 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...

Do you have it covered?


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary has a sidecar for it which cooks up the wood chips for smoke then pipes the smoke into smoker. The high heat needed for smoke is separate from the heat used for cooking



Mine has a chute in the side which leads to a pan just over the heating element. Above that is a pan that holds liquid (juice and water). There is a thermostat that regulates the heat of the unit, and a timer that controls the operation. Basically a load it up and let it do it's thing. Add some soaked chips every so often. Internal probe measure the temperature of the meat.


----------



## limr

Y'all have some complicated electronics set up. Leo prefers simplicity. She does have a smart tv in order to things such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video built into the TV, but there are no voice commands or syncing or blah blah blah. Really can't be arsed.



Gary A. said:


> @ Leo: As you seem to know much more about this than Gary ... does it matter what you drink prior to developing? Does drinking Starbucks or a Fresca change the development time(s). From experience, when developing with D-76, if Gary had a few beers the development time(s) got extended.



I don't know if it matters what you drink, but consistency is important if you want your results to be predictable. So whatever you decide to eat or drink before developing with urine, make sure you continue to have the same meal/beverage combo every time you develop.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I love the idea of a Kamado grill
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Call me lazy I know, but we grill year round. We like the convince of turning on the gas, hitting the igniter, and within minutes ready to grill.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, I grill in snow storms. Usually on the gas grill, but I love cooking on charcoal and wood when I have the time. Honesty, with a chimney starter, it only takes the charcoal grill an extra 5 minutes to get going, and I understand that these Kamado grills are even easier with the way they draw air into the fuel chamber. I haven't had an oven-cooked roast or bird of any sort in a long time.
Click to expand...


That's what Buzz does - gas grill all year round, even in snow and rain, and charcoal (Weber, not Kamodo, though) most days in the summer.


----------



## jcdeboever

Only thing on my TV is MLB, CFB, NFL FB, NHL. I record later with jools Holland but never find time to watch it. I also record, God is the Master Artist, and Bob Ross.


----------



## pixmedic

From my bunkroom. Never forget Irma 2017







Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 146646 View attachment 146647
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Terri: You need to find a wine shop not a coffee shop.  Gary's fingers are crossed and he hopes the best for you guys.
> 
> 
> 
> The wine shop is in the cellar, honey....
> 
> Coffee is more of a challenge .
> 
> Still no power, hosers.  Widespread over a few counties.  Tomorrow will be a better day.   Tonight, it's candlelight, red wine and a movie in the laptop.    We'll get by.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> When nature strikes, Gary uses a portable butane unit for his coffee.
Click to expand...

We have one that's used for camping.  Works like a charm, with the added bonus of *not* looking like a bong.  

Still no power today, hosers.  Spent a couple hours at the coffee house on the town square, charging laptop and phones while getting breakfast and delicious coffee. 

They were slammed - the only local restaurant that didn't lose power, according to our waitress.    Lots of people drove up here from Florida, thinking they'd escape Irma's wrath, only to find downed power lines and non-stop rain.   The waitress referred to them as "refugees," which cracked me up.

Still cool, breezy, and drizzling on and off today, with peeks of sunshine.  Lots of businesses are closed.  The schools are closed, too, as well as throughout most of North, south and western Georgia.  Power trucks everywhere.    Definitely got hit harder than we anticipated.  I readily confess I thought we were well out of harm's way and would just be getting a nice soaking rain out of this.  Whew!


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Y'all have some complicated electronics set up. Leo prefers simplicity. She does have a smart tv in order to things such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video built into the TV, but there are no voice commands or syncing or blah blah blah. Really can't be arsed.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Leo: As you seem to know much more about this than Gary ... does it matter what you drink prior to developing? Does drinking Starbucks or a Fresca change the development time(s). From experience, when developing with D-76, if Gary had a few beers the development time(s) got extended.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know if it matters what you drink, but consistency is important if you want your results to be predictable. So whatever you decide to eat or drink before developing with urine, make sure you continue to have the same meal/beverage combo every time you develop.
Click to expand...


Have to admit that up until this post I thought you were joking about the urine.  So let me just say Eeeewwwwww. 

I have the Amazon voice activated fire stick and the Alexa.  Love both.  Just starting to expand on the Alexa to use it for more than music, weather, a few lights and playing Jeopardy.  I re-order things from Amazon like our favorite waffle batter and Princess's hard to find special toothpaste just by asking out loud.  I can also check on my in process orders.  Going all in soon with a few more smart home lights and a smart thermostat.  I feel very Jetsons when I get up and ask about the weather or the Sox score or turn down the lights in the living room without moving.  I wish Verizon would come out with a voice remote then I could literally do absolutely nothing all weekend long.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Have to admit that up until this post I thought you were joking about the urine. So let me just say Eeeewwwwww.



If you're that squeamish about using it when you don't physically have to touch it, what are you going to do when you're out on the beach and get a bad jellyfish sting????


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have to admit that up until this post I thought you were joking about the urine. So let me just say Eeeewwwwww.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you're that squeamish about using it when you don't physically have to touch it, what are you going to do when you're out on the beach and get a bad jellyfish sting????
Click to expand...

Scream ... ?


----------



## vintagesnaps

I thought that was a joke at first too, I agree about the eww. Coffee's one thing but, uh, no, not the byproduct of drinking coffee. 

You could just get a clapper (clap on, clap off!). 

I still just have a stupid phone. And don't want any things talking at me, automated things are already the most annoying biggest PITA sometimes. (OK, so, do you want to, make a payment? OK, got it! I don't know why the voice has to sound so chipper.) Now the telemarketers are getting worse as the technology improves, making it look like a local number and I think maybe it's a neighbor, but nooo, I went on a cruise with them, yeah sure... 

Hope you get power back on soon Terri. They were showing on the local news utility trucks heading down there, looked like one heck of a convoy! Maybe they'll get to you soon.


----------



## vintagesnaps




----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have to admit that up until this post I thought you were joking about the urine. So let me just say Eeeewwwwww.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you're that squeamish about using it when you don't physically have to touch it, what are you going to do when you're out on the beach and get a bad jellyfish sting????
Click to expand...


Ask my friends Chandler and Joey to do it for me then never speak of it again.


----------



## snowbear

I don't really watch TV - Doctor Who and a couple more shows. occasionally.  MLW watches frequently so she knows how the remotes work.
The ancient Scots allegedly used urine as a catalyst, of sorts, when making vegetable dyes for tartans.



smoke665 said:


> @waday in the media room, we have TV, satellite box,  sound system, DVD, and assorted switches. Most of which will function off one remote ------- until granddaughter comes over, catches us not watching and starts punching buttons  then it takes me an hour of reading all the manuals to reprogram everything.


One more reason to keep the OLBs tied up.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have to admit that up until this post I thought you were joking about the urine. So let me just say Eeeewwwwww.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you're that squeamish about using it when you don't physically have to touch it, what are you going to do when you're out on the beach and get a bad jellyfish sting????
Click to expand...


Adolph's meat tenderizer.  Easy enough to keep a small jar in the beach bag.

Terri: Hope you get power back soon.  The local news in Portland said a dozen, or so, power company trucks were on their way down to help restore power - should have gotten there yesterday.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Weather Channel was saying lots of lines down, which unfortunately is taking time.

Hey JC I got the Traverse Prospects games on, couldn't get it to work the other day but watching the last of the games today. No announcer just sounds of the arena but no great loss, hearing the rink noise feels like being there. 

Was thinking of going to our junior game over the weekend but they moved it out of town, something about the rink losing 40 gallons of brine, which I took to mean - no ice!


----------



## vintagesnaps

NYR v. Dallas prospects, tied at 1-1 after two. Camera is on the lite brite scoreboard watching it count down.

edit - Hey! realized with staggered start times on two rinks the other game is on - I can do a split screen thing and watch both. Red Wings v. St. Louis, the baby Blues just scored again for a 5-1 lead. 

The other game has an announcer, and a guy doing color. And a mezzanine, with people up there (obviously the main rink and the other's the annex).

I'm in hockey heaven.


----------



## terri

Thanks for the info on the extra power company help, guys - obviously we need it!

 Still no power, so we've been cleaning out the fridge since the trash gets picked up tomorrow.   Didn't lose too much and we're grilling some lamb patties tonight that were in the freezer.   

We cleaned up outside, and carried all the herbs back to the porch.  Tomorrow should be warmer, no more lingering drizzle.   Hopefully the power will be back, too - not much point in a store run without a working refrigerator!   Starting to wear a bit thin, though I don't like complaining when others have it so much worse.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> NYR v. Dallas prospects, tied at 1-1 after two. Camera is on the lite brite scoreboard watching it count down.
> 
> edit - Hey! realized with staggered start times on two rinks the other game is on - I can do a split screen thing and watch both. Red Wings v. St. Louis, the baby Blues just scored again for a 5-1 lead.
> 
> The other game has an announcer, and a guy doing color. And a mezzanine, with people up there (obviously the main rink and the other's the annex).
> 
> I'm in hockey heaven.


I DVR'd it. I am traveling up north now.


----------



## JonA_CT

terri said:


> Thanks for the info on the extra power company help, guys - obviously we need it!
> 
> Still no power, so we've been cleaning out the fridge since the trash gets picked up tomorrow.   Didn't lose too much and we're grilling some lamb patties tonight that were in the freezer.
> 
> We cleaned up outside, and carried all the herbs back to the porch.  Tomorrow should be warmer, no more lingering drizzle.   Hopefully the power will be back, too - not much point in a store run without a working refrigerator!   Starting to wear a bit thin, though I don't like complaining when others have it so much worse.




My homeowners' policy through USAA covers loss of food during a power outage. It might be worth giving your policy holder a call to ask. I think mine was capped at $250, but it was enough to restock our deep freezer the last time we lost power.


----------



## jcdeboever

Dodgers won, the Dodgers WON! Justin Verlander pitch's another masterpiece for the Astros! Red Wings prospects fall to the Blues.... Couple fights, can't wait to get home and see that....


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Thanks for the info on the extra power company help, guys - obviously we need it!
> 
> Still no power, so we've been cleaning out the fridge since the trash gets picked up tomorrow.   Didn't lose too much and we're grilling some lamb patties tonight that were in the freezer.
> 
> We cleaned up outside, and carried all the herbs back to the porch.  Tomorrow should be warmer, no more lingering drizzle.   Hopefully the power will be back, too - not much point in a store run without a working refrigerator!   Starting to wear a bit thin, though I don't like complaining when others have it so much worse.


Power company crews from Eversource in the northeast to Pacific Gas and Energy in the west, even crews from Canada and parts in between are all caravanning to cure the power grid destruction from Irma.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Dodgers won, the Dodgers WON! Justin Verlander pitch's another masterpiece for the Astros! Red Wings prospects fall to the Blues.... Couple fights, can't wait to get home and see that....


After losing 11 straight games, Kershaw and Jansen played some ball.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hope they get your power on soon Terri. Reminds me of quite a few years ago when hurricane force winds got this far north (trees here can't withstand that force because they aren't meant to grow where there are hurricanes!). So many lines were pulled down by tree limbs it took almost a week getting all those lines back up. And gas pumps weren't working, it was a looong week... not much to do but hang in there til they get you lit up again!


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Making some bread this morning. Finished kneading waiting for it to rise.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for the info on the extra power company help, guys - obviously we need it!
> 
> Still no power, so we've been cleaning out the fridge since the trash gets picked up tomorrow.   Didn't lose too much and we're grilling some lamb patties tonight that were in the freezer.
> 
> We cleaned up outside, and carried all the herbs back to the porch.  Tomorrow should be warmer, no more lingering drizzle.   Hopefully the power will be back, too - not much point in a store run without a working refrigerator!   Starting to wear a bit thin, though I don't like complaining when others have it so much worse.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My homeowners' policy through USAA covers loss of food during a power outage. It might be worth giving your policy holder a call to ask. I think mine was capped at $250, but it was enough to restock our deep freezer the last time we lost power.
Click to expand...

I never thought of that - might be worth a peek just to see if such a rider even exists.   It was just our regular freezer, so I wouldn't both filing a claim this time around.   But good information, all the same.   

The power is BACK ON.        We had some more cleanup to do, then hit the showers, and I'm running the dishwasher now.    Later, it'll be time to head to the grocery store to replenish the perishables and frozen stuff we tossed out.

Yay!    Yay!    Yay!    

But my poor sister in central Florida is still without, and likely to be without for several more days.   I am hoping she thinks hard about getting a generator now.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yay, Terri!!


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for the info on the extra power company help, guys - obviously we need it!
> 
> Still no power, so we've been cleaning out the fridge since the trash gets picked up tomorrow.   Didn't lose too much and we're grilling some lamb patties tonight that were in the freezer.
> 
> We cleaned up outside, and carried all the herbs back to the porch.  Tomorrow should be warmer, no more lingering drizzle.   Hopefully the power will be back, too - not much point in a store run without a working refrigerator!   Starting to wear a bit thin, though I don't like complaining when others have it so much worse.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My homeowners' policy through USAA covers loss of food during a power outage. It might be worth giving your policy holder a call to ask. I think mine was capped at $250, but it was enough to restock our deep freezer the last time we lost power.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I never thought of that - might be worth a peek just to see if such a rider even exists.   It was just our regular freezer, so I wouldn't both filing a claim this time around.   But good information, all the same.
> 
> The power is BACK ON.        We had some more cleanup to do, then hit the showers, and I'm running the dishwasher now.    Later, it'll be time to head to the grocery store to replenish the perishables and frozen stuff we tossed out.
> 
> Yay!    Yay!    Yay!
> 
> But my poor sister in central Florida is still without, and likely to be without for several more days.   I am hoping she thinks hard about getting a generator now.
Click to expand...


Power to the People!


----------



## vintagesnaps

JC, the games I saw were good, must have missed the best part of that Wings game, didn't see all that 'exchanging of recipes'. The BlueJackets lost in OT in the championship game, just hope the big Jackets do as well this season. Maybe they ought to keep some of those players up and send some other ones down.

They were saying the Red Wings are having training camp up there, do they usually do that or is it just this season because of the new arena?


----------



## terri

I knew when I bought this house that I didn't want an all-electric home, and this just seals the deal.   Most of my adult life has been in houses with stove tops and hot water heaters fueled by natural gas.   I can stand a lot of powerless days if I can cook simple meals and take a hot shower every day.    

6 months ago, there was lots of activity around the main roads that encircle our subdivision; natural gas lines have been run.   Just not brought into the subdivision - yet.   As soon as things calm down around here, I'll be checking back in with the city utilities folks and ask for a progress update on this project.   I want a gas water heater and am quite willing to pay to convert to a gas stove top - I'd like to renovate my little kitchen in a couple of years, and that would be sweet!


----------



## Gary A.

Wouldn't a generator be easier?  Remember that a modern gas water heater uses electronic ignition as opposed to a pilot light. As to the stove top, Gary uses electric (inductive) in the BBQ patio and it works extremely well. The inductive has a lot more precision than the gas stove top in the kitchen and generates less heat into the surrounding area. With the inductive you can dial in power (similar to gas or electric - high/medium/low and all the variations thereof) but also actual temps 200F, 250F, 300F, et cetera.  The inductive heats up faster. Gas and a flame/fire is much more romantic than ferris based cookware and LEDs ... but inductive works better.


----------



## Frank F.

Today autumn started and showed its ugly face: cold, dark, wet ... unfriendly ... grey. At a point my camera got so wet, the pictures were full of grey spots, unusable. I had a second body on me with a lens featuring a more recessed front element. Much better for rainy environment. The pictures are better anyway, ultra wide angle is still my weakness.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> I knew when I bought this house that I didn't want an all-electric home, and this just seals the deal.   Most of my adult life has been in houses with stove tops and hot water heaters fueled by natural gas.   I can stand a lot of powerless days if I can cook simple meals and take a hot shower every day.
> 
> 6 months ago, there was lots of activity around the main roads that encircle our subdivision; natural gas lines have been run.   Just not brought into the subdivision - yet.   As soon as things calm down around here, I'll be checking back in with the city utilities folks and ask for a progress update on this project.   I want a gas water heater and am quite willing to pay to convert to a gas stove top - I'd like to renovate my little kitchen in a couple of years, and that would be sweet!



Glad you're back in action.  I love my ceramic top range.  When power is out we do have gas heat and hot water but neither work since both also need power.


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC:

Presently- 79F/Sunny
Thursday- 78F/Sunny
Friday- 76F/Cloudy
Saturday- 78F/Sunny
Sunday- 79F/Sunny
Et Cetera- Back to normal


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> I bought this house that I didn't want an all-electric home,



All electric, with a standby generator. No problems.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I've thought about a generator, or gas stove... in college when a big blizzard hit we at least had a gas stove in our apt, so that gave us a bit of warmth and the ability to fix a frozen pizza with I hate to think what from the fridge tossed on it. Then we toasted mini marshmallows over candles! lol Not going to be remotely romantic in the middle of winter Gary, you're in paradise out there! In September I could manage without power for a few days.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I bought this house that I didn't want an all-electric home,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> All electric, with a standby generator. No problems.
Click to expand...

They're really noisy, they stink, and they're only as good as the amount of gas you have.  Now, my sister in law has a generator that runs off natural gas, so that might be the best option.   If we go that route. 

My former gas stove top had electronic ignition.  When the power went out, we just turned it on and struck a match.


----------



## Gary A.

That works. *duh*


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> That works. *duh*



How quickly technology depletes brain matter. LOL


----------



## jcdeboever

Our cabin in the UP of Michigan. Not roughing it at all.... Sorry, I'm a city boy


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> They're really noisy, they stink, and they're only as good as the amount of gas you have. Now, my sister in law



I have a portable unit that we can keep the refrigerators running, have lights and tv, but won't powered the heat pumps. The goal was to install a standby propane unit big enough to power the house, but frankly in 11 years we haven't lost power for more than a few hours, so haven't seen the need. The standby units are very quiet.


----------



## Gary A.

Last week Gary decided to install solar w/backup batteries.  He is gathering bids.


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> Our cabin in the UP of Michigan. Not roughing it at all.... Sorry, I'm a city boy
> View attachment 146716



Let us know when you're hosting the next Coffeehouse meet-up 


No generator here. But...my parents have a propane-powered auto-on whatever generator that will run everything in their house, and supply their motorhome with it's requisite power needs. So if Jose decided to mess with us next week and we lose power...I just shift my home base about 10 miles to the Northeast from here. They'll eventually run out of propane, but it'll take them awhile. I think their tank is rated for 10+ days.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A  I've looked at solar, but frankly I couldn't make it work financially. Between the cost and the lifespan of the panels and batteries, it just wasn't cost effective. Adding wind power to the mix made it closer to the utility cost, but still not cheaper. Now if you're in an area with a steady directional wind, a relatively small wind powered generator will blow solar out of the water. Before we built on this property, we had another parcel that we were looking at. It had 2 year round springs, one of which was large enough to have powered a micro hydroelectric plant capable of powering an entire home, and selling excess. Only problem was the land was to far out in the woods.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> They're really noisy, they stink, and they're only as good as the amount of gas you have. Now, my sister in law
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have a portable unit that we can keep the refrigerators running, have lights and tv, but won't powered the heat pumps. The goal was to install a standby propane unit big enough to power the house, but frankly in 11 years we haven't lost power for more than a few hours, so haven't seen the need. The standby units are very quiet.
Click to expand...

You should hear the ones some of my neighbors have been using the last couple of days....it's like waiting for someone to turn off their lawnmower.        I don't know much about that kind; they looked basically like engines dropped in a frame.    Very loud, and they were running constantly.    The fumes were wafting over here, as well -  I wasn't impressed that it'd be something I'd want to do.

We've lost power here, over 2.5 years, 4-5 times total.   This was the longest (just over 2 days, and there are still a few thousand around here without).    If this neighborhood gets its natural gas lines, it might be that I'd drop the $$ to get one installed and just forget about it.   It would stay with the house and likely be an eventual selling point, of sorts.    My sister in law never thought about it until she got one with this house she now lives in, and swears it's the way to go.   

Nothing I'm going to do while under duress - I'd have to look at some models and be ready to pay for a professional installation.    It's pretty woodsy around here, and it's a small town - doesn't seem like a bad thing to plan for.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> ou should hear the ones some of my neighbors have been using the last couple of days....it's like waiting for someone to turn off their lawnmower.  I don't know much about that kind; they looked basically like engines dropped in a frame.



Most of those portable models are like mine, nothing more than a lawn mower engine and alternator/generator. By comparison the standby units are designed to be quiet from the ground up with soundproofing enclosures. You likely wouldn't hear it running unless you were on top of it. Here's an interesting read on them Generator Noise Levels - How Loud Are They | Norwall PowerSystems Blog


----------



## Gary A.

Right now our electric bill is under $100 a month.  Gary can get a pretty good solar system for around $75 a month.  That would cover my entire household needs 24/7 all year long. No wind, no hydro, just solar. 

Longest outage I've experienced in SoCal, was about 8 hours, during the Northridge Earthquake.  Other than that, over a couple of decades, so few outages for so little time ... that it isn't worth mentioning. Outages are very rare out here, and when they do hit, the one's Gary personally experienced, .... 20 minutes ... maybe.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. we have 400 amp service, here for house and buildings so a full solar source would be pretty pricey for us. Wind generation has been making some inroads of late, but the noise factor is a problem. The other potential source for some is taking a 4 cylinder automotive engine coupled to a conventional generator and using a wood gas generator to provide the fuel.


----------



## Gary A.

There is a general move here for residentials to upgrade from 100 amp service to 200 amp ... my bids are for 200 amp. Wood burning generators would not pass our South Coast Air Quality Management District's standards, unless you have a boatload of filtration on the backside.  There is a lot of huge industrial wind and solar farming out here in the deserts.  Gary has a nice, consistent breeze capable of turning a small turbine ... but it really isn't necessary.


----------



## SquarePeg

Solar is very popular in our town.  Lots of south facing houses have the panels.  Our house is a prime candidate and we get solar salesmen knocking on our door several times every year.  Since I'm hoping to build up, I can't really consider any of that right now.  Have to finalize the plans for the house first.


----------



## snowbear

Power outages are pretty rare for us: the cables are underground for most of the area.  We do get them but generally only for a few minutes, unless there is a problem at the substation.  We did get something over the weekend, while we were in Maine.  The clocks for the microwave and Keurig had gone bonkers, but the TV was still on (we put it on Animal Planet to keep kitties occupied)


----------



## Gary A.

Delish ...


----------



## smoke665

In 1993 we had a snowstorm of all things that knocked out power for 7 days. The biggest reason was not the snow but Southern not maintaining their right always. There was such an outrage that hardly a blade of grass survives now on the right of ways, but power outages are pretty much a thing of the past.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> There is a general move here for residentials to upgrade from 100 amp service to 200 amp .



Wow, seriously we had 200 amp service at our old house that was 30 years old. Course when you run multiple HVAC systems service panel requirements go up. Even so, our all electric utility bill averages out just over $200/month, which isn't bad for the area we heat/cool.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks that the energy requirement for heating/cooling are significant less out here than in Alabama.  There is a band of older residential housing near the coast which has no A/C.

Gary has central air, but only runs it about two weeks total out of the year.


----------



## Frank F.

Speaking of Climatization and Ventilation I wrote a little piece on it, watching construction in the neighbourhood:




Picture & Story, 12 September:

*Wärmedämmverbundsystem, Energieeinsparverordnung, Passivhaus*

A little German lesson today covering a new cultural phenomenon described in the words above.

So what is it all about?

Traditionally humans built houses that breathe, which means the walls let air and water in and out to a certain extent meaning there will never be too much water inside, because it can go through the walls to the outside and balance the concentration out.

Trouble is that this kind of house needs a lot of energy except you build very thick walls that insulate against heat and cold but this has gotten so expensive that most people do not do it and build thin walls.

To save energy, people had the idea to build houses that are air tight. The air and heat exchange will then be conducted through a passive or active air flow system. That means, that the hot air that is going out is heating the incoming cold air or vice a versa, depending on the time of year.

This way you save tremendous amounts of money and energy for heating and cooling both of which contribute about 1/3 to world energy consumption.

A lot of development in that technology has been done in Germany and so the German government tried to push the stuff into the market which is not a very bad idea but the way they did it means, it will in the end not save energy but waste it.

The reason for that is a technical one. The government says how much energy the house shall consume at maximum but they give no technical guidelines how to and how not to reach this kind of insulation values. So what most people do is basically to buy mountains of styrofoam and nail them directly to the walls. This might work in a new construction, a house that is from the beginning planned as air tight with a good air flow planning, active or passive.

But many companies do the same to houses that are 100 years old or 50 years old and were from the beginning constructed as air conducting, as breathing houses.

What happens then is, that the water can not get out of the house and in consequence the house gets mouldy and rots.

It is possible to insulate an old house correctly but it requires a lot of skill and precision and it is much more expensive.

Foam insulation is also a problem for the fire brigade. If you plan to insulate your house it's a good idea to not only consult an architect and someone who really knows how to manage the air flow in a construction but also the fire experts that will evaluate how your insulation will behave in case of a fire. The Kensington Torch in London, killing a lot of people should be a warning to all.

The planning and qualified execution of the plan will be very expensive compared to getting some cheapo-workers from Eastern Europe hammering styrofoam to your outer walls and cashing in on the state money.

Trouble is that the law doesn't make any distinction between the qualified and unqualified way to do it so Germany will see hundreds of thousands of houses rot and being torn down and mega tons of styrofoam having to be dumped in some way. I am looking forward to the time in roughly 10 years, 15 years 20 years when the consequences of what we do today will surface.

Now the little German lesson:

*Wärmedämmverbundsystem*

This is the insulating construction in its totality including the air flow planning and execution.

*Energieeinsparverordnung*

This is a law requiring you to save energy but not telling you in detail how to do it and how not to do it.

*Passivhaus*

This is a very clever idea to build a house from the beginning in the way that it saves energy in the climate it is being constructed and that it saves energy without any active airflow management, heating or cooling system. This is the most intelligent way to build a house, but it is also very expensive and only a few people know exactly how to do it. In general it is easier and cheaper to realise such a thing in huge constructions than in the small constructions.

Very interesting read by one ofd the greatest architects of our time: https://www.amazon.com/BIG-HOT-COLD...1505361073&sr=8-2&keywords=bjarke+ingels+book


*About The Picture:*

Brown is the nice house, roughly 100 years old

Ugly is the old cladding which alloweded the house to breathe giving the wooden constructon between the house and the cladding

Ugly & dangerous is the new cladding quite possible air tight & burnable....


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> Now, my sister in law has a generator that runs off natural gas, so that might be the best option.   If we go that route.


As long as there's natural gas available.  Don't forget that LNG pumping stations need power, and major storms can disrupt underground utilities as well.  You can always find some gasoline; natural gas?  Not so much.  A nice little Honda 4Kw unit will run essentials all day on just a couple of gallons of gas, and is so quiet that you could sit beside it and have a conversation at normal volume.


----------



## Frank F.

tirediron said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now, my sister in law has a generator that runs off natural gas, so that might be the best option.   If we go that route.
> 
> 
> 
> As long as there's natural gas available.  Don't forget that LNG pumping stations need power, and major storms can disrupt underground utilities as well.  You can always find some gasoline; natural gas?  Not so much.  A nice little Honda 4Kw unit will run essentials all day on just a couple of gallons of gas, and is so quiet that you could sit beside it and have a conversation at normal volume.
Click to expand...



In my area lots of people have underground gas tanks big enough to get them through the winter. In addition to heating you can have your A/C run on gas as well as cooking and you can produce electricity with it in case of emergency.


----------



## Frank F.

Good morning hosers! On my desk since 5 a.m. with a coffee of course!


----------



## Frank F.

Frank F. said:


> Today autumn started and showed its ugly face: cold, dark, wet ... unfriendly ... grey. At a point my camera got so wet, the pictures were full of grey spots, unusable. I had a second body on me with a lens featuring a more recessed front element. Much better for rainy environment. The pictures are better anyway, ultra wide angle is still my weakness.




I just developed one of the pics I took in the pouring rain (D500, 1.8/85G):


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> Traditionally humans built houses that breathe, which means the walls let air and water in and out to a certain extent meaning there will never be too much water inside, because it can go through the walls to the outside and balance the concentration out.



Interesting. Our house as most of those built in the last several years are wrapped in Tyvek, Tyvek ® | Tyvek ® Brand Applications | DuPont USA prior to application of siding material. It's a unique fiber material that prevents water and air intrusion from outside, but allows water vapor to pass out. Works really well. As to insulation, our house is conventional fiberglass batt in the walls and ceilings. Of late I've seen expanding spray in foam being used, but frankly I have serious questions as to the air quality in the house from this.


----------



## Frank F.

Cool stuff. Like a Gore Tex Jacket for the house???


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary thinks that the energy requirement for heating/cooling are significant less out here than in Alabama.  There is a band of older residential housing near the coast which has no A/C.
> 
> Gary has central air, but only runs it about two weeks total out of the year.



Yup, each of the heat pumps are on their own 50 amp circuit. Granted the load on every circuit isn't utilized to the maximum at all times. Unlike you we have summer heat/humidity that starts in early spring and runs through September/October. Temperatures remain mild till late December when the cold weather kicks in, by February we're back to mild.

The heat pumps are extremely efficient down to the low 30's where the supplemental heat strips kick in. Unfortunately they are not known for longevity, about 10 years is the average life of a system. Already had to replace our big unit this spring. Have another unit that we're hoping will survive another year.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> Cool stuff. Like a Gore Tex Jacket for the house???



Yup, I can attest to how well it works. On our old house it just seemed like you couldn't stop the cold winter drafts no matter how much you caulked and mold (under floor) was always a concern over crawl spaces. I truthfully don't feel any of the drafts now. Course the other things is that all windows are insulated, low e-glass, including the large floor to ceiling windows in the great room. Still amazed at how well they work. The temperature could be freezing outside yet the glass is warm to the touch on the inside. Something that was a concern on a 2 story wall of glass. This wall is a prow shape oriented to catch most of the sun through about 2-3 in the afternoon. The coating on the glass is designed to reflect the infrared energy when the sun is high during the summer months, but allows it in during the winter months when at a lowered angle.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> Speaking of Climatization and Ventilation I wrote a little piece on it, watching construction in the neighbourhood:
> 
> *Wärmedämmverbundsystem, Energieeinsparverordnung, Passivhaus*



Don't take this the wrong way - your post does look interesting and I'll read it more carefully at some point - but honestly, I stopped reading right here because all I care about at this exact moment is the ability of German to shove so much meaning into one fantastically beautiful monster word. Compounding is a hell of a thing. English, being a Germanic language, maintained this ability to a certain extent, but it's not nearly as robust a process as it is in German. So a compound of two words like _passivhaus_ wouldn't really be a stretch for English, but we couldn't manage anything like the first two words.

This has done my linguist's heart good this Thursday morning


----------



## Gary A.

"Wärmedämmverbundsystem, Energieeinsparverordnung, Passivhaus"

Gary agrees with Leo, German can be amazing. But Germans ... that is something else.


----------



## Gary A.

@Frank: Airtight doesn't work with small structures like homes. Energy efficiency has been a big thing since the 1960's here in California.  One construction company built "airtight" homes which could be heated seemingly with a single match.  But the odors and smells from cooking simply made the houses uninhabitable. Tyvek, (or equal), is standard construction material on all government facilities. Those thin, fiber-ish, large mail envelopes that you can't rip open with your bare hands ... that's Tyvek. The US has construction companies which have qualified by our EPA as ESCO companies. ESCO is an Energy  Service Company.  ESCO's bring in all the disciplines of construction, engineering and energy management, from landscaping to insulation to solar to et cetera, in order to construct building with the smallest energy footprint. It is a comprehensive approach to construction and retrofitting.  Example: Planting trees is specific areas will reduce the need of mechanical cooling or LED w/sensors will reduce the number of solar panels.  

Our government will issue Requests For Proposals which can only be bid upon by an ESCO.

Typically, an ESCO contract requires the ESCO company to pay for their portion of the construction/retrofitting and the ESCO company gets paid back over time through the energy savings. Example: If it costs $100 a month to heat/cool/vent/power/light the facility and the ESCO can reduce the costs to $60 a month.  Then the ESCO captures and pockets the $40 difference, until the contract is fulfilled.  

Gary has worked with ESCO type contracts with hospitals, schools and military facilities. Gary has seen the payments amortized for as little as three years to as long as 12 years.


----------



## Overread

Hey we still have antidisestablishmentarianism!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Climatization and ventilation are enough long words without the warmdamnwhateversystem.  Even the computer doesn't like these words...

Frank has floating red hot chili peppers over his desk. Made for a nice picture.

JC is a Yooper this week. Nice picture of the cabin!


----------



## smoke665

6 month checkup at with a new Pulmonologist. My old doctor that I thought the world of moved to Miami. Every now and then you stumble on a good one, such was the case with this lady, really sad to see her go. The jury is still out on the new one, he's younger - though at my age most specialists look like my youngest kids. And, of course, there, are more tests to done, as this one flexes his wings believing  he can improve my breathing. Not complaining really, because I'm pretty Dam**d fond of breathing, I can attest to how much the alternative sucks,  but I've resigned myself to dealing with Asthma symptoms, and living my life. Unless I'm in ER sucking on Oxygen, I prefer to leave things be.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> @Frank: Airtight doesn't work with small structures like homes. Energy efficiency has been a big thing since the 1960's here in California.  One construction company built "airtight" homes which could be heated seemingly with a single match.  But the odors and smells from cooking simply made the houses uninhabitable. Tyvek, (or equal), is standard construction material on all government facilities. Those thin, fiber-ish, large mail envelopes that you can't rip open with your bare hands ... that's Tyvek. The US has construction companies which have qualified by our EPA as ESCO companies. ESCO is an Energy  Service Company.  ESCO's bring in all the disciplines of construction, engineering and energy management, from landscaping to insulation to solar to et cetera, in order to construct building with the smallest energy footprint. It is a comprehensive approach to construction and retrofitting.  Example: Planting trees is specific areas will reduce the need of mechanical cooling or LED w/sensors will reduce the number of solar panels.
> 
> Our government will issue Requests For Proposals which can only be bid upon by an ESCO.
> 
> Typically, an ESCO contract requires the ESCO company to pay for their portion of the construction/retrofitting and the ESCO company gets paid back over time through the energy savings. Example: If it costs $100 a month to heat/cool/vent/power/light the facility and the ESCO can reduce the costs to $60 a month.  Then the ESCO captures and pockets the $40 difference, until the contract is fulfilled.
> 
> Gary has worked with ESCO type contracts with hospitals, schools and military facilities. Gary has seen the payments amortized for as little as three years to as long as 12 years.




The ESCO business model seems to make a lot of sense. In the entrepreneur unfriendly environment in Germany people are more into following the flow of government money than to make up their mind and do what is right instead.

Air tight works well with modern non draft air management systems, the air is replaced with outside air up to 18 times a day. If the air outside does not bring in odours you will have no problems with odours. Most of the movement can be initiated passively.

But: the materials used here remind me of a shoe box with double walls stuffed with insulation material between them "stone wool" is a good material. This whole construction is energy saving but not at all sustainable. I guess these houses will last 40 years maximum, in case of water penetration these constructions can be lost for good.

They are also often covered by monopitch roofs with aluminium cladding, prone to electrochemical destruction ... One thing leads to another. The systems are often very complex meaning lots of failure points.

I try to make my house sustainable, it shall last for 100 years at least, even if the latest and greatest energy savings are not to be achieved that way. It will be a breathing construction.


----------



## jcdeboever

I took this one of the granddaughter this morning, she had no idea. We were skipping rocks into the lake.


----------



## JonA_CT

Beautiful, JC. 

I  might set my alarm to pre-order a new iPhone. Can't justify the X, but my 6 plus is starting to show its age.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Beautiful, JC.
> 
> I  might set my alarm to pre-order a new iPhone. Can't justify the X, but my 6 plus is starting to show its age.



Princess has the 7 plus and loves the new camera features.  She thinks the X is "ugly".


----------



## JonA_CT

I think the design is actually pretty cool...screen the size of the plus in the body of the regular. I'm sure the OLED screen will be beautiful. But...at the end of the day, it's not worth an extra $200 to me. That $200 can go towards my 4K TV upgrade (that my wife will never go for). Or more likely, she'll get another pair of Tieks.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> They are also often covered by monopitch roofs with aluminium cladding, prone to electrochemical destruction ..



Painted steel both rib and standing seam has gained popularity here for residential, but with environmental fallout I just can't imagine they will give much more lifespan then conventional shingles. The old farmhouse homeplace had slate shingles that lasted at least 50 years or more


----------



## Frank F.

Slate shingles can last 100 years if properly mended


----------



## vintagesnaps

Slate? I haven't seen a roof made of that, well, maybe ever. We just live in a different world, the oldest things here aren't nearly as old as in Europe. My relatives did have a home in Germany that went back a long long time; our family name and history goes back to the 1500s. I find it interesting to watch shows filmed in places like the UK to see how old and how different homes and buildings are there.


----------



## Frank F.

My grandparents had a house built by my great grandfather who had lots of money. Iirc the construction was finished in 1904. The house was sold in 1997 and the roof was still original only well mended slate. Very expensive then, even more so today.

Topmodernisiertes Schloss in Rheinlage bei Bad Honnef – KRAFT Immobilien GmbH Bonn – Immobilien-Makler für Wohnungen Häuser Grundstücke – Kapitalanlage Eigentumswohnung – Mieten Kaufen Verkaufen Vermieten Bauen Bewerten Projektieren

This is the house of my grandparents. They never had the money to renovate it like this.

Only the one who bought it had the money. Now he sells it again


----------



## JonA_CT

The deed is done. I ordered an iPhone 8 Plus for myself and a iPhone 8 for my wife. They should be here next Friday.

I was going to buy the directly from Apple...but they make it so complicated. It took me about a minute to buy them from Verizon after I messed with the Apple page for 10 minutes.


----------



## Frank F.

ESCO Post Scriptum:

The KfW Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, I am sure Leo loves the word, just published a report that most of the insulation measures on houses done in the past few years in Germany will never pay off financially. The KfW did most of the financing for these measures because the Federal Government wants that so.

It is part of a brain fart called "Energiewende" meaning a way to sustainable energy production and consumption.

The idea is great but results are bad. Lignite burning is propelled, Wind Mills are built in places where the wind don't blows, relatively clean nuclear plants are closed for no good reason and they pay the Netherlands to take our excess electricity in case the wind blows strongly on a sunny day. All that ideocracy is planned to cost roughly 1000 trillion Euros and in the end neither sustainability nor environmental friendliness is reached.

Reason for it to happen? They employed lobbyists from an organisation called EUROSOLAR to advise the German government on Energy Policy.....


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> The deed is done. I ordered an iPhone 8 Plus for myself and a iPhone 8 for my wife. They should be here next Friday.
> 
> I was going to buy the directly from Apple...but they make it so complicated. It took me about a minute to buy them from Verizon after I messed with the Apple page for 10 minutes.



Can't wait to hear how you like them. Now the 8 is different from the X yes?  What are the differences?  I will have to live vicariously through you on this as I struggle with my sad 6 plus that must be charged 2-3x day now.  I spent all my mad money already this year on the xt2 and the iPad Pro!  Apple care or no?


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Slate? I haven't seen a roof made of that, well, maybe ever. We j



Slate was pretty common in the Midwest where we lived during the 30/40's. It's still available today in both natural an synthetic. Good read on the pros and cons Slate Roofing Tiles - pros, cons, & costs the biggest reason you don't see it much today is cost. Not only material and installation of the slate, but the additional cost of the supporting structure to handle the weight of the slate.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> Reason for it to happen? They employed lobbyists from an organisation called EUROSOLAR to advise the German government on Energy Policy.....



Lobbyists are like a plague across the world, that run contra to what's best for the general population.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> My grandparents had a house built by my great grandfather who had lots of money. Iirc the construction was finished in 1904. The house was sold in 1997 and the roof was still original only well mended slate. Very expensive then, even more so today.
> 
> Topmodernisiertes Schloss in Rheinlage bei Bad Honnef – KRAFT Immobilien GmbH Bonn – Immobilien-Makler für Wohnungen Häuser Grundstücke – Kapitalanlage Eigentumswohnung – Mieten Kaufen Verkaufen Vermieten Bauen Bewerten Projektieren
> 
> This is the house of my grandparents. They never had the money to renovate it like this.
> 
> Only the one who bought it had the money. Now he sells it again


Wow ... Ja, das ist ein modernes Schloss.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> ESCO Post Scriptum:
> 
> The KfW Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, I am sure Leo loves the word, just published a report that most of the insulation measures on houses done in the past few years in Germany will never pay off financially. The KfW did most of the financing for these measures because the Federal Government wants that so.
> 
> It is part of a brain fart called "Energiewende" meaning a way to sustainable energy production and consumption.
> 
> The idea is great but results are bad. Lignite burning is propelled, Wind Mills are built in places where the wind don't blows, relatively clean nuclear plants are closed for no good reason and they pay the Netherlands to take our excess electricity in case the wind blows strongly on a sunny day. All that ideocracy is planned to cost roughly 1000 trillion Euros and in the end neither sustainability nor environmental friendliness is reached.
> 
> Reason for it to happen? They employed lobbyists from an organisation called EUROSOLAR to advise the German government on Energy Policy.....


Part of the equation is the government's responsibility for its citizens.  European governments are extremely invested (literally) in the their economy and their economic engines (construction, manufacturing, energy production, et al). European governments enact a lot of "unhealthy" economic decisions purely based on employment issues.  As an example, when Gary was living in Paris, France went to a four day workweek per employee, just to raise employment numbers. 

_"All that ideocracy is planned to cost roughly 1000 trillion Euros and in the end neither sustainability nor environmental friendliness is reached."_

Sustainability and environmental friendliness may not be the government's End Game ...

PS- Europeans look at England and laugh because the UK has like ... 50% less government than Europe ... and we in the US have about 50% less government than the UK.


----------



## Gary A.

Telsa, the California car company, is now making glass solar shingles.  Dunno the how long they will last, but glass like slate and it is made out of rocks (very small rocks).


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> glass like slate and it is made out of rocks (very small rocks).



People who live in glass houses shouldn't live where it hails!! LOL  For durability lightweight concrete or Terra cotta tile are only about twice the weight of conventional asphalt shingles, and offer pretty much the same durability as slate.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> The deed is done. I ordered an iPhone 8 Plus for myself and a iPhone 8 for my wife. They should be here next Friday.
> 
> I was going to buy the directly from Apple...but they make it so complicated. It took me about a minute to buy them from Verizon after I messed with the Apple page for 10 minutes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can't wait to hear how you like them. Now the 8 is different from the X yes?  What are the differences?  I will have to live vicariously through you on this as I struggle with my sad 6 plus that must be charged 2-3x day now.  I spent all my mad money already this year on the xt2 and the iPad Pro!  Apple care or no?
Click to expand...



Yes -- different from the X. The X has the screen size of the Plus (but the phone is about the size of the regular 8 because the screen is bezel-less, is an OLED display compared to regular Retina screen, and has a suite of sensors on the front that allow facial recognition. The rest of the of it is the same -- same camera, same software features, same processor, etc. 

I ended up doing the 0% finance lease on them, as I wasn't ready to drop $1600 in a fell swoop. For both of them, I'll end up paying about $50 a month total on top of my normal bill. Not terrible. That's where Apple lost me -- they required me to put that on a credit card, and I wasn't going to do that when Verizon just takes money from my checking account.

I'll pay for AppleCare+ separately. I can't not have it -- my wife made two claims on hers for her 6 (she likes to drop her phone on our gravel driveway), and I made a claim for the screen not function that I had to pay a deductible for, and a warranty claim almost at the 2 year mark for "touch disease" that they covered for free. Applecare is more now though... $149 for each. For $800 phone it doesn't seem too bad, especially because a single screen repair costs at least that much.


----------



## Braineack

anyone else having issue with Flickr the last few days?


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Telsa, the California car company, is now making glass solar shingles.  Dunno the how long they will last, but glass like slate and it is made out of rocks (very small rocks).


Tesla is also working on a semi tractor.

Shale/mudstone (sometimes basalt*) -> slate.
Sand -> Glass.

* basalt =  ocean floor.


----------



## snowbear

Braineack said:


> anyone else having issue with Flickr the last few days?


I haven't noticed anything unusual.  Anything specific?


----------



## SquarePeg

Braineack said:


> anyone else having issue with Flickr the last few days?



I have had a bunch of photos I posted that were hosted on Flickr show up as Photo No Longer Available.  At first I thought it was me because I had done some clean up of my Flickr photostream but then it happened again so I deleted the link and uploaded directly from my phone after downloading the photos from Flickr.  I also noticed that @smoke665 had some photos showing the same No Longer Available issue in a recent thread.


----------



## SquarePeg

Can anyone identify this lens?  Not my photo but posting for a friend who was about to give this old film dslr and lens away...  Is it the Tamron 28-300?


----------



## Braineack

snowbear said:


> I haven't noticed anything unusual. Anything specific?



seems to be really slow and sometimes i have to hit refresh a lot to load anything at all below the header/banner.  seems to be okay now at the moment.


----------



## jcdeboever

Silly grandson, I guess I'm the bad grandpa....


----------



## jcdeboever

Looks like a 28-135, @SquarePeg


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> I also noticed that @smoke665 had some photos showing the same No Longer Available issue in a recent



The problem I had the other day, is that I embedded the link from Flickr, then later in the day I did some more editing and added some more to Flickr. I had forgotten that when you do this, the link from TPF still works, but the embedded image/preview doesn't. I had to go back and delete and repaste the link


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Can anyone identify this lens?  Not my photo but posting for a friend who was about to give this old film dslr and lens away...  Is it the Tamron 28-300?


I _think _it's the old Tamron 28-200 3.8/5.6.


----------



## limr

Evening, hosers.

Lucille finally went to her new home tonight. It's a good home and she'll be well taken care of, and it was also time to let her go, but she was my first car love and I'm sad that she's gone 

Bye Lucille! 



Day 54 - lucille by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear




----------



## vintagesnaps

Tribute to Lucille.
Or as we used to sing it working at summer camp, 'Loose wheels'.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> My grandparents had a house built by my great grandfather who had lots of money. Iirc the construction was finished in 1904. The house was sold in 1997 and the roof was still original only well mended slate. Very expensive then, even more so today.
> 
> Topmodernisiertes Schloss in Rheinlage bei Bad Honnef – KRAFT Immobilien GmbH Bonn – Immobilien-Makler für Wohnungen Häuser Grundstücke – Kapitalanlage Eigentumswohnung – Mieten Kaufen Verkaufen Vermieten Bauen Bewerten Projektieren
> 
> This is the house of my grandparents. They never had the money to renovate it like this.
> 
> Only the one who bought it had the money. Now he sells it again
> 
> 
> 
> Wow ... Ja, das ist ein modernes Schloss.
Click to expand...


The one who bought it changed some things he should not have changed and the furniture he put in there is really ugly and cheap.

But most of the renovation was done pretty well. If I find some shots I took of the house like it was when I knew it I will post them here.


----------



## Frank F.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Telsa, the California car company, is now making glass solar shingles.  Dunno the how long they will last, but glass like slate and it is made out of rocks (very small rocks).
> 
> 
> 
> Tesla is also working on a semi tractor.
> 
> Shale/mudstone (sometimes basalt*) -> slate.
> Sand -> Glass.
> 
> * basalt =  ocean floor.
Click to expand...



Basalt is vulcanic stone. I live in an area where all the mountains are inactive volcanoes and made of basalt.

Basalt - Wikipedia

Basalt is also used to make stone wool a sustainable insulation material


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> Can anyone identify this lens?  Not my photo but posting for a friend who was about to give this old film dslr and lens away...  Is it the Tamron 28-300?




Is that fungus on the lens acquired in a damp cellar???


----------



## snowbear

Frank F. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Telsa, the California car company, is now making glass solar shingles.  Dunno the how long they will last, but glass like slate and it is made out of rocks (very small rocks).
> 
> 
> 
> Tesla is also working on a semi tractor.
> 
> Shale/mudstone (sometimes basalt*) -> slate.
> Sand -> Glass.
> 
> * basalt =  ocean floor.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Basalt is vulcanic stone. I live in an area where all the mountains are inactive volcanoes and made of basalt.
> 
> Basalt - Wikipedia
> 
> Basalt is also used to make stone wool a sustainable insulation material
Click to expand...

Vulcanic, yes, and also why it is the sea floor.  Magma flows out from the mid oceanic ridges and solidifies into basalt.


----------



## davidharmier60

JonA_CT said:


> View attachment 137933
> 
> Saw this in social media. People are awesome.


I call Southwest airlines the cattle car.
And I would fly the cattle car anywhere they go. Southwest has a happy culture!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

Breakfast: baked blueberry pancakes


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> Breakfast: baked blueberry pancakes



That looks good. We had a southern staple, biscuits and sausage gravy.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are having their tea and coffee in the patio this cool and overcast morning. Classical KUSC is gently floating in the background. Gary's peach is soft and sweet, perfect. The past few days there have been front page stories in the Los Angeles Times on the end of the 2o year Cassini-Huygen Mission to Saturn. Apparently, it is a pretty big thing out here.  There was a big Cassini party last night at Cal Tech ... more of a wake than a party. Cassini was built at JPL, just north of Pasadena as well as Mission Control was out of JPL.  The program director put the Cassini-Huygen mission to bed with this final statement "This morning a lone explorer, a machine made by mankind, finished its mission 900 million miles away," he said choking up a little. "Thanks and farewell, little explorer." Another person commented that as Cassini burnt up in the atmosphere of Saturn, it left dust particles, finger prints of Pasadena on the surface of Saturn.


----------



## SquarePeg

What no football talk?  Just came from the latest doubleheader. The team lost the first very close game by 2 and then got spanked in the 2nd game.  Our #2 pitcher left sick and we had to have #1 and #3 pitch both games.  They usually only pitch 3-4 innings each. They were out of gas by the second game.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like blue berry pancakes


----------



## limr

You want football talk?

WOOOOOOT!!!! GATORS Y'ALL!!!

Nine seconds left, tied game, and the second perfectly-thrown Hail Mary pass I have seen in my life (Doug Flutie's was the first one) and Leo is one happy Gator


----------



## jcdeboever

I love KUSC


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> You want football talk?
> 
> WOOOOOOT!!!! GATORS Y'ALL!!!
> 
> Nine seconds left, tied game, and the second perfectly-thrown Hail Mary pass I have seen in my life (Doug Flutie's was the first one) and Leo is one happy Gator



I saw that!!


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> You want football talk?
> 
> WOOOOOOT!!!! GATORS Y'ALL!!!
> 
> Nine seconds left, tied game, and the second perfectly-thrown Hail Mary pass I have seen in my life (Doug Flutie's was the first one) and Leo is one happy Gator
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I saw that!!
Click to expand...


Pretty amazing finish, no?


----------



## limr

I didn't see all of the game, but it's also an amazing finish given how incredibly boring the first three quarters supposedly were. Halfway through the 3rd, it was still 3-6 Florida. Final score? 20-26 Florida.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Pretty amazing finish, no?



For the Gators, not so much TN. Course TN should be used to it by now LOL


----------



## jcdeboever

Michigan barely handled Air Force. They just ran the option.


----------



## Gary A.

Dodgers won by one run over the Nationals. 

USC versus Texas, kickoff in a few minutes. 

Mary Lou and Gary are on the shuttle for the Hollywood Bowl. 

Running out of gas sucks.


----------



## snowbear

Benadryl is kicking my @$$, but I'm not itchy anymore.  Goodnight, hosers.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Benadryl is kicking my @$$, but I'm not itchy anymore.  Goodnight, hosers.



Night, Charlie! Have good non-itchy sleeps!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Benadryl is kicking my @$$, but I'm not itchy anymore.  Goodnight, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Night, Charlie! Have good non-itchy sleeps!
Click to expand...

My wife is addicted to that stuff.


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> I like blue berry pancakes


You'd like these. You can eat these without syrup, butter, etc. Just as they are.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like blue berry pancakes
> 
> 
> 
> You'd like these. You can eat these without syrup, butter, etc. Just as they are.
Click to expand...


Hmmmmm. I do have blueberries. And I do like pancakes...I have just decided what I am having for breakfast tomorrow  

Granted, I will probably grind up some oatmeal and make them with oat flour to make them easier to deal with in terms of calorie intake (I'm trying to get back into fightin' shape  ) but yup...yup...I'ma have me some blueberry pancakes tomorrow!


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I'm trying to get back into fightin' shape


I need to do that. 

I'm currently in a shape.


----------



## davidharmier60

If pear is a shape it fits me.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like blue berry pancakes
> 
> 
> 
> You'd like these. You can eat these without syrup, butter, etc. Just as they are.
Click to expand...

Eating pancakes _without_ syrup?  Does.  Not.  Compute.  I'm pretty sure there's a law against that.


----------



## Gary A.

SC 14 - Texas 7 @ halftime

SC scored on a long pass on the last play of the half. 

Cubano night at the Bowl ... the place is rock in' ... even the employees are dancing to La Bamba.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> You want football talk?
> 
> WOOOOOOT!!!! GATORS Y'ALL!!!
> 
> Nine seconds left, tied game, and the second perfectly-thrown Hail Mary pass I have seen in my life (Doug Flutie's was the first one) and Leo is one happy Gator



Truly the only 9 seconds of college football I've seen in years.  I glanced up during my manicure and the tv was on the game and I saw that pass and when he caught it I yelled 'Wow!" and no one else was watching it and everyone looked at me like I was nuts!


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like blue berry pancakes
> 
> 
> 
> You'd like these. You can eat these without syrup, butter, etc. Just as they are.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Eating pancakes _without_ syrup?  Does.  Not.  Compute.  I'm pretty sure there's a law against that.
Click to expand...

Normally, I'd agree. I tried a bite without syrup, which was at the ready. Before I knew it, I finished my plate and didn't touch the syrup! 

The blueberries keep the moisture level up, and it was sprinkled with sugar before being baked.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> You want football talk?
> 
> WOOOOOOT!!!! GATORS Y'ALL!!!
> 
> Nine seconds left, tied game, and the second perfectly-thrown Hail Mary pass I have seen in my life (Doug Flutie's was the first one) and Leo is one happy Gator
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Truly the only 9 seconds of college football I've seen in years.  I glanced up during my manicure and the tv was on the game and I saw that pass and when he caught it I yelled 'Wow!" and no one else was watching it and everyone looked at me like I was nuts!
Click to expand...


As it turns out, I wasn't exaggerating when I compared it to Doug Flutie's 1984 Hail Mary pass. Both passes were thrown at the bitter end of the game with no time left on the clock, both were 63-yarders, and both won the game.

The difference of course was that the Boston College-Miami game was a proper game whereas this one was 3 quarters of turnovers and lameness before it finally became a really football game in the last quarter.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like blue berry pancakes
> 
> 
> 
> You'd like these. You can eat these without syrup, butter, etc. Just as they are.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Eating pancakes _without_ syrup?  Does.  Not.  Compute.  I'm pretty sure there's a law against that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Normally, I'd agree. I tried a bite without syrup, which was at the ready. Before I knew it, I finished my plate and didn't touch the syrup!
> 
> The blueberries keep the moisture level up, and it was sprinkled with sugar before being baked.
Click to expand...


It's a flat blueberry muffin.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> You want football talk?
> 
> WOOOOOOT!!!! GATORS Y'ALL!!!
> 
> Nine seconds left, tied game, and the second perfectly-thrown Hail Mary pass I have seen in my life (Doug Flutie's was the first one) and Leo is one happy Gator
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Truly the only 9 seconds of college football I've seen in years.  I glanced up during my manicure and the tv was on the game and I saw that pass and when he caught it I yelled 'Wow!" and no one else was watching it and everyone looked at me like I was nuts!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> As it turns out, I wasn't exaggerating when I compared it to Doug Flutie's 1984 Hail Mary pass. Both passes were thrown at the bitter end of the game with no time left on the clock, both were 63-yarders, and both won the game.
> 
> The difference of course was that the Boston College-Miami game was a proper game whereas this one was 3 quarters of turnovers and lameness before it finally became a really football game in the last quarter.
Click to expand...


I didn't see any of that, just the Hail Mary.


----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> If pear is a shape it fits me.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Is it a fightin' pear?


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> You want football talk?
> 
> WOOOOOOT!!!! GATORS Y'ALL!!!
> 
> Nine seconds left, tied game, and the second perfectly-thrown Hail Mary pass I have seen in my life (Doug Flutie's was the first one) and Leo is one happy Gator
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Truly the only 9 seconds of college football I've seen in years.  I glanced up during my manicure and the tv was on the game and I saw that pass and when he caught it I yelled 'Wow!" and no one else was watching it and everyone looked at me like I was nuts!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> As it turns out, I wasn't exaggerating when I compared it to Doug Flutie's 1984 Hail Mary pass. Both passes were thrown at the bitter end of the game with no time left on the clock, both were 63-yarders, and both won the game.
> 
> The difference of course was that the Boston College-Miami game was a proper game whereas this one was 3 quarters of turnovers and lameness before it finally became a really football game in the last quarter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I didn't see any of that, just the Hail Mary.
Click to expand...


That's all you really needed to see anyway


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like blue berry pancakes
> 
> 
> 
> You'd like these. You can eat these without syrup, butter, etc. Just as they are.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Eating pancakes _without_ syrup?  Does.  Not.  Compute.  I'm pretty sure there's a law against that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Normally, I'd agree. I tried a bite without syrup, which was at the ready. Before I knew it, I finished my plate and didn't touch the syrup!
> 
> The blueberries keep the moisture level up, and it was sprinkled with sugar before being baked.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's a flat blueberry muffin.
Click to expand...

The consistency isn't like a muffin. Definitely more pancake than muffin.


----------



## terri

I love plain buttermilk pancakes, with _only_ melted butter.    I have never liked syrup - makes the pancake mushy.   Disgusting!

On another note.... I haven't had wine for about 5 days, until tonight....2 glasses in and I was literally snoring on the couch 15 minutes ago.   Embarrassing!    I'm turning into a lightweight!

G'night, hosers.     zzzzzz........


----------



## Gary A.

SC prevails in double overtime, 27-24 over the Longhorns.


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> I like blue berry pancakes



I ate a box of blueberries and left out the pancake. Better for my waist line


----------



## Frank F.

terri said:


> I love plain buttermilk pancakes, with _only_ melted butter.    I have never liked syrup - makes the pancake mushy.   Disgusting!
> 
> On another note.... I haven't had wine for about 5 days, until tonight....2 glasses in and I was literally snoring on the couch 15 minutes ago.   Embarrassing!    I'm turning into a lightweight!
> 
> G'night, hosers.     zzzzzz........




I did not drink wine for weeks then had a glass with a friend and we were high and very funny. After a phase of adstinence simple wine can have an astonishing effect.


----------



## SquarePeg

Wine has the best buzz.  Unfortunately for me it seems to be a migraine trigger.  I've all but given it up except for the very occasional glass at dinner.  I've switched to martinis.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> You want football talk?
> 
> WOOOOOOT!!!! GATORS Y'ALL!!!
> 
> Nine seconds left, tied game, and the second perfectly-thrown Hail Mary pass I have seen in my life (Doug Flutie's was the first one) and Leo is one happy Gator
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Truly the only 9 seconds of college football I've seen in years.  I glanced up during my manicure and the tv was on the game and I saw that pass and when he caught it I yelled 'Wow!" and no one else was watching it and everyone looked at me like I was nuts!
Click to expand...



I'm surprised lifetime channel wasn't on


----------



## smoke665

Came home yesterday to find the temperature in our upstairs at 80, and the air blowing warm from the registers. I'm hoping it's another contactor on the compressor of the upstairs heat pump and not the final swan dive for the unit. We just replaced the downstairs unit this spring and was really hoping to  get another year on this one. Heat pumps are efficient in our part of the country, but their longevity stinks. There's a reason they are only warranted for 10 years.

In other news Alabama won over Colorado last night which was expected. What wasn't expected was the vulnerabilities in our defensive line. 

And how is the rest of the world today?


----------



## jcdeboever

The last time I drank wine was years ago. It was mad dog 20/20 of the blue variety. I don't have a clue to as why but I added it instead of water to my watercolors and it turned my poop a lovely shade of bright green. Never drank wine after that.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Wine has the best buzz.  Unfortunately for me it seems to be a migraine trigger.  I've all but given it up except for the very occasional glass at dinner.  I've switched to martinis.



Got on a vodka martini kick once. Made the mistake of drinking six doubles while in the hot tub at a hotel. Let's just say the long crawl back to my room and the after effects, caused me to forever swear off of them.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like blue berry pancakes
> 
> 
> 
> You'd like these. You can eat these without syrup, butter, etc. Just as they are.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Eating pancakes _without_ syrup?  Does.  Not.  Compute.  I'm pretty sure there's a law against that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Normally, I'd agree. I tried a bite without syrup, which was at the ready. Before I knew it, I finished my plate and didn't touch the syrup!
> 
> The blueberries keep the moisture level up, and it was sprinkled with sugar before being baked.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's a flat blueberry muffin.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The consistency isn't like a muffin. Definitely more pancake than muffin.
Click to expand...


I was just poking you  



jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> You want football talk?
> 
> WOOOOOOT!!!! GATORS Y'ALL!!!
> 
> Nine seconds left, tied game, and the second perfectly-thrown Hail Mary pass I have seen in my life (Doug Flutie's was the first one) and Leo is one happy Gator
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Truly the only 9 seconds of college football I've seen in years.  I glanced up during my manicure and the tv was on the game and I saw that pass and when he caught it I yelled 'Wow!" and no one else was watching it and everyone looked at me like I was nuts!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I'm surprised lifetime channel wasn't on
Click to expand...


Going to have to call you out on that last sexist statement my friend.  I was just happy to see it wasn't the news.  I was looking for a break from reality.  I didn't even really need the mani/pedi, injust wanted an hour to myself after a long day!


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I was just poking you


Haha, I gotchu.  I was actually worried it would be like a giant muffin, haha.


----------



## JonA_CT

I've got 9 lbs of pork shoulder on the grill, and a pot of BBQ sauce simmering away on the stove.

Gonna be a good day.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> I've got 9 lbs of pork shoulder on the grill, and a pot of BBQ sauce simmering away on the stove.
> 
> Gonna be a good day.



Not for the pig


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've got 9 lbs of pork shoulder on the grill, and a pot of BBQ sauce simmering away on the stove.
> 
> Gonna be a good day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not for the pig
Click to expand...

Mehhh... it's his own fault for being so damn tasty!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Wine has the best buzz.  Unfortunately for me it seems to be a migraine trigger.  I've all but given it up except for the very occasional glass at dinner.  I've switched to martinis.


Wine can/will induce headaches in some people.  Nobody can put a finger on the root. But ... often sulfides can cause headaches ... don't drink white wines. Sometimes histamines will trigger a headache, don't drink red wines. Additionally, some studies have shown that tannins may boost production of the brain chemical serotonin. Changes in serotonin levels may trigger migraines in susceptible individuals. Again no reds. 

When you come out here Gary will test you to see which wines causes a reaction and find the cure.  If it is a histamine problem, take a couple of antihistamine before consumption (a la Claritin or equal).


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I've got 9 lbs of pork shoulder on the grill, and a pot of BBQ sauce simmering away on the stove.
> 
> Gonna be a good day.


Yesterday Gary smoked a Tri-Tip for beef sandwiches at the Bowl.  Delish ... but forgot the BBQ sauce.  What's in the sauce? How do you have so much time for cooking when you have very young kids?


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wine has the best buzz.  Unfortunately for me it seems to be a migraine trigger.  I've all but given it up except for the very occasional glass at dinner.  I've switched to martinis.
> 
> 
> 
> Wine can/will induce headaches in some people.  Nobody can put a finger on the root. But ... often sulfides can cause headaches ... don't drink white wines. Sometimes histamines will trigger a headache, don't drink red wines. Additionally, some studies have shown that tannins may boost production of the brain chemical serotonin. Changes in serotonin levels may trigger migraines in susceptible individuals. Again no reds.
> 
> When you come out here Gary will test you to see which wines causes a reaction and find the cure.  If it is a histamine problem, take a couple of antihistamine before consumption (a la Claritin or equal).
Click to expand...


Most of my headaches are sinus related so I would bet on the histamine problem.  And white wine is my favorite!


----------



## Gary A.

When you come over Gary will stuff you with an antihistamine and introduce you to some reds that will change the way you think about ... the world. (Not that whites are bad ... but reds seems to span a greater spectrum of goodness.  Of late Gary and Mary Lou have been drinking more whites than normal.  As most of Gary's wines are shipped via wine club memberships ... that's what on the menu.)


----------



## JonA_CT

Sauce has a little bit of everything...ketchup, mustard, spices, vinegar, Worcestershire, anchovies (shhh...secret ingredient), molasses, brown sugar, honey, tamarind paste, onion, garlic, hot sauce. I cooked it all down for about an hour and put it through a sieve to catch the big hunks of onion, garlic, and tamarind fiber. 

As far as time? This one is easy...got the fire started as everyone was getting up, and the sauce going while everyone was eating breakfast. Now it's the waiting game. Up to about 170* on the shoulder...I'll pull it at 200* or so. 

And Leo...the pig has already had its worst day. I try to honor it by cooking it properly and not wasting any.


----------



## JonA_CT

As an aside...sometimes some decent tequila helps the parenting be easier too...


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> As an aside...sometimes some decent tequila helps the parenting be easier too...
> 
> View attachment 146894



Getting a head start on the rest of us!


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Most of my headaches are sinus related so I would bet on the histamine problem. And white wine is my favorite!



Because of the Asthma, I don't deal well with allergies of any sort. My doctor recommend staying on Zyrtec D year round. Helps tremendously.



Gary A. said:


> When you come out here Gary will test you to see which wines causes a reaction and find the cure



I find that an excess of any alcohol will cause a reaction..............


----------



## JonA_CT

We were celebrating a win. Both kids sleeping at the same time!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Sauce has a little bit of everything...ketchup, mustard, spices, vinegar, Worcestershire, anchovies (shhh...secret ingredient), molasses, brown sugar, honey, tamarind paste, onion, garlic, hot sauce. I cooked it all down for about an hour and put it through a sieve to catch the big hunks of onion, garlic, and tamarind fiber.
> 
> As far as time? This one is easy...got the fire started as everyone was getting up, and the sauce going while everyone was eating breakfast. Now it's the waiting game. Up to about 170* on the shoulder...I'll pull it at 200* or so.
> 
> And Leo...the pig has already had its worst day. I try to honor it by cooking it properly and not wasting any.


200 seems a bit high and dry.


----------



## Gary A.

... and Mary Lou and Gary are off for Dim Sum.


----------



## davidharmier60

There is gonna be some form of Pork , mashed taters and corn around here later.
We are back to East Texas weather. 90+ temp and 70+ humidity.  Not much gonna happen outdoors. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

davidharmier60 said:


> There is gonna be some form of Pork , mashed taters and corn around here later.
> We are back to East Texas weather. 90+ temp and 70+ humidity.  Not much gonna happen outdoors.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Where are y'all in East Texas?

My in-laws are in Lufkin.


----------



## SquarePeg

davidharmier60 said:


> There is gonna be some form of Pork , mashed taters and corn around here later.
> We are back to East Texas weather. 90+ temp and 70+ humidity.  Not much gonna happen outdoors.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Yikes that humidity is nasty!  It was very humid here yesterday too, spoiling an otherwise gorgeous fall day.


----------



## davidharmier60

Shepherd which is a wide spot in the road between Cleveland and Livingston. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## smoke665

Cooled down some now that it started raining but the humidity is still horrible.


----------



## snowbear

It's a "kit" -- you get the peppers, corn and zucchini from the store and put it together yourself.  I need a little work on my knife skills.




Succotash in progress by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


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## Gary A.

75F right now. It did hit 78F, 60% humidity (kinda high) with a 6mph SW wind.  All-in-all a very pleasant day.


----------



## Gary A.

From the morning:




First Round




Ocean Seas


----------



## pixmedic

I drop it right, and I drop it all the time. BOOM






Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


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## vintagesnaps

I'm afraid to ask. But I will, what is that?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Some of the dim sum looks sort of like bialys. Except they're filled with something.


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## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> I'm afraid to ask. But I will, what is that?



I'm guessing he's making jerky???


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> I'm afraid to ask. But I will, what is that?



Looks like Jerky in the works to me.


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## Gary A.

Gary made Beef Stroganoff for dinner.  We just finished our meal.  It was quite good for Gary's first time.  Gary and Mary Lou both had heaping seconds.  Gary also made some Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream and yesterday he made some strawberry ice cream, both with Coconut Milk. Mary Lou and Gary have finally rested their forks and sipping a Saucelito Canyon Muchacho, an excellent red blend from Paso Robles. So, after our stomachs settle a bit ... there will be strawberry ice cream!


----------



## davidharmier60

I was wrong about one thing. 
We did not have Pork. We had chicken fried steak. And I had one on a sammich at lunch time.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## snowbear

Pork - chicken: I can see how those can get confused. 

WTF is a "sammich" -- anything like a sandwich?


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## SquarePeg

sammich is teen slang for sandwich


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes sandwiches.


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## jcdeboever

I like beef strokenoff


----------



## SquarePeg

Baseball/softball question.  Anyone ever heard of the rule that if a batter wants to switch from one side of the plate to the other mid at bat that they have to notify the ump or they are out?  Is this because they're stepping out of the box?  She didn't need time out, there was no one on base and she switched after the catcher threw the first pitch back to the pitcher and was in the other box and ready to hit for the next pitch.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I like beef strokenoff


There's plenty.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> sammich is teen slang for sandwich



Yeah - just being a trouble-maker.  Not just teens - I know a bunch of fossils that use it, too.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Baseball/softball question.  Anyone ever heard of the rule that if a batter wants to switch from one side of the plate to the other mid at bat that they have to notify the ump or they are out?  Is this because they're stepping out of the box?  She didn't need time out, there was no one on base and she switched after the catcher threw the first pitch back to the pitcher and was in the other box and ready to hit for the next pitch.


On a called strike or ball, the batter cannot leave the box without the ump calling a timeout.

A batter cannot switch once the pitcher is set to pitch.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Baseball/softball question.  Anyone ever heard of the rule that if a batter wants to switch from one side of the plate to the other mid at bat that they have to notify the ump or they are out?  Is this because they're stepping out of the box?  She didn't need time out, there was no one on base and she switched after the catcher threw the first pitch back to the pitcher and was in the other box and ready to hit for the next pitch.



I found this:
Venditte's versatility prompts new rule


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Baseball/softball question.  Anyone ever heard of the rule that if a batter wants to switch from one side of the plate to the other mid at bat that they have to notify the ump or they are out?  Is this because they're stepping out of the box?  She didn't need time out, there was no one on base and she switched after the catcher threw the first pitch back to the pitcher and was in the other box and ready to hit for the next pitch.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I found this:
> Venditte's versatility prompts new rule
Click to expand...


That's interesting and not something that would rarely ever come up.  Kind of the opposite of what happened with my switch hitter.  

Thanks @Gary A.


----------



## SquarePeg

SquarePeg said:


> not something that would rarely ever come up.



Terribly worded. Sorry!


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Baseball/softball question.  Anyone ever heard of the rule that if a batter wants to switch from one side of the plate to the other mid at bat that they have to notify the ump or they are out?  Is this because they're stepping out of the box?  She didn't need time out, there was no one on base and she switched after the catcher threw the first pitch back to the pitcher and was in the other box and ready to hit for the next pitch.


The batter can switch anytime in the same at bat. However, the batter can not do it during a pitch, if they do it's an automatic strike. If the batter did so during a pitch, they are ruled out of the box. A pitcher can't change hands unless it's a pitch hitter. There is no rule to notify an ump of the switch, this is false. However, if the pitcher is on the rubber, it is in the best interest of the batter to call time out as the ump can judge it as an out.


----------



## Gary A.

From MBL Rules 2017

Rule 5.04(b)(2) Comment (Rule 6.02(b) Comment): The batter leaves the batter’s box at the risk of having a strike delivered and called, unless he requests the umpire to call “Time.” The batter is not at liberty to step in and out of the batter’s box at will. Once a batter has taken his position in the batter’s box, he shall not be permitted to step out of the batter’s box in order to use the rosin or the pine tar rag, unless there is a delay in the game action or, in the judgment of the umpires, weather conditions warrant an exception. Umpires will not call “Time” at the request of the batter or any member of his team once the pitcher has started his windup or has come to a set position even though the batter claims “dust in his eyes,” “steamed glasses,” “didn’t get the sign” or for any other cause. Umpires may grant a hitter’s request for “Time” once he is in the batter’s box, but the umpire should eliminate hitters walking out of the batter’s box without reason. If umpires are not lenient, batters will understand that they are in the batter’s box and they must remain there until the ball is pitched. See Rule 5.04(b)(4) (Rule 6.02(d)). If pitcher delays once the batter is in his box and the umpire feels that the delay is not justified he may allow the batter to step out of the box momentarily. If after the pitcher starts his windup or comes to a “set position” with a runner on, he does not go through with his pitch because the batter has inadvertently caused the pitcher to interrupt his delivery, it shall not be called a balk. Both the pitcher and batter have violated a rule and the umpire shall call time and both the batter and pitcher start over from “scratch.” The following paragraph is additional material for Rule 5.04(b)(2) Comment (Rule 6.02(b) Comment), for National Association play: If after the pitcher starts his windup or comes to a “set position” with a runner on, he does not go through with his pitch 2017 Official Baseball Rules_2017 Official Baseball Rules 3/27/17 8:58 PM Page 19 Rule 5.04(b) 20 because the batter has stepped out of the box, the umpire shall not call a balk. Such action by the batter shall be treated as a violation of the Batter’s Box Rule and shall subject a batter to the penalties set forth in Rule 5.04(b)(4)(A) (Rule 6.02(d)(1)). (3) If the batter refuses to take his position in the batter’s box during his time at bat, the umpire shall call a strike on the batter. The ball is dead, and no runners may advance. After the penalty, the batter may take his proper position and the regular ball and strike count shall continue. If the batter does not take his proper position before three strikes have been called, the batter shall be declared out. Rule 5.04(b)(3) Comment (Rule 6.02(c) Comment): The umpire shall give the batter a reasonable opportunity to take his proper position in the batter’s box after the umpire has called a strike pursuant to Rule 5.04(b)(3) (Rule 6.02(c)) and before the umpire calls a successive strike pursuant to Rule 5.04(b)(3) (Rule 6.02(c)). (4) (6.02(d)) The Batter’s Box Rule (A) The batter shall keep at least one foot in the batter’s box throughout the batter’s time at bat, unless one of the following exceptions applies, in which case the batter may leave the batter’s box but not the dirt area surrounding home plate: (i) The batter swings at a pitch; (ii) An attempted check swing is appealed to a base umpire; (iii) The batter is forced off balance or out of the batter’s box by a pitch; (iv) A member of either team requests and is granted “Time”; (v) A defensive player attempts a play on a runner at any base; (vi) The batter feints a bunt; 2017 Official Baseball Rules_2017 Official Baseball Rules 3/27/17 8:58 PM Page 20 Rule 5.04(b) to 5.04(c) 21 (vii) A wild pitch or passed ball occurs; (viii) The pitcher leaves the dirt area of the pitching mound after receiving the ball; or (ix) The catcher leaves the catcher’s box to give defensive signals. If the batter intentionally leaves the batter’s box and delays play, and none of the exceptions listed in Rule 5.04(b)(4)(A)(i) through (ix) (Rule 6.02(d)(1)(i) through (ix)) applies, the umpire shall issue a warning to the batter for the batter’s first violation of this Rule in a game. For a batter’s second or subsequent violations of this Rule in a game, the League President may issue an appropriate discipline. In National Association play, for a batter’s second or subsequent violations of this Rule in a game, the umpire shall award a strike without the pitcher having to deliver the pitch. The ball is dead, and no runners may advance. (B) The batter may leave the batter’s box and the dirt area surrounding home plate when “Time” is called for the purpose or as a result of (i) an injury or potential injury; (ii) making a substitution; or (iii) a conference by either team. Rule 5.04(b)(4)(B) Comment (Rule 6.02(d) Comment): Umpires shall encourage the on-deck batter to take a position in the batter’s box quickly after the previous batter reaches base or is put out. (5) (6.03) The batter’s legal position shall be with both feet within the batter’s box. APPROVED RULING: The lines defining the box are within the batter’s box.

MLB Rules


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> From MBL Rules 2017
> 
> Rule 5.04(b)(2) Comment (Rule 6.02(b) Comment): The batter leaves the batter’s box at the risk of having a strike delivered and called, unless he requests the umpire to call “Time.” The batter is not at liberty to step in and out of the batter’s box at will. Once a batter has taken his position in the batter’s box, he shall not be permitted to step out of the batter’s box in order to use the rosin or the pine tar rag, unless there is a delay in the game action or, in the judgment of the umpires, weather conditions warrant an exception. Umpires will not call “Time” at the request of the batter or any member of his team once the pitcher has started his windup or has come to a set position even though the batter claims “dust in his eyes,” “steamed glasses,” “didn’t get the sign” or for any other cause. Umpires may grant a hitter’s request for “Time” once he is in the batter’s box, but the umpire should eliminate hitters walking out of the batter’s box without reason. If umpires are not lenient, batters will understand that they are in the batter’s box and they must remain there until the ball is pitched. See Rule 5.04(b)(4) (Rule 6.02(d)). If pitcher delays once the batter is in his box and the umpire feels that the delay is not justified he may allow the batter to step out of the box momentarily. If after the pitcher starts his windup or comes to a “set position” with a runner on, he does not go through with his pitch because the batter has inadvertently caused the pitcher to interrupt his delivery, it shall not be called a balk. Both the pitcher and batter have violated a rule and the umpire shall call time and both the batter and pitcher start over from “scratch.” The following paragraph is additional material for Rule 5.04(b)(2) Comment (Rule 6.02(b) Comment), for National Association play: If after the pitcher starts his windup or comes to a “set position” with a runner on, he does not go through with his pitch 2017 Official Baseball Rules_2017 Official Baseball Rules 3/27/17 8:58 PM Page 19 Rule 5.04(b) 20 because the batter has stepped out of the box, the umpire shall not call a balk. Such action by the batter shall be treated as a violation of the Batter’s Box Rule and shall subject a batter to the penalties set forth in Rule 5.04(b)(4)(A) (Rule 6.02(d)(1)). (3) If the batter refuses to take his position in the batter’s box during his time at bat, the umpire shall call a strike on the batter. The ball is dead, and no runners may advance. After the penalty, the batter may take his proper position and the regular ball and strike count shall continue. If the batter does not take his proper position before three strikes have been called, the batter shall be declared out. Rule 5.04(b)(3) Comment (Rule 6.02(c) Comment): The umpire shall give the batter a reasonable opportunity to take his proper position in the batter’s box after the umpire has called a strike pursuant to Rule 5.04(b)(3) (Rule 6.02(c)) and before the umpire calls a successive strike pursuant to Rule 5.04(b)(3) (Rule 6.02(c)). (4) (6.02(d)) The Batter’s Box Rule (A) The batter shall keep at least one foot in the batter’s box throughout the batter’s time at bat, unless one of the following exceptions applies, in which case the batter may leave the batter’s box but not the dirt area surrounding home plate: (i) The batter swings at a pitch; (ii) An attempted check swing is appealed to a base umpire; (iii) The batter is forced off balance or out of the batter’s box by a pitch; (iv) A member of either team requests and is granted “Time”; (v) A defensive player attempts a play on a runner at any base; (vi) The batter feints a bunt; 2017 Official Baseball Rules_2017 Official Baseball Rules 3/27/17 8:58 PM Page 20 Rule 5.04(b) to 5.04(c) 21 (vii) A wild pitch or passed ball occurs; (viii) The pitcher leaves the dirt area of the pitching mound after receiving the ball; or (ix) The catcher leaves the catcher’s box to give defensive signals. If the batter intentionally leaves the batter’s box and delays play, and none of the exceptions listed in Rule 5.04(b)(4)(A)(i) through (ix) (Rule 6.02(d)(1)(i) through (ix)) applies, the umpire shall issue a warning to the batter for the batter’s first violation of this Rule in a game. For a batter’s second or subsequent violations of this Rule in a game, the League President may issue an appropriate discipline. In National Association play, for a batter’s second or subsequent violations of this Rule in a game, the umpire shall award a strike without the pitcher having to deliver the pitch. The ball is dead, and no runners may advance. (B) The batter may leave the batter’s box and the dirt area surrounding home plate when “Time” is called for the purpose or as a result of (i) an injury or potential injury; (ii) making a substitution; or (iii) a conference by either team. Rule 5.04(b)(4)(B) Comment (Rule 6.02(d) Comment): Umpires shall encourage the on-deck batter to take a position in the batter’s box quickly after the previous batter reaches base or is put out. (5) (6.03) The batter’s legal position shall be with both feet within the batter’s box. APPROVED RULING: The lines defining the box are within the batter’s box.
> 
> MLB Rules


Right. What I said simply.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> From MBL Rules 2017
> 
> Rule 5.04(b)(2) Comment (Rule 6.02(b) Comment): The batter leaves the batter’s box at the risk of having a strike delivered and called, unless he requests the umpire to call “Time.” The batter is not at liberty to step in and out of the batter’s box at will. Once a batter has taken his position in the batter’s box, he shall not be permitted to step out of the batter’s box in order to use the rosin or the pine tar rag, unless there is a delay in the game action or, in the judgment of the umpires, weather conditions warrant an exception. Umpires will not call “Time” at the request of the batter or any member of his team once the pitcher has started his windup or has come to a set position even though the batter claims “dust in his eyes,” “steamed glasses,” “didn’t get the sign” or for any other cause. Umpires may grant a hitter’s request for “Time” once he is in the batter’s box, but the umpire should eliminate hitters walking out of the batter’s box without reason. If umpires are not lenient, batters will understand that they are in the batter’s box and they must remain there until the ball is pitched. See Rule 5.04(b)(4) (Rule 6.02(d)). If pitcher delays once the batter is in his box and the umpire feels that the delay is not justified he may allow the batter to step out of the box momentarily. If after the pitcher starts his windup or comes to a “set position” with a runner on, he does not go through with his pitch because the batter has inadvertently caused the pitcher to interrupt his delivery, it shall not be called a balk. Both the pitcher and batter have violated a rule and the umpire shall call time and both the batter and pitcher start over from “scratch.” The following paragraph is additional material for Rule 5.04(b)(2) Comment (Rule 6.02(b) Comment), for National Association play: If after the pitcher starts his windup or comes to a “set position” with a runner on, he does not go through with his pitch 2017 Official Baseball Rules_2017 Official Baseball Rules 3/27/17 8:58 PM Page 19 Rule 5.04(b) 20 because the batter has stepped out of the box, the umpire shall not call a balk. Such action by the batter shall be treated as a violation of the Batter’s Box Rule and shall subject a batter to the penalties set forth in Rule 5.04(b)(4)(A) (Rule 6.02(d)(1)). (3) If the batter refuses to take his position in the batter’s box during his time at bat, the umpire shall call a strike on the batter. The ball is dead, and no runners may advance. After the penalty, the batter may take his proper position and the regular ball and strike count shall continue. If the batter does not take his proper position before three strikes have been called, the batter shall be declared out. Rule 5.04(b)(3) Comment (Rule 6.02(c) Comment): The umpire shall give the batter a reasonable opportunity to take his proper position in the batter’s box after the umpire has called a strike pursuant to Rule 5.04(b)(3) (Rule 6.02(c)) and before the umpire calls a successive strike pursuant to Rule 5.04(b)(3) (Rule 6.02(c)). (4) (6.02(d)) The Batter’s Box Rule (A) The batter shall keep at least one foot in the batter’s box throughout the batter’s time at bat, unless one of the following exceptions applies, in which case the batter may leave the batter’s box but not the dirt area surrounding home plate: (i) The batter swings at a pitch; (ii) An attempted check swing is appealed to a base umpire; (iii) The batter is forced off balance or out of the batter’s box by a pitch; (iv) A member of either team requests and is granted “Time”; (v) A defensive player attempts a play on a runner at any base; (vi) The batter feints a bunt; 2017 Official Baseball Rules_2017 Official Baseball Rules 3/27/17 8:58 PM Page 20 Rule 5.04(b) to 5.04(c) 21 (vii) A wild pitch or passed ball occurs; (viii) The pitcher leaves the dirt area of the pitching mound after receiving the ball; or (ix) The catcher leaves the catcher’s box to give defensive signals. If the batter intentionally leaves the batter’s box and delays play, and none of the exceptions listed in Rule 5.04(b)(4)(A)(i) through (ix) (Rule 6.02(d)(1)(i) through (ix)) applies, the umpire shall issue a warning to the batter for the batter’s first violation of this Rule in a game. For a batter’s second or subsequent violations of this Rule in a game, the League President may issue an appropriate discipline. In National Association play, for a batter’s second or subsequent violations of this Rule in a game, the umpire shall award a strike without the pitcher having to deliver the pitch. The ball is dead, and no runners may advance. (B) The batter may leave the batter’s box and the dirt area surrounding home plate when “Time” is called for the purpose or as a result of (i) an injury or potential injury; (ii) making a substitution; or (iii) a conference by either team. Rule 5.04(b)(4)(B) Comment (Rule 6.02(d) Comment): Umpires shall encourage the on-deck batter to take a position in the batter’s box quickly after the previous batter reaches base or is put out. (5) (6.03) The batter’s legal position shall be with both feet within the batter’s box. APPROVED RULING: The lines defining the box are within the batter’s box.
> 
> MLB Rules
> 
> 
> 
> Right. What I said simply.
Click to expand...

LOL ... this is unclear "...There is no rule to notify an ump of the switch, this is false. " Are you speaking of the pitcher switching or the batter switching?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> From MBL Rules 2017
> 
> Rule 5.04(b)(2) Comment (Rule 6.02(b) Comment): The batter leaves the batter’s box at the risk of having a strike delivered and called, unless he requests the umpire to call “Time.” The batter is not at liberty to step in and out of the batter’s box at will. Once a batter has taken his position in the batter’s box, he shall not be permitted to step out of the batter’s box in order to use the rosin or the pine tar rag, unless there is a delay in the game action or, in the judgment of the umpires, weather conditions warrant an exception. Umpires will not call “Time” at the request of the batter or any member of his team once the pitcher has started his windup or has come to a set position even though the batter claims “dust in his eyes,” “steamed glasses,” “didn’t get the sign” or for any other cause. Umpires may grant a hitter’s request for “Time” once he is in the batter’s box, but the umpire should eliminate hitters walking out of the batter’s box without reason. If umpires are not lenient, batters will understand that they are in the batter’s box and they must remain there until the ball is pitched. See Rule 5.04(b)(4) (Rule 6.02(d)). If pitcher delays once the batter is in his box and the umpire feels that the delay is not justified he may allow the batter to step out of the box momentarily. If after the pitcher starts his windup or comes to a “set position” with a runner on, he does not go through with his pitch because the batter has inadvertently caused the pitcher to interrupt his delivery, it shall not be called a balk. Both the pitcher and batter have violated a rule and the umpire shall call time and both the batter and pitcher start over from “scratch.” The following paragraph is additional material for Rule 5.04(b)(2) Comment (Rule 6.02(b) Comment), for National Association play: If after the pitcher starts his windup or comes to a “set position” with a runner on, he does not go through with his pitch 2017 Official Baseball Rules_2017 Official Baseball Rules 3/27/17 8:58 PM Page 19 Rule 5.04(b) 20 because the batter has stepped out of the box, the umpire shall not call a balk. Such action by the batter shall be treated as a violation of the Batter’s Box Rule and shall subject a batter to the penalties set forth in Rule 5.04(b)(4)(A) (Rule 6.02(d)(1)). (3) If the batter refuses to take his position in the batter’s box during his time at bat, the umpire shall call a strike on the batter. The ball is dead, and no runners may advance. After the penalty, the batter may take his proper position and the regular ball and strike count shall continue. If the batter does not take his proper position before three strikes have been called, the batter shall be declared out. Rule 5.04(b)(3) Comment (Rule 6.02(c) Comment): The umpire shall give the batter a reasonable opportunity to take his proper position in the batter’s box after the umpire has called a strike pursuant to Rule 5.04(b)(3) (Rule 6.02(c)) and before the umpire calls a successive strike pursuant to Rule 5.04(b)(3) (Rule 6.02(c)). (4) (6.02(d)) The Batter’s Box Rule (A) The batter shall keep at least one foot in the batter’s box throughout the batter’s time at bat, unless one of the following exceptions applies, in which case the batter may leave the batter’s box but not the dirt area surrounding home plate: (i) The batter swings at a pitch; (ii) An attempted check swing is appealed to a base umpire; (iii) The batter is forced off balance or out of the batter’s box by a pitch; (iv) A member of either team requests and is granted “Time”; (v) A defensive player attempts a play on a runner at any base; (vi) The batter feints a bunt; 2017 Official Baseball Rules_2017 Official Baseball Rules 3/27/17 8:58 PM Page 20 Rule 5.04(b) to 5.04(c) 21 (vii) A wild pitch or passed ball occurs; (viii) The pitcher leaves the dirt area of the pitching mound after receiving the ball; or (ix) The catcher leaves the catcher’s box to give defensive signals. If the batter intentionally leaves the batter’s box and delays play, and none of the exceptions listed in Rule 5.04(b)(4)(A)(i) through (ix) (Rule 6.02(d)(1)(i) through (ix)) applies, the umpire shall issue a warning to the batter for the batter’s first violation of this Rule in a game. For a batter’s second or subsequent violations of this Rule in a game, the League President may issue an appropriate discipline. In National Association play, for a batter’s second or subsequent violations of this Rule in a game, the umpire shall award a strike without the pitcher having to deliver the pitch. The ball is dead, and no runners may advance. (B) The batter may leave the batter’s box and the dirt area surrounding home plate when “Time” is called for the purpose or as a result of (i) an injury or potential injury; (ii) making a substitution; or (iii) a conference by either team. Rule 5.04(b)(4)(B) Comment (Rule 6.02(d) Comment): Umpires shall encourage the on-deck batter to take a position in the batter’s box quickly after the previous batter reaches base or is put out. (5) (6.03) The batter’s legal position shall be with both feet within the batter’s box. APPROVED RULING: The lines defining the box are within the batter’s box.
> 
> MLB Rules
> 
> 
> 
> Right. What I said simply.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... this is unclear "...There is no rule to notify an ump of the switch, this is false. " Are you speaking of the pitcher switching or the batter switching?
Click to expand...


The batter can switch if the pitcher is not on the rubber. Its best if they do because it's open for interpretation. No need to call a time out.  The pitcher can't switch hands at all unless there is a pinch hitter.


----------



## Gary A.

"The batter leaves the batter’s box at the risk of having a strike delivered and called, unless he requests the umpire to call “Time.” *The batter is not at liberty to step in and out of the batter’s box at will*. Once a batter has taken his position in the batter’s box, he shall not be permitted to step out of the batter’s box in order to use the rosin or the pine tar rag, unless there is a delay in the game action or, in the judgment of the umpires, weather conditions warrant an exception. Umpires will not call “Time” at the request of the batter or any member of his team once the pitcher has started his windup or has come to a set position ..."


----------



## Gary A.

Furthermore, lol:

" (4) (6.02(d)) The Batter’s Box Rule (A) *The batter shall keep at least one foot in the batter’s box throughout the batter’s time at bat*, unless one of the following exceptions applies, in which case the batter may leave the batter’s box but not the dirt area surrounding home plate: (i) The batter swings at a pitch; (ii) An attempted check swing is appealed to a base umpire; (iii) The batter is forced off balance or out of the batter’s box by a pitch; (iv) A member of either team requests and is granted “Time”; (v) A defensive player attempts a play on a runner at any base; (vi) The batter feints a bunt; 2017 Official Baseball Rules_2017 Official Baseball Rules 3/27/17 8:58 PM Page 20 Rule 5.04(b) to 5.04(c) 21 (vii) A wild pitch or passed ball occurs; (viii) The pitcher leaves the dirt area of the pitching mound after receiving the ball; or (ix) The catcher leaves the catcher’s box to give defensive signals. ..."


----------



## jcdeboever

Right


----------



## Gary A.

LOL


----------



## jcdeboever

I like hot dogs


----------



## Gary A.

... and Cracker Jacks.


----------



## jcdeboever

...and apple pie


----------



## Gary A.

... and wine


----------



## SquarePeg

Ok to clarify - first pitch was a called strike, when the catcher returned the ball to the pitcher, my batter switched over to lefty - not in the middle of a pitch and I don't believe the pitcher was back on the rubber as she was likely still in her post pitch position which would be forward of the rubber.  Obviously she had to step out of the batter's box to do so.  She did not step on the plate.  My batter was ready to bat in time for the second pitch without causing any delay of the game.  The ump advised her that if she did that again she would be called out.  He didn't say she needed to call time out.  He said she needed to notify him that she was switching.  No one on our team had ever heard of this rule before but then there are not that many switch hitters in 14U softball unless you're playing tournament level, which we are not.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just thought I'd ask the experts!  Meanwhile, watching the Sox in their 12 or 13th extra innings game of the season.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Ok to clarify - first pitch was a called strike, when the catcher returned the ball to the pitcher, my batter switched over to lefty - not in the middle of a pitch and I don't believe the pitcher was back on the rubber as she was likely still in her post pitch position which would be forward of the rubber.  Obviously she had to step out of the batter's box to do so.  She did not step on the plate.  My batter was ready to bat in time for the second pitch without causing any delay of the game.  The ump advised her that if she did that again she would be called out.  He didn't say she needed to call time out.  He said she needed to notify him that she was switching.  No one on our team had ever heard of this rule before but then there are not that many switch hitters in 14U softball unless you're playing tournament level, which we are not.


Ump is.wrong. doesn't understand the rule. That is assuming the pitcher wasn't on the rubber.


----------



## jcdeboever

Lions looking good tonight. Giants OLine is horrible. Poor Dodgers.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Just thought I'd ask the experts!  Meanwhile, watching the Sox in their 12 or 13th extra innings game of the season.


You know you may want to read the ASA rule on it.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> The batter can switch anytime in the same at bat. However, the batter can not do it during a pitch, if they do it's an automatic strike. If the batter did so during a pitch, they are ruled out of the box. A pitcher can't change hands unless it's a pitch hitter. There is no rule to notify an ump of the switch, this is false. However, if the pitcher is on the rubber, it is in the best interest of the batter to call time out as the ump can judge it as an out.





jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just thought I'd ask the experts!  Meanwhile, watching the Sox in their 12 or 13th extra innings game of the season.
> 
> 
> 
> You know you may want to read the ASA rule on it.
Click to expand...


I'm going to ask my buddy, Buddy who is our ump contact from ASA.  I'm not digging through that rule book and their rules are not available online that I have ever found.


----------



## Gary A.

Furthermore, lol:

" (4) (6.02(d)) The Batter’s Box Rule (A) *The batter shall keep at least one foot in the batter’s box throughout the batter’s time at bat*, unless one of the following exceptions applies, in which case the batter may leave the batter’s box but not the dirt area surrounding home plate: (i) The batter swings at a pitch; (ii) An attempted check swing is appealed to a base umpire; (iii) The batter is forced off balance or out of the batter’s box by a pitch; (iv) A member of either team requests and is granted “Time”; (v) A defensive player attempts a play on a runner at any base; (vi) The batter feints a bunt; 2017 Official Baseball Rules_2017 Official Baseball Rules 3/27/17 8:58 PM Page 20 Rule 5.04(b) to 5.04(c) 21 (vii) A wild pitch or passed ball occurs; (viii) The pitcher leaves the dirt area of the pitching mound after receiving the ball; or (ix) The catcher leaves the catcher’s box to give defensive signals. ...

If the batter intentionally leaves the batter’s box and delays play, and none of the exceptions listed in Rule 5.04(b)(4)(A)(i) through (ix) (Rule 6.02(d)(1)(i) through (ix)) applies, the umpire shall issue a warning to the batter for the batter’s first violation of this Rule in a game. For a batter’s second or subsequent violations of this Rule in a game, the League President may issue an appropriate discipline. In National Association play, for a batter’s second or subsequent violations of this Rule in a game, the umpire shall award a strike without the pitcher having to deliver the pitch. The ball is dead, and no runners may advance ..."

A tongue lashing for the first offense and a strike for a subsequent violation ... plus it goes on your permanent record.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are eating their homemade strawberry coconut milk ice cream.  mmmmmmmmhhh, delish.


----------



## Frank F.

The Microbiome Diet after five weeks:

I lost nearly ten kilos
I eat next to no bread and other grain product
I prepare fresh food from fresh ingredients even more often than before
Allergic reactions are better contained

It is now 12 midday and I had fruit and goat cheese for breakfast, just ate a salad of Savoy cabbage blanched, cooled with vinaigrette and a smoothie of mango, nectarines, apple, ginger, lemon cest and juice and fresh peppermint. 

Dinner is lamb stew, see picture.


----------



## jcdeboever

Travel, travel, travel. Hit my goal already for year, so rest of year is gravy. Now I'm out getting things setup for next year, before the weather gets real bad. Working from laptop sucks, I need a new one, mine is old and beaten up winblows Lenovo. Can't believe this little stink pad is still jugging along. No time for pics either. Should be home by Thursday evening. Guess I need to hit the boss up on a new one, maybe a Mac book? Not sure if I could log into QuickBooks remotely or not, probably not so may have to suffer with another windows laptop. If so, it will be another think pad for sure.

On a side note. I think the teams (LA, Boston, Cubs, Yankees) that were pursuing Justin Verlander are gonna regret not getting him. He has been dominant and when he is locked in, not many better, he is such a bull dog.


----------



## smoke665

Further proof that fashion and intelligence are not normally found in the same sentence. Would you pay $695 for a pair of "double" jeans. 

You’ll have to pay big bucks for latest fashion trend


----------



## davidharmier60

My first day off. Get a check Wednesday. The first check. 
So today I have the time but no money. I won't have a 40D by the time of the family reunion. 
But I'll have at least two sets of charged batteries for my Nikon Coolpix!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

davidharmier60 said:


> My first day off. Get a check Wednesday. The first check.
> So today I have the time but no money. I won't have a 40D by the time of the family reunion.
> But I'll have at least two sets of charged batteries for my Nikon Coolpix!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Best camera is the one with you.


----------



## jcdeboever

Stuck in traffic jam. My Reflecta 7200 scanner was delivered yesterday, straight from Germany.... That took a while but expected. Can't wait to see how well it works, according to in depth review, it's excellent if you use Silver fast software. Not sure but is that the driver too? I have several rolls to develop so will know by next week anyway, not sure if I will have time this weekend. I hope it came with a US electrical plug, just thinking about that....


----------



## Gary A.

When Gary was researching scanners he read that the software is more important than the scanner.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> When Gary was researching scanners he read that the software is more important than the scanner.


Got me wondering if my Canoscan 8800f would work better with the Silver fast software. I'm still gonna use it for 120 film.


----------



## Frank F.

The stew, classical Irish stew, was faboulous!


----------



## pixmedic

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

Happy Wednesday!

Is it Saturday, yet?


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Happy Wednesday!
> 
> Is it Saturday, yet?



No 

Today is like my "first Friday" though. My class meets on Mon and Wed evenings so when I am done with my Wed, it almost feels like the weekend because I don't have to teach again until Monday.

I tell ya what, though. These marathon 12-hour days don't get easier as I get older


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I tell ya what, though. These marathon 12-hour days don't get easier as I get older


Ugh. 

Agreed. I've noticed my total timesheet hours creeping higher and higher lately. Don't like it one bit!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Wednesday!
> 
> Is it Saturday, yet?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No
> 
> Today is like my "first Friday" though. My class meets on Mon and Wed evenings so when I am done with my Wed, it almost feels like the weekend because I don't have to teach again until Monday.
> 
> I tell ya what, though. These marathon 12-hour days don't get easier as I get older
Click to expand...

I hear yah on the 12 hour days. Get back to my hotel and stare at the TV like a zombie for an hour to snap out of the road hypnosis. Then I read.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ... These marathon 12-hour days don't get easier as I get older


  Twelve-hour days?  M'dear  you still have your training wheels on!!!!  I recall one deployment to the Arabian Gulf in the late 90s (IIRC) that ran 76 continuous days of minimum 14 hour *work* days.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary gets out of bed around 6:00 a.m., (except on his Mondays, 5:00 a.m.).  He now stumbles around in the dark getting out of bed, (as opposed to stumbling around in the daylight).  

When Gary was a kid, he loved working on the road.  But after a while ... being home is so nice.  It is now to the point where Gary rarely goes to an office. 

The world seems to be going to Hell.  Hurricanes, earthquakes, wars, threat of nuclear war, dark mornings ... maybe Gary will go back to bed and close the door.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> The world seems to be going to Hell. Hurricanes, earthquakes, wars, threat of nuclear war, dark mornings ... maybe Gary will go back to bed and close the door.


Didn't you hear? The end of the world is this Saturday, supposedly, again.


----------



## JonA_CT

The science labs in my wing are doing experiments with burning candles. More specifically, they're proving that you need oxygen, heat, and fuel to be able to burn something, so they are continually putting the candles out by putting a jar over them. 

So that smell has been lingering in my room all day. I'm not a fan.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> The science labs in my wing are doing experiments with burning candles. More specifically, they're proving that you need oxygen, heat, and fuel to be able to burn something, so they are continually putting the candles out by putting a jar over them.
> 
> So that smell has been lingering in my room all day. I'm not a fan.


Love it.

So, are they using different sized jars, changing the number of candles, etc to figure out how long it takes the fire to use up the oxygen under different scenarios?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... These marathon 12-hour days don't get easier as I get older
> 
> 
> 
> Twelve-hour days?  M'dear  you still have your training wheels on!!!!  I recall one deployment to the Arabian Gulf in the late 90s (IIRC) that ran 76 continuous days of minimum 14 hour *work* days.
Click to expand...


Did you have to walk to work uphill both ways? In the dark? Milking cows along the way, too? With no shoes?


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Wednesday!
> 
> Is it Saturday, yet?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No
> 
> Today is like my "first Friday" though. My class meets on Mon and Wed evenings so when I am done with my Wed, it almost feels like the weekend because I don't have to teach again until Monday.
> 
> I tell ya what, though. These marathon 12-hour days don't get easier as I get older
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I hear yah on the 12 hour days. Get back to my hotel and stare at the TV like a zombie for an hour to snap out of the road hypnosis. Then I read.
Click to expand...


Back in the days when I was essentially doing second shift work and getting home around 10pm every day, my post-work tv-zombie-out sessions were in front of _ER. _I loved that show.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... These marathon 12-hour days don't get easier as I get older
> 
> 
> 
> Twelve-hour days?  M'dear  you still have your training wheels on!!!!  I recall one deployment to the Arabian Gulf in the late 90s (IIRC) that ran 76 continuous days of minimum 14 hour *work* days.
Click to expand...

Wait . . . weren't you in the (blue water) Navy, like in air conditioned ships, internet access and whatnot?


----------



## jcdeboever

I worked 14, 15, probably 14 today. 15 for sure tomorrow as I am heading home. Can't access my server now....uuuggggg


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> The science labs in my wing are doing experiments with burning candles. More specifically, they're proving that you need oxygen, heat, and fuel to be able to burn something, so they are continually putting the candles out by putting a jar over them.
> 
> So that smell has been lingering in my room all day. I'm not a fan.
> 
> 
> 
> Love it.
> 
> So, are they using different sized jars, changing the number of candles, etc to figure out how long it takes the fire to use up the oxygen under different scenarios?
Click to expand...


Indeed. Really cool work. Second day in the row though...there are three labs in the wing, and the third lab will be next week, haha.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... These marathon 12-hour days don't get easier as I get older
> 
> 
> 
> Twelve-hour days?  M'dear  you still have your training wheels on!!!!  I recall one deployment to the Arabian Gulf in the late 90s (IIRC) that ran 76 continuous days of minimum 14 hour *work* days.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Did you have to walk to work uphill both ways? In the dark? Milking cows along the way, too? With no shoes?
Click to expand...

And likely, during sandstorms!    Barefoot!


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... These marathon 12-hour days don't get easier as I get older
> 
> 
> 
> [emoji38]  Twelve-hour days?  M'dear  you still have your training wheels on!!!!  I recall one deployment to the Arabian Gulf in the late 90s (IIRC) that ran 76 continuous days of minimum 14 hour *work* days.
Click to expand...

The Marines used to abuse me like that.... No problem though, I was 225 lbs of lean, mean, fighting Marine.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... These marathon 12-hour days don't get easier as I get older
> 
> 
> 
> [emoji38]  Twelve-hour days?  M'dear  you still have your training wheels on!!!!  I recall one deployment to the Arabian Gulf in the late 90s (IIRC) that ran 76 continuous days of minimum 14 hour *work* days.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The Marines used to abuse me like that.... No problem though, I was 225 lbs of lean, mean, fighting Marine.
Click to expand...


Muscles
Are
Required,
Intelligence
Not
Essential


jk - USMC is the sharpest group in the bunch.  Semper Fi.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... These marathon 12-hour days don't get easier as I get older
> 
> 
> 
> [emoji38]  Twelve-hour days?  M'dear  you still have your training wheels on!!!!  I recall one deployment to the Arabian Gulf in the late 90s (IIRC) that ran 76 continuous days of minimum 14 hour *work* days.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The Marines used to abuse me like that.... No problem though, I was 225 lbs of lean, mean, fighting Marine.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Muscles
> Are
> Required,
> Intelligence
> Not
> Essential
> 
> 
> jk - USMC is the sharpest group in the bunch.  Semper Fi.
Click to expand...

Semper Fi....I was a legend in my own mind.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Did you have to walk to work uphill both ways? In the dark? Milking cows along the way, too? With no shoes?



You left out in the pouring rain, snow, hail, wind all combined!


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The world seems to be going to Hell. Hurricanes, earthquakes, wars, threat of nuclear war, dark mornings ... maybe Gary will go back to bed and close the door.
> 
> 
> 
> Didn't you hear? The end of the world is this Saturday, supposedly, again.
Click to expand...

Gary will definitely be closing the door.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> Didn't you hear? The end of the world is this Saturday, supposedly, again.



Seriously???? You got any inside information or odds on this being true????  There are some really expensive toys, that I'd like to buy on the no interest no payment for 60 days plan.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Didn't you hear? The end of the world is this Saturday, supposedly, again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously???? You got any inside information or odds on this being true????  There are some really expensive toys, that I'd like to buy on the no interest no payment for 60 days plan.
Click to expand...

Just do it! You only live once! And, you won't need anything past Saturday. 

Just be sure to buy things either in person or with expedited shipping, because shipping companies might be suspended with all the fire and brimstone and whatnot this weekend.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> [Wait . . . weren't you in the (blue water) Navy, like in air conditioned ships, internet access and whatnot?


  That was long before we had civilian Internet access at sea, and in ships whose climate-control systems were NOT designed for that part of the world.


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> [Wait . . . weren't you in the (blue water) Navy, like in air conditioned ships, internet access and whatnot?
> 
> 
> 
> That was long before we had civilian Internet access at sea, and in ships whose climate-control systems were NOT designed for that part of the world.
Click to expand...

You were on a wooden, Canadian pirate ship, right?


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> [Wait . . . weren't you in the (blue water) Navy, like in air conditioned ships, internet access and whatnot?
> 
> 
> 
> That was long before we had civilian Internet access at sea, and in ships whose climate-control systems were NOT designed for that part of the world.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You were on a wooden, Canadian pirate ship, right?
Click to expand...


It sailed uphill. Both ways.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> [Wait . . . weren't you in the (blue water) Navy, like in air conditioned ships, internet access and whatnot?
> 
> 
> 
> That was long before we had civilian Internet access at sea, and in ships whose climate-control systems were NOT designed for that part of the world.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You were on a wooden, Canadian pirate ship, right?
Click to expand...


HMS Antelope?  Was the Captain's name Barrett?
edit: 



Spoiler: for the uninformed



"Barrett's Privateers" by the late Stan Rogers


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> [Wait . . . weren't you in the (blue water) Navy, like in air conditioned ships, internet access and whatnot?
> 
> 
> 
> That was long before we had civilian Internet access at sea, and in ships whose climate-control systems were NOT designed for that part of the world.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You were on a wooden, Canadian pirate ship, right?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> HMS Antelope?  Was the Captain's name Barrett?
> edit:
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: for the uninformed
> 
> 
> 
> "Barrett's Privateers" by the late Stan Rogers
Click to expand...

I have that song on the current playlist in my truck.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> It sailed uphill. Both ways.



Only so far, because that was back in the day when the earth was flat---go to far and you fell off the edge.



tirediron said:


> whose climate-control systems were NOT designed for that part of the world.



Actually they worked great----whatever the climate was outside, they would mimic perfectly inside LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

I REALLY need a laptop or another tower unit computer. 
Because the pics I take with the Coolpix will stay in the Coolpix without one.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It sailed uphill. Both ways.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Only so far, because that was back in the day when the earth was flat---go to far and you fell off the edge.
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> whose climate-control systems were NOT designed for that part of the world.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Actually they worked great----whatever the climate was outside, they would mimic perfectly inside LOL
Click to expand...

You're not wrong there!


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It sailed uphill. Both ways.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Only so far, because that was back in the day when the earth was flat---go to far and you fell off the edge.
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> whose climate-control systems were NOT designed for that part of the world.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Actually they worked great----whatever the climate was outside, they would mimic perfectly inside LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You're not wrong there! [emoji38]
Click to expand...

Did you ever find any treasure?


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> [Wait . . . weren't you in the (blue water) Navy, like in air conditioned ships, internet access and whatnot?
> 
> 
> 
> That was long before we had civilian Internet access at sea, and in ships whose climate-control systems were NOT designed for that part of the world.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You were on a wooden, Canadian pirate ship, right?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> HMS Antelope?  Was the Captain's name Barrett?
> edit:
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: for the uninformed
> 
> 
> 
> "Barrett's Privateers" by the late Stan Rogers
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I have that song on the current playlist in my truck.
Click to expand...

I can't decide which version is my favorite - "Fogarty's Cove" or "Between the Breaks . . . Live!"


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> I REALLY need a laptop or another tower unit computer.
> Because the pics I take with the Coolpix will stay in the Coolpix without one.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


1 TB external drives are relatively cheap.


----------



## Frank F.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The world seems to be going to Hell. Hurricanes, earthquakes, wars, threat of nuclear war, dark mornings ... maybe Gary will go back to bed and close the door.
> 
> 
> 
> Didn't you hear? The end of the world is this Saturday, supposedly, again.
Click to expand...



Every Saturday after the last drink. Resurrection just before mass on Sunday, the first day of the week when Jesus rose from the dead to save us....


----------



## Frank F.

Brass Band & Sunny Sunday


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm about 75% sure I'm going to heaven so bring it on!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.




----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> I'm about 75% sure I'm going to heaven so bring it on!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Does that percentage get higher or lower as you get older


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> I'm about 75% sure I'm going to heaven so bring it on!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Well considering the typical odds of winning at Blackjack is around 43% your ahead if you're at that 75% mark, but consider you still have 25 chances out of 100 to go the other way! LOL


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Does that percentage get higher or lower as you get older



I can tell you from personal experience that you get a lot more concerned about it the older you get!!!


----------



## davidharmier60

Either way. At 57 fairly hard years old I'll take the end of the world pretty happily. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Barmageddon! lol 


What are we talking about...?? 

nm... I'll just wait til we go back to talking coffee and recipes. How long has it been since I've been on here? like a day and a half? did this thread go into a time warp continuum thingy?


----------



## jcdeboever

I like gingersnaps


----------



## vintagesnaps

I have three logs. From the phone company hiring tree trimmers to clear the way for a new line. Which they are installing now. 

The logs used to be a branch on my hackberry which is so big it's hardly noticeable that a branch that size is gone. Usually if you leave something at the curb it's free for the taking but so far, no takers.


----------



## waday

Frank F. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The world seems to be going to Hell. Hurricanes, earthquakes, wars, threat of nuclear war, dark mornings ... maybe Gary will go back to bed and close the door.
> 
> 
> 
> Didn't you hear? The end of the world is this Saturday, supposedly, again.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Every Saturday after the last drink. Resurrection just before mass on Sunday, the first day of the week when Jesus rose from the dead to save us....
Click to expand...

The end of the world happens every week? Huh. I'll have to pay more attention this weekend.


----------



## SquarePeg

I like snickerdoodles.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Barmageddon! lol
> 
> 
> What are we talking about...??
> 
> nm... I'll just wait til we go back to talking coffee and recipes. How long has it been since I've been on here? like a day and a half? did this thread go into a time warp continuum thingy?



Wormhole!


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The world seems to be going to Hell. Hurricanes, earthquakes, wars, threat of nuclear war, dark mornings ... maybe Gary will go back to bed and close the door.
> 
> 
> 
> Didn't you hear? The end of the world is this Saturday, supposedly, again.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Every Saturday after the last drink. Resurrection just before mass on Sunday, the first day of the week when Jesus rose from the dead to save us....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The end of the world happens every week? Huh. I'll have to pay more attention this weekend.
Click to expand...

The Bible tells us, only God the Father knows. He didn't even tell His Son or the Angels. So, people who believe in the Trinity and the Bible, are not concerned with how or when.


----------



## limr




----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> I like snickerdoodles.


Yum, me too.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


>


I'm finna study up cause I ain't writin to good.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Gary doesn't believe he's ever eaten a snickerdoodle. Is that a dog?

Presently, Gary is sipping some wine and roasting some coffee in the patio with the lone pomegranate.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 147069
> iPhone
> 
> Gary doesn't believe he's ever eaten a snickerdoodle. Is that a dog?
> 
> Presently, Gary is sipping some wine and roasting some coffee in the patio with the lone pomegranate.



Not a dog breed but it should be.  It's a cookie.  Gary is missing out.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 147069
> iPhone
> 
> Gary doesn't believe he's ever eaten a snickerdoodle. Is that a dog?
> 
> Presently, Gary is sipping some wine and roasting some coffee in the patio with the lone pomegranate.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not a dog breed but it should be.  It's a cookie.  Gary is missing out.
Click to expand...


Snikerdoodle is good


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Snikerdoodle is good



Wife makes really good Snikerdoodles!


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Snikerdoodle is good
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wife makes really good Snikerdoodles!
Click to expand...

I'll be over in a minute. I have a 20 year old bottle of bourbon I could bring....


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I'll be over in a minute. I have a 20 year old bottle of bourbon I could bring....



That would work!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary doesn't eat dog.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary doesn't eat dog.


Well, not intentionally.


----------



## jcdeboever

Watching RedWings Penguins. Man I missed hockey. I see the Wings still can't check....geez this is gonna be a long year.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Snickerdoodle - Wikipedia


----------



## snowbear

I just got another present from Cali - it says _Bessler_!


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Snikerdoodle is good
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wife makes really good Snikerdoodles!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'll be over in a minute. I have a 20 year old bottle of bourbon I could bring....
Click to expand...


20 years in the barrel, or 20 years in the bottle?

One of the funniest conversations in my life was my wife's ****faced Scottish cousin trying to explain to him that his bottle of Macallan was really 20 years old (though it was 12 year Macallan) because he bought the bottle 8 years previous. I honestly felt like he was speaking a different language.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> because he bought the bottle 8 years previous.



Now I'd have problem I fear. Mine would be like 12 years and a couple of hours


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Snikerdoodle is good
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wife makes really good Snikerdoodles!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'll be over in a minute. I have a 20 year old bottle of bourbon I could bring....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 20 years in the barrel, or 20 years in the bottle?
> 
> One of the funniest conversations in my life was my wife's ****faced Scottish cousin trying to explain to him that his bottle of Macallan was really 20 years old (though it was 12 year Macallan) because he bought the bottle 8 years previous. I honestly felt like he was speaking a different language.
Click to expand...

I don't have a 20 year old barrel or bottle, just trying to get over to smokes house to eat his snicker doodles and see his wife in her pajamas


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's youngest daughter did a study abroad in Scotland.  Scots don't speak English.


----------



## SquarePeg

After an exhaustive all day search, my "good glasses" have finally been reunited with my eyes.  They were last seen on top of my head at roughly 6am and disappeared without a trace between the bedroom and the kitchen.  There were no witnesses to the alleged abduction.  Volunteers scoured the surrounding rooms but found no clues.  After searching the trash, recycle, and laundry bins, and finding many unreported missing objects but no sign of the beloved purple glasses, all hope was lost.  Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the wayward glasses strolled into the room in my purse as if they had been there all along.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> After an exhaustive all day search, my "good glasses" have finally been reunited with my eyes.  They were last seen on top of my head at roughly 6am and disappeared without a trace between the bedroom and the kitchen.  There were no witnesses to the alleged abduction.  Volunteers scoured the surrounding rooms but found no clues.  After searching the trash, recycle, and laundry bins, and finding many unreported missing objects but no sign of the beloved purple glasses, all hope was lost.  Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the wayward glasses strolled into the room in my purse as if they had been there all along.


You have a massive Coach purse too....Lord help me


----------



## Gary A.

Glasses are like that ... they cannot be trusted.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Gary's youngest daughter did a study abroad in Scotland.  Scots don't speak English.



My wife warned me. We flew into Glasgow -- I chatted with the guy at the currency exchange counter, and there were no issues. I looked at her, and she told me that he was on his best behavior. We stopped at a rest area for coffee and a sandwich an hour later, and it took several minutes for me to explain to them that I wanted to take the coffee and sandwich to go, haha. I learned later with  her relatives that it is much more normal there to actually stop and enjoy your coffee and sandwich. Silly Americans.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Glasses are like that ... they cannot be trusted.


Especially in large coach bags


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Glasses are like that ... they cannot be trusted.
> 
> 
> 
> Especially in large coach bags
Click to expand...


Where else would you keep your daytime sippin' whiskey?


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's youngest daughter did a study abroad in Scotland.  Scots don't speak English.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My wife warned me. We flew into Glasgow -- I chatted with the guy at the currency exchange counter, and there were no issues. I looked at her, and she told me that he was on his best behavior. We stopped at a rest area for coffee and a sandwich an hour later, and it took several minutes for me to explain to them that I wanted to take the coffee and sandwich to go, haha. I learned later with  her relatives that it is much more normal there to actually stop and enjoy your coffee and sandwich. Silly Americans.
Click to expand...

You should have stuffed it in one shot and sipped your coffee when the pie hole was enormous. Now that's American...


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Gary's youngest daughter did a study abroad in Scotland.  Scots don't speak English.


Nay, they dinna.

I like Scotch.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> After an exhaustive all day search, my "good glasses" have finally been reunited with my eyes.  They were last seen on top of my head at roughly 6am and disappeared without a trace between the bedroom and the kitchen.  There were no witnesses to the alleged abduction.  Volunteers scoured the surrounding rooms but found no clues.  After searching the trash, recycle, and laundry bins, and finding many unreported missing objects but no sign of the beloved purple glasses, all hope was lost.  Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the wayward glasses strolled into the room in my purse as if they had been there all along.
> 
> 
> 
> You have a massive Coach purse too....Lord help me
Click to expand...


The Coach bag confessed after being caught in the act.


----------



## davidharmier60

Ah kids. I get up at 4am to be at work at 5am. So good night to all!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

G'night and have a good Thursday David.

I had snickerdoodle coffee once.

Oh crap! didn't think earlier about preseason starting! and the NHL Network is actually showing - hockey games! No RedWings though, all Canadian teams tonight.

Intermission is showing some game or other with fog on the ice. Fun when the players skate around to clear the fog. I'm easily entertained.


----------



## vintagesnaps

How sad to see it, 
the lonely pomegranate;
a fruit all alone. 

It needs a friend there, 
to keep it company, 
maybe a 'nana.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Beginning of second period and there are already Canucks in the box.


----------



## Gary A.

G'night davidharmier.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> How sad to see it,
> the lonely pomegranate;
> a fruit all alone.
> 
> It needs a friend there,
> to keep it company,
> maybe a 'nana.


No 'nanas in the yard ... but maybe an avocado or persimmon ... lots of citrus ... lemons, oranges and limes.


----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> Ah kids. I get up at 4am to be at work at 5am. So good night to all!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



'Night, dad! :d


----------



## vintagesnaps

That wasn't a joke, there _were_ two Canucks in the box when the 2nd period started!

Don't worry JC, most of these players will get sent down and you'll never see them again. 

I'm glad Gary your little pomegranate has friends to hang with outside.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> That wasn't a joke, there _were_ two Canucks in the box when the 2nd period started!
> 
> Don't worry JC, most of these players will get sent down and you'll never see them again.
> 
> I'm glad Gary your little pomegranate has friends to hang with outside.


All Gary's fruits and veggies are very social.


----------



## davidharmier60

I think Gary and I would get along well. In about 20 minutes Dave must go to work 


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> That wasn't a joke, there _were_ two Canucks in the box when the 2nd period started!
> 
> Don't worry JC, most of these players will get sent down and you'll never see them again.
> 
> I'm glad Gary your little pomegranate has friends to hang with outside.


I have NHL Center Ice (Direct TV). I can stream to any device which is nice. I don't watch enough to justify the cost but it's kind of like "my Coach Bag". My favorite teams to watch are the original six. I guess I'm nostalgic. GO WINGS!


----------



## Frank F.

Thursday midday, 14.30. daughter due to collect her from school. Son home already. Did work since 6 a.m. ... Very tired....


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> That wasn't a joke, there _were_ two Canucks in the box when the 2nd period started!
> 
> Don't worry JC, most of these players will get sent down and you'll never see them again.
> 
> I'm glad Gary your little pomegranate has friends to hang with outside.
> 
> 
> 
> I have NHL Center Ice (Direct TV). I can stream to any device which is nice. I don't watch enough to justify the cost but it's kind of like "my Coach Bag". My favorite teams to watch are the original six. I guess I'm nostalgic. GO WINGS!
Click to expand...


You really need to get over the Coach bag thing!  Buy a big expensive lens or ridiculously overpriced camera bag and move on.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 147069
> iPhone
> 
> Gary doesn't believe he's ever eaten a snickerdoodle. Is that a dog?
> 
> Presently, Gary is sipping some wine and roasting some coffee in the patio with the lone pomegranate.




In German Grenade and Granate are written the same way...


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> That wasn't a joke, there _were_ two Canucks in the box when the 2nd period started!
> 
> Don't worry JC, most of these players will get sent down and you'll never see them again.
> 
> I'm glad Gary your little pomegranate has friends to hang with outside.
> 
> 
> 
> I have NHL Center Ice (Direct TV). I can stream to any device which is nice. I don't watch enough to justify the cost but it's kind of like "my Coach Bag". My favorite teams to watch are the original six. I guess I'm nostalgic. GO WINGS!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You really need to get over the Coach bag thing!  Buy a big expensive lens or ridiculously overpriced camera bag and move on.
Click to expand...

I'm just joking around. It really is a funny, continuous family joke as well. They make fun of my photography, my wife's purse buying, my daughter in laws shoe buying, son in laws golf gear, etc


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> That wasn't a joke, there _were_ two Canucks in the box when the 2nd period started!
> 
> Don't worry JC, most of these players will get sent down and you'll never see them again.
> 
> I'm glad Gary your little pomegranate has friends to hang with outside.
> 
> 
> 
> I have NHL Center Ice (Direct TV). I can stream to any device which is nice. I don't watch enough to justify the cost but it's kind of like "my Coach Bag". My favorite teams to watch are the original six. I guess I'm nostalgic. GO WINGS!
Click to expand...


Yes. I make an exception for the Pens, but otherwise, the original six are where it's at  LET'S GO RANGERS!


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 147069
> iPhone
> 
> Gary doesn't believe he's ever eaten a snickerdoodle. Is that a dog?
> 
> Presently, Gary is sipping some wine and roasting some coffee in the patio with the lone pomegranate.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In German Grenade and Granate are written the same way...
Click to expand...

Interesting ... really ... Gary is googling them now.


----------



## SquarePeg

@jcdeboever    I guess we all have our little "things" that amuse/annoy our families.  My family makes fun of my obsession with dishes.  We have dish sets for each season,  holiday sets, special dishes for birthday dinners, sets for certain foods like pastas or steaks, triangle shaped plates for when we have pizza,  dishes we use for take out... Some dishes just work or look better with certain meals and sometimes I just like to mix and match.  I think we have at least 10-12 different sets of 4, and 3 full service for 10+.  Is that excessive?  Maybe, but it makes me happy when the table looks nice and not the same old every night.  

I am also forbidden to buy any more throw pillows.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> @jcdeboever    I guess we all have our little "things" that amuse/annoy our families.  My family makes fun of my obsession with dishes.  We have dish sets for each season,  holiday sets, special dishes for birthday dinners, sets for certain foods like pastas or steaks, triangle shaped plates for when we have pizza,  dishes we use for take out... Some dishes just work or look better with certain meals and sometimes I just like to mix and match.  I think we have at least 10-12 different sets of 4, and 3 full service for 10+.  Is that excessive?  Maybe, but it makes me happy when the table looks nice and not the same old every night.
> 
> I am also forbidden to buy any more throw pillows.



For us, it's my mother and sister with their collections of approximately 5,629* black v-necks and cardigans, and my other sister with her Apple gadgets. 


* Number only slightly exaggerated


----------



## Gary A.

Hockey-Schmockey

Gary assumes that growing up in an environment where the only place ice is naturally occurring is in the freezer, ice hockey isn't his go to sport. It's okay ... but he'd rather watch a college football game or a pro baseball game. He did enjoy shooting hockey ... it was pretty easy.  Tripod the camera, toss on a long lens, prefocus on the goalie and screw in a cable release.  Then just kick back, drink a huge beer and when something exciting happens near the goal ... flex that opposing thumb.  Gary did notice that spectators dressed much better for hockey than other LA sports. About a third into the beer, Gary would feel guilty and take the camera off the tripod and handholding the camera would shoot other action on the ice.  When the second third is finished ... back on the tripod, pre-focused on the goalie.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> @jcdeboever    I guess we all have our little "things" that amuse/annoy our families.  My family makes fun of my obsession with dishes.  We have dish sets for each season,  holiday sets, special dishes for birthday dinners, sets for certain foods like pastas or steaks, triangle shaped plates for when we have pizza,  dishes we use for take out... Some dishes just work or look better with certain meals and sometimes I just like to mix and match.  I think we have at least 10-12 different sets of 4, and 3 full service for 10+.  Is that excessive?  Maybe, but it makes me happy when the table looks nice and not the same old every night.
> 
> I am also forbidden to buy any more throw pillows.


There is a 12 step program that could possibly help you.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> There is a 12 step program that could help you.



I did promise not to buy any more dishes unless I give some away.  How many different cooking devices do you have again?


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> There is a 12 step program that could help you.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I did promise not to buy any more dishes unless I give some away.  How many different cooking devices do you have again?
Click to expand...

Gary is at step five.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> @jcdeboever    I guess we all have our little "things" that amuse/annoy our families.  My family makes fun of my obsession with dishes.  We have dish sets for each season,  holiday sets, special dishes for birthday dinners, sets for certain foods like pastas or steaks, triangle shaped plates for when we have pizza,  dishes we use for take out... Some dishes just work or look better with certain meals and sometimes I just like to mix and match.  I think we have at least 10-12 different sets of 4, and 3 full service for 10+.  Is that excessive?  Maybe, but it makes me happy when the table looks nice and not the same old every night.
> 
> I am also forbidden to buy any more throw pillows.


I hate throw pillows. My wife has like 40 of them on my side alone. I throw them on the floor at night, it really drives me nuts. If I make the bed, it takes an hour to properly line them up the Marine Corp way. I have enough ticks with spatial awareness. Rugs, folded cloths in drawers, silverware in drawers, glasses /plates in cupboard. I threw out all the wife's Tupperware and went out and bought all new ones and put matching letters on lid and bowls with a sharpie. The wife came home, stared at me with one eyebrow raised, followed by the limr eye roll in back of head.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary was about to mention food processing hardware and Mary Lou threatening to take his Amazon card away ... but you beat him to it ... lol


----------



## snowbear

@vintagesnaps - didn't get to see (or listen to) game but two favorite teams playing each other.  Really a toss up for me, but way to go Caps.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay ... Gary gives up ... go kings ... and sometimes go ducks ...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary did appreciate the big beers at hockey matches.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Hockey-Schmockey
> 
> Gary assumes that growing up in an environment where the only place ice is naturally occurring is in the freezer, ice hockey isn't his go to sport. It's okay ... but he'd rather watch a college football game or a pro baseball game. He did enjoy shooting hockey ... it was pretty easy.  Tripod the camera, toss on a long lens, prefocus on the goalie and screw in a cable release.  Then just kick back, drink a huge beer and when something exciting happens near the goal ... flex that opposing thumb.  Gary did notice that spectators dressed much better for hockey than other LA sports. About a third into the beer, Gary would feel guilty and take the camera off the tripod and handholding the camera would shoot other action on the ice.  When the second third is finished ... back on the tripod, pre-focused on the goalie.


I love me some hockey, baseball is my favorite. I win my fantasy leagues almost every year. There is a skill to it unlike other fantasy sports. I am pulling away in my paid league as I am the only one with pitching innings left, comfortable position in HR, RBI , and AVG. Now I am mostly picking up guys that steal bases and probable starting pitchers to gain points. Truly running away with it. $1000 will go nicely towards something.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary did appreciate the big beers at hockey matches.


I love it when my wife wears her oversized Osgood, Redwing's jersey. She looks hot in it.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> @jcdeboever    I guess we all have our little "things" that amuse/annoy our families.  My family makes fun of my obsession with dishes.  We have dish sets for each season,  holiday sets, special dishes for birthday dinners, sets for certain foods like pastas or steaks, triangle shaped plates for when we have pizza,  dishes we use for take out... Some dishes just work or look better with certain meals and sometimes I just like to mix and match.  I think we have at least 10-12 different sets of 4, and 3 full service for 10+.  Is that excessive?  Maybe, but it makes me happy when the table looks nice and not the same old every night.
> 
> I am also forbidden to buy any more throw pillows.
> 
> 
> 
> I hate throw pillows. My wife has like 40 of them on my side alone. I throw them on the floor at night, it really drives me nuts. If I make the bed, it takes an hour to properly line them up the Marine Corp way. I have enough ticks with spatial awareness. Rugs, folded cloths in drawers, silverware in drawers, glasses /plates in cupboard. I threw out all the wife's Tupperware and went out and bought all new ones and put matching letters on lid and bowls with a sharpie. The wife came home, stared at me with one eyebrow raised, followed by the limr eye roll in back of head.
Click to expand...


My throw pillows are all where people sit and use them.  On the couches and chairs or the patio furniture.  I rotate them seasonally - actually, I rotate a lot of the decor in our house seasonally - keeps me from getting bored with our stuff and wanting to redecorate.  No throw pillows on my bed because that's too much work every day!  Princess likes them on her bed but they spend more time on the floor than anywhere else.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, what's with Cleveland (again) ...?  Dodgers lose again, but their magic number is two.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> I hate throw pillows. My wife has like 40 of them on my side alone. I throw them on the floor at night, it really drives me nuts. If I make the bed, it takes an hour to properly line them up the Marine Corp way. I have enough ticks with spatial awareness. Rugs, folded cloths in drawers, silverware in drawers, glasses /plates in cupboard. I threw out all the wife's Tupperware and went out and bought all new ones and* put matching letters on lid and bowls with a sharpie.* The wife came home, stared at me with one eyebrow raised, followed by the limr eye roll in back of head.



The thing with me and pillows is that I like how they look, but I don't want any more than is functional. I have a few on the couch because I like to curl up and nestle with pillows and a blanket when I read or watch tv. On my bed, I have 2 "extra" pillows that look decorative when the bed is made, but when I get in to go to sleep, they move to a position that helps keep my sleepin' pillows from sliding down in between the bed and the wall.

As for things folded and in place in the kitchen and the Tupperware story? I think I'm a little bit in love 



Gary A. said:


> Okay ... Gary gives up ... go kings ... and sometimes go ducks ...



Atta boy, Tio!!!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> @jcdeboever    I guess we all have our little "things" that amuse/annoy our families.  My family makes fun of my obsession with dishes.  We have dish sets for each season,  holiday sets, special dishes for birthday dinners, sets for certain foods like pastas or steaks, triangle shaped plates for when we have pizza,  dishes we use for take out... Some dishes just work or look better with certain meals and sometimes I just like to mix and match.  I think we have at least 10-12 different sets of 4, and 3 full service for 10+.  Is that excessive?  Maybe, but it makes me happy when the table looks nice and not the same old every night.
> 
> I am also forbidden to buy any more throw pillows.
> 
> 
> 
> I hate throw pillows. My wife has like 40 of them on my side alone. I throw them on the floor at night, it really drives me nuts. If I make the bed, it takes an hour to properly line them up the Marine Corp way. I have enough ticks with spatial awareness. Rugs, folded cloths in drawers, silverware in drawers, glasses /plates in cupboard. I threw out all the wife's Tupperware and went out and bought all new ones and put matching letters on lid and bowls with a sharpie. The wife came home, stared at me with one eyebrow raised, followed by the limr eye roll in back of head.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My throw pillows are all where people sit and use them.  On the couches and chairs or the patio furniture.  I rotate them seasonally - actually, I rotate a lot of the decor in our house seasonally - keeps me from getting bored with our stuff and wanting to redecorate.  No throw pillows on my bed because that's too much work every day!  Princess likes them on her bed but they spend more time on the floor than anywhere else.
Click to expand...

Step One for you is to take up gardening.  You spend too much time in the house.  (or drinking, that way you won't care how the house looks)


----------



## SquarePeg

Used to be a Bruins fan (boyfriend influence when I was in my 20's) but rarely watch hockey these days. Exciting to be at the game but a bit of a snore to watch on tv for me.  

Some of Princess's bffs play hockey.  There's a big girls hockey movement going on locally.  One of the moms got a grant to pay for free hockey clinics for girls age 8-12 and it took off.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks JC will have a tick, the size of which will take him down, if he ever opens the tupperware cupboard here.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Hey, what's with Cleveland (again) ...?  Dodgers lose again, but their magic number is two.


Cleveland has great pitching and probably the best team up the middle. They have a great manager, just as your Dodgers. Be thankful you get a series as opposed to a one game elimination (wild card). I hope you don't draw Arizona. Indians are playing great defense as well. I can see a Dodger - Indian WS but I think Verlander will have something to say about that. I don't think the Red Sox have the pitching but their lineup is terrifying.  Can't wait. Turner is your game changer, that man is clutch with the bat and glove.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes Turner.


----------



## Frank F.

Two weeks with the D850. She is a great replacement for the D600 and the D3 and a great companion to the D500. Still waiting for the motor drive to get her up to 9 fps!


----------



## SquarePeg

Love playoff season!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary thinks JC will have a tick, the size of which will take him down, if he ever opens the tupperware cupboard here.


The wife finally did admit the brilliance of labeling the Tupperware. I even made a box just for the lids, box's for the bowls.... when I unload the dishwasher, it's all alphabetically optimized. No more ticks, just the pure pleasure of SOP optimization. Throw pillows have me pert near in therapy. You should see the silverware and cupboards. Now that I think about it, I'll be coming home to a disaster....


----------



## Gary A.

@ Frank: You guys play any baseball in Germany?


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thinks JC will have a tick, the size of which will take him down, if he ever opens the tupperware cupboard here.
> 
> 
> 
> The wife finally did admit the brilliance of labeling the Tupperware. I even made a box just for the lids, box's for the bowls.... when I unload the dishwasher, it's all alphabetically optimized. No more ticks, just the pure pleasure of SOP optimization. Throw pillows have me pert near in therapy. You should see the silverware and cupboards. Now that I think about it, I'll be coming home to a disaster....
Click to expand...

Gary is giving serious thought to implementing The JC Tupperware Identification System (JC-TIS).


----------



## jcdeboever

Fussball


----------



## snowbear

I like Tupperware.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has renamed it: Simple TUPperware Identification and Documentation

But it is a good idea!


----------



## waday

I hate "Tupperware", but recognize it's necessity. I have the same tick when I open our "Tupperware" cabinet. 

It used to be organized nicely, but now I have to close the door immediately to avoid them falling out.

This is me every day:


----------



## JonA_CT

I started using more and more ziplock bags to store things because of that, Wade. It's definitely not eco-friendly, but I re-use them when I can. Our kitchen just isn't big enough to keep a large stock of them around.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> I hate "Tupperware", but recognize it's necessity. I have the same tick when I open our "Tupperware" cabinet.
> 
> It used to be organized nicely, but now I have to close the door immediately to avoid them falling out.
> 
> This is me every day:



I don't use Tupperware.  I have a set of very nice dishes with covers...


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> ...I don't use Tupperware.  I have *a* set of very nice dishes with covers...


"a" as in, "singular", "one", "non-multiple"?


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...I don't use Tupperware.  I have *a* set of very nice dishes with covers...
> 
> 
> 
> "a" as in, "singular", "one", "non-multiple"?
Click to expand...


Only the 1 set


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I started using more and more ziplock bags to store things because of that, Wade. It's definitely not eco-friendly, but I re-use them when I can. Our kitchen just isn't big enough to keep a large stock of them around.


With JC's super system, the spatial distribution is greatly reduced and highly effective.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary thinks JC will have a tick, the size of which will take him down, if he ever opens the tupperware cupboard here.


But your laundry tub should more than make up for it.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> It's okay ... but he'd rather watch a college football game or a pro baseball game.



Birmingham had a Hockey team that we used to go watch that was interesting. Take a bunch of red neck Bama boys, put them on skates and P***s them off real good, then set back and watch the fun. Think WWA, football and hockey all rolled into one.  Lots of pile ups, and good old fashion bar brawls (on the ice and off) LOL   Sadly when they tried to clean it up the interest waned and they finally went be the way side, go figure.


----------



## jcdeboever

I fin


smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's okay ... but he'd rather watch a college football game or a pro baseball game.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Birmingham had a Hockey team that we used to go watch that was interesting. Take a bunch of red neck Bama boys, put them on skates and P***s them off real good, then set back and watch the fun. Think WWA, football and hockey all rolled into one.  Lots of pile ups, and good old fashion bar brawls (on the ice and off) LOL   Sadly when they tried to clean it up the interest waned and they finally went be the way side, go figure.
Click to expand...

I find it hard to believe Bama boys would get into a pair of skates....that's funny right there. Nothing wrong with hockey fights, keeps hockey from being a dirty sport. The one thing I miss about old time hockey.


----------



## smoke665

Me thinks @jcdeboever and @Gary A. would run screaming from our house if they saw how things were organized in our cabinets. We follow the "IIFIGT" (if it fits if goes there) method, which extremely flexible and stress free.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever ever see a hockey player pinned to the ice with a headlock and "tap out".  They had a lot of rules that I suspect you wouldn't find in the official rule book


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Me thinks @jcdeboever and @Gary A. would run screaming from our house if they saw how things were organized in our cabinets. We follow the "IIFIGT" (if it fits if goes there) method, which extremely flexible and stress free.


I get tired of fixing cabinet drawer faces from jammed up drawers. I get a huge tic of anger and rip the faces off the drawer.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever ever see a hockey player pinned to the ice with a headlock and "tap out".  They had a lot of rules that I suspect you wouldn't find in the official rule book


Only in one of my favorite movies....slapstick


----------



## waday

I used to play roller hockey when I was 12/13.

One time, this kid kept stepping on my stick. He did it a few times, and I let it go--I thought it might have been an accident. But, when he kept doing it, I got tired of it, so next time he did it, I flipped the stick up and he went flying. It was well worth the penalty.

Good times.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> @ Frank: You guys play any baseball in Germany?



there are people who do, but everyone cares about football, real football, what you call soccer. the rich care for golf and tennis and horses.


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Frank: You guys play any baseball in Germany?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> there are people who do, but everyone cares about football, real football, what you call soccer. the rich care for golf and tennis and horses.
Click to expand...

Boxing used to be big there.


----------



## jcdeboever

Why do all my phone images have HDR in the file name? They don't look HDR. Android Motorola Droid Maxx Turbo.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> but everyone cares about football, real football, what you call soccer.



Sorry Frank, no comparison. Soccer to me is about as exciting as watching paint dry. Now if they'd bring back the medieval form that allowed things like kicking, punching, biting and gouging, I might start watching it!! LOL


----------



## smoke665

@Frank F. Thought you'd find this an interesting read. Alabama Football souvenir shop in Jerusalem who would have thought!! Conan O’Brien finds Roll Tide while traveling through Jerusalem - Alabama NewsCenter


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> We follow the "IIFIGT" (if it fits if goes there) method, which extremely flexible and stress free.


IMIFF - "I'll make it %$#*& Fit"


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> IMIFF - "I'll make it %$#*& Fit"



Yup done that a few times also


----------



## snowbear

Actually, we have a plastic box (something we got from Staples, I think) for the Tupperware containers; most of the lids go into the drawer under the oven, with the pot lids.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Frank F. Thought you'd find this an interesting read. Alabama Football souvenir shop in Jerusalem who would have thought!! Conan O’Brien finds Roll Tide while traveling through Jerusalem - Alabama NewsCenter


That's just crazy ... Roll Tide across the Holy Land. lol


----------



## JonA_CT

I had the most common tupperware snafu happen to me tonight. I put our leftovers into the appropriately sized container...and then never found the correct lid. So I had to switch it to another container, and then wash the previous one.

(I should have recycled it...since the lid is missing and all, but my wife caught me trying to do that...she claims she knows where the lid is and that I'm a moron. One of those things is true for sure.)


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> We follow the "IIFIGT" (if it fits if goes there) method, which extremely flexible and stress free.
> 
> 
> 
> IMIFF - "I'll make it %$#*& Fit"
Click to expand...

In the construction industry it is called "Get a bigger hammer ...".


----------



## snowbear

. . . "Grouped Layers" in GIS/Computer Cartography


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Roll Tide across the Holy Land.



Some think that St. Saban walks on water. LOL


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> (I should have recycled it...since the lid is missing and all, but my wife caught me trying to do that...she claims she knows where the lid is and that I'm a moron. One of those things is true for sure.)



Can we take odds on who wins LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

In no more than 13 minutes it's lights out. One more 4am and then I'm off until Monday. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

For some reason this has been the season of Guinea Wasps in our area. All About Guinea Wasps And How To Get Rid Of Them | Tex Dot Org  In the best of moods, they're mean, but this year they are extremely aggressive. My wife was stung last month when she walked by an area where there was a nest. When I tried to spray the nest, they swarmed, and literally chased me a good hundred yards, before I outran them. Today, out walking Sadie, one nailed me in a tender spot on the back of the arm. Normally stings don't bother me much, but these little suckers pack a wallop worse than a hornet. Then as the HVAC company was here installing a new unit, they brushed a shrub, that had a nest. Luckily someone saw them swarm and alerted the rest. Never saw 4 guys move that fast, but at least they didn't get stung.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has wasps, Yellowjackets.  He knocks down their nest with a broom and they go away.  Gary has never been stung by a wasp.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary has wasps, Yellowjackets.  He knocks down their nest with a broom and they go away.  Gary has never been stung by a wasp.



Guineas make yellow jackets look like wusses.


----------



## tirediron

Wasps are the a$$holes of the insect world.


----------



## b_twill

Hey, thanks for the reminder!  I have to break the Geneva convention and do a pre-emptive chemical strike on a wasp nest under some siding on the house.  Its 10:30 pm, hopefully I'll catch those buggers off guard!


----------



## b_twill

Of course had to be mindful of natures own walking chemical defence sites...had a couple skunks getting a drink from the garden pond.


----------



## SquarePeg

We have yellow jackets every summer and when we get rid of the nest they just come back to a new spot the next year.  I've been stung about a dozen times over the years and it never really bothered me.  More stings on the golf course than in the garden.  In the garden they have other things to occupy their attention.


----------



## SquarePeg

Crazy colorful sky over the field tonight. It went from this:




 

To this:


 
All I had with me was my iPhone. It was gorgeous out there.  The field is right on the water so there was a nice breeze and we got treated to a real show during the game.


----------



## Gary A.

Nice.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Star of the Sea High School in San Pedro, has a ballpark on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific.  Every home run hit to Right Field, will literally, land in the ocean. Center and left requires that the batter gets all the ball in order to hit the ocean.





The view from right field.


----------



## limr

That is one freaky fog bank.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> That is one freaky fog bank.


In summer, it is nearly a daily occurrence.  The five o'clock fog we call it.   It doesn't go very far inland, maybe a few hundred yards, but the temps will drop to the upper 50's. You'd love it.  Imagine bundling up in sweaters every summer evening.





Another view from right field.


----------



## Frank F.

tirediron said:


> Wasps are the a$$holes of the insect world.



I disagree. There are only very few aggressive wasps here. But the horse flies are really there for your blood and go for it. If you want to assign the a*hole go for them!


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Frank: You guys play any baseball in Germany?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> there are people who do, but everyone cares about football, real football, what you call soccer. the rich care for golf and tennis and horses.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Boxing used to be big there.
Click to expand...



Only in certain parts of society I have and want no connection to


----------



## Dragster3

Boxing or football? Bundesliga...what's your team?

Sent from my RS988 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wasps are the a$$holes of the insect world.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I disagree. There are only very few aggressive wasps here. But the horse flies are really there for your blood and go for it. If you want to assign the a*hole go for them!
Click to expand...


Yes, horse flies are assholes, too, (and also less common in some parts) but perhaps you just haven't been around the more aggressive American wasps enough to know just how much _more_ asshole-ish they can be. And really, who says only _one_ insect can take the title. No need to limit it to just one. _Asshole_ is very generous - it can be given to as many insects as you want


----------



## waday

Speaking of assholes... my continued dislike of shipping companies..


----------



## Gary A.

Speaking of football ... Los Angeles Rams beat the San Francisco 49'ers last night in a terribly entertaining game.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wasps are the a$$holes of the insect world.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I disagree. There are only very few aggressive wasps here. But the horse flies are really there for your blood and go for it. If you want to assign the a*hole go for them!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, horse flies are assholes, too, (and also less common in some parts) but perhaps you just haven't been around the more aggressive American wasps enough to know just how much _more_ asshole-ish they can be. And really, who says only _one_ insect can take the title. No need to limit it to just one. _Asshole_ is very generous - it can be given to as many insects as you want
Click to expand...


Nothing is worse than the Green Heads.  If horse flies are aholes the green heads are mf-ers.  There are several beaches in Gloucester that are practically unusable for 1-2 weeks in the summer because of the Green Heads.  Those bites hurt!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wasps are the a$$holes of the insect world.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I disagree. There are only very few aggressive wasps here. But the horse flies are really there for your blood and go for it. If you want to assign the a*hole go for them!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, horse flies are assholes, too, (and also less common in some parts) but perhaps you just haven't been around the more aggressive American wasps enough to know just how much _more_ asshole-ish they can be. And really, who says only _one_ insect can take the title. No need to limit it to just one. _Asshole_ is very generous - it can be given to as many insects as you want
Click to expand...

Not many Horse Flies out here.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Speaking of football ... Los Angeles Rams beat the San Francisco 49'ers last night in a terribly entertaining game.



Terribly entertaining because of the terrible D!


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Speaking of assholes... my continued dislike of shipping companies..
> 
> View attachment 147112



Jeez! I hope you are making some complaints.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Speaking of assholes... my continued dislike of shipping companies..
> 
> View attachment 147112


As this seems to be a continuous treatment of packages to your address ... Gary fears it most likely a mutual sentiment.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wasps are the a$$holes of the insect world.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I disagree. There are only very few aggressive wasps here. But the horse flies are really there for your blood and go for it. If you want to assign the a*hole go for them!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, horse flies are assholes, too, (and also less common in some parts) but perhaps you just haven't been around the more aggressive American wasps enough to know just how much _more_ asshole-ish they can be. And really, who says only _one_ insect can take the title. No need to limit it to just one. _Asshole_ is very generous - it can be given to as many insects as you want
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nothing is worse than the Green Heads.  If horse flies are aholes the green heads are mf-ers.  There are several beaches in Gloucester that are practically unusable for 1-2 weeks in the summer because of the Green Heads.  Those bites hurt!
Click to expand...

A Green Head?


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Speaking of football ... Los Angeles Rams beat the San Francisco 49'ers last night in a terribly entertaining game.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Terribly entertaining because of the terrible D!
Click to expand...

Yes ... a complete lack thereof.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wasps are the a$$holes of the insect world.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I disagree. There are only very few aggressive wasps here. But the horse flies are really there for your blood and go for it. If you want to assign the a*hole go for them!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, horse flies are assholes, too, (and also less common in some parts) but perhaps you just haven't been around the more aggressive American wasps enough to know just how much _more_ asshole-ish they can be. And really, who says only _one_ insect can take the title. No need to limit it to just one. _Asshole_ is very generous - it can be given to as many insects as you want
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nothing is worse than the Green Heads.  If horse flies are aholes the green heads are mf-ers.  There are several beaches in Gloucester that are practically unusable for 1-2 weeks in the summer because of the Green Heads.  Those bites hurt!
Click to expand...


We don't really get greenheads where I am (I'm farther inland - the greenheads are a coastal thing),but the black horseflies were a terror every summer at the lake.  If one was after you, the trick was to stay close to the water and let it just barely land on you, then dunk it before it could bite.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wasps are the a$$holes of the insect world.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I disagree. There are only very few aggressive wasps here. But the horse flies are really there for your blood and go for it. If you want to assign the a*hole go for them!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, horse flies are assholes, too, (and also less common in some parts) but perhaps you just haven't been around the more aggressive American wasps enough to know just how much _more_ asshole-ish they can be. And really, who says only _one_ insect can take the title. No need to limit it to just one. _Asshole_ is very generous - it can be given to as many insects as you want
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nothing is worse than the Green Heads.  If horse flies are aholes the green heads are mf-ers.  There are several beaches in Gloucester that are practically unusable for 1-2 weeks in the summer because of the Green Heads.  Those bites hurt!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> A Green Head?
Click to expand...


A variety of horsefly common to coastal areas in New England Tabanus nigrovittatus - Wikipedia


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Speaking of assholes... my continued dislike of shipping companies..
> 
> View attachment 147112
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeez! I hope you are making some complaints.
Click to expand...

I usually only complain when the contents are damaged, but I'm going to start complaining about any package damage from now on. I'm going to include pictures--and I'm going to complain to the shipping companies themselves in addition to the stores.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Speaking of assholes... my continued dislike of shipping companies..
> 
> View attachment 147112
> 
> 
> 
> As this seems to be a continuous treatment of packages to your address ... Gary fears it most likely a mutual sentiment.
Click to expand...


Did you do something to the Fedex/UPS/USPS person?  That's pretty bad and especially as it's not the first time.  Our UPS guy is awesome! 



Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wasps are the a$$holes of the insect world.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I disagree. There are only very few aggressive wasps here. But the horse flies are really there for your blood and go for it. If you want to assign the a*hole go for them!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, horse flies are assholes, too, (and also less common in some parts) but perhaps you just haven't been around the more aggressive American wasps enough to know just how much _more_ asshole-ish they can be. And really, who says only _one_ insect can take the title. No need to limit it to just one. _Asshole_ is very generous - it can be given to as many insects as you want
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nothing is worse than the Green Heads.  If horse flies are aholes the green heads are mf-ers.  There are several beaches in Gloucester that are practically unusable for 1-2 weeks in the summer because of the Green Heads.  Those bites hurt!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> A Green Head?
Click to expand...






Tabanus nigrovittatus - Wikipedia

Horse fly that lives at the beach.


----------



## jcdeboever

Horse flies are bad in my neighborhood. I got bit in the calf, on the golf course around 8 weeks ago. It drew blood. It still itch's today which is weird. It actually took a junk of skin the size of a dipping dot. The fly itself was jet black and big. I can see why horses get messed up by them.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Our UPS guy is awesome!


Ours is a wasp/horse fly.


----------



## Gary A.

Greenheads

A very interesting article. Gary complains when a single tiny mosquito enters the patio. Greenheads are like a plague of biblical proportions.


----------



## Gary A.

On hot summer days, especially when a large, two person size package is delivered, Gary always sneaks a couple of beers in a bag, as a tip for the delivery people. "For after work ..." he whispers.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Did you do something to the Fedex/UPS/USPS person? That's pretty bad and especially as it's not the first time. Our UPS guy is awesome!


I don't think I did? I'm usually pretty cordial (since they are handling packages, and because I try to be a decent human being).

The only thing I can think of is when I made a pretty angry complain to Amazon when 80-90% of dog food cans (I bought two cases, so 24 cans total) were damaged to the point where I had to throw them out. Amazon refunded my entire purchase and told me to donate any cans that I could to a local shelter.

Amazon probably would have reached out to UPS, which likely trickled down to the local level?

ETA: I also no longer buy canned dog food from Amazon.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Greenheads
> 
> A very interesting article. Gary complains when a single tiny mosquito enters the patio. Greenheads are like a plague of biblical proportions.



2 of our favorite beaches, Crane in Ipswich and Good Harbor in Gloucester, have terrible greenhead seasons.  We usually keep each other updated on greenhead status beginning in August.  As soon as they're spotted, word spreads via FaceBook and we head elsewhere.   The parking fee at Good Harbor is $30 on weekends and no one wants to pay that to get bit all day.  Not everyone knows where the secret free parking spots are.  What?  Sorry, I don't have any idea what you're referring to.


----------



## limr

Overheard on campus:

To the person on the phone: "No, I have to pick up my car after class, I mean, I have things to do! And I still have to get my nails done and my hair done, like, I have THINGS to do!"


----------



## jcdeboever

After watching a little RedWings last night, I have a feeling it's gonna be a looooooong GG season. They look poorly coached IMO. Defense still can't get that first pass going out of their end.


----------



## Frank F.

Dragster3 said:


> Boxing or football? Bundesliga...what's your team?
> 
> Sent from my RS988 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app




I am not into sports watching at all. I keep myself fit. But. Of course our local team is the 1st FC Köln.


----------



## davidharmier60

A little b*tch about FedEx and Rock Auto
First time the FedEx driver called and talked to my Sister and I STILL didn't get the part. Raised a little H*'ll with Rock Auto and they sent it again. Yesterday I got an email saying it was delivered. Only I didn't get it. The telephone to FedEx goes to an automated pos. I can't talk to a human. 
Makes me very VERY irritated. 
At Rock Auto the part is about $30.
At O'Reilly it's about $90.
But Rock Auto can't get it here.
ARGH!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> A little b*tch about FedEx and Rock Auto
> First time the FedEx driver called and talked to my Sister and I STILL didn't get the part. Raised a little H*'ll with Rock Auto and they sent it again. Yesterday I got an email saying it was delivered. Only I didn't get it. The telephone to FedEx goes to an automated pos. I can't talk to a human.
> Makes me very VERY irritated.
> At Rock Auto the part is about $30.
> At O'Reilly it's about $90.
> But Rock Auto can't get it here.
> ARGH!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Sounds frustrating, you have my sympathies.


----------



## smoke665

I can deal with horse flies, biting flies and no seeums, but the venom of the guinea wasp is worse then a normal wasp. In addition to those we have scorpions that like the cool corners of the garage. So far I've been lucky, but you always check any shoes left there before you put them on. Lastly the Coppeheads seem to have been bad this year. 4 children bitten in the last month.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Now, what do I do with a chain stuck in the driveway? I'm not kidding. Last night the power went out for no reason other than I'd just been thinking how yellow it looked outside and poof! I blame a squirrel, that's happened before. 

Anyway, I heard a dog barking loudly, went to the front door and the neighbor came out to see what was up, the dog's chain attached to its collar was stuck down in a space in the driveway. Couldn't get it loose for anything, finally got the chain off the collar (because that didn't want to come off either). At least it had tags but nobody answered the number listed, but the neighbor's wife drove down the street looking for the address as it couldn't be more than a few doors down. 

At least it was a nice friendly dog, but now a section of the chain is stuck and laying in the driveway. Any bright ideas or even ridiculous suggestions will be appreciated. 

And FedEx had left huuuge boxes that weren't mine, out on the edge of the porch where I couldn't read the label, so had to get the walker (to get back up the ramp, don't need it going out) to go out thru the garage to go read the label on the other side (because I gave the box a shove and it didn't budge an inch). And discovered the boxes belonged to the neighbor who helped with the dog... (didn't know their last name). 

And FedEx customer service is a whole other world when you call back at night... at least they didn't show up to get the boxes since I cancelled, I wasn't too sure the message got thru.


----------



## jcdeboever

Him....crow bar?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Maybe, he had out a couple tools, wrench, pliars, whatever. Wondering if there's some kind of lubricant that might help it loosen or slide out. That dog must've pulled on it so hard it got wedged in there but good. 

Maybe I can make it into Halloween decor, rattling chains for a ghost.


----------



## Gary A.

Hire a handyman to cut it out at the base.


----------



## Gary A.

Los Angeles has an Urban Search and Rescue Team in Mexico.  The team's dogs are an extremely vital component.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> I can deal with horse flies, biting flies and no seeums, but the venom of the guinea wasp is worse then a normal wasp. In addition to those we have scorpions that like the cool corners of the garage. So far I've been lucky, but you always check any shoes left there before you put them on. Lastly the Coppeheads seem to have been bad this year. 4 children bitten in the last month.


We keep our scorpions out in the deserts. No Copperheads here but plenty of Rattlers.


----------



## Gary A.

Dodgers Magic Number is 1.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Plenty of Rattlers here, but they tend to stay more in the woods. Copper heads on the otherhand will come around the house. Had several when we first moved here, but since a couple of King Snakes took up residence in a retaining wall the Copper heads have disappeared


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Hire a handyman to cut it out at the base.


Half stick of 40% stumping powder?


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Dodgers Magic Number is 1.



Division or playoffs clinch?


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hire a handyman to cut it out at the base.
> 
> 
> 
> Half stick of 40% stumping powder?
Click to expand...

That'll work ... will lose a bit of the drive through.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dodgers Magic Number is 1.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Division or playoffs clinch?
Click to expand...

NL West Title.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hire a handyman to cut it out at the base.
> 
> 
> 
> Half stick of 40% stumping powder?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That'll work ... will lose a bit of the drive through.
Click to expand...

Sure, I guarantee that nothing will get stuck in _that_ crack ever again!


----------



## waday

Mysterious Apocalyptic Message Interrupts TV Broadcasts in California: 'Violent Times Will Come'

Well, shoot, maybe the end of the world is tomorrow after all..


----------



## vintagesnaps

That did actually give me a thought... I think the neighbor may have gotten a link of the chain open to get it apart (looked like he still had part of the chain attached to the dog's collar and the other half is in the driveway). Since the main concern last night was getting the dog loose, and didn't want to remove the collar since it had a tag in case it took off, which it didn't - it seemed quite well behaved and content to stay with him and his wife in my driveway. 

Or I could get Wile E. Coyote to dynamite it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nah, that was just Gary playing with his TV. He probably hooked it up to the Kamado and used it like a satellite dish. 

Is that what those emergency broadcasts are for? I thought it was just an annoying way to cut audio during the best part of a show. 

If the broadcast was from '97 it's taking ET a loong time to get (back) here.


----------



## snowbear

One August, two fishermen went to the eastern shore of Maryland for the first time, to try their luck in some of the waters along the Chesapeake Bay.  They set up camp and went to an area near the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge.  Within minutes they were inundated with mosquitoes and black flies so badly, they stopped and retreated to camp.  That night, one saw the glow from several fireflies and screamed "OHMYGOD -- THEY'VE GOT FLASHLIGHTS!"


----------



## JonA_CT

My iPhone 8 Plus is here. I haven't turned it on yet...but soon.

Supposedly the camera is awesome -- I'll share my results here.


----------



## davidharmier60

The camera in my Galaxy 6 Active isn't terrible so it has to be pretty good. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> My iPhone 8 Plus is here. I haven't turned it on yet...but soon.
> 
> Supposedly the camera is awesome -- I'll share my results here.



Looking forward to your review of the camera.


----------



## snowbear

I bought myself a birthday present.




Happy birthday to me by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Birthday!


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> I bought myself a birthday present.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy birthday to me by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


Very cool - happy birthday indeed!  Now, hand Lenny a drool rag.


----------



## JonA_CT

First impressions — soooo much faster than my 6. The haptic feedback instead of the physical phone button is a little strange, but I’m quickly getting used to it. It’s funny though...my MacBook has the haptic feedback touchpad and I could never tell the difference between that and a normal track pad.

The rest I’ll just have to play with some more. The dual camera lens is pretty neat, though...a quick shot of some wine a certain Californian coffee house regular dropped in the post...




 

My wife and I pulled it out to celebrate with a little nightcap. Our little boy is a month old, and we haven’t killed each other, either of the kids, or the dog. Winning over here. The wine is delicious by the way...a local winery makes a chocolate wine that’s just okay...this one beats it by a mile.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I bought myself a birthday present.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy birthday to me by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr



Happy Birthday, Charlie!

That actually comes with roll film? What are you planning to do when the roll film is done or if it's dried up? Planning to convert it?


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Happy Birthday!





tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I bought myself a birthday present.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy birthday to me by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> Very cool - happy birthday indeed!  Now, hand Lenny a drool rag.
Click to expand...


Thanks (it's Sunday).  I'm sure the enclosed film will be dried out so I'm hoping I can find some, otherwise it'll go into my museum.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I bought myself a birthday present.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy birthday to me by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Birthday, Charlie!
> 
> That actually comes with roll film? What are you planning to do when the roll film is done or if it's dried up? Planning to convert it?
Click to expand...

Yes, there is a roll in the case.  I don't know - maybe I can adapt something, even if it's one shot at a time.

I might be able to sell it to a local hipster.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I bought myself a birthday present.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy birthday to me by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Birthday, Charlie!
> 
> That actually comes with roll film? What are you planning to do when the roll film is done or if it's dried up? Planning to convert it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, there is a roll in the case.  I don't know - maybe I can adapt something, even if it's one shot at a time.
> 
> I might be able to sell it to a local hipster.
Click to expand...


I think you can convert it to shoot 120.


----------



## Gary A.

Happy Birthday Chuck.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Gary is in the patio, watching TRMS, sipping some wine and plucking basil for pesto. The evening is getting progressively cool. Mary Lou and Gary will soon be retiring indoors for dinner. It has been a very pleasant evening in the patio.


----------



## davidharmier60

I thought I had a folding camera.
But I may be having memories of something in the past because I can't find it .

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

I have 3 uncles who all worked for Polaroid in Cambridge.  I'll have to ask if any of them have any old products stuffed away in a box somewhere. It could be interesting for some of you. 

As I was typing this I had a flashback of my aunt having something to do with Haselblad at one point.  I remember her giving me a t shirt that had Haselblad on the front.   Will check with her too to find out what that connection was.  She's a total pack rat.


----------



## SquarePeg

At the train station picking up Princess from her group date with "He's not my boyfriend".


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> birthday present



This reminds me of two things. 1) I wish I would have been a bigger pack rat then I am, and 2) I wish I could remember where I put the stuff


----------



## davidharmier60

I'll have to ask my Dad if he took that camera the way he took my obverse and reverse 20th century type sets!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> I have 3 uncles who all worked for Polaroid in Cambridge.  I'll have to ask if any of them have any old products stuffed away in a box somewhere. It could be interesting for some of you.
> 
> As I was typing this I had a flashback of my aunt having something to do with Haselblad at one point.  I remember her giving me a t shirt that had Haselblad on the front.   Will check with her too to find out what that connection was.  She's a total pack rat.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has Pesto.


----------



## davidharmier60

David feels sorry for Gary!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Is it contagious?


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I bought myself a birthday present.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy birthday to me by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Birthday, Charlie!
> 
> That actually comes with roll film? What are you planning to do when the roll film is done or if it's dried up? Planning to convert it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, there is a roll in the case.  I don't know - maybe I can adapt something, even if it's one shot at a time.
> 
> I might be able to sell it to a local hipster.
Click to expand...

I can't make out the model.  150, 800?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Looks to me like it says 150 on the brochure. We must've just done the same thing, gone back for a closer look!

Happy Birthday Charlie, you lucky bear!


----------



## vintagesnaps

There was a skit on Carol Burnett awhile ago where various commercials were happening in her house, and Harvey Korman came in being Olivier with a Polaroid SX-70 (a white 'stormtrooper' one). It had a flashbar with some of the bulbs used, and took a picture of her hiding in the tub and out popped the picture.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Spinal Tap is on tonight! ugh I'm too tired to make it staying up that late. Maybe I'll just watch til the volume goes to 11.


edit - The numbers all go to 11. Look-11, 11, 11. Most amps go to 10. It's one louder than 10.

Now I could go to bed but I'm into the movie... 'Gimme Some Money'


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> I have 3 uncles who all worked for Polaroid in Cambridge.  I'll have to ask if any of them have any old products stuffed away in a box somewhere. It could be interesting for some of you.
> 
> As I was typing this I had a flashback of my aunt having something to do with Haselblad at one point.  I remember her giving me a t shirt that had Haselblad on the front.   Will check with her too to find out what that connection was.  She's a total pack rat.


I appreciate it; thank you.


----------



## davidharmier60

In a couple hours I am going to go walkabout (actually drive).
And see what I can see at the flea market. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I bought myself a birthday present.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy birthday to me by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Birthday, Charlie!
> 
> That actually comes with roll film? What are you planning to do when the roll film is done or if it's dried up? Planning to convert it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, there is a roll in the case.  I don't know - maybe I can adapt something, even if it's one shot at a time.
> 
> I might be able to sell it to a local hipster.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I can't make out the model.  150, 800?
Click to expand...

It's the 800.  User's manual is written for 150 and 800 - I don't know the differences, yet.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I bought myself a birthday present.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy birthday to me by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Birthday, Charlie!
> 
> That actually comes with roll film? What are you planning to do when the roll film is done or if it's dried up? Planning to convert it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, there is a roll in the case.  I don't know - maybe I can adapt something, even if it's one shot at a time.
> 
> I might be able to sell it to a local hipster.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I can't make out the model.  150, 800?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's the 800.  User's manual is written for 150 and 800 - I don't know the differences, yet.
Click to expand...

The difference is 650.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> David feels sorry for Gary!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Ahhhh ... don't feel sorry for Gary and his wonderfully tasting, freshly picked, newly crafted, easier-than-hell-to-do, aromatic (the kitchen and he smell of basil) tub of pesto.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Is it contagious?


Yes, you may come down with a hankering for fine food.


----------



## Gary A.

Dodgers take the MLB West, the fifth title in a row, in spite of themselves. As the game was blacked out locally, Gary watched it via his internet streaming device.  

@JC: You should get one.  They're not perfect, but there is a ton of content.  Yesterday, while searching for the Dodger game Gary ran into Alabama vs. Georgia ... that peaked Gary's interest ... turns out to have been women's volleyball. 

Big game today, undefeated Cal versus undefeated USC.


----------



## davidharmier60

David is getting his ducks in a row for going out into the world in a little while.
Probably take the EOS650 35mm with 28-105 on it to see if anything pops out at him.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

I love my little pumpkin


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> David is getting his ducks in a row for going out into the world in a little while.
> Probably take the EOS650 35mm with 28-105 on it to see if anything pops out at him.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Film ... David shoot film? (well ... Obviously .... but still a surprise.)  Do you develop and print at home?


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I love my little pumpkin
> View attachment 147157


She's more than a simple pumpkin, she's a Pumpkin-Butt. That actually is a very nice candid.  I don't see many candids from you. Keep it up!


----------



## snowbear

Just finished cup #2 from the k machine.

Going to get some things packed up to send to lazy_lobster in Maine.  LL has finally posted on the board with a different screen name.  I doubt they will "hang out," but who knows.  We also have a plant stand we got a while back that needs to be stripped and re-painted.  It's either made from, or design-based on, an old railroad baggage dolly.  'm not sure if we'll tackle it this weekend or next.


----------



## davidharmier60

No David does not process at home
Does not even know where he will get it done. The roll in the Camera isn't exactly new either. Mostly just playing around hoping for a DSLR body. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Just finished cup #2 from the k machine.
> 
> Going to get some things packed up to send to lazy_lobster in Maine.  LL has finally posted on the board with a different screen name.  I doubt they will "hang out," but who knows.  We also have a plant stand we got a while back that needs to be stripped and re-painted.  It's either made from, or design-based on, an old railroad baggage dolly.  'm not sure if we'll tackle it this weekend or next.


Darkroom, enhanced scan.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just polished off last cup of yesterday's coffee. He's in a debate whether to brew up a new batch or simply refrain from consuming more. Gary needs to pick up Tom, (his doctor friend with the triple bypass), in Pasadena and get home with enough time to make some lunch before the 12:30 p.m. kickoff of the SC-Cal game.  Tom has recovering at Mary Lou and Gary's house. Now he's just spending the weekends.  Mary Lou has suggested Gary's Famous Turkey-loaf. For the past two Fridays, Gary's been making a pot roast in the slow cooker.  So easy and soooo good ... Easy Fridays Mary Lou calls it. Come home, pop open a bottle of vino and dinner is already made. Gary is gonna continue Pot Roast Fridays.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Darkroom, enhanced scan.


That is my goal, but I can't build one here.  It will have to wait until we (eventually) move.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay, Gary brewed up some new stuff. Delish, especially because it's 55F outside right now. The old used coffee is okay, just a bit dull when compared to the better defined taste of fresh brewed.


----------



## limr

Morning hosers.

Slept a bit later this morning, which meant I took my medication late (empty stomach and no food for an hour afterwards) and then had an early dental cleaning appt, so I am still in the middle of my first coffee of the day. Mmmmmmmmm, coffee.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Leonore.

The National Apple Harvest Festival (Biglerville, PA) is in a couple of weeks.  We're planning on attending, so if anyone find's themselves near Gettysburg on the 7th or 8th of October (Columbus Day weekend) and want a meet-up, shout out.


----------



## davidharmier60

David posted a thread about the Flea Market. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Darkroom, enhanced scan.
> 
> 
> 
> That is my goal, but I can't build one here.  It will have to wait until we (eventually) move.
Click to expand...

I meant the lab, Darkroom, get the enhanced scan.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Darkroom, enhanced scan.
> 
> 
> 
> That is my goal, but I can't build one here.  It will have to wait until we (eventually) move.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I meant the lab, Darkroom, get the enhanced scan.
Click to expand...

Oh.  I like my idea, too.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I bought myself a birthday present.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy birthday to me by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Birthday, Charlie!
> 
> That actually comes with roll film? What are you planning to do when the roll film is done or if it's dried up? Planning to convert it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, there is a roll in the case.  I don't know - maybe I can adapt something, even if it's one shot at a time.
> 
> I might be able to sell it to a local hipster.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I can't make out the model.  150, 800?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's the 800.  User's manual is written for 150 and 800 - I don't know the differences, yet.
Click to expand...

Hmm.  You might could do paper negatives in there.    Try starting with the Washi paper film.    Pretty easy handling, and you could even develop it yourself.    Use any plastic tray for the chemistry.  This film lets you develop under a safelight, so you can literally decide when you want to pull it by visual inspection, which is reassuring when you're starting something new.   We used LPD 1:9 as a developer, I love that stuff.   Tray development is easy - once you burn a few sheets to figure out your exposure, and whether or not you want a filter.   Look under Specialty films for info on the orthochromatic.    In the field, just carry a changing bag to remove sheets.    The stuff has a really unique look.    Just a thought - _if_ the dimensions are correct.    

Or yeah, you could sell it to a hipster.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Hmm.  You might could do paper negatives in there.    Try starting with the Washi paper film.    Pretty easy handling, and you could even develop it yourself.    Use any plastic tray for the chemistry.  This film lets you develop under a safelight, so you can literally decide when you want to pull it by visual inspection, which is reassuring when you're starting something new.   We used LPD 1:9 as a developer, I love that stuff.   Tray development is easy - once you burn a few sheets to figure out your exposure, and whether or not you want a filter.   Look under Specialty films for info on the orthochromatic.    In the field, just carry a changing bag to remove sheets.    The stuff has a really unique look.    Just a thought - _if_ the dimensions are correct.
> 
> Or yeah, you could sell it to a hipster.


That sounds like something to try.  I'm setting up for film processing but have recently acquired trays and other items for eventual prints.


----------



## smoke665

Sinful stones


----------



## limr

GuysguysguysguysguysguysguysGUYS! GUYS!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> GuysguysguysguysguysguysguysGUYS! GUYS!
> 
> View attachment 147177


I got to order some. I'm hardly home lately. [emoji36]
Report please ...


----------



## snowbear

Untitled by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## davidharmier60

What is that and how does it work?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

That is a color enlarger.  It makes magic.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> GuysguysguysguysguysguysguysGUYS! GUYS!
> 
> View attachment 147177


Shut up!    Where'd you get that?


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Untitled by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


I learned on a Beseler!  Little workhorses.  Fun times ahead.


----------



## Gary A.

USC 30 - Cal 20


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> GuysguysguysguysguysguysguysGUYS! GUYS!
> 
> View attachment 147177
> 
> 
> 
> Shut up!    Where'd you get that?
Click to expand...


@jcdeboever too...

Dude, Amazon! Mind you, it's the reformulated Impossible Project film, rebranded as Polaroid because they bought the rights. But it develops in 10-15 minutes instead of 30-45, and it costs about $5 less per box than IP film. Took one shot so far. With IP film, I would generally have to open the dial all the way up to fully lightened, so I did that with the new Polaroid formulation. It was a bit overexposed, so it might be easier to manage than the IP.

And I believe emulsion lifts are possible


----------



## limr

As I said, it's overexposed and the cast is a tiny bit more yellow than it seems here, but this was my first test shot. I'll have more tomorrow.


----------



## terri

If I were to shoot a roll or three of slide film, I could drag out the old Daylab - then I'd have some color correction control.    I never worry too much about that, anyway, with this newfangled Polaroid/Impossible stuff.



limr said:


> And I believe emulsion lifts are possible



:Raises hand meekly:    Manipulable?   

This is a very old piece, but all I could find quickly on the laptop.    A normal shot with slide film (my box cameras, set up on the driveway).   Drop slide into Daylab and crop, etc., as desired, then shoot out the Polaroid (SX-70, FKA Time Zero).   Manipulate the Polaroid.    Scan said Polaroid and print onto any inkjet paper that accepts photo oils.   Hand color.  

I mean, I did lots of work like this back in the day.   Such a little thing, but people loved it.  This print alone sold multiple times, and won me prize money at an arts festival.  

So: manipulable?       Any word?    SX-70 was known for the squishy emulsion, the P-films that ended with a "9" were the ones famous for lifts and transfers.


----------



## Frank F.

I did vote this morning. The higher the turnout the fewer NeoNazis will enter the German parliament. 

This year us Germans did not have a real alternative in the vote. Merkel and Schulz have more or less the same opinion on everything. No wonder their parties ran a government together for the last four years, representing 75% of the vote. Not good for democracy. No opposition.

A chance lies in the smaller parties that might have a chance to send one of the big ones into the opposition role.

We will see 6 p.m. German time.


----------



## Gary A.

75% is actually good for democracy ... super-majority rule.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> 75% is actually good for democracy ... super-majority rule.




The German society is very much a society with 85% happy people and 15% who seem to be "outsiders" ... these are the source for the far right and far left parties ... they get most of their votes from the 5 "new" states that used to form the "German Democratic Republic" until the wall fell 25 years ago ... Why is that so? ... because after the wall fell all the young, willing and able left for the West, either Western Germany or farther away to the rest of the world.

The rest that stayed was and is in its majority male, old, badly educated and unhappy. Not so much in the cities but sure n the countryside. This is theperfect soil for extremism be is leftist or rightist....


----------



## Gary A.

It is 56F here at 7:30 a.m.  Gary is pondering starting his day in the patio or continue drinking his coffee in the kitchen.  Stanford pummelled UCLA last night, in a game ending well after 11:00 p.m.  No overcast this morning.  Gary can see a broad sunbeam dividing the porch wall between dark and light ... the shadow from the arbor and light from the morning sun.  The Sunday paper is on the thin side today with all the expected stories of Mexico City, Puerto Rico and trump. 

Tom (the triple bypass guy and house guess), Mike, Max (Mike's Goldie mix) watched the SC-Cal game, we ate Gary's Famous Turkey-loaf (quite good actually, stuffed with handfuls of herbs and peppers from the garden) and drank vino. Later, Tom treated us to dinner. Gary had udon, Mary Lou a bento plate and Tom had sashimi at little restaurant we frequent. After dinner we watched the first episode of Game of Thrones.  Mary Lou and Gary haven't watched it before. Gary found a free version on the internet streaming machine. Today should be pleasant, mid 80's. Gary is planning to make a strawberry sorbet, poke around the yard, consume more turkey-loaf (so good) and watch a NetFlix (3:10 to Yuma) or round two of GOT.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 75% is actually good for democracy ... super-majority rule.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The German society is very much a society with 85% happy people and 15% who seem to be "outsiders" ... these are the source for the far right and far left parties ... they get most of their votes from the 5 "new" states that used to form the "German Democratic Republic" until the wall fell 25 years ago ... Why is that so? ... because after the wall fell all the young, willing and able left for the West, either Western Germany or farther away to the rest of the world.
> 
> The rest that stayed was and is in its majority male, old, badly educated and unhappy. Not so much in the cities but sure n the countryside. This is theperfect soil for extremism be is leftist or rightist....
Click to expand...

Gary thinks that "... male, old, badly educated and unhappy ..." may be a political constituency/party/voting-block in most countries of the world ... even here, lol.  

*Gary whispers to Frank gotta be careful what you keyboard, can't get too particular with your political statements, this is a photo forum.*


----------



## davidharmier60

David just finished scrambled eggs,  bacon and toast. He is going to continue to clean and sharpen the knives he picked up yesterday.  And go through coin rolls looking for magic.

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----------



## Gary A.

ooooohhhh ... Gary likes knives. Whatcha pickup ... cookin', huntin', pocket, et al?


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes eggs, bacon and toast.


----------



## Gary A.

Best story in the LA Times Sports section:

"It was All Saints' Day in Minneapolis on Saturday.  St. Thomas and St. John's played for the 87th time in a rivalry that began in 1901.  The game, which is played for the "Holy Grail," ..."


----------



## Gary A.

Gary will continue his monologue... the beginning of the Sorbet.


----------



## Gary A.

IPhone

This is shaping up to be a very pleasant day.  Late morning coffee in the patio, watching flocks of birds eating Gary's grapes and diving into the bird baths and fountain, 80F with a nice breeze, listening to KUSC.


----------



## JonA_CT

This happens many times when the Giants are playing.


----------



## SquarePeg

Waiting for the crisp cool days of fall to start here in New England.  Instead it's 80 and sunny and humid.  Our plans were to visit our favorite farm and enjoy cider donuts, apple pie, the corn maze and pumpkin flavored everything.  I think we should swap our original plan out for one last afternoon at the beach.  The group still wants to do the farm. I am being swept along with the majority even though I know the beach is the better choice!  Oh for the good old days when Mom knew best and resistance was useless.


----------



## terri

Same here - fall is taking a back seat to extended summer days.   I think about mid-week, the upper 80s/low 90s will be in the rear-view mirror for good.    70's and 80's for the highs in the next couple of weeks.

Bring it!


----------



## Gary A.

Everything's just dandy here ... warm, dry days and cool nights, the Sun in Gary's face and the wind at his back.


----------



## snowbear

I am afraid we are going to go straight from AC season to heat season.


----------



## Gary A.

Sorbeting away.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary, shaddup!! lol The rest of us are trying to enjoy our misery in hot humid crap. 

It is supposed to cool off later in the week so hope it's nice for next weekend. The weird thing too is late day when the AC really gets to running, then it's getting dark early, it's just - wrong.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Terri you got me wanting to try all that... never heard of the Film Washi, hmmm... I picked up a thingy on ShopGoodwill that you put in film and it shoots out a Polaroid (or an Impossible photo). I don't think it's a Daylab but a smaller more portable version of the same thing, just need to take time to go hunt out some negs and try it. 

I guess I'm just being a real poopiehead but I'm almost kinda sad about The Impossible Project being over. I didn't know the change was coming and there was film I'd been wanting to get and hadn't yet. So now I'm scrambling around to find some of it since all they're making now under the Polaroid name seems to be the basics. Of course the Impossible film usually did limited runs of some films anyway. Maybe there will be some other choices once they get going again.


----------



## snowbear

MLW is making turkey-barley-veggie-noodle soup and a cherry pie.  Asked me for my wish list: I added this (not posting photo but SFW).


----------



## Gary A.

Mmmmm Cherry pie. Gary had chicken udon yesterday. Gary is souped out.


----------



## Gary A.

Dodgers up 3-0, bottom of fourth.


----------



## Gary A.

Fan interference, batter called out ... fan tossed out ... is that a double play?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Fan interference batter call out ... fan tossed out ... is that a double play?


Yup. Lol. Happened to my brother when we went to a game. I stayed at the game, he walked to a bar. It was only for 2 innings. 

Sent from my SM-G955U using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 147233
> 
> Sorbeting away.


Time machine?

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----------



## jcdeboever

Got my new phone. Samsung S8+. I don't have a clue, seems easy enough. Big screen is nice. Color is better than than old droid turbo. The guy said, 2200 contacts? Holy crap! I spent $195 in accessories.  Case, glass, car charger, vent clip magnet thingy....geez, what a racket.

Sent from my SM-G955U using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has a magnetic phone holder that fits in the CD player. It will hold up an iPad.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fan interference batter call out ... fan tossed out ... is that a double play?
> 
> 
> 
> Yup. Lol. Happened to my brother when we went to a game. I stayed at the game, he walked to a bar. It was only for 2 innings.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G955U using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...

Gary likes bars.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary has a magnetic phone holder that fits in the CD player. It will hold up an iPad.


If it were for an 8 track tape, I'd be really impressed...


----------



## Frank F.

The leftist exteme scored West Germany: 7% to East Germany: 16%, the right wingers scored West: 11% to East: 22%, Male/Female ratio ist 27%/17% in the East and 13%/8% in the West.

The good news is we are up 3.5% in turnout (71.5% to 75%) and now there are 6 parties in parliament, so more voices will be heared and voters have four years to make up their minds which voices the want to hear for a longer time.

Government will be smaller (~55% of seats down from ~80%) and most probably consist of three parties, opposition will be larger and more diverse (three parties representing ~45% of seats). I guess history will see this as a good day for our country, because more of the population will be represented and the conservatives who tried to be the better social democrats woke up to see that their move left opened a significant space on the right and that they should come back to their original values.

Just my two cents!


----------



## snowbear

That's more than enough of the political talk in the thread, thank you.


----------



## davidharmier60

It is still big time AC season in East Texas. 
But the AC in Daves house is not up to the task.

Gary mentioned he likes knives.
A CAMCO (curved stamp)
A Cammilus
An Imperial 




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## snowbear

Welcome to Waldorf
(quick snap from moving car)


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave has the ceiling fan cranked up and is tired enough to probably sleep hot.

Dave hopes Gary liked the knives little though they are.

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----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes knives.


----------



## Gary A.

Dodgers win their 99th game.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Dodgers win their 99th game.


Ever?  Since 1884?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Dodgers win their 99th game.


Great season. Congrats.  Hopefully they finish out with best record and have home field throughout. Fantastic team and manager, not to forget the best scouting department in baseball.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Same here - fall is taking a back seat to extended summer days.   I think about mid-week, the upper 80s/low 90s will be in the rear-view mirror for good.    70's and 80's for the highs in the next couple of weeks.
> 
> Bring it!



I'm heading sort of  your way for a few days for work.  Meetings all day and night.  No idea what to pack.  It's business casual but both indoor and outdoor venues.  The conference locations are sure to be overly refrigerated and then the rest will be hot and humid???????


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dodgers win their 99th game.
> 
> 
> 
> Ever?  Since 1884?
Click to expand...

Since 1963 ... IIRC


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Same here - fall is taking a back seat to extended summer days.   I think about mid-week, the upper 80s/low 90s will be in the rear-view mirror for good.    70's and 80's for the highs in the next couple of weeks.
> 
> Bring it!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm heading sort of  your way for a few days for work.  Meetings all day and night.  No idea what to pack.  It's business casual but both indoor and outdoor venues.  The conference locations are sure to be overly refrigerated and then the rest will be hot and humid???????
Click to expand...

Layer ...


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Same here - fall is taking a back seat to extended summer days.   I think about mid-week, the upper 80s/low 90s will be in the rear-view mirror for good.    70's and 80's for the highs in the next couple of weeks.
> 
> Bring it!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm heading sort of  your way for a few days for work.  Meetings all day and night.  No idea what to pack.  It's business casual but both indoor and outdoor venues.  The conference locations are sure to be overly refrigerated and then the rest will be hot and humid???????
Click to expand...

Dress in layers.    Business casual makes it easy to pull a blazer off or on, or a decent sweater.    The A/C will likely be blasting inside, but yes, for at least the next several days it will be in the upper 80s.    Humidity isn't oppressive, but it's not exactly crisp air yet.    By the tail end of this week/early next week, according to accu-weather it will become much more seasonal!


----------



## davidharmier60

Not bad in the house this morning. 
Dave is roughly 25 minutes from heading to work.

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----------



## SquarePeg

davidharmier60 said:


> Not bad in the house this morning.
> Dave is roughly 25 minutes from heading to work.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



While she is tempted to refer to herself in the third person in Coffee House, Squarepeg resists because that Gary's shtick.


----------



## Gary A.

Shtick-Schmick  ... Gary has no proprietary hold on third person.  While Gary, may be the first person (notice how cleverly Gray wordsmithed third and first person across his text), to have ever spoken in the third person ... Gary makes no claim to sole ownership or license to said grammatical expression and usage.

Gary is confident that he may seem a jerk for using third person ... but there is plenty room for others.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. 

Mondays, amirite?

Weather here suuuuuuuucks right now. It was 87 degrees yesterday and supposed to be the same today. Back to lower 80s and then finally back to normal high-60s/low 70s by the end of the week.


----------



## Frank F.

We have an oxygen deprived air to breathe here in Bonn. As often. I feel a tad woozy when I lift from my desk. Must go back to my daily sportive routine. But not tomorrow. At a quarter to nine in the morning they want to push a camera up my ding dong to examine the bladder. Never tried that before. Diagnostic measures are not always painful but this sounds a bit ... strange at least ... stuff is supposed to leave my body at that end not enter, right? Wish me luck!


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> We have an oxygen deprived air to breathe here in Bonn. As often. I feel a tad woozy when I lift from my desk. Must go back to my daily sportive routine. But not tomorrow. At a quarter to nine in the morning they want to push a camera up my ding dong to examine the bladder. Never tried that before. Diagnostic measures are not always painful but this sounds a bit ... strange at least ... stuff is supposed to leave my body at that end not enter, right? Wish me luck!



Ouch. Good luck!


Ouch.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got just a wee bit over 4 hours at his part time job which he is THRILLED to have. 

Glamour shot of a little Cammilus knife.
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





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----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Shtick-Schmick  ... Gary has no proprietary hold on third person.  While Gary, may be the first person (notice how cleverly Gray wordsmithed third and first person across his text), to have ever spoken in the third person ... Gary makes no claim to sole ownership or license to said grammatical expression and usage.
> 
> Gary is confident that he may seem a jerk for using third person ... but there is plenty room for others.


Mmm, no, it's pretty much become your shtick.  IIRC, this took over the Coffee House a year or so back, and most of us did it over a weekend or so, like the occasional haiku invasion.    You're the only one who chose to stick with it.   So yeah, it's become your shtick.  

Not that there's anything wrong with that. ..


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> We have an oxygen deprived air to breathe here in Bonn. As often. I feel a tad woozy when I lift from my desk. Must go back to my daily sportive routine. But not tomorrow. At a quarter to nine in the morning they want to push a camera up my ding dong to examine the bladder. Never tried that before. Diagnostic measures are not always painful but this sounds a bit ... strange at least ... stuff is supposed to leave my body at that end not enter, right? Wish me luck!


It is Gary's understanding, (not personal experience), that in those situations, the camera is streamlined enough and doesn't hurt ... but lights are a killer ... especially coming out.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Shtick-Schmick  ... Gary has no proprietary hold on third person.  While Gary, may be the first person (notice how cleverly Gray wordsmithed third and first person across his text), to have ever spoken in the third person ... Gary makes no claim to sole ownership or license to said grammatical expression and usage.
> 
> Gary is confident that he may seem a jerk for using third person ... but there is plenty room for others.
> 
> 
> 
> Mmm, no, it's pretty much become your shtick.  IIRC, this took over the Coffee House a year or so back, and most of us did it over a weekend or so, like the occasional haiku invasion.    You're the only one who chose to stick with it.   So yeah, it's become your shtick.
> 
> Not that there's anything wrong with that. ..
Click to expand...

Gary can juggle also ... maybe it's time to take this on the road ...


----------



## SquarePeg

Ugh.  Was up sick all night.  Feeling a bit better this morning but shaky and exhausted from lack of sleep and too much time spent driving the porcelain bus.  With a 3 day business trip looming followed by a weekend trip to the White Mtns for some leaf peeping, the timing is just terrible.  Not that there's ever a good time to be sick but there is definitely a worst time and this is it.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh.  Was up sick all night.  Feeling a bit better this morning but shaky and exhausted from lack of sleep and too much time spent driving the porcelain bus.  With a 3 day business trip looming followed by a weekend trip to the White Mtns for some leaf peeping, the timing is just terrible.  Not that there's ever a good time to be sick but there is definitely a worst time and this is it.


God speed on your recovery. You'll be raring to go is what I'm believing.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh.  Was up sick all night.  Feeling a bit better this morning but shaky and exhausted from lack of sleep and too much time spent driving the porcelain bus.  With a 3 day business trip looming followed by a weekend trip to the White Mtns for some leaf peeping, the timing is just terrible.  Not that there's ever a good time to be sick but there is definitely a worst time and this is it.


Ugh - I'm sorry, honey.        If you're pretty sure you're done yakking, it's time to think about hydration - part of the weakness is having lost so many fluids.    Ginger ale, or simple carbonated water can be easy to start with.   Drink a little, wait a while to be sure it's settled, then a little more.    Don't even think about trying to do anything today other than caring for SharonCat!     Once you can hold some fluids, switch to clear broth, jello, etc., then the dry toast/crackers thing.    Hopefully you'll feel like you have a small amount of energy back by this evening but, more than likely, after what you just described, the day is shot.    Don't fight it, like I'm betting you think you should.      Just give in and relax as best you can.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> We have an oxygen deprived air to breathe here in Bonn. As often. I feel a tad woozy when I lift from my desk. Must go back to my daily sportive routine. But not tomorrow. At a quarter to nine in the morning they want to push a camera up my ding dong to examine the bladder. Never tried that before. Diagnostic measures are not always painful but this sounds a bit ... strange at least ... stuff is supposed to leave my body at that end not enter, right? Wish me luck!
> 
> 
> 
> It is Gary's understanding, (not personal experience), that in those situations, the camera is streamlined enough and doesn't hurt ... but lights are a killer ... especially coming out.
Click to expand...



Light ejaculation??? I will bring my sunglasses!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Aw SharonCat what a time to get sick. Hopefully it will run its course in another day or two. Get better soon and enjoy that jello.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Was watching the beginning of the show The Chew - you can tell who's from the midwest (AKA the eastern midwest) like me, the one doing all the kvetching about hot weather and clingy spandexy T shirts, and banging your knee on the table leg, etc. etc. If we didn't complain what else would we have to talk about?


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> . Don't even think about trying to do anything today other than caring for SharonCat!



Lol - you mean don't get all my regular work for the week done in one day then pack, grocery shop, do laundry, finish the pre conference reading materials, choose and order prints for the upcoming art walk and the 20 other things I need to do before I leave?  Hahahahahaha


----------



## SquarePeg

I'll be offline for a few days.  "Talk" to you all after the weekend!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Lol - you mean don't get all my regular work for the week done in one day then pack, grocery shop, do laundry, finish the pre conference reading materials, choose and order prints for the upcoming art walk and the 20 other things I need to do before I leave? Hahahahahaha



NO!     

.....at least hold off till 4pm or so.    And go minimalist on the packing.   Yes, you are allowed to read the materials and make notes, lists, as long as you're settled on the couch.

Grocery shopping while you're gone should consist of a bunch of frozen foods.  Stuff that freezer and forget about it.  

Good luck!!!


----------



## limr

Getting the hang of it. I think I was remembering things backwards: close all the way down for best results, not the other way around.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> If I were to shoot a roll or three of slide film, I could drag out the old Daylab - then I'd have some color correction control.    I never worry too much about that, anyway, with this newfangled Polaroid/Impossible stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And I believe emulsion lifts are possible
> 
> 
> 
> 
> :Raises hand meekly:    Manipulable?
> 
> This is a very old piece, but all I could find quickly on the laptop.    A normal shot with slide film (my box cameras, set up on the driveway).   Drop slide into Daylab and crop, etc., as desired, then shoot out the Polaroid (SX-70, FKA Time Zero).   Manipulate the Polaroid.    Scan said Polaroid and print onto any inkjet paper that accepts photo oils.   Hand color.
> 
> I mean, I did lots of work like this back in the day.   Such a little thing, but people loved it.  This print alone sold multiple times, and won me prize money at an arts festival.
> 
> So: manipulable?       Any word?    SX-70 was known for the squishy emulsion, the P-films that ended with a "9" were the ones famous for lifts and transfers.
> 
> 
> View attachment 147192
Click to expand...


To answer your question about the film being manipulable in this way:








All I know is that I did two emulsion lifts from IP film and they behaved the same way as was described when people were doing the lifts with original Polaroid film. Has to be done under water to place on the new medium, no gel medium needed. It's definitely not the cellophane that the Fuji peel-apart is.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is in the middle of penny roll searching. We can't afford to call someone out for our AC. Ceiling fan can only do so  much.

Glamour shot of a CAMCO which is a smidgen smaller than the Cammilus.




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----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> ooooohhhh ... Gary likes knives



Gary would love this place!!!!!!!!!! Knives for Sale at SMKW Home Page | Smoky Mountain Knife Works will be there this week.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ooooohhhh ... Gary likes knives
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary would love this place!!!!!!!!!! Knives for Sale at SMKW Home Page | Smoky Mountain Knife Works will be there this week.
Click to expand...

I like knives


----------



## davidharmier60

SMKW is where Dave got this in 2010.




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----------



## davidharmier60

Dave has foam backed 3000 sandpaper he strops on.
Most of his blades will do paper slicing excellently.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh.  Was up sick all night.  Feeling a bit better this morning but shaky and exhausted from lack of sleep and too much time spent driving the porcelain bus.  With a 3 day business trip looming followed by a weekend trip to the White Mtns for some leaf peeping, the timing is just terrible.  Not that there's ever a good time to be sick but there is definitely a worst time and this is it.


Hoping for the best.  Gary read that the Australians have more synonyms for vomiting than any other culture.  He fondly remembers "Talkin' to the toilet" ... "Taking the bus home" ... "Technicolour yawn" ...


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh.  Was up sick all night.  Feeling a bit better this morning but shaky and exhausted from lack of sleep and too much time spent driving the porcelain bus.  With a 3 day business trip looming followed by a weekend trip to the White Mtns for some leaf peeping, the timing is just terrible.  Not that there's ever a good time to be sick but there is definitely a worst time and this is it.
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh - I'm sorry, honey.        If you're pretty sure you're done yakking, it's time to think about hydration - part of the weakness is having lost so many fluids.    Ginger ale, or simple carbonated water can be easy to start with.   Drink a little, wait a while to be sure it's settled, then a little more.    Don't even think about trying to do anything today other than caring for SharonCat!     Once you can hold some fluids, switch to clear broth, jello, etc., then the dry toast/crackers thing.    Hopefully you'll feel like you have a small amount of energy back by this evening but, more than likely, after what you just described, the day is shot.    Don't fight it, like I'm betting you think you should.      Just give in and relax as best you can.
Click to expand...

What-the-hell ... if you gotta take a sick day ... just go for it ... ferris bueller's day off ...


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave has foam backed 3000 sandpaper he strops on.
> Most of his blades will do paper slicing excellentl



One of my other hobbies is wood carving and turning. I use a combination of things from a wet grinder to set a precision bevel, followed by honing on steps up 1000 grit wet/dry paper. I then finish off on a leather wheel with jewelers rouge. Faster than honing by hand.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> SMKW is where Dave got this in 2010.
> View attachment 147271
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Each knife has a story.


----------



## jcdeboever

Smoke Geppetto


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Each knife has a story.



Gary would enjoy the kitchen section. Large assortment of type of kitchen utensil you could possibly want. Need a sword??? Need an axe? Cutting edges of every size, shape, brand and price. 2 story building, plan on 2 or 3 hours to go through it. They even have a custom fabrication shop outside the store.

Last trip there I picked up a set of three "Pig tails".  Can't remember if this is the brand but it's similar Original PigTail, 12'' For grilling steaks, pork steaks and chops, they can't be beat for ease of use.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ooooohhhh ... Gary likes knives
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary would love this place!!!!!!!!!! Knives for Sale at SMKW Home Page | Smoky Mountain Knife Works will be there this week.
Click to expand...

Wow ...  a knife fest!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Each knife has a story.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary would enjoy the kitchen section. Large assortment of type of kitchen utensil you could possibly want. Need a sword??? Need an axe? Cutting edges of every size, shape, brand and price. 2 story building, plan on 2 or 3 hours to go through it. They even have a custom fabrication shop outside the store.
Click to expand...

Gary just happens to be in the market for a sword.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Each knife has a story.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary would enjoy the kitchen section. Large assortment of type of kitchen utensil you could possibly want. Need a sword??? Need an axe? Cutting edges of every size, shape, brand and price. 2 story building, plan on 2 or 3 hours to go through it. They even have a custom fabrication shop outside the store.
> 
> Last trip there I picked up a set of three "Pig tails".  Can't remember if this is the brand but it's similar Original PigTail, 12'' For grilling steaks, pork steaks and chops, they can't be beat for ease of use.
Click to expand...

Nice ... Gary doesn't have a pig tail.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou are sipping a very fine Rita's Rose from Lorenzi, watching cable news and ... wait ... Mary Lou just brought out a plate of snacks, crackers, Swiss and Gouda and smoked prosciutto.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Will be with a group so not sure of time, but will try to pick up one for you


----------



## Gary A.

Thank you Smoke, that is very nice of you.


----------



## davidharmier60

Without the sun beating down on the house it ain't too bad in here...
Checking out some Drag Racing. 
But since I woke up at 4am it won't be long.

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----------



## vintagesnaps

And why do you need a sword Gary...? 

We used to call it driving the porcelain bus, or selling Buicks (or if you were really sick, a Buick Lesaaaaabrrre). 

I think we're getting into reruns on some of our conversations. Well, not about swords maybe.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> And why do you need a sword Gary...?
> 
> We used to call it driving the porcelain bus, or selling Buicks (or if you were really sick, a Buick Lesaaaaabrrre).
> 
> I think we're getting into reruns on some of our conversations. Well, not about swords maybe.


Respect.


----------



## limr

Praying to the porcelain god. Tossing your cookies. Talking to Ralph.


----------



## Frank F.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> We have an oxygen deprived air to breathe here in Bonn. As often. I feel a tad woozy when I lift from my desk. Must go back to my daily sportive routine. But not tomorrow. At a quarter to nine in the morning they want to push a camera up my ding dong to examine the bladder. Never tried that before. Diagnostic measures are not always painful but this sounds a bit ... strange at least ... stuff is supposed to leave my body at that end not enter, right? Wish me luck!
> 
> 
> 
> It is Gary's understanding, (not personal experience), that in those situations, the camera is streamlined enough and doesn't hurt ... but lights are a killer ... especially coming out.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Light ejaculation??? I will bring my sunglasses!
Click to expand...



There were no light troubles in the room. Did not hurt so badly, only afterward when I gotta go take a wee, but this is getting better also.

Plus the good news is that the bladder is a clean as new, all happy.


----------



## JonA_CT

Sorry to have missed the action...but feeding the fish, liquid scream, tossing a sidewalk pizza, liquidating your assets...


----------



## davidharmier60

There is a loose plan to figure out/fix the AC. This would make Dave so very happy.
But that doesn't even touch how happy it would make my Sister 

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----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. 

Got a giant monkey fist right near my shoulder blade. Been getting worse for a couple of days. This morning I put on a Tiger Balm patch. Now I smell like menthol. It took me an hour to get to work today because people were freaked out by a tiny bit of fog over a part of the road that they drive on Every.Jamming.Morning.

It's gonna be a peachy Tuesday.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Got a giant monkey fist right near my shoulder blade. Been getting worse for a couple of days. This morning I put on a Tiger Balm patch. Now I smell like menthol. It took me an hour to get to work today because people were freaked out by a tiny bit of fog over a part of the road that they drive on Every.Jamming.Morning.
> 
> It's gonna be a peachy Tuesday.




People who can not drive should not sit in a driver seat. Gosh. I went down HWY1 last fall and as darkness fell these people honestly started to move at 10 MPH where 50 was permitted and went totally bunkers when I overtook them at the earliest possible point. Honking their horns .... Flashing their lights .... Why don't they just drive or let me pass at the passing points?


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Got a giant monkey fist right near my shoulder blade. Been getting worse for a couple of days. This morning I put on a Tiger Balm patch. Now I smell like menthol. It took me an hour to get to work today because people were freaked out by a tiny bit of fog over a part of the road that they drive on Every.Jamming.Morning.
> 
> It's gonna be a peachy Tuesday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> People who can not drive should not sit in a driver seat. Gosh. I went down HWY1 last fall and as darkness fell these people honestly started to move at 10 MPH where 50 was permitted and went totally bunkers when I overtook them at the earliest possible point. Honking their horns .... Flashing their lights .... Why don't they just drive or let me pass at the passing points?
Click to expand...


The dumbest thing is that this is a road that people are traveling on every single day. They know the road. They know that fog tends to linger a little bit longer on the bridge over the reservoir. The road is straight, and though the shoulder goes away, the three lanes of traffic do not get narrower.

They can't even get nervous about the traffic in the opposite direction because southbound and northbound traffic are completely divided at that point. This is northbound, taken from the southbound bridge:




The bridge v3r by limrodrigues, on Flickr

Well, the picture _should_ show up whenever Flickr decides to start working again.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Got a giant monkey fist right near my shoulder blade. Been getting worse for a couple of days. This morning I put on a Tiger Balm patch. Now I smell like menthol. It took me an hour to get to work today because people were freaked out by a tiny bit of fog over a part of the road that they drive on Every.Jamming.Morning.
> 
> It's gonna be a peachy Tuesday.


Looks like la sobrina is starting out a bit moody this morning.  One can purchase Monkey Fists on Amazon. Y'all think you have problems, Monkey Fists, fog, no A/C, nuclear war, hurricanes, earthquakes, kneeling by the NFL  ... well Gary just received notification that one of Gary's wine club vintners has an "unmanageable amount of Pinot ...", so y'all take a chill pill while Gary works out an unmanageable problem.





Proper Pinot Management


----------



## Frank F.

I think I need wine tonight.

What.A.Day ....


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> I think I need wine tonight.
> 
> What.A.Day ....


You're fine ... but your peepee could use some vino.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Got a giant monkey fist right near my shoulder blade. Been getting worse for a couple of days. This morning I put on a Tiger Balm patch. Now I smell like menthol. It took me an hour to get to work today because people were freaked out by a tiny bit of fog over a part of the road that they drive on Every.Jamming.Morning.
> 
> It's gonna be a peachy Tuesday.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is not quite the knife sharpener he thought he was. Only one of the little guys does paper cleanly. I worked at the others and got sorta results. Oh well.

Maybe wine would help. Certainly couldn't hurt.

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----------



## Gary A.

Supposed to warm up out here, presently in the 50'sF but should top out in the mid 80's, humidity under 50%.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think I need wine tonight.
> 
> What.A.Day ....
> 
> 
> 
> You're fine ... but your peepee could use some vino.
Click to expand...



Doctor said I should drink more than normally.... It is the prescription!


----------



## Frank F.

The air has changed. It smells like a late summer is approaching. A "Golden October" would be more than welcome after very rainy June/July/August....


----------



## limr

Slightly better today. Low 80s instead of almost 90. Humidity is about 70%, though. I'm just trying to hang on until Thursday when it will finally go down into the 70s. And then Friday back into the 60s! 

Yesterday it was 87, 70% humidity. Average for this time of year is 20 degrees cooler.


----------



## waday




----------



## Frank F.

Today I cooked some yellow beets. Very good looking veggies and a great taste!





Technical: Nikkor 300PF with 23mm extension on a Nikon D850. All natural light, slight editing in NXD & Photoshop


----------



## limr

Those look kinda orange, not yellow. Are they yellow on the inside?

I don't like beets.


----------



## JonA_CT

Tuesdays.


----------



## limr




----------



## snowbear

I actually got a lot accomplished today - finished up 5 of 6 projects I've been working on.

Going to dabble in the Dark Side at the end of the week.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> I actually got a lot accomplished today - finished up 5 of 6 projects I've been working on.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I actually got a lot accomplished today - finished up 5 of 6 projects I've been working on.
> 
> Going to dabble in the Dark Side at the end of the week.


----------



## davidharmier60

Don't know if it was FedEx or a kindly neighbor. But Dave got his AC Blower motor from Rock Auto and got it installed.
Not so much going to work. But AFTER work it'll sure be nice to have AC.

First try on the house AC. I was watching the outlet pipe and had the AC turned off.
At LEAST a half gallon (maybe a whole gallon) came in two streams out of the pipe. Attempted to put another drain in the pan under the coils. Second time no water from the pipe. But third time a pint or less came either out of the pipe or down along the side of it. Going to try and get better drain stuff at Lowe's after work tomorrow. 

And that's the state of things.

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----------



## vintagesnaps

So how is little Jack doing? He already doesn't look so little. 

The chain is out of the driveway. The guy who cuts the grass said yeah, he'd toss some tools in his truck before he came up. First I heard grass rustling, then I heard banging... no I did not go look. The chain has a larger round link at the end, and that's what was so stuck down in there. At least it's gone since it was about where car tires would be heading into the garage. 

It's hotter. A Golden Autumn like Frank mentioned would be welcome. And some wine. Or maybe just some ice cream even though I don't have any of the whiskey pecan whatever it was... hmm maybe I should put in another order to get thru the week.


----------



## JonA_CT

Jack is doing the things he is supposed to...eating, ruining diapers, and sleeping primarily.

He had his 1 month appointment today. He’s gained just over 3lbs since he was born, and the doctor warned us that his muscle tone indicates that he’ll be able to move enough to get in trouble soon. 

My wife is struggling with the 2 year old during the day. You know...’cause she’s two.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good for him. I worked as an EI Specialist, that's the kind of thing you want to hear.

Well, then, there is the two year old being two... but most likely she's showing that you've made her feel secure enough to assert her two year old independence, she knows mommy and daddy will be there for her with that unconditional love even when she's being two. 

Hope she outgrows that stage before Jack figures out he can get across the room before you realized he could! lol


----------



## davidharmier60

It's just about lights out for Dave.
4am is just around the corner. 
He did get the Imperial Pen Knife to do paper pretty good. He will tote it tomorrow along with this Case 6229 and a half. 



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----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> It's just about lights out for Dave.


Maybe they will stop first personning it.


----------



## davidharmier60

Why would Dave even consider such?

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----------



## benhasajeep

Woke up.  Took my time to work.  Was early for first conference call at 9.  So, watch guys tear up another 747 for about 25 minutes.  Went to office and did the morning call.  BS'd some, joked some, exagerated some.  Normal stuff.  Another call at noon was next big thing on agenda.  Said hi when it started.  After 2 min was posting on here.    Said goodbye when call was over.    I may have answered a question during the call.  Hopefully I used my work auto response system and not my wife auto response system.  Had BK for lunch which is very unusual for me.  Back to work.  Left office and watched the 747 guys tear into a 3rd plane for about 20 minutes.  Drove to the hotel.


----------



## davidharmier60

Good grief Dave finds 4am to be awful early. Later gators.

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----------



## Frank F.

BTW: Two guys meet in the middle of the desert, one is carrying a telephone booth, the other carries a huge piece of rock. Asks the rock man: "Why do you carry a telephone booth?" answer: "If a dangerous animal approaches, I will stand in it and do as if I am in conversation and the animal will pass on me...." and, after some consideration asks the rock man: "Why do you carry the rock?" reply: "That is easy: If a dangerous animal approaches I will trow away the rock so I can run faster..."

look at these pictures to see why I think the photographer carries a telephone booth: Field test – Nikon D850 (gone wrong…)


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Those look kinda orange, not yellow. Are they yellow on the inside?
> 
> I don't like beets.



Yes, very yellow like curry. These beets have a fruitier and softer taste than the red/purple ones that can be a bit harsh


----------



## davidharmier60

Put in almost 6 hours. Came to Livingston to visit Lowes for parts to make the home AC happy. 

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----------



## vintagesnaps

4 am is the middle of the night! When I was awake because some critter was yowling? howling? hooting? I dunno what. 

I feel like there's been a full moon that's lasted two weeks.


----------



## limr

Note the "Real Feel" and UV index, hosers.

Double.Plus.Un.Good.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## Frank F.

I just had a thought and want to know what you think about that:

It is acceptable if you do not smoke or drink alcoholic beverages or eat garlic or chilli, but if you do not eat sugar or wheat or milk people tend to think you are strange...

Is that tradition in conflict with health?


----------



## snowbear

Screw this hot weather . . .


----------



## snowbear

cmw3_d40_6573 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

I feel better, now.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> I just had a thought and want to know what you think about that:
> 
> It is acceptable if you do not smoke or drink alcoholic beverages or eat garlic or chilli, but if you do not eat sugar or wheat or milk people tend to think you are strange...
> 
> Is that tradition in conflict with health?



I'm not sure I agree that people think it's strange if you don't eat sugar or wheat or milk. At least not here. Most people wouldn't bat an eye if someone says they are avoiding those things. Perhaps we are more familiar with people who avoid sugar because of diabetes, or who have problems with gluten, or who are lactose-intolerant. In fact, just the other day, there was an event at work that involved ice cream, and when I declined to have any because, as I said, "Ice cream and I don't really get along", I didn't see anyone react as if I were strange for not eating ice cream. I mean, people think I'm strange, but not because of the ice cream  

I'd be more surprised at someone who doesn't eat garlic.


----------



## limr

What I will say is that sometimes people who are gluten-free will get the stink eye a little bit, just because it's such a fad these days, so it's hard to tell if they really _can't_ have gluten (Celiac, e.g.) or if they are just on the latest diet bandwagon for no reason other than to be fashionable.


----------



## waday

Frank F. said:


> It is acceptable if you do not smoke or drink alcoholic beverages or eat garlic





limr said:


> I'd be more surprised at someone who doesn't eat garlic.


If someone doesn't eat garlic, I assume they're a vampire.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is acceptable if you do not smoke or drink alcoholic beverages or eat garlic
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'd be more surprised at someone who doesn't eat garlic.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If someone doesn't eat garlic, I assume they're a vampire.
Click to expand...

or have a meeting with the boss/customers/whomever that day.


----------



## waday

Funny story regarding garlic:

My sister had never really cooked with fresh garlic before.... A recipe called for her to use 3 cloves of garlic. She didn't realize that a bulb includes several cloves. She thought a bulb was a clove.

She used THREE BULBS OF GARLIC.


----------



## snowbear

I had a neighbor that ate garlic raw; just peeled it and ate it.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Funny story regarding garlic:
> 
> My sister had never really cooked with fresh garlic before.... A recipe called for her to use 3 cloves of garlic. She didn't realize that a bulb includes several cloves. She thought a bulb was a clove.
> 
> She used THREE BULBS OF GARLIC.



And this is bad because...? 



snowbear said:


> I had a neighbor that ate garlic raw; just peeled it and ate it.



I don't eat it raw like that, but my go-to medicinal meal when I have a cold is to heat up some veggie broth and raw garlic, then throw in about two handfuls of fresh spinach, which then wilts in the hot broth. The broth isn't really hot enough to cook or soften the garlic, though, so it's still sort of semi-raw when I eat it. 

Mmmmm, garlic.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> And this is bad because...?










limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had a neighbor that ate garlic raw; just peeled it and ate it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't eat it raw like that, but my go-to medicinal meal when I have a cold is to heat up some veggie broth and raw garlic, then throw in about two handfuls of fresh spinach, which then wilts in the hot broth. The broth isn't really hot enough to cook or soften the garlic, though, so it's still sort of semi-raw when I eat it.
> 
> Mmmmm, garlic.
Click to expand...

That sounds delicious!


----------



## snowbear

Roasted garlic.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave went back by work to get his check.
Came home and tried to make the AC happier. ( goes to check something)
Maybe. But I am not ready to bet on it.

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----------



## snowbear

Time for another




DSC_6718 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> I mean, people think I'm strange, but not because of the ice cream



Are we supposed to agree with "people think you're strange", or "it's not strange to have a problem with milk products". I'm confused??? I couldn't find a button that quite fit this


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't eat it raw like that, but my go-to medicinal meal when I have a cold is to heat up some veggie broth and raw garlic, then throw in about two handfuls of fresh spinach, which then wilts in the hot broth. The broth isn't really hot enough to cook or soften the garlic, though, so it's still sort of semi-raw when I eat it.
> 
> Mmmmm, garlic.
> 
> 
> 
> That sounds delicious!
Click to expand...


It's sooooo good, and I swear I can practically feel the healing start after just a few sips.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't eat it raw like that, but my go-to medicinal meal when I have a cold is to heat up some veggie broth and raw garlic, then throw in about two handfuls of fresh spinach, which then wilts in the hot broth. The broth isn't really hot enough to cook or soften the garlic, though, so it's still sort of semi-raw when I eat it.
> 
> Mmmmm, garlic.
> 
> 
> 
> That sounds delicious!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's sooooo good, and I swear I can practically feel the healing start after just a few sips.
Click to expand...



If you believe you will move mountains (given you organize enough bulldozers to do the dirty work) ...


----------



## Gary A.

A high of 88F today w/ 29% humidity.  Perfectly comfortable, no A/C, just open windows.


----------



## JonA_CT

I don’t think it’s ever been 88* with 29% humidity in CT.

Kids are hard to figure out sometimes. I made homemade baked chicken tenders last night, and my daughter didn’t take a bite. We went with a more adult-like meal tonight — pressure cooker chicken and lentil stew — and she ate as much as I did. I guess the lentils are more nutritious haha.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> I just had a thought and want to know what you think about that:
> 
> It is acceptable if you do not smoke or drink alcoholic beverages or eat garlic or chilli, but if you do not eat sugar or wheat or milk people tend to think you are strange...
> 
> Is that tradition in conflict with health?


Out here yes it is acceptable for people to have diet restrictions. Many/most people actually respect those who take a harder path by not eating certain common foods and drink.  What gets Gary's goat, is when those artificial "indulgences" turns an easy group meal upside down.

PS-Out here people spend a lot of time in supermarket aisles reading  labels and checking their phone apps.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just had a thought and want to know what you think about that:
> 
> It is acceptable if you do not smoke or drink alcoholic beverages or eat garlic or chilli, but if you do not eat sugar or wheat or milk people tend to think you are strange...
> 
> Is that tradition in conflict with health?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure I agree that people think it's strange if you don't eat sugar or wheat or milk. At least not here. Most people wouldn't bat an eye if someone says they are avoiding those things. Perhaps we are more familiar with people who avoid sugar because of diabetes, or who have problems with gluten, or who are lactose-intolerant. In fact, just the other day, there was an event at work that involved ice cream, and when I declined to have any because, as I said, "Ice cream and I don't really get along", I didn't see anyone react as if I were strange for not eating ice cream. I mean, people think I'm strange, but not because of the ice cream
> 
> I'd be more surprised at someone who doesn't eat garlic.
Click to expand...

Gary remembers tasting wine with a garlic farmer.  After chatting a bit, he went to his car returning with a bag of garlic.  We continued our chat but now we were eating raw garlic with our wine.  It was pretty good, lots of different flavors. He gave me some special bulbs to plant in the yard.  He insisted that I wait until October ... in a week Gary plants.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I don’t think it’s ever been 88* with 29% humidity in CT.
> 
> Kids are hard to figure out sometimes. I made homemade baked chicken tenders last night, and my daughter didn’t take a bite. We went with a more adult-like meal tonight — pressure cooker chicken and lentil stew — and she ate as much as I did. I guess the lentils are more nutritious haha.


Not out of the norm for here.  Gary believes that around 50% humidity is when the wetness starts to act like a heat multiplier.

Gary remembers walking down the auditorium steps of a high school event and saw a family with grade school aged kids discussing dinner.  The kids got these giants smiles and were literally hopping up and down shouting ... "Liver! Liver! Liver!".


----------



## davidharmier60

No Liver. Nope. There are few things Dave don't eat and that is high on the list.
It's so hot and humid in the house Dave had cereal for dinner.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

The AC in my school (this is a safe space, right? Many schools around here don't have any at all) wasn't working that well today, and I was just slightly moist all day. So gross. 

Funny you mention liver...my daughter was a little anemic at her last doctor appointment, and they gave us a list of iron-rich foods. Three different types of liver were on the list. Offals are the one of the few things I can't handle cooking. We'll make sure she eats more broccoli and lentils and stuff instead, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Note the "Real Feel" and UV index, hosers.
> 
> Double.Plus.Un.Good.
> 
> View attachment 147356


Today's UV index is "1".


----------



## snowbear

cmw3_d40_6581 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## limr

Welcome by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## jcdeboever

Good night


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## vintagesnaps

G'night JC. 

Today's UV index was 'get in the AC already'. Cold weather is on its way. OK, cooler weather, I now have snow on the brain.


----------



## davidharmier60

Soon Davey must go earn a buck or three.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Fried beef liver and onions are good, as are chicken livers deep fried or grilled.


----------



## snowbear

It's official - I have diversified.  This is now mine.




Running a roll through it. by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> It's official - I have diversified.  This is now mine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Running a roll through it. by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr



Looks like mine. Finally got new batteries and film. Still need to do a little clean up and checking on it, then find the right opportunity to try it out.


----------



## snowbear

I have to get some leather conditioner because the case is in bad shape.  It needs batteries, too.  I'm going to try the #18 wire and batteries trick with the smaller diameter 675 batteries, first.  I bought film and the Vivitar flash to work so I'm ready.  I need to go to one of the fire stations to drop off a DVD of maps, so i might take advantage of that.


----------



## smoke665

Mine was bought new by my father when they first came out. It's traveled more around the world then I have LOL


----------



## snowbear

This one belonged to the GIS Boss's wife.  He convinced her to sell it to me for about half of eBay prices.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> This one belonged to the GIS Boss's wife.  He convinced her to sell it to me for about half of eBay prices.



I saw a few at Wings (neat camera store in Atlanta) last trip ranging from $250, to as much as $400.


----------



## smoke665

SCORE!!!!!!!

Walking around the RV Resort and spotted this in the junk truck. The telescope needs a little work and cleaning, but even without it, i can always use another heavy tripod. Also picked up 2 square aluminum tubes 10' long that will make great booms. Did I mention it was FREE


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> This one belonged to the GIS Boss's wife.  He convinced her to sell it to me for about half of eBay prices.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I saw a few at Wings (neat camera store in Atlanta) last trip ranging from $250, to as much as $400.
Click to expand...


$100.  I think I got a great deal; I ran a roll through it a couple of weeks ago, so I know it works (except meter until I get the batteries)


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> SCORE!!!!!!!
> 
> Walking around the RV Resort and spotted this in the junk truck. The telescope needs a little work and cleaning, but even without it, i can always use another heavy tripod. Also picked up 2 square aluminum tubes 10' long that will make great booms. Did I mention it was FREE
> 
> View attachment 147388



You suck*

* Term used on one of the old (Usenet) woodworking newsgroups for someone that got a great deal.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave wishes he had $100 and could find a nice Nikon for that $100. He sees the chances of that being right up there with time travel. He is puzzling on how he used to take night shots at 30 seconds F8.
Never had a bulb or cable release. Nether the AE-1s nor the EOS650 have anything over 2 seconds. Maybe the brain is fried.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

today I made plum wraps for a school event tomorrow ... not exactly vegetarian but as a saying from the time of the Spanish Inquisition goes: "properly prepared pork converted more than fire and sword"





@Gary A.  This is Californian sun wrapped in German pork. Dried plums from: SSGL, Marysville 95901 California, USA


----------



## limr

Root canal, part deux this afternoon, hosers.


----------



## Frank F.

cats have their own ideas, always. Fight for your rights as a human being, Leo!


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> cats have their own ideas, always. Fight for your rights as a human being, Leo!



Well, as much as I don't want to go through the actual process, finishing the root canal kinda is fighting for my rights...to not be in pain...or toothless. I just wish I could send my clone to sit through the procedure while I just sit here and feel my tooth be magically fixed.


----------



## terri

Ugh - my own dentist has been smiling and promising me one for the last couple of visits, apparently letting me enjoy my last couple of years before he decides it's time to pounce.    Unlike you, though, nothing is bothering me, so it all sounds like clinical far-away-ness.    <--- Which is in fact an obscure medical term.

Good luck - hope you sail through it!


----------



## Overread

The worst parts are

1) Feeling like they are trying to push your head off your neck whilst all the blood is heading to your head whilst they are drilling/probing/pushing/jabbing and generally abusing your mouth with those pointy tools of torture.

2) The ache in your jaw after the first 5 mins of holding it open

3) That little bit of tooth/material/whatever that gets stuck against your tongue that you can't quite get rid of without chocking yourself so you just keep your tongue closing off your throat whilst it irritates you

4) The strange language they speak to themselves about what's going on in your mouth - you've no idea what it means save that the more they talk the more chances that there's more to come

5) The after effects of ache in your head and when you go to eat something and find that your jaw ahs swollen a bit so that you can't open it fully (not to mention most of it being numb and half of it very tender)


But its worth it for the release from the throbbing torment of tooth pain (that always strikes worse in the evening before bed)


----------



## smoke665

For me the worst part of the root canal is that 20' x 20' rubber dam thing they put in your mouth during the procedure. Sets my gag reflex on hyper mode.


----------



## jcdeboever

I particularly enjoy the barbed wire roto rooter reaming of the nerve. The only one, and probably the last I will have. I felt the whole thing, couldn't get me numb enough. I had 6 canals in one tooth.


----------



## davidharmier60

Seriously. I'm confused. Would 2 seconds at F8 be enough? There was light but not nearly enough. I might have made notes but I'd have to get out from under this ceiling fan and go put to the garage to search and that ain't happening. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Ugh - my own dentist has been smiling and promising me one for the last couple of visits, apparently letting me enjoy my last couple of years before he decides it's time to pounce.    Unlike you, though, nothing is bothering me, so it all sounds like clinical far-away-ness.    <--- Which is in fact an obscure medical term.
> 
> Good luck - hope you sail through it!



I had my first root canal because I ignored the problem of a small chip in a back tooth that eventually developed a cavity big enough that it required the root canal. I am now freaked out about leaving even small problems unresolved. 

At least this being my third one over the past 15 years or so, I at least knew what to expect. Not that it's a walk in the park (see Overread's post below!) but the anticipation - especially of the first one - is worse. 

And for now, the worst is over (hopefully) and now I just wait for the permanent crown to be finished.



Overread said:


> The worst parts are
> 
> 1) Feeling like they are trying to push your head off your neck whilst all the blood is heading to your head whilst they are drilling/probing/pushing/jabbing and generally abusing your mouth with those pointy tools of torture.
> 
> 2) The ache in your jaw after the first 5 mins of holding it open
> 
> 3) That little bit of tooth/material/whatever that gets stuck against your tongue that you can't quite get rid of without chocking yourself so you just keep your tongue closing off your throat whilst it irritates you
> 
> 4) The strange language they speak to themselves about what's going on in your mouth - you've no idea what it means save that the more they talk the more chances that there's more to come
> 
> 5) The after effects of ache in your head and when you go to eat something and find that your jaw ahs swollen a bit so that you can't open it fully (not to mention most of it being numb and half of it very tender)
> 
> 
> But its worth it for the release from the throbbing torment of tooth pain (that always strikes worse in the evening before bed)



Amen to every single word! 



smoke665 said:


> For me the worst part of the root canal is that 20' x 20' rubber dam thing they put in your mouth during the procedure. Sets my gag reflex on hyper mode.



My dentist in college used one of those, but I've never had another dentist use those dental dams. I don't remember having a problem with it, but who knows why. Maybe it was fine for teeth closer to the front, but this was the last tooth on the bottom right (not my wisdom tooth - those came out a few years ago) so I bet it would have been uncomfortable.



jcdeboever said:


> I particularly enjoy the barbed wire roto rooter reaming of the nerve. The only one, and probably the last I will have. I felt the whole thing, couldn't get me numb enough. I had 6 canals in one tooth.


----------



## Gary A.

A stitch in time saves time.


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner is a flatbread. 




With a very very fine Russian River Vineyard Gewurztraminer.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 147413
> Dinner is a flatbread.
> 
> View attachment 147414
> With a very very fine Russian River Vineyard Gewurztraminer.


Is that home made pizza? Looks delicious


----------



## Gary A.

Yep, (no sauce so technically a flatbread), whole wheat crust stuffed with herbs and peppers, more peppers on top, Spanish olives, marinated artichoke hearts, basil , cheeses and roasted chicken.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Yep, (no sauce so technically a flatbread), whole wheat crust stuffed with herbs and peppers, more peppers on top, Spanish olives, marinated artichoke hearts, basil , cheeses and roasted chicken.



Never heard of such a thing. I like it...


----------



## Gary A.

Also a tomato and some of Gary's Homemade Pesto Sauce. Gary took his first bite ... Gary wishes you were here.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Greaseless Pizza


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Also a tomato and some of Gary's Homemade Pesto Sauce. Gary took his first bite ... Gary wishes you were here.



Yah, I'd be all over that. You would have had to made two... I had corn flakes for dinner.


----------



## Gary A.

Lol ... at least two. Mary Lou is on her third piece.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Lol ... at least two. Mary Lou is on her third piece.


Two just for me...


----------



## Gary A.

Topped off with some homemade Strawberry Sorbet.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> cats have their own ideas, always. Fight for your rights as a human being, Leo!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, as much as I don't want to go through the actual process, finishing the root canal kinda is fighting for my rights...to not be in pain...or toothless. I just wish I could send my clone to sit through the procedure while I just sit here and feel my tooth be magically fixed.
Click to expand...



I thought there was trouble with your plumbing. Truth is your teeth ache badly and you have to go through I painful procedure. Poor Leo!!!


----------



## davidharmier60

I can't see very well in the morning. 
So a lot of my typing is by memory. 
The coffee is hardly ever the same from day to day. But it's particularly bad this morning. Oh well.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> cats have their own ideas, always. Fight for your rights as a human being, Leo!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, as much as I don't want to go through the actual process, finishing the root canal kinda is fighting for my rights...to not be in pain...or toothless. I just wish I could send my clone to sit through the procedure while I just sit here and feel my tooth be magically fixed.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I thought there was trouble with your plumbing. Truth is your teeth ache badly and you have to go through I painful procedure. Poor Leo!!!
Click to expand...


Ah yes, a root canal is a dental procedure  And thankfully, the worst is over. Was in the chair for 2 hours yesterday. To be fair, about 20 minutes of that was waiting, but the rest of it wasn't. But now the root is dead and I have a temporary crown (a cap for the shaved-down tooth) and just have to wait for the permanent crown to be finished.



davidharmier60 said:


> I can't see very well in the morning.
> So a lot of my typing is by memory.
> The coffee is hardly ever the same from day to day. But it's particularly bad this morning. Oh well.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



In a pinch, coffee is coffee and will still deliver the goods, but man does it suck to have to drink bad coffee. Sorry, Dave. May tomorrow's cup be spectacular!


----------



## waday

limr said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't see very well in the morning.
> So a lot of my typing is by memory.
> The coffee is hardly ever the same from day to day. But it's particularly bad this morning. Oh well.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In a pinch, coffee is coffee and will still deliver the goods, but man does it suck to have to drink bad coffee. Sorry, Dave. May tomorrow's cup be spectacular!
Click to expand...

Bad coffee sucks.

The wife and I have been having iced coffee with a splash of pumpkin spice creamer. However, the air temps are getting colder. Might be time to move back to hot coffee.


----------



## waday

Does anyone on here play cornhole?

A lot of people in the area like playing it, and I can't get into it.


----------



## davidharmier60

Quick break at work. Normally leave the phone in the truck. Didn't today.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> But now the root is dead and I have a temporary crown



Word of advise if they didn't tell you. Be very careful of the foods you eat until the permanent crown is on. After the expense and aggravation of the root canal, I bit down on something and the tooth split right down the middle, two days before they were scheduled to install the permanent crown.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't see very well in the morning.
> So a lot of my typing is by memory.
> The coffee is hardly ever the same from day to day. But it's particularly bad this morning. Oh well.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In a pinch, coffee is coffee and will still deliver the goods, but man does it suck to have to drink bad coffee. Sorry, Dave. May tomorrow's cup be spectacular!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Bad coffee sucks.
> 
> The wife and I have been having iced coffee with a splash of pumpkin spice creamer. However, the air temps are getting colder. Might be time to move back to hot coffee.
Click to expand...


It definitely sucks. In fact, mine isn't that great this morning. Was running late, so I waited until I got to work to make a cup in my Keurig. It's not my favorite thing to do but I have the reusable cups and use my own coffee, and can manage the water level, so I'm usually able to make a passable cup.

Today, I was at the end of a bag of coffee and I think it had gone kinda stale, so my first cup was kinda meh. But the second cup is from the new bag, so here's hoping! 

I can't do flavored creamers. Ever since I weaned myself from sugar in college, anything sweet in coffee makes me want to spit it out. I went to college in the late 80s/early 90s and that's when flavored coffees really hit. I used to enjoy hazelnut or cinnamon (back when that meant simply adding cinnamon to the grounds  ) but I got bored of that pretty quickly and was over it by the time I got to grad school.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> But now the root is dead and I have a temporary crown
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Word of advise if they didn't tell you. Be very careful of the foods you eat until the permanent crown is on. After the expense and aggravation of the root canal, I bit down on something and the tooth split right down the middle, two days before they were scheduled to install the permanent crown.
Click to expand...


Ouch! Thanks for the warning. It's actually not my first time at the rodeo (this is my 3rd root canal and 4th crown) but it's always good to get a reminder!  They did warn me not to chew anything sticky on that side because it could pull the temporary crown off.


----------



## JonA_CT

I spend significantly more time than reasonable to make sure that my coffee is never bad, and it still sometimes is. Today, it's great though.

I might even be getting ready to upgrade my roasting equipment. The Macgyver'd rig I've been using doesn't like running in cold air, so I'm thinking about buying a real roaster that has some filtering so I can run it inside.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't see very well in the morning.
> So a lot of my typing is by memory.
> The coffee is hardly ever the same from day to day. But it's particularly bad this morning. Oh well.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In a pinch, coffee is coffee and will still deliver the goods, but man does it suck to have to drink bad coffee. Sorry, Dave. May tomorrow's cup be spectacular!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Bad coffee sucks.
> 
> The wife and I have been having iced coffee with a splash of pumpkin spice creamer. However, the air temps are getting colder. Might be time to move back to hot coffee.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It definitely sucks. In fact, mine isn't that great this morning. Was running late, so I waited until I got to work to make a cup in my Keurig. It's not my favorite thing to do but I have the reusable cups and use my own coffee, and can manage the water level, so I'm usually able to make a passable cup.
> 
> Today, I was at the end of a bag of coffee and I think it had gone kinda stale, so my first cup was kinda meh. But the second cup is from the new bag, so here's hoping!
> 
> I can't do flavored creamers. Ever since I weaned myself from sugar in college, anything sweet in coffee makes me want to spit it out. I went to college in the late 80s/early 90s and that's when flavored coffees really hit. I used to enjoy hazelnut or cinnamon (back when that meant simply adding cinnamon to the grounds  ) but I got bored of that pretty quickly and was over it by the time I got to grad school.
Click to expand...

I just cleaned mine out last weekend, made a difference in taste. Been drinking hotel coffee last 4 days, yuk. Ready to be home, so I can enjoy Gary's roast.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> I spend significantly more time than reasonable to make sure that my coffee is never bad, and it still sometimes is. Today, it's great though.
> 
> I might even be getting ready to upgrade my roasting equipment. The Macgyver'd rig I've been using doesn't like running in cold air, so I'm thinking about buying a real roaster that has some filtering so I can run it inside.



If you do, please tell us what you get and how it works. I've been wanting to get into my own roasting for quite a while and I might be able to finally do so in a few months.


----------



## limr

I just cleaned mine out last weekend, made a difference in taste. Been drinking hotel coffee last 4 days, yuk. Ready to be home, so I can enjoy Gary's roast.[/QUOTE]

Good point, I should probably clean it, too. I had cleaned it a few times and then didn't use it for a while. I've been using it more in the past month or two, so it could probably use a quick once-through with the white vinegar.


----------



## limr

For the record, my second cup _is _better, thankfully! Not as good as what I make at home, but better with the fresh coffee. If it weren't, I'd probably just walk down to the cafe (we essentially have a Starbucks on campus - our employees and revenue, but we serve all their products.)


----------



## waday

limr said:


> It definitely sucks. In fact, mine isn't that great this morning. Was running late, so I waited until I got to work to make a cup in my Keurig. It's not my favorite thing to do but I have the reusable cups and use my own coffee, and can manage the water level, so I'm usually able to make a passable cup.
> 
> Today, I was at the end of a bag of coffee and I think it had gone kinda stale, so my first cup was kinda meh. But the second cup is from the new bag, so here's hoping!
> 
> I can't do flavored creamers. Ever since I weaned myself from sugar in college, anything sweet in coffee makes me want to spit it out. I went to college in the late 80s/early 90s and that's when flavored coffees really hit. I used to enjoy hazelnut or cinnamon (back when that meant simply adding cinnamon to the grounds  ) but I got bored of that pretty quickly and was over it by the time I got to grad school.


I can only do flavored in cold brew/or as a dessert in hot coffee. My hot coffee needs to be sugar free in the morning.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> PS- PointGreaseless Pizza


FTFY


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm torn between two different models -- one costs about half as much, but only roasts 4 oz at a time and doesn't have built-in smoke suppression. The more expensive one can do a full pound at a time, and can be run without the windows open. Still trying to figure out how much I really love my coffee, haha.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I'm torn between two different models -- one costs about half as much, but only roasts 4 oz at a time and doesn't have built-in smoke suppression. The more expensive one can do a full pound at a time, and can be run without the windows open. Still trying to figure out how much I really love my coffee, haha.


Links please


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> I can't see very well in the morning.
> So a lot of my typing is by memory.
> The coffee is hardly ever the same from day to day. But it's particularly bad this morning. Oh well.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Bad coffee makes waking up pointless.


----------



## JonA_CT

Behmor 1600 Plus Roaster

This is the pricy one -- you get about $50 of free coffee beans with it, but it's still  a hefty purchase. I think I'd end up sharing a lot more coffee with people if I could make this kind of capacity. (which will also cost me money, haha)

Fresh Roast SR500

Smaller model, but roasts more quickly. It'll probably be the one I go with, but I'll have to roast under my fan vent.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Does anyone on here play cornhole?
> 
> A lot of people in the area like playing it, and I can't get into it.


Gary purchased the game for his grandkids (when they visit).  While we played, Gary's daughter looked up the rules and terms ... which are much more interesting than the actual game. Apparently, according to the internet, there is a drinking man's/women's version of the game.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> But now the root is dead and I have a temporary crown
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Word of advise if they didn't tell you. Be very careful of the foods you eat until the permanent crown is on. After the expense and aggravation of the root canal, I bit down on something and the tooth split right down the middle, two days before they were scheduled to install the permanent crown.
Click to expand...

Gary agrees with smoke665, *Do Not*, under any circumstances, eat concrete or any concrete products and byproducts.


----------



## JonA_CT

We're having a cornhole tournament at school. Every time it gets mentioned on the intercom, kids snicker. Evidently, there's a more adult-like definition of the word too.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't see very well in the morning.
> So a lot of my typing is by memory.
> The coffee is hardly ever the same from day to day. But it's particularly bad this morning. Oh well.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In a pinch, coffee is coffee and will still deliver the goods, but man does it suck to have to drink bad coffee. Sorry, Dave. May tomorrow's cup be spectacular!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Bad coffee sucks.
> 
> The wife and I have been having iced coffee with a splash of pumpkin spice creamer. However, the air temps are getting colder. Might be time to move back to hot coffee.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It definitely sucks. In fact, mine isn't that great this morning. Was running late, so I waited until I got to work to make a cup in my Keurig. It's not my favorite thing to do but I have the reusable cups and use my own coffee, and can manage the water level, so I'm usually able to make a passable cup.
> 
> Today, I was at the end of a bag of coffee and I think it had gone kinda stale, so my first cup was kinda meh. But the second cup is from the new bag, so here's hoping!
> 
> I can't do flavored creamers. Ever since I weaned myself from sugar in college, anything sweet in coffee makes me want to spit it out. I went to college in the late 80s/early 90s and that's when flavored coffees really hit. I used to enjoy hazelnut or cinnamon (back when that meant simply adding cinnamon to the grounds  ) but I got bored of that pretty quickly and was over it by the time I got to grad school.
Click to expand...

It is Gary's understanding coffee may go bad, as in moldy, but not stale.  Aging coffee actually enhances the flavor.  Gary interviewed an outfit which aged the brew, but they lost half the coffee to rot/mold ... so it wasn't economically feasible on a commercial basis.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't see very well in the morning.
> So a lot of my typing is by memory.
> The coffee is hardly ever the same from day to day. But it's particularly bad this morning. Oh well.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In a pinch, coffee is coffee and will still deliver the goods, but man does it suck to have to drink bad coffee. Sorry, Dave. May tomorrow's cup be spectacular!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Bad coffee sucks.
> 
> The wife and I have been having iced coffee with a splash of pumpkin spice creamer. However, the air temps are getting colder. Might be time to move back to hot coffee.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It definitely sucks. In fact, mine isn't that great this morning. Was running late, so I waited until I got to work to make a cup in my Keurig. It's not my favorite thing to do but I have the reusable cups and use my own coffee, and can manage the water level, so I'm usually able to make a passable cup.
> 
> Today, I was at the end of a bag of coffee and I think it had gone kinda stale, so my first cup was kinda meh. But the second cup is from the new bag, so here's hoping!
> 
> I can't do flavored creamers. Ever since I weaned myself from sugar in college, anything sweet in coffee makes me want to spit it out. I went to college in the late 80s/early 90s and that's when flavored coffees really hit. I used to enjoy hazelnut or cinnamon (back when that meant simply adding cinnamon to the grounds  ) but I got bored of that pretty quickly and was over it by the time I got to grad school.
Click to expand...


Gary enjoys some flavoring every now and then. Gary really enjoys coffee and as a matter of daily routine he doesn't alter the taste with sugar or cream. Gary prefers all of his booze neat, the exception being Margaritas and Sangria.  Gary finds Starbucks flavored servings revolting.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> But now the root is dead and I have a temporary crown
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Word of advise if they didn't tell you. Be very careful of the foods you eat until the permanent crown is on. After the expense and aggravation of the root canal, I bit down on something and the tooth split right down the middle, two days before they were scheduled to install the permanent crown.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ouch! Thanks for the warning. It's actually not my first time at the rodeo (this is my 3rd root canal and 4th crown) but it's always good to get a reminder!  They did warn me not to chew anything sticky on that side because it could pull the temporary crown off.
Click to expand...

*Do Not* eat any petroleum products or petroleum byproducts, like Henry's, don't open that can of Henry's.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> We're having a cornhole tournament at school. Every time it gets mentioned on the intercom, kids snicker. Evidently, there's a more adult-like definition of the word too.


Makes me think of this every single time I hear it...


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does anyone on here play cornhole?
> 
> A lot of people in the area like playing it, and I can't get into it.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary purchased the game for his grandkids (when they visits).  While we played, Gary's daughter looked up the rules and terms ... which are much more interesting than the actual game. Apparently, according to the internet, there is a drinking man's/women's version of the game.
Click to expand...

Hmm. Did not know that. The neighbors that play it are way too into it, which turns me off.

They also drink while playing it, but the drinking is separate.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is off work . Going to trade coin rolls in on other rolls.  Then going home because he has not the cash nor fuel to do anything else.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

The wife picked me up a Minolta Maxxum 9, anyone have one? I think I have a 28, and a 50 ad lens for it, not sure if compatible. She said it is clean, looks new. Just curious, I'm confused by all the models.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I spend significantly more time than reasonable to make sure that my coffee is never bad, and it still sometimes is. Today, it's great though.
> 
> I might even be getting ready to upgrade my roasting equipment. The Macgyver'd rig I've been using doesn't like running in cold air, so I'm thinking about buying a real roaster that has some filtering so I can run it inside.


ouuuh, ouuuh, ouuuh ... Gary is interested in your results.  Gary's been think about a bonafide roaster, as opposed to Gary's popcorn popper.  The popper works extremely well (as Gary's limited experience can tell), but, (the big but), it is very unromantic.  i.e. The roasting process is more of a task than a pleasurable experience.  Every so often, Gary will explore Amazon for 'real' roasters but hasn't performed any real research for a particular model/manufacturer. Gary needs no filtration nor cold weather capabilities.  The plus on the popper side of the equation is:

1) The popper is very economical and the one Gary uses is a robust, Made in USA model; and
2) It makes a good tub of popped corn as well,
 (unfortunately, the popcorn keeps you up at night).


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't see very well in the morning.
> So a lot of my typing is by memory.
> The coffee is hardly ever the same from day to day. But it's particularly bad this morning. Oh well.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In a pinch, coffee is coffee and will still deliver the goods, but man does it suck to have to drink bad coffee. Sorry, Dave. May tomorrow's cup be spectacular!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Bad coffee sucks.
> 
> The wife and I have been having iced coffee with a splash of pumpkin spice creamer. However, the air temps are getting colder. Might be time to move back to hot coffee.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It definitely sucks. In fact, mine isn't that great this morning. Was running late, so I waited until I got to work to make a cup in my Keurig. It's not my favorite thing to do but I have the reusable cups and use my own coffee, and can manage the water level, so I'm usually able to make a passable cup.
> 
> Today, I was at the end of a bag of coffee and I think it had gone kinda stale, so my first cup was kinda meh. But the second cup is from the new bag, so here's hoping!
> 
> I can't do flavored creamers. Ever since I weaned myself from sugar in college, anything sweet in coffee makes me want to spit it out. I went to college in the late 80s/early 90s and that's when flavored coffees really hit. I used to enjoy hazelnut or cinnamon (back when that meant simply adding cinnamon to the grounds  ) but I got bored of that pretty quickly and was over it by the time I got to grad school.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I just cleaned mine out last weekend, made a difference in taste. Been drinking hotel coffee last 4 days, yuk. Ready to be home, so I can enjoy Gary's roast.
Click to expand...

You still have some? Gary was feeling guilty as, of late, Gary hasn't made any shipments your way.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> It is Gary's understanding coffee may go bad, as in moldy, but not stale.  Aging coffee actually enhances the flavor.  Gary interviewed an outfit which aged the brew, but they lost half the coffee to rot/mold ... so it wasn't economically feasible on a commercial basis.



Sorry, I disagree. I can smell and taste stale grounds, and neither is better than fresh.



Gary A. said:


> Gary enjoys some flavoring every now and then. Gary really enjoys coffee and as a matter of daily routine he doesn't alter the taste with sugar or cream. Gary prefers all of his booze neat, the exception being Margaritas and Sangria.  Gary finds Starbucks flavored servings revolting.



What most people get at Starbucks is not "coffee." They are liquid desserts that contain some coffee. When I go to Starbucks, I order actual coffee with nothing in it. I add a little milk on my way out, and I'm done.



Gary A. said:


> *Do Not* eat any petroleum products or petroleum byproducts, like Henry's, don't open that can of Henry's.



What' is Henry's?



waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're having a cornhole tournament at school. Every time it gets mentioned on the intercom, kids snicker. Evidently, there's a more adult-like definition of the word too.
> 
> 
> 
> Makes me think of this every single time I hear it...
Click to expand...


YES!! Me too! And then I laugh and laugh and laugh


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I spend significantly more time than reasonable to make sure that my coffee is never bad, and it still sometimes is. Today, it's great though.
> 
> I might even be getting ready to upgrade my roasting equipment. The Macgyver'd rig I've been using doesn't like running in cold air, so I'm thinking about buying a real roaster that has some filtering so I can run it inside.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you do, please tell us what you get and how it works. I've been wanting to get into my own roasting for quite a while and I might be able to finally do so in a few months.
Click to expand...

Gary recommends a popcorn popper as an introductory kit to get you started.  Inexpensive and works well, but as Jon noted, you most likely would need to roast outside as the airborne residue isn't very pleasant.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Behmor 1600 Plus Roaster
> 
> This is the pricy one -- you get about $50 of free coffee beans with it, but it's still  a hefty purchase. I think I'd end up sharing a lot more coffee with people if I could make this kind of capacity. (which will also cost me money, haha)
> 
> Fresh Roast SR500
> 
> Smaller model, but roasts more quickly. It'll probably be the one I go with, but I'll have to roast under my fan vent.


Dunno, the first looks like a Ronco Chicken Roaster, the second like my Popper.  But I like Sweet Maria's as a source of green beans. mmmhhh ... I bet a slight modification to a Ronco (a la - a basket) would turn the Ronco from chicken to coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave is off work . Going to trade coin rolls in on other rolls.  Then going home because he has not the cash nor fuel to do anything else.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Dave needs a better job.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> The wife picked me up a Minolta Maxxum 9, anyone have one? I think I have a 28, and a 50 ad lens for it, not sure if compatible. She said it is clean, looks new. Just curious, I'm confused by all the models.


Minolta made a very good consumer product, back in the day.  Good lenses and a solid camera.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is Gary's understanding coffee may go bad, as in moldy, but not stale.  Aging coffee actually enhances the flavor.  Gary interviewed an outfit which aged the brew, but they lost half the coffee to rot/mold ... so it wasn't economically feasible on a commercial basis.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, I disagree. I can smell and taste stale grounds, and neither is better than fresh.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary enjoys some flavoring every now and then. Gary really enjoys coffee and as a matter of daily routine he doesn't alter the taste with sugar or cream. Gary prefers all of his booze neat, the exception being Margaritas and Sangria.  Gary finds Starbucks flavored servings revolting.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> What most people get at Starbucks is not "coffee." They are liquid desserts that contain some coffee. When I go to Starbucks, I order actual coffee with nothing in it. I add a little milk on my way out, and I'm done.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> *Do Not* eat any petroleum products or petroleum byproducts, like Henry's, don't open that can of Henry's.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> What' is Henry's?
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're having a cornhole tournament at school. Every time it gets mentioned on the intercom, kids snicker. Evidently, there's a more adult-like definition of the word too.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Makes me think of this every single time I hear it...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> YES!! Me too! And then I laugh and laugh and laugh
Click to expand...

You, most likely are smelling and tasting the start of rot.

As does Gary, sans cream/milk.

Henry's is an asphalt based roof sealing/patching product.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> YES!! Me too! And then I laugh and laugh and laugh


So glad to see that someone else laughs about this! I do, too! My wife doesn't laugh nearly as hard--probably considered a chuckle or smirk.

And, our really young neighbors didn't know what I was talking about when I said it.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> under any circumstances, eat concrete or any concrete products and byproducts.



Or chew nails? LOL. FYI it was a very tender piece of steak


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> under any circumstances, eat concrete or any concrete products and byproducts.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Or chew nails? LOL. FYI it was a very tender piece of steak
Click to expand...

From a concrete eating steer.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> Hmm. Did not know that. The neighbors that play it are way too into it, which turns me off.
> 
> They also drink while playing it, but the drinking is separate.


I always like to drink while playing lawn darts.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave can dabble in plumbing, electricity, welding and driving. He lost an over the road driving job because he sleeps in the dark hours.  He rubbed his trailer against others. And he knocked the door off a trailer.  Then he lost his CDL when the job he was doing didn't let him do what was needed to keep it. Dave is 57 years old.
He feels quite lucky to have snagged a part time job about 5 miles from home.
He has no paperwork to show any plumbing or electricity. He was a self taught welder who was pretty good with a mig machine. But he hasn't made good money since the middle 90s. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave can dabble in plumbing, electricity, welding and driving. He lost an over the road driving job because he sleeps in the dark hours.  He rubbed his trailer against others. And he knocked the door off a trailer.  Then he lost his CDL when the job he was doing didn't let him do what was needed to keep it. Dave is 57 years old.
> He feels quite lucky to have snagged a part time job about 5 miles from home.
> He has no paperwork to show any plumbing or electricity. He was a self taught welder who was pretty good with a mig machine. But he hasn't made good money since the middle 90s.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Hang in there and keep at it, there is much good to be found in persistence.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is on his second cup of delish coffee.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm. Did not know that. The neighbors that play it are way too into it, which turns me off.
> 
> They also drink while playing it, but the drinking is separate.
> 
> 
> 
> I always like to drink while playing lawn darts.
Click to expand...

I've never played, but saw a set at a big-box store.


----------



## waday

Saw this in the news, @snowbear :

'There Are No Words': Tourists Spot Hundreds of Polar Bears Swarming Whale Carcass in Siberia


----------



## davidharmier60

One other company keeps hounding me.
It is a delivery service I guess for almost anything. But my truck gets maybe 15mpg.
And probably can't be counted on to stay reliable. And while I drove to Houston for the last two jobs , driving to Conroe every day or to Houston has lost its appeal.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> YES!! Me too! And then I laugh and laugh and laugh
> 
> 
> 
> So glad to see that someone else laughs about this! I do, too! My wife doesn't laugh nearly as hard--probably considered a chuckle or smirk.
> 
> And, our really young neighbors didn't know what I was talking about when I said it.
Click to expand...


I can't even explain why it's so funny, but it just _is._ 



smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> under any circumstances, eat concrete or any concrete products and byproducts.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Or chew nails? LOL. FYI it was a very tender *piece of steak*
Click to expand...


Whew, then I'm safe!


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, Happy National Coffee Day!


----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> One other company keeps hounding me.
> It is a delivery service I guess for almost anything. But my truck gets maybe 15mpg.
> And probably can't be counted on to stay reliable. And while I drove to Houston for the last two jobs , driving to Conroe every day or to Houston has lost its appeal.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Any chance at free-lance welding jobs? My father did that after he retired. Good welders are hard to come by and there's always stuff that needs welding. He would do large machinery - cement mixing trucks, well-drillers, flatbeds. Any independent contractors in the area who might not have a welder on staff but need stuff fixed?


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm. Did not know that. The neighbors that play it are way too into it, which turns me off.
> 
> They also drink while playing it, but the drinking is separate.
> 
> 
> 
> I always like to drink while playing lawn darts.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I've never played, but saw a set at a big-box store.
Click to expand...

They were outlawed, at least locally, back in the '80s



waday said:


> Saw this in the news, @snowbear :
> 
> 'There Are No Words': Tourists Spot Hundreds of Polar Bears Swarming Whale Carcass in Siberia


Those are the Russian relatives.  We don't talk to them since the election. 
Actually, that would be extremely impressive to see, firsthand.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> One other company keeps hounding me.
> It is a delivery service I guess for almost anything. But my truck gets maybe 15mpg.
> And probably can't be counted on to stay reliable. And while I drove to Houston for the last two jobs , driving to Conroe every day or to Houston has lost its appeal.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Any chance at free-lance welding jobs? My father did that after he retired. Good welders are hard to come by and there's always stuff that needs welding. He would do large machinery - cement mixing trucks, well-drillers, flatbeds. Any independent contractors in the area who might not have a welder on staff but need stuff fixed?
Click to expand...


My grandfather was the last commercial farmer in Detroit and a master welder. He was free lance all the way and did extremely well. He was in high demand for difficult jobs. Underground, nuclear stuff, city work, custom. You name it, he could join it. He never had a shortage of work, he turned more away.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> One other company keeps hounding me.
> It is a delivery service I guess for almost anything. But my truck gets maybe 15mpg.
> And probably can't be counted on to stay reliable. And while I drove to Houston for the last two jobs , driving to Conroe every day or to Houston has lost its appeal.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Any chance at free-lance welding jobs? My father did that after he retired. Good welders are hard to come by and there's always stuff that needs welding. He would do large machinery - cement mixing trucks, well-drillers, flatbeds. Any independent contractors in the area who might not have a welder on staff but need stuff fixed?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My grandfather was the last commercial farmer in Detroit and a master welder. He was free lance all the way and did extremely well. He was in high demand for difficult jobs. Underground, nuclear stuff, city work, custom. You name it, he could join it. He never had a shortage of work, he turned more away.
Click to expand...

Out here a welder needs to be certified in order to perform government/structural work.  In Texas they don't license contractors ... so welding may be regulated just by the marketplace.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> One other company keeps hounding me.
> It is a delivery service I guess for almost anything. But my truck gets maybe 15mpg.
> And probably can't be counted on to stay reliable. And while I drove to Houston for the last two jobs , driving to Conroe every day or to Houston has lost its appeal.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Any chance at free-lance welding jobs? My father did that after he retired. Good welders are hard to come by and there's always stuff that needs welding. He would do large machinery - cement mixing trucks, well-drillers, flatbeds. Any independent contractors in the area who might not have a welder on staff but need stuff fixed?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My grandfather was the last commercial farmer in Detroit and a master welder. He was free lance all the way and did extremely well. He was in high demand for difficult jobs. Underground, nuclear stuff, city work, custom. You name it, he could join it. He never had a shortage of work, he turned more away.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Out here a welder needs to be certified in order to perform government/structural work.  In Texas they don't license contractors ... so welding may be regulated just by the marketplace.
Click to expand...


Yup, he had all that. I have his certifications and journeyman card stashed away somewhere. I remember looking at them and thought how pristine looking they were. He must have cherished them.


----------



## vintagesnaps

National Coffee Day?!??!! why wasn't that on my calendar?


----------



## limr

My father was in a union, so he probably had all his licensing, though his post-retirement work was all word-of-mouth private jobs.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> They were outlawed, at least locally, back in the '80s


These aren't as deadly...

Target : Expect More. Pay Less.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> National Coffee Day?!??!! why wasn't that on my calendar?


Coffee day for me is every day


----------



## JonA_CT

The kids here run at a dead sprint to get out of the building on Fridays.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> The kids here run at a dead sprint to get out of the building on Fridays.


And your not?


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> The kids here run at a dead sprint to get out of the building on Fridays.



If they could, the teachers would do so as well. Even faster than the kids


----------



## JonA_CT

I stayed an entire eleven minutes after my contracted hours today, and then walked with a measured, dignified step to my car. By this time, the parking lot was nearly empty.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I stayed an entire eleven minutes after my contracted hours today, and then walked with a measured, dignified step to my car. By this time, the parking lot was nearly empty.


Brilliant


----------



## vintagesnaps

How come they didn't care when we were kids if we threw sharp pointy things at each other?? Oh, maybe they hadn't invented Nerf darts (Nerf balls, Nerf frisbees) yet.


----------



## SquarePeg

I'm back Hosers!  All caught up on the coffee talk which was, disappointingly, mostly about coffee! What's everyone planning for the weekend?  I'm heading to the White Mtns fir a quick overnight to leaf peep.


----------



## smoke665

Looks like a Boss Hog BBQ kinda night for us


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> I'm back Hosers!  All caught up on the coffee talk which was, disappointingly, mostly about coffee! What's everyone planning for the weekend?  I'm heading to the White Mtns fir a quick overnight to leaf peep.


Soccer games, film developing,  movies, and getting yelled at. I feel a stupid creeping up on me... I'm overdue...


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I'm back Hosers!  All caught up on the coffee talk which was, disappointingly, mostly about coffee! What's everyone planning for the weekend?  I'm heading to the White Mtns fir a quick overnight to leaf peep.


Hey, how'd it go?    Was the weather as sucky as you feared?    Been really hot the last couple of days, but backing off for the season by Sunday.       Hope you're feeling better completely now.   

Still too early in these parts for a leaf peep.    In about 3-4 weeks it should be better - and then I want to get some apples, too.    This weekend - lounging with the cats, hubby, and ripping out the last of the tomato vines.    They're done.


----------



## davidharmier60

Darn it. We don't have conventional seasons in this part of Texas. 
Leaf peeping ain't gonna happen. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

@Jon: Gary would classify the end of the school day more of an escape than an exit.


----------



## Gary A.

Upper 80's today, very warm but dry, 31% humidity. No A/C needed other than an iced beverage.


----------



## davidharmier60

It is SUPPOSED to get a bit cooler here in East Texas. But Dave will believe it when he sees it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg: Gary has season tickets for the local theatre which starts tonight, (Ain't Misbehavin'). Undefeated USC plays Undefeated Washington State. Hosting the triple bypass guy for the weekend. Plus taking care of a real big thing ... more on that Sunday.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- The best thing about the theatre it is within walking distance.


----------



## davidharmier60

We used to go to theatres. The Pasadena Little Theatre. Once at the Grand in Galveston. But up here in East Texas there ain't much of that.

We saw Mama Mia in Galveston. Always did like!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

We have two fairly decent local theater groups in our town. Sadly I haven't been lately, and I don't  have a good reason for not going. They both do fantastic productions.


----------



## Gary A.

Our local theatre isn't bad, not as good as many of the theatres in Los Angeles, Hollywood and Orange County ... but for our little community of La Mirada, it hits above its weight. It is run by Cathy Rigby (the Olympian) and her husband Tom McCoy.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> I'm back Hosers!  All caught up on the coffee talk which was, disappointingly, mostly about coffee! What's everyone planning for the weekend?  I'm heading to the White Mtns fir a quick overnight to leaf peep.


Haircuts in the morning, a little running, then a nap for MLW - she's working a 12-hour at the Watch Office tomorrow night.  I'll pack up some stuff for the storage unit so we can drop that off.

MLW got notice that her promotion is official, as of Sunday, so we did Dinner and a Movie.  We hit a Disney flick (re-run of "Tangle" - their version of Rapunzel) which was pretty decent.  Tried the gourmet pizza place across the street from the apartment afterwards: told waitress we needed a couple minutes to look over the menu and never saw her again. After at least 15 minutes we went to the front counter, paid for the two drinks and left.  We ended up at our favorite place (Ledo's) and wasn't disappointed.

Well, it's been a long day so I'll catch up with y'all tomorrow.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> We have two fairly decent local theater groups in our town. Sadly I haven't been lately, and I don't  have a good reason for not going. They both do fantastic productions.





Gary A. said:


> Our local theatre isn't bad, not as good as many of the theatres in Los Angeles, Hollywood and Orange County ... but for our little community of La Mirada, it hits above its weight. It is run by Cathy Rigby (the Olympian) and her husband Tom McCoy.




Our town does not have a theater group. We do have our own ballet and symphony though so really can't complain!  For theater Boston is a quick train or uber away.


----------



## jcdeboever

I can't believe how far I have come since joining here two years ago. Lost 65 lbs, drink coffee from a French press, 16 cameras.... I have to stop, I'm gonna cry....


----------



## davidharmier60

Coffee was better this morning. 
Dave will be mobile in a while to get the fellow who will crawl under the house to put the AC connector duct up.
And in 2-4 weeks we will have him back to fix it more correctly. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Breakfast this morning. Don’t worry, southern friends, my Virginia-born and bred momma would whoop my ass if I ever used instant grits.


----------



## Gary A.

Oddly, Gary has never had a desire for grits. What is a grit? What does it taste like? Would Gary like a grit?


----------



## Gary A.

64F right now.  Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are in the patio on this cool and overcast morning.  Should hit 80F today with a UV index of 0. Coffee, tea and bagels with Greek cream cheese are on the patio table next to the paper, the early birds are singing, the Hummingbirds are hummin' and the butterflies are buttering. Quoting Randy Newman "... another perfect day, I love LA ..."

The play last night, was more of a concert/revue featuring the music of Fats Waller. The revue was 100% entertaining, an evening filled with music from the 20's, 30's and 40's.  A standing ovation was deserved and given by all.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave dearly loves big band music.
Give him some Glen Miller and he is happy as a clam!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Oddly, Gary has never had a desire for grits. What is a grit? What does it taste like? Would Gary like a grit?



Meh, it's basically blander, soupier polenta.


----------



## Gary A.

Not big band, jazz, blues, Tin Pan Alley and Harlem type stuff. Really good sounds and lyrics.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oddly, Gary has never had a desire for grits. What is a grit? What does it taste like? Would Gary like a grit?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Meh, it's basically blander, soupier polenta.
Click to expand...

Gary thought of polenta... blander polenta doesn't intrigue Gary whatsoever.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oddly, Gary has never had a desire for grits. What is a grit? What does it taste like? Would Gary like a grit?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Meh, it's basically blander, soupier polenta.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary thought of polenta... blander polenta doesn't intrigue Gary whatsoever.
Click to expand...


I once had an infected blander polenta, wasn't fun.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave likes the post directly above!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

'A' grit... lol you can't eat just one. (Or potato chips either.) 

I've had them, not something I'd bother to make but if I went to the Smokies or little Nashville I'd have some. They come with every meal! If I wanted something made from cornmeal I'd rather have cornbread.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has to figure out how to help those suffering from Maria.  The easy thing is money but he wants the most cluck for his buck.  God Bless you who suffered from Maria's path.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah, that situation... I don't even know what to say.

edit - Except FWIW in the areas affected by hurricane damage, there are people doing something. Kenny Chesney set up a fundraiser (and let people stay in his home down there), Branson of Virgin airlines filled planes and sent supplies (his home there was damaged), and all the former Presidents set up a charity thru the Bush library (I think it is). People that just as easily could sit around on their famous butts and do nothing are ones stepping in to try to help.


----------



## vintagesnaps

My mom likes Glen Miller. When we were kids we used to listen to her big band records. I like jazz.






Now I have that song stuck in my head.


----------



## davidharmier60

Very cool song!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  Could use your input on something. I'm going to be showing some of my flower photos in our local art walk.  3 photos.  I can't decide if I should use the sunflowers as a series or go with 3 separate photos that are more abstract.  I like the more abstract pics but everyone else (family, friends) likes the sunflowers and they _are_ seasonal right now... they also need to be re-edited much more carefully if I use them since I did them on my phone the first time!  Can you take a look through my Flickr Flowers album and offer your thoughts?  I need to decide this weekend.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Oddly, Gary has never had a desire for grits. What is a grit? What does it taste like? Would Gary like a grit?



"Grits" is corn meal that is ground coarse then boiled, similar to a thick porridge. I prefer real butter on mine, but the toppings that people choose are numerous. Instant grits taste like ----- well, crap.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like grits


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I like grits



And your topping of choice?


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like grits
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And your topping of choice?
Click to expand...

A little salt, and a little butter. That's it. Grew up in Detroit, a couple primo spots for them. I love them, one of my favorite things to eat. Had no idea what they are made from until you posted.


----------



## NancyMoranG

vintagesnaps said:


> My mom likes Glen Miller. When we were kids we used to listen to her big band records. I like jazz.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now I have that song stuck in my head.



Oh my gosh, my parents played that all the time. We love the memories and my younger brother and wife can dance it like they were born for it! 
Thank you for that memory! I need it


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Some marinaded chicken on the BBQ, a glass of Wolff Old Vine Chardonnay and classical USC on the backyard speakers. It's gonna be a pleasant evening.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Sitting here twiddling my thumbs, and watching Auburn hopefully beat MS State. Bama doesn't start for another 15 mins, assuming this game spent run over. Don't understand this late game stuff.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like grits
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And your topping of choice?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> A little salt, and a little butter. That's it. Grew up in Detroit, a couple primo spots for them. I love them, one of my favorite things to eat. Had no idea what they are made from until you posted.
Click to expand...


They came with breakfast in Fla. I used to put sugar on them. I was nearly banned from the South.


----------



## smoke665

I've seen sugar, cinnamon, even jelly.


----------



## Gary A.

It's all about Tv time slots. SC lost to Washington State last night. Darnold played horribly. There is no joy in Mudville. But, Gary is wearing his USC hat as he BBQ's, even in defeat it is still his colors his school.


----------



## Gary A.

When Gary gets a hankering for corn meal, he'll feast on a tamale.


----------



## Gary A.

The Kamado hard at work.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like grits
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And your topping of choice?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> A little salt, and a little butter. That's it. Grew up in Detroit, a couple primo spots for them. I love them, one of my favorite things to eat. Had no idea what they are made from until you posted.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> They came with breakfast in Fla. I used to put sugar on them. I was nearly banned from the South.
Click to expand...

Sugar? Oh my, that ain't right. Lol


----------



## Gary A.

It is 76F in the patio and time for dinner.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> When Gary gets a hankering for corn meal, he'll feast on a tamale.



Good grits, hot off the stove are really good.


----------



## Gary A.

Nothing is as good as a tamale!


----------



## Gary A.

Speaking of New World foods ... many/most expect agree that the Mayan first invented the BBQ.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> It's all about Tv time slots. SC lost to Washington State last night. Darnold played horribly. There is no joy in Mudville. But, Gary is wearing his USC hat as he BBQ's, even in defeat it is still his colors his school.



I saw parts of that game. Gary should take heart that it wasn't like poor old TN and the 41-0 defeat by GA.


----------



## Gary A.

Viola!


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave  is having a rousing Saturday night. 
Will be asleep in mere moments.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner was Delish. Perfectly crisp on the outside moist on the inside. Marinaded in a teriyaki sauce with extra herbs and a few hot peppers for that slight and special extra kick.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary stopped watching the blowout 'Bama game for the Clemson game.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's bored with the blowout Clemson game.


----------



## terri

I'm not surprised.   College football is boring, period.


----------



## Gary A.

Nothing is finer than Student Athletes playing for nothing more then the honor to represent their school, competing for nothing more than the satisfaction of competition with a purity of an  uncompromised spirit not corrupted by the greed and whoring of professional sports.


----------



## SquarePeg

Yes for sure there is no greed or whoring involved in college sports.


----------



## JonA_CT

Certainly not any current news stories suggesting it, either.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary stopped watching the blowout 'Bama game for the Clemson game.



Granted not much excitement in a 66-3 game. However I wonder what the pundits will say about Hurt's ability to pass now. Hard to believe this young man is only 19. Just think how much he can grow at QB.


----------



## smoke665

Time for us to pack it in and head for home today, been out 2 weeks, and honestly wish we could extend it another week, but business obligations are calling. Then this coming weekend we have our bi-annual Fire Dept. BBQ. Lots of "quality control" checking required!


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Nothing is finer than Student Athletes playing for nothing more then the honor to represent their school, competing for nothing more than the satisfaction of competition with a purity of an  uncompromised spirit not corrupted by the greed and whoring of professional sports.


Uh-huh.  And they just can't wait to get there.


----------



## davidharmier60

If only football players would merely play football. And leave politics alone.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

davidharmier60 said:


> If only football players would merely play football. And leave politics alone.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



There are a lot of people who should leave politics alone.  Let’s start with keeping those type of discussions out of threads on the main forum.  This is a hot button issue as anyone with a Facebook account can confirm.  I’m sure you can get a rousing debate about it going if you’d like to post it in the Subscribers forums where anything goes including politics, religion etc.


----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> If only football players would merely play football. And leave politics alone.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Nope, nope, nope, we're not going there. The Subscribers' forum is fair game, but political commentary stays out of the public forums, please.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.
Cold pizza and the usual K-cup for breakfast.  I have to muddle around quietly, as MLW is in bed after her overnight gig and didn't really get a chance to catch her sleep at the office (they are allowed four hours on the 12-hour night shift).



SquarePeg said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If only football players would merely play football. And leave politics alone.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There are a lot of people who should leave politics alone.  Let’s start with keeping those type of discussions out of threads on the main forum.  This is a hot button issue as anyone with a Facebook account can confirm.  I’m sure you can get a rousing debate about it going if you’d like to post it in the Subscribers forums where anything goes including politics, religion etc.
Click to expand...

Yes, please.  Living near DC, I think we get more than our share IRL, so the political-free zone is a blessing.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Yes for sure there is no greed or whoring involved in college sports.


Not at the schools Gary attended.


----------



## JonA_CT

University of Southern California athletics scandal - Wikipedia


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary has some sad but also happy news to share.

Sadly, about a month ago, Cookie (AKA The Cook), passed.  She was 14 years old and her kidneys simply wore out. She was an incredible companion and my best friend.  Cook and Gary did everything together.

Gary made a gallery in honor and memory of The Cook.






Cook in her summer coiffure.





Cook in winter.

Cook and Friends:






























Okay ... now Gary is  tearing up ...





Rest In Peace sweet Cook.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary has some sad but also happy news to share.
> 
> Sadly, about a month ago, Cookie (AKA The Cook), passed.  She was 14 years old and her kidneys simply wore out. She was an incredible companion and my best friend.  Cook and Gary did everything together.
> 
> Gary made a gallery in honor of The Cook.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cook in her summer coiffure.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cook in winter.
> 
> Cook and Friends:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Okay ... now Gary is  tearing up ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Rest In Peace sweet Cook.



Oh no!!!!! I'm so sorry!  Many hugs to you and Mary Lou.

Leo is totally tearing up too. She was a good fine Cookie and I'm grateful we got to know her through you, Tio. Just today, I saw a dog that looked like her and I cried, "Cookie!" and went over for some lovin'.

We'll all miss her


----------



## jcdeboever

Sorry for your loss my friend. I know how special she was. [emoji25]


----------



## Gary A.

Okay the Happy news:

Hosers, Mary Lou and Gary have a new baby. May Gary introduce Maggie, a ten week old Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier baby:

iPhone images




Refuge under the fountain.




Resting on Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

Near the end, when Cook was unable to take her, until then, daily morning walk, a neighbor came by walking her dog.  She stopped and we chatted about Cookie and I explained that she wasn't doing well and the neighbor stated that Cookie was an institution in the neighborhood. It's funny, but more people knew Cookie's name than the name of her humans (Mary Lou and Gary).  One day Gary and Cook were driving in an adjacent city, Brea, on a four lane highway.  While stopped at a red light, Cook's head was out the window, when another car pulled up to the light, rolled down the window and inquired if that was Cookie.  Gary, of course, affirmed that indeed it was The Cook then we drove away. To this day Gary doesn't know who that person was.


----------



## tirediron

I'm very sorry to hear about Cookie!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary has some sad but also happy news to share.
> 
> Sadly, about a month ago, Cookie (AKA The Cook), passed.  She was 14 years old and her kidneys simply wore out. She was an incredible companion and my best friend.  Cook and Gary did everything together.
> 
> Gary made a gallery in honor of The Cook.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cook in her summer coiffure.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cook in winter.
> 
> Cook and Friends:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Okay ... now Gary is  tearing up ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Rest In Peace sweet Cook.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh no!!!!! I'm so sorry!  Many hugs to you and Mary Lou.
> 
> Leo is totally tearing up too. She was a good fine Cookie and I'm grateful we got to know her through you, Tio. Just today, I saw a dog that looked like her and I cried, "Cookie!" and went over for some lovin'.
> 
> We'll all miss her
Click to expand...

Thank you Leo.  All dogs are special, but The Cook just seemed more so.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Sorry for your loss my friend. I know how special she was. [emoji25]


Thank you John.  It's been pretty tough around here the last few months.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> I'm very sorry to hear about Cookie!


Thank you John.  Gary wishes all you guys could have know her. Our neighbor's grade school age daughter introduced Cookie to her friend with "... this is Cookie ... she not a dog, she just looks like a dog."


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Okay the Happy news:
> 
> Hosers, Mary Lou and Gary have a new baby. May Gary introduce Maggie, a ten week old Soft Coated Wheaten baby:
> 
> View attachment 147525
> Refuge under the fountain.
> 
> View attachment 147526
> Resting on Gary.
> 
> View attachment 147527



Maggie!! Such a fluff ball


----------



## SquarePeg

So sorry for your loss Gary.  It’s sad that they’re only in our lives for a short time compared to humans.  I hope you find comfort that you gave her such a loving and happy home.  

Your new family member looks like a sweetie pie.  Looking forward to photos of your new adventures with Maggie.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary were reluctant to adopt another dog so soon after Cookie's passing.


limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay the Happy news:
> 
> Hosers, Mary Lou and Gary have a new baby. May Gary introduce Maggie, a ten week old Soft Coated Wheaten baby:
> 
> View attachment 147525
> Refuge under the fountain.
> 
> View attachment 147526
> Resting on Gary.
> 
> View attachment 147527
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maggie!! Such a fluff ball
Click to expand...

None of those iPhone image captures her puppyiness.  She will melt your heart in an instant.  I will try to get some better images today, but she is extremely cute, extremely cuddly, extremely entertaining ... to use JC's vocabulary an extreme Pumpkin Butt.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> So sorry for your loss Gary.  It’s sad that they’re only in our lives for a short time compared to humans.  I hope you find comfort that you gave her such a loving and happy home.
> 
> Your new family member looks like a sweetie pie.  Looking forward to photos of your new adventures with Maggie.


Thank you Peg.




Cook is here in the yard, where she will always be with us. This was a favorite spot for Cook. She had flattened out the interior of a leafy plant (top of photo) and would snuggle in there where she could see out but others couldn't see in. The roses were from a neighbor.


----------



## ZombiesniperJr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary has some sad but also happy news to share.
> 
> Sadly, about a month ago, Cookie (AKA The Cook), passed.  She was 14 years old and her kidneys simply wore out. She was an incredible companion and my best friend.  Cook and Gary did everything together.
> 
> Gary made a gallery in honor and memory of The Cook.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cook in her summer coiffure.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cook in winter.
> 
> Cook and Friends:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Okay ... now Gary is  tearing up ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Rest In Peace sweet Cook.


Sorry for your loss


----------



## Gary A.

Honestly, it is still a bit soon for another dog.  But the world turns and it happened.  Gary still feels a severe wound over losing Cook. But Mary Lou and Gary knew that when it came time for a dog, that we would want another Wheaten. We recognized that we could never replace Cookie.  Cookie was unquestionably and by any measure, the greatest dog in the world. While I recognize another Wheaten will not duplicate all of the extraordinary specialness of our 'Cookie', hopefully, it will have similar traits of intelligence, spunk, fun, love and even the terrier quirks that we miss so much. 

A Wheaten is not a common breed in the USA, (the breed originated in Ireland). We did not want a dog from a puppy mill.  Private breeders of Wheaten are few and far between.  After a bit of research, we realized that in order to get a Wheaten pup next year, we would have to sign up and make a deposit this year.  So were started sending out email and filling out multi-page questionnaires.  We found a pup in Texas, but we desired to see the pup in person before making a decision. After a few weeks of emails and phone calls, one thing lead to another and just by happenstance, we stumbled upon a private breeder in Riverside who was willing to part with a ten week female pup.  We meet the pups (there were two females) and after a long discussion amongst ourselves, decided better now than later.  Gary does know that Cook would have loved to have instructed Maggie how how to best care for her humans.


----------



## Gary A.

ZombiesniperJr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary has some sad but also happy news to share.
> 
> Sadly, about a month ago, Cookie (AKA The Cook), passed.  She was 14 years old and her kidneys simply wore out. She was an incredible companion and my best friend.  Cook and Gary did everything together.
> 
> Gary made a gallery in honor and memory of The Cook.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cook in her summer coiffure.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cook in winter.
> 
> Cook and Friends:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Okay ... now Gary is  tearing up ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Rest In Peace sweet Cook.
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry for your loss
Click to expand...

Thank you Logan.  Gary is very grateful to have shared his life with Cookie for 14 years.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Near the end, when Cook was unable to take her, until then, daily morning walk, a neighbor came by walking her dog.  She stopped and we chatted about Cookie and I explained that she wasn't doing well and the neighbor stated that Cookie was an institution in the neighborhood. It's funny, but more people knew Cookie's name than the name of her humans (Mary Lou and Gary).  One day Gary and Cook were driving in an adjacent city, Brea, on a four lane highway.  While stopped at a red light, Cook's head was out the window, when another car pulled up to the light, rolled down the window and inquired if that was Cookie.  Gary, of course, affirmed that indeed it was The Cook then we drove away. To this day Gary doesn't know who that person was.


I'm so sorry!!    Having just gone through this a year ago with Odin, I know how anguishing it was for you and Mary Lou.     These posts with the pictures are tough to make, but thank you for letting us know.

And welcome to little Maggie.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary has some sad but also happy news to share.
> 
> Sadly, about a month ago, Cookie (AKA The Cook), passed.  She was 14 years old and her kidneys simply wore out. She was an incredible companion and my best friend.  Cook and Gary did everything together.
> 
> Gary made a gallery in honor and memory of The Cook.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cook in her summer coiffure.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cook in winter.
> 
> Cook and Friends:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Okay ... now Gary is  tearing up ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Rest In Peace sweet Cook.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Near the end, when Cook was unable to take her, until then, daily morning walk, a neighbor came by walking her dog.  She stopped and we chatted about Cookie and I explained that she wasn't doing well and the neighbor stated that Cookie was an institution in the neighborhood. It's funny, but more people knew Cookie's name than the name of her humans (Mary Lou and Gary).  One day Gary and Cook were driving in an adjacent city, Brea, on a four lane highway.  While stopped at a red light, Cook's head was out the window, when another car pulled up to the light, rolled down the window and inquired if that was Cookie.  Gary, of course, affirmed that indeed it was The Cook then we drove away. To this day Gary doesn't know who that person was.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm so sorry!!    Having just gone through this a year ago with Odin, I know how anguishing it was for you and Mary Lou.     These posts with the pictures are tough to make, but thank you for letting us know.
> 
> And welcome to little Maggie.
Click to expand...

Thank you Terri.





The Cook wine tasting in the Alexander Valley. She developed a palate for reds.


----------



## JonA_CT

Hopefully, I have many more years with my pup, but I still remember going with my mom to put down my childhood dog. It was one of the hardest mornings of my life. I’m glad Cook brought you so many good memories, and I’m sure Maggie will too.

My parents, after many years without a dog, picked up their puppy yesterday. I couldn’t help but go visit this morning, so I’ll be introducing her later.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Hopefully, I have many more years with my pup, but I still remember going with my mom to put down my childhood dog. It was one of the hardest mornings of my life. I’m glad Cook brought you so many good memories, and I’m sure Maggie will too.
> 
> My parents, after many years without a dog, picked up their puppy yesterday. I couldn’t help but go visit this morning, so I’ll be introducing her later.





Cook as a pup.

Gary has forgotten how much wonderfulness there is in a pup.


----------



## Frank F.

Lovely dog, Cookie! I am glad that I had the chance to get to know her. You have found a nice place to bury her. All the best to Mary-Lou also.

Frank


----------



## Gary A.

Vielen Dank Frank.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Not at the schools Gary attended



There was always something going on at my school, but between work, school and sports there wasn't any time to participate. I feel cheated!!!!


----------



## smoke665

@davidharmier60 can't stand Pro football, but I do love to watch HS and college. If you really want to be entertained, go to a peewee game. They are hilarious


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not at the schools Gary attended
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There was always something going on at my school, but between work, school and sports there wasn't any time to participate. I feel cheated!!!!
Click to expand...

Lol ... in the greed and whoring ...? Don't worry, plenty of us filled your spot.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. I've been thinking about your Cook and was afraid to ask. So sorry for your loss. Though nothing will ever replace  the bond you had, take heart that a new though different bond will quickly form with the new fur kid.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Lol ... in the greed and whoring ...? Don't worry, plenty of us filled your spot.



Well I might not have missed it completely


----------



## Gary A.

LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is very sorry for Gary. He knows what it's like to lose a fur baby. Dave is rather sick of the shenanigans of Pro football. 
He doesn't t know if there is peewee football around here. But high school is possible. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave is very sorry for Gary. He knows what it's like to lose a fur baby. Dave is rather sick of the shenanigans of Pro football.
> He doesn't t know if there is peewee football around here. But high school is possible.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



One of my friends, coaches a Peewee team, and though he is the biggest A** in the world to the rest of us, he is wonderful with the boys and has the patience of a saint. Peewee sports all have certain things in common - They all move in wads across the field,  they're sitting in the middle of the field playing with bugs, or they're standing staring at something totally unrelated to the game at hand.


----------



## davidharmier60

LOL at that. Have watched small baseball so somewhat familiar. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm so sorry to hear about The Cook. I'd thought she was doing better, but that seems to happen sometimes. It sounds like it was meant to be for you to find Maggie (more like for her to find you).


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't watch peewee football but I hear it some Saturdays. They play youth football (I don't know what age/level) at the elementary school up the street on a rotating schedule - I never know when it's 'our' turn. With the weather being nice I got to hear it all day yesterday! 

I sort of like it except the kid with the horn, playing a repetitive 'toot toot toot'. 'Toot toot toot'........ 'Toot toot toot'.................................................. 'Toot toot toot'. I think the kid's parents eventually decided it was time to do something else besides toot the horn (thank you! lol). The last game of the afternoon must have been a lively one, the crowd were going wild. 

Smoke that sounds like my nephew's T ball, I think those kids played in the dirt more than actually hitting a ball. Little League was a little more fun to watch and photograph. And somebody asked me once if I was taking pictures for the local paper! lol


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Smoke that sounds like my nephew's T ball, I think those kids played in the dirt more than actually hitting a ball.



When youngest son played T-ball it was a co-ed team. There was a little girl named "Molly" that we got so tickled at, because through out the game you could hear the coach calling to her - "Molly pay attention, Molly watch the ball, Molly stay alert, MOLLY FOR GOD'S SAKE PLEASE WATCH THE BALL AND QUIT PICKING DANDELIONS". LOL


----------



## SquarePeg

Once the ice cream man pulled up in the middle of my daughter’s T ball game. Both teams abandoned their positions and rushed the truck. It was adorable.


----------



## davidharmier60

Reckon Dave has to find a t-ball or peewee football game!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Once the ice cream man pulled up in the middle of my daughter’s T ball game. Both teams abandoned their positions and rushed the truck. It was adorable.


That’s how Gary plays ball.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> I'm so sorry to hear about The Cook. I'd thought she was doing better, but that seems to happen sometimes. It sounds like it was meant to be for you to find Maggie (more like for her to find you).









Thank you Sharon.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Once the ice cream man pulled up in the middle of my daughter’s T ball game. Both teams abandoned their positions and rushed the truck. It was adorable.







Gary's grandson's T-Ball infielders tackling a grounder.


----------



## Gary A.

Teamwork


----------



## SquarePeg

Weekend was a bit of a bust. Instead of staying home and doing what needed to be done for the upcoming art walk I stayed with our plan to visit the White Mountains for some shopping and leaf peeping.  Shopping was a success but the trees are still green so could have just as easily shipped closer to home.  Now will have to go back to NH again next week at some point.  Good news in all this is that the timing of our Woodstock VT trip in less than 2 weeks is looking spot on for peak color.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Teamwork



The "fightin' irish", eh? haha



SquarePeg said:


> Weekend was a bit of a bust. Instead of staying home and doing what needed to be done for the upcoming art walk I stayed with our plan to visit the White Mountains for some shopping and leaf peeping.  Shopping was a success but the trees are still green so could have just as easily shipped closer to home.  Now will have to go back to NH again next week at some point.  Good news in all this is that the timing of our Woodstock VT trip in less than 2 weeks is looking spot on for peak color.



I highly recommend Cloudland Farm for one of your meals if you haven't planned them out yet. They only serve Thursday through Saturday, and the menu is whatever they feel like making...but it's BYOB, and my wife and I haven't enjoyed many meals more than the one that we got there. The location is beautiful too -- they have a porch that overlooks a large meadow and the mountains. 

This Week's Menus at Cloudland Farm, Woodstock, Vermont


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm very sorry to hear about Cookie!
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you John.  Gary wishes all you guys could have know her. Our neighbor's grade school age daughter introduced Cookie to her friend with "... this is Cookie ... she not a dog, she just looks like a dog is a small, furry people."
Click to expand...

FTFY


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Teamwork
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The "fightin' irish", eh? haha
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Weekend was a bit of a bust. Instead of staying home and doing what needed to be done for the upcoming art walk I stayed with our plan to visit the White Mountains for some shopping and leaf peeping.  Shopping was a success but the trees are still green so could have just as easily shipped closer to home.  Now will have to go back to NH again next week at some point.  Good news in all this is that the timing of our Woodstock VT trip in less than 2 weeks is looking spot on for peak color.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I highly recommend Cloudland Farm for one of your meals if you haven't planned them out yet. They only serve Thursday through Saturday, and the menu is whatever they feel like making...but it's BYOB, and my wife and I haven't enjoyed many meals more than the one that we got there. The location is beautiful too -- they have a porch that overlooks a large meadow and the mountains.
> 
> This Week's Menus at Cloudland Farm, Woodstock, Vermont
Click to expand...

LOL ... pretty much.  You should see them on offense when the coach hands them some shillelaghs and tells them to go beat the ball.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> I highly recommend Cloudland Farm for one of your meals if you haven't planned them out yet. They only serve Thursday through Saturday, and the menu is whatever they feel like making...but it's BYOB, and my wife and I haven't enjoyed many meals more than the one that we got there.



Holy crap!   I want to go just for the dessert list:  

*Dessert*

_Apple and almond tart, crabapple coulis, cinnamon ice cream, brown sugar streusel, poached cranberries
_
You had me at apple/almond tart, darlin'.          Cinnamon ice cream, brown sugar streusel, poached cranberries - my dormant sweet tooth has awakened.

And only 5 bucks corkage?    Phenomenal!    Place looks gorgeous, too - what a find!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I love the picture of Cookie in the sunshine... that brought tears to my eyes. What a sweet little dog and friend.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is still very sorry about Gary's life.
But Dave must go to work soon.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

They probably have the only indoor parking lot in Woodstock, VT too...you park in an old barn.


The little one is sick, so the last couple of nights have been rough. I'm dragging at work today. My wife is also cranky because she is interviewing a nanny this morning -- who just showed up 45 minutes late. Not a great way to start.


----------



## waday

I'm sorry to hear about Cookie, @Gary A. 

Maggie looks real cute!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey, Sharon, those kids had the right priorities! ice cream!! 

Why do kids that age travel in a pack? if one goes after a ball, they all go. Same with ice cream it seems. 

Everybody watch out - Terri's heading up north for desserts and wine, get out of her way!! lol (heck with the scenery!) Well, I think that might be more Terri's imagination? wishful thinking? than reality. Then again... 

It does sound nice. There have been a few leaves trickling down but the darn grass started growing again! lol I'm ready for some fall colors.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Just saw an interview with a couple of young women who were at that festival in Vegas last night, said their group of 25 got separated but all got out. That footage of the concert when it happened is disturbing to see, I didn't see anything about it til the noon news. Had on another young woman who was there saying at first they thought it was fireworks. There is at least a hospital with a trauma center right there that's set up and trained for this.


----------



## jcdeboever

No one is taking Dodgers for WS...interesting.  I have Astros vs. Dodgers. Beltran and Turner. Verlander and Kershaw. Hard to pick against the Indians but Beltran will be the difference.  Dodgers in 7. Watch for Granderson to get some big hits as well. Indians and Nationals are leading the experts picks.


----------



## SquarePeg

Have to support my BoSox.  Although I have not had a lot of time to watch them this season, the few games that I've seen - the kids are alright!


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Have to support my BoSox.  Although I have not had a lot of time to watch them this season, the few games that I've seen - the kids are alright!


I don't see the pitching, sorry. Scary lineup but I don't think Betts is healthy. Sale is a stud but not scared beyond him.


----------



## davidharmier60

The Astros characteristically collapse at the end of the season so I don't really believe that they're going to be in the World Series

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

davidharmier60 said:


> The Astros characteristically collapse at the end of the season so I don't really believe that they're going to be in the World Series
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Complete team, lots of depth. Beltran is a post season stud. Put it this way, tough decision not to play him, that's how deep they are. Verlander is on his game.


----------



## davidharmier60

If you say so

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

davidharmier60 said:


> If you say so
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


I've been wrong before. Astros are scary good.


----------



## JonA_CT

Met my daughter at the park after school. Pure joy.


----------



## Frank F.

I have been on the road in the Netherlands with some friends from Nikongear, where I found Gary, over the weekend.

Photography and friendship is a good combination.

Here are two of them at Sunday breakfast in The Hague:


----------



## JonA_CT

Goddamnit Tom Petty.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Goddamnit Tom Petty.


I know.


----------



## terri

This day is crap, btw.


----------



## jcdeboever

Man, got to check out the Minolta maxxum 9 the wife got me. I swear it's never been used. Like new. Shutter sounds sweet. Tank like build. Loaded some Portra 160 in it. 12000 shutter speed and it does HSS with a Minolta flash, HS4600, wireless. Huge, bright viewfinder. This baby is gonna be a dream to shoot with. I can't get over how nice it is.


----------



## jcdeboever

Forgot to add pics. I had the lens.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> This day is crap, btw.


After getting up twice in the middle of the night and spend some time with the new baby ... Gary had to officially get up at 5:00 a.m. in order to start his day and hit his first stop by 6:30 a.m.  Gary got up early for his crap.


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC: Looks like it even has the new camera smell.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave is still very sorry about Gary's life.
> But Dave must go to work soon.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk







Thank you Dave.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> I'm sorry to hear about Cookie, @Gary A.
> 
> Maggie looks real cute!







Thank you Wade.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> No one is taking Dodgers for WS...interesting.  I have Astros vs. Dodgers. Beltran and Turner. Verlander and Kershaw. Hard to pick against the Indians but Beltran will be the difference.  Dodgers in 7. Watch for Granderson to get some big hits as well. Indians and Nationals are leading the experts picks.


104 for the Dodgers, pretty good even though they blew their clutch near the end of the race.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Astros characteristically collapse at the end of the season so I don't really believe that they're going to be in the World Series
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Complete team, lots of depth. Beltran is a post season stud. Put it this way, tough decision not to play him, that's how deep they are. Verlander is on his game.
Click to expand...

Verlander may tip the scales.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @ JC: Looks like it even has the new camera smell.


Crazy clean.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg: Gary was joking with the


----------



## Gary A.

Gary came home to this ... Maggie is not allowed on the furniture.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 147604 View attachment 147605 View attachment 147606 Gary came home to this ... Maggie is not allowed on the furniture.


O no, Maggie is in trouble.


----------



## davidharmier60

I sincerely doubt Maggie will be in trouble. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Even though Dave doesn't have to get up at 4am on Tuesday, since he did this morning .... bedtime is soon. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 147604 View attachment 147605 View attachment 147606 Gary came home to this ... Maggie is not allowed on the furniture.


I don't think she knows that.  Such a cutie.


----------



## Gary A.

Recharging her batteries.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Porch/deck/patio furniture doesn't count. Or furniture near a patio door, or a sliding glass door, or by a door with a really big window...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Reminds me of a cairn terrier (we had one) but those seem to be shorter hair.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Goddamnit Tom Petty.
> 
> 
> 
> I know.
Click to expand...


And now they're saying he's not quite dead yet. And because my brain goes to inappropriate humor when I'm sad, all I can think of is Monty Python.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 147608
> Recharging her batteries.



Furry baby girl


----------



## smoke665

Had a strange experience when I got my annual flu shot today.  When the nurse pulled the needle out I became a bleeder for some unknown reason. Not a little bit but all over the nurse and down my arm. Never had any shot do tbat before. Fortunately it stopped within a couple minutes.


----------



## snowbear

Good night peeps - I can't take any more bad news.  Maybe tomorrow will be a bit better.
I've also been battling a sore/scratchy throat for three days and I'm getting a little cranky.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Had a strange experience when I got my annual flu shot today.  When the nurse pulled the needle out I became a bleeder for some unknown reason. Not a little bit but all over the nurse and down my arm. Never had any shot do tbat before. Fortunately it stopped within a couple minutes.



This happened to me a few years ago.  I got the flu shot at a Walgreens that year and the tech said something like "oh you should have told me you were on an aspirin regimen" and I said "I'm not" and she looked at me like I was lying!  Never had that happen before or since.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Had a strange experience when I got my annual flu shot today.  When the nurse pulled the needle out I became a bleeder for some unknown reason. Not a little bit but all over the nurse and down my arm. Never had any shot do tbat before. Fortunately it stopped within a couple minutes.


You hit/nicked a vessel.


----------



## Gary A.

Maggie is wearing Mary Lou and Gary out. In our twilight years, Mary Lou had turn into a couch potato ... Gary had turned into a couch ... Cook had turned into a couch potato ... we were all very happy as the Potato family. Maggie is not a potato.


----------



## Frank F.

A furry fluffy energy ball.

Love the curiois Cook casting a huge black dog shadow!


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. We experienced that same thing when Sadie Mae came. It's sort of like having a toddler on a high sugar diet in the house. You'll adjust ----- eventually


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave comes to the dog thing with 9 of them sharing the house with us.
The two youngest are the balls of energy. 
But the two oldest bark the most.

Dave has made a startling discovery. He knows now why he does not like his Sigma 70-300 mm F4-5.6 APO Macro anymore.
The rear element is hazy. I suppose it COULD be mold but I do not have a UV flashlight with which to try and eradicate it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

This is why Leo has cats.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave comes to the dog thing with 9 of them sharing the house with us.
> The two youngest are the balls of energy.
> But the two oldest bark the most.
> 
> Dave has made a startling discovery. He knows now why he does not like his Sigma 70-300 mm F4-5.6 APO Macro anymore.
> The rear element is hazy. I suppose it COULD be mold but I do not have a UV flashlight with which to try and eradicate it.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Nine is a ton of dogs.  You could field a baseball team. Wheatens, (Cook and Maggie in this case), rarely bark and they do not shed. The only loose dog hair in the house is on the dog brush). Cook only barked when there was a strange animal in the yard, a 'possum or raccoon ... or when she wanted to play.  Gary has heard Maggie whine, (the first two night after being sent to bed alone), but so far no barking.

Cook would communicate by shaking her dog tags and clinking them together.  If she wanted you attention on a matter or if she was responding to a comment or question, she'd shake her head and clink her tags.  Gary thinks this started when Gary and Mary Lou would arrive home.  Cook would be on the other side of the door waiting and would hear us clink our keys while we opened the door.  Cook made a similar noise on the other side of the door in response.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. We experienced that same thing when Sadie Mae came. It's sort of like having a toddler on a high sugar diet in the house. You'll adjust ----- eventually


Actually, Gary was thinking of you and your pup.  Gary figured you experienced something similar.  Thanks for the heads-up. 

Maggie only has an On-Off switch, so it is either pedal-to-the-metal or she's recharging her batteries.  Pups are wonderful creatures. Gary is in the kitchen sipping his first cup of coffee.  Maggie likes to curl up at Gary's feet.  After a spell, when Gary feels safe, warm and protected ... she practices her terrier/vermin instincts with her razor sharp little puppy teeth on Gary's unsuspecting toes.







Waiting to Attack


----------



## Gary A.

Gary hasn't any cats because Mary Lou is extremely allergic to cats. Just keyboarding "cat" gives Mary Lou hives.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave comes to the dog thing with 9 of them sharing the house with us.
> The two youngest are the balls of energy.
> But the two oldest bark the most.
> 
> Dave has made a startling discovery. He knows now why he does not like his Sigma 70-300 mm F4-5.6 APO Macro anymore.
> The rear element is hazy. I suppose it COULD be mold but I do not have a UV flashlight with which to try and eradicate it.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


You could dip the lens in a fungicide.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Goddamnit Tom Petty.
> 
> 
> 
> I know.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And now they're saying he's not quite dead yet. And because my brain goes to inappropriate humor when I'm sad, all I can think of is Monty Python.
Click to expand...

Bring out your dead...

I'm no dead yet...

Ye' soon will be...


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gary hasn't any cats because Mary Lou is extremely allergic to cats. Just keyboarding "cat" gives Mary Lou hives.



This makes me sad


----------



## davidharmier60

That particular lens has always been rather a slow focus hunt type anyhow.
But I would hate to trash it.
The Monty Python thing is funny.
Tom Petty is not.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Actually, Gary was thinking of you and your pup. Gary figured you experienced something similar. Thanks for the heads-up.



Sadie Mae by virtue of being 4 when we got her, was a little more settled, but Britts by nature are HIGH ENERGY. We got Millie as a 12 week old, for the first year of her life she thought her name was "MILLIE DAMMIT". Into everything, AT ONCE.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, Gary was thinking of you and your pup. Gary figured you experienced something similar. Thanks for the heads-up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sadie Mae by virtue of being 4 when we got her, was a little more settled, but Britts by nature are HIGH ENERGY. We got Millie as a 12 week old, for the first year of her life she thought her name was "MILLIE DAMMIT". Into everything, AT ONCE.
Click to expand...

Maggie is a  Terrorist ... Terrier.  Fortunately for the Potato Family, Wheaten are the most calm of Terriers.  We looked for a rescue but couldn't find any. Wheatens are few and far between.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, Gary was thinking of you and your pup. Gary figured you experienced something similar. Thanks for the heads-up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sadie Mae by virtue of being 4 when we got her, was a little more settled, but Britts by nature are HIGH ENERGY. We got Millie as a 12 week old, for the first year of her life she thought her name was "MILLIE DAMMIT". Into everything, AT ONCE.
Click to expand...

Gary's daughter has a Golden Retriever with a similar name, "Holly No!".


----------



## davidharmier60

We had a Shepherd mix named W. Axle Rose (Axle) for short. I could stop that dog from doing ANYTHING with a NO.
Miss that dog terribly!

Can't tell these dogs anything. 

Another GREAT dog from the past was a Red Lab named Chelsea. She could clear a 4 foot fence but wouldn't. You could place a food item on her nose and she'd leave it there until given permission.

One of these dogs will take food off your plate while you watch.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

One of my favorites.
R.I.P.


----------



## jcdeboever

Webster thinks he is me, he gets yelled at a lot too. I don't think I've yelled at him once. He seems to listen to me but not Momma, kind of like me....


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, Gary was thinking of you and your pup. Gary figured you experienced something similar. Thanks for the heads-up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sadie Mae by virtue of being 4 when we got her, was a little more settled, but Britts by nature are HIGH ENERGY. We got Millie as a 12 week old, for the first year of her life she thought her name was "MILLIE DAMMIT". Into everything, AT ONCE.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Maggie is a  Terrorist ... Terrier.  Fortunately for the Potato Family, Wheaten are the most calm of Terriers.  We looked for a rescue but couldn't find any. Wheatens are few and far between.
Click to expand...

So... is she a Whole Wheaten, a Cream of Wheaten, a Puffed Wheaten or a Shredded Wheaten?


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, Gary was thinking of you and your pup. Gary figured you experienced something similar. Thanks for the heads-up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sadie Mae by virtue of being 4 when we got her, was a little more settled, but Britts by nature are HIGH ENERGY. We got Millie as a 12 week old, for the first year of her life she thought her name was "MILLIE DAMMIT". Into everything, AT ONCE.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Maggie is a  Terrorist ... Terrier.  Fortunately for the Potato Family, Wheaten are the most calm of Terriers.  We looked for a rescue but couldn't find any. Wheatens are few and far between.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> So... is she a Whole Wheaten, a Cream of Wheaten, a Puffed Wheaten or a Shredded Wheaten?
Click to expand...

Actually and technically, she is a "*Soft-Coated* Wheaten Terrier".


----------



## snowbear

I'll take that as Puffed Wheaton


----------



## Gary A.

Presently, she is a Tired Wheaten.


----------



## Gary A.

The sun is finally coming out.  There was a slight shower this morning, quite odd for here.  Maggie had her first stroll in the rain ... most likely triggered her genes and reminded her of Ireland. Temps should break 70F today. Last night dinner in the patio, thin sliced and BBQed chicken for our guests. Gary never prepared thin sliced before.  He marinated the chicken in a teriyaki augments with spices, peppers and herbs.  It came out crispy with a slight sweet flavor and a bit of pepper kick.  A guest brought this Russian Babka for dessert.  It was delish.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gee, she wore out the monkey too.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Monty Python pops into my mind too sometimes at rather inopportune times. Of course if it's during a boring meeting or something, that's OK. 

I think something like that is a sort of relief or way of coping or whatever you want to call it. Our minds I think try to self protect to help deal with whatever's going on that's hard to take in. Sounds like people there are still somewhat in shock or it hasn't really sunk in yet.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Gee, she wore out the monkey too.



That's Gary Wheaten's, he alway's working his monkey


----------



## snowbear

How much more tired could Maggie make Pix's ferrets?


----------



## davidharmier60

This was Axel.
Under Axel is Purrana. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	






Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Ugh - just tried that new Halo Top ice cream for the first time.  I've been dieting so haven't had ice cream in a while.  This was so good and is very low cal (for ice cream) and I got carried away and ate way too much of it.  Look out Maggie I'm coming in for a nap.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh - just tried that new Halo Top ice cream for the first time.  I've been dieting so haven't had ice cream in a while.  This was so good and is very low cal (for ice cream) and I got carried away and ate way too much of it.  Look out Maggie I'm coming in for a nap.


But it's in one of the major food groups so it must be good for you.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh - just tried that new Halo Top ice cream for the first time.  I've been dieting so haven't had ice cream in a while.  This was so good and is very low cal (for ice cream) and I got carried away and ate way too much of it.  Look out Maggie I'm coming in for a nap.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Dadgummit, just looked it up and it has sugar alcohol in it. I'm not even sure exactly what that is, but they put it in diet cookies and candies sometimes. For me anyway, it starts as gurgling, then... off to the races (to reach the porcelain throne).


----------



## snowbear

Sugar alcohol is rum, isn't it?  Rum is made from molasses or sugar cane juice.  Rum and ice cream sounds interesting, to me.


----------



## JonA_CT

The sugar alcohols are sweet but your body can't digest them, so they are essentially calorie-free. They are also a wicked-awesome laxative in the right quantities, so beware, haha.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh - just tried that new Halo Top ice cream for the first time.  I've been dieting so haven't had ice cream in a while.  This was so good and is very low cal (for ice cream) and I got carried away and ate way too much of it.  Look out Maggie I'm coming in for a nap.


Mmmm, sounds intriguing!    I've never heard of the stuff.

In the meantime, my favorite apples, Arkansas Black, are starting to come in.  They are very hard, tart and juicy - they make the best pies.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Wicked laxative, they should market it as that! I don't know what it's made from, but rum sounds better.

Apple pie, that sounds good with a scoop of ice cream. And some rum flavored sauce, or rum in the filling, or however you could work it in there.


----------



## davidharmier60

Pink Lemonade Koolaid is the stuff.

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----------



## Gary A.

Y'all ought to try Gary's coconut milk mint ice cream with chocolate bits ... it would make you a believer.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is gonna miss Tom Petty.  He was an LA fixture.  A week ago he played a concert at Arroyo Seco (Rose Bowl). Those attending said it was nothing short of a giant karaoke event, all 5,000 people in attendance, young and old, sang every word to every song.


----------



## jcdeboever

My wife is yelling at me to fix her closet door. I am on a an additional liquid 78 hour diet die to fix poor described medicine. I feel horrible bit she thinks I am being melodramatic. She hates me. Doctor said to lay low for a week. I worked 14 hours today. Her father said I was a pussy too. I am challenged with pancreatitis. I guess my bloating and pain is imaginary. I sold $126k order today. They can go f*** themselves


----------



## davidharmier60

Wow/\. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

davidharmier60 said:


> Wow/\.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Exactly. They drain me...


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever and the horse they rode in on!


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever and the horse they rode in on!


i'd keep the horse, they can be useful, and they're pretty good companions!


----------



## SquarePeg

The NYY just played the Darth Vader evil empire theme music while introducing the Twins.  Now that's funny!


----------



## JonA_CT

It’s also funny that they’re down 3-0 in the first.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> It’s also funny that they’re down 3-0 in the first.



Tied now.  Ugh.   Sorry, it's ingrained in my DNA to hate them.  The Sox could be in first place and the Yanks in last on the last day of the season and if the score crawl at the bottom of the screen shows a Yankee win I still swear at the tv.


----------



## davidharmier60

If the Astros played a game or will play today I couldn't find them....

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## davidharmier60

And on that note Good Night hosers.

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## snowbear

I wouldn't pay $10 but it's sort of cute.


----------



## SquarePeg

davidharmier60 said:


> If the Astros played a game or will play today I couldn't find them....
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Sox at Astros series starts Thursday afternoon.


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh goody the Sox. NOT!

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## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Y'all ought to try Gary's coconut milk mint ice cream with chocolate bits ... it would make you a believer.




Currently I believe that my health and feeling well is better in a life without sugar


----------



## Frank F.

It is so great to live in a walkable city community where lots of people know me, greet me, chat with me and the children giggle and tell their mother: "look there he is the photographer" ... Other than in a rural community I can be part of the community without sacrificing my private life. I am a happy man!


----------



## davidharmier60

Sounds good Frank!
We live in the sticks. 
3.5 acres for the dogs to run in.
And pretty soon I gotta go.

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----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Y'all ought to try Gary's coconut milk mint ice cream with chocolate bits ... it would make you a believer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Currently I believe that my health and feeling well is better in a life without sugar
Click to expand...

Living life without "refined" sugar is a good thing, but especially for you, as your health/metabolism is the exception to the norm.  With Gary's sorbets and ice creams, he has been cutting down on the sugar content of the recipe. He is now down to sugar content about half of what the recipe calls out and the results still taste yummy.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> It is so great to live in a walkable city community where lots of people know me, greet me, chat with me and the children giggle and tell their mother: "look there he is the photographer" ... Other than in a rural community I can be part of the community without sacrificing my private life. I am a happy man!


Gary agrees that fits you.  Yesterday Gary walked to the grocery store for dinner fixin's then to the hardware store for some duct tape. On Friday Mary Lou and Gary walked to the theatre. When you were here, we took off everyday in the car to explore Southern California. Gary speaks with his neighbors and they come over for coffee and wine and dinner multiple times a week.  Last night, Mike came over for dinner.  I think you met Mike, he's the older guy with Max, the beautiful Golden Retriever mix. Gary and Cookie met Mike and Max in the park. We had Brats, German potato salad, sauerkraut, pickled beets all washed down with a Hangar 24 Orange Wheat beer. We boiled half the Brats in a beer/onion/butter mixture and the other half Gary grilled.  Both were quite good, but Mary Lou, Mike and Gary liked the grilled best.

Gary is glad that you are happy living in the city.  Gary is glad that David likes living in the country.  Both offer a lifestyle with a lot of positive.  Gary likes the compromise of living in suburbia.  Gary enjoys a quiet and private yard, which he wouldn't have in the city, which he cultivates and manicures to Gary's tastes and enjoyment.  Gary enjoys the ability to walk for his daily needs and entertainment.  Granted, the variety of shops and restaurants isn't as numerous as if Gary lived in a large urban city ... and granted the quiet and size of his yard isn't as quiet or as large as if Gary lived in the country ... which is why it is a compromise.

The countryside, full of cows, horses, goats, acres of corn, strawberries, oranges, et cetera is less than an hour away by car.  The big city with it's sophisticated restaurants and world class museums and world class entertainment is less than an hour away via car.  The mountains, 10,000 feet high and filled with winter snow is less than an hour north.  The beach, with 100 foot high cliffs and sandy crescent coves is less than an hour away.  The Mojave desert, one of the driest deserts on earth is an hour thirty minutes to the east. World class wine country is two hours to the north or 75 minutes to the southeast.

There are times when Gary would love to live in a big urban setting, complete with mass transit eliminating the need for a car. And there are times when living in the country with acres of open space is quite appealing. But Gary recognizes that suburban living is a compromise, but he is happy with that compromise.

Sorta like an APS-C sensor being a compromise between the IQ of a FF and the small footprint of a MFT.  Gary shoots digital with an APS-C camera.

PS- Disneyland is 20 minutes away, as is Angel Stadium and the Honda Center.


----------



## limr

I like being able to take a walk without having to talk to people. If I knew that taking a walk meant talking to a bunch of people, I'd never leave the house. Living in a city is stressful and exhausting for me. (And yes, I've done it, so it's not just a theoretical. It's not for me.) Even suburbia is a bit tricky. At least in the TriState area. Suburbia can get pretty crowded, too. I don't want to be able to see into my neighbor's house. In fact, I'd prefer to not see their house at all 

I'm fine going into the city for the day or even to work in a place with a lot of activity all day, but when I go home, I need to lay my head down in a place where I can't hear human activity. Crickets and frogs, maybe the wind or rain. I also like to be able to see the stars.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Even suburbia is a bit tricky. At least in the TriState area. Suburbia can get pretty crowded, too. I don't want to be able to see into my neighbor's house. In fact, I'd prefer to not see their house at all


The wife and I live in a small townhouse community (probably 40-45 units). When I take the dog out, I don't want to talk to anyone. Yet, people treat it like gossip hour and yell to me across the street. I feel obligated to wave to literally everyone that drives through. 

Some of the younger folk (I act like I'm not young, ha) treat it like a dorm. They invite people over for beer, etc. It's terrifying, because I don't want to interact with them. It's my home, so I want to be free to do what I want and not feel trapped.. eh, um, I mean, obligated to stand there for three hours listening to them drone on. I don't want to fear that they see my car in the driveway, or lights on in the house, and think that I'm home and ignoring them. Frustrating.


----------



## SquarePeg

We're in a very small city that's more like a small town.  I can walk to our downtown area (on sidewalks) in about 10 minutes for restaurants, shopping, errands etc.  Most of the schools are within walking distance.  In the other direction is a fairly large mall that is about a 15 minute walk.  I know a lot of people in town (been here 17 years) from the schools, softball league, my church and volunteer work plus we try to utilize local businesses whenever possible.  I could not walk for more than 5 minutes without seeing someone I know at least casually.  I enjoy the social aspects of a tightly knit community. Maybe because I work mostly at home and via computer so don't get a lot of that from work.

To Gary's point, we are 20 minutes from the beach, 1 hour from Maine, 2 hours in various directions will get you to Cape Cod, NH mountains or Berkshires and a quick train or uber from Downtown Boston.  Farm country is a bit further out - Western Mass which, while not technically another state, really should be.  It's nice to have options.  If we could skip winter, it would be perfect.  When I retire and become a snow bird, it will be.  

Wade - if I'm not in the mood for chitchat I just nod and say how are you but don't break pace.  Everyone knows that's the universal sign for on a mission don't bother me.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Even suburbia is a bit tricky. At least in the TriState area. Suburbia can get pretty crowded, too. I don't want to be able to see into my neighbor's house. In fact, I'd prefer to not see their house at all
> 
> 
> 
> The wife and I live in a small townhouse community (probably 40-45 units). When I take the dog out, I don't want to talk to anyone. Yet, people treat it like gossip hour and yell to me across the street. I feel obligated to wave to literally everyone that drives through.
> 
> Some of the younger folk (I act like I'm not young, ha) treat it like a dorm. They invite people over for beer, etc. It's terrifying, because I don't want to interact with them. It's my home, so I want to be free to do what I want and not feel trapped.. eh, um, I mean, obligated to stand there for three hours listening to them drone on. I don't want to fear that they see my car in the driveway, or lights on in the house, and think that I'm home and ignoring them. Frustrating.
Click to expand...


Absolutely. Not having to interact with people is especially important for me because my work often forces me into pretending I'm an extrovert, and pulling me out of my comfort zone when I have to call people or have uncomfortable conversations, or even just engage in small talk (which is not easy for me so it takes a lot of energy.) When I go home, I _really_ need sanctuary from the talking and interacting. I don't want to be rude to anyone, but I just have no energy left to deal with people.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> I like being able to take a walk without having to talk to people. If I knew that taking a walk meant talking to a bunch of people, I'd never leave the house. Living in a city is stressful and exhausting for me. (And yes, I've done it, so it's not just a theoretical. It's not for me.) Even suburbia is a bit tricky. At least in the TriState area. Suburbia can get pretty crowded, too. I don't want to be able to see into my neighbor's house. In fact, I'd prefer to not see their house at all
> 
> I'm fine going into the city for the day or even to work in a place with a lot of activity all day, but when I go home, I need to lay my head down in a place where I can't hear human activity. Crickets and frogs, maybe the wind or rain. I also like to be able to see the stars.



My plan is to live in the city and buy a farm near the city. I want to spend my day with the plants and animals and go back to the city at night for my wife and kids and friends. I dream to feed my quarter in the city from my farm, take their wishes and grow for them...


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Even suburbia is a bit tricky. At least in the TriState area. Suburbia can get pretty crowded, too. I don't want to be able to see into my neighbor's house. In fact, I'd prefer to not see their house at all
> 
> 
> 
> The wife and I live in a small townhouse community (probably 40-45 units). When I take the dog out, I don't want to talk to anyone. Yet, people treat it like gossip hour and yell to me across the street. I feel obligated to wave to literally everyone that drives through.
> 
> Some of the younger folk (I act like I'm not young, ha) treat it like a dorm. They invite people over for beer, etc. It's terrifying, because I don't want to interact with them. It's my home, so I want to be free to do what I want and not feel trapped.. eh, um, I mean, obligated to stand there for three hours listening to them drone on. I don't want to fear that they see my car in the driveway, or lights on in the house, and think that I'm home and ignoring them. Frustrating.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Absolutely. Not having to interact with people is especially important for me because my work often forces me into pretending I'm an extrovert, and pulling me out of my comfort zone when I have to call people or have uncomfortable conversations, or even just engage in small talk (which is not easy for me so it takes a lot of energy.) When I go home, I _really_ need sanctuary from the talking and interacting. I don't want to be rude to anyone, but I just have no energy left to deal with people.
Click to expand...

Agree. so. much. It's mentally draining and exhausting.

My supervisor often pushes networking networking networking. I hate networking with a passion.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> We're in a very small city that's more like a small town.  I can walk to our downtown area (on sidewalks) in about 10 minutes for restaurants, shopping, errands etc.  Most of the schools are within walking distance.  In the other direction is a fairly large mall that is about a 15 minute walk.  I know a lot of people in town (been here 17 years) from the schools, softball league, my church and volunteer work plus we try to utilize local businesses whenever possible.  I could not walk for more than 5 minutes without seeing someone I know at least casually.  I enjoy the social aspects of a tightly knit community. Maybe because I work mostly at home and via computer so don't get a lot of that from work.
> 
> To Gary's point, we are 20 minutes from the beach, 1 hour from Maine, 2 hours in various directions will get you to Cape Cod, NH mountains or Berkshires and a quick train or uber from Downtown Boston.  Farm country is a bit further out - Western Mass which, while not technically another state, really should be.  It's nice to have options.  If we could skip winter, it would be perfect.  When I retire and become a snow bird, it will be.
> 
> Wade - if I'm not in the mood for chitchat I just nod and say how are you but don't break pace.  Everyone knows that's the universal sign for on a mission don't bother me.



I used to live in White Plains, which is technically a city, and I could walk to the downtown area, or to the MetroNorth train station and be in Manhattan in half an hour. I was a short drive to more open spaces. I could get to beach, mountains, or city within an hour.

Still, I felt cramped where I was living. I moved north to the outer suburbs. I am no longer in walking distance to any kind of town and it takes me longer to get to work or to the city. However, I am much more relaxed during the day, knowing that no matter how hectic or loud it can get on campus, I have a quiet place to go home to where I can snuggle with kitties. And it's still not hard to get to MetroNorth when I need a city fix, it's easier to get to Maine and saltwater beaches, and I can see stars


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like being able to take a walk without having to talk to people. If I knew that taking a walk meant talking to a bunch of people, I'd never leave the house. Living in a city is stressful and exhausting for me. (And yes, I've done it, so it's not just a theoretical. It's not for me.) Even suburbia is a bit tricky. At least in the TriState area. Suburbia can get pretty crowded, too. I don't want to be able to see into my neighbor's house. In fact, I'd prefer to not see their house at all
> 
> I'm fine going into the city for the day or even to work in a place with a lot of activity all day, but when I go home, I need to lay my head down in a place where I can't hear human activity. Crickets and frogs, maybe the wind or rain. I also like to be able to see the stars.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My plan is to live in the city and buy a farm near the city. I want to spend my day with the plants and animals and go back to the city at night for my wife and kids and friends. I dream to feed my quarter in the city from my farm, take their wishes and grow for them...
Click to expand...


I love the idea of growing my own food (except I'm terrible with plants and hate being outside in the summer! ). You and I don't necessarily want different things - we just want them in reverse!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> I like being able to take a walk without having to talk to people. If I knew that taking a walk meant talking to a bunch of people, I'd never leave the house. Living in a city is stressful and exhausting for me. (And yes, I've done it, so it's not just a theoretical. It's not for me.) Even suburbia is a bit tricky. At least in the TriState area. Suburbia can get pretty crowded, too. I don't want to be able to see into my neighbor's house. In fact, I'd prefer to not see their house at all
> 
> I'm fine going into the city for the day or even to work in a place with a lot of activity all day, but when I go home, I need to lay my head down in a place where I can't hear human activity. Crickets and frogs, maybe the wind or rain. I also like to be able to see the stars.


You go me on stars. lol ... even without light pollution, way too much Marine Layer for star gazing. Joshua Tree in the Mojave is a wonderful place for star gazing and solitude ... not many jobs there.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> and I can see stars


Some friends of the wife came down from NYC a few weeks ago. They are the type of people who think that NYC is better than everything else (see the attached image). They also tend to work it into every conversation, which just has a way of belittling the area you live in. Yeah, I have to be nice to them.

Well, we had a late dinner, and as we were walking into our house, they looked up at the stars. I said, "You don't see those in the City."


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has lived in many places around the world, Asia, Central America, Africa and Europe.  He has been all over the USA.  But California is his home by birth and choice. 

PS- Gary's neighborhood is peaceful and generally quiet.  Gary and Maggie are surrounded by parks and horse trails within easy walking.  We have green walls which adds significantly to our personal quiet and privacy. Again, a nice compromise between urban and country life.


----------



## smoke665

Love our our little corner of the world. We are in the country, in the center of the property, high enough up that even though there are neighbors around, tree cover prevents seeing them, or them seeing us. Heavy traffic on the road is 2 or 3 cars per hour. Yet we are 15 mins from 3 Super WM's, 45 mins. from Birmingham, 2 hrs from Atlanta, 4 hrs from the Smokies, and 6 hrs from the coast.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Wade - if I'm not in the mood for chitchat I just nod and say how are you but don't break pace. Everyone knows that's the universal sign for on a mission don't bother me.


That's a good tip. I'll try it.


----------



## Gary A.

Hosers ... Miss Maggie has used the doggie door for the first time of her own volition.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Heavy traffic on the road is 2 or 3 cars per hour.


Meanwhile, the highway around us is being expanded to three lanes each way, and it will still likely be undersized. The one bridge crossing the major river here is already 4 lanes each way in some places and it's gridlocked traffic every day.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary A. said:


> Hosers ... Miss Maggie has used the doggie door for the first time of her own volition.



PS- Gary just might keep her.



 
After a hard day at the office.


----------



## smoke665

@waday I still drive in traffic, just came in from a 1000 mile trip during which we encountered some heavy traffic areas. With trailer we are right at 75' overall length, and 102" wide, so it always makes for some tense moments when you're in 6 to 8 lane traffic. The stress of the being constantly alert is taking more of a toll on me. At one time, driving 10-12 hours straight would have been possible, but now I find that 7 hrs is pretty much the limit for me. I couldn't live in such high traffic areas anymore, my temperament, and nerves wouldn't handle it.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Y'all ought to try Gary's coconut milk mint ice cream with chocolate bits ... it would make you a believer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Currently I believe that my health and feeling well is better in a life without sugar
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Living life without "refined" sugar is a good thing, but especially for you, as your health/metabolism is the exception to the norm.  With Gary's sorbets and ice creams, he has been cutting down on the sugar content of the recipe. He is now down to sugar content about half of what the recipe calls out and the results still taste yummy.
Click to expand...


I get my very few sugars from fresh fruit in smoothies, other carbohydrates I receive from chick peas which contain roughly 60% of these plus a lot of other healthy and tasty stuff.

I miss bread with butter and honey. Butter alone is not so tasty. No marmalade and no honey even only the lowest possible amount of dried fruit.

I love dates and figs and raisins....

Currently I search for a guideline to which food I should and should not eat in the future to stay healthy and without medication.

Normal doctors are not helpful. Chronical Desease and Autoimmune disorders are still far beyond their horizon.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> If I knew that taking a walk meant talking to a bunch of people, I'd never leave the house.



Preach, sistah!        I live in a small town now, but am just outside its city limits in a suburb.   So I'm closer to neighbors than I'd like, but since the county is rather rural otherwise, it's easy to get away.    Still, my early morning (6:30-7) walk around the subdivision is the one I dread the most because of the friendly overtures of dog-walkers and other people walkers around.   When I stagger out the door it's usually still half dark, I'm groggy, and I sometimes glance down to make sure I'm actually dressed - I'm not in the mood to chat.  

Overall, I do love living in the SE USA, aside from the occasional killer heat of late summer.   We're 4 hours from the ocean, less than an hour from the mountains, and less than an hour from the big city with its sterling restaurants, museums and shows.

And for the first time living anywhere in my life - I can go out on my back deck and see the freakin' Milky Way - like a rainbow of stars across the sky.   Star action out here is unsurpassed.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave COULD conceivably walk to work. 
But walking along US59/I69 can be hazardous. We can faintly hear 59/69.
A little louder the railroad. Loudest of all crows and other birds.

Dave got 6 and 1/4 hours today. Went for propane (which ran out with over 2/3 Of the store to go).

Now Dave will look at penny rolls looking for the magic penny.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Pinot Noir raisins. 

@Frank: Gary grows raisins.


----------



## Gary A.

Cabernet raisins, too young to pick.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers ... Miss Maggie has used the doggie door for the first time of her own volition.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> PS- Gary just might keep her.
> 
> View attachment 147696
> After a hard day at the office.
Click to expand...

You better put a leash on her, or Miz Pixmedic is going to add her to the ferret zoo down in Florida!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers ... Miss Maggie has used the doggie door for the first time of her own volition.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> PS- Gary just might keep her.
> 
> View attachment 147696
> After a hard day at the office.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You better put a leash on her, or Miz Pixmedic is going to add her to the ferret zoo down in Florida!
Click to expand...



 
I dunno, when Ms. Maggie’s switch is turned to “ON” she is hard to capture with an iPhone. Only when her switch is turned to “OFF” is she ferret-like and floppy.


----------



## Gary A.

Ms. Maggie switched to “OFF”.

Ms. Maggie has equal the personality to match her cute.


----------



## vintagesnaps

C'mon Gary, quit messin' around taking pictures and help get those grapes stomped!


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Hosers ... Miss Maggie has used the doggie door for the first time of her own volition.



Evidently, my daughter has eschewed diapers all day.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Is she 2?


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> We're in a very small city that's more like a small town.  I can walk to our downtown area (on sidewalks) in about 10 minutes for restaurants, shopping, errands etc.  Most of the schools are within walking distance.  In the other direction is a fairly large mall that is about a 15 minute walk.  I know a lot of people in town (been here 17 years) from the schools, softball league, my church and volunteer work plus we try to utilize local businesses whenever possible.  I could not walk for more than 5 minutes without seeing someone I know at least casually.  I enjoy the social aspects of a tightly knit community. Maybe because I work mostly at home and via computer so don't get a lot of that from work.
> 
> To Gary's point, we are 20 minutes from the beach, 1 hour from Maine, 2 hours in various directions will get you to Cape Cod, NH mountains or Berkshires and a quick train or uber from Downtown Boston.  Farm country is a bit further out - Western Mass which, while not technically another state, really should be.  It's nice to have options.  If we could skip winter, it would be perfect.  When I retire and become a snow bird, it will be.
> 
> Wade - if I'm not in the mood for chitchat I just nod and say how are you but don't break pace.  Everyone knows that's the universal sign for on a mission don't bother me.



Exactly my situation. Bonn is only 320.000 people. People know me from work, voluntary and paid for, church, school, kindergarden, city planning .....

And I work in my home office most of the time, so very similar situation ...

And signalling if you are ready to talk or not in just the same way ...great


----------



## JonA_CT

Yup. She turned 2 at the end of July. She started showing the readiness signs about a week before her brother was born. My wife decided to go for it today haha.


----------



## vintagesnaps

This too shall pass. Guess that could mean more than one thing,,,


----------



## jcdeboever

I like the big city, noise, confusion, people, talking, smells, etc. I come home to get yelled at.


----------



## davidharmier60

The neighbors have bigger AC problem then ours. Between that and a refrigerator their floor is about half rotten.
Our problem is water going into the connector duct. The floors are fine.
Sure looks beautiful out the back window. 
Just saw a squirrel bounding along.

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## smoke665

I could see these popping up at football game tailgate parties. Maybe I should inquire about a franchise?????  Inflatable Pub™ USA - For Sale and Rental


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has had a lifetime of big city, noise, confusion, people, talking, smells, et cetera.  He is thinking of moving to Germany and running Frank's farm, once he gets it. Yep, Maggie and Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> I could see these popping up at football game tailgate parties. Maybe I should inquire about a franchise?????  Inflatable Pub™ USA - For Sale and Rental


lol ...

Gary remembers going to an SC game at the Coliseum and passing a block of Cardinal & Gold Rolls Royces, the count was in the teens, all lined up along the curb of the closest parking lot to the field, tailgates down ... having a great time.

So smoke665, screw that inflatable crap ... but if you want to open up a Rolls lot, paint and market them to schools across the country, all decked out with folding BBQ's and bars in the trunk.  Give me a call, I'm in!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Guess they'll inflate anything.

I liked working in the city and like living near a city but being way out with the farmers and the chickens. With a medium sized town a 10 minute drive for essentials like doctors & pharmacies and a beer & pop drive thru and MickeyD's.

And hockey starts tonight! Winnipeg @ Toronto, then Calgary @ Edmonton for the late game.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. I thought it was funny that on the news tonight they were showing the options. One of which was an inflatable couch or inflatable beds for those "who celebrate a little to much???"


----------



## SquarePeg

Frank F. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're in a very small city that's more like a small town.  I can walk to our downtown area (on sidewalks) in about 10 minutes for restaurants, shopping, errands etc.  Most of the schools are within walking distance.  In the other direction is a fairly large mall that is about a 15 minute walk.  I know a lot of people in town (been here 17 years) from the schools, softball league, my church and volunteer work plus we try to utilize local businesses whenever possible.  I could not walk for more than 5 minutes without seeing someone I know at least casually.  I enjoy the social aspects of a tightly knit community. Maybe because I work mostly at home and via computer so don't get a lot of that from work.
> 
> To Gary's point, we are 20 minutes from the beach, 1 hour from Maine, 2 hours in various directions will get you to Cape Cod, NH mountains or Berkshires and a quick train or uber from Downtown Boston.  Farm country is a bit further out - Western Mass which, while not technically another state, really should be.  It's nice to have options.  If we could skip winter, it would be perfect.  When I retire and become a snow bird, it will be.
> 
> Wade - if I'm not in the mood for chitchat I just nod and say how are you but don't break pace.  Everyone knows that's the universal sign for on a mission don't bother me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Exactly my situation. Bonn is only 320.000 people. People know me from work, voluntary and paid for, church, school, kindergarden, city planning .....
> 
> And I work in my home office most of the time, so very similar situation ...
> 
> And signalling if you are ready to talk or not in just the same way ...great
Click to expand...


320k population is huge!  My city has just under 28k as of the 2016 census.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Just under 300,000 here. Smaller city I'm from that's nearby is 60,000. Village I live in is 700 or so, they haven't changed the sign in 20 years so apparently nobody ever leaves. The last power outage said 1500 which maybe included the chickens.


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're in a very small city that's more like a small town.  I can walk to our downtown area (on sidewalks) in about 10 minutes for restaurants, shopping, errands etc.  Most of the schools are within walking distance.  In the other direction is a fairly large mall that is about a 15 minute walk.  I know a lot of people in town (been here 17 years) from the schools, softball league, my church and volunteer work plus we try to utilize local businesses whenever possible.  I could not walk for more than 5 minutes without seeing someone I know at least casually.  I enjoy the social aspects of a tightly knit community. Maybe because I work mostly at home and via computer so don't get a lot of that from work.
> 
> To Gary's point, we are 20 minutes from the beach, 1 hour from Maine, 2 hours in various directions will get you to Cape Cod, NH mountains or Berkshires and a quick train or uber from Downtown Boston.  Farm country is a bit further out - Western Mass which, while not technically another state, really should be.  It's nice to have options.  If we could skip winter, it would be perfect.  When I retire and become a snow bird, it will be.
> 
> Wade - if I'm not in the mood for chitchat I just nod and say how are you but don't break pace.  Everyone knows that's the universal sign for on a mission don't bother me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Exactly my situation. Bonn is only 320.000 people. People know me from work, voluntary and paid for, church, school, kindergarden, city planning .....
> 
> And I work in my home office most of the time, so very similar situation ...
> 
> And signalling if you are ready to talk or not in just the same way ...great
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 320k population is huge!  My city has just under 28k as of the 2016 census.
Click to expand...



I guess we must be 15k to 20k in our quarter...


----------



## Gary A.

About 50,000 in La Mirada ... but there's no gaps between cities in LA County and Orange County until you hit the edges north for LA and East for Orange. Traffic sucks. Gary is moving to Germany.


----------



## Gary A.

About ten million in Los Angeles County. Traffic sucks.  Gary is moving to Germany and taking the pooch.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> here's no gaps between cities in LA County



We have the same here in our county. The main city, Gadsden, has held around 35,000 for the last several years. However the metro area is comprised of 5 more cities surrounding it that as Gary said there aren't any gaps from one to the other. The Metro area is right at 70,000. Our largest growth has been in the rural areas of the county.


----------



## SquarePeg

If the planning committee weren’t here and very careful with what’s permitted, our town would explode with over developing and population would triple in a year.  Everyone wants in. There are a total of 10 properties on the market and at least 5 have agreements. Rentals are scarce and very expensive (relative to nearby towns).  It’s a nice situation for sellers and anyone who’s staying. Moving up or down sizing and staying here is next to impossible.  One Princess graduates college (8 years), I’ll sell and find a nice condo or small cottage by the beach.


----------



## JonA_CT

25000 here in a city of 10 square miles. Only catch is that half of that is water.

I don’t mind living in a city, but we are a very small one. We’ll be moving in the next couple years, and we will be looking for a house with at least a half acre of land probably. You can do that here, but we can’t really afford a mansion in the water so we will probably move to one of the neighboring towns.


----------



## smoke665

Just got the property tax bill in today on the house and land. After the homestead exemption, the bill was $697. Another reason to like living in Bama.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary remembers going to an SC game at the Coliseum and passing a block of Cardinal & Gold Rolls Royces, the count was in the teens,



Phhhffftt! Here they're Prevost RV conversions painted crimson and white and BBQ is catered!!!


----------



## davidharmier60

Another of Axel and Purrahna coexisting. 




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## jcdeboever

My father in law gave me a half assed apology today. I told him I am looking for another job after last night. He was real bummed. I have an interview in Chicago tomorrow at 2:00 pm. They are flying me in. I suspect I will be offered the job on the spot, full commission. I know the industry and have a customer that I can flip on a dime for 750k, easy in revenue. I may even move out after yesterday, taking baby girl with me.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> Just got the property tax bill in today on the house and land. After the homestead exemption, the bill was $697. Another reason to like living in Bama.



The property tax bill I just paid on my wife's car was $775. We know how to tax here in CT.


----------



## smoke665

Wow @jcdeboever I'm wishing you the best of luck - I think.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> The property tax bill I just paid on my wife's car was $775. We know how to tax here in CT.



We still have ad valorem tax on the vehicles, seems like the new F350 was about $400, surprisingly the 5th wheel RV was still over $600. They tax vehicles differently by classification.[/QUOTE]


----------



## SquarePeg

Yikes!  Is this sales tax or excise tax?


----------



## SquarePeg

@jc   Deep breath.  And breathe out.  And again.   Repeat until calm.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> The property tax bill I just paid on my wife's car was $775. We know how to tax here in CT.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We still have ad valorem tax on the vehicles, seems like the new F350 was about $400, surprisingly the 5th wheel RV was still over $600. They tax vehicles differently by classification.
Click to expand...


Yeah...my parents live in a town with a significantly lower tax rate, but I think their RV runs them close to $2k every year. 



SquarePeg said:


> Yikes!  Is this sales tax or excise tax?



Property Tax. CT is the only state in NE I think that does it. So I get a tax bill every July for my motor vehicles, just like I get one for my house. This one was through the leasing company for my wife's car, so it got delayed a bit.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Yikes!  Is this sales tax or excise tax?



Sales tax is collected when you title the car. There's a 2% state tax and depending on the country/city there will be additional tax, usually somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.75-4%. Then each year including the first time you put a tag on the vehicle you pay ad valorem (property tax) based on the depreciated value of the vehicle.

Georgia does something different they charge you a "one time" (good for as long as you own the vehicle) ad valorem tax the first time you title a vehicle in the state, currently the rate is 7% of their appraised value of the vehicle.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> If the planning committee weren’t here and very careful with what’s permitted, our town would explode with over developing and population would triple in a year.  Everyone wants in. There are a total of 10 properties on the market and at least 5 have agreements. Rentals are scarce and very expensive (relative to nearby towns).  It’s a nice situation for sellers and anyone who’s staying. Moving up or down sizing and staying here is next to impossible.  One Princess graduates college (8 years), I’ll sell and find a nice condo or small cottage by the beach.


Welcome to California. Housing here is so ridiculous that the State Legislature is setting up a fund/legislation to help teachers qualify to purchase a home.  The cost of housing is affecting education.


----------



## davidharmier60

Apropos to nothing so ever,  I have to get my truck inspected and registered this month.
My windshield washer works only once in a great while. Might be troublesome. 

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----------



## Gary A.

There is a sales tax on vehicles at purchase.  An operational tax when the car is licensed and registered and a ton of extra gasoline tax which is collected solely for roads.  Telsa is kicking the State's Butt on the gas tax.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> @jc   Deep breath.  And breathe out.  And again.   Repeat until calm.


I am calm. Thanks. I am not important to these people, very clear. I am just a revenue maker for them. They can't argue it either based on their repeated actions. I am such an idiot. At least I protected my money this time.


----------



## SquarePeg

davidharmier60 said:


> Apropos to nothing so ever,  I have to get my truck inspected and registered this month.
> My windshield washer works only once in a great while. Might be troublesome.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



The entire state of MA inspection system is wonky and most sites are not working right now.  I saw on the news that I have a whole extra month to get my new inspection sticker.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> @jc   Deep breath.  And breathe out.  And again.   Repeat until calm.
> 
> 
> 
> I am calm. Thanks. I am not important to these people, very clear. I am just a revenue maker for them. They can't argue it either based on their repeated actions. I am such an idiot. At least I protected my money this time.
Click to expand...


Sorry Jc!  That stinks.


----------



## davidharmier60

We no longer get an inspection sticker. We have to get inspected within 90 days. And we get a registration sticker. 

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## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gary has had a lifetime of big city, noise, confusion, people, talking, smells, et cetera.  He is thinking of moving to Germany and running Frank's farm, once he gets. Yep, Maggie and Gary *AND MARY LOU*.



FIFY.



jcdeboever said:


> My father in law gave me a half assed apology today. I told him I am looking for another job after last night. He was real bummed. I have an interview in Chicago tomorrow at 2:00 pm. They are flying me in. I suspect I will be offered the job on the spot, full commission. I know the industry and have a customer that I can flip on a dime for 750k, easy in revenue. I may even move out after yesterday, taking baby girl with me.



Yikes! JC, you do what you need to do for yourself, seriously. And you make sure you bring Baby Girl with you. She needs her daddy.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Gary has had a lifetime of big city, noise, confusion, people, talking, smells, et cetera.  He is thinking of moving to Germany and running Frank's farm, once he gets it. Yep, Maggie and Gary.



My daughter wants horses on the farm and my sister is a horse professional, so we have a horse business on the farm in addition to my & Gary's veggie business & poultry in movables & goats in stables & fish in tanks & a permaculture education school

The name of the farm will be klimafarm.de because is shall pump Carbon and Water from the air to the ground instead of vice versa as conventional agriculture does.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is in the parking lot of the grocery store waiting on the keyholder.
It would be absolutely quiet if 59/69 wasn't  merely 250 feet to my right.
She should roll up in the next 3 minutes. 

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----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has had a lifetime of big city, noise, confusion, people, talking, smells, et cetera.  He is thinking of moving to Germany and running Frank's farm, once he gets it. Yep, Maggie and Gary.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My daughter wants horses on the farm and my sister is a horse professional, so we have a horse business on the farm in addition to my & Gary's veggie business & poultry in movables & goats in stables & fish in tanks & a permaculture education school
> 
> The name of the farm will be klimafarm.de because is shall pump Carbon and Water from the air to the ground instead of vice versa as conventional agriculture does.
Click to expand...

Gary's definitely in ... no waste ... everything is recycled.  Gary likes it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary's world sucks right now.  He has a bit of a bug and it it really getting him down. Last night the temps dropped down to about 50F but he got the sweats. He slept on the couch with Maggie, where he could bundle up without disturbing his better half. Gary's usual cup of steaming freshly ground siphoned coffee didn't taste good to him.  In a coughing fit the pooch ran to the backyard and he spewed coffee across the table and floor.  He cleaned up the mess while Maggie looked in through the sliding door. Gary has switched to tea and Emergen-C. Tiesta Tea, a herbal tea, quite tasty.  Gary highly recommends it. This flavor is called Fireberry, a combo of "cranberry & hibiscus rooibos tea".


----------



## terri

Ugh - hope you get better soon, Gary!    These transitional seasons are the most likely times for the germs to pounce.    

In other news - happy Thursday, hosers.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary's world suck right now.  He has a bit of a bug and it it really getting him down. Last night the temps dropped down to about 50F but he got the sweats. He slept on the couch with Maggie, where he could bundle up without disturbing his better half. Gary's usual cup of steaming freshly ground siphoned coffee didn't taste good to him.  In a coughing fit the pooch ran to the backyard and he spewed coffee across the table and floor.  He cleaned up the mess while Maggie looked in through the sliding door. Gary has switched to tea and Emergen-C. Tiesta Tea, a herbal tea, quite tasty.  Gary highly recommends it. This flavor is called Fireberry, a combo of "cranberry & hibiscus rooibos tea".



Ugh, feel better, Tio! Fresh garlic in hot chicken broth, add fresh spinach. Trust me. It'll feel good


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary's world suck right now.  He has a bit of a bug and it it really getting him down. Last night the temps dropped down to about 50F but he got the sweats. He slept on the couch with Maggie, where he could bundle up without disturbing his better half. Gary's usual cup of steaming freshly ground siphoned coffee didn't taste good to him.  In a coughing fit the pooch ran to the backyard and he spewed coffee across the table and floor.  He cleaned up the mess while Maggie looked in through the sliding door. Gary has switched to tea and Emergen-C. Tiesta Tea, a herbal tea, quite tasty.  Gary highly recommends it. This flavor is called Fireberry, a combo of "cranberry & hibiscus rooibos tea".
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh, feel better, Tio! Fresh garlic in hot chicken broth, add fresh spinach. Trust me. It'll feel good
Click to expand...

ahhhh, no ... Gary would rather stay sick.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary's world suck right now.  He has a bit of a bug and it it really getting him down. Last night the temps dropped down to about 50F but he got the sweats. He slept on the couch with Maggie, where he could bundle up without disturbing his better half. Gary's usual cup of steaming freshly ground siphoned coffee didn't taste good to him.  In a coughing fit the pooch ran to the backyard and he spewed coffee across the table and floor.  He cleaned up the mess while Maggie looked in through the sliding door. Gary has switched to tea and Emergen-C. Tiesta Tea, a herbal tea, quite tasty.  Gary highly recommends it. This flavor is called Fireberry, a combo of "cranberry & hibiscus rooibos tea".
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh, feel better, Tio! Fresh garlic in hot chicken broth, add fresh spinach. Trust me. It'll feel good
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ahhhh, no ... Gary would rather stay sick.
Click to expand...


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Fresh garlic in hot chicken broth, add fresh spinach. Trus



This sounds like one of those "the cure is worse than the illness", type things! LOL

@Gary A. We were dragging around yesterday, but attributed it to the Flu Shot the day before. Hope you are on the mend quickly


----------



## limr

Are you two serious? It's not like I suggested "chicken broth, garlic, spinach, and a dash of cyanide" or anything. Sheesh. It's just soup, for crying out loud.


----------



## smoke665

@limr I like all the ingredients you mentioned...............just not in that combination.


----------



## SquarePeg

Had a really great chicken soup recently that one of my friends copied from the Carrabbas Sicilian Chicken soup.  I believe this is the recipe.  Absolutely delicious.  

Sicilian Chicken Soup


----------



## JonA_CT

Go to your local Thai restaurant, tell them you aren’t scared of spice, and order the Tom Yum soup. It’ll solve all of your problems.


----------



## JonA_CT

In other news, I've been really slacking when it comes to doing anything creative with my camera. It's fog season. I think I need to head down to my favorite river spots early tomorrow morning.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary's world sucks right now.  He has a bit of a bug and it it really getting him down. Last night the temps dropped down to about 50F but he got the sweats. He slept on the couch with Maggie, where he could bundle up without disturbing his better half. Gary's usual cup of steaming freshly ground siphoned coffee didn't taste good to him.  In a coughing fit the pooch ran to the backyard and he spewed coffee across the table and floor.  He cleaned up the mess while Maggie looked in through the sliding door. Gary has switched to tea and Emergen-C. Tiesta Tea, a herbal tea, quite tasty.  Gary highly recommends it. This flavor is called Fireberry, a combo of "cranberry & hibiscus rooibos tea".



I can relate. I've been battling sinus/sore/scratchy throat since Saturday.  I stayed home yesterday & today to get some bed rest & my usual OTC cocktail; it seems to working for the most part.  I'm on a short break from bed to check emails and see what's going on in the virtual world.  I've got the POTM voting template set up; I'll fill in the images and links this evening and get it posted.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave threw down a $20 for two 2x shirts.
She didn't have any.  She had 3x which even after shrinkage would look like a circus tent. So he got one 1x.
He has quite a few pics to look through. 
Gonna try something. 
If it shows up upright it's my beautiful cousin. In the print she looks perfect.
If the phone didn't screw it up.




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## davidharmier60

Trying something else. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




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----------



## davidharmier60

One more try
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




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----------



## davidharmier60

I truly don't get it. I can't get a picture to post upright. 

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----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> One more try
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



IIRC, I was having similar issues uploading shots from my phone (also a Samsung but a different model.) I wish I could remember the exact steps, but it had something to do with whether or not the camera was saving the image with location information. Try checking the details of the photo and making sure there is no location information saved, and then upload again.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> One more try
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IIRC, I was having similar issues uploading shots from my phone (also a Samsung but a different model.) I wish I could remember the exact steps, but it had something to do with whether or not the camera was saving the image with location information. Try checking the details of the photo and making sure there is no location information saved, and then upload again.
Click to expand...

Also the orientation of the original shot on the phone may come into play.   Take a look at that as well.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Are you two serious? It's not like I suggested "chicken broth, garlic, spinach, and a dash of cyanide" or anything. Sheesh. It's just soup, for crying out loud.


Gary would eat it if you suggested throwing a tri tip into the pot.    

But I'm surprised at the reaction, too!   Garlic is not just lauded as an aromatic in cooking; it's been used literally for centuries for its side health benefits.    (There are probably better articles out there than this one, but that was literally a 5 second google search.)   

And spinach, as well as kale, is absolutely divine in soups, and the health benefits from our leafy greens shouldn't require any persuasion.

Geez... hope you don't think the only way to flavor a broth is with _salt_.   Ginger is also stellar, though it imparts a distinct flavor that is often associated with Asian cooking and is not to everyone's liking.    Garlic incorporates itself well into broth and isn't as distinctive.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes garlic.  Gary grows garlic. Gary has learned to eat raw garlic.  Gary will be making some chicken soup. Often, Gary will toss in greens from the backyard (kale, spinach, parsley). Gary's not that sick to place his odds of survival in a garlic and spinach soup (Popeye style).

Gary typically changes the recipes on his foods and each item usually tastes different than a similar item previously consumed. But .... the big but, Gary uniformly tosses in some citrus juice into his chicken soup.  Either an orange or a lemon or both ... adds this slight bit of sweetness and a nice citrus-nose to the concoction.  That and lots of simmering.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gary likes garlic.  Gary grows garlic. Gary has learned to eat raw garlic.  Gary will be making some chicken soup. Often, Gary will toss in greens from the backyard (kale, spinach, parsley). *Gary's not that sick to place his odds of survival in a garlic and spinach soup (Popeye style).*





Trying to figure out how I suggested anything other than it will make you feel better. In the same way that a good cuppa is just a nice comforting beverage.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Hosers.  Gary feels much better after pumping down some Emergen-C and herbal tea.  Gary has some good news- Ms. Maggie, without any prodding or direction from Gary, walked through the doggie door and took a nice, big, solid dump in the back.  Albeit, it was in the patio ... something we need to work on ... but it was still in the great outdoors.  Gary is proud of the little Wheaten.  She is absolutely beautiful ... she dumps outside ... he may just keep her ...


----------



## Gary A.

@ Terri: In general, Gary uses very little, if any, salt in his dishes. Pepper is an entirely different matter. (Gary grows ginger also.)


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leo, just tell 'em to go open a can of Campbells.

That almost borders on a chicken variation of minestrone. Well, without the pasta and potatoes, etc. Or a version of what SharonCat posted which sounds pretty tasty. 

I throw in the pot some variation of carrots celery & onions depending what I have on hand with the chicken, then use whatever sounds good that day - poultry seasoning, garlic. I'm watching salt and don't like real salty stuff anymore so I usually wait and salt to taste when ready to eat. I check on it a couple of times then when it smells like it's done and ready to eat, it is.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hope your day's going well JC. Can't say it's a surprise from the way you've talked about things lately so I just hope it works out and you find what makes you happy. Good luck with the interview.


----------



## SquarePeg

I usually make a quick chicken soup these days - Princess is not the most patient of customers and we don't always have time for anything that takes more than 30 minutes from prep to table!  I steam onions, celery and carrots in a bit of evoo with salt, pepper, oregano, garlic and a spoonful of flour  - add a sliced and diced rotisserie chicken from the supermarket and then when that is all tender, add 2 cartons of chicken broth (I like Swansons) and we are good to go in less than 20- minutes.  Noodles are optional and if we want them I usually cook the No Eggies extra wide noodles separately and ladle the soup right over them in the bowl - special chicken soup bowls of course!


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> @ Terri: In general, Gary uses very little, if any, salt in his dishes. Pepper is an entirely different matter. (Gary grows ginger also.)


Same here.   Generally, if a dish is well seasoned with herbs and spices, there's enough flavor that salt isn't necessary.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Terri: In general, Gary uses very little, if any, salt in his dishes. Pepper is an entirely different matter. (Gary grows ginger also.)
> 
> 
> 
> Same here.   Generally, if a dish is well seasoned with herbs and spices, there's enough flavor that salt isn't necessary.
Click to expand...


Salt is my favorite spice!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Salt is my favorite spice!


You're one of them.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Salt is my favorite spice!
> 
> 
> 
> You're one of them.
Click to expand...


Only with certain foods.  Soup, potatoes, eggs and popcorn!!!!


----------



## davidharmier60

There is a pretty fair amount of Poland in Dave. Makes Dave rather a meat and potatoes sort. That said, Sister makes a mean chicken soup! And we like Spaghetti and other Italian food.

As to this morning. Dave clocked in at 5:06am. Previous 5:04. Anyhow Dave is glad 90 degrees and 90 humidity is not around right now. He picked up much trash and swept a lot behind the store. Jodi liked it so much she told Trish. This can only be a good thing. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

The soup is simmering.  Typical chicken soup, carrots, celery et al.  Mary Lou prefers the fixin's chucky ... and Gary chops them large.  There are tomatoes, peppers of all kinds, basil, parsley, beans and Gary's secret ingredient from the yard.


----------



## davidharmier60

Beans? In chicken soup? Blasphemy!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Beans? In chicken soup? Blasphemy!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Lol, long green beans.


----------



## davidharmier60

I believe we get carrots and celery. And noodles. Might be willing to try it your way if you feel like sending the recipe. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> The soup is simmering.  Typical chicken soup, carrots, celery et al.  Mary Lou prefers the fixin's chucky ... and Gary chops them large.  There are tomatoes, peppers of all kinds, basil, parsley, beans and Gary's secret ingredient from the yard.


What?   No tri tip?


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Salt is my favorite spice!
> 
> 
> 
> You're one of them.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Only with certain foods.  Soup, potatoes, eggs and popcorn!!!!
Click to expand...

Totally agree with you on the eggs and popcorn!    Yum!!

Don't really use it in soup and, with a baked potato, I figure there's a lot of sodium in the disgusting amount of (real) butter I slather in there...along with the bacon.


----------



## jcdeboever

Got home and caught a little of the baseball game. Sorry Peg, Houston is stacked. 

Interview was a joke, not even worth discussing. A Fortune 50 company doing weird interviews. Totally bizzare.


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> Got home and caught a little of the baseball game. Sorry Peg, Houston is stacked.
> 
> Interview was a joke, not even worth discussing. A Fortune 50 company doing weird interviews. Totally bizzare.




Sorry about the interview. Sale’s pitches looked flat today. He left a couple up and the zone, and that was the ball game.


----------



## davidharmier60

Yes and Altuve is a batter!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Got home and caught a little of the baseball game. Sorry Peg, Houston is stacked.
> 
> Interview was a joke, not even worth discussing. A Fortune 50 company doing weird interviews. Totally bizzare.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry about the interview. Sale’s pitches looked flat today. He left a couple up and the zone, and that was the ball game.
Click to expand...


His location was off from the little I seen. No worries on the interview, I have a good job and getting paid, just hoping to prosper   with a better opportunity. The interview was unbelievable, very strange. Almost if it was bad by design to see my reaction, of course, reflecting on how bizzare it was.


----------



## jcdeboever

davidharmier60 said:


> Yes and Altuve is a batter!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


No, he is a player. Complete.


----------



## smoke665

Well $%^ for the past several weeks, I've kept telling myself that the lower back pain was just imagination.It was never that bad, just uncomfortable at times.   2 years ago they forcefully pulled  a  large boulder with sharp teeth, through a pathway never intended for such tools, or sharp rocks. I remember on waking up in recovery, that my first thought was "Gee that wasn't bad", followed immediately by "HOLY MOTHER OF GOD THAT HURTS LIKE A $%^&^". Multiple doses of Morphine were like water off a ducks back in pain numbing process, and I was rapidly approaching the point that they were going to put me back under. Fortunately (for me) the accumulation of drugs finally kicked in, and I was able to survive. So to say that I was in a big hurry to find out the source of the back pain is an understatement. Just returned from the first of many more doctor visits to come, as it looks like they'll be mining again.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm glad he is ours!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever sorry the interview didn't go well, but I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason we don't always understand. This one might not have been right for you, but there will be one that is.


----------



## Gary A.

S D


terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The soup is simmering.  Typical chicken soup, carrots, celery et al.  Mary Lou prefers the fixin's chucky ... and Gary chops them large.  There are tomatoes, peppers of all kinds, basil, parsley, beans and Gary's secret ingredient from the yard.
> 
> 
> 
> What?   No tri tip?
Click to expand...

Then it wouldn’t be chicken soup. Lol


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever sorry the interview didn't go well, but I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason we don't always understand. This one might not have been right for you, but there will be one that is.


It was so stupid, it was ridiculous. They flew me 1st class and were 45 minutes late for the interview. I almost missed my flight home. A fortune 50 company didn't even know their mission statement! I learned it by investigation, when they asked me if I had any questions, I asked because I knew it and percieved they didn't. I was told I was to interview with a diect report only, however, they included a HR person. They were both in their twenties, early thirties. OMG, it was bad on their end. Totally bizzare. I was asked what I was expecting for pay.,. I said 1.5 million as it was commission based. Totally deer in the head light look. I actually took the time to conservatively plan my commission . What a waste of time that was.


----------



## Gary A.

Sorry about the interview. I had a bizarre/odd one also at the Times.  The Chief Photographer/interviewer, in the middle of the interview "accidentally" slid a camera off his desk.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Well $%^ for the past several weeks, I've kept telling myself that the lower back pain was just imagination.It was never that bad, just uncomfortable at times.   2 years ago they forcefully pulled  a  large boulder with sharp teeth, through a pathway never intended for such tools, or sharp rocks. I remember on waking up in recovery, that my first thought was "Gee that wasn't bad", followed immediately by "HOLY MOTHER OF GOD THAT HURTS LIKE A $%^&^". Multiple doses of Morphine were like water off a ducks back in pain numbing process, and I was rapidly approaching the point that they were going to put me back under. Fortunately (for me) the accumulation of drugs finally kicked in, and I was able to survive. So to say that I was in a big hurry to find out the source of the back pain is an understatement. Just returned from the first of many more doctor visits to come, as it looks like they'll be mining again.


Man, that really sucks.  Gary hopes things get better.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Man, that really sucks. Gary hopes things get better.



Hopefully sooner rather than later it shall pass, as the smaller they are the better. Started on anti inflammatory and some other meds. If that doesn't work shockwave will be next.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Well $%^ for the past several weeks, I've kept telling myself that the lower back pain was just imagination.It was never that bad, just uncomfortable at times.   2 years ago they forcefully pulled  a  large boulder with sharp teeth, through a pathway never intended for such tools, or sharp rocks. I remember on waking up in recovery, that my first thought was "Gee that wasn't bad", followed immediately by "HOLY MOTHER OF GOD THAT HURTS LIKE A $%^&^". Multiple doses of Morphine were like water off a ducks back in pain numbing process, and I was rapidly approaching the point that they were going to put me back under. Fortunately (for me) the accumulation of drugs finally kicked in, and I was able to survive. So to say that I was in a big hurry to find out the source of the back pain is an understatement. Just returned from the first of many more doctor visits to come, as it looks like they'll be mining again.



Man, my brother, you are on my heart and prayers. I feel such a kindred spirit with you. I am believing healing, health, and wholeness for you. No more pain. In Jesus Name, Amen!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Man, that really sucks. Gary hopes things get better.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hopefully sooner rather than later it shall pass, as the smaller they are the better. Started on anti inflammatory and some other meds. If that doesn't work shockwave will be next.
Click to expand...

It started with Frank, then JC and now you.  Gary needs to find a new forum before he gets hit.


----------



## Gary A.

Ms. Maggie is teething. She hauls in a cork from the flower beds, (Gary tosses the corks there), for some teething action. She drops the cork.



 
Then she winds up and strikes.


----------



## davidharmier60

We have 9 dogs. A few love a squeaky toy to squeak.  If 1 gets a hold of it his only task is to remove the squeak. 

And on that note and after saying a prayer for the back issue,  4am will be here before Dave expects it!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

My mom's Goldendoodle, Gabby. My dad finally gave in, after they both swore they were done having dogs after their last one passed. Bottom line -- I think my mom was lonely at home all day by herself. She retired 3 years ago, and my dad still probably has another 4-5 years left before he does. She was so excited. I haven't seen her like that in a while.




 

Gabby definitely knows who she belongs to...almost all of the pictures I took of her, she is near my mom's feet.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever Thanks Man


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon: What a cutie-pie.  When you move to California, (with your parents), Ms. Maggie and Ms. Gabby need to team up.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Salt is my favorite spice!
> 
> 
> 
> You're one of them.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Only with certain foods.  Soup, potatoes, eggs and popcorn!!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Totally agree with you on the eggs and popcorn!    Yum!!
> 
> Don't really use it in soup and, with a baked potato, I figure there's a lot of sodium in the disgusting amount of (real) butter I slather in there...along with the bacon.
Click to expand...


I must say, I do love me some salt. I also have low blood pressure, and judging from the blood work results that I now have access to on my patient portal, my sodium levels are on the way low end of normal. I can handle the salt 



jcdeboever said:


> Got home and caught a little of the baseball game. Sorry Peg, Houston is stacked.
> 
> Interview was a joke, not even worth discussing. A Fortune 50 company doing weird interviews. Totally bizzare.



Sorry it was a disappointing experience 



smoke665 said:


> Well $%^ for the past several weeks, I've kept telling myself that the lower back pain was just imagination.It was never that bad, just uncomfortable at times.   2 years ago they forcefully pulled  a  large boulder with sharp teeth, through a pathway never intended for such tools, or sharp rocks. I remember on waking up in recovery, that my first thought was "Gee that wasn't bad", followed immediately by "HOLY MOTHER OF GOD THAT HURTS LIKE A $%^&^". Multiple doses of Morphine were like water off a ducks back in pain numbing process, and I was rapidly approaching the point that they were going to put me back under. Fortunately (for me) the accumulation of drugs finally kicked in, and I was able to survive. So to say that I was in a big hurry to find out the source of the back pain is an understatement. Just returned from the first of many more doctor visits to come, as it looks like they'll be mining again.



Oh no, Smokey! I'm sorry  It sucks to have had such a terrible experience and then find out you have to go through it again. I hope it all turns out better than expected and that the worst part is just the anticipation. *hug*


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

Went to the first meeting of a photography group that some folks at the art center of my school are putting together. Met some interesting people. Met some really annoying people. There's potential, though. Might get me some time in the darkroom


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ...Met some interesting people. Met some really annoying people. T...


So....   real-life TPF?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Met some interesting people. Met some really annoying people. T...
> 
> 
> 
> So....   real-life TPF?
Click to expand...


Pretty much


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Hey, hosers.
> 
> Went to the first meeting of a photography group that some folks at the art center of my school are putting together. Met some interesting people. Met some really annoying people. There's potential, though. Might get me some time in the darkroom


Hey, that does sound like there's potential!    I know you've wanted to get into a darkroom and try your hand at enlargements.   Hope something comes of it!   I predict you'll be hooked.


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> I know you've wanted to get into a darkroom and try your hand at enlargements....


It's a good thing this is a photography forum!


----------



## terri

tirediron said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I know you've wanted to get into a darkroom and try your hand at enlargements....
> 
> 
> 
> It's a good thing this is a photography forum!
Click to expand...

Get your mind outta the gutter!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I know you've wanted to get into a darkroom and try your hand at enlargements....
> 
> 
> 
> It's a good thing this is a photography forum!
Click to expand...


D'oh!


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave doesn't feel right calling y'all hosers. 
It is early. But once through this day he don't do it again until Monday. 


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

No fog this morning. Bleh. 

I did get pizza dough made though, and it's proofing. And pizza for dinner on a Friday is the best.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> No fog this morning. Bleh.
> 
> I did get pizza dough made though, and it's proofing. And pizza for dinner on a Friday is the best.


I've been on a liquid diet for 5 days, pizza sounds good. I actually gained a pound and a half. How is that? Bizzare.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Hey, hosers.
> 
> Went to the first meeting of a photography group that some folks at the art center of my school are putting together. Met some interesting people. Met some really annoying people. There's potential, though. Might get me some time in the darkroom



If it's a group, then the potential might depend on the size of the darkroom and the companions you have to share it with. 

At one time I had a great darkroom. Plenty of room, nice layout. Made the whole process enjoyable.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> We have 9 dogs. A few love a squeaky toy to squeak.  If 1 gets a hold of it his only task is to remove the squeak.
> 
> And on that note and after saying a prayer for the back issue,  4am will be here before Dave expects it!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk








This is Shelby, a Wired Haired Fox Terrier (WHFT). Shelby would also remove the squeaker from her toys.  Once, Gary discovered a dog toy which advertised that the squeaker could never be removed by a dog, impossible to remove the tag stated.  That toy drove Shelby nuts.  For days and days, from morning to night Shelby worked on that toy. After a while the rhythmic squeak ... squeak ... squeak ... squeak, became a background noise, like the ticking of a clock.  To her credit, after three or four days of non-stop hard work, Shelby did remove the impossible squeaker.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> No fog this morning. Bleh.
> 
> I did get pizza dough made though, and it's proofing. And pizza for dinner on a Friday is the best.
> 
> 
> 
> I've been on a liquid diet for 5 days, pizza sounds good. I actually gained a pound and a half. How is that? Bizzare.
Click to expand...

That is very very odd. You're getting more and more like Frank everyday ... you are the exception to the rules.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, hosers.
> 
> Went to the first meeting of a photography group that some folks at the art center of my school are putting together. Met some interesting people. Met some really annoying people. There's potential, though. Might get me some time in the darkroom
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If it's a group, then the potential might depend on the size of the darkroom and the companions you have to share it with.
> 
> At one time I had a great darkroom. Plenty of room, nice layout. Made the whole process enjoyable.
Click to expand...

In Gary's youth, his darkroom was his cousin's tiny bathroom. The enlarger was set up in the adjoining bedroom and the trays in the bathroom.  The developer was set on top of the commode, (close to the safelight), the rinse under the sink, the fix in the shower.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> No fog this morning. Bleh.
> 
> I did get pizza dough made though, and it's proofing. And pizza for dinner on a Friday is the best.


Gary only proofs his pizza dough for about an hour.  Then it's tossed onto the pan.  Gary has gone through a number of pans from aluminum w/ holes to stones and now Gary is quite content with cast iron.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, hosers.
> 
> Went to the first meeting of a photography group that some folks at the art center of my school are putting together. Met some interesting people. Met some really annoying people. There's potential, though. Might get me some time in the darkroom
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If it's a group, then the potential might depend on the size of the darkroom and the companions you have to share it with.
> 
> At one time I had a great darkroom. Plenty of room, nice layout. Made the whole process enjoyable.
Click to expand...


Well, there was talk about having one meeting to learn darkroom techniques, and that some people might not be interested so that meeting could be split between the darkroom and the computer lab. The darkroom is big enough for 14 enlargers, so there's enough room for a small group. Plus, it's part of the school and I'm an employee, so I might be able to manage some darkroom time on my own and not as part of the group


----------



## SquarePeg

TGIFF Hosers!!!!!  It's been a terribly busy couple of weeks for me and I'm feeling the strain.  I'm taking Monday off to extend my weekend and get caught up on everything so a nice long weekend for me (and many others who work for schools and government as it's Columbus Day).  I may blow off all the yard work and home maintenance and head back up to NH if the foliage reports look promising!  The art walk starts this weekend and I will be setting up my display later this morning.  Nervous a bit about that as I don't usually share my photos other than online or with family...  

@Gary A.  Our dog is a world champ squeaky toy remover.  Also a professional stuffing eater and stuffed animal mangler.  We have found the no stuffing dog toys to be the most durable.  The ones with the crinkly paper noise are his fav.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary has been getting up at 5:30 a.m. lately in order to give Ms. Maggie some human time before he starts his day.  Mary Lou and Gary are disappointed.  We thought we had housebroken the pup ... but she's not there yet. Gary cleaned up a dump in the kitchen last night and a pee in the living room this morning. *sigh* back to the drawing board.


----------



## terri

Community darkrooms are great, in that they accommodate several people at once.

However, that's when you quickly learn how to watch out for mistakes of others.  It can get frustrating watching people dump the developer into the fix, etc.   Always keep an eye on your own prints.

Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> TGIFF Hosers!!!!!  It's been a terribly busy couple of weeks for me and I'm feeling the strain.  I'm taking Monday off to extend my weekend and get caught up on everything so a nice long weekend for me (and many others who work for schools and government as it's Columbus Day).  I may blow off all the yard work and home maintenance and head back up to NH if the foliage reports look promising!  The art walk starts this weekend and I will be setting up my display later this morning.  Nervous a bit about that as I don't usually share my photos other than online or with family...
> 
> @Gary A.  Our dog is a world champ squeaky toy remover.  Also a professional stuffing eater and stuffed animal mangler.  We have found the no stuffing dog toys to be the most durable.  The ones with the crinkly paper noise are his fav.


Interestingly enough, Cookie never destroyed any of her toys ... or anything else for that matter. Maggie the Destroyer is the moniker she has earned.





A Cookie story.  Mary Lou came home one day with this footstool. It is a turtle with feet, tail ana head sticking out, (the turtle part is irrelevant to the story).  Cook watch Mary Lou use the footstool.  The next day when we walked into the livingroom we found this, Cook with her feet up on the stool.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> No fog this morning. Bleh.
> 
> I did get pizza dough made though, and it's proofing. And pizza for dinner on a Friday is the best.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary only proofs his pizza dough for about an hour.  Then it's tossed onto the pan.  Gary has gone through a number of pans from aluminum w/ holes to stones and now Gary is quite content with cast iron.
Click to expand...


Until I get my Egg , I'm using my oven with a pizza stone, and I transfer using a steel. 

This dough is pretty interesting...the mixing, resting, and bulk ferment is all done in a 45 minute span. I made the dough balls for I left...they'll proof until I make dinner tonight. The recipe only has 0.1 g of yeast for 500g of flour. It needs the time, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

@JC- Front page of the LA Times:
"One day in September, amid one of the worst stretches of baseball in Dodgers history, manager Dave Roberts strolled into the dugout at Dodger Stadium for his pregame news conference.

Standing nearby was first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, an injured veteran pretending to be a reporter. Roberts smiled as Gonzalez pitched a question. 'Are you the best manager in the world?' Gonzalez said. 'Or the worst manager in the world?'"


----------



## Braineack

I'm shooting my first wedding today.  stupid nervous about it.


----------



## Gary A.

Braineack said:


> I'm shooting my first wedding today.  stupid nervous about it.


Gary would get stupid nervous before every assignment. But once the action started, the stupid nervous went away.  Gary would think something was wrong if you weren't stupid nervous.


----------



## Gary A.

@JC:  The Times printed a very nice "PLAYOFFS" addition, stuffed with some very nice photos and a huge photo of Kershaw on the cover. D-Backs tonight, Dodgers Stadium, 7:30 PST.


----------



## Gary A.

Tea with Bagels and Greek cream cheese.  Gary likes Greek cream cheese ... half the calories so he can eat twice as much.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @JC- Front page of the LA Times:
> "One day in September, amid one of the worst stretches of baseball in Dodgers history, manager Dave Roberts strolled into the dugout at Dodger Stadium for his pregame news conference.
> 
> Standing nearby was first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, an injured veteran pretending to be a reporter. Roberts smiled as Gonzalez pitched a question. "Are you the best manager in the world?" Gonzalez said. "Or the worst manager in the world?"



And his response? Lol. He and Francona are excellent managers, two of the best I"ve seen since Ron Washington, whom I am secretly hoping the Tigers hire but I got a feeling it's going to be Freddie Gonzalez. He is pretty awful from what little I seen him with the Braves and Marlins. I am somewhat a student of the game, not your average fan. I really love the strategy and will watch games with statcast on a tablet. I think in another life, it would be my dream job. I call in to MLB XM talk radio fairly often challenging the experts, they get kind of intimidated at times, especially  Jim Duquette and Casey Stern. Steve Phillips knows me so I don't challenge him too often, we grew up playing American Legion ball. I called into Steve one time and suggested the Tigers to pick up Prince Fielder and move Miggy back to third. He discounted it and said I was crazy, three weeks later, the Tigers did just that. Didn't work out as he was awful in the post season but he could rake.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @JC:  The Times printed a very nice "PLAYOFFS" addition, stuffed with some very nice photos and a huge photo of Kershaw on the cover. D-Backs tonight, Dodgers Stadium, 7:30.



Man, you should frame that for the man cave!


----------



## Gary A.

Legion Ball ... man that takes me back ...

Read the article, it's all about Roberts. To answer your question, apparently Roberts only heard the first half of the question and his replay was "... I was about ten days ago."


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got a little better than 4.25 hours today. Sitting in the truck. Gonna go by the bank, post office and whatever. 
Later gators. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> TGIFF Hosers!!!!!  It's been a terribly busy couple of weeks for me and I'm feeling the strain.  I'm taking Monday off to extend my weekend and get caught up on everything so a nice long weekend for me (and many others who work for schools and government as it's Columbus Day).  I may blow off all the yard work and home maintenance and head back up to NH if the foliage reports look promising!  The art walk starts this weekend and I will be setting up my display later this morning.  Nervous a bit about that as I don't usually share my photos other than online or with family...
> 
> @Gary A.  Our dog is a world champ squeaky toy remover.  Also a professional stuffing eater and stuffed animal mangler.  We have found the no stuffing dog toys to be the most durable.  The ones with the crinkly paper noise are his fav.
> 
> 
> 
> Interestingly enough, Cookie never destroyed any of her toys ... or anything else for that matter. Maggie the Destroyer is the moniker she has earned.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A Cookie story.  Mary Lou came home one day with this footstool. It is a turtle with feet, tail ana head sticking out, (the turtle part is irrelevant to the story).  Cook watch Mary Lou use the footstool.  The next day when we walked into the livingroom we found this, Cook with her feet up on the stool.
Click to expand...


She was a special and smart one fo sho


----------



## jcdeboever

Braineack said:


> I'm shooting my first wedding today.  stupid nervous about it.



You will do great, you are very talented from what little I have seen of your work. They are lucky to have you IMO.


----------



## Gary A.

USA - Panama, 4:30 PDT

The most direct route for the USA to Russia (World Cup) is through Panama.


----------



## JonA_CT

Braineack said:


> I'm shooting my first wedding today.  stupid nervous about it.



Take a couple shots of Tequila (or your bevy of choice...whiskey is also nice) right before you start. You'll be less worried.

Or just do your thing. You know your **** and you have the requisite talent to be successful. I'm sure your notes are good, and that you've prepared as much as you need to. Crank the pump up music on the way in and rock it when you get there.


----------



## Braineack




----------



## JonA_CT

The two shots of tequila worked great back before performance in my music days. Or even some Brennevin aquavit after my bandmate got back from Iceland. Photography is not music though, haha.


Mary Jane's Last Dance just came on my Pandora channel. Feeling sad again this morning.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's soup really hit the spot last night and was what the doctor ordered. Gary's soups are usually more solid than broth.  Gary is still on tea and he feels more worn out than ill.


----------



## Braineack

it's not the talent I'm really that nervous about, it's just an overwhelming amount of various photographic challenges you need to be able to handle and deliver.   the details (rings, programs, flowers, etc.), the getting ready shots, the portraits, the ceremony, the reception room, the reception itself, not missing any of the "must have shots", the send-off, all without any real time to plan/prep and since I've never done one before it seems a little overwhelming.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Legion Ball ... man that takes me back ...
> 
> Read the article, it's all about Roberts. To answer your question, apparently Roberts only heard the first half of the question and his replay was "... I was about ten days ago."



I seen a fairly long interview of him on a baseball show. Can't remember which one as I watch so many. But he is very articulate and well spoken. It was actually before he became a manager. Highly intelligent and quite genuine. I was amazed by his wonderful humbleness and humility.  Apparently, he has quite a knack for remembering names, even casual acquaintances. Another real impressive thing was his knowledge of the  game and the players in it. Jim Leyland said he was one of the brightest men, if not the brightest he had ever met, but in typical Leyland fashion, he said that didn't hold water because he knew dogs that were smarter than him. Lol., Leyland always goofing around.


----------



## SquarePeg

So just got back from picking Princess up from school.  There was a lockdown/shelter in place called at 10am.  I got a text from her "Someone has a gun, school is on lockdown, we're hiding in a closet next to the science lab".  Talk about panic!  Almost immediately after that, my friend texted me that she was hearing similar from her daughter.  By the time I got my purse and ran out to my car the update was that the person with the gun was outside the school and police were tackling him.  Heard helicopters and sirens the whole drive over to the school.  Got an update from Princess that the lockdown was over just as I pulled up to the block the school is on.  Total chaos with parents, police and fire trucks everywhere.  Finally was allowed into the school along with dozens of other parents (it was the stay at home mom and work from home crowd).  The school decided to not dismiss the kids because so many parents were unable to pick up (the "real job" crowd) but allowed dismissals if the parents came to the school.  Just got home with Princess now.  She's a bit shaken up but probably could have stayed in school - I brought her home more for my piece of mind until I learn more about what happened.  

Scary 10-15 minutes between "we're hiding in a closet" and "they caught him".  I'm sure a lot of the rumors I've heard about what happened are just that.  Best I can piece together from what my daughter heard from people she knows is that a junior texted a Freshman and asked if he had a gun because someone was after him.  The freshman showed the text to the principal.  The principal went to get the junior only to find he was not in class where he was supposed to be and he decided to sound the alarm as it was unknown where the kid was and if he had a gun or if the person who was after him had a gun.  Police found the junior hiding in the parking lot and there was a footchase and tackle (that someone got on video so I know that part is true).  Per one of the policemen that I know, there was no gun that they found - just the rumor of a gun and some posts on social media about shooting up the school.  

And now I'm supposed to go to set up my artwalk display but I'm too shaky still.


----------



## Braineack

there was advice above about shots of tequila and/or whiskey.  I think its time to heed that...


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> So just got back from picking Princess up from school.  There was a lockdown/shelter in place called at 10am.  I got a text from her "Someone has a gun, school is on lockdown, we're hiding in a closet next to the science lab".  Talk about panic!  Almost immediately after that, my friend texted me that she was hearing similar from her daughter.  By the time I got my purse and ran out to my car the update was that the person with the gun was outside the school and police were tackling him.  Heard helicopters and sirens the whole drive over to the school.  Got an update from Princess that the lockdown was over just as I pulled up to the block the school is on.  Total chaos with parents, police and fire trucks everywhere.  Finally was allowed into the school along with dozens of other parents (it was the stay at home mom and work from home crowd).  The school decided to not dismiss the kids because so many parents were unable to pick up (the "real job" crowd) but allowed dismissals if the parents came to the school.  Just got home with Princess now.  She's a bit shaken up but probably could have stayed in school - I brought her home more for my piece of mind until I learn more about what happened.
> 
> Scary 10-15 minutes between "we're hiding in a closet" and "they caught him".  I'm sure a lot of the rumors I've heard about what happened are just that.  Best I can piece together from what my daughter heard from people she knows is that a junior texted a Freshman and asked if he had a gun because someone was after him.  The freshman showed the text to the principal.  The principal went to get the junior only to find he was not in class where he was supposed to be and he decided to sound the alarm as it was unknown where the kid was and if he had a gun or if the person who was after him had a gun.  Police found the junior hiding in the parking lot and there was a footchase and tackle (that someone got on video so I know that part is true).  Per one of the policemen that I know, there was no gun that they found - just the rumor of a gun and some posts on social media about shooting up the school.
> 
> And now I'm supposed to go to set up my artwalk display but I'm too shaky still.


Jeez, I'm glad everything is ok!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> So just got back from picking Princess up from school.  There was a lockdown/shelter in place called at 10am.  I got a text from her "Someone has a gun, school is on lockdown, we're hiding in a closet next to the science lab".  Talk about panic!  Almost immediately after that, my friend texted me that she was hearing similar from her daughter.  By the time I got my purse and ran out to my car the update was that the person with the gun was outside the school and police were tackling him.  Heard helicopters and sirens the whole drive over to the school.  Got an update from Princess that the lockdown was over just as I pulled up to the block the school is on.  Total chaos with parents, police and fire trucks everywhere.  Finally was allowed into the school along with dozens of other parents (it was the stay at home mom and work from home crowd).  The school decided to not dismiss the kids because so many parents were unable to pick up (the "real job" crowd) but allowed dismissals if the parents came to the school.  Just got home with Princess now.  She's a bit shaken up but probably could have stayed in school - I brought her home more for my piece of mind until I learn more about what happened.
> 
> Scary 10-15 minutes between "we're hiding in a closet" and "they caught him".  I'm sure a lot of the rumors I've heard about what happened are just that.  Best I can piece together from what my daughter heard from people she knows is that a junior texted a Freshman and asked if he had a gun because someone was after him.  The freshman showed the text to the principal.  The principal went to get the junior only to find he was not in class where he was supposed to be and he decided to sound the alarm as it was unknown where the kid was and if he had a gun or if the person who was after him had a gun.  Police found the junior hiding in the parking lot and there was a footchase and tackle (that someone got on video so I know that part is true).  Per one of the policemen that I know, there was no gun that they found - just the rumor of a gun and some posts on social media about shooting up the school.
> 
> And now I'm supposed to go to set up my artwalk display but I'm too shaky still.


Gary is glad all is well.


----------



## SquarePeg

OK got the display set up!  I should have taken a few cell phone pics of it.  Will do it at some point this weekend.


----------



## davidharmier60

Zero tolerance.  The kid is marked for LIFE!

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----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> OK got the display set up!  I should have taken a few cell phone pics of it.  Will do it at some point this weekend.


Glad all is well. Crazy world we live in. We had armed security and metal detectors in my high school in Detroit and that was in the late 70's, early 80's. I was in class one morning and a girl was mad at the history teacher. She went outside and got a hold of a 2 x 4 with nails sticking out of one end. She stormed into the class and began beating the teacher with it. We subdoed her until security arrived. The teacher never returned to school after that, he was pretty mauled from the attack. It happened so fast too. How she got into school with it was a mystery.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> OK got the display set up!  I should have taken a few cell phone pics of it.  Will do it at some point this weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> Glad all is well. Crazy world we live in. We had armed security and metal detectors in my high school in Detroit and that was in the late 70's, early 80's. I was in class one morning and a girl was mad at the history teacher. She went outside and got a hold of a 2 x 4 with nails sticking out of one end. She stormed into the class and began beating the teacher with it. We subdoed her until security arrived. The teacher never returned to school after that, he was pretty mauled from the attack. It happened so fast too. How she got into school with it was a mystery.
Click to expand...


Rumor is that one of the teachers fainted today during the lockdown.  My daughter said her (science) teacher was great.  Seemed nervous but kept them calm and quiet.  Let them use their phones to text parents that they were ok.  She's a very young teacher too.  The kids were impressed with how she handled everything.  I'll be sending a note to the school thanking her.


----------



## davidharmier60

It truly is great that it turned out ok!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> OK got the display set up!  I should have taken a few cell phone pics of it.  Will do it at some point this weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> Glad all is well. Crazy world we live in. We had armed security and metal detectors in my high school in Detroit and that was in the late 70's, early 80's. I was in class one morning and a girl was mad at the history teacher. She went outside and got a hold of a 2 x 4 with nails sticking out of one end. She stormed into the class and began beating the teacher with it. We subdoed her until security arrived. The teacher never returned to school after that, he was pretty mauled from the attack. It happened so fast too. How she got into school with it was a mystery.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Rumor is that one of the teachers fainted today during the lockdown.  My daughter said her (science) teacher was great.  Seemed nervous but kept them calm and quiet.  Let them use their phones to text parents that they were ok.  She's a very young teacher too.  The kids were impressed with how she handled everything.  I'll be sending a note to the school thanking her.
Click to expand...


It's great that you realize that. Teachers wear so many hats, and we don't have time to make mistakes. Not a lot of people get it. She will definitely appreciate it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I can't imagine SharonCat what it was like getting word of a lockdown. Glad you got your daughter home. Sounds like that kid has some problems, at least he was talking about a gun but didn't actually have one and that the kid he texted reported it. 

Have fun at the display and yes, take some pictures!


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> OK got the display set up!  I should have taken a few cell phone pics of it.  Will do it at some point this weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> Glad all is well. Crazy world we live in. We had armed security and metal detectors in my high school in Detroit and that was in the late 70's, early 80's. I was in class one morning and a girl was mad at the history teacher. She went outside and got a hold of a 2 x 4 with nails sticking out of one end. She stormed into the class and began beating the teacher with it. We subdoed her until security arrived. The teacher never returned to school after that, he was pretty mauled from the attack. It happened so fast too. How she got into school with it was a mystery.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Rumor is that one of the teachers fainted today during the lockdown.  My daughter said her (science) teacher was great.  Seemed nervous but kept them calm and quiet.  Let them use their phones to text parents that they were ok.  She's a very young teacher too.  The kids were impressed with how she handled everything.  I'll be sending a note to the school thanking her.
Click to expand...


I can't fathom what that must have been like for you to get that message. I'm so glad it was an overreaction and everything is okay!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leo, a darkroom!!!  It will be worth it whatever else comes along with it...

I used a shared darkroom at a local university after taking a summer workshop there. I discovered it was nice early in the semester and better to avoid it at the end of the semester and wait til they went on spring break; scrambling to get their work done they turned into little piggies.    How they were getting anything out of what was left of the developer I don't know! 

Summers were nice... ya know, a university is really nice when the students are gone! lol Of course they're useful for bringing their pep band and livening up the hockey games...


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> OK got the display set up!  I should have taken a few cell phone pics of it.  Will do it at some point this weekend.


Holy crap, what a morning!    It's probably good that you have the artwalk this weekend to keep yourself busy and avoid that "What if" part of your brain.


----------



## Frank F.

Meet Herkules, the horse


----------



## Gary A.

Meet Maggie, she’s a pup (half a puppy).


----------



## Frank F.

She is so cute!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Maggie is finally getting comfortable here and opening up her personality.


----------



## JonA_CT

Red Sox are getting throttled. It’ll be interesting to see if heads roll this year if they go three and out again.


----------



## smoke665

Braineack said:


> I'm shooting my first wedding today.  stupid nervous about it.




Some words of advice on.

Just breathe. From the sound of it you prepared yourself well, now trust in yourself.
Just in case, make sure you know where your car keys are at all times, and that no one has blocked you in! 
All kidding aside think of this as On The Job Training for all those bookings sure to follow!!


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg Was it an actual active shooter alert, or a drill. I know yesterday we received texts from 911 that there were going to be Active Shooter Drills at county schools this morning. Nothing ever totally prepares you for an active scene, but I know from fire drills, that they help a lot.


----------



## davidharmier60

Have this on my wall.





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## davidharmier60

Dammit. The phone was upright when i took the pic. I just don't understand. 

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----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Have this on my wall.
> View attachment 147807
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


If it was Gary's wall, Gary would place the head of Mister Whistle-britches at the top.


----------



## JonA_CT

Dinner’s up.



Spoiler









Just in case those of you who can’t eat food are watching...


----------



## davidharmier60

Looks possibly quite yummy!
Rumor has it we are having Tacos and Tostadas. 

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----------



## davidharmier60

And I fully understand what Gary is saying. 
The phone was upright PERIOD. 
The pic in my galary is upright. 
When I post it often turns sideways.
I DO NOT understand how it happens.
No computer. Only my Galaxy 6 Active. 

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----------



## Gary A.

Rotate it 45 degrees in the phone then upload.


----------



## davidharmier60

I tried that before in another thread.

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----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> I tried that before in another thread.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Have you tried turning location off in your phone settings?


----------



## davidharmier60

Not sure how to. But I'll  try.

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----------



## davidharmier60

Another try.



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----------



## davidharmier60

I turned off location.

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----------



## Gary A.

You’re not quite there. This has to be quite frustrating.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Red Sox are getting throttled. It’ll be interesting to see if heads roll this year if they go three and out again.



It's deja vu all over again.



smoke665 said:


> @SquarePeg Was it an actual active shooter alert, or a drill. I know yesterday we received texts from 911 that there were going to be Active Shooter Drills at county schools this morning. Nothing ever totally prepares you for an active scene, but I know from fire drills, that they help a lot.



Not a drill.  Shelter in place/lockdown is what it's called here.  Latest on the local news and from local school and police officials is that a mom called the school to report that she thought one of the kids (not sure if hers) had a gun based on social media posts.  The student was also texting others to see if anyone had a gun that he could have.  When the principal went to find him and the student was not in his class the police were called and a shelter in place was called (kids stay in whatever classroom they are in and school continues, no switching classes or bathroom passes, no outdoor gym but not high alert).  When he was found and they asked to search his backpack he ran for it and a full lockdown was instituted (kids hide in closets or under tables, classroom doors are locked, no one is allowed to move about or go near the windows).  Police caught up to kid in parking lot.  He did not cooperate.  Scuffle and tackle.  One policeman hurt his ankle during the group tackle.  In the photo 4 cops tackled kid #1.  No weapon was found.   

Backstory per the kids is that kid #1 had previously threatened kid #2 and kid #1 heard that kid #2's friends were after him so kid #1 was looking for a gun.  When the lockdown started, kid #1 thought it was kid #2's friends come to get him so he ran for it.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Not a drill. Shelter in place/lockdown is what it's called here. Latest on the local news and from local school and police officials is that a mom called the school to report that she thought one of the kids (not sure if hers) had a gun based on social media posts. The student was also texting others to see if anyone had a gun that he could have. When the principal went to find him and the student was not in his class the police were called and a shelter in place was called (kids stay in whatever classroom they are in and school continues, no switching classes or bathroom passes, no outdoor gym but not high alert). When he was found and they asked to search his backpack he ran for it and a full lockdown was instituted (kids hide in closets or under tables, classroom doors are locked, no one is allowed to move about or go near the windows). Police caught up to kid in parking lot. He did not cooperate. Scuffle and tackle. One policeman hurt his ankle during the group tackle. In the photo 4 cops tackled kid #1. No weapon was found.
> 
> Backstory per the kids is that kid #1 had previously threatened kid #2 and kid #1 heard that kid #2's friends were after him so kid #1 was looking for a gun. When the lockdown started, kid #1 thought it was kid #2's friends come to get him so he ran for it.



Wow - Scary!!! Glad no one was seriously hurt.


----------



## Gary A.

In this day and age, good thing that the principal called the police quickly.


----------



## Gary A.

USA-Panama has started. USA is playing very aggressively, clean but aggressive. GO USA!


----------



## JonA_CT

In my school, there are panic buttons in each office, and I can dial a certain extension to automatically lock down and call the police.


----------



## smoke665

Feeling surprisingly better today. The meds have eased the pain in the kidney, but they leave a really bad taste in the mouth. Everything is a trade off it seems. Tomorrow is our Fall BBQ at the firehouse, which I'm not looking forward to, as it's a long day on the feet. May have to slip out and come home for a nap.


----------



## Gary A.

7:10 USA scores!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Feeling surprisingly better today. The meds have eased the pain in the kidney, but they leave a really bad taste in the mouth. Everything is a trade off it seems. Tomorrow is our Fall BBQ at the firehouse, which I'm not looking forward to, as it's a long day on the feet. May have to slip out and come home for a nap.


Glad you’re doing a bit better. Take one of your inflatable beds.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> In this day and age, good thing that the principal called the police quickly.



In training we tell school officials to err on the side of safety for the kids. We'd much rather it be a training session, then an actual call


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> In this day and age, good thing that the principal called the police quickly.



We have a police officer assigned to the school.  He is technically a "liaison" but he is on site during school hours every day.  He's a very friendly guy and the kids like him.  I'm sure he can be intimidating if he wants to be but he's an excellent choice for the school post.  Unfortunately, he's the one who got hurt during the tackle.  The kids were upset at seeing him being put in an ambulance.  I think his leg was at the bottom of the pile when the other 3 officers jumped on.  Hoping for a quick recovery for him.


----------



## Gary A.

18:22 USA scores!!!!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

Sorry Peg, Boston is not as good as the Astros. It not his fault but Ferrell is not a very good manager IMO, for what it's worth. What do to the fans think in Boston about him?  Additionally, Dombroski is gonna decimate your organization trying to get a world series. He did it to the Tigers, they had zero talent when he bolted to Boston. Look at all the former Tigers in the playoffs. I feel bad for you.


----------



## davidharmier60

I tried rotating the pic. One more try.




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----------



## davidharmier60

One more 




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----------



## davidharmier60

No more. 

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----------



## Gary A.

Gary watched 3:10 to Yuma yesterday. Good flick and if you like westerns it’s even better.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary watched 3:10 to Yuma yesterday. Good flick and if you like westerns it is a very good flick.


I seen that, good movie


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> One more View attachment 147816
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



You have to be smarter than the phone.  
I seem to recall having that issue with an old phone and it had to do with turning on (or off) the auto-rotate image feature.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary watched 3:10 to Yuma yesterday. Good flick and if you like westerns it’s even better.



The 1957 original or the 2007 remake???


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> Sorry Peg, Boston is not as good as the Astros. It not his fault but Ferrell is not a very good manager IMO, for what it's worth. What do to the fans think in Boston about him?  Additionally, Dombroski is gonna decimate your organization trying to get a world series. He did it to the Tigers, they had zero talent when he bolted to Boston. Look at all the former Tigers in the playoffs. I feel bad for you.



Ferrell has been getting eviscerated in town since before he left for his cancer treatment. Chatter on social media is that he should get canned, but they already picked up his option for next year so....


----------



## snowbear

Feeling MUCH better today, though I still have sinus issues.  I got a headache around 1:00 and it stayed until about 6:00.

Going to try and get caught up on a few challenges and pack up some stuff for storage.


----------



## davidharmier60

Ok. Auto rotate off. Location off.
Very last try. Note: in "photos, files, videos"
The pic is upright. 



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----------



## snowbear

OK, try this: introduce phone to ignited highway flare.


----------



## JonA_CT

3 nil, @Gary A. . I think they got away with a bit of flopping on that play though.


----------



## Gary A.

PK @43:00

USA 3 - Panama Zero


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> 3 nil, @Gary A. . I think they got away with a bit of flopping on that play though.


Nah, Wood was getting fouled along the entire run. But Gary also thought that Wood took a dive.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> No more.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Keep posting images David, we’ll just twist our heads.


----------



## davidharmier60

Trying a coin 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




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----------



## snowbear

It looks like the phone refuses to let go of landscape orientation.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary watched 3:10 to Yuma yesterday. Good flick and if you like westerns it’s even better.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The 1957 original or the 2007 remake???
Click to expand...

Lol ... both actually. I like Glenn Ford. The 1957 is good for western lovers ... the 2007 is entertainment for all.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry Peg, Boston is not as good as the Astros. It not his fault but Ferrell is not a very good manager IMO, for what it's worth. What do to the fans think in Boston about him?  Additionally, Dombroski is gonna decimate your organization trying to get a world series. He did it to the Tigers, they had zero talent when he bolted to Boston. Look at all the former Tigers in the playoffs. I feel bad for you.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ferrell has been getting eviscerated in town since before he left for his cancer treatment. Chatter on social media is that he should get canned, but they already picked up his option for next year so....
Click to expand...


I didn't get to watch any of today's games but if the texts and Facebook posts that I've gotten are any indicator, Farrell is being blamed for quite a bit.  Hard to fire someone who has won the AL East in back to back seasons for the first time in history.  But yes, if they go 3 and out for the 2nd consecutive year, that will be the end for him, IMO.  Last year they were flat in the playoffs and a lot of that was blamed on David Ortiz's year long retirement party being a distraction.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Trying a coin
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Looks good to Gary.


----------



## davidharmier60

Purely chance or luck.

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----------



## Gary A.

Under the weather Mary Lou and Gary are having a long night. After soccer ⚽️  is Dodger Baseball ⚾️


----------



## snowbear

Cubs & Gnats are apparently 0-0 in 4th.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary have moved to the patio. Now we can watch the match, sip some wine and Maggie can get some exercise.


----------



## Gary A.

Four-Zip

USA! USA! USA! USA!


----------



## Gary A.

USA is playing Rope-A-Dope.


----------



## jcdeboever

What are you watching? Soccer? Come on man, playoff baseball is on!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> What are you watching? Soccer? Come on man, playoff baseball is on!


World Cup!  USA wins. USA is one game away from going to Russia.  Mary Lou is a big soccer fan.  Her oldest son made it to USA's Olympic Development Team and her youngest son played college at San Fransisco State University. Besides, Gary bleeds Red, White and Blue.  In particular Dodger Blue which starts in an hour.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> What are you watching? Soccer? Come on man, playoff baseball is on!
> 
> 
> 
> World Cup!  USA wins. USA is one game away from going to Russia.  Mary Lou is a big soccer fan.  Her oldest son made it to USA's Olympic Development Team and her youngest son played college at San Fransisco State University. Besides, I bleed Red, White and Blue.  In particular Dodger Blue which starts in an hour.
Click to expand...

Ok, you just kicked my butt. I've got nothing. Do you have a laundry tub in your house?


----------



## Gary A.

No, But when you arrive Gary will install one.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> No, But when you arrive Gary will install one.


.... Nice


----------



## Gary A.

Dude, when you gotta go ... you gotta go.


----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> Purely chance or luck.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Could it be a Tapatalk setting that needs to be changed? Maybe try posting something from the website in the Chrome app just to test it?


----------



## SquarePeg

Is it wrong that I'm totally thrilled that our double header away game got canceled tomorrow afternoon?  Shhhhhh.


----------



## Gary A.

Ooooooohhhh Gary can sooooooo relate.


----------



## jcdeboever

Turner!


----------



## Gary A.

Turner three run homer in the first.


----------



## Frank F.

davidharmier60 said:


> Another try.View attachment 147810
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk








For me it works like this:

Download photo
Open in MavGyver Software Photo Editor
Rotate 90deg
Upload to Coffee House

Admins:
Currently Chrome works
Firefox does not work
If I press "upload file" in Firefox, nothing happens


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 147818 Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary have moved to the patio. Now we can watch the match, sip some wine and Maggie can get some exercise.




Your puppy looks like a star wars walker on your photo


----------



## jcdeboever

Banging away all night on keyboard, fixing a legacy program that doesn't speak well with modern operating systems. Pay is really good. Stayed up until 4:30 am to get the hard stuff done. Drove to Detroit this morning for some pics, off too Ann arbor for tailgate. Shooting new Minolta Maxxum 9. You can rewind a roll with leader, mid roll and put it back in, works perfectly, amazing. Shooting Portra and HP5 today, kind of rainy, dreary. Go Dodgers! Turner is a stud.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Banging away all night on keyboard, fixing a legacy program that doesn't speak well with modern operating systems.



It's been a while, but . . .


		Code:
	

01 WS-DATE.
   03 WS-MM         PIC XX.
   03 FILLER        PIC X         VALUE "/".
   03 WS-DD         PIC XX.
   03 FILLER        PIC X         VALUE "/".
   03 WS-YYYY       PIC XXXX.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave just posted pics of watches.
Both of them sideways. 
I'm using Tapatalk not Firefox.
It's almost enough to drive Dave to drink.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Banging away all night on keyboard, fixing a legacy program that doesn't speak well with modern operating systems.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's been a while, but . . .
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 01 WS-DATE.
> 03 WS-MM         PIC XX.
> 03 FILLER        PIC X         VALUE "/".
> 03 WS-DD         PIC XX.
> 03 FILLER        PIC X         VALUE "/".
> 03 WS-YYYY       PIC XXXX.
Click to expand...

Like riding a bike, lol

#!/usr/bin/env python logfile = open("/var/log/syslog", "r") for line in logfile: line_split = line.split() print line_split list = line_split[0], line_split[1], line_split[2], line_split[4] print list


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  USA Wins! Dodgers Win! Maggie is wonderful! Life is good.


----------



## Gary A.

Tea again this morning and more soup for dinner last night. Gary wakes up with a sore throat which quickly goes away ... so Gary is barely sick.  Mary Lou is fighting a bonafide cold.  The last few days has been very warm here ... upper 80's with humidity at 43%. Tomorrow it is projected to drop 10 degrees. Another PLAYOFFS special addition in the LA Times.  Today's front page sports a huge photo of Turner in his follow through after hitting the three-run home run. Kershaw got nail for four homers by the D-Backs. Kershaw also made the D-Backs hit into four double plays. A bit of a quid-pro-quo.  In the seventh Kershaw gave up back-to-back home runs ... Gary yells that it is time to get him out ... Roberts heard Gary and walks to the mound. It is good when people listen. The Dodgers have a stellar defense.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Banging away all night on keyboard, fixing a legacy program that doesn't speak well with modern operating systems.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's been a while, but . . .
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 01 WS-DATE.
> 03 WS-MM         PIC XX.
> 03 FILLER        PIC X         VALUE "/".
> 03 WS-DD         PIC XX.
> 03 FILLER        PIC X         VALUE "/".
> 03 WS-YYYY       PIC XXXX.
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Like riding a bike, lol
> 
> #!/usr/bin/env python logfile = open("/var/log/syslog", "r") for line in logfile: line_split = line.split() print line_split list = line_split[0], line_split[1], line_split[2], line_split[4] print list
Click to expand...



Python!


		Code:
	

# stations.py
# Print station number and name

import arcpy
from arcpy import da

infc = r'Documents and Settings\Application Data\ESRI\ArcCatalog\GISPROD.sde\GISPROD.FSTATION'
flds = ['STATION', 'NAME', 'STATUS']
expr = 'STATUS = \'EXISTING\''

with da.SearchCursor(infc, flds, where_clause = expr, 
                    sql_clause = ('None', ORDER BY STATION')) as cursor:
    for row in cursor:
        print('{0}: {1}'.format(row[0], row[1]))

# end


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC: From the LA Times-
"The ageless Sandy Koufax was in the box seats, the new Sandy Koufax was on the mound, and the once-brilliant Dodgers were those Dodgers again."


----------



## davidharmier60

Here is hope that if it comes down to Dodgers vs Astros Dave REALLY hopes the Astros prevail.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Three chances of that: Slim, No and Fat.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Banging away all night on keyboard, fixing a legacy program that doesn't speak well with modern operating systems.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's been a while, but . . .
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 01 WS-DATE.
> 03 WS-MM         PIC XX.
> 03 FILLER        PIC X         VALUE "/".
> 03 WS-DD         PIC XX.
> 03 FILLER        PIC X         VALUE "/".
> 03 WS-YYYY       PIC XXXX.
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Like riding a bike, lol
> 
> #!/usr/bin/env python logfile = open("/var/log/syslog", "r") for line in logfile: line_split = line.split() print line_split list = line_split[0], line_split[1], line_split[2], line_split[4] print list
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Python!
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> # stations.py
> # Print station number and name
> 
> import arcpy
> from arcpy import da
> 
> infc = r'Documents and Settings\Application Data\ESRI\ArcCatalog\GISPROD.sde\GISPROD.FSTATION'
> flds = ['STATION', 'NAME', 'STATUS']
> expr = 'STATUS = \'EXISTING\''
> 
> with da.SearchCursor(infc, flds, where_clause = expr,
> sql_clause = ('None', ORDER BY STATION')) as cursor:
> for row in cursor:
> print('{0}: {1}'.format(row[0], row[1]))
> 
> # end
Click to expand...

Your getting me excited, stop!


----------



## jcdeboever

davidharmier60 said:


> Here is hope that if it comes down to Dodgers vs Astros Dave REALLY hopes the Astros prevail.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


I don't know. Dodgers are just as deep but they have the edge at manager. Both teams stellar defensively, bullpen edge goes to Dodger's. It would be a heck of a series to say the least.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @ JC: From the LA Times-
> "The ageless Sandy Koufax was in the box seats, the new Sandy Koufax was on the mound, and the once-brilliant Dodgers were those Dodgers again."


Best pitcher in the game. He pitched real well. Made 4 mistakes but good players hit mistakes. All your pitchers got to do is give 6 and the opposing team is screwed. Your bullpen is super.


----------



## jcdeboever

It is absolutely crazy downtown Ann Arbor. Game day, MSU vs. U of M.  Game starts at 8, kids already trashed. Wife is promoting her two new properties under construction. They have a food truck, give aways, games, and activities. Hot girls and guys leasing on the spot. I am stumbling around downtown taking street shots. 4 shots left of Portra 160. I grabbed the wrong bag, only have Kodak Color Plus. My HP5+ roll is in fact a short roll of TriX. I loaded it and said 10, then I recalled doing that. Oh well, Kodak Color Plus 200 it is.  I grabbed everything at 6:15 am and was groggy.


----------



## davidharmier60

If Dave had the chance to make that sort of mistake at early morning he most assuredly would! Dave has to have a mug of coffee before walking out of the house. 

Dave believes there is something wrong with his FD 70-210 f4. It doesn't SEEM to close down from 4 whether looking through the camera or using stop down. 
Don't know enough about the levers and pins.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Hmm. Dave just played with it again. Seems to be working right.
Crisis averted!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

davidharmier60 said:


> If Dave had the chance to make that sort of mistake at early morning he most assuredly would! Dave has to have a mug of coffee before walking out of the house.
> 
> Dave believes there is something wrong with his FD 70-210 f4. It doesn't SEEM to close down from 4 whether looking through the camera or using stop down.
> Don't know enough about the levers and pins.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Ha, I used the Minolta AF 70-210 F4 beer can today. I picked it up for $5 at the Salvation Army some time ago. Real beat up on the outside but looks groovy on the inside. Never used it until today. Shot 46 frames today, which is a lot for me using film. So many photo choices. I roll of Kodak Color + 200 and a half 11 from the Portra 160. I kept grabbing the focus ring by habit, so used to manual focus.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sounds like a SMOKING deal!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

davidharmier60 said:


> Sounds like a SMOKING deal!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


The only reason I bought it. When I did, didn't have an A mount camera. But I knew the price was right and recalled reading about it being used on full frame Sony A digital cameras with exceptional results. I shined my cell phone flash light in it and it was pristine inside so I took a chance. Will see.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave would need to drive 40 or so miles to even visit a Good Will or Salvation store.
Dave can't afford to do it.
It rather Hoovers to have Daves problems. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Long day at our Fall BBQ for the Fire Department. Sold completely out by 3:30 in the afternoon. Don't have the final tally on how much we made, till they figure up the expenses, but guessing we cleared close to $4k for the day. We do this twice a year, and love the way the residents turn out to support "their" department.

Now it's time for FOOTBALL. Watching LSU/Gators, for warm up. One point lead for LSU, it's going to be an interesting last 11 mins in the game.


----------



## Gary A.

Fourth Quarter, SC 28 - Oregan State 10.  Trojans playing sloppy.  The game is only on the PAC-12 Network ... Gary is internet streaming to his Tv. Gary has a big pot of spaghetti sauce simmering away and there is a bowl of chocolate ice cream mix in the fridge destined for the ice cream maker. Meanwhile, Mary Lou’s granddaughter and cousin are running with the puppy in the back.


----------



## snowbear

I'm not in much of a cooking mood, today.  MLW has left for her OT gig so I just tossed a frozen dinner into the microwave - turkey with mashed potatoes and carrots / broccoli.  It's not too bad.  We'll cook real food tomorrow or Monday, since we're off.

Just shot something for Pixmedic's contest.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave just had a baked potato with butter, bacon bits and mild cheddar cheese. 
Bacon bits don't really count as protein. 
But it'll be alright. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Found a few places in the Houston area that process film. But.....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Film processors, typically, are geared for mail business.


----------



## JonA_CT

Agree with Gary. My local place was terrible. But you said you have 80ish rolls, right? I pay about $15 per roll to get developed and scanned.


----------



## Gary A.

Trojans win by three touchdowns. Sloppy play though.  D-Backs jump to a two run lead.


----------



## jcdeboever

Drury knew that pitch was coming, nice tip off from 2B.


----------



## smoke665

Bama's 27-17 win over A&M, still goes in the win box, but it wasn't pretty. Our offense was way off last night. Something I'm sure will be addressed this week. Were it not for mistakes by A&M it could very well have been a different winner last night.


----------



## davidharmier60

Can't say Dave watched much football yesterday. Dave knows our Astros play again today. Dave believes bacon and eggs and toast will be our breakfast.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Bama's 27-17 win over A&M, still goes in the win box, but it wasn't pretty. Our offense was way off last night. Something I'm sure will be addressed this week. Were it not for mistakes by A&M it could very well have been a different winner last night.


Michigan played horrible. Bummed big time. Wife said news is saying he is over rated.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bama's 27-17 win over A&M, still goes in the win box, but it wasn't pretty. Our offense was way off last night. Something I'm sure will be addressed this week. Were it not for mistakes by A&M it could very well have been a different winner last night.
> 
> 
> 
> Michigan played horrible. Bummed big time. Wife said news is saying he is over rated.
Click to expand...

Who is overrated?


----------



## Gary A.

Washington St. beat the Ducks this week, the Trojans last week ... they must be real and quite good.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bama's 27-17 win over A&M, still goes in the win box, but it wasn't pretty. Our offense was way off last night. Something I'm sure will be addressed this week. Were it not for mistakes by A&M it could very well have been a different winner last night.
> 
> 
> 
> Michigan played horrible. Bummed big time. Wife said news is saying he is over rated.
Click to expand...

Five turnovers and you guys were still in the game ... until the last second.  Must have been an exciting and frustrating game. Five turnovers is five mistakes too much.  Rivalry games really upset the odds makers.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Drury knew that pitch was coming, nice tip off from 2B.


Really ... you saw that ... or assumed 'cause 2nd was occupied ?


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave missed one item of breakfast. 
Little Sizzlers sausage instead of bacon. 
Very good. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC- On the front page of the "PLAYOFFS" section of the Los Angeles Times is a huge photo of Granderson balanced on one foot, arms out above his head, fingers spread wide and under a helmeted head his eyes are wide and mouth open, after he scores on the Barnes double.

From the Times article- "Rich Hill clutched the cardboard sign and walked into the Dodger Dugout. The crowd at Dodger Stadium was sitting on its hands in the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday, minutes after a five-run lead over Arizona had shrunk to two.  The second game of the National League Division series was no longer a party. a lark, a celebration of the Dodgers' might.  The 54,726 fans assembled at Chavez Ravine wore the scars of the past and the tension of the present.

October is a cruel month.  The highs feel fleeting. The lows are eternal.  Hill sought to counteract the encroaching dread with a handcrafted message: 'Make Some Noise.'

The crowd caught Hill's drift. The cheers gathered in volume as the Dodgers mounted a rally.  As if on cue, a grounder from Chris Taylor rolled through the legs of Arizona shortstop Ketel Marte, a run scored.  The crowd exploded, and the Dodgers had enough to hang on for an 8-5 victory ..."


----------



## Gary A.

Puig is coming of age.  If there is one single player that will/can carry the Dodgers to a World Series, it will be Puig.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Drury knew that pitch was coming, nice tip off from 2B.
> 
> 
> 
> Really ... you saw that ... or assumed 'cause 2nd was occupied ?
Click to expand...


I seen it by his movement at the plate immediately after he stepped into the batters box. He looked slightly left, set, and bang. The catcher was throwing down the same signals all game, I could call them as I seen them nearly every time, in the comfort of my man cave. Trust me, this won't happen again for the rest of the year. The catcher kind of fell asleep on this one. Dave Roberts will have a talk with the young man but nothing harsh, just be aware of every detail. These guys are pros and are pros at finding edges. I knew it was going to happen. My son in law thought I was a genius picking that up and verbalizing it prior to the kill. He said, "your a freak, how did you know that?" I called it moments prior to lift off.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Puig is coming of age.  If there is one single player that will/can carry the Dodgers to a World Series, it will be Puig.



as long as he doesn't do something totally stupid, I don't trust his baseball character. IMO, he is the one weak link in your team. He takes unnecessary risks, he is somewhat of a mental midget when it comes to playing the game. Dave Roberts needs to tread lightly on this extremely talented player. He can just as easily win you games as lose them. He is so physically gifted to a fault.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Puig is coming of age.  If there is one single player that will/can carry the Dodgers to a World Series, it will be Puig.[/QUOTE
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ JC- On the front page of the "PLAYOFFS" section of the Los Angeles Times is a huge photo of Granderson balanced on one foot, arms out above his head, fingers spread wide and under a helmeted head his eyes are wide and mouth open, after he scores on the Barnes double.
> 
> From the Times article- "Rich Hill clutched the cardboard sign and walked into the Dodger Dugout. The crowd at Dodger Stadium was sitting on its hands in the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday, minutes after a five-run lead over Arizona had shrunk to two.  The second game of the National League Division series was no longer a party. a lark, a celebration of the Dodgers' might.  The 54,726 fans assembled at Chavez Ravine wore the scars of the past and the tension of the present.
> 
> October is a cruel month.  The highs feel fleeting. The lows are eternal.  Hill sought to counteract the encroaching dread with a handcrafted message: 'Make Some Noise.'
> 
> The crowd caught Hill's drift. The cheers gathered in volume as the Dodgers mounted a rally.  As if on cue, a grounder from Chris Taylor rolled through the legs of Arizona shortstop Ketel Marte, a run scored.  The crowd exploded, and the Dodgers had enough to hang on for an 8-5 victory ..."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am so pulling for you my good friend. Hill is an amazing pitcher. He is a master at the craft of pitching. One of the best. He has no business being out there but your great manager and Honey know all to well about the mental makeup of a professional. This guy is amazing to watch pitch. I have him on auto record for every start.
Click to expand...


----------



## SquarePeg

Last-minute invite to the Sox game Hosers! It’s do or die.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Last-minute invite to the Sox game Hosers! It’s do or die.
> 
> View attachment 147890


You are very beautiful, WOW!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Puig is coming of age.  If there is one single player that will/can carry the Dodgers to a World Series, it will be Puig.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> as long as he doesn't do something totally stupid, I don't trust his baseball character. IMO, he is the one weak link in your team. He takes unnecessary risks, he is somewhat of a mental midget when it comes to playing the game. Dave Roberts needs to tread lightly on this extremely talented player. He can just as easily win you games as lose them. He is so physically gifted to a fault.
Click to expand...

I agree ... as in his attempt at stealing second.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Last-minute invite to the Sox game Hosers! It’s do or die.
> 
> View attachment 147890
> 
> 
> 
> You are very beautiful, WOW!
Click to expand...


You are too kind!  What do you think the Sox chances are today?


----------



## JonA_CT

Tickets are still available, Sharon. You should drive in, haha. Fister has to be flawless imo. I just don’t see the Sox scoring a lot of runs.

I’ll be flipping between football and the Sox this afternoon.


----------



## davidharmier60

Astros do generally good work away. 
However Sox are playing for their lives.
Somehow Dave believes Sox may win this one....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Tickets are still available, Sharon. You should drive in, haha. Fister has to be flawless imo. I just don’t see the Sox scoring a lot of runs.
> 
> I’ll be flipping between football and the Sox this afternoon.



Taking the train like sardines with hundreds of other fans is half the fun.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Last-minute invite to the Sox game Hosers! It’s do or die.
> 
> View attachment 147890


Looks like a Brooklyn 'B'.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Gary A.

@Peg: Enjoy the game.  Gary hopes Boston wins.


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday's Dodger-D-Back game was exceptionally good, regardless of the winner, it was well played by both squads.


----------



## Gary A.

We have a ton of pasta in the house.  Gary's homemade stuff doesn't last very long before it goes bad, plus a lot of store-bought pasta.  Gary made a huge pot of sauce with tons of fresh oregano, peppers and basil. Then peoples started showing up to give homage to our newest family member.  It worked out great, Maggie got a ton of attention and the guests left with full stomachs.  Gary isn't saying the sauce was great ... but, everybody had seconds. Gary also made some ice cream ... it tasted like a triple chocolate cake.


----------



## pixmedic

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Aldis pizza, wings from our favorite place, and home brew. Football and baseball on TV. This afternoon is good.


----------



## snowbear

I have a frozen cheese pizza and some leftover lentils . . . can't decide if these two things should be introduced.  Maybe I'll just have peanut butter.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave THINKS we are having hamburgers later. Tried to get a few white egrets to show up by mowing.  But none have shown up.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

The hapless Chargers are beating the hapless Giants.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is having Nachos. He knows baseball  is on. May need to go to the living room. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Bases loaded no outs for the Sox, down 3-0.


----------



## Gary A.

Go Sox!


----------



## Gary A.

Man, only one run.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Man, only one run.


 
Sigh.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Rainy day watching an old movie. Which might be scary but I figured out much of it early on (I knew the caretaker of the spooky house either got paid off to leave or got bumped off...). Guess it's a sign the plot got boring when I'm noticing the auntie's hairpiece piled on her head, yeah it's the '60s!


----------



## JonA_CT

OBJ just took one to the house, though.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good start to Hockey Night in Canada last night. At the open of three different games I said the goalies are all nutty tonight... the more they twitch and talk to themselves and play imaginary games and you wonder what goes on in their heads, the better they usually play, but there was a lot of back and forth scoring. Season opening excitement. 

And it was Canadian Thanksgiving.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hmm. Astros doing somewhat better than Dave expected. Quite a bit of game to go. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Last-minute invite to the Sox game Hosers! It’s do or die.
> 
> View attachment 147890
> 
> 
> 
> You are very beautiful, WOW!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You are too kind!  What do you think the Sox chances are today?
Click to expand...

Not as good as your looks


----------



## Gary A.

Boston takes the lead.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The movie's over and the bad guy jumped in the lake. Actually the ocean, I lost interest in it but after enduring the spooky house and a helicopter chase/search I wanted to see the ending. Time for I Love Lucy, maybe then a rerun of The Great British Baking Show, til Hometown Hockey tonight.


----------



## Gary A.

The race for the bottom has been won by the Giants. LA 27 - NY 22.


----------



## terri

Not watching any baseball today, either.   Falcons have a bye week, so other games are on in the background.  We're finally getting some rain out of Nate (FKA Hurricane Nate, till he was downgraded).    We've not had a drop of rain since Hurricane Irma last month!    That's what I call a dry fall, when the only rain is from mega-events.   Today is better spent in front of the stove with the soup pot.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> The race for the bottom has been won by the Giants. LA 27 - NY 22.



Sigh. The Giants lost pretty much every receiver they dressed today, too.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sox have in fact taken the lead.
But Altuve is batting. 



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary would like some rain. Most of our rain is in the form of snow in the Sierra Nevada.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The race for the bottom has been won by the Giants. LA 27 - NY 22.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sigh. The Giants lost pretty much every receiver they dressed today, too.
Click to expand...

Dropping like flies.


----------



## Gary A.

Man, Boston barely got that routine 5-4 third out. Plenty of innings left.


----------



## davidharmier60

It ain't over until it's over. 
But the fat lady hasn't even taken a deep breath yet.

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----------



## snowbear

We got a little rain last night, apparently, and it sprinkled this afternoon while I was out shooting.  It was hot and muggy so I didn't stay out long, though I did walk around one of the local lakes.

Trying to get my ducks in a row.



[/url
[url=https://flic.kr/p/YaZq8h]DSC_0621.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

Stopped by the toy store; didn't buy anything.



[/url
[url=https://flic.kr/p/YexQtD]DSC_0607.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr[/url][/url]


----------



## vintagesnaps

Plenty of rain today here, too bad I can't send it your way. 

Now a 1960 B&W with a young Albert Finney going to pubs to pick up birds. I have to turn up the volume with these Britsh shows to understand 'em!


----------



## JonA_CT

Sox won. Almost bought tickets for game 4 tomorrow, but with the flex timing for the game, I couldn't commit.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Sox won. Almost bought tickets for game 4 tomorrow, but with the flex timing for the game, I couldn't commit.


So SharonCat should be in a good mood, you're saying.


----------



## SquarePeg

Wooohooo!   Not today Houston.  Not today.  



davidharmier60 said:


> Sox have in fact taken the lead.
> But Altuve is batting.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Wooohooo!   Not today Houston.  Not today.
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sox have in fact taken the lead.
> But Altuve is batting.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Big win but here comes Verlander.


----------



## davidharmier60

If game 5 is needed where does it play?

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----------



## jcdeboever

I didn't watch football or go.to church. I went out shooting again. Wasn't feeling the family in laws spirituality this Sunday. I used my spirituality with my camera today.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is up at least 15 minutes longer than he should be. Good night y'all. 

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----------



## Gary A.

Night David.


----------



## Gary A.

More guests came by to see Ms. Maggie. She was so excited she peed as her entire body wagged away. Maggie provided the evening’s entertainment.  After dinner ... Gary’s triple chocolate ice cream.


----------



## Frank F.

3 Kiwis 
2 Apples 
1 Sharon 
1/3 Chilli 
Orange Juice 
Fresh Ginger








.... Yummy


----------



## davidharmier60

Banks are closed today. Why can't I stay home? 4am isn't for wimps.

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----------



## SquarePeg

Great time at the Sox game on an unseasonably warm day in Boston!!  Way too many Astros fans found their way to the game.  They picked a great weekend to visit Boston.  Exciting win, great seats, great company.   The weather was  too nice to get back on the crowded train afterwards so we walked to my favorite watering hole in Cambridge.  Only took about an hour and it was such a nice night for it.  Had a great dinner with friends while watching some of Indians/NYY then grabbed a quick uber home.  All in all a pretty fabulous day.  Especially since my original plan was yard work all day then taking my mom out to dinner!  Will have to make up for canceling on her but being a Sox fan herself she totally understood.  

Have today off work but forgot to tell my alarm clock that!  Argh!!


----------



## Frank F.

Weather is said to deliver a "Golden October" here. Meaning sunny days and 20 Celsius with autumnal tree coloring


----------



## Frank F.

I you are interested in photography and think about medium format, think again. This portrait is handheld with a camera that can deliver 9 frames per second of that and costs 3300 US$:

http://zentralkraft.com/8bit_edit_DSC_3635.jpg


----------



## snowbear

It's raining.  I guess I'll set up an inside @SquarePeg Challenge (I have a couple I can do).


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. This is Gary’s early day. He arrived at CSULA at 6:30 ... it is still dark.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. This is Gary’s early day. He arrived at CSULA at 6:30 ... it is still dark.



?????? Don't leave us hanging Gary. Why so early what's up.


----------



## smoke665

Took Sadie Mae on our morning walk just after daylight this morning 76 degrees with 80% humidity. Thank You Hurricane Nate.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> It's raining.  I guess I'll set up an inside @SquarePeg Challenge (I have a couple I can do).



Oooh a 24 hour challenge?  Do share.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is having his first coffee in about four maybe five days. It is steamy hot, robust and Delish. Beats the hell out of tea.


----------



## Gary A.

62F presently, but should warm up nicely. Gary is glad Peg made a playoff game. Beats working around the house and yard. Gary spent the weekend either playing/cuddling Ms. Maggie or making pasta for guests. Pasta is a great way to feed bunches of people. Fortunately, Gary has a ton of basil and oregano in the yard to bump up the sauce. This week, Gary is gonna try out his meat grinder and make some sausage.


----------



## Gary A.

Ms. Maggie’s is amazingly soft. Her fur feels like long silky human hair ... not dog fur. Today we start her on a leash.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

We're getting the remnants of Nate today, it seems. It's raining off and on and dark outside. It _looks_ like it should be cold out there, but instead it is in the mid-70s and muggy AF. It's so disgusting, I can't even begin to describe it to those of you who don't _really _understand about this kind of humidity.

Ragweed pollen is also apparently moderate, which is why I had to take some antihistamine this morning. At least the air conditioning is finally kicking in. I walked into the office this morning and seriously felt like I was in a gym steam room. All my papers were curled up and felt damp.

Tomorrow 80 degrees   Then it will finally start cooling down again...for a little while anyway. The next week or so is supposed to be back and forth between high 60s and high 70s.

ENOUGH ALREADY!


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's raining.  I guess I'll set up an inside @SquarePeg Challenge (I have a couple I can do).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oooh a 24 hour challenge?  Do share.
Click to expand...

Your challenge - music.  I grabbed a quick shot when I took the trash out.

Today's cup brought to you by way of "Bawlmer, Merlin."  A wee bit out of date but still decent.




IMG_0193.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> We're getting the remnants of Nate today, it seems. It's raining off and on and dark outside. It _looks_ like it should be cold out there, but instead it is in the mid-70s and muggy AF. It's so disgusting, I can't even begin to describe it to those of you who don't _really _understand about this kind of humidity.
> 
> Ragweed pollen is also apparently moderate, which is why I had to take some antihistamine this morning. At least the air conditioning is finally kicking in. I walked into the office this morning and seriously felt like I was in a gym steam room. All my papers were curled up and felt damp.
> 
> Tomorrow 80 degrees   Then it will finally start cooling down again...for a little while anyway. The next week or so is supposed to be back and forth between high 60s and high 70s.
> 
> ENOUGH ALREADY!



Yeah, hot here, too.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. This is Gary’s early day. He arrived at CSULA at 6:30 ... it is still dark.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ?????? Don't leave us hanging Gary. Why so early what's up.
Click to expand...

Every Monday morning Gary conducts a once a week, early learning session at CSULA.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Every Monday morning Gary conducts a once a week, early learning session at CSULA.



Cool!


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> We're getting the remnants of Nate today, it seems. It's raining off and on and dark outside. It _looks_ like it should be cold out there, but instead it is in the mid-70s and muggy AF. It's so disgusting, I can't even begin to describe it to those of you who don't _really _understand about this kind of humidity.
> 
> Ragweed pollen is also apparently moderate, which is why I had to take some antihistamine this morning. At least the air conditioning is finally kicking in. I walked into the office this morning and seriously felt like I was in a gym steam room. All my papers were curled up and felt damp.
> 
> Tomorrow 80 degrees   Then it will finally start cooling down again...for a little while anyway. The next week or so is supposed to be back and forth between high 60s and high 70s.
> 
> ENOUGH ALREADY!



Totally agree with the enough!  I want my hoodie and sweater weather before it turns into coats and scarves.


----------



## JonA_CT

Yeah it’s disgusting. I hate that I’m running the AC to pull the moisture out of the house in October.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got 5 hours and a minute at work. 
On Monday a truck comes early.
The way I used to floor machine and buff before being told to do it different would have worked. But the way I did it about 5% didn't get buffed because stockers took up where I hadn't gotten yet. 
Dave got ice for the deli. And took the delis boxes to the crusher. Last thing was put a new door knob on the front office. 
I  COULD go in tomorrow to do the striker plate correctly. But probably Wednesday. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> We're getting the remnants of Nate today, it seems. It's raining off and on and dark outside. It _looks_ like it should be cold out there, but instead it is in the mid-70s and muggy AF. It's so disgusting, I can't even begin to describe it to those of you who don't _really _understand about this kind of humidity.
> 
> Ragweed pollen is also apparently moderate, which is why I had to take some antihistamine this morning. At least the air conditioning is finally kicking in. I walked into the office this morning and seriously felt like I was in a gym steam room. All my papers were curled up and felt damp.
> 
> Tomorrow 80 degrees   Then it will finally start cooling down again...for a little while anyway. The next week or so is supposed to be back and forth between high 60s and high 70s.
> 
> ENOUGH ALREADY!


Having lived in high humidity and tropical zones ... is one of the reasons Gary lives in California. Sticky-heat 24/7 sucks. As one gets older one appreciates the weather more and more.  Gary doesn't care for indoors ... Gary hates being "forced" indoors because of inclimate weather.  Gary appreciates acceptable and comfortable cooling based upon opened windows and a fan or two, sans A/C. Gary appreciates the lack of biting, stinging insects ... the ocean 20 minutes away, the city 20 minutes away, the mountains 30 minutes away and the low humidity 340 days a year. Gary doesn't appreciate Southern California's overpopulation resulting in high taxes, crowded freeways and high housing.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Yeah it’s disgusting. I hate that I’m running the AC to pull the moisture out of the house in October.


I was thinking that to myself literally 15 minutes ago as I had to turn it on *again.*     

I think Nate dragged a ton of moisture in from the Gulf.    Until this week, I've been putting on my hoodie for my 6:30 AM walk, coming home to start coffee and leaving the doors wide open to cool the house off.   It's been terrific - and felt more like fall than it does now.    Ugh!    It's still drizzling right now, and steamy.


----------



## JonA_CT

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah it’s disgusting. I hate that I’m running the AC to pull the moisture out of the house in October.
> 
> 
> 
> I was thinking that to myself literally 15 minutes ago as I had to turn it on *again.*
> 
> I think Nate dragged a ton of moisture in from the Gulf.    Until this week, I've been putting on my hoodie for my 6:30 AM walk, coming home to start coffee and leaving the doors wide open to cool the house off.   It's been terrific - and felt more like fall than it does now.    Ugh!    It's still drizzling right now, and steamy.
Click to expand...


And you live in Georgia! We're supposed to be close to our first frost here, but I think our lowest so far is in the mid 40s, and this morning was 68*. Gross.


----------



## terri

The nights have been fantastic until Nate rolled in - we were getting lows around 50 degrees or so.   Wonderful!   (And seasonal, starts the beginning of leaf changes!)

For the last few days, we're sweating like it's early September.    We usually get the best leaf-looking in late October/early November, depending on how high into the mountains you want to drive.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> We're getting the remnants of Nate today, it seems. It's raining off and on and dark outside. It _looks_ like it should be cold out there, but instead it is in the mid-70s and muggy AF. It's so disgusting, I can't even begin to describe it to those of you who don't _really _understand about this kind of humidity.
> 
> Ragweed pollen is also apparently moderate, which is why I had to take some antihistamine this morning. At least the air conditioning is finally kicking in. I walked into the office this morning and seriously felt like I was in a gym steam room. All my papers were curled up and felt damp.
> 
> Tomorrow 80 degrees   Then it will finally start cooling down again...for a little while anyway. The next week or so is supposed to be back and forth between high 60s and high 70s.
> 
> ENOUGH ALREADY!
> 
> 
> 
> Having lived in high humidity and tropical zones ... is one of the reasons Gary lives in California. Sticky-heat 24/7 sucks. As one gets older one appreciates the weather more and more.  Gary hasn't care for indoors ... Gary hates being "forced" indoors because of weather.  Gary appreciates acceptable cooling based upon opened windows and a fan or two, sans A/C. Gary appreciates the lack of biting, stinging insects ... the ocean 20 minutes away, the city 20 minutes away, the mountains 30 minutes away and the low humidity 340 days a year. Gary doesn't appreciate the overpopulation resulting in high taxes, crowded freeways and high housing.
Click to expand...


Meh. I never feel "forced" indoors. I have felt the opposite, though, by all the people who decide that we just HAVE to be outside to "enjoy" the weather (which, 9 times out of 10, is the kind of weather I despise.)

Only once have I managed to bring people to eat inside with me. I was meeting friends for breakfast in Istanbul many moons ago. It was already 90 degrees at 9am, and when I arrived, they were already there at a table in the sun. I knew there was no way I could stand that - I would have literally gotten sick. I was already feeling quite nauseated from the heat, and I get even hotter when I eat. So heat+sun+food=Leo tosses her cookies. So I told them that I was very sorry, but I was just going to head on home or inside the cafe and would see them later. I didn't mean to "force" them inside, but they decided to move inside anyway so we could all eat together.

Of course, they complained a lot all through breakfast about how "cold" it was (if any of you have experienced air conditioning in Europe, it is _never_ actually cold) which made me wish that I had just gone home.


----------



## Gary A.

For some reason, 90F in the sun seems hotter than 90F in the shade.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> For some reason, 90F in the sun seems hotter than 90F in the shade.



I have more and more problems with the sun as I get older. Unless the air temperature is very cool (50s or below), being in the sun just hurts.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Session on what, Gary? just bein' nosy. 

Blech, it's so dark I've been dozing off. Have an eye dr. appt. later and I don't feel like going. Not the annual exam and don't have to get dilated so that usually isn't quite such a long appt. but still, appts. there tend to be long anyway. I'd rather stay here and enjoy the gloom and doom that's outside from indoors while snoozing.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I just want fall - crisp cool air... leaves turning colors...


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason, 90F in the sun seems hotter than 90F in the shade.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have more and more problems with the sun as I get older. Unless the air temperature is very cool (50s or below), being in the sun just hurts.
Click to expand...

You won't like it out here, it's pretty much always sunny out here, regardless of air temp.


----------



## Gary A.

You'll love Northern California ... along the coast it is always very cool and more often than not, overcast and cloudy.


----------



## davidharmier60

Yeah. California like a whole nother country. All y'all pining for fall.
Texas. We are liable to be sweating on Christmas day! Right now the AC runs more than off.

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----------



## Gary A.

Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day.


----------



## snowbear

"Columbus, he set sail to find out if the world was round
He kept on sailing to the west until he ran aground
He thought he found the Indies, but he found the U.S.A.
I know some navigators who can still do that today"
--Tom Lewis, "Marching Inland"


----------



## jcdeboever

Houston is stupid bringing in JV, he is a creature of pitching habit. Dumb manager move. May cost them the series. Unbelievable


----------



## jcdeboever

See, I told you,! Bam 2 run Homer


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... you’re the man.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Houston is stupid bringing in JV, he is a creature of pitching habit. Dumb manager move. May cost them the series. Unbelievable
> 
> 
> 
> Houston is already down 2-ZIP ... to quote the president... what does he have lose ... there is a definite chance that JV never gets a chance to pitch.
Click to expand...

What,,? They were up , ,2-1 plus the same in series. JV has no business coming out of the pen. Don't even ask him because he will say yes. The guy is mechanical both physically as well as mentally.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary didn’t know the game was on ... thanks for the heads-up.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> For some reason, 90F in the sun seems hotter than 90F in the shade.



I don’t mind the heat as long as I can stay out of the direct sun.  I love a nice cloudy by warm day. 



limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> For some reason, 90F in the sun seems hotter than 90F in the shade.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have more and more problems with the sun as I get older. Unless the air temperature is very cool (50s or below), being in the sun just hurts.
Click to expand...


Same. I used to be able to tolerate it but now I have to be under my umbrella at the beach and in the shade whenever I can.  Coaching softball can be tough because there’s no where to hide.  



vintagesnaps said:


> I just want fall - crisp cool air... leaves turning colors...



I love fall. Where is it?


----------



## Dave442

I am going with Houston, sorry Boston friends.


----------



## terri

davidharmier60 said:


> California like *a whole nother* country.



There's a word for this splitting of words, and for some reason it's usually done with the word "another."    

@limr :     Leo!    What's this called?   I'm guessing you'll know.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> California like *a whole nother* country.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There's a word for this splitting of words, and for some reason it's usually done with the word "another."
> 
> @limr :     Leo!    What's this called?   I'm guessing you'll know.
Click to expand...


Rebracketing is one term I know of. It means when people sort of reassign a sound to the start of one word when it really belongs to the end of another, or vice versa.  

It's the kind of process that is behind mishearing lyrics. "Excuse me while I kiss the sky" becomes "Excuse me while I kiss this guy." The s- in sky gets attached to "the" and while there are no words "thes ky", the brain processes it with the closest actual words it can come up with: "this guy."

So, another, rather than being broken up into an + other, becomes a + nother.

There's also an additional thing going on with "a whole nother" though, which is infixing. That's the process by which we can insert words into existing words. It's not very common except with a few "chunk" phrases and with the word f---  uh, jam. This is why we can say things like "un-jammin-believable." We want to break the word at a natural place (between a prefix and the root, for example).

So, trying to infix "whole" into "another" but rebracketing the 'n' to 'other' instead of 'a', and what do you get? A whole nother!


----------



## davidharmier60

I haven't been in the living room in a while.
How goes the 4th game?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Boston falls ... Houston carries-on.


----------



## davidharmier60

Just found that out. Way to go guys!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> California like *a whole nother* country.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There's a word for this splitting of words, and for some reason it's usually done with the word "another."
> 
> @limr :     Leo!    What's this called?   I'm guessing you'll know.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Rebracketing is one term I know of. It means when people sort of reassign a sound to the start of one word when it really belongs to the end of another, or vice versa.
> 
> It's the kind of process that is behind mishearing lyrics. "Excuse me while I kiss the sky" becomes "Excuse me while I kiss this guy." The s- in sky gets attached to "the" and while there are no words "thes ky", the brain processes it with the closest actual words it can come up with: "this guy."
> 
> So, another, rather than being broken up into an + other, becomes a + nother.
> 
> There's also an additional thing going on with "a whole nother" though, which is infixing. That's the process by which we can insert words into existing words. It's not very common except with a few "chunk" phrases and with the word f---  uh, jam. This is why we can say things like "un-jammin-believable." We want to break the word at a natural place (between a prefix and the root, for example).
> 
> So, trying to infix "whole" into "another" but rebracketing the 'n' to 'other' instead of 'a', and what do you get? A whole nother!
Click to expand...

    This is the kind of thing that would have annoyed me, trying to mentally grope for it (I think "infixing" was the word I recall).    Saved by Leo!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> California like *a whole nother* country.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There's a word for this splitting of words, and for some reason it's usually done with the word "another."
> 
> @limr :     Leo!    What's this called?   I'm guessing you'll know.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Rebracketing is one term I know of. It means when people sort of reassign a sound to the start of one word when it really belongs to the end of another, or vice versa.
> 
> It's the kind of process that is behind mishearing lyrics. "Excuse me while I kiss the sky" becomes "Excuse me while I kiss this guy." The s- in sky gets attached to "the" and while there are no words "thes ky", the brain processes it with the closest actual words it can come up with: "this guy."
> 
> So, another, rather than being broken up into an + other, becomes a + nother.
> 
> There's also an additional thing going on with "a whole nother" though, which is infixing. That's the process by which we can insert words into existing words. It's not very common except with a few "chunk" phrases and with the word f---  uh, jam. This is why we can say things like "un-jammin-believable." We want to break the word at a natural place (between a prefix and the root, for example).
> 
> So, trying to infix "whole" into "another" but rebracketing the 'n' to 'other' instead of 'a', and what do you get? A whole nother!
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> This is the kind of thing that would have annoyed me, trying to mentally grope for it (I think "infixing" was the word I recall).    Saved by Leo!
Click to expand...


----------



## jcdeboever

Sorry Peg for your Sox losing. I really don't care for Dave Dombroski and glad they didn't advance but was bummed at the same time for you. DD is not who you want as GM, he is gonna ruin your developmental   system. Ferrell is not a good manager, way over rated, he is just average. Not going to win you any games and only lose you a couple regular season. Ron Washington would be the perfect manager for your team, he is a fantasticanager that knows how to steal games. Unfortunately, he has never been supplied with a stud team as yours. Additionally, he has some negative drug abuse history. I think he is beyond that now. Lastly, DD needs to go bye bye before he brings the Epstein / Cherington era down to poop. Your owner missed the mark by bringing in his buddy.

P.S. AJ Hinch won't be bringing in JV again like that. Man, he could have lost his job by being the smartest man in the room when he was clearly not. He got lucky Play AJ Hinch's birthday y'all 5-15-74 or however all that works.


----------



## JonA_CT

Honestly, I’m the most disappointed in Pedroia this afternoon. As the longest-tenured player on the team, he knows better than to argue balls and strikes. His manager got tossed as a result, and that can’t happen in a do-or-die game.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Honestly, I’m the most disappointed in Pedroia this afternoon. As the longest-tenured player on the team, he knows better than to argue balls and strikes. His manager got tossed as a result, and that can’t happen in a do-or-die game.


I understand what your saying but your team is better off without him. Players don't respect him. Pedroia was taking a leadership role there that his manager had missed on 4 other occasions. Pedroia was fed up and was trying to rally his team that Ferrell lost about two weeks prior to season end. Pedroia was right on the mark. Ferrell lost the team and he was trying to right the ship. It was clearly obvious, but I watch a lot of baseball.

You need a manager that can extract a style of play. Your team is gifted. You need a manager that can exploit their strengths. Your manager manages to keep his job. You need a manager that wants to win and cares less about how he does it. Ron Washington.


----------



## SquarePeg

Sox lost when they sent Sale back in for the 8th when it clearly should have been Reed then Kimbrel.  Farrell is done I hope.  

As for Pedroia, I thought the home plate ump made some questionable strike calls as well as missed some clear strikes earlier (for/against both teams) which negatively impacted the game.   Not saying it would have changed the outcome but I think Pedroia was frustrated by that.  Bases loaded no outs and they came up empty.  

It was a very weird game.  

Oh well!  Such is life.  I was hoping to get to an ALCS game again.  I’ll still be watching the rest of the post season because I love baseball but it’s always more fun when the Sox are in it.  With 3 championships in the past 15 years, it’s not the same soul crushing feeling as in 75, 86 and my personal hell 2003 ALCS.  

I will need to decide who to root for now.  Probably Cleveland over the Evil Empire and maybe Houston over LAD because Houston could use some happy news this year.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone



 
Smoke from the  Anaheim Hills Fire, about 10 miles away. Structure are being lost. 


 

Ms. Maggie after a hard day at the office.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. I saw the fire on the news, is it getting close to you? Or are you in danger??? First hand experience with brush fires----they can move fast.


----------



## snowbear

And in the west, they can get very large - often a fire storm.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. I saw the fire on the news, is it getting close to you? Or are you in danger??? First hand experience with brush fires----they can move fast.


Nahhh .. it is about 15 miles away.  It has to burn up Disneyland before it hits La Mirada. Gary actually has a lot of first hand experience with wildfires ... especially Chaparral which is literally explosive.  The Anaheim Hills fire is about 4,000 acres so far, not nearly as severe as the Wine Country fires up in Napa and Sonoma.





Gary at the Panorama Fire.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> And in the west, they can get very large - often a fire storm.


Wildfires out here are truly wild as they will create their own windstorm. All the recent rains last winter has created a lot of new growth for fuel.  We get very little spring rain and nearly no summer and fall rain, so all the growth from the winter rains is dry and extremely flammable by fall. We have four season out here flood, fire, earthquake and riot. Gary has turned on the A/C to help filter the ash and a couple of HEPA filtered fans.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. the equipment you're carrying to fight the fire looks a lot lighter then what I had to carry. LOL Usually ours are less then 100 acres. The largest one I worked, burned over 600 acres. We couldn't stop it, because it was running along a steep bluff, couldn't get men or equipment in place. Mother Nature finally came to our rescue with a welcome rain, otherwise it would have jumped our last fire break, and rapidly grown in size.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. the equipment you're carrying to fight the fire looks a lot lighter then what I had to carry. LOL Usually ours are less then 100 acres. The largest one I worked, burned over 600 acres. We couldn't stop it, because it was running along a steep bluff, couldn't get men or equipment in place. Mother Nature finally came to our rescue with a welcome rain, otherwise it would have jumped our last fire break, and rapidly grown in size.


In 2015 California had more than 300,000 acres burned, last year about half that total. As to equipment, Gary thinks two cameras was sufficient.    In the above photo, Gary and a friend shooting for the San Francisco paper, were walking up a fire road towards the fire. Suddenly a string of about 20 firefighters came running past us down the road.  I'm giving Chris my Mr. Spock, raised eyebrow look.  We hike up through a couple of switchbacks that there was the fire ... maybe 40 to 60 feet high, a wall of fire ... but it wasn't moving.  So Chris ran in front of the fire and Gary snapped a picture ... and Gary followed suit. Then we turned around and walked down the hills before the fire Gods changed their minds on direction.

Gary has a lot of fires stories, including getting cut off and having to spend the night behind the fire lines ... having a fire blow through our position, et cetera.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary liked shooting fires, lots of action and free doughnuts and coffee when the Red Cross truck arrives.


----------



## davidharmier60

For reasons Dave can't fathom the area around him could/should burn up. But hasn't 


Yet...




Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

The fire in Anaheim isn’t good, but the Napa-Sonoma fire is tragic.


----------



## smoke665

I can only remember one time Red Cross showed up. We were toned on a house fire at around midnight on a cold winter night. Temperature was in the teens, turnouts were covered in ice, and they showed up with coffee and hot  chocolate. Man that tasted so good.


----------



## davidharmier60

As usual Dave need not get up at 4am tomorrow. However he did get up at 4am this morning.  So now he says Good night y'all. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Night Dave.  Gary was up at five o’clock this morning.


----------



## Gary A.

When Gary was doing construction, four o’clock was his wake-up time.  4:00 a.m. is tough, but once you’re up the quiet of the morning was soothing.  The freeways were crowded at 5:00 a.m., but they flowed, by 6:30 a.m. they started stopping.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Night Dave.  Gary was up at five o’clock this morning.


but that was 8 for those of us east of the Mississippi, so you actually slept in.


----------



## JonA_CT

My Monday today. 

Jack has been sleeping great overall, and we got lots of sleep (comparatively) over the weekend. Of course, because I had to go to work today, I've been up since before 4.


----------



## jcdeboever

Bud called me last and wants me to play hockey this year. I don't know, my mind says yes, but my body is yelling NO,!!!!. He is looking for defensemen. I agreed to at least do a skate through tomorrow night. I am rusty for sure. I used to be decent at moving the puck out of our zone and setting up on power play. Should be interesting. It's s 50+  league, no checking. Oh boy, here comes some pain, lol.

Darvish did a good job. Great managing by Roberts. This team is real, REAL good. Ferrell should have started Sale, big fail.
Lovullo would have been a better fit in Boston.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm debating on going to work to fix the striker plate on the office door. 
The debate is whether to clock in or just breeze in, do what I said I'd do and leave.

Either way, going to the bank and the post office on the journey. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever you must be a lot younger than I. Washing and waxing the RV yesterday, only half way done, and I feel like I was run over by a truck this morning.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever you must be a lot younger than I. Washing and waxing the RV yesterday, only half way done, and I feel like I was run over by a truck this morning.


53. Use a buffing machine on the ends of the arms of a 20 year old tall boy servant. Give Gary a call to rent his....


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> Bud called me last and wants me to play hockey this year. I don't know, my mind says yes, but my body is yelling NO,!!!!. He is looking for defensemen. I agreed to at least do a skate through tomorrow night. I am rusty for sure. I used to be decent at moving the puck out of our zone and setting up on power play. Should be interesting. It's s 50+  league, no checking. Oh boy, here comes some pain, lol.
> 
> Darvish did a good job. Great managing by Roberts. This team is real, REAL good. Ferrell should have started Sale, big fail.
> Lovullo would have been a better fit in Boston.




Go play hockey, JC. You'll regret it if you don't. Ibuprofen is a wonderful thing.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever Fortunately I only do it once a year in conjunction with checking/treating seals, and checking/caulking seams. I have a 10' buffer but the climbing up and down the ladder is what gets me. I've been quoted anywhere from $300 to $500 to detail and wax, which I wouldn't have a problem with, but you never know what kind of job they'll do.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bud called me last and wants me to play hockey this year. I don't know, my mind says yes, but my body is yelling NO,!!!!. He is looking for defensemen. I agreed to at least do a skate through tomorrow night. I am rusty for sure. I used to be decent at moving the puck out of our zone and setting up on power play. Should be interesting. It's s 50+  league, no checking. Oh boy, here comes some pain, lol.
> 
> Darvish did a good job. Great managing by Roberts. This team is real, REAL good. Ferrell should have started Sale, big fail.
> Lovullo would have been a better fit in Boston.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Go play hockey, JC. You'll regret it if you don't. Ibuprofen is a wonderful thing.
Click to expand...

Will see. Im worried about smooth stride. If I can't do that, I'm not playing. Backward stride is what I'm real worried about. It's gotta be smooth and effortless or I'll get hurt. Groin, hamny, etc.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Bud called me last and wants me to play hockey this year. I don't know, my mind says yes, but my body is yelling NO,!!!!. He is looking for defensemen. I agreed to at least do a skate through tomorrow night. I am rusty for sure. I used to be decent at moving the puck out of our zone and setting up on power play. Should be interesting. It's s 50+  league, no checking. Oh boy, here comes some pain, lol.
> 
> Darvish did a good job. Great managing by Roberts. This team is real, REAL good. Ferrell should have started Sale, big fail.
> Lovullo would have been a better fit in Boston.


HOW SWEEP IT IS!


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> I'm debating on going to work to fix the striker plate on the office door.
> The debate is whether to clock in or just breeze in, do what I said I'd do and leave.
> 
> Either way, going to the bank and the post office on the journey.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Breeze ...


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever you must be a lot younger than I. Washing and waxing the RV yesterday, only half way done, and I feel like I was run over by a truck this morning.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bud called me last and wants me to play hockey this year. I don't know, my mind says yes, but my body is yelling NO,!!!!. He is looking for defensemen. I agreed to at least do a skate through tomorrow night. I am rusty for sure. I used to be decent at moving the puck out of our zone and setting up on power play. Should be interesting. It's s 50+  league, no checking. Oh boy, here comes some pain, lol.
> 
> Darvish did a good job. Great managing by Roberts. This team is real, REAL good. Ferrell should have started Sale, big fail.
> Lovullo would have been a better fit in Boston.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Go play hockey, JC. You'll regret it if you don't. Ibuprofen is a wonderful thing.
Click to expand...

Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen are both wonderful and take both because they work differently.  My physician takes both before strenuous activity.  Therefore, no pain at all.


----------



## limr

Hosers.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever Fortunately I only do it once a year in conjunction with checking/treating seals, and checking/caulking seams. I have a 10' buffer but the climbing up and down the ladder is what gets me. I've been quoted anywhere from $300 to $500 to detail and wax, which I wouldn't have a problem with, but you never know what kind of job they'll do.


Gary is a firm believer in a Hot Wax.  If not a hot wax then one of those TIY car washes ... $.75 for a wash and $.25 for the spray wax.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bud called me last and wants me to play hockey this year. I don't know, my mind says yes, but my body is yelling NO,!!!!. He is looking for defensemen. I agreed to at least do a skate through tomorrow night. I am rusty for sure. I used to be decent at moving the puck out of our zone and setting up on power play. Should be interesting. It's s 50+  league, no checking. Oh boy, here comes some pain, lol.
> 
> Darvish did a good job. Great managing by Roberts. This team is real, REAL good. Ferrell should have started Sale, big fail.
> Lovullo would have been a better fit in Boston.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Go play hockey, JC. You'll regret it if you don't. Ibuprofen is a wonderful thing.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen are both wonderful and take both because they work differently.  My physician takes both before strenuous activity.  Therefore, no pain at all.
Click to expand...


My brother-in-law called that pre-loading, iirc. He suggested doing so for my headaches - take a low dosage of pain medication when I know the headache is coming but it hasn't started yet.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bud called me last and wants me to play hockey this year. I don't know, my mind says yes, but my body is yelling NO,!!!!. He is looking for defensemen. I agreed to at least do a skate through tomorrow night. I am rusty for sure. I used to be decent at moving the puck out of our zone and setting up on power play. Should be interesting. It's s 50+  league, no checking. Oh boy, here comes some pain, lol.
> 
> Darvish did a good job. Great managing by Roberts. This team is real, REAL good. Ferrell should have started Sale, big fail.
> Lovullo would have been a better fit in Boston.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Go play hockey, JC. You'll regret it if you don't. Ibuprofen is a wonderful thing.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Will see. Im worried about smooth stride. If I can't do that, I'm not playing. Backward stride is what I'm real worried about. It's gotta be smooth and effortless or I'll get hurt. Groin, hamny, etc.
Click to expand...

No pain no gain ...


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC: At your age and health ... Gary doesn't know about you playing hockey.  Gary has never played hockey but suspects it is pretty damn physical both in contact and endurance. Gary played no-pad tackle football in his 20's, fast pitch softball into his 40's then some slow pitch.  Stick with softball for competition, cycling for endurance, golf if you want to retire. And for sheer enjoyment and celebration of life ... wine tasting.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's Dodgers are getting hot!  Who'da thunk they would sweep ... (well maybe JC, but he's crazy ... no sane person would have thought they would sweep).

The huge front page photo of the PLAYOFFS section shows Kenley Jansen being attack from above by Clayton Kershaw and hugged by Yasmani Grandal.  Both Kershaw's and Grandal's mouths are the cavernous megaphones as they shout at the top of their lungs.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Ya'll gonna have to put up with Gary and his Dodgers for another series.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bud called me last and wants me to play hockey this year. I don't know, my mind says yes, but my body is yelling NO,!!!!. He is looking for defensemen. I agreed to at least do a skate through tomorrow night. I am rusty for sure. I used to be decent at moving the puck out of our zone and setting up on power play. Should be interesting. It's s 50+  league, no checking. Oh boy, here comes some pain, lol.
> 
> Darvish did a good job. Great managing by Roberts. This team is real, REAL good. Ferrell should have started Sale, big fail.
> Lovullo would have been a better fit in Boston.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Go play hockey, JC. You'll regret it if you don't. Ibuprofen is a wonderful thing.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen are both wonderful and take both because they work differently.  My physician takes both before strenuous activity.  Therefore, no pain at all.
Click to expand...


Is this the guy that just had the heart attack?



limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bud called me last and wants me to play hockey this year. I don't know, my mind says yes, but my body is yelling NO,!!!!. He is looking for defensemen. I agreed to at least do a skate through tomorrow night. I am rusty for sure. I used to be decent at moving the puck out of our zone and setting up on power play. Should be interesting. It's s 50+  league, no checking. Oh boy, here comes some pain, lol.
> 
> Darvish did a good job. Great managing by Roberts. This team is real, REAL good. Ferrell should have started Sale, big fail.
> Lovullo would have been a better fit in Boston.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Go play hockey, JC. You'll regret it if you don't. Ibuprofen is a wonderful thing.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen are both wonderful and take both because they work differently.  My physician takes both before strenuous activity.  Therefore, no pain at all.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My brother-in-law called that pre-loading, iirc. He suggested doing so for my headaches - take a low dosage of pain medication when I know the headache is coming but it hasn't started yet.
Click to expand...


I try to do this but mine seem to start while I’m sleeping and I’ll wake up with it already at the pounding stage.  Sometimes there are warning signs and sometimes there aren’t.  Have one this morning and going to sign off and try to sleep it away.


----------



## limr

They nevah shoulda left Brooklyn.


----------



## Gary A.

@JC and per the Los Angeles Time:
"... The moment belonged to the players.  The night belonged to Roberts, the manager who manipulated this game like it was his marionette, pulling  each string with the proper force at the proper time. In a postseason already littered with managers undone by indecision and miscalculation, Roberts offered a rejoinder:  At least one man knows what he is doing."


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary is a firm believer in a Hot Wax. If not a hot wax then one of those TIY car washes ... $.75 for a wash and $.25 for the spray wax.



I use this http://www.meguiars.com/en/automotive/products/a1214-cleaner-wax-paste/ rubbed on with either a pad, or a small buffer/applicator. There are a lot of places that have areas where washing didn't get it totally clean or oxidation. Hot wax or spray just covers those areas up. In between yearly waxes I use this at 6 month. http://www.meguiars.com/en/automotive/products/a3332-quik-detailerreg-32oz/ An RV is a lot like a boat, the fiberglass gel coat will dull with age. Even though we have it under a cover when not in use, the sun will still take a toll on it.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> I try to do this but mine seem to start while I’m sleeping and I’ll wake up with it already at the pounding stage.  Sometimes there are warning signs and sometimes there aren’t.  Have one this morning and going to sign off and try to sleep it away.



Yeah, I don't really have an "aura" to warn me, so I often can't get to the medication before the headache hits. Every once in a while, I get a weird ocular disturbance that has preceded a headache, but mostly, I just manage it as best I can and then just have to ride it out.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @ JC: At your age and health ... Gary doesn't know about you playing hockey.  Gary has never played hockey but suspects it is pretty damn physical both in contact and endurance. Gary played no-pad tackle football in his 20's, fast pitch softball into his 40's then some slow pitch.  Stick with softball for competition, cycling for endurance, golf if you want to retire. And for sheer enjoyment and celebration of life ... wine tasting.


I love playing, like I do softball. I played 4 games this year, fill in. Didn't have to run much, played third, hit the ball over fence, trot.... Skating is way different. It's all in the stride, you can still do it reasonably well even if out of shape or at least in an old man league. Key is to do proper strecthing for about 45 minutes to an hour. I icy hot my legs up good but keep it away from onion sack area, that burns. I am more curious than anything, haven't skated in about a year and a half. Shouldn't be an issue, but the back skating takes a little more dexterity, that's what I'm worried about. Not to worried, Jeff will tell me to forget about it, he knows better than me, I am more apt to just sucking it up and doing it. If I can't get out of the zone from behind the net in 6 strides, it's no hockey for me. Or if I can't turn and redirect side ways smoothly, I'm toast. I think I can do both but will see. I got a pretty hard left handed shot, accuracy may be another thing. I was always able to one skip it low, gave bad goalies fits. My mind may be playing tricks on me though, been known to happen.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bud called me last and wants me to play hockey this year. I don't know, my mind says yes, but my body is yelling NO,!!!!. He is looking for defensemen. I agreed to at least do a skate through tomorrow night. I am rusty for sure. I used to be decent at moving the puck out of our zone and setting up on power play. Should be interesting. It's s 50+  league, no checking. Oh boy, here comes some pain, lol.
> 
> Darvish did a good job. Great managing by Roberts. This team is real, REAL good. Ferrell should have started Sale, big fail.
> Lovullo would have been a better fit in Boston.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Go play hockey, JC. You'll regret it if you don't. Ibuprofen is a wonderful thing.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen are both wonderful and take both because they work differently.  My physician takes both before strenuous activity.  Therefore, no pain at all.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Is this the guy that just had the heart attack?
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bud called me last and wants me to play hockey this year. I don't know, my mind says yes, but my body is yelling NO,!!!!. He is looking for defensemen. I agreed to at least do a skate through tomorrow night. I am rusty for sure. I used to be decent at moving the puck out of our zone and setting up on power play. Should be interesting. It's s 50+  league, no checking. Oh boy, here comes some pain, lol.
> 
> Darvish did a good job. Great managing by Roberts. This team is real, REAL good. Ferrell should have started Sale, big fail.
> Lovullo would have been a better fit in Boston.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Go play hockey, JC. You'll regret it if you don't. Ibuprofen is a wonderful thing.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen are both wonderful and take both because they work differently.  My physician takes both before strenuous activity.  Therefore, no pain at all.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My brother-in-law called that pre-loading, iirc. He suggested doing so for my headaches - take a low dosage of pain medication when I know the headache is coming but it hasn't started yet.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I try to do this but mine seem to start while I’m sleeping and I’ll wake up with it already at the pounding stage.  Sometimes there are warning signs and sometimes there aren’t.  Have one this morning and going to sign off and try to sleep it away.
Click to expand...

Yep, Mister Triple-Bypass.  He cycles thousands of miles a year. But not matter how well you take care of yourself you can't avoid bad genes. His father had a heart attack in his 60's, the late age of the attack is largely due to no exercise, hence no stress on the heart.  Tom's in his mid 40's, doesn't smoke, eats well, and the attacked came early for him because his strenuous work outs. He actually died.  The attack occurred while he was on a bike ride with a group of riders he organized from Huntington Hospital in Pasadena. The only thing that saved him was he had the good fortune to have the attack in front of a Fire Station, and he was surrounded by nurses and doctors. By the time the paramedics reached him ... within minutes of crashing onto the road he was turning blue, his heart had stopped functioning correctly and possibly had stopped.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ JC: At your age and health ... Gary doesn't know about you playing hockey.  Gary has never played hockey but suspects it is pretty damn physical both in contact and endurance. Gary played no-pad tackle football in his 20's, fast pitch softball into his 40's then some slow pitch.  Stick with softball for competition, cycling for endurance, golf if you want to retire. And for sheer enjoyment and celebration of life ... wine tasting.
> 
> 
> 
> I love playing, like I do softball. I played 4 games this year, fill in. Didn't have to run much, played third, hit the ball over fence, trot.... Skating is way different. It's all in the stride, you can still do it reasonably well even if out of shape or at least in an old man league. Key is to do proper strecthing for about 45 minutes to an hour. I icy hot my legs up good but keep it away from onion sack area, that burns. I am more curious than anything, haven't skated in about a year and a half. Shouldn't be an issue, but the back skating takes a little more dexterity, that's what I'm worried about. Not to worried, Jeff will tell me to forget about it, he knows better than me, I am more apt to just sucking it up and doing it. If I can't get out of the zone from behind the net in 6 strides, it's no hockey for me. Or if I can't turn and redirect side ways smoothly, I'm toast. I think I can do both but will see. I got a pretty hard left handed shot, accuracy may be another thing. I was always able to one skip it low, gave bad goalies fits. My mind may be playing tricks on me though, been known to happen.
Click to expand...

As you won't be playing with youngsters ... should be o-kayyyy, * Gary says hesitantly *.  But there are always a few a$$holes who work out everyday just so they can bust some heads on the pitch/court/rink/et al. Makes them feel big.


----------



## Gary A.

@ smoke665: Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen before you wax!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ JC: At your age and health ... Gary doesn't know about you playing hockey.  Gary has never played hockey but suspects it is pretty damn physical both in contact and endurance. Gary played no-pad tackle football in his 20's, fast pitch softball into his 40's then some slow pitch.  Stick with softball for competition, cycling for endurance, golf if you want to retire. And for sheer enjoyment and celebration of life ... wine tasting.
> 
> 
> 
> I love playing, like I do softball. I played 4 games this year, fill in. Didn't have to run much, played third, hit the ball over fence, trot.... Skating is way different. It's all in the stride, you can still do it reasonably well even if out of shape or at least in an old man league. Key is to do proper strecthing for about 45 minutes to an hour. I icy hot my legs up good but keep it away from onion sack area, that burns. I am more curious than anything, haven't skated in about a year and a half. Shouldn't be an issue, but the back skating takes a little more dexterity, that's what I'm worried about. Not to worried, Jeff will tell me to forget about it, he knows better than me, I am more apt to just sucking it up and doing it. If I can't get out of the zone from behind the net in 6 strides, it's no hockey for me. Or if I can't turn and redirect side ways smoothly, I'm toast. I think I can do both but will see. I got a pretty hard left handed shot, accuracy may be another thing. I was always able to one skip it low, gave bad goalies fits. My mind may be playing tricks on me though, been known to happen.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> As you won't be playing with youngsters ... should be o-kayyyy, Gary says hesitantly.  But there are always a few old farts who work out everyday just so they can bust some heads on the pitch/court/rink/et al. Makes them feel big.
Click to expand...


Yup that's why Jeff wants me to play because if there is any shenanigans out there, he knows it will end with me, I can be dirty if need be. Seriously though, I was always pretty good on making that first pass out of the zone, that's the main reason.  I played with them when I lived in Detroit, there was very little "hard contact" but occasionally you'd get an NHL should-a-been and he would need to be brought back down to earth. Then there is the tough guy after the game routine with the "should-a-been". Always ended well as cooler heads would prevail. Something like, guys we have to go to work tomorrow so sleep it off. Normally the hard contact would come in the form of a guy not keeping his head up and just slamming into someone. One time is all it takes and you keep your head up. Most guys are good for one a year.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @JC and per the Los Angeles Time:
> "... The moment belonged to the players.  The night belonged to Roberts, the manager who manipulated this game like it was his marionette, pulling  each string with the proper force at the proper time. In a postseason already littered with managers undone by indecision and miscalculation, Roberts offered a rejoinder:  At least one man knows what he is doing."


He truly is a treat to watch, especially with my paid subscription to statcast. He is a master.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave sees it now. Astros Dodgers in the World Series. Dodgers win 4 straight.
Houston ain't destined to have winners.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

Is it Friday, yet?

No?

*shudders*


----------



## jcdeboever

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave sees it now. Astros Dodgers in the World Series. Dodgers win 4 straight.
> Houston ain't destined to have winners.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Woa, woa, not so fast bud. I believe those two are going to WS. However, no Dodger sweep. This is going to be a 7 game nail biter. Astros are too good of a lineup to get swept. Additionally, they are excellent at taking away runs. This series ends in LA with the Dodgers taking home the goods. Will be very interesting to how the Astros sort out Justin Verlander after bringing him in at relief. That dumb move may have ramifications that extend into the next series as well as WS. I hope Cleveland beats the Yanks, they should with Kluber going, that series is going 7 too. I like the Dodgers over the Cubs in 6.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave doesn't "live" baseball.
Dave just knows Houston teams don't go all the way often. Think you have to go back pretty far to find the Rockets won big.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Bah, who cares? Rangers are playing St.Louis tonight.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Thanks Leo, I hurried up and checked the Center Ice schedule. Let's Go Rangers!


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Bah, who cares?


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> buprofen and Acetaminophen before you wax!



Already on muscle relaxer and NAISD till I can get in to the Urologist next week.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> buprofen and Acetaminophen before you wax!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Already on muscle relaxer and NAISD till I can get in to the Urologist next week.
Click to expand...

Then get back to work.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> buprofen and Acetaminophen before you wax!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Already on muscle relaxer and NAISD till I can get in to the Urologist next week.
Click to expand...

Seriously, that sucks. If you were out here I'd augment your medication with some vino.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hockey players are all nuts. As long as they can still move across the ice in some way they'll put on the skates and get out there. So, JC - Toe Blake! Dit Clapper! Bobby Orr! old time hockey! put a stick to 'em, bleed all over 'em, let 'em know you're there! put on the foil! Or, just try to stay on your feet, take along an ice pack... and don't have none of that stinkin' root beer.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Hockey players are all nuts. As long as they can still move across the ice in some way they'll put on the skates and get out there. So, JC - Toe Blake! Dit Clapper! Bobby Orr! old time hockey! put a stick to 'em, bleed all over 'em, let 'em know you're there! put on the foil! Or, just try to stay on your feet, take along an ice pack... and don't have none of that stinkin' root beer.


Listen to Vintagesnaps, damnit.


----------



## vintagesnaps

You might want to ignore Gary's advice and not listen to me, hockey fans are nuts too. 

A little bit south, of Saskatoon.


----------



## JonA_CT

@Braineack 

I figured there's been enough time to process (mentally) now...how'd that wedding of yours go?


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Hockey players are all nuts. As long as they can still move across the ice in some way they'll put on the skates and get out there. So, JC - Toe Blake! Dit Clapper! Bobby Orr! old time hockey! put a stick to 'em, bleed all over 'em, let 'em know you're there! put on the foil! Or, just try to stay on your feet, take along an ice pack... and don't have none of that stinkin' root beer.


Dit Clapper, now there's a blast from the past. I am the Belgian Bruiser, lol. but Jeff said I'm probably more of a six pump chump now....


----------



## smoke665

Ok, this should prove interesting. New UF gator-like skin football uniforms raising some eyebrows  Any comments @limr for/against????


----------



## davidharmier60

Incidentally Dave breezed into work with a pocketfull of stuff I needed and a power driver. Trish said "You didn't have to come in today". Told her I would just fix the door and be gone. Happened just like that. 
If someone tries to kick that door in they will be surprised. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> Ok, this should prove interesting. New UF gator-like skin football uniforms raising some eyebrows  Any comments @limr for/against????



GAH! That gets a "Dear lord, whyyyyyyyy?" from me.

I mean, it's kinda cool for a practice or exhibition uniform, but for their official game uniform?

No no no no no no no no no no...














No.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Ok, this should prove interesting. New UF gator-like skin football uniforms raising some eyebrows  Any comments @limr for/against????


What's not to like?  Unless you're a traditionalist ... Sorta looks like they're copying Oregon.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, this should prove interesting. New UF gator-like skin football uniforms raising some eyebrows  Any comments @limr for/against????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> GAH! That gets a "Dear lord, whyyyyyyyy?" from me.
> 
> I mean, it's kinda cool for a practice or exhibition uniform, but for their official game uniform?
> 
> No no no no no no no no no no...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No.
Click to expand...


I don't watch college football. But I kinda respect the schools who keep old-school uniforms. Penn State. Norte Dame. USC. etc.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is busying himself with de-stemming some oregano.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, this should prove interesting. New UF gator-like skin football uniforms raising some eyebrows  Any comments @limr for/against????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> GAH! That gets a "Dear lord, whyyyyyyyy?" from me.
> 
> I mean, it's kinda cool for a practice or exhibition uniform, but for their official game uniform?
> 
> No no no no no no no no no no...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't watch college football. But I kinda respect the schools who keep old-school uniforms. Penn State. Norte Dame. USC. etc.
Click to expand...


Me too. Up until recently, Michigan also stayed pretty traditional, though even they started adding those stupid stickers to their helmets.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary gave Ms. Maggie a stem of oregano and she happily trots off with the stem into another room.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> GAH! That gets a "Dear lord, whyyyyyyyy?" from me.
> 
> I mean, it's kinda cool for a practice or exhibition uniform, but for their official game uniform?
> 
> No no no no no no no no no no...



LOL, they'll be easy for the Aggies to see on the field this weekend.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> GAH! That gets a "Dear lord, whyyyyyyyy?" from me.
> 
> I mean, it's kinda cool for a practice or exhibition uniform, but for their official game uniform?
> 
> No no no no no no no no no no...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LOL, they'll be easy for the Aggies to see on the field this weekend.
Click to expand...


So they will see exactly who is about to pound them into the ground?


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> GAH! That gets a "Dear lord, whyyyyyyyy?" from me.
> 
> I mean, it's kinda cool for a practice or exhibition uniform, but for their official game uniform?
> 
> No no no no no no no no no no...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LOL, they'll be easy for the Aggies to see on the field this weekend.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> So they will see exactly who is about to pound them into the ground?
Click to expand...


A&M played a good game last weekend. Those Texas boys might be wearing some new Gator skin boots.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> GAH! That gets a "Dear lord, whyyyyyyyy?" from me.
> 
> I mean, it's kinda cool for a practice or exhibition uniform, but for their official game uniform?
> 
> No no no no no no no no no no...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LOL, they'll be easy for the Aggies to see on the field this weekend.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> So they will see exactly who is about to pound them into the ground?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> A&M played a good game last weekend. Those Texas boys might be wearing some new Gator skin boots.
Click to expand...


Or sneakers - they just have to pull them off the players! 

But more likely, we'll be seeing some GATOR BAIT!! CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP!!*








*I acknowledge that we lost by a single friggin' point last week and we haven't been looking all that great this season, but shhhhh, let's not let reality interrupt the trash talk, and besides, I still believe my Gators will WIN ALL THE GAMES!


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> A&M played a good game last weekend. Those Texas boys might be wearing some new Gator skin boots.


Gig 'em


----------



## snowbear

I get to go to the "Wheel of Fortune" hospital this week.  The Lesly & Pat Sajak (yes, THAT one) pavilion at Anne Arundel Medical Center.  I have a lump on my shoulder/back that I'm finally getting checked out.


----------



## davidharmier60

It is almost unbelievable that Dave is still awake. 4am will be here soon enough. 
Good night peeps. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

News, News:

1) I got myself a coffee mill, so in a short while I will start to mill my own and refrain from buying vacuumized 500 Gramm Packets which were good, but I hope the new method will be even GOODDER!

2) My son now learned to drink the coffee like I do: the millage stays in the cup to sink to the ground and compact there. Inexperienced drinkers tend to collect a lot of the millage between theit teeth, experienced people do not see or feel any bit of it, because they know how to drink around it and let the coffee compact on the ground of the cup. My son is happy, proud and wide awake!

3) My son calls the girls that stay overnight "sloods" which seems to be a female form of "dude" with a slight deviation to the ugly "sluts" ... new German word I guess???

4) To my great surprise, globell bv delivered their "globell color suite". It was a Kickstarter project I supported long ago that did not seem promising at all... now I have three calibration solutions in my office, look:







PS: These are

a grey GretagMacbeth i1display2
a black spider 5 elite
and new: the freshly released globell color


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is not sure what he sees above.
It's early just as predicted last night.
It's marquee day among the other stuff I have to do.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Don’t worry Dave.  The rest of us don’t always know what Frank is talking about either.


----------



## JonA_CT

The light and the sky say Fall in CT, but the temperature and humidity still don’t! I think we are forecast to get some relief today.


----------



## JonA_CT

JonA_CT said:


> View attachment 148016
> 
> The light and the sky say Fall in CT, but the temperature and humidity still don’t! I think we are forecast to get some relief today.



Weird orangish hue now that I'm looking from my computer. The iPhone screen adapts its colors to the current light in the room...I'm wondering if that's what happened!


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> Don’t worry Dave.  The rest of us don’t always know what Frank is talking about either.




Noone here ever calibrate their displays?

Do you backup???


----------



## SquarePeg

Frank F. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don’t worry Dave.  The rest of us don’t always know what Frank is talking about either.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Noone here ever calibrate their displays?
> 
> Do you backup???
Click to expand...


Yes I calibrate and I knew what those were.  Was just joking around.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> News, News:
> 2) My son now learned to drink the coffee like I do: the millage stays in the cup to sink to the ground and compact there. Inexperienced drinkers tend to collect a lot of the millage between theit teeth, experienced people do not see or feel any bit of it, because they know how to drink around it and let the coffee compact on the ground of the cup. My son is happy, proud and wide awake!



Turkish coffee.


----------



## jcdeboever

@SquarePeg . Well DD fired Farrell..... I don't think he had the pulse of the team for whatever reason. I think when men contradict themselves, players kind of move on or tune their manager out. Overpaid babies comes to mind but at the end of the day, it's a business. DD has made some questionable decisions too, he really destroyed Detroit but many people think it was the Tiger owner. I say so what, it is up to the GM to build an organization and he decimated it. I wouldn't be surprised if you guys hire Ausmus, if you do, good luck there. He is very arrogant or comes off that way in the media. He wasn't a bad manager but he wasn't good either. He was just there. I don't think the players liked him all that much but just my opinion based on the interaction throughout the years.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> ) To my great surprise, globell bv delivered their "globell color suite". It was a Kickstarter project I supported long ago that did not seem promising at all... now I have three calibration solutions in my office, look:



I calibrate my monitor monthly, and backup weekly, unless I've added a lot that I don't want to risk.

It's interesting that you mentioned the product was a "Kickstart Project". 46 years in business and i'd never heard of "Kickstart" till this month. Seems like all of a sudden I'm seeing them everywhere now. Curious, how long did it take after you paid, did you get the product? Did they guarantee a product or your money back?


----------



## Gary A.

@ Frank:  We call that Cowboy Coffee, when you dump the coffee unfiltered in a cup or pot.  Some people drop egg shell into the pot, they say it keeps the coffee grounds at the bottom.


----------



## JonA_CT

Good news: I realized one of my photos is a finalist in the local newspaper's annual local interest calendar contest.

Bad news: I haven't been paying attention, and voting opened over a week ago!

I posted it here awhile ago...it's a finalist for the month of December. This is looking up at our version of main street. 

Evening Exit


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> Well DD fired Farrell


DD should fire all their drive-through workers that screw up our orders. 

The wife and I are 0-5 for the times we've gone through the DD drive-through at different locations in different states. I now refuse to go to any DD drive-through.

One time, they gave my wife a cold drink in a hot cup. Hell hath no fury like my wife's coffee order being screwed up. She went inside, and told the lady. Lady looked surprised, and said, "um, who gave you this?". My wife literally pointed to the man standing beside her while saying nothing. Lady pretty much rolled her eyes, then made wife a new drink.

I usually get so much milk in my coffee, that I've started saying, "just a little tiny bit of milk", and I still end up with half milk half coffee.

(I recognize we're probably talking about different DD's.)


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well DD fired Farrell
> 
> 
> 
> DD should fire all their drive-through workers that screw up our orders.
> 
> The wife and I are 0-5 for the times we've gone through the DD drive-through at different locations in different states. I now refuse to go to any DD drive-through.
> 
> One time, they gave my wife a cold drink in a hot cup. Hell hath no fury like my wife's coffee order being screwed up. She went inside, and told the lady. Lady looked surprised, and said, "um, who gave you this?". My wife literally pointed to the man standing beside her while saying nothing. Lady pretty much rolled her eyes, then made wife a new drink.
> 
> I usually get so much milk in my coffee, that I've started saying, "just a little tiny bit of milk", and I still end up with half milk half coffee.
> 
> (I recognize we're probably talking about different DD's.)
Click to expand...


You can't throw a rock without hitting one here. It's not my favorite coffee by far, but it'll do, especially if it's hot out. That being said...there are two that I typically stop at. One has literally never ever made an error. The other is becoming consistent enough with theirs that I don't stop anymore.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well DD fired Farrell
> 
> 
> 
> DD should fire all their drive-through workers that screw up our orders.
> 
> The wife and I are 0-5 for the times we've gone through the DD drive-through at different locations in different states. I now refuse to go to any DD drive-through.
> 
> One time, they gave my wife a cold drink in a hot cup. Hell hath no fury like my wife's coffee order being screwed up. She went inside, and told the lady. Lady looked surprised, and said, "um, who gave you this?". My wife literally pointed to the man standing beside her while saying nothing. Lady pretty much rolled her eyes, then made wife a new drink.
> 
> I usually get so much milk in my coffee, that I've started saying, "just a little tiny bit of milk", and I still end up with half milk half coffee.
> 
> (I recognize we're probably talking about different DD's.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You can't throw a rock without hitting one here. It's not my favorite coffee by far, but it'll do, especially if it's hot out. That being said...there are two that I typically stop at. One has literally never ever made an error. The other is becoming consistent enough with theirs that I don't stop anymore.
Click to expand...


I once asked for a small coffee with milk, no sugar. I got a medium flavored coffee with cream and tasted like about 4 sugars. Stupid me didn't check until I drove away. (That is - the woman told me they gave me a medium instead and charged me for the small, but she actually just gave me the wrong order.) That same one has screwed up more order a few other times. It's consistent enough that I'll stop there in a pinch (it's right off the highway), but only because I keep getting DD gift cards from Buzz's mother (she's a pre-school teacher and every December and June, I get more cards) and I figure I should use them up


----------



## waday

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well DD fired Farrell
> 
> 
> 
> DD should fire all their drive-through workers that screw up our orders.
> 
> The wife and I are 0-5 for the times we've gone through the DD drive-through at different locations in different states. I now refuse to go to any DD drive-through.
> 
> One time, they gave my wife a cold drink in a hot cup. Hell hath no fury like my wife's coffee order being screwed up. She went inside, and told the lady. Lady looked surprised, and said, "um, who gave you this?". My wife literally pointed to the man standing beside her while saying nothing. Lady pretty much rolled her eyes, then made wife a new drink.
> 
> I usually get so much milk in my coffee, that I've started saying, "just a little tiny bit of milk", and I still end up with half milk half coffee.
> 
> (I recognize we're probably talking about different DD's.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You can't throw a rock without hitting one here. It's not my favorite coffee by far, but it'll do, especially if it's hot out. That being said...there are two that I typically stop at. One has literally never ever made an error. The other is becoming consistent enough with theirs that I don't stop anymore.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I once asked for a small coffee with milk, no sugar. I got a medium flavored coffee with cream and tasted like about 4 sugars. Stupid me didn't check until I drove away. (That is - the woman told me they gave me a medium instead and charged me for the small, but she actually just gave me the wrong order.) That same one has screwed up more order a few other times. It's consistent enough that I'll stop there in a pinch (it's right off the highway), but only because I keep getting DD gift cards from Buzz's mother (she's a pre-school teacher and every December and June, I get more cards) and I figure I should use them up
Click to expand...

This has typically been our experience. If I do go to DD, I go into the store where I taste the order before leaving.


----------



## limr

Yup, I've just gotten into the habit of always tasting the drink before leaving.

Seriously: pour some hot coffee into a small cup. Pour some milk into it. Put the lid on. How do you screw that up?


----------



## Gary A.

Only a handful of DD's out here.  Gary has never stopped.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well DD fired Farrell
> 
> 
> 
> DD should fire all their drive-through workers that screw up our orders.
> 
> The wife and I are 0-5 for the times we've gone through the DD drive-through at different locations in different states. I now refuse to go to any DD drive-through.
> 
> One time, they gave my wife a cold drink in a hot cup. Hell hath no fury like my wife's coffee order being screwed up. She went inside, and told the lady. Lady looked surprised, and said, "um, who gave you this?". My wife literally pointed to the man standing beside her while saying nothing. Lady pretty much rolled her eyes, then made wife a new drink.
> 
> I usually get so much milk in my coffee, that I've started saying, "just a little tiny bit of milk", and I still end up with half milk half coffee.
> 
> (I recognize we're probably talking about different DD's.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You can't throw a rock without hitting one here. It's not my favorite coffee by far, but it'll do, especially if it's hot out. That being said...there are two that I typically stop at. One has literally never ever made an error. The other is becoming consistent enough with theirs that I don't stop anymore.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I once asked for a small coffee with milk, no sugar. I got a medium flavored coffee with cream and tasted like about 4 sugars. Stupid me didn't check until I drove away. (That is - the woman told me they gave me a medium instead and charged me for the small, but she actually just gave me the wrong order.) That same one has screwed up more order a few other times. It's consistent enough that I'll stop there in a pinch (it's right off the highway), but only because I keep getting DD gift cards from Buzz's mother (she's a pre-school teacher and every December and June, I get more cards) and I figure I should use them up
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> This has typically been our experience. If I do go to DD, I go into the store where I taste the order before leaving.
Click to expand...

Like Ariana Grande?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Like Ariana Grande?



Um...what now?

I googled and all I could come up with was this: This Is What Happens When You Order An "Ariana Grande" From Starbucks

Which sounds absolutely disgusting, btw.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Good news: I realized one of my photos is a finalist in the local newspaper's annual local interest calendar contest.
> 
> Bad news: I haven't been paying attention, and voting opened over a week ago!
> 
> I posted it here awhile ago...it's a finalist for the month of December. This is looking up at our version of main street.
> 
> Evening Exit



Can we vote somewhere?


----------



## limr

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Like Ariana Grande?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Um...what now?
> 
> I googled and all I could come up with was this: This Is What Happens When You Order An "Ariana Grande" From Starbucks
> 
> Which sounds absolutely disgusting, btw.
Click to expand...


Oh, do you mean this? Ariana Grande apologizes and explains doughnut licking  - CNN


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Like Ariana Grande?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Um...what now?
> 
> I googled and all I could come up with was this: This Is What Happens When You Order An "Ariana Grande" From Starbucks
> 
> Which sounds absolutely disgusting, btw.
Click to expand...

Try This


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Like Ariana Grande?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Um...what now?
> 
> I googled and all I could come up with was this: This Is What Happens When You Order An "Ariana Grande" From Starbucks
> 
> Which sounds absolutely disgusting, btw.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, do you mean this? Ariana Grande apologizes and explains doughnut licking  - CNN
Click to expand...

Yep.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Like Ariana Grande?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Um...what now?
> 
> I googled and all I could come up with was this: This Is What Happens When You Order An "Ariana Grande" From Starbucks
> 
> Which sounds absolutely disgusting, btw.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, do you mean this? Ariana Grande apologizes and explains doughnut licking  - CNN
Click to expand...

I remember seeing this some time ago. Disgusting.

Thankfully, no, not like Ariana Grande.

But, I did find a video of me in a DD being mad at the employees:


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Like Ariana Grande?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Um...what now?
> 
> I googled and all I could come up with was this: This Is What Happens When You Order An "Ariana Grande" From Starbucks
> 
> Which sounds absolutely disgusting, btw.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh, do you mean this? Ariana Grande apologizes and explains doughnut licking  - CNN
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yep.
Click to expand...


Ew, no, not like her. First of all, I only taste products that I have actually paid for and will not be leaving on a counter for others to eat or drink. I also don't insult people while I do so.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave likes his coffee with 4 spoons sugar and 2 of creamer. When it still tastes bad at that level it's bad coffee.

Dave got 6 and almost 1/4 hours at work. 
If I had stayed around I could have gotten my check. 

But home sure seemed attractive. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave likes his coffee with 4 spoons sugar and 2 of creamer.


For a single cup?

For 16 oz in the morning for work, I'll do two small spoonfuls of a non-dairy creamer.

I usually don't do sugar or flavors unless I want the coffee to be dessert. If I'm eating dessert, I'll either have it black or with a splash of creamer.


----------



## smoke665

Coffee black and slightly below scalding hot.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Coffee black and slightly below scalding hot.


Yep... anything else is just a chemical experiment!


----------



## limr

Depends on the coffee for me. I like very strong coffee with some whole milk in the morning (cream is too heavy for me) - though oddly, I drink espresso black. If it's restaurant or diner or gas station coffee, it's usually so thin that the milk overwhelms it, and I drink it black.

Stopped having any kind of sugar or sweet flavors in my coffee way back in college. If I had coffee with 4 sugars in it, I'm afraid I would have to spit that right out. I wouldn't even have control over it. My throat would just close up and reject the foreign substance.


----------



## davidharmier60

No it's a fairly large mug.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good news: I realized one of my photos is a finalist in the local newspaper's annual local interest calendar contest.
> 
> Bad news: I haven't been paying attention, and voting opened over a week ago!
> 
> I posted it here awhile ago...it's a finalist for the month of December. This is looking up at our version of main street.
> 
> Evening Exit
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can we vote somewhere?
Click to expand...


Here -- you have to register though...I'm not sure if they send spammy e-mail though (I don't think that they do...)

Contests - theday.com - New London and southeastern Connecticut News, Sports, Business, Entertainment, Video and Weather - The Day newspaper


----------



## Braineack

JonA_CT said:


> @Braineack
> 
> I figured there's been enough time to process (mentally) now...how'd that wedding of yours go?


Went well. Still no chance to think and collect myself. I made mistakes but think they be happy with the shots I give them.  Currently on vacation so I'll process the images next week


----------



## vintagesnaps

I used to stop at a White Castle near work if I was desperate... one of those days - rainy, cold, went for a visit and nobody home, etc. and I'd had enough of the day already and it wasn't even noon yet! Gimme coffee, any port in a storm! 

I like it with cream, never liked it with sugar or sweetener so don't want those crappee frappe drinks! The only recipe I do sometimes in the winter is using hot chocolate powder and cinnamon, coffee and cream, simmer a bit in a saucepan... that bit of cinnamon is nice on a cold winter day.

Speaking of the weather, the forecast at noon is that it's been too warm for a colorful fall, and according to my driveway the leaves aren't going to change much in color but just fall in droves and get matted down in the wet. Did have my grass cut and leaves mulched today but the guy didn't even get outta here before leaves were falling where he'd just cleared.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Lidia of Italy just made some dessert with nectarines and blueberries and mint and prosecco and that looked good... then she made a plum tart, would be nice if she'd come to my house and make one.


----------



## Gary A.

Black and strong.  With my coffee, the primary reason to keep it hot is so the coffee maintains viscosity.


----------



## Gary A.

Which is a reminder, Gary has to roast some coffee.


----------



## Frank F.

After seeing my lot today I tought, well, after a month I start to understand the D850 in post processing and the colors still impress me at ISO 25.600:


----------



## Frank F.

Ratings: +909 / 2

Next rating will be "1 after 909"


----------



## davidharmier60

Interesting song. Dave doesn't love it but it's ok.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Checked another job off the yearly RV maintenance. Wash, waxed and buffed out. The body is feeling the pain, from so many trips up and down the ladder.


----------



## jcdeboever

Hockey went well tonight. I actually did better than I thought I would. Legs felt h e a v y. Fortunately, there are a few better defensemen that showed up but they can't get the puck up the ice on that first pass like me. Jeff was a little frustrated. So I guess I'm in but I got to upgrade some stuff because I lost a lot of weight. Boner, Jeff's big brother has some stuff I guess. I am going to work on my leg strength. Have to find my ankle weights, the old Velcro ones, I'll wear them under my pants all day. Go to my son in laws house and work his leg lifts. My wife is gonna love that.... I played a little goalie too but my gear needs some upgrading on that front, I'm better than the starter, Jeff said I looked solid in goal. So as it stands tonight, I am on call for both positions in case of injury or can't make it calls but maybe starting goalie, will see. I'm good with that. Most of the guys are 50, 51 and in great shape, I let myself go but I am rebounding. I skated well, just a little weak on the push. It's weird, your mind is going way faster that your body. I still have a wicked shot, even without practicing. I can work on that too in my pull barn. We have some fine offensive players and will do well. I have a feeling Jeff is gonna call me and beg me to play every week. Defense is weak on moving the puck except for me but I'm slow laterally, and on retreat (leg strength) defensively, so I am a goalie nightmare, at least now. At least I am strong in my upper body and hips. I think I want to play goalie, I liked that better, I used to play it but I was behind two real pro players back in the day. I was to big in them days. The little butterfly guys were all the rage.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave hasn't skated in over 40 years. 
Dave has another 4am just around the corner. Good night peeps!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Hey, @jcdeboever , now you will never have another fight over a Coach bag! 

Coach no more; New York company wants to be called Tapestry


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever Even if we had an ice rink, and even if I had a liquid courage boost, the only ice you would find me inspecting are the cubes in my glass. I still like to think I have a youthful mind, but I've learned to listen to the screams my body.


----------



## Gary A.

@JC: Good news on the ice. Gary thinks goalie fits you just fine. Gary dusts off his telephoto ... when’s the first game?


----------



## Frank F.

This morning I walk by the Rhine River and the most wonderful light illuminates the trees that just start to change colours. I was completely overwhelmed and happy I did not carry a camera. My eyes could see and my soul could suck in all the beauty that lay before me. The


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Hey, @jcdeboever , now you will never have another fight over a Coach bag!
> 
> Coach no more; New York company wants to be called Tapestry


I know more debt


Gary A. said:


> @JC: Good news on the ice. Gary thinks goalie fits you just fine. Gary dusts off his telephoto ... when’s the first game?


Nov 17th, I can barely walk today. Geez I'm out of shape.


Gary A. said:


> @JC: Good news on the ice. Gary thinks goalie fits you just fine. Gary dusts off his telephoto ... when’s the first game?


 Nov 18 . I can barely walk today. Geez


----------



## JonA_CT

I think I'm getting sick. I've had the same floaty headache for the last couple of days, and the congestion is building. 

Making some chicken stock is on the to-do list for tonight.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I think I'm getting sick. I've had the same floaty headache for the last couple of days, and the congestion is building.
> 
> Making some chicken stock is on the to-do list for tonight.


Speedy recovery my brother from another mother.


----------



## jcdeboever

How bout them Yanks. Didn't see that coming. Astros in 6. Yanks bullpen is tough. Nats rap it up tonight behind Gio. Dodgers are ready.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, @jcdeboever , now you will never have another fight over a Coach bag!
> 
> Coach no more; New York company wants to be called Tapestry
> 
> 
> 
> I know more debt
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @JC: Good news on the ice. Gary thinks goalie fits you just fine. Gary dusts off his telephoto ... when’s the first game?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nov 17th, I can barely walk today. Geez I'm out of shape.
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @JC: Good news on the ice. Gary thinks goalie fits you just fine. Gary dusts off his telephoto ... when’s the first game?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nov 18 . I can barely walk today. Geez
Click to expand...

Wimp ...


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I think I'm getting sick. I've had the same floaty headache for the last couple of days, and the congestion is building.
> 
> Making some chicken stock is on the to-do list for tonight.


Gary and Mary Lou are still fighting their 'colds' ... Mary Lou asthma, and her colds get progressively worse quickly.  Gary isn't significantly worse ... just can't get well.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon: Pump in some Vitamin C.  Gary uses Emergen-C.  Scientifically, there is no evidence that C does anything for a cold ... but it makes you feel as if you're doing something.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> This morning I walk by the Rhine River and the most wonderful light illuminates the trees that just start to change colours. I was completely overwhelmed and happy I did not carry a camera. My eyes could see and my soul could suck in all the beauty that lay before me. The


Sometimes, one doesn't need a camera, just a photographic memory.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> How bout them Yanks. Didn't see that coming. Astros in 6. Yanks bullpen is tough. Nats rap it up tonight behind Gio. Dodgers are ready.


Gotta love October ... ('cept Peg, her Sox went down).


----------



## waday

I'm a solid 3. Maybe 1.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> How bout them Yanks. Didn't see that coming. Astros in 6. Yanks bullpen is tough. Nats rap it up tonight behind Gio. Dodgers are ready.
> 
> 
> 
> Gotta love October ... ('cept Peg, her Sox went down).
Click to expand...


I still love October baseball!  It's more fun when your team is involved but I will still watch for the drama.  Was disappointed last night to see the end of the CLE/NYY game.  Sorry NY'rs, I just can't find any like for those guys and will always love Francona.  I'm hoping to see Houston vs LAD in the WS.  I'm normally an American League fan first unless it's NYY.  But, I still sort of think of Houston as NL so would prefer anyone but them or NYY...  This season is just not going my way.  I'm going to go with 

Cubs (and Boston boy Theo) over Nats in NLDS.  
Houston over NYY in ALCS
LAD over Cubs in NLCS

I own 2 LAD hats and love Dave Roberts from his short time in Boston so I will be bleeding Dodger blue along with Gary if LAD makes it to the WS.


----------



## Gary A.

What the hell is that?  What kinda websites do you hang which dishes up Carl Sagan Heath charts ...


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> What the hell is that?  What kinda websites do you hang which dishes up Carl Sagan Heath charts ...


What is "Things I find on Facebook"?


----------



## Gary A.

Roastin’ some coffee.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> @ Jon: Pump in some Vitamin C.  Gary uses Emergen-C.  Scientifically, there is no evidence that C does anything for a cold ... but it makes you feel as if you're doing something.



Kinda like a nice tasty broth with spinach and garlic? 




waday said:


> I'm a solid 3. Maybe 1.
> 
> View attachment 148072



Is there a "Carl Sagan tearing his hair out and flipping off his computer" option? No? Then probably #1 for me. Or #3.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Leo:  Exactly, Gary was torn between the flavorful citrus effervescence of Emergen-C and your soup recipe. The coin came up Emergen-C.


----------



## Gary A.

Reading the paper ... Sadly, 170,000 acres have been devastated by fires in Northern California, 3,500 structures have been leveled and most sadly, 23 dead. Still no containment in sight.  The fires are generating 80mph winds ... near hurricane force winds ... how do you fight that ...

Some extraordinary images in yesterday and today's LA Times.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Is there a "Carl Sagan tearing his hair out and flipping off his computer" option? No? Then probably #1 for me. Or #3.


No, unfortunately. But, if you need a laugh:


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thought of suggesting the chart needed to be graduated into billions and billions of squares ... and then read some of Sagan's quotes ... he definitely had a special mind.  

"We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces." - Carl Sagan


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Reading the paper ... Sadly, 170,000 acres have been devastated by fires in Northern California, 3,500 structures have been leveled and most sadly, 23 dead. Still no containment in sight.  The fires are generating 80mph winds ... near hurricane force winds ... how do you fight that ...
> 
> Some extraordinary images in yesterday and today's LA Times.



Horrifying reports on the news of so many people unaccounted for.  Keeping all in our prayers and hoping for some rain for you all.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> he definitely had a special mind


He really did. I wish more people would read his books.

Another quote:

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”


----------



## jcdeboever

Is there a "Carl Sagan tearing his hair out and flipping off his computer" option? No? Then probably #1 for me. Or #3.[/QUOTE said:
			
		

> Or  one where he looks like he has a baseball bat up his butt


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, @jcdeboever , now you will never have another fight over a Coach bag!
> 
> Coach no more; New York company wants to be called Tapestry
> 
> 
> 
> I know more debt
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @JC: Good news on the ice. Gary thinks goalie fits you just fine. Gary dusts off his telephoto ... when’s the first game?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nov 17th, I can barely walk today. Geez I'm out of shape.
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @JC: Good news on the ice. Gary thinks goalie fits you just fine. Gary dusts off his telephoto ... when’s the first game?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nov 18 . I can barely walk today. Geez
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wimp ...
Click to expand...


Thanks... Im having second thoughts to be honest. My teeth and eyeballs even hurt.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Is there a "Carl Sagan tearing his hair out and flipping off his computer" option? No? Then probably #1 for me. Or #3.[/QUOTE said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Or  one where he looks like he has a baseball bat up his butt
Click to expand...


Ouch!


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> This morning I walk by the Rhine River and the most wonderful light illuminates the trees that just start to change colours. I was completely overwhelmed and happy I did not carry a camera. My eyes could see and my soul could suck in all the beauty that lay before me. The
> 
> 
> 
> Sometimes, one doesn't need a camera, just a photographic memory.
Click to expand...



Later I took a shot. A lot of color in it, maybe too much?


----------



## vintagesnaps

I read Contact by Sagan, that was good. 

Sharon thinks JC should get in a beer league and drink the beer on the bench and avoid feeling any pain. Take home some ice from the rink for later application (you know, the stuff the zamboni scrapes up, make your own ice pack).


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave put in a little bit over 2 minutes from 4.5 hours.  Got the best check yet by 2 whole dollars.  Went to Romayor, TX to get his truck inspected. Remembers a little bit of Carl Sagan. Had Fried Chicken Tenders for lunch. And is chilling nicely!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> I read Contact by Sagan, that was good.


The first book of his I read was _Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark_. Then moved onto _Pale Blue Dot_. I've watched and loved _Contact_, but sadly have not read it, yet.


----------



## waday

I laughed way, way, way too hard at this..


----------



## limr

waday said:


> I laughed way, way, way too hard at this..
> 
> View attachment 148079


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Reading the paper ... Sadly, 170,000 acres have been devastated by fires in Northern California, 3,500 structures have been leveled and most sadly, 23 dead. Still no containment in sight.  The fires are generating 80mph winds ... near hurricane force winds ... how do you fight that ...
> 
> Some extraordinary images in yesterday and today's LA Times.


Explosive Fires in Northern California : Image of the Day

Santa Rosa Scarred by Fire : Natural Hazards

Aerial images from a few days ago


----------



## limr

Just so you know, hosers, kitten pictures are keeping me sane today.

Just sayin'  *hintwinknudge*


----------



## Braineack

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Reading the paper ... Sadly, 170,000 acres have been devastated by fires in Northern California, 3,500 structures have been leveled and most sadly, 23 dead. Still no containment in sight.  The fires are generating 80mph winds ... near hurricane force winds ... how do you fight that ...
> 
> Some extraordinary images in yesterday and today's LA Times.
> 
> 
> 
> Explosive Fires in Northern California : Image of the Day
> 
> Santa Rosa Scarred by Fire : Natural Hazards
> 
> Aerial images from a few days ago
Click to expand...



I had to look up to see if Safari West was okay... Apparently the owners house burnt down


----------



## waday

Braineack said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Reading the paper ... Sadly, 170,000 acres have been devastated by fires in Northern California, 3,500 structures have been leveled and most sadly, 23 dead. Still no containment in sight.  The fires are generating 80mph winds ... near hurricane force winds ... how do you fight that ...
> 
> Some extraordinary images in yesterday and today's LA Times.
> 
> 
> 
> Explosive Fires in Northern California : Image of the Day
> 
> Santa Rosa Scarred by Fire : Natural Hazards
> 
> Aerial images from a few days ago
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I had to look up to see if Safari West was okay... Apparently the owners house burnt down
Click to expand...

Sad, but happy that he's saving the animals first

Safari West employees worked to save preserve's 1,000 animals as their homes burned


----------



## Frank F.

Very sad  Story about the wildfire. Most interesting read, strong recommendation: "Tending the Wild" by Kat Anderson about the Indians who knew how to manage the Californian landscape before the Stupid White Destroyers came.

Wild fires were managed by controlled burning. Burning is natural and good. But if you want to live with it you have to control it, to manage it and to manage water too, drought and flood and all three are connected!!!


----------



## waday




----------



## waday




----------



## limr

Jazz hands!


----------



## davidharmier60

It is to be hot dogs for dinner. Dave is not displeased by this. The wild looking cat and the kitten gif are marvelous!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

My daughter says that I make the best grilled cheese sandwich. 

(The best ones are made with soft white bread, lots of butter, and American cheese...using a cast iron pan, in case you didn’t know).


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Ms. Maggie casts her vote for Gary’s Famous Grilled Cheese Sandwich.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Jazz hands!


And a little crab dance.


----------



## snowbear

Well, the Doc visit was interesting.  I like him, so far, so I'm probably going to make him my Primary.  A bit far from home, bit only 20 minutes from work.  I was going to a conglomerate clinic/primary care chin, which was fine when I started there, but the waits have gotten longer and I'm getting a bit tired of getting a different person each time.

Have to go for a sonogram, tomorrow.


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> It is to be hot dogs for dinner. Dave is not displeased by this. The wild looking cat and the kitten gif are marvelous!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Ordered delivery.  MLW has the crud I'm still trying to get over.  The kitchen's a wreck and quite frankly, neither of us care at the moment.  I'll get it tomorrow night.


----------



## Gary A.

Get well Charlie and MLW.  Gary doesn't know if its age or the crud is getting stronger or both ... but it sure seems to take longer to heal.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> Wild fires were managed by controlled burning. Burning is natural and good.



Frank, here where I live timber is big business. Controlled burns get rid of the underbrush and help with insect control, BUT, civilization has gotten in the way. People don't like the smoke or ash, so the state has implemented regulations that make it more difficult to do controlled burns.


----------



## smoke665

Today has been one of those difficult breathing days. I ran out of one of the inhaled meds Tuesday, and didn't get the refill till this afternoon. On top of that changing temperatures added stress. So today  I was doing everything in slow motion. Least I haven't ended up in ER....yet.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Today has been one of those difficult breathing days. I ran out of one of the inhaled meds Tuesday, and didn't get the refill till this afternoon. On top of that changing temperatures added stress. So today  I was doing everything in slow motion. Least I haven't ended up in ER....yet.


That is terrible. My youngest daughter has asthma. It must feel terribly frightening to not be able to get a breath ... to feel that you’re suffocating while just standing still. Take care smoke, slow motion is better than no motion.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hi hi, it's off to work I go...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Hi ho Dave.  



JonA_CT said:


> My daughter says that I make the best grilled cheese sandwich.
> 
> (The best ones are made with soft white bread, lots of butter, and American cheese...using a cast iron pan, in case you didn’t know).



Since she was little, after the time I ran out of white bread, Princess has preferred her grilled cheese on cinnamon raisin bread.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Since she was little, after the time I ran out of white bread, Princess has preferred her grilled cheese on cinnamon raisin bread.


I am going to try this.

Muenster or Havarti cheese, too.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Hi ho Dave.
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My daughter says that I make the best grilled cheese sandwich.
> 
> (The best ones are made with soft white bread, lots of butter, and American cheese...using a cast iron pan, in case you didn’t know).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Since she was little, after the time I ran out of white bread, Princess has preferred her grilled cheese on cinnamon raisin bread.
Click to expand...


Nice! I think every family has that kind of story. Who knows what ours will be, haha.


In other news, this is much more acceptable for October.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> My youngest daughter has asthm



Mine didn't show up till I hit 60. (Adult onset asthma). No idea why,  only other member of my family so far to have it is my oldest grandson, but he seems to be growing out of it. I always attributed his to my daughter in law, who's had it since childhood. It can be pretty stressful when an attack hits, though I'm getting better at recognizing the signs, and getting a ,jump on heading to the ER. I've been fortunate so far this year, my last trip to the ER was a year ago.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

It's finally Friday! I am worn thin, hosers. Heading out of town this weekend to recharge the batteries with some salt water. Hopefully it will be enough to get me through the slog that is October and November. 

What are y'all's weekend plans?


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wild fires were managed by controlled burning. Burning is natural and good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank, here where I live timber is big business. Controlled burns get rid of the underbrush and help with insect control, BUT, civilization has gotten in the way. People don't like the smoke or ash, so the state has implemented regulations that make it more difficult to do controlled burns.
Click to expand...

Out here, because is is so dry and only rains in winter and somewhat in spring, fires season is long and ever threatening.  Fire is so intertwined with the flora that some plants produce seeds that won't germinate unless/until the seed pod is subjected to fire. Typically, because fire is so prevalent out here, the firefighters/forest service wait for fire (small) then set off many "backfires" to eliminate the excess brush that has accumulated due to human intervention.  The problem out here, due to the highly flammable nature of the forest and brush, all it takes for a controlled fire to become uncontrolled is a bit of wind.  In California, there has been a debate going on for half a century about forest/land management and fire.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi ho Dave.
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My daughter says that I make the best grilled cheese sandwich.
> 
> (The best ones are made with soft white bread, lots of butter, and American cheese...using a cast iron pan, in case you didn’t know).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Since she was little, after the time I ran out of white bread, Princess has preferred her grilled cheese on cinnamon raisin bread.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nice! I think every family has that kind of story. Who knows what ours will be, haha.
> 
> 
> In other news, this is much more acceptable for October.
> 
> View attachment 148114
Click to expand...

Jellyfish in CT is welcomed news ...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  56F presently, the sun is still low and casting a reddish-brownish smoke tinge to the sky. It is projected to hit the mid 70's but we've been running the A/C and two HEPA filters to minimize the ash affecting Mary Lou's asthma. She, Mary Lou, is taking the day off, between Charlie's Crud and her own asthma, it is all taking a toll.  She and Ms. Maggie are cuddled up on recliner getting some Zzzz's.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> The problem out here, due to the highly flammable nature of the forest and brush, all it takes for a controlled fire to become uncontrolled is a bit of wind. In California, there has been a debate going on for half a century about forest/land management and fire.



We talk about it all the time with forestry. The misguided Smokey the Bear campaign led to dangerous consequences. How The Smokey Bear Effect Led To Raging Wildfires without fire, to clear out the undergrowth and tinder, it just accumulates, to the point where it's extremely flammable. Regular prescribed burning actually makes the forest safer.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The problem out here, due to the highly flammable nature of the forest and brush, all it takes for a controlled fire to become uncontrolled is a bit of wind. In California, there has been a debate going on for half a century about forest/land management and fire.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We talk about it all the time with forestry. The misguided Smokey the Bear campaign led to dangerous consequences. How The Smokey Bear Effect Led To Raging Wildfires without fire, to clear out the undergrowth and tinder, it just accumulates, to the point where it's extremely flammable. Regular prescribed burning actually makes the forest safer.
Click to expand...

What is kinda interesting biologically, is the Chaparral, (a thick brush ecosystem in the west), is not a climax community.  It is the regular incursion of fire every few decades or so, which allows Chaparral to be dominate and appear to be stable.


----------



## waday




----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Fire is the cleansing mechanism that promotes an ecosystem by "thinning" growth. One of the largest plots of long leaf pine in the state is on what used to be the firing range for FT McClellan. Shells fired down range would routinely start fire which they never bothered to put out. Long leaf thrives on fire, so it became a dominant stand.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The problem out here, due to the highly flammable nature of the forest and brush, all it takes for a controlled fire to become uncontrolled is a bit of wind. In California, there has been a debate going on for half a century about forest/land management and fire.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We talk about it all the time with forestry. The misguided Smokey the Bear campaign led to dangerous consequences. How The Smokey Bear Effect Led To Raging Wildfires without fire, to clear out the undergrowth and tinder, it just accumulates, to the point where it's extremely flammable. Regular prescribed burning actually makes the forest safer.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What is kinda interesting biologically, is the Chaparral, (a thick brush ecosystem in the west), is not a climax community.  It is the regular incursion of fire every few decades or so, which allows Chaparral to be dominate and appear to be stable.
Click to expand...


One of my favorite state parks had an pretty extensive brush fire a few years back. It was eerie to hike through the remnants, but 5ish years later, it looks so healthy and vibrant. It was cool to see the rebirth...long grasses growing in the middle of the forest that probably hadn't thrived there in decades.


----------



## Gary A.

Several varieties of pines requires heat to melt the resin around the seeds, enabling the seeds to germinate.  Gary thinks the most famous of those pines is out west, the Giant Sequoias.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The problem out here, due to the highly flammable nature of the forest and brush, all it takes for a controlled fire to become uncontrolled is a bit of wind. In California, there has been a debate going on for half a century about forest/land management and fire.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We talk about it all the time with forestry. The misguided Smokey the Bear campaign led to dangerous consequences. How The Smokey Bear Effect Led To Raging Wildfires without fire, to clear out the undergrowth and tinder, it just accumulates, to the point where it's extremely flammable. Regular prescribed burning actually makes the forest safer.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What is kinda interesting biologically, is the Chaparral, (a thick brush ecosystem in the west), is not a climax community.  It is the regular incursion of fire every few decades or so, which allows Chaparral to be dominate and appear to be stable.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> One of my favorite state parks had an pretty extensive brush fire a few years back. It was eerie to hike through the remnants, but 5ish years later, it looks so healthy and vibrant. It was cool to see the rebirth...long grasses growing in the middle of the forest that probably hadn't thrived there in decades.
Click to expand...

Yeah, secondary succession is pretty interesting to observe and study.  Between the fires out here and the hurricanes out there ... there will be a lot of chances for observation.

PS- The Mt. St. Helens area is being intensely studied.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Several varieties of pines requires heat



Here the Pine Beetle is a major pest. Fire really helps to keep them under control. The other thing fire helps to harden off the pine, making it less susceptible to bending over.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hey Hosers!  It's Friday!!!!   Looking forward to a fun weekend in VT , leaf peeping and relaxing.  Leaving tomorrow morning.  Had a great time at the Pit Bull/Enrique Iglesias concert last night.  Someone gave my sister-in-law 2 tickets that they won on the radio.  Not the best seats but not bad either!  Front of the upper level and free lol - sweet deal.  Interesting concession choices and prices at the Garden.  $14 for a top shelf drink or $14 for a beer... hmmmmm what to do what to do?


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Several varieties of pines requires heat
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here the Pine Beetle is a major pest. Fire really helps to keep them under control. The other thing fire helps to harden off the pine, making it less susceptible to bending over.
Click to expand...

The major insect pestilence out here is from non-native invaders.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Several varieties of pines requires heat
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here the Pine Beetle is a major pest. Fire really helps to keep them under control. The other thing fire helps to harden off the pine, making it less susceptible to bending over.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The major insect pestilence out here is from non-native invaders.
Click to expand...


That's how I feel about the swarms of day-trippers from the city who have 'discovered' one of my favorite hiking areas and totally ruined it.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has been receiving emails from his club wineries:

"We wanted to give an update about Russian River Vineyards given the fire conditions in Sonoma County. We are grateful to report that we are safe, and so far there has been no damage to our property or vineyards. If you are in the fire area, we hope that you are safe as well and have you in our thoughts."


An outreach for help from a Temecula winery 500 miles to the south:

"We know so many of you connect with the Nap -Sonoma Wine Country as do we!

We want to help so for the next week we will donate 10% of all wine sales to the Santa Rosa chapter of the American Red Cross.

If you would like to donate to the directly this is the information
American Red Cross of the California Northwest
5297 Aero Drive  Santa Rosa , CA 95403    Phone: (707) 577-7600

www.redcross.org/local/california/northern-california-coastal/chapters/california-northwest

We also know that many of you are in industries that may be able to help with equipment and man power needs.

Northern California Wine industry leaders have formed a support network to provide immediate assistance of resources, such as generators, trailers, lodging and manpower."

Ann Petersen, Executive Director of Winegrowers of Dry Creek Valley.  “Our focus right now is on getting on-the-ground support to impacted growers and vintners to help stave off further damage. We need the entire wine community to support this region with immediate and strategic action.

Petersen is working with other local industry leaders to organize resources and direct them to those in need.

Vintners in the affected areas have immediate on-the-ground needs, ranging from equipment to experienced manpower.  Priorities include:
Water Tanks, as local water resources are scarce and needed by firefighters; those who can provide should immediately email maureen@sonomavalleyvintners.com
Generators to power cooling tanks and other urgently-need equipment
Tractors and trailers to assist with moving grapes, equipment and debris
Lodging to house workers, including tents, mobile unites or locals willing to open their homes
Volunteer Labor. Experienced vineyard and cellar workers are needed; unskilled manpower is also welcome

We Hope some of you may be able to help with these needs as well.

Many of the grapes in that region had not been picked yet so the need will be great!

We have personal friends who are winery owners and they tell us the damages are beyond what we are seeing in the news.

Let’s Help!

Don and Brenda Lorenzi"


----------



## Gary A.

... And it's Dodgers vs. Cubbies


----------



## JonA_CT

I just ate some grilled chicken and some green beans for lunch. Boring, but effective for counteracting my weekend craft beer habit.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just polished off a bagel w/cream cheese.  A tri-tip has been marinating for 24 hours, is destined for the Kamado. Y'all come-on by ... Gary will be de-cantering the first bottle around five-ish.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


>



Yep.  Just swung by McD's to pick up lunch for MLW & myself . . . bill came to $13.13


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Gary will be de-cantering the first bottle around five-ish


And with the time conversion, flight to CA from East Coast, drive from airport to Gary's...


----------



## snowbear

snowbear said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yep.  Just swung bu McD's to pick up lunch for MLW & myself . . . bill came to $13.13
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary will be de-cantering the first bottle around five-ish
> 
> 
> 
> And with the time conversion, flight to CA from East Coast, drive from airport to Gary's...
Click to expand...

Long Beach Airport is closest and easier to get in and out than LA or John Wayne.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> View attachment 148131
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yep.  Just swung bu McD's to pick up lunch for MLW & myself . . . bill came to $13.13
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...

My mother-in-law would say to play the lottery, haha.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> ... And it's Dodgers vs. Cubbies


Pretty weird game to say the least. Nats got a little screwed but that's baseball. If Cubs continue to play below average defense, they will get swept by the Dodgers. I think Dusty is not a very good manager. I like the guy but man, he missed some opportunities in this series. I actually like the matchup better for the Dodgers anyway. Go Gary's Dodgers!


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I just ate some grilled chicken and some green beans for lunch. Boring, but effective for counteracting my weekend craft beer habit.



I had a fried bologna sandwich with tomato, lettuce, get pupon, and huge dill pickle and a Vernors.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... And it's Dodgers vs. Cubbies
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty weird game to say the least. Nats got a little screwed but that's baseball. If Cubs continue to play below average defense, they will get swept by the Dodgers. I think Dusty is not a very good manager. I like the guy but man, he missed some opportunities in this series. I actually like the matchup better for the Dodgers anyway. Go Gary's Dodgers!
Click to expand...

Gary was thinking about that also ... as who would be the easier opponent.  Gary actually prefers to beat a tougher opponent in preparation for the WS.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just ate some grilled chicken and some green beans for lunch. Boring, but effective for counteracting my weekend craft beer habit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had a fried bologna sandwich with tomato, lettuce, get pupon, and huge dill pickle and a Vernors.
Click to expand...

oooohhhh a Vernors ... haven't had one of those in decades.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Pretty weird game to say the least. *Gnats* got a little screwed but that's baseball. If Cubs continue to play below average defense, they will get swept by the Dodgers. I think Dusty is not a very good manager. I like the guy but man, he missed some opportunities in this series. I actually like the matchup better for the Dodgers anyway. Go Gary's Dodgers!



FIFY


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... And it's Dodgers vs. Cubbies
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty weird game to say the least. Nats got a little screwed but that's baseball. If Cubs continue to play below average defense, they will get swept by the Dodgers. I think Dusty is not a very good manager. I like the guy but man, he missed some opportunities in this series. I actually like the matchup better for the Dodgers anyway. Go Gary's Dodgers!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary was thinking about that also ... as would would be the easier opponent.  Gary actually prefers to beat a tougher opponent in preparation for the WS.
Click to expand...

 Cubs have a deep bench of position players, so they're a matchup nightmare for bullpen. Pretty darn good manager too. Dodgers have better pitching, defense, and are mentally tough. Dodgers in 5.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just ate some grilled chicken and some green beans for lunch. Boring, but effective for counteracting my weekend craft beer habit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had a fried bologna sandwich with tomato, lettuce, get pupon, and huge dill pickle and a Vernors.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> oooohhhh a Vernors ... haven't had one of those in decades.
Click to expand...


I'll send you some. I send to my brother in Northern CA a few times a year. He likes it with bourbon. His wife likes it with ice cream in it.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks seven.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just ate some grilled chicken and some green beans for lunch. Boring, but effective for counteracting my weekend craft beer habit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had a fried bologna sandwich with tomato, lettuce, get pupon, and huge dill pickle and a Vernors.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> oooohhhh a Vernors ... haven't had one of those in decades.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'll send you some. I send to my brother in Northern CA a few times a year. He likes it with bourbon. His wife likes it with ice cream in it.
Click to expand...

We have Vernors down here ... just never buy it.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just ate some grilled chicken and some green beans for lunch. Boring, but effective for counteracting my weekend craft beer habit.
> 
> 
> 
> Really, my brother said he can't find any where he is at. Chico.
> I had a fried bologna sandwich with tomato, lettuce, get pupon, and huge dill pickle and a Vernors.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> oooohhhh a Vernors ... haven't had one of those in decades.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'll send you some. I send to my brother in Northern CA a few times a year. He likes it with bourbon. His wife likes it with ice cream in it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We have Vernors down here ... just never buy it.
Click to expand...


----------



## vintagesnaps

John Wayne has an airport?? 

So those of us to the east have to wait til 8:00 p.m. to start happy hour??


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> John Wayne has an airport??
> 
> So those of us to the east have to wait til 8:00 p.m. to start happy hour??



Nonsense!


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> John Wayne has an airport??
> 
> So those of us to the east have to wait til 8:00 p.m. to start happy hour??


1) Yes he does in Orange County. 
2) Happy Hour will literally start upon your arrival.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> It's finally Friday! I am worn thin, hosers. Heading out of town this weekend to recharge the batteries with some salt water. Hopefully it will be enough to get me through the slog that is October and November.
> 
> What are y'all's weekend plans?


It's wine time, I know that!          I'll likely be spending some quality time in the kitchen at some point.    Not going anywhere exciting - enjoy your salt water!


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Ms. Maggie now rules the house.


----------



## Frank F.

i sure like to drink more wine than salt water


----------



## Frank F.

maggie is a cool sloode!


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave put in a few minutes less than 5 hours at work. Went home and we all puzzled over the AC. The connector duct fell off the output end. Steady dripping when shut off a while or running.
Immediately upon shut down anywhere from a quart to a half gallon of water comes out. A steady roughly 1" stream for 10 to 15 seconds. Came down to Humble for a 12" elbow to modify to let water out.
As is we won't make the family reunion tomorrow. This makes Dave sad.

Life as Dave ain't the easiest 


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave put in a few minutes less than 5 hours at work. Went home and we all puzzled over the AC. The connector duct fell off the output end. Steady dripping when shut off a while or running.
> Immediately upon shut down anywhere from a quart to a half gallon of water comes out. A steady roughly 1" stream for 10 to 15 seconds. Came down to Humble for a 12" elbow to modify to let water out.
> As is we won't make the family reunion tomorrow. This makes Dave sad.
> 
> Life as Dave ain't the easiest
> 
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Sorry to hear this


----------



## waday

limr said:


> What are y'all's weekend plans?


Fixing up house for baby. Then, lunch at boss' house on Sunday.


----------



## jcdeboever

Bought some Portra 400 135, SX70 color and mono Polaroid original, and some unicolor kit at Grand Rapids camera store. Even managed to finish my roll of HP5+ at lunch. Gary's puppy is gorgeous.


----------



## Gary A.

No plans for Gary aside from nursing Mary Lou to health.  Gary gave some thoughts dragging Mary Lou out to Temecula for a wine run, as he has membership pickups ready to go ... but he decided on Mary Lou's health over wine ... it was a tough call. Guests tonight for Tri-Tip ... Gary expects more of the same over the weekend ... most of Gary's guests are more happenstance than planned. Gary did receive a shipment of three bottles on Wednesday from Artiste in Los Olivos.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave put in a few minutes less than 5 hours at work. Went home and we all puzzled over the AC. The connector duct fell off the output end. Steady dripping when shut off a while or running.
> Immediately upon shut down anywhere from a quart to a half gallon of water comes out. A steady roughly 1" stream for 10 to 15 seconds. Came down to Humble for a 12" elbow to modify to let water out.
> As is we won't make the family reunion tomorrow. This makes Dave sad.
> 
> Life as Dave ain't the easiest
> 
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Missing the reunion sucks.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's Daves Moms side of the family but it's a bunch of good natured Pollacks! And there is generally sausage to die for!
Dave got a 12" 90 degree and instead of holes thinking of a Flap with 1/2" tab to catch the water. The most thought of the problem as an opening of the output to atmosphere as making LOTS of the problem. We were told there is an opening under the house and have been told to cover it. NOTHING metal was laying around but there is some ugly insulation that may have fallen uncovering the opening. We have a roll of metal from which to make a permanent cover.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> fried bologna sandwich



Down here they call them "foldovers" , slice of bread, piece of meat, fold it over, leaves the other hand free for your beverage of choice 

When I was a kid I would ride with him, when he delivered cows/steers to a packing house about 30 miles away. He always bought a whole "stick" of their bologna, before we left. The packing house is long gone, and the recipe with it. I can still remember how good it was, nothing I've found since matches the memory.


----------



## davidharmier60

It is slightly less than oppressive in the room I'm in simply because there is a ceiling fan on FAST above me. A similar thing awaits me in my bedroom. 
Jason will call when it's ok to go get him.
Gotta figure out how to cut the flap in the 90. Maybe dremel tool. Which might be all that's possible after several garage sales.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just ate some grilled chicken and some green beans for lunch. Boring, but effective for counteracting my weekend craft beer habit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had a fried bologna sandwich with tomato, lettuce, get pupon, and huge dill pickle and a Vernors.
Click to expand...

Now _*that*_ is a lunch!


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> fried bologna sandwich
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Down here they call them "foldovers" , slice of bread, piece of meat, fold it over, leaves the other hand free for your beverage of choice
> 
> When I was a kid I would ride with him, when he delivered cows/steers to a packing house about 30 miles away. He always bought a whole "stick" of their bologna, before we left. The packing house is long gone, and the recipe with it. I can still remember how good it was, nothing I've found since matches the memory.
Click to expand...


It was a half inch thick, nicely blackened on the grill.


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> fried bologna sandwich
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Down here they call them "foldovers" , slice of bread, piece of meat, fold it over, leaves the other hand free for your beverage of choice
> 
> When I was a kid I would ride with him, when he delivered cows/steers to a packing house about 30 miles away. He always bought a whole "stick" of their bologna, before we left. The packing house is long gone, and the recipe with it. I can still remember how good it was, nothing I've found since matches the memory.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It was a half inch thick, nicely blackened on the grill.
Click to expand...


----------



## jcdeboever

Wonderful game last night. It had it all, good pitching, defense, managing. Altuve is sick, the littler feller just keeps hitting. JV going this afternoon, should be a good game. Dodgers tonight after a long rest, will be interesting to see how Roberts has prepared them. This is a defining mark of a manager, how he gets his team prepared after a long lay off. Very difficult but the good ones have the walk throughs, scout meetings, and a defined, planned approach against opposing teams pitching staff. Dodgers have the best scouts in the game, time to see if Roberts can blend it all together. Don't be surprised if they come out flat but if they come out on fire, sing the praises of the manager. Go Gary's Dodgers. I am pulling for them because my man love for Dave Roberts, what a great guy.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is rather happy the Astros won game 1. Dave is fixin' to go mod the elbow.
And dig up the stuff needed for the job to be done. Maybe we'll make the reunion next year.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. I saw a news blup about concern over air quality for the USC game today, because of the fires. Is it going to affect their game?


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. I saw a news blup about concern over air quality for the USC game today, because of the fires. Is it going to affect their game?


Gary doubts it. Gary just came in from outside, the sky is not clear by any means, but not like the photos he posted the other day.  Gary is about halfway between the Coliseum and the fires ... so the air will get better the further west one travels. The Coliseum is about 20 miles west and the fires about 15 miles east.  Besides ... any bad air quality is considered a home field advantage.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Wonderful game last night. It had it all, good pitching, defense, managing. Altuve is sick, the littler feller just keeps hitting. JV going this afternoon, should be a good game. Dodgers tonight after a long rest, will be interesting to see how Roberts has prepared them. This is a defining mark of a manager, how he gets his team prepared after a long lay off. Very difficult but the good ones have the walk throughs, scout meetings, and a defined, planned approach against opposing teams pitching staff. Dodgers have the best scouts in the game, time to see if Roberts can blend it all together. Don't be surprised if they come out flat but if they come out on fire, sing the praises of the manager. Go Gary's Dodgers. I am pulling for them because my man love for Dave Roberts, what a great guy.


There is an super photo on the front of the PLAYOFFS section of the Times.  It shows Kershaw stretched out, ball in his left hand about to be raised for his throw ... but it is from directly above looking down. You see the his fingers on the ball, the foot pushing off the rubber ... super photo ... (slightly oversharpened) ... but a super photo nonetheless.  The photo is huge, filling the entire cover of the PLAYOFF section.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wonderful game last night. It had it all, good pitching, defense, managing. Altuve is sick, the littler feller just keeps hitting. JV going this afternoon, should be a good game. Dodgers tonight after a long rest, will be interesting to see how Roberts has prepared them. This is a defining mark of a manager, how he gets his team prepared after a long lay off. Very difficult but the good ones have the walk throughs, scout meetings, and a defined, planned approach against opposing teams pitching staff. Dodgers have the best scouts in the game, time to see if Roberts can blend it all together. Don't be surprised if they come out flat but if they come out on fire, sing the praises of the manager. Go Gary's Dodgers. I am pulling for them because my man love for Dave Roberts, what a great guy.
> 
> 
> 
> There is an super photo on the front of the PLAYOFFS section of the Times.  It shows Kershaw stretched out, ball in his left hand about to be raised for his throw ... but it is from directly above looking down. You see the his fingers on the ball, the foot pushing off the rubber ... super photo ... (slightly oversharpened) ... but a super photo nonetheless.
Click to expand...

Link?


----------



## jcdeboever

Souped a couple rolls this morning. Trying the ilsofol 3 again, less agitation per Gary. The negatives look way better this time. I think I found the error of my ways using that stuff. HC and D76 way better results up to this point. Scans will tell I suppose. Next up is pushing using the Maxxum 9, HP5+. However gonna load some Portra 400 first, never used it. I've used 160.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wonderful game last night. It had it all, good pitching, defense, managing. Altuve is sick, the littler feller just keeps hitting. JV going this afternoon, should be a good game. Dodgers tonight after a long rest, will be interesting to see how Roberts has prepared them. This is a defining mark of a manager, how he gets his team prepared after a long lay off. Very difficult but the good ones have the walk throughs, scout meetings, and a defined, planned approach against opposing teams pitching staff. Dodgers have the best scouts in the game, time to see if Roberts can blend it all together. Don't be surprised if they come out flat but if they come out on fire, sing the praises of the manager. Go Gary's Dodgers. I am pulling for them because my man love for Dave Roberts, what a great guy.
> 
> 
> 
> There is an super photo on the front of the PLAYOFFS section of the Times.  It shows Kershaw stretched out, ball in his left hand about to be raised for his throw ... but it is from directly above looking down. You see the his fingers on the ball, the foot pushing off the rubber ... super photo ... (slightly oversharpened) ... but a super photo nonetheless.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Link?
Click to expand...

The paper is on the kitchen table ... LOL (Gary is old school.)


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wonderful game last night. It had it all, good pitching, defense, managing. Altuve is sick, the littler feller just keeps hitting. JV going this afternoon, should be a good game. Dodgers tonight after a long rest, will be interesting to see how Roberts has prepared them. This is a defining mark of a manager, how he gets his team prepared after a long lay off. Very difficult but the good ones have the walk throughs, scout meetings, and a defined, planned approach against opposing teams pitching staff. Dodgers have the best scouts in the game, time to see if Roberts can blend it all together. Don't be surprised if they come out flat but if they come out on fire, sing the praises of the manager. Go Gary's Dodgers. I am pulling for them because my man love for Dave Roberts, what a great guy.
> 
> 
> 
> There is an super photo on the front of the PLAYOFFS section of the Times.  It shows Kershaw stretched out, ball in his left hand about to be raised for his throw ... but it is from directly above looking down. You see the his fingers on the ball, the foot pushing off the rubber ... super photo ... (slightly oversharpened) ... but a super photo nonetheless.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Link?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The paper is on the kitchen table ... LOL (Gary is old school.)
Click to expand...

What paper so I can search Einstein....


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wonderful game last night. It had it all, good pitching, defense, managing. Altuve is sick, the littler feller just keeps hitting. JV going this afternoon, should be a good game. Dodgers tonight after a long rest, will be interesting to see how Roberts has prepared them. This is a defining mark of a manager, how he gets his team prepared after a long lay off. Very difficult but the good ones have the walk throughs, scout meetings, and a defined, planned approach against opposing teams pitching staff. Dodgers have the best scouts in the game, time to see if Roberts can blend it all together. Don't be surprised if they come out flat but if they come out on fire, sing the praises of the manager. Go Gary's Dodgers. I am pulling for them because my man love for Dave Roberts, what a great guy.
> 
> 
> 
> There is an super photo on the front of the PLAYOFFS section of the Times.  It shows Kershaw stretched out, ball in his left hand about to be raised for his throw ... but it is from directly above looking down. You see the his fingers on the ball, the foot pushing off the rubber ... super photo ... (slightly oversharpened) ... but a super photo nonetheless.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Link?
Click to expand...





There.


----------



## Gary A.

LA Times (of course).


----------



## Gary A.

One of the guests last night was Max, a Goldie mix. Max and Maggie played and played until the cows came home.


----------



## Gary A.

USC and Dodgers both play at 5:00 p.m. (PST) ...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Decisions, decisions. 

Tonight there are (supposedly) two different college hockey games on. Usually in the fall they're only shown on Friday nights so we'll see... that and Hockey Night in Canada will have me going back and forth. 

Who's the photographer that took that photo Gary? I don't see it on their website.

Heading out shortly to do a little picture taking because it's sunny. At least I think that's what that bright thing in the sky is called, haven't seen it in awhile.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Decisions, decisions.
> 
> Tonight there are (supposedly) two different college hockey games on. Usually in the fall they're only shown on Friday nights so we'll see... that and Hockey Night in Canada will have me going back and forth.
> 
> Who's the photographer that took that photo Gary? I don't see it on their website.
> 
> Heading out shortly to do a little picture taking because it's sunny. At least I think that's what that bright thing in the sky is called, haven't seen it in awhile.


Robert Gauthier, staff photog.


----------



## davidharmier60

It is believed that the AC problem is taken care of in Daves house. This is a good thing. Dave has one guy at work looking for old cameras/lenses for him.
He told Jason and hopes Jason will tell Wayne. Eating the last of the fried chicken tenders with BBQ sauce. It is now MUCH less than oppressive in the room I'm in. 
Back to looking for the magic penny soon.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Wow, 59 yard off tackle run by Michigan, 20-10, Michigan over Indiana.


----------



## JonA_CT

I’m watching UConn look for ways to lose against Temple.

I’ll be headed out to take some photos for my friend and former bandmate in a little bit. They need some clean press kit photos, and I’m free, haha. I’m excited to try something new.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Souped a couple rolls this morning. Trying the ilsofol 3 again, less agitation per Gary. The negatives look way better this time. I think I found the error of my ways using that stuff. HC and D76 way better results up to this point. Scans will tell I suppose. Next up is pushing using the Maxxum 9, HP5+. However gonna load some Portra 400 first, never used it. I've used 160.



Got Portra 400 in my K1000 right this very second. Even took some pictures with it today! 



davidharmier60 said:


> It is believed that the AC problem is taken care of in Daves house. This is a good thing. Dave has one guy at work looking for old cameras/lenses for him.
> He told Jason and hopes Jason will tell Wayne. Eating the last of the fried chicken tenders with BBQ sauce. It is now MUCH less than oppressive in the room I'm in.
> Back to looking for the magic penny soon.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Our a/c just got fixed, too. Well, replaced. The system was over 40 years old and spend the last 5-6 years slowly dying until it finally gave up mid-July.

Of course, I live in NY and it's mid-October, so our a/c got fixed just in time for winter


----------



## davidharmier60

AC had to be developed for East Texas. 
80+ degrees and 80+ humidity in October. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> AC had to be developed for East Texas.
> 80+ degrees and 80+ humidity in October.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



I don't remember my Dante - is that the 6th or 7th circle of hell?


----------



## Gary A.

6th


----------



## Gary A.

Indiana ties up game 20-20 with no time on the clock. It’s overtime.


----------



## limr

Yup, watching right now.

It's do or die for the Aggies right now.


----------



## limr

Picked!! DONE!


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> AC had to be developed for East Texas.
> 80+ degrees and 80+ humidity in October.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk





limr said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> AC had to be developed for East Texas.
> 80+ degrees and 80+ humidity in October.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't remember my Dante - is that the 6th or 7th circle of hell?
Click to expand...


[


----------



## snowbear

A Texas song, written to an Irish tune, sung by a Scotsman.


----------



## davidharmier60

My uncle lived across I-45 near Forney, TX.
I was visiting over there and one of his quotes was "it'll bite you or stick you or sting you" he was speaking of the land right around his house!

I agree Texas seems sort of like an afterthought by God...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

But at least we remain a red state!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> But at least we remain a red state!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


No comment.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Snowbear, David probably knows the Forum rules about no politics. He was referring to their face colors in all that heat, I'm sure. .


----------



## JonA_CT

Man, posing two men together is hard. They’re so awkward, haha. Hopefully, I got something useful for them.


----------



## Gary A.

Verlander is an animal.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Verlander is an animal.


Of the bulldog variety!


----------



## snowbear

NancyMoranG said:


> Snowbear, David probably knows the Forum rules about no politics. He was referring to their face colors in all that heat, I'm sure. .


Probably.  How are you doing?


----------



## smoke665

LSU over Auburn 27-23, seriously???????


----------



## jcdeboever

Verlander will wig out if they try to take him out. He is a gamer.


----------



## JonA_CT

@limr those uniforms are even uglier on real players.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> @limr those uniforms are even uglier on real players.



It's their "sympathy" strategy. Hoping  A&M will feel sorry for them


----------



## davidharmier60

Red faces from near heat exhaustion!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Wow, 59 yard off tackle run by Michigan, 20-10, Michigan over Indiana.


MI is playing hi horrible


----------



## jcdeboever

Jansen is the x factor


----------



## Gary A.

Jansen is solid and automatic.


----------



## Gary A.

There is joy in Mudville... Dodgers and USC are victorious.


----------



## davidharmier60

AC. Glorious AC. Almost makes up for not going to reunion. But not quite.
Astros Yankees ended rather spectacularly yesterday. Reasonable mug of coffee. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> LSU over Auburn 27-23, seriously???????


That's crazy.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> LSU over Auburn 27-23, seriously???????
> 
> 
> 
> That's crazy.
Click to expand...


I know. Auburn has struggled for the last couple years.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary flipped between Dodgers and Trojans, both games started at five o'clock ... Gary doesn't understand how commercials for a football game can have the same timing as commercials for a baseball game.


----------



## Frank F.

today the fountain at one of our churches was repaired. picture two is a crop from picture one, such is the resolution nowadays


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave wasn't watching but heard the Texans beat the Browns. Good on em.
Going to be boiled and broiled shrimp in a couple hours. Dave would invite but that would take shrimp away from him.
TOTALLY uncool!

Later y'all. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

See now, if you'd watch hockey, there was a college game at 6, and 7 (or 7:30), and 8/8:30... Pro games seem to vary start times slightly depending on whatever pregame festivities they had, so I can sometimes catch Coach's Corner on Hockey Night in Canada a couple of times if I want. 

St. Cloud v Alaska Fairbanks was a surprisingly good series. Alaska games are rarely on. 

For some unknown reason the expansion Vegas Golden Knights have a gila monster as a mascot. It is a sort of golden yellow but beyond that, why don't they have, ya know, a knight?! lol


----------



## NancyMoranG

snowbear said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Snowbear, David probably knows the Forum rules about no politics. He was referring to their face colors in all that heat, I'm sure. .
> 
> 
> 
> Probably.  How are you doing?
Click to expand...


Thanks for asking. Such an emptiness. Some good days, some bad days. Gone to some grief counseling, not that we feel 'we should have done more, loved him more' etc. just to deal with our sorrow. He knew he was loved, and he loved us. 
We miss him terribly.


----------



## SquarePeg

We’re here for you Nancy.  Hang in there.  I hope some day it will get better for you and your husband. Keeping you all in my prayers.  Are you heading to the Keys?


----------



## snowbear

Sharon is right - we're here for you guys, and we know you've done all you could.  Have a safe trip south (we're heading north in a few weeks).


----------



## JonA_CT

So here's what I was able to get yesterday. I haven't decided whether I'll post for C+C or not. I need to be more assertive. I let them choose the location, even though I knew it would have issues (mainly...big tourist area on a Saturday evening). Meh. It's not as fun when you aren't doing it for yourself.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is lying in bed so saying good night peeps.  4am is just around the corner. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  Back from a very quick and just about perfect trip to VT.   Drove up Saturday morning sightseeing along the way.  Covered bridges, white churches, mountains of color, no traffic, no rain - in fact the sun reared its ugly head ruining what was supposed to be a perfectly overcast afternoon.  Made it to our hotel just after dark and were able to walk to dinner/drinks.  Had a top notch raspberry martini which I will be copying here at home!   Right back on the trail first thing this morning to explore a different route home and was able to stop in NH on the way back to meet up with the buyer for one of my Nikon mount lenses.  

Currently happy as a clam hanging out on the couch with the dog watching Cubs @ LAD.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> So here's what I was able to get yesterday. I haven't decided whether I'll post for C+C or not. I need to be more assertive. I let them choose the location, even though I knew it would have issues (mainly...big tourist area on a Saturday evening). Meh. It's not as fun when you aren't doing it for yourself.



Jon - catch me up...is this a couples shoot?


----------



## Gary A.

TURNER! TURNER! TURNER!


----------



## jcdeboever

Yeah baby! Mr. Clutch.


----------



## SquarePeg

Excuse me?


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> So here's what I was able to get yesterday. I haven't decided whether I'll post for C+C or not. I need to be more assertive. I let them choose the location, even though I knew it would have issues (mainly...big tourist area on a Saturday evening). Meh. It's not as fun when you aren't doing it for yourself.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jon - catch me up...is this a couples shoot?
Click to expand...


Right? I could make it seem much more that way too. These are a couple of my music friends who needed press kit photos for an acoustic duo. They play at weddings, wineries, beach clubs, and the like, and these will be used for promo materials.

When I went to look for posing help online, it was difficult to find any advice on posing two men in a platonic way. I think I might be better off heading to one of their gigs at some point, and seeing what I can do with them in context.


----------



## davidharmier60

East Texas morning y'all. 
Soon I gotta get dressed and boogie.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

Happy Monday, hosers!   



Well...you know.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got just a wee bit over 4.5 hours at work. He got 10 rolls of pennies at the second bank in town and 20 rolls Loomis at our bank. Just had a Turkey and Havarti sammich. And some green olives. Yummy
Watching DVRd drag racing. And liking (if not loving) life.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## NancyMoranG

Thanks guys, just 1 foot in front of the other.
We will be in Jacksonville, Fl for 2 months. Hubby getting some treatment for prostate cancer which should go well according to everything we know.


----------



## waday

Baby update. Baby is due in about four weeks. Baby was in breech for most of pregnancy. Now, baby's in a transverse lie. WTF, baby.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Baby update. Baby is due in about four weeks. Baby was in breech for most of pregnancy. Now, baby's in a transverse lie. WTF, baby.


Get used to that. Welcome to the rest of your life.


----------



## davidharmier60

Babies are fantastic! (As long as they belong to someone else).
Was just told Chicken Enchiladas for dinner. Pleased is the WORD!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Baby update. Baby is due in about four weeks. Baby was in breech for most of pregnancy. Now, baby's in a transverse lie. WTF, baby.
> 
> 
> 
> Get used to that. Welcome to the rest of your life.
Click to expand...


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> Babies are fantastic! (As long as they belong to someone else).



Grand kids are by far the best. You can be their best bud, spoil them rotten, feed them candy, shake them up good, then send them home for the parents to deal with!!!!


----------



## Frank F.

a band played at the farmers market today...



 

super mood & super food & wine

Good night!


----------



## SquarePeg

They used a bullhorn for a microphone?


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> They used a bullhorn for a microphone?



That's the latest and greatest in German engineering, sound systems.


----------



## waday

I suggested an instant camera for my wife, and she seemed very happy with the idea.

While we were at Michaels the other day, I stopped by to view their selection of Fujifilm. I was appalled to see all of their Fujifilm cameras at literally 2-2.5 times the price everywhere else. The Instax Mini 90 Neo was listed at $300! I debated asking the store manager if they price-matched items from other stores just to let them know they are ridiculously over-priced. I don't blame you if you don't believe me... look at it here: Fujifilm Instax® Mini 90 Neo Classic Camera .

It's like $120-ish at B&H. 

That said, I saw a twin lens reflex instant by Mint at B&H, but I'm not sure if my wife wants that level of photography (and wow, it's expensive for what we're looking for). I think she was thinking more of a Polaroid.


----------



## SquarePeg

I have seen those at Michael's and wondered at what they really go for.  That's a crazy mark up.  They were selling them with the scrap booking stuff - maybe thinking the buyers would be non photographers and not know any better?


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I have seen those at Michael's and wondered at what they really go for.  That's a crazy mark up.  They were selling them with the scrap booking stuff - maybe thinking the buyers would be non photographers and not know any better?


Michaels has seriously gone downhill.    Unless you're doing some scrap booking or in serious need of silk flowers, I can't think of a reason to go in there.   And it used to really be aimed more at art supply stuff - beautiful papers, brushes, paints, they even sold hand-coloring supplies!     The stock of art supply stuff and yes, the occasional find like the Fujifilm, have incredibly mark-ups.

You're better off finding a real art supply store -even online places like Dick Blick have their brick & mortar stores.


----------



## SquarePeg

We go to Michael's only when my daughter needs supplies for a school project.  We usually check Walmart or Target first and then get whatever we couldn't find there at Michael's.  They are all within a half mile of each other just down the road.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> I suggested an instant camera for my wife, and she seemed very happy with the idea.
> 
> While we were at Michaels the other day, I stopped by to view their selection of Fujifilm. I was appalled to see all of their Fujifilm cameras at literally 2-2.5 times the price everywhere else. The Instax Mini 90 Neo was listed at $300! I debated asking the store manager if they price-matched items from other stores just to let them know they are ridiculously over-priced. I don't blame you if you don't believe me... look at it here: Fujifilm Instax® Mini 90 Neo Classic Camera .
> 
> It's like $120-ish at B&H.
> 
> That said, I saw a twin lens reflex instant by Mint at B&H, but I'm not sure if my wife wants that level of photography (and wow, it's expensive for what we're looking for). I think she was thinking more of a Polaroid.


For about $150, you can get a little Fuji printer instant film thing, Instax Share, which will connect directly to a smartphone or Fuji camera.  Gary thinks JC keeps one in his back pocket when he shoots Street.


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> They used a bullhorn for a microphone?




the bullhorn was occupied so he took a megaphon for the analogue distortion, hihi


----------



## Gary A.

Gary loves live analogue distortion.  (Not a bad name for a band.)


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Gary loves live analogue distortion.  (Not a bad name for a band.)




the band's name I do not recall but the mood they created was superb and the interplay between the band members. The name had to do with the Orient and the Rhineland. Very funny wordplay that escapes me at the moment and that is of course intranslatable


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I suggested an instant camera for my wife, and she seemed very happy with the idea.
> 
> While we were at Michaels the other day, I stopped by to view their selection of Fujifilm. I was appalled to see all of their Fujifilm cameras at literally 2-2.5 times the price everywhere else. The Instax Mini 90 Neo was listed at $300! I debated asking the store manager if they price-matched items from other stores just to let them know they are ridiculously over-priced. I don't blame you if you don't believe me... look at it here: Fujifilm Instax® Mini 90 Neo Classic Camera .
> 
> It's like $120-ish at B&H.
> 
> That said, I saw a twin lens reflex instant by Mint at B&H, but I'm not sure if my wife wants that level of photography (and wow, it's expensive for what we're looking for). I think she was thinking more of a Polaroid.
> 
> 
> 
> For about $150, you can get a little Fuji printer instant film thing, Instax Share, which will connect directly to a smartphone or Fuji camera.  Gary thinks JC keeps one in his back pocket when he shoots Street.
Click to expand...

That's pretty nifty! The wife would be happy with one less camera in the house...


----------



## Frank F.

one for Gary. a wine maker was there, kinda garage wine maker but with a real estate in Neustadt an der Weinstraße. They are small even by German standards only 3ha which means 8 acres in US terms... 3 youngsters. Picture shows one of them with a glass of very nice pinot blanc


----------



## Frank F.

One for Gary. Young German wine maker on tje farmers market. Good Pinot blanc


----------



## Frank F.

I do not understand the forum software....


----------



## Gary A.

Ms. Maggie is totally and absolutely wonderful.


----------



## davidharmier60

Those Instax cameras are I think 59.99 at Wal-Mart which I think is still a bit too much. I think Amazon is the better deal. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

I stand corrected. Just checked Amazon. 
$59. I rather like the Neo Classic but at $120 that's more than I figure to pay for a DSLR body. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Even though Dave need not wake up at 4am tomorrow,  he did this morning. 
Good night peeps. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

The Coffee House was on the second page. 

Come on now! We're better than that!


----------



## Braineack

Here's the pictures of the wedding I shot: A & M - Adriana and Matthew

learned a ton. could have done better. but ive seen much worse.


----------



## SquarePeg

morning Hosers!  Here's a cat meme to keep us on page 1


----------



## smoke665

On a more serious note. Some of you might have seen this on the news. As the parent of a daughter, and the grandfather of 3 girls, I'm afraid I would likely be in jail now for what I would have done to the coach. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/10/15/coach-who-forced-cheer leaders-into-splits-will-not-be-charged-with-crime.html I don't quite understand why he was not charged with a crime?????? At least the school fired him, but as has been my experience with school boards they fail to document his file and he'll likely move to another school without problem


----------



## davidharmier60

People like him should NOT be allowed to work with kids.
Dave believes he should work Monday through Friday and not have Tuesday off. 
But does not believe it is possible. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

Lunchtime!


----------



## tirediron

Looks like a pretty solid job to me!


----------



## JonA_CT

Braineack said:


> Here's the pictures of the wedding I shot: A & M - Adriana and Matthew
> 
> learned a ton. could have done better. but ive seen much worse.



I'll bet you have happy customers. Your shots are as good or better than most of the wedding albums I've looked through in the past couple of years.  Do you plan on doing more weddings?


----------



## SquarePeg

Braineack said:


> Here's the pictures of the wedding I shot: A & M - Adriana and Matthew
> 
> learned a ton. could have done better. but ive seen much worse.



Looks good!  Congrats on getting your first wedding successfully under your belt.  And wow, they didn't make it easy on you with the mid day sun, bright red bridesmaid dresses, bright white bridal gown and yellow flowers!  I really like the ones on the bridge of the bride alone and the bridal couple and you definitely captured the emotions of the day which is the most important thing.


----------



## Braineack

SquarePeg said:


> Looks good!  Congrats on getting your first wedding successfully under your belt.  And wow, they didn't make it easy on you with the mid day sun, bright red bridesmaid dresses, bright white bridal gown and yellow flowers!  I really like the ones on the bridge of the bride alone and the bridal couple and you definitely captured the emotions of the day which is the most important thing.



right?!

Plus, they said they were going to get ready at the venue, I was hoping to arrive and get good getting ready shots, and the details like the jewelry, dress, etc.  But they showed up late, already dressed (except the bride), already in makeup, and then forgot the rings so I couldn't even shoot those.  Her room was a dark little room with no windows, so nothing special I could do there, and I wasn't quite comfortable enough right then to make stuff happen. The guys were clueless on how to dress so I had to spend a lot of time just pinning flowers and tying a few of their ties. Again, wish I could have done more there.

Then they sprung the portraits session on me at a local pond, not the venue.  My assistant was stuck in traffic and I felt a bit overwhelmed so didn't get out any lighting, I really wish I had at least a speedlight on the camera for some fill -- and on the bridge I could have really used at least my shoot through umbrella which was in the car.  She showed up maybe half way through.

This was a pretty low-budget wedding, and one comment I had from another photographer which really made me feel good was "you'd never know from the pictures".  There were no DJ lights or any real decorations or cool details to get cool shot with.  They actually cut the lights above the dance floor so it was pretty much just pitch black besides my flashes, which made it nearly impossible for my D610 to gain focus -- then I just would spray and pray most the time shooting with the camera well above my head.

One thing I think I realized is that I was trying to wait for moments, much like wildlife photography, when I should have injected myself a bit more and created shots -- at the reception I really felt like I was only taking dance shots, when I could have stolen the bride and groom for a few minutes and done a bit more outside on the golf course grounds, or get a few better shots with guests on the dance floor that had a little setup.

I felt comfortable with the bridge alone cause I'm used to single person portraits, the biggest issue I had with the groups was posing them.  I tried to make sure the compositions made sense, and no one was lost.  I had to get most of the guys to remove their cell phones from pockets and how to stand, but I still missed a few.





JonA_CT said:


> I'll bet you have happy customers. Your shots are as good or better than most of the wedding albums I've looked through in the past couple of years.  Do you plan on doing more weddings?



I'd love to do more, actually.   I'll already feel so much more at ease at the next one, I was decently happy with the lighting at the reception which I just winged based on wedding photographer's on YT and blogs.  I had a speedlight on my camera which was synced to my YN622TX vis sync cable which controlled two remote speedlights on stands that I could turn on/off or change the power -- worked well.  and I was lucky it was a low white ceiling so the main bounce flash looked good.

I was just really hoping more for more creative shots, but I also just struggled just knowing which lens to use when, and again, I think I have a better feel for it.  Most the group shots I took with the 24-70 locked at 70mm, so I probably should have just gone with the 85mm.

Plus it's decent money and gives me something to do.   I rented another D610 for the event, but I think I'll buy something new if I do another -- been looking at used D4's.  I tried my best to get all the shots they wanted, and if anything they really got their monies worth (I got paid pennies with the amount of work that went into it all).  Hopefully I get some new work out of this, if not weddings but even more portraits and engagement stuff from all the young couples viewing it all now.  I don't really market, and ill probably still just stick to word-of-mouth, but I'll at least get my own presence website out there eventually to use as a portfolio.


----------



## JonA_CT

Braineack said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'll bet you have happy customers. Your shots are as good or better than most of the wedding albums I've looked through in the past couple of years.  Do you plan on doing more weddings?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd love to do more, actually.   I'll already feel so much more at ease at the next one, I was decently happy with the lighting at the reception which I just winged based on wedding photographer's on YT and blogs.  I had a speedlight on my camera which was synced to my YN622TX vis sync cable which controlled two remote speedlights on stands that I could turn on/off or change the power -- worked well.  and I was lucky it was a low white ceiling so the main bounce flash looked good.
> 
> I was just really hoping more for more creative shots, but I also just struggled just knowing which lens to use when, and again, I think I have a better feel for it.  Most the group shots I took with the 24-70 locked at 70mm, so I probably should have just gone with the 85mm.
> 
> Plus it's decent money and gives me something to do.   I rented another D610 for the event, but I think I'll buy something new if I do another -- been looking at used D4's.  I tried my best to get all the shots they wanted, and if anything they really got their monies worth (I got paid pennies with the amount of work that went into it all).  Hopefully I get some new work out of this, if not weddings but even more portraits and engagement stuff from all the young couples viewing it all now.  I don't really market, and ill probably still just stick to word-of-mouth, but I'll at least get my own presence website out there eventually to use as a portfolio.
Click to expand...


It seems like you've got a good grasp on it, and now you can say you've done one, and have good portfolio fodder now.

I'm years behind you in progression, and I still have a lot of learning to do, but I've been thinking recently about my own end goals. I find portraits and shots of people more interesting than other types of photography, but after doing some work outside of my family for the first time, I'm not sure it's something I'll ever pursue seriously. For a lot of reasons, haha. I think a lot of it has to do with my responsibilities with two young kids at home, and a job that demands a lot of my time until it doesn't (you know...all summer, haha). It's hard to find time to leave to go take the photos, much less the post processing time. 

So anyways, I have a lot of respect for the work that you've put into a second career, and I agree that having done a wedding now will get you much more business.


----------



## SquarePeg

@Braineack   just curious if you had any 2nd shooter gigs before this wedding?


----------



## Braineack

nope.  I have a photographer friend who's local who does weddings and I've asked a few times -- he's always saying he hires them but he never reach out in last year.  I would have liked to have done 2nd shooting before attempting, but I was asked by a friend if I could do this for cheap and said yes.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> The Coffee House was on the second page.
> 
> Come on now! We're better than that!


8:01 AM...


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> The Coffee House was on the second page.
> 
> Come on now! We're better than that!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 8:01 AM...
Click to expand...


7:43an for me yesterday, haha.

In other news, I just filled my gas tank for the first time since school started. Made it 7 weeks on $30 if gas. Imagine if I had a hybrid!


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> In other news, I just filled my gas tank for the first time since school started. Made it 7 weeks on $30 if gas. Imagine if I had a hybrid!




I pay that weekly


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, I just filled my gas tank for the first time since school started. Made it 7 weeks on $30 if gas. Imagine if I had a hybrid!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I pay that weekly
Click to expand...


My commute is less than 5 miles round trip. I used to drive about 60 miles per day. Then, I was filling up about every 4-5 days for $30.


----------



## davidharmier60

The one thing that makes Daves part time job worth something is it's only 5 miles away. In approximately 12.5 hours I wake up to do it again. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, I just filled my gas tank for the first time since school started. Made it 7 weeks on $30 if gas. Imagine if I had a hybrid!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I pay that weekly
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My commute is less than 5 miles round trip. I used to drive about 60 miles per day. Then, I was filling up about every 4-5 days for $30.
Click to expand...

Walk or cycle... driving that on a regular basis is hard on your car.


----------



## JonA_CT

tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, I just filled my gas tank for the first time since school started. Made it 7 weeks on $30 if gas. Imagine if I had a hybrid!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I pay that weekly
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My commute is less than 5 miles round trip. I used to drive about 60 miles per day. Then, I was filling up about every 4-5 days for $30.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Walk or cycle... driving that on a regular basis is hard on your car.
Click to expand...


With an 8 week old and a 2 year old, that isn't currently an option. I need the flexibility of being able to getting home and to child care quickly. If we still live as close when they are older, I'll definitely ride a bike to work every day.


----------



## JonA_CT

Man, Amazon is so convenient. But I'm on to representative # 4 and day # 3 of trying to get them to refund an order that was never delivered. Their service is terrible.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Man, Amazon is so convenient. But I'm on to representative # 4 and day # 3 of trying to get them to refund an order that was never delivered. Their service is terrible.



Call your credit card company and dispute the charge.


----------



## Frank F.

my daughter found a "3d crystal jigsaw puzzle" at Oxfam. 44 parts, next to impossible to finish, but not on a crazy day like today:


----------



## Frank F.

Braineack said:


> Here's the pictures of the wedding I shot: A & M - Adriana and Matthew
> 
> learned a ton. could have done better. but ive seen much worse.



the guys on the bridge are cool


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Man, Amazon is so convenient. But I'm on to representative # 4 and day # 3 of trying to get them to refund an order that was never delivered. Their service is terrible.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Call your credit card company and dispute the charge.
Click to expand...


They ended up taking care of it. Finally. I hate to say it...but I finally got to a CSR in the US, and the problem was fixed almost instantly. 

You’re right though...I should use my American Express card instead of my debit card. Its way easier to dispute charges that way.


----------



## SquarePeg

You should not use a debit card to shop online.  You open yourself up to many headaches if they steal your debit card info than just a credit card.  They could wipe out your bank account.  You'll eventually get it back but only after 2-3 weeks and many hoops to jump through.  

More unsolicited free advice  -  get a good rewards card and use that for everything.  I pay for everything with my Chase rewards card and then pay it off in full every month.  And I mean *everything*!  Sometimes it drives my friends and family nuts but you'd be shocked at how quickly it adds up.  I've been collecting points and miles since 2010 and I haven't paid for a flight or a hotel in a few years now.  Just in the past year alone I used points to pay for flights and/or hotels to Disneyland, Nashville, Portland ME and Vermont and will be going to NYC for the weekend with a free hotel next month.  Check out websites like thepointsguy and millionmilesecrets for how to get started.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> You should not use a debit card to shop online.  You open yourself up to many headaches if they steal your debit card info than just a credit card.  They could wipe out your bank account.  You'll eventually get it back but only after 2-3 weeks and many hoops to jump through.
> 
> More unsolicited free advice  -  get a good rewards card and use that for everything.  I pay for everything with my Chase rewards card and then pay it off in full every month.  And I mean *everything*!  Sometimes it drives my friends and family nuts but you'd be shocked at how quickly it adds up.  I've been collecting points and miles since 2010 and I haven't paid for a flight or a hotel in a few years now.  Just in the past year alone I used points to pay for flights and/or hotels to Disneyland, Nashville, Portland ME and Vermont and will be going to NYC for the weekend with a free hotel next month.  Check out websites like thepointsguy and millionmilesecrets for how to get started.



I'll have to check into it more closely. The AMEX I use is the cash rewards card. I mostly use it for groceries and gas as the rewards are better there, but I can definitely see the advantages to what you are talking about.


----------



## Braineack

my bank constantly "fraud alerts" my legitimate charges, but always allows the bad ones.  They alos like spending us new cards about 3-4 times a year and REALLY messes up your subscriptions.   They are great.


like the other day in NYC, we used our CC all day long, then our last dinner was declined and we had to use another payment method.  they called like 30 min later and was like there's suspicious activity on your card.


----------



## SquarePeg

Citibank?


----------



## TreeofLifeStairs

Braineack said:


> Here's the pictures of the wedding I shot: A & M - Adriana and Matthew
> 
> learned a ton. could have done better. but ive seen much worse.



Purple haired girl sure stands out.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave was given a $50 gift card at his last job. It got him a few coins and a few knives.  He hasn't been able to put $ back on it. He truly hopes to do so because otherwise he'll never get a DSLR. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## davidharmier60

Dave is lying in bed again. Soon to be asleep. 4am is right around the corner. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> You should not use a debit card to shop online.  You open yourself up to many headaches if they steal your debit card info than just a credit card.  They could wipe out your bank account.  You'll eventually get it back but only after 2-3 weeks and many hoops to jump through.
> 
> More unsolicited free advice  -  get a good rewards card and use that for everything.  I pay for everything with my Chase rewards card and then pay it off in full every month.  And I mean *everything*!  Sometimes it drives my friends and family nuts but you'd be shocked at how quickly it adds up.  I've been collecting points and miles since 2010 and I haven't paid for a flight or a hotel in a few years now.  Just in the past year alone I used points to pay for flights and/or hotels to Disneyland, Nashville, Portland ME and Vermont and will be going to NYC for the weekend with a free hotel next month.  Check out websites like thepointsguy and millionmilesecrets for how to get started.


Or....  just put some cash in your wallet and buy from a local brick & mortar shop and support local business and your regional economy!


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> You should not use a debit card to shop online.  You open yourself up to many headaches if they steal your debit card info than just a credit card.  They could wipe out your bank account.  You'll eventually get it back but only after 2-3 weeks and many hoops to jump through.
> 
> More unsolicited free advice  -  get a good rewards card and use that for everything.  I pay for everything with my Chase rewards card and then pay it off in full every month.  And I mean *everything*!  Sometimes it drives my friends and family nuts but you'd be shocked at how quickly it adds up.  I've been collecting points and miles since 2010 and I haven't paid for a flight or a hotel in a few years now.  Just in the past year alone I used points to pay for flights and/or hotels to Disneyland, Nashville, Portland ME and Vermont and will be going to NYC for the weekend with a free hotel next month.  Check out websites like thepointsguy and millionmilesecrets for how to get started.
> 
> 
> 
> Or....  just put some cash in your wallet and buy from a local brick & mortar shop and support local business and your regional economy!
Click to expand...


I do frequently shop local.  Local businesses and brick and mortar stores take credit cards as well as cash.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> I do frequently shop local.  Local businesses and brick and mortar stores take credit cards as well as cash.


Sure, but that costs them and you more.  Shopping on credit is hugely expensive to everyone but the major banks/credit companies.  I can understand putting large purchases on credit... maybe.  All of your so-called rewards are paid for by through the fees that the credit companies levy against the vendors, who in turn mark up their prices to account for it...  Cash = win for everyone except the banks, and who cares about them!


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do frequently shop local.  Local businesses and brick and mortar stores take credit cards as well as cash.
> 
> 
> 
> Sure, but that costs them and you more.  Shopping on credit is hugely expensive to everyone but the major banks/credit companies.  I can understand putting large purchases on credit... maybe.  All of your so-called rewards are paid for by through the fees that the credit companies levy against the vendors, who in turn mark up their prices to account for it...  Cash = win for everyone except the banks, and who cares about them!
Click to expand...


If I pay cash it costs me the same as with credit.  I understand your point but just about EVERYONE would have to be on board for that to "trickle down" to lower prices and I don't see that happening.


----------



## smoke665

I shop local when possible, but sometimes it isn't possible for lack of product. I do that despite the fact that I get charged from 9-10%, on top of it by the local municipality. So much for taxation without representation.

I never carry much cash, choosing to pay for everything on one of three credit cards (2 for personal, 1 business). Balances are paid in full each month, meaning all cash back goes in back in my pocket.


----------



## SquarePeg

I prefer to use my rewards for travel instead of cashback.  Makes taking the trips more fun when they're "free". 

Did anyone see the Celtics game and that poor guy break his ankle?  Totally gruesome.


----------



## smoke665

In addition, not sure if it's nationwide, but most of the Wally Worlds we've been to participate in "savings catcher". You sign up, then when you check out you submit your receipt on line. They check all the local store pricing, if they find a cheaper price you get the difference back on an e-card. So we get cash back on the credit card, then get cash back from Wally World. Makes it a lot easier to shop for essentials, and get the best price.


----------



## vintagesnaps

From what I've understood, smaller businesses (like our longtime camera shop that's now long gone) lose money on credit cards. They seem to be affected more with the fees that are more easily absorbed by large companies. That might have changed, I don't know.


----------



## snowbear

Ugh.  Had the sonogram on Friday, doctor's office called this evening.  They can't tell what the mass is from the sonogram, so now I get to have my first MRI.  The problem with that is, after 33 years, my size 12-1/2 wedding band is on a size 16, or so, finger.

Ice and olive oil only makes the pain a bit easier to handle.  I'll either have to convince them that gold is not magnetic and therefore not a problem with the equipment, or I'll have to get the ring cut off.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Ugh.  Had the sonogram on Friday, doctor's office called this evening.  They can't tell what the mass is from the sonogram, so now I get to have my first MRI.  The problem with that is, after 33 years, my size 12-1/2 wedding band is on a size 16, or so, finger.
> 
> Ice and olive oil only makes the pain a bit easier to handle.  I'll either have to convince them that gold is not magnetic and therefore not a problem with the equipment, or I'll have to get the ring cut off.



Removing a Ring - How to remove a stuck ring


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Ugh.  Had the sonogram on Friday, doctor's office called this evening.  They can't tell what the mass is from the sonogram, so now I get to have my first MRI.  The problem with that is, after 33 years, my size 12-1/2 wedding band is on a size 16, or so, finger.
> 
> Ice and olive oil only makes the pain a bit easier to handle.  I'll either have to convince them that gold is not magnetic and therefore not a problem with the equipment, or I'll have to get the ring cut off.



Sorry, sweetie


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh.  Had the sonogram on Friday, doctor's office called this evening.  They can't tell what the mass is from the sonogram, so now I get to have my first MRI.  The problem with that is, after 33 years, my size 12-1/2 wedding band is on a size 16, or so, finger.
> 
> Ice and olive oil only makes the pain a bit easier to handle.  I'll either have to convince them that gold is not magnetic and therefore not a problem with the equipment, or I'll have to get the ring cut off.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Removing a Ring - How to remove a stuck ring
Click to expand...

I'll try that tomorrow night.  I'm not getting my paperwork until Thursday.  Being part Italian, I have a preference for olive oil.


----------



## smoke665

@vintagesnaps been many years since I've been on the paying end of credit card fees, but between interchange and card fees your running from 3-6% on fees. Course for that fee you get paid anywhere from 24-48 hours later. Whether you accept credit cards, checks, or extend credit there is a cost of doing business, which pretty much shake out to be equal. You could only accept cash, but doing so is going severely limit your sales. I've seen businesses fail, but they didn't fail because of credit card fees.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Braineack you got some nice pictures. I can see where your strength seems to be your photos like in the Savannah thread, those are beautifully done. The wedding shots that were set up like the table shots and the ones of the bridal party outdoors etc. were the best of what I looked at so far (even though you said you had challenges with posing I wouldn't have thought so). 

I would say it looks like it would help to keep working on getting shots as things happen (getting ready, reception, etc.). Double check the framing, I see a number where there are distractions and cluttered backgrounds; check the corners and edges/sides of the photos. I think it would help you to get more practice in framing shots quickly and adjusting vantage point and getting clean compositions quickly as things are happening. 

And - don't work for pennies!! lol I think people are just going to burn themselves out or keep running into problems (which I've seen happen elsewhere besides this site) and not be making enough to even be worth it and end up out of photography. You want to think about the reputation you're developing as a photographer and maybe don't jump too fast into doing weddings.

I think taking classes or going to camera clubs or whatever you can find to enable you to get in more practice could be worth it. Even going to community events where people can bring cameras can be a way to take pictures just for fun where you can think about what if you were photographing that event and how would you do it?

I wonder if your photographer friend hasn't provided an opportunity to second shoot if he/she can see you may not be quite ready just yet to be able to get all the necessary shots on your own. You have talent but maybe need to continue to develop skills with certain aspects; other skills you seem to already have. You got plenty of nice photos to be able to give the couple that they should like.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Charlie, what happened?? I must've missed that, sounds miserable. Hope you get taken care of soon.


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do frequently shop local.  Local businesses and brick and mortar stores take credit cards as well as cash.
> 
> 
> 
> Sure, but that costs them and you more.  Shopping on credit is hugely expensive to everyone but the major banks/credit companies.  I can understand putting large purchases on credit... maybe.  All of your so-called rewards are paid for by through the fees that the credit companies levy against the vendors, who in turn mark up their prices to account for it...  Cash = win for everyone except the banks, and who cares about them!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> If I pay cash it costs me the same as with credit.  I understand your point but just about EVERYONE would have to be on board for that to "trickle down" to lower prices and I don't see that happening.
Click to expand...



cash handling costs are higher than cards for the shop keepers. The bigger the shop the bigger the difference. Card companies charge bigger shops smaller percentages.

In the Netherlands I have paid in shops that do not allow chash


----------



## davidharmier60

If they stop accepting cash it would mess Dave up something fierce.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## Frank F.

smaller shops tend to accept cash or cash only because it is easier to save taxes....


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> From what I've understood, smaller businesses (like our longtime camera shop that's now long gone) lose money on credit cards. They seem to be affected more with the fees that are more easily absorbed by large companies. That might have changed, I don't know.


The company I work for doesn't except credit cards. The owner wants nothing to do with the associated fees. Never been an issue but we are not a retail business either.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Ugh.  Had the sonogram on Friday, doctor's office called this evening.  They can't tell what the mass is from the sonogram, so now I get to have my first MRI.  The problem with that is, after 33 years, my size 12-1/2 wedding band is on a size 16, or so, finger.
> 
> Ice and olive oil only makes the pain a bit easier to handle.  I'll either have to convince them that gold is not magnetic and therefore not a problem with the equipment, or I'll have to get the ring cut off.


I'm believing for health here Charlie, you are in my thoughts and prayers. Speak and believe only health. Do not let others speak any negativity into your ear. Listen to doctors but think of health. If your a man of faith, trust in that.


----------



## jcdeboever

Braineack said:


> Here's the pictures of the wedding I shot: A & M - Adriana and Matthew
> 
> learned a ton. could have done better. but ive seen much worse.


Wonderful.Man you got some talent. These look very professional.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> The company I work for doesn't except credit cards. The owner wants nothing to do with the associated fees. Never been an issue but we are not a retail business either.



We did during our time as an Atlas Van Lines agent, but when we dumped them and went to our own authority we were business to business freight so credit cards were not an option. With our A/R average days to pay running around 40 days there were times initially when I would have gladly paid the CC fees to get the money in faster. It was several years before we built up enough cash reserves to carry our A/R without financing. The sad thing was, the bigger the business the slower they were to pay.


----------



## JonA_CT

I very infrequently carry any more than a petty amount of  cash with me, and I'm not likely start.

It's 2017. If companies are appealing directly to consumers and don't take a credit/debit cards, I think they are probably losing out on potential customers. The brewery that I'm involved with that is opening next spring will actually be relying on people not paying with cash often, and the fees, which are relatively small, for the Square system they will be using were easily rolled into the cost of doing business.

My trip several years ago to Iceland was fascinating. Because their currency was inflated so much when the stock markets fell, cash pretty much went away there. It wasn't reasonable to carry it in such large amounts, and their habits haven't changed since their recovery. I paid what was essentially about 45 cents to use a public bathroom there, and I could use a credit card to pay for that. I didn't see anyone use cash at any point in the three days I was there.

Of course, a company that doesn't sell direct to consumers can get away without accepting credit. Then again, I'd also bet that JC isn't taking huge wads of money in his pockets with him when he walks out after a successful sale  .


----------



## Gary A.

Out here, for small items, a coffee, a snack, et al, most young people use a credit/debit card, while most older folk use cash.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Looks like Gary's Dodgers are are firing in all cylinders ... everything is clicking, offense, defense, coaching, the peanut guy ... everything.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT the other reason I use CCs rather than cash is because I rely heavily on Quicken and Quick Books for record keeping. It's far easier to download transactions and categorize quickly then to have to keep up with cash expenditures. One thing I've found amusing is that certain large truck stops have a cash price and a credit price, but we belong to an RV group that when we swipe the card, not only do we get the cash price, but it gives us an $.08/gal discount at the pumps, and we get a 5% cash back on the CC purchase. Win/win/win!


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

I still like to carry cash and use it to pay for smaller purchases in stores. I find that if I take out a set amount of cash each pay day, it helps me keep expenditures down because I can see exactly what I am spending and what I have left for the week. I don't like using a card for less than $20, and I especially hate using a card for anything less than $10. This situation usually happens when I want a cup of coffee or something at work. If I don't have the cash to cover a cup of coffee or a sandwich, then in my mind, it's the same thing as not having enough money to pay for it. Only when I am desperate to I resort to using my card.


----------



## smoke665

@limr  I think many people have a fear of running up charges on a card. We do not carry over balances, but pay the balance in full every month. This was a learned process over many years, so for us its a combination of keeping track mentally of our balances, and the fact that transactions are regularly downloaded several times per week, making it easier to keep track of where we are.


----------



## SquarePeg

When I first switched from cash and debit to all credit, I was shocked when I got the first cc bill at how much I was spending just on everyday stuff like lunches and gas and groceries. I hadn’t realized it with the debit card and taking cash at the ATM.  Seeing all the charges lined up like that made me start thinking of where I could be cutting back.  For me, and this is definitely a “different strokes” thing, knowing that bill is coming and has to be paid in full makes me think twice before I buy anything.  It also really helped me create and stick to a budget.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> @limr  I think many people have a fear of running up charges on a card. We do not carry over balances, but pay the balance in full every month. This was a learned process over many years, so for us its a combination of keeping track mentally of our balances, and the fact that transactions are regularly downloaded several times per week, making it easier to keep track of where we are.



I also learned the hard way to be careful of this, but honestly, that's not really why I don't like using cards for the small purchases. It's an old habit, held over from the days when using a credit card for groceries, for example, meant that things were so tight that I couldn't even eat without using credit. And the thought that I would need to charge even a cup of coffee so depressed me that I still have a very strong reaction to it.

And yes, I know a debit card is not the same thing, and I do use it when the grocery bill is higher or something like that. And I do use the credit card that carries points and then pay it regularly. 

For for small, daily purchases, old habits die hard.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I very infrequently carry any more than a petty amount of  cash with me, and I'm not likely start.
> 
> It's 2017. If companies are appealing directly to consumers and don't take a credit/debit cards, I think they are probably losing out on potential customers. The brewery that I'm involved with that is opening next spring will actually be relying on people not paying with cash often, and the fees, which are relatively small, for the Square system they will be using were easily rolled into the cost of doing business.
> 
> My trip several years ago to Iceland was fascinating. Because their currency was inflated so much when the stock markets fell, cash pretty much went away there. It wasn't reasonable to carry it in such large amounts, and their habits haven't changed since their recovery. I paid what was essentially about 45 cents to use a public bathroom there, and I could use a credit card to pay for that. I didn't see anyone use cash at any point in the three days I was there.
> 
> Of course, a company that doesn't sell direct to consumers can get away without accepting credit. Then again, I'd also bet that JC isn't taking huge wads of money in his pockets with him when he walks out after a successful sale  .



Correct, just fat checks made out to the company


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> old habits die hard.



Agreed on that!!! I refuse to use a debit card, my wife has one for emergency but we "never" use it to pay for anything. I don't want anyone with direct access into a bank account. I've had purchases go bad, and learned the hard way, it's easier to get a credit card charge removed than to get money back into my account. Sort of "he who holds the cash has the advantage". I follow a layer approach to all financial dealings.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> When I first switched from cash and debit to all credit, I was shocked when I got the first cc bill at how much I was spending just on everyday stuff like lunches and gas and groceries. I hadn’t realized it with the debit card and taking cash at the ATM.  Seeing all the charges lined up like that made me start thinking of where I could be cutting back.  For me, and this is definitely a “different strokes” thing, knowing that bill is coming and has to be paid in full makes me think twice before I buy anything.  It also really helped me create and stick to a budget.



I take out cash every Friday and use that. I rarely use the debit card. I like to budget myself. I use one credit card for online purchases and that gets paid off at statement time via internet, I even budget for that. I don't autopay any bills either as they are entered in a budget. My budget is toast but I will not go into all that other to say, no more online purchases for me the rest of the year, I cut my own planned purchases.  I had x amount in the budget for Christmas presents, well that is being cut but got a feeling the wife is gonna trump all over it. Shoot me now


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> I still like to carry cash and use it to pay for smaller purchases in stores. I find that if I take out a set amount of cash each pay day, it helps me keep expenditures down because I can see exactly what I am spending and what I have left for the week. I don't like using a card for less than $20, and I especially hate using a card for anything less than $10. This situation usually happens when I want a cup of coffee or something at work. If I don't have the cash to cover a cup of coffee or a sandwich, then in my mind, it's the same thing as not having enough money to pay for it. Only when I am desperate to I resort to using my card.


Totally agree - I love to have simple, old-fashioned "mad money" for small items like a quick coffee or random small pickup at the store.   The transaction is done, nothing to show up on my statement that I need to reconcile - keeps life simple.    Which I prefer.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Ugh.  Had the sonogram on Friday, doctor's office called this evening.  They can't tell what the mass is from the sonogram, so now I get to have my first MRI.  The problem with that is, after 33 years, my size 12-1/2 wedding band is on a size 16, or so, finger.
> 
> Ice and olive oil only makes the pain a bit easier to handle.  I'll either have to convince them that gold is not magnetic and therefore not a problem with the equipment, or I'll have to get the ring cut off.


I hope that all of it goes quickly and easily for you, Charlie.   

I had a lumbar MRI a year or 2 ago - first one for me, too.   Being in that tube was not a good place to discover that, why yes, I _am_ claustrophobic.   Had no idea I would react like I did.  I barely got through it, they had to keep talking to me, and then had to peel the table paper off of me from having broken out in panic sweat.    Strange experience.


----------



## SquarePeg

I do keep a bit of cash on hand for the Princess's allowance and the 8000 other times each week that she has her hand out!  I put her on a budget recently since having a teenage daughter is like this:


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg Sorry I just had to laugh, apparently teenage girls haven't changed much since my daughter was that age. She followed the belief that "she couldn't be out of money, she still had checks in her checkbook".


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon kiddos. Dave had a few minutes under 7 hours today. We have an almighty bad electric bill from last month and of $143 I gave Sister 120. I could conceivably put $20 away against a DSLR. I guess I will.
If anyone has a 20,30 or 40D they don't need think of Dave...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh.  Had the sonogram on Friday, doctor's office called this evening.  They can't tell what the mass is from the sonogram, so now I get to have my first MRI.  The problem with that is, after 33 years, my size 12-1/2 wedding band is on a size 16, or so, finger.
> 
> Ice and olive oil only makes the pain a bit easier to handle.  I'll either have to convince them that gold is not magnetic and therefore not a problem with the equipment, or I'll have to get the ring cut off.
> 
> 
> 
> I hope that all of it goes quickly and easily for you, Charlie.
> 
> I had a lumbar MRI a year or 2 ago - first one for me, too.   Being in that tube was not a good place to discover that, why yes, I _am_ claustrophobic.   Had no idea I would react like I did.  I barely got through it, they had to keep talking to me, and then had to peel the table paper off of me from having broken out in panic sweat.    Strange experience.
Click to expand...


Try being buried 18 hours, 30 feet underground in a space smaller than a closet while your body is soaked in mold water, oil and whatever fluids were in there. I'll take an MRI any day


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> Try being buried 18 hours, 30 feet underground in a space smaller than a closet while your body is soaked in mold water, oil and whatever fluids were in there.



So I take it this wasn't a medical procedure?


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Try being buried 18 hours, 30 feet underground in a space smaller than a closet while your body is soaked in mold water, oil and whatever fluids were in there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So I take it this wasn't a medical procedure?
Click to expand...

Nope, a life saving one, I got trapped in a cave in.


----------



## terri

Sounds awful.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever All the years as a fire and first responder, I never had it come up which is good, cause this old boy is claustrophobic big time. There is a tendency to experience claustrophobia when you're in an area when the smoke gets so thick you can't see anything, but surprisingly that never bothered me.


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> Sounds awful.


Yup. Once in Blue Moon, I'll have a dream about it and invariably wake up soaking wet


----------



## Frank F.

"What watch?"
"Half past after"

That is the 16-year-old humor in Germany. What is it where you live?


----------



## SquarePeg

I don't know that I'd call it humor but the 14 year old shortcut language is pretty funny.  

jelly - jealous
btdubs = btw = by the way
bdubs = buffalo wild wings (a restaurant chain)
sick invite = when I go somewhere and don't invite her and her friends
squad = daughter and core group of friends


----------



## Frank F.

"squad" is the same (but he knows whole Eminem Albums by heart and he is a German....)
"larry" = idiot
"birds" = several idiots
"sloods" = girls in my squad


----------



## Frank F.

Today I found that I love the 1.8/85G also with the D850!
the most film like feel I ever had with any digital camera: D850. You read it here first.


----------



## davidharmier60

Being buried in a cave in sounds like the stuff nightmares MIGHT bad of.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Be made of

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----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Try being buried 18 hours, 30 feet underground in a space smaller than a closet while your body is soaked in mold water, oil and whatever fluids were in there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So I take it this wasn't a medical procedure?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nope, a life saving one, I got trapped in a cave in.
Click to expand...


Totally having nightmares tonight. I have gotten more and more claustrophobic as I get older.



Frank F. said:


> "What watch?"
> "Half past after"
> 
> That is the 16-year-old humor in Germany. What is it where you live?



That reminds of me the scene in _Casablanca:
_


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Try being buried 18 hours, 30 feet underground in a space smaller than a closet while your body is soaked in mold water, oil and whatever fluids were in there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So I take it this wasn't a medical procedure?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nope, a life saving one, I got trapped in a cave in.
Click to expand...

Glad that one went well.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave has very heavy eyelids. 4am is right around the corner. Good night peeps. 

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----------



## vintagesnaps

Glad now I'm up on the latest teenage slang, now I can be cool too! 

Or maybe not... 

I didn't get half done what I wanted to get done this week and Wednesday's over. Guess I'll pare down my to-do list because it's going to be a nice weekend and I want to get out with a camera!  So whatever doesn't get done Thursday will wait til next week.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Try being buried 18 hours, 30 feet underground in a space smaller than a closet while your body is soaked in mold water, oil and whatever fluids were in there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So I take it this wasn't a medical procedure?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nope, a life saving one, I got trapped in a cave in.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Totally having nightmares tonight. I have gotten more and more claustrophobic as I get older.
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> "What watch?"
> "Half past after"
> 
> That is the 16-year-old humor in Germany. What is it where you live?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That reminds of me the scene in _Casablanca:
> _
Click to expand...



It is of course a quote from the famous film scene ... sampling culture ... mixed with a current word play.

what watch ... ten watch

remixed to ... ten past after

post humorism


----------



## davidharmier60

Awake. Sucking down coffee. 
About 23 minutes to go before boogie.

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----------



## JonA_CT

My neighborhood is on a a river bank...maybe 70-80 feet above the water.

This time of year, we get a bunch of fog as the air temps fall below the water temps every morning. It looks pretty cool as the sun comes over it.


----------



## terri

Beautiful, Jon!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh.  Had the sonogram on Friday, doctor's office called this evening.  They can't tell what the mass is from the sonogram, so now I get to have my first MRI.  The problem with that is, after 33 years, my size 12-1/2 wedding band is on a size 16, or so, finger.
> 
> Ice and olive oil only makes the pain a bit easier to handle.  I'll either have to convince them that gold is not magnetic and therefore not a problem with the equipment, or I'll have to get the ring cut off.
> 
> 
> 
> I hope that all of it goes quickly and easily for you, Charlie.
> 
> I had a lumbar MRI a year or 2 ago - first one for me, too.   Being in that tube was not a good place to discover that, why yes, I _am_ claustrophobic.   Had no idea I would react like I did.  I barely got through it, they had to keep talking to me, and then had to peel the table paper off of me from having broken out in panic sweat.    Strange experience.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Try being buried 18 hours, 30 feet underground in a space smaller than a closet while your body is soaked in mold water, oil and whatever fluids were in there. I'll take an MRI any day
Click to expand...

That is ugly.  Sorry you went through that. Gary was trapped once in a French Bakery ... Gary guesses that doesn't quite count.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Sadly, the Dodgers lost.  Arrieta pitched a very very good game and the Dodgers left too many runners on base. The Dodgers need to start out faster in order to get to the Cubs bullpen ... then it's over.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just had the most ridiculous conversation ever with my boss.  

Me (in layman's terms):  Our guys made a huge mistake last week and the customer was severely negatively impacted.  They fixed the problem but it took all day and then it happened again to the same customer yesterday.  The customer wants an explanation and some assurances on what we're doing to prevent this from happening again.   I need to find out what is going on with this.  We obviously have some type of break down in our process.  I'm going to...    

Him (interrupting me):  Well what about when the customer sends A instead of B (relatively minor mistake), what do they have to say about that?


Seriously??????


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Just had the most ridiculous conversation ever with my boss.
> 
> Me (in layman's terms):  Our guys made a huge mistake last week and the customer was severely negatively impacted.  They fixed the problem but it took all day and then it happened again to the same customer yesterday.  The customer wants an explanation and some assurances on what we're doing to prevent this from happening again.   I need to find out what is going on with this.  We obviously have some type of break down in our process.  I'm going to...
> 
> Him (interrupting me):  Well what about when the customer sends A instead of B (relatively minor mistake), what do they have to say about that?
> 
> 
> Seriously??????



I'm rolling my eyes right along with you.


----------



## limr

We also get some fog in the "hollers" - except the most reliable place is on the reservoir. The one that the highway goes over. The highway where hundreds of people slam on their breaks because after years of daily commuting, they are still somehow surprised at the tiny bit of fog that always settles in the same spot.

So I figured that I might as well get a photo out of it.


----------



## SquarePeg

Oh yeah.  And when I challenged his response he wigged out.  He says he never implied any relation between the two things and anyone with any sense would know that he wasn't equating one with the other.  He'll be all over me about every little thing for the rest of the week now.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Oh yeah.  And when I challenged his response he wigged out.  He says he never implied any relation between the two things and anyone with any sense would know that he wasn't equating one with the other.  He'll be all over me about every little thing for the rest of the week now.



Oh wow, and look at that. Didn't think my eyes could go further back into my head, but apparently they can! Could be a neat party trick. I could go as Linda Blair for Hallowe'en.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Sadly, the Dodgers lost.  Arrieta pitched a very very good game and the Dodgers left too many runners on base. The Dodgers need to start out faster in order to get to the Cubs bullpen ... then it's over.


That guy is intimidating. He is a lot of arms and legs coming at you.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Just had the most ridiculous conversation ever with my boss.
> 
> Me (in layman's terms):  Our guys made a huge mistake last week and the customer was severely negatively impacted.  They fixed the problem but it took all day and then it happened again to the same customer yesterday.  The customer wants an explanation and some assurances on what we're doing to prevent this from happening again.   I need to find out what is going on with this.  We obviously have some type of break down in our process.  I'm going to...
> 
> Him (interrupting me):  Well what about when the customer sends A instead of B (relatively minor mistake), what do they have to say about that?
> 
> 
> Seriously??????


Sounds like my owner. Let's divert the problem so I don't have to ask the hard questions. Problems are opportunities, your boss should be thankful that the customer came to you. That says you do a lot of things right normally. He is giving you the opportunity to retain his business while making you a better supplier for it. That's a win/win. Normally, when the customer just stops doing business with no communication, then that tells you more about your company. You have a communication, process, and integrity opportunity. Find the breakdown, standerdize it, communicate it to the customer and move on. The best solution to an SOP is the workers involved in that process(s).


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon peeps. Dave got about 2 minutes under 6 hours today. The last hour looking up and reaching up to use a long handle feather duster on about a mile of florescent lights to take out cobwebs. 
She wanted Dave to change the filters after that but Dave was Done in. 

I don't hate the Yankees. But I freaking HATE the anounsers! They get SO happy when a Yankee does anything good.

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----------



## SquarePeg

davidharmier60 said:


> I don't hate the Yankees. But I freaking HATE the anounsers! They get SO happy when a Yankee does anything good.



That Joe Buck probably has a NYY tattoo on his ass.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Oh yeah.  And when I challenged his response he wigged out.  He says he never implied any relation between the two things and anyone with any sense would know that he wasn't equating one with the other.  He'll be all over me about every little thing for the rest of the week now.


The week is nearly over.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Afternoon peeps. Dave got about 2 minutes under 6 hours today. The last hour looking up and reaching up to use a long handle feather duster on about a mile of florescent lights to take out cobwebs.
> She wanted Dave to change the filters after that but Dave was Done in.
> 
> I don't hate the Yankees. But I freaking HATE the anounsers! They get SO happy when a Yankee does anything good.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Damn Yankee.


----------



## Frank F.

Good night guys & gals. I am so tired I cannot find words & I have to survive Friday, so a self picture must do...


----------



## Gary A.

That is how Gary remembers you.


----------



## smoke665

As if I don't already have enough "jobs" to catch up on so I can go shoot, yesterday afternoon a LOUD crash came from our master bedroom closet. We have a large walk-in with the closet maid wire racks and shelves going around three walls, I opened the door to find one complete wall of shelves, racks, and clothes laying in the floor and big holes in the wall, where the anchors had pulled out. Finally finished up the last of the repair a little while ago.  Why it suddenly chose to let go after 11 years is beyond me. No one was even near it.


----------



## Gary A.

That sucks. Bet you found the studs.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> That sucks. Bet you found the studs.



I did when I put it back.  The well known contractor who built the house didn't, which is why I had to patch some large holes in the drywall.


----------



## snowbear

Work was fun today.  Without details (and throwing people under a bus):  There is a process that takes data from one system and through a some magic and a Python script, produces an Excel spreadsheet.  The original data is sensitive so it is modestly adjusted (we can't give precise addresses in the data) so it can be made available to the public.

The original Python script writer is not in the office and unable to make any adjustments for a while, so the boss comes to me.  Apparently the Python and magic haven't been playing together and the output has not been created for a little while.  I tried running the script manually and it failed.  I now have the project.

Long story short, I was able to decipher most of what was written (though I'm baffled as to why some of it was written the way it was) and got the thing running.  I had a couple of adjustment to make to the script, but the bigger problem is the original input has two fields set as text -- they are longitude and latitude (see why I am involved?) and we need these as floating point numbers (numbers on both sides of the decimal point).  After converting the long/lat fields to numbers in the Excel file, all is good.  Now, I'll manually go through this process for the next few days until I can either figure out how to convert the text to floating point or the magic part of this (another office) converts the fields.  Because this is tied to a GIS database, the "normal" way of converting doesn't work - it seems to be the way a field name is addressed.

Oh, yeah - the magic person was complaining that, out of 14,000-some records that magic gives GIS, only 12,000-some records are returned.  I pointed out that any records given to GIS without long/lat data can't be processed.  I even mentioned that the most likely reason the long/lat are missing is because the other system isn't running those addresses through a verification process, and some specific reasons why that might happen.  Maybe it's because English probably isn't  magic person's native language, but I just got smiles and blank stares.

I deserved ice cream, tonight.


----------



## davidharmier60

The roof of our manufactured house is made of glued together stuff. Even the "boards" that hold the roof up are glued crap. Dave can't see any way it could be repaired.  And there ain't no way to replace the house.  So tarps cover pretty much the back of the house. He'd gladly trade his problem for yours.

Dave is lying in bed again. So very soon he'll be studying the inside of his eyelids. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> The roof of our manufactured house is made of glued together stuff. Even the "boards" that hold the roof up are glued crap. Dave can't see any way it could be repaired.  And there ain't no way to replace the house.  So tarps cover pretty much the back of the house. He'd gladly trade his problem for yours.
> 
> Dave is lying in bed again. So very soon he'll be studying the inside of his eyelids.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Stronger glue and/or Duck tape


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary's LAD are on a roll.  Cubs are getting steam rolled.  See you in the WS Gary.  Hopefully vs. Houston although I have to admit that LAD v NYY would be an instant classic - the networks must be salivating at the thought.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Gary's LAD are on a roll.  Cubs are getting steam rolled.  See you in the WS Gary.  Hopefully vs. Houston although I have to admit that LAD v NYY would be an instant classic - the networks must be salivating at the thought.


Verlander will have something to say about that.


----------



## limr

New tooth. I haz one.

Or, well, a new permanent crown anyway.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave COULD use the services of a professional dentist.  Ain't likely. 
Off to see the wizard in about 17 minutes. 

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----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## Gary A.

EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA!


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Work was fun today.  Without details (and throwing people under a bus):  There is a process that takes data from one system and through a some magic and a Python script, produces an Excel spreadsheet.  The original data is sensitive so it is modestly adjusted (we can't give precise addresses in the data) so it can be made available to the public.
> 
> The original Python script writer is not in the office and unable to make any adjustments for a while, so the boss comes to me.  Apparently the Python and magic haven't been playing together and the output has not been created for a little while.  I tried running the script manually and it failed.  I now have the project.
> 
> Long story short, I was able to decipher most of what was written (though I'm baffled as to why some of it was written the way it was) and got the thing running.  I had a couple of adjustment to make to the script, but the bigger problem is the original input has two fields set as text -- they are longitude and latitude (see why I am involved?) and we need these as floating point numbers (numbers on both sides of the decimal point).  After converting the long/lat fields to numbers in the Excel file, all is good.  Now, I'll manually go through this process for the next few days until I can either figure out how to convert the text to floating point or the magic part of this (another office) converts the fields.  Because this is tied to a GIS database, the "normal" way of converting doesn't work - it seems to be the way a field name is addressed.
> 
> Oh, yeah - the magic person was complaining that, out of 14,000-some records that magic gives GIS, only 12,000-some records are returned.  I pointed out that any records given to GIS without long/lat data can't be processed.  I even mentioned that the most likely reason the long/lat are missing is because the other system isn't running those addresses through a verification process, and some specific reasons why that might happen.  Maybe it's because English probably isn't  magic person's native language, but I just got smiles and blank stares.
> 
> I deserved ice cream, tonight.


Gary is making some ice cream today.  There are a pair of bananas which are getting a bit long in the tooth. Gary will hit the Ben & Jerry cookbook this afternoon.  Come on by Charlie for some fresh, (never frozen), ice cream.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> The roof of our manufactured house is made of glued together stuff. Even the "boards" that hold the roof up are glued crap. Dave can't see any way it could be repaired.  And there ain't no way to replace the house.  So tarps cover pretty much the back of the house. He'd gladly trade his problem for yours.
> 
> Dave is lying in bed again. So very soon he'll be studying the inside of his eyelids.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Get a bucket of Henry's or equal.  There are many products from that spray rubberized stuff that comes in a can (the guy with screen door boat bottom), to asphalt products (Henry's), to paints which you can spread on your roof.  Home Depot (or equal) is your best friend.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Happy Friday, hosers!


Yes it is.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> Yes it is.
Click to expand...


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 148508
> EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA!


What a complete team. Bullpen has been lights out. Timely hitting, and the best managing I have ever seen. They look destined. Remember, I called them winning it all. Still think it will be against the Astros but the experts don't see it as I do.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> Yes it is.
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Gary A.

Gary needs to score some WS tickets. (Gary was there for the Gibson home run.)


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary needs to score some WS tickets. (Gary was there for the Gibson home run.)


Gary needs to contact his friends at the LA Times. Hopefully no dirty deeds needed.


----------



## JonA_CT

Oh you can always get them, Gary. I had a student who went to all of the Mets home WS games a few years ago. Her parents are well-known tort lawyers here in CT, though, haha. 

I couldn't believe how cheap tickets were in Boston for the ALDS. I could have gotten good tickets to Game 4 for $40. I almost went, but my wife talked me out of it.


----------



## limr

Mr. Bean!


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave had 3 or 4 minutes over 5 hours today. He THINKS it's 23 or so for the week. And to Dave the coolest plane ever Made!
He has no chance to even get close to Ellington Field for Wings over Houston this weekend. And no DSLR to use anyhow. 



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## JonA_CT

I'm feeling like I need some new gear to jump start my creativity. Stupid, right? I just need a little push to go out and actually take some photos as stupid as that sounds.

I'm thinking ultra-wide prime...time to start saving my nickels and dimes.


----------



## Dave442

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave had 3 or 4 minutes over 5 hours today. He THINKS it's 23 or so for the week. And to Dave the coolest plane ever Made!
> He has no chance to even get close to Ellington Field for Wings over Houston this weekend. And no DSLR to use anyhow. View attachment 148515
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Cousin flew those in Vietnam, I just put together plastic models of them at the time.


----------



## davidharmier60

I shot that one and two or three others back when at Ellington Field. We lived 5 miles away. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## Gary A.

Gary has the pizza dough proofing ...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leo stole my post! lol great minds...

I'm having leftover pizza. I use Rachael Ray's technique of warming it in a pan on the stovetop instead of the oven, helps crisp the bottom crust. I might have a little minestrone left in the freezer too... and a salad and college hockey on the tele.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  Me time tonight.  Princess will be off at the football game watching the undefeated Melrose Raiders go for win #7 tonight vs Burlington.  I'll be enjoying a massage and facial followed by take out from wherever the heck I want and a nice relaxing night with my feet up and my glass raised.  It's not drinking alone if the dog is home.


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave had 3 or 4 minutes over 5 hours today. He THINKS it's 23 or so for the week. And to Dave the coolest plane ever Made!
> He has no chance to even get close to Ellington Field for Wings over Houston this weekend. And no DSLR to use anyhow. View attachment 148515
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Oooo - F4 Phantom 2. Used to see them a lot when DC ANG flew them


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  Me time tonight.  Princess will be off at the football game watching the undefeated Melrose Raiders go for win #7 tonight vs Burlington.  I'll be enjoying a massage and facial followed by take out from wherever the heck I want and a nice relaxing night with my feet up and my glass raised.  It's not drinking alone if the dog is home.


Pics


----------



## snowbear

Heading out soon. MLW is doing a night shift of OT tomorrow night - me, the kitties, and Netflix


----------



## Gary A.

@Chuck: Your ice cream  is nearly done.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave found out we are having hot dogs.
This does not displease him.
Watching Price is Right. 
There will be Yankees at Astros later.
I hope Verlander can keep them down...

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----------



## davidharmier60

Oh my but Dave does NOT like Joe Buck ...
Here is hoping he doesn't have anything to get happy about....

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----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  Me time tonight.  Princess will be off at the football game watching the undefeated Melrose Raiders go for win #7 tonight vs Burlington.  I'll be enjoying a massage and facial followed by take out from wherever the heck I want and a nice relaxing night with my feet up and my glass raised.  It's not drinking alone if the dog is home.


You're welcome to come by with Charlie.  Homemade pizza, Chicken Carbonara, homemade ice cream and plenty of vino, all 90+ stuff.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Boy oh boy (said the announcer) is right. No college hockey on so watching the RedWings, rats if the Caps didn't score with 1:01 left. 

3 on 3 OT, if they keep this up it'll be down to two guys slapping the puck end to end! 

Alright I'm gonna get out some ice cream, either lite vanilla or choc frozen yogurt. Too bad Gary's ice cream maker doesn't drive down the street ringing a bell.


----------



## davidharmier60

I heard Dad yelling to my Sister something about 3-0. I figure the Yankees are going to the world series. I don't need to get up at 4am tomorrow. But I did this morning and am very close to sleeping. 

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## vintagesnaps

Crap. Caps scored in OT. Enough of the postgame, on to the late game.


----------



## JonA_CT

I was up a little early with my son today, but it's all good because I have a fine cup of coffee in front of me. Today's beans are a dry-process lot from Brazil. While I really love the acidic and fruity African coffees, my wife really enjoys the Latin American coffees for their bittersweet chocolate and nutty notes. So we alternate batches. I think a lot of it is that she enjoys her coffee with milk, and the milk makes more sense with these flavors that the citrusy flavors of the African lots I like.


----------



## jcdeboever

Well, I didn't get to watch anything last night but I see my Red Wings and Pistons lost but Verlander was dominant again. Hopefully can watch the game tonight.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## davidharmier60

There is some joy in Daves world.
The Astros pulled it out last night.
Dave has nails upon which to chew later this evening. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I was up a little early with my son today, but it's all good because I have a fine cup of coffee in front of me. Today's beans are a dry-process lot from Brazil. While I really love the acidic and fruity African coffees, my wife really enjoys the Latin American coffees for their bittersweet chocolate and nutty notes. So we alternate batches. I think a lot of it is that she enjoys her coffee with milk, and the milk makes more sense with these flavors that the citrusy flavors of the African lots I like.


Gary drinks his coffee black and still prefers the New World coffees over Asia and Africa. In Mesoamerica, the cocoa beans were so prized that the beans would often be used as currency.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Well, I didn't get to watch anything last night but I see my Red Wings and Pistons lost but Verlander was dominant again. Hopefully can watch the game tonight.


Hopefully ...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday was a particularly nice day. In the land of exceptionally nice days all year round ... yesterday was perfect, complete with a nice Pacific breeze coming in from the south. Max and his human Mike came over for coffee and we just relaxed in the patio in the late morning, sipping our coffee and drinking in all the colors of the trees and the butterflies. The pumps were off, making it especially quiet, relaxing and soothing.


----------



## Gary A.

Speaking of yesterday ... guests came over for dinner and dinner was especially good ... Gary outdid himself this time.  He cooked all afternoon making pizza, banana ice cream and chicken carbonara.  The pizza was sausage with half tomato based sauce and half pesto, full of peppers and herbs with three types of cheeses. The crust was full of peppers, basil and oregano. Gary was chopping all afternoon. The carbonara was fantastic, really thick sweet and spicy, the chicken was juicy and the pasta was this special pasta which expands when cooked.  Gary cooked the peas in the leftover pasta water and finished off the sauce with a bit of pasta water ... and everything came out great. Some great wines from Sonoma and Paso Robles and it was polished off with a dessert wine, coffee and a Ben and Jerry's recipe for banana ice cream (Gary added a few chips of chocolate to the recipe).


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was up a little early with my son today, but it's all good because I have a fine cup of coffee in front of me. Today's beans are a dry-process lot from Brazil. While I really love the acidic and fruity African coffees, my wife really enjoys the Latin American coffees for their bittersweet chocolate and nutty notes. So we alternate batches. I think a lot of it is that she enjoys her coffee with milk, and the milk makes more sense with these flavors that the citrusy flavors of the African lots I like.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary drinks his coffee black and still prefers the New World coffees over Asia and Africa. In Mesoamerica, the cocoa beans were so prized that they would often be used as currency.
Click to expand...


I agree with you about Asian coffees...I haven't really liked any coffees I've tried from there...which is probably why I have a bunch of partial bags in my coffee bin. 

By the way...I ended up not updating my coffee roasting system. I've been roasting inside under my stove exhaust hood, and it's been doing a decent enough job. Ultimately, the coffee I get from it is awesome for the total investment of 30ish bucks. The one that has full smoke suppression costs almost $400. I'd rather buy stuff for my other hobbies.


----------



## JonA_CT

Went for a walk this morning at a local park...






Colors are finally starting to turn here...


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was up a little early with my son today, but it's all good because I have a fine cup of coffee in front of me. Today's beans are a dry-process lot from Brazil. While I really love the acidic and fruity African coffees, my wife really enjoys the Latin American coffees for their bittersweet chocolate and nutty notes. So we alternate batches. I think a lot of it is that she enjoys her coffee with milk, and the milk makes more sense with these flavors that the citrusy flavors of the African lots I like.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary drinks his coffee black and still prefers the New World coffees over Asia and Africa. In Mesoamerica, the cocoa beans were so prized that they would often be used as currency.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I agree with you about Asian coffees...I haven't really liked any coffees I've tried from there...which is probably why I have a bunch of partial bags in my coffee bin.
> 
> By the way...I ended up not updating my coffee roasting system. I've been roasting inside under my stove exhaust hood, and it's been doing a decent enough job. Ultimately, the coffee I get from it is awesome for the total investment of 30ish bucks. The one that has full smoke suppression costs almost $400. I'd rather buy stuff for my other hobbies.
Click to expand...

That sounds a bit awkward ... but Gary doesn't blame you ... 400 bucks is 400 bucks.  It isn't that Gary doesn't like Asian or African coffees ... it more that Gary prefers Latin America coffee.  (Gary's seedling coffee plant is growing, soon in about 15 years he'll have a vertical monopoly.)


----------



## Gary A.

Big game today, USC vs. Notre Dame, 4:30p.m. PST.


----------



## davidharmier60

The Biggest game today from the Houston perspective is game 7 of the ALCS.
Dave was born and raised in Houston and even if he lives some 65 miles from Minute Maid park he is fully in the Astros corner. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

I see there is a Caps fan among us... 

Tonight there's a college game on, and I'll watch whatever game's on that's showing Hockey Night in Canada. Coach's Corner is worth it to see Don Cherry's suit if nothing else!


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I see there is a Caps fan among us...



Not me! 

Go Rangers!


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> I see there is a Caps fan among us...
> 
> Tonight there's a college game on, and I'll watch whatever game's on that's showing Hockey Night in Canada. Coach's Corner is worth it to see Don Cherry's suit if nothing else!



Canadiens, then the Caps when they arrived in town.  I wonder how many remember (or even know) why the Calgary team is called the "Flames" 



Spoiler



They moved from Atlanta, which had been burned during the Civil War



Along the same line - anybody remember the name of DC's NBA team was, before they became the Wizards?


----------



## benhasajeep

snowbear said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I see there is a Caps fan among us...
> 
> Tonight there's a college game on, and I'll watch whatever game's on that's showing Hockey Night in Canada. Coach's Corner is worth it to see Don Cherry's suit if nothing else!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Canadiens, then the Caps when they arrived in town.  I wonder how many remember (or even know) why the Calgary team is called the "Flames"
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> They moved from Atlanta, which had been burned during the Civil War
> 
> 
> 
> Along the same line - anybody remember the name of DC's NBA team was, before they became the Wizards?
Click to expand...

Been to the Centre Bell several times (free tix from vendor) while I was in Montreal on multiple occasions.  Also been to Jou Louis Arena several times when I was still at home.  Including play offs, but no Stanley Cup.  One of the few things I enjoyed on TV in Montreal was Hockey Night in Canada.  Most of the time the TV was off.


----------



## JonA_CT

Took a metric crap ton of photos today, and I think I have some real keepers. 

I'm sipping a Tanqueray and tonic and getting ready sort through them. If I can convince my wife, hopefully I'll have the baseball game on in the background.


----------



## JonA_CT

Sneak preview...I have a bunch more to get through tomorrow.


----------



## davidharmier60

So far so good... Astros!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

My but they are having an INNING!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

So sorry NYY fans. Astros are going to the World Series! And Dave is now headed off to bed.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave woke up to no power. And no coffee. 
Not the very best of situations. 
He hopes everyone else is doing better.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Mary Lou and Gary went shopping yesterday.  Gary likes succulents.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Gary and Miss Maggie are in the patio, sipping our coffee and tea, reading the paper and getting in into mischief.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I remember the Atlanta Flames. Just barely, I didn't know anything about hockey til college.

Hockey's a small world, there are a lot of local connections if you use the Kevin Bacon 6 degrees of separation. Actually, we do have a number of former players and coaches still playing or coaching or GM'ing or announcing. 


Jon, that is the coolest onesie!! and I've seen lots of onesies with the type work I've done. Jack's getting big!


----------



## davidharmier60

As it turns out a tree fell across the electric wires tearing our power pole down.
Fortunately we have a generator. 
Unfortunately we need an electrician.
Ain't life just peachy swell.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

If it’s a high voltage line, the electrician won’t be cheap.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> If it’s a high voltage line, the electrician won’t be cheap.



Wouldn’t that be the responsibility of the power company?


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> If it’s a high voltage line, the electrician won’t be cheap.


Call @480sparky.  Still might not be cheap, but you'd be supporting a fellow TPFer.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If it’s a high voltage line, the electrician won’t be cheap.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wouldn’t that be the responsibility of the power company?
Click to expand...

Depends, if it is on private property maybe not.


----------



## 480sparky

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If it’s a high voltage line, the electrician won’t be cheap.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wouldn’t that be the responsibility of the power company?
Click to expand...


The line between the utility's pole and the Point Of Attachment is.  But the only thing ON the house that's theirs is the meter itself.  The owner is responsible for the weatherhead, POA, riser, meter socket, wires in the riser etc.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I haven't had to pay but I got wire care so with that as part of the monthly bill they come fix whatever. Was worth it when I had to have something done years ago. 

They're good at tree trimming all over the place to run new lines... oh wait that was the phone company this past week. 

You'll probably have to pay Sparky overtime, it being a Sunday. 

Hope you're able to get it taken care of soon David.


----------



## SquarePeg

At least it waited until after the game ended!


----------



## davidharmier60

A friend of a friend is an electrician. 
He is supposed to come after lunch tomorrow. If we have to get a whole new pole it's going to be rather expensive. 
Life. You'll never get out of it alive.

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----------



## smoke665

Finished up the last of the major maintenance items on the RV this afternoon. Over the past month, I've repacked the wheel bearings, and put new brake shoes on, cleaned the roof and treated, wash, wax and buffed the beast to a high shine, and lastly, dropped the bottom to access the tanks valves (replaced the seals in one, and lubricated the rest). Now I'm done for another year, and ready to finish packing for our next trip.


----------



## SquarePeg

Pats game.  Let’s go!!


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Finished up the last of the major maintenance items on the RV this afternoon. Over the past month, I've repacked the wheel bearings, and put new brake shoes on, cleaned the roof and treated, wash, wax and buffed the beast to a high shine, and lastly, dropped the bottom to access the tanks valves (replaced the seals in one, and lubricated the rest). Now I'm done for another year, and ready to finish packing for our next trip.



Where’s the next trip?


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Finished up the last of the major maintenance items on the RV this afternoon. Over the past month, I've repacked the wheel bearings, and put new brake shoes on, cleaned the roof and treated, wash, wax and buffed the beast to a high shine, and lastly, dropped the bottom to access the tanks valves (replaced the seals in one, and lubricated the rest). Now I'm done for another year, and ready to finish packing for our next trip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Where’s the next trip?
Click to expand...


If all goes well with doctor this week, will be headed to Missouri. Sadie and I will be spending a few days at the farm hunting and wife will be visiting family in the area. After that who knows. Trying to get our short trips in before we head south for the winter after Christmas


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Finished up the last of the major maintenance items on the RV this afternoon. Over the past month, I've repacked the wheel bearings, and put new brake shoes on, cleaned the roof and treated, wash, wax and buffed the beast to a high shine, and lastly, dropped the bottom to access the tanks valves (replaced the seals in one, and lubricated the rest). Now I'm done for another year, and ready to finish packing for our next trip.


Doesn’t sound like retirement to Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary made another pizza, half pesto and half marinara and more Chicken Carbonara.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Pats game.  Let’s go!!


The folks in the cheap seats can only hear the game.


----------



## Dave442

I see the photographer, Samii Stoloff, that was injured during the Penn State - Michigan game is doing OK. She caught the shot of the player just before being hit, or "run over" as she puts it.  Hope everyone around here made it through the weekend without being run over; and hoping Samii can be out there next weekend covering Big 10 football.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave had earplugs in because the generator is loud and that's all he could hear. Almost overslept but all is well and Dave is parked waiting for Jodi. 
The tricky part of the power pole is what's hurried underground from it over to the house. Should be more fun than a barrel of monkeys. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pats game.  Let’s go!!
> 
> 
> 
> The folks in the cheap seats can only hear the game.
Click to expand...


We went to a foggy game once at the old Foxboro stadium.  Pea soup as they like to say around here.  It was a playoff game vs Pittsburgh back in the Parcells era.  Fortunately we were not in the cheap seats for that one.


----------



## smoke665

Pea soup here this morning! Rain started in the wee hours this morning and is down to a drizzle now. Glad Sadie and I got extra walking time in yesterday, as it will be limited today.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. On the news this morning they were saying that tickets for the series started at $750 with an average price of $3,000. Do you have any "extra tickets" you want to gift to someone? LOL


----------



## limr

Guys, guys, guys, GUUUUYYYYYSSS!


----------



## Frank F.

I guess I buy to many things online. Always dangeours surfing with health or photography in mind....


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Pea soup here this morning! Rain started in the wee hours this morning and is down to a drizzle now. Glad Sadie and I got extra walking time in yesterday, as it will be limited today.


Man, we're in a real heat wave.  20 degrees above normal ... triple digit stuff ... Santa Ana winds blowing in from the Mojave Desert.  Gary would love some of that fog.  Mary Lou and Gary are having dinner at the beach tonight.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> I guess I buy to many things online. Always dangeours surfing with health or photography in mind....


Mary Lou keeps threatening to take Gary's Amazon card away.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. On the news this morning they were saying that tickets for the series started at $750 with an average price of $3,000. Do you have any "extra tickets" you want to gift to someone? LOL


Oh sure ... Gary just picked up ten tickets ... they're cheaper that way, economy of scale and stuff.  I only have four friends, so I'll leave six at will call for you.  Enjoy!  (It will be hotter than hell tomorrow, *see above, 100F, so no Alabama winter clothing. I'll meet you at Phillipe's after the game.)

PS- Parking is $35 online or $50 at the stadium.
G


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Oh sure ..



Obviously they are selling these high prices, but for the life of me, I don't know who. Last year we were close to Tampa in January. Wife suggested we see if we could get tickets to the playoffs. Cheapest ones available even close to the field were upwards of 5k. Crazy!!

Oh and the temps here ---- 65 is the high today, and the skies are prettiest shade of blue.


----------



## davidharmier60

Electricians came and did their part.
SHECO was just here and didn't know they lost a pole too. A crew to do that should be here in 35 minutes or so. Will be SO NICE to kill the generator! 
The electrictions did a stand out job!
Because it's husband of a super nice lady it was Done for $400. Still a lot but not nearly what was expected. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Things are different in Texas! I'm not sure I could get an electrician to my house for much less than that.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh sure ..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Obviously they are selling these high prices, but for the life of me, I don't know who. Last year we were close to Tampa in January. Wife suggested we see if we could get tickets to the playoffs. Cheapest ones available even close to the field were upwards of 5k. Crazy!!
> 
> Oh and the temps here ---- 65 is the high today, and the skies are prettiest shade of blue.
Click to expand...

A couple of days ago it was in the 70's ... just a real freak thing, apparently two 'Highs' are creating the extremely hot temperatures.  If you're coming, I hope you like wine!


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Electricians came and did their part.
> SHECO was just here and didn't know they lost a pole too. A crew to do that should be here in 35 minutes or so. Will be SO NICE to kill the generator!
> The electrictions did a stand out job!
> Because it's husband of a super nice lady it was Done for $400. Still a lot but not nearly what was expected.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Including the pole?  If so, that is quite good.  Out here for a temp pole and connect mmmhhh ... over a thou ... but then we're also talking prevailing wage ... dunno about private sector work.


----------



## smoke665

A few years ago we had some of the meth heads doing their own wiring to the pole on empty houses in the district, bypassing the line fuse. So, when the house caught fire all we could do is stand back and watch it burn until the power company arrived (which by that time it was generally on the ground). Talk about fire works, those live lines would jump, spark, pop! Thankfully most of those houses have been thinned out now.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> A few years ago we had some of the meth heads doing their own wiring to the pole on empty houses in the district, bypassing the line fuse. So, when the house caught fire all we could do is stand back and watch it burn until the power company arrived (which by that time it was generally on the ground). Talk about fire works, those live lines would jump, spark, pop! Thankfully most of those houses have been thinned out now.


That's just crazy ... as for Gary ... Gary just runs an extension cord to my neighbors garage.


----------



## Frank F.

today the Feuilleton of my morning paper ... Frankfurter Allgemeine ... ran a review of a Russian theatrical piece currently staged in Vienna. The author shocked me with a moment of truth when he says that slavery may be abolished, but whoever can afford it might rent humans ad libitum until today....


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> today the Feuilleton of my morning paper ... Frankfurter Allgemeine ... ran a review of a Russian theatrical piece currently staged in Vienna. The author shocked me with a moment of truth when he says that slavery may be abolished, but whoever can afford it might rent humans ad libitum until today....
> 
> View attachment 148679


Unfortunately, the ignored reality of our world is never as pleasant or righteous as we desire.


----------



## JonA_CT

The guy who runs the Strobist blog uses all Fujifilm cameras now. 

I'm safe though. There are no local stores for me to go hold one.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> The guy who runs the Strobist blog uses all Fujifilm cameras now.
> 
> I'm safe though. There are no local stores for me to go hold one.



I sense the force is calling you.


----------



## SquarePeg

Who here watches TWD?  Who do you think was in the two graves?


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> The guy who runs the Strobist blog uses all Fujifilm cameras now.
> 
> I'm safe though. There are no local stores for me to go hold one.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I sense the force is calling you.
Click to expand...


I can’t do it unless I sell all of my Nikon gear first. And that sounds like a lot of work. Since I don’t know what I’m missing, it’s much easier to ignore haha.


----------



## davidharmier60

The two guys that did the NICE work were subcontractors for the guy with the SUPER nice wife. I imagine because of her he lost his arse on this job. The SHECO guy that showed up didn't have their missing pole on his work order. But he called in and got a subcontractor bunch out here quick.
Now if we get phone and Wi-Fi back tomorrow all will be well.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Just watched some YouTube videos on Photoshop. My head is spinning. What a remarkably powerful program.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is running the A/C.  He thinks it’s the first time this month. Gary expects to run the A/C tomorrow.  Go Dodgers!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> The guy who runs the Strobist blog uses all Fujifilm cameras now.
> 
> I'm safe though. There are no local stores for me to go hold one.


Gary has Canon 1Ds and Oly O-MD E-M1s ... he likes his Fuji’s best.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave thinks Gary is a cool dude.
But go Astros!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave thinks Gary is a cool dude.
> But go Astros!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


LOL ... Gary thinks the teams match up evenly ... Verlander really put Houston's defense and LA's defense in the level. It should be an extremely competitive series.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary is running the A/C.  He thinks it’s the first time this month. Gary expects to run the A/C tomorrow.  Go Dodgers!



That's crazy. Temperature here was 45 as Sadie and I headed out for our morning walk, but the sky was clear and that beautiful blue that it's been the last couple days. Such a nice morning that we made the full 2 mile loop through the woods. One of my favorite times of the year!!


----------



## SquarePeg

Last time Houston reached the WS they were a National league team and got swept by a red hot Chicago White Sox team.  They have never won.  Last time LAD won they had to go through the Astros to do it.  I'll be rooting for my boy Dave Roberts and LAD but will not be sad if Houston wins it. They've had a tough year and seem like a great team.  Love that Verlander has pledged to donate all of his post season earnings to the Hurricane relief.  Also love Alex Cora (who is on his way to manage the BoSox yeay!).  Cora is a former Dodger and Red Sox who is now bench coach for Astros.  Lots of interesting overlaps with these two teams.  

Raining here this morning but going to clear up for the day.  Lots of rain and wind expected tomorrow should strip a lot of the pretty foliage from the trees.  I have a photo meet up on Saturday morning that will probably be a bust!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is running the A/C.  He thinks it’s the first time this month. Gary expects to run the A/C tomorrow.  Go Dodgers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's crazy. Temperature here was 45 as Sadie and I headed out for our morning walk, but the sky was clear and that beautiful blue that it's been the last couple days. Such a nice morning that we made the full 2 mile loop through the woods. One of my favorite times of the year!!
Click to expand...

73F presently, as Gary sips his Emergen-C, Miss Maggie at his feet, reading the paper in the kitchen.  Triple digits again today.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's rather cool and dry in Daves part of the world. The AC hasn't run since Saturday night. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

@JC: OMG, that World Series section is awesome, 28 pages of stories and huge photos.  You would love it!


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Low 70s, cloudy and wild wind. No rain yet, but it looks like the skies are going to just open up any second now. My allergies are going nuts.

I need it to be a proper late-October, please. RIGHT MEOW!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is reading that the City of Santa Rosa lost 3,000 homes to the recent fires ... that is a lot of homes ... a lot of homeless.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave feels sure that the telephone man will be along soon. Wi-Fi is terrible thing to lose.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Gary is reading that the City of Santa Rosa lost 3,000 homes to the recent fires ... that is a lot of homes ... a lot of homeless.



That's unreal.  For people without family to take them in, it's devastating.


----------



## davidharmier60

WiFi is back.  Yeah!
Life as we know it is back to normal. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> @JC: OMG, that World Series section is awesome, 28 pages of stories and huge photos.  You would love it!



28 pager? Wow. My legs are getting numb just thinking about it. Lucky dog


----------



## Frank F.

after some cold days and esp cold nights we are back in the 20something Celsius...


----------



## limr

I want the cold back!

This weather makes my brain dull.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> My allergies are going nuts.


Same here, and same for Roxy.

Poor Roxy has been biting her paws, has been dotted with hives, and hasn't slept in several days. Took her to the vet last night to get some antihistamines, which allowed her (and therefore my wife and I) to sleep through the night last night--the first in several days. We'll have to get used to that with baby on the way.


----------



## terri

It's finally gotten colder here...leaves beginning to turn in the northern mountains.     Y'all's rainy, windy ick of today is what rolled through here yesterday, and left all this chilly deliciousness behind.    Sky is clear, solid blue, breezy and 68 degrees F.     Will drop to the 40's tonight - yayyyy!!!!


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> My allergies are going nuts.
> 
> 
> 
> Same here, and same for Roxy.
> 
> Poor Roxy has been biting her paws, has been dotted with hives, and hasn't slept in several days. Took her to the vet last night to get some antihistamines, which allowed her (and therefore my wife and I) to sleep through the night last night--the first in several days. We'll have to get used to that with baby on the way.
Click to expand...


Poor Roxy  



terri said:


> It's finally gotten colder here...leaves beginning to turn in the northern mountains.     Y'all's rainy, windy ick of today is what rolled through here yesterday, and left all this chilly deliciousness behind.    Sky is clear, solid blue, breezy and 68 degrees F.     Will drop to the 40's tonight - yayyyy!!!!



Hopefully that's heading our way, too!


----------



## limr

Okay, that's better:



 

Aaaaaand, the heavens just opened.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> My allergies are going nuts.
> 
> 
> 
> Same here, and same for Roxy.
> 
> Poor Roxy has been biting her paws, has been dotted with hives, and hasn't slept in several days. Took her to the vet last night to get some antihistamines, which allowed her (and therefore my wife and I) to sleep through the night last night--the first in several days. *We'll have to get used to that with baby on the way.*
Click to expand...


Yup.  Go out for dinner someplace nice, see a movie that's not rated G, relax on the couch guilt free , watch HBO without worrying that your child will unexpectedly come into the room and get an eyeful of Danerys and John Snow getting busy...  Do it all now because for the next 14+ years you will not have a lot of free time bwahahahahaha!


Cold last night here and rainy this morning.  The neighborhood turned to fall overnight!  Love it!!!!!


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Yup. Go out for dinner someplace nice, see a movie that's not rated G, relax on the couch guilt free , watch HBO without worrying that your child will unexpectedly come into the room and get an eyeful of Danerys and John Snow getting busy... Do it all now because for the next 14+ years you will not have a lot of free time bwahahahahaha!


Haha.. oh Dany and Snow.. they don't know any better. 

We definitely need to go out more; we've been so busy with preparing for baby and work.

RIP free time. RIP sleep.


----------



## Gary A.

The Double-Truck from the World Series section


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> RIP free time. RIP sleep.



Worth it!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Been breezy and the sun's been peeking out - and I left a window open and this morning it was almost - cold! 'bout time.

Local middle school is having a magazine sale and instead of coming to the door they mailed something out. I'm trying to figure out which kid is Isaiah.... ?? Probably have seen and talked to him... I guess. The other one is next door but I can't believe she's in 7th grade, what did they do with that little girl I used to see?? she sure grew up fast. On the other side is a toddler so this kind of thing will apparently continue on for years to come.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has the A/C on.  Gary has an attic fan.  Wonderful device, most likely lowers the need for A/C by 80%-90% (here).  It blows all the hot air out of the attic directly into my neighbor's kitchen.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


>



I cannot brain today .... YEA!!!

Our daughter is getting on our nerves crying for 90 minutes continuously now ... she is losing or loosing her third tooth NOW ... she is crying my and my wife's brains out & it is 10 in the evening, she is 7 and should sleep by now!


----------



## jcdeboever

Dodgers in 7. This is gonna be a tight series. JV is gonna win two.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Gary has the A/C on.  Gary has an attic fan.  Wonderful device, most likely lowers the need for A/C by 80%-90% (here).  It blows all the hot air out of the attic directly into my neighbor's kitchen.



Our house has one of those attic fans.  We haven't used it in years but when we first moved in, before we had ac, if the basement apartment was cool and the house was hot we would shut all of the windows and turn on that fan and it would suck all the cool air up into the house and it would cool off pretty well.  If/when we do our addition it will be gone.


----------



## davidharmier60

Back in the "day" my Grandpaws house had a ceiling fan and that's all. I Remember just barely cracking a window and the breeze was beautiful. I sincerely doubt it would be like that these days.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

@Gary A. @davidharmier60 

Good Luck!


----------



## jcdeboever

The experts aren't giving any love for the best pitcher in the game. Look out Houston, here comes a headache in Kershaw. The guys is nasty as nails. Dodgers up 1-0 game one. Kershaw deals. Flirts with no no.


----------



## jcdeboever

Red Wings looking above average against Sabres tonight


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Red Wings looking above average against Sabres tonight



I'm sorry there are no sports other than baseball until the baseball season is over.  Well, maybe some football... but only when there are no baseball games on.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just watching the intros.  Man those Dodgers are YOUNG!


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Red Wings looking above average against Sabres tonight
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sorry there are no sports other than baseball until the baseball season is over.  Well, maybe some football... but only when there are no baseball games on.
Click to expand...

Nope, hockey is just as special.


----------



## JonA_CT

Whelp. My 15 year streak of not needing antibiotics is over. It was a good run.


----------



## Dave442

Finally have both my teams playing. Grew up watching the Astros play in the Astrodome, then to LA and some great games down in Chavez Ravine. Have to go with the Astros. After going to Houston right after Harvey I know a lot of people that just need something positive while they get their lives back in order, even if it is just watching a few baseball games with friends in October.


----------



## Gary A.

K - Kershaw


----------



## Gary A.

Taylor! Taylor! Taylor!


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou brought home some In-N-Out, Gary is making ice cream and the Dodgers are ahead.


----------



## Dave442

No fair Gary, now all I can think about is an In-N-Out burger.


----------



## Gary A.

K - Kershaw


----------



## Gary A.

K- Kershaw


----------



## Gary A.

K- Kershaw


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Red Wings looking above average against Sabres tonight
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sorry there are no sports other than baseball until the baseball season is over.  Well, maybe some football... but only when there are no baseball games on.
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

K - Kershaw


----------



## Gary A.

K - Kershaw


----------



## Gary A.

K - Kershaw


----------



## Gary A.

K - Kershaw


----------



## SquarePeg

HR - Bregman


----------



## Gary A.

K - Kershaw


----------



## Gary A.

K - Kershaw


----------



## Gary A.

K - Kershaw


----------



## Gary A.

Turner! Turner! Turner!


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Just watching the intros.  Man those Dodgers are YOUNG!


Are you sure that it's not just that you're...


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just watching the intros.  Man those Dodgers are YOUNG!
> 
> 
> 
> Are you sure that it's not just that you're...
Click to expand...


Don't worry, Sharon, I got this one.


----------



## Gary A.

K- Jansen


----------



## Gary A.

The series is now 1-0 in favor of the Blue Crew. Sorry Dave.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just watching the intros.  Man those Dodgers are YOUNG!
> 
> 
> 
> Are you sure that it's not just that you're...
Click to expand...


It’s both!


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 148759


Half of a Miz Maggee nose?


----------



## jcdeboever

Baby girl just beat the crap out of Webster after he cornerd her. She wasn't playing. He isn't anymore either


----------



## Gary A.

Yep ... Miss Maggie is on Gary’s lap.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave saw the Dodger run.
Was asleep soon after.
Kinda knows deep in his bones they are  gonna win the series.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave saw the Dodger run.
> Was asleep soon after.
> Kinda knows deep in his bones they are  gonna win the series.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Go Brooklyn!

So wait, is this still playoffs? The final series?

Basically I am asking when it's over


----------



## SquarePeg

Yes the World Series is the final.  Best 4 out of 7 so could be a while before it’s over.


----------



## smoke665

As if we didn't have enough to deal with. Adobe sends out a continuous stream of updates, now a new threat has popped up using that constant barrage to sucker you into clicking on it. A new cyberattack is causing mass disruption in Russia and Europe mainly confined to Russia, but the news this morning that it was being reported here as well.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Yes the World Series is the final.  Best 4 out of 7 so could be a while before it’s over.



Yeah, I know the best 4 out of 7, but just didn't know where we had landed in terms of playoff series or final series. Because I've totally been scrolling past most of the baseball talk 

So Dodgers and...who? Astros?

Meh. Rangers are playing tomorrow...let's see...the Arizona Coyotes?? Why the hell do hot places have ice hockey teams? It's unnatural, I tells ya.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes the World Series is the final.  Best 4 out of 7 so could be a while before it’s over.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I know the best 4 out of 7, but just didn't know where we had landed in terms of playoff series or final series. Because I've totally been scrolling past most of the baseball talk
> 
> So Dodgers and...who? Astros?
> 
> Meh. Rangers are playing tomorrow...let's see...the Arizona Coyotes?? Why the hell do hot places have ice hockey teams? It's unnatural, I tells ya.
Click to expand...



Supposedly, the rink manager in Arizona has a hell of a time managing the ice there. I guess it's soft and squishy compared to most arenas. Crazy, right? 

Toughest jobs in sports: Ice maker for the Arizona Coyotes


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes the World Series is the final.  Best 4 out of 7 so could be a while before it’s over.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I know the best 4 out of 7, but just didn't know where we had landed in terms of playoff series or final series. Because I've totally been scrolling past most of the baseball talk
> 
> So Dodgers and...who? Astros?
> 
> Meh. Rangers are playing tomorrow...let's see...the Arizona Coyotes?? Why the hell do hot places have ice hockey teams? It's unnatural, I tells ya.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Supposedly, the rink manager in Arizona has a hell of a time managing the ice there. I guess it's soft and squishy compared to most arenas. Crazy, right?
> 
> Toughest jobs in sports: Ice maker for the Arizona Coyotes
Click to expand...


Hmmmm, who'd'a thunk it?


----------



## limr

Ooooh, burn!

(from that article)
_ "Florida might have been just as hard because of the humidity if they had played deeper into May or June, but, no disrespect to them, they didn't consistently make the playoffs."_


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Yes the World Series is the final.  Best 4 out of 7 so could be a while before it’s over.


I personally hope it goes to 7 games, then in game 7, it goes to like 15 innings, gets delayed because of rain, then another 5 or so innings.

That'll show all you people who like baseball. 



(ETA: Just a friendly joke. I love going to baseball games and remember that fondly as a child.)


----------



## limr

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes the World Series is the final.  Best 4 out of 7 so could be a while before it’s over.
> 
> 
> 
> I personally hope it goes to 7 games, then in game 7, it goes to like 15 innings, gets delayed because of rain, then another 5 or so innings.
> 
> That'll show all you people who like baseball.
> 
> 
> 
> (ETA: Just a friendly joke. I love going to baseball games and remember that fondly as a child.)
Click to expand...


I enjoy the occasional minor league game. Because people-watching and beer


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> I enjoy the occasional minor league game. Because people-watching and beer



Next time you’re going to Maine, venture a bit further north to Portland.  First of all, the food!  And lighthouse and islands and galleries and the food (worth noting twice) but also the Portland Sea Dogs have a great atmosphere at their games.  Lots of fun and photo ops.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> As if we didn't have enough to deal with. Adobe sends out a continuous stream of updates, now a new threat has popped up using that constant barrage to sucker you into clicking on it. A new cyberattack is causing mass disruption in Russia and Europe mainly confined to Russia, but the news this morning that it was being reported here as well.


The article stated "Pornhub" was attacked ... Gary's favorite site. There was a quiz at the bottom.  Gary passed with:
"Your Score: 97%
History PhD!
Your skill in identifying famous historical figures is unmatched, and you probably have a PhD! Good job!"
While Gary may deserve a History PhD ... he most likely got a 'Dunce' virus from his random click.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I enjoy the occasional minor league game. Because people-watching and beer
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next time you’re going to Maine, venture a bit further north to Portland.  First of all, the food!  And lighthouse and islands and galleries and the food (worth noting twice) but also the Portland Sea Dogs have a great atmosphere at their games.  Lots of fun and photo ops.
Click to expand...


We used to go to Portland regularly and I love it quite really a lot. It's gotten a lot more touristy in the past few years, though, which is pretty much why we sort of 'switched' to Ogunquit. I mean, any of those coastal towns can get kinda stupid in the tourist season, but we mostly try to shoot up there at off-times. And when we stay more than a day or two in Ogunquit, we always hop up to Portland for the day. Have you ever done the mail boat? So good.

ETA: Oh yes, and definitely the food! 

Never been to a Sea Dogs game, though. That might have to happen the next time we're up there (if it's during baseball season.)


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes the World Series is the final.  Best 4 out of 7 so could be a while before it’s over.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I know the best 4 out of 7, but just didn't know where we had landed in terms of playoff series or final series. Because I've totally been scrolling past most of the baseball talk
> 
> So Dodgers and...who? Astros?
> 
> Meh. Rangers are playing tomorrow...let's see...the Arizona Coyotes?? Why the hell do hot places have ice hockey teams? It's unnatural, I tells ya.
Click to expand...

The Coyotes shooda stayed in Brooklyn ....


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes the World Series is the final.  Best 4 out of 7 so could be a while before it’s over.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I know the best 4 out of 7, but just didn't know where we had landed in terms of playoff series or final series. Because I've totally been scrolling past most of the baseball talk
> 
> So Dodgers and...who? Astros?
> 
> Meh. Rangers are playing tomorrow...let's see...the Arizona Coyotes?? Why the hell do hot places have ice hockey teams? It's unnatural, I tells ya.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Supposedly, the rink manager in Arizona has a hell of a time managing the ice there. I guess it's soft and squishy compared to most arenas. Crazy, right?
> 
> Toughest jobs in sports: Ice maker for the Arizona Coyotes
Click to expand...

Reminds me of the time Gary was working construction in Iran, it was sooo hot that the first thing we built was an ice plant, in order to keep the wet concrete from hardening in the transports.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> While Gary may deserve a History PhD ... he most likely got a 'Dunce' virus from his random click.



And now Gary has a new custom advertising profile on Google. LOL


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes the World Series is the final.  Best 4 out of 7 so could be a while before it’s over.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I know the best 4 out of 7, but just didn't know where we had landed in terms of playoff series or final series. Because I've totally been scrolling past most of the baseball talk
> 
> So Dodgers and...who? Astros?
> 
> Meh. Rangers are playing tomorrow...let's see...the Arizona Coyotes?? Why the hell do hot places have ice hockey teams? It's unnatural, I tells ya.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Supposedly, the rink manager in Arizona has a hell of a time managing the ice there. I guess it's soft and squishy compared to most arenas. Crazy, right?
> 
> Toughest jobs in sports: Ice maker for the Arizona Coyotes
Click to expand...

Gary has never been to the Arizona Coyotes rink, but he doesn't buy the story as an uncorrectable fact.  A/C is A/C, one would think that the average inside temps would be the same for a game in Phoenix as a game in New York.  But then Gary assumes the engineers of the arena would take account the extreme heat of Phoenix with all the extra heat reduction/isolation stuff from materials to design ... from the parking lots to interiors.  If Gary was designing the building he'd completely isolate the interior from the exterior with a vestibule type space for all doors and spaces, even the shipping docks. The biggest problem with a metal frame building is the metal framing.  Gotta have some isolation 'breaks' in the metal frame ... wood framing is best. Gary has constructed a number of buildings at Ft. Irwin.  Ft. Irwin is located in the middle of the Mojave Desert and butts up to Death Valley.  The ice was fine in Gary's buildings. Gary thinks the building owners were too cheap for their own good. (Gary tripled panes his buildings ... Gary didn't know triple pane was available until he started building in the Mojave.)


----------



## Gary A.

@smoke665: Mary Lou is reading ticket prices for the World Series.  According to the Los Angeles Times, the cheapest tickets were $750 each.  Please Note Gary stated "tickets" ... not 'seats' ... those $750 tickets were for standing room only on the top deck in the outfield.


----------



## Gary A.

Let' see ... Kings win, Ducks win, Dodgers win.  Yesterday was a good day.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> @smoke665: Mary Lou is reading ticket prices for the World Series.  According to the Los Angeles Times, the cheapest tickets were $750 each.  Please Note Gary stated "tickets" ... not 'seats' ... those $750 tickets were for standing room only on the top deck in the outfield.



Remember I commented on this a few days ago. It was on the local news here about how expensive the tickets were. That's just crazy.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary hasn't attempted to score some WS tickets yet ... so tonight Dodger Dogs, Chicken and Chipotle Sausages, Hangar 24 beer and vino if anyone wants to come over and watch the game on projector.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary hasn't attempted to score some WS tickets yet ... so tonight Dodger Dogs, Chicken and Chipotle Sausages, Hangar 24 beer and vino if anyone wants to come over and watch the game on projector.


Might be tough for you tonight. Expect bulldog Verlander to be on his game. One way to beat him is get his pitch count up to get into their bullpen.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave put in 5.25 hours at work. 
The telephone guy got in to do something before I got home. Dave got told by our bank no more trading out pennies. 
This rather bums Dave out.
What was the score last night anyhow?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary hasn't attempted to score some WS tickets yet ... so tonight Dodger Dogs, Chicken and Chipotle Sausages, Hangar 24 beer and vino if anyone wants to come over and watch the game on projector.
> 
> 
> 
> Might be tough for you tonight. Expect bulldog Verlander to be on his game. One way to beat him is get his pitch count up to get into their bullpen.
Click to expand...

But that animal Verlander would most likely die on the mound before he risks that bullpen again.  Dodgers are good on, waiting on the ball.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> As if we didn't have enough to deal with. Adobe sends out a continuous stream of updates, now a new threat has popped up using that constant barrage to sucker you into clicking on it. A new cyberattack is causing mass disruption in Russia and Europe mainly confined to Russia, but the news this morning that it was being reported here as well.
> 
> 
> 
> The article stated "Pornhub" was attacked ... Gary's favorite site. There was a quiz at the bottom.  Gary passed with:
> "Your Score: 97%
> History PhD!
> Your skill in identifying famous historical figures is unmatched, and you probably have a PhD! Good job!"
> While Gary may deserve a History PhD ... he most likely got a 'Dunce' virus from his random click.
Click to expand...



What ist Pornhob?

Porn is obviously the abbreviation of Po-pc-orn, right?

So it has to do with Cinema and the movies?

And Hub? Computer related stuff like "USB Hub"??? Or abbreviation for Hubertus?


----------



## Frank F.

admins: can you make a filter for Europeans that filters out all US related Sports posts?

Thank you. There are pages and pages of stuff I cannot relate to in any way. O do not understand the words even


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> As if we didn't have enough to deal with. Adobe sends out a continuous stream of updates, now a new threat has popped up using that constant barrage to sucker you into clicking on it. A new cyberattack is causing mass disruption in Russia and Europe mainly confined to Russia, but the news this morning that it was being reported here as well.
> 
> 
> 
> The article stated "Pornhub" was attacked ... Gary's favorite site. There was a quiz at the bottom.  Gary passed with:
> "Your Score: 97%
> History PhD!
> Your skill in identifying famous historical figures is unmatched, and you probably have a PhD! Good job!"
> While Gary may deserve a History PhD ... he most likely got a 'Dunce' virus from his random click.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> What ist Pornhob?
> 
> Porn is obviously the abbreviation of Po-pc-orn, right?
> 
> So it has to do with Cinema and the movies?
Click to expand...

Gary doesn't know for sure ... but he suspects it is a pornographic site filled with photos and videos of naked people.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> admins: can you make a filter for Europeans that filters out all US related Sports posts???



Only if we don't have to have our Football, polluted with soccer! LOL


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> but he suspects it is a



Sounds like a southern politician, never commit to knowing something for sure that might come back to haunt you later


----------



## JonA_CT

I think what Gary is trying to say is that he never inhaled.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Next season, Maine Mariners will be back- for those of you east you can go catch yourselves some minor league hockey! Beer, popcorn, mascot races, beer, broomball, fan prizes, beer, mini blimp tossing out coupons (and eventually crashing into the zamboni end of the rink), more beer, mini race cars on the ice, thunder sticks, a wedding on the ice, somebody may have made too many trips to the beer booth... Oh yeah, there's some hockey in there too.

The minors are fun and actually 'The A', the AHL, being the top minor league and you get to see some players who will eventually get called up to the NHL.


----------



## Gary A.

Do they have beer?  Gary likes his hockey with beer.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave never "took" to beer.
Rum and Coke however...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> As if we didn't have enough to deal with. Adobe sends out a continuous stream of updates, now a new threat has popped up using that constant barrage to sucker you into clicking on it. A new cyberattack is causing mass disruption in Russia and Europe mainly confined to Russia, but the news this morning that it was being reported here as well.
> 
> 
> 
> The article stated "Pornhub" was attacked ... Gary's favorite site. There was a quiz at the bottom.  Gary passed with:
> "Your Score: 97%
> History PhD!
> Your skill in identifying famous historical figures is unmatched, and you probably have a PhD! Good job!"
> While Gary may deserve a History PhD ... he most likely got a 'Dunce' virus from his random click.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> What ist Pornhob?
> 
> Porn is obviously the abbreviation of Po-pc-orn, right?
> 
> So it has to do with Cinema and the movies?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary doesn't know for sure ... but he suspects it is a pornographic site filled with photos and videos of naked people.
Click to expand...


You don't know what happens on your favourite site???


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> You don't know what happens on your favourite site???



You lost me Frank??????????????


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> @smoke665: Mary Lou is reading ticket prices for the World Series.  According to the Los Angeles Times, the cheapest tickets were $750 each.  Please Note Gary stated "tickets" ... not 'seats' ... those $750 tickets were for standing room only on the top deck in the outfield.


Got to go to game 5 of the World Series in 1984.  Detroit and San Diego.  Step dad thought the only reason we got tickets is because he requested center field bleacher seats.  While everyone asks for and wants box seats.


----------



## SquarePeg

@Gary A. is going to be sleeping in today.  That was a heck of a game!


----------



## Gary A.

There is no joy in Mudville, mighty Casey has struck out.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> @Gary A. is going to be sleeping in today.  That was a heck of a game!


From a pure baseball perspective ... it was a classic, great pitching and great hitting between two evenly matched teams, literally, slugging it out. 

We started out in the patio with, guests, Dodger Dogs, Chili Dogs, Chicken and Apple sausages, Hangar 24 Orange Wheat Beer and Vino. Ended up in the house with Pie and coffee.


----------



## JonA_CT

Sorry, Gary. George Springer is a fellow UConn alum and from CT. Gotta root for him. (I even might have clapped politely when he hit a dinger against the Sox the last time I was at Fenway...)


----------



## Gary A.

There were two games last night, the Dodgers-Astros and Maggie-Max.  Max is this wonderfully tempered, 80lbs. Goldie that Miss Maggie (20bs. of Wheaten Terrorist puppy) attacked all night.  Maggie got Max to chase her throughout the yard, making these quick 90 degree turns into thickets and around tables, as Max ran straight, Maggie would execute a u-turn and start chasing Max. At one point Maggie was being petted in the lap of a guest when she jumped off the lap and sofa onto Max's back. The Maggie-Max games continued in the house as they thundered into the furniture and skidded across the hardwood floors. The guest were quite impressed with Maggie's nerve and fearlessness as she wrestled Max all night.  When Max had enough, he'd simply would fling Maggie out of the ring with a snap of his head. Then Maggie would come back for more and Max would sigh and then sit/lay still and totally ignore Maggie's loud and constant attempts at engagement, as Max waited for a crumb of hot dog or pie to hit the ground.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Sorry, Gary. George Springer is a fellow UConn alum and from CT. Gotta root for him. (I even might have clapped politely when he hit a dinger against the Sox the last time I was at Fenway...)


Springer played at UConn? I thought UConn only had female basketball ...


----------



## SquarePeg

Nice that you’re on West coast time and could see the end of the game without staying up past midnight.  They went from the shortest game in WS history to extra inning theatrics.  Bergman’s cap made the best defensive play of the night saving 1, maybe 2 runs!


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou is a Titan, so she was rooting for Turner, whose handsomeness is only enhance by his red mane.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Nice that you’re on West coast time and could see the end of the game without staying up past midnight.  They went from the shortest game in WS history to extra inning theatrics.  Bergman’s cap made the best defensive play of the night saving 1, maybe 2 runs!


That was Chris Taylor with the Hat Trick.  There was complete silence when he pulled it off ... everybody thought the ball bounced off his forehead ... and possibly rendering Taylor out of the game ... in your Bostonian accent, that would be like losing Brady.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, Gary. George Springer is a fellow UConn alum and from CT. Gotta root for him. (I even might have clapped politely when he hit a dinger against the Sox the last time I was at Fenway...)
> 
> 
> 
> Springer played at UConn? I thought UConn only had female basketball ...
Click to expand...


Hah! So sure...we have a few of those...the men's basketball team also has 4 banners of their own in Gampel Pavilion.

UConn usually fields pretty decent baseball teams, for a Northeast school anyways, and their hockey team has been competitive in Hockey East for the last few years. Field hockey and soccer have also won national championships in the last few years. 

Not bad for a college campus that is literally in the middle of nowhere in CT. We can't ply recruits with warm weather and beaches and bikinis like some locales...


----------



## SquarePeg

Oops, was it Bergman who hit it?    Yeah that would have hurt if it hit his head.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, Gary. George Springer is a fellow UConn alum and from CT. Gotta root for him. (I even might have clapped politely when he hit a dinger against the Sox the last time I was at Fenway...)
> 
> 
> 
> Springer played at UConn? I thought UConn only had female basketball ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hah! So sure...we have a few of those...the men's basketball team also has 4 banners of their own in Gampel Pavilion.
> 
> UConn usually fields pretty decent baseball teams, for a Northeast school anyways, and their hockey team has been competitive in Hockey East for the last few years. Field hockey and soccer have also won national championships in the last few years.
> 
> Not bad for a college campus that is literally in the middle of nowhere in CT. We can't ply recruits with warm weather and beaches and bikinis like some locales...
Click to expand...

 ... you can almost reach out and touch the Hollywood sign from the USC campus, which is literally a Rose Garden away from the world's best known and revered sports venue, The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, site of two Olympic Summer Games and home to the Trojans.

For home games, the USC band, (the Spirit of Troy and the only college band which has played on a rock album, Fleetwood Mac's 'Tusk'), has a pregame concert on campus.  After the concert the bands marches in formation through the Rose Garden to the Coliseum with SC's mascot (Traveler) leading the formation.  A lot of pageantry for home games.


----------



## davidharmier60

To hear Joe Buck say it Bergman couldn't hit. I guess MAYBE that shut Buck up for a minute or two. I wish I could have seen it.
But as it was I feel a nap coming on.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

Trick-or-treat is tonight for our area. In related news, the wife and I are heading out, and turning off the lights. Hopefully no one will ring our doorbell and bug Roxy.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, Gary. George Springer is a fellow UConn alum and from CT. Gotta root for him. (I even might have clapped politely when he hit a dinger against the Sox the last time I was at Fenway...)
> 
> 
> 
> Springer played at UConn? I thought UConn only had female basketball ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hah! So sure...we have a few of those...the men's basketball team also has 4 banners of their own in Gampel Pavilion.
> 
> UConn usually fields pretty decent baseball teams, for a Northeast school anyways, and their hockey team has been competitive in Hockey East for the last few years. Field hockey and soccer have also won national championships in the last few years.
> 
> Not bad for a college campus that is literally in the middle of nowhere in CT. We can't ply recruits with warm weather and beaches and bikinis like some locales...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ... you can almost reach out and touch the Hollywood sign from the USC campus, which is literally a Rose Garden away from the world's best known and revered sports venue, The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, site of two Olympic Summer Games and home to the Trojans.
> 
> For home games, the USC band, (the Spirit of Troy and the only college band which has played on a rock album, Fleetwood Mac's 'Tusk'), has a pregame concert on campus.  After the concert the bands marches in formation through the Rose Garden to the Coliseum with SC's mascot (Traveler) leading the formation.  A lot of pageantry for home games.
Click to expand...



I got a great education, but I do know I missed out on a going to a school witha great football program. My freshman year was their first or second FBS season, and they haven't done much since.


----------



## JonA_CT

In other news, eBay is a dangerous place. I needed the Nikon AF 80-200 f2.8 that I just bought, right?


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> To hear Joe Buck say it Bergman couldn't hit. I guess MAYBE that shut Buck up for a minute or two. I wish I could have seen it.
> But as it was I feel a nap coming on.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


By any measurement ... it was a great game.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> In other news, eBay is a dangerous place. I needed the Nikon AF 80-200 f2.8 that I just bought, right?


Annnnd ....


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> In other news, eBay is a dangerous place. I needed the Nikon AF 80-200 f2.8 that I just bought, right?


Did you already have one?


----------



## Gary A.

Temps dropped 20 degrees ... in the 60's right now and shouldn't climb out of the 80's.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Trick-or-treat is tonight for our area. In related news, the wife and I are heading out, and turning off the lights. Hopefully no one will ring our doorbell and bug Roxy.


A "No Trespassing" signage would help.


----------



## JonA_CT

tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, eBay is a dangerous place. I needed the Nikon AF 80-200 f2.8 that I just bought, right?
> 
> 
> 
> Did you already have one?
Click to expand...


Nope. And it was a crazy good deal. And by all reviews, it's awesome as long as you aren't trying to shoot anything that moves.

I've already confessed my sin and repentance is planned.


----------



## jcdeboever

What a game. Gary and I were bantering back & forth during the game and then my phone died. So entrenched in the bantering, forgot to see that my phone was on fumes. So the Dodger's bullpen is human after all. Springer sprung back, both managers did a heck of a job managing the game. Loved it when Verlander came out of the tunnel to fire up his boys. I didn't want to wake the wife up by grabbing my cell phone charger, sorry Gary. Go Dodgers!


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> That was Chris Taylor with the Hat Trick.



When someone gets a Gordie Howe hat trick in baseball, I might start watching. 

Otherwise...


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> What a game. Gary and I were bantering back & forth during the game and then my phone died. So entrenched in the bantering, forgot to see that my phone was on fumes. So the Dodger's bullpen is human after all. Springer sprung back, both managers did a heck of a job managing the game. Loved it when Verlander came out of the tunnel to fire up his boys. I didn't want to wake the wife up by grabbing my cell phone charger, sorry Gary. Go Dodgers!



It was a very exciting game!  Usually the announcers annoy me, except Eckersley who is hilarious.  Not too bad last night.  Buck is a worm yes.  Although I did love the comment that Puig had “gone little league” when he threw his glove down after just missing that ground rule double.  Not sure who made that but it was funny.


----------



## waday

limr said:


>


That is something that should come standard with every desk.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> That was Chris Taylor with the Hat Trick.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When someone gets a Gordie Howe hat trick in baseball, I might start watching.
> 
> Otherwise...
Click to expand...

A defensive Hat Trick is something worth beholding.

http://mediadownloads.mlb.com/mlbam/mp4/2017/10/26/1865347083/1508992665273/asset_1200K.mp4


----------



## Gary A.

This video is interesting, Buckingham giving a lecture/Q&A at USC when the band appears ...


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> What a game. Gary and I were bantering back & forth during the game and then my phone died. So entrenched in the bantering, forgot to see that my phone was on fumes. So the Dodger's bullpen is human after all. Springer sprung back, both managers did a heck of a job managing the game. Loved it when Verlander came out of the tunnel to fire up his boys. I didn't want to wake the wife up by grabbing my cell phone charger, sorry Gary. Go Dodgers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was a very exciting game!  Usually the announcers annoy me, except Eckersley who is hilarious.  Not too bad last night.  Buck is a worm yes.  Although I did love the comment that Puig had “gone little league” when he threw his glove down after just missing that ground rule double.  Not sure who made that but it was funny.
Click to expand...

Puig is like a little kid striving for the attention and approval from the adults.  So far he's been thoroughly entertaining ... Gary wonders when or if it will get old.  He is a crowd pleaser.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> What a game. Gary and I were bantering back & forth during the game and then my phone died. So entrenched in the bantering, forgot to see that my phone was on fumes. So the Dodger's bullpen is human after all. Springer sprung back, both managers did a heck of a job managing the game. Loved it when Verlander came out of the tunnel to fire up his boys. I didn't want to wake the wife up by grabbing my cell phone charger, sorry Gary. Go Dodgers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was a very exciting game!  Usually the announcers annoy me, except Eckersley who is hilarious.  Not too bad last night.  Buck is a worm yes.  Although I did love the comment that Puig had “gone little league” when he threw his glove down after just missing that ground rule double.  Not sure who made that but it was funny.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Puig is like a little kid striving for the attention and approval from the adults.  So far he's been thoroughly entertaining ... Gary wonders when or if it will get old.  He is a crowd pleaser.
Click to expand...


He will do something totally stupid this off season. It's only a matter of time. His kissing coach's and players is a tad strange. As is his licking the bat. He is gonna get hepatitis one of these days.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> What a game. Gary and I were bantering back & forth during the game and then my phone died. So entrenched in the bantering, forgot to see that my phone was on fumes. So the Dodger's bullpen is human after all. Springer sprung back, both managers did a heck of a job managing the game. Loved it when Verlander came out of the tunnel to fire up his boys. I didn't want to wake the wife up by grabbing my cell phone charger, sorry Gary. Go Dodgers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was a very exciting game!  Usually the announcers annoy me, except Eckersley who is hilarious.  Not too bad last night.  Buck is a worm yes.  Although I did love the comment that Puig had “gone little league” when he threw his glove down after just missing that ground rule double.  Not sure who made that but it was funny.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Puig is like a little kid striving for the attention and approval from the adults.  So far he's been thoroughly entertaining ... Gary wonders when or if it will get old.  He is a crowd pleaser.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> He will do something totally stupid this off season. It's only a matter of time. His kissing coach's and players is a tad strange. As is his licking the bat. He is gonna get hepatitis one of these days.
Click to expand...

LOL ... there is an outbreak of hepatitis out here.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> What a game. Gary and I were bantering back & forth during the game and then my phone died. So entrenched in the bantering, forgot to see that my phone was on fumes. So the Dodger's bullpen is human after all. Springer sprung back, both managers did a heck of a job managing the game. Loved it when Verlander came out of the tunnel to fire up his boys. I didn't want to wake the wife up by grabbing my cell phone charger, sorry Gary. Go Dodgers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was a very exciting game!  Usually the announcers annoy me, except Eckersley who is hilarious.  Not too bad last night.  Buck is a worm yes.  Although I did love the comment that Puig had “gone little league” when he threw his glove down after just missing that ground rule double.  Not sure who made that but it was funny.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Puig is like a little kid striving for the attention and approval from the adults.  So far he's been thoroughly entertaining ... Gary wonders when or if it will get old.  He is a crowd pleaser.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> He will do something totally stupid this off season. It's only a matter of time. His kissing coach's and players is a tad strange. As is his licking the bat. He is gonna get hepatitis one of these days.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... there is an outbreak of hepatitis out here.
Click to expand...


When I was a small lad, my brother said I could get something really big if I did something. I said O.K.... He then told me to go lick that garbage can, I did. I said what do I get, what to I get? He said..... h e p a t i t i s.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> What a game. Gary and I were bantering back & forth during the game and then my phone died. So entrenched in the bantering, forgot to see that my phone was on fumes. So the Dodger's bullpen is human after all. Springer sprung back, both managers did a heck of a job managing the game. Loved it when Verlander came out of the tunnel to fire up his boys. I didn't want to wake the wife up by grabbing my cell phone charger, sorry Gary. Go Dodgers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was a very exciting game!  Usually the announcers annoy me, except Eckersley who is hilarious.  Not too bad last night.  Buck is a worm yes.  Although I did love the comment that Puig had “gone little league” when he threw his glove down after just missing that ground rule double.  Not sure who made that but it was funny.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Puig is like a little kid striving for the attention and approval from the adults.  So far he's been thoroughly entertaining ... Gary wonders when or if it will get old.  He is a crowd pleaser.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> He will do something totally stupid this off season. It's only a matter of time. His kissing coach's and players is a tad strange. As is his licking the bat. He is gonna get hepatitis one of these days.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... there is an outbreak of hepatitis out here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> When I was a small lad, my brother said I could get something really big if I did something. I said O.K.... He then told me to go lick that garbage can, I did. I said what do I get, what to I get? He said..... h e p a t i t i s.
Click to expand...

If you could hit a homerun with the garbage can lid ... then a bout of h e p a t i t i s would be worth such a small payment.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> What a game. Gary and I were bantering back & forth during the game and then my phone died. So entrenched in the bantering, forgot to see that my phone was on fumes. So the Dodger's bullpen is human after all. Springer sprung back, both managers did a heck of a job managing the game. Loved it when Verlander came out of the tunnel to fire up his boys. I didn't want to wake the wife up by grabbing my cell phone charger, sorry Gary. Go Dodgers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was a very exciting game!  Usually the announcers annoy me, except Eckersley who is hilarious.  Not too bad last night.  Buck is a worm yes.  Although I did love the comment that Puig had “gone little league” when he threw his glove down after just missing that ground rule double.  Not sure who made that but it was funny.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Puig is like a little kid striving for the attention and approval from the adults.  So far he's been thoroughly entertaining ... Gary wonders when or if it will get old.  He is a crowd pleaser.
Click to expand...


You’ve already seen Puig when that gets old. Manny Ramirez post Red Sox greatness.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Temps dropped 20 degrees ... in the 60's right now and shouldn't climb out of the 80's.



Fall arrived here (at least for a few days). Outdoor thermometer read 36, this morning as I headed out with Sadie. Given the fact that the sensor is under an eve, and the fact that there appeared to be a light dusting of frost in the lower areas, I suspect it was lower at ground level. Think the high is 70 but still perfect weather.


----------



## Gary A.

36F ain't perfect for this Southern California native son.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's cold!!! frost and freeze warnings! no more grass pollen! no more whatever else has been blowing around out there!


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, eBay is a dangerous place. I needed the Nikon AF 80-200 f2.8 that I just bought, right?
> 
> 
> 
> Did you already have one?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nope.
Click to expand...

You just answered your own question... you didn't have it, ergo, you had to get it.  Now you have it.  All good.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> 36F ain't perfect for this Southern California native son.



Gary you and Maggie would have enjoyed it. We've had almost surreal blue skies of late, and this morning was no exception. The air had a crispness free from pollution. All that was needed was a light jacket, at a brisk walk it was perfect, not to hot, not to cold. We stopped at Sadie's favorite spot on a ridge close to the property line. The birds were singing, Sadie was fully focused, and a shaft of sunlight was coming through the trees illuminating her.  It was like everything was in extreme detail, even her breath. Really sorry I didn't have the camera with me.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'd watch pregame of a football game at the LA Coliseum if USC plays Tusk, then I'd be outta there, looking for the Duck Pond. 

That Coliseum shows up often enough in old TV shows late night on ME TV. It is a cool looking building. 

I always liked that song and video, but why is it called Tusk anyway?


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> It's cold!!! frost and freeze warnings! no more grass pollen! no more whatever else has been blowing around out there!


Isn't it great?  I just bought a brand new, king size electric blanket for the bed.    It's been dipping lower and lower at night lately, and we had a frost last night.  

Turned the furnace on this morning just to break the chill and make sure it's working.      

It's finally fall, hosers!!


----------



## Gary A.

"Fire Recovery Pre-order - 100% of sales goes to charity 
Preorder for $60
Give $60 to fire recovery efforts and get 6 bottles of red
Every cent spent on this 6-pack gets donated to the fire relief and recovery efforts in California. As the dust settled, we knew we could do more to help the devastated communities that needed it – we commit to donating ALL sales from this pre-order until we raise $500,000 for fire relief."

Gary contributed to the cause.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Sounds like a worth cause, wouldn't it be good to share a link as to who is doing it????


----------



## Gary A.

Here's the entire text/email.  I don't know if this is available to non-members of Naked Wine.  The six-pack is half priced at $60.  These guys represent a number of small, independent vintners around the world. They have a 100% guarantee, if you don't like the wine they'll give you 100% refund, no questions asked. 

Gary 

"Pre-order this special 6-pack — 100% of sales will go to fire relief and recovery charities

Hi Gary,

Now that the dust has settled, it feels wrong to be carrying on like nothing’s happened
The Napa and Sonoma wildfires took a toll on so many families around us… we have to do more to help the devastated communities that need it most.

It’s clear that there are communities that still need help
Entire communities lost their homes, so we want to double the $250,000 you already raised. Communities will need to be rebuilt from scratch — and with your help we can get Napa, Sonoma and Santa Rosa back on their feet.

Let’s raise $500,000 and get you a 6-pack of unforgettable reds as a reward
The guys who work at your Angel-funded winery have a brilliant idea to raise half a MILLION dollars. They’re making a red wine, and if you pre-order a 6-pack 100% of sales will go to fire relief.

Two weeks ago, your cellar team felt helpless as the Sonoma fires burned all around Kenwood. The flames were literally yards away from your Angel-funded winery, and if the winds had blown a little differently that day, we would have lost a year’s production.

Once the dust settled and the winery was re-opened, your wine team was amazed to discover that hundreds of gallons of delicious wine remained intact. And they knew immediately… they had to do something extraordinary.

That’s why your passionate cellar crew is stepping up and making you a relief red — and all sales will go to neighborhoods in need.

You get unforgettable wine, and together we’ll DOUBLE our donation and raise a half a MILLION dollars
They’re currently putting the finishing touches on your brand-new exclusive blend, arriving in or around March 2018. When you pre-order a 6-pack today, 100% of your money (except for taxes) benefits those impacted by California’s devastating wildfires.

Order this fire recovery 6-pack for $60 and you’ll save $52.99 with delivery included to your door.

Every penny will immediately go back into the communities of Napa, Sonoma and Santa Rosa… the best thanks we can give.

Pre-order 6 special wines — and 100% of sales go to charity
You’re helping us do so much good in the world. How can I thank you enough?

So grateful for you,
Rowan, Founder
nakedwines.com

PS - To have the biggest impact possible, we’re letting you get as many 6-packs as your heart desires

© 2017 nakedwines.com Inc., PO Box 2760, Napa, CA 94558 
800-673-4718 - chat@nakedwines.com"


----------



## Gary A.

Here is a link directly to the Fire Recovery Fund page:

Naked Wines

They're very nice people so you can call or email them.

800.673.4718

chat@nakedwines.com


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Here is a link directly to the Fire Recovery Fund page:
> 
> Naked Wines


I knew it was wine related from the "six pack" term.    Not beer!         It's nice of them to do this.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here is a link directly to the Fire Recovery Fund page:
> 
> Naked Wines
> 
> 
> 
> I knew it was wine related from the "six pack" term.    Not beer!         It's nice of them to do this.
Click to expand...




terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here is a link directly to the Fire Recovery Fund page:
> 
> Naked Wines
> 
> 
> 
> I knew it was wine related from the "six pack" term.    Not beer!         It's nice of them to do this.
Click to expand...

One would think it may be self-serving as the fires affected some/many vineyards. But the monies going to all sectors hit hardest by the fires.  3,000 home in the City of Santa Rosa alone were destroyed. I've been a member for a while and I've never received a bottle of wine short of delicious.  So 50% off, All Dollars going to Relief, Great Vino ... Win-Win! (The only problem is the wine won't be delivered until it matures in March of next year.)


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave has had wine before. Some of it pretty good. Would love to order some to help those people. But we need our own sort of help. And that's the way it is. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou just surprised Gary with this book. Who wants a Lime Sorbet ... Tropical Margarita Sorbet ... Walnut Ice Cream with Pomegranate... Avocado Ice Cream ... ?


----------



## snowbear

Frank F. said:


> admins: can you make a filter for Europeans that filters out all US related Sports posts?
> 
> Thank you. There are pages and pages of stuff I cannot relate to in any way. O do not understand the words even


Sharon's going to send you to the penalty box


----------



## jcdeboever

My nips are purple tonight....


----------



## Gary A.

Out here it’s dropping down to the low 60’s tonight. ⛄️


----------



## SquarePeg

@limr


----------



## SquarePeg

pretty sure I'm a 3


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> pretty sure I'm a 3



I started the day an 8, moved into a 5  in the afternoon, and am currently a 9.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I wanna know what's going on with #4?! I'm gonna wonder if anyone says that's the kind of day they had at work. 

I'd be fine if Frank wanted to ask to have sports blocked besides hockey because, ya know, there is no sport but hockey.


----------



## Frank F.

Yesterday I went to the Botanical Gardens of the Bonn University to catch some fall colors with my Sinar, Schneider APO Digitar N°48 and the D850 as a Digital back.

I am absolutely stunned and blown away by the image quality the D850 has to offer. I shoot a whole tree and still get a macro like resolution of single leafs!

My only enemy yesterday was wind and subject movement in general, so I had to overshoot significantly and it is a PITA to sort through and throw out the shots destroyed by subject movement.

Yes, most of the shots are "good enogh" for most purposes, but my idea is to make them work as a whole AND as a 100% crop which means a lot more work, concentration, energy and time.

right click the image "view image" and zoom to 100% ... and think that this is significatly downscaled


----------



## davidharmier60

Hi ho hi ho it's off to work Dave goes.
No DSLR will be bought this week or next week or the week after.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

davidharmier60 said:


> Hi ho hi ho it's off to work Dave goes.
> No DSLR will be bought this week or next week or the week after.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk




First work. Then save. Then buy


----------



## waday

@SquarePeg, what's the theme this week? I'm excited!


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Avocado Ice Cream



Sorry, but I abhor Avocado anything. Guess it's one of those quirky individual things.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 148827
> Mary Lou just surprised Gary with this book. Who wants a Lime Sorbet ... Tropical Margarita Sorbet ... Walnut Ice Cream with Pomegranate... Avocado Ice Cream ... ?




Is it your birthday???


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, Gary. George Springer is a fellow UConn alum and from CT. Gotta root for him. (I even might have clapped politely when he hit a dinger against the Sox the last time I was at Fenway...)
> 
> 
> 
> Springer played at UConn? I thought UConn only had female basketball ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hah! So sure...we have a few of those...the men's basketball team also has 4 banners of their own in Gampel Pavilion.
> 
> UConn usually fields pretty decent baseball teams, for a Northeast school anyways, and their hockey team has been competitive in Hockey East for the last few years. Field hockey and soccer have also won national championships in the last few years.
> 
> Not bad for a college campus that is literally in the middle of nowhere in CT. We can't ply recruits with warm weather and beaches and bikinis like some locales...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ... you can almost reach out and touch the Hollywood sign from the USC campus, which is literally a Rose Garden away from the world's best known and revered sports venue, The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, site of two Olympic Summer Games and home to the Trojans.
> 
> For home games, the USC band, (the Spirit of Troy and the only college band which has played on a rock album, Fleetwood Mac's 'Tusk'), has a pregame concert on campus.  After the concert the bands marches in formation through the Rose Garden to the Coliseum with SC's mascot (Traveler) leading the formation.  A lot of pageantry for home games.
Click to expand...




supershots. esp the first. Concert hall???


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You don't know what happens on your favourite site???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You lost me Frank??????????????
Click to expand...


Gary A. said: ↑
Frank F. said: ↑
Gary A. said: ↑
smoke665 said: ↑
As if we didn't have enough to deal with. Adobe sends out a continuous stream of updates, now a new threat has popped up using that constant barrage to sucker you into clicking on it. A new cyberattack is causing mass disruption in Russia and Europe mainly confined to Russia, but the news this morning that it was being reported here as well.
*The article stated "Pornhub" was attacked ... Gary's favorite site.* There was a quiz at the bottom. Gary passed with:
"Your Score: 97%
History PhD!
Your skill in identifying famous historical figures is unmatched, and you probably have a PhD! Good job!"
While Gary may deserve a History PhD ... he most likely got a 'Dunce' virus from his random click.

What ist Pornhob?

Porn is obviously the abbreviation of Po-pc-orn, right?

So it has to do with Cinema and the movies?
Gary doesn't know for sure ... but he suspects it is a pornographic site filled with photos and videos of naked people.
You don't know what happens on your favourite site???


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> @SquarePeg, what's the theme this week? I'm excited!



Something to do with portraits but I haven’t narrowed it down yet.  Feel free to PM any suggestions for challenges.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Avocado Ice Cream
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, but I abhor Avocado anything. Guess it's one of those quirky individual things.
Click to expand...

Good to know.  Mental note to Gary, Don't send smoke any of your hand tended, creamy, mouthwatering avocados whence they ripen.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 148827
> Mary Lou just surprised Gary with this book. Who wants a Lime Sorbet ... Tropical Margarita Sorbet ... Walnut Ice Cream with Pomegranate... Avocado Ice Cream ... ?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is it your birthday???
Click to expand...

Nope, hence the surprise.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> @limr


My wifes the 4 and I am the 3


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. In the 50's this morning.  A shaft of sun is finally hitting the front door. There is a hummer at the feeder, Maggie is at Gary's feet, a front page article on World Series home runs and Gary is sipping his first cup of coffee.  The day begins.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. In the 50's this morning.  A shaft of sun is finally hitting the front door. There is a hummer at the feeder, Maggie is at Gary's feet, a front page article on World Series home runs and Gary is sipping his first cup of coffee.  The day begins.


wish I could sleep in to 10:45


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone images

This FTn was gifted to Gary by a member. Gary hasn’t had a Nikon camera for decades. Gary is excited to shoot and acquire lenses. All he has is a 60mm Nikkor Micro. Gary's immediate needs are for a 180mm, 85mm and 20mm ...

The opening shot is of Miss Maggie, just because ...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and his first Nikon FTn w/ Nikkor 50mm f/1.4.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Yesterday I went to the Botanical Gardens of the Bonn University to catch some fall colors with my Sinar, Schneider APO Digitar N°48 and the D850 as a Digital back.
> 
> I am absolutely stunned and blown away by the image quality the D850 has to offer. I shoot a whole tree and still get a macro like resolution of single leafs!
> 
> My only enemy yesterday was wind and subject movement in general, so I had to overshoot significantly and it is a PITA to sort through and throw out the shots destroyed by subject movement.
> 
> Yes, most of the shots are "good enogh" for most purposes, but my idea is to make them work as a whole AND as a 100% crop which means a lot more work, concentration, energy and time.
> 
> right click the image "view image" and zoom to 100% ... and think that this is significatly downscaledView attachment 148840


As much a testament to Nikkor lenses as to the sensor.  Gary wonders how the Canon 50mp sensor and lenses stacks up against the Nikon gear.  Wait ... the D850 was merely a back to the 4x5.  So what lens did you use on the 4x5?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 148859
> 
> View attachment 148860
> iPhone images
> 
> This FTn was gifted to Gary by a member. Gary hasn’t had a Nikon camera for decades. Gary is excited to shoot and acquire lenses. All he has is a 60mm Nikkor Micro. 180mm, 85mm and 20mm ...
> 
> The opening shot is of Miss Maggie, just because ...


Shoot, that's all you need for lenses. Get that puppy out on one of your walks, lets see some pics.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. I don't know what it is about Avocado, I've tried it many times, different ways. 

@jcdeboever I could hit the bed at 30mins before Sun rise and when that first light breaks my eyes pop open.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary and his first Nikon FTn w/ Nikkor 50mm f/1.4.



Looks like the same one gifted to you. Sweet Baby Jesus. What year was that?


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 148859
> 
> View attachment 148860
> iPhone images
> 
> This FTn was gifted to Gary by a member. Gary hasn’t had a Nikon camera for decades. Gary is excited to shoot and acquire lenses. All he has is a 60mm Nikkor Micro. 180mm, 85mm and 20mm ...
> 
> The opening shot is of Miss Maggie, just because ...
> 
> 
> 
> Shoot, that's all you need for lenses. Get that puppy out on one of your walks, lets see some pics.
Click to expand...

Miss Maggie won't get her final immunization shot until next week ... then another week before she can venture out into the great outdoors.  Until then she is under house arrest, secured by an ankle bracelet with twice a day checks by her probation officer.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary and his first Nikon FTn w/ Nikkor 50mm f/1.4.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like the same one gifted to you. Sweet Baby Jesus. What year was that?
Click to expand...

 I dunno, around 1968 I suspect ... maybe later ... but not later than 1970.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. I don't know what it is about Avocado, I've tried it many times, different ways.
> 
> @jcdeboever I could hit the bed at 30mins before Sun rise and when that first light breaks my eyes pop open.



I eat those bad boys plain, well almost, a little Lawry's season salt. Love them. I could lose all my teeth and eat them every day.

Me to on the wake up from light.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary and his first Nikon FTn w/ Nikkor 50mm f/1.4.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like the same one gifted to you. Sweet Baby Jesus. What year was that?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I dunno, around 1968 I suspect.
Click to expand...

I was still pooping my pants then. Tigers won the WS that year.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. I don't know what it is about Avocado, I've tried it many times, different ways.
> 
> @jcdeboever I could hit the bed at 30mins before Sun rise and when that first light breaks my eyes pop open.


Gary can't sleep in a moving vehicle.  Gary can be exhausted, flying over the arctic at 2:00 a.m. and he'd be wide awake looking out the window making sure he doesn't miss anything ... like sasquatch climbing on the wing.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A. I don't know what it is about Avocado, I've tried it many times, different ways.
> 
> @jcdeboever I could hit the bed at 30mins before Sun rise and when that first light breaks my eyes pop open.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I eat those bad boys plain, well almost, a little Lawry's season salt. Love them. I could lose all my teeth and eat them every day.
> 
> Me to on the wake up from light.
Click to expand...

Gary's avocados are better than those Haas crap you get in the stores.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary and his first Nikon FTn w/ Nikkor 50mm f/1.4.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like the same one gifted to you. Sweet Baby Jesus. What year was that?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I dunno, around 1968 I suspect.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I was still pooping my pants then. Tigers won the WS that year.
Click to expand...

You're still pooping in your pants.


----------



## Gary A.

Moi, with a motorized, black body FTn.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Moi, with a motorized, black body FTn.










One of the top 20 guitar riffs in my opinion....


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Moi, with a motorized, black body FTn.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One of the top 20 guitar riffs in my opinion....
Click to expand...

That's Right ...


----------



## davidharmier60

Doesn't get a lot better than ZZ Top.
Dave got 5.25 hours. Did a search for out of place items and put them where they go for the last hour and a bit.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Moi, with a motorized, black body FTn.


Guess you weren't getting on your knees that day. Really, white pant's? Lol


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Moi, with a motorized, black body FTn.
> 
> 
> 
> Guess you weren't getting on your knees that day. Really, white pant's? Lol
Click to expand...

Me and Robert Culp from ISpy.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary and his first Nikon FTn w/ Nikkor 50mm f/1.4.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like the same one gifted to you. Sweet Baby Jesus. What year was that?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I dunno, around 1968 I suspect ... maybe later ... but not later than 1970.
Click to expand...


Yup the hair gives it away. My kids get a big laugh at the old pics of me with long hair and the Fu Man Chu mustache.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Moi, with a motorized, black body FTn.
> 
> 
> 
> Guess you weren't getting on your knees that day. Really, white pant's? Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Me and Robert Culp from ISpy.
Click to expand...

hopefully you didn't wake up in a black out hanging around that guy


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary was groovy, baby.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Did you ever see the Twilight Zone episode with William Shatner when he kept seeing some creature out on the plane's wing? Just sayin'.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Gary was groovy, baby.


Can you dig it? I can feel tha funk


----------



## vintagesnaps

They're what's happening. They'll look groovy on you.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> They're what's happening. They'll look groovy on you.


Is that Gary on the tambourine, 043s?


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Gary was groovy, baby.


Gary knew you would understand and appreciate style ... lol.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Did you ever see the Twilight Zone episode with William Shatner when he kept seeing some creature out on the plane's wing? Just sayin'.


Everybody saw that Twilight Zone.


----------



## waday

Around this time of year, I tend to read a little bit of Edgar Allan Poe. Love his work.

My favorite poem of his below:

"Alone"

From childhood’s hour I have not been 
As others were—I have not seen 
As others saw—I could not bring 
My passions from a common spring— 
From the same source I have not taken 
My sorrow—I could not awaken 
My heart to joy at the same tone— 
And all I lov’d—_I_ lov’d alone— 
_Then_—in my childhood—in the dawn 
Of a most stormy life—was drawn 
From ev’ry depth of good and ill 
The mystery which binds me still— 
From the torrent, or the fountain— 
From the red cliff of the mountain— 
From the sun that ’round me roll’d 
In its autumn tint of gold— 
From the lightning in the sky 
As it pass’d me flying by— 
From the thunder, and the storm— 
And the cloud that took the form 
(When the rest of Heaven was blue) 
Of a demon in my view—​


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, but I abhor Avocado anything. Guess it's one of those quirky individual things.
> 
> 
> 
> Good to know.  Mental note to Gary, Don't *Send* smoke *Leo *any of your hand tended, creamy, mouthwatering avocados whence they ripen.
Click to expand...


FTFY


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, but I abhor Avocado anything. Guess it's one of those quirky individual things.
> 
> 
> 
> Good to know.  Mental note to Gary, Don't *Send* smoke *Leo *any of your hand tended, creamy, mouthwatering avocados whence they ripen.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> FTFY
Click to expand...

You forgot to change "any" to "all".


----------



## waday

IS IT 5:00 YET?!


----------



## waday

Man locked in store's beer cooler stays, drinks all night

Haha


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did you ever see the Twilight Zone episode with William Shatner when he kept seeing some creature out on the plane's wing? Just sayin'.
> 
> 
> 
> Everybody saw that Twilight Zone.
Click to expand...

It's one of the best!    That, and the one where the older man just wants to be left alone to read.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> IS IT 5:00 YET?!


Close!!!    Hang tough, soldier!


----------



## davidharmier60

Certainly it's 5 o'clock somewhere.
I asked about being a stocker after other work was done. Could possibly happen. 
More hours better pay. Here's hoping. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, but I abhor Avocado anything. Guess it's one of those quirky individual things.
> 
> 
> 
> Good to know.  Mental note to Gary, Don't *Send* smoke *Leo *any of your hand tended, creamy, mouthwatering avocados whence they ripen.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> FTFY
Click to expand...



Funny!!!  Surely there are others out there who for whatever reason just absolutely don't like a particular food?????????


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Funny!!!  Surely there are others out there who for whatever reason just absolutely don't like a particular food?????????


I dislike certain gelatinous-textured foods.


----------



## SquarePeg

What’s everyone doing this weekend?   I’m either going to a surprise party tonight or the local HS football playoff game.  Still undecided.  The party is for a friend of a friend so I’m on the fence.  Tomorrow morning have a photo meetup at Mt Auburn cemetery.  It’s a beautiful, landscaped spot for fall photos.  Sunday maybe taking my mom up to York beach ME for some lobstah and steamahs now that the summer crowds are gone.


----------



## SquarePeg

I have an aversion to ketchup.


----------



## smoke665

Since Gary posted some, I'll play, though I'd have to dig out the boxes to find the college day pictures, and not sure that I'd want those on the internet at this point in my life  Here's one from somewhere around 83/83 that was scanned earlier this year. Back in my "skinny" days when I still had hair with my two oldest. How about it, any others brave enough to share some "oldies".


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Moi, with a motorized, black body FTn.



Only thing that would make this better is if it showed the "bell bottoms" LOL


----------



## limr

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Funny!!!  Surely there are others out there who for whatever reason just absolutely don't like a particular food?????????
> 
> 
> 
> I dislike certain gelatinous-textured foods.
Click to expand...


I hate Brussels sprouts and beets. Oh, and okra.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> I hate Brussels sprouts and beets. Oh, and okra.



You can't hate Okra and have any ties to the south!!


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I have an aversion to ketchup.


I like ketchup, but I've been shying away from it recently.



limr said:


> Brussels sprouts


Wife and I love Brussels sprouts! We've been roasting them with garlic, then making a mustard reduction sauce for them. Wowsers.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hate Brussels sprouts and beets. Oh, and okra.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You can't hate Okra and have any ties to the south!!
Click to expand...


That's why I moved back north! 

And to play along, here's me in 1989, dancing with my father at my brother's wedding. Cell phone snap of a print I have hanging up in my office. (You can see it larger if you click on it.)


----------



## SquarePeg

You want groovy?  I’ll show you groovy.  It was the 70’s baby!  I’m the one in the middle with the cool bandana.



 


And this is me in 1995 when my first nephew was born.


----------



## jcdeboever

I started young.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave only knows of two regular food items he doesn't like. Liver. Tripe. LOVE Brussel Sprouts! About to have Hot Dogs for dinner. YUM!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## limr

This one may explain a lot about me (I have the Giants sweatshirt):


----------



## limr




----------



## snowbear

Jammin' noobs; can't copy a photo address if their lives depended on it. 

I don't have photos of little me, but MLW night have one squirreled away, somewhere.
Brought home an interesting pizza combination, tonight: apples, bacon, sausage, roasted plum tomatoes and blue cheese crumbles.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> This one may explain a lot about me (I have the Giants sweatshirt):



You were cute, then, too.


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave only knows of two regular food items he doesn't like. Liver. Tripe. LOVE Brussel Sprouts! About to have Hot Dogs for dinner. YUM!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



LOVE me some calf's liver and onions.
I don't do tripe (except as part of a Haggis) or oysters.  I'm not crazy about artichoke, and a little mango goes a long way for me.


----------



## davidharmier60

It has begun. So far so good for the Astros. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Darvish sucks.


----------



## Gary A.

Guests tonight. Gary made Chicken Piccata and a veggie pizza tonight. Half the pizza with a tomato base sauce the other half with pesto. Tons of herbs and peppers in the 50:50 crust (50% white flour and 50% whole wheat), tomatoes, peppers hot and sweet, basil, oregano, marjoram and four cheeses. It was all Delish.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's KILLING Joe Buck hee hee...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

I love looking at these old photos!




Flashback by Wade, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

All topped off with a Lorenzi ‘Catalyst’.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Brought home an interesting pizza combination, tonight: apples, bacon, sausage, roasted plum tomatoes and blue cheese crumbles.



You know as odd a combination as this is, it actually sounds good. So how was it.

And count me in on the liver and onions


----------



## SquarePeg

Does every fan think Joe Buck is always calling the game rooting for the other team?   Gary do you think he comes across as pro Astro’s?  Maybe were all so used to local broadcasts that when we hear anyone get excited for a hit or good play against our team, we instantly think the announcers are biased.


----------



## SquarePeg

That being said, he’s a big closet Yankee.


----------



## davidharmier60

Who keeps telling us how great the Dodgers are.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

He seems just slightly pro Dodgers ... but I have a professional ear (lol).


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Brought home an interesting pizza combination, tonight: apples, bacon, sausage, roasted plum tomatoes and blue cheese crumbles.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You know as odd a combination as this is, it actually sounds good. So how was it.
> 
> And count me in on the liver and onions
Click to expand...

I think the amount of bacon was more than necessary, but everything else just blended well.  We will munch on this all day, tomorrow.


----------



## Gary A.

Wooooooh ... LA dodged a bullet which had grand slam written on the full metal jacket.


----------



## davidharmier60

The TV in my room bit the dust. So I won't  know what happened until morning. 
Night y'all. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> The TV in my room bit the dust. So I won't  know what happened until morning.
> Night y'all.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Radio?


----------



## Gary A.

Poppycock!


----------



## Frank F.

reading yet another book...

reducing stuff and create space in our flat, but wife and children get new stuff faster than I can get rid of it...

another picture of my recent effort in the Botanical Garden:


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> another picture of my recent effort in the Botanical Garden:



Very nice. Has the look of a painting.


----------



## jcdeboever

Dodger's didn't play very well last night. Darvish couldn't spin the ball and Roberts got him out of there to keep the game in hand. Dodger's looking to steal one today. Hopefully their bullpen can hold up the rest of the series. The place was crazy. Still think Dodgers in 7


----------



## davidharmier60

Tried all the known stations on I heart but couldn't find the game. Found out we are 2-1 against LA. Cool beans.
There is another TV available. 
But mine has grown roots.
I'll deal with it. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> another picture of my recent effort in the Botanical Garden:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Very nice. Has the look of a painting.
Click to expand...



it is just a simple single shot with my sinar and the D850...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Miss Maggie has had an upset/loud constant gurgly stomach all night and morning. It is so loud that I heard it from the bedroom. She otherwise seems well ... but she chews everything in the backyard, dead or alive, and hopefully that is the cause ... something random.  Dinner was a success, the Chicken Piccata was divine, even without the sauce it was quite tasty.  Gary should have divided the chicken breasts, but didn't.  After flattening, the chicken alone filled the entire plate.  Mary Lou's fresh salad from the garden was light, yet satisfying and her guacamole was delish. Gary veggie pizza was all herbs and peppers and ended up on the spicey side, not overwhelming, but definitely spicey.  The vino was simply amazing.  For dessert berry pie and Gary's chocolate/orange ice cream.  One of the guest is starting up an ice cream shoppe and he was quite surprised and impressed with the creaminess of the ice cream. If the Dodgers had won ... it would have been a perfect night ... they're a bunch of Bums.


----------



## Gary A.

It is 60F and the Marine Layer is back. Gary is relishing the cool overcast morning, the dew on the grass and flowers, the soft diffused light.  We may break 80F today.  In the paper, an article that California's 4,000+ years old Bristlecone Pines, the oldest trees in the world, are endangered by climate change, allowing lower altitude pines to encroach in their habitat.  A very interesting article.


----------



## snowbear

We missed out on the Apple Harvest Festival, so we're going to attempt getting to the Maryland Alpaca and Fleece Festival.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> another picture of my recent effort in the Botanical Garden:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Very nice. Has the look of a painting.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> it is just a simple single shot with my sinar and the D850...
Click to expand...

Other than swings and tilts ... other than you can ... why not just shoot the D850 as designed?


----------



## jcdeboever

Developing today. XP2, HP5, TMax. The odd ball rolls, all pushed. Having fun, negatives drying. Looks good so far except one roll, which I suspected, from a broken camera (totally forgot about the roll). Not looking forward to scans. Maybe loup and select a couple until I get my enlarger.


----------



## smoke665

We have a fairly large farm supply/nursery/country store/building supply/hunting supply/you name it they have it, type store out in the country, not far from us. Went there today to pickup a couple things. Out in front under the front porch, they have 4 huge cast iron circa 1900's pecan shellers merrily cracking away fresh pecans. Inside was a big stack of bagged, cleaned and shelled ones $5/lb. I picked up a bag to add to my order and asked the clerk, if he had any still in the shell as we wanted some for the table (you don't eat as many if you have to shell them). He did at $2/lb so I added 5 lbs of those to the order. I went out to drive around to the back of the building to load my other items, when the clerk came out to apologize that they had already run all of their pecans through the sheller. Told him that was fine I'd just take more of the shelled instead. Pulled back around to the front of the building, to find the clerk waiting for me with 5 lbs of shelled pecans, and apologizing because he didn't have them in the shell.  I've known these guys for 15 years now and you won't find a more customer service oriented bunch of people in the world. The owner Mark, has made a small fortune over the years running a country store in the middle of nowhere, with no advertising (except word of mouth). No big box store can come close to him.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> We have a fairly large farm supply/nursery/country store/building supply/hunting supply/you name it they have it, type store out in the country, not far from us. Went there today to pickup a couple things. Out in front under the front porch, they have 4 huge cast iron circa 1900's pecan shellers merrily cracking away fresh pecans. Inside was a big stack of bagged, cleaned and shelled ones $5/lb. I picked up a bag to add to my order and asked the clerk, if he had any still in the shell as we wanted some for the table (you don't eat as many if you have to shell them). He did at $2/lb so I added 5 lbs of those to the order. I went out to drive around to the back of the building to load my other items, when the clerk came out to apologize that they had already run all of their pecans through the sheller. Told him that was fine I'd just take more of the shelled instead. Pulled back around to the front of the building, to find the clerk waiting for me with 5 lbs of shelled pecans, and apologizing because he didn't have them in the shell.  I've known these guys for 15 years now and you won't find a more customer service oriented bunch of people in the world. The owner Mark, has made a small fortune over the years running a country store in the middle of nowhere, with no advertising (except word of mouth). No big box store can come close to him.


That's how you run a business!   It doesn't take much to keep people coming back, and the little bit they may have lost up front giving you those pecans (I trust mine are already in the mail!) will no doubt be compensated for many times over by the glowing praise from you & your family.  You can't buy advertising like that!


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> another picture of my recent effort in the Botanical Garden:
> 
> 
> 
> Very nice. Has the look of a painting.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> it is just a simple single shot with my sinar and the D850...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Other than swings and tilts ... other than you can ... why not just shoot the D850 as designed?
Click to expand...


Tilt, swing & shifts I love, but the Schneider N°48 alone makes me so happy, even without movements. I have got lots of great lenses but this one is my reference for all...


----------



## Frank F.

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> We have a fairly large farm supply/nursery/country store/building supply/hunting supply/you name it they have it, type store out in the country, not far from us. Went there today to pickup a couple things. Out in front under the front porch, they have 4 huge cast iron circa 1900's pecan shellers merrily cracking away fresh pecans. Inside was a big stack of bagged, cleaned and shelled ones $5/lb. I picked up a bag to add to my order and asked the clerk, if he had any still in the shell as we wanted some for the table (you don't eat as many if you have to shell them). He did at $2/lb so I added 5 lbs of those to the order. I went out to drive around to the back of the building to load my other items, when the clerk came out to apologize that they had already run all of their pecans through the sheller. Told him that was fine I'd just take more of the shelled instead. Pulled back around to the front of the building, to find the clerk waiting for me with 5 lbs of shelled pecans, and apologizing because he didn't have them in the shell.  I've known these guys for 15 years now and you won't find a more customer service oriented bunch of people in the world. The owner Mark, has made a small fortune over the years running a country store in the middle of nowhere, with no advertising (except word of mouth). No big box store can come close to him.
> 
> 
> 
> That's how you run a business!   It doesn't take much to keep people coming back, and the little bit they may have lost up front giving you those pecans (I trust mine are already in the mail!) will no doubt be compensated for many times over by the glowing praise from you & your family.  You can't buy advertising like that!
Click to expand...



Agree 100% ... if I can make my customers really happy, they will tell everybody, if they are the final users.

Trouble is that I am a B2B venture and some customers do not tell, because they see me as a business secret and competitive advantage!


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> I am a B2B venture and some customers do not tell, because they see me as a business secret and competitive advantage!



Sometimes, but I found that even though I was a B2B as well, I always went out of my way to take care of my customer's customers. We did a lot of JIT deliveries to the same places, that required appointments. My drivers were instructed to carry cold soft drinks in the summer, and coffee in the winter,  to pass out to the guys on the dock when they arrived. If it was early morning they took donuts, or maybe some other kind of treat. Guess which company always got appointments when we needed them, guess who's trucks took priority on unloading, and guess who caught hell if our customer ever tried to use another carrier. Even though we were in a price competitive market we weren't the cheapest.


----------



## davidharmier60

The grocery store Dave works at isn't the cheapest place by far. But every now and then we have good prices. We try like all get put to have great service.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

It’s been a rough parenting day. My wife went back to work yesterday, and our 2 year old is pissed about it. She’s been checking every box of the terrible twos. It’s especially bad for me because the Cipro I’ve been taking the last few days has fixed the original problem but made me sick in other ways. Ugh.

112 minutes until bedtime.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> It’s been a rough parenting day. My wife went back to work yesterday, and our 2 year old is pissed about it. She’s been checking every box of the terrible twos. It’s especially bad for me because the Cipro I’ve been taking the last few days has fixed the original problem but made me sick in other ways. Ugh.
> 
> 112 minutes until bedtime.


Awww. ... hopefully the little one will adjust fairly quickly, once she realizes that the tantrums don't change anything.   It's hard on them, but hard on Mom, too.  And Dad.     But we know they aren't able to give a flip about that.

Hope you get to feeling better soon!


----------



## SquarePeg

Children are highly adaptable.  It will pass.  Don’t be to eager about bedtime approaching.  They seem to sense that and will take forever to go to sleep.


----------



## Gary A.

Maggie is similar about her bedtime ...


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Maggie is similar about her bedtime ...



Not Sadie, when its bedtime she'll get in front of you and stare at you till you get up and go to bed!


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary recently discovered that Lantana is poisonous to dogs. Today, Gary spent the day removing a 25 y/o Lantana while trying to preserve a ton of vines that was growing through the Lantana.  If you’re not familiar with Lantana, the leaves are very hairy and sticky and collect dust and spider webs.  It was a tedious and thankless job.  But it is done and three 60 gallon green waste barrels were filled. Gary has showered and is recharging his depleted batteries with some fresh guacamole and a pear cider.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maggie is similar about her bedtime ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not Sadie, when its bedtime she'll get in front of you and stare at you till you get up and go to bed!
Click to expand...

That’s funny.  Maggie is like a little kid and hides or runs out her doggie door when she senses that we’re calling it a day.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> That’s funny. Maggie is like a little kid and hides or runs out her doggie door when she senses that we’re calling it a day.



All of our fur kids have been that way. Lola, the Boxer, would try to "talk" to my wife when it was time. Millie was similar to Sadie but she would get between me and the TV, and give me the stink eye stare. Very annoying.


----------



## JonA_CT

Survived. She was so sweet during bed time. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> It’s been a rough parenting day. My wife went back to work yesterday, and our 2 year old is pissed about it. She’s been checking every box of the terrible twos. It’s especially bad for me because the Cipro I’ve been taking the last few days has fixed the original problem but made me sick in other ways. Ugh.
> 
> 112 minutes until bedtime.


Aren’t you too young to be taking Cialis.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's fixin' (A Texas thing) to start.
And Dave has a working TV in his room to see the end if he can stay awake...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

All you honorable baseball fans. Should Gurriel be allowed to take is suspension next season and not in the series the offense occured?


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> All you honorable baseball fans. Should Gurriel be allowed to take is suspension next season and not in the series the offense occured?



Meh. I think Manfred is trying to play both sides. He thinks the punishment is warranted but doesn’t want the series decided on it. 

Personally, I think he should had to sit out tonight. That sends the message much more clearly, even if it was just one game.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maggie is similar about her bedtime ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not Sadie, when its bedtime she'll get in front of you and stare at you till you get up and go to bed!
Click to expand...


My dog will try to herd me into the bedroom when he’s tired.  He’s decided that he must be within 2 feet of me at all times when I’m home.


----------



## SquarePeg

The suspension should be immediate.  Zero tolerance for that bullshit.


----------



## JonA_CT

He should be suspended extra games for whatever it is he wears under his hat/helmet. Woof.


----------



## jcdeboever

Not a good message by the commish. Got to nip that one in the butt. He should be suspended immediately. But he would appeal, then he would play anyway.


----------



## SquarePeg

There goes the no no.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave has very sleepy eyes. Not sure if he'll see the end of game 4. Maybe Morton should have finished that inning....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maggie is similar about her bedtime ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not Sadie, when its bedtime she'll get in front of you and stare at you till you get up and go to bed!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My dog will try to herd me into the bedroom when he’s tired.  He’s decided that he must be within 2 feet of me at all times when I’m home.
Click to expand...

It’s your magnetic personality.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maggie is similar about her bedtime ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not Sadie, when its bedtime she'll get in front of you and stare at you till you get up and go to bed!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My dog will try to herd me into the bedroom when he’s tired.  He’s decided that he must be within 2 feet of me at all times when I’m home.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It’s your magnetic personality.
Click to expand...


Or the pocket full of bacon bits.


Here come the Dodgers!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maggie is similar about her bedtime ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not Sadie, when its bedtime she'll get in front of you and stare at you till you get up and go to bed!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My dog will try to herd me into the bedroom when he’s tired.  He’s decided that he must be within 2 feet of me at all times when I’m home.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It’s your magnetic personality.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Or the pocket full of bacon bits.
> 
> 
> Here come the Dodgers!
Click to expand...

Same thing ...


----------



## Gary A.

Home Run! Gary can hear the Fat Lady singing ...


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave feels pretty sure it's a  2-2 series.
And with the the last games in LA the fat lady is singing pretty loud.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

She is loud and clear.


----------



## SquarePeg

Karma for not benching the racist.


----------



## Dave442

The Dodgers may have won, but I had everyone distracted with some pizzas, two like this one plus a cheese and a vegetarian.  All for a grandsons birthday.


----------



## jcdeboever

I had to bring Gary back in the game after that HR made it 1-0. I told him Dodger's were going to win this game. Blam!

I like exploding golf balls[emoji12]


----------



## Gary A.

Yep, JC called it ...


----------



## davidharmier60

In the Grand scheme of things it probably doesn't matter who wins. It could be said Houston needs the boost that winning would be. But the fires in CA mean that isn't the whole story.
We are going to have eggs, bacon and toast in a few minutes. Dave has a really decent mug of coffee to ponder on it all.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

@dave: Very thoughtful. The series isn’t over and presently it is a tie with no real advantage to either team.  Both teams are quite equal. Astros have slightly better offense, the Dodgers slightly better defense. Houston can certainly use a lift... and while the fires in Northern California are tragic ... everybody in Northern California hates the Dodgers. They’re Giants fans. In truth, the victims of the fires are most likely cheering for the Astros. (Stupid name BTW.) Gary received a text from a Giant fan the other day after Houston won their second game, Gary received a text from a Giant fan, “Kershaw can’t pitch every game, go Houston ...”.


----------



## smoke665

39 degrees this morning when Sadie and I headed out. Because of the dampness in the air and the wind, according to TV it felt like 28. Based on the pain in my chest it felt like - 28. Humidity is one of my asthma triggers, and like a dummy I forgot my rescue inhaler, so I pretty much sounded like the little engine that couldn't by the time we got back.


----------



## Gary A.

From the other day when the Dodgers list game three.


----------



## Gary A.

Another LA Times shot from game three.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> 39 degrees this morning when Sadie and I headed out. Because of the dampness in the air and the wind, according to TV it felt like 28. Based on the pain in my chest it felt like - 28. Humidity is one of my asthma triggers, and like a dummy I forgot my rescue inhaler, so I pretty much sounded like the little engine that couldn't by the time we got back.


61F right next now, a bit overcast, sans wind. Should hit the mid 70’s ... nice to get back to normal. Mary Lou and Gary’s youngest daughter both have asthma. Asthma sucks.


----------



## Gary A.

There is great joy in Mudville, the mighty Dodgers scored five runs in the top of the Ninth to win game four of the WS, tie the series up with Kershaw throwing tonight ... and Trojans demolish the Sun Devils and are looking like the USC of legend. In the first quarter, USC was leading Arizona 21 to 3 and SC hadn't made a first down yet. The men of Troy had more than 600 total yards.  For you cold weather folk, The Los Angeles Kings beat Boston's Bruins in overtime with .04 on the clock.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's ToDo List for Sunday:
1) Mow yards;
2) Clean filters;
3) Make Bread;
4) Make Ice Cream; and
5) Watch World Series.


----------



## limr

Can't wait for the Dodgers to just win this already so we can start talking about REAL things again, like pets and weather and food/beer/wine and football! 



I knew my Gators were going to get stomped on yesterday, but at least we got on the board with something by the end of the game. And I am still trying to figure out how the hell Penn State lost that game by a point. They had that game in the bag. Didn't see the second half, but apparently, Penn State didn't feel like they had to pay attention to it, either.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> ... And I am still trying to figure out how the hell Penn State lost that game by a point. They had that game in the bag...


So is Penn State.  (Where is Jerry Sandusky when you need him?)


----------



## limr

No one EVER needs Jerry Sandusky.


----------



## snowbear

65 degrees and 93% humidity between the raindrops -- I'm not going back out, today.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> No one EVER needs Jerry Sandusky.


I don't know -- maybe a couple of the residents on cell block D might want to befriend him.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> No one EVER needs Jerry Sandusky.
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know -- maybe a couple of the residents on cell block D might want to befriend him.
Click to expand...


And they can have him.


----------



## Derrel

_"Baseball been berry,berry boring to me.*"*_


----------



## JonA_CT

Food and beer? Okay.

There is a beef and barley soup simmering on the stove, and I've been sipping on a very nice pilsner while waiting for football to come on.

We'll be headed over to my parents house later today. My brother and his family will be there, too, so my daughter will get to hang out with my cousin. Hopefully, we'll be home before the worst of the forecasted storm hits. They're forecasting gusts into the 70s here overnight. Fingers crossed that we don't lose power.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 148909
> Another LA Times shot from game three.



Great photo!



Gary A. said:


> Gary's ToDo List for Sunday:
> 1) Mow yards;
> 2) Clean filters;
> 3) Make Bread;
> 4) Make Ice Cream; and
> 5) Watch World Series.



Is that it?  Mostly  fun stuff too.  It’s 1pm here and I have already...
Taken my mom to church and out for breakfast
Returned a faulty item to Target
Picked up Princess from her sleepover 
Cleaned out garage and back yard shed
Grocery shopped dodging lost men wearing Patriots shirts clogging up the aisles looking for the deli meats and good rolls
Time to get comfy to watch the Pats game!  




limr said:


> No one EVER needs Jerry Sandusky.



My neighbor had a giant  blow up Penn State lawn ornament out the past 2 Saturdays.  I want to knock on her door and say “too soon”. 



JonA_CT said:


> Food and beer? Okay.
> 
> There is a beef and barley soup simmering on the stove, and I've been sipping on a very nice pilsner while waiting for football to come on.
> 
> We'll be headed over to my parents house later today. My brother and his family will be there, too, so my daughter will get to hang out with my cousin. Hopefully, we'll be home before the worst of the forecasted storm hits. They're forecasting gusts into the 70s here overnight. Fingers crossed that we don't lose power.



I have a Halloween party tonight and not looking forward to the terrible weather.  I have to go though since it’s a charity event run by my brother and sister in law.  I may use the weather as an excuse to skip dressing up.  Maybe I’ll go as an obnoxious Patriots fan.  Not a stretch I know...


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Food and beer? Okay.
> 
> There is a beef and barley soup simmering on the stove, and I've been sipping on a very nice pilsner while waiting for football to come on.
> 
> We'll be headed over to my parents house later today. My brother and his family will be there, too, so my daughter will get to hang out with my cousin. Hopefully, we'll be home before the worst of the forecasted storm hits. They're forecasting gusts into the 70s here overnight. Fingers crossed that we don't lose power.


Yep, be careful up there!    The front rolled through here yesterday and we're _still_ getting gusts up to 26 mph today.   It's sunny and dry, at least - but a wild day for the wind.

The last of my vegetable-barley soup is being consumed today.   I'm looking hard at two recipes now for the next pot of soup.   It'll be either roasted butternut squash, or wanton. I keep something in the soup pot pretty much all through winter.        Love it that it's finally chilly enough to get going!


----------



## Gary A.

6) Plant some peas, tomatoes, cilantro, spinach and stuff Gary purchased last week, but it was too hot for planting.


----------



## snowbear

Tonight's dinner is chicken and dumplings - the first time I've tried making it.


----------



## JonA_CT

Good luck, Charlie! I’m sure it’ll come out well.

I bought 4 butternut squash today with no plans to actually cook them yet, haha. But on sale for a $1 each...hard to beat!


----------



## snowbear

Thanks; the recipe seems simple enough.  If it turns out as good as I'm hoping, it might make it on the Thanksgiving list.  I really like going non-traditional like jambalaya, gumbo, or lobster pot pie.

I'm not sure I've had  butternut squash - pretty much stick with yellow.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> Good luck, Charlie! I’m sure it’ll come out well.
> 
> I bought 4 butternut squash today with no plans to actually cook them yet, haha. But on sale for a $1 each...hard to beat!


Still, kind of pricey for compost...


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck, Charlie! I’m sure it’ll come out well.
> 
> I bought 4 butternut squash today with no plans to actually cook them yet, haha. But on sale for a $1 each...hard to beat!
> 
> 
> 
> Still, kind of pricey for compost...
Click to expand...


Philistine


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has the bread proofing, stuffed with leftover basil and peppers from the Chicken Piccata. On to next task.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave never really learned the art of cooking. There will meatloaf and scalloped potatoes later by Sister. I wonder who will pitch for the Stros tonight and IF IT REALLY MATTERS...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave never really learned the art of cooking. There will meatloaf and scalloped potatoes later by Sister. I wonder who will pitch for the Stros tonight and IF IT REALLY MATTERS...
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Dude it's even, Astros have the best offense in baseball. You guys laugh at Kershaw ...


----------



## Gary A.

Lawns are done.


----------



## davidharmier60

With the exception that shopping starts 20-25 miles away and MUCH farther for good stuff.... Dave lives in the country and likes it that way. One reason shown below if everything works out. 




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----------



## davidharmier60

Let's try this once more....



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----------



## Gary A.

Gary like fire too.  This is what you get in the city.


----------



## Gary A.

Filters are done.  Bread dough moved to baking dish.


----------



## Gary A.

On to Watermelon Sorbet from the Mexican Ice Cream Cookbook.


----------



## Frank F.

and a last one I just found...


----------



## snowbear

Jon - have you seen this?  Funny, but I doubt I'd have dome it when ours were this little.
Muddled Up Mummy


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Jon - have you seen this?  Funny, but I doubt I'd have dome it when ours were this little.
> Muddled Up Mummy


aaahhhh ... No.


----------



## Gary A.

Sorbet is in the fridge cooling off and getting ready for the ice cream maker.


----------



## Gary A.

Bread is in the oven.


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> With the exception that shopping starts 20-25 miles away and MUCH farther for good stuff.... Dave lives in the country and likes it that way.



Dave the rural property we built on is just about ideal for us. The house is on a small mountain top, overlooking a valley, in the middle of 35 acres. We have a few neighbors but because of the elevation all we see are trees and mountains. Yet when we want to go, we're 5 miles from an interstate (on the other side of a mountain ridge), 15 mins from 3 super Walmarts, and 20 mins from a Mall. Happy wife! Happy husband, the best of all worlds.


----------



## davidharmier60

We are 1.4 or so miles from 59/69.
5 miles from my job.
Maybe 18 miles to a Wal-Mart one way and 22 the other way.
But decent pawn shops are 30+
Camera store 50+
Dinner should be any minute now. 

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----------



## smoke665

@davidharmier60 Yeah we don't seem to have a shortage of pawnshops or quickstops. Have one quickstop/deli/coffeshop 2 miles from us, that sort of serves as the local gathering spot in the mornings for coffee and tall tales. A country general store/farm supply 3 miles the other way. Unfortunately only 2 camera stores in the state, neither of which is very close, but we do have internet! So shopping is only a click away.


----------



## davidharmier60

I pretty much save up cash and buy stuff cash. Got a couple neat watches from pawn. Probably get a DSLR from the camera store in Houston when the time comes. Dinner about ready. Later.

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----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> Jon - have you seen this?  Funny, but I doubt I'd have dome it when ours were this little.
> Muddled Up Mummy



Yeah...that's weird, haha. I think we'll pass.


Sustained winds are in the mid-4o mph range at the moment, gusting to the mid-50s. My parents already lost their grid-based power. They are currently running at about 70% of their homestead-based power generation. At that rate, as long as they get power back in the next 8ish days, they shouldn't need to refill their propane tank.

We've been pretty fortunate in past storms. We are a block away from the hospital, and our power gets restored ASAP when it goes. We've never been without for longer than a couple hours in the 9 years we've lived here. (Hurricane Irene, Superstorm Sandy, Winter Storm NEMO, et. al)

Only other thing to watch for us in is our neighbor's 100ft tall 200ish year old Eastern White Pine. It'll get us if it falls.


----------



## SquarePeg

Omg what a game!


----------



## Gary A.

Yes ... a four run lead with Kershaw isn’t safe.


----------



## SquarePeg

When you get too aggressive with the ziplock bag and the little blue slidey thing breaks off and your leftover sandwich is trapped forever...


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Yes ... a four run lead with Kershaw isn’t safe.


Just keep hanging with me Bud, I keep it real


----------



## JonA_CT

We didn’t lose power and no obvious damage, although we won’t really know until the sun is up. 

The winds peaked at 66 mph. Not too crazy for a winter storm for us, but with the trees trees still leaved, power is out for a lot of folks around me and travel will be difficult this morning while trees and limbs are cleared from roads. All the schools are closed too.


----------



## davidharmier60

I bet the Dodgers won.
I gotta go make a buck or two.

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----------



## SquarePeg

Lots of road closures here in MA due to flooding and power lines down.   Lots of school closings and delayed starts but not for our town so I’ll be braving the roads since it’s my day to drive Princess and the neighbors. 

Doggy-do was sick all night.  He must have eaten something he shouldn’t have.   I’m exhausted.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

We were fine all night long. Then the power went out just as I was starting to put my face on. Or as they say in certain parts of England, put me slap on. Luckily I had just finished drying my hair and the curling iron was still hot for me to fix that one stupid cowlick at the forehead.

Traffic sucked and the rain is easing up, but the wind is howling. It's a proper autumn day!


----------



## smoke665

Well as they say "there was frost on the pumpkin" this morning. Heavy frost around the house (highest elevation). Glad I kept postponing the final mowing, now I'm done till next spring!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## smoke665

@limr Any comments on the firing of McElwaine????


----------



## JonA_CT

Amazing to me that your hard freeze came before ours almost 1000 miles to the Northeast. I guess the warm ocean water influences our weather much more than I thought. 

(PS...the last time I was in Gadsden, it was still in the 80s when I went to bed, haha)


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> @limr Any comments on the firing of McElwaine????



Not too surprising, given their record and current problems with the team. Poor recruitment trickles all the way up to the coach. I _am_ surprised and horrified at the death threats.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> We were fine all night long. Then the power went out just as I was starting to put my face on. Or as they say in certain parts of England, put me slap on. Luckily I had just finished drying my hair and the curling iron was still hot for me to fix that one stupid cowlick at the forehead.
> 
> Traffic sucked and the rain is easing up, but the wind is howling. It's a proper autumn day!


Yep, proper autumn Monday. Our power went out overnight for a few minutes, and we had heavy rain for most of the night. We've been having gusts up to around 40 mph. The road was covered in debris, including: mums, Halloween decorations, tree limbs, trash cans, and surprisingly, a trampoline.

A section of highway has just been opened to three lanes for a short stretch. Today was a pretty light day for traffic, so we'll see what it looks like at a more congested time. Hoping it alleviates a lot of traffic.

As much as I like summer, I'm ready for some cold weather.


----------



## SquarePeg

Not my photo below.  This is from our local community facebook page.  Tree fell on this car as the mom was driving the 2 kids in the back seat to school.  Miraculously, no one was seriously hurt.  Not sure why the DPW cut the top off of this tree years ago then never came back to remove it but there are several like that around town.  Pretty sure they'll all be gone by tomorrow...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary's work email is functioning correctly and he is presently frustrated. It is 64F presently, projected to hit a high of 68F.  Back to normal. Gary cannot remember the last time he lost power.  He does remember losing power for hours and hours ... an earthquake back in the 90's, lost power for maybe six hours.  But it was in the middle of the night, no big deal.  But Gary does have a manual coffee grinder, if the day come when there isn't any power at dawn. Gary's a little thinker.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Gary's work email is functioning correctly and he is presently frustrated.


I get frustrated with work email, too.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Not my photo below.  This is from our local community facebook page.  Tree fell on this car as the mom was driving the 2 kids in the back seat to school.  Miraculously, no one was seriously hurt.  Not sure why the DPW cut the top off of this tree years ago then never came back to remove it but there are several like that around town.  Pretty sure they'll all be gone by tomorrow...


Ouch!


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's work email is functioning correctly and he is presently frustrated.
> 
> 
> 
> I get frustrated with work email, too.
Click to expand...

This was a P.O.  ... cash money ... and Gary couldn't get it to 'Send'.  Gary opened the message in a separate window and off it went.  Go figure ...


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's work email is functioning correctly and he is presently frustrated.
> 
> 
> 
> I get frustrated with work email, too.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> This was a P.O.  ... cash money ... and Gary couldn't get it to 'Send'.  Gary opened the message in a separate window and off it went.  Go figure ...
Click to expand...

Ah. My email frustrates me in a different way.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Amazing to me that your hard freeze came before ours almost 1000 miles to the Northeast. I guess the warm ocean water influences our weather much more than I thought.
> 
> (PS...the last time I was in Gadsden, it was still in the 80s when I went to bed, haha)



Really, you were a long way from home if you were in Gadsden.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary sorta wonders what the driver thought when they heard and felt the bang on the roof ...


----------



## Gary A.

What does "UV Index" mean?


----------



## Gary A.

BTW- The Watermelon Sorbet is delish ... the recipe called for two Serrano peppers and lime juice ... really really good.  The bread came out okay, better than store ... but not one of Gary's better breads.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave was very surprised when told the Astros won 13-12. If after the first inning I'd have bet I would have lost money. Got a bit over 4.25 hours. Taking a broken grocery cart home to see if I can fix it.

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----------



## Gary A.

Yep, in an extra inning.  Great game, a boxing match really, both clubs trading blows until their arms were wasted with fatigue.  Sorta like a Rocky movie, but in movie the Ruskie won.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr Any comments on the firing of McElwaine????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not too surprising, given their record and current problems with the team. Poor recruitment trickles all the way up to the coach. I _am_ surprised and horrified at the death threats.
Click to expand...


Southern football fans take it pretty serious!! He's not the first that I remember.

@SquarePeg You have to wonder at the luck some people have. Wonder what the odds would be that the poor woman would have a tree fall on her while driving down the street!!


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Amazing to me that your hard freeze came before ours almost 1000 miles to the Northeast. I guess the warm ocean water influences our weather much more than I thought.
> 
> (PS...the last time I was in Gadsden, it was still in the 80s when I went to bed, haha)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Really, you were a long way from home if you were in Gadsden.
Click to expand...


Indeed. My in-laws live in East TX and we drove there and back in July 2016. We spent a night in Gadsden on the way home. (Two stop trip home...Gadsden and we spent two nights just outside of Shenandoah NP in VA). We probably won’t ever make that drive again, although it has nothing to do with the hospitality in Gadsden which was just fine. 

We caught a super hot stretch while we were down there. I have pictures of my daughter playing in the first rest area in AL on the way down. She was flush and wet after just a few minutes running around.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> We caught a super hot stretch while we were down there. I have pictures of my daughter playing in the first rest area in AL on the way down. She was flush and wet after just a few minutes running around.



Yup Bama in the summer can be "extreme", but generally the temperatures are fairly moderate. Gadsden proper hasn't grown that much, but the surrounding areas have substantially. Lots, and lots of restaurants and shopping opportunities. They've revitalized the downtown, and are in the process of turning it into an entertainment district.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou is up and turned on the Tv to get updates on this 'big' news day.  She said when did "... newscasters start wearing dresses like that ...?" A tight purple thing with a slit up to her waist. From the kitchen Gary immediately queried "... is that Fox?"  Sadly it was. Gary isn't saying that only Fox News hires females based upon attractiveness and then insist they dress in revealing outfits ... but different standards for identical/similar jobs is just wrong.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou is up and turned on the Tv to get updates on this 'big' news day.  She said when did "... newscasters start wearing dresses like that ...?" A tight purple thing with a slit up to her waist. From the kitchen Gary immediately queried "... is that Fox?"  Sadly it was. Gary isn't saying that only Fox News hires females based upon attractiveness and then insist they dress in revealing outfits ... but different standards for identical/similar jobs is just wrong.



Unfortunately reporting of the facts as we knew it in years past, has turned into a 24/7 reality show. The world is a big place but not so big as to support multiple 24/7 channels, without a lot of "fill in". I'm not sure anyone would have referred to Walter Kronkite or David Brinkley as hunks, but then again, you weren't interested in "them", you were interested in what they had to say.


----------



## davidharmier60

Pretty is one thing but being told to dress slutty is over the line.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary sees it as a double standard ... that the female newscasters have different standards than the men.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gary sees it as a double standard ... that the female newscasters have different standards than the men.



This is nothing new. It just seems to be more explicit and obvious on some broadcasts than others.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary sees it as a double standard ... that the female newscasters have different standards than the men.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is nothing new. It just seems to be more explicit and obvious on some broadcasts than others.
Click to expand...


Well...and let’s not forget that back in the “golden age” of broadcast news, women were often an afterthought in the newsroom in the first place.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary sees it as a double standard ... that the female newscasters have different standards than the men.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is nothing new. It just seems to be more explicit and obvious on some broadcasts than others.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well...and let’s not forget that back in the “golden age” of broadcast news, women were often an afterthought in the newsroom in the first place.
Click to expand...

To Gary, electronic news has always been more entertainment than news ... The very 'liberal' LA Times, when Gary was there, only had one female photographer. But much of that was due to a lack of female photographers rather than an old boys network of discrimination.  In college, I'd say it was around 50:50 male to females in the reporter ranks ... but in photojournalism it was 100% male.  She, the lone female photographer, was treated as an equal ... but then we were all treated as equals ... male/female reporters and photogs were all treated equally as professionals.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary sees it as a double standard ... that the female newscasters have different standards than the men.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is nothing new. It just seems to be more explicit and obvious on some broadcasts than others.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well...and let’s not forget that back in the “golden age” of broadcast news, women were often an afterthought in the newsroom in the first place.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> To Gary, electronic news has always been more entertainment than news ... The very 'liberal' LA Times, when Gary was there, only had one female photographer. But much of that was due to a lack of female photographers rather than an old boys network of discrimination.  In college, I'd say it was around 50:50 male to females in the reporter ranks ... but in photojournalism it was 100% male.
Click to expand...


Oh, let's not get into this again


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary sees it as a double standard ... that the female newscasters have different standards than the men.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is nothing new. It just seems to be more explicit and obvious on some broadcasts than others.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well...and let’s not forget that back in the “golden age” of broadcast news, women were often an afterthought in the newsroom in the first place.
Click to expand...

This isn't "the golden age" ... Gary would have hoped, that over the decades, we as a society and as a corporate model/standard ... that such obvious sexual exploitation and double standards wouldn't be on Tv and equally as important ... not as easy a call identifying a particular network.


----------



## smoke665

I find it very hard to take a woman newscaster serious when she dresses provocatively. I'm not so sure that it's all network directed either because if you'll notice there are some more conservatively dressed in the mix.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary’s Bread is better today than yesterday.


----------



## limr

Please please please, let's just move on from the subject.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 148940 Gary’s Bread is better today than yesterday.



Bread. Yes. Let's talk about bread.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr Any comments on the firing of McElwaine????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not too surprising, given their record and current problems with the team. Poor recruitment trickles all the way up to the coach. I _am_ surprised and horrified at the death threats.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Southern football fans take it pretty serious!! He's not the first that I remember.
> 
> @SquarePeg You have to wonder at the luck some people have. Wonder what the odds would be that the poor woman would have a tree fall on her while driving down the street!!
Click to expand...


You could look at it as bad luck that the tree fell on her while she drove by.  You could also look at it as *extremely lucky* that it didn't fall a second earlier or later and land in a different way and kill someone in the car.  Or someone walking by - that intersection is on one of the main paths that the Middle and HS kids take when walking to school and this happened during prime time this morning.  I drive that route when I'm driving them.  Frequently kids will stand around at that intersection waiting to meet up with friends before walking the rest of the way together.  It's amazingly, incredibly, lucky that no one was seriously hurt.   I think there were enough trees down and power outages in the area that they should have had a delayed start for school today but they didn't.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 148940 Gary’s Bread is better today than yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bread. Yes. Let's talk about bread.
Click to expand...

I love bread.

Toasted bread.
Soft bread.
Buttered bread.
Sweet bread.
Savory bread.
Bread in knots.
Bread in loaves.
Bread in slices.
Bread as crumbs.
Bread as dessert.
Bread as an appetizer.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 148940 Gary’s Bread is better today than yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bread. Yes. Let's talk about bread.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I love bread.
> 
> Toasted bread.
> Soft bread.
> Buttered bread.
> Sweet bread.
> Savory bread.
> Bread in knots.
> Bread in loaves.
> Bread in slices.
> Bread as crumbs.
> Bread as dessert.
> Bread as an appetizer.
Click to expand...

And breadsticks!!    Either the thin, crispy kind or the soft, doughy kind you can dip in marinara sauce.    I love my carbs, but they sure are hard on the waistline.   

But....mmm, bread.


----------



## SquarePeg

Not my photo.  Here's another one.  This one took out a family room and car in driveway.  These old trees that are close to the paved roads have short/damages root systems and don't hold up when it's damp and the wind is strong.


----------



## SquarePeg

Funny story.  My brother and sister-in-law (from NH) drove up to Canada this past weekend and left their 15 and 22 year old sons home with the 2 dogs.  Last night while watching tv, a skunk walked out from behind the sofa!  They had smelled skunk earlier in the hallway and assumed one of the dogs had been slightly sprayed while running in the woods out back or thought maybe the 22 year old smoked pot in the house...  

The skunk must have come in through the doggy door and decided to stay and hang out behind the couch.  SIL said the dogs were acting weird and trying to get onto the couch so she had put them into the kitchen until they could have a bath.  They successfully herded the skunk out through the front door without getting sprayed.  Would love to have been a fly on the wall for that scene!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Wade wrote something Dr. Seuss-like about bread. Add some green eggs & ham to that! 

I cannot get going today... have laundry in the dryer so something's' getting done but I have little to do with it at the moment. There's no good movie on, and instead of Monk there are Christmas movies (could we have Halloween first?? geez).

So I've actually had on the news, I could use some of this.  
$10 mil possible bail, yowza. But I guess the guy knew he was in serious doodoo when he woke up before dawn one morning and a bunch of people in FBI jackets were standing over his bed. (I am not a reporter! lol that is my imagination envisioning it...). And the third guy must've pooped his pants, turned himself in and plead guilty and nobody even knows who he is!


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Wade wrote something Dr. Seuss-like about bread. Add some green eggs & ham to that!


Wade drives to get bread by car,
Sometimes he eats bread as a pretzel in a bar.
Bread is baked, warm and hot,
Wade will give any bread a fair shot.
After he eats all the bread,
He finds that his scale plays dead.
If you find this leaves you wanting more,
Go bake some bread, it is no chore.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr Any comments on the firing of McElwaine????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not too surprising, given their record and current problems with the team. Poor recruitment trickles all the way up to the coach. I _am_ surprised and horrified at the death threats.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Southern football fans take it pretty serious!! He's not the first that I remember.
> 
> @SquarePeg You have to wonder at the luck some people have. Wonder what the odds would be that the poor woman would have a tree fall on her while driving down the street!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You could look at it as bad luck that the tree fell on her while she drove by.  You could also look at it as *extremely lucky* that it didn't fall a second earlier or later and land in a different way and kill someone in the car.  Or someone walking by - that intersection is on one of the main paths that the Middle and HS kids take when walking to school and this happened during prime time this morning.  I drive that route when I'm driving them.  Frequently kids will stand around at that intersection waiting to meet up with friends before walking the rest of the way together.  It's amazingly, incredibly, lucky that no one was seriously hurt.   I think there were enough trees down and power outages in the area that they should have had a delayed start for school today but they didn't.
Click to expand...


No, I'm not discounting how lucky the family was in this. It's just after being on the scene of so many accidents over the years, it always nagged me that had the people been 1 second faster or 1 second slower in a lot of cases the outcome would have been significantly different.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> No, I'm not discounting how lucky the family was in this. It's just after being on the scene of so many accidents over the years, it always nagged me that had the people been 1 second faster or 1 second slower in a lot of cases the outcome would have been significantly different.



Yup.  So much is decided by literally seconds!  Make you wonder if all of life is just random chance.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave took Dad and a drum of soap a few miles inside of beltway 8 in Houston. 
Dave got $15 worth of pennies in an actual penny box. 50 rolls $25. Dave can see ordering a box a week. Dave sees how lucky the people in the car were. Dave has no idea who got fired or why.
Daves Sister DVRd the game.
She and Dad watched it.
She deleted it before Dave got to see it.
This is kind of a bummer. 
Carry on peeps. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Make you wonder if all of life is just random chance.



I know, in a meeting with my banker this week, and she told how she had stayed at the hotel in Las Vegas not long ago for a meeting, and had walked in the same area as the shootings. Years ago don't know if you remember there was a massive fire in the MGM Grand hotel casino, my wife and I had been in that casino, just the day before. Makes you wonder about why chance chooses some and not others. Like the comment earlier I made on the mother driving, how many cars do you think might have gone by that tree in the hour before, and how many might have been in route to pass, yet it fell on her??  Seriously makes you wander if chance is actually random or if there's some madness in the universe.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Make you wonder if all of life is just random chance.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know, in a meeting with my banker this week, and she told how she had stayed at the hotel in Las Vegas not long ago for a meeting, and had walked in the same area as the shootings. Years ago don't know if you remember there was a massive fire in the MGM Grand hotel casino, my wife and I had been in that casino, just the day before. Makes you wonder about why chance chooses some and not others. Like the comment earlier I made on the mother driving, how many cars do you think might have gone by that tree in the hour before, and how many might have been in route to pass, yet it fell on her??  Seriously makes you wander if chance is actually random or if there's some madness in the universe.
Click to expand...


Random chance _is_ the madness of the universe


----------



## jcdeboever

I like bread


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> I like bread



This cat does not.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Random chance _is_ the madness of the universe



Really??? I'm beginning to believe we're in a remake of "Final Destination" and death is looking!!!   Talking about it on the news today - http://nypost.com/2017/10/30/couple-who-survived-vegas-shooting-perish-in-car-crash/


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is going through copper rolls he did.
If not a darn near perfect penny it goes into the back to circulation pile. And by putting three stacks of 10 he gets two rolls for every one. He does not have to awaken at 4am tomorrow but did this morning. 
Probably not awake but about an hour from now. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wade wrote something Dr. Seuss-like about bread. Add some green eggs & ham to that!
> 
> 
> 
> Wade drives to get bread by car,
> Sometimes he eats bread as a pretzel in a bar.
> Bread is baked, warm and hot,
> Wade will give any bread a fair shot.
> After he eats all the bread,
> He finds that his scale plays dead.
> If you find this leaves you wanting more,
> Go bake some bread, it is no chore.
Click to expand...

Bread is simply a device to keep mayonaise off of your fingers.


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wade wrote something Dr. Seuss-like about bread. Add some green eggs & ham to that!
> 
> 
> 
> Wade drives to get bread by car,
> Sometimes he eats bread as a pretzel in a bar.
> Bread is baked, warm and hot,
> Wade will give any bread a fair shot.
> After he eats all the bread,
> He finds that his scale plays dead.
> If you find this leaves you wanting more,
> Go bake some bread, it is no chore.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Bread is simply a device to keep mayonaise off of your fingers.
Click to expand...

John likes bread with mayonnaise,
He could eat it for days and days.


----------



## snowbear

Enjoying a glass of antifreeze (rum and Mountain Dew)


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave obviously needed sleep. And the Dogs found nothing to go off on.
8:32 when Dave rolled out of bed.
Need to investigate the truck.
Fan works but after 20 miles or so the air stops coming out of the vents. 
No problem going to work but the longer runs aren't fun.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Make you wonder if all of life is just random chance.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know, in a meeting with my banker this week, and she told how she had stayed at the hotel in Las Vegas not long ago for a meeting, and had walked in the same area as the shootings. Years ago don't know if you remember there was a massive fire in the MGM Grand hotel casino, my wife and I had been in that casino, just the day before. Makes you wonder about why chance chooses some and not others. Like the comment earlier I made on the mother driving, how many cars do you think might have gone by that tree in the hour before, and how many might have been in route to pass, yet it fell on her??  Seriously makes you wander if chance is actually random or if there's some madness in the universe.
Click to expand...

Gary's neighbor attended the Route 91 concert.  The concert extended across the entire weekend. By Sunday, the day of the shooting, she was tired and stayed in the hotel. Most likely she starts everyday and ends every night with a "Why me?".


----------



## Gary A.

Before Cooking

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. There was a bit of rain this morning.  Just enough to barely discolor the pavement, but not enough to turn off the sprinklers.  Gary is on his second cup of coffee enjoying the 64F morning.  It may reach 70F today, but not higher. So Fall/Winter has finally hit SoCal. Yesterday, Gary started the day with stuffing a pot roast into the crock pot.  I was delicious.  Gary tossed in the usual stuff, carrots, onion, celery, tomato, but also added fistfuls of herbs and some peppers. What a difference the herbs and peppers made.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou shot this last night with her phone.  It is sweet Maggie cuddling up with her monkey toy.


----------



## davidharmier60

Daves AC in his truck is controlled by electricity. He has no idea how to troubleshoot that.
He is getting fewer rejects as he dives deeper into the copper rolls.
The grocery cart he brought home yesterday is cobbled together. 
And that's the way it is. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

Strangest of light I found in a cityscape in Cologne yesterday.

Lit like a movie scene.

In post I added a slight vignette to make the effect more prominent even. first attachment is the edited version:



second the OOC JPEG:


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh goody it's raining. 
About to make 4 rolls put of 2.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 148993
> Mary Lou shot this last night with her phone.  It is sweet Maggie cuddling up with her monkey toy.


Webster wants to meet Maggie, he has a bone for her....


----------



## Gary A.

Gary’s neighbor hooked up a Tv in the driveway so the trick-or-treater can see the game.


----------



## vintagesnaps

snowbear said:


> Enjoying a glass of antifreeze (rum and Mountain Dew)



That's about the most nauseating sounding drink I've ever heard of.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Enjoying a glass of antifreeze (rum and Mountain Dew)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's about the most nauseating sounding drink I've ever heard of.
Click to expand...

I agree. Ruin rum


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## vintagesnaps

Turned into a crisp cool fall afternoon. Someone down the street had a little bonfire going and it smelled so good. My best friend had come over to help after taking me to a Dr. appt. - the Dr. was dressed up, didn't expect that! Pretty busy and not much candy left; seemed to be a lot of homemade costumes this year. 

Local radio station played Halloween music (some of which was maybe a bit of a stretch but did finally play the Monster Mash.) One kid said he wanted a boiling cauldron of something... I couldn't understand - his dad was like, what did he say?? lol I gave him a big handful of candy, figured that'd cover it.

Once the sun went down did the temp ever drop! could see your breath. Glad here it's only an hour and a half. Scarfed down a sandwich beforehand then afterwards had Salty Caramel coffee and 'gourmet' bakery-made chocolate covered graham crackers and started watching Simpsons Halloween episodes. 

Still cold... decided on some nice warm late night popcorn. My friend left about 9 and I'm tired but wired; there's supposed to be a good Twilight Zone on tonight. May stay up for Hitchcock too. May regret it tomorrow.


----------



## Gary A.

Y’all ready for Game Seven.


----------



## vintagesnaps

All I'd need to top off choco graham crackers and caramel coffee and popcorn would be Charlie's Mtn. Dew and rum... talk about nauseating.

I'm not sure why Charlie doesn't agree with some of us on his mixed drink recipe... hmm.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh no, it's a real thing, not just Charlie's bartending concoction. Called a Voodoo Dew. 

I'll still pass.


----------



## davidharmier60

I was asleep but by Garys comment I figure the Dodgers won last night. Gotta get ready to go to work. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Oh no, it's a real thing, not just Charlie's bartending concoction. Called a Voodoo Dew.
> 
> I'll still pass.


It's antifreeze, because of the color - resembles that yellow-green Prestone.
Y'all don't have to like it.  Imma gonna try usin Fireball next time.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Y’all ready for Game Seven.


I've had the Dodgers in 7 all along. One more night. What a series. I feel bad for @limr , she's gonna miss baseball talk when it's all over.


----------



## smoke665

We made our fall pilgrimage to the farm earlier this year thinking it wouldn't be as cold. Arrived yesterday to 40 degree afternoon temperature and a forecast low last night of freezing. Today rain and the possibility of snow. WTH!


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> View attachment 149026



Brazen hussy! 



snowbear said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh no, it's a real thing, not just Charlie's bartending concoction. Called a Voodoo Dew.
> 
> I'll still pass.
> 
> 
> 
> It's antifreeze, because of the color - resembles that yellow-green Prestone.
> Y'all don't have to like it.  Imma gonna try usin Fireball next time.
Click to expand...


Way too sweet for my tastes. I'd have to name the drink "Instant headache in a glass"


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 148993
> Mary Lou shot this last night with her phone.  It is sweet Maggie cuddling up with her monkey toy.
> 
> 
> 
> Webster wants to meet Maggie, he has a bone for her....
Click to expand...

No!


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> All I'd need to top off choco graham crackers and caramel coffee and popcorn would be Charlie's Mtn. Dew and rum... talk about nauseating.
> 
> I'm not sure why Charlie doesn't agree with some of us on his mixed drink recipe... hmm.


Bon appetit. 

Gary realizes that nobody cares ... but, Gary isn't into mixed drinks/cocktails.  On a hot summer day he will mix up a Sangria or Margarita ... but that's about it.  Lime Kool Aid with bologna strips is pretty disgusting too.


----------



## smoke665

I bet there's a few that would like my Apple Pie recipe. Apple juice, Apple cider, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a couple spices, with 150 proof clear. Really does taste like apple pie.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> We made our fall pilgrimage to the farm earlier this year thinking it wouldn't be as cold. Arrived yesterday to 40 degree afternoon temperature and a forecast low last night of freezing. Today rain and the possibility of snow. WTH!


Sorta reminds Gary of the greatest weather report he ever saw on Tv.  Picture this, a lone male reporter standing next to a city limits sign.  He's clutching the mic and he's freezing, the wind is blowing hard, he shouts over the wind into the mic "... some places are hotter than Hell ... some places are colder than Hell ... but right now in Hell, Michigan ... it is 34 degrees ...".


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> I bet there's a few that would like my Apple Pie recipe. Apple juice, Apple cider, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a couple spices, with 150 proof clear. Really does taste like apple pie.


Vino any day. (But Gary does make a mean Cinnamon-Cider Sorbet.)


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> I bet there's a few that would like my Apple Pie recipe. Apple juice, Apple cider, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a couple spices, with 150 proof clear. Really does taste like apple pie.



I would absolutely do something like that, minus the apple juice and brown sugar (see "headache in glass" comment about drinks that are too sweet  ). And I would probably drink it hot. It's a lovely drink for a cold winter's eve


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I bet there's a few that would like my Apple Pie recipe. Apple juice, Apple cider, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a couple spices, with 150 proof clear. Really does taste like apple pie.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would absolutely do something like that, minus the apple juice and brown sugar (see "headache in glass" comment about drinks that are too sweet  ). And I would probably drink it hot. It's a lovely drink for a cold winter's eve
Click to expand...

Up there with boiling hot kale and baloney soup (... or whatever you recommended as a cureall. )


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I bet there's a few that would like my Apple Pie recipe. Apple juice, Apple cider, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a couple spices, with 150 proof clear. Really does taste like apple pie.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would absolutely do something like that, minus the apple juice and brown sugar (see "headache in glass" comment about drinks that are too sweet  ). And I would probably drink it hot. It's a lovely drink for a cold winter's eve
Click to expand...


Ah, you need some apfelwein. 

Buy a brewer's bucket, lid, and airlock. (Probably a $20 investment.)

Then put this in it:

5 gallons of apple juice
2 lbs of dextrose
1 packet of Montrachet wine yeast

Let sit at room temperature for at least 6 weeks, then bottle.


Then...mull as you might wine, with cinnamon sticks, star anise, nutmeg , et. al., and drink warm.


Because of the wine yeast, it ends up being significantly drier than hard cider. Just don't drink more than a couple, as they pack a wallop.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I bet there's a few that would like my Apple Pie recipe. Apple juice, Apple cider, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a couple spices, with 150 proof clear. Really does taste like apple pie.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would absolutely do something like that, minus the apple juice and brown sugar (see "headache in glass" comment about drinks that are too sweet  ). And I would probably drink it hot. It's a lovely drink for a cold winter's eve
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Up there with boiling hot kale and baloney soup (... or whatever you recommended as a cureall. )
Click to expand...


The idea that I would include, ahem, bologna in anything is nothing but pure baloney! 

And it's spinach, and the broth is never brought to a boil. 

Oh yeah, and


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday Gary declared war on his green beans. They were growing out of control and everywhere. They were woven throughout the tomatoes, the peppers, they were even in an orange tree ... green beans hanging next to oranges. Well enough was enough and Gary took them out He did salvage a few, more like pillage than a harvest.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I bet there's a few that would like my Apple Pie recipe. Apple juice, Apple cider, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a couple spices, with 150 proof clear. Really does taste like apple pie.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would absolutely do something like that, minus the apple juice and brown sugar (see "headache in glass" comment about drinks that are too sweet  ). And I would probably drink it hot. It's a lovely drink for a cold winter's eve
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Up there with boiling hot kale and baloney soup (... or whatever you recommended as a cureall. )
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The idea that I would include, ahem, bologna in anything is nothing but pure baloney!
> 
> And it's spinach, and the broth is never brought to a boil.
> 
> Oh yeah, and
Click to expand...

LOl ... ever the linguist. 

PS-


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> I would absolutely do something like that, minus the apple juice and brown sugar (see "headache in glass" comment about drinks that are too sweet  ). And I would probably drink it hot. It's a lovely drink for a cold winter's eve



I'm trying to remember the recipe,  I have it written down at home as revised over the years, but basically a gallon of apple juice (the real stuff, not reconstituted), gallon of apple cider (fresh is better), 3/4 cup of brown sugar (depending on the sweetness you want), touch of nutmeg. Bring to boil then lower to simmer for 30 mins to reduce, stirring throughout occasionally.  Let cool to room temperature, then mix in a fifth + of your favorite spirit high proof spirit, moonshine, everclear, vodka (something tasteless).  Depending on the proof, I alter the amount to taste. Bottle in quart jars with 2 cinnamon sticks. Now the hard part. It gets better with age, it really needs to sit in the refrigerator for at least a couple weeks (though I tend to sample for quality control before then). 

It's not a sickly sweet type of drink, no more so than a soft drink, but it will sneak up on you because you really don't notice the alcohol.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  62F this morning, cool and overcast. It was fun last night, Mary Lou, Miss Maggie and Gary briefly moved our Trick-or-Treat operations over to the neighbor's driveway where we watched the game and treated the Halloweeners. This is a big day for Miss Maggie.  In an hour she gets her final shot and a few days later she'll be off house arrest.  We already have plans to take her wine tasting this weekend.  

Man, what a series.  JC is a baseball scholar (better than being merely a student of the game).  I appreciate his insights and remarks.  We have a running text throughout the games.  He knows a lot more than Mary Lou and Maggie.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would absolutely do something like that, minus the apple juice and brown sugar (see "headache in glass" comment about drinks that are too sweet  ). And I would probably drink it hot. It's a lovely drink for a cold winter's eve
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm trying to remember the recipe,  I have it written down at home as revised over the years, but basically a gallon of apple juice (the real stuff, not reconstituted), gallon of apple cider (fresh is better), 3/4 cup of brown sugar (depending on the sweetness you want), touch of nutmeg. Bring to boil then lower to simmer for 30 mins to reduce, stirring throughout occasionally.  Let cool to room temperature, then mix in a fifth + of your favorite spirit high proof spirit, moonshine, everclear, vodka (something tasteless).  Depending on the proof, I alter the amount to taste. Bottle in quart jars with 2 cinnamon sticks. Now the hard part. It gets better with age, it really needs to sit in the refrigerator for at least a couple weeks (though I tend to sample for quality control before then).
> 
> It's not a sickly sweet type of drink, no more so than a soft drink, but it will sneak up on you because you really don't notice the alcohol.
Click to expand...

Gary has an apple tree in the back, but the apples don't compare to the orchards in the local mountains, which are a little more than an hour away.  The cider is so fresh and so much better than store.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would absolutely do something like that, minus the apple juice and brown sugar (see "headache in glass" comment about drinks that are too sweet  ). And I would probably drink it hot. It's a lovely drink for a cold winter's eve
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm trying to remember the recipe,  I have it written down at home as revised over the years, but basically a gallon of apple juice (the real stuff, not reconstituted), gallon of apple cider (fresh is better), 3/4 cup of brown sugar (depending on the sweetness you want), touch of nutmeg. Bring to boil then lower to simmer for 30 mins to reduce, stirring throughout occasionally.  Let cool to room temperature, then mix in a fifth + of your favorite spirit high proof spirit, moonshine, everclear, vodka (something tasteless).  Depending on the proof, I alter the amount to taste. Bottle in quart jars with 2 cinnamon sticks. Now the hard part. It gets better with age, it really needs to sit in the refrigerator for at least a couple weeks (though I tend to sample for quality control before then).
> 
> It's not a sickly sweet type of drink, no more so than a soft drink, but it will sneak up on you because you really don't notice the alcohol.
Click to expand...


Here in NY, there are hundreds of acres of apple tree farms - going apple-picking is a typical fall activity. I have easy access to some super fresh, local apple cider. I think it would make this recipe quite yummy! I am going to give it a few tweaks and report back when it's ready 

ETA:  Oooh, I just had the idea of barrel-aging. Hmmmm.... *strokes beard in thought*


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> I am going to give it a few tweaks and report back when it's read



And now you understand the popularity of Apple Pie, and the reason for the subtle differences. Once I started my own recipe this just tastes like flavored alcohol. Review: Ole Smoky Distillery Apple Pie Moonshine mine has more of a hint of spiced apple. I think reducing the base stock causes the ingrediants to blend better.

I've never had it hot, but I've had it at room temperature. Prefer it a little cooler. I'd drink it straight out of the jar from the fridge, but then I'd drink the whole jar before I realized what I was doing 

I've been trying for 10 years to get an apple orchard started, but the heavy clay soil on our mountain, just doesn't play well with apple trees. out of 8 trees planted, only one is left, but has only produced apples once. will try to replant some this spring, will dig a LARGE hole 10-12 diameter, then refill it with modified soil, to see if that works. If it doesn't I'm done.


----------



## SquarePeg

I love fresh apples.  Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji, Pink Lady are my favorites...  I eat 1 or 2 a day during apple season.  I can't eat them at all out of season as I really need them to be crisp in order to enjoy them.   It must be a textural issue because, although I love apples themselves, I don't care for any food with cooked apples in it and won't go near apple juice.  No apple pie, apple crisp, apple cider...


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> ETA:  Oooh, I just had the idea of barrel-aging. Hmmmm.... *strokes beard in thought*




Home brew shops sell different toasts of oak chips...you can even soak them in appropriate liquors to approximate a used whiskey barrel for instance. They work much more quickly, too, because of increased surface area.

Only mentioning it 'cause I know what a 5 gallon used whiskey barrel costs, haha.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am going to give it a few tweaks and report back when it's read
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And now you understand the popularity of Apple Pie, and the reason for the subtle differences. Once I started my own recipe this just tastes like flavored alcohol. Review: Ole Smoky Distillery Apple Pie Moonshine mine has more of a hint of spiced apple. I think reducing the base stock causes the ingrediants to blend better.
> 
> I've never had it hot, but I've had it at room temperature. Prefer it a little cooler. I'd drink it straight out of the jar from the fridge, but then I'd drink the whole jar before I realized what I was doing
> 
> I've been trying for 10 years to get an apple orchard started, but the heavy clay soil on our mountain, just doesn't play well with apple trees. out of 8 trees planted, only one is left, but has only produced apples once. will try to replant some this spring, will dig a LARGE hole 10-12 diameter, then refill it with modified soil, to see if that works. If it doesn't I'm done.
Click to expand...


They sell that here. I did try it once and it was way too sweet for me to have as a drink. It's really good in actual apple pies, though 



SquarePeg said:


> I love fresh apples.  Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji, Pink Lady are my favorites...  I eat 1 or 2 a day during apple season.  I can't eat them at all out of season as I really need them to be crisp in order to enjoy them.   It must be a textural issue because, although I love apples themselves, I don't care for any food with cooked apples in it and won't go near apple juice.  No apple pie, apple crisp, apple cider...



I love Honey Crisps. Can't stand mealy apples but that textural objection does not extend to cooked apples. I love me some apple pie, and I actually make a really good one.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ETA:  Oooh, I just had the idea of barrel-aging. Hmmmm.... *strokes beard in thought*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Home brew shops sell different toasts of oak chips...you can even soak them in appropriate liquors to approximate a used whiskey barrel for instance. They work much more quickly, too, because of increased surface area.
> 
> Only mentioning it 'cause I know what a 5 gallon used whiskey barrel costs, haha.
Click to expand...


Interesting. We actually have a 1-liter barrel from Tuthilltown Distillery (fairly close to us) that Buzz and I split: Tuthilltown Barrel  We've done a few aged cocktails that turned out really well. Haven't done one in a while, though, and I might want to try some sort of spiced apple winter drink.

But the chips are a really good idea, too. Hmmmmm....*continues stroking beard*


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ETA:  Oooh, I just had the idea of barrel-aging. Hmmmm.... *strokes beard in thought*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Home brew shops sell different toasts of oak chips...you can even soak them in appropriate liquors to approximate a used whiskey barrel for instance. They work much more quickly, too, because of increased surface area.
> 
> Only mentioning it 'cause I know what a 5 gallon used whiskey barrel costs, haha.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Interesting. We actually have a 1-liter barrel from Tuthilltown Distillery (fairly close to us) that Buzz and I split: Tuthilltown Barrel  We've done a few aged cocktails that turned out really well. Haven't done one in a while, though, and I might want to try some sort of spiced apple winter drink.
> 
> But the chips are a really good idea, too. Hmmmmm....*continues stroking beard*
Click to expand...


That's pretty cool. I went to distillery in VT that sells white whiskey and a barrel together as a set. They said that it ages pretty quickly, and that you can re-use the barrel again. I might have to consider it next time I'm up there... to use it for aged cocktails sounds awesome.

What kind of cocktails did you guys put in it?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> We made our fall pilgrimage to the farm earlier this year thinking it wouldn't be as cold. Arrived yesterday to 40 degree afternoon temperature and a forecast low last night of freezing. Today rain and the possibility of snow. WTH!
> 
> 
> 
> Sorta reminds Gary of the greatest weather report he ever saw on Tv.  Picture this, a lone male reporter standing next to a city limits sign.  He's clutching the mic and he's freezing, the wind is blowing hard, he shouts over the wind into the mic "... some places are hotter than Hell ... some places are colder than Hell ... but right now in Hell, Michigan ... it is 34 degrees ...".
Click to expand...


I've driven through there several times


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ETA:  Oooh, I just had the idea of barrel-aging. Hmmmm.... *strokes beard in thought*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Home brew shops sell different toasts of oak chips...you can even soak them in appropriate liquors to approximate a used whiskey barrel for instance. They work much more quickly, too, because of increased surface area.
> 
> Only mentioning it 'cause I know what a 5 gallon used whiskey barrel costs, haha.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Interesting. We actually have a 1-liter barrel from Tuthilltown Distillery (fairly close to us) that Buzz and I split: Tuthilltown Barrel  We've done a few aged cocktails that turned out really well. Haven't done one in a while, though, and I might want to try some sort of spiced apple winter drink.
> 
> But the chips are a really good idea, too. Hmmmmm....*continues stroking beard*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's pretty cool. I went to distillery in VT that sells white whiskey and a barrel together as a set. They said that it ages pretty quickly, and that you can re-use the barrel again. I might have to consider it next time I'm up there... to use it for aged cocktails sounds awesome.
> 
> What kind of cocktails did you guys put in it?
Click to expand...


Mostly Manhattans, but we've done a few with white whiskey as well. And I can't remember if we did a Black Russian already or if we thought about it. And no, I don't remember because it was a year or so ago, not because we drank it all at once 

ETS: We usually age the cocktail for a month.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  62F this morning, cool and overcast. It was fun last night, Mary Lou, Miss Maggie and Gary briefly moved our Trick-or-Treat operations over to the neighbor's driveway where we watched the game and treated the Halloweeners. This is a big day for Miss Maggie.  In an hour she gets her final shot and a few days later she'll be off house arrest.  We already have plans to take her wine tasting this weekend.
> 
> Man, what a series.  JC is a baseball scholar (better than being merely a student of the game).  I appreciate his insights and remarks.  We have a running text throughout the games.  He knows a lot more than Mary Lou and Maggie.



I've enjoyed it, we've had some good laughs and notice I didn't text you when you had company but man I was jonesing too. I was hooked from the day,mid 70's, Strat O Matic baseball game. I was hard to beat. Modern day it's paid subscription to Stat-Cast. I scroll through it during games and use it for finding hidden gem players during fantasy baseball season. I have no idea why I like the game so much, I just do.  (@limr slowly dozes off at her computer).


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would absolutely do something like that, minus the apple juice and brown sugar (see "headache in glass" comment about drinks that are too sweet  ). And I would probably drink it hot. It's a lovely drink for a cold winter's eve
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm trying to remember the recipe,  I have it written down at home as revised over the years, but basically a gallon of apple juice (the real stuff, not reconstituted), gallon of apple cider (fresh is better), 3/4 cup of brown sugar (depending on the sweetness you want), touch of nutmeg. Bring to boil then lower to simmer for 30 mins to reduce, stirring throughout occasionally.  Let cool to room temperature, then mix in a fifth + of your favorite spirit high proof spirit, moonshine, everclear, vodka (something tasteless).  Depending on the proof, I alter the amount to taste. Bottle in quart jars with 2 cinnamon sticks. Now the hard part. It gets better with age, it really needs to sit in the refrigerator for at least a couple weeks (though I tend to sample for quality control before then).
> 
> It's not a sickly sweet type of drink, no more so than a soft drink, but it will sneak up on you because you really don't notice the alcohol.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Here in NY, there are hundreds of acres of apple tree farms - going apple-picking is a typical fall activity. I have easy access to some super fresh, local apple cider. I think it would make this recipe quite yummy! I am going to give it a few tweaks and report back when it's ready
> 
> ETA:  Oooh, I just had the idea of barrel-aging. Hmmmm.... *strokes beard in thought*
Click to expand...


Last time I went to an apple orchard, I got stung three times and hit a deer on the drive home. Needless to say, those are off of my things to do list.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> (@limr slowly dozes off at her computer).



I dozed off so fast that I didn't even make it to the end of your message to see that comment at first.  Had to check it again because I'd gotten a notification and didn't know why.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary gets two crops a year from his little tree in the back.  The tree is an Anna, not an exciting flavor, just apple ... but does well in this clime. Gary likes to slice and cook 'em up in a pan.  Nothing added, they are good as a side.  Cooked this way, they taste like apple pie.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> (@limr slowly dozes off at her computer).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I dozed off so fast that I didn't even make it to the end of your message to see that comment at first.  Had to check it again because I'd gotten a notification and didn't know why.
Click to expand...

Baseball is all about stats and data ... you should like baseball.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary gets two crops a year from his little tree in the back.  The tree is an Anna, not an exciting flavor, just apple ... but does well in this clime. Gary likes to slice and cook 'em up in a pan.  Nothing added, they are good as a side.  Cooked this way, they taste like apple pie.


You could wrap them in baloney, call them appleoney's .... (oh my, that was bad)


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> (@limr slowly dozes off at her computer).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I dozed off so fast that I didn't even make it to the end of your message to see that comment at first.  Had to check it again because I'd gotten a notification and didn't know why.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Baseball is all about stats and data ... you should like baseball.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I should face time her and go through the glorious statistical goodness.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Fall has come to Gary’s place.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Miss Maggie and Gary are back from the vet and her final shot.  Miss Maggie has gained four pounds in three weeks.  Saturday, Maggie has a puppy socialization class in Long Beach.  On Sunday, she will be wine tasting in Temecula.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> (@limr slowly dozes off at her computer).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I dozed off so fast that I didn't even make it to the end of your message to see that comment at first.  Had to check it again because I'd gotten a notification and didn't know why.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Baseball is all about stats and data ... you should like baseball.
Click to expand...


No, you've got it backwards. It's not the stats and data that make me interested in things; it's the thing that I'm already interested in that get me sucked into stats and data. I have access to what's called the 'data warehouse' for the state university system, and I could fall down any one of a number of rabbit holes and not come back for hours. Baseball? Because I'm completely uninterested, the idea of pouring over statistics about it makes me feel like a caged animal. 



jcdeboever said:


> Yeah, I should face time her and go through the glorious statistical goodness.



Ha ha, joke's on you! I don't have an iPhone so you can't FaceTime me!


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got 3 minutes over 6 hours. 
Dave fooled around to get his check.
And get milk to take home.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Miss Maggie had a tough morning. She was leashed, which she hates. She had to travel to the front yard, which she hates. Then she went for a car ride. Which she hates. She chatted with the vet, who she likes. Then she had her nails clipped, which she hated. Then a shot ... meh. Then the leash, the great outdoors, the car all over again.


----------



## SquarePeg

Miss Maggie sounds like a pretty typical pup!  Our dog hated the leash and the car the first couple of times.  Now he jumps up if I jingle the leash because he knows it's time for a walk and if I mention the car he whines and follows me from room to room trying to hurry me out the door.  The nail thing will always be dreaded.  Sometimes when I take him to get his nails clipped they have to use the cone of shame because he shows them his teeth and they get nervous.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Then she had her nails clipped, which she hated.





SquarePeg said:


> The nail thing will always be dreaded. Sometimes when I take him to get his nails clipped they have to use the cone of shame because he shows them his teeth and they get nervous.


I've resorted to clipping dog nails myself. Our late rescue pup had issues with new people, and that made it worse when people tried to clip her nails.

Takes 5 minutes and Roxy knows she'll get a treat afterwards. While she does it reluctantly, she rolls over onto her back herself.


----------



## Gary A.

The vet was surprised at the weaponery cute little Maggie squirreled away between her toes. They were long and menacing. Mary Lou had some holes in her clothing as a result of Maggie’s claws. But now they’re clipped and it is done. As our walks will start soon. The pavement section of the walk will soon made the claws short and dull.


----------



## JonA_CT

Since the Bloody Paw Print Incident of 2014, my pup has his claws trimmed at the groomer.


----------



## Gary A.

We know that the leash, the car and the great outdoors is all a matter of acclimation and time.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Since the Bloody Paw Print Incident of 2014, my pup has his claws trimmed at the groomer.


We did not want her clipping to be a painful affair and it was only $15 ... we decided to have Dr. Wilson clip away.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Since the Bloody Paw Print Incident of 2014, my pup has his claws trimmed at the groomer.
> 
> 
> 
> We did not want her clipping to be a painful affair and it was only $15 ... we decided to have Dr. Wilson clip away.
Click to expand...


I get it. Tucker didn’t seem to be in any pain, but boy, will a claw bleed if you clip too far. With his dark claws, it’s a guessing game.


----------



## Gary A.

For Leo


----------



## waday

Now, if it goes to 20 innings with a rain delay, my prediction will come true.


----------



## JonA_CT

Did you guys hear about the guy who parlayed a $500k game one bet for all of the games without losing? He’s made $14 million, and supposedly, is laying it all in the line tonight. 

In other news, my Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 lens arrived today. It’s the old push-pull made from 88-92. I’ve never seen a piece of used gear in which great condition, right down to the original carrying case.


----------



## Gary A.

Guess where Gary's going ...


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou, Miss Maggie and Gary are back from the vet and her final shot.  Miss Maggie has gained four pounds in three weeks.  Saturday, Maggie has a puppy socialization class in Long Beach.  On Sunday, she will be wine tasting in Temecula.



Ok inquiring minds want to know how much does Maggie weigh now??? Hard to tell with all that hair LOL

I guess we were lucky with Sadie Mae, she absolutely loves to ride in the car, so much so that she doesn't want to get out when we get home. Leashes are another matter, not real fond of them as they limit her travel. I have a 75' lead that I work her on when conditions are hazardous for her to run. Otherwise she works pretty good off leash.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou, Miss Maggie and Gary are back from the vet and her final shot.  Miss Maggie has gained four pounds in three weeks.  Saturday, Maggie has a puppy socialization class in Long Beach.  On Sunday, she will be wine tasting in Temecula.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok inquiring minds want to know how much does Maggie weigh now??? Hard to tell with all that hair LOL
> 
> I guess we were lucky with Sadie Mae, she absolutely loves to ride in the car, so much so that she doesn't want to get out when we get home. Leashes are another matter, not real fond of them as they limit her travel. I have a 75' lead that I work her on when conditions are hazardous for her to run. Otherwise she works pretty good off leash.
Click to expand...

Maggie is now 19lbs, larger than Cook at a similar age.  Adult female Wheatens top off around 35lbs.  Cookie was fine without a leash, even on the streets.  She knew to only cross at corners and after looking in all directions, (joking). Actually, she would wait at the corner waiting for a command to cross.  If she was chasing a cat she would stop at the curb. Gary has a 45' leash but only used it during her training period.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Actually, she would wait at the corner waiting for a command to cross. If she was chasing a cat she would stop at the curb.



Lola the Boxer was probably the best at at following commands and walked at heal perfectly. With Millie (she was a French Brittany) and  now Sadie (American Brittany), commands need to be more interesting than what they're doing at the moment. Working in field, Millie would quarter (work in an arc back and forth) in front at about 75 yards. You could direct her in different directions with hand signals, but forget about other commands, until she was tired. Sadie seems to be pretty much the same, in our limited trials so far.


----------



## jcdeboever

Webster is kind of stupid, he's a sniffer. He runs after anything. Deer, sandhill cranes, coyotes, other dogs, people. He runs full speed, then will stop, and lay down, almost as if to say, what was I thinking? He likes female dogs. I think he is kind of a bad boy in the dog world.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 149097
> Guess where Gary's going ...


Be careful up there, I hear they're into probing.


----------



## SquarePeg

Dodgers got some bad juju going on tonight.  Did Gary forget to use his lucky bbq tongs tonight?


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is awake a little later than he should be with a 4am wake up.
Hmm. 5-0 After two. 
Not getting the hopes up too high....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Started a new new analysis and map, today - fire stations that are most likely to transport to a specific hospital.  I finished the analysis in two main steps and two adjustments (think post processing) and will put it all together in final form in the morning.

Cancelled the monthly challenge for October - only two entries.  I'm going to switch to bi-monthly for a while to see if interest increases.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Started a new new analysis and map, today - fire stations that are most likely to transport to a specific hospital.  I finished the analysis in two main steps and two adjustments (think post processing) and will put it all together in final form in the morning.
> 
> Cancelled the monthly challenge for October - only two entries.  I'm going to switch to bi-monthly for a while to see if interest increases.



I just saw that!  Sorry to hear it.  I always mean to enter and then the month just gets away from me and suddenly it's the last day and I've got nothing!  Maybe post the 2 entries at least even if no voting - since they made the effort?  I hope the weekly challenges haven't gotten in the way.  I've tried to keep them different and more about technical skills than subject matter.


----------



## snowbear

I was thinking about posting them.  I don't think it's any one thing, as participation has been low for a few of the previous months.  I even had to enter once to make the three minimum.  One of the issues has been that some don't want to email their entries, but we can't make a private gallery, so there's no choice.  Your's (and Pix's) are post, not anon emails.

Maybe more of the noobs will enter.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Dodgers got some bad juju going on tonight.  Did Gary forget to use his lucky bbq tongs tonight?


He wears thong when he barbeques?


----------



## SquarePeg

t.m.i.


----------



## Gary A.

The game started without Gary wearing his Dodger cap. He is wearing it now!


----------



## Gary A.

Before



After

Gary made pizza tonight.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and guests are eating pizza, sipping vino and watching the game in the patio.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> The game started without Gary wearing his Dodger cap. He is wearing it now!


Oh man that's a no no.


----------



## davidharmier60

Initial indication says Astros won. 
If true COOL. Dave must go to work. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 149107
> Before
> View attachment 149108
> After
> 
> Gary made pizza tonight.




tasty pizza. good pictures.


----------



## SquarePeg

Sorry Gary!  Congrats Dave!

Not the most exciting game 7.  I’m sad that baseball season is over.  I don’t get to watch a ton of games in the spring or summer these days but I really enjoy the post season.


----------



## jcdeboever

Sorry Gary! You guys had a good season. Darvish kind of bit you guys in the butt. Why they didn't use Wood more is beyond me.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Sorry Gary!  Congrats Dave!
> 
> Not the most exciting game 7.  I’m sad that baseball season is over.  I don’t get to watch a ton of games in the spring or summer these days but I really enjoy the post season.


I usually watch a lot more than I did this year.   Just didn't seem to find time.

Congrats to the Astros!


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> *baseball season is over.*



Sorry, but these very important words are really all I read of this post 

WOOT!


----------



## limr

Rangers at 7:30 tonight. 

GO RANGERS!


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


>



Sorry, Gary. While I ultimately do not have strong feelings one way or another, I was rooting for Brooklyn, too


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Everybody out here is stunned ... completely surprised.  We all thought it was in the bag.  The only thing between us and the title was the Astros ... who can't beat the Astros ... (best hitting team in baseball, a team who had beaten us three times in the last six games), piece of cake.

The baseball Gods must have felt we were too big for our britches ... starting our worse pitcher against the league's best team is certainly condensating and disrespectful.  The baseball Gods rewarded us appropriately and convincingly. Gary will sacrifice a sheep, (or a puppy that looks like a sheep), to the Gods thanking them for a great season, a terrific six game series and in atonement for stupidly suiting up for the last game in the wrong britches.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Everybody out here is stunned ... completely surprised.  We all thought it was in the bag.  The only thing between us and the title was the Astros ... who can't beat the Astros ... (best hitting team in baseball, a team who had beaten us three times in the last six games), piece of cake.
> 
> The baseball Gods must have felt we were too big for our britches ... starting our worse pitcher against the league's best team is certainly condensating and disrespectful.  The baseball Gods rewarded us appropriately and convincingly. Gary will sacrifice a sheep, (or a puppy that looks like a sheep), to the Gods thanking them for a great season, a terrific six game series and in atonement for stupidly suiting up for the last game in the wrong britches.



How is the team set for next year?  Anyone on their way out?  What's the general feeling about Roberts managing in the series?  Monday morning quarterbacking being what it is, I'm sure there are a lot of "I would have started Kershaw" posts out there... When the Sox lost in the ALCS in game 7 in 2003 I was completely devastated and very mad at how the game was mismanaged.  It did, however, make 2004 all the sweeter.  Here's to Sox vs. LAD for the 2018 WS!


----------



## Gary A.

On the plus side ... dinner was excellent (per the opinions of the guest).  It was possibly Gary's best pizza.  Gary has recognized that the single biggest ingredient in any food/drink needs to be top-notch.  In pizza that will be the dough/crust.  His crusts are now being made with 75% whole wheat 25% bread flour augments with tons of herbs and peppers. It was a good day for food.  A guest brought a nice Bordeaux with very good numbers, which needed aeration. Gary opened some Zin from Paso Robles which kicked the Frenchy's butt. Everybody was full from dinner, so the watermelon Sorbet remained in the freezer and dessert consisted of coffee, some snack cheese and gaping mouths of disbelief ... wanting not to believe what was coming across the Tv.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Everybody out here is stunned ... completely surprised.


I, too, was quite stunned that they didn't go to 20 innings with a rain delay. There's always next year.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Everybody out here is stunned ... completely surprised.  We all thought it was in the bag.  The only thing between us and the title was the Astros ... who can't beat the Astros ... (best hitting team in baseball, a team who had beaten us three times in the last six games), piece of cake.
> 
> The baseball Gods must have felt we were too big for our britches ... starting our worse pitcher against the league's best team is certainly condensating and disrespectful.  The baseball Gods rewarded us appropriately and convincingly. Gary will sacrifice a sheep, (or a puppy that looks like a sheep), to the Gods thanking them for a great season, a terrific six game series and in atonement for stupidly suiting up for the last game in the wrong britches.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How is the team set for next year?  Anyone on their way out?  What's the general feeling about Roberts managing in the series?  Monday morning quarterbacking being what it is, I'm sure there are a lot of "I would have started Kershaw" posts out there... When the Sox lost in the ALCS in game 7 in 2003 I was completely devastated and very mad at how the game was mismanaged.  It did, however, make 2004 all the sweeter.  Here's to Sox vs. LAD for the 2018 WS!
Click to expand...

Darvish was a rental. lots of young, controllable players. Roberts didn't lose the series, the players decided the outcome. If they get rid of Roberts, their stupid. They are gonna be tough for years. I think if the upper management would have nabbed Verlander, this would be different. Gary and I talked about that at the deadline and were very bummed. It reareded it's ugly head.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks that LA's 2016 was your 2003 year. 

We all feel for Kershaw.  He deserves a WS ring.  The starting fielding team is pretty young.  Roberts made many more right decisions across the year than wrong. Most feel that Roberts did more to get the team to the WS than any single person.  (The exception maybe Magic getting the owners to back the huge payroll.)  Overall, Gary thinks the team is mmmhhh, 50:50 on youth to old farts ... but JC has a lot more expertise than Gary on that. Gary is merely a cheerleader, JC is a baseball scholar.  (Fortunately, Gary has played enough ball to understand all the nuances JC tosses at him.) What is remarkable is the versatility of many of the young players who are able to play so many positions with confidence.  That gives the chessmaster Roberts so many moves which makes it damn near impossible for the opposing team to anticipate/make changes during the game, in their game plan based upon an expected lineup.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary A. said:


> On the plus side ... dinner was excellent (per the opinions of the guest).  It was possibly Gary's best pizza.  Gary has recognized that the single biggest ingredient in any food/drink needs to be top-notch.  In pizza that will be the dough/crust. ...


In coffee that would be the water.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave confirmed via Facebook. 
Dave believes it is DVRd.
Dave did 4 hours at work. 
Dave took Dad and a working pressure washer to Houston. Far from what he is sure is a madhouse downtown. 
Now Dave is checking Tapatalk and next up is email. Carry on peeps. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

for @limr 21 Hilarious Tweets That Every Introvert Will Appreciate


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's a heckuva thing when you're in your darkroom, got a good record playing, enjoying your can of Coors under the glow of a safelight, and in comes Blacula and turns you into a vampire.

Or the time the mummy being reflected in a tray of chemistry comes in, you try to whack him with a big wooden tripod and that didn't work out too well either. It'd be nice in these cheesy late night movies if Halloween monsters would quick interrupting photographers, makes the darkroom seem like a spooky place to be.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Seems like in sports about the time you think it's in the bag, it isn't. Bummer your team lost.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> The game started without Gary wearing his Dodger cap. He is wearing it now!


I think you may want to get a different hat.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey, baseball fans! The movie just starting on TCM (6pm EDT) listed the *Brooklyn Dodgers* in the credits. It's some Red Skelton movie... which I think I've seen but not sure when 'dem Dodgers might come into it. 

Looked it up, the movie is Whistling in Brooklyn, kind of a giveaway isn't it? lol


----------



## smoke665

Wow, the chance randomness of this world smacked me again today. Walking on a downtown street  in a town 30 miles from my old hometown, middle of the day, and not that many people even out. I look up to see a couple my age coming toward me. The man made eye contact, nodded his head and I did the same, but strangely the woman avoided eye contact. Had the strangest feeling I knew the woman, hadn't gone 10 foot before it hit me who she was, the woman was no less than my first and only steady girlfriend in High School. The years had been kind to her, plus I'd seen a few pictures of her over the years on friends FB pages. We didn't break up on the best of terms (I met what is now my ex wife), so not sure if she recognized me, or is still carrying a grudge, after 50 years. 

Told my wife who the woman was, and that there was a reason she could actually thank my ex. That if the ex hadn't broken up that high school romance, there was a good chance I would have married that girl, then she and I would have never met. I'm not quite sure what my wife mumbled but I pretty sure it wasn't very nice  Funny how life's choices change the pathways we follow.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> for @limr 21 Hilarious Tweets That Every Introvert Will Appreciate



It me.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Wow, the chance randomness of this world smacked me again today. Walking on a downtown street  in a town 30 miles from my old hometown, middle of the day, and not that many people even out. I look up to see a couple my age coming toward me. The man made eye contact, nodded his head and I did the same, but strangely the woman avoided eye contact. Had the strangest feeling I knew the woman, hadn't gone 10 foot before it hit me who she was, the woman was no less than my first and only steady girlfriend in High School. The years had been kind to her, plus I'd seen a few pictures of her over the years on friends FB pages. We didn't break up on the best of terms (I met what is now my ex wife), so not sure if she recognized me, or is still carrying a grudge, after 50 years.
> 
> Told my wife who the woman was, and that there was a reason she could actually thank my ex. That if the ex hadn't broken up that high school romance, there was a good chance I would have married that girl, then she and I would have never met. I'm not quite sure what my wife mumbled but I pretty sure it wasn't very nice  Funny how life's choices change the pathways we follow.



I wonder how many of us would choose the other path if we could see alternate events in our lives.


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I wonder how many of us would choose the other path if we could see alternate events in our lives



Or wouldn't even if we could. The lady in question was pretty in HS,  drop dead gorgeous as she got older, and aged very well, but who knows what life might have been. Very few High School romances work out despite the movies. Even though my first marriage was a disaster, that left a lot of scars, it also gave me two wonderful children, that I'm so proud of, and couldn't imagine life without them an the beautiful grandchildren they've given me. Though I didn't understand it at the time, if my first marriage hadn't ended I wouldn't have met the one true love of my life for the last 38 years, had another son that I love dearly, and yet another grandchild. So no regrets on my end for the path chosen, though granted I could have done without a few of the boulders I had to climb over along the way.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Finally the movie got to Ebbets Field, I was beginning to wonder. Whatever newspaper they're looking at pregame said something about the Dodgers winning their past dozen or so games; one of the players says Durocher knows his business...


edit - Red Skelton pitching and of course managing to hit a batter with the ball says, Dodger? the guy can't even duck. 

This is really corny.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The game started without Gary wearing his Dodger cap. He is wearing it now!
> 
> 
> 
> I think you may want to get a different hat.
Click to expand...

Maybe a Houston cap?


----------



## Gary A.

Miss Maggie had her first walk into the great outside today.  She has been totally fearful of the front door and the evils than laid beyond.  She was so fearful that moving was not an option and she had to be carried everywhere.  But today, with a lot of encouragement, patience and some pulling, we managed to walk an entire long block.  The more we walked, the better she got, (much much better than the trials in the back).  Demonstrating she has the capacity for learning which is more than Gary can say about her human.  It was very time consuming as Gary allowed her to take her time and invest some time in each new smell.  She starts school on Saturday and either tonight or tomorrow we'll be going to the pet store for some school supplies.  Wish us luck on her first trip to a ... store.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Ms Sadie's first trip to the pet store, all was great till we got to the magical sliding doors that opened sideways in front of her. She immediately sat down and refused to move. I had to pick her up and carry her across the threshold (much to the amusement of other shoppers). Once inside she was fine.


----------



## Gary A.

It was her Honeymoon!


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got to see game 7. Well that which he did not see last night. Aren't the Astros a humble bunch in their interviews? And so far as he knows no cars or buildings have been burned or ransacked because Houston isn't like LA and we are GLAD of it! And now Dave must say goodnight as 4am will be here way too soon.

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## davidharmier60

As predicted 4am came around. And now Dave must get ready to go.

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## JonA_CT

Happy Friday, hosers.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got a minute over 4.75 hours. 
With baseball done for now he knows not really what to talk about. Maybe This? Cheap but within 5 seconds a month accurate. 



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## Dean_Gretsch

I don't normally post here, but I have these extra banana chocolate chip muffins and thought they might go with the coffee


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## limr




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## limr

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I don't normally post here, but I have these extra banana chocolate chip muffins and thought they might go with the coffee
> 
> View attachment 149168



Mmmmm. You should post here more often


----------



## limr

Is it bad to have a muffin for lunch? 

I totally want a muffin for lunch.

I'm not punchy at all.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Is it bad to have a muffin for lunch?
> 
> I totally want a muffin for lunch.
> 
> I'm not punchy at all.



 Possibly better than the leftover Chinese noodles that I plan on having.


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## Gary A.

LSMFT


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is done for his works day ... couch potatoing this afternoon with Netflixs. On his todo list is repairing/replacing the glass on his phone, planting some tomatoes, peppers, cleaning out the pond filters, taking Miss Maggie to the pet store.  Gary is planning to make some cornbread with with his newly acquired cast iron Dutch Oven thingie.

Last night a raccoon visited the backyard, turned over a deer statue and toss some tree limbs into the pond.  Maggie smelled the interloper and immediately got very scared and back off the scent ... then kept backing up across the yard, through the patio into the house.  Apparently, she does not approve of raccoons.

The sun is finally shining and we should hit 70F.  It should be a grand day.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> LSMFT



"Lucky Strikes Means Fine Tobacco"?


----------



## limr

*Acronym* *Definition*
LSMFT Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco (advertising slogan)
LSMFT Liposclerosing Myxofibrous Tumor
LSMFT Lord Save Me from Truman
LSMFT Let's Stop, My Finger's Tired
LSMFT Low Self esteem Means Friction and Trouble

I don't even understand half of these. Okay, cigarette slogan and the Truman dig, but the rest of them are a mystery. The last two seem like they could be kinda gross, though I couldn't even tell you how.


----------



## jcdeboever




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## SquarePeg

Less Swing More Follow Through


----------



## JonA_CT

Went down to the river before work this morning to test out the new 80-200mm lens. Not bad for a 25 year old lens.


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## davidharmier60

Not bad at all. Dave has been watching the parade and such on TV. Now back to messing with pennies. 

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## smoke665

Sadie Mae is passed out on her bed, I would be if I wasn't so tired. We covered a little over 200 acres of fields, fence row, ditches, woods and brambles, in search of the almost extinct Bob White. Unfortunately the only time she got birdie was at a large very dense brush pile that I suspect they were running under cover rather than flushing. She would go around the pile hold point then run to the other side, then back. My farm operator told me earlier today that the coyotes had moved in. Saw several signs of that during the trek. They will decimate quail, and other small game in an area. In years past it wasn't unusual to find covies with 20+ birds in these same fields. May have to go back before we leave to cover some more ground. At least its good excersise.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Large Suppers Mean Fuller Tummies


----------



## JonA_CT

Was going to try to catch the harvest moon rise...alas...clouds got in the way.

I used one of my cheap butternut squshes to make roasted butternut risotto tonight. Super delicious. 

Nothing else planned for the weekend...how about y’all?


----------



## snowbear

MLW an I are at an auction event to benefit the Fire/EMS Department.




40727 by snowbear on Photography Forum

I won a raffle.




Door prize by snowbear on Photography Forum


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave does not have to awaken at 4am tomorrow. But he did this morning. 
So he is calling it a night. 
Anyone who visits Watchuseek if you could get the oper to email me Poor Old Dave TT it would be appreciated. 

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## jcdeboever

On the road today, closed a good size account. Suffering from baseball withdrawal, had to watch a RedWing replay in which they lost to the Senators.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just ordered a Sous Vide kit.  Who’s hungry?


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave rolled out at 7:45.
Coffee is better than it has any right to be. 
Can't afford to go anywhere. 
Reckon I'll mess with pennies. 

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## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Miss Maggie and Gary are at the SPCLA in Long Beach. We arrived quite early, not knowing the traffic pattern on a Saturday morning. Now we wait for class to start.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I just happened to see one of those sous vide kits on some channel I flipped past briefly with a chef that's on food shows, etc. Reminds me of those baggies of frozen veggies that used to be heated up in a pot of boiling water. Every time they do that especially with meat on Top Chef or something it never looks that appealing. But have fun with it! lol 

Nothing much today, worn out from the past week, just kicking back til dinner or possibly dozing in the chair if I don't get up and do something.


----------



## Gary A.

You’re supposed to do a quick 30 second or so searing in a very hot cast iron pan for some color and crust flavor prior to serving.


----------



## Frank F.

last night I went to a Punk Concert and Jesus was hitting it really hard!


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> last night I went to a Punk Concert and Jesus was hitting it really hard!View attachment 149213



What band?


----------



## smoke665

Last day, we head out tomorrow for home again. We were going to stay longer, but they're calling for bad weather and a lot colder Sunday night.

Went to a farm auction today. My cousin passed away over a year ago, and his wife finally decided to let go of the remainder of the farm equipment and clean out the barns. I went with the intention of bidding on some things, but decided if I got a bidder's number I would buy more than I needed. Looking at some of the stuff up for auction and had to laugh when I recognized some things from my Dad's estate auction over 30 years ago. My family is such a bunch of pack rats!!

Tonight is Taco Soup, and Alabama Football.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave just ate leftover meat loaf and scalloped potatoes. He will have Blue Bell ice cream later. Those of you that do not have access to Blue Bell know not what you're missing. Good stuff Maynard!
And that's the way it is. 

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## Gary A.

So far a busy day for Mary Lou and Gary. Top-o-the-morn was Maggie’s first day of school and socialization. Five pooches in her class (inclusive). Daisy the mutt, was the most aggressive, but also the quickest learner. The cutest pooch was a toss-up between Ken, an Akita pup and Maggie. Gary thought walking in that nothing could touch Maggie in the looks category. But Ken was a stunner, self-locomotion was the only difference between a plush animal and Ken. Unfortunately, Ken had no personality and was the least playful of the pups. There was Batman, a Chihuahua mix who belonged to the SPCALA and was there for socialization. He was very timid, but started to play. An unusually colored Bull Terrier named Allie. And there was Maggie, because of all her hair, she looked like a little tank compared to the other pups. She was right behind Daisy in mixing it up with the other pups and the hardest to train because she is not driven by food. More than half the time, she would take the treat from our hands then drop it in the floor. Knowing this, we took a variety of treats that would be tempting across a broad spectrum of men and beasts. But the pan fried Hebrew wieners missed, the boiled chicken was 50:50, the two store purchased treats completely fail to budge Maggie’s salivary glands ... thankfully, we had some success with string cheese.  A friend called Maggie’s class a Puppy Charm School.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> the two store purchased treats completely fail to budge Maggie’s salivary glands ..



try freeze dried liver treats, or buy some Bully sticks (Google them) and break them up. You can get odor free and the ones with natural odor, I won't say what they're made of up but they have an odor that is like crack to Sadie Mae. She will do anything you ask just PLEASE GIVE ME THE TREAT.


----------



## Gary A.

We also took a Bully Stick. Again, limited success. Gary knows the ingredient for the original Bully Sticks. (meat is meat). We had a similar problem with Cookie. It makes training harder, but Gary truly appreciates the lack of annoying begging and not having to worry about leaving feed on a table or counter.  When other dogs come around and they make a move for the food dish, there’s no resentment or fighting.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> It makes training harder, but Gary truly appreciates the lack of annoying begging and not having to worry about leaving feed on a table or counter



From fire department days, our state fire marshal had a Belgian Malinois that was trained to sniff out accelerants at a fire scene. Not only was he trained to take commands only in German (to prevent someone else from giving him commands), but his reward was a small rubber ball. He was only allowed to play with it for a short time if he found something. Dog would go crazy over that ball.


----------



## Gary A.

Go Tide!

Trojans Play Arizona at 7:45.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary attempted to reinforce Maggie’s lessons from the morning. She was perfect! Much much better than in class.


----------



## davidharmier60

Never did have the Blue Bell.
Watched the Orville on TV.
Now watching F1 Mexico.
Then it'll be lights out.

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## Frank F.

limr said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> last night I went to a Punk Concert and Jesus was hitting it really hard!View attachment 149213
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What band?
Click to expand...


Sickboyz


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Go Tide!
> 
> Trojans Play Arizona at 7:45.



The Tide remains undefeated but LSU was on their game last night. Never had a chance to see any of the USC game but I did see they won this morning. All they were talking about last night was Georgia being number one, over Alabama. It's going to be funny when Auburn beats them next weekend. Won't knock them out of the East but it'll take some of the wind out of their sails.


----------



## JonA_CT

The whole sleeping in on the DST switch is a joke when you have kids.

So...anyone want a biscuit?




 

Or maybe a homemade link of maple sage breakfast sausage?


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  Been a busy few days.  Have some things to get done this morning then I’m going to hunker down with something in the crock pot and a relaxing day at home.  Ran all day yesterday from one thing to the next.  Was on the go from 6am through 10pm doing both chores and fun stuff so I’m a little beat today.  Set the clocks back last night which always throws me off for a few weeks afterward.  

If anyone is in VT, check out ABC 22 Burlington beginning next month, my goddaughter will be the weekend sports anchor/reporter.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning kids.
Just had scrambled eggs and bacon and toast. Reckon messing with pennies is coming up pretty soon.

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## limr

Morning, Dave.

Morning, hosers.

It's easy, easy like Sunday morning 'round these parts. Having coffee, chillin' with the kitties.


----------



## terri

A good Sunday morning to you all, hosers.  I woke up at what the clock was telling me was 6:20 am, but my body knew it was really 7:20.  Up and out the door for my morning walk.  Encountered no one, always a plus.

Temps have been a little warmer the last couple of days, but this should be over by Wednesday.   Leaves are starting to change in the back yard, lovely to stare at.

This day has lazy Sunday vibes already.


----------



## Frank F.

So many nice pictures of the Friday concert ... I really have a hard time to decide which are the best ... here is the bass player:


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Last night Gary watched one of the most horribly long football games of all time. Firstly, a 7:45 kick-off time, (screw you Tv people ... this is college football not strip bar by the airport.  This is about collegiate spirit, student scholars, sportsmanship, Trojans on horses ... not money. ) 

The game lasted four hours.  Largely to the refs dropping flags before, during and after every jammin' play.  Gary does not remember more penalties in a game.  Each penalty required to be reviewed ... In the Second Half, the refs had more air time than the quarterbacks. Between the penalties and the reviews, the refs simply ruined the game and destroyed all the momentum and rhythm of both teams.

Gary had tickets, but Mary Lou caught a bit of a bug so thankfully, we watched the game from home. Otherwise we would have rolled into our driveway well into Sunday.

Even the crowds got into the penalties.


----------



## Gary A.

From Sports Illustrated Max Meyers:

" ... I’d be hard-pressed to discuss this game without the dumpster fire that was the Pac-12 referees. After a solid first half, the refs took over in the third quarter. Whether it was stopping play to discuss a possible penalty that they wouldn’t end up calling or reviewing a targeting that clearly didn’t happen, the zebras ruined the flow of the game. At one point in the third, there were five booth reviews in three minutes of game clock, and two of them were incorrect targeting calls. The mild-mannered Clay Helton was whistled for an unsportsmanlike conduct after running onto the field pleading with the refs to review a potential Tate fumble. Sure enough, the original ruling of Tate being down was overturned, but the penalty was regardless upheld. USC was flagged for a bizarre taunting penalty after a play that would have resulted in an Arizona fourth down, but kept the drive alive instead. Pac-12 refs needlessly turn exciting football games into a time-draining experience, and it’s a major issue that Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott needs to address going forward because of how much it hurts the product."

Gary is still upset about the refs.


----------



## SquarePeg

Any time you’re discussing the officiating instead of the plays is not good.


----------



## Gary A.

In the first half, SC dominated Arizona. They contained Tate to about 50 yards and ran at will over the Cats, (not around).  They would have killed them in the first half if a 60+ yard scoring run by Jones, wasn't called back and a stupid Darnold pass wasn't intercepted in the endzone (SC was 2nd and goal on their 2 yard line). 

In the Second Half Arizona made some significant adjustments unleashing Tate.  Gary think Tate run up about 250 yards in the second half.  Between the Arizona adjustments and the refs, Arizona tied the game in the fourth quarter 35-35.  Then, the normally inconsistent Darnold got consistent, scoring two easy TD's.  The refs ran out of air-time, so they quit tossing their flags and SC sat on the ball to run out the remaining minutes on the clock ... thankfully.  (Gary thinks that Clay Helton wanted to get to bed.)  The refs ruined what would/should have been an exciting slugfest between two talented teams.  The refs turned the game into a feature about themselves and not about football.


----------



## Gary A.

This morning Miss Maggie, of her own volition, started mimicking all the lessons from yesterday... waiting for a treat. She’s pretty funny.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Miss Maggie had her first walk in the park today.


----------



## terri

When will Miss Maggie get her first adult-style grooming?    Some of the recent shots show her looking through some long facial hair, and the above shot makes her hair look like it's getting shaggy.    Is she still too young to stand still for it?


----------



## Gary A.

Soon. Wheatens are born totally black-dark-gray ... a Space Gray color. As they mature they turn blonde. Mary Lou loves the black tips of Maggie’s coat, a reverse highlight Mary Lou calls them. The primary reason Maggie is shaggy is too keep the dark tips. Once the tips are cut/grow-out they’re gone forever. With winter closing in, the long coat isn’t uncomfortable. Wheatens don’t shed and their coats feel like silky human hair not a dog’s fur. Their full and proper name is Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier.






Adult coloration.


----------



## Gary A.

@terri: Miss Maggie will never get an adult groom, which results in a visor covering the eyes and pretty long hair (sorta like an English Sheepdog look in a Terrier body).  We really like seeing her expressive eyes and because SoCal is a bit warmer than Ireland, we will keep her in a shorter/tighter “puppy cut”. (Her fur is a real stick magnet, the tighter cut lowers her stick magnetivity.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Storms coming thru, will be glad when this blows over and onward and it cools back down. Leaves here started actually changing colors and looking more fall-like than I would've thought. 

Who would've thought, Facebook in Germany is in German! That post punk band almost sounds more metal compared to early punk. Their Bandkamp page says Hardcore Punk - guess that works. Of course it keeps changing what things are called like New Wave became Alt. Rock then Adult Alt. or Indie or whatever.

Watching festival highlights from summer in the UK, Earth Wind & Fire just came on doing Boogieland; this is a switch, earlier were Roger Daltry and Pete Townsend and they had lots of fireworks shooting up onstage but no actual guitar smashing etc. Well, we aren't exactly kids anymore.


----------



## Frank F.

*Victoriabad leuchtet!*
A friend is lobbying for a regular illumination of this window created 1970 by Pritzker lauretate architect Gottfried Böhm. Tonight it was unprofessionally lit by an enthusiast. I hope they will save it after the public bath behind it could not be saved: Das Viktoriabad in Bonn muss erhalten bleiben.


----------



## Gary A.

And look what Amazon delivered .





vintagesnaps said:


> Storms coming thru, will be glad when this blows over and onward and it cools back down. Leaves here started actually changing colors and looking more fall-like than I would've thought.
> 
> Who would've thought, Facebook in Germany is in German! That post punk band almost sounds more metal compared to early punk. Their Bandkamp page says Hardcore Punk - guess that works. Of course it keeps changing what things are called like New Wave became Alt. Rock then Adult Alt. or Indie or whatever.
> 
> Watching festival highlights from summer in the UK, Earth Wind & Fire just came on doing Boogieland; this is a switch, earlier were Roger Daltry and Pete Townsend and they had lots of fireworks shooting up onstage but no actual guitar smashing etc. Well, we aren't exactly kids anymore.


35F right now @ 3:35 ... a very pleasant day.  Drinking wine in the patio, entertaining guests eating my watermelon sorbet.



Look what just arrived ... I’m ready to cook.  Mary Lou cooked up a persimmon cake from our tree.  Delish.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Wheatens are born totally black-dark-gray ... a Space Gray color. As they mature they turn blonde. Mary Lou loves the black tips of Maggie’s coat, a reverse highlight Mary Lou calls them. The primary reason Maggie is shaggy is too keep the dark tips. Once the tips are cut/grow-out they’re gone forever. With winter closing in, the long coat isn’t uncomfortable. Wheatens don’t shed and their coats feel like silky human hair not a dog’s fur.



Interesting. When we got Muffin the Yorkie, as a puppy, she was almost coal black, but underneath it was silver, like what you've described. Except in her case as the hair grew it became a mixture of primarily silver with black highlights. Her coat was also hair like, and non allergic.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wheatens are born totally black-dark-gray ... a Space Gray color. As they mature they turn blonde. Mary Lou loves the black tips of Maggie’s coat, a reverse highlight Mary Lou calls them. The primary reason Maggie is shaggy is too keep the dark tips. Once the tips are cut/grow-out they’re gone forever. With winter closing in, the long coat isn’t uncomfortable. Wheatens don’t shed and their coats feel like silky human hair not a dog’s fur.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting. When we got Muffin the Yorkie, as a puppy, she was almost coal black, but underneath it was silver, like what you've described. Except in her case as the hair grew it became a mixture of primarily silver with black highlights. Her coat was also hair like, and non allergic.
Click to expand...

Similar thing with Wheatens.


----------



## smoke665

Long day, we were up at 5:30 this morning, to pack up, rolled out at 8. Other than a fuel stop and a couple of stretch the legs stop, we drove straight through, arriving just after 3:30. I've made the run in just over 6 hrs. before but I wasn't dragging a 16K sail behind me. For those who haven't been through the MO Bootheel, its flat, and mostly treeless. Without restrictions, the wind can get dicey for big rigs, today was no exception. Our rig was handling it well until we hit the big bridge over the Mississippi. First time I can remember in this rig having white knuckles from wind buffeting.  One really bad crosswind gust made me seriously think we might go over. The new truck has computer controlled sway correction that must have kicked in, because it was only unstable for a second.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Similar thing with Wheatons.



Britts have fur, but it's extremely soft and silky. Took Sadie with us to a farm auction Friday, where she was the center of attention. Everybody wanted to pet her, she thought she was the queen of the day.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> @terri: Miss Maggie will never get an adult groom, which results in a visor covering the eyes and pretty long hair (sorta like an English Sheepdog look in a Terrier body).  We really like seeing her expressive eyes and because SoCal is a bit warmer than Ireland, we will keep her in a shorter/tighter “puppy cut”. (Her fur is a real stick magnet, the tighter cut lowers her stick magnetivity.



Will we see miss Maggie with a cute little ponytail to keep hair out of her eyes?  We also keep our dog’s coat shorter than the traditional Papillon look which is much too dainty and fluffy for a manly dog like Xing.


----------



## Gary A.

Nahhh, no top knot or tail. We’ll just trim the hair around the eyes between cuts. Gary did notice your dog was pretty buff in his short coif. Two walks today. In the morning to Creek Park. The closest park. In the evening to Regional Park, through trees and short hills down to the ball fields. Where a group of kids ran over and made a fuss over Miss Maggie. She, of course ate it up with a big smile and a lot of body and tail wagging.  Maggie made about six miles today between the two walks. She is one tired little terrier.


----------



## davidharmier60

We have a gray haired "wild haired terrier "
She HATES getting trimmed but must be at least once a month. The clock says 8pm.
But it's really 9pm and Dave is going lights out in moments...

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----------



## SquarePeg

He’s very overdue for a groom!  Usually cut him short at the beginning of August but have just been trimming his nails and giving him baths at home.  Going to go online right now and make an appointment for him for this week.

Look how straggly


----------



## davidharmier60

20 minutes or so Dave must go to work. 

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----------



## waday




----------



## smoke665

@waday when you're retired, you "almost" miss having something like Friday to look forward to. LOL


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> @waday when you're retired, you "almost" miss having something like Friday to look forward to. LOL



I don't know about Wade, but I'm going to have to fix that first clause to say "IF you ever get a chance to retire..."


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> I don't know about Wade, but I'm going to have to fix that first clause to say "IF you ever get a chance to retire..."



My father died at 62 without ever getting the chance to enjoy the fruits of his labor. I on the other hand always view work as a means to an end. Early on my goal was to retire comfortably at 55. Throughout my work career I concentrated on doing those things I was good at rather than what I enjoyed. I missed the goal by 2 years, retired at 57. Unfortunately had to come out of retirement partially 2 years later when medical expenses threatened to rapidly deplete the savings. At least I was able to work from where ever I had my laptop, and cell phone, in a manner that didn't totally tie me down. Thankfully I was able to phase even that out within a couple of years.


----------



## terri

waday said:


>



And a happy Monday morning to you, too, Wade.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 149262


Hey!  Lady!  Let's get a move on...  I've got things to do.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> He’s very overdue for a groom!  Usually cut him short at the beginning of August but have just been trimming his nails and giving him baths at home.  Going to go online right now and make an appointment for him for this week.
> 
> Look how straggly
> 
> View attachment 149262


Wow!  What a beautiful trail!  I bet he loves it.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know about Wade, but I'm going to have to fix that first clause to say "IF you ever get a chance to retire..."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My father died at 62 without ever getting the chance to enjoy the fruits of his labor. I on the other hand always view work as a means to an end. Early on my goal was to retire comfortably at 55. Throughout my work career I concentrated on doing those things I was good at rather than what I enjoyed. I missed the goal by 2 years, retired at 57. Unfortunately had to come out of retirement partially 2 years later when medical expenses threatened to rapidly deplete the savings. At least I was able to work from where ever I had my laptop, and cell phone, in a manner that didn't totally tie me down.
Click to expand...


It's sad that your father died so young. My own father lived well past retirement, though he didn't really stop working. He was a large-machinery mechanic, worked for the union. He actually retired when I was still in single-digits, I think (he was already 54 when I was born) but because he had a good reputation and had skills that few people did in the area, he kept working on things that people would bring to him: flatbeds, cement mixers, well-drilling rigs. I spend my childhood climbing on trucks, dodging welding sparks, and breathing in a lot of diesel fumes  There was so much oil and fuel soaked into the back yard that it took years for grass to start growing again after he finally stopped taking jobs.

As for me, I've taken a long round-about way to a 'steady' job, so there's no way I'll be able to retire in my 50s. Luckily there is a way for me to "buy back" the time I worked as an adjunct when money was not being put into a retirement fund and add it to my official total that counts towards when I can retire from this job with a pension.

So yeah, I'm late to the game, but then again, the time I spent getting here was not time wasted.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know about Wade, but I'm going to have to fix that first clause to say "IF you ever get a chance to retire..."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My father died at 62 without ever getting the chance to enjoy the fruits of his labor. I on the other hand always view work as a means to an end. Early on my goal was to retire comfortably at 55. Throughout my work career I concentrated on doing those things I was good at rather than what I enjoyed. I missed the goal by 2 years, retired at 57. Unfortunately had to come out of retirement partially 2 years later when medical expenses threatened to rapidly deplete the savings. At least I was able to work from where ever I had my laptop, and cell phone, in a manner that didn't totally tie me down.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's sad that your father died so young. My own father lived well past retirement, though he didn't really stop working. He was a large-machinery mechanic, worked for the union. He actually retired when I was still in single-digits, I think (he was already 54 when I was born) but because he had a good reputation and had skills that few people did in the area, he kept working on things that people would bring to him: flatbeds, cement mixers, well-drilling rigs. I spend my childhood climbing on trucks, dodging welding sparks, and breathing in a lot of diesel fumes  There was so much oil and fuel soaked into the back yard that it took years for grass to start growing again after he finally stopped taking jobs.
> 
> As for me, I've taken a long round-about way to a 'steady' job, so there's no way I'll be able to retire in my 50s. Luckily there is a way for me to "buy back" the time I worked as an adjunct when money was not being put into a retirement fund and add it to my official total that counts towards when I can retire from this job with a pension.
> 
> So yeah, I'm late to the game, but then again, the time I spent getting here was not time wasted.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that, Smoke and Leo. My mother is still working, despite being at/after retirement age. I expect that I'll be working well after the age I want to. My grandparents were the complete opposites, from what I'm told. Grandfather was in the Armed Forces, then retired very early. At the same time, my grandmother stopped working as a waitress. They enjoyed many years of retirement.

Not many people these days can say they'll have the same.



terri said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And a happy Monday morning to you, too, Wade.
Click to expand...

Morning.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> He’s very overdue for a groom!  Usually cut him short at the beginning of August but have just been trimming his nails and giving him baths at home.  Going to go online right now and make an appointment for him for this week.
> 
> Look how straggly
> 
> View attachment 149262
> 
> 
> 
> Wow!  What a beautiful trail!  I bet he loves it.
Click to expand...


He’s quite the crunchy granola nature dog these days.


----------



## SquarePeg

My mom is a very very young 75.  She still works full time for a catering company/deli.  Been there 40+ years.   She does not need to work, but she enjoys it. She likes the social aspects of getting out every day and seeing customers that she’s known for years and coworkers that she really likes. She thinks that if she retires she’ll get “old”.    I wish she’d scale it back just a bit but she’s even more stubborn  than my teenager so I’m losing that battle. I think if she had more hobbies or more friends her age that were as active as she is she would not work as much. People assume she’s in her 60’s because of her energy level and her health.


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 149262
> 
> 
> 
> Hey!  Lady!  Let's get a move on...  I've got things to do.
Click to expand...


Exactly. He has even less patience for my photography than the rest of the family does.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> My mom is a very very young 75.  She still works full time for a catering company/deli.  Been there 40+ years.   She does not need to work, but she enjoys it. She likes the social aspects of getting out every day and seeing customers that she’s known for years and coworkers that she really likes. She thinks that if she retires she’ll get “old”.    I wish she’d scale it back just a bit but she’s even more stubborn  than my teenager so I’m losing that battle. I think if she had more hobbies or more friends her age that were as active as she is she would not work as much. People assume she’s in her 60’s because of her energy level and her health.


I think that's awesome!   She sounds like my own mom - she doesn't exactly hold a paying job anymore but still volunteers office time at a local senior center, plays in her church's hand bell choir, is involved in all her neighborhood's events, and travels widely by car - just herself and her dog.   

I'll bet that her customers and co-workers will miss your mom dearly when she retires - she sounds like one of those folks who people will remember as the heart and soul of the place.   We can always use more people like her!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> He’s very overdue for a groom!  Usually cut him short at the beginning of August but have just been trimming his nails and giving him baths at home.  Going to go online right now and make an appointment for him for this week.
> 
> Look how straggly
> 
> View attachment 149262


Cute little guy.  Maggie would have him following her in no time. Both Xing and Maggie are all fluff.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know about Wade, but I'm going to have to fix that first clause to say "IF you ever get a chance to retire..."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My father died at 62 without ever getting the chance to enjoy the fruits of his labor. I on the other hand always view work as a means to an end. Early on my goal was to retire comfortably at 55. Throughout my work career I concentrated on doing those things I was good at rather than what I enjoyed. I missed the goal by 2 years, retired at 57. Unfortunately had to come out of retirement partially 2 years later when medical expenses threatened to rapidly deplete the savings. At least I was able to work from where ever I had my laptop, and cell phone, in a manner that didn't totally tie me down. Thankfully I was able to phase even that out within a couple of years.
Click to expand...

Gary has always had jobs that he enjoyed performing.  Once a job became work ... Gary would find something else to do.  Presently and technically, Mary Lou is on vacation until the 17th.  After the 17th, she will be retired.  She worked 43 years for the ABC Unified School District.

Sad about your father.  Mary Lou's father died when he was in his 40's.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know about Wade, but I'm going to have to fix that first clause to say "IF you ever get a chance to retire..."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My father died at 62 without ever getting the chance to enjoy the fruits of his labor. I on the other hand always view work as a means to an end. Early on my goal was to retire comfortably at 55. Throughout my work career I concentrated on doing those things I was good at rather than what I enjoyed. I missed the goal by 2 years, retired at 57. Unfortunately had to come out of retirement partially 2 years later when medical expenses threatened to rapidly deplete the savings. At least I was able to work from where ever I had my laptop, and cell phone, in a manner that didn't totally tie me down.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's sad that your father died so young. My own father lived well past retirement, though he didn't really stop working. He was a large-machinery mechanic, worked for the union. He actually retired when I was still in single-digits, I think (he was already 54 when I was born) but because he had a good reputation and had skills that few people did in the area, he kept working on things that people would bring to him: flatbeds, cement mixers, well-drilling rigs. I spend my childhood climbing on trucks, dodging welding sparks, and breathing in a lot of diesel fumes  There was so much oil and fuel soaked into the back yard that it took years for grass to start growing again after he finally stopped taking jobs.
> 
> As for me, I've taken a long round-about way to a 'steady' job, so there's no way I'll be able to retire in my 50s. Luckily there is a way for me to "buy back" the time I worked as an adjunct when money was not being put into a retirement fund and add it to my official total that counts towards when I can retire from this job with a pension.
> 
> So yeah, I'm late to the game, but then again, the time I spent getting here was not time wasted.
Click to expand...

My father was forced, by the people, into retirement ... term limits. lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

I love your dog's long fluffy tail Sharon! that is so cute. Maybe Maggie and Xing is it? should get on Facebook and chat. Or no, Skype, then they could see each other! And probably think what is this dumb thing my person is shoving in front of me?!


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> My mom is a very very young 75.  She still works full time for a catering company/deli.  Been there 40+ years.   She does not need to work, but she enjoys it. She likes the social aspects of getting out every day and seeing customers that she’s known for years and coworkers that she really likes. She thinks that if she retires she’ll get “old”.    I wish she’d scale it back just a bit but she’s even more stubborn  than my teenager so I’m losing that battle. I think if she had more hobbies or more friends her age that were as active as she is she would not work as much. People assume she’s in her 60’s because of her energy level and her health.



Different strokes for different folks. My best friend's Dad was like a 2nd father to me. He owned a lumber yard/hardware refused to retire because he enjoyed the constant stream of customers and friends. When his family finally forced him out in his late 80's within a month he was gone.


----------



## vintagesnaps

'The Falcon' movies all day. I'll watch just about any '40s detective movie, even though they're now into the ones with the brother instead of the original. But still, movies in B&W, big ol' cars, and hats.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> 'The Falcon' movies all day. I'll watch just about any '40s detective movie, even though they're now into the ones with the brother instead of the original. But still, movies in B&W, big ol' cars, and hats.


Gary watched The Big Sleep yesterday!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Darn, I missed that! Well, I've seen it enough times... I read they rewrote that because Bogey and Bacall were such a hit, and added to the original story. That seems to explain why the plot at times seems confusing and I'm still going, now who is that guy again?

Leo, I had a couple of coworkers who did the buy back thing, because of having stopped working for a few years when their kids were little or relocating for a time due to a spouse's job, etc. Seemed do-able for them. 

Our retirement had changed and it was at a different percentage between 30-35 years; I'd planned on about mid 50's and was in countdown mode already! Having the stroke pushed mine forward since I barely had 31 years in; but the good thing was the job had changed to a 12 month position and I had my minimum 3 years at that pay level, so ended up about where I would've been had the job stayed 9 months.

That wasn't convoluted or anything. That's what comes from working in education, working for a county agency, etc. etc. Can't say I miss it, now it's like having summers off year round!


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> 'The Falcon' movies all day. I'll watch just about any '40s detective movie, even though they're now into the ones with the brother instead of the original. But still, movies in B&W, big ol' cars, and hats.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary watched The Big Sleep yesterday!
Click to expand...


I had A Big Nap yesterday, does that count 




vintagesnaps said:


> Leo, I had a couple of coworkers who did the buy back thing, because of having stopped working for a few years when their kids were little or relocating for a time due to a spouse's job, etc. Seemed do-able for them.



Yeah, everyone I talk to says I really need to do it. I am just waiting for a few things to settle so I know how I have to budget for it. I expect to be putting in paperwork in January or so.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Do it!!! lol 

I didn't have to do any buy back, I worked straight thru on our state teachers' retirement, but not everybody does. One thing that's good too is if someone comes into it later like my mom did (worked as a sec'y then I don't remember what for a county voc/tech school) then at a certain age + certain number of years the person can retire in the system. Maybe not full retirement though like those of us who schlepped thru it forever... (it seems!) but my mom has a decent retirement along with whatever my dad has from his job.


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> He’s very overdue for a groom!  Usually cut him short at the beginning of August but have just been trimming his nails and giving him baths at home.  Going to go online right now and make an appointment for him for this week.
> 
> Look how straggly
> 
> View attachment 149262




great light
great colors


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Do it!!! lol



Yes, ma'am! 

I have been working straight through, too, but adjuncts don't pay into their state retirement fund. I can't remember if they can't or if you have to meet a certain threshold, or it would a different kind of account...I don't know, it's all very confusing. Remember, I am dealing with academia AND government AND unions, so absolutely none of this makes any kind of sense at all


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm actually pretty worried about my pension here in CT. They just upped our annual contribution by 1% (which I'd be fine with if it actually went to our pension accounts...but it's going to the general fund), and there are significant issues with it's funding and maintenance. I have a feeling that it won't be around by the time I'm looking to retire.

If it is though...I'll make sure to get some adjunct work at the community colleges before I retire. My average salary that I've payed in is higher than it would be because I was able to pay into my account for my adjunct work too.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> I had A Big Nap yesterday, does that count



I also had a very nice nap yesterday.  I'm not a good napper.  I usually wake up disoriented and feeling hung over with out the fun memories.  I blame the whole Fall Back nonsense for how tired I was. 

I started my current career at 30 so won't be retiring "early".  My current plan puts me on track to fully retire in 10 years - Princess will be done with college and grad school, my house will be paid for and I'll be old enough to start taking money from my retirement accounts penalty free.  I'll still be young enough to enjoy some traveling before I settle down in a nice little cottage by the ocean with a couple of small yappy dogs and an inappropriately young boyfriend.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hmm, I haven't gotten to the inappropriately young boyfriend part. When does that happen?!? 

I don't know how 'adjunct' anything works here. But none of it is supposed to actually make sense is it?? lol 

A coworker said we had a Redundancy Department of Redundancy. I think the state may have two of those.


----------



## waday

Laughed way too hard at this. I must be bored.


----------



## waday

Speaking to retirement accounts, when I worked gov't, I had a state retirement system. Then, moved to private, which is a kind of DIY system. I try to increase my contributions on a yearly basis, but it doesn't always happen.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> I'm actually pretty worried about my pension here in CT.



It really burns me that some states act really irresponsibly with their employees and retirement funds. Frankly there needs to be some criminal charges in some of them. Our oldest son, has been a Federal employee for many years, and has never had any concerns. Our daughter works for the state of Illinois, and it's one thing after another. Last summer she had to work for well over a month without pay, or find another job (because she was considered an essential employee), while the state tried to figure out a budget and borrow more money. She did so on the promise that she would receive the pay as soon as the budget was passed. Then instead of paying her, they came in and told her that she would receive it a little bit at a time over several months until they caught up. She's almost afraid to check on her retirement account.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> I'll still be young enough to enjoy some traveling before I settle down in a nice little cottage by the ocean with a couple of small yappy dogs and an inappropriately young boyfriend.



GO FOR IT!!!!!!! You might need two young boyfriends so you can swap off, you know how so many young people today lack the stamina! LOL


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> My mom is a very very young 75.  She still works full time for a catering company/deli.  Been there 40+ years.   She does not need to work, but she enjoys it. She likes the social aspects of getting out every day and seeing customers that she’s known for years and coworkers that she really likes. She thinks that if she retires she’ll get “old”.    I wish she’d scale it back just a bit but she’s even more stubborn  than my teenager so I’m losing that battle. I think if she had more hobbies or more friends her age that were as active as she is she would not work as much. People assume she’s in her 60’s because of her energy level and her health.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Different strokes for different folks. My best friend's Dad was like a 2nd father to me. He owned a lumber yard/hardware refused to retire because he enjoyed the constant stream of customers and friends. When his family finally forced him out in his late 80's within a month he was gone.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, Gary sees that happen all the time.  "March or Die" as they say in the Legion.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Do it!!! lol
> 
> I didn't have to do any buy back, I worked straight thru on our state teachers' retirement, but not everybody does. One thing that's good too is if someone comes into it later like my mom did (worked as a sec'y then I don't remember what for a county voc/tech school) then at a certain age + certain number of years the person can retire in the system. Maybe not full retirement though like those of us who schlepped thru it forever... (it seems!) but my mom has a decent retirement along with whatever my dad has from his job.


Mary Lou will be bringing home more money in retirement than when she was employed.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good for her! Wonder how she managed that! 

I joke about working for a county agency, but ours was actually pretty good. The only thing we were directly under 'The COUNTY' for were our paychecks and insurance (I think) and for most everything else our agency had a separate board, separate funding (county, state, federal), etc. 

We had years that step increases were deferred from fall until the first of the year (due to a levy or some such thing), which didn't affect me because I'd been there so freakin' long I was past annual increases! lol  

Oh yeah, our mileage, that had to go 'downtown' eventually because all county agencies had to process and approve and send it on to 'The COUNTY'. And the guy who signed our paychecks was also a part time weekend DJ on an oldies station.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm actually pretty worried about my pension here in CT.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It really burns me that some states act really irresponsibly with their employees and retirement funds. Frankly there needs to be some criminal charges in some of them. Our oldest son, has been a Federal employee for many years, and has never had any concerns. Our daughter works for the state of Illinois, and it's one thing after another. Last summer she had to work for well over a month without pay, or find another job (because she was considered an essential employee), while the state tried to figure out a budget and borrow more money. She did so on the promise that she would receive the pay as soon as the budget was passed. Then instead of paying her, they came in and told her that she would receive it a little bit at a time over several months until they caught up. She's almost afraid to check on her retirement account.
Click to expand...

In California when the legislative branch doesn't approve a budget by the lawfully mandated date ... the state will issue warrants/IOU's to the employees.  Most banks in the state will honor the IOU's.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are back from their morning constitutional.  Gary has 4.56 miles on his watch ... he thinks the group walk covered about 3 miles of that total. Miss Maggie saw her first horse today and made many new friends.  Miss Maggie is taking a Big Nap.


----------



## Gary A.

From today.


----------



## tirediron

vintagesnaps said:


> 'The Falcon' movies all day. I'll watch just about any '40s detective movie, even though they're now into the ones with the brother instead of the original. But still, movies in B&W, big ol' cars, and hats.


I've got 'The Falcon' as well as 'Philip Marlow' and just about every other detective radio show ever produced.  The movies are great too!


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave will retire when he falls over dead.
Have never had a long term job with deductions and such. Been a contractor 
for much of life. Of course the job he holds now has taxes taken out. But it will never be enough to live on. So fall over dead it will be.

Incidentally 5 and about a third of an hour at work. The buffer lost the lower seal in the motor and left drops and smears of oil all over the store. Spent much time wiping floors where the buffer had been.
Darn Shame the motor didn't throw the rod due to oil loss.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> 'The Falcon' movies all day. I'll watch just about any '40s detective movie, even though they're now into the ones with the brother instead of the original. But still, movies in B&W, big ol' cars, and hats.
> 
> 
> 
> I've got 'The Falcon' as well as 'Philip Marlow' and just about every other detective radio show ever produced.  The movies are great too!
Click to expand...

The Fat Man ...


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I don't know about Wade, but I'm going to have to fix that first clause to say "IF you ever get a chance to retire..."


I tried retirement. I failed at it.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has the Sous Vide working. It operates via Bluetooth or WIFI, off a phone, tablet, et all. Pretty simple and Gary can turn it on/off when he isn’t hom via the Internet. It is actually quite nice operationally. The are a couple of steaks on the counter ready to go.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Gary has the Sous Vide working. It operates via Bluetooth or WIFI off a phone, tablet, et all. Pretty simple and Gary can turn it on/off when he isn’t hom via the Internet. It is actually quite nice operationally. The are a couple of steaks on the counter ready to go.



Which one did you get? They’ve been on my radar.

In other news, I made Kung Pow chicken that was roughly 30% more spicy than necessary. We all sweat while we were eating dinner.

In other, other news, my nanny’s kid bit my daughter today. Still processing that one.


----------



## davidharmier60

We are about to have Spaghetti. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> I tried retirement. I failed at it.



It can be difficult, I find I have to "pace myself". I can only stand so much fun at once LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

The Pashgetti was good! 
Ice cream pretty soon.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> The Pashgetti was good!
> Ice cream pretty soon.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



I think I saw you mention something about Blue Bell awhile back. Brand favorite around here also. Mint Chocolate, Rocky Road, and Sweet & Salty are favorites.


----------



## davidharmier60

My fave is Pralines and Cream!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

I love ice cream but it don't love me. I had home made vegetable soup tonight with warm french bread, the hard kind, brikette? Baked apples for desert. I splurged and had a diet 7up mixed with cherry juice. 

No time  lately to use the camera, closing a lot of sales (new business, customers) while it's slow so I can continue to give myself a healthy raise next year. I strategicly focus on growth this time of year, it gets slow and competition seems to go to sleep in the last quarter. I put the pedal down and capitalize on their weakness. My 85 hours a week for the last quarter really pays off. My wife is amazed by my calendar, she thinks it's beautiful with color codes, charts, alarms, and detail. We share calendars and hers is blank....lol. she works with pen and planner, old school but she is very successful, so whatever works.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has the Sous Vide working. It operates via Bluetooth or WIFI off a phone, tablet, et all. Pretty simple and Gary can turn it on/off when he isn’t hom via the Internet. It is actually quite nice operationally. The are a couple of steaks on the counter ready to go.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Which one did you get? They’ve been on my radar.
> 
> In other news, I made Kung Pow chicken that was roughly 30% more spicy than necessary. We all sweat while we were eating dinner.
> 
> In other, other news, my nanny’s kid bit my daughter today. Still processing that one.
Click to expand...

The Chefstep Joule and a bunch of stuff to make s complete kit. When you’re ready Gary will send you the details. He did some sizable research.  Gary was torn between the Gourmia Machine and the Joule Immersion Tool. Gary went with the immersion tool based upon the versatility and portability of the tool.  The Joule is such a superior Sous Vide apparatus, that if there was no Joule, he would have purchased the Gourmia Machine. Gary has the Gourmia Siphon Coffee Maker and Gourmia Ice Cream Maker. Gary likes their products.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> We share calendars and hers is blank....lol. she works with pen and planner, old school but she is very successful, so whatever works.



Wife and I share a calender  that synchs between our phones, tablets and computers, couldn't live without. We also use a shopping lust that updates and synchs with each other.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't know, on Top Chef when they sous vide they aren't hooked up to Wifi. I have this mental image of you calling your sous vide machine on the phone. I think I'd just call someplace and order a pizza.

How old Jon is the nanny's kid? Maybe feeling the baby was getting more attention and didn't quite like it. Some kids go thru that biting stage, not fun especially for the child on the receiving end, but it happens.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Smoke you have shopping lust?? lol Many probably do...


(I'm just kidding you, I know it was a typo.)


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Smoke you have shopping lust?? lol Many probably do...
> 
> 
> (I'm just kidding you, I know it was a typo.)



Oops got my apps confused! LoL


----------



## Gary A.

Dinner was a total success. A guest said the steak was the best steak he had ever eaten. Mary Lou felt the Sous Vide steak was very good but different than the Kamado steak. Gary would agree with her assessment. Gary cooks his meats with constant montoring thermometers, which is an equal methodology to using temperature controlled water.  Herbal tea and homemade watermelon sorbet to start. Next a flatbread with bacon and ham. Then dinner, steaks, rice, kale slaw, homemade cornbread and a Marimar Pinot Noir. All topped off with homemade chocolate ice cream and dessert vino.


----------



## Gary A.

What was nice is Gary cooked the steaks on the patio table. We were all at the table eating Sorbet, flatbread and sipping vino while the steaks silently cooked at the same table. Gary is very impressed with Sous Vide and the greater potential which it holds. Sous Vide is small, easy to use, quick to setup and pretty much fool proof.


----------



## Gary A.

Maggie’s first walk in the park.


----------



## yamaha pat

It looks like Maggie has different idea on which way to go.


----------



## Gary A.

Maggie was fine... it was her human that was confused.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.  I got a package from Portland, yesterday - Coffee Cat socks! 




Socks from Maine by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> We share calendars and hers is blank....lol. she works with pen and planner, old school but she is very successful, so whatever works.
> 
> 
> 
> Wife and I share a calender  that synchs between our phones, tablets and computers, couldn't live without. We also use a shopping lust that updates and synchs with each other.
Click to expand...


I can't think of what I would do without it. I can't remember anything anymore because of it.


----------



## JonA_CT

Professionals Development today in my district today.

Don’t forget to vote if you have local elections today!


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> We share calendars and hers is blank....lol. she works with pen and planner, old school but she is very successful, so whatever works.
> 
> 
> 
> Wife and I share a calender  that synchs between our phones, tablets and computers, couldn't live without. We also use a shopping lust that updates and synchs with each other.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I can't think of what I would do without it. I can't remember anything anymore because of it.
Click to expand...


We love the calendar app because no matter what device we're on we can see each others scheduled appointments, our trips, reservations, etc. The shopping list is neat because if she adds something or deletes it, it immediately shows up  on my list and vice versa. We use "Keep" for to do lists, notes, medications, etc, which also syncs between devices.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> We share calendars and hers is blank....lol. she works with pen and planner, old school but she is very successful, so whatever works.
> 
> 
> 
> Wife and I share a calender  that synchs between our phones, tablets and computers, couldn't live without. We also use a shopping lust that updates and synchs with each other.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I can't think of what I would do without it. I can't remember anything anymore because of it.
Click to expand...


We were just talking about this last night.  Was at a board meeting for our softball league and there were 6 of us planning out our preseason events and everyone was clicking away on their calendar app.  One of the guys asked what we did before smartphones?  Remember the color coded family calendar on the fridge?  Day planners stuffed in purses?  Giant desk blotter/calendars?  Secretaries?


----------



## davidharmier60

We still have a calendar on the wall.
We are not sure that our phone or our self is smart enough to do it on the phone.
Generally it isn't a problem. 

By the way Mornin' peeps. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> We share calendars and hers is blank....lol. she works with pen and planner, old school but she is very successful, so whatever works.
> 
> 
> 
> Wife and I share a calender  that synchs between our phones, tablets and computers, couldn't live without. We also use a shopping lust that updates and synchs with each other.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I can't think of what I would do without it. I can't remember anything anymore because of it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We love the calendar app because no matter what device we're on we can see each others scheduled appointments, our trips, reservations, etc. The shopping list is neat because if she adds something or deletes it, it immediately shows up  on my list and vice versa. We use "Keep" for to do lists, notes, medications, etc, which also syncs between devices.
Click to expand...

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are old school.  Mary Lou keeps a 'Master Calendar' in the kitchen.  She is very familiar with electronic calendars as she is required to use them at work (school). Gary prefers the mental challenge of juggling it all in his head.  Fortunately, as he gets older, there is less to juggle, but somehow he still drops about the same number of balls.  For lists, Gary uses a Reporter's Notebook and pen which fits nicely in a pocket. The Reporter's Notebook takes him back to the good old days.  Maggie checks the analog Master Calendar in the kitchen and punches in what she needs to know in her phone.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's extensive kit can all fit in a three gallon container.  Gary went all out with his kit getting stuff for all cooking contingencies.  If you want to start simple, all you need it the sous vide tool, (the white thing in the travel case), and a few zip lock bags.



 


iPhone

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is 58F in the pleasant, cool, quiet and overcast morn. It will break into the low 70's again today. Yesterday's dinner was a grand success with the Sous Vide. Gary is running through plans to reconfigure the patio to accommodate and streamline his outdoor cooking. Gary is quickly moving into the electric era, between the portability and small footprints of the sous vide (which can cook just about anything and everything), the countertop induction cookers, the electric rice cooker, crock pot, et al, ... there is no need for distance between guests and cooking and little monitoring required. As the sous vide is silent and has a small footprint, cooking and entertainment (chatting, darts, Tv, music, et cetera), can all take place in the same area. Gary is very pleased with the potential.

The only downside is the time required for cooking. Like the smoker, it take a long time to cook.  The steaks took an hour plus a couple of minutes of searing time in a cast iron pan on the inductive countertop.  The Kamado it would have taken an hour+ also.  15 minutes to clean, prep and ignite the charcoal in the Kamado. Then another 30-40 minutes to heat up, with 10 minutes to cook. But the Kamado would have infused the meat with a light smokey flavoring and those beautiful grill lines. The smoker takes hours and hours.

@ vintagesnaps: Gary uses bluetooth thermometers when he BBQ's and smokes.  The thermometer probes are in the BBQ and smoker and constantly monitor the internal ambient temp and the temp of the meat and spits out that info to Gary's phone. The Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities of the sous vide is old hat.


----------



## smoke665

I don't know if the effects of aging are destroying our memories or the mind has become lazy relying on technology but we really couldn't function without our planning apps. Not only do they provide a record but email us reminders to check the calendar!! At one time I could mentally juggle the locations of up to 25 trucks at a time, with only minimal input from the dispatch software. Now I do well to remember what I went downstairs for. I've always heard that it's one of those "use it or lose it things". Even though we are retired, the pace of life hasn't slowed that much, we travel a lot, we have a camping groups, and friends across the country that we are always coordinating with them to meet up along the road. Then, there's the steady stream of doctors appointments, and business to take care of that have to be worked in.


----------



## Gary A.

Nahhhh ... Your life has slowed down ... you're not moving at the same pace ... it just feels the same.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave just looks in wonder at some of these posts....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Nahhhh ... Your life has slowed down ... you're not moving at the same pace ... it just feels the same.



I will agree that there is a good chance that my "pace" has slowed but I would argue the point on life slowing down. Other than a few scattered days here and there, between family, social events, Fire Department functions, medical appointments,  business appointments, and travel, we are booked solid, into February of 2018, but fall and winter are generally our busiest time.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh, so the grill and the smoker talk to your phone...  yeah, sure they do... 
Just boil water.  

I'm getting nothin' done. Obviously since I'm on here messin' around. And I wonder if maybe David thinks we're a little wacky & goofy... 

The act of writing something down helps commit it to memory. I'm out of the loop on education research (and not doing any more papers on things like metamemory) but I'd be curious to see if putting things in devices contributes to lowered ability to remember. 

I'm waiting to see if the next 1930s B&W movie coming on is better than this one and wondered, what is this anyway? The title is "Men Are Not Gods". 

I'm not touching that one.


----------



## Gary A.

The actual act of writing, stirs up a different set of memory chemicals in the brain, much different from the chemicals caused by visual or verbal cognition. Gary doesn't know if the much less physical act of punching letters delivers a similar chemical response as handwriting.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Oh, so the grill and the smoker talk to your phone...  yeah, sure they do...
> Just boil water.
> 
> I'm getting nothin' done. Obviously since I'm on here messin' around. And I wonder if maybe David thinks we're a little wacky & goofy...
> 
> The act of writing something down helps commit it to memory. I'm out of the loop on education research (and not doing any more papers on things like metamemory) but I'd be curious to see if putting things in devices contributes to lowered ability to remember.
> 
> I'm waiting to see if the next 1930s B&W movie coming on is better than this one and wondered, what is this anyway? The title is "Men Are Not Gods".
> 
> I'm not touching that one.


Monday, Mary Lou and Gary NetFlixed Wonder Woman.  Wonder Woman's name was Diana, she was a Goddess.


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> We share calendars and hers is blank....lol. she works with pen and planner, old school but she is very successful, so whatever works.
> 
> 
> 
> Wife and I share a calender  that synchs between our phones, tablets and computers, couldn't live without. We also use a shopping lust that updates and synchs with each other.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I can't think of what I would do without it. I can't remember anything anymore because of it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We were just talking about this last night.  Was at a board meeting for our softball league and there were 6 of us planning out our preseason events and everyone was clicking away on their calendar app.  One of the guys asked what we did before smartphones?  Remember the color coded family calendar on the fridge?  Day planners stuffed in purses?  Giant desk blotter/calendars?  Secretaries?
Click to expand...



We have a master calender in the hall to know about and coordinate all family stuff private like meeting friends and official like dentist or car repair...


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> We have a master calender in the hall to know about and coordinate all family stuff private like meeting friends and official like dentist or car repair...



Calendars quit working for us, because of never being close to it when we needed to check something, or forgetting where we put it


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> We have a master calender in the hall to know about and coordinate all family stuff private like meeting friends and official like dentist or car repair...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Calendars quit working for us, because of never being close to it when we needed to check something, or forgetting where we put it
Click to expand...




ours is big and stays put


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> ours is big and stays put



We travel anywhere from a few days to a couple months at a time, wouldn't work for us.


----------



## snowbear

We started using a GPS app, two years ago.  Prior to that, the first thing I'd do in an unfamiliar area was go get a map book / road atlas.  I still do - they don't need batteries or signals and make a darn good backup system.


----------



## waday

Hmm. It's currently snowing outside.

Last week we had a couple days with highs in the 70s. Now snow.


----------



## snowbear

We've had steady rain this afternoon and in the 40s.  I told MLW that she needs to bring a coat, hat and gloves when we head north for Thanksgiving.  We're renting a Wrangler, and if that puppy has the soft top, by golly I'm putting it down.  I will leave the doors on, though.


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> Hmm. It's currently snowing outside.
> 
> Last week we had a couple days with highs in the 70s. Now snow.


One way to get @limr all riled up. [emoji12]


----------



## snowbear

snowbear said:


> We started using a GPS app, two years ago.  Prior to that, the first thing I'd do in an unfamiliar area was go get a map book / road atlas.  I still do - they don't need batteries or signals and make a darn good backup system.


And, of course, being a cartographer, it's just a thing to do.  Went out and did some field research getting correct speed limits on MD Route 381 (Google it).  I had the phone on voice recorder:  "50 MPH at Ashbox Road"  "Down to 45 in the 20600 block."  I hope I can hear myself over the sound of the wipers.  I'm actually soft spoken.


----------



## waday

RIP Roy Halladay


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> RIP Roy Halladay


I saw that


----------



## davidharmier60

Roy Halladay? Help!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> RIP Roy Halladay


Sad. He was one of my favorites. I am bummed. He crashed a few miles from our condo in Florida.


----------



## SquarePeg

He was a great pitcher!  Very sad to see this on the news.  

Way too many people lost in these type of accidents for my comfort level.  Smallest plane I've ever been on was from Key West to Miami and that was back when I thought I was invincible.  Now that I know better, I have a strict "must be big enough to have a bathroom" rule for air travel.


----------



## yamaha pat

Hi Coffee Housers, Would you think me strange if I told you I have never had a cell phone. I do have a land line but I just don't feel the need to be that connected.


----------



## terri

yamaha pat said:


> Hi Coffee Housers, Would you think me strange if I told you I have never had a cell phone. I do have a land line but I just don't feel the need to be that connected.


Hey, Yamaha Pat!  I don't think it's strange - if you get along just fine without a cell phone, more power to you!  Not to mention the money you save.


----------



## Gary A.

yamaha pat said:


> Hi Coffee Housers, Would you think me strange if I told you I have never had a cell phone. I do have a land line but I just don't feel the need to be that connected.


Yes. (Gary has a cell phone but no landline.)


----------



## jcdeboever

yamaha pat said:


> Hi Coffee Housers, Would you think me strange if I told you I have never had a cell phone. I do have a land line but I just don't feel the need to be that connected.


My Dad doesn't either and he is strange


----------



## yamaha pat

Thank you terri I wonder how many of us are out there anyone want to start a Flintstonian movement. The problem is you would have to do it on a computer and that would defeat the purpose.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave has no mug of coffee with which to wake up. This is not good.
I know the buffer got fixed yesterday. 
So in about 25 minutes it's off to work I go. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

We have cell phones and a landline. The alarm system needs to be updated with a standalone cell, but the landline is part of the Uverse package and is cheaper than the monthly cell charge, for a cell. Problem is despite being on the do not call list, We are bombarded by robocalls daily on that landline line. So it stays on the answering machine 24/7. Call blocking doesn't work because they are spoofing local numbers mostly, and changing it every time. It had gotten better for awhile, but seems to be on the rise again. I find it irritating that phone carriers want to charge a monthly fee for add on apps/service, to prevent robocalls, when they're the ones providing the conduit for these scam artists.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

We have both also, but if it were up to me, the landline would go! She uses it to call her brother in Scotland. She pays for it, so


----------



## jcdeboever

Ohio is the most boring driving there is. Everything is flat and field. My three day journey is coming to a close around 1:00 - 1:30. Hi tail it home and hope to get some film scanning done tonight. I think I have like 6 rolls of portra 400 to scan. I don't scan every one. I did manage to get a good look at them on a light table and the rolls look real good. I found a good way to view them... I invert the colors on my cell phone via the accessibility setting and turn on the camera. It gives you a super nice image the size of your cell phone screen so you can check exposure, sharpness, etc.


----------



## smoke665

Every now and then my dear wife surprises me with little things. I mentioned that I needed some weights for the light stands that would flex and bend to conform. An old pair of jeans destined for the trash, $4 worth of cheap long grain rice, and a few mins at her sewing machine, and I now have 6 flexible, soft and dustless weights


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> Every now and then my dear wife surprises me with little things. I mentioned that I needed some weights for the light stands that would flex and bend to conform. An old pair of jeans destined for the trash, $4 worth of cheap long grain rice, and a few mins at her sewing machine, and I now have 6 flexible, soft and dustless weights
> 
> View attachment 149327



And they can also double as heating pads


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Every now and then my dear wife surprises me with little things. I mentioned that I needed some weights for the light stands that would flex and bend to conform. An old pair of jeans destined for the trash, $4 worth of cheap long grain rice, and a few mins at her sewing machine, and I now have 6 flexible, soft and dustless weights
> 
> View attachment 149327
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And they can also double as heating pads
Click to expand...

Or Fert beds and pillows


----------



## smoke665

Been reading up on the advancement of self driving electric vehicles and the implications for the future (Uber self driving cabs). If I were 30 years younger, I would probably be a all over this. 

Think about this, in a metropolitan area an "on demand" self driving vehicle, with staging areas strategically located in the city. Via a smart phone app, (which automatically bills your credit card), you order your vehicle, plug in the number of passengers,  the pickup address and destination address. The vehicle is dispatched by a central computer that considers the staging level inventories, and most logical locations, then dispatches the correct vehicle. GPS tracking automatically sends a text message to your phone at a predetermined time before it arrives. You enter the vehicle at the curb, enter a pass code supplied by your app, and off you go. It drops you at your location, then proceeds to the predetermined staging area, where it pulls into an automatic charging area, until the next dispatch. Attendants at each staging location would be notified prior to arrival and would be required to clean, wipe down interior, and release the vehicle before the system would dispatch it again.

No more cabs, no more parking fees, convenient transportation. Heck I may even come out of retirement!! LOL


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> We have cell phones and a landline. The alarm system needs to be updated with a standalone cell, but the landline is part of the Uverse package and is cheaper than the monthly cell charge, for a cell. Problem is despite being on the do not call list, We are bombarded by robocalls daily on that landline line. So it stays on the answering machine 24/7. Call blocking doesn't work because they are spoofing local numbers mostly, and changing it every time. It had gotten better for awhile, but seems to be on the rise again. I find it irritating that phone carriers want to charge a monthly fee for add on apps/service, to prevent robocalls, when they're the ones providing the conduit for these scam artists.


Okay, so technically Gary has a landline also.  Like smoke665, it came with the cable, but it isn't hooked up.  Mary Lou keeps trying to drop the landline, but the cable company insists that it is required ... Poppycock! Robocalls suck ... more Poppycock!  Gary just sets the phone down and lets them run.  He figures every second or two he ties up the line save some other sucker from getting a call. Sometimes he tries calling back, but usually the number doesn't work. One time Gary got a person in Venice, California.  Seems the robocaller just picked a random number for display.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Every now and then my dear wife surprises me with little things. I mentioned that I needed some weights for the light stands that would flex and bend to conform. An old pair of jeans destined for the trash, $4 worth of cheap long grain rice, and a few mins at her sewing machine, and I now have 6 flexible, soft and dustless weights
> 
> View attachment 149327


And in case of a Thermonuclear War, you can shoot with a stable tripod and have lunch in a dust free environment.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Every now and then my dear wife surprises me with little things. I mentioned that I needed some weights for the light stands that would flex and bend to conform. An old pair of jeans destined for the trash, $4 worth of cheap long grain rice, and a few mins at her sewing machine, and I now have 6 flexible, soft and dustless weights
> 
> View attachment 149327
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And they can also double as heating pads
Click to expand...

Just toss them in some boiling water.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Been reading up on the advancement of self driving electric vehicles and the implications for the future (Uber self driving cabs). If I were 30 years younger, I would probably be a all over this.
> 
> Think about this, in a metropolitan area an "on demand" self driving vehicle, with staging areas strategically located in the city. Via a smart phone app, (which automatically bills your credit card), you order your vehicle, plug in the number of passengers,  the pickup address and destination address. The vehicle is dispatched by a central computer that considers the staging level inventories, and most logical locations, then dispatches the correct vehicle. GPS tracking automatically sends a text message to your phone at a predetermined time before it arrives. You enter the vehicle at the curb, enter a pass code supplied by your app, and off you go. It drops you at your location, then proceeds to the predetermined staging area, where it pulls into an automatic charging area, until the next dispatch. Attendants at each staging location would be notified prior to arrival and would be required to clean, wipe down interior, and release the vehicle before the system would dispatch it again.
> 
> No more cabs, no more parking fees, convenient transportation. Heck I may even come out of retirement!! LOL


What could possibly go wrong?


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> Been reading up on the advancement of self driving electric vehicles and the implications for the future (Uber self driving cabs). If I were 30 years younger, I would probably be a all over this.
> 
> Think about this, in a metropolitan area an "on demand" self driving vehicle, with staging areas strategically located in the city. Via a smart phone app, (which automatically bills your credit card), you order your vehicle, plug in the number of passengers,  the pickup address and destination address. The vehicle is dispatched by a central computer that considers the staging level inventories, and most logical locations, then dispatches the correct vehicle. GPS tracking automatically sends a text message to your phone at a predetermined time before it arrives. You enter the vehicle at the curb, enter a pass code supplied by your app, and off you go. It drops you at your location, then proceeds to the predetermined staging area, where it pulls into an automatic charging area, until the next dispatch. Attendants at each staging location would be notified prior to arrival and would be required to clean, wipe down interior, and release the vehicle before the system would dispatch it again.
> 
> No more cabs, no more parking fees, convenient transportation. Heck I may even come out of retirement!! LOL



Scary, at the same time though, too. If you can have a self-driving cab in urban environments, why not have self-driving tractor trailer trucks, too? It should be even easier...the depots you are talking about already exist. I'm sure that UPS and Fedex already have teams monitoring the progress in these areas.

The scary part isn't the autonomous part of them (because honestly...I'd probably choose a well-designed robot over most of the drivers I encounter on the road, myself included...). It's that as such moves begin to happen, it'll strip away one of the few "blue-collar" professions that still exist. The jobs that will be created as a result will be highly technical. I believe the most common job in the United States is a being a truck driver. 

As it is, with automation and outsourcing, there are less and less places for people without lots of expensive and additional education to make a living. Hell, I have plenty of friends with college degrees who work in restaurants or who make $15 an hour in mid-level retail management. 

Could truck drivers be re-trained to work on and maintain the equipment? Sure. Who pays for it? And what do the other 75% of those people do?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. What a fine wonderful morning.  The sun is out (@Leo: Why isn't 'sun' capitalized as it is a proper name? Gary has to find a style book. Gary guesses that sun/Sun is both a proper name and a noun.  Sorta like John/john ... as in, John is in the john.)  But the sun is out can also be the Sun is out. A little help here Leo.)


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Been reading up on the advancement of self driving electric vehicles and the implications for the future (Uber self driving cabs). If I were 30 years younger, I would probably be a all over this.
> 
> Think about this, in a metropolitan area an "on demand" self driving vehicle, with staging areas strategically located in the city. Via a smart phone app, (which automatically bills your credit card), you order your vehicle, plug in the number of passengers,  the pickup address and destination address. The vehicle is dispatched by a central computer that considers the staging level inventories, and most logical locations, then dispatches the correct vehicle. GPS tracking automatically sends a text message to your phone at a predetermined time before it arrives. You enter the vehicle at the curb, enter a pass code supplied by your app, and off you go. It drops you at your location, then proceeds to the predetermined staging area, where it pulls into an automatic charging area, until the next dispatch. Attendants at each staging location would be notified prior to arrival and would be required to clean, wipe down interior, and release the vehicle before the system would dispatch it again.
> 
> No more cabs, no more parking fees, convenient transportation. Heck I may even come out of retirement!! LOL


I wonder how difficult it would be to put a 350 Stroker and Turbo 400 into an electric Uber car?


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday was a long day for Gary.  His work wrapped up early and he installed/removed/replaced the plastic deck tiles in the patio. Gary has three different deck tiles hiding some cracked concrete.  Two are 12" x 12" hard but flexible plastic tile but in two different patterns and the third is a soft foam 24" x 24" which feels great to tread upon, but the furniture feet sinks it making it difficult for minor adjustments/movements and it isn't UV treated, rendering those tiles in the sun/Sun to rapid deterioration.  Yesterday afternoon and well into night, Gary was was moving furniture and plants around, measuring, removing, modifying, installing and reinstalling deck tiles.  It was tedious work which ached his tiny, unused muscles.  He needs about 40 square feet of additional 12x12 to finish the job and completely eliminate the foam tiles. Gary inspected the work this morning and it looks pretty good with no gaps between the three different tiles.  As the patio doesn't conform in length or width to even feet, and the patio has a long radius on the south west corner, Gary needs to cut up a bunch of tiles for the edges.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Been reading up on the advancement of self driving electric vehicles and the implications for the future (Uber self driving cabs). If I were 30 years younger, I would probably be a all over this.
> 
> Think about this, in a metropolitan area an "on demand" self driving vehicle, with staging areas strategically located in the city. Via a smart phone app, (which automatically bills your credit card), you order your vehicle, plug in the number of passengers,  the pickup address and destination address. The vehicle is dispatched by a central computer that considers the staging level inventories, and most logical locations, then dispatches the correct vehicle. GPS tracking automatically sends a text message to your phone at a predetermined time before it arrives. You enter the vehicle at the curb, enter a pass code supplied by your app, and off you go. It drops you at your location, then proceeds to the predetermined staging area, where it pulls into an automatic charging area, until the next dispatch. Attendants at each staging location would be notified prior to arrival and would be required to clean, wipe down interior, and release the vehicle before the system would dispatch it again.
> 
> No more cabs, no more parking fees, convenient transportation. Heck I may even come out of retirement!! LOL
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder how difficult it would be to put a 350 Stroker and Turbo 400 into an electric Uber car?
Click to expand...

The robot driver would like that.


----------



## snowbear

We dropped the landline a few years ago and haven't missed it one bit.

JC - The first thing I noticed in Ohio (my first trip to Monroe/Detroit) was that the hills for overpasses had to be imported.  The second was the triple trailers that we don't have here.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. What a fine wonderful morning.  The sun is out (@Leo: Why isn't 'sun' capitalized as it is a proper name? Gary has to find a style book. Gary guesses that sun/Sun is both a proper name and a noun.  Sorta like John/john ... as in, John is in the john.)  But the sun is out can also be the Sun is out. A little help here Leo.)



'Sun' is not a proper noun. A word is simply a code that we all agree refers to a particular object. A name is what we use when we want to distinguish between different individuals of the same object. So, 'human' is the symbolic set of sounds/letters that refer to us hairless apes. Then 'Gary' is the symbolic set of sounds/letters to distinguish you from another hairless ape.

The word 'sun' refers to a giant fireball in the sky. However, it doesn't have an official name - not the way that planets have a name. One reason that it doesn't have a name is because it doesn't really need one. This planet and its inhabitants have only one sun that concerns us - which is why it is always referred to using the definite article "the" - so we don't need to distinguish it from other suns. Same thing with the moon. "The sun" and "the moon" always refer to _our_ sun and moon. We do use names for other stars, though, because there are a ton of stars in the sky and how will we know which one will guide us to the north, or make up Orion's belt? 

Apparently the International Astronomical Union recommends using a capital letter for Sun and Moon, basically saying that the regular noun should also become its official name. As for the non-astronomers, AP style (which governs the style of a hell of a lot of writing) still requires lowercase:
Does our sun have a name? | EarthSky.org


----------



## snowbear

I just call the sun "Bartholomew."


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Or Fert beds and pillows





Gary A. said:


> Okay, so technically Gary has a landline also. Like smoke665, it came with the cable, but it isn't hooked up. Mary Lou keeps trying to drop the landline, but the cable company insists that it is required ... Poppycock! Robocalls suck ... more Poppycock! Gary just sets the phone down and lets them run. He figures every second or two he ties up the line save some other sucker from getting a call. Sometimes he tries calling back, but usually the number doesn't work. One time Gary got a person in Venice, California. Seems the robocaller just picked a random number for display.



Well, I was seriously looking at ordering the device I mentioned above but according to this Stop robocalls and telemarketers with Nomorobo nomorobo is free for basic service. As this is the one that my ATT Uverse has been pushing. I mistakenly thought it cost you per month but according to this that's only on a cell line.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> The scary part isn't the autonomous part of them (because honestly...I'd probably choose a well-designed robot over most of the drivers I encounter on the road, myself included...). It's that as such moves begin to happen, it'll strip away one of the few "blue-collar" professions that still exist. The jobs that will be created as a result will be highly technical. I believe the most common job in the United States is a being a truck driver.



The scary part is here. UPS is already chomping at the bit for intercity robotic delivery/pickup. I can tell you from personal knowledge and experience in transportation, that putting a 10,000 lb  low speed vehicle in a city operation is a whole lot different than putting an 80,000# vehicle over the road at highway speeds in varying weather and traffic conditions. While a failure in the smaller vehicle could be serious, a failure on an over the road truck would be catastrophic.

Getting back to UPS, they are already using electric golf carts with trailers, to deliver packages in upscale neighborhoods that ban trucks. Wouldn't be much of a stretch to go automated there.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Been reading up on the advancement of self driving electric vehicles and the implications for the future (Uber self driving cabs). If I were 30 years younger, I would probably be a all over this.
> 
> Think about this, in a metropolitan area an "on demand" self driving vehicle, with staging areas strategically located in the city. Via a smart phone app, (which automatically bills your credit card), you order your vehicle, plug in the number of passengers,  the pickup address and destination address. The vehicle is dispatched by a central computer that considers the staging level inventories, and most logical locations, then dispatches the correct vehicle. GPS tracking automatically sends a text message to your phone at a predetermined time before it arrives. You enter the vehicle at the curb, enter a pass code supplied by your app, and off you go. It drops you at your location, then proceeds to the predetermined staging area, where it pulls into an automatic charging area, until the next dispatch. Attendants at each staging location would be notified prior to arrival and would be required to clean, wipe down interior, and release the vehicle before the system would dispatch it again.
> 
> No more cabs, no more parking fees, convenient transportation. Heck I may even come out of retirement!! LOL
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Scary, at the same time though, too. If you can have a self-driving cab in urban environments, why not have self-driving tractor trailer trucks, too? It should be even easier...the depots you are talking about already exist. I'm sure that UPS and Fedex already have teams monitoring the progress in these areas.
> 
> The scary part isn't the autonomous part of them (because honestly...I'd probably choose a well-designed robot over most of the drivers I encounter on the road, myself included...). It's that as such moves begin to happen, it'll strip away one of the few "blue-collar" professions that still exist. The jobs that will be created as a result will be highly technical. I believe the most common job in the United States is a being a truck driver.
> 
> As it is, with automation and outsourcing, there are less and less places for people without lots of expensive and additional education to make a living. Hell, I have plenty of friends with college degrees who work in restaurants or who make $15 an hour in mid-level retail management.
> 
> Could truck drivers be re-trained to work on and maintain the equipment? Sure. Who pays for it? And what do the other 75% of those people do?
Click to expand...

With the advent of engines/motors/automobiles, horses were removed from streets and farms. Generally speaking, horses are now a luxury item that are used as recreation. This will probably be the same with cars, where if you want to drive "manually", you'll need to take your car to a track to do it safely. It's exciting technology and definitely an exciting future.

While this may sound a bit brash, my main concern isn't with the "loss of jobs" (although, that will be a major problem). While a lot of jobs will be highly-technical, there will still likely be a need for all job types.

My concern is with the cost of the technology. If automated cars become a regulatory requirement (that is, manually driven cars will no longer be permitted on certain or all streets), then cars must be available at prices that are affordable by all income brackets, NOT just the top 1%. I'm sure there'd be a phase-out, but automated cars will be more expensive to purchase and maintain over the life of the car. How will this impact the lower income brackets (i.e., the majority of the country)?

Also, infrastructure will need to be added, updated/retrofitted, and maintained. Who is going to pay for this? Undoubtedly, our taxes will increase. Again, how is this going to impact the lower income brackets, who can't afford higher taxes? Again, it'd likely be phased-in, rather than immediately employed, but it's still a matter of how it impacts ALL people, rather than just those that can easily afford the technology. Not every city has major public transportation systems. Interesting to know what would happen in suburban and rural areas; how would those be affected? 

Jon your questions and mine are all ones that we'd need to answer, and I hoping that all income brackets will be considered when discussing this.


----------



## snowbear

The cost of the technology will get cheaper as it becomes more commonplace.  When airbags first came out, how many were only found in the higher-end vehicles?  Does anyone remember how expensive desktop computers were 20 years ago?  What about cell phones - now they give them away.

Though I agree with you, Infrastructure needs to be updated and maintained.  One of our Deputy Fire Chiefs just returned from Puerto Rico (FEMA deployment).  One of his comments was "When you don't maintain infrastructure, you don't have infrastructure."


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> My concern is with the cost of the technology.



Unfortunately that cost of technology is already driving the cost up. Go buy a new car today, even lower end $15k, mid level $25-$30K, what used to be full size $40-$50k and luxury approaching $100k or more. For many it's reached the point where new vehicles are no longer possible. Interesting article The End of Car Ownership suggest that one day private ownership of vehicles may become obsolete, in favor of either self driving vehicles, or some sort of "rental" type program. I found the "subscription ownership" interesting. Years ago I was involved in a similar type program with some other business people in an airplane. Actually worked quite well.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't think I've seen triple trailers, hardly ever double. You must've been way farther north than me Charlie if you saw man made 'imported' hills! lol I know what you mean, I went to college 'up north' - flatter than a pancake and yep, the overpass and the one 'ski hill' they built are the only things taller than a mole hill. 

I have an AP style book, ran across it recently and went, oh yeah I forgot I had this. Obviously I don't exactly use it regularly.


----------



## vintagesnaps

If cars go all automated I'll never get home. Our whole area is a mess on Google maps, GPS, etc. I finally got Google to correct my address but then they redid the site and the whole street is numbered wrong again. Depends what system's being used but it's way off base all the time for deliveries or various types of service/repairs. I can usually figure out what they're trying to find but have thought gee, should've seen what they had and maybe I'd keep it! lol furniture? sure, let's see what ya got!

Did Leo make a reference to Gary being one of these??  
Nah, must've read it wrong...


----------



## limr

waday said:


> With the advent of engines/motors/automobiles, horses were removed from streets and farms. Generally speaking, horses are now a luxury item that are used as recreation. This will probably be the same with cars, where if you want to drive "manually", you'll need to take your car to a track to do it safely. It's exciting technology and definitely an exciting future.



The idea that I don't get to drive except for on a track on occasion is _not_ exciting for me.

I understand the appeal of the auto-driving cars...well, to a point, anyway...but I sincerely hope it doesn't come to this in my lifetime.


----------



## snowbear

Keep in mind the increased cost of cars is not due to technology, alone: materials, labor, transportation of the parts, energy used for manufacturing; it's all gone up.

Now, I'm interested in seeing if there's a correlation between people that are in favor of autonomous cars and those that shoot auto and/or JPEGs.


----------



## davidharmier60

It took FedEx a couple of times to find my house. I don't think personally driven vehicles will be outlawed in my lifetime. 
I had 5 and a few minutes less than 3/4 hours today. Went up to Livingston to buy a box of pennies. Seems that with very few exceptions I got a box of 2017D. 
Our landline rings a lot. I get calls from the same three numbers that my number has.
Robo calls will be the end of civilization. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> The cost of the technology will get cheaper as it becomes more commonplace. When airbags first came out, how many were only found in the higher-end vehicles? Does anyone remember how expensive desktop computers were 20 years ago? What about cell phones - now they give them away.


Generally, I agree with you. However, cell phones have started to take over for desktop computers. The new iPhone is $1000, and other phones are still extremely expensive on their own. Only specific ones are "given away", and those are tied to a pricey contract and are old-ish technology. Or, you can "rent to own" your phone, which is what many companies do now. Break the phone, and you're still obligated to pay monthly AND the cost of the phone, even though you don't have a phone.

As new phones come out, old ones become obsolete as companies refuse to allow older technology to work with newer operating systems. They even go as far as to say that they will no longer support that equipment.

To be able to say, "fine, just add it to my monthly payment" is a luxury that many people don't have. Similarly, with respect to @smoke665 's comment on "subscription ownership", not many people can say, "fine, I'll pay extra each month for a car". They'd rather just pay outright for any car and use it until it breaks. Having, and being able to pay for, a monthly subscription is a luxury.



limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. What a fine wonderful morning.  The sun is out (@Leo: Why isn't 'sun' capitalized as it is a proper name? Gary has to find a style book. Gary guesses that sun/Sun is both a proper name and a noun.  Sorta like John/john ... as in, John is in the john.)  But the sun is out can also be the Sun is out. A little help here Leo.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 'Sun' is not a proper noun. A word is simply a code that we all agree refers to a particular object. A name is what we use when we want to distinguish between different individuals of the same object. So, 'human' is the symbolic set of sounds/letters that refer to us hairless apes. Then 'Gary' is the symbolic set of sounds/letters to distinguish you from another hairless ape.
> 
> The word 'sun' refers to a giant fireball in the sky. However, it doesn't have an official name - not the way that planets have a name. One reason that it doesn't have a name is because it doesn't really need one. This planet and its inhabitants have only one sun that concerns us - which is why it is always referred to using the definite article "the" - so we don't need to distinguish it from other suns. Same thing with the moon. "The sun" and "the moon" always refer to _our_ sun and moon. We do use names for other stars, though, because there are a ton of stars in the sky and how will we know which one will guide us to the north, or make up Orion's belt?
> 
> Apparently the International Astronomical Union recommends using a capital letter for Sun and Moon, basically saying that the regular noun should also become its official name. As for the non-astronomers, AP style (which governs the style of a hell of a lot of writing) still requires lowercase:
> Does our sun have a name? | EarthSky.org
Click to expand...

In addition, aren't the Sun, Moon, and Earth the only astronomical bodies (in this Solar System) not named after gods/etc: sonne/sunne, luna, terra, respectively?


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> I just call the sun "Bartholomew."


Gary isn't on a first name basis with Sun/the sun.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> The cost of the technology will get cheaper as it becomes more commonplace. When airbags first came out, how many were only found in the higher-end vehicles? Does anyone remember how expensive desktop computers were 20 years ago? What about cell phones - now they give them away.
> 
> 
> 
> Generally, I agree with you. However, cell phones have started to take over for desktop computers. The new iPhone is $1000, and other phones are still extremely expensive on their own. Only specific ones are "given away", and those are tied to a pricey contract and are old-ish technology. Or, you can "rent to own" your phone, which is what many companies do now. Break the phone, and you're still obligated to pay monthly AND the cost of the phone, even though you don't have a phone.
> 
> As new phones come out, old ones become obsolete as companies refuse to allow older technology to work with newer operating systems. They even go as far as to say that they will no longer support that equipment.
> 
> To be able to say, "fine, just add it to my monthly payment" is a luxury that many people don't have. Similarly, with respect to @smoke665 's comment on "subscription ownership", not many people can say, "fine, I'll pay extra each month for a car". They'd rather just pay outright for any car and use it until it breaks. Having, and being able to pay for, a monthly subscription is a luxury.
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. What a fine wonderful morning.  The sun is out (@Leo: Why isn't 'sun' capitalized as it is a proper name? Gary has to find a style book. Gary guesses that sun/Sun is both a proper name and a noun.  Sorta like John/john ... as in, John is in the john.)  But the sun is out can also be the Sun is out. A little help here Leo.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 'Sun' is not a proper noun. A word is simply a code that we all agree refers to a particular object. A name is what we use when we want to distinguish between different individuals of the same object. So, 'human' is the symbolic set of sounds/letters that refer to us hairless apes. Then 'Gary' is the symbolic set of sounds/letters to distinguish you from another hairless ape.
> 
> The word 'sun' refers to a giant fireball in the sky. However, it doesn't have an official name - not the way that planets have a name. One reason that it doesn't have a name is because it doesn't really need one. This planet and its inhabitants have only one sun that concerns us - which is why it is always referred to using the definite article "the" - so we don't need to distinguish it from other suns. Same thing with the moon. "The sun" and "the moon" always refer to _our_ sun and moon. We do use names for other stars, though, because there are a ton of stars in the sky and how will we know which one will guide us to the north, or make up Orion's belt?
> 
> Apparently the International Astronomical Union recommends using a capital letter for Sun and Moon, basically saying that the regular noun should also become its official name. As for the non-astronomers, AP style (which governs the style of a hell of a lot of writing) still requires lowercase:
> Does our sun have a name? | EarthSky.org
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> In addition, aren't the Sun, Moon, and Earth the only astronomical bodies (in this Solar System) not named after gods/etc: sonne/sunne, luna, terra, respectively?
Click to expand...

Isn't Pluto named after a dog?


----------



## vintagesnaps

There seems to be a good bit of technology that we've had available for decades but didn't really go anywhere. I've noticed it watching reruns on METV, and promos and shorts in between movies on TCM. They had the midcentury 'house of the future' and what do we actually have today? a fridge with an ice cube maker. That vacuum that rolls around banging into the furniture. I want a Robby the Robot to do my house cleaning! 

Anytime I've reported a telemarketing/robo call on the Do Not Call website (your number needs to be registered, you just put in the number and date & time), I don't get a call from that number again. Something must happen when you report a violation because it stops. Of course there are others... the ones making me mad lately appear to use a local number and I'm in a small town and there's no freakin' call center here.


----------



## JonA_CT

All interesting stuff to consider here, and too much for my brain to process and to respond to right this moment, haha. 

New cars are probably 95% of the way to being completely autonomous as we speak. My wife's Subaru already has a forward-facing sensor unit that allows adaptive cruise-control and emergency braking. It has cameras that can alert and correct when you are not in your travel lane. Those are the primary things a car needs to be able to do, right? Maintain speed and following distance, maintain a lane, know when to stop.

Price is an important consideration of course...but Subarus are relatively modest cars, and we paid less than $30k for her fully-loaded Outback. (I, on the other hand, still drive a stick-shift Mazda hatch.)


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> The cost of the technology will get cheaper as it becomes more commonplace. When airbags first came out, how many were only found in the higher-end vehicles? Does anyone remember how expensive desktop computers were 20 years ago? What about cell phones - now they give them away.
> 
> 
> 
> Generally, I agree with you. However, cell phones have started to take over for desktop computers. The new iPhone is $1000, and other phones are still extremely expensive on their own. Only specific ones are "given away", and those are tied to a pricey contract and are old-ish technology. Or, you can "rent to own" your phone, which is what many companies do now. Break the phone, and you're still obligated to pay monthly AND the cost of the phone, even though you don't have a phone.
> 
> As new phones come out, old ones become obsolete as companies refuse to allow older technology to work with newer operating systems. They even go as far as to say that they will no longer support that equipment.
> 
> To be able to say, "fine, just add it to my monthly payment" is a luxury that many people don't have. Similarly, with respect to @smoke665 's comment on "subscription ownership", not many people can say, "fine, I'll pay extra each month for a car". They'd rather just pay outright for any car and use it until it breaks. Having, and being able to pay for, a monthly subscription is a luxury.
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. What a fine wonderful morning.  The sun is out (@Leo: Why isn't 'sun' capitalized as it is a proper name? Gary has to find a style book. Gary guesses that sun/Sun is both a proper name and a noun.  Sorta like John/john ... as in, John is in the john.)  But the sun is out can also be the Sun is out. A little help here Leo.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 'Sun' is not a proper noun. A word is simply a code that we all agree refers to a particular object. A name is what we use when we want to distinguish between different individuals of the same object. So, 'human' is the symbolic set of sounds/letters that refer to us hairless apes. Then 'Gary' is the symbolic set of sounds/letters to distinguish you from another hairless ape.
> 
> The word 'sun' refers to a giant fireball in the sky. However, it doesn't have an official name - not the way that planets have a name. One reason that it doesn't have a name is because it doesn't really need one. This planet and its inhabitants have only one sun that concerns us - which is why it is always referred to using the definite article "the" - so we don't need to distinguish it from other suns. Same thing with the moon. "The sun" and "the moon" always refer to _our_ sun and moon. We do use names for other stars, though, because there are a ton of stars in the sky and how will we know which one will guide us to the north, or make up Orion's belt?
> 
> Apparently the International Astronomical Union recommends using a capital letter for Sun and Moon, basically saying that the regular noun should also become its official name. As for the non-astronomers, AP style (which governs the style of a hell of a lot of writing) still requires lowercase:
> Does our sun have a name? | EarthSky.org
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> In addition, aren't the Sun, Moon, and Earth the only astronomical bodies (in this Solar System) not named after gods/etc: sonne/sunne, luna, terra, respectively?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Isn't Pluto named after a dog?
Click to expand...

If he's the dog/god of the underworld?


----------



## JonA_CT

vintagesnaps said:


> There seems to be a good bit of technology that we've had available for decades but didn't really go anywhere. I've noticed it watching reruns on METV, and promos and shorts in between movies on TCM. They had the midcentury 'house of the future' and what do we actually have today? a fridge with an ice cube maker. That vacuum that rolls around banging into the furniture. I want a Robby the Robot to do my house cleaning!



My freezer won't make ice, and my vacuum robot's name is Bruce  It's more amazing to me how little he knocks the furniture...and yes, it was completely worth the $350 investment we made in him to have the carpets and floors ready for our kids to roll around on them every morning.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> With the advent of engines/motors/automobiles, horses were removed from streets and farms. Generally speaking, horses are now a luxury item that are used as recreation. This will probably be the same with cars, where if you want to drive "manually", you'll need to take your car to a track to do it safely. It's exciting technology and definitely an exciting future.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The idea that I don't get to drive except for on a track on occasion is _not_ exciting for me.
> 
> I understand the appeal of the auto-driving cars...well, to a point, anyway...but I sincerely hope it doesn't come to this in my lifetime.
Click to expand...

Having automated cars in a properly designed system would avoid a lot of traffic, reduce gas consumption, and avoid a lot of accidents, therefore, lives. In addition, it would be a major technological breakthrough. I consider all of this to be exciting.

If you want to drive your car on a track under supervised conditions, go for it! I see too many people treat highways as race tracks, weaving in and out of traffic at dangerous speeds. I also see too many people that aren't paying attention while driving. If the car can do the driving for them, I'm happy to have these people "off" the road.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> not many people can say, "fine, I'll pay extra each month for a car". They'd rather just pay outright for any car and use it until it breaks. Having, and being able to pay for, a monthly subscription is a luxury.



Going back to my earlier comment about the airplane, I and the other members in the group didn't have the money to lay out $250k for something that was only used on a limited basis. Not only is the high entrance cost getting to much, look at all the incidentals like insurance, registration, taxes repairs, depreciation (whether you drive it or not).  I have a huge investment in vehicles that despite the fact we travel a lot, I'd say conservatively they sit 75% out of the day.  Not saying I like the idea just saying that it may well come to it when you can not afford the expense of individual ownership.[/QUOTE]


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> my vacuum robot's name is Bruce



Ours is Margret LOL


----------



## vintagesnaps

Pluto on Pluto, not on the sun but in The Sun.

(Can't believe I found this, and of course you can always trust a tabloid... 
if it says so it must be true! <-- need I say, sarcasm)

http://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/37310is-that-the-face-of-pluto-on-pluto-3?


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Anytime I've reported a telemarketing/robo call on the Do Not Call website (your number needs to be registered, you just put in the number and date & time), I don't get a call from that number again



That only works if you have their actual number. Here the majority are "spoofing" local numbers. My wife got a call on her cell from an elderly lady wanting to know why she had called her. Wife had to explain repeatedly that she didn't call.

On another note, I signed up for free NOMOROBO service on our house phone. So far it's been quiet. Fingers crossed


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> my vacuum robot's name is Bruce
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ours is Margret LOL
Click to expand...


I got to name the robot...because my wife said Bruce wasn't a name for our newborn.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> I got to name the robot...because my wife said Bruce wasn't a name for our newborn.



Word to the wise don't have Bruce programmed to run in the middle of the night, when you can't keep an eye on, if you have dogs in the house that might have an "unknown accident". Trust me!


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> The cost of the technology will get cheaper as it becomes more commonplace. When airbags first came out, how many were only found in the higher-end vehicles? Does anyone remember how expensive desktop computers were 20 years ago? What about cell phones - now they give them away.
> 
> 
> 
> Generally, I agree with you. However, cell phones have started to take over for desktop computers. The new iPhone is $1000, and other phones are still extremely expensive on their own. Only specific ones are "given away", and those are tied to a pricey contract and are old-ish technology. Or, you can "rent to own" your phone, which is what many companies do now. Break the phone, and you're still obligated to pay monthly AND the cost of the phone, even though you don't have a phone.
> 
> As new phones come out, old ones become obsolete as companies refuse to allow older technology to work with newer operating systems. They even go as far as to say that they will no longer support that equipment.
> 
> To be able to say, "fine, just add it to my monthly payment" is a luxury that many people don't have. Similarly, with respect to @smoke665 's comment on "subscription ownership", not many people can say, "fine, I'll pay extra each month for a car". They'd rather just pay outright for any car and use it until it breaks. Having, and being able to pay for, a monthly subscription is a luxury.
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. What a fine wonderful morning.  The sun is out (@Leo: Why isn't 'sun' capitalized as it is a proper name? Gary has to find a style book. Gary guesses that sun/Sun is both a proper name and a noun.  Sorta like John/john ... as in, John is in the john.)  But the sun is out can also be the Sun is out. A little help here Leo.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 'Sun' is not a proper noun. A word is simply a code that we all agree refers to a particular object. A name is what we use when we want to distinguish between different individuals of the same object. So, 'human' is the symbolic set of sounds/letters that refer to us hairless apes. Then 'Gary' is the symbolic set of sounds/letters to distinguish you from another hairless ape.
> 
> The word 'sun' refers to a giant fireball in the sky. However, it doesn't have an official name - not the way that planets have a name. One reason that it doesn't have a name is because it doesn't really need one. This planet and its inhabitants have only one sun that concerns us - which is why it is always referred to using the definite article "the" - so we don't need to distinguish it from other suns. Same thing with the moon. "The sun" and "the moon" always refer to _our_ sun and moon. We do use names for other stars, though, because there are a ton of stars in the sky and how will we know which one will guide us to the north, or make up Orion's belt?
> 
> Apparently the International Astronomical Union recommends using a capital letter for Sun and Moon, basically saying that the regular noun should also become its official name. As for the non-astronomers, AP style (which governs the style of a hell of a lot of writing) still requires lowercase:
> Does our sun have a name? | EarthSky.org
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> In addition, aren't the Sun, Moon, and Earth the only astronomical bodies (in this Solar System) not named after gods/etc: sonne/sunne, luna, terra, respectively?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Isn't Pluto named after a dog?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If he's the dog/god of the underworld?
Click to expand...

Gary thought that was Goofy ...


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I got to name the robot...because my wife said Bruce wasn't a name for our newborn.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Word to the wise don't have Bruce programmed to run in the middle of the night, when you can't keep an eye on, if you have dogs in the house that might have an "unknown accident". Trust me!
Click to expand...


Oh, we've seen the videos, haha. He usually gets run by whoever is downstairs first in the morning. Nothing worse than waking up in the morning or the middle of the night to a lingering "meaty" smell in the air.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> my vacuum robot's name is Bruce
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ours is Margret LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I got to name the robot...because my wife said Bruce wasn't a name for our newborn.
Click to expand...

Bruce is such a noble name ... too good for a vacuum cleaner ... shame on your wife.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou’s automated vacuum cleaner is named Gary.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT almost as bad, we were at our daughters house one year for Christmas. Bailey our now 22 yr old granddaughter was only 5 at the time. They had a small dog who was bad about having accidents. He left a little surprise right outside Bailey's bedroom for her to step in.  She left a trail of footprints on the light beige carpet, all the way down the hall and into the living room where the rest of us were. Our daughter made the mistake of getting on to Bailey, who proceed to run from the living room to the dining room around the table, back to the living room, back down the hall and into her room. How that kid could track so much poop on her shoes is still the subject of funny family stories.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Gary thought that was Goofy ...


Gods usually are goofy...


----------



## limr

waday said:


> In addition, aren't the Sun, Moon, and Earth the only astronomical bodies (in this Solar System) not named after gods/etc: sonne/sunne, luna, terra, respectively?



I'd have to do some research on that. 



waday said:


> Having automated cars in a properly designed system would avoid a lot of traffic, reduce gas consumption, and avoid a lot of accidents, therefore, lives. In addition, it would be a major technological breakthrough. I consider all of this to be exciting.
> 
> If you want to drive your car on a track under supervised conditions, go for it! I see too many people treat highways as race tracks, weaving in and out of traffic at dangerous speeds. I also see too many people that aren't paying attention while driving. If the car can do the driving for them, I'm happy to have these people "off" the road.



I never said I wanted to drive my car as if it were a race car. I just want to drive it myself. 

And again, the idea that I'm _not allowed to drive my own car under my own power_ unless in very specific supervised conditions is, quite frankly, horrifying to me. And as I said before, I hope it never happens in my lifetime.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is working from home. Mid 70’s today.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thought that was Goofy ...
> 
> 
> 
> Gods usually are goofy...
Click to expand...

But wouldn’t the god Goofy be uppercase?


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I never said I wanted to drive my car as if it were a race car. I just want to drive it myself.
> 
> And again, the idea that I'm _not allowed to drive my own car under my own power_ unless in very specific supervised conditions is, quite frankly, horrifying to me. And as I said before, I hope it never happens in my lifetime.


I never said you did either.  But, other people do, and these idiots are the ones that can cause you and I to have accidents. 

Despite being a very defensive driver, I've been in four or five car accidents in my life (thankfully all minor accidents) and way too many near misses; none were my fault, rather the fault of the person that rear ended the car since they weren't paying attention. I've seen tractor trailers and other cars run off the road due to lack of attention or quickly changing conditions on the road.

If an automated car means a safer road, I'm all for it.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thought that was Goofy ...
> 
> 
> 
> Gods usually are goofy...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> But wouldn’t the god Goofy be uppercase?
Click to expand...

Gary names goofy gods as Goofy, which is a goofy god goof from Gary


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary is working from home. Mid 70’s tod



Same here, except the temperature is cooler LOL


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> If an automated car means a safer road, I'm all for it.



I don't really see the automated "electric" car being on the open road. I see the biggest advantage in metropolitan areas, where traffic and parking are major issues. Even if you were a commuter it could likely be cheaper to stop at lot outside the high rent district and catch a driverless electric car to your final destination. Parking in most large cities would pay for a lot of rides.


----------



## davidharmier60

Not in Daves lifetime or neighborhood!
Maybe in the city 50 miles to the south. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is cooking some chicken for dinner.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The electric cars don't seem to go all that far unless the amount of time they hold a charge has changed, depending on where you're going. We seem to have a ways to go to have many gas/electric stations to recharge a car. And however long that would take, people probably wouldn't want to wait much longer than it takes to pump gas.

We already have car parks where people can leave their cars for the day to carpool in to the city (too far out for the bus lines). Not many, and the one on 'my' side of the city never looked like it got much use. And they put in a street car that just goes around downtown and nobody seems to use that much during the week either (it seems to get used for major weekend events). People aren't even using what we already have! lol Too much fun causing morning drive time bottlenecks and driving out of the city like bats out of hell on Fridays.

Get a DeLorean and go to the future then come back with Mr. Fusion in place of the engine and you'd be good to go.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary that just looks like those clear plastic storage containers with white lids. Does it whistle when dinner's ready?


----------



## Gary A.

@vintagesnaps: Tesla, Model S gets around 300 miles per charge, depending on conditions.

PS- Gary’s Sous Vide just texted him that Frenchy, (Gary’s Sous Vide), has heated the water and the chicken is cooking.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary opened a dialogue with Frenchy. Frenchy says the water is at 155F and the chicken will be ready in 53 minutes.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Gary that just looks like those clear plastic storage containers with white lids. Does it whistle when dinner's ready?


That would be rude. So far it’s been a pleasantly worded text, most likely dependent upon Frenchy’s mood.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> The electric cars don't seem to go all that far unless the amount of time they hold a charge has changed, depending on where you're going. We seem to have a ways to go to have many gas/electric stations to recharge a car



That's why the driverless model has an advantage. After delivering it's passenger, it proceeds to the nearest charging dock, just like the Roomba vacuum cleaner does.

coming in January 2018 Autonomous, electric cabs will operate in Las Vegas in January


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave drives a 1999 Chevy truck. He is about as far from a Tesla as it is possible to get.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

@vintagesnaps: Today it was “Hey-Yo, the chicken is done. Hungry?” In smaller letters Gary was informed that Frenchy was finished cooking.


----------



## SquarePeg

Wow.  Been busy today and had 5, yes 5, pages of Hoser chat to catch up on.  Smoke wants to be Mr Spacely and have an army of automated cars, Gary’s French poodle cooked a chicken for his new dog Pluto and no one likes Robo calls.  Got it. 

For the record... I have a landline because I work from home every day and I like to conduct my work conference  calls using a landline because while cell phones are made for everything but talking!


----------



## JonA_CT

I’ve never had a land line in my name. I moved out of my parent’s house 9 years ago, and I have never felt compelled to get one.


----------



## smoke665

Wow our landline phone has been so quiet that I just called it from my cell phone to see if it's still working. So far so good on blocking the Robocalls using the free service on NOMOROBO. You still get a short "one" ring to let you know that it's blocked a robo call, had two or three since early this afternoon, but that's a minor irritation compared to the other.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Smoke wants to be Mr Spacely and have an army of automated cars,



Might need a few enforcers to run down the hold outs like @limr LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

They will have to drag Dave from his truck kicking and screaming. Dave gets a fair amount of calls and messages because he once talked to a recruiter for education. 
Get calls from all sorts of states. Get offers for up to $5,000 loans. But seeing as how they would want to be paid back he never clicks the links and types stop or block to the sender. And now since 4am will be here before Dave wants it to be he is going to study the inside of his eyelids. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Making sausage pies (Atlanta Cook Notes recipe, circa 1982) fo breakfast tomorrow; it's the Fire Chief's birthday and he's booked up for lunch & beyond.

Had the MRI - noisy as all get out.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Smoke wants to be Mr Spacely and have an army of automated cars,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Might need a few enforcers to run down the hold outs like @limr LOL
> 
> View attachment 149351
Click to expand...


Nevahhhhhh!!!


----------



## snowbear

Leonore and I are going to get a '65 Buick to ward off the autonomous crowd -- remember the black car from Animal House?


----------



## yamaha pat

I call the do not call list every 3 months to update. Its fast out there with new ways to beat the system. Unless its a political season I get only 2 or 3 calls a month.


----------



## snowbear

It pisses me off that political organizations are exempt.


----------



## SquarePeg

We keep the ringers turned off on the landline phones.  They are really only used for outgoing calls.  Been getting more and more spoof robo calls on the cell lately.  Usually I can tell because it will have the same are code and exchange as my cell number.  I just hang up on them.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> It pisses me off that political organizations are exempt.



I make note of the state and local politicians that use robo calls. Then I do my research to get a home number, cell number, When I get an actual live telemarketer I tell them I'm really interested but they called me on a work number, please call me back right away on my home phone (insert politician's number). If they don't get me at first keep trying,


----------



## snowbear

T-Mobile labels a lot of my incoming calls with "Scam Likely" . . . thank you.


----------



## yamaha pat

Could we have self driving cars with Sous Vide. Dinner delivered.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Leonore and I are going to get a '65 Buick to ward off the autonomous crowd -- remember the black car from Animal House?



YES! Count me in!


----------



## snowbear

yamaha pat said:


> Could we have self driving cars with Sous Vide. Dinner delivered.


Or a self-driving truck pulling one of those barbecue smoker trailers.


----------



## yamaha pat

Adult ice cream trucks. They better have cocktails.


----------



## limr

yamaha pat said:


> Adult ice cream trucks. They better have cocktails.



Now we're talking...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just finish a bowl of homemade chocolate ice cream. It is sooo creamy (Ben’s recipe).


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is still quite unable to see.
Bleary eyes is a Dave morning phenomenon. Need coffee intravenously!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary just finish a bowl of homemade chocolate ice cream. It is sooo creamy (Ben’s recipe).


BUT, did you have cocktails with it?


----------



## JonA_CT

It’s unbelievable how bad some people are at their job. My wife’s maternity leave ended 2 weeks ago. All along the way she had to redo and resubmit paperwork to her payroll office because they continually erred. She had to go to her union multiple times to have  things fixed. 

Now...she didn’t get paid today. We don’t know why, but I’m guessing it’s because no one ever actually returned her “to work” on their system. This, of course, after 5 rounds of paperwork between them, my wife, her union rep and her doctors to confirm her return date.


----------



## smoke665

yamaha pat said:


> Adult ice cream trucks. They better have cocktails.



Or pizza and beer on tap.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT That stinks, at least it's Thursday, not Friday so she still has time to hopefully get it corrected.


----------



## JonA_CT

Tomorrow is the federal holiday for Veteran's Day, so banks will be closed.

It's not the end of the world, and if they're going to choose a paycheck to mess up -- at least its the middle of the month, and not the end of the month, haha. But seriously. It shouldn't be that hard.


In other news...we finally had a true killing frost today. 29* when I left the house this morning. Nothing better than the frost "smell" with leaves still blowing around.


----------



## SquarePeg

Frosty here too.  Car totally iced up.  Getting ready to take doggy-do to the groomer.  He won’t be happy but afterwards he’ll be thrilled that he’s allowed on the couch and beds again.  He’s been too stinky to allow on the furniture lately.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Smoke reminded me that landlines are good for calling your cell when you've lost it.


----------



## jcdeboever

Son reenlisted for probably the last time. This will get him in the 20 year range. I am so proud of my Marine. He is coming home for Christmas and then goes back to Virginia Beach after the New Year. Okinawa was a great experience for the grand kids, fantastic education. Man, he just keeps getting even more ripped. He is a work out monster.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> It pisses me off that political organizations are exempt.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I make note of the state and local politicians that use robo calls. Then I do my research to get a home number, cell number, When I get an actual live telemarketer I tell them I'm really interested but they called me on a work number, please call me back right away on my home phone (insert politician's number). If they don't get me at first keep trying,
Click to expand...

That is on the evil end of the spectrum.  Gary used to run political campaigns ... may I suggest you also include the phone number of the campaign manager on your list as they are the one who is directly responsible.  (Tell the telemarketer that you work days, so call in the middle of the night.)


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary just finish a bowl of homemade chocolate ice cream. It is sooo creamy (Ben’s recipe).
> 
> 
> 
> BUT, did you have cocktails with it?
Click to expand...

Nope ... not a big cocktail guy.  But maybe if Gary was eating ice cream in an automated electric vehicle he'd be more likely to have a cocktail with his ice cream.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> It’s unbelievable how bad some people are at their job. My wife’s maternity leave ended 2 weeks ago. All along the way she had to redo and resubmit paperwork to her payroll office because they continually erred. She had to go to her union multiple times to have  things fixed.
> 
> Now...she didn’t get paid today. We don’t know why, but I’m guessing it’s because no one ever actually returned her “to work” on their system. This, of course, after 5 rounds of paperwork between them, my wife, her union rep and her doctors to confirm her return date.


Man that is horrible. Gary has a thing about competency and lack thereof.  Managing construction, we're on a tight schedule ... the "for lack of a nail ... et cetera" really pops it's ugly head in construction.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> It’s unbelievable how bad some people are at their job. My wife’s maternity leave ended 2 weeks ago. All along the way she had to redo and resubmit paperwork to her payroll office because they continually erred. She had to go to her union multiple times to have  things fixed.
> 
> Now...she didn’t get paid today. We don’t know why, but I’m guessing it’s because no one ever actually returned her “to work” on their system. This, of course, after 5 rounds of paperwork between them, my wife, her union rep and her doctors to confirm her return date.


No reason for that. Unacceptable.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Son reenlisted for probably the last time. This will get him in the 20 year range. I am so proud of my Marine. He is coming home for Christmas and then goes back to Virginia Beach after the New Year. Okinawa was a great experience for the grand kids, fantastic education. Man, he just keeps getting even more ripped. He is a work out monster.



You have every right to be a proud Dad!!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Smoke reminded me that landlines are good for calling your cell when you've lost it.


Gary's watch has a "Find Phone" app which causes the phone to ring.  Gary uses that app so much that the tires need to be rotated.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> Smoke reminded me that landlines are good for calling your cell when you've lost it.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's watch has a "Find Phone" app which causes the phone to ring.  Gary uses that app so much that the tires need to be rotated.
Click to expand...


I use it even when I don't really need to. Like I know I put it down in the living room, but I don't feel like looking that hard.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Son reenlisted for probably the last time. This will get him in the 20 year range. I am so proud of my Marine. He is coming home for Christmas and then goes back to Virginia Beach after the New Year. Okinawa was a great experience for the grand kids, fantastic education. Man, he just keeps getting even more ripped. He is a work out monster.
> 
> View attachment 149379


Oorah! 

PS- On Gary's behalf, please thank your son for his sacrifices.  God Bless him.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> That is on the evil end of the spectrum. Gary used to run political campaigns ... may I suggest you also include the phone number of the campaign manager on your list as they are the one who is directly responsible. (Tell the telemarketer that you work days, so call in the middle of the night



Hadn't thought about the campaign manager. One of our local state reps, is an A.... as is his family, so I generally include his fathers and brothers phone numbers in the list. Like to spread the crap around. LOL


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is 63F on the slightly overcast morning.  The temps should break into the low 70's today.  Gary awoke earlier than normal in order to clear his calendar for a wine run to Temecula. It is 49F in Temecula but forecasted to warm to to the low 70's also.  Which is good because it will be a group outing with Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary. Mary Lou has a small SUV and the back is laid flat for Maggie.  This will be Miss Maggie's first trip to Temecula.  We will see how much retention she has from her Sommelier training.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> Tomorrow is the federal holiday for Veteran's Day, so banks will be closed.
> 
> It's not the end of the world, and if they're going to choose a paycheck to mess up -- at least its the middle of the month, and not the end of the month, haha. But seriously. It shouldn't be that hard.
> 
> 
> In other news...we finally had a true killing frost today. 29* when I left the house this morning. Nothing better than the frost "smell" with leaves still blowing around.


Calculate the interest until it's paid and send them a bill for that amount.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> That is on the evil end of the spectrum. Gary used to run political campaigns ... may I suggest you also include the phone number of the campaign manager on your list as they are the one who is directly responsible. (Tell the telemarketer that you work days, so call in the middle of the night
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hadn't thought about the campaign manager. One of our local state reps, is an A.... as is his family, so I generally include his fathers and brothers phone numbers in the list. Like to spread the crap around. LOL
Click to expand...

You are evil ...


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tomorrow is the federal holiday for Veteran's Day, so banks will be closed.
> 
> It's not the end of the world, and if they're going to choose a paycheck to mess up -- at least its the middle of the month, and not the end of the month, haha. But seriously. It shouldn't be that hard.
> 
> 
> In other news...we finally had a true killing frost today. 29* when I left the house this morning. Nothing better than the frost "smell" with leaves still blowing around.
> 
> 
> 
> Calculate the interest until it's paid and send them a bill for that amount.
Click to expand...

Like that would work ... this isn't Canada ...  (random emjoi)


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou has a small SUV and the back is laid flat for Maggie.



If you don't have one I highly suggest a harness that clips to the seat belt. Several years ago I had our Boxer in the front seat of my pickup (not in a harness because she was such a good car rider). I was involved in accident, during which she was ejected. Fortunately she survived but there was a lot of trauma that could have been avoided. Since then none of our fur babies rides without being in a safety harness.


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> Calculate the interest until it's paid and send them a bill for that amount.



Bless Your Heart  here in the US, government doesn't Pay for their mistakes!!!


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Calculate the interest until it's paid and send them a bill for that amount.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bless Your Heart  here in the US, government doesn't Pay for their mistakes!!!
Click to expand...

Nor does ours... missed the bit where this was a gummint job.  Regardless, I would still do it, and pay the service fee to turn it over to a collection agency.  Never hurts to try and get the message across.


----------



## Gary A.

Yes! Additionally, out here it is mandated by law, to have your dog tethered in the truck bed.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Calculate the interest until it's paid and send them a bill for that amount.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bless Your Heart  here in the US, government doesn't Pay for their mistakes!!!
Click to expand...


Well, not since that guy that " wasn't a crook ".


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Calculate the interest until it's paid and send them a bill for that amount.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bless Your Heart  here in the US, government doesn't Pay for their mistakes!!!
Click to expand...

LOL ... good point. (That would double the deficit.)


----------



## Frank F.

I love the bass player, very emotional


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> It’s unbelievable how bad some people are at their job. My wife’s maternity leave ended 2 weeks ago. All along the way she had to redo and resubmit paperwork to her payroll office because they continually erred. She had to go to her union multiple times to have  things fixed.
> 
> Now...she didn’t get paid today. We don’t know why, but I’m guessing it’s because no one ever actually returned her “to work” on their system. This, of course, after 5 rounds of paperwork between them, my wife, her union rep and her doctors to confirm her return date.


I hope she's in a position to camp out in the Payroll office until someone manually creates her check, and hands it to her.    The fault is theirs and they need to right it - immediately.   Every organization I've worked for, large or small, would get her a manual check ASAP, so she could get it to the bank today.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Calculate the interest until it's paid and send them a bill for that amount.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bless Your Heart  here in the US, government doesn't Pay for their mistakes!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nor does ours... missed the bit where this was a gummint job.  Regardless, I would still do it, and pay the service fee to turn it over to a collection agency.  Never hurts to try and get the message across.
Click to expand...

Well ... you could subtract the accrued interest from your taxes. (But that won't fly because it is a civil case requiring a court action to collect ... the government only allows certain lawsuits against them, this being one of them which is not allowed.)


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Calculate the interest until it's paid and send them a bill for that amount.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bless Your Heart  here in the US, government doesn't Pay for their mistakes!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nor does ours... missed the bit where this was a gummint job.  Regardless, I would still do it, and pay the service fee to turn it over to a collection agency.  Never hurts to try and get the message across.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well ... you could subtract the accrued interest from your taxes. (But that won't fly because it is a civil case requiring a court action to collect ... the government only allows certain lawsuits against them, this not being one of them allowed.)
Click to expand...


She works for the city we live in. I'll forget to pay them and see how it goes.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It’s unbelievable how bad some people are at their job. My wife’s maternity leave ended 2 weeks ago. All along the way she had to redo and resubmit paperwork to her payroll office because they continually erred. She had to go to her union multiple times to have  things fixed.
> 
> Now...she didn’t get paid today. We don’t know why, but I’m guessing it’s because no one ever actually returned her “to work” on their system. This, of course, after 5 rounds of paperwork between them, my wife, her union rep and her doctors to confirm her return date.
> 
> 
> 
> I hope she's in a position to camp out in the Payroll office until someone manually creates her check, and hands it to her.    The fault is theirs and they need to right it - immediately.   Every organization I've worked for, large or small, would get her a manual check ASAP, so she could get it to the bank today.
Click to expand...

Have you ever worked for the government?


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
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> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> smoke665 said:
> 
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> tirediron said:
> 
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> 
> Calculate the interest until it's paid and send them a bill for that amount.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bless Your Heart  here in the US, government doesn't Pay for their mistakes!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nor does ours... missed the bit where this was a gummint job.  Regardless, I would still do it, and pay the service fee to turn it over to a collection agency.  Never hurts to try and get the message across.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well ... you could subtract the accrued interest from your taxes. (But that won't fly because it is a civil case requiring a court action to collect ... the government only allows certain lawsuits against them, this not being one of them allowed.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> She worked for the city we live in. I'll forget to pay them and see how it goes.
Click to expand...

Something about a lien on your house comes to mind ...


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## JonA_CT

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It’s unbelievable how bad some people are at their job. My wife’s maternity leave ended 2 weeks ago. All along the way she had to redo and resubmit paperwork to her payroll office because they continually erred. She had to go to her union multiple times to have  things fixed.
> 
> Now...she didn’t get paid today. We don’t know why, but I’m guessing it’s because no one ever actually returned her “to work” on their system. This, of course, after 5 rounds of paperwork between them, my wife, her union rep and her doctors to confirm her return date.
> 
> 
> 
> I hope she's in a position to camp out in the Payroll office until someone manually creates her check, and hands it to her.    The fault is theirs and they need to right it - immediately.   Every organization I've worked for, large or small, would get her a manual check ASAP, so she could get it to the bank today.
Click to expand...


Her union rep is a pit bull so she doesn't have to go sit there herself, but I just sent this to her as a suggestion for immediate resolution. I think they'd just as rather wait until the next payroll date to fix it.


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## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Calculate the interest until it's paid and send them a bill for that amount.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bless Your Heart  here in the US, government doesn't Pay for their mistakes!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nor does ours... missed the bit where this was a gummint job.  Regardless, I would still do it, and pay the service fee to turn it over to a collection agency.  Never hurts to try and get the message across.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well ... you could subtract the accrued interest from your taxes. (But that won't fly because it is a civil case requiring a court action to collect ... the government only allows certain lawsuits against them, this not being one of them allowed.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> She worked for the city we live in. I'll forget to pay them and see how it goes.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Something about a lien on the house come to mind ...
Click to expand...


Hah. Sure. They're bad about that stuff too. A squatter just died in a fire in one of our city-owned tax-repossessed homes that they've taken but have sat on for years.


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## Gary A.

As this was most likely a fault of a union member(s) and not management, Gary thinks that the rep isn't gonna make a big stink against a due paying union rank and file member(s).


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## terri

JonA_CT said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It’s unbelievable how bad some people are at their job. My wife’s maternity leave ended 2 weeks ago. All along the way she had to redo and resubmit paperwork to her payroll office because they continually erred. She had to go to her union multiple times to have  things fixed.
> 
> Now...she didn’t get paid today. We don’t know why, but I’m guessing it’s because no one ever actually returned her “to work” on their system. This, of course, after 5 rounds of paperwork between them, my wife, her union rep and her doctors to confirm her return date.
> 
> 
> 
> I hope she's in a position to camp out in the Payroll office until someone manually creates her check, and hands it to her.    The fault is theirs and they need to right it - immediately.   Every organization I've worked for, large or small, would get her a manual check ASAP, so she could get it to the bank today.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Her union rep is a pit bull so she doesn't have to go sit there herself, but I just sent this to her as a suggestion for immediate resolution. *I think they'd just as rather wait until the next payroll date to fix it.*
Click to expand...

Next payroll date?!   Quite simply, that's a BS position on their part.   Whether you *need* the money or not is kind of beside the point - the point is, no one works for free and she's owed.   I never had a staffer who didn't come screaming to me, pants-on-fire, when Payroll messed up a check.   It was always cut manually same day - one thing any employer wants to avoid is a phone call from their state's Dept. of Labor.    Just my experience as a manager.       I hope they make it right quickly for her!


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## Gary A.

Gary just checked with Mary Lou who has worked 43 years in government. Gary asked her if she experienced a screwed up check.  Once, she said, she had to call payroll and informed them she was shorted $800.  Payroll agreed that her calculations were correct and that the mistake will be corrected on her next check.  She told them that won't work ... they responded with an official equivalent of too bad.  She called the head of the accounting/payroll department and lodged her complaint.  A check was cut for her that very day.  So when the minions say no, go higher.


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## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> As this was most likely a fault of a union member(s) and not management, Gary thinks that the rep isn't gonna make a big stink against a due paying union rank and file member(s).



Different bargaining units, if the office staff are even unionized, which they may not be. Only certified non-classified staff members are a part of her union.


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## Gary A.

Every full time, non-management employee of a school district is union out here. The faculty are union, certified. The staff are union, classified.


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## SquarePeg

If CT labor laws are similar to MA they would need to correct this and issue a manual paycheck should she request it.  

Sort of related story... When I returned to work from maternity leave I did a gradual return working 2, then 3, then 4, then 5 days/week over the course of the first year before returning full time.  When I went from 4 to 5 days my first paycheck didn't reflect an increase and I questioned our payroll clerk about it.  He insisted it was correct.  I went through every paycheck from my maternity leave through that day and showed my boss how it was not adding up.  It was confusing because our company payroll was done with pay in advance and exceptions in arrears.  My boss, took my info very seriously and she was dogged in tracking down someone to help.  She finally got someone in payroll to review it and sure enough, they didn't just owe me for one day, they owed me for a whole week's pay.  They should have paid me for a full week my first week back even though I was only working 2 days!  They immediately issued me a manual check for the shortage.  3 other women in my office who had been on maternity leave and then gradual return to work in the previous 3 years were also owed a week's pay when they looked into it.  I was pretty popular that day, I have to say.


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## JonA_CT

HR said that it was issued incorrectly. Now it's a matter of the Payroll office fixing it. I guess when my wife contacted the HR person this morning, her response was "Are you 'jamming' kidding me? Again?" .


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## smoke665

I try not to watch the 24 hour cable news, but occasionally I will make the mistake of switching one on. Today, I happened on Fox at a time when there were 4 women sitting on couches giving their "opinions" on some current event. Three of the women were fairly conservative dressed with skirts above the knees, while sitting, while one had a skirt so short that her butt cheeks and part of her underpants were revealed to the camera. Now I'm not a prude, but if a man or woman wants me to take their "opinions" seriously they better dress like it.


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## davidharmier60

Afternoon peeps. Dave did about 7 minutes less than 4.5 hours today.
He asked for penny wrappers at the bank yesterday and they were miserly with them.
Went back today and asked for a big stack and GOT one. If he does 20 more rolls today the boss lady at work would buy them tomorrow. At 80% 2017D these rolls would make excellent change.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Tomorrow is the federal holiday for Veteran's Day, so banks will be closed.
> 
> It's not the end of the world, and if they're going to choose a paycheck to mess up -- at least its the middle of the month, and not the end of the month, haha. But seriously. It shouldn't be that hard.
> 
> 
> In other news...we finally had a true killing frost today. 29* when I left the house this morning. Nothing better than the frost "smell" with leaves still blowing around.





JonA_CT said:


> HR said that it was issued incorrectly. Now it's a matter of the Payroll office fixing it. I guess when my wife contacted the HR person this morning, her response was "Are you 'jamming' kidding me? Again?" .



Ah, I was going to say that it's hard to say if this was a payroll mistake or an HR mistake.

Speaking as someone who enters hours for payroll and is often caught in the middle, it is usually one or the other, OR it's the middle person. 

And no, it's not that hard.


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## limr

Or men can just keep their attention focused on what women are saying instead of what they're wearing.


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## tirediron

limr said:


> Or men can just keep their attention focused on what women are saying instead of what they're wearing.


In a case like that, I don't see that man or woman matters.  Inappropriate is inappropriate.


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## smoke665

limr said:


> Or men can just keep their attention focused on what women are saying instead of what they're wearing.



Please don't make it about men and women, because it's not. I'd be equally put off if a man dressed inappropriate for the situation they were in. Call me old school but I believe how you dress is the first step in how you wish others to view you.


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## SquarePeg

Sitting on my hands and holding in several extremely funny but too liberal for the main forum responses.  I will just say that Fox knows exactly who their audience is, especially their biggest fan.

Ooops!  Sorry, couldn't hold it in.


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## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or men can just keep their attention focused on what women are saying instead of what they're wearing.
> 
> 
> 
> In a case like that, I don't see that man or woman matters.  Inappropriate is inappropriate.
Click to expand...




smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or men can just keep their attention focused on what women are saying instead of what they're wearing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Please don't make it about men and women, because it's not. I'd be equally put off if a man dressed inappropriate for the situation they were in. Call me old school but I believe how you dress is the first step in how you wish others to view you.
Click to expand...


Then why are all of these comments directed at how women are dressed? Where is the talk about how we can't take Zuckerberg seriously because it's not appropriate to be wearing a hoodie in a professional environment?


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## Gary A.

Which news agency does Zuckerberg work for?


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## terri

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or men can just keep their attention focused on what women are saying instead of what they're wearing.
> 
> 
> 
> In a case like that, I don't see that man or woman matters.  Inappropriate is inappropriate.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or men can just keep their attention focused on what women are saying instead of what they're wearing.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Please don't make it about men and women, because it's not. I'd be equally put off if a man dressed inappropriate for the situation they were in. Call me old school but I believe how you dress is the first step in how you wish others to view you.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Then why are all of these comments directed at how women are dressed? Where is the talk about how we can't take Zuckerberg seriously because it's not appropriate to be wearing a hoodie in a professional environment?
Click to expand...

Now now, Leo...he knows how & when to wear a nice suit!   When he wants money from a fabulous new partner, like from....another country which will not be named but is long considered adversarial to the U.S.


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## terri

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or men can just keep their attention focused on what women are saying instead of what they're wearing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Please don't make it about men and women, because it's not. I'd be equally put off if a man dressed inappropriate for the situation they were in. Call me old school but I believe how you dress is the first step in how you wish others to view you.
Click to expand...

Sounds great, except you let slip what channel you were watching.   Given the recent *ahem* turnover in top management and the firing of one certain high-profile *anchor,* I can state firmly that it is PRECISELY about men...and women.


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## jcdeboever

I don't watch the news so the only panties I'll be seeing are the wife's when I do her laundry tonight. I will probably not be listening to her either, she's been in a bad mood from work and being married to me....


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## vintagesnaps

I don't know if I wanna know what channel. But I found Curling!!! why Curling Night in America is on now I don't know but thank goodness for something decent to watch til I have to go deal with laundry. 

I don't know how there can be a bazillion cable channels and still daytime TV is the worst! All these one word titles, The Chew, The Kitchen, which are at least tolerable, some of them I wouldn't watch if they paid me.


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## smoke665

limr said:


> Then why are all of these comments directed at how women are dressed? Where is the talk about how we can't take Zuckerberg seriously because it's not appropriate to be wearing a hoodie in a professional environment?



Obviously you don't know me or you would know that the same would have been directed toward him, if I had seen him in a setting inappropriate for the way he was dressed. Again "it's not a man/woman thing", it's any man or woman dressing inappropriately for the situation they are in. Had the young lady in question been in a social setting I wouldn't have commented, but she wasn't, she was a panel commentator on a national news segment.  The other three women were all nicely dressed, but yet didn't feel the need to flash their butts. I haven't seen any men on the news feel the need to come on in gym shorts with their junk hanging out.  Why would this one young woman think it appropriate, or for that matter why would any news channel deem it appropriate and allow it. 

What kind of message does this send to aspiring young reporters coming up???? Well gee, I don't have to really know anything I just have to flash something.  

Over the years I've dealt with a lot of professional people both men and women who were outstanding in their field.   I've also dealt with a few that weren't. I took my business very seriously, didn't matter what color, race, sex, religion....impress me with your ability, and you get my respect.


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## smoke665

terri said:


> Sounds great, except you let slip what channel you were watching. Given the recent *ahem* turnover in top management and the firing of one certain high-profile *anchor,* I can state firmly that it is PRECISELY about men...and women.



I mentioned the channel because that's were it was, though I suspect if I were to scroll through enough of the others I would eventually find the same thing at one point or another. As I said I have an aversion to all of the cable news channels. I did keep the financial news channels on for awhile, but now I mostly just keep an eye on my investment news feeds. Sad really.


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## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> I don't know how there can be a bazillion cable channels and still daytime TV is the worst! All these one word titles, The Chew, The Kitchen, which are at least tolerable, some of them I wouldn't watch if they paid me.



Agreed 240 channels that I'm paying for and I probably watch less than 20 on a regular basis.


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## vintagesnaps

My mom used to do payroll for the county voc tech school (where I live not where I worked), it sounded like it was loads of fun! But my mom is pretty organized and on top of things and if anything was usually on somebody else about some goof up. 

I worked for a county agency but not THE COUNTY... and not where I live but in THE CITY. So we were um, something... didn't have to be, um something else... but we weren't in a union. lol But there was a lot of stuff we had to do to maintain status, trainings, etc. I liked the annual video with the guy who inhaled chemicals he mixed and keeled over every damn year! ya think he'd learn. Or the video on tornado drills etc. and we watched a clip of that movie with the flying cows.

I don't know if payroll goof ups ever happened, nothing would surprise me but doing everything in triplicate and what not maybe prevents some of that. Or makes it worse! I don't really miss all that.


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## tirediron

limr said:


> Then why are all of these comments directed at how women are dressed? Where is the talk about how we can't take Zuckerberg seriously because it's not appropriate to be wearing a hoodie in a professional environment?


First and foremost, because, for better or worse, the nature of women's fashion is such that this can happen.  Men's fashion on the other hand, at least in the general category of business attire, doesn't really lend itself to this.  You're not likely to see man wearing clothing that allows for his posterior or chest to be exposed. 

The difference, I would submit between a man or woman in Mr. Zuckerberg's position is that his accomplishments buy him (or her) a "pass".


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## Gary A.

iPhone
Miss Maggie is tired from the hour ride.




We have arrive. The sun is at Gary’s back and fine vino at his front ... we’re eagerly waiting for our lunch.


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## Dean_Gretsch

You people have some heated/passionate debates in here. I try to stay out of the whole male/female differences discussions because, well, I _LIKE_ our differences.


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## SquarePeg

ScoobyDo got a nice haircut and mani/pedi today.  He’s looking suave.


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## vintagesnaps

Now Jon, doesn't your wife know you can't just return to work, you have to let them know you're there - I'm here, I'm back, I walked in the door, I'm standing here in front of you...lol gimme a form to fill out that I am actually here. 

Ya know this is funny now because I don't have to do this kind of thing anymore! But your wife not getting a paycheck is NOT funny. Hope it gets sorted out fast.


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## vintagesnaps

Zuckerburger may have thought he'd gotten a pass the other day... hearings weren't on, but Facebook, Google, Twitter etc. were called in front of whatever Congressional committee. One congress person told the lawyers they sent in no uncertain terms that it was expected the CEOs would be there, and something to the effect that if those companies don't do something, 'we will do it for you'... No pass for him!! lol

You know, that's how we talk to toddlers... you can do ___ or I can help you... usually they think a minute, then decide they'll do it! lol

I figured what network, and did a quick search of women anchors; CNN and CBS photos as an example look professional enough. But Fox, goodness, that seems to indicate why they've had recent firings and harassment situations, good grief.


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## terri

SquarePeg said:


> ScoobyDo got a nice haircut and mani/pedi today.  He’s looking suave.
> View attachment 149406


I would say with that fancy kerchief he's looking downright jaunty!


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## vintagesnaps

SharonCat there's a car insurance commercial with a dog that looks like yours!!! Also the guy that hosted one of those singing competition shows is in it... can't think of his name. Something about judging dogs singing. 

How that will sell car insurance is beyond me.


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## limr

My response to just about any justification that it's okay to judge women's attire while giving men a pass:





And if you don't realize this is sarcastic, then just move along.


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## smoke665

limr said:


> My response to just about any justification that it's okay to judge women's attire while giving men a pass:



Apparently I must be missing some posts???? Who and when did someone give men a pass???? I commented about the inappropriateness of "one" young lady who was (because of her dress being so short) was exposing her buttocks and underwear. When the dress is so short that it barely even touches the couch behind her when she sits, I'm sorry that isn't appropriate for the job she was doing.  None of the other women or men in the same group of commentators wore anything even close to being as short or revealing. 

 I guess I'm confused on your point. Are you saying it's okay or not okay for anyone on a national news channel to expose themselves like this young lady did,  or are you saying that the men  should dress in a similar manner so as to expose themselves???? I guess they should they all act like Jerry Springer wannabes anyhow, just go full out. Then maybe someone will come with an "all news" channel that reports the news only, and leaves their left, right, center, whatever opinions at the door.


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## davidharmier60

Clock says 7:38
Feels like 8:38
Good night y'all 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## SquarePeg

So... any of you bakers have a good recipe for scratch brownies?


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## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> So... any of you bakers have a good recipe for scratch brownies?



Betty crocker fudge brownie mix, follow directions, add plenty of marijuana spice. Kick back, develop some film in coffee.


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## terri

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> My response to just about any justification that it's okay to judge women's attire while giving men a pass:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently I must be missing some posts???? Who and when did someone give men a pass???? I commented about the inappropriateness of "one" young lady who was (because of her dress being so short) was exposing her buttocks and underwear. When the dress is so short that it barely even touches the couch behind her when she sits, I'm sorry that isn't appropriate for the job she was doing.  None of the other women or men in the same group of commentators wore anything even close to being as short or revealing.
> 
> I guess I'm confused on your point. Are you saying it's okay or not okay for anyone on a national news channel to expose themselves like this young lady did,  or are you saying that the men  should dress in a similar manner so as to expose themselves???? I guess they should they all act like Jerry Springer wannabes anyhow, just go full out. Then maybe someone will come with an "all news" channel that reports the news only, and leaves their left, right, center, whatever opinions at the door.
Click to expand...

Call Fox News and tell them you find this offensive.   They should hear this from viewers.  Might change the culture there, who knows?


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## tirediron

terri said:


> ... Might change the culture there, who knows?


I thought the motto at Fox News was, "Yeah, we're offensive.  So what?  There's no such thing as bad publicity!"


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## smoke665

terri said:


> Call Fox News and tell them you find this offensive. They should hear this from viewers. Might change the culture there, who knows?



Wouldn't call myself a viewer, you must have missed my earlier comment  _"I have an aversion to all of the cable news channels"_ I was channel surfing through all of them, looking for news on the proposed tax plan the House is trying to pass.

The only thing that will change the culture of news reporting in this country is when the justice department does it's job and starts busting up companies. Look at the parent companies AT&T (CNN), Disney (ABC) National Amusement (CBS), Comcast (NBC) 21st Century Fox (Fox). Starting to get the picture, they're all "entertainment companies". I used to rely on my old standby the WSJ for decent coverage but that went away 10 years ago when Rupert Murdock aka Fox bought it. Gannett Company is the only one who has actually stayed true to news with it's newspapers. 

Normally rational people lineup to watch their favorite biased cable news shows, for their daily dose of brainwashing by talking heads, never questioning who's pulling the strings on the puppets, nor why there are even biased channels in the first place. Whatever happened to reporting the facts, just the facts. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at the dress of the young lady, with all the "entertainment" companies running the news channels. Wouldn't be surprised when one of them starts programming in the nude. Why not with channels running 60-80% opinions anyhow, it hasn't been about the news in a long time.


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## tirediron

limr said:


> My response to just about any justification that it's okay to judge women's attire while giving men a pass:
> 
> View attachment 149409
> 
> And if you don't realize this is sarcastic, then just move along.


But... if I do realize that it's sarcastic, you're willing to continue the discussion?


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## Frank F.

I recently read the Ebay Bill and saw they charge more than 10% of what I receive. I think about stopping to sell there after 16 years


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## JonA_CT

I snuck a stick of butter, and puked two greasy piles onto the carpet, but I’d rather not talk about it...


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## JonA_CT

He is why we don’t buy nice things, haha.


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## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> I snuck a stick of butter, and puked two greasy piles onto the carpet, but I’d rather not talk



They kind of remind you of men and the "here, hold my beer and watch this" mentality. Our daughter, had to take theirs to the vet last week for emergency surgery after he ate a sock, that lodged in the stomach. He survived fortunately.


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## SquarePeg

Our dog has never really done any of that.  He won’t eat anything that’s not food and has never chewed up anything in the house. Shoes have always been safe around him!  He does like to eat the onion grass and dandelions in the backyard but that’s about it.  My brothers dog, part lab, will eat anything. He’s always destroying chairs or puking up something.  Once he ate a whole tray of uncooked dinner rolls and my brother had to spend Thanksgiving dinner at the vet.


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## Frank F.

today I bought a 3752g Muscat Squash 


 

and 472g of Pecorino Italian Sheep hard cheese at the Italia import shop. There will be a marinade with herbs and olive oil and a crust of cheese on top. Additional treat will be two yet unknown wines, one from Italy I bought by the  label in the shop and one from France I bought by the description on the web


 

and the wild boar salme to go with it.

Building Authority yesterday signalled green light for our construction in the version of 24 Oct 2017!!!! In writing!!!


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## JonA_CT

Yeah, he's a lab through and through. He hasn't seen something that he doesn't think is food. We are usually good about making sure there's nothing accessible to him, but last night my wife had put a stick of butter out on the counter to make cookies and then never did, and I missed it on the final sweep.

Luckily -- he hasn't done the socks or underwear or whatever else that labs have been known to eat. The flip side though? He is the best trained dog we know...not because we're awesome, but because he was a (food) motivated learner. The only sad part is that we are supposed to have him on a leash pretty much everywhere we hike around here (although we might frequently break that rule....).


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## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Yeah, he's a lab through and through. He hasn't seen something that he doesn't think is food. We are usually good about making sure there's nothing accessible to him, but last night my wife had put a stick of butter out on the counter to make cookies and then never did, and I missed it on the final sweep.
> 
> Luckily -- he hasn't done the socks or underwear or whatever else that labs have been known to eat. The flip side though? He is the best trained dog we know...not because we're awesome, but because he was a (food) motivated learner. The only sad part is that we are supposed to have him on a leash pretty much everywhere we hike around here (although we might frequently break that rule....).



Most of the trails around here are leash only as well.  There are a few that we go to with my brother in southern NH where you can do off leash as long as you have verbal control of your dog.  What about beaches for him to run on?  Usually once September is over the "no dogs" rule on the local beaches is over.  Other than our favorite dog beach where there is a cove that is pretty much enclosed, our dog stays on his leash.  He _usually_ comes when called but not always and he would chase a bunny or squirrel to the ends of the earth if one ran by...


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## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> View attachment 149435
> 
> I snuck a stick of butter, and puked two greasy piles onto the carpet, but I’d rather not talk about it...


Guilty as Charged!


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## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I snuck a stick of butter, and puked two greasy piles onto the carpet, but I’d rather not talk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They kind of remind you of men and the "here, hold my beer and watch this" mentality. Our daughter, had to take theirs to the vet last week for emergency surgery after he ate a sock, that lodged in the stomach. He survived fortunately.
Click to expand...

A Goldie up the street ate a sock ... but passed it. Gary doesn't get what some dogs eat.  Then there's Cookie who wouldn't eat bacon.


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## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another gray morning.  The temps may hit 70F today.  The coffee tastes good.  Maggie is under the table at my feet. Cook was the greatest.  Cook was so good, Gary never needed to leash her, but did so when a unknown dog would approach. Cook was intimidated by busy four lane highway and always waited for my command to cross a street.  Cook was trained just enough for her safety.  When we walked she was able to be a dog, to explore and smell on her own, but never too far away.  Gary hopes Maggie will/can follow in her footsteps. Gary is fortunate, within a block or two in any direction you will run into a park, each different in size and usage. The nearest park is Creek Park (south).  It was built as a private park for the surrounding homes. It is in an arroyo/ravine following a blue line creek.  It is essentially a landscaped flood control channel with homes on top and only three entrances/exits, no bathroom or drinking water facilities. It is somewhat inaccessible and hidden and only used by a few regulars.  A great place to "unleash the hounds" without worry of escape or trouble.  It has been less than a week, that Miss Maggie can safely travel away from the confines of the house, per her vaccinations. Everyday she is getting better on the leash and less timid, more confident when venturing into the great outdoors. Per Gary's philosophy of letting the dog be a dog, the walks are time consuming because he will stop when Maggie stops and wait for her to finish her investigations before continuing on. Maggie likes to run.  She is killing Gary because she is running his a$$ off.  Maybe 30% of the 'walk' is spent running ... and not jogging but actually sprinting because Gary is attempting not to let her pull the leash.  Then, in  the middle of a sprint, Maggie will hang a 90 and instantly stop to investigate.  Gary cannot leap over Maggie and leash, hang a 90 and stop on a dime ... she has nearly been killed by Gary several times and Gary has been nearly killed by her on many more occasions.  Wheatens were bred as an all-purpose farm dog. A little hunting, a little fishing, a little vermin control, a little herding.  As a herding pooch, she has this superhuman ability to stop and turn on a dime.  When she runs full tilt, both rear legs hit the ground at the same time then propel her into the air ... when she desires to stop or turn both rear legs are available to dig in for a stop or twist for a turn. Gary has a retractable leash, but feels it isn't the right time to give her more freedom, even though it will significantly increase Gary chances of survival.  Gary needs to dig out some cleats and a hardhat from the garage.


----------



## limr




----------



## Overread

It's unfair to pitch anything in an eating competitive vs a retriever/lab - they are eating machines!


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone



 
Doffo



Lorenzi

Yesterday was simply grand. Gary had pickups at three wineries and came home with a ton of wonderful vino. Maggie was fussed over by everybody. One couple was in the market for adoption and we had a long discussion on Wheatens.  They were sold.


----------



## davidharmier60

Having 9 it is neigh on to impossible to leash 1.
Dave (if he remembers the late starting time) did 5 hours and 1 minute. Trish did buy the box of pennies. Dave lost (and thinks it's forever) the key to the toilet paper and paper towel holders. Trish had another. The lost one had a bent paper clip which held the key on a nail. Dave had it hooked to his hanging key holder. It is not to be found in Daves truck nor house. 
He needs to query the post office to see if anyone found it.  If not it is gone for good.

And that is the state of things in Daves world. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## JonA_CT

Oh...this is how Tucker gets his meals...






Otherwise, he literally vacuums it in and gets super gassy and bloated.


----------



## SquarePeg

I'm assuming that is made to slow him down?  We have the opposite issue.  Our dog is a reluctant eater when it comes to his meals. I do spoil  him with treats during the day but they're healthy treats like baby carrots or those little crunchy cookies that are good for his teeth.  To get him to eat his kibble every night we have to either add this pumpkin stuff that's good for his digestion and he loves the flavor or I add some cut up pieces from a grocery store rotisserie chicken (no fat or skin).


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Oh...this is how Tucker gets his meals...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Otherwise, he literally vacuums it in and gets super gassy and bloated.


Ah, he's one of those kinds of dogs!        It's good that you're aware of it, because as he ages he's likely to really develop "bloat" and be miserable until you can get him to a vet.    There are things that can help (and this dish style is a good one) but sometimes the bloat just won't stop and a bit of surgery is the only answer.   My mother's standard poodle inhaled his food for years and ended up needing surgery.   

It's a bad trait and really difficult to get them to slow down without dishes like this.   

SharonCat: you're lucky to have a picky eater!


----------



## JonA_CT

I know it's a day early, but every school but mine is closed today in observance, haha.

Happy Veteran's Day, @jcdeboever ! And to others who have served as well!


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I know it's a day early, but every school but mine is closed today in observance, haha.
> 
> Happy Veteran's Day, @jcdeboever ! And to others who have served as well!


Thanks bud. Kroger has butter on sale


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


>


There is my Webster.  He is obsessed with food. He loves hotdogs, rice cakes, and bananas the most.


----------



## vintagesnaps

You don't see men who are news anchors wearing shiny satin shirts unbuttoned down the front with gold chains. It's not an 80's disco, it's a professional job; if the men are in suits then there should be an expectation for women anchors to dress professionally. I suppose it's possible the woman did not realize how much showed the way she was seated but I'd think someone on set would have let her know during a break that there was a need to do some adjusting. 

I remember in jr. high when short skirts were all the rage. And in our yearbook pictures we're all turned to the side! You gotta be aware how you're sitting in a straight skirt and might need to check/adjust if you move or turn. And if you don't notice something, hope that like if you have TP stuck to the bottom of your shoe, that someone's going to tell you!


----------



## Gary A.

Maggie doesn't like bananas.


----------



## vintagesnaps

She's letting you know she's not a monkey.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

vintagesnaps said:


> She's letting you know she's not a monkey.



Well, _I_ like bananas!


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Maggie doesn't like bananas.



It’s okay to be wrong.

Tucker eats bananas. (He has figured out that the peel is not food, too)


----------



## Gary A.

In particular, Maggie doesn't want a banana from Webster.  We've given her bananas and her response is more meh ... than enthusiastic.


----------



## jcdeboever

Webster eats the whole thing


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Maggie doesn't like bananas



Sadie likes dehydrated sweet potatoes.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> To get him to eat his kibble every night we have to either add this pumpkin stuff that's good for his digestion and he loves the flavor or I add some cut up pieces from a grocery store rotisserie chicken (no fat or skin).



Sadie will absolutely not touch her morning meal unless you sprinkle some shredded cheddar on top.  In the evening she eats the same thing with nothing added?????


----------



## davidharmier60

Given the chance 2 or 3 of ours would relieve us of needing to eat hot dogs, spaghetti etc.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## benhasajeep

davidharmier60 said:


> Given the chance 2 or 3 of ours would relieve us of needing to eat hot dogs, spaghetti etc.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Hahaha, we had a bbq one day and my father in law had a hot dog in his hand.  He was talking and put lowered his arm / hand with the  hot dog down by his leg (was standing).  Well my yellow lab thought that meant it was for him, so he took it.    Took the entire hot dog / bun right out of his hand.  hahahaha.


----------



## Overread

Our lab, which is going back near 20 years since he departed this world, had many a trick of stealing food. Though two really stand out.

Now where we live there's a local beach with a river outlet and a bridge going over the river. The tidal spot is popular with crabs and its steadily grown into a modest tourist attraction to go crabbing. All for fun so its catch and throwback and there's a little shop or two that sells line and bait. Now instead of using that my mother picked up on a method where by you take a pair of tights and cut them in half so that you've got two leg sections; then stuff a bit of bacon and rock down each one. Now you just tie a bit of string to the top and you've got a pretty good crab catching lure that works for ages because the crabs can't easily nip through the tights to get at the meat.

So our lab found one of these and promptly tried to eat it; my dad only caught on because he had half a tight hanging out of his mouth. He (dog) wasn't too happy about my dad then having to pull the rest of it out of him! 


His second trick was he once found the carving knife after it was used and was running around with that in his mouth - thankfully no injuries! 

The rest of his stories are all about food left out and suddenly vanishing!


----------



## davidharmier60

We have a mostly Lab with a nub for a tail who is named Nubbie. If anything is left close to the edge in the kitchen and she wants it it's GONE. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## SquarePeg

My brother's lab/rottie mix once walked by the coffee table and completely cleared it with one swipe of his tail.  We had been sitting in the living room having cake and coffee and then suddenly, we weren't.


----------



## SquarePeg

Had 2 options tonight.  Option 1 a fundraiser at my favorite watering hole with 200 or so people.  Option 2 the HS semi final game @ home vs another undefeated team with 200 or so people.  It's freezing here tonight.  29 degrees and a nice stiff breeze and I do not feel like socializing after the busy week I had at work.  Obviously, I'm staying home on the couch with my fur baby!  Princess will text me score updates on the game or I can watch the Facebook updates from the crazy people freezing their butts off.  I gave a friend money to buy some raffle tickets for me at the fundraiser and I'll make a direct donation to the scholarship fund.  So happy I stayed home.  Just had Chinese delivered and had dinner and a nice cold beer.  I love beer with Chinese - a habit leftover from the old days of "cold tea" from Chinatown in Boston.  Not sure if cold tea in Chinatown is a national thing so I will explain - we would go to Chinatown after last call and get food and "cold tea" which was beer in a teapot.  We thought we were so cool, lol.  I asked a cop friend years later why they never shut down the Chinese restaurants for serving after hours even though everyone knew about the cold tea.  He told me it was O'Douls non alcoholic beer!  Not sure if I fully believe that but since we were usually already buzzed by the time we got there, who knows?


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> To get him to eat his kibble every night we have to either add this pumpkin stuff that's good for his digestion and he loves the flavor or I add some cut up pieces from a grocery store rotisserie chicken (no fat or skin).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sadie will absolutely not touch her morning meal unless you sprinkle some shredded cheddar on top.  In the evening she eats the same thing with nothing added?????
Click to expand...

Not being competitive ... but ... let Gary tell you about Cook's ever evolving eating habits. Firstly, setting the stage, Cook had a bowl of dry out 24/7 which she nibbled on throughout the day.  In the evening she enjoyed a can of wet food.  It all started when we augmented her wet with some of this or a bit of that. Which evolved into a situation when she wouldn't eat her wet unless it was augmented (a la Sadie's cheese). Then she demanded that the augmentation come from our dinner plate.  Didn't have to be much, just a bit from our plate so she felt part of our dining experience.  Next she decided that dinner should be eaten with her family and if we went out, she wouldn't touch her food until we came home ... then she would eat. From that, Cook decided that dinner was about socialization and wouldn't eat unless we sat with her and socialized amongst ourselves while she listened and ate.  Her next move was she decided that it wasn't fair for us to eat our dinner while she waited until we returned.  She would only eat a partial bowl of wet and would polish it off when we returned home to socialize.  Then she decided to eat precisely half her wet food when we were gone.  It was the damnest thing, one half of the bowl was eaten clean and the other half was untouched ... you could literally measure it with a rule as a straight line right down the middle. Finally, she felt that licking her bowl clean was rude and started leaving a teaspoon of wet food or a single kibble in the very center of her dish.  Gary misses that dog.


----------



## smoke665

We picked up our sweet 2yr old granddaughter early this morning, to find she had somehow turned into a combination of a Tasmanian Devil, Speedy Gonzales, an Octopus with hands, and a sponge soaking up everything she sees since the last time we saw her 2 weeks ago. 

Took her to the Mall for dress and shoes. Tried to let her run off some energy  as she went from one end to the other, at a run. At the end of the first stretch, she had a lead on us, and before we could stop her, grabbed a pair of those $5 sunglasses that they sell in the Mall kiosks for $100, had them on and was sprinting toward the 2nd turn. Fast sprint by Papa, kid in check and glasses safely recovered, we headed into the first store one of those that the isles are narrow and hard to get around. Once inside little squirt jerked her hand loose and took off, hindering my pursuit by pulling clothes off the racks as she ran. After what seemed like an eternity I finally caught up with her and between myself and Mimi got everything picked up, then slightly embarrassed left.

Second store, she tries a repeat, that didn't work, so then she starts throwing a hissyfit that got her bottom swatted, at that point you would have thought I was killing the poor child. Mimi in exasperation took her back out in the Mall while I picked some dress choices. Fortunately she's way to young to know about the middle finger use, but the smirk on the face she gave me was her version of it. I  found some just in the nick of time as I saw Mimi coming back through the door with storm clouds around her. They both calmed down long enough that we could agree on a dress and pay the bill.

On to the shoe store. First of all what kind of idiot store manager puts tall stacks of boxes of shoes at floor level in a kids store?? Only took our eyes off her for a second when the Tasmanian Devil ran headfirst through the display, causing boxes to fly in all directions.  Mimi grabbed a pair of shoes,  said these will do, and I seriously think would have administered another swat to the bottom, had granddaughter shown any inkling of resistance. I hate to admit it but I might have given my little angel with the crooked halo, that same look she had given me earlier, when she looked at me imploringly to save her from Mimi. 

Worn out and beyond any desire to do anymore shopping we headed to the food court where miraculously we discovered that a single slice of cheese pizza was the magical talisman that turned this tiny she devil back into our sweet little granddaughter.  Thankfully she remained that way until we once again dropped her with her Mom. And this my friends is why only young people should do the rearing of children, old people don't have the stamina!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

benhasajeep said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Given the chance 2 or 3 of ours would relieve us of needing to eat hot dogs, spaghetti etc.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hahaha, we had a bbq one day and my father in law had a hot dog in his hand.  He was talking and put lowered his arm / hand with the  hot dog down by his leg (was standing).  Well my yellow lab thought that meant it was for him, so he took it.    Took the entire hot dog / bun right out of his hand.  hahahaha.
Click to expand...

Cook would never ever ever do that.  Begging for Cook was sitting about three feet away and staring.  If Gary asked her "Are you begging?", she would lay down.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> We picked up our sweet 2yr old granddaughter early this morning, to find she had somehow turned into a combination of a Tasmanian Devil, Speedy Gonzales, an Octopus with hands, and a sponge soaking up everything she sees since the last time we saw her 2 weeks ago.
> 
> Took her to the Mall for dress and shoes. Tried to let her run off some energy  as she went from one end to the other, at a run. At the end of the first stretch, she had a lead on us, and before we could stop her, grabbed a pair of those $5 sunglasses that they sell in the Mall kiosks for $100, had them on and was sprinting toward the 2nd turn. Fast sprint by Papa, kid in check and glasses safely recovered, we headed into the first store one of those that the isles are narrow and hard to get around. Once inside little squirt jerked her hand loose and took off, hindering my pursuit by pulling clothes off the racks as she ran. After what seemed like an eternity I finally caught up with her and between myself and Mimi got everything picked up, then slightly embarrassed left.
> 
> Second store, she tries a repeat, that didn't work, so then she starts throwing a hissyfit that got her bottom swatted, at that point you would have thought I was killing the poor child. Mimi in exasperation took her back out in the Mall while I picked some dress choices. Fortunately she's way to young to know about the middle finger use, but the smirk on the face she gave me was her version of it. I  found some just in the nick of time as I saw Mimi coming back through the door with storm clouds around her. They both calmed down long enough that we could agree on a dress and pay the bill.
> 
> On to the shoe store. First of all what kind of idiot store manager puts tall stacks of boxes of shoes at floor level in a kids store?? Only took our eyes off her for a second when the Tasmanian Devil ran headfirst through the display, causing boxes to fly in all directions.  Mimi grabbed a pair of shoes,  said these will do, and I seriously think would have administered another swat to the bottom, had granddaughter shown any inkling of resistance. I hate to admit it but I might have given my little angel with the crooked halo, that same look she had given me earlier, when she looked at me imploringly to save her from Mimi.
> 
> Worn out and beyond any desire to do anymore shopping we headed to the food court where miraculously we discovered that a single slice of cheese pizza was the magical talisman that turned this tiny she devil back into our sweet little granddaughter.  Thankfully she remained that way until we once again dropped her with her Mom. And this my friends is why only young people should do the rearing of children, old people don't have the stamina!!!!




So my daughter is 2 -- she is currently on house arrest due to her recent behavior at IKEA and Home Depot.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> We picked up our sweet 2yr old granddaughter early this morning, to find she had somehow turned into a combination of a Tasmanian Devil, Speedy Gonzales, an Octopus with hands, and a sponge soaking up everything she sees since the last time we saw her 2 weeks ago.
> 
> Took her to the Mall for dress and shoes. Tried to let her run off some energy  as she went from one end to the other, at a run. At the end of the first stretch, she had a lead on us, and before we could stop her, grabbed a pair of those $5 sunglasses that they sell in the Mall kiosks for $100, had them on and was sprinting toward the 2nd turn. Fast sprint by Papa, kid in check and glasses safely recovered, we headed into the first store one of those that the isles are narrow and hard to get around. Once inside little squirt jerked her hand loose and took off, hindering my pursuit by pulling clothes off the racks as she ran. After what seemed like an eternity I finally caught up with her and between myself and Mimi got everything picked up, then slightly embarrassed left.
> 
> Second store, she tries a repeat, that didn't work, so then she starts throwing a hissyfit that got her bottom swatted, at that point you would have thought I was killing the poor child. Mimi in exasperation took her back out in the Mall while I picked some dress choices. Fortunately she's way to young to know about the middle finger use, but the smirk on the face she gave me was her version of it. I  found some just in the nick of time as I saw Mimi coming back through the door with storm clouds around her. They both calmed down long enough that we could agree on a dress and pay the bill.
> 
> On to the shoe store. First of all what kind of idiot store manager puts tall stacks of boxes of shoes at floor level in a kids store?? Only took our eyes off her for a second when the Tasmanian Devil ran headfirst through the display, causing boxes to fly in all directions.  Mimi grabbed a pair of shoes,  said these will do, and I seriously think would have administered another swat to the bottom, had granddaughter shown any inkling of resistance. I hate to admit it but I might have given my little angel with the crooked halo, that same look she had given me earlier, when she looked at me imploringly to save her from Mimi.
> 
> Worn out and beyond any desire to do anymore shopping we headed to the food court where miraculously we discovered that a single slice of cheese pizza was the magical talisman that turned this tiny she devil back into our sweet little granddaughter.  Thankfully she remained that way until we once again dropped her with her Mom. And this my friends is why only young people should do the rearing of children, old people don't have the stamina!!!!


Good lord man ... what a day.  Gary had Mary Lou read your story, she laughed and said that's like a day with Maggie. lol


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> So my daughter is 2 -- is currently on house arrest due to her recent behavior at IKEA and Home Depot.



Next youngest grandchild is 15 so it's been many years since we've had experience with the "Terrible Twos". Man I'd forgotten how bad it can get!


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Good lord man ... what a day. Gary had Mary Lou read your story, she laughed and said that's like a day with Maggie.



A puppy is nothing compared to a Toddler, it's like they're on extra strength caffeine.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> So my daughter is 2 -- is currently on house arrest due to her recent behavior at IKEA and Home Depot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next youngest grandchild is 15 so it's been many years since we've had experience with the "Terrible Twos". Man I'd forgotten how bad it can get!
Click to expand...


I’m not sure my parents would attempt what y’all did...so you get serious points in my book.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> I’m not sure my parents would attempt what y’all did...so you get serious points in my book.



She refuses to ride in the stroller anymore, so next time out we will have "child leash".


----------



## SquarePeg

Ah memories!  The Princess was a terror at one, an angel at two and a total terror once again at three.  The witching hour, as we called it, was right around 5pm.  There were months when I couldn't leave the house after 5 because she was too much for any babysitter to handle and I couldn't deal with the drama of taking her with me.  Like any gremlin, there were rules.  Don't take her out when she's hungry, don't take her out if she didn't have a nap and never never never take her out when you are not feeling 100%.  By four she was my sweet little pumpkin once again and didn't really get the devil attitude back until last year at 14.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> ..it's been many years since we've had experience with the "Terrible Twos". Man I'd forgotten how bad it can get!


2-3 oz of neat whiskey in a sippy cup are the perfect cure for most tantrums.


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> 2-3 oz of neat whiskey in a sippy cup are the perfect cure for most tantrums.



That's not a bad idea, but I'd need double, and the doctor told me to lay off all alcohol, for a few weeks


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 2-3 oz of neat whiskey in a sippy cup are the perfect cure for most tantrums.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's not a bad idea, but I'd need double, and the doctor told me to lay off all alcohol, for a few weeks
Click to expand...

But... if you give it to the kid, you won't need any!  (Oh, and you need to get a new doctor!)


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> But... if you give it to the kid, you won't need any! (Oh, and you need to get a new doctor!)



I would when her Mother, Gaga, and Mimi, found out!!!!!  Doctor's actually a cool dude. He's of middle eastern heritage, born and grew up in Texas. So think Lawrence of Arabia, in cowboy boots, jeans, cowboy hat, and driving a beat up old pickup. Didn't tell me I had to quit forever, just lay off for a bit.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is surprised he made 8pm.
He need not awaken at 4am tomorrow but did this morning. Sleep is but moments away.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## vintagesnaps

That's one thing about Early Intervention and teaching toddlers - I sent them home! Not all that unusual to have one leave being carried after the meltdown. Yep they were two. Or 1 1/2 acting like 2, or saving it up til they're 3... 

I went from teenagers to 2 year olds, the good years seem to be in between. Hmm, somehow I seemed to have bypassed those.


----------



## snowbear

Velcro and duct tape.  Use your imagination.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I learned a word in Italian - pellicola means film (closing credits with Pellicola by Kodak). A movie about films on actual film. 

Not sure if knowing that will ever come in handy but if I'm going to learn a word in another language might as well be that.


----------



## snowbear

Goodnight, peeps.  Gotta get blood drawn in the AM.


----------



## vintagesnaps

G'night Charlie!


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Velcro and duct tape.  Use your imagination.



That's funny because Princess' nickname was Velcro for years because she was stuck to my side.


----------



## limr

Last three pages would be really effective birth control for folks still making up their minds about kids


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Last three pages would be really effective birth control for folks still making up their minds about kids



And yet the human race keeps growing!


----------



## smoke665

We had three, two boys and a girl. The boys slid into the terrible twos so hard they didn't stop til four. Then we got a break till around nine, but the "attitude" stage was  short lived. The last one was at sixteen, but then the car keys were a powerful control device. 

Daughter on the other hand saved most of the early years problems till thirteen, which apparently coincided with an extra large dose of hormones. Our sugar and spice became a raving lunatic, who you did not want to get on the bad side. She began honing her fighting skills on her next younger brother (until he got big enough to hold his own) and  got into several fights around the neighborhood usually with a boy who said the wrong thing. We got a call from a neighbor mother who claimed her son was afraid to go outside. Seems the boy had made a comment about her youngest brother, and she had told him she was going to whip his butt. Young man outweighed her by at least 20 lb, but he'd already seen the little buzz saw in action and wanted no part of her. We thought she had finally grown out of it, till one day in her senior year, wife went to school to pickup the oldest son and principal called her aside. Seems daughter was in the office for being in a knockdown drag out. That must have been the turning point for daughter, or breaking point for Mom, because she mostly settled down after that.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. having had many dogs over the years, we've learned that they are social animals, in the wild they have the pack, but in the home they have their humans. They also have their own individual personality. Sadie tends to be the way you described Cook, she doesn't like to eat unless my wife or I are nearby. When you have multiples they tend to eat on their own, because they keep each other company. However multiples bring on other problems. We had three at one time, a Brittany, Boxer and Yorkie. They all came in as puppies, Brittany first, Yorkie next then Boxer. The Brittany became dominate, the Yorkie took over the 2nd spot, and the Boxer who outweighed both of them was at the bottom. We had to separate them because the Britt and the Yorkie would try to steal the Boxer's food at meal time.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Last three pages would be really effective birth control for folks still making up their minds about kids
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And yet the human race keeps growing!
Click to expand...


Indeed it does. We need to get copies of this thread out to ob-gyn offices stat!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. having had many dogs over the years, we've learned that they are social animals, in the wild they have the pack, but in the home they have their humans. They also have their own individual personality. Sadie tends to be the way you described Cook, she doesn't like to eat unless my wife or I are nearby. When you have multiples they tend to eat on their own, because they keep each other company. However multiples bring on other problems. We had three at one time, a Brittany, Boxer and Yorkie. They all came in as puppies, Brittany first, Yorkie next then Boxer. The Brittany became dominate, the Yorkie took over the 2nd spot, and the Boxer who outweighed both of them was at the bottom. We had to separate them because the Britt and the Yorkie would try to steal the Boxer's food at meal time.


Cook was either soooo begnign ... soooo accommodating ... soooo un-food driven ... or a combo thereof, that she didn’t raise a single hair when guest dogs would raid her food.  For a time we also had a female Wire Hair Fox Terrier as a companion for Cook.  That’s another story.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Last night a very tasty pot roast filled to the brim with garden veggies and herds. Gary’s hands still burn as if they were sun-burned from slicing all the peppers. During dinner, Miss Maggie stole the napkin off the lap of a guest ... twice.  Gary also whipped up some mash potatoes and Mary Lou made a persimmon bread. We sipped a Paso Robles old vine Zin.  MMMMhhhhhhhhhhh ... The original vines were planted in 1880 by the founder of the vineyard. Then off to the local theatre for “End of the Rainbow”.  The play was well reviewed and portrayed Judy Garland’s life in her sunset years.  Gary’s gives an A for the performances, a B for the script and another A for the music.  This season our local theatre is two for two. The play was terribly depressing but the songs and voice of the lead carried the day from sad to entertaining.

Today is a Maggie School Day.  Where she will socialize with other pups and hopefully learn not to steal napkins from laps.


----------



## Gary A.

These are Gary's little angels.  We went through ups and downs but nothing chronic or terrible.  Gary father was a politician and Gary never had second thoughts about dragging the little angels to formal dinners and events.


----------



## SquarePeg

Our dog will not eat when I am not home.  He pouts the entire time I’m out of the house.  I think it’s because I work  at home most of the time so he’s used to having me there.   When we go on vacation he stays with my aunt who spoils him with homemade meals and too many treats.


----------



## davidharmier60

Mornin' peeps. Daves been awake for a couple hours. But the phone decided it wanted to update and we were taking back storage space on the DVR. 

It looks rather dreary outside.  LOTS of leaves are falling. 

The dogs haven't yet done anything terrible but the day is young.

Carry on y'all. 

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----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Our dog will not eat when I am not home.  He pouts the entire time I’m out of the house.  I think it’s because I work  at home most of the time so he’s used to having me there.   When we go on vacation he stays with my aunt who spoils him with homemade meals and too many treats.


If you are gone ... how do you know he pouts?  Most adult dogs just sleep when their humans are gone.


----------



## SquarePeg

Thursday I noted that the hydrangea had five or six really nice blooms and I was going to cut them and put them in a vase so I could enjoy them this week.  I totally forgot and we had such a cold night last night that the blooms are dead, the entire plant is now dormant and about to drop all its leaves which died overnight.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our dog will not eat when I am not home.  He pouts the entire time I’m out of the house.  I think it’s because I work  at home most of the time so he’s used to having me there.   When we go on vacation he stays with my aunt who spoils him with homemade meals and too many treats.
> 
> 
> 
> If you are gone ... how do you know he pouts?  Most adult dogs just sleep when their humans are gone.
Click to expand...


My mom and my daughter tell me he lays on the couch looking sad and doesn’t even bark when someone walks their dog past our house or the mail carrier comes to the door.  He won’t take a cookie from them or play with Princess.  When I get home, he spazzes over to the door to greet me then, once I say hi and pet him, he runs over to eat whatever treat they tried to feed him while I was gone.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Our dog will not eat when I am not home.  He pouts the entire time I’m out of the house.  I think it’s because I work  at home most of the time so he’s used to having me there.   When we go on vacation he stays with my aunt who spoils him with homemade meals and too many treats.


Mary Lou and Gary seem to end up boarding our friend's and family dogs.  We enjoy spoiling them. The humans always compliment us that their dogs are always better behaved when they pick them then when they were dropped off. The humans think is was Cook’s influence ... Gary think it was the water boarding.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our dog will not eat when I am not home.  He pouts the entire time I’m out of the house.  I think it’s because I work  at home most of the time so he’s used to having me there.   When we go on vacation he stays with my aunt who spoils him with homemade meals and too many treats.
> 
> 
> 
> If you are gone ... how do you know he pouts?  Most adult dogs just sleep when their humans are gone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My mom and my daughter tell me he lays on the couch looking sad and doesn’t even bark when someone walks their dog past our house or the mail carrier comes to the door.  He won’t take a cookie from them or play with Princess.  When I get home, he spazzes over to the door to greet me then, once I say hi and pet him, he runs over to eat whatever treat they tried to feed him while I was gone.
Click to expand...

Therapy might help.


----------



## JonA_CT

Or doggy Xanax, which I hear is a thing.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary never had second thoughts about dragging the little angels to formal dinners and events.



Wasn't that ours couldn't behave when they needed to, as they also attended a few formal events as well, but they had a knack for catching you with your guard done. When youngest son was close to 4 he got away from his Mom in a rather large clothing store. One of those that was filled with the circular racks. Like a little rat he would hide in the center of a rack, then slip to another and another. She had to call security and basically shut down the store as they did a sweep, eventually flushing him out on the far side.

Though I couldn't blame my wife because he had slipped away from me in Church one Sunday around the same time frame. I was watching him and another boy the same age in a back pew, while the Mom's were in the choir. I turned my head when someone spoke to me, and when I turned back they were gone. I didn't have long to wonder where they went, as two pews up a woman jumped up. All I could do was watch red faced and gauge their progress as one pew after another people were being "called to stand up", as the boys continued to crawl to the alter, where at last I  grabbed them, much to the roar of laughter. The preacher remarked that he might need to enlist the boys to help him with his service in the future as they were getting more reaction from the congregation then he had with any of his sermon and that Rays Stevens and his Mississippi Squirrel Revival had nothing on these two.


----------



## Frank F.

squash one


----------



## davidharmier60

Wow. Dave feels somewhat lucky that he never found a significant other or had kids!
Having the unconditional love of a dog is enough he thinks...

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----------



## Frank F.

squash two


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> squash two



I've tried all sorts of squash recipes and while they were okay, I'm just not a fan of most. I do like Zucchini and yellow sliced raw, sauteed with onions in oil, or battered and deep fried but pass on the others.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Maggie having some of that socialization fun.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Thursday I noted that the hydrangea had five or six really nice blooms and I was going to cut them and put them in a vase so I could enjoy them this week.  I totally forgot and we had such a cold night last night that the blooms are dead, the entire plant is now dormant and about to drop all its leaves which died overnight.




 
iPhone - from this morning. 

Every now and then we get hit with a frost. The front yard plumerias and orchids take a beating but survive. The backyard plumerias get KIA-ed.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I like the looks of what Frank is cooking. It feels like winter today! brr.


----------



## JonA_CT

We’re preparing to be off to an engagement party for one of my wife’s co-workers tonight. It’ll be the first time away from the bouncing baby boy. My wife’s best friend and her husband and son are coming over to watch the baby and the beast. It’s nice to have some people we trust implicitly to watch them.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> We’re preparing to be off to an engagement party for one of my wife’s co-workers tonight. It’ll be the first time away from the bouncing baby boy. My wife’s best friend and her husband and son are coming over to watch the baby and the beast. It’s nice to have some people we trust implicitly to watch them.


Don’t forget to look for teeth marks.


----------



## davidharmier60

Daves cousin, one biological Son and one adopted Daughter came by. Monday they leave for Wyoming. One of our dogs who has not had much/any socialization with people tried our patience. Never actually bit anyone but acted like he would. 

Dinner in about an hour will be Tacos and Tostadas. Dave thinks this is a lovely idea.

Carry on hosers.

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----------



## Gary A.

SC killed Colorado in the first half. The Trojans took their foot off the gas now Colorado is coming back.


----------



## smoke665

Wow looks like #1 GA needs to get back on the porch. Auburn is tearing them up 40-10 with 5 mins left in the game


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> squash two
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've tried all sorts of squash recipes and while they were okay, I'm just not a fan of most. I do like Zucchini and yellow sliced raw, sauteed with onions in oil, or battered and deep fried but pass on the others.
Click to expand...



there are zillions of squashes and zillions of ways to prepare then. Do dive into tje adventure!?


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our dog will not eat when I am not home.  He pouts the entire time I’m out of the house.  I think it’s because I work  at home most of the time so he’s used to having me there.   When we go on vacation he stays with my aunt who spoils him with homemade meals and too many treats.
> 
> 
> 
> If you are gone ... how do you know he pouts?  Most adult dogs just sleep when their humans are gone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My mom and my daughter tell me he lays on the couch looking sad and doesn’t even bark when someone walks their dog past our house or the mail carrier comes to the door.  He won’t take a cookie from them or play with Princess.  When I get home, he spazzes over to the door to greet me then, once I say hi and pet him, he runs over to eat whatever treat they tried to feed him while I was gone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Therapy might help.
Click to expand...



Tried that...oh, you mean for the dog?  LOL.


----------



## Gary A.

Ronald Jones is amazing. Touchdown USC.

38-17


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Happy Veteran's Day to all American veterans here. My work gave us an appreciation meal today and also a thank you card which contained a " challenge coin " featured here: Thank A Vet Challenge Coin | Medals of America. When I got home, I was looking at it ( it was still in the packaging ) and turned it over. I saw the words MADE IN CHINA printed on the tag and immediately checked their contact email and sent off the following :

I received one of your challenge coins from my work in appreciation of my service in the US Air Force today ( Veteran’s Day ). While I am very grateful of any gift in recognition of my time in the military, I was *very* disappointed when I turned the package over and saw the words “ Made In China “ printed on the tag. I want to return the coin for a refund please. If it was American made, I would gladly keep it. Please let me know how I may return this. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

What do you members think? Am I just being unappreciative or do you agree with me? If you go to their website, you see they have a full range of militaria and are making money from veterans' service. Seems to me they could keep it " Made In America ".


----------



## Gary A.

Gary’s best to all you Vets!


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave fully agrees with Gary.
Happy veterans day y'all!

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----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Happy Veteran's Day to all American veterans here. My work gave us an appreciation meal today and also a thank you card which contained a " challenge coin " featured here: Thank A Vet Challenge Coin | Medals of America. When I got home, I was looking at it ( it was still in the packaging ) and turned it over. I saw the words MADE IN CHINA printed on the tag and immediately checked their contact email and sent off the following :
> 
> I received one of your challenge coins from my work in appreciation of my service in the US Air Force today ( Veteran’s Day ). While I am very grateful of any gift in recognition of my time in the military, I was *very* disappointed when I turned the package over and saw the words “ Made In China “ printed on the tag. I want to return the coin for a refund please. If it was American made, I would gladly keep it. Please let me know how I may return this. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
> 
> What do you members think? Am I just being unappreciative or do you agree with me? If you go to their website, you see they have a full range of militaria and are making money from veterans' service. Seems to me they could keep it " Made In America ".


Gary supports your action. Gary isn’t clear if it was a gift or you paid for the coin? If the coin was a gift then you don’t deserve a refund and need to return it to your company. It was a nice gesture, just wasn’t well thought out especially the why did veterans serve.  Thank you Dean for your service. God Bless you and all our veterans.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Gary A. said:


> Gary supports. Gary isn’t clean if it was a gift or you paid for the coin? If the coin was a gift then you don’t deserve a refund and need to return it to your company. It was a nice gesture, just wasn’t well thought out especially the why did veterans serve. Thank you Dean for your service. God Bless you and all our veterans.



Thanks Gary. I did not pay for the coin. It was a gift from my company. I think if I return it to the company, it will probably get tossed in someone's desk or the trash and the company selling the medal will still have the profit. I do not plan on keeping the refund if I got one, but intended on donating it to the DAV's local chapter.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave didn't get up at 4am this morning .
And needn't get up at 4am tomorrow. 
But still sleepy at this time.
So he is about to study the inside of his eyelids. Nitey nite y'all. 

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----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> Wow looks like #1 GA needs to get back on the porch. Auburn is tearing them up 40-10 with 5 mins left in the game



In a year when my Gators are playing like aliens from Mars who have no idea what football even is, the news of anyone stomping on Georgia makes me so very happy.

And to make it even better, Clempson also took Florida State apart.


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> What do you members think?



I'd call it a a needless affront caused by someone not smart enough or carrying enough to prevent it from happening in the first place.


----------



## smoke665

And in other news, it wasn't pretty but the win over MS State, leaves Alabama still undefeated and back in the #1 spot.


----------



## davidharmier60

Meanwhile Texas A&M won.
And on TV tight this minute is Fox news ie: yelling at each other. 

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----------



## snowbear

Gig 'em, Aggies.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Last night Mary Lou and Gary teamed up with Bruno Mars at the Forum. This was his last concert of his world wide 24K tour. Mars and company are great entertainers. From his first song to the last, the entire arena was standing.


----------



## JonA_CT

I’m jealous, Gary. I’d love to see him in concert. A bunch of my co-workers and students saw Lady Gaga  at Mohegan Sun this week too. I was also jealous of them, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I’m jealous, Gary. I’d love to see him in concert. A bunch of my co-workers and students saw Lady Gaga this week at Mohegan Sun this week too. I was also jealous of them, haha.


Mars had the entire venue was on fire.  Mary Lou and Gary saw Lady Gaga with Tony Bennett at the Hollywood Bowl last year.  Wonderful show.  Gaga did a few solos where she strutted her stuff.  But with the duets, she totally took a backseat to Bennett, which was equally respectful as it was charming.  Bennett, was Bennett ... a yellow/cream blazer, one hand in his pocket, cooing the crowd . A standing ovation and a good time was had by all.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave hasn't seen anyone in concert since the 80s. Well except for on TV.
Dave thinks Queensrýche: Operation Mindcrime is the best album ever.
But a nod to the usual 80s artists.

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----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary saw Queen this summer.


----------



## jcdeboever

Who is Bruno Mars?


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Who is Bruno Mars?



Brother of Mars Bar...


----------



## Frank F.

my architect sent a first rendering of the kitchen / living room in the first floor. I love it ... minus the wall decoration. building block optics is not my thing


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> my architect sent a first rendering of the kitchen / living room in the first floor. I love it ... minus the wall decoration. building block optics is not my thing



From the image, it appears that the house will be primarily masonry. Is that common practice there???


----------



## Gary A.

68F, noon and still overcast. Should hit low 70’s. Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are curled up watching Stranger Things ... eating chocolate ice cream smothered in pomegranate seeds, recovering from yesterday.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Almost forgot Casablanca's starting, good ol' B&W movie on a cold gray gloomy lazy Sunday watchin' Bogie.

And Peter Lorre, love 'm, he's so good at being weaselly.


----------



## Gary A.

We’ll always have Paris ...


----------



## SquarePeg

Really wanted to see Bruno Mars when he was here a few months ago but it sold out in seconds and scalp prices were crazy.


----------



## jcdeboever

Tired. Ready to watch some football and sleep. I am believing for a prosperous week of new business to bring in the new year. I have a salmon salad ready to be consumed  but I am not hungry. I have a mustard dressing that is really good. A wonderful French bread and some fresh grated cheese was included. I need to eat it, have not ate much today other than 2 bananas, pear, 3 plums, and 2 hard boiled eggs. I miss taking photos. I don't post many these days because I am trying to critique my images. I am not focused on photography currently but more on increasing my income. I am pretty happy that I have complete control over my remuneration. My father in law is impressed with my productivity. He is amazed by my sales to expense ratio, I told him it is because I can manage it.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I am pretty happy



Glad to hear that JC. Hoping for a productive week (just not so productive that you forget photography LOL)


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am pretty happy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glad to hear that JC. Hoping for a productive week (just not so productive that you forget photography LOL)
Click to expand...

Well, I do have a camera on me. It is a medium format, folder type.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave will have his Nikon Coolpix P60 digital camera with him. Have no way to transfer the image(s) though as no computer and the library is still down.
So if any pic shows up under Dave it will be a Samsung Galaxy 6 Active photo. 

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----------



## davidharmier60

By the way. Dave must awaken at 4am tomorrow. And almost certainly use a ladder much. So adios muchachos!

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----------



## snowbear

We went to a festival this afternoon and saw some pretty pottery.  The pottery is made about 10 minutes from the fairgrounds, so we dropped by.  They have an older cat and two rescue kittens.  The kittens (as one would expect) like to play. Unfortunately, they like to play with the clay pieces before they are fired.  This has resulted in their being banished from the shop, until they get a little older.




DSC_0849.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> my architect sent a first rendering of the kitchen / living room in the first floor. I love it ... minus the wall decoration. building block optics is not my thing
> 
> 
> 
> From the image, it appears that the house will be primarily masonry. Is that common practice there???
Click to expand...


There are at least two aspects to this:

2) concrete and masonry sell better than wooden or cardboard constructions, although modern materials and construction software allow for these constructions to fulfill al building regulation requirenments. Cardboard is esp. energy efficient. But buyers follow their gut feeling and stone-in-stone is their favourite

1) Energy conservation efforts have led to new materials that allow to set stone-on-stone and still fulfil the energetic requirements...


----------



## davidharmier60

In roughly 20 minutes Dave is off to see the wizard. 

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----------



## davidharmier60

Dave saw the wizard. Got almost a minute under 6 hours. Went to the second bank (not even sure if they have another branch anywhere) meaning to get 20 rolls of pennies traded out. When she came back with those I asked about a box. She was gone a while and brought me a sealed box.
Checked a few rolls and they are mixed and NOT all 2017 like the last box. 
This is a good thing. Dave likes!

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----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Really wanted to see Bruno Mars when he was here a few months ago but it sold out in seconds and scalp prices were crazy.


Right ... Mary Lou briefly discussed that seats worse than our seats were going for $900+ on Stubhub.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is back after his Monday morning tour of CSULA.  Gary really enjoys being on a campus, any campus ... sorta like a crowded marketplace of a foreign country ... so much activity and life going on.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave has never been to a university. 
Rather explains why he doesn't make lots of money. No, it doesn't. It's all in Daves head.

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----------



## JonA_CT

I just dropped some spinach and 6 cloves of sliced garlic into my nearly done lemon orzo soup.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is reviewing some Sorbet recipes.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave saw the wizard. Got almost a minute under 6 hours. Went to the second bank (not even sure if they have another branch anywhere) meaning to get 20 rolls of pennies traded out. When she came back with those I asked about a box. She was gone a while and brought me a sealed box.
> Checked a few rolls and they are mixed and NOT all 2017 like the last box.
> This is a good thing. Dave likes!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Do you ever find much good in your rolls? I always got ticked off tellers/managers when I would return coins I searched lol.


----------



## Gary A.

Mandarin Orange Sorbet it is.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just had two clementines and a yogurt for dinner.  Diet time!


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> Cardboard is esp. energy efficient



What???? Cardboard?????  Here in the US, home construction is pretty much conventional wood stud construction, with siding or brick on the outside.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Just had two clementines and a yogurt for dinner.  Diet time!


Getting ready for the holidays, are we?       Completely understand - I've been counting calories using an app for several weeks now.   Geez, I've lost 17 pounds that I didn't know I needed to lose.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cardboard is esp. energy efficient
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What???? Cardboard?????  Here in the US, home construction is pretty much conventional wood stud construction, with siding or brick on the outside.
Click to expand...


I always wanted to give this a try...
https://www.niftyhomestead.com/blog/cordwood-construction/


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Just had two clementines and a yogurt for dinner.  Diet time!



"Diet", why is such a simple 4 letter word such a PITA. I had dropped 30# on my diet earlier this year, and had been doing really well in maintaining, until about a month ago. Now I'm up 8 lbs, and headed into the holidays. Not going to be fun


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cardboard is esp. energy efficient
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What???? Cardboard?????  Here in the US, home construction is pretty much conventional wood stud construction, with siding or brick on the outside.
Click to expand...

I think Frank is referencing gyp board / drywall type of material.


----------



## smoke665

May be like Dave tonight and head to bed early. Woke up in the middle of the night with what I was afraid was an Asthma attack. Like a dummy I worked out in the my shop yesterday on a small carpentry project, and didn't wear a mask. Breathing treatment and emergency dose of Prednisone helped me bypass a trip to ER, but it was still a long time before I risked going back to sleep. Today, I've been in a fog.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> I think Frank is referencing gyp board / drywall type of material.



I thought so also, until I saw this Cardboard Wikkelhouse built in a day is popping up all over Europe


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think Frank is referencing gyp board / drywall type of material.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I thought so also, until I saw this Cardboard Wikkelhouse built in a day is popping up all over Europe
Click to expand...

Interesting ... but that is a pre-engineered / prefabricated structure.  Frank's is building a custom designed, one of a kind affair. Which doesn't mean he isn't/can't be using cardboard.  A custom design doesn't lend itself to prefab construction materials.  A comfortable and habitable structure isn't a big deal and can be crafted out a billion different materials from used tires to apricot pits and still be useful, efficient but not typically inexpensive and sorta hard to pass most any sort of municipal inspection. The honeycomb nature of cardboard, combined with wood being a natural insulator ... makes cardboard, not a bad building material.  Cardboard, like glass, comes in a zillion different forms and flavors.


----------



## davidharmier60

Of this time I have found some stellar looking 2009. And an awesome 2013P, 2013D and 20140D. And a fair amount of decent copper. I put copper I don't think will clean up to my satisfaction back into circulation so people that get rolls I turn in won't be terribly disappointed. 

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----------



## jcdeboever

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave has never been to a university.
> Rather explains why he doesn't make lots of money. No, it doesn't. It's all in Daves head.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


You consistently speak of lack. Start to speak prosperity. What do you have to lose?


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday, Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary binge watched Stranger Things. This was a first for us. Until yesterday, we never binge watched before. We watched seven episodes and it was a pleasant afternoon, all of us curled up, sipping some wine, watching a very entertaining series.

PS- The Orange Sorbet is finished and Delish.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Yesterday, Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary binge watched Stranger Things. This was a first for us. Until yesterday, we never binge watched before. We watched seven episodes and it was a pleasant afternoon, all of us curled up, sipping some wine, watching a very entertaining series.
> 
> PS- The Orange Sorbet if finished and Delish.


The second season?


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is about to hit the sack.
Wish you all a good night!

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----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Have you ever had Gluehwein? It's  like a mulled wine, served warm. A lady I went to high school with sent me the recipe. Looks good.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yesterday, Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary binge watched Stranger Things. This was a first for us. Until yesterday, we never binge watched before. We watched seven episodes and it was a pleasant afternoon, all of us curled up, sipping some wine, watching a very entertaining series.
> 
> PS- The Orange Sorbet if finished and Delish.
> 
> 
> 
> The second season?
Click to expand...

Yes.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Yesterday, Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary binge watched Stranger Things. This was a first for us. Until yesterday, we never binge watched before. We watched seven episodes and it was a pleasant afternoon, all of us curled up, sipping some wine, watching a very entertaining series.
> 
> PS- The Orange Sorbet is finished and Delish.



I much prefer binge watching to weekly series watching.  With a weekly series I forget what was going on the previous week and lose interest.  My new method for ongoing shows is to build up 3-5 episodes on the dvr then “binge” watch those all at once on a weekend.  The only shows I watch “live” these days are the ones I know everyone will be talking about on Facebook the next day  since I don’t want to see any spoilers.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. Have you ever had Gluehwein? It's  like a mulled wine, served warm. A lady I went to high school with sent me the recipe. Looks good.


Nope. Gary has never heard of Gluehwein. Gary will Google and most likely, try it out. Thanks smoke665.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. It's a German recipe so maybe Frank will weigh in on it.


----------



## Gary A.

Exactly what Gary was thinking. Frank likes wine also. A quick google has increased Gary’s curiosity and he printed a recipe.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cardboard is esp. energy efficient
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What???? Cardboard?????  Here in the US, home construction is pretty much conventional wood stud construction, with siding or brick on the outside.
Click to expand...



Ferienhaus aus Karton in der Bretagne gebaut - SPIEGEL ONLINE


----------



## Frank F.

and if cardbord is too expensive you migh use garbage instead: Mike Reynolds (architect) - Wikipedia


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think Frank is referencing gyp board / drywall type of material.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I thought so also, until I saw this Cardboard Wikkelhouse built in a day is popping up all over Europe
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Interesting ... but that is a pre-engineered / prefabricated structure.  Frank's is building a custom designed, one of a kind affair. Which doesn't mean he isn't/can't be using cardboard.  A custom design doesn't lend itself to prefab construction materials.  A comfortable and habitable structure isn't a big deal and can be crafted out a billion different materials from used tires to apricot pits and still be useful, efficient but not typically inexpensive and sorta hard to pass most any sort of municipal inspection. The honeycomb nature of cardboard, combined with wood being a natural insulator ... makes cardboard, not a bad building material.  Cardboard, like glass, comes in a zillion different forms and flavors.
Click to expand...



right.

As said before it is a multi dimensional complex set of considerations.

First I do build in a historic environment. Meaning we do not know what we might find in the ground. Romans? WWII Bombs? Environmental damage? Meaning the form of the lot is not straight on any side. Meaning our construction will include using a neighbour's wall that stands on my ground partly and still meeting fire protection regulation. Meaning having to tear down the other neighbours wall that stands on my lot completely. Meaning  having to get rid of all the historic building materials that have been used  to build the garage that is still standing on my  ground, which is a challenge due to environmental concerns


----------



## Frank F.

second, oh no, do not get me started on  meeting energy saving regulations, distance regulations, zillions of other regulations....

The talent of my architect is to translate all that into an easy to build construction that the builder can then build as if it was a simple and easy one. Reducing complexity for the brick layers.


----------



## Frank F.

third is about economy. How will I build a  sustainable and economically sound structure? It is all about using my brain, research and Excel. A lot of Imagination too!


----------



## Frank F.

fourth is about aesthetics and sustainability. The house is not made as a use & toss but as  a place still to be standing and possibly be monument protected in100 years. A timeless piece of great architecture!


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A. Have you ever had Gluehwein? It's  like a mulled wine, served warm. A lady I went to high school with sent me the recipe. Looks good.
> 
> 
> 
> Nope. Gary has never heard of Gluehwein. Gary will Google and most likely, try it out. Thanks smoke665.
Click to expand...



Glühwein is good if you prepare it yourself.

Use in outside temperatures below 5 Celsius.

You can use white or red wine.

The wine shall be good but not have too much character of its own, esp not high on thannins which will ruin your joy. The wine should also be low on aggressive acids. you stomach will like that part combined with the sugar.

Use cloves and cinnamon and vanilla and anis and a sugar of character like organic unrefined cane sugar with a taste of melasse and liquorice.

Pack the spices in a tea bag and let them soak for two to twenty minutes depending on their strength and your taste.

Never Cook the Wine!!!

Only heat it to 75 or 80 Celsius max!!!


----------



## Frank F.

Nürnberger Christkindelmarkt Glühwein is the most typical German brand. You might ask for it at Aldi, Lidl or Trader Joe's, the three German supermarket chains in the USA


----------



## smoke665

@Frank, nice. I would dispute the term throw away, on housing here. Granted there was an explosion of the "garden home" model in metropolitan areas that were highly reminiscent of the shotgun houses in the low rent districts of the past, but by and large most of the higher end homes are built for longevity. Hard to believe that ours has already past the 10 year mark and fully expect it to still be sound when I'm gone. In the historic district of town there's a multiblock area of homes wood and brick well over the 100 year mark. I suspect the functionality of the construction has more to do with design and maintenance than with material. Our house is stone veneer on the bottom which will require the occasional tuck /point, and cypress siding which requires nothing, other than occasional caulking around the windows and edges, and a clear sealer every 10 years or so to prevent checking.


----------



## JonA_CT

Obviously, the history here is much shorter than in Europe -- but my house is 105 years old, and has some quirks of being an old house, but isn't anywhere close to obsolescense. Actually, my house is one of the newest on my street, although we are among the earliest settled (by Europeans, at any rate) cities in CT (1646). 

It is different there, though. My wife's aunt and uncle run a sheep farm in Cumbria, UK, and their house is an old monastery/mining office/who knows what else that is at least 500 years old, and probably closer to 600 years. They have beautiful flag stone floors, and a gorgeous flag stone hearth that have remained prominently in the great room.


----------



## Frank F.

A lot of houses are calculated for a life time of 30 or 40 years (esp the cardboard stuff) and these do not last much longer. My thinking is more in the terms of the next 10.000 or 100.000 years ... sustainability in housing means:

recyclebility
mendability
upgradability
reusabilty
this is what I am after and I hope to develop a lot of these houses before I die...


----------



## davidharmier60

Good on you Frank! Our house will almost certainly collapse possibly while I'm still alive. Life is just peachy keen. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> Obviously, the history here is much shorter than in Europe -- but my house is 105 years old, and has some quirks of being an old house, but isn't anywhere close to obsolescense. Actually, my house is one of the newest on my street, although we are among the earliest settled (by Europeans, at any rate) cities in CT (1646).
> 
> It is different there, though. My wife's aunt and uncle run a sheep farm in Cumbria, UK, and their house is an old monastery/mining office/who knows what else that is at least 500 years old, and probably closer to 600 years. They have beautiful flag stone floors, and a gorgeous flag stone hearth that have remained prominently in the great room.


Quite a few years ago I was on a course at HMS Dryad (near Portsmouth); I was walking through one of the nearby stereotypical English villages on a day off and noticed an old, stone church.  It took me several minutes to figure out what was bothering me about it.  The date stone only had three digits!


----------



## JonA_CT

So I had a meeting at the local dive with one of my former band mates last night to discuss some artwork he'd like for his concept album project he's been working on. He asked for my help with some photography. I'm flattered, and have a really strong vision. 

He has an amateur model lined up, and we're all collaborating on how to make the the collective vision come alive. I'm scared shitless that I don't have the skills to make everything work, but I'm a strong believer in the Latin proverb audaces fortuna iuvat . At the end of the day, this is just a passion project for him, not a money making one...but I still want to execute all of the things we discussed last night.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> So I had a meeting at the local dive with one of my former band mates last night to discuss some artwork he'd like for his concept album project he's been working on. He asked for my help with some photography. I'm flattered, and have a really strong vision.
> 
> He has an amateur model lined up, and we're all collaborating on how to make the the collective vision come alive. I'm scared shitless that I don't have the skills to make everything work, but I'm a strong believer in the Latin proverb audaces fortuna iuvat . At the end of the day, this is just a passion project for him, not a money making one...but I still want to execute all of the things we discussed last night.


Now...  if there was only a place where one could go for advice & assistance with photographic projects.  What the world needs is such a place...  Hmmm....


----------



## Gary A.

@ smoke665 and Frank:  That house in France is a standard stick framed structure, but in lieu of drywall it appears they are using cardboard. Gary is all in favor of using recycled materials, but the cardboard, as it appears in the photo, isn't being positioned as a barrier against the elements. Gary suspects there will be a waterproof membrane tossed on top of the cardboard then a lightweight concrete finish.  The design could end there, but Gary suspects that additional treated cardboard will be tacked onto the lightweight concrete for a decorative look to match the surrounding homes.  Maybe cardboard fashioned into a shingle or clapboard siding look. 

Gary, and most likely, all of us here, sends the spent/used Amazon cardboard boxes to a recycling plant where it is shipped off to China and made into something else or maybe reincarnated into another cardboard box.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. way back when we started out, one of our more profitable runs out of the east coast was hauling baled paper/cardboard etc., out of NYC to a landfill in Ohio. Not sure if they still do it or not, as we stopped running into NYC years ago, because of the expense. Since that time there were a few occasions where we tried to reach a transportation agreement with  recycling plants to facilities that could use the material, unfortunately the rates were not obtainable at the levels they needed to make the whole thing profitable. Plastics was a different animal because of the value of the product is still being used a lot today.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> A lot of houses are calculated for a life time of 30 or 40 years (esp the cardboard stuff) and these do not last much longer. My thinking is more in the terms of the next 10.000 or 100.000 years ... sustainability in housing means:
> 
> recyclebility
> mendability
> upgradability
> reusabilty
> this is what I am after and I hope to develop a lot of these houses before I die...





smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. way back when we started out, one of our more profitable runs out of the east coast was hauling baled paper/cardboard etc., out of NYC to a landfill in Ohio. Not sure if they still do it or not, as we stopped running into NYC years ago, because of the expense. Since that time there were a few occasions where we tried to reach a transportation agreement with  recycling plants to facilities that could use the material, unfortunately the rates were not obtainable at the levels they needed to make the whole thing profitable. Plastics was a different animal because of the value of the product is still being used a lot today.


Transportation costs is what kills most recycling efforts.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I flipped on today's congressional hearing and it seemed rather boring, but came back to it and I may need popcorn! Last time with him sometimes seemed defensive or testy and I've wondered, guess it'll all come out eventually. But talk about being on the hot seat! Maybe having a secretary or assistant take notes at meetings would have been a thought...

edit - Lots of popcorn... and they're on the clock and not too happy if you're a ramblin' man.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Transportation costs is what kills most recycling efforts



Only a part of it. There is a cost to process that material to utilize it, but even before that there are  some stringent requirements about contamination. Meeting those requirements for separation doesn't lend itself to a lot automation.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> A lot of houses are calculated for a life time of 30 or 40 years (esp the cardboard stuff) and these do not last much longer. My thinking is more in the terms of the next 10.000 or 100.000 years ... sustainability in housing means:
> 
> recyclebility
> mendability
> upgradability
> reusabilty
> this is what I am after and I hope to develop a lot of these houses before I die...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A. way back when we started out, one of our more profitable runs out of the east coast was hauling baled paper/cardboard etc., out of NYC to a landfill in Ohio. Not sure if they still do it or not, as we stopped running into NYC years ago, because of the expense. Since that time there were a few occasions where we tried to reach a transportation agreement with  recycling plants to facilities that could use the material, unfortunately the rates were not obtainable at the levels they needed to make the whole thing profitable. Plastics was a different animal because of the value of the product is still being used a lot today.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Transportation costs is what kills most recycling efforts.
Click to expand...


Transport is a function of  settlememt form and in this world LA is second to Atlanta only when it comes to car dependence...


----------



## Frank F.

great autumnal light today!


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> A lot of houses are calculated for a life time of 30 or 40 years (esp the cardboard stuff) and these do not last much longer. My thinking is more in the terms of the next 10.000 or 100.000 years ... sustainability in housing means:
> 
> recyclebility
> mendability
> upgradability
> reusabilty
> this is what I am after and I hope to develop a lot of these houses before I die...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A. way back when we started out, one of our more profitable runs out of the east coast was hauling baled paper/cardboard etc., out of NYC to a landfill in Ohio. Not sure if they still do it or not, as we stopped running into NYC years ago, because of the expense. Since that time there were a few occasions where we tried to reach a transportation agreement with  recycling plants to facilities that could use the material, unfortunately the rates were not obtainable at the levels they needed to make the whole thing profitable. Plastics was a different animal because of the value of the product is still being used a lot today.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Transportation costs is what kills most recycling efforts.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Transport is a function of  settlememt form and in this world LA is second to Atlanta only when it comes to car dependence...
Click to expand...

Nope ... not what Gary is talking about.  As an example, LA is a big source for raw recycled materials.  In the 1980's the City set up a residential waste pick-up program where the residents separated the materials into recyclables (paper/metal/glass), green wastes and waste (destined for the landfill). The market for LA huge weekly haul of green wastes was in California's Central Valley (world's largest producer/exporter of farm foods) ... but the haul from LA to the Central Valley, over the 4,000' high Tehachapi Mountains took all the profit from LA's green wastes rendering the project as commercially unviable.  It was less expensive for the Central Valley farmers to purchase new chemical/natural soil augmentation than purchase the compost from LA's green waste diversion program. LA readily ships paper/metal/glass to China for recycling as the costs for land transportation in minimal to LA's ports.


----------



## Frank F.

tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Obviously, the history here is much shorter than in Europe -- but my house is 105 years old, and has some quirks of being an old house, but isn't anywhere close to obsolescense. Actually, my house is one of the newest on my street, although we are among the earliest settled (by Europeans, at any rate) cities in CT (1646).
> 
> It is different there, though. My wife's aunt and uncle run a sheep farm in Cumbria, UK, and their house is an old monastery/mining office/who knows what else that is at least 500 years old, and probably closer to 600 years. They have beautiful flag stone floors, and a gorgeous flag stone hearth that have remained prominently in the great room.
> 
> 
> 
> Quite a few years ago I was on a course at HMS Dryad (near Portsmouth); I was walking through one of the nearby stereotypical English villages on a day off and noticed an old, stone church.  It took me several minutes to figure out what was bothering me about it.  The date stone only had three digits!
Click to expand...


the Pyramids do not even a date stone. and it could  read what? minus 2000? or minus 13.000 as some say...


----------



## davidharmier60

I thought I already posted this.
Daves house has roof and ceiling that have already collapsed. This place will probably be outlived by me.

The place I work is in excess of 30 years old. It just got a lot of roof work and  flooring repairs.

Someone asked why I don't speak of prosperity. My next check tomorrow is already spent. Have no real chance to get a computer or even an older Canon DSLR. 
Where is this prosperity you speak Of?

Until this Samsung Galaxy 6 Active dies it is my entire link to life outside my immediate area.

Y'all have a nice day now, you hear?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

My house is "only" 67 years old.  That is pretty new for our town.  I believe the oldest home here is the Phineas Upham House which is right down the street.  1703 or 1730 depending on which historian is accurate:  Phineas Upham House - Wikipedia

There is a house in neighboring Saugus, MA that was built in 1692 called Boardman House that is pretty famous locally. 

I found this interesting list on Wikipedia of the oldest houses in Massachusetts.  The one in Salem, MA - Pickering House - was built in 1664 and is still being lived in. 

List of the oldest buildings in Massachusetts - Wikipedia


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> oardman House that is pretty famous locally.



Wasn't that where Lizzie killed all those people???


----------



## SquarePeg

No that’s Lizzie Borden.


----------



## benhasajeep

SquarePeg said:


> My house is "only" 67 years old.  That is pretty new for our town.  I believe the oldest home here is the Phineas Upham House which is right down the street.  1703 or 1730 depending on which historian is accurate:  Phineas Upham House - Wikipedia
> 
> There is a house in neighboring Saugus, MA that was built in 1692 called Boardman House that is pretty famous locally.
> 
> I found this interesting list on Wikipedia of the oldest houses in Massachusetts.  The one in Salem, MA - Pickering House - was built in 1664 and is still being lived in.
> 
> List of the oldest buildings in Massachusetts - Wikipedia


I rented a really old house in Hingham MA for almost 5 years.  No, insulation in the walls.  Still had the original single pane windows.  Uneven floors, low ceilings, small (about 710sqft).  Extremely small bathroom which was basically renovated by making one room smaller.  Clearly added after the invention of indoor plumbing.

I almost bought a 200 year old house in Maine when I was looking to buy.  But just needed too much structural work.  The people who eventually bought it, tore it down.  Which was unfortunate.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

benhasajeep said:


> I almost bought a 200 year old house in Maine when I was looking to buy. But just needed too much structural work. The people who eventually bought it, tore it down. Which was unfortunate.


That is sad. Old houses have so much character.


----------



## SquarePeg

benhasajeep said:


> The people who eventually bought it, tore it down. Which was unfortunate.



That's a big thing here these days.  There is really no buildable land left in town.  Most of the homes are in very nice shape and were nicely built to start out with but there are others where they original owners never updated anything and stayed in the house 50 or 60 years.  People are buying those and tearing them down.  The good news is that they are not putting up those ubiquitous cookie cutter McMansions - the new homes they are building on the cleared lots are in the Tudor and Victorian style of the neighborhoods.  The city planning board here is notoriously hard to please and thought it's a pita when you want to do anything, it has kept the city very nice.


----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> I thought I already posted this.
> Daves house has roof and ceiling that have already collapsed. This place will probably be outlived by me.
> 
> The place I work is in excess of 30 years old. It just got a lot of roof work and  flooring repairs.
> 
> Someone asked why I don't speak of prosperity. My next check tomorrow is already spent. Have no real chance to get a computer or even an older Canon DSLR.
> Where is this prosperity you speak Of?
> 
> Until this Samsung Galaxy 6 Active dies it is my entire link to life outside my immediate area.
> 
> Y'all have a nice day now, you hear?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Dave, I'm curious (and am also in education) so I have to ask: if you had a chance to retrain for a different trade, would you, for example, consider a 2-year degree or certificate program at a community college?


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> No that’s Lizzie Borden.



I know, weak attempt at humor.



benhasajeep said:


> I almost bought a 200 year old house in Maine when I was looking to buy.



I always thought I wanted to buy a historic house and redo it, but after doing a lot of the remodeling to our old house, I decided that was to much work! It wasn't that the house was that old, (less than 40 years old), but houses show their age over time. Cabinets, appliances, floors, paint needed updating and we were right at the point before the bubble burst. We sold for almost $20k under what we could have gotten for it the year before, but on the bright side, we still got a chunk of equity to put on the new one. Our house was the last one in the neighborhood that sold for over 12 months, and the couple that bought it with the intention of flipping it for a bundle ended up holding the house for almost 2 years before they sold it for not much more than they paid for it.


----------



## Gary A.

benhasajeep said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> My house is "only" 67 years old.  That is pretty new for our town.  I believe the oldest home here is the Phineas Upham House which is right down the street.  1703 or 1730 depending on which historian is accurate:  Phineas Upham House - Wikipedia
> 
> There is a house in neighboring Saugus, MA that was built in 1692 called Boardman House that is pretty famous locally.
> 
> I found this interesting list on Wikipedia of the oldest houses in Massachusetts.  The one in Salem, MA - Pickering House - was built in 1664 and is still being lived in.
> 
> List of the oldest buildings in Massachusetts - Wikipedia
> 
> 
> 
> I rented a really old house in Hingham MA for almost 5 years.  No, insulation in the walls.  Still had the original single pane windows.  Uneven floors, low ceilings, small (about 710sqft).  Extremely small bathroom which was basically renovated by making one room smaller.  Clearly added after the invention of indoor plumbing.
> 
> I almost bought a 200 year old house in Maine when I was looking to buy.  But just needed too much structural work.  The people who eventually bought it, tore it down.  Which was unfortunate.
Click to expand...

That sounds like Gary's house.


----------



## davidharmier60

We live basically week to week financially. 
I'm 57 years old and do not wish to attend school. We do not try to finance anything because it would take paying back.
Nothing has actually collapsed. 
In three rooms part of the ceiling has fallen. It is a manufactured house made of crap. 

And I don't really know what else to say.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

I do know to say this. 4am will be here before Dave expects. He is going to go to bed very soon. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary turned the old Jimmy Doolittle Theatre into the Ricardo Montalban Theatre.  A very difficult job because of the age of the original theatre, everything I touched was not according to plans unleashing a flood of paperwork.  The theatre was on Hollywood and Vine and had those cool stars in sidewalk in front.  Gary and his metal fabricator alllllmost ... removed an existing star and installed one with our names on it.


----------



## SquarePeg

Currently considering doing an addition but dreading the whole process.  If I could wave a magic wand and have it done and just write a check, it would have been done 10 years ago.  Now I wonder if I waited too long...  I only plan to be here another 10 years or so.  If the real estate market stays the way it is now, I would clean up on the addition but if things fall, I could end up regretting it.  Decisions, decisions...  If I could sell my house and buy something a bit more suited to our current needs I would but the market in this city is too hot and I need to stay here until Princess finishes school.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Currently considering doing an additio



We did that at the old house, it was a giant pain.


----------



## smoke665

Morning y'all. The sun is out, the air is brisk, and it's a beautiful day on the mountain. 

Sadly I made the mistake of stepping on the scale this morning............so far the cutback on calorie intake isn't working, as I've actually picked up a couple more pounds.   Unfortunately, for Sadie I put her on the scale also, seems she's picked up a little lead in the butt as well. So, looks like we "both" are in for some lean times ahead of the holidays.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday, Gary cooked up some Chicken Carbonara and Orange Sorbet for guests and Mary Lou made some persimmon bread.  We had a very nice evening in the patio and stuffing ourselves beyond all reason with the delicious stuff. One of the guest said everyday she was in Italy, she ate Carbonara for one of her meals ... but this is the best she's ever had. Maggie provided the entertainment.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone



 






The Chicken Carbonara.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Rain, rain... and laundry. Maybe a movie afternoon. Had some yummy pumpkin bread with morning coffee that stretched into afternoon - and which I didn't have to make. Win win!


----------



## SquarePeg

Saw the Bad Moms Christmas movie the other night.  It was pretty funny.


----------



## davidharmier60

On the plus side I will get more hours.
On the minus side I will only get to sleep past 4am on Sundays. 
I guess it could be looked at like God took a chance on me.

BTW 7.25 hours today. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Sometimes y'all are so verbose.
Right now all I hear are crickets.
About 20 minutes to departure.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

Lots of work. Today the Architect and the Structural Engineer were here to discuss some constructional details.

There is a mountain of paper to be climbed befor one can set the first stone!


----------



## limr

Happy Friday Eve, hosers!


----------



## Frank F.

You are ahead of time. It is only Thursday in Germany=???


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

But Thursday is the eve of Friday!


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> You are ahead of time. It is only Thursday in Germany=???



That's why it's Friday *Eve*.  Or, as some prefer to say, Junior Friday.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Lots of work. Today the Architect and the Structural Engineer were here to discuss some constructional details.
> 
> There is a mountain of paper to be climbed befor one can set the first stone!
> 
> View attachment 149659


Very very nice Frank.  You know before the first stone is set you gotta dig.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary likes the newspaper on Thursdays.  Samy's Camera runs full page ads.  Gary isn't/can't afford buyin' anything ... but it is fun looking.  gary's day is consumed with Miss Maggie.  He may start going into the office ... a vacation.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I've bought from Samy's Camera. They have film. That's a real camera store. 

So we're making up our own unofficial holidays are we? - Friday eve?? that's a new one.

David, crickets is all you're going to get at 5 in the morning! Good if you're getting more hours. Wondering if there's anything in your area that uses volunteers that could come work on the roof/ceiling, there's something like that where I live.


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday, Mary Lou, Mike (a friend) and Gary went to a nicely opened place named Eataly.  It is a large place housing all kinds of shops and restaurants selling foods and drinks from Italy. It was well worth the drive to west LA.  We dined on the balcony eating pizza and lasagna, we tasted sweet breads and drooled over the meats and fish in the butcher shops and rubbed our hands over all the canned/jarred/imported foods. We purchased a Muzzi Tommaso Panettone (orange cream and chocolate chips) and a set of bowls for salad and sorbet.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave had roughly 5 minutes over 4.75 hours today. In another thread about music someone linked to James. Another of my favorites. Of course I have to do it again tomorrow and Saturday. I have officially put aside a $20 against a DSLR purchase. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary durn your hide, why'd you get me looking at Samy's Camera? Checking out the Retouching section. And Misc. Darkroom. I don't need to find any Misc. 

Mmm I like panettone. The computer didn't like any way that I tried to spell it. How could somebody not program that in?


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Gary durn your hide, why'd you get me looking at Samy's Camera? Checking out the Retouching section. And Misc. Darkroom. I don't need to find any Misc.
> 
> Mmm I like panettone. The computer didn't like any way that I tried to spell it. How could somebody not program that in?


Panettone Yes! Computers No!


----------



## Gary A.

@The other Sharon: Do you have any need for 4x5 film developing holders? Gary has a few extra holders.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Yesterday, Mary Lou, Mike (a friend) and Gary went to a nicely opened place named Eataly.  It is a large place housing all kinds of shops and restaurants selling foods and drinks from Italy. It was well worth the drive to west LA.  We dined on the balcony eating pizza and lasagna, we tasted sweet breads and drooled over the meats and fish in the butcher shops and rubbed our hands over all the canned/jarred/imported foods. We purchased a Muzzi Tommaso Panettone (orange cream and chocolate chips) and a set of bowls for salad and sorbet.



That's Mario Batali's market, right? I think there's one in both NYC and Boston. I'll probably stop by the next time I'm in one of those cities.


----------



## snowbear

I'm Geogeek Happy! 

I've been writing a script that matches an road segment ID to an address, based on the road segment's address range (if the address is 123 Main Street, then get the segment for 100 - 199 main Street and write the segment ID to the address point.)  The problem I've been battling is how to filter the address points to just those matching the road name; there are about 390,000 addresses and 44,000 road segments.  No matter how I try to code the filter I keep getting an error.

Yesterday afternoon I finally found a little piece of code (three lines) that sets up the filter.  I cant just say x = y, but have to build a line of text referencing x and y individually.  Everything went well (several times) with my test date (about 1,000 streets and 3,000 addresses).  Today, I added code that will check for the required fields, and if they don't exist in the files, the fields are added.  it went well with the test data, and now I'm running it against a copy of the production files.  So far, so good.

This is related to the next generation 9-1-1 (NextGen) stuff that is very rapidly coming to life, but has some other applications where we might need to associate an address point (a main door) with the section of road (like a section between two intersections).


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yesterday, Mary Lou, Mike (a friend) and Gary went to a nicely opened place named Eataly.  It is a large place housing all kinds of shops and restaurants selling foods and drinks from Italy. It was well worth the drive to west LA.  We dined on the balcony eating pizza and lasagna, we tasted sweet breads and drooled over the meats and fish in the butcher shops and rubbed our hands over all the canned/jarred/imported foods. We purchased a Muzzi Tommaso Panettone (orange cream and chocolate chips) and a set of bowls for salad and sorbet.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's Mario Batali's market, right? I think there's one in both NYC and Boston. I'll probably stop by the next time I'm in one of those cities.
Click to expand...

Yep ... there's been a lot of talk about opening one up in LA ... it finally happened a few weeks ago. Not a spectacular location ... but it was crowded on a weekday afternoon.


----------



## snowbear

Time to head up to floor #4 and it MLW is ready, home.
MLW's beef stew, tonight.


----------



## davidharmier60

When I post to this thread my "you" at the top a tapatalk doesn't always or even usually update. Any thoughts. 
Maybe old phone?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Time to head up to floor #4 and it MLW is ready, home.
> MLW's beef stew, tonight.


Beef stew sounds really good.  Leftovers tonight.  Mary Lou brought home a store roasted chicken and some store made mac & cheese ... we need to get to eat before it's too late.


----------



## Frank F.

snowbear said:


> I'm Geogeek Happy!
> 
> I've been writing a script that matches an road segment ID to an address, based on the road segment's address range (if the address is 123 Main Street, then get the segment for 100 - 199 main Street and write the segment ID to the address point.)  The problem I've been battling is how to filter the address points to just those matching the road name; there are about 390,000 addresses and 44,000 road segments.  No matter how I try to code the filter I keep getting an error.
> 
> Yesterday afternoon I finally found a little piece of code (three lines) that sets up the filter.  I cant just say x = y, but have to build a line of text referencing x and y individually.  Everything went well (several times) with my test date (about 1,000 streets and 3,000 addresses).  Today, I added code that will check for the required fields, and if they don't exist in the files, the fields are added.  it went well with the test data, and now I'm running it against a copy of the production files.  So far, so good.
> 
> This is related to the next generation 9-1-1 (NextGen) stuff that is very rapidly coming to life, but has some other applications where we might need to associate an address point (a main door) with the section of road (like a section between two intersections).




How to cope with the variation in density?

Do the road sections have different lengths that correspond to the address density variation?


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lots of work. Today the Architect and the Structural Engineer were here to discuss some constructional details.
> 
> There is a mountain of paper to be climbed befor one can set the first stone!
> 
> View attachment 149659
> 
> 
> 
> Very very nice Frank.  You know before the first stone is set you gotta dig.
Click to expand...



not really. just paper work then fencing then tear down and build up. no cellar. We do want to skip the romans!


----------



## JonA_CT

Roast pork tenderloin, roasted acorn squash, and quinoa salad here tonight.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Beef stew sounds really good. Leftovers tonight. Mary Lou brought home a store roasted chicken and some store made mac & cheese ... we need to get to eat before it's too late.



I made beef stew last week and it was yummy.  Last night we had what we call First Thanksgiving so tonight I'll be having a leftover turkey and stuffing sandwich.  Not on my diet but a holiday is a holiday!!!  

First Thanksgiving became a thing a few years ago because my nephew wanted to eat Thanksgiving dinner with us.  We don't get to eat Thanksgiving dinner with him because he and his parents (my youngest brother and his wife) go to my sister-in-law's sister's house for dinner (she makes funky health food and my nephew is not a fan hence the request to eat with us).  So we started having either First Thanksgiving with them the week before or Second Thanksgiving with them the week after.  On actual Thanksgiving, Princess and I travel with my mom up to NH to have dinner with my other brother and his crew.  It's a great idea as far as I'm concerned because I get to celebrate my favorite holiday twice!


----------



## snowbear

Frank F. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm Geogeek Happy!
> 
> I've been writing a script that matches an road segment ID to an address, based on the road segment's address range (if the address is 123 Main Street, then get the segment for 100 - 199 main Street and write the segment ID to the address point.)  The problem I've been battling is how to filter the address points to just those matching the road name; there are about 390,000 addresses and 44,000 road segments.  No matter how I try to code the filter I keep getting an error.
> 
> Yesterday afternoon I finally found a little piece of code (three lines) that sets up the filter.  I cant just say x = y, but have to build a line of text referencing x and y individually.  Everything went well (several times) with my test date (about 1,000 streets and 3,000 addresses).  Today, I added code that will check for the required fields, and if they don't exist in the files, the fields are added.  it went well with the test data, and now I'm running it against a copy of the production files.  So far, so good.
> 
> This is related to the next generation 9-1-1 (NextGen) stuff that is very rapidly coming to life, but has some other applications where we might need to associate an address point (a main door) with the section of road (like a section between two intersections).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How to cope with the variation in density?
> 
> Do the road sections have different lengths that correspond to the address density variation?
Click to expand...

Yes, lengths and address ranges Differ for various reasons.  I just split some segments due to changes in speed limits.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Beef stew sounds really good. Leftovers tonight. Mary Lou brought home a store roasted chicken and some store made mac & cheese ... we need to get to eat before it's too late.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made beef stew last week and it was yummy.  Last night we had what we call First Thanksgiving so tonight I'll be having a leftover turkey and stuffing sandwich.  Not on my diet but a holiday is a holiday!!!
> 
> First Thanksgiving became a thing a few years ago because my nephew wanted to eat Thanksgiving dinner with us.  We don't get to eat Thanksgiving dinner with him because he and his parents (my youngest brother and his wife) go to my sister-in-law's sister's house for dinner (she makes funky health food and my nephew is not a fan hence the request to eat with us).  So we started having either First Thanksgiving with them the week before or Second Thanksgiving with them the week after.  On actual Thanksgiving, Princess and I travel with my mom up to NH to have dinner with my other brother and his crew.  It's a great idea as far as I'm concerned because I get to celebrate my favorite holiday twice!
Click to expand...


We are heading to Friendsgiving on Saturday. As we’ve gotten olders and our lives have diverged a bit, we don’t spend much time with our oldest friends anymore. It’s a great excuse to carve out time for each other.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I’ve got a lot to be thankful for this year. I’m sure I’ll post some sentimental diatribe next week that y’all can feel free to scroll through


----------



## benhasajeep

I just can't wait for A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special to come on!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Beef stew sounds really good. Leftovers tonight. Mary Lou brought home a store roasted chicken and some store made mac & cheese ... we need to get to eat before it's too late.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made beef stew last week and it was yummy.  Last night we had what we call First Thanksgiving so tonight I'll be having a leftover turkey and stuffing sandwich.  Not on my diet but a holiday is a holiday!!!
> 
> First Thanksgiving became a thing a few years ago because my nephew wanted to eat Thanksgiving dinner with us.  We don't get to eat Thanksgiving dinner with him because he and his parents (my youngest brother and his wife) go to my sister-in-law's sister's house for dinner (she makes funky health food and my nephew is not a fan hence the request to eat with us).  So we started having either First Thanksgiving with them the week before or Second Thanksgiving with them the week after.  On actual Thanksgiving, Princess and I travel with my mom up to NH to have dinner with my other brother and his crew.  It's a great idea as far as I'm concerned because I get to celebrate my favorite holiday twice!
Click to expand...

We have multiple Thanksgiving Dinners.  Last year we had our 'first' dinner by cooking up a meal for a family we've known forever.  One son was a Marine, the other a Sailor and her daughter along with boyfriends/girlfriends/et al.  She was going through a rough patch in her life so we tossed a dinner for them.  A few days later we had our dinner. Usually, it is a last minute thing ... multiple dinners ... We entertain so often that it isn't THAT big of a thing.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm Geogeek Happy!
> 
> I've been writing a script that matches an road segment ID to an address, based on the road segment's address range (if the address is 123 Main Street, then get the segment for 100 - 199 main Street and write the segment ID to the address point.)  The problem I've been battling is how to filter the address points to just those matching the road name; there are about 390,000 addresses and 44,000 road segments.  No matter how I try to code the filter I keep getting an error.
> 
> Yesterday afternoon I finally found a little piece of code (three lines) that sets up the filter.  I cant just say x = y, but have to build a line of text referencing x and y individually.  Everything went well (several times) with my test date (about 1,000 streets and 3,000 addresses).  Today, I added code that will check for the required fields, and if they don't exist in the files, the fields are added.  it went well with the test data, and now I'm running it against a copy of the production files.  So far, so good.
> 
> This is related to the next generation 9-1-1 (NextGen) stuff that is very rapidly coming to life, but has some other applications where we might need to associate an address point (a main door) with the section of road (like a section between two intersections).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How to cope with the variation in density?
> 
> Do the road sections have different lengths that correspond to the address density variation?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, lengths and address ranges Differ for various reasons.  I just split some segments due to changes in speed limits.
Click to expand...

Why can't you just get everybody a Garmin?


----------



## davidharmier60

Another vote for Charlie Brown!

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----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm Geogeek Happy!
> 
> I've been writing a script that matches an road segment ID to an address, based on the road segment's address range (if the address is 123 Main Street, then get the segment for 100 - 199 main Street and write the segment ID to the address point.)  The problem I've been battling is how to filter the address points to just those matching the road name; there are about 390,000 addresses and 44,000 road segments.  No matter how I try to code the filter I keep getting an error.
> 
> Yesterday afternoon I finally found a little piece of code (three lines) that sets up the filter.  I cant just say x = y, but have to build a line of text referencing x and y individually.  Everything went well (several times) with my test date (about 1,000 streets and 3,000 addresses).  Today, I added code that will check for the required fields, and if they don't exist in the files, the fields are added.  it went well with the test data, and now I'm running it against a copy of the production files.  So far, so good.
> 
> This is related to the next generation 9-1-1 (NextGen) stuff that is very rapidly coming to life, but has some other applications where we might need to associate an address point (a main door) with the section of road (like a section between two intersections).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How to cope with the variation in density?
> 
> Do the road sections have different lengths that correspond to the address density variation?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, lengths and address ranges Differ for various reasons.  I just split some segments due to changes in speed limits.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Why can't you just get everybody a Garmin?
Click to expand...

Because I'm better.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm Geogeek Happy!
> 
> I've been writing a script that matches an road segment ID to an address, based on the road segment's address range (if the address is 123 Main Street, then get the segment for 100 - 199 main Street and write the segment ID to the address point.)  The problem I've been battling is how to filter the address points to just those matching the road name; there are about 390,000 addresses and 44,000 road segments.  No matter how I try to code the filter I keep getting an error.
> 
> Yesterday afternoon I finally found a little piece of code (three lines) that sets up the filter.  I cant just say x = y, but have to build a line of text referencing x and y individually.  Everything went well (several times) with my test date (about 1,000 streets and 3,000 addresses).  Today, I added code that will check for the required fields, and if they don't exist in the files, the fields are added.  it went well with the test data, and now I'm running it against a copy of the production files.  So far, so good.
> 
> This is related to the next generation 9-1-1 (NextGen) stuff that is very rapidly coming to life, but has some other applications where we might need to associate an address point (a main door) with the section of road (like a section between two intersections).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How to cope with the variation in density?
> 
> Do the road sections have different lengths that correspond to the address density variation?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, lengths and address ranges Differ for various reasons.  I just split some segments due to changes in speed limits.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Why can't you just get everybody a Garmin?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Because I'm better.
Click to expand...

Gary doesn't know about that ... Mr. Garmin had that figured out years ago.


----------



## davidharmier60

Nothing (Even phone mapping) knew our address until the Garmin in my truck now.
And on that note I bid you all a good night. 

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----------



## Gary A.

Gary made some orange sorbet today ... it is Delish.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is parked at work waiting on a key holder. Need to see if the buffer mechanic showed up yesterday. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave is parked at work waiting on a key holder. Need to see if the buffer mechanic showed up yesterday.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


You are the first one there - you should be a key holder.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Order from Amazon. They can unlock the door!


----------



## snowbear

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Order from Amazon. They can unlock the door!


But you'll have to get in the smile box. Punch some holes so you can breathe.


----------



## snowbear

We're leaving for work in a minute.  It's going to be a long day, trying to get a lot done before we head out this weekend.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm only working one day next week, so today is feeling like a super-special Friday. 

I made pizza dough last night, so we'll have some good eats for dinner tonight, and I think I'm going to throw together a big batch of egg nog to age for the holidays.

My mom has an ancient family recipe that she makes every year, and I've never had anything like it. I think it's because she uses egg whites instead of yolks...or maybe some sort of weird combination, I'm not sure as she won't divulge the recipe. She takes a hand mixer to it before serving, so you get a creamy/foamy layer with a boozy layer underneath.

I'm going to try Alton Brown's recipe this year to compare.


----------



## terri

That egg nog sounds amazing! !   I love the stuff, but have to be careful since it has such a deadly calorie count.  

My mom has the most amazing cheesecake recipe on the planet.   Three types of cheese, takes two days to make, and is all kinds of thick but creamy cheese heaven. 

Ah, holiday recipes!    

In other news,  Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## limr

Happy Friday!!

That was exhausting. Shouldn't have gone for that second exclamation point.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Time to head up to floor #4 and it MLW is ready, home.
> MLW's beef stew, tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> Beef stew sounds really good.  Leftovers tonight.  Mary Lou brought home a store roasted chicken and some store made mac & cheese ... we need to get to eat before it's too late.
Click to expand...

The wife made beef stew yesterday and forgot to add the beef....I called it vegetable poo, she thought it was funny.


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Friday Hosers!  (just one as I don't want to tucker myself out).  

What's on the agenda this weekend folks?


----------



## davidharmier60

Aside from Dave having to be at work tomorrow no big plans. Had 5 hours and 5 minutes. Trish wanted me to be there when  the buffer mechanic shows up. Messing around waiting on a call.

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----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  As to the weekend, Gary will be taking Miss Maggie to her class Saturday morning and in the late afternoon the USC-UCLA match-up. A cross-town rivalry ... lots of fun ... office buildings will sport either UCLA or USC by lighting up particular windows.  Lots of Cardinal & Gold and Blue & Gold banners and signs everywhere ... shops, offices, homes ... everywhere from the beaches to the mountains.  Some people have flags with Cardinal & Gold on one half and Blue & Gold on the other half, with the text dividing the halves reading "A House Divided".  As a rivalry which raises its head everyday in one form or another (both schools in the same city) ... it can get pretty emotional.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  As to the weekend, Gary will be taking Miss Maggie to her class Saturday morning and in the late afternoon the USC-UCLA match-up. A cross-town rivalry ... lots of fun ... office buildings will sport either UCLA or USC by lighting up particular windows.  Lots of Cardinal & Gold and Blue & Gold banners and signs everywhere ... shops, offices, homes ... everywhere from the beaches to the mountains.  Some people have flags with Cardinal & Gold on one half and Blue & Gold on the other half, with the text dividing the halves reading "A House Divided".  As a rivalry which raises its head everyday in one form or another (both schools in the same city) ... it can get pretty emotional.



Why I'll be watching:

Sam Darnold vs. Josh Rosen: What Giants fans must know


----------



## Frank F.

MLW and me loved "wanted" a two season series on Netflix about a Bonny&Clyde style friendship.

We also loved the soundtrack. Several songs. Recurrent is Jen Cloher: "Take something beautiful" ....


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Happy Friday Hosers!  (just one as I don't want to tucker myself out).
> 
> What's on the agenda this weekend folks?


Cooking!   Well, shopping first for some ingredients, but it's going to be COLD around here on Sunday.   So with football on the TV in the background, a big pot of turkey vegetable soup is on the agenda.  

My little space heater, my trusted friend for the last 10 years in the wintertime, died today.   I'd grieve except I need a replacement quickly.        So that's on the agenda, too.

What about you, SharonCat?


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is home now. A call is being made to Arkansas. They gave me unemployment in 2011. Then decided they wanted it back.
We are trying to set up a cheap payment plan.  It looks like it will be $20 a month  for the rest of my natural life. 
Tra la. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday Hosers!  (just one as I don't want to tucker myself out).
> 
> What's on the agenda this weekend folks?
> 
> 
> 
> Cooking!   Well, shopping first for some ingredients, but it's going to be COLD around here on Sunday.   So with football on the TV in the background, a big pot of turkey vegetable soup is on the agenda.
> 
> My little space heater, my trusted friend for the last 10 years in the wintertime, died today.   I'd grieve except I need a replacement quickly.        So that's on the agenda, too.
> 
> What about you, SharonCat?
Click to expand...


Not sure yet about Saturday.  Thought that I was going to have to drive Princess and her pals to either Worcester State for the HS Volleyball state finals at 11 (1.5 hours each way plus the match time) or to Weymouth for the football division 4 state semi-final at 2 (45 mins each way + game time).  But Princess texted me today that there is a "super fan" bus leaving from the school at 9am tomorrow that is going to the volleyball match then on to the football game and she and some friends were able to get tickets before it sold out.  Yeay for me!!!  Although I wouldn't have minded going to the football game, I'm totally ok with waiting to see if they make the finals and taking the kids to Gillette instead if they do.  Since I suddenly have the day free - I'm hoping it's warm enough to get a hike in with the dog or if not will probably shop and lunch with a friend.   Also going to try to finish up a few photo projects I've been working on.

Timing for the Pats game at 4:30 on Sunday is perfect for me to go out and watch with some friends at my favorite watering hole.  I promised my mom I would take her to see Murder on the Orient Express this weekend so will fit that in before the game.  She loves Agatha Christie.  

Sorry about your trusty space heater!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  As to the weekend, Gary will be taking Miss Maggie to her class Saturday morning and in the late afternoon the USC-UCLA match-up. A cross-town rivalry ... lots of fun ... office buildings will sport either UCLA or USC by lighting up particular windows.  Lots of Cardinal & Gold and Blue & Gold banners and signs everywhere ... shops, offices, homes ... everywhere from the beaches to the mountains.  Some people have flags with Cardinal & Gold on one half and Blue & Gold on the other half, with the text dividing the halves reading "A House Divided".  As a rivalry which raises its head everyday in one form or another (both schools in the same city) ... it can get pretty emotional.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Why I'll be watching:
> 
> Sam Darnold vs. Josh Rosen: What Giants fans must know
Click to expand...

LOL ... both are quality QB's ... Rosen is a classic dropback QB ... Darnold does better extending the play and finding an open receiver.  I haven't watch Rosen much but Darnold has turned over the ball way too much. Lots of fumbles.  But ... the big but ... while I find Darnold terribly inconsistent, especially in the earlier part of the season ... I always feel that with Darnold in the game, anything can happen (in a good way) ... and that no deficient is unsurmountable.  Darnold's inconsistency runs hot and cold ... and not by games but by series.  A couple of series in a row he's as cold as a cafeteria lunch ... then the next series he's on fire. More often than not, if behind in the second half/fourth quarter he just steps on the gas and wins. I really want him back for next year.  The Trojans were far too undisciplined this year for a run at the title. (They had the talent but not the discipline ... hopefully Helton will be tougher on the teamwork stuff next year.)


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday Hosers!  (just one as I don't want to tucker myself out).
> 
> What's on the agenda this weekend folks?
> 
> 
> 
> Cooking!   Well, shopping first for some ingredients, but it's going to be COLD around here on Sunday.   So with football on the TV in the background, a big pot of turkey vegetable soup is on the agenda.
> 
> My little space heater, my trusted friend for the last 10 years in the wintertime, died today.   I'd grieve except I need a replacement quickly.        So that's on the agenda, too.
> 
> What about you, SharonCat?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not sure yet about Saturday.  Thought that I was going to have to drive Princess and her pals to either Worcester State for the HS Volleyball state finals at 11 (1.5 hours each way plus the match time) or to Weymouth for the football division 4 state semi-final at 2 (45 mins each way + game time).  But Princess texted me today that there is a "super fan" bus leaving from the school at 9am tomorrow that is going to the volleyball match then on to the football game and she and some friends were able to get tickets before it sold out.  Yeay for me!!!  Although I wouldn't have minded going to the football game, I'm totally ok with waiting to see if they make the finals and taking the kids to Gillette instead if they do.  Since I suddenly have the day free - I'm hoping it's warm enough to get a hike in with the dog or if not will probably shop and lunch with a friend.   Also going to try to finish up a few photo projects I've been working on.
> 
> Timing for the Pats game at 4:30 on Sunday is perfect for me to go out and watch with some friends at my favorite watering hole.  I promised my mom I would take her to see Murder on the Orient Express this weekend so will fit that in before the game.  She loves Agatha Christie.
> 
> Sorry about your trusty space heater!
Click to expand...

Hey, I used to live on Weymouth Avenue.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is having a Fresca and a Ham and turkey sandwich for lunch.  Mary Lou is great, she buys Fresca and Cactus Cooler and Dr. Pepper in lieu of Coke, Pepsi, 7-Up or Dew.  

Gary plans on making some ice cream this afternoon.


----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> Gary is having a Fresca and a Ham and turkey sandwich for lunch.  Mary Lou is great, she buys Fresca and Cactus Cooler and Dr. Pepper in lieu of Coke, Pepsi, 7-Up or Dew.
> 
> Gary plans on making some ice cream this afternoon.


What no Tab?


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday Hosers!  (just one as I don't want to tucker myself out).
> 
> What's on the agenda this weekend folks?
> 
> 
> 
> Cooking!   Well, shopping first for some ingredients, but it's going to be COLD around here on Sunday.   So with football on the TV in the background, a big pot of turkey vegetable soup is on the agenda.
> 
> My little space heater, my trusted friend for the last 10 years in the wintertime, died today.   I'd grieve except I need a replacement quickly.        So that's on the agenda, too.
> 
> What about you, SharonCat?
Click to expand...

Gary has the Dyson fan, it heats, the power/output of the heat and the fan is variable, it can oscillate, the width of the fan/heat can be wide or narrow, it has a remote control, it is a HEPA filter and it looks cool (bladeless). (Sorta pricey though. )


----------



## vintagesnaps

Fresca??? they still make that? geez that stuff was awful! lol 

The white squirrel is back!! well,_ a_ white squirrel, maybe not the same one. I used to see one around and haven't in a long time and went in the kitchen and there it was, in the back yard.

There's a reason I'm not a wildlife photographer... I was at least able to grab the digital but couldn't get a good shot where it was by then (heading to the side yard). By the time I got to a better vantage point it was gone and the battery was about to die on me. The little critters know when I'm goin' for a camera.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Gary is having a Fresca and a Ham and turkey sandwich for lunch.  Mary Lou is great, she buys Fresca and Cactus Cooler and Dr. Pepper in lieu of Coke, Pepsi, 7-Up or Dew.
> 
> Gary plans on making some ice cream this afternoon.



Fresca is better with gin in it.


----------



## Frank F.

the problem is solved when to take photos but I am more than 10.000 back editing...



so today only a smartphone shot, although I took lots of customer shots and fun shots with my real cameras today. Office is blocked by MLW and her ironing equipment.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Happy Friday Hosers!  (just one as I don't want to tucker myself out).
> 
> What's on the agenda this weekend folks?


Heading up your way


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is having a Fresca and a Ham and turkey sandwich for lunch.  Mary Lou is great, she buys Fresca and Cactus Cooler and Dr. Pepper in lieu of Coke, Pepsi, 7-Up or Dew.
> 
> Gary plans on making some ice cream this afternoon.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fresca is better with gin in it.
Click to expand...

I once had some (honest-to-goodness) moonshine out of a Fresca bottle.  Does that count?


----------



## jcdeboever

Fresca? Oh my...


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday Hosers!  (just one as I don't want to tucker myself out).
> 
> What's on the agenda this weekend folks?
> 
> 
> 
> Heading up your way
Click to expand...


If you’re heading to ME up 95 you’ll pass within a mile of my house.  Don’t forget to beep.


----------



## snowbear

Will do; rolling through on Monday.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is cookin’ up some strawberry ice cream.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is fixin' to hit the sack for his first Saturday 4am wake up. 
Eventually he will have a Coke float. But not tonight. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is having a Fresca and a Ham and turkey sandwich for lunch.  Mary Lou is great, she buys Fresca and Cactus Cooler and Dr. Pepper in lieu of Coke, Pepsi, 7-Up or Dew.
> 
> Gary plans on making some ice cream this afternoon.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fresca is better with gin in it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I once had some (honest-to-goodness) moonshine out of a Fresca bottle.  Does that count?
Click to expand...

Them's some high-class 'shiners.  My friend's Dad drank his out of  a Fleischmann's Yeast tin!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary makes his own orange liqueur. 
John makes his own beer.


----------



## JonA_CT

Indeed. Jon has been trying to drink less beer, and has lost a few pounds over the last couple weeks (with no other diet changes) as a result. This makes Jon happy and sad.

New plan for today. Going to Friendsgiving, and then I’m meeting my brothers and driving up to Boston to watch BC beat the crap out of my Alma mater at Fenway. Perfect football weather, too (wind-driven rain with temps in the 40s).


----------



## jcdeboever

Wife making lasagna for friends and their family. Friends are being challenged, wife in hospital dealing with brain cancer and doesn't know anyone, husband has Alzheimer's and is totally confused with wife not being home. Such great people. So we are bringing all of them a home cooked dinner tonight and just going to love on them for an evening. To be honest, I'm not looking forward to it because these people have been so good to us and to see them suffering pulls on my heart heavy. I believe in times like these, we have to band together, offer love, strength, and be there for one another.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Best wishes to the couple and heartfelt thanks to you and your wife for helping them out. It says a lot about you.


----------



## benhasajeep

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday Hosers!  (just one as I don't want to tucker myself out).
> 
> What's on the agenda this weekend folks?
> 
> 
> 
> Heading up your way
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> If you’re heading to ME up 95 you’ll pass within a mile of my house.  Don’t forget to beep.
Click to expand...

Will be flying over on Tuesday.  Will see if I can get the plane to drop something for you.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are on our way to Maggie’s school. Last night we had a guests over for dinner. Max and his human Mike. Max, a Golden Retriever mix and Maggie torn up the patio last night. They provided all the after dinner entertainment we needed, crashing into everything while we sipped the last of our Albarino.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave put (take your choice) a minute or two under 5.25 or 11, 12 or 13 over 5.
Going to mess with pennies with YouTube of a B-58 going.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> David, crickets is all you're going to get at 5 in the morning!



At 5 am we have owls, coyotes, bobcats, Cougars, and as the sun breaks the roosters start their chorus up and down the valley


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> @The other Sharon: Do you have any need for 4x5 film developing holders? Gary has a few extra holders.



Hmmmm, if I had some 4x5 film developing holders would the wife buy that as an excuse for me to get a camera???


----------



## smoke665

Wow didn't realize how much I'd missed. Took Sadie to the Vet yesterday for her vaccinations. Elizabeth (doc's tech) tried so hard to get on her good side even offering treats, but Sadie wasn't having it. Jumped in my lap, wrapped her paws around my neck and hid her head in neck. 

Today she's moping around, you can tell she doesn't feel good because every time you sit down she wants in your lap.


----------



## benhasajeep

smoke665 said:


> Wow didn't realize how much I'd missed. Took Sadie to the Vet yesterday for her vaccinations. Elizabeth (doc's tech) tried so hard to get on her good side even offering treats, but Sadie wasn't having it. Jumped in my lap, wrapped her paws around my neck and hid her head in neck.
> 
> Today she's moping around, you can tell she doesn't feel good because every time you sit down she wants in your lap.


Poor pup.  And they can't tell you what's wrong either.

My dogs love going to the vet.  Only thing the lab doesnt like is getting his ears checked.  He will yelp even before the vet puts the viewer tip in his ear.  Other than that, shots, getting temp taken, he's ok with it.  Does get impatient waiting in the small room though.  Apparently he has lots of friends there he needs to sniff before he leaves.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Hmmmm, if I had some 4x5 film developing holders would the wife buy that as an excuse for me to get a camera???


I would hope so....  they're not much good without one.


----------



## vintagesnaps

You've got lots of entertainment up on your hill don't ya Smoke? 

Not yet I don't (have a use for 4x5 holders) and don't get me looking at cameras again...  
Sharon thinks Gary is a bad influence. 

It would be worth buying Fresca if the cans had moonshine in them instead of Fresca.


----------



## vintagesnaps

How about a Fresca?


----------



## davidharmier60

How about Coolaid Lemonade?
It's what Dave is having. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

benhasajeep said:


> Poor pup. And they can't tell you what's wrong either.



She got up on the bed, and wife covered her up with her blanket. Couldn't help but laugh, she got down just now, and came over (dragging her blanket with her), giving me that hang dog look. Don't why the vaccinations make them feel bad for a day or two. Did the others as well.



vintagesnaps said:


> You've got lots of entertainment up on your hill don't ya Smoke?



I don't think I would even want to live anywhere else, the best of all worlds.


----------



## SquarePeg

benhasajeep said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday Hosers!  (just one as I don't want to tucker myself out).
> 
> What's on the agenda this weekend folks?
> 
> 
> 
> Heading up your way
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> If you’re heading to ME up 95 you’ll pass within a mile of my house.  Don’t forget to beep.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Will be flying over on Tuesday.  Will see if I can get the plane to drop something for you.
Click to expand...


Just give Chris Hemsworth a parachute and a push


----------



## benhasajeep

vintagesnaps said:


> How about a Fresca?


That's exactly what I was thinking when I read Fresca in his post.  hahahahah


----------



## Frank F.

autumnal birch street


----------



## JonA_CT

Made it to Fenway. Up 3-0 on a 51 yard FG. 

Yes, they offered to put scotch in my hot chocolate.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's only 6:30 CST. But Dave hasn't gotten up at 4am on a Saturday in quite some time and is getting sleepy. 
Of course the dogs may not let Dave drop off too soon....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Well, volleyball team lost in the state finals but football team won the semi final match and are in to the Super Bowl at Gillette on 12/2.  This will be their 3rd Superbowl appearance in last 4 years.  

I had a great day.  Took doggy-do for a walk in the woods, shopped, cleaned all the windows, took some photos and then went to see Thor Ragnarok- my new favorite super hero movie.  If you like the Marvel movies you’ll love this one.  Super funny, story not too convoluted and great action scenes.  And of course, this guy...


----------



## JonA_CT

we are losing and it’s cold


----------



## benhasajeep

SquarePeg said:


> Well, volleyball team lost in the state finals but football team won the semi final match and are in to the Super Bowl at Gillette on 12/2.  This will be their 3rd Superbowl appearance in last 4 years.
> 
> I had a great day.  Took doggy-do for a walk in the woods, shopped, cleaned all the windows, took some photos and then went to see Thor Ragnarok- my new favorite super hero movie.  If you like the Marvel movies you’ll love this one.  Super funny, story not too convoluted and great action scenes.  And of course, this guy...
> 
> View attachment 149736



I'm not trying to push that guy out of a plane!!!     NO MAAM!!!


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> . And of course, this guy...



Oh sure he has muscles and hair and face , but does he have a brain, or after the first three does the last matter? My wife tends to swoon over Sam Elliot, guess that's why she picked me, I had a moustache


----------



## SquarePeg

I don’t know about a brain but he has an Australian accent.  Enough said.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave never ever looked like that.
Doesn't look a thing like Sam Elliott either.
No big plan to go anywhere or do anything special.  Probably read Tom Clancy and mess with pennies. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm headed to take some family portraits in a little bit. Its rainy and windy, so I'm doing them on-location at their house. Increases the level of difficulty for sure, but it'll be relatively low pressure.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> I don’t know about a brain but he has an Australian accent.  Enough said.



That's interesting because the voice is what the wife finds most attractive on Elliot. How about it ladies, once the initial attraction to male physical attributes has passed, are the voice characteristics some kind of mysterious pheromone that holds the attention of  the opposite sex?


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don’t know about a brain but he has an Australian accent.  Enough said.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's interesting because the voice is what the wife finds most attractive on Elliot. How about it ladies, once the initial attraction to male physical attributes has passed, are the voice characteristics some kind of mysterious pheromone that holds the attention of  the opposite sex?
Click to expand...

I'm pretty much attracted to a man's intellect, first and foremost.   Intellect and sense of humor - that's what tends to last the longest.    But sure, a nice speaking voice (I'm looking at you, @Derrel!) is definitely a plus.   I'd put physical characteristics last, because that will be the first to go - just like my own.

Frankly, I'm not particularly moved by pretty boys, especially if they appear to spend more time on their hair than I do.   <yawn>


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> Poor pup. And they can't tell you what's wrong either.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> She got up on the bed, and wife covered her up with her blanket. Couldn't help but laugh, she got down just now, and came over (dragging her blanket with her), giving me that hang dog look. Don't why the vaccinations make them feel bad for a day or two. Did the others as well.
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> You've got lots of entertainment up on your hill don't ya Smoke?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't think I would even want to live anywhere else, the best of all worlds.
Click to expand...

Gary hope's Sadie feels better.  Dog can get colds too, so hopefully it's just a passing inconvenience. 

On cooler nights, we used to cover Cook in a blanket.  She would drag them around like a wedding dress with a long trail.  Then Mary Lou sewed up some Cookie' blankets for her.  One blanket had images of dogs all over it, Mary Lou would say Cookie was with her friends. Another had the LA Dodgers' logo ... if you have ever been to a Dodger game, you'd know the Dodgers' had a special, oversized hotdog made for them called a Dodger Dog ... so when Cook was wrapped up in her Dodger blanket she was a Dodger Dog. Cook was great, she walk all around the house with them ... answer the door wearing her blanket, even figured out how to get out of her dog door with the blanket still on her back. Gary misses Cook.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> ... Frankly, I'm not particularly moved by pretty boys, especially if they appear to spend more time on their hair than I do.   <yawn>


Damn ... guess Gary goin' down in flames ...


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Well, volleyball team lost in the state finals but football team won the semi final match and are in to the Super Bowl at Gillette on 12/2.  This will be their 3rd Superbowl appearance in last 4 years.
> 
> I had a great day.  Took doggy-do for a walk in the woods, shopped, cleaned all the windows, took some photos and then went to see Thor Ragnarok- my new favorite super hero movie.  If you like the Marvel movies you’ll love this one.  Super funny, story not too convoluted and great action scenes.  And of course, this guy...
> 
> View attachment 149736


Nice hammer.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> View attachment 149737we are losing and it’s cold


What is opposite of a win-win ...


----------



## benhasajeep

SquarePeg said:


> I don’t know about a brain but he has an Australian accent.  Enough said.



Oi!

G'day.  How ya goin'?  Grab a feed at the take-away this avro?  Grabbed a slab of bonzer beer.  Ripper game on the tele.


----------



## benhasajeep

terri said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don’t know about a brain but he has an Australian accent.  Enough said.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's interesting because the voice is what the wife finds most attractive on Elliot. How about it ladies, once the initial attraction to male physical attributes has passed, are the voice characteristics some kind of mysterious pheromone that holds the attention of  the opposite sex?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm pretty much attracted to a man's intellect, first and foremost.   Intellect and sense of humor - that's what tends to last the longest.    But sure, a nice speaking voice (I'm looking at you, @Derrel!) is definitely a plus.   I'd put physical characteristics last, because that will be the first to go - just like my own.
> 
> Frankly, I'm not particularly moved by pretty boys, especially if they appear to spend more time on their hair than I do.   <yawn>
Click to expand...


Intellect first?  How come it's never sense of humor first?    Always has to be the jocks or the brainiacs first.   Never the wise asses first.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don’t know about a brain but he has an Australian accent.  Enough said.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's interesting because the voice is what the wife finds most attractive on Elliot. How about it ladies, once the initial attraction to male physical attributes has passed, are the voice characteristics some kind of mysterious pheromone that holds the attention of  the opposite sex?
Click to expand...


Nah. For me, voice is part of that initial attraction but if a guy has no substance, even the best accent in the world can't save him.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> I'm pretty much attracted to a man's intellect, first and foremost. Intellect and sense of humor - that's what tends to last the longest. But sure, a nice speaking voice (I'm looking at you, @Derrel!) is definitely a plus. I'd put physical characteristics last, because that will be the first to go - just like my own.
> 
> Frankly, I'm not particularly moved by pretty boys, especially if they appear to spend more time on their hair than I do. <yawn>



Must be 2 out of 3 cause the wife hasn't thrown me out yet LOL @Derrel  has an admirer?  LOL

I think the last comment applies to both sexes. Once had a friend set me up with a former playboy model. The worst night ever, she spent the whole time primping, and watching to see who was looking at her we parted ways quickly.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary hope's Sadie feels better. Dog can get colds too, so hopefully it's just a passing inconvenience.



It was the vaccinations, sometimes they make them feel bad. She's back to speed today.


----------



## benhasajeep

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary hope's Sadie feels better. Dog can get colds too, so hopefully it's just a passing inconvenience.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was the vaccinations, sometimes they make them feel bad. She's back to speed today.
Click to expand...

Ah, that's good to hear.


----------



## smoke665

benhasajeep said:


> Never the wise asses first.



Maybe if it's combined with "Bad Boy". Always amazed at some of the attractive, smart women who seem to be drawn to the "Bad Boys" like flies to honey. Lacking that, then money has a way of covering a lot of flaws. Had a very wealthy customer from Venezuela, that looked like one of those gargoyles you used to see on buildings, but he never seemed to have a lack of eye candy on his arm.


----------



## benhasajeep

smoke665 said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> Never the wise asses first.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe if it's combined with "Bad Boy". Always amazed at some of the attractive, smart women who seem to be drawn to the "Bad Boys" like flies to honey. Lacking that, then money has a way of covering a lot of flaws. Had a very wealthy customer from Venezuela, that looked like one of those gargoyles you used to see on buildings, but he never seemed to have a lack of eye candy on his arm.
Click to expand...



Aww crap.    Forgot about the bad boys.    And rich guys.    I'm further down the list now.


----------



## Derrel

This might be the video clip that launched my voice fanclub among a small subset of brilliant, witty, and amazing TPF members...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The order in the universe has been restored, SC defeated UCLA in boring, uninspired fashion.  The game is of great pageantry ... as much Hollywood as sport.  It was a home game for the Trojans, and their home field is the Coliseum. The Coliseum is one of those very special places in the world ... history and beauty intertwined into a synergy of excitement.  On a quiet day, you can walk the stadium ... and with a little sensitively ... one can feel the roars from the past, the Olympic champions, the Rams the Dodgers and UCLA and of course the Trojans ... the cheers of the victorious seeping up from the historic past. (Hell, even the Pope played there.)

The Coliseum is literally across the street and a rose garden away from USC. Tons of parties on campus, before the game the Spirit of Troy (USC Marching Band) performs a concert on campus then marches, with Traveller at point, their cardinal and gold capes blowing at their backs, across the street, through the rose garden and into the Coliseum.  The route is lined by the Trojan faithful, cheering as the band passes then follow in line behind them. Even SC's mascot reeks of pageantry ... or Hollywood.  A sword wielding warrior mounted on a pure white stallion and the best song leaders in footballdom.

As Los Angeles is  home to USC and UCLA both teams ... wear their home jerseys. Today, after a week of rivalry and arguments, of colored banners and school fever ... dueling bands ... the city is quiet ... recovering. Mary Lou and Gary are planning another couch potato day.


----------



## Gary A.

benhasajeep said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don’t know about a brain but he has an Australian accent.  Enough said.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's interesting because the voice is what the wife finds most attractive on Elliot. How about it ladies, once the initial attraction to male physical attributes has passed, are the voice characteristics some kind of mysterious pheromone that holds the attention of  the opposite sex?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm pretty much attracted to a man's intellect, first and foremost.   Intellect and sense of humor - that's what tends to last the longest.    But sure, a nice speaking voice (I'm looking at you, @Derrel!) is definitely a plus.   I'd put physical characteristics last, because that will be the first to go - just like my own.
> 
> Frankly, I'm not particularly moved by pretty boys, especially if they appear to spend more time on their hair than I do.   <yawn>
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Intellect first?  How come it's never sense of humor first?    Always has to be the jocks or the brainiacs first.   Never the wise asses first.
Click to expand...

... or those that need love the most, the down and out, short, good, fat, boring, dumb, nerds with squeaky voices!


----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don’t know about a brain but he has an Australian accent.  Enough said.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's interesting because the voice is what the wife finds most attractive on Elliot. How about it ladies, once the initial attraction to male physical attributes has passed, are the voice characteristics some kind of mysterious pheromone that holds the attention of  the opposite sex?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm pretty much attracted to a man's intellect, first and foremost.   Intellect and sense of humor - that's what tends to last the longest.    But sure, a nice speaking voice (I'm looking at you, @Derrel!) is definitely a plus.   I'd put physical characteristics last, because that will be the first to go - just like my own.
> 
> Frankly, I'm not particularly moved by pretty boys, especially if they appear to spend more time on their hair than I do.   <yawn>
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Intellect first?  How come it's never sense of humor first?    Always has to be the jocks or the brainiacs first.   Never the wise asses first.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ... or those that need love the most, the down and out, short, fat, boring, dumb, nerds!
Click to expand...


I saw a movie once about Nerds.  They did pretty good at the end.  Had something about why they were so good.  And it was becasue that's all they thought about.


----------



## Gary A.

benhasajeep said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don’t know about a brain but he has an Australian accent.  Enough said.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's interesting because the voice is what the wife finds most attractive on Elliot. How about it ladies, once the initial attraction to male physical attributes has passed, are the voice characteristics some kind of mysterious pheromone that holds the attention of  the opposite sex?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm pretty much attracted to a man's intellect, first and foremost.   Intellect and sense of humor - that's what tends to last the longest.    But sure, a nice speaking voice (I'm looking at you, @Derrel!) is definitely a plus.   I'd put physical characteristics last, because that will be the first to go - just like my own.
> 
> Frankly, I'm not particularly moved by pretty boys, especially if they appear to spend more time on their hair than I do.   <yawn>
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Intellect first?  How come it's never sense of humor first?    Always has to be the jocks or the brainiacs first.   Never the wise asses first.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ... or those that need love the most, the down and out, short, fat, boring, dumb, nerds!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I saw a movie once about Nerds.  They did pretty good at the end.  Had something about why they were so good.  And it was becasue that's all they thought about.
Click to expand...


... So all Gary has to do is think about sex with attractive people and he'd get some ... who knew?

(Or does he need to think about goodness ...?)


----------



## Gary A.

Isn't sex with attractive people some form of "goodness" ...?


----------



## Gary A.

An attractive person having sex with the opposite ... isn't that like Charity ... isn't charity good?


----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don’t know about a brain but he has an Australian accent.  Enough said.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's interesting because the voice is what the wife finds most attractive on Elliot. How about it ladies, once the initial attraction to male physical attributes has passed, are the voice characteristics some kind of mysterious pheromone that holds the attention of  the opposite sex?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm pretty much attracted to a man's intellect, first and foremost.   Intellect and sense of humor - that's what tends to last the longest.    But sure, a nice speaking voice (I'm looking at you, @Derrel!) is definitely a plus.   I'd put physical characteristics last, because that will be the first to go - just like my own.
> 
> Frankly, I'm not particularly moved by pretty boys, especially if they appear to spend more time on their hair than I do.   <yawn>
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Intellect first?  How come it's never sense of humor first?    Always has to be the jocks or the brainiacs first.   Never the wise asses first.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ... or those that need love the most, the down and out, short, fat, boring, dumb, nerds!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I saw a movie once about Nerds.  They did pretty good at the end.  Had something about why they were so good.  And it was becasue that's all they thought about.
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> ... So all Gary has to do is think about sex with attractive people and he'd get some ... who knew?
> 
> (Or does he need to think about goodness ...?)
Click to expand...


Well going by the movie.  You have to trick them first, by looking like someone they know.  But once your done.  They're yours forever.  Apparently they wont notice your different once you start.  So, that's a good thing.


----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> An attractive person having sex with the opposite ... isn't that like Charity ... isn't charity good?



But to some it's not really charity.  They'll want compensation later!!


----------



## limr

This conversation is really annoying at best, and is bordering on horrifying.


----------



## Gary A.

benhasajeep said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> An attractive person having sex with the opposite ... isn't that like Charity ... isn't charity good?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But to some it's not really charity.  They'll want compensation later!!
Click to expand...

 ... yeah, yeah ... happens to Gary all the time.


----------



## benhasajeep

limr said:


> This conversation is really annoying at best, and is bordering on horrifying.



Sorry.  

If you don't know I was implying part of Revenge of the Nerds.  Not a cinematic classic.  But many thought it was funny.


----------



## limr

benhasajeep said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> This conversation is really annoying at best, and is bordering on horrifying.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry.
> 
> If you don't know I was implying part of Revenge of the Nerds.  Not a cinematic classic.  But many thought it was funny.
Click to expand...


No, I got the reference, and I also saw the sarcasm dripping from your posts 

What's horrifying is the fact that there are plenty of people who would be saying these things seriously.

ETA: Just to be clear, I understand that this conversation involves a lot of joking around. It just also involves a lot of ideas that I have also heard from people who were not joking around, and that's the part that makes me a bit twitchy.

And yes, for the record, when women have conversations like this about men, they annoy me as well.


----------



## smoke665

Derrel said:


> This might be the video clip that launched my voice fanclub among a small subset of brilliant, witty, and amazing TPF members...



And your modest to boot!!! LOL


----------



## smoke665

@limr I may have started us down the road, but I actually posed a serious question regarding male/female attraction. Given the current state of affairs, I consider the fact that I've been happily married for 38 years a good thing, because I'm not sure I could survive in the single world of today. I'd be so terrified of doing something or saying something inappropriate that I would likely become a hermit on a mountain top somewhere. It's nice to know that there are at least some asexual characteristics that are still attractive in today's world.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> @limr I may have started us down the road, but I actually posed a serious question regarding male/female attraction. Given the current state of affairs, I consider the fact that I've been happily married for 38 years a good thing, because I'm not sure I could survive in the single world of today. I'd be so terrified of doing something or saying something inappropriate that I would likely become a hermit on a mountain top somewhere. It's nice to know that there are at least some asexual characteristics that are still attractive in today's world.



Yes, and I answered your question seriously because I thought it was a thoughtful question.

I don't think it's the "dating scene" that is more difficult or that people are more sensitive to things. There are just more people speaking out these days.

And the main issues aren't about someone who says something, offends another person, and then apologizes. If an inadvertent comment sparks a conversation and helps people get to know each other better, that's a good thing, right? The problem is with those who persist in bad behavior and tries to shut down anyone who calls out the behavior.

Just take, for example, the resistance to being told to smile. Men say that they are just trying to be nice, and I do believe that most men believe this. They think that women are so sensitive now they can't even ask for a smile.

Men see this from the perspective of the few times they have said this to a woman. Women, however, view this from the perspective of being *constantly* told that they should be smiling, that men feel they are entitled to tell us what to do because we are apparently pretty objects to be looked at and not much else. Most men experience their side of a seemingly innocent interaction only once in a while. Women are on the other side of it All.The.Time.

It's like your name is John Smith and you are sick and tired of people making a joke about how it's not your real name, because it might be the only time they have made that joke, but it's the 1,568th time that John Smith had heard the joke and it's not even close to being funny anymore.

And the more innocent interactions are only part of the story. What happens if we don't smile? Have you ever been chased down a street or called a ***** because some random stranger wanted you to smile and you didn't? I have. Men don't like to believe this happens, but it does. A lot.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> This conversation is really annoying at best, and is bordering on horrifying.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry.
> 
> If you don't know I was implying part of Revenge of the Nerds.  Not a cinematic classic.  But many thought it was funny.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No, I got the reference, and I also saw the sarcasm dripping from your posts
> 
> What's horrifying is the fact that there are plenty of people who would be saying these things seriously.
> 
> ETA: Just to be clear, I understand that this conversation involves a lot of joking around. It just also involves a lot of ideas that I have also heard from people who were not joking around, and that's the part that makes me a bit twitchy.
> 
> And yes, for the record, when women have conversations like this about men, they annoy me as well.
Click to expand...

As well as you judge all equally ...  (random emoji ... Gary figures some emoji was necessary to punctuate his remark ... just didn't quite know which one ... so he closed his eyes and clicked.)


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr I may have started us down the road, but I actually posed a serious question regarding male/female attraction. Given the current state of affairs, I consider the fact that I've been happily married for 38 years a good thing, because I'm not sure I could survive in the single world of today. I'd be so terrified of doing something or saying something inappropriate that I would likely become a hermit on a mountain top somewhere. It's nice to know that there are at least some asexual characteristics that are still attractive in today's world.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, and I answered your question seriously because I thought it was a thoughtful question.
> 
> I don't think it's the "dating scene" that is more difficult or that people are more sensitive to things. There are just more people speaking out these days.
> 
> And the main issues aren't about someone who says something, offends another person, and then apologizes. If an inadvertent comment sparks a conversation and helps people get to know each other better, that's a good thing, right? The problem is with those who persist in bad behavior and tries to shut down anyone who calls out the behavior.
> 
> Just take, for example, the resistance to being told to smile. Men say that they are just trying to be nice, and I do believe that most men believe this. They think that women are so sensitive now they can't even ask for a smile.
> 
> Men see this from the perspective of the few times they have said this to a woman. Women, however, view this from the perspective of being *constantly* told that they should be smiling, that men feel they are entitled to tell us what to do because we are apparently pretty objects to be looked at and not much else. Most men experience their side of a seemingly innocent interaction only once in a while. Women are on the other side of it All.The.Time.
> 
> It's like your name is John Smith and you are sick and tired of people making a joke about how it's not your real name, because it might be the only time they have made that joke, but it's the 1,568th time that John Smith had heard the joke and it's not even close to being funny anymore.
> 
> And the more innocent interactions are only part of the story. What happens if we don't smile? Have you ever been chased down a street or called a ***** because some random stranger wanted you to smile and you didn't? I have. Men don't like to believe this happens, but it does. A lot.
Click to expand...

Speaking for 'hisself', Gary is a man and Gary never asked a potential date / someone who he wanted to know better / get acquainted ... "to smile".  Gary has never been with male jockular friends that he has overheard them asking a female to 'smile'. Gary think that act to be quite insulting asking a women to perform something even 'mildly intimate' as to smile. For Gary, a smile is a reward, currency and needs to be earned.

Unless you're toting a camera ...


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr I may have started us down the road, but I actually posed a serious question regarding male/female attraction. Given the current state of affairs, I consider the fact that I've been happily married for 38 years a good thing, because I'm not sure I could survive in the single world of today. I'd be so terrified of doing something or saying something inappropriate that I would likely become a hermit on a mountain top somewhere. It's nice to know that there are at least some asexual characteristics that are still attractive in today's world.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, and I answered your question seriously because I thought it was a thoughtful question.
> 
> I don't think it's the "dating scene" that is more difficult or that people are more sensitive to things. There are just more people speaking out these days.
> 
> And the main issues aren't about someone who says something, offends another person, and then apologizes. If an inadvertent comment sparks a conversation and helps people get to know each other better, that's a good thing, right? The problem is with those who persist in bad behavior and tries to shut down anyone who calls out the behavior.
> 
> Just take, for example, the resistance to being told to smile. Men say that they are just trying to be nice, and I do believe that most men believe this. They think that women are so sensitive now they can't even ask for a smile.
> 
> Men see this from the perspective of the few times they have said this to a woman. Women, however, view this from the perspective of being *constantly* told that they should be smiling, that men feel they are entitled to tell us what to do because we are apparently pretty objects to be looked at and not much else. Most men experience their side of a seemingly innocent interaction only once in a while. Women are on the other side of it All.The.Time.
> 
> It's like your name is John Smith and you are sick and tired of people making a joke about how it's not your real name, because it might be the only time they have made that joke, but it's the 1,568th time that John Smith had heard the joke and it's not even close to being funny anymore.
> 
> And the more innocent interactions are only part of the story. What happens if we don't smile? Have you ever been chased down a street or called a ***** because some random stranger wanted you to smile and you didn't? I have. Men don't like to believe this happens, but it does. A lot.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Speaking for 'hisself', Gary is a man and Gary never asked a potential date / someone who he wanted to know better / get acquainted ... "to smile".  Gary has never been with male jockular friends that he has overheard them asking a female to 'smile'. Gary think that act to be quite insulting asking a women to perform something even 'mildly intimate' as to smile. For Gary, a smile is a reward, currency and needs to be earned.
> 
> Unless you're toting a camera ...
Click to expand...


See, this is what I mean. There are a lot of men who have never done this, or only a couple of times in their whole lives, and so it feels reasonable to think that other men have similar thoughts or behaviors. Then it seems as if women are angry about this "all of a sudden." They don't realize that their experiences could be so different from what women experience all the time, and that more men engage in this behavior than they realize. 

"But women used to be okay with this" they think. No, we weren't. We were either too exhausted or too afraid to fight. It's either "It takes less energy right now to just give a quick smile so I'll do it so he'll go away" or "Will this one become violent if I say no? It might be safer if I just give in."


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 149737we are losing and it’s cold
> 
> 
> 
> What is opposite of a win-win ...
Click to expand...


For sure. I have a whole lot of appreciation for my parents from my playing days in high school though. We played in the state championship my junior and senior years, and the games were in the second week of December. Both years, it was bitterly cold during the semis and the finals. As a player, you don't notice much...I was too busy filling gaps and chasing quarterbacks to feel the cold. After last night, I get how cold my parents must have been while watching those games.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Just take, for example, the resistance to being told to smile. M



I CONFESS!!! I've told women AND men to smile, not as an insensitive remark. Nothing irritates me more than to get a person (who is supposed to be working as a customer service representative) and looks like they're p***** off at the world. In the case of talking with a friend male or female who was depressed over something I may have used the word smile, but other than that I don't.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just take, for example, the resistance to being told to smile. M
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I CONFESS!!! I've told women AND men to smile, not as an insensitive remark. Nothing irritates me more than to get a person (who is supposed to be working as a customer service representative) and looks like they're p***** off at the world. In the case of talking with a friend male or female who was depressed over something I may have used the word smile, but other than that I don't.
Click to expand...


And I give you credit for saying it to men as well as women. If the motive is to make someone's mood better, it should apply to both genders. It's also a different thing when you're trying to cheer up someone you actually know.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 149737we are losing and it’s cold
> 
> 
> 
> What is opposite of a win-win ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For sure. I have a whole lot of appreciation for my parents from my playing days in high school though. We played in the state championship my junior and senior years, and the games were in the second week of December. Both years, it was bitterly cold during the semis and the finals. As a player, you don't notice much...I was too busy filling gaps and chasing quarterbacks to feel the cold. After last night, I get how cold my parents must have been while watching those games.
Click to expand...

One year, Gary's high school played Rim of the World High School, located at Lake Arrowhead, cuddled by the 10,000' high San Bernardino Mountains. Snow ... snow, snow ... a few members of the team had never seen snow, even though snow was only 30 minutes away from our little valley in the San Gabriel Mountains. In the first half we were throwing snowballs in the huddle, stuffing snow in the helmet's earholes, seeing how far we could slide on our bellies after receiving a pass, et cetera.  At halftime, coach was all heated up.  We cooled it on the hijinks and in the second half settled down to playing football and freezing our flatlander butts off.  (A frozen ball slapping hard against frozen hands hurts like the ... dickens.)


----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 149737we are losing and it’s cold
> 
> 
> 
> What is opposite of a win-win ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For sure. I have a whole lot of appreciation for my parents from my playing days in high school though. We played in the state championship my junior and senior years, and the games were in the second week of December. Both years, it was bitterly cold during the semis and the finals. As a player, you don't notice much...I was too busy filling gaps and chasing quarterbacks to feel the cold. After last night, I get how cold my parents must have been while watching those games.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> One year, Gary's high school played Rim of the World High School, located at Lake Arrowhead, cuddled by the 10,000' high San Bernardino Mountains. Snow ... snow, snow ... a few members of the team had never seen snow, even though snow was only 30 minutes away from our little valley in the San Gabriel Mountains. In the first half we were throwing snowballs in the huddle, stuffing snow in the helmet's earholes, seeing how far we could slide on our bellies after receiving a pass, et cetera.  At halftime, coach was all heated up.  We cooled it on the hijinks and in the second half settled down to playing football and freezing our flatlander butts off.  (A frozen ball slapping hard against frozen hands hurts like the ... dickens.)
Click to expand...


Even worse when your not on the first team.  And spend 2/3 of the game on the bench.  Have to jump up and down just to see if your legs are still there!  Then in the dead of winter, we would go play hockey out there.  On Purpose!!


----------



## Frank F.

worked for an artist today:






MEN DURI ART


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## benhasajeep

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 149754



Memories of a John Travolta movie comes to mind.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 149754


What is this?


----------



## Gary A.

benhasajeep said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 149754
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Memories of a John Travolta movie comes to mind.
Click to expand...

Not another movie ... (Gary won't take the bait, lol.)


----------



## snowbear




----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 149754
> 
> 
> 
> What is this?
Click to expand...

It's the sequal to Boy in the Bubble.  "Moms in a Bubble".

A game of "Odd one out"?

The fridgid version of musical chairs?


----------



## benhasajeep

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 149754



Portable Shark Tank!     Sorta. 

Took some googling to find it.

Probably a pretty good idea for families out watching other members playing winter sports, or sports in inclement weather.

Under the Weather® Pods - The Original Pop Up Personal Tent


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary have initiated our couch potato recovery program. We are in our reclining loveseat, watching the latest version of the Magnificent 7, eating the last of the panettone and drinking Fresca.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 149754
> 
> 
> 
> What is this?
Click to expand...


The official name is “Something You’ll Never Need in SoCal”


----------



## Gary A.

78F presently.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> 78F presently.



Blech. You can keep it.


----------



## smoke665

Freeze alert for here in the morning.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 78F presently.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Blech. You can keep it.
Click to expand...

And he will. Wonderful! The beach is 70F with no tourists ... Mary Lou and Gary may take a bike ride on the Strand and watch the sun set.


----------



## SquarePeg

Sunset in New England in November lasts from 4:30 - 4:31.


----------



## SquarePeg

__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1826203367521497


----------



## Gary A.

Cats are funny people.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Sunset in New England in November lasts from 4:30 - 4:31.


Lol ... that’s no fun. Usually we park in Sunset Beach then ride and dine in Huntington or ride and dine in Seal. Either way it will be dark on the ride back.  It is a beach bike path so no cars.


----------



## snowbear

After a late start, we made it to Mystic, CT.  Can anyone advise on Christo’s Pizza?


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> After a late start, we made it to Mystic, CT.  Can anyone advise on Christo’s Pizza?



Is that the one in the blue building by the Hampton Inn?

I haven’t been since it changed hands but it used to be pretty decent. There’s also Mango’s in Old Mystic that’s pretty good. 

Depending on how early y’all roll out in the morning, you should try to swing by Clyde’s Cider Mill if you’ve never been.  They still use an old stream press for their apples, and their cider donuts are top notch.


----------



## benhasajeep

SquarePeg said:


> Sunset in New England in November lasts from 4:30 - 4:31.



And she means AM     At least it seems like it.  Go to work it's dark, drive home and it's dark!  Though not as bad as Barrow though.


----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 78F presently.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Blech. You can keep it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And he will. Wonderful! The beach is 70F with no tourists ... Mary Lou and Gary may take a bike ride on the Strand and watch the sun set.
Click to expand...

70 in my hotel room.


----------



## JonA_CT

benhasajeep said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sunset in New England in November lasts from 4:30 - 4:31.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And she means AM     At least it seems like it.  Go to work it's dark, drive home and it's dark!  Though not as bad as Barrow though.
Click to expand...


Barrow is nuts. 65 days with no sunlight.


----------



## benhasajeep

JonA_CT said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sunset in New England in November lasts from 4:30 - 4:31.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And she means AM     At least it seems like it.  Go to work it's dark, drive home and it's dark!  Though not as bad as Barrow though.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Barrow is nuts. 65 days with no sunlight.
Click to expand...

But think of the summers.  All that sun.  And daily average high of 47.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> After a late start, we made it to Mystic, CT.  Can anyone advise on Christo’s Pizza?



I know it’s a tourist trap these days but I love the Greek style pizza at Mystic Pizza for a change of pace from traditional Italian style.


----------



## davidharmier60

Trish did not know for sure but thought I have Thursday off. So instead of a 2day I'll have a 3day 4am wake up.

So good night to you all!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> After a late start, we made it to Mystic, CT.  Can anyone advise on Christo’s Pizza?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know it’s a tourist trap these days but I love the Greek style pizza at Mystic Pizza for a change of pace from traditional Italian style.
Click to expand...


Do you have Greek pizza places up there? We probably like one of the NYC-style places here in NL better, but we get pizza from a Greek place more often, because it's still tasty and significantly cheaper.


----------



## benhasajeep

North End is real Italian and you can't beat it!!


----------



## JonA_CT

Baby boy will be 3 months old in a couple days. He's been getting really good at holding himself up on his arms, so it was cool to get these pictures.

The little guy is dealing with some Eczema. This was a quick and dirty edit for tonight. I'll have to sit down at some point and pull it into to PS to do some retouching.


----------



## jcdeboever

Derrel said:


> This might be the video clip that launched my voice fanclub among a small subset of brilliant, witty, and amazing TPF members...


I don't get the attraction other than talking film which is a little naughty....


----------



## terri

Talking film with @Derrel's voice _is_ a little naughty.    The man has skillz.

I think it's time for another video!


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> View attachment 149774
> 
> Baby boy will be 3 months old in a couple days. He's been getting really good at holding himself up on his arms, so it was cool to get these pictures.
> 
> The little guy is dealing with some Eczema. This was a quick and dirty edit for tonight. I'll have to sit down at some point and pull it into to PS to do some retouching.


Baby boy is looking healthy and happy.  I can't help grinning right back at him, he's so cute.   Lots of babies get mild skin eruptions; they eventually clear up. 

Great picture!


----------



## benhasajeep

JonA_CT said:


> View attachment 149774
> 
> Baby boy will be 3 months old in a couple days. He's been getting really good at holding himself up on his arms, so it was cool to get these pictures.
> 
> The little guy is dealing with some Eczema. This was a quick and dirty edit for tonight. I'll have to sit down at some point and pull it into to PS to do some retouching.



That's either great timing, or the he's just like play doh and he stays where you put him.   hahaha  Big happy smile.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> After a late start, we made it to Mystic, CT.  Can anyone advise on Christo’s Pizza?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know it’s a tourist trap these days but I love the Greek style pizza at Mystic Pizza for a change of pace from traditional Italian style.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Do you have Greek pizza places up there? We probably like one of the NYC-style places here in NL better, but we get pizza from a Greek place more often, because it's still tasty and significantly cheaper.
Click to expand...


We do but usually order from the Italian place down the street. 



benhasajeep said:


> North End is real Italian and you can't beat it!!



Pizza Regina - the original in the N. End, not the chain restaurant in the malls, has the best pizza around here but, NY pizza is still hands down the best pizza.  I like that place Johns that’s inside what looks like an old church.  It’s a little outside Times Sq. 

The only place I’ve ever found outside of NY that had truly great NY style pizza was this little place in Santa Barbara called Uncle Rocco’s NY Pizza.  Greasy crispy goodness!


----------



## benhasajeep

jcdeboever said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> This might be the video clip that launched my voice fanclub among a small subset of brilliant, witty, and amazing TPF members...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't get the attraction other than talking film which is a little naughty....
Click to expand...

With the hype I was expecting James Earl Jones, Dan Castellaneta, or Mel Blanc.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> View attachment 149774
> 
> Baby boy will be 3 months old in a couple days. He's been getting really good at holding himself up on his arms, so it was cool to get these pictures.
> 
> The little guy is dealing with some Eczema. This was a quick and dirty edit for tonight. I'll have to sit down at some point and pull it into to PS to do some retouching.



Adorable!


----------



## benhasajeep

Funny Pizza story.  First week I was at college in the dorms.  Another new guy clearly from the east coast came up to me and asked if I wanted to go in half on a pie.    It was about 8:30 or so, and I was like yea I like pie.    Thinking that's pretty wierd to share a pie.  And I was thinking to myself are we going to eat half a pie each?   I did have a mini fridge, but nothing to wrap anything up.

So, we head into town and he points out a take out place that does quite a few different things.  I was like yea ok.  So, we walk in and he goes what do you like on your pie.  And I am thinking to myself, what does he mean on my pie, like whipped cream?   And I don't even see pie on the menu board.  

And then he goes, I like burger and onions.  Hahaha right then it hit me.  He was talking Pizza the whole time.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Isn't sex with attractive people some form of "goodness" ...?



Oh my goodness!


----------



## JonA_CT

Morning, hosers. 

I'm off today because my cousin from Oakland was in the area this weekend and wanted to stop in to meet Jack. I've used the time this morning to get some papers graded, and to work on culling the photo set from yesterday from the 78 that I downloaded to the 15 that I'll actually edit. Working on global edits and cropping this morning -- more serious photoshop work from where I effed up will have to wait. (flash reflections in the windows, backgrounds that weren't clean, etc). 

Then, I have to work tomorrow, and I'm off for the rest of the week. It's nice (and I'm fortunate) to be able to spend the time with family.


----------



## SquarePeg

One day work week?  Why even bother lol.  Good for you.  Ok I’m sure the kids will be thrilled with the extra daddy time.  

I’m in the office at the beginning of this week for some FTF meetings then working from home Wednesday and off the rest of the week.  

I have some desserts and apps to make for Thanksgiving dinner.  Baked Brie in a pastry with apples (if I can find the recipe I used last time).  Black and White Chocolate Mousse cake for the non pie eaters and Throw Everything in There cookie bars for the teenagers and little ones.


----------



## snowbear

We ended up at Frank’s Gormet Grill, next to the hotel. We were extremely  satisfied.

Back on the road after a brief stop In downtown Mystic.  I took a couple shots with the DSLR so I’ll post tonight.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> View attachment 149774
> 
> Baby boy will be 3 months old in a couple days. He's been getting really good at holding himself up on his arms, so it was cool to get these pictures.
> 
> The little guy is dealing with some Eczema. This was a quick and dirty edit for tonight. I'll have to sit down at some point and pull it into to PS to do some retouching.


Good Timing on the kid pix.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It was 51F this morning as I headed off to work.  (Gary's early day.) It should warn up to a balmy 76F.  We have a problem with Miss Maggie ... a pee problem.  She gets so excited greeting new people and so happy to see Mary Lou or Gary upon our return or even get out of bed ... her whole body is moving and shaking and her little tail is moving so fast that it becomes invisible ... then she uncontrollably pees.  Poor little girl ... no big deal on the wooden floors, but the carpets are a bit more problematic.  Now, when Mary Lou and Gary return home, we enter through the side gate and call Maggie out to the patio ... where we can easily hose away her excitement. Now Mary Lou want me to call before entering through the front, to give her time to secure Maggie May in the back, away from the carpets. Gary knows, that with time, Miss Maggie will have greater bladder control and we become less exciting, that the problem will go away.  But for now  ... we have a puppy.


----------



## Frank F.

snowbear said:


> We ended up at Frank’s Gormet Grill, next to the hotel. We were extremely  satisfied.



It was a pleasure serving exceptional guest like you


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> After a late start, we made it to Mystic, CT.  Can anyone advise on Christo’s Pizza?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is that the one in the blue building by the Hampton Inn?
> 
> I haven’t been since it changed hands but it used to be pretty decent. There’s also Mango’s in Old Mystic that’s pretty good.
> 
> Depending on how early y’all roll out in the morning, you should try to swing by Clyde’s Cider Mill if you’ve never been.  They still use an old stream press for their apples, and their cider donuts are top notch.
Click to expand...

We were at the Residence Inn and it was across the road. Honestly didn’t see what it was next to.

The waitress at Franks told us about Clyde’s so we stopped on the way out; grabbed a couple tourist wines and can see for TG dinner.  We might stop back on return run, depending on the details of a meetup I‘ve been working on for a year or so.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> After a late start, we made it to Mystic, CT.  Can anyone advise on Christo’s Pizza?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know it’s a tourist trap these days but I love the Greek style pizza at Mystic Pizza for a change of pace from traditional Italian style.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Do you have Greek pizza places up there? We probably like one of the NYC-style places here in NL better, but we get pizza from a Greek place more often, because it's still tasty and significantly cheaper.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We do but usually order from the Italian place down the street.
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> North End is real Italian and you can't beat it!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Pizza Regina - the original in the N. End, not the chain restaurant in the malls, has the best pizza around here but, NY pizza is still hands down the best pizza.  I like that place Johns that’s inside what looks like an old church.  It’s a little outside Times Sq.
> 
> The only place I’ve ever found outside of NY that had truly great NY style pizza was this little place in Santa Barbara called Uncle Rocco’s NY Pizza.  Greasy crispy goodness!
Click to expand...

We found a gormet place near Broadway that we liked - Jon’s.


----------



## benhasajeep

Frank F. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We ended up at Frank’s Gormet Grill, next to the hotel. We were extremely  satisfied.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was a pleasure serving exceptional guest like you
Click to expand...

 Do you recommend the Jaeger Schnitzel??


----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It was 51F this morning as I headed off to work.  (Gary's early day.) It should warn up to a balmy 76F.  We have a problem with Miss Maggie ... a pee problem.  She gets so excited greeting new people and so happy to see Mary Lou or Gary upon our return or even get out of bed ... her whole body is moving and shaking and her little tail is moving so fast that it becomes invisible ... then she uncontrollably pees.  Poor little girl ... no big deal on the wooden floors, but the carpets are a bit more problematic.  Now, when Mary Lou and Gary return home, we enter through the side gate and call Maggie out to the patio ... where we can easily hose away her excitement. Now Mary Lou want me to call before entering through the front, to give her time to secure Maggie May in the back, away from the carpets. Gary knows, that with time, Miss Maggie will have greater bladder control and we become less exciting, that the problem will go away.  But for now  ... we have a puppy.



We have an 11 year old Austrailian Koolie.  She gets too excited sometimes when I get home from a trip.  So, she gets let out the door before I head inside.  It's not all the time she does it.  But just sometime I think she needs to empty the bladder anyway.  And then gets all excited and can't hold it.


----------



## snowbear

Waving at @SquarePeg.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It was 51F this morning as I headed off to work.  (Gary's early day.) It should warn up to a balmy 76F.  We have a problem with Miss Maggie ... a pee problem.  She gets so excited greeting new people and so happy to see Mary Lou or Gary upon our return or even get out of bed ... her whole body is moving and shaking and her little tail is moving so fast that it becomes invisible ... then she uncontrollably pees.  Poor little girl ... no big deal on the wooden floors, but the carpets are a bit more problematic.  Now, when Mary Lou and Gary return home, we enter through the side gate and call Maggie out to the patio ... where we can easily hose away her excitement. Now Mary Lou want me to call before entering through the front, to give her time to secure Maggie May in the back, away from the carpets. Gary knows, that with time, Miss Maggie will have greater bladder control and we become less exciting, that the problem will go away.  But for now  ... we have a puppy.



I believe I saw on Dog Whisperer that the correct way to train away from the “excited to see you potty” was to not greet the dog until she was calm and sitting.  



snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> After a late start, we made it to Mystic, CT.  Can anyone advise on Christo’s Pizza?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know it’s a tourist trap these days but I love the Greek style pizza at Mystic Pizza for a change of pace from traditional Italian style.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Do you have Greek pizza places up there? We probably like one of the NYC-style places here in NL better, but we get pizza from a Greek place more often, because it's still tasty and significantly cheaper.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We do but usually order from the Italian place down the street.
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> North End is real Italian and you can't beat it!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Pizza Regina - the original in the N. End, not the chain restaurant in the malls, has the best pizza around here but, NY pizza is still hands down the best pizza.  I like that place Johns that’s inside what looks like an old church.  It’s a little outside Times Sq.
> 
> The only place I’ve ever found outside of NY that had truly great NY style pizza was this little place in Santa Barbara called Uncle Rocco’s NY Pizza.  Greasy crispy goodness!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We found a gormet place near Broadway that we liked - Jon’s.
Click to expand...


Probably the same place.


----------



## snowbear

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> After a late start, we made it to Mystic, CT.  Can anyone advise on Christo’s Pizza?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know it’s a tourist trap these days but I love the Greek style pizza at Mystic Pizza for a change of pace from traditional Italian style.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Do you have Greek pizza places up there? We probably like one of the NYC-style places here in NL better, but we get pizza from a Greek place more often, because it's still tasty and significantly cheaper.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We do but usually order from the Italian place down the street.
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> North End is real Italian and you can't beat it!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Pizza Regina - the original in the N. End, not the chain restaurant in the malls, has the best pizza around here but, NY pizza is still hands down the best pizza.  I like that place Johns that’s inside what looks like an old church.  It’s a little outside Times Sq.
> 
> The only place I’ve ever found outside of NY that had truly great NY style pizza was this little place in Santa Barbara called Uncle Rocco’s NY Pizza.  Greasy crispy goodness!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We found a gormet place near Broadway that we liked - Also John’s.
Click to expand...


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It was 51F this morning as I headed off to work.  (Gary's early day.) It should warn up to a balmy 76F.  We have a problem with Miss Maggie ... a pee problem.  She gets so excited greeting new people and so happy to see Mary Lou or Gary upon our return or even get out of bed ... her whole body is moving and shaking and her little tail is moving so fast that it becomes invisible ... then she uncontrollably pees.  Poor little girl ... no big deal on the wooden floors, but the carpets are a bit more problematic.  Now, when Mary Lou and Gary return home, we enter through the side gate and call Maggie out to the patio ... where we can easily hose away her excitement. Now Mary Lou want me to call before entering through the front, to give her time to secure Maggie May in the back, away from the carpets. Gary knows, that with time, Miss Maggie will have greater bladder control and we become less exciting, that the problem will go away.  But for now  ... we have a puppy.



It's called "Happy Wiz". Not sure she'll grow out of it, more of a behavioral issue, that might need some work to resolve.


----------



## vintagesnaps

If Frank's and Clyde's teamed up into one restaurant it could be called Fryde's, and they could serve all fried foods. 

I think it might be my brain that's fried. A beautiful crisp fall morning and an idiotic call woke me early for nothing; dozed off then another worthless call so I got up feeling less than refreshed and ready to toss the phone out the window. Other than that, nothing much going on.


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon peeps (can't call you hosers).
Dave had 4 minutes under 5.5 hours. 
A bit of excitement (and groan/eyeroll from Trish) when plastic chunks came out from under the buffer and then the idler pulley that keeps the belt tight disintegrated. At least it didn't throw the pad. I did get the floor machine to be slightly less liquid producing. 

The second bank in town said no trading out pennies anymore. Sigh.
As far as she knew I can still buy a box of pennies. Will test that theory after work tomorrow. 

Later gators!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> If Frank's and Clyde's teamed up into one restaurant it could be called Fryde's, and they could serve all fried foods.
> 
> I think it might be my brain that's fried. A beautiful crisp fall morning and an idiotic call woke me early for nothing; dozed off then another worthless call so I got up feeling less than refreshed and ready to toss the phone out the window. Other than that, nothing much going on.



I keep our ringer off for the landline and my cell goes on Do Not Disturb from 11pm until the 6am unless Princess is not Home.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It was 51F this morning as I headed off to work.  (Gary's early day.) It should warn up to a balmy 76F.  We have a problem with Miss Maggie ... a pee problem.  She gets so excited greeting new people and so happy to see Mary Lou or Gary upon our return or even get out of bed ... her whole body is moving and shaking and her little tail is moving so fast that it becomes invisible ... then she uncontrollably pees.  Poor little girl ... no big deal on the wooden floors, but the carpets are a bit more problematic.  Now, when Mary Lou and Gary return home, we enter through the side gate and call Maggie out to the patio ... where we can easily hose away her excitement. Now Mary Lou want me to call before entering through the front, to give her time to secure Maggie May in the back, away from the carpets. Gary knows, that with time, Miss Maggie will have greater bladder control and we become less exciting, that the problem will go away.  But for now  ... we have a puppy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I believe I saw on Dog Whisperer that the correct way to train away from the “excited to see you potty” was to not greet the dog until she was calm and sitting.
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> After a late start, we made it to Mystic, CT.  Can anyone advise on Christo’s Pizza?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I know it’s a tourist trap these days but I love the Greek style pizza at Mystic Pizza for a change of pace from traditional Italian style.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Do you have Greek pizza places up there? We probably like one of the NYC-style places here in NL better, but we get pizza from a Greek place more often, because it's still tasty and significantly cheaper.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We do but usually order from the Italian place down the street.
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> North End is real Italian and you can't beat it!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Pizza Regina - the original in the N. End, not the chain restaurant in the malls, has the best pizza around here but, NY pizza is still hands down the best pizza.  I like that place Johns that’s inside what looks like an old church.  It’s a little outside Times Sq.
> 
> The only place I’ve ever found outside of NY that had truly great NY style pizza was this little place in Santa Barbara called Uncle Rocco’s NY Pizza.  Greasy crispy goodness!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We found a gormet place near Broadway that we liked - Jon’s.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Probably the same place.
Click to expand...

She is always calm and sitting ... before she sees us or a guest. Then she becomes excited and pee-ing.


----------



## Gary A.

benhasajeep said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It was 51F this morning as I headed off to work.  (Gary's early day.) It should warn up to a balmy 76F.  We have a problem with Miss Maggie ... a pee problem.  She gets so excited greeting new people and so happy to see Mary Lou or Gary upon our return or even get out of bed ... her whole body is moving and shaking and her little tail is moving so fast that it becomes invisible ... then she uncontrollably pees.  Poor little girl ... no big deal on the wooden floors, but the carpets are a bit more problematic.  Now, when Mary Lou and Gary return home, we enter through the side gate and call Maggie out to the patio ... where we can easily hose away her excitement. Now Mary Lou want me to call before entering through the front, to give her time to secure Maggie May in the back, away from the carpets. Gary knows, that with time, Miss Maggie will have greater bladder control and we become less exciting, that the problem will go away.  But for now  ... we have a puppy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We have an 11 year old Austrailian Koolie.  She gets too excited sometimes when I get home from a trip.  So, she gets let out the door before I head inside.  It's not all the time she does it.  But just sometime I think she needs to empty the bladder anyway.  And then gets all excited and can't hold it.
Click to expand...

We have doggie doors ... so we do call her to the back when we leave either singularly or together. I think she'll grow out of it.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It was 51F this morning as I headed off to work.  (Gary's early day.) It should warn up to a balmy 76F.  We have a problem with Miss Maggie ... a pee problem.  She gets so excited greeting new people and so happy to see Mary Lou or Gary upon our return or even get out of bed ... her whole body is moving and shaking and her little tail is moving so fast that it becomes invisible ... then she uncontrollably pees.  Poor little girl ... no big deal on the wooden floors, but the carpets are a bit more problematic.  Now, when Mary Lou and Gary return home, we enter through the side gate and call Maggie out to the patio ... where we can easily hose away her excitement. Now Mary Lou want me to call before entering through the front, to give her time to secure Maggie May in the back, away from the carpets. Gary knows, that with time, Miss Maggie will have greater bladder control and we become less exciting, that the problem will go away.  But for now  ... we have a puppy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's called "Happy Wiz". Not sure she'll grow out of it, more of a behavioral issue, that might need some work to resolve.
Click to expand...

See above.


----------



## benhasajeep

vintagesnaps said:


> If Frank's and Clyde's teamed up into one restaurant it could be called Fryde's, and they could serve all fried foods.
> 
> I think it might be my brain that's fried. A beautiful crisp fall morning and an idiotic call woke me early for nothing; dozed off then another worthless call so I got up feeling less than refreshed and ready to toss the phone out the window. Other than that, nothing much going on.


Maybe 20 years ago I was roaming around down in Alabama.  I went down to Dauphin Island.  Went to see the fort.  Got hungry and decided to get some real food.  So I found a seafood resturant, and thought to myself.  That should be pretty good.  So, I go in there and the waitress handed me the menu and said they had a buffet.  So, I look at the menu, and look, and look.  She comes back and asks if I am ready.  I reply no not yet.  I keep looking at the menu, and looking.  She comes back again, and asks if I was ready again.  I then had to ask.  Is there anything not fried?  She thought for a little bit.  And she finally said no.  Everything is fried.  I stayed and had some platter.  But litterally everything on the plate was fried.


----------



## Frank F.

benhasajeep said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We ended up at Frank’s Gormet Grill, next to the hotel. We were extremely  satisfied.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was a pleasure serving exceptional guest like you
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Do you recommend the Jaeger Schnitzel??
Click to expand...



if you prepare it yourself use fresh herbs, tarragon, rosemary, sea salt, ground black pepper, lemon cest for the mushroom topping and good cream of the fatty kind. If you can afford the best pasture finished veal ...


----------



## Frank F.

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> After a late start, we made it to Mystic, CT.  Can anyone advise on Christo’s Pizza?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know it’s a tourist trap these days but I love the Greek style pizza at Mystic Pizza for a change of pace from traditional Italian style.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Do you have Greek pizza places up there? We probably like one of the NYC-style places here in NL better, but we get pizza from a Greek place more often, because it's still tasty and significantly cheaper.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We do but usually order from the Italian place down the street.
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> North End is real Italian and you can't beat it!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Pizza Regina - the original in the N. End, not the chain restaurant in the malls, has the best pizza around here but, NY pizza is still hands down the best pizza.  I like that place Johns that’s inside what looks like an old church.  It’s a little outside Times Sq.
> 
> The only place I’ve ever found outside of NY that had truly great NY style pizza was this little place in Santa Barbara called Uncle Rocco’s NY Pizza.  Greasy crispy goodness!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We found a gormet place near Broadway that we liked - Jon’s.
Click to expand...


i found a Gourmet place in Fresno. A Danny's. The parking lot was full of junkies and junkies ate and probably also cooked there. Great skillet full of fresh veggies, fresh herbs, fine oil, juicy meat .... fair prices ... but park your car in sight and watchwatw ....

admins: There is one ad that sucks all the site into one black blinking. unusable

....watch your wallet


----------



## benhasajeep

Frank F. said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We ended up at Frank’s Gormet Grill, next to the hotel. We were extremely  satisfied.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was a pleasure serving exceptional guest like you
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Do you recommend the Jaeger Schnitzel??
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> if you prepare it yourself use fresh herbs, tarragon, rosemary, sea salt, ground black pepper, lemon cest for the mushroom topping and good cream of the fatty kind. If you can afford the best pasture finished veal ...
Click to expand...


I was hoping Frank's seved it.  Not cooked at our house due to mushroms, or I would have it too often.  I have only found it a couple places in the US that does it any justice.  Favorite so far is "The Corner Steakhouse" in Raunheim.


----------



## Frank F.

there are lots of jobs open in Germany, my newspaper tells me. No trouble for US asylum seekers here


----------



## davidharmier60

What sort of person (using the term person  pretty loosely) takes something refrigerated and semi hides it in the cereal isle? Of course it was ruined.
I prefer to think of them as a**holes.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

benhasajeep said:


> But litterally everything on the plate was fried.



Well duh!!!! You were in Alabama, a place where the food is either fried or BBQ'd, the tea is sweet, and the entertainment is college football. If none of those appeal to you then, might want to consider another stop!


----------



## benhasajeep

smoke665 said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> But litterally everything on the plate was fried.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well duh!!!! You were in Alabama, a place where the food is either fried or BBQ'd, the tea is sweet, and the entertainment is college football. If none of those appeal to you then, might want to consider another stop!
Click to expand...

I don't know, I have had some really good crawfish and boudin from a place just outside Mobile on hwy 90 (till the huricane blew them away).  Another place just down the road, had some very good Shrimp florentine.  Fresh oysters on the half shell too.


----------



## smoke665

@benhasajeep I've deviated a few times  I can't tell you how many washtubs of raw oysters I've downed over the years. Though I've kind of lost my taste for them in recent times. Several years ago, we had an "all you could eat" oysters on the half shell restaurant in Gadsden. Loved that place, till a few people got sick, couple almost died from the contaminated oysters. Now they're all pasteurized, wish is safe supposedly, but for some reason they just don't taste the same. Will be in Biloxi the end of December, they have the equivalent of  a "farmers market for boats", right on the gulf where you can buy seafood fresh off the boats.  Will probably overindulge


----------



## orf

smoke665 said:


> @benhasajeepthey have the equivalent of  a "farmers market for boats", right on the gulf where you can buy seafood fresh off the boats.



An interesting concept.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@Gary A. Our female boxer had the " excited to see you " problem your pup does. Our vet told us to open the door and have her come outside before we pet or acknowledge her. She soon outgrew the problem and we have never had the problem with her since. Patience and praise when she finally gets over it will do wonders.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Did anyone else ponder the meaning of losing Della Reese ( the epitome of things good and kind ), and evil incarnate ( Manson ) on the same date?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Will be in Biloxi the end of December, they have the equivalent of a "farmers market for boats", right on the gulf where you can buy seafood fresh off the boats.



I spent 6 months in technical training school at Keesler AFB in Biloxi back in the early 80's and still remember what a great time it was when they had the " Blessing of the Fleet " in the spring there. Fresh seafood everywhere!


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## smoke665

@Dean_Gretsch I doubt you'd recognize it now since casino gambling became legal. It has really grown.


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## benhasajeep

smoke665 said:


> @benhasajeep I've deviated a few times  I can't tell you how many washtubs of raw oysters I've downed over the years. Though I've kind of lost my taste for them in recent times. Several years ago, we had an "all you could eat" oysters on the half shell restaurant in Gadsden. Loved that place, till a few people got sick, couple almost died from the contaminated oysters. Now they're all pasteurized, wish is safe supposedly, but for some reason they just don't taste the same. Will be in Biloxi the end of December, they have the equivalent of  a "farmers market for boats", right on the gulf where you can buy seafood fresh off the boats.  Will probably overindulge



I was in Atlanta when a resturant called Spondivits killed a lady with bad raw oysters.  I actually was eating across the street that day.  They had a bad refridgerator and didn't do anything about it.  Was only cooling to 48 degrees or something like that.  And apparently they knew it.  I don't think I have had any since then.


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## JonA_CT

benhasajeep said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @benhasajeep I've deviated a few times  I can't tell you how many washtubs of raw oysters I've downed over the years. Though I've kind of lost my taste for them in recent times. Several years ago, we had an "all you could eat" oysters on the half shell restaurant in Gadsden. Loved that place, till a few people got sick, couple almost died from the contaminated oysters. Now they're all pasteurized, wish is safe supposedly, but for some reason they just don't taste the same. Will be in Biloxi the end of December, they have the equivalent of  a "farmers market for boats", right on the gulf where you can buy seafood fresh off the boats.  Will probably overindulge
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was in Atlanta when a resturant called Spondivits killed a lady with bad raw oysters.  I actually was eating across the street that day.  They had a bad refridgerator and didn't do anything about it.  Was only cooling to 48 degrees or something like that.  And apparently they knew it.  I don't think I have had any since then.
Click to expand...


We get oysters right off the coast here, and I only normally eat them if they were brought in the same day. I do watch people go to the casino buffets and down them by the dozen, and that skeeves me out.


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## Gary A.

benhasajeep said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @benhasajeep I've deviated a few times  I can't tell you how many washtubs of raw oysters I've downed over the years. Though I've kind of lost my taste for them in recent times. Several years ago, we had an "all you could eat" oysters on the half shell restaurant in Gadsden. Loved that place, till a few people got sick, couple almost died from the contaminated oysters. Now they're all pasteurized, wish is safe supposedly, but for some reason they just don't taste the same. Will be in Biloxi the end of December, they have the equivalent of  a "farmers market for boats", right on the gulf where you can buy seafood fresh off the boats.  Will probably overindulge
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was in Atlanta when a resturant called Spondivits killed a lady with bad raw oysters.  I actually was eating across the street that day.  They had a bad refridgerator and didn't do anything about it.  Was only cooling to 48 degrees or something like that.  And apparently they knew it.  I don't think I have had any since then.
Click to expand...

When Gary was living in Korea, a report came across the news that people were dying from eating shellfish served from street carts.  After work, Gary meet up with business associates in front of their office building.  We started walking down the street discussing dinner options when they started wolfing down shellfish from street carts. Gary is thinking ... If Gary heard/read/figured out the news with his extremely limited Korean language skills ... how could you people not know of the impending death being rolled down this sweltering Seoul street. ... Gary refused to partake in the appetizers and directed the party to a walk-in eatery.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @benhasajeep I've deviated a few times  I can't tell you how many washtubs of raw oysters I've downed over the years. Though I've kind of lost my taste for them in recent times. Several years ago, we had an "all you could eat" oysters on the half shell restaurant in Gadsden. Loved that place, till a few people got sick, couple almost died from the contaminated oysters. Now they're all pasteurized, wish is safe supposedly, but for some reason they just don't taste the same. Will be in Biloxi the end of December, they have the equivalent of  a "farmers market for boats", right on the gulf where you can buy seafood fresh off the boats.  Will probably overindulge
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was in Atlanta when a resturant called Spondivits killed a lady with bad raw oysters.  I actually was eating across the street that day.  They had a bad refridgerator and didn't do anything about it.  Was only cooling to 48 degrees or something like that.  And apparently they knew it.  I don't think I have had any since then.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We get oysters right off the coast here, and I only normally eat them if they were brought in the same day. I do watch people go to the casino buffets and down them by the dozen, and that skeeves me out.
Click to expand...

Gary has such fond memories, eating oysters, sipping wine with associates on the banks of the Seine.  In summer we hit that restaurant about once a week, oysters, wine and good conversations. There will always be Paris.


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## tirediron

benhasajeep said:


> ...killed a lady with bad raw oysters.  .


There is a reason man invented fire!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @benhasajeep I've deviated a few times  I can't tell you how many washtubs of raw oysters I've downed over the years. Though I've kind of lost my taste for them in recent times. Several years ago, we had an "all you could eat" oysters on the half shell restaurant in Gadsden. Loved that place, till a few people got sick, couple almost died from the contaminated oysters. Now they're all pasteurized, wish is safe supposedly, but for some reason they just don't taste the same. Will be in Biloxi the end of December, they have the equivalent of  a "farmers market for boats", right on the gulf where you can buy seafood fresh off the boats.  Will probably overindulge
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was in Atlanta when a resturant called Spondivits killed a lady with bad raw oysters.  I actually was eating across the street that day.  They had a bad refridgerator and didn't do anything about it.  Was only cooling to 48 degrees or something like that.  And apparently they knew it.  I don't think I have had any since then.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We get oysters right off the coast here, and I only normally eat them if they were brought in the same day. I do watch people go to the casino buffets and down them by the dozen, and that skeeves me out.
Click to expand...

Commercial oysters out here come from Northern California’s Tomales Bay.


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## smoke665

@Gary A. My "fond memories" of downing oysters is more on the order of a redneck establishment called the Flora-Bama on the gulf coast. The wines of the day were several pitchers of the draft specials of the day, and the entertainment was some of the best country music around. After a night of indulgence in large quantities of both beer and oysters, it wasn't unusual to experience severe gastrointestinal distress and a banging headache for several hours the next day. Probably bad oysters even back then


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## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary took Miss Maggie out for a second walk in the late afternoon. We were assuming the extra miles would wear out our little puppy.  Apparently, Maggie hooked up with a dope dealer when we weren’t looking and scored some meth ... she is nuts ... Gary recognizes that a terrier is high energy ... but she is beyond simple high energy ... she is nuts.

OMG ... Miss Maggie brought in a pebble from the back and is rolling around on the carpet chewing a rock.


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## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Commercial oysters out here come from Northern California’s Tomales Bay.



Between the bacteria, the BP  oil spill,  and now the threat of contracting flesh eating  bacteria,  I'm not sure I would eat any gulf coast oysters unless they were charred to a bbq bricquet level.


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## Gary A.

What kind of dog chews on rocks.  She has a ton of toys and chewies ... but noooo ... she’d rather eat rocks.


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## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary have this reclinable love seat and Maggie will crawl under when the seats are extended. Mary Lou is suspicious that Maggie is up to no good when she’s under the furniture.  Mary Lou just took a peak and said “... she’s making a fort down there.” MAry Lou found a collection of all kinds of stuff which has been squirreled away under the furniture.


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## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. My "fond memories" of downing oysters is more on the order of a redneck establishment called the Flora-Bama on the gulf coast. The wines of the day were several pitchers of the draft specials of the day, and the entertainment was some of the best country music around. After a night of indulgence in large quantities of both beer and oysters, it wasn't unusual to experience severe gastrointestinal distress and a banging headache for several hours the next day. Probably bad oysters even back then


Probably a toss up between bad shine or bad oysters ... maybe a combo of both.


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## Gary A.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh .... nobody make a peep .... Gary thinks Miss Maggie may be out for the count.


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## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 149820 Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh .... nobody make a peep .... Gary thinks Miss Maggie may be out for the count.


Until you move!


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## Gary A.

Mum’s the word ...


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## Gary A.

She recharging her batteries.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 149820 Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh .... nobody make a peep .... Gary thinks Miss Maggie may be out for the count.


Miz Maggie's fert imitation!


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## davidharmier60

Miss Maggie has a bit too much hair and is not contorted enough to really resemble a fert... 

It's 4:24am CST. Where are your kids?

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## JonA_CT

I had the worst substitute in my classes yesterday.

Which makes my one day of work this week even more annoying.


----------



## SquarePeg

When I was in school subs were little more than babysitters. Have the expectations changed?  From hearing Princess and her friends they usually are just given time to do homework or study.


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## smoke665

@Gary A. We have a certain designated smack drawer in our kitchen, where we store all the goodies. We've found with all our fur babies that they can be dead to the world on another floor, and no matter "how sneaky" we are there is no way to open the cabinet doors and get the drawer open, before you have doggies watching you!!!


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## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> When I was in school subs were little more than babysitters. Have the expectations changed?  From hearing Princess and her friends they usually are just given time to do homework or study.



Yeah, I'm supposed to leave something substantive for them to work on. I didn't even bother trying yesterday, and she still messed it up. But...a warm body is fine, I guess. If she didn't come in, I would have had colleagues covering my class all day.


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## davidharmier60

Dave can't remember back to school and substitutes and such.
Dave did 3.75 hours today.
He is giving the bank time to open and get situated. 

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## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. We have a certain designated smack drawer in our kitchen, where we store all the goodies. We've found with all our fur babies that they can be dead to the world on another floor, and no matter "how sneaky" we are there is no way to open the cabinet doors and get the drawer open, before you have doggies watching you!!!


You gotta love it.

This morning, while at the sink working on some dishes, Gary heard Miss Maggie burst through the doggie door, run into the kitchen and then smacked him in the butt with both paws.  A fine "How do you do!" this morning.


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## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave can't remember back to school and substitutes and such.
> Dave did 3.75 hours today.
> He is giving the bank time to open and get situated.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Hey, as we're talking dog this morning.  How the hell did you acquire nine dogs?  That's a herd.


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## davidharmier60

Puppies. Strays. Etc.

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## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The sun is out early, there isn't any gray overcast in the sky.  56F presently, and it is projected to hit 80F today. "Come on", Gary thinks to 'hisself' ... this is Thanksgiving and were in the 80's. Not that Gary is opposed to 80F ... but this isn't summer ... it's Thanksgiving. *sigh*


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Puppies. Strays. Etc.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Come, come Dave ... more details ... enquiring people wanna know.  What puppies? Who's puppies.  Did the strays find you or did you find the strays.  Don't you think nine is too many ... or not enough?


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## Gary A.

Miss Maggie par-teed last night.


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## Gary A.

Gary has been hanging around the forum too much.  He may/did get infected by Peg. Yesterday while shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond ... looking for nothing more than some silicone handles for pot and pans ... Mary Lou said "Gary, these are you ...". Gary came home with a set of dinnerware.


----------



## terri

Odin used to like a party.....


----------



## terri

....and he wasn't a puppy when he partied like this!   At least you can keep reminding yourself that Maggie is still learning how to be a good dog.   

Odin figured, "Meh.   They still love me!"


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Odin used to like a party.....
> 
> View attachment 149833


Gary calls that recycling.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Gary has been hanging around the forum too much.  He may/did get infected by Peg. Yesterday while shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond ... looking for nothing more than some silicone handles for pot and pans ... Mary Lou said "Gary, these are you ...". Gary came home with a set of dinnerware.



pics!


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## Gary A.

Gary is now scouring Amazon making sure there isn't anything 'more' Gary-like in dinnerware.


----------



## JonA_CT

I've been grounded from Amazon after some recent indiscretions.


----------



## Gary A.

History of Gary's dinnerware: Chapter 2





This is what Gary recently dumped in favor of plastic.  Mary Lou felt that for every day, the glass was getting heavy.  Gary was tired of it years ago, but Mary Lou is cheap.


----------



## Gary A.

Chapter 1:
Gary’s and Mary Lou’s first set of non-safe dinnerware. (Mary Lou feels that white is safe.)  Gary likes the bold colors.


----------



## Gary A.

Chapter 4:



 


The latest and greatest.


----------



## Gary A.

Chapter 3:
The plastic which replaced the blue glass.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- So far so good ... Gary is sipping his morning brew, an “Organic La Cascada” from Mexico, out of a new cup and the cup is working.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg: Your turn.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary alllllll...most purchased this set:


----------



## davidharmier60

All of these 9 are fixed now. Wasn't always so. There are 3 sisters about 3.5 years old.
One of them had a litter about 1.5 years ago.  So we have 3 at that age. 2 boys and one girl. One dog was found by the side of a road near a customer of Dad's. That's 7.
We have a cranky old part (darn brain) makes 8. And a bitchy little wild haired Terrier for 9. The cranky old dog is probably not terribly long for this world. 
Two of the youngest dogs haven't been around strangers much. They try to nip at them. One sits outside a lot. Once she barks all of them go off. 

Oh yeah the cranky old dog is part pit bull. 
The three sisters and the kids pretty much favor lab and Shepard looks. The side of the road dog is long and short legged. 
And all have personality!

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## JonA_CT

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## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> All of these 9 are fixed now. Wasn't always so. There are 3 sisters about 3.5 years old.
> One of them had a litter about 1.5 years ago.  So we have 3 at that age. 2 boys and one girl. One dog was found by the side of a road near a customer of Dad's. That's 7.
> We have a cranky old part (darn brain) makes 8. And a bitchy little wild haired Terrier for 9. The cranky old dog is probably not terribly long for this world.
> Two of the youngest dogs haven't been around strangers much. They try to nip at them. One sits outside a lot. Once she barks all of them go off.
> 
> Oh yeah the cranky old dog is part pit bull.
> The three sisters and the kids pretty much favor lab and Shepard looks. The side of the road dog is long and short legged.
> And all have personality!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Photos ...


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## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> http://data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4...967u3+1CFsow58maDh3Ldu/8A5yCEKUxU+RlCEKoY/9k= http://data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4...967u3+1CFsow58maDh3Ldu/8A5yCEKUxU+RlCEKoY/9k= http://data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4...967u3+1CFsow58maDh3Ldu/8A5yCEKUxU+RlCEKoY/9k= http://data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4...967u3+1CFsow58maDh3Ldu/8A5yCEKUxU+RlCEKoY/9k=
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English would be helpful for Gary.  Even Spanish or French would be better than what you posted.


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## davidharmier60

I got a picture of Bert doing the impression of a fert. But the original pic was too big and the edit even bigger.
May be more trouble than it's worth...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## limr

JonA_CT said:


> http://data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4...967u3+1CFsow58maDh3Ldu/8A5yCEKUxU+RlCEKoY/9k= http://data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4...967u3+1CFsow58maDh3Ldu/8A5yCEKUxU+RlCEKoY/9k= http://data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4...967u3+1CFsow58maDh3Ldu/8A5yCEKUxU+RlCEKoY/9k= http://data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4...967u3+1CFsow58maDh3Ldu/8A5yCEKUxU+RlCEKoY/9k=
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Dude! Internet be messin' witcha 



Gary A. said:


> Chapter 4:
> 
> View attachment 149835 View attachment 149836
> The latest and greatest.



Not a huge fan of the square plates, but I heartily approve of the pattern and colors. I like these better than the ones you almost bought.


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## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Gary is now scouring Amazon making sure there isn't anything 'more' Gary-like in dinnerware.



Best deals are at Kohls and Macys when they are having a sale - I'm sure I'll be buying at least one set on Black Friday!



JonA_CT said:


> I've been grounded from Amazon after some recent indiscretions.



Now that's a shame at this time of year...



Gary A. said:


> Chapter 1:
> Gary’s and Mary Lou’s first set of non-safe dinnerware. (Mary Lou feels that white is safe.) Gary likes the bold colors.



I like the multi colored a lot.  Nothing wrong with plastic, especially if you're eating on the patio or have young guests!  I only have one set of white dishes but they are Winter/Christmas pattern so don't really count.  I do sometimes run into situations where some plain white would be perfect but not often enough.  China cabinet space is at a premium so at this point in order to add I have to subtract first!

I'll post a few pics of the current favorites.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 149820 Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh .... nobody make a peep .... Gary thinks Miss Maggie may be out for the count.


Fert imitation.


----------



## snowbear

I went to the beach a while ago; shot a panorama and a couple distant gulls.  The internet connection is spotty, here, so I'll have to go into town and find a Starbucks or something - I need to send an email from the County VPN.


----------



## SquarePeg

My all time faves - have had them since I bought my first house.  Crate and Barrel.




 


Current Fall dishes. May be headed for the donation pile because they are too heavy and the bowls don’t stack well in the dishwasher.  Kohl’s   



 

Casual holiday plates. Christmas Tree Shop.  


 

Cup a soup.  BBB. 


 

I’ll spare you the rest.  Well... one more.  Noodle bowls. Kohl’s.


----------



## limr

I just bought some dishes, too. Handmade Portuguese ceramics from a place called Casa Fina that has periodic warehouse sales. These are the bowls. The dinner plates match, and the dessert plates are cream without the raised crest.


----------



## jcdeboever

Y'all got some groovy dinnerware. I ain't taking no pics of mine. They're probably Coachware from Macy's not bought on sale. When I was single, I bought mine at the Goodwill. One of the first things that disappeared when I got remarried was my thrifty crockery, POOF! GONE! I was wise enough not to ask.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Geez, I guess it depends on where you live/work... I always had to have daily lesson plans, and a sub notebook with schedules, info. on the kids, etc. Even in EI with the toddler classes. I do remember teaching in public school many years ago on occasion covering someone's class and they may have just done homework. Or maybe I'm thinking of study hall duty... lunchroom duty was much more exciting! (yeah, right)

Hall duty, now that was really entertaining. Why are you at this end of the building? (because the hall pass says something clear at the other end...) Um, I had to get this thing out of my friend's locker and um, their locker is by the gym and then, um, had to get my whatever and my locker's over here, and then um... (Giving them the teacher look) never mind just go, get to class... while I'd keep one eye on them the rest of the way down the hall... Could jr. high kids ever come up with great reasons to be anyplace but where they were! lol

Boy does Jon need a break.

(See what memories his post brought back?)


----------



## SquarePeg

Thanks @Gary A. !  Now I am cruising the Black Friday sales ads for new dishes!  Will definitely have to donate that fall colored set.  I saw a post on our community Facebook page the other day about a single mom family that was moving from a shelter to a new apartment and needed just about everything.  I was going to just give a Target gift card but maybe I'll donate the dishes too.


----------



## davidharmier60

This is the long short legged dog named Lance(alot).



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## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Geez, I guess it depends on where you live/work... I always had to have daily lesson plans, and a sub notebook with schedules, info. on the kids, etc. Even in EI with the toddler classes. I do remember teaching in public school many years ago on occasion covering someone's class and they may have just done homework. Or maybe I'm thinking of study hall duty... lunchroom duty was much more exciting! (yeah, right)
> 
> Hall duty, now that was really entertaining. Why are you at this end of the building? (because the hall pass says something clear at the other end...) Um, I had to get this thing out of my friend's locker and um, their locker is by the gym and then, um, had to get my whatever and my locker's over here, and then um... (Giving them the teacher look) never mind just go, get to class... while I'd keep one eye on them the rest of the way down the hall... Could jr. high kids ever come up with great reasons to be anyplace but where they were! lol
> 
> Boy does Jon need a break.



In 10th grade biology class, we had to do experiments with fruit flies to study genetics. We had to keep careful watch after the mating pairs were introduced to see when the first eggs were laid (based on the timing of the eggs, you could determine the fathers whereas later eggs could have been mixed...or something like that.)

My friend and I had to go check our flies in the bio lab during a lunch period one day. The hall monitor stopped us to ask where we were going, and we deadpanned in response, "To check if our flies are still virgins." We got past.

True story: one day, I actually caught two of the flies in the act. I am now able to cross "Witness sex between fruit flies" off my bucket list 

And yes, after months and months of experiments in both 10th grade bio and 12th grade AP bio, I still remember the Latin name: Drosophila melanogaster.


----------



## davidharmier60

This is cranky Pepe the part pit bull




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## vintagesnaps

I have some Pfaltzgraff Heritage which is white, slightly, octagonal square edgy-ish... and no I'm not bothering to take pictures! lol And some Russel Wright Modern in light gray. I like modern streamlined styles. 

I got plastic/melamine after the stroke because of difficulty gripping things and having enough things hit the floor, but the problem is you can't microwave it (well you can try, but boy does it get hot!! lol) Now I use mostly cheapo odds and ends so I can just fling those on the floor and not worry about breaking anything good.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Now you got me thinking about chemistry in high school. My lab partner and I couldn't seem to ever get done by the end of class so would stash whatever still hardened in the beaker. At the end of the semester we had to um, discretely get them into the round 'file cabinet' because we didn't have time to re-melt everything.

Or there was biology class, a bunch of the boys took some of those pickled frogs to math class and I don't know how I got in on it but for some odd reason I had thread with me so was giving them thread and they tossed them up over the light fixtures. And we actually liked the math teacher! Had a sense of humor so he came in and the frogs on strings were bobbing up and down from the light fixtures.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Y'all got some groovy dinnerware. I ain't taking no pics of mine. They're probably Coachware from Macy's not bought on sale. When I was single, I bought mine at the Goodwill. One of the first things that disappeared when I got remarried was my thrifty crockery, POOF! GONE! I was wise enough not to ask.



I am 46 years old and this is the first set of good dishes that I have ever chosen and bought for myself. I always had crappy hand-me-downs before this. A little while back, I did inherit a set of really good bone china from Germany from a woman who was my sort of de facto "Grandma" when I was a child, but they are in storage because I've never had a place to keep them or use them.

I'm finally getting to the point when I can have my _own_ things, so I wanted to buy something that I would love and have for a long time. I figure I earned that much


----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> This is cranky Pepe the part pit bull
> View attachment 149845
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



I love cranky Pepe's colors. And name


----------



## JonA_CT

We buy our boring, white dishes from IKEA. When I drop them, or am too rough...it's easy and cheap to find replacements. 

After my shoulder surgery a few years ago, I dropped and broke more cereal bowls than I care to admit. It took me a long time to figure out how hard to grip things again.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Y'all got some groovy dinnerware. I ain't taking no pics of mine. They're probably Coachware from Macy's not bought on sale. When I was single, I bought mine at the Goodwill. One of the first things that disappeared when I got remarried was my thrifty crockery, POOF! GONE! I was wise enough not to ask.


Gary saw snippets of your dinnerware ... very very nice.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> I just bought some dishes, too. Handmade Portuguese ceramics from a place called Casa Fina that has periodic warehouse sales. These are the bowls. The dinner plates match, and the dessert plates are cream without the raised crest.
> 
> View attachment 149843


I like the square ... adds to the uniqueness of it all.  The bronze glaze is like semi-metallic and semi-reflective.  More interesting in person than in photos.  Gary has been gifting Mary Lou these hand-crafted glass serving pieces ... in shades of blue. But we haven't any platters matching the new set.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Thanks @Gary A. !  Now I am cruising the Black Friday sales ads for new dishes!  Will definitely have to donate that fall colored set.  I saw a post on our community Facebook page the other day about a single mom family that was moving from a shelter to a new apartment and needed just about everything.  I was going to just give a Target gift card but maybe I'll donate the dishes too.


Gary has some you can deliver. 

Gary can't find a matching pattern online and may be out of production ... this set is for four.  After bringing the dishes home ... we even like them more than in the store ... so Gary is going back for the last box.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Y'all got some groovy dinnerware. I ain't taking no pics of mine. They're probably Coachware from Macy's not bought on sale. When I was single, I bought mine at the Goodwill. One of the first things that disappeared when I got remarried was my thrifty crockery, POOF! GONE! I was wise enough not to ask.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary saw snippets of your dinnerware ... very very nice.
Click to expand...


The wife has style for stuff. I try to stuff stuff into style.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Geez, I guess it depends on where you live/work... I always had to have daily lesson plans, and a sub notebook with schedules, info. on the kids, etc. Even in EI with the toddler classes. I do remember teaching in public school many years ago on occasion covering someone's class and they may have just done homework. Or maybe I'm thinking of study hall duty... lunchroom duty was much more exciting! (yeah, right)
> 
> Hall duty, now that was really entertaining. Why are you at this end of the building? (because the hall pass says something clear at the other end...) Um, I had to get this thing out of my friend's locker and um, their locker is by the gym and then, um, had to get my whatever and my locker's over here, and then um... (Giving them the teacher look) never mind just go, get to class... while I'd keep one eye on them the rest of the way down the hall... Could jr. high kids ever come up with great reasons to be anyplace but where they were! lol
> 
> Boy does Jon need a break.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In 10th grade biology class, we had to do experiments with fruit flies to study genetics. We had to keep careful watch after the mating pairs were introduced to see when the first eggs were laid (based on the timing of the eggs, you could determine the fathers whereas later eggs could have been mixed...or something like that.)
> 
> My friend and I had to go check our flies in the bio lab during a lunch period one day. The hall monitor stopped us to ask where we were going, and we deadpanned in response, "To check if our flies are still virgins." We got past.
> 
> True story: one day, I actually caught two of the flies in the act. I am now able to cross "Witness sex between fruit flies" off my bucket list
> 
> And yes, after months and months of experiments in both 10th grade bio and 12th grade AP bio, I still remember the Latin name: Drosophila melanogaster.
Click to expand...

Gary remember's having a sub in high school chemistry.  Someone set a trash can on fire in the open hallway.  Gary and his bud told the sub that we were the fire marshals for this hall and we need to get the fire extinguisher and put the fire out. The sub agreed with our claim ... I remember looking at my bud in complete disbelief ... he had the presence to nudge me into action.  So we grabbed the extinguisher and shot each other and all the windows and open doors on route to the trash can.  By the time we arrive at the fire ... we had run out of CO-Two.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> I have some Pfaltzgraff Heritage which is white, slightly, octagonal square edgy-ish... and no I'm not bothering to take pictures! lol And some Russel Wright Modern in light gray. I like modern streamlined styles.
> 
> I got plastic/melamine after the stroke because of difficulty gripping things and having enough things hit the floor, but the problem is you can't microwave it (well you can try, but boy does it get hot!! lol) Now I use mostly cheapo odds and ends so I can just fling those on the floor and not worry about breaking anything good.


Funny, you don't look Greek ...


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Gary has some you can deliver.
> 
> Gary can't find a matching pattern online and may be out of production ... this set is for four. After bringing the dishes home ... we even like them more than in the store ... so Gary is going back for the last box.



Careful.  It's very addictive.


----------



## davidharmier60

We eat on a mix of dishes. We have some bowls we all like. We have less of them than we did. Funny thing about plates.
We have some that match the bowls. 
We have two sizes of fancy plates.
The smaller of the two while much bigger than the matching plates has no more usable space. The larger plate isn't all that much larger.

I remember plastic plates back when. Pastel colors. Usable to the extreme.

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## davidharmier60

This is one of three youngest.
Her name is J.J. (named for Mr. Watt.)




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## davidharmier60

Whoops. Shot the pic with the phone upright.

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## davidharmier60

This is one of the three sisters. This one is called Nub (or Nub nub or Nubbie)



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## Gary A.

Gary likes your dogs. Gary wishes he had the room for a flock of pooches.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is about to close his eyelids. 
Y'all take care, ya hear?

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## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary likes your dogs. Gary wishes he had the room for a flock of pooches.



We had 3 before a Brittany, a Yorkie, and a Boxer. Strange mix I know. The Brittany was our first as a  puppy, then the Yorkie a year later as a puppy, then the Boxer later as a puppy.


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## snowbear




----------



## benhasajeep

My question is, does your dogs come to keep you company while your on the throne?  Our Yellow lab barges though the door and sits down right in front of you and leans against you.  Wife says he does it too.  Not sure where he learned it from .  As we clealy don't go out and sit next him while he does his business.


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## smoke665

@benhasajeep uhhh, noooo, but then again I generally close the door, as there are still some times you just need a little privacy


----------



## benhasajeep

smoke665 said:


> @benhasajeep uhhh, noooo, but then again I generally close the door, as there are still some times you just need a little privacy


We have learned not to latch the door.  If we do, there will be a thud on the door!  I don't want vet bills!  No worries about privacy in our house.  For the most part we have his and hers bathrooms.


----------



## smoke665

benhasajeep said:


> We have learned not to latch the door. If we do, there will be a thud on the door



We have the lever style handles on the doors. Our first Britt quickly learned how to open doors, including exterior doors so we got in the habit of not only closing but locking doors. She never learned how to turn the tab in the handle - thankfully


----------



## benhasajeep

smoke665 said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> We have learned not to latch the door. If we do, there will be a thud on the door
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We have the lever style handles on the doors. Our first Britt quickly learned how to open doors, including exterior doors so we got in the habit of not only closing but locking doors. She never learned how to turn the tab in the handle - thankfully
Click to expand...

He has learned to not bull his way through the entry door if it's closed.  But he will bull through if the door is adjar some.


----------



## smoke665

@benhasajeep Millie, could stand/walk on her hind legs for extended periods. Her front paws were like hands (without thumbs), she could spread, extend and curl her toes and claws. She could push down on the lever a pull or push the door open all while remaking upright.


----------



## Gary A.

benhasajeep said:


> My question is, does your dogs come to keep you company while your on the throne?  Our Yellow lab barges though the door and sits down right in front of you and leans against you.  Wife says he does it too.  Not sure where he learned it from .  As we clealy don't go out and sit next him while he does his business.


Gary’s first Wheaten, Cookie, the greatest dog in the world by any meaningful measurement, during her golden years, made the guest bathroom her office.  She was very trusting and expected others to step around her.  When she was in her office the rules didn’t change.  She wouldn’t move a muscle when another occupied her office.  She might lift her head and take a look at who’s on the throne ... but you had to accommodate her when she was in her office.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @benhasajeep Millie, could stand/walk on her hind legs for extended periods. Her front paws were like hands (without thumbs), she could spread, extend and curl her toes and claws. She could push down on the lever a pull or push the door open all while remaking upright.


Cook and Gary would stroll hand in paw around the neighborhood.


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## Gary A.

Cook would never bull her way through any door.  Even if the door was ajar, she’d never widen/push/nudge the door wide enough for her to slip through. Miss Maggie hasn’t learned such good manners and will nudge a door open.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I just bought something from LL Bean and I don't remember seeing those cookies! Did you put in an early request for polar bear cookies from Santa this year or what?


----------



## davidharmier60

Currently the $20 I put aside is doing something else. Maybe someday I'll get a DSLR. But I ain't about to bet on it.
And now gotta rush to get to work


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----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> My question is, does your dogs come to keep you company while your on the throne?  Our Yellow lab barges though the door and sits down right in front of you and leans against you.  Wife says he does it too.  Not sure where he learned it from .  As we clealy don't go out and sit next him while he does his business.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary’s first Wheaten, Cookie, the greatest dog in the world by any meaningful measurement, during her golden years, made the guest bathroom her office.  She was very trusting and expected others to step around her.  When she was in her office the rules didn’t change.  She wouldn’t move a muscle when another occupied her office.  She might lift her head and take a look at who’s on the throne ... but you had to accommodate her when she was in her office.
Click to expand...

Step father had Jason the Wonder Dog.  He attended UofM with my step father.  I don't know if it was every class.  But he said he took the dog everywhere with him.  And he would just lay quietly under the table by his feet during class.  That was his favorite dog.  Nothing since compares to him!


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> I just bought something from LL Bean and I don't remember seeing those cookies! Did you put in an early request for polar bear cookies from Santa this year or what?


This is at the store in Freeport.  We got a catalog last week but I don’t recall seeing them.


----------



## Gary A.

benhasajeep said:


> My question is, does your dogs come to keep you company while your on the throne?  Our Yellow lab barges though the door and sits down right in front of you and leans against you.  Wife says he does it too.  Not sure where he learned it from .  As we clealy don't go out and sit next him while he does his business.


Gary was reading some studies on pooches ... we all know that dogs smell a million times better than humans.  Our low sensitive smelling capabilities is used mainly to distinguish eatable food from rotten food ... that smells good, yummy ... or ... that smells bad, yecch. So we use smells merely to distinguish good from bad.  Not so with dogs. They sense the world through their noses ... the world isn't comprised merely of good and bad ... black and white. Dogs senses odors like we sense colors ... we are not offended by color as we are by odors. So when a dog is in the bathroom while one is taking care of some personal hygiene ... they're not offended by the smells. It's more like "That an odd shade of blue" ... or ... "Wow, yellow-green, interesting." The exception being JC, I can't imagine any of God's creatures that wouldn't be offended with his odorous attacks.


----------



## limr

I never close the bathroom door (there's no other people in the apartment, why should I bother?) and my cats will sometimes wander in but just to sort of check where I am and then they go away. However, if Buzz is over, for example, and I have the door closed, that's when they HAVE to get in and they bat their little furry paws under the door to try to open it. Nothing pisses off a cat like a closed door  

Otherwise, the only time they reliably want to be in the bathroom with me is when I am either getting ready for work or getting ready for bed. In the morning, Zelda loves "helping" me with my make-up, and she always wants to drink from the faucet in the morning. At night, Mrs. Parker always sits on the toilet to watch or jumps up onto the shower door, and Zelda either jumps onto my shoulders when I'm washing my face, or asks for another drink at the faucet.


----------



## benhasajeep

limr said:


> I never close the bathroom door (there's no other people in the apartment, why should I bother?) and my cats will sometimes wander in but just to sort of check where I am and then they go away. However, if Buzz is over, for example, and I have the door closed, that's when they HAVE to get in and they bat their little furry paws under the door to try to open it. Nothing pisses off a cat like a closed door
> 
> Otherwise, the only time they reliably want to be in the bathroom with me is when I am either getting ready for work or getting ready for bed. In the morning, Zelda loves "helping" me with my make-up, and she always wants to drink from the faucet in the morning. At night, Mrs. Parker always sits on the toilet to watch or jumps up onto the shower door, and Zelda either jumps onto my shoulders when I'm washing my face, or asks for another drink at the faucet.


Our cat Hickok will occasionally check out what's going on if he's up and about.  He will just come in, walk up against your legs and he's done.  Back to his important business.  Unless hes dragging his string (long piece of cordage).  Then he want to play.


----------



## Frank F.

autumn leafs


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> The exception being JC, I can't imagine any of God's creatures that wouldn't be offended with his odorous attacks.



That's bad, really funny, but bad! LOL

Years ago I had the unfortunate experience of meeting an extremely crude fellow that had worked for the same company I was employed by at the time. Normally I avoided him like the plague but unfortunately he stepped in right behind me on the express elevator to the top floor of the Peachtree in Atlanta. The elevator was packed like sardines in a can, as he stepped in right in front of me. Just as the doors were about to close he let rip with a loud and odoriferous concoction that could peel wallpaper, turned to me and said  in a loud voice "HOW CRUDE SIR", and stepped off just as the doors closed. I had to ride all the way to the top denying it profusely while gagging like every one else.


----------



## Gary A.

In a jockular and juvenile environment ... that would be funny.  

(Therefore ... Gary appreciates the story and is smiling.)


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy cooking and eating Hosers!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Happy cooking and eating Hosers!


Back atcha, sweetie!


----------



## davidharmier60

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The exception being JC, I can't imagine any of God's creatures that wouldn't be offended with his odorous attacks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's bad, really funny, but bad! LOL
> 
> Years ago I had the unfortunate experience of meeting an extremely crude fellow that had worked for the same company I was employed by at the time. Normally I avoided him like the plague but unfortunately he stepped in right behind me on the express elevator to the top floor of the Peachtree in Atlanta. The elevator was packed like sardines in a can, as he stepped in right in front of me. Just as the doors were about to close he let rip with a loud and odoriferous concoction that could peel wallpaper, turned to me and said  in a loud voice "HOW CRUDE SIR", and stepped off just as the doors closed. I had to ride all the way to the top denying it profusely while gagging like every one else.
Click to expand...

Dave felt compelled to giggle uncontrollably at this. It is an old game.

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## davidharmier60

By the way Dave had 3.5 hours. 
Daves back is not in its best form.
Waiting for better living through chemistry to kick in. Must go out later to get check and do a bit of shopping for my Sister. 

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## snowbear

It’s Lenny, the chocolate moose!


----------



## benhasajeep

snowbear said:


> View attachment 149882 It’s Lenny, the chocolate moose!


Ah instead of chocholate mousse.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Lenny?? why is a moose named Lenny...?

I realized you'd been to the LL Bean store not just the catalog. So besides polar bear cookies they have choco-mooses?

Boy is it quiet with school out and apparently nobody has gone to work or left their house most of the day. I'm ready for a nap.


----------



## jcdeboever

OMG, baby sitting for a little ****, he is bad. Webster loves him. Baby girl beat the bajeebies out of him....lol


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> Happy cooking and eating Hosers!



It is Wendesday, innit?


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> OMG, baby sitting for a little ****, he is bad. Webster loves him. Baby girl beat the bajeebies out of him....lol
> View attachment 149883
> View attachment 149884
> View attachment 149885



cute fur balls!


----------



## JonA_CT

Frank F. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy cooking and eating Hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It is Wendesday, innit?
Click to expand...


Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here. Lots of cooking and prep work underway across the US. Many businesses have already closed for the holiday.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got his best check yet!
Shopped to the letter of the list.
Got prescriptions for Sister.
Back feels a little better.
But figures it always ache.

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----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG, baby sitting for a little ****, he is bad. Webster loves him. Baby girl beat the bajeebies out of him....lol
> View attachment 149883
> View attachment 149884
> View attachment 149885
> 
> 
> 
> 
> cute fur balls!
Click to expand...

He would like to play with Maggie, @Gary A 's little girl. He wants to share a bone with her, Webster wasn't having it.....


----------



## benhasajeep

Frank F. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy cooking and eating Hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It is Wendesday, innit?
Click to expand...

When I lived at home.  My mom would start the day before cook till 2 am.  Sleep for couple hours.  And start up again at 6.  I actually disliked holidays because we always had to do tons of work.  Before and after.  After the kids in the family were out of school.  All the Aunts got together and basically hashed out a new ritual.  Each one would cook every 4th year.  And the families would rotate houses each of the years.  That cut down on some here, some there, some over there.  Still would make some side dishes and deserts.  But for the most part labor saving for the mothers.


----------



## SquarePeg

benhasajeep said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy cooking and eating Hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It is Wendesday, innit?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> When I lived at home.  My mom would start the day before cook till 2 am.  Sleep for couple hours.  And start up again at 6.  I actually disliked holidays because we always had to do tons of work.  Before and after.  After the kids in the family were out of school.  All the Aunts got together and basically hashed out a new ritual.  Each one would cook every 4th year.  And the families would rotate houses each of the years.  That cut down on some here, some there, some over there.  Still would make some side dishes and deserts.  But for the most part labor saving for the mothers.
Click to expand...


We split it up the work by holiday a few years ago.  My brother and sister-in-law host every Thanksgiving and cook all of the dinner and side dishes so I only have to show up with an appetizer and some desserts.  Christmas Day we have 20-25 here for dinner and I do the majority of the cooking for the dinner and sides with my brothers and their families bringing appetizers and desserts.  Easter we all eat dinner out together (about 25 of us).  Mother's Day we get Chinese food delivered so there's no work for any of the moms.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave knows how to operate a microwave. 
He has no part in meals unless a jar needs opened or something....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

I'm going to make a pie.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm going to someone's house who makes pie.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I'm going to someone's house who makes pie.



That's a talented house!


----------



## jcdeboever

I like pie


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Lenny?? why is a moose named Lenny...?
> 
> I realized you'd been to the LL Bean store not just the catalog. So besides polar bear cookies they have choco-mooses?
> 
> Boy is it quiet with school out and apparently nobody has gone to work or left their house most of the day. I'm ready for a nap.


The moose lives at Len Libby Candies.

Yes, there were a number of wonderful things at Bean.  I was able to avoid all but a sweater and an early Christmas present from MLW.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> We split it up the work by holiday a few years ago.  My brother and sister-in-law host every Thanksgiving and cook all of the dinner and side dishes so I only have to show up with an appetizer and some desserts.  Christmas Day we have 20-25 here for dinner and I do the majority of the cooking for the dinner and sides with my brothers and their families bringing appetizers and desserts.  Easter we all eat dinner out together (about 25 of us).  Mother's Day we get Chinese food delivered so there's no work for any of the moms.


Damn... you'd think there'd be more than one restaurant in a city as large as Boston!


----------



## benhasajeep

snowbear said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lenny?? why is a moose named Lenny...?
> 
> I realized you'd been to the LL Bean store not just the catalog. So besides polar bear cookies they have choco-mooses?
> 
> Boy is it quiet with school out and apparently nobody has gone to work or left their house most of the day. I'm ready for a nap.
> 
> 
> 
> The moose lives at Len Libby Candies.
> 
> Yes, there were a number of wonderful things at Bean.  I was able to avoid all but a sweater and an early Christmas present from MLW.
Click to expand...


They are open 24/7.  There are no locks on the doors.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave need not awaken at 4am tomorrow. 
But did this morning. 
Good night and sleep tight y'all 


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----------



## smoke665

Daughter-in-law and wife  have been conspiring all week on who makes what. Tomorrow will be an exceptional meal, after which I will be miserable


----------



## Derrel

I made my usual cheese balls, but this year for the first time in 25-plus years, no smoked salmon dip! People are gonna be peeved that there's no salmon dip, I just know it. Oh well...


----------



## Frank F.

JonA_CT said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy cooking and eating Hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It is Wendesday, innit?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here. Lots of cooking and prep work underway across the US. Many businesses have already closed for the holiday.
Click to expand...


ah.

We have Buß- und Bettag. Used to be bank holiday, but now only in one of sixteen German States...


----------



## JonA_CT

Up and at ‘em early this morning. I did none of the cooking I should have done yesterday, so I already have pie crust made. I’ve also got milk condensing for the pie filling, and I’m getting ready to start slicing shallots for the green bean casserole I’m bringing.


----------



## JonA_CT

Oh...and Happy Thanksgiving, hosers!

Y’all are one of the many things I have to be thankful for this year.


----------



## snowbear

benhasajeep said:


> They are open 24/7.  There are no locks on the doors.


Except Christmas


----------



## snowbear

A happy and safe Thanksgiving to the US hosers.  Getting ready to make the sausage pie, then go play in the water for a bit.


----------



## benhasajeep

snowbear said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> They are open 24/7.  There are no locks on the doors.
> 
> 
> 
> Except Christmas
Click to expand...

From their website.

*All Freeport Retail Stores are open 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.  *
*Please see the chart below for extended holiday hours for *
*Retail Stores near you.*


The store has only been closed a handful of times.  Litterally no locks on the door to close!

USA Today article.
*The tradition of being open around the clock, 365 days a year in Freeport dates to the opening of L.L. Bean’s first store, five years after he sold his first hunting shoes in 1912.*

*Bean lived upstairs from the Freeport store, and hunters and fishermen passing through Freeport knew that they could rouse him at all hours if they needed supplies.*

*The 24-hour tradition was made formal in 1951.*

*Edit - not being obscene.  Copy and past changed the font size and bolds everything.  To lazy to try and fix.*


----------



## benhasajeep

Derrel said:


> I made my usual cheese balls, but this year for the first time in 25-plus years, no smoked salmon dip! People are gonna be peeved that there's no salmon dip, I just know it. Oh well...



WHAT!!!   No Salmon dip?? 

The best part of Thanksgiving for me is all the appetizers!  I really dont like turkey.  So, I fill up on the rest of the stuff.


----------



## snowbear

Ok.


----------



## davidharmier60

Rumor has it there will be Turkey and such later. Pecan pie was mentioned. 
Happy Thanksgiving youse guys.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## benhasajeep

davidharmier60 said:


> Rumor has it there will be Turkey and such later. Pecan pie was mentioned.
> Happy Thanksgiving youse guys.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



I know there is going to be at lease 2 pies.  Wife made some homemade crust last night for one.  And will be making an apple pie this morning for the other.  Not sure what MIL has going.


----------



## limr

Happy Thanksgiving to you American hosers! Happy Thursday to the rest of youse! 

Time to go make my pumpkin pie.


----------



## tirediron

Happy Turkeymas to all you in Southoftheborderians, even if you do celebrate it on the wrong day!


----------



## Gary A.

benhasajeep said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> They are open 24/7.  There are no locks on the doors.
> 
> 
> 
> Except Christmas
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> From their website.
> 
> *All Freeport Retail Stores are open 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.  *
> *Please see the chart below for extended holiday hours for *
> *Retail Stores near you.*
> 
> 
> The store has only been closed a handful of times.  Litterally no locks on the door to close!
> 
> USA Today article.
> *The tradition of being open around the clock, 365 days a year in Freeport dates to the opening of L.L. Bean’s first store, five years after he sold his first hunting shoes in 1912.*
> 
> *Bean lived upstairs from the Freeport store, and hunters and fishermen passing through Freeport knew that they could rouse him at all hours if they needed supplies.*
> 
> *The 24-hour tradition was made formal in 1951.*
> 
> *Edit - not being obscene.  Copy and past changed the font size and bolds everything.  To lazy to try and fix.*
Click to expand...

If one is opened 24 hours, 365 days a year ... how can one have "extended hours"?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias and Happy Thanksgiving Coffee Hosers.  Gary is ill.  Gary is pissed because he is ill.  Last weekend Tom came over sick ... Gary was a little peeved that he did so, especially as Tom is a physician and one would think he'd know better. Mary Lou cheerfully said "Don't worry ..." and that she would "Do it all".  But Gary can't and won't have that  ... so he is up working when he should be in his death bed.


----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> They are open 24/7.  There are no locks on the doors.
> 
> 
> 
> Except Christmas
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> From their website.
> 
> *All Freeport Retail Stores are open 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.  *
> *Please see the chart below for extended holiday hours for *
> *Retail Stores near you.*
> 
> 
> The store has only been closed a handful of times.  Litterally no locks on the door to close!
> 
> USA Today article.
> *The tradition of being open around the clock, 365 days a year in Freeport dates to the opening of L.L. Bean’s first store, five years after he sold his first hunting shoes in 1912.*
> 
> *Bean lived upstairs from the Freeport store, and hunters and fishermen passing through Freeport knew that they could rouse him at all hours if they needed supplies.*
> 
> *The 24-hour tradition was made formal in 1951.*
> 
> *Edit - not being obscene.  Copy and past changed the font size and bolds everything.  To lazy to try and fix.*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If one is opened 24 hours, 365 days a year ... how can one have "extended hours"?
Click to expand...

I didn't copy and paste the whole page.  It lists all their stores outside of Freeport as well.  They are not open 24-7.  They have normal business hours.  Only the Freeport stores are open 24-7.  When the last CEO died.  They closed the Freeport stores so all employees could attend the funeral (was grandson of founder).  They had to buy chains and pad locks to actually lock the store!  There are litterally no locks on the doors (customer entrances anyway).


----------



## Gary A.

Gary will BBQ the turkey in the Kamado. This will be a first.  Yesterday Gary clipped and destemmed a ton of herbs, rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil and peppers.  He forgot about the parsley, so this morning the parsley.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is going back to bed for a spell.


----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> Gary will BBQ the turkey in the Kamado. This will be a first.  Yesterday Gary clipped and destemmed a ton of herbs, rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil and peppers.  He forgot about the parsley, so this morning the parsley.


Fresh herbs is great.  What is a Kamando?


----------



## Gary A.

Kamado ... a ceramic, egg shaped BBQ.


----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> Kamado ... a ceramic, egg shaped BBQ.


Ah, I see.  A coworker has a big green egg and swears by using it.  I looked into it.  But I don't BBQ enough to warrant the price.


----------



## davidharmier60

Back when he lived in Houston Dave built two BBQ pits in the welding shop. Dave probably COULD BBQ. But doesn't. 
We only have a creaky propane unit outside anyhow.

The turkey is in a roaster (glorified crock pot). It is beginning to smell heavenly in here.

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----------



## davidharmier60

So sorry Gary is unwell.

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----------



## JonA_CT

I might have dropped my D600 on a set of fieldstone stairs today.


----------



## benhasajeep

JonA_CT said:


> I might have dropped my D600 on a set of fieldstone stairs today.


Damaged?


----------



## JonA_CT

benhasajeep said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I might have dropped my D600 on a set of fieldstone stairs today.
> 
> 
> 
> Damaged?
Click to expand...


Not enough, no 

Tbe battery cover flew off, and there’s a pretty solid scuff/gouge above the battery cover. The camera and lens function perfectly though. (So my upgrade will have to wait).


----------



## davidharmier60

Anybody got an extra MD opening cover for an AE-1? I took the one off the AE-1 with presumably a sticky shutter and put it on the older one that works perfectly. 
The turkey was a bit tough. Should have been cooked in the oven instead of the roaster. 

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----------



## benhasajeep

JonA_CT said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I might have dropped my D600 on a set of fieldstone stairs today.
> 
> 
> 
> Damaged?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not enough, no
> 
> Tbe battery cover flew off, and there’s a pretty solid scuff/gouge above the battery cover. The camera and lens function perfectly though. (So my upgrade will have to wait).
Click to expand...

That's good news!  Well, except in the case of it being a planned drop.    Then it didn't work out so well.


----------



## limr

Stages of a pie:

1. Roasting the pumpkin and kobacha squash



 


2. Puree for the filling:


 


3. The crust:


 


4. Ready to go into the oven




5. Still baking, along with bonus mini pies made with leftover crust and filling


 


6. Mmmmmm...pie...


----------



## Derrel

Dang! That's dedication to the pie-makin' art! *Bravo!*


----------



## davidharmier60

No pie. Ate too much Turkey etc and never had room for it. Now another work day is upon me. Here at work at least 10 minutes before there is a reasonable chance someone will open up. I can fool around by arriving early. No way to fix late.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## benhasajeep

limr said:


> Stages of a pie:
> 
> 1. Roasting the pumpkin and kobacha squash
> View attachment 149941
> 
> 
> 2. Puree for the filling:
> View attachment 149940
> 
> 
> 3. The crust:
> View attachment 149936
> 
> 
> 4. Ready to go into the ovenView attachment 149939
> 
> 
> 5. Still baking, along with bonus mini pies made with leftover crust and filling
> View attachment 149938
> 
> 
> 6. Mmmmmm...pie...
> View attachment 149937


Homemade filling too boot!    NICE!


----------



## Frank F.

JonA_CT said:


> I might have dropped my D600 on a set of fieldstone stairs today.



Bad for her. But good for you. The D600 used price for barely used units is at a historic low and your insurance will probably reimburse the amount you have paid for her in the past. Good camera. But the D500 is better in many respects.

Admins: another ad on this page ran bad and made my whole screen blink in black and white!!!

D500 with grip same price as Black Friday last year: 1800 bucks. I did pay 2700€ for her and did never regret that purchase


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I might have dropped my D600 on a set of fieldstone stairs today.


"Might have"?


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I might have dropped my D600 on a set of fieldstone stairs today.
> 
> 
> 
> Damaged?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not enough, no
> 
> Tbe battery cover flew off, and there’s a pretty solid scuff/gouge above the battery cover. The camera and lens function perfectly though. (So my upgrade will have to wait).
Click to expand...

If it needs any duct tape ... congratulations, you have graduated into the pro ranks. (And your images will significantly improve.)


----------



## JonA_CT

I mean, yes...some black duct tape to make sure the battery door stays on, probably. 

It gave me a good scare, and as I have several photo sessions booked this weekend, it brings home the idea of a second body. The problem, of course, is whether to get another D600 on the cheap, or to convince my wife that I'd rather have my main body be something fancier (D800/810 most likely, or perhaps a D750). A brand new D750 with battery grip today is $1400. Still can't really justify it though. Maybe if I decide to start charging, but I'm a ways away from that.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Stages of a pie:
> 
> 1. Roasting the pumpkin and kobacha squash
> View attachment 149941
> 
> 
> 2. Puree for the filling:
> View attachment 149940
> 
> 
> 3. The crust:
> View attachment 149936
> 
> 
> 4. Ready to go into the ovenView attachment 149939
> 
> 
> 5. Still baking, along with bonus mini pies made with leftover crust and filling
> View attachment 149938
> 
> 
> 6. Mmmmmm...pie...
> View attachment 149937


That looks beautiful!    The best way to get good pumpkin pie is to get that roasted deliciousness - just very time consuming, especially separating the seeds and all.   Terrific!  

I'm doing well when I peel and core 5-6 apples for my apple pie.   For my cherry pie, I open a can of pitted tart cherries packed in water (not syrup!) - definitely the biggest time saver. 

But always, always crust from scratch, of course.   That's actually the easiest part.    

Bravo!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I mean, yes...some black duct tape to make sure the battery door stays on, probably.  ... but I'm a ways away from that.


Not with the duct tape ...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary survived yesterday by getting the BBQ fired up ... then bank to bed. Getting the turkey prepped and tossed into the BBQ ... then back to bed. Getting the potatoes mashed, then back to bed. Et cetera.  Guests knew I was sick, but came over anyway. Maggie was a big hit entertaining all. Gary made it about 3/4 of the way through dinner, then back to bed.  Cooking the turkey in the Kamado freed the oven for the ham and stuff. Worked out well. BTW- Those square plates hold a lot more than a comparatively sized round plate.


----------



## davidharmier60

Buenas Dias Gary! Dave had 5.5 hours.
Mopping etc. Now home. Contemplating life.

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----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry you were sick Gary, sounds lousy. I've been a bit under the weather with the respiratory stuff. But we have a small family so it's just dinner and card/game playing after, but I passed on that til Christmas, then I'll get in on a good game of Rummy Royal. 

Leo when you make a pie, you make a pie!


----------



## jcdeboever

Get well @Gary A. . Thanksgiving was wonderful. 24 people, 5 dogs, 1 cat, no human pee'd in the closet or showed their tuchus ...win. I didn't pig out at all. I did eat some pumpkin pie. Just a little turkey, dressing, and yams. 

Shot 4 short rolls of TriX today in downtown Jackson, walked 7.2 miles according to fitbit. Really trying to dial in the visual understanding of pushing, pulling, and developing. 

An old friend called me from Detroit and said he has a camera he wants to sell me. Looks like a Voightlander Bessa 2, 6x9 in pretty good order. He knows nothing about it other than it was his grandpa's. Really need to check it out though. I don't need another camera but if it's in good order and reasonable, I may do it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

You mean the older Bessa II? or the more recent R2? 

I like Voigtlanders. Get it, whichever it is! lol


----------



## davidharmier60

I just made a duct tape cover for my AE-1. 
Bothered me that dust could get in there.
Sure wish I had a 20, 30 or 40D....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are having a Netflix, couch potato day, recovering from yesterday.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> You mean the older Bessa II? or the more recent R2?
> 
> I like Voigtlanders. Get it, whichever it is! lol


It's the older one, original German made.


----------



## davidharmier60

Aside from being at work this morning my day is a bit like Garys.

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----------



## limr

Derrel said:


> Dang! That's dedication to the pie-makin' art! *Bravo!*





benhasajeep said:


> Homemade filling too boot!    NICE!



If I'm going to have the calories, then I am going to make them worth it  Having had pie made from the fresh ingredients, I can't go back to canned pumpkin.

I love how simple things can be so good when done properly.



terri said:


> That looks beautiful!    The best way to get good pumpkin pie is to get that roasted deliciousness - just very time consuming, especially separating the seeds and all.   Terrific!
> 
> I'm doing well when I peel and core 5-6 apples for my apple pie.   For my cherry pie, I open a can of pitted tart cherries packed in water (not syrup!) - definitely the biggest time saver.
> 
> But always, always crust from scratch, of course.   That's actually the easiest part.
> 
> Bravo!



Thanks! I actually find the crust to be the most vexing part of it all. I know all the tricks and yet it's still really difficult for me to get the crust right. I grew up learning to make an all-shortening crust from my mother (she is very lactose-intolerant so she never made crust with butter) and so that is still my tendency, but this time, I used a combination crust - 50/50 butter to shortening - and it was so much easier to work with. The problem is, I prefer the taste and flakiness of an all-shortening crust, but it seems it's just harder to get those right. I think I will try the combo again, but just change the proportions.

I also think I might switch to pure kobacha squash instead of mixing it with pumpkin. First it's easier to work with: the skin is thicker, but inside it's a bit softer, so easier to get the seeds out, and when it's roasted, the thicker skin just peels off in one piece. So easy! But it's also got a much richer taste and it's delicious, even plain. I'm lucky enough to have it readily available in stores near me.



vintagesnaps said:


> Sorry you were sick Gary, sounds lousy. I've been a bit under the weather with the respiratory stuff. But we have a small family so it's just dinner and card/game playing after, but I passed on that til Christmas, then I'll get in on a good game of Rummy Royal.
> 
> Leo when you make a pie, you make a pie!



I ain't messin' around  Hope you're feeling better!


----------



## davidharmier60

My Sister made an AWESOME corn casserole. Just finished having more.
HAVE kept room for pecan pie!

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----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary just finished watching our second movie, “What The Health” ... another movie decrying that we Americans are eating ourselves to death. Much of the movie presented anecdotally ... but the message did reinforce what Gary basically knew ... and it is time for Mary Lou and Gary to evolve their diet.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Stages of a pie:
> 
> 1. Roasting the pumpkin and kobacha squash
> View attachment 149941
> 
> 
> 2. Puree for the filling:
> View attachment 149940
> 
> 
> 3. The crust:
> View attachment 149936
> 
> 
> 4. Ready to go into the ovenView attachment 149939
> 
> 
> 5. Still baking, along with bonus mini pies made with leftover crust and filling
> View attachment 149938
> 
> 
> 6. Mmmmmm...pie...
> View attachment 149937



I may bring you over a Hasselblad 500 for a couple of those. Holy Crap! Those look GOOOOOOOOOD!


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Stages of a pie:
> 
> 1. Roasting the pumpkin and kobacha squash
> View attachment 149941
> 
> 
> 2. Puree for the filling:
> View attachment 149940
> 
> 
> 3. The crust:
> View attachment 149936
> 
> 
> 4. Ready to go into the ovenView attachment 149939
> 
> 
> 5. Still baking, along with bonus mini pies made with leftover crust and filling
> View attachment 149938
> 
> 
> 6. Mmmmmm...pie...
> View attachment 149937
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I may bring you over a Hasselblad 500 for a couple of those. Holy Crap! Those look GOOOOOOOOOD!
Click to expand...


Hmmm, just how many pies would this cost me? 

(PS - I do fruit pies as well. My apple pie is delish!)


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Stages of a pie:
> 
> 1. Roasting the pumpkin and kobacha squash
> View attachment 149941
> 
> 
> 2. Puree for the filling:
> View attachment 149940
> 
> 
> 3. The crust:
> View attachment 149936
> 
> 
> 4. Ready to go into the ovenView attachment 149939
> 
> 
> 5. Still baking, along with bonus mini pies made with leftover crust and filling
> View attachment 149938
> 
> 
> 6. Mmmmmm...pie...
> View attachment 149937
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I may bring you over a Hasselblad 500 for a couple of those. Holy Crap! Those look GOOOOOOOOOD!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hmmm, just how many pies would this cost me?
> 
> (PS - I do fruit pies as well. My apple pie is delish!)
Click to expand...


Oh boy, an additional fig or sweet potato pie might get you a lens too


----------



## jcdeboever

Derrel said:


> Dang! That's dedication to the pie-makin' art! *Bravo!*



Shoot, those don't even need no whip cream.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Oh boy, an additional fig or sweet potato pie might get you a lens too



Funnily enough, I just made a sweet potato pie today!


----------



## JonA_CT

I can make pie, too, JC...and beer...and I shake a damn fine cocktail too.

Wait...I can also make you the best ribeye you've ever had.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> I can make pie, too, JC...and beer...and I shake a damn fine cocktail too.
> 
> Wait...I can also make you the best ribeye you've ever had.



Elbowing in on my action, are ya? 

Watch out, I was a bartender, too!


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can make pie, too, JC...and beer...and I shake a damn fine cocktail too.
> 
> Wait...I can also make you the best ribeye you've ever had.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Elbowing in on my action, are ya?
> 
> Watch out, I was a bartender, too!
Click to expand...


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can make pie, too, JC...and beer...and I shake a damn fine cocktail too.
> 
> Wait...I can also make you the best ribeye you've ever had.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Elbowing in on my action, are ya?
> 
> Watch out, I was a bartender, too!
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can make pie, too, JC...and beer...and I shake a damn fine cocktail too.
> 
> Wait...I can also make you the best ribeye you've ever had.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Elbowing in on my action, are ya?
> 
> Watch out, I was a bartender, too!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


----------



## terri

limr said:


> The problem is, I prefer the taste and flakiness of an all-shortening crust, but it seems it's just harder to get those right.



Hmm.  Maybe try this one (world's best pie crust, IMO):
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 TBS sugar
1 tsp salt
Combine the above,  then cut in just under 1 cup of shortening.
Now add:
1/2 TBS white vinegar
1 egg
1/4 cup COLD water

Mix well.  Chill at least 20 minutes before rolling.   Makes enough for 1 pie, top and bottom.

I swear by this crust!  Bakes up beautifully.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can make pie, too, JC...and beer...and I shake a damn fine cocktail too.
> 
> Wait...I can also make you the best ribeye you've ever had.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Elbowing in on my action, are ya?
> 
> Watch out, I was a bartender, too!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


----------



## JonA_CT

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The problem is, I prefer the taste and flakiness of an all-shortening crust, but it seems it's just harder to get those right.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm.  Maybe try this one (world's best pie crust, IMO):
> 2 cups all-purpose flour
> 1/2 TBS sugar
> 1 tsp salt
> Combine the above,  then cut in just under 1 cup of shortening.
> Now add:
> 1/2 TBS white vinegar
> 1 egg
> 1/4 cup COLD water
> 
> Mix well.  Chill at least 20 minutes before rolling.   Makes enough for 1 pie, top and bottom.
> 
> I swear by this crust!  Bakes up beautifully.
Click to expand...


Vinegar?


----------



## terri

It's essential.   A bit of acid to cut the fat.  Don't skip it! 

It's wicked-good crust.  Not for dieters.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The problem is, I prefer the taste and flakiness of an all-shortening crust, but it seems it's just harder to get those right.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm.  Maybe try this one (world's best pie crust, IMO):
> 2 cups all-purpose flour
> 1/2 TBS sugar
> 1 tsp salt
> Combine the above,  then cut in just under 1 cup of shortening.
> Now add:
> 1/2 TBS white vinegar
> 1 egg
> 1/4 cup COLD water
> 
> Mix well.  Chill at least 20 minutes before rolling.   Makes enough for 1 pie, top and bottom.
> 
> I swear by this crust!  Bakes up beautifully.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Vinegar?
Click to expand...


I've actually heard the vinegar trick before and forgot about it. I'm actually more on the fence about the egg than anything else. I've never put an egg into crust. Hmmm....


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The problem is, I prefer the taste and flakiness of an all-shortening crust, but it seems it's just harder to get those right.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm.  Maybe try this one (world's best pie crust, IMO):
> 2 cups all-purpose flour
> 1/2 TBS sugar
> 1 tsp salt
> Combine the above,  then cut in just under 1 cup of shortening.
> Now add:
> 1/2 TBS white vinegar
> 1 egg
> 1/4 cup COLD water
> 
> Mix well.  Chill at least 20 minutes before rolling.   Makes enough for 1 pie, top and bottom.
> 
> I swear by this crust!  Bakes up beautifully.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Vinegar?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've actually heard the vinegar trick before and forgot about it. I'm actually more on the fence about the egg than anything else. I've never put an egg into crust. Hmmm....
Click to expand...


That's true, too. The crust recipe I used this year was all butter. It kind of cheats...rather than resting in the fridge before rolling out, you roll it out and shape it, then rest it in the fridge. It gives it a chance for all of the gluten to relax before baking. It was my best crust effort to date. 

I also made pumpkin pie sans pumpkin, but I used a butternut squash because that's what I had handy. We've  had the best luck using butternut for "pumpkin" beers, too.


----------



## benhasajeep

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh boy, an additional fig or sweet potato pie might get you a lens too
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Funnily enough, I just made a sweet potato pie today!
Click to expand...


Your just teasing us!!!!!!


----------



## davidharmier60

Sorcery,  witchcraft etc.
Leave you people alone. Sheesh!
I got to go to work once more. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The problem is, I prefer the taste and flakiness of an all-shortening crust, but it seems it's just harder to get those right.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm.  Maybe try this one (world's best pie crust, IMO):
> 2 cups all-purpose flour
> 1/2 TBS sugar
> 1 tsp salt
> Combine the above,  then cut in just under 1 cup of shortening.
> Now add:
> 1/2 TBS white vinegar
> 1 egg
> 1/4 cup COLD water
> 
> Mix well.  Chill at least 20 minutes before rolling.   Makes enough for 1 pie, top and bottom.
> 
> I swear by this crust!  Bakes up beautifully.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Vinegar?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've actually heard the vinegar trick before and forgot about it. I'm actually more on the fence about the egg than anything else. I've never put an egg into crust. Hmmm....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's true, too. The crust recipe I used this year was all butter. It kind of cheats...rather than resting in the fridge before rolling out, you roll it out and shape it, then rest it in the fridge. It gives it a chance for all of the gluten to relax before baking. It was my best crust effort to date.
> 
> I also made pumpkin pie sans pumpkin, but I used a butternut squash because that's what I had handy. We've  had the best luck using butternut for "pumpkin" beers, too.
Click to expand...

I've learned to let the dough rest in the fridge even beyond 20 minutes before handling it.   It rolls out, and generally handles, much easier with a distinct chill on it.  

The single egg and the vinegar are the items that set this crust apart.   It bakes to a golden brown and is flaky and delectable.  If you tried it just once, you'd likely be a fan for life.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary survived yesterday by getting the BBQ fired up ... then bank to bed. Getting the turkey prepped and tossed into the BBQ ... then back to bed. Getting the potatoes mashed, then back to bed. Et cetera.  Guests knew I was sick, but came over anyway. Maggie was a big hit entertaining all. Gary made it about 3/4 of the way through dinner, then back to bed.  Cooking the turkey in the Kamado freed the oven for the ham and stuff. Worked out well. BTW- Those square plates hold a lot more than a comparatively sized round plate.



get well soon, dear friend!!!

Happy to have made it home safe and that I had precooked for dinner I hit bed at 19 hours yesterday and got up half past 8 this morning.


----------



## Frank F.

they build a new Primark in front of the historic train station in our city center:


----------



## Frank F.

@limr: Your pies look great!

I did cook vegan yesterday, made curried caulifower .... two huge heads, but wife & son were all over them and they were gone fast. Happy if family likes my food.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave had between 4.25 and 4.5 hours at work. Ran the buffer and it makes quite a difference. Now off until Monday morning. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Going to funeral today. The lady of the family we made that dinner for earlier this week, passed away on Tuesday. They caught her cancer in her brain way to late, did some treatments and a month or so later passed on. I am ushering the service with a few other men. This is gonna be tough, her husband has dimentia and I just hope he handles this ok. He remembers my name occasionally but almost always recognizes me. I wonder if one of his kids are going to take care of him? He is physically in very good condition, other than his mind. He was so confused and distraught the night we brought him dinner over to his house. Just that week of his wife being away, totally messed him up. He was so reliant on her thinking for him. I suppose all we can do is pray for him and the family.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Going to funeral today. The lady of the family we made that dinner for earlier this week, passed away on Tuesday. They caught her cancer in her brain way to late, did some treatments and a month or so later passed on. I am ushering the service with a few other men. This is gonna be tough, her husband has dimentia and I just hope he handles this ok. He remembers my name occasionally but almost always recognizes me. I wonder if one of his kids are going to take care of him? He is physically in very good condition, other than his mind. He was so confused and distraught the night we brought him dinner over to his house. Just that week of his wife being away, totally messed him up. He was so reliant on her thinking for him. I suppose all we can do is pray for him and the family.



I'm sorry


----------



## limr

benhasajeep said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh boy, an additional fig or sweet potato pie might get you a lens too
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Funnily enough, I just made a sweet potato pie today!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Your just teasing us!!!!!!
Click to expand...


But I really did make one!



terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> The problem is, I prefer the taste and flakiness of an all-shortening crust, but it seems it's just harder to get those right.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm.  Maybe try this one (world's best pie crust, IMO):
> 2 cups all-purpose flour
> 1/2 TBS sugar
> 1 tsp salt
> Combine the above,  then cut in just under 1 cup of shortening.
> Now add:
> 1/2 TBS white vinegar
> 1 egg
> 1/4 cup COLD water
> 
> Mix well.  Chill at least 20 minutes before rolling.   Makes enough for 1 pie, top and bottom.
> 
> I swear by this crust!  Bakes up beautifully.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Vinegar?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've actually heard the vinegar trick before and forgot about it. I'm actually more on the fence about the egg than anything else. I've never put an egg into crust. Hmmm....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's true, too. The crust recipe I used this year was all butter. It kind of cheats...rather than resting in the fridge before rolling out, you roll it out and shape it, then rest it in the fridge. It gives it a chance for all of the gluten to relax before baking. It was my best crust effort to date.
> 
> I also made pumpkin pie sans pumpkin, but I used a butternut squash because that's what I had handy. We've  had the best luck using butternut for "pumpkin" beers, too.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I've learned to let the dough rest in the fridge even beyond 20 minutes before handling it.   It rolls out, and generally handles, much easier with a distinct chill on it.
> 
> The single egg and the vinegar are the items that set this crust apart.   It bakes to a golden brown and is flaky and delectable.  If you tried it just once, you'd likely be a fan for life.
Click to expand...


I will definitely give it a try and report back! Clearly I need to make many more pies to, um, practice 



Frank F. said:


> @limr: Your pies look great!
> 
> I did cook vegan yesterday, made curried caulifower .... two huge heads, but wife & son were all over them and they were gone fast. Happy if family likes my food.



Thanks, Frank!


----------



## JonA_CT

I made pie today. Same crust recipe as earlier this week. This one is full of local Mutsu apples.


----------



## davidharmier60

Appears yummy!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Hell week crammed into 2-1/2 days. My son suckered me into wiring a room in his basement (outlets,  can lights, internet) no big deal, all open studs, easy path to the panel. 5-6 hrs and I was done. Then, since we had time, yesterday morning started hanging sheet rock. Finished the last today and back at home nursing the aching body.  Definitely to old for this.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave need not awaken at 4am tomorrow. 
But did this morning. Good night and sleep tight y'all!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## benhasajeep

Wife did chocolate pie in home made crust.  MIL did several including apple in home made crust.  The only two I sampled.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Hell week crammed into 2-1/2 days. My son suckered me into wiring a room in his basement (outlets,  can lights, internet) no big deal, all open studs, easy path to the panel. 5-6 hrs and I was done. Then, since we had time, yesterday morning started hanging sheet rock. Finished the last today and back at home nursing the aching body.  Definitely to old for this.


*uck hanging drywall, I hire that crap out. I don't do drywall or mufflers


----------



## jcdeboever

I thought about getting drunk today. I can't believe how people act for a visitation and memorial service. It is amazing to me because it comes from people I recently respected. I am so bummed by people's attitude and entitlement. I can see why people leave the church after today's event. Where is the Love? I guess it's on Facebook.... I was so frustrated that I checked my K1000 up against a wall. My wife wasn't supporting my frustration because she wasn't there to witness it. She had no problem identifying my short comings, so I chucked a camera into pieces. She retreated from that. I just wanted to vent and not get yelled at. Geez, WTF.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's a shame. How is your friend doing? Sorry to hear about his wife passing and his health. My best friend's dad had Alzheimer's, seems like a tough thing to  handle.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> *uck hanging drywall, I hire that crap out. I don't do drywall or mufflers



Sore muscles and joints aside, I don't mind hanging it. The finishing part is what's rough on me (dust).

As to people in general, I've learned to expect little, and seldom disappointed. That way I can appreciate the gems I find along the way.

You can't control the actions of others, only your own actions. You can make suggestions, lead by example, offer alternatives, even condemn the actions of others but the final decision rests with the individual. Live your life as an example for others to follow, and don't beat yourself up when they don't.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> That's a shame. How is your friend doing? Sorry to hear about his wife passing and his health. My best friend's dad had Alzheimer's, seems like a tough thing to  handle.


Man, he did remarkable. It was a good service other than a few insensitive people. She was loved by many. Not real sure what the next steps for him are. I guess time will tell.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sorry my fellow humans were so annoying. 
I have my usual bleary eyes. Trying to get through a 5 or 6 out of 10 mug.
Probably read, mess with pennies and watch YouTube. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Sorry to hear this, JC; a lot of people are just a$$holes.

We made it back from Maine, got home about 11:30 last night.  Overall it was a pleasant trip, though there was a little bit of drama.  I had the pleasure of meeting up with a couple of folks, this time around.  I had a couple of beers at Allagash Brewing Company with @o hey tyler (he's been away for a while). Then, on the back trip, MLW and I had a little dinner at the diner with our own lovely @limr.


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> I thought about getting drunk today. I can't believe how people act for a visitation and memorial service. It is amazing to me because it comes from people I recently respected. I am so bummed by people's attitude and entitlement. I can see why people leave the church after today's event. Where is the Love? I guess it's on Facebook.... I was so frustrated that I checked my K1000 up against a wall. My wife wasn't supporting my frustration because she wasn't there to witness it. She had no problem identifying my short comings, so I chucked a camera into pieces. She retreated from that. I just wanted to vent and not get yelled at. Geez, WTF.


Ugh, that sounds terrible.   Funerals should bring out the best in people, but can definitely disappoint.  Sorry the camera was what got sacrificed.    Feel better!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Hell week crammed into 2-1/2 days. My son suckered me into wiring a room in his basement (outlets,  can lights, internet) no big deal, all open studs, easy path to the panel. 5-6 hrs and I was done. Then, since we had time, yesterday morning started hanging sheet rock. Finished the last today and back at home nursing the aching body.  Definitely to old for this.


Sheetrock is a PITA ... just loading and unloading  the stuff will do you in, exhausting. God Bless you smoke665 and Gary will pass the ibuprofen.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I thought about getting drunk today. I can't believe how people act for a visitation and memorial service. It is amazing to me because it comes from people I recently respected. I am so bummed by people's attitude and entitlement. I can see why people leave the church after today's event. Where is the Love? I guess it's on Facebook.... I was so frustrated that I checked my K1000 up against a wall. My wife wasn't supporting my frustration because she wasn't there to witness it. She had no problem identifying my short comings, so I chucked a camera into pieces. She retreated from that. I just wanted to vent and not get yelled at. Geez, WTF.


Yep ... Mary Lou doesn't understand Gary's desire just to yell and get it over with.  In public, Gary can keep it in. But in private, some loud words a minute of solitude and I'm good.  Nothin' wrong with being polar.


----------



## benhasajeep

smoke665 said:


> Hell week crammed into 2-1/2 days. My son suckered me into wiring a room in his basement (outlets,  can lights, internet) no big deal, all open studs, easy path to the panel. 5-6 hrs and I was done. Then, since we had time, yesterday morning started hanging sheet rock. Finished the last today and back at home nursing the aching body.  Definitely to old for this.



What, didn't finish?   Hanging is only 1/2 the job!  

Actually we have a project that's beeing going on for a while.  Been putting off installing the drywall up on it.  And finishing it.


----------



## JonA_CT

benhasajeep said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hell week crammed into 2-1/2 days. My son suckered me into wiring a room in his basement (outlets,  can lights, internet) no big deal, all open studs, easy path to the panel. 5-6 hrs and I was done. Then, since we had time, yesterday morning started hanging sheet rock. Finished the last today and back at home nursing the aching body.  Definitely to old for this.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What, didn't finish?   Hanging is only 1/2 the job!
> 
> Actually we have a project that's beeing going on for a while.  Been putting off installing the drywall up on it.  And finishing it.
Click to expand...


I might grab a buddy and hang drywall, but even then, I’ll pay someone to come tape and mud.


----------



## smoke665

benhasajeep said:


> What, didn't finish?  Hanging is only 1/2 the job!



I don't mind the finishing, but the dust from sanding tears me up. I've learned to a better job mudding over the years to cut down on the sanding, but still it's inevitable.


----------



## benhasajeep

smoke665 said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> What, didn't finish?  Hanging is only 1/2 the job!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't mind the finishing, but the dust from sanding tears me up. I've learned to a better job mudding over the years to cut down on the sanding, but still it's inevitable.
Click to expand...


I have a vacuum sander head and can connect it to a water trap.  Works pretty good for being a cheaper version.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> What, didn't finish?  Hanging is only 1/2 the job!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't mind the finishing, but the dust from sanding tears me up. I've learned to a better job mudding over the years to cut down on the sanding, but still it's inevitable.
Click to expand...

A GOOD respirator would do a number on the dust (see below).  Keep it on until you hit a shower.


----------



## JonA_CT

benhasajeep said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> What, didn't finish?  Hanging is only 1/2 the job!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't mind the finishing, but the dust from sanding tears me up. I've learned to a better job mudding over the years to cut down on the sanding, but still it's inevitable.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have a vacuum sander head and can connect it to a water trap.  Works pretty good for being a cheaper version.
Click to expand...


Admittedly, I’m not a craftsman of any sort, but I’d definitely be hearing back to the mud bucket a few times if I tried using a power sander, haha. 

(I’d still love to have drywall over my plaster walls!)


----------



## smoke665

benhasajeep said:


> I have a vacuum sander head and can connect it to a water trap. Works pretty good for being a cheaper version.



I have that as well as a large dust collector on wheels, that I can hook up and run a hose outside, but still for those with respiratory issues, even a little is to much.


----------



## benhasajeep

jcdeboever said:


> I thought about getting drunk today. I can't believe how people act for a visitation and memorial service. It is amazing to me because it comes from people I recently respected. I am so bummed by people's attitude and entitlement. I can see why people leave the church after today's event. Where is the Love? I guess it's on Facebook.... I was so frustrated that I checked my K1000 up against a wall. My wife wasn't supporting my frustration because she wasn't there to witness it. She had no problem identifying my short comings, so I chucked a camera into pieces. She retreated from that. I just wanted to vent and not get yelled at. Geez, WTF.



Not sure what went on.  But I can imagine it.  I have seen a few that makes you go WTF ALREADY!  Some won't even wait 1 sec before opening their mouthes.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. yup got one of those, that my wife makes me wear. By the way, how are you feeling????


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is on the mend, nearly 100% (At least a 100% for him.)  Yesterday Gary had to rush down to San Diego.  Driving back was bumper to bumper nearly all the way back. Gary is tired of traffic.  It is an overcast, gray and cool morning.  Thanksgiving was served on the patio, quite comfortable for short sleeve shirts well into the evening. Gary has concerns about Miss Maggie.  Mary Lou and Gary have been walking her twice a day, (five to seven miles), in an attempt to walk/run out all her puppy energy ... but he fears that the long walks are just building her up.  Gary is changing her name from Miss Maggie to Mad Maggie.  Fortunately, after Mad Maggie completely wears out her humans, she is quite comfortable with entertaining herself. Last night she played fetch with herself for maybe an hour.


----------



## benhasajeep

JonA_CT said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> What, didn't finish?  Hanging is only 1/2 the job!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't mind the finishing, but the dust from sanding tears me up. I've learned to a better job mudding over the years to cut down on the sanding, but still it's inevitable.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have a vacuum sander head and can connect it to a water trap.  Works pretty good for being a cheaper version.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Admittedly, I’m not a craftsman of any sort, but I’d definitely be hearing back to the mud bucket a few times if I tried using a power sander, haha.
> 
> (I’d still love to have drywall over my plaster walls!)
Click to expand...

Yea, we have plaster as well.  Where part of the area we are working (well waiting better term now).  The plaster is now cracking from being disturbed from the new work.  So, have to tear more out and replace with drywall.  House is over 100.


----------



## Gary A.

Friday, during couch potato time, Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary watched "Mudbound".  A long and very interesting movie set in Mississippi during the '30's and 40's. Five Stars.


----------



## JonA_CT

benhasajeep said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> What, didn't finish?  Hanging is only 1/2 the job!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't mind the finishing, but the dust from sanding tears me up. I've learned to a better job mudding over the years to cut down on the sanding, but still it's inevitable.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have a vacuum sander head and can connect it to a water trap.  Works pretty good for being a cheaper version.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Admittedly, I’m not a craftsman of any sort, but I’d definitely be hearing back to the mud bucket a few times if I tried using a power sander, haha.
> 
> (I’d still love to have drywall over my plaster walls!)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yea, we have plaster as well.  Where part of the area we are working (well waiting better term now).  The plaster is now cracking from being disturbed from the new work.  So, have to tear more out and replace with drywall.  House is over 100.
Click to expand...


Gross. Yeah, our house is 105. The plaster is in pretty good shape as long as we don’t mess with things. The last time I painted, I pulled on a scrap of wall paper and ended up having to repair a giant crack. 

 

 

I guess the good news is that I couldn’t have told you where the crack had been now until I looked at the pictures.


----------



## Gary A.

benhasajeep said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> What, didn't finish?  Hanging is only 1/2 the job!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't mind the finishing, but the dust from sanding tears me up. I've learned to a better job mudding over the years to cut down on the sanding, but still it's inevitable.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have a vacuum sander head and can connect it to a water trap.  Works pretty good for being a cheaper version.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Admittedly, I’m not a craftsman of any sort, but I’d definitely be hearing back to the mud bucket a few times if I tried using a power sander, haha.
> 
> (I’d still love to have drywall over my plaster walls!)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yea, we have plaster as well.  Where part of the area we are working (well waiting better term now).  The plaster is now cracking from being disturbed from the new work.  So, have to tear more out and replace with drywall.  House is over 100.
Click to expand...

Gary had an old house ... at least by Los Angeles standards. In was in the harbor area, plaster walls, each room had a different finish texture. Due to earthquakes and settling (house was built resting on piers), lots of cracks at the joints.


----------



## smoke665

I only lived in one house that had plaster over lath. The house was over 75 years old, and the plaster was still in excellent shape. Unfortunately the wiring, plumbing, insulation, floor plan, fixtures and HVAC was not. We really had hopes of remodeling it and staying but the cost of upgrades was staggering, as we would have had to gut the whole house. Cheaper to sell and buy another. Had we stayed it would have bummed me out to go back with drywall, as the plaster just has a look and feel to it that can't be matched.


----------



## benhasajeep

smoke665 said:


> I only lived in one house that had plaster over lath. The house was over 75 years old, and the plaster was still in excellent shape. Unfortunately the wiring, plumbing, insulation, floor plan, fixtures and HVAC was not. We really had hopes of remodeling it and staying but the cost of upgrades was staggering, as we would have had to gut the whole house. Cheaper to sell and buy another. Had we stayed it would have bummed me out to go back with drywall, as the plaster just has a look and feel to it that can't be matched.


Rewired the entire basement.  Took out the old knob and tube wiring down there anyway.  Still have some circuits out in the house that was connected to it.  So like you, we still have to take out some walls for that.  Plus needs insulation or new insulation.


----------



## SquarePeg

Believe it or not, I pulled down the paneling and drywalled our entire inlaw apartment when we first bought this house.  Just me and my sister in law working on the weekends.  My ex was busy working on the main house and I’m not the patient type.  It’s dusty work but pretty simple.  A few summers spent working for an early incarnation of the youth build program left me fairly competent at the basic construction stuff.  Nothing like learning first hand where the expression “wait for the dust to settle” comes from.  That was back when I had boundless energy...  these days I’d gladly whip out my checkbook instead!


----------



## smoke665

benhasajeep said:


> Took out the old knob and tube wiring down there anyway. Still have some circuits out in the house that was connected to it. So like you, we still have to take out some walls for that. Plus needs insulation or new insulation.



The house would have made a really nice place. 2 story with a  full basement, that didn't have a crack anywhere. The walls were 2x6 rough saw pine. with 1x6 diagonal sheathing. It was built like a tank. The wiring scared the H$$$ out of me, lights would flicker, and or dim for no reason. The box had so many external boxes it looked like it had growths. As to insulation----there was none.



SquarePeg said:


> Believe it or not,



I can believe it. I'm a firm believer in both sexes being self reliant. Taught both my sons and daughter skills that they still use today. My oldest son, though is still TERRIFIED of electrical, he got a shock when he was kid. When I was wiring the runs into the panel, I finally had to make him leave, he was making me really nervous, with his constant "look out", "you're getting to close to a live wire", "watch out", "Be careful".


----------



## SquarePeg

I wouldn't touch the electrical stuff!  I leave that to the experts but I'm good with minor repairs and most of the easy DIY projects.  Nothing drives me more nuts than someone (man or woman) who can't even hang a photo on a wall or un-stick a garbage disposal.   A male friend of mine recently had a plumber in to fix his clogged sink and "broken" disposal.  We were having dinner and he mentioned the plumber was coming the next morning.  I asked if he'd tried to clear the trap and use the little wrench to get the disposal going.  He had no idea what I was talking about.  The next day he called me to laugh that he had paid $150 for the plumber to do exactly what I had told him to do the night before!  But hey, at least he didn't ruin his manicure.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> I wouldn't touch the electrical stuff!  I leave that to the experts but I'm good with minor repairs and most of the easy DIY projects.  Nothing drives me more nuts than someone (man or woman) who can't even hang a photo on a wall or un-stick a garbage disposal.   A male friend of mine recently had a plumber in to fix his clogged sink and "broken" disposal.  We were having dinner and he mentioned the plumber was coming the next morning.  I asked if he'd tried to clear the trap and use the little wrench to get the disposal going.  He had no idea what I was talking about.  The next day he called me to laugh that he had paid $150 for the plumber to do exactly what I had told him to do the night before!  But hey, at least he didn't ruin his manicure.


Gary sticks a broomhandle into the disposal and spins the handle ... no need to spend time looking for a special wrench.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary sticks a broomhandle into the disposal and spins the handle ... no need to spend time looking for a special wrench.



I find if you flip the switch on just as you stick the broom handle in, it makes it easier to know when you have it free


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary sticks a broomhandle into the disposal and spins the handle ... no need to spend time looking for a special wrench.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I find if you flip the switch on just as you stick the broom handle in, it makes it easier to know when you have it free
Click to expand...

Trouble with a broom is reaction time to the switch ... better to use a fist for a quicker reaction.  A slow reaction with a broom will just gum it up again.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> What, didn't finish?  Hanging is only 1/2 the job!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't mind the finishing, but the dust from sanding tears me up. I've learned to a better job mudding over the years to cut down on the sanding, but still it's inevitable.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have a vacuum sander head and can connect it to a water trap.  Works pretty good for being a cheaper version.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Admittedly, I’m not a craftsman of any sort, but I’d definitely be hearing back to the mud bucket a few times if I tried using a power sander, haha.
> 
> (I’d still love to have drywall over my plaster walls!)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yea, we have plaster as well.  Where part of the area we are working (well waiting better term now).  The plaster is now cracking from being disturbed from the new work.  So, have to tear more out and replace with drywall.  House is over 100.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Gross. Yeah, our house is 105. The plaster is in pretty good shape as long as we don’t mess with things. The last time I painted, I pulled on a scrap of wall paper and ended up having to repair a giant crack.
> 
> View attachment 150000
> Wallpaper and paint are wonderful for fixing cracks.
> View attachment 150001
> 
> I guess the good news is that I couldn’t have told you where the crack had been now until I looked at the pictures.
Click to expand...


----------



## Frank F.

on some days the light is just different and magically so:


----------



## snowbear

I'm fine with basic electrical and have done a little drywall.  My fear is plumbing; I've never had it go well - go to replace one part, if I can find it, and find the next thing in line needs replacing.  Too many odd tools (who the heck has a 1-3/16" deep socket lying around?) and (older houses) I can't sweat pipes worth a crap.

Kind of a lazy, lay around day here as well.  We washed all the clothes before we left to come home, but I have a couple of things to pull out of the car.  I have some photos to process, but not a lot; I didn't take as many as I thought, and most were with the phone. MLW is down for a second nap (her eye is twitching) so it's me and Zoe, whom is laying by my feet.

I really try to learn something new every week, or so, and on the trip I learned two things.  We stayed in Saco, Maine.  I learned that it's not pronounced "SAY-co" (that's a watch!), but rather "SOCK-oh."  I also learned (not sure if it's a good or bad thing) that there is a PEZ Visitor's Center in Connecticut.  I suspect it's a like Chocolate World, in Hershey, PA without the amusement park and water park - a museum with a huge gift shop.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> oo many odd tools (who the heck has a 1-3/16" deep socket lying around?)



I do plus a lot of other odd ball, including specialized ones. LOL  Course I have 50 years of collecting, plus inheriting my fathers tools, and the ones I kept after we closed the trucking company.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> oo many odd tools (who the heck has a 1-3/16" deep socket lying around?)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I do plus a lot of other odd ball, including specialized ones. LOL  Course I have 50 years of collecting, plus inheriting my fathers tools, and the ones I kept after we closed the trucking company.
Click to expand...

I did, too.  Probably the only time I actually needed that one.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got asked if he wanted to go to Livingston. (Figured it was with Sister..)
But no. It was to get dog food at Tractor Supply. Have done so. Now if open going to visit an antique store I've been threatening to visit. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

The antique store was in fact open.
All I found that interested me was a photo album. And the place is actually called Consignors Central. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

[QUOTE="snowbear, post: 3821794, member: 12359]I also learned (not sure if it's a good or bad thing) that there is a PEZ Visitor's Center in Connecticut.  I suspect it's a like Chocolate World, in Hershey, PA without the amusement park and water park - a museum with a huge gift shop.[/QUOTE]

I haven’t been, but my understanding is that there is a factory tour. The manufacturing electives at my school take a field trip there each year.


----------



## JonA_CT

My body was crying “Mercy!” after the indulgences of the last few days, so dinner was seared Ahi and stir-fryed Chinese broccoli tonight. We try to be super good during the week this time of year, because the weekend brings many temptations.


----------



## Gary A.

Turkey Soup tonight for Gary and Mary Lou.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Turkey Soup tonight for Gary and Mary Lou.



That's on the docket for this week at some point. (We just made our turkey yesterday...)


----------



## snowbear

In the truck behind Clyde’s Cider Mill (Mystic, CT)




DSC_0851.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## davidharmier60

We had Spaghetti tonight. Ahi sounds pretty good. Shant be long and Dave will be lights out. I hope everyone has a good night!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> In the truck behind Clyde’s Cider Mill (Mystic, CT)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_0851.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr



Love the light here, Charlie. Nice catch.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks.  I did play a bit in post to brighten up the colors.

A couple more from Mystic:



DSC_0893.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr




DSC_0897.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr




DSC_0854.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

Crow is on the plate here as Bama fans get a heaping helping from Auburn fans after a disappointing loss in the Iron Bowl. Not discounting Auburn's ability, they came to play. Unfortunately Bama didn't.  In Saban's words after " We weren't very good. We didn't protect very well. We didn't get open very well. The quarterback didn't read stuff very well. We didn't throw the ball and we didnt catch it very well".


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> ...who the heck has a 1-3/16" deep socket lying around?


Would you like 1/2" drive, 3/4" drive, impact or regular chrome-moly?


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> Would you like 1/2" drive, 3/4" drive, impact or regular chrome-moly?



Left out thin wall and 6 point or 12 point LOL


----------



## JonA_CT

And this is why I'm thankful to have a Harbor Freight about 5 minutes from my house.

(As an aside, if you didn't know...most of their hand tools have a lifetime warranty, just like that big brand at that failing department store. The only difference is that you'll pay 1/3 the price.)


----------



## JonA_CT

JonA_CT said:


> And this is why I'm thankful to have a Harbor Freight about 5 minutes from my house.
> 
> (As an aside, if you didn't know...most of their hand tools have a lifetime warranty, just like that big brand at that failing department store. The only difference is that you'll pay 1/3 the price.)



P.S. They'll replace it even if it's just because you're an idiot. Don't ask me how I know.


----------



## benhasajeep

JonA_CT said:


> And this is why I'm thankful to have a Harbor Freight about 5 minutes from my house.
> 
> (As an aside, if you didn't know...most of their hand tools have a lifetime warranty, just like that big brand at that failing department store. The only difference is that you'll pay 1/3 the price.)



Working on planes and cars for over 20 years I have a rather large collection of tools.  If you include my woodworking hobby, and metal working gear.  My workshop is pretty full.

I have some Pittsburgh tools, loads of Craftsman, Snap On, Mac, and a few others.  There is a difference in the tools and their build.  For example Snap On and Mac tools generally tend to be just as strong but thinner than the less expensive Pittsburgh and Craftsman tools.  Now having thinner wrenches and sockets are not needed all the time.  But I have run into situations where I absolutely had to use Snap On sockets just for clearance issues.  Wrenches as well.   I will note that the quality of Craftsman seems to have gone down some in the last 5 years at least in fit and finish of their hand tools.

I also have some Harbor Freight power tools that have lasted me.  Big and small.  But I have also had some fail (small electric tools).  But for the price you pay if you get the job done and the tool still works.  Then you count it as a bonus.  I have also had a couple Dewalt tools fail.  So, just like anything, you use it alot it will wear out.


----------



## Frank F.

greyish ,,,, Ginko glows


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is wet outside.  Gary thinks that wet outside is peachy.  Needed to use the wipers to get to work this morning.  (Granted the wipers were set to low and only needed them for half the trip and there’s not enough water to wet the pavement under a parked car ... but wet nonetheless.)


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has some tools. Gary was in construction for a decade or two. While Gary was in management, he always got his hands dirty helping out ... making sure the jobs were completed on schedule.


----------



## Gary A.

If Frank or Peg were out here.  Gary would build their stuff for them pro bono and save them 20%-30%.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Would you like 1/2" drive, 3/4" drive, impact or regular chrome-moly?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Left out thin wall and 6 point or 12 point LOL
Click to expand...

Don't have thin wall in anything over 7/8"; not sure if I have a 6pt...  possibly.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> And this is why I'm thankful to have a Harbor Freight about 5 minutes from my house.
> 
> (As an aside, if you didn't know...most of their hand tools have a lifetime warranty, just like that big brand at that failing department store. The only difference is that you'll pay 1/3 the price.)


There's a reason for that...


----------



## davidharmier60

Nearest Harbor Freight is around 38 miles (or 2.5 gallons or so). We very possibly have the socket mentioned. Might be impact but probably. 

Dave had 5 minutes under 5 hours today. 
He sold his box of pennies to Trish and was able to buy one at the second bank in town. So an otherwise dreary life gets to look at pennies. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> If Frank or Peg were out here.  Gary would build their stuff for them pro bono and save them 20%-30%.



I will probably employ a flat rate guy from a village. My architect has worked with him. High Ethos, strong words. He says it is great to make a shouting contest with him on site, then find a solution and have a beer ... just tje kind of guy I need. In the face. Nothing behind my back. Straight. Forward!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Smoke, you had crow for Thanksgiving dinner?? bet that was tasty. 

As long as there's a beer involved, Frank... 

Taking a break from cybershopping. Guess that's not a word, it's still underlined in red. But I don't care, that's what I'm doing. That and a load of towels and watching Jools Holland reruns.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If Frank or Peg were out here.  Gary would build their stuff for them pro bono and save them 20%-30%.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I will probably employ a flat rate guy from a village. My architect has worked with him. High Ethos, strong words. He says it is great to make a shouting contest with him on site, then find a solution and have a beer ... just tje kind of guy I need. In the face. Nothing behind my back. Straight. Forward!
Click to expand...

No shouting here on business ... Gary would just lay out your options. Gary wouldn't mind shouting at you on personal matters.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Dinner at the Diner with Leo - is that a new sitcom?

No school today, and not that it isn't quiet here anyway but it's _really_ quiet with nary a school bus at dismissal time.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Crow is on the plate here as Bama fans get a heaping helping from Auburn fans after a disappointing loss in the Iron Bowl. Not discounting Auburn's ability, they came to play. Unfortunately Bama didn't.  In Saban's words after " We weren't very good. We didn't protect very well. We didn't get open very well. The quarterback didn't read stuff very well. We didn't throw the ball and we didnt catch it very well".


Auburn played like tigers.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Dinner at the Diner with Leo - is that a new sitcom?
> 
> No school today, and not that it isn't quiet here anyway but it's _really_ quiet with nary a school bus at dismissal time.



Not quite a new sitcom, although it _was_ fun to meet @snowbear  and his wife


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dinner at the Diner with Leo - is that a new sitcom?
> 
> No school today, and not that it isn't quiet here anyway but it's _really_ quiet with nary a school bus at dismissal time.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not quite a new sitcom, although it _was_ fun to meet @snowbear  and his wife
Click to expand...


The pleasure was ours, hon.  We'll make sure to do this again on our next trip that way.  I want to fish that wonderful reservoir, nearby.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dinner at the Diner with Leo - is that a new sitcom?
> 
> No school today, and not that it isn't quiet here anyway but it's _really_ quiet with nary a school bus at dismissal time.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not quite a new sitcom, although it _was_ fun to meet @snowbear  and his wife
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The pleasure was ours, hon.  We'll make sure to do this again on our next trip that way.  I want to fish that wonderful reservoir, nearby.
Click to expand...


The Kensico Dam is right down the road from the diner - literally about a minute. Don't know if you can fish off the dam, or if you'd even want to. If you're serious about that, I can see where the fishing areas are.


----------



## limr

The 9-11 memorial in Kensico Dam plaza:




Day 99 - Memorial by limrodrigues, on Flickr

The dam itself, in emulsion lift collage form 



Day 317 - Pano by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## terri

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dinner at the Diner with Leo - is that a new sitcom?
> 
> No school today, and not that it isn't quiet here anyway but it's _really_ quiet with nary a school bus at dismissal time.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not quite a new sitcom, although it _was_ fun to meet @snowbear  and his wife
Click to expand...

Jealous!!!!    I know you all had fun!


----------



## snowbear

The regulations are usually online, so that should be easy enough. I’d be interested in a boat or canoe rental which may be more of a challenge, but one step at a time.

And even more reasons to go back.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dinner at the Diner with Leo - is that a new sitcom?
> 
> No school today, and not that it isn't quiet here anyway but it's _really_ quiet with nary a school bus at dismissal time.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not quite a new sitcom, although it _was_ fun to meet @snowbear  and his wife
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Jealous!!!!    I know you all had fun!
Click to expand...

You’ll have to tag along.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave just had leftover Spaghetti. 
Watching Price is Right. 
Rather unmotivated. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dinner at the Diner with Leo - is that a new sitcom?
> 
> No school today, and not that it isn't quiet here anyway but it's _really_ quiet with nary a school bus at dismissal time.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not quite a new sitcom, although it _was_ fun to meet @snowbear  and his wife
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Jealous!!!!    I know you all had fun!
Click to expand...


I’m jealous too.  We need a TPF meetup!  I say we plan for NYC in the spring.  Or we all go visit Gary


----------



## snowbear

That sounds like a good idea.


----------



## SquarePeg

Or DC for the cherry blossoms.  I would do either.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dinner at the Diner with Leo - is that a new sitcom?
> 
> No school today, and not that it isn't quiet here anyway but it's _really_ quiet with nary a school bus at dismissal time.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not quite a new sitcom, although it _was_ fun to meet @snowbear  and his wife
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Jealous!!!!    I know you all had fun!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I’m jealous too.  We need a TPF meetup!  I say we plan for NYC in the spring.  Or we all go visit Gary
Click to expand...




SquarePeg said:


> Or DC for the cherry blossoms.  I would do either.



I'd be fine for either. It would be a funny math problem...just how many TPFers can Gary fit in his house?

Then again, I think Gary could use some time on the east coast too...I think he has it just a little too good. I think NYC or Boston in the middle of January might be good for him, haha. Or even better, meet up in Maine during slush mud season.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sleepy, Dave is getting sleepy. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> If Frank or Peg were out here. Gary would build their stuff for them pro bono and save them 20%-30%.



Is that some west coast math Gary???? I thought pro bono was free.


----------



## SquarePeg

So... I broke down and ordered the Ona Bowery camera bag that I’ve been admiring.  It had a $30 rebate that ended today and I just knew I was going to end up buying it later.  The Antique Cognac color never went on sale and after much internal debate, I decided I’m more of a Dark Truffle girl anyway.  Plus the darker color matches my favorite boots.  Really looking firward to having a nice looking bag that doesn’t scream CAMERA! and has room for some of my non camera stuff.  I’ve been using my XL Coach purse but it’s not very efficient.  Now I’m going to sell the brand new used once backpack and the lowpro sling bag that I bought for the Nikon that are way too big for the Fuji.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If Frank or Peg were out here. Gary would build their stuff for them pro bono and save them 20%-30%.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is that some west coast math Gary???? I thought pro bono was free.
Click to expand...


I’m assuming Gary would supervise the project for free and we would have to pay for materials and labor.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Auburn played like tigers.



Everybody talking about the decline of the last couple weeks. Not sure what happened but Bama hasn't put a #1 team on the field for the last couple of games.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> I’m assuming Gary would supervise the project for free and we would have to pay for materials and labor.



Well shoot, I'm good at supervising, it's the work part that I have trouble with!!!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If Frank or Peg were out here. Gary would build their stuff for them pro bono and save them 20%-30%.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is that some west coast math Gary???? I thought pro bono was free.
Click to expand...

Lol ... I’ll just toss in the management and permits part. Still need subs and materials.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary made a quick Costco run today.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary from a four mile walk around the lake. Maggie (four and a half months) met Milla, (a six month old doodle) and they ran and ran full tilt  and off the leash ... then they wrestled until exhaustion. Maggie had a great time!


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> I’ll just toss in the management and permits part.



Permits!!!! We Don Need No Stinkin Permits!!!! (not in Alabama) LOL


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I’ll just toss in the management and permits part.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Permits!!!! We Don Need No Stinkin Permits!!!! (not in Alabama) LOL
Click to expand...

Somehow, that doesn't surprise Gary.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave  hopes all have a good night!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## benhasajeep

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I’ll just toss in the management and permits part.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Permits!!!! We Don Need No Stinkin Permits!!!! (not in Alabama) LOL
Click to expand...

After we moved in and started doing some work.  I kept asking our towns inspector if I needed permits for this and that.  Basically only need permit for plumbing, and any structural change that adds square footage or changes the shape of the structure.  That's it!  Can re-wire entire house, no inspection.  Can change the roof,  no inspection.


----------



## Gary A.

benhasajeep said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I’ll just toss in the management and permits part.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Permits!!!! We Don Need No Stinkin Permits!!!! (not in Alabama) LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> After we moved in and started doing some work.  I kept asking our towns inspector if I needed permits for this and that.  Basically only need permit for plumbing, and any structural change that adds square footage or changes the shape of the structure.  That's it!  Can re-wire entire house, no inspection.  Can change the roof,  no inspection.
Click to expand...

You can gut the interior and install an indoor pool with only needing a plumbing permit. (Unless you use the existing plumbing ... in which case you’re home free.)  Gary only works on public sector construction. He has a lot of expertise with paperwork. The government treats paperwork with equal seriousness and weight as it does with the actual construction.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary from a four mile walk around the lake. Maggie (four and a half months) meet Milla, (a six month old doodle) and they ran and ran full tilt  and off the leash ... then they wrestled until exhaustion. Maggie had a great time!


Webster would have been easier. He would of made her happy pretty quick, not like his daddy.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave  hopes all have a good night!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Goodnight Dave.


----------



## jcdeboever

jcdeboever said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's a shame. How is your friend doing? Sorry to hear about his wife passing and his health. My best friend's dad had Alzheimer's, seems like a tough thing to  handle.
> 
> 
> 
> Man, he did remarkable. It was a good service other than a few insensitive people. She was loved by many. Not real sure what the next steps for him are. I guess time will tell.
Click to expand...


Oh boy let the fun begin. Someone let him drive. I have to fix a minor rear end impact. Oh boy, this is gonna be interesting. He hit a girl I used to manage at a paint company of all things. She is cool about it as long as I buy the materials from her. Total cost of material is $957.00 and that is used parts. Geez oh pete.


----------



## SquarePeg

benhasajeep said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I’ll just toss in the management and permits part.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Permits!!!! We Don Need No Stinkin Permits!!!! (not in Alabama) LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> After we moved in and started doing some work.  I kept asking our towns inspector if I needed permits for this and that.  Basically only need permit for plumbing, and any structural change that adds square footage or changes the shape of the structure.  That's it!  Can re-wire entire house, no inspection.  Can change the roof,  no inspection.
Click to expand...


Our town is permit hell.  The city planning commission and building ordinances are legendary.  Need a permit for just about everything and it’s not just the money and the buerocracy that is involved - they are very strict about issuing the permits and signing off on the work.  There are some contractors that just won’t deal with the extra red tape and won’t even call you back when they hear the address or they immediately jack up the price.  It’s a pita but it’s also kept property values in a very nice climb.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's a shame. How is your friend doing? Sorry to hear about his wife passing and his health. My best friend's dad had Alzheimer's, seems like a tough thing to  handle.
> 
> 
> 
> Man, he did remarkable. It was a good service other than a few insensitive people. She was loved by many. Not real sure what the next steps for him are. I guess time will tell.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh boy let the fun begin. Someone let him drive. I have to fix a minor rear end impact. Oh boy, this is gonna be interesting. He hit a girl I used to manage at a paint company of all things. She is cool about it as long as I buy the materials from her. Total cost of material is $957.00 and that is used parts. Geez oh pete.
Click to expand...

Gary thinks there are days when nobody gets a break from life.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I’ll just toss in the management and permits part.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Permits!!!! We Don Need No Stinkin Permits!!!! (not in Alabama) LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> After we moved in and started doing some work.  I kept asking our towns inspector if I needed permits for this and that.  Basically only need permit for plumbing, and any structural change that adds square footage or changes the shape of the structure.  That's it!  Can re-wire entire house, no inspection.  Can change the roof,  no inspection.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Our town is permit hell.  The city planning commission and building ordinances are legendary.  Need a permit for just about everything and it’s not just the money and the buerocracy that is involved - they are very strict about issuing the permits and signing off on the work.  There are some contractors that just won’t deal with the extra red tape and won’t even call you back when they hear the address or they immediately jack up the price.  It’s a pita but it’s also kept property values in a very nice climb.
Click to expand...

Gary would kick butt there.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's a shame. How is your friend doing? Sorry to hear about his wife passing and his health. My best friend's dad had Alzheimer's, seems like a tough thing to  handle.
> 
> 
> 
> Man, he did remarkable. It was a good service other than a few insensitive people. She was loved by many. Not real sure what the next steps for him are. I guess time will tell.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh boy let the fun begin. Someone let him drive. I have to fix a minor rear end impact. Oh boy, this is gonna be interesting. He hit a girl I used to manage at a paint company of all things. She is cool about it as long as I buy the materials from her. Total cost of material is $957.00 and that is used parts. Geez oh pete.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Some days Gary thinks there are days when nobody gets a break from life.
Click to expand...

Or someone lives it to the fullest. I have fixed their cars a lot. His wife was pretty reckless.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Or DC for the cherry blossoms.  I would do either.


Oh, THAT would work for me, but NYC or Boston could also work (I'm always in for a good train ride).


----------



## benhasajeep

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or DC for the cherry blossoms.  I would do either.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, THAT would work for me, but NYC or Boston could also work (I'm always in for a good train ride).
Click to expand...

I got stranded in DC one night trying to fly hone during the Cherry Blossom time.  A $100 a night hotel room was only $360!  I was not even supposed to fly to DC at all.  Connection was in Philly.  But they put me on DC flight due to delays in Philly.  Ended up missing last connection of the night home.  They ran out of vouchers, said as far as they knew hotels were full.  Good luck.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If Frank or Peg were out here.  Gary would build their stuff for them pro bono and save them 20%-30%.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I will probably employ a flat rate guy from a village. My architect has worked with him. High Ethos, strong words. He says it is great to make a shouting contest with him on site, then find a solution and have a beer ... just tje kind of guy I need. In the face. Nothing behind my back. Straight. Forward!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No shouting here on business ... Gary would just lay out your options. Gary wouldn't mind shouting at you on personal matters.
Click to expand...



Wait, just let me find my ear plugs. Then start.


----------



## davidharmier60

Mornin kids.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Good morning!

In case anyone is serious about a meetup, here are the dates for the 2018 Cherry Blossom Festival events:

Pink Tie Party – Thursday, March 15
Opening Ceremony – Saturday, March 24
Blossom Kite Festival – Saturday, March 31
Southwest Waterfront Fireworks Festival – Saturday, April 7
National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade – Saturday, April 14
I've never been to any of these, but prefer to wander around (usually during the week to avoid the weekend mobs).





I have an initial consult with the surgeon this afternoon,  Otherwise, I'm trying to finish up an app that will automate most of the process for making fire station wall maps and map books.


----------



## smoke665

Good "Frigid" morning to all from the Smokies. A cool sunny 28 degrees next to the creek where we are. Surprisingly they don't have the ski slopes open on Ober  Gatlinburg yet, just the tube runs. Real time look.
WEBCAM - Ober Gatlinburg - Gatlinburg, TN

Really wish they had a web cam on top of Clingmans Dome at just under 7000 feet it has quite a view from the top on a clear day. Only 19 degrees there this morning.


----------



## o hey tyler

snowbear said:


> Sorry to hear this, JC; a lot of people are just a$$holes.
> 
> We made it back from Maine, got home about 11:30 last night.  Overall it was a pleasant trip, though there was a little bit of drama.  I had the pleasure of meeting up with a couple of folks, this time around.  I had a couple of beers at Allagash Brewing Company with @o hey tyler (he's been away for a while). Then, on the back trip, MLW and I had a little dinner at the diner with our own lovely @limr.


Where's that photo Charlie?


----------



## benhasajeep

smoke665 said:


> Good "Frigid" morning to all from the Smokies. A cool sunny 28 degrees next to the creek where we are. Surprisingly they don't have the ski slopes open on Ober  Gatlinburg yet, just the tube runs. Real time look.
> WEBCAM - Ober Gatlinburg - Gatlinburg, TN
> 
> Really wish they had a web cam on top of Clingmans Dome at just under 7000 feet it has quite a view from the top on a clear day. Only 19 degrees there this morning.


Wearing just a short sleeved shirt this morning in mid Michigan.  But today is the last day in the 50's forcasted for the rest of the year.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  A brisk 47F as Maggie and Gary skimmed off the leaves from the Koi pond. Projected to hit into the 70's today. Gary takes his fourth sip of his first coffee ... hot and rich. Coffee is a great way to start and end the day. Gary used to like an espresso in the afternoon/evening ... but Gary has learned that sleep is dear. Lately, Gary has been hanging out at Costco.  Gary has an app on his phone that checks prices via the bar code both in nearby chain stores and the internet.  Costco has been either at the internet price or under.  This pleases Gary as he and Costco are buds.

@benhasajeep: 50F ain't shortsleeve weather for this SoCal native son.


----------



## waday

Hi all! 

Hope everyone has had a good holiday.

Haven’t been too active on here, apologies! In fact, haven’t left the house much and haven’t gotten much sleep, either.

I present to you, a little girl, only a couple weeks old:


----------



## Gary A.

What a cutie-pie. Good looking baby! And her name is ....


(Who's the father? )


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> Hi all!
> 
> Hope everyone has had a good holiday.
> 
> Haven’t been too active on here, apologies! In fact, haven’t left the house much and haven’t gotten much sleep, either.
> 
> I present to you, a little girl, only a couple weeks old:



Congrats Wade! I knew it should have happened but didn't want to pry, haha!

Enjoy!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Good "Frigid" morning to all from the Smokies. A cool sunny 28 degrees next to the creek where we are. Surprisingly they don't have the ski slopes open on Ober  Gatlinburg yet, just the tube runs. Real time look.
> WEBCAM - Ober Gatlinburg - Gatlinburg, TN
> 
> Really wish they had a web cam on top of Clingmans Dome at just under 7000 feet it has quite a view from the top on a clear day. Only 19 degrees there this morning.


About half the slopes have opened out here:

Ski and Snow Reports California | SkiCentral.com

Some Live Cams are Here


----------



## SquarePeg

She's gorgeous Wade!  Sweet photo.  Looking forward to seeing more shots of her!  

23 degrees here when we woke up.  High expected to just reach 40 this afternoon.  Brrrr.  Having a great day!  Cleaning crew just left so the house is all sparkly and lemony smelling.  Dog is sleeping peacefully and I'm looking for new cookie recipes for the annual cookie swap next Tuesday.  Considering this one:

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2016/10/07/salted-caramel-pretzel-crunch-bars/


----------



## Gary A.

JC likes cookies.


----------



## snowbear

o hey tyler said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear this, JC; a lot of people are just a$$holes.
> 
> We made it back from Maine, got home about 11:30 last night.  Overall it was a pleasant trip, though there was a little bit of drama.  I had the pleasure of meeting up with a couple of folks, this time around.  I had a couple of beers at Allagash Brewing Company with @o hey tyler (he's been away for a while). Then, on the back trip, MLW and I had a little dinner at the diner with our own lovely @limr.
> 
> 
> 
> Where's that photo Charlie?
Click to expand...

Apparently I lost it.  We'll get another on the next trip.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> About half the slopes have opened out here:



They've been running the snow making wide open since the cold snap last week, so I suspect they'll start opening slopes fairly soon if the cold weather is here to stay.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> Hi all!
> 
> Hope everyone has had a good holiday.
> 
> Haven’t been too active on here, apologies! In fact, haven’t left the house much and haven’t gotten much sleep, either.
> 
> I present to you, a little girl, only a couple weeks old:



You're going to have fun in a few years.

Congrat's.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> About half the slopes have opened out here:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They've been running the snow making wide open since the cold snap last week, so I suspect they'll start opening slopes fairly soon if the cold weather is here to stay.
Click to expand...

Mary Lou is a big-time skier. Gary would rather look at snow than be in it ... face first.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary would rather look at snow than be in it ... face first.



It's one of those things from my past life, now cold and exercise don't go in the same sentence.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> It's one of those things from my past life, now cold and exercise don't go in the same sentence.


Sure they do: "I'm going to have a *cold* beer and *exercise* the remote control."


----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> About half the slopes have opened out here:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They've been running the snow making wide open since the cold snap last week, so I suspect they'll start opening slopes fairly soon if the cold weather is here to stay.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mary Lou is a big-time skier. Gary would rather look at snow than be in it ... face first.
Click to expand...

Well you can always stay in lodge watering hole and enjoy some nice hot toddies.


----------



## SquarePeg

I have not been skiing in many many many years.  I don't enjoy it very much.  I used to go along and hang at the lodge while my friends were on the slopes but even that can be crowded and annoying on busy weekends.  Now I am much happier to stay home and go to a movie or out to watch a football game instead of paying hundreds to be just a tad less than miserable.


----------



## smoke665

@snowbear I like @benhasajeep idea better - hot buttered rum or maybe some really nice brandy. Something that warms from the inside. The Gluehwein I mixed up is pretty good also.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Congrats Wade! aw she's so cute, and big! looks nice and healthy. (I've just seen lots of little preemies so typical babies to me sometimes look huge! lol)

There is actually a place with skiing around here but I haven't heard if it's open yet. They have to make the snow for the most part. As kids we sled down our backyard hill and crashed into the trash cans. Maybe my interest in hockey started at a younger age than I realized.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Salted caramel pretzel what?? I'll have to look at that recipe! 

I had pumpkin spice coffee this morning which is better than I thought it would be when I was grinding the beans (had a strange scent for coffee). I kept thinking it needed something and added a little cinnamon which did the trick.


----------



## Frank F.

Inspired by my own recipee I found some serious wine from my cellar, added some real quality spices and organic unrefined sugar ... seriously drunk now ... with guests

Frank presents: Glühwein!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> JC likes cookies.


I like nutter butters


----------



## benhasajeep

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> JC likes cookies.
> 
> 
> 
> I like nutter butters
Click to expand...

Home made snicker doodles!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Whatever Frank's got going there sounds pretty darn good.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Salted caramel pretzel what?? I'll have to look at that recipe!
> 
> I had pumpkin spice coffee this morning which is better than I thought it would be when I was grinding the beans (had a strange scent for coffee). I kept thinking it needed something and added a little cinnamon which did the trick.


Brandy and coffee is quite pleasing to the nose and the tongue.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave has never been much of a drinker.
Margarita in a salted glass, rum and coke are about the only alcoholic things he drinks. That is a darling baby! In a couple of years look out! Dave ran the floor machine and that thing needs something. 
Maybe a new squeegee on the back.
It leaves at least a third of what it puts out behind. Then the buffer has trouble with all the moisture. And then it ran out of propane. Used a mop to spread the puddles so they would evaporate. 
Went and got propane. Ended up with 3 minutes under 5.25 hours. Told Trish I'll buff the stuff I missed. And maybe spot mop here and there. And of course the Marquee tomorrow. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

The past few weeks Mary Lou has been making persimmon cake every few days.  Gary is getting a bit tired of the stuff ... it has been a bountiful year for the persimmon tree.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Congrats, Wade!! She's a cute little peanut 

I enjoyed skiing the few times I've gone, but it's always been too expensive for me to be able to go frequently enough to get any good at it. It's a lot of fuss. I'd much rather go ice skating. I grew up ice skating on the pond in the woods behind my house. Also on the nearby lake. That is a lake that used to freeze so solidly that people would drive cars out onto it. Yes, there are a few of those cars that now live on the bottom of the lake, but just a few. And it was only once that I held onto the tailgate of a truck going past. It wasn't very fast, but it was fun. Going back wasn't, though. 

@SquarePeg  You have reminded me that I should make cookies. I have a recipe for super easy peanut butter cookies that are amazing. I just have to find the recipe, which is silly because it's two ingredients: peanut butter and sugar. I just have to make sure of the proportion of peanut butter to sugar. I'm positive that it's one 16-oz jar of peanut butter (get the kind with no sugar added, but not freshly ground - texture doesn't work well in this recipe. You need a smoother butter.) but can't remember how much sugar. I've also done a chocolate variation - just add cocoa powder. They are SO good!


----------



## Gary A.

JC likes peanut butter cookies.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> The past few weeks Mary Lou has been making persimmon cake every few days.  Gary is getting a bit tired of the stuff ... it has been a bountiful year for the persimmon tree.



price of high quality persimmons in Germany dropped to 29 Eurocent!


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> What a cutie-pie. Good looking baby! And her name is ....
> 
> 
> (Who's the father? )


Everyone says she looks like me. I disagree, because she’s cute like her mother.

The name is Luna. 



JonA_CT said:


> Congrats Wade! I knew it should have happened but didn't want to pry, haha!
> 
> Enjoy!


Thank you! You wouldn’t have been prying! Message or @ me anytime!



SquarePeg said:


> She's gorgeous Wade!  Sweet photo.  Looking forward to seeing more shots of her!


Thank you! She’s already had so many pictures taken of her, haha. 



snowbear said:


> You're going to have fun in a few years.
> 
> Congrat's.


Thank you! She’s been trouble already 



limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Congrats, Wade!! She's a cute little peanut


Thank you! She’s definitely cute, and a little peanut. When she’s angry, she’s a cute little siren.


----------



## limr

Oooh, I found it!

And apparently, I lied. I forgot about the eggs. Anyway, here's the recipe and it's just divine!
salted peanut butter cookies

@waday Love the name!


----------



## SquarePeg

Countertop convection oven recommendations?


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Countertop convection oven recommendations?


Whatever Costco has on the shelf.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Whatever Frank's got going there sounds pretty darn good.



Not sure of Frank's recipe, but the one I used turned out pretty good! It is one of those, "sneak up on you concoctions" that is easy to consume to much.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Oooh, I found it!
> 
> And apparently, I lied. I forgot about the eggs. Anyway, here's the recipe and it's just divine!
> salted peanut butter cookies
> 
> @waday Love the name!



Yay! Something to do one night.


----------



## snowbear

I've never been skiing, never wanted to go skiing, and have no intention of doing same.
I used to ice skate when younger, though I was never good at it - could only travel forward and counter-clockwise.  Maybe I'll go again once all the med crap is over with, though MLW won't go.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> The name is Luna.



I love it!!!     She is beautiful - congrats to you and Mom!


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> I've never been skiing, never wanted to go skiing, and have no intention of doing same.
> I used to ice skate when younger, though I was never good at it - could only travel forward and counter-clockwise.  Maybe I'll go again once all the med crap is over with, though MLW won't go.


Ditto - and I grew up in ice and snow!    A little bit of ice skating, but was never much for winter sports.   Sledding was fun and required nothing beyond a cheap sled.  I had a horse back then, and nothing beat riding my beautiful warm four-legged friend on a snowy trail - except maybe bareback in the summer.


----------



## snowbear

I learned to skate (meaning stand up and move without ending up on my butt) after a few hours on a frozen saltwater cove.  I got a cheap pair of figure skates but kept tripping on the lower prongs, so I filed them off and it went much smoother.  After I decided I was going to continue, I bought a pair of hockey skates for slightly more money.

I did get to the point where I could go forward, pick up some speed, and spin around 180 degrees, but I couldn't keep up the momentum . . ."There he goes, he's moving fast, he spins and is going backward . . .ah, he's slowing down."


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> I learned to skate (meaning stand up and move without ending up on my butt) after a few hours on a frozen saltwater cove.  I got a cheap pair of figure skates but kept tripping on the lower prongs, so I filed them off and it went much smoother.  After I decided I was going to continue, I bought a pair of hockey skates for slightly more money.
> 
> I did get to the point where I could go forward, pick up some speed, and spin around 180 degrees, but I couldn't keep up the momentum . . ."There he goes, he's moving fast, he spins and is going backward . . .ah, he's slowing down."


You put more effort into it than I did.   I could skate forward and get my butt around a rink, but could never relax enough to get into it.   Too many spills for it to be worthwhile!


----------



## snowbear

There's a small outdoor rink next to the National Sculpture Gardens in DC.  I'd go into work with mom when I was on winter break and there would only be a few people there.  That allowed me to try turns and what not, because they didn't make you go in circles.  One winter, we were skating 3 or 4 nights a week - everyone we know had bad colds and flu, but we never got sick.


----------



## waday

terri said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> The name is Luna.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I love it!!!     She is beautiful - congrats to you and Mom!
Click to expand...

Thank you!


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> There's a small outdoor rink next to the National Sculpture Gardens in DC.  I'd go into work with mom when I was on winter break and there would only be a few people there.  That allowed me to try turns and what not, because they didn't make you go in circles.  One winter, we were skating 3 or 4 nights a week - everyone we know had bad colds and flu, but we never got sick.



I love to skate but I never tried with figure skates. You were a homo if you had a pair of those, at least where I grew up... but sawing off the elf part might keep you getting a serious butt stomping. I never paid any mind to that stuff, I knew a few guys that rolled that way and they were just as cool as the rest of the gang. I actually use to protect them from bullies but to be honest, it wasn't because I was a nice guy, I just liked beating up bad people.

Anyway, a local fireman would flood our park in the winters via fire hydrant. Not to many people out there but enough to get a hockey game going. For some reason, African American kids didn't seem to take to the sport. I always heard it was too expensive of a sport. I was pretty lucky, there were some thrifty tricks I learned from suburban parents. A couple of my friends ended up in the NHL, one having a long career as a goalie. Just thinking about it makes me want to get out there. I live near a lake and I have been known to get out there with the lads. When it gets cold, they blow my phone up. I'm sure I'll be out there this year several times. I may just go out and take pictures occasionally, now that I think about it. These are local kids that play on travel teams. They can play, I play goalie usually, they like all my old gear and think I'm crazy.


----------



## jcdeboever

I am pissed..... Two roll tank, one perfect, the other looks like clay color. TriX. Worked my butt off figuring things out before I go on a journey of creation from what I learned... Never had this happen. Film from KEH probably explains it, I am not buying anything from them again. So many failure purchases, one after another. I'm done.


----------



## davidharmier60

When Dave was a pup 8 years or so old, we lived in suburban Chicago. Dad would make a rink in the yard for skating. And there was a hill on the other side of the tracks for sledding. Dave does not believe his ankles would like skates now....


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> I am pissed..... Two roll tank, one perfect, the other looks like clay color. Worked my butt off figuring things out before I go on a journey of creation from what I learned... Never had this happen. Film from KEH probably explains it, I am not buying anything from them again. So many failure purchases, one after another. I'm done.



I've only had one experience with them.  I bought a used Sigma lens that was supposed to be a Nikon mount but when it arrived it turned out to be a Canon.  The return went smoothly.


----------



## davidharmier60

And VERY shortly Dave will be asleep...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

When I was a kid we lived in the flat lands, not a hill in sight. So sledding was pretty boring, until we learned that we could hook an old car hood to a pickup with a long rope. Despite a few scars that we still carry today we survived.

Up late tonight as we met up with some RV friends yesterday, that we haven't seen in over a year. Spent last night and today visiting and catching up, then tonight went to one of the seasons new Christmas shows in Pigeon Forge. Excellent production.


----------



## Frank F.

this morning I found this still life in the middle of the walkway. Mysterious. Art?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Either that or a worker just heard the last IPad was on sale at the nearby outlet.


----------



## benhasajeep

Frank F. said:


> this morning I found this still life in the middle of the walkway. Mysterious. Art?View attachment 150077


Apparenty it's not paved with gold.  If they just up and left after getting one loose.


----------



## benhasajeep

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am pissed..... Two roll tank, one perfect, the other looks like clay color. Worked my butt off figuring things out before I go on a journey of creation from what I learned... Never had this happen. Film from KEH probably explains it, I am not buying anything from them again. So many failure purchases, one after another. I'm done.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've only had one experience with them.  I bought a used Sigma lens that was supposed to be a Nikon mount but when it arrived it turned out to be a Canon.  The return went smoothly.
Click to expand...


I have sent one lens back to them as it had a bad squeak focusing.  But other than that, through at least a dozen orders, I have been happy.  Thing with film is you never know what your going to get as you can't check it.  Can't be verified if it was stored properly.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> this morning I found this still life in the middle of the walkway. Mysterious. Art?View attachment 150077


Wrong one  .... 9,999,999 more to go.  Time for a beer.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> this morning I found this still life in the middle of the walkway. Mysterious. Art?View attachment 150077
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong one  .... 9,999,999 more to go.  Time for a beer.
Click to expand...



or something along these lines. Strange. For a repair job like this a typical German firm would block a few square meters with security ribbon and flashing yellow lights. I guess this job was not done by a German. And who leaves his tools unattended?


----------



## snowbear

MLW set me up with an early Christmas, though she says it isn't.




Untitled by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr




Untitled by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave wouldn't know fly fishing if it bit him.
But a right handed spinning reel is nearly the perfect thing!

Dave did 4.5 hours today. Last thing was the Marquee which he thinks he did VERY well. Tomorrow he might have to vacuum the cooling gadget on top of the ice machines. 

Now he will look at 21-30 penny rolls from the box. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. 50F presently with an expected high in the low 70's. The sun is streaming in through the kitchen shutters across the table delivering splashes of light on the oranges and paper.  Coffee is pleasant as Gary sips it out of his Holiday mug. Growing up in a Southern California valley, we had to drive 30 minutes to Mt. Baldy for our winter snow. Gary grew up in a small agricultural community about 30 miles due west of Los Angeles. There is a ridge of hills separating the Chino Valley from the coast, on any given day the valley gets cooler and warmer than the Los Angeles Basin. Plus, being surrounded by open fields and orchards it was common to wake up to frozen windshield and iced grass that crunched under your feet. There's a ski lift at Mt. Baldy in the San Gabriel Mountains, but the run is steep and the snow crappy.  Skiing there was more like a Destruction Derby contest than sport. But tubing was fun and the local  mountains close. Real skiing was two hours away in the San Bernardino Mountains in Wrightwood, Arrowhead and Big Bear.  Great skiing is five hours (Mammoth), six hours (Squaw Valley) and eight hours (Tahoe) away. Gary has been on ice skates maybe four times in his life.  In winter Gary liked to surf or dive, baseball or bike.  In summer Gary liked to surf or dive, baseball or bike. 

PS- @ smoke665: We would tie ropes to cars and 'ski' down the road on our handmade skateboards.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> MLW set me up with an early Christmas, though she says it isn't.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Untitled by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Untitled by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr



Gary knows nothing about fishing, but that looks like a nice set.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary doesn't fish or hunt for recreation or food.  He prefers to leave the killing of his food to pros. (This is Gary's code, he doesn't pass judgement on others.)


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... Mary Lou has been attempting to "snag" some Hamilton tickets cheap.  She has her computer set to Stubhub thinking that someone may be desperate to sell on the day of a performance. She checks repeatedly throughout the day. She is OCD ... she calls it being systematic.


----------



## JonA_CT

One of my students two years ago caught one of Lin-Manuel Miranda's last performances on Broadway. Her parents had some serious, serious connections though (and some deep pockets, too).


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> PS- @ smoke665: We would tie ropes to cars and 'ski' down the road on our handmade skateboards.



Roads around us were way to rough for skateboards, but if you could find a drainage ditch with water, an old water ski, and didnt mind dodging the occasional water moccasin it could be fun


----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... Mary Lou has been attempting to "snag" some Hamilton tickets cheap.  She has her computer set to Stubhub thinking that someone may be desperate to sell on the day of a performance. She checks repeatedly throughout the day. She is OCD ... she calls it being systematic.




Ben once bought 2 courtside seats to a Warriors play off game at home in Oakland the day of the game.  Only problem was Ben was in Maine at the time and had no travel plans to attend the game.  Luckily Bens CC company decided to question the purchase.  And Ben said he was in Maine and didn't think he could make tip off in time!  So, the CC company reversed the charges and closed he card.  Ticketmaster called within 5 min asking Ben if he was sure he didn't buy the tickets?  Ben relayed to Ticketmaster that he was in Maine and tipoff was in a couple hours.  Ben would not even make the 4th quarter if he tried.  Ben thinks Ticketmaster had already given the tickets to the persons unknown, using Bens card!!!


----------



## Gary A.

benhasajeep said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Mary Lou has been attempting to "snag" some Hamilton tickets cheap.  She has her computer set to Stubhub thinking that someone may be desperate to sell on the day of a performance. She checks repeatedly throughout the day. She is OCD ... she calls it being systematic.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ben once bought 2 courtside seats to a Warriors play off game at home in Oakland the day of the game.  Only problem was Ben was in Maine at the time and had no travel plans to attend the game.  Luckily Bens CC company decided to question the purchase.  And Ben said he was in Maine and didn't think he could make tip off in time!  So, the CC company reversed the charges and closed he card.  Ticketmaster called within 5 min asking Ben if he was sure he didn't buy the tickets?  Ben relayed to Ticketmaster that he was in Maine and tipoff was in a couple hours.  Ben would not even make the 4th quarter if he tried.  Ben thinks Ticketmaster had already given the tickets to the persons unknown, using Bens card!!!
Click to expand...

It was a very good game... thanks for the tickets. Gary thought it was gonna be a win-win as he had some good seats and you didn't have to pay ... but in the first quarter ... Gary got tapped on the shoulder by some armed security people wanting a chat with Gary.  Fortunately, Gary had some cash with him as his credits cards didn't quite match his driver's license.


----------



## jcdeboever

benhasajeep said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am pissed..... Two roll tank, one perfect, the other looks like clay color. Worked my butt off figuring things out before I go on a journey of creation from what I learned... Never had this happen. Film from KEH probably explains it, I am not buying anything from them again. So many failure purchases, one after another. I'm done.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've only had one experience with them.  I bought a used Sigma lens that was supposed to be a Nikon mount but when it arrived it turned out to be a Canon.  The return went smoothly.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have sent one lens back to them as it had a bad squeak focusing.  But other than that, through at least a dozen orders, I have been happy.  Thing with film is you never know what your going to get as you can't check it.  Can't be verified if it was stored properly.
Click to expand...


I'm a total idiot....sorry keh, your fine except you never send me good flash's. Anyway, I looked at the film closer, it was Portra 400. I should have noticed the color of the leader but nooooooooooooooo, just going through the motions. When I expense a roll, I leave the leader hanging out. I use the canister for bulkload. My Maxxum 9 has the option  to rewind with leader, pretty slick. They look a lot like TriX canisters. There are images so will be interesting to see what a scan will look like. So, JC gets the dumb move of the week, now I'm yelling at myself, good Lord, help me. Oh, I was surprised a little by the color of the prewash but didn't think it through.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> I'm a total idiot....sorry keh, your fine except you never send me good flash's. Anyway, I looked at the film closer, it was Portra 400. I should have noticed the color of the leader but nooooooooooooooo, just going through the motions. When I expense a roll, I leave the leader hanging out. I use the canister for bulkload. My Maxxum 9 has the option to rewind with leader, pretty slick. They look a lot like TriX canisters. There are images so will be interesting to see what a scan will look like. So, JC gets the dumb move of the week, now I'm yelling at myself, good Lord, help me. Oh, I was surprised a little by the color of the prewash but didn't think it through.



To a non film shooter this is translated as


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm a total idiot....sorry keh, your fine except you never send me good flash's. Anyway, I looked at the film closer, it was Portra 400. I should have noticed the color of the leader but nooooooooooooooo, just going through the motions. When I expense a roll, I leave the leader hanging out. I use the canister for bulkload. My Maxxum 9 has the option to rewind with leader, pretty slick. They look a lot like TriX canisters. There are images so will be interesting to see what a scan will look like. So, JC gets the dumb move of the week, now I'm yelling at myself, good Lord, help me. Oh, I was surprised a little by the color of the prewash but didn't think it through.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To a non film shooter this is translated as
Click to expand...


Now you know how 99% of the gear threads here sound to me


----------



## benhasajeep

jcdeboever said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am pissed..... Two roll tank, one perfect, the other looks like clay color. Worked my butt off figuring things out before I go on a journey of creation from what I learned... Never had this happen. Film from KEH probably explains it, I am not buying anything from them again. So many failure purchases, one after another. I'm done.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've only had one experience with them.  I bought a used Sigma lens that was supposed to be a Nikon mount but when it arrived it turned out to be a Canon.  The return went smoothly.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have sent one lens back to them as it had a bad squeak focusing.  But other than that, through at least a dozen orders, I have been happy.  Thing with film is you never know what your going to get as you can't check it.  Can't be verified if it was stored properly.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm a total idiot....sorry keh, your fine except you never send me good flash's. Anyway, I looked at the film closer, it was Portra 400. I should have noticed the color of the leader but nooooooooooooooo, just going through the motions. When I expense a roll, I leave the leader hanging out. I use the canister for bulkload. My Maxxum 9 has the option  to rewind with leader, pretty slick. They look a lot like TriX canisters. There are images so will be interesting to see what a scan will look like. So, JC gets the dumb move of the week, now I'm yelling at myself, good Lord, help me. Oh, I was surprised a little by the color of the prewash but didn't think it through.
Click to expand...


Ah, I was just thinking I have some film in my bulk real.  Normally I load all into cassettes in one shot.  But, I know I didn't load all my last session.  And I know I didn't mark what film was in the bulk loader.  Pretty sure it's B&W, but what speed?  Will have to investigate when I get home.


----------



## benhasajeep

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm a total idiot....sorry keh, your fine except you never send me good flash's. Anyway, I looked at the film closer, it was Portra 400. I should have noticed the color of the leader but nooooooooooooooo, just going through the motions. When I expense a roll, I leave the leader hanging out. I use the canister for bulkload. My Maxxum 9 has the option to rewind with leader, pretty slick. They look a lot like TriX canisters. There are images so will be interesting to see what a scan will look like. So, JC gets the dumb move of the week, now I'm yelling at myself, good Lord, help me. Oh, I was surprised a little by the color of the prewash but didn't think it through.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To a non film shooter this is translated as
Click to expand...


Hey that's an exact copy our or morning meetings.  EVERY day!


----------



## Frank F.

Went to the hairdessers today, but something went terribly wrong


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sharon likes Frank's still life, Ode to a Crowbar. 



The crowbar rests now. 
A loose block teeters nearby,
The sledgehammer waits...

Frank ponders why 'tis,
Tools left to fend for themselves,
After this, heads will roll.


----------



## smoke665

Sorry all, but I just looked at the calendar, and realized I was in big trouble. I won't say I told on everyone else, but..............................oh who am I kidding, I sang like a canary. So, if anyone finds coal in the stocking this year, just know you shouldn't have been so bad in the first place. LOL


----------



## limr




----------



## smoke665

@limr Santa already had a list on you, so i couldn't give him much!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

limr said:


>



And do you know why Santa is always so jolly? Because he knows where the naughty girls live


----------



## snowbear




----------



## vintagesnaps

Cars with parents wait, 
Hackberries crunch in the street, 
School is out today.


Once I start haiku, 
I can't stop, like Jimmy. 
Gary started that...


----------



## Gary A.

benhasajeep said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am pissed..... Two roll tank, one perfect, the other looks like clay color. Worked my butt off figuring things out before I go on a journey of creation from what I learned... Never had this happen. Film from KEH probably explains it, I am not buying anything from them again. So many failure purchases, one after another. I'm done.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've only had one experience with them.  I bought a used Sigma lens that was supposed to be a Nikon mount but when it arrived it turned out to be a Canon.  The return went smoothly.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have sent one lens back to them as it had a bad squeak focusing.  But other than that, through at least a dozen orders, I have been happy.  Thing with film is you never know what your going to get as you can't check it.  Can't be verified if it was stored properly.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm a total idiot....sorry keh, your fine except you never send me good flash's. Anyway, I looked at the film closer, it was Portra 400. I should have noticed the color of the leader but nooooooooooooooo, just going through the motions. When I expense a roll, I leave the leader hanging out. I use the canister for bulkload. My Maxxum 9 has the option  to rewind with leader, pretty slick. They look a lot like TriX canisters. There are images so will be interesting to see what a scan will look like. So, JC gets the dumb move of the week, now I'm yelling at myself, good Lord, help me. Oh, I was surprised a little by the color of the prewash but didn't think it through.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ah, I was just thinking I have some film in my bulk real.  Normally I load all into cassettes in one shot.  But, I know I didn't load all my last session.  And I know I didn't mark what film was in the bulk loader.  Pretty sure it's B&W, but what speed?  Will have to investigate when I get home.
Click to expand...

*sigh*


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> @limr Santa already had a list on you, so i couldn't give him much!



Yeah, my file takes up a whole cabinet drawer!


----------



## snowbear

Match address to street
Some didn't find their mate, though
Running report now


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> View attachment 150091 Went to the hairdessers today, but something went terribly wrong


Too much gel?


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 150091 Went to the hairdessers today, but something went terribly wrong
> 
> 
> 
> Too much gel?
Click to expand...



Too much six ...


----------



## Frank F.

vintagesnaps said:


> Sharon likes Frank's still life, Ode to a Crowbar.
> 
> The crowbar rests now.
> A loose block teeters nearby,
> The sledgehammer waits...
> 
> Frank ponders why 'tis,
> Tools left to fend for themselves,
> After this, heads will roll.




For me it was Half Life Time! Thought of the many hours I spent together with Gordon Freeman to save the world from extraterrestrial evils....

...pity they stopped the tale after Episode Two!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Well, now you've lost me... lol


----------



## snowbear

I don't even try.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave knows not what to think about the last several posts. Dave can see squirrels out the window. Would take a minimum of 400mm to get one. But let Dave try to get out the back door and they would tree so fast it would make your head spin.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave knows not what to think about the last several posts. Dave can see squirrels out the window. Would take a minimum of 400mm to get one. But let Dave try to get out the back door and they would tree so fast it would make your head spin.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk




This morning I had a boy in the reading group who said he must wave his arms constantly and can not stop for 10 seconds or he "will fly through the walls".

That is what I am thinking about...


----------



## Frank F.

Forum has the hiccups again!


----------



## davidharmier60

From my General alerts I couldn't get to the quote of my post. That is sure enough a hiccup. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> benhasajeep said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... Mary Lou has been attempting to "snag" some Hamilton tickets cheap.  She has her computer set to Stubhub thinking that someone may be desperate to sell on the day of a performance. She checks repeatedly throughout the day. She is OCD ... she calls it being systematic.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ben once bought 2 courtside seats to a Warriors play off game at home in Oakland the day of the game.  Only problem was Ben was in Maine at the time and had no travel plans to attend the game.  Luckily Bens CC company decided to question the purchase.  And Ben said he was in Maine and didn't think he could make tip off in time!  So, the CC company reversed the charges and closed he card.  Ticketmaster called within 5 min asking Ben if he was sure he didn't buy the tickets?  Ben relayed to Ticketmaster that he was in Maine and tipoff was in a couple hours.  Ben would not even make the 4th quarter if he tried.  Ben thinks Ticketmaster had already given the tickets to the persons unknown, using Bens card!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It was a very good game... thanks for the tickets. Gary thought it was gonna be a win-win as he had some good seats and you didn't have to pay ... but in the first quarter ... Gary got tapped on the shoulder by some armed security people wanting a chat with Gary.  Fortunately, Gary had some cash with him as his credits cards didn't quite match his driver's license.
Click to expand...


Would loved to have heard they were caught.  I reported it to my local Police.  All I got from him was, "I got hit last month on one of my cards".


----------



## benhasajeep

smoke665 said:


> @limr Santa already had a list on you, so i couldn't give him much!



Did you check it twice?


----------



## davidharmier60

Nighty night peeps!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Frank F. said:


> This morning I had a boy in the reading group who said he must wave his arms constantly and can not stop for 10 seconds or he "will fly through the walls".
> 
> That is what I am thinking about...



I would get his autograph...it may be worth a lot someday.


----------



## The wife!

Well it took me a while but I think I am up to speed with what everyone has been up to since Nov 2014.

Have you ever heard the saying that goes something like. Be the kind of women that when your feet hit the floor in the morning the devil says "Oh no she's up"  

Well today I walked into my company's competitors distribution center and I  heard one of the men say....... "Uh Oh....Its that girl again!" It was a good day.


----------



## limr

The wife! said:


> Well it took me a while but I think I am up to speed with what everyone has been up to since Nov 2014.



Wow, that is commitment!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

limr said:


> The wife! said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well it took me a while but I think I am up to speed with what everyone has been up to since Nov 2014.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, that is commitment!
Click to expand...


...or boredom.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is closing out his day.  Mary Lou, Miss Maggie and Gary are on the recliner, watching some cable news, snacking on BBQ chips and sipping a Markham Merlot. Gary is not a fan of Merlot ... but this is pretty good stuff. Our cable box bit the dust over the weekend. We’ve been substituting the internet streaming box for the cable with good effect.  We haven’t missed any of our regular Tv shows.  Gary is quite pleased with the internet streaming box. The cable company said the new box would arrive in two days ... it is day three, 8:33 p.m. and still no box. Everytime Gary turns on the internet streaming box, it is like “screw you cable company and the horse you rode in on”.  Gary is enjoying his vino and his Tv.


----------



## Frank F.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> This morning I had a boy in the reading group who said he must wave his arms constantly and can not stop for 10 seconds or he "will fly through the walls".
> 
> That is what I am thinking about...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would get his autograph...it may be worth a lot someday.
Click to expand...



I told him, I find this special and interesting, I also told him I could not believe it, because he had just sat there, listening to my reading for 20 minutes straight.


----------



## davidharmier60

And Dave is about 20 minutes from heading to work. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

This day has started as a doozy. Both kids (and my wife, maybe as a result) are acting out of their minds this morning.

The coffee had better do its job this morning, and hopefully no kids cross me this morning before it kicks in.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

JonA_CT said:


> This day has started as a doozy. Both kids (and my wife, maybe as a result) are acting out of their minds this morning.
> 
> The coffee had better do its job this morning, and hopefully no kids cross me this morning before it kicks in.



Pssst...be prepared! Super moon coming!


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Everytime Gary turns on the internet streaming box, it is like “screw you cable company and the horse you rode in on”.



I'm seriously considering that. We had Direct for 6 yrs, till they kept jacking the price up (none of the premium channels) till it hit a $100 a month so we switched to Dish, now they've kept jacking it up till it's up to a $100 a month. It's like their whole business model is based on constantly adding new customers at a huge discount and driving away any long time customers. I'd drop them and switch except now I have an expensive provider specific dish on the RV.


----------



## JonA_CT

We are dumping Dish this week, and going to an internet streaming service. I’ll get roughly the same channels with Hulu Plus as I did with Dish, a 50 hour Cloud DVR, and a bill that’s half as much. 

Are RV parks more open in the south? My parents stopped paying for satellite for their RV because they are able to use it so sporadically.


----------



## JonA_CT

Dean_Gretsch said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> This day has started as a doozy. Both kids (and my wife, maybe as a result) are acting out of their minds this morning.
> 
> The coffee had better do its job this morning, and hopefully no kids cross me this morning before it kicks in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pssst...be prepared! Super moon coming!
Click to expand...


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Are RV parks more open in the south? My parents stopped paying for satellite for their RV because they are able to use it so sporadically.



Most parks I'm able to access the southern sky from the roof mounted unit. On those I can't I've got a carry out with a 100' of cable, that gives me a lot of flexibility. 

I've looked at going with internet streaming through an unlimited cell plan, but we've been a lot of places where we didn't have cell service.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Most parks I'm able to access the southern sky from the roof mounted unit. On those I can't I've got a carry out with a 100' of cable, that gives me a lot of flexibility.



Are the southern parks more forgiving for the use of a chainsaw in obtaining optimal signal?


----------



## SquarePeg

I have a lot of friends and family that have gone to streaming only. I can’t do it.  I love my Verizon fios tv and dvr service and can’t imagine giving it up.  For us it’s a relative bargain since we have the in law and the main house sharing the cost.  I cancel and re-up HBO seasonally based on what’s on (GOT) and to take advantage of the “introductory” offers. Princess uses Netflix so we have that and I have Amazon Prime for the shipping, music for our Echo and photo storage  so we get free shows there as well.


----------



## benhasajeep

I cut out cable tv years ago.  But still pay $60 for internet.


----------



## smoke665

My home internet isn't fast enough apparently for uverse, I may try the Hulu though as I could use it with my phone on the road and our smart TV already have the app built in.


----------



## Frank F.

I guess I shot the artist this morning (but not the deputy) rainy, dark, cold, wet, ugly...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is having hot chocolate this morning.  Not that Swiss Miss stuff, but real hot chocolate de Mexico, Finamente Molido.  Gary just prepared Maggie's breakfast of bananas and yogurt. Maggie is spoiled.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> ...Maggie is spoiled.


Did you want me to at least pretend to be surprised???


----------



## Gary A.

Presently it is 50F at 7:22 a.m. but it should reach into the 70's today. The sun is out, looks like another pleasant day. Gary has phone/internet/cable bundled and it isn't cost effective to unbundle.  It was Fios but a company named Frontier recently purchased the system in La Mirada. Gary's internet streaming is free as it is running off the bundled internet service.  The bundle is about $80 a month (no pay services).


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Maggie is spoiled.
> 
> 
> 
> Did you want me to at least pretend to be surprised???
Click to expand...

Yes ... lol. (But she is so jammin' adorable that only a sub-human wouldn't/couldn't spoil her.)


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has the Amazon Fire in the patio Tv and a Rveal device in the house. The Amazon Fire is a much solid platform, but the offerings are very limited when compared to the unrestricted Rveal setup.  Gary is still a neophyte with the Rveal and finding what he seeks is a bit time consuming. But ... everything seems to be there on the Rveal. New movies, old movies, current shows old shows, HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, Youtube, NFL, NCAA, NASCAR, MLB, NBA, NHA, even blacked-out games, et cetera it's all there. You just gotta figure out how to find it in a stable format, (with Rveal, sometimes, in the middle of a movie or program the sound would die or the video freeze).  But there are many different providers of identical content, one just has to find the stable provider. Last night watching cable news there were ads from Illinois and on Monday ads from Seattle.


----------



## JonA_CT

I set the over/under on my phone call to cancel my Dish service at 32 minutes. Any takers? 

Over/under 3 additional offers to keep my business


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Gary also has a digital antenna ... it is amazing all the foreign language programing he picks up. Spanish, Arabic, Laotian, Japanese, Filipino, Chinese, Turkish, Indian, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Italian, Iranian, Croatian, just to name a few.


----------



## benhasajeep

Gary A. said:


> Presently it is 50F at 7:22 a.m. but it should reach into the 70's today. The sun is out, looks like another pleasant day. Gary has phone/internet/cable bundled and it isn't cost effective to unbundle.  It was Fios but a company named Frontier recently purchased the system in La Mirada. Gary's internet streaming is free as it is running off the bundled internet service.  The bundle is about $80 a month (no pay services).


Our bundle with no pay channels would be $99 for 12 month.  Then jumps to $149 after 12 months!  I keep getting ads for it.  Mail box full of flyers.  Everytime saying special offer just for you.  When every time it's the same offer as on tv commercials.


----------



## JonA_CT

Frontier bought out ATT here a few years back. It was a nightmare of a transition as it happened overnight and ATT literally took everything with them. 

In a shock, it took me 12 mintues to cancel my Dish service. They did offer me 3 different plans to save me money.

I've now been on hold trying to talk to my Cable internet provider about what they can offer me for longer than I was on the phone with Dish for. With taxes and the like, I pay $70 a month for internet. I'm going to see what they can offer to keep me, although they probably know me leaving is a bluff, because we don't have fiber in my neighborhood.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> I set the over/under on my phone call to cancel my Dish service at 32 minutes. Any takers?
> 
> Over/under 3 additional offers to keep my business



Over 32 minutes, over 3 additional offers after the initial offer AND conversations with more than 2 people.

ETA: I should have read the new posts before I hit enter on this  So I pretty much lost on all counts, eh? Hey, try calling Sirius and you'll see - right predictions, wrong company.


----------



## JonA_CT

Hahaha I held a total of 14 minutes for the salesman of my broadband company to remind me that their TV offers suck. I did move from 60 mbps to 100 mbps internet service for an additional $2 per month. My net savings for all of this work? $40 a month. It's the principle of the thing, though, haha.

P.S. I told the salesman what I was paying combined before he made his offer (which was around $140 between internet and DISH). His retort was $129.99 for similar service prior to taxes and fees. How much were the fees and taxes you ask? Approximately $35.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Hahaha I held a total of 14 minutes for the salesman of my broadband company to remind me that their TV offers suck. I did move from 60 mbps to 100 mbps internet service for an additional $2 per month. My net savings for all of this work? $40 a month. It's the principle of the thing, though, haha.
> 
> P.S. I told the salesman what I was paying combined before he made his offer (which was around $140 between internet and DISH). His retort was $129.99 for similar service prior to taxes and fees. How much were the fees and taxes you ask? Approximately $35.



So you had a crappy morning and decided to improve your day by calling your cable and internet providers?


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Hahaha I held a total of 14 minutes for the salesman of my broadband company to remind me that their TV offers suck. I did move from 60 mbps to 100 mbps internet service for an additional $2 per month. My net savings for all of this work? $40 a month. It's the principle of the thing, though, haha.
> 
> P.S. I told the salesman what I was paying combined before he made his offer (which was around $140 between internet and DISH). His retort was $129.99 for similar service prior to taxes and fees. How much were the fees and taxes you ask? Approximately $35.



The whole things a racket if you ask me. I have no say, the wife wants it. I do like the MLB and NHL packages. The thing is, I don't watch it is as nearly as much as I pay for it. Time, time, time. I remember the days of having good internet but they are slowly fading.

I hooked up an outdoor antenna for my son at his house, little breakaway, little grease, little oil, works fine. He bought the digital converter, and is pulling in close to 100 channels, for free. He recently told me he hasn't turned the TV on in months, I could have fallen off that roof for nothing. Of course he works 60-65 hours a week, and 8 credit hours of school, not much time for TV. It is work, school, homework, bed for him.


----------



## SquarePeg

What do you guys consider "good" internet speeds?  I did a speed test and have 24 download and 50 upload.   That was with my VPN network also running.  Rarely have any issues even when Princess is streaming and my nephew is gaming and I'm working...  We pay for 50mbps service and an upgrade to 75mbps would be $35 more per month so not worth it since we don't usually have issues.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> What do you guys consider "good" internet speeds?  I did a speed test and have 24 download and 50 upload.   That was with my VPN network also running.  Rarely have any issues even when Princess is streaming and my nephew is gaming and I'm working...  We pay for 50mbps service and an upgrade to 75mbps would be $35 more per month so not worth it since we don't usually have issues.



When we got upgraded from 20 to 60 mbps, we stopped having any issues streaming HD signal, playing video games, etc, even if we were trying to do multiple things at one time. I figured that the $2 a month to go to 100 mbps will do well when we finally get our 4K TV and start streaming 4K material. 

I'm surprised you don't have access to something significantly faster, honestly. My friends who live in/near bigger cities have faster and cheaper service than I do.


----------



## Frank F.

got up at 5.00 a.m.
started writing editing seo at 5.30
dressed daughter and brought her to school at 7.30/8.00
shopping & sports till 9.00
Work till 14.00
pause
collect daughter from school at 15.00
work till 16.30
swimming course with daughter till 18.20
making and baking waffels for children
now writing this at 20.00

I am ready for a night full of sleep, but daughter is still adverntourous....
Cant keep my eyes open or  I would play something with her
MLW went to a gallery Vernissage with friends after work.

I should clean the kitchen now.

then prepare daughter for bed and read a book to her....

oh sleep, sweet sleep, I could use more of you


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> What do you guys consider "good" internet speeds?  I did a speed test and have 24 download and 50 upload.   That was with my VPN network also running.  Rarely have any issues even when Princess is streaming and my nephew is gaming and I'm working...  We pay for 50mbps service and an upgrade to 75mbps would be $35 more per month so not worth it since we don't usually have issues.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When we got upgraded from 20 to 60 mbps, we stopped having any issues streaming HD signal, playing video games, etc, even if we were trying to do multiple things at one time. I figured that the $2 a month to go to 100 mbps will do well when we finally get our 4K TV and start streaming 4K material.
> 
> I'm surprised you don't have access to something significantly faster, honestly. My friends who live in/near bigger cities have faster and cheaper service than I do.
Click to expand...


100mbps is also available but that's at an even bigger jump from what we have now.  Almost $50 more per month.

Edit - just checked the Verizon website and the $50 more per month is actually a jump to a Gig with 940 mbps upload and 880 mbps download!  Now that is super tempting even though it's not needed.  Imagine how fast you could download raw files?  I would think the poor speed of my low rent pc would limit me quite a bit in that situation though!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh no, somebody cleaned up Frank's ode to a sledgehammer, good thing he took pictures so we can remember it always... or at least til tomorrow before we forget about it anyway.

I still have cable because that has the option for whatever sports tier/package to be able to get Fox College Sports (for hockey) and NHL Center Ice (for hockey). As long as I can hear the Hockey Night in Canada intro with Foster Hewitt's 'Hello Canada, and hockey fans in the United States - and Newf'nd-land...' and see what jacket Don Cherry is wearing on Coach's Corner, I'm good.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> What do you guys consider "good" internet speeds?  I did a speed test and have 24 download and 50 upload.   That was with my VPN network also running.  Rarely have any issues even when Princess is streaming and my nephew is gaming and I'm working...  We pay for 50mbps service and an upgrade to 75mbps would be $35 more per month so not worth it since we don't usually have issues.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When we got upgraded from 20 to 60 mbps, we stopped having any issues streaming HD signal, playing video games, etc, even if we were trying to do multiple things at one time. I figured that the $2 a month to go to 100 mbps will do well when we finally get our 4K TV and start streaming 4K material.
> 
> I'm surprised you don't have access to something significantly faster, honestly. My friends who live in/near bigger cities have faster and cheaper service than I do.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 100mbps is also available but that's at an even bigger jump from what we have now.  Almost $50 more per month.
> 
> Edit - just checked the Verizon website and the $50 more per month is actually a jump to a Gig with 940 mbps upload and 880 mbps download!  Now that is super tempting even though it's not needed.  Imagine how fast you could download raw files?  I would think the poor speed of my low rent pc would limit me quite a bit in that situation though!
Click to expand...



See...that makes sense to me, haha! I have the mid-tier, but I think the fastest internet in my area is around 200mbps. 

I don't see why a normal human being needs 1gigabit service, haha.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> What do you guys consider "good" internet speeds?  I did a speed test and have 24 download and 50 upload.   That was with my VPN network also running.  Rarely have any issues even when Princess is streaming and my nephew is gaming and I'm working...  We pay for 50mbps service and an upgrade to 75mbps would be $35 more per month so not worth it since we don't usually have issues.



Put it this way, I can't stream


----------



## vintagesnaps

D'ya know there's a half hour video on YouTube of just Hockey Night in Canada intros?! And to top that, a video of 10 HOURS of the song the Hartford Whalers used, 'Brass Bonanza'. Even a rabid hockey fan like me doesn't want to listen to 10 hours of that. I don't think... 

nah, I'm on the third time and that's about enough. How about under 3 minutes...


----------



## Frank F.

we have Vdsl 50 Mbps, but we could have 100 or 200 for a tenner more per month. not needed. technically we have fiber in the house, so if they would care to offersomething I could probably have 400 or more. I could also have cable but we do not own a TV set and do not need one. I read books, remember, these paper blocks with numbered pages?

I write my book online, later print it: Klimafarm: Gesunde Nahrung. Gesunde Umwelt. Gesunde Profite. - Frank Fremerey schreibt ein Buch über Biodiversität und Globale Verantwortung und gibt hier schon mal einen Vorgeschmack auf den Inhalt if you can read German


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> D'ya know there's a half hour video on YouTube of just Hockey Night in Canada intros?! And to top that, a video of 10 HOURS of the song the Hartford Whalers used, 'Brass Bonanza'. Even a rabid hockey fan like me doesn't want to listen to 10 hours of that. I don't think...
> 
> nah, I'm on the third time and that's about enough. How about under 3 minutes...


You got me dancing around in my underwear, thanks for that. I'm wearing socks though.


----------



## JonA_CT

vintagesnaps said:


> D'ya know there's a half hour video on YouTube of just Hockey Night in Canada intros?! And to top that, a video of 10 HOURS of the song the Hartford Whalers used, 'Brass Bonanza'. Even a rabid hockey fan like me doesn't want to listen to 10 hours of that. I don't think...
> 
> nah, I'm on the third time and that's about enough. How about under 3 minutes...




They play that song for everything in CT, haha. And not just for our AHL teams.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I see that!! Now you know what I've been wasting time doing... the Whale in the A, UCONN, games & teams I never get to see!


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I don't see why a normal human being needs 1gigabit service, haha.



Agree 100%.  I would expect that may be for people running some type of "business" out of their homes...  



jcdeboever said:


> Put it this way, I can't stream



That stinks.


----------



## davidharmier60

If Dave was forced to guess he believes Frontier may have bought out Sudden Link.
Several Frontier trucks have been seen.
And they are refurbishing a building in Shepherd. We don't get cable out here. 
We have DirecTV and roundly hate it at times. Internet is through the phone company and probably couldn't stream if it had to. Such is a lesser part of life lived where we do. Besides, cable was at my cousins house and couldn't hold a candle to our DirecTV.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

And we COULD NOT LIVE without DVR!!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's DVR is called internet streaming.


----------



## SquarePeg

Sugar rush!!!  Made the first batch of salted caramel for the cookie bars I’m making next week.  Yummmmmmy and messy, lol.  Candy making is a very specific art and not really my area but the store bought caramel sauce that’s made for sundaes doesn’t firm up enough for the cookie bars.


----------



## SquarePeg

Side note - watching a Hallmark Christmas movie with my mom and daughter.  Is Joan Cusack the worst actress on the planet?  Even by Hallmark Christmas movie standards she’s terrible.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I have had Frontier for several years now, ever since they bought Commonwealth phone here in Pa. Hope you have better luck than we have. The technicians say they keep imploring the company to spend money on upgrading the internet equipment but to no avail.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> I did a speed test and have 24 download and 50 upload.



 divide your download by 3, and it's still faster than mine. We have a fiber optic cable in front of our property, and a box I can see from our bedroom window, but for some reason, they run our service from another box that's almost 15,000 feet away.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has been very disappointed by Frontier’s service. Mary Lou called today to inquire about the new cable box as it was overdue.  Frontier claimed they didn’t have any paperwork for the new box. After an hour or so of being on hold and speaking to several people, the box may be on its way.


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I have had Frontier for several years now



Bless your heart, I owned a sizable chunk of stock in Frontier at one time, paid excellent dividends, and then it tanked. Finally dumped it to save my rear. No doubt they have some serious problems.


----------



## The wife!

SquarePeg said:


> What do you guys consider "good" internet speeds?


In Maine it is anything that's not dial up.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I did a speed test and have 24 download and 50 upload.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> divide your download by 3, and it's still faster than mine. We have a fiber optic cable in front of our property, and a box I can see from our bedroom window, but for some reason, they run our service from another box that's almost 15,000 feet away.
Click to expand...

Isn’t that ... like three miles away?


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Isn’t that ... like three miles away?



Just under, I rounded up. Typically that's the very outside limit for the box to service, and normally I would be SOL, but Bell screwed up and installed a state of the art box because they were under the gun to get service started to me (long story on the reason), that box is capable of servicing up to 19,000 feet. I could initially get 12 meg on a hand picked copper pair, but there was a major mess when a county mower hit a pedestal between our house and the box.


----------



## smoke665

On another note, Sadie Mae, got the pleasure of meeting up with 2 of her own kind (Brittany) tonight, a 1 yr old and a 5 yr old. Another couple from PA in the RV park we're in have two. I'd always heard that dogs could recognize their own breed, don't know if they did, but it was hilarious watching them act silly and play together.


----------



## smoke665

The wife! said:


> In Maine it is anything that's not dial up.



At least we've had better than dial up for years now, but as soon as I read your post that annoying sound that it made when it was making a connection immediately popped up in my mind. Weird how you don't forget some things.


----------



## JonA_CT

Good morning.

No-shave November came to a close. This is exactly 30 days of growth. Beards ‘til Christmas? I think I might let it go for awhile.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT  For several years, in September, I would start letting mine grow out for Deer season in November, every now and then I'd let it stay till summer heat made it a pain.


----------



## SquarePeg

What does your wife prefer?  She looks at you a lot more than you look at you I bet.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> What does your wife prefer?  She looks at you a lot more than you look at you I bet.


I like it, but agree that what your wife thinks is kinda important.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave just got out of work. Almost 4.75 hours. Post office should have all the mail tossed pretty soon. I'll go by there then hit the home 20.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning.
> 
> No-shave November came to a close. This is exactly 30 days of growth. Beards ‘til Christmas? I think I might let it go for awhile.
> 
> View attachment 150156



Canuck rassler alert!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> On another note, Sadie Mae, got the pleasure of meeting up with 2 of her own kind (Brittany) tonight, a 1 yr old and a 5 yr old. Another couple from PA in the RV park we're in have two. I'd always heard that dogs could recognize their own breed, don't know if they did, but it was hilarious watching them act silly and play together.


Mary Lou and Gary felt guilty that everyday we would leave Cookie and go to work.  We rescued a Wire Hair Fox Terrier as a companion for Cookie.  In the beginning they played and played for about six months.  Then, all of a sudden Shelby, (the WHFT), started attacking Cookie. Truly violent attacks and blood letting battles occurred. The attacks seemed triggered whenever I enters the same space as the two dogs. Apparently, two female terriers will not get along and Shelby wanted to eliminate the competition.  Unfortunately, we had to find another home for Shelby, she was a great dog, but her instincts kicked in.

The new owner said the Shelby quickly became queen of the house. When he took Shelby to dog parks, she would socialize with all the dogs, but she would growl at Wheatens.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Interprets my own post:

You, sir, could pass as a Canadian wrestler.


----------



## Gary A.

The Rescued Shelby





Shelby





Cook and Shelby


----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning.
> 
> No-shave November came to a close. This is exactly 30 days of growth. Beards ‘til Christmas? I think I might let it go for awhile.
> 
> View attachment 150156
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Canuck rassler alert!
Click to expand...

Eh ...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The sun is hitting the front porch and hummers have hit the feeder and off with their day.  Gary is on his second cup of coffee in a holiday mug .  Gary is planning to try his hand at making homemade mayonnaise and yogurt.  The sous vide for the yogurt and later tonight he's gonna sous vide some steaks.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. The sun is hitting the front porch and hummers have hit the feeder and off with their day.  Gary is on his second cup of coffee in a holiday mug .  Gary is planning to try his hand at making homemade mayonnaise and yogurt.  The sous vide for the yogurt and later tonight he's gonna sous vide some steaks.



Are you going to pasteurize the eggs with your SV for the mayo?


----------



## Gary A.

Wow, Gary hadn't thought of that and the recipe didn't call for pasteurization.  Good point ... Gary shall look into that both for the mayo in particular and on SV techniques.


----------



## Gary A.

Easy enough ... 135F for 75 minutes.  The answer is yes!


----------



## JonA_CT

The Definitive Guide to Eggs

My toxicologist friend suggested to me that cleaned eggs from the supermarket have like a 1 in 2,000,000 chance for carrying salmonella. But...for something like mayo, which I may not use all at one time, I'd consider it. 

The Food Lab has a pretty decent section on making mayo. I haven't tried all of the suggestions, though, because I was having problems finding the right olive oil to use. Mine kept coming out way too olive-oil forward.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I can't get past the meat in the sous vide Gary, I mean, boiling steak? lol more or less, I'd want it cooked in a pan or grilled or something. Maybe it's more appealing than it sounds. I'll have to watch Top Chef when it starts up, somebody usually does a sous vide.

MOvember was supposed to be about MOustaches... yours Jon seems to have run amuk on your face! lol


----------



## Gary A.

One performs a quick searing for meat at the end of the cooking.  Similar to the reverse sear Gary uses when he slow smokes meat.  With the smoker one gets within ten degrees of so of the final cooking temp ... then slip the meat on a grill for the final temp rise and searing.  For the sinus vide it is recommended a very hot pan (cast iron) then toss the meat in the pan for about 30 seconds per side for the final sear.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary will check out the Food Lab.


----------



## jcdeboever

OMG, making mayo....sigh


----------



## davidharmier60

We make do with Dukes Mayo.

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----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> OMG, making mayo....sigh



Hey...you know you’ll eat well at Uncle Gary’s summer camp.


----------



## SquarePeg

Our toaster broke the other day after 17 years of almost daily use.  Started looking at toasters then that turned into toaster ovens...  I returned the first one I bought online because it was too small - the dimensions on the site were wrong.  Then I ventured down the rabbit hole of product reviews and Q&A's and sale prices and model numbers and shipping costs and needs vs. want.   I saw the convection oven/toaster oven combos.  Bake, convection bake, broil, convection broil, rotisserie, air fry! Does it make toast?  Small enough for the counter-top but wait, it has to fit a 13x9 pan right? What about muffin tins?  And my casserole dishes?  Exterior dimensions? Interior dimensions? Dimensions that are different from one site to the next.  Number of racks? Temp controls? Timers? Interior light?  Good reviews, bad reviews, obviously fake reviews, video reviews, qvc reviews, reviews with photos, reviews criticizing other reviews!   And the pricing - oy!  Sale prices with shipping charges, higher sale prices with free shipping, clearance prices, coupon codes, promo codes, friends and family discounts, out of stock, on backorder, in stock but overpriced, 4 easy payments, 12 months no interest, use your Amex points...

In the end I bought one that also is an air fryer since I've been looking at air fryers lately so this one does it all - toast, bake, convection oven, air fryer, broil.  Exhausted and I never left my desk!  We'll see if we like it when it gets here.  I'm the Queen of returning things.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> OMG, making mayo....sigh


Gary will send you some.


----------



## davidharmier60

Tonight we will have leftovers of the VERY GOOD chicken noodle soup my Sister made yesterday. She went to Houston with a squeamish friend to a doctor. Whom they hadn't seen yet at 3pm.... 

No Mayo required. 

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----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I think Gary has too much time on his hands.


----------



## Gary A.

Negatory ... mayo is on hold, Gary is preparing for the PAC 12 Championship game and guests. Fight On!


----------



## Frank F.

another Glühwein today.
difficult to find a balance between sour and sweet.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is saying Good Night y'all!

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----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG, making mayo....sigh
> 
> 
> 
> Gary will send you some.
Click to expand...


Oh Boy, not a good item to ship..... Gary's Sammy Whip


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG, making mayo....sigh
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey...you know you’ll eat well at Uncle Gary’s summer camp.
Click to expand...


I would bring Webster to give Maggy some good lovin, Webster is a stud. He is 100% English Lab. Webster's children would be labwheatens....


----------



## Dave442

For mayo, I use peanut oil and then just a dash of olive oil, and some white pepper. But I've only made it a few times, the first time was half olive oil. But tomorrow is pizzas and I don't think you are allowed to make both pizza dough and mayo on the same day.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> OMG, making mayo....sigh



Some aren't lucky enough to live in Alabama


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG, making mayo....sigh
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some aren't lucky enough to live in Alabama
> View attachment 150189
Click to expand...


My Man Smoke!!!!!!!! LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave mopped. He did not buff. He swept.
He looked for out of place items. 
He got a bit over 3 hours. 
He is free until Monday morning at 5am. 

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----------



## SquarePeg

Enjoy your time off Dave!


----------



## The wife!

I am not a huge fan of mayo, Ben likes it because it keeps me from eating his BLT's. 

Been a busy morning already, was up early prepping for a house showing that ended up not being a good fit for my buyers. Now home to edit some engagement photos before heading to my office to do a message. Going to round out my afternoon with the festival of lights parade with my friend and her daughter. Thinking of handing out some glow bracelets/necklaces with my business cards attached. My only fear is some kid will get lost and I will be called.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave has a Tom Clancy book that is in tatters. It long ago lost the binding.
Hard to read that way but it is possible. 
Been reading and going back through my copper penny saves. If I can see a scratch or spot someone else will get some decent coins in rolls I turn in. Now back to "The bear and the dragon".

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----------



## JonA_CT

What Tom Clancy books are you reading? Some of those used to be my favorites.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Our toaster broke the other day after 17 years of almost daily use.  Started looking at toasters then that turned into toaster ovens...  I returned the first one I bought online because it was too small - the dimensions on the site were wrong.  Then I ventured down the rabbit hole of product reviews and Q&A's and sale prices and model numbers and shipping costs and needs vs. want.   I saw the convection oven/toaster oven combos.  Bake, convection bake, broil, convection broil, rotisserie, air fry! Does it make toast?  Small enough for the counter-top but wait, it has to fit a 13x9 pan right? What about muffin tins?  And my casserole dishes?  Exterior dimensions? Interior dimensions? Dimensions that are different from one site to the next.  Number of racks? Temp controls? Timers? Interior light?  Good reviews, bad reviews, obviously fake reviews, video reviews, qvc reviews, reviews with photos, reviews criticizing other reviews!   And the pricing - oy!  Sale prices with shipping charges, higher sale prices with free shipping, clearance prices, coupon codes, promo codes, friends and family discounts, out of stock, on backorder, in stock but overpriced, 4 easy payments, 12 months no interest, use your Amex points...
> 
> In the end I bought one that also is an air fryer since I've been looking at air fryers lately so this one does it all - toast, bake, convection oven, air fryer, broil.  Exhausted and I never left my desk!  We'll see if we like it when it gets here.  I'm the Queen of returning things.


Gary has been looking at air fryers for awhile also.  Mary Lou says no, we're out of room. Gary doesn't have a countertop oven/convection/broil/rotisserie/air fry. Gary doesn't have a toaster.  He uses this round, thin, flat, sheet metal type pan with silicone handles for the rare occasions when toast is called for. Gary thinks the main reason we don't have toast is because we don't have a toaster. The pan works great for quesadillas and making tortillas. Instant heat ... it's so thin. Gary is intrigued by the rotisserie and air frying capabilities. Gary has been looking at rotisseries and air fryers ... but Mary Lou has been kiboshing any attempts to slip one into the kitchen.


----------



## Gary A.

@ vintagesnaps: No sous vide steaks last night.  Guests came over for the very exciting SC-Stanford game and Chinese was called in.  Tonight Mary Lou and Gary eat sous vide.


----------



## davidharmier60

Daves Sister will prepare Hot Dogs later.
Dave is NOT displeased by this.
Dave has pretty much forgotten what steak looks and tastes like. Much of this is due to Dad. He can't chew anything very tough.
Life is just peachy keen. 

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## smoke665

Floating around on FB today.

*PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT -  people across the south are being warned that if they receive a call from area code 865, it's probably TN calling to offer you the head football coaching  job. *


----------



## limr

Go Auburn! Stomp on them Bulldogs!


----------



## davidharmier60

That made me laugh out loud Smoke!

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## smoke665

limr said:


> Go Auburn! Stomp on them Bulldogs!



The Eagle has been plucked, there will be no joy on the plains tomight.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Talk about a blowout, ouch! for the Red Wings down 8-0. I like Detroit but am a longtime Habs fan so I'm okay with it, but it makes for a boring, quiet start to the 3rd period. So back to college games or other games on Center Ice.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Detroit managed to score one but it's now 10-1. I mean, 10! That's a lot in a hockey game. In high school hockey they'd have called the game before now.

I think everybody left, the seats are looking kind of sparse. The Canadiens fans revived a bit for oh-eh-oh-ehohehoheh - oh eh, oh eh... Now they're on their feet as the final horn sounds.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Detroit managed to score one but it's now 10-1. I mean, 10! That's a lot in a hockey game. In high school hockey they'd have called the game before now.
> 
> I think everybody left, the seats are looking kind of sparse. The Canadiens fans revived a bit for oh-eh-oh-ehohehoheh - oh eh, oh eh... Now they're on their feet as the final horn sounds.



The coach needs to go. They have been really bad against a wore out Canadian's team. Those guys are on the tail end of a brutal stretch.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou just returned from taking her granddaughter and friend to watch Coco.  She said on a scale of five ... Coco was a ten. 

@ vintagesnaps: The steaks were cooked a la Sous Vide. They were seasoned then cooked underwater for an hour in a bag with sage, rosemary, a hot pepper and vino.  At the end of an hour the steaks were toss into a super hot pan for searing and served hot.  Mary Lou declared the steaks delish.  For dessert we’re eating Raisinettes from the El Capitan Theater and sipping a wonderful blend of Friesa, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The Raisinettes pair well with the wine.


----------



## Gary A.

Miss Maggie and Gary had a good day together.


----------



## vintagesnaps

If you gotta dirty a pan... that's too many things to wash, the sous vide contraption and a frying pan! lol


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave thinks there will be eggs and bacon or sausage and such. Sister laments that she can't come up with Sunday dinner plan.
Life is just peachy keen. 

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----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> If you gotta dirty a pan... that's too many things to wash, the sous vide contraption and a frying pan! lol


No washing the Sous Vide, just wipe it dry if you actually wanna do something. The water, about two gallons Gary reuses on the potted plants.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave thinks there will be eggs and bacon or sausage and such. Sister laments that she can't come up with Sunday dinner plan.
> Life is just peachy keen.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Mary Lou is cleaning out all the meats from the freezer because we are changing our diet.  Mary Lou and Gary will be relishing a greater plant based/non-red meat diet. So tonight she has defrosted a Tri-Tip ... Gary needs to figure a plan on how to cook it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  52F at 7:52 a.m. with a projected high of 69F. Gary has finished his morning chores and is settling down sipping his first cup of coffee and reading the paper. On today's agenda, the skimmer is full of leaves and crud and must be cleaned out today, Mary Lou wants the Tri-Tip BBQ-ed and a trip is planned for a visit to Mary Lou's aunt and Gary's cousin, both of which are in the hospital.


----------



## davidharmier60

Breakfast was actually scrambled eggs with ham and onions. 
And Dad proclaimed we will have Pizza for Sunday dinner. 
Dave dearly loves cold pizza !

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## Gary A.

Wow, Alabama did not win their conference and may not make the CFP.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm on cup of coffee two (ish...how many cups does a large coffee from sbux count for? haha), and I'm writing comments for report cards. The coffee takes the edge of to help me stay focused, and removes crankiness so I polish the truth a little more appropriately.

We bought a real christmas tree for the first time yesterday, and I'll be headed out to buy a few more strands of lights for it when I finish. We'll decorate it, maybe bake some cookies, maybe take some family photos.

For sure, we'll be eating smashed burgers for dinner tonight. They're one of our favorite meals.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Wow, Alabama did not win their conference and may not make the CFP.



Woot!


----------



## Frank F.

cold and rainy first Advent sunday. After mass I went to see COCO the wonderful new Pixar film with wife and daughter. cinema is wonderful!


----------



## JonA_CT

Frank F. said:


> cold and rainy first Advent sunday. After mass I went to see COCO the wonderful new Pixar film with wife and daughter. cinema is wonderful!



I've heard good things...I don't think my daughter is quite old enough yet to get through an entire movie in one sitting.

Do they dub the movie with German-speaking actors/actresses for the performances there? Or do they play them in English? (I know you Europeans are much more proficient in other languages than we are here in the US)


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> cold and rainy first Advent sunday. After mass I went to see COCO the wonderful new Pixar film with wife and daughter. cinema is wonderful!


Mary Lou wants to see it again. See saw it at El Capitan, a theater in Hollywood owned by Disney. It is one of those old grand theaters, seats 1,000 with the huge screen and opulent interior, across from the Chinese Theater.  Disney had a mariachi band in the lobby and a pre-film performance of Disney characters.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave hasn't seen a movie in a theater in MANY years. Once saw Mama Mia in Galveston but that was over 9 years ago. 
There is an old theater in Cleveland. 
But we already pay through the nose for TV. And watching on TV requires no fuel or buying theater snacks. 

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----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Wow, Alabama did not win their conference and may not make the CFP.



Might want to recheck the news. Know what Alabama Football and Disney have in common? They're both the place where "Dreams Come True". LOL

 Sorry @limr you Had a "premature" woot there


----------



## Gary A.

Okay ... Alabama vs. Clemson and USC vs. Ohio State and a couple of other games that do not matter.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Okay ... Alabama vs. Clemson and USC vs. Ohio State and a couple of other games that do not matter.



We are 13-4 over Clemson and in hind sight the loss to Auburn keeping us out of division championship might have been a blessing as it gives more time to recoup from injuries.


----------



## Frank F.

JonA_CT said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> cold and rainy first Advent sunday. After mass I went to see COCO the wonderful new Pixar film with wife and daughter. cinema is wonderful!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've heard good things...I don't think my daughter is quite old enough yet to get through an entire movie in one sitting.
> 
> Do they dub the movie with German-speaking actors/actresses for the performances there? Or do they play them in English? (I know you Europeans are much more proficient in other languages than we are here in the US)
Click to expand...


My son and me watch the movies in English ... my wife likes English subtitles ... but daughter is seven ... can 7 year old American Girls read German? ... it was 3D ... don't need it ... Commercials were pityful, only Aldi was world class ... Disney idiots were allowed to create a stupid short ... in exchange Disney did not have a say in tje main course ... good for us!

1. arrive half an hour late
2. book 2dimensional
3. enjoy
4. watch Aldi commercial


----------



## Frank F.

Houston, we have a problem: not enough food!


----------



## SquarePeg

Just back from my 81 year old uncle’s place.  He’s in remission after having stomach cancer last year.  One of the lucky 13% (IIRC) to survive the type of cancer he had.  The chemo really did a number on him though and he doesn’t have a lot of energy these days.  He mostly just watches sports on tv and walks his dog around the block.  He called while I was out shopping with Princess this morning to report his tv had died and asked me to keep an eye out for anyone looking to give one away.  We decided to forego a few items from our wish list and use the money to get him a new tv.  Bumped him up to a nice 47”.  Knocked on his door a half hour later with a tv covered with a big bow.  It was a fun surprise and we got it installed in time for him to watch the kickoff of the Pats game.  

Now I need to call Comcast and get him a HD box.  His cable box is about 20 years old and did not have a HDMI port!

In other news:
Our HS team won the state championship yesterday, 21-0.  Hopefully a parade will be happening which would be a great photo op for yours truly.


----------



## JonA_CT

Frank F. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> cold and rainy first Advent sunday. After mass I went to see COCO the wonderful new Pixar film with wife and daughter. cinema is wonderful!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've heard good things...I don't think my daughter is quite old enough yet to get through an entire movie in one sitting.
> 
> Do they dub the movie with German-speaking actors/actresses for the performances there? Or do they play them in English? (I know you Europeans are much more proficient in other languages than we are here in the US)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My son and me watch the movies in English ... my wife likes English subtitles ... but daughter is seven ... can 7 year old American Girls read German? ... it was 3D ... don't need it ... Commercials were pityful, only Aldi was world class ... Disney idiots were allowed to create a stupid short ... in exchange Disney did not have a say in tje main course ... good for us!
> 
> 1. arrive half an hour late
> 2. book 2dimensional
> 3. enjoy
> 4. watch Aldi commercial
Click to expand...


Nope, most Americans are not even bilingual (and German is only taught sparingly here, although my university has a program where you can graduate with a dual degree in German and in engineering, which is quite successful).

I was just curious, that’s all.


----------



## SquarePeg

It’s unusual but German is one of the four Foreign Language courses offered at the HS here (Spanish, French, Latin).  I think way back when there was a teacher of another subject who was fluent and it was added to the options as a one year experiment and proved to be very popular.  There is also an exchange program with German HS students each year and the students in the German Language program have an annual trip to Germany during one of the school breaks.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary received an early Christmas gift from Nakedwines.com.


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg may your kindness be rewarded ten fold. In this hurry up, all about me world, it's nice to know there are some like you still out there.


----------



## davidharmier60

Not sure why Square Peg is being thanked but I'll add my thanks!
Soon Dave will be studying the inside of his eyelids. 

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## JonA_CT

This afternoon's project. Sorry Jack, you can be in next year's photo. It's nearly impossible to do a family portrait by yourself. It'll be a long time before I attempt it again. I think everyone cried during the process.


----------



## smoke665

Nice looking brood @JonA_CT . I equate the task of taking a group family shot to hearding ducks. You get them all lined up going in the right direction and one #$%@ jumps out of line and the others follow. Being one of the ducks in the line puts you at a very bad disadvantage.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Just back from my 81 year old uncle’s place.  He’s in remission after having stomach cancer last year.  One of the lucky 13% (IIRC) to survive the type of cancer he had.  The chemo really did a number on him though and he doesn’t have a lot of energy these days.  He mostly just watches sports on tv and walks his dog around the block.  He called while I was out shopping with Princess this morning to report his tv had died and asked me to keep an eye out for anyone looking to give one away.  We decided to forego a few items from our wish list and use the money to get him a new tv.  Bumped him up to a nice 47”.  Knocked on his door a half hour later with a tv covered with a big bow.  It was a fun surprise and we got it installed in time for him to watch the kickoff of the Pats game.
> 
> Now I need to call Comcast and get him a HD box.  His cable box is about 20 years old and did not have a HDMI port!
> 
> In other news:
> Our HS team won the state championship yesterday, 21-0.  Hopefully a parade will be happening which would be a great photo op for yours truly.


Now, that's the true Christmas spirit.   Sounds like you made his day!


----------



## SquarePeg

2nd attempt at the pretzel caramel chocolate cookie bars was a bust.  Caramel too sticky/hard. Cookie not soft enough. Flavor great - texture not so great.  Also should have used dark chocolate instead of semi sweet.  Going to give them one more try tomorrow before tanking the idea and going back to one of my standby recipes.  Have a cookie swap coming up (9th year in a row with the same group of neighbors) and running out of new ideas!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Have you tried the site Cookie Recipes ( it's Allrecipes.com )


----------



## Dave442

Did the pizzas for dinner tonight, wife did BBQ on Saturday so that trumped my plan to make pizza on Saturday. Wasn't fair that she did the BBQ in less time than it took me to make the dough and the pizza sauce, but I'll win next time as I doubled the amounts and have dough and sauce stashed away for two more pizzas.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary will trade vino for pizza.


----------



## Frank F.

yes, Gary, Coco is great. Alas the Frozen knock off short film is beyond measurable low quality and it is not short at all.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. 52F and the air is still and the sky clear. 

Gary’s first coffee and the morning paper. It should break 70F. Yesterday was a good day for Gary, more than 19,000 steps transversing nine plus miles.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary learned a new word from reading the paper "imbroglio".


----------



## davidharmier60

We used to get a newspaper. But it was such a liberal rag that we quit.
Dave gets comics online. Yahoo tries to tell Dave what's going on but that is also liberal. Even Fox News is getting stale.
Used to listen to Michael Berry and get my news from him. But I don't drive to Houston  every weekday anymore. 

I'd rather hear nothing than what ABC, CBS or NBC or even CNN thinks of what happens. 

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## davidharmier60

By the way Dave had 5 hours and 10 minutes today. Apparently a blue norther or  a frigid blast is coming just in time for marquee on Wednesday morning. Yippee!

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----------



## Frank F.

A nice Dutch couple bought my D3 today. Now I have only the stuff left that I really use on a regular basis which is still a lot!






The look so happy because I served them really strong freshly ground coffee


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Gary learned a new word from reading the paper "imbroglio".



I know this word but I forgot what it means ...

*imbroglio*
(imˈbrɔʎʎo)
gli

* masculine noun *

(truffa) swindle, con (inf)
niente imbrogli! no cheating!

(groviglio) tangle
(figurative, situazione confusa) mess
cacciarsi in un imbroglio to get into a mess

British English: scam /skæm/ NOUN
A _scam_ is an illegal trick, usually with the purpose of getting money from people or avoiding paying tax.
They were participating in an insurance scam.
American English: scam


----------



## vintagesnaps

I need a vat of coffee. No, I need it intravenously, just hook me up for the day. Yes, even though it's past lunchtime. 

Wore myself out yesterday. This morning was the first in quite some time that I got up and couldn't move for a minute. Then took a step... then another, then got going. The good thing is now I have to have done an awfully lot to be in that shape the next day! lol 

After some picture taking in a wonderful almost 60 degrees of sunshine, it was getting close to dusk so we did some driving thru a couple of neighborhoods with older buildings and holiday decorated store fronts, with lights coming on but not yet dark. Then to top it off, there we were coming down a sloping curving road and all of sudden, there was the full moon. So we were getting into a smaller city that had white Christmas lights on the trees where there are businesses, the town hall & library, etc. And I had a camera with me! well, more than one but I had used up my film. So even with a 90mm got some pictures of the moon with tree branches and lights. I hope, I'm too tired to go get the digital to look at the back of it! Took a glance thru last night. 

And every time we stopped the temperature had dropped. And there I was in not much more than an almost summery shirt. On the early 10pm news it had dropped almost 30 degrees - no wonder when I got home I got out of the car saying I was freezing! I was. Went from summer to winter in the same day.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou is checking out the Hamilton tickets for today.  Cheapest tickets are around $350 each.  Gary has no plans for tonight.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I think that word means you've gotten yourself into a fine tangled mess.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary learned a new word from reading the paper "imbroglio".
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know this word but I forgot what it means ...
> 
> *imbroglio*
> (imˈbrɔʎʎo)
> gli
> 
> * masculine noun *
> 
> (truffa) swindle, con (inf)
> niente imbrogli! no cheating!
> 
> (groviglio) tangle
> (figurative, situazione confusa) mess
> cacciarsi in un imbroglio to get into a mess
> 
> British English: scam /skæm/ NOUN
> A _scam_ is an illegal trick, usually with the purpose of getting money from people or avoiding paying tax.
> They were participating in an insurance scam.
> American English: scam
Click to expand...

The definition Gary gets is “... an extremely confused, complicated, or embarrassing situation.”


----------



## vintagesnaps

A convoluted mess. Blew it big time. You've done it now...


----------



## davidharmier60

Hard to imagine much confusing Gary.

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----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou is checking out the Hamilton tickets for today.  Cheapest tickets are around $350 each.  Gary has no plans for tonight.




what is Hamilton? And what is your monthly budget for tickets? must be in the thousands!


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary learned a new word from reading the paper "imbroglio".
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know this word but I forgot what it means ...
> 
> *imbroglio*
> (imˈbrɔʎʎo)
> gli
> 
> * masculine noun *
> 
> (truffa) swindle, con (inf)
> niente imbrogli! no cheating!
> 
> (groviglio) tangle
> (figurative, situazione confusa) mess
> cacciarsi in un imbroglio to get into a mess
> 
> British English: scam /skæm/ NOUN
> A _scam_ is an illegal trick, usually with the purpose of getting money from people or avoiding paying tax.
> They were participating in an insurance scam.
> American English: scam
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The definition Gary gets is “... an extremely confused, complicated, or embarrassing situation.”
Click to expand...



I feel the connotation is intermingled and soup with a lot of ingredients. In German we would say: "this **** is steaming"


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou is checking out the Hamilton tickets for today.  Cheapest tickets are around $350 each.  Gary has no plans for tonight.



In another life I attended shows both on and off Broadway, and I don't remember the tickets being that expensive


----------



## smoke665

The Eagle and the old blizzard have come home to roost again. Time to rest up for the next journey.. Had a great time took in several Christmas Shows, ate way to much and gave the wife her shopping fix for awhile.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou is checking out the Hamilton tickets for today.  Cheapest tickets are around $350 each.  Gary has no plans for tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> what is Hamilton? And what is your monthly budget for tickets? must be in the thousands!
Click to expand...

A hip-hop musical about one of America’s founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton.

Mary Lou is checking everyday to see if the price drops on the day of a performance. So far no luck.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary learned a new word from reading the paper "imbroglio".
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know this word but I forgot what it means ...
> 
> *imbroglio*
> (imˈbrɔʎʎo)
> gli
> 
> * masculine noun *
> 
> (truffa) swindle, con (inf)
> niente imbrogli! no cheating!
> 
> (groviglio) tangle
> (figurative, situazione confusa) mess
> cacciarsi in un imbroglio to get into a mess
> 
> British English: scam /skæm/ NOUN
> A _scam_ is an illegal trick, usually with the purpose of getting money from people or avoiding paying tax.
> They were participating in an insurance scam.
> American English: scam
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The definition Gary gets is “... an extremely confused, complicated, or embarrassing situation.”
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I feel the connotation is intermingled and soup with a lot of ingredients. In German we would say: "this **** is steaming"
Click to expand...


----------



## davidharmier60

Watching Bull Durham. 

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----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> A hip-hop musical about one of America’s founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton.



Not sure I would pay to see it if the tickets were half that. I actually sort of miss the NY trips, and the week of over indulging that came with it.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou is checking out the Hamilton tickets for today.  Cheapest tickets are around $350 each.  Gary has no plans for tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In another life I attended shows both on and off Broadway, and I don't remember the tickets being that expensive
Click to expand...

Oh times have changed. But, Hamilton is extremely pricey due to the high demand and limited supply.


----------



## SquarePeg

The most I have ever paid for tickets for any show was just under $300 and that was for a concert.  Broadway shows I think we maxed out at about $150/tix.  We used to do the day of show tickets (in both Boston and when in NY) and have gotten lucky many times with decent seats for half the usual cost.  I'm dying to see Hamilton and would go as high as $200 but I can't really justify more than that.


----------



## davidharmier60

I couldn't conceivably spend more than $30 for a show. This goes back about as far as I can remember. 

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----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Broadway shows I think we maxed out at about $150/tix



Wow hasn't changed to much then. We paid almost that much 30 years ago for popular shows on Broadway, off was cheaper.


----------



## Frank F.

I tend to not see any shows at all, except for movies. No concert, no opera, no dance, not theatre. And frankly: I do not miss any of it. My idea of happiness is reading, evenings with friends, cooking together, discussing, philosophing, drinking wine, taking a walk enjoying the seasons.

I feel show business is trying to distribute attention away from people onto an imagined outer world ... while my aim is to concentrate attention onto onself and the moment you meet people, direct exchange, real world, not imagination, not symbolic ... I hope someone will make sense of my utterings ...


----------



## davidharmier60

Watching the last 2017 F1 race
Kinda anticlimactic with Hamilton being the driver champion...

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## terri

Frank F. said:


> I tend to not see any shows at all, except for movies. No concert, no opera, no dance, not theatre. And frankly: I do not miss any of it. My idea of happiness is reading, evenings with friends, cooking together, discussing, philosophing, drinking wine, taking a walk enjoying the seasons.
> 
> I feel show business is trying to distribute attention away from people onto an imagined outer world ... while my aim is to concentrate attention onto onself and the moment you meet people, direct exchange, real world, not imagination, not symbolic ... I hope someone will make sense of my utterings ...


I can appreciate not wanting to dwell in fantasyland, but to basically frame so many expressions of ART as little more than distractions in Wunderland is misguided, at best.  

There are oftentimes when world events or humankind can make one feel despair.   The fact that the arts (and here the performance arts in particular) come from humans, and _only_ humans -  is among our best traits.   I am uplifted when I hear, see, or watch various performance art.       I can feel a kinship with others in the audience when we're all reacting in the same joyous way.   It's certainly lovely to spend time with friends or family, but care must be taken not to live in a bubble.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> I feel show business is trying to distribute attention away from people onto an imagined outer world ...



We hardly ever go to the movies anymore, preferring to watch them from the comfort of our recliners on the big screen tv. However, we really enjoy a stage performance, and will go whenever we get the chance. 

Be it a movie or a stage performance, though, it should be about entertainment, they can keep their political or social commentary to themselves.


----------



## davidharmier60

Amen to what Smoke said.
Keep the politics to yourselves!

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## Frank F.

@davidharmier60 --- Saying I do not go to see show business events is political?

Not really.

It is only a statement on how I prefer to spend my time. I support musicians by buying their music as CDs or Downloads. I support book authors by buying their books, mostly in paper, some electronic. I support blogs and idependent news papers with my buying power to keep them independent and do research I have no time to do myself. Have reliable source. I support film makers if they touch my heart and PIXAR is high on the list.

In your definition it seems to me my buying decisions are political.

PS: My statement smoke665 quotes stems from my memory of a Hermann Hesse Book. There is a traveling artist discussing with a hermit and my quote is what the hermit says to the juggler as far as I recall it...


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> @davidharmier60 --- Saying I do not go to see show business events is political?



I don't believe he was referring to your comment, Frank. He was referring to an incident in which a performer in _Hamilton_ addressed a politician in the audience that night.

And that's all we will say about that.


----------



## SquarePeg

SquarePeg said:


> 2nd attempt at the pretzel caramel chocolate cookie bars was a bust.  Caramel too sticky/hard. Cookie not soft enough. Flavor great - texture not so great.  Also should have used dark chocolate instead of semi sweet.  Going to give them one more try tomorrow before tanking the idea and going back to one of my standby recipes.  Have a cookie swap coming up (9th year in a row with the same group of neighbors) and running out of new ideas!



Got the cookie and the caramel layer perfect on the 4th try.  #trialanderror, #determination, #tastetester



smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Broadway shows I think we maxed out at about $150/tix
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow hasn't changed to much then. We paid almost that much 30 years ago for popular shows on Broadway, off was cheaper.
Click to expand...


I’m happy to sit in the cheap seats and don’t feel any need to be front and center.  



smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I feel show business is trying to distribute attention away from people onto an imagined outer world ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We hardly ever go to the movies anymore, preferring to watch them from the comfort of our recliners on the big screen tv. However, we really enjoy a stage performance, and will go whenever we get the chance.
> 
> Be it a movie or a stage performance, though, it should be about entertainment, they can keep their political or social commentary to themselves.
Click to expand...


How can you not go to the movies?  The giant screen?  The popcorn smell?  The surround sound?  I love everything about going to the movies and try to go a few times/month.  I get really annoyed when there is nothing that I want to see.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> How can you not go to the movies?  The giant screen?  The popcorn smell?  The surround sound?  I love everything about going to the movies and try to go a few times/month.  I get really annoyed when there is nothing that I want to see.



I don't go to the movies, either. There are only certain movies that I have to see on the big screen, and for those movies, I will tolerate (to a certain point) the overwhelming fake butter smell of the popcorn, the crowds, the people eating near me (Big.Time. misophonia trigger) or talking through the movie, or when the sound gets too loud and it actually hurts. Generally, if I am going to see a movie in a theater, I would rather wait until it's almost at the end of its run and go when the theaters are almost empty. I'd much rather be in my living room in my pj's cuddling my cats.


----------



## limr

Now, the opera is a different story.  There's still a little bit of anxiety about being around all those people, but it's much less - mostly because people are super quiet when watching an opera so there is much much less of a chance that I'll be triggered. Well, and the booze at intermission  And I love watching opera, just getting lost in the music. It's one of the few entertainment events that I would go to more regularly if it were more convenient.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> How can you not go to the movies?  The giant screen?  The popcorn smell?  The surround sound?  I love everything about going to the movies and try to go a few times/month.  I get really annoyed when there is nothing that I want to see.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't go to the movies, either. There are only certain movies that I have to see on the big screen, and for those movies, I will tolerate (to a certain point) the overwhelming fake butter smell of the popcorn, the crowds, the people eating near me (Big.Time. misophonia trigger) or taking through the movie, or when the sound gets too loud and it actually hurts. Generally, if I am going to see a movie in a theater, I would rather wait until it's almost at the end of its run and go when the theaters are almost empty. I'd much rather be in my living room in my pj's cuddling my cats.
Click to expand...


I agree with you on the sound sometimes being too loud, especially when the theater is close to empty.  Too loud can be a migraine trigger for me so I always have earplugs in my bag and just pop them in.  I started carrying them around when Princess was involved with cheerleading.  Those competitions can be brutally loud.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> How can you not go to the movies?  The giant screen?  The popcorn smell?  The surround sound?  I love everything about going to the movies and try to go a few times/month.  I get really annoyed when there is nothing that I want to see.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't go to the movies, either. There are only certain movies that I have to see on the big screen, and for those movies, I will tolerate (to a certain point) the overwhelming fake butter smell of the popcorn, the crowds, the people eating near me (Big.Time. misophonia trigger) or taking through the movie, or when the sound gets too loud and it actually hurts. Generally, if I am going to see a movie in a theater, I would rather wait until it's almost at the end of its run and go when the theaters are almost empty. I'd much rather be in my living room in my pj's cuddling my cats.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I agree with you on the sound sometimes being too loud, especially when the theater is close to empty.  Too loud can be a migraine trigger for me so I always have earplugs in my bag and just pop them in.  I started carrying them around when Princess was involved with cheerleading.  Those competitions can be brutally loud.
Click to expand...


Earplugs are a good idea. I keep earbuds with me all the time, and pop them in my ears before the movie starts to play some music to help drown out the crowd and eating noises, but for whatever reason, I don't carry earplugs.


----------



## Derrel

When I worked at the movies, years ago, the "butter" came in large,yellow plastic jugs labeled in black letttering as "*Imitation Buttery-Flavored Seasoning Oil*". We were allowed alllll the free popcorn and soda pop we desired, as a perk of our employment. We young employees referred to the buttery-flavored seasoning oil as "grease". As in, "Darla, dish me up another Tupperware of popcorn, and put three pumps of grease on it, please."


----------



## limr

Derrel said:


> When I worked at the movies, years ago, the "butter" came in large,yellow plastic jugs labeled in black letttering as "*Imitation Buttery-Flavored Seasoning Oil*". We were allowed alllll the free popcorn and soda pop we desired, as a perk of our employment. We young employees referred to the buttery-flavored seasoning oil as "grease". As in, "Darla, dish me up another Tupperware of popcorn, and put three pumps of grease on it, please."


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @davidharmier60 --- Saying I do not go to see show business events is political?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't believe he was referring to your comment, Frank. He was referring to an incident in which a performer in _Hamilton_ addressed a politician in the audience that night.
> 
> And that's all we will say about that.
Click to expand...



I do not know the Code "Hamilton" ... sometimes I feel we live on a different planet


----------



## davidharmier60

It's absolutely a different world we live in.
I watch YouTube of airports and airplane trips in the 40s and 50s. The world had a LOT more class then. Frank,  I have never seen Hamilton and I don't even know what the actors have done.
My comment is that I hate it when actors or singers inject politics. 

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## davidharmier60

It's absolutely a different world we live in.
I watch YouTube of airports and airplane trips in the 40s and 50s. The world had a LOT more class then. Frank,  I have never seen Hamilton and I don't even know what the actors have done.
My comment is that I hate it when actors or singers inject politics. 

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## SquarePeg

Derrel said:


> When I worked at the movies, years ago, the "butter" came in large,yellow plastic jugs labeled in black letttering as "*Imitation Buttery-Flavored Seasoning Oil*". We were allowed alllll the free popcorn and soda pop we desired, as a perk of our employment. We young employees referred to the buttery-flavored seasoning oil as "grease". As in, "Darla, dish me up another Tupperware of popcorn, and put three pumps of grease on it, please."



Makes me glad I “just say no” to the fake butter.  I used to question them when they called it butter but Princess started getting embarrassed when I did that so I dropped it.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> How can you not go to the movies? The giant screen? The popcorn smell? The surround sound



When we finally finished off our basement we added the 4k big screen, a Yamaha Surround Sound Amplifier, 4k Samsung Blue Ray CD Player and two large, really comfortable recliners. Just across from all this is the bar with popcorn, microwave, and fully stocked refrigerator.

As @limr pointed out I also don't care for crowds which is good because my wife needs to avoid crowded, enclosed places because of her compromised immune system.


----------



## smoke665

Anyone else noticed that TPF is acting strange again? Sometimes when you click on "post reply" nothing happens or if you click again it posts the same reply twice.


----------



## waday

Who said taking pictures of newborns was hard? It's super easy!


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> Who said taking pictures of newborns was hard? It's super easy!



Only thing missing in that shot is the sound! LOL


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Who said taking pictures of newborns was hard? It's super easy!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Only thing missing in that shot is the sound! LOL
Click to expand...

I think we can all hear the sound, on some level.   

I deleted the duplicate post, btw.   Haven't noticed it recently, but will keep my eyes open, now that you mentioned it.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Who said taking pictures of newborns was hard? It's super easy!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Only thing missing in that shot is the sound! LOL
Click to expand...

I can recreate it for you all.

Those not wearing earplugs:
*WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!*

Those wearing earplugs:
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @davidharmier60 --- Saying I do not go to see show business events is political?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't believe he was referring to your comment, Frank. He was referring to an incident in which a performer in _Hamilton_ addressed a politician in the audience that night.
> 
> And that's all we will say about that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I do not know the Code "Hamilton" ... sometimes I feel we live on a different planet
Click to expand...


I thought Gary already explained what _Hamilton _is. It's not a "code" - it's a Broadway musical.
Hamilton (musical) - Wikipedia

Titles are italicized.


----------



## Frank F.

waday said:


> Who said taking pictures of newborns was hard? It's super easy!




better without the sound


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @davidharmier60 --- Saying I do not go to see show business events is political?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't believe he was referring to your comment, Frank. He was referring to an incident in which a performer in _Hamilton_ addressed a politician in the audience that night.
> 
> And that's all we will say about that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I do not know the Code "Hamilton" ... sometimes I feel we live on a different planet
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I thought Gary already explained what _Hamilton _is. It's not a "code" - it's a Broadway musical.
> Hamilton (musical) - Wikipedia
> 
> Titles are italicized.
Click to expand...



aha. no I had no idea at all


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Mary Lou and Gary have season tickets for a few entertainment venues ... the Hollywood Bowl for Mary Lou, Coliseum/USC football for Gary and the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts for both of us. We regularly attend Dodgers, Laguna Playhouse/Pageant of the Masters, et al ... but have been cutting back due to traffic/parking.  It not like it used to be.  On Los Angeles freeways, one can expect heavy traffic 24/7 now, not just at rush hour. Typically, we ride event/venue specific shuttles. (Sometimes, we'll open a bottle of vino on the shuttle.)  Of late, if there's no shuttle, then we'll take a pass. Rarely do we attend a movie.  Similar to smoke665, we have 4k Tv, a B+W sound system w/ an Integra receiver, a reclining love seat (w/his & hers individual reclining). The smell of fresh popcorn out of the coffee roaster, (Mary Lou loves popcorn), rainsettes (which don't cost $5.00 a pop), special wines (direct from the vintners unavailable in stores) annnnd a ten foot screen and projector for the special movies and games.  One pull-down screen inside and one framed screen for the patio. The patio has weather proof Bose speakers with a Sony receiver.  We have NetFlix, Amazon Prime and internet streaming ... so if it's on video ... it is covered.

But it is only Mary Lou and Moi ... if I had kids at home, I would most certainly take them to the movies.  A theater is a lot more fun for kids than a patio.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou is checking out the Hamilton tickets for today.  Cheapest tickets are around $350 each.  Gary has no plans for tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> what is Hamilton? And what is your monthly budget for tickets? must be in the thousands!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> A hip-hop musical about one of America’s founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton.
> 
> Mary Lou is checking everyday to see if the price drops on the day of a performance. So far no luck.
Click to expand...


@ 12:39 p.m. yesterday. (Click to expand)


----------



## davidharmier60

Not sure if this will post.
I clearly heard the wailing from the baby.
I did 3.5 hours at work. Tomorrow morning it's supposed to be about 32 degrees.
Might be all of 35 by the time I get to the Marquee. Should be a hoot!
We still have a 36 inch tube TV. 
Nothing smart about it.
I wasn't able to post at EDC forum hence my comment to start this post.

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## Gary A.

8:00 a.m. right now and it 58F.  Should break 70F ...  Maggie just came by and gave me a thank you for breakfast peck and now she's on her back wanting and getting a belly rub. We were projected to get Santa Ana Winds today, but they haven't showed up. These are very strong winds blustering in from the deserts.

Yesterday we visited some friends in hospitals in the area Gary grew up. There is an old restaurant out there that Gary's family would frequent.  All they serve is spaghetti ... if you only serve one thing, it better be good and it is.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Mary Lou and Gary have season tickets for a few entertainment venues ... the Hollywood Bowl for Mary Lou, Coliseum/USC football for Gary and the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts for both of us. We regularly attend Dodgers, Laguna Playhouse/Pageant of the Masters, et al ... but have been cutting back due to traffic/parking.  It not like it used to be.  On Los Angeles freeways, one can expect heavy traffic 24/7 now, not just at rush hour. Typically, we ride event/venue specific shuttles. (Sometimes, we'll open a bottle of vino on the shuttle.)  Of late, if there's no shuttle, then we'll take a pass. Rarely do we attend a movie.  Similar to smoke665, we have 4k Tv, a B+W sound system w/ an Integra receiver, a reclining love seat (w/his & hers individual reclining). The smell of fresh popcorn out of the coffee roaster, (Mary Lou loves popcorn), rainsettes (which don't cost $5.00 a pop), special wines (direct from the vintners unavailable in stores) annnnd a ten foot screen and projector for the special movies and games.  One pull-down screen inside and one framed screen for the patio. The patio has weather proof Bose speakers with a Sony receiver.  We have NetFlix, Amazon Prime and internet streaming ... so if it's on video ... it is covered.
> 
> But it is only Mary Lou and Moi ... if I had kids at home, I would most certainly take them to the movies.  A theater is a lot more fun for kids than a patio.



We don't see a lot of movies as a practical manner...even our daughter isn't quite old enough, and there isn't usually something in the theaters that I'm going to go out of my way to find a babysitter and the like to go.

That being said...certain movies have to be seen on the big screen. We already have plans to see the Last Jedi in a couple weeks. I feel like you need the 40 foot screen to truly experience that vast universe.


----------



## Gary A.

@ JonA: Gary thinks that being a few feet away from a ten foot screen is equal to a theater.  Plus, Gary can put the movie on hold while he gets more popcorn or visits the Men's Room.

Gary did see Dunkirk in 4D ... at sea the seats swayed and vibrated when in the air.  Puffs of air shot past one's ear during shootouts and water was sprayed when waves crashed ... totally distracting.  Gary much prefers a glass of wine with his feet up and Miss Maggie on is lap when watching a movie.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> @ JomA: Gary thinks that being a few feet away from a ten foot screen is equal to a theater.  Plus, Gary can put the movie on hold while he gets more popcorn or visits the Men's Room.



Perhaps. Maybe I'll work on that room for the next house, haha. 

In other news, I'm currently wearing a fleece jacket over my work clothes, shivering in my classroom. The heaters keep mocking me by rattling around like they might do something...alas, there is no warmth to be had.

I don't know if they do this everywhere, but around here they renovate schools "as-new". I'm finding that means that the building has loads of quirks that they can't quite figure out, including the fact that there are multiple boilers and different types of heating systems depending on the part of the building you are in. My mom, who is old enough to receive social security, attended kindergarten in the wing of the building I reside in.


----------



## Gary A.

Hamilton tickets are starting at $375.00 today.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has renovated a few schools.  He has never seen "As-New" used for a building standard.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Hamilton tickets are starting at $375.00 today.


Not bad at all!

My wife and I desperately want to go. Someday, hopefully, maybe.


----------



## Gary A.

The tickets for Hamilton started out at $85 then got scalped into the hundreds.  In May the selling cycle starts new as it will move to Orange County.  Hopefully, we can snag some tickets then.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I saw the original Star Wars on the big screen. For some reason we ended up sitting near the front (there was a reason but not sure what it was) so at least from there it was kind of cool having starships zooming over your head.


----------



## davidharmier60

Back then you HAD to see Star Wars on the big screen. Come to think of it I think the last thing I saw on the big screen was The Incredible. Anyhow it's 54 degrees on the back porch and it'll be at least 36 hours before it's that warm again.

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## Frank F.

sinter claus was different today because he met gertrudis and the mice ...

de swarte piter was grey and did not bring presents but apples, like eve in paradise...

... and grown ups behaved like children ... I did like that part!


----------



## waday

Client: can you make this a priority and get this done by the end of the week?

Me:


----------



## waday

Frank F. said:


> apples, like eve in paradise


Why would eating an apple be bad? I mean, apples aren't tempting. If any deity really wanted to test their subjects, shouldn't the deity use those chocolate oranges? That would be good fruit; I'd be tempted by that any day. 

Deity: Wade, you can choose to be ignorant but live in paradise for the rest of eternity, or you can eat this orange flavored chocolate and be damned to all hell, live a short life, and have the knowledge that life sucks.
Me, with chocolate all over my mouth: Uhh... what if I just ate a few slices here and there?

While I like dark chocolate, the orange flavor doesn't really come through as much as with the milk chocolate ones.


----------



## Frank F.

@waday FRANKly I'd like to eat Eve and have the Apple as a desert, maybe share it with her



PS: The apples were very good. I ate my daughter's apple right away. She thought the whole thing was "boring" ... I guesss because no sweets were served. But she liked the little black dog, cuddling it, watching it shake her head...


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Deity: Wade, you can choose to be ignorant but live in paradise for the rest of eternity, or you can eat this orange flavored chocolate and be damned to all hell, live a short life, and have the knowledge that life sucks.



So, the Book of Genesis is The Matrix?


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Deity: Wade, you can choose to be ignorant but live in paradise for the rest of eternity, or you can eat this orange flavored chocolate and be damned to all hell, live a short life, and have the knowledge that life sucks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So, the Book of Genesis is The Matrix?
Click to expand...


Nah, The Matrix has a distinct New Testament vibe.


----------



## waday

Frank F. said:


> FRANKly I'd like to eat Eve and have the Apple as a desert, maybe share it with her


I’m pretty sure most deities frown upon cannibalism. 



limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Deity: Wade, you can choose to be ignorant but live in paradise for the rest of eternity, or you can eat this orange flavored chocolate and be damned to all hell, live a short life, and have the knowledge that life sucks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So, the Book of Genesis is The Matrix?
Click to expand...

Possibly, but the Matrix is more divine.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary did see Dunkirk in 4D ... at sea the seats swayed and vibrated when in the air. Puffs of air shot past one's ear during shootouts and water was sprayed when waves crashed ... totally distracting.



Yup, those can be distracting for sure. Wife and I were at one where you first saw the rats coming "off" the screen, and then you felt them run over your feet!! Scared the %^& out of everyone, wife jumped up in her seat, and refused to come down for a few mins (just to be on the safe side) LOL

As to most movies, Like Gary said, it's nice to just enjoy it at home, though like Gary and Maggie, Ms. Sadie seems to think that it's necessary to watch the movie from my lap.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Who said taking pictures of newborns was hard? It's super easy!



At least you got the oof Christmas  lights bokeh.


----------



## davidharmier60

There's that wailing again. Make it stop!
Anyone else have the Invicta show on TV?
They showed a quartz 52mm 20mm thick Grand Pro Diver. An aviator that said so right on the dial....

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## davidharmier60

Good night peeps! Hopefully I don't freeze solid outside tomorrow...

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## JonA_CT

davidharmier60 said:


> Good night peeps! Hopefully I don't freeze solid outside tomorrow...
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



You live in Southeast TX. Please.


----------



## davidharmier60

Accuweather was wrong.
It's low 40s. Not 32.
Keyholder should be along soon.

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----------



## Braineack




----------



## smoke665

Well there's a CHANCE of snow flurries on Friday. Wife headed to the store today to buy some milk and bread, not because we might be snowed in, but because of the mass hysteria of southern people to any use of the word SNOW. They will literally strip the grocery shelves bare. Normally rational people who might go through a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread a week, suddenly need 10 gallons and 20 loaves. Takes a couple of days for the stores to restock. LOL


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  44F when Gary got up and worked on cleaning up the patio from the pooch and from the Santa Ana Winds. The weather people say it will hit the mid 70's today. Yesterday we sent a pre-Christmas box to Gary's daughter and family in St. Louis. Holiday PJ's and such.  In return, Mary Lou and Gary received a wonderful photo of Miss Claire (5 y/o) and her doll (3y/o), both sleeping in matching pajamas.


----------



## davidharmier60

I do not know the exact temperature. 
I suspect low 40s. 
I did almost 5.5 hours at work. 
Oh and it's drizzling cold rain.....

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----------



## Frank F.

waday said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> FRANKly I'd like to eat Eve and have the Apple as a desert, maybe share it with her
> 
> 
> 
> I’m pretty sure most deities frown upon cannibalism.
Click to expand...


??? I was talking about sex... I thought the whole Adam and Eve story is a symbolic sex scene isn't it ???


----------



## waday

Frank F. said:


> I was talking about sex


Yes, that was clear. I was making a joke.


----------



## jcdeboever

Dirty shop cats


----------



## vintagesnaps

Aw cute little shop kitties! 

The sun is shining today, and I'm waiting for a delivery (no, not photography related). So not getting much done but at least it looks nice outside and maybe I wouldn't want to walk out in that wind kicking up occasionally anyway - it's rattling the windows a bit!


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Dirty shop cats



Reminds me of the Barn Cats we had. They pretty much were self sufficient, keeping down the rodent problem and feeding themselves. Didn't want to get to close to them though as they would tear you up. Based on the size of the rascals, I sometimes wondered if there was a little cross breeding with the Bobcats that also came around.


----------



## davidharmier60

I got home and Dad said don't get comfortable. We came to Houston down by Hobby Airport to get supplies for my uncle so he can make us a drum of soap for us to deliver tomorrow or Friday. 
Oh the joy..... NOT!

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----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## davidharmier60

Either nice little kitty or getting ready to shred somebody. 

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----------



## jcdeboever

davidharmier60 said:


> Either nice little kitty or getting ready to shred somebody.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Wants some more head rubbing, that was my hand that the three legged feline was in love with. 


jcdeboever said:


> View attachment 150413


----------



## smoke665

Continuing to call for the possibility of snow flurries here. As we rarely have significant accumulation that lasts more than a day or two, I really wouldn't mind it if it did. Everything is so quiet on the mountain during and just after a fresh snow. Its like it sucks all the sound out of everything. The pines surrounding us take on a magical feel with a frosted coating. The world around us is at peace.


----------



## Gary A.

@ vintagesnaps: Sous Vide Tri-Tip. 

Mary Lou and guest claim it was Gary’s best Tri-Tip.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Someday I guess I'll have to make my way to CA just to see if what always comes out as a substitute  for shoe leather when i fix it,  really can be edible


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... Gary’s Tri-Tip tastes like a restaurant’s Prime Rib.


----------



## vintagesnaps

OK I'm sold, steak in a Birdseye baggie it is! Top Chef is starting up again so maybe somebody'll sous vide something.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hi ho hi ho it's off to work I go. 
Sitting in the truck waiting on the keyholder. 

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----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 150432
> 
> View attachment 150433
> 
> View attachment 150434
> @ vintagesnaps: Sous Vide Tri-Tip.
> 
> Mary Lou and guest claim it was Gary’s best Tri-Tip.




looks like a great roast beef


----------



## davidharmier60

3 and a half hours and 9 minutes. 
Post office won't be pitched.
Going home to mess with pennies unless Dad says otherwise. 

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----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  So far 100,000 people have been evacuated from the fires out here. Yesterday was a calm day, but today the Santa Ana winds combined with the fire are expected to 80mph.  Not a good day for firefighters.  Yesterday UCLA suspended classes.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Stay safe if it is close.


----------



## Gary A.

About 30 miles away.  The fires are in northern Los Angeles County and Gary lives about 30 miles away in southern Los Angeles County.  Pretty safe here.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  So far 100,000 people have been evacuated from the fires out here. Yesterday was a calm day, but today the Santa Ana winds combined with the fire are expected to 80mph.  Not a good day for firefighters.  Yesterday UCLA suspended classes.



Stay safe Gary.  Any local organizations collecting toys/gift cards to help the displaced families celebrate Christmas?


----------



## Gary A.

Dunno, Gary is sure that something will be set up for those in need. But presently, the fire is scorching Bel-Air ... which is a very wealthy neighborhood.  People in Beverly Hills wish that one day they could move up to Bel-Air. So far, as far as I can tell, no loss of human life, but one horse ranch did lose about 30 horses.  The family which owns the ranch lives up the hill from the horses.  They were awaken by firefighters in the middle of the night to get out, get out, get the hell out now ... by then the horses were gone. 265 schools have been closed.

(example: Rupert Murdoch's $30 million estate is in jeopardy ... maybe Gary will send him some Christmas pajamas.)


----------



## Gary A.

Gary misses working fires.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like TriX and TriTip


----------



## SquarePeg

Yeah I’m guessing The Murdoch don’t need my donation.  Still stinks for them no matter their financial status.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  I’m sure I’ve bragged a few times on this site about my talented and totally awesome goddaughter.  Here she is in her first on air appearances at her new job. Anyone in the VT area please tune in!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  I’m sure I’ve bragged a few times on this site about my talented and totally awesome goddaughter.  Here she is in her first on air appearances at her new job. Anyone in the VT area please tune in!


How totally awesome!    It's very hard work to get behind that desk - congrats to her!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Congrats to Squarepeg's goddaughter. Congrats also to everyone blessed enough to not see these sights this am!


----------



## Gary A.

A marijuana plant ... and soap in a fountain?


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary misses working fires.



I'll admit when I hear the tone or the sirens in the distance it takes a lot of will power and my wife blocking the door to keep me from responding


----------



## davidharmier60

At least for the next few days there won't be any wildfires around here.
Good on her Square Peg!

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----------



## Gary A.

In the 40’s this early morning. Suppose to hit 80F this afternoon.


smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary misses working fires.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll admit when I hear the tone or the sirens in the distance it takes a lot of will power and my wife blocking the door to keep me from responding
Click to expand...

Gary is sorta that way when he hears a helicopter ... he has to look up.


----------



## Gary A.

This is camera ad Thursday in the LA Times.  Samy's has three full pages of good stuff all of which falls under their Holiday no tax sale.  Fuji X100F for $1299.  Sony A7RII and A7SII both are $2398. Leica S $18,950 out the door.


----------



## Gary A.

Hamilton Update: Today the cheapest are going for $419 each.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Hamilton Update: Today the cheapest are going for $419 each.



Gary are these scalpers selling the tickets?????


----------



## Gary A.

Yep, nearly all are sold everyday.


----------



## davidharmier60

The chances of Dave ever being able to spend $400+ are just about as good as flapping his arms and flying. 
The $20 he had earmarked for a DSLR purchase is long gone. 
And that is TRUTH. 

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----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  So far 100,000 people have been evacuated from the fires out here. Yesterday was a calm day, but today the Santa Ana winds combined with the fire are expected to 80mph.  Not a good day for firefighters.  Yesterday UCLA suspended classes.



When classes are canceled, do the watch shops hire extra security?


----------



## JonA_CT




----------



## Dean_Gretsch

That actually reminds me of an Oklahoma joke from Barry Switzer's end as OU's head football coach back in the 80's. Team members were being caught doing everything from sexual assaults to selling drugs during that period. The joke was: The Norman Police Department's phone rings and a lady says " Please hurry! My home is being broken into and the thief is in my house as we speak!". The answering policeman says " Ma'am, we have an incredible amount of calls right now. Can you please get his jersey number and we will pick him up later!".


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Gary A. said:


> Gary did see Dunkirk in 4D ... at sea the seats swayed and vibrated when in the air. Puffs of air shot past one's ear during shootouts and water was sprayed when waves crashed ... totally distracting. Gary much prefers a glass of wine with his feet up and Miss Maggie on is lap when watching a movie.



I bet an X-rated film is worth the extra money in a 4D theater


----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  So far 100,000 people have been evacuated from the fires out here. Yesterday was a calm day, but today the Santa Ana winds combined with the fire are expected to 80mph.  Not a good day for firefighters.  Yesterday UCLA suspended classes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When classes are canceled, do the watch shops hire extra security?
Click to expand...

Nah, the ringleader is moving to another school.


----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary did see Dunkirk in 4D ... at sea the seats swayed and vibrated when in the air. Puffs of air shot past one's ear during shootouts and water was sprayed when waves crashed ... totally distracting. Gary much prefers a glass of wine with his feet up and Miss Maggie on is lap when watching a movie.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I bet an X-rated film is worth the extra money in a 4D theater
Click to expand...

Gary will refrain from a disgusting and juvenile response. (But the guys in the locker room are laughing.)


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> View attachment 150468



Ugh, sorry!


----------



## Frank F.

I love these 1950ies architecture as long as it remains undisturbed:


----------



## davidharmier60

There was a dusting of snow overnight.
Wonder if anybody will show up. 
Sitting in the parking lot. 

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----------



## jcdeboever

Congrats to Peg on her Goddaughters new job, that looks fun and smoke is happy she is conservatively dressed.

We had accidents everywhere from Michigan to Ohio yesterday. Just a tiny bit of snow, people driving like idiots. Made my commute down south annoying to say the least. Just as bad coming home, once I entered Michigan, I took a state route home.

Did manage to pick up my winter shooting gloves yesterday, found a pair of grippy gloves that fit me (Menards) and had a friend hinge the trigger finger for me. Works like a charm.

Business is good but I started a little too early. I wanted my new customers to send in stuff next year. Not even a week into December and I already blew past last year's December numbers. Looks like I will be blessed with a 20% better than budget sales increase, and a 25% better than budget expense to sales.  Today is a big day for me, should find out that I landed a huge account, I'll need it, the boss is on to my strategy and socked me with an unreasonable 2018 budget. I'll teach him what unreasonable is....

Fresh hair cut, check. Pressed khakis, check. Pressed dress shirt, check. Pressed and starched solid tie, check. Polished red wind shoes, check. Clean underwear, check. Nose hairs clipped, check. Camera loaded with TriX and extra roll in jacket, check. Gary's coffee consumed, check. Oatmeal with raisens consumed, check. Morning bowel movements complete, check. On the road again.


----------



## JonA_CT

My job is easier most days than taking care of 2 kids while sick would be.

Let’s hope I made the right decision.


----------



## JonA_CT

I lost. My principal saw me early this morning and called me 15 minutes later to let me know that he found coverage for my classes and that  I was to head out after homeroom.


----------



## smoke665

It's snowing in the pines. Merry Christmas from Dixie!!!!  2" already in places, where it's cold enough to stick. News says now that we might get up to 3". Gonna be a good day for the grocery stores. Hope they stocked up on milk and bread!!



Let It Snow12082017_685.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr




Let It Snow12082017_680.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr


----------



## Frank F.

very scenic shots, smoke!


----------



## JonA_CT

We'll be getting in on that action tomorrow. Our forecast here is for 3-6 inches. Only difference? The mall will still be packed here!


----------



## Frank F.

jcdeboever said:


> Congrats to Peg on her Goddaughters new job, that looks fun and smoke is happy she is conservatively dressed.
> 
> We had accidents everywhere from Michigan to Ohio yesterday. Just a tiny bit of snow, people driving like idiots. Made my commute down south annoying to say the least. Just as bad coming home, once I entered Michigan, I took a state route home.
> 
> Did manage to pick up my winter shooting gloves yesterday, found a pair of grippy gloves that fit me (Menards) and had a friend hinge the trigger finger for me. Works like a charm.
> 
> Business is good but I started a little too early. I wanted my new customers to send in stuff next year. Not even a week into December and I already blew past last year's December numbers. Looks like I will be blessed with a 20% better than budget sales increase, and a 25% better than budget expense to sales.  Today is a big day for me, should find out that I landed a huge account, I'll need it, the boss is on to my strategy and socked me with an unreasonable 2018 budget. I'll teach him what unreasonable is....
> 
> Fresh hair cut, check. Pressed khakis, check. Pressed dress shirt, check. Pressed and starched solid tie, check. Polished red wind shoes, check. Clean underwear, check. Nose hairs clipped, check. Camera loaded with TriX and extra roll in jacket, check. Gary's coffee consumed, check. Oatmeal with raisens consumed, check. Morning bowel movements complete, check. On the road again.




I think people always drive like idiots, only the effect is better seen with some snow in the picture


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> very scenic shots, smoke!



Thanks Frank, at least for now it's pretty, tomorrow - NOT. LOL Walking Sadie this morning along the trails was beautiful. The snow coming down, no wind, it was so quiet and peaceful.


----------



## Frank F.

JonA_CT said:


> We'll be getting in on that action tomorrow. Our forecast here is for 3-6 inches. Only difference? The mall will still be packed here!



we have a lot of snow and hail but it is still too warm, it turns to dirty water as soon as it hits the ground


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> We'll be getting in on that action tomorrow. Our forecast here is for 3-6 inches. Only difference? The mall will still be packed here!



So far the roads are clear, they were warm enough to shed it, but this afternoon and this evening may be a different story as the temperatures are dropping rapidly, and they expect the moisture will be turning to ice.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> very scenic shots, smoke!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks Frank, at least for now it's pretty, tomorrow - NOT. LOL Walking Sadie this morning along the trails was beautiful. The snow coming down, no wind, it was so quite and peaceful.
Click to expand...



I like it quiet and peaceful. No ticket for that with kids 7 and 16 ...


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> No ticket for that with kids 7 and 16 ...



We have a little over 2 miles of trails on our property, and if we want more there are neighboring forests that I could travel for miles on. Just about everyone around me does a good job of maintaining their fire breaks, which provide excellent trails.  I can always find a quiet spot when I need to


----------



## vintagesnaps

We might get all of a whopping 1/2". It's been so mild up to last weekend that chances are the ground will still be warm enough that it'll melt. 

Frank we must live in alternate universes - it seems like that here, when it snows people decide to hop in their cars and drive around like lunatics. 

Someone I know always says it's french toast weather because everyone runs to get milk and bread.


----------



## davidharmier60

Told ya we got dusted with snow.




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----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> We'll be getting in on that action tomorrow. Our forecast here is for 3-6 inches. Only difference? The mall will still be packed here!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So far the roads are clear, they were warm enough to shed it, but this afternoon and this evening may be a different story as the temperatures are dropping rapidly, and they expect the moisture will be turning to ice.
Click to expand...


Ice and/or snow anywhere south of PA means lots of sarcastic news coverage up here of “y’all” slipping and sliding on the roads.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Someone I know always says it's french toast weather because everyone runs to get milk and bread.



Not in the south!! We call them "Milk Sandwiches" LOL


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> We might get all of a whopping 1/2"


That's probably about or more than we'll get here. Extreme southeast PA is supposed to get a couple of inches.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Wish I had read your posts earlier. I forgot to buy bread


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I remember Biloxi, Mississippi getting a heavy frost while I was there back in the beginning of the '80's. Someone on Keesler AFB said they canceled school because the sidewalks had some ice


SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> We'll be getting in on that action tomorrow. Our forecast here is for 3-6 inches. Only difference? The mall will still be packed here!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So far the roads are clear, they were warm enough to shed it, but this afternoon and this evening may be a different story as the temperatures are dropping rapidly, and they expect the moisture will be turning to ice.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ice and/or snow anywhere south of PA means lots of sarcastic news coverage up here of “y’all” slipping and sliding on the roads.
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  You guys have snow and ice we have fire. It is 8:00 a.m. and 51F.  Expected high of 78F today. The fires are still going nuts.  The Thomas fire is expected to burn for a week.  Another one popped up in San Diego County.  More horses were lost to the fire in San Diego County. Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary were thinking of a weekend excursion ... but we're sorted surrounded by fire, so we'll just stay home.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Dean you better hurry up and get to the store! Go! run amok with everyone else!

Oh, and get some maple syrup!


----------



## smoke665

Started snowing here before daylight and has been coming down steadily since. The forecast was for 3" but according to the snow stack on the railing it's already past that and snowing harder. In 1993 they called for 3" and missed it by 13".


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Dean you better hurry up and get to the store! Go! run amok with everyone else!
> 
> Oh, and get some maple syrup!


Maple syrup.... that makes me want to make some baked pancakes tomorrow morning.


----------



## vintagesnaps

No, no, no, Wade you have to use bread and milk! geez get with the program. 

Smoke it's pretty when it's like that. But I'm not ready for real snow, we just went from summer to winter in a day Sunday and I'm never cold but I'm cold!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Wait a minute, Smoke you're down south and east, how are you getting all that snow?? I thought this system is coming from the north. You're doing it backasswards!


edit - OK I looked at the Weather Channel, we have two different systems colliding or something, that ought to be fun. And I'm tired of waiting for the guy to show up to haul boxes out of my garage, should've asked what time, just said yeah I'd be home.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> No, no, no, Wade you have to use bread and milk! geez get with the program.
> 
> Smoke it's pretty when it's like that. But I'm not ready for real snow, we just went from summer to winter in a day Sunday and I'm never cold but I'm cold!


Hmm. Well, I could stop by the supermarket, buy some bread, milk, and maple syrup. Then, tomorrow morning, make some french toast?

Come to think of it, I guess I'd have to buy eggs, too? I wonder if I'm out of fabric softener, as well?

Better go to the store.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Wait a minute, Smoke you're down south and east, how are you getting all that snow?? I thought this system is coming from the north. You're doing it backasswards!



Yup, last time I checked, Alabama was in the south. LOL Had a warm front coming in from the gulf that was "loaded" with moisture, met up with cold front moving down from the north.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Glad we could help and send some cold air. I don't want it back.


----------



## smoke665

Bridges, overpasses and secondary roads starting to get slick. On the news, several roads are being officially closed. Bad thing in the south, "EVEN IF YOU THINK YOU CAN DRIVE ON IT" if a road is designated as being closed, your auto insurance will not pay in the event of claim.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Bridges, overpasses and secondary roads starting to get slick. On the news, several roads are being officially closed. Bad thing in the south, "EVEN IF YOU THINK YOU CAN DRIVE ON IT" if a road is designated as being closed, your auto insurance will not pay in the event of claim.


Serious question that may sound funny... how many plows/salt trucks do you have in Alabama or in your county?


----------



## smoke665

Thankful I made a batch of Gluehwein last night, won't be long until we're all snug and warm in front of the fire with a warm cup, and Christmas music on through out the house. Course you can't have snow if Alabama in December without playing our home town boys






 Christmas in Dixie Y'all!!!


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bridges, overpasses and secondary roads starting to get slick. On the news, several roads are being officially closed. Bad thing in the south, "EVEN IF YOU THINK YOU CAN DRIVE ON IT" if a road is designated as being closed, your auto insurance will not pay in the event of claim.
> 
> 
> 
> Serious question that may sound funny... how many plows/salt trucks do you have in Alabama or in your county?
Click to expand...

What's the square root of '0'?


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bridges, overpasses and secondary roads starting to get slick. On the news, several roads are being officially closed. Bad thing in the south, "EVEN IF YOU THINK YOU CAN DRIVE ON IT" if a road is designated as being closed, your auto insurance will not pay in the event of claim.
> 
> 
> 
> Serious question that may sound funny... how many plows/salt trucks do you have in Alabama or in your county?
Click to expand...


No plows, and a couple of spreader trucks. Alabama follows the "God Rule". What "God Puts Down, God Takes Away"


----------



## JonA_CT

Compared to CT which operates a fleet of 600 plus plow trucks during a storm, and that’s just for state routes. I think our little 7 sq mile city has 6 trucks.


----------



## smoke665

And still falling


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bridges, overpasses and secondary roads starting to get slick. On the news, several roads are being officially closed. Bad thing in the south, "EVEN IF YOU THINK YOU CAN DRIVE ON IT" if a road is designated as being closed, your auto insurance will not pay in the event of claim.
> 
> 
> 
> Serious question that may sound funny... how many plows/salt trucks do you have in Alabama or in your county?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No plows, and a couple of spreader trucks. Alabama follows the "God Rule". What "God Puts Down, God Takes Away"
Click to expand...

Interesting.

My old apartment building's spreader truck was the owners beat up little pickup truck. He didn't follow the god rule, he followed the "hit it and see if it works" rule. He'd spread salt by:

Back little pick up truck to furthest spot in parking lot. 
Drive a foot and stop;
Get out and look at the spreader, see it not working, hit it until it worked and spread salt at his feet;
Get back in truck, drive a foot until spreader stopped;
Repeat steps 3 and 4 until finished.
Luckily for him, the parking lot was small enough that it only took him an hour or so.


----------



## JonA_CT

I got both kids to sleep, and now I’m watching Top Chef re-runs and drinking some ginger tea. I should try to get a nap in.


----------



## smoke665

Okay, it can stop now. The pines are pretty all covered with snow, but unfortunately they don't hold up well to the weight. News reports coming in of power outages as those snow covered limbs fall on power lines. After the blizzard of 93, AP vowed to never get caught with their pants down again on maintaining right of ways. Here in the rural areas, if a blade of grass grows taller than a foot they wack it off if it's in their right of way. In town the residents raise a stink if they trim all the limbs off one side of a tree that encroaches in the right of way, so they go easier on them.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> In town the residents raise a stink if they trim all the limbs off one side of a tree


There's something special about a V-shaped tree, no?

Example: http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/treesandpowerlines/images/Trees and wires.jpg


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Compared to CT which operates a fleet of 600 plus plow trucks during a storm, and that’s just for state routes. I think our little 7 sq mile city has 6 trucks.



We even have a sidewalk plow. It got stuck the year we got 7 feet of snow and they had to bring in a bigger truck to dig it out.  



waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> In town the residents raise a stink if they trim all the limbs off one side of a tree
> 
> 
> 
> There's something special about a V-shaped tree, no?
> 
> Example: http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/treesandpowerlines/images/Trees and wires.jpg
Click to expand...


We have a few of those!  So terrible looking.


----------



## davidharmier60

For a brief shining moment the sun showed. There were shadows and everything. It's hiding again. 

I found about 2 pounds of stuff keeping the vacuum in the floor machine from picking up. So off I went through the store. 

Still leaves too much liquid. Today Trish just wanted the floor dry. I'll try to make it look better tomorrow morning. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

By the way Dave had 4.5 hours almost to the second. 

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----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> For a brief shining moment the sun showed. There were shadows and everything. It's hiding again.


I miss the sun.


----------



## davidharmier60

After the sun went into hiding it began spitting rain again. 

I miss the sun as well. 

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----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> And still falling
> View attachment 150491


Quit it, your going to get @limr all excited...


----------



## limr

waday said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> For a brief shining moment the sun showed. There were shadows and everything. It's hiding again.
> 
> 
> 
> I miss the sun.
Click to expand...




davidharmier60 said:


> After the sun went into hiding it began spitting rain again.
> 
> I miss the sun as well.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Meh. The sun is overrated.



jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> And still falling
> View attachment 150491
> 
> 
> 
> Quit it, your going to get @limr all excited...
Click to expand...


It's heading my way tomorrow, so this is like watching the trailers before seeing the actual movie


----------



## Gary A.

From behind the BBQ’s this morning.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Meh. The sun is overrated.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Meh. The sun is overrated.
Click to expand...

What a wonderful portrait of @limr. Was that taken this past summer?


----------



## davidharmier60

The sun is struggling to make another appearance.... and it succeeded!
Hello you hot yellow guy!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

tirediron said:


> What's the square root of '0'?


I guess the correct answer is 0?


----------



## smoke665

From earlier today. The start of one of the trails Sadie Mae and I walk everyday. Got to admit was pretty magical!




Let It Snow12082017_700.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr


----------



## davidharmier60

Pretty world Smoke!
If we ever got snow like that life in this part of the world would stop.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> Pretty world Smoke!
> If we ever got snow like that life in this part of the world would stop.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



We ended up with about 4", surprisingly we have friends that live south of us, just over the line in MS that got 7".


----------



## SquarePeg

We’re expecting 4-8 tomorrow depending on proximity to the coast.  I’m thinking fuzzy socks,  fireplace, sugarplum martinis, wrapping presents while listening to Michael Buble Christmas album... maybe the Tipsy Baker will make her annual appearance...   what’s that word the Danes use?  Hygge?


----------



## terri

It's been pouring here for 2 days now, nearly non stop.   Mixed in some sleet starting about an hour ago, and now it's pitch dark.  Cold and nasty out there, warm and kitty snuggling in here, with a fresh pot of my home made vegetable soup on the stove.

Winter is here!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

terri said:


> Winter is here!



Oh yay


----------



## limr

terri said:


> It's been pouring here for 2 days now, nearly non stop.   Mixed in some sleet starting about an hour ago, and now it's pitch dark.  Cold and nasty out there, warm and kitty snuggling in here, with a fresh pot of my home made vegetable soup on the stove.
> 
> Winter is here!



Yup - hot beverages, snuggly kitties, cozy blankets...


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

limr said:


> Yup - hot beverages, snuggly kitties, cozy blankets...


...cold appendages, sniffling noses, crazy heating bills...


----------



## limr

Dean_Gretsch said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yup - hot beverages, snuggly kitties, cozy blankets...
> 
> 
> 
> ...cold appendages, sniffling noses, crazy heating bills...
Click to expand...


Gloves and warmer socks, tissues, and wood-burning stove 

My electric bill in summer is many times more expensive than my winter bills.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> We’re expecting 4-8 tomorrow depending on proximity to the coast.  I’m thinking fuzzy socks,  fireplace, sugarplum martinis, wrapping presents while listening to Michael Buble Christmas album... maybe the Tipsy Baker will make her annual appearance...   what’s that word the Danes use?  Hygge?



The Year of Hygge, the Danish Obsession with Getting Cozy

Not just Denmark. I believe this concept exists thoughout Scandanavia.


----------



## smoke665

@limr as a child in the winter LOL


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> @limr as a child in the winter LOL
> 
> View attachment 150502



My snowsuit wasn't that far off 

I will find a real picture later.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

_ In a 1957 “Letter from Copenhagen” in The New Yorker, the writer Robert Shaplen reported that hygge was “ubiquitous” in the city: “The sidewalks are filled with smiling, hyggelige people, who keep lifting their hats to each other and who look at a stranger with an expression that indicates they wish they knew him well enough to lift their hats to him, too.”_

What a wonderful vision.


----------



## SquarePeg

@limr  sunblock


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is soon to go lights out.
Good night y'all. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has a windbreaker, gloves and a scarf for winter wear.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary had a long day.  After work Gary hung the outdoor lights and cleaned out the big skimmer filter.  The lights were tiring.  He is now relaxing with a glass of wine.


----------



## snowbear

Getting the white stuff overnight and tomorrow.  Four to six inches expected, however the pavement temps have not been that low, so it isn't likely to stay on the roads.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary has a windbreaker, gloves and a scarf for winter wear.



Has Gary ever really experienced cold? The kind where it drops below zero and stays there? Where it freeze drys the humidity to the point that the snow squeaks when you walk on it.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has a windbreaker, gloves and a scarf for winter wear.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Has Gary ever really experienced cold? The kind where it drops below zero and stays there? Where it freeze drys the humidity to the point that the snow squeaks when you walk on it.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised if Gary has a commercial-grade walk-in freezer.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has a windbreaker, gloves and a scarf for winter wear.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Has Gary ever really experienced cold? The kind where it drops below zero and stays there? Where it freeze drys the humidity to the point that the snow squeaks when you walk on it.
Click to expand...

Gary has lived and spent winters in Paris, Tokyo and Seoul. Gary has also been above the Arctic Circle during winter.


----------



## smoke665

Then @Gary A has experienced cold, something I didn't know. Do you find as i have that you are less toletant of the cold as you get older?


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has a windbreaker, gloves and a scarf for winter wear.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Has Gary ever really experienced cold? The kind where it drops below zero and stays there? Where it freeze drys the humidity to the point that the snow squeaks when you walk on it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I wouldn't be surprised if Gary has a commercial-grade walk-in freezer.
Click to expand...

Oh man Gary wishes he had one. Gary has a friend who has one. It is great. We walk in through the kitchen, grab a beer, sit down at the butcher block table and grab stuff to eat from inside the fridge. When Gary wins the lotto, he will have a walk-in cooler.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Then @Gary A has experienced cold, something I didn't know. Do you find as i have that you are less toletant of the cold as you get older?


Yep. In his youth, Gary could work all day in 100+ or below freezing. But being an old fart has caused Gary to appreciate good weather and to give a rat’s when the temp is less than optimal.

Going to the arctic, the camera repair guys removed all the liquid lubricants in Gary’s cameras and lenses (grease) and replaced them with dry lubricants (graphite).


----------



## ceemac

Not much snow for us so far. LaNina is keeping the jet stream well east of us. Doesn't feel much like Christmas yet. The lakes aren't even frozen enough for ice fishing. It's rather gray and boring.


----------



## Frank F.

The water in my son's ashtray on my office balcony is frozen, but the food stuffs on the kitchen balcony were not frozen. I brought them in anyway. Winter sun creates pale shadows on the wall (other street side). The beech tree still glowing orange last week is now devoid of leafs. We are all set to survive another winter.


----------



## jcdeboever

We got some snow last night, not sure how much as I haven't got out yet. Sipping some of Gary's exotic roast first. Then going to see my friend who lost his wife, his kids didn't waste any time sticking him in a nursing home[emoji22]. I'm bringing him Gary's World Series papers, he should get much enjoyment out of them. We loved to talk baseball. I told the wife, don't be pissed if I come home with a little old man to live with us. She wasn't feeling it however... It's only been a couple weeks and apparently, they moved him in less than a week after the funeral. He has got to be freaking out at the change, I hope he knows who I am. He was hit or miss in that regard in the past couple of months. He recognizes me, I think, but gets my name wrong, he sometimes calls me Steve, have no idea why. Anyway, taking it a minute at a time today.


----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> We got some snow last night, not sure how much as I haven't got out yet. Sipping some of Gary's exotic roast first. Then going to see my friend who lost his wife, his kids didn't waste any time sticking him in a nursing home[emoji22]. I'm bringing him Gary's World Series papers, he should get much enjoyment out of them. We loved to talk baseball. I told the wife, don't be pissed if I come home with a little old man to live with us. She wasn't feeling it however... It's only been a couple weeks and apparently, they moved him in less than a week after the funeral. He has got to be freaking out at the change, I hope he knows who I am. He was hit or miss in that regard in the past couple of months. He recognizes me, I think, but gets my name wrong, he sometimes calls me Steve, have no idea why. Anyway, taking it a minute at a time today.



I have a lot of respect for you, JC. You always do the right thing in these situations.


Snow has started here. Big wet flakes, but pretty light for now.


----------



## SquarePeg

ceemac said:


> Not much snow for us so far. LaNina is keeping the jet stream well east of us. Doesn't feel much like Christmas yet. The lakes aren't even frozen enough for ice fishing. It's rather gray and boring.



What part of the US are you in?


No snow here yet.  Woke up with the sniffles and scratchy throat.  No big plans for this weekend so not too terrible to get the cold over with now before the busy weeks ahead.  Was already planning on a day/night of cooking and gift wrapping today.  Hopefully I’ll feel better by Sunday night to get out for a few drinks with friends that I won’t see over the holidays.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever a few mins of your time can be such a blessing to others. Can't tell you the number of times I ran blood pressure check calls on elderly patients who mainly just needed someone to talk to. The decision to place a loved one in a nursing home is difficult. My sister in law was forced to make that decision after the brother in law had a series of debilitating illnesses. There just wasn't any way she could care for him at home. Fortunately, he got a spot in the state run VA home, a beautiful facility that's like a resort with nurses.


----------



## smoke665

What a location we live in - 25 degrees this morning a week from now back up in the 60's, it's like:

Mother Nature: "You can not fit all the seasons into one week".
Alabama: "Hold my beer"


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave had to scrape his windshield before leaving this morning. Now after 4 hours and a couple of minutes the sun is out and there isn't a cloud to be seen. Still awful chilly but getting better. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  No snow here either.  7:06 a.m. and 53F, projected to break 8oF today. Which is not normal.  Everything seems about ten degrees higher than normal.  Lack of rain is also not normal. But it is what it is. Gary is packing his winter clothes, windbreaker, scarf and gloves, away. Yesterday, Mary Lou ordered her Christmas Tamales from Julian's in Hawaiian Gardens (which is neither Hawaiian or a Garden). Dozens and dozens and dozens of tamales for presents.  She did bring home some pan dulce for Gary.  He is about to launch hisself into a pumpkin empanada.  Gary thinks that those of you not having a pumpkin empanada this morning ... you're missing out on life.


----------



## Gary A.

@ smoke665: Regarding snow.  While Gary didn't grow up with snow on the ground each winter.  The 10,000 foot high San Gabriel Mountains were 30 minutes away. During winter, we would hit the snow nearly weekly. When we weren't at the snow, we be at the beach, about an hour away.  Where Gary lives now, the distances are reversed, it's an hour to the mountains and about 20 minutes to the beach. We Californian's keep our snow up in the mountains where it belongs.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. That's why Alabama weather is great. We get such a wide variety that changes daily, and we don't have to drive anywhere


----------



## Gary A.

We don't have to wait ... just drive to whatever we desire.  In fact, we have glaciers in California, so even in summer we can enjoy ice and snow.


----------



## snowbear

Just got back from a stroll with the camera.  It started snowing lightly here between 7:00 and 8:00. The roads are wet, the grass is wet and there's a tiny bit of snow sticking to the leaves.  I'll have to head back out later, after more snow has accumulated.

Of course, the DC Metropolitan Area drivers are already living up to their reputation - crash on the Capital Beltway portion of I-95 involving "many cars and a truck, possibly jack-knifed" just north of the work exit.


----------



## Gary A.

Off to Miss Maggie's charm school.


----------



## SquarePeg

Light snow falling now.  Going to chillax all day.  Have a few ideas for the weekly challenge that I’m going to try, then some binge watching (Stranger Things?), maybe try out the new air fryer feature on the convection oven I bought...


----------



## limr

Snowing here, too. Planning on a day of rest and recovery. I haven't had a cold, but this semester has been a long and challenging one, and I am exhausted.

Two more weeks to go before I get a break. Of course, faculty get a break between semesters, but even staff gets a week off since the college closes down entirely between Christmas and New Years. While I do miss having more time off, I do not miss the fact that as an adjunct, I was not paid for it. My fall semester pay would end in Dec and then I wouldn't get paid again until mid- to late-Feb.

My break from teaching will last longer. From now on, the plan is to teach only in the Fall semester.


----------



## ceemac

SquarePeg said:


> What part of the US are you in?


About a third of the way up B.C. in Canada. We don't get that much snow, but this time last year we were hitting -30 C. Now we're just below freezing. We're about 3500 ft. Now that I've retired it just seemed appropriate to move a little closer to God.


----------



## JonA_CT

I’ll making a slow-roasted red sauce with meatballs for dinner, so I’ve got that going.

We too, are cozying up for the day.

Today’s cold tonic:
8 oz hot water
1 earl grey tea bag
A splash of OJ
A squeeze of honey
1.5 oz Irish whiskey


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT doesn't look bad with a few modifications.

Today’s cold tonic:
8 ice cubes
3 fingers of Irish whiskey


----------



## jcdeboever

Well, my friend is doing pretty well all things considered. He recognized me and was in good spirits. However, he kept waiting for his wife to show up and said she was coming for lunch. That would be a miracle. I am going to pick him up for church tomorrow, hopefully that will go well. His son in law and wife showed up and they were good with me taking him to church tomorrow. It was a little awkward but all went well.


----------



## Dave442

Rain forecast here for the next three days. Wife is fixing up a big pot of soup with some vegetables we picked up at the farm last night.


----------



## snowbear

DSC_0986.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Dave442

Nice work JC on taking a look after your friend.


----------



## davidharmier60

The temperature on the back porch says 49. But the sun has removed all indications of snow or frost. Dave feels a Rum and Coke is possible. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Miss Maggie socializing at charm school.


----------



## Gary A.

The Basil and Miss Maggie.




Mary Lou picked up some pine nuts yesterday, so it’s Pesto Time.


----------



## Gary A.

Hamilton Update:  The cheapest tickets for the early show are $219, next show cheapist is $300 and the most expensive tickets for tonight are $1300.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Smoke, that's about the same as here! Saying is, if you don't like the weather wait a day, it'll change. 

It _sort of_ snowed, looked more like mist and there's a coating on driveways. I hope it melts. Staying in out of the cold today, and heading out and about tomorrow, so don't really want snow yet. 

Watching Monk watching a San Jose Sharks game, then there's a major jr. game on, then college and NHL games - no such thing as too much hockey.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leo hang in there, I forget that you're on the staff schedule. That's how it is here, the students and instructors and professors are done but offices are still open; they close around Christmas and New Years. Glad you're getting a break from teaching a class next semester. 

Hang on Leo, Leo hang on!


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave watched about the last 3/4 of the Carol Burnett 50 year show.
Does anyone else think that was one of the funniest shows EVER?
Tim Conway and Harvey Corman.... could it get any funnier?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

The sauce has made the house smell amazing, and we’ve decided to skip the meatballs and just enjoy the sauce with some well-cooked pasta and some nice parm.

We are going to make a batch of rolled sugar cookies when the kids are in bed, and I think White Christmas is on the docket tonight.


----------



## Gary A.

Fini.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Well, my friend is doing pretty well all things considered. He recognized me and was in good spirits. However, he kept waiting for his wife to show up and said she was coming for lunch. That would be a miracle. I am going to pick him up for church tomorrow, hopefully that will go well. His son in law and wife showed up and they were good with me taking him to church tomorrow. It was a little awkward but all went well.



Good to know that they were visiting. 



JonA_CT said:


> The sauce has made the house smell amazing, and we’ve decided to skip the meatballs and just enjoy the sauce with some well-cooked pasta and some nice parm.
> 
> We are going to make a batch of rolled sugar cookies when the kids are in bed, and I think White Christmas is on the docket tonight.



White Christmas is my favorite classic Christmas movie (slight edge over It’s A Wonderful Life).


----------



## limr

I prefer _Holiday Inn_, actually. Little tidbit: the song "White Christmas" was not introduced in the movie of the same name. It was featured in _Holiday Inn_.



vintagesnaps said:


> Leo hang in there, I forget that you're on the staff schedule. That's how it is here, the students and instructors and professors are done but offices are still open; they close around Christmas and New Years. Glad you're getting a break from teaching a class next semester.
> 
> Hang on Leo, Leo hang on!



Thanks, Sharon. I'll even forgive the Ohio State video  (I'm dating a man from a hard-core Michigan family...we don't like Ohio State.)



davidharmier60 said:


> Dave watched about the last 3/4 of the Carol Burnett 50 year show.
> Does anyone else think that was one of the funniest shows EVER?
> Tim Conway and Harvey Corman.... could it get any funnier?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



I don't know about EVER, but it's damn funny. I watched it all the time as a kid, and I still laugh until it hurts when I watch that one Mama's family skit when Tim Conway started ad-libbing the story about the elephants.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Pinot Noir, a Jacqueline Bahue from the Santa Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County. Delish, especially when served via Gary’s new aerator.  We’re enjoying a glass in the patio.

A lovely afternoons in the patio.


----------



## SquarePeg

Raspberry cosmo, from the booze aisle at Kappy’s Liquors in multiple locations near you.  A special blend of Tito’s vodka, chambord and cran/raspberry mix with a splash of lime juice.  Delish when served via Squarepeg’s martini shaker.  Enjoying a glass on the sectional. Watching Stranger Things Season 1 Episode 1.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave never did have Rum and Coke. 
We don't have a patio.
He need not awaken at 4am tomorrow but did this morning. When last week's Blue Bloods is over I'm going to bed.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Snow busted here. I don’t think we even have an inch on the ground. It’s been kind of sleety all day. 

It’s all good though...we’ll get our shots this winter.


----------



## SquarePeg

We’ve got about 4” I would estimate.  It’s still in the pretty stage.


----------



## snowbear

Maybe 2" on the grass, only a couple patches on the pavement.

Get over to the POTM and vote, if you haven't -- we're working on a three-way tie!


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> I’ll making a slow-roasted red sauce with meatballs for dinner, so I’ve got that going.
> 
> We too, are cozying up for the day.
> 
> Today’s cold tonic:
> 8 oz hot water
> 1 earl grey tea bag
> A splash of OJ
> A squeeze of honey
> 1.5 oz Irish whiskey


Your hot water & whiskey quantities are reversed.


----------



## JonA_CT

tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I’ll making a slow-roasted red sauce with meatballs for dinner, so I’ve got that going.
> 
> We too, are cozying up for the day.
> 
> Today’s cold tonic:
> 8 oz hot water
> 1 earl grey tea bag
> A splash of OJ
> A squeeze of honey
> 1.5 oz Irish whiskey
> 
> 
> 
> Your hot water & whiskey quantities are reversed.
Click to expand...


It was 10:30 in the morning, gentleman. I’ll counter that you could make it even 4 0z each. But you need it to be hot to work.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> But you need it to be hot to work.



If you up the whiskey enough it'll work regardless the temperature or you won't know you have a cold. Either way it's a win!


----------



## smoke665

Ah the joys of growing old with your spouse. Loss of memory isn't fun, but every now and then it works to your advantage. Today I asked my wife not to do something that was irritating, and before the words cleared my lips she hit me with that standard comeback *"I'm just doing you the same way you do me"*. Suddenly a light bulb went on in my head and I asked her to _*"Name the last time I did that to you"*_.  Bless her heart you could almost see the gears whirling in her head, as she was confident she was going to one up me. It only took a full minute for the reality to hit her, before she responded "_*That's not fair you know how bad my memory is*_" .


----------



## smoke665

Remind you of anyone on here?????


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> Remind you of anyone on here?????
> View attachment 150557



Hey, I don't eat Oreos!


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Remind you of anyone on here?????
> View attachment 150557



I think it’s just about all of us tonight, lol.


----------



## JonA_CT

They finished the "Snow" number and I took a shot of Nyquil.

I'm hoping I feel more like a human being tomorrow. I'm over this.


----------



## jcdeboever

Get well JonA.


----------



## Gary A.

‘Night JonA.


----------



## snowbear

Yes, Jon- get better.
Those that are in snow - stay warm and dry; Gary - stay safe from the fires. I'm calling it a night -goodnight, folks.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gnight all!  Still watching Stranger Things...


----------



## pixmedic

Working night's now



Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

A cheery cool morning from the south. Sadie's morning walk was a little quicker than normal this morning!!


----------



## davidharmier60

It's 36 degrees in Shepherd heading for 60.
I have a mug of coffee and just chilling with no big plans for the day. 
The dogs are in rare form this morning. 
Barking and running around. 
Tra la la.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> Working night's nowView attachment 150562
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


If Gary was recently dead and saw that face staring at him ... it would surely bring him back to life.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  53F here.  Gary is enjoying his first cup of coffee in a few days. He's been drinking teas and chocolate just to break up the morning routine.  A couple of days he had herbal tea to eliminate caffeine. Surprisingly, he survived. Today it is coffee. Gary's coffee this morning is from a half bag of pre-roasted, whole bean, Colombian Supremo he uncovered in the cupboard. It's okay, much better than Starbucks, but not nearly as flavorful and rich as his DIY roasts. The day is supposed to warm up past 80F, so another unseasonably warm, but extremely pleasant day.  Yesterday's humidity was in the single digits ... most likely similar today.  Low humidity and Santa Ana winds are good for fire, tough on firefighters.


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> Working night's nowView attachment 150562
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


Does the 'stache get overtime?


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Working night's nowView attachment 150562
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Does the 'stache get overtime?
Click to expand...

That 'stache appears to be a separate breathing organism living symbiotically under pixmedic's nose. Pixmedic feeds it everytime he eats and provides locomotion, while the hairy creature provides warmth, air filtration and defense/protection to the host organism. Gary suspects that the magnitude in size of the commensalism organism may be attributed to playing-a-role in mating rituals as opposed to significantly contributing to the organism's daily well being.


----------



## Frank F.

we had horizontal snow fall. The trees were white on the windy side and black on the other. As I was riding my car I managed to only take this shot when traffic lights turned red


----------



## pixmedic

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Working night's nowView attachment 150562
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Does the 'stache get overtime?
Click to expand...


the stache gets its own shift differential.


----------



## Derrel

Does the 'stache have its own I.D. badge photo? Or does it share a photo with the rest of your face?


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Working night's nowView attachment 150562
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Does the 'stache get overtime?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> the stache gets its own shift differential.
Click to expand...

Nice ... and respectful.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dad and I went to my uncle's for a drum of soap. My task is to deliver it after work tomorrow. I will have the chance to visit two Goodwill stores. Not much money on me but shouldn't need too much. 
Slowly going through all my saved copper pennies.  If not flawless they will go back into the wild...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Flat-Earther Plans to launch himself in a homemade rocket to prove the Earth is flat.


----------



## davidharmier60

Takes ALL kinds of people to make a world. Even nutcases!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. I just saw a posting of a Shell station gas sign in San Diego. $4.35/gallon  Is this normal or just an isolated price. I just got gas this morning $2.15/gallon, and that's higher than most.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. I just saw a posting of a Shell station gas sign in San Diego. $4.35/gallon  Is this normal or just an isolated price. I just got gas this morning $2.15/gallon, and that's higher than most.



Gas is about $2.60 a gallon here at the cheapest places.

But I don't care because I've only bought 3 tanks of gas this school year.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT really? Seems like we burn that much in a week and don't go anywhere!


----------



## snowbear

cmw3_d40_gasprices by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

With the "gas points" discount we get for using one of the supermarket chains, I filled up at $2.01 (regular), yesterday.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> @JonA_CT really? Seems like we burn that much in a week and don't go anywhere!



My job and pretty much everything else I need is within 5 miles of my house. For the most part, we take my wife’s car for anything further or when it’s not just me.


----------



## snowbear

That sounds great, Jon.  We commute 45 minutes each way, if the traffic is normal.

Dinner, tonight is some leftover beef roast and a couple of eggs.  MLW woke up this morning with a stomach bug, and has been in bed all day.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT My wife and I are retired but unfortunately, we are 15 mins from 3 Super Wal-Mart and 10 mins from granddaughter which might account for our gas useage.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. I just saw a posting of a Shell station gas sign in San Diego. $4.35/gallon  Is this normal or just an isolated price. I just got gas this morning $2.15/gallon, and that's higher than most.


That is way overpriced.  I just filled up a few days ago @ $2.75 a gal. Even though California is a petro exporter we have high gasoline prices because the gas companies can.  California has two different blends of domestic gas, one for summer and one for winter ... the gasco's say that unique special blending requires a special price.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> cmw3_d40_gasprices by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> With the "gas points" discount we get for using one of the supermarket chains, I filled up at $2.01 (regular), yesterday.


Fill 'er up with Regular!


----------



## jcdeboever

pixmedic said:


> Working night's nowView attachment 150562
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


No probing please


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @JonA_CT really? Seems like we burn that much in a week and don't go anywhere!


When Gary was working at Ft, Irwin (in the Mojave Desert) and San Diego (alternating days), he would fill up nearly everyday.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> That sounds great, Jon.  We commute 45 minutes each way, if the traffic is normal.



That was my commute for the last 6 years. I moved 35 some odd miles closer to home with my job. I’m incredibly lucky because we live in city proper. When we move in the next couple of years, we will likely have a 15-20 minute drive to everything .



smoke665 said:


> @JonA_CT My wife and I are retired but unfortunately, we are 15 mins from 3 Super Wal-Mart and 10 mins from granddaughter which might account for our gas useage.



Walmart is the farthest away we go, and that’s about 5 miles. It takes 15 minutes though because it’s through town. There are close to a dozen traffic lights between here and there.

My parents live about 25 minutes away, and my mom puts a ton of miles on her car between visiting us and my brother’s family, garden club, her daily shopping, etc.


----------



## JonA_CT

I should also mention that my Mazda 3 gets nearly 30 mpg even in town, haha.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Those prices are still high but not as bad as I thought. Shortly before Thanksgiving the price of regular here went from $2.05 To $2.15. Since then most stations have dropped back to $2.09. Unless something major happens I look for it to fall back to below $2.00 after Christmas.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @JonA_CT really? Seems like we burn that much in a week and don't go anywhere!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My job and pretty much everything else I need is within 5 miles of my house. For the most part, we take my wife’s car for anything further or when it’s not just me.
Click to expand...

Gary needs to travel only a few times a week.  Other than those scheduled days he can easily be self sufficient working from home and walking for stuff.  Even the local theatre is within walking distance. More often than not, Gary will walk to stores for foodstuff and to Home Depot for most all else. There's multiple Japanese, Mexican, Vietnamese, Chinese, Fast, Pizza, Ice Cream, et al, restaurants all within an easy walk. But Gary chooses to drive all over because ... he chooses to drive all over.  Variety is the spice of life.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @JonA_CT really? Seems like we burn that much in a week and don't go anywhere!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My job and pretty much everything else I need is within 5 miles of my house. For the most part, we take my wife’s car for anything further or when it’s not just me.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary needs to travel only a few times a week.  Other than those scheduled days he can easily be self sufficient working from home and walking for stuff.  Even the local theatre is within walking distance. More often than not, Gary will walk to store for foodstuff and to Home Depot for most all else. There's multiple Japanese, Mexican, Vietnamese, Chinese, Fast, Pizza, Ice Cream, et al, restaurants all within an easy walk. But Gary chooses to drive all over because ... he chooses to drive all over.  Variety is the spice of life.
Click to expand...




JonA_CT said:


> I should also mention that my Mazda 3 gets nearly 30 mpg even in town, haha.


My Crown Vic get 26 mph ... with interior room to spare.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. Those prices are still high but not as bad as I thought. Shortly before Thanksgiving the price of regular here went from $2.05 To $2.15. Since then most stations have dropped back to $2.09. Unless something major happens I look for it to fall back to below $2.00 after Christmas.


I think the primary difference in prices can be attributed to taxes. Our gas tax is supposed to support all road maintenance and new construction.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @JonA_CT really? Seems like we burn that much in a week and don't go anywhere!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My job and pretty much everything else I need is within 5 miles of my house. For the most part, we take my wife’s car for anything further or when it’s not just me.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary needs to travel only a few times a week.  Other than those scheduled days he can easily be self sufficient working from home and walking for stuff.  Even the local theatre is within walking distance. More often than not, Gary will walk to store for foodstuff and to Home Depot for most all else. There's multiple Japanese, Mexican, Vietnamese, Chinese, Fast, Pizza, Ice Cream, et al, restaurants all within an easy walk. But Gary chooses to drive all over because ... he chooses to drive all over.  Variety is the spice of life.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I should also mention that my Mazda 3 gets nearly 30 mpg even in town, haha.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My Crown Vic get 26 mph ... with interior room to spare.
Click to expand...

You’re too young to be driving a Crown Vic that slow.


----------



## pixmedic

Lookit what followed us home




Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @JonA_CT really? Seems like we burn that much in a week and don't go anywhere!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My job and pretty much everything else I need is within 5 miles of my house. For the most part, we take my wife’s car for anything further or when it’s not just me.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary needs to travel only a few times a week.  Other than those scheduled days he can easily be self sufficient working from home and walking for stuff.  Even the local theatre is within walking distance. More often than not, Gary will walk to store for foodstuff and to Home Depot for most all else. There's multiple Japanese, Mexican, Vietnamese, Chinese, Fast, Pizza, Ice Cream, et al, restaurants all within an easy walk. But Gary chooses to drive all over because ... he chooses to drive all over.  Variety is the spice of life.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I should also mention that my Mazda 3 gets nearly 30 mpg even in town, haha.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My Crown Vic get 26 mph ... with interior room to spare.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You’re too young to be driving a Crown Vic that slow.
Click to expand...

LOL ... I love that car ... 26mph mixed usage, but when Gary needs to go fast ... your back slams into the seat.  It rarely rarely breaks and it so massively comfortable it feel like you're driving from your living room. Gary got it when he was commuting four hours a day. It was a very good choice. Plus, he was working on government jobs during this time period and a non-descript Crown Vic made him look very official and accepted. 

Granted, Gary will never be considered sexy when he pulls up in his Crown Vic ... but those days are far behind him.


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> Lookit what followed us homeView attachment 150580
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


O!M!G!  A puppy!  You need to bring her/him over for Maggie!  Merry Merry Christmas!


----------



## terri

pixmedic said:


> Lookit what followed us homeView attachment 150580
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


What a sweet face!


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> Lookit what followed us homeView attachment 150580
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


A new toy for the ferts?


----------



## davidharmier60

Daves truck gets 15 if he's lucky.
That are one CUTE pup!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

And Dave must get fuel after work tomorrow.  Probably 2.09ish.
If he wished to visit a madhouse he could maybe get 1.99.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## davidharmier60

And because he must awaken at 4am tomorrow he won't be awake much longer.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## SquarePeg

pixmedic said:


> Lookit what followed us homeView attachment 150580
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk



Oh, you got a new pup?  Sweet face.  The pup's cute too.


----------



## Frank F.

getting warmer and wetter


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## Gary A.

Hamilton Update: Mary Lou is checking out the tickets 90 minutes before showtime.  Cheapest were $200 ... as she reported (Wow, $200, what a deal ..." the prices dropped to $150 each.  These tickets are not in the last row ... they're next to the last row.  Cheapest tickets for Tuesday are $450.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> getting warmer and wetterView attachment 150589


Let it Snow, Let it Snow ... Let it Snow.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary’s pizza - pesto sauce - wheat crust w/thyme, rosemary and peppers - olives - more peppers - tomatoes - sausage - three different cheeses.

The crust is very thick.


----------



## davidharmier60

4:15 And all is well.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## JonA_CT

I'm feeling about 80% this morning. I just can't talk too much, which makes life a bit difficult as a teacher.

I'm drinking some Starbucks Christmas blend this morning, as I ran into some green coffee supply line issues (meaning I said "oh hey, I should order some more" every third day or so for the last month, and I just got to it Saturday). Their coffee isn't terrible, but it's been awhile since I've drank coffee that is so aggressively roasted. It kind of has a burnt plastic flavor on the finishing notes.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  The Thomas Fire in Ventura County, (one of six SoCal fires), is so large that it is creating its own localized weather system. Most of the fires are 80%-90+% contained. Weather quality sucks big time all across SoCal. Santa Ana Winds are still blowing but humidity is up to 21%.  We are about 20F warmer than normal/average for December.  As one would suspect, the Los Angeles Times has been running some impressive and story telling photographs from the fires all week.  Usually, the Santa Ana Winds only last a day or two, but this time the winds have been blowing for a week.  Very unusual.


----------



## Gary A.

@ JonA: Welcome to Starbucks.  Gary was given a $50 Starbucks card that he has yet to use.


----------



## Gary A.

@ NYC: You guys just missed a bullet ... God Bless you guys.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> @ JonA: Welcome to Starbucks.  Gary was given a $50 Starbucks card that he has yet to use.



Dunkin' Donuts is worse. We don't really have any high-quality, to-go coffee shops around here. Actually, even the local roaster only does wholesale now. It's hard to find good beans locally.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> @ NYC: You guys just missed a bullet ... God Bless you guys.


Terrifying. Glad that no one was seriously hurt.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is home.  It is a very pleasant summer day. Mary Lou is looking at Andre Bocelli tickets. Hamilton tickets were priced at “A Lot”.


----------



## Frank F.

the snow melted and colors came back


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ JonA: Welcome to Starbucks.  Gary was given a $50 Starbucks card that he has yet to use.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dunkin' Donuts is worse. We don't really have any high-quality, to-go coffee shops around here. Actually, even the local roaster only does wholesale now. It's hard to find good beans locally.
Click to expand...

There are many Independant/family owned coffee bars out here.  Because of the huge Latino population, many of the independently owned shops have family in the coffee growing regions of Latin America.  Consequently, the small independents have better beans than the large chains.


----------



## davidharmier60

I would have sworn on a stack of bibles that I already posted this.
Got rows 2-8 look as good as they are gonna until we get a working buffer.
Cleaned and mopped the bathrooms.
Found stuff out of place and took it to where it belongs. Delivered a drum of soap for my Dad to Houston (Not too deep into the city). Got home and Dad and Sister are gone to the VA. Watched the season finally of Orville. Watched Let's Make a Deal. 
Now going to mess with pennies. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

I'll admit that I'm not much of a coffee connoisseur. As a youngster started drinking coffee sometime around the age of 10-12. Growing up on a farm, you had one chance in the morning at a cup before you had to head out to do chores, so as long as it was hot, black and had enough caffeine to blow you eyelids wide open, all was good. With advent of the drip coffee maker, I learned that the first 4 cups in the 12 cup pot (steal a cup design) was the good stuff and just the right amount for my "mug", the remainder I leave for the wife. Never drink it during the day or evening after that.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> I'll admit that I'm not much of a coffee connoisseur. As a youngster started drinking coffee sometime around the age of 10-12. Growing up on a farm, you had one chance in the morning at a cup before you had to head out to do chores, so as long as it was hot, black and had enough caffeine to blow you eyelids wide open, all was good. With advent of the drip coffee maker, I learned that the first 4 cups in the 12 cup pot (steal a cup design) was the good stuff and just the right amount for my "mug", the remainder I leave for the wife. Never drink it during the day or evening after that.


None of us will hold that against you.  There is always room for improvement.


----------



## davidharmier60

Coffee is about the only variation in my mornings. Sometimes it's great. Sometimes SO much less.
Wish I could make it myself.  I'm sure Dad doesn't use the same amount of coffee or water from day to day. 

We just had hot dogs for dinner. 
Watching Price is Right. 

Only saw one camera at two Goodwill stores. A point and shoot with Eckerd on it.
I didn't even ask.

Our dryer has stopped heating. I'll never get a DSLR or get my film processed. I'll be dead by the time enough money is saved.

And since we don't have a computer I guess it doesn't matter. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> I'll admit that I'm not much of a coffee connoisseur. As a youngster started drinking coffee sometime around the age of 10-12. Growing up on a farm, you had one chance in the morning at a cup before you had to head out to do chores, so as long as it was hot, black and had enough caffeine to blow you eyelids wide open, all was good.



My dad says the same thing about coffee (and about his tobacco when he smoked...one of his favorite stories is talking about how the farmer he worked for when he was 14 used to leave rolling papers and a bag of loose leaf behind the tractor seat). It only got engrained further while he was in the navy. I think he actually prefers coffee that's been on the burner plate for a few hours.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> . I think he actually prefers coffee that's been on the burner plate for a few hours.



Like simmering to thicken and consolidate the flavor LOL No, I have "some" limits


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> My dad says the same thing about coffee (and about his tobacco when he smoked...one of his favorite stories is talking about how the farmer he worked for when he was 14 used to leave rolling papers and a bag of loose leaf behind the tractor seat). It only got engrained further while he was in the navy. I think he actually prefers coffee that's been on the burner plate for a few hours.


Navy (and I suspect Coastie) coffee has to b thick so it wont spill on board the boats.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Navy (and I suspect Coastie) coffee has to b thick so it wont spill on board the boats.



One of our drivers was ex Navy. My wife hid the coffee in the break room when he came in so he couldn't make a "fresh" pot. You could almost stand a spoon up in it.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Navy (and I suspect Coastie) coffee has to b thick so it wont spill on board the boats.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One of our drivers was ex Navy. My wife hid the coffee in the break room when he came in so he couldn't make a "fresh" pot. You could almost stand a spoon up in it.
Click to expand...

Yeah.... and?


----------



## davidharmier60

4:18 And all is well.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  While it isn't windy outside, the Santa Ana's ... or what's left of the Santa Ana's is still pushing the Marine Layer out to sea leaving a clear sky delivering a 48F morning chill but with 84F afternoon. Gary would be happy to trade some wind, sun and fire for some of that eastern cold, rain and snow. Gary has most of his Christmas shopping completed ... Thank God for Amazon.  What would this world be without Amazon   ... and Puppies!


----------



## jcdeboever

We got about 4" last night but seemed like more as 40mph winds followed the snow, big drifts. Got up at 5:00 am for @Gary A. roast and a cup of grits. Headed out at 5:30 and my @pixmedic tpf coffee mug and woke every lucky recipient (6) with my blade banging and a scraping. Headed to Ohio and arrived at 9:00 to zero snow here. Closing the sale on a few new customers, should fill up the drivers Truck on Friday's now. Time to hire another driver, so I can fill him up 5 days a week.


----------



## JonA_CT

I read in the paper that the last Benny's in New England closed this past weekend. We've missed our local one dearly. It's a hard store to describe. It was a small local chain that you could go to buy car tires, paint, bikes, garden stuff, small appliances, etc. They didn't always have the best prices on things, but they were just up the street and I found a reason to visit every couple weeks usually. We're down to couple of local hardware stores now, if I don't want to visit HD or Lowes, and I frequently don't want to visit those places, haha. 

Sharon, did you guys have Benny's up by you?


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> 4:18 And all is well.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Simply the fact that you are aware it's 0418 means not all is well.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave had 3 hours and 22 minutes. 
Couldn't waste anymore time. 
Shopped for my Sister before leaving the store. Been home about an hour and 20 minutes. It's a might chilly in the house. 
OK. All isn't exactly well but close enough.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 4:18 And all is well.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Simply the fact that you are aware it's 0418 means not all is well.
Click to expand...

Agreed. That's the time I went to sleep last night, thanks to work.

There's not enough coffee in the world to make me feel awake today.


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 4:18 And all is well.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Simply the fact that you are aware it's 0418 means not all is well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Agreed. That's the time I went to sleep last night, thanks to work.
> 
> There's not enough coffee in the world to make me feel awake today.
Click to expand...


Amphetamines might work.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 4:18 And all is well.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Simply the fact that you are aware it's 0418 means not all is well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Agreed. That's the time I went to sleep last night, thanks to work.
> 
> There's not enough coffee in the world to make me feel awake today.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Amphetamines might work.
Click to expand...

I think you're onto something. Amphetamine-laced coffee beans?


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 4:18 And all is well.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Simply the fact that you are aware it's 0418 means not all is well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Agreed. That's the time I went to sleep last night, thanks to work.
> 
> There's not enough coffee in the world to make me feel awake today.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Amphetamines might work.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I think you're onto something. Amphetamine-laced coffee beans?
Click to expand...


Baseball clubhouses used to have leaded and unleaded coffee before amphetamines were banned and became part of the testing regimen.


----------



## jcdeboever

Speaking of baseball two things.... Trammell and Morris , finally get into the Hall of Fame, GO TIGERS. 

Second, report came out today that Darvish was tipping his pitches in the WS. I think I mentioned this to @Gary A. Via text during the WS. It was exactly how I saw it too, arm to the side, regrips ball, slider, blammo, runs, runs, runs.... Sorry @limr, I know you just let out a big sigh and your eyes kind of glazed over.....[emoji12]


----------



## vintagesnaps

The guy from a local ice cream place who was on a feature on the noon news is named - Chip?? Yes, their chip ice creams are quite good, especially raspberry chip. But today he was making a sundae with peppermint ice cream with marshmallow cream and chocolate sauce - and I just ordered from them last night. Did get some of their lower sugar, but got a couple of holiday flavors too. It's never too cold for ice cream! 

But silver sprinkles are bad for us? NOW they tell us we shouldn't eat those little silver balls (dragees, had to look up what the heck those things were called anyway!)? So why did our parents put them on Christmas cookies and feed them to us?? after a summer of sending us outside to roller skate with no helmets and throw lawn darts at each other? I don't know how we made it thru childhood!


----------



## waday

@vintagesnaps, I just had ice cream last night. Agree, never ever too cold for ice cream.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> @vintagesnaps, I just had ice cream last night. Agree, never ever too cold for ice cream.


 
I had ice cream last night too.  Must have been something in the air.  I'm dieting so I had the Halo brand Salted Caramel flavor.  Not as good as the Cookie Dough but still at only 240 calories per pint for_ ICE CREAM!_ that tastes good, you really can't go wrong.  Of course I didn't eat a whole pint.  Had to share with the Princess.  

@JonA_CT   Does your school have a website that posts grades and assignments online?  My daughter's school uses Aspen/Follett and I have an id to sign in and check on progress and homework etc.  Also have an app that alerts me whenever a new grade is posted (poor kids these days are so screwed, lol).  Anyway, during Middle school the teachers were great at keeping up the website but it's a whole other story with the High School.  Yesterday progress reports came out for Q2.  On Sunday night, Princess had only 1 grade listed for Science class, a 97.  Sometime Sunday night after dinner, all of a sudden 5 additional grades popped up bringing her average down to a B.  Now how am I supposed to stay involved and keep her on track if I don't get timely feedback on her progress?  Same thing happened the night before Q1 report cards were due.  One of her grades went from an A- to a B- overnight with no time to discuss the slide with her and find out if there's a problem.  Just wondering how they do things at your fancy CT private school...


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I had ice cream last night too. Must have been something in the air. I'm dieting so I had the Halo brand Salted Caramel flavor. Not as good as the Cookie Dough but still at only 240 calories per pint for_ ICE CREAM!_ that tastes good, you really can't go wrong. Of course I didn't eat a whole pint. Had to share with the Princess.


I threw caution to the wind last night. Put a slice of angel food cake in a bowl, then topped it with Häagen-Dazs Chocolate.

The words sharing and ice cream don't belong in the same sentence, unless phrased as, "I don't like sharing my ice cream".


----------



## vintagesnaps

David, I'm getting film ready to send out this afternoon to Dwayne's in Kansas. It's $5 per roll for developing only; $9 per roll for developing + scan to a CD. (Add'l. cost for prints.) Return handling & shipping by way of the post office costs $5 first roll + .50 each additional roll for them to get it back to you. 

You could check out their website at A trusted name in photo processing for over 50 years - Dwayne's Photo. I just printed out forms so I could toss some blank forms in an envelope and mail them to you if you don't have a way to print.


----------



## JonA_CT

@JonA_CT   Does your school have a website that posts grades and assignments online?  My daughter's school uses Aspen/Follett and I have an id to sign in and check on progress and homework etc.  Also have an app that alerts me whenever a new grade is posted (poor kids these days are so screwed, lol).  Anyway, during Middle school the teachers were great at keeping up the website but it's a whole other story with the High School.  Yesterday progress reports came out for Q2.  On Sunday night, Princess had only 1 grade listed for Science class, a 97.  Sometime Sunday night after dinner, all of a sudden 5 additional grades popped up bringing her average down to a B.  Now how am I supposed to stay involved and keep her on track if I don't get timely feedback on her progress?  Same thing happened the night before Q1 report cards were due.  One of her grades went from an A- to a B- overnight with no time to discuss the slide with her and find out if there's a problem.  Just wondering how they do things at your fancy CT private school...[/QUOTE]

Maybe a little fancy, but not private (yet!) haha.

We have a similar system, although ours is called Powerschool. Most places I've worked have a policy about grade reporting, where grades should be returned and posted within two weeks of assignments being collected. My current school does not, although I've continued to do things the way I always have. 

It's definitely not "best practice" to wait until the term date is up to post new assignments, as it defeats the purpose (allowing students and parents to be actively involved) of using the resource in the first place. The other thing that teachers do sometimes that is really annoying is that they won't put a "0" for assignments that were due but haven't been turned in. Then parents don't necessarily know that their student isn't doing what they are supposed to. 


If I were you, I'd send the teacher a quick e-mail to ask about it, and to let them know that you can't support your daughter's work when that occurs. Sometimes a quick reminder that you are paying attention is enough to get them to be more consistent with putting assignments in.


----------



## vintagesnaps

O, I'm so glad to be early retired! It wasn't the kids, or the parents, it never is... 

Do you think there was one that got a grade in early if all of a sudden a bunch more came in? Teachers may enter data differently; some might go thru and enter all for one grade, or all of one subject at a time, so the times might vary somewhat that the info. is online and available. Do they have mid semester conferences? By the time grades are getting posted it's too late to do anything, isn't it? 

How much by high school do they expect the students to keep their parents informed of how their classes are going? The last I taught school age was jr. high and we just expected them to try to not bounce off the walls too much! But by high school I don't know... I'd think by then I'd expect they could tell their parents how they're doing in their classes (not that they necessarily would, but could...). If you have concerns about how she's doing I'd check with the teachers periodically so you know while there's time to do something about it.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Speaking of baseball two things.... Trammell and Morris , finally get into the Hall of Fame, GO TIGERS.
> 
> Second, report came out today that Darvish was tipping his pitches in the WS. I think I mentioned this to @Gary A. Via text during the WS. It was exactly how I saw it too, arm to the side, regrips ball, slider, blammo, runs, runs, runs.... Sorry @limr, I know you just let out a big sigh and your eyes kind of glazed over.....[emoji12]


Speaking of baseball.  Gary contributed greatly to his grandson's baseball camp. And Gary also sent his grandson a ton of Topps 2016 season.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> The guy from a local ice cream place who was on a feature on the noon news is named - Chip?? Yes, their chip ice creams are quite good, especially raspberry chip. But today he was making a sundae with peppermint ice cream with marshmallow cream and chocolate sauce - and I just ordered from them last night. Did get some of their lower sugar, but got a couple of holiday flavors too. It's never too cold for ice cream!
> 
> But silver sprinkles are bad for us? NOW they tell us we shouldn't eat those little silver balls (dragees, had to look up what the heck those things were called anyway!)? So why did our parents put them on Christmas cookies and feed them to us?? after a summer of sending us outside to roller skate with no helmets and throw lawn darts at each other? I don't know how we made it thru childhood!


Which reminds Gary that he has to craft up some ice cream today.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> @vintagesnaps, I just had ice cream last night. Agree, never ever too cold for ice cream.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had ice cream last night too.  Must have been something in the air.  I'm dieting so I had the Halo brand Salted Caramel flavor.  Not as good as the Cookie Dough but still at only 240 calories per pint for_ ICE CREAM!_ that tastes good, you really can't go wrong.  Of course I didn't eat a whole pint.  Had to share with the Princess.
> 
> @JonA_CT   Does your school have a website that posts grades and assignments online?  My daughter's school uses Aspen/Follett and I have an id to sign in and check on progress and homework etc.  Also have an app that alerts me whenever a new grade is posted (poor kids these days are so screwed, lol).  Anyway, during Middle school the teachers were great at keeping up the website but it's a whole other story with the High School.  Yesterday progress reports came out for Q2.  On Sunday night, Princess had only 1 grade listed for Science class, a 97.  Sometime Sunday night after dinner, all of a sudden 5 additional grades popped up bringing her average down to a B.  Now how am I supposed to stay involved and keep her on track if I don't get timely feedback on her progress?  Same thing happened the night before Q1 report cards were due.  One of her grades went from an A- to a B- overnight with no time to discuss the slide with her and find out if there's a problem.  Just wondering how they do things at your fancy CT private school...
Click to expand...

Gary makes his ice cream with coconut milk.


----------



## davidharmier60

Vintagesnaps, I do not have a computer and so the printer that ran out of ink a few years ago is useless. If you are serious send me a PM and I'll tell you where to send.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

By the way once I could have done it at the library but it's closed for no telling how long. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

vintagesnaps said:


> O, I'm so glad to be early retired! It wasn't the kids, or the parents, it never is...
> 
> Do you think there was one that got a grade in early if all of a sudden a bunch more came in? Teachers may enter data differently; some might go thru and enter all for one grade, or all of one subject at a time, so the times might vary somewhat that the info. is online and available. Do they have mid semester conferences? By the time grades are getting posted it's too late to do anything, isn't it?
> 
> How much by high school do they expect the students to keep their parents informed of how their classes are going? The last I taught school age was jr. high and we just expected them to try to not bounce off the walls too much! But by high school I don't know... I'd think by then I'd expect they could tell their parents how they're doing in their classes (not that they necessarily would, but could...). If you have concerns about how she's doing I'd check with the teachers periodically so you know while there's time to do something about it.



Things are so different now -- parents can get updates real-time now. I wasn't paying attention once and put in a bunch of what I thought were 10/10 assignments, but it was really worth 30 points so it posted as a 33%. A student told an hour or so later that she noticed that I had done it incorrectly, and by the time I got back to fix it after school, I had 3 parent e-mails about the grade.

I think, for the most part, it makes it much easier to communicate with parents about a student's performance, though. Parents have no excuse for not knowing.


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> O, I'm so glad to be early retired! It wasn't the kids, or the parents, it never is...
> 
> Do you think there was one that got a grade in early if all of a sudden a bunch more came in? Teachers may enter data differently; some might go thru and enter all for one grade, or all of one subject at a time, so the times might vary somewhat that the info. is online and available. Do they have mid semester conferences? By the time grades are getting posted it's too late to do anything, isn't it?
> 
> How much by high school do they expect the students to keep their parents informed of how their classes are going? The last I taught school age was jr. high and we just expected them to try to not bounce off the walls too much! But by high school I don't know... I'd think by then I'd expect they could tell their parents how they're doing in their classes (not that they necessarily would, but could...). If you have concerns about how she's doing I'd check with the teachers periodically so you know while there's time to do something about it.



Back in the "good old days" kids would just lie about how they were doing and then parents would get a nasty surprise on report card day or at a p/t conference - not exactly a great system for anyone other than the kids who would probably do well in any environment.  Some kids need more help staying on track than others.  My daughter is an honors student but teenagers don't always have the best priorities.  High School starts at age 14 and that's not necessarily mature enough to prioritize school over friends, tv, sports, phone time, boys...  

I do check in with the teachers periodically -_ if _I see missing assignments or below average grades on the website.  For the classes where she is doing well, and I can see that on the website, there should be no need for me to take up the teacher's time with a conference.  But if I can't trust the website because it's not being updated, then I am forced to take up the teacher's time with a conference and then they have even less time to update the website...



JonA_CT said:


> Parents have no excuse for not knowing.



I'm shocked at how many parents don't even know about the app and rarely look on the website.  Was at a party with some other moms recently and mentioned the app and out of 6 there was just one other who had heard of it but she didn't have it on her phone.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## SquarePeg

He's got bony legs


----------



## pixmedic

SquarePeg said:


> He's got bony legs



*SHE'S* just a puppy. still a little lanky. 
she wasn't on a particularly great dog food when we got her. were in the process of switching her to a grain free kibble now.


----------



## waday

Cute. I love it when dogs sploot.


----------



## JonA_CT

pixmedic said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> He's got bony legs
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *SHE'S* just a puppy. still a little lanky.
> she wasn't on a particularly great dog food when we got her. were in the process of switching her to a grain free kibble now.
Click to expand...


I understand the value of grain-free kibble, but damn are the doggie farts terrible.


----------



## pixmedic

JonA_CT said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> He's got bony legs
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *SHE'S* just a puppy. still a little lanky.
> she wasn't on a particularly great dog food when we got her. were in the process of switching her to a grain free kibble now.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I understand the value of grain-free kibble, but damn are the doggie farts terrible.
Click to expand...


true dat


----------



## pixmedic

waday said:


> Cute. I love it when dogs sploot.



eh, i dont mind it i guess. i mean, dogs gotta go ya know. i just hate having to pick it up with the baggie afterwards.


----------



## davidharmier60

Lucy looks loved and as if she loves back!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

pixmedic said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> He's got bony legs
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *SHE'S* just a puppy. still a little lanky.
> she wasn't on a particularly great dog food when we got her. were in the process of switching her to a grain free kibble now.
Click to expand...


Look at the photo again.  There's a bone that looks like it's sticking out of her leg.  I was just making a joke.


----------



## pixmedic

SquarePeg said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> He's got bony legs
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *SHE'S* just a puppy. still a little lanky.
> she wasn't on a particularly great dog food when we got her. were in the process of switching her to a grain free kibble now.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Look at the photo again.  There's a bone that looks like it's sticking out of her leg.  I was just making a joke.
Click to expand...


i thought u were just referring to that not-quite-grown-in puppy look


----------



## Frank F.

could not sleep last night.
made setup for 9:1 magnification shots.
scanned our floors for dust.
found this interesting mummy.
edited it for space appeal.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Parents have no excuse for not knowing.



I think everyone of ours tried changing grades on their report card, or forging mine or Mom's signature on it and hoping we wouldn't find out. Youngest tried it in second grade, signed his Mom's name. Pretty good copy, except he used a crayon, and the teacher ratted him out. Needless to say "he wasn't the brightest crayon in the box" at that time.


----------



## vintagesnaps

OK that's freaky, Frank! lol

David I'll send you a pm, I gotta look up your name, there are lots of Daves. Since I just printed some forms I can do it while they're sitting here before I forget. That's what I used to do, go to the library to print stuff til I finally got a digital camera and had a reason for a printer! lol


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> He's got bony legs
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *SHE'S* just a puppy. still a little lanky.
> she wasn't on a particularly great dog food when we got her. were in the process of switching her to a grain free kibble now.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I understand the value of grain-free kibble, but damn are the doggie farts terrible.
Click to expand...

Speaking of farts... Nevermind...


----------



## smoke665

Going up?? Space station please. I saw this on the news yesterday. An elevator into space. Japanese company plans space elevator by 2050


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Parents have no excuse for not knowing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think everyone of ours tried changing grades on their report card, or forging mine or Mom's signature on it and hoping we wouldn't find out. Youngest tried it in second grade, signed his Mom's name. Pretty good copy, except he used a crayon, and the teacher ratted him out. Needless to say "he wasn't the brightest crayon in the box" at that time.
Click to expand...


We don’t even print report cards anymore, haha. Our parents get an e-mail with a link to their students electronic progress report.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> We don’t even print report cards anymore, haha.



They weren't "printed", the grades were hand marked on the card by the teacher, one for each quarter, on the same card. They were sent home with the students, who had to get one of the parents to sign off on it that they had reviewed the grade. I can still remember the overwhelming feeling of doom whenever I got a bad grade,  as I rode the bus home after school.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Guess it depends on the families, the technology can be great or not so much. Had a lot of them with no computers, no email, and those cricket phones, and they were always out of minutes. 

I retired with 30 years in so earlier on when I taught jr. high we had families that lived in walking distance and they'd just stop in. Which wasn't convenient but at least that was better than never talking to them. Getting them in at scheduled times was a bit more challenging.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> We don’t even print report cards anymore, haha.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They weren't "printed", the grades were hand marked on the card by the teacher, one for each quarter, on the same card. They were sent home with the students, who had to get one of the parents to sign off on it that they had reviewed the grade. I can still remember the overwhelming feeling of doom whenever I got a bad grade,  as I rode the bus home after school.
Click to expand...


Now that you say it, I think my report card was like that until 3rd or 4th grade.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Going up?? Space station please. I saw this on the news yesterday. An elevator into space. Japanese company plans space elevator by 2050



Willi Wonka did it long ago:


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> Willi Wonka did it long ago:



Wow, maybe this guy might want to wait a bit before launching himself into space in a steam powered rocket California man wants to launch himself in homemade rocket in effort to prove the Earth is flat


----------



## davidharmier60

PM answered vintagesnaps!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> Simply the fact that you are aware it's 0418 means not all is well.


Oh, I don't know; when I worked 1800 to 0600 (and 2200 to 0600 before that), 0418 was pretty good.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> We don’t even print report cards anymore, haha. Our parents get an e-mail with a link to their students electronic progress report.


What about those who don't have, or don't care to use the Internet?


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Going up?? Space station please. I saw this on the news yesterday. An elevator into space. Japanese company plans space elevator by 2050


I hope I'm alive to see it


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> He's got bony legs
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *SHE'S* just a puppy. still a little lanky.
> she wasn't on a particularly great dog food when we got her. were in the process of switching her to a grain free kibble now.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I understand the value of grain-free kibble, but damn are the doggie farts terrible.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Speaking of farts... Nevermind...
Click to expand...

Discretion is the better part of valor.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah, I had plenty of families who didn't have internet connections. Now maybe they have smartphones, but usually their phones would be in service, then out of service. Then they'd have a new phone number. Or they'd move... 

I guess my way of doing things was to do as best I could whatever worked for a family, what enabled them to help their child. If that was me mailing something for them, or doing a drop by since their phone was out of service, or helping them fill out forms, that's what we did. I imagine schools do what works for the families they serve.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary that sounds like philosophy and farts.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I really shouldn't have looked at the thread about 'trying to figure out how to take shots like this?' and I definitely shouldn't have started reading the comments. Did I need to know about Hot Matilda's expertise? I can't stop laughing, what in the heck does that have to do with photography?! lol I think I'm too tired and silly and need to go to bed. And not think about Matilda who isn't exactly waltzing!! Good night all!


----------



## davidharmier60

4:33 And it is what it is. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

It’s a seasonably 20*F this morning. I don’t think we will hit the freezing mark today.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

We are a few degrees cooler than you Jon and have a light dusting of snow. Not much of a warmup for us either today, BUT....the beginning of the next week is back to mid 40's!


----------



## JonA_CT

I mean...winter should feel like winter, right? 

I golfed on Christmas Eve last year in shorts. That just doesn't feel right, haha. 



tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> We don’t even print report cards anymore, haha. Our parents get an e-mail with a link to their students electronic progress report.
> 
> 
> 
> What about those who don't have, or don't care to use the Internet?
Click to expand...


Not quite a red herring, but close at this point...less than 1% of our students do not have access to the internet at home. Our community sees easy access to the internet as a basic necessity, and students and families who cannot afford internet access or devices to access the internet can apply for grants to fund them. The 3 students (out of 625) whose parents do not have access to the internet are mailed home a report.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> I golfed on Christmas Eve last year in shorts. That just doesn't feel right, haha.


A few years ago, we took a family vacation with the in-laws to DC. It was so warm, the cherry blossoms started to bloom. I have pictures of the Washington Monument, with cherry blossoms out, on Christmas day.


----------



## snowbear

More than once, they peaked very early and most of the blossoms were gone when the festival started.  The US Park Service does an inventory of the budding trees (not sure what percentage are sampled) in order to predict when the blossoms will start and when they expect to peak.  For anyone contemplating coming here for the cherry blossoms, each tree species will actually bloom at a slightly different time and duration.  There are more cherry trees at the National Arboretum has some late-blooming cherries.

Thinking of the potential DC get-together, in addition to the pretty trees, consider a monument walk - there are a number in the general are of the tidal basin.  Another possibility is the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (June 27–July 1 and July 4–8, 2018) and will spotlight Armenia, Catalonia and various places in Africa.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> It’s a seasonably 20*F this morning. I don’t think we will hit the freezing mark today.



And of course my dog insisted on a walk this morning instead of a quick potty break out back!  It was hurt your face cold out there at 6am.  



snowbear said:


> More than once, they peaked very early and most of the blossoms were gone when the festival started.  The US Park Service does an inventory of the budding trees (not sure what percentage are sampled) in order to predict when the blossoms will start and when they expect to peak.  For anyone contemplating coming here for the cherry blossoms, each tree species will actually bloom at a slightly different time and duration.  There are more cherry trees at the National Arboretum has some late-blooming cherries.
> 
> Thinking of the potential DC get-together, in addition to the pretty trees, consider a monument walk - there are a number in the general are of the tidal basin.  Another possibility is the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (June 27–July 1 and July 4–8, 2018) and will spotlight Armenia, Catalonia and various places in Africa.



I think early Spring would be a great time for a photo meet up.  Maybe late March?  For me, I'd want to do the monuments both at night and during golden hour.  If we don't get a group for a TPF meet up, I'll probably still visit - I have a cousin in Alexandria.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It’s a seasonably 20*F this morning. I don’t think we will hit the freezing mark today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And of course my dog insisted on a walk this morning instead of a quick potty break out back!  It was hurt your face cold out there at 6am.
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> More than once, they peaked very early and most of the blossoms were gone when the festival started.  The US Park Service does an inventory of the budding trees (not sure what percentage are sampled) in order to predict when the blossoms will start and when they expect to peak.  For anyone contemplating coming here for the cherry blossoms, each tree species will actually bloom at a slightly different time and duration.  There are more cherry trees at the National Arboretum has some late-blooming cherries.
> 
> Thinking of the potential DC get-together, in addition to the pretty trees, consider a monument walk - there are a number in the general are of the tidal basin.  Another possibility is the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (June 27–July 1 and July 4–8, 2018) and will spotlight Armenia, Catalonia and various places in Africa.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think early Spring would be a great time for a photo meet up.  Maybe late March?  For me, I'd want to do the monuments both at night and during golden hour.  If we don't get a group for a TPF meet up, I'll probably still visit - I have a cousin in Alexandria.
Click to expand...


We should start thinking about it soon...I'd love to be able to join, but I'll have to be strategic with my wife, the cost, and the transportation, haha. Ideally, I'd be able to buy a cheap train ticket and find a cheap airbnb.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It’s a seasonably 20*F this morning. I don’t think we will hit the freezing mark today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And of course my dog insisted on a walk this morning instead of a quick potty break out back!  It was hurt your face cold out there at 6am.
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> More than once, they peaked very early and most of the blossoms were gone when the festival started.  The US Park Service does an inventory of the budding trees (not sure what percentage are sampled) in order to predict when the blossoms will start and when they expect to peak.  For anyone contemplating coming here for the cherry blossoms, each tree species will actually bloom at a slightly different time and duration.  There are more cherry trees at the National Arboretum has some late-blooming cherries.
> 
> Thinking of the potential DC get-together, in addition to the pretty trees, consider a monument walk - there are a number in the general are of the tidal basin.  Another possibility is the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (June 27–July 1 and July 4–8, 2018) and will spotlight Armenia, Catalonia and various places in Africa.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think early Spring would be a great time for a photo meet up.  Maybe late March?  For me, I'd want to do the monuments both at night and during golden hour.  If we don't get a group for a TPF meet up, I'll probably still visit - I have a cousin in Alexandria.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We should start thinking about it soon...I'd love to be able to join, but I'll have to be strategic with my wife, the cost, and the transportation, haha. Ideally, I'd be able to buy a cheap train ticket and find a cheap airbnb.
Click to expand...


I'm going to start a separate thread in the Location/Meet-up forum


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> More than once, they peaked very early and most of the blossoms were gone when the festival started.  The US Park Service does an inventory of the budding trees (not sure what percentage are sampled) in order to predict when the blossoms will start and when they expect to peak.  For anyone contemplating coming here for the cherry blossoms, each tree species will actually bloom at a slightly different time and duration.  There are more cherry trees at the National Arboretum has some late-blooming cherries.
> 
> Thinking of the potential DC get-together, in addition to the pretty trees, consider a monument walk - there are a number in the general are of the tidal basin.  Another possibility is the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (June 27–July 1 and July 4–8, 2018) and will spotlight Armenia, Catalonia and various places in Africa.


Gary has a neighbor with a Cherry Tree.  He packs ice around it in winter.


----------



## smoke665

I have Cherry Pepsi, in the fridge, does that count?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  In the 40's when Gary awoke.  Presently, @ 8:22 a.m. it's 55F and projected to hit the upper 70's. Gary crock-potted up a pot roast yesterday.  It was fortified with all kinds of peppers and herbs from the garden. Followed up with homemade strawberry ice cream.  Gary changed the ingredients from two cups heavy cream and one cup milk to one cup heavy cream, one cup coconut milk and one cup 2% milk as that was all Gary had in the fridge.  Annnd, it still tastes delish.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> I have Cherry Pepsi, in the fridge, does that count?


Maybe, if it's in the freezer ... but not the fridge.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave doesn't know from cherry trees.
Dave just got in the truck almost precisely 5.25 hours today. Sold box of pennies to Trish. Going to see if usual bank has a box. 
If not I'll go to our bank.

No kids and except for on the phone no internet either.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

Can anyone explain (in a very simple manner) what bitcoin is and how it can be "mined"?


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Can anyone explain (in a very simple manner) what bitcoin is and how it can be "mined"?



Did you watch Big Bang Theory the other day?


----------



## SquarePeg

@Gary A. should make the trip to DC this Spring - the only thing on fire will be someone's pants.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> @Gary A. should make the trip to DC this Spring - the only thing on fire will be someone's pants.



I hit "Agree" although I'm not sure I need another Fuji user making fun of how much gear I'll be schlepping...


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can anyone explain (in a very simple manner) what bitcoin is and how it can be "mined"?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did you watch Big Bang Theory the other day?
Click to expand...

I didn't.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It’s a seasonably 20*F this morning. I don’t think we will hit the freezing mark today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And of course my dog insisted on a walk this morning instead of a quick potty break out back!  It was hurt your face cold out there at 6am.
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> More than once, they peaked very early and most of the blossoms were gone when the festival started.  The US Park Service does an inventory of the budding trees (not sure what percentage are sampled) in order to predict when the blossoms will start and when they expect to peak.  For anyone contemplating coming here for the cherry blossoms, each tree species will actually bloom at a slightly different time and duration.  There are more cherry trees at the National Arboretum has some late-blooming cherries.
> 
> Thinking of the potential DC get-together, in addition to the pretty trees, consider a monument walk - there are a number in the general are of the tidal basin.  Another possibility is the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (June 27–July 1 and July 4–8, 2018) and will spotlight Armenia, Catalonia and various places in Africa.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think early Spring would be a great time for a photo meet up.  Maybe late March?  For me, I'd want to do the monuments both at night and during golden hour.  If we don't get a group for a TPF meet up, I'll probably still visit - I have a cousin in Alexandria.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We should start thinking about it soon...I'd love to be able to join, but I'll have to be strategic with my wife, the cost, and the transportation, haha. Ideally, I'd be able to buy a cheap train ticket and find a cheap airbnb.
Click to expand...




waday said:


> Can anyone explain (in a very simple manner) what bitcoin is and how it can be "mined"?



I don't understand the whole thing, but it's a "crypto currency" in that it is used in exchange for goods and services, on the internet.  I don't get the mining part, but understand it now requires a pretty powerful computer / graphics card.  The perpetrators in some of the highly publicized data hijacking / virus / hacking incidents have wanted bitcoins for ransom payments, I presume because it's much harder to trace.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> Can anyone explain (in a very simple manner) what bitcoin is and how it can be "mined"?




Bitcoin is a decentralized (no bank backing or administration) cyber space currency that can be traded to other network users for goods, services, and/or  "hopefully" be converted to the currency of the land at some point.  It's sort of like you sending your tax dollars to Washington, in the hopes that you will one day gain some benefit from it, but in return all you get are IOU's in the form of increased debt. At least with Bitcoin, you have a chance of not being the last one holding the IOU's.

A confusing but the most simplified definition of mining I could find Bitcoin Mining


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> It’s a seasonably 20*F this morning. I don’t think we will hit the freezing mark today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And of course my dog insisted on a walk this morning instead of a quick potty break out back!  It was hurt your face cold out there at 6am.
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> More than once, they peaked very early and most of the blossoms were gone when the festival started.  The US Park Service does an inventory of the budding trees (not sure what percentage are sampled) in order to predict when the blossoms will start and when they expect to peak.  For anyone contemplating coming here for the cherry blossoms, each tree species will actually bloom at a slightly different time and duration.  There are more cherry trees at the National Arboretum has some late-blooming cherries.
> 
> Thinking of the potential DC get-together, in addition to the pretty trees, consider a monument walk - there are a number in the general are of the tidal basin.  Another possibility is the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (June 27–July 1 and July 4–8, 2018) and will spotlight Armenia, Catalonia and various places in Africa.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think early Spring would be a great time for a photo meet up.  Maybe late March?  For me, I'd want to do the monuments both at night and during golden hour.  If we don't get a group for a TPF meet up, I'll probably still visit - I have a cousin in Alexandria.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We should start thinking about it soon...I'd love to be able to join, but I'll have to be strategic with my wife, the cost, and the transportation, haha. Ideally, I'd be able to buy a cheap train ticket and find a cheap airbnb.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can anyone explain (in a very simple manner) what bitcoin is and how it can be "mined"?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't understand the whole thing, but it's a "crypto currency" in that it is used in exchange for goods and services, on the internet.  I don't get the mining part, but understand it now requires a pretty powerful computer / graphics card.
Click to expand...

Thank you snow and smoke.

So, after a little bit of research, I still don't understand what it is.

BUT! It seems to now require it's own dedicated hardware (which needs to be replaced with newer hardware occasionally to have the most efficient hardware to keep up with everyone else), which is pretty expensive. It also requires a lot of energy input and cooling requirements.

So, it seems that after spending the initial $$$ on hardware, the normal O&M costs would essentially be electricity (and the occasional hardware upgrade).

Apparently, right now, 1 bitcoin is about $17,000. But, when mining, it's not like you "mine" at full bitcoins, you mine at very small percentages of a single bitcoin. In addition, bitcoin seems to be somewhat volatile, so there's no guarantee regarding return of investment. I played around with some ROI calculators, and it seems like within a couple months, you'd have paid off your initial investment of hardware--assuming what you earn in bitcoin can actually be exchanged or used.

If I had the money to throw around, I'd like to try it to see what it's about, but (1) I don't have the money, haha, and (2) it seems that with the amount of people probably already playing around with it already, and the risk involved with volatility and hackers/etc, it's definitely not worth cost, time, or effort.


----------



## jcdeboever

It's snowing big time in Michigan. The wife said we got about 10" so far but I know her, it's more like 6" on a good day....


----------



## waday

So, I just tried to explain bitcoin to my wife (via text).

She texted me this as a response.







Haha


----------



## Fstop-

waday said:


> So, I just tried to explain bitcoin to my wife (via text).
> 
> She texted me this as a response.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Haha



This is the response I get when people ask me about bitcoins. I also get it when I try to tell people about websites, code, web hosting, IT problems,

It is usually followed by OK,,, can you fix it ?, how much ?


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave knows nothing about Bitcoins but is FAR too poor to need to know. 
Got a box at the usual bank.
Nothing special in 5 rolls so far. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave knows nothing about Bitcoins but is FAR too poor to need to know.
> Got a box at the usual bank.
> Nothing special in 5 rolls so far.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


What specifically do you look for in rolls of pennies?


----------



## davidharmier60

Older, errors etc. Mostly it just gives me something to do. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can anyone explain (in a very simple manner) what bitcoin is and how it can be "mined"?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did you watch Big Bang Theory the other day?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I didn't.
Click to expand...


It was about bit coin, strange coincidence that you asked about it today.


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> Older, errors etc. Mostly it just gives me something to do.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Just wondering. When I was little, my grandparents had three large jugs filled with pennies. One of my favorite things to do was tip them over and look for wheat pennies. 



SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can anyone explain (in a very simple manner) what bitcoin is and how it can be "mined"?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did you watch Big Bang Theory the other day?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I didn't.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It was about bit coin, strange coincidence that you asked about it today.
Click to expand...

I'll have to find it and watch it.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Don't understand BitCoin at all! 
Saw article the other day that a guy bought in early..but he threw away his 'key' 4 yrs ago when moving? He says worth $80 million now and he is literally looking in a dump for it? 
Don't get it at all!!?

Am going out after dinner to try and see a few meteors. It is a clear night and will be @ 48-50 degrees in north Florida. Am blowing the dust off the camera and recharging the battery. Not sure on settings anymore but am giving it a try after a long absence...


----------



## Frank F.

I understood Bitcoin 2011, many years ago. It is a security system for illegal activities I do not want to be part of.

The technical side is cryptographic book keeping. in short: anyone can see what anybody is doing but no one wears a name tag or face. As Mathematics and computer science advance the understandig of elliptical curves might one day be as easily accessible as factorizing of huge numbers. All Security will be lost then.

Environmentally it is a waste of Energy and should stop.


Details
So funktioniert die Kryptowährung Bitcoin | c't Magazin


----------



## vintagesnaps

I've gotten that impression too Frank that Bitcoin is, well, bad! lol Not secure, questionable at best.

Have fun Nancy star gazing, or meteor gazing. You're the one that has the warmth! we got plunged into winter last weekend after a lot of 50 degree weather.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can anyone explain (in a very simple manner) what bitcoin is and how it can be "mined"?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bitcoin is a decentralized (no bank backing or administration) cyber space currency that can be traded to other network users for goods, services, and/or  "hopefully" be converted to the currency of the land at some point.  It's sort of like you sending your tax dollars to Washington, in the hopes that you will one day gain some benefit from it, but in return all you get are IOU's in the form of increased debt. At least with Bitcoin, you have a chance of not being the last one holding the IOU's.
> 
> A confusing but the most simplified definition of mining I could find Bitcoin Mining
Click to expand...

You’re right ... there is an element of a pyramid scheme with bitcoin ... or any other faith-base currency ... see U.S. Dollar.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> I've gotten that impression too Frank that Bitcoin is, well, bad! lol Not secure, questionable at best.
> 
> Have fun Nancy star gazing, or meteor gazing. You're the one that has the warmth! we got plunged into winter last weekend after a lot of 50 degree weather.


USD is backed only by the US government, nothing concrete.


----------



## vintagesnaps

We went to DC the summer after my freshman year of college. I had torn a ligament in my ankle at school when I tripped out of bed where I'd been sitting and studying. But you know, some streakers were running thru the dorm courtyards and I _had_ to get up and see (and caught my ankle in my speedy movement to the window). Saw the streakers on the way to the health center in the station wagon that was the university's attempt at an ambulance. 

So that fiasco made the trip real fun! lol Actually it was pretty cool, seeing the guards changing at (I think) the Capitol isn't it? and the Washington Monument (although I didn't go up I think because my ankle was swelling and I was pretty much done for the day). I liked the Smithsonian, that big clock pendulum, and seeing some of the artwork in real life I'd just learned about in art history. It's one of those things that if you haven't been, you should go at least once. 

So you hosers have fun if you go, I have no intention of attempting something like that! lol And I'd have allergies from those damn cherry blossoms anyway. Don't forget, didn't happen without pics!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Are we off the gold standard?? lol


----------



## davidharmier60

For quite some time!
And speaking of time Dave is about to check out. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> USD is backed only by the US government, nothing concrete.



Actually I think this might be incorrect of both points. If you look at a bill it has no guarantee anywhere by anyone including the Federal Reserve that issued it. Instead it has the wording "This note is legal "tender" for debts, public and private". Currency isn't used because that would imply that it had been issued by the Government with some sort of guarantee and would require the government to maintain reserves for all the paper issued. Even worse it says at the top Federal Reserve "NOTE", as in "a promise to pay, an IOU".  The paper has no value other than as a medium of exchange for goods and services. Kind of remind you of Bitcoin?

As I understand it we (the people) were duped to believe that the (notes/IOU's) were secured by "all the goods and services of the economy of a country within a given time period (GDP). Each little worker bee does a job (creates production from something) and in return is paid with paper that they can then use to purchase the production from other worker bees. So in essence it is the "production" of every little worker bee in the country that "guarantees" the paper. What is flawed and why we are currently in financial straits with national debt is that when the economy slows, and private spending dries up the only thing left is Government spending (which has produced nothing to begin with) thereby creating a spiral in which to stay afloat the government has to print more money (IOU's remember).

So while many think of the Bitcoin as voodoo money, we are clueless of our own security thinking we are somehow protected by the dollars in our pocket.


----------



## JonA_CT

I don’t think Gary was being sarcastic, Smoke. I’d expect that he agrees with you.

Usually, when trust or stability in a government that issues notes disappears, inflation hits. That’s why BREXIT caused the sterling pound to take a decent hit. 

Without an government guarantee of any sort, bit coins are scary as hell to invest in.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Without an government guarantee of any sort, bit coins are scary as hell to invest in.



Gary and I have a lot of things we agree on, and just enought that we disagree on to make our conversations stimulating. 

Pull a bill out of your wallet and read what it says Jon, read what I said about the US Dollar, then tell me which is more secure and why.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Without an government guarantee of any sort, bit coins are scary as hell to invest in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pull a bill out of your wallet and read what it says Jon, then tell me which is more secure and why. The US dollar is only as secure as the US economy, which as we all know tanked not that long ago.
Click to expand...


Okay. Tell me why the bit coin is more secure.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Okay. Tell me why the bit coin is more secure.



Oh I'm not saying it's more secure. I'm saying it's no "different" than the US dollar which we all believe is the gold standard of currencies when in reality it's not even a currency either.

Economics was not my strong suit in college because it made my head hurt LOL but I do have a layman understanding. The value of the US Dollar and security thereof is defined by the GDP as it fluctuates.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay. Tell me why the bit coin is more secure.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh I'm not saying it's more secure. I'm saying it's no "different" than the US dollar which we all believe is the gold standard of currencies when in reality it's not even a currency either.
Click to expand...


The difference is that the dollar hasn’t grown exponential in value over the  last several weeks or months. The bit coin value has nearly double again since the beginning of December. There’s only one direction it’ll inevitably go...it can’t possibly sustain growth like that, and people are mortgaging their houses to buy into them.


----------



## SquarePeg

Are people or investing in bitcoin?  I thought you had to mine it.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> The difference is that the dollar hasn’t grown exponential in value over the last several weeks or months. The bit coin value has nearly double again since the beginning of December. There’s only one direction it’ll inevitably go...it can’t possibly sustain growth like that, and people are mortgaging their houses to buy into them.



No Jon I will agree with you on that point the US dollar has only declined in purchasing power since the swap in 1971. As an example the goods/services you might have bought in 1971 for $20 would now take $121 dollars, that's a cumulative inflation rate of 509%.  Said another way your $20 that you socked away in the sock drawer in 1971 would only have the purchasing power of (if my math is right) $6.00 in today's world.

As to investing in Bitcoin, trading on the NASDAQ of the Bitcoin Price Index (NYXBT) was initiated in 2015. As of December of 2016 an investment of just under $800 in a share would now be worth $17395 as of close today. As to the security of the investment, it would not really be any more risky than any of the other indexes currently traded. By comparison Facebook was offered at $38/share in 2012 and as of today it was trading at $178.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> USD is backed only by the US government, nothing concrete.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Actually I think this might be incorrect of both points. If you look at a bill it has no guarantee anywhere by anyone including the Federal Reserve that issued it. Instead it has the wording "This note is legal "tender" for debts, public and private". Currency isn't used because that would imply that it had been issued by the Government with some sort of guarantee and would require the government to maintain reserves for all the paper issued. Even worse it says at the top Federal Reserve "NOTE", as in "a promise to pay, an IOU".  The paper has no value other than as a medium of exchange for goods and services. Kind of remind you of Bitcoin?
> 
> As I understand it we (the people) were duped to believe that the (notes/IOU's) were secured by "all the goods and services of the economy of a country within a given time period (GDP). Each little worker bee does a job (creates production from something) and in return is paid with paper that they can then use to purchase the production from other worker bees. So in essence it is the "production" of every little worker bee in the country that "guarantees" the paper. What is flawed and why we are currently in financial straits with national debt is that when the economy slows, and private spending dries up the only thing left is Government spending (which has produced nothing to begin with) thereby creating a spiral in which to stay afloat the government has to print more money (IOU's remember).
> 
> So while many think of the Bitcoin as voodoo money, we are clueless of our own security thinking we are somehow protected by the dollars in our pocket.
Click to expand...

Gary stands by his statements. In 1971 President Nixon took the USD off the gold /silver standard, which changed the USD from a currency/promissory note which used gold/silver as a collateral into a currency/promissory note collateralized instead by the “Full Faith and Credit” of the government of the United States. Gold is a tangible and concrete collateral.  Full Faith and Credit is a concept, ethereal, with no intrinsic value.

The common definition of currency is a note/promisssory note issued by a government for trade, as opposed to a note/promissory note issued by a bank/private entity.

The value of USD/Treasurys is based upon supply & demand and speculation by money traders. The greater the demand for USD and Treasury Notes the higher their value.


----------



## davidharmier60

Meanwhile every (almost) 'dollar' I make goes to pay bills. And in roughly 15 minutes I'm off to the races.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

I bought a new ironing board. My wife writes: "Surf's up!!!"


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> USD is backed only by the US government, nothing concrete.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Actually I think this might be incorrect of both points. If you look at a bill it has no guarantee anywhere by anyone including the Federal Reserve that issued it. Instead it has the wording "This note is legal "tender" for debts, public and private". Currency isn't used because that would imply that it had been issued by the Government with some sort of guarantee and would require the government to maintain reserves for all the paper issued. Even worse it says at the top Federal Reserve "NOTE", as in "a promise to pay, an IOU".  The paper has no value other than as a medium of exchange for goods and services. Kind of remind you of Bitcoin?
> 
> As I understand it we (the people) were duped to believe that the (notes/IOU's) were secured by "all the goods and services of the economy of a country within a given time period (GDP). Each little worker bee does a job (creates production from something) and in return is paid with paper that they can then use to purchase the production from other worker bees. So in essence it is the "production" of every little worker bee in the country that "guarantees" the paper. What is flawed and why we are currently in financial straits with national debt is that when the economy slows, and private spending dries up the only thing left is Government spending (which has produced nothing to begin with) thereby creating a spiral in which to stay afloat the government has to print more money (IOU's remember).
> 
> So while many think of the Bitcoin as voodoo money, we are clueless of our own security thinking we are somehow protected by the dollars in our pocket.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary stands by his statements. In 1971 President Nixon took the USD off the gold /silver standard, which changed the USD from a currency/promissory note which used gold/silver as a collateral into a currency/promissory note collateralized instead by the “Full Faith and Credit” of the government of the United States. Gold is a tangible and concrete collateral.  Full Faith and Credit is a concept, ethereal, with no intrinsic value.
> 
> The common definition of currency is a note/promisssory note issued by a government for trade, as opposed to a note/promissory note issued by a bank/private entity.
> 
> The value of USD/Treasurys is based upon supply & demand and speculation by money traders. The greater the demand for USD and Treasury Notes the higher their value.
Click to expand...



Modern currency is debt based, so it is a belief system:
Debt: The First 5000 Years - Wikipedia


----------



## Frank F.

davidharmier60 said:


> For quite some time!
> And speaking of time Dave is about to check out.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk




check out what?


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> . In 1971 President Nixon took the USD off the gold /silver standard, which changed the USD from a currency/promissory note which used gold/silver as a collateral into a currency/promissory note collateralized



In and following the Great Depression, people rightly lost faith in paper. There was a run on the banks to convert that paper to gold.  FDR in 1933,  by executive order, ordered all gold certificates, gold coin, and bullion be turned into the Federal Reserve at the exchange rate of $20.60/ ounce. Making gold ownership illegal and forcing people to use paper money. Shortly there after in the same year Congress by joint resolution set aside the requirement for public and private debt to be repaid in gold or gold certificate. The very next year the Treasury arbitrarily revalued the price of the US gold holdings by 69% to $35  which deflated the dollar value and inflated the money supply. The Us continued to redeem dollars held by Foreign Countries until 1971 when Nixon abandoned all conversion at a fixed gold rate.

The actual value of the dollar has always been a function of the GDP. The speculative value of the dollar that you refer to is it's rate of exchange with other world currencies and is a function of the economic stability of the countries swapping currency.



Gary A. said:


> collateralized instead by the “Full Faith and Credit” of the government of the United States.



I had always been led to believe this as well but I can't remember any instances of where the US has actually verbalized this. As our government is a Republic, in actuality all things including the debt it creates is an extension of the people, so again it is based on the GDP (production by the people) of this country as the government produces nothing.

Footnote: private gold ownership remained illegal until 1974 when President Ford by executive order, and Congress by resolution removed the limitations on private ownership.


----------



## smoke665

And this is why I like dogs better than cats. Not only would they text you back, they would ask you if you received the text, if you're going to reply back,  when you're going to reply, and send constant reminders until you do


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> it is based on the GDP (production by the people) of this country as the government produces nothing.



Oh, I dunno. They produce a lot of fuel for the late night comedians.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Pull a bill out of your wallet and read what it says


I pulled a bill out of my wallet, it told me it was cold and scared, so I put it back in. While that bill is pretty lonely, it's also quite agoraphobic.


----------



## davidharmier60

Frank, in this case "check out" means go to sleep. 

Dave just did a minute or two under 4 hours today. Got a pretty decent check. 

Going to go to the post office to see if there is anything in the PO Box. And then head for the home 20.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> . In 1971 President Nixon took the USD off the gold /silver standard, which changed the USD from a currency/promissory note which used gold/silver as a collateral into a currency/promissory note collateralized
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In and following the Great Depression, people rightly lost faith in paper. There was a run on the banks to convert that paper to gold.  FDR in 1933,  by executive order, ordered all gold certificates, gold coin, and bullion be turned into the Federal Reserve at the exchange rate of $20.60/ ounce. Making gold ownership illegal and forcing people to use paper money. Shortly there after in the same year Congress by joint resolution set aside the requirement for public and private debt to be repaid in gold or gold certificate. The very next year the Treasury arbitrarily revalued the price of the US gold holdings by 69% to $35  which deflated the dollar value and inflated the money supply. The Us continued to redeem dollars held by Foreign Countries until 1971 when Nixon abandoned all conversion at a fixed gold rate.
> 
> The actual value of the dollar has always been a function of the GDP. The speculative value of the dollar that you refer to is it's rate of exchange with other world currencies and is a function of the economic stability of the countries swapping currency.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> collateralized instead by the “Full Faith and Credit” of the government of the United States.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I had always been led to believe this as well but I can't remember any instances of where the US has actually verbalized this. As our government is a Republic, in actuality all things including the debt it creates is an extension of the people, so again it is based on the GDP (production by the people) of this country as the government produces nothing.
> 
> Footnote: private gold ownership remained illegal until 1974 when President Ford by executive order, and Congress by resolution removed the limitations on private ownership.
Click to expand...

While GDP may affect the value of the dollar, it does not do so directly.  We are back to speculation.  When the GDP increases, interests rates typically follow and also rise. That interest rate is a critical element which drives the speculative/investors into buying or dumping USD or any other currency. Currency is used for trading ... as in trading Dollars for apples or Euros for an ironing board. While trading on a local community market, as in a store or for wages is vitally important to the local community it doesn't translate well in value because you're trading apples for oranges ... dollars for merchandise ... two distinctively different entities.  But ... the big but ... when you begin trading Dollars for Euros or Dollars for Yen or Pesos et al ... now you have value which easily translates between currencies ... 1.66 Euros for 1 US Dollar or 16,640 USD for one Bitcoin. That currency based value is again based upon Supply & Demand and speculation.  As GDP goes up, speculators/investors/countries assumes the interest rates for dollars will also go up and speculators/investors will start purchasing more USD and countries may hoard the USD they own waiting to make a profit ... as dollars become scarce the value goes up.  When the GDP goes down, the opposite happens, the value of USD goes down. GDP is but one of many elements affecting currency value.

Qualification:  Gary is no expert but this what Gary has been told by experts and learned/experienced through financial transactions in foreign countries.  As Gary is a simple person, Gary is repeating what he has learned in simple basic terms.  As we all suspect there is a lot going on with floating currency and a global economy.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hey Hosers!  Hoping we will soon move on from Economics 101 (zzzzz...zzzz...) and get back to cat memes and food talk...Or pennies and Gary’s latest rundown on camera sales in the Times.  Isn’t that the Thursday ads?



 

Seriously though, what’s on the itinerary for the coming weekend?  I am going to a customer appreciation party at my favorite watering hole on Friday night.  Open bar and lots of food.  It’ll be an Uber night for me, lol. Saturday will be cooking and baking for family holiday party early Sunday afternoon followed by Pats game @ 4:30.  Was going to go into Boston Saturday night to see the lights but will see about the weather...


----------



## Gary A.

Article IV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution, known as the "Full Faith and Credit Clause", addresses the duties that states within the United States have to respect the "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state." 

As currency is legal tender/promissory note ... Full Faith and Credit in this case refers to universal acceptance of USD by all states. It also defines that the currency is not based upon any intrinsic or tangible value. 

Similar to Bitcoin ... the value of Bitcoin is purely based upon what other will pay for it without regard to collateral or credit/payment/value history of any kind other in and of itself. The value of floating currency has no real/tangible collateral or assets only the "Faith and Credit" of the issuer.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers ... In response to Peg ... Samy's Camera has three full pages of stuff today. And again, it is a tax holiday for the purchaser. A Leica Sofort instant camera for $299, a Fujifilm Instax Share SP-2 Smartphone printer for $129, tons of Canon lenses and Sony bodies. Out here, paying no taxes is significant as the tax rate in LA County is about 10%.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Fujifilm Instax Share SP-2 Smartphone printer for $129


Not sure if I told you, but at your recommendation, bought this instead of the Fujifilm camera. Wife loves it. Thanks for tip!


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fujifilm Instax Share SP-2 Smartphone printer for $129
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure if I told you, but at your recommendation, bought this instead of the Fujifilm camera. Wife loves it. Thanks for tip!
Click to expand...

Any time you can make the wife happy, it is a very good thing.


----------



## Gary A.

Jeeze-Louise ... Gary just spit out coffee all over his laptop and out his nose.

Mary Lou came into the kitchen wearing a nightshirt/pajama thing.  Gary was reading the paper when he hears " ... Get your nose out of my butt ..." Gary loses his coffee, looks up and sees Maggie dancing about under Mary Lou's nightshirt.


----------



## JonA_CT

Sitting is uncomfortable today. For some reason, my very modest bill fold is hitting me in the wrong place. I would move it, but then things don’t feel right either. 

Sigh.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Sitting is uncomfortable today. For some reason, my very modest bill fold is hitting me in the wrong place. I would move it, but then things don’t feel right either.
> 
> Sigh.


BTDT - shift it slightly outboard.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sitting is uncomfortable today. For some reason, my very modest bill fold is hitting me in the wrong place. I would move it, but then things don’t feel right either.
> 
> Sigh.
> 
> 
> 
> BTDT - shift it slightly outboard.
Click to expand...


Brilliant.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fujifilm Instax Share SP-2 Smartphone printer for $129
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure if I told you, but at your recommendation, bought this instead of the Fujifilm camera. Wife loves it. Thanks for tip!
Click to expand...


Cute!  Already bought way too much for Princess but maybe will get this now. While on sale for her birthday mid January.  Is the photo paper very pricey//



JonA_CT said:


> Sitting is uncomfortable today. For some reason, my very modest bill fold is hitting me in the wrong place. I would move it, but then things don’t feel right either.
> 
> Sigh.



Chiropractor told my ex-husband never put your wallet in your back pocket use your front pocket and carry less stuff.   Nowadays so many of the things we used to haul around can be on your phone. You can have pay with your phone apps instead of credit cards, photos instead of all the pictures of the kids...really only need your license some cash and one credit card (says the hypocrite with the giant purse...)


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sitting is uncomfortable today. For some reason, my very modest bill fold is hitting me in the wrong place. I would move it, but then things don’t feel right either.
> 
> Sigh.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Chiropractor told my ex-husband never put your wallet in your back pocket use your front pocket and carry less stuff.   Nowadays so many of the things we used to haul around can be on your phone. You can have pay with your phone apps instead of credit cards, photos instead of all the pictures of the kids...really only need your license some cash and one credit card (says the hypocrite with the giant purse...)
Click to expand...


Isn’t it amazing? I should carry less probably, because the only place I frequent that doesn’t take Apple Pay at this point is Walmart. But then...I don’t have things when I need them, cause I’d never remember them otherwise. 

My wife has a purse and a keychain wallet. She mostly just uses the keychain wallet these days, although we also frequently carry a diaper bag that could probably supply a cadre of babies/toddlers.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Cute! Already bought way too much for Princess but maybe will get this now. While on sale for her birthday mid January. Is the photo paper very pricey//


It's not _too_ bad. B&H has 20 exposures for $15. Not sure who else has it at what prices.

What's really nice about the printer rather than the camera is that you have the ability to cull the images and only print what you want to print.

What's also nice is that if you have a picture that you want to give to multiple people, you can print the same picture out over and over without having to keep taking the same picture. So, for example, I printed a picture that I took with my camera, transferred the image to my phone, then printed out 4 copies to give to family.

So, say your daughter takes a selfie with a friend, she can print out the picture for herself and her friend without having to take two pictures.

It's also very portable.

The only negative is that it takes some of the fun out of taking a picture and the surprise of seeing what the image looks like, but that, at least for us, is far outweighed by the positives.


----------



## waday

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cute! Already bought way too much for Princess but maybe will get this now. While on sale for her birthday mid January. Is the photo paper very pricey//
> 
> 
> 
> It's not _too_ bad. B&H has 20 exposures for $15. Not sure who else has it at what prices.
> 
> What's really nice about the printer rather than the camera is that you have the ability to cull the images and only print what you want to print.
> 
> What's also nice is that if you have a picture that you want to give to multiple people, you can print the same picture out over and over without having to keep taking the same picture. So, for example, I printed a picture that I took with my camera, transferred the image to my phone, then printed out 4 copies to give to family.
> 
> So, say your daughter takes a selfie with a friend, she can print out the picture for herself and her friend without having to take two pictures.
> 
> It's also very portable.
> 
> The only negative is that it takes some of the fun out of taking a picture and the surprise of seeing what the image looks like, but that, at least for us, is far outweighed by the positives.
Click to expand...

Oh, and by the way, don't purchase it at Michaels. Their pricing is way off, every single time I go in there and look at their cameras and film. I think I had a rant about this before on here, but their pricing is way, way, way off. I've even debated talking to the store manager. THe last time I looked in store (a month or so ago), the SP-1, which is now two models old, was listed at around $50 more than the Sp-2 when I bought it. Not sure what's up.

The new model is SP-3, but the SP-2 works just as well if you want to save a few bucks.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Sitting is uncomfortable today. For some reason, my very modest bill fold is hitting me in the wrong place. I would move it, but then things don’t feel right either.
> 
> Sigh.


More information than Gary needs to know ...


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> [....carry less stuff.   Nowadays so many of the things we used to haul around can be on your phone. You can have pay with your phone apps instead of credit cards, photos instead of all the pictures of the kids...really only need your license some cash and one credit card (says the hypocrite with the giant purse...)


All right Miz Smarty-pants, how the Hades do I stuff eight months worth of cash register receipts in my 'phone??????????


----------



## JonA_CT

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> [....carry less stuff.   Nowadays so many of the things we used to haul around can be on your phone. You can have pay with your phone apps instead of credit cards, photos instead of all the pictures of the kids...really only need your license some cash and one credit card (says the hypocrite with the giant purse...)
> 
> 
> 
> All right Miz Smarty-pants, how the Hades do I stuff eight months worth of cash register receipts in my 'phone??????????
Click to expand...


7 of the Best Apps to Scan, Track, & Manage Receipts


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> [....carry less stuff.   Nowadays so many of the things we used to haul around can be on your phone. You can have pay with your phone apps instead of credit cards, photos instead of all the pictures of the kids...really only need your license some cash and one credit card (says the hypocrite with the giant purse...)
> 
> 
> 
> All right Miz Smarty-pants, how the Hades do I stuff eight months worth of cash register receipts in my 'phone??????????
Click to expand...


Shouldn’t those be in a shoebox in the kitchen closet?


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Sitting is uncomfortable today. For some reason, my very modest bill fold is hitting me in the wrong place. I would move it, but then things don’t feel right either.
> 
> Sigh.


I have that problem with snow boots...


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sitting is uncomfortable today. For some reason, my very modest bill fold is hitting me in the wrong place. I would move it, but then things don’t feel right either.
> 
> Sigh.
> 
> 
> 
> I have that problem with snow boots...
Click to expand...


Why are you sitting on snow boots?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Did your wife plant her foot....nvm.


----------



## waday

Trying to leave work today like:


----------



## davidharmier60

LOL at that comment Dean posted!
We have a company Christmas party Saturday night. There is a possibility that some chick gets smashing drunk and dances. Supposed to bring a $20 to $25 present for a white elephant give away.
May go but at this moment it doesn't seem likely...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Jon sounds like George Costanza. Go to the cafeteria and get a big wad of napkins...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Find something at a dollar store that _looks_ like it would've cost 20 bucks elsewhere! lol jk might be worth it to see this kind o' dancin'.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> [....carry less stuff.   Nowadays so many of the things we used to haul around can be on your phone. You can have pay with your phone apps instead of credit cards, photos instead of all the pictures of the kids...really only need your license some cash and one credit card (says the hypocrite with the giant purse...)
> 
> 
> 
> All right Miz Smarty-pants, how the Hades do I stuff eight months worth of cash register receipts in my 'phone??????????
Click to expand...

Rubber bands.  Then stuff the phone in a bag.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I carry a crossbody purse, with a small key ring little wallet thingy. And I have no smartphone and no apps, don't really need it. Still have a checkbook/larger wallet with stuff I don't need much so leave it at home.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Article IV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution, known as the "Full Faith and Credit Clause", addresses the duties that states within the United States have to respect the "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state."
> 
> As currency is legal tender/promissory note ... Full Faith and Credit in this case refers to universal acceptance of USD by all states. It also defines that the currency is not based upon any intrinsic or tangible value.
> 
> Similar to Bitcoin ... the value of Bitcoin is purely based upon what other will pay for it without regard to collateral or credit/payment/value history of any kind other in and of itself. The value of floating currency has no real/tangible collateral or assets only the "Faith and Credit" of the issuer.



My memory is not as good as it use to be, so I had to go back and read it a couple of times, but the "full faith and credit clause" appears to cover the legal proceedings of one state to be recognized in another state. IE: you convict someone of a crime in one state, they couldn't flee to another state and have the judgement set aside. It also deals with the right of the US government as the trustee of the people to transfer property. I think it would be a really long stretch to say it guarantees our current dollar. 

I was reminded of something though and I suspect you are confusing the current Federal Reserve Note of today with US Note (Greenback) of yesteryear. The currency act of 1862 allowed the US Treasury Department to issue US Notes, which were in fact guaranteed by the US Government. They were officially discontinued in 1971, but there are some still in circulation. 

The current Federal Reserve Note we use isn't issued by the US Government, it is issued by the Federal Reserve Bank under the provisions of section 16 of the Federal Reserve Act of 1933. They are as such liabilities against the assets of the Federal Reserve and  member banks of the Reserve. The Federal Reserve Banks are not a part of the US Government but were authorized to exist by the 1933 act to provide banking services (issue paper money), and are private corporations. Technically because they were authorized by Congress their obligations ultimately are the obligations of the US Government, but if the banks were to fail, there would be no way to collect anyhow. Something that almost happened not that long ago, remember the "to big to let fail" reasoning under Bush on bank bailouts, but that's another story.


----------



## davidharmier60

My understanding is that the US economy is a house of cards. A strong wind could take it down.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Is there going to be a quiz later?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

vintagesnaps said:


> Is there going to be a quiz later?



Gosh, I hope not! I just ignore my 401K 'cause I know nothing of the financial world.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Is there going to be a quiz later?



Nope, merely commentary based on comments/concerns earlier about Bitcoins. Simply pointing out that our beloved Dollar is not necessarily more safe than the Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin or any other relatively new internet currency.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is there going to be a quiz later?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope, merely commentary based on comments/concerns earlier about Bitcoins. Simply pointing out that our beloved Dollar is not necessarily more safe than the Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin or any other relatively new internet currency.
Click to expand...


I disagree.  If the dollar starts to seriously tank, the government would (and has) step in to correct the slide.  I don’t think they’d step in to prop up bitcoin.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> I carry a crossbody purse, with a small key ring little wallet thingy.



I'm not sure how that would work for me. I suspect at the least I'd get a lot of strange looks!


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> If the dollar starts to seriously tank, the government would (and has) step in to correct the slide



Again assuming that it can. The world wide financial collapse of 2008 was as close as I've seen in all my years of a complete, total meltdown. Under the bank bailout the US committed to buy 700 billion  of troubled bank assets, even more scary was the Fed contributed 7.7 trillion dollars to shoring up the financial system. All this was at a time when our total national debt was only 10.6 trillion. For year end 2018 it is expected to reach over 24 trillion. At what point do we reach the point of no return? 

Not saying I have any intention of investing in Bitcoin, but diverting a portion of long term savings to gold or other hard assets with appreciation potential wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for anyone.


----------



## SquarePeg

Lots of man purses/satchels on the streets these days.  Nothing to be embarrassed about.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Lots of man purses/satchels on the streets these days. Nothing to be embarrassed about.



I say this with no disrespect whatsoever intended, but not just no, but H*** NO!! Nor will you ever see me in a Romphim, Lace shorts, or a Crop Top. My jeans, boots and trusty wallet (crammed full of everything but the kitchen sink) have served me well for 67 years, see no reason to change now.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Lots of man purses/satchels on the streets these days.  Nothing to be embarrassed about.


Yeah... yeah, there is!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I carry a crossbody purse, with a small key ring little wallet thingy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure how that would work for me. I suspect at the least I'd get a lot of strange looks!
Click to expand...


Only if it clashes with your attire, or it breaks a rule like no white before Memorial Day.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> [....carry less stuff.   Nowadays so many of the things we used to haul around can be on your phone. You can have pay with your phone apps instead of credit cards, photos instead of all the pictures of the kids...really only need your license some cash and one credit card (says the hypocrite with the giant purse...)
> 
> 
> 
> All right Miz Smarty-pants, how the Hades do I stuff eight months worth of cash register receipts in my 'phone??????????
Click to expand...


Ya takes a photo of them


Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> My understanding is that the US economy is a house of cards. A strong wind could take it down.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Negatory.


----------



## davidharmier60

Tapatalk is acting wonky.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Article IV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution, known as the "Full Faith and Credit Clause", addresses the duties that states within the United States have to respect the "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state."
> 
> As currency is legal tender/promissory note ... Full Faith and Credit in this case refers to universal acceptance of USD by all states. It also defines that the currency is not based upon any intrinsic or tangible value.
> 
> Similar to Bitcoin ... the value of Bitcoin is purely based upon what other will pay for it without regard to collateral or credit/payment/value history of any kind other in and of itself. The value of floating currency has no real/tangible collateral or assets only the "Faith and Credit" of the issuer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My memory is not as good as it use to be, so I had to go back and read it a couple of times, but the "full faith and credit clause" appears to cover the legal proceedings of one state to be recognized in another state. IE: you convict someone of a crime in one state, they couldn't flee to another state and have the judgement set aside. It also deals with the right of the US government as the trustee of the people to transfer property. I think it would be a really long stretch to say it guarantees our current dollar.
> 
> I was reminded of something though and I suspect you are confusing the current Federal Reserve Note of today with US Note (Greenback) of yesteryear. The currency act of 1862 allowed the US Treasury Department to issue US Notes, which were in fact guaranteed by the US Government. They were officially discontinued in 1971, but there are some still in circulation.
> 
> The current Federal Reserve Note we use isn't issued by the US Government, it is issued by the Federal Reserve Bank under the provisions of section 16 of the Federal Reserve Act of 1933. They are as such liabilities against the assets of the Federal Reserve and  member banks of the Reserve. The Federal Reserve Banks are not a part of the US Government but were authorized to exist by the 1933 act to provide banking services (issue paper money), and are private corporations. Technically because they were authorized by Congress their obligations ultimately are the obligations of the US Government, but if the banks were to fail, there would be no way to collect anyhow. Something that almost happened not that long ago, remember the "to big to let fail" reasoning under Bush on bank bailouts, but that's another story.
Click to expand...

It applies to a legal promissory note issued by the government as well.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> It applies to a legal promissory note issued by the government as well.



Read it three times, never got that from it, but would be a mute point as the Fed issues the paper money now, not the US. See earlier comment.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie, Mike, M͠a͠x͠ and Gary found this Goldie in the park today sans human, tags or chip. We have collectively been trying to find his human(s).


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 150742
> Mary Lou, Maggie, Mike, M͠a͠x͠ and Gary found this Goldie in the park today sans human, tags or chip. We have collectively been trying to find his human(s).



I can’t believe I lost him all the way out there. Think you could fly him back for me?


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 150742
> Mary Lou, Maggie, Mike, M͠a͠x͠ and Gary found this Goldie in the park today sans human, tags or chip. We have collectively been trying to find his human(s).



Check Facebook for a local community page and/or a local Missing Dogs page.


----------



## davidharmier60

Looks like a very nice dog!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Just don't understand how anyone can not be responsible enough to have them chipped and wearing a collar with tags. Seriously its peanuts.


----------



## jcdeboever

looks a like a skinny Webster with a rounder head.... if he is trying to mount Maggie, they may be related....


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> looks a like a skinny Webster with a rounder head.... if he is trying to mount Maggie, they may be related....



JC why do you always leave me just shaking my head LOL


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 150742
> Mary Lou, Maggie, Mike, M͠a͠x͠ and Gary found this Goldie in the park today sans human, tags or chip. We have collectively been trying to find his human(s).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I can’t believe I lost him all the way out there. Think you could fly him back for me?
Click to expand...

On the next plane.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> [....carry less stuff.   Nowadays so many of the things we used to haul around can be on your phone. You can have pay with your phone apps instead of credit cards, photos instead of all the pictures of the kids...really only need your license some cash and one credit card (says the hypocrite with the giant purse...)
> 
> 
> 
> All right Miz Smarty-pants, how the Hades do I stuff eight months worth of cash register receipts in my 'phone??????????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ya takes a photo of them
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...

And when I need to write down a price for bulk nails in the hardware store, what do I use for paper????????


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lots of man purses/satchels on the streets these days. Nothing to be embarrassed about.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I say this with no disrespect whatsoever intended, but not just no, but H*** NO!! Nor will you ever see me in a Romphim, Lace shorts, or a Crop Top. My jeans, boots and trusty wallet (crammed full of everything but the kitchen sink) have served me well for 67 years, see no reason to change now.
Click to expand...




tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lots of man purses/satchels on the streets these days.  Nothing to be embarrassed about.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah... yeah, there is!
Click to expand...


----------



## JonA_CT

Tucker the lab is running and squeaking in his sleep next to me on the couch. We're snuggling on our own down here tonight because momma bear went to bed right after the kids were down. She caught whatever I had last weekend, and she used all of her sick leave for the year when our son was born. I'm hoping that she'll feel a bit better with the extra couple of hours of sleep, although she'll be up to feed Jack tonight anyways. 

We got maybe 2 inches of snow this morning. Since it was so cold, it was extra fluffy and I literally swept it off the porch, the walk, and the cars. It supposed to get into the low teens tonight temp wise, and we might get another inch or two of snow tomorrow evening. I honestly kind of love little dustings like this...its picturesque but doesn't prevent us from going about our business like the Nor'easters that are bound to come in January/February. 

My concept album photo shoot was moved from last Sunday to Saturday this week. It'll be cold, but we'll still have a fresh coating of snow. I'm a bit nervous about the sun angle for the time we could set up. There's shade to be had, but the main planned shot was going to be in an open area.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> [....carry less stuff.   Nowadays so many of the things we used to haul around can be on your phone. You can have pay with your phone apps instead of credit cards, photos instead of all the pictures of the kids...really only need your license some cash and one credit card (says the hypocrite with the giant purse...)
> 
> 
> 
> All right Miz Smarty-pants, how the Hades do I stuff eight months worth of cash register receipts in my 'phone??????????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ya takes a photo of them
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And when I need to write down a price for bulk nails in the hardware store, what do I use for paper????????
Click to expand...


Pull a piece out of your purse sporran.


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> [....carry less stuff.   Nowadays so many of the things we used to haul around can be on your phone. You can have pay with your phone apps instead of credit cards, photos instead of all the pictures of the kids...really only need your license some cash and one credit card (says the hypocrite with the giant purse...)
> 
> 
> 
> All right Miz Smarty-pants, how the Hades do I stuff eight months worth of cash register receipts in my 'phone??????????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ya takes a photo of them
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And when I need to write down a price for bulk nails in the hardware store, what do I use for paper????????
Click to expand...


I usually take a photo of the price tag or use the notepad on my smartphone when I’m buying bulk nails at the hardware store


----------



## snowbear

I just scratch the price onto my arm with one of the nails.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hhahahaha


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> I just scratch the price onto my arm with one of the nails.



Sign of a real handy man or woman.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just scratch the price onto my arm with one of the nails.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sign of a real handy man or woman.
Click to expand...

or one without a lick of sense.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay folks, Duke has been reunited with his humans. What an ordeal, signage created and posted, six websites updated, attempted chip reading, calls to Golden Retriever Rescue people, feeding, more walks, fights and playtime. But ... all’s well that ends well.

Rescued via Next Door.


----------



## davidharmier60

Good deal Gary. 
I need not awaken at 4am tomorrow. 
The company that does the floor is doing it tonight. After today I'm off until Monday!

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----------



## JonA_CT

14*F and the sky is a cool pink color this morning that I could not accurately capture with my phone.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Okay folks, Duke has been reunited with his humans. What an ordeal, signage created and posted, six websites updated, attempted chip reading, calls to Golden Retriever Rescue people, feeding, more walks, fights and playtime. But ... all’s well that ends well.
> 
> Rescued via Next Door.



Glad all ended well. Lucky for pooch, that he was found by someone caring enough to take the time and make the the effort to see that he got home.


----------



## SquarePeg

@Gary A.   What is Next Door?


----------



## Gary A.

Thanks Dave & smoke665. 

@ Peg: Next Door is a community/neighborhood app which connects you to others in your community/neighborhood.  Check it out.  I rarely look at it, but Mike (Max's human) watches it everyday for the entertainment value of alarmed people posting description of person(s) which they don't recognized.  Mike is easily alarmed. Stuff for sale, real estate, services, gossip (see above), lost & found, et cetera is all there and it is localized by neighborhood(s).


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. did you by chance find out why the dog was loose in the park with no collar, tags or chips?

Our son last week found a shivering little girl outside his house in the snow. The dog had no collar or tags, but they used a similar neighborhood HOA app that found her home within  a few hours. The owner had let her out in the yard, and she had wandered off when she wasn't watched.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got 4 and almost 1/4 hours.
He DOES have to go into work tomorrow. 
Some heath problem with the guy that does the floor so it's pushed to next Friday.
Good job Gary!

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## limr

Morning, hosers. I had one more vacation day left for the year and a lot of sleep to catch up on, so I am home today, still in my cozy thick fleece robe, a big mug of coffee,  and kitties. Still have some work to do, but this is a much more pleasant way to do it. I am waiting until noon before I open my work email.


----------



## snowbear

MLW and I are supposed to be off, today.  She had to come in to handle a few things (another woman in the office is sick and the calls are set for MLW's phone) so i came in for a little while, too.  I'm going to be a little grumpy, soon, as I can't eat until after my surgery, which is at 5 pm.  I'm trying to keep occupied with the latest GIS project.

I might be back on tonight, but most likely tomorrow.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It was a crisp 44F when Gary and Miss Maggie started our day.  Unfortunately Cal Fire engineer Cory Iverson lost his life yesterday fighting the Thomas Fire in Ventura County. Citizens give respect to Iverson, saluting him from bridges and sidewalks as the procession carried his body from Ventura down to San Diego.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. did you by chance find out why the dog was loose in the park with no collar, tags or chips?
> 
> Our son last week found a shivering little girl outside his house in the snow. The dog had no collar or tags, but they used a similar neighborhood HOA app that found her home within  a few hours. The owner had let her out in the yard, and she had wandered off when she wasn't watched.





 
Duke

Duke did have a collar, but no tags or chip.  According to Duke's humans, he somehow lost his tags, unbeknownst to them.  Their son left the back gate open allowing Duke and Duke's housemate, a Yorkie to escape.  The Yorkie returned of its own volition, Duke was corralled by Mike who called me to bring a leash (as I live close to the park) and turned yesterday upside down.  Duke's humans claimed, per Next Door, to have retagged Duke.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. I guess we are over protective with our pooches. They have always had chips, collars with permanently affixed name and address tag, and the vaccination tags affixed to the leash ring with s clips. LOL We lost our beloved Boxer just after the 1st of January one year, for 7 days in freezing temperatures. She was ejected from a vehicle after I was involved in an auto accident that spun us completely around. She wasn't buckled in like she should have been, and impact threw her through a side window. Apparently the impact of the window, or the pavement she hit after caused a concussion. I saw her several times over the 7 days, but she wouldn't let me get close, like she didn't recognize me. Finally found her in a fenced in yard, that I was able to close their gate to confine her. After several mins of enticing her closer with some meat treats, she finally got close enough to recognize me.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Aw Smoke that's a shame (reading a couple of pages back)..

Gary, good for you! The kid left the gate open... Well, you gotta watch kids and dogs, but in spite of keeping an eye on them things can happen. The dog looked like it had been cared for and not like it had been loose a long time, so its family was surely worried and were lucky you found their dog, took care of it and got it back home for them.

Sorry to hear Gary about the firefighter that passed away fighting the fires out there. Is that situation improving yet?


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Aw Smoke that's a shame (reading a couple of pages back)..
> 
> Gary, good for you! The kid left the gate open... Well, you gotta watch kids and dogs, but in spite of keeping an eye on them things can happen. The dog looked like it had been cared for and not like it had been loose a long time, so its family was surely worried and were lucky you found their dog, took care of it and got it back home for them.
> 
> Sorry to hear Gary about the firefighter that passed away fighting the fires out there. Is that situation improving yet?


Mike, Max, Mary Lou, Maggie, Moose (aka Duke) and Gary did canvas the adjoining neighborhood knocking on doors, but nobody recognized him.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got two pairs of sneakers at Wal-Mart. One pair $10 "Athletic" brand white.
Other pair Dr. Shoals black.
Going to wear one pair one day and the other pair the next day and so on.
See if either one lasts more than the Skethers I've been wearing. I don't hold MUCH hope. But we'll see. I've been using one kind of snap to hold the pantry door closed. The clip will last 6 to 8 months and then crack. I just installed a new clip and a different setup under it. That door will sure stay closed now!

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## smoke665

Major "embarrass the wife moment" today. Dropped her at the door to Wally World to pickup a couple of things, and went to the far side of the lot to wait on her. One of the satellite stations had some really good Christmas music on. I'm a little hard of hearing and no one around so I cranked up the volume, then a little more so I could really feel the bass. I was getting into the music when the text came in to pick her up at the door. When I drove up I could see people turning heads to look but never dawned on me why. As soon as I stopped my red faced wife jumped in, and cranked the volume "way down". Said they could hear me coming when I turned the corner in front of the store


----------



## davidharmier60

My Sister who was visiting across the road at a neighbor was thrilled with the door of the pantry! This makes the work worthwhile!

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## Frank F.

Those who dare to sin are brave?
Those who never sin are cowards?


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Those who dare to sin are brave?
> Those who never sin are cowards?
> View attachment 150776


In an odd warped Frank way ... that is true, but only if the decision to sin was pondered prior to the commitment.

(Is that a film projector behind the screen?)


----------



## davidharmier60

Did most of my sinning earlier in life.....

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## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> Did most of my sinning earlier in life.....
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



You and me both. I did enough to warrant a lifetime of repentance.  LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is laying in bed about to study the inside of his eyelids. I hope all have a nice Friday night and a good Saturday morning!

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## JonA_CT

My wife and I went to dinner tonight on our own. It was nice to beat a decent meal without rushing fir once, haha.

It started snowing around 4:30. I think we have a fresh 1.5-2 inches on the ground. It’s still coming down but I think we are almost done for the night.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just a dusting here.  Nothing more expected here as it’s all staying south.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Those who dare to sin are brave?
> Those who never sin are cowards?
> View attachment 150776
> 
> 
> 
> In an odd warped Frank way ... that is true, but only if the decision to sin was pondered prior to the commitment.
> 
> (Is that a film projector behind the screen?)
Click to expand...



the Shadow of the man and the projector


----------



## davidharmier60

I have an impossible task this morning. 
Mop the entire floor. But I don't think I can do it all before the store opens.
Oh well. I'll do the best I can. 

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----------



## jcdeboever

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave got two pairs of sneakers at Wal-Mart. One pair $10 "Athletic" brand white.
> Other pair Dr. Shoals black.
> Going to wear one pair one day and the other pair the next day and so on.
> See if either one lasts more than the Skethers I've been wearing. I don't hold MUCH hope. But we'll see. I've been using one kind of snap to hold the pantry door closed. The clip will last 6 to 8 months and then crack. I just installed a new clip and a different setup under it. That door will sure stay closed now!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


I have found RedWing shoes hold up extremely well and are a better value overall to say, buying the cheaper shoes. I drive a lot and the driving heal doesn't wear down hardly at all in the RedWings. Plus they are better on my feet and back. They definitely use a better plastic on the soles than just about everything else I have bought in the past, don't know what it is but it is extremely durable. 

Sent from my [device_name] using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## JonA_CT

Sun sparkling snowy morning.

My green coffee bean order finally arrived, and I’m drinking a blend called “Polar Expresso” right now that I roasted maybe a little too light. It’s refreshing after drinking Starbucks all week though.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.

We got a little snow yesterday - dusting on the dirt and grass, wet roads with patchy slush.  Morning light shows a hard frost.  Temps are going to be in the 40s, so all of this will go away.  My first cup was a medium roast, and now I have a light roast, both by Peet's.

I've had a "lump" growing on my back for a few years.  It wasn't painful, but MLW finally convinced me have it checked out.  I had it removed yesterday so I'm on light duty this weekend.  During the initial consultation with the GP, I found out I've joined the popular T2 Diabetic club.  Nothing like ending the year with a bang!

In other news, I got the Secret Santa print from the lab, yesterday.  I wanted to see it before I shipped it out, and I'm happy with it.  That will get sent out today, once we are all in gear.  I received mine a couple days ago, so I'll post it in the thread in a little bit.

We're watching and drooling over some holiday seafood by Giada (crab meat fettuccine, mini lobster rolls, roasted red snapper).  It looks like a trip to the seafood and Italian markets are in order.  We're going Annapolis on Friday to see the Budweiser Clydesdales, so we can hit the wharf, afterward.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Sun sparkling snowy morning.
> 
> My green coffee bean order finally arrived, and I’m drinking a blend called “Polar Expresso” right now that I roasted maybe a little too light. It’s refreshing after drinking Starbucks all week though.



Oooo - Polar!  Light is fine - the caffeine is elevated.


----------



## snowbear

Good news from the Fire/EMS Department (the work one).
PGFD firefighter rescues Golden Retriever stuck in icy culvert


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dave got two pairs of sneakers at Wal-Mart. One pair $10 "Athletic" brand white.
> Other pair Dr. Shoals black.
> Going to wear one pair one day and the other pair the next day and so on.
> See if either one lasts more than the Skethers I've been wearing. I don't hold MUCH hope. But we'll see. I've been using one kind of snap to hold the pantry door closed. The clip will last 6 to 8 months and then crack. I just installed a new clip and a different setup under it. That door will sure stay closed now!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> I have found RedWing shoes hold up extremely well and are a better value overall to say, buying the cheaper shoes. I drive a lot and the driving heal doesn't wear down hardly at all in the RedWings. Plus they are better on my feet and back. They definitely use a better plastic on the soles than just about everything else I have bought in the past, don't know what it is but it is extremely durable.
> 
> Sent from my [device_name] using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...

As one would expect, construction is hard on boots, especially demo guys/gals. There were two thoughts by demo guys on boots.  Expensive boots which last about a year or cheap boots three times a year.  In either case, the annual footwear costs were about the same (Three pairs of cheap equals one pair of expensive.)


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Sun sparkling snowy morning.
> 
> My green coffee bean order finally arrived, and I’m drinking a blend called “Polar Expresso” right now that I roasted maybe a little too light. It’s refreshing after drinking Starbucks all week though.


Ohhh man ... Starbucks all week will cut into your purgatory time for that sinning. Drinking Starbucks is nothing short of wicked penance.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. 54F presently but should hit the upper 60's today.  Time to break out the winter clothes.

This morning is Maggie's last day school day.  She will miss romping with her schoolmates.  She gets tested today ... one of those standard tests where she fills in the bubbles. Gary is taking extra #2 pencils for her.

Hot cocoa this morning for Gary, but Gary is switching to coffee.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got a bit over 4.25 hours today (that he wasn't supposed to work).
Going home to get Sister(And probably Dad) and go to Cleveland to get two recliners. 

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----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sun sparkling snowy morning.
> 
> My green coffee bean order finally arrived, and I’m drinking a blend called “Polar Expresso” right now that I roasted maybe a little too light. It’s refreshing after drinking Starbucks all week though.
> 
> 
> 
> Ohhh man ... Starbucks all week will cut into your purgatory time for that sinning. Drinking Starbucks is nothing short of wicked penance.
Click to expand...


Mmmmmm, wicked penance.

I don't like light roasts. Whenever I get around to doing my own, it will probably end up tasting like Starbucks or Peet's anyway.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. passing positive thoughts to Maggie!!


----------



## Gary A.

The coffee is brewing. Gary will be cookin' up a pork shoulder today.  He is torn on the methodology ... smoked, crock potted or sous vide.  He is leaning towards sous vide as the Tri-Tip was the best ever. Later this afternoon, he may roast a ton of beans for presents.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. passing positive thoughts to Maggie!!


Maggie was up all night with a study session ... the coffee Gary is brewing is for her.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> The coffee is brewing. Gary will be cookin' up a pork shoulder today.  He is torn on the methodology ... smoked, crock potted or sous vide.  He is leaning towards sous vide as the Tri-Tip was the best ever. Later this afternoon, he may roast a ton of beans for presents.



Sous vide carnitas?


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The coffee is brewing. Gary will be cookin' up a pork shoulder today.  He is torn on the methodology ... smoked, crock potted or sous vide.  He is leaning towards sous vide as the Tri-Tip was the best ever. Later this afternoon, he may roast a ton of beans for presents.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sous vide carnitas?
Click to expand...

LOL ...


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The coffee is brewing. Gary will be cookin' up a pork shoulder today.  He is torn on the methodology ... smoked, crock potted or sous vide.  He is leaning towards sous vide as the Tri-Tip was the best ever. Later this afternoon, he may roast a ton of beans for presents.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sous vide carnitas?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ...
Click to expand...


Perhaps not traditional...but...

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/...-crispy-mexican-style-pulled-pork-recipe.html


----------



## vintagesnaps

Polar Espresso, wasn't that a movie?

Aw little Maggie is all grown up now and graduating, how the time flies!

I am sooo tired... what an exhausting week it's been. Now it's getting into the 40's and the sun is actually out, which it does before gloom 'n doom follows! pushing 50 tomorrow and of course rain with the warmup. I'm going to try to get something done but not too hard I'm not.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The coffee is brewing. Gary will be cookin' up a pork shoulder today.  He is torn on the methodology ... smoked, crock potted or sous vide.  He is leaning towards sous vide as the Tri-Tip was the best ever. Later this afternoon, he may roast a ton of beans for presents.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sous vide carnitas?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Perhaps not traditional...but...
> 
> Sous Vide Carnitas for Tacos (Crispy Mexican-Style Pulled Pork) Recipe
Click to expand...

36 hours of cooking ...


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## davidharmier60

We (Dad and I) went and got the recliners. 
Nice ones. We have a line on two others. 
These two replaced Dads and Sisters. 
The one I sit in is pretty rough. I sincerely hope one of the other two is nicer than the one Dad has. That way I'd get his.
Thinking of going to the Christmas party. 
Got 3.75 hours to talk myself into it....

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----------



## Gary A.

Go!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Go! Maybe somebody'll do something totally scandalous! Or, mildly entertaining. Or, you may get a beverage or snack at least out of the evening. 

What's the worst it could be? if it's not much fun you'll be home early and can come tell us about it, we're easily entertained. I am anyway.


----------



## JonA_CT

My parents bought me a new toy for my birthday


----------



## davidharmier60

It begins at 7pm. By that time I'm usually thinking about sleep. But what the heck.
I MIGHT as well go. I shall be fashionably late like 7:10 to 7:15. A very nice (already married) lady at work says it's fun watching the drunks doing something crazy.

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----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> . . . it's fun watching the drunks doing something crazy.


I agree, unless they are driving.  Then it's fun watching them get cuffed and hauled off to to the police station.


----------



## Gary A.

The pork.




The Herbs and Peppers




The Cookin’


----------



## davidharmier60

I can scarcely believe I'm awake.
A game we were playing came down to
me and a girl across the table.
My dice roll was wrong. She won.
It's raining pretty hard and my truck is about 1/4 of a mile away. Such is life.

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## davidharmier60

Finally quite damp I'm home about to be asleep. 

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----------



## Gary A.

The pork shoulder was quite good, but Gary knows he can do better. It only cooked for about two hours. Four to five hours and the pork would have phenomenal. But it was very good, just not phenomenal. Next time ...


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> The pork shoulder was quite good, but Gary knows he can do better. It only cooked for about two hours. Four to five hours and the pork would have phenomenal. But it was very good, just not phenomenal. Next time ...



Can you cook low and slow with the sous vide?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I bought a 6lb+ pork shoulder for just over 8 bucks. Only me, the other half and Miss Daisy...guess it's time to break out the vacuum sealer and fill the freezer, lol. It shall be an all day affair in the slow cooker though. No fancy French contraption in this home! Lol.


----------



## JonA_CT

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I bought a 6lb+ pork shoulder for just over 8 bucks. Only me, the other half and Miss Daisy...guess it's time to break out the vacuum sealer and fill the freezer, lol. It shall be an all day affair in the slow cooker though. No fancy French contraption in this home! Lol.



It’s easily my favorite cut of pork. So much flavor for so little money! Aldis has boneless pork shoulder as their “pick of the week” about once a month for $1.29 a pound. I buy one every time.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. I guess we've been using sous vide and didn't realize it. LOL We've used vacuum sealing bags for years, for sealing leftovers and dropping them in boiling water from the freezer. Does the device you use really control the temperature of the water that much better. I'm wondering if the induction cooktop we have wouldn't work just as well?


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I bought a 6lb+ pork shoulder for just over 8 bucks. Only me, the other half and Miss Daisy...guess it's time to break out the vacuum sealer and fill the freezer, lol. It shall be an all day affair in the slow cooker though. No fancy French contraption in this home! Lol.



We use the crockpot when we don't have the time to get everything out, but by far the best is the smoker. We have an electric refrigerator style smoker that holds about 40#. When we do a run, we generally load it up with several things, then vacuum seal and freeze.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The pork shoulder was quite good, but Gary knows he can do better. It only cooked for about two hours. Four to five hours and the pork would have phenomenal. But it was very good, just not phenomenal. Next time ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can you cook low and slow with the sous vide?
Click to expand...

Yep. Gary cooks low and slow in the Kamado and the smoker ... but the Sous Vide is easier and much much more versatile. The actual tool can clip on any size pot or tape it into the bathtub and it will cook away.  You can program the sucker or just set the temp and walk away. 

Gary finds the Sous Vide similar to a crock pot but with better control and no way to over cook and dry out. The container in Gary’s images did not come with the tool. It is a Kitchen Aid container that works quite well.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. This is Gary first Mandarin Orange of the season. It is so sweet that Gary is salivating just thinking of eating another.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. I guess we've been using sous vide and didn't realize it. LOL We've used vacuum sealing bags for years, for sealing leftovers and dropping them in boiling water from the freezer. Does the device you use really control the temperature of the water that much better. I'm wondering if the induction cooktop we have wouldn't work just as well?


I’ve only used it three or four times, but to answer your question - absolutely, the Sous Vide has wonderful temp control. It will tell you when the temp has reached the proper temp to insert the food or the pre-set time.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

From the pictures I have seen of them, they look like an aquarium heater on steroids.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Sous Vide has wonderful temp control.



Our induction cooktop has a really precise digital control of temperature, and a timer also.

I can see the advantage of cooking in the vacuum sealed bag (assuming you aren't transferring harmful toxins from the bag ) as it does seal in the moisture. We vacuum seal our BBQ in meal size portions, and have kept it in the freezer up to 12 months without any freezer damage. We had some corn that we finally threw out that had been in the big freezer for almost 3 years. It still looked good, but didn't want to take a chance.


----------



## snowbear

So, sous vide is something like this, huh?


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> So, sous vide is something like this, huh?


Yep.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sous Vide has wonderful temp control.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Our induction cooktop has a really precise digital control of temperature, and a timer also.
> 
> I can see the advantage of cooking in the vacuum sealed bag (assuming you aren't transferring harmful toxins from the bag ) as it does seal in the moisture. We vacuum seal our BBQ in meal size portions, and have kept it in the freezer up to 12 months without any freezer damage. We had some corn that we finally threw out that had been in the big freezer for almost 3 years. It still looked good, but didn't want to take a chance.
Click to expand...

Most food bags are BPA/toxin free. Gary purchased Sous Vide bags which are reusable and have a little valve on them for the included hand pump.


----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> From the pictures I have seen of them, they look like an aquarium heater on steroids.


They not only heat, but also circulates the water.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are on a wine run to Temecula.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are on a wine run to Temecula.



I know wine connoisseurs do love the fruit of the grape, but wouldn't it be easier to drive????


----------



## Gary A.

Driving is for old people and Nuns ... we run for our wine.


----------



## davidharmier60

I must be ancient then. It's 1.25 miles to the neighborhood p.o. boxes and driving is the ONLY way I'll go. About 5.15 to work and same thing applies. 

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----------



## Gary A.

Lorenzi


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sous Vide has wonderful temp control.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Our induction cooktop has a really precise digital control of temperature, and a timer also.
> 
> I can see the advantage of cooking in the vacuum sealed bag (assuming you aren't transferring harmful toxins from the bag ) as it does seal in the moisture. We vacuum seal our BBQ in meal size portions, and have kept it in the freezer up to 12 months without any freezer damage. We had some corn that we finally threw out that had been in the big freezer for almost 3 years. It still looked good, but didn't want to take a chance.
Click to expand...

It would work quite well. But Gary would get an instant read thermometer to check the cooking.


----------



## davidharmier60

We are having an "experimental " casserole  for dinner in about 20 minutes. If I like it it's what I get to eat for the several days. 

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----------



## snowbear

Tonight was kielbasa and julienne red bell pepper, slightly browned and simmered in beer, and mixed veggies.  None of the beer juice for me, as I'm on pain meds.

The purple marker square is still on my shoulder, where they cut.  If it weren't so ugly, I'd snap a shot for the @SquarePeg "What's in a Frame" weekly challenge.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Gary A. said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> From the pictures I have seen of them, they look like an aquarium heater on steroids.
> 
> 
> 
> They not only heat, but also circulates the water.
Click to expand...

Ohhh...with a livestock tank, a six pack and a willing lady, a sous vide has potential! Redneck spa!


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh boy. Monday begins another week.
Off to work in 20 minutes or so. 

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## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. This is a fine morning, the first in a long long time that Gary got to sleep in. No school this morning ... Yea!  46F at 7:52, but it should barely break 70F this afternoon.  We had a very pleasant day in Temecula.  We started at Thornton ... we have always started at Thornton as it is the first winery one comes to and it has excellent food. The wines ... meh ... the sparklings are tasty, but the food is wonderful. We had to eat outside as the help claimed that Maggie was a dog and dogs weren't allowed inside. For the sake of a pleasant morning Gary didn't argue, but it is quite obvious that Miss Maggie is not a dog.  Also in attendance, coming up from San Diego, Gary's youngest daughter Amy and her b/f Will.  The weather was a bit brisk requiring sweaters and windbreakers, but not bad enough to put a damper on the day.  After Thornton, Lorenzi, which my Gary's measurements is the best winery in Temecula.  At Lorenzi, Mary Lou and Gary sipped on their free tastings, collected their member wines and came home early. All-in-all a good day.


----------



## waday

Good Morning.

Monday sucks.

BUT!

Despite my better judgement, I just signed up for a photography workshop. "Against your better judgement, why?", you say? Because it's a winter waterfalls and landscapes workshop, where we get to use crampons and ice axes to avoid us falling down a waterfall. Woohoo!

@Dean_Gretsch , I may be up in your neck of the woods. Ricketts Glen State Park--the wife and I did the Falls Trail before, but it'll be awesome covered in ice (here's to hoping it's actually covered in ice and that we don't have warm weather). I think they still have openings, if you want to join me?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Hi waday. Don't you have to be certified in ice climbing to go to the Glen during this time? I think you have to take a course and have those tools to help with ice.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

And now that I read your full post, I assume this class covers that certification lol.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. We also have the same arguments at restaurants with Sadie. She is far and away better behaved then a lot of unruly kids when parents seem to think it's okay for them to disrupt other diners. There is a restaurant in Gatlinburg, Three Jimmy's, that has an outdoor covered dining area that allows pets. The food is great and the wait staff always makes a fuss over Sadie, bringing her little samples of their fabulous rolls, and her own bowl of water. Sadie gives them a "four paw" rating


----------



## waday

I believe it does, because the day allots for safety/intros/etc. They are providing all of the required hiking/trekking gear, but we provide everything else.

I'm definitely nervous about it, but also very excited.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave isn't quite sure how he did it but he got 5 hours and approximately 3 minutes. 
Trish insists that the whole floor gets mopped tomorrow morning. She says wet floors are ok as long as we have enough signs. Wet footprints are among the ugliest  the floor gets. Should be a real hoot!


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## Dean_Gretsch

I am at work now, but if you will send a pm with dates and details, I will see how the schedule is. Thanks!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. We also have the same arguments at restaurants with Sadie. She is far and away better behaved then a lot of unruly kids when parents seem to think it's okay for them to disrupt other diners. There is a restaurant in Gatlinburg, Three Jimmy's, that has an outdoor covered dining area that allows pets. The food is great and the wait staff always makes a fuss over Sadie, bringing her little samples of their fabulous rolls, and her own bowl of water. Sadie gives them a "four paw" rating


Dogs are allowed in restaurant patios.  Because of the weather, restaurants with patios are extremely common ... and everywhere.  Many places without patios will set up water bowls by the doors. Some restaurants out here have dog menu's available for our four legged friends.  I remember a vet who asked if his black friend was allowed in ... the answer was "Of Course." He walked in with his pooch.  It was pretty amusing.


----------



## terri

^^That's been our experience, as well.   Dogs are nearly always allowed on patios, still on the leash, of course.   They are nearly always content to lay quietly under their parents' chairs or table and bother no one, while the little kids run around freely (and often loudly).     

For me, having them around is the epitome of the "family dining" restaurant.    If you want no kids OR pets, there's another level available.


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> ^^That's been our experience, as well.   Dogs are nearly always allowed on patios, still on the leash, of course.   They are nearly always content to lay quietly under their parents' chairs or table and bother no one, while the little kids run around freely (and often loudly).
> 
> For me, having them around is the epitome of the "family dining" restaurant.    If you want no kids OR pets, there's another level available.


This is what I enjoyed about so many of the small-town pubs in the UK; dogs were common (and generally quiet and well-behaved), children much less so.


----------



## snowbear

I'm staying home today, trying to get healed a little more.

I'm doing some research (not photography) and everything is a jammin' video.  I'm not a jammin' millennial - I can read and I have an attention span longer than 35 seconds.


----------



## snowbear

Portland, ME is a very dog-friendly city.


----------



## smoke665

I find myself shaking my head wondering what they were thinking. On a drug store sign in my state.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

tirediron said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> ^^That's been our experience, as well.   Dogs are nearly always allowed on patios, still on the leash, of course.   They are nearly always content to lay quietly under their parents' chairs or table and bother no one, while the little kids run around freely (and often loudly).
> 
> For me, having them around is the epitome of the "family dining" restaurant.    If you want no kids OR pets, there's another level available.
> 
> 
> 
> This is what I enjoyed about so many of the small-town pubs in the UK; dogs were common (and generally quiet and well-behaved), children much less so.
Click to expand...


----------



## davidharmier60

Dad and Sister left a while ago to go to the VA. For yet ANOTHER eye operation. I'm trying to figure out what to eat for lunch.
Such is life as I know it.

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## Dean_Gretsch

Korean restaurants are ok with dogs too, but they are more likely to be ON the menu.


----------



## snowbear

Well, the work Fire/EMS Department did it again . . . rescued a kitty from the basement of a burning building. 

Very short (0:35) twitter video: Mark Brady on Twitter


----------



## smoke665

@snowbear the temptation was to great there was a fire call less than a mile from the house on Saturday. I slipped away from the house without the guard knowing I had gone to it. I didn't get to do anything, but at least I got to stand by the pumper and BS. Fortunately the wind was blowing the smoke away, or I would have had to leave.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> Well, the work Fire/EMS Department did it again . . . rescued a kitty from the basement of a burning building.
> 
> Very short (0:35) twitter video: Mark Brady on Twitter


I thought they only did trees?


Good on 'em!


----------



## Frank F.

Tonite at a friend's house a Shanty Chois sang seafarer's songs. Superb!

I love the "live culture advent calendar"!


----------



## JonA_CT

Hope everyone had a great Monday. 


I’m making a “kitchen vegetable drawer” chicken soup tonight. I have some potatoes, some homemade chicken stock, some left over chicken, and some noodles to add.


----------



## terri

Beautiful start, Jon - from this photo alone, you can take it anywhere and it's going to be delicious!     Some crusty bread and red wine....YUM.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has Tri-Tip in the Sous Vide.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Gary has. Tri-Tip in the Sous Vide.



All of the world’s tri tip must be sent to CA. That cut is just not available here, haha. 

I’m roasting another batch of the Polar Expresso blend tonight. Gotta get this one darker.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is about to shave and shower and hot the sack.

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## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> All of the world’s tri tip must be sent to CA. That cut is just not available here, haha.



It's used for sole leather on better quality shoes rest of the country


----------



## yamaha pat

I've heard of it called bottom sirloin and Newport back east.


----------



## The wife!

snowbear said:


> Portland, ME is a very dog-friendly city.


Planet Dog in Portland, ME is a great place to stop for new toys or treats. 
Planet Dog


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> All of the world’s tri tip must be sent to CA. That cut is just not available here, haha.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's used for sole leather on better quality shoes rest of the country
Click to expand...




 
A nice afternoon in the patio with friends. 



 
Out of the bag into the frying pan. 



 
Fini


 
The recipe called for 16 hours of cooking. Gary cooked for only four hours. It was still tender, flavorful and delish. Soon Gary will cook something for the full and recommended time.


----------



## davidharmier60

Soon Dave will go and beat his head against the wall trying to mop the whole store.

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## Frank F.

Frank ly I am not a fan of decoration AT ALL ... Chrstmas decoration has not even begun ... already four items clutter our kitchen table!


----------



## JonA_CT

The coffee is much better after an additional 3 minutes in the roaster compared to last time. 

It’s Tuesday, and I’m taking 40 7th graders to the theater this morning to see A Christmas Carol. Should be a good trip.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> @snowbear the temptation was to great there was a fire call less than a mile from the house on Saturday. I slipped away from the house without the guard knowing I had gone to it. I didn't get to do anything, but at least I got to stand by the pumper and BS. Fortunately the wind was blowing the smoke away, or I would have had to leave.


Public safety is like herpes: it gets in your blood and you can never get rid of it.


----------



## smoke665

@snowbear The words of the guy who taught my First Responder/EMT Basic class years ago still rings in my ears - glove up before you leave the truck so you don't take home something Ajax won't wash off 

Fires are what gets the adrenaline pumping though. Advancing on the beast, to see the dragon emerge from the blackness, and to feel the heat. That's what I miss most.  Being a volunteer was my diversion from the mundane life, yeah it was service to community but it was the excitement that kept me responding.


----------



## Peeb

Every time I drink a cup from a single-cup pod, it like a tiny vacation in my mouth.  Even off-brand pods on sale are so much more expensive than just plain ol' coffee in a regular drip coffee maker.  Feels kinda extravagant in a way that makes me happy.

BTW, you can get the clover valley brand pods at Dollar General on sale on Saturdays with the $5 off coupon (on purchases of $25+) for around $0.33 per cup!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> The coffee is much better after an additional 3 minutes in the roaster compared to last time.
> 
> It’s Tuesday, and I’m taking 40 7th graders to the theater this morning to see A Christmas Carol. Should be a good trip.


Gary roasts by eye not by clock.  All of Gary’s roasts are slightly different. Gary is now cooking up different color roasts for his multi-roasts blend.  The darker roasts easily overwhelm the lighter roasts, but there is still a touch of lightness in every cup.


----------



## Gary A.

Hamilton Update:  
Most Expensive - $10,498.95 each
Cheapest - $544.00 each


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is drinking a Holiday Tea this morning - White Chocolate Peppermint Flavoured Rooibos Blend.  meh ... Gary is grinding up some coffee.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave had the better part of 4.5 hours. 
The floor machine and buffer were "fixed".
The floor machine still left a lot of ugliness. It had pretty thin pads on it.
It picked up a LOT of dirt!
Tomorrow I scrub again with thicker pads. 
Then buff. It MUST look good before I leave tomorrow. Now I must go get a drum of soap for my Dad from my Uncle and take it to Houston. 

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## Gary A.

Crazy story in the paper today.

 “Sierra Nevada grew an inch during drought”
“Study says mountains rose as they lost 10.8 cubic miles of water from 2011 to 2015.”

“The Sierra Nevada drew nearly an inch taller during the recent drought and shrank by half an inch when water and snow returned to the area, according to new research from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge.”


----------



## Gary A.

Aaaahhhh coffee in a holiday mug. Gary’s day is back on track. 8:14 a.m. and 48F outside (maybe inside too as the HVAC is off), may not break 70F today.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Crazy story in the paper today.
> 
> “Sierra Nevada grew an inch during drought”
> “Study says mountains rose as they lost 10.8 cubic miles of water from 2011 to 2015.”
> 
> “The Sierra Nevada drew nearly an inch taller during the recent drought and shrank by half an inch when water and snow returned to the area, according to new research from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge.”


That must be an impressive tape measure


----------



## smoke665

Good morning @Gary A. Or in just a few mins I could say good afternoon.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> @snowbear The words of the guy who taught my First Responder/EMT Basic class years ago still rings in my ears - glove up before you leave the truck so you don't take home something Ajax won't wash off
> 
> Fires are what gets the adrenaline pumping though. Advancing on the beast, to see the dragon emerge from the blackness, and to feel the heat. That's what I miss most.  Being a volunteer was my diversion from the mundane life, yeah it was service to community but it was the excitement that kept me responding.


I couldn't agree more.  Even from being on the dispatch side (I was also a volly for a year or so), just hearing the sirens sparks something.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Crazy story in the paper today.
> 
> “Sierra Nevada grew an inch during drought”
> “Study says mountains rose as they lost 10.8 cubic miles of water from 2011 to 2015.”
> 
> “The Sierra Nevada drew nearly an inch taller during the recent drought and shrank by half an inch when water and snow returned to the area, according to new research from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge.”
> 
> 
> 
> That must be an impressive tape measure
Click to expand...

The ground is rebounding from the glaciation of the last ice age - even where I am.  The movement is very slow and very small, but it is measurable.  We are bouncing.


----------



## davidharmier60

I believe our portion of the world is actually  falling since we use underground water a lot. But I couldn't actually tell you that officially....

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----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Crazy story in the paper today.
> 
> “Sierra Nevada grew an inch during drought”
> “Study says mountains rose as they lost 10.8 cubic miles of water from 2011 to 2015.”
> 
> “The Sierra Nevada drew nearly an inch taller during the recent drought and shrank by half an inch when water and snow returned to the area, according to new research from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge.”
> 
> 
> 
> That must be an impressive tape measure
Click to expand...

Gary thinks JPL uses the door jam methodology ... every year they line up the Sierra Nevada in a door jam and make a mark level with the top of the head.


----------



## Gary A.

Maggie trying to pin M͠a͠x͠.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Frank I like those decorations, you ol' Scrooge! lol I like the cinnamon sticks and fruit slices, that's a nice look to a candle ring. I like something a little different.

How do you make those star looking bows? Those are kind of unusual.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Dirtying two pans again (or a pan and a contraption)... Nope. Well maybe if somebody else was going to wash the extra pan. LOL I don't think anybody has done any sous vide yet on Top Chef, I don't mind watching someone else do the cooking and dirtying of the pans.

If I wanted to make soup out of what's in the so-called vegetable drawer in the fridge it would have to be photo chemistry 'soup'. The other drawer is hopelessly jammed so there go those two drawers. My best friend keeps saying I need one of those little college dorm fridges for film.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is roasting away.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 151128
> Gary is roasting away.



My mom has that same exact colander.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 151128
> Gary is roasting away.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My mom has that same exact colander.
Click to expand...

LOL ... this one came with Mary Lou.  Had I know that the colander was part of the package ... my life, most likely, would have been much different.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Dirtying two pans again (or a pan and a contraption)... Nope. Well maybe if somebody else was going to wash the extra pan. LOL I don't think anybody has done any sous vide yet on Top Chef, I don't mind watching someone else do the cooking and dirtying of the pans.
> 
> If I wanted to make soup out of what's in the so-called vegetable drawer in the fridge it would have to be photo chemistry 'soup'. The other drawer is hopelessly jammed so there go those two drawers. My best friend keeps saying I need one of those little college dorm fridges for film.


Gary thinks you have a dirty pan phobia.  If you ever saw Gary cook, no matter what he may be cooking, he tries to use every pot and pan in the house.  The Sous Vide is quite clean compared to other cooking.  The bag can be reusable ... but if you'd rather not, then just toss the zip-lock bag.  The food is marinated and cooked in the same bag.  Whence finished with the cooking, you can toss the bag.  Gary recycles the water onto potted plants then wipes/drys clean. The contraption is wiped/drys clean.  The only actually washing will be with the pan used for searing. One pan ... fini.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 151128
> Gary is roasting away.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My mom has that same exact colander.
Click to expand...

My great, great, great, grandmother did too.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. The pictures of the Tri Tip you sent me earlier, jogged my memory. From the looks of it you trim off the exterior membrane/fat/etc. before you cook it?? The one we tried was a pre-marinated, in a bag, and no directions to the contrary, so I think we may have cooked it without trimming off the outer membrane. I just remember we couldn't eat it, because it was so tough. Which really sucked, because the sample we had in the store was nothing like that.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has been roasting away all afternoon. Mary Lou made a run to the post office and brought Gary back a frozen yogurt.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is tired of roasting and jumping into the shower.  The chicken is cooked (but not seared), the Sous Vide will keep the chicken at 158F until Gary is ready to sear and give the chicken it's final temp raise to 165F. In the bag is chicken, olive oil, basil, rosemary and spices.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is but 30ish minutes for sleep. 
Working on a pressure washer in the back of the truck will do a soul in. Got the darn thing working however. Some stuff in the valves (intake). And some fiddling with other parts. Whatever we make goes towards a DSLR. 

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## Gary A.

The Sous Vide Chicken is very very good. This was Gary’s first chicken so there is a lot of room for improvements... but this is a great start.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Crazy story in the paper today.
> 
> “Sierra Nevada grew an inch during drought”
> “Study says mountains rose as they lost 10.8 cubic miles of water from 2011 to 2015.”
> 
> “The Sierra Nevada drew nearly an inch taller during the recent drought and shrank by half an inch when water and snow returned to the area, according to new research from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge.”
> 
> 
> 
> That must be an impressive tape measure
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The ground is rebounding from the glaciation of the last ice age - even where I am.  The movement is very slow and very small, but it is measurable.  We are bouncing.
Click to expand...

Maggie bounces, a mountain range does not bounce.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh, well, if the sous vide thingy doesn't need to actually be _washed_ then I'd be good! lol 

It is ridiculous, but much of my life is I suppose... I realize (on a more serious note I guess) with a stroke being life changing that how I do something may not make a whole lot of sense. I do whatever works, which includes fewer dishes! lol I'm a one pot kind o' gal! Not that I wasn't anyway.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary’s ex was a Type 1 diabetic and he learned first hand how chronic health issues can affect one’s daily routines in so many different ways.  Gary completely understands your desire to simplify and downsize.


----------



## Frank F.

we watch LaLaLand, the musical film and I have to think of Gary all the time. I immediately recognised the road that leads up to the Griffith Observatory and I was right ... haha ... LA looks much better in the film than in reality! Great Actors, lighting, music ...


----------



## davidharmier60

Good morning peeps. 
Busy day at work today. 
Coffee should be ready enough. 

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## limr

Hey hosers.

Saw _The Last Jedi_ last night. Now I need Rebel Alliance paraphernalia. Need to see it again. Saw it with some folks from work at one of those theaters that serves actual food in the theater. I had a beer and a big pretzel. Spilled mustard on my dress, though. Don't care. Would do it again.

Just fyi, leaving out the subjects of sentences generally means I'm kinda broken and punchy. Which I am, right now. Crawling towards the end of the week on my bloody stumps.

Need more coffee.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Saw _The Last Jedi_ last night. Now I need Rebel Alliance paraphernalia. Need to see it again. Saw it with some folks from work at one of those theaters that serves actual food in the theater. I had a beer and a big pretzel. Spilled mustard on my dress, though. Don't care. Would do it again.
> 
> Just fyi, leaving out the subjects of sentences generally means I'm kinda broken and punchy. Which I am, right now. Crawling towards the end of the week on my bloody stumps.
> 
> Need more coffee.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Saw _The Last Jedi_ last night. Now I need Rebel Alliance paraphernalia. Need to see it again. Saw it with some folks from work at one of those theaters that serves actual food in the theater. I had a beer and a big pretzel. Spilled mustard on my dress, though. Don't care. Would do it again.
> 
> Just fyi, leaving out the subjects of sentences generally means I'm kinda broken and punchy. Which I am, right now. Crawling towards the end of the week on my bloody stumps.
> 
> Need more coffee.


MLW want's to see the whole series, but in the order of the story, not the order released.  Marathon ahead.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Saw _The Last Jedi_ last night. Now I need Rebel Alliance paraphernalia. Need to see it again. Saw it with some folks from work at one of those theaters that serves actual food in the theater. I had a beer and a big pretzel. Spilled mustard on my dress, though. Don't care. Would do it again.
> 
> Just fyi, leaving out the subjects of sentences generally means I'm kinda broken and punchy. Which I am, right now. Crawling towards the end of the week on my bloody stumps.
> 
> Need more coffee.


LOL ... according to Mary Lou, social media and text has lowered the proper use of the English language.  Mary Lou, Tom and Gary have tickets this evening to see _The Last Jedi_ in Pasadena. Tom wanted to go over the weekend, but Gary protested stating the lines will go on for miles. One of those theaters which has assigned seating.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  8:00 and 46F right now.  Projected to hit 59F ... so winter has hit God's little acre. Maggie has been very very timid whence Mary Lou and Gary kidnapped her and ripped her away from her family, siblings and the life she knew.  Over time her shyness, anxiety and timidity has reduced and Gary thinks she has passed a benchmark where her Maggieness has overshadowed her timidity. She is so much happier now most of the time ... possibly all the time time.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... according to Mary Lou, social media and text has lowered the proper use of the English language.  Mary Lou, Tom and Gary have tickets this evening to see _The Last Jedi_ in Pasadena. Tom wanted to go over the weekend, but Gary protested stating the lines will go on for miles. One of those theaters which has assigned seating.



Possible, though dropping subjects purposely is a style choice, not a grammatical error 

The theater I went to also had assigned seating. It was all actually quite civilized, really. Normally, seeing a movie in a crowded theater gives me a wiked spike in my anxiety, but this theater has become one of my favorites, now. It was so much calmer, and though it was a packed theater, it didn't feel as crowded as it was.

ETA: Oh yeah. And if anyone uses a cell phone, they get a warning. Second time? They get escorted out without a refund. Definitely my new favorite theater.



> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  8:00 and 46F right now.  Projected to hit 59F ... so "winter" has hit God's little acre.



(Ironic quotation marks mine.)


----------



## Gary A.

Correction, Gary thinks social media and texting has "lowered" the language ... Mary Lou actually thinks that social media and texting has "changed" the language. She agrees with you on "style choice" and "grammatical error".  Gary doesn't give a rat's about being that particular.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Over time her shyness, anxiety and timidity has reduced and Gary thinks she has passed a benchmark where her Maggieness has overshadowed her timidity.



Sadie Mae was that way at first. It took several months for her to sort out her new surroundings and become Queen of the castle. Now she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt she owns it! LOL


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Correction, Gary thinks social media and texting has "lowered" the language ... Mary Lou actually thinks that social media and texting has "changed" the language. She agrees with you on "style choice" and "grammatical error".  Gary doesn't give a rat's about being that particular.



Mary Lou and I are simpatico.


----------



## Gary A.

@ smoke665-  The Los Angeles Times has an article in the Business Section on Tesla building a heavy haul vehicle. The head reads "E-hauling interest fuels demand for Tesla Semi". Limited pre-orders have come in from UPS, PepsiCo, Anheuser-Busch, Sysco and Walmart. This is part of that AFV/State of California ramp up plan Gary spoke of in a different thread. The semi is scheduled for distribution in 2019.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. saw a similar article in Reuters. The prototype is a day cab model operating in the 300 mile daily range. In a stop and go scenario where the unit could provide some charging assistance along the way it holds promise. However in an over the road scenario they still say the battery cost and weight would be way more than the benefit.


----------



## limr




----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got few minutes under 6.25.
Told ya busy day. We have 9 pretty good dogs. One little wild hair terrier thinks she is the boss. One lab shepherd mix boy thinks anything in the food bowls is his.
Other than those two it's all good.

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----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. saw a similar article in Reuters. The prototype is a day cab model operating in the 300 mile daily range. In a stop and go scenario where the unit could provide some charging assistance along the way it holds promise. However in an over the road scenario they still say the battery cost and weight would be way more than the benefit.


The usefulness is also I would think, going to be heavily load-dependent.  For relatively light, local loads, I can see it working, but I suspect once you start grossing 75,000 - 125,000 even for short-haul routes I don't see it being very effective.


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> The usefulness is also I would think, going to be heavily load-dependent. For relatively light, local loads, I can see it working, but I suspect once you start grossing 75,000 - 125,000 even for short-haul routes I don't see it being very effective.



That sort of depends on the locality and state laws on state routes. Federal law in the states limits maximum gross to 80,000 on any federal highway. However, many states including ours allow you to buy an x9 tag, that gives you 20k per axle subject to the bridge law formula. Something that's been debated strongly because of the damage to rural roads in a timber heavy state. 

So assuming the states allow similar variances on electric trucks, then the weight factor of the batteries wouldn't be as critical. Still the stop and go "regenerative" ability of the vehicle would be critical. Then it will be up to the cities to determine if the extra wear and tear on their roads and bridges is an acceptable cost in return for the cleaner air. As in all things there is no free lunch. I still  believe the hybrid truck that uses a generator/motor encircling and using the flywheel and a much smaller internal combustion engine is a better alternative in intercity use. When power is needed the genmotor applies additional boost, but when you slow down it puts charge back to the batteries and slows the vehicle.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. saw a similar article in Reuters. The prototype is a day cab model operating in the 300 mile daily range. In a stop and go scenario where the unit could provide some charging assistance along the way it holds promise. However in an over the road scenario they still say the battery cost and weight would be way more than the benefit.





smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. saw a similar article in Reuters. The prototype is a day cab model operating in the 300 mile daily range. In a stop and go scenario where the unit could provide some charging assistance along the way it holds promise. However in an over the road scenario they still say the battery cost and weight would be way more than the benefit.


The trailer holds about 18 feet of batteries.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A. saw a similar article in Reuters. The prototype is a day cab model operating in the 300 mile daily range. In a stop and go scenario where the unit could provide some charging assistance along the way it holds promise. However in an over the road scenario they still say the battery cost and weight would be way more than the benefit.
> 
> 
> 
> The usefulness is also I would think, going to be heavily load-dependent.  For relatively light, local loads, I can see it working, but I suspect once you start grossing 75,000 - 125,000 even for short-haul routes I don't see it being very effective.
Click to expand...

The prototype looks like a bonafide heavy load.


----------



## vintagesnaps

'The Last Jedi in Pasadena'?? A lot of Jedi in Pasadena there must be.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Tesla better hurry up and build their latest whatever before Elon launches himself off to Mars; that might be the end of that company. He does know there's nothing there, doesn't he?? No internet connections, no cell phone towers, and if that's not bad enough, no running water or breathable air! lol


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> The usefulness is also I would think, going to be heavily load-dependent. For relatively light, local loads, I can see it working, but I suspect once you start grossing 75,000 - 125,000 even for short-haul routes I don't see it being very effective.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That sort of depends on the locality and state laws on state routes. Federal law in the states limits maximum gross to 80,000 on any federal highway. However, many states including ours allow you to buy an x9 tag, that gives you 20k per axle subject to the bridge law formula. Something that's been debated strongly because of the damage to rural roads in a timber heavy state.
> 
> So assuming the states allow similar variances on electric trucks, then the weight factor of the batteries wouldn't be as critical. Still the stop and go "regenerative" ability of the vehicle would be critical. Then it will be up to the cities to determine if the extra wear and tear on their roads and bridges is an acceptable cost in return for the cleaner air. As in all things there is no free lunch. I still  believe the hybrid truck that uses a generator/motor encircling and using the flywheel and a much smaller internal combustion engine is a better alternative in intercity use. When power is needed the genmotor applies additional boost, but when you slow down it puts charge back to the batteries and slows the vehicle.
Click to expand...

Good point, 'though i was actually thinking more of power draw based on load rather than road restrictions.  Assuming it will be similar to a locomotive; a truck with ten tons on level ground might require a 100 amp draw, but the same truck starting on a 4% upgrade might need 400 amps, and one with a 20 ton load on the same 4% grade would require 1600 amps.  This is going to drastically reduce battery life and thus vehicle range.  I agree that the genset model is the only one that makes sense; pure electric just isn't feasible.


----------



## smoke665

@tirediron I haven't really looked but are the newer electric vehicles going with DC or AC like the newer locomotives.


----------



## SquarePeg

Frank F. said:


> we watch LaLaLand, the musical film and I have to think of Gary all the time. I immediately recognised the road that leads up to the Griffith Observatory and I was right ... haha ... LA looks much better in the film than in reality! Great Actors, lighting, music ...



I saw LaLa last night for the first time - would not normally have watched something like that but I remembered Gary saying it was entertaining.  I enjoyed it for the most part.  Great scenery and I like the acting.  Not a huge fan of the dance numbers with Emma Stone but all in all it was entertaining and enjoyable.



limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Saw _The Last Jedi_ last night. Now I need Rebel Alliance paraphernalia. Need to see it again. Saw it with some folks from work at one of those theaters that serves actual food in the theater. I had a beer and a big pretzel. Spilled mustard on my dress, though. Don't care. Would do it again.
> 
> Just fyi, leaving out the subjects of sentences generally means I'm kinda broken and punchy. Which I am, right now. Crawling towards the end of the week on my bloody stumps.
> 
> Need more coffee.



Saw it Sunday night on a whim.  Pulled up the movie app on my phone and saw a single good seat available and was in my seat watching the movie 15 minutes later.  I really liked it.  Since the movie I've seen a lot of social media posts trashing it but most of those are from purists nerds, lol.  I love those movie theaters with the dine in but only for a movie that you can follow without hearing everything.  We used to take the kids to one for all the new kids movies.  



Gary A. said:


> Correction, Gary thinks social media and texting has "lowered" the language ... Mary Lou actually thinks that social media and texting has "changed" the language. She agrees with you on "style choice" and "grammatical error".  Gary doesn't give a rat's about being that particular.



I seem to switch back and forth from the causal to the formal grammatical styles these days.  If I take the time to reread my messages I usually go back and add the subjects and punctuation.  If I'm in a hurry or using talk to text - all bets are off.  My daughter makes fun of my texts because I use full sentences and punctuation.  I read recently that some employers are using grammar and punctuation style to determine age of potential interviewees.  Apparently using 2 spaces after a period marks you as old.  I'm old.


----------



## Gary A.

Due to Leo’s college major, Gary has been very careful with his postings on TPF.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Due to Leo’s college major, Gary has been very careful with his postings on TPF.



I majored in Linguistics, not Judgy English Professor Studies


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Due to Leo’s college major, Gary has been very careful with his postings on TPF.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I majored in Linguistics, not Judgy English Professor Studies
Click to expand...


My BA is in English, and I still don’t care!


----------



## davidharmier60

We (Dad and i) took the pressure washer I worked on back. I got $162 towards a DSLR purchase. And I got a $30 bonus from work. If only I had a computer and PayPal I'd be all set. As it is I will be on a Pawn shop hunt. My heart is set on a 40D. 
But if a 30 to 50 is there.....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

I BS in English all the time!


----------



## SquarePeg

HoHoHosers!  Last day of work for me until 12/26.  Yippee !!!!!


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> @tirediron I haven't really looked but are the newer electric vehicles going with DC or AC like the newer locomotives.


Good question; I assumed it was DC; but in fact AC would make a lot more sense, wouldn't it?


----------



## Gary A.

Las Posadas, a Mexican tradition, re-enacts the travels of Joseph and Mary as they traveled door to door seeking shelter on the night of Jesus' birth.

I realized that in many ways Olvera Street, the first street of Los Angeles and location where settlers marched nine miles from nearby Mission San Gabriel, broke ground under a giant Oak Tree and created the City of Angels and La Posada were similar.

The following images are of both Olvera Street and the Posada, a passing glimpse of a small fragment of Los Angeles and Mexico.

#1






#2





#3





#4





#5





#6





#7





#8





#9





#10


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> Good question; I assumed it was DC; but in fact AC would make a lot more sense, wouldn't it?



It's my understanding that they shifted from DC to AC on the locomotives for better efficiency? So I don't know. Apparently some use brushless DC, but Telsa uses AC.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good question; I assumed it was DC; but in fact AC would make a lot more sense, wouldn't it?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's my understanding that they shifted from DC to AC on the locomotives for better efficiency? So I don't know. Apparently some use brushless DC, but Telsa uses AC.
Click to expand...

AC is more efficient for starting, stopping variable speed, etc..  if it was just a matter of getting up  to speed and staying there, than it would be DC all the way, but for an intra-city hauler?  AC makes total sense.


----------



## smoke665

@tirediron haven't paid much attention to the Tesla but may have to follow this a little more in the future. Not only does it use an AC motor it's a 3 phase 4 pole motor.


----------



## davidharmier60

My theory is that power such as a locomotive uses would be good for cars and trucks. A little 3cyl. Diesel could turn a generator that could power two or even all four wheels.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> we watch LaLaLand, the musical film and I have to think of Gary all the time. I immediately recognised the road that leads up to the Griffith Observatory and I was right ... haha ... LA looks much better in the film than in reality! Great Actors, lighting, music ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I saw LaLa last night for the first time - would not normally have watched something like that but I remembered Gary saying it was entertaining.  I enjoyed it for the most part.  Great scenery and I like the acting.  Not a huge fan of the dance numbers with Emma Stone but all in all it was entertaining and enjoyable.
Click to expand...



I loved the quotes and the style from all the old musicals. Emma Stone is very special and delicate!


----------



## Frank F.

Great memories, Gary!
This is very near to the place, less than 10 minutes walking...


----------



## waday

Happy Holidays, all!

And, I hope Santa brings me a new car, because mine just me left alone on the highway. Ugh.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Happy Holidays, all!
> 
> And, I hope Santa brings me a new car, because mine just me left alone on the highway. Ugh.



Yikes!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  38F presently at 7:11 a.m. Yes, winter is finally here.  A high no more than 62F is in the forecast. Time for blankets, boots and electrified underwear. 

A bit of drizzle last night ... most likely not measurable, but enough to bring up oil on the roadways for easy tire spinouts and accidents.  On the way to Pasadena yesterday, Mary Lou and Gary  were waiting patiently at a red light when we heard the squeal of tires then a boom and a secondary long crunnnnch.  Mary Lou looked in the mirror and two cars behind us provided confirmation of the Pauli exclusion principle.  Be that as it may, the Last Jedi was well worth the price of admission. It was a very entertaining, very well made, very long movie.  mmmmmhhhh okay, five stars.

Gary did not and has never liked Adam Driver as an actor and in this grand intergalactic movie, the feeling is reinforced. Gary feels the movie would have been significantly improved if Driver had kept his helmet on.

Gary has lots of packages to wrap.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Happy Holidays, all!
> 
> And, I hope Santa brings me a new car, because mine just me left alone on the highway. Ugh.


Ohhh man, that sucks.  Mine is in the shop.  Gary hopes the fix is something easy, simple and cheap.


----------



## Gary A.

Hamilton Update:  Cheapest tickets start at $935.00 for tonight's show.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Happy Holidays, all!
> 
> And, I hope Santa brings me a new car, because mine just me left alone on the highway. Ugh.



Oh no!  I hope you didn't have the little one with you.


----------



## waday

Thanks @limr , @SquarePeg , and @Gary A. !

No little one with me, thankfully! Also, glad it happened today, because I was traveling yesterday!

So, supposedly it is a known problem with my transmission. So known that Subaru had an extended warranty free replacement for the part. 

No cost to me! Woohoo! Thanks Santa!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Tried 1/2 and 1/2 Salted Caramel and Pumpkin Spice. It wasn't so great, but I still managed to drink it. I mean, coffee is coffee! 

Those intergalactic Jedi in Pasadena need to go back to driver's training. 

So do people here, early 10 p.m. news showed an interstate closed due to a multi car accident. At 10 o'clock at night?? Then next day after the noon news a shooting. The weather is unseasonably warm and sunny so things get revved up. Can't these people figure out a better way to enjoy nice weather?

ToysRUs announcement - it's almost Christmas. Really?? lol


----------



## davidharmier60

Yesterday on the way back from Houston an 18 Wheeler made mincemeat out of a GM Tahoe.  Clear weather dry road.
Who can predict idiocy?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

waday said:


> Thanks @limr , @SquarePeg , and @Gary A. !
> 
> No little one with me, thankfully! Also, glad it happened today, because I was traveling yesterday!
> 
> So, supposedly it is a known problem with my transmission. So known that Subaru had an extended warranty free replacement for the part.
> 
> No cost to me! Woohoo! Thanks Santa!


All's well that ends well!  Glad it turned out that way.


----------



## waday

terri said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks @limr , @SquarePeg , and @Gary A. !
> 
> No little one with me, thankfully! Also, glad it happened today, because I was traveling yesterday!
> 
> So, supposedly it is a known problem with my transmission. So known that Subaru had an extended warranty free replacement for the part.
> 
> No cost to me! Woohoo! Thanks Santa!
> 
> 
> 
> All's well that ends well!  Glad it turned out that way.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I am very lucky it turned out that way


----------



## snowbear

I missed this earlier - glad everything turned out well, Wade.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is in a good mood. Gary purchased a very expensive Integra receiver ... shortly after warranty it stopped.  Gary was never very happy with it and it finally went kaput. Today he installed and powerup a replacement receiver, a Yamaha, a quarter the price and it works perfectly.  The speakers never sounded better and the subwoofer is pounding away and all the HMDI fittings are working.  Vino and music at Gary's ... come on by.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary is in a good mood. Gary purchased a very expensive Integra receiver ... shortly after warranty it stopped.  Gary was never very happy with it and it finally went kaput. Today he installed and powerup a replacement receiver, a Yamaha, a quarter the price and it works perfectly.  The speakers never sounded better and the subwoofer is pounding away and all the HMDI fittings are working.  Vino and music at Gary's ... come on by.



I can't, putting in glow plugs the Chevy 2500HD today. What a flippin job, I'm over it. I should be done with them in the morning. Pretty much done, got them all out. Will put in the new ones in the AM. It's suppose to get real cold on Christmas and I have important sales calls on Tuesday and Wednesday. They were toast (literally) to say the least, original ones it appears. Passenger side was easy, driver side makes you cuss like a drunken sailor.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@waday Happy to see you were taken well care of. My other half spent her money well and bought a Crosstrek a couple years ago. We have been very happy with it.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. We put in a Yamaha A/V home theater receiver when we finished out our basement. It's worked great, though I've yet to figure out all the features it has. I know it's a real PITA when granddaughter gets her hands on a remote.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever I find my body refuses to bend in the shapes required to do much under the hood mechanical work anymore.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever I find my body refuses to bend in the shapes required to do much under the hood mechanical work anymore.



Well this is more like sit on a rolling creeper stool. You pull the fender well covers out and they're right there. It took a while to get the pull barn toasty. Clips are fiddley without the proper tool but you get through it or like I did, break them and buy more. Passenger side, the plugs are right there, easy for the taking but the driver side, lots of stuff and clips to move / remove. I changed the fuel filter while I was at it. Took me about four hours to get them out and install a new fuel filter, in between cups of coffee, answering customer calls, and getting yelled at by the wife. Oh, I also put a truck side plow power cable on as well, I pinched the harness yesterday trying to take the blade off. A crap load of wires to heat shrink but that's done too. Saving the father in law a few bucks... again...


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. We put in a Yamaha A/V home theater receiver when we finished out our basement. It's worked great, though I've yet to figure out all the features it has. I know it's a real PITA when granddaughter gets her hands on a remote.


So far so good, going through the manual to hookup the network, bluetooth and such ... the Integra weights 45 lbs, the Yamaha half that.


----------



## SquarePeg

I crushed it today.  Walmart, Home Depot, Staples, Trader Joe’s, mani/pedi for the dog, Target #1, Bed and Bath, Hallmark store, lunch with Princess after school, post office, Target #2, groceries, laundry, vacuumed, cooked dinner...   Got so much done that I may have to schedule in a mani pedi tomorrow to fill my day off.  Or go to work to get some rest!  

And one of my new lenses arrived.  Going to sit back and relax and enjoy a nice pomegranate martini and some snacks.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> I missed this earlier - glad everything turned out well, Wade.


Thank you!



Dean_Gretsch said:


> @waday Happy to see you were taken well care of. My other half spent her money well and bought a Crosstrek a couple years ago. We have been very happy with it.


Thanks! I’ve been happy with Subaru, as this is my third.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> I crushed it today.



If you can figure out how to bottle what set you on fire today, you could make a fortune!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is in a good mood. Gary purchased a very expensive Integra receiver ... shortly after warranty it stopped.  Gary was never very happy with it and it finally went kaput. Today he installed and powerup a replacement receiver, a Yamaha, a quarter the price and it works perfectly.  The speakers never sounded better and the subwoofer is pounding away and all the HMDI fittings are working.  Vino and music at Gary's ... come on by.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I can't, putting in glow plugs the Chevy 2500HD today. What a flippin job, I'm over it. I should be done with them in the morning. Pretty much done, got them all out. Will put in the new ones in the AM. It's suppose to get real cold on Christmas and I have important sales calls on Tuesday and Wednesday. They were toast (literally) to say the least, original ones it appears. Passenger side was easy, driver side makes you cuss like a drunken sailor.
Click to expand...

I hate it when car makers make it so only a special tool can access what should be fair game.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> I crushed it today.  Walmart, Home Depot, Staples, Trader Joe’s, mani/pedi for the dog, Target #1, Bed and Bath, Hallmark store, lunch with Princess after school, post office, Target #2, groceries, laundry, vacuumed, cooked dinner...   Got so much done that I may have to schedule in a mani pedi tomorrow to fill my day off.  Or go to work to get some rest!
> 
> And one of my new lenses arrived.  Going to sit back and relax and enjoy a nice pomegranate martini and some snacks.


Damn  Girl ... you are Gary's hero.  He's still downloading the upgrade for the receiver.


----------



## Gary A.

And the lens is a ...?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is in a good mood. Gary purchased a very expensive Integra receiver ... shortly after warranty it stopped.  Gary was never very happy with it and it finally went kaput. Today he installed and powerup a replacement receiver, a Yamaha, a quarter the price and it works perfectly.  The speakers never sounded better and the subwoofer is pounding away and all the HMDI fittings are working.  Vino and music at Gary's ... come on by.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I can't, putting in glow plugs the Chevy 2500HD today. What a flippin job, I'm over it. I should be done with them in the morning. Pretty much done, got them all out. Will put in the new ones in the AM. It's suppose to get real cold on Christmas and I have important sales calls on Tuesday and Wednesday. They were toast (literally) to say the least, original ones it appears. Passenger side was easy, driver side makes you cuss like a drunken sailor.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I hate it when car makers make it so only a special tool can access what should be fair game.
Click to expand...


that's what good, new, swear words are for.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> And the lens is a ...?



Fuji 23mm f2 wr


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever I actually like working on cars, trucks, tractors, whatever, I find it relaxing but unfortunately I pay for it for several days after. My hands and joints remind me I'm an idiot.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> And the lens is a ...?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fuji 23mm f2 wr
Click to expand...


Oh my, what a lens.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> . . . makes you cuss like a drunken sailor.



It's long, but funny - best part's near the end.


----------



## limr

Hosers, I am in the middle of one of my 3-day headaches, and I have a 2-hour meeting tomorrow morning. The last day of the semester before we all go on break for a week, and I have a 2-hour meeting. With a migraine.

Yeah yeah yeah, first world problems, I know, but still, jeez, what the hell, universe?


----------



## limr

Okay, so I'm broken and punchy, and this made me laugh far harder than it warranted.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hosers, I am in the middle of one of my 3-day headaches, and I have a 2-hour meeting tomorrow morning. The last day of the semester before we all go on break for a week, and I have a 2-hour meeting. With a migraine.
> 
> Yeah yeah yeah, first world problems, I know, but still, jeez, what the hell, universe?



My sympathies on the migraine.  Nothing worse than having to concentrate and look interested and intelligent when all you really want to do is either curl up in a ball or toss your cookies.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning peeps.  I have yet to confirm but after work this morning I'm off for 3 days. 
At least that's what I believe....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Morning hosers. 4.5 hours of chaos today, and I’m free for 10 days.

The current forecast is for 2-4 inches of snow Christmas Eve into Christmas Day. I’m not sure the last time that happened around here (where it actually snowed on Christmas).


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Morning hosers. 4.5 hours of chaos today, and I’m free for 10 days.
> 
> The current forecast is for 2-4 inches of snow Christmas Eve into Christmas Day. I’m not sure the last time that happened around here (where it actually snowed on Christmas).



I told Princess she could stay home today if she wanted. They do absolutely nothing on the half day before holiday break. I believe the movie Trolls is on the agenda.  These are HS freshmen!  Selfishly, since I have the day off I didn’t want to have to get up early and drive her to school lol. She wants to go however because they’re all going to a friends after school for a Secret Santa swap so I am up and ready to go.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning hosers. 4.5 hours of chaos today, and I’m free for 10 days.
> 
> The current forecast is for 2-4 inches of snow Christmas Eve into Christmas Day. I’m not sure the last time that happened around here (where it actually snowed on Christmas).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I told Princess she could stay home today if she wanted. They do absolutely nothing on the half day before holiday break. I believe the movie Trolls is on the agenda.  These are HS freshmen!  Selfishly, since I have the day off I didn’t want to have to get up early and drive her to school lol. She wants to go however because they’re all going to a friends after school for a Secret Santa swap so I am up and ready to go.
Click to expand...


Oh yeah. I spent my before-student time making 400 Polar Express tickets.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> The last day of the semester before we all go on break for a week, and I have a 2-hour meeting.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning hosers. 4.5 hours of chaos today, and I’m free for 10 days.
> 
> The current forecast is for 2-4 inches of snow Christmas Eve into Christmas Day. I’m not sure the last time that happened around here (where it actually snowed on Christmas).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I told Princess she could stay home today if she wanted. They do absolutely nothing on the half day before holiday break. I believe the movie Trolls is on the agenda.  These are HS freshmen!  Selfishly, since I have the day off I didn’t want to have to get up early and drive her to school lol. She wants to go however because they’re all going to a friends after school for a Secret Santa swap so I am up and ready to go.
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Hosers, I am in the middle of one of my 3-day headaches, and I have a 2-hour meeting tomorrow morning. The last day of the semester before we all go on break for a week, and I have a 2-hour meeting. With a migraine.
> 
> Yeah yeah yeah, first world problems, I know, but still, jeez, what the hell, universe?


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning hosers. 4.5 hours of chaos today, and I’m free for 10 days.
> 
> The current forecast is for 2-4 inches of snow Christmas Eve into Christmas Day. I’m not sure the last time that happened around here (where it actually snowed on Christmas).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I told Princess she could stay home today if she wanted. They do absolutely nothing on the half day before holiday break. I believe the movie Trolls is on the agenda.  These are HS freshmen!  Selfishly, since I have the day off I didn’t want to have to get up early and drive her to school lol. She wants to go however because they’re all going to a friends after school for a Secret Santa swap so I am up and ready to go.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh yeah. I spent my before-student time making 400 Polar Express tickets.
Click to expand...

You only had to make one ticket, the 'puter did the remaining 399.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 37 jammin' degrees this morning. Mary Lou got up with Gary and turned on the heater.  First time this year the heater was turned on.  Miss Maggie stood her ground and sniffed the air.  Sweet winter for Mary Lou and Leo. Jammin' freezing for those with normal nervous systems. Hot chocolate for Gary.  Gary is spending more time cupping his hands around the mug than sipping.


----------



## jcdeboever

Got the truck buttoned up this morning. Got up at 5:00, put Gary's coffee in an old thermos, and got to it. Took me 2.5 hours to get it back together. No more check engine light. Supposed to be off today but driver's lift gate isn't working, almost there, 2 hour drive. Once that's done, I'm gonna try and shoot a little town near by with my fujifilm ga645zi. Probably stop by the plant as well since I'll be close. I have to work Tuesday & Wednesday, then hopefully be off the rest of the year.


----------



## davidharmier60

It is confirmed. My next day of work is Tuesday morning. 4.5 hours + 2 minutes. 
Wasting time until the mail is ready.

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----------



## Gary A.

A couple more from Las Posadas


----------



## davidharmier60

We are to have Hot Dogs for dinner tonight. 
Leftovers tomorrow. Beef tips on Sunday and Mexican food on Monday. 
Besides leftovers YUMMY!

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## JonA_CT

The start of tonight’s dinner...Panang curry paste and coconut cream.


----------



## smoke665

Not the most pleasant of nights. Temperature isn't that bad but there's a heavy drizzle causing a dampness in the air, which makes the joints ache. Doesn't help matters that the cloud deck is at 500' according to the news, and we're just under the 1k mark, can't see your hand in front of your face outside.  On top of that I think I may be officially coming down with a cold. Looks like an Advil kind of night.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Not the most pleasant of nights. Temperature isn't that bad but there's a heavy drizzle causing a dampness in the air, which makes the joints ache. Doesn't help matters that the cloud deck is at 500' according to the news, and we're just under the 1k mark, can't see your hand in front of your face outside.  On top of that I think I may be officially coming down with a cold. Looks like an Advil kind of night.


----------



## Gary A.

A lovely day here.  In the 30's at dawn and in the upper 60's this afternoon.  Somewhat overcast, but when the sun broke through the warmth made you happy just to be alive.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave  need not awaken at 4am tomorrow. 
However he did today. Very soon it'll be lights out. Good night y'all. Sleep well. 

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----------



## Gary A.

iPhone images

Returning home from Costco, Mary Lou and Gary spotted the above.


----------



## JonA_CT

Nice! That’s the Space-X launch, right?


----------



## Gary A.

Yep.  It was totally fascinating.  Not something you see everyday.


----------



## Gary A.

Apparently, people were stopping on the freeways to watch.


----------



## Gary A.

On the way home, Mary Lou said her evening will be drinking wine and rapping.


----------



## Gary A.

IPhone

Tonight it is a G. Stepp Pinot Noir  *_8_*. Highly recommended to others who like wine.


----------



## SquarePeg

Snow and freezing rain here.  Just back from dinner and drinks with friends. Because of the snow on the ground you couldn’t see the lines in the parking lot and two asshats parked so close on either side of my car that I could not get the rear doors open and couldn’t even get to the front doors.  One of them had backed in so each was parked with their passenger side against my car.  Had to climb in through the hatch. Thank goodness was wearing pants.   Very undignified but totally hilarious to my friends.


----------



## vintagesnaps

SharonCat you sure know how to have a good time.

Costco has a launch pad for UFOs?? anything to draw in customers. Really, Gary that's pretty cool! 

So if MaryLou can drink wine and rap presents, then she could listen to wrap music when she puts on the bows.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Snow and freezing rain here.  Just back from dinner and drinks with friends. Because of the snow on the ground you couldn’t see the lines in the parking lot and two asshats parked so close on either side of my car that I could not get the rear doors open and couldn’t even get to the front doors.  One of them had backed in so each was parked with their passenger side against my car.  Had to climb in through the hatch. Thank goodness was wearing pants.   Very undignified but totally hilarious to my friends.


That's what 20' of chain and a padlock are for!


----------



## Frank F.

we are im a warm spell currently. 10 Celsius feels warmish and the drizzle that kept going for days faded. now the meadows are soaking wet turning into slippery mud if you step on them. My last christmas shopping was minced meat for today, parsely, fresh peppermint and cheese from sheep's milk.

At the Turk Butcher, the food was staring at me. Are these eyes tasty?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 151214
> View attachment 151216
> iPhone images
> 
> Returning home from Costco, Mary Lou and Gary spotted the above.


Looks to be a jet hitting the speed of sound? I don't know, you around a military air Base? Looks like a black hawk possibly?


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> we are im a warm spell currently. 10 Celsius feels warmish and the drizzle that kept going for days faded. now the meadows are soaking wet turning into slippery mud if you step on them. My last christmas shopping was minced meat for today, parsely, fresh peppermint and cheese from sheep's milk.
> 
> At the Turk Butcher, the food was staring at me. Are these eyes tasty?
> 
> View attachment 151227


We have the same butcher here:


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Looks to be a jet hitting the speed of sound? I don't know, you around a military air Base? Looks like a black hawk possibly?



Gary had a front row seat. SpaceX rocket lights sky as it carries satellites from California


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 151214
> View attachment 151216
> iPhone images
> 
> Returning home from Costco, Mary Lou and Gary spotted the above.
> 
> 
> 
> Looks to be a jet hitting the speed of sound? I don't know, you around a military air Base? Looks like a black hawk possibly?
Click to expand...

Elon Musk's Falcon 9 rocket ... aka SpaceX shooting one up from Vandenberg AFB in Lompoc (north of LA and south of Santa Barbara).  It was a pretty amazing sight, even for jaded Angelinos.  As it got closer what started out as a single bright little dot on the horizon turned into this fast moving vapor trail then a break in the trail ... and reignition and you could see the tailend of the rocket appearing as a giant light illuminating all the hot gases used for propulsion. It was quite a sight.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Looks to be a jet hitting the speed of sound? I don't know, you around a military air Base? Looks like a black hawk possibly?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary had a front row seat. SpaceX rocket lights sky as it carries satellites from California
Click to expand...

As this was a California rocket, it was a green rocket recycled from a previous launch.


----------



## davidharmier60

The picture Gary posted looks like a big smiling goldfish! Dave was so very happy not to awaken at 4am. No big plans for the day. Gonna mess with pennies until further notice. 

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## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is 43F this morn. But should hit 70F by the afternoon.  The cold pond has lower the metabolism of the fish and they are barely eating ... which in turn allows the algae to grow and grow. Gary is thinking of hooking up the sous vide into the pond to get the fish back into party mode.

Sadly- Headline in the 'CALIFORNIA' section of the LA Times, "Thomas fire burns its way to the top". Subhead: Blaze acreage now largest ever recorded in California, topping Cedar fire of 2013.

So far the fire has consumed 273,400 acres and counting.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> It is 43F this moorn. But should hit 70F by the afternoon.



Now here is funny turn of events. It was 70 this morning when I hit the trail with Sadie, but is supposed to fall into the 40's by days end


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is 43F this moorn. But should hit 70F by the afternoon.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now here is funny turn of events. It was 70 this morning when I hit the trail with Sadie, but is supposed to fall into the 40's by days end
Click to expand...

LOL ... one of us is backassward.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm feeling thankful to live on the coastal plain this morning. It's 40 degrees and raining here, but about 30 miles to the north, it's in the 20s instead...and still raining. The airport in Hartford is up over a quarter inch of ice accretion this morning.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT I'd be thankful to live where the temperature stays at one point for more than a few hours. Down in the 20's last week up in the 50's during the day. Last night it was 40 damp, and raining. This morning at daylight it was 70, this afternoon back down to the 40's then falling back in the 20's. Causing a lot of sickness around here,


----------



## davidharmier60

It is most likely cooler IN the house than outside. (Goes to check a few things)
48 on the back porch, 65 on the thermostat. Sunshine and cold, what a combo!

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## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @JonA_CT I'd be thankful to live where the temperature stays at one point for more than a few hours. Down in the 20's last week up in the 50's during the day. Last night it was 40 damp, and raining. This morning at daylight it was 70, this afternoon back down to the 40's then falling back in the 20's. Causing a lot of sickness around here,


We have a daily 30 degree to 40 degree temp shift in winter.  In summer the temps shift 20 degrees to 30 degrees daily.  But those shifts are between day and night not day to day.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. just came in from outside since 7 am this morning there's been a 20 degree drop and still falling.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. just came in from outside since 7 am this morning there's been a 20 degree drop and still falling.


Crazy stuff.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Crazy stuff.



That's what is making every one sick, the body can't adjust to the up and down.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. I'm in the same boat as Jon. We are thankfully below the ice line and are just getting a lot of rain today. Supposedly getting some snow starting tomorrow night. We always spend Christmas Eve with my sister over in Danbury and I can't remember the last time we _didn't_ get some kind of snow or rain on Christmas Eve. It would really really be nice to get to drive home from her house in clear weather for once. But alas, it will likely not be this year.

In other news, I am done with my semester. Grades were submitted on Wednesday night, I finished up my last two days at the full-time day job, and last night, I slept HARD. And then this morning, I woke up, puttered for a little while, and then took a late-morning nap. I _might_ be good for the rest of the day, but we'll see.

I'm wearing my new cozy college sweatshirt that I got in a clearance sale at my college bookstore this past week. I've worked there (at the college, not the bookstore) for 14 years and never actually got myself any college shirts, so I figured at 50% clearance sale was my chance. It's actually a really nice sweatshirt.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm sad and frustrated tonight, hosers.

I'm sad because my wife's grandmother (who is 90 and lives in Scotland) had a stroke two days ago, and the prognosis isn't good. I've only met her once, but she and my wife were once pretty close (her grandparents used to summer here). It's also sad because her grandfather (93) will no longer be able to stay in their home, and it isn't clear what kind of options he is going to have. 

I'm frustrated because of the way her parents are handling it. News is slower because of the intercontinental nature of it, but they knew about it for 48 hours before they told anyone. Now, they've only told my wife (but not any of her sisters) because they didn't want to ruin their holidays and because they thought that my wife could handle it because of her work experience as a counselor. They also mentioned they wanted her to be able to help her sisters when they find out. They aren't going to tell her sisters until next week. So my wife doesn't have anyone to process all of it with, and I'm not much help. 

Ugh. I know it's not really any of my business, but it doesn't seem fair that my wife should shoulder that burden alone right now. (Plus, I can't imagine how her sisters are going to feel when they find out that it happened over a week ago...)


----------



## snowbear

Sorry to hear this, Jon.  IMO, about all you can do is be there for her.  Between the various levels of in-laws, we saw a lot of drama (and worse) when MIL was diagnosed and finally passed.


----------



## snowbear

I spent the morning running up to a pottery to pick up a custom order.  I am getting back into fly fishing and tying, so I was considering swinging by a couple of stores to try out a couple fly vises, but then decided that going anywhere near a shopping center (Arundel Mills and Tysons for anyone remotely local) was just pure insanity.  As it turned out, Waldorf was bad enough.

It's been raining lightly all day.  I did go back out, a while ago, to get some things from the grocery store.  As soon as I turned the corner into our parking lot, the sky opened and the deluge commenced.


----------



## smoke665

Yup @JonA_CT as Snowbear about all you can do is be the sympathetic ear for her. This type of news never comes at a good time, but even worse at this time of year. Prayers for your family as they go through this.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'll add my prayers!

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## terri

JonA_CT said:


> I'm sad and frustrated tonight, hosers.
> 
> I'm sad because my wife's grandmother (who is 90 and lives in Scotland) had a stroke two days ago, and the prognosis isn't good. I've only met her once, but she and my wife were once pretty close (her grandparents used to summer here). It's also sad because her grandfather (93) will no longer be able to stay in their home, and it isn't clear what kind of options he is going to have.
> 
> I'm frustrated because of the way her parents are handling it. News is slower because of the intercontinental nature of it, but they knew about it for 48 hours before they told anyone. Now, they've only told my wife (but not any of her sisters) because they didn't want to ruin their holidays and because they thought that my wife could handle it because of her work experience as a counselor. They also mentioned they wanted her to be able to help her sisters when they find out. They aren't going to tell her sisters until next week. So my wife doesn't have anyone to process all of it with, and I'm not much help.
> 
> Ugh. I know it's not really any of my business, but it doesn't seem fair that my wife should shoulder that burden alone right now. (Plus, I can't imagine how her sisters are going to feel when they find out that it happened over a week ago...)


Oh, my.    I'm so sorry.   No wonder you're frustrated, Jon.  It's always annoying when others are deciding who gets what information, who can and can't handle things.   This kind of control usually backfires - I hope it goes all right for your wife and the rest of the family!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I'm sad and frustrated tonight, hosers.
> 
> I'm sad because my wife's grandmother (who is 90 and lives in Scotland) had a stroke two days ago, and the prognosis isn't good. I've only met her once, but she and my wife were once pretty close (her grandparents used to summer here). It's also sad because her grandfather (93) will no longer be able to stay in their home, and it isn't clear what kind of options he is going to have.
> 
> I'm frustrated because of the way her parents are handling it. News is slower because of the intercontinental nature of it, but they knew about it for 48 hours before they told anyone. Now, they've only told my wife (but not any of her sisters) because they didn't want to ruin their holidays and because they thought that my wife could handle it because of her work experience as a counselor. They also mentioned they wanted her to be able to help her sisters when they find out. They aren't going to tell her sisters until next week. So my wife doesn't have anyone to process all of it with, and I'm not much help.
> 
> Ugh. I know it's not really any of my business, but it doesn't seem fair that my wife should shoulder that burden alone right now. (Plus, I can't imagine how her sisters are going to feel when they find out that it happened over a week ago...)


----------



## Gary A.

Gary hopes it all turns out for the best. As Terri stated, all you can do is be ready to give all you can when you can.


----------



## limr

Sorry, Jon  It's got to be frustrating for your wife. My mother does similar things to us. I'm no good at following instructions, though. I always blab.


----------



## SquarePeg

It must be a generational thing.  My mom and her siblings are big on keeping bad news secret. Although everyone usually knows but has been sworn to silence so you don’t know who knows what and can’t have a conversation with anyone.  It’s very frustrating.  My sympathies to your wife.


----------



## SquarePeg

Sitting here watching White Christmas when I should be cooking.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Sitting here watching White Christmas when I should be cooking.



I should probably be wrapping presents. But I'm not. Will be grabbing a book and crawling into bed soon.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is in the same boat as Jon and Leo. Gary also lives below the ice line. Mt. Baldy, about 35 miles away and 9,000+ feet high, has all the snow and ice Gary needs. It even has a ski lift.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Gary doesn’t know what an actual ice line is ... but he’s pretty sure he doesn’t live in it or above it.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is listening to KJAZZ play Christmas songs sung and played by jazz greats, while relaxing all bundled up on the recliner. No Tv, no movie ... just music and he is appreciating the purity and satisfaction of just music.

This is a wonderful evening.


----------



## ceemac

Life above the ice line is a little cold tonight. It's about -25C (10 US). But it's very dry, no dampness to get to your bones. Black sky, white stars. Great night to drink hot wine and feed the fire.  
At least until the furry pest wants to go out for a pee.


----------



## JonA_CT

Thanks everyone. 

Morning view:


----------



## SquarePeg

Super icy here this morning after last nights rain and the overnight drop in temps.  It will all melt eventually but probably not before I have to go out there!  Have to pick up some things locally for tonight and tomorrow.  Busy busy day today because I farted around and spent all of yesterday making Christmas cookies with Princess and various friends and relatives who stopped by instead of getting some of my cooking done.  Totally worth it though as we had a great time.  My cousin’s 4 year old declared it the “bestest fun ever” as she sat there covered in sprinkles and frosting with a big silly smile.  A beautiful memory made.  

 May not be checking in much for a few days.  Wishing all you Hosers a merry and bright Christmas!


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Super icy here this morning after last nights rain and the overnight drop in temps.  It will all melt eventually but probably not before I have to go out there!  Have to pick up some things locally for tonight and tomorrow.  Busy busy day today because I farted around and spent all of yesterday making Christmas cookies with Princess and various friends and relatives who stopped by instead of getting some of my cooking done.  Totally worth it though as we had a great time.  My cousin’s 4 year old declared it the “bestest fun ever” as she sat there covered in sprinkles and frosting with a big silly smile.  A beautiful memory made.
> 
> May not be checking in much for a few days.  Wishing all you Hosers a merry and bright Christmas!



Merry christmas! Enjoy your cooking and family!


My wife request some comfort food this morning, so
I’m making biscuits and I have some sausage defrosting. The only other cooking I have to do at my house today is a cake for tonight’s dessert.


----------



## davidharmier60

Another day I need not awaken at 4am.
Oh yeah. It's 34 degrees on the back porch. 
Trump I s speaking to the Military on Fox News. Tra la.

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----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Super icy here this morning after last nights rain and the overnight drop in temps.  It will all melt eventually but probably not before I have to go out there!  Have to pick up some things locally for tonight and tomorrow.  Busy busy day today because I farted around and spent all of yesterday making Christmas cookies with Princess and various friends and relatives who stopped by instead of getting some of my cooking done.  Totally worth it though as we had a great time.  My cousin’s 4 year old declared it the “bestest fun ever” as she sat there covered in sprinkles and frosting with a big silly smile.  A beautiful memory made.
> 
> May not be checking in much for a few days.  Wishing all you Hosers a merry and bright Christmas!


You can take a child's declaration to the bank!  Gary thinks we should all go to Peg's house for the bestest fun ever!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary has some rappin' to do then a sweet/citrus bread and some type of loaf.  Gary has some cleaning to do before guests ... then shoo the chickens and goats out of the bedrooms. 

Speaking of children ... a child gave Maggie a hug and said she was "a muffin dog". Gary and Mary Lou liked that.


----------



## limr

Maggie is definitely a muffin dog.

Morning, hosers. I have wrapped presents that will be distributed to my family tonight, but forgot that I still had to get a few things. So I will finish my coffee and go out in a little while. Not looking forward to it. I am trying to figure out if I have some bad allergies this morning or if it's the beginning of a cold. Le sigh.

Speaking of coffee, I have brewed up a mixture of my regular beans plus some home-roasted beans from @Gary A. - gracias, Tio!!


----------



## Gary A.

@Leo: de nada.


----------



## davidharmier60

My Sister makes biscuits and sausage gravy that Brenda at the store doesn't get CLOSE to at her best. Good stuff Maynard!
I'm back to the automatic watch experiment.  I get into it trying to regulate it. Only been inside it 20 times or so.
I seem to either get +5 seconds or -15.
Trying for somewhere in between.

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----------



## Frank F.

Mary Christmas!


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> My Sister makes biscuits and sausage gravy that Brenda at the store doesn't get CLOSE to at her best. Good stuff Maynard!
> I'm back to the automatic watch experiment.  I get into it trying to regulate it. Only been inside it 20 times or so.
> I seem to either get +5 seconds or -15.
> Trying for somewhere in between.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


For many mechanical watches that's within specs for 24 hours.


----------



## davidharmier60

Consider me rather anal about what time it is. I have a roughly $30 Casio that might as well be radio controlled.  It never has gotten a full second off. It is the reference watch the others get set off of.
Beef Tips and Rice and Broccoli for dinner later.

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----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Maggie is definitely a muffin dog.
> 
> Morning, hosers. I have wrapped presents that will be distributed to my family tonight, but forgot that I still had to get a few things. So I will finish my coffee and go out in a little while. Not looking forward to it. I am trying to figure out if I have some bad allergies this morning or if it's the beginning of a cold. Le sigh.
> 
> Speaking of coffee, I have brewed up a mixture of my regular beans plus some home-roasted beans from @Gary A. - gracias, Tio!!


Gary needs to box them there beans. Smooth as silk and wonderful aroma.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like biscuits

Merry Christmas. I will be plowing tomorrow while all y'all sit there roasting your nuts by the fire. We got 4" so far, or according to wife, 7".... I will get a sick pleasure waking everybody up at 5:30 with my blade scraping on their driveways. We're supposed to get up to 8" by morning.


----------



## terri

Merry Christmas, hosers.  Been cold and overcast most of the day.  Perfect day for cherry pie naking.    The sun broke out late in the afternoon, just as the pie came out of the oven  - I think I'll take it as a good omen.   

Temps have really dropped outside, and tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and cold - perfect holiday weather.   

Everyone, have a lovely Christmas!


----------



## davidharmier60

The Beef Tips were MARVELOUS!
And since I need not awaken at 4am tomorrow I'm not in too much of a hurry to get to bed.

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## SquarePeg

We’re expecting a white Christmas tomorrow!  Hopefully it won’t keep our NH relatives from getting here in the afternoon. They’re expecting a lot more snow in NH than we are here.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is about to go to sleep
I hope e everyone gets what they want for Christmas. And has a nice night!

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## JonA_CT

I think we are in the 35* and raining zone for tomorrow. Classic December for here.

Still...


----------



## limr

Well, I managed to make it to about 3 miles from my house before it started to snow, so I timed it just right. Expecting about 2-4 or 3-5 inches overnight, depending on which website I check. Either way, the roads should be cleared since the snow is supposed to be done by morning. Should be fine to go the few miles to spend Xmas with Buzz's family. 

Happy Holidays, hosers!


----------



## JonA_CT

The rain flipped to some crazy ice pellets and then to some fat wet snow flakes. I’d call it a White Christmas!

Merry Christmas, hosers!


----------



## davidharmier60

Merry Christmas y'all. 
Mexican food later. 
Guys Grocery Games is on TV.
It's high 30s or low 40s outside.
No liquid sky.

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## snowbear

Merry Christmas to all of the Coffee House TPFers.

It's gotten a bit colder here, as well and we might get a piece of that New Year's snow storm next week.

We aren't really doing anything, today.  Mom's gone, Aurelia (lazy_lobster) decided to say in Maine, and Andrew wasn't able to come in from Tulsa.  We're going to do our "real" gift exchange next week, after my paycheck comes in; we just got each other a small "something to open up."


----------



## limr

Also a White Christmas for this Northeasterner:


----------



## smoke665

Merry Christmas Y'all. No snow for us, just cold, but at least the sun is shinning (off and on) and it has quit raining.


----------



## Gary A.

Feliz Navidad Coffee Hosers.  It is a brisk 43F @ 7:20 in the morning. The weather app says it will top out today 67F. Perfect day to have a baby. Last night was Mary Lou’s family. Tamales, (chili-cheese and pork), honey ham, grilled veggies, scalloped potatoes, wonderful freshly baked herb and pepper bread and homemade strawberry ice cream. A pleasant evening. Today will be friends and leftovers and wine.


----------



## Gary A.

Santa had a long night.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Gary A.

^^^^ The iPad Pro and pencil ...?


----------



## SquarePeg

Sitting relaxing because we just pushed dinner back 2 hours due to road conditions being pretty horrible right now.  Snow has stopped but icy out there.  We have relatives coming from NH and several towns in MA that are an hour away on a good day so giving everyone time to chill and wait for the plows and sanders to do their work.  As I type this, the sun just made an appearance!


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> ^^^^ The iPad Pro and pencil ...?



iPad Pro Affinity app and finger, lol.  Too lazy to go get the pencil.


----------



## Gary A.

Snow ⛄️ people don’t last too long out here.


----------



## terri

Merry Christmas, hosers!   Beautiful day, sunny and chilly - with a high expected of 46*.    Cooking here commences in just a few hours!

Hope everyone who has to drive in the ice & snow stays safe, and arrives safely.   Ho ho ho!


----------



## tirediron

Happy Ho-Ho everyone.


----------



## Frank F.

merry christmas. Extremly tired. No pain anymore after 4 month of pain day in / out even with pain killers. The best is: I could run today ... wow ... no chance with the pain .... could have been screaming all the time


----------



## Frank F.

illuminated dance


----------



## davidharmier60

Chili in the kitchen smells WONDERFUL!
Tamales will acompany the chili.
Didn't get anything for Christmas. 
But then didn't expect anything. 
Still very much hoping to buy a Canon DSLR body 30-60.

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## DanOstergren

Happy holidays everyone. Mom is cooking prime rib. [emoji7]


Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes prime rib.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave hasn't had steak in ever so long.
Prime Rib sounds wonderful!
Chili was as good as it smelled!
Can feel the indigestion coming on....

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## snowbear

Merry Christmas, everyone.  We're back to work, tomorrow, but someone needs to hold down the GIS fort.


----------



## smoke665

Interesting  day, I hope this wasn't the start of a new Christmas tradition.  We had planned on spending a quiet Christmas Day at home, then going out to eat at Shoney's Christmas Buffet (just the two of us), due to everyone being sick at our oldest son's house. Yesterday afternoon, things seemed to be clearing up there and this morning, we got the all clear, so a totally unprepared hurry up trip to Atlanta was in order, with the intention of grabbing something to eat along the way. Of course there wasn't anything open but a few scattered quick mart/gas stations here and there. We had just about reluctantly decided on a slice of Hunt's pizza from a quick mart, when a lone open McDonald's came into view. So our Christmas lunch became a Big Mac and fries. Enjoyed the afternoon with the kids, and made our way back home. As we pulled into town, lo and behold Panda Express was now open, so in we go. I couldn't help commenting to the staff that I was really bummed that there was no Duck on the menu.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm so glad we had this time, together. 
But it's time to say so long.
4am is just around the corner. 

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## JonA_CT

Nice, relaxing day. We chilled here this morning and went to my parents house for dinner.

I’m heading to Boston in the morning with my brother. We are going to hit up the MFA and a brewery or two on the way out.


----------



## snowbear

I dropped a line in the local pond.  Too cold for real fishing but I just wanted to feel how the new rod was (I am happy).
Now it's microwave popcorn and the Doctor.


----------



## waday

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, all!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Interesting  day, I hope this wasn't the start of a new Christmas tradition.  We had planned on spending a quiet Christmas Day at home, then going out to eat at Shoney's Christmas Buffet (just the two of us), due to everyone being sick at our oldest son's house. Yesterday afternoon, things seemed to be clearing up there and this morning, we got the all clear, so a totally unprepared hurry up trip to Atlanta was in order, with the intention of grabbing something to eat along the way. Of course there wasn't anything open but a few scattered quick mart/gas stations here and there. We had just about reluctantly decided on a slice of Hunt's pizza from a quick mart, when a lone open McDonald's came into view. So our Christmas lunch became a Big Mac and fries. Enjoyed the afternoon with the kids, and made our way back home. As we pulled into town, lo and behold Panda Express was now open, so in we go. I couldn't help commenting to the staff that I was really bummed that there was no Duck on the menu.


Gary likes Chinese.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave doesn't want to go to work today.

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## jcdeboever

Hey @Gary A. Come on over and help shovel some snow. Ah, forget it, I was up at 5:00 AM getting it done. More coming today but traveling, people gonna have to wait until I get home tonight. One appointment today, then head to plant, long day ahead.


----------



## jcdeboever

Boogie on down the road with the boss beast....


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Boogie on down the road



You can make your own road with that rig!


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Day After Hosers!  I’m working today, ugh.  Should be quiet enough but would have preferred to sleep in and laze the day away.  Had a wonderful day yesterday after a rocky start in the AM.  Princess was a bit of a cranky pants in the morning and mama bear was tired - not a great combination for Christmas breakfast harmony.  But, we pulled out of it and enjoyed the day!  Didn’t take a lot of photos as I was busy cooking and hosting and drinking. Hope you all had a safe and happy holiday.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Gary likes Chinese.


Same. 

We had Chinese the night before Christmas. I feel like it’s  beginning to be a tradition for us around the holidays, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Hey @Gary A. Come on over and help shovel some snow. Ah, forget it, I was up at 5:00 AM getting it done. More coming today but traveling, people gonna have to wait until I get home tonight. One appointment today, then head to plant, long day ahead.
> View attachment 151307


All those numbers are Celsius ... right ...


----------



## snowbear

We're back to work, too.  I found out, Friday, that the Fire/EMS Department is changing the Battalions (battalion = five to eight stations) around a little; about six stations are affected.  I'll need to go into the station layer (data file) and change the Battalion field for those stations (five minutes) and then create a new battalion layer (five more minutes).  Once that's done, I'll make new Battalion maps (PDFs), just to have them available.

MLW bought poinsettias for the Chief's open house.  Since they were 50% off, I grabbed two for our office (red/white variegated and one with red & hot pinkish leaves).  Soaked the soil pretty well on Friday and put them in windows (we have northeast- and east-facing windows).  This morning, northeaster was fine, but the the east-facing is all wilted.  I'm hoping I can revive it by watering, but the green thumb gene skipped me.  If it survives, they'll both go into the NE windows for the New Year weekend.


----------



## terri

And another Happy Day After from me, hosers!    We had fun last night and ate too much.   But that's apparently expected on Christmas Day, so I didn't feel too badly about it.       The cherry pie was rockin'.    

Hope everyone enjoys a short work week!   Remember, there's another one to look forward to before the real winter doldrums set in.


----------



## limr

Morning hosers. 

Christmas, presents, eating and drinking, family, snow, yadda yadda...There's my report. 

I have the rest of the week off. At my school, we forego certain holidays during the year so we can close the entire school for this week between Christmas and New Year. Faculty, of course, gets more time off since classes don't start until the 16th. This may sound like a lot, but trust me - teaching exhaustion is different than day-job exhaustion, and more time is needed to recover from it.

Staff and administrators are back on the 2nd. Until then, I am in recovery mode.


----------



## jcdeboever

The Boss taking a little nap.... Ohio didn't get squat for snow


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. it's 45F presently, looking forward to a high of 68F.  Christmas on the quiet side and very pleasant. Santa left Gary a BB-8 robot that races around via phone app or a wrist thingie.  Gary spent the afternoon chasing Maggie around the house and vice versa. Mary Lou and Gary watched _My Sister's Keeper.  _A very interesting movie about an overly controlling mother who creates an in vitro /gmo child for the purpose of saving another child with cancer.  Very very complex situation of ethics and motherly love.  Gary gave it five stars, Mary Lou three.  Then in the middle of the night Gary realized what was bothering him about the movie which he couldn't quite put his finger on.  That situation, as it was presented, couldn't/shouldn't happen because of physician ethical codes and our Constitution. But I'll zip my fingers there as it is well worth watching.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got 5.25 + 2.5 minutes. It is approximately 50 out there and raining. 
Yuck! Gonna hit the Post office and then home to get in warm dry clothes!

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## vintagesnaps

Hosers! Hitchcock and hockey today. World Juniors starts with three games today, and I can rewatch some Hitch in between. Christmas wore me out, I like this Boxing Day thing.


----------



## JonA_CT

I was going to post a “where am I?” picture for the NE hosers, but I can’t jam with the reduced photo posting sizes ‘cause I’ve already finished my first brewery stop. I finished 2 samples of 12% stouts in the way out. 

Don’t worry....I have a driver.


----------



## davidharmier60

My cousin who lives in the sticks in far west Texas has come by to see Dad and I.
Electric would have costed $16,000
He has solar at roughly $13,000.

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## vintagesnaps

Spengler Cup also starts today. Maybe Frank can help me with translation! although I can usually figure out hockey stats in various languages.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. it's 45F presently, looking forward to a high of 68F.  Christmas on the quiet side and very pleasant. Santa left Gary a BB-8 robot that races around via phone app or a wrist thingie.  Gary spent the afternoon chasing Maggie around the house and vice versa. Mary Lou and Gary watched _My Sister's Keeper.  _A very interesting movie about an overly controlling mother who creates an in vitro /gmo child for the purpose of saving another child with cancer.  Very very complex situation of ethics and motherly love.  Gary gave it five stars, Mary Lou three.  Then in the middle of the night Gary realized what was bothering him about the movie which he couldn't quite put his finger on.  That situation, as it was presented, couldn't/shouldn't happen because of physician ethical codes and our Constitution. But I'll zip my fingers there as it is well worth watching.



Lol, how did she act towards it?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Beer nog, hosers.


----------



## limr

I can't believe I haven't posted this yet. Thanks for reminding me, @vintagesnaps


----------



## jcdeboever

I got a coffee percolator and a premium golf membership to the course I live on...no trail fees this year.... The percolator has been a big joke about me with the in-laws because I used one for so long. It was my parents from the 70's and I cried when it went nearly sent the house on fire, I wasn't worried about the house... So they bought me a camping one, HA HA, FUNNY, FUNNY. Needless to say, I few people had coffee grounds on their teeth Christmas morning, I got the last laugh. Anyway (@vintagesnaps yawning), It broke right about the time I started coming on here and well lets just say y'all straightened me out and I bought a braun. I never knew coffee could be good until I came on here. Now I even own a French press!. Then Gary sent some crazy ass portable French press thingy (and some Ayala Temucula Roast) that I need a degree to figure out how to use. Actually, it is very simple, I was just over thinking it...bad habit of mine, I reverse engineer everything in my mind. I look at a paper clip and try to find the "how it was made episode)... I need more coffee, I'm rambling again... (@limr's eyes inspecting her prefrontal cortex)... ok, bye


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. it's 45F presently, looking forward to a high of 68F.  Christmas on the quiet side and very pleasant. Santa left Gary a BB-8 robot that races around via phone app or a wrist thingie.  Gary spent the afternoon chasing Maggie around the house and vice versa. Mary Lou and Gary watched _My Sister's Keeper.  _A very interesting movie about an overly controlling mother who creates an in vitro /gmo child for the purpose of saving another child with cancer.  Very very complex situation of ethics and motherly love.  Gary gave it five stars, Mary Lou three.  Then in the middle of the night Gary realized what was bothering him about the movie which he couldn't quite put his finger on.  That situation, as it was presented, couldn't/shouldn't happen because of physician ethical codes and our Constitution. But I'll zip my fingers there as it is well worth watching.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lol, how did she act towards it?
Click to expand...

She wants to play and pounce with it.  Gary is fearful that she'll chew up the head, so he removes it for Maggie Time.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I got a coffee percolator and a premium golf membership to the course I live on...no trail fees this year.... The percolator has been a big joke about me with the in-laws because I used one for so long. It was my parents from the 70's and I cried when it went nearly sent the house on fire, I wasn't worried about the house... So they bought me a camping one, HA HA, FUNNY, FUNNY. Needless to say, I few people had coffee grounds on their teeth Christmas morning, I got the last laugh. Anyway (@vintagesnaps yawning), It broke right about the time I started coming on here and well lets just say y'all straightened me out and I bought a braun. I never knew coffee could be good until I came on here. Now I even own a French press!. Then Gary sent some crazy ass portable French press thingy (and some Ayala Temucula Roast) that I need a degree to figure out how to use. Actually, it is very simple, I was just over thinking it...bad habit of mine, I reverse engineer everything in my mind. I look at a paper clip and try to find the "how it was made episode)... I need more coffee, I'm rambling again... (@limr's eyes inspecting her prefrontal cortex)... ok, bye


Dunno what the hell you said ... but I agree with every word.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> That situation, as it was presented, couldn't/shouldn't happen because of physician ethical codes and our Constitution.



And we all know how ethical some physicians can be when money is involved, the Constitution can become irrelevant.


----------



## smoke665

Me thinks @jcdeboever should stop mixing the Red Bull with Gary's coffee.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Don’t worry....I have a driver.


Johnnie, Dave and Mitch went out bar hopping.  At the end of the night, Johnnie was too drunk to sing, so he had to drive.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I can't believe I haven't posted this yet. Thanks for reminding me, @vintagesnaps



And from south of y'all:


----------



## davidharmier60

Beef tips on boil in bag rice.
Yummy! 
Price is Right. Yeah!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## Gary A.

Miss Maggie, The Muffin Dog.


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh boy I'm going to work!

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## SquarePeg

She’s adorable @Gary A.


----------



## smoke665

Dreading my morning hike with Sadie. We might have to do a short one. Woke up this morning to a layer of sleet on the ground. Yesterday afternoon I overdid it outside in the the cold trying to get some things caught up. Paid for it later, as I narrowly avoided a trip to the ER with an an Asthma flair up. Breathing treatments and a rescue dose of prednisone saved me for the time being. Cold air and hot air are triggers, so I should have known better. Hate this crap!


----------



## SquarePeg

Weather like this makes me glad my fur baby doesn’t really need a walk, just a quick let out in the backyard.  He does not like the snow and ice on his paws.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Weather like this makes me glad my fur baby doesn’t really need a walk, just a quick let out in the backyard.  He does not like the snow and ice on his paws.



Our persnickty Peekapoo, was that way. She would absolutely not go unless it was grass. Guess who got to shovel walkways in the yard on snowdays?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday, Gary walked over 12 miles with Miss Maggie at his side. About four miles in the morning, another six in the evening and  couple more inbetween. Maggie is like a battery operated device. She is either Off or On. When she's Off she recharging her batteries and when she's On she is on the move, curious and looking to get into something. She is a dumpster diver and will pull out tissues from the trash so she can snap the napkin's neck then shred it to pieces. (She is only allowed on the furniture when we pull her up.)  When she's Off and on a sofa, sometimes she'll rest with her head hanging over the edge. (Go figure ...) Then slowly, when she's asleep, her body slips more and more over the edge until the weight tips her onto the floor. She still doesn't move, and she'll lie there in a heap just as she has landed for a good minute or two until she moves.  Miss Maggie doesn't know what ice or snow is. But this week she may learn what the beach, waves and sand are.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> She’s adorable @Gary A.


Thank you ... and she does not shed!


----------



## Gary A.

44F this morning, but things are warming up to 75F by the afternoon. Interesting ... in the Op-Ed section of the morning paper, there is an article that "Your dog should go vegan". Under the photo of Fido with it's mug in a dog dish is the caption of "CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, dogs have nutritional requirements, not ingredient requirements, some veterinarians say." 

Into the article it states ... "The Animal Services Board may switch L.A.'s shelter dogs to plant-based food." LOL, only in California ... but there is a lot of truth in the article.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> but there is a lot of truth in the article.



I'm not sure a vegan diet is the most healthy thing for a dog, but supplementing their diet with fresh fruit and vegetables is not a bad way to go. Interestingly there was a Vet on the news this morning talking about the benefits of giving your dog things like apples, carrots, broccoli, etc. Sadie likes carrots, and sweet potatoes (fresh and dried), apples......well actually she'll eat anything you give her LOL


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> but there is a lot of truth in the article.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure a vegan diet is the most healthy thing for a dog, but supplementing their diet with fresh fruit and vegetables is not a bad way to go. Interestingly there was a Vet on the news this morning talking about the benefits of giving your dog things like apples, carrots, broccoli, etc. Sadie likes carrots, and sweet potatoes (fresh and dried), apples......well actually she'll eat anything you give her LOL
Click to expand...

The experts seem to think otherwise. 

From Gary's biology classes, Gary is aware that carnivores typically will eat the pouch/stomach first of herbivores ... the partially digested plants, before working on the meat.  Some carnivores, Obligate carnivores, need taurine, an amino acid unavailable in plants.  Cats are Obligate carnivores, dogs are not. According to the article, " ... dogs have evolved over the millennia with humans and the gene crucial for starch digestion is 28 times more active in dogs than in their wolf ancestors.  As much as your poodle might look like a wolf, he isn't one."

"Dr. George Fahey, head of the animal and nutritional sciences laboratories at the University of Illinois, told the New York Times years ago that a daily ration of corn and soybeans provides all the vitamins, minerals, protein, fat and carbohydrates a dog needs."


----------



## smoke665

Reminded me of someone!!! LOL


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Good morning all! Hope everyone's holiday was memorable in a good way! @Gary A.  She is a beautiful addition to your family. @SquarePeg  Our Miss Daisy will _not _go #2 in our yard, so we have to load her up in a vehicle and take her for a walk at one of the local parks ( we do this 3 times per day too, btw ). It isn't fun when it's as cold as it is today, _*but *_when you see an eagle ( there were 2 actually! ) first thing, I suppose it makes it worth it. That is why I always take the camera.



 

 

Hope everyone's day is happy and warm.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> "Dr. George Fahey, head of the animal and nutritional sciences laboratories at the University of Illinois, told the New York Times years ago that a daily ration of corn and soybeans provides all the vitamins, minerals, protein, fat and carbohydrates a dog needs."



Not according to the Vets around here. Vegetables and fruits yes, grain big no,no. We've used the same Vet for over 20 years, never steered us wrong yet.


----------



## Gary A.

For some unknown reason, Gary has more faith in the head of a major university laboratory with the sole mission of investigating and understanding animal nutrition than your vet.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> For some unknown reason, Gary has more faith in the head of a major university laboratory with the sole mission of investigating and understanding animal nutrition than your vet.



You'd have to know our Vet to understand. He is a big believer in continuing education, attending seminars and teaching conferences (both as student and teacher) all over the country. Our first fur ball lived to be almost 19, all of our others have lived healthy and happy well past their normal life spans, with the exception of our little Yorkie who developed cancer at 10 years old.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> For some unknown reason, Gary has more faith in the head of a major university laboratory with the sole mission of investigating and understanding animal nutrition than your vet.


Our last 2 vets concurred about simply making sure that corn, or any other grain, is _not_ one of the top 5 ingredients listed on the package of dog food.   Grains can certainly be in there, but the shift in thinking has been to lower the amount.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> For some unknown reason, Gary has more faith in the head of a major university laboratory with the sole mission of investigating and understanding animal nutrition than your vet.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You'd have to know our Vet to understand. He is a big believer in continuing education, attending seminars and teaching conferences (both as student and teacher) all over the country. Our first fur ball lived to be almost 19, all of our others have lived healthy and happy well past their normal life spans, with the exception of our little Yorkie who developed cancer at 10 years old.
Click to expand...

Sorry, Gary will take the findings of a major University's Laboratory dedicated to animal nutrition over your vet.  All licensed/practicing human and animal doctors out here are required to take continuing education classes in their field and are required to test/renew their license every few years.


----------



## Frank F.

google tells me, it is Marlene Dietrich's birthday today. Wow. Yesterday I wanted to sing one of her songs to my father but my son said: "stop practicing on us, paps." Cruel Youth with bad taste...


----------



## terri

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Good morning all! Hope everyone's holiday was memorable in a good way! @Gary A.  She is a beautiful addition to your family. @SquarePeg  Our Miss Daisy will _not _go #2 in our yard, so we have to load her up in a vehicle and take her for a walk at one of the local parks ( we do this 3 times per day too, btw ). It isn't fun when it's as cold as it is today, _*but *_when you see an eagle ( there were 2 actually! ) first thing, I suppose it makes it worth it. That is why I always take the camera.
> 
> View attachment 151353 View attachment 151354
> 
> Hope everyone's day is happy and warm.


That is so cool!!   I'd love to see one in the wild like this.


----------



## Frank F.

took some terrific shots over the week end


----------



## davidharmier60

Lots of vultures and crows around where I live. Have yet to see an eagle.  Hawk yes. 
Got 6.5 + 3 minutes. Planned to get check because Sister needs it. But since Monday was a holiday they come tomorrow. 
Not sure how this affects things but it can't be good I reckon. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## vintagesnaps

Marlene Dietrich is the Google doodle too. (Not sure if she would consider that a great honor or not! lol) She was good in Witness for the Prosecution, and in Hitchcock's Stage Fright. 

You can't always go by one study or one professional's opinion; looking at a body of research gives a better idea of something I think. Our family Dr. used to talk about moderation, like cutting back on one thing or making some adjustment(s). He had good sense.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Love your eagle Dean. Thanks for the nice thoughts for us to have a warm and happy day - I intend to do just that, stay in, and watch hockey!


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> but there is a lot of truth in the article.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure a vegan diet is the most healthy thing for a dog, but supplementing their diet with fresh fruit and vegetables is not a bad way to go. Interestingly there was a Vet on the news this morning talking about the benefits of giving your dog things like apples, carrots, broccoli, etc. Sadie likes carrots, and sweet potatoes (fresh and dried), apples......well actually she'll eat anything you give her LOL
Click to expand...


Our guy eats a high quality kibble to which we add roasted chicken (white meat only) or occasionally, when we're out of chicken will add some shredded cheddar.  For snacks he likes baby carrots and apple slices and the occasional milkbone mini cookies.  We do give him table scraps once in a while but never a lot and always after we're done eating and have cleared the table.  He loves a bit of pizza crust or a few scraps of beef or fish and just about any type of fruit or veggie except bananas.  Princess has a recipe for some dog treats that are very healthy made from sweet potatoes and oats - he loves those!


----------



## davidharmier60

Most of our dogs will eat pretty much ANYTHING.  Home now and haven't heard anything about the check coming tomorrow. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.




----------



## Frank F.




----------



## Frank F.

I am doing a 2017 roundup


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Frank F. said:


> View attachment 151372



I think I like this one best so far Frank. Nice!


----------



## terri

Frank F. said:


> I am doing a 2017 roundup


Sounds great!   Lots of us like to post roundups like this at the end of the year.

How about starting a new thread?  Post your own, and invite others to share theirs?    Maybe in the General Gallery.


----------



## smoke665

Amazon has nothing on these enterprising drug dealers. LOL Riverside Drug House Used Drone To Move Narcotics, Police Say


----------



## SquarePeg

Thinking of taking an art class. Goal would be to eventually learn to paint landscapes and florals.  I have no formal art training.  I can draw a tiny bit but it’s been years...  Should I start with a beginner level drawing class or a beginner level watercolor class?  @jcdeboever and @snowbear and anyone else on the site who also paints and or draws.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Thinking of taking an art class. Goal would be to eventually learn to paint landscapes and florals.  I have no formal art training.  I can draw a tiny bit but it’s been years...  Should I start with a beginner level drawing class or a beginner level watercolor class?  @jcdeboever and @snowbear and anyone else on the site who also paints and or draws.



Why not both??? I've worked over the years with colored pencils. The advantage of these is the ability to "build up" your color, which looks very much like oil. You can also combine these with ink for another dimension. As to watercolor check out this Sharpen Your Painting Skills With 4 Watercolor Pencil Techniques


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Thinking of taking an art class. Goal would be to eventually learn to paint landscapes and florals.  I have no formal art training.  I can draw a tiny bit but it’s been years...  Should I start with a beginner level drawing class or a beginner level watercolor class?  @jcdeboever and @snowbear and anyone else on the site who also paints and or draws.


Draw comes before render. The lens on your fuji camera will draw the scene and the sensor will assemble it. Keep it simple... Have fun


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Thinking of taking an art class. Goal would be to eventually learn to paint landscapes and florals.  I have no formal art training.  I can draw a tiny bit but it’s been years...  Should I start with a beginner level drawing class or a beginner level watercolor class?  @jcdeboever and @snowbear and anyone else on the site who also paints and or draws.


I'd say drawing first.  You'll get all the tips you'll need for watercolors, or any other painting.   Being a photographer will be helpful with things like perspective in drawing, too.

Once you get those basics down, watercolor will be fun!  I've been playing with oil pastels, and stopped to take a drawing class because it was obvious that I had put the cart before the horse.


----------



## Frank F.

terri said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am doing a 2017 roundup
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds great!   Lots of us like to post roundups like this at the end of the year.
> 
> How about starting a new thread?  Post your own, and invite others to share theirs?    Maybe in the General Gallery.
Click to expand...



great idea


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Thinking of taking an art class. Goal would be to eventually learn to paint landscapes and florals.  I have no formal art training.  I can draw a tiny bit but it’s been years...  Should I start with a beginner level drawing class or a beginner level watercolor class?  @jcdeboever and @snowbear and anyone else on the site who also paints and or draws.



A class can be worthwhile, or even a book on beginning watercolor; there will be some suggestions on what colors to start with.  I have watercolor tubes, which last a long time - you really don't use much at a time.  I like acrylic paints, because they can be used with watercolor (and oil) techniques.

Color theory isn't that difficult - red + yellow = orange, red + blue = purple, blue + yellow = green (though mixing to get a consistent green is not easy) and red + yellow + blue = black (very hard but it's possible if all are the right hue).  Colors opposite each other on a color wheel are complimentary (like red and green).  Cooler colors (blues, greens, purples) recede and warm colors (reds, yellows, oranges) advance or appear closer.

Looking forward to your first projects.


----------



## jcdeboever

You almost always draw before you paint the picture


----------



## SquarePeg

Frank F. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am doing a 2017 roundup
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds great!   Lots of us like to post roundups like this at the end of the year.
> 
> How about starting a new thread?  Post your own, and invite others to share theirs?    Maybe in the General Gallery.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> great idea
Click to expand...


If you can wait until Friday, next week's challenge is going to be something to do with favorites for the year.



jcdeboever said:


> You almost always draw before you paint the picture



Unless you're Bob Ross...


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am doing a 2017 roundup
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds great!   Lots of us like to post roundups like this at the end of the year.
> 
> How about starting a new thread?  Post your own, and invite others to share theirs?    Maybe in the General Gallery.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> great idea
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> If you can wait until Friday, next week's challenge is going to be something to do with favorites for the year.
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> You almost always draw before you paint the picture
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Unless you're Bob Ross...
Click to expand...

Bob Ross didn't draw nor paint, he marketed. He was a brilliant marketeer.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am doing a 2017 roundup
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds great!   Lots of us like to post roundups like this at the end of the year.
> 
> How about starting a new thread?  Post your own, and invite others to share theirs?    Maybe in the General Gallery.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> great idea
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> If you can wait until Friday, next week's challenge is going to be something to do with favorites for the year.
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> You almost always draw before you paint the picture
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Unless you're Bob Ross...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Bob Ross didn't draw nor paint, he marketed. He was a brilliant marketeer.
Click to expand...


He's quite popular these days with the young nerd crowd.  My nephew has a Bob Ross shirt and went out as him for Halloween.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am doing a 2017 roundup
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds great!   Lots of us like to post roundups like this at the end of the year.
> 
> How about starting a new thread?  Post your own, and invite others to share theirs?    Maybe in the General Gallery.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> great idea
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> If you can wait until Friday, next week's challenge is going to be something to do with favorites for the year.
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> You almost always draw before you paint the picture
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Unless you're Bob Ross...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Bob Ross didn't draw nor paint, he marketed. He was a brilliant marketeer.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> He's quite popular these days with the young nerd crowd.  My nephew has a Bob Ross shirt and went out as him for Halloween.
Click to expand...

His oil medium is amazing. I used it for years. I don't know what he added to it but it made oils smooth as butter. Rumor has it, some kind of squirrel juice. Doubt it. Just mainly linseed oil, and mineral spirits, however, there is another alkyd in it thats proprietary


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A needs a change of scenery


----------



## JonA_CT

We had some friends over tonight, and we channeled some of Gary's energy by serving a delicious beef stew with a bottle of Californian wine that Gary was so nice to send. The Teroldego was the perfect accompaniment for the stew and everyone was satisfied.

I spent the rest of the night playing Mario Kart while my wife was working on her bullet journal. I hope that it's ultimately helpful for her because it's driving her crazy right now, haha.


----------



## ceemac

That doesnt look like a fun place to be, jc. That's about the same temp range as where I am, but the colder it gets here, the drier it is. Michigan is pretty humid and windy, I believe.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A needs a change of sceneryView attachment 151376


Why?  What’s wrong with 70F?


----------



## Gary A.

This is typically how Maggie comes home after playing with Max (the Golden Retriever) in the park nearly every morning.




After a good hosing, hours of drying and a good brushing.


----------



## davidharmier60

My phone says it's 30 degrees out there.
I don't wanna go!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Good morning, hosers. It’s 8*F this morning. 

I think that’s a good enough reason to go back to bed.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

It's 6 F here Jon, but it could be worse. We could be in Erie, Pa


----------



## jcdeboever

No shorts today


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thinking of taking an art class. Goal would be to eventually learn to paint landscapes and florals.  I have no formal art training.  I can draw a tiny bit but it’s been years...  Should I start with a beginner level drawing class or a beginner level watercolor class?  @jcdeboever and @snowbear and anyone else on the site who also paints and or draws.
> 
> 
> 
> I'd say drawing first.  You'll get all the tips you'll need for watercolors, or any other painting.   Being a photographer will be helpful with things like perspective in drawing, too.
> 
> Once you get those basics down, watercolor will be fun!  I've been playing with oil pastels, and stopped to take a drawing class because it was obvious that I had put the cart before the horse.
Click to expand...

IMO, watercolor is the hardest to master. Super easy to over work it. Winsor Newton makes wonderful watercolor, Arches cold press water color blocks are glorious. Water color blocks make things easy, paper gets wet, when dries it stretch's back flat. Draw with puddles of water, drop color in puddle and let it do it's thing. They make hot press paper too (smooth, no texture) which gives a totally different look.  I can't say enough about Windsor Newton watercolor, fine pigment. Rubber cement is handy, put it on where you want whites to remain. You can do washes for sky and things but get that paper good and wet first. Porcelain trays work best for watercolor, trust me on this. Micheals has some really good brushes at reasonable prices. The paper and paint is a little high but they usually have it in stock. Cheaps Joe's online usually has the best pricing if cost is goal. Crayola pan watercolors are pretty good, strangely enough. Windsor Newton is the way to go though once your into it. Don't buy the cheap watercolor blocks, they will ruin a good watercolor painting every time.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

jcdeboever said:


> No shorts todayView attachment 151393



Look on the bright side you have no wind chill.


----------



## JonA_CT

Ladies and gentleman,  we have reached a double digit temperature here in New London. 

They said we might get above the freezing mark again next week. Maybe.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thinking of taking an art class. Goal would be to eventually learn to paint landscapes and florals.  I have no formal art training.  I can draw a tiny bit but it’s been years...  Should I start with a beginner level drawing class or a beginner level watercolor class?  @jcdeboever and @snowbear and anyone else on the site who also paints and or draws.
> 
> 
> 
> I'd say drawing first.  You'll get all the tips you'll need for watercolors, or any other painting.   Being a photographer will be helpful with things like perspective in drawing, too.
> 
> Once you get those basics down, watercolor will be fun!  I've been playing with oil pastels, and stopped to take a drawing class because it was obvious that I had put the cart before the horse.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> IMO, watercolor is the hardest to master. Super easy to over work it. Winsor Newton makes wonderful watercolor, Arches cold press water color blocks are glorious. Water color blocks make things easy, paper gets wet, when dries it stretch's back flat. Draw with puddles of water, drop color in puddle and let it do it's thing. They make hot press paper too (smooth, no texture) which gives a totally different look.  I can't say enough about Windsor Newton watercolor, fine pigment. Rubber cement is handy, put it on where you want whites to remain. You can do washes for sky and things but get that paper good and wet first. Porcelain trays work best for watercolor, trust me on this. Micheals has some really good brushes at reasonable prices. The paper and paint is a little high but they usually have it in stock. Cheaps Joe's online usually has the best pricing if cost is goal. Crayola pan watercolors are pretty good, strangely enough. Windsor Newton is the way to go though once your into it. Don't buy the cheap watercolor blocks, they will ruin a good watercolor painting every time.
Click to expand...

For Gary, the first step would Crayolas.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is a brisk 44F this morning, with an afternoon forecast in the upper 70's.


----------



## SquarePeg

With the windchill here it's -17* 





edited to update photo


----------



## Gary A.

@ JC: Maybe you need a change ...


----------



## limr

Coldest air temp I ever experienced personally was -22F in Pittsburgh. It was -40F with the windchill. I bundled up and walked to school. By the time I got there (2 miles) I had a layer of ice on the scarf covering my face and I was sweating under all the layers. A few hours later, we were sent home - the whole city, not just the school. Brownout. It was so cold that they worried the grid could not handle the demand for heat in public buildings.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thinking of taking an art class. Goal would be to eventually learn to paint landscapes and florals.  I have no formal art training.  I can draw a tiny bit but it’s been years...  Should I start with a beginner level drawing class or a beginner level watercolor class?  @jcdeboever and @snowbear and anyone else on the site who also paints and or draws.
> 
> 
> 
> I'd say drawing first.  You'll get all the tips you'll need for watercolors, or any other painting.   Being a photographer will be helpful with things like perspective in drawing, too.
> 
> Once you get those basics down, watercolor will be fun!  I've been playing with oil pastels, and stopped to take a drawing class because it was obvious that I had put the cart before the horse.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> IMO, watercolor is the hardest to master. Super easy to over work it. Winsor Newton makes wonderful watercolor, Arches cold press water color blocks are glorious. Water color blocks make things easy, paper gets wet, when dries it stretch's back flat. Draw with puddles of water, drop color in puddle and let it do it's thing. They make hot press paper too (smooth, no texture) which gives a totally different look.  I can't say enough about Windsor Newton watercolor, fine pigment. Rubber cement is handy, put it on where you want whites to remain. You can do washes for sky and things but get that paper good and wet first. Porcelain trays work best for watercolor, trust me on this. Micheals has some really good brushes at reasonable prices. The paper and paint is a little high but they usually have it in stock. Cheaps Joe's online usually has the best pricing if cost is goal. Crayola pan watercolors are pretty good, strangely enough. Windsor Newton is the way to go though once your into it. Don't buy the cheap watercolor blocks, they will ruin a good watercolor painting every time.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> For Gary, the first step would Crayolas.
Click to expand...


These replaced the Crayola brand, they are pretty decent. 
Artist's Loft® Necessities Watercolor Pan Set

Not sure why they say online only, I've seen them in store. But anyway pans are a good way to start. The color is much richer and produces luminous color on good paper. 
Winsor & Newton® Cotman® Watercolor Pocket PLUS Set - 12 Half Pans

This is the only paper I would recommend. Sorry but it does make a huge difference. Shop around to find it cheaper.
Arches® Cold Pressed 140 lb. Watercolor Block

Good starter brush set, two links, one for basic set, other for washes
Royal & Langnickel® Zip N' Close Gold Taklon Brush Set
Angular White Taklon Brush Set By Craft Smart®

Good tool to have, can lift color a little at a time when paint has dried. 
Artist Loft® Kneaded Eraser

Very handy to pick up excess puddles or even to apply washes. Can also use wet to lift color that has dried, more agressive than kneaded eraser but effective. 
Royal & Langnickel® Natural Sea Silk Sponge Set


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Coldest air temp I ever experienced personally was -22F in Pittsburgh. It was -40F with the windchill. I bundled up and walked to school. By the time I got there (2 miles) I had a layer of ice on the scarf covering my face and I was sweating under all the layers. A few hours later, we were sent home - the whole city, not just the school. Brownout. It was so cold that they worried the grid could not handle the demand for heat in public buildings.


When Gary was in the Arctic, he was instructed not to sweat ... as sweating in -40F was a quick way to die.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has a full day.  He has guests coming over on Friday.  Gary will set up the projector and pull down the big screen for the USC-Ohio St. game.  Today he and Mary Lou will travel to Pomona to pick up Mary Lou's car from the mechanic and drop off Gary's car. On the way home Gary needs to hit the butcher's for Friday's roast, chicken and bacon.  Gary is planning to Sous Vide the meat for 16 hours and whip up some chicken carbonara and maybe a flatbread. He has to mow and trim up the back, clean out the pond filter, et al.  If anyone wants some carbonara, come on by.


----------



## jcdeboever

For drawing. Any number 2 pencil will get you started. I always liked using contractors pencils because I could dial the size of the lead in with sandpaper and a knife. plus you could peel away the casing and have a nice background block. Final drawing details though were done with these
Tombow Mono Professional Drawing Pencil Set

Of course, the kneaded eraser is a must, link in previous post. However to add to it, get a cleaning bag, really helpful to get things cleaned up. If your right handed draw from left to right. 
Alvin Dry Cleaning Pad - BLICK art materials

The are super duper handy when you make a boo boo or just want to render that line edge a lot cleaner
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000YQIEB...t=&hvlocphy=9017369&hvtargid=pla-310400026518

This paper is very good to start with. 
13312-1013 - Strathmore 400 Series Bristol Board Pads - BLICK art materials

Super nice paper, my go to
13313-1005 - Strathmore 500 Series Bristol Pads - BLICK art materials

Something not often talked about is your posture when drawing. Consider a good chair, table should be high enough that your severely hunched over. It can lead to headaches and neck and should pain. I did the majority of my drawing standing up for what it's worth.


----------



## smoke665

Uggg, all the constant change in temperature finally took it's toll. Went to the doctor this morning for the same sinus infection I had 7 months ago. The older nurse I had the last time was really good at giving shots, hardly felt anything. Unfortunately the young one this time needs to take some more lessons, the two she gave me this time left lasting pain in the butt cheeks!! But, even that will be worth it to ditch the crud that's held me down for the last two weeks.


----------



## SquarePeg

@smoke665  sorry you're not feeling well.  It's definitely the type of weather that makes sitting inside reading by the fireplace the best option.  Hunker down and ride it out.

@jcdeboever and @snowbear   thanks for all of the great info.  I think I am going to start with the drawing class and go on from there if I feel like I have any talent to develop.  I'll bookmark your posts so I can reference them later if/when I'm ready to move on to watercolors.

@Gary A.  thanks for the invite.  I may surprise you some day and show up for some carbonara - especially if there's home made flatbread included.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> @smoke665  sorry you're not feeling well.  It's definitely the type of weather that makes sitting inside reading by the fireplace the best option.  Hunker down and ride it out.
> 
> @jcdeboever and @snowbear   thanks for all of the great info.  I think I am going to start with the drawing class and go on from there if I feel like I have any talent to develop.  I'll bookmark your posts so I can reference them later if/when I'm ready to move on to watercolors.
> 
> @Gary A.  thanks for the invite.  I may surprise you some day and show up for some carbonara - especially if there's home made flatbread included.



That's great your taking a drawing class! You will love it.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> @smoke665  sorry you're not feeling well.  It's definitely the type of weather that makes sitting inside reading by the fireplace the best option.  Hunker down and ride it out.
> 
> @jcdeboever and @snowbear   thanks for all of the great info.  I think I am going to start with the drawing class and go on from there if I feel like I have any talent to develop.  I'll bookmark your posts so I can reference them later if/when I'm ready to move on to watercolors.
> 
> @Gary A.  thanks for the invite.  I may surprise you some day and show up for some carbonara - especially if there's home made flatbread included.


... And homemade pasta!  Anytime Peg.


----------



## Gary A.

Get better smoke665.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Hunker down and ride it out.



I'll be able leap tall mountains in a single bound now..............at least for the next 12 hrs, until the steroid shot wears off



Gary A. said:


> Get better smoke665.



Thanks Gary. Only have to make it till the 2nd then we head south to follow the sunshine. That will make it all better. There's a country western song that says it best - "I got my toes in the water, $$$ in the sand, Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand, Life is good today".


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got roughly 5 minutes under 5.5 hours. Post office had nothing at 10:40.
Goofing off until 12 to get my check.
I lent $100 to my Sister. Going to get that back. 

Wasn't my fault. The sale paper said .99 a pound. Trish wrote .99 a pound. 
But someone removed .99 and they retracted the price. Went out and put $1.49 a pound up.

Only need to goof off for about 45 more minutes 


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg couple examples of Prism colored pencil, during my firehouse art period. Sorry cell phone doesn't do them justice and the glass is diffusing the colors. Up close without the glass they actually look like oil.  I like the fact that I can pick it up work 5 mins put it down, no clean up, come back days later and start back where I left off.




2017-12-28_11-25-28 by William Raber, on Flickr


----------



## jcdeboever

Get better Smoke. Some liver and onions might help and a shot of jack.


----------



## snowbear

Sharon, good luck in the class - you'll be painting nekkid peoples (aka human form) in no time. 

We were at 34* yesterday morning when we left for work (about 07:00) and we had a few minutes of flurries in the afternoon.  This morning it was 18* -- mother nature is testing us with a tiny taste, to see if we really want to move north.


----------



## smoke665

On the subject of drawing/painting classes. I've had a few over the years, but I learned more in a Carving Group, that I was a member of for a couple of years. The host, had a large studio (he was a commission only artist), we met twice a month for a full day on Saturdays. Every other month or so we had an outside artist come in to show and tell their carving specialty. In the interim we worked on our own projects. Having the expertise of others to help you really made a difference, and you weren't locked into a "whole class does one thing".


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Sharon, good luck in the class - you'll be painting nekkid peoples (aka human form) in no time.
> 
> We were at 34* yesterday morning when we left for work (about 07:00) and we had a few minutes of flurries in the afternoon.  This morning it was 18* -- mother nature is testing us with a tiny taste, to see if we really want to move north.



Are you considering a move to Maine?


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sharon, good luck in the class - you'll be painting nekkid peoples (aka human form) in no time.
> 
> We were at 34* yesterday morning when we left for work (about 07:00) and we had a few minutes of flurries in the afternoon.  This morning it was 18* -- mother nature is testing us with a tiny taste, to see if we really want to move north.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you considering a move to Maine?
Click to expand...

Yes.  We're just waiting to see what happens with the local administration change (term limits) that will happen here in a couple of years.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 151378
> After a good hosing, hours of drying and a good brushing.


Fluffy puppy!


----------



## jcdeboever

When I taught beginners drawing class, I started them out drawing eggs. But really the first lesson was the tools, methods, and what they expected or wanted to accomplish. I had everyone draw a circle, freehand, the first day, so I knew what I was working with. They were allowed to practice the circle as much as they liked during allotted times. The next class was an introduction into basic composition and negative space. Their first drawing lesson was drawing and shading an egg. Then two or more students had to bring something in to incorporate with the egg, each lesson, depending on the amount of people that actually showed up, four drawings and the final was critiqued in detail for advanced instruction moving forward. People or life drawing was an intermediate class or people that had drawing skill but wanted to advance into 3D qualities, lighting, tonal quality, and perspective. The advance class taught how to execute realism into their drawing skill set. There was an additional advanced class available for people that met the requirement for abstraction as well.  I taught years ago at a government funded program in the city of Detroit. I had to interview for the non paying job in several layers. It was a very interesting interview process and frankly didn't expect to garner the award, some considered it a step back. I did it for 3 years and it was an extremely rewarding experience. Many talented people and a few went on to secure a living with their renders. I don't take credit for that, the individuals that produced were exceptional from the start, they just needed some guidance and marketing help. I have posted a couple of pics of student work but would never take credit. Drawing and painting is different than photography. The photog is slave to technology, the artist is slave to oneself.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> When I taught beginners drawing class, I started them out drawing eggs. But really the first lesson was the tools, methods, and what they expected or wanted to accomplish. I had everyone draw a circle, freehand, the first day, so I knew what I was working with. They were allowed to practice the circle as much as they liked during allotted times. The next class was an introduction into basic composition and negative space. Their first drawing lesson was drawing and shading an egg. Then two or more students had to bring something in to incorporate with the egg, each lesson, depending on the amount of people that actually showed up, four drawings and the final was critiqued in detail for advanced instruction moving forward. People or life drawing was an intermediate class or people that had drawing skill but wanted to advance into 3D qualities, lighting, tonal quality, and perspective. The advance class taught how to execute realism into their drawing skill set. There was an additional advanced class available for people that met the requirement for abstraction as well.  I taught years ago at a government funded program in the city of Detroit. I had to interview for the non paying job in several layers. It was a very interesting interview process and frankly didn't expect to garner the award, some considered it a step back. I did it for 3 years and it was an extremely rewarding experience. Many talented people and a few went on to secure a living with their renders. I don't take credit for that, the individuals that produced were exceptional from the start, they just needed some guidance and marketing help. I have posted a couple of pics of student work but would never take credit. Drawing and painting is different than photography. The photog is slave to technology, the artist is slave to oneself.



Yes, they are different, but composition, and to an extent some of the decisions that need to be made are alike: What DoF do I want (I don't always draw everything out to infinity)?  What parts of the scene do I want? What color palette (Color or B&W)?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nobody brought in a chicken to go with their egg did they??

I used to use a darkroom at a local college and it was upstairs in this odd building that just had studio space. There was an open balcony up there where they held  drawing class because there would be plain white cubes and blocks and balls set up and arranged. Reminds me of your egg lesson JC. I'd go in sometimes in the summer when it wasn't busy and nobody'd be there but the radio was going... then I'd come out of the glow of the safe light to rinse & dry prints and there would be people there, I could look directly down into the pottery studio.

Anyway, I haven't taken a 'real' art class in years! Took as much as electives as I could all thru school. I agree about drawing classes teaching perspective and proportion, etc. I remember learning how to use your pencil to measure the proportion. We did things like go out and sketch a small patch of grass onto a large piece of paper. I think it was to make us look at the details in each blade of grass.

I like to draw & sketch, and I'd buy good pencils and brushes and paper. Not cheap, but I have sable brushes that I've had for years. I have this watercolor calendar which is just to play around with but the paper is crap! lol and I mostly read the blurb about whatever artist or technique. I've done mostly craft so have used acrylic/craft paint. Never took a watercolor class and I don't seem to have the hang of blending.


----------



## vintagesnaps

If nothing else, Bob Ross was a happy man! lol kept blobbing paint into happy trees! I suppose his techniques are about comparable to doing paint by number kits, which seems fine for people who don't really know how to paint but want to do it as a hobby. Kind of like those mosaic kits we had when we were kids, where you just glue the pieces onto a preprinted pattern. Something to keep busy, or keep us busy and out of our parents' hair when it was too cold to send us outside to play! Or after we'd been outside with the sled and crashed into the trash cans enough for one day.


----------



## snowbear

Eggs, at least un-cracked ones, are a decent starting subject.  Crumbled paper is complicated - lots of little shapes, shifting planes, and shadows.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I was on the high school paper (co-editor actually my senior year). We used to make paper wad balls and rolled up paper bats and run around the staffroom playing baseball (desks as bases). 

Rubber cement can be fun too, we used to pour it out on a table, let it dry, then roll it into balls and bounce those around the staffroom. I don't know how we ever got the paper to bed...

I don't know how I got good grades either. We only had 6 periods and I had one journalism/school newspaper and one study hall which got changed to the paper, so spent 1/3 of my day in there.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Nobody brought in a chicken to go with their egg did they??
> 
> I used to use a darkroom at a local college and it was upstairs in this odd building that just had studio space. There was an open balcony up there where they held  drawing class because there would be plain white cubes and blocks and balls set up and arranged. Reminds me of your egg lesson JC. I'd go in sometimes in the summer when it wasn't busy and nobody'd be there but the radio was going... then I'd come out of the glow of the safe light to rinse & dry prints and there would be people there, I could look directly down into the pottery studio.
> 
> Anyway, I haven't taken a 'real' art class in years! Took as much as electives as I could all thru school. I agree about drawing classes teaching perspective and proportion, etc. I remember learning how to use your pencil to measure the proportion. We did things like go out and sketch a small patch of grass onto a large piece of paper. I think it was to make us look at the details in each blade of grass.
> 
> I like to draw & sketch, and I'd buy good pencils and brushes and paper. Not cheap, but I have sable brushes that I've had at least 15 years or more. I have this watercolor calendar which is just to play around with but the paper is crap! lol and I mostly read the blurb about whatever artist or technique. I've done mostly craft so have used acrylic/craft paint. Never took a watercolor class and I don't seem to have the hang of blending.



Watercolor blends itself. The key is to let it happen. Puddle baby, puddle, drip the tip, drip the tip. Makes me want to do it, just talking about it. Draw with clear water, dip the color in the beginning of the clear water draw....


----------



## vintagesnaps

I just heard them announce that the outdoor game in the World Jrs. on Friday is a go. They have to get the game in as part of the tournament somehow somewhere (not like the pros where they could reschedule). I guess the weather prediction for Queens, New York is a lot of snow (but we're playing hockey in it anyway).


----------



## vintagesnaps

See I never knew that, should've taken a class! I'll try that. Drip, tip; water outline - OK, got it, I can remember that. 

Unless I get that confused with tri-tip and sous vide...


----------



## vintagesnaps

What size brush?


----------



## Frank F.

I met my cousin today & did a fun shot in Cologne!
My cousin in Physics Professor in Berlin, therefore a periscope is sticking from his head!
Do you like the editing?


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> What size brush?


Whatever your drawing with.i like long,  pointy sable brushed to draw with. The longer the better, they hold more water. Then dip the tip in color baby


----------



## davidharmier60

I can't draw water. Really I can't draw.
I used to paint, houses inside and out. 
Got pretty good with a camera though. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Well, @Gary A., thanks to son #1, we have just joined the in-crowd!




Untitled by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

Now we are looking at vacuum sealers (we've talked about getting one for years.)


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has the ChefSteps Joule.

Gary suggests you develop a 'kit' for the sous vide.  (As opposed to grabbing a random pot and stuff.)

https://www.amazon.com/EVERIE-Colla...-3-spons&keywords=rubbermaid+containers&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073RZWJWM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Cookers-20-R...qid=1514517916&sr=1-6&keywords=sous+vide+bags

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MUC26M...27b-b491-51157fcc53ca&hsa_cr_id=6058800190501

https://www.amazon.com/Sous-Vide-Ex...518061&sr=1-20&keywords=sous+vide+accessories

https://www.amazon.com/Caseling-Ano...4518061&sr=1-8&keywords=sous+vide+accessories

Gary isn't recommending these manufacturers, but posting as examples of Gary's kit which has made Sous Vide cooking easier and better.


----------



## Gary A.

Interestingly enough. Gary had just started an 18 hour Sous Vide roast.


----------



## snowbear

We'll see.  I have a pack of hot dogs I'll try, first.


----------



## vintagesnaps

On Top Chef somebody did a tri tip. I only caught part of the show during intermission of the hockey game, and the last 10 minutes when they said the magic word - tri tip!

Guess I need a couple of brushes, realized all I seem to have are rounds (and they're not pointed anymore if they ever were!). Good excuse to shop for art supplies.


----------



## smoke665

I had a few art classes in high school and the typical art appreciation classes in college. Picked up a couple electives in multiple media and mechanical drawing, but the one course that opened my eyes to detail was advanced industrial process 1 & 2. We were given items that we had to measure and draw to exacting standards then duplicate that item from our print. Started off simple involving metal work, & machine work. The final piece which I still have today was an aluminum anvil. We had to do the blueprints, construct a wood mold, sand cast the aluminum anvil, then finish the surface to a mirror finish. We were graded by how close our anvil matched the original. Being off a few thousands of an inch could cause you to fail the course, meaning you had to calculate the waste list in finishing. My first couple of attempts went back  into the pot.


----------



## davidharmier60

Another day that began at 4am 
And I found out yesterday that I am on the job Monday as well. So no partying on Sunday night.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> We'll see.  I have a pack of hot dogs I'll try, first.



I hope they are at least the premium ones!


----------



## smoke665

Up before 5 this morning, starting to feel like Dave. After the heavy dose of steroids yesterday, last night was restless. Never able to drift into a deep sleep, just always on the edge, always waking up. However the price is a small one to pay for the ability to breathe. Hadn't realized how much it had become restricted, over the past 3 weeks. Still have a ways to go but I'll take what I get.

On the flip side being up early has allowed me to experiment with some fresh roast coffee sent by my "alter ego" @Gary A. With who I've shared some spirited political debates of late. I suspect that if he and I were to put our minds to it in Washington, we could show politicians how easy it is to reach across lines to find common ground. Although I'm afraid he has created a monster by making it very hard to go back to the grocery shelf brands. My wife has now declared that we will be ordering beans and roasting our own in the future once we get back in February. Very devious by Gary  swaying my wife as an ally! LOL


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> I had a few art classes in high school and the typical art appreciation classes in college. Picked up a couple electives in multiple media and mechanical drawing, but the one course that opened my eyes to detail was advanced industrial process 1 & 2. We were given items that we had to measure and draw to exacting standards then duplicate that item from our print. Started off simple involving metal work, & machine work. The final piece which I still have today was an aluminum anvil. We had to do the blueprints, construct a wood mold, sand cast the aluminum anvil, then finish the surface to a mirror finish. We were graded by how close our anvil matched the original. Being off a few thousands of an inch could cause you to fail the course, meaning you had to calculate the waste list in finishing. My first couple of attempts went back  into the pot.


Sounds like fun.

I had two semesters of mechanical drawing in college; one being in support of the electronics technology program I was in.  We ultimately had to copy a schematic (25 components, minimum with at least one integrated circuit or two transistors), label  components with mil specs, design a printed circuit board without using jumper wires (AKA zero ohm resistors), make the board, and put the thing together.  Of course, this was in the "old days" of pencil and paper and the most complicated boards were double-sided - no multi-layered wafers, like today.  The boards were UV sensitive, so it was like making photo prints: draw the copper side of the board at 1:1, make a negative using Mylar, tape and adhesive "dots" (overlay the drawing), burnish, expose the board with the negative overlaid, etch, and drill.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> Up before 5 this morning, starting to feel like Dave. After the heavy dose of steroids yesterday, last night was restless. Never able to drift into a deep sleep, just always on the edge, always waking up. However the price is a small one to pay for the ability to breathe. Hadn't realized how much it had become restricted, over the past 3 weeks. Still have a ways to go but I'll take what I get.
> 
> On the flip side being up early has allowed me to experiment with some fresh roast coffee sent by my "alter ego" @Gary A. With who I've shared some spirited political debates of late. I suspect that if he and I were to put our minds to it in Washington, we could show politicians how easy it is to reach across lines to find common ground. Although I'm afraid he has created a monster by making it very hard to go back to the grocery shelf brands. My wife has now declared that we will be ordering beans and roasting our own in the future once we get back in February. Very devious by Gary  swaying my wife as an ally! LOL



So much good stuff in this post. First, everyone should roast their own coffee (and brew their own beer). My initial set-up cost line $30, and took me maybe 45 minutes to rig together. I have easily saved that much money (three or four fold probably) over the year I’ve been roasting.

I also love your comment about finding common ground. My best golf bud thinks very differently than I do, and in the recent political climate, some of our mutual friends have pushed him away. He and I have similar discussions and always end with a beer and a handshake. We rarely agree, but we understand each other well, and I think it’s made my thinking more nuanced as a result.


----------



## smoke665

@snowbear I loved working on the table, still have one complete with everything needed in my shop. I seem to think better on paper. I spent 9 years as VP of a company  designing and building prefabricated steel feed mills that were shipped all over the world. Our engineering department by that time was all CAD, which I reluctantly learned to use, but most times I would use a table in my office to make preliminary sketches based on customer requirements. Really loved this job, probably one of the most satisfying I've ever had (except for the constant travel). Unfortunately the CEO/President and owner and I were having irreconcilable differences of opinions on company direction, so we parted on friendly terms. It took a few more years but as I predicted would happen he eventually went bankrupt. Sad really because it was a fabulous company at one time.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> We rarely agree, but we understand each other well, and I think it’s made my thinking more nuanced as a result.



Learned long ago that there are different opinions on just about everything, and that I don't have to agree with someone, but I do try hard to be respectful of their right to that opinion. Maybe I'm lucky but I've never met someone with whom I didn't find some common ground as long as the lines of communication remains open.


----------



## smoke665

It's whats for breakfast. My favorite thanks to my dear wife, large flaky biscuits smothered in her fantastic sausage and gravy. Think I'm in heaven.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> @snowbear I loved working on the table, still have one complete with everything needed in my shop. I seem to think better on paper. I spent 9 years as VP of a company  designing and building prefabricated steel feed mills that were shipped all over the world. Our engineering department by that time was all CAD, which I reluctantly learned to use, but most times I would use a table in my office to make preliminary sketches based on customer requirements. Really loved this job, probably one of the most satisfying I've ever had (except for the constant travel). Unfortunately the CEO/President and owner and I were having irreconcilable differences of opinions on company direction, so we parted on friendly terms. It took a few more years but as I predicted would happen he eventually went bankrupt. Sad really because it was a fabulous company at one time.


Paper - I still use a pad and pen at meetings, even short ones.  I never quite got the hang of taking notes on a laptop, though I've gotten to the point I can write Python without coding sheets.  I have to really track my hours, so I scribble what I've done and how long I've worked on it on a wall calendar that sits on the desk (838 map - 2, battalion maps - 4, AtoN script - 2).  I'm the reason we will never truly be a paperless society.


----------



## JonA_CT

I use paper and pencil/pen/sharpie marker whatever constantly, even at school.

I do most of my teaching with a document camera, standard copy paper, and sharpies. It isn't that I don't know how to use the technology I have (promethean board), but I can face my students when I'm using the document camera, and it feels more personal for them to see me write/model in a notebook, especially because that's what they'll do when I'm done teaching. 

I tried using OneNote for meeting notes...just didn't work for me. I have a notebook that has notes from all of my meetings this year, and I find everything in it so much easier than I did in OneNote.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Up before 5 this morning, starting to feel like Dave. After the heavy dose of steroids yesterday, last night was restless. Never able to drift into a deep sleep, just always on the edge, always waking up. However the price is a small one to pay for the ability to breathe. Hadn't realized how much it had become restricted, over the past 3 weeks. Still have a ways to go but I'll take what I get.
> 
> On the flip side being up early has allowed me to experiment with some fresh roast coffee sent by my "alter ego" @Gary A. With who I've shared some spirited political debates of late. I suspect that if he and I were to put our minds to it in Washington, we could show politicians how easy it is to reach across lines to find common ground. Although I'm afraid he has created a monster by making it very hard to go back to the grocery shelf brands. My wife has now declared that we will be ordering beans and roasting our own in the future once we get back in February. Very devious by Gary  swaying my wife as an ally! LOL



@ smoke665:  Gary doesn't know about spirited debates.  They seemed pretty much and overwhelmingly one sided.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> I use paper and pencil/pen/sharpie marker whatever constantly, even at school.
> 
> I do most of my teaching with a document camera, standard copy paper, and sharpies. It isn't that I don't know how to use the technology I have (promethean board), but I can face my students when I'm using the document camera, and it feels more personal for them to see me write/model in a notebook, especially because that's what they'll do when I'm done teaching.
> 
> I tried using OneNote for meeting notes...just didn't work for me. I have a notebook that has notes from all of my meetings this year, and I find everything in it so much easier than I did in OneNote.



In one of the professional (1-week) classes I took, the instructor commented that he was holding a class that included some people whom were deaf.  If he turned to face the board while he was still talking, the lip-readers would throw stuff at him.  He learned quickly.


----------



## snowbear

A little snow to our south, this morning.  We are expecting an inch, or so, beginning late tonight or in the morning.  It was 21* when we left this morning.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I use paper and pencil/pen/sharpie marker whatever constantly, even at school.
> 
> I do most of my teaching with a document camera, standard copy paper, and sharpies. It isn't that I don't know how to use the technology I have (promethean board), but I can face my students when I'm using the document camera, and it feels more personal for them to see me write/model in a notebook, especially because that's what they'll do when I'm done teaching.
> 
> I tried using OneNote for meeting notes...just didn't work for me. I have a notebook that has notes from all of my meetings this year, and I find everything in it so much easier than I did in OneNote.


Gary finds it a bit difficult to take notes electronically.  Gary much prefers using a Reporter's Notebook and pen. Gary could never give dictation or handwrite a final product ... for that a keyboard is required.  Funny how the brain likes a set routine to function optimally ... (with Gary's cream cheese of a brain, optimally functioning is required just to keep from bumping into stuff ... a complete sentence with a semblance of coherency is tough).


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary doesn't know about spirited debates. They seemed pretty much and overwhelmingly one sided.



Considering the side you favor I might have to agreee


----------



## smoke665

As my handwriting has gotten worse over the years due to nerve damage, I've had to switch more to the computer for notes and written correspondence. Plus I've gotten lazy with spell check LOL Funny the same shakiness in the hands, causes problems on detailed drawing using a mouse or pen on the computer, but if I'm on the board where I can rest my hands on the drafting machine and the articulated  head and board, I have no problems.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary doesn't know about spirited debates. They seemed pretty much and overwhelmingly one sided.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Considering the side you favor I might have to agreee
Click to expand...

Hence ... the common ground.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got 10.5 or 11 minutes under 5 hours. 
Post office and then home. 
And BTW Dave had biscuits and sausage gravy that Brenda made at work. 
Not as good as Sisters but any port in a storm....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I use paper and pencil/pen/sharpie marker whatever constantly, even at school.
> 
> I do most of my teaching with a document camera, standard copy paper, and sharpies. It isn't that I don't know how to use the technology I have (promethean board), but I can face my students when I'm using the document camera, and it feels more personal for them to see me write/model in a notebook, especially because that's what they'll do when I'm done teaching.
> 
> I tried using OneNote for meeting notes...just didn't work for me. I have a notebook that has notes from all of my meetings this year, and I find everything in it so much easier than I did in OneNote.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary finds it a bit difficult to take notes electronically.  Gary much prefers using a Reporter's Notebook and pen. Gary could never give dictation or handwrite a final product ... for that a keyboard is required.  Funny how the brain likes a set routine to function optimally ... (with Gary's cream cheese of a brain, optimally functioning is required just to keep from bumping into stuff ... a complete sentence with a semblance of coherency is tough).
Click to expand...


Yeah, I agree with that. I find I'm much more successful at drafting without the computer/keyboard. The vast majority of my work ends up digitized in one way or another because I either type or scan it into Google Classroom for my students to have wherever they are. 

Kids hate writing. Actually, I hated writing when I was their age, and it didn't matter what type. My students don't write a single thing that I'm not writing with them, and I find that they are much more engaged and interested in the process as a result. My 8th graders just finished a 6/7 week unit where they developed and published social issue narratives, and some of them are close to 20 pages long (even my example, which really is a tool to show them ALL of the techniques, not necessarily a final, published piece, is 12 pages long). Even my struggling writers ended up in the 7-10 page range and shocked themselves. Before I celebrated the process with them, it never would have happened that way.

I do have literally 400 pages of stories to read through and grade now, though. 

(And no...I haven't even looked at them yet...)


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary doesn't know about spirited debates. They seemed pretty much and overwhelmingly one sided.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Considering the side you favor I might have to agreee
Click to expand...

(Yes, the winning side. )


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave just saw a dog very much resembling Maggie across the parking lot. High energy too just as Gary describes. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## Gary A.

@snowbear: Gary's roast is still cooking away from yesterday, according to my phone app, 04:39:45 to go.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Yes, the winning side. )



And we're off to table again!!! LOL I have this strange feeling that arguing with you is like wrestling a pig in the mud, sooner or later you realize we both enjoy it!


----------



## snowbear

20 minutes to go, then lunch with the ladies (tagging along with MLW's lunch with the other Admin. Aides in Fire/EMS), then to get new tires for the car.  We'll be looking at vacuum food savers while tire shop does their thing.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, the winning side. )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And we're off to table again!!! LOL I have this strange feeling that arguing with you is like wrestling a pig in the mud, sooner or later you realize we both enjoy it!
Click to expand...


I think Gary channels his feminine side when it comes to arguments. We all know you can't win one with a lady.


----------



## Gary A.

FYI


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary - shaddup!


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I think Gary channels his feminine side when it comes to arguments. We all know you can't win one with a lady.



No I'd have to disagree to a point. I never win an argument with my wife, and there might have been 1 or 2 with Gary..........at least I think there might have been, but my memory isn't that good anymore.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 151419
> Interestingly enough. Gary had just started an 18 hour Sous Vide roast.




Looks more like Biochemistry than cooking!


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> @ smoke665:  Gary doesn't know about spirited debates.  They seemed pretty much and overwhelmingly one sided.




Yea, Gary debates, I drink the spirits!


----------



## smoke665

When old school meets new school. Don't normally post this kind of thing, and the lady is an Italian Grandmother, but the way she handles Google device reminds me so much of what would have been my Grandmother only with a heavy German accent.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The cold sounds even worse in Canadian (I mean, Celsius). Been reading some Canadian media (The Star, CBC) about the outdoor World Jr. game starting shortly and they kept giving single digit temps. I doubt it will bother players from Canada and Europe who play pond hockey when they're kids. The fans sitting still will be the ones freezing. 

I've been in some cold hockey rinks, but still... I think I need some hot chocolate before the game starts just thinking about it.


----------



## jcdeboever

Glad smokes is doing better or sounds better anyway. I watched a movie called the Matrix today while waiting on oldest son to come over. I really liked it. I've seen that main guy in other movies that my wife made me watch but he was a bad *SS in this one. He was a candy salesman that gave a wine country girl a candy wrapper for a ring, made me throw up a little in my mouth.....


----------



## vintagesnaps

On second thought, some Kahlua in some coffee would be nice, if I had any. The players look rather padded under those uniforms. Some of the fans look so bundled they resemble the Michelin man. 

John (or any other Canadians handy) - is it proud and free or strong and free? I seem to have maybe learned/remembered it wrong from college days. They used to always play both at games but don't much anymore. At least our college did, no matter if we rarely played a Canadian team, both flags were up and we sang both. As it should be.

Maybe I'd get the words right if I'd stop thinking about what alcoholic beverage I could have if I had any in the house.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> On second thought, some Kahlua in some coffee would be nice, if I had any. The players look rather padded under those uniforms. Some of the fans look so bundled they resemble the Michelin man.
> 
> John (or any other Canadians handy) - is it proud and free or strong and free? I seem to have maybe learned/remembered it wrong from college days. They used to always play both at games but don't much anymore. At least our college did, no matter if we rarely played a Canadian team, both flags were up and we sang both. As it should be.
> 
> Maybe I'd get the words right if I'd stop thinking about what alcoholic beverage I could have if I had any in the house.


After shave works in a pinch. We used to drink aqua velva in the Marines.


----------



## tirediron

vintagesnaps said:


> On second thought, some Kahlua in some coffee would be nice, if I had any. The players look rather padded under those uniforms. Some of the fans look so bundled they resemble the Michelin man.
> 
> John (or any other Canadians handy) - is it proud and free or strong and free? I seem to have maybe learned/remembered it wrong from college days. They used to always play both at games but don't much anymore. At least our college did, no matter if we rarely played a Canadian team, both flags were up and we sang both. As it should be.
> 
> Maybe I'd get the words right if I'd stop thinking about what alcoholic beverage I could have if I had any in the house.


"Strong and free", although there are some corruptions which are [unfortunately] coming into use  seeking to replace the "sons" in "all thy sons command"with something gender-neutral and also removing the reference to "God", so it's not at all unlikely that you've heard "proud and free", 'though it is incorrect.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That could be. The most I hear it anymore is on HNIC, games don't play it like they used to. 

The mid-game stop and shovel snow is over... they had quite a bit in those wheelbarrows! 

The player benches are heated/warmed but not the penalty boxes - that ought to help keep 'em outta there and keep the game moving.


----------



## JonA_CT

tirediron said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> On second thought, some Kahlua in some coffee would be nice, if I had any. The players look rather padded under those uniforms. Some of the fans look so bundled they resemble the Michelin man.
> 
> John (or any other Canadians handy) - is it proud and free or strong and free? I seem to have maybe learned/remembered it wrong from college days. They used to always play both at games but don't much anymore. At least our college did, no matter if we rarely played a Canadian team, both flags were up and we sang both. As it should be.
> 
> Maybe I'd get the words right if I'd stop thinking about what alcoholic beverage I could have if I had any in the house.
> 
> 
> 
> "Strong and free", although there are some corruptions which are [unfortunately] coming into use  seeking to replace the "sons" in "all thy sons command"with something gender-neutral and also removing the reference to "God", so it's not at all unlikely that you've heard "proud and free", 'though it is incorrect.
Click to expand...


Meh. I understand a lot of our revision, but there are times where I think it's not worth it. I'm laughing to myself over here trying to imagine the British anthem without the word God, haha. (And that's as an atheist, btw.)


----------



## davidharmier60

Jesus is the reason for the season. 
This from a fallen Catholic. 

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----------



## JonA_CT

Sure, Dave. But many religious holidays have created cultural traditions that have nothing to do with the religion behind them. (My ethnically Jewish but atheist friend makes the best matzo ball soup you'll ever have.)

I'm not offended by the way people choose to observe their religious OR cultural holidays. Live free, haha.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Glad smokes is doing better or sounds better anyway.



Feeling much better, didn't realize how much it was really affecting my breathing until today.


----------



## limr

Actually, axial tilt is the reason for the season.


----------



## snowbear

Lunch was nice; I had salmon, BBQ beans and a baked potato.  Oh, and bourbon blackberry lemonade.

We can’t put the tires on until Sunday, so while the Michelin Man is doing his thing, we have tickets for_ The Last Jedi._


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Actually, axial tilt is the reason for the season.


Combined with the orbit around the sun.


----------



## Gary A.

The projector and big screen are up and running for the game.  With the new receiver Gary had to pull stuff apart and re/configure stuff around. Gary set it up making it easier to re-setup.  Fight On!


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. I was going to shout out an encouraging school battle cry, but I realized I didn't know any, so I did a Google search and only turned up a couple if lukewarm ones. "Fight On USC" doesn't really rally the team much. Am I missing something, I'm used to everyone knowing who I'm talking about when I say "Roll Tide", "War Eagle", "Go Dawgs", "Hook'em Horns", "Go State", "Gig Em". Even Florida had "Go Gators", but I heard it's been changed to "Do Something Gators - anything" (sorry Leo couldn't resist) LOL 

You can count on me to be rooting for USC though, partly because of deference to your team, and partly because I can't stand Ohio State.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. I was going to shout out an encouraging school battle cry, but I realized I didn't know any, so I did a Google search and only turned up a couple if lukewarm ones. "Fight On USC" doesn't really rally the team much. Am I missing something, I'm used to everyone knowing who I'm talking about when I say "Roll Tide", "War Eagle", "Go Dawgs", "Hook'em Horns", "Go State", "Gig Em". Even Florida had "Go Gators", but I heard it's been changed to "Do Something Gators - anything" (sorry Leo couldn't resist) LOL
> 
> You can count on me to be rooting for USC though, partly because of deference to your team, and partly because I can't stand Ohio State.


I hope USC kicks butt. Big time cheering USC!


----------



## snowbear

I think Maryland’s cry was “Go the @$#% home!”  Actually it was the playing of _Rock and Roll, Part 2_ and instead of yelling "Hey" like the original, you'd yell "You Suck."


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Actually, axial tilt is the reason for the season.




You took the words right out of my mouth!

The act of dying and being reborn, visible in trees for example, corresponds to the cycle of the seasons, which corresponds to seasonal festivities.

But: axial tilt is not the only reason for the seasons. We had another climate with Crocodiles roaming what we call the "North Pole" in our glacial times of today. This was a fully tropical planet: "In the northern polar region, therefore, about 53.5 million years ago prevailed almost tropical climate with temperatures of up to 27 degrees." writes Appy Sluijs, who found palm pollen in the arctic.

Original 2009 work: https://www.researchgate.net/profil...ic-region-during-Eocene-Thermal-Maximum-2.pdf


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, axial tilt is the reason for the season.
> 
> 
> 
> Combined with the orbit around the sun.
Click to expand...


Yarp.


----------



## snowbear

Went to BAM (Books-A-Million) after we got home.  They have some neat t-shirts.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave reads insatiable (among other things he does). The thing next on the list is to go to work again.


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## Dean_Gretsch

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave reads insatiable (among other things he does). The thing next on the list is to go to work again.
> 
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Taking Snowbear's first tshirt example to heart, I must say that would be " Dave reads insatiably..." Lol.


----------



## JonA_CT

Dean_Gretsch said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dave reads insatiable (among other things he does). The thing next on the list is to go to work again.
> 
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Taking Snowbear's first tshirt example to heart, I must say that would be " Dave reads insatiably..." Lol.
Click to expand...


My t-shirt would say “Modifiers are a b*tch”.”


----------



## davidharmier60

Spell check wouldn't do the Y.

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----------



## smoke665

Morning all! Looks like today is the last "semi warm" day before the deep freeze door opens, so looks to be a busy day as I finish up outside chores.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Looks very nasty for the Midwest and East Coast.  Button up and stay warm.


----------



## smoke665

Yup, currently 45 looks to be the high now as temperatures will start falling after lunch. Calling for it to fall to a low of 15 by Monday night, then several days of temperatures at or only slightly above freezing as a high. Fortunately I think the freezing rain is out of the forecast.


----------



## Gary A.

What is rain?


----------



## Gary A.

What is freezing?


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> Yup, currently 45 looks to be the high now as temperatures will start falling after lunch. Calling for it to fall to a low of 15 by Monday night, then several days of temperatures at or only slightly above freezing as a high. Fortunately I think the freezing rain is out of the forecast.


About the same thing here - Monday and Tuesday show  temps will be dropping into the teens  (F), give or take a degree.   Hubby has the hoses drained and covers on the outdoor faucets, and extra pine straw on some of our newer trees and shrubs.  We also stuffed our 3 bird feeders.  I love the extra cold weather for the excuse to make soups and stews,  but sure do watch out for my feathered friends.  These dips aren't what they're used to.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> What is freezing?


A temporary nuisance.


----------



## davidharmier60

Instead of doing the Y part of the word it tried to put in a completely different word. 
Smart phone my A$$.

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## smoke665

terri said:


> A temporary nuisance.



Anything below 40 or above 90 is a nuisance!!! Unfortunately we have both - frequently


----------



## jcdeboever

It's cold here. Below zero this morning @6:00 AM as I trekked out to plow about 5" plus from yesterday. Had all my kids overnight, and took them all to breakfast to give the wife a much deserved and needed break. They all boogied on down the road 10 minutes ago. Off in various commitments. Gary's coffee was a big hit, again, with a fresh set of mouths to taste test. Changed a bad O2 sensor on sons vehicle after plowing. Scanning may be on docket for today, see how it goes after getting the Shark vacuum fixed, if it can be, had it a few years.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> What is rain?



It’s that wet stuff that prevents forest fires.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> What is rain?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It’s that wet stuff that prevents forest fires.
Click to expand...


I guess we could say it prevents snow as well.


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I guess we could say it prevents snow as well.



Here if it's preventing snow, it mostly likely is freezing rain. I would much prefer snow to ice!!!


----------



## JonA_CT

We're having the best type of snow fall right now -- it's been snowing for the past several hours, but lightly enough that its not coating up the road. Very picturesque.


----------



## Gary A.

Headlines in the Los Angeles Times Sports section:  “The Sacking of Troy”.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Headlines in the Los Angeles Times Sports section:  “The Sacking of Troy”.



I can't say they were sacked based on how they held the second half. Frankly had it not been for sloppy ball holding that resulted in the fumble/turnover and throwing that dumb intercepted pass so close to your goal line in the first half, it would most likely have resulted in a different outcome. I was surprised at how weak the OSU  defensive secondary was,  USC was tearing them up with those crossing passes.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Too bad we can't melt some snow and ship it where it could be put to use. Me too, I'll take snow over ice any day.

I'm tired, I read Terri's post and was going, you made dip for the birds and they didn't like it?? lol oh, you meant the dip in temperature... I have cardinals and assorted little sparrows and whatnot that think the bushes along the entire front of my house are bird condos, so with the snow and cold they've got a sheltered place to hang out. Pretty quiet out there today with the snow cover.

I had a cousin who went to OSU and that's where I wanted to go at first, but they didn't have my major. But I ended up with friends who went there so I spent some weekends there, the fun of visiting the campus without the studying! So I'm a fair weather fan, not when they play another local college, yes when they play a school from another state. But I forgot about the game yesterday til I got on here!


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon.  We had a light snow, overnight,  much of which is gone.  We went to Bass Pro Shops so I could pick up some fur, feathers, and hooks.  On the way home we stopped by the seafood market and got crab meat, clams, and shrimp; there are crab cakes, New England clam chowder and jambalaya in our culinary future!


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> New England clam chowder and jambalaya in our culinary future!



That sounds like some really good cold weather fare. For Jambalaya it's got to be the spicy Cajun style before it gets my attention. Authentic New England clam chowder though, that's a different story, love it. Just don't get the opportunity to enjoy it much, unless we make it and finding the clams is difficult.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> We're having the best type of snow fall right now -- it's been snowing for the past several hours, but lightly enough that its not coating up the road. Very picturesque.



Just started here.  I was outside making and taking pics of frozen soap bubbles.  Pretty cool experiment.  Will post some photos in a separate thread.  Came inside to warm up for a bit but if we get any type of golden hour I’ll be back out there.  Not likely now with the snow falling but you never know.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just came in from pulling lights off the roof and while he was up there pruning roses (climbers) and grape vines off the roof.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Gary just came in from pulling lights off the roof and while he was up there pruning roses (climbers) and grape vines off the roof.


WHY is there not a "I hate you with every fiber of my mortal being" emoticon on this board?


----------



## davidharmier60

We are about to partake in Hot Dogs. 
Dad and I as Sister went to Kingwood hospital for a check out and we don't know anything else so far.

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## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Headlines in the Los Angeles Times Sports section:  “The Sacking of Troy”.


Hey did nothing but hurt his draft stock.


----------



## davidharmier60

Still no news from Sis. And while I need not awaken at 4am tomorrow i did this morning and my eyelids are getting heavy.

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## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> Still no news from Sis. And while I need not awaken at 4am tomorrow i did this morning and my eyelids are getting heavy.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Fingers crossed that she is OK.


----------



## davidharmier60

She is with Pam and Pam would call.

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## snowbear

Dinner was a bit later than usual, since we had to go to the grocery store to get a bunch of fresh stuff.  Now I'm on my second bowl of MLW's wonderful clam chowder: Emeril's recipe with a twist, inspired by a Seekonk, MA establishment.


----------



## Derrel

snowbear said:


> Good afternoon.  We had a light snow, overnight,  much of which is gone.  We went to Bass Pro Shops so I could pick up some fur, feathers, and hooks.  On the way home we stopped by the seafood market and got crab meat, clams, and shrimp; there are crab cakes, New England clam chowder and jambalaya in our culinary future!



Ohhhh...do you tie flies? Or just dress hooks for plugs and spoons and other hard baits?


----------



## snowbear

Derrel said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good afternoon.  We had a light snow, overnight,  much of which is gone.  We went to Bass Pro Shops so I could pick up some fur, feathers, and hooks.  On the way home we stopped by the seafood market and got crab meat, clams, and shrimp; there are crab cakes, New England clam chowder and jambalaya in our culinary future!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ohhhh...do you tie flies? Or just dress hooks for plugs and spoons and other hard baits?
Click to expand...

Starting back into fly tying, after a 20 (or more) year absence.  The vise and tools are in the way.  I picked up stuff for wooly buggers (olive, black & brown) and caddis pupae (olive & grey).

I'll get some deer hair in a few weeks and spin out a few bass bugs.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Should be fuel for some nice photo sessions.


----------



## snowbear

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Should be fuel for some nice photo sessions.


Oh, yes, but like this "quickie" with the macro, I'll stick to shooting the commercial ones until I get a hang of tying.




DSC_1121.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## JonA_CT

Good morning, Hosers.

I'm roasting coffee and mentally preparing myself for today. We have 6 people coming over after bedtime for NYE festivities. I need to hit the grocery and the packy, and get to some prep work. 

I'm also searching eBay and other places for a TLR camera. Because...if I'm gonna shoot a roll of film each month with a theme, I should probably find a camera who can only do 12 frames


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning, Hosers.
> 
> I'm roasting coffee and mentally preparing myself for today. We have 6 people coming over after bedtime for NYE festivities. I need to hit the grocery and the packy, and get to some prep work.
> 
> I'm also searching eBay and other places for a TLR camera. Because...if I'm gonna shoot a roll of film each month with a theme, I should probably find a camera who can only do 12 frames


You could always get a 100' roll and load 12.  I have a spare Watson loader, somewhere.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Oh, yes, but like this "quickie" with the macro,



That's a lot better then anything I could do. I've tried it a few times but it seems that I'm all thumbs and no patience. In the end I give up in frustration and go buy them.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, Hosers.
> 
> I'm roasting coffee and mentally preparing myself for today. We have 6 people coming over after bedtime for NYE festivities. I need to hit the grocery and the packy, and get to some prep work.
> 
> I'm also searching eBay and other places for a TLR camera. Because...if I'm gonna shoot a roll of film each month with a theme, I should probably find a camera who can only do 12 frames
> 
> 
> 
> You could always get a 100' roll and load 12.  I have a spare Watson loader, somewhere.
Click to expand...


But then I don't get a new camera??? Haha


----------



## snowbear

If you are referring to the photo, thank you.  The fly is in a 9" surgical clamp, braced on a chair back.  Shot with the pop-up flash, 1/200 @ f/4, ISO100.

If you are referring to the fly (a #16 Adams, I think), thank Orvis.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT I have a couple of 35's that I pulled out of the drawer, cleaned up, put in fresh batteries, and even ordered film, but I've yet to complete shooting the first roll of film. I'm somewhat annoyed at myself as I'm not sure why, maybe it's just my aversion to change. LOL I've really thought hard about a 4x5 field camera but I'm afraid it would end up sitting on a shelf like the other two.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, Hosers.
> 
> I'm roasting coffee and mentally preparing myself for today. We have 6 people coming over after bedtime for NYE festivities. I need to hit the grocery and the packy, and get to some prep work.
> 
> I'm also searching eBay and other places for a TLR camera. Because...if I'm gonna shoot a roll of film each month with a theme, I should probably find a camera who can only do 12 frames
> 
> 
> 
> You could always get a 100' roll and load 12.  I have a spare Watson loader, somewhere.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> But then I don't get a new camera??? Haha
Click to expand...

They are not mutually exclusive!  I have a 10% off email coupon from KEH that I'm not going to use, but it expires today. PM sent.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> If you are referring to the photo, thank you.  The fly is in a 9" surgical clamp, braced on a chair back.  Shot with the pop-up flash, 1/200 @ f/4, ISO100.
> 
> If you are referring to the fly (a #16 Adams, I think), thank Orvis.



You slipped a ringer in on us???? And here I thought you were my hero!! LOL


----------



## snowbear

This one is mine.  I need to be a little more sparse on the hackle.




DSC_1131.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave doesn't know from fly fishing. 
Sister is here but asleep.
Dave never got into deep REM sleep.
He doesn't FEEL that bad because of it.
If there is milk enough Dave will likely eat cereal. 

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## smoke665

snowbear said:


> This one is mine.



Maybe I'm doing it all wrong?????


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> This one is mine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe I'm doing it all wrong?????
> View attachment 151513
Click to expand...

Yeah - that only works with cicadas.


----------



## JonA_CT

My mustache froze this morning while I was sweeping the snow off the cars and the walk.


----------



## JonA_CT

JonA_CT said:


> My mustache froze this morning while I was sweeping the snow off the cars and the walk.



 Beard update...weird crop because of the new upload rules here

This is just about 9 weeks. My wife gave me until February 1st to make her like it, haha.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> My mustache froze this morning while I was sweeping the snow off the cars and the walk.



That is an unpleasant and sometimes painful memory that is thankfully way back in my past!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is a foggy morning.  Maggie had never seen fog before in her life.  When we ventured into the front to retrieve the paper, she stretched out her neck looked and looked and sniffed and sniffed.  Gary thinks it may have triggered some genetic dreams as her breed is from Ireland. 51F at 8:28 a.m. and forecasted to hit 69F. Guests today.  Gary has a Chuck roast in the Sous Vide.  It has been in the spa since yesterday and 5:46:50 hours:minutes:seconds to go. Then a rub and in the oven for about 20 minutes for a crispy crust and final ten degree temperature rise. @ Charlie: any luck with the Sous Vide?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I think if I buy a Sam's Club package of Epson's salt and 2 hours soak per week, I could save money on pedicures if I  buy myself a sous vide.


----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I think if I buy a Sam's Club package of Epson's salt and 2 hours soak per week, I could save money on pedicures if I  buy myself a sous vide.


Sous Vide are perfect for pedicures!  That was Gary's original intent, one day he fell asleep while immersed and discovered that the Sous Vide can cook as well.


----------



## Gary A.

Gotta tell you peoples ... you all know I cook a lot, I BBQ, Smoke, Grill, bake, roasts ... Gary even makes his own pastas and Gary has a backyard full of herbs and veggies and fruits.  The last Tri-Tip which cooked in the Sous Vide, for 18 hours, Mary Lou said it was the best meat she has ever eaten in her life. Gary is duplicating the recipe with the Chuck Roast. The guests were amazed at the flavor and tenderness of the Tri-Tip (which isn't that great of a cut).


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is a foggy morning.  Maggie had never seen fog before in her life.  When we ventured into the front to retrieve the paper, she stretched out her neck looked and looked and sniffed and sniffed.  Gary thinks it may have triggered some genetic dreams as her breed is from Ireland. 51F at 8:28 a.m. and forecasted to hit 69F. Guests today.  Gary has a Chuck roast in the Sous Vide.  It has been in the spa since yesterday and 5:46:50 hours:minutes:seconds to go. Then a rub and in the oven for about 20 minutes for a crispy crust and final ten degree temperature rise. @ Charlie: any luck with the Sous Vide?


We haven't tried it, yet, but we picked up some small steaks.  We need to get a bag or two, or we'll SV them most of the way, then season and sear (they're packaged in thick bgs, not styro dishes).  They are planned for tomorrow, to go with the crab cakes.  Tonight I'm making shrimp and ham jambalaya.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary suspects your tool came with a cookbook.  There are many online with Amazon.  You can use a Ziplock bag, just make sure it is BPA free.  If you have any concerns about the bag bursting, you can double up on the bags. The Sous Vide cooks extremely well, but you can't be in a hurry.


----------



## snowbear

I found one - 129* for 1 hour, then sear each side for 1 minute.  Look's good.


----------



## davidharmier60

Steak later! Our neighbors across the road gave us stuff. Two kinds of steak, baked potato and Brussels sprouts later. YEAH!

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## vintagesnaps

Watching hockey, what else? But - the feed went out for awhile!!! Only thing I found was a mention of outages in the northeast US and this tournament is in Buffalo. It came back on - whew! so I can see the US game later with pizza and a friend and a bottle of someone else's Christmas gift from a client.


----------



## jcdeboever

Baby Girl watching me develop Tri X in D76. She wanted to help.


----------



## terri

Staying in on this very chilly night.   I hope the cold will keep some of the neighbors from shooting off as many fireworks as they have in past years when it's been warmer.   Bex and Finn are terrified of that whistling noise and spend the night cowering under the bed.       I hate it when they're scared like that!

Very simple dinner is planned.  Hubby is grilling salmon, we're roasting okra and making a pot of jasmine rice, I think - washing it down with a favorite Willamette Valley pinot noir.    Yum!!

Happy New Year, all - everyone stay safe if you're heading out tonight!


----------



## davidharmier60

Cooking is progressing in the kitchen. 
Can't hardly wait!

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## JonA_CT

It’s 7 degrees here. I can’t imagine any scenario where I’d be taking the train to Times Square tonight. Our guests will be arriving soon...we are nearly ready to snuggle down in our PJs.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> It’s 7 degrees here. I can’t imagine any scenario where I’d be taking the train to Times Square tonight. Our guests will be arriving soon...we are nearly ready to snuggle down in our PJs.



I can't imagine any scenario at any temperature where I'd head to Times Square on New Year's Eve. 

Happy New Year, hosers.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just back from a Pizza and beer visit to the local Italian cafe.  Checkered table cloths, sarcastic bartenders, cold beer, excellent apps and a great pie - can’t beat that.  

Back home to settle in for a while before the crazies come out.  They’ve canceled the traditional First Night activities in Boston due to the extreme cold.  I’ll have to go back out later to pick up Princess who is at the new He’s Not My Boyfriend’s house where his family is having a NYE party. It’s a family party with lots of younger kids in attendance so she was allowed to go  - normally I would say definitely not but I know his family from when Princess and He’s Not My Boyfriend went to elementary school together. 

Some friends have VIP passes for Times Square (they are friends with one of the hosts). I was jealous of their nearness to B list celebs but now I just feel bad for them (meow).


----------



## davidharmier60

The steak was scrumptious tasting!
A bit tough to chew which besides us being rather pore was another reason it's be a while since we had steak. 

And since the store is to be open regular hours tomorrow I must be there to do the floor and the bathrooms. Which means 4am awake and long before midnight I'll be quite asleep.

I hope y'all that have tomorrow off enjoy it.

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----------



## snowbear

Bliadhna Mhath Ùr (A Good New Year, Scots Gaelic)


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Does the wind _ever _blow there?


----------



## JonA_CT




----------



## JonA_CT

Happy New Year, hosers!

Now I’m gonna pass out.


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy New Year!  Waiting up to go get Princess.  She turns into a pumpkin at 12:30.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Happy New Year, hosers!
> 
> Now I’m gonna pass out.



Yup, me too. I was already asleep. Woke up halfway through Shatner's famous Twilight Zone episode, the one with the giant evil teddy bear on the plane wing. Watched another episode until midnight, watched the ball drop, and now I'm ready to do the same.

Happy New year, hosers!


----------



## waday

Happy New Year! 

Enjoying some champagne, then maybe a Honeymooners episode or two, then knocking out.


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm wide awake, cat is bugging me big time tonight.....


----------



## Gary A.

Happy New Year


----------



## Gary A.

Maggie, Mary Lou, Guests and Gary had dinner in the patio. It was a lovely evening. A Sous Vide roast which cooked for 18 hours, Chicken Carbonara, pesto flatbread, roasted veggies, et al. The patio heater and fire table delivered enough heat to require only lightweight jackets and sweater. Due to all the potential drunk crazies on the road, booze was not served. Guests have departed, Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are toasting the New Year with a Stephen Miller Cabernet. Simply Delish.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Feels like 49F.


----------



## davidharmier60

If the weather guessers got it right it's very possibly 28 or so outside. I do believe my Carhadt jacket and wool hat will be on me when I leave in about 12 minutes. 

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## JonA_CT

I think the dog was making snow this morning.


----------



## smoke665

Guess my age is really starting to show. We rented movies to watch and keep us going last night, but by just after 10:30 I was really struggling to stay awake on the last one. My wife wouldn't let me go to bed as she doesn't know (and refuses to learn) how to operate the media equipment. Hung in like a trooper till it went off at 12:45, but by 12;55 I was already in deep sleep. As the sun is suing on a frigid 14 degrees this morning, it appears I didn't miss much!


----------



## SquarePeg

Wind chill -20*.  Yikes!!!


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Guess my age is really starting to show. We rented movies to watch and keep us going last night, but by just after 10:30 I was really struggling to stay awake on the last one. My wife wouldn't let me go to bed as she doesn't know (and refuses to learn) how to operate the media equipment. Hung in like a trooper till it went off at 12:45, but by 12;55 I was already in deep sleep. As the sun is suing on a frigid 14 degrees this morning, it appears I didn't miss much!



I hear ya!  I had to stay up because I needed to pick up Princess but I set my alarm just in case I fell asleep.  Ended up binge watching the last few episodes of Stranger Things S2 which was awesome.  Having grown up in that era, I love that show.  The hair, the clothes, the uninterested parents, the freedom, the hair! I’m obsessed with the hair, lol.


----------



## JonA_CT

I barely made it. I think I napped a little bit on the couch between 11:30 and Midnight, haha. Our guests left and I was asleep within 5 minutes. 

This cold, dry air is doing a number on my hands. The skin on my knuckles keeps cracking and bleeding. I need to go find some Bag Balm.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I barely made it. I think I napped a little bit on the couch between 11:30 and Midnight, haha. Our guests left and I was asleep within 5 minutes.
> 
> This cold, dry air is doing a number on my hands. The skin on my knuckles keeps cracking and bleeding. I need to go find some Bag Balm.



If you have any old gloves you can slather Vaseline on then put on the gloves for a few hours either while sleeping or just vegging in front of the tv and it will help with that.  I have similar issues every winter.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> This cold, dry air is doing a number on my hands. The skin on my knuckles keeps cracking and bleeding.



Strange that you mention this, because our son in GA, and our daughter in law here, are both having problems with places on their hands breaking out in painful sore areas. Both have been to different specialists, and neither have found out much. It gets better, it gets worse, but hasn't completely gone away. Up until recently it had nothing to do with cold weather.


----------



## JonA_CT

It's always delicate balance for me in the winter. I'm bad about keeping my hands lubed up, but my job requires me to be around kids in various stages of illness constantly, so I wash my hands and use hand sanitizer countless times throughout the day. The glove idea is a good one, and I should probably grab a pair to sleep in.

I found a LOMO/GOMZ Lubitel 166 that might fulfill my TLR needs on Craigslist. I'm hoping the person will e-mail me back.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave has numb fingers. Not sure exactly what the temp is but the wind chill requires hat, jacket and gloves... (Or pockets).
4 hours and about 7 minutes over a half.
Gonna do the Post office and then take my happy a$$ home!

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## jcdeboever

I made it, didn't go to bed until 3:25am. So much for melatonin, seems to have opposite effect on me. My sleep Doctor suggested it, figures.... Finishing up editing on photo shoot I did recently, laundry, and got to see what's going on with the gas heater in my pull barn, turns on, then shuts off, exhaust fan not coming on. Below zero, not looking forward to it.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever I solved my insomnia, I retired. LOL In lieu of that though have you ever had a sleep study? While I was working I was on the go so much that I never had time, and was burning the candle at both ends anyhow. After retirement my doctor suggested one, turns out I actually had a pretty severe sleep apnea problem. I went on a CPAP, and the difference is night and day.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers y Feliz ano nuevo. Mary Lou went to bed shorty after midnight, Garty made it after 1:00 a.m.  He was watching one of _The Slim Man _episodes largely to watch the Wired Hair Fox Terrier. 51F as Maggie, Mary Lou and Gary embark on our morning walk.  Should hit 70F.  Mary Lou just declared a couch potato, so a movie, watch the parade, maybe a game. In Gary's youth he was into biking. One of the guests last night bikes a lot due to bad knees and found biking to be a good exercise.  Recently, Gary had his old road bike from the 1970's restored.  Gary rolled out his bike and the guest was amazed.  Gary and guest will start biking together.


----------



## ceemac

We had a fun New years Eve. Power went out at 8:30 am. Spent the morning melting snow on the wood stove to get water to flush the toilet. ( there was no way my wife was going to use the outhouse at -25C, even tho it did feel like hell had frozen over). We had to haul the generator into the house to thaw it out. Finally had coffee mid afternoon. Power finally came back on after dinner. That`s the only thing I miss about city living. When the power goes out, we lose everything.
On the plus side, what a drop dead gorgeous day. Blue sky, not a cloud in sight, not a breath of wind. You could feel the warmth of the sun reflecting off the snow. As a bonus, we have about 20 in.of snow now, so the dog can pee standing up!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary’s restored bike.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 151563 View attachment 151564
> Gary’s restored bike.


That is a beauty, that just might give @astroNikon a Woody....lol


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever I solved my insomnia, I retired. LOL In lieu of that though have you ever had a sleep study? While I was working I was on the go so much that I never had time, and was burning the candle at both ends anyhow. After retirement my doctor suggested one, turns out I actually had a pretty severe sleep apnea problem. I went on a CPAP, and the difference is night and day.



Yup, I was kicked out of the Marines for cronic fatigue syndrome, that was before they knew what sleep apnea was. I have been on a machine for years, can't sleep without it. My wife calls it Darth. I am on a Bi-Pap now, graduated from the C-Pap. I average 2 hours of REM sleep a night, which makes all the difference in the world. My buddy had the most recent type of surgery for his. Basically, they remove the bottom part of your face and reconstruct the obstruction. It was a fierce surgery and he encountered a slow, painful, recovery. Three years removed or there about, he is right back where he started. His recovery was so brutal, I passed. Glad I did, he is no better for it and has encountered sinus, drainage issues that need to be addressed over several procedures. This surgeon was highly acclaimed but the truth is in the result I guess, or at least for my bud. There is nothing more that the doctor can do for me, so this last check up, he thought this may help the other stages of sleep. I refuse to take perscribed medications for sleep, they just mess with my driving ability the next day. So I went natural for a few days and it doesn't do anything for me. I'm fine, just need to excercise more and should get better.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Recently, Gary had his old road bike from the 1970's restored. Gary rolled out his bike and the guest was amazed. Gary and guest will start biking together.



Janet and I bought two rather expensive fold up bikes and bags, for the RV about 3 years ago. So far I think they "might" have been used twice, but at least we have them there in the basement storage of the RV for whenever the urge hits. LOL


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I refuse to take perscribed medications for sleep, they just mess with my driving ability the next day. So I went natural for a few days and it doesn't do anything for me. I'm fine, just need to excercise more and should get better.



A sleep doctor I went to prescribed Ambien, bad mistake that stuff screwed me up royally. Not only is it addictive but it takes more and more to get results. Then it messes with you the next day, and totally destroys your short term memory. By the time I realized what it was doing to me, it took several hard months to get over it, sometimes going without sleep for days.


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon; I hope everyone had a wonderful night.  MLW turned in about 9:00, I went at 9:30; we're not party types.

I've prepped the corn, red pepper, and zucchini for roasting, and the shrimp is shelled and cleaned; I still have to cube the ham and prep the jambalaya veggies.

Went to see _The Last Jedi_ while Sears took care of new tires, alignment and oil change.  Not that far of a walk to the theater but pretty cold with a enough of a head wind to tell.  The movie was over after Sears closed but they said it was fine to pick up paperwork and key today.  When we got back and started home, noticed the TPMS light was on.  No real biggie as it has to be reset in some cars after tire rotations; I figured they didn't get them all back on the same spot.  I'll take of it today, when I go back for the other key.

It turns out they broke one of the sensors and couldn't get their generic model to work; apparently not uncommon in Toyotas.  They ordered one from a place a few minutes away and got everything back within about 30 minutes.  I need gloves.  I have a heavy pair, somewhere, but I need to find some that still provide me a bit of dexterity.  I went to four stores and, though I found a couple that I like, they are all small/medium, and I am not.  I have a surgery followup appointment tomorrow, and there's a mall net to the hospital, so I'll look there.


----------



## vintagesnaps

They were open on New Year's Day? that's just so not right! lol 

I stayed up too late. No amount of coffee would have been enough this morning. Watching the NHL Winter Classic, they're skating in half shade and half sun and frigid cold. I don't mind watching somebody else out in it if I'm in the comfort of home.


----------



## davidharmier60

At home the sun was shining bright. 
And the porch thermometer said 39. 
For 58 year old Dave and this part of Texas  it's too cold.

And there are only 51 more Mondays to go. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Recently, Gary had his old road bike from the 1970's restored. Gary rolled out his bike and the guest was amazed. Gary and guest will start biking together.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Janet and I bought two rather expensive fold up bikes and bags, for the RV about 3 years ago. So far I think they "might" have been used twice, but at least we have them there in the basement storage of the RV for whenever the urge hits. LOL
Click to expand...

Better to have and not want ... Mary Lou and Gary have Electra Townie bikes.  Marry Lou isn’t a confident rider and the Electra allows her to flatfootedly plant her foot at stops without getting off the seat. Gary has always wanted a foldable bike.  He doesn’t know why, but the idea of a foldable bike is cool.  Gary saw an electric foldable bike the other day.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Good afternoon; I hope everyone had a wonderful night.  MLW turned in about 9:00, I went at 9:30; we're not party types.
> 
> I've prepped the corn, red pepper, and zucchini for roasting, and the shrimp is shelled and cleaned; I still have to cube the ham and prep the jambalaya veggies.
> 
> Went to see _The Last Jedi_ while Sears took care of new tires, alignment and oil change.  Not that far of a walk to the theater but pretty cold with a enough of a head wind to tell.  The movie was over after Sears closed but they said it was fine to pick up paperwork and key today.  When we got back and started home, noticed the TPMS light was on.  No real biggie as it has to be reset in some cars after tire rotations; I figured they didn't get them all back on the same spot.  I'll take of it today, when I go back for the other key.
> 
> It turns out they broke one of the sensors and couldn't get their generic model to work; apparently not uncommon in Toyotas.  They ordered one from a place a few minutes away and got everything back within about 30 minutes.  I need gloves.  I have a heavy pair, somewhere, but I need to find some that still provide me a bit of dexterity.  I went to four stores and, though I found a couple that I like, they are all small/medium, and I am not.  I have a surgery followup appointment tomorrow, and there's a mall net to the hospital, so I'll look there.


I have ‘Head’ gloves.  They are great for photography being thin and flexible but still provide good warmth.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 151563 View attachment 151564
> Gary’s restored bike.
> 
> 
> 
> That is a beauty, that just might give @astroNikon a Woody....lol
Click to expand...

The bike store where Gary’s bike was restored, just cleaned it up after decades of being parked, adjusted the components and toss on some new tires.  The employees and owner felt that I should just put the bike on display and not ride it. When I took it in, the bike employees and owner went nuts crawling under and over the bike checking out serial numbers and questioning Gary on the components. When Gary picked the bike up, there were some Campagnolo sales guys in the shop. They went nuts over the bike, as it is all Campi, and give Gary tee-shirts, water bottles and free stuff.  Gary thinks you’re right about Astro.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> They were open on New Year's Day? that's just so not right! lol


Oh yes - Sears, Penneys, Kohls, and Old Navy.  There are some decent sales, but that does me no good if they don't fit!
The young lady at the Sears Auto place was in pretty bad shape - head down on the counter!  Hopefully they won't be too busy.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I refuse to take perscribed medications for sleep, they just mess with my driving ability the next day. So I went natural for a few days and it doesn't do anything for me. I'm fine, just need to excercise more and should get better.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A sleep doctor I went to prescribed Ambien, bad mistake that stuff screwed me up royally. Not only is it addictive but it takes more and more to get results. Then it messes with you the next day, and totally destroys your short term memory. By the time I realized what it was doing to me, it took several hard months to get over it, sometimes going without sleep for days.
Click to expand...


That stuff cost a good friend her job.  It builds up in your system and she didn’t realize...  Her boss thought she was drunk and fired her.   



snowbear said:


> Good afternoon; I hope everyone had a wonderful night.  MLW turned in about 9:00, I went at 9:30; we're not party types.
> 
> I've prepped the corn, red pepper, and zucchini for roasting, and the shrimp is shelled and cleaned; I still have to cube the ham and prep the jambalaya veggies.
> 
> Went to see _The Last Jedi_ while Sears took care of new tires, alignment and oil change.  Not that far of a walk to the theater but pretty cold with a enough of a head wind to tell.  The movie was over after Sears closed but they said it was fine to pick up paperwork and key today.  When we got back and started home, noticed the TPMS light was on.  No real biggie as it has to be reset in some cars after tire rotations; I figured they didn't get them all back on the same spot.  I'll take of it today, when I go back for the other key.
> 
> It turns out they broke one of the sensors and couldn't get their generic model to work; apparently not uncommon in Toyotas.  They ordered one from a place a few minutes away and got everything back within about 30 minutes.  I need gloves.  I have a heavy pair, somewhere, but I need to find some that still provide me a bit of dexterity.  I went to four stores and, though I found a couple that I like, they are all small/medium, and I am not.  I have a surgery followup appointment tomorrow, and there's a mall net to the hospital, so I'll look there.



My TPMS system has been funky ever since I got new tires.  The mechanic who did the tires said there must be a battery that died- coincidentally right when he changed the tires???  Yeah no.   I need to take it to a dealer or one of the local tire specialty places to get that fixed. As it stands now I just ignore it when the lightcomes on


----------



## Gary A.

Gary loves the Rose Parade.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 151563 View attachment 151564
> Gary’s restored bike.
> 
> 
> 
> That is a beauty, that just might give @astroNikon a Woody....lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The bike store where Gary’s bike was restored, just cleaned it up after decades of being parked, adjusted the components and toss on some new tires.  The employees and owner felt that I should just put the bike on display and not ride it. When I took it it, the bike employees and owner went nuts crawling under and over the bike checking out serial number and questioning Gary on the components. When Gary picked the bike up, there were some Campagnolo sales guys in the shop. They went nuts over the bike, as it is all Campi, and give Gary tee-shirts, water bottles and free stuff.  Gary thinks you’re right about Astro.
Click to expand...


That is a Leica without a meter in the Bike World.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> That stuff cost a good friend her job. It builds up in your system and she didn’t realize... Her boss thought she was drunk and fired her.



Yup my ex got on it a few years ago, and because it tends to take more and more to get the same effect, she went doctor shopping for more prescriptions. They finally found out what she was doing when she got up in the middle of the night drove to a quick shop to get some snacks. Unfortunately in her drugged state she removed her pajamas and missed the part about putting on the clothes. Created quite a stir in the town they lived. Thankfully that town is very far away from me


----------



## SquarePeg

Yes apparently driving around in a daze is a very common side effect.  To me that says this should not be prescribed any more for anyone.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I barely made it. I think I napped a little bit on the couch between 11:30 and Midnight, haha. Our guests left and I was asleep within 5 minutes.
> 
> This cold, dry air is doing a number on my hands. The skin on my knuckles keeps cracking and bleeding. I need to go find some Bag Balm.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you have any old gloves you can slather Vaseline on then put on the gloves for a few hours either while sleeping or just vegging in front of the tv and it will help with that.  I have similar issues every winter.
Click to expand...

Queue up Steinbeck's  _Of Mice and Men.   _Curley.  

Sorry, it popped into my head and that's that.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> They were open on New Year's Day? that's just so not right! lol
> 
> 
> 
> Oh yes - Sears, Penneys, Kohls, and Old Navy.  There are some decent sales, but that does me no good if they don't fit!
> The young lady at the Sears Auto place was in pretty bad shape - head down on the counter!  Hopefully they won't be too busy.
Click to expand...

People are still off of work - retail needs to be open for Christmas returns and, hopefully, more sales to clear out winter inventory.   They already have Spring Break on their minds - out with the sweaters!   In with the shorts and swimsuits!


----------



## davidharmier60

We just had our black eyed peas and cabbage (and pork chops and cornbread).
Soon we will have a crazy looking marbled fudge cake.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Ummm I was told there’d be hot tea...


----------



## dxqcanada

I hope this year is going to be better than it started ...
The wife and I drove from our friends house in -16C weather back to our home for 2 hours with one window (passenger side where I was sitting) frozen fully open !!
... and I have to go back to work tomorrow to a job I really want to leave behind (was working on writing a resume over the holidays ... first one in 20 years).
Happy New Year.


----------



## limr

Weather for the next ten days:






Back to work tomorrow. Lots of stuff happening this month and even though it's only Jan 1st, I'm already kinda wishing it were February. Not sure I'm ready for this 

But seeing as though I don't have much choice in the matter, it's off to bed to hopefully have some energy for heading back into the fray!

'Night, hosers.


----------



## terri

@limr:  Hang in there, babe!   Short work week, at least.   

It's been a nice holiday, just going out in a deep freeze.   Everyone stay warm!


----------



## Gary A.

dxqcanada said:


> I hope this year is going to be better than it started ...
> The wife and I drove from our friends house in -16C weather back to our home for 2 hours with one window (passenger side where I was sitting) frozen fully open !!
> ... and I have to go back to work tomorrow to a job I really want to leave behind (was working on writing a resume over the holidays ... first one in 20 years).
> Happy New Year.


Happy New Year.  

I understand the pain of driving in -16C with a frozen open window.  What Gary doesn't understand, as -16 doesn't happen quickly ... like it was 22C in the morning then by afternoon it was -16C ... why was the window ever opened in the first place?


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Weather for the next ten days:
> 
> View attachment 151591
> 
> Back to work tomorrow. Lots of stuff happening this month and even though it's only Jan 1st, I'm already kinda wishing it were February. Not sure I'm ready for this
> 
> But seeing as though I don't have much choice in the matter, it's off to bed to hopefully have some energy for heading back into the fray!
> 
> 'Night, hosers.


----------



## waday

Morning All!

Does anyone on here watch Black Mirror?

The wife and I just watched the first two episodes from Season 1. Wow, very good and thought provoking.


----------



## davidharmier60

A minute and a few seconds under 5 hours. It's 27 according to my phone. 
After I said post office and then home yesterday I remembered normal people had yesterday off. Same thing. Gonna hit the PO and then take my rather chilly self home.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

It's too cold to post my week.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 151612
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Weather for the next ten days:
> 
> View attachment 151591
> 
> Back to work tomorrow. Lots of stuff happening this month and even though it's only Jan 1st, I'm already kinda wishing it were February. Not sure I'm ready for this
> 
> But seeing as though I don't have much choice in the matter, it's off to bed to hopefully have some energy for heading back into the fray!
> 
> 'Night, hosers.
Click to expand...


That's not even right, hope your tri tip comes out drier than a popcorn fart....


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 151612
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Weather for the next ten days:
> 
> View attachment 151591
> 
> Back to work tomorrow. Lots of stuff happening this month and even though it's only Jan 1st, I'm already kinda wishing it were February. Not sure I'm ready for this
> 
> But seeing as though I don't have much choice in the matter, it's off to bed to hopefully have some energy for heading back into the fray!
> 
> 'Night, hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That's not even right, hope your tri tip comes out drier than a popcorn fart....
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

"... I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A. ..."


----------



## JonA_CT

It's cold and I actually had to leave the house today.

Good new though. A local summer hot-spot (outside and on the water) asked us to book a reunion show at their venue Labor Day weekend. We obliged, so the band will be getting back together for a few rehearsals and a show next summer.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Warm, yeah from the forest fires. Safe, no from the forest fires!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Jon's puttin' the band back together...


----------



## ceemac

Gary A. said:


> "... I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A. ..."


At least it never rains in southern California


----------



## Gary A.

ceemac said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> "... I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A. ..."
> 
> 
> 
> At least it never rains in southern California
Click to expand...

It know, but it used to.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Maggie, Mary Lou and Gary just returned from a four mile walk.  Maggie requires a hosing prior to entering the house as she loves to play in the mud. Unlike other/most dog fur, her is more like human hair, soft and absorbent and not course and water repellant.  Consequently, she is no longer a muffin dog, but a ragamuffin dog.  Poster child for a dog rescue organization.  On our walks she received a lot of laughs and comments regarding her high mud boots.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary. Your phone needs to um, break. 

But we're supposed to have 40 degrees by next Monday; otherwise if this lasted much longer we all might be ready to pack up our cars and head to your house. You would have had to stock up on tri tip!


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Gary. Your phone needs to um, break.
> 
> But we're supposed to have 40 degrees by next Monday; otherwise if this lasted much longer we all might be ready to pack up our cars and head to your house. You would have had to stock up on tri tip!


Not a problem with that. Gary will be tossing another Tri-Tip in the Sous Vide this afternoon.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Gary. Your phone needs to um, break.
> 
> But we're supposed to have 40 degrees by next Monday; otherwise if this lasted much longer we all might be ready to pack up our cars and head to your house. You would have had to stock up on tri tip!



that would be a crazy tpf party.... 75, tri tip, booze, muddy Maggie, laundry tubs, tall boy servants, outdoor movie theatre, film processing in the closet, popcorn coffee beanery, winery, bag cooking, oh my. We would make him put hockey on the big screen LOL


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Gary. Your phone needs to um, break.
> 
> But we're supposed to have 40 degrees by next Monday; otherwise if this lasted much longer we all might be ready to pack up our cars and head to your house. You would have had to stock up on tri tip!


Gary just finished licking his fingers after polishing off a large Naval Orange from the backyard. It was so sweet and delightfully light, Gary could taste the sunshine. This is the first of the season that happened to fall on the ground.  There is an entire tree left to eat.  Next to the Naval Orange is a Mandarin Orange tree and next to the Mandarin is a Meyer Lemon tree, a Valencia Orange tree to the north and a final citrus tree is a Mexican Lime.  All the trees are bursting with fruit, color, flavor and sunshine.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> "... I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A. ..."



I'll stay in NY, thankyouverymuch.

Temps in the 70s is all well and good, but not in Jan. I would rather have my forecast.

Man, y'all need better coats or something.


----------



## JonA_CT

Alright vintage MF aficionados...the Lomo (GOMZ) Lubitel 166 Universal in good shape, film shot through it successfully recently...

$80 a fair price?


----------



## SquarePeg

Ummmm... just saw the weather report for Thursday.  12-15” expected here.   Looks like it’s going to be another short school week for the kids.  Sigh.


----------



## JonA_CT

Indeed. 6-12" here. Its supposed to be so cold Friday, tomorrow might be it for the week.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Alright vintage MF aficionados...the Lomo (GOMZ) Lubitel 166 Universal in good shape, film shot through it successfully recently...
> 
> $80 a fair price?



Yes. Go for it! I have a 166. Fun camera


----------



## Frank F.

still working my way through the Interieur job...


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Alright vintage MF aficionados...the Lomo (GOMZ) Lubitel 166 Universal in good shape, film shot through it successfully recently...
> 
> $80 a fair price?


Go for it!


----------



## davidharmier60

Having never seen one that I know of....
IF I were in the market for a film camera I'd give $80 for it. There is talk of me getting anything beyond $100 in my check I would get to keep. I do not believe it is possible but who knows,  it COULD happen. That could give me the cash to go to Houston Camera Exchange and get the DSLR I've been wanting. And then perhaps a laptop into which load pictures that I could then post. Dreams. Aren't they wonderful?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

davidharmier60 said:


> Having never seen one that I know of....
> IF I were in the market for a film camera I'd give $80 for it. There is talk of me getting anything beyond $100 in my check I would get to keep. I do not believe it is possible but who knows,  it COULD happen. That could give me the cash to go to Houston Camera Exchange and get the DSLR I've been wanting. And then perhaps a laptop into which load pictures that I could then post. Dreams. Aren't they wonderful?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Dave, get that computer and I have a camera (Sony NEX 5) I can send you. It’s not fancy, but it’s pretty capable for the price of free.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yay Jon - 2 day week! (Sorry SharonCat...) I don't know the pricing for a nice Lubitel but get it. It's nice to spend other people's money...

And to invite ourselves to Gary's! lol Maybe we need some Vitamin C. I like fall and winter and some cold and some snow but this 0 degree crap has got to go. And I'm not even working and out in it! but the house is cold and I don't feel like wearing layers. I'm retired, I don't haveta, I don't wanna! 

Canada's up 6-1 in the second game today of the elimination round of the World Jrs. I think this game is over. US plays tonight. Nice of the NHL Network to carry the TSN feed.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That made me think of buying my first camera. Lay away then at a local shop meant to go in and make a payment every 2 weeks after payday, and I could pay any amount. When I finally got it I remember the store owner saying he thought I was never going to get that camera!! lol I was a poor first year teacher, c'mon! but I finally got it. Still have it but it's busted all to hell. But I'm keeping it. Dragged it around for years.


----------



## davidharmier60

That is one hell of an offer Jon!
Do I have to have a pretty high end laptop or will a lesser one do?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> "... I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A. ..."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll stay in NY, thankyouverymuch.
> 
> Temps in the 70s is all well and good, but not in Jan. I would rather have my forecast.
> 
> Man, y'all need better coats or something.
Click to expand...

Carhartt baby


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Having never seen one that I know of....
> IF I were in the market for a film camera I'd give $80 for it. There is talk of me getting anything beyond $100 in my check I would get to keep. I do not believe it is possible but who knows,  it COULD happen. That could give me the cash to go to Houston Camera Exchange and get the DSLR I've been wanting. And then perhaps a laptop into which load pictures that I could then post. Dreams. Aren't they wonderful?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dave, get that computer and I have a camera (Sony NEX 5) I can send you. It’s not fancy, but it’s pretty capable for the price of free.
Click to expand...

Nice


----------



## smoke665

ceemac said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> "... I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A. ..."
> 
> 
> 
> At least it never rains in southern California
Click to expand...


Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before


----------



## smoke665

Pulled out this morning 12 degrees and sunny, headed for Savannah, GA. Apparently my Dumb$$$ has driven into a freak winter storm. Pulled into a spot about 60 miles out till we can figure which way to go. As the night progresses they're  calling for freezing rain with ice accumulations, power outages and up to three inches of snow on the coast. I may say the heck with deposit and head south till the road ends. I'm so over cold weather!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> "... I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A. ..."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll stay in NY, thankyouverymuch.
> 
> Temps in the 70s is all well and good, but not in Jan. I would rather have my forecast.
> 
> Man, y'all need better coats or something.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Carhartt baby
Click to expand...

The construction clothier?


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> ceemac said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> "... I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A. ..."
> 
> 
> 
> At least it never rains in southern California
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before
Click to expand...

Not merely simple talk ... but song.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Pulled out this morning 12 degrees and sunny, headed for Savannah, GA. Apparently my Dumb$$$ has driven into a freak winter storm. Pulled into a spot about 60 miles out till we can figure which way to go. As the night progresses they're  calling for freezing rain with ice accumulations, power outages and up to three inches of snow on the coast. I may say the heck with deposit and head south till the road ends. I'm so over cold weather!


Essentially, that really sucks. Gary was hoping you'd be in balmy weather by now.


----------



## snowbear

We finally made it back from the doctor.

Stopped by the mall, next to the doctor's/hospital to find gloves.  Found a pair that fit at Northface, and they weren't outrageously priced.  MLW said she needed to eat something, so we went to California Pizza.  Needless to say, the surf & turf will wait until tomorrow.

The surgeon said the cyst was so large, he named it "Little Timmy," but all is good. The incision is healing well, but I can expect some numbness, discomfort and itching as the nerves heal.


----------



## Gary A.

Surgeries are like airplane landings ... any surgery you can walk away from is a good surgery.  Gary hopes it is all Blue Skies from here on out.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just finished brushing out the pooch. gotta tell ya, when she comes home from our morning walks, after running and wrestling with friends then splashing in the mud, Miss Maggie is a hot mess.  She'd star in a dog rescue commercial.  But after she's hosed down, dried off and brush, she is spectacular.  She looks like a plush pooch, a caricature of a cute dog.


----------



## davidharmier60

Nitey nite folks! Hope all have a better tomorrow!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Essentially, that really sucks. Gary was hoping you'd be in balmy weather by now



In previous years we would have been. Amazing what delaying a trip 5 days can do to you this time of year


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Essentially, that really sucks. Gary was hoping you'd be in balmy weather by now
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In previous years we would have been. Amazing what delaying a trip 5 days can do to you this time of year
Click to expand...

That’s what the Donner Party said.


----------



## Frank F.

Go on, go further, continue the path and you will arrive. Some fog on the way will not matter if you keep on track! But if you sit down and weep, lose you way, do not continue on you path, how should you ever arrive? If you are in a valley you might temporarily not see your destiny. Continue! There will be days when you stand on a summit again and clearly see where you are going. There will be dry days and hot days, wet days and cold days, doubtful days and confident ones. Do not be impressed by the change of seasons too much!


----------



## Fred von den Berg

Very stormy here today (winds up to 140 KMH) so I can feel a bit of developing coming on later. Found out yesterday from a very helpful lady at the local waste recycling depot where and when to take my spent chemicals for disposal, which is good since I now have a couple of full 1 gallon containers in the cellar. 

@480sparky : Your photo is printed and framed, now I need to pack it and post it so it should be on its way by early next week. Thanks for your patience - December was very hectic one way or another but I really did want to take a photo especially for the secret Santa. I hope you'll like it and that the waiting will have been worth it: the scene I chose is one I've wanted to photograph for quite some time (hopefully I did it justice) and is a subject close to my photography heart.


----------



## Frank F.

I got the battery compartment for my D850 today. I pre-ordered it in August!!!! Still no sign of the BL-5


----------



## snowbear




----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> "... I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A. ..."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll stay in NY, thankyouverymuch.
> 
> Temps in the 70s is all well and good, but not in Jan. I would rather have my forecast.
> 
> Man, y'all need better coats or something.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Carhartt baby
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The construction clothier?
Click to expand...


Yes, I keep a set of overalls in my truck along with jacket, hat and gloves. When traveling, you never know, good to be prepared.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Pulled out this morning 12 degrees and sunny, headed for Savannah, GA. Apparently my Dumb$$$ has driven into a freak winter storm. Pulled into a spot about 60 miles out till we can figure which way to go. As the night progresses they're  calling for freezing rain with ice accumulations, power outages and up to three inches of snow on the coast. I may say the heck with deposit and head south till the road ends. I'm so over cold weather!



My friend and his wife took their first visit a few years ago to Hawaii after a travel agency offered them a deal they found acceptable. Only after getting there and being stuck indoors for most of the getaway did they understand why the deal was so affordable...it was monsoon season


----------



## smoke665

@Dean_Gretsch our snows in the south would be laughed at by most Northern states, but they terrify the average driver which in turn makes it harder to drive among them. Add a a layer of ice in the equation and you have a serious problem. Multiple vehicle accidents around the area already stacking up on bridges and overpasses, and is predicted to get worse, because they use the "God rule of snow removal", what he puts down he'll remove.

Thinking we'll just stay where we are today and wait it out


----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pulled out this morning 12 degrees and sunny, headed for Savannah, GA. Apparently my Dumb$$$ has driven into a freak winter storm. Pulled into a spot about 60 miles out till we can figure which way to go. As the night progresses they're  calling for freezing rain with ice accumulations, power outages and up to three inches of snow on the coast. I may say the heck with deposit and head south till the road ends. I'm so over cold weather!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My friend and his wife took their first visit a few years ago to Hawaii after a travel agency offered them a deal they found acceptable. Only after getting there and being stuck indoors for most of the getaway did they understand why the deal was so affordable...it was monsoon season
Click to expand...

Hawaii can be rough at times.  Gary was stuck for three days at the Honolulu Airport waiting for a break in the storms.  The runway was completely underwater.  The news had people being ferried over from the other islands in boats as nothing was flying.  Michael Jackson was stuck there also.


----------



## smoke665

Guess our choice was confirmed, bridges and overpasses closed ahead of and behind us so, for better or worse we are staying put.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> "... I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A. ..."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll stay in NY, thankyouverymuch.
> 
> Temps in the 70s is all well and good, but not in Jan. I would rather have my forecast.
> 
> Man, y'all need better coats or something.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Carhartt baby
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The construction clothier?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, I keep a set of overalls in my truck along with jacket, hat and gloves. When traveling, you never know, good to be prepared.
Click to expand...

Carhartt also owns a winery in Los Olivos.  A fun tasting room.  Most tasting establishments close at 5:00p.m., Carhartt says open all night ... more party than taste.


----------



## JonA_CT

@smoke665 I heard that the 3-6" of forecasted snow in Savannah are almost unprecedented. I guess the last time they accumulated an inch of snow was back in 1989.


For us? Typically nor'easter fare. We'll probably end up with 8-12" of snow, but you won't really be able to tell because of the 50mph winds that come with it, haha. 

I was quite pleased to walk outside this morning and have the temperature be 12 degrees instead of something in the single digits.


----------



## JonA_CT

I couldn't get a good picture, but one of our science teacher's classes are baking in solar cookers outside yesterday and today. The high yesterday was around 20, and its only a little warmer today. She has a line of solar cookers propped up in a snow bank. Her infrared thermometer has most of the cookers in the 300 degree range.


----------



## snowbear

The heat at the office has been inadequate (if not off) for the week.  I'm definitely in polar bear mode.




Untitled by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> I heard that the 3-6" of forecasted snow in Savannah are almost unprecedented. I guess the last time they accumulated an inch of snow was back in 1989.



Yup, they were interviewing people on the news earlier. They had a couple on that had never seen snow before in their life. The snow would be bearable, but the rain freezing on everything prior to the snow has made for some bad roads. Lots of wrecks, and lots of people stuck between bridge and overpass closures.



JonA_CT said:


> She has a line of solar cookers propped up in a snow bank. Her infrared thermometer has most of the cookers in the 300 degree range.



That just seems totally impossible LOL


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I heard that the 3-6" of forecasted snow in Savannah are almost unprecedented. I guess the last time they accumulated an inch of snow was back in 1989.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, they were interviewing people on the news earlier. They had a couple on that had never seen snow before in their life. The snow would be bearable, but the rain freezing on everything prior to the snow has made for some bad roads. Lots of wrecks, and lots of people stuck between bridge and overpass closures.
Click to expand...


Honestly, people should be better in the snow here...but...the same thing happens. I don't mind driving in the snow when I need to, but I keep my distance from fellow motorists because I can't trust any of them on a good day, haha.


----------



## Frank F.

We had a night of storm here in Germany, many train connections were cut off by trees on rails or on catenary... Germany is covered by forest as one might know. Four Billion Hectares or one third of the country. A hectar is roughly 2.5 acres


----------



## snowbear

We can't handle snow, neither driving in it nor removing it.  A number of times we've run out of salt before the season is over, so we've had to buy it from other places.  It's not really anyone's fault, but we don't get that much on a regular basis, so I don't think we budget for those extra snowy years (every 5 to 8 years, it seems).  But we are getting better.

DC is a very attractive city, so people from all over the world come here to visit.  Unfortunately, the worst drivers tend to stay.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> The heat at the office has been inadequate (if not off) for the week.  I'm definitely in *grumpy* polar bear mode.


FTFY


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I heard that the 3-6" of forecasted snow in Savannah are almost unprecedented. I guess the last time they accumulated an inch of snow was back in 1989.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, they were interviewing people on the news earlier. They had a couple on that had never seen snow before in their life. The snow would be bearable, but the rain freezing on everything prior to the snow has made for some bad roads. Lots of wrecks, and lots of people stuck between bridge and overpass closures.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Honestly, people should be better in the snow here...but...the same thing happens. I don't mind driving in the snow when I need to, but I keep my distance from fellow motorists because I can't trust any of them on a good day, haha.
Click to expand...


Agreed. People think being "good at driving in the snow" just means driving exactly the same way as they would on a bright warm sunny day. Apparently, driving more slowly and carefully makes someone a wuss. They think that their cars and all the safety features will just take care of everything for them, and all they have to think about is putting their foot down and getting around the "nervous Nellies."

I still remember a particularly bad storm that I had to drive in. Traffic was thick but I was okay with that because everyone was going really slow, so if anything happened, it wouldn't be more than a fender bender. I got off the highway at one point to see if the side roads were any better. They weren't. By the time I got back on the highway, there had apparently been an accident because even getting back on at the same exit, there were suddenly hardly any cars on the road. There were also about 4 or 5 SUVs stuck in ditches or spinning their wheels trying to get off the exit or the shoulder. I just puttered around all of them in my little car - front-wheel drive, but snow tires and manual transmission - and went on my merry way, nice and slow. Roads were horrible but at least I could keep my distance from everyone and just drive the way I needed to in order to stay straight and forward.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> We can't handle snow, neither driving in it nor removing it.  A number of times we've run out of salt before the season is over, so we've had to buy it from other places.  It's not really anyone's fault, but we don't get that much on a regular basis, so I don't think we budget for those extra snowy years (every 5 to 8 years, it seems).  But we are getting better.
> 
> DC is a very attractive city, so people from all over the world come here to visit.  Unfortunately, the worst drivers tend to stay.



We here in Michigan have no problem removing it but all the salt they lay down has devastating effect on our roads. Michigan is pretty much a salt mine. Detroit has an endless supply


----------



## tirediron

Generally speaking when we get appreciable snow on the ground here, the ditches are filled with more 4WD pick-ups & SUVs than anything else.  No one has apparently told these dimbulbs that 4WD does NOT make you invincible in snow and ice.  In addition to 4WD, I also have 5 110 pound steel slugs that I acquired when we scrapped an old pulling sled at the fairgrounds.  With 550 pounds just ahead of the rear axle, proper tires AND 4WD, along with a healthy sense of caution, I've never had a problem.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I heard that the 3-6" of forecasted snow in Savannah are almost unprecedented. I guess the last time they accumulated an inch of snow was back in 1989.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, they were interviewing people on the news earlier. They had a couple on that had never seen snow before in their life. The snow would be bearable, but the rain freezing on everything prior to the snow has made for some bad roads. Lots of wrecks, and lots of people stuck between bridge and overpass closures.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Honestly, people should be better in the snow here...but...the same thing happens. I don't mind driving in the snow when I need to, but I keep my distance from fellow motorists because I can't trust any of them on a good day, haha.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Agreed. People think being "good at driving in the snow" just means driving exactly the same way as they would on a bright warm sunny day. Apparently, driving more slowly and carefully makes someone a wuss. They think that their cars and all the safety features will just take care of everything for them, and all they have to think about is putting their foot down and getting around the "nervous Nellies."
> 
> I still remember a particularly bad storm that I had to drive in. Traffic was thick but I was okay with that because everyone was going really slow, so if anything happened, it wouldn't be more than a fender bender. I got off the highway at one point to see if the side roads were any better. They weren't. By the time I got back on the highway, there had apparently been an accident because even getting back on at the same exit, there were suddenly hardly any cars on the road. There were also about 4 or 5 SUVs stuck in ditches or spinning their wheels trying to get off the exit or the shoulder. I just puttered around all of them in my little car - front-wheel drive, but snow tires and manual transmission - and went on my merry way, nice and slow. Roads were horrible but at least I could keep my distance from everyone and just drive the way I needed to in order to stay straight and forward.
Click to expand...


I am very smart about it, or at least history has proved it. I follow behind semi trucks in snowy, inclement weather. They drive the proper speed for road conditions, normally. Any chance of freezing rain, I stay off roads. Most people do not know how to drive properly, sorry, but I see it every day. So, So, So many people on their phones. The wife and I play a game on the way to events or church. The passenger counts the number of cars with cell phone activity. Never been below 50%, seriously. We have a good time with it.


----------



## snowbear

I had a 1968 Ford Galaxy - very light rear end.  I put concrete blocks in the trunk to gain traction.

There's an old saying: "Four wheel drive enables you to get stuck in inaccessible places."  This works with weather, too.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> The heat at the office has been inadequate (if not off) for the week.  I'm definitely in *grumpy* polar bear mode.
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY
Click to expand...


More like "hungry"


----------



## waday

My favorite is when people apply their brake going uphill on snow covered roads.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> More like "hungry"


Forgot your seal meat on white with extra mayo on the counter at home?


----------



## SquarePeg

eh - people drive like morons 99% of the time regardless of the weather.


----------



## limr

I'm an excellent driver.


----------



## limr

Time for Wapner.


----------



## SquarePeg

Same.  It's everyone else...

if they are going faster than me they are a maniac, if they are going slower than me they are a moron


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Same.  It's everyone else...
> 
> if they are going faster than me they are a maniac, if they are going slower than me they are a moron


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> I'm an excellent driver.



OK Rainman.... LOl

I just seen that movie, new in wrapper, bought the VHS from the goodwill for .25¢


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got 6 and better than .75 hours today. 
Wasting a little time. Checks are today but not at precisely 12. I figure about 12:15 I'll go in.

I mostly had fun in snow in an 18 Wheeler. 
Not always but usually. There was talk today of some freak winter storm we might catch a bit of. Lordy I hope not!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> I'm an excellent driver.



Based on what standard??


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> . I follow behind semi trucks in snowy, inclement weather. They drive the proper speed for road conditions, normally.



Not me 25+ years in Trucking, can't even guess how many drivers I hired and fired during that time, but I remember I could count on two hands the only ones I would have trusted with my loved ones. Because of the weight I'll let a truck clear a path but I'm staying way back, so when the cowboy in the seat loses that rig I've got lots of room.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> . I follow behind semi trucks in snowy, inclement weather. They drive the proper speed for road conditions, normally.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not me 25+ years in Trucking, can't even guess how many drivers I hired and fired during that time, but I remember I could count on two hands the only ones I would have trusted with my loved ones. Because of the weight I'll let a truck clear a path but I'm staying way back, so when the cowboy in the seat loses that rig I've got lots of room.
Click to expand...

Agree


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> My favorite is when people apply their brake going uphill on snow covered roads.



I live at the bottom of a hill that doesn't lead anywhere useful, so I always have to go up.

A couple of weeks ago, I nearly got stranded on a street because a school bus was going up the hill at 7 mph. 1st gear is a non-starter in the snow, and I simply can't go that slow in 2nd.


----------



## smoke665

Here in the south people are bad about running up on stop signs/lights and slamming on their brakes at the last min. Unfortunately they don't change when it gets slick, so invariably you see idiots skidding through intersections.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> . I follow behind semi trucks in snowy, inclement weather. They drive the proper speed for road conditions, normally.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not me 25+ years in Trucking, can't even guess how many drivers I hired and fired during that time, but I remember I could count on two hands the only ones I would have trusted with my loved ones. Because of the weight I'll let a truck clear a path but I'm staying way back, so when the cowboy in the seat loses that rig I've got lots of room.
Click to expand...


I completely agree.  My ex used to run an air freight company.  They had drivers with names like CrackHead Greg and Curbie.  The truckers are the absolute worst drivers out there.  I can't remember the last time I saw a trucker not on his phone while driving.  The other day there was a guy driving a food delivery 18 wheeler on 495 while talking on the phone and trying to light a cigarette while juggling a coffee.  He was not paying even the slightest attention to the road.  I usually avoid that road because it's a bypass around Boston and there are always too many trucks on it.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary attended Bob Bondurant's School of High Performance (racing school), when he was in Ontario, CA.


----------



## davidharmier60

I was riding I-20 into DFW. I had a light load. There was snow apparently over ice.
I would toggle the trailer brake lever and the trailer would depart the lane.
I blasted several piles of snow! I was having a ball!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm an excellent driver.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Based on what standard??
Click to expand...


Any standard


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> ...*SOME* truckers are the absolute worst drivers out there...


FTFY.  Truckers are a lot like photographers.  There are two distinct classes.  One is the, "I quit skewl in grade three...  I need weed money... mehh... I'll got get a commercial driving license" (Fauxtographer - Wal-mar Portrait Centre).  The other is the "I'm a professional, this is a serious job and I take pride in it and will do the best job I can" (Professional Photographer). 

Unfortunately because you really don't need a lot of book learnin' to get a commercial driver's license in most places, it's attractive to people with lesser education and/or motivation.  Chances are most of the people you're talking about are driving short-haul for someone else.  The owner/operators tend to be from the latter category and they're careful with their $250,000 - 400,000 investment and take pride in their work like any small business owner does.


----------



## smoke665

I maintained my Class A license when I retired because of our RV and the Fire Dept. Dropped the Hazmat, doubles and commercial status which relieved me of maintaining a physical card. I didn't drive that much, but my drivers knew I could and would fly out, pick up my truck and leave them on the side of the road if they pulled anything, but more often when someone got sick or hurt, I would go get them. It was a fun diversion at times but not a job for me.


----------



## smoke665

I suspect @davidharmier60  was similar to some of the drivers I had that contributed to my chronic insomnia!


----------



## davidharmier60

If I told you about Chicago I would CERTAINLY be one....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

@tirediron we were mostly over the road witn both company and owner operators. 60 percent of our runs were drop and hook with the other 40 being customer locations. All drivers were expected to run 3000 miles a week legally. Some could, some couldn't. My all time favorite, most professional driver  was a woman. She started with me, and stayed till the end. The men learned quickly to respect her abilities, she could out drive any man in the fleet and kick their $$$ if they got in her way while doing it.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> My favorite is when people apply their brake going uphill on snow covered roads.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I live at the bottom of a hill that doesn't lead anywhere useful, so I always have to go up.
> 
> A couple of weeks ago, I nearly got stranded on a street because a school bus was going up the hill at 7 mph. 1st gear is a non-starter in the snow, and I simply can't go that slow in 2nd.
Click to expand...

Oof, that's hard. 

I used to live in the middle of a hill. Not a steep hill, but steep enough when it was icy or snowy. People would pull onto the road, and try to go uphill so slow that they'd get stuck, then either drift to the side or slide down the hill backwards.

Someone actually recorded cars on that street during an icy storm and put it on YouTube several years ago. Tried to find it again now, and no luck.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> @tirediron we were mostly over the road witn both company and owner operators. 60 percent of our runs were drop and hook with the other 40 being customer locations. All drivers were expected to run 3000 miles a week legally. Some could, some couldn't. My all time favorite, most professional driver  was a woman. She started with me, and stayed till the end. The men learned quickly to respect her abilities, she could out drive any man in the fleet and kick their $$$ if they got in her way while doing it.


OTR tends to attract the more professional drivers; people that just want a buck and don't take any pride in their job are more the day cab set...  put in your six, eight hours, clock out and go home.  Driving a big truck well, and safely is a helluva skill.  If you ever want to see some really skilled long haulers, check out the Aussie road-train truckees.  These guys are running 3, 4 and 5 trailers on gravel washboard, and the 'roo bumper?  Yeah... NOT just a nick-name!


----------



## JonA_CT

Our snowfall forecast is up to 12-18” via NWS. 

I also got official word back from Nikon that they’ll be replacing my D600 with a brandy-new D610. It almost feels like stealing since I bought my D600 assuming I’d be able to do it in the future.

Now I’m wondering if I should flip it for the D750 or D800.


----------



## SquarePeg

They have just announced school is canceled for tomorrow for our city.  Expected snowfall is now predicted 6-10" but with blizzard conditions due to the expected gusts up to 70 mph.  Keep your fingers crossed for no power outages for me please.  We'll all be huddled on the sectional under our blankets with our smartphones and tablets.  

On a mostly unrelated note - today I dropped my comforter off at the laudramat to be washed and dried.  I can do it at home but it takes forever in my smallish dryer.  They ruined it.  It is completed burned/brown in several spots.  That comforter was a score on Black Friday a few years ago - a Ralph Lauren medium weight down filled baffle box 500 thread count masterpiece.  I got a super steal on it at only $85.  I just checked and to order it now would be $540.  WHAT????  I've sent the copy of the website to the laundry as requested and am waiting to hear back from them.  Do you think they owe me the cost I paid or the replacement cost?  Meanwhile it's going to be a very cold night so I've had to order a new one (not as nice from Kohls for $200 as I'm not paying $540 unless they reimburse me the full $540) and now I have to run out to pick it up tonight.  Normally I would wait but if we get snowed in and lose power, the guest blankets will not do.


----------



## smoke665

Winter Bomb Cyclone???? Temperatures on the East coast lower than Mars??? WTH?? Hope all the East coast TPF crew has some warm places to go. Winter ‘Bomb Cyclone’ Threatens East Coast, Bringing Temps Colder Than Mars


----------



## Frank F.

My hometown features DHL Headquartes, the UNFCCC and several other UN offices

What is in the picture?

right at the Rhine River Promenade there is the old German Parliamentary building with the "Waterwork" building belonging to a collection of buildings in the parliamentay garden
behind that the flat white "Schürmann-Bau" housing the Deutsche Welle foreign broadcasting service
big one on the left is the "Langer Eugen", the old parliamentary administration building now used exclusively by the United Nations
behind that is the DHL World Headquarters Post Tower - Wikipedia build by Helmut Jahn and partners: Helmut Jahn - Wikipedia
The Antennae like sculpture in red is "L'Allumé" by Mark di Suvero


----------



## JonA_CT

There’s no bread, eggs, or milk left at the store, and I saw two grown women fighting over a rotisserie chicken.

Yup, it’s a nor’easter alright.

(True story....I typically make fun of these people, but back a few years ago, Nemo stranded us in our house for 4 days. I was happy we stocked up on that stuff, although we wouldn’t have starved or anything haha)


----------



## davidharmier60

Store I work at runs low on bread a lot and as a rule our weather is docile. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

davidharmier60 said:


> Store I work at runs low on bread a lot and as a rule our weather is docile.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



I’ll have to find pictures. I don’t mean run low...I literally mean not a slice of wonder bread in the joint.
And I’m not talking about the bodega up the street...I mean super Walmart.


----------



## davidharmier60

It being 19 hours and going on 25 minutes it's time for me to wish all of you a good night and a pleasant tomorrow. 

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----------



## snowbear

We have a few late openings.  It's expected to snow between 10 tonight and 8 in the morning; 1" to 3" locally.  Heavier in the parts of Southern Maryland and Virginia along the Bay and on the Eastern Shore; less north and west of the city.  Pre-treating is supposed to going on.  The VA governor has already issued a state of emergency, apparently for the areas around Norfolk and the Eastern Shore.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Store I work at runs low on bread a lot and as a rule our weather is docile.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I’ll have to find pictures. I don’t mean run low...I literally mean not a slice of wonder bread in the joint.
> And I’m not talking about the bodega up the street...I mean super Walmart.
Click to expand...

BMT's (Bread, Milk, Toilet Paper).  I'll go along with the last one but if I'm getting snowed in, I want steaks and booze.


----------



## smoke665

In 1993 blizzard we lost power for 7 days, gas furnace but no blower, electric stove, and water heater. We survived 15 degree weather by closing off the family room and keeping a fire in the Fire place. Learned to heat water and even cook on top of a kerosene heater, or grilled on the gas grill outside. Kids thought it was quite the adventure.


----------



## limr

I am so hoping for a snow day. There's a very good chance of it but my school never announces until the morning - well, not unless it's a 2-day blizzard kind of deal or something. Still, keep your fingers crossed for me, hosers!


----------



## Fred von den Berg

After yesterday's gales there should be lots of sticks for Toby to collect and hide (he carries them for a while then finds a place to stash them).


----------



## davidharmier60

The phone says it's 24 degrees out there. 
About to dress accordingly. 


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## JonA_CT

My son and I have been awake since 4:30, and I finally got around to making a cup of coffee. It’s been awhile since I’ve done a pour over cup of with freshly roasted coffee. I think the smell from making the cup is more invigorating than drinking it.

Snow has started here. This won’t be a gentle, delicate snowfall. Winds somewhere around 20 mph sustained and it’s snowing sideways.


----------



## smoke665

@Lime and @JonA_CT stay warm.


----------



## JonA_CT

I just noticed that someon parked their car in the lot across from our house. They’re going to learn the hard way about the quirks of our city plowing service. They don’t plow that lot, and they stack snow at the entrances because they are each at the end of the street. If I had any idea whose house the car belonged to, I’d try to warn them.


----------



## Fred von den Berg

Just got back from our morning walk. We met two other dog walkers, one jogger and something in the woods that got Toby's ruff up, but I wasn't quick enough to see what it was.


----------



## snowbear

We have just shy of 3" on the ground.  Work county opens at 10:30 though schools are closed, all over.  GIS is considered "essential" but, as a contractor, I am not.  Fire/EMS is definitely essential, but the admin aides are given a lot of leeway when it comes to weather.  We'll be heading out in a few minutes.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> I just noticed that someon parked their car in the lot across from our house.



Many years ago I hired a driver that had never been very far north. I sent him on his first trip to Buffalo, NY in January. He made his drop and hook, and was headed back to the OH drop yard. Got to NE, PA right on the line before the snow scared him off the road, into a truck stop. The next morning I figured he call in when we woke up, but he didn't. My concern finally got the best of me, and I called the truck stop to checkup on. The guy that answered the phone started laughing. Seems my dumb Alabama driver had parked in the spot where they stacked the snow. Rather than wake up the driver to ask him to move, they thought it would be funny to  just stack the snow on the truck. The next morning when the driver woke up, all he saw was snow out his windows, so he's sitting in his truck scared to death, thinking he was literally snowed in. After some urging they went out and brushed the snow off his window, he backed up out of the snow pile and was on his way. As soon as he got back in he quit, said he'd never go there again. LOL


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

GM all. Hope everyone here in the northeast is enjoying this cold, snow and wind! I noticed the birds are looking everywhere for extra protein and skipping the seeds that out for them. Don't know if it's this long stretch of cold or this storm moving up the coast that has them on the hunt for spiders and bugs.


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning Hosers,   You know when you have a cold there is that 24-48 hour peak of misery then you start to feel better?  Well I have been at that peak for almost 7 days.  Usually with a cold I just take some decongestant and go about my business but that has not worked for me this time.  Ugh.


----------



## waday

Good morning all, and hope everyone stays safe (and feels better, @SquarePeg).

The forecast for our area was for barely anything, and that's what we got--a dusting. It's flurrying out now, though, so that's something.


----------



## smoke665

The cold has won out, moving south this morning. Savannah will have to be another time!


----------



## JonA_CT

2-3”/hr snow fall rate and thunder snow here right now.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Morning Hosers,   You know when you have a cold there is that 24-48 hour peak of misery then you start to feel better?  Well I have been at that peak for almost 7 days.  Usually with a cold I just take some decongestant and go about my business but that has not worked for me this time.  Ugh.


doctors, must need antibiotcs


----------



## jcdeboever

I got up this morning at 5:00, had Gary coffee, plowed about 3"... -15°. My engine just groaned a little, then fired up. Got to plant and had to clean that up to, they didn't get much but the one drive drifted pretty good. Had a heck of a time getting the Kenworth started, no heater in block. She's rolling now. I am filthy dirty and it's not even 10:00. I need more coffee.


----------



## SquarePeg

Sideways snow happening here.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Morning Hosers,   You know when you have a cold there is that 24-48 hour peak of misery then you start to feel better?  Well I have been at that peak for almost 7 days.  Usually with a cold I just take some decongestant and go about my business but that has not worked for me this time.  Ugh.


That sounds like what was going around here, at work, the week before Christmas.  I hope you feel better, soon.


----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> GM all. Hope everyone here in the northeast is enjoying this cold, snow and wind! I noticed the birds are looking everywhere for extra protein and skipping the seeds that out for them. Don't know if it's this long stretch of cold or this storm moving up the coast that has them on the hunt for spiders and bugs.


They're probably looking for a hot meal.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Maggie goes in for her first haircut today.  Last night was dinner, guests and the patio. It was a very pleasant evening with the overhead heater and fire table, everybody was very comfortable chatting away, sipping our wines and eating dinner.


----------



## davidharmier60

It wasn't terribly warm inside the store.
The floor machine didn't get plugged in yesterday so it didn't go everywhere. 
But the buffer made it look swell.
Caught a package of cheese before it was ruined. Put some other stuff away.
Sold my made up box of pennies to Trish and now going to see if Peoples Bank has a box. Got about 4 minutes under 4.75. With almost 7 yesterday it is looking like a pretty decent check next Wednesday. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

@Frank:  Gold Bears for breakfast.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Sideways snow happening here.


eek!    Hope that subsides soon.

Everyone in this storm's path stay warm and cozy!    Great day for coffee and cooking up something fab in the kitchen.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sideways snow happening here.
> 
> 
> 
> eek!    Hope that subsides soon.
> 
> Everyone in this storm's path stay warm and cozy!    Great day for coffee and cooking up something fab in the kitchen.
Click to expand...

Gary thinks you would have enjoyed dinner last night.  18 hours of Sous Vide with rosemary, garlic some vino, seared prior, Sous vide up to 135F then sear again to 145F.  A rub of herbs and spices and Gary's BBQ Sauce. Mary Lou made a ton of appetizers cucumber wraps and strawberries with basil and mozzarella.  Gary's flatbread was one of his best and starting with a sparkling red from Temecula (very peppery) and a Zin from Paso Robles from vines which were first planted in 1880.  All wrapped up with homemade strawberry ice cream (made with coconut milk) and/or orange sorbet (backyard yard Naval and Mandarin).


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave had the best biscuits and sausage gravy that Brenda ever made.
And as of yet no lunch.

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----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever you just reminded me of another reason I hated trucks, getting them started in the winter.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone



Miss Maggie found a new mud patch and literally dived in.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 151737 View attachment 151738 View attachment 151739
> Miss Maggie found a new mud patch and literally dived in.


Whatttttttt?????????????


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 151737 View attachment 151738 View attachment 151739
> Miss Maggie found a new mud patch and literally dived in.


Webster does the same thing. I think they're made for each other.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's actually getting sunny, but cold. Hope SharonCat you feel better, and all of you in the northeast don't lose power. Jon - snow days!! School district where I live is still on break! One of those years some schools aren't off before the Christmas weekend so their two weeks go well past the 1st. Not sure which I liked best... how about both, get out well before Christmas but no hurry to get back after New Years!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Maggie's a mudder. Wonder what she would think of snow?


----------



## SquarePeg

I expect we'll see some great storm photos from @MSnowy as his neck of the woods is really getting hit with coastal flooding and it's so cold that everything will be frozen solid.  Stay safe out there!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 151737 View attachment 151738 View attachment 151739
> Miss Maggie found a new mud patch and literally dived in.
> 
> 
> 
> Whatttttttt?????????????
Click to expand...

Maggie is like a little kid ... she loves to splash and play in mud.  Her BFF, (Best Furry Friend), doesn't like getting dirty.  Maggie will trick him into the mud, or at least splash him as he jumps over the mud.  Interestingly, when Max (the BFF) isn't around, she tends to ignore the mud.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Suet feeders all filled, peanut butter feeder full again, new sunflower and thistle seed ready. The birds will be hanging around my house again


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Miss Maggie found a new mud patch and literally dived in.



Don't care what anyone says - That's funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!11


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Maggie's a mudder. Wonder what she would think of snow?


What's snow?


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maggie's a mudder. Wonder what she would think of snow?
> 
> 
> 
> What's snow?
Click to expand...

Just a character on Game of Thrones.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Somebody get a shovel and a cooler and ship some to Gary!

smartass


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Miss Maggie found a new mud patch and literally dived in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't care what anyone says - That's funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
Click to expand...

Maggie walks/runs/wrestles with Max nearly every morning.  Gary has to hose her down before entering the house ... nearly every morning.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Somebody get a shovel and a cooler and ship some to Gary!
> 
> smartass


That's okay, I can drive about an hour uphill if I really want some.  It is a glorious day today. Sorry about that Arctic Cyclone ... involuntarily being forced indoors isn't a good thing.


----------



## JonA_CT

still snowing here, but I went outside to do the first shovel of the walk and some damage assessment. I’m feeling fortunate not to be in Coastal MA. That flooding is scary.

I have no idea how much snow we have. Part of my lawn is completely bare, but I have waist deep drifts in other parts. Pretty typical for here. I live at the end of the park, and the open field is to my Northeast...so the wind from these Nor’easters has a lot of space to pick up speed before hit me and my neighbors. 

I miss Old Joe who lived two houses down until his passing last year. Our relationship consisted of friendly waves and hellos from our porches for most of the year, but on days like today, I’d be racing him to get outside so he wouldn’t try to shovel 18 inches of snow at 93 years old. He would never put his shovel down or away when I came over, but he’d tell me stories about the neighborhood from the good old days while he let me do most of the work. 


(As I was typing, we just saw our first plow of the day.)


----------



## smoke665

Pulled out at 10 am this morning thinking that the ice that had bombarded Savannah, would be melted off the interstate - wrong. Lot of places still looked like bumper cars on an ice rinks, with cars in the ditches and trees.  It took a good 11/2 hrs of white knuckle driving before we finally got far enough south to get out of the mess. Our rig is now covered with a layer of nasty gray gunk, but at least we are out of it.


----------



## davidharmier60

Chinese. Who in the world could take an F-16 and put EF-18EF on It?





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----------



## smoke665

I just can't understand why Northerners think the South can't handle a little snow????


----------



## JonA_CT

@SquarePeg Do you have to shovel a path for your cat-sized dog?  My lab is bottoming out today. He literally dug himself a hole in a snow bank, haha. 

It's still coming down like crazy, but my understanding is that we are almost through. The city has already canceled school for tomorrow, so my wife will be home. I'm not sure about my school yet (which is funny, because it's a half-mile as the crow flies from where my wife works...just in a different city...). 

I think the big issue is the wind...they can clear lots and roads tonight for the schools, but they'll have to do it again tomorrow. Here in New London, about 30% of the kids are walkers...so sometimes, they give an extra day to make sure that the sidewalks are cleared.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> The city has already canceled school for tomorrow, so my wife will be home. I'm not sure about my school yet



Now see this is the difference between North and South. We would have cancelled EVERYTHING last week when they were just talking possibility. We like to be prepared just in case.


----------



## JonA_CT

Yeah, my school is closed tomorrow, too.

I might go in anyways. I still have 400 pages of grading to do haha.


----------



## Gary A.

Before:


 

After:


 



 

Guess who went to the groomers today?


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Miss Maggie found a new mud patch and literally dived in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't care what anyone says - That's funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Maggie walks/runs/wrestles with Max nearly every morning.  Gary has to hose her down before entering the house ... nearly every morning.
Click to expand...

Between this comment and those photos, I must say....that dog generates too much work!


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Before:
> View attachment 151745
> 
> After:
> View attachment 151747
> 
> View attachment 151748
> 
> Guess who went to the groomers today?


Hey!!   They missed a couple of spots around the muzzle.        I hope you tip them well.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Miss Maggie found a new mud patch and literally dived in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't care what anyone says - That's funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Maggie walks/runs/wrestles with Max nearly every morning.  Gary has to hose her down before entering the house ... nearly every morning.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Between this comment and those photos, I must say....that dog generates too much work!
Click to expand...

She's a six month old puppy ... the mud part she does entirely on her own.  Gary participates on the clean-up part.  She essentially walks herself ... ala no leash. Yes, dogs are a lot more work than cats.


----------



## davidharmier60

Supper was going to be Spaghetti. 
But now Pizza. 
This doesn't disappoint me.
Supposed to get to 31 overnight. 
And upper 40s plus tomorrow. 
This also doesn't disappoint me.

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----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> She's a six month old puppy ... the mud part she does entirely on her own.  Gary participates on the clean-up part.  She essentially walks herself ... ala no leash. Yes, dogs are a lot more work than cats.



And thus, I have cats. They are not nearly as needy. I don't do needy very well.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Before:
> View attachment 151745
> 
> After:
> View attachment 151747
> 
> View attachment 151748
> 
> Guess who went to the groomers today?
> 
> 
> 
> Hey!!   They missed a couple of spots around the muzzle.        I hope you tip them well.
Click to expand...

Gary is a very good tipper.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Before:
> View attachment 151745
> 
> After:
> View attachment 151747
> 
> View attachment 151748
> 
> Guess who went to the groomers today?
> 
> 
> 
> Hey!!   They missed a couple of spots around the muzzle.        I hope you tip them well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary is a very good tipper.
Click to expand...

Ah, they'll always smile when they see her coming after another mud dive!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> She's a six month old puppy ... the mud part she does entirely on her own.  Gary participates on the clean-up part.  She essentially walks herself ... ala no leash. Yes, dogs are a lot more work than cats.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And thus, I have cats. They are not nearly as needy. I don't do needy very well.
Click to expand...

You get what you pay for ...


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> She's a six month old puppy ... the mud part she does entirely on her own.  Gary participates on the clean-up part.  She essentially walks herself ... ala no leash. Yes, dogs are a lot more work than cats.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And thus, I have cats. They are not nearly as needy. I don't do needy very well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You get what you pay for ...
Click to expand...

OMG, I was thinking the exact same thing!


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> She's a six month old puppy ... the mud part she does entirely on her own.  Gary participates on the clean-up part.  She essentially walks herself ... ala no leash. Yes, dogs are a lot more work than cats.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And thus, I have cats. They are not nearly as needy. I don't do needy very well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You get what you pay for ...
Click to expand...


Eh?


----------



## Gary A.

Nothing ...


----------



## limr

If this means that I pay less and therefore get less in return, then you don't know cats very well


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Yes, dogs are a lot more work than cats.



Something worthwhile generally does


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, dogs are a lot more work than cats.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Something worthwhile generally does
Click to expand...


Either that, or more trouble than they're worth.


----------



## smoke665

We (I) groom Sadie, because it isn't worth the time taking her to and from. I watched a breed specific video that used only scissors and comb, and do a descent job. Normally try to do a little at a time rather then all at once. When we go on walks I carry the tools in my pocket, so that when she goes on point I can clip away on a perfectly still dog. No muss no fuss. Do the nails the same way. She also gets her teeth brushed nightly


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> @SquarePeg Do you have to shovel a path for your cat-sized dog?  My lab is bottoming out today. He literally dug himself a hole in a snow bank, haha.
> 
> It's still coming down like crazy, but my understanding is that we are almost through. The city has already canceled school for tomorrow, so my wife will be home. I'm not sure about my school yet (which is funny, because it's a half-mile as the crow flies from where my wife works...just in a different city...).
> 
> I think the big issue is the wind...they can clear lots and roads tonight for the schools, but they'll have to do it again tomorrow. Here in New London, about 30% of the kids are walkers...so sometimes, they give an extra day to make sure that the sidewalks are cleared.



No school here tomorrow either.  No way will they have the streets and public sidewalks cleared in time for school.  If it wasn't a Friday, they may have done a delayed start...

Yes, Princess has to clear a path for the King to do his business.  He basically goes down the stairs, takes two steps, hurries through his routine and comes right back inside.  He doesn't like snow, or rain, or wind or walking  on ice or puddles.  When he was a pup we would shovel out a big oval for him to run around but he doesn't really do that anymore.  



Gary A. said:


> Before:
> View attachment 151745
> 
> After:
> View attachment 151747
> 
> View attachment 151748
> 
> Guess who went to the groomers today?



She's adorable.  Is she trying to eat the mud?


----------



## jcdeboever

My Baby Girl Cat loves me more than Webster. She really shows it. Webster just wants to eat. He is not into loving me really, I'm more of a God or provider for him. Baby Girl needs love and affection but on her terms. She shows way more affection than Webster, she teaches how to love in reality, even if some may consider it's just a cat. Learn to love a cat on their terms, you may possibly love a human better... IMO


----------



## NancyMoranG

@smoke665 where are you now? We are in Jacksonville, Fl at a campground.
We are just off the junction for I95 and 295 and 2 hours south of Savannah, Ga. Today @ noon, our Walmart had more trucks and Rv's parked there. We figured they will lay up here instead of getting further and finding no room to park somewhere later?

We had 28 degrees last night and again tonight...in Fl!
My brother is near SqPeg in Quincy, Ma. Plans on being on lock down for 4 days?..


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> @SquarePeg Do you have to shovel a path for your cat-sized dog?  My lab is bottoming out today. He literally dug himself a hole in a snow bank, haha.
> 
> It's still coming down like crazy, but my understanding is that we are almost through. The city has already canceled school for tomorrow, so my wife will be home. I'm not sure about my school yet (which is funny, because it's a half-mile as the crow flies from where my wife works...just in a different city...).
> 
> I think the big issue is the wind...they can clear lots and roads tonight for the schools, but they'll have to do it again tomorrow. Here in New London, about 30% of the kids are walkers...so sometimes, they give an extra day to make sure that the sidewalks are cleared.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No school here tomorrow either.  No way will they have the streets and public sidewalks cleared in time for school.  If it wasn't a Friday, they may have done a delayed start...
> 
> Yes, Princess has to clear a path for the King to do his business.  He basically goes down the stairs, takes two steps, hurries through his routine and comes right back inside.  He doesn't like snow, or rain, or wind or walking  on ice or puddles.  When he was a pup we would shovel out a big oval for him to run around but he doesn't really do that anymore.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Before:
> View attachment 151745
> 
> After:
> View attachment 151747
> 
> View attachment 151748
> 
> Guess who went to the groomers today?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> She's adorable.  Is she trying to eat the mud?
Click to expand...

Nope, she just likes diving in and splashing about. Like a little kid jumping in pubbles.


----------



## smoke665

NancyMoranG said:


> @smoke665 where are you now? We are in Jacksonville, Fl at a campground.
> We are just off the junction for I95 and 295 and 2 hours south of Savannah, Ga. Today @ noon, our Walmart had more trucks and Rv's parked there. We figured they will lay up here instead of getting further and finding no room to park somewhere later?
> 
> We had 28 degrees last night and again tonight...in Fl!
> My brother is near SqPeg in Quincy, Ma. Plans on being on lock down for 4 days?..



For the next few days we are in St Augstine. Spent two nights West of Savannah cooling our heals (literally) waiting for the weather to clear enough to get out to Tybee Island. Finally made the decision to abandon Savannah stop and come south.


----------



## sasysquatchgirl

JonA_CT said:


> still snowing here, but I went outside to do the first shovel of the walk and some damage assessment. I’m feeling fortunate not to be in Coastal MA. That flooding is scary.
> 
> I have no idea how much snow we have. Part of my lawn is completely bare, but I have waist deep drifts in other parts. Pretty typical for here. I live at the end of the park, and the open field is to my Northeast...so the wind from these Nor’easters has a lot of space to pick up speed before hit me and my neighbors.
> 
> I miss Old Joe who lived two houses down until his passing last year. Our relationship consisted of friendly waves and hellos from our porches for most of the year, but on days like today, I’d be racing him to get outside so he wouldn’t try to shovel 18 inches of snow at 93 years old. He would never put his shovel down or away when I came over, but he’d tell me stories about the neighborhood from the good old days while he let me do most of the work.
> 
> 
> (As I was typing, we just saw our first plow of the day.)



I'm in Ma. It's been a very crazy storm. I like the story of old Joe. We were out shoveling our neighbors before they got out there today.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Fred von den Berg

The down side to having Toby, our six-month-old Beagle buddy, other than the wanton destruction of my armchair, is that Stevens the grey tabby doesn't visit us anymore


----------



## davidharmier60

Tis better to keep ones mouth closed and be thought of as a fool.
But of course I open mine and remove all doubt. In about 15 minutes it's off to work I go. 

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----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Which one of you gave me the crud???


----------



## JonA_CT

Wasn’t me.


Why we don’t have school today...




 

I guess every doorway of our school looks like this. For reference, my co-worker who is in this photo is probably 5’9”.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Which one of you gave me the crud???


Nope.  @SquarePeg has something, too -- maybe it was her.


----------



## Frank F.

The Primark in Front of our train station grows fast. The cellar structure is about to be finished. Phone Panorama.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Sideways snow happening here.


Photos in the L.A. Times of a lady walking down a New York street with the umbrella held sideways.  Another photo in Boston of a firefighter pulling a rubber boat filled with motorists across flooded street in the middle of a snow flurry. A 67 y/o man, waist high in snow, using a cane to transverse a street in Atlantic City. Has winter always been this tough ... or is this extreme weather blamed on climate change?


----------



## terri

This is a wicked winter storm barreling up the entire Eastern coast.   Started down in Florida.   Winter storms happen every year, of course, but this one trained along the coast longer, and we were already having a cold spell.  

Supposed to have temps moderating a bit starting next week. 

Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Which one of you gave me the crud???


I bet square peg did....that's where I'm putting my money on....


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Wasn’t me.
> 
> 
> Why we don’t have school today...
> 
> View attachment 151773
> 
> I guess every doorway of our school looks like this. For reference, my co-worker who is in this photo is probably 5’9”.


Yikes! My boss plow is getting excited. I have a load ready to go to New Jersey, ain't happening....


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> or is this extreme weather blamed on climate change?



Thankfully the weather is one thing that man has no control over. MPO is that, this is nothing more than a change from the normal. I think it was 1978, we had a massive blizzard in MO. 24" of snow, in just over 24 hours.  I have pictures (not with me) of our ranch style one story home, that is completely covered by a snow drift. The only thing peeking out is the front door (which we dug out of).


----------



## JonA_CT

I think it’s hard to blame individual events on climate change, although certain factors certainly help. My understanding is that a lot of the power from these storms comes from large temperature gradients though, so the displaced artic air colliding with warmer than average sea surface temperatures might play a role in intensity.

That being said, the flooding in MA was a fluke. It happened to hit at the perfect time. Highest tide of the year, super moon, higher sea levels, etc. 

Everything else was pretty typical for a winter storm for us. We get 1-2 storms a year usually where we get 50mph+ winds and double digit amounts of snow. Media has just figured out how to effectively sell ad time.


----------



## snowbear

Yes, one specific incident is hard to blame on an overall climate change.  Climate is a long-term thing (weather is the short-term, here and now).  You have to look at patterns to see the effects of climate changes.


----------



## Gary A.

There is a difference between weather and climate.  Gary has read a ton on climate change to put him in the camp that man's interference is raising the world's overall temperature. Gary was just wondering if science has projected these severe winters as an effect of climate change, or if it's just a cyclic weather phenomena?


----------



## SquarePeg

Yes I gave limr the crud.  Yes climate change is real.  Yes people had to be rescued on Atlantic Ave in Boston yesterday - a spot that does not normally flood.  Water entered the streets and flooded cars and train stations and parking garages.  Now they will spend 10 billion dollars on a sea wall and the nice views and beautiful photos will all have a big ugly wall in front of them.  Lots of ruined cars and homes along the coast in Marshfield, Scituate and Winthrop as the tide surge pushed waves into the streets and the people with waterfront homes paid the piper for their summer time envious lifestyles.  3 feet of water running down the street flooding basements, garages and cars only to freeze as temps dip below freezing today and tomorrow.  It has been over 100 years since we had a cold snap that lasted this long.  

I am feeling a bit better.  For the first time ever paid someone else to shovel out our driveway and cars as everyone in the family is down with the flu/sinus thing.  Princess has it too and is also grounded so will be home all weekend.  Torture for me but have to take one for team so she can learn her lesson.


----------



## Gary A.

You clipped the wings of the Princess ... how dare you.   LOL.


----------



## SquarePeg

I didn't want her to fly too close to the sun.


----------



## JonA_CT

This guy is crazy even for New England. 

Mind you, not only did we get 10 inches of snow yesterday, it’s also 15 degrees out.


----------



## Frank F.

We had it dry for 20 years after two consecutive big floods in 1993 Christmas and 1995 New Year. Now we had weeks of rain plus snow melting in Southern Germany and Austria and all that adds up to a 9 Meter wave only ... Hopefully ... The big ones were 11 meters with some serious damage ... But they did heighten the Rhine dykes since that time.

PS: 11 meters is the tree tops of the red leafed trees behind the boat.... Current must be somewhat between 7.50 and 8.00


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> This guy is crazy even for New England.
> 
> Mind you, not only did we get 10 inches of snow yesterday, it’s also 15 degrees out.
> View attachment 151781


At least he doesn't have far to fall!


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> This guy is crazy even for New England.
> 
> Mind you, not only did we get 10 inches of snow yesterday, it’s also 15 degrees out.
> View attachment 151781



Meh, he's all bundled up. He'll be fine.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> This guy is crazy even for New England.
> 
> Mind you, not only did we get 10 inches of snow yesterday, it’s also 15 degrees out.



Maybe he has no other option to get where he needs to go.  Even with the -20* wind chills today, most businesses are open and expecting their employees to show up.  I think I would take my chances bundled up on the bike rather than riding the T which always sucks when the temps drop.  Hopefully he's just making a quick trip.


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon peeps. Was doing other things on the phone. Had 5.5 hours plus 7 minutes. Makes up for the under minutes yesterday. Should in fact be a pretty fine check next Wednesday. Had leftover Pizza cold which is one of my favorite things to eat. About to fool with pennies while my phone charges from the 13% it got down to. I have a pretty good charger that has it already showing 24% whilst I've been typing.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

There were two and a half millimeter of snow in Tallahassee, our morning paper says. Should I try to sell them a plow?


----------



## tirediron

How the **** do you measure *half* a millimeter of snow???????


----------



## vintagesnaps

I guess they don't have a lot of snow removal equipment - they aren't supposed to be getting snow! not much anyway. 

Not much more snow since a couple of nights ago, which wasn't much, but there's enough of a snow pack that isn't going anywhere. Walking with a cane I'm not even going to try it, not worth risking a fall! If it snows more than about two flakes I stay in! lol In this cold I don't feel too inclined to go out anyway. They always start talking about it warming up, but the snow pack keeps it colder than their computer 'models' indicate, so now the forecast isn't quite as warm - but 30 degrees is sounding good, we'll take it!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

So Smokey, and Nancy, did you get settled somewhere yet? Hope you did. 

Our schools are all closed, started out with the ones that have lots of students who walk, but by late evening it seemed like it was everybody. I quit watching the weather, I don't wanna know how low the temp went, single digits supposedly. C'mon Sunday and normal winter temps! 

Jon, that's a lot of snow! You and SharonCat win the prize.


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> How the **** do you measure *half* a millimeter of snow???????


A really tiny ruler?

And no, I'm not talking about Napoleon, who was around 1,700 millimeters tall.


----------



## davidharmier60

The other morning there wasn't much more than a millimeter on my truck. Yesterday there was frost. Today nothing.

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----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> Should I try to sell them a plow?



Frank I saw one of these in GA Wednesday, going down the interstate. I almost wrecked, trying to see why his trailer was skewed to the side. I thought the guy was losing his trailer!!! LOL 1st time I've ever seen what I guess is called a "tow plow".


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Should I try to sell them a plow?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank I saw one of these in GA Wednesday, going down the interstate. I almost wrecked, trying to see why his trailer was skewed to the side. I thought the guy was losing his trailer!!! LOL 1st time I've ever seen what I guess is called a "tow plow".
Click to expand...


It is odd that one was seen in Georgia where a snowplow is an oddity in itself, but I have never seen one here in northeastern Pennsylvania where the industrious redneck asks Santa to bring a plow for Christmas!


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> It is odd that one was seen in Georgia where a snowplow is an oddity in itself, but I have never seen one here in northeastern Pennsylvania where the industrious redneck asks Santa to bring a plow for Christmas!



Really, I figured it was the fact that we rarely have snow, and that it was common thing up north. Given my background in trucking, you can imagine my shock when I'm on ice and I see a trailer that looks to be jackknifed and sliding down the highway. 

On another note, I got the opportunity to try out the trucks trailer sway control. Despite the feeling you get in the seat when you're on ice, the system apparently functioned seamlessly as I never felt any unusual movement with the trailer.


----------



## smoke665

@Dean_Gretsch I have a new respect for the ingenuity of men in PA after this just popped up on my feed. https://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2...ow-tv-box-orig.cnn/video/playlists/cant-miss/


----------



## davidharmier60

If it snowed enough to stick to the highway this part of Texas would implode!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> This guy is crazy even for New England.
> 
> Mind you, not only did we get 10 inches of snow yesterday, it’s also 15 degrees out.
> View attachment 151781
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Meh, he's all bundled up. He'll be fine.
Click to expand...

Yes.  Gary knew a guy who did foul weather motorcycle testing for BMW.  Gary thought he was Superman... but he said “meh” and and added all you gots to do is seal up the gaps and he showed me the duct tape around jacket sleeve - gloves and pant leg - boots.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> This guy is crazy even for New England.
> 
> Mind you, not only did we get 10 inches of snow yesterday, it’s also 15 degrees out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe he has no other option to get where he needs to go.  Even with the -20* wind chills today, most businesses are open and expecting their employees to show up.  I think I would take my chances bundled up on the bike rather than riding the T which always sucks when the temps drop.  Hopefully he's just making a quick trip.
Click to expand...

Gary used to ride.  In foul weather you tuck into the backside of a truck or bus, then stay in the wheel track and hope you get to your turn/off ramp before you asphyxiate from diesel exhaust.


----------



## Gary A.

Rain is finally forecasted for Monday and Tuesday so Gary was on the leaking patio roof adjusting and fixing the gutters, then taping, spraying and applying Henry’s to existing and potential faults and weak points.  Gary is tired, but feels pretty good about finding and repairing existing cracks in the previous treatment.


----------



## snowbear

Most likely we're seeing a combination of climate and cycles.  I'll have to look up the tables


tirediron said:


> How the **** do you measure *half* a millimeter of snow???????


Tire tread gauge.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Tire tread gauge.



You mean a penny?  Where's Dave?  Dave, we need a penny.


----------



## snowbear

Unplanned road trip in the AM -- catch y'all when we get back.


----------



## davidharmier60

Up as usual for my Saturday morning work. 
I only have 7 to 8 thousand pennies....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

5am obviously means different things to different people.  I'm here....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Dude it’s Saturday.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Peeb

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 151812


Ugh- going back to bed!  That is just uncomfortable.

7-above with a strong wind is SO much worse (to me) than 7-below with no wind.


----------



## SquarePeg

Peeb said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 151812
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh- going back to bed!  That is just uncomfortable.
> 
> 7-above with a strong wind is SO much worse (to me) than 7-below with no wind.
Click to expand...


Yup.  I briefly considered a sunrise snowscape shoot at the lake this morning but after looking at the weather report I went back to bed.  Probably not a good idea to be out in this while still battling whatever it is that I’ve had all week.  Skipping my weekly breakfast club as well.


----------



## smoke665

37 here currently headed for the 50's by Monday it's sunshine and 70. Gotta love FL in the winter!


----------



## davidharmier60

I finally clocked in at 5:45. Would have still had MUCH wet floor and customers at 7am.  So dust mopped and spot mopped the worst places (meat department).
Got out with a bit over 3.25 hours. 
Don't expect the mail to be pitched yet. Gonna fool around until 9:30 or so.

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----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.


----------



## snowbear

Here we go, again.


----------



## terri

Stay warm, Bear!


----------



## Fred von den Berg

Over 50° in Fahrenheit here today and very sunny. Went for a wonderful walk along the banks of the river Lech with my family. Took two Pentax bodies loaded with Kodak (200 colour and 100 T-Max). The colour roll was a 24 and was used up completely and I shot about 15 or so frames of the B&W.  Happy tonight like a cat that's had the cream.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Stay warm, Bear!


Will do


----------



## davidharmier60

It's sunny outside but chilly inside. 
Running a portable heater. 
In the process of making a stellar roll of copper pennies. But stopped to have a burger and some chips. 

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----------



## JonA_CT

This is producing one of the best smells in the world.

(More of my Polar Expresso blend)


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## JonA_CT

jcdeboever said:


> View attachment 151838



Relief!

We are a day or two behind you, but 35 is going to feel awesome.


----------



## jcdeboever

Best present I got for Christmas, from @Gary A. It's called a Kohipress. Flipping ingenious. Makes an awesome cup of joe. I don't even boil the water, just hot from tap. Delicious afternoon pick me up on a fridgid day.


----------



## Fred von den Berg

jcdeboever said:


> Best present I got for Christmas, from @Gary A. It's called a Kohipress. Flipping ingenious. Makes an awesome cup of joe. I don't even boil the water, just hot from tap. Delicious afternoon pick me up on a fridgid day.
> 
> View attachment 151839View attachment 151840



Is it some sort of percolator? How does it work?


----------



## jcdeboever

Fred von den Berg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Best present I got for Christmas, from @Gary A. It's called a Kohipress. Flipping ingenious. Makes an awesome cup of joe. I don't even boil the water, just hot from tap. Delicious afternoon pick me up on a fridgid day.
> 
> View attachment 151839View attachment 151840
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is it some sort of percolator? How does it work?
Click to expand...

It's a French press. Google the video, Kohipress. It's fabulous.


----------



## Frank F.

My word of the day ist "Blumenregen" !!!

"Blumenregen" German for "A rain of flowers"

a German priest coined it because some German Nationalists criticised that the first born baby of the year in Vienna was a baby of immigrants...

What is "Bumenregen"?

Simple: the opposite of "shitstorm"

Meaning to be explicitly nice to someone who just survived a shitstorm


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> This is producing one of the best smells in the world.
> 
> (More of my Polar Expresso blend)
> 
> View attachment 151835


Sweet Maria’s?


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> This is producing one of the best smells in the world.
> 
> (More of my Polar Expresso blend)
> 
> View attachment 151835
> 
> 
> 
> Sweet Maria’s?
Click to expand...


Yessir. Bright, with lots of cocoa and citrus. Not surprising since it’s all African beans. 

Have you found any other good suppliers? They seem to have the most variety and best prices.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are attending an afternoon play. We are in the lobby of the Los Angles Theatre Center. Above is our ceiling.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave need not awaken at 4am tomorrow but did this morning. Good night y'all and have a wonderful tomorrow!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

It was a wonderful play.  The Center, an old bank in downtown (DTLA), has multiple theaters showcasing local talent.  This theatre sat about 60 people.  A Latina Christmas Special, focused on three Latina's, one from a blended family (Mexican & Lithuanian), one from Cuban parents and the last Latina had two Mexican parents. The play was autobiographical, written and performed by the three women.  The play was a roller coaster of emotions, humor, sadness and revelations as the women shared their family Christmases and clips from there lives.  In the background slides of the women flashed across the screen showing them as young children and Christmas pasts.  Tomorrow will be the last day of their performance. We all felt honored that these women shared such vulnerable slices from their lives.  Gary cannot think of any way to have improved the play.  At the end, a standing ovation, in this jaded town of entertainment, standing ovation are not given easily.

It was nice to visit the big city.  While only 20 minutes away, Mary Lou and Gary rarely walk around DTLA. The big city mixture of energy and entropy, life and death, decay and genesis is so extremely stimulating ... Gary misses big city life.  After the play we visited The Last Bookstore.  A wonderful quirky place that would have been an equal replacement for the Star Wars bar scene.  We exited the store with an armload of books.

PS- (We were able to bring our wine from the lobby into the theatre. )


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 151838
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Relief!
> 
> We are a day or two behind you, but 35 is going to feel awesome.
Click to expand...

35F may damage Gary's orchids.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> This is producing one of the best smells in the world.
> 
> (More of my Polar Expresso blend)
> 
> View attachment 151835
> 
> 
> 
> Sweet Maria’s?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yessir. Bright, with lots of cocoa and citrus. Not surprising since it’s all African beans.
> 
> Have you found any other good suppliers? They seem to have the most variety and best prices.
Click to expand...

Sweet Maria's works for me.  There are places that are cheaper, but Sweet Maria's is like Costco, quality products for a fair price.


----------



## JonA_CT

Morning hosers. It’s almost time for me to put my bikini on and put the lawn chair out to sun bathe.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Morning hosers. It’s almost time for me to put my bikini on and put the lawn chair out to sun bathe.
> 
> View attachment 151861 View attachment 151862


Me to. Then do some street shooting


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeeps.  On the way home.


----------



## JonA_CT

Safe travels, my friend.


----------



## snowbear

Thank you.  So far, everything has been fine.  The biggest issue has been the wind; I’m glad we’re not driving a high profile vehicle.


----------



## smoke665

Last night in the truck we were trying to find a place. Had my phone on Google maps but it wasn't giving me turn by turn. My wife also had hers on the same destination but the voice was active (later found out it was because my was connected by Bluetooth to truck). Anyhow in my frustration i said out loud okay Google why are you an idiot. Her phone promptly responded "I don't understand why are you an idiot". My wife thought that was pretty funny and made a few disparaging comments. It wasn't as funny when I  said "okay Google why is my wife a dufus " and the response was " I don't understand why my wife is a dufus" which i followed by "okay Google send email to Janet, ask her why she is a dufus". Shortly thereafter her phone dinged to signal the receipt of an email. That's how the great google war of 2018 started.

And that folks is what you get when you turn Senior citizens loose with technology


----------



## SquarePeg

Haha!  Funny smoke.  If anyone has an Alexa, ask her who is going to win the Super Bowl. Pretty funny answer.  

For maps/gps/traffic/directions etc try the Waze app.  I use it all the time even when I know the way because the traffic alerts and police ahead warnings are great.


----------



## davidharmier60

Had I had this Samsung Galaxy 6 Active back when I drove an 18 things might have turned out different. Probably not but it's fun to think about. 

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----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.


----------



## SquarePeg

Nice Gary.  It was 1*f when I got up this morning!  I even had to close my window last night and usually I like to keep it cracked open just a tiny bit even in the dead of winter.  It’s warmed up to 11* now - may have to bundle up and take the dog out for a walk if we get past 20* today.  Most of our neighbors have shoveled the sidewalks so we should be able to go around the block.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Jon, pics or it didn't happen.

Charlie, where ya been? I must have missed that you were going somewhere.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Nice Gary.  It was 1*f when I got up this morning!  I even had to close my window last night and usually I like to keep it cracked open just a tiny bit even in the dead of winter.  It’s warmed up to 11* now - may have to bundle up and take the dog out for a walk if we get past 20* today.  Most of our neighbors have shoveled the sidewalks so we should be able to go around the block.


Gary thinks hosing down the sidewalk would be easier on the back than shovelling.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave  just got some interesting news.
The store is advertising for among other things a floor maintenance pperson. 
It could be they don't want me on 6 days a week. It could be they don't want me at all.
Nice as I can I'm going to ask about it.
I'd really rather not lose this job.

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----------



## Frank F.

Today I was official photographer at an event celebrating 50 years of "Sternsinger-Aktion" in our parish. The woman on the right is the one who started it with her own kids 50 years and is active ever since.

What is it?

Children roam the quarter's doors, collect money for poor children and sing christmas carols, dressed as the three wise men from the Orient


----------



## SquarePeg

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave  just got some interesting news.
> The store is advertising for among other things a floor maintenance pperson.
> It could be they don't want me on 6 days a week. It could be they don't want me at all.
> Nice as I can I'm going to ask about it.
> I'd really rather not lose this job.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Well that’s a crappy way to find out.  Sorry Dave.


----------



## davidharmier60

Other info says when they want someone gone they reduce hours until the person quits. I will attempt to find out what's going on tomorrow. 

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----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Jon, pics or it didn't happen.
> 
> Charlie, where ya been? I must have missed that you were going somewhere.


We had to run to Maine - long, involved story.  We went up yesterday morning, got to Portland about 6:30 last night, then drove down to Sturbridge, MA and grabbed a hotel room.  Left there, this morning about 8:30 and got home at 6:15.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Jon, pics or it didn't happen.
> 
> Charlie, where ya been? I must have missed that you were going somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> We had to run to Maine - long, involved story.  We went up yesterday morning, got to Portland about 6:30 last night, then drove down to Sturbridge, MA and grabbed a hotel room.  Left there, this morning about 8:30 and got home at 6:15.
Click to expand...


That’s a lot of driving in a short time.  I hope all is ok.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Jon, pics or it didn't happen.
> 
> Charlie, where ya been? I must have missed that you were going somewhere.
> 
> 
> 
> We had to run to Maine - long, involved story.  We went up yesterday morning, got to Portland about 6:30 last night, then drove down to Sturbridge, MA and grabbed a hotel room.  Left there, this morning about 8:30 and got home at 6:15.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That’s a lot of driving in a short time.  I hope all is ok.
Click to expand...

Tired ( and a bit sore ), but we're OK.  Thanks for the concern.
I waved to you, Princess, and NotMyBoyfriend as we drove by.

I waved to Leonore and Buzz, and Jon, too.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Haha!  Funny smoke.  If anyone has an Alexa, ask her who is going to win the Super Bowl. Pretty funny answer.
> 
> For maps/gps/traffic/directions etc try the Waze app.  I use it all the time even when I know the way because the traffic alerts and police ahead warnings are great.



If it says the Lions, it's going to be in pieces out in front of my home, on the 55MPH speedway in the front. I have a good arm, it will make it.


----------



## jcdeboever

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave  just got some interesting news.
> The store is advertising for among other things a floor maintenance pperson.
> It could be they don't want me on 6 days a week. It could be they don't want me at all.
> Nice as I can I'm going to ask about it.
> I'd really rather not lose this job.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Maybe God is going to provide you with a better paying job? it may be a Blessing in disguise... just saying.  I have been Praying for you... not to loose your job but to obtain some prosperity in your life and move on from pennies to silver dollars.


----------



## davidharmier60

The thing is we've been bumping along with no savings and all since basically the end of 2009. This job while it doesn't pay a lot is only roughly 5.5 miles away. So I don't use much gas. Also I will be 58 in April. 
My back is giving me some trouble. 
I'm going to say I saw the add in Facebook and I really need the job. So if I'm doing something I shouldn't or not doing something I should I can change.
It could be a mistake in the Facebook post for all I know. God will do whatever he thinks is right. 

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----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Haha!  Funny smoke.  If anyone has an Alexa, ask her who is going to win the Super Bowl. Pretty funny answer.
> 
> For maps/gps/traffic/directions etc try the Waze app.  I use it all the time even when I know the way because the traffic alerts and police ahead warnings are great.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If it says the Lions, it's going to be in pieces out in front of my home, on the 55MPH speedway in the front. I have a good arm, it will make it.
Click to expand...


All year it was saying Seattle and some nonsense about the 12th man.  I thought it was funny that it was obviously programmed by some Seattle coffeehouse techie. Just now I asked again and it says you can never count out the Patriots.


----------



## jcdeboever

davidharmier60 said:


> The thing is we've been bumping along with no savings and all since basically the end of 2009. This job while it doesn't pay a lot is only roughly 5.5 miles away. So I don't use much gas. Also I will be 58 in April.
> My back is giving me some trouble.
> I'm going to say I saw the add in Facebook and I really need the job. So if I'm doing something I shouldn't or not doing something I should I can change.
> It could be a mistake in the Facebook post for all I know. God will do whatever he thinks is right.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



God is not going to do it for you Dave... Your faith in Him is going to produce it. PM me if your really interested.


----------



## Fred von den Berg

Frank F. said:


> Today I was official photographer at an event celebrating 50 years of "Sternsinger-Aktion" in our parish. The woman on the right is the one who started it with her own kids 50 years and is active ever since.
> 
> What is it?
> 
> Children roam the quarter's doors, collect money for poor children and sing christmas carols, dressed as the three wise men from the Orient
> 
> View attachment 151910



It's a strange thing but in all the time I've lived in Germany there has always been one child with a blackened face - only this year not. I haven't seen one Melchior this time around.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is raining. Not hard yet, but that should be coming. Tons of flash-flood warnings in the burn areas.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is raining. Not hard yet, but that should be coming. Tons of flash-flood warnings in the burn areas.



Hopefully the rains will bring new growth to repair the devastation.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's been doing something here. Not sure what, heard some ice/sleet/freezing rain late/early. The ice pack is starting to melt so there's that; schools were on delays because of the ice and by this morning everybody closed. 

I heard a bird chirp. Once. Awfully quiet otherwise!


----------



## SquarePeg

It's a balmy 29* F here today.  We are expected to possibly break the freezing mark and reach.... wait for it.... 33*F!  Rain coming at end of week after a light dusting today and tomorrow.  On the plus side, I'm finally starting to feel better.  I broke down over the weekend and raided my stash of Amoxicillin and that seems to have done the trick.  Got a good night's sleep and raring to go today.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is raining. Not hard yet, but that should be coming. Tons of flash-flood warnings in the burn areas.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hopefully the rains will bring new growth to repair the devastation.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, some areas will receive up to six inches in 36 hours and as much of California, and in particular the burn areas, have a lot of up and down, the rains will potentially be more destructive than beneficial.  The Weather Service is now calling a flash flood alert for all areas not just the burn areas.  Because rain, on average, when it eventually comes isn't gentle here, flash flood warning are not unusual. A flash flood is more a river of mud than water. Gary has heard a flash flood coming in the upper deserts ... a low rumbling noise, much like a muffled locomotive.  If you know that sound it is scary because you know you need to get to high ground but which high ground ... the noise is surrounding and enveloping, almost directionless.  If you don't know that sound, it could be curtains if you're caught, death will come not from drowning but from slamming into downstream stuff, trees and boulders.  During torrential storms in the '70's,  Gary once witnessed s small herd of dead cows being rapidly swept downstream by a churny, foamy, chocolate brown river, legs stiff in the air, tumbling around as if they were bits of paper in the wind.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> It's a balmy 29* F here today.  We are expected to possibly break the freezing mark and reach.... wait for it.... 33*F!  Rain coming at end of week after a light dusting today and tomorrow.  On the plus side, I'm finally starting to feel better.  I broke down over the weekend and raided my stash of Amoxicillin and that seems to have done the trick.  Got a good night's sleep and raring to go today.


If the anti-bacterial agent worked, then it was more than a virus driven cold.


----------



## Gary A.

In the Calendar section of the Los Angeles Times, (the Calendar section = entertainment), Tequila Patron took out a full page ad congratulating "Guillermo Del Toro's Latest Cinematic Creation Wasn't His Only Masterpiece Last Year. ... We are proud to call out partner and friend."  Who knew?  Great ad BTW- Done in a Day of the Dead motif. Los Angeles is very much a company town.


----------



## smoke665

Finally warmed up enough to give the truck a much needed bath. The chemical, sand, grit, garbage we accumulated from our ice encounter in GA was terrible. Still have to do the Rv but it may have to wait as rain is coming in now. How people who live in snow country deal with the mess is beyond me, can't stand a dirty vehicle.


----------



## Frank F.

Fred von den Berg said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today I was official photographer at an event celebrating 50 years of "Sternsinger-Aktion" in our parish. The woman on the right is the one who started it with her own kids 50 years and is active ever since.
> 
> What is it?
> 
> Children roam the quarter's doors, collect money for poor children and sing christmas carols, dressed as the three wise men from the Orient
> 
> View attachment 151910
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's a strange thing but in all the time I've lived in Germany there has always been one child with a blackened face - only this year not. I haven't seen one Melchior this time around.
Click to expand...



Do you remember "De Swarte Piet" discussing last year?

Maybe there is fear of discrimination?

I was only concerned that the wise men did not visit my house. Not enough children who take part anymore


----------



## Frank F.

High Water of the Rhine peaked today. First dry day since 7/Dec/17 today and it is getting colder. Both good antidote against the flood


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave just got back from going back to the store to put the floor machine up and plug it in. I put it out to clean it before the milk man parked his truck in the door.
Washed it out while he was still there.
Got almost home and remembered it was out. Wouldn't have had enough battery to do the whole store had I not plugged it in. 
As to the other thing. Maria who is a nice checker lady thinks someone shared that post. Trish who I report to doesn't know of any problem. My Sister says McClains posted the add. Kim who is one of the owners was standing there when Trish said I could go. She didn't say anything or look any different. So I don't really know anything else. I feel for California. 
Mudslides can't be good.

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----------



## vintagesnaps

They were just talking on the news about a snow plow tracker. I don't know, maybe it could help to see where the plows are (or aren't) but I don't know how much that will help, it's not going to get it to your house any faster! lol 

Seems like a variation of Pacman, here it comes, going to gobble up the snow! 

I can hear it's getting slushy. The brown truck was here and he said the roads aren't bad but sidewalks aren't so good, especially heading out of town into the country.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a balmy 29* F here today.  We are expected to possibly break the freezing mark and reach.... wait for it.... 33*F!  Rain coming at end of week after a light dusting today and tomorrow.  On the plus side, I'm finally starting to feel better.  I broke down over the weekend and raided my stash of Amoxicillin and that seems to have done the trick.  Got a good night's sleep and raring to go today.
> 
> 
> 
> If the anti-bacterial agent worked, then it was more than a virus driven cold.
Click to expand...


Either the virus ended coincidentally with the meds or it was a sinus infection - not unusual for me hence the hoarding of amox.  



smoke665 said:


> Finally warmed up enough to give the truck a much needed bath. The chemical, sand, grit, garbage we accumulated from our ice encounter in GA was terrible. Still have to do the Rv but it may have to wait as rain is coming in now. How people who live in snow country deal with the mess is beyond me, can't stand a dirty vehicle.



I don't even think about washing my car!  It's a total wast of time around here with all the spray from the melting snow and mush.  No one bothers with mud flaps anymore and it's a mess out there.  Come late March the spring rains will do the job just fine, until then there is plenty of washer fluid in the well.


----------



## davidharmier60

My truck gets washed whenever it rains hard. But then it's a 1999 with clear coat  flaking off.....

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----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> During torrential storms in the '70's,  Gary once witnessed s small herd of dead cows being rapidly swept downstream by a churny, foamy, chocolate brown river, legs stiff in the air, tumbling around as if they were bits of paper in the wind.







smoke665 said:


> Finally warmed up enough to give the truck a much needed bath. The chemical, sand, grit, garbage we accumulated from our ice encounter in GA was terrible. Still have to do the Rv but it may have to wait as rain is coming in now. How people who live in snow country deal with the mess is beyond me, can't stand a dirty vehicle.



You wash when you can, but mostly you learn to accept a dirty car and unleash the need for cleanliness (if you have such a need) on the interior  Though you have to get good winter floor mats (not carpet but rubber) and accept that they will invariably look like the outside of your car. Oh, and don't have kids 

My Alice is kind of a hot mess right now but the cabin is beautiful and clean.


----------



## Frank F.

@limr having to kids with friends in the car and all of them constantly hungry I must confess that our car is often much cleaner from the outside than from the inside. A regular cleaning keeps the coatings in good shape. I see cars of the same make and age in our street that show ten times more wear on their skin than our car and rust ....

Bright red and shiny after 21 years of use, no rust, always stood outside winters and summers. Some love and care at least every other month kept it that way and immediate action when bird droppings cover it, esp gulls make...


----------



## JonA_CT

Meh.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> @limr having to kids with friends in the car and all of them constantly hungry I must confess that our car is often much cleaner from the outside than from the inside. A regular cleaning keeps the coatings in good shape. I see cars of the same make and age in our street that show ten times more wear on their skin than our car and rust ....
> 
> Bright red and shiny after 21 years of use, no rust, always stood outside winters and summers. Some love and care at least every other month kept it that way and immediate action when bird droppings cover it, esp gulls make...



Now, see, I did not suggest that we never wash our cars. It's just not worth it to obsess over keeping them clear of all salt and road crud because then we'd be washing our cars every other day. We just have to be strategic about it.

For example, we had a storm last week and then several days of some extremely cold weather, and there was another little spat of snow today - nothing to write home about but enough to throw more slush and salt on my car. It's going to be almost 50 degrees on Friday and it will also rain, which will wash a lot of the salt off. After that, we'll see. If I think I can go a week or more without another storm, then I'll run it through the car wash.


----------



## davidharmier60

80% chance of rain Thursday. I guess old blue will get a bath.

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----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> Bright red and shiny after 21 years of use, no rust, always stood outside winters and summers.



21 years, wow. Do you not use it much? 

Several years ago when they shifted from rock salt to brine, it really started taking a toll on our equipment. Even with weekly washes, it wasnt unusual to see the aluminum be rotted on a 5 year old trailer. The brine soaked in every crack/crevis and continued to eat away despite regular washing.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has accepted not washing his car.


----------



## Gary A.

It has been raining steadily for a while, not very hard, but steady.  This is Maggie’s first rain and she is excited with the wonder of it all, water falling out of the sky and not out of a hose. Gary is cold and wet after setting up and emptying rain barrels.  Gary can’t decide between a hot chocolate or wine.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bright red and shiny after 21 years of use, no rust, always stood outside winters and summers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 21 years, wow. Do you not use it much?
> 
> Several years ago when they shifted from rock salt to brine, it really started taking a toll on our equipment. Even with weekly washes, it wasnt unusual to see the aluminum be rotted on a 5 year old trailer. The brine soaked in every crack/crevis and continued to eat away despite regular washing.
Click to expand...


I had a mechanic tell me he has never seen so many brake lines fail as he has since they started using brine instead of salt.


----------



## Gary A.

We use brine on our turkeys not our roads.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary had a hot chocolate.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is about to study the inside of his eyelids. Hope y'all have a great Tuesday. 
I will attempt to delve into the add thing a little deeper. If true however I would be showing the new person how to use the machines. 

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----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I had a mechanic tell me he has never seen so many brake lines fail as he has since they started using brine instead of salt.



The steel lines general held up, but brake chambers took a beating.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Being able to breathe would be aces.

Whatever I had wasn't too bad - a sore throat and some congestion, but manageable. Tired, but not the kind of "I am so tired I don't even know how I'm still alive" kind of fatigue that hits me at times.

And then about 1-2 hours ago, my head decided to totally mess with me. A decongestant and some antihistamine later and nothing. Going to break out my breath strips to try to sleep tonight.

I'm wearing a big )^%*#@^% happy hat right now.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Being able to breathe would be aces.
> 
> Whatever I had wasn't too bad - a sore throat and some congestion, but manageable. Tired, but not the kind of "I am so tired I don't even know how I'm still alive" kind of fatigue that hits me at times.
> 
> And then about 1-2 hours ago, my head decided to totally mess with me. A decongestant and some antihistamine later and nothing. Going to break out my breath strips to try to sleep tonight.
> 
> I'm wearing a big )^%*#@^% happy hat right now.



Sorry to hear it.  If it's what I had, it keeps going away and coming back every 12-24 hours.  I'm not sure if the meds I took cleared it up or if that was a coincidence after 10 days of feeling crappy maybe it had run its course.  

I highly recommend a hot toddy.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bright red and shiny after 21 years of use, no rust, always stood outside winters and summers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 21 years, wow. Do you not use it much?
> 
> Several years ago when they shifted from rock salt to brine, it really started taking a toll on our equipment. Even with weekly washes, it wasnt unusual to see the aluminum be rotted on a 5 year old trailer. The brine soaked in every crack/crevis and continued to eat away despite regular washing.
Click to expand...



Me and my wife are city kids, live in walkable distance from friends work shopping school health care ....

So we do not actually neeeed a car. When my FIL died we inherited the machine in next to unused condition, 35k Kilometres! Now we are 140k after 9 years, kind of half life for a Golf 3 in perfect shape....

I went through the technical examination twice now, so four years of regular check and clean only. No rust and the motor fume emissions are barely measurable, 100 times below threshold....


----------



## davidharmier60

Hi ho hi ho it's off to work I go. 

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----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> During torrential storms in the '70's,  Gary once witnessed s small herd of dead cows being rapidly swept downstream by a churny, foamy, chocolate brown river, legs stiff in the air, tumbling around as if they were bits of paper in the wind.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Finally warmed up enough to give the truck a much needed bath. The chemical, sand, grit, garbage we accumulated from our ice encounter in GA was terrible. Still have to do the Rv but it may have to wait as rain is coming in now. How people who live in snow country deal with the mess is beyond me, can't stand a dirty vehicle.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You wash when you can, but mostly you learn to accept a dirty car and unleash the need for cleanliness (if you have such a need) on the interior  Though you have to get good winter floor mats (not carpet but rubber) and accept that they will invariably look like the outside of your car. Oh, and don't have kids
> 
> My Alice is kind of a hot mess right now but the cabin is beautiful and clean.
Click to expand...

We had the Camry washed on Sunday, while we were in CT.  The mirrors got icy, but a few wipes with a paper towel and all was good.  We figured it was best to do it on the road, then after we got home and changed the doors freezing.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday, there was rain. Nice and steady, a nonstop steam of moisture falling gently from the skies. The rain was continuous light until late in the night ... then it started to pour ...  then buckets ... then dogs & cats ... then dogs & cats in buckets.  It was of Monsoonal fury, literally sheets of solid water pounding the roof and walls, rain which you couldn't see through. Gary hasn't caught up on local news yet, but it has to be pretty bad flash flooding all over ... but a wet muddy Hell gotta be breaking loose in the burn areas.  Remember more than 300,000 acres burned and all that acreage is now on its way silting up the Pacific Ocean and taking everything in its path with it.


----------



## Gary A.

On the sunny side:


----------



## SquarePeg

@Gary A.  - literally lol'd.  Thanks!


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary hasn't caught up on local news yet, but it has to be pretty bad flash flooding all over ... but a wet muddy Hell gotta be breaking loose in the burn areas.



That's scary!!!


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

I apparently woke up with a brand spanking new cold!

Yahtzee!


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> I apparently woke up with a brand spanking new cold!
> 
> Yahtzee!



Are you sure its new? I've had the same one for four weeks now.


----------



## davidharmier60

I've come out of the store to misting rain.
Just enough to make old blue look worse.
Come on Thursday!
Apparently nothing is wrong and it will all be alright. Got roughly 4.5 a minute one way or the other. Trish wants my box of pennies tomorrow. That hasn't changed. 
Gonna check PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then go home.

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----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> I apparently woke up with a brand spanking new cold!
> 
> Yahtzee!





smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> I apparently woke up with a brand spanking new cold!
> 
> Yahtzee!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you sure its new? I've had the same one for four weeks now.
Click to expand...


Same thing I had as well.  It came back 3 or 4 times after brief periods of feeling better.  Someone told me yesterday that it is a version of this year's flu.  Muscle aches and fever with terrible sinus symptoms and it lasts 2-3 weeks.  I had a flu shot so I guess that's why it felt like a cold and sinus and not much worse.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> terrible sinus symptoms and it lasts 2-3 weeks. I had a flu shot so I guess that's why it felt like a cold and sinus and not much worse.



Interesting, hadn't heard that. I had the flu shot also, and mostly sinus problems


----------



## SquarePeg

@smoke665   Congrats on a hard fought win by Alabama!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh, Leo, what a bummer, take care this week. Do you have a long weekend? I hope.


----------



## Gary A.

Bright and early this morning we dropped off Miss Maggie to be fixed, (even though she wasn't broken).


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Bright and early this morning we dropped off Miss Maggie to be fixed, (even though she wasn't broken).



At least she'll have no memory of what she's losing. Tucker still licks that patch of fur and glares at us sometimes.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bright and early this morning we dropped off Miss Maggie to be fixed, (even though she wasn't broken).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At least she'll have no memory of what she's losing. Tucker still licks that patch of fur and glares at us sometimes.
Click to expand...

This has always seemed horribly cruel to me, especially for male dogs.  Why can't they substitute a vasectomy for outright castration???????


----------



## Gary A.

Castration really tones down dogs. It makes almost a night and day difference between a social calm pooch and a raging stallion.


----------



## davidharmier60

Made most of our mostly female dogs a bit less bossy. Didn't do much for the largest of three males. Although I guess he is a bit better....

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----------



## Gary A.

Five people have died from mudslides in Montecito.  Pacific Coast Highway is closed between Ventura and Santa Barbara.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Five people have died from mudslides in Montecito.  Pacific Coast Highway is closed between Ventura and Santa Barbara.



That's terrible!  Stay safe Gary and family.  That storm looked nasty on the weather channel last night.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Castration really tones down dogs. It makes almost a night and day difference between a social calm pooch and a raging stallion.



Well duh! Lose yours and see how you'd act


----------



## waday

Terrible and sad news about CA.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> @smoke665   Congrats on a hard fought win by Alabama!



Shouldn't have to trim my finger nails for a month after that game


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Castration really tones down dogs. It makes almost a night and day difference between a social calm pooch and a raging stallion.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well duh! Lose yours and see how you'd act
Click to expand...

Being married...


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Being married...



That's a whole different story. That's where you get to bark like you have them, but you know who's got a grip on them and will squeeze if you get off the porch.


----------



## Gary A.

The rains are back with some decent winds.  Yesterday the snow was down to 8,000’.  Today it is down to 5,000’.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> The rains are back with some decent winds.  Yesterday the snow was down to 8,000’.  Today it is down to 5,000’.


Ugh - it's been nothing but terrible weather news in CA for months on end now, it seems.   Extended drought, then raging wildfires, loss of homes and businesses, now the rains finally appear only to inflict further destruction... stay safe over there, Gary!    I know you love your little piece of it, but I wouldn't live there as a gift.   Too nerve-wracking.   Earthquakes will be next!    

I expect Miss Maggie isn't really going to know what hit her...once the wound heals, she'll be just fine and never miss it.   Critters bounce back wonderfully that way - the younger the better.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. if the water gets to high, you can share our mountain top. If the water reaches us, it won't matter anymore.


----------



## davidharmier60

I still feel bad for California!

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----------



## Frank F.

Acccidentially I revised my photos of last year in a backup process. I must admit that I was impressed. I have seen some genious strike when I was just trying to do justice to something's or somebody's impression on me.

It might be I found something about photography beyond design or technique.

People who love are creative by destiny. Those who do not love will never be creative. Love is a gift for those who dare to jump into the unknown. Fascinating. D850? Unimportant! Love what you do!


----------



## Frank F.

Here is my current Work:


----------



## Designer

Wifey and I attended a wedding on Saturday.  We arrived just as the photographer was wrapping up the last of the "pre" shots in the sanctuary.  I was interested in her technique and work flow, so I watched as the wedding progressed.

She was using a Nikon D750 with a zoom lens, and had the assistance of a second shooter who had a Canon, and also a zoom lens.  The main photographer had a flash bender (IDK the make?) on the shoe-mounted speedlight. The second shooter had her speedlight pointed up to the ceiling, even though the ceiling of the sanctuary was a light brown wood, and sloped up very high. I suspect that almost no light at all was actually helping illuminate anybody's face.  

The reception was held in a community center, with a white ceiling, and not quite as high, so maybe some bounced light was getting to our faces.  When the SS approached our table, I noticed that her speedlight was angled somewhat backward from vertical, and I wondered about that, but then thought that when she was standing, and angling the lens downward toward seated people, maybe the speedlight was actually almost vertical.  But it wasn't.  So she was basically bouncing the light behind her. 

Yes, they both ate dinner along with everybody else, and then resumed their work.  

They did not wear tee-shirts with printing on them, but the cleanup crew did.  

On Sunday I went to the photographer's website to see what she had posted.  Nearly everything was what we would call common snapshots.  

But she had a professional camera and a big lens.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The rains are back with some decent winds.  Yesterday the snow was down to 8,000’.  Today it is down to 5,000’.
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh - it's been nothing but terrible weather news in CA for months on end now, it seems.   Extended drought, then raging wildfires, loss of homes and businesses, now the rains finally appear only to inflict further destruction... stay safe over there, Gary!    I know you love your little piece of it, but I wouldn't live there as a gift.   Too nerve-wracking.   Earthquakes will be next!
> 
> I expect Miss Maggie isn't really going to know what hit her...once the wound heals, she'll be just fine and never miss it.   Critters bounce back wonderfully that way - the younger the better.
Click to expand...

Gary loves California. A land of extremes plus everything in between. 

Geologically, one can stand in the lowest spot in North American (Death Valley) and look up to the highest spot in CONUS (Mt. Whitney).  A four hour drive will take from one of the hottest and driest deserts in the world (Mojave) up to glaciers. 800 miles of coastline encompassing everything from sand dunes to cliffs hundreds of feet high. While driving a friend from Maine on Highway 1 through the Central Coast, he tells Gary "... in Maine we have pine trees and cliffs too, but nothing like this. Cliffs 300' high with a 200' Redwoods on top". 

Biologically: the tallest trees reside in California (Sequoia), the oldest living thing call California home (Bristlecone Pine), the largest animal to have ever roam the Earth swims off our shores (Blue Whale), the bird with the largest wingspan in North America (California Condor). Ecosystems range from Alpine to deserts. 

Climatically: because California runs more vertical than horizontal with extremely high mountains on one side down to sea level on the other side ... you can find most any clime at most any time. One can snow ski through July and sometime August yet sunbathe at the beach nearly all year long.  The best weather in the world is San Diego, (arguably).






Culturally:  California has three world-class cities, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. Each of these cities offers cultural experiences equal and often unequalled by any city in the world.  When Gary was a L.A. City Commissioner, he would entertain delegations from other nations who's first question was "How can so many people from so many different countries live together so peacefully?" (Except the Ruskies, they wanted to know how we managed parking all our cars.)

Educationally: California's public and private universities, by most any measure, easily rank in the top ten worldwide and top two nationally.  (as in ... what the top two engineering schools in the U.S. - (blank) and CalTech, what is the top two public universities in the U.S. - (blank) and Berkeley ... what are the top two private schools in the U.S. - (blank) and Stanford, et cetera.  Gary vividly remembers attending Cal Day, (opening day for freshmen at Berkeley), the SBA president welcoming the new students.  He punctuated his ending with "This is the best university in the world."  Gary thought that he is quite sure that most SBA presidents from most universities would end their speeches accordingly ... but here, in this place and time ... it could most likely be true.   

As to: " ... but I wouldn't live there as a gift.   Too nerve-wracking.   Earthquakes will be next!    "

There is an old California saying "Give me men to match my mountains."  Because California is a land of extremes and bests ... many who come here will become lost in the pace and competition. 

Winston Churchill wrote a book on the United States.  In it he devoted an entire chapter to California.  There is a school of thought of ... had Europeans landed in California instead of the east coast, there wouldn't be any Manifest Destiny.  Gary has lived in many places worldwide, but he keeps coming back here.  Yes, there are many negatives, cost of living is extremely high, taxation is one of the highest in the nation, way too many people on the freeways ... but the positives of this state far outweigh the negatives. Whenever Gary returns 'home' he thinks to himself of California's state motto ... "Eureka".


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. if the water gets to high, you can share our mountain top. If the water reaches us, it won't matter anymore.


Gary will keep that card in his back pocket.



If Terri's earthquakes crumble our 10,000' high local mountains ... Gary will play that card. (But no arguing/debating. )


----------



## Gary A.

Designer said:


> Wifey and I attended a wedding on Saturday.  We arrived just as the photographer was wrapping up the last of the "pre" shots in the sanctuary.  I was interested in her technique and work flow, so I watched as the wedding progressed.
> 
> She was using a Nikon D750 with a zoom lens, and had the assistance of a second shooter who had a Canon, and also a zoom lens.  The main photographer had a flash bender (IDK the make?) on the shoe-mounted speedlight. The second shooter had her speedlight pointed up to the ceiling, even though the ceiling of the sanctuary was a light brown wood, and sloped up very high. I suspect that almost no light at all was actually helping illuminate anybody's face.
> 
> The reception was held in a community center, with a white ceiling, and not quite as high, so maybe some bounced light was getting to our faces.  When the SS approached our table, I noticed that her speedlight was angled somewhat backward from vertical, and I wondered about that, but then thought that when she was standing, and angling the lens downward toward seated people, maybe the speedlight was actually almost vertical.  But it wasn't.  So she was basically bouncing the light behind her.
> 
> Yes, they both ate dinner along with everybody else, and then resumed their work.
> 
> They did not wear tee-shirts with printing on them, but the cleanup crew did.
> 
> On Sunday I went to the photographer's website to see what she had posted.  Nearly everything was what we would call common snapshots.
> 
> But she had a professional camera and a big lens.


Bouncing off a back wall works well.  It creates nice, natural looking shadows, but you need a lot of flash and everybody behind the photog will get their eyebrows singed.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- California has the sixth largest GNP in the world, greater than France and Russia.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> Bouncing off a back wall works well.  It creates nice, natural looking shadows, but you need a lot of flash and everybody behind the photog will get their eyebrows singed.


Hers was pointing basically upward, and angled back a bit.


----------



## Designer

Gary A. said:


> There is an old California saying "Give me men to match my mountains."


It isn't the mountains that would keep me out.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> But no arguing/debating





But, but, but, that wouldn't be any fun!!!

Guess we could sit on the deck drink shine and watch the pines grow. Our only debate being if we can get to the fridge to get another jar!


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The rains are back with some decent winds.  Yesterday the snow was down to 8,000’.  Today it is down to 5,000’.
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh - it's been nothing but terrible weather news in CA for months on end now, it seems.   Extended drought, then raging wildfires, loss of homes and businesses, now the rains finally appear only to inflict further destruction... stay safe over there, Gary!    I know you love your little piece of it, but I wouldn't live there as a gift.   Too nerve-wracking.   Earthquakes will be next!
> 
> I expect Miss Maggie isn't really going to know what hit her...once the wound heals, she'll be just fine and never miss it.   Critters bounce back wonderfully that way - the younger the better.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary loves California. A land of extremes plus everything in between.
> 
> Geologically, one can stand in the lowest spot in North American (Death Valley) and look up to the highest spot in CONUS (Mt. Whitney).  A four hour drive will take from one of the hottest and driest deserts in the world (Mojave) up to glaciers. 800 miles of coastline encompassing everything from sand dunes to cliffs hundreds of feet high. While driving a friend from Maine on Highway 1 through the Central Coast, he tells Gary "... in Maine we have pine trees and cliffs too, but nothing like this. Cliffs 300' high with a 200' Redwoods on top".
> 
> Biologically: the tallest trees reside in California (Sequoia), the oldest living thing call California home (Bristlecone Pine), the largest animal to have ever roam the Earth swims off our shores (Blue Whale), the bird with the largest wingspan in North America (California Condor). Ecosystems range from Alpine to deserts.
> 
> Climatically: because California runs more vertical than horizontal with extremely high mountains on one side down to sea level on the other side ... you can find most any clime at most any time. One can snow ski through July and sometime August yet sunbathe at the beach nearly all year long.  The best weather in the world is San Diego, (arguably).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Culturally:  California has three world-class cities, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. Each of these cities offers cultural experiences equal and often unequalled by any city in the world.  When Gary was a L.A. City Commissioner, he would entertain delegations from other nations who's first question was "How can so many people from so many different countries live together so peacefully?" (Except the Ruskies, they wanted to know how we managed parking all our cars.)
> 
> Educationally: California's public and private universities, by most any measure, easily rank in the top ten worldwide and top two nationally.  (as in ... what the top two engineering schools in the U.S. - (blank) and CalTech, what is the top two public universities in the U.S. - (blank) and Berkeley ... what are the top two private schools in the U.S. - (blank) and Stanford, et cetera.  Gary vividly remembers attending Cal Day, (opening day for freshmen at Berkeley), the SBA president welcoming the new students.  He punctuated his ending with "This is the best university in the world."  Gary thought that he is quite sure that most SBA presidents from most universities would end their speeches accordingly ... but here, in this place and time ... it could most likely be true.
> 
> As to: " ... but I wouldn't live there as a gift.   Too nerve-wracking.   Earthquakes will be next!    "
> 
> There is an old California saying "Give me men to match my mountains."  Because California is a land of extremes and bests ... many who come here will become lost in the pace and competition.
> 
> Winston Churchill wrote a book on the United States.  In it he devoted an entire chapter to California.  There is a school of thought of ... had Europeans landed in California instead of the east coast, there wouldn't be any Manifest Destiny.  Gary has lived in many places worldwide, but he keeps coming back here.  Yes, there are many negatives, cost of living is extremely high, taxation is one of the highest in the nation, way too many people on the freeways ... but the positives of this state far outweigh the negatives. Whenever Gary returns 'home' he thinks to himself of California's state motto ... "Eureka".
Click to expand...


Tl;dr. 

Seriously, sell it all you want. Some of us still don't want to live there.


----------



## smoke665

Designer said:


> But she had a professional camera and a big lens.



I bet it even had a "P" rofessional mode setting


----------



## Gary A.

Miss Maggie is home.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Miss Maggie is home



Bless her heart!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Tl;dr.



Ditto.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Miss Maggie is home
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bless her heart!
Click to expand...

She likely has more of a problem with the cone that the stitches at this point.   Hopefully that won't have to be on too long!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> But no arguing/debating
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But, but, but, that wouldn't be any fun!!!
> 
> Guess we could sit on the deck drink shine and watch the pines grow. Our only debate being if we can get to the fridge to get another jar!
Click to expand...

Gary was about to correct your reference to 'jar' with 'bottle' ... but if California drops off into the ocean, as predicted, and Gary ends up on your hilltop ... there wouldn't be any vino left in the world worth drinking  ... so jars would be fine. Gary does believe that our much better halfs would enjoy a change in company and the break of putting up with the like us.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The rains are back with some decent winds.  Yesterday the snow was down to 8,000’.  Today it is down to 5,000’.
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh - it's been nothing but terrible weather news in CA for months on end now, it seems.   Extended drought, then raging wildfires, loss of homes and businesses, now the rains finally appear only to inflict further destruction... stay safe over there, Gary!    I know you love your little piece of it, but I wouldn't live there as a gift.   Too nerve-wracking.   Earthquakes will be next!
> 
> I expect Miss Maggie isn't really going to know what hit her...once the wound heals, she'll be just fine and never miss it.   Critters bounce back wonderfully that way - the younger the better.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary loves California. A land of extremes plus everything in between.
> 
> Geologically, one can stand in the lowest spot in North American (Death Valley) and look up to the highest spot in CONUS (Mt. Whitney).  A four hour drive will take from one of the hottest and driest deserts in the world (Mojave) up to glaciers. 800 miles of coastline encompassing everything from sand dunes to cliffs hundreds of feet high. While driving a friend from Maine on Highway 1 through the Central Coast, he tells Gary "... in Maine we have pine trees and cliffs too, but nothing like this. Cliffs 300' high with a 200' Redwoods on top".
> 
> Biologically: the tallest trees reside in California (Sequoia), the oldest living thing call California home (Bristlecone Pine), the largest animal to have ever roam the Earth swims off our shores (Blue Whale), the bird with the largest wingspan in North America (California Condor). Ecosystems range from Alpine to deserts.
> 
> Climatically: because California runs more vertical than horizontal with extremely high mountains on one side down to sea level on the other side ... you can find most any clime at most any time. One can snow ski through July and sometime August yet sunbathe at the beach nearly all year long.  The best weather in the world is San Diego, (arguably).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Culturally:  California has three world-class cities, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. Each of these cities offers cultural experiences equal and often unequalled by any city in the world.  When Gary was a L.A. City Commissioner, he would entertain delegations from other nations who's first question was "How can so many people from so many different countries live together so peacefully?" (Except the Ruskies, they wanted to know how we managed parking all our cars.)
> 
> Educationally: California's public and private universities, by most any measure, easily rank in the top ten worldwide and top two nationally.  (as in ... what the top two engineering schools in the U.S. - (blank) and CalTech, what is the top two public universities in the U.S. - (blank) and Berkeley ... what are the top two private schools in the U.S. - (blank) and Stanford, et cetera.  Gary vividly remembers attending Cal Day, (opening day for freshmen at Berkeley), the SBA president welcoming the new students.  He punctuated his ending with "This is the best university in the world."  Gary thought that he is quite sure that most SBA presidents from most universities would end their speeches accordingly ... but here, in this place and time ... it could most likely be true.
> 
> As to: " ... but I wouldn't live there as a gift.   Too nerve-wracking.   Earthquakes will be next!    "
> 
> There is an old California saying "Give me men to match my mountains."  Because California is a land of extremes and bests ... many who come here will become lost in the pace and competition.
> 
> Winston Churchill wrote a book on the United States.  In it he devoted an entire chapter to California.  There is a school of thought of ... had Europeans landed in California instead of the east coast, there wouldn't be any Manifest Destiny.  Gary has lived in many places worldwide, but he keeps coming back here.  Yes, there are many negatives, cost of living is extremely high, taxation is one of the highest in the nation, way too many people on the freeways ... but the positives of this state far outweigh the negatives. Whenever Gary returns 'home' he thinks to himself of California's state motto ... "Eureka".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Tl;dr.
> 
> Seriously, sell it all you want. Some of us still don't want to live there.
Click to expand...

The less people here the better.  (Gary doesn't believe you were invited. )


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. We have wine. It comes in quart jars also.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> The less people here the better.  (Gary doesn't believe you were invited. )



*fewer 

So there!


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave and Dad just got back from a 3hr tour through Houston down 288 to Manvel to pick up a free recliner. Dave had a few minutes over 6 hours. Changed a door knob assembly twice. One only opens with a key and that won't work. The other one has a lock on the back that can be locked or unlocked. But if the door is locked when you push down the handle to open it unlocks. What they WANT is a door knob that doesn't automatic unlock.
Left the floors looking pretty darn good. 
Mopped the heck out of the bathrooms. 
Swept. Got a box at the second bank in town and 10 rolls for fills at our bank. 
Got the best check so far today.
In the Grand scheme of things it isn't much. But in Daves world it's pretty good. 
And that's all the news.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The rains are back with some decent winds.  Yesterday the snow was down to 8,000’.  Today it is down to 5,000’.
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh - it's been nothing but terrible weather news in CA for months on end now, it seems.   Extended drought, then raging wildfires, loss of homes and businesses, now the rains finally appear only to inflict further destruction... stay safe over there, Gary!    I know you love your little piece of it, but I wouldn't live there as a gift.   Too nerve-wracking.   Earthquakes will be next!
> 
> I expect Miss Maggie isn't really going to know what hit her...once the wound heals, she'll be just fine and never miss it.   Critters bounce back wonderfully that way - the younger the better.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary loves California. A land of extremes plus everything in between.
> 
> Geologically, one can stand in the lowest spot in North American (Death Valley) and look up to the highest spot in CONUS (Mt. Whitney).  A four hour drive will take from one of the hottest and driest deserts in the world (Mojave) up to glaciers. 800 miles of coastline encompassing everything from sand dunes to cliffs hundreds of feet high. While driving a friend from Maine on Highway 1 through the Central Coast, he tells Gary "... in Maine we have pine trees and cliffs too, but nothing like this. Cliffs 300' high with a 200' Redwoods on top".
> 
> Biologically: the tallest trees reside in California (Sequoia), the oldest living thing call California home (Bristlecone Pine), the largest animal to have ever roam the Earth swims off our shores (Blue Whale), the bird with the largest wingspan in North America (California Condor). Ecosystems range from Alpine to deserts.
> 
> Climatically: because California runs more vertical than horizontal with extremely high mountains on one side down to sea level on the other side ... you can find most any clime at most any time. One can snow ski through July and sometime August yet sunbathe at the beach nearly all year long.  The best weather in the world is San Diego, (arguably).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Culturally:  California has three world-class cities, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. Each of these cities offers cultural experiences equal and often unequalled by any city in the world.  When Gary was a L.A. City Commissioner, he would entertain delegations from other nations who's first question was "How can so many people from so many different countries live together so peacefully?" (Except the Ruskies, they wanted to know how we managed parking all our cars.)
> 
> Educationally: California's public and private universities, by most any measure, easily rank in the top ten worldwide and top two nationally.  (as in ... what the top two engineering schools in the U.S. - (blank) and CalTech, what is the top two public universities in the U.S. - (blank) and Berkeley ... what are the top two private schools in the U.S. - (blank) and Stanford, et cetera.  Gary vividly remembers attending Cal Day, (opening day for freshmen at Berkeley), the SBA president welcoming the new students.  He punctuated his ending with "This is the best university in the world."  Gary thought that he is quite sure that most SBA presidents from most universities would end their speeches accordingly ... but here, in this place and time ... it could most likely be true.
> 
> As to: " ... but I wouldn't live there as a gift.   Too nerve-wracking.   Earthquakes will be next!    "
> 
> There is an old California saying "Give me men to match my mountains."  Because California is a land of extremes and bests ... many who come here will become lost in the pace and competition.
> 
> Winston Churchill wrote a book on the United States.  In it he devoted an entire chapter to California.  There is a school of thought of ... had Europeans landed in California instead of the east coast, there wouldn't be any Manifest Destiny.  Gary has lived in many places worldwide, but he keeps coming back here.  Yes, there are many negatives, cost of living is extremely high, taxation is one of the highest in the nation, way too many people on the freeways ... but the positives of this state far outweigh the negatives. Whenever Gary returns 'home' he thinks to himself of California's state motto ... "Eureka".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Tl;dr.
> 
> Seriously, sell it all you want. Some of us still don't want to live there.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The less people here the better.  (Gary doesn't believe you were invited. )
Click to expand...

Don't pout.


----------



## SquarePeg

I think the cone is irritating him.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> I think the cone is irritating him.



Gonna have to take you down to the farm, and show you the animals girl, you keep referring to the "hers" as "hims".  At least I would hope it is a her with a name like Maggie, but in California you just never know I guess


----------



## SquarePeg

When someone at the meeting gets kudos and backslaps for suggesting the same %^&^#! thing that you suggested at last month's meeting...


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think the cone is irritating him.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gonna have to take you down to the farm, and show you the animals girl, you keep referring to the "hers" as "hims".  At least I would hope it is a her with a name like Maggie, but in California you just never know I guess
Click to expand...


I was actually referring to Gary, lol.


----------



## davidharmier60

San Diego weather sounds WONDERFUL.!!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Trish wasn't there today. As far as I know Kim and Susan (The owners to the best of my knowledge) were the girls in the courtesy booth who told me I could go after I explained what I did.

I have my eye on a 5 car Matchbox set that has among other things a 70s muscle car convertible. I can and probably will get it...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

1971 Chevelle

I had a 64 back when. Always did like the late 60s and early 70s.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

Man will never top the '67 - '72 era for automobile awesomeness!


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> Matchbox


I just bought the Mars rover. 

I really want to open it up and play with it, but the nerd inside is screaming "DON'T OPEN THE PACKAGING!"


----------



## davidharmier60

Eons ago when we lived in Houston and weren't so wanting for money I had a wall of unopened Hotwheels and Matchboxs.
Didn't get half of what they were worth when they got sold off. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> I just bought the Mars rover.
> 
> I really want to open it up and play with it, but the nerd inside is screaming "DON'T OPEN THE PACKAGING!"



Just open it and enjoy it.  Your kid is going to open them all eventually anyway unless you're planning to hide them away.  I've never understood the need to own something you will never use.


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> Eons ago when we lived in Houston and weren't so wanting for money I had a wall of unopened Hotwheels and Matchboxs.
> Didn't get half of what they were worth when they got sold off.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just bought the Mars rover.
> 
> I really want to open it up and play with it, but the nerd inside is screaming "DON'T OPEN THE PACKAGING!"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just open it and enjoy it.  Your kid is going to open them all eventually anyway unless you're planning to hide them away.  I've never understood the need to own something you will never use.
Click to expand...

Agh, you're right, and I will. In time.  It'll make an interesting photo series, haha.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Matchbox
> 
> 
> 
> I just bought the Mars rover.
> 
> I really want to open it up and play with it, but the nerd inside is screaming "DON'T OPEN THE PACKAGING!"
Click to expand...

D'uhhh... that's why you always buy TWO!!!!!


----------



## davidharmier60

I have 5 unopened Hot Wheels just now.
A few I could easily get another. A few I couldn't...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Matchbox
> 
> 
> 
> I just bought the Mars rover.
> 
> I really want to open it up and play with it, but the nerd inside is screaming "DON'T OPEN THE PACKAGING!"
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> D'uhhh... that's why you always buy TWO!!!!!
Click to expand...








I need to do that.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Matchbox
> 
> 
> 
> I just bought the Mars rover.
> 
> I really want to open it up and play with it, but the nerd inside is screaming "DON'T OPEN THE PACKAGING!"
Click to expand...

I have a friend who works at JPL that was part of the team that designed and crafted the rover.  She is now working on a Mars drone. She cannot claim to be " ... not a rocket scientist".

If you want a slightly used rover ... Gary might be able to help you get one.  He knows the location of JPL's used/junk yard.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Matchbox
> 
> 
> 
> I just bought the Mars rover.
> 
> I really want to open it up and play with it, but the nerd inside is screaming "DON'T OPEN THE PACKAGING!"
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I have a friend who works at JPL that was part of the team that designed and crafted the rover.  She is now working on a Mars drone. She cannot claim to be " ... not a rocket scientist".
Click to expand...

If I had either of those, I'd definitely take it out of the packaging to play with...

Also... FRIEND. AT. JPL.

*hyperventilates for a second*

*calms down*

Any chance she could get my resume in front of the right person?


----------



## Gary A.

Hell, Gary could do that.  No biggie.


----------



## Gary A.

When Gary's daughters were young, he would always take them to the JPL open house. It really opened their eyes to the wonder and potential of space.  

Aimee, the rocket scientist, is also a photographer and an avid cyclist.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Hell, Gary could do that.  No biggie.





Gary A. said:


> When Gary's daughters were young, he would always take them to the JPL open house. It really opened their eyes to the wonder and potential of space.
> 
> Aimee, the rocket scientist, is also a photographer and an avid cyclist.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'd like a '57 Corvette in candy apple red & white (give or take a year or two). I have a plastic Christmas ornament one somewhere. 

Years ago I used to go past a hole in the wall car repair shop who had one in what had been turquoise and white. It used to be parked in different spots so apparently someone drove it from time to time. Last I saw it the paint had peeled off even more. Realistically I would never have bought it and fixed it up - but I wanted it. 

Or I'll take an E type Jag.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Those rovers look like dune buggies.

And what did I actually have? - a Gremlin. That my parents gave me when I graduated after taking to college my senior year to use for student teaching. In the winter it was so lightweight I could easily rock it and get it off whatever patch of ice it was on. It could have been powered by a hamster wheel.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and his JPL hat.


----------



## davidharmier60

57 vette would be cool. But it would need disk brakes at least!

I want something like a 53 Buick with modern running gear!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Those rovers look like dune buggies.
> 
> And what did I actually have? - a Gremlin. That my parents gave me when I graduated after taking to college my senior year to use for student teaching. In the winter it was so lightweight I could easily rock it and get it off whatever patch of ice it was on. It could have been powered by a hamster wheel.



Did you blast "Bohemian and Rhapsody" in your Gremlin?






I had a 1980 'Vette*



















*CHEvette.


----------



## snowbear

I want a 1925-ish Ahrens-Fox.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Those rovers look like dune buggies.
> 
> And what did I actually have? - a Gremlin. That my parents gave me when I graduated after taking to college my senior year to use for student teaching. In the winter it was so lightweight I could easily rock it and get it off whatever patch of ice it was on. It could have been powered by a hamster wheel.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did you blast "Bohemian and Rhapsody" in your Gremlin?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had a 1980 'Vette*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *CHEvette.
Click to expand...

I had the Pontiac flavor (T-1000)


----------



## Frank F.

Ich love to shoot Interieur


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Those rovers look like dune buggies.
> 
> And what did I actually have? - a Gremlin. That my parents gave me when I graduated after taking to college my senior year to use for student teaching. In the winter it was so lightweight I could easily rock it and get it off whatever patch of ice it was on. It could have been powered by a hamster wheel.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did you blast "Bohemian and Rhapsody" in your Gremlin?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had a 1980 'Vette*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *CHEvette.
Click to expand...




snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Those rovers look like dune buggies.
> 
> And what did I actually have? - a Gremlin. That my parents gave me when I graduated after taking to college my senior year to use for student teaching. In the winter it was so lightweight I could easily rock it and get it off whatever patch of ice it was on. It could have been powered by a hamster wheel.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did you blast "Bohemian and Rhapsody" in your Gremlin?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had a 1980 'Vette*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *CHEvette.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I had the Pontiac flavor (T-1000)
Click to expand...


My first car was a 1974 Plymouth Fury.  It was hand me down from my uncle.  It had a different color driver's door from the rest of the car and would stall at red lights if I didn't shift it into neutral and give it some steady gas.  It could fly though when we needed it to and we could stuff 3 in the front and 4-5 in the back so it was perfect!  Eventually the transmission went and it didn't have reverse.  I spent a whole summer looking for pull through or on the corner parking spaces.  When we would get blocked in the front we would open all the doors and stick out our feet and Fred Flintstone our way backwards.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had the Pontiac flavor (T-1000)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My first car was a 1974 Plymouth Fury.  It was hand me down from my uncle.  It had a different color driver's door from the rest of the car and would stall at red lights if I didn't shift it into neutral and give it some steady gas.  It could fly though when we needed it to and we could stuff 3 in the front and 4-5 in the back so it was perfect!  Eventually the transmission went and it didn't have reverse.  I spent a whole summer looking for pull through or on the corner parking spaces.  When we would get blocked in the front we would open all the doors and stick out our feet and Fred Flintstone our way backwards.
Click to expand...


You had Christine!  

Or at least her younger 1974 cousin (Christine was a '58. And yes, I did have to look up the year - I'm not THAT much of a fan  )

Ah, the trials and tribulations of our first cars. The Chevette had no working gauges, a rusted-through hole on the floor near the clutch, and iirc, one of the doors didn't open properly. No a/c and dark blue vinyl seats in Florida. The clutch died as I was trying to make a left turn across three lanes to get to the median. 

Good times


----------



## JonA_CT

My first car was a ‘90 Honda Accord.

I won’t tell you how old it was when I drove it at 16


----------



## snowbear

The T1000 was my first _new_ car: light blue, four-door, standard tranny.  Prior to that I inherited a '62 Ford Fairlane and a '68 Ford Galaxy, and bought my Uncle's '69 Chevy Impala.


----------



## Gary A.

The cover.




Cochinita Pinole Tacos




Papaya Cream Soup

Gary has cracked open one of the books he picked up at The Last Bookstore in DTLA. It seems to be glorious ... random flips produced these images. Gary is hungry.


----------



## JonA_CT

I need a good Mexican cookbook in the arsenal. Is that the one?


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I need a good Mexican cookbook in the arsenal. Is that the one?


Mmmmmhhhh ... it is very different.  Before every recipe is a photo of the chef and their LA story.  A lot of space is used to include selected eateries across the LA basin.  As you are  a Renaissance type of guy ... yeah I think you would actually read the whole damn thing, not just the instructions.  For gringo’s, the book talks to history, definitions, tools,  diccionario, basic foods of beans and rice, et al.  There are other Mexican Cookbooks with more recipes, but not with greater information. While this puppy is clearly Los Angeles based ... yeah get it.  I think you’ll love it as it is much more than just a simple cookbook.  But, if you like some of the recipes ... this book will lead you to acquire additional books.  After reading the book, you could come here and feel completely at home after every meal.


----------



## Gary A.

There is a section on bebidas also... yeah you want this book.


----------



## davidharmier60

If we are talking first car....
1969 Renault 10. Manual transmission and  the cable bracket for the clutch broke.
My Grandpaw made one for me.
I don't remember it being terribly slow.
But I really don't remember anything but it was dull red.

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## davidharmier60

Probably the most fun car I had was a Honda with a two cylinder engine.
I wasn't a big strong football player or anything but when I came out of high school and it was sideways in the parking place I was able to move the rear end all by myself.

And the best vehicle I owned was a 1964 Chevy short bed step side. Had a 250 engine and three on the tree. Couldn't blow that 250 up if you wanted to. The lifters would collapse well before that!

Another fun car was 1979 AMC Spirit MAX.
304 and 4 speed. Relatively short wheelbase and enough power for a slightly under 15 second quarter mile made it a real hoot! But it had a sun roof and I could not stop that thing from leaking.

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## JonA_CT

It's in the Amazon cart. Even though I have Prime, it doesn't feel right to order until there are several things in it, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

You still have time to come over, pick a recipe, then we’ll eat at the restaurant where the recipe derived, chat with the chef, then come here and we’ll whip it up.


----------



## jcdeboever

My first car was a 1976 Chevy Nova with a 6 cylinder. I installed a Craig Super Tuner and a power equilzer in it first day. I paid cash for it, it was a 5 year old car then. I think I made my oldest son in it.


----------



## smoke665

Seeing some of the first car stories brought back some memories. My first car was a Dodge Pioneer. It was old when I got it and without a doubt the ugliest body style ever made. At least it was dependable, and allowed me a couple years to save up for a new one. A 1968 Dodge Dart, 340 - 4 speed. Dual glass pack exhausts with cut outs.

There was a small town where the highway made a sweeping turn into the downtown area. The buildings were right on the street on each side. Late at night, I'd come in with the cut outs open, hit the curve at 90, drift in, and catch 3rd just as I got between the buildings. The sound was awesome.

The town had one police car and to his credit he actually tried to catch me a couple times, then finally gave up as my taillights disappeared in the distance. Man that little Dodge would fly.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary inherited his first car when his oldest brother headed out to Vietnam. A 1966 Ford Fairlane 500 GT, factory high performance, 390 gas guzzling cubic inches, stallion of a car (aka death machine). It was an automatic, but left scratch shifting between all the gears. When it was floored for a spell, one could literally see the gas gauge move towards empty.  One time when Gary was joy riding on the freshly graded, but not paved, Pomona Freeway dirt.  Gary lost control of the car and slammed sideways into the soft beams, blowing out all four tires.


----------



## davidharmier60

I might be able to scare up a picture of the AMX. Maybe even the pick up truck.
But the old Renault just lives in my fading memory. 

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----------



## davidharmier60

BTW Dave had 4.25 hours and a few minutes today. Susan and Kim are in fact the girls in the courtesy booth. And after 'splaing what I did the let me leave.
It was said "have a nice weekend"
I said but I have to be here tomorrow. 
How could they not know that. 
Anyhow I'm now home. 

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----------



## Gary A.

Gary did some traveling for a year and came back rather broke.  He spent a summer working on a dairy saving every dime for a red Opel.  Gary's experience on the dairy led him to not drink milk.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary inherited his first car when his oldest brother headed out to Vietnam. A 1966 Ford Fairlane 500 GT, factory high performance, 390 gas guzzling cubic inches, stallion of a car (aka death machine). It was an automatic, but left scratch shifting between all the gears. When it was floored for a spell, one could literally see the gas gauge move towards empty.  One time when Gary was joy riding on the freshly graded, but not paved, Pomona Freeway dirt.  Gary lost control of the car and slammed sideways into the soft beams, blowing out all four tires.



That is my dream car right there. Right color too. That was a rookie move not having control of that beast. I've painted a couple but never owned one. I know where a gray metallic one is, in great shape, just sitting there all by itself, outside, rotting away for sure. Been in the same spot for 7 years that I know of. It irritates me seeing it, which is frequently, on the way to the plant. The guy doesn't even have a "I don't want to sell it price". His is identical to yours, except for color and shape. The guy said it runs too.


----------



## vintagesnaps

We also had a silver gray Camaro. I did not get to drive it much, I got the Gremlin. Which was fun flipping up the hatchback to sit there at our campsite when a bunch of us 'kids' went camping. 

I had a friend who got one of those old late '40s sedans with the back seat a mile from the front seat and suicide doors with hidden running boards. We went to a drive in movie in it, forgot to take off the speaker, and broke the mirror. 

The weather map today has lots of pretty colors - purple, blue, orange... At least it's warm enough we're getting rain and it's not supposed to switch over to snow til late afternoon so that should keep the totals down. 

And a 25 degree drop by evening, lovely. It's going to get cold enough that whatever we get, we'll be keeping. If it snows more than about 2 flakes I don't go out in it! lol So I'm thinking of craft projects for next week. I'm not actually starting any yet, but I'm thinking...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Eek I thought they just said rain but it's freezing rain, I just don't want enough of that to knock out power. Here it's doing nothing, and on the weather map I'm between the blue and the pretty pink! 

OK, green is rain, pink/purple is freezing rain, blue is snow - never did figure out what the orange was supposed to be. What else is there?


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary inherited his first car when his oldest brother headed out to Vietnam. A 1966 Ford Fairlane 500 GT, factory high performance, 390 gas guzzling cubic inches, stallion of a car (aka death machine). It was an automatic, but left scratch shifting between all the gears. When it was floored for a spell, one could literally see the gas gauge move towards empty.  One time when Gary was joy riding on the freshly graded, but not paved, Pomona Freeway dirt.  Gary lost control of the car and slammed sideways into the soft beams, blowing out all four tires.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is my dream car right there. Right color too. That was a rookie move not having control of that beast. I've painted a couple but never owned one. I know where a gray metallic one is, in great shape, just sitting there all by itself, outside, rotting away for sure. Been in the same spot for 7 years that I know of. It irritates me seeing it, which is frequently, on the way to the plant. The guy doesn't even have a "I don't want to sell it price". His is identical to yours, except for color and shape. The guy said it runs too.
Click to expand...

Gary used to get the sucker airborne nearly everyday after school.  There was a hump in the road where the railroad tracks crossed ... Gary would gun the puppy and he'd be literally flying.


----------



## Gary A.

"That was a rookie move not having control of that beast."

Yep, Gary was 16 y/o and less than a year with a driver's license.  Gary hit a soft spot and lost it.  Gary had to use the tire iron to chisel out the dirt that was stuck in the bumper.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary spotted this yucca bloom on Maggie’s walk this morning.


----------



## SquarePeg

It’s 50’s and raining here.  Just wearing a light fleece and it’s a bit too warm!  Supposed to change back to single digits by Sunday.  Patriots game at home on Saturday night should be interesting weather.  It’s going to be warm and rainy in the morning then drop into the teens by gametime. 

Normally a Saturday night Pats playoff game on a 3 day weekend would be a fun night out for me at my local spot but alas, it is Princess birthday (15) and she has asked to have a few friends over for Chinese take out and to watch the game.  So, I will be home playing chaperone trying to make the boys uncomfortable.  I won’t even be able to watch the game on the big screen in the family room.  Will be relegated to my room or the kitchen.  

New He’sNotMyBoyfriend (NMBF)will be in attendance which should be hilariously awkward as they subconsciously lean away from each other every time I enter the room and I must try not to crack a smile at their teenagerness.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> never did figure out what the orange was supposed to be. What else is there?


Fire and brimstone?


----------



## Gary A.

Another book from The Last Bookstore.


----------



## Gary A.

@Jon:



This book is far more complete but not as much fun or unique as the one on hold.


----------



## jcdeboever

It's 25° and just got done snowing. Freezing rain underneath but I salted last night so it was a clean plow. Can't say that with the others. Didn't even bother going to plant, 1/8" sheet of ice around plant. We had local guy do it.


----------



## Gary A.

It is about noon and 71F here.  Gary has finished vacuuming up all the leaves on the front porch and drive.  Last night Gary salted his chicken dinner.


----------



## snowbear

The first car - 1962 Ford Fairlane 500, 170 CID straight-six; we got it from my grandfather, and was our first "second car."  I could do everything except drain the oil from under the hood without crawling underneath.  This was taken a couple years before she was mine.




scan0001 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## davidharmier60

snowbear said:


> The first car - 1962 Ford Fairlane 500, 170 CID straight-six; we got it from my grandfather, and was our first "second car."  I could do everything except drain the oil from under the hood without crawling underneath.  This was taken a couple years before she was mine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> scan0001 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


Very sharp looking if not very fast!

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## smoke665

I "almost" feel guilty. 5:30 here and a balmy 79 with a breeze off the Atlantic. Short sleeves today and A/c. Could get used to this


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. We should have lived closer as kids. With with your Ford and my Dodge we could have drove the local constables completely insane. I was reminded recently by a former classmate of  my notoriety for speed. In the rural area I grew up in there wasn't much to do for fun. I knew every road, lane, and field lane in a 10 mile radius. My idea of fun was out running the law, in a test of speed and wits. Truth be told I suspect they enjoyed the chase, because they knew me and my car and could have easily paid a visit the next day at my door, but then that would have been cheating.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary meet his high school/college GF by racing her.  She was driving her parents Bonneville (400 cubic inches).  Gary used to eat up 396 Chevelles/Malibu's for lunch. Yes, we'd have a ton of fun if we didn't kill ourselves.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary meet his high school/college GF by racing her.



Yeah I raced a lof females during that time myself - sometimes I got lucky and they let me catch them.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> The first car - 1962 Ford Fairlane 500, 170 CID straight-six; we got it from my grandfather, and was our first "second car."  I could do everything except drain the oil from under the hood without crawling underneath.  This was taken a couple years before she was mine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> scan0001 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


Gary's family had a similar year and model, 'cept it was powder blue.


----------



## snowbear

Well, another week, another road trip.  Unfortunately this one is for a funeral (brother-in-law); so off to Michigan, Tuesday, after work, and back home on Thursday.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Well, another week, another road trip.  Unfortunately this one is for a funeral (brother-in-law); so off to Michigan, Tuesday, after work, and back home on Thursday.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary whipped up one of the best soups ever.  It came from a recipe, turkey meatballs full of basil and pepper. Then diced onions, celery, carrots, garlic, parsnip and Swiss Chard all roasted/sauteed before the broth, then with the broth vino, pepper, salt, diced tomatoes, chickpeas and more basil.  Gary cooked the meatball in a cast iron Dutch oven, after removing the meatball, tossed in all the veggies which sauteed in the leftover meatball stuff.  Then everything was thrown into the broth.  Delish!


----------



## vintagesnaps

That sounds good on a cold and wintry night. Wind keeps rattling the screen door, brr!

Hmm I could make some meatballs, dice some veggies... broth, yeah, canned tomatoes, yep, have those on hand. Soup it may be! No garbanzo beans though, don't like 'em, don't mind not having them in my soup! lol

You should feel guilty Smoke, yep you should! lol


----------



## Fred von den Berg

Gary A. said:


> Gary whipped up one of the best soups ever.  It came from a recipe, turkey meatballs full of basil and pepper. Then diced onions, celery, carrots, garlic, parsnip and Swiss Chard all roasted/sauteed before the broth, then with the broth vino, pepper, salt, diced tomatoes, chickpeas and more basil.  Gary cooked the meatball in a cast iron Dutch oven, after removing the meatball, tossed in all the veggies which sauteed in the leftover meatball stuff.  Then everything was thrown into the broth.  Delish!



It's 7:30 in the morning as I'm reading this with watering mouth and rumbling stomach. I make a fairly decent Minestrone myself (according to my wife and daughter anyway).


----------



## davidharmier60

4:26 AM CST as I type this.
Gotta go do the floors and bathrooms. 

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## davidharmier60

You simply have to love Saturday at the store. There are always two other cars Monday through Friday. I'm sitting here all by my lonesome self. Whoops here comes keyholder!

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## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> You should feel guilty Smoke, yep you should! lol



I know I should but if it's any consolation, yesterday was the first day for short sleeve shirts on the trip. Sunday we move even further south, so I'm expecting I'll finally be able to bring out the shorts and flip flops


----------



## SquarePeg

It reached 60 here yesterday. All of that snow we got is completely gone. That’s unusual to not see at least a layer of old snow laying around.  

Windy as heck today. The rain kept me up in the wee hours, torrential downpours that seemed to go in forever.  Seems to have cleared up now.  Heading out for some errands then bake home to make some cupcakes for the birthday girl’s party which has been changed to late afternoon!  I may get put to watch the Pats after all.  At a minimum I can watch on the big screen as all the teenagers will be gone by 7.


----------



## JonA_CT

Even though my team was terrible, this is one of my favorite weekends of the year. I’ve got time carved out for both the Pats game tonight and the Vikings game tomorrow (my Dad is a transplant from MN and my brother loves them too).

We are actually trekking to Trader Joe’s now. Gonna buy some flowers


----------



## Gary A.

Maggie trying to relax. Yesterday, Mary Lou and Gary did a little research and discovered that one can use tight, breathable garments in lieu of cones. Hopefully ... it gets delivered today and the cone will be never more.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Maggie trying to relax. Y



Poor Maggie, that just looks really uncomfortable. Hope the alternative works!!!


----------



## davidharmier60

1 minute and several seconds under 5 hours today. Ran out of propane with 2/3 or more of the store still needy. Put the other tank on and got almost done and then IT went empty. They know I must have propane for Monday. That's all I can do.
Going to the PO, then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Even though my team was terrible, this is one of my favorite weekends of the year. I’ve got time carved out for both the Pats game tonight and the Vikings game tomorrow (my Dad is a transplant from MN and my brother loves them too).
> 
> We are actually trekking to Trader Joe’s now. *Gonna buy some flowers *



Got these there just yesterday.


----------



## limr

Morning hosers. I am taking a sick day. 

Oh wait, yeah, it's Saturday. I am going to NOT do all those other things that y'all are doing. I have been running on adrenaline and will power since Tuesday. Time for me to finally finish getting over this cold.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary hasn't been to TJ's in ages. It is a bit of a drive and since all my vino has been coming directly from the wineries, TJ's is but a memory.  

A very interesting article on the front page of the Los Angeles Times, "No brand is too small for counterfeiters".
"Team Dream is a small business by most any measure.  The quirky cycling apparel brand has just five employees.  It produces only about 100 pieces of each garment and operates out of a converted gas station in San Marino, where a closet -sized nook doubles as both a fulfillment center and R&D lab. ... So it came as a shock one day to learn that Team Dream clothing was being counterfeited and sold on a major Chinese e-commerce site. ... But there it was, a cheaper facsimile of Team Dream's U.S.-made $135 "Thin Stripe Long Sleeve" jersey for sale on Taobao, China's premier online shopping site owned by Alibaba, for about half the price. ..."

After speaking with The Times, Alibaba remove the seller's page.

Gary is equally surprised as he is not surprised by this.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Morning hosers. I am taking a sick day.
> 
> Oh wait, yeah, it's Saturday. I am going to NOT do all those other things that y'all are doing. I have been running on adrenaline and will power since Tuesday. Time for me to finally finish getting over this cold.


Ugh - hope some much-needed R&R will get you across the finish line.   Sucks to have to keep slogging through work when you're sick.    Hot tea and soup!   

And kitties!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Even though my team was terrible, this is one of my favorite weekends of the year. I’ve got time carved out for both the Pats game tonight and the Vikings game tomorrow (my Dad is a transplant from MN and my brother loves them too).
> 
> We are actually trekking to Trader Joe’s now. *Gonna buy some flowers *
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Got these there just yesterday.
> View attachment 152144
Click to expand...

Beautiful!   White roses are so majestic to me, for some reason.


----------



## JonA_CT

My find at TJs today. Well. My wife picked them out, but let me touch them first. 




52week2018week2 by jwa04, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> My find at TJs today. Well. My wife picked them out, but let me touch them first.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 52week2018week2 by jwa04, on Flickr


and they're still on the stems.


----------



## smoke665

@limr hope you get over it soon. After three weeks I think it has finally left me for good. Course 70 degrees and beach breezes hasn't hurt either. Maybe you need take off and do a road trip south!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Feel better, Leo. 

Our snow pack that had melted, is back. It's so quiet! nobody much out and about. But yes, there's hockey to watch, so all is well.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning hosers. I am taking a sick day.
> 
> Oh wait, yeah, it's Saturday. I am going to NOT do all those other things that y'all are doing. I have been running on adrenaline and will power since Tuesday. Time for me to finally finish getting over this cold.


Snuggle with kitties, get better


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> @limr hope you get over it soon. After three weeks I think it has finally left me for good. Course 70 degrees and beach breezes hasn't hurt either. Maybe you need take off and *do a road trip south! *



Whaddya tryin' to kill me?


----------



## limr

Got tea and cozy robe and sacked out kitty on my lap.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary have returned from Dim Sum.  Gary is stuffed.  We meet Tom our Korean physician friend.  Servers would come up and describe something in Chinese and then he'd refuse the food.  After a bit of this Gary asked him what he refused ... he didn't know.  "I don't know Chinese," he'd say ... repeatedly to me. It was kinda comical, but Gary was hungry.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Got tea and cozy robe and sacked out kitty on my lap.



That was me last weekend.  The extra rest was very helpful.


----------



## limr

Just woke up from a coma.

Zelda has switched places with Mrs.Parker.


----------



## SquarePeg

The cast of 90210 has left and I have the house to myself.  I'm going to watch the game here I think - I'll see if a few friends want to watch here where the booze is free and there is a lot of leftover Chinese food.  No one is in the mood to go out.  The temps have dropped from 50's this morning to 27 now with wind chill of 13.  The couch is looking good.  

Anyone use Creative Live?  Have you purchased any courses from them?  I have my eye on a few and looking for some input from people I "know".  lol.


----------



## SquarePeg

Let's go!


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Let's go!



Nervous after that first drive?


----------



## SquarePeg

Nope.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Nope.


The Titans were no match for the Brady machine.    

The Falcons are out, too.   The Eagles have a powerhouse defense and were able to read that final play and stop them in their tracks.  I'm actually glad - let the season end before we have a major injury - Julio Jones has been favoring that ankle for weeks now.    They played much better last year with everyone healthy and still choked at the end.   This season, not only were they working with a new offensive coordinator (might be his only season, too), but Matt Ryan's QB coach left for SF and he was clearly working with someone new.   They put together a decent season overall, but it was much harder to come by.    

And now I can enjoy the rest of the playoffs without stress.


----------



## jpross123

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nope.
> 
> 
> 
> The Titans were no match for the Brady machine.
> 
> The Falcons are out, too.   The Eagles have a powerhouse defense and were able to read that final play and stop them in their tracks.  I'm actually glad - let the season end before we have a major injury - Julio Jones has been favoring that ankle for weeks now.    They played much better last year with everyone healthy and still choked at the end.   This season, not only were they working with a new offensive coordinator (might be his only season, too), but Matt Ryan's QB coach left for SF and he was clearly working with someone new.   They put together a decent season overall, but it was much harder to come by.
> 
> And now I can enjoy the rest of the playoffs without stress.
Click to expand...

I'm a Steelers fan so we will see how the game goes today


----------



## terri

Good games today!


----------



## limr

Both of my NY teams sucked this year, so Go Steelers!


----------



## Gary A.

A bit late to the party ... but the Rams lost last week ... and the Chargers ... Gary can't remember a week when the Chargers didn't lose. (Gary heard that San Diego is looking for a team ... He thinks the Chargers would do well in that market.)

Under a new coach, the Rams performed surprisingly well this year.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Both of my NY teams sucked this year, so Go Steelers!


I hate what's happened to Eli Manning.      He deserves better!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Both of my NY teams sucked this year, so Go Steelers!
> 
> 
> 
> I hate what's happened to Eli Manning.      He deserves better!
Click to expand...


Had to look it up. That sucks!


----------



## davidharmier60

I reckon i gotta say GO STEELERS!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## terri

Ho hum, Gary.    

Just to clarify: if I were stuck in _80 degree weather_ in January, I'd be very unhappy, outside of some planned vacation.    I love the change of seasons - it's actually quite natural.    Spring comes slowly and is welcomed - and fall is a glorious time of year, bringing back that chill in the air!


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Ho hum, Gary.
> 
> Just to clarify: if I were stuck in _80 degree weather_ in January, I'd be very unhappy, outside of some planned vacation.    I love the change of seasons - it's actually quite natural.    Spring comes slowly and is welcomed - and fall is a glorious time of year, bringing back that chill in the air!


Beach weather all year round ... love it.  If Gary wants snow he can drive an hour to the mountains. At night it gets down into the 40's ... plenty of chill for Gary.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nope.
> 
> 
> 
> The Titans were no match for the Brady machine.
> 
> The Falcons are out, too.   The Eagles have a powerhouse defense and were able to read that final play and stop them in their tracks.  I'm actually glad - let the season end before we have a major injury - Julio Jones has been favoring that ankle for weeks now.    They played much better last year with everyone healthy and still choked at the end.   This season, not only were they working with a new offensive coordinator (might be his only season, too), but Matt Ryan's QB coach left for SF and he was clearly working with someone new.   They put together a decent season overall, but it was much harder to come by.
> 
> And now I can enjoy the rest of the playoffs without stress.
Click to expand...


Remember the...      who?


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Both of my NY teams sucked this year, so Go Steelers!





davidharmier60 said:


> I reckon i gotta say GO STEELERS!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk




Nope.  You’re all going to have to say Go Jags next week if you want to keep on hatin on TB12.


----------



## SquarePeg

Who dat?  Why the Vikings, that’s who.


----------



## davidharmier60

I don't really keep up with football. 
I said go STEELERS because of the back in the day Steel curtain. I just know if New England is in the game I root for the other team. Philadelphia doesn't have the same effect. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Who dat?  Why the Vikings, that’s who.



Indeed. My brother is trying to keep it together.

Jags though...damn. I would have never bet on that outcome. If they were going to win, I’d have guessed more like 21-17 or something.


----------



## SquarePeg

On the non-football front, I saw The Post today which was excellent! Hanks and Streep were their usual fabulous selves and the supporting cast was pretty darn good. Was a little disconcerting seeing some familiar actors in their 70s wigs and outfits trying to impersonate real historical figures (took me a minute to recognize Bradley Whitford) but all in all great movie and timely the current anti media sentiment.


----------



## terri

I'm happy to hear a positive review on the movie.   It looks great from previews, but that's not a guarantee.   Totally looking forward to seeing it!


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Who dat?  Why the Vikings, that’s who.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Indeed. My brother is trying to keep it together.
> 
> Jags though...damn. I would have never bet on that outcome. If they were going to win, I’d have guessed more like 21-17 or something.
Click to expand...

Agreed!   That was a great upset!


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Both of my NY teams sucked this year, so Go Steelers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I reckon i gotta say GO STEELERS!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Nope.  You’re all going to have to say Go Jags next week if you want to keep on hatin on TB12.
Click to expand...


Yeah....no. It goes Jets, then Giants, then Steelers, then Cowboys. The Jags don't figure in.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Both of my NY teams sucked this year, so Go Steelers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I reckon i gotta say GO STEELERS!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Nope.  You’re all going to have to say Go Jags next week if you want to keep on hatin on TB12.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah....no. It goes Jets, then Giants, then Steelers, then Cowboys. The Jags don't figure in.
Click to expand...


So you’ll be wearing your Pats gear next week?  Awesome we can twin.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'd have to root for the Cowboys over Pats and I don't EVEN like that gang of druggies and thugs.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Well, another week, another road trip.  Unfortunately this one is for a funeral (brother-in-law); so off to Michigan, Tuesday, after work, and back home on Thursday.


Sorry for your lost.


----------



## jcdeboever

The wife and I seen the post, good movie. Seen a couple Nikon F's in it . Good acting. I just seen a Macnamara documentary a couple weeks ago, so the timing was good to see. I have a lot of thoughts on the story but just don't care to get into it.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave gets to start another 6 day 4am awakening. I hope everyone has a good night and a pleasant tomorrow. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, another week, another road trip.  Unfortunately this one is for a funeral (brother-in-law); so off to Michigan, Tuesday, after work, and back home on Thursday.
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry for your lost.
Click to expand...

Thank you, my brother.  We may not be going - MLW doesn't want to deal with the drama that has already started, so we're waiting to see; otherwise, up on Tuesday night, back on Thursday afternoon.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> . At night it gets down into the 40's ... plenty of chill for Gary.



52 currently, but the wind coming in off the Atlantic is cold!!!!


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Both of my NY teams sucked this year, so Go Steelers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I reckon i gotta say GO STEELERS!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Nope.  You’re all going to have to say Go Jags next week if you want to keep on hatin on TB12.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah....no. It goes Jets, then Giants, then Steelers, then Cowboys. The Jags don't figure in.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> So you’ll be wearing your Pats gear next week?  Awesome we can twin.
Click to expand...


Hmmm, let me think about....yeah, nope


----------



## smoke665

Bummer day. After an early start we were at our next stop and set up by lunch. That's when the trouble started. First the satellite dish wouldn't acquire a signal, then it started making a loud knocking sound. An hour later it was down off the roof and disassembled, looks like the control board is out. That's a couple hundred  and we are without satellite tv till we get back. Switched over to antenna. One tv auto programmed  20 channels, one tv could only get 3. So another 2 hours of running coax connections, hidden behind trim. So much for a lazy Sunday afternoon.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> Bummer day. After an early start we were at our next stop and set up by lunch. That's when the trouble started. First the satellite dish wouldn't acquire a signal, then it started making a loud knocking sound. An hour later it was down off the roof and disassembled, looks like the control board is out. That's a couple hundred  and we are without satellite tv till we get back. Switched over to antenna. One tv auto programmed  20 channels, one tv could only get 3. So another 2 hours of running coax connections, hidden behind trim. So much for a lazy Sunday afternoon.



My parents always made jokes about how boats are just a big old hole to dump money in. But they are constantly doing similar maintenance to their motorhome. Most recently, they just replaced all of the flooring in the motorhome with faux-wood tile. I'm not sure why, though, haha.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> I'm not sure why, though, haha.



Because we can  Seriously though the cost of RV campsites has risen to the point that unless we spent as much time out as we do, it wouldn't be economically feasible.  We figure maybe another 5 years at most, and it will be time to re-evaluate our travels.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> My parents always made jokes about how boats are just a big old hole to dump money in. But they are constantly doing similar maintenance to their motorhome. Most recently, they just replaced all of the flooring in the motorhome with faux-wood tile. I'm not sure why, though, haha.


"BOAT" = "Bust Out Another Thousand"  You're on your own for "Motorhome" though!


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure why, though, haha.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Because we can  Seriously though the cost of RV campsites has risen to the point that unless we spent as much time out as we do, it wouldn't be economically feasible.  We figure maybe another 5 years at most, and it will be time to re-evaluate our travels.
Click to expand...


Yeah, we tent camped with our daughter the last couple of summers, but we realize with two under 3 that it's not really all that fun, haha. My parents are telling us to just buy a pop-up or something. But even tent sites are $40 a night at the places worth staying. We're looking at AirBNB for our summer trip. Just have to finalize where. PEI is up there on the list right now though.


----------



## JonA_CT

tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My parents always made jokes about how boats are just a big old hole to dump money in. But they are constantly doing similar maintenance to their motorhome. Most recently, they just replaced all of the flooring in the motorhome with faux-wood tile. I'm not sure why, though, haha.
> 
> 
> 
> "BOAT" = "Bust Out Another Thousand"  You're on your own for "Motorhome" though!
Click to expand...


I don't I can afford the oil change for their rig. I'm not sure what it costs exactly, but it's diesel and they have to take it to a Freightliner dealer .


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT fuel filters and oil changes can get expensive, its all part of it. We belong to a couple of membership parks, that get us substantial discounts.


----------



## snowbear

I suspect the fuel consumption on the larger motor homes is also measured as it is in a lot of boats - gallons per hour.


----------



## davidharmier60

A boat is a hole in the water into which you shovel money. I suspect motor home is the same thing on land. I don't wanna go to work.  I want to get back in my warm bed.
Alas, I must.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> I suspect the fuel consumption on the larger motor homes is also measured as it is in a lot of boats - gallons per hour.



You could definitely do that math, haha. At highway speeds, it’s probably in the 8-9 gallons per hour. They have a new tow vehicle now though, and if it’s really hot, they have to run a generator for the coach AC too.  I think their fuel tank is 125 gallons. That takes a long time to fill if you can’t find a truck stop diesel pump, haha.


----------



## smoke665

Our previous MH got better mileage with a tow vehicle, 7-9. Guess the tow broke up the vacuum at the back. We went to the 5th wheel for more "useable" space, and less depreciation on the rig. With the current setup we average 11 towing.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> Our previous MH got better mileage with a tow vehicle, 7-9. Guess the tow broke up the vacuum at the back. We went to the 5th wheel for more "useable" space, and less depreciation on the rig. With the current setup we average 11 towing.



Yeah, my parents went the opposite direction about 10 years ago. They had bought some sort of customized Chevy 4500 that they essentially were able to turn back in as a lemon (it left them stranded all over the East Coast in the year that they owned it), and they said the hell with it and traded their 5th wheel in too. I don’t think they’ve regretted it, but I agree with you that they had much more usable space in the 5th wheel versus the coach. My Dad travelled with it for work for awhile, and I helped him drive to Florida and back a few times. It’s definitely a more comfortable ride as a passenger, and I prefer driving the MH compared to the 5th wheel rig too.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> ’s definitely a more comfortable ride as a passenger, and I prefer driving the MH compared to the 5th wheel rig too.



Well duh he had the wrong brand! LOL the MH seats were ok but nowhere near as comfortable as the new Ford. As to driving it may have been the way our MH was set up with all the overhang over the back axle, but it wasn't pleasant. Passing and being passed by big trucks required some fancy steering, as did driving in cross winds. The current dually/5th wheel, is like a rock, engage the sway control and it's one finger on the wheel driving. Big trucks don't faze it. We've been buffeted by cross winds approaching 50 mph and found it only slightly more difficult.


----------



## SquarePeg

Day off today for MLK.  This used to be a workday for us until this year.  Not thrilled to lose a personal day that I could take whenever I wanted (a summer Friday) in exchange for a cold and boring Monday in January!   But in the end, a paid day off is a good thing no matter when it happens!  Going to finish the Creative Live class I bought and do some volunteer hours on the website for the softball league.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Day off today for MLK.  This used to be a workday for us until this year.  Not thrilled to lose a personal day that I could take whenever I wanted (a summer Friday) in exchange for a cold and boring Monday in January!   But in the end, a paid day off is a good thing no matter when it happens!  Going to finish the Creative Live class I bought and do some volunteer hours on the website for the softball league.



I kind of wish we had school today. There are a couple holidays that I think would be more meaningful if we spent the day educating and doing service work. This is definitely one of them.


----------



## terri

Happy Monday, and MLK Day, hosers!  

Beautiful morning here, sunny and cold.


----------



## davidharmier60

I had left plenty of word that I needed propane. They failed. I spot mopped, dust mopped and broom and dust pan swept. 
Got 3 and 1 minute under. 25 hours. 
At 11am a girl is bringing a trailer with a sofa and love seat on it. I have to back the trailer because she can't. Life is just so peachy keen that I can't stand it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Bummer day. After an early start we were at our next stop and set up by lunch. That's when the trouble started. First the satellite dish wouldn't acquire a signal, then it started making a loud knocking sound. An hour later it was down off the roof and disassembled, looks like the control board is out. That's a couple hundred  and we are without satellite tv till we get back. Switched over to antenna. One tv auto programmed  20 channels, one tv could only get 3. So another 2 hours of running coax connections, hidden behind trim. So much for a lazy Sunday afternoon.


Ugh!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias and Happy MLK Day. Dr. King was quite the orator.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Not many schools were supposed to be in session, and now even they aren't. Didn't get a lot of snow but the street looks crummy. Of course nobody much comes this way, til the roads get better they stay on the main road. 

I suppose it might be just as well to have school and do some programs, there aren't many community events this time of year and especially today I don't think a lot of people are out and about.


----------



## davidharmier60

When I left work there was a basket of newspapers out by the dumpster. 
When I went by after following Cassie to town and backed the trailer into the driveway they were no longer there.
I was going to grab a Sunday paper for the adds and to use to start fires. There is Nothing in the Houston Chronicle that is fit to read. Except maybe the sports section. 

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----------



## ceemac

HAPPY MLK DAY!!!
2 weeks ago it was -30C, now it's +5C. We're going to pay for this moment as there are 2 1/2 more months of winter to go.


----------



## snowbear

Hmmm . . . that shot reminds me a bit of one taken at a beach.  I can't go into any more details since we're not in the subscriber's area.


----------



## Frank F.

I feel good. I am off medication, no immune supressors anymore. Just Microbiome Diet plus Frankincense and Myrrh, some Vitamins and Minerals. The center is the balance in the bodily fluids caused by deacidification with herbal teas, vegetable, meat, fish diet, all freshly prepared. And a reduction of allergens like cow milk protein and wheat protein and gluten. I try to sleep well and enough and get one hour of walking and running outdoors built into my life. That all helps to push my book and my house forward at a steady pace, still do my camera work and care for my family. I am a happy man in many respects. Most important: I do what I feel makes sense to me, is important to me and I feel what others think or say or do is not important as long as I live in congruence with my inner form.

That possibly does not make much sense to you, does it?


----------



## davidharmier60

Good night y'all and have a wonderful tomorrow. It will get cold and probably wet here.

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----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> I do what I feel makes sense to me, is important to me and I feel what others think or say or do is not important as long as I live in congruence with my inner form.



I suspect I am older than you but I discovered this several years ago. Some call eccentric, I call it I don't give a s***. At the end of the day if I'm happy with myself, its a good day. As to diet, I've given up just about all my sinful indulgences, except food. If I have to give up the foods I enjoy just to live another day, well....Id rather die happy with a full belly. I do however follow moderation, and enjoy walking the woods daily. Life is good most days.


----------



## limr

Frank F. said:


> That possibly does not make much sense to you, does it?



Do you really think folks here are not capable of understanding? Or did this just come out more abrasive than you meant it?


----------



## vintagesnaps

I think maybe Frank thought it got lost in translation... but even if grammar etc. when not writing in your native language might not be perfectly clear, I got it (I think). What I got is he's feeling healthier, takes care of his family, is still enjoying using his camera, etc. and that's what's important.


----------



## ceemac

smoke665 said:


> If I have to give up the foods I enjoy just to live another day, well....Id rather die happy with a full belly.



Totally agree. In fact I'm pretty sure that if I eat a couple boxes of doughnuts, a few pounds of red meat and drink a case of scotch the day before I die, those things won't be the cause. But how soon can I start doing those things. Someone needs to commission a study. I must be getting close to that age.


----------



## ceemac

snowbear said:


> Hmmm . . . that shot reminds me a bit of one taken at a beach. I can't go into any more details since we're not in the subscriber's area.



Hmmm  We look like we're clothed. Tell me more about your monitor . I want to get one like that.


----------



## snowbear

ceemac said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If I have to give up the foods I enjoy just to live another day, well....Id rather die happy with a full belly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Totally agree. In fact I'm pretty sure that if I eat a couple boxes of doughnuts, a few pounds of red meat and drink a case of scotch the day before I die, those things won't be the cause. But how soon can I start doing those things. Someone needs to commission a study. I must be getting close to that age.
Click to expand...


When I was in college (the first go-round) I applied for a scientific grant.  I wanted to know if the direction the room appeared to spin around an inebriated person differed in the southern hemisphere top what I observed in the northern hemisphere, and what happened at the equator.  I was also wanted to know if the rate of spin differed by latitude.

I didn't get the grant.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  How the heck is everyone?  Tomorrow is my Monday.  Another short work week = doing 5 days worth of work in only 4 days.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I think maybe Frank thought it got lost in translation... but even if grammar etc. when not writing in your native language might not be perfectly clear, I got it (I think). What I got is he's feeling healthier, takes care of his family, is still enjoying using his camera, etc. and that's what's important.



I was asking specifically about the last line. And I know about things being lost in translation, which is why I asked what he meant that last line in particular.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  How the heck is everyone?  Tomorrow is my Monday.  Another short work week = doing 5 days worth of work in only 4 days.



A short week for me, too, especially if I get another snow day on Wednesday. Had today off and I have some crap to take care of on Thursday morning, so I took a couple of personal hours. So if I get a snow day on Wednesday, too, I will essentially have a half work week. And I'm not going to complain one tiny little bit about it


----------



## SquarePeg

OMG if school gets canceled again this week I'm not sure if the parents around here can take it!  They were off for the holidays then the snow days and then the holiday again and now they have midterms this week and next so will be getting out by 12/1pm every day - sometimes earlier... and February break (which is a totally unnecessary week off in crappy weather less than 2 months after Christmas) starts in about a month.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Fingers crossed for snow for NY state Wednesday! (at least over Leo's house and school/workplace). Here we're back in the deep freeze for a day or so then it's supposed to be 40 by the weekend. 

A break in February?? eww. That sounds lousy. Here some schools have gone to a mid semester break of some sort but it's not _that_ early, most are still around Easter or at least later March I think.

Have I said enough that I'm glad for early retirement?!! These conversations remind me why!


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Fingers crossed for snow for NY state Wednesday! (at least over Leo's house and school/workplace). Here we're back in the deep freeze for a day or so then it's supposed to be 40 by the weekend.
> 
> A break in February?? eww. That sounds lousy. Here some schools have gone to a mid semester break of some sort but it's not _that_ early, most are still around Easter or at least later March I think.
> 
> Have I said enough that I'm glad for early retirement?!! These conversations remind me why!



There are 3 week long vacations for MA schools.  Christmas - New Years (which can sometimes be up to 12 days off depending on what day of the week Christmas falls on), February vacation (the week of President's Day) and April vacation (the week of Patriot's Day).

No, not those Patriots:






These Patriots:


----------



## vintagesnaps

Patriots Day?? is that just in your state? I'm in favor of any holidays possible!


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do what I feel makes sense to me, is important to me and I feel what others think or say or do is not important as long as I live in congruence with my inner form.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I suspect I am older than you but I discovered this several years ago. Some call eccentric, I call it I don't give a s***. At the end of the day if I'm happy with myself, its a good day. As to diet, I've given up just about all my sinful indulgences, except food. If I have to give up the foods I enjoy just to live another day, well....Id rather die happy with a full belly. I do however follow moderation, and enjoy walking the woods daily. Life is good most days.
Click to expand...



I feel that with 40 I understood what it is all about, with 50 I had fought my way to a point that I can really do what I know, at 51 I feel a growing independence. I do not have to prove anything to anybody. Not even to myself.

Smoke: if you start to **** blood and have pain in all joints and all the medication your doctors give you only cause more trouble one starts to think about replacing one joy with another. I enjoy a bunch of seasonally changing vegetables more than I used to enjoy any indulgence that later led to the above trouble. It is like enjoying finer things. A tantric 30 minute orgasm can be a better choice than a 30 second steam ram orgasm which must not be a bad thing at all. It is just like that with a good vegetable soup compared to a hit and run burger menu...


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> That possibly does not make much sense to you, does it?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you really think folks here are not capable of understanding? Or did this just come out more abrasive than you meant it?
Click to expand...



No. I am not sure sometimes if my world differs much from other people's world. My hope is that people on this planet do not differ so much. This I see as a chance for peace in the long run.

But in other moments I feel my world is very different from other people's world


----------



## davidharmier60

Deep down inside I figure people are more alike than different. I would imagine even in Iran there are some fine folks.
That said I've run out of words.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Patriots Day?? is that just in your state? I'm in favor of any holidays possible!



Yes I believe it’s a MA only holiday.  It’s also Marathon Monday here in Boston.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Patriots Day?? is that just in your state? I'm in favor of any holidays possible!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes I believe it’s a MA only holiday.  It’s also Marathon Monday here in Boston.
Click to expand...


Maybe in RI too, I think.

It seems to usually coincide with our Spring Break here in CT. 

The forecast sounds just bad enough that I will not be in school tomorrow. Grumble grumble.


----------



## SquarePeg

Princess is hoping for a snow day because it will be a whole extra day to study for midterms which start on Thursday.


----------



## JonA_CT

Or to procrastinate by binge watching Netflix and scrolling through Instagram, haha.

At least that’s what I’d do if I were still in high school, probably.


----------



## SquarePeg

She has her verbal midterm in Spanish today and was up early this morning to study because she spent the 3 day weekend farting around!


----------



## smoke665

@Frank F. I started feeling the enlightenment around 50. I reached a point where I didn't need to prove anything to anyone. Shortly thereafter my kids made it clear they had no interest in continuing the business my wife and I had worked so hard to build, so we initiated our retirement plans, sold the business and retired at 57. The next 2 years were spent mostly on finishing up our retirement home, and goofing off. Then my wife had a freak minor back injury, which ultimately led to a diagnosis  of an incurable blood cancer diagnosis. We were fortunate in that her oncologist had experience in treating this paticular cancer and was associated with one of the top researchers in the field. Between the two despite an 18-24 month initial expectancy she is still here going on 9 years later. Her doctor's advice throughout has been to live now, do now, advice we've followed ever since, as we know one day she will likely run out of treatment options barring a cure. 

In all things we follow moderation, rather than forever depriving ourselves. My grandmothers lived well into their 90s. No canola oil for them, they used lard, served red meat, pork, bacon, eggs, and whole "fresh" milk. They were constantly up and moving either inside or in the yard or garden. By comparison my father died at 62 a victim of cancer brought on by environment, and my mother at 66, a victim of a heart attack brought on by what I believe was a sedentary lifestyle (she worked at a desk her whole life). 

I am a firm believer that our environment is the limiting factor in one's life span. The air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink all have contaminants that weren't there 50 years ago. So we're in a race of sorts, as medical discoveries have the potential to increase our age, the new contaminants we are exposed to, take away. I'm fine with pacing myself for the time I have left.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do what I feel makes sense to me, is important to me and I feel what others think or say or do is not important as long as I live in congruence with my inner form.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I suspect I am older than you but I discovered this several years ago. Some call eccentric, I call it I don't give a s***. At the end of the day if I'm happy with myself, its a good day. As to diet, I've given up just about all my sinful indulgences, except food. If I have to give up the foods I enjoy just to live another day, well....Id rather die happy with a full belly. I do however follow moderation, and enjoy walking the woods daily. Life is good most days.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I feel that with 40 I understood what it is all about, with 50 I had fought my way to a point that I can really do what I know, at 51 I feel a growing independence. I do not have to prove anything to anybody. Not even to myself.
> 
> Smoke: if you start to **** blood and have pain in all joints and all the medication your doctors give you only cause more trouble one starts to think about replacing one joy with another. I enjoy a bunch of seasonally changing vegetables more than I used to enjoy any indulgence that later led to the above trouble. It is like enjoying finer things. A tantric 30 minute orgasm can be a better choice than a 30 second steam ram orgasm which must not be a bad thing at all. It is just like that with a good vegetable soup compared to a hit and run burger menu...
Click to expand...

What the hell ... ??? LOL  Love you Frank.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> That possibly does not make much sense to you, does it?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you really think folks here are not capable of understanding? Or did this just come out more abrasive than you meant it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> No. I am not sure sometimes if my world differs much from other people's world. My hope is that people on this planet do not differ so much. This I see as a chance for peace in the long run.
> 
> But in other moments I feel my way is very different from other people's world
Click to expand...

Frank has/had some severe health issues, which he has solved holistically and generally by his own hand. Gary tips his hat for his success.

Instead of relying on traditional western medicines of drugs and pill, which in Frank's case caused a chain reaction of more drugs and pills to counter the effects of the previous drugs and pills, ad infinitum ... Frank did his own research and resolved much of his issues with diet and exercise. Which, according to many of my physician friends, in general, diet and exercise is the only "cure" for a chronic ailment.  Drugs and pills are mere bandages which will get you through the day. Then comes another day and more drugs and pills.

My hat is off to you Frank.  Good job.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is a crisp 51F presently, as the dawn is breaking.  The weather people stuffed in Gary's phone project 70F by the afternoon. Gary is stuck behind a computer processing theatre images which are long overdue.  More than 3,000 image need to be reviewed and culled.  Gary has been working over the weekend and is now down to the last folder of 500+ files. Miss Maggie's "garment" arrived on Sunday and it works.  It sorta looks like a hospital gown with fitted legs and ties in the back completely covering her underside, (but not the back so she can still do her business without disrobing).  It is a fantastic improvement over the cone. She is back to her old PITA self now, as previously she had resigned to life as a conehead and the depression which come with said life.


----------



## SquarePeg

Glad poor Miss Maggie is up and about again.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got to work and found that Susan lied or at least sinned by omission to get propane. Spot mopped again. Got almost exactly 1 minute under 4 hours.
I was fully prepared to go get propane but Trish said she'd get someone else to get propane and I could go. My truck does not get hot enough fast enough. It was probably 15 minutes before I got the windshield so I could see through it. 
Going to put a light bulb to keep it free of ice for the morning. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm at the plant listening to a bunch of winers. Geez, come on people, life can't be that bad. You get 40 hours a week, decent pay, we cover more than half of your health care. Joe said this, Rick did that, so and so told me this, etc, etc, etc. People can wear on you if you let them. My new moto for the winers is, "I can't speak to that". 

I am currently fondling (in my office) my new thrift store find, Nikon F with eye level finder. A little rough but seems to work as intended. Gonna check the shutter speeds by ripping off about a half dozen frames, one stop apart, see if they look as evenly exposed as my FM. Just got done doing a little clean up with some vinegar & water, cleaning up nicely actually. 

Already blown past last year's January sales in two weeks. Good start to the new year.


----------



## Frank F.

davidharmier60 said:


> Deep down inside I figure people are more alike than different. I would imagine even in Iran there are some fine folks.



Why go so far away in a country you probably know nothing about? Rural and Urban folks tend to be very different and those can be less than 100 Miles apart.


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> I would imagine even in Iran there are some fine folks.


"Even in Iran"?

Why wouldn't there be? What do you assume about the people of Iran, or outside of the US for that matter?


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> @Frank F. I started feeling the enlightenment around 50. I reached a point where I didn't need to prove anything to anyone. Shortly thereafter my kids made it clear they had no interest in continuing the business my wife and I had worked so hard to build, so we initiated our retirement plans, sold the business and retired at 57. The next 2 years were spent mostly on finishing up our retirement home, and goofing off. Then my wife had a freak minor back injury, which ultimately led to a diagnosis  of an incurable blood cancer diagnosis. We were fortunate in that her oncologist had experience in treating this paticular cancer and was associated with one of the top researchers in the field. Between the two despite an 18-24 month initial expectancy she is still here going on 9 years later. Her doctor's advice throughout has been to live now, do now, advice we've followed ever since, as we know one day she will likely run out of treatment options barring a cure.
> 
> In all things we follow moderation, rather than forever depriving ourselves. My grandmothers lived well into their 90s. No canola oil for them, they used lard, served red meat, pork, bacon, eggs, and whole "fresh" milk. They were constantly up and moving either inside or in the yard or garden. By comparison my father died at 62 a victim of cancer brought on by environment, and my mother at 66, a victim of a heart attack brought on by what I believe was a sedentary lifestyle (she worked at a desk her whole life).
> 
> I am a firm believer that our environment is the limiting factor in one's life span. The air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink all have contaminants that weren't there 50 years ago. So we're in a race of sorts, as medical discoveries have the potential to increase our age, the new contaminants we are exposed to, take away. I'm fine with pacing myself for the time I have left.




I can subscribe to the idea that fate trumps all, esp a healthy lifestyle. Some people have the fate to live long on bad habits, some die young living healthy.

Everyone has to figure out what he likes and can bear. My body cannot bear smoking, so I quit. I cannot bear wheat and milk so I quit them too. I can live good drinking wine but not beer and a cup of coffee is good for me in the morning but a lot of coffee makes me tired. I cannot bear beer. I love grilled pork and can bear it. But I love cheese and cannot bear it. Pity.


----------



## davidharmier60

Well, I wouldn't even go that far for N. Korea. But I am fairly certain there are Iranians who don't love the leader and would make decent Americans. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> Well, I wouldn't even go that far for N. Korea. But I am fairly certain there are Iranians who don't love the leader and would make decent Americans.


The problem with your argument is that you're assuming Americans are the definition of "fine" or "decent".


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Frank F. I started feeling the enlightenment around 50. I reached a point where I didn't need to prove anything to anyone. Shortly thereafter my kids made it clear they had no interest in continuing the business my wife and I had worked so hard to build, so we initiated our retirement plans, sold the business and retired at 57. The next 2 years were spent mostly on finishing up our retirement home, and goofing off. Then my wife had a freak minor back injury, which ultimately led to a diagnosis  of an incurable blood cancer diagnosis. We were fortunate in that her oncologist had experience in treating this paticular cancer and was associated with one of the top researchers in the field. Between the two despite an 18-24 month initial expectancy she is still here going on 9 years later. Her doctor's advice throughout has been to live now, do now, advice we've followed ever since, as we know one day she will likely run out of treatment options barring a cure.
> 
> In all things we follow moderation, rather than forever depriving ourselves. My grandmothers lived well into their 90s. No canola oil for them, they used lard, served red meat, pork, bacon, eggs, and whole "fresh" milk. They were constantly up and moving either inside or in the yard or garden. By comparison my father died at 62 a victim of cancer brought on by environment, and my mother at 66, a victim of a heart attack brought on by what I believe was a sedentary lifestyle (she worked at a desk her whole life).
> 
> I am a firm believer that our environment is the limiting factor in one's life span. The air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink all have contaminants that weren't there 50 years ago. So we're in a race of sorts, as medical discoveries have the potential to increase our age, the new contaminants we are exposed to, take away. I'm fine with pacing myself for the time I have left.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I can subscribe to the idea that fate trumps all, esp a healthy lifestyle. Some people have the fate to live long on bad habits, some die young living healthy.
> 
> Everyone has to figure out what he likes and can bear. My body cannot bear smoking, so I quit. I cannot bear wheat and milk so I quit them too. I can live good drinking wine but not beer and a cup of coffee is good for me in the morning but a lot of coffee makes me tired. I cannot bear beer. I love grilled pork and can bear it. But I love cheese and cannot bear it. Pity.
Click to expand...

Yes it does.  I think you met Tom, the physician.  He recently had a severe heart attack.  He's in his late 40's, if he hadn't have the attack in front of a Fire Station, he'd be dead now.  Actually he did die ... but he's not dead anymore. Tom's father had a severe heart attack n his 60's, after a life of smoking and eat fat/greasy foods.  Tom is a dedicated cyclist, his attack occurred while on his bike. Tom is Korean and most of his meals are Asian, low fat and more fish than meat. His attack (triple bypass) came decades earlier than his father because of the stress Tom put on his heart. Pumping blood while cycling through the mountains, (Tom lives in Pasadena which rests in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains), caused his heart to throw in the towel.  Yeah, genes will beat lifestyle.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> I can subscribe to the idea that fate trumps all, esp a healthy lifestyle. Some people have the fate to live long on bad habits, some die young living healthy.
> 
> Everyone has to figure out what he likes and can bear. My body cannot bear smoking, so I quit. I cannot bear wheat and milk so I quit them too. I can live good drinking wine but not beer and a cup of coffee is good for me in the morning but a lot of coffee makes me tired. I cannot bear beer. I love grilled pork and can bear it. But I love cheese and cannot bear it. Pity.



Fate is always a factor during a normal lifespan. Life insurance actuary tables are a freaky precise science. My comment was more to the upper end of our life. There is a limit where despite our best habits and intentions, the body simply wears out. Granted there are those who exceed the 100 mark, but at what quality of life? I personally want to live to the last second where I can no longer enjoy even the simple things, to have some semblance of a quality of life, at that point I'll say it's been a good run. My father was s a firm believer in that "we each have a time and when it's up that's it". He was a paratrooper in WWII, struck by lighting twice, buried in a bin of corn, turned a tractor over on him, couple of car crashes, trampled by a herd of cattle, and several other mishaps over the years. He always laughed at me for being to cautious, but I always responded "I prefer not to be next to you in case God misses".


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Well, I wouldn't even go that far for N. Korea. But I am fairly certain there are Iranians who don't love the leader and would make decent Americans.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Anybody can be an American ... it is more of a state of mind, a conscience and deliberate acceptance of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, than a place of birth or being handed a piece of paper.

Believe it or not, but your average Ruskie is very Americani-like in attitudes, humor and ethics.


----------



## jcdeboever

Each day is a gift. I thank the Good Lord every morning I wake up. I do have a re-accuring dream where I am dead but don't think I am and I am walking around trying to talk to people and they're not listening to me..... Oh wait, I'm awake...


----------



## davidharmier60

Well I'm an American of German, Polish and Irish background. Great great or even great great great is as far back as it goes. Therefore my frame of reference is squarely American. For the most part I believe in live and let live. But I also believe a B2 stealth bomber should pulverize where ever the N. Korean leader is. And for that matter the leadership of Iran.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

waday said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, I wouldn't even go that far for N. Korea. But I am fairly certain there are Iranians who don't love the leader and would make decent Americans.
> 
> 
> 
> The problem with your argument is that you're assuming Americans are the definition of "fine" or "decent".
Click to expand...




Gary A. said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, I wouldn't even go that far for N. Korea. But I am fairly certain there are Iranians who don't love the leader and would make decent Americans.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Anybody can be an American ... it is more of a state of mind, a conscience and deliberate acceptance of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, than a place of birth or being handed a piece of paper.
> 
> Believe it or not, but your average Ruskie is very Americani-like in attitudes, humor and ethics.
Click to expand...




davidharmier60 said:


> Well I'm an American of German, Polish and Irish background. Great great or even great great great is as far back as it goes. Therefore my frame of reference is squarely American. For the most part I believe in live and let live. But I also believe a B2 stealth bomber should pulverize where ever the N. Korean leader is. And for that matter the leadership of Iran.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



And that's as far as this conversation will get in this particular public forum, thankyouverymuch!

With peace and love, peace and love.
(Please read the above in the voice of Ringo Starr. If you need a reference, see below.)


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Each day is a gift. I thank the Good Lord every morning I wake up. I do have a re-accuring dream where I am dead but don't think I am and I am walking around trying to talk to people and they're not listening to me..... Oh wait, I'm awake...



LOL I get that from my wife sometimes!

I agree with you on the gift, didn't see it so much till we realized there might be a limit to the future. 

Not to make this a religious post but for those of us who believe in the bible the potential lifespan was far greater than today. Rather then disbelieve they actually lived that long, I believe it's a combination mutation (genes) and the pollution of our world. Maybe the human species mutated to a shorter lifespan because we couldn't live for 100's of years anyhow.


----------



## limr

Everyone needs to do what is best for him or herself when it comes to health. People are not one size (or diet or medicine or philosophy...) fits all. It's great when someone finds what works for them and they feel their best. What I dislike is when that someone decides that it will also work the same way for others and becomes very preachy about it.

And for the record, I really am not talking about anyone here. I'm speaking generally about people I've met over the years.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Each day is a gift. I thank the Good Lord every morning I wake up. I do have a re-accuring dream where I am dead but don't think I am and I am walking around trying to talk to people and they're not listening to me..... Oh wait, I'm awake...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LOL I get that from my wife sometimes!
> 
> I agree with you on the gift, didn't see it so much till we realized there might be a limit to the future.
> 
> Not to make this a religious post but for those of us who believe in the bible the potential lifespan was far greater than today. Rather then disbelieve they actually lived that long, I believe it's a combination mutation (genes) and the pollution of our world. Maybe the human species mutated to a shorter lifespan because we couldn't live for 100's of years anyhow.
Click to expand...

Some have suggested that there was some sort of water vapor canopy around the earth prior and it had a green house effect,  shielding off radiation, eleiminating disease. The great flood may have destroyed this layer. Other thoughts were expressed as well.


----------



## snowbear

Come on, folks - *no religion or politics allowed here*.  I don't want the inspectors to close us down.


----------



## snowbear

Change in the travel plans - we are going to wait until tomorrow morning to head out so as much of this storm can get past.  I looked at the PA Turnpike traffic cam's and the roads seem to be fine.

@jcdeboever:  I don't know what kind of time we'll have (probably darned little) but I'll send out a shout when we get in the area.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Change in the travel plans - we are going to wait until tomorrow morning to head out so as much of this storm can get past.  I looked at the PA Turnpike traffic cam's and the roads seem to be fine.
> 
> @jcdeboever:  I don't know what kind of time we'll have (probably darned little) but I'll send out a shout when we get in the area.



You've been a travelin' fool lately, Charlie!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Change in the travel plans - we are going to wait until tomorrow morning to head out so as much of this storm can get past.  I looked at the PA Turnpike traffic cam's and the roads seem to be fine.
> 
> @jcdeboever:  I don't know what kind of time we'll have (probably darned little) but I'll send out a shout when we get in the area.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You've been a travelin' fool lately, Charlie!
Click to expand...

Yeah, but they aren't all pleasure trips; this one is a funeral.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Who, the coffee inspectors? I had pumpkin spice and I confess, I DID NOT GRIND THE BEANS! Yes, I took the easy way out and bought it medium grind.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry for the reason you're traveling Charlie, and for having to deal with any drama you mentioned. 

But if you and JC meet up, all I can say is that should be real interesting...


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Sorry for the reason you're traveling Charlie, and for having to deal with any drama you mentioned.
> 
> But if you and JC meet up, all I can say is that should be real interesting...


I'm a cool cat.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm sure it won't be boring...


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Who, the coffee inspectors? I had pumpkin spice and I confess, I DID NOT GRIND THE BEANS! Yes, I took the easy way out and bought it medium grind.


Health inspectors, fire inspectors, ABC inspectors - any of them that can shut down the establishment!

The winter storm seems to have taken care of the drama (they won't go if there is snow on the ground).  We're also planning to get to that general area (and Columbus, OH) this summer, for good stuff.

A new project at work, with a potential group of presentations.  I'm collecting a lot of data from various sources to help assess community fire & EMS risk: property and tax records, Census data, and locations of fire stations and fire hydrants.  This one is fun!


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Some have suggested that there was some sort of water vapor canopy around the earth prior and it had a green house effect, shielding off radiation, eleiminating disease.



Possibly, but bacteria and viruses would have thrived in that type of environment. That also wouldn't account for why human body parts today simply wear out over time, unless there was an evolution of the genetic clock.



limr said:


> What I dislike is when that someone decides that it will also work the same way for others and becomes very preachy about it.



Have to agree with you here. Had a primary care doctor who used to constantly lecture me about how I "should" be living. I finally changed doctors, he's dead, I'm still going. It is as you stated an individual approach.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Columbus?! You'll be venturing closer to my neck of the woods this summer. Well not _that _close, but getting closer.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Some have suggested that there was some sort of water vapor canopy around the earth prior and it had a green house effect, shielding off radiation, eleiminating disease.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Possibly, but bacteria and viruses would have thrived in that type of environment. That also wouldn't account for why human body parts today simply wear out over time, unless there was an evolution of the genetic clock.
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> What I dislike is when that someone decides that it will also work the same way for others and becomes very preachy about it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Have to agree with you here. Had a primary care doctor who used to constantly lecture me about how I "should" be living. I finally changed doctors, he's dead, I'm still going. It is as you stated an individual approach.
Click to expand...


I have no idea, just a thought. I actually did a college paper on it (degrading life spans compared to the Old Testament) but we won't go there, to many sensitive people. I did get 200 points out of 200 on the paper because @limr wasn't my teacher . I forget what kind of paper it was called but it was some type of argumentative essay. I loved my English classes more than any other ones. My last English teacher said I was one of the funniest writers she ever had. She said she saved mine for home after a few glasses of wine, red I think....


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Columbus?! You'll be venturing closer to my neck of the woods this summer. Well not _that _close, but getting closer.



Shoot, I was just there a few weeks ago!


----------



## davidharmier60

If you've never visited the Air Force museum it is highly recommended. 
It was back in the 80s when I was there. 
It was awesome then.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> I'm sure it won't be boring...



bears, cats, donuts, and coffee, oh my


----------



## snowbear

I think attitude has a lot to do with it, too.  <--  edit: related to living longer or shorter.  Messed up this post.



vintagesnaps said:


> Columbus?! You'll be venturing closer to my neck of the woods this summer. Well not _that _close, but getting closer.


We have a nephew and niece in Hamilton, which, IIRC, is getting even closer.

I am planning on attending the OSU Python (programming language) conference; MLW want's to go (back to) Cedar Point theme park in Sandusky.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sure it won't be boring...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bears, cats, donuts, and coffee, oh my
Click to expand...

and film.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Change in the travel plans - we are going to wait until tomorrow morning to head out so as much of this storm can get past.  I looked at the PA Turnpike traffic cam's and the roads seem to be fine.
> 
> @jcdeboever:  I don't know what kind of time we'll have (probably darned little) but I'll send out a shout when we get in the area.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You've been a travelin' fool lately, Charlie!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah, but they aren't all pleasure trips; this one is a funeral.
Click to expand...


Sorry 



jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Some have suggested that there was some sort of water vapor canopy around the earth prior and it had a green house effect, shielding off radiation, eleiminating disease.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Possibly, but bacteria and viruses would have thrived in that type of environment. That also wouldn't account for why human body parts today simply wear out over time, unless there was an evolution of the genetic clock.
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> What I dislike is when that someone decides that it will also work the same way for others and becomes very preachy about it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Have to agree with you here. Had a primary care doctor who used to constantly lecture me about how I "should" be living. I finally changed doctors, he's dead, I'm still going. It is as you stated an individual approach.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have no idea, just a thought. I actually did a college paper on it (degrading life spans compared to the Old Testament) but we won't go there, to many sensitive people. I did get 200 points out of 200 on the paper because @limr wasn't my teacher. I forget what kind of paper it was called but it was some type of argumentative essay. I loved my English classes more than any other ones. My last English teacher said I was one of the funniest writers she ever had. She said she saved mine for home after a few glasses of wine, red I think....
Click to expand...


I would roll my eyes even harder but I don't want a headache.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:
			
		

> Everyone needs to do what is best for him or herself when it comes to health. People are not one size (or diet or medicine or philosophy...) fits all. It's great when someone finds what works for them and they feel their best. What I dislike is when that someone decides that it will also work the same way for others and becomes very preachy about it.
> 
> And for the record, I really am not talking about anyone here. I'm speaking generally about people I've met over the years.



Absolutely to the point, yes. Everybody starts and arrives at a different point. We are all complex ecosytems of billions of human cells, colonizied by billions of non-human cells each of the cells in their own state. And every one of us has their own balances and imbalances. And their own fate, see above. So diet is an individual thing, absolutely!

"Predictions are always difficult, especially if they talk about the future" -- Niels Bohr


----------



## davidharmier60

I hope everyone has a good night and a pleasant tomorrow. If tomorrow is as cold as they predict I do not think I'll climb the ladder and do the Marquee tomorrow. 
Thursday seems much better idea. 
It is not supposed to get above 32 until roughly noon. Good night y'all. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Well... we just officially retired "the Beast", our 200 lb industrial sized 17 year old snow blower.  It was a housewarming gift from my stepfather back in 2001 and it's always been too heavy for me to handle on my own.  Now that it's old, when it stalls out at the end of the driveway I have to either wrestle it back to the garage to plug it in and restart or get out the 100 ft extension cord and hope not to get electrocuted.  It will be going to a lovely farm in the country where it can run free (aka Uncle Jack's place).  Bought a new, lightweight stage one Toro that's good for up to 18" of snow.  Just finished attaching the handle and chute and it's ready to roll tomorrow morning.  Even Princess will be able to use this one.  And any big storms - my friend's son is always happy to earn some cash.  

Anyone been watching that new show 9-1-1?  I'm loving it so far.  Connie Britton is always excellent - have been a fan since my all time favorite tv series Friday Night Lights and the guy from Parenthood that's married to Lauren Graham is also great - Peter Krause.  Angela Bassett is in it too.  She has a time machine I think - she looks fabulous and Mariette Hartlee is playing the Alzheimer's stricken mother of Connie Britton.  Good stuff.


----------



## bribrius

SquarePeg said:


> Well... we just officially retired "the Beast", our 200 lb industrial sized 17 year old snow blower.  It was a housewarming gift from my stepfather back in 2001 and it's always been too heavy for me to handle on my own.  Now that it's old, when it stalls out at the end of the driveway I have to either wrestle it back to the garage to plug it in and restart or get out the 100 ft extension cord and hope not to get electrocuted.  It will be going to a lovely farm in the country where it can run free (aka Uncle Jack's place).  Bought a new, lightweight stage one Toro that's good for up to 18" of snow.  Just finished attaching the handle and chute and it's ready to roll tomorrow morning.  Even Princess will be able to use this one.  And any big storms - my friend's son is always happy to earn some cash.
> 
> Anyone been watching that new show 9-1-1?  I'm loving it so far.  Connie Britton is always excellent - have been a fan since my all time favorite tv series Friday Night Lights and the guy from Parenthood that's married to Lauren Graham is also great - Peter Krause.  Angela Bassett is in it too.  She has a time machine I think - she looks fabulous and Mariette Hartlee is playing the Alzheimer's stricken mother of Connie Britton.  Good stuff.


 i have a "beast" myself. I actually prefer the little single stage (like your toro) i have more for most snowfalls. It is quicker and the rubber blade hitting the pavement scrapes it near clean. It also is more portable (i cant carry the beast i have up onto the deck) and it fits in a car if need be


----------



## bribrius

I did sell my truck and plow, it was time. How soon i replace it with a new one i am in a debate with myself on currently


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Anyone been watching that new show 9-1-1? I'm loving it so far. Connie Britton is always excellent - have been a fan since my all time favorite tv series Friday Night Lights and the guy from Parenthood that's married to Lauren Graham is also great - Peter Krause. Angela Bassett is in it too. She has a time machine I think - she looks fabulous and Mariette Hartlee is playing the Alzheimer's stricken mother of Connie Britton. Good stuff.



I've been a staunch Peter Krause fan since "Six Feet Under"(which also introduced me to the amazing Michael C. Hall).   Never watched Parenthood, though.  Lots of A-list actors in this show (I agree with you completely about the talented Angela Bassett!), but it hasn't won me over quite yet.   I *want* to like it, just hedging my bets.   I'm hopeful the writers are basically taking their time with character development, which is important if you're planning on more than a couple of seasons.   But so far, I have found the writing a little formulaic.   I really want to see it get better, crossing my fingers.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

All snow shoveling was finished at 7:11 am. What to do with the rest of my day? Hmmm, maybe some photography


----------



## JonA_CT

No "beast" necessary this morning here. We are in session -- it's snowing pretty decently, but with the temps above freezing here, it isn't sticking to the roads.

Really...the only beast to move snow at my house is me and my shovel.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

JonA_CT said:


> Really...the only beast to move snow at my house is me and my shovel.



Me too Jon. I am almost 56 and have _never_ used a snowblower! Wheelbarrow and shovel for me. Maybe when I get old I will get one but I still actually enjoy some physical work while I am able.


----------



## SquarePeg

Disappointed that there’s not even enough snow here to use the new snowblower (Beauty?).  Maybe at lunch time.  

School is on although some neighboring towns canceled.  I don’t see why, very little on the ground and roads are not slippery.   Maybe in anticipation of a mess at pick up time?  Princess will be walking to the Y after school with her posse.  They “work out” for about 15 minutes and then spend the rest of the time socializing and flirting at the basketball court.  

Went to the grocery store for dinner “fixins” and of course milk and bread were scarce. That’s ok, we were not planning on French toast for dinner anyway..,


----------



## waday

Snow here! It snowed from about 6-7 AM yesterday to wee morning hours today. We have probably between 6-8 inches. A lot more than forecasted.

Schools let out early yesterday and have a 2-hour delay today.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> That’s ok, we were not planning on French toast for dinner anyway..


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@SquarePeg  Don't be in such a hurry for snow, lol. @waday  We have the same amount of snow.


----------



## waday

Dean_Gretsch said:


> We have the same amount of snow.


It's crazy, right? The initial forecast was for 1-3 inches, then the latest update I saw was for maybe 5. Huh.


----------



## terri

Well, hosers,  *I* woke up to _this_ this morning!















Those are my kitchen lights reflected in the second shot.   My little backyard friends were very glad the feeders were stuffed!   The cats enjoyed the show.  

Sun is shining now; this will be a memory by tomorrow.    No beasts needed other than Sol.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> No "beast" necessary this morning here. We are in session -- it's snowing pretty decently, but with the temps above freezing here, it isn't sticking to the roads.
> 
> Really...the only beast to move snow at my house is me and my shovel.


The only true beast here is Miss Maggie.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Well, hosers,  *I* woke up to _this_ this morning!
> 
> View attachment 152334
> 
> 
> View attachment 152335
> 
> View attachment 152336
> 
> 
> Those are my kitchen lights reflected in the second shot.   My little backyard friends were very glad the feeders were stuffed!   The cats enjoyed the show.
> 
> Sun is shining now; this will be a memory by tomorrow.    No beasts needed other than Sol.


Hey, you woke up to blue snow.  Gary has seen yellow snow but blue is a bit rare.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Neither rain nor snow...


----------



## Gary A.

@Jon: Okay, Miss Maggie and Mary Lou.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, hosers,  *I* woke up to _this_ this morning!
> 
> View attachment 152334
> 
> 
> View attachment 152335
> 
> View attachment 152336
> 
> 
> Those are my kitchen lights reflected in the second shot.   My little backyard friends were very glad the feeders were stuffed!   The cats enjoyed the show.
> 
> Sun is shining now; this will be a memory by tomorrow.    No beasts needed other than Sol.
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, you woke up to blue snow.  Gary has seen yellow snow but blue is a bit rare.
Click to expand...

Miss Maggie would be guilty of creating yellow snow were she around any.   Blue snow is created by un-edited cell phone shots on early morning, overcast days, and by Claude Monet.   So bite me.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 152340
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> No "beast" necessary this morning here. We are in session -- it's snowing pretty decently, but with the temps above freezing here, it isn't sticking to the roads.
> 
> Really...the only beast to move snow at my house is me and my shovel.
> 
> 
> 
> The only true beast here is Miss Maggie.
Click to expand...

Looks like the beast is ready for the hose!


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

We got snow. We're still actually getting snow. Not a lot, but there is technically still white stuff falling from the sky. We had a delayed opening. Whatevs, I have snow tires.


----------



## davidharmier60

STILL no propane 
But not enough people showed up to track up the 6 aisles I did make look great.
I did have to take down the Marquee. 
She wanted me to put up a new set.
But the letters were frozen in the tracks. 
There is no way new letters will go up there until the temp gets above 32 for a bit.
The bank where I usually get boxes was closed for the freeze. So I got a box from our bank. Was happy to find out they weren't a whole box of 2017 or such.
I have on thermal pants under my jeans.
A flannel shirt over a t. And I have a space heater running trying to get warm.
Didn't used to get this way. 
Ain't getting old a wonderful experience?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> We got snow. We're still actually getting snow. Not a lot, but there is technically still white stuff falling from the sky. We had a delayed opening. Whatevs, I have snow tires.


Everything is shut down here.   And why not?   We received an inch and 3/4" of snowfall!


----------



## ceemac

I've got a beast of a snowblower with an 11hp Tecumseh motor. It vibrates a lot. So when you do your fall checkout, make sure all the bolts are tight. I didn't. The starter motor bolts loosened and the brackets on the starter motor case broke off. An unnecessary repair.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has an assignment for tonight and he is busily updating all the firmware on his cameras and lenses.  It has been awhile.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary has an assignment for tonight and he is busily updating all the firmware on his cameras and lenses.  It has been awhile.


Bad Gary.... [emoji12]


----------



## davidharmier60

On the subject of cameras...
My phone somehow took a perfect hit.
The forward facing camera has a broken lens and will no longer focus. 
So until I get a DSLR or at least a computer  you'll see no further pics from me.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

We got snow this morning. Did not keep me from my hour long walk though our city. The sculptures on the University campus in the city were all soaking wet black in the near dark light under curtains of flakes, sprankled with white dots. Magical. No camera on me though.


----------



## snowbear

Checking in from between Pittsburgh and Youngstown.  We had a dusting and slid on ice exiting the parking lot.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Checking in from between Pittsburgh and Youngstown.  We had a dusting and slid on ice exiting the parking lot.


Eek!   Parking lots can be treacherous since they don't get the attention that the main roads do.   Stay safe, Charlie!


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Checking in from between Pittsburgh and Youngstown.  We had a dusting and slid on ice exiting the parking lot.
> 
> 
> 
> Eek!   Parking lots can be treacherous since they don't get the attention that the main roads do.   Stay safe, Charlie!
Click to expand...

All interstates until we get to Michigan; everything’s looking good.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Gary has an assignment for tonight and he is busily updating all the firmware on his cameras and lenses.  It has been awhile.


Huh... I thought it would to search, "What is a snow-blower"....


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> On the subject of cameras...
> My phone somehow took a perfect hit.
> The forward facing camera has a broken lens and will no longer focus.
> So until I get a DSLR or at least a computer  you'll see no further pics from me.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Well don't that just suck!


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> STILL no propane
> But not enough people showed up to track up the 6 aisles I did make look great.
> I did have to take down the Marquee.
> She wanted me to put up a new set.
> But the letters were frozen in the tracks.
> There is no way new letters will go up there until the temp gets above 32 for a bit.
> The bank where I usually get boxes was closed for the freeze. So I got a box from our bank. Was happy to find out they weren't a whole box of 2017 or such.
> I have on thermal pants under my jeans.
> A flannel shirt over a t. And I have a space heater running trying to get warm.
> Didn't used to get this way.
> Ain't getting old a wonderful experience?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Start a GoFundMe page to get them an electric  LED marquee.  Sucks about your phone.


----------



## davidharmier60

My phones screen is all cracked too.
But it still works as good as it ever did.
I got no idea how to do Go-fund-me.
Don't do Twitter or Instagram. Gotta have at least $150 more saved to even think of a computer or a trip to Houston Camera Exchange. Life is just swell.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

For SquarePeg: My neighbor up the hill


----------



## SquarePeg

Before Beast goes to his new home, I will take a pic of him next to Beauty.


----------



## JonA_CT

Anyone sold anything in eBay recently? Worth the fees?

(My new D610 came in...full retail regalia which I was not expecting. I’m gonna flip it into a D8x0. Or a Fuji (jk)).


----------



## SquarePeg

there’s a sweet Xt2 and 35/2 on the Fuji US Buy Sell Trade Facebook page.


----------



## davidharmier60

That is all well and good. 
We are about to have Hot Dogs. 
Yummy!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

eBay takes 10% as fees, plus paypal? Woof.

I think I'll try to sell it on here and locally. Give it a couple weeks to see what happens.


----------



## JonA_CT

The naughty part of me wants to "return" it to Best Buy, claiming it was a gift, and that I really wanted a D750 or something instead. The SKU is right.

The nice part of me knows that would be extraordinarily dishonest.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> The naughty part of me wants to "return" it to Best Buy, claiming it was a gift, and that I really wanted a D750 or something instead. The SKU is right.
> 
> The nice part of me knows that would be extraordinarily dishonest.



I've seen some do this, its a slippry slope, and you are right about it being dishonest, better to follow the nice part.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> The naughty part of me wants to "return" it to Best Buy, claiming it was a gift, and that I really wanted a D750 or something instead. The SKU is right.
> 
> The nice part of me knows that would be extraordinarily dishonest.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've seen some do this, its a slippry slope, and you are right about it being dishonest, better to follow the nice part.
Click to expand...


It virtually always wins out for me. You’re right that it’s for the better.


----------



## jcdeboever

I missed @snowbear today, he was dickin around on the interstate, I was working. I set up my day to hit customers in that area and he got held up. I had brought my Fuji645Zi and my holga 120. I was going to do some funny s**t, but NOOOOOOOOO. 

Seriously, my heart goes out to him and his family for his loss. I pray for for his safe return home and his family finds comfort and strength in this precarious time.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's too bad you weren't able to connect, bummer sometimes when things don't work out as planned. Hope Charlie got home OK.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Charlie:  My condolences.  I hope your trip is quick and uneventful.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has just returned from shooting 'A Chorus Line'.  Three cameras and four lenses.  A XT2 w/40-150, XP2 w/10-24 & 16-55 and a XP1 w/Rokinon 8mm fish. Gary is wolfing down some ibuprofen for a sore back.  It sucks getting old. An excellent production.  So good, that at times Gary wanted to join in and start dancing.  He's downloading the images, waiting for the painkillers to kick in, snacking on an orange then off to bed.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- The orange is delightful.


----------



## snowbear

Thank you, my peeps, it means a lot to MLW and I.  We made it here without any issues.  We decided not to go to the viewing for a number of reasons.  The service is in a few hours, then we’ll head home, this afternoon.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Thank you, my peeps, it means a lot to MLW and I.  We made it here without any issues.  We decided not to go to the viewing for a number of reasons.  The service is in a few hours, then we’ll head home, this afternoon.


Be safe.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary has just returned from shooting 'A Chorus Line'.  Three cameras and four lenses.  A XT2 w/40-150, XP2 w/10-24 & 16-55 and a XP1 w/Rokinon 8mm fish. Gary is wolfing down some ibuprofen for a sore back.  It sucks getting old. An excellent production.  So good, that at times Gary wanted to join in and start dancing.  He's downloading the images, waiting for the painkillers to kick in, snacking on an orange then off to bed.



I found a trick for my back that works. My back is always a muscle related spasm. I lay on the floor and put a baseball under the area of challenge, and slowly rock on the baseball.it hurts and feels good at the same time, strange. It is very effective and seems to do the trick every time. I notice the improvement fairly quick, sometimes takes a couple days of the therapy if it's a pretty good pull.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Thank you, my peeps, it means a lot to MLW and I.  We made it here without any issues.  We decided not to go to the viewing for a number of reasons.  The service is in a few hours, then we’ll head home, this afternoon.



Sorry for your family’s loss.  Be careful out there.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has just returned from shooting 'A Chorus Line'.  Three cameras and four lenses.  A XT2 w/40-150, XP2 w/10-24 & 16-55 and a XP1 w/Rokinon 8mm fish. Gary is wolfing down some ibuprofen for a sore back.  It sucks getting old. An excellent production.  So good, that at times Gary wanted to join in and start dancing.  He's downloading the images, waiting for the painkillers to kick in, snacking on an orange then off to bed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I found a trick for my back that works. My back is always a muscle related spasm. I lay on the floor and put a baseball under the area of challenge, and slowly rock on the baseball.it hurts and feels good at the same time, strange. It is very effective and seems to do the trick every time. I notice the improvement fairly quick, sometimes takes a couple days of the therapy if it's a pretty good pull.
Click to expand...

Try rolling up a towel and placing it between the small of your back ant the car/truck seat when you drive.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> It sucks getting old.



True That! And yet the older the body becomes the more the mind seems adamant to accept the fact.


----------



## Frank F.

Guests tonight


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has just returned from shooting 'A Chorus Line'.  Three cameras and four lenses.  A XT2 w/40-150, XP2 w/10-24 & 16-55 and a XP1 w/Rokinon 8mm fish. Gary is wolfing down some ibuprofen for a sore back.  It sucks getting old. An excellent production.  So good, that at times Gary wanted to join in and start dancing.  He's downloading the images, waiting for the painkillers to kick in, snacking on an orange then off to bed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I found a trick for my back that works. My back is always a muscle related spasm. I lay on the floor and put a baseball under the area of challenge, and slowly rock on the baseball.it hurts and feels good at the same time, strange. It is very effective and seems to do the trick every time. I notice the improvement fairly quick, sometimes takes a couple days of the therapy if it's a pretty good pull.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Try rolling up a towel and placing it between the small of your back ant the car/truck seat when you drive.
Click to expand...

Gary has lumbar supports for his car, sofa and desk chair.  Gary would be much worse off without them.  The pain, most likely, is from old football injuries coming back to haunt him.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has just returned from shooting 'A Chorus Line'.  Three cameras and four lenses.  A XT2 w/40-150, XP2 w/10-24 & 16-55 and a XP1 w/Rokinon 8mm fish. Gary is wolfing down some ibuprofen for a sore back.  It sucks getting old. An excellent production.  So good, that at times Gary wanted to join in and start dancing.  He's downloading the images, waiting for the painkillers to kick in, snacking on an orange then off to bed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I found a trick for my back that works. My back is always a muscle related spasm. I lay on the floor and put a baseball under the area of challenge, and slowly rock on the baseball.it hurts and feels good at the same time, strange. It is very effective and seems to do the trick every time. I notice the improvement fairly quick, sometimes takes a couple days of the therapy if it's a pretty good pull.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Try rolling up a towel and placing it between the small of your back ant the car/truck seat when you drive.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary has lumbar supports for his car, sofa and desk chair.  Gary would be much worse off without them.  The pain, most likely, is from old football injuries coming back to haunt him.
Click to expand...


At least one of my Dad's knee replacements are due to an old football injury. I'm sure 20 years of standing on steel decks and living in a place where ladders are the primary mode of transportation didn't help.

I can't wait for my own. I had labrum repair done in my shoulder 5 years ago. It was a weightlifting injury, or so I thought...the MRI showed that the entire labrum had microtears, which I guess is pretty normal for the years of football that I played. The weightlifting merely accelerated the inevitable. The ortho said we'd become even better friends as I got older.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Charlie that's what we did with the kids in EI, would use a baby blanket or soft towel and roll it into a little bolster. Not a bad idea for a little back support etc. 

Yeah Jon, it's all downhill now! lol I tore ligaments in an ankle in college, later on broke that ankle, then knee surgery on that leg... From what I was told by a therapist once you do something it's more prone to further injury, ailments, whatever.


----------



## davidharmier60

I feel pretty much every one of my 57.9 years. I had 5 and a bit over 3/4 hours.
Put up the Marquee. They had finally gotten propane. Yesterday I heard something and if I hadn't explored what I heard our house could have burned down. 
That would have sucked a BIG ONE!
I'm going to make myself some sort of sandwich. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Stayed across the street from the Cabela’s in Dundee, MI.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm not a hunter or fisherman, but I do enjoy many other outdoor activities and find that Cabelas has the best outdoor gear for the price. I have a Gore-Tex rain shell that is 12-13 years old (damn...I had never thought about it) that is still in great shape and I still wear whenever the rains come.


----------



## terri

I love my Gore-Tex hiking britches (can snap off around the knee to become shorts), and my Gore-Tex hiking boots.    This stuff has really stood the test of time.   I like prowling around Cabelas or any of these outdoors kind of places.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has just returned from shooting 'A Chorus Line'.  Three cameras and four lenses.  A XT2 w/40-150, XP2 w/10-24 & 16-55 and a XP1 w/Rokinon 8mm fish. Gary is wolfing down some ibuprofen for a sore back.  It sucks getting old. An excellent production.  So good, that at times Gary wanted to join in and start dancing.  He's downloading the images, waiting for the painkillers to kick in, snacking on an orange then off to bed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I found a trick for my back that works. My back is always a muscle related spasm. I lay on the floor and put a baseball under the area of challenge, and slowly rock on the baseball.it hurts and feels good at the same time, strange. It is very effective and seems to do the trick every time. I notice the improvement fairly quick, sometimes takes a couple days of the therapy if it's a pretty good pull.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Try rolling up a towel and placing it between the small of your back ant the car/truck seat when you drive.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary has lumbar supports for his car, sofa and desk chair.  Gary would be much worse off without them.  The pain, most likely, is from old football injuries coming back to haunt him.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> At least one of my Dad's knee replacements are due to an old football injury. I'm sure 20 years of standing on steel decks and living in a place where ladders are the primary mode of transportation didn't help.
> 
> I can't wait for my own. I had labrum repair done in my shoulder 5 years ago. It was a weightlifting injury, or so I thought...the MRI showed that the entire labrum had microtears, which I guess is pretty normal for the years of football that I played. The weightlifting merely accelerated the inevitable. The ortho said we'd become even better friends as I got older.
Click to expand...

LOL regarding the ortho.  Yes, the stress of working out will accelerate the whole process of damaged goods failing sooner.  (See Gary's post of Tom dying, but no longer dead.)  Gary knee's are good, his ankles are less than good, his lower back sucks, his brain in dead ... but not due to football.)


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's long awaited soda maker/carbonation thingie came in yesterday.  Gary's been drinking a lot of water. It works okay ... but he is disappointed in the size and volume of the bubbles.  He chose this one because the maker claims that one can carbonate most any liquid ... including, but not limited to: wines, fruit juices, et cetera.  The manufacturer of the other device states only to carbonate water then augment the soda with their very expensive flavorings.  Gary likes carbonated water and carbonated flavored water.  Today he's gonna try to make 7-Up ... he picked limes, three different types of oranges and lemons ... so maybe it will be 5-Up instead.


----------



## snowbear

It Rocks.


----------



## SquarePeg

Anxiously awaiting the arrival of a lens I ordered .  It is "out for delivery" today!  Had a bit of a GAS attack the other day - a very long and interesting trip down the ebay rabbit hole...will tell all in a later thread.  The dog barks every time anyone walks by or pulls into any driveway on the street.  I have been to the door no less than 10 times today but nothing!


----------



## smoke665

Well this trip just keeps getting better for us. This park we are in is so tight, that you can't park normally, you have to pull in sideways parallel to the road. My idiot, neighbor put a bike rack out for free along the road, "directly" in front of my truck. So, when I got in to leave it was below my line of sight, meaning when I pulled out, my outside dual caught it, and kicked it into my truck, putting a large scrape and scratches on the rear fender. The really bad side of me wants to return the favor by dumping a box of roofing nails that I want to get rid of around his car, but the good side of me is fighting valiantly to contain the bad side. Who will win is anyone's guess.


----------



## SquarePeg

Lots of people having to resist the dark side these days. I sense an imbalance in The Force.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Lots of people having to resist the dark side these days. I sense an imbalance in The Force.



This is true, but "Once you start down the dark patb, forever will it dominate your destiny....consume you it will".


----------



## SquarePeg

When your new lens comes and it’s dark and cold out


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Well this trip just keeps getting better for us. This park we are in is so tight, that you can't park normally, you have to pull in sideways parallel to the road. My idiot, neighbor put a bike rack out for free along the road, "directly" in front of my truck. So, when I got in to leave it was below my line of sight, meaning when I pulled out, my outside dual caught it, and kicked it into my truck, putting a large scrape and scratches on the rear fender. The really bad side of me wants to return the favor by dumping a box of roofing nails that I want to get rid of around his car, but the good side of me is fighting valiantly to contain the bad side. Who will win is anyone's guess.


Moderate the dark side... just use a few nails, not a whole box!


----------



## smoke665

Moo


tirediron said:


> Moderate the dark



Or hope that karma will strike?


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Moo
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Moderate the dark
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Or hope that karma will strike?
Click to expand...

It never hurts to give Karma a helping hand now and again.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning peeps. Friday would be it for normal people. I get to it again tomorrow. 
Pretty decent mug of coffee.
I don't really have a dark side fighting to get out. There was a thing on Facebook with 24 things. Every one you didn't do.
I got 19. Had a pretty sedate life.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Good morning!
We made it home without incident.  Well, I had to decide whether, or not to get a Dille Bar at the Dairy Queen stand in Breezewood (I declined).  Off to work, in a few; going to be finishing up the data collection for the Fire Risk pilot area, and start on the map series.

POTY is a 4-way tie, so a panel of moderators is being consulted.  I'll have the winner announced this evening.


----------



## JonA_CT

I had avocado toast with a drizzle of olive oil and an over easy egg on top for breakfast this morning. I'm such a millennial.


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning Hosers!  It’s been a short week made even shorter by a busy schedule. And here we are at Friday again so soon!  Pats vs Jags on Sunday. Not sure if Brady is really hurt (hand) or if B.B. is just screwing with people.  Hoping for the latter.  

Just watched the B.B. presser which is terrible as far as sharing any relevant info but hilarious due to its lack of content and BB’s deadpan delivery when asked an obvious question.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> I had avocado toast with a drizzle of olive oil and an over easy egg on top for breakfast this morning. I'm such a millennial.



That sounds delish!

I had a homemade granola bar and (also homemade) egg muffin. I'm such a...yeah, I don't know what I am.

The thing I find amusing is that so much that is said about Millenials ("They're the first generation to do X or Y or Z..." or "They'll be the ruin of us all!") was pretty much said already about us Gen X-ers. We're just a smaller generation and don't get the attention. And we don't care, either


----------



## JonA_CT

Oh, we definitely get a bad rap. It's a huge range of years though, and I feel like a lot of the things affecting us were actually caused by other generations, haha. I graduated college (the price of which, when adjusted for inflation, was the highest ever) right as the bottom fell out of the stock market. I was incredibly lucky to find work. There were just no opportunities for many of my classmates. My friends who didn't go to college didn't have a nice unionized blue-collar job to walk into after high school either. 

But hey...whatever. I have friends working at Space-X. I have friends doing research in toxicology. I have friends leading social movements. I have plenty of friends who are working for our children. Our legacy will be just fine.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> I had avocado toast with a drizzle of olive oil and an over easy egg on top for breakfast this morning. I'm such a millennial.


How the **** do you get an avocado in a toaster?


----------



## SquarePeg

All old people must complain that the next generation are a bunch of spoiled useless fools. It’s a rite of passage into senility .


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Our legacy will be just fine.



As long as they stop eating Tide Pods. LOL Don't think my generation and quite a few after needed warning labels to "Don't eat the soap". Though I will admit there were a few times in my childhood when I "unwillingly" chomped on the bar of the day when my Grandma heard me spewing not so nice words. I can tell you Ivory was nasty, Zest was a little better.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Oh, we definitely get a bad rap. It's a huge range of years though, and I feel like a lot of the things affecting us were actually caused by other generations, haha. I graduated college (the price of which, when adjusted for inflation, was the highest ever) right as the bottom fell out of the stock market. I was incredibly lucky to find work. There were just no opportunities for many of my classmates. My friends who didn't go to college didn't have a nice unionized blue-collar job to walk into after high school either.
> 
> But hey...whatever. I have friends working at Space-X. I have friends doing research in toxicology. I have friends leading social movements. I have plenty of friends who are working for our children. Our legacy will be just fine.



Yeah, we did, too. And now apparently, we're supposed to be saviors? 
Why Generation X Might Be Our Last, Best Hope
There are some good points in this and some eye-roll-worthy points. But that might just be my deep-seated cynicism and whateverism talking 

This one is a bit more interesting:
Whatever happened to Generation X?


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our legacy will be just fine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As long as they stop eating Tide Pods. LOL Don't think my generation and quite a few after needed warning labels to "Don't eat the soap". Though I will admit there were a few times in my childhood when I "unwillingly" chomped on the bar of the day when my Grandma heard me spewing not so nice words. I can tell you Ivory was nasty, Zest was a little better.
Click to expand...


To be fair, I'm not entirely sure those kids count as Millenials. Dumb, yes, but not sure you can indict the entire generation.

And I'm willing to bet the farm that every.single.generation has done stupid stuff when they were teenagers.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ...And I'm willing to bet the farm that every.single.generation has done stupid stuff when they were teenagers.


Yeahbut... it's perfectly acceptable to do stupid stuff if said stupid stuff is preceded by the phrase, "Hold my beer and watch this!"


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> And I'm willing to bet the farm that every.single.generation has done stupid stuff when they were teenagers



Yup, one of my college roommates stayed high from the time we met till the day we graduated. He enjoyed a wide variety of the drug of choice in the 60's. Still managed to graduate with a descent GPA. He went on to become a respected educator at a high school in the state of Washington, where he retired a couple years back. Not sure if or when he ever stopped the drugs.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...And I'm willing to bet the farm that every.single.generation has done stupid stuff when they were teenagers.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeahbut... it's perfectly acceptable to do stupid stuff if said stupid stuff is preceded by the phrase, "Hold my beer and watch this!"
Click to expand...


Well, of course!


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And I'm willing to bet the farm that every.single.generation has done stupid stuff when they were teenagers
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, one of my college roommates stayed high from the time we met till the day we graduated. He enjoyed a wide variety of the drug of choice in the 60's. Still managed to graduate with a descent GPA. He went on to become a respected educator at a high school in the state of Washington, where he retired a couple years back. Not sure if or when he ever stopped the drugs.
Click to expand...


I've known people who are _more_ coherent when high. Some brains can get real spinny real fast without something to slow them down. I have, um, no idea what that's like, nope, not me, nosiree Bob! 

ETA: (I just have different ways of dealing with it.)


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...And I'm willing to bet the farm that every.single.generation has done stupid stuff when they were teenagers.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeahbut... it's perfectly acceptable to do stupid stuff if said stupid stuff is preceded by the phrase, "Hold my beer and watch this!"
Click to expand...


And that was usually followed with "you're not gonna believe this"


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> And that was usually followed with "you're not gonna believe this _constable_"


Fixed


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And I'm willing to bet the farm that every.single.generation has done stupid stuff when they were teenagers
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yup, one of my college roommates stayed high from the time we met till the day we graduated. He enjoyed a wide variety of the drug of choice in the 60's. Still managed to graduate with a descent GPA. He went on to become a respected educator at a high school in the state of Washington, where he retired a couple years back. Not sure if or when he ever stopped the drugs.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've known people who are _more_ coherent when high. Some brains can get real spinny real fast without something to slow them down. I have, um, no idea what that's like, nope, not me, nosiree Bob!
> 
> ETA: (I just have different ways of dealing with it.)
Click to expand...


There’s a reason I have a borderline obsession with coffee. It works a lot better than some of the stuff the doctor wanted me to try.


----------



## davidharmier60

My Sister speaks of tasting soap bars.
I remember no such thing.
Because of the deep freeze checks are supposed to be here about noon.
I'm clocked out with about 4.5 hours. 
Enjoying a leisurely breakfast and sort of planning to still be in town at noon.
Will report later. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our legacy will be just fine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As long as they stop eating Tide Pods. LOL Don't think my generation and quite a few after needed warning labels to "Don't eat the soap". Though I will admit there were a few times in my childhood when I "unwillingly" chomped on the bar of the day when my Grandma heard me spewing not so nice words. I can tell you Ivory was nasty, Zest was a little better.
Click to expand...


We used to drink Aqua Velva out in the field, in the Marines. Talk about a problem. You could get drunk and smell good at the same time.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I lost my blue thing in the creek Mr. Ranger sir.


----------



## vintagesnaps

In the Roaring '20's they had flappers and jazz and gin. 

Instead of Tide pods (and what do they expect detergent to taste like??) can't they just eat Pixie sticks? or Pop Rocks??


----------



## SquarePeg

Do they get high off the Tide pods?   What’s the point?


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Do they get high off the Tide pods?   What’s the point?


I seem to recall baby's and old people eating them because they looked like candy. Not sure though.


----------



## Frank F.

We had a storm in Germany yesterday. 8 dead out of 80 Million. I am alive. They stopped all train traffic, many people were left abandoned on random train stations


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Oh, we definitely get a bad rap. It's a huge range of years though, and I feel like a lot of the things affecting us were actually caused by other generations, haha. I graduated college (the price of which, when adjusted for inflation, was the highest ever) right as the bottom fell out of the stock market. I was incredibly lucky to find work. There were just no opportunities for many of my classmates. My friends who didn't go to college didn't have a nice unionized blue-collar job to walk into after high school either.
> 
> But hey...whatever. I have friends working at Space-X. I have friends doing research in toxicology. I have friends leading social movements. I have plenty of friends who are working for our children. Our legacy will be just fine.


Oh please ... you guys are just a bunch of snowflakes.


----------



## Frank F.

tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had avocado toast with a drizzle of olive oil and an over easy egg on top for breakfast this morning. I'm such a millennial.
> 
> 
> 
> How the **** do you get an avocado in a toaster?
Click to expand...


I guess they were cheating and only toasted the toast. The whole thing is crooked.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our legacy will be just fine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As long as they stop eating Tide Pods. LOL Don't think my generation and quite a few after needed warning labels to "Don't eat the soap". Though I will admit there were a few times in my childhood when I "unwillingly" chomped on the bar of the day when my Grandma heard me spewing not so nice words. I can tell you Ivory was nasty, Zest was a little better.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We used to drink Aqua Velva out in the field, in the Marines. Talk about a problem. You could get drunk and smell good at the same time.
Click to expand...

Until you lost your cookies ...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's been eating avocados on toast/tortillas forever. It's not a "my generation" thing.  It's just that your generation is the first willing to pay $50 for it.  BTW- Gary's avocados are almost ready for picking!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is taking a break from processing as an attempt to get his eyes functioning normally again.  This is Game Day and Mary Lou is busy working on some Hollywood Bowl tickets for Playboy Jazz and James Taylor.  The first seats for sale are these Not-For-Profit seats where a portion of the proceeds go to charity. Man, they are ranging from $500 to $800 each.  It is 62F presently, not gonna rise above the mid 60's today.


----------



## ceemac

SquarePeg said:


> All old people must complain that the next generation are a bunch of spoiled useless fools. It’s a rite of passage into senility


We used to, but now they're paying for my old age pension.


----------



## Gary A.

Speaking of food ... Gary is dialing in the soda maker in order to get the desired small bubbles. But, he has squeezed in some lime and it is simply refreshing and easy.  Gary brewed up the last of his coffee this morning. It is roasting time ...  then give Sweet Maria's a call for more beans.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Terri: Hey, we just hit by a bit of an earthquake.  Got Maggie all startled up.  Glad you're not here.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Do they get high off the Tide pods?   What’s the point?



Nope, they get youtube fame.


----------



## Gary A.

The problem with the Hollywood Bowl is they release the seats slowly and not all at once or by section.  So you have to wait until they seats you want are released ... like aisle in the Superseat section, then hope nobody nabs them before you,  They are going fast. Mary Lou is a pro at this, she has her laptop, tablet and phone all dialed into the Bowl.


----------



## JonA_CT

Somebody hit the line hard for my D610 via Craigslist. I'll speaking with him tonight to finalize the deal, but it looks like I'll be walking away with more money than I thought.


----------



## Gary A.

Annnnnd ... we have tickets for Playboy Jazz and James Taylor.


----------



## davidharmier60

Got a check for $205. In the Grand scheme of things it isn't much. But in Daves world it's pretty good. My Sister took $120.
Gets my "mad money" back up to an even $200. Should be a  Canon 40D out there for that....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

How many SquarePegs does it take to refold a 24” round reflector?  I don’t know it’s never been done.


----------



## JonA_CT

Number of square pegs to fold 43” reflector = number of SquarePeg to fold 24” reflector squared


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> . I'll speaking with him tonight to finalize the deal,



Sure you know this but there were some problems around our part of the country, with people getting robbed of valuables when they met prospective buyers to complete transactions.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> . I'll speaking with him tonight to finalize the deal,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sure you know this but there were some problems around our part of the country, with people getting robbed of valuables when they met prospective buyers to complete transactions.
Click to expand...


Yes. I always meet in public places. The lobby of our police department is open for these types of transactions, so that will be our likely meeting spot.


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg I have one of those large round reflectors that has a spring wire around the exterior. If you carefully reach over the top, grab the opposite edge pull toward you while twisting each hand in opposite directions and you're lucky it will magically coil into a nice neat little package. If you're not lucky it will become a man eating monster from which there is no escape.


----------



## SquarePeg

After 3 YouTube videos and 4 new curse words, it’s done.  Going to have to practice with that before I take it out anywhere.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Thought for a minute coming into the middle of this it sounded like somebody was trying to put away a pup tent, and there was a geometry lesson going. Yeah, it's a Friday, I think it's time for the week to be done.

It supposedly is warming up but I see little to no snow melting yet. Getting nice and sunny at least.


----------



## SquarePeg

Our city’s police station has that too.  I used it for most of my Nikon gear sales.  Great way to weed out the jerks and make the legit buyers and sellers comfortable.  I had a few supposedly local people that disappeared as soon as I said that was the only place I’d meet.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> . I'll speaking with him tonight to finalize the deal,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sure you know this but there were some problems around our part of the country, with people getting robbed of valuables when they met prospective buyers to complete transactions.
Click to expand...

Local police out here have set up benches/tables/rooms inside stations for Craigslist type of transaction.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> @ Terri: Hey, we just hit by a bit of an earthquake.  Got Maggie all startled up.  Glad you're not here.


That makes two of us, bub.    



Glad everyone's okay - Miss Maggie has probably already forgotten about it!


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. I grew up in the Bootheel of Missouri, 25 miles or so from the New Madrid Fault line. Tremors were a pretty regular occurrence, occasionally they would be strong enough to knock items off of shelves, but I can only remember one occasion where I actually saw the ground roll. It scared the **&* out of me, as a teen I thought the world was coming to an end. Fortunately as quickly as it happened, it was over.  I'll pass on the earthquakes, at least with the tornadoes most times you see them coming, giving you a running chance.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Terri: Hey, we just hit by a bit of an earthquake.  Got Maggie all startled up.  Glad you're not here.
> 
> 
> 
> That makes two of us, bub.
> 
> 
> 
> Glad everyone's okay - Miss Maggie has probably already forgotten about it!
Click to expand...

No big deal, the house had a slight shake, Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary looked at each other ... then it was over. No big deal.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> How many SquarePegs does it take to refold a 24” round reflector?  I don’t know it’s never been done.


Want to have a go with my 40x80 collapsible background?


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> No big deal, the house had a slight shake, Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary looked at each other ... then it was over. No big deal



I seem to remember it was like a deep vibration or low rumble that you felt in your bones, or something to that effect. Weird feeling!


----------



## snowbear

Sharon, It’s got to be easier than folding a band saw blade, which is very pointy.

I’ve only felt one quake - the 8 point something that hit Mineral, VA a few years back.  I thought it was kind of cool but I was at home with only a ground floor.  The office (NOAA, 7th floor) decided to shake North-South, then East-West.  I probably would have had a different opinion had I been there.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Sharon, It’s got to be easier than folding a band saw blade, which is very pointy.



You know I thought the same thing. I've still got the scars from a 1" blade that refused to cooperate.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Sharon, It’s got to be easier than folding a band saw blade, which is very pointy.
> 
> I’ve only felt one quake - the 8 point something that hit Mineral, VA a few years back.  I thought it was kind of cool but I was at home with only a ground floor.  The office (NOAA, 7th floor) decided to shake North-South, then East-West.  I probably would have had a different opinion had I been there.


I've experienced one, years ago in Georgia, and atm I can't recall where the epicenter was.

A strange phenomenon.   You don't have to have ever felt one to know instantly when one starts.   The ground is moving under you, and you have absolutely no control over the outcome.   Mild quakes like what I experienced can be kind of cool - our Earth shifting and showing she's alive.   I would imagine that feeling vanishes the instant a larger magnitude is felt!


----------



## limr

I was living in Istanbul but visiting home during the really big quake in 1999 (1999 İzmit earthquake - Wikipedia) but was back in the city for all the aftershocks and a few more weaker quakes. I think the strongest one was in the 5 point range. It was quite a ride. I was in my ex's apartment on the 7th floor. Could see the walls swaying. My ex was in the bathroom and apparently couldn't stop mid-stream. During another 5-pointer, I was in the middle of giving a grammar test. The quake hit, we evacuated the building, had a smoke, went back in for some coffee, and then finished the test.


----------



## davidharmier60

There have been a few bangs that shook our house. But nothing got destroyed where we think the bangs are coming from. 
I'll take a hurricane over a tornado or earthquake any day.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sharon, It’s got to be easier than folding a band saw blade, which is very pointy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You know I thought the same thing. I've still got the scars from a 1" blade that refused to cooperate.
Click to expand...

  They're a good teaching tool though... you learn quickly!


----------



## ceemac

tirediron said:


> They're a good teaching tool though... you learn quickly!



I've never really appreciated the fact that we live in a world where there are so many learning opportunities.


----------



## snowbear

Yep - I learn something, everyday . . . a lot of people are jammin' idiots.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Yep - I learn something, everyday . . . a lot of people are jammin' idiots.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has been through hurricanes and a zillion earthquakes.  He’ll take an earthquake any day over a hurricane provided he’s in a place with good and enforced earthquake construction code ... i.e. California and Japan.


----------



## jcdeboever

I just woke up from a little nap about an hour ago, watching TV. @limr was my teacher, college photography class. In my dream, I wanted to make her proud of my work. I kept trying everything, she wasn't into my work. @Gary A. was in the class and he was the teacher's pet, he even came into the darkroom, looked at my experimentation and said I was in big trouble. I was trying to get an artistic pic of my pet monkey in the darkroom. Gary was saying I was over agitating and I was stupid, stupid, stupid. He said to make Leo happy, back off on agitation and add pieces of Styrofoam to developer, three pieces the size of chicklets. WTF? Thats all I recall. Geez....


----------



## SquarePeg

seek help, lol


----------



## Gary A.

If Gary had that dream ... he’d wouldn’t sleep again.


----------



## davidharmier60

I don't remember dreaming. The phone started it's noise at 4am just like usual.
Going to try a Pacific Rim knife today.
See if it is a good gum and tape remover. 
That's all I got. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Was a little better than 5 hour day. 
The edge rolled on the Frost Steel Warrior split spring whittler. But that isn't so different from a USA knife. It'll be easy enough to fix on a Steel sharpener. 
Gonna check PO and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Whatever you ate for dinner last night JC, don't eat it ever again.

It's Hockey Day in Minnesota. High school hockey is on now, and yes I'll watch high school hockey. Here they come, intermission's over, and they're playing outside. 

The PA announcer just said Let's play hockey! and as soon as they dropped the puck, some kid scored. That has to be the fastest goal I've ever seen.

Obviously, I have nothing going on this weekend... lol bye week for the local college team, but I'm pretty happy watching hockey on Tv and messing with some craft stuff. Whether I actually get anything done beyond piddle shittin' around remains to be seen.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey, there's a coffee for Hockey Day in Minnesota! by Caribou Coffee in Somewhere, Minnesota. That's how to play outdoor hockey!


----------



## davidharmier60

The deep freeze is done here (at least for now) so if there were to be hockey it would have to be indoors. Just fooling around with pennies. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Huh. The camera in my phone has decided to work. A place on my desk. 




Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou are having a NetFlix afternoon. It is a cool, windy 64F outside ... we're bundled up on the recliners watching "Get Out" and eating Dots.


----------



## terri

Just saw The Post this afternoon.    Highly recommend!


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Just saw The Post this afternoon.    Highly recommend!


We alllllmost saw that yesterday. Then sumptin' came up.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I was trying to get an artistic pic of my pet monkey in the darkroom.



What?? Pet monkey, artistic, darkroom??? JC I suspect even Sigmund himself would be puzzled with your dreams.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Whatever you ate for dinner last night JC, don't eat it ever again.
> 
> It's Hockey Day in Minnesota. High school hockey is on now, and yes I'll watch high school hockey. Here they come, intermission's over, and they're playing outside.
> 
> The PA announcer just said Let's play hockey! and as soon as they dropped the puck, some kid scored. That has to be the fastest goal I've ever seen.
> 
> Obviously, I have nothing going on this weekend... lol bye week for the local college team, but I'm pretty happy watching hockey on Tv and messing with some craft stuff. Whether I actually get anything done beyond piddle shittin' around remains to be seen.


I had pork belly and collared greens.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was trying to get an artistic pic of my pet monkey in the darkroom.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What?? Pet monkey, artistic, darkroom??? JC I suspect even Sigmund himself would be puzzled with your dreams.
Click to expand...

I have a pet monkey in my dreams a lot. I don't dream a lot but when I do, he is in there. He talks, smokes cigarettes, drinks olde English 500, and likes to fart and laugh. Haven't a clue. I like him.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Gary and Mary Lou are having a NetFlix afternoon. It is a cool, windy 64F outside ... we're bundled up on the recliners watching "Get Out" and eating Dots.



This is hilarious because 64 with a good breeze is prime outdoor weather around here.  Anything from 60-75 is my kind of day for a hike in the woods or walk on the beach or a day exploring a new place.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou is a bit under the weather.


----------



## SquarePeg

Sorry to hear that.  Stay well out there. Avoid crowded places and use hand sanitizer constantly.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou is a bit under the weather.



Hope she's out from under quickly and it's not the flu that's been such a problem here.


----------



## JonA_CT

We had a tall set of bookshelves bow out in the middle which caused a small catastrophe today.

My wife called the “bare wood” store about a set of the same size. They wanted $600 for a 78” by 36” bookshelf. Unfinished.

So I took an impromptu trip to IKEA. I hate impromptu trips to IKEA. I also hate the activities that follow impromptu trips to IKEA.


----------



## SquarePeg

I put together a whole bedroom set from there.  Took 2 days and my back was killing me after!  Sturdy stuff though and can’t beat the price.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> I put together a whole bedroom set from there.  Took 2 days and my back was killing me after!  Sturdy stuff though and can’t beat the price.



Yeah, I have a dresser from there that took a while to put together, but is holding up extremely well. I keep forgetting about them, though I might be buying some new stuff later this year and will be checking them out.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary and Mary Lou are having a NetFlix afternoon. It is a cool, windy 64F outside ... we're bundled up on the recliners watching "Get Out" and eating Dots.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is hilarious because 64 with a good breeze is prime outdoor weather around here.  Anything from 60-75 is my kind of day for a hike in the woods or walk on the beach or a day exploring a new place.
Click to expand...

I'll admit ... it is easy to get soft out here.  (Ask your nephew.)


----------



## pixmedic

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

That definitely fits in the “show us your curves” challenge!


----------



## pixmedic

SquarePeg said:


> That definitely fits in the “show us your curves” challenge!


It was supposed to be posted there. Not sure how I wound up in this thread. 

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Good morning all. I lived through another night. My bedroom dresser and chest were made by my grandfather. They will be here LONG after I'm gone.

Other than that Mrs. Lincoln how did you like the play?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

pixmedic said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> That definitely fits in the “show us your curves” challenge!
> 
> 
> 
> It was supposed to be posted there. Not sure how I wound up in this thread.
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

It's like any other black hole: it just sucks in everything around it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  This is the second day in a row that Gary hasn't started his day with a cup of coffee.  He's been too lazy to roast a batch or search through the cupboards for "regular" coffee. Cocoa is readily available and within reach ... which has become Gary's morning beverage. 

In the Los Angeles Times a wonderful spread of photos covering the Women's March. The front page photo is especially nice with City Hall in the background.


----------



## Gary A.

It is 48F @ 8:33 a.m. ... much too cold for hot cocoa in the patio, so Gary is indoors, reading the paper, Miss Maggie at his feet reminding him of the daily morning walks.

More yard work today and photo processing.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> It is 48F @ 8:33 a.m. ... much too cold for hot cocoa in the patio, so Gary is indoors, reading the paper, Miss Maggie at his feet reminding him of the daily morning walks.
> 
> More yard work today and photo processing.



Ahh poor Gary. It's 74 here and sunny.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> It is 48F @ 8:33 a.m. ... *much too cold *for hot cocoa in the patio...


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is 48F @ 8:33 a.m. ... much too cold for hot cocoa in the patio, so Gary is indoors, reading the paper, Miss Maggie at his feet reminding him of the daily morning walks.
> 
> More yard work today and photo processing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ahh poor Gary. It's 74 here and sunny.
Click to expand...


I would be depressed as hell if that were the weather today. It's January. That's wrong.

I would, however, take that as a high for July and August. Anything over 75 is pretty much hell for me.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is 48F @ 8:33 a.m. ... *much too cold *for hot cocoa in the patio...
Click to expand...


It’s 46 and I’m wearing a t-shirt and shorts haha


----------



## JonA_CT

Pats fans are whipped up into a frenzy. I honestly feel like half of their “fans” down here don’t watch until the playoffs.


----------



## vintagesnaps

So somebody's playing football on a Sunday, huh? lol I'm half watching men on ice, but I'm not into these teams; gotta wait til 3 for Notre Dame and then minor pro at the mistake on the lake.


I must say, I am shocked! shocked!!! I say, to find out Gary isn't drinking coffee. That 'cold' 40 degrees must have frozen his brain.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> would, however, take that as a high for July and August. Anything over 75 is pretty much hell for me.



I don't do cold anymore. Temperatures below 68 are to cold. I also don't do heat anymore. Temperatures above 75. I'm slightly picky!


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> would, however, take that as a high for July and August. Anything over 75 is pretty much hell for me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't do cold anymore. Temperatures below 68 are to cold. I also don't do heat anymore. Temperatures above 75. I'm slightly picky!
Click to expand...


I have a wider range of acceptable temperatures, except mine trend lower as I get older. I am even less tolerant of heat than I used to be.


----------



## davidharmier60

If you are intolerant of heat you'd best stay far away from Texas. Our water tank gets out of balance. Too much water and not enough air. I'm in the process of correcting the problem. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is 48F @ 8:33 a.m. ... *much too cold *for hot cocoa in the patio...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It’s 46 and I’m wearing a t-shirt and shorts haha
Click to expand...

One too many football head injuries.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> So somebody's playing football on a Sunday, huh? lol I'm half watching men on ice, but I'm not into these teams; gotta wait til 3 for Notre Dame and then minor pro at the mistake on the lake.
> 
> 
> I must say, I am shocked! shocked!!! I say, to find out Gary isn't drinking coffee. That 'cold' 40 degrees must have frozen his brain.


LOL ... (Gary too is a fan of Rick's.)


----------



## smoke665

So here's a question for the women and men to answer. My wife and I keep our own things picked up, but on "joint custody" items my DW seems to get a mental block on putting them away when we are done with them, leaving them for me, even though she knows where they go and could just as easily put them away.  God love her she will make 10 times the effort to move something around, until in frustration I finally give in and put the item up. Anyone else have a spouse that does this.


----------



## Frank F.

My "spoil the kids" paedagogic concept works! The son has a sense for good wine. Yea. Spoiled. Knows it is better to not drink than to drink the bad stuff.


----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> If you are intolerant of heat you'd best stay far away from Texas. Our water tank gets out of balance. Too much water and not enough air. I'm in the process of correcting the problem.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Don't worry, avoiding Texas is already a solid plan.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you are intolerant of heat you'd best stay far away from Texas. Our water tank gets out of balance. Too much water and not enough air. I'm in the process of correcting the problem.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't worry, avoiding Texas is already a solid plan.
Click to expand...


I agree. Partially...well...you know, and partially, because my in-laws live there, haha.


----------



## SquarePeg

I know you non New Englaners don’t want to hear this but...  see you at the Super Bowl Hosers!


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> I know you non New Englaners don’t want to hear this but...  see you at the Super Bowl Hosers!


Congrats. Brady is good as they get.


----------



## Gary A.

A very very pleasant day for Gary. A long walk for Miss Maggie. Even thought she still has stitches we let her off the leash for some old fashion dog romping and fun. It was wild as Maggie cut loose after two weeks of worth of rather sedentary existence. Four dogs plus Maggie ran and tumbled all morning. It made feel good to see her having so much fun. Then some yard work, mow and trim the back, mulched an entire persimmon tree worth of leaves. Mary Lou attacked the roses, pruning the hell out of them. She heavily prune the basil so Gary is de-stemming the leaves from the pruned branches for pesto.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I know you non New Englaners don’t want to hear this but...  see you at the Super Bowl Hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats. Brady is good as they get.
Click to expand...


Brady's an epic tool.

Go not-Pats!


----------



## Gary A.

And ... as the sun is starting to set, Gary popped open a Mendoza Malbec from Argentina. Perfect.


----------



## davidharmier60

We just had broiled Tilapia, baked sweet potatoes and broccoli. I feel more healthy already. Dad and Sister leave in the morning just after I do. The VA wants him at 7am. About 30 minutes and I'm calling it a day.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I know you non New Englaners don’t want to hear this but...  see you at the Super Bowl Hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats. Brady is good as they get.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Brady's an epic tool.
> 
> Go not-Pats!
Click to expand...

Yup,.the ultimate tool to win a super bowl.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I know you non New Englaners don’t want to hear this but...  see you at the Super Bowl Hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats. Brady is good as they get.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Brady's an epic tool.
> 
> Go not-Pats!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yup,.the ultimate tool to win a super bowl.
Click to expand...


Yeah, that's really not what I am talking about.


----------



## waday




----------



## Gary A.

Gary had a nice chat with Mike (Max's human), while the dogs played.  Mike attended the Women's March and said there were 600,000 ... man ... what a ton of photo opps Gary missed. *sigh* ... back to the Malbec.


----------



## snowbear

Gads, is it _that_ time of year again?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary had a nice chat with Mike (Max's human), while the dogs played.  Mike attended the Women's March and said there were 600,000 ... man ... what a ton of photo opps Gary missed. *sigh* ... back to the Malbec.


Me too, there were a bunch of ladies down at the Capitol. I was serving at the prison today.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I know you non New Englaners don’t want to hear this but...  see you at the Super Bowl Hosers!


It was a good game, another come from behind win.  Congrats to the Pats!

Meanwhile, the Eagles are stuffing the Vikings.   I thought this would be a more competitive game. 

Interesting Super Bowl shaping up!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary had a nice chat with Mike (Max's human), while the dogs played.  Mike attended the Women's March and said there were 600,000 ... man ... what a ton of photo opps Gary missed. *sigh* ... back to the Malbec.
> 
> 
> 
> Me too, there were a bunch of ladies down at the Capitol. I was serving at the prison today.
Click to expand...

Serving what?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary had a nice chat with Mike (Max's human), while the dogs played.  Mike attended the Women's March and said there were 600,000 ... man ... what a ton of photo opps Gary missed. *sigh* ... back to the Malbec.
> 
> 
> 
> Me too, there were a bunch of ladies down at the Capitol. I was serving at the prison today.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Serving what?
Click to expand...

With my Church. We Preach at their services. We have a team of 14 that cover two prisons, and a couple homeless shelters. It is pretty awesome for the most part. You encounter a few bumps in the road occasionally but overall it is very rewarding. It's a process that is very structured, rules driven, and not for everyone. You have to be elected by the Church and of course pass background checks by the State. I love doing it every chance I can. I am on a every other month schedule but I seem to go almost every month because I cover for people that can't do it. I really like doing the homeless shelter too, that's a half hour every other Tuesday and Thursday but they are hard for me to do because I don't have a ton of business in thise areas.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever you are a book of many chapters, worthy of reading past the cover, to discover the real individual.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever you are a book of many chapters, worthy of reading past the cover, to discover the real individual.


Thanks..,.I think. I am still a sinner and have many flaws.


----------



## JonA_CT

My son has just completed his second consecutive night of his sleep strike. I think that I got about 3 hours of sleep last night (but in maybe 45 minute increments). 

Coffee isn’t gonna touch what I’m feeling this morning.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> My son has just completed his second consecutive night of his sleep strike. I think that I got about 3 hours of sleep last night (but in maybe 45 minute increments).
> 
> Coffee isn’t gonna touch what I’m feeling this morning.


Sorry to hear that. Extra cup maybe?


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> My son has just completed his second consecutive night of his sleep strike. I think that I got about 3 hours of sleep last night (but in maybe 45 minute increments).
> 
> Coffee isn’t gonna touch what I’m feeling this morning.


Annnnnd, then they grow into teens.  

But then you reflect upon how many sleepless nights you gave your parents ... and how many sleepless nights your kids will be getting when they have families ... and you figure the score gets even.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> My son has just completed his second consecutive night of his sleep strike. I think that I got about 3 hours of sleep last night (but in maybe 45 minute increments).
> 
> Coffee isn’t gonna touch what I’m feeling this morning.



Sorry!  Btdt and can sympathize.  Is he teething?  Has it been 6 months already?



Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My son has just completed his second consecutive night of his sleep strike. I think that I got about 3 hours of sleep last night (but in maybe 45 minute increments).
> 
> Coffee isn’t gonna touch what I’m feeling this morning.
> 
> 
> 
> Annnnnd, then they grow into teens.
> 
> But then you reflect upon how many sleepless nights you gave your parents ... and how many sleepless nights your kids will be getting when they families ... and you figure the score gets even.
Click to expand...


Yeah not sure which is worse as far as that goes, babies or teens!


----------



## Gary A.

The difference is a baby just doesn’t know better ... but with teens the parents wonder ... where did they go wrong.


----------



## Gary A.

42F this morning. Gary’s hands are in my pockets.


----------



## davidharmier60

Roughly a minute over 4.75 hours. Filters came from Grocers Supply bit Rachel didn't dig into the pallet. So I'll replace filters tomorrow. Going to hit the PO and then home. Later gators!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

5 months yesterday. We aren’t sure...my wife is worried it might be an ear infection, so he’s off to the doctor this afternoon. I feel fortunate to have health insurance that I don’t have to worry if it’s really nothing. 

Coffee worked for periods 1 and 2 this morning. 3 was tough. I’m off 4 and 6, but have a consultant coming in period 5 so I need to be on my game again.


----------



## SquarePeg

Those ear infections are a sleep killer.  Princess had plenty of then and you can’t not visit the dr or you risk permanent damage.  Thankfully we also have great health insurance.  Not sure how any family manages those costs if they don’t get some help from an employer or the government. This country is in the dark ages in that regard.


----------



## davidharmier60

What is this "insurance" you speak of?
I'll retire when I die.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

davidharmier60 said:


> What is this "insurance" you speak of?
> I'll retire when I die.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Something that's not a privilege but a right in most other industrialized nations.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> What is this "insurance" you speak of?
> I'll retire when I die.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Something that's not a privilege but a right in most other industrialized nations.
Click to expand...

Something I point out to people here who complain about the high cost of fuel.  As an example:  Someone I know (w/ no supplemental employer's coverage)  was in an accident; broken arm, ambulance ride, 8 hrs in emergency (mostly waiting), second trip to emergency because the doctors missed a fracture, multiple specialist consults and surgery to implant internal brace & screws to ensure proper bone alignment for healing.  Total out-of-pocket expenses:  <$20 for parking fees.


----------



## JonA_CT

tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> What is this "insurance" you speak of?
> I'll retire when I die.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Something that's not a privilege but a right in most other industrialized nations.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Something I point out to people here who complain about the high cost of fuel.  As an example:  Someone I know (w/ no supplemental employer's coverage)  was in an accident; broken arm, ambulance ride, 8 hrs in emergency (mostly waiting), second trip to emergency because the doctors missed a fracture, multiple specialist consults and surgery to implant internal brace & screws to ensure proper bone alignment for healing.  Total out-of-pocket expenses:  <$20 for parking fees.
Click to expand...


My wife's aunt fell off her horse and broke her femur at the bottom of a ravine on her sheep farm in Northern England. They had to airlift her out (hanging basket and all), and fly 45 minutes to the appropriate hospital, where she required two surgeries and eventually months of therapy. She paid nothing. 

Here, that helicopter ride alone would bankrupt most people. 

Of course, my comments on THAT particular value system aren't for this thread.  (Although it seems like we have been addressing these things more and more frequently here. I wonder why.)


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> The difference is a baby just doesn’t know better ... but with teens the parents wonder ... where did they go wrong.



They know better, they're just at that transition between believing thier parents are right and knowing thier parents are right


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh, those ear infections. Had so many little ones I worked with that had those, and had them again and again, and then tubes, and then a tube would come out... At least Jon after going to the Dr. you and your wife will know if it's that or not. 

Isn't there a saying about getting back some day what you dished out to your parents when you were a kid??! lol 

I went from teaching jr. high to the babies and toddlers and sometimes it would seem like the same things that worked with young teenagers worked with toddlers (or vice versa? I'm not sure! lol).


----------



## davidharmier60

We just had goulash. And there is white cake with banana pudding on it for dessert. 
And no kids to need a doctor for.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

I hate tech issues, my patience level goes from calm to ballistic to quick. We've been having serious issues with our cell phones ever since we crossed into FL. Signal would vary from 0-4 bars, and we would generally give up in disgust when we tried to hot spot a phone to use the laptops. Finally had enough today and went to a Verizon store. After a SIMM card swap, our signals improved and held, but when we tried to hotspot a phone, the internet was snail slow, like 200k slow. 30 mins on the phone with the first level nitwit, and they switched me to 2nd level where I spent another 2 1/2 hrs working to resolve the problem with someone that actually knew something. Step by step, we tried everything, he and I were literally about to pull our hair out. On a hunch the guy told me to check the settings on mobile networks, to see if the "limit data roaming" was check - it was. Uncheck, reboot everything and its blazing. This was the factory default setting from the very first, never had any reason to change it, no problems in two years.  But, it seems Verizon (despite their coverage map), doesn't "actually" own many towers in FL. They rely on "carrier partners" to provide tower services (surprised I was getting any data at all). The tech did a tower check in our area and couldn't find a single Verizon tower.


----------



## terri

Ugh, what a pita, Smoke!   Sounds like a wasted day.  Glad it's resolved!


----------



## terri

Hey,  @tirediron, did you get awakened early this morning with a call to seek higher ground? 

Earthquake off the coast of  Alaska apparently triggered a lot of tsunami warnings - though from what I understand now, those have been canceled.

I hope @JamesD wasn't impacted by this.


----------



## waday

Morning all.

I was going to ask the same question, @terri. Did you feel anything @tirediron?

Stress levels today at work today are very high, and have been for the past week. (Higher than usual.) My eye is twitching nonstop.

Also, I completed the winter waterfall ice hike workshop on Saturday! Woohoo! That was fun, and quite adventurous. We spent more time hiking than anything else, so we didn't get a lot of good time to set up tripods. Ugh. But, got a few decent shots in!


----------



## Cortian

Mornin' all!

Just hangin' out, enjoying a cup of coffee, waiting until I can saddle-up, head over to the post office carrier annex and pick up the camera body that _should_ have arrived here at the ranch yesterday...

Man, the west coast can't catch a break, lately, can it?


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. Tsunami in the west and a monsoon (aka "wash the salt off your car" storm) here in the Northeast. Supposed to be in the 50s today, fog and rain all day long.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Ugh, what a pita, Smoke!   Sounds like a wasted day.  Glad it's resolved!



Amazing how one setting can change everything!!!

The day wasn't all bad. We did get to visit a specialty coffee roaster. Despite google directions we couldn't find the place (in a commercial center), had to call the place twice. Bless his heart the owner told us he would stand outside and wave at us. LOL When we pulled up he met us at the truck, introduced himself, and invited us in for a tour of his place. Such a nice gentleman that was really proud of his operation and coffee. Came away with a new friend, a bag of Honduras, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. They do mostly online and commercial business. Free shipping!! Javantino Coffee, Orlando. Great Place, great people.


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> Hey,  @tirediron, did you get awakened early this morning with a call to seek higher ground?
> 
> Earthquake off the coast of  Alaska apparently triggered a lot of tsunami warnings - though from what I understand now, those have been canceled.
> 
> I hope @JamesD wasn't impacted by this.


I saw the report, but so far I'm dry.  Didn't feel or notice anything and all the china still seems to be on the shelves....  that's a LONG way away.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Hey,  @tirediron, did you get awakened early this morning with a call to seek higher ground?
> 
> Earthquake off the coast of  Alaska apparently triggered a lot of tsunami warnings - though from what I understand now, those have been canceled.
> 
> I hope @JamesD wasn't impacted by this.


Gary has an Earthquake app on his phone and it is reporting a zillion quakes, 90% or so in the 4+ range, emulating from Kodiak, Alaska. Wow ... a zillion.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Morning all.
> 
> I was going to ask the same question, @terri. Did you feel anything @tirediron?
> 
> Stress levels today at work today are very high, and have been for the past week. (Higher than usual.) My eye is twitching nonstop.
> 
> Also, I completed the winter waterfall ice hike workshop on Saturday! Woohoo! That was fun, and quite adventurous. We spent more time hiking than anything else, so we didn't get a lot of good time to set up tripods. Ugh. But, got a few decent shots in!



Ugh the dreaded eye twitch!  I remember it well from the days when I managed union people and had so many  numbers to meet that your head would spin!  Deep breaths and repeat to self “someday I will have Gary’s life”...

I saw some of your photos of the climb on Flickr.  Looks like it was hard work!



limr said:


> Morning, hosers. Tsunami in the west and a monsoon (aka "wash the salt off your car" storm) here in the Northeast. Supposed to be in the 50s today, fog and rain all day long.



It won’t snow again this year due to my snowblower purchase.  Right now we’re also getting just rain and going to be more of the same later next week.  You’re welcome!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Coffee!  After four lazy days of cocoa and tea, Gary finally got his butt in gear and roasted yesterday.  mmmhhhh, mmh ... Nuthin' like freshly roasted, freshly ground, pure variety, arabica coffee.


----------



## JonA_CT

It’s absolutely pouring here.

I’m caught up with my work, sort of...and the kids are writing an assessment today, so I’ve got a hot cup of coffee and a book I need to read before the kids do


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Coffee!  After four lazy days of cocoa and tea, Gary finally got his butt in gear and roasted yesterday.  mmmhhhh, mmh ... Nuthin' like freshly roasted, freshly ground, pure variety, arabica coffee.



My wife gave me the look this morning when she realized I forgot to roast last night. She’s got it too good mesthinks. Time to keep a package of Folgers in the house for these emergencies so she can understand what she gets most mornings, haha.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Coffee!  After four lazy days of cocoa and tea, Gary finally got his butt in gear and roasted yesterday.  mmmhhhh, mmh ... Nuthin' like freshly roasted, freshly ground, pure variety, arabica coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My wife gave me the look this morning when she realized I forgot to roast last night. She’s got it too good mesthinks. Time to keep a package of Folgers in the house for these emergencies so she can understand what she gets most mornings, haha.
Click to expand...


Lesson or no...Folgers? FOLGERS?? How could you do that to another human being, much less the mother of your children!!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Coffee!  After four lazy days of cocoa and tea, Gary finally got his butt in gear and roasted yesterday.  mmmhhhh, mmh ... Nuthin' like freshly roasted, freshly ground, pure variety, arabica coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My wife gave me the look this morning when she realized I forgot to roast last night. She’s got it too good mesthinks. Time to keep a package of Folgers in the house for these emergencies so she can understand what she gets most mornings, haha.
Click to expand...

LOL ... Mary Lou is on a diet kick and has been drinking tea in the mornings for the past year or so. She doesn't like coffee without cream or sugar.  So she has eliminated the early morning cream and sugar hit. This has allowed Gary to downsize his coffee operations down to a three cup siphon as opposed to a large French Press.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Coffee!  After four lazy days of cocoa and tea, Gary finally got his butt in gear and roasted yesterday.  mmmhhhh, mmh ... Nuthin' like freshly roasted, freshly ground, pure variety, arabica coffee.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My wife gave me the look this morning when she realized I forgot to roast last night. She’s got it too good mesthinks. Time to keep a package of Folgers in the house for these emergencies so she can understand what she gets most mornings, haha.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Lesson or no...Folgers? FOLGERS?? How could you do that to another human being, much less the mother of your children!!
Click to expand...

lol ... as least Yuban ...


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> This has allowed Gary to downsize his coffee operations down to a three cup siphon as opposed to a large French Press.



I'm looking to "upsize" the French Press when we get home. Also heating the water is somewhat of pain. Do they make an electric model that will heat the water?


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> This has allowed Gary to downsize his coffee operations down to a three cup siphon as opposed to a large French Press.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm looking to "upsize" the French Press when we get home. Also heating the water is somewhat of pain. Do they make an electric model that will heat the water?
Click to expand...

Not that I am aware.  I use an electric kettle for heating up the water. Nothing fancy, just something that will boil water.  Leo has a fancy one that will heat to specific temps.  She says the temps make a difference in taste for tea.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Not that I am aware. I use an electric kettle for heating up the water. Nothing fancy, just something that will boil water.



On the road we are using the Mr. Coffee (I know but it's fast and easy), at home I was heating water in the microwave. I'm not in the best of moods until I have my morning caffeine hit, so speed is of the essence according to the DW.  That's what's nice about the Mr. Coffee, you can program it to come on before you wake up, so everything is ready to go. 

You mentioned water temperature. What is the ideal temperature for a French Press????


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not that I am aware. I use an electric kettle for heating up the water. Nothing fancy, just something that will boil water.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the road we are using the Mr. Coffee (I know but it's fast and easy), at home I was heating water in the microwave. I'm not in the best of moods until I have my morning caffeine hit, so speed is of the essence according to the DW.  That's what's nice about the Mr. Coffee, you can program it to come on before you wake up, so everything is ready to go.
> 
> You mentioned water temperature. What is the ideal temperature for a French Press????
Click to expand...


 Can’t you program the Mr. Coffee to come on and not put any coffee in it so you’ll have a pot of hot water waiting when you get up to use with your French press?


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Can’t you program the Mr. Coffee to come on and not put any coffee in it so you’ll have a pot of hot water waiting when you get up to use with your French press?



Well....uuuuhhhh....maybe....crap.......face slap!!!!!!!!!!!!! Somebody help me, there's got to be a reason this won't work


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh the dreaded eye twitch! I remember it well from the days when I managed union people and had so many numbers to meet that your head would spin! Deep breaths and repeat to self “someday I will have Gary’s life”...
> 
> I saw some of your photos of the climb on Flickr. Looks like it was hard work!


My head is going to explode. Or my eye is going to fall out, not sure which one first...

Thanks! It was hard work, even though we went downhill the whole way!  My legs still hurt, haha.


----------



## Cortian

A good electric kettle will heat water to coffee-brewing temperature at least as quickly as a drip brewer.

I put enough water in ours to hit the minimum level they say you need to avoid damaging it and flip the switch.  By the time I've got the other stuff out, set up the Aeropress, measured-out and ground my beans and dumped them into the press: The water's ready.  (Just short of boiling.)

The Aeropress I feel makes a better cup of coffee than a French press, and it's far less messy.  Even if you use a metal mesh filter like I do.  (My wife sticks with the paper filters.)

I press it directly into my Yeti stainless double-walled coffee mug, snap the cover on, and have a mug of hot coffee that _stays_ hot.


----------



## waday

Cortian said:


> Aeropress


I like how the company uses this photo to advertise the product: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/519aQkBjWhL.jpg

How many people does it take to use the product?


----------



## Cortian

waday said:


> Cortian said:
> 
> 
> 
> Aeropress
> 
> 
> 
> I like how the company uses this photo to advertise the product: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/519aQkBjWhL.jpg
> 
> How many people does it take to use the product?
Click to expand...








Well, somehow my wife and I have each been managing on our own, but I _suppose_ you could make it a team effort, if you were so-inclined


----------



## ceemac

Oh, I envy you all. Had a bit of a scare a few weeks ago so I gave up caffeine, except for one cup in the a.m. I used to drink a lot of coffee.  I really, really miss it. My legs hurt from pacing and extra dog walks.


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon y'all. I had approximately 3 minutes over 5.25. Floors, filters, bathrooms and sweeping. Came home and fiddled with the Mitsubishi.  Put the left side of the fence in order to use the electric wires. Took the no heat dryer out to the scrap area. Made a hamburger sammich. And wonder of wonders politics is on the T.V....

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----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> ...And wonder of wonders politics is on the T.V....


Can't have everything I guess....


----------



## Gary A.

Ideal temps for coffee is a bit under boiling as boiling water will actually burn the grind.  Around 200F but no higher than 205F.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I've done that accidently, run the coffee maker but didn't smell coffee and - I'd flipped it on with just water and no coffee grounds. But the water is, well, less than fresh by then, has a bit of a weak coffee smell like when you don't put in the right amount or the filter flips over and you end up with weak coffee. Maybe if your coffee maker is new enough to not smell like weak watery coffee if you use it to heat water.

What are you making?? why do you need hot water? cup o' soup??
Edit - nm Went back a couple of pages, french press, got it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The aeropress must be entertaining to watch if that many people gather 'round to see it. 

Don't forget pics, Wade, if your head explodes. Get a tripod set up and get ready...


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Don't forget pics, Wade, if your head explodes. Get a tripod set up and get ready...


Wait, I don't have a intervalometer for my camera.  Should I just use video, instead?


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't know, but time it right and you'll have one heckuva selfie.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Ideal temps for coffee is a bit under boiling as boiling water will actually burn the grind.  Around 200F but no higher than 205F.



I just remembered I'm pretty sure our portable induction cooktop has delayed start, and precise temperature control.


----------



## davidharmier60

LOL.

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----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not that I am aware. I use an electric kettle for heating up the water. Nothing fancy, just something that will boil water.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On the road we are using the Mr. Coffee (I know but it's fast and easy), at home I was heating water in the microwave. I'm not in the best of moods until I have my morning caffeine hit, so speed is of the essence according to the DW.  That's what's nice about the Mr. Coffee, you can program it to come on before you wake up, so everything is ready to go.
> 
> You mentioned water temperature. What is the ideal temperature for a French Press????
Click to expand...


Yup, like he said, just under boiling, around 200*F. The drip machine doesn't get to boiling so it should be fine.



Cortian said:


> A good electric kettle will heat water to coffee-brewing temperature at least as quickly as a drip brewer.
> 
> I put enough water in ours to hit the minimum level they say you need to avoid damaging it and flip the switch.  By the time I've got the other stuff out, set up the Aeropress, measured-out and ground my beans and dumped them into the press: The water's ready.  (Just short of boiling.)
> 
> The Aeropress I feel makes a better cup of coffee than a French press, and it's far less messy.  Even if you use a metal mesh filter like I do.  (My wife sticks with the paper filters.)
> 
> I press it directly into my Yeti stainless double-walled coffee mug, snap the cover on, and have a mug of hot coffee that _stays_ hot.



I have found that I really like the taste from an Aeropress but no matter what I did, it always came out too thin for my tastes. 

My morning coffee is from a French press. At work, I bought a basic Keurig and I use my own coffee with less water to make it strong enough. I also bought a little hand espresso maker that is quite good and I eill add a shot to the cup from the Keurig to make sure it's got a kick if more flavor in case I made it too thin. Lemme see if I can find the link.


----------



## Gary A.

FYI- This is turning out to be another glorious day.  Mid 70’s, sun out out with a slight breeze coming off the Pacific.


----------



## JonA_CT

Today’s crushing line...one of many from this book. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez.


----------



## limr

Mini portable espresso maker: https://www.amazon.com/WACACO-MPGR1...40223&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=wacoco+minipresso

ETA: Other versions if you want, for example, to use mini pods instead of ground coffee: Amazon.com: WACACO


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Mini portable espresso maker: https://www.amazon.com/WACACO-MPGR1...40223&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=wacoco+minipresso
> 
> ETA: Other versions if you want, for example, to use mini pods instead of ground coffee: Amazon.com: WACACO



While I will admit that it has a cool factor, I would wear myself out trying to fill my coffee mug with that thing, as it would take 4-5 of those things to fill my mug. I'm also a little leary of anyone promoting their connisour coffee device using a Starbucks cup to fill it with.


----------



## Gary A.

ceemac said:


> Oh, I envy you all. Had a bit of a scare a few weeks ago so I gave up caffeine, except for one cup in the a.m. I used to drink a lot of coffee.  I really, really miss it. My legs hurt from pacing and extra dog walks.


----------



## Gary A.

Cortian said:


> A good electric kettle will heat water to coffee-brewing temperature at least as quickly as a drip brewer.
> 
> I put enough water in ours to hit the minimum level they say you need to avoid damaging it and flip the switch.  By the time I've got the other stuff out, set up the Aeropress, measured-out and ground my beans and dumped them into the press: The water's ready.  (Just short of boiling.)
> 
> The Aeropress I feel makes a better cup of coffee than a French press, and it's far less messy.  Even if you use a metal mesh filter like I do.  (My wife sticks with the paper filters.)
> 
> I press it directly into my Yeti stainless double-walled coffee mug, snap the cover on, and have a mug of hot coffee that _stays_ hot.


I would say different with a bit/hint of espresso flavor ... but not necessarily better.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> I don't know, but time it right and you'll have one heckuva selfie.


As in humor... photography is all about timing ...


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mini portable espresso maker: https://www.amazon.com/WACACO-MPGR1...40223&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=wacoco+minipresso
> 
> ETA: Other versions if you want, for example, to use mini pods instead of ground coffee: Amazon.com: WACACO
> 
> 
> 
> 
> While I will admit that it has a cool factor, I would wear myself out trying to fill my coffee mug with that thing, as it would take 4-5 of those things to fill my mug. I'm also a little leary of anyone promoting their connisour coffee device using a Starbucks cup to fill it with.
Click to expand...


Yeah, it's not for someone who wants a mug of espresso. It's perfect for someone who drinks espresso in its typical portioning or if you want to add a shot to a mug of drip coffee to liven it up.

I'm used to espresso, so I keep it at work where it's perfect for an afternoon shot or two.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Today’s crushing line...one of many from this book. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez.
> 
> View attachment 152616


Speaking of Dandelions ... Maggie eats the seeds.  If there is a puff of Dandelion on our walk she will take a quick snap and continue walking without breaking stride with Dandelion parachutes hanging from her mouth.


----------



## davidharmier60

Speaking of dogs. I came into the room that used to have the computer and where I do penny stuff. I found two rolls with dog teeth marks including one with the top chewed off. I generally keep the door closed. Not my Dad.

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----------



## Cortian

limr said:


> I have found that I really like the taste from an Aeropress but no matter what I did, it always came out too thin for my tastes.


I put a _heaping_ measuring spoon-full, plus a bit more, of beans in the grinder.  I grind finer than a drip grind, but less than an espresso grind.  I stir about half again as long as the ten seconds they recommend, and take a bit over the sixty seconds they recommend to press.


----------



## terri

Cortian said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have found that I really like the taste from an Aeropress but no matter what I did, it always came out too thin for my tastes.
> 
> 
> 
> I put a _heaping_ measuring spoon-full, plus a bit more, of beans in the grinder.  I grind finer than a drip grind, but less than an espresso grind.  I stir about half again as long as the ten seconds they recommend, and take a bit over the sixty seconds they recommend to press.
Click to expand...

My husband swears by the Aeropress, and makes it a bit on the strong side.   He's a sworn fan.   I haven't personally been overwhelmed by it - the yield doesn't fill my cup and apparently the solution is to make it even stronger, and then just _add water._    Eww!    That ain't brewing a cuppa joe.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary found the aero to be meh.  If Gary wanted an espresso, then he'd fire up the espresso.  But Leo makes a good point, if you want a weak espresso at work ... then the aero works.  But a for daily coffee fulfillment, Gary prefers the siphon or French Press. The aero ... the areo seems too much like a compromise when one isn't needed.  But many people swear by the aero.  Like photography, everybody sees differently and everybody tastes differently.


----------



## davidharmier60

On that note (well, not REALLY).
We just had fried chicken strips, homemade Mac and cheese and Brussels sprouts. Coffee in the morning comes out of a drip machine. We don't do grinding nor espresso. And Folgers is the coffee. 

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----------



## Gary A.

Speaking of tastes ... another lovely afternoon.  Gary spent some of the afternoon working in the yard and some of the afternoon processing photos. Gary loves what the Fuji delivers.  Mary Lou booked a trip to catch the Elephant Seals up along the Central Coast.  We toasted her success with a glass of vino. A pleasant and productive afternoon.


----------



## jcdeboever

I have bad gas tonight. I ate a golumpki at lunch. My wife went over to her daughter's. The dog is hiding.


----------



## limr

Cortian said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have found that I really like the taste from an Aeropress but no matter what I did, it always came out too thin for my tastes.
> 
> 
> 
> I put a _heaping_ measuring spoon-full, plus a bit more, of beans in the grinder.  I grind finer than a drip grind, but less than an espresso grind.  I stir about half again as long as the ten seconds they recommend, and take a bit over the sixty seconds they recommend to press.
Click to expand...


No matter what I tried, the water just went through way too fast. It was halfway through by the time I finished stirring and even without pressing it, the water would go through way faster than 60 seconds all on its own.

I dunno - like I said, the actual taste of the brew was very nice, but it never came out thick like espresso. I would never consider it espresso, but just an alternate way to brew coffee. I usually take my coffee with some milk (never sugar) and I do remember thinking that the Aeropress is perfect for when I want a mug of coffee black, no milk. It's a nice smooth flavor - full enough to be enjoyable but not full enough to stand up to milk. I might give it a shot again at some point.

@Gary A. I don't keep the Aeropress at work but the little handheld espresso maker (the Wacaco Minipresso). That _does_ come out as a thick and strong espresso, and it's perfect on its own, or for adding a shot to the coffee from the Keurig on those occasions when I accidentally add too much water or not enough coffee.


----------



## Cortian

limr said:


> No matter what I tried, the water just went through way too fast. It was halfway through by the time I finished stirring and even without pressing it, the water would go through way faster than 60 seconds all on its own.


 Too course a grind, perhaps? Like I said: I grind to about halfway between a fine drip grind and an espresso grind. *Way* finer than a French press grind.


----------



## SquarePeg

Coffee coffee coffee...yawn.  Let’s talk about favorite cocktails.  For me, I’d have to say a pomegranate martini made Bonefish Grill style with Tito’s and a nice ratio of Pom juice and mango syrup.  It tastes like a Jolly Rancher.


----------



## limr

Cortian said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> No matter what I tried, the water just went through way too fast. It was halfway through by the time I finished stirring and even without pressing it, the water would go through way faster than 60 seconds all on its own.
> 
> 
> 
> Too course a grind, perhaps? Like I said: I grind to about halfway between a fine drip grind and an espresso grind. *Way* finer than a French press grind.
Click to expand...


Yup, it was definitely finer than French press. I have a burr grinder and I had it on a fine setting. I _think_ it was around the cafetiere setting.

My experimenting was clearly not exhaustive or systematic enough  I still have it and will play with it this weekend. I still love my French press and espresso maker, though. And my cafetiere, for that matter. Haven't broken that out for a while, either. Hmmm....

Seems like it's going to be a fairly caffeinated weekend


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Coffee coffee coffee...yawn.  Let’s talk about favorite cocktails.  For me, I’d have to say a pomegranate martini made Bonefish Grill style with Tito’s and a nice ratio of Pom juice and mango syrup.  It tastes like a Jolly Rancher.



Nope nope nope nope nope.

What you had was a pomegranate _cocktail. _There are only three ingredients in a martini: gin, dry vermouth, and olives OR a twist.

Mmmmm, martini...

I like my coffee strong and my drinks strong


----------



## limr

Apparently, what I've always known as a cafetiere is only sometimes called a 'cafetiere.' More often, the word refers to a French press. In my mind, it refers to one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Cafetiere-ES...UTF8&qid=1516764863&sr=1-8&keywords=cafetiere


----------



## Cortian

Single-malt Scotch or good Bourbon, neat, for me


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Coffee coffee coffee...yawn.  Let’s talk about favorite cocktails.  For me, I’d have to say a pomegranate martini made Bonefish Grill style with Tito’s and a nice ratio of Pom juice and mango syrup.  It tastes like a Jolly Rancher.


I like our margaritas.   I'm not overly picky about the tequila, but we only use fresh lime and orange juice, with a shot of Cointreau.  They're so good. ..a shame they're so deadly I can usually only have 2.


Mostly, I stick with red wine, Chateauneuf du Pape is a fave.  And Italian reds.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like Vernor floats. Messy


----------



## Cortian

jcdeboever said:


> I like Vernor floats. Messy


I _used_ to like 'em.  But Vernors ain't what it was when it was made by Vernors, in Detroit. Used to have *a lot* more bite. It's kinda boring, now, IMO


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee coffee coffee...yawn.  Let’s talk about favorite cocktails.  For me, I’d have to say a pomegranate martini made Bonefish Grill style with Tito’s and a nice ratio of Pom juice and mango syrup.  It tastes like a Jolly Rancher.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope nope nope nope nope.
> 
> What you had was a pomegranate _cocktail. _There are only three ingredients in a martini: gin, dry vermouth, and olives OR a twist.
> 
> Mmmmm, martini...
> 
> I like my coffee strong and my drinks strong
Click to expand...


Oh a purist ehhh!  Say it like this




 

I’ve always found gin to be kind a of gross. I like my drinks sweet...got to balance out my salty attitude.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee coffee coffee...yawn.  Let’s talk about favorite cocktails.  For me, I’d have to say a pomegranate martini made Bonefish Grill style with Tito’s and a nice ratio of Pom juice and mango syrup.  It tastes like a Jolly Rancher.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope nope nope nope nope.
> 
> What you had was a pomegranate _cocktail. _There are only three ingredients in a martini: gin, dry vermouth, and olives OR a twist.
> 
> Mmmmm, martini...
> 
> I like my coffee strong and my drinks strong
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh a purist ehhh!  Say it like this
> 
> View attachment 152638
> 
> I’ve always found gin to be kind a of gross. I like my drinks sweet...got to balance out my salty attitude.
Click to expand...


Ah, see I choose to enhance my natural saltiness and bitterness by taking my liquor straight or mixed with minimal ingredients  (Plus, sweet cocktails give me an instant headache. And let's not even talk about the last time I made the terrible mistake of drinking Southern Comfort  )


----------



## davidharmier60

I generally drink one mug of coffee in the morning. And generally do not drink alcoholic beverages. And on that note in roughly 15 minutes i gotta go. 

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----------



## JonA_CT

Morning, hosers. 

The light this morning was really warm and interesting from the corner gas station's parking lot this morning. I should have done one of those 365* photos instead. This corner is about as classic as it gets around here. Gas station, bait shop, two salons, a weird type of convenience store/dollar store that only exists in cities, a package store, and a Chinese restaurant. 




Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr


----------



## SquarePeg

For those not from New England, a “package” store is a liquor store.


----------



## terri

Morning, hosers.   @JonA_CT: that looks like a pretty little town in the morning!    @SquarePeg:  RE: "package store" - I've seen those words on signs down here...not often, but it does exist in the South.   Most often, signs simply read: LIQUOR.    Keeping it _real_ straightforward.   

Sunny and chilly morning here...going to be a beautiful January day.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> For those not from New England, a “package” store is a liquor store.



Hahahaha of course. It’s because of our old Puritan ways. Still can’t escape them this time.

This particular one has a sign that’s at least 40 years old probably. I’ll have to grab a picture of it some time. It really looks like it should be in front of a UPS Store or something.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Morning, hosers.   @JonA_CT: that looks like a pretty little town in the morning!    @SquarePeg:  RE: "package store" - I've seen those words on signs down here...not often, but it does exist in the South.   Most often, signs simply read: LIQUOR.    Keeping it _real_ straightforward.
> 
> Sunny and chilly morning here...going to be a beautiful January day.



When a New Englander says “I’m going to the packy” now you will know what they mean.


----------



## waday

Wine for me. 

Folgers Black Silk is pretty good, and we usually have that in the house, next to several bags of other coffees, including Starbucks and other miscellaneous brands. The in-laws prefer Nescafe, so there's a bag of that in the fridge, as well. The MIL buys it when she visits Ecuador (or has someone bring it for her). The non-US version tastes better than the US version.

It's Hump Day! What what!


----------



## SquarePeg

What?


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.   @JonA_CT: that looks like a pretty little town in the morning!    @SquarePeg:  RE: "package store" - I've seen those words on signs down here...not often, but it does exist in the South.   Most often, signs simply read: LIQUOR.    Keeping it _real_ straightforward.
> 
> Sunny and chilly morning here...going to be a beautiful January day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When a New Englander says “I’m going to the packy” now you will know what they mean.
Click to expand...

In PA, we have state run liquor stores due to our stupid alcohol laws that are some of the strictest in the US (apparently, according to Wikipedia). 

Local pizza shops can sell beer by the six pack, and now gas stations and supermarkets are starting to sell beer, too. Outside of that, you have to buy it by the case at beer distributors. Ugh. Some supermarkets sell wine, but not the same variety as at the state stores.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I have bad gas tonight. I ate a golumpki at lunch. My wife went over to her daughter's. The dog is hiding.





limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee coffee coffee...yawn.  Let’s talk about favorite cocktails.  For me, I’d have to say a pomegranate martini made Bonefish Grill style with Tito’s and a nice ratio of Pom juice and mango syrup.  It tastes like a Jolly Rancher.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope nope nope nope nope.
> 
> What you had was a pomegranate _cocktail. _There are only three ingredients in a martini: gin, dry vermouth, and olives OR a twist.
> 
> Mmmmm, martini...
> 
> I like my coffee strong and my drinks strong
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh a purist ehhh!  Say it like this
> 
> View attachment 152638
> 
> I’ve always found gin to be kind a of gross. I like my drinks sweet...got to balance out my salty attitude.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ah, see I choose to enhance my natural saltiness and bitterness by taking my liquor straight or mixed with minimal ingredients  (Plus, sweet cocktails give me an instant headache. And let's not even talk about the last time I made the terrible mistake of drinking Southern Comfort  )
Click to expand...

Gary's alcoholic beverage of choice is wine ... straight.


----------



## jcdeboever

We call them Party stores in Michigan.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary gets all his wine directly from the vintners. Due to all his winery memberships Gary hasn't had a need to purchase vino from retail outlets.  Everybody sells beer and wine out here.  Grocers, 7-Eleven, gas stations, drug stores, furniture stores, et cetera.


----------



## Gary A.

Soooo ... Waday's relatives are coffee mules.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Gary's alcoholic beverage of choice is wine ... straight.


----------



## Gary A.

Today, ladies and germs ... today Miss Maggie gets her stitches out!


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Coffee coffee coffee...yawn.  Let’s talk about favorite cocktails.  For me, I’d have to say a pomegranate martini made Bonefish Grill style with Tito’s and a nice ratio of Pom juice and mango syrup.  It tastes like a Jolly Rancher.



Whiskey or bourbon only needs a couple ice cubes, and depending on the ambient temperature the ice cubes are superfluous


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee coffee coffee...yawn.  Let’s talk about favorite cocktails.  For me, I’d have to say a pomegranate martini made Bonefish Grill style with Tito’s and a nice ratio of Pom juice and mango syrup.  It tastes like a Jolly Rancher.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Whiskey only needs a couple ice cubes, and depending on the ambient temperature the ice cubes are superfluous
Click to expand...


What is with the one giant ice cube trend?


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee coffee coffee...yawn.  Let’s talk about favorite cocktails.  For me, I’d have to say a pomegranate martini made Bonefish Grill style with Tito’s and a nice ratio of Pom juice and mango syrup.  It tastes like a Jolly Rancher.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Whiskey only needs a couple ice cubes, and depending on the ambient temperature the ice cubes are superfluous
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> What is with the one giant ice cube trend?
Click to expand...

I believe the giant ice cube provides sufficient cooling of the drink while reducing the amount of melting and diluting of the drink.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee coffee coffee...yawn.  Let’s talk about favorite cocktails.  For me, I’d have to say a pomegranate martini made Bonefish Grill style with Tito’s and a nice ratio of Pom juice and mango syrup.  It tastes like a Jolly Rancher.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Whiskey only needs a couple ice cubes, and depending on the ambient temperature the ice cubes are superfluous
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> What is with the one giant ice cube trend?
Click to expand...


Cools the whiskey without as much melting water. 

I’m an ambient temperature whiskey person though.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee coffee coffee...yawn.  Let’s talk about favorite cocktails.  For me, I’d have to say a pomegranate martini made Bonefish Grill style with Tito’s and a nice ratio of Pom juice and mango syrup.  It tastes like a Jolly Rancher.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Whiskey only needs a couple ice cubes, and depending on the ambient temperature the ice cubes are superfluous
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> What is with the one giant ice cube trend?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Cools the whiskey without as much melting water.
> 
> I’m an ambient temperature whiskey person though.
Click to expand...

Quit copying me!


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee coffee coffee...yawn.  Let’s talk about favorite cocktails.  For me, I’d have to say a pomegranate martini made Bonefish Grill style with Tito’s and a nice ratio of Pom juice and mango syrup.  It tastes like a Jolly Rancher.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Whiskey only needs a couple ice cubes, and depending on the ambient temperature the ice cubes are superfluous
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> What is with the one giant ice cube trend?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Cools the whiskey without as much melting water.
> 
> I’m an ambient temperature whiskey person though.
Click to expand...


Only if it's not above 75 then I need a little ice.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary takes his whiskey neat ... like his vino.


----------



## Gary A.

Annnnndddd ... we are back .... Miss Maggie is whole.


----------



## limr

Depends on the whiskey. Sometimes, a splash of water really opens up the flavor.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Depends on the whiskey. Sometimes, a splash of water really opens up the flavor.



Agreed. I like most barrel strength whiskeys with a splash of water. But never ice.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary never waters down anything in his life.  He even swims in a dry pool.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary never waters down anything in his life.  He even swims in a dry pool.



Wiat, wait, I need to roll up my pants legs it's starting to get deep in here LOL


----------



## Frank F.

JonA_CT said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> The light this morning was really warm and interesting from the corner gas station's parking lot this morning. I should have done one of those 365* photos instead. This corner is about as classic as it gets around here. Gas station, bait shop, two salons, a weird type of convenience store/dollar store that only exists in cities, a package store, and a Chinese restaurant.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr




What a wonderful piece of photography!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary never waters down anything in his life.  He even swims in a dry pool.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wiat, wait, I need to roll up my pants legs it's starting to get deep in here LOL
Click to expand...

Gary never rolls up his pant legs either.


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.   @JonA_CT: that looks like a pretty little town in the morning!    @SquarePeg:  RE: "package store" - I've seen those words on signs down here...not often, but it does exist in the South.   Most often, signs simply read: LIQUOR.    Keeping it _real_ straightforward.
> 
> Sunny and chilly morning here...going to be a beautiful January day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When a New Englander says “I’m going to the packy” now you will know what they mean.
Click to expand...



If you hear an Englishman utter these sounds he means the Pakistani Kiosk on the corner selling anything round the clock, employing any family member, child, grandpa, dogs and middle couple ... Just like your US 7/11, most of them unlicensed ... Germans go the the "Tanke" meaning petrol station, the 24/7 tabac and liquor store here. In Cologne and Berlin they have their "Büdchen" or "Kiosk" or "Trinkhalle". Last expression means they offer to consume the stuff on premises. It is also the common expression for this kind of micro superstore offering wine, toilet paper, tooth brush, bread, butter, soft drinks, beer, tabac .... "Trinkhalle" is also common in Eastern Germany and the coal mining region "Ruhrgrbiet".

Some also serve small food like fries and burgers and "Schnitzel" and "Currywurst" ... Last is a real gourmandise if the know how to make a good curry sauce on site. Can be a magic dish!


----------



## limr

I wish there were a way my phone camera could have done justice to the sunset yesterday. It was like the sky was on fire AND there was a rainbow. I mean, this was  Technocolor Gone With the Wind sky. It was Ted Turner over-dramatic colorized sky. And apparently, it was a sky to be experienced but not photographed. 

Le sigh.


----------



## davidharmier60

5.75 hours today. Floors. Marquee. Sweep.
Pick up a LOT of the mess the guys that get the cardboard bales leave behind. 
Eating a leisurely breakfast and sort of goofing off to wait for the check. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Depends on the whiskey. Sometimes, a splash of water really opens up the flavor.



Ice cold cleanest water from an Irish fairy ground. Transcend taste. Lift spirits. And a Guinness fresh from clean pipes. What a treat. After several you sure know where the floor is but search for your head somewhere between the clouds


----------



## davidharmier60

As I have mentioned I rarely drink alcoholic beverages.  Maybe a margarita or a rum and coke once in a blue moon. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary never waters down anything in his life.  He even swims in a dry pool.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wiat, wait, I need to roll up my pants legs it's starting to get deep in here LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary never rolls up his pant legs either.
Click to expand...


That's because Gary is the most interesting man.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Mike (Max’s human) and Gary watched the Three Billboards movie.  A very good and throughly entertaining movie. At least four stars.  It reminded Gary of Fargo.  Tuesdays is a great day for movies.  We watched the movie in downtown Brea, a very upscale, quaint, Orange County shopping area. We were the first to entered the theater, it took five minutes for the theater to double in occupancy. In total maybe six watched the movie. After the movie, Gary reached to the seat ahead of him just for leverage to pull him out of the seat he was seated. The jammin’ back of the seat pulled off in his hand.  We all laughed.  If he was younger and less responsible, he probably would have attempted to depart with the souvenir seat back.


----------



## davidharmier60

There is a theater in Cleveland that has been there forever. There is a big fancy cinema in Humble. I can't remember the last movie I saw in a theater. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

What do you do swimming in a dry pool, walk around and pantomime? 

I'm getting tired of cloudy, gray, overcast, gray... as my mom says, **** or get off the pot, rain or snow or let the sun come out already!

I think there's a need for a happy hour.


----------



## Gary A.

`1q2wa


vintagesnaps said:


> What do you do swimming in a dry pool, walk around and pantomime?
> 
> I'm getting tired of cloudy, gray, overcast, gray... as my mom says, **** or get off the pot, rain or snow or let the sun come out already!
> 
> I think there's a need for a happy hour.


Savoring the pure enjoyment of an undiluted swim ... of course.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Savoring the pure enjoyment of an undiluted swim .



That would make for an interesting video


----------



## Frank F.

I like to share a picture I took a few days ago ... a small fashion store .. I like the layers of relections here...

... I look at it and zoom in and zoom out ... great effect


----------



## JamesD

terri said:


> Earthquake off the coast of  Alaska apparently triggered a lot of tsunami warnings - though from what I understand now, those have been canceled.
> 
> I hope @JamesD wasn't impacted by this.



Nope, no impact here, just a lot of people asking about it. ;-)

Apparently there was an approximately 30cm tsunami in certain parts down on the coast, but I'm in the interior, 350 miles or so north of Anchorage, so tsunami warnings don't reach us up here. The quake itself was a bit offshore of Kodiak, even further south, a total distance of maybe 700 mi. Somewhat further than the distance from San Francisco to Salt Lake City, as the crow flies.

Alaska is big...


----------



## JamesD

terri said:


> ...apparently the solution is to make it even stronger, and then just _add water._    Eww!    That ain't brewing a cuppa joe.



Isn't it normal for developers to be diluted at least 1+1?


----------



## snowbear

Yo, yo . . . barflies.  Just remember that this is a _coffee_ house.  I ain't got no liquor license, so make sure you keep that stuff in the coffee cup, and cover the top with your hand if the LCB Inspector comes around.



JamesD said:


> Alaska is big...


Big enough that it is the Western-most, Northern-most, and Eastern-most state (The Aleutians stretch beyond 180* West).


----------



## Gary A.

If Gary ever quenched his thirst with D-76 ... it would be neat.


----------



## JamesD

limr said:


> What you had was a pomegranate _cocktail. _There are only three ingredients in a martini: gin, dry vermouth, and olives OR a twist.



Ha! I won't rouse the gin vs vodka martini debate (though I'm on team vodka ), but you forgot a crucial (if technically "optional") component: a little bit of brine.

I like my martinis dirty.


----------



## JamesD

snowbear said:


> JamesD said:
> 
> 
> 
> Alaska is big...
> 
> 
> 
> Big enough that it is the Western-most, Northern-most, and Eastern-most state (The Aleutians stretch beyond 180* West).
Click to expand...


Yep! Yet somehow we only have one time zone. And still do this daylight savings time madness, despite having no dark in the summertime and only two hours of sun or less in some places in the winter.


----------



## snowbear

I have no words . . .
Camel Beauty Pageant Kicks Out 12 Animals for Botox


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> If Gary ever quenched his thirst with D-76 ... it would be neat.


Microdol, 3:1


----------



## davidharmier60

Shant be long and Dave will be asleep. 
Hope you have a good night and a wonderful tomorrow.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

JamesD said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> What you had was a pomegranate _cocktail. _There are only three ingredients in a martini: gin, dry vermouth, and olives OR a twist.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ha! I won't rouse the gin vs vodka martini debate (though I'm on team vodka ), but you forgot a crucial (if technically "optional") component: a little bit of brine.
> 
> I like my martinis dirty.
Click to expand...


First of all...props 

I'm willing to accept vodka as a variant, but the original was gin and as far as I am concerned, the only 'true' martini. And in the original recipe, the proportions included much more vermouth than is used today. It was a much smaller drink (usually about 3oz vs today's vats of booze) and the proportions were 1 part vermouth to 3 parts gin. These days, someone asks for an actual martini (instead of those super sweet chocolate or fruit cocktails that pass for 'martinis' these days) and they want you to essentially just show the bottle of vermouth to the glass, then put it away and pour straight gin (or vodka) into a glass made for a giant.

When I was a bartender, one technique for a "dry martini" was to chill the glass, then dump the ice, put in a splash of vermouth, swish it to coat the glass, then dump the excess. Then pour the shaken gin into the glass. Otherwise, a regular one was simply a splash - no more - of vermouth into the shaker with the gin.

I like the first few sips of a dirty martini, but then the brine gets to be a bit much. For me, "dirty" means not shaking the brine off the olives before putting them into the drink. That's enough brine for me. And like I said, I recognize vodka as an acceptable variant, but the other ingredients need to stay the same. Stray from them and it's no longer a martini. Hell, even substituting a cocktail onion turns it into a Gibson, fer cryin' out loud  I just don't drink vodka martinis because I'd rather just have my vodka straight and chilled or on the rocks. 

Damn. I want a martini now


----------



## JonA_CT

The D610 has been sold. I'm close to getting on with my photography life, haha.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> JamesD said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> What you had was a pomegranate _cocktail. _There are only three ingredients in a martini: gin, dry vermouth, and olives OR a twist.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ha! I won't rouse the gin vs vodka martini debate (though I'm on team vodka ), but you forgot a crucial (if technically "optional") component: a little bit of brine.
> 
> I like my martinis dirty.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> First of all...props
> 
> I'm willing to accept vodka as a variant, but the original was gin and as far as I am concerned, the only 'true' martini. And in the original recipe, the proportions included much more vermouth than is used today. It was a much smaller drink (usually about 3oz vs today's vats of booze) and the proportions were 1 part vermouth to 3 parts gin. These days, someone asks for an actual martini (instead of those super sweet chocolate or fruit cocktails that pass for 'martinis' these days) and they want you to essentially just show the bottle of vermouth to the glass, then put it away and pour straight gin (or vodka) into a glass made for a giant.
> 
> When I was a bartender, one technique for a "dry martini" was to chill the glass, then dump the ice, put in a splash of vermouth, swish it to coat the glass, then dump the excess. Then pour the shaken gin into the glass. Otherwise, a regular one was simply a splash - no more - of vermouth into the shaker with the gin.
> 
> I like the first few sips of a dirty martini, but then the brine gets to be a bit much. For me, "dirty" means not shaking the brine off the olives before putting them into the drink. That's enough brine for me. And like I said, I recognize vodka as an acceptable variant, but the other ingredients need to stay the same. Stray from them and it's no longer a martini. Hell, even substituting a cocktail onion turns it into a Gibson, fer cryin' out loud  I just don't drink vodka martinis because I'd rather just have my vodka straight and chilled or on the rocks.
> 
> Damn. I want a martini now
Click to expand...


A Gibson tastes kind of like how I imagine licking the inside of a garbage can might. My friend orders his with an olive too. Gross.

I like my martinis with damn nice gin, which means I don't drink them very often.

I prefer my Manhattans to be made with a nice spicy rye. And I love Punt e Mes for the sweet vermouth.

I prefer my bourbon to be made from mostly barley or wheat.

I prefer my scotch to be from Islay.

I seem to like whatever wine Gary does.

And I'll drink whatever beer is handed to me, as long as the temperature is appropriate. (Although, given choices, I have more to say than can be placed here.)

But...

I've been a really good boy in January. So all of this talk is making me thirsty, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary heard that martini's should be stirred and never shaken ... (James Bond notwithstanding).


----------



## Gary A.

_"I seem to like whatever wine Gary does."_

You beat Gary to the punch, lol.  Next week Gary will be back in the Paso Robles wine country.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> The D610 has been sold. I'm close to getting on with my photography life, haha.


Get a Fuji.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> The D610 has been sold. I'm close to getting on with my photography life, haha.
> 
> 
> 
> Get a Fuji.
Click to expand...


I seriously considered it, but I'd have to eventually sell all of my Nikon gear. And after selling the camera, I have no desire to sell all of the lenses and flash gear I have, haha.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gary heard that martini's should be stirred and never shaken ... (James Bond notwithstanding).



Shaking does melt the ice quickly and can dilute the drink in an unpleasant way if shaken too much. I've had martinis served to me that were shaken so much that there are little ice chips floating on the surface. It tastes nice and cold for the first few sips, but it's also clearly diluted. A good martini should be chilled, but should not contain ice floes. 

Having said that, I do shake my martinis, but not for very long.


----------



## terri

JamesD said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...apparently the solution is to make it even stronger, and then just _add water._    Eww!    That ain't brewing a cuppa joe.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Isn't it normal for developers to be diluted at least 1+1?
Click to expand...

Yeah, but I don't have to drink it, babe!


----------



## Gary A.

Finely ... after a long day Gary has emerged fresh from the shower.  Miss Maggie, Mary Lou and he are on the recliner, watching Rachel, sipping a very smooth vino, snacking on orange slices from fruit just plucked from the tree, a barrel stave with seven candles lighting the room ... it has been a good day.


----------



## JamesD

limr said:


> I'm willing to accept vodka as a variant, but the original was gin and as far as I am concerned, the only 'true' martini. And in the original recipe, the proportions included much more vermouth than is used today. It was a much smaller drink (usually about 3oz vs today's vats of booze) and the proportions were 1 part vermouth to 3 parts gin. These days, someone asks for an actual martini (instead of those super sweet chocolate or fruit cocktails that pass for 'martinis' these days) and they want you to essentially just show the bottle of vermouth to the glass, then put it away and pour straight gin (or vodka) into a glass made for a giant.



When I order a martini, I do specify a "vodka martini" with the expectation that if I ask for just "a martini," I'll get gin.  With the exception of a shot of gin with a little grenadine around the holidays (tastes like Christmas) I'm not much a fan of drinking my pine trees.  Unfortunately, it's hard to find anyone up here that even knows _how_ to make a martini, these days. I've had to explain it more than once, with mixed results.

When I make one at home, it's 5+1 Vodka and extra-dry vermouth, half a splash of brine (half-dirty, if you will) in the glass and swirled, usually with garlic-stuffed olives because they're amazing.  Agitated vigorously with ice in a shaker or suitable daylight tank for 3o seconds flat, then promptly strained into the glass with three olives on a spear. The extra time does dilute it a bit, which is good for me because I'll wind up drinking it more slowly overall.  I also like the ice flecks.

(That's probably an Alaska thing:  we consume the most ice cream in the country per capita, and most of it in December through February.  We're weird about frozen things.)


----------



## JamesD

JonA_CT said:


> A Gibson tastes kind of like how I imagine licking the inside of a garbage can might. My friend orders his with an olive too. Gross.


----------



## grrr8scott

Gary A. said:


> _"I seem to like whatever wine Gary does."_
> 
> You beat Gary to the punch, lol.  Next week Gary will be back in the Paso Robles wine country.



Paso is a great area.  Any idea which wineries you'll be visiting?


----------



## limr

JamesD said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm willing to accept vodka as a variant, but the original was gin and as far as I am concerned, the only 'true' martini. And in the original recipe, the proportions included much more vermouth than is used today. It was a much smaller drink (usually about 3oz vs today's vats of booze) and the proportions were 1 part vermouth to 3 parts gin. These days, someone asks for an actual martini (instead of those super sweet chocolate or fruit cocktails that pass for 'martinis' these days) and they want you to essentially just show the bottle of vermouth to the glass, then put it away and pour straight gin (or vodka) into a glass made for a giant.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When I order a martini, I do specify a "vodka martini" with the expectation that if I ask for just "a martini," I'll get gin.  With the exception of a shot of gin with a little grenadine around the holidays (tastes like Christmas) I'm not much a fan of drinking my pine trees.  Unfortunately, it's hard to find anyone up here that even knows _how_ to make a martini, these days. I've had to explain it more than once, with mixed results.
> 
> When I make one at home, it's 5+1 Vodka and extra-dry vermouth, half a splash of brine (half-dirty, if you will) in the glass and swirled, usually with garlic-stuffed olives because they're amazing.  Agitated vigorously with ice in a shaker or suitable daylight tank for 3o seconds flat, then promptly strained into the glass with three olives on a spear. The extra time does dilute it a bit, which is good for me because I'll wind up drinking it more slowly overall.  I also like the ice flecks.
> 
> (That's probably an Alaska thing:  we consume the most ice cream in the country per capita, and most of it in December through February.  We're weird about frozen things.)
Click to expand...


You're all right. I like you...so far  

(Totally with you on the garlic-stuffed olives. Yum!)


----------



## Gary A.

grrr8scott said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _"I seem to like whatever wine Gary does."_
> 
> You beat Gary to the punch, lol.  Next week Gary will be back in the Paso Robles wine country.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Paso is a great area.  Any idea which wineries you'll be visiting?
Click to expand...

We’re really going for the Elephant Seals.  But we are member’s at Wolff and Saucelito Canyon, so definitely those two for sure.  Do you have any recommendations?


----------



## grrr8scott

Gary A. said:


> grrr8scott said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _"I seem to like whatever wine Gary does."_
> 
> You beat Gary to the punch, lol.  Next week Gary will be back in the Paso Robles wine country.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Paso is a great area.  Any idea which wineries you'll be visiting?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We’re really going for the Elephant Seals.  But we are member’s at Wolff and Saucelito Canyon, so definitely those two for sure.  Do you have any recommendations?
Click to expand...


I live near Modesto in the Central Valley, so I'm more familiar with the Lodi and foothill wineries in the gold country. I've been to the central coast a couple times, though. Eberle is supposed to be good, but I haven't been there yet, and haven't had their wine, either. Everyone raves about Tobin James, but I was disappointed, but maybe that was because I had high expectations. Both of those are east of Paso Robles.  Turley in Templeton makes great wines, but I haven't been to their tasting room. We visited Clesi, also in Templeton, and we liked their wines, primarily Italian varietals. We'll try them again next time we go.

Have you seen the elephant seals before?  I read about them last year, but haven't made the trip over to see them.  Someday.

Hope you have a great trip. I'd like to hear about it when you get a chance.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm alive. Coffee isn't up to lofty standards but it's what I'm used to and pretty good. 
Once more into the breach go I. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

We saw the elephant seals on our PCH road trip in 2014.  Very cool sight.  Smelly.  I’ll see if I can dig up a photo from that day.


----------



## JonA_CT

Morning, hosers. The D610 is all packaged up for its trip down I95 to NYC. 

I picked up a D800 with 30k clicks in great condition for a steal. Should be here early next week.


----------



## Gary A.

grrr8scott said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> grrr8scott said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _"I seem to like whatever wine Gary does."_
> 
> You beat Gary to the punch, lol.  Next week Gary will be back in the Paso Robles wine country.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Paso is a great area.  Any idea which wineries you'll be visiting?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We’re really going for the Elephant Seals.  But we are member’s at Wolff and Saucelito Canyon, so definitely those two for sure.  Do you have any recommendations?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I live near Modesto in the Central Valley, so I'm more familiar with the Lodi and foothill wineries in the gold country. I've been to the central coast a couple times, though. Eberle is supposed to be good, but I haven't been there yet, and haven't had their wine, either. Everyone raves about Tobin James, but I was disappointed, but maybe that was because I had high expectations. Both of those are east of Paso Robles.  Turley in Templeton makes great wines, but I haven't been to their tasting room. We visited Clesi, also in Templeton, and we liked their wines, primarily Italian varietals. We'll try them again next time we go.
> 
> Have you seen the elephant seals before?  I read about them last year, but haven't made the trip over to see them.  Someday.
> 
> Hope you have a great trip. I'd like to hear about it when you get a chance.
Click to expand...

Mary Lou and Gary have visited many Central California wineries in Lodi and Gold Country.  We really enjoyed the Livermore area. Eberle is great.  All their wines are above average.  Nice picnic area in the back often with music under the patio cover.  Tobin James is a place to be seen ... not a place for fine wines. We, my much much better half, Mary Lou and Gary enjoy discovering new wines and chatting with others who enjoy discovering new wines ... but Tobin James was more of a bar/nightclub than a refined wine tasting experience. A couple of Gary's favorite wineries in Paso are Venteux and Justin. Gary rubs his head ... Turley sounds very familiar ... isn't that up in Gold Country?  Being in SoCal, the closest wine country is in Temecula or Malibu.  The stuff/quality coming out of Malibu sucks.

You gotta check out the Elephant Seals. Hundreds of these huge, ugly, big nosed, hairy slugs slithering across the beach, screwing in the waves and birthing on the sand. The bulls can get as long as 15+ feet and weight in at 6,500 pounds.  Simply Extraordinary and Wonderful. The primary public viewing area is on top a hundred foot cliff rendering viewing safe and sane.  But if you travel up or down the coast you can get eye-to-eye ... which is hazardous and insane. About now is the height of the Central Coast population and it is loud and smelly.  Well worth a drive, take long lenses and binos for the primary viewing.  Take a wide and a life insurance policy for an eye-to-eye meeting.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> We saw the elephant seals on our PCH road trip in 2014.  Very cool sight.  Smelly.  I’ll see if I can dig up a photo from that day.


Wait what? Let's see if Gary got this straight ... you traveled PCH, presumably from SoCal to NorCal ... and at the end of the trip you returned to Boston ... amazing.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> We saw the elephant seals on our PCH road trip in 2014.  Very cool sight.  Smelly.  I’ll see if I can dig up a photo from that day.
> 
> 
> 
> Wait what? Let's see if Gary got this straight ... you traveled PCH, presumably from SoCal to NorCal ... and at the end of the trip you returned to Boston ... amazing.
Click to expand...


I'm sorry, Gary...but California will never be described as "wicked pissah" by a Boston girl.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> We saw the elephant seals on our PCH road trip in 2014.  Very cool sight.  Smelly.  I’ll see if I can dig up a photo from that day.
> 
> 
> 
> Wait what? Let's see if Gary got this straight ... you traveled PCH, presumably from SoCal to NorCal ... and at the end of the trip you returned to Boston ... amazing.
Click to expand...


Yup.  A west coast girls road trip with Princess (she was 11 then and still liked me) and my mom (who had never been to CA and wanted to "see it all").  We started in SD and ended in SF.  10 nights, 6 hotels, 800+ miles driven.

We visited:

San Diego Zoo/Mission Beach
La Jolla
Anaheim/Disneyland
Santa Monica/LA/Hollywood/Universal
Santa Barbara
Pismo Beach
Hearst Castle
Big Sur
Monterey Aquarium
San Francisco/Muir Woods/Sausalito

had a blast but it was exhausting!


----------



## SquarePeg

Next trip will be for me - wine country, mountains, beaches only


----------



## davidharmier60

4.5 hours today. Not much to report. 
Going to the second bank in town to see if they have a box of pennies. Then PO.
Or maybe then to our bank. We'll see. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Happy Burns Day (an night) to a' ye.

*Address to a Haggis*
Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye worthy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o need,
While thro your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An cut you up wi ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an strive:
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
The auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
'Bethankit' hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi perfect scunner,
Looks down wi sneering, scornfu view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll make it whissle;
An legs an arms, an heads will sned,
Like taps o thrissle.

Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies:
But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis

-- Robert Burns


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> We saw the elephant seals on our PCH road trip in 2014.  Very cool sight.  Smelly.  I’ll see if I can dig up a photo from that day.
> 
> 
> 
> Wait what? Let's see if Gary got this straight ... you traveled PCH, presumably from SoCal to NorCal ... and at the end of the trip you returned to Boston ... amazing.
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm sorry, Gary...but California will never be described as "wicked pissah" by a Boston girl.
Click to expand...

"Gnarly" is more a propos ...


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> We saw the elephant seals on our PCH road trip in 2014.  Very cool sight.  Smelly.  I’ll see if I can dig up a photo from that day.
> 
> 
> 
> Wait what? Let's see if Gary got this straight ... you traveled PCH, presumably from SoCal to NorCal ... and at the end of the trip you returned to Boston ... amazing.
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup.  A west coast girls road trip with Princess (she was 11 then and still liked me) and my mom (who had never been to CA and wanted to "see it all").  We started in SD and ended in SF.  10 nights, 6 hotels, 800+ miles driven.
> 
> We visited:
> 
> San Diego Zoo/Mission Beach
> La Jolla
> Anaheim/Disneyland
> Santa Monica/LA/Hollywood/Universal
> Santa Barbara
> Pismo Beach
> Hearst Castle
> Big Sur
> Monterey Aquarium
> San Francisco/Muir Woods/Sausalito
> 
> had a blast but it was exhausting!
Click to expand...

There's a lot to see and do out here. For your next road trip out here you should visits the Missions ... stretching from San Diego to above San Francisco. Many are off the beaten path, but all interesting and photogenic.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Next trip will be for me - wine country, mountains, beaches only



Which wine country:
1) Napa Sonoma;
2) Paso Robles;
3) Los Olivos/Santa Rita Hills;
4) Temecula;
5) Central Valley/Gold Country.

It is a days drive from Lake Tahoe/Sierra Nevada to Sonoma.  Gary much prefers Sonoma to Napa.  (Napa is far too commercialized for Gary's tastes. Sorta like an adult Disneyland.)


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Which wine country:
> 1) Napa Sonoma;
> 2) Paso Robles;
> 3) Los Olivos/Santa Rita Hills;
> 4) Temecula;
> 5) Central Valley/Gold Country.
> 
> It is a days drive from Lake Tahoe/Sierra Nevada to Sonoma. Gary much prefers Sonoma to Napa. (Napa is far too commercialized for Gary's tastes. Sorta like an adult Disneyland.)



I'm not sure what the area was called but when we drove from Santa Barbara to Pismo Beach it was the only time we really deviated from the coastal road and we drove past some really beautiful places that looked like vineyards to me.  If I had been alone and it had been earlier in the day I would have stopped there.  I remember we had stayed in SB longer than planned and got a late start to Pismo Beach and I didn't want to be driving too long at night...  Looking at a map now I believe it was the San Marcos pass road to the 154 to the 101.


----------



## Gary A.

That would be the Santa Barbara County wine country or in particular the Los Olivos/Santa Rita Hills.  Many winos believe that the best Pinot Noir in the world is coming out of the Santa Rita Hills just outside of Lompoc. That is about a 2.5 hour drive from Disneyland. (Gary knows you know Disneyland.)  Before you go there watch the movie _Sideways. _A wine cult movie centered in that area. Another entertaining wine movie is _Bottleshock, a_ must see for any serious trip to California wine country.


----------



## Gary A.

Speaking of movies ... Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary watched _Baby Driver_ last night.  Very very entertaining.  Gary really enjoyed the interweaving of the music with the movie, the shear quirkiness of the plot and players and the outstanding driving/car scenes.


----------



## Gary A.

Remember that those wineries are not the magnets like Napa-Sonoma and close up early.  There is some nightlife in Santa Barbara ... but said trip should be more about relaxation and getting away from stress ... than riotous good fun.


----------



## davidharmier60

Found a box of pennies at the second bank in town. Got a thick stack of wrappers.
Gonna dive in and see what I got.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Princess will be bored as hell.  But your pooch would have a good time.  We've taken Cookie and Maggie with us on our wine tasting trips. 






The Cook leading us into Sterling Vineyards, one of her favorite watering  hole.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> That would be the Santa Barbara County wine country or in particular the Los Olivos/Santa Rita Hills.  Many winos believe that the best Pinot Noir in the world is coming out of the Santa Rita Hills just outside of Lompoc. That is about a 2.5 hour drive from Disneyland. (Gary knows you know Disneyland.)  Before you go there watch the movie _Sideways. _A wine cult movie centered in that area. Another entertaining wine movie is _Bottleshock, a_ must see for any serious trip to California wine country.



I've seen that movie and it was great.  Excellent actors.



Gary A. said:


> Speaking of movies ... Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary watch _Baby Driver_ last night.  Very very entertaining.  Gary really enjoyed the interweaving of the music with the movie, the shear quirkiness of the plot and players and the outstanding driving/car scenes.



Thanks for the tip.  Haven't seen this yet.



Gary A. said:


> Remember that those wineries are not the magnets like Napa-Sonoma and close up early.  There is some nightlife in Santa Barbara ... but said trip should be more about relaxation and getting away from stress ... than riotous good fun.



For me the trip would be more about scenery than being seen!  I'm not much for "nightlife" these days.  I prefer day drinking, lol.



Gary A. said:


> PS- Princess will be bored as hell.  But your pooch would have a good time.  We've taken Cookie and Maggie with us on our wine tasting trips.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Cook leading us into Sterling Vineyards, one of her favorite watering  hole.



I'm saving this trip for grown ups only.  Princess and the King will be staying home.


----------



## grrr8scott

Gary A. said:


> grrr8scott said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> grrr8scott said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _"I seem to like whatever wine Gary does."_
> 
> You beat Gary to the punch, lol.  Next week Gary will be back in the Paso Robles wine country.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Paso is a great area.  Any idea which wineries you'll be visiting?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We’re really going for the Elephant Seals.  But we are member’s at Wolff and Saucelito Canyon, so definitely those two for sure.  Do you have any recommendations?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I live near Modesto in the Central Valley, so I'm more familiar with the Lodi and foothill wineries in the gold country. I've been to the central coast a couple times, though. Eberle is supposed to be good, but I haven't been there yet, and haven't had their wine, either. Everyone raves about Tobin James, but I was disappointed, but maybe that was because I had high expectations. Both of those are east of Paso Robles.  Turley in Templeton makes great wines, but I haven't been to their tasting room. We visited Clesi, also in Templeton, and we liked their wines, primarily Italian varietals. We'll try them again next time we go.
> 
> Have you seen the elephant seals before?  I read about them last year, but haven't made the trip over to see them.  Someday.
> 
> Hope you have a great trip. I'd like to hear about it when you get a chance.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary have visited many Central California wineries in Lodi and Gold Country.  We really enjoyed the Livermore area. Eberle is great.  All their wines are above average.  Nice picnic area in the back often with music under the patio cover.  Tobin James is a place to be seen ... not a place for fine wines. We, my much much better half, Mary Lou and Gary enjoy discovering new wines and chatting with others who enjoy discovering new wines ... but Tobin James was more of a bar/nightclub than a refined wine tasting experience. A couple of Gary's favorite wineries in Paso are Venteux and Justin. Gary rubs his head ... Turley sounds very familiar ... isn't that up in Gold Country?  Being in SoCal, the closest wine country is in Temecula or Malibu.  The stuff/quality coming out of Malibu sucks.
> 
> You gotta check out the Elephant Seals. Hundreds of these huge, ugly, big nosed, hairy slugs slithering across the beach, screwing in the waves and birthing on the sand. The bulls can get as long as 15+ feet and weight in at 6,500 pounds.  Simply Extraordinary and Wonderful. The primary public viewing area is on top a hundred foot cliff rendering viewing safe and sane.  But if you travel up or down the coast you can get eye-to-eye ... which is hazardous and insane. About now is the height of the Central Coast population and it is loud and smelly.  Well worth a drive, take long lenses and binos for the primary viewing.  Take a wide and a life insurance policy for an eye-to-eye meeting.
Click to expand...


----------



## grrr8scott

Turley has a tasting room in Templeton.  I'm pretty sure they grow grapes in the central coast area. I believe they also have a winery in Napa.  I'm glad you share my view on Tobin James. Everyone talks it up, but I just don't see it.  I agree with you about Napa and Sonoma. Napa is crowded and commercialized, Sonoma is more laid back, and has very good wines. Livermore is good, but they tend to charge a lot for wine tasting.  Lodi has great Zins and Chardonnays, and you often can talk to the winemakers. 

Thanks for the info on the elephant seals. Sounds like a worthwhile trip. It's about 3 1/2 hours to Morro Bay, less to Paso Robles.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Is Charlie trying to tell us he's having ragout for supper? Wonder what kind of wine would go with that?? maybe a beer.

The sun is out and I feel a little perkier, but it's not really the weather, it's because of the weather that I ended up with a bit of a scratchy throat & congestion kind of thing going. Just been feeling draggy so the sunshine helps; I'm used to clouds, haze, fog, etc. etc. and it usually doesn't faze me! lol


----------



## terri

Sorry you're under the weather, Sharon!   Hope it doesn't turn into anything serious.


----------



## terri

We received terrible news today.   Dear friends of ours lost their 32 year old son to pancreatic cancer.   He just thought he had developed food allergies with his sudden onset of digestive problems...testing showed the cancer.    It's still pretty much a death sentence, receiving that diagnosis.

That was 11 months ago, and now he is gone.   He did do a lot of traveling and got some things knocked off his bucket list in the last 6 months.    But screw that sh!t.   We're heartbroken for them.


----------



## waday

terri said:


> We received terrible news today.   Dear friends of ours lost their 32 year old son to pancreatic cancer.   He just thought he had developed food allergies with his sudden onset of digestive problems...testing showed the cancer.    It's still pretty much a death sentence, receiving that diagnosis.
> 
> That was 11 months ago, and now he is gone.   He did do a lot of traveling and got some things knocked off his bucket list in the last 6 months.    But screw that sh!t.   We're heartbroken for them.


So very sorry to hear this


----------



## SquarePeg

Terrible for anyone but especially for someone so young.  Sorry for your loss Terri.


----------



## davidharmier60

I had a pretty good case of the crud.
Been better for a while. But it's back. 
Texas weather. If you don't like it wait a minute,  it'll change. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> We received terrible news today.   Dear friends of ours lost their 32 year old son to pancreatic cancer.   He just thought he had developed food allergies with his sudden onset of digestive problems...testing showed the cancer.    It's still pretty much a death sentence, receiving that diagnosis.
> 
> That was 11 months ago, and now he is gone.   He did do a lot of traveling and got some things knocked off his bucket list in the last 6 months.    But screw that sh!t.   We're heartbroken for them.


Very very sad.  Sorry Terri.


----------



## Gary A.

grrr8scott said:


> Turley has a tasting room in Templeton.  I'm pretty sure they grow grapes in the central coast area. I believe they also have a winery in Napa.  I'm glad you share my view on Tobin James. Everyone talks it up, but I just don't see it.  I agree with you about Napa and Sonoma. Napa is crowded and commercialized, Sonoma is more laid back, and has very good wines. Livermore is good, but they tend to charge a lot for wine tasting.  Lodi has great Zins and Chardonnays, and you often can talk to the winemakers.
> 
> Thanks for the info on the elephant seals. Sounds like a worthwhile trip. It's about 3 1/2 hours to Morro Bay, less to Paso Robles.


About 4 hours for us down here in La Mirada.  Lodi is rewriting the book on Zins.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Is Charlie trying to tell us he's having ragout for supper? Wonder what kind of wine would go with that?? maybe a beer.


Oh, no.  And with haggis, you want a fine single-malt.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> We received terrible news today.   Dear friends of ours lost their 32 year old son to pancreatic cancer.   He just thought he had developed food allergies with his sudden onset of digestive problems...testing showed the cancer.    It's still pretty much a death sentence, receiving that diagnosis.
> 
> That was 11 months ago, and now he is gone.   He did do a lot of traveling and got some things knocked off his bucket list in the last 6 months.    But screw that sh!t.   We're heartbroken for them.


Sorry to hear about this.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> . . . a bit of a scratchy throat & congestion kind of thing going.


That’s what I’ve been trying to get over.  I think I got it on the Michigan trip.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> We received terrible news today.   Dear friends of ours lost their 32 year old son to pancreatic cancer.   He just thought he had developed food allergies with his sudden onset of digestive problems...testing showed the cancer.    It's still pretty much a death sentence, receiving that diagnosis.
> 
> That was 11 months ago, and now he is gone.   He did do a lot of traveling and got some things knocked off his bucket list in the last 6 months.    But screw that sh!t.   We're heartbroken for them.



That's awful, I'm so so sorry


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Oh, no.  And with haggis, you want a fine single-malt *barf bag*.



FTFY.


----------



## snowbear

It’s not that bad, or at least the stuff that’s here.  Tastes more like the Scotch “seasoning” than anything else.  Of course, I love scrapple (everything but the “ oink”).


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, no.  And with haggis, you want a fine single-malt *barf bag*.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY.
Click to expand...

Interestingly enough, Gary daughter loves haggis after taking a semester abroad in Scotland.


----------



## JonA_CT

So sorry to hear that, @terri . F cancer.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, no.  And with haggis, you want a fine single-malt *barf bag*.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY.
Click to expand...

  And what, Madam, do you consider fine dining?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, no.  And with haggis, you want a fine single-malt *barf bag*.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And what, Madam, do you consider fine dining?
Click to expand...


NOT ground-up snouts and entrails.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, no.  And with haggis, you want a fine single-malt *barf bag*.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And what, Madam, do you consider fine dining?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> NOT ground-up snouts and entrails.
Click to expand...

I can assure you m'Lady, haggis is 100% snout-free!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, no.  And with haggis, you want a fine single-malt *barf bag*.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And what, Madam, do you consider fine dining?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> NOT ground-up snouts and entrails.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I can assure you m'Lady, haggis is 100% snout-free!
Click to expand...


Don't care. Entrails are bad enough.


----------



## Fred von den Berg

^^
I was in Scotland once and ate some haggis. As I say, I was in Scotland once.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, no.  And with haggis, you want a fine single-malt *barf bag*.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Interestingly enough, Gary daughter loves haggis after taking a semester abroad in Scotland.
Click to expand...



I love the Haggis, but not every style. Some cook it for gourmets, others try to make it really ugly as a "proof of courage and manliness"


----------



## Frank F.

Flood is back again...


----------



## davidharmier60

Thank God the flood isn't back where I live.
In less than 20 minutes i gotta go 


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> We received terrible news today.   Dear friends of ours lost their 32 year old son to pancreatic cancer.   He just thought he had developed food allergies with his sudden onset of digestive problems...testing showed the cancer.    It's still pretty much a death sentence, receiving that diagnosis.
> 
> That was 11 months ago, and now he is gone.   He did do a lot of traveling and got some things knocked off his bucket list in the last 6 months.    But screw that sh!t.   We're heartbroken for them.



I am so sorry. Cancer sucks. I'll pray for the family


----------



## Frank F.

They say it will be much less severe than earlier flooding. good.


----------



## JonA_CT

Morning, hosers! Happy friday!

My daughter has a dentist appointment, and we are hitting breakfast before I head back to work. It’s nice to get some one-on-one time with her this morning.

Enjoy your day!


----------



## SquarePeg

Woot woot TGIFF!!!!!   It’s supposed to be warm here this weekend - climbing from today’s below freezing temps to the 50’s tomorrow and Sunday.    Another of my experiments with adapted lenses arrived yesterday.  The Domiplan 50 1.8 shipped from Hungary.  Aperture and mf seem to be working fine with the m42 to Fuji X adapter.  Pics later.


----------



## smoke665

Is it Friday? When you're retired all the days tend to run together. Sometimes I find myself missing the excitement of an upcoming weekend


----------



## waday




----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## limr




----------



## davidharmier60

If only "pizza Friday ".......
It wouldn't be so bad.
4.5 hours today. 
Get to do it again tomorrow. 
Going to see what the Post office has and then head for the home 20.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

I remember a while back we were going to do these featured threads where people put their name on a list with a specific topic and agreed to write quasi-articles for the benefit of the readers here.

What ever happened to that? Did we end up doing it? Did not enough people do it?


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Woot woot TGIFF!!!!!   It’s supposed to be warm here this weekend - climbing from today’s below freezing temps to the 50’s tomorrow and Sunday.    Another of my experiments with adapted lenses arrived yesterday.  The Domiplan 50 1.8 shipped from Hungary.  Aperture and mf seem to be working fine with the m42 to Fuji X adapter.  Pics later.


Damn Girl, look at you ... getting all Fuji and all ...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary has filled up a Hummingbird feeder with another to go.  Gotta whip up more nectar ... maybe he'll carbonate the nectar, give those little birds a kick.  TGIF right back at y'all. 49F presently, but should hit 67F by the afternoon. Miss Maggie, while it may seem highly improbable, woke up with more energy than her extraordinarily and abnormally high ... normal, puppy, terrier energy.


----------



## JonA_CT

I took a half day at work to accommodate my daughter's appointment this morning, but 3/4 of my teaching schedule was this morning. So I have 3.5 hours of work, but only 57 minutes in front of students. Pretty solid Friday.


----------



## davidharmier60

Home. Sister got quite a haul at the food truck. Going to look at my daily comics. 
And fool with pennies. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just hear a loud crash from the living room.  Miss Maggie dumped her toy box and came trotting into the kitchen, all proud of herself, with her favorite toy.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Gary just hear a loud crash from the living room.  Miss Maggie dumped her toy box and came trotting into the kitchen, all proud of herself, with her favorite toy.



My daughter does that too. 

She's funny in other ways too. My son (5 months now) was in a rock'n'play in our bedroom while we were getting ready this morning, and my wife asked my daughter to bring him a toy to play with. Bless her...she went and grabbed her favorite toy to bring him. But he wasn't quite sure what to do with a whale puzzle, haha.


----------



## limr

Am.So.Unmotivated.Today.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Am.So.Unmotivated.Today.



Me too. I'm answering TPF threads rather than grading papers. My justification? I know we have a fire drill in 15 minutes. How much could I really get done between now and then?

For the record...it's during that one class I have to teach today, but I have zero responsibility during the drill, haha.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Am.So.Unmotivated.Today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Me too. I'm answering TPF threads rather than grading papers. My justification? I know we have a fire drill in 15 minutes. How much could I really get done between now and then?
> 
> For the record...it's during that one class I have to teach today, but I have zero responsibility during the drill, haha.
Click to expand...


Man, today is totally a banner teaching day for you! And especially a mid-year Friday. Does any non-teacher really understand what a day like this feels like? 

Enjoy!


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary has filled up a Hummingbird feeder with another to go.  Gotta whip up more nectar ... maybe he'll carbonate the nectar, give those little birds a kick.  TGIF right back at y'all. 49F presently, but should hit 67F by the afternoon. Miss Maggie, while it may seem highly improbable, woke up with more energy than her extraordinarily and abnormally high ... normal, puppy, terrier energy.



Are we going to see some hummingbird photos with the 50-140?  



 

Afraid of his toys.  And the vacuum, and paper bags, and the laundry basket, and sometimes his kibble.  Fearless when it comes to the UPS guy and defending his spot riding shotgun.  Princess just rolls her eyes and gets in the back.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Am.So.Unmotivated.Today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Me too. I'm answering TPF threads rather than grading papers. My justification? I know we have a fire drill in 15 minutes. How much could I really get done between now and then?
> 
> For the record...it's during that one class I have to teach today, but I have zero responsibility during the drill, haha.
Click to expand...

Grading papers is easy ... making up the justification(s) for the grade is the tough part.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary have just returned from watching _The Post_.  What a movie.  It really really takes me back.  Gary cannot speak to the Washington Post, but ... everything looked and the actions/reactions/interactions would have been similar to the Los Angeles Times during that period.


----------



## Frank F.

Friday is horse day!
Happy horse day!


----------



## limr

Horse day but only one picture of the horse? MOAR HORSES!


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou and Gary have just returned watching _The Post_.  What a movie.  It really really takes me back.  Gary cannot speak to the Washington Post, but ... everything looked and the actions/reactions/interactions would have been similar to the Los Angeles Times during that period.



Agree, awesome movie!  And unfortunately very relevant to current events.  I was surprised that Hanks didn’t get nominated for an Oscar.


----------



## snowbear

State GIS group meeting today.  Had lunch at local Irish pub.  Shepherd Pie must have been made from the German variety.  Kicking my . . .  stomach.

We had a presentation on obtaining a commercial remote pilot license (drones);  Though having one would be an asset in my career, I will pass for now, and concentrate of the other important items: using mastering key parts the software platform, programming (Python and JavaScript), and making useful and pretty maps.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary have just returned watching _The Post_.  What a movie.  It really really takes me back.  Gary cannot speak to the Washington Post, but ... everything looked and the actions/reactions/interactions would have been similar to the Los Angeles Times during that period.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Agree, awesome movie!  And unfortunately very relevant to current events.  I was surprised that Hanks didn’t get nominated for an Oscar.
Click to expand...

To Gary, it seemed obviously written to reflect today's world and political players ... but then again ... the similarities between then and now are/maybe so similar that perhaps the writers didn't have to go out of their way to create relevance.  The LA Times newsroom was nearly identical with editor offices ringing the open desks ... the pneumatic tubes, ever the deadline pressure, the constant debates to run or not run stories.  The LA Times printed six different issues a day with the last deadline at midnight. Printing from wet negatives was commonplace. Working news was either slow or fast, sitting or running ... nothing seemed to move at a moderate pace.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou and Gary have just returned from watching _The Post_.  What a movie.  It really really takes me back.  Gary cannot speak to the Washington Post, but ... everything looked and the actions/reactions/interactions would have been similar to the Los Angeles Times during that period.


Did you see the Nikon F's in the movie?


----------



## terri

The movie was brilliant on many levels.  I got choked up watching the damn type setting. ...it was just so cool.

Possibly the political overtones pushed back the likelihood of too many Oscar nods.  Clearly Hanks as well as Streep was excellent, along with a strong supporting cast.


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Horse day but only one picture of the horse? MOAR HORSES!



There are so many horses. The Fuji X100 is not great at capturing motion. Her field is emotion! Next week I might bring my Nikon and hope to capture more of the animals


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning peeps. Pretty soon I gotta go. 
And goody it's raining. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary have just returned from watching _The Post_.  What a movie.  It really really takes me back.  Gary cannot speak to the Washington Post, but ... everything looked and the actions/reactions/interactions would have been similar to the Los Angeles Times during that period.
> 
> 
> 
> Did you see the Nikon F's in the movie?
Click to expand...

LOL ... yes at the end.  Many were hooked up to Metz 'Potato Masher' flash.  Those potato mashers were heavy but powerful.  They could singe the hair off a cat at 30 paces.  A good unit to bounce off a wall behind you.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> The movie was brilliant on many levels.  I got choked up watching the damn type setting. ...it was just so cool.
> 
> Possibly the political overtones pushed back the likelihood of too many Oscar nods.  Clearly Hanks as well as Streep was excellent, along with a strong supporting cast.


The old linotype machines ... the operators who put the pages together were true craftsmen. The presses at the Times were in the basement and went up stories. At the height of its game, the LA Times had more than one million subscribers. They owned forests and paper mills.  Recently, a friend took a tour of the LA Times. He said the regular tour guide was absent and replaced by a reporter.  The reporter started the tour with "Welcome to the Titanic ..."


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> The old linotype machines ... the operators who put the pages together were true craftsmen. The presses at the Times were in the basement and went up stories. At the height of its game, the LA Times had more than one million subscribers. They owned forests and paper mills.  Recently, a friend took a tour of the LA Times. He said the regular tour guide was absent and replaced by a reporter.  The reporter started the tour with "Welcome to the Titanic ..."


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> "Welcome to the Titanic ..."



My last three years in college I had the privilege of meeting a burgeoning newspaper man who later became my mentor, business partner, and friend. He offered me a job at his Printing facility and newspaper where I started at the bottom of the process, but being the quick learner I fast advanced to the point that I was running full color on a sheet fed Heildlberg. From there I advanced to training on the new (at that time) newspaper Web Press, that could print and fold a 12 page section. Loved it all maybe that's why I learned so quick. 

Rust Communications began as a small "free" paper that survived on advertising, but quickly grew to devour everything in the region. The local dinosaur was a daily that had been around for years and made few advancements in technology, while Rust was constantly doing it better and faster. The young upstart finally devoured the dinosaur for pennies on the dollar, as well as many others in the region, moving on to own 19 daily newspapers, 25 weeklies, more than a 100 websites and specialty publications, and minority ownership in 17 radio stations. The Gary Rust that I first met was a human dynamo, constantly on the go, always working, always thinking ahead. He was an inspiration and model of what it took to succeed.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> The movie was brilliant on many levels.  I got choked up watching the damn type setting. ...it was just so cool.
> 
> Possibly the political overtones pushed back the likelihood of too many Oscar nods.  Clearly Hanks as well as Streep was excellent, along with a strong supporting cast.
> 
> 
> 
> The old linotype machines ... the operators who put the pages together were true craftsmen. The presses at the Times were in the basement and went up stories. At the height of its game, the LA Times had more than one million subscribers. They owned forests and paper mills.  Recently, a friend took a tour of the LA Times. He said the regular tour guide was absent and replaced by a reporter.  The reporter started the tour with "Welcome to the Titanic ..."
Click to expand...

Oh, my.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> The movie was brilliant on many levels.  I got choked up watching the damn type setting. ...it was just so cool.
> 
> Possibly the political overtones pushed back the likelihood of too many Oscar nods.  Clearly Hanks as well as Streep was excellent, along with a strong supporting cast.
> 
> 
> 
> The old linotype machines ... the operators who put the pages together were true craftsmen. The presses at the Times were in the basement and went up stories. At the height of its game, the LA Times had more than one million subscribers. They owned forests and paper mills.  Recently, a friend took a tour of the LA Times. He said the regular tour guide was absent and replaced by a reporter.  The reporter started the tour with "Welcome to the Titanic ..."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh, my.
Click to expand...

Craig’s List has been the largest single contributor to the LA Times demise.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> The movie was brilliant on many levels.  I got choked up watching the damn type setting. ...it was just so cool.
> 
> Possibly the political overtones pushed back the likelihood of too many Oscar nods.  Clearly Hanks as well as Streep was excellent, along with a strong supporting cast.
> 
> 
> 
> The old linotype machines ... the operators who put the pages together were true craftsmen. The presses at the Times were in the basement and went up stories. At the height of its game, the LA Times had more than one million subscribers. They owned forests and paper mills.  Recently, a friend took a tour of the LA Times. He said the regular tour guide was absent and replaced by a reporter.  The reporter started the tour with "Welcome to the Titanic ..."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh, my.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Craig’s List has been the largest single contributor to the LA Times demise.
Click to expand...

Craig's List is crap IMO, and this doesn't improve my opinion of it.


----------



## Gary A.

Maggie, Max, Mike and Gary are back from our morning walk.  We are relaxing in the back, drinking our coffee, watching the dogs wrestle, fed the Hummers, fed the fish and reading the morning paper.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave ran around like a chicken with it's head cut off. I miss read 309 instead of 399 on a watch battery. It makes ALL kinds of difference. Went to Livingston and then to Cleveland. Paid almost $6.50 for the wrong battery.

BTW had 4 hours today. The buffer tossed the pad and won't restart hot. Didn't have too much floor left to buff. 
Got two knives I asked for and one bonus knife from a guy on AAPK. Got some sharpening and some tinkering to do.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## grrr8scott

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> The movie was brilliant on many levels.  I got choked up watching the damn type setting. ...it was just so cool.
> 
> Possibly the political overtones pushed back the likelihood of too many Oscar nods.  Clearly Hanks as well as Streep was excellent, along with a strong supporting cast.
> 
> 
> 
> The old linotype machines ... the operators who put the pages together were true craftsmen. The presses at the Times were in the basement and went up stories. At the height of its game, the LA Times had more than one million subscribers. They owned forests and paper mills.  Recently, a friend took a tour of the LA Times. He said the regular tour guide was absent and replaced by a reporter.  The reporter started the tour with "Welcome to the Titanic ..."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh, my.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Craig’s List has been the largest single contributor to the LA Times demise.
Click to expand...


----------



## snowbear

Gary should post the photo of Gary's new coffee mug so all of us can enjoy it.


----------



## grrr8scott

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> The movie was brilliant on many levels.  I got choked up watching the damn type setting. ...it was just so cool.
> 
> Possibly the political overtones pushed back the likelihood of too many Oscar nods.  Clearly Hanks as well as Streep was excellent, along with a strong supporting cast.
> 
> 
> 
> The old linotype machines ... the operators who put the pages together were true craftsmen. The presses at the Times were in the basement and went up stories. At the height of its game, the LA Times had more than one million subscribers. They owned forests and paper mills.  Recently, a friend took a tour of the LA Times. He said the regular tour guide was absent and replaced by a reporter.  The reporter started the tour with "Welcome to the Titanic ..."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh, my.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Craig’s List has been the largest single contributor to the LA Times demise.
Click to expand...


And, unfortunately, a lot of regional newspapers too.  McClatchy (publisher of the Sacramento, Modest and Fresno Bee, as well as other papers across the country) has been suffering for a long time. Ad revenue is a small fraction of what it used to be. A couple years ago they shut down their printing press in Modesto and shifted it to Sacramento. We now get our news 2 days late. Friday’s high school sports scores on Sunday which just makes the paper even less desirable.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary should post the photo of Gary's new coffee mug so all of us can enjoy it.


Sure.

Charlie, was very thoughtful and had a pair of coffee mugs crafted with a slightly different image of Cookie on each mug. The above is Gary’s mug. It is his daily go to mug.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Back to The Post. The LA Times and the Washington Post had there own special “wire” between the two newsrooms. The Times shared stories directly with the Post and the Post shared stories directly with the Times.


----------



## Gary A.

grrr8scott said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> The movie was brilliant on many levels.  I got choked up watching the damn type setting. ...it was just so cool.
> 
> Possibly the political overtones pushed back the likelihood of too many Oscar nods.  Clearly Hanks as well as Streep was excellent, along with a strong supporting cast.
> 
> 
> 
> The old linotype machines ... the operators who put the pages together were true craftsmen. The presses at the Times were in the basement and went up stories. At the height of its game, the LA Times had more than one million subscribers. They owned forests and paper mills.  Recently, a friend took a tour of the LA Times. He said the regular tour guide was absent and replaced by a reporter.  The reporter started the tour with "Welcome to the Titanic ..."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh, my.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Craig’s List has been the largest single contributor to the LA Times demise.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And, unfortunately, a lot of regional newspapers too.  McClatchy (publisher of the Sacramento, Modest and Fresno Bee, as well as other papers across the country) has been suffering for a long time. Ad revenue is a small fraction of what it used to be. A couple years ago they shut down their printing press in Modesto and shifted it to Sacramento. We now get our news 2 days late. Friday’s high school sports scores on Sunday which just makes the paper even less desirable.
Click to expand...

That is so sad. Gary remembers when The Bee’s were a powerhouse of local news in the Central Valley and Sacramento.


----------



## davidharmier60

The Houston Comical was once a powerful newspaper. Now it's $2 day and $4 Sunday for something fit to line a birdcage.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

I hope everyone has a good night and a spectacular tomorrow.  Even if I don't have to get up at 4am tomorrow i did this morning and my eyelids are getting heavy. 


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> PS- Back to The Post. The LA Times and the Washington Post had there own special “wire” between the two newsrooms. The Times shared stories directly with the Post and the Post shared stories directly with the Times.



When I was in High School I wanted to be a writer for the Boston Globe.  Partially fueled by a paper I’d written about Watergate and the role played by Woodward and Bernstein.  I was on the school paper and had plans to go to college and study to be a journalist.  Life got in the way and I didn’t end up getting my degree until almost 30 years later and it was in Business Mgmt.  With the way things have gone for newspapers and print reporters in the past 2 decades, I’m not sorry that I got sidetracked.  When one of my novella length posts hits the forum, now you know why.  Frustrated writer wannabe syndrome.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- Back to The Post. The LA Times and the Washington Post had there own special “wire” between the two newsrooms. The Times shared stories directly with the Post and the Post shared stories directly with the Times.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When I was in High School I wanted to be a writer for the Boston Globe.  Partially fueled by a paper I’d written about Watergate and the role played by Woodward and Bernstein.  I was on the school paper and had plans to go to college and study to be a journalist.  Life got in the way and I didn’t end up getting my degree until almost 30 years later and it was in Business Mgmt.  With the way things have gone for newspapers and print reporters in the past 2 decades, I’m not sorry that I got sidetracked.  When one of my novella length posts hits the forum, now you know why.  Frustrated writer wannabe syndrome.
Click to expand...


Funny, I almost majored in journalism, too. Even given the way print news has gone, I think I might have been able to build up some steam in my career before online news started really making an impact. When I was in school, print news was still going strong. There were a good 15-20 newspaper vending machines in the center of campus, including a few with combination locks where the journalism students would pick up their copy of the NYT that they had to subscribe to.

Alas, I went another way, though the part of me that always wanted to be a professional writer still regrets that I didn't go for it.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary wanted to become a photojournalist.


----------



## jcdeboever

I wanted to be a paper boy


----------



## smoke665

Though my major was not even close, thanks to my work experience in college I became a publisher of three small weekly newspapers, right after school. Though small by LA Times standards, I think our combined circulation was only slightly over 30k. It was rewarding but unfortunately not as profitable as I wanted, eventually I sold them and moved on to greener pastures.


----------



## snowbear

I've only read newspapers.  I did get with a friend in Middle School (we called it Junior High) to write and submit a poem ("Our Neighbor's Garbage") to the school paper.

MLW is still sick, it's raining (and chilly).  The first part tells me to go shoot a D, E and F for the alphabet project and contrast challenge, but the second part says "meh".


----------



## davidharmier60

I never saw myself as a writer.
I worked for a vending company in the 90s.
I thought the perfect job would have been to be a customer rep with the power to change things.

Nowadays I don't like people all that much.

If I were a betting man I'd say it's going to rain most of the day. Not hard rain but it will stay wet out there.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

I love writing, took journalism classes, scribbled short stories and god-awful poetry.   But the paying career path somehow led me to healthcare management.  I lamented for years that my writing skills were relegated to job descriptions, staff reviews, and the occasional lengthy emails to staff or my bosses regarding policy.   

I cherish good writing and it irks me on a near-daily basis to see the constant misspellings and/or bad grammar on signage, TV or anywhere the public may see it.   I think my ideal job would be Editor of the GD World.


----------



## terri

Beautiful rainy day here.   We're having light, steady rain occasionally intensifying, with warmish temps and little wind.    This is the kind of thing that juices the ground for the jonquils that will be popping up in only a few more weeks.    

After today, the bottom is going to drop out on the temps again, reminding us that it _is_ still January.   More time in the kitchen to make soup.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Beautiful rainy day here.   We're having light, steady rain occasionally intensifying, with warmish temps and little wind.    This is the kind of thing that juices the ground for the jonquils that will be popping up in only a few more weeks.
> 
> After today, the bottom is going to drop out on the temps again, reminding us that it _is_ still January.   More time in the kitchen to make soup.


Same here; rumors of "freezing mix" on Friday.  I shot a contrast pic for Sharon's challenge.  I still need to do my "D."


----------



## SquarePeg

Damp here but rain has held off so far. Wanted to see Three Billboards today but our preferred time is sold out except for single seats in front.  Change of plans means going to see Hostiles later instead. May have to curl up with a book and a blanket for a nap.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Damp here but rain has held off so far. Wanted to see Three Billboards today but our preferred time is sold out except for single seats in front.  Change of plans means going to see Hostiles later instead. May have to curl up with a book and a blanket for a nap.


Perfect day for it!


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Though my major was not even close, thanks to my work experience in college I became a publisher of three small weekly newspapers, right after school. Though small by LA Times standards, I think our combined circulation was only slightly over 30k. It was rewarding but unfortunately not as profitable as I wanted, eventually I sold them and moved on to greener pastures.



Was is call the Bama Smoke Press?


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Though my major was not even close, thanks to my work experience in college I became a publisher of three small weekly newspapers, right after school. Though small by LA Times standards, I think our combined circulation was only slightly over 30k. It was rewarding but unfortunately not as profitable as I wanted, eventually I sold them and moved on to greener pastures.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Was is call the Bama Smoke Press?
Click to expand...


Nope another time, another state JC


----------



## snowbear

It's looking like I'm going to have to replace the AF 35-80mm f/4-5.6D.  Lazy Lobster dropped it a while back so the zoom is a little sticky and the filter area has a bit of a dent, but it's really been a workhorse since I got the D750.  Today I noticed the AF didn't want to play without manual intervention.  I'm not sure to go with another of these or move up a bit.


----------



## smoke665

Well just when I thought I'd seen it all. I got an email alert that my CC had been dinged for $86 by Redbox for a movie not returned. When I called them to tell them I hadn't rented any movies, I found out the movie had been rented at a kiosk 600 miles from me. Should have been a simple fix, they issue a credit all is well, but not this POS company. Seems they don't have any way of issuing credits.  Their machines only use card swipes, but the transaction was manually entered which tells me somebody at their company keyed the wrong number or their system malfunctioned. As this was the "only" unauthorized charge for the month,  I seriously doubt a hacker would have hacked my card only to rent a movie!! So now I had to go through the hassle of canceling the card and having it reissued to get my money back, then updating accounts that I use this card on. Beware this company it's not the first time I've had problems with them, which is why I had quit using them a couple years ago.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Well just when I thought I'd seen it all. I got an email alert that my CC had been dinged for $86 by Redbox for a movie not returned. When I called them to tell them I hadn't rented any movies, I found out the movie had been rented at a kiosk 600 miles from me. Should have been a simple fix, they issue a credit all is well, but not this POS company. Seems they don't have any way of issuing credits.  Their machines only use card swipes, but the transaction was manually entered which tells me somebody at their company keyed the wrong number or their system malfunctioned. As this was the "only" unauthorized charge for the month,  I seriously doubt a hacker would have hacked my card only to rent a movie!! So now I had to go through the hassle of canceling the card and having it reissued to get my money back, then updating accounts that I use this card on. Beware this company it's not the first time I've had problems with them, which is why I had quit using them a couple years ago.


Ouch.  We have Discover card for emergencies, and a Credit Union Debit/Visa card for everyday use.  The CU is real good with their fraud alerts. I got asked about purchasing about $600 from Macy's in NYC.  When I told them no, they immediately cancelled the card.  The next day at work (they have a branch in our building), I got a list of charges, verified which were mine, and they credited the rest.  I got the new card while I was there. They even followed up with a couple of charge attempts that came in afterwards.


----------



## smoke665

We carry 3 credit cards on which we pay for 99% of our daily needs, pay the balance in full each month and use all the points for $$ cash back to the account. Refuse to use a debit card because, while you can contest fraudulent charges that money is still out of your account until it is resolved, the credit card gives us an extra layer of protection. Had lunch yesterday with some friends that full time RV, he was telling of some problems he'd had and had dropped the debit card because of that reason. His most recent hack attempt, he had used his credit card at a Kroger station. The reader said you could swipe either side, but when he did it one way it didn't read, he turned the card over and it worked. A week later he got a call from the card company asking if he was attempting to make a charge of $$$ at a location in another state.  Of course he denied it, and told them of the strange reader at Kroger. They suspected that someone had put a skimmer on the pump.


----------



## davidharmier60

Our bank recently upgraded to chip cards.
No more swipe. I use cash for most purchases. So far so good. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> Our bank recently upgraded to chip cards.
> No more swipe. I use cash for most purchases. So far so good.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



All of mine have chips, unfortunately not all readers are chip compatible.


----------



## davidharmier60

I get that which is why I typed so far so good....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> Well just when I thought I'd seen it all. I got an email alert that my CC had been dinged for $86 by Redbox for a movie not returned. When I called them to tell them I hadn't rented any movies, I found out the movie had been rented at a kiosk 600 miles from me. Should have been a simple fix, they issue a credit all is well, but not this POS company. Seems they don't have any way of issuing credits.  Their machines only use card swipes, but the transaction was manually entered which tells me somebody at their company keyed the wrong number or their system malfunctioned. As this was the "only" unauthorized charge for the month,  I seriously doubt a hacker would have hacked my card only to rent a movie!! So now I had to go through the hassle of canceling the card and having it reissued to get my money back, then updating accounts that I use this card on. Beware this company it's not the first time I've had problems with them, which is why I had quit using them a couple years ago.



This is why I use American Express whenever possible. That would be a 3 minute phone call and they would take care of it.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> This is why I use American Express whenever possible. That would be a 3 minute phone call and they would take care of it.



Oh my CC was ready willing and able, but I couldn't yet because of travel conflict. The account is frozen (can unfreeze to use if necessary then refreeze). They'll take care of it as soon as we call, I'm PO'd at Redbox for not doing anything when they even admitted that it was not correct. In other words, I have to correct "their" mistake.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> This is why I use American Express whenever possible. That would be a 3 minute phone call and they would take care of it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh my CC was ready willing and able, but I couldn't yet because of travel conflict. The account is frozen (can unfreeze to use if necessary then refreeze). They'll take care of it as soon as we call, I'm PO'd at Redbox for not doing anything when they even admitted that it was not correct. In other words, I have to correct "their" mistake.
Click to expand...


Oh I would be too. I just wouldn’t have bothered with Redbox that long, haha.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I never tried Redbox, even though they sit their red boxes outside the pharmacy to try to be tempting. I don't trust a vending machine! lol hard enough to get a snack package to fall out when you put in money, obviously they can't handle much.


----------



## davidharmier60

There is a Redbox machine in our store. 
At least a few times it has had an out of service sign on it.

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## SquarePeg

We used to use Redbox all the time before Netflix/Prime.  The machine is still there at the supermarket but no longer see anyone over there.


----------



## limr

I have never used Redbox. I rented from Blockbuster when it was still around, which actually doesn't even feel that long ago. After that, I'd rent "on demand" movies from my cable service, which was the same price, or cheaper, than renting a physical copy, and much much more convenient.


----------



## Gary A.

A great day ... in the 80's, dry, good breeze ... Miss Maggie, for the first time, followed her friends into the creek on our morning walk.  She had a great time splashing and skipping through the water, racing up and down the steep banks.  Up until today, she would watch from the edge of the banks but never got her feet wet. She is now a full member of the pack ... her membership card should arrive later in the week.


----------



## snowbear

Never used Redbox but used Blockbuster and, before them, a local chain named "Erols."



limr said:


> I have never used Redbox. I rented from Blockbuster when it was still around, which actually doesn't even feel that long ago. After that, I'd rent "on demand" movies from my cable service, which was the same price, or cheaper, than renting a physical copy, and much much more convenient.


. . . and you don't have to rewind.


----------



## snowbear

Zoe and I are playing "fetch."  She brings me a hair ring, I fling it, she brings it back.  If I spend too many minutes (about three) on the laptop and not flinging the ring, she meows at me.  This is our 4-nights per week ritual.


----------



## waday

When a movie isn't available "free" on our usual round of services, we'll check Redbox (unless we want to watch it immediately). At like $2, they're usually cheaper than renting through TV service or Amazon/etc.


----------



## davidharmier60

I shouldn't be awake. Have a good night and a spectacular tomorrow. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> When a movie isn't available "free" on our usual round of services, we'll check Redbox (unless we want to watch it immediately). At like $2, they're usually cheaper than renting through TV service or Amazon/etc.



Sure. But to save 3 bucks I'd have to put pants on and go out in the cold, haha.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> When a movie isn't available "free" on our usual round of services, we'll check Redbox (unless we want to watch it immediately). At like $2, they're usually cheaper than renting through TV service or Amazon/etc.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sure. But to save 3 bucks I'd have to put pants on and go out in the cold, haha.
Click to expand...

Haha! I hear you! We usually do one of two things:

Pick up after work on Friday night, watch Friday night, return Saturday when running errands.
Pick up when running errands on Saturday, watch Saturday night, return Sunday when running errands.
But, I agree, sometimes I'm a little too lazy and don't mind the convenience fee.


----------



## VolkswagenMommy

Do you have pictures of the Zoe cat? Love kitty photos! This was the Giza cat, we lost her about 8 mos way to soon at only 4yr... she was our naked child!





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

VolkswagenMommy said:


> Do you have pictures of the Zoe cat? Love kitty photos! This was the Giza cat, we lost her about 8 mos way to soon at only 4yr... she was our naked child!View attachment 153001
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Awww, sorry to hear this.  All of ours are rescues.

A few years ago, we lost Jasper to FLV; this is about 6 months before.


Jasper by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

This is one of my favorites of Zoe.



cmw3_d40_6816 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

and Bell.



cmw3_d40_silverbell01 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Cortian

Good morning, all!

I see winter's not done with us.  Last two days were spring-like.  Right now it's snowing to beat the band out there.  Oh well, guess I'll relax and have another cup of coffee 

Our three are all rescues:





Clockwise, from left: Tabitha, Jasper and Bentley.


----------



## jcdeboever

Cortian said:


> Good morning, all!
> 
> I see winter's not done with us.  Last two days were spring-like.  Right now it's snowing to beat the band out there.  Oh well, guess I'll relax and have another cup of coffee
> 
> Our three are all rescues:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Clockwise, from left: Tabitha, Jasper and Bentley.


Us too. 8 inches, about 4 right now, here in Michigan.


----------



## Cortian

jcdeboever said:


> Cortian said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, all!
> 
> I see winter's not done with us.  Last two days were spring-like.  Right now it's snowing to beat the band out there.
> [snip]
> 
> 
> 
> Us too. 8 inches, about 4 right now, here in Michigan.
Click to expand...

I don't think we're supposed to get anything _near_ that here in S.E. Michigan.  I think they're predicting ±3 inches?

ETA: Oops.  My wife informs me that _now_ they're saying could be 4-8 inches in my area?


----------



## davidharmier60

No snow or even rain. But a rather chill wind is blowing. A few minutes over 4.75 hours. Our store does not have the battery I need. So back to Cleveland Radio Shack. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## waday

We're supposed to get snow showers, but I don't think anything too crazy.

I'll be happy when temperatures are in the 80's, the sunrise is at 6:40 AM, and sunset is at 9:00 PM.


----------



## VolkswagenMommy

Aweeeee love the black ones! Ya it was tough one on me I had never lost a pet. Congenital kidney failure. Super not fun. We are on the list for another one... feels like forever!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

waday said:


> We're supposed to get snow showers, but I don't think anything too crazy.
> 
> I'll be happy when temperatures are in the 80's, the sunrise is at 6:40 AM, and sunset is at 9:00 PM.



You hush!!


----------



## Gary A.

80F here, Santa Ana Winds making it warm, dry and breezy.


----------



## waday

VolkswagenMommy said:


> Aweeeee love the black ones! Ya it was tough one on me I had never lost a pet. Congenital kidney failure. Super not fun.


Sorry to hear that. We lost our last pup to congestive heart failure. Definitely not fun.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're supposed to get snow showers, but I don't think anything too crazy.
> 
> I'll be happy when temperatures are in the 80's, the sunrise is at 6:40 AM, and sunset is at 9:00 PM.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You hush!!
Click to expand...


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're supposed to get snow showers, but I don't think anything too crazy.
> 
> I'll be happy when temperatures are in the 80's, the sunrise is at 6:40 AM, and sunset is at 9:00 PM.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You hush!!
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


It burns!


----------



## davidharmier60

I like cats a lot. Our dogs however would kill them about as fast as they got here....

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----------



## vintagesnaps

How the heck many of us almost majored in journalism??!!! Me too. Was news editor of our jr. high paper in 9th grade, then news editor junior year and co-editor my senior year of our high school paper.

Seemed like a lot of down time then rushing to put the paper to bed. Often it was us in the staffroom goofing off playing rubber cement baseball while our advisor hung out in the teacher lounge. Then a last minute scramble, proofread and paste. I remember having to type a few words, cut out that small rectangle, paste and check/straighten with the T square... then off in the Gremlin! to the printers. 

But then I started out volunteering summers at a camp with kids with development delays. Worked as a camp counselor, and decided to major in special ed. Guess I got into that and loved it more than journalism. I agree, just as well, or I'd just be unemployed, and maybe not had decent benefits etc. that I'm thankful since the stroke that I had. Just had in 31 years to go ahead and retire early.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'd like to see The Post. I like All the Presidents Men, it's been on TCM a number of times. Has come to mind lately. Interesting too when Carl Bernstein has been on, comparing similarities to Watergate but obviously differences too. All I really remember was coming home and my mom having on those hearings. 

Last time I watched it I was noticing an effect I'd heard/read about in what was supposed to be the Post staff room; using some sort of split level focus lens. If you know to look for it, you can see it, where half the scene is in focus from front to back, and on the other side of a post it's only in focus either close up or off in the distance. Pretty cool effect.


----------



## JonA_CT

The UPS woman is supposed to be dropping my D800 off today, and I'm all like


----------



## waday

So, I did it.

I printed out a sign from the state dept of health urging people to wash their hands and taped it up in the restroom at work.

Here's to hoping it looks official enough so that people think the property management company posted it. I know, it probably won't really have an effect on anyone, but maybe, just maybe, it'll make someone think twice. Hopefully. Maybe.

The number of men that did not wash their hands (today alone) is absolutely terrifying.


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> So, I did it.
> 
> I printed out a sign from the state dept of health urging people to wash their hands and taped it up in the restroom at work.
> 
> Here's to hoping it looks official enough so that people think the property management company posted it. I know, it probably won't really have an effect on anyone, but maybe, just maybe, it'll make someone think twice. Hopefully. Maybe.
> 
> The number of men that did not wash their hands (today alone) is absolutely terrifying.



Gross.

My knuckles are back in their cracked and bleeding part of the winter hand washing cycle.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> Gross.
> 
> My knuckles are back in their cracked and bleeding part of the winter hand washing cycle.


It really is, and I apologize for putting the thought in people's heads. I cringe just thinking about it.

I agree with the hand washing. I'll go through a bottle or two of hand lotion in the winter alone, because I wash my hands so much.


----------



## JonA_CT

Nah, I get it.

I work with 20 walking pathogens at a time, haha. And with my son still being really vulnerable to things like the flu, I am a fanatic about it. I won’t touch him when I get home until I’ve washed up and changed.


----------



## terri

Hand washing is critical.   By far the simplest and most effective ways of reducing germ exposure, so it's stunning how many people bypass it.   Coming from a healthcare work environment, we had the effectiveness of hand washing drilled in our heads (not that it was needed) every flu season.   

Another PSA:  SNEEZING.    Do NOT sneeze into your hands - it's not only incredibly germy, but your hands are not effective in completely catching the fine mist your body expels during the sneeze.

THE most effective thing to do with sneezing is, the instant you feel the sneeze coming on, raise one arm and turn your head towards that arm - and sneeze into the sleeve (even short sleeves).   The mist is completely captured in the cloth of your clothing, will not spread, and your hands remain clean.   Of course, once you've sneezed into your sleeve, that bit of clothing goes into the washing machine as soon as you get home.

The most disgusting thing that happened to me in public was in a check-out line at a grocery store.   The bagger, a kid, stopped bagging my groceries to sneeze into both hands.   Then he calmly continued to bag my groceries, starting with picking up BARE FRUIT with those hands.   I said nothing to him but went back to the manager and "educated" him on how to sneeze.   I believe he thought I was crazy.


----------



## waday

terri said:


> THE most effective thing to do with sneezing is, the instant you feel the sneeze coming on, raise one arm and turn your head towards that arm - and sneeze into the sleeve (even short sleeves).


Do you mean... do the elephant?


----------



## waday

terri said:


> The most disgusting thing that happened to me in public was in a check-out line at a grocery store. The bagger, a kid, stopped bagging my groceries to sneeze into both hands. Then he calmly continued to bag my groceries, starting with picking up BARE FRUIT with those hands. I said nothing to him but went back to the manager and "educated" him on how to sneeze. I believe he thought I was crazy.


Yep, that's a whole bag of nopes right there.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 153005


Dogs have owners, cats have staff.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> We're supposed to get snow showers


Same here.


----------



## davidharmier60

True. Dogs love unconditionally. Cats are different. Although before they moved away my cousins cat loved me.

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----------



## JonA_CT

UPS has still not arrived.


----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> True. Dogs love unconditionally. Cats are different. Although before they moved away my cousins cat loved me.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



I disagree. Neither love unconditionally. If you mistreat an animal, they will not love you. If you treat the animal well, that animal will love you whole-heartedly. Dogs don't love more than cats - just differently.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> So, I did it.
> 
> I printed out a sign from the state dept of health urging people to wash their hands and taped it up in the restroom at work.
> 
> Here's to hoping it looks official enough so that people think the property management company posted it. I know, it probably won't really have an effect on anyone, but maybe, just maybe, it'll make someone think twice. Hopefully. Maybe.
> 
> The number of men that did not wash their hands (today alone) is absolutely terrifying.



Totally gross and not limited to men.  Women will do the same, skipping the hand wash to apply lipstick!!!!!!  One of the many reasons I will not go near a buffet or the communal popcorn/trail mix bowls at a party.  When we went on that cruise last summer everyone thought I was nuts but I used a napkin to touch the serving utensils at the buffet and never once touched the elevator buttons or any of the handrails with my bare hands.  Frankly I'd rather fall down the stairs than touch those hand rails after all the gross people who don't wash after using the bathroom or cough and sneeze into their hands. 



JonA_CT said:


> UPS has still not arrived.



Out for delivery by 8pm?


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, I did it.
> 
> I printed out a sign from the state dept of health urging people to wash their hands and taped it up in the restroom at work.
> 
> Here's to hoping it looks official enough so that people think the property management company posted it. I know, it probably won't really have an effect on anyone, but maybe, just maybe, it'll make someone think twice. Hopefully. Maybe.
> 
> The number of men that did not wash their hands (today alone) is absolutely terrifying.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Totally gross and not limited to men.  Women will do the same, skipping the hand wash to apply lipstick!!!!!!  One of the many reasons I will not go near a buffet or the communal popcorn/trail mix bowls at a party.  When we went on that cruise last summer everyone thought I was nuts but I used a napkin to touch the serving utensils at the buffet and never once touched the elevator buttons or any of the handrails with my bare hands.  Frankly I'd rather fall down the stairs than touch those hand rails after all the gross people who don't wash after using the bathroom or cough and sneeze into their hands.
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> UPS has still not arrived.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Out for delivery by 8pm?
Click to expand...


They barely made it. Of course, they can't be bothered to walk it up the porch steps to place it (or knock the door, or anything...). I knew it arrived because they threw it and it landed loudly. Sigh.

Luckily, the guy packed it for the apocalypse. He bought the D800 new right after it came out, and took the time to wrap everything back in it's original wrappers. Beautiful camera. Big. Feels great in my hands.

I'd say that I'd have some cat photos coming...but I don't have a cat.


----------



## JonA_CT

I do have a dog. He didn't really want to play, and I was interrupting his beauty sleep by being so close.

Time to catch up on my photo assignments for the year.






Edit: Not bad for 6400 ISO, right?


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, I did it.
> 
> I printed out a sign from the state dept of health urging people to wash their hands and taped it up in the restroom at work.
> 
> Here's to hoping it looks official enough so that people think the property management company posted it. I know, it probably won't really have an effect on anyone, but maybe, just maybe, it'll make someone think twice. Hopefully. Maybe.
> 
> The number of men that did not wash their hands (today alone) is absolutely terrifying.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Totally gross and not limited to men.  Women will do the same, skipping the hand wash to apply lipstick!!!!!!  One of the many reasons I will not go near a buffet or the communal popcorn/trail mix bowls at a party.  When we went on that cruise last summer everyone thought I was nuts but I used a napkin to touch the serving utensils at the buffet and never once touched the elevator buttons or any of the handrails with my bare hands.  Frankly I'd rather fall down the stairs than touch those hand rails after all the gross people who don't wash after using the bathroom or cough and sneeze into their hands.
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> UPS has still not arrived.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Out for delivery by 8pm?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> They barely made it. Of course, they can't be bothered to walk it up the porch steps to place it (or knock the door, or anything...). I knew it arrived because they threw it and it landed loudly. Sigh.
> 
> Luckily, the guy packed it for the apocalypse. He bought the D800 new right after it came out, and took the time to wrap everything back in it's original wrappers. Beautiful camera. Big. Feels great in my hands.
> 
> I'd say that I'd have some cat photos coming...but I don't have a cat.
Click to expand...


I have the best UPS guy.  He always rings the bell and will usually offer to help me if it's something heavy - like my stand up desk that I bought from Amazon...  very nice guy.  



JonA_CT said:


> I do have a dog. He didn't really want to play, and I was interrupting his beauty sleep by being so close.
> 
> Time to catch up on my photo assignments for the year.
> 
> View attachment 153048
> 
> Edit: Not bad for 6400 ISO, right?



Can't wait to see what you do with the new gear!


----------



## compur

davidharmier60 said:


> Dogs love unconditionally.



Some dogs do but in my experience some dogs HATE unconditionally. They just want to attack anything that moves within their sight. Their owners often call such animals "good watchdogs" but I just call them mad dogs.


----------



## Frank F.

Consolidation of backups. 7 slow HDs and their clones replaced with one fast HD here and 2 HDs in external storage.

Next step reduplication.






Already found 15 HDs to wipe. I contemplate to keep none of the 1TB and 500GB and possibly also get rid of the 2TB and only keep the 3TB and 4TB pairs.

One of my tasks is to find a stand alone HAD wipe machine...


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh boy it's morning and I get to go to work.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Surprise snow day here. The forecast was for a coating of snow this morning when I went to bed. We have 3 inches and it’s still coming down pretty good and it supposed to continue for a few hours.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just a dusting here so far.  Expecting 1-3. May be enough to get Beauty out for her first real mission.


----------



## JonA_CT

Still dumping here. Closer to 5 inches now, with another couple hours of snow to come.


----------



## waday

Wow! We were just supposed to get snow showers. Everywhere here has a delay, and we have probably 1-2 inches on the ground. Roads are ok, though--mostly wet.


----------



## SquarePeg

Seems to have caught the weather forecasters a bit by surprise.  They usually over estimate not under - better for ratings.


----------



## limr

Meh. We got enough to cover the grass and make the commute more annoying than usual, but really, it's been a real dud of a...I believe I have to break out the ironic quotation marks..."storm."

I hope Friday's is the same. It is probably one of the only times you will ever hear me say this, but I really do NOT want a snow day on Friday. Because reasons. Which I will not reveal right now.


----------



## limr

Oh yeah - morning, hosers!


----------



## Cortian

JonA_CT said:


> My knuckles are back in their cracked and bleeding part of the winter hand washing cycle.


I use a light moisturizer throughout the day, as necessary, and Gold Bond Ultimate Healing just before getting into bed at night.

That last is what saves my hands.

When I have a spot that gets bad, I massage moisturizer into that spot for a couple minutes each time I use it.

My wife, when her hands get bad, puts moisturizer on them at night and then latex (or whatever) gloves.


----------



## Cortian

JonA_CT said:


> UPS has still not arrived.


I hate it when that happens.



JonA_CT said:


> They barely made it. Of course, they can't be bothered to walk it up the porch steps to place it (or knock the door, or anything...). I knew it arrived because they threw it and it landed loudly. Sigh.


That, too.



JonA_CT said:


> Luckily, the guy packed it for the apocalypse.


I'm hoping Adorama did the same with the 40D body I have coming today.  (Not as nice as your new D800, but it's an upgrade for me.)



JonA_CT said:


> I'd say that I'd have some cat photos coming...but I don't have a cat.


You don't know what you're missing 



SquarePeg said:


> I have the best UPS guy.  He always rings the bell and will usually offer to help me if it's something heavy -


Heh.  Our UPS, FedEx, etc. drivers are more like Jon's.

Now, our USPS route people, one of two women, most times, are terrific.  If it won't fit in the mailbox down by the road they drive up, put it on the porch and ring the bell.

What with all the stuff being stolen off porches, and some delivery people not ringing the bell or knocking, I've a motion-sensing camera and an app on phone and tablet to let me know when someone approaches the porch.


----------



## Cortian

Frank F. said:


> Consolidation of backups. 7 slow HDs and their clones replaced with one fast HD here and 2 HDs in external storage.


What with me, and possibly my wife, getting into photography, I'm going to have to look into expanding the server's storage (currently only 128GB of Intel SSDs in RAID 1) and the backup (currently a pair of WD 500GB USB2 drives).

Looking at a pair of WD Blue 500GB SSDs in RAID 1, to add to the existing pair of 128GB SSDs, then, I'm thinking, three 1TB drives and an ESATA caddy for backup.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm lucky in a way. If it's top big for the PO Box it stays secure in the Post office. 
4.75 again. The buffer runs good but that is ALL it does good. Started dropping oil again. She called and left voice mail for the repairman. Going to hit the PO and then take my happy *** home.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

Ugh, my hand washing sign lasted less than a day.

Funny how that can be taken down so quickly, and yet they take days to refill the soap or paper towels, or fix a broken sink or toilet.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Ugh, my hand washing sign lasted less than a day.
> 
> Funny how that can be taken down so quickly, and yet they take days to refill the soap or paper towels, or fix a broken sink or toilet.



Do you think some Neanderthal with germs hands took it down out of guilt? Or are you assuming building maintenance took it?


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh, my hand washing sign lasted less than a day.
> 
> Funny how that can be taken down so quickly, and yet they take days to refill the soap or paper towels, or fix a broken sink or toilet.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you think some Neanderthal with germs hands took it down out of guilt? Or are you assuming building maintenance took it?
Click to expand...

Hmm. I hadn't considered it being a guilty, germy-handed person... But, I think I'm assuming building maintenance. Maybe they're one and the same?


----------



## waday

Also, Hosers, I can't focus today. And I have so much to do.

Woe is me!

Yesterday was daughter's first day in daycare. And today is 11 weeks. Jeez, time is going fast. Seems like just yesterday I was on paternity leave.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> Also, Hosers, I can't focus today. And I have so much to do.
> 
> Woe is me!
> 
> Yesterday was daughter's first day in daycare. And today is 11 weeks. Jeez, time is going fast. Seems like just yesterday I was on paternity leave.


Aww... 

Cold, sunny and beautiful here.   Should stay this way for a few more days.   

Happy Tuesday, hosers!


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> Consolidation of backups. 7 slow HDs and their clones replaced with one fast HD here and 2 HDs in external storage.
> 
> Next step reduplication.
> 
> View attachment 153050
> 
> 
> Already found 15 HDs to wipe. I contemplate to keep none of the 1TB and 500GB and possibly also get rid of the 2TB and only keep the 3TB and 4TB pairs.
> 
> One of my tasks is to find a stand alone HAD wipe machine...



I did the same thing not long ago on my server. Mine were SAS drives, 6 - 500 GB, they had been running a long, long time. I just advanced wiped them and drilled holes in them, threw them in the electronics recycle bin. Went with 4 - 2TB drives.


----------



## davidharmier60

Had a bowl of cereal for breakfast. 
Not sure exactly what I'll have later.
Dad and Sister are leaving about 1:15 to camp out near the VA. He has two appointments tomorrow the first at 8am. 
Would mean leaving here at 5 to make it to the VA by 8.

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----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Mary Lou, Miss Maggie and Gary have arrived in Paso Robles, in time for breakfast.


----------



## Gary A.

56F presently ... should hit the mid 70’s today. Great day to photograph Elephant Seals and taste vino.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The sun came out hosers! Supposed to be 40ish tomorrow.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary joined another wine club.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Gary joined another wine club.


Sucka!


----------



## Cortian

UPS delivered my E+ 40D body from Adorama about twenty minutes ago.  Unfortunately, I've the rather bourgeois  tasks of vacuuming and dusting to complete before opening the box to see what awaits me.

That's not _all_ bad.  I like cold packages to thoroughly normalize to room temperature before opening them, anyway.

Besides: Isn't anticipation half the fun?


----------



## Gary A.

Lol


----------



## Gary A.

We’re filling up in Cambria ... Gary could live here. Simply beautiful. .


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Gary joined another wine club.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> We’re filling up in Cambria ... Gary could live here. Simply beautiful. .



Is that where Hearst castle is?  We stopped there on our road trip.  Very pretty area.


----------



## Fred von den Berg

Happy tonight. Swansea City beat Arsenal 3-1 having beaten Liverpool 1-o in their last league game. The EPL is very tight this season; the Swans were bottom (20th) before tonight's game but are now out of the relegation zone with just 4 points between them and West Ham, who are currently in 10th place.


----------



## Fred von den Berg

Gary A. said:


> We’re filling up in Cambria ... Gary could live here. Simply beautiful. .



Cambria is what the Romans called Wales. They called my home town Nidvm. As far as beauty goes, Nidvm is something of a curate's egg, but I can honestly say that I've never been to any place that I'd rather come from.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Totally gross and not limited to men. Women will do the same, skipping the hand wash to apply lipstick!!!!!! One of the many reasons I will not go near a buffet or the communal popcorn/trail mix bowls at a party. When we went on that cruise last summer everyone thought I was nuts but I used a napkin to touch the serving utensils at the buffet and never once touched the elevator buttons or any of the handrails with my bare hands. Frankly I'd rather fall down the stairs than touch those hand rails after all the gross people who don't wash after using the bathroom or cough and sneeze into their hands.



Just for you, a little story---to think about.

_A man and his wife were in a fancy restaurant. While ordering, they noticed that the waiter had a spoon in his shirt pocket, and after looking around, they observed the other waiters and busboys each had a similar spoon. So the husband says, "what's with the spoon?"

The waiter said,"well, we had this company come in and evaluate our time management and they found that people drop their spoon 74.8% more often than any other utensil. So if we carry one with us, we can reduce the trips back to the kitchen by 3 hours per shift. The husband was impressed. Sure enough, he dropped his spoon during dinner and the waiter replaced it with his, stating, "I'll just get another when I go to the kitchen for something else"._

_While ordering dessert, the husband noted that the waiter had a very thin string hanging from the fly of his pants, as did the other waiters, so the husband asks, "hey, did you know there's a string on your pants!" The waiter tells him, "Not all my customers are as observant as you... the same company found that we can reduce the amount of time spent in the bathroom by 2 hours each shift if we tie a string around the end of you-know-what, and when we have to go we just unzip and pull it out with the string completely eliminating the need to wash up and saving time."

The husband was impressed, but asked, "it's a good idea... but how do you get it back in your pants?". _
>
>
>
>
>
_The waiter leaned close and whispered, "*Well I don't know about the rest of them, but personally I use the extra spoon.*" _
_
_


----------



## Cortian

Holy smokes, did Adorama ever come through!  If I didn't know better I'd almost be willing to bet this 40D is brand-spanking-new!

Came in a Canon box and, despite the fact these weren't listed in the "what's in the box" detail, included USB and video cables.

I am one happy camper, I tell ya whut


----------



## SquarePeg

Cortian said:


> Holy smokes, did Adorama ever come through!  If I didn't know better I'd almost be willing to bet this 40D is brand-spanking-new!
> 
> Came in a Canon box and, despite the fact these weren't listed in the "what's in the box" detail, included USB and video cables.
> 
> I am one happy camper, I tell ya whut



I've had such great luck with used/refurb camera bodies.  Once the refurb 7100  had something like 188 shutter clicks when I got it.


----------



## Cortian

SquarePeg said:


> Cortian said:
> 
> 
> 
> Holy smokes, did Adorama ever come through!  If I didn't know better I'd almost be willing to bet this 40D is brand-spanking-new!
> 
> Came in a Canon box and, despite the fact these weren't listed in the "what's in the box" detail, included USB and video cables.
> 
> I am one happy camper, I tell ya whut
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've had such great luck with used/refurb camera bodies.  Once the refurb 7100  had something like 188 shutter clicks when I got it.
Click to expand...

It'll be interesting to see on this one. The condition is such that it can't be many, I should think.

Gots to get a CF card and a strap for it, assuming it passes wringing-out.


----------



## davidharmier60

If you've never had Blue Bell ice cream you know not what you're missing!
Good stuff Maynard!

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----------



## davidharmier60

Wish I could get a 40D that good.
But right now only have $100 to spend. 

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----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> If you've never had Blue Bell ice cream you know not what you're missing!
> Good stuff Maynard!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Strange you should mention it. Just enjoyed a "large" slice of pound cake, topped with Blue Bell vanilla ice cream, fresh Plant City Strawberries, and whipped creme. I'm gonna pay for this tomorrow, but for now I am guilt free and in heaven.


----------



## davidharmier60

LOL!

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----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> We’re filling up in Cambria ... Gary could live here. Simply beautiful. .
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is that where Hearst castle is?  We stopped there on our road trip.  Very pretty area.
Click to expand...

Yes, just a bit south of the castle.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> If you've never had Blue Bell ice cream you know not what you're missing!
> Good stuff Maynard!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Gary makes his own ice cream. Usually from coconut milk.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary makes his own ice cream. Usually from coconut milk



If you don't have time for homemade, Blue Bell is the next best thing.


----------



## Gary A.

10-20 minutes to concoct then 50 minutes in the machine.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone


----------



## tirediron

Where do I apply?


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 153087


Fat beach ferts


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 153087


Do they bite?


----------



## Gary A.

Yes, but before they slash you, the bulls like to build up some momentum and slam into you with 5,000 to 6,000 pounds of Elephant Seal meat.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Yes, but before they slash you, the bulls like to build up some momentum and slam into you with 5,000 to 6,000 pounds of Elephant Seal meat.



 My man @jcdeboever could take them LOL


----------



## Gary A.

That’s a given.  If you google Elephant Seal Slayer, it directs you to JC.


----------



## davidharmier60

One minute over 4 hours. Used a dust mop.
Did marquee. Cleaned restrooms. 
Put some stuff back where it belongs. 
Buffer ain't fixed yet. Maybe tomorrow it'll get back to normal. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 153087
> 
> 
> 
> Do they bite?
Click to expand...

They have no natural enemies/predators on dry land.  So they won’t attack you unless you get very very close and annoy them.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 153087
> 
> 
> 
> Do they bite?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They have no natural enemies/predators on dry land.  So they won’t attack you unless you get very very close and annoy them.
Click to expand...

So trying to pet them would annoy them is what your saying. They are so cute...


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> trying to pet them would annoy them



I'm sure they would let you JC


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> slam into you with 5,000 to 6,000 pounds of Elephant Seal meat.



The "football injuries" to which you refer?


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 153087
> 
> 
> 
> Do they bite?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They have no natural enemies/predators on dry land.  So they won’t attack you unless you get very very close and annoy them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> So trying to pet them would annoy them is what your saying. They are so cute...
Click to expand...

They most likely would find petting somewhat annoying.  And, as this migration to the Central Coast is all about birthing ... the mothers may be particularly on edge as their first instinct is to protect their babies. (Google mother bears)


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> slam into you with 5,000 to 6,000 pounds of Elephant Seal meat.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The "football injuries" to which you refer?
Click to expand...

Precisely, one 6,000 pound hit is similar to 20, 300 pound hits (all at the same time).


----------



## JonA_CT

Morning, hosers. Barely morning, I guess, haha.

I took a bunch of head shot type photos of my wife yesterday, and her bra strap is showing in all the winners.  It'd be easy enough to clone out, but her hair covers the back half. Meh.


----------



## Gary A.

Miss Maggie and Gary are in the very pleasant, if not quaint, lobby of the Bluebird Inn. It is so quiet and peaceful here as we drink our coffee and snack on a pastry and listen to classical music in the background. Maggie would love to place with the seals.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave got home. Watched most of an episode of "Fixer Upper". Those people spend more money than I've made in my whole life. I MAY go back into town for my check. In fact my Sister asked me to deposit $100 in the bank. So maybe I should. We'll see.

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----------



## Gary A.

Just spoke with a nice lady from Michigan.  Gary asked her if she knew JC ... sadly she didn’t.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Morning, hosers. Barely morning, I guess, haha.
> 
> I took a bunch of head shot type photos of my wife yesterday, and her bra strap is showing in all the winners.  It'd be easy enough to clone out, but her hair covers the back half. Meh.



I hate when that happens. 

Gary's bras don't have straps.


----------



## vintagesnaps

A manssiere?


----------



## vintagesnaps

I needed a bit of levity. Went this morning to the visitation for my aunt who passed away. It's good to see relatives you haven't seen in a long time but not so much for the reason everyone's there of course. Don't think it has sunk in yet really. She just went downhill since summer after her 90th birthday which I suppose is better than a long drawn out illness.

The person I barely recognized was my cousin who has Parkinson's. She lives out of state and last time she was here I didn't end up seeing her and she's changed so much. Everyone else looks a bit older but the difference with her I wasn't expecting.

Waiting now for the Schwan's food delivery service this afternoon. If I remembered what I ordered I'd know what's for dinner!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Just spoke with a nice lady from Michigan.  Gary asked her if she knew JC ... sadly she didn’t.


That's a relief


----------



## Frank F.

Some guy on the tube listens to his music passionately


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Just spoke with a nice lady from Michigan.  Gary asked her if she knew JC ... sadly she didn’t.


Otherwise, she probably wouldn't be a nice lady!


----------



## Gary A.

She seemed to be well into her 80’s. If she wasn’ Nice, Maggie would have taken her down. She spends her winters in Cambria. She used to spent them down south in Latina Beach. Pretty much a toss-up on beauty and charm between Cambria and Laguna.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is watching "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy ". Not really getting it yet.

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----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I needed a bit of levity. Went this morning to the visitation for my aunt who passed away. It's good to see relatives you haven't seen in a long time but not so much for the reason everyone's there of course. Don't think it has sunk in yet really. She just went downhill since summer after her 90th birthday which I suppose is better than a long drawn out illness.
> 
> The person I barely recognized was my cousin who has Parkinson's. She lives out of state and last time she was here I didn't end up seeing her and she's changed so much. Everyone else looks a bit older but the difference with her I wasn't expecting.
> 
> Waiting now for the Schwan's food delivery service this afternoon. If I remembered what I ordered I'd know what's for dinner!


----------



## Fred von den Berg

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave is watching "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy ". Not really getting it yet.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Don't Panic! Just get a _Pan Galactic Garlgle Blaster_ down your neck and all will be clear.


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> I needed a bit of levity. Went this morning to the visitation for my aunt who passed away. It's good to see relatives you haven't seen in a long time but not so much for the reason everyone's there of course. Don't think it has sunk in yet really. She just went downhill since summer after her 90th birthday which I suppose is better than a long drawn out illness.
> 
> The person I barely recognized was my cousin who has Parkinson's. She lives out of state and last time she was here I didn't end up seeing her and she's changed so much. Everyone else looks a bit older but the difference with her I wasn't expecting.
> 
> Waiting now for the Schwan's food delivery service this afternoon. If I remembered what I ordered I'd know what's for dinner!


My condolences.   Hard to watch your family members changing sometimes.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary’s condolences as well.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary have moved inland and we enjoyed a warm and pleasant afternoon at Wolff. Wolff and our next stop, Saucelito Canuon are in the Edna Valley which butts up to San Luis Obispo.


----------



## Cortian

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave is watching "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy ". Not really getting it yet.


And you won't--from either the BBC mini-series or the USAian movie.  You need to read the books for it to make sense.


----------



## davidharmier60

I did get Marvins point of view however!


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----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> I needed a bit of levity. Went this morning to the visitation for my aunt who passed away. It's good to see relatives you haven't seen in a long time but not so much for the reason everyone's there of course. Don't think it has sunk in yet really. She just went downhill since summer after her 90th birthday which I suppose is better than a long drawn out illness.
> 
> The person I barely recognized was my cousin who has Parkinson's. She lives out of state and last time she was here I didn't end up seeing her and she's changed so much. Everyone else looks a bit older but the difference with her I wasn't expecting.
> 
> Waiting now for the Schwan's food delivery service this afternoon. If I remembered what I ordered I'd know what's for dinner!



Man, sorry to hear that. That is one nasty disease. I have a bud I played baseball with, that was diagnosed with it 3 or 4 years ago. It has done the same thing to him. I would visit him more but his wife is not friendly at all. She is kind of mean. She really don't like me because the last time I visited he had looked like someone kicked the crap out of him in an alley and I questioned her about his appearance. I never thought for a second she did it to him and she went off on me, like I was insinuating that she did. After her melt down, I suspect she gave him the black eyes, cuts, and bruises. I never cared for her in general, she cheated on him, has a foul mouth, and I told my bud who she was banging. Seriously, the thought of her doing that never crossed my mind. He loved here big time for reasons I don't know but he was a brawler when we were growing up, he always had my back. We got into some serious fights back in the hood days, he is a short stocky guy that could bench press 350, 10X +, he always came straight in and under while rocking the thunder. He knocked guys out, all the time. Smart guys would never let him in close, like me, I just used my reach and waited for the opening and it was good night Irene. Incidentally, that is his wife's name. I minister to him via Skype and email. We are pretty close, although electronically. He actively engages in our electronic ministry and has helped a great deal with supporting this most perplexing challenge people are faced with.


----------



## davidharmier60

Just finished hot dogs. Contemplating vanilla Blue Bell with chocolate sauce.
I was never a fighter. But once at my Aunt and Uncles they bought him boxing gloves. 
Naturally everyone thought he and I should put them on. I managed to score and from then on we were best buddies.

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----------



## davidharmier60

Him being my cousin. 

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----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I needed a bit of levity. Went this morning to the visitation for my aunt who passed away. It's good to see relatives you haven't seen in a long time but not so much for the reason everyone's there of course. Don't think it has sunk in yet really. She just went downhill since summer after her 90th birthday which I suppose is better than a long drawn out illness.
> 
> The person I barely recognized was my cousin who has Parkinson's. She lives out of state and last time she was here I didn't end up seeing her and she's changed so much. Everyone else looks a bit older but the difference with her I wasn't expecting.
> 
> Waiting now for the Schwan's food delivery service this afternoon. If I remembered what I ordered I'd know what's for dinner!
> 
> 
> 
> My condolences.   Hard to watch your family members changing sometimes.
Click to expand...


So sorry about your aunt and cousin Sharon.  I went to a wake last night myself.  My mom's best friend's husband passed away.  He had Alzheimer's and has been in a home for the past 5 years due to wandering off and needing 24/7 monitoring. His wife visited every day, bringing him dinner and sitting with him even though he hadn't recognized her in years.  He was a former policeman/bomb squad detective who was a big loud funny as hell great guy who always offered a helping hand to everyone and it was terrible to see him slowly disappear.  Such a terrible and cruel disease.


----------



## snowbear

I'm so sorry, Sharon and Sharon.  Hugs to both of you.


----------



## snowbear

We went to PF Chang's, in Annapolis for dinner.  Not on our way home but I had to get a refill for my meds and the pharmacy at the hospital center already has it on file.  Anyway, to get to the restaurant, we have to walk passed Sur La Table.

Being $50 off, this followed us home.




DSC_1193.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## davidharmier60

There is something to be said for a great knife. I rather hope the Buffer got fixed yesterday. But it is what it is.

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----------



## Frank F.

I got several parts of the official permits for my house. Preliminary work will start on Monday. Yea!


----------



## JonA_CT

My friends signed the lease on their brewery space last night.

We haven’t 100% figured out my role in opening, but they have me every Tuesday night for the foreseeable future.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> I got several parts of the official permits for my house. Preliminary work will start on Monday. Yea!



Is the permitting process difficult there? Here it depends on your location. Different states, counties and cities, can be a bear. We were fortunate that our house was built in an an unincorporated area of the county. The only permit we had to get was the one for the septic tank, which was a joke.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> My friends signed the lease on their brewery space last night.
> 
> We haven’t 100% figured out my role in opening, but they have me every Tuesday night for the foreseeable future.



Hmmmm, friends with a brewery. Heck yes, I volunteer to help them.


----------



## davidharmier60

****! Without the Buffer my day was brutally short. A bit more than 3 hours. 
Sold my box of pennies to Trish. But it's too early to hit a bank. I'm thinking of going down to Cleveland because I've never tried their banks.

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----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> My friends signed the lease on their brewery space last night.
> 
> We haven’t 100% figured out my role in opening, but they have me every Tuesday night for the foreseeable future.


Cool!!   This sounds like so much fun!   

In other news....happy Thursday, hosers!


----------



## JonA_CT

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My friends signed the lease on their brewery space last night.
> 
> We haven’t 100% figured out my role in opening, but they have me every Tuesday night for the foreseeable future.
> 
> 
> 
> Cool!!   This sounds like so much fun!
> 
> In other news....happy Thursday, hosers!
Click to expand...


I hope everything works out smoothly. I was originally a third equal partner (and 90% of their brewing skills are a result of my instruction and help, haha), but I made a decision to step back. I'm not sure what their total investment is to date, but with my two children, my job instability last year, etc, I couldn't promise that I could keep up financially. They have some things at their disposal that I don't -- namely, their parents paid for their college (my wife and I are still slogging through student loan debt), and they don't have kids. I've been consulting in places I can, but ultimately, they did an amazing amount work to make things happen so far. They still have a long ways to go though.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Thanks everybody. My cousin and his wife had already moved to the farm where she still lived after they built on an addition to the farmhouse. So I think after she fell and broke her hip and being in assisted living for a few months there's already been time for some of the grieving and adjusting. 

I hadn't seen my cousin last time she was here, but even my brother who saw her I guess within the past year asked where she was, he didn't even see her or recognize her. She had an early diagnosis so has had early treatment, and it has affected her gait but she really is walking pretty well. She's quite thin and lost the natural fullness to her face. I didn't realize it was her til she started talking. 

Today I'm just worn out. My brother dropped me back at home since I live 10 min. from the funeral home (and figured I wouldn't be able to do all that tromping around to go out to the cemetary) but still - I am so tired! My hip and thigh were achy last night but OK this morning. The standing is harder than walking.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Hosers. Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary just finished a Danish breakfast in Solvang.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Thanks everybody. My cousin and his wife had already moved to the farm where she still lived after they built on an addition to the farmhouse. So I think after she fell and broke her hip and being in assisted living for a few months there's already been time for some of the grieving and adjusting.
> 
> I hadn't seen my cousin last time she was here, but even my brother who saw her I guess within the past year asked where she was, he didn't even see her or recognize her. She had an early diagnosis so has had early treatment, and it has affected her gait but she really is walking pretty well. She's quite thin and lost the natural fullness to her face. I didn't realize it was her til she started talking.
> 
> Today I'm just worn out. My brother dropped me back at home since I live 10 min. from the funeral home (and figured I wouldn't be able to do all that tromping around to go out to the cemetary) but still - I am so tired! My hip and thigh were achy last night but OK this morning. The standing is harder than walking.



These things really take it out of you; take a well-deserved breather.


----------



## davidharmier60

So far I am quite pleased with the box of pennies I got in Cleveland. 
Now going to go back through a copper roll or three.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> I got several parts of the official permits for my house. Preliminary work will start on Monday. Yea!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is the permitting process difficult there?
Click to expand...



I build in the center of a city destined to grow from 320.000 to 420.000 people within the next 20 years.

Germany is totally overregulated. Some things make a lot of sense, many are way over the top.

I have to pay people to search for Roman remains!
I have to pay people to search for airborne mammals!
We have a next to absurd fire regulations!
We have a next to absurd environmental regulations!
Statics

...


----------



## Gary A.

We are starting our day at Firestone, which is snugly tucked away in the Santa Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County. One side of the tasting room is solid windows proving a clean vino ew of the rolling hills, spotted with huge oak trees. Wonderful view.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks everybody. My cousin and his wife had already moved to the farm where she still lived after they built on an addition to the farmhouse. So I think after she fell and broke her hip and being in assisted living for a few months there's already been time for some of the grieving and adjusting.
> 
> I hadn't seen my cousin last time she was here, but even my brother who saw her I guess within the past year asked where she was, he didn't even see her or recognize her. She had an early diagnosis so has had early treatment, and it has affected her gait but she really is walking pretty well. She's quite thin and lost the natural fullness to her face. I didn't realize it was her til she started talking.
> 
> Today I'm just worn out. My brother dropped me back at home since I live 10 min. from the funeral home (and figured I wouldn't be able to do all that tromping around to go out to the cemetary) but still - I am so tired! My hip and thigh were achy last night but OK this morning. The standing is harder than walking.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> These things really take it out of you; take a well-deserved breather.
Click to expand...


Physically and emotionally draining. Get lots of rest, Sharon! Let us know if you need anything. We'll start a very silly conversation to keep you entertained


----------



## waday

Yes, rest up @vintagesnaps !



limr said:


> We'll start a very silly conversation to keep you entertained


Do you mean like wordnesia... when you stare a word and it starts to look foreign to you and then you have to look up said word to make sure it's spelled correctly?

For example: popsicle


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> We are starting our day at Firestone, which is snugly tucked away in the Santa Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County. One side of the tasting room is solid windows proving a clean vino ew of the rolling hills, spotted with huge oak trees. Wonderful view.



Pics plz.  Pretty sure that is the area that I drove through that I thought was just gorgeous


----------



## Gary A.

I would but TPF won’t accept a direct feed from the iPhone. We have moved to Lincourt. A Winery which only craft’s Chardonnay and Pinot’s. If you specialize you better be good. And they are.


----------



## Gary A.

We are outside on the green lawn, listening to James Taylor with back up provided by a squeaky windmill. An acre of vines sits between our grass and the road where a string of cyclists have flashed by.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has to heavily crop an iPhone image for TPF to accept.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg: Remember, if you find a winery you really really appreciate. Become a member. You get California vino shipped to you all year round. Stuff you’ll never see on East Coast.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Yes, rest up @vintagesnaps !
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> We'll start a very silly conversation to keep you entertained
> 
> 
> 
> Do you mean like wordnesia... when you stare a word and it starts to look foreign to you and then you have to look up said word to make sure it's spelled correctly?
> 
> For example: popsicle
Click to expand...


For me, it's always the function words, like _the_ or _next._


----------



## Gary A.

Lincourt


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are snacking on a smoked Gouda, a Cheddar w/ chives and a nice Bread we pick up at a very special cheese shop in San Luis Obispo.


----------



## Gary A.

Both Firestone and Lincourt are dog friendly. Everybody made a big fuss over Maggie at Firestone. At Lincourt Maggie is off leash exploring the vineyards on her own.


----------



## davidharmier60

To the best of my knowledge you can get Texas beer, whiskey, vodka etc.
But not Texas wine.
We just had Great Northern Beans.
Next in a while will be pecan pie. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Mere moments from sleep. 
I hope y'all have a great Friday. 
If the mechanic came today I will have a great Friday.  If not it will be not so great.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> We are starting our day at Firestone, which is snugly tucked away in the Santa Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County. One side of the tasting room is solid windows proving a clean vino ew of the rolling hills, spotted with huge oak trees. Wonderful view.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pics plz.  Pretty sure that is the area that I drove through that I thought was just gorgeous
Click to expand...

Yes it is. The Santa Barbara County Wine Country. The little community of Los Olivos is the heart of the wine area.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> We went to PF Chang's, in Annapolis for dinner.  Not on our way home but I had to get a refill for my meds and the pharmacy at the hospital center already has it on file.  Anyway, to get to the restaurant, we have to walk passed Sur La Table.
> 
> Being $50 off, this followed us home.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_1193.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


How many inches?  Gary was using Wusthof.  He gave that set to his daughter. He’s now using Messermeister.


----------



## Gary A.

While Miss Maggie and Gary were strolling on the nearly empty Hearst Beach, they ran into a lone fisherman.  He was an older gentleman, a white tightly cropped beard under a broad brimmed hat and olive colored chest high waders protecting him against the cold Pacific surf.  When Maggie crossed his path he looked at me and said “Wheaten?”  I replied, with “You know your dogs.”  He said he had one.  He didn’t want a dog. But his kids gave it to him.  He had that Wheaten for 17 years.  Then we both conversed for a bit how great Wheatens are ... we agreed they are the best dogs in the world.  He asked if he could pet Maggie and I naturally agreed. As he bent down Maggie stood up on two feet to meet him. He hugged and rubbed Maggie and she kissed his cheek and wiggled her little body against him. He gave her a final squeeze, stood upright and with tears welling up in his eyes he said “Thank You”.


----------



## Frank F.

My morning workout is movement along the Rhine river. Yesterday the sun rose over the "Seven Mountains" and I thought: It is wonderful to live where others go for holiday!


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We went to PF Chang's, in Annapolis for dinner.  Not on our way home but I had to get a refill for my meds and the pharmacy at the hospital center already has it on file.  Anyway, to get to the restaurant, we have to walk passed Sur La Table.
> 
> Being $50 off, this followed us home.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_1193.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> How many inches?  Gary was using Wusthof.  He gave that set to his daughter. He’s now using Messermeister.
Click to expand...

It's the 8" Chef's knife.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We went to PF Chang's, in Annapolis for dinner.  Not on our way home but I had to get a refill for my meds and the pharmacy at the hospital center already has it on file.  Anyway, to get to the restaurant, we have to walk passed Sur La Table.
> 
> Being $50 off, this followed us home.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_1193.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> How many inches?  Gary was using Wusthof.  He gave that set to his daughter. He’s now using Messermeister.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's the 8" Chef's knife.
Click to expand...


I’ve been considering the same knife. My most used knife is a 8 inch Global Chef knife, which is great...but pretty small in my hand. It’s also light, which makes butchering and things like butternut squash tough.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We went to PF Chang's, in Annapolis for dinner.  Not on our way home but I had to get a refill for my meds and the pharmacy at the hospital center already has it on file.  Anyway, to get to the restaurant, we have to walk passed Sur La Table.
> 
> Being $50 off, this followed us home.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_1193.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> How many inches?  Gary was using Wusthof.  He gave that set to his daughter. He’s now using Messermeister.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's the 8" Chef's knife.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I’ve been considering the same knife. My most used knife is a 8 inch Global Chef knife, which is great...but pretty small in my hand. It’s also light, which makes butchering and things like butternut squash tough.
Click to expand...

Nice knife! If anyone is considering a new knife, I highly recommend the Victorinox: https://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Fibrox-Chefs-Knife-8-Inch/dp/B000638D32

We just bought it a few months ago, and I've been thoroughly enjoying it. Plus, at like $40-50, it's a steal. 

We have (a version of) the referenced Wusthof knife, as well, which was gifted to us for our wedding. Both of the knives are my most used knives--I use them for nearly everything.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We went to PF Chang's, in Annapolis for dinner.  Not on our way home but I had to get a refill for my meds and the pharmacy at the hospital center already has it on file.  Anyway, to get to the restaurant, we have to walk passed Sur La Table.
> 
> Being $50 off, this followed us home.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_1193.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> How many inches?  Gary was using Wusthof.  He gave that set to his daughter. He’s now using Messermeister.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's the 8" Chef's knife.
Click to expand...

In the Messermeister lineup Gary had a choice of 8”, 9” or 10”. Gary went for the 9”.  He wishes he had gone for the 8”.  Good for You!


----------



## terri

That's a good looking knife.   I am thinking of adding another Chef's knife, as my old Wusthof somehow developed a small dent that I'm unable to straighten completely. I want to be able to examine a few and hold them before making a decision.


----------



## terri

Oh, and Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We went to PF Chang's, in Annapolis for dinner.  Not on our way home but I had to get a refill for my meds and the pharmacy at the hospital center already has it on file.  Anyway, to get to the restaurant, we have to walk passed Sur La Table.
> 
> Being $50 off, this followed us home.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_1193.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> How many inches?  Gary was using Wusthof.  He gave that set to his daughter. He’s now using Messermeister.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's the 8" Chef's knife.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I’ve been considering the same knife. My most used knife is a 8 inch Global Chef knife, which is great...but pretty small in my hand. It’s also light, which makes butchering and things like butternut squash tough.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nice knife! If anyone is considering a new knife, I highly recommend the Victorinox: https://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Fibrox-Chefs-Knife-8-Inch/dp/B000638D32
> 
> We just bought it a few months ago, and I've been thoroughly enjoying it. Plus, at like $40-50, it's a steal.
> 
> We have (a version of) the referenced Wusthof knife, as well, which was gifted to us for our wedding. Both of the knives are my most used knives--I use them for nearly everything.
Click to expand...

Gary did considerable research on knives prior to purchasing.  The primary ‘blade’ / cutting difference between an expensive Wusthof and a cheaper Wusthof or Victorinox is the cutting edge of the more expensive retains its sharpness longer than the less expensive.  For Gary that’s not a big deal.  Gary does like the idea of hand forged over machine made.


----------



## JonA_CT

I think I’ll like a softer steel for the blade. The Global knives take forever to sharpen on my whet stones.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are wishing all a Good Morning from Solvang.  If you haven’t been here, Solvang is this stupid town outside of Santa Barbara where the architecture and flavor of the town is of Copenhagen.  A tacky tourist trap filled with ... well ... tourists.  But Mary Lou found a good deal at the dog friendly Viking Hotel, so here we camped.

@smoke665: Yesterday in Los Olivos Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary were tasting wine at a small, off the beaten path tasting room. There was a couple there also enjoying passing the day sipping fine wine. After a spell I asked them where they hailed from ... “Alabama” he reported back with measurable pride. I asked if he knew you. He didn’t. He said he was too busy watching football to know everybody in the state.  Lord only knows how someone from Alabama ended up in tiny tiny Los Olivos in the middle of nowhere.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I think I’ll like a softer steel for the blade. The Global knives take forever to sharpen on my whet stones.


Gary uses a ceramic rod, sharpens up nicely.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We went to PF Chang's, in Annapolis for dinner.  Not on our way home but I had to get a refill for my meds and the pharmacy at the hospital center already has it on file.  Anyway, to get to the restaurant, we have to walk passed Sur La Table.
> 
> Being $50 off, this followed us home.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_1193.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> How many inches?  Gary was using Wusthof.  He gave that set to his daughter. He’s now using Messermeister.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's the 8" Chef's knife.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I’ve been considering the same knife. My most used knife is a 8 inch Global Chef knife, which is great...but pretty small in my hand. It’s also light, which makes butchering and things like butternut squash tough.
Click to expand...

Gary will trade you his nine inch Messermeister for your eight inch Global.


----------



## davidharmier60

I bought my Dad and Sister a couple of (I think) mid level Wusthoff. They neither sharpen easy nor hold an edge very long.
In fact I don't think they are Wusthoff. 
Probably another brand.

Got 4 hours today. Buffer still down. 
I Gotta call in later to make sure someone will open up at 5am tomorrow.

Going to hit the PO and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think I’ll like a softer steel for the blade. The Global knives take forever to sharpen on my whet stones.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary uses a ceramic rod, sharpens up nicely.
Click to expand...

Thing is, a rod, whether ceramic or steel isn't actually sharpening (removing metal) the blade, all it's doing is straightening the edge.  A proper sharpening with a jig on a good quality oil stone should be done every 2 - 3 "steelings".


----------



## Gary A.

Agreed, but for most kitchen applications, straightening is all that is required.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> The Global knives take forever to sharpen on my whet stones.


Have you tried dhry stones?


----------



## Cortian

Sittin' here, drinkin' coffee (very tasty medium roast Kona blend I just opened), thinkin' "Ok, so you got this 40D body, now.  Need to Take Some Pictures."  But can't think of anything indoors and, while the sun's finally back out, after two days of gray, it's a mere 12°F (-11°C) outside, with winds out of the WNW at 15MPH (24KPH), that's a wind chill of -4°F (-20°C).  So outdoors is out.

We're supposed to get snow, Sunday, followed by partly cloudy weather that won't be _too_ cold (high around 22°F/-6°C).  That might present some opportunities.

Meantime I guess I'll keep studying photography and the camera.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Agreed, but for most kitchen applications, straightening is all that is required.


To a point; what you're essentially doing (at a near microscopic level) is working the edge back and forth.  After a few "steelings" it starts to chip.  It will feel sharp because it's becoming a serrated blade.  You're also making it much more difficult to sharpen when the time comes because these tiny chips mean that the blade has to be ground back much further to keep an accurate edge.


----------



## Cortian

To be more explicit: A sharp edge is really rather delicate.  (It's thin.  What would you expect?)  So as you use it it will tend to fold and nick.  (A nick is not a chip.  They're different things.)  "Steeling" simply straightens it back out.  _But_ what tirediron says is true: Each time you "work" that edge like that it becomes weaker.  Eventually (FSVO "eventually") it will begin to fracture and chip.


----------



## davidharmier60

I was wrong. The knives I bought were JA Henckels knives. I have steel, ceramic and stone. I only just got an 8 inch stone.

Home and about to look at pennies. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

Hope everyone enjoys Groundhog Day! Six more weeks of winter. Ugh.


----------



## Frank F.

I took so many photos again today. Gosh. Will I live long enough to sort through my body of camera work?


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Hope everyone enjoys Groundhog Day! Six more weeks of winter. Ugh.


Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary have just been seated in the patio of Paula’s PancakebHouse, sipping coffee, waiting for our Danish pancakes dressed in short sleeves.


----------



## limr

Cortian said:


> Sittin' here, drinkin' coffee (very tasty medium roast Kona blend I just opened), thinkin' "Ok, so you got this 40D body, now.  Need to Take Some Pictures."  But can't think of anything indoors and, while the sun's finally back out, after two days of gray, it's a mere 12°F (-11°C) outside, with winds out of the WNW at 15MPH (24KPH), that's a wind chill of -4°F (-20°C).  So outdoors is out.
> 
> We're supposed to get snow, Sunday, followed by partly cloudy weather that won't be _too_ cold (high around 22°F/-6°C).  That might present some opportunities.
> 
> Meantime I guess I'll keep studying photography and the camera.



Still life, man. Still life. 



waday said:


> Hope everyone enjoys Groundhog Day! Six more weeks of winter. Ugh.



I  Phil!!

When I was in grad school in Pittsburgh, 3 friends of mine and I got in the car in the wee hours of Feb 2nd, drove to Punxatawney, saw Phil, had breakfast, and made it back for morning classes. 

I love the movie and I love that damn groundhog


----------



## Cortian

limr said:


> Cortian said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sittin' here, drinkin' coffee (very tasty medium roast Kona blend I just opened), thinkin' "Ok, so you got this 40D body, now.  Need to Take Some Pictures."  But can't think of anything indoors and, ...
> 
> 
> 
> Still life, man. Still life.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... Generally not been an area of interest, for me, but perhaps if I gave it a go that might change?

Thanks for the suggestion!



limr said:


> I love the movie and I love that damn groundhog


We have _Groundhog Day_ in the DVD/BR library.  Could maybe watch that again...


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary have just been seated in the patio of Paula’s PancakebHouse, sipping coffee, waiting for our Danish pancakes dressed in short sleeves.


Sounds delightful, but... your Danish pancakes are wearing short sleeves?



limr said:


> I  Phil!!
> 
> When I was in grad school in Pittsburgh, 3 friends of mine and I got in the car in the wee hours of Feb 2nd, drove to Punxatawney, saw Phil, had breakfast, and made it back for morning classes.
> 
> I love the movie and I love that damn groundhog


Awesome! I want to visit at least one time for Groundhog Day, to see the famous prognosticator. Phil is the best!


----------



## Gary A.

@Cortian: Macro Time.


----------



## Cortian

Gary A. said:


> @Cortian: Macro Time.


Might could do.  Macro photography _is_ one of my favourites.

Thing is: Not certain either of my lenses (17-85mm f/4-5.6, 1.1' close focus, 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6, 5' close focus) are particularly well-suited for macro work.  Particularly since I don't yet have anything in the way of lighting.

Guess it'd be true there's only one way to tell...


----------



## Cortian

Meanwhile: It's back to the local camera store.  Bag we picked up for @Medusa's camera is too small with that new Tamron 18-400mm lens on it.  She'll have to select another.

Now, if I can just avoid finding anything else upon which to spend money...


----------



## waday

Cortian said:


> Particularly since I don't yet have anything in the way of lighting.


As long as your subject isn't moving...... tripod and ambient lighting?

This was ambient lighting:




Liberty Dollar Anniversary by Wade, on Flickr


----------



## SquarePeg

Cortian said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Cortian: Macro Time.
> 
> 
> 
> Might could do.  Macro photography _is_ one of my favourites.
> 
> Thing is: Not certain either of my lenses (17-85mm f/4-5.6, 1.1' close focus, 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6, 5' close focus) are particularly well-suited for macro work.  Particularly since I don't yet have anything in the way of lighting.
> 
> Guess it'd be true there's only one way to tell...
Click to expand...


Extension tubes are cheap and fun.  I bought some recently from JJC and they are excellent.  The AF even works although you'd want MF for macro in most situations.  I find using AF+MF works best for me.  I use AF to get initial focus then tweak it using MF.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I mostly just use a paring knife and the rest sit in the knife block! lol 

Nice and sunny and cold when I opened the door for the brown truck (who only brought boring supplies, darn it!) except for a set of half dozen Winsor & Newton water colour markers to play with.


----------



## tirediron

Cortian said:


> ... (A nick is not a chip.  They're different things.)  ....


Fair point...  I was being lazy.  "Damage to the cutting edge".


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gary you're so descriptive, I love the idea of the cheesy touristy place you ended up - there's got to be some photo ops there!

I've never been into macro. Why is it necessary to feel like you have to do something with your camera today? If it's not happening, do something else and another time something might click and you'll be off taking photos. Meanwhile, get online and look at lenses or something! Maybe a nice used prime...


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary started our day at Foley Estates. Vineyards and winery off the beaten path. Tucked away in the hills west of Highway 101 (most of the wineries are east of the 101). We chatted with a couple from Boston. They didn’t know Peg. But they did fall in love with Maggie. They were looking for a dog and Maggie sold them on Wheaten.


----------



## Gary A.

We’ve just broken out of the hills and now driving along the shining sea north of Santa Barbara. Man, was a beautiful day.


----------



## snowbear

Cortian said:


> Sittin' here, drinkin' coffee (very tasty medium roast Kona blend I just opened), thinkin' "Ok, so you got this 40D body, now.  Need to Take Some Pictures."  But can't think of anything indoors and, while the sun's finally back out, after two days of gray, it's a mere 12°F (-11°C) outside, with winds out of the WNW at 15MPH (24KPH), that's a wind chill of -4°F (-20°C).  So outdoors is out.


Go get at least one cat, dog or ferret.


----------



## Cortian

Got three cats...


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

waday said:


> Hope everyone enjoys Groundhog Day! Six more weeks of winter. Ugh.



Bahhh! Humbug!  Oops, wrong holiday/event

@vintagesnaps  and @SquarePeg  My late condolences for your losses.


----------



## Frank F.

Cortian said:


> Got three cats...




I used to live with cats .. always .. and many a cat at the same time too .. this picture brings back memories


----------



## Frank F.

portrait / horse & hound


----------



## davidharmier60

We have a dog who THINKS he is as tough as that one....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@Frank F.  Beautiful horse.


----------



## SquarePeg

My dog has no idea that he’s a dog.  I took him to the dog park and he looked at me like wtf is this?


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Lord only knows how someone from Alabama ended up in tiny tiny Los Olivos in the middle of nowhere.



LOL we're like bedbugs, never know where we'll turn up!!!


----------



## smoke665

Cortian said:


> To be more explicit: A sharp edge is really rather delicate.



Have to disagree with you on that. I'm both a wood turner and carver. I have numerous chisels, and knives that are scary sharp. The edge is not that delicate when properly sharpened to the correct angle for the tool. Larger blades are hollow ground, (to avoid having to remove so much material later) and smaller blades are taken to the correct angle on a wet/dry wheel. Both are  finished at the bench. I use a series of wet/dry paper going up to 2000 grit on a finished piece of granite. From there they go to large wheel covered with leather loaded with honing compound. Once honed the edge will last a long time with only occasionally  stropping before having to reform the edge.


----------



## smoke665

All good things must come to an end... unfortunately. Left out at 6 am this morning and 10 1/2 hrs. later we were back on the mountain. Hmmm, 69 in FL, when we left, currently 29 ---- talk about adjustment!!!


----------



## Frank F.

One of the best shots I took in my life. 46 Megapixels mean you can see every pore of the man's skin. Amazing.


----------



## davidharmier60

It seems so odd to be here at home instead of at work. The coffee is hot and that's the best thing I can say about it. 
I may go to the flea market in Cleveland that has been pretty good to me in the past.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.
Feb. POTM Nominations is up - Jan voting will get online this evening.  MLW wants to make a cake and we can't find a key ingredient (passionfruit puree) in any of the usual stores, so I'm off to the Latin market up the road.

We also picked up a tabletop pizza oven (it's like a waffle iron) that was on sale at the kitchen place, so I need some fixin's; thinking of making a margherita pizza for the first one.

Y'all make sure to get the "Yellow" photos into the bi-monthly challenge.


----------



## davidharmier60

I had cold pizza from last night.
Does that count?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Okay ... Mary Lou, Miss Miggie and Gary have returned home from our Elephant Seal and wine tasting expedition.  All-in-all, only three bad marks on the trip all revolving around traffic. Getting out of LA on the trip north sucked, getting through the flash flood residue driving through Montecito (all the lookie-loos bringing the freeway to a stop) then getting through LA traffic on the way home ... it was horrific.  The traffic is so bad, at all times of the day, on all days ... that calling it a jammin' nightmare is an understatement. 

Gary actually made in home yesterday, but the two and a half hour drive turned into a five hour drive ... giving Mary Lou and Gary barely enough time to unload the car, grab some Chinese to go and get to the theatre.  We had tickets for the local theatre, _Cabaret. _ It was five stars, a great show, super performances, great music (live band) and thoroughly entertaining.  

Gary stops for some 'real' coffee and to nibble on another Mandarin Orange.  (Great to be home.)

Interestingly enough, the local theatre is managed by McCoy Rigby Entertainment.  The Rigby is part is Cathy Rigby, the Olympic gymnast. McCoy, her husband, during the introduction of the musical, informed us all that in response to the upheaval in our Olympic gymnastic organization, Cathy has by elected to the governing board.  McCoy assured us that Cathy is ready, willing and eager to kick butt and get the gymnastic group back on course. 

We're coming up on nine o'clock and some will be back on Maggie's morning schedule and morning walk. But, there is no rest for the weary as we have guests coming in this afternoon and early tomorrow morning that we must prep for.  At least the wine is covered ... plenty of vino fresh from the Central Coast.


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> I had cold pizza from last night.
> Does that count?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Cold is the best flavour!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has a tons of citrus ... tons ... limes, oranges (Valencia, Naval & Mandarin) and lemons (meyers) if anybody wants to come by and do some picking.


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> I had cold pizza from last night.
> Does that count?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Only for breakfast.


----------



## davidharmier60

snowbear said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had cold pizza from last night.
> Does that count?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Only for breakfast.
Click to expand...

Only way it could be. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary has a tons of citrus ... tons ... limes, oranges (Valencia, Naval & Mandarin) and lemons (meyers) if anybody wants to come by and do some picking.



Stocked up on Honeybell, oranges before we left. Looks like we'll be eating a lot over the next few days. Honeybells are a variety more resistant to Greening. It's really sad how the Florida groves have been decimated by this virus.

Gary might want to enjoy as I've read that it has now spread to California and Texas.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Here in the (eastern) midwest I think people need some of that citrus fruit, I swear everybody's getting sick after the unseasonably warm weather last week. I'm hoping to avoid it this time around. 

Thanks for the nice thoughts everyone, I just kicked back and didn't do much Friday, and not planning much more than that today. I'm still pretty tired, and had thought about going to a hockey game but my best friend has a cold & cough so we bagged that idea. I'm going to watch my hockey televised, maybe next weekend I can make a game.

Watching a replay of one of the Glastonbury festivals on MTV Live, just saw Chvrches, now - New Order! yeah!


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> there is no rest for the weary...



Or the wicked...


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> there is no rest for the weary...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Or the wicked...
Click to expand...

Voice of experience?


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Here in the (eastern) midwest I think people need some of that citrus fruit, I swear everybody's getting sick after the unseasonably warm weather last week. I'm hoping to avoid it this time around.
> 
> Thanks for the nice thoughts everyone, I just kicked back and didn't do much Friday, and not planning much more than that today. I'm still pretty tired, and had thought about going to a hockey game but my best friend has a cold & cough so we bagged that idea. I'm going to watch my hockey televised, maybe next weekend I can make a game.
> 
> Watching a replay of one of the Glastonbury festivals on MTV Live, just saw Chvrches, now - New Order! yeah!


Easy does it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm groovin' to the music. While vegging out.


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> there is no rest for the weary...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Or the wicked...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Voice of experience?
Click to expand...


I’ll take the 5th on that.  

I’ve always heard and said “No rest for the wicked”.  It was a favorite saying of my grandmother.  The first time I heard someone use weary instead of wicked was just a few years ago.  We had a bit of a debate about it so we googled it (yes we’re nerds).  Both are common idioms. No rest for the wicked is the altered form of No peace for the wicked which is a quote from the Bible.  No rest for the weary is a another altered version of the quote.  I prefer wicked, it’s a more colorful use of the quote.


----------



## Derrel

Ermaghhhherd....a lazy Saturday. No rain here, nice, mild weather, almost 60 degrees. Just resting, doing a bit of internetin' (obviously...I'm here on TPF, right?), got some music videos playing in another tab.


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m avoiding vacuuming and laundry...


----------



## SquarePeg

But, my Patriots shirt is in the hamper so laundry is a must do for me today.  The vacuuming can always wait!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I guess the alt. rock portion of this concert/festival is done for now, ZZ Top just came out with their white fake fur covered keyboard and guitar. If those farts can rock it out, I can, um, watch while sitting here in the comfort of my living room...

Hey, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, OK now he's getting me out of my chair!


----------



## Derrel

SquarePeg said:


> But, my Patriots shirt is in the hamper so laundry is a must do for me today.  The vacuuming can always wait!



Ohhhhhh, I gave your " *avoiding laundry and vacuuming* " post a "Winner" ranking, but the subsequent mention of the Patriots is making me consider rescinding that post ranking...

...Just kidding...I don't care which team wins the Super Bowl...zero affinity for any NFL team.

>>I am currently about 1/6 of the way into a *32-ounce portion of coffee* I brewed about 20 minutes ago!


----------



## SquarePeg

For all the Manning lovers out there:


----------



## SquarePeg

Derrel said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> But, my Patriots shirt is in the hamper so laundry is a must do for me today.  The vacuuming can always wait!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ohhhhhh, I gave your " *avoiding laundry and vacuuming* " post a "Winner" ranking, but the subsequent mention of the Patriots is making me consider rescinding that post ranking...
> 
> ...Just kidding...I don't care which team wins the Super Bowl...zero affinity for any NFL team.
> 
> >>I am currently about 1/6 of the way into a *32-ounce portion of coffee* I brewed about 20 minutes ago!
Click to expand...


If my last post tips you over the edge to remove my Winner status, I totally understand...

No football affiliation?  Just no NFL?


----------



## davidharmier60

My Sister says she isn't rooting for either team. Eagles gave us Michael Vick and dog gate. Patriots are seemingly always in the Super bowl.

I know not what to think. I suppose we'll watch it for the commercials.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

davidharmier60 said:


> My Sister says she isn't rooting for either team. Eagles gave us Michael Vick and dog gate. Patriots are seemingly always in the Super bowl.
> 
> I know not what to think. I suppose we'll watch it for the commercials.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


mmm, don't hold the Eagles accountable; Vick was playing for the Falcons when all that went down.   It was revolting.   He's a POS and never recovered his skill sets after doing time.   That's his real punishment (still not enough). 

@Derrel:  Seriously, aren't you near Seahawks territory?   They're a fine organization to root for - great players, beautiful stadium.


----------



## Derrel

SquarePeg said:
			
		

> No football affiliation?  Just no NFL?



No NFL. Ten-year season ticket and lifetime (well, since 1977) Oregon Ducks football fan. I find professional football boring. Very few momentum swings in NFL games. Plenty of boring, straight-ahead runs in NFL offenses. Players more interested in keeping their contract than in winning for the team. First team to get a decent lead wins 80% of the games or more. Average final score something like 17-10. All of these things are why NFL viewership has declined steadily. I enjoy watching NCAA football games. About 30 years ago, I decided that I wanted to have some kind of a weekend life, so I chose to follow NCAA D-1 football, and let the professional game and its killing of Sundays go. A great decision for me. Many other people go the other way, and watch only NFL football.

Terri: Yeah...the Seahawks are close by, 145 miles north. Never been a fan of them. Petey Carroll...former USC head coach....uh....nope!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> @Derrel: Seriously, aren't you near Seahawks territory? They're a fine organization to root for - great players, beautiful stadium



Seahawks are thugs.  I liked Pete Carroll when he was in NE.


----------



## JonA_CT

We put the first few hours of work into the brewery space today. It was originally a fruit stand, but it all needs to go to build out the space. It's a little surreal to be standing in that space.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> For all the Manning lovers out there:
> 
> View attachment 153217


Sorry, had to:


----------



## SquarePeg

You can’t win em all, even if you are the goats TB12 and B.B.


----------



## snowbear

Superbowl?  Is it _that_ time again?


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Derrel: Seriously, aren't you near Seahawks territory? They're a fine organization to root for - great players, beautiful stadium
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Seahawks are thugs.  I liked Pete Carroll when he was in NE.
Click to expand...

Nah, I don't think so.   There are worse teams than the Seahawks.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Superbowl?  Is it _that_ time again?


It'll be over before you know it!


----------



## davidharmier60

To the very best of my knowledge it happens tomorrow. 

On that note I wish you all a good night and a pleasant tomorrow. Even though I didn't have to awaken at 4am this morning and need not tomorrow morning I find myself quite sleepy.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Oh yuk. Just got back yesterday and the cold is already wearing on me. Sinuses pressure is so bad it's causing blurry vision. Looks like a vaporizer kind of night for me.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Oh yuk. Just got back yesterday and the cold is already wearing on me. Sinuses pressure is so bad it's causing blurry vision. Looks like a vaporizer kind of night for me.



Have you tried sinus massage?


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Have you tried sinus massage



Most of my problems are caused by all the Asthma drugs that dry up everything. When it's cold and the furnace runs a lot, it drys the air, which makes it worse. Humidifier and salt water spray work fairly quick.


----------



## jcdeboever

Go Lions!


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> Go Lions!


Lions?


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Derrel: Seriously, aren't you near Seahawks territory? They're a fine organization to root for - great players, beautiful stadium
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Seahawks are thugs.  I liked Pete Carroll when he was in NE.
Click to expand...

Gary liked Carroll when he was at USC.


----------



## Frank F.

High on inspiration currently

"Wolkenschale"

Jean Arp - Wikipedia


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Go Lions!





tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Go Lions!
> 
> 
> 
> Lions?
Click to expand...


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Forgot to buy milk so am drinking my coffee black this morning.

I hear there is some kind of game today?


----------



## Cortian

Mornin', y'all.

Now for that 2nd cup of coffee...


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Forgot to buy milk so am drinking my coffee black this morning.
> 
> I hear there is some kind of game today?



Welcome to the "real" coffee drinkers!


----------



## Frank F.

Inspirational phase..



What is it? They tear the heart of our city apart to create a shopping centre with Primark and Hotel. This is 50 meters from the main entrance of our central railway station....

Technical: D850, Nikkor 1.8/85G, Panoramic shot of four wide open. Heavy edit with layers in Photoshop CC 2018 to bring out the mood.


----------



## Cortian

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Forgot to buy milk so am drinking my coffee black this morning.
> 
> I hear there is some kind of game today?
> 
> 
> 
> Welcome to the "real" coffee drinkers!
Click to expand...

One of my best friends for years kept pestering me about adulterating my coffee with cream and sugar.  Eventually I decided to give his advice a try.  First I eliminated cream.  Then, gradually, I reduced the amount of sugar I put in.

Been drinking it black for better than a year, now.  Just like I drink my Scotch and Bourbon neat: Can't imagine drinking it any other way.


----------



## davidharmier60

Still morning here. Cut my thumb on one of my "new" pocket knives. It looks cold and damp outside the window. 
50 meters is roughly 150 feet.
That doesn't sound too close unless the trains are noisy.
My cousin lived within 75 feet of the track.
Even when it got to the point you could ignore the noise it still shook the house. 
That's all I got just now.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Cortian

davidharmier60 said:


> Still morning here. Cut my thumb on one of my "new" pocket knives.


I wouldn't care to guess how many times I've nicked, or down-right cut, myself with a new blade... *sigh*


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Forgot to buy milk so am drinking my coffee black this morning.
> 
> I hear there is some kind of game today?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Welcome to the "real" coffee drinkers!
Click to expand...


A) You assume this is the first time I have had my coffee black, or that it is an anomoly.

B) I do not ascribe to the notion that there is only one "real" way to drink coffee. Whatever works for people, that is the "real" way.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I hear there is some kind of game today?



There's a Scrabble tournament over in Mechanicsville.


----------



## terri

My favorite way to drink coffee is to have it strong, rich, with a tiny amount of sugar to remove any potential bitterness from a strong roast (seriously, like 1/4 tsp or less), but lots of beautiful rich cream.   Not half & half - light cream.  

I've been on an self-imposed altered diet and have dropped lots of weight over the past 5 months or so, and included in that alteration was to switch to tea in the morning.   It was unquestionably THE hardest thing I imposed on myself.    Lately I've been re-introducing myself to coffee, and it's just _sad_ how my taste buds have changed.   My once-perfect strong brew is almost intolerable, and I've developed a distaste for dumping in a lot of cream, on principle.    I've been experimenting with different types of coffee and various amounts of cream, but so far, have been unable to recapture my glory days.     *sniffle*   

But damn, I'm sure skinny again.


----------



## smoke665

@terri thanks to Gary A., we have been spoiled by the difference in good coffee. Finishing up the last of a nice organic Costa Rican that we picked up fresh roasted this past month. Have three more bags of some more to try that we picked up at another place that will likely become our go to source for the future. With good coffee there is no bitter after taste.


----------



## ceemac

I've discovered that decaf tastes pretty good with a liberal dash of brandy. Since I'm retired and old,  I can slur my words any time I like. People just think I'm having a stroke and leave me alone.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> Inspirational phase..View attachment 153269
> 
> What is it? They tear the heart of our city apart to create a shopping centre with Primark and Hotel. This is 50 meters from the main entrance of our central railway station....
> 
> Technical: D850, Nikkor 1.8/85G, Panoramic shot of four wide open. Heavy edit with layers in Photoshop CC 2018 to bring out the mood.


It is all about money. “Money makes the world go ‘round, the world go ‘round, the world go ‘round ...”. (Caberet)


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @terri thanks to Gary A., we have been spoiled by the difference in good coffee. Finishing up the last of a nice organic Costa Rican that we picked up fresh roasted this past month. Have three more bags of some more to try that we picked up at another place that will likely become our go to source for the future. With good coffee there is no bitter after taste.





terri said:


> My favorite way to drink coffee is to have it strong, rich, with a tiny amount of sugar to remove any potential bitterness from a strong roast (seriously, like 1/4 tsp or less), but lots of beautiful rich cream.   Not half & half - light cream.
> 
> I've been on an self-imposed altered diet and have dropped lots of weight over the past 5 months or so, and included in that alteration was to switch to tea in the morning.   It was unquestionably THE hardest thing I imposed on myself.    Lately I've been re-introducing myself to coffee, and it's just _sad_ how my taste buds have changed.   My once-perfect strong brew is almost intolerable, and I've developed a distaste for dumping in a lot of cream, on principle.    I've been experimenting with different types of coffee and various amounts of cream, but so far, have been unable to recapture my glory days.     *sniffle*
> 
> But damn, I'm sure skinny again.


Start with home grinding your coffee. It will almost likely make a world of difference. Get an inexpensive grinder and a single varietal arabica coffee.  ... a world of difference.


----------



## davidharmier60

Folgers is THE coffee.
All that other stuff is froo froo. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. funny story about the grinder, after we received a nice Christmas gift of a grinder, and had been using it this month. DW, just remembered that we had one in a  kitchen cabinets we rarely use.  She remembered that our son had given it to us several years ago, and it had only been used a few times. So, now we have two!! I'd rib her about her memory, but even after seeing it I still don't remember it 

@davidharmier60 we had just bought one of the large containers of Folgers before the introduction to real coffee. It's still in the cabinet. Used it a couple of times when we were in a big hurry, but it's terrible now.


----------



## davidharmier60

We will take charity. A large container of Folgers for example.....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @terri thanks to Gary A., we have been spoiled by the difference in good coffee. Finishing up the last of a nice organic Costa Rican that we picked up fresh roasted this past month. Have three more bags of some more to try that we picked up at another place that will likely become our go to source for the future. With good coffee there is no bitter after taste.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> My favorite way to drink coffee is to have it strong, rich, with a tiny amount of sugar to remove any potential bitterness from a strong roast (seriously, like 1/4 tsp or less), but lots of beautiful rich cream.   Not half & half - light cream.
> 
> I've been on an self-imposed altered diet and have dropped lots of weight over the past 5 months or so, and included in that alteration was to switch to tea in the morning.   It was unquestionably THE hardest thing I imposed on myself.    Lately I've been re-introducing myself to coffee, and it's just _sad_ how my taste buds have changed.   My once-perfect strong brew is almost intolerable, and I've developed a distaste for dumping in a lot of cream, on principle.    I've been experimenting with different types of coffee and various amounts of cream, but so far, have been unable to recapture my glory days.     *sniffle*
> 
> But damn, I'm sure skinny again.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Start with home grinding your coffee. It will almost likely make a world of difference. Get an inexpensive grinder and a single varietal arabica coffee.  ... a world of difference.
Click to expand...

I'm on my second grinder; we burned up the first one.       Been down this coffee path so much we've left a rut.   

I do miss it!


----------



## Gary A.

(Not Gary’s License Plate.)


----------



## davidharmier60

Strangely enough the Stupid Bowl is on the T.V.  Beef tips over rice was dinner. 
So glad Phili held N.E. To a field goal. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

I shouldn't even be awake at this time.
Have a good night and a pleasant tomorrow. My next report will be after work.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

My regrets, Sharon.

Philly is gonna burn tonight.


----------



## waday

Congrats Eagles!

As a Pennsylvanian, I am quite happy. Grew up a fan, but I don't watch football anymore. Except for the occasional game, such as Eagles winning their first Super Bowl! Cool!


----------



## Gary A.

Great game and well played Eagles. Nelson Agholor is a Trojan.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Great game and well played Eagles. Nelson Agholor is a Trojan.



And there are 3 Gators on the team as well.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> My regrets, Sharon.
> 
> Philly is gonna burn tonight.





waday said:


> Congrats Eagles!
> 
> As a Pennsylvanian, I am quite happy. Grew up a fan, but I don't watch football anymore. Except for the occasional game, such as Eagles winning their first Super Bowl! Cool!





Gary A. said:


> Great game and well played Eagles. Nelson Agholor is a Trojan.





limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Great game and well played Eagles. Nelson Agholor is a Trojan.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And there are 3 Gators on the team as well.
Click to expand...


Congrats to all the Eagles fans and all the disgruntled Patriots haters!  You may not like them but you have to admit the SB is always exciting when the Pats are in it!  Bummed that they lost but the good news is that with all those missed field goals and muffed point afters, my seemingly crappy squares ended up being winners!  $250 cha ching!


----------



## jcdeboever

Who made the big play on D, a wolverine of course. MVP played at MSU


----------



## vintagesnaps

I didn't even know they still made Folgers. Or maybe it left and came back, many things do. Who would've thought bell bottoms would come back.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My regrets, Sharon.
> 
> Philly is gonna burn tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats Eagles!
> 
> As a Pennsylvanian, I am quite happy. Grew up a fan, but I don't watch football anymore. Except for the occasional game, such as Eagles winning their first Super Bowl! Cool!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Great game and well played Eagles. Nelson Agholor is a Trojan.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Great game and well played Eagles. Nelson Agholor is a Trojan.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And there are 3 Gators on the team as well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Congrats to all the Eagles fans and all the disgruntled Patriots haters!  You may not like them but you have to admit the SB is always exciting when the Pats are in it!  Bummed that they lost but the good news is that with all those missed field goals and muffed point afters, my seemingly crappy squares ended up being winners!  $250 cha ching!
Click to expand...

It was a fun game.   I was pretty sure the Eagles would lose steam and when the Patriots went ahead, figured that was it.   So it was rewarding to watch them power through.   Congrats to Eagles fans!    

Worst thing about it was the Halftime Show.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My regrets, Sharon.
> 
> Philly is gonna burn tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats Eagles!
> 
> As a Pennsylvanian, I am quite happy. Grew up a fan, but I don't watch football anymore. Except for the occasional game, such as Eagles winning their first Super Bowl! Cool!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Great game and well played Eagles. Nelson Agholor is a Trojan.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Great game and well played Eagles. Nelson Agholor is a Trojan.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And there are 3 Gators on the team as well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Congrats to all the Eagles fans and all the disgruntled Patriots haters!  You may not like them but you have to admit the SB is always exciting when the Pats are in it!  Bummed that they lost but the good news is that with all those missed field goals and muffed point afters, my seemingly crappy squares ended up being winners!  $250 cha ching!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It was a fun game.   I was pretty sure the Eagles would lose steam and when the Patriots went ahead, figured that was it.   So it was rewarding to watch them power through.   Congrats to Eagles fans!
> 
> Worst thing about it was the Halftime Show.
Click to expand...


Agree.  JT was terrible and I’m usually a fan of his music.  Just boring and too jumbled.  I thought Pink was a bit subdued but than heard on the radio this morning that she has the flu.


----------



## davidharmier60

I didn't know who won until I read this thread. Way to go Eagles!
A bit over 4 hours today. 
Buffer still ain't fixed. 
May have a camera at the Post Office. 
Gonna check that and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

Wife has flu. Daughter has a cold. I am swamped in work and getting over a cold.


----------



## JonA_CT

Monday is almost over.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Monday is almost over.



Guess how many of my daughter’s 5 classes had a sub today?  Can you say Super Bowl flu?


----------



## JonA_CT

Weak sauce. You haven’t lived until you’ve had a colleague smell you to see if you still are exuding last night’s booze. 

(Okay...so in 7 years, this was only me once.)


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I didn't even know they still made Folgers. Or maybe it left and came back, many things do. Who would've thought bell bottoms would come back.



Folgers has always been around and going pretty strong. Same as Maxwell House.

I personally don't like those brands because there is as much chaff as filler in the can as there is grounds. The roast is also way too light for me. My tastes have changed a lot and I just don't find it appealing anymore.

But hey, if that's what gets someone's motor running in the morning, and I don't like it, that just means there's more for them!


----------



## smoke665

@limr my routine when using Folgers, is to start the coffee, then steal a cup before it has time to get diluted.


----------



## smoke665

Finally completed a project I've been wanting to do for awhile now. When we built our house we used can lights with incandescent flood lights in many of the rooms. LEDs weren't that big yet. Some of them don't get used that often, but our kitchen lights get used a lot. The life span on the bulbs isn't great,  they've steadily jacked the price up, they create heat, and the color temperature sucks. After being gone for a month, three blew the minute we flipped the switch in the kitchen. So a quick trip to Lowes, found LED conversions, for the cans, for the same price as it was going to cost for the old incandescent bulbs. No brainer. We now have new LED's in the kitchen. The difference they make is amazing. No heat, and nice white light instead of that sickly yellow we had.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Gary A. said:


> Gary has a tons of citrus ... tons ... limes, oranges (Valencia, Naval & Mandarin) and lemons (meyers) if anybody wants to come by and do some picking.



Last night at the grocery, navals were going for $1.25 _EACH_! I refuse to spend that for an orange


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

limr said:


> drinking my coffee black this morning.



Is there any other way??


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> @limr my routine when using Folgers, is to start the coffee, then steal a cup before it has time to get diluted.



I always did that when I was a waitress. We'd put the coffee on and I'd let it go for about 30 seconds, then stick my cup into the stream coming straight from the coffee maker. It always made me laugh when people tried to "warn" me about how strong it would be. "That's the point!" I would respond 



Dean_Gretsch said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> drinking my coffee black this morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is there any other way??
Click to expand...


Yes


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Last night at the grocery, navals were going for $1.25 _EACH_! I refuse to spend that for an orange



Yikes, we bought a 10# sack of Honeybells, before we came home, so we're really having to pig out on oranges. Really like the Honeybells, they peel easy, don't have that stringy stuff, and have a sweet orange taste.

Edit: we bought a 5# bag, plus the remainder of what we had already been eating on.  Bag was as many as you could cram in the bag $12.84 tax included. Let me tell you we stretched that bag to the limit, it probably weighed close to 10# LOL


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Have you tried the Cara Cara's? They are my favorites.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dean_Gretsch said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> drinking my coffee black this morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is there any other way??
Click to expand...

Oh yes indeed. And ultra strong coffee is undrinkable for me.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Have you tried the Cara Cara's? They are my favorites.



Dean, the variety choice was pretty slim. We drove through acres and acres of dead groves. Sad really.


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> Oh yes indeed. And ultra strong coffee is undrinkable for me.



David you know how if you let go of a roller blind it will fly up and wrap around the roller a couple of times???? That's the way I want my eyelids to feel like when I take that first drink of coffee in the morning.


----------



## snowbear

Dean_Gretsch said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> drinking my coffee black this morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is there any other way??
Click to expand...

Sure -- add Scotch.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> drinking my coffee black this morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is there any other way??
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sure -- add Scotch.
Click to expand...


I would consider that a waste, but a little brandy never hurt anything.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> drinking my coffee black this morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is there any other way??
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sure -- add Scotch.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I would consider that a waste, but a little brandy never hurt anything.
Click to expand...


Or vodka and coffee liquer for a Black Russian. And milk or cream if I'm in the mood for a White Russian.


----------



## terri

Mmm. ...white Russians.   Used to be one of my favorites, but I haven't had one in years.    Delicious!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Mmm. ...white Russians.   Used to be one of my favorites, but I haven't had one in years.    Delicious!



If I'm having Kahlua and milk it's got to be a Toasted Almond.  Old school 80's cocktails.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Hosers.  Gary has been very busy this weekend and day.  he is beat, but ... this is a heads up ... Mary Lou and Gary purchased “Movie Pass” through Costco. For $90.00 a year, one can watch one movie a day. Nearly all theaters are included.  If you go to a theater only once a month, you’ll save money with Movie Pass.


----------



## davidharmier60

A bit over 4 hours again. Buffer mech is waiting on a part. I was alerted that the camera is in Shepherd. I'll report in a bit.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

Good morning, hosers!   And happy Tuesday.   

Tuesday...   (yawn)


----------



## Cortian

snowbear said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> drinking my coffee black this morning.
> 
> 
> 
> Is there any other way??
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sure -- add Scotch.
Click to expand...

Sacrilege!  Either the coffee and Scotch are both good, in which case adulterating them with one another would be a shame, or they're both poor, in which case mixing them will make them worse.


----------



## snowbear

At Highland Games /  Scottish Festivals, it (Scotch) is referred to as "sweetener" for coffee.  I doubt I'd use Macallens 25, but Glennfiddich works quite well.  Rum is also a likely suspect.


----------



## Gary A.

My attorney always recommends kahlua as a sweetener, especially if you have an appointment in court, because the authorities would never smell the kahlua.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> My attorney always recommends kahlua as a sweetener, especially if you have an appointment in court, because the authorities would never smell the kahlua.



Or peppermint schnapps, and chew some gum at the same time.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday, Miss Maggie finally meet up with her BFF (Best Furry Friend), Max in the park.  She unleashed a weeks worth of dog-play energy upon Max and the surrounding environment. She and Max were so happy.  Max is the totally handsome Golden Retriever mix (maybe with Chow because Max has a wider head and broader chest than a pure Goldie). Maggie's fur is like human hair soft, but absorbent. Her hair does not repel water, but the opposite and as soon as she hit wet grass or water she turns from the muffin dog into a ragamuffin ... poster child for a dog rescue organization. Max, who has normal, thick, coarse, water repellant water dog fur always looks as handsome at the end of play as he does at the beginning.  Yesterday, he also looked like a dog which needed some rescuing.


----------



## davidharmier60

Indeed I did get the Camera. Now I simply must get a computer. A tower would be fine as I have monitor, keyboard etc.
But it will happen when it happens. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> Indeed I did get the Camera. Now I simply must get a computer. A tower would be fine as I have monitor, keyboard etc.
> But it will happen when it happens.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



One step at a time.


----------



## limr

Been a long hectic day, hosers. 

And now I'm at home with fingers crossed for a snow day tomorrow.


----------



## JonA_CT

I think I’m far enough south and east to be SOL as far as that goes tomorrow. It’s supposed to make a quick flip to rain here.

I also allowed myself to run out of green coffee beans. We are under strict rationing until the shipment I ordered today arrives, otherwise we will be hitting the Cafe Bustelo.


----------



## Gary A.

Today, Gary planted some tomatoes, peppers, curly parsley, purple sage and lemon thyme.


----------



## davidharmier60

Today I planted three pieces of 3/4" pipe in the ground to fix a place the dogs got out at. But anything to eat comes from the store.  And on that note since I must awaken at 4am tomorrow i wish you all a good night and a pleasant tomorrow. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Anybody watch the California rocket launch into solar orbit, a California roadster?


----------



## limr

Hmmm. Looking at the forecast, it looks like nothing will start until around 8-ish, and then over the course of the day, it will go from snow to freezing rain to just rain by 5pm, so it's really hard to say what my school will do.

One way or another, I will know sometime around 6am tomorrow morning.


----------



## SquarePeg

Beauty's magic has been strong so far.  We are in the maybe 3 maybe 7 zone.  Will see.  Kids have their monthly early release day tomorrow so here's hoping it doesn't get messy until later in the day.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hmmm. Looking at the forecast, it looks like nothing will start until around 8-ish, and then over the course of the day, it will go from snow to freezing rain to just rain by 5pm, so it's really hard to say what my school will do.
> 
> One way or another, I will know sometime around 6am tomorrow morning.


Starts here about 3 - snow near Mason-Dixon line, mix to the  south.  The department heads have a phone conference at 4.


----------



## Gary A.

The side boosters landed back at the launch pad for recycling.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> The side boosters landed back at the launch pad for recycling.


Damn... what's the deposit on those?????


----------



## JonA_CT

I don’t know about deposit, but evidently NASA didn’t have a lot of faith, haha. I just read that they required SpaceX to carry almost 300 million dollars in liability insurance.

We managed to squeak out a snow day. It’s just cold right now, with a beautiful sunrise because of the approaching storm. I’d have grabbed the camera and hit the door, but my son hasn’t been sleeping reallly, so I’m up with him and my daughter so my wife can sleep in.

This is one of the days that I would hate being the person to make the call on canceling school. It’s possible we’ll only get a coating of snow before it quickly flips to sleet and then rain.


----------



## smoke665

When we visited Kennedy they had a movie on Space X and some of their previous launches/landings pretty impressive.


Cold, rainy morning here. Today was the day we switched from the Costa Rican FTO, to the Honduras FTO  medium roast, that we picked up on our coffee run. It's okay, but I think I prefer the Costa Rican. This seems to be slightly more acidic, especially on the tail end. Still beats the store shelf brands by a mile.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I don’t know about deposit, but evidently NASA didn’t have a lot of faith, haha. I just read that they required SpaceX to carry almost 300 million dollars in liability insurance.
> 
> We managed to squeak out a snow day. It’s just cold right now, with a beautiful sunrise because of the approaching storm. I’d have grabbed the camera and hit the door, but my son hasn’t been sleeping reallly, so I’m up with him and my daughter so my wife can sleep in.
> 
> This is one of the days that I would hate being the person to make the call on canceling school. It’s possible we’ll only get a coating of snow before it quickly flips to sleet and then rain.



That’s a no win job.  Princess is at school.  No snow day here - the district is actually pretty stingy with the snow days which pleases some and annoys others.  I work at home so I prefer they go to school, lol.  Currently they build in 5 snow days/year and and if they’re not used the kids get out “early” June instead of mid June.  New and very controversial is what they’re calling “blizzard packs” - schoolwork that the kids are supposed to do during a snow day that will make it count as a school day.  The premise is that the blizzard packs will be used and school will still get out on time.  All the “the kids need snow days to play” moms are arguing with the “let’s start summer vacation as early as possible” moms.  Proof that you can never please everyone.  I’d like to see them use the blizzard packs only after the 5 snow days are used up...


----------



## Gary A.

The compromise is alternating one snow day for one blizzard pack.  That way nobody is happy.


----------



## JonA_CT

From the teacher point of view, blizzard packs are  nightmare. There's almost no way to make sure that it's actually relevant material, so it just ends up being busy work that the students don't really want/need and that the teacher doesn't want to or won't grade.

I don't think we are that far away from being able to hold virtual classes, though. I could easily set-up a live feed from the laptop I'm using right now, and the vast majority of my students have the technology to support it. Once we move to the one-to-one device model (which is maybe 5 years away), I'd guess that will start to become the norm.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is having a steaming hot cup of Chiapas coffee, (gotta get all I can before the wall gets built). Delish.  It is a cool morning with slight fog tossing a coat of wetness across every blade of grass. This week is going fast as it is already Wednesday. Yesterday, Gary picked up some new 1.5" flex hose for the pond.  The original hose got brittle and had to be abandoned.  Presently, Gary is using a patchwork of scrap hose which is leaking.  

Miss Maggie has hopped into the kitchen, where Gary is keyboarding away, wagging and wiggling her entire little body in a good morning greeting. Miss Maggie is the happiest jammin' pooch in the world. She is always playing and skipping and jumping around. She's quite good at entertaining herself.  Just give her a ball and she'll toss it and chase it and bat it about.  ... Gary is back.  A few minutes ago, Maggie left my side and pulled her food dish off the mat onto the kitchen floor, (with a bit of a crash).  So it is breakfast time for Maggie and Gary left the computer in order to attend the muffin dog. Bananas and yogurt, lol ... you peoples know that the proper way to open a banana isn't from the stem ... as alluring that banana handle may seem, but from the base starting with a pinch.  Even the jungle primates open their bananas thusly.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> From the teacher point of view, blizzard packs are  nightmare. There's almost no way to make sure that it's actually relevant material, so it just ends up being busy work that the students don't really want/need and that the teacher doesn't want to or won't grade.
> 
> I don't think we are that far away from being able to hold virtual classes, though. I could easily set-up a live feed from the laptop I'm using right now, and the vast majority of my students have the technology to support it. Once we move to the one-to-one device model (which is maybe 5 years away), I'd guess that will start to become the norm.


In many/most school districts out here, every student gets a computer and has free internet access. If there wasn't a need for babysitting, (God bless all you teachers), virtual education would be a given.  Gary imagines that the virtual classroom would cause a dramatic upward tick in family homicides.


----------



## davidharmier60

A bit over 4.5 hours today. It was misting rain as I put up the Marquee and nearly jumped out of my skin when lightning flashed and thunder boomed. 
I bought another box of pennies at our bank because Trish said maybe Friday on the one I finished. Thankfully these aren't all 2017D or such. Just checked the Post Office and going to hit the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Annnnd ... the good news is that a local businessman is in negotiations with the Tronc group to purchase the LA Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune for $500M, cash.  Returning the paper back to local ownership.  The Times was family owned until the late '90's when it was sold to this Chicago based corporation which simply gutted the paper and slashing the staff to the point where editors were quitting and saying to use their salary to keep the reporters on.  The Times has always been anti-union, but last month voted to unionize as they felt their last resort was collective bargaining.  Hopefully, local control and local management will bring the paper back to a semblance of its former self.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> The side boosters landed back at the launch pad for recycling.


Wasn't it great?!?           Though one of the boosters was lost, it was incredible footage to watch those side boosters return to a perfect, stand-up landing.    It was like special effects from a movie, but better, cause it's real!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Definitely. I thought it looked Hollywood_ish_ too. Amazing.


----------



## Gary A.

Yep, the central core was lost.  It was designated to land on a drone barge in the Atlantic. Gary suspects SpaceX had an idea that the central core would fail, hence the barge and the ocean.  Failing a landing in the ocean is much cheaper than failing at the Space Center. The insurance policy may have been a bond, so a self funded cash policy.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Yep, the central core was lost. It was designated to land on a drone barge in the Atlantic. Gary suspects SpaceX had an idea that the central core would fail, hence the barge and the ocean. Failing a landing in the ocean is much cheaper than failing at the Space Center. The insurance policy may have been a bond, so a self funded cash policy.



While we were at KSC, doing the tour we watched a movie of  a Space X launch (California???), that showed several failures, but then showed a landing on a barge. Pretty awesome.


----------



## Gary A.

Yep, Space X is out of Hawthorne, California.  The roadster in orbit of the sun is a Tesla.


----------



## JonA_CT

Finally got a flu shot. 33* and cold rain here now.


----------



## davidharmier60

The remainder of this day is creeping along like a snail. Makes me want to nap.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Yep, Space X is out of Hawthorne, California.  The roadster in orbit of the sun is a Tesla.



Not just any Tesla, but supposedly Elon Musk's personal vehicle. There were a lot of jokes/speculation/etc., that there was a Elon Musk look alike dummy in the space suit that was sitting behind the wheel. According to Musk's tweets, the message “Don’t panic!” was stamped on the dashboard and David Bowie was playing on the speakers.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep, Space X is out of Hawthorne, California.  The roadster in orbit of the sun is a Tesla.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not just any Tesla, but supposedly Elon Musk's personal vehicle. There were a lot of jokes/speculation/etc., that there was a Elon Musk look alike dummy in the space suit that was sitting behind the wheel. According to Musk's tweets, the message “Don’t panic!” was stamped on the dashboard and David Bowie was playing on the speakers.
Click to expand...

Yep.  Musk joked it took a year to design the space suit.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don’t know about deposit, but evidently NASA didn’t have a lot of faith, haha. I just read that they required SpaceX to carry almost 300 million dollars in liability insurance.
> 
> We managed to squeak out a snow day. It’s just cold right now, with a beautiful sunrise because of the approaching storm. I’d have grabbed the camera and hit the door, but my son hasn’t been sleeping reallly, so I’m up with him and my daughter so my wife can sleep in.
> 
> This is one of the days that I would hate being the person to make the call on canceling school. It’s possible we’ll only get a coating of snow before it quickly flips to sleet and then rain.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That’s a no win job.  Princess is at school.  No snow day here - the district is actually pretty stingy with the snow days which pleases some and annoys others.  I work at home so I prefer they go to school, lol.  Currently they build in 5 snow days/year and and if they’re not used the kids get out “early” June instead of mid June.  New and very controversial is what they’re calling “blizzard packs” - schoolwork that the kids are supposed to do during a snow day that will make it count as a school day.  The premise is that the blizzard packs will be used and school will still get out on time.  All the “the kids need snow days to play” moms are arguing with the “let’s start summer vacation as early as possible” moms.  Proof that you can never please everyone.  I’d like to see them use the blizzard packs only after the 5 snow days are used up...
Click to expand...


----------



## vintagesnaps

So he's trying to send a dummy of himself back to the future?? They're gonna need plutonium and banana peels.


Didn't he just send one up that, um, crashed? came back down? That to me doesn't exactly bode well. I'm glad I'm far away from where he's launching stuff.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> So he's trying to send a dummy of himself back to the future?? They're gonna need plutonium and banana peels.
> 
> 
> Didn't he just send one up that, um, crashed? came back down? That to me doesn't exactly bode well. I'm glad I'm far away from where he's launching stuff.


Once it’s up, it can go a lot of places.  I remember the “Skylab” pools that folks were putting money on, when that puppy decided to fall back to Earth.


----------



## Frank F.

black dog on snow 


 
"leading line"


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> So he's trying to send a dummy of himself back to the future?? They're gonna need plutonium and banana peels.
> 
> 
> Didn't he just send one up that, um, crashed? came back down? That to me doesn't exactly bode well. I'm glad I'm far away from where he's launching stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> Once it’s up, it can go a lot of places.  I remember the “Skylab” pools that folks were putting money on, when that puppy decided to fall back to Earth.
Click to expand...

Gary was assigned to shoot 'art' for a Skylab crashing into the Earth story. lol


----------



## davidharmier60

I wouldn't usually post before work.
But somehow I just had to. 
I have to think that the stuff we can't see would blow our minds. This Spacex stuff is for the masses.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday




----------



## limr

Hey hosers!

Been all caught up in a bunch of stuff these days. No snow day yesterday  Traffic was delightfully sparse while driving in. It started snowing literally the minute I pulled into a parking space at work. It snowed until noon or so, then turned into freezing rain, which put a layer of crunch on top of the inch or two of snow. It thankfully warmed up to about 3-36F for the commute home, so it was just plain rain. 

This morning, roads were starting to dry, but some still were wet and heavily salted to prevent them from becoming sheets of ice, since the high is only 29F today. It's sunny, though, so hopefully the roads will dry out just in time for the snow expected tomorrow! 

(Meh, just checked. Little or no accumulation.)


----------



## jcdeboever

We got a storm coming tonight, 8-12" starting at 9:00PM. Bring it, I'm ready.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## davidharmier60

Twas a bit over 4.25 hours today. I clocked out for a break for approximately 13 minutes and clocked out for good at roughly 9:33. Nothing earth shattering else to report. I still believe there are things we would hardly believe that we haven't seen yet.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Snowed here yesterday, but not a bad clean up, even my street is clean and the driveway's starting to melt (the snow is, not the actual driveway!). Not too bad when the temps don't go way below normal and we get a snowpack, I'm so done with that this winter. JC you're just too close to a lake, better move south! lol


----------



## Gary A.

Another perfect day ... a Glorious day actually. Mary Lou and Gary are relaxing in the recliners and sipping some Pinot Noir from the Santa Rita Hills and watching the Olympics.  Miss Maggie is amazing, crazy but amazing. She plays amazingly hard ...insanely hard. She’s running and crashing and wrestling with a pack of dogs three times her size ... and she gives no quarter.  In fact, she is probably the alpha dog in the pack. LOL!  The play pack grew today and now there are five, three Golden Retrievers, a Lab and a Wheaten Terrier. There is also a Standard Poodle and a Boxer but they weren’t here today.  There is a concrete creek with about six inches of water with a bloom of long stringy algae.  Today the dogs had a ton of fun tearing up and down the creek ... ripping up the algae and attempting to splash all the water out of the creek.  The dogs were allowed, just to be dogs, for about 40+ minutes.  It was a pleasure to watch the dogs having so much fun, running and jumping and splashing.


----------



## jcdeboever

My little pumpkin butt shining like a little diamond in a goats ass. love her to pieces.


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... Gary just received a shipment of wine.  He set the box down by the fridge and went back to sipping his Pinot and watching Tv.  Maggie, inspected the box ... then throughly sniffed the box ... then set about to completely open the package for Gary.  She has chewed the box into pieces, liberating the contents.


----------



## snowbear

We took a different route to work this morning.  I spotted a bald eagle in a tree along a marshy area. I didn't have the camera, but I know where I'm going, Saturday.


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> My little pumpkin butt shining like a little diamond in a goats ass. love her to pieces.
> 
> View attachment 153480


Interesting choice of phrase, but a great shot!


----------



## davidharmier60

Once more into the breach go I. 

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## davidharmier60

Dagnabbit! The floor guys are coming this weekend so I miss another Saturday. 
I have fooled around about as much as I can and am looking at 3.75 hours.
Another crummy check will be the outcome of this.

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## Cortian

Mornin', fellow coffee addicts!



davidharmier60 said:


> The remainder of this day is creeping along like a snail. Makes me want to nap.


Naps are good 

Sittin' here, drinkin' coffee, seein' if I can make anything of the experimental macro photos I took... watchin' it snow, and I don't even care cuz I don't have to drive in it.


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## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!   

A beautiful day here.  I'm going to get out and enjoy it, since the forecast here is nothing but varying percentages of expected rain over the next several days.  I'm going to have bored cats who will torture me sufficiently, no doubt.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary has returned from Miss Maggie's Morning Constitutional. No dog pack this morning.  But Maggie still sprinted in the creek, digging her face underwater, digging up stringy algae and flinging it out onto the grass. If Gary could harness her energy, Gary would own the world. Gary is now finishing up some theatre photos.


----------



## Frank F.

FRANKINEM


----------



## davidharmier60

When I got home I started looking at pennies. Of course I forgot to go to the bank and ask for wrappers when I left work. So I took the other car, three bags of trash and a list of grocery needs to town.
Back home. About to do 5 more rolls today.

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## Fred von den Berg

This morning I cleaned the sensor on my 10D. Never having done this before, I was in two minds to take it to be done by a professional. However, I bought a _Dust Patrol_ set from Amazon and followed the tutorial video before trying it for myself. A quick blast of air from the bellows, a wipe with the specialized brush and two swabs with a few drops of the cleaning fluid later I had a spotlessly clean and dust free device. 

It was very nice getting a few photos today that didn't need to be cleaned up in post!


----------



## Cortian

Upon @ac12's suggestion I just finished gluing six strips of aluminium foil to a big piece of folding cardboard using Gorilla brand spray adhesive.

Cleaned my hands with turpentine, then thoroughly scrubbed 'em with Fast Orange.  Finished-up with soap and water.

I think my hands _still_ have sticky spots 

I sure hope this thing works like I planned.


----------



## Gary A.

Cortian said:


> ... I think my hands _still_ have sticky spots   ...


Gary hates it when that happens.


----------



## davidharmier60

Wascally wabbit was a pretty cool pic!

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## Cortian

davidharmier60 said:


> Wascally wabbit was a pretty cool pic!


Thanks!


----------



## ceemac

Cortian said:


> Cleaned my hands with turpentine, then thoroughly scrubbed 'em with Fast Orange. Finished-up with soap and water.


Try a little acetone. I think it cleans better and flashes off quickly. As a bonus it will  let you know if you have any little cuts. that aren't visible to the naked eye.


----------



## smoke665

ceemac said:


> Try a little acetone. I think it cleans better and flashes off quickly. As a bonus it will let you know if you have any little cuts. that aren't visible to the naked eye.



Boy will it!


----------



## snowbear

I used acetone in a science class to remove a thin layer off of a piece of slate (yes, rock); just sayin'


----------



## davidharmier60

I wish you all a good night and a pleasant tomorrow.  According to Accuweather it should already be pouring rain. But so far nothing. Don't figure I'll be back in here until later in the morning. 

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## davidharmier60

Our Wi-Fi and phone are very sketchy. 
This may or may not post.

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## smoke665

Well our brief reprieve in weather ended last night. Last couple of days have been so nice. Sun was shining, just a little cool (because of the wind), but otherwise great. Trying to catch up on the pruning, got the fruit trees done, and started on the "crepe murder" (what my DIL) calls the way people in the south prune the crepe myrtles. Shrubs and ground cover next.


----------



## jcdeboever

My backyard. We got dumped on yesterday.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hmm. Heavy rain lets up. Internet gets better. Who'd have thought that?

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## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> My backyard. We got dumped on yesterday.



We could actually use a couple more weeks of cold weather, as I'm late on pruning. I noticed yesterday that the fescue in orchard was starting to green up and grow. That means it won't be long till mowing season starts


----------



## Cortian

"Mowing season".... (looks outside...)  Hahahahahahahaha 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Enjoying my first cup of coffee, a slice of home-made blueberry coffee cake and watching more snow fall outside.

There's about 7 inches (18cm) of fresh snowfall from yesterday.  I decided to let it lie.  Bought a new snow blower, last season, and it never snowed enough to challenge it.  Neither my wife nor I have anywhere we need to be, so I'm letting it accumulate.  I'll probably go out and clear it after my second cup of coffee.

Or maybe I'll let tommorrow's predicted 3 inches (8cm) add to it.  Snow blower's rated to 18 inches (46cm) of snow depth


----------



## smoke665

Cortian said:


> "Mowing season".... (looks outside...) Hahahahahahahaha



We generally only have two months break in mowing (if we are lucky). I mowed in December before Christmas, and will probably be required within the next couple weeks.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone - A rose from the front.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  No break for the wicked mowers out here.  In winter Gary gets a slight reprieve of mowing every two weeks instead of once a week during the rest of the year.  A year ago, Gary ripped out about 3/4's of the front yard and planted succulents ... mowing the front is now a breeze.

Mary Lou is the pruner here in God's country.  Mary Lou chops and Gary makes little ones out of big ones for the composters and the paths through the rose garden. She hit the Silk Tree hard, the Crepe Murder hard and the Forest Pansy hard (which has started to burst with Spring blooms), and trimmed up the avocado and apple trees ... and she's now getting into the roses. Fortunately for the trees and bushes, Mary Lou enjoys gardening (Gary would prune everything with a sawzall.)  The rose canes get tossed due to the thorns, but everything else gets recycled in the yard. Tomorrow Gary is planning to retrofit all the hoses in the pond and perform some deep cleaning on the filters. Today, Gary is gonna take a look at a convertible (used) to take on his wine runs. He's been toying with the idea for a spell ... this week he has decided to take the plunge.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Today, Gary is gonna take a look at a convertible (used) to take on his wine runs



I envision Gary in something classic, like an Austin, or MG, but there might not be enough room with Maggie. Maybe a Caddy??? A 50's model DeVille with the wings, or at least a 70's Eldorado.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today, Gary is gonna take a look at a convertible (used) to take on his wine runs
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I envision Gary in something classic, like an Austin, or MG, but there might not be enough room with Maggie. Maybe a Caddy??? A 50's model DeVille with the wings, or at least a 70's Eldorado.
Click to expand...

LOL ... Gary had thought of that ... lol. An old finned dinosaur.  But Gary is fond of A/C, navigation, needs a rear seat for Miss Maggie and also wants a hardtop.  If it wasn't for the lack of a rear seat, Gary would have purchased a 2005 T-Bird years ago.  He loves that car.  He's looking at a Volvo today.


----------



## Gary A.

The pollution, reliability/upkeep and lack of comforts on long trips sorta put the kibosh on an old '50's or '60's machine. Most of Gary's wine trips are an hour to two hours, but some are up to seven hours to reach Sonoma.


----------



## davidharmier60

Lordy. It sounds tough to be Gary.

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## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> LOL ... Gary had thought of that ... lol. An old finned dinosaur. But Gary is fond of A/C, navigation, needs a rear seat for Miss Maggie and also wants a hardtop.



Shame, you didn't decide two years ago. A dear friend of mine owned several new car dealerships for many, many years. Every year when the new models came out he would buy one of the more popular models, and put it in a large warehouse he owned. Over the years he accumulated a ton pristine (never titled), never driven vehicles. To walk through the warehouse was like a step back in automotive history. Fords, Chevy, VW, Chrysler, they were crammed in a huge warehouse so tightly you had to squeak between cars. On his death, the family disposed of them through auctions and private sales. His personal car was a pristine classic red T Bird


----------



## Gary A.

@ Charlie: The other day Gary and Miss Maggie ran into an older couple in our daily, dog pack, play park.  They were sporting binos for bird watching and had come in from Maryland. Gary asked if they knew you and they didn't but said you sounded like a fine fellow. They were not happy with the coolness of the early morn.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary loves the Olympics.


----------



## Frank F.

Do you like this?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Curling!


----------



## jcdeboever

My birch tree in the backyard. Gonna get a pruning in spring. It's a beautiful tree. I took this this morning on my Samsung S8+. 15" of snow out there. @limr would be thrilled


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> My birch tree in the backyard. Gonna get a pruning in spring. It's a beautiful tree. I took this this morning on my Samsung S8+. 15" of snow out there. @limr would be thrilled
> View attachment 153582



That high key look reminds me of this shot I took a few years back:




Blown out trees resized by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> My birch tree in the backyard. Gonna get a pruning in spring. It's a beautiful tree. I took this this morning on my Samsung S8+. 15" of snow out there. @limr would be thrilled
> View attachment 153582


I love birch trees, period.   They're gorgeous in all seasons due to that unique bark.   One of the best things about visiting my mom (she's in Michigan, too, JC) is taking a certain drive where there's a few large stands of them. 

Nice back yard you have there!


----------



## terri

I'm making Irish stew for dinner  (@limr, don't look!).   






Just decanted a 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape to wash it down.  Yum!!


----------



## davidharmier60

We just had Popeyes fried chicken. 
My Dad requested it for his birthday. 

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## jcdeboever

I like Irish stew


----------



## smoke665

Boring day. Raining outside, working on closing books from last year, and getting taxes ready. I'm about to pull my remaining hair out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> I'm making Irish stew for dinner ...
> 
> Just decanted a 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape to wash it down.  Yum!!


Shouldn't that be a nice, cold Guinness?????  Irish stew don't need no fancy French wine!


----------



## SquarePeg

Pizza and beer for me tonight.  It was 50 here today but I didn’t get out to enjoy it.  Dog kept me up all night last night acting like a spaz waking me then not wanting to go out at least 5 times...I’m beat today.  Tomorrow’s my birthday!  Dinner out with the family and maybe a movie after.  Has anyone seen 3 billboards?


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> ... Has anyone seen 3 billboards?


I've seen hundreds, if not thousands...


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Pizza and beer for me tonight.  It was 50 here today but I didn’t get out to enjoy it.  Dog kept me up all night last night acting like a spaz waking me then not wanting to go out at least 5 times...I’m beat today.  Tomorrow’s my birthday!  Dinner out with the family and maybe a movie after.  Has anyone seen 3 billboards?



Mmmm, pizza and beer...

Hey, happy early birthday, woot!

Haven't seen Three Billboards yet, but it's the rare movie that I am interested in seeing.


----------



## Gary A.

Three Billboards is a crazy, quirky movie ... well worth the price of admission.


----------



## Gary A.

A must see... like Fargo.


----------



## terri

tirediron said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm making Irish stew for dinner ...
> 
> Just decanted a 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape to wash it down.  Yum!!
> 
> 
> 
> Shouldn't that be a nice, cold Guinness?????  Irish stew don't need no fancy French wine!
Click to expand...

Everything deserves a fancy French wine, silly man.       In this case, because lamb.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Three Billboards is a crazy, quirky movie ... well worth the price of admission.


I'm definitely interested in seeing it.


SquarePeg said:


> Pizza and beer for me tonight.  It was 50 here today but I didn’t get out to enjoy it.  Dog kept me up all night last night acting like a spaz waking me then not wanting to go out at least 5 times...I’m beat today.  Tomorrow’s my birthday!  Dinner out with the family and maybe a movie after.  Has anyone seen 3 billboards?


Happy soon-to-be birthday!


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> I like Irish stew


Mine was pretty awesome this evening.   If I say so myself.


----------



## Gary A.

Mexican tonight.  Tons of great and authentic Mexican food around here to choose from (as one woud suspect).  Just gotta decide how expensive or inexpensive ... good, authentic Mexican we want.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Tons of great and authentic Mexican food around here to choose from (as one woud suspect).



Taco Bell ?? LOL

We have a large selection of places to choose from here as well. From food trucks to restaurants lots of choices for Mexican cuisine. Actually for no larger than we are, we are covered up with all kinds of choices. You'd think they would have trouble staying in business, but they always have crowds.


----------



## JonA_CT

It is not yet 5AM and I am wide awake. After....well, I can’t remember it not being like this...my son let us sleep 5.5 consecutive hours. My body does not know how to handle that, so I’m almost buzzing with energy.


----------



## davidharmier60

Happy Birthday Square Peg!
I've managed to live through another night. 

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## Warhorse

Happy B'day Square Peg!


----------



## terri

Warhorse said:


> Happy B'day Square Peg!


Yes, it's official!    

Happy birthday, Sharon Cat!  Did you get to see the movie?    Reviews, please, if you did.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tons of great and authentic Mexican food around here to choose from (as one woud suspect).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Taco Bell ?? LOL
> 
> We have a large selection of places to choose from here as well. From food trucks to restaurants lots of choices for Mexican cuisine. Actually for no larger than we are, we are covered up with all kinds of choices. You'd think they would have trouble staying in business, but they always have crowds.
Click to expand...

Gary does not believe Taco Bell, while originating in SoCal, qualifies as Mexican food. It is questionable if Taco Bell even qualifies as food. 

FYI, the Bell surname in Taco Bell is also the surname of the founder.  Mary Lou and Gary hit our goto local Mexican eatery, 'Mexico 1900' ... delish.  We started with Margaritas.


----------



## Gary A.

H A P P Y  --  B I R T H D A Y  Peg.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. here Los Arcos is hard to beat. It's close, the prices are reasonable, and it's a family type atmosphere.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Gary does not believe Taco Bell, while originating in SoCal, qualifies as Mexican food.


I don't believe it qualifies as food.    

Mmm...margaritas.


----------



## snowbear

Happy Birthday, Sharon.


----------



## ceemac

Happy Birthday, SquarePeg!!


----------



## ceemac

JonA_CT said:


> It is not yet 5AM and I am wide awake. After....well, I can’t remember it not being like this...my son let us sleep 5.5 consecutive hours. My body does not know how to handle that, so I’m almost buzzing with energy.



Our daughter only took the breast. I wasn't equipped.  It was wonderful. I actually thought she slept through the night.


----------



## Frank F.

Happy birthday, Sharon! With another emotion driven snap:


----------



## waday

Happy birthday, @SquarePeg !


----------



## Gary A.

@Jona- Yesterday, Gary was chatting with a gentleman from Connecticut.  He recently moved to SoCal. We spoke of wine. He said that he'd have wine in Connecticut and meh ... it was okay.  But after a wine tasting trip out here, he couldn't believe the difference. He said his monthly expenditures on wine is driving him broke.  (He is a CPA. lol)

PS- He knew of New London, but not of you personally.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Gary does not believe Taco Bell, while originating in SoCal, qualifies as Mexican food. It is questionable if Taco Bell even qualifies as food.


But damn, is it tasty!


----------



## Cortian

terri said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> My birch tree in the backyard. Gonna get a pruning in spring. It's a beautiful tree. I took this this morning on my Samsung S8+. 15" of snow out there. @limr would be thrilled
> View attachment 153582
> 
> 
> 
> I love birch trees, period.   They're gorgeous in all seasons due to that unique bark.
Click to expand...

We've a river clump birch just off the patio:






Put that tree in 7-1/2 years ago, when it became clear the big ol' wild cherry tree that used to be there wasn't long for the world.

I'm going to get a bark macro when the light's right.

(Please 'scuse the angle.  Unconsciously aligned the view-finder on the left-hand trunk.)

We had an even bigger one, that was once beautiful, in the front yard.  Verkakte power company contractors destroyed it   If they'd only trimmed it minimally, properly, it would have been fine and no threat to the wires.  Finally, when they came out to trash it some more we forced them to take it down to the ground.

As an aside: As I was taking shots of the tree above it occurred to me the sky and snow were probably wreaking havoc on the evaluative metering.  So I went to spot metering, zoomed-in on the tree's trunk, did an AE lock, zoomed-out & recomposed, then took the shot.

And Happy Birthday, @SquarePeg !


----------



## Gary A.

Good call on changing meter modes.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hope you're having a Happy Birthday SharonCat!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Aww, Jack's growing up.


----------



## Cortian

Gary A. said:


> Good call on changing meter modes.


Thanks, Gary!

It was some failed deliberate macro shots last night, coupled with two accidental ones that were almost not half bad, that produced a "Doh!" moment later on in the evening.  "Ohhhh!  I betcha spot metering's the answer," I thought.  (I'll find out tonight.)  That carried over into this morning's effort.

I may actually learn how to use this camera halfway competently someday


----------



## vintagesnaps

I wondered for a second there what a bark macro was... oh, a macro of the bark, not a barking lens, or one made out of bark. (I don't think I got enough sleep last night and don't know what I was thinking it meant.) 

Yeah, that needs straightening... I think people get enthused and forget the basics sometimes. That tree isn't going anywhere.


----------



## waday

It’s been so rainy today




Trust the Roxy Fisher-dog by Wade, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

MLW is finishing up a chocolate chip layer cake from the Momofuku Milk Bar cook book.  The cake is in a thin shhet and you use a hoop to cut circles (like a cookie cutter), then layer in other stuff.  There are pieces of cake between the circles that are for "testing."

Testing with two "dipping sauces" prove to be wonderful: Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum and Kahlua.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> It’s been so rainy today
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Trust the Roxy Fisher-dog by Wade, on Flickr


Ranger Roxy.


----------



## Frank F.

Cortian said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> My birch tree in the backyard. Gonna get a pruning in spring. It's a beautiful tree. I took this this morning on my Samsung S8+. 15" of snow out there. @limr would be thrilled
> View attachment 153582
> 
> 
> 
> I love birch trees, period.   They're gorgeous in all seasons due to that unique bark.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We've a river clump birch just off the patio:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Put that tree in 7-1/2 years ago, when it became clear the big ol' wild cherry tree that used to be there wasn't long for the world.
> 
> I'm going to get a bark macro when the light's right.
> 
> (Please 'scuse the angle.  Unconsciously aligned the view-finder on the left-hand trunk.)
> 
> We had an even bigger one, that was once beautiful, in the front yard.  Verkakte power company contractors destroyed it   If they'd only trimmed it minimally, properly, it would have been fine and no threat to the wires.  Finally, when they came out to trash it some more we forced them to take it down to the ground.
> 
> As an aside: As I was taking shots of the tree above it occurred to me the sky and snow were probably wreaking havoc on the evaluative metering.  So I went to spot metering, zoomed-in on the tree's trunk, did an AE lock, zoomed-out & recomposed, then took the shot.
> 
> And Happy Birthday, @SquarePeg !
Click to expand...



Phantastic picture!


----------



## davidharmier60

I wish you all a good night and a pleasant tomorrow. 

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## jcdeboever

Happy birthday @SquarePeg


----------



## Cortian

Frank F. said:


> Phantastic picture!


 Thanks, Frank!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has finally finished culling and processing a theatre performance.  Because he shot both the Dress Rehearsal and an actual performance, he ended up with more than 3,000+ images and culled the final images to 600+ images.  Tomorrow some batch processing dropping the file size to internet size and Gary is finished.  Gary is celebrating with a glass of vino.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary loves the Olympics.


----------



## davidharmier60

I thought the ice dancing was pretty good. 
That Red fellow did a real nice ski board thing to get the gold. I clocked out at 3.5 hours to have breakfast. Probably not going to clock back in today. 

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## davidharmier60

I was right. Watching Drag Racing from Pomona.

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----------



## Cortian

Things I learned this morning, in trying to improve on yesterday's river clump birch tree photo...

The AE Lock button does nothing in full manual.  (Duh)

Always remember to check the ISO.  (800 in bright sunlight is sub-optimal--particularly for the shadowed areas.)

When you leave the drive in 2s delay, shutter presses become "inexplicably" slow.

Something I read somewhere likened a modern DSLR to taking photos with a game console.  That it takes practice (and many errors) for operating it quickly and smoothly, getting the settings right on-the-fly, to become second nature.

Could be challenging.  I was never very good at video games


----------



## Cortian

Another lesson learned: Buy a camera bag much bigger than you think you'll need.

I bought one I _thought_ would hold my camera, with lens & strap, two additional lenses, batteries, charger, couple cables.  Maybe enough room left over for a speedlight.

Ha!

The trouble began when my best friend of fifty years gifted me a nice Canon 70-300mm lens that was bigger-around than the 100-300mm non-IS lens I had.  Then I bought Tamron's newest incarnation of their 90mm macro lens.

It don't all fit.  And I don't even _have_ the speedlight yet.

Oops!

So it'll be back to the camera store today to see if they'll let me exchange it for the bigger bag.  (Hope so.  Durn things are spendy!)


----------



## waday

Cortian said:


> When you leave the drive in 2s delay, shutter presses become "inexplicably" slow.


Just wait until you leave it in 10-second delay set to take multiple consecutive pictures...

Not that it ever happened to me on multiple occasions or anything.


----------



## terri

Happy Monday, hosers!    The rain has stopped, it's beginning to clear out and WOW is it warm around here.   It's making the buds start to pop on the trees, and the jonquil shoots are everywhere.    

Ready or not (and I'm not particularly ready), Spring is knocking on the door.


----------



## vintagesnaps

We had an early blast of spring last year, way too early... then back into the deep freeze! We're better off if spring holds off for awhile (especially those of us with allergies etc.) - no more early spring/long summer/late late fall as in grass cutting still going on at Thanksgiving! Although I will take the sunny day today!


----------



## davidharmier60

It won't climb out of the 40s here today.
A bit chilly. Nothing you northerners would think anything of. But to us Texans it's cool.

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----------



## Cortian

Mission accomplished!  Swapped the smaller bag and $21 for the somewhat larger bag.  Now all the stuff I _currently_ have fits _and_ there's room for a speedlight--and maybe even another lens   And probably a small softbox.


----------



## Frank F.

Carnivals Holy Monday. Only 821 frames with my current cameras. Predecessors needed double the frame count, because they were not as reliable as the D500/D850 combination:


----------



## Cortian

Nice, Frank


----------



## smoke665

Cortian said:


> Mission accomplished!  Swapped the smaller bag and $21 for the somewhat larger bag.  Now all the stuff I _currently_ have fits _and_ there's room for a speedlight--and maybe even another lens   And probably a small softbox.


0

Just so you know new acquisitions will always strive to fill available space


----------



## Cortian

smoke665 said:


> Cortian said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mission accomplished!  Swapped the smaller bag and $21 for the somewhat larger bag.  Now all the stuff I _currently_ have fits _and_ there's room for a speedlight--and maybe even another lens   And probably a small softbox.
> 
> 
> 
> Just so you know new acquisitions will always strive to fill available space
Click to expand...

Yeah, but it'll be a while, I think. The Family CFO is balking at the money I'm spending on photography gear   I can't complain.  The money supply ain't endless.


----------



## snowbear

DSC_1232.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## terri

Pretty cake!   She did a great job.  

So, I'm guessing it was delicious, too.


----------



## ac12

Cortian said:


> Something I read somewhere likened a modern DSLR to taking photos with a game console.  That it takes practice (and many errors) for operating it quickly and smoothly, getting the settings right on-the-fly, to become second nature.
> 
> Could be challenging.  I was never very good at video games



By the time my D70 died, 10 years later, I had not learned to use half of its functionality.
I'm learning faster with my D7200, but it aint easy or fast for this old man.  I'm still making mistakes and forgetting how to do stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Hosers.  Stayed in the mid 60's today, a bit on the cool side. Mary Lou and Gary are planning a wine run for tomorrow. A few from the theatre:


----------



## Frank F.

Cortian said:


> Nice, Frank




Many more here:

Frank Fremerey - Photographer - YouPic


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Pretty cake!   She did a great job.
> 
> So, I'm guessing it was delicious, too.


It's interesting.  The cake layers are great (with, or without Kahlua) and the chocolate crunch layers are good.  The passionfruit curd & wash, I think is an acquired taste; I think we could have done just as well with lemon.

She's going to try another with a cream cheese fill, instead of the passionfruit.


----------



## snowbear

Happy Mardi Gras!


----------



## SquarePeg

Fat Tuesday!  Eat drink and be merry because tomorrow we fast!


----------



## waday

Jeez, I'm out of the loop. Had no idea it was Fat Tuesday!

TL;DR: Hell week last week. Everyone finally feeling better. Work has calmed down. I feel like a quasi-normal person again.

Long version:

Last week was hell. The wife got a stomach bug from Sunday to Monday, then sinus infection Monday through Thursday. I then caught the stomach bug Tuesday to Wednesday. Thursday, I went back to work, but when I picked up daughter from daycare, she wasn't good.

Daughter has had a cough for a couple weeks now, had been to the doctor twice, no worries. But then Thursday night, she was burning up with a high fever and she was just out-of-it. She was lethargic to the point that she'd barely move. Yep, emergency room. Go to emergency room. After 5 hours, we get taken back. Then, after 3 hours, we get the results. She has the flu, type A.

Ugh. Drive home at 4 AM, sleep at 5:30 AM. Wake at 7 AM. Wife took off to take care of daughter. I worked from home.

On top of all of this, I had a demanding project, where I was working late almost every night and every day last week (Sunday through Saturday). Deadlines for multiple (and changing) deliverables Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Ugh.


----------



## davidharmier60

Y'all can fast if you want to.
Not me!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Fat Tuesday!  Eat drink and be merry because tomorrow we fast!


Fat Tuesday ... and a mad run to wine country!


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Jeez, I'm out of the loop. Had no idea it was Fat Tuesday!
> 
> TL;DR: Hell week last week. Everyone finally feeling better. Work has calmed down. I feel like a quasi-normal person again.
> 
> Long version:
> 
> Last week was hell. The wife got a stomach bug from Sunday to Monday, then sinus infection Monday through Thursday. I then caught the stomach bug Tuesday to Wednesday. Thursday, I went back to work, but when I picked up daughter from daycare, she wasn't good.
> 
> Daughter has had a cough for a couple weeks now, had been to the doctor twice, no worries. But then Thursday night, she was burning up with a high fever and she was just out-of-it. She was lethargic to the point that she'd barely move. Yep, emergency room. Go to emergency room. After 5 hours, we get taken back. Then, after 3 hours, we get the results. She has the flu, type A.
> 
> Ugh. Drive home at 4 AM, sleep at 5:30 AM. Wake at 7 AM. Wife took off to take care of daughter. I worked from home.
> 
> On top of all of this, I had a demanding project, where I was working late almost every night and every day last week (Sunday through Saturday). Deadlines for multiple (and changing) deliverables Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Ugh.


Deadlines suck.  My construction deadlines weren't so bad because usually you had a few weeks to procrastinate.  News deadlines were a killer ... every jammin' day ... hell, six times a day.


----------



## Gary A.

Deadlines ...


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Fat Tuesday!  Eat drink and be merry because tomorrow we fast!



I'm fat every Tuesday


----------



## terri

waday said:


> Jeez, I'm out of the loop. Had no idea it was Fat Tuesday!
> 
> TL;DR: Hell week last week. Everyone finally feeling better. Work has calmed down. I feel like a quasi-normal person again.
> 
> Long version:
> 
> Last week was hell. The wife got a stomach bug from Sunday to Monday, then sinus infection Monday through Thursday. I then caught the stomach bug Tuesday to Wednesday. Thursday, I went back to work, but when I picked up daughter from daycare, she wasn't good.
> 
> Daughter has had a cough for a couple weeks now, had been to the doctor twice, no worries. But then Thursday night, she was burning up with a high fever and she was just out-of-it. She was lethargic to the point that she'd barely move. Yep, emergency room. Go to emergency room. After 5 hours, we get taken back. Then, after 3 hours, we get the results. She has the flu, type A.
> 
> Ugh. Drive home at 4 AM, sleep at 5:30 AM. Wake at 7 AM. Wife took off to take care of daughter. I worked from home.
> 
> On top of all of this, I had a demanding project, where I was working late almost every night and every day last week (Sunday through Saturday). Deadlines for multiple (and changing) deliverables Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Ugh.


Holy crap!   That's awful.    Hope she rallies soon; this has been a horrible flu season. 

Sounds like it was hell week at your house!   Y'all take it easy this week.


----------



## Cortian

When it rains, it pours, sometimes, waday.  Hope it soon lets up for y'all.


----------



## JonA_CT

I feel your pain, @waday . Both of our kids and both of us have had a nasty cold since early last week. No one was sleeping. The good thing is that we both have jobs that are pretty flexible. My wife brought them both to the doctor last week to make sure they didn't have the flu, and since I set my classroom schedule and my own grading deadlines, it's much easier to move things around until we were a bit better.

By the way -- as a parent now, you know just how amazing 4 consecutive hour sleep session can be. Who knew!


----------



## smoke665

Flu is rampant here. Not good when wife has weak immune system and shot is only partially effective. She's been on IGG infusions every month and will continue through April. Been lucky so far, but we don't take chances. Try to avoid crowds in confined areas, lots of hand washing/wipes, and masks.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Jeez, I'm out of the loop. Had no idea it was Fat Tuesday!
> 
> TL;DR: Hell week last week. Everyone finally feeling better. Work has calmed down. I feel like a quasi-normal person again.
> 
> Long version:
> 
> Last week was hell. The wife got a stomach bug from Sunday to Monday, then sinus infection Monday through Thursday. I then caught the stomach bug Tuesday to Wednesday. Thursday, I went back to work, but when I picked up daughter from daycare, she wasn't good.
> 
> Daughter has had a cough for a couple weeks now, had been to the doctor twice, no worries. But then Thursday night, she was burning up with a high fever and she was just out-of-it. She was lethargic to the point that she'd barely move. Yep, emergency room. Go to emergency room. After 5 hours, we get taken back. Then, after 3 hours, we get the results. She has the flu, type A.
> 
> Ugh. Drive home at 4 AM, sleep at 5:30 AM. Wake at 7 AM. Wife took off to take care of daughter. I worked from home.
> 
> On top of all of this, I had a demanding project, where I was working late almost every night and every day last week (Sunday through Saturday). Deadlines for multiple (and changing) deliverables Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Ugh.



Ugh rough week!  Sorry to hear that the little one is sick - that's super stressful and scary.  Hope to hear soon that she is feeling better.  



jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fat Tuesday!  Eat drink and be merry because tomorrow we fast!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm fat every Tuesday
Click to expand...


Funny but true for me lately!  I've been dieting to lose the weight I've gained since last summer so my eating will be healthy and my drinking will be water but I will still be merry!  Down 9 lbs in the past month.  Quite a few more to go!


----------



## Fred von den Berg

Today in Germany they have colorful parades with marching bands and floats, from which they throw sweets and chocolate into the crowds and everyone has a great time. Later underground parking lots are transformed into discos in which upbeat music is played extremely loudly and a small amount of alcohol is also consumed, apparently.

In Britain they have pancakes today.

They know how to throw a party, those Brits!


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## Gary A.

@ Wade: Hopefully all the bad stuff will all just goes away ... the quicker the better.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fred von den Berg said:


> Today in Germany they have colorful parades with marching bands and floats, from which they throw sweets and chocolate into the crowds and everyone has a great time. Later underground parking lots are transformed into discos in which upbeat music is played extremely loudly and a small amount of alcohol is also consumed, apparently.
> 
> In Britain they have pancakes today.
> 
> They know how to throw a party, those Brits!



Other than New Orleans area and a few other places, Fat Tuesday is not a big holiday here in the US.  Have always wanted to visit NO during Mardi Gras but have never had the opportunity.  Me thinks my window for truly enjoying that has come and gone long ago


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Jeez, I'm out of the loop. Had no idea it was Fat Tuesday!
> 
> TL;DR: Hell week last week. Everyone finally feeling better. Work has calmed down. I feel like a quasi-normal person again.
> 
> Long version:
> 
> Last week was hell. The wife got a stomach bug from Sunday to Monday, then sinus infection Monday through Thursday. I then caught the stomach bug Tuesday to Wednesday. Thursday, I went back to work, but when I picked up daughter from daycare, she wasn't good.
> 
> Daughter has had a cough for a couple weeks now, had been to the doctor twice, no worries. But then Thursday night, she was burning up with a high fever and she was just out-of-it. She was lethargic to the point that she'd barely move. Yep, emergency room. Go to emergency room. After 5 hours, we get taken back. Then, after 3 hours, we get the results. She has the flu, type A.
> 
> Ugh. Drive home at 4 AM, sleep at 5:30 AM. Wake at 7 AM. Wife took off to take care of daughter. I worked from home.
> 
> On top of all of this, I had a demanding project, where I was working late almost every night and every day last week (Sunday through Saturday). Deadlines for multiple (and changing) deliverables Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Ugh.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh rough week!  Sorry to hear that the little one is sick - that's super stressful and scary.  Hope to hear soon that she is feeling better.
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fat Tuesday!  Eat drink and be merry because tomorrow we fast!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm fat every Tuesday
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Funny but true for me lately!  I've been dieting to lose the weight I've gained since last summer so my eating will be healthy and my drinking will be water but I will still be merry!  Down 9 lbs in the past month.  Quite a few more to go!
Click to expand...

We're all on diets, except Miss Maggie, her activity level is like an Olympic swimmer, expending 8,000 calories a day, on our daily walk by the creek, Maggie will jump in the middle of the creek, then sprint up and down until Gary is tired.  She slows down when she completely submerges her head under water to dig up some algae and flinge it onto the banks.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Fred von den Berg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today in Germany they have colorful parades with marching bands and floats, from which they throw sweets and chocolate into the crowds and everyone has a great time. Later underground parking lots are transformed into discos in which upbeat music is played extremely loudly and a small amount of alcohol is also consumed, apparently.
> 
> In Britain they have pancakes today.
> 
> They know how to throw a party, those Brits!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Other than New Orleans area and a few other places, Fat Tuesday is not a big holiday here in the US.  Have always wanted to visit NO during Mardi Gras but have never had the opportunity.  Me thinks my window for truly enjoying that has come and gone long ago
Click to expand...

In Gary's household, like JC's household, every Tuesday is a Fat Tuesday.  When Gary was just a little tike, Fat Tuesday was a special day out here ... but no longer.


----------



## Gary A.

Fred von den Berg said:


> Today in Germany they have colorful parades with marching bands and floats, from which they throw sweets and chocolate into the crowds and everyone has a great time. Later underground parking lots are transformed into discos in which upbeat music is played extremely loudly and a small amount of alcohol is also consumed, apparently.
> 
> In Britain they have pancakes today.
> 
> They know how to throw a party, those Brits!


God save the Queen ... lol.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> In Gary's household, like JC's household, every Tuesday is a Fat Tuesday. When Gary was just a little tike, Fat Tuesday was a special day out here ... but no longer.



I think it's less of a big thing these days because fewer people actually fast during Lent.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Deadlines suck.  My construction deadline were so bad because usually you had a few weeks to procrastinate.  News deadlines were a killer ... every jammin' day ... hell, six times a day.


They do suck. The problem with this project is that I didn't even have time to procrastinate. LOL



terri said:


> Holy crap!   That's awful.    Hope she rallies soon; this has been a horrible flu season.
> 
> Sounds like it was hell week at your house!   Y'all take it easy this week.


Thank you!



Cortian said:


> When it rains, it pours, sometimes, waday.  Hope it soon lets up for y'all.


Thank you!



JonA_CT said:


> I feel your pain, @waday . Both of our kids and both of us have had a nasty cold since early last week. No one was sleeping. The good thing is that we both have jobs that are pretty flexible. My wife brought them both to the doctor last week to make sure they didn't have the flu, and since I set my classroom schedule and my own grading deadlines, it's much easier to move things around until we were a bit better.
> 
> By the way -- as a parent now, you know just how amazing 4 consecutive hour sleep session can be. Who knew!


We knew we were going to lose sleep as parents, but holy crap! Four hour stretches of sleep are absolutely amazing, LOL!

Sorry to hear about your colds and lack of sleep! Good to hear about flexible jobs. My wife's job is a little more flexible than mine. My supervisor "needs" me in the office, despite me working from a different office. She tends to not trust anyone working remotely.



SquarePeg said:


> Ugh rough week!  Sorry to hear that the little one is sick - that's super stressful and scary.  Hope to hear soon that she is feeling better.


Thank you! Yes, if she were a little older, it wouldn't have been so stressful! The doctor said that he was happy it didn't happen to her a month ago, when she would have had no ability to fight it.



Gary A. said:


> @ Wade: Hopefully all the bad stuff will all just goes away ... the quicker the better.


Thank you!


----------



## Cortian

We've a similar problem, smoke.  We're both in an age-related "at-risk" group.  My wife is especially worrisome, as she has asthma and is allergic to many drugs, incl. many antibiotics.  Her getting sick with something too bad might mean a death sentence for her 

So we're limiting our exposure to The World, right now, and being very, very cautious.

If people who _knew_ they were sick, or even _suspected_ they were coming down with something, would just Do The Right Thing and remove themselves from the population until they either knew they weren't or were over the contagious phase, maybe so many people wouldn't have to die.


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## davidharmier60

Amen to that Cortian! 
Home. Still in jeans, t, flannel shirt,  socks and shoes because it ain't exactly warm in the house....

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## Gary A.

The LA Times is running Special Sections on the Olympics.  Filled with wonderful photos and great stories.  Today, a photo looking up at an airborne Chloe Kim, fills 3/4 of the page and she looks as if she's about to land on the photog.


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## JonA_CT

Cortian said:


> We've a similar problem, smoke.  We're both in an age-related "at-risk" group.  My wife is especially worrisome, as she has asthma and is allergic to many drugs, incl. many antibiotics.  Her getting sick with something too bad might mean a death sentence for her
> 
> So we're limiting our exposure to The World, right now, and being very, very cautious.
> 
> If people who _knew_ they were sick, or even _suspected_ they were coming down with something, would just Do The Right Thing and remove themselves from the population until they either knew they weren't or were over the contagious phase, maybe so many people wouldn't have to die.



I agree with you. Unfortunately, like Wade has said, our society values pushing through and being at work and the like more than our general (or collective) well-being.

I deal with it frequently here...parents send their sick and miserable kids to school to teach them to “toughen up” and because they can’t miss work because of a sick family member.


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## smoke665

@Cortian Yeah I also have severe asthma, which can be an issue for me. Wife had a stem cell transplant will be two years this July. Her immune system has been slowly recovering, but it takes time. When you have one, they call it being reborn, because you lose all the immunities you built up over the years, like a new born baby. She had to get all her childhood immunizations again. Still has one more round. At least now when she acts moody, I can legitimately accuse her of acting like a two year old.


----------



## Cortian

JonA_CT said:


> I agree with you. Unfortunately, like Wade has said, our society values pushing through and being at work and the like more than our general (or collective) well-being.


I am anything *but* a collectivist.  To me this isn't about the collective well-being so much as ethical behaviour and consideration for others.  Quite simply: Don't make _your_ problem a problem for others.  _Particularly_ when your problem may kill somebody else.



JonA_CT said:


> I deal with it frequently here...parents send their sick and miserable kids to school to teach them to “toughen up” and because they can’t miss work because of a sick family member.


That is wrong, too.  School is supposed to be school, not daycare.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> TL;DR: Hell week last week. Everyone finally feeling better. Work has calmed down. I feel like a quasi-normal person again.


Flu sucks.  Hope everyone gets over it quickly.



Gary A. said:


>


Hey, I think I used to work with her.



Fred von den Berg said:


> Today in Germany they have colorful parades with marching bands and floats, from which they throw sweets and chocolate into the crowds and everyone has a great time. Later underground parking lots are transformed into discos in which upbeat music is played extremely loudly and a small amount of alcohol is also consumed, apparently.
> 
> In Britain they have pancakes today.
> 
> They know how to throw a party, those Brits!


And in NOLA, girls flash their . . . to get a string of plastic beads.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> Flu sucks. Hope everyone gets over it quickly.


Thank you!


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> And in NOLA, girls flash their . . . to get a string of plastic beads.



You can buy case lots of beads for $30. Not that I would have any need for.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> I agree with you. Unfortunately, like Wade has said, our society values pushing through and being at work and the like more than our general (or collective) well-being.


If I were to ask my company for a sick day with no impact to work, they'd say yes. 
If I were to ask my company for a sick day and impact my work, they'd say no.

The reason I am at work is to make my company money. They don't care about employee well being, unless it means that it'd hurt productivity. And then, they'd find someone else to do the work, leaving said employee without work. At least, this is how it is at my current company and previous two companies.

Should it be this way? No. 
Is it this way? Yes. 

And starting to rant now.....

IMO, it's one reason that companies are going to start struggling with my generation and those younger. Companies want to keep it status quo, no one retiring, no one moving, and everything quite stagnant--well, except for requiring profits to increase. They decrease the amount of time required to do work, increase the workload, and remove pertinent items that allow us to do our jobs because it reduces overhead costs.* The problem they're going to face, and are starting to face, is that my generation and those younger aren't going to put up with the status quo for the sake of having a job. The "American dream" isn't real for my generation; we're being swallowed up by debt from education that's pretty much now the standard requirement, not able to afford or able to obtain mortgages, and frankly, we care more about job satisfaction than making someone else money.

Stopping now before I go on and on...

*On a somewhat related topic, having open office layouts only work if they're going to pay and provide the amenities that companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, etc. provide their employees. Otherwise, it just causes people to get on each others' nerves.


----------



## SquarePeg

Yuck hate the open office concept.  One of the reasons I started working from home way back when was because the guy in the cubicle next to me was a loud talker who was on conference calls all day long.  I couldn't focus on my work or my phone conversations.  One of our main offices has moved to open concept and it is much hated and complained about.  Glad I'm not there!


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary have arrived at our first stop, Thornton for their great food. Their vino is meh (when compared to other California vintners), but their food is quite good. Thornton’s Champagnes are good. Mary Lou and Gary are starting our adventure with a Champagne, Sweet Angel’s Waltz, bubbly and Delish.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Yuck hate the open office concept.  One of the reasons I started working from home way back when was because the guy in the cubicle next to me was a loud talker who was on conference calls all day long.  I couldn't focus on my work or my phone conversations.  One of our main offices has moved to open concept and it is much hated and complained about.  Glad I'm not there!


Gary likes doors.


----------



## Gary A.

Wine tasting on a Tuesday seems decadent.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Yuck hate the open office concept.  One of the reasons I started working from home way back when was because the guy in the cubicle next to me was a loud talker who was on conference calls all day long.  I couldn't focus on my work or my phone conversations.  One of our main offices has moved to open concept and it is much hated and complained about.  Glad I'm not there!


We have a quasi-open office. The reason it's "quasi" is because I have my monitors blocking in front of me, and I have a floating hutch to my right.

While sitting at my computer, I can see a person that sits 50 feet away from me across the office. If I stand, I can see everyone in the office (except those with offices). Seriously, it's bad.

I joke that my desks have been getting worse as I get experience, rather than the other way around. When I started, it was for a small government agency. I had my own office with a door.



Gary A. said:


> Gary likes doors.


Doors are nice. So are walls!


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## davidharmier60

I work in a grocery store. Doors? Walls?
Hah! I did catch the crud there.
Trying not to catch anything worse.

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## Gary A.

iPhone

Orfila.


----------



## Cortian

snowbear said:


> Fred von den Berg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today in Germany they have colorful parades with marching bands and floats, from which they throw sweets and chocolate into the crowds and everyone has a great time. Later underground parking lots are transformed into discos in which upbeat music is played extremely loudly and a small amount of alcohol is also consumed, apparently.
> 
> In Britain they have pancakes today.
> 
> They know how to throw a party, those Brits!
> 
> 
> 
> And in NOLA, girls flash their . . . to get a string of plastic beads.
Click to expand...

I'm told they'll do the same for beads at a little summertime thing they call "Jobbie Nooner" that's conducted on one of the lakes around here.


----------



## Cortian

waday said:


> If I were to ask my company for a sick day with no impact to work, they'd say yes.
> If I were to ask my company for a sick day and impact my work, they'd say no.


I never asked.  I simply told them I wouldn't be in because I was sick and I'd be back when I felt able.  The few times I found myself managing people: If somebody came to work sick I made them go home.  I didn't brook interference from management above me.

*But* I always made certain every employer for whom I was employed was getting more than their money's worth.  And I made sure they knew it.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hot Dogs for dinner. Yum.
Dogs going nuts over something. Yuck.

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## vintagesnaps

What generation is that supposed to be?? jk But really, other than the college debt, I've worked in education, I never exactly had a high paying job, but I did the work I wanted so guess that made for job satisfaction. Now that I think about it, college was maybe 2 thou a year, and my salary at my first job in a rural program was 7 thou; the next year it was 13 thou, woo hoo! That's a lot of inflation, crap that makes me think I'm old!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I wore a purple top and ate chili spaghetti, Mardi Gras unfortunately is not exactly much of a holiday around here.

Watching curling, but I though they already showed the bronze medal match in mixed doubles... I don't know if they're just filling time til the next hour or if I'm in the twilight zone. One of those episodes that's about time and not being where you think you are or whatever.


----------



## smoke665

Might have to try this if the rain doesn't stop. After 4 days straight, starting to get cabin feeling
Olympics inspiration: Curling with iRobot


----------



## Frank F.

I love Asian Kitchen: Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, original Chinese, not adopted for the taste of whereever it might land.

Here is one of the cooks in a restaurant I visit regularly:


----------



## davidharmier60

Curling is interesting if nothing else.
And there wasn't an ugly woman to be seen.

Hope you have a good night and a pleasant tomorrow. 

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----------



## Gary A.




----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 153734 View attachment 153735
> iPhone
> 
> Orfila.


What a lovely tasting room.   Wineries are always fun.


----------



## davidharmier60

But whining isn't fun at all.

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## waday

Cortian said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> If I were to ask my company for a sick day with no impact to work, they'd say yes.
> If I were to ask my company for a sick day and impact my work, they'd say no.
> 
> 
> 
> I never asked.  I simply told them I wouldn't be in because I was sick and I'd be back when I felt able.  The few times I found myself managing people: If somebody came to work sick I made them go home.  I didn't brook interference from management above me.
> 
> *But* I always made certain every employer for whom I was employed was getting more than their money's worth.  And I made sure they knew it.
Click to expand...

I appreciate your response, and I'm glad it worked for you and your employers. 

Kind of curious to your type of employer and the total company size. I'm in consulting, and the current company is around 20,000 people. Last company was about 100,000. People are numbers, not names, to corporate staff. At the local level, sure, they "care" about you, but as soon as you go above your own supervisor, it starts getting iffy.

Being assertive does work in certain instances but not always; I also fully admit that I could stand to be more assertive in some areas. In the "sick day/impact work" scenario, it simply won't do any good. My employer's "money's worth" of me is my time; therein lies the problem. If I tell them I won't be in because I'm sick, and I miss a deadline, I'm in big trouble. Not only me, our clients are going to hold my company responsible for this lost work. They could get extremely angry or sue, we'd lose repeat business, and everybody loses. So, if I say, I won't be in and I won't make the deadline, they'll pull me off the project and someone else will take over. I lose work. 

Work = billability = job

I believe that I do excellent work, which is why I tend to get some of the harder jobs that do take more effort and longer hours to complete. But that means nothing compared to losing work for the company.


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> I appreciate your response, and I'm glad it worked for you and your employers.
> 
> Kind of curious to your type of employer and the total company size. I'm in consulting, and the current company is around 20,000 people. Last company was about 100,000. People are numbers, not names, to corporate staff. At the local level, sure, they "care" about you, but as soon as you go above your own supervisor, it starts getting iffy.
> 
> Being assertive does work in certain instances but not always; I also fully admit that I could stand to be more assertive in some areas. In the "sick day/impact work" scenario, it simply won't do any good. My employer's "money's worth" of me is my time; therein lies the problem. If I tell them I won't be in because I'm sick, and I miss a deadline, I'm in big trouble. Not only me, our clients are going to hold my company responsible for this lost work. They could get extremely angry or sue, we'd lose repeat business, and everybody loses. So, if I say, I won't be in and I won't make the deadline, they'll pull me off the project and someone else will take over. I lose work.
> 
> Work = billability = job
> 
> I believe that I do excellent work, which is why I tend to get some of the harder jobs that do take more effort and longer hours to complete. But that means nothing compared to losing work for the company.










This is why my buddies who work in the business world send this GIF back and forth all of the time, haha. I don't miss having to worry about "billable" hours or cost plus contracting or any of the other crap I had in my job right out of college. Then again, I also miss out on the financial incentives. It took me 7 years to work back up to the salary/overtime/bonuses/benefits I left behind to become a teacher.  But like Wade said...I have loads of job satisfaction, and I make enough money. I guess more would always be nice, but I don't need it.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> What generation is that supposed to be?? jk But really, other than the college debt, I've worked in education, I never exactly had a high paying job, but I did the work I wanted so guess that made for job satisfaction. Now that I think about it, college was maybe 2 thou a year, and my salary at my first job in a rural program was 7 thou; the next year it was 13 thou, woo hoo! That's a lot of inflation, crap that makes me think I'm old!


I'm giving away my age. 

I'm lucky that I'll be able to pay off my college debt in the next couple of years, but I had a big help. Family member worked for the college, which afforded me a huge discount. Then, my first job paid for my graduate degree. They paid for one class a semester, and since I already had a good portion of it already completed, it didn't take more than 2 years. I was lucky.

Many are not that lucky. Some of my wife's friends have law school debt exceeding $100K-$150K. These law schools over-promised the job prospects when graduating. Many of them ended up in attorney sweatshops--as contract attorneys. Some left the law altogether. Ugh.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> This is why my buddies who work in the business world send this GIF back and forth all of the time, haha. I don't miss having to worry about "billable" hours or cost plus contracting or any of the other crap I had in my job right out of college. Then again, I also miss out on the financial incentives. It took me 7 years to work back up to the salary/overtime/bonuses/benefits I left behind to become a teacher.  But like Wade said...I have loads of job satisfaction, and I make enough money. I guess more would always be nice, but I don't need it.


Oh, I'm totally familiar with that GIF. LOL.

If I moved out of my current job to something that had more satisfaction, I'd easily lose 30-40% of my paycheck (at least in the area that I live). Kind of working on that at the moment, but it probably won't be soon.

Many people say the following: A job can have two of the following, but not all three: (1) job satisfaction, (2) high pay, (3) good location. A lucky few get all three.


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> What generation is that supposed to be?? jk But really, other than the college debt, I've worked in education, I never exactly had a high paying job, but I did the work I wanted so guess that made for job satisfaction. Now that I think about it, college was maybe 2 thou a year, and my salary at my first job in a rural program was 7 thou; the next year it was 13 thou, woo hoo! That's a lot of inflation, crap that makes me think I'm old!
> 
> 
> 
> I'm giving away my age.
> 
> I'm lucky that I'll be able to pay off my college debt in the next couple of years, but I had a big help. Family member worked for the college, which afforded me a huge discount. Then, my first job paid for my graduate degree. They paid for one class a semester, and since I already had a good portion of it already completed, it didn't take more than 2 years. I was lucky.
> 
> Many are not that lucky. Some of my wife's friends have law school debt exceeding $100K-$150K. These law schools over-promised the job prospects when graduating. Many of them ended up in attorney sweatshops--as contract attorneys. Some left the law altogether. Ugh.
Click to expand...


My wife's in-state tuition for her Master's program was over $20k a year x 3 years + 1500 hours of unpaid internship. We tried not to think about it too much, but she and everyone in her program were looking to go into public service. Fortunately, CT supports education and public servants can make a reasonable salary, although we are still in income-based repayment for all of our loans, and will only find relief with the public-service loan forgiveness program. The cost of college is out of control...I'd rant about that, but I'll save it.




waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is why my buddies who work in the business world send this GIF back and forth all of the time, haha. I don't miss having to worry about "billable" hours or cost plus contracting or any of the other crap I had in my job right out of college. Then again, I also miss out on the financial incentives. It took me 7 years to work back up to the salary/overtime/bonuses/benefits I left behind to become a teacher.  But like Wade said...I have loads of job satisfaction, and I make enough money. I guess more would always be nice, but I don't need it.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I'm totally familiar with that GIF. LOL.
> 
> If I moved out of my current job to something that had more satisfaction, I'd easily lose 30-40% of my paycheck (at least in the area that I live). Kind of working on that at the moment, but it probably won't be soon.
> 
> Many people say the following: A job can have two of the following, but not all three: (1) job satisfaction, (2) high pay, (3) good location. A lucky few get all three.
Click to expand...


There is another option, of course, but it requires a leap of faith. You could always strike out into business on your own...I'm not sure what field of engineering you are in, but I know that my friend who is a civil engineer was able to do it. He had to specialize, and his work seems kind of boring (I think he sub-contracts surveying crews and develops cost-estimates for construction companies who do road rehabilitation), but his hours are flexible and he is much happier than he was before.


----------



## JonA_CT

In other news, I made my plans for my first round of golf for President's Day because the forecast has been downright spring like.

Naturally...the weather men are now discussing the possibility of 4 or more inches of snow Saturday into Sunday. Meh.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> The cost of college is out of control....


One more reason to go in to the trades!


----------



## JonA_CT

tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> The cost of college is out of control....
> 
> 
> 
> One more reason to go in to the trades!
Click to expand...


I'm a successful professional in my field which required advanced education. My parents contributed as much as they could to my education, but I still needed to cover about $60k of it through student loans (and I went to all public, in-state universities). While the trades should definitely be considered by some, the idea that I should gravitate towards the trades because education is expensive reeks of plutocracy.

I know that's not your intention -- just saying some of the conclusions that could be drawn from that statement.

Also -- I'm not sure if it's different in Canada or in other parts of the US -- but most trades here require post-secondary education, even for those who attend vocational high schools. That is often just as expensive as college, but you can't necessarily use federal education loans to pay for those schools. Some of the unions will hire apprentices, but certainly not all of them, and there aren't many opportunities.


----------



## davidharmier60

The location is what makes my rather low paying job make sense. I was a jack of all trades and master of none when I was younger. Could do plumbing, electrical, painting etc. I'm not licensed to do anything. I'm not terribly old yet will start my 58th year in April. But I feel every one of those years. Plan to work at this grocery store until I die.

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## Cortian

waday said:


> I appreciate your response, and I'm glad it worked for you and your employers.


Worked well enough, anyway 



waday said:


> Kind of curious to your type of employer and the total company size.


Manufacturing, engineering or both.  Initially in engineering positions.  The last 25+ years as an IT geek.  Companies have always been small.  Employer from which I retired, last year, had ±200 in my facility.  Perhaps double or triple that number, world-wide?  Some have been as small as a few dozen employees.



waday said:


> I'm in consulting, and the current company is around 20,000 people. Last company was about 100,000. People are numbers, not names, to corporate staff.


I had people for _years_ try to convince me to strike out on my own, as an independent consultant.  But a man's gotta know his limitations.  I'm not well-self-motivated and my focus tends to wander.  (E.g.: Started a Man Cave project last fall.  It encountered speed bumps.  Then photography came along.  Haven't worked on it since about... November?)  That can work "ok" when you're salaried and you've so much on your plate (see: "more than their money's worth," earlier) there's never any want for variety.  Not so good in a consulting role.

I was never interested in working for Really Big Companies.  I had more than one try to steal me from wherever I'd been working at the time.  Funny thing was: Oft times the guys pitching coming over to them were the very same guys who expressed envy over how I had it at my job   It worked for others.  Like consulting: It would not have worked well for me.


----------



## tirediron

AFAIK all trades [which offer certification] require post-secondary education.  The difference is that the program is typically structured such that you do your first year of school, work your first 5000 hours, wash, rinse, repeat until you've got your Red Seal or other certification.  The advantages are three-fold; (1) generally the tuition is lower, 'though not always a lot; (2) the study/work/study/work program generally allows people to work in higher paying fields (even a labourer on a construction site makes decent coin) between tuitions; and (3) I know a number of people with degrees who are either working in lesser fields, unrelated fields, or minimum wage jobs, but every one I know in the trades has a good job and a decent income...


----------



## Gary A.

Shaun White is a STUD!


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## davidharmier60

Going off to Google Shaun White....

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## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday was Mary Lou's and Gary's Valentine's Day.  We celebrated with a little road trip to Temecula where we dined on a Medley Mushroom Fettuccine and a Lobster & Bacon Panini all washed down with Champagne. Then down to San Diego County and Orfelia Vineyards.  We heard a lot of good thing about Orfelia.  Even fellow winos in Los Olivos spoke highly of Orfelia ... so we felt compelled and obligated to check it out.  Meh ... it doesn't live up to its hype. It was all very nice, (see photos above), the wines were good, but not special, the grounds were serene and very nice ... but not worth the 40 minute drive beyond Temecula down to Escondido.  Maybe in summer, because Temecula will get quite hot and Escondido is closer to the beach ...  but then those extra 40 minutes would put Gary into Santa Barbara wine country, of which, many of the wineries are world class, second to none. 

But, Orfelia had a wide collecting of spouts with heads.  We like these pourers, typically the wine pours from the mouth/beak of the animal head.





We picked up a Shark pourer ... it looks like a Sharknado attack.


----------



## Gary A.

On the front of the LA Times special Olympics section has a photo White, 3/4 of the page of him 180 degrees inverted grabbing the board with her left hand and his body seems like he's merely taking a walk in the park. When Gary grows up he wants to be the next Shaun White.


----------



## Cortian

tirediron said:


> I know a number of people with degrees who are either working in lesser fields, unrelated fields, or minimum wage jobs, ...


We had 'em where I worked.



tirediron said:


> ...but every one I know in the trades has a good job and a decent income...


Yup.

As one skilled tradesman put it to me one day "When times get tough there may be little call for Social Sciences majors, but when your plumbing's stopped-up you gotta have that plumber."  Or when your electricity goes haywire.  Or your "check engine" light lights.  Or your roof starts leaking.  Or... or... or...

This last recession was a prime example.  News story after news story with people in line at job fairs filling out apps for minimum wage jobs, _any_ job, because their unemployment benefits were about to run out and there was no call for name-an-advanced-degree people.

Never saw any interviews of plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics or other skilled trades types in those stories.

Btw: That skilled trades guy (don't recall what he was out here for) was set to retire, debt-free, in about five years, I believe he told me.  ISTR he was somewhere in his mid-to-late-40s?  Owned his home, out-right, too.

I'm not even going to _touch_ the whole school loans subject.  That line of discussion can go nowhere good


----------



## smoke665

Not dissing those that work at a job that gives them satisfaction. If that floats your boat great, but for me  "work satisfaction" was not that important, as I found satisfaction in other things. What was important for me was earning a good living, and retiring early.  I was a Vol. FF&FR for many, many years, didn't pay me a dime, but I found it extremely fulfilling, while having no bearing on career goals. Point is, we each have the opportunity to make choices about how our life goes, and once those choices are made we learn to live with it as best as we can.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary sees life much differently than smoke665 ... Gary spends too much time at work for it to be unmeaningful beyond wages.  Whence a job becomes work, (mentally unsatisfactory), Gary would find something else to do. The amount of money, while always important, was never the first or final criteria for employment for Gary.


----------



## Cortian

I'm with Gary on that one.  Now it happened that, in the last several years, I burned out and found little fulfilment in my job.  But I was close to retirement, so I toughed it out.

But, in general terms, I agree with Gary: I spent far too much of my life doing what I had to do to keep a roof over my head to be doing something other than what I found to be satisfying work.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks he has lived a much richer life, but most likely with less material goods, by combining money and job satisfaction into a single goal (looking at minimums as opposed to maximums) than if he had separated the two. 

Gary also thinks that people in the U.S. do not give the trades their proper respect and due.  While college/higher education is an admirable goal ... it isn't a be-all-end-all for everybody. (I have, at a minimum, equal respect for master trade people as I have for my college professors.  In fact, Gary has more respect for those who do, than those who never have done ... yet talk about it.


----------



## Gary A.

Cortian said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I know a number of people with degrees who are either working in lesser fields, unrelated fields, or minimum wage jobs, ...
> 
> 
> 
> We had 'em where I worked.
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...but every one I know in the trades has a good job and a decent income...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yup.
> 
> As one skilled tradesman put it to me one day "When times get tough there may be little call for Social Sciences majors, but when your plumbing's stopped-up you gotta have that plumber."  Or when your electricity goes haywire.  Or your "check engine" light lights.  Or your roof starts leaking.  Or... or... or...
> 
> This last recession was a prime example.  News story after news story with people in line at job fairs filling out apps for minimum wage jobs, _any_ job, because their unemployment benefits were about to run out and there was no call for name-an-advanced-degree people.
> 
> Never saw any interviews of plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics or other skilled trades types in those stories.
> 
> Btw: That skilled trades guy (don't recall what he was out here for) was set to retire, debt-free, in about five years, I believe he told me.  ISTR he was somewhere in his mid-to-late-40s?  Owned his home, out-right, too.
> 
> I'm not even going to _touch_ the whole school loans subject.  That line of discussion can go nowhere good
Click to expand...

That is precisely what happened with Mary Lou.  She switched schools from the #1 academic public high school in California to Adult School.  Yes, she made significantly more money, but she was miserable and literally counted the days to retirement.


----------



## Gary A.

There are a lot of good things about living debt free.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> There is another option, of course, but it requires a leap of faith. You could always strike out into business on your own...I'm not sure what field of engineering you are in, but I know that my friend who is a civil engineer was able to do it. He had to specialize, and his work seems kind of boring (I think he sub-contracts surveying crews and develops cost-estimates for construction companies who do road rehabilitation), but his hours are flexible and he is much happier than he was before.


I'm environmental/water resources (depends on the day ). I don't know if I could do that now, but it'd be interesting. IMO, I'd need a few more connections to be able to do that...



Cortian said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I appreciate your response, and I'm glad it worked for you and your employers.
> 
> 
> 
> Worked well enough, anyway
> 
> Manufacturing, engineering or both.  Initially in engineering positions.  The last 25+ years as an IT geek.  Companies have always been small.  Employer from which I retired, last year, had ±200 in my facility.  Perhaps double or triple that number, world-wide?  Some have been as small as a few dozen employees.
> 
> I had people for _years_ try to convince me to strike out on my own, as an independent consultant.  But a man's gotta know his limitations.  I'm not well-self-motivated and my focus tends to wander.  (E.g.: Started a Man Cave project last fall.  It encountered speed bumps.  Then photography came along.  Haven't worked on it since about... November?)  That can work "ok" when you're salaried and you've so much on your plate (see: "more than their money's worth," earlier) there's never any want for variety.  Not so good in a consulting role.
> 
> I was never interested in working for Really Big Companies.  I had more than one try to steal me from wherever I'd been working at the time.  Funny thing was: Oft times the guys pitching coming over to them were the very same guys who expressed envy over how I had it at my job   It worked for others.  Like consulting: It would not have worked well for me.
Click to expand...

Really big companies have their pros and cons. Cons are that you get lost in a sea of other people. Pros are that you get lost in a sea of other people. If work is low all-around, having tons of other people in the same situation as you can be a good thing.



tirediron said:


> AFAIK all trades [which offer certification] require post-secondary education.  The difference is that the program is typically structured such that you do your first year of school, work your first 5000 hours, wash, rinse, repeat until you've got your Red Seal or other certification.  The advantages are three-fold; (1) generally the tuition is lower, 'though not always a lot; (2) the study/work/study/work program generally allows people to work in higher paying fields (even a labourer on a construction site makes decent coin) between tuitions; and (3) I know a number of people with degrees who are either working in lesser fields, unrelated fields, or minimum wage jobs, but every one I know in the trades has a good job and a decent income...


So many people get pushed into thinking that they need to be a professional, when they'd be much happier, and more successful, in a trade. I love that these programs require significant field training. That's something that's missing from a lot of the graduates that I've seen start in my field.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary sees life much differently than smoke665 ...



That's why I started the post with "Not dissing those that work at a job that gives them satisfaction. If that floats your boat great". As I said I knew from an early edge that work (of any kind) was not what was going to float my boat.  All the things that probably would have given me satisfaction didn't pay well (beach bum, mountain man, etc), just kidding. I was fortunate to learn early in life that my personality was such that I needed separation in my life. If I'm doing something I enjoy, without time limitations, I will go till I burn myself out.  Having a career that provided the income and time to enjoy other things in life worked well for me. Not saying it's for everyone, just worked for me. 

I have to agree with you about the Trades not getting the respect they deserve. Fifteen years ago I had OTR drivers earning 50k plus with 2 years experience, others with more experience and squeaky clean records were bumping 75k, A college education is not the solution to all ends, and counselors are doing a disservice to young people today if they don't  point out all the options.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> [So many people get pushed into thinking that they need to be a professional, when they'd be much happier, and more successful, in a trade. I love that these programs require significant field training. That's something that's missing from a lot of the graduates that I've seen start in my field.


Yep... it's great that Billy-Bob University Graduate can give me the square route of a pickle jar; a shame he doesn't know how to open it!   I think all higher education should require some sort of experience/internship/OJT as part of the graduation requirement.  Too many people get out into the real world with their degree and expect it to be like university....


----------



## davidharmier60

My main job from around 18 years old to around 53 was the repair of pressure washers. I was pretty darn good at it.
But now all the stooping and squatting has taken a toll.

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----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> Yep... it's great that Billy-Bob University Graduate can give me the square route of a pickle jar; a shame he doesn't know how to open it



Case in point my daughter in law graduated many years ago after 5+ years in school with a major in English. Again, I'm not knocking any degree, but she didn't find many opportunities knocking at her door, so she became a retail store mgr, for a couple of years. Then on a whim went to a trade school for dental assistant, which she enjoyed and worked at, until she finally became a stay at home Mom.

Unfortunately I believe most don't realize there is a difference between doing something you "are good at", and doing something that fulfills you. Sometimes it works out they are the same, sometimes they can be two entirely different things, and sometimes people are afraid to make the choice.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> In other news, I made my plans for my first round of golf for President's Day because the forecast has been downright spring like.
> 
> Naturally...the weather men are now discussing the possibility of 4 or more inches of snow Saturday into Sunday. Meh.



Still no snow requiring more than a quick sweep away with a shovel thanks to trading in the Beast for Beauty.  She sits in the garage with her full tank of gas, a virgin still.   

Re college costs - as the single mother of a HS freshman, it’s all I think about!  

My cousin’s son was in his first semester of an engineering degree at Wentworth when he told his parents to save their money (50k/year), he’d decided to become an electrician and had secured an apprenticeship and was dropping out.   At first they were livid about the choice to skip college after all the hard work to get in and the money they’d already paid but in the end it was his choice and they had to accept it. He has been hard at work for a few years now and is very happy and they didn’t have to spend their retirement money on his education.  

I could retire right now if I had universal healthcare and didn’t have to put Princess through school. These next 10 years of work will be all about making sure she graduates from college without massive debt to pay off and topping off my travel money. 

The job satisfaction vs salary choice was taken away from me when I got divorced and my ex decided to stop earning money and not pay any child support.  I have no regrets about prioritizing money over job satisfaction.


----------



## Cortian

SquarePeg said:


> Still no snow requiring more than a quick sweep away with a shovel thanks to trading in the Beast for Beauty.  She sits in the garage with her full tank of gas, a virgin still.


If I'm reading that correctly: Snow blower upgrade?  Yeah, that happened to us, last season.  The new snow blower finally got use last week, though.



SquarePeg said:


> Re college costs - as the single mother of a HS freshman, it’s all I think about!


Everybody's got to do what's best for them, but _my_ feeling is that people thinking they _must_ have a college degree to get ahead in life is wrong.  What's even worse is people thinking they're automatically _entitled_ to one, merely by existing.



SquarePeg said:


> My cousin’s son [story snipped for brevity...] has been hard at work for a few years now and is very happy and they didn’t have to spend their retirement money on his education.


Good on him!

The neat thing is that not only will his parents likely retire comfortably, now, but he likely will, too.  Electricians often make _very_ good money.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep... it's great that Billy-Bob University Graduate can give me the square route of a pickle jar; a shame he doesn't know how to open it
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Case in point my daughter in law graduated many years ago after 5+ years in school with a major in English. Again, I'm not knocking any degree, but she didn't find many opportunities knocking at her door, so she became a retail store mgr, for a couple of years. Then on a whim went to a trade school for dental assistant, which she enjoyed and worked at, until she finally became a stay at home Mom.
> 
> Unfortunately I believe most don't realize there is a difference between doing something you "are good at", and doing something that fulfills you. Sometimes it works out they are the same, sometimes they can be two entirely different things, and sometimes people are afraid to make the choice.
Click to expand...


I am a professional listener and questioner. If you listen carefully and ask open ended questions, people will normally tell you how to sell to them. If your excellent, you follow up and make sure you're over delivering, ensuring the customer understands (agrees) you are executing what you promised.


----------



## tirediron

Of course, don't forget that there's a great government program whereby you can not only get a university degree, but get paid to get it!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't think college itself should be the goal, it should be a means to an end. Not that you can't enjoy those years while you're there.... but college isn't for everybody. Most students who aren't cut out for it seem to drop out freshman year. I think if you want to go to college you better figure out what you're going to do when you get there and what will be next after college. 

I don't think there are that many majors that don't have job potential. The college near me has large departments in education and business (where there are jobs). We always joked about how we'd never be out of a job because they seem to always find more kids. 

Seems like people ought to pick what's best for them. If you think about it, we need people going into trades as well as people going to college and doing work in medical fields or scientific research. Look how much we have now in advancements in medical surgery that wasn't an option years ago (like eye laser surgery, lots better than what my mom had to have done when I was in high school).


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> Of course, don't forget that there's a great government program whereby you can not only get a university degree, but get paid to get it!



Military????

Or as in the case of few political bad apples from my memory, if you spread enough taxpayer dollars around to the schools, they'll not only give you an honorary degree, but name a building after you as well. LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

I have this feeling Canada is going to get gold in men's curling. 

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## SquarePeg

Princess told me recently that she wants to be a trauma surgeon.  Haven't determined yet if she is committed to that or just too much Grey's Anatomy and Chicago Med...


----------



## vintagesnaps

USA mens curling did pretty well last night I think (although it was getting late even for me). Oh, I see, it's on now, last time I checked curling wasn't on yet. 

What gov't. program pays you to go to college?? And you know, it starts to sound rather insulting to people like me to say people with a degree may be smart but don't have what, any common sense? or whatever. That's a relatively small percentage of people like that I think. I'm smart and got good grades, and while I seem to remember a certain amount of goofing off, I worked at what I did. I took courses to specialize in early intervention, not any increase in pay for that either. So there! thptt! lol

Sweeep! sweeep! Hard! hard!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good for Princess! That's something to aspire to. Although it seems like interests can change by the time it's time to pick a college and a major. She might end up in a medical field or doing something to help people in another way.


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Good for Princess! That's something to aspire to. Although it seems like interests can change by the time it's time to pick a college and a major. She might end up in a medical field or doing something to help people in another way.



Yes, we'll see.  Last year it was Math teacher...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Well, math, medicine, she's in the same ball park of math and science... 

You know, the thing about the Olympics being in a different time zone is when not much is live they seem to come into the middle of an event. I like it better when I can see the entire thing before going off to something else.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Military????


That'd be the one.


----------



## davidharmier60

GB is making a game of it!

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## JonA_CT

Only in the USA, and that’s about all I can say here.


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## davidharmier60

My initial reaction was correct. Canada won.

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## smoke665

Whew worked up a sweat. Finally quit raining enough that I could get back on the pruning. Finished the Crepe Myrtles in the back (here in the south we call it Crepe Murder).  Got the the Blue Rug ground cover over running the retaining wall trimmed back. Still have a good 100' where it's over run the edging. Then it's on to the front. Once that's done will be ready to recover the beds with pine straw.


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## terri

smoke665 said:


> Whew worked up a sweat. Finally quit raining enough that I could get back on the pruning. Finished the Crepe Myrtles in the back (here in the south we call it Crepe Murder).  Got the the Blue Rug ground cover over running the retaining wall trimmed back. Still have a good 100' where it's over run the edging. Then it's on to the front. Once that's done will be ready to recover the beds with pine straw.


Hubby read about Crepe Murder a few years ago, and now he trims the few that we have very sparingly.   Not at all like he used to.   He claims he'd rather see them grow more tree like, but I think he just had that ah-ha moment of reducing spring pruning.     

You definitely get better flowering from the Crepe Murder pruning - but I've also seen older, huge specimens that were clearly left alone, and they're gorgeous, too.   So I'm really ambivalent - and hey, I don't do the pruning around here.


----------



## smoke665

@terri ours are close to the decks, so  it's important to keep them in check. They're over 10 years old, and seem no worse for the wear.


----------



## davidharmier60

A little ice dancing (or pair skaters).

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> Only in the USA, and that’s about all I can say here.


So sad to see what happened.


----------



## Cortian

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Only in the USA, and that’s about all I can say here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So sad to see what happened.
Click to expand...


----------



## waday

Cortian said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Only in the USA, and that’s about all I can say here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So sad to see what happened.
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...

At least 17 dead in school shooting in Florida

Florida School Shooting: 17 Reported Dead


----------



## Cortian

waday said:


> Cortian said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Only in the USA, and that’s about all I can say here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So sad to see what happened.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> At least 17 dead in school shooting in Florida
> 
> Florida School Shooting: 17 Reported Dead
Click to expand...

Aw Christ


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Of course, don't forget that there's a great government program whereby you can not only get a university degree, but get paid to get it!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Military????
> 
> Or as in the case of few political bad apples from my memory, if you spread enough taxpayer dollars around to the schools, they'll not only give you an honorary degree, but name a building after you as well. LOL
Click to expand...

What would you call a politician that gets an entire school named after him?


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Cortian said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Only in the USA, and that’s about all I can say here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So sad to see what happened.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> At least 17 dead in school shooting in Florida
> 
> Florida School Shooting: 17 Reported Dead
Click to expand...

That is so so sad.  Unbelievably sad.


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> My initial reaction was correct. Canada won.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


It's a sport where the entire venue is based on a bar; did anyone think we wouldn't?????


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> What would you call a politician that gets an entire school named after him?



Don't know, here in our state, they don't usually get that far. Sad really the number of politicians here that have either been sentenced to prison or forced to resign to keep from going to prison. Anytime a new governor is elected the odds are 50/50 he'll be in jail before the end of his term. Former mayor of the largest city in the state will likely die in Federal prison, and the list goes on.


----------



## davidharmier60

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Of course, don't forget that there's a great government program whereby you can not only get a university degree, but get paid to get it!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Military????
> 
> Or as in the case of few political bad apples from my memory, if you spread enough taxpayer dollars around to the schools, they'll not only give you an honorary degree, but name a building after you as well. LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What would you call a politician that gets an entire school named after him?
Click to expand...

Crooked!


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

I wish you all a good night and a pleasant tomorrow. Here's hoping the buffer got fixed today. But I wouldn't bet a dime that it did.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Schools should be safe, not a place where this keeps happening. One of the former/retired CIA/FBI experts that comes on CNN periodically started saying something about he has nieces and nephews and just broke down... someone else with CNN said at the end of the hour earlier, God help us... Even as professionals who have to stay focused when reporting a crisis situation, they can't always get thru this anymore.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Mens hockey started and the USA didn't do too great; a late goal sent it into OT and we lost, yikes. Womens hockey tonight is USA v Canada. This is like the late west coast NHL games, I was already dozing off awhile ago during figure skating, not going to make it thru this game!


And womens curling starts at 1 am... not going to get to see that!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Our schools in my hometown were all named after Presidents; I went to McKinley and Cleveland, then Harding and Taft. Then I taught for a few years at Garfield. They've built new schools and dropped almost all those names, now they're just boring and generic and I don't know why they stopped the tradition.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> I wish you all a good night and a pleasant tomorrow. Here's hoping the buffer got fixed today. But I wouldn't bet a dime that it did.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Maybe you should see about getting it fixed ... it does relates to your job.


----------



## limr

I work in higher ed and I have opinions about this conversation!

I'm also half blind with exhaustion at the moment so y'all will have to wait 

The one story I will relate before I turn off the light: My students, many of which are the first in their families to go to college, often ask me for advice about school and careers. In one class, a student asked me what major I would recommend. Mind you, I work at a community college where many students have to choose something, anything, when they apply, but very often switch majors after they've had a chance to talk to a counselor or figure out better what they want to do. So this student was thinking of changing his major.

"What is your goal?" I asked.

"You mean, when do I want to graduate?"

"No," I said, "What is your purpose in getting a degree, any degree? Do you want to then go to a 4-year and get a Bachelors? Do you want to go straight into the workforce? Do you want to follow a passion or just make more money and have a more comfortable life than you have now?"

"Oh," he said, "I just want a good job so I can have a nice house and provide for a family."

 "Okay, then. Become a welder."

He was shocked. The entire class then embarked on a discussion of professions and trades and the purposes of education other than job training, and planning the next few years of their lives very strategically (it was definitely a "do as I say, not as I have done" sort of discussion on my part  )

As for how schools should be a safe place - this is absolutely correct. And yet, being trained in how to behave in an active shooter situation is apparently now a regular and required part of my work. (I have the certificate for this round of training sessions to prove it.)


----------



## smoke665

@limr You likely gave this class more "useful" education then anything they had received up to that point. Good for you!. I believe colleges today have become more interested in filling seats, than actually preparing the student for making a living.

Sad world we live in today. I grew up in a rural farming community. During my high school days the parking lot was filled with a lot of trucks, most of which had a gun rack in the back window, and rifle or two. No one thought much about it, and going on a killing spree at your school wasn't even on the radar. Not sure what has changed in the mentality of those who now seem to idolize the evil.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> @limr You likely gave this class more "useful" education then anything they had received up to that point. Good for you!. I believe colleges today have become more interested in filling seats, than actually preparing the student for making a living.
> 
> Sad world we live in today. I grew up in a rural farming community. During my high school days the parking lot was filled with a lot of trucks, most of which had a gun rack in the back window, and rifle or two. No one thought much about it, and going on a killing spree at your school wasn't even on the radar. Not sure what has changed in the mentality of those who now seem to idolize the evil.



You know how I feel about guns, so I won't go into it now, but I do respect that in the community you grew up in (my Dad's rural Minnesota upbringing too), guns have a place. As far as the types of guns... 

Besides that piece though...kids have life come at them at speeds that you and I (even being significantly younger) can't understand. The immersion in technology, the viral nature of news, 24/7 connections with peers and whoever else -- comes at a significant cost. There is significant stress and anxiety (and I mean legitimately clinical) in the younger generations that didn't exist before. We don't have appropriate support systems in place to prevent some of these tragedies, and sometimes red tape gets in the way.

I have a kid who could become Nikolas Cruz in my B period class. I might have a future Adam Lanza in my D period class. I shout the alarm and beat the drum, but Nikolas's parents don't want him in counseling because it makes their family look bad, and Adam's parents don't believe there is a problem. As the first line of defense, I've done all I can.

The problem is incredibly complex, and for whatever reason, we aren't willing, as a country, to tackle the problem head on. We're still at the thoughts and prayers stage.


----------



## Gary A.

Personally, in Gary's perfect world, he would like to see colleges place more emphasis on a liberal education with fewer majors.  Gary sees college as a platform to explore the world ... all/most of the world ... the arts, the sciences, literature, peoples & cultures, foods, religions, mandatory P. E., travel ... the whole enchilada.  In Gary's world college is a place for personal growth not just for education. Gary would like to see a hiring priority for educators that have worked in the private sector prior to teaching in public schools. A bonus for educators who have worked in the same field as they teach.  Gary would like to see college as a preparation for life, not only the life of the student ... all life, your life, their life, the lives in other continents and even lives of other species.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> @limr You likely gave this class more "useful" education then anything they had received up to that point. Good for you!. I believe colleges today have become more interested in filling seats, than actually preparing the student for making a living.



Well, I do believe the actual writing and critical thinking skills I had also taught them at that point were just as useful 

It is true that for a long time, enrollment has been more important to a lot of schools. If you ever want to read how this has been manipulated for the past 20-30 years (and, incidentally, why student debt has blown up as a problem so quickly), read this: The Invisible Force Behind College Admissions

However, there have been important distinctions between kinds of schools and the conflict over what the 'real' purpose of higher education is or should be. For much of our history, higher education was effectively restricted to a very limited population (yes, I'm going to say it, but relax and don't get your panties in a bunch - I'm talking about rich white men.) Then, slowly, more people gained access.

The push for enrollments came along with the push for increased access to higher education for many more segments of the population. When the market started demanding training beyond high school, more people wanted to go to college, and colleges, of course, wanted people to choose their school.

More people gaining access to education is never a bad thing. The way they gain access is the question, of course, and the strategies used over the years have sometimes been controversial.

Thing about creating more access is you then have to figure out what to do with the students once they're in.

The good thing is that schools - at least community colleges, anyway - are starting the push to gain not just enrollments, but to put major effort into keeping and graduating students. The buzzwords in community colleges these days are 'strategic enrollment management' and 'guided pathways.'

Students need clear pathways and methods to get in, learn what they need to learn, and then move on, either to the workforce or to a 4-year institution. As a matter of fact, I'm in the thick of one of the initiatives at our school that will help do this.

I don't believe that college is nothing more than job training. There are important skills and experiences that students gain in college that are difficult to gain elsewhere. It's true that not everyone is cut out for the traditional 4-year liberal arts education, but that also doesn't mean it's useless to get an English degree just because there aren't as many job options as there are for someone with a Marketing degree. There may not be as many clear _direct _pathways - for example, a Marketing degree leads to a marketing job, but that person can have a choice of any number of companies, types of industries, etc. An English degree seemingly only leads to an English teaching position or maybe a writer. However, if we look at the skills learned in a liberal arts major, we'd see that many of them - thinking, writing, communicating, analyzing, researching - are skills that are transferrable to many kinds of job.

Of course, many employers see "English major" and believe the person is some kind of disorganized flakey poet who doesn't know how to be professional. So some of the issues with finding jobs isn't necessarily the English degree, but rather the wider society's view of what English majors are like. (I was not even an English major, but I have experienced this attitude quite explicitly on more than one occasion when people see on my resume that I teach in the English dept.)

My BA is in Linguistics. I may not have become a traditional academic, which would seem to be the obvious career path for such a major, but I have used that degree every day of my professional life, both the content and the skills I learned.

(And for the record, a linguist isn't someone who just speaks other languages or knows a bunch of grammar. A linguist is very much like an anthropologist or sociologist. We embark on scientific studies of how language works. We learn research methods and analysis. Some of us do field work to study other languages and cultures. Some go into neurolinguistics and conduct very rigorous experiments to see how the brain physically processes language. Others focus on more applied disciplines, like studying second language acquisition and implications for education or cognition. It's much more scientific field than many people think it is.)


----------



## limr

I have seen both kinds of students: those who don't necessarily need a higher degree and they struggle with the material. They also struggle with the fact that they don't want to be in school but they've been told over and over again that they HAVE TO get a college degree if they ever want "to be someone in life." Lord, if I a dime for every student who told me that was their goal.

However, I've also seen the student who has been told that college is unnecessary, that a college degree with take them away from their family and community, and they shouldn't be so "uppity". Their struggle is different. They come to school and worlds that they never knew existed have just opened up for them and they are so excited about new possibilities that they didn't think were possible for them.

What it comes down to is this: you have to educate the person who is in front of you and understand that each person's education is going to look differently from someone else's.


----------



## limr

I have one more 'rant' about college teachers, but that will have to wait


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr You likely gave this class more "useful" education then anything they had received up to that point. Good for you!. I believe colleges today have become more interested in filling seats, than actually preparing the student for making a living.
> 
> Sad world we live in today. I grew up in a rural farming community. During my high school days the parking lot was filled with a lot of trucks, most of which had a gun rack in the back window, and rifle or two. No one thought much about it, and going on a killing spree at your school wasn't even on the radar. Not sure what has changed in the mentality of those who now seem to idolize the evil.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You know how I feel about guns, so I won't go into it now, but I do respect that in the community you grew up in (my Dad's rural Minnesota upbringing too), guns have a place. As far as the types of guns...
> 
> Besides that piece though...kids have life come at them at speeds that you and I (even being significantly younger) can't understand. The immersion in technology, the viral nature of news, 24/7 connections with peers and whoever else -- comes at a significant cost. There is significant stress and anxiety (and I mean legitimately clinical) in the younger generations that didn't exist before. We don't have appropriate support systems in place to prevent some of these tragedies, and sometimes red tape gets in the way.
> 
> I have a kid who could become Nikolas Cruz in my B period class. I might have a future Adam Lanza in my D period class. I shout the alarm and beat the drum, but Nikolas's parents don't want him in counseling because it makes their family look bad, and Adam's parents don't believe there is a problem. As the first line of defense, I've done all I can.
> 
> The problem is incredibly complex, and for whatever reason, we aren't willing, as a country, to tackle the problem head on. We're still at the thoughts and prayers stage.
Click to expand...

Mary Lou, last night, was speaking to Gary about a kid that she considers a potential 'health hazard' to the school and/or the community in general. She reported him to the vice principal and to his case worker ... and nothing was done.  Part of Mary Lou's responsibilities is internships and she got the kid an internship.  The kid was hired after the internship and later fired.  He sent malevolent emails to his former employer alluding to violent acts.  His case worker requested him to stop ... but other than that, nothing  was done.  The kid is still in adult school and we taxpayers are footing his bill. Gary argued with Mary Lou that you can't apprehend a person for what you think might happened ... but that wasn't her point.  There was no intervention of any type.  None of us desire to live in a police state, but I think schools, all schools, should have a handful of psychologists on board whose job is to monitor students for potential violence.  They can roam around and sit in classrooms to observe, chat with kids at lunch, even monitor the classes via video cameras. Of course the videos and such are all confidential.  But in a public school the right to privacy should be significantly reduced in the wake of all this gun violence.  Without action, things will not get better.

(Gary recognizes that there are three strikes against his plan: 1) N**, 2) U***** and 3) T********.)

Maybe Gary should delete that last line because it may inflame a political discussion, contrary to the TOS ... okay he fixed it.


----------



## Gary A.

College isn't for everybody ... just as a trade isn't for everybody ... but if you do a job well, regardless of what that job maybe, you should be appreciated and given respect.

When Gary lived in Japan, he noticed that even the menial jobs were performed by those who were 'on top' of their work.  Not only were they on top of their work, but they were sharply dressed exuding a form of self respect.  They brought a certain dignity to their menial job.  Gary respected that.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT I agree that the problem is significantly more complex with multifaceted tendrils interwoven throughout daily life. We live in a world where tragedies are fodder for 24hr news for days. Kids play video games daily that glorify killing and maiming (I was almost 15 before I got to play Pong and over 21 for PacMan). Then you have the TV and Movies with their graphic special effects. In general there seems to be a desensitization of society. I saw a news report this morning on the FL kid, already they're trying to bring up his troubled past, the loss of his mother, etc. As if that should excuse him for his actions, but another commentator made a valid point, that once you cross the line from troubled youth to killer, it's to late. In our state as in many others there is no mental health help. The prisons are full of people that should be in a mental hospital, but there's no where to put them.

So yeah there's a lot of improving that needs to be done in everything from laws, to counseling, to awareness, to personal responsibity. Instead there will be a lot of talk and only minute action, just enough that politicians can look like they've done something.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr You likely gave this class more "useful" education then anything they had received up to that point. Good for you!. I believe colleges today have become more interested in filling seats, than actually preparing the student for making a living.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, I do believe the actual writing and critical thinking skills I had also taught them at that point were just as useful
> 
> It is true that for a long time, enrollment has been more important to a lot of schools. If you ever want to read how this has been manipulated for the past 20-30 years (and, incidentally, why student debt has blown up as a problem so quickly), read this: The Invisible Force Behind College Admissions
> 
> However, there have been important distinctions between kinds of schools and the conflict over what the 'real' purpose of higher education is or should be. For much of our history, higher education was effectively restricted to a very limited population (yes, I'm going to say it, but relax and don't get your panties in a bunch - I'm talking about rich white men.) Then, slowly, more people gained access.
> 
> The push for enrollments came along with the push for increased access to higher education for many more segments of the population. When the market started demanding training beyond high school, more people wanted to go to college, and colleges, of course, wanted people to choose their school.
> 
> More people gaining access to education is never a bad thing. The way they gain access is the question, of course, and the strategies used over the years have sometimes been controversial.
> 
> Thing about creating more access is you then have to figure out what to do with the students once they're in.
> 
> The good thing is that schools - at least community colleges, anyway - are starting the push to gain not just enrollments, but to put major effort into keeping and graduating students. The buzzwords in community colleges these days are 'strategic enrollment management' and 'guided pathways.'
> 
> Students need clear pathways and methods to get in, learn what they need to learn, and then move on, either to the workforce or to a 4-year institution. As a matter of fact, I'm in the thick of one of the initiatives at our school that will help do this.
> 
> I don't believe that college is nothing more than job training. There are important skills and experiences that students gain in college that are difficult to gain elsewhere. It's true that not everyone is cut out for the traditional 4-year liberal arts education, but that also doesn't mean it's useless to get an English degree just because there aren't as many job options as there are for someone with a Marketing degree. There may not be as many clear _direct _pathways - for example, a Marketing degree leads to a marketing job, but that person can have a choice of any number of companies, types of industries, etc. An English degree seemingly only leads to an English teaching position or maybe a writer. However, if we look at the skills learned in a liberal arts major, we'd see that many of them - thinking, writing, communicating, analyzing, researching - are skills that are transferrable to many kinds of job.
> 
> Of course, many employers see "English major" and believe the person is some kind of disorganized flakey poet who doesn't know how to be professional. So some of the issues with finding jobs isn't necessarily the English degree, but rather the wider society's view of what English majors are like. (I was not even an English major, but I have experienced this attitude quite explicitly on more than one occasion when people see on my resume that I teach in the English dept.)
> 
> My BA is in Linguistics. I may not have become a traditional academic, which would seem to be the obvious career path for such a major, but I have used that degree every day of my professional life, both the content and the skills I learned.
> 
> (And for the record, a linguist isn't someone who just speaks other languages or knows a bunch of grammar. A linguist is very much like an anthropologist or sociologist. We embark on scientific studies of how language works. We learn research methods and analysis. Some of us do field work to study other languages and cultures. Some go into neurolinguistics and conduct very rigorous experiments to see how the brain physically processes language. Others focus on more applied disciplines, like studying second language acquisition and implications for education or cognition. It's much more scientific field than many people think it is.)
Click to expand...

Well said.

I happen to know two people that went the English degree route and are both the stereotype that you describe. I scratched my head when the one said that they were disappointed that they couldn't find a job* in their field. Then, because of that, they decided to go on and get a master's degree in English, as well. Um, with the same results. See asterisk below.

I've also heard one person get extremely mad that no publishers would buy their work, despite sending out hundreds of letters and manuscripts a year to publishers. They were dumbfounded that they were always turned down, because they had the education and a masters in writing. "Ugh, like, why wouldn't they want my work, I have the education for it, my work speaks for itself!" Yeah, apparently not.

Similar to my field. My experience with some new engineers is that they expect to be working on really important things and be the center of attention just out of school without any effort or training. They don't know what they don't know, yet. It'll take them 5 or 6 years to start figuring this out, and then the rest of their careers trying to catch up. One young engineer-in-training working on a project with me asked why they couldn't do the writing, rather than just check the writing or do calculations. So, I said, "That's a very fair question, write these three sections for me." Well, they found out very quickly that they had no idea how to write the sections, despite having everything they needed in front of them, including previous templates they could have used. They just didn't have the experience or know-how that would be picked up over several years in the workforce.

Also, companies like mine could really use a technical editor. We have some, but they are usually people that have a science background. We usually don't have budget to send our reports to them, which is why they're not utilized often. That said, we all know this, but some people's writing is just atrocious. I'm not talking about bad grammar or spelling, but phrases disguised as sentences and a lack of transitions. It's amazing that they were able to get a resume together for the company to review.

*This one person has extremely high standards, which is why they still work as a barista (yeah, they're the full stereotype). They want to live and work in Manhattan as an editor for major publisher (which is really just until they get their writing career in full swing). With no prior experience, and no internships. *facepalm*


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> Also, companies like mine could really use a technical editor. We have some, but they are usually people that have a science background. We usually don't have budget to send our reports to them, which is why they're not utilized often. That said, we all know this, but some people's writing is just atrocious. I'm not talking about bad grammar or spelling, but phrases disguised as sentences and a lack of transitions. It's amazing that they were able to get a resume together for the company to review.



This was my first job out of college. I was a non-technical writing expert for a company that had testing and evaluation contracts with the US Navy. Why non-technical, you might ask? Well, they wanted to make sure the reports had minimal jargon and were able to be read and understood by the people who provide the funding to the military. Some of those people do have technical knowledge but many don't. My job was to interact with the test technicians to make sure that the high-level review teams could understand their conclusions. 

And yeah...I have a BA in English. I also knew that once I realized that I had no future in the editing world (its super jammin' boring) that I needed to specialize for my Master's. Law School might be next. Who knows.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Also, companies like mine could really use a technical editor. We have some, but they are usually people that have a science background. We usually don't have budget to send our reports to them, which is why they're not utilized often. That said, we all know this, but some people's writing is just atrocious. I'm not talking about bad grammar or spelling, but phrases disguised as sentences and a lack of transitions. It's amazing that they were able to get a resume together for the company to review.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This was my first job out of college. I was a non-technical writing expert for a company that had testing and evaluation contracts with the US Navy. Why non-technical, you might ask? Well, they wanted to make sure the reports had minimal jargon and were able to be read and understood by the people who provide the funding to the military. Some of those people do have technical knowledge but many don't. My job was to interact with the test technicians to make sure that the high-level review teams could understand their conclusions.
> 
> And yeah...I have a BA in English. I also knew that once I realized that I had no future in the editing world (its super jammin' boring) that I needed to specialize for my Master's. Law School might be next. Who knows.
Click to expand...

Gary evolved from journalism to environmental and construction consulting ... which in turn required significant writing. Gary, with his communications major, was humored by writing circles around the engineers who were unable to make their point(s).


----------



## davidharmier60

I was looking at 3 hours. She said "Oh the cobwebs". So almost 4.75 looking up and using a long feather duster. 

The last line of florescent lights is right over the checkout lanes. Neither checkers nor customers wanted me to continue. 
So I'll get that line in the morning. 

Going to see if the second bank in town has a box of pennies. If not I'll go to our bank. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is sorry that you fellow hosers do not have the benefit of Miss Maggie greeting you in the mornings.  Every single morning she will greet you with total unconditional happiness pouring out of every hair as she wiggles and wags and runs and jumps up to greet you saying "It is so great to see you so we can share this new day together and I know it will be GRAND!" 

Miss Maggie is the happiest creature Gary has even known.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> Some of those people do have technical knowledge but many don't. My job was to interact with the test technicians to make sure that the high-level review teams could understand their conclusions.


This is so important. It's easy to assume that others in the same field have a similar understanding. As an author of numerous reports, that is the most incorrect assumption I can make. I write out all of my acronyms. My goal is to write to a smart 8th grader--something my supervisor taught me.

As an engineer-in-training several years ago, I was talking once with a 50 year old licensed engineer from a regulatory agency. That engineer didn't know simple acronyms that are common throughout the field--things that I was taught in college. I was dumbfounded, but that was when I had the realization that I needed to literally spell everything out and introduce all topics like the reader has no idea what I'm talking about. 

In my field, I often cross paths with biologists, engineers in different concentrations, managers, clients, and regulators--usually on the same project. It's absolutely imperative that we're all on the same page--that can usually only happen with written word, which I am usually responsible for writing.

Technical (and non-technical) writers are so important to this process. I wish we had the budget to use them on every project.


----------



## Cortian

smoke665 said:


> Not sure what has changed in the mentality of those who now seem to idolize the evil.


Many things have contributed to create what we're seeing.  The incessant glorification of violence on TV, in movies, in game themes, in music, etc.  Children being brought up to believe there are no winners or losers, that there are no consequences to their actions and that they're "owed" success by the very fact of their existence.  (Then running into the Brick Wall of Reality.)  Everybody looking out for #1, regardless the cost to their own well-being and that of those around them.  People valuing _things_ over all else, quantity over quality, and now over a future.  People being lied-to constantly--by the government, by the "news" media (which is more entertainment than news), by the "education" system, and, worst of all, by themselves.  All the while knowing it and accepting it--as long as they're lies they like.

Somebody earlier said "only in America."  Not really.  It's just that here in the U.S. we're not seeing the whole of what's happening in the rest of the world.  (Re: "news," above.)

What we're seeing is a world going mad.  And the madder it gets the madder it gets.  Sounds like a tautology, but it's actually an expression of what's called, in engineering terms, a "positive feedback loop."  The effect appears to be accelerating because _it is_.

Did you know recent studies suggest people are becoming more stupid, and have been for some time?  I wish I was making it up.  One might question whether we're becoming more stupid as a result of the declines in society or the declines in society are a result of our becoming more stupid, but there's no denying both are occurring.  Lifespans are declining, too.

In other words, for all our advances in knowledge, science, and technology: Human civilization would appear to be in decline.

There might be a way out of this, but I certainly have no clue as to what it is


----------



## Gary A.

On coffee:
Gary has been roasting his coffee beans for awhile. Recently, Gary decided to revert back to Costco whole roasted coffee beans, a la 'Jose's', 100% Colombian Supremo. He remembered it as being quite good.  Best of all, it is fours bucks a pound and already roasted as opposed to the six-seven bucks a pound he pays for green beans. Because Gary's roaster only handles a small batch at a time, it takes a while to cook up the beans.  Gary figured he would get a twofer, lower price and pre-roasted by switching back to Costco.  Unfortunately, the Jose's beans and roasting to not match up to Gary's roasting.  Consequently, Gary will be back to home roasting. FYI- commercially roasted whole beans is at least a magnitude better than commercially roasted and ground bean.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Some of those people do have technical knowledge but many don't. My job was to interact with the test technicians to make sure that the high-level review teams could understand their conclusions.
> 
> 
> 
> This is so important. It's easy to assume that others in the same field have a similar understanding. As an author of numerous reports, that is the most incorrect assumption I can make. I write out all of my acronyms. My goal is to write to a smart 8th grader--something my supervisor taught me.
> 
> As an engineer-in-training several years ago, I was talking once with a 50 year old licensed engineer from a regulatory agency. That engineer didn't know simple acronyms that are common throughout the field--things that I was taught in college. I was dumbfounded, but that was when I had the realization that I needed to literally spell everything out and introduce all topics like the reader has no idea what I'm talking about.
> 
> In my field, I often cross paths with biologists, engineers in different concentrations, managers, clients, and regulators--usually on the same project. It's absolutely imperative that we're all on the same page--that can usually only happen with written word, which I am usually responsible for writing.
> 
> Technical (and non-technical) writers are so important to this process. I wish we had the budget to use them on every project.
Click to expand...

Gary, when he runs/consults on political campaigns, writes to a sixth grade level.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> On coffee:
> Gary has been roasting his coffee beans for awhile. Recently, Gary decided to revert back to Costco whole roasted coffee beans, a la 'Jose's', 100% Colombian Supremo. He remembered it as being quite good.  Best of all, it is fours bucks a pound and already roasted as opposed to the six-seven bucks a pound he pays for green beans. Because Gary's roaster only handles a small batch at a time, it takes a while to cook up the beans.  Gary figured he would get a twofer, lower price and pre-roasted by switching back to Costco.  Unfortunately, the Jose's beans and roasting to not match up to Gary's roasting.  Consequently, Gary will be back to home roasting. FYI- commercially roasted whole beans is at least a magnitude better than commercially roasted and ground bean.



Yup. A couple of pots of Cafe Bustelo, and my wife's complaining has stopped  .


----------



## tirediron

As a pointless aside, it's interesting to note the differences in terminology imposed by an imaginary line around 49N...  here, a degree-granting institution is a university (with the exception of military colleges), whereas a college (with rare exceptions) is a post-secondary institution that grants certificates.


----------



## Gary A.

Cortian said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure what has changed in the mentality of those who now seem to idolize the evil.
> 
> 
> 
> Many things have contributed to create what we're seeing.  The incessant glorification of violence on TV, in movies, in game themes, in music, etc.  Children being brought up to believe there are no winners or losers, that there are no consequences to their actions and that they're "owed" success by the very fact of their existence.  (Then running into the Brick Wall of Reality.)  Everybody looking out for #1, regardless the cost to their own well-being and that of those around them.  People valuing _things_ over all else, quantity over quality, and now over a future.  People being lied-to constantly--by the government, by the "news" media (which is more entertainment than news), by the "education" system, and, worst of all, by themselves.  All the while knowing it and accepting it--as long as they're lies they like.
> 
> Somebody earlier said "only in America."  Not really.  It's just that here in the U.S. we're not seeing the whole of what's happening in the rest of the world.  (Re: "news," above.)
> 
> What we're seeing is a world going mad.  And the madder it gets the madder it gets.  Sounds like a tautology, but it's actually an expression of what's called, in engineering terms, a "positive feedback loop."  The effect appears to be accelerating because _it is_.
> 
> Did you know recent studies suggest people are becoming more stupid, and have been for some time?  I wish I was making it up.  One might question whether we're becoming more stupid as a result of the declines in society or the declines in society are a result of our becoming more stupid, but there's no denying both are occurring.  Lifespans are declining, too.
> 
> In other words, for all our advances in knowledge, science, and technology: Human civilization would appear to be in decline.
> 
> There might be a way out of this, but I certainly have no clue as to what it is
Click to expand...

Gary disagrees with you on many points, largely because of the generalizations ... sorta hard to get to specifics in a chat room.  But, there is many more school type shooting here by students than anywhere else in the world.  And there are more mass shootings here by individuals than anywhere else in the world. By a big margin. 

Gary thinks the general school age population may be utilizing gaming videos for entertainment as opposed to reading, which the pre-computer generations tended to do.  Gary imagines that a poll taken comparing the Tv generation with pre-Tv generation would result in a similar result as the Tv crowd getting dumber.  Gary has only anecdotal stories, but it seems that the knowledge levels of standard testing have been lower now than in the past generations.  So, anecdotally, yeah, in general we as a people are getting dumber, but there is more than enough 'smart' people around to not put civilization at risk.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> As a pointless aside, it's interesting to note the differences in terminology imposed by an imaginary line around 49N...  here, a degree-granting institution is a university (with the exception of military colleges), whereas a college (with rare exceptions) is a post-secondary institution that grants certificates.


Here, in general conversation, college and university are interchangeable.


----------



## Cortian

Gary A. said:


> Gary disagrees with you on many points, largely because of the generalizations ... sorta hard to get to specifics in a chat room.


It's _very_ hard to get specific in a venue such as this.

I actually briefly considered adding cites for my many points.  But I've been in enough of these on-line discussions to know better by now 



Gary A. said:


> But, there is many more school type shooting here by students than anywhere else in the world.  And there are more mass shootings here by individuals than anywhere else in the world. By a big margin.


Thing is: School shootings aren't the only kinds of violence perpetrated on the populations of the world.  They're the ones we see, because what's billed as "news" in this country covers them.  In excruciating detail.  Complete with Dramatic Music.  Repeatedly.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> As a pointless aside, it's interesting to note the differences in terminology imposed by an imaginary line around 49N...  here, a degree-granting institution is a university (with the exception of military colleges), whereas a college (with rare exceptions) is a post-secondary institution that grants certificates.
> 
> 
> 
> Here, in general conversation, college and university are interchangeable.
Click to expand...


I don't know if its everywhere...but the _University_ of Connecticut has several different _schools and colleges_ within it. 

So I graduated from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, while my wife got her Master's from the Neag School of Education...School of Nursing, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, School of Engineering...etc etc etc


----------



## Cortian

waday said:


> Also, companies like mine could really use a technical editor. We have some, but they are usually people that have a science background.


Best technical editor with which I ever worked had a Journalism degree.  She taught me how to write 



JonA_CT said:


> This was my first job out of college. I was a non-technical writing expert for a company that had testing and evaluation contracts with the US Navy. Why non-technical, you might ask? Well, they wanted to make sure the reports had minimal jargon and were able to be read and understood by the people who provide the funding to the military.


That was one of the things I learned.  Technical exactness is all well and good, but if your readership can't understand it, what's the point?

So how it would go is I'd write my document, she'd bleed red all over it, I'd revise, re-submit, she'd mark it up again... There were some things upon which I wouldn't budge and some she wouldn't.  Between us we'd manage to get a document out that was sufficiently readable _and_ sufficiently accurate


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Not sure about people getting dumber, though it's not hard to think that given  today's society. As a whole i think kids coming up today know more. Maybe it's more of a lack of what we used to call "Horse Sense", and "Personal Responsibility".


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> I don't know if its everywhere...but the _University_ of Connecticut has several different _schools and colleges_ within it.
> 
> So I graduated from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, while my wife got her Master's from the Neag School of Education...School of Nursing, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, School of Engineering...etc etc etc


Most of our universities have schools within them which is essentially a division of the university relating to a specific field of study (eg nursing, business, medicine, law, et cetera).  Some of the larger colleges may as well, but in general, they tend to be smaller institutions.  There's a very distinct difference in speech; people are VERY careful to stress that they went to _*university, *_and while it's common to drop the 'college' (eg "I went to Camosun [College]), people almost never drop the "university"....  I went to Simon Fraser  *university*!


----------



## Cortian

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. Not sure about people getting dumber, though it's not hard to think that given  today's society. Maybe it's more of a lack of what we used to call "Horse Sense", and "Personal Responsibility".


No, some studies suggest people, world-wide, are actually getting dumber.  E.g.: Are we getting more stupid? Researchers claim our intelligence is diminishing as we no longer need it to survive

There are, of course, other studies that claim the opposite.  All any of us can do is study the arguments, look at the evidence before our eyes, and choose what to believe.

I observe that decades of certain social theories being advanced, and society making changes to accommodate those theories, has given us a society that is a lot less civil and a lot more violent than the one in which I was raised.  As an individual who subscribes to the belief that when you're in a hole the best thing to do is stop digging, I have to assume there's a reason we do not.

Increasing stupidity seems as good an explanation as any.

It's either that or alien mind rays, chem trails or the like.  (Cue _X Files_ theme...)


----------



## tirediron

Cortian said:


> Increasing stupidity seems as good an explanation as any.
> 
> It's either that or alien mind rays, chem trails or the like.  (Cue _X Files_ theme...)


Gotta go with Smoke on this...  people aren't getting stupider, they're losing common sense.  While I can't vouch for the veracity of the report, it was on CBC indicating that while staff were trying to evacuate students to safety during the Florida shooting yesterday, s_everal of them stopped to take "selfies"_. The defence rests!


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's mild today and I'm sitting here listening to the kids at recess at the school up the street. There's a certain amount of squealing today, which might be due to the cold weather all of a sudden getting warmer and they got let out! lol 

But I was just reading an article talking about schools using a pouch someone designed to hold phones and they have to keep them in there. Said they didn't know what to do with their hands at first, but adjusted to it, and there's more noise etc. because kids are talking and socializing/playing (which is part of kids' development). And I thought, how young do kids in that district in the article have phones for pete's sake?? Maybe schools should issue phones like they do laptops, that can only send/receive texts or calls to and from school, parents, and 911, that's all they need (if even that, while they're at school). Then parents can manage their personal cells like they do computer time. If they do, which many won't, but responsible parents will. Just like in the past most parents managed their kids' play time and their homework time etc.

Whether it's computers or phones, or in the past gaming or Walkmans or TV, it needs to be managed. I don't think people are dumber, but I think they're more distracted and don't have their minds on what they're doing or aren't noticing what's happening around them. There's a limit to it or should be (and some adults could use some self control on it themselves.)

I started hearing whistles, and I'm not sure what game they're playing on the playground, but it seems to be a game where they run around, squeal, squeal louder, then there's a whistle, then it gets quiet. Then it starts over... they are going in soon aren't they?? lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

The Daily Mail is a tabloid. Out of the UK. They don't do research. They're clickbait. 

They now have a TV show, which from commercials I've seen locally seems to be mostly celebrity gossip. I looked it up and forget now which celebrity out of the UK is the owner (or part owner) of that tabloid, but that I think explains why it's getting widespread now in the US. It's a tabloid, but it's not at the end of the grocery aisle with headlines about two headed martian babies, it's sneaking in online hoping people won't realize what it is.


----------



## Cortian

vintagesnaps said:


> The Daily Mail is a tabloid.


Yes, but the article is based upon a study done by researchers at Stanford University.  There've been other studies done on the subject that came to similar conclusions.  And it's been reported in other tabloids, such as this one:  People Getting People Getting Dumber? Human Intelligence Has Declined Since Victorian Era, Research Suggests


----------



## Gary A.

Cortian said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary disagrees with you on many points, largely because of the generalizations ... sorta hard to get to specifics in a chat room.
> 
> 
> 
> It's _very_ hard to get specific in a venue such as this.
> 
> I actually briefly considered adding cites for my many points.  But I've been in enough of these on-line discussions to know better by now
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> But, there is many more school type shooting here by students than anywhere else in the world.  And there are more mass shootings here by individuals than anywhere else in the world. By a big margin.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thing is: School shootings aren't the only kinds of violence perpetrated on the populations of the world.  They're the ones we see, because what's billed as "news" in this country covers them.  In excruciating detail.  Complete with Dramatic Music.  Repeatedly.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, electronic news leans heavily towards entertainment.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Apparently yesterday when the fire alarm went off at the school in Florida it was the second time that day. So, many of the kids seemed to think it was just the alarm wasn't working right or whatever and didn't realize at first what was happening. Maybe that's why they were playing with their phones taking selfies. I don't see that in the article linked, but anyway having done plenty of fire drills, if it's the second time it's gone off, I'm not surprised if kids were messing with their phones or horsing around and not taking it seriously at first.

I've had that happen, where we'd already had the fire drill, and there goes the alarm again, and eventually they come over the PA to tell us it's not working or it's being worked on so just disregard it. By that point you're not thinking it's anything to be concerned about.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> As a pointless aside, it's interesting to note the differences in terminology imposed by an imaginary line around 49N...  here, a degree-granting institution is a university (with the exception of military colleges), whereas a college (with rare exceptions) is a post-secondary institution that grants certificates.
> 
> 
> 
> Here, in general conversation, college and university are interchangeable.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I don't know if its everywhere...but the _University_ of Connecticut has several different _schools and colleges_ within it.
> 
> So I graduated from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, while my wife got her Master's from the Neag School of Education...School of Nursing, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, School of Engineering...etc etc etc
Click to expand...

Gary believes that here, the difference between a college and a university is accreditation and the level of degree(s) the institution can deliver.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Cortian said:
> 
> 
> 
> Increasing stupidity seems as good an explanation as any.
> 
> It's either that or alien mind rays, chem trails or the like.  (Cue _X Files_ theme...)
> 
> 
> 
> Gotta go with Smoke on this...  people aren't getting stupider, they're losing common sense.  While I can't vouch for the veracity of the report, it was on CBC indicating that while staff were trying to evacuate students to safety during the Florida shooting yesterday, s_everal of them stopped to take "selfies"_. The defence rests!
Click to expand...

Gary thinks the arguement would be best served with “... people are getting more ignorant”.


----------



## Cortian

Gary A. said:


> Unfortunately, electronic news leans heavily towards entertainment.


I'd argue _all_ "news" does, these days, Gary.

Back when I was a Very Young Man there was a local radio station over in Windsor going by the call sign "CKLW."  Their "news" was a running joke in the area, because they presented it Very Dramatically, Complete With Dramatic Theme Music.  Now they _all_ do it.

After going though all three major U.S. broadcast networks' offerings (currently ABC), I'm starting to get to the point of not even finishing watching the Evening "News."  I imagine I'll soon get to the point that I don't even turn it on.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Gary only mentioned the mental portion of addressing this troubling problem.  In addition to mental health, there must also be a gun control portion for a comprehensive approached to the problem.


----------



## SquarePeg

Jeesh - a bunch of old timers bemoaning “kids today”...how cliche can we get?


----------



## Gary A.

Cortian said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Unfortunately, electronic news leans heavily towards entertainment.
> 
> 
> 
> I'd argue _all_ "news" does, these days, Gary.
> 
> Back when I was a Very Young Man there was a local radio station over in Windsor going by the call sign "CKLW."  Their "news" was a running joke in the area, because they presented it Very Dramatically, Complete With Dramatic Theme Music.  Now they _all_ do it.
> 
> After going though all three major U.S. broadcast networks' offerings (currently ABC), I'm starting to get to the point of not even finishing watching the Evening "News."  I imagine I'll soon get to the point that I don't even turn it on.
Click to expand...

Aaahhh, that is all electronic news.  An hour of electronic news is pretty much equal to one page of a newspaper.


----------



## SquarePeg

We can’t have a gun control debate in this forum as it always turns nasty and political. But the subscribers forum is open to any such discussion. Please feel free to take a gun control conversation to the subscribers forum.  We need to keep the public discussion about this issue going.   

thank you


----------



## Cortian

Gary A. said:


> PS- Gary only mentioned the mental portion of addressing this troubling problem.  In addition to mental health, there must also be a gun control portion for a comprehensive approached to the problem.


You would be amazed at the number of firearms laws there are already, Gary.  You would probably be equally amazed at how badly they're enforced.

But, at this point, I'm going to bow out of this conversation.  In fact this entire thread, as it's been my experience that incidents such as this most recent one, and the conversations that result tend to generate a lot of bad blood, and I came here to share and learn about photography.

So henceforth I'm going to confine my contributions, such as they are, to photography-related ones.

Y'all have a good rest of the day


----------



## vintagesnaps

The article starts out saying this is a 'provocative new study' which tells you right there that it's controversial or maybe unreliable or possibly based on unsupported information.

That study was done at the University of Amsterdam. There was a quote from someone at Stanford talking about how intelligence changed when cities and agriculture started 5000 to 12,000 years ago. (OK, whatever... whoever wrote the article for whatever reason got a quote from someone at a university and asked who knows what question to get that response!) 

Then it goes on to say that the study looked at 14 intelligence studies between the late 1800s and last decade - do you know how much of a drop in the bucket that number of studies would be?? Next to none, I don't know how many studies on intelligence have been done but I know I've read enough journals and enough research just on intelligence of infants and toddlers that there would be lots and lots of total studies!! 

Anyway, you can't go by just any one study; there's probably a study done that could support just about anything so you need to look at the body of research. 

My high school journalism was better than that article in HuffPo, that was poorly researched. An English teacher would probably rip it to shreds with a red pen. And cleverer isn't a word.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Finally curling is on. Sweeep! hard hard hard!!! I like Team Norway's style, they like flamboyant pants.


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> While I can't vouch for the veracity of the report, it was on CBC indicating that while staff were trying to evacuate students to safety during the Florida shooting yesterday, s_everal of them stopped to take "selfies"_.



I watched a couple of interviews with students who said there were several taking selfies and using Snapchat. The ones talking weren't sure the others were in fact aware of the seriousness of what was going on, only commented that while there had been a drill earlier they should have realized this was much different.

@Gary A. If your state is even remotely like ours, then the availability of help for those truly in need, is pretty much slim and none. Here even when an individual is committed to one of the only two facilities in the state, the Attorneys, Deputies even the Judges, joke they should have a pool to bet on which one gets back to town first - The Deputy or the person committed. Now the prisons are under fire for segregating mentally ill from the general population. There is no solution on the horizon for mental health, until taxpayers are willing to fund the facilities. I would however say that your comments are simplistic in nature, because it is more than just the two areas you mention. I blame parents for a lack of parenting, and not properly supervising their children, I blame the movie and TV industry for the violence they portray, I blame the electronic game makers for the ever increasing violence they bring, I blame City, State and Federal authorities for not doing a better job of enforcing the regulations we already have and the list goes on. There's so much blame to go around, that it's like the mythical Hydra, it's going to take more than cutting off one or two of the heads.


----------



## waday

My hand touched the toilet seat at work by accident.

Please excuse me while I go cut my hand off.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary hates when that happens to him. Over the years he’s had to replace a number of hands.


----------



## davidharmier60

Common sense is no longer common. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> My hand touched the toilet seat at work by accident.
> 
> Please excuse me while I go cut my hand off.



I'm pretty careful about that, but do you not have soap and water???? Might be a little less drastic LOL


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Gary hates when that happens to him. Over the years he’s had to replace a number of hands.


This made me LOL



smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> My hand touched the toilet seat at work by accident.
> 
> Please excuse me while I go cut my hand off.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm pretty careful about that, but do you not have soap and water???? Might be a little less drastic LOL
Click to expand...

Better safe than sorry.


----------



## davidharmier60

When I am freshly done cleaning a bathroom you could conceivably lick the seat. Let a customer or two get in and ALL BETS ARE OFF. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> When I am freshly done cleaning a bathroom you could conceivably lick the seat.



I think I'll have to take your word on that David. Reminds me of a clip from "No Time For Sergeants"


----------



## limr

Hosers.

I thought I might be lucky. I was already sick this winter but was feeling recovered and strong. I wash my hands all the time at work. People have been good about calling out sick so they don't spread the germs.

I think I woke up with the flu this morning.

Crap.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Hosers.
> 
> I thought I might be lucky. I was already sick this winter but was feeling recovered and strong. I wash my hands all the time at work. People have been good about calling out sick so they don't spread the germs.
> 
> I think I woke up with the flu this morning.
> 
> Crap.



It’s been taking lots of teachers and students out for an entire week at my school.

So hopefully you’re wrong.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> My hand touched the toilet seat at work by accident.
> 
> Please excuse me while I go cut my hand off.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm pretty careful about that, but do you not have soap and water???? Might be a little less drastic LOL
Click to expand...

Often, it takes much more than mere soap and water ...


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hosers.
> 
> I thought I might be lucky. I was already sick this winter but was feeling recovered and strong. I wash my hands all the time at work. People have been good about calling out sick so they don't spread the germs.
> 
> I think I woke up with the flu this morning.
> 
> Crap.





Sorry. Let’s hope you’re wrong.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Hosers.
> 
> I thought I might be lucky. I was already sick this winter but was feeling recovered and strong. I wash my hands all the time at work. People have been good about calling out sick so they don't spread the germs.
> 
> I think I woke up with the flu this morning.
> 
> Crap.


----------



## Gary A.

_Color of Water ... _OMG, movie of the year!

What a movie. Stupid plot but so well crafted ... so much detail ... so correctly time period ... wonderful writing ... so full of emotion ... nearly flawless.  At a minimum - Five Stars.

What was fun, was Mary Lou and Gary attended the 12:40 showing.  The theatre was completely empty.  So we chatted in normal voices.  At the end of the movie we danced in the aisle to the closing music and credits.

Mary Lou's and Gary Oscar's choice for Best Movie.


----------



## limr

Chest cough that feels like a knife through my lungs, chills, aches, fatigue, and as of 1 minute ago, a fever of 100.4. 

I think I am right, unfortunately


----------



## vintagesnaps

Uh-oh, Leo, aches and chills, that just sounds feverish whatever the thermometer says, you might need to get to a doctor in the morning. Take care.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sharon thinks The Jimmy on Seinfeld is a funny episode.

Sharon thinks Wade needs to keep some hand sanitizer at work. And in his car. And a travel size one in a pocket.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ...I think I am right,


Nooooooooo... what you are is SICK!  Please wash your keyboard frequently when posting.

Thank-you


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Hosers.
> 
> I thought I might be lucky. I was already sick this winter but was feeling recovered and strong. I wash my hands all the time at work. People have been good about calling out sick so they don't spread the germs.
> 
> I think I woke up with the flu this morning.
> 
> Crap.


Sorry to hear this


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Sharon thinks The Jimmy on Seinfeld is a funny episode.
> 
> Sharon thinks Wade needs to keep some hand sanitizer at work. And in his car. And a travel size one in a pocket.


I have one at my desk at work and in my car! 

Maybe I should consider on for my pocket...


----------



## Gary A.

Another perfect day ... ‘70F-ish, blue skie and well defined clouds.  Gary just came in from picking some oranges.  Mary Lou cut them up into bite size, Gary poured some wine while we settle in for the evening news.


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m tired of the Olympics, there’s nothing else on tv and I’m not in the mood to read...anyone have any new Netflix or Prine recommendations?


----------



## JonA_CT

E-filed my taxes. We should have a child every year.


----------



## davidharmier60

I've taken quite a liking to curling.
Y'all have a nice night and a good tomorrow.

Sweet dreams. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> I’m tired of the Olympics, there’s nothing else on tv and I’m not in the mood to read...anyone have any new Netflix or Prine recommendations?


The new Stranger Things?


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> E-filed my taxes. We should have a child every year.


That’s okay with Gary, just don’t move out here.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I’m tired of the Olympics, there’s nothing else on tv and I’m not in the mood to read...anyone have any new Netflix or Prine recommendations?


Catastrophe on Prime is pretty good. I love Master of None on Netflix.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Chest cough that feels like a knife through my lungs, chills, aches, fatigue, and as of 1 minute ago, a fever of 100.4.
> 
> I think I am right, unfortunately


Poor Leo.   It sounds terrible.   Go get swabbed to know for sure, and maybe you can get Tamiflu asap.  It can greatly reduce your symptoms, at least.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> _Color of Water ... _OMG, movie of the year!
> 
> What a movie. Stupid plot but so well crafted ... so much detail ... so correctly time period ... wonderful writing ... so full of emotion ... nearly flawless.  At a minimum - Five Stars.
> 
> What was fun, was Mary Lou and Gary attended the 12:40 showing.  The theatre was completely empty.  So we chatted in normal voices.  At the end of the movie we danced in the aisle to the closing music and credits.
> 
> Mary Lou's and Gary Oscar's choice for Best Movie.


Is this script from the McBride book of the same name?   I didn't know it was made into a movie.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Chest cough that feels like a knife through my lungs, chills, aches, fatigue, and as of 1 minute ago, a fever of 100.4.
> 
> I think I am right, unfortunately



Sorry, flu sucks


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> E-filed my taxes. We should have a child every year.



Sleep is overrated. Lol


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _Color of Water ... _OMG, movie of the year!
> 
> What a movie. Stupid plot but so well crafted ... so much detail ... so correctly time period ... wonderful writing ... so full of emotion ... nearly flawless.  At a minimum - Five Stars.
> 
> What was fun, was Mary Lou and Gary attended the 12:40 showing.  The theatre was completely empty.  So we chatted in normal voices.  At the end of the movie we danced in the aisle to the closing music and credits.
> 
> Mary Lou's and Gary Oscar's choice for Best Movie.
> 
> 
> 
> Is this script from the McBride book of the same name?   I didn't know it was made into a movie.
Click to expand...

I don’t think so.  The original story was co-written by the director, Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Tired of the Olympics??!?! but - but - there's more curling! and hockey. D'ya mean that isn't for everyone? lol Actually I think daytime or late night is better than prime time.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Do you know, we're just under 30 pages away from 3000??!!!!!!!! Are we going to party or what! I'm not sure what that says about us in the Coffeehouse however.


----------



## smoke665

I'll add one more


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I’m tired of the Olympics, there’s nothing else on tv and I’m not in the mood to read...anyone have any new Netflix or Prine recommendations?
> 
> 
> 
> The new Stranger Things?
Click to expand...


Seen it.  Loved it.  



waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I’m tired of the Olympics, there’s nothing else on tv and I’m not in the mood to read...anyone have any new Netflix or Prine recommendations?
> 
> 
> 
> Catastrophe on Prime is pretty good. I love Master of None on Netflix.
Click to expand...


Will check those out for tomorrow thanks.



vintagesnaps said:


> Tired of the Olympics??!?! but - but - there's more curling! and hockey. D'ya mean that isn't for everyone? lol Actually I think daytime or late night is better than prime time.



Zzzzz... zzzz...zzzzz


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Do you know, we're just under 30 pages away from 3000??!!!!!!!! Are we going to party or what! I'm not sure what that says about us in the Coffeehouse however.



Next week we’re gonna party like it’s 2999


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg: Get Out


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg: Unleashed


----------



## Frank F.

I went window shopping

1) window of the goldsmith's workshop



2) window of a fashion store




lots more, but not now (work) and not here (other thread)


----------



## Gary A.

Frank ... the man with the odd Eye.    Love the first.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another day ... and Miss Maggies is still the happiest creature on Earth.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

I did not go into work today. Duh. I feel asleep on the couch at 8, woke up around 11, and took nearly 45 minutes to get myself to bed. Each stage was a process that required gathering my energy, performing the stage, then resting. Went to bed and slept solidly, except for a few brief moments, for about 9-10 hours. Once again, getting out of bed was a bit of a process. Still had a fever and so I took some Advil and now I'm getting hot.

I guess it's time to figure out how daytime television has changed since my days working night classes


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> I did not go into work today. Duh. I feel asleep on the couch at 8, woke up around 11, and took nearly 45 minutes to get myself to bed. Each stage was a process that required gathering my energy, performing the stage, then resting. Went to bed and slept solidly, except for a few brief moments, for about 9-10 hours. Once again, getting out of bed was a bit of a process. Still had a fever and so I took some Advil and now I'm getting hot.
> 
> I guess it's time to figure out how daytime television has changed since my days working night classes


My folks used to tell me if I was well enough to watch Tv, I was well enough to go to school. 

Gary is glad that you're at least somewhat up and about.


----------



## Gary A.

Last night Gary ordered five pounds of green Brazilian coffee beans.  This morning it has shipped. Soon, Gary can get back to sipping his five star custom coffee, roasted via his popcorn popper.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. that didn't take long to get tired of Costco coffee. LOL


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. that didn't take long to get tired of Costco coffee. LOL


Jose's Whole Colombian used to be very good and is priced even better.  Gary drank Jose's for years ... then he started roasting at home ... now Jose's tastes more like Denny's coffee served up from a dented Bunn coffee pot.


----------



## davidharmier60

5 hours and a couple minutes today. 
Buffer was up. Found out the Professional floor guys don't do the non slip areas.
Some tire tracks etc. Made a mess of the part where a lot of people come in.
I'm going to to that part much wetter in the morning and see if I can make it look decent. 

I thought I had $100 saved. It was actually $90. It will be used for fuel to go see my Aunt on Sunday. But I'll get it back on Monday. 

Have a nice day y'all. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Frank ... the man with the odd Eye.    Love the first.




I see things others do not see (and I am proud of it)


----------



## smoke665

In the wake of all the bad things going on with kids. Here's an outstanding idea by a teacher. Not sure why this isn't being done by more, so simple. One Teacher’s Brilliant Strategy to Stop Future School Shootings | Reader's Digest sometimes it isn't about doing more, it's about being smarter with what you do.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another day ... and Miss Maggies is still the happiest creature on Earth.



whoever is your an Mary Lou's dog is in heaven for sure!


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> I did not go into work today. Duh. I feel asleep on the couch at 8, woke up around 11, and took nearly 45 minutes to get myself to bed. Each stage was a process that required gathering my energy, performing the stage, then resting. Went to bed and slept solidly, except for a few brief moments, for about 9-10 hours. Once again, getting out of bed was a bit of a process. Still had a fever and so I took some Advil and now I'm getting hot.
> 
> I guess it's time to figure out how daytime television has changed since my days working night classes




I try to sleep ahead with two nights of nocturnal club activity upcoming. Interference of my noisy kids who have friends visiting nd delivery men and nice neighbours dropping by unannounced. Hope to catch two hours after a week of tiring work


----------



## davidharmier60

Something to ponder....

After clocking out I went to the Deli to have biscuits and sausage gravy. Outside of a window a Mom put her little girl on a coin op merry go round.  The little girl was as happy as a pig in ****.

How do we get from that beautiful scene to what happened in Florida?

I think the 24/7/365 media has a LOT to do with it. The bad actors KNOW they will be famous (or infamous as the case may be).

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

It's Friday.


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm holding up a Coach purse that I sold on Craigslist. Webster is going to bust me. He doesn't approve, what a Mama's boy....


----------



## davidharmier60

Pepe doesn't approve of much at all.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh joy. Another day. 
Good (by my low standards) mug of coffee to try and get happy. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

last night with my mobile phone

1)Technics




2) DeeJay


----------



## jcdeboever

It's going to be a balmy 32° today and overcast. I'm heading to Ann Arbor with my Nikon FM, 35mm f2D, TriX 400 metered for 800. Hope to shoot a complete roll. Still have never shot a full 36 exposure in one outing. My goal is to get a few street shots, some reflections, and some abstracts. Maybe add in a project shot if @SquarePeg has the next one sorted. Don't see anything for the coming week yet.


----------



## smoke665

The good news for us is that temperatures are moving into the mid to high 70's this week. The bad news is the rain will continue for the foreseeable future.


----------



## SquarePeg

My cousin’s youngest son, in his early 30’s, passed away yesterday.  He had the flu which turned into pneumonia and then he developed a septic infection while in the hospital and his organs shut down. He had some health factors that put him at greater risk than others his age - smoking and drug addiction, but nothing that prepared his family for the speed at which this all took place.  He had recently been through rehab and was getting his life together.  He had a wife and two very young children.  This flu season is nothing to mess around with.  Please don’t wait to see a doctor if you’re sick.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> My cousin’s youngest son, in his early 30’s, passed away yesterday.  He had the flu which turned into pneumonia and then he developed a septic infection while in the hospital and his organs shut down. He had some health factors that put him at greater risk than others his age - smoking and drug addiction, but nothing that prepared his family for the speed at which this all took place.  He had recently been through rehab and was getting his life together.  He had a wife and two very young children.  This flu season is nothing to mess around with.  Please don’t wait to see a doctor if you’re sick.



Jesus. I'm so sorry, Sharon.


----------



## waday

@SquarePeg I’m so sorry to hear this!


----------



## davidharmier60

Very sorry squarepeg!
5 minutes under 4 hours today. 
Made up by 5 minutes over yesterday. 
Someone had mopped and made what I was going to do look great.
In a while we are going to get a rental car for tomorrow. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> My cousin’s youngest son, in his early 30’s, passed away yesterday.  He had the flu which turned into pneumonia and then he developed a septic infection while in the hospital and his organs shut down. He had some health factors that put him at greater risk than others his age - smoking and drug addiction, but nothing that prepared his family for the speed at which this all took place.  He had recently been through rehab and was getting his life together.  He had a wife and two very young children.  This flu season is nothing to mess around with.  Please don’t wait to see a doctor if you’re sick.




Holy Cow, these Virusses can be really bad, and septic infections are quite common amd lead to death in one third of cases.. My condolences for the family!


----------



## JonA_CT

I brewed a batch of beer this morning before the snow comes.

The forecast is always tricky here because we are in Long Island Sound, so rain mixes in frequently in winter storms. So if it doesn’t, they’re saying 6-8 inches. If it does, 1-3. Not much of a difference honestly...it’s gonna be in the 40s tomorrow and the 50-60s Monday and Tuesday, so it’s be gone almost as quickly as it comes down.


----------



## SquarePeg

Thank you all for the condolences.  



JonA_CT said:


> I brewed a batch of beer this morning before the snow comes.
> 
> The forecast is always tricky here because we are in Long Island Sound, so rain mixes in frequently in winter storms. So if it doesn’t, they’re saying 6-8 inches. If it does, 1-3. Not much of a difference honestly...it’s gonna be in the 40s tomorrow and the 50-60s Monday and Tuesday, so it’s be gone almost as quickly as it comes down.



I think you’ll be ok.  My new snowblower magic is still going strong.


----------



## Cortian

limr said:


> Chest cough that feels like a knife through my lungs, chills, aches, fatigue, and as of 1 minute ago, a fever of 100.4.
> 
> I think I am right, unfortunately


*ick*

*My* protocol for such things (YMMV):

Rest.  Plenty of rest.  I mean doing _absolutely nothing_.
Lots of fluids, esp. fruit juice.
Chicken soup.  Yes, really.  (Short of home-made, I like Mrs. Grass Chicken Noodle)

2000mg/day of vitamin C
Sinus rinses with slightly-warmed salt water, as-necessary
Steaming with chamomile 2-3 times/day, as-necessary
An anti-histamine with decongestant, as-necessary (e.g.: Zyrtec-D is Part I of my personal "nuclear option")
NyQuil at bedtime, as-necessary (Part II of my personal "nuclear option")
Vicks Sinex to relieve nasal congestion, as-necessary (Part III of my personal "nuclear option") 
Upon reading and recommendations we have elderberry extract on-hand, as well.  Chamomile and elderberry are claimed to have anti-viral properties.

Personally, I'm wary of Tamiflu.  This only reinforced my doubts:  Tamiflu and Abnormal Behavior

You'll observe that I resort to artificially-created remedies only as a last resort.  It has generally been _my personal experience_ that they do as much harm as they do good.  This goes doubly for antibiotics, which I almost never take, any more.


----------



## Cortian

SquarePeg said:


> I’m tired of the Olympics, there’s nothing else on tv and I’m not in the mood to read...anyone have any new Netflix or Prine recommendations?


What kinds of things do you like?

If you like Westerns, Netflix currently has _Hell On Wheels_.  My wife and I love it and are just finishing it up.  (N.B.: It can be pretty violent.)

Some others we both enjoyed, off the top of me pointy little head...

_Stranger Things_
_Burn Notice_
_Justified_

_Breaking Bad _(N.B.: Can be awfully dark)

_Rake_
_Longmire_
_Father Brown_
_Doc Martin_
_Agatha Christie's Poirot_
_Murdoch Mysteries_
_The Almighty Johnsons_
_Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries_
_Dark Matter_
_Death In Paradise_
_The Finder_
_Merlin_
Most of them are, or were, on Netflix.  _Justified_ was for sure on AP.


----------



## smoke665

Cortian said:


> *My* protocol for such things (YMMV):
> 
> Rest. Plenty of rest. I mean doing _absolutely nothing_.
> Lots of fluids, esp. fruit juice.
> Chicken soup. Yes, really. (Short of home-made, I like Mrs. Grass Chicken Noodle)
> 
> 2000mg/day of vitamin C
> Sinus rinses with slightly-warmed salt water, as-necessary
> Steaming with chamomile 2-3 times/day, as-necessary
> An anti-histamine with decongestant, as-necessary (e.g.: Zyrtec-D is Part I of my personal "nuclear option")
> NyQuil at bedtime, as-necessary (Part II of my personal "nuclear option")
> Vicks Sinex to relieve nasal congestion, as-necessary (Part III of my personal "nuclear option")



On the advice of my pulmonologist  I take Zyrtec D year round in conjunction with my other asthma Smedications. Sort of a preemptive strike on anything that might cause a problem. Your post though brought back memories of my Grandmother and her "home remedies". One of her favorites if you were congested, was to rub your chest and back with Vicks Salve then wrap a hot sock around your neck just before bed. I remember it worked surprisingly well, but man did it stink.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> My cousin’s youngest son, in his early 30’s, passed away yesterday.  He had the flu which turned into pneumonia and then he developed a septic infection while in the hospital and his organs shut down. He had some health factors that put him at greater risk than others his age - smoking and drug addiction, but nothing that prepared his family for the speed at which this all took place.  He had recently been through rehab and was getting his life together.  He had a wife and two very young children.  This flu season is nothing to mess around with.  Please don’t wait to see a doctor if you’re sick.


My condolences, Sharon, to you and your family.    You're exactly right about this flu season being particularly ugly, especially to anyone with any kind of compromised immune system.    My sympathies.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> ...wrap a hot sock around your neck ....


Clean, or fresh off the foot?


----------



## davidharmier60

Believe wholeheartedly in Nyquil!
Have never had Zertec.
Fortunately hardly ever get anything worse than the crud.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Cortian

Just dropped on the floor a plastic Tupperware-kind-of-a-thing containing re-heated home-made gourmet mac & cheese.  What a mess.  Cheese sauce every-freaking-where.  *sigh*...

Thank God for small favours: At least I didn't get to this room, where there's carpeting.


----------



## Gary A.

My condolences Peg.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'd started this comment about what was happening the other day, and realized it applies to lots of things - there's a lot out there that's clickbait, not actual media sources; they often regurgitate and sensationalize what else is out there, or cite sources that are outdated or have a lack of factual or scientific basis. It's unfortunate there's a lot out there trying hard to get people's attention. Many websites show what their ownership seems to believe or what they want to present and seem to want people to believe them more than they provide reliable information.

Anyway, I had the flu when I was younger long before we had flu shots, and remember sleeping all day and could barely get up and make it back to bed. So yeah, I've been getting a flu shot since they've had them (they were offered thru work since we worked with kids). Particularly after a stroke, they don't want you getting down sick for any length of time, so I get a flu shot and they started me on pneumonia shots way younger than usual; I go by what the doctor says before I take anything. Although a home remedy can help you feel better. 

I hope Leo is doing better, now we'll worry about her til we hear, this seems to be a bad winter for illness.

Sharon, sorry to hear about that, condolences to your cousin. I can't imagine what that's like to lose someone that young.


----------



## Cortian

SquarePeg said:


> My cousin’s youngest son, in his early 30’s, passed away yesterday.  He had the flu which turned into pneumonia and then he developed a septic infection while in the hospital and his organs shut down.


My condolences, SP


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...wrap a hot sock around your neck ....
> 
> 
> 
> Clean, or fresh off the foot?
Click to expand...


I'm not sure it would have mattered as my Grandma, believed that "The more the Vicks the better". LOL

@vintagesnaps I had a really bad case of the flu about 20 years ago. I've been getting a flu shot every years since they came out. About 3 years ago I contracted pneumonia, that put me in the hospital for a week. I now have my pneumonia shots up to date. In both cases I thought I was going to die, so  I'll gladly put up with the minor inconvenience of getting the shots.


----------



## Cortian

The family CFO wants me to go with her to Costco.  Since I didn't get any grief for buying the used ProMaster HGX UV filter for my 17-85mm lens, _despite_ being asked to at least temporarily stop spending money on camera gear (though it's arguable which came first), I will gladly do so.  It's the least I can do


----------



## smoke665

Took an interesting ride earlier this afternoon. Hadn't been up to the back side of our property since December and the rain finally let up enough that I could ride the 4 wheeler. As I came out of the woods into the clearing at the very back, I ran into one of my friends and neighbors doing the same thing. There are miles and miles of trails and firelanes running through everyone's property, and we don't mind neighbors enjoying them. Unfortunately they're like a giant maze that's easy to get lost in. I spent biggest part of a day one time, lost and hadn't venture  in since. My neighbor on the other hand has traveled them since childhood, so he served as my guide for a long ride. Good thing as after the first dozen or so turns, I was lost. Nice ride with stops along the way as he explained the history and legends along the way.


----------



## davidharmier60

My Sister made awesome Chicken soup last evening. Going to have more of it here directly. Seems the least I can do considering I have no doctor.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

@SquarePeg I'm so sorry  My condolences to you and your family. A sudden death like this is always hard; I can't imagine how much harder it is for the family when someone dies so young.



Cortian said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Chest cough that feels like a knife through my lungs, chills, aches, fatigue, and as of 1 minute ago, a fever of 100.4.
> 
> I think I am right, unfortunately
> 
> 
> 
> *ick*
> 
> *My* protocol for such things (YMMV):
> 
> Rest.  Plenty of rest.  I mean doing _absolutely nothing_.
> Lots of fluids, esp. fruit juice.
> Chicken soup.  Yes, really.  (Short of home-made, I like Mrs. Grass Chicken Noodle)
> 
> 2000mg/day of vitamin C
> Sinus rinses with slightly-warmed salt water, as-necessary
> Steaming with chamomile 2-3 times/day, as-necessary
> An anti-histamine with decongestant, as-necessary (e.g.: Zyrtec-D is Part I of my personal "nuclear option")
> NyQuil at bedtime, as-necessary (Part II of my personal "nuclear option")
> Vicks Sinex to relieve nasal congestion, as-necessary (Part III of my personal "nuclear option")
> Upon reading and recommendations we have elderberry extract on-hand, as well.  Chamomile and elderberry are claimed to have anti-viral properties.
> 
> Personally, I'm wary of Tamiflu.  This only reinforced my doubts:  Tamiflu and Abnormal Behavior
> 
> You'll observe that I resort to artificially-created remedies only as a last resort.  It has generally been _my personal experience_ that they do as much harm as they do good.  This goes doubly for antibiotics, which I almost never take, any more.
Click to expand...


I am definitely following the first piece of advice. In the morning, I go from bed to the couch. I only leave the couch to use the bathroom or make more tea. I have a bit more of an appetite today, but it still takes me a long time to eat anything because I get tired. Then at night, I go from the couch to bed. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I prefer eating fruit to fruit juices, so my fluids are basically tea and water and ginger ale to keep my stomach from going to crazy at so much tea with not much food. At the moment I have some plain black tea with honey, but for the most part, I am drinking herbal tea. I take a decongestant and also some Mucinex for the chest congestion so it's not a dry cough.

This isn't in my head so much, so I'll do a salt water gargle but not a rinse. I could never get used to those. Makes me feel like I'm drowning, and I don't really feel like having a panic attack while sick :/


----------



## limr

I don't eat chicken, but when I am sick like this, I will get some organic chicken broth and have it with some spinach. There's actual science behind chicken soup for a cold, so I am willing to make an exception once in a while, as long as there is no actual chicken in it.

I also don't get the flu shot. My mother came down with Guillain-Barre after a flu shot and it is not recommended that family members get the flu shot until it is known if this reaction runs in families.


----------



## SquarePeg

Thank you @limr.  I hope you bounce back quickly from this.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers. This was a long day today. All afternoon was spent working on the pond ... chest high in the pond. It was warm outside, but the pond water was cold. Gary originally direct buried flex hoses to and from the pumps and filters. Over time the hoses become brittle and fail.  The waterfall is stacked stone without any fixation.  Gary demo-ed the waterfall, removed from under the stone the old failing input hose from the pressurized filter, installed ABS pipe, inserted new flex hose into the pipe, reconstructed the waterfall (leveled the waterfall box), cleaned the filters and reconnected the input hose for the pressurized filter.  Tomorrow Gary will replace the output hose for the pressured filtration system and give the skimmer filtration system another cleaning as today’s work generated a ton of debris. After hours in the cold water Gary was done for. What was interesting is that the largest Koi, about 20-25 pounds worth of fish, kept rubbing up against Gary, while Gary worked in the deep end.  All the other fish kept their distance.


----------



## jcdeboever

Catching up. Sorry @SquarePeg for your loss. Get well @limr , hope your feeling better.

Fun shooting yesterday. Up early today, prison ministry this morning. Hour drive, more coffee....


----------



## davidharmier60

My Sister is driving. We are going through Huntsville. 

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----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Your day sounds like mine. Lots of spring work to get done. We held final services for the Crepes murdered in our spring pruning  rampage. All the shrubs, ground cover, fruit trees are now pruned for the year. Flower beds mostly cleared out, still have to spray and put down mulch. Need to clear out one entirely, removing the cotoneaster that has become sickly and unruly, and rebuilding the retaining wall. Then it's on to the yards, for fertilizing and reseeding some areas. Need to get it all done before the pine pollen starts, making life outside unbearable.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. Your day sounds like mine. Lots of spring work to get done. We held final services for the Crepes murdered in our spring pruning  rampage. All the shrubs, ground cover, fruit trees are now pruned for the year. Flower beds mostly cleared out, still have to spray and put down mulch. Need to clear out one entirely, removing the cotoneaster that has become sickly and unruly, and rebuilding the retaining wall. Then it's on to the yards, for fertilizing and reseeding some areas. Need to get it all done before the pine pollen starts, making life outside unbearable.


Pretty much ... While Gary attacked the pond, Mary Lou pruned the south side grapes, the Thompsons and Zins. Gary isn't done with the pond, he has one and possibly two more hoses he needs to retrofit, one underground with pipe and one above ground.  Because of the old hoses failing, the waterline would noticeably drop overnight.  This morning the waterline appeared stable. Mazel Tov.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A. Your day sounds like mine. Lots of spring work to get done. We held final services for the Crepes murdered in our spring pruning  rampage. All the shrubs, ground cover, fruit trees are now pruned for the year. Flower beds mostly cleared out, still have to spray and put down mulch. Need to clear out one entirely, removing the cotoneaster that has become sickly and unruly, and rebuilding the retaining wall. Then it's on to the yards, for fertilizing and reseeding some areas. Need to get it all done before the pine pollen starts, making life outside unbearable.
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty much ... While Gary attacked the pond, Mary Lou pruned the south side grapes, the Thompsons and Zins. Gary isn't done with the pond, he has one and possibly two more hoses he needs to retrofit, one underground with pipe and one above ground.  Because of the old hoses failing, the waterline would noticeably drop overnight.  This morning the waterline appeared stable. Mazel Tov.
Click to expand...


My wife has wanted a pond similar to yours, but your descriptions of the work in maintaining it make me realize that my idea of a pond of a couple acres or more would be more suited to my purposes, while providing storage for lawn irrigation and fire protection. I've got a draw, that would make a good location. I need to rent a dozer for a couple weeks to do some maintenance anyhow, might be a good time to build one.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary doesn't think the maintenance effort comes close to the daily visual pleasure and mental relaxation delivered by the pond.  Gary puts in about an hour a week cleaning the skimmer filtration. Once a month an hour plus cleaning the pressurized filtration.  The hose replacement is after six+ years of usage. Gary's koi are huge and wonderful and in the evening they will breach creating a flash of color combined with a crash of the splash.  A friend has a koi pond which he claims requires no maintenance just a filtration system about the size of 55 gallon drum.  Gary's pond has evolved from a Home Depot preformed pond to his 2000+ gallon pond.  Gary pieced it all together over time as it went through a few intermediary stages and self-learning.  If Gary was to do it all again he'd most likely get some professional help on filtration. Out here, similar to a lawn or pool care service, one can employ a pro to maintain the pond.

Gary's first 'koi' pond was stocked with large expensive koi.  But these smaller pond would get fished out by Egrets, Herons and raccoons.  Gary's present pond is about four+ feet deep and hungry creatures cannot reach the fish.  Often, from the living room, Gary would see Egrets walking/stalking the edge of the pond and the fish in the deep end giving the bird a finger. Gary hasn't lost a fish in this pond due to his negligence or ignorance. All the koi in the pond were purchased at Petco and were about three inches long and cost about six bucks each. The koi are now gigantic and bird proof per their size, dunno about racoons.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. we had a swimming pool at the old house. Initially when the kids were young, I had no problem with the expense and labor of upkeep. Eventually though as they grew, it got less use, and when they moved away, it became a real chore that I grew to hate.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Last night Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary Netflixed Megan Leavey.  The true story of a Marine Dog handler, Meagan and the dog, Rex. Both were  wounded in Iraq.  A good and touching story, four stars.  Maggie gave it five stars as she was completely entertained by Rex's side and telling of the story.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. we had a swimming pool at the old house. Initially when the kids were young, I had no problem with the expense and labor of upkeep. Eventually though as they grew, it got less use, and when they moved away, it became a real chore that I grew to hate.


The pond has continuous use per the koi.  For Mary Lou and Gary the pond is similar to watching movies and shows on Tv, a ton of entertainment value that we can see through the patio windows and a few feet away from the edge of the patio.

Gary rarely, maybe only twice, tested the water.  After the initial water conditioning at fill-up, all Gary does is fill it due to evaporation or seepage (old hoses).  The fish have thrived.

(The skimmer is amazing and removes most all floaters before they become waterlogged and sink.  The skimmer has a front net basket which needs to be hosed out when filled and the over-sized bottle brushes behind the net basket requiring hosing. Easy-peezy, but tedious. Gary's pond is surrounded on all sides by trees and foliage which significantly up the maintenance game.  If one installs less foliage and man-made shade structure(s) there would be a ton less maintenance.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Primarily because of travel we lean more toward "naturalscape" our planting beds, lawns, trees are all minimalistic in upkeep so we don't worry about being gone. I would however like to install irrigation that I could operate remotely when needed. The rural water district we are on though is just to expensive for irrigation, hence the pond idea.


----------



## JonA_CT

Jon also has a pond in his back yard. But that's just because it is spring in New England. Although...I wouldn't go as far as to call it a vernal pool. I'm assuming you have those down in your neck of the woods too, @smoke665 . 

I got about 3 inches of snow last night before the rain set in. With the strong sun and warm temps today, it's melting before my very eyes. I have a feeling that @SquarePeg had to break out Beauty this morning though.


----------



## Frank F.

I went on a long walk with an old friend to a quarter I used to live in when I was a child (I know every corner and what is behind it). I love it that rents there are still cheap and many poorer people live there in relative peace together with very few rich people and a lot of middle class. It is very green there but the city did not put any significant money into developing the quarter for 30 years, they are only just starting to. Cheap housing is also a matter of architecture and this house features some interesting solutions:


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Jon also has a pond in his back yard. But that's just because it is spring in New England. Although...I wouldn't go as far as to call it a vernal pool. I'm assuming you have those down in your neck of the woods too, @smoke665 .
> 
> I got about 3 inches of snow last night before the rain set in. With the strong sun and warm temps today, it's melting before my very eyes. I have a feeling that @SquarePeg had to break out Beauty this morning though.



We only had about 2” left in the front of the house when I went out there at 11. Much higher out back where it’s drifty and shady.  I did use Beauty but more because I wanted to make sure she worked and burn a bit of that full tank while I could than because of the amount of snow. Most of my neighbors just pushed it aside with a shovel or ignored it and are waiting for it to melt. Normally after a storm it’s a symphony of snow blower motors but not today.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Jon also has a pond in his back yard. But that's just because it is spring in New England. Although...I wouldn't go as far as to call it a vernal pool. I'm assuming you have those down in your neck of the woods



Due to elevation most everything runs off. However on one side of the property we border a 20 acre swamp, that was created by a natural basin, with no outlets. It stays wet year round. I once buried a C4 dozer one summer when I got a tad to close to the edge of it. Not sure how deep the basin is, as when the top dries up and crusts over, a soupy mix remains underneath. Not someplace you want to be walking around on.


----------



## davidharmier60

We are visiting with my Aunt and Cousin. 
Good time is had by all.
No snow but it's pouring rain. 

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## Gary A.

Another lovey day. It is noon and 70F out here.  Gary may forgo all yard work/work/et al ...grab Mary Lou and Maggie and head out to the beach.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Snowed a little Sat. way earlier than it was supposed to, but was mild enough to be half melted by evening. 

I got Vanilla Cupcake Goldfish Crackers. They're a little too good, I shouldn't have brought them into the house. My thinking was they're little, if you don't eat too many... Those are as close as I'll get to pets or ponds.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> I got Vanilla Cupcake Goldfish Crackers. They're a little too good, I shouldn't have brought them into the house. My thinking was they're little, if you don't eat too many...



It just isn't fair, the things that taste good aren't good for you. Why couldn't Brocoli taste like chocolate?


----------



## terri

Isn't chocolate with high percentages of cacao good for you?   That's what I've read, and because it suits me, I believe it!


----------



## terri

One of my husband's culinary specialties  is stir fried broccoli.  He uses toasted sesame oil and lots of garlic, plus a little sugar to caramelize it.   A quick stir in a hot cast iron skillet and, honey, it's bound to make a broccoli fan out of you!


----------



## limr

I like chocolate.

I also like broccoli.

Fever broke sometime last night, though it has recently made another appearance. Not going to work tomorrow.


----------



## smoke665

@terri I don't dislike broccoli but I reaaallllyyy like Chocolate.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> I like chocolate.
> 
> I also like broccoli.
> 
> Fever broke sometime last night, though it has recently made another appearance. Not going to work tomorrow.


Not good news about the return of the fever.   Girl, take care!   Hope you knock it back soon.

Did you make your chicken and spinach soup?


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like chocolate.
> 
> I also like broccoli.
> 
> Fever broke sometime last night, though it has recently made another appearance. Not going to work tomorrow.
> 
> 
> 
> Not good news about the return of the fever.   Girl, take care!   Hope you knock it back soon.
> 
> Did you make your chicken and spinach soup?
Click to expand...


I did. The first day I had zero desire for food and couldn't even finish it. I had some the next day and managed to finish it all. Haven't had any since, though partly because I have other soup that I had made before I got sick and I wanted to have some of that. I have also been eating things like toast because my stomach is pretty sensitive at the moment as well.

Here's how I spent most of the afternoon:




 

I don't think she stopped purring once and didn't even flinch when I coughed. Mrs. Parker, unfortunately, is a bit more skittish. She spends some time on my lap but leaps off if I move too much


----------



## terri

Kitty love!  The best medicine.  

Get well soon!


----------



## davidharmier60

We left earlier than we might have.
Dad got a text that several dogs were outside the fence. They had excavated a tunnel and had all come back inside by the time we got here. Made a fix for the tunnel.
About to have a shower and crash pretty hard.

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## Gary A.

No beach today for Gary.  So maybe tomorrow.  Mary Lou and Gary started working in the yard and pruned through beach time. But ... the grapes are prune ... all the grapes.  Gary has a lot of grapes.  Maggie and Gary just finished dinner, we’re watching the Olympics.  Gary was admiring the German bobsled, yellow with black/red flames, zipping down the track when it flipped over and slid over the finish line ... sliding upside down, the occupants holding on tightly inside ... into first place. Gary loves the Olympics.


----------



## smoke665

Sun came out an warmed up enough to give the truck a quick bath and clean the inside up, before the rain started up again.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is sipping a Malibu Rocky Oak Cabernet Sauvignon.  Surprisingly, it is quite drinkable. Recently, people have been starting growing grapes and making wine in the Santa Monica Mountains surrounding Malibu.  Nothing epic, but it is Malibu ... and Malibu is wonderful.


----------



## JonA_CT

We had some friends over for dinner and cards. They brought a bottle of Tobin James wine that was a lovely pairing with dinner.

I’m to bed late and up early in the morning to head to VT. I once was a pretty decent skier, but it’s been a couple of years. We’ll see how rusty I am tomorrow.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> We had some friends over for dinner and cards. They brought a bottle of Tobin James wine that was a lovely pairing with dinner.
> 
> I’m to bed late and up early in the morning to head to VT. I once was a pretty decent skier, but it’s been a couple of years. We’ll see how rusty I am tomorrow.



!!!Enjoy your week off!!!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> We had some friends over for dinner and cards. They brought a bottle of Tobin James wine that was a lovely pairing with dinner.
> 
> I’m to bed late and up early in the morning to head to VT. I once was a pretty decent skier, but it’s been a couple of years. We’ll see how rusty I am tomorrow.


Mary Lou is a very good skier.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> Another lovey day. It is noon and 70F out here.  Gary may forgo all yard work/work/et al ...grab Mary Lou and Maggie and head out to the beach.




Your life reports always sound as if you do not have to work. But you DO work as I know and it is not central to your life. Great


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Cookie and Gary have been to Tobin James.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hi. I think it's Monday. 
Work starts over on Monday. 

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## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> We had some friends over for dinner and cards. They brought a bottle of Tobin James wine that was a lovely pairing with dinner.
> 
> I’m to bed late and up early in the morning to head to VT. I once was a pretty decent skier, but it’s been a couple of years. We’ll see how rusty I am tomorrow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> !!!Enjoy your week off!!!
Click to expand...


I wish it were a week! We have today and tomorrow off, and then it’s back to the trenches!


----------



## SquarePeg

Oh, thought you might be on the same schedule as us.  Princess has President’s week off and then another week in April the week ok Patriot’s Day.


----------



## JonA_CT

Nah. We used to, but they decided that we’d take those 3 days off the end of the school year. I’m honestly fine with that...with snow days and the random fall wind storm, we are ending plenty late anyways.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Nah. We used to, but they decided that we’d take those 3 days off the end of the school year. I’m honestly fine with that...with snow days and the random fall wind storm, we are ending plenty late anyways.



I would love to see them get rid of the Feb week.  Between Christmas week, holidays, half days, midterms and snow days they’ve been home more than at school since 12/22.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nah. We used to, but they decided that we’d take those 3 days off the end of the school year. I’m honestly fine with that...with snow days and the random fall wind storm, we are ending plenty late anyways.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would love to see them get rid of the Feb week.  Between Christmas week, holidays, half days, midterms and snow days they’ve been home more than at school since 12/22.
Click to expand...

Says the Mother with no more 'Me' time. lol


----------



## Gary A.

And a selfie with the Drama Teach.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is a brisk 53F presently and most likely won't hit 70F today.  Looks like another week of winter has hit California. Happy President's Day to y'all 'mericans and anybody else who has a favorite president. Gary is ticked.  Gary left his keys in Tom's car, so now he must drive up to Pasadena to fetch them back. Breakfast in Pasadena ... it could be worse.


----------



## ceemac

Hey, Gary. Post some pictures of people in shorts. Winter is still here. It hit -28C last night. But we got a nice fire going and watched the sunrise.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Brrr, how far north are you?? I mean, I'm a hockey fan, I know where Vancouver is, but much beyond that not unless there's a hockey team I've heard of. Snow's pretty with the sun coming thru those tall trees.

Waiting for curling, replay of the overnight men's match between Canada and the USA (which I recorded for nothing since it's coming on after the noon news). Women's team barely pulled off a win last night. We haven't been doing that well, considering we have many of the same team members as last Olympics. 

The weather forecast - plain ol' rain. Probably won't need to watch the weather the rest of the week.

Eww I wouldn't have liked break in February. A long weekend, sure. Schools where I live seem to manage a teacher day on the Friday before a Monday holiday, that would've worked for me! lol But we had Columbus Day the day after Thanksgiving, go figure. 

Gary I like the second picture, that's nice.


----------



## waday

@SquarePeg , if you're still looking for things to watch, check out _Black Mirror_. The wife and I have only watched the first three episodes, but we've been meaning to get back into it. They're standalone episodes, so you don't necessarily need to watch them in order. At least the ones we watched were.

They make you think, and are pretty far outside of the realm of normal. I loved them and couldn't get enough. Not sure of your level of comfort with certain things, but I'd start with episode 3, or maybe 2. The general premise is a high-tech world where innovation collides with dark human instincts.

Episode 3 was about a device that would record everything you see through your own eyes, so you could rewind and watch when you wanted. Very thought provoking, and the result was interesting.

Also, if you're into it, _Doctor Who_ is on Prime.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. you do still have a little talent left in photography.  Nice series.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Waiting for curling, it's not til 2, but I kind of like bobsled so that'll do. Tip from a bobsledder - keep your eyes open. You mean you shouldn't close your eyes, hang on for dear life, and kiss your ass goodbye?? Good to know.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary made it to Pasadena, waiting for Tom and breakfast.


----------



## JonA_CT

I remember how to ski. My feet don’t remember how to adjust themselves to my boots.


----------



## davidharmier60

Never skied. Did ice skate when I was much younger. 

It's ALWAYS something. The vacuum motor in the floor machine quit. Finally found they breaker button when the tank was empty and I had daylight. The buffer tossed the pad again. Got a full hand of fuzz off the Velcro tabs on the backing plate and used a new pad. Finally got the floor looking pretty good. 

Watching USA vs Denmark on DVR.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

ceemac said:


> View attachment 154021 Hey, Gary. Post some pictures of people in shorts. Winter is still here. It hit -28C last night. But we got a nice fire going and watched the sunrise.


As Gary was waiting for Tom, a guy in T and shorts came by walking his dog.  Gary couldn't get out of the car fast enough for you though. Should be cooler tomorrow, Gary will keep his eyes peeled.


----------



## Cortian

limr said:


> I like chocolate.
> 
> I also like broccoli.


I like them both, as well.



limr said:


> Fever broke sometime last night, though it has recently made another appearance. Not going to work tomorrow.


Please be careful!  That is the pattern that has ended badly for many people


----------



## Cortian

Gary A. said:


> [snip]
> And a selfie with the Drama Teach.


Back in my high school days (long, long time ago) I always did the lights and sound for plays performed at my school.  That was always a good time.  The coach who headed-up the school's program always was trying to talk me into trying out for acting roles.  I have a voice that naturally projects.


----------



## JonA_CT

It was in the 40s today, which is often shorts weather for me. Unfortunately, you all won’t be seeing my milk bottles in this thread.


----------



## smoke665

Currently 73 . The high was 77, which looks to be the high for the rest of the week. Down from the 80 they were predicting, I can almost hear the grass growing


----------



## ceemac

vintagesnaps said:


> Brrr, how far north are you?? I mean, I'm a hockey fan, I know where Vancouver is, but much beyond that not unless there's a hockey team I've heard of. Snow's pretty with the sun coming thru those tall trees.


We're about 1/3 the way up B.C., but it's about 3500ft. altitude. You'd think being closer to the sun...But we do get a nice 5 month stretch without rain.

Thanks for the thought, Gary. We'll be suntanning on the lake in another month.


----------



## snowbear

I washed the dishes and generally bummed around today, while MLW was at funeral home (her brother).


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I washed the dishes and generally bummed around today, while MLW was at funeral home (her brother).



Her brother? Oh no, I'm so sorry


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> I washed the dishes and generally bummed around today, while MLW was at funeral home (her brother).


Sincere Condolences Charlie.


----------



## Gary A.

It is 52F presently ... Gary is all bundled up.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> I washed the dishes and generally bummed around today, while MLW was at funeral home (her brother).



Sorry for your loss.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I washed the dishes and generally bummed around today, while MLW was at funeral home (her brother).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Her brother? Oh no, I'm so sorry
Click to expand...




Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I washed the dishes and generally bummed around today, while MLW was at funeral home (her brother).
> 
> 
> 
> Sincere Condolences Charlie.
Click to expand...


Thanks; it wasn't unexpected.  Honestly, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner.

Glad you're feeling better, Leonore - kitty lovin' is really powerful medicine.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I washed the dishes and generally bummed around today, while MLW was at funeral home (her brother).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry for your loss.
Click to expand...

And I for yours.  2018 is sure starting with a bang.


----------



## waday

Sorry to hear this @snowbear


----------



## davidharmier60

Hearing about far too many deaths.
I hope those that can have a nice night and a pleasant tomorrow. For the others my most sincere sorrow.

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----------



## snowbear

Thanks, Wade.

Have a good tomorrow, David.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> I washed the dishes and generally bummed around today, while MLW was at funeral home (her brother).



I'm sorry for your lost my brother. I will be praying for your family. You are in my thoughts frequently.


----------



## davidharmier60

Seriously too much death spoken of.
Today there was a new hire this morning. 
A 71 year old to learn the floor machine and buffer. It is thought by someone who would know that he is going to be a two day guy and myself a 4 day guy.
I guess since there is nothing I can do about it it's fine.

Anyhow that is the state of things in my life.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I washed the dishes and generally bummed around today, while MLW was at funeral home (her brother).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sorry for your lost my brother. I will be praying for your family. You are in my thoughts frequently.
Click to expand...

Thank you.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. you do still have a little talent left in photography.  Nice series.


LOL ... Gary philosophy is if you shoot enough, you're bound to get something okay.  Sorta like monkeys and typewriters.  This stuff is so different than news. With news all Gary had to worry about was capturing one or two decent images.  Here, I want to capture a decent shot of every participant, even those working hard in support of the performance. As Gary processes the images he's not thinking of what he likes ... but rather of what the performers would like.






Drama teach showing the kids how to throw a punch in _Fiddler on the Roof_.





Makeup for _Cats_.





Working the light boards _Urinetown_.





Set Production _Mary Poppins_.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  40F early this morning ... there was ice on the cars.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  40F early this morning ... there was ice on the cars.



Is it Freaky Friday?  It's 65 here today.


----------



## Cortian

It's very warm for February, here, too.  Last I looked it was over 55°F.  I think it's supposed to hit 60°F today?  Raining to beat the band.  Snow's almost all gone.

We'll probably have a blizzard next week and temps back down into the teens--or less.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. another nice set, though I'm confused as to why you don't post them in the forums?


----------



## Gary A.

Lazy.


----------



## snowbear

The phone tells me it's 74 at work; It's quite a bit warmer inside (turning on my fan)


----------



## davidharmier60

Dad and Sister have just left for the VA complex. Not sure what is going to be on T.V. but will get to looking here directly. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

I simply love Hill Street Blues.
Thank God for YouTube!

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----------



## smoke665

Yesterday I managed to endure it long enough that the house cooled down, but this evening was another story. First time for the season, had to kick on the A/C.


----------



## Tony744

Crazy weather all around. Hit 72 here today and it's supposed to be even warmer tomorrow.


----------



## jcdeboever

Got in the 60's here in Michigan. Rained all flippin day. Visibility was horrible all day with the ground thawing and warming temps.


----------



## Gary A.

Cool today, may have broken 60F.  Gary wore a sweater today.  Yesterday the wind toppled a potted 10' Flame Tree in the patio.  Gary resurrected it today ... not much damage to the tree and none to the patio. All is well.  Saturday, Gary's Movie Pass arrived.  Today he and Mary Lou will try them out on _Lady Bird._


----------



## limr

First day back at work today. I actually felt better towards the end of the day than I did in the beginning. I still am moving a bit slower than usual because I get winded easily, and I'll be coughing for many more days, but I am definitely better. I sound horrible, though - bad enough that people kept yelling at me to go home "if you are getting sick." I kept having to say that I have already _been_ sick and I sound a lot worse than I feel.

It was a doozy of a day to go back to work, too. I had 4 meetings on a day when I could barely talk.


----------



## limr

Yup, it was over 60F here today, too. Ew.

Driving in 60-degree weather on snow tires is not my favorite thing to do, really.


----------



## terri

Glad you're on the mend at last, @limr!   

Our weather has also been stupidly warm.  I took a walk this evening and could have been in a tee shirt and shorts.  73 freaking degrees.   I'm supposed to be making a pot of my famous vegetable-maifun soup tomorrow.


----------



## Gary A.

The Movie Pass works! Mary Lou and Gary are in. Eight more movies and then all subsequent movies are free.


----------



## SquarePeg

Broke off from my dieting for some chicken parm and lots of wine with my bff for a dine and dish night tonight.  Really enjoyed it as we don’t get trogether as often as we’d like.  Lots of catching up to do and so many laughs! Life is good.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leo take it easy and keep getting better. 

USA tied after 2 v. the Czechs in Olympic hockey tonight. I hate tie games, especially getting late, c'mon let's get it done.


----------



## Frank F.

Every morning I walk by the river. Sometimes the light is different ...


----------



## Gary A.

_Lady Bird_ ... meh ... three to four stars.  After the movie a steaming bowl of wonton at Golden Wall the neighborhood Chinese restaurant.  Hot soup on a chilly night, Movie Pass working as advertised ... no complaints.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Leo take it easy and keep getting better.
> 
> USA tied after 2 v. the Czechs in Olympic hockey tonight. I hate tie games, especially getting late, c'mon let's get it done.



Eliminated in shootout....oh well. The woman are going for the Gold


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers, this is another brisk morning in the 40's.  Gary just discovered that Chloe Kim lives in La Habra, which butts up to La Mirada. Mary Lou and Gary are planning to eat at Sushi Klyosuzo, the Arcadia restaurant owned by ice skater Mirai Nagassu's folks. Gary is having tea this morning, just because.


----------



## davidharmier60

About 5 minutes under 5 hours. 
The new guy works tomorrow,  Friday and Saturday. I get to come in at 6:30am on Sunday to spot mop and clean bathrooms.
Checks were not ready at 12. The thinking is 1pm. I find this irritating. 

Other than that Mrs Lincoln how did you like the play?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah, I hate OT shoot outs to determine important games. Go Canada. I guess. lol I'll watch the hockey still whoever's playing, just a bummer we're out of it now. Russia has looked awfully good, I'd see them winning the gold. 

There's still curling...sweeeeeep!


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> There's still curling...sweeeeeep!


I can't believe I've missed all curling events thus far.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Seems like a lot has been on overnight. If I check the schedule and record it, then it gets replayed during the day. If I don't then it doesn't! lol USA playing Great Britain now, close score so far at the halfway point (which probably already happened in the middle of the night, I try to avoid seeing scores). We seem to have pulled it together in recent matches so I hope they can continue to build on their momentum.

Oh, they just said they're going to replay the men's hockey game, goody goody gum drop. Like a dummy I'll probably sit here and watch the whole thing again!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Game of the Day on NBCSN  at 5. If that's what they want to call it. 

Curling is still in round robin, not sure when they start the medal/elimination round.


----------



## davidharmier60

Check wasn't there at 1pm.
Supposed to call and I guess I will after I post this.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers, this is another brisk morning in the 40's.  Gary just discovered that Chloe Kim lives in La Habra, which butts up to La Mirada. Mary Lou and Gary are planning to eat at Sushi Klyosuzo, the Arcadia restaurant owned by ice skater Mirai Nagassu's folks. Gary is having tea this morning, just because.


There are lot of words in that post I can't read or say....


----------



## davidharmier60

It was the best check I'm likely to get for the near future. Got a money order for a Canon DSLR and I can barely wait.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

I roasted some Colombian beans tonight. It's been awhile since I've had any beans from there.

I also am doing the research to buy a man-van. We looked at like a dozen different three-row cars yesterday, and all signs point to either a Toyota Sienna or a Honda Odyssey. I looked at the 3-row SUVs, and I just can't justify the 25% plus premium that they add for something that's smaller and less useable. Besides my own ego, the only other advantage to the SUV is that they all come in AWD, but honestly...I don't have to leave my house in bad weather, and if I do need to for some reason, my wife's Subaru is there for the taking. 

I did drive a Ford Expedition EL yesterday. Jesus that thing has a big ass. I can't imagine driving it everyday.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT we had an Excursion for a couple of years. V10 gas that you quoted mileage as "Gallons per mile".


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I roasted some Colombian beans tonight. It's been awhile since I've had any beans from there.
> 
> I also am doing the research to buy a man-van. We looked at like a dozen different three-row cars yesterday, and all signs point to either a Toyota Sienna or a Honda Odyssey. I looked at the 3-row SUVs, and I just can't justify the 25% plus premium that they add for something that's smaller and less useable. Besides my own ego, the only other advantage to the SUV is that they all come in AWD, but honestly...I don't have to leave my house in bad weather, and if I do need to for some reason, my wife's Subaru is there for the taking.
> 
> I did drive a Ford Expedition EL yesterday. Jesus that thing has a big ass. I can't imagine driving it everyday.



I have had my Honda Pilot for 7 years.  Bought it used and love it.  I would by a Honda again in a minute.  Very reliable and low maintenance.  

Words of advice - buy used!


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary have returned from a spur of the moment run to Temecula. Great food ... Great Wine ... brisk weather, even a bit of rain ... all in all a very refreshing drive and fun pickup from Gary’s membership wineries.


----------



## Derrel

davidharmier60 said:
			
		

> It was the best check I'm likely to get for the near future. Got a money order for a Canon DSLR and I can barely wait.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



David, I am SO GLAD to hear this! Hooray for you!!!


----------



## davidharmier60

Since I need not awaken at 4am for the next three days I'm awake later than usual.
I hope y'all have a great night and a better tomorrow.!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## RowdyRay

JonA_CT said:


> I roasted some Colombian beans tonight. It's been awhile since I've had any beans from there.
> 
> I also am doing the research to buy a man-van. We looked at like a dozen different three-row cars yesterday, and all signs point to either a Toyota Sienna or a Honda Odyssey. I looked at the 3-row SUVs, and I just can't justify the 25% plus premium that they add for something that's smaller and less useable. Besides my own ego, the only other advantage to the SUV is that they all come in AWD, but honestly...I don't have to leave my house in bad weather, and if I do need to for some reason, my wife's Subaru is there for the taking.
> 
> I did drive a Ford Expedition EL yesterday. Jesus that thing has a big ass. I can't imagine driving it everyday.



Seriously, your man card needs to be revoked.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I roasted some Colombian beans tonight. It's been awhile since I've had any beans from there.
> 
> I also am doing the research to buy a man-van. We looked at like a dozen different three-row cars yesterday, and all signs point to either a Toyota Sienna or a Honda Odyssey. I looked at the 3-row SUVs, and I just can't justify the 25% plus premium that they add for something that's smaller and less useable. Besides my own ego, the only other advantage to the SUV is that they all come in AWD, but honestly...I don't have to leave my house in bad weather, and if I do need to for some reason, my wife's Subaru is there for the taking.
> 
> I did drive a Ford Expedition EL yesterday. Jesus that thing has a big ass. I can't imagine driving it everyday.


Ohhhhh ... Gary remembers those days.  With his first child he got rid of his motorcycle during the pregnancy.  With the birth of Sarah, Gary dumped his Mustang SVO for a four door sedan with a liftgate. Gary misses that SVO, what a car.  As the kids have left the nest Mary Lou, Maggie and he recently picked up a used convertible coupe.


----------



## Cortian

What with the winter weather, here, and our occasional forays into backwoods via two-tracks, a performance car just wasn't practical for me.  Did my research.  Landed on Jeep Grand Cherokee.  Long story short: I got both, because the use JGC Ltd. we bought has _this_ innit:







Heh heh heh 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




_And_ the PO had upgraded the cold-air intake to the MoPar performance CAI.  Sounds way wicked when I let it stretch its legs


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers, this is another brisk morning in the 40's.  Gary just discovered that Chloe Kim lives in La Habra, which butts up to La Mirada. Mary Lou and Gary are planning to eat at Sushi Klyosuzo, the Arcadia restaurant owned by ice skater Mirai Nagassu's folks. Gary is having tea this morning, just because.
> 
> 
> 
> There are lot of words in that post I can't read or say....
Click to expand...

I, too, was pretty confused with Gary drinking tea.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> I roasted some Colombian beans tonight. It's been awhile since I've had any beans from there.
> 
> I also am doing the research to buy a man-van. We looked at like a dozen different three-row cars yesterday, and all signs point to either a Toyota Sienna or a Honda Odyssey. I looked at the 3-row SUVs, and I just can't justify the 25% plus premium that they add for something that's smaller and less useable. Besides my own ego, the only other advantage to the SUV is that they all come in AWD, but honestly...I don't have to leave my house in bad weather, and if I do need to for some reason, my wife's Subaru is there for the taking.
> 
> I did drive a Ford Expedition EL yesterday. Jesus that thing has a big ass. I can't imagine driving it everyday.


We're not planning on more than two kids, but we're already talking about upgrading. While my Outback only has about 120K miles, I'm thinking trade-in before it gets too low in value.

What 3-row SUVs have you been looking at? I'm assuming midsize SUVs? The minivans I'm aware of (my sisters' vans) all were pretty pricey with base-prices similar to that of many midsize SUVs (~$30K).


----------



## smoke665

Cortian said:


> _And_ the PO had upgraded the cold-air intake to the MoPar performance CAI. Sounds way wicked when I let it stretch its legs



I'll see your Hemi specs and raise you - 2018 Hemi Limited 395 horsepower, 410 ft/lb torque @ 3950 RPM vs 2018 Powerstroke 450 horsepower, 935 ft/lb torque @1600 rpm


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT with 2 of their own and anywhere from 4 to 6 fosters at any one time, our oldest laughingly refers to one of these as their next vehicle.


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I roasted some Colombian beans tonight. It's been awhile since I've had any beans from there.
> 
> I also am doing the research to buy a man-van. We looked at like a dozen different three-row cars yesterday, and all signs point to either a Toyota Sienna or a Honda Odyssey. I looked at the 3-row SUVs, and I just can't justify the 25% plus premium that they add for something that's smaller and less useable. Besides my own ego, the only other advantage to the SUV is that they all come in AWD, but honestly...I don't have to leave my house in bad weather, and if I do need to for some reason, my wife's Subaru is there for the taking.
> 
> I did drive a Ford Expedition EL yesterday. Jesus that thing has a big ass. I can't imagine driving it everyday.
> 
> 
> 
> We're not planning on more than two kids, but we're already talking about upgrading. While my Outback only has about 120K miles, I'm thinking trade-in before it gets too low in value.
> 
> What 3-row SUVs have you been looking at? I'm assuming midsize SUVs? The minivans I'm aware of (my sisters' vans) all were pretty pricey with base-prices similar to that of many midsize SUVs (~$30K).
Click to expand...


We looked at pretty much all of them besides the Toyota Highlander and Honda Pilot. We are looking at used cars -- we're hoping to get something 3 years old or less with less than 45k miles on it. I also want as many safety features as possible, which has put us in the 22-30k range used. Of the SUVs that fit that requirement, we liked the Dodge Durango and the Buick Enclave/GMC Acadia/Chevy Traverse the best (they're all essentially the same thing).

We are probably done with 2 kids, but we like to go camping and we have a large dog. The combination of that puts us into the large vehicle category. The bottom line is that there is significantly more space in the minivan, and it's considerably more usable (the cargo area is lower to the ground and is taller and more boxy). 

If you like Subaru, their new 3-row SUV -- the Ascent -- is available for pre-order. I think it's a bit smaller than we want though.


----------



## Gary A.

Cortian said:


> What with the winter weather, here, and our occasional forays into backwoods via two-tracks, a performance car just wasn't practical for me.  Did my research.  Landed on Jeep Grand Cherokee.  Long story short: I got both, because the use JGC Ltd. we bought has _this_ innit:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Heh heh heh
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _And_ the PO had upgraded the cold-air intake to the MoPar performance CAI.  Sounds way wicked when I let it stretch its legs


I had a JGC also ...  Superduper seats ... zero mileage.


----------



## Cortian

smoke665 said:


> Cortian said:
> 
> 
> 
> _And_ the PO had upgraded the cold-air intake to the MoPar performance CAI. Sounds way wicked when I let it stretch its legs
> 
> 
> 
> I'll see your Hemi specs and raise you - 2018 Hemi Limited 395 horsepower, 410 ft/lb torque @ 3950 RPM vs 2018 Powerstroke 450 horsepower, 935 ft/lb torque @1600 rpm
Click to expand...

Yeah, but _mine_ says "HEMI" on it in big, raised letters, which looks way cool 



Gary A. said:


> I had a JGC also ...  Superduper seats ... zero mileage.


Yeah, mileage ain't great.

In fact I _suspect_ that's how I ended-up with a 2015 JGC with less than 24,000 miles on it.  It has the towing package and the PO had added an after-market electronic braking system.  It was he who upgraded the CAI _and_ he'd replaced the stock tires with some high-end tires claimed to increase mileage.  I suspect after towing with that bad boy for a season he said "Enough of that!" and traded it in early.

I _can_ get 15 MPG in subrural (word I made up--not quite suburban, but no longer quite rural, either) driving.  And it'll get up to 20 MPG on the highway.  That's *if* I drive gently.  _Plus_ it wants mid-grade fuel, which is more than 10% more expensive than regular.

It doesn't matter so much to me.  I'm retired and don't drive that much, any more, anyway.  And, boy, is that thing ever fun to drive


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Miss Maggie and Gary's wine country touring car.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I roasted some Colombian beans tonight. It's been awhile since I've had any beans from there.
> 
> I also am doing the research to buy a man-van. We looked at like a dozen different three-row cars yesterday, and all signs point to either a Toyota Sienna or a Honda Odyssey. I looked at the 3-row SUVs, and I just can't justify the 25% plus premium that they add for something that's smaller and less useable. Besides my own ego, the only other advantage to the SUV is that they all come in AWD, but honestly...I don't have to leave my house in bad weather, and if I do need to for some reason, my wife's Subaru is there for the taking.
> 
> I did drive a Ford Expedition EL yesterday. Jesus that thing has a big ass. I can't imagine driving it everyday.
> 
> 
> 
> We're not planning on more than two kids, but we're already talking about upgrading. While my Outback only has about 120K miles, I'm thinking trade-in before it gets too low in value.
> 
> What 3-row SUVs have you been looking at? I'm assuming midsize SUVs? The minivans I'm aware of (my sisters' vans) all were pretty pricey with base-prices similar to that of many midsize SUVs (~$30K).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We looked at pretty much all of them besides the Toyota Highlander and Honda Pilot. We are looking at used cars -- we're hoping to get something 3 years old or less with less than 45k miles on it. I also want as many safety features as possible, which has put us in the 22-30k range used. Of the SUVs that fit that requirement, we liked the Dodge Durango and the Buick Enclave/GMC Acadia/Chevy Traverse the best (they're all essentially the same thing).
> 
> We are probably done with 2 kids, but we like to go camping and we have a large dog. The combination of that puts us into the large vehicle category. The bottom line is that there is significantly more space in the minivan, and it's considerably more usable (the cargo area is lower to the ground and is taller and more boxy).
> 
> If you like Subaru, their new 3-row SUV -- the Ascent -- is available for pre-order. I think it's a bit smaller than we want though.
Click to expand...

Gotcha! Both of my brothers-in-law were reluctant to go minivan route, but were very happy with the van in the end.

The Ascent is interesting, but I don't know if I'd do new again.* Also, I'm a bit concerned with Subaru's new-ish models. I've heard some stories of Subaru figuring out the kinks with the first model year at the owner's expense. My 2011 Outback CVT was a second model year (but made in 2010), and it had a transmission problem (which was very thankfully covered under a warranty extension that I had no idea about). Had that not been there, I'd have been stuck with a very large bill. 

*Buying new vs. used depends on the total cost of car, mileage, and so many other factors... Saving $5K on sticker by buying slightly used can cost about the same or more in long run, depending on warranties, interest rates, and dealer specials on maintenance.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I roasted some Colombian beans tonight. It's been awhile since I've had any beans from there.
> 
> I also am doing the research to buy a man-van. We looked at like a dozen different three-row cars yesterday, and all signs point to either a Toyota Sienna or a Honda Odyssey. I looked at the 3-row SUVs, and I just can't justify the 25% plus premium that they add for something that's smaller and less useable. Besides my own ego, the only other advantage to the SUV is that they all come in AWD, but honestly...I don't have to leave my house in bad weather, and if I do need to for some reason, my wife's Subaru is there for the taking.
> 
> I did drive a Ford Expedition EL yesterday. Jesus that thing has a big ass. I can't imagine driving it everyday.
> 
> 
> 
> We're not planning on more than two kids, but we're already talking about upgrading. While my Outback only has about 120K miles, I'm thinking trade-in before it gets too low in value.
> 
> What 3-row SUVs have you been looking at? I'm assuming midsize SUVs? The minivans I'm aware of (my sisters' vans) all were pretty pricey with base-prices similar to that of many midsize SUVs (~$30K).
Click to expand...


I Have only the one Princess but you’d be surprised how many times we’ve used that 3rd row.  Keep in mind your kids will have friends with them a lot and when you go to the beach or camping you’ll need the extra storage space that the big suvs provide.  I had a Mitsubishi Montero 5 passenger suv prior to the Honda and loved it but we were frequently having to make choices on what we could bring with us on Road trips.  

Although one con of the 7 or 8 seaters is that when your kids get into tween/teen years, you’ll be tapped to drive _all the time_ because you can fit everyone. Princess has 5 bffs and, other than me,  only 2 of them have room for everyone in their car.  I celebrate a little when someone else is able to drive them.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I roasted some Colombian beans tonight. It's been awhile since I've had any beans from there.
> 
> I also am doing the research to buy a man-van. We looked at like a dozen different three-row cars yesterday, and all signs point to either a Toyota Sienna or a Honda Odyssey. I looked at the 3-row SUVs, and I just can't justify the 25% plus premium that they add for something that's smaller and less useable. Besides my own ego, the only other advantage to the SUV is that they all come in AWD, but honestly...I don't have to leave my house in bad weather, and if I do need to for some reason, my wife's Subaru is there for the taking.
> 
> I did drive a Ford Expedition EL yesterday. Jesus that thing has a big ass. I can't imagine driving it everyday.
> 
> 
> 
> We're not planning on more than two kids, but we're already talking about upgrading. While my Outback only has about 120K miles, I'm thinking trade-in before it gets too low in value.
> 
> What 3-row SUVs have you been looking at? I'm assuming midsize SUVs? The minivans I'm aware of (my sisters' vans) all were pretty pricey with base-prices similar to that of many midsize SUVs (~$30K).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I Have only the one Princess but you’d be surprised how many times we’ve used that 3rd row.  Keep in mind your kids will have friends with them a lot and when you go to the beach or camping you’ll need the extra storage space that the big suvs provide.  I had a Mitsubishi Montero 5 passenger suv prior to the Honda and loved it but we were frequently having to make choices on what we could bring with us on Road trips.
> 
> Although one con of the 7 or 8 seaters is that when your kids get into tween/teen years, you’ll be tapped to drive _all the time_ because you can fit everyone. Princess has 5 bffs and, other than me,  only 2 of them have room for everyone in their car.  I celebrate a little when someone else is able to drive them.
Click to expand...

So, you're saying to be more like Gary... buy a small convertible with only enough space for two adults and maybe two cramped kids?

Also, very weird coincidence. My father-in-law also went the Montero to Pilot route. But, it included a small convertible in-between and has ended in another convertible now. He has a VW Eos now.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I roasted some Colombian beans tonight. It's been awhile since I've had any beans from there.
> 
> I also am doing the research to buy a man-van. We looked at like a dozen different three-row cars yesterday, and all signs point to either a Toyota Sienna or a Honda Odyssey. I looked at the 3-row SUVs, and I just can't justify the 25% plus premium that they add for something that's smaller and less useable. Besides my own ego, the only other advantage to the SUV is that they all come in AWD, but honestly...I don't have to leave my house in bad weather, and if I do need to for some reason, my wife's Subaru is there for the taking.
> 
> I did drive a Ford Expedition EL yesterday. Jesus that thing has a big ass. I can't imagine driving it everyday.
> 
> 
> 
> We're not planning on more than two kids, but we're already talking about upgrading. While my Outback only has about 120K miles, I'm thinking trade-in before it gets too low in value.
> 
> What 3-row SUVs have you been looking at? I'm assuming midsize SUVs? The minivans I'm aware of (my sisters' vans) all were pretty pricey with base-prices similar to that of many midsize SUVs (~$30K).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I Have only the one Princess but you’d be surprised how many times we’ve used that 3rd row.  Keep in mind your kids will have friends with them a lot and when you go to the beach or camping you’ll need the extra storage space that the big suvs provide.  I had a Mitsubishi Montero 5 passenger suv prior to the Honda and loved it but we were frequently having to make choices on what we could bring with us on Road trips.
> 
> Although one con of the 7 or 8 seaters is that when your kids get into tween/teen years, you’ll be tapped to drive _all the time_ because you can fit everyone. Princess has 5 bffs and, other than me,  only 2 of them have room for everyone in their car.  I celebrate a little when someone else is able to drive them.
Click to expand...

If Gary had Peg's money, he'd make the Pilot the Greater Princess Community Transport, GPCT, or better yet ... Princess On Wheels (POW). Allow and schedule the parents driving and maintenance privileges with the Pilot.  Then, purely in the name of alliteration, get yourself one of those little, high mileage Porsches for your personal needs.  (With all those Not-My-Boy-Friends Princess needs a bus).


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I roasted some Colombian beans tonight. It's been awhile since I've had any beans from there.
> 
> I also am doing the research to buy a man-van. We looked at like a dozen different three-row cars yesterday, and all signs point to either a Toyota Sienna or a Honda Odyssey. I looked at the 3-row SUVs, and I just can't justify the 25% plus premium that they add for something that's smaller and less useable. Besides my own ego, the only other advantage to the SUV is that they all come in AWD, but honestly...I don't have to leave my house in bad weather, and if I do need to for some reason, my wife's Subaru is there for the taking.
> 
> I did drive a Ford Expedition EL yesterday. Jesus that thing has a big ass. I can't imagine driving it everyday.
> 
> 
> 
> We're not planning on more than two kids, but we're already talking about upgrading. While my Outback only has about 120K miles, I'm thinking trade-in before it gets too low in value.
> 
> What 3-row SUVs have you been looking at? I'm assuming midsize SUVs? The minivans I'm aware of (my sisters' vans) all were pretty pricey with base-prices similar to that of many midsize SUVs (~$30K).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I Have only the one Princess but you’d be surprised how many times we’ve used that 3rd row.  Keep in mind your kids will have friends with them a lot and when you go to the beach or camping you’ll need the extra storage space that the big suvs provide.  I had a Mitsubishi Montero 5 passenger suv prior to the Honda and loved it but we were frequently having to make choices on what we could bring with us on Road trips.
> 
> Although one con of the 7 or 8 seaters is that when your kids get into tween/teen years, you’ll be tapped to drive _all the time_ because you can fit everyone. Princess has 5 bffs and, other than me,  only 2 of them have room for everyone in their car.  I celebrate a little when someone else is able to drive them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> So, you're saying to be more like Gary... buy a small convertible with only enough space for two adults and maybe two cramped kids?
> 
> Also, very weird coincidence. My father-in-law also went the Montero to Pilot route. But, it included a small convertible in-between and has ended in another convertible now. He has a VW Eos now.
Click to expand...

Gary looked hard at the EOS, as he desired a hardtop.  It ended up a contest between the Volvo and the VW.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I roasted some Colombian beans tonight. It's been awhile since I've had any beans from there.
> 
> I also am doing the research to buy a man-van. We looked at like a dozen different three-row cars yesterday, and all signs point to either a Toyota Sienna or a Honda Odyssey. I looked at the 3-row SUVs, and I just can't justify the 25% plus premium that they add for something that's smaller and less useable. Besides my own ego, the only other advantage to the SUV is that they all come in AWD, but honestly...I don't have to leave my house in bad weather, and if I do need to for some reason, my wife's Subaru is there for the taking.
> 
> I did drive a Ford Expedition EL yesterday. Jesus that thing has a big ass. I can't imagine driving it everyday.
> 
> 
> 
> We're not planning on more than two kids, but we're already talking about upgrading. While my Outback only has about 120K miles, I'm thinking trade-in before it gets too low in value.
> 
> What 3-row SUVs have you been looking at? I'm assuming midsize SUVs? The minivans I'm aware of (my sisters' vans) all were pretty pricey with base-prices similar to that of many midsize SUVs (~$30K).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I Have only the one Princess but you’d be surprised how many times we’ve used that 3rd row.  Keep in mind your kids will have friends with them a lot and when you go to the beach or camping you’ll need the extra storage space that the big suvs provide.  I had a Mitsubishi Montero 5 passenger suv prior to the Honda and loved it but we were frequently having to make choices on what we could bring with us on Road trips.
> 
> Although one con of the 7 or 8 seaters is that when your kids get into tween/teen years, you’ll be tapped to drive _all the time_ because you can fit everyone. Princess has 5 bffs and, other than me,  only 2 of them have room for everyone in their car.  I celebrate a little when someone else is able to drive them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> So, you're saying to be more like Gary... buy a small convertible with only enough space for two adults and maybe two cramped kids?
> 
> Also, very weird coincidence. My father-in-law also went the Montero to Pilot route. But, it included a small convertible in-between and has ended in another convertible now. He has a VW Eos now.
Click to expand...

Gary got a back seat pet hammock for Miss Maggie.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Gary looked hard at the EOS, as he desired a hardtop. It ended up a contest between the Volvo and the VW.


Just curious, what made you go with the Volvo?

My father-in-law is funny. He often says, "it took my eye". When he sees something he likes, no one can convince him otherwise. The Eos "took his eye".



Gary A. said:


> Gary got a back seat pet hammock for Miss Maggie.


We need to get something for Roxy. Right now, she has a harness that allows her to walk back and forth, but we haven't used it since we put the car seat in for baby. Unless we're on a highway, Roxy will not relax and chooses to stand. Before we got the harness, she fell off the seat in a near miss.


----------



## limr

This conversation makes me so happy I don't have kids.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I roasted some Colombian beans tonight. It's been awhile since I've had any beans from there.
> 
> I also am doing the research to buy a man-van. We looked at like a dozen different three-row cars yesterday, and all signs point to either a Toyota Sienna or a Honda Odyssey. I looked at the 3-row SUVs, and I just can't justify the 25% plus premium that they add for something that's smaller and less useable. Besides my own ego, the only other advantage to the SUV is that they all come in AWD, but honestly...I don't have to leave my house in bad weather, and if I do need to for some reason, my wife's Subaru is there for the taking.
> 
> I did drive a Ford Expedition EL yesterday. Jesus that thing has a big ass. I can't imagine driving it everyday.
> 
> 
> 
> We're not planning on more than two kids, but we're already talking about upgrading. While my Outback only has about 120K miles, I'm thinking trade-in before it gets too low in value.
> 
> What 3-row SUVs have you been looking at? I'm assuming midsize SUVs? The minivans I'm aware of (my sisters' vans) all were pretty pricey with base-prices similar to that of many midsize SUVs (~$30K).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I Have only the one Princess but you’d be surprised how many times we’ve used that 3rd row.  Keep in mind your kids will have friends with them a lot and when you go to the beach or camping you’ll need the extra storage space that the big suvs provide.  I had a Mitsubishi Montero 5 passenger suv prior to the Honda and loved it but we were frequently having to make choices on what we could bring with us on Road trips.
> 
> Although one con of the 7 or 8 seaters is that when your kids get into tween/teen years, you’ll be tapped to drive _all the time_ because you can fit everyone. Princess has 5 bffs and, other than me,  only 2 of them have room for everyone in their car.  I celebrate a little when someone else is able to drive them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If Gary had Peg's money, he'd make the Pilot the Greater Princess Community Transport, GPCT, or better yet ... Princess On Wheels (POW). Allow and schedule the parents driving and maintenance privileges with the Pilot.  Then, purely in the name of alliteration, get yourself one of those little, high mileage Porsches for your personal needs.  (With all those Not-My-Boy-Friends Princess needs a bus).
Click to expand...


NMB2 turned out to be...not her boyfriend.  We have a new NMB3 that I have yet to figure out.   He’s exceedingly nervous around me so guessing he’s a BWB (boyfriend wanna be).


----------



## waday

limr said:


> This conversation makes me so happy I don't have kids.


Apparently, I chose to have a kid, because I don't like money, sleep, or free time.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary looked hard at the EOS, as he desired a hardtop. It ended up a contest between the Volvo and the VW.
> 
> 
> 
> Just curious, what made you go with the Volvo?
> 
> My father-in-law is funny. He often says, "it took my eye". When he sees something he likes, no one can convince him otherwise. The Eos "took his eye".
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary got a back seat pet hammock for Miss Maggie.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We need to get something for Roxy. Right now, she has a harness that allows her to walk back and forth, but we haven't used it since we put the car seat in for baby. Unless we're on a highway, Roxy will not relax and chooses to stand. Before we got the harness, she fell off the seat in a near miss.
Click to expand...

The Volvo "took my eye".  Gary thinks it is much more stylish than the VW.  Gary hates the huge VW emblems on the front and back. The Volvo is larger, more 'sporty' in looks and performance and he feels it is better built.  As one would suspect, convertibles are common out here ... but a hardtop convertible is less common and a Volvo hardtop convertible is in the unique category. (Plus Gary had a Volvo wagon when the kids were young ... couldn't bring himself to get a van, and it was very reliable.  He also has a few friends with Volvos and again the reliability was reinforced.)


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> This conversation makes me so happy I don't have kids.
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently, I chose to have a kid, because, I don't like money, sleep, or free time.
Click to expand...


Squared over here.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary looked hard at the EOS, as he desired a hardtop. It ended up a contest between the Volvo and the VW.
> 
> 
> 
> Just curious, what made you go with the Volvo?
> 
> My father-in-law is funny. He often says, "it took my eye". When he sees something he likes, no one can convince him otherwise. The Eos "took his eye".
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary got a back seat pet hammock for Miss Maggie.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We need to get something for Roxy. Right now, she has a harness that allows her to walk back and forth, but we haven't used it since we put the car seat in for baby. Unless we're on a highway, Roxy will not relax and chooses to stand. Before we got the harness, she fell off the seat in a near miss.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The Volvo "took my eye".  Gary thinks it is much more stylish than the VW.  Gary hates the huge VW emblems on the front and back. The Volvo is larger, more 'sporty' in looks and performance and he feels it is better built.  As one would suspect, convertibles are common out here ... but a hardtop convertible is less common and a Volvo hardtop convertible is in the unique category. (Plus Gary had a Volvo wagon when the kids were young ... couldn't bring himself to get a van, and it was very reliable.  He also has a few friends with Volvos and again the reliability was reinforced.)
Click to expand...

If I would ever get a convertible, it would be hard top. I like Volvo much more than VW. Agree with the huge emblems. Also, if I'm going to pay as much as VW requires with maintenance/repairs (I had a very bad experience with a Passat, and father-in-law has had some issues with his Eos), I'd rather pay a little more for Volvo and get better reliability.


----------



## davidharmier60

My ratty old 99 Chevy 2500 has a 5.7 liter engine. It growls pretty good when I shower down on it. But I don't do that very often as at it's best it's a 15-17 mpg vehicle. Sure was weird not to wake up at 4am on a Thursday. Sister called. Dad's surgery went well. They were told at 7am they were getting out. At 11am she thinks two or three more hours.

And that's all the news that's fit to print. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> Dad's surgery went well.


Glad to hear it!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Seems to be a good thing when a hospital or medical center etc. is ready to kick you out. Glad your dad's recovering and hopefully home soon.


----------



## vintagesnaps

There were days I was glad to send kids home to their parents. (Leo, you sound better today!)

Now I'm trying to picture a dog getting up in a little hammock... or trying to hop back out of it.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> This conversation makes me so happy I don't have kids.
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently, I chose to have a kid, because, I don't like money, sleep, or free time.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Squared over here.
Click to expand...


I like all of those things very much 

It's an easy equation for me: I like a simple life. There are some complications that I can't control, and I deal with them out of necessity. Children complicate things, but they are avoidable complications that I don't have to take on unless I have a very compelling reason to do so.

I am 46 and have never once felt that itch to have children. And sorry, but if I am going to do something as momentous as creating an entirely new human being from scratch, then I should have at least an inkling of an idea that I would actually want to do so. If not, then I have created a new person simply to be a recipient of my disappointment and frustration. I know what that feels like and I refuse to pass that family trait down to further generations.



vintagesnaps said:


> There were days I was glad to send kids home to their parents. (Leo, you sound better today!)
> 
> Now I'm trying to picture a dog getting up in a little hammock... or trying to hop back out of it.



I "sound" better because you can't actually hear my voice 
But yes, I do feel better. Still have a cough and my whole system is still vaguely wonky, but I am much improved!


----------



## Fred von den Berg

Snow has been on my personal agenda these last few days.  I started the week by setting the camera to 1/3+  EV with auto bracketing also at 1/3 +/-  and shooting in colour and then converting to B&W in post. Yesterday and this morning I set the camera to + 1 EV with no bracketing and to shoot in B&W with yellow filter (with a  colour copy). 

One or two came out nicely, some were destined for the recycle bin, and a few are work in progress.

It's not easy to get a decent exposure on this stuff!


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> There were days I was glad to send kids home to their parents. (Leo, you sound better today!)
> 
> Now I'm trying to picture a dog getting up in a little hammock... or trying to hop back out of it.


LOL, the hammock is nothing more than a large blanket like thing that connects to the front and back headrests taking all/most of the bumps out of the back, protects the seats and doors.  It has Velcro slits for the seat belts connections.  Gary always uses a car harness.  On long trips we take Mary Lou’s Escape and drop the back seat for the pooch. The pooch is tied up with some slack so she can move around some and comfortably sleep. Gary hasn’t used the hammock yet.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> It's an easy equation for me: I like a simple life. There are some complications that I can't control, and I deal with them out of necessity. Children complicate things, but they are avoidable complications that I don't have to take on unless I have a very compelling reason to do so.



Some might call your decision odd, but as a father of 3, I can truthfully say there have been times when I wished I'd followed your path. There are "complications" as you call them, even after they are  grown. Yes there's been great joy, but there's been some not so joyous times mixed in. Parenting is tough.  For me I'm happy that I made the decision to have children but, would definitely not want to do it again at my age.


----------



## Gary A.

Fred von den Berg said:


> Snow has been on my personal agenda these last few days.  I started the week by setting the camera to 1/3+  EV with auto bracketing also at 1/3 +/-  and shooting in colour and then converting to B&W in post. Yesterday and this morning I set the camera to + 1 EV with no bracketing and to shoot in B&W with yellow filter (with a  colour copy).
> 
> One or two came out nicely, some were destined for the recycle bin, and a few are work in progress.
> 
> It's not easy to get a decent exposure on this stuff!


Spot metering may help ...


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Spot metering may help ...



Why spot rather than Matrix? Working in a snow environment even with spot, I sample the surrounding area then adjust accordingly.


----------



## Fred von den Berg

Gary A. said:


> Fred von den Berg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Snow has been on my personal agenda these last few days.  I started the week by setting the camera to 1/3+  EV with auto bracketing also at 1/3 +/-  and shooting in colour and then converting to B&W in post. Yesterday and this morning I set the camera to + 1 EV with no bracketing and to shoot in B&W with yellow filter (with a  colour copy).
> 
> One or two came out nicely, some were destined for the recycle bin, and a few are work in progress.
> 
> It's not easy to get a decent exposure on this stuff!
> 
> 
> 
> Spot metering may help ...
Click to expand...


Thanks; Gary. Spot metering is something I've not used very much, preferring centre weighted or matrix. However, I used it once yesterday on this: ambivalence-frame-jpg.154139

I'll try to use it a bit more over the coming days and see what I get.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> @JonA_CT we had an Excursion for a couple of years. V10 gas that you quoted mileage as "Gallons per mile".


Like a boat - Gallons per Hour


JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> This conversation makes me so happy I don't have kids.
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently, I chose to have a kid, because, I don't like money, sleep, or free time.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Squared over here.
Click to expand...


I'm in recovery:  One is several hundred miles away, and we hear from him from time to time.  The other is also distant, but part-time, and still asks for money.


----------



## davidharmier60

No wife. No kids. On the minus side our portion of the family ends here. On the plus side no begging for money or lack of sleep. 
Amazing that USA curling is going to the quarter finals.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Fred von den Berg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fred von den Berg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Snow has been on my personal agenda these last few days.  I started the week by setting the camera to 1/3+  EV with auto bracketing also at 1/3 +/-  and shooting in colour and then converting to B&W in post. Yesterday and this morning I set the camera to + 1 EV with no bracketing and to shoot in B&W with yellow filter (with a  colour copy).
> 
> One or two came out nicely, some were destined for the recycle bin, and a few are work in progress.
> 
> It's not easy to get a decent exposure on this stuff!
> 
> 
> 
> Spot metering may help ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks; Gary. Spot metering is something I've not used very much, preferring centre weighted or matrix. However, I used it once yesterday on this: ambivalence-frame-jpg.154139
> 
> I'll try to use it a bit more over the coming days and see what I get.
Click to expand...

You gotta remember how a meter works ... all meters work on the same basic principle ... they all read to medium gray (a la a gray card). Matrix and Evaluative and Center Weighted all start on medium gray then either mechanically or algorithmly  manipulate the reading ... accordingly. Gary doesn't understands the algorithm, but he does understands medium gray and would rather manipulate the reading/adjustments manually. In general, a light meter will read white snow and deliver a reading which, barring any additional adjustments, will deliver white snow the same shade of medium gray (underexposing the snow).  Conversely, say there is a very very black bear in the snow and you meter entirely off the black bear.  You center the needle and the meter will convert the black bear into a medium gray bear (overexposing the bear). 

With Spot Metering, I typically would meter off something I know it's value in respect to medium gray.  Like the wood fence in your linked image, which is about a stop or so lighter than medium gray, center the needle then open her up a stop over what the meter suggests.  This is quick and dirty ... but it works, especially when on the fly in a fast paced situation. While I would like a camera with as much dynamic range as possible.  I also feel that wide dynamic range isn't necessary for an image to be successful.  The success of each image isn't dependant on generalizations and photographic 'rules'. I have found that generally, the greater the image impact, the less need for image quality.  Most architectural photogs require more image quality than say a sports action photo.  The above metering methodology works well for journalistic type photos but not as well for landscape type photos where timing isn't an issue.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> With Spot Metering, I typically would meter off something I know it's value in respect to medium gray. Like the wood fence in your linked image, which is about a stop or so lighter than medium gray, center the needle then open her up a stop over what the meter suggests.



This is similar to what I do, only I use the spot to read different areas, then arrive at my own educated guess. I'm not a fan of matrix either, but supposedly as I understand it using matrix and EV comp, will arrive at the same result.


----------



## Cortian

Peterson suggests metering off your hand, then bump up 1 stop.  (N.B.: Haven't tried it, myself.)


----------



## smoke665

Cortian said:


> Peterson suggests metering off your hand, then bump up 1 stop.  (N.B.: Haven't tried it, myself.)



Does it matter if it's cold or hot, because as thin as my blood is, if it's below 40, they'll be blue? And, does it matter which one? I'm right handed so the skin is rougher on that hand


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> This conversation makes me so happy I don't have kids.
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently, I chose to have a kid, because I don't like money, sleep, or free time.
Click to expand...


I didn't choose, I just road it till the milk came home...


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Spot metering may help ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Why spot rather than Matrix? Working in a snow environment even with spot, I sample the surrounding area then adjust accordingly.
Click to expand...

Matrix, what's that?


----------



## jcdeboever

Am I an idiot? I just like shooting. I prefer an all mechanical camera with no battery for anything. I love to look at my negatives after guessing, using the sunny 16. I am so OCD that I set my camera for the exposure, walk around, put the focus in a zone, wait, shoot. I have been getting better results. Granted, my pics still suck but their just not as sucky...


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Spot metering may help ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Why spot rather than Matrix? Working in a snow environment even with spot, I sample the surrounding area then adjust accordingly.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Matrix, what's that?
Click to expand...


 a dystopian future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality called "the Matrix", created by sentient machines to subdue the human population, while their bodies' heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source, or something on that order.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Spot metering may help ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Why spot rather than Matrix? Working in a snow environment even with spot, I sample the surrounding area then adjust accordingly.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Matrix, what's that?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> a dystopian future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality called "the Matrix", created by sentient machines to subdue the human population, while their bodies' heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source, or something on that order.
Click to expand...


I am starting to think this camera stuff is a bunch of technical poo poo for the most part. I have more fun just shooting my Nikon F or Holga. I have wasted ton's of money. I could have had me a bad A** Leica with a couple of sumicron's. I may just starting selling everything off and stick with film.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever I'm at the opposite end. I started with film in the late 60s, and have tried to get back into film for the past year. Unfortunately every time I think I'm ready I discover something new in digital.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever I'm at the opposite end. I started with film in the late 60s, and have tried to get back into film for the past year. Unfortunately every time I think I'm ready I discover something new in digital.


 Me too, I don't like it....


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Me too, I don't like it...



Like it not it is the future. Reading the specs on the new K1 II. With a useable ISO approaching one million, 5 axis shake reduction that reads hand shake and adjust on a pixel level up to five stops, and the list goes on. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't  one day have the ability to easily capture and display full holographic images that take lifelike to a new level.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Me too, I don't like it...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Like it not it is the future. Reading the specs on the new K1 II. With a useable ISO approaching one million, 5 axis shake reduction that reads hand shake and adjust on a pixel level up to five stops, and the list goes on. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't  one day have the ability to easily capture and display full holographic images that take lifelike to a new level.
Click to expand...


Yaaaawwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. Pentax is still in business?


----------



## otherprof

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @jcdeboever I'm at the opposite end. I started with film in the late 60s, and have tried to get back into film for the past year. Unfortunately every time I think I'm ready I discover something new in digital.
> 
> 
> 
> Me too, I don't like it....
Click to expand...

Does anyone remember the Weston Ranger 9 spit meter with a Zone System dial upgrade? I used one with my Nikon F in the old days and remember it provided great information. Of course, it took more than a second to set up a shot. When I get back to Long Island I’m going to see if they both work.


----------



## Gary A.

Cortian said:


> Peterson suggests metering off your hand, then bump up 1 stop.  (N.B.: Haven't tried it, myself.)


That's what Gary is saying, meter off a known quantity then adjust accordingly.  Most hand palms are a stop to a stop ana half lighter than medium gray.


----------



## jcdeboever

otherprof said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @jcdeboever I'm at the opposite end. I started with film in the late 60s, and have tried to get back into film for the past year. Unfortunately every time I think I'm ready I discover something new in digital.
> 
> 
> 
> Me too, I don't like it....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Does anyone remember the Weston Ranger 9 spit meter with a Zone System dial upgrade? I used one with my Nikon F in the old days and remember it provided great information. Of course, it took more than a second to set up a shot. When I get back to Long Island I’m going to see if they both work.
Click to expand...


Never heard of a spit meter but it sounds good


----------



## Gary A.

In the old film days, Gary started out with a non-metered rangefinder and learned to set the camera by eye.  With Fuji's EVF, he's back to adjusting the camera by eye.


----------



## otherprof

jcdeboever said:


> otherprof said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @jcdeboever I'm at the opposite end. I started with film in the late 60s, and have tried to get back into film for the past year. Unfortunately every time I think I'm ready I discover something new in digital.
> 
> 
> 
> Me too, I don't like it....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Does anyone remember the Weston Ranger 9 spit meter with a Zone System dial upgrade? I used one with my Nikon F in the old days and remember it provided great information. Of course, it took more than a second to set up a shot. When I get back to Long Island I’m going to see if they both work.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Never heard of a spit meter but it sounds good
Click to expand...

That should have been “spot.”  Can we blame it on spellcheck?


----------



## Gary A.

I thought a Western Ranger was a lawman. Like Marshall Dillon in _Gunsmoke_.


----------



## smoke665

otherprof said:


> That should have been “spot.” Can we blame it on spellcheck



Sounds good, been the downfall of us all


----------



## jcdeboever

Red Wings are poop


----------



## Frank F.

I feel free when I am on my way without camera and phone. 

Just breathe, walk, run. 

Yet ... 

... if I do I can not record strikes of genious that sometimes hit me 

... I just let all the little birds of inspiration fly freely in the hope they will some day return ...


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning kids. Sister and I have come to the community center to hit the food truck when it gets here.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Morning chores are finished.  The dog has walked away from her banana and yogurt breakfast.  Gary is sipping some tea and eating some cut up oranges.  Mary Lou has been peeling, cutting and then storing oranges in tupperware so they are always available and easily consumed.  This morning Gary filled a tall stemmed water glass with oranges and has been picking at them while answering emails and such.  An elegant way to eat oranges. The dog is getting antsy for her morning constitutional. It is 50F out, but the sun is shining.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> the sun is shining


But the ice is slippery.


----------



## Cortian

jcdeboever said:


> Red Wings are poop


It seems they certainly are _this_ season.

I stopped watching them back when Demers was coach.  After repeatedly snatching defeat out of the hands of victory I couldn't stand it any more.  After that I simply never got back into the habit of following them.


----------



## jcdeboever

Cortian said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Red Wings are poop
> 
> 
> 
> It seems they certainly are _this_ season.
> 
> I stopped watching them back when Demers was coach.  After repeatedly snatching defeat out of the hands of victory I couldn't stand it any more.  After that I simply never got back into the habit of following them.
Click to expand...

 Unfortunately, I think it's mainly the coach. So many fundamental mistakes. Last night, Howard let a soft game winner go in. They don't shoot enough either and they are weak in front of the net.


----------



## waday

It's Friday! WOOHOO!

Also, how are we not at 3,000 pages, yet?


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!    

Still silly-warm out there, but after Sunday the temps will drop back down to more reasonable/seasonable ones.   And I can make soup!        I'm just not done with my cold-weather cooking.   I haven't made an apple pie yet (only cherry).    These things matter!


----------



## Cortian

It's warm, here, too.  Well, 45°F (7°C).  But it's back to overcast and precipitating again.


----------



## davidharmier60

There was sunshine and everything earlier.
Now it looks like rain yet again. 
There isn't an escalator within 30 miles of here. So no cute pics.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Chilly here today.  Supposed to get some snow this weekend.  Hoping not as we have a long drive on Sunday to and from the wake.  2 hours each way  -  and I'm driving the shuttle...my Mom, 2 Aunts, 2 Uncles and 2 cousins.   All the "I no longer drive on the highway" seniors and my cousins who are flying in and won't have a car.   Once again having that 8 seater car comes back to bite me on the ***.   Thankfully they are all small little skinny adults who will not be overly crowded.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> 2 hours each way  -  and I'm driving the shuttle...my Mom, 2 Aunts, 2 Uncles and 2 cousins.   All the "I no longer drive on the highway" seniors and my cousins who are flying in and won't have a car.   Once again having that 8 seater car comes back to bite me on the ***.   Thankfully they are all small little skinny adults who will not be overly crowded.


Ugh, that's annoying.


----------



## otherprof

jcdeboever said:


> otherprof said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @jcdeboever I'm at the opposite end. I started with film in the late 60s, and have tried to get back into film for the past year. Unfortunately every time I think I'm ready I discover something new in digital.
> 
> 
> 
> Me too, I don't like it....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Does anyone remember the Weston Ranger 9 spit meter with a Zone System dial upgrade? I used one with my Nikon F in the old days and remember it provided great information. Of course, it took more than a second to set up a shot. When I get back to Long Island I’m going to see if they both work.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Never heard of a spit meter but it sounds good
Click to expand...

A spit meter might be used to determine how bad a photo or a politician is.


----------



## jcdeboever

Hopefully they're meek.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dinner was General Tso Chicken.
Not my fave but edible all the same.
And let's not forget egg rolls. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

otherprof said:


> A spit meter might be used to determine how bad a photo or a politician is.



Or teachers and preachers a little to much into the lesson


----------



## Tony744

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 154209



That's pretty much how my week went.


----------



## otherprof

smoke665 said:


> otherprof said:
> 
> 
> 
> That should have been “spot.” Can we blame it on spellcheck
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds good, been the downfall of us all
Click to expand...

I once got an essay on the death of Socrates where the student relied on spellcheck.  Instead of Socrates being in the cell with his friend, Crito, he was alone in the cell with critter. I guess those Athenian cells were not fumigated that often. (True story)


----------



## SquarePeg

otherprof said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> otherprof said:
> 
> 
> 
> That should have been “spot.” Can we blame it on spellcheck
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds good, been the downfall of us all
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I once got an essay on the death of Socrates where the student relied on spellcheck.  Instead of Socrates being in the cell with his friend, Crito, he was alone in the cell with critter. I guess those Athenian cells were not fumigated that often. (True story)
Click to expand...


Wow not even a read through before handing it in?  That's lame.


----------



## limr

So, back in September, I was named the Interim Director of the new program we are in the process of building for the Fall 2018.

As of Monday, I finally have the permanent position.


----------



## RowdyRay

limr said:


> So, back in September, I was named the Interim Director of the new program we are in the process of building for the Fall 2018.
> 
> As of Monday, I finally have the permanent position.



Congrats?


----------



## limr

RowdyRay said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, back in September, I was named the Interim Director of the new program we are in the process of building for the Fall 2018.
> 
> As of Monday, I finally have the permanent position.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats?
Click to expand...


It's a good thing, so you can use exclamatory punctuation if you want  And thanks


----------



## Gary A.

@Leo: ^5


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> @Leo: ^5



Gracias, Tio!


----------



## RowdyRay

limr said:


> It's a good thing, so you can use exclamatory punctuation if you want  And thanks



Just went through something similar at my job last Monday. Promoted to a position I was already doing. No raise in pay, just a pat on the back. Thanks? 

No harm meant. Wasn't sure if I should celebrate for you. Lol.


----------



## limr

RowdyRay said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a good thing, so you can use exclamatory punctuation if you want  And thanks
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just went through something similar at my job last Monday. Promoted to a position I was already doing. No raise in pay, just a pat on the back. Thanks?
> 
> No harm meant. Wasn't sure if I should celebrate for you. Lol.
Click to expand...


No harm taken, was just playing 

I did get a raise, though it actually went into effect when I got the Interim position in Sept. Long story short, but the title and raise were both temporary as they needed to have someone doing the work while they conducted the official search for the position. If I had not gotten the job, I would have been bumped back down to my previous salary. And if the search had gone longer than the Interim position was allowed to last (maximum of 6 months, and it would have expired in March), I would have again been bumped back down.

So as of Monday, I can lob off the Interim from the title and the salary bump stays.

Though technically, I will get a raise because our union contract was finally settled (after 6 years!) - it just got all the signatures and approvals and goes into effect just in time for the cost of living raise to hit my next paycheck in 2 weeks


----------



## davidharmier60

Tomorrow I find out how Sunday morning works. Supposedly I spot mop.
My Sister just made biscuits and sausage gravy that blows away anything Brenda ever makes. Still watching USA vs Sweden on DVR.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is 36F this morning and Gary is freezing from some cleanup work in the patio.  The winds blew down the potted ten foot high Flame Tree again.  Gary hasn't had the time to firmly secure the sucker. The problem was in the resurrection the tree became entangled in the grape vines which are secured to the edge of the patio roof. Gary spent a lot of time in his pj's untangling the mess so the tree could once again stand proudly and fully erect. Gary made two pots of hot coffee this morning, one to drink and the other to pour into his slippers.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> RowdyRay said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a good thing, so you can use exclamatory punctuation if you want  And thanks
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just went through something similar at my job last Monday. Promoted to a position I was already doing. No raise in pay, just a pat on the back. Thanks?
> 
> No harm meant. Wasn't sure if I should celebrate for you. Lol.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No harm taken, was just playing
> 
> I did get a raise, though it actually went into effect when I got the Interim position in Sept. Long story short, but the title and raise were both temporary as they needed to have someone doing the work while they conducted the official search for the position. If I had not gotten the job, I would have been bumped back down to my previous salary. And if the search had gone longer than the Interim position was allowed to last (maximum of 6 months, and it would have expired in March), I would have again been bumped back down.
> 
> So as of Monday, I can lob off the Interim from the title and the salary bump stays.
> 
> Though technically, I will get a raise because our union contract was finally settled (after 6 years!) - it just got all the signatures and approvals and goes into effect just in time for the cost of living raise to hit my next paycheck in 2 weeks
Click to expand...

No stinkin' 'Interim' title for Leo!  You go girl!


----------



## Cortian

Congratulations, @limr!

36°F (2°C), overcast, with calm air this morning in S.E. Michigan.  IOW: It's pretty boring outside.

The love of my life spotted a Red-winged Blackbird yesterday or the day before.  Now there are two or three out there.  (I just saw two on one of the feeders, myself.)  She spotted a couple Common Grackles this morning.  This is quite early for both birds.  May mean an early spring for us.

Mmmm... coffee...


----------



## snowbear

Way to go, Leonore!

The service for Brother-In-Law, yesterday was nice.  The County Fire Chief, two of the Deputy Fire Chiefs and the Department Chaplains were there.  MLW has another paper to sign, so we are heading back up to the funeral parlor in a bit.

It's overcast, 50 degrees and spotty fog, so I'm going to try and shoot a couple of letters for the alphabet project.

Breakfast is scrambled eggs, scrapple, toast and coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

Cortian said:


> Congratulations, @limr!
> 
> 36°F (2°C), overcast, with calm air this morning in S.E. Michigan.  IOW: It's pretty boring outside.
> 
> The love of my life spotted a Red-winged Blackbird yesterday or the day before.  Now there are two or three out there.  (I just saw two on one of the feeders, myself.)  She spotted a couple Common Grackles this morning.  This is quite early for both birds.  May mean an early spring for us.
> 
> Mmmm... coffee...


When Gary was grabbing stuff near the vegetable garden for the Flame Tree project, two hummers started flying circuits between the peppers and the tomatoes about a foot off the ground. When Gary first spotted them, he thought it was a mouse ... then a wind tossed leaf ... but it was a pair of hummers flying laps a foot off the ground.  Very odd.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Cortian said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congratulations, @limr!
> 
> 36°F (2°C), overcast, with calm air this morning in S.E. Michigan.  IOW: It's pretty boring outside.
> 
> The love of my life spotted a Red-winged Blackbird yesterday or the day before.  Now there are two or three out there.  (I just saw two on one of the feeders, myself.)  She spotted a couple Common Grackles this morning.  This is quite early for both birds.  May mean an early spring for us.
> 
> Mmmm... coffee...
> 
> 
> 
> When Gary was grabbing stuff near the vegetable garden for the Flame Tree project, two hummers started flying circuits between the peppers and the tomatoes about a foot off the ground. When Gary first spotted them, he thought it was a mouse ... then a wind tossed leaf ... but it was a pair of hummers flying laps a foot off the ground.  Very odd.
Click to expand...

Coming in low to avoid RADAR.


----------



## Gary A.

Cortian said:


> Congratulations, @limr!
> 
> 36°F (2°C), overcast, with calm air this morning in S.E. Michigan.  IOW: It's pretty boring outside.
> 
> The love of my life spotted a Red-winged Blackbird yesterday or the day before.  Now there are two or three out there.  (I just saw two on one of the feeders, myself.)  She spotted a couple Common Grackles this morning.  This is quite early for both birds.  May mean an early spring for us.
> 
> Mmmm... coffee...


Gary has plenty, home roasted, freshly ground, hot and steaming ... come on over.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cortian said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congratulations, @limr!
> 
> 36°F (2°C), overcast, with calm air this morning in S.E. Michigan.  IOW: It's pretty boring outside.
> 
> The love of my life spotted a Red-winged Blackbird yesterday or the day before.  Now there are two or three out there.  (I just saw two on one of the feeders, myself.)  She spotted a couple Common Grackles this morning.  This is quite early for both birds.  May mean an early spring for us.
> 
> Mmmm... coffee...
> 
> 
> 
> When Gary was grabbing stuff near the vegetable garden for the Flame Tree project, two hummers started flying circuits between the peppers and the tomatoes about a foot off the ground. When Gary first spotted them, he thought it was a mouse ... then a wind tossed leaf ... but it was a pair of hummers flying laps a foot off the ground.  Very odd.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Coming in low to avoid RADAR.
Click to expand...

LOL ... it really looked like a race, up and down this narrow corridor between the veggies. Gary would love to be a hummingbird.


----------



## snowbear

Cortian said:


> The love of my life spotted a Red-winged Blackbird yesterday or the day before.  Now there are two or three out there.  (I just saw two on one of the feeders, myself.)  She spotted a couple Common Grackles this morning.  This is quite early for both birds.  May mean an early spring for us.


On the way to work, one day last week, I spotted a Bald Eagle flying along, about 50 yards from the road.  Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera nor pace to pull over if I had one.


----------



## davidharmier60

The inverse squared of the thing is the farther you are from a camera or a place to pull over the better picture you will miss.

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----------



## davidharmier60

About to have a Quesadilla. 
How about Gold for USA curling!

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----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> About to have a Quesadilla.
> How about Gold for USA curling!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Yep!  And without doping.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is processing, processing and more processing.  He has a deadline to meet and 1,500 _Chorus Line_ images to inspect, cull and process. He has music going in the background, Jimi, Queen, Janis and Ray are helping him process.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That was awesome. They got better the last few games and momentum seemed to be building. I think most of their team has been to the Olympics maybe a couple of times so I wonder if this might have been the last chance at a medal for some of them. Pressure might have been off once they knew they'd clinched a medal.

Same for Germany in hockey, they'll be playing for the gold tonight. They've gotten to be more of a contender, congrats to them.


----------



## vintagesnaps

And congrats to Leo!!!!!!!! For permanently getting the job you already have! lol I know, we have that too, jobs have to be posted etc. etc. yadda yadda and the process drags on... Seriously I'm glad you are no longer just in an interim position, well deserved and I bet it's a good feeling.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary is processing, processing and more processing.  He has a deadline to meet and 1,500 _Chorus Line_ images to inspect, cull and process. He has music going in the background, Jimi, Queen, Janis and Ray are helping him process.



Throw in some Ramones so you can knock it out....


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> So, back in September, I was named the Interim Director of the new program we are in the process of building for the Fall 2018.
> 
> As of Monday, I finally have the permanent position.



 SWEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is processing, processing and more processing.  He has a deadline to meet and 1,500 _Chorus Line_ images to inspect, cull and process. He has music going in the background, Jimi, Queen, Janis and Ray are helping him process.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Throw in some Ramones so you can knock it out....
Click to expand...

It's on Shuffle so Gary doesn't have a call on that ... Lil Wayne, Frank, Ella and Bob are here.


----------



## Gary A.

They just left and have been replaced by Rod, Ricky, Amy and Stevie.


----------



## davidharmier60

I need not awaken at 4am tomorrow. 
I do need to awaken at 5:15am however. 
I hope for a splendid night for you all and a great Sunday!

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----------



## vintagesnaps

And Germany just scored and tied it up. OMG. This is an exciting game.


----------



## vintagesnaps

They just scored again! Wow. One of the announcers who's between the benches had been saying Germany's bench has been talkative, Russia's bench has been quiet. That's usually an indication of how a game's going for a team.

edit - Their bench may be subdued but they just scored again! Of all things, one of Team Germany's players lost his lid and in international play, they said the player has to leave the ice. Left them shorthanded when Russia scored.

Going to OT. And a regular overtime... most of the Olympics it's been a shortened OT then a shoot out, but I forgot the women's game did this too. I bailed on the men's curling last night and waited til this morning to watch it, but I'm staying up for this. But somebody better score fast!


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> They just scored again! Wow. One of the announcers who's between the benches had been saying Germany's bench has been talkative, Russia's bench has been quiet. That's usually an indication of how a game's going for a team.
> 
> edit - Their bench may be subdued but they just scored again! Of all things, one of Team Germany's players lost his lid and in international play, they said the player has to leave the ice. Left them shorthanded when Russia scored.
> 
> Going to OT. And a regular overtime... most of the Olympics it's been a shortened OT then a shoot out, but I forgot the women's game did this too. I bailed on the men's curling last night and waited til this morning to watch it, but I'm staying up for this. But somebody better score fast!



Well???  Left those of us not watching hanging...


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is processing, processing and more processing.  He has a deadline to meet and 1,500 _Chorus Line_ images to inspect, cull and process. He has music going in the background, Jimi, Queen, Janis and Ray are helping him process.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Throw in some Ramones so you can knock it out....
Click to expand...

Don't forget that Little Ol' Band from Texas.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's first thought was Lil Wayne ... but he's from NOLA.  ... And who might that be?  The Eagles? Beatles? Fat Tony? Chicago?


----------



## snowbear

ZZ Top


----------



## Tony744

snowbear said:


> Cortian said:
> 
> 
> 
> The love of my life spotted a Red-winged Blackbird yesterday or the day before.  Now there are two or three out there.  (I just saw two on one of the feeders, myself.)  She spotted a couple Common Grackles this morning.  This is quite early for both birds.  May mean an early spring for us.
> 
> 
> 
> On the way to work, one day last week, I spotted a Bald Eagle flying along, about 50 yards from the road.  Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera nor pace to pull over if I had one.
Click to expand...


About a month ago I was driving down a winding back road when a Peregrine Falcon flew out of the trees right in front of me. And of course I had forgotten to put the dash cam back into the truck.


----------



## Cortian

Hmmm... Cloudy.  Not exactly "cold," but neither is it warm at 39°F (4°C).   Winds out of the west at 25 MPH (40 KPH)  with gusts to 40 MPH (64 KPH) predicted.  Temps are supposed to hit the upper 40s (close to 10°C) and it's supposed to turn sunny, but remain windy.

I don't think I'll be trying macro photography in the yard today


----------



## davidharmier60

Sunday got me 3 hours and 5 minutes. 
My mop bucket was nowhere to be found so I got the one from the front of the store. 
Spot mopped. Dust mopped. Put things where they belong. Brought home a few groceries for my Sister. It's a very rainy day. 
Won't be a lot of picture taking. 

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----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> ZZ Top


Oh yeah ... Gary likes ZZ.  Gary was at a ZZ show and sitting next to him was an Asian couple.  He had a thick accent and we chatted a bit.  He said "Not many Asians like ZZ top."  Gary looked around arena and just smiled.  Mary Lou has been working on our Hollywood Bowl season. She's lined up the Playboy Jazz Festival, Paul Simon, Rod Stewart and Elton John's farewell tour, (Elton isn't until next year and may not be at the bowl), plus our regular season pass. Having the kids out of college is a lot of fun!


----------



## Frank F.

yesterday at the magic tree.



 
There was such a strong, almost electrical energy at this place. I tried to symbolize the current & flow in post production...


----------



## Cortian

It's a funny old thing: When we were first married we could afford only one car, so, when it was time to go shopping we'd go together.  After we got the second car that mostly stopped.  From time-to-time I'd think of when we used to do that and miss it.  Now that I'm retired, and have all the time in the world, we occasionally go shopping together again.  Today was such a day.

Spotting something interesting in the alcoholic beverages section.  Quickly searched for reviews.  They weren't bad.  Thought "Why not?"






(The photo's a bit misleading.  The stuff's clear as vodka.)

It's not bad.  I don't think it'll become my "go to" spirit, but it's interesting for a change. One review said it tastes more like an alcoholic Jolly Rancher than, say, apple pie. Yeah, that's probably about right.

If nothing else: Ya gotta love the container.  What's not to like about whisky in a turpentine can?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Well I slept in late, I 'had' to stay up late last night. Darn OT. Team Germany handled the loss with class. They actually looked pleased to win the silver medal, some of the commentators who are former Olympians have said winning the silver at the time feels more like just losing the gold. I suppose later they realize the significance of their accomplishment. 

I enjoyed seeing players like Datsyuk (former Detroit Red Wings player) win the gold medal, he was pretty classy too the way he was shaking hands and talking to the opposing players. 

Now I've got on the replay of the Team USA women's gold medal game. The shootout was the best part.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I got to hold an Olympic medal one time. At a minor pro game there was a member of Team USA's Olympic team (she's from the area) and I was looking at it and she said, you can hold it... They're heavy!! You'd feel that hanging around your neck. 

And that's as close as I'd ever get to an Olympic medal (or maybe an Olympic anything!).


----------



## Cortian

Now I'm sleepy.  Wonder why...?


----------



## RowdyRay

Cortian said:


> It's a funny old thing: When we were first married we could afford only one car, so, when it was time to go shopping we'd go together.  After we got the second car that mostly stopped.  From time-to-time I'd think of when we used to do that and miss it.  Now that I'm retired, and have all the time in the world, we occasionally go shopping together again.  Today was such a day.
> 
> Spotting something interesting in the alcoholic beverages section.  Quickly searched for reviews.  They weren't bad.  Thought "Why not?"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (The photo's a bit misleading.  The stuff's clear as vodka.)
> 
> It's not bad.  I don't think it'll become my "go to" spirit, but it's interesting for a change. One review said it tastes more like an alcoholic Jolly Rancher than, say, apple pie. Yeah, that's probably about right.
> 
> If nothing else: Ya gotta love the container.  What's not to like about whisky in a turpentine can?



Why not? Not sure I'd have confidence in the turpentine can, but what the heck. Lol. Love apples, just not a huge fan of anything apple flavored. Fake tasting. Over the top. Liquid Jolly Rancher. Was pleasantly surprised by Crown Royal Apple. Very smooth, real apple flavor. Straight up, or with an ice cube just to chill it. The female counterparts liked it with a splash of sprite. 

Apple pie is a whole 'nother story. Tried many. My brother's is still the best. Grows his own apples. Also makes a cherry pie. Yep, grows his own cherries. Tastes great and you WILL fall off the bar stool after too many. Lol.


----------



## davidharmier60

There is to be homemade potato soup for supper. (And a few nights this week).
Never took to beer. Barely to whiskey. 

That's all I got right now. 

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----------



## Cortian

*yawn*... That was a nice nap.  One of our three cats _loves_ to join me for naps









Maybe I'll someday try the Crown Royal Apple.  Only ever tasted one version of apple pie, straight of of the mason jar.  Wasn't too impressed.


----------



## RowdyRay

Potato soup from scratch last weekend. This weekend, it's venison stroganoff. Made it my own way many times, but trying something new. Simmering most of the day. Starving. About to dig in. Nothing like a good hardy meal on a cold winter day. 

Cleared 5" of snow Friday evening. Woke up to another 8". Running out of places to put it. Spent 4 hours clearing myself and the neighbors out. That's what we do here in MN. Thank goodness for snowblowers.


----------



## davidharmier60

Unlike last night I do awaken at 4am tomorrow. So good night to you all and have a wonderful tomorrow.

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----------



## Gary A.

Gary had a long day, fortunately the weather was mild and in the mid 60's.  Mary Lou's aunt turned 95 today.  Her family had a big party for her, about 50 relatives and friends.  What is interesting is that Mary Lou's aunt and Gary Mom had been very very good friends since kindergarten. Mary Lou and Gary arrived early in order to help set up the party. Gary was surprised with 30-40 pounds of tri-tip and was volunteered to perform all the grilling. (The hosts had eaten Gary's BBQ and unilaterally, without warning, decided he should cook the meat.  The hosts introduced him to the grill and meat then walked away, lol.  In the end, Gary was very pleased as it came out nearly perfect ... Gary's reputation as a master chef was preserved.  Mary Lou and Gary are now home, relaxing after all the cleanup, sipping a wonderful Thornton Viognier, playing with Miss Maggie, watching the end of the Olympics and processing, processing, processing more stuff from _Chorus Line_.


----------



## Gary A.

Congrats to Norway. Gary loves the Olympics. And a special congrats to our women hockey team ... Diggins, Kim, White, et al.


----------



## davidharmier60

I can't get over how well USA had Sweden's number. I couldn't tell you a thing about hockey. Off to work in 20 minutes or so. 

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## davidharmier60

4.5 hours today. Floor machine, buffer sweep. Put things where they belong. 
Put up some ceiling tiles. Had one heck of a breakfast. Going to hit the PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## JonA_CT

I had a crazy weekend.

Friday night, I was double booked. I had the "Name that Tune!" event at my school to photograph starting at 6, but my family scheduled dinner for my niece and sister-in-law's birthday at 5. I was that guy who had to go to the restaurant and order dinner with the drinks, and ask for them to bring it out immediately.

Afterwards, I went over to my buddy's house to drink a couple of beers and hang out for a bit. I didn't get there until 9:30, which is late for me these days.

Saturday, I spent the entire day preparing to trade my car in and then actually buying the new car. We settled on a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica that we found loaded with 37k miles on it for a steal. I'm normally wary of that brand, but Consumer Reports and Motor Trend loved it, and Car and Driver abused one for 40k mile test with no issues. The bottom line on the monthly budget was almost a wash.

Yesterday, we started tearing apart our kitchen to reorganize and to prep for some refinish work. I'm going to repaint the cabinets and walls, replace some shelves that we have, install a new floor, and perhaps put new counter tops in. 

I need a rest day, but here I am at work.


----------



## Gary A.

You're crazy busy.


----------



## SquarePeg

Nice looking ride.  Sort of a cross between a minivan and a suv.  Good luck with the kitchen work - nice that you can do it yourself.  A friend had her cabinets painted professionally and they came out beautiful.  Look like brand new.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Nice looking ride.  Sort of a cross between a minivan and a suv.  Good luck with the kitchen work - nice that you can do it yourself.  A friend had her cabinets painted professionally and they came out beautiful.  Look like brand new.



Yeah...its slung a little differently than other minivans. It's huge on the inside...has two power sliding doors which have already proved to be awesome. We were out yesterday and my wife had the entire third row (with tinted glass) to breast feed in while my daughter and I ran into the store...it was definitely the right choice. Just gotta order the weathertech floor mats (a New England must), and it'll be set for whatever we can throw at it. 

As far as the kitchen, I've had really good luck with General Finishes Milk Paint in other smaller projects. It's a self-sealing no prime/no sand product. It's expensive, but after working with some impostors over the summer, it's completely worth it. I'll add their top coat in the kitchen. I'm most nervous about the flooring. I'll have to peel up the quarter round and cut/finish/replace when I'm done, and I haven't decided what kind of flooring to put in yet. Home Depot has some cool stuff called Life Proof, which is a plank vinyl solution, that I'm considering. I might go IKEA butcher block for the counters. The struggle with all of it is that we can't invest too much money...it might help us sell quicker when the time comes, but it's not going to a value addition in my neighborhood.


----------



## jcdeboever

Congrats on the new wheels Jon. We had basketball tournament all weekend. Grandson's team got bumped in the first game on Sunday, 9:00am. They played well but the other team was very good and extremely disciplined, unusual for 10-11 year olds. Don't even want to look at the pics, what a dungeon. I was at 8000 ISO, f1/8, and the shutter speed was lucky to be at 250s. I raise the white flag under such conditions.


----------



## JonA_CT

In other news...

Beer with a side of toxicology, steampunk and music

My buddies' brewery had a hit in the local paper yesterday.


----------



## terri

Way cool, Jon!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

JC I had to laugh at the school gym being like a dungeon! those are the worst places to take pictures. 

Beer, music, and steampunk! I like it Jon. 

It's actually sunny today. Good thing, there's been some serious flooding in small towns in some outlying areas.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Ray besides snow your state also hss some darn good curling. That was what I watched the most in the Olympics.


----------



## davidharmier60

It never stopped raining yesterday. 
Now the sky is blue with puffy white clouds and sunshine. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> In other news...
> 
> Beer with a side of toxicology, steampunk and music
> 
> My buddies' brewery had a hit in the local paper yesterday.


And you got some ink as the "Mentor".


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news...
> 
> Beer with a side of toxicology, steampunk and music
> 
> My buddies' brewery had a hit in the local paper yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> And you got some ink as the "Mentor".
Click to expand...


Indeed. My cash involvement is small, but I will be getting 10 gallons of beer going tomorrow for a festival, and I'll be there tonight with my hands on a jackhammer


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news...
> 
> Beer with a side of toxicology, steampunk and music
> 
> My buddies' brewery had a hit in the local paper yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> And you got some ink as the "Mentor".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Indeed. My cash involvement is small, but I will be getting 10 gallons of beer going tomorrow for a festival, and I'll be there tonight with my hands on a jackhammer
Click to expand...

Gary has been inspired ... he is now looking at wine making kits on Amazon.


----------



## JonA_CT

I might skip Amazon for that purchase.

Check out morewine.com . I don't know a lot about wine making, but I love their sister site morebeer for my supplies. Fair prices and quick shipping.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I might skip Amazon for that purchase.
> 
> Check out morewine.com . I don't know a lot about wine making, but I love their sister site morebeer for my supplies. Fair prices and quick shipping.


Fair enough.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary has been inspired ... he is now looking at wine making kits on Amazon.



Training video for Gary and Mary Lou -


----------



## Frank F.

Again I am awake at a time when I really really should sleep. Not good.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'll hit the should not be awake time in no more than 1.25 hours. 
Just had spaghetti. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

Morning, hosers!   At last, the weather has returned to normal around here - temps have fallen way back, the skies have cleared and it's sunny and chilly.   Very lovely for end of February.    

In other news, we've begun painting our master bathroom.   It has high ceilings and weird angled corners, making it a PITA to drag ladders around.   We were able to snake the tallest one in through the shower stall, but it's obvious we'll have to use all our contortion skills to get this thing done!    The hubby is insisting we prime the walls first, too, so it's taking twice as long.


----------



## Cortian

Unless the walls are particularly contaminated (e.g.: You're smokers), the existing paint is badly-degraded or you're trying to paint-over a colour that bleeds-through the new colour, priming should not be necessary.

JMHO.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> In other news, we've begun painting our master bathroom. It has high ceilings and weird angled corners, making it a PITA to drag ladders around. We were able to snake the tallest one in through the shower stall, but it's obvious we'll have to use all our contortion skills to get this thing done! The hubby is insisting we prime the walls first, too, so it's taking twice as long.



Cortian pretty much covered it.  As a compromise have you looked at these Shop Valspar Signature Eggshell Latex Interior Paint and Primer in One (Actual Net Contents: 124-fl oz) at Lowes.com we've had good success with them, and eliminates the prime part, unless you need Kilz. Also, don't know if you have a Harbor Freight store around, but I bought one of these, 17 Ft. Type IA Multi-Task Ladder I can truthfully say that it is the handiest ladder i've ever used.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks that in a wet environment like a bathroom, the more sealants the better.  But Gary also wears a belt with suspenders.  JC has a lot of expertise in this area. (Personally, Gary wouldn't prime, but Gary is lazy.)


----------



## terri

@smoke665 : How cool is that ladder?!    He still drags around the extension(s) and tall stepladder.   Ugh.   

We've used the paint/primer stuff many times.   He's using Kilz (or something) because a) he already had it and b) the paint, while not in hideous condition, was a cheap builder's-grade flat that is borderline chalky in many areas,  so he's made up his mind to do it - and c) yes, because it's a bathroom subjected to more humidity.    Ugh.    When we painted the living room last year, we skipped it.

He's maddeningly methodical, but results _are_ always beautiful.   He hates paying people to paint.   I'm generally the one tapping my foot and urging him to move along.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Kilz (or something)



Given the conditions, using Kilz probably isn't a bad choice, and can only improve the paint job regardless.



terri said:


> How cool is that ladder?!



It's so cool, I don't know how I lived without it. It combines the elements of a step ladder and extension ladder into one, the adjustability is outstanding, the 300# rating makes it extremely stable, and folded up it's compact and easy to move.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> Given the conditions, using Kilz probably isn't a bad choice, and can only improve the paint job regardless.



I should also mention we're painting a lighter color over a darker color.   Primer serves an added function of covering the ugly and giving a better base to paint over.    Dark-over-light isn't a particular problem, but we're doing the reverse here, so it's worth the added step in this regard, too.  

I'm going to show him the link you provided.   Probably going to cost me.


----------



## JonA_CT

I have the Werner version of that ladder that I bought on BF a few years ago at Home Depot. I wouldn't live without it now. (I also could not have painted the walls in my stair case without it).


----------



## Gary A.

I have the Costco version.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> I'm going to show him the link you provided. Probably going to cost me.



As Jon and Gary pointed out there are many versions out there. The price depends mostly on name, options, and weight rating. There are a lot of cheap ones out there that have a lower weight rating, don't get them. Go with the higher weight rating, because of the stability. In the long run, it will save you money from an ER visit because of a shaky ladder. Speaking from experience (ended up with 16 staples in the back of the head from a fall one time).


----------



## Frank F.

Frank F. said:


> Again I am awake at a time when I really really should sleep. Not good.




We have a very cold spell, well below -10 Celsius (equals 14 Fahrenheit)


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> We have a very cold spell, well below -10 Celsius (equals 14 Fahrenheit)



Will trade you 20 degrees, we've had to run the A/C


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> I should also mention we're painting a lighter color over a darker color. Primer serves an added function of covering the ugly and giving a better base to paint over. Dark-over-light isn't a particular problem, but we're doing the reverse here, so it's worth the added step in this regard, too.
> 
> I'm going to show him the link you provided. Probably going to cost me.



It is easier to paint a light color over a dark than vice versa.


----------



## waday

Frank F. said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Again I am awake at a time when I really really should sleep. Not good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We have a very cold spell, well below -10 Celsius (equals 14 Fahrenheit)
Click to expand...

Is most of Europe having a cold spell?


----------



## davidharmier60

I used to paint a lot. Mostly with Sherwin Williams paint. A lot of cutting and trim.
And I couldn't tell you nothing about what y'all are speaking of. 

I had the better part of 5 hours.
Floor machined it all. Got almost through buffing and ran out of propane. Had a little in the other tank but you can't restart the thing when hot. So clocked out for breakfast. Got it running and except for a place where a stocker was anchored to got the rest of the floor looking pretty good. 

Went and got both tanks refilled and get to do it again tomorrow. Then off until Sunday.  

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

I made 10.5 gallons of Pilsner and scratch chicken enchiladas, plus gave my daughter a bath and put her to bed in 4 and a half hours. 

Time for me to go to bed, I think.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> I made 10.5 gallons of Pilsner and scratch chicken enchiladas, plus gave my daughter a bath and put her to bed in 4 and a half hours.
> 
> Time for me to go to bed, I think.



You can make 2.33 gallons of beer per hour? I'm impressed! LOL


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I made 10.5 gallons of Pilsner and scratch chicken enchiladas, plus gave my daughter a bath and put her to bed in 4 and a half hours.
> 
> Time for me to go to bed, I think.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You can make 2.33 gallons of beer per hour? I'm impressed! LOL
Click to expand...


Nah. I can make zero gallons of beer in an hour haha. 

Then again, given appropriate equipment, I can make barrels and barrels of it in 4 hours, haha.

Strike Water, water chemistry, measuring and crushing grain — about 40 minutes 

Mash in and rest, drain and sparge — 1 hr 20 minutes

Boil, Hoppage, etc — 1 hr 20 minutes

Cool, place in fermenter, and clean up — 40 minutes


----------



## limr

Bowie cat!


----------



## waday

Congrats on the new car, @JonA_CT !


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary thinks that in a wet environment like a bathroom, the more sealants the better.  But Gary also wears a belt with suspenders.  JC has a lot of expertise in this area. (Personally, Gary wouldn't prime, but Gary is lazy.)


Thanks Lazy.....Gary and hubby are correct. Bathrooms require washing the walls with a mild bleach cleaner. Then apply a latex moisture vapor barrier (SW B72), followed by 1 to 2 coats of 100%  acrylic topcoat. This prevents the moisture from escaping through the walls /ceilings, eliminating the formation of black mold behind drywall. Many people do not paint properly but if you were to hire a real professional, this is the method they would execute.


----------



## smoke665

Windows has been bugging the crap out of me to update for the past month. Finally suckered me into doing it this afternoon. 8 hrs later I'm still updating.  First time it kicked out because of corrupted data, spent the next hr cleaning up and starting over. Only at 65% on the second round, what a PITA.


----------



## ceemac

Whenever I sit in front of the computer, the dogs goes in another room. It's usually when I try to print something. No idea why !!


----------



## jcdeboever

ceemac said:


> Whenever I sit in front of the computer, the dogs goes in another room. It's usually when I try to print something. No idea why !!


Oh, the dreaded windows print system. Enough to drive a man to drink. Oh, the updates as well. Then the updates break something. I could never figure out why people love that operating system. I absolutely loath Windows. The only good version was 2000 professional. That didn't last long, then came XP, then Vista. Vista wasn't actually that bad if you knew how to configure it to run properly but still. People never gave Vista enough ram and the default install was loaded with un-needed running services. Windows 7, puke,  8 was funny, 10 is like cancer.
Windows created a lot of IT jobs.


----------



## ceemac

Frank F. said:


> We have a very cold spell, well below -10 Celsius (equals 14 Fahrenheit)



It's all about perspective, Frank. We've just warmed up to -10C (at night) and it's really quite pleasant. But we're running out of places to put all our snow. haha


----------



## Fred von den Berg

Very cold again today: thermometer in the car said -13°C as I drove my daughter to school.




 

Lots of _cold gold_ about...once more unto the breach!


----------



## Fred von den Berg

jcdeboever said:


> ceemac said:
> 
> 
> 
> Whenever I sit in front of the computer, the dogs goes in another room. It's usually when I try to print something. No idea why !!
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, the dreaded windows print system. Enough to drive a man to drink. Oh, the updates as well. Then the updates break something. I could never figure out why people love that operating system. I absolutely loath Windows. The only good version was 2000 professional. That didn't last long, then came XP, then Vista. Vista wasn't actually that bad if you knew how to configure it to run properly but still. People never gave Vista enough ram and the default install was loaded with un-needed running services. Windows 7, puke,  8 was funny, 10 is like cancer.
> Windows created a lot of IT jobs.
Click to expand...


No need for me to worry about things not working nor about updates causing havoc: my Apple has no worms


----------



## davidharmier60

I do my web browsing with Mozilla Firefox. 
Today is my Friday if you will.
I was told heavy rain is coming. 
But neither Accuweather nor Weather Channel see things quite as bad as I was told.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

I finally went to bed with Windows still updating. Got up in the middle of the night to find it had crapped out again, with data corruption error.  if I could figure out a way to stop it from trying to update I'd be a happy camper but everything so far I've tried only works till I reboot. Never ever had a problem with XP Pro. Despite my reluctance to switch I may have to look at an Apple in my future.


----------



## JonA_CT

You pay a premium, Smoke, for sure...but it always works when I need it to, and the components don’t crap out the way that my precious Windows machines have.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> You pay a premium, Smoke, for sure...but it always works when I need it to, and the components don’t crap out the way that my precious Windows machines have.



Unfortunately I'd have to dig into my new K1 II fund to replace with anything. Will be trying the manual install route today.


----------



## JonA_CT

The local meteorologists are starting to froth at the mouth while talking about the coming storm for Thursday through Saturday. That usually means crushing snow, incredible wind, inches of rain, etc. Based on the current forecast, looks like we will get all of the above.

Sounds fun.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> The local meteorologists are starting to froth at the mouth while talking about the coming storm for Thursday through Saturday. That usually means crushing snow, incredible wind, inches of rain, etc. Based on the current forecast, looks like we will get all of the above.
> 
> Sounds fun.


Ugh. 

We’re supposed to get an inch and a quarter of rain. Not bad, but we’re soaked already, and streams and rivers are pretty high.


----------



## JonA_CT

Just took a look at the tide forecasts here. Current thinking is several feet over flood stage. Luckily, most of the susceptible places are still battened down for the winter.


----------



## Cortian

JonA_CT said:


> You pay a premium, Smoke, for sure...but it always works when I need it to, and the components don’t crap out the way that my precious Windows machines have.


This ^^^^^

I'm a retired IT guy.  I had enough exposure to MS-Windows in the business world to make me feel anybody who _voluntarily_ uses it must be a masochist.  The laptop the employer from which I retired let me keep dual-boots MS-Win7 Pro and Linux.  My wife's desktop dual-boots MS-Win7 Pro and Linux.  Neither of them hardly ever gets booted into MS-Win.

My desktop is also the home network server.  Runs Linux.  Home server/my desktop before that ran Sun Sparc Solaris (Unix).  I've _never_ used MS-Win for a primary operating system, either at work or at home.

When it comes time to updating desktop hardware I think this combined desktop/server is going in a room in the basement to serve as _only_ a server and both my wife's and my desktops are going to be Apple Macs of some kind.  Current thinking is a pair of Mac Minis.

Though I have to say: Apple's repeated missteps with iOS 11.x have me wondering if Apple hasn't lost its way.


----------



## waday

Cortian said:


> Apple's repeated missteps with iOS 11.x have me wondering if Apple hasn't lost its way


While I like Apple, they're starting to get on my nerves with the repeated issues. iMessages for me still show up out of order, despite Apple "fixing" it with an update. An example thread with my wife will look something like this:

Wife: I'm hungry, too!
Wife: What do you want for dinner?
Wife: Sounds good, I'll pick it up
Me: Just got out, I'm hungry! Picking up kid from daycare
Me: What about Thai? Can you pick up?
Wife: You're welcome!
Me: Thank you!
Wife: On my way home
Wife: Should be home in 15 minutes, no traffic
Me: What's your ETA? Any traffic?


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> The local meteorologists are starting to froth at the mouth while talking about the coming storm for Thursday through Saturday. That usually means crushing snow, incredible wind, inches of rain, etc. Based on the current forecast, looks like we will get all of the above.
> 
> Sounds fun.



Ugh.  I have plans to drive up to mid coast Maine to UNE early Saturday morning.  I hope this is more ratings talk than actual storm...

I have an old Toshiba laptop running Windows 10.  Just did the forced "upgrade".  No noticeable issues or improvements...  Princess has a macbook pro which I love and will probably be my next move when the Toshiba dies.  I was going to get a Mac for myself last year but decided to get the iPad Pro instead.  I'm happy with my choice to be more mobile as I rarely sit at my desk anymore when I'm not working.  

My iPhone is having the message order issue.  Very annoying as if I don't hear it come in then I may miss the text as it's showing above my last send.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> My iPhone is having the message order issue. Very annoying as if I don't hear it come in then I may miss the text as it's showing above my last send.


I miss texts all the time, too! It doesn't happen on all phones, or all the time, so it's extra annoying. Argh!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is running all Apple stuff: watch, tablet, laptop and desktop.  No problemas whatsoever.  Gary likes Apple because he doesn't have to hold his breath with every update. (knock on wood)


----------



## Gary A.

It is freezing out here. Yesterday Gary had sleet at his house.  39F this morning. Fortunately the orchids are sheltered but the Plumerias took a beating.  (Gary originally spelled beating/beeting.  Beeting: When you hit another with a vegetable.)  Back to processing.  Gary has about 300 more images to go and a day to get them finished.  Miss Maggie is simply wonderful.


----------



## davidharmier60

I had 5.5 hours. Trish bought my box of pennies. The second bank in town had a replacement. From what I can tell so far it's almost entirely copper pennies. All rolls are marked one year one mint mark. Only 1983 are not copper although a few examples are known to exist. 

Killing time until I can get my check. 
And time is crawling. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Gary is running all Apple stuff: watch, tablet, laptop and desktop.  No problemas whatsoever.  Gary likes Apple because he doesn't have to hold his breath with every update. (knock on wood)



I’m also fully initiated. No desktop, but only because I don’t have a desk top to place one on.

I’m also a Google certified educator, but Chrome runs much more nicely on my MacBook vs a Chromebook.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is running all Apple stuff: watch, tablet, laptop and desktop.  No problemas whatsoever.  Gary likes Apple because he doesn't have to hold his breath with every update. (knock on wood)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I’m also fully initiated. No desktop, but only because I don’t have a desk top to place one on.
> 
> I’m also a Google certified educator, but Chrome runs much more nicely in my MacBook vs a Chromebook.
Click to expand...

LOL ... Gary runs on Chrome also.


----------



## Cortian

I actually run three (3) different browsers: Firefox, Chrome and Vivaldi (a Chrome fork).  Why?  Separation-of-browsing-data, you could say.  Firefox is used for most things.  Chrome is used only for Facebook and Twitter.  Vivaldi is used only for various secure admin-y type things (router and WiFi Access Point Admin, VoIP account admin, server UPS admin, iCloud and Dropbox access, etc.).


----------



## smoke665

Last fall Wife bought an HP Chromebook - she HATED IT. Right before Christmas she went out and bought a ssmall Dell PC that she loves. Partly what you're used to. I've used Chrome browser for years, partly because of it's synch between devices, and mainly because of Google Finance (It was great). For some reason though they did away with Google finance. Now I fluctuate between Chrome and Edge.


----------



## terri

I like coffee.    mmm, coffee....


----------



## Cortian

On the subject of web browsers: From one of my IT security newsletters comes this:



> Private Browsing Lacks Privacy
> (February 26, 2018)
> Researchers from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) delivered a paper at the Network and Distributed Systems Security Symposium describing a framework to improve the privacy of private browsing modes. The framework is necessary because even in private modes, browsers can leak information.



Ref: SANS NewsBites Vol. 20 Num. 016 : Think Tanks Breached; VPN Apps Flawed

So, just in case you thought that "open in private window" option afforded you privacy, well, maybe not so much.


----------



## limr

I will resist Apple products until - and including - my dying day, and all days afterwards.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> I will resist Apple products until - and including - my dying day, and all days afterwards.



I don't have anything against Apple, and suspect that it would probably work better, but I HATE CHANGE IN ANYTHING. I don't like going through the learning curve, I don't like searching for how to do something a different way.


----------



## Frank F.

very cold but sunny. in the picture the mornig sun just started to hit the sculpture....


----------



## vintagesnaps

I like apples. I keep them in a bowl. 

I push a button on my computer and it comes on and magic happens.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Just on the news - a milkman delivered drugs to an area jail/correctional facility. Really! lol Guess he wasn't so good at smuggling since he got caught.


----------



## davidharmier60

I need another computer. Problem:
Last one was a creaking old one running Windows 7 or some such. ANYTHING is going to be a BIG change.

I like Ice Cream. Mmm Ice Cream!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

I've had two Mac books (one pro).  Loved the OS, but the batteries weren't worth a darn in either one.  Half the KB and video went out in the pro after two years.  Add to it that ArcGIS won't run on OS-X, and I can't do everything in the online flavor, I'll just stick with a win-box.

The last update went fine for me.


----------



## snowbear

The house dressing from Three Brothers is fantastic!


----------



## Tony744

JonA_CT said:


> The local meteorologists are starting to froth at the mouth while talking about the coming storm for Thursday through Saturday. That usually means crushing snow, incredible wind, inches of rain, etc. Based on the current forecast, looks like we will get all of the above.
> 
> Sounds fun.



Latest forecast here is calling for heavy rain with a possibility of it turning into snow late Friday.


----------



## davidharmier60

Funny. I was told by someone who should know that major rain was coming.
Today it was mostly sunny and with humidity rather warm.

Whodoya trust?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey hosers - we passed 3000 pages in the Coffeehouse!


----------



## ceemac

limr said:


> I will resist Apple products until - and including - my dying day, and all days afterwards.



Right on. My wife and I both had iphones. One day, hers started displaying a big box in the middle of her screen asking for her apple password. She couldn't remember it. We had just moved and had to change service providers and no longer had access to the email on file with Apple. We tried for a month and all Apple could do was send her password to a non-existent email.  We threw our iphones away and bought Samsung. Couldn't pay me to touch a mac.


----------



## SquarePeg

‘Bout time!


----------



## SquarePeg

ceemac said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I will resist Apple products until - and including - my dying day, and all days afterwards.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Right on. My wife and I both had iphones. One day, hers started displaying a big box in the middle of her screen asking for her apple password. She couldn't remember it. We had just moved and had to change service providers and no longer had access to the email on file with Apple. We tried for a month and all Apple could do was send her password to a non-existent email.  We threw our iphones away and bought Samsung. Couldn't pay me to touch a mac.
Click to expand...


I know someone else who had the same issue.

 I don’t understand why, with all the free email options out there, anyone still uses Comcast or Verizon or AT&T email accounts .  It just adds an extra layer of crap to deal with when you change providers.   Gmail, hotmail, outlook, yahoo, heck even aol is a better option...


----------



## vintagesnaps

More coffee!!


----------



## compur

Apple installed anti-suicide nets around their sweatshop factory in China to stop their $2-per-hour employees from committing suicide on the premises.  That was real nice of Steve Jobs to do that.


----------



## vintagesnaps

'Follow the money...' Woodward and Bernstein on CNN tonight about comparisons to Watergate, they played the clip from the movie where Deep Throat says that to Robert Redford. When asked if they missed the days of meeting contacts in parking garages, they said, we still do! lol 

They showed a 1973 Washington Post article headline about Watergate, and Nixon saying it was a witch hunt. One of them I heard ask, how did you find that??!! lol They said thank goodness Nixon didn't have Twitter. But, he had tapes.


'Rat f'ing'?? now that's a new one.


I think Bernstein did look quite a bit like Dustin Hoffman when he was younger.


----------



## vintagesnaps

And more seriously they said after Watergate they went to General Haig's house, (his son let them in)... Haig told them he'd taken away Nixon's pills because of concern of what he might try to do to himself. Wow was all I could think. 

I was young enough to not remember much besides coming home from school and my mom having those hearings on TV.


----------



## Gary A.

From Gary's ongoing processing:


----------



## ceemac

espresso2x said:


> Google's no better in my opinion and personal experience



Aw, but my old eyes can see the numbers and it still fits in my pocket. (But it is top heavy when I text.)


----------



## Dave442

iPads were the intro for the wife and I to Apple (all the rest of the family have only used Apple) that led to iPhones, then a couple MBP's. I could not give up Windows completely so run Parallels and can jump over to my Win only programs - and at home with the extra monitor I often have Windows on one screen and IOS on the other.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning kids. 
Whatever I get be it a desktop or a laptop the very first thing I'll do is download and install Mozilla Firefox. Sincerely doubt I'll get Apple for the next thing. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Finally after two days of which I allowed it to run overnight, I have finally completed update of Windows 10 version 1709 and a new security software. To early to tell what else it might have screwed up along the way, but for now everything seems to be working. I am on the new Edge browser, which surprisingly appears to be quite a bit faster than Chrome. They have updated it so that it will also run on Android, and now synchs between devices like Chrome. I plan on giving it a shot, just to see how it works, as anytime you can simplify life so much the better.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Finally after two days of which I allowed it to run overnight, I have finally completed update of Windows 10 version 1709 and a new security software. To early to tell what else it might have screwed up along the way, but for now everything seems to be working. I am on the new Edge browser, which surprisingly appears to be quite a bit faster than Chrome. They have updated it so that it will also run on Android, and now synchs between devices like Chrome. I plan on giving it a shot, just to see how it works, as anytime you can simplify life so much the better.



It's weird that it took so long.  Is your internet super slow or is your pc getting old?


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> It's weird that it took so long. Is your internet super slow or is your pc getting old?



Neither, but there were still issues. First with corrupted files, then conflicts with my Antivirus, even after it was uninstalled (left remnants that the windows snooper detected). Then once it updated, there were a gazillion updates to the update. Then had to install new version of Antivirus, and go through all the accumulated updates. Then update several apps that had conflicts with the new version of windows. It's like a domino effect when there is a more than just a minor update to windows.


----------



## Gary A.

Chorus Line


Still processing ...


----------



## davidharmier60

Went by work to get a few things for my Sister. Seems the new guy had some issues this morning. Two people commented how different I look without a work shirt on. Trish and Kim had a laugh over it.

Time out for a late lunch and then back to the penny thing.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Pure Michigan. 62° and sunny yesterday. Today, snow bomb.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Your snow is at least prettier than gray skies and rain. But I don't really want a lot of snow either! lol so I guess I'll keep the rain. Til the weekend, then it's supposed to be pretty nice, 40ish and not rainy. 

I don't know where the day went, I got like nothing done.


----------



## davidharmier60

I can't seem to make a dent in a pile of copper pennies. I easily have three rolls and maybe even 4 in the pile.

No snow or even rain here.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

We just had an experimental Chicken casserole. Not my fave but not terrible. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## RowdyRay

Every experimental chicken casserole I've tried has been edible. Except one. My boys will gladly point that out. Burger King saved my butt that night. Lol. 

But, with a few tweaks, it may lead to a phenomenal meal. Just saying.....

That's how I learned to cook. Trial and error.


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> experimental



A word that you will never find in anything I eat. LOL


----------



## smoke665

And the saga continues, with the update to Windows Creator 1709 version. None of my accounting software worked after the update, and for some unknown reason, my DVD/RW crapped out in the process. Fortunately I could share a drive over the network to reload one of the accounting packages. The other two, are setup processes that while time consuming aren't overly complicated or difficult. One more and I'll be done. I have no idea how many other issues yet to resolve.


----------



## JonA_CT

Mac


----------



## NancyMoranG

vintagesnaps said:


> Hey hosers - we passed 3000 pages in the Coffeehouse!



And I helped....ok not as much as some of you....
Thanks Snowbear for starting us sooooo long ago..


----------



## davidharmier60

It drives me somewhat batty when my phone updates. It had been forever and a day when the last computer got an update.

That is the next thing I must channel my meager savings for. All I need is a tower.
Have monitor and keyboard and mouse.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh and even though I didn't have to awaken at 4am today my eyes are very near to being closed. Y'all have a nice night and a pleasant tomorrow. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Mac



Feh.


----------



## snowbear

NancyMoranG said:


> Thanks Snowbear for starting us sooooo long ago..


I can't take full credit - Leonore, Marija and Sharon (sm4Him) had a major part in it.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mac
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Feh.
Click to expand...

C’mon. Just take a little bite of the apple. It’s perfectly ripe and crisp.


----------



## snowbear

Stay safe, north easterners; It sounds like Boston is going to get the worst of it.  Windy as all get-out here, and light snow in Montgomery County, MD (one up and slightly west of us); MD State and Federal governments are closed.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gorgeous morning. To cold to get out the 100-400 with TC for a cool moonshot. So here it is on S8+. It lit up the whole backyard early this morning.


----------



## smoke665

Last week in the 80's with the A/C on, this week calling for frost and the furnace on. Crazy spring weather in the south. So far no buds on the fruit trees and hoping they stay that way for another week.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Stay safe, north easterners; It sounds like Boston is going to get the worst of it.  Windy as all get-out here, and light snow in Montgomery County, MD (one up and slightly west of us); MD State and Federal governments are closed.



Nasty here today already. I can see a wire whipping around already across the street that must have come off my neighbors house.  No tv for them today!  Princess has school so I’ll have to go out in this later today to pick her up.  Hoping for no snow so that we can make our plans in Maine tomorrow.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning kids. No high wind, rain or snow here in East Texas. Fair mug of coffee with which to get myself moving. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Cortian

ceemac said:


> Right on. My wife and I both had iphones. One day, hers started displaying a big box in the middle of her screen asking for her apple password. She couldn't remember it. We had just moved and had to change service providers and no longer had access to the email on file with Apple. We tried for a month and all Apple could do was send her password to a non-existent email.  We threw our iphones away and bought Samsung. Couldn't pay me to touch a mac.


You're angry at Apple for not giving you access to an email account to which neither you nor they could verify you had a legitimate right to access? 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




These I.D.s at Apple and Google are more than just email account credentials.  They give the possessor full access to _all_ the account holder's resources, including any other on-line docs and things like Apple Pay or Google Wallet/Pay.  They can't just give any old person who contacts them access.

Call your bank, sometime, claiming you're out of town, out of cash money, and forgot the PIN for your debit card.  See how willing they are to simply believe what you tell them and give you unfettered access to you bank account.  Same thing.  There'll be the same results.

Apple did the right thing.  (Btw: Do the same with Google and you'll have the same experience.)

Bottom line: Don't lose your account credentials.  Best way to maintain them, IMO, is an encrypted keyring (I use one called Password Safe), use a strong passphrase, and make sure you have copies on multiple devices (I have copies on phone, tablet and computer).


----------



## Cortian

SquarePeg said:


> I don’t understand why, with all the free email options out there, anyone still uses Comcast or Verizon or AT&T email accounts .  It just adds an extra layer of crap to deal with when you change providers.   Gmail, hotmail, outlook, yahoo, heck even aol is a better option...


We have a saying in the IT industry: Free email is worth what you pay for it.

Of the ones you listed, I regard only gmail as reliable, and don't feel their privacy policies particularly attractive.  Yahoo! and AOL are either dead or dying.  Microsoft's email system has been regarded for years by many email admins as one of the most unreliable large email providers on the Internet, bar none.  (Maybe it's improved, lately.  I no longer track it because I no longer need to do so.  However, back when I did, I found their systems _regularly_ "dropping email on the floor."  That's when a system accepts it and never delivers it.  That's regarded by email admins as a mortal sin.)  "AT&T"s email service has never struck me as being particularly dependable, either.  N.B.: I don't know if they're still doing this, what with Yahoo!'s issues, of late, but "AT&T" _used_ to use Yahoo! to supply it's customers' email service.

Somewhere, somehow, people got it into their heads that everything that's on the Internet, including email, should be free.  Problem is: All that stuff, just like this site, costs money.  The hardware, software, network connectivity, bandwidth, and systems and network administration all have costs.  Somebody wants to get paid for all that stuff so _they_ can put a roof over their heads and food on the table for their families.  Google does it by monetizing the user.  (You're not the customer.  You're the commodity.)  Not certain how the others do it.

*If* your email is important to you, and you don't have the tech chops to run your own mailserver, then your best bet is to pay a reputable email service provider.


----------



## terri

Happy Friday , hosers !   

Windy, windy, windy around here - and much cooler, but sunny and nice.   The wind is all we're going to see from this storm bearing down on the northeast. 

Crossing my fingers that no one loses power or has any other issues from it.


----------



## Cortian

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Finally after two days of which I allowed it to run overnight, I have finally completed update of Windows 10 ....
> 
> 
> 
> It's weird that it took so long.  Is your internet super slow or is your pc getting old?
Click to expand...

That kind of behaviour from Microsoft Windows Update is actually not uncommon, IME.  I see users complaining of this sort of thing in every on-line venue in which I participate.  The guy we hired to handle desktop admin (Hallelujah!  I *hated* desktop admin) started the job disliking Microsoft Windows.  Within six months he was where I was at: Hating Microsoft, MS-Windows and *particularly* MS-Windows Update with a passion.

MS-Windows Update did not used to be so wonky.  It started about the time they End-Of-Lifed MS-Windows XP, I believe.  At least that's when I started experiencing it and seeing wide-spread reports of it.  (Tin foil hat time: I always believed they purposely broke MS-Windows Update for MS-WinXP to "persuade" users reluctant to make the switch to Vista to move.)

Now, whenever I do an update, I cross my fingers, say a prayer and make sure I know where is my installation media.

It's really quite astonishing, IMO.  I can do a major update to one of my Linux boxes, incl. OS updates, whole bunches of services and apps, and a reboot in a _fraction_ of the time MS-Windows Update takes just to figure out what updates it needs--on the same network.


----------



## Cortian

jcdeboever said:


> Pure Michigan. 62° and sunny yesterday. Today, snow bomb.


And, in the middle of that snow bomb we decide to get a leaky gate valve that's part of the water softener and whole-house filter system replaced.  The plumber bungles it, we find out after he's left, and now we have no water at all.  Yay!


----------



## jcdeboever

Cortian said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pure Michigan. 62° and sunny yesterday. Today, snow bomb.
> 
> 
> 
> And, in the middle of that snow bomb we decide to get a leaky gate valve that's part of the water softener and whole-house filter system replaced.  The plumber bungles it, we find out after he's left, and now we have no water at all.  Yay!
Click to expand...


Oh boy. Did he mess up in a major way or just something stupid simple that he done a million times?


----------



## smoke665

Cortian said:


> That kind of behaviour from Microsoft Windows Update is actually not uncommon,



Yup, and after awhile you learn the common problems and how to fix them. Doesn't make it any less time wasting, just less stressful. That's somewhat why I'm reluctant to switch, at least I know what to look for now, and a completely new OS has it's own learning curve. Case in point Quickbooks wouldn't connect with banks to download transactions after the windows update. The error message said to uninstall and reinstall software. Had i not had previous experience i would have spent hours doing this. Instead it was a 5 min fix. Finally got the last of the accounting software back up and running, and fresh backups of everything, so I guess all is well.


----------



## Cortian

jcdeboever said:


> Cortian said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pure Michigan. 62° and sunny yesterday. Today, snow bomb.
> 
> 
> 
> And, in the middle of that snow bomb we decide to get a leaky gate valve that's part of the water softener and whole-house filter system replaced.  The plumber bungles it, we find out after he's left, and now we have no water at all.  Yay!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh boy. Did he mess up in a major way or just something stupid simple that he done a million times?
Click to expand...

It's a long story.  Fairly major, though.  Could have been worse.  The leak that developed _could_ have waited until we were, say, hundreds or thousands of miles away on vacation.

His boss was supposed to be here at 9 a.m., but called to tell me he had a customer with a basement that was flooding.  We're without water, but it's not the end of the world.  (We can even turn it back on for short periods, if need be.)  So now he's _supposed_ to be here at around 11:30 a.m.  We'll see.

I'm going to insist he re-do the entire job.  I don't trust the other guy's work at all.

I should have just bought some copper and fittings, and taught myself to do it.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mac
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Feh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> C’mon. Just take a little bite of the apple. It’s perfectly ripe and crisp.
Click to expand...


Mmmm hmmmm, that's what they said to Snow White. And we know how well THAT turned out.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary has finally finished processing _Chorus Line_.  Ended up with 350 final images for the kids and Gary is culling those down to about 50 of his favorites for his gallery.





a miss ...





... a hit.


----------



## Gary A.

Crazy theatre lighting sans spotlights:





Drama Teach


----------



## Gary A.

It has been cold and rainy out here.  According to snow reports for the local mountains,  (and SoCal Avalanche Center), the  snowline is down to 2,000' and may get lower by tonight. There have be mandatory evacuations below fire damaged areas, especially in Montecito where everybody is taking the evacuation notices seriously.  Gary has emptied his rain barrels from Wednesday's downpour and they have started to fill as Gary keyboards.


----------



## limr

Snowing pretty good here. 

Power went out at about 3:30am this morning. Came back on just before 7am, which made me happy because I was able to use my hair dryer to avoid going to work with a mop head. I left my house at 7:20 and the traffic report was showing my route to be clear. 

It had turned from rain to freezing rain, probably somewhere around 5:30ish, and when I left my house, it was starting to turn to snow. Roads were slushy but not too bad. By the time I got to the highway entrance, it was very snowy and roads were getting coated really fast. I started down the highway and it was getting worse by the minute. Got off on the next exit where there was a shopping center and gas station so I could check the weather and traffic again. I figured a) it would be better as I moved south, and b) it would turn to rain in the afternoon.

I learned three things:
- it WAS a lot better mid-county where my school is,
- the weather would get worse, not better, and
- in the 15-20 minutes since I left my house, there were 3-4 accidents reported on my route and the green line had turned totally orange and red.

I turned around to go home. Got on the highway going north. The southbound side, where I had just been, was even snowier but at least you could still make out the lanes. The northbound side was a holy mess. Middle lane had some tracks where you could still see road, but the left and right lanes were covered with layers of snow and freezing rain. Went the one exit, got on local roads to go home. About a mile from my house is the town hall where the plows start from. It was clear that the plows came out of the driveway and turned right. I was still on the plowed section. I passed the town hall and was suddenly on the section that they hadn't started yet. From that point on, the snow was so deep that I don't think my tires stayed straight for one single second until I finally came to a stop in my driveway.

I am doubly glad that I turned around because my school finally decided to close early. If I had fought through the snow and the traffic jams, I probably would have been there for a total of about 2-2.5 hours before I would have had to turn around and do the whole thing all over again.

I friggin' love March. It is just a giant middle finger to everyone who starts waxing poetic about the coming of spring, and oh, Feb wasn't so bad this year, and blah blah blah. In like a lion, beeyotches!


----------



## Gary A.

This recent storm has raised snowfall by seven to eight feet in the Sierra.


----------



## jcdeboever

Bud called me and said his external hard drive pooped out. Year old Seagate.  He has a wedding on there he was working on. He got an estimate to recover for $3 grand. He is bumbed. Sad thing is we talked about it a couple months ago, how important it is to backup. He didn't buy the drive I suggested either, I strongly opposed the Seagate but he wanted to save a few bucks... I feel really bad for him. I told him if it were me, and I was doing a paid gig, I'd leave them on the flash card and back the card up. We talked about several strategic solutions, he opted for the worst scenario....


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Bud called me and said his external hard drive pooped out. Year old Seagate.  He has a wedding on there he was working on. He got an estimate to recover for $3 grand. He is bumbed. Sad thing is we talked about it a couple months ago, how important it is to backup. He didn't buy the drive I suggested either, I strongly opposed the Seagate but he wanted to save a few bucks... I feel really bad for him. I told him if it were me, and I was doing a paid gig, I'd leave them on the flash card and back the card up. We talked about several strategic solutions, he opted for the worst scenario....


The hard drive in my very old All-In-One desktop went out a few months ago. I took it to 'Adult School', and it was replaced with all the programs for $25 ... plus Gary tossed in a $20 tip.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bud called me and said his external hard drive pooped out. Year old Seagate.  He has a wedding on there he was working on. He got an estimate to recover for $3 grand. He is bumbed. Sad thing is we talked about it a couple months ago, how important it is to backup. He didn't buy the drive I suggested either, I strongly opposed the Seagate but he wanted to save a few bucks... I feel really bad for him. I told him if it were me, and I was doing a paid gig, I'd leave them on the flash card and back the card up. We talked about several strategic solutions, he opted for the worst scenario....
> 
> 
> 
> The hard drive in my very old All-In-One desktop went out a few months ago. I took it to 'Adult School', it was replaced with all the programs for $25 ... plus Gary tossed in a $20 tip.
Click to expand...

His drive was strictly photos.


----------



## snowbear

I think it's time for the Mac/Win debaters to go play in the wind and rain and snow.  And for the record, I miss my Commodore 128 (the one with dual boot to CP/M built in) as well as the more grown-up PDP 11/84 and RSX11.


----------



## Cortian

jcdeboever said:


> Bud called me and said his external hard drive pooped out. Year old Seagate.  ... Sad thing is ...


It used to astonish me the cavalier way people treated their data.  After seeing it *so* many times over the years it no longer does.  Was talking to a friend at my gym a couple weeks ago and he says "We need to buy a new card for our camera.  The one that's in there is nearly full."  Looked at him "You know those cards can, and do fail, right?"  Looked at me in astonishment.  "No, I didn't know that."  Yikes!  I've had the exact same conversation with PC users: "You know hard drives die, right?  And, if it does, all those gigs of data and photos you've got on there will simply be gone, right?"  Sometimes I get "But aren't there recovery services?"  "Yeah, for up to tens of thousands of dollars."  They're always surprised.  They also rarely do anything about it, even _after_ being educated.

I have _never_ liked Seagate drives, btw.

Our photos get moved off the cards and onto the home network server as soon as practical.  The network server is running RAID 1 storage (mirrored SSDs--and I chose the most reliable at the time).  They're automatically backed-up to an external USB drive every day in the wee hours of the morning.  Each month that drive is swapped with the one stored in a safe and a new backup sequence is started.

This _does_ mean that if something is lost or corrupted and it goes unnoticed for ±30 days it'll be gone for good, but there's only so much one can do.  That being said: I plan to eventually replace the USB external drive with probably an eSATA dock, and bump the number of backups in rotation to at least three, if not five.



snowbear said:


> ... for the record, I miss my Commodore 128 (the one with dual boot to CP/M built in) as well as the more grown-up PDP 11/84 and RSX11.


My last "toy" computer was an Amiga A3000.  It's still downstairs.  If I ever get the Man Cave Project completed, I might try firing it up again 

I miss my Sun Sparc Solaris Unix boxen.


----------



## jcdeboever

Cortian said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bud called me and said his external hard drive pooped out. Year old Seagate.  ... Sad thing is ...
> 
> 
> 
> It used to astonish me the cavalier way people treated their data.  After seeing it *so* many times over the years it no longer does.  Was talking to a friend at my gym a couple weeks ago and he says "We need to buy a new card for our camera.  The one that's in there is nearly full."  Looked at him "You know those cards can, and do fail, right?"  Looked at me in astonishment.  "No, I didn't know that."  Yikes!  I've had the exact same conversation with PC users: "You know hard drives die, right?  And, if it does, all those gigs of data and photos you've got on there will simply be gone, right?"  Sometimes I get "But aren't there recovery services?"  "Yeah, for up to tens of thousands of dollars."  They're always surprised.  They also rarely do anything about it, even _after_ being educated.
> 
> I have _never_ liked Seagate drives, btw.
> 
> Our photos get moved off the cards and onto the home network server as soon as practical.  The network server is running RAID 1 storage (mirrored SSDs--and I chose the most reliable at the time).  They're automatically backed-up to an external USB drive every day in the wee hours of the morning.  Each month that drive is swapped with the one stored in a safe and a new backup sequence is started.
> 
> This _does_ mean that if something is lost or corrupted and it goes unnoticed for ±30 days it'll be gone for good, but there's only so much one can do.  That being said: I plan to eventually replace the USB external drive with probably an eSATA dock, and bump the number of backups in rotation to at least three, if not five.
Click to expand...

Remember the Seagate 7200.10 drives?. Super high failure rate. When I was building PC's, I always used Western Digital Black drives and IBM SSD's. Corporate stuff, IBM SAS drives. I back mine up on a mirrored system and a Amazon cloud. I store my negatives in plastic binder sleeves, won't be losing those in my lifetime.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary loved his Atari computers.  Gary is one of those cavalier people you speak of, he likes caviar.  He doesn't backup ... he is thinking it is time he did so.


----------



## Cortian

jcdeboever said:


> Remember the Seagate 7200.10 drives?.


Nope, because the last Seacrate drives I ever used were Barracuda SCSI drives in a pair of DEC StorageWorks RAID boxes.

Since then... lessee... WD Black, or at least Blue, and... uh... Fujitsu enterprise class SCSI drives, when I had my choice?

Had one RAID box built for me using IBM UltraStar SCSI drives.  I used to call 'em "UltraScorch"s, because they ran so bloody hot.  Had pretty regular failures out of those.  In fact: Once had a double-drive fault.  Luckily, though, the second fault waited until the array had finished rebuilding itself before raising its ugly head, so nothing was lost.


----------



## snowbear

Well, watching the tree-cutting branch (intended) of the work government was fun to watch.  A big pine tree near the office was blown down by the friendly storm, this morning, blocking one lane of the road.  A little while ago, the workers were there using an axe to remove the limbs/boughs, and a hand saw (it looked like a large Japanese style) to cut up most of the trunk, trying to clear the road and sidewalk.  Eventually there were 4 trucks, a mulcher and a van there.

The part that was fun to watch was the actual cutting -- done by a guy in a coat and tie, while the uniformed/day-glow vest guys watched.


----------



## jcdeboever

Cortian said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Remember the Seagate 7200.10 drives?.
> 
> 
> 
> Nope, because the last Seacrate drives I ever used were Barracuda SCSI drives in a pair of DEC StorageWorks RAID boxes.
> 
> Since then... lessee... WD Black, or at least Blue, and... uh... Fujitsu enterprise class SCSI drives, when I had my choice?
> 
> Had one RAID box built for me using IBM UltraStar SCSI drives.  I used to call 'em "UltraScorch"s, because they ran so bloody hot.  Had pretty regular failures out of those.  In fact: Once had a double-drive fault.  Luckily, though, the second fault waited until the array had finished rebuilding itself before raising its ugly head, so nothing was lost.
Click to expand...

I remember all those. Those IBM' had to be cooled correctly as I recall. Geez, getting my brain working today....


----------



## snowbear

espresso2x said:


> Just
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think it's time for the Mac/Win debaters to go play in the wind and rain and snow.  And for the record, I miss my Commodore 128 (the one with dual boot to CP/M built in) as well as the more grown-up PDP 11/84 and RSX11.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just be sure to set the volume on the tape drive to seven.
Click to expand...

Naw - I had the disk drives.  There was a 9-track tape drive on the PDP, though, but no volume control.  We did have to hit the heads with an alcohol wipe every morning before running the records dump, and after every 3 tapes (Scotch "Black Watch") when I was making my backups.

I used an old tape as garland, and write rings as ornaments on the office Christmas tree; shredded greenbar as a tree skirt.


----------



## davidharmier60

I never lost a Hard Drive in the old puter.
Did lose power supply twice.
Y'all are scaring me.
More I think about it that old thing was running XP. Anything modern is going to be a nitemare.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

R


jcdeboever said:


> Bud called me and said his external hard drive pooped out. Year old Seagate.  He has a wedding on there he was working on. He got an estimate to recover for $3 grand. He is bumbed. Sad thing is we talked about it a couple months ago, how important it is to backup. He didn't buy the drive I suggested either, I strongly opposed the Seagate but he wanted to save a few bucks... I feel really bad for him. I told him if it were me, and I was doing a paid gig, I'd leave them on the flash card and back the card up. We talked about several strategic solutions, he opted for the worst scenario....



That really stinks.  I do not ever delete from my address cards until photos are safely uploaded to all my backups. Not really necessary for personal work but I once had my laptop die on me and my external back up drive USB port fail right after.  Had to buy some hardware to read the drive to get the photos off the external.  I have both physical and online backups now. 


Sitting here in my giant Honda Pilot suv outside the school and the whole car is rocking in this wind.  Saw lots of tree limbs down on my way here.  I know which streets to avoid due to the trees being old and branches hanging over the street.  Would not chance any of them in this weather.  Had to get out a minute ago to re-close the back door because  the dog didn’t shut it all the way.  Man it is windy as f out there.


----------



## JonA_CT

No kidding, Sharon.

I’m feeling for our kids who walk home today.


----------



## Gary A.

It is misty here.  Gary put a raincoat on Maggie for our morning walk. Removed the raincoat when we hit the creek.  Maggie and Max, her BFF, immediately ran up and down the creek for the rest of the walk.


----------



## limr

It's like a war zone here. In the past couple of hours, no fewer than 10 fire trucks, 5-6 cars from the sheriff's office, and 3 EMT trucks zoomed past or stopped in front of my house. Wires and trees down everywhere, roads blocked, and a transformer fire. Still snowing.

Power was blinking all morning long and finally gave up the ghost again about half an hour ago. Thankfully, I had just finished making some popcorn.


----------



## waday

Here, we're just getting bad wind. Nieces and nephews aren't in school, because of power outage. 

The power went out in our office outside of Philly. They have white-out conditions.

Stay safe all.


----------



## SquarePeg

I canceled my plans for tonight and picked up a couple of pizzas while I was getting Princess from school.  We are hunkered down for the rest of the night but keeping our plans to head up to mid-coast Maine about 7 am tomorrow.  I'm helping a friend of mine take some photos of her daughter's college softball team.  It was supposed to be last month but it was moved twice already so I really don't want it to be me that cancels it this time.  Princess and a friend are coming along as our assistants.  Going to post a thread about this or a follow up to my previous thread to get some advice now that I have the particulars on the site.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I canceled my plans for tonight and picked up a couple of pizzas while I was getting Princess from school.  We are hunkered down for the rest of the night but keeping our plans to head up to mid-coast Maine about 7 am tomorrow.  I'm helping a friend of mine take some photos of her daughter's college softball team.  It was supposed to be last month but it was moved twice already so I really don't want it to be me that cancels it this time.  Princess and a friend are coming along as our assistants.  Going to post a thread about this or a follow up to my previous thread to get some advice now that I have the particulars on the site.


Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand now I want pizza.


----------



## waday




----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are at the 1:00p.m. Showing of Phantom Threat. The Movie Pass strikes again.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I canceled my plans for tonight and picked up a couple of pizzas while I was getting Princess from school.  We are hunkered down for the rest of the night but keeping our plans to head up to mid-coast Maine about 7 am tomorrow.  I'm helping a friend of mine take some photos of her daughter's college softball team.  It was supposed to be last month but it was moved twice already so I really don't want it to be me that cancels it this time.  Princess and a friend are coming along as our assistants.  Going to post a thread about this or a follow up to my previous thread to get some advice now that I have the particulars on the site.
> 
> 
> 
> Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand now I want pizza.
Click to expand...

Pizza, salad and chianti at our house tonight.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> I canceled my plans for tonight and picked up a couple of pizzas while I was getting Princess from school.  We are hunkered down for the rest of the night but keeping our plans to head up to mid-coast Maine about 7 am tomorrow.  I'm helping a friend of mine take some photos of her daughter's college softball team.  It was supposed to be last month but it was moved twice already so I really don't want it to be me that cancels it this time.  Princess and a friend are coming along as our assistants.  Going to post a thread about this or a follow up to my previous thread to get some advice now that I have the particulars on the site.


have a safe trip, and wave to Lazy Lobster as you pass by Portland.  We'll be going up in a couple of weeks.

From out Electric co-op's outage page - just shy of 18% of customers without power.
Active Outages: 1,170
Customers Out: 29,336
Served Customers: 163,104

We seem to be OK, according to the map.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Pizza, salad and chianti at our house tonight.


Sounds good.  What time should we be there?


----------



## davidharmier60

I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today. And on that note that's what's for dinner. No wind no rain.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## RowdyRay

davidharmier60 said:


> I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today. And on that note that's what's for dinner. No wind no rain.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Spinach. Lol.


----------



## waday

terri said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I canceled my plans for tonight and picked up a couple of pizzas while I was getting Princess from school.  We are hunkered down for the rest of the night but keeping our plans to head up to mid-coast Maine about 7 am tomorrow.  I'm helping a friend of mine take some photos of her daughter's college softball team.  It was supposed to be last month but it was moved twice already so I really don't want it to be me that cancels it this time.  Princess and a friend are coming along as our assistants.  Going to post a thread about this or a follow up to my previous thread to get some advice now that I have the particulars on the site.
> 
> 
> 
> Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand now I want pizza.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Pizza, salad and chianti at our house tonight.
Click to expand...

That sounds delicious!


----------



## Gary A.

Miss Maggie after this morning's stroll in the creek.  Plus Gary let her open his latest wine delivery.  

This wine was ordered last fall after the devastating fires in NoCal.  The winery's offer was a case of vino to its members with all the profits donated to help people recover from the fires.  The winery raised over $800,000 which went "... immediately to Napa Valley Community Foundation, Latino Community Foundation, and the Community Foundation Sonoma County's fire relief programs."  Additionally, monies went to the Anova School, a non-profit school which provides " educational, behavioral, and therapy services for children and teens diagnosed with high-functioning autism and learning difficulties."  Anova lost everything to the fires.  The money purchased " ... desks, school supplies, reading materials, therapy tools - everything these students need to succeed."  

A big round of applause to Naked Wines and the Cellar Cru vineyards and winery for making this all happen.


----------



## JonA_CT

Power keeps flickering here. Ledge Light, less than a mile from here, has registered gusts close to 80mph.

My parents don’t have power. Not that they’d notice.


----------



## JonA_CT

My aunt and uncle who live in Western central New York got some snow today. Like 35 inches of it


----------



## Gary A.

There’s a light rain here. Gary can’t remember the last time he lost power.


----------



## ceemac

Cortian said:


> You're angry at Apple for not giving you access to an email account to which neither you nor they could verify you had a legitimate right to access?



I wouldn't expect anyone to do that. I should have been more specific. Apple was satisfied with who we were and that the phone was ours. Their solution was for them to wipe the phone clean, which was fine with us. They were not able to do that.


----------



## davidharmier60

Apparently I am trained now to be in bed and nearly asleep by 8:30. Have a good night and a spectacular tomorrow!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Power’s out. Sigh.


----------



## limr

Power is not likely to be restored for another 2-3 days.

A tree fell partially on the house. Luckily only the smallest top branches hit the house, but it was enough to rip the electrical conduit off the house (wires are up and intact, thankfully - conduit pipe just got bent.) Also broke an outer pane and window sash of one window. Inner pane is intact so nothing is exposed. Some branches on the roof.

I will be sleeping downstairs tonight.

Talked to some cops and fire fighters. Trees are down everywhere. One killed an 11-year-old boy in his bed a few miles from my house. Wind is still dangerous, snow is wet and heavy on trees, and ground is soft and wet. Cop says it's the worst storm for tree damage that he has seen in his 13 years with the sheriff's office.

And we are far enough south that we are getting off easy.


----------



## smoke665

Wow that's crazy. I've been watching the news on the storm


----------



## limr

Can't bring the girls downstairs (long boring reasons) but want them to be safe, just in case so I have locked them in the bathroom, the safest option upstairs on that side of the house. (Some very large fir trees make that side of the house most vulnerable if the trees go down in this direction. My bedroom would be directly below the tree.)

It makes me so sad to think of them trapped in there, but even sadder to think they might get hurt or run away if something hits the house again worse than the 1st tree.

I will miss snuggling with them tonight  But hopefully it will only be for one night. Winds will calm down overnight, snow will melt since it will get warmer tomorrow, and the ground will firm up.


----------



## limr

Forecast says highs in the 40s for the next few days and no more precipitation until Wed.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Can't bring the girls downstairs (long boring reasons) but want them to be safe, just in case so I have locked them in the bathroom, the safest option upstairs on that side of the house. (Some very large fir trees make that side of the house most vulnerable if the trees go down in this direction. My bedroom would be directly below the tree.)
> 
> It makes me so sad to think of them trapped in there, but even sadder to think they might get hurt or run away if something hits the house again worse than the 1st tree.
> 
> I will miss snuggling with them tonight  But hopefully it will only be for one night. Winds will calm down overnight, snow will melt since it will get warmer tomorrow, and the ground will firm up.


Hopefully the girls will snuggle in and sleep through the worst of it.

This storm is a beast, making national headlines.  Y'all stay safe!


----------



## snowbear

We had a medic unit struck with flying roof debris on the scene of a fire.  The Department also set a new record for number of calls in a 24-hour period (more than doubled).


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning kids. No wind. No rain. No snow.
The power is on. No trees are down. 
Coffee is drinkable and that is the best thing to be said about it. 
No big plans for the day.
Probably mess with pennies and make sure my knives are sharp. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Tea, Jasmine tea for Gary this morning.  Why does water heated in a kettle taste better than water heated in a microwave?  Yesterday was _Phantom Thread_, a very odd movie about a very odd dressmaker set back in the 1950's. The cinematography was painstakingly superb with no CG. Daniel Day-Lewis was convincingly excellent.  The plot slow but the attention to detail which drew you into the characters and movie in every scene, made an early exit unthinkable. Not as good as _The Shape of Water_, but well worth the price of admission. Mary Lou liked the film more than Gary.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Miss Maggie after this morning's stroll in the creek.  Plus Gary let her open his latest wine delivery.
> . . .
> A big round of applause to Naked Wines and the Cellar Cru vineyards and winery for making this all happen.


And a very big around of applause to Miss Maggie for such a good job!


----------



## Gary A.

Last night we had an odd and meatless dinner of pizza, mac & cheese, baked beans, (Gary's call), and potato salad.  After dinner guests and vino and we watched/discussed cable news.  Started out with a Lorenzi Red and ended up with a Fess Parker dessert wine. The big argument was over Gary's wine pump.  A battery operated device which aerates the wine while it pumps it from the bottle.  A guest argued against the head the pump delivers with the wine.  "I want my beers with a head not my wine" he stated.  That head is what one attempts to get when swishing the wine in the glass or trilling ... only better. The debate was settle after comparing the wine from the pump with wine simply poured from the bottle.  The pump wins.


----------



## terri

Happy weekend, hosers.   Busy day: collect another gallon of paint, primer, and I am also on the hunt for new Italian parsley.  The parsley has wintered well indoors in front of my large, sunny window, but it's definitely starting to wane.   Everything will be moved out to the screened in porch in another 4 to 6 weeks. 

Tonight, hubby is grilling lamb chops and making one of his world class reduction sauces to go with it.   Gonna check out the cellar for a fat red, likely a well-aged CdP.  Can't wait!


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Miss Maggie after this morning's stroll in the creek.  Plus Gary let her open his latest wine delivery.
> . . .
> A big round of applause to Naked Wines and the Cellar Cru vineyards and winery for making this all happen.
> 
> 
> 
> And a very big around of applause to Miss Maggie for such a good job!
Click to expand...

Hear-hear!  This is second shipment of wine she has opened  entirely on her own.  At 35 pounds, Maggie is not a large dog. Yet, she was dragging that box filled with six bottles all around the room. Her terrier tenacious and ferocity were no match for the cardboard box!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Power is not likely to be restored for another 2-3 days.
> 
> A tree fell partially on the house. Luckily only the smallest top branches hit the house, but it was enough to rip the electrical conduit off the house (wires are up and intact, thankfully - conduit pipe just got bent.) Also broke an outer pane and window sash of one window. Inner pane is intact so nothing is exposed. Some branches on the roof.
> 
> I will be sleeping downstairs tonight.
> 
> Talked to some cops and fire fighters. Trees are down everywhere. One killed an 11-year-old boy in his bed a few miles from my house. Wind is still dangerous, snow is wet and heavy on trees, and ground is soft and wet. Cop says it's the worst storm for tree damage that he has seen in his 13 years with the sheriff's office.
> 
> And we are far enough south that we are getting off easy.


We're glad it's mostly OK for you.

I was monitoring Fire/EMS at work, yesterday.  It sounded more like a Police channel with the constant calls - wires down, trees down, outside fires . . .  They had over 900 calls in a 24-hour period, with about 400 being the norm. One bad apartment fire - the one mentioned earlier where the Med Unit was hit by debris.  Heard one where tree or limb hit the gas meter and started a leak.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Last night we had an odd and meatless dinner of pizza, mac & cheese, baked beans, (Gary's call), and potato salad.  After dinner guests and vino and we watched/discussed cable news.  Started out with a Lorenzi Red and ended up with a Fess Parker dessert wine. The big argument was over Gary's wine pump.  A battery operated device which aerates the wine while it pumps it from the bottle.  A guest argued against the head the pump delivers with the wine.  "I want my beers with a head not my wine" he stated.  That head is what one attempts to get when swishing the wine in the glass or trilling ... only better. The debate was settle after comparing the wine from the pump with wine simply poured from the bottle.  The pump wins.


Aeration is the point, so the pump is likely more effective than swirling alone in the glass.  

This is better suited to young wines, however.   With aged wines, nothing that vigorous is indicated, generally.   I do agree with the sentiment that I wouldn't want a frothing head in my wine glass.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Happy weekend, hosers.   Busy day: collect another gallon of paint, primer, and I am also on the hunt for new Italian parsley.  The parsley has wintered well indoors in front of my large, sunny window, but it's definitely starting to wane.   Everything will be moved out to the screened in porch in another 4 to 6 weeks.
> 
> Tonight, hubby is grilling lamb chops and making one of his world class reduction sauces to go with it.   Gonna check out the cellar for a fat red, likely a well-aged CdP.  Can't wait!


You know that Curly Parsley attracts Swallowtail Butterflies.  Gary had parsley in pots when it went to seed. (Everything goes to seed.) Now he has an abundance of parsley (various types) growing wild on the retaining wall.


----------



## terri

Here's hoping the power comes back sooner than expected, Leo!  Last September we had that hurricane blow through, and we were down for 3 days.  Not catastrophic, but long enough to start wearing on you.

I feel for the folks in Puerto Rico.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Last night we had an odd and meatless dinner of pizza, mac & cheese, baked beans, (Gary's call), and potato salad.  After dinner guests and vino and we watched/discussed cable news.  Started out with a Lorenzi Red and ended up with a Fess Parker dessert wine. The big argument was over Gary's wine pump.  A battery operated device which aerates the wine while it pumps it from the bottle.  A guest argued against the head the pump delivers with the wine.  "I want my beers with a head not my wine" he stated.  That head is what one attempts to get when swishing the wine in the glass or trilling ... only better. The debate was settle after comparing the wine from the pump with wine simply poured from the bottle.  The pump wins.
> 
> 
> 
> Aeration is the point, so the pump is likely more effective than swirling alone in the glass.
> 
> This is better suited to young wines, however.   With aged wines, nothing that vigorous is indicated, generally.   I do agree with the sentiment that I wouldn't want a frothing head in my wine glass.
Click to expand...

Gary wouldn't call it frothing ... it would not have been noticed had Gary not pointed it out. Maybe 1/8th or 1/16th of an inch uniformly across the top.  Gary can only afford young wines.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Here's hoping the power comes back sooner than expected, Leo!  Last September we had that hurricane blow through, and we were down for 3 days.  Not catastrophic, but long enough to start wearing on you.
> 
> I feel for the folks in Puerto Rico.


Gary has a friend working for FEMA down there.  He says it is a [insert expletive of your choice here] mess.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy weekend, hosers.   Busy day: collect another gallon of paint, primer, and I am also on the hunt for new Italian parsley.  The parsley has wintered well indoors in front of my large, sunny window, but it's definitely starting to wane.   Everything will be moved out to the screened in porch in another 4 to 6 weeks.
> 
> Tonight, hubby is grilling lamb chops and making one of his world class reduction sauces to go with it.   Gonna check out the cellar for a fat red, likely a well-aged CdP.  Can't wait!
> 
> 
> 
> You know that Curly Parsley attracts Swallowtail Butterflies.  Gary had parsley in pots when it went to seed. (Everything goes to seed.) Now he has an abundance of parsley (various types) growing wild on the retaining wall.
Click to expand...

How cool!     I just prefer Italian parsley to cook with.  

We have a few butterfly bushes and both hummers and all sorts of butterflies adore them.  I'd love to get some more stuff planted soon.


----------



## Gary A.

We also have lettuce and spinach all over the place. The is a head of red lettuce in the parkway next to the sidewalk which Mary Lou has been harvesting for salads recently.  (Gary thinks she runs it through the dishwasher to clean it.)  Much more flavor than store stuff.

We been researching and planting stuff which attracts hummers and butters.  Consequently, we have them in the yard everyday all year long.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Last night we had an odd and meatless dinner of pizza, mac & cheese, baked beans, (Gary's call), and potato salad.  After dinner guests and vino and we watched/discussed cable news.  Started out with a Lorenzi Red and ended up with a Fess Parker dessert wine. The big argument was over Gary's wine pump.  A battery operated device which aerates the wine while it pumps it from the bottle.  A guest argued against the head the pump delivers with the wine.  "I want my beers with a head not my wine" he stated.  That head is what one attempts to get when swishing the wine in the glass or trilling ... only better. The debate was settle after comparing the wine from the pump with wine simply poured from the bottle.  The pump wins.
> 
> 
> 
> Aeration is the point, so the pump is likely more effective than swirling alone in the glass.
> 
> This is better suited to young wines, however.   With aged wines, nothing that vigorous is indicated, generally.   I do agree with the sentiment that I wouldn't want a frothing head in my wine glass.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary wouldn't call it frothing ... it would not have been noticed had Gary not pointed it out. Maybe 1/8th or 1/16th of an inch uniformly across the top.  Gary can only afford young wines.
Click to expand...

Buy young and cellar them yourself.  I don't know what comfort level I'd have buying aged wines, when you don't know the storage history.   I'm happy to rely on hubby's experience in choosing special vintages and buying upon release, then putting in the cellar to forget about for some years.   We've been collecting since 1994.  Kind of a hobby, kind of a sickness.   

We buy a lot of young, more ready to drink wine, too of course.  Generally we're just a couple of wine sluts.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here's hoping the power comes back sooner than expected, Leo!  Last September we had that hurricane blow through, and we were down for 3 days.  Not catastrophic, but long enough to start wearing on you.
> 
> I feel for the folks in Puerto Rico.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has a friend working for FEMA down there.  He says it is a [insert expletive of your choice here] mess.
Click to expand...

  I don't doubt that.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here's hoping the power comes back sooner than expected, Leo!  Last September we had that hurricane blow through, and we were down for 3 days.  Not catastrophic, but long enough to start wearing on you.
> 
> I feel for the folks in Puerto Rico.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has a friend working for FEMA down there.  He says it is a [insert expletive of your choice here] mess.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I don't doubt that.
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Last night we had an odd and meatless dinner of pizza, mac & cheese, baked beans, (Gary's call), and potato salad.  After dinner guests and vino and we watched/discussed cable news.  Started out with a Lorenzi Red and ended up with a Fess Parker dessert wine. The big argument was over Gary's wine pump.  A battery operated device which aerates the wine while it pumps it from the bottle.  A guest argued against the head the pump delivers with the wine.  "I want my beers with a head not my wine" he stated.  That head is what one attempts to get when swishing the wine in the glass or trilling ... only better. The debate was settle after comparing the wine from the pump with wine simply poured from the bottle.  The pump wins.
> 
> 
> 
> Aeration is the point, so the pump is likely more effective than swirling alone in the glass.
> 
> This is better suited to young wines, however.   With aged wines, nothing that vigorous is indicated, generally.   I do agree with the sentiment that I wouldn't want a frothing head in my wine glass.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary wouldn't call it frothing ... it would not have been noticed had Gary not pointed it out. Maybe 1/8th or 1/16th of an inch uniformly across the top.  Gary can only afford young wines.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Buy young and cellar them yourself.  I don't know what comfort level I'd have buying aged wines, when you don't know the storage history.   I'm happy to rely on hubby's experience in choosing special vintages and buying upon release, then putting in the cellar to forget about for some years.   We've been collecting since 1994.  Kind of a hobby, kind of a sickness.
> 
> We buy a lot of young, more ready to drink wine, too of course.  Generally we're just a couple of wine sluts.
Click to expand...

Wine sluts in wine country ... Gary imagines you'd be broke if you lived out here. Broke, but happy.


----------



## snowbear

Last week, one of the sisters-in-law gave me a camera that her old boss wanted me to have.


----------



## Gary A.

Another from _Chorus Line_:


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Last week, one of the sisters-in-law gave me a camera that her old boss wanted me to have.



I remember those, my father had one.


----------



## vintagesnaps

How in the world many performances did you photograph Gary? And people think digital is easier! lol you could've had the film back by now (with prints) and been done. I dunno, those fotomat kiosks were pretty damn handy when we were kids! lol Or for me, stopping in the camera store was fun and they did all the processing... no muss no fuss, drop it off, pick 'em up.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh Leo I hadn't realized you'd be in the worst of that storm. You did the best thing for the girls even if it wasn't exactly the most pleasant night for them. Hope you get power back soon, maybe if it gets into the 40s that will help get it melted. 

Some years ago we had hurricane force winds get clear this far north and it took out so many trees and branches it took 4-5 days to get power there were so many lines down. It was in September so luckily that was a nice time of year to not need heat or AC.

Hope you're doing OK, and Jon too, has he been on today? And Sharon... all of you on the east coast take care and keep us posted.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> How in the world many performances did you photograph Gary? And people think digital is easier! lol you could've had the film back by now (with prints) and been done. I dunno, those fotomat kiosks were pretty damn handy when we were kids! lol Or for me, stopping in the camera store was fun and they did all the processing... no muss no fuss, drop it off, pick 'em up.


LOL ... digital is pretty forgiving.  (Gary needs a lot of forgiving.)


----------



## davidharmier60

She looks somewhere between pissed and scared.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. that 1st one is pretty awesome!!!!!!!!!


----------



## otherprof

Gary A. said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> How in the world many performances did you photograph Gary? And people think digital is easier! lol you could've had the film back by now (with prints) and been done. I dunno, those fotomat kiosks were pretty damn handy when we were kids! lol Or for me, stopping in the camera store was fun and they did all the processing... no muss no fuss, drop it off, pick 'em up.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... digital is pretty forgiving.  (Gary needs a lot of forgiving.)
Click to expand...

The first one is one singular sensation!


----------



## RowdyRay

snowbear said:


> Last week, one of the sisters-in-law gave me a camera that her old boss wanted me to have.



Nice. I just saw one of these at the thrift store a week ago. Mint, like it had never been used, with the leather case. Had it behind the counter with a 39.99 price tag. Way too much. Can't give them away on Ebay.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Last week, one of the sisters-in-law gave me a camera that her old boss wanted me to have.


And it comes with some pre-exposed film. A time and energy saver.


----------



## Gary A.

Back from watching _The Darkest Hour_.  Excellent movie, not as good as _The Shape of Water_, but the equal of the _Phantom Thread_.  Gary thinks he and Mary Lou are now ready for the Oscars.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Power is still out. Power company website is still showing "Assessing" rather than an estimated restoration time. My guess is that we will be lucky to get it back by tomorrow night. Might be Monday. Reported the tree so they can come to make sure it didn't damage wires but they haven't shown up yet.

Good times.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> And it come with some pre-exposed film.


That's called "practice"


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Power is still out. Power company website is still showing "Assessing" rather than an estimated restoration time. My guess is that we will be lucky to get it back by tomorrow night. Might be Monday. Reported the tree so they can come to make sure it didn't damage wires but they haven't shown up yet.
> 
> Good times.



Bummer, you don't realize how dependent you've become on electricity until it goes out. In 93 we had a major blizzard that took down pine trees on power lines all over the state. We were without power at the house for 8 days. Alabama Power really got slammed for that, because up till then they hadn't done a very good job of maintaining their right of ways. Not so now, and if we do loose power it's only a few hours at the most.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are evjoying a quiet evening, watching the sun set, sipping a Thornton Vermentino and snacking while stretching out on the recliners.


----------



## JonA_CT

We ended up being without power for about five hours. We were really fortunate.

My parents are onto their second multiple day stint without power in the last 4 months. They lost power for 10 days for  Irene, Sandy, and Nemo. It's crazy. But it's also why they bought their propane whole-house generator. 

We did some storm clean-up today, although it was still quite windy. We also have water in our basement again. It's going to be one of those springs I expect.


----------



## limr

They have just updated the website to show an estimate of Monday night, 11:45 pm.

There was a winter a few years back that knocked our power out several times for longer than a day. Since then it has been much better. This storm was really bad, though, and it was just lunacy last night. There is a lot of work to do, so I don't blame them for taking a few days.

Next house I am in, though, I am totally having a generator.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> They have just updated the website to show an estimate of Monday night, 11:45 pm.
> 
> There was a winter a few years back that knocked our power out several times for longer than a day. Since then it has been much better. This storm was really bad, though, and it was just lunacy last night. There is a lot of work to do, so I don't blame them for taking a few days.
> 
> Next house I am in, though, I am totally having a generator.



I hope you're staying warm -- that's the hardest part about losing power this time of year.


----------



## limr

There is a wood-burning stove and wood, so yeah, I am fine. Plus I have two small furry portable furnaces 

The worst for me was never keeping warm, but rather the lack of plumbing. That is what wears me down. No electric, no water pump from the well.


----------



## limr

There is a wood-burning stove and wood, so yeah, I am fine. Plus I have two small furry portable furnaces 

The worst for me was never keeping warm, but rather the lack of plumbing. That is what wears me down. No electric, no water pump from the well.


----------



## Gary A.

Stay safe and warm Leo.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hi Hosers!  Made it through the storm.  Lost some shingles off our roof which is overdue to be replaced.  Moving that up the priority list...

@limr stay safe, sounds like you guys got it worse than we did.  Lots of trees down here but no fatalities that I know of.

Made the round trip up to Maine today.. driving straight into the wind the whole way up.  It was a challenge to maintain a steady course.  Had a blast taking photos of my friend’s daughter’s softball team.  Will try to post a few of those later this weekend if I have time to look through them.  

Tomorrow is the first day of softball winter clinics.  I’m the organizer and need to be there for the whole afternoon.  I don’t have to do anything other than coordinate our coaches and HS team volunteers, check in all the girls, field questions from parents, distribute the T-shirt’s, sell logo gear from our league store, man the first aid station and take some photos for our league website.  I’m tired already!  Going to bring Princess and one of her softball friends to help me out.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all. I scraped my face. So I look a little less like a bum. In approximately 20-25 minutes off I go to work. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 42F presently, but the sun is shining.  Bright wedges of yellow are streaming in through and under the front terrace striking the front door from the step to the doorknob.  The hummingbird feeder through the blinds, outside the kitchen table window, is looking like a large crystal, a jewel of reflection as the light bounces off the glass and the dew still resting on the copper base.  A redheaded Anna's has hummed in for a morning taste.  Its head in shadow as it feeds but a striking cardinal red when the feathers are lifted up into the streaming light.  Gary is enjoying his morning's quiet, his coffee, the Sunday paper and watching his world warm up.  It's gonna be a nice day.


----------



## davidharmier60

I got within a minute of 3 hours.
My Sister hit me with a message to get some things. Got them. Got in the truck engine running and she hit me with one more item. Got that. Hit the PO Box and one of the things was a jury summons for 3-19-08
Got home and here I am. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Hi Hosers!  Made it through the storm.  Lost some shingles off our roof which is overdue to be replaced.  Moving that up the priority list...
> 
> @limr stay safe, sounds like you guys got it worse than we did.  Lots of trees down here but no fatalities that I know of.
> 
> Made the round trip up to Maine today.. driving straight into the wind the whole way up.  It was a challenge to maintain a steady course.  Had a blast taking photos of my friend’s daughter’s softball team.  Will try to post a few of those later this weekend if I have time to look through them.
> 
> Tomorrow is the first day of softball winter clinics.  I’m the organizer and need to be there for the whole afternoon.  I don’t have to do anything other than coordinate our coaches and HS team volunteers, check in all the girls, field questions from parents, distribute the T-shirt’s, sell logo gear from our league store, man the first aid station and take some photos for our league website.  I’m tired already!  Going to bring Princess and one of her softball friends to help me out.


Wow, I can't believe you made it up there - good for you.   Fearless being!        I tend to avoid any risky driving if I can help it, so kudos to you for getting the photos taken.

@limr: My in-laws had a house that was built on a sloping lot, below street level, and had to rely on an electric pump to make the commodes flushable.   Never an issue of course, until the power went out in bad storms.    In their later, retired years, they took to just staying in nearby hotels when bad weather was on the way.    We used to laugh, but now it doesn't seem so silly!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sounds like Leo's area got the worst of it, hope you and the kitties are hanging in there and your power gets back on soon.


----------



## davidharmier60

In Houston proper there is a 50/50 chance of rain tonight. 80% tomorrow. 
It would be fine with me if they kept it down there in Houston. But that isn't how the smart money bets. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Miss Maggie and Gary are back from our morning walk in the park. A nice crisp morning with a blanket of snow covering the local mountains.  We’re now drinking coffee in the patio, discussing the evening menu for the Oscar’s with Mike and Max. Gary discovered a Monarch caterpillar climbing up the patio table.  He rescued the caterpillar and stuck on a Milkweed.


----------



## davidharmier60

Nitey nite y'all. Have a good night and a better tomorrow. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## terri

Happy Monday, hosers!


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> Happy Monday, hosers!


Said no one, ever. *with sincerity*!


----------



## davidharmier60

It was exactly a 4.25 hour day.
Watching Drag Racing from Arizona on DVR.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

tirediron said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Monday, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> Said no one, ever.
Click to expand...

Ahem, sir!  I believe I just did.


----------



## vintagesnaps

So... said one person once?? I need more coffee...


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Monday, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> Said no one, ever.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ahem, sir!  I believe I just did.
Click to expand...

Fixed!


----------



## terri

tirediron said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Monday, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> Said no one, ever.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ahem, sir!  I believe I just did.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Fixed!
Click to expand...


----------



## RowdyRay

Well, it's our turned to get hammered with bad weather. Wind has been insane. Lost power for about 4 hours Sunday morning. Rain and sleet most of the day. At 2:15 AM Monday, I woke up to a loud thunder crack. Not something you hear this time of year. Then it poured cats and dogs for 20 minutes. Followed by more sleet. 

Everything was coated in ice this morning. All schools were closed. And most likely tomorrow. That doesn't happen very often, either. DOT was asking people not to go to work if not necessary. I have to go unless DOT shuts things down. That's only happened twice in almost 30 years. 

We've been stuck in a pocket most of the day, with the same mix, but the snow finally got here. On my way home it just kept getting worse. Heard everything from 8-12 inches. With the winds, and the ice under it, this could be fun. We'll see what happens tomorrow.


----------



## Tony744

There are still thousands of people here with out power from the last Nor' Easter, high waves still pounding the coast, and another storm due to hit Wednesday. I'm ready for spring to arrive!


----------



## smoke665

Weatherman here just threw up his arms and said "I don't have a clue". Sun, rain, warm, cold, just pick one!!!


----------



## davidharmier60

90% chance of rain in Houston today.
We didn't get a drop. Soon it's off to bed with me. Have a nice night and a better tomorrow. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## RowdyRay

Yours should be better tomorrow.  Mine is going to be ugly.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Why, what have you got going on tomorrow?

I thought I heard sleet awhile ago. The ever popular wintry mix was supposed to stay north of here. Whatever it does, it's supposed to be 50 tomorrow so it shouldn't be much or at least be gone soon.


----------



## ceemac

Almost spring. Long range weather forecast for tomorrow says we're going to blow through the freezing mark and hit +1C. Time to dig out the yacht.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is 48F and 7:00a.m. Gary has finished his early morning chores and he is sitting down with a steaming cup of coffee.  Gary's hands are cold from taking trash out and dumping yesterday's tea leaves and coffee grounds into the potted veggies. He is grasping his 'Cookie' mug with both hands and she is smiling in return.

Gary had Willie, his handyman, come over yesterday for a quote on his leaky patio roof. Gary has been applying bandage after bandage on the sucker, but has yet to find the source of the leak. Willie is a bit of an oddity.  He used to own a home up in the hilly part of Whittier.  One of Gary's business partners lives on the same street as Willie.  The street is filled with doctors and lawyers and professionals that earn considerable annual incomes. Those homes have a wonderful view of the coastal basin, downtown Los Angeles to the west, the white capped San Gabriel Mountains to the north and to the south, the shining sea and Catalina Island.  And now Willie is a handyman, doing odd jobs until his retirement kicks in.

After a short discussion on the roof, Gary tossed his body as laborer into the deal, to lower the cost.  Willie relaxed in the living room with Mary Lou and Gary and had a Stella. Willie unloaded that his brother just died of cancer and that he had spent three months in Texas nursing his brother until the death. A very sad story, Gary felt the need for Willie to unload it all and he is glad he found the patience to hear it all.


----------



## Gary A.

The Valencia Orange tree which the tomatoes grew up and into.




Tomatoes and Oranges




Yesterday, Mary Lou climbed up the step ladder to pick some tomatoes. She said she had been keeping an eye on them from the kitchen window.  It was all very odd to see red fruit in an orange tree.


----------



## davidharmier60

Interesting pair Gary.
A minute or maybe 2 under 4.75 hours.
I helped a dude put an old wrapping machine on his trailer so he could scrap it.
Wish I'd known about it before today.
That sucker probably was 600# at least.
Christmas and my birthday rolled into one arrived today. A Canon DSLR and a few lenses. It seems to communicate with my lenses just fine. My 28-105 will probably live on the camera. Seems I have a LOT of learning to do with it!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh heck a picture as I'm rather happy with it!



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> Oh heck a picture as I'm rather happy with it!View attachment 154741
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Congrats on the camera!


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> Oh heck a picture as I'm rather happy with it!View attachment 154741
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Yay... new toy!


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> Oh heck a picture as I'm rather happy with it!View attachment 154741
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Yay!


----------



## snowbear

Well it should get interesting (and probably a bit slower) next month . . . the Deputy Fire Chief that hired me as a GIS Intern, and our biggest customer (19 out of 24 map projects this year) is retiring.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Oh heck a picture as I'm rather happy with it!View attachment 154741
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Nice.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> Well it should get interesting (and probably a bit slower) next month . . . the Deputy Fire Chief that hired me as a GIS Intern, and our biggest customer (19 out of 24 map projects this year) is retiring.


Who is his replacement? Get your name in front of him/her. Let him/her know that you are the one to go to?


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> Oh heck a picture as I'm rather happy with it!



You do realize that we will be expecting you to start posting fresh meat for critical review LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

Understanding that it is a 10MP APS-C and I have a LOT to learn about it.... and don't have a computer with which to post pics....
I'll see what I can do. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary had Willie, his handyman, come over yesterday for a quote on his leaky patio roof. Gary has been applying bandage after bandage on the sucker, but has yet to find the source of the leak



Gary many, many years ago, our office building was constant problem with leaks. The zero pitch and the built up roof had seen it's better days. A friend recommended this company Commercial Roofing System - Single Ply PVC Roofing Company | Duro-Last Roofing, Inc. it has performed great. 20 years and still going strong. It worked so well that we had them install the same thing on our screened deck roof. Again no more problems. I know back then it was expensive, but it has been well worth the price.


----------



## Gary A.

Thanks for the tip.  But it is only for the patio.  Torching a new membrane down it the trick.  The roof is slanted coming off the house ... and that's it, no pitches or angles. Easy-Pezy.


----------



## SquarePeg

Howdy Hosers!  Been a busy couple of days for us.  Just back from the hospital for xrays for Princess's thumb which she bent back playing softball yesterday and was swollen and bruised this morning.  No fracture, just a bad sprain. Of course try-outs for the HS team are in less than 2 weeks and it's her throwing hand...  Hopefully will not be an issue by then.  If it were today should would not be able to swing a bat or throw a ball...

Getting through the last of the photos I took of the softball team up in Maine on Saturday.  I culled it down to about 150 photos.  Want to get this done and off my plate by tomorrow night.  I don't know how the pros do it with hundreds of photos, thousands maybe, per wedding.  It's exhausting for me to have "work" that is not done and just sitting there waiting for me.  It stresses me out.  It certainly says a lot about choosing your shot and getting it right in camera and not having a lot of post work to do!


----------



## Tony744

Been a busy day for me. Winds finally settled down enough to repair the roof of the tractor shed at work that was damaged during Fridays' storm. Then had to get some spare ladders moved out of the shop, crated, and moved into storage. Finish repairing the snow blower, drop the loader off the tractor and attach the blower for the storm tomorrow.


----------



## Gary A.

Back ... It has been a wonderful day. In the 70’s and Mary Lou and Gary dropped the top and moseyed down to Seal Beach for a pleasant lunch and a walk on the pier. Then we cruised down Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) to Huntington Beach. The weather was extremely clear and we felt like we could reach out and touch Catalina Island from one side of the car and also touch the snow capped San Gabriel Mountains from the other side.


----------



## RowdyRay

Wasn't as bad as predicted. I got about 6 inches of snow. Other areas were worse. But it didn't end until around 2 PM today. The temps were in the low 30s, so it's heavy and wet. Luckily the big blower moved it. The little one wouldn't touch it. Yes, I own two snow blowers. For very good reasons. 

Driving wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Winds died down. DOT did a good job this time. Unlike previous storms. Seems like it takes them half the winter to get their act together. Made it home in one piece. Spent about 2 1/2 hours cleaning my place up and several elderly neighbors. Some chose to leave it. Supposed to drop down to 10 degrees tonight. Rock solid by morning. Might regret that decision. 

I'm really hoping the old March saying is true. "In like a lion, out like a lamb." Getting too old for this crap.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Got power back around 11 am. Hopefully we didn't get it back just in time to lose it again tomorrow. School has already closed in anticipation of tomorrow's storm.


----------



## smoke665

I'm really proud of myself. I've been trying to lose weight, necessitating a cut back on the desserts. The lack of sweets has taken it's toll on me. Yesterday the DW brought home a large container of low fat plain vanilla yogurt. Bless her heart, that really hits the spot, especially after I found out I could crumble up 3 or 4 Heath Bars, and sprinkle over the bowl of it! Eating healthy, weight conscious foods, and it tastes good that makes it a winner in my book!


----------



## Tony744

RowdyRay said:


> I'm really hoping the old March saying is true. "In like a lion, out like a lamb." Getting too old for this crap.



You and me both!


----------



## RowdyRay

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Got power back around 11 am. Hopefully we didn't get it back just in time to lose it again tomorrow. School has already closed in anticipation of tomorrow's storm.



Glad you got power back on. Crossing my fingers it stays that way. Stay safe.


----------



## jcdeboever

I had an interesting day. Naked old lady running down the road in Flint, her boobies were are over the place, swaying in different directions, and her lawn needed to mowed big time. My waitress farted (squeeker) when taking my order for a loaded chilli dog, of course it was at the end, smelled like sewer, in Flint. Seen dogs fornicating on the side of the road, in Flint. Seen young lady in car, on phone, texting, speeding, run into back of semi in right lane (weight station), between Flint & Saginaw. Pure Michigan.


----------



## Tony744

What? And no photos? 

Sounds like your day wasn't boring.


----------



## Gary A.

Ain’t that the truth.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well it should get interesting (and probably a bit slower) next month . . . the Deputy Fire Chief that hired me as a GIS Intern, and our biggest customer (19 out of 24 map projects this year) is retiring.
> 
> 
> 
> Who is his replacement? Get your name in front of him/her. Let him/her know that you are the one to go to?
Click to expand...

We don't know, yet.  I no longer work for Fire/EMS but for an outside contractor.  If they pull a current Assistant Fire Chief or even a Battalion Chief (DFC is actually a political appointment) then they will already know who I am.  The other twist is the department has requested an on-board GIS person.  No idea if it's been approved, or if so, when they will actually be allowed to hire.


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> Understanding that it is a 10MP APS-C and I have a LOT to learn about it.... and don't have a computer with which to post pics....
> I'll see what I can do.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


LOTS of good info from brand-new beginner to advanced here.


----------



## Gary A.

RowdyRay said:


> Wasn't as bad as predicted. I got about 6 inches of snow. Other areas were worse. But it didn't end until around 2 PM today. The temps were in the low 30s, so it's heavy and wet. Luckily the big blower moved it. The little one wouldn't touch it. Yes, I own two snow blowers. For very good reasons.
> 
> Driving wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Winds died down. DOT did a good job this time. Unlike previous storms. Seems like it takes them half the winter to get their act together. Made it home in one piece. Spent about 2 1/2 hours cleaning my place up and several elderly neighbors. Some chose to leave it. Supposed to drop down to 10 degrees tonight. Rock solid by morning. Might regret that decision.
> 
> I'm really hoping the old March saying is true. "In like a lion, out like a lamb." Getting too old for this crap.


Gary edged and mowed his lawns, the front yesterday, the back today.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I had an interesting day. Naked old lady running down the road in Flint, her boobies were are over the place, swaying in different directions, and her lawn needed to mowed big time. My waitress farted (squeeker) when taking my order for a loaded chilli dog, of course it was at the end, smelled like sewer, in Flint. Seen dogs fornicating on the side of the road, in Flint. Seen young lady in car, on phone, texting, speeding, run into back of semi in right lane (weight station), between Flint & Saginaw. Pure Michigan.


That’s more like a movie than real life. Gary would call that a good day ... exclusive of the fart.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had an interesting day. Naked old lady running down the road in Flint, her boobies were are over the place, swaying in different directions, and her lawn needed to mowed big time. My waitress farted (squeeker) when taking my order for a loaded chilli dog, of course it was at the end, smelled like sewer, in Flint. Seen dogs fornicating on the side of the road, in Flint. Seen young lady in car, on phone, texting, speeding, run into back of semi in right lane (weight station), between Flint & Saginaw. Pure Michigan.
> 
> 
> 
> That’s more like a movie than real life. Gary would call that a good day ... exclusive of the fart.
Click to expand...

You didn't smell it.


----------



## RowdyRay

smoke665 said:


> I'm really proud of myself. I've been trying to lose weight, necessitating a cut back on the desserts. The lack of sweets has taken it's toll on me. Yesterday the DW brought home a large container of low fat plain vanilla yogurt. Bless her heart, that really hits the spot, especially after I found out I could crumble up 3 or 4 Heath Bars, and sprinkle over the bowl of it! Eating healthy, weight conscious foods, and it tastes good that makes it a winner in my book!



That's funny as heck. Not laughing at you, but with you. I could lose about 30 pounds and need to make a few changes. 

Look into salted caramel greek yogurt. No need to crumble anything over it.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I had an interesting day. Naked old lady running down the road in Flint, her boobies were are over the place, swaying in different directions, and her lawn needed to mowed big time. My waitress farted (squeeker) when taking my order for a loaded chilli dog, of course it was at the end, smelled like sewer, in Flint. Seen dogs fornicating on the side of the road, in Flint. Seen young lady in car, on phone, texting, speeding, run into back of semi in right lane (weight station), between Flint & Saginaw. Pure Michigan.



Tony beat me to the "no photos" comment. LOL Little early for the naked women running down the road here. They don't usually start here till after Easter.


----------



## Gary A.

On the Seal Beach Pier looking into downtown. Seal Beach’s very quaint Main Steet ends/starts at the pier. Due to lack of contrast in the far sky and the iPhone’s wide angle lens, the photo doesn’t properly show the snow capped mountains in the background.


----------



## limr

I am going to put in a vote for "no photos." A woman running naked down the street doesn't need pictures of this on the internet to add onto whatever troubles she clearly has going on in her life.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> I had an interesting day. Naked old lady running down the road in Flint, her boobies were are over the place, swaying in different directions, and her lawn needed to mowed big time. My waitress farted (squeeker) when taking my order for a loaded chilli dog, of course it was at the end, smelled like sewer, in Flint. Seen dogs fornicating on the side of the road, in Flint. Seen young lady in car, on phone, texting, speeding, run into back of semi in right lane (weight station), between Flint & Saginaw. Pure Michigan.


And to think, around here, the radio is playing a "Michigan is a leader in innovation" commercial.  MLW, being from Monroe, broke out laughing.


----------



## smoke665

RowdyRay said:


> Look into salted caramel greek yogurt. No need to crumble anything over it.



oooohhhhhh I like salted caramel. I bet I could throw some of these in that and really juice it up.


----------



## Tony744

THAT photo I don't need to see (saw enough of that stuff when I lived in the Bay Area).


----------



## jcdeboever

I like candy melts


----------



## smoke665

You know I could never figure out over the years why we were always called out for naked women in the road, never men. 99.9999999 times out of a hundred it drug/alcohol related. Usually the ones on alcohol were the mellow ones, you'd find them sitting or passed out in the middle of the road. The ones on drugs were runners. Best not to try and approach them right off, better to follow them in the truck with the lights on till they wore down.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> I'm really proud of myself. I've been trying to lose weight, necessitating a cut back on the desserts. The lack of sweets has taken it's toll on me. Yesterday the DW brought home a large container of low fat plain vanilla yogurt. Bless her heart, that really hits the spot, especially after I found out I could crumble up 3 or 4 Heath Bars, and sprinkle over the bowl of it! Eating healthy, weight conscious foods, and it tastes good that makes it a winner in my book!



If you are dieting and have a sweet tooth check out Enlightened and/or Halo Top ice creams.  Very low in sugar, high in protein.  Whether they are good or not is flavor specific for me.  I like the Halo Cookie Dough and Red Velvet and the Enlightened Vanilla Bean and the one with the chocolate ice cream and brownie bits in it.  Didn't care for the Salted Caramel or the Oatmeal Cookie.  They must be left out for a good 20-30 minutes to soften for best texture.



Gary A. said:


> Ain’t that the truth.



Sunshine and salt water - that is what my Nana used to affectionately call "Irish penicillin".


----------



## Gary A.

It was a beautiful day.


----------



## Gary A.

In the background is Long Beach (buildings) and the Palos Verdes Peninsula (hill mass).


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> I am going to put in a vote for "no photos." A woman running naked down the street doesn't need pictures of this on the internet to add onto whatever troubles she clearly has going on in her life.



I agree. I did pull along side her and asked her if she needed help, she started cussing me out. She was clearly challenged. I just called it in. I would never take a pic of that.


----------



## RowdyRay

smoke665 said:


> oooohhhhhh I like salted caramel. I bet I could throw some of these in that and really juice it up.
> View attachment 154761



Lol. Pretty sure that's a no no. But now that you mention it........


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> you are dieting and have a sweet tooth check out Enlightened and/or Halo Top ice creams. Very low in sugar, high in protein. Whether they are good or not is flavor



Sorry but there's only one ice cream - Blue Bell. It's a southern thing. A 1/2 cup is around a 150 calories


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> you are dieting and have a sweet tooth check out Enlightened and/or Halo Top ice creams. Very low in sugar, high in protein. Whether they are good or not is flavor
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry but there's only one ice cream - Blue Bell. It's a southern thing. A 1/2 cup is around a 150 calories
Click to expand...


Meh, I've had it.  It's no Friendly's or Brighams (New England ice cream parlor past and present) or even Richardson's (a local dairy that has an ice cream stand).      

My favorite ice cream to date was from Leilani's.   We had it when we were in Paia but I believe there is one in CA as well???  Gary???


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg funny how every region has thier favorites, be it food or drink.


----------



## Gary A.

Good stuff. There is one in Glendale and one in Riverside. Their shaved ice is to die for ... their ice cream is very creamy buy not as good as Gary’s Famous Homemade Ice Cream. (Made with coconut milk.)


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Opened the Guatemalan coffee this morning. I'd just gotten used to the Honduran actually started to like it. Now it's a new learning curve. One more bag of Costa Rican, to go. Need to be considering my next order, any suggestions?


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Good stuff. There is one in Glendale and one in Riverside. Their shaved ice is to die for ... their ice cream is very creamy buy not as good as Gary’s Famous Homemade Ice Cream. (Made with coconut milk.)



After having Leilani's Coconut ice cream on a warm brownie with chocolate sauce (sorry Smoke) I fell in love with coconut ice cream only to find out when we got back home that they didn't sell it anywhere.  I kept asking everywhere we went and finally, a couple of years ago Richardson's came out with a coconut flavor.  It's my official favorite go to flavor when I treat myself to real ice cream.

SquarePeg could NEVER live near Gary with all that wine and red meat and coffee and ice cream served up to friends.  She would be enormous!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yay Leo, you got power! I hope you don't get the brunt of the storm this time. For all of you on the east coast, hope it's not so bad this time. 

I looked at that Halo ice cream but it has sugar alcohol type sweetener and boy, does that do a number on me. Says it has a laxative effect, no kidding! for me that was an understatement. Maybe it doesn't have as much as other products I tried, but I'm not going near that stuff ever again!  

I try to go with low fat, low sodium, low sugar, low anything/everything and cook from scratch and avoid fast food/junk food. Easier said than done! lol Ice cream is my achilles heel. Graeters. Who came out with a lower sugar version of limited flavors which is still pretty darn good. But I gotta have their iconic raspberry chocolate chip once in awhile (and I don't usually like fruit and chocolate together).


----------



## vintagesnaps

Coconut chocolate chip... yeah, that's another flavor I really like. And I ordered a Caffeine Fix tonight - that's what it was called! special on coffee from an area grocery/gourmet store that luckily has online ordering since it's not all that close. That and some Irish soda bread.


----------



## vintagesnaps

JC don't they have hockey in Flint? They need some hobbies or something.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good stuff. There is one in Glendale and one in Riverside. Their shaved ice is to die for ... their ice cream is very creamy buy not as good as Gary’s Famous Homemade Ice Cream. (Made with coconut milk.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After having Leilani's Coconut ice cream on a warm brownie with chocolate sauce (sorry Smoke) I fell in love with coconut ice cream only to find out when we got back home that they didn't sell it anywhere.  I kept asking everywhere we went and finally, a couple of years ago Richardson's came out with a coconut flavor.  It's my official favorite go to flavor when I treat myself to real ice cream.
> 
> SquarePeg could NEVER live near Gary with all that wine and red meat and coffee and ice cream served up to friends.  She would be enormous!
Click to expand...

 ... but happy.


----------



## RowdyRay

Man, I love ice cream. LOVE IT. If I was told I could never eat ice cream again, you'd eventually find me dead on the kitchen floor with a half eaten bowl of melted ice cream! Don't care what brand, even Blue Bell.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. Opened the Guatemalan coffee this morning. I'd just gotten used to the Honduran actually started to like it. Now it's a new learning curve. One more bag of Costa Rican, to go. Need to be considering my next order, any suggestions?


All this coffee business started in Ethiopia.  In homage to the home of coffee, pick an Ethiopian variety.


----------



## davidharmier60

Y'all is some verbose peeps!
Poor Michigan. 
Coffee here is the usual Folgers.
Today is my Friday. The eagle poops and everything. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Tony744

I wish it was my Friday. Not looking forward to the coming storm. Expected accumulation is now 8 to 12 inches of wet, heavy snow.

Maybe I need a severe case of islanditis, the only cure being 2 or 3 weeks on a tropical island. Fiji sounds good about now.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> you are dieting and have a sweet tooth check out Enlightened and/or Halo Top ice creams. Very low in sugar, high in protein. Whether they are good or not is flavor
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry but there's only one ice cream - Blue Bell. It's a southern thing. A 1/2 cup is around a 150 calories
Click to expand...

Breyers (Vanilla) or Gifford's of Maine (Moose Tracks)


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Breyers (Vanilla



Breyers is good though still under Blue Bell. Maybe it's a cultural thing here, like Milo's sweet tea.


----------



## JonA_CT

More snow and wind today. How much? Depends upon who you ask and what time it is. On the coastal plain here in CT, no one ever quite knows what’s going to fall as snow versus rain.

It was nice to be able to work out this morning. I’m finally getting back to respectable levels on my lifts. But that also means that I’m close to losing my coffee by the end of the last set.


----------



## SquarePeg

It’s a mix here.  I’m hoping for rain to win the battle.  1/2 day of school today for Princess - the 1st Wednesday of every month...   

Got a new air purifier to try to cut down on my allergies this coming spring.  I can’t stop yawning.  Could it be sucking all of the oxygen out of the room?  Or did I stay up until 1:30am editing the last of the softball team photos?  Both I think.  

I’m weeks behind on my 52 week Dogwood challenge.  I think they lost me at “zoom burst” followed by “forsaken”, followed by “selective color”...  just can’t seem to get back into it.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> I’m weeks behind on my 52 week Dogwood challenge.  I think they lost me at “zoom burst” followed by “forsaken”, followed by “selective color”...  just can’t seem to get back into it.



My performance has even been more shameful. Between the camera switch, being stupid busy at work, my kids not sleeping, and giving whatever time necessary to the brewery, my mind is too tapped to do anything creative.


----------



## terri

A favorite dessert of mine is plain Greek yogurt - I stress plain, not flavored - with honey drizzled all over it.  It can even be low fat or fat free yogurt, as long as it's Greek style  (strained).   The tart/sweet combo is awesome!


----------



## smoke665

Pollen has started here. Won't be long till the pine trees bloom, and yellow pollen covers everything. You can't get away from it, burns the eyes, irritates the nose and sinus, and causes a lot of respiratory infections. That's when you pray for rain.


----------



## limr

Ice cream is okay. I mean, I like it well enough, but it doesn't agree with me all that well so when I indulge, it's a very small amount. I like Breyer's French vanilla. I am much more likely to get a cone of ice cream when I am in Europe. Turkish ice cream was very interesting and different from what we are used to in the States.

@terri I looooove plain Greek yogurt with honey drizzled on it. Sometimes I mix a drop of vanilla into the yogurt first. So good!

Snowing here. I am in my bathrobe, enjoying a lazy snow day morning. I brought some work home with me that I will get to in aa little while.


----------



## limr

Those of you who have spring allergies - start eating local honey now, before they start. As local as you can manage. There is some evidence it helps when allergy season rolls around. Almost like you are building a resistance.


----------



## ceemac

JonA_CT said:


> My performance has even been more shameful. Between the camera switch, being stupid busy at work, my kids not sleeping, and giving whatever time necessary to the brewery, my mind is too tapped to do anything creative.


I never thought of getting involved with a brewery when my kids were growing up. That would have been nice.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Filters today, Gary is planning on some deep cleaning of the pond's filtration units.


limr said:


> Those of you who have spring allergies - start eating local honey now, before they start. As local as you can manage. There is some evidence it helps when allergy season rolls around. Almost like you are building a resistance.


Gary thinks 'bee pollen' is better for allergies than honey ... but quite similar.


----------



## davidharmier60

When I was younger I had allergies to beat the band. Nowadays I usually never get anything worse than the crud. 5 and within a few minutes of .25. Some moron parked his truck right up against the marquee poles. I call in the morning to find out if the other guy can handle it or if I need to come in to do it. I don't know if I can find enough to keep me in town until 12. Maybe I'll learn some more about the camera. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Tony744

Snowing here, not sticking yet.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Those of you who have spring allergies - start eating local honey now, before they start. As local as you can manage. There is some evidence it helps when allergy season rolls around. Almost like you are building a resistance.



Tried it but it doesn't help me???   I take Zyrtec D, Flonase, & Singulair year round, in addition to other Asthma drugs to limit the effects of allergens and still it gets rough in the spring.


----------



## smoke665

ceemac said:


> I never thought of getting involved with a brewery when my kids were growing up. That would have been nice.



Hadn't thought about it but back when the hormones kicked in on our only daughter, I could have been my own best customer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Those of you who have spring allergies - start eating local honey now, before they start. As local as you can manage. There is some evidence it helps when allergy season rolls around. Almost like you are building a resistance.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tried it but it doesn't help me???   I take Zyrtec D, Flonase, & Singulair year round, in addition to other Asthma drugs to limit the effects of allergens and still it gets rough in the spring.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I think it depends on what you are allergic to, I think.


----------



## NancyMoranG

With all that talk of ice cream....love it, too much!
Today is Sundae at Carvel, 1sundae free with purchase of another's! Yeah.
Hoping for the best for all of you in path of another storm!


----------



## waday

Hi all!

We were supposed to get snow today, 4-8 inches they predicted. Nothing, but rainy/wet snow. Roads are just wet. I'm actually pretty happy we don't have anything accumulating.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> More snow and wind today. How much? Depends upon who you ask and what time it is. On the coastal plain here in CT, no one ever quite knows what’s going to fall as snow versus rain.
> 
> It was nice to be able to work out this morning. I’m finally getting back to respectable levels on my lifts. But that also means that I’m close to losing my coffee by the end of the last set.


The rain in Spain falls mainly on the coastal plain.


----------



## limr

Meanwhile, I feel like I am living in a snow globe.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Those of you who have spring allergies - start eating local honey now, before they start. As local as you can manage. There is some evidence it helps when allergy season rolls around. Almost like you are building a resistance.


I've read the same thing.   Apparently it does matter to use local honey (and your local bees!).     

Always support your local bees!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Meanwhile, I feel like I am living in a snow globe.


That sounds lovely!    

As long as you don't have to venture out of the globe, of course.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> Pollen has started here. Won't be long till the pine trees bloom, and yellow pollen covers everything. You can't get away from it, burns the eyes, irritates the nose and sinus, and causes a lot of respiratory infections. That's when you pray for rain.


Ugh.    We've been noticing those pollen pods, heavy and yellow, hanging on the pine trees.   They will indeed be exploding any day now.    

Fortunately, as thick and nasty as pollen is in the spring, I'm not particularly bothered by it - other than the extra porch sweeping and car washing.    Dirty stuff.


----------



## Tony744

Been snowing here since noon, just now starting to accumulate. Latest prediction is calling for 12+ inches.


----------



## JonA_CT

Thunder, lightning, and the biggest jammin’ snow flakes I’ve ever seen in my life. The rain washed away all the pre-treatments, and the snow is sticking now. We’re in trouble.


----------



## Gary A.

Fini, Gary has finally finish cleaning the filters. The skimmer is easy, a net and some long brushes. But the pressurized filter has hundreds of these tiny little doubled walled/rimmed spoked wheels that need to be cleaned out. Fortunately only twice a year for the pressurized filter.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Thunder, lightning, and the biggest jammin’ snow flakes I’ve ever seen in my life. The rain washed away all the pre-treatments, and the snow is sticking now. We’re in trouble.



Still just rain for us.  It's 38 here so no chance for the snow right now.  The weather guessers are saying the colder air is trying to make it's way back toward the coast around 7 or 8pm..   Still have it as 11" of snow expected for us and Boston area by tomorrow morning.  That's a lot of snow to fall in a short time!  Lots of school closings for tomorrow in Western MA (aka the other Massachusetts).


----------



## snowbear

Good evening, peeps.  Still at work for a bit (MLW has to stick around until the Chief leaves for a meeting).

We only had rain at home.  We rolled north a few miles, there was snow on the ground.  It was just a dusting. but some of the jamming idiots around here still only clear what the wipers will take off the windshield.  F****** lazy-a** b******s </rant>


----------



## davidharmier60

When I fooled around enough and went in to get my check she asked if I wanted to come do the other side of the Marquee. 
I asked if she had talked to Tony. She said no. I hope to milk a couple hours out of tomorrow.  Be there at 6:30 instead of 5am. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## ceemac

smoke665 said:


> Hadn't thought about it but back when the hormones kicked in on our only daughter, I could have been my own best customer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



haha. Our daughter was easy. She hated us and lived in her room. We saw her a few times and then she went away to university.


----------



## NancyMoranG

limr said:


> Meanwhile, I feel like I am living in a snow globe.



Uh oh, maybe you are in a  Twilight Zone episode!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has fired up the BBQ and waiting for the heat to come up to speed. The heat is up to 250F ... gonna wait for 300+. Meanwhile, Gary is listening to KUSC and about to pop open some vino.


----------



## Gary A.

Vino, BBQ and music ... this is gonna be a pleasant evening. The wine is from the Winery who sponsored a fundraiser which delivered all the profits from this wine for relief to those hit by last year’s California fires. It is quite tasty.


----------



## limr

NancyMoranG said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Meanwhile, I feel like I am living in a snow globe.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Uh oh, maybe you are in a  Twilight Zone episode!
Click to expand...


Nah, just New York in winter


----------



## Gary A.

Okay, this is odd.  Gary’s new car seat covers arrived today ... and they came from Greece.  The packaging was in Greek, the postage is Greek and the post office lady said “Hey, you have a package from Greece.” Nothing comes from Greece ... right.  Who in this forum has received a product from Greece other than olive oil?


----------



## jcdeboever

We got a few inches of snow today. I couldn't take it anymore so I grabbed the Nikon F and street shot in a blizzard today, at lunch. Managed about 10 shots. It wasn't to bad, hopefully captured some snow shots.


----------



## Tony744

We've gotten a foot so far and still falling.


----------



## davidharmier60

Today has a totally different feel than most work days. I still have 40 minutes before I gotta go. Kinda sorta an artsy pic to give you the idea.




Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Starting to tire of this "weather limbo" we've been in of late. One day hot enough to turn on the A/C and before the day is out back to the furnace. Then mix in sun and rain. Guess it could be worse, we could be getting snowstorms. Still it would be nice for a few weeks of pleasant weather before the oppressive heat of summer hits.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Starting to tire of this "weather limbo" we've been in of late. One day hot enough to turn on the A/C and before the day is out back to the furnace. Then mix in sun and rain. Guess it could be worse, we could be getting snowstorms. Still it would be nice for a few weeks of pleasant weather before the oppressive heat of summer hits.



When I let Miss Daisy out while ago, I could see patches of blue sky scattered among the clouds


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

You're not imagining it. The McDonald's logo is upside down

Wtg McDonalds!


----------



## limr

Power went out again last night. Power company website says restored by tonight. We'll see.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Power went out again last night. Power company website says restored by tonight. We'll see.



Ugh I bet you'll be glad when this finally quits!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Power went out again last night. Power company website says restored by tonight. We'll see.


Sucks.


----------



## Warhorse

limr said:


> Power went out again last night. Power company website says restored by tonight. We'll see.


My condolences.

Got candles?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Thursday and it is a bit overcast with some directional light with slight shadows hitting Gary's small patch of Earth. 76F should be the high for today. Miss Maggie has been fed her breakfast of banana and yogurt.  Gary is wrapping up his first cup of coffee and finished up his emails and morning chores.  Soon, he, Mary Lou and Maggie will be on the road.  It is Maggie's job to inspect the neighborhood, making sure all is in order.  Last night's dinner was delicious.  It has been awhile since Gary broke out the Kamado and it was all worth the effort. Nothing like a touch of wood flavoring in one's steaks, a bit of vino and a fresh salad from the yard with some leftover rice ... makes the trials of the day diminish into the past and makes life worth living.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> but some of the jamming idiots around here still only clear what the wipers will take off the windshield. F****** lazy-a** b******s </rant>


I feel your pain. Both the wife and I have ranted about that for the past few years, and it seems to be getting worse. I had two instances earlier this year with snow. I was hit by a huge piece of snow flying off an SUV and nearly had a piece as large as my hood hit me from a tractor trailer.


----------



## davidharmier60

I got an hour and 6 minutes today. 
Tony will swap with me for possible jury duty on the 19th. Went to Cleveland again to order parts for the mower. But he took a different number with him, was gone for maybe 5 minutes and came out with everything I needed and got out of there for 12 bucks and change. The dogs have a habit of chewing on the sprayers for the aerobic system. McCoys had a metal one.
Should last almost forever. Waiting to hear if we are going to deliver a couch today or wait until Saturday. My Sister needs the money for one of the bills. On yeah, life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hope all of you on the east coast are hanging in there. Hate to hear your power went out again Leo, your area seems to be really getting slammed with this.

Was supposed to flurry but has been mostly just cloudy here, a bit of a dusting along the edges of the yard. Tomorrow it's supposed to be scattered clouds, and the next day partly cloudy (which maybe means also partly sunny! lol), and the next day overcast - yes it's March.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> but some of the jamming idiots around here still only clear what the wipers will take off the windshield. F****** lazy-a** b******s </rant>
> 
> 
> 
> I feel your pain. Both the wife and I have ranted about that for the past few years, and it seems to be getting worse. I had two instances earlier this year with snow. I was hit by a huge piece of snow flying off an SUV and nearly had a piece as large as my hood hit me from a tractor trailer.
Click to expand...


It is illegal here to not clear off all the snow including from the roof even if you have a luggage rack you have to climb up there and clean it.  They WILL ticket you if you don't.  

We got about 6" of wet heavy snow.  Beauty did a fine job.


----------



## JonA_CT

We got about 4 inches. We ended up with about 4 inches. 20 miles to our west received a foot or more, and that snow fell in 5 hours, which is nuts. 

Outage map...where did that heavy snow hit?

It’s going to be days for them to get their power out. The town I used to work in has roads closed in 75 different places because of downed trees. Those have to go before they can get the power trucks in.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary once read that all the New England states (sans Maine) can fit in San Bernardino County.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Gary once read that all the New England states (sans Maine) can fit in San Bernardino County.



Probably. From my house, I can drive to all of the New England states (plus NY and N.J. if traffic cooperates) in the same amount of time it takes to drive from your house to San Diego.


----------



## JonA_CT

Here, I zoomed out for you Gary, haha.

By the way, the differences in colors are because our utility provider changed their map legend after Irene and Sandy. It used to be that if 95-100% of your town was without power, it would show as black. When it took them 14 days to get to some of those communities, they decided that it would be better to have the colors relate to the number of customers instead. The hardest hit towns this time were smaller, so many of those oranges, Browns, and reds are towns that have nearly no customers in service right now.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> ...n the same amount of time it takes to drive from your house to San Diego.


36-48 hours?


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> but some of the jamming idiots around here still only clear what the wipers will take off the windshield. F****** lazy-a** b******s </rant>
> 
> 
> 
> I feel your pain. Both the wife and I have ranted about that for the past few years, and it seems to be getting worse. I had two instances earlier this year with snow. I was hit by a huge piece of snow flying off an SUV and nearly had a piece as large as my hood hit me from a tractor trailer.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It is illegal here to not clear off all the snow including from the roof even if you have a luggage rack you have to climb up there and clean it.  They WILL ticket you if you don't.
> 
> We got about 6" of wet heavy snow.  Beauty did a fine job.
Click to expand...

It's illegal here, too (IIRC), but I've yet to see anyone pulled over for it.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary once read that all the New England states (sans Maine) can fit in San Bernardino County.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Probably. From my house, I can drive to all of the New England states (plus NY and N.J. if traffic cooperates) in the same amount of time it takes to drive from your house to San Diego.
Click to expand...

Y'all. Seriously. We have the Internet at our fingertips!

San Bernardino County = 20,105 square miles
New England States (except Maine) = 36,285 square miles

San Bernardino County is about the same as the addition of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island (20,177 sq mi).

Values for each New England State:
Maine = 35,385 sq mi
Vermont = 9,616 sq mi
New Hampshire = 9,349 sq mi
Massachusetts = 10,565 sq mi
Connecticut = 5,543 sq mi
Rhode Island = 1,212 sq mi​


----------



## snowbear

Well, I bet you could put all the currently WARM parts of New England, including Maine, into San Bernardino County.


----------



## snowbear

@limr - keep the kitties close.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary once read that all the New England states (sans Maine) can fit in San Bernardino County.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Probably. From my house, I can drive to all of the New England states (plus NY and N.J. if traffic cooperates) in the same amount of time it takes to drive from your house to San Diego.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Y'all. Seriously. We have the Internet at our fingertips!
> 
> San Bernardino County = 20,105 square miles
> New England States (except Maine) = 36,285 square miles
> 
> San Bernardino County is about the same as the addition of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island (20,177 sq mi).
> 
> Values for each New England State:
> Maine = 35,385 sq mi
> Vermont = 9,616 sq mi
> New Hampshire = 9,349 sq mi
> Massachusetts = 10,565 sq mi
> Connecticut = 5,543 sq mi
> Rhode Island = 1,212 sq mi​
Click to expand...

Yes the internet ... but not the inclination.


----------



## davidharmier60

Problem with the mower. Dad tried to use it. Now I gotta go find put why it won't start.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary once read that all the New England states (sans Maine) can fit in San Bernardino County.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Probably. From my house, I can drive to all of the New England states (plus NY and N.J. if traffic cooperates) in the same amount of time it takes to drive from your house to San Diego.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Y'all. Seriously. We have the Internet at our fingertips!
> 
> San Bernardino County = 20,105 square miles
> New England States (except Maine) = 36,285 square miles
> 
> San Bernardino County is about the same as the addition of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island (20,177 sq mi).
> 
> Values for each New England State:
> Maine = 35,385 sq mi
> Vermont = 9,616 sq mi
> New Hampshire = 9,349 sq mi
> Massachusetts = 10,565 sq mi
> Connecticut = 5,543 sq mi
> Rhode Island = 1,212 sq mi​
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes the internet ... but not the inclination.
Click to expand...


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> It is illegal here to not clear off all the snow including from the roof even if you have a luggage rack you have to climb up there and clean it. They WILL ticket you if you don't.
> 
> We got about 6" of wet heavy snow. Beauty did a fine job.



Here that's not usually a problem, and if it is, we stay inside till it melts - usually a couple of hours at the most LOL


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary once read that all the New England states (sans Maine) can fit in San Bernardino County.



But be fair now Gary, between the Sierra Nevada range and Death Valley there's roughly 45,000 sq. mi. of mostly uninhabitable country.


----------



## JonA_CT

You been to Maine, Smoke? haha. I'd say that about 30,000 of those square miles are relatively uninhabited.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> You been to Maine, Smoke? haha. I'd say that about 30,000 of those square miles are relatively uninhabited



Not according to Maine GIS map. See exactly how much of Maine is completely uninhabited


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> You been to Maine, Smoke? haha. I'd say that about 30,000 of those square miles are relatively uninhabited.



Uninhabited, not uninhabitable.  :0


----------



## JonA_CT

fake news!

And I said relatively uninhabited. When you have to drive an hour plus to a grocery store like my buddy did when he lived in Carrabassett Valley, ME...that fits the definition for me, haha. The irony is that he was working ski patrol at Sugarloaf. And that grocery store an hour from his house was an IGA that didn’t carry much produce. For a supermarket, it was closer to 2 hours. Western Maine is no joke.


----------



## JonA_CT

JonA_CT said:


> fake news!
> 
> And I said relatively uninhabited. When you have to drive an hour plus to a grocery store like my buddy did when he lived in Carrabassett Valley, ME...that fits the definition for me, haha. The irony is that he was working ski patrol at Sugarloaf. And that grocery store an hour from his house was an IGA that didn’t carry much produce. For a supermarket, it was closer to 2 hours. Western Maine is no joke.



Or north of Bangor/Orono for that matter. I set my personal land speed record on 95 up there.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary once read that all the New England states (sans Maine) can fit in San Bernardino County.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But be fair now Gary, between the Sierra Nevada range and Death Valley there's roughly 45,000 sq. mi. of mostly uninhabitable country.
Click to expand...

Granted, 90% of San Bernardino county is Mojave Desert ... but there is a helluva lot of it ... Not much nightlife but the parking is easy.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT, never made it Maine (yet). Spent some time in MA, VT, and NH, as I recall there were some "uninhabited" areas there as well 40 years ago.


----------



## Tony744

Didn't lose power here, or at work, but half of the down town area was without power. Ended up with about 18 inches of snow here. Drive shaft on the snow blower attachment for the tractor at work let go about 2/3 of the way through the job. Ended up having to replace the entire quick-release yoke.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> fake news!
> 
> And I said relatively uninhabited. When you have to drive an hour plus to a grocery store like my buddy did when he lived in Carrabassett Valley, ME...that fits the definition for me, haha. The irony is that he was working ski patrol at Sugarloaf. And that grocery store an hour from his house was an IGA that didn’t carry much produce. For a supermarket, it was closer to 2 hours. Western Maine is no joke.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Or north of Bangor/Orono for that matter. I set my personal land speed record on 95 up there.
Click to expand...

95mph is what the valet does in the parking lot out here.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> 95mph is what the valet does in the parking lot out here.



95 on the 285 bypass or most of the other interstates round Atlanta could get you run over!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

The I-15 south of Corona heading to Temecula is a runway disguised as a freeway.


----------



## Tony744

Is the 405 still a parking lot disguised as a freeway?


----------



## JonA_CT

I-95 not 95 mph. I found out what a rev limiter was that day.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> @JonA_CT, never made it Maine (yet). Spent some time in MA, VT, and NH, as I recall there were some "uninhabited" areas there as well 40 years ago.



For sure. The best areas probably!

You’ll have to make it up this way again. September/October is beautiful along the coast of Maine.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> The I-15 south of Corona heading to Temecula is a runway disguised as a freeway.



No disguising to it in Atlanta, makes you do a double take when you come around the SW corner of 285 and see a jet going over the interstate on the bridge.


----------



## Gary A.

Tony744 said:


> Is the 405 still a parking lot disguised as a freeway?


Yes, the busiest interstate in the U.S, used to be a parking lot only during weekday, rush hour.  But now it is a parking lot 24-7.


----------



## Tony744

That's pretty much the way it was last time I did a run down that way. I can honestly say I don't miss THAT part of California much.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I-95 not 95 mph. I found out what a rev limiter was that day.



Lol, I knew what you meant.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT it's on our bucket list to do a tour up the east coast to Maine, back through NY, and down.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey ... Happy International Women's Day!

Okay ... while Gary applauds the advancement and equality of women ... and while Gary recognizes historically, the where and the why, there is a need to identify and recognize women's successes and potential ... he is sad that there is a need for such a day.  Afterall, we are all human.  In general and on a level playing field, we should be judged and rewarded or punished as humans. 

Until there is no longer a need for an International Women's Day ... Go Women!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I-95 not 95 mph. I found out what a rev limiter was that day.


 ... That's different ... lol.


----------



## Gary A.

Tony744 said:


> That's pretty much the way it was last time I did a run down that way. I can honestly say I don't miss THAT part of California much.


Unfortunately, overpopulation has significantly lowered the joys of living here. But All-in-All, Gary loves California, the pluses far exceed the negatives.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I-95 not 95 mph. I found out what a rev limiter was that day.
> 
> 
> 
> ... That's different ... lol.
Click to expand...


Gary's limiter on the Volvo with the top down, is when the sound of Maggie's ears and lips flapping in the wind becomes to loud to ignore.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I-95 not 95 mph. I found out what a rev limiter was that day.
> 
> 
> 
> ... That's different ... lol.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Gary's limiter on the Volvo with the top down, is when the sound of Maggie's ears and lips flapping in the wind becomes to loud to ignore.
Click to expand...

Fortunately, Miss Maggie has smallish ears.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> @JonA_CT it's on our bucket list to do a tour up the east coast to Maine, back through NY, and down.



Don’t miss Bar Harbor and Acadia NP.  It’s a haul to get up there but so worth it.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Don’t miss Bar Harbor



Looked at Bar Harbor, as I mapped it out, we'll have roughly 3000 miles in the turn. That's  10 travel days. We have a limit of 6 weeks out, so with stops along the way, Bar Harbor is about the max out


----------



## davidharmier60

In trucking we called the Atlanta loop the Atlanta 500. Lots of yellow and red flags!
Any time we could avoid Atlanta we did!
I Got up at 5am this morning. Won't be awake much longer. Have a good night and a better tomorrow. I'm out.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don’t miss Bar Harbor
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looked at Bar Harbor, as I mapped it out, we'll have roughly 3000 miles in the turn. That's  10 travel days. We have a limit of 6 weeks out, so with stops along the way, Bar Harbor is about the max out
Click to expand...


For me, the don’t miss coastal Maine stops are York Beach (Nubble Light at sunrise is gorgeous), Kennebunkport (for the galleries), Portland (for the food and lighthouses), Freeport (for the LL Bean store and other outlets), Camden (for the Harbor area) and Bar Harbor (for Acadia).

ETA if you’ll have the dog with you I’ll PM you our secret dog friendly beach.


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> In trucking we called the Atlanta loop the Atlanta 500. Lots of yellow and red flags!
> Any time we could avoid Atlanta we did!



We came through last month on a Friday afternoon (2-3pm) pulling a 40' 5th wheel. I don't think my speed ever dropped below 65. Compare that to the month before when we went through on a Sunday morning, and never got over 15. Took several hours


----------



## limr

Warhorse said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Power went out again last night. Power company website says restored by tonight. We'll see.
> 
> 
> 
> My condolences.
> 
> Got candles?
Click to expand...


Many many candles. Also a wood-burning stove. And lots of flashlights and lanterns and batteries to run them.



snowbear said:


> @limr - keep the kitties close.



They stayed so close that I swear, if they could have cut me open like a tauntaun and curled up in my steaming carcass, they totally would have.

So school opened at noon today. I was scheduled for a day of professional development with the team that is helping us replicate the student services program I am now running. The morning session was at my school and the afternoon session was at Hostos CC in the Bronx. We will reschedule the morning, but we kept the meetings with the folks at Hostos. So I got to work, was there for about an hour, then my colleague and I headed for the Bronx. Got back a little after 5:00. I grabbed my stuff, sent a few emails, and then headed out to the grocery store that has prepared food. Got some food for dinner and lunch tomorrow, and stopped at Buzz's for a quick shower.

I got back to the house around 8:45, and at the risk of jinxing myself....


----------



## limr

And of course, by extension, so do the girls.


----------



## limr

Oh yeah, and ps - we got 16 1/5 inches of snow yesterday in my town.


----------



## snowbear

We pretty much just got wet.


----------



## compur

What's "snow"?


----------



## snowbear

A northern variation of rain.


----------



## RowdyRay

limr said:


> Oh yeah, and ps - we got 16 1/5 inches of snow yesterday in my town.



Was the 1/5 part actually necessary? Lol. Just giving you grief. Anything over 12 is a PITA. Been there done that. 

Keep the candles lit and snuggle with the kitties. Spring is around the corner.


----------



## limr

RowdyRay said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh yeah, and ps - we got 16 1/5 inches of snow yesterday in my town.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Was the 1/5 part actually necessary? Lol. Just giving you grief. Anything over 12 is a PITA. Been there done that.
> 
> Keep the candles lit and snuggle with the kitties. Spring is around the corner.
Click to expand...


I like to be precise 

Snuggling is a definite. Candles are no longer be necessary at the moment (except for ambiance  ) as the power has been restored, hopefully in a more permanent way this time! I hear there might be another storm on Monday but it's still not clear if it will actually affect us.

As for spring coming...yeah well, that is better news to some than it is to others 

I'd much rather have power outages in the winter than in the summer. I can stay warm much more easily than I can stay cool in the summer without air conditioning. Less food goes bad because the outdoors is basically one big fridge. For those of us on a well who depend on the water pump for plumbing and running water, snow can be melted for use in plumbing and boiled on the wood-burning stove for drinking water.

I generally don't get too bothered by power outages. Of course it gets tiresome if it goes on too long, and there are other reasons why this one kinda wore me out in a way that I haven't been before, but in the grand scheme of things, it's really not that big of a deal for me. Of course, I'm also lucky that I don't depend on electricity for health reasons and I have a job that gives snow days during storms so I don't have to stress about that on top of everything else.

I figure there's nothing to be helped by bitching about it, and it could be a nice way to appreciate things that don't happen  so often when everyone does have electricity. I feel much more connected to my community as we all gather for food and coffee and company in the little town store that has a generator. People help each other out and talk to their neighbors much more than they otherwise would. It's a chance to slow down, read, spend time with each other, talk...and when the power does come back, at least for a little while before you start taking it for granted again, you are more appreciative of the comforts and conveniences it brings.

Having said all that, I am going to be SUPER appreciative of my ability to use my hair dryer tomorrow morning!  And now it's time to go to sleep while snuggling with kitties.


----------



## davidharmier60

Mornin y'all. 
Years ago power was out for more than a week. Last time it went out I had just gotten all the extension cords and generator set up when it came back on.
As to right now. I have half a tank of fuel and $15 to hold me until next Wednesday. 
Ain't going anywhere. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> RowdyRay said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh yeah, and ps - we got 16 1/5 inches of snow yesterday in my town.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Was the 1/5 part actually necessary? Lol. Just giving you grief. Anything over 12 is a PITA. Been there done that.
> 
> Keep the candles lit and snuggle with the kitties. Spring is around the corner.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I like to be precise
> 
> Snuggling is a definite. Candles are no longer be necessary at the moment (except for ambiance  ) as the power has been restored, hopefully in a more permanent way this time! I hear there might be another storm on Monday but it's still not clear if it will actually affect us.
> 
> As for spring coming...yeah well, that is better news to some than it is to others
> 
> I'd much rather have power outages in the winter than in the summer. I can stay warm much more easily than I can stay cool in the summer without air conditioning. Less food goes bad because the outdoors is basically one big fridge. For those of us on a well who depend on the water pump for plumbing and running water, snow can be melted for use in plumbing and boiled on the wood-burning stove for drinking water.
> 
> I generally don't get too bothered by power outages. Of course it gets tiresome if it goes on too long, and there are other reasons why this one kinda wore me out in a way that I haven't been before, but in the grand scheme of things, it's really not that big of a deal for me. Of course, I'm also lucky that I don't depend on electricity for health reasons and I have a job that gives snow days during storms so I don't have to stress about that on top of everything else.
> 
> I figure there's nothing to be helped by bitching about it, and it could be a nice way to appreciate things that don't happen  so often when everyone does have electricity. I feel much more connected to my community as we all gather for food and coffee and company in the little town store that has a generator. People help each other out and talk to their neighbors much more than they otherwise would. It's a chance to slow down, read, spend time with each other, talk...and when the power does come back, at least for a little while before you start taking it for granted again, you are more appreciative of the comforts and conveniences it brings.
> 
> Having said all that, I am going to be SUPER appreciative of my ability to use my hair dryer tomorrow morning!  And now it's time to go to sleep while snuggling with kitties.
Click to expand...

Coming from a land with little to no power outages and what few we have rarely extend beyond an hour ... living without power has a romantic side to it ... living in a simpler time when men were men and women, women. Gary suspects the reality is significantly less appealing than his romantic version. Gary has lived in many places, on many continents, but never in a place where outages are customary with winter. It is all foreign to him ... even romantic. LOL


----------



## JonA_CT

Professional Development all day. Kind of boring...we teachers make the worst students, too.

I have a maternity session to shoot this weekend. I'm not prepared and haven't touched my camera since I took the event photos a few weeks ago. I also have a hard time saying no.  Thank god for Pinterest.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sister and Dad left a little after noon for the VA complex in Houston.  I have the place to myself. Watching MavTV. They are working on an old Snow Cat.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Princess has the Froshmore dance tonight.  It's casual themed and they will all be wearing sports jerseys (my pocketbook thanks you MHS) but even so... first there must be lots of primping and straightening and curling and mascaraing...  the house is loud this afternoon with music and laughter and fighting over make-up brushes and eye shadows.  It sounds like there are 60 girls here, not 6 - but I don't mind as her time in HS will fly by and next thing you know I'll be fondly remembering a house full of loud hungry teenagers while I talk to the dog and treat him like my child, lol.


----------



## Gary A.

Miss Maggie has returned from the first class of her second course at spcaLA.  Two dogs were kicked out of the class, day one.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Miss Maggie has returned from the first class of her second course at spcaLA.  Two dogs were kicked out of the class, day one.


My mom's last dog, a labradoodle, got kicked out of her class on the first day.   My mother was aghast - she's had many dogs over time and faithfully takes each of them through some kind of obedience training or other, depending on where she's lived.   It ticked her off so much she called to make a plea for another chance - got back in and put that dog through her paces to where she ended up at the top of the class.    

That dog was a royal PITA, training or no training - I never could warm up to her.   She developed diabetes and didn't live to a ripe old age - unfortunate, of course, and I'm glad she didn't suffer.   I just don't have much use for such a hyper breed.   

My rambling point is that sometimes if a dog gets another chance, they'll get used to the mayhem and do well.


----------



## davidharmier60

Star Trek. Amazing what they could do back then.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Big workout milestone today. For the first time since my daughter was born, I got my 3 sets of squats in at 225. Next goal is 275. That’s where I stalled out before she was born.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> I like to be precise



A ruler that measures in 1/5 of an inch, isn't that like 3.2 16ths? That's pretty precise. Was that in just one spot or did you measure several spots and take an average


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Miss Maggie has returned from the first class of her second course at spcaLA. Two dogs were kicked out of the class, day one.



Sadie Mae gave me a scare this morning. She took off on her morning streak around the Long Leaf Pine trees. I was preoccupied, and not paying attention like I should have, so one minute I had her in sight, the next she was GONE, disappeared completely. Despite screaming her name with a couple of expletives attached, she was nowhere to be seen. Some other sense told me to turn around, and there she was sitting patiently behind me giving me that "WHAT" now look. I hate when she does that.


----------



## Tony744

I think they do things like that just to toy with us.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Miss Maggie has returned from the first class of her second course at spcaLA. Two dogs were kicked out of the class, day one.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sadie Mae gave me a scare this morning. She took off on her morning streak around the Long Leaf Pine trees. I was preoccupied, and not paying attention like I should have, so one minute I had her in sight, the next she was GONE, disappeared completely. Despite screaming her name with a couple of expletives attached, she was nowhere to be seen. Some other sense told me to turn around, and there she was sitting patiently behind me giving me that "WHAT" now look. I hate when she does that.
Click to expand...

Miss Maggie does that, even in the house she disappears then reappears somewhere else and we wonder how does she do that ... ?  She does it so often we often call Maggie the Ghost Dog.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Miss Maggie has returned from the first class of her second course at spcaLA.  Two dogs were kicked out of the class, day one.
> 
> 
> 
> My mom's last dog, a labradoodle, got kicked out of her class on the first day.   My mother was aghast - she's had many dogs over time and faithfully takes each of them through some kind of obedience training or other, depending on where she's lived.   It ticked her off so much she called to make a plea for another chance - got back in and put that dog through her paces to where she ended up at the top of the class.
> 
> That dog was a royal PITA, training or no training - I never could warm up to her.   She developed diabetes and didn't live to a ripe old age - unfortunate, of course, and I'm glad she didn't suffer.   I just don't have much use for such a hyper breed.
> 
> My rambling point is that sometimes if a dog gets another chance, they'll get used to the mayhem and do well.
Click to expand...

One pooch, the Yorker, was a barker.  She bark loudly, nonstop and nobody could hear the instructor (including the instructor). When the owner were asked to leave, they sorta complained that the barking was why they were in the class.  Kinda sad.  The second explosion was terrifying ... this giant German Shepard came roaring into the room, jaws snapping in all directions, the paws running in place all over vinyl flooring, the owner holding onto the outstretched leash with gloved hands and the dog uncontrolably slamming into the seating that was along the walls. 

Both these dogs needed private lessons.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary watched Black Panther.  We both enjoyed the movie.  There were a couple of parts which seemed too over the top even for a comic book ... but all-in-all, if you enjoy Marvel movies, Black Panther will not disappoint.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou and Gary watched Black Panther.  We both enjoyed the movie.  There were a couple of parts which seemed too over the top even for a comic book ... but all-in-all, if you enjoy Marvel movies, Black Panther will not disappoint.



Have not seen it yet but hope to this weekend.  I love the Marvel movies - the most recent Thor/Hulk movie was so entertaining!  I liked some of the DC movies but have been disappointed in those more often than not lately.  

I was trying to get to Jumanji before BP but I missed it and now it's On Demand already!  to buy for $19.99, not available for rent yet.  But still $20 for a movie for 2 with your own snacks and a comfy couch is not bad.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like to be precise
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A ruler that measures in 1/5 of an inch, isn't that like 3.2 16ths? That's pretty precise. Was that in just one spot or did you measure several spots and take an average
Click to expand...


Oh dang, so much for being precise!  I meant to write 16 1/2. Or 16.5. I mixed them up.


----------



## otherprof

davidharmier60 said:


> Star Trek. Amazing what they could do back then.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


I’m still waiting for the jet pack Popular Mechanics promised we would all have. BTW, you may find the book, The Physics of Star Trek, by the physicist Lawrence Krauss an interesting read.


davidharmier60 said:


> Star Trek. Amazing what they could do back then.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## otherprof

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Miss Maggie has returned from the first class of her second course at spcaLA. Two dogs were kicked out of the class, day one.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sadie Mae gave me a scare this morning. She took off on her morning streak around the Long Leaf Pine trees. I was preoccupied, and not paying attention like I should have, so one minute I had her in sight, the next she was GONE, disappeared completely. Despite screaming her name with a couple of expletives attached, she was nowhere to be seen. Some other sense told me to turn around, and there she was sitting patiently behind me giving me that "WHAT" now look. I hate when she does that.
Click to expand...

I remember when my late, and sorely missed, beagle Toby decided that a snow storm was the perfect time to find a way under our backyard fence and go for a ramble. He was almost all white due to his age, and deaf.  We did some frantic searching and pointless yelling as the snow covered his tracks. What a sense of relief when a neighbor down the street yelled to us that Toby had stopped to visit him while he was shoveling.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Oh dang, so much for being precise!


A few days early, but . . .
3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679821480865132823066470938446095505822317253594081284811174502841027019385211055596446229489549303819644288109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091456485669234603486104543266482133936072602491412737245870066063155881748815209209628292540917153643678925903600113305305488204665213841469519415116094330572703657595919530921861173819326117931051185480744623799627495673518857527248912279381830119491298336733624406566430860213949463952


----------



## davidharmier60

Good morning all. 
For the moment our 9 mutts are quiet.
Got a pretty good mug of coffee. 
I done run out of words. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Picked up my new glasses and don’t really like them.  Will post pics later for you to opine.


----------



## davidharmier60

New glasses are never perfect at the start.
I couldn't function without my line less tri optics. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is beginning to sprinkle ... rain is projected across most of the day.  Miss Maggie and Gary are up.  Mary Lou is in bed reading the news on her phone.  This is Dim Sum Saturday in Monterey Park, with Dr. Tom and Lord know who else may show up. Then off to Newport Beach.  Roger's Nursery is having a tomato sale today.  Time to prepare Maggie's banana and yogurt breakfast. Later.


----------



## ceemac

SquarePeg said:


> Picked up my new glasses and don’t really like them. Will post pics later for you to opine.



At least you can see them, so you're halfway there. LOL


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Nothing much from me right now. Just sorta in recovery mode from a looney bin week.

So. Hey.

Edit: And clearly in need of more recovery because I had orginally posted this in Pix's Dog's Life thread.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary watched Black Panther.  We both enjoyed the movie.  There were a couple of parts which seemed too over the top even for a comic book ... but all-in-all, if you enjoy Marvel movies, Black Panther will not disappoint.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have not seen it yet but hope to this weekend.  I love the Marvel movies - the most recent Thor/Hulk movie was so entertaining!  I liked some of the DC movies but have been disappointed in those more often than not lately.
> 
> I was trying to get to Jumanji before BP but I missed it and now it's On Demand already!  to buy for $19.99, not available for rent yet.  But still $20 for a movie for 2 with your own snacks and a comfy couch is not bad.
Click to expand...

... and you can pause the movie for bathroom runs. Gary is really enjoying the Movie Pass ... works easily and with a few more movies we'll be in the black.  Mary Lou always sneaks food or water into the theater.  Recently we purchased some smallish S'Well bottles so now she sneaks in stuff like lemonade, or carbonated water or even vino.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary watched Black Panther.  We both enjoyed the movie.  There were a couple of parts which seemed too over the top even for a comic book ... but all-in-all, if you enjoy Marvel movies, Black Panther will not disappoint.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have not seen it yet but hope to this weekend.  I love the Marvel movies - the most recent Thor/Hulk movie was so entertaining!  I liked some of the DC movies but have been disappointed in those more often than not lately.
> 
> I was trying to get to Jumanji before BP but I missed it and now it's On Demand already!  to buy for $19.99, not available for rent yet.  But still $20 for a movie for 2 with your own snacks and a comfy couch is not bad.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ... and you can pause the movie for bathroom runs. Gary is really enjoying the Movie Pass ... works easily and with a few more movies we'll be in the black.  Mary Lou always sneaks food or water into the theater.  Recently we purchased some smallish S'Well bottles so now she sneaks in stuff like lemonade, or carbonated water or even vino.
Click to expand...


What is "the Movie Pass"?  I go to the movies quite a bit...


----------



## Gary A.

The precipitation has increased from a misty sprinkle to bonafide drops.  So ... no walk for the pooch.  She isn't happy about this and may registar a formal complaint with the shop steward.

Yesterday, back to the dog class, there were two yappy little dogs.  The Yorkie got kicked out, but the owner of the other little yappy dog was shovelling a constant and seemingly endless supply of treats into the little guy in order to keep him quiet and in class.  Mary Lou found it all amusing.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary watched Black Panther.  We both enjoyed the movie.  There were a couple of parts which seemed too over the top even for a comic book ... but all-in-all, if you enjoy Marvel movies, Black Panther will not disappoint.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have not seen it yet but hope to this weekend.  I love the Marvel movies - the most recent Thor/Hulk movie was so entertaining!  I liked some of the DC movies but have been disappointed in those more often than not lately.
> 
> I was trying to get to Jumanji before BP but I missed it and now it's On Demand already!  to buy for $19.99, not available for rent yet.  But still $20 for a movie for 2 with your own snacks and a comfy couch is not bad.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ... and you can pause the movie for bathroom runs. Gary is really enjoying the Movie Pass ... works easily and with a few more movies we'll be in the black.  Mary Lou always sneaks food or water into the theater.  Recently we purchased some smallish S'Well bottles so now she sneaks in stuff like lemonade, or carbonated water or even vino.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> What is "the Movie Pass"?  I go to the movies quite a bit...
Click to expand...

Gary posted this a while ago.  For $90 a year per pass, you get one free movie a day.  After nine movies you're in the black.  One movie a month and you're in the black.  We purchased our passes through Costco, so if Movie Pass goes under, we get reimbursed per Costco.  You also get free streaming of movies Gary has never heard.


----------



## jcdeboever

Took my brothers from church out for breakfast this morning . Shooting my FM today with the 100mm f/2.8 E and some TriX. Been shooting with 55 and 35 mostly, as of late. What a challenge using the 100, my feet are not cooperating with my brain.


----------



## Gary A.

Do you have a preference of film camera?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Dim Sum Saturday, can you say that three times fast? or does it turn into sum dum Saturday? Yeah, I'm tired today! Errands later and kind of cold out, but the sun is shining.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Cities are nuts. Work was in the flight path but not close enough to the airport for planes to be real low yet. Although one had something fall off into someone's back yard. I didn't have the worst of drives since I was out on the fringe (and not quite the lunatic fringe although I sometimes wondered). I wasn't in the middle of the worst of it, but sometimes traffic's either at a crawl or everyone's driving like maniacs. At least during the day doing home visits there wasn't a lot of traffic and I usually didn't have to go back out onto the interstate.


----------



## snowbear

DON'T FORGET:
Change those smoke/carbon monoxide detector batteries this weekend.





DSC_1255.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Cities are nuts. Work was in the flight path but not close enough to the airport for planes to be real low yet. Although one had something fall off into someone's back yard. I didn't have the worst of drives since I was out on the fringe (and not quite the lunatic fringe although I sometimes wondered). I wasn't in the middle of the worst of it, but sometimes traffic's either at a crawl or everyone's driving like maniacs. At least during the day doing home visits there wasn't a lot of traffic and I usually didn't have to go back out onto the interstate.


The 'burbs aren't much better.


----------



## Gary A.

Dim Sum was delish and plentiful. A very large hall type of setting with a zillion little carts weaving between the tables. Monterey Park has a large Asian population and they were all at Ocean Star restaurant.  Gary felt as if he was back in Hong Kong.


----------



## davidharmier60

Cold Pizza for lunch. Not usually a formal dinner on Saturday. And that's all I got. 
Film camera Canon EOS650. But film is all but dead.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## minicoop1985

davidharmier60 said:


> Cold Pizza for lunch. Not usually a formal dinner on Saturday. And that's all I got.
> Film camera Canon EOS650. But film is all but dead.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Film is still hanging in there. It will last a while yet.

I just bought a GX680 II for a trip coming up. I'll be shooting mainly Ektar with some Velvia in there. We will see what cones of this. Should be a fun toy in the meantime.

My favorite lab is closing down. :-( Most of their business was instant cameras, and the market for that is DEAD.

Sent from my [device_name] using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

If I recall Michael ... you cashed a check I sent you a long time ago and I have yet to received my Nikon F pentaprism in return. Shouldn't you be taking care of your debts before buying more stuff? 

I guess it is time for you to disappear again.


----------



## terri

Hey hosers.   I made chai from scratch today.   An awesome blend of black pepper, ground cardamom, ginger, clove, nutmeg and cinnamon.  That's the masala part.  I used a blend of half milk, half water, and loose leaf black tea with only a quarter teaspoon of the masala blend, steeped in a saucepan for a few minutes and strained into my cup.   It was soooo good.


----------



## smoke665

Exhausting day, but worth it. Today was our spring BBQ at the Fire Department. We hold two per year as our major fund raisers. Think giant block party, as friends and neighbors from all over the district (60 square miles) turn out to eat and socialize. Had a few new babies on display, a few that aren't babies anymore, and sadly a few whose passing left a hole in our hearts.


----------



## minicoop1985

Gary A. said:


> If I recall Michael ... you cashed a check I sent you a long time ago and I have yet to received my Nikon F pentaprism in return. Shouldn't you be taking care of your debts before buying more stuff?
> 
> I guess it is time for you to disappear again.


I did, and I'll own up to it. Hence why I offered to PayPal it to you, and will be mailing it instead.

In all fairness, I did receive a FREE Rolleiflex that I traded for the GX.

Sent from my [device_name] using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## davidharmier60

I got everything that I was supposed to and as happy as I ever get!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

minicoop1985 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If I recall Michael ... you cashed a check I sent you a long time ago and I have yet to received my Nikon F pentaprism in return. Shouldn't you be taking care of your debts before buying more stuff?
> 
> I guess it is time for you to disappear again.
> 
> 
> 
> I did, and I'll own up to it. Hence why I offered to PayPal it to you, and will be mailing it instead.
> 
> In all fairness, I did receive a FREE Rolleiflex that I traded for the GX.
> 
> Sent from my [device_name] using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...

Perhaps you gentlemen can take your dispute to PM, rather than air your grievances in the Coffee House.    It simply isn't done.


----------



## JonA_CT

terri said:


> Hey hosers.   I made chai from scratch today.   An awesome blend of black pepper, ground cardamom, ginger, clove, nutmeg and cinnamon.  That's the masala part.  I used a blend of half milk, half water, and loose leaf black tea with only a quarter teaspoon of the masala blend, steeped in a saucepan for a few minutes and strained into my cup.   It was soooo good.



Sounds delicious. I think I need to give that shot.


----------



## otherprof

davidharmier60 said:


> Star Trek. Amazing what they could do back then.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Just noticed in Thursday’s New York Times, that Lawrence Krauss, the physicist who wrote “The Physics of Star Trek,” has been suspended from Arizona State University while they investigate a story on Buzzfeed alleging inappropriate behavior. ASU says no complaints were ever made to them, but he was still  banned from campus while they look into the matter.
Beam me up, Scotty. We’ll look for intelligent life elsewhere.


----------



## snowbear

espresso2x said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> But film is all but dead.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's mostly amateurs and artists now. Cherish that!
Click to expand...

I am both.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Exhausting day, but worth it. Today was our spring BBQ at the Fire Department. We hold two per year as our major fund raisers. Think giant block party, as friends and neighbors from all over the district (60 square miles) turn out to eat and socialize. Had a few new babies on display, a few that aren't babies anymore, and sadly a few whose passing left a hole in our hearts.


Let's hope the last group wasn't on display.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hmph. Spring forward. I only have approximately 26 watches to fix.
And since I lose an hour I say good night and have a great Sunday. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.   I made chai from scratch today.   An awesome blend of black pepper, ground cardamom, ginger, clove, nutmeg and cinnamon.  That's the masala part.  I used a blend of half milk, half water, and loose leaf black tea with only a quarter teaspoon of the masala blend, steeped in a saucepan for a few minutes and strained into my cup.   It was soooo good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds delicious. I think I need to give that shot.
Click to expand...

It was so easy, I wondered what took me so long to give it a go!  I guess I was intimidated by the list of spices and clueless on how to get the proportions right.  Came across a good article and recipe, and was very happy sipping the first batch. 

Time to toss the chai in teabags.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Let's hope the last group wasn't on display.



Nope just memories. I'm not sure if municipal departments develop the same closeness with those they serve that rural volunteer departments do. The members, thier families, neighbors, church members they all become an extended family of sorts


----------



## RowdyRay

davidharmier60 said:


> Cold Pizza for lunch. Not usually a formal dinner on Saturday. And that's all I got.
> Film camera Canon EOS650. But film is all but dead.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Not completely dead. There's been a bit of a revival, if what I read is correct. Didn't know you had one of these. How do you like it? Any tips?

Just found one at a thrift store. Haven't shot film in years, but thought it would be nice to use some of the lenses I already own. And an excuse to get a couple others.


----------



## davidharmier60

I shot mostly Airshows. The EOS650 was a fantastic upgrade from an AE-1 with a power winder. It automatically reads and sets ISO. That might irritate some. But as I recall it was pretty easy to overcome and add or subtract a stop or two. If you find one for a good price I'd say grab it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

minicoop1985 said:


> Most of their business was instant cameras, and the market for that is DEAD.
> 
> Sent from my [device_name] using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app



Au contraire. Fuji Instax is pretty hot these days. And Impossible Project just bought the rights to Polaroid (name and I think equipment, though not formulas) and keeps producing updated products under that name.


----------



## minicoop1985

limr said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Most of their business was instant cameras, and the market for that is DEAD.
> 
> Sent from my [device_name] using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Au contraire. Fuji Instax is pretty hot these days. And Impossible Project just bought the rights to Polaroid (name and I think equipment, though not formulas) and keeps producing updated products under that name.
Click to expand...

I meant to say one time use cameras. You're right.

Sent from my [device_name] using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## RowdyRay

I did grab it. Under 10.00. 

Still have my AE-1. Sadly the shutter is now sticking from lack of use. Was looking at the Elan series, but those are really holding their value.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.   I made chai from scratch today.   An awesome blend of black pepper, ground cardamom, ginger, clove, nutmeg and cinnamon.  That's the masala part.  I used a blend of half milk, half water, and loose leaf black tea with only a quarter teaspoon of the masala blend, steeped in a saucepan for a few minutes and strained into my cup.   It was soooo good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds delicious. I think I need to give that shot.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It was so easy, I wondered what took me so long to give it a go!  I guess I was intimidated by the list of spices and clueless on how to get the proportions right.  Came across a good article and recipe, and was very happy sipping the first batch.
> 
> Time to toss the chai in teabags.
Click to expand...

Gary has been playing with this idea for a while as he purchases a lot of mixed teas.  Most of the ingredients in the teas Gary buys are grow in his yard.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Do you have a preference of film camera?


I think the F, only for the 100% viewfinder. I'm working the shutter on this FM today. Next up is the Canon AE1. I had a difficult day with the 100mm e.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> If I recall Michael ... you cashed a check I sent you a long time ago and I have yet to received my Nikon F pentaprism in return. Shouldn't you be taking care of your debts before buying more stuff?
> 
> I guess it is time for you to disappear again.


That is messed up.


----------



## jcdeboever

minicoop1985 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If I recall Michael ... you cashed a check I sent you a long time ago and I have yet to received my Nikon F pentaprism in return. Shouldn't you be taking care of your debts before buying more stuff?
> 
> I guess it is time for you to disappear again.
> 
> 
> 
> I did, and I'll own up to it. Hence why I offered to PayPal it to you, and will be mailing it instead.
> 
> In all fairness, I did receive a FREE Rolleiflex that I traded for the GX.
> 
> Sent from my [device_name] using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...

Fair to who, you? Pay the guy back. That is bush league on your part. Gary is a great dude and doesn't deserve that. W


----------



## minicoop1985

jcdeboever said:


> minicoop1985 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If I recall Michael ... you cashed a check I sent you a long time ago and I have yet to received my Nikon F pentaprism in return. Shouldn't you be taking care of your debts before buying more stuff?
> 
> I guess it is time for you to disappear again.
> 
> 
> 
> I did, and I'll own up to it. Hence why I offered to PayPal it to you, and will be mailing it instead.
> 
> In all fairness, I did receive a FREE Rolleiflex that I traded for the GX.
> 
> Sent from my [device_name] using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Fair to who, you? Pay the guy back. That is bush league on your part. Gary is a great dude and doesn't deserve that. W
Click to expand...

Ok. We shouldn't be hashing this out here. I never meant to screw the guy. I had a laptop quit on me, then when I did get it working work got so intense that I disappeared for quite some time, even abandoning photography entirely. Now, I'm back, and have the ability to pay Gary back. I looked in my inbox and there it was, so I'll take care of it and make it right.

Ok. Now that we're done with that, we should carry on.

Sent from my [device_name] using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## limr

Indeed. Please let the involved parties work this out privately.


----------



## davidharmier60

Mornin kids. I get to go have a couple hours spot mopping and sweeping and cleaning bathrooms. Lucky me.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Tony744

Morning. Turned on the news and they're talking about a nor'easter hitting Tuesday. 5 to 9 inches expected.   I should have stayed in bed.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Let's hope the last group wasn't on display.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope just memories. I'm not sure if municipal departments develop the same closeness with those they serve that rural volunteer departments do. The members, thier families, neighbors, church members they all become an extended family of sorts
Click to expand...

Ours do (both Fire/EMS and Law Enforcement), and it spans generations.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Ours do (both Fire/EMS and Law Enforcement), and it spans generations.



I'm glad to hear that. Only about 60 percent of our operating budget is funded, so we are fortunate that the residents support us as they do. The only real problem we face is the constant turnover. We are strictly volunteer, no pay involved. Most who join have no idea of the time commitment involved, and quickly tire of it.


----------



## SquarePeg

The new glasses.  Not sure if I like them.


----------



## davidharmier60

They look ok. My shortest (bottom ) of my Tri-focals need to be stronger. That's why an 8 power loupe stays nearby.
3.25 hours today. Shopped for my Sister before leaving the store.
No big plans for the day. 
About to have cereal.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> The new glasses. Not sure if I like them.



I don't think they look bad (from the man with little fashion sense LOL). Conservative but not frumpy.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  A dreary morning of heavy low clouds and drizzle. The rain barrels are filled from yesterday's rain, Maggie has been fed her breakfast and Gary is wrapping up his coffee.  Miss Maggie has just come into the kitchen to remind me of her walk.  Guests today, Mary Lou and Gary are planning a turkey meatball soup with spaghetti and turkey sausages.  The meatball are browned and alone are delicious.  In the soup next to the parsnips and chard they round our the flavors quite nicely.

@ Peg: I dunno about the glasses.  They seem more non-discrip than fashionable.  They don't say "Peg" to me ... but as you are behind them, saying Peg isn't necessary as you are already there.


----------



## SquarePeg

Thanks for the input.  They’re definitely more discreet than my last pair - lighter color and a more square shape.  Here are the old ones for reference...  I felt like they were a bit too dark with my much lighter hair color.


----------



## Gary A.

The new ones are easily ignored and show you ... the old say "Hey, look at Peg's glasses!"


----------



## JonA_CT

More snow on the way. I'm running out of days to bump back the last day of school to.


I'm stressing a little about the maternity shoot I have this afternoon. They didn't send me reference poses until this morning, and they want a bunch of stuff that's better suited for the studio. Which would be cool if I had one of those and if we hadn't agreed to meet at a local park. 

C'est la vie. I'm game planning now.


----------



## minicoop1985

Heya Hosers. Today is... going to be rough, methinks. I have a MASSIVE wound on my leg from venous insufficiency. My wife and friends are planning on a nature walk today... Not sure how that's gonna go.

I'm getting excited-my GX680 comes tomorrow! Guess who won't be going anywhere until it shows up!

Sent from my [device_name] using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> More snow on the way. I'm running out of days to bump back the last day of school to.
> 
> 
> I'm stressing a little about the maternity shoot I have this afternoon. They didn't send me reference poses until this morning, and they want a bunch of stuff that's better suited for the studio. Which would be cool if I had one of those and if we hadn't agreed to meet at a local park.
> 
> C'est la vie. I'm game planning now.


Remember:  You're the expertise.  If a shot's not going to work, tell them!  If they want you to do it anyway, do it, but tell them what's not going to work in advance and suggest options!


----------



## JonA_CT

tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> More snow on the way. I'm running out of days to bump back the last day of school to.
> 
> 
> I'm stressing a little about the maternity shoot I have this afternoon. They didn't send me reference poses until this morning, and they want a bunch of stuff that's better suited for the studio. Which would be cool if I had one of those and if we hadn't agreed to meet at a local park.
> 
> C'est la vie. I'm game planning now.
> 
> 
> 
> Remember:  You're the expertise.  If a shot's not going to work, tell them!  If they want you to do it anyway, do it, but tell them what's not going to work in advance and suggest options!
Click to expand...


You’re right of course! I told them right away that two of the shots they want will be very difficult outside. The saving grace is that this park has a large stone mansion and a garden that has some deeply shaded areas that it will be easier to control ambient light. If I can make it work in a few minutes, great! If not, I’m working for free.

Their preferred photographer would charge $4-500 for a session like this.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> The new glasses.  Not sure if I like them.



I like them. I think they fit and flatter your face better than the old ones. The new ones are more balanced. The old ones stuck out to the sides more.


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> Remember: You're the expertise. If a shot's not going to work, tell them! If they want you to do it anyway, do it, but tell them what's not going to work in advance and suggest options!



Never dealt with photography specific customers, but a ton of customers world wide in other avenues. One thing I found helpful is you always want to lay the groundwork upfront. Before you commit  a lot of time it's wise to get a feel for what the customer wants/needs/expectations. I've cut the conversations off with prospective customers, because I knew they had unreasonable expectations, that could never be met. If you've done your upfront work, you should have already discussed the shoot, what they expect and how you're going to do it. Don't second guess yourself, now.


----------



## SquarePeg

I just don’t “get” the whole concept of the maternity shoot.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Remember: You're the expertise. If a shot's not going to work, tell them! If they want you to do it anyway, do it, but tell them what's not going to work in advance and suggest options!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Never dealt with photography specific customers, but a ton of customers world wide in other avenues. One thing I found helpful is you always want to lay the groundwork upfront. Before you commit  a lot of time it's wise to get a feel for what the customer wants/needs/expectations. I've cut the conversations off with prospective customers, because I knew they had unreasonable expectations, that could never be met. If you've done your upfront work, you should have already discussed the shoot, what they expect and how you're going to do it. Don't second guess yourself, now.
Click to expand...


Totally agree. The father is one of my good friends (lead singer in the band, actually). They asked if I could help them a week ago, and I said that I would. I asked at that point for some reference shots, and it took them until this morning. All of the “standard” show off my pregnancy shots will be fine. The specialty ones? We’ll see.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> I just don’t “get” the whole concept of the maternity shoot.



It’s a millennial thing, I think. A bunch of the blogs I read commented on the fact that it didn’t exist 15-20 years ago. 

My wife wasn’t into it, haha.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> I just don’t “get” the whole concept of the maternity shoot.



I have to agree with you. Personally it seems a little one sided, as the woman didn't do alone, what about the father???? How about equal time Man Poses in Hilarious Maternity Shoot (with a Fast Food Baby Belly!) to Surprise His Girlfriend


----------



## SquarePeg

I blame Demi Moore and that was way before any of these millennial kids were around.


----------



## Derrel

SquarePeg said:


> I just don’t “get” the whole concept of the maternity shoot.



The maternity shoot is a beautiful thing, and it celebrates and commemorates a woman's roughly nine-month struggle to gestate another life from her own body. The photos preserve for all time the several major changes that the woman's body and face undergo as she carries the baby, unborn, within her body. The photos celebrate the miracle that is the creation of life. My wife was handicapped for life in a terrible auto accident about a year after we were first married. But 13 years later, we decided to have our one and only child. We did a couple of maternity shoots. The photos are utterly irreplaceable memories. Maybe some people can't understand something as simple as celebrating the creation of another human life.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> More snow on the way. I'm running out of days to bump back the last day of school to.
> 
> 
> I'm stressing a little about the maternity shoot I have this afternoon. They didn't send me reference poses until this morning, and they want a bunch of stuff that's better suited for the studio. Which would be cool if I had one of those and if we hadn't agreed to meet at a local park.
> 
> C'est la vie. I'm game planning now.


Grab a few in the park ... but reschedule the studio stuff.


----------



## smoke665

Derrel said:


> The maternity shoot is a beautiful thing,



It can be when tastefully done and in your case it obviously was, but there have been some I've seen so tasteless that my only thought was WTH were they thinking. Guess that same comment could apply to several things though.


----------



## SquarePeg

Derrel said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just don’t “get” the whole concept of the maternity shoot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The maternity shoot is a beautiful thing, and it celebrates and commemorates a woman's roughly nine-month struggle to gestate another life from her own body. The photos preserve for all time the several major changes that the woman's body and face undergo as she carries the baby, unborn, within her body. The photos celebrate the miracle that is the creation of life. My wife was handicapped for life in a terrible auto accident about a year after we were first married. But 13 years later, we decided to have our one and only child. We did a couple of maternity shoots. The photos are utterly irreplaceable memories. Maybe some people can't understand something as simple as celebrating the creation of another human life.
Click to expand...


I wasn’t saying there’s anything wrong with it just that I don’t get the appeal, especially from the expectant mom’s perspective.  Maybe because I had a difficult pregnancy, it’s jot something I would have been in the mood for had it been a thing back then.


----------



## tirediron

Derrel said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just don’t “get” the whole concept of the maternity shoot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The maternity shoot is a beautiful thing, and it celebrates and commemorates a woman's roughly nine-month struggle to gestate another life from her own body. The photos preserve for all time the several major changes that the woman's body and face undergo as she carries the baby, unborn, within her body. The photos celebrate the miracle that is the creation of life. My wife was handicapped for life in a terrible auto accident about a year after we were first married. But 13 years later, we decided to have our one and only child. We did a couple of maternity shoots. The photos are utterly irreplaceable memories. Maybe some people can't understand something as simple as celebrating the creation of another human life.
Click to expand...

You should be writing sales literature for studios!!!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> The new glasses.  Not sure if I like them.



These look great!   I like them better than the old ones.   You did good!   (Though I completely understand the second-guessing; I do it too.)


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just don’t “get” the whole concept of the maternity shoot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The maternity shoot is a beautiful thing, and it celebrates and commemorates a woman's roughly nine-month struggle to gestate another life from her own body. The photos preserve for all time the several major changes that the woman's body and face undergo as she carries the baby, unborn, within her body. The photos celebrate the miracle that is the creation of life. My wife was handicapped for life in a terrible auto accident about a year after we were first married. But 13 years later, we decided to have our one and only child. We did a couple of maternity shoots. The photos are utterly irreplaceable memories. Maybe some people can't understand something as simple as celebrating the creation of another human life.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I wasn’t saying there’s anything wrong with it just that I don’t get the appeal, especially from the expectant mom’s perspective.  Maybe because I had a difficult pregnancy, it’s jot something I would have been in the mood for had it been a thing back then.
Click to expand...

Agreed.   Some women take to pregnancy beautifully - they look glossy, healthy, etc.    "Some" of us *ahem* have extended nausea, facial breakouts and blotchiness, and don't feel like too much picture-taking during that time.   I also had a completely natural childbirth, and did very well - but I burst a couple of blood vessels around the eyes and, for a couple of weeks after, looked like I'd been a car accident.      It just wasn't a fabulous glowing time for me.    No staged pics for a few weeks there.


----------



## davidharmier60

Ah, the joys of child raising. Something I know nothing about. Facebook, Twitter,  Instagram etc. Seems like a lot of good and BAD have come with these things. 

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----------



## davidharmier60

Dang. The oven went crazy. There was to be roast with potatoes,  carrots, onions and gravy. We ended up with all but the gravy.


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----------



## espresso2x

Bon appétit !


----------



## smoke665

Let's see Fire Department BBQ yesterday, required a considerable sacrifice on my part as chief quality control supervisor. All those samples. I couldn't eat anything for supper. Then for lunch grilled BBQ sandwiches and for supper a BBQ Baked potatoe. Think it will be several days before BBQ will be on the menu again.


----------



## davidharmier60

I wish you all a good night and a better tomorrow. 

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----------



## Tony744

Night all.


----------



## jr967076

It does not matter what the picture looks like and what kind of angle it is as long as the emotion and the intent towards the viewer is being delivered very well. In my opinion that is how I define the photography.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> The new glasses.  Not sure if I like them.


I think they're fine. I always take the wife when I get mine. I have no idea what to get, I always pick ones that create the response, "oh, hell no". This is coming from a guy that wears socks with sandals. I put my foot down on that though, my feet are sensitive. Glasses, I need direction because if it were me, I'd look like a fat Buddy Holly. My wife calls my choices in glasses, "birth control glasses", cause I ain't getting none wearing those....


----------



## JonA_CT

Maternity shoot went fine yesterday. Hopefully, I'll get some editing done tonight and I'll post a couple.

A migraine took me out last night. It's been awhile, but luckily I still had some of my medicine kicking around, which means that my head doesn't hurt this morning. Unfortunately, the side effect for me is feeling kind of hungover this morning. Foggy, spacey, a little shaky. I'll take it over the migraine.


----------



## waday

The wife and I are forced to play a new game with the baby... Is she blowing raspberries/bubbles or pooping?

Sometimes it sounds the same on the monitor, Lol


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> The wife and I are forced to play a new game with the baby... Is she blowing raspberries/bubbles or pooping?
> 
> Sometimes it sounds the same on the monitor, Lol



If the face is beet red she's not blowing bubbles LOL


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has the same differienting problem ... but it is on a personal level and not an observational level.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary was up at 5:00 a.m. today to catch his 7:00 a.m. meeting at CSULA ... but it was while he was enroute rescheduled. Now he is home, Mary Lou is asleep, Miss Maggie greeted him at the door as if he has just returned after years at the Eastern Front, then she returned to bed ... and Gary is here, showered, shaved, sipping some tea ... wondering about what to do with _hisself_.


----------



## smoke665

Anyone else having problems with TPF today. All morning when I've clicked on "post reply", it connects, but nothing happens. Sometimes takes two or three times


----------



## Gary A.

Mondays are trash day.  The first trash container, Waste, was just picked up and on its way to the landfill.  Next to be picked up will be Green Waste and late in the day the Recyclables. The sky has finally shifted from black to an overcast gray.  Yesterday Gary cooked up a ton for guests.  Spaghetti with a turkey-based meat sauce with fistfuls of fresh herbs and tomatoes from the garden.  And a turkey meatball soup.  The soup is interesting because the seasoned and herbed meatballs were browned before dumped into the soup.  The veggies ... the onions were caramelized/sauteed, along with the garlic, celery, carrots, chard and parsnips prior to becoming soup. The meal received very good reviews. All that chopping and cooking wore Gary out and this morning he dragged himself out of bed ... most likely feeling similarly as Jon.  The LA Times has an interesting front page headline, "Border fence meets wall of skepticism".  Gary appreciates clever headlines.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Anyone else having problems with TPF today. All morning when I've clicked on "post reply", it connects, but nothing happens. Sometimes takes two or three times


That was happening to Gary on Saturday.  He closed out the ap and after reopening, it worked as advertised.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> The new glasses.  Not sure if I like them.


I think they are very nice and look good on you.  Of course, I may be a bit biased as mine are of the same general style, but blue.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Anyone else having problems with TPF today. All morning when I've clicked on "post reply", it connects, but nothing happens. Sometimes takes two or three times


I had an issue over the weekend, but it eventually went away.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone else having problems with TPF today. All morning when I've clicked on "post reply", it connects, but nothing happens. Sometimes takes two or three times
> 
> 
> 
> I had an issue over the weekend, but it eventually went away.
Click to expand...

I just had the problem this morning.. it went away so far..


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. and @snowbear I've been having numerous issues over the weekend. I suspect it's a network issue other than a local issue. Outage maps, showed numerous issues with ATT.


----------



## minicoop1985

My internet has been slow. I do a speed test and I get close to 100mbps.... Not sure what's up there.

Sent from my [device_name] using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.

I hope the Northeasterners are warm, dry, and braced for the next one.  Our trip may be delayed - #2 might not be able to fly down until later.  His new ID was mailed to our place.  MLW sent it up, priority mail, last week but it seems things are delayed due to the last bout with the weather.  Until they get the ID, they can't fly.  We'll know, this evening (they're supposed to fly out tomorrow.

Spending the day documenting the latest major project.  If this thing takes off (not sure of what will happen with DFC-ESC retiring) it 's likely this will be presented at the state GIS group and the Towson University GIS conference, and possibly at the International Conference ion San Diego next year.


----------



## Gary A.

San Diego is always nice. Gary hopes you make it to San Diego. Tomorrow, Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary will be visiting his daughter in San Diego.


----------



## Gary A.

This time change is crazy.  Usually time changes don't affect Gary ... jet lag never bothered him ... but this year he is really off his game with this Spring forward thing.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> ... sauce with fistfuls of fresh herbs ...


Did anyone else hear Lenny twitch.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Maternity shoot went fine yesterday. Hopefully, I'll get some editing done tonight and I'll post a couple.
> 
> A migraine took me out last night. It's been awhile, but luckily I still had some of my medicine kicking around, which means that my head doesn't hurt this morning. Unfortunately, the side effect for me is feeling kind of hungover this morning. Foggy, spacey, a little shaky. I'll take it over the migraine.



Yuck. As a fellow migraine sufferer, I completely sympathize.  Your stressing over the photo shoot probably brought it on.



Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary was up at 5:00 a.m. today to catch his 7:00 a.m. meeting at CSULA ... but it was while he was enroute rescheduled. Now he is home, Mary Lou is asleep, Miss Maggie greeted him at the door as if he has just returned after years at the Eastern Front, then she returned to bed ... and Gary is here, showered, shaved, sipping some tea ... wondering about what to do with _hisself_.



Sounds like self portrait time.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> A migraine took me out last night. It's been awhile, but luckily I still had some of my medicine kicking around,



Have you ever determined if there are triggers for the migraine??? I've had problems with migraines in the past but usually from a trigger.  One trigger for me is being outside in bright light and sun glare for an extended period with out eye protection and hat.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maternity shoot went fine yesterday. Hopefully, I'll get some editing done tonight and I'll post a couple.
> 
> A migraine took me out last night. It's been awhile, but luckily I still had some of my medicine kicking around, which means that my head doesn't hurt this morning. Unfortunately, the side effect for me is feeling kind of hungover this morning. Foggy, spacey, a little shaky. I'll take it over the migraine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yuck. As a fellow migraine sufferer, I completely sympathize.  Your stressing over the photo shoot probably brought it on.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary was up at 5:00 a.m. today to catch his 7:00 a.m. meeting at CSULA ... but it was while he was enroute rescheduled. Now he is home, Mary Lou is asleep, Miss Maggie greeted him at the door as if he has just returned after years at the Eastern Front, then she returned to bed ... and Gary is here, showered, shaved, sipping some tea ... wondering about what to do with _hisself_.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Sounds like self portrait time.
Click to expand...



Or maybe  the stress of the photo shoot made me forget three of my triggers...sunlight (didn't wear sunglasses even though it was quite bright), dehydration (whoops), and aspartame (I drank two diet cokes at my parents house when I was thirsty..which I almost never do).

Meh. It was a good run.

Also...based on current weather reports for us Sharon...


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> dehydration (whoops),



yeah, I forgot that one.


----------



## davidharmier60

Mornin y'all. 6 hours and 4 minutes today. 
I had the unenviable task to clean the exterior windows. Wrestling a 12 foot ladder and going up and down on it some 27 times.

We may be going to deliver a couch today. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Or maybe the stress of the photo shoot made me forget three of my triggers...sunlight (didn't wear sunglasses even though it was quite bright), dehydration (whoops), and aspartame (I drank two diet cokes at my parents house when I was thirsty..which I almost never do).
> 
> Meh. It was a good run.
> 
> Also...based on current weather reports for us Sharon...



Not looking forward to any more weather.  I'm ready for spring.  I'm really looking forward to the later sunsets - 6:47pm tonight!!!  

My migraine triggers are similar to yours with the bright sunlight and dehydration but add in damp weather, white noise and red wine     Aspartame doesn't trigger migraines for me but I have felt so much better over all since cutting down to only drinking diet soda occasionally instead of every day.  I realized that it just made me more thirsty and made me crave sweets.


----------



## jcdeboever

Donuts trigger my migraine. No more donuts. Jk. I don't get them and believing I never will. My wife says I trigger hers.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> My wife says I trigger hers.



I suspect this is a common occurrence world wide. LOL


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Or maybe the stress of the photo shoot made me forget three of my triggers...sunlight (didn't wear sunglasses even though it was quite bright), dehydration (whoops), and aspartame (I drank two diet cokes at my parents house when I was thirsty..which I almost never do).
> 
> Meh. It was a good run.
> 
> Also...based on current weather reports for us Sharon...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not looking forward to any more weather.  I'm ready for spring.  I'm really looking forward to the later sunsets - 6:47pm tonight!!!
> 
> My migraine triggers are similar to yours with the bright sunlight and dehydration but add in damp weather, white noise and red wine     Aspartame doesn't trigger migraines for me but I have felt so much better over all since cutting down to only drinking diet soda occasionally instead of every day.  I realized that it just made me more thirsty and made me crave sweets.
Click to expand...

While Gary rarely drinks sodas of any kind ... he does love his carbonated drinks. Actually, he loves sodas too ... but the downsides of sodas has cause him to cut them out of his diet. He has a lot of good luck with his soda machine and adding the juices from limes, lemons and oranges.  Thirst quenching and delightfully bubbly.  The soda machine has been a blessing as it is easy to use and very cost effective over Perrier or equal. Gary is looking forward bubbling up some Margaritas and Sangria when the weather warms up.


----------



## davidharmier60

When the weather gets 100 degrees with 100 percent humidity Gatoraide is the only solution. 

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----------



## jcdeboever

davidharmier60 said:


> When the weather gets 100 degrees with 100 percent humidity Gatoraide is the only solution.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


I drink coffee or tea when it's hot. It seems to cool me down.


----------



## Gary A.

On a hot day a hot drink will either initiate or increase sweat ... which in turn cools you down.  But Gary thinks this only works in dry environments.


----------



## davidharmier60

We did in fact deliver a couch. Dueling banjos were heard. But I got some gas money out of it.

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----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> On a hot day a hot drink will either initiate or increase sweat ... which in turn cools you down.  But Gary thinks this only works in dry environments.



I can’t imagine that I could sweat any further when I’m hot.


----------



## snowbear

MLW gets migraines from strobes / blinking lights and even the blink effect of the sun through trees while were driving.

Well, the ID _was_ delivered to lazy_lobster; USPS just didn't update the online status.  We had already cancelled the flight, so now they come in on Friday (ATM card was compromised so they have to get a new one from the Credit Union - has to be done in person)..


----------



## Tony744

Latest forecast is predicting 10 to 15 inches. A trip to Fiji is sounding good about now...maybe until May.


----------



## SquarePeg

We are right inside the red dotted line, just north of Boston.  Expecting 12-18".  School is already canceled for tomorrow for most of the area including Boston.  

We're all stocked up on the essentials.  

Milk, eggs, bread - check!
Emergency supply of chocolate - check!
Movies downloaded to iPad - check! 
Book I've been wanting to read (actual book not ebook) - check! 
All devices charged and ready - check!  
Back up battery packs charged - check!  
Flashlights and lanterns with new batteries - check!
Neighborhood kid signed up to clear the snow tomorrow - check!
Vodka and girl scout cookies - check!


----------



## Tony744

I'm only slightly better. I'm sittin' just outside the 495 going towards Fitchburg. Still in the 12-18 band, but at least clear of the potential blizzard conditions.


----------



## smoke665

All I can say is I'm glad I don't live in snow country. Course in about a month when tornado season starts I might welcome the snow


----------



## Tony744

I used to do runs through the Midwest during tornado season, I'll stick with the snow.


----------



## snowbear

And it starts - I had some rain sprinkles on the way home.  We're supposed to get rain-snow mix, but any snow will be gone quickly as it isn't supposed to get that cold.


----------



## Gary A.

It is 72F presently.  A lovely day with a bit of wind, a bit of sunshine with a bit of cloud gracing the sky. The rescheduled meeting changed Gary’s day ... so Mary Lou and Gary lunchoned at a delightful little restaurant with an enticing patio complete with a large Koi pond.  We sat next to the pond and made silent wishes while tossing coins.

We’re home relaxing on the recliners with Miss Maggie between us. Mary Lou is looking up a movie to stream and Gary has poured/pumped a couple of Russian Vineyard Pinot Noirs.  Cheers!


----------



## davidharmier60

We are hoping the oven cooperates and gets the pork chops baked and not scorched. I think corn on the cob is part of dimner tonight as well. Yummy!

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----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> All I can say is I'm glad I don't live in snow country. Course in about a month when tornado season starts I might welcome the snow



The majority of the time, the snow is a pain in the butt but harmless.  It snows, we deal with it, it eventually melts...  Power outages are the biggest issue.  But snow doesn't destroy the way a tornado or a mudslide or a hurricane or an earthquake does.  The recent nor'easter that caused the flooding and damage along the coast was not snow and those type of storms are very infrequent here.


----------



## Gary A.

Nice glasses.


----------



## snowbear

Tonight's dish - stuffed peppers.  Of course, the ground beef was still frozen, so I had to work on getting it divided; we bought three pounds - one for peppers, two for chili.  Wrist strain aside, I browned the beef and gutted the peppers, while MLW get's the rice, tomatoes, and final cooking.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> It is 72F presently.  A lovely day with a bit of wind, a bit of sunshine with a bit of cloud gracing the sky. The rescheduled meeting changed Gary’s day ... so Mary Lou and Gary lunchoned at a delightful little restaurant with an enticing patio complete with a large Koi pond.  We sat next to the pond and made silent wishes while tossing coins.
> 
> We’re home relaxing on the recliners with Miss Maggie between us. Mary Lou is looking up a movie to stream and Gary has poured/pumped a couple of Russian Vineyard Pinot Noirs.  Cheers!


Man, time to put on some Barry White and get busy with some afternoon delight...


----------



## davidharmier60

Golly but I love corn on the cob! But it sure gives my teeth fits....

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----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> We are right inside the red dotted line, just north of Boston. Expecting 12-18". School is already canceled for tomorrow for most of the area including Boston.



It hadn't dawned on me till I turned on the news this evening. Today marks the 25th anniversary of our "Blizzard of 93".  For us it was a combination of things that created the perfect storm a Category 3 Hurricane meets extreme cold front. 24 hrs later we had anywhere from 14-16" of snow, the temperatures plunged and the wind howled. The pine trees breaking sounded like gun shots. Power was out everywhere, couldn't go anywhere because of drifts up to 4 ft covering the roads. We closed off everything but the family room, and used the fireplace for heat. Cooked on and heated water for bathing on a kerosene stove.  The kids thought it was a great adventure, but after 7 days we were thankful the power came back on.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> We're all stocked up on the essentials.
> 
> Milk, eggs, bread - check!
> Emergency supply of chocolate - check!
> Movies downloaded to iPad - check!
> Book I've been wanting to read (actual book not ebook) - check!
> All devices charged and ready - check!
> Back up battery packs charged - check!
> Flashlights and lanterns with new batteries - check!
> Neighborhood kid signed up to clear the snow tomorrow - check!
> Vodka and girl scout cookies - check!



A woman with her priorities straight! 

(Of course the practical stuff, but the standouts are the vodka and the kid to clean the snow  )


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> We are right inside the red dotted line, just north of Boston.  Expecting 12-18".  School is already canceled for tomorrow for most of the area including Boston.
> 
> We're all stocked up on the essentials.
> 
> Milk, eggs, bread - check!
> Emergency supply of chocolate - check!
> Movies downloaded to iPad - check!
> Book I've been wanting to read (actual book not ebook) - check!
> All devices charged and ready - check!
> Back up battery packs charged - check!
> Flashlights and lanterns with new batteries - check!
> Neighborhood kid signed up to clear the snow tomorrow - check!
> Vodka and girl scout cookies - check!


67 degrees and sunny - check!


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> 67 degrees and sunny - check!



Where's the flip off emoji?


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 67 degrees and sunny - check!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Where's the flip off emoji?
Click to expand...

Well... if it's any consolation, it's down to 63 and it's a bit overcast now...


----------



## davidharmier60

62 in our little town going down to 43 at 4am and back up to 60 something by afternoon. And only 40% humidity. 
It's a lot like heaven!

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----------



## Gary A.

Good news here ... Mary Lou discovered a Praying Mantis egg pod which is hatching.





The Mantis are about 1/16th of an inch or so in length.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Good news here ... Mary Lou discovered a Praying Mantis egg pod which is hatching.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Mantis are about 1/16th of an inch or so in length.



OH HAI!


----------



## minicoop1985

Hey Hosers. It's a balmy cold as tits here right now in Appleton. Should be warming up this week. Yay! Spring for real!


The GX680 came. If you haven't seen, it came in broken. I managed to fix it and get it operational, but I shouldn't have had to in the first place... wasn't packaged overly well and USPS is OH SO careful with stuff...

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----------



## SquarePeg

Bummer that my package that was due by 8pm today did not arrive.  I was hoping to get it before the storm.  Now I probably won’t see it until Thursday at the earliest.


----------



## RowdyRay

Some of you might have to reverse those numbers. 34 or 36. Normal temps around here.


----------



## SquarePeg

It has begun.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> It has begun.



Indeed. The NWS bumped up their amounts for us this morning. We are also just on the edge of the 12-18 inch zone. Usually, I love a big snow storm. But it’s March, and we’ve missed 6 days of school already. If we’re out again tomorrow, which forecasts like this typically lead to, that’ll be 7. Ugh.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> It has begun.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Indeed. The NWS bumped up their amounts for us this morning. We are also just on the edge of the 12-18 inch zone. Usually, I love a big snow storm. But it’s March, and we’ve missed 6 days of school already. If we’re out again tomorrow, which forecasts like this typically lead to, that’ll be 7. Ugh.
Click to expand...


Not sure if I mentioned this before... our city now has “blizzard packs “ that the kids are required to do during a snow day so they will not have to add any additional days to the end of the year.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> It has begun.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Indeed. The NWS bumped up their amounts for us this morning. We are also just on the edge of the 12-18 inch zone. Usually, I love a big snow storm. But it’s March, and we’ve missed 6 days of school already. If we’re out again tomorrow, which forecasts like this typically lead to, that’ll be 7. Ugh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not sure if I mentioned this before... our city now has “blizzard packs “ that the kids are required to do during a snow day so they will not have to add any additional days to the end of the year.
Click to expand...


You did...it doesn’t look like the CT State DOE would allow something like that. MA has some pretty stringent requirements for it, too. I checked out the DOE page for it.

I’d love it if we didn’t cancel school for borderline forecasts. We have a wind day, three snow days, a rain day, and a cloud day. We easily could have attended school on the rain and cloud days, haha. And the wind day? Well, my school is the only one in the district without a full back-up generator for power outages.


----------



## waday

We got about an inch of snow, none of which stuck to the roads. Woohoo!

I'm ready for winter, and this week, to be over!


----------



## SquarePeg

Surprise surprise my package just arrived.  I didn’t think I’d see it until after the storm!  I had spent my new gear budget by the middle of January and thought I was going to have to be good the rest of the year but then I sold the Nikon 105 and found a bargain on a used Fuji 90 f/2.   The Facebook buy/sell groups are definitely worth a look if anyone is shopping for used gear.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> It has begun.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Indeed. The NWS bumped up their amounts for us this morning. We are also just on the edge of the 12-18 inch zone. Usually, I love a big snow storm. But it’s March, and we’ve missed 6 days of school already. If we’re out again tomorrow, which forecasts like this typically lead to, that’ll be 7. Ugh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not sure if I mentioned this before... our city now has “blizzard packs “ that the kids are required to do during a snow day so they will not have to add any additional days to the end of the year.
Click to expand...

When we get a day off from school, we would go surfing.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Guess who had to drive to work today?


----------



## Gary A.

Some of that N'oreastener is blowing over this a way. A couple days ago we had rain, real rain, enough to overflow Gary's rain barrels.  Rain and snow is forecast again for next week.  We can use some rain, but it was supposed to come in Winter.  Gary is getting eaten up by all the pollens. Gary doesn't sleep well and the pollen are making it impossible.


----------



## davidharmier60

4 hours and 4 minutes under a half today.
That makes the 6 hours and 4 minutes yesterday useful. Just had biscuits and sausage and gravy at the deli. Going to talk to Trish about my box of pennies and a few other things. Hit the PO Box and the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh and it's a chamber of commerce type of day out there. White puffy clouds and upper 50s and low humidity. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> When we get a day off from school, we would go surfing.



I doubt Surfer Gary and his totally rad friends got many snow days.



limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Guess who had to drive to work today?



You're kidding?  They have pretty much closed MA for the day today.  Not much is open, not even Dunkin Donuts!  Only plows on the roads and lots of trees and power lines down.  We're holding steady here but it is getting close to white out conditions.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Guess who had to drive to work today?


Alfred E. Neuman?


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> When we get a day off from school, we would go surfing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I doubt Surfer Gary and his totally rad friends got many snow days.
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> Guess who had to drive to work today?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You're kidding?  They have pretty much closed MA for the day today.  Not much is open, not even Dunkin Donuts!  Only plows on the roads and lots of trees and power lines down.  We're holding steady here but it is getting close to white out conditions.
Click to expand...

Actually, my oldest daughter took surfing as a class at her high school.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> When we get a day off from school, we would go surfing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I doubt Surfer Gary and his totally rad friends got many snow days.
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> Guess who had to drive to work today?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You're kidding?  They have pretty much closed MA for the day today.  Not much is open, not even Dunkin Donuts!  Only plows on the roads and lots of trees and power lines down.  We're holding steady here but it is getting close to white out conditions.
Click to expand...

Gary hopes you have plenty of bread, eggs, milk and vodka to get through the storm.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Surprise surprise my package just arrived.  I didn’t think I’d see it until after the storm!  I had spent my new gear budget by the middle of January and thought I was going to have to be good the rest of the year but then I sold the Nikon 105 and found a bargain on a used Fuji 90 f/2.   The Facebook buy/sell groups are definitely worth a look if anyone is shopping for used gear.
> 
> View attachment 155031


That's cool. Must let us know what you think of it.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Guess who had to drive to work today?


eek!    How long will it be before they tell everyone to make a run for it?   

This one is supposed to be a real snow-maker, without the crazy high winds (according to national reports I saw).    Fingers crossed that no one loses power, and vodka and Girl Scout cookies make it a better event.


----------



## Gary A.

Vodka and Girl Scout cookies make every event better.


----------



## limr

Well, to be honest, I was kinda bitching about it in the morning, but even though the snow was sticking to everything (and I mean everything - it was even partially covering the bulbs on traffic lights!), it wasn't really sticking too much on the roads. It was hovering right around 32F (now it's warmer - around 35F or so) and it was snowing steadily but not that hard. Really small flakes. This meant that all the salt they have been dumping on the roads keeps them essentially wet with only some slushy parts here and there. So the drive in was really not a big deal.

And it's not even snowing anymore. Not for real. We've got a few intermittent spats left, but basically I think we're done with it here.

This one just didn't hit us the way the last two did. Of course, there seems to be one in the works for next week, so there's still the potential for another snow day for me


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Guess who had to drive to work today?


Me.  MLW took the week off to recover from the time change.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Well, to be honest, I was kinda bitching about it in the morning, but even though the snow was sticking to everything (and I mean everything - it was even partially covering the bulbs on traffic lights!), it wasn't really sticking too much on the roads. It was hovering right around 32F (now it's warmer - around 35F or so) and it was snowing steadily but not that hard. Really small flakes. This meant that all the salt they have been dumping on the roads keeps them essentially wet with only some slushy parts here and there. So the drive in was really not a big deal.
> 
> And it's not even snowing anymore. Not for real. We've got a few intermittent spats left, but basically I think we're done with it here.
> 
> This one just didn't hit us the way the last two did. Of course, there seems to be one in the works for next week, so there's still the potential for another snow day for me


Ran into rain on the way home, yesterday.  It was snowing about 8:00 last night, but nothing sticking.  This morning I had to scrape some frozen rain drops off of the windshield, but that was all.  All bets are off this weekend.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> Guess who had to drive to work today?
> 
> 
> 
> eek!    How long will it be before they tell everyone to make a run for it?
> 
> This one is supposed to be a real snow-maker, without the crazy high winds (according to national reports I saw).    Fingers crossed that no one loses power, and vodka and Girl Scout cookies make it a better event.
Click to expand...



Or a Kahlua cake.


----------



## davidharmier60

Probably of no interest but no mail at either place. Not even a speck. Odd.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> Probably of no interest but no mail at either place. Not even a speck. Odd.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


They're holding onto it until they get enough that mailboxes will overflow.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> When we get a day off from school, we would go surfing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I doubt Surfer Gary and his totally rad friends got many snow days.
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> Guess who had to drive to work today?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You're kidding?  They have pretty much closed MA for the day today.  Not much is open, not even Dunkin Donuts!  Only plows on the roads and lots of trees and power lines down.  We're holding steady here but it is getting close to white out conditions.
Click to expand...


Yeah, Boston is getting pounded by the storm this year.


----------



## JonA_CT

I think we have somewhere around 7-8 inches here. A couple miles further north and a couple hundred feet of elevation higher, one of my co-workers is reporting 16 inches. It’s a true nor’easter when you have to dump the ruler for a tape measure or a yard stick.


----------



## Gary A.

Rain is expected in San Diego starting around 8:00p.m. Consequently, the drive back from San Diego will be entirely in the rain.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I think we have somewhere around 7-8 inches here. A couple miles further north and a couple hundred feet of elevation higher, one of my co-workers is reporting 16 inches. It’s a true nor’easter when you have to dump the ruler for a tape measure or a yard stick.


Precipitation will increase with elevation up to 16,000' ... IIRC.


----------



## JonA_CT

I lied. We have 12 inches. Maybe the fluffiest snow I’ve ever seen.


----------



## Tony744

We have at least a foot now. Wasn't snowing too heavily all morning, then about lunch time it really kicked in. Left work early because we could no longer keep the parking lot clear, snow was piling up faster than we could keep up with it.


----------



## ClickAddict

We're expecting about another 18 inches here between tonight and tomorrow.  That's on top of the few feet we still have in our yards.  Will have to clear the yard before going to work and then again when I get back.


----------



## Tony744

Ugh! was just watching the news, there's a band of heavy snow just lingering above this part of the state.


----------



## davidharmier60

Meanwhile in East Texas we are having a most beautiful and comfortable day. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Well, we're pretty much done with the storm. I can see a few patches of blue in the sky from my office window. Seems like this general area got anywhere from 2 to 5 inches, depending on which town. I understand that other areas are getting pummeled, but for us, this didn't really count as a real Nor'easter.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## JonA_CT

I need to take a new avatar pic, and your new one reminded me.


----------



## limr

I'll happily take snow over what's coming.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I'll happily take snow over what's coming.


Which level though? 

Made me think of this comic:


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I'll happily take snow over what's coming.




. . . as "Summertime Blues" (The Who's cover) belts out on my iTunes!


----------



## Gary A.

What's snow again?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Smart ass. 

It was snowy white outside, then half the yard melted and I heard dripping. Then it snowed again, in big clumps coming down to beat the band. Now the sun came out - this is strange even for March, usually it's cold rain not clumps of white rain-snow! 

Was watching paralympic sledge (or sled) hockey, pretty good but sort of like women's international hockey where not that many countries must have a development program in hockey and the teams aren't all yet at the same competitive level; so the score is pretty lopsided. 

Curling's coming on, OK! USA v. Canada, but they're showing highlights and coming into the 8th end (of 10)... I guess I'll take what I can get.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## SquarePeg

Seriously though I prefer Fall to all others then Spring, then Summer then................................winter.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary sorta like them all ... but then again, by East Coast and Midwest standards, there's not much change here.  But most likely Gary prefers  winter, because bluer skies, better clouds, easy driving to snow (when Gary want's snow) and significantly less tourists and slightly easier parking.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


>



Well, of course people who just sit outside in a pile of snow are going to be cold. Duh.

I'll take snow Any.Day. over headaches, bugs, sweating, bloating, itching, avoiding loud crowds of people who insist on being outside, wanting to vomit if I walk faster than a crawl, hiding from the sun so as not to literally burn my flesh, and praying for no power outages knocking out the air conditioning.


----------



## Derrel

It was gorgeous here all across the Pacific Northwest! Record high temps for the date in Seattle (73?), Bellingham, Everett, Washington, and very balmy and sunny in Oregon, not even a breeze, blue skies, and a high temp here of around 71 degrees....today? 52 degrees and steady rain!


----------



## limr

And as I leave work, the sun is bright and a lot of snow is already melting. I pulled into the parking lot and nothing was plowed. Had to guess where the lines were (I guessed well and was perfectly centered in the spot!) They surely plowed some over the course of the day, but even the snow below my car has totally melted. Looking around, you would never guess what it looked like this morning.


----------



## davidharmier60

It is approximately 67 degrees on the back porch.  Humidity is low. I can't see a cloud out there. If only I could afford to go down to IAH and shot some aircraft. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> What's snow again?


East coast mud slides.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Was watching paralympic sledge (or sled) hockey, pretty good but sort of like women's international hockey where not that many countries must have a development program in hockey and the teams aren't all yet at the same competitive level; so the score is pretty lopsided.


Former fire-boss (the one retiring) has a daughter (maybe 10 or 11 years old) that plays in a league.  They went to championships last couple of years.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The sled hockey was pretty darn good. They're talking about wanting it to be more part of the Olympics rather than separate events a couple of weeks later, I hope they can work toward that. 

It snows, then the sun comes out, then it snows, then the sun comes out... supposed to do this all evening (without the sun coming out part) whatever time that will be! I feel like it's way earlier than the clocks say, being this bright at 7pm when it's this cold and snowy. This time change is way too early in the year.


----------



## JonA_CT

I have 62 report card comments to write between now and 3:30 tomorrow. Creativity is starting to dwindle.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I have 62 report card comments to write between now and 3:30 tomorrow. Creativity is starting to dwindle.



Princess’s school uses preset comments.  They’re very generic. Which is worse?  When in doubt on a feisty kid go with “is a good self advocate”.


----------



## Tony744

I'm exhausted. Took just over 3 hours to clear off the cars and clean up the driveway. Measured the depth in several parts of the yard came up with an average of 17 inches.


----------



## limr

Tony744 said:


> I'm exhausted. Took just over 3 hours to clear off the cars and clean up the driveway. Measured the depth in several parts of the yard came up with an average of 17 inches.



That was us last week. Well, except I didn't have to clean cars, what with the garage and all.


----------



## Tony744

We had one last week as well. I'm ready for spring. Hard to hike out to scenic spots when everything is covered in snow and ice.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have 62 report card comments to write between now and 3:30 tomorrow. Creativity is starting to dwindle.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Princess’s school uses preset comments.  They’re very generic. Which is worse?  When in doubt on a feisty kid go with “is a good self advocate”.
Click to expand...


Oh, some teachers do that. I just can't do that myself. The kids specifically mention that they know that I'll take the time to write them a personal comment. Sometimes, they appreciate it, and sometimes they wish I'd save my candor, haha. 

It does get challenging though. Powerschool tells parents a lot, especially because I typically add comments on individual assignments when kids tank it. Sometimes I wonder what else to say for my really high fliers or for my kids who fail.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> I have 62 report card comments to write between now and 3:30 tomorrow. Creativity is starting to dwindle.



you need to learn to work smarter Jon. LOL Buy you a half dozen with different text, mix them up.


----------



## JonA_CT

A sample from Sunday's shoot. I need to do a bunch of post on most of them, so it's going to take awhile. It was windy AF, and about 42 degrees. I didn't get much time at any single location.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have 62 report card comments to write between now and 3:30 tomorrow. Creativity is starting to dwindle.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> you need to learn to work smarter Jon. LOL Buy you a half dozen with different text, mix them up.
> 
> View attachment 155045
Click to expand...


I have few assignments that even get GRADED on paper, much less written comments on report cards, haha. Google Classroom and Powerschool are beautiful things.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have 62 report card comments to write between now and 3:30 tomorrow. Creativity is starting to dwindle.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> you need to learn to work smarter Jon. LOL Buy you a half dozen with different text, mix them up.
> 
> View attachment 155045
Click to expand...


Like this one?

https://www.amazon.com/Self-Inking-Novelty-Message-Stamp-WTF/dp/B009SRERX2


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have 62 report card comments to write between now and 3:30 tomorrow. Creativity is starting to dwindle.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> you need to learn to work smarter Jon. LOL Buy you a half dozen with different text, mix them up.
> 
> View attachment 155045
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Like this one?
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Self-Inking-Novelty-Message-Stamp-WTF/dp/B009SRERX2
Click to expand...


True story...we had a teacher in my old district who essentially got fired (there were other circumstances too, but this was what started them down THAT path) because he couldn't stop writing comments like that on papers. I guess he graded in red sharpie, and used to write "THIS IS TERRIBLE" and "DON'T DO DRUGS" and other things in block red letters across pages. Surprisingly, this didn't meet the requirements for appropriate feedback to students, haha.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> ...and used to write "THIS IS TERRIBLE" and "DON'T DO DRUGS" and other things in block red letters across pages. Surprisingly, this didn't meet the requirements for appropriate feedback to students, haha.


So they weren't terrible?


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have 62 report card comments to write between now and 3:30 tomorrow. Creativity is starting to dwindle.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> you need to learn to work smarter Jon. LOL Buy you a half dozen with different text, mix them up.
> 
> View attachment 155045
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Like this one?
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Self-Inking-Novelty-Message-Stamp-WTF/dp/B009SRERX2
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> True story...we had a teacher in my old district who essentially got fired (there were other circumstances too, but this was what started them down THAT path) because he couldn't stop writing comments like that on papers. I guess he graded in red sharpie, and used to write "THIS IS TERRIBLE" and "DON'T DO DRUGS" and other things in block red letters across pages. Surprisingly, this didn't meet the requirements for appropriate feedback to students, haha.
Click to expand...


Yeah, that's really no bueno.

I will confess that I do, in fact, own the WTF stamp. I will never use it on a paper that goes back to a student. There have been times, however, when I got frustrated enough to print out a second copy of the paper, stamp WTF all over it, and write the comments that I wish I could write. Then I throw that away, go back to the copy that will get handed back to the student, and write more...oblique feedback


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have 62 report card comments to write between now and 3:30 tomorrow. Creativity is starting to dwindle.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> you need to learn to work smarter Jon. LOL Buy you a half dozen with different text, mix them up.
> 
> View attachment 155045
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Like this one?
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Self-Inking-Novelty-Message-Stamp-WTF/dp/B009SRERX2
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> True story...we had a teacher in my old district who essentially got fired (there were other circumstances too, but this was what started them down THAT path) because he couldn't stop writing comments like that on papers. I guess he graded in red sharpie, and used to write "THIS IS TERRIBLE" and "DON'T DO DRUGS" and other things in block red letters across pages. Surprisingly, this didn't meet the requirements for appropriate feedback to students, haha.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, that's really no bueno.
> 
> I will confess that I do, in fact, own the WTF stamp. I will never use it on a paper that I goes back to a student. There have been times, however, when I got frustrated enough to print out a second copy of the paper, stamp WTF all over it, and write the comments that I wish I could write. Then I throw that away, go back to the copy that will get handed back to the student, and write more...oblique feedback
Click to expand...


Oh yeah.

When I was regularly teaching CC classes, there would be papers every time that I'd just forgo a grade and comments on, and I'd just write "Please see me" at the top. It saved me a bunch of time because only the people who were motivated were willing to have the conversation, and I was happy to spend time helping them. No reason to waste time or ink on the people who didn't regularly attend class or who only showed up on paper turn-in day.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> like that on papers. I guess he graded in red sharpie, and used to write "THIS IS TERRIBLE" and "DON'T DO DRUGS" and other things in block red letters across pages. Surprisingly, this didn't meet the requirements for appropriate feedback to students, haha



I had an English lit professor that did that. Didn't really care because he told us that he graded based on what row you were sitting in that first day. A at the front B then C Then D and those in back might as well leave. It was a small class, I needed the elective and I happened to be in the second row, because everyone filled up the back first. Scored a B and didn't do squat.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> like that on papers. I guess he graded in red sharpie, and used to write "THIS IS TERRIBLE" and "DON'T DO DRUGS" and other things in block red letters across pages. Surprisingly, this didn't meet the requirements for appropriate feedback to students, haha
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had an English lit professor that did that. Didn't really care because he told us that he graded based on what row you were sitting in that first day. A at the front B then C Then D and those in back might as well leave. It was a small class, I needed the elective and I happened to be in the second row, because everyone filled up the back first. Scored a B and didn't do squat.
Click to expand...


Ha! That'd have been a raw deal for me. I'm tall and large, so as a courtesy to others, I typically sit in the back of classrooms as a student. I was an active participant from the back row, though.


----------



## JonA_CT

The snow that fell after clean up last night melted slightly and then froze aggressively to everything in sight. I’m ready for April.


----------



## ClickAddict

Well our city is shut down today for the most part.  I had about 2 feet in my walkway, and parts of the driveway were higher than the snow blower, but part of that is due to wind drifts.  I'd say we probably got between a foot / foot and a half overnight.  But more falling today. another 20-30cm  (7-12 inches).  Wife and I still had to get to work.  Great thing is practically nobody else on the roads as police are advising people to stay home if possible.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary returned home last night from San Diego around 10:00 p.m.  A very pleasant trip.  A light rain in San Diego and light traffic for most of the four hour round trip made traveling uneventful but easy driving. Mary Lou and Gary stopped in Solana Beach, an artsy type community, about 40 minutes north of San Diego. Always a fun stop. Presently it is 54F but should reach 65F today.  There is a layer of wet on the roadways and lawns, a reminder of yesterday precipitation.  In Solana Beach we purchased two books on succulents and a cookbook. Mary Lou loves succulents.  Gary appreciates them also and as 2/3rds of the front is under succulent cultivation ... there is no mowing!  The cookbook covers recipes from the "Grand Central Market" an interesting institution in downtown LA. Gary also picked up an odd vase which is about a foot long composed of numerous smaller vases all connected together. Mary Lou thought it would be great for keeping cut herbs readily available in the kitchen. Hey, hey, hey ... A wedge of yellow has splashed across the front porch.

Here comes the sun, doo, doo, doo, doo, here comes the sun, and I say It's all right.


----------



## jcdeboever

My teachers used to write, JC how do manage to get all A's on your tests, turn in all your assignments, and your hardly ever in class? The teachers called me Casper in high school.


----------



## ceemac

Well, it's finally warming up. Last few days have been sunny and +10C. Snow's melting quickly, but I got stuck at the bottom of the driveway. 6" of compact snow turned to 6" slush. Fortunately it didn't freeze last  night or the car would have become part of the landscape.  Now we're getting our first rain in 5 months. Feels weird.
My sympathies to all of you in the east.


----------



## Gary A.

Ran into some ‘E’ wine yesterday during our travels.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Should I ask? (E for... Everybody grab a glass??)

It's gray today and kind of like waiting for the other shoe to drop to see what comes out of the sky today. 

Gary if you do anymore singing in the sunshine............... 
we might all come out there!


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Gary if you do anymore singing in the sunshine...............
> we might all come out there!



(Not all of us...shhhh.....)


----------



## vintagesnaps

It was an idle threat anyway, I like it here with the gray cold gloom... 

The noon weather forecast was that tomorrow it will be normal. Okaaay, is that any different than today??


----------



## davidharmier60

Another beautiful day in East Texas. 
Wasn't my Friday after all. The other guy has quit. I'll be back on Monday through Saturday. 5.75 hours today. Went to the second bank in town and got a box.
Went to our bank for wrappers. Have fooled around and about to get my check. 
Have a good day y'all. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have 62 report card comments to write between now and 3:30 tomorrow. Creativity is starting to dwindle.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Princess’s school uses preset comments.  They’re very generic. Which is worse?  When in doubt on a feisty kid go with “is a good self advocate”.
Click to expand...

"Independent and determined" (stubborn) was always my favorite.


----------



## Tony744

JonA_CT said:


> The snow that fell after clean up last night melted slightly and then froze aggressively to everything in sight. I’m ready for April.



Had the same issue here, had to pry the door open to get into my truck this morning.


----------



## davidharmier60

Back a ways we had to pry car/truck doors open. Very strange for East Texas...


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> (E for... Everybody grab a glass??)



Or it comes after "D" LOL


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> (E for... Everybody grab a glass??)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Or it comes after "D" LOL
Click to expand...


And I suppose " D " is for " Drunk "?


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 155075



That should be my office cup


----------



## davidharmier60

I should have been working 6 days all along. An 18mp Nikon showed up on Facebook and then a Canon T3I showed.
Back to the grindstone in 27 minutes or so 


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## terri

Tony744 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> The snow that fell after clean up last night melted slightly and then froze aggressively to everything in sight. I’m ready for April.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Had the same issue here, had to pry the door open to get into my truck this morning.
Click to expand...

We used to pour tepid water over the door and handle.  Dissolved the ice with no struggling.


----------



## waday

Ok, I know it's Thursday, but I still want it to be Friday at like 4:50 PM right now....



terri said:


> tepid


Tepid is nice word, but kinda tinny...


----------



## ceemac

Tony744 said:


> Had the same issue here, had to pry the door open to get into my truck this morning.



Almost as bad as pulling into a gas station and the fuel door is frozen shut!


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 155075
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That should be my office cup
Click to expand...

Next time Gary is in Solana Beach he'll pick one up for you.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.


----------



## davidharmier60

4 hours and 5 minutes today. 
I've come home to get Dad because I was under the impression that he wanted to go.
But he doesn't so I'm fixin to go.

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----------



## ClickAddict

Well they predicted 40cms between Tuesday night and Wednesday.  Had a few more inches to blow out of the yard this morning.  Didn't feel like we had as much as expected.  Really hard to tell as the wind blew it around to 2-3 feet tall drifts in some places and practically bare in others.  But apparently we hit 45 cms (roughly 18 inches) over the 2 days.  Decent sized storm for past middle of March, but thing record breaking.  Weeeknd looking warm again.  This has been an odd up/down winter.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 155083
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.


All that coffee.... so... you were in paradise?


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 155075


I have to stick with coffee;  I got called into the boss' office ("shut the door, please") the last time I was more creative with someone's response to my problem.

Making a map for the retiring Deputy Fire Chief.


----------



## vintagesnaps

3 goals in 46 seconds - now that's some scoring! It's the 1st period of the paralympic hockey game - Go USA! 

And, it's sunny. That too shall pass, and we'll get back to normal - cold, rain, gray, flurries - it's a wonderland of surprises every day.

I'm not a sarcastic smartass or anything.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It sounds like they're playing real organ music. I miss that at hockey games. 


Or maybe it's just recorded, but I'll delude myself that it's real for awhile.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary was lounging by the pond sipping some bubbly water with lime, enjoying the sunshine and reading. He noticed the papyrus needed a bit of work. Gary started trimming but ended up just pulling the thing.


----------



## davidharmier60

I made the delivery. They said the pressure washer wasn't heating. It ran clean for a few seconds telling me the fuel filter was plugged mostly up. I waited while they went to get one and by golly that made things right. I went and sat at the IAH viewing area. But the wind was all wrong and the airport wasn't very busy at the time. So no good aircraft pictures. 
Been looking at pennies. Now going to watch season 4 episode 7 of Hill Street Blues on YouTube. 

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## Gary A.

Gary refilled the back Hummingbird feeder.  About this time of year hummers become pigs.  On her way home Mary Lou stopped by an Argentine place and came back with tamales and empanadas.  The empanadas are very good ... the tamales are small and odd.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary cleaned out the bottom half of his vermiculture box, the liquid faction. Buckets of stinky brown sludge which the plants gobble up and often thank Gary with a loving belch.  There was a population explosion of worms in the top half of the box. Gary grabbed handfuls and handfuls of his wiggly friends and dropped them in the composters and around the yard. This was a good day for plants and the liberation of Red worms.  Vive le vers!


----------



## davidharmier60

In the midst of Hot Dogs for dinner. 
I think Sarge must have died because of a different Sarge.

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## smoke665

Beautiful day here. Sun was shining and warm enough to be out without a jacket.  I was able to get the 4 wheeler out, cruise the woods and mark some pine for thinning/cutting. Had a lot more than I thought, for the first round. Hate to do it as these are some large beautiful pine, but size and the ever present threat of pine beetles, makes it time for them to go. Most of the larger mills, won't take anything this large, but fortunately I found a specialty mill that will. My neighbor cut off some really large pine of 36" or better at the trunk, that had to go to the chip mill. Such a waste of timber.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> Beautiful day here. Sun was shining and warm enough to be out without a jacket.  I was able to get the 4 wheeler out, cruise the woods and mark some pine for thinning/cutting. Had a lot more than I thought, for the first round. Hate to do it as these are some large beautiful pine, but size and the ever present threat of pine beetles, makes it time for them to go. Most of the larger mills, won't take anything this large, but fortunately I found a specialty mill that will. My neighbor cut off some really large pine of 36" or better at the trunk, that had to go to the chip mill. Such a waste of timber.



Is it expensive to freight stuff like that? 

...does it need to be seasoned? I know a couple of guys who are looking for a decent sized like that for a (brewery) bar.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Is it expensive to freight stuff like that?



Since this is just a thinning operation, I'm using a small operator with a couple of chain saws. They'll cut and haul for a portion of the revenue. If we were clear cutting, they'd bring in the big stuff. Because of the amount of timber in the state, there are a lot of mills within a short distance.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Beautiful day here. Sun was shining and warm enough to be out without a jacket.  I was able to get the 4 wheeler out, cruise the woods and mark some pine for thinning/cutting. Had a lot more than I thought, for the first round. Hate to do it as these are some large beautiful pine, but size and the ever present threat of pine beetles, makes it time for them to go. Most of the larger mills, won't take anything this large, but fortunately I found a specialty mill that will. My neighbor cut off some really large pine of 36" or better at the trunk, that had to go to the chip mill. Such a waste of timber.


Alaska mill?


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> Alaska mill?



Nope. I say this is a small mill (small in comparison to some), it's still a good size operation. He has a large band saw capable of handling 16' long logs, up to about 4' in diameter. The large mills are all computerized, but because of that the logs they bring in have to fall within a certain tolerance, less than 24" diameter at the butt.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Alaska mill?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope. I say this is a small mill (small in comparison to some), it's still a good size operation. He has a large band saw capable of handling 16' long logs, up to about 4' in diameter. The large mills are all computerized, but because of that the logs they bring in have to fall within a certain tolerance, less than 24" diameter at the butt.
Click to expand...

Buy your own Alaska Mill... hours of fun!


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> Buy your own Alaska Mill... hours of fun!



Not enough Advil in the world to get me to do that!


----------



## Gary A.

In February we did get some sleet.


 

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It's 49F and should hit 60F today.  Yesterday was just a lovely day around 70F, but things are cooling off. The sun is out lighting up the front porch, but some of that East Coast crud is cooling us off.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buy your own Alaska Mill... hours of fun!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not enough Advil in the world to get me to do that!
Click to expand...

But.... then you can actually justify plaid shirts!


----------



## JonA_CT

Got sucked down the YouTube wormhole this afternoon during my prep period. It's an unusual occurrence these days, but alas...I had a relatively quiet day.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Miss Maggie and Gary have returned from SPCALA Magical Manners class. Maggie is easily distracted by the other dogs adding food another level of difficulty to the lessons.  But all-in-all, she did well. The class isn’t so much about teaching as it is about giving the participants the tools to teach the lessons at home.  Maggie ran out of focus at about minute 50 and simply laid down for the final minutes. The class completely wore her out as she is now napping next to Gary as he keyboards away. 

It is cold today.  The morning sunshine has rolled back by a layer thick gray clouds.  Rain is projected for the evening.  Very odd weather for here.  Rain is a winter thing and not a spring thing. Gary isn’t complaining as the rain is needed and welcomed. Just that it is quite odd coming this late in the season.


----------



## ceemac

A pet supply chain sponsored puppy classes. On day 3 I had to walk our puppy lab through the store, past the isles of toys, past the isles of dog food and through the kitten dept. We flunked the course.


----------



## RowdyRay

ceemac said:


> A pet supply chain sponsored puppy classes. On day 3 I had to walk our puppy lab through the store, past the isles of toys, past the isles of dog food and through the kitten dept. We flunked the course.



NO puppy is going to pass that.


----------



## smoke665

Sadie Mae is so laid back, does great in stores and around other dogs. Our previous Britt, Millie, that was a different story, we got to the point that we didn't think she slept. Instead we believed she used that time to think of new ways to get into trouble.


----------



## smoke665

When Millie was still under a year old, I decided to enter her in an AKC Puppy show. I trained and trained until I felt like she could do it, but the day of the show when we got to the ring, she wouldn't cooperate, like a wild child. A professional trainer seeing my frustration, tried to help by giving me a handful of freeze dried liver. Wrong, freeze dried crack cocaine would have been a more apt description. She went from wild to bouncing off the walls trying to get the liver out of my hand.  In a moment of complete stupidity I shoved the liver treats in my pants pocket. In case you've never had a freeze dried liver crazed dog trying to tear your pants pocket open I can tell you it isn't pleasant. Finally just gave her all of them.  I was having so much problem with her, the judges put me last in the line up. As we prepared to make our circle around the ring, I thought all was well as she was standing quietly. I only averted my gaze for a moment but it was all it took.  As we started to walk she suddenly lunged forward cold nosing the dog in front of her, which caused a chain reaction all the way around the ring, much to the amusement of the audience. Despite all the troubles, she won a best in breed (she was the only Brit), and a 3rd place in show (if I promised not to come back).


----------



## davidharmier60

I couldn't get in here for the last couple of days. Yesterday Dad and I went down by Hobby Airport to get raw materials for my Uncle to make soap so we can take a full 55 gallon drum next week. 
Yesterday was 4 hours and 5 minutes.
Today was 4 hours and 3.5 minutes. 
It looks positively dreary outside.
Going to check the PO Box and the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Oh, I shot some pictures of some Turkey Buzzards. Someday I'll get a computer so I can share pics.

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## ceemac

Some labrador site said you could train a lab to ring a bell when she needed to go out to pee.


----------



## Gary A.

ceemac said:


> Some labrador site said you could train a lab to ring a bell when she needed to go out to pee.View attachment 155187


What do they do when they have to go #2?


----------



## SquarePeg

My aunts dogs use a bell when they need to go out.  We tried it with our dog but he never rang the bell on his own.


----------



## vintagesnaps

How about some St. Patrick's Day tunes (which do not include dogs ringing bells).


----------



## limr

St. Patrick, bah! It's Saint Gertrude's Day!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Of course, how silly of me not to think of that! Hmm, she wouldn't then be patron of the Rats...


----------



## vintagesnaps

More Irish bands. (Selective color... and nothing like a good mullet!)


----------



## waday




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## limr




----------



## jcdeboever




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## jcdeboever




----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


>



Good song and all, but um...they're Scottish


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good song and all, but um...they're Scottish
Click to expand...

Ooooopssssss


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has doggie doors for Miss Maggie.  She comes and goes as she pleases.


----------



## vintagesnaps

We need some green beer! 

Watching these makes me feel like it's the '80s. Which reminds me of having food coloring leftover from a St. Patrick's Day party, so in the summer when we had a cookout we put some in the baked beans, and they turned into aqua beans.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> What do they do when they have to go #2?



They toot a little horn? 

Sadie Mae, will come and sit in front of me and give a low ruff. If I don't respond at first she repeats louder each time until I get up and take her.

_Gary has doggie doors for Miss Maggie. She comes and goes as she pleases. 
_
That wouldn't work for us as there are to many "other" critters that might come and go as they please in the woods.


----------



## davidharmier60

We are sort of "In the country " but we have a doggie door in back. So far so good...


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## davidharmier60

Good night and have a wonderful tomorrow. 

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## davidharmier60

Scrambled eggs,  little sizzlers and toast.
Yum.

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## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Last night Mary Lou and Gary attended a fundraiser dinner hosted by a couple of former Whittier College professors. Normally, no big deal, but the honored guest and cook was Ahmad Salameh, the chef from the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. Above was the menu. Everything was delicious and different than the usual fare of our usual meals. A delightful evening and wonderful meal shared by 20+ other guests.

During the morning, Gary packed up his knives and apron and helped in the preparations. In the evening he took a few photos.

Bob, the homeowner where the event occurred is quite the wine lover. We had some discussions on wine and he shared a Pinot Noir from Oregon. Gary returned the favor by bringing a Zin from Temecula. Bob fancies himself the photographer and showed Gary numerous prints. He wasn’t very good.


----------



## terri

Sounds delicious and fun.

Who was the Oregon pinot producer?   Someone from Willamette Valley?


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 155221.


Izzat written in English?


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Sounds delicious and fun.
> 
> Who was the Oregon pinot producer?   Someone from Willamette Valley?


Yes, Gary doesn't remember the vintner.  Bob did bring out a Mayo Zin to compare to the Lorenzi Zin.  Both were different but different good and quite comparable.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 155221.
> 
> 
> 
> Izzat written in English?
Click to expand...

No burgers at the King David,


----------



## davidharmier60

Far too hi falootin for me....
I had left over spaghetti for dinner last night. With a fine Coolaid Pink Lemonade to drink....

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## jcdeboever

I preached at the prison this morning. What a wonderful morning. The men were very receptive and asked great questions after. I spoke street today. I related my experience on the street and how I moved forward. I connected. They knew I was speaking from experience. I was only interested in lifting them up and edifying them. I was in a level 4 prison this day. I think I prefer this chapel over the others. These men were looking for something. What a great day!


----------



## tirediron

jcdeboever said:


> I preached at the prison this morning. What a wonderful morning. The men were very receptive and asked great questions after. I spoke street today. I related my experience on the street and how I moved forward. I connected. They knew I was speaking from experience. I was only interested in lifting them up and edifying them. I was in a level 4 prison this day. I think I prefer this chapel over the others. These men were looking for something. What a great day!


Sounds like a great thing you did; what is a "Level 4" prison?


----------



## davidharmier60

Agree. Sounds like you done Good!


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----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I preached at the prison this morning. What a wonderful morning. The men were very receptive and asked great questions after. I spoke street today. I related my experience on the street and how I moved forward. I connected. They knew I was speaking from experience. I was only interested in lifting them up and edifying them. I was in a level 4 prison this day. I think I prefer this chapel over the others. These men were looking for something. What a great day!
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like a great thing you did; what is a "Level 4" prison?
Click to expand...

Michigan has level 1 through 5.

Level four prisons have between one and three yard times depending on the prison. More prisoners have jobs, which range from working in the kitchen, yard crew, maintenance, various clerks and house unit porters (janitors). Those without jobs are either waiting to be assigned one, or are attending school to get their GED. A large percentage of prisoners do not have a high school diploma. 

Level four prisons often have more violence than lower levels because those that catch fighting and assault tickets (i.e., those with higher assault risk) are sent to a level four as part of their custody management. The ratio of corrections officers to prisoners is much higher in level four prisons as well. Shake-downs are common as are lock-downs due to fights. Level four prisons have limited programming available, basically restricted to some required classes. Housing is generally limited to two man cells, but single cells are available in select prisons.


My experience....
These men are looking for answers and direction. They love being lifted up. I never talk negative, only positive message. Of course, there are strict rules that must be followed and individual council is strictly prohibited. 

The Praise and Worship is amazing. Such talented men making beautiful music with a 70's keyboard, drum, and base. 6 vocalist with drummer, keyboard, and base player adding in. Amazing harmonic excellence.

The prison Chaplin decides which volunteer preaches at what level. I assume they watch and listen. I was promoted this weekend and I was shocked. My leader was shocked too. Very few get to serve level 4.

Man, I reviewed this and it appears I am bragging. I am not. I am just so excited, blessed, to be doing this. This is my calling.


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> We are sort of "In the country "



When I say "in the woods" we are really in the woods. Little over a 1/2 mile off the road, plus we are surrounded on three sides by more woods, and a swamp. LOL We've had as many as a dozen or so deer grazing in the yards, wild turkeys strut around,  armadillos, raccoons, and bobcats. I've yet to see a rattlesnake, but the copperheads and pine snakes are plentiful. Every so often a black bear will make it's appearance, and then there are two mountain lions and a panther that include us in their territory. Lastly there's a Bald Eagle nest across the valley from us in the bluffs.


----------



## davidharmier60

I've seen deer in the back yard. A water moccasin is not unheard of. 
But we don't hold a candle to you Smoke!

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----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> I've seen deer in the back yard. A water moccasin is not unheard of.
> But we don't hold a candle to you Smoke!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Surprisingly I have never seen a moccasin on this place, even in the swamp. At our old house on the lake, we saw them every so often.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Man, I reviewed this and it appears I am bragging. I am not. I am just so excited, blessed, to be doing this. This is my calling.



It's not bragging to be excited and passionate about doing something for others.


----------



## Gary A.

A lovely day, sunny but cool.  Mary Lou is still under the weather so we stayed home and watched Roman Israel, Esq. It is about a savant type of attorney.  Denzel gets a five star ... the movie four stars. Mike, my early morning walking bud, is off to Oakland to be with his first granddaughter.  During his travels, Gary and Mary Lou will be taking of Max, his Goldie. Gary just finished trimming and mowing the yards and the house looks a bit more civilized ... at least on the outside.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> A lovely day, sunny but cool.  Mary Lou is still under the weather so we stayed home and watched Roman Israel, Esq. It is about a savant type of attorney.  Denzel gets a five star ... the movie four stars. Mike, my early morning walking bud, is off to Oakland to be with his first granddaughter.  During his travels, Gary and Mary Lou will be taking of Max, his Goldie. Gary just finished trimming and mowing the yards and the house looks a bit more civilized ... at least on the outside.


The wife and I watched that. I thought it was good. She fell asleep in my lap


----------



## davidharmier60

Jury summons tomorrow. Have a good night and a better tomorrow!

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----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> A lovely day, sunny but cool.  Mary Lou is still under the weather so we stayed home and watched Roman Israel, Esq. It is about a savant type of attorney.  Denzel gets a five star ... the movie four stars. Mike, my early morning walking bud, is off to Oakland to be with his first granddaughter.  During his travels, Gary and Mary Lou will be taking of Max, his Goldie. Gary just finished trimming and mowing the yards and the house looks a bit more civilized ... at least on the outside.
> 
> 
> 
> The wife and I watched that. I thought it was good. She fell asleep in my lap
Click to expand...

Mary Lou like it more than Gary.  She says she really likes court drama stuff.


----------



## SquarePeg

Watching "Snatched" with Goldie Hawn and Amy Schumer.  Some lol moments so far but also some weird and gross scenes as well.


----------



## davidharmier60

Alive working on awake. 
Got a pretty good mug with which to try and become human. 

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----------



## compur

SquarePeg said:


> ... but also some weird and gross scenes as well.



I pretty much stopped watching Hollywood movies some years ago due to the ever-increasing weird/gross/disgusting/violent content, not the mention the obvious pushing of various ideas and politics. It's not really just entertainment anymore, IMO. And, the "comedies" are also just not funny. Or at least not funny enough to make me want to sit through the rest.


----------



## JonA_CT

They're whispering about more snow later in the week. That stupid rodent in Pennsylvania has had his six weeks. It's time to make groundhog burritos if this continues.


----------



## SquarePeg

compur said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... but also some weird and gross scenes as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I pretty much stopped watching Hollywood movies some years ago due to the ever-increasing weird/gross/disgusting/violent content, not the mention the obvious pushing of various ideas and politics. It's not really just entertainment anymore, IMO. And, the "comedies" are also just not funny. Or at least not funny enough to make me want to sit through the rest.
Click to expand...


Enjoy your bubble.


----------



## compur

SquarePeg said:


> Enjoy your bubble.



Enjoy yours.


----------



## smoke665

compur said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... but also some weird and gross scenes as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I pretty much stopped watching Hollywood movies some years ago due to the ever-increasing weird/gross/disgusting/violent content, not the mention the obvious pushing of various ideas and politics. It's not really just entertainment anymore, IMO. And, the "comedies" are also just not funny. Or at least not funny enough to make me want to sit through the rest.
Click to expand...


I know the enlightened mentality doesn't agree with this, but I find most of what comes out of Hollywood now to be this way. I watch movies for the same reason I read a novel, to be entertained, to become immersed in another world. With 24/7 news channels blaring away, I don't care to pay to see a Hollywood version of a political or social commentary. If I want to form an opinion, I will do my research and form my own.  I realize there are certain situations in real life where language and conduct is crude and vulgar, I'm not a goody two shoes, but I try to avoid those people. That's not living in a bubble, that's making a choice to live my life on my terms, so why would I pay money to watch the very things I try to avoid in real life? Give me an old classic any day, with a good plot, and good acting.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> compur said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... but also some weird and gross scenes as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I pretty much stopped watching Hollywood movies some years ago due to the ever-increasing weird/gross/disgusting/violent content, not the mention the obvious pushing of various ideas and politics. It's not really just entertainment anymore, IMO. And, the "comedies" are also just not funny. Or at least not funny enough to make me want to sit through the rest.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I know the enlightened mentality doesn't agree with this, but I find most of what comes out of Hollywood now to be this way. I watch movies for the same reason I read a novel, to be entertained, to become immersed in another world. With 24/7 news channels blaring away, I don't care to pay to see a Hollywood version of a political or social commentary. If I want to form an opinion, I will do my research and form my own.  I realize there are certain situations in real life where language and conduct is crude and vulgar, I'm not a goody two shoes, but I try to avoid those people. That's not living in a bubble, that's making a choice to live my life on my terms, so why would I pay money to watch the very things I try to avoid in real life? Give me an old classic any day, with a good plot, and good acting.
Click to expand...

Yep!  99% of what I watch by choice is black & white.  Bogie & Bacall, baby!


----------



## waday

How did we get from movies to politics so quickly?

If you don't like a movie, don't go see it? Isn't that what a trailer is for--to preview the movie before going to see it? There are plenty of movies that I do not go see, because they do not interest me. It has nothing to do with politics.

At the large scale, yes, movies seem to be getting more watered-down. But, then look into independent films? People are still making good stuff, but if you close your eyes, you won't see them.

Times change, interests change. Generations come and go. What once was, no longer is. Welcome to the world.


----------



## smoke665

@waday I think you misread my post I didn't jump to politics. I said I don't pay to see the Hollywood version of political or social commentary. And, I didn't stop seeing new releases, im just very selective. There are many that have nothing to do with either that I also don't go to. Call me old fashion, but I don't get a thrill seeing semi naked bodies in make believe copulation that generally adds nothing to the story line, I also don't find it entertaining for male or female actors to be dropping the F bomb or worse every other word, or the need to force extreme realism in blood/gore scenes.

The world has been chnaging for thousands of years. There is a mistaken belief that if the world changes to something different than your beliefs that you just have to accept it and follow the crowd. I chooe like many before me to not accept those changes that go against  my personal beliefs. One thing ive learned in my time here is that change is always occuring,, sometimes good sometimes bad


----------



## waday

@smoke665 , I was responding to the last few posts, not necessarily just yours. I'm the same way; I'm very selective in what I choose to go see. I also tend to read reviews about movies and even TV shows before watching them.

I totally agree that, in some instances, nudity/cursing/gore/action are completely contrived. But, I figure these scenes (and possibly movies) are then not directed at me or my demographic. And, in some instances, nudity/cursing/gore/action are actually helpful in the movie.

Other times, all I want is a mindless movie--like _John Wick_. Yeah, there's no character development, and it's all about a man's revenge against 



Spoiler



a spoiled brat that killed his dog and stole his car.


 But, I knew that going into the movie; I wasn't expecting anything outside of pure action.

If a movie is not directed at me, I don't see it. I do understand that you don't always get this full understanding through previews alone.

One example for myself: while I tolerate and will watch superhero movies, I don't seek them out and would likely not pay for them unless I was going with someone else. What I generally dislike is that the damage done to the Earth through fighting the bad guy is probably worse than just having the bad guy take over the world. The amount of destruction is just ridiculous. Superman Part 1: fight the bad guy, cause billions of dollars worth of damage, kill thousands of civilians/bystanders. Superman Part 2: be the real super guy, clean up my own path of destruction, and go into deep depression for killing so many people.

With respect to "Hollywood version of political or social commentary", people watching the movies consist of all backgrounds, religions, races, sexes, and ages. I personally think that Hollywood needs to be more inclusive than it already is, and I think it's moving that way. I'm happy to see more people of different backgrounds, sexes, and races winning awards, writing scripts, and directing movies than they have previously.

I agree, no one has to change with the world; it's up to you whether you want to or not. Good for you for standing up for what you believe in and not changing.

Can I ask you a question? What are you choosing not to accept because of your personal beliefs?


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> Can I ask you a question? What are you choosing not to accept because of your personal beliefs?



I think my previous post pretty much covered that. I'm not a prude to the point of rejecting a movie because it had a cuss word, nudity or blood. It's the extent of the use and how it relates to the plot,  when they get overused it takes away from the story line and gets old fast.


----------



## Gary A.

This is Gary's code(s):

Gary watches movies from Hollywood and beyond.  He enjoys documentaries and SiFi, Westerns and musicals, indies, foreign and Hollywood.  He doesn't give a rat's where the movie is from as long as it delivers enjoyment or revelation or enlightenment or a combo of the three.  He doesn't generalize movies by location or genre. Gary gets his news from radio, local Tv news, cable news and newspapers. Gary doesn't generalize about news either. He doesn't let electronic news or printed news affect his movie choices.

As to changes, while Gary is slowing down with his commitments to bettering the world  ... Gary believes that there are ethics and morality and infinite shades right and wrong. Gary also believes that very few things are black or white, right or wrong and that one has to open and receptive to new/other sides of stories and choices. Gary has/will fight for change which he believes is positive and fight against change which he feels is bad. Gary believes that only accepting movies or news or change from a pre-accepted source and nothing else, is significantly narrowing and limiting the possibilities of good change and plays into the hands of bad change, and at a minimum supports the status quo ... and Gary feels that there always room for improvement in ourselves and the world.

... why and what you do is why and what you do.

PS- Using violence or foul language as a measurement to personally censor movies ... he is okay with.  (Not that what Gary thinks makes any difference, but there it is ... opinions are like armpits, we all have them and they all stink.)


----------



## Gary A.

PPS- Gary doesn't watch many war movies, regardless of origin or message.  He isn't anti-war movie, it is just said genre isn't for him.

G.


----------



## compur

Looks like I touched a nerve. (I have a habit of doing that.  )



waday said:


> If you don't like a movie, don't go see it?



I don't.



> At the large scale, yes, movies seem to be getting more watered-down. But, then look into independent films? People are still making good stuff ...



This may come as a shock but what _you _think is good stuff may not be what others think and vice versa.



> Times change, interests change. Generations come and go. What once was, no longer is. Welcome to the world.



Thank you for welcoming me however I think I've probably been in this world a lot longer than you have so your welcome seems a bit inappropriate.

I also worked in Hollywood (its lower rungs admittedly) for 20 years and I think I know a little about how it ticks.

In any case I believe I do have the right to like or dislike movies. I think I even have the right to express my opinion about my likes and dislikes, no?

I didn't say that anyone should think a certain way about movies. I only said what *I* think about them.

Perhaps if you didn't see so many recent movies you would be less intolerant of others expressing their  opinions about them.


----------



## davidharmier60

In the meantime...
What would you have if you wiped out half the lawyers... A good start.
Defense attorneys for the most part are SMARMY!
I didn't get chosen for the first jury.
But when we go back in after lunch another jury will be selected. 

Haven't seen a movie in a theater in better than 10 years. I get most of my entertainment from YouTube. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Slow ride, folks...take it easy.


----------



## compur

I've had contact with lawyers 3 or 4 times in my life and they all helped me and none of them charged me a cent.


----------



## waday

compur said:


> Looks like I touched a nerve. (I have a habit of doing that.  )


My nerves are ok. What makes you think they're not? I mean, aside from being tired with an infant and with a full-time job. Getting woken up multiple times a night still, so hopefully baby will sleep longer through the night.



compur said:


> I don't.


Good! Stand up for what you believe in.



compur said:


> This may come as a shock but what _you _think is good stuff may not be what others think and vice versa.


It doesn't come as a shock, because that was pretty much the point of my post. Thanks for agreeing with me.



compur said:


> Thank you for welcoming me however I think I've probably been in this world a lot longer than you have so your welcome seems a bit inappropriate.
> 
> I also worked in Hollywood (its lower rungs admittedly) for 20 years and I think I know a little about how it ticks.
> 
> In any case I believe I do have the right to like or dislike movies. I think I even have the right to express my opinion about my likes and dislikes, no?


Never said you didn't have that right.



compur said:


> I didn't say that anyone should think a certain way about movies. I only said what *I* think about them.
> 
> Perhaps if you didn't see so many recent movies you would be less intolerant of others expressing their  opinions about them.


Actually, I haven't seen too many recent movies. Before Black Panther (my wife took me, but I actually did end up enjoying it, because they didn't destroy half the world), I cannot remember the last time I saw a movie in a theater. I did see Coco, which is also pretty recent, but saw that at home on TV.

Interestingly, both of these movies are actually about being tolerant of others and their beliefs.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> He enjoys documentaries and SiFi, Westerns and musicals, indies, foreign and Hollywood. He doesn't give a rat's where the movie is from as long as it delivers enjoyment or revelation or enlightenment or a combo of the three.



I'd add crime drama and history to the above. I guess everyone assumes all movies come from Hollywood, but you're right not all do.

Again it's not so much the language in a film, but how and why it's used. Is it really necessary to further the story line, or is it for shock to cover up a less than stellar script. One of my all time favorite westerns the 1953 "Shane". From that movie the final confrontation between Shane and Wilson:

*Shane*: I've heard about you.
*Wilson*: And what've you heard, Shane?
*Shane*: I've heard that you're a low-down Yankee liar.
*Wilson*: Prove it.​Can you really believe that the dialog could be improved by dropping a couple of "F" bombs or worse in this scene.

Or what of the scene from "The Godfather" when Jack Woltz  wakes up to find the head of his prize horse in bed with him. Yeah it was bloody, but you didn't see them showing in full living close up color the removal of the horses head, with blood splattering everywhere, because they knew it didn't add squat, it wasn't about the blood and gore it was the shock to Woltz, the fact that the Corleones meant business. The bad thing about blood and gore is that it becomes boring after the shock factor wears off. Look at any of B horror films, they're almost comedic in their gore.

What about Tom Hanks in "Cast Away", would him being naked on the island have added anything?? How many actually found themselves thinking of Wilson as real, and felt sorrow when he was lost at sea? Good movies don't need shock and awe.


As to actors and their "commentaries", I get irritated that so many seem to think their opinions are somehow more superior than the average Joe.  They forget that the studios only goal is to make money, as long as people pay to see the movies they put out, those actors will continue to make exorbitant amounts of money. Want to see change in Hollywood, watch what happens when a movie flops at the box office.



​


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Actually, I haven't seen too many recent movies. Before Black Panther (my wife took me, but I actually did end up enjoying it, because they didn't destroy half the world), I cannot remember the last time I saw a movie in a theater. I did see Coco, which is also pretty recent, but saw that at home on TV.
> 
> Interestingly, both of these movies are actually about being tolerant of others and their beliefs.



I saw BP about 2 weeks ago.  I liked it - but then again I like almost all the Marvel movies.  I don't mind the earth wrecking since it's just a movie.  I do find the DC Comics movies to be much more "real" when it comes to violence.  Not real looking because they CGI seems to be used more obviously in those, but more real in the sense that people die gruesomely and the fights are more brutal than exciting.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, I haven't seen too many recent movies. Before Black Panther (my wife took me, but I actually did end up enjoying it, because they didn't destroy half the world), I cannot remember the last time I saw a movie in a theater. I did see Coco, which is also pretty recent, but saw that at home on TV.
> 
> Interestingly, both of these movies are actually about being tolerant of others and their beliefs.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I saw BP about 2 weeks ago.  I liked it - but then again I like almost all the Marvel movies.  I don't mind the earth wrecking since it's just a movie.  I do find the DC Comics movies to be much more "real" when it comes to violence.  Not real looking because they CGI seems to be used more obviously in those, but more real in the sense that people die gruesomely and the fights are more brutal than exciting.
Click to expand...

Very true. I really liked how BP used a "team effort" (not that there aren't teams in other superhero movies). Hmm. Maybe I just need to get out and see more superhero movies.

I know, it's just a movie, but sometimes, if they don't follow their own logic, it's annoying. And, I'm like that with any movie or TV show that doesn't follow their own logic. Just yesterday, the wife and I were watching an episode of Doctor Who where the moon was an egg that was about to hatch. Because the creature had been growing over millions/billions of years, it got the point where it was so dense it was creating huge tides on the ocean. Yet, when the creature hatched and flew away, the Doctor and companions were standing on a beach and the tides were not impacted by a creature that was now flying away in space. How? If they hadn't introduced the tides problem in the first place, fine, but to introduce it and then ignore it. 

Also, it had wings and was using the wings to propel itself... in the vacuum of space. Ugh.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Did some people get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? I guess have a good evening and a better tomorrow. I overslept so am not getting done what I wanted to get done so far today. Stayed up too late. I blame Silent Sundays on TCM. Now those are some good movies! 

They're saying snow here too, and this time actual possible accumulation, not just a wintry mix of flurries, rain, or whatever it turns out to be with the temperature hovering. That's mostly all we've had, except one day it was snowing like crazy then it all melted in no time. 

I haven't seen a groundhog lately but have had one dart across the backyard and duck under the neighbor's fence. Trying to hide because it messed up the spring prediction??


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Did some people get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? I guess have a good evening and a better tomorrow. I overslept so am not getting done what I wanted to get done so far today. Stayed up too late. I blame Silent Sundays on TCM. Now those are some good movies!



I like TCM.


----------



## smoke665

Well the season officially changed today. Had to get out the mower and do some trimming.  Fortunately it was still in the breaking out stage so mowing consisted more in "getting everything even", than actual mowing.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Also, it had wings and was using the wings to propel itself... in the vacuum of space. Ugh.



nerd


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, I haven't seen too many recent movies. Before Black Panther (my wife took me, but I actually did end up enjoying it, because they didn't destroy half the world), I cannot remember the last time I saw a movie in a theater. I did see Coco, which is also pretty recent, but saw that at home on TV.
> 
> Interestingly, both of these movies are actually about being tolerant of others and their beliefs.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I saw BP about 2 weeks ago.  I liked it - but then again I like almost all the Marvel movies.  I don't mind the earth wrecking since it's just a movie.  I do find the DC Comics movies to be much more "real" when it comes to violence.  Not real looking because they CGI seems to be used more obviously in those, but more real in the sense that people die gruesomely and the fights are more brutal than exciting.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Very true. I really liked how BP used a "team effort" (not that there aren't teams in other superhero movies). Hmm. Maybe I just need to get out and see more superhero movies.
> 
> I know, it's just a movie, but sometimes, if they don't follow their own logic, it's annoying. And, I'm like that with any movie or TV show that doesn't follow their own logic. Just yesterday, the wife and I were watching an episode of Doctor Who where the moon was an egg that was about to hatch. Because the creature had been growing over millions/billions of years, it got the point where it was so dense it was creating huge tides on the ocean. Yet, when the creature hatched and flew away, the Doctor and companions were standing on a beach and the tides were not impacted by a creature that was now flying away in space. How? If they hadn't introduced the tides problem in the first place, fine, but to introduce it and then ignore it.
> 
> Also, it had wings and was using the wings to propel itself... in the vacuum of space. Ugh.
Click to expand...

Wings beating in space would have bugged the hell out of Gary also.  I cringe when a spaceship blows up in space and you can hear it in another spaceship.  If Gary was in his T-65 X-Wing Starfighter, he couldn't hear any crumbling superstructure sounds as he strafed the Death Star.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Maybe the the creature was pumping its wings to generate gas which it expels from the back in order to propel it forward.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Well the season officially changed today. Had to get out the mower and do some trimming.  Fortunately it was still in the breaking out stage so mowing consisted more in "getting everything even", than actual mowing.


Gary mowed and trimmed yesterday.  Real mowing.  Today Gary cleaned out the pond skimmer ... real skimmer cleaning.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary mowed and trimmed yesterday. Real mowing



You do realize that touch up for me means only mowing a couple of acres?


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary mowed and trimmed yesterday. Real mowing
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You do realize that touch up for me means only mowing a couple of acres?
Click to expand...

Hey, you’re just driving ... Gary is pushing.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> PS- Maybe the the creature was pumping its wings to generate gas which it expels from the back in order to propel it forward.


It’s Doctor Who, so that’s entirely plausible, LOL


----------



## Gary A.

Years ago Gary had an operation. The surgeon’s last name was Hu. When Gary first met her he said “So you’re Dr. Hu ...”. She just smiled.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Years ago Gary had an operation. The surgeon’s last name was Hu. When Gary first met her he said “So you’re Dr. Hu ...”. She just smiled.



So did she play first base on the weekends??


----------



## davidharmier60

Sloppy Joes on toast. 
I've had better dinners but have also had worse. With a nice Coolaid to accompany it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Years ago Gary had an operation. The surgeon’s last name was Hu. When Gary first met her he said “So you’re Dr. Hu ...”. She just smiled.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So did she play first base on the weekends??
Click to expand...

Lol ... Hu’s on first.


----------



## Tony744

JonA_CT said:


> They're whispering about more snow later in the week. That stupid rodent in Pennsylvania has had his six weeks. It's time to make groundhog burritos if this continues.



I'll bring the meat grinder.


----------



## smoke665

The north has their spring snow, and we have our spring winds. 3 tornadoes have touched down already this evening, to the north and west of us. So far they haven't done any serious damage (roofs, signs, etc.) but the evening is young, and we're entering the prime time of the day. Lots of hail, some up to baseball size. And now another one about 50 miles west  of us has spun up, which hopefully will skirt off to the north of us. Only good thing is the front is moving fast upwards of 50 mph so hopefully by 9 pm it will have blown through.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> The north has their spring snow, and we have our spring winds. 3 tornadoes have touched down already this evening, to the north and west of us. So far they haven't done any serious damage (roofs, signs, etc.) but the evening is young, and we're entering the prime time of the day. Lots of hail, some up to baseball size. And now another one about 50 miles west  of us has spun up, which hopefully will skirt off to the north of us. Only good thing is the front is moving fast upwards of 50 mph so hopefully by 9 pm it will have blown through.



Stay safe, my friend. I figured you were going to be in the crosshairs tonight. 

Did you guys build a shelter as part of your house? It was so strange to walk into Home Depot where my in-laws live and to be able to buy tornado shelters off the floor.


----------



## Tony744

I remember delivering a truck load of them to a residential development years ago.


----------



## davidharmier60

After a terrible thunder boomer last night today was another nice one in East Texas. 
I wish you all a good night and a pleasant tomorrow. I shall awaken at 4am tomorrow. And Wednesday and Thursday and so on.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Did you guys build a shelter as part of your house? It was so strange to walk into Home Depot where my in-laws live and to be able to buy tornado shelters off the floor.



We have a safe room in the basement, but that's not necessarily safe. Couple years ago, people were trapped in their shelters when houses collapsed on them. If the storms track as the radar shows, it will skirt just to the north.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did you guys build a shelter as part of your house? It was so strange to walk into Home Depot where my in-laws live and to be able to buy tornado shelters off the floor.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We have a safe room in the basement, but that's not necessarily safe. Couple years ago, people were trapped in their shelters when houses collapsed on them. If the storms track as the radar shows, it will skirt just to the north.
Click to expand...


I get cranky about snow, but at last I have general expectation of what is coming on Wednesday today. With tornadoes, there still isn't much notice. 

I've only ever seen one in the flesh once. I visiting my grandparents in Minnesota, and we were able to watch it across about a mile of cornfield. Seeing the aftermath the next day made me happy to live in New England.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> I've only ever seen one in the flesh once.



Seen so many, I've lost count. Interesting that you mention MN, because I actually saw one coming down the Mississippi at Minneapolis one time. I was in the middle of the old bridge, and the idiots in front and behind me were stopping to watch it. Biggest one I've seen was the one a few years ago that hit Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and South Gadsden. Lots of damage, first responders ran out of ambulances and were hauling the injured to ER in the backs of Pickups. From our deck we watched it track about 5 miles south of us. We had all kinds of debris falling in the yard. Found picture, bills, checks, money from people 100 miles away that finally floated down.


----------



## smoke665

Dang just showed the Nissan Dealer lot in Cullman, AL. Looks like someone took a baseball bat to all those new cars. They were reporting hail up to 4" diameter. We had a little hail here a few minutes ago but fortunately just small

Cullman County under flash flood warning until 1:30 a.m.

The hail reports are unreal Alabama storms latest updates: Damage reported, baseball-sized hail; Are the storms done?

And it appears that the worst of it, went south and north of us.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning peeps. 
No hail around here.
Not much humidity even.
But if you don't like the weather in Texas 
Wait a minute and it'll change 


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Dang just showed the Nissan Dealer lot in Cullman, AL. Looks like someone took a baseball bat to all those new cars. They were reporting hail up to 4" diameter. We had a little hail here a few minutes ago but fortunately just small
> 
> Cullman County under flash flood warning until 1:30 a.m.
> 
> The hail reports are unreal Alabama storms latest updates: Damage reported, baseball-sized hail; Are the storms done?
> 
> And it appears that the worst of it, went south and north of us.



Glad your safe smoke. I remember the body shops being smokin busy after hail storms. If I lived out that way, I'd have a shelter outside, underground.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Glad your safe smoke. I remember the body shops being smokin busy after hail storms. If I lived out that way, I'd have a shelter outside, underground.



I'm beginning to think our terrain is a natural barrier. We are on an elevated ridge in the middle of a valley. It's roughly 900 ft to valley floor on the sides. The valley runs due north south and is bordered on each side by mountain ridges roughly 1200' elevation. As our storms track from the south and west, the outer ridges seem to divert any tornados on the ground. We've had a couple small ones get inside but they've still tracked up the valley floor on either side. One thing ive learned over the years though is you never know for sure which way they are going as they pickup and touchdown at will at different spots

As to repairs on some the new cars, They're pretty much totalled. The hail pulverized them,


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever think these will buff out?  couple off FB this morning




 

Check out the mirror hanging on the drivers side. Surprised by several that it knocked the mirrors completely off.


----------



## SquarePeg

We were caught in what they called a "microburst" in PA once - to me, I thought we were hit by the edges of a tornado!  Princess (10 at the time) and I were with my nephew and sister-in-law.  We were driving from Hershey to Lancaster in the middle of the day and we suddenly saw this black line of clouds coming up fast from behind.  Unfortunately we were between exits and could not get off the highway in time.  When it was on us it was very scary.  First it got dark as night and then it rained so hard that I could not see the lights of the car that was 2 feet in front of mine even with the wipers on full blast.   Everyone came to a full stop on the highway and we heard a couple of crashes but were basically stuck in the car blind to what was happening outside.  We could hear the wind screaming and the whole car was shaking.  Because of the tall trees along the side of the road and all the big trucks around us, I was terrified that something would fall on us but wasn't sure whether or not I should have the kids take off their seat belts and get on the floor or stay where they were buckled in the back.  Meanwhile I was trying to appear calm so the kids and my sister-in-law wouldn't panic.  Just when I was about to have us all get on the floor of the car it started to let up.  Within minutes the sun was out and traffic started crawling along.  There were several cars pulled to the side that had been in accidents and so much debris on the roads that it was a miracle more people weren't hurt.  When we eventually got to our destination I was sure we'd see on the news that it had been a tornado but no, they said it was "just" a micro burst storm - apparently there were several that day in the area.  

A few days later when we planned to drive home we saw that there were more storms coming up from the south expected to hit all along our route home.  No way was I driving in that for 7 hours!  We got the kids up at 3am and hit the road running.  I drove a steady 85 the whole day with only 1 very short pit stop when we hit NY and we stayed just ahead of the storms.  When we crossed over from RI into MA, the first drops of rain hit the car but we made it home before the worst of it.  I've driven in plenty of snow storms where visibility was terrible and roads were icy and slippery and I have to say give me snow over heavy rain and "mirco bursts" any time.  I'm much more cautious about our plans for road trips now and always check the weather before we set out anywhere.


----------



## JonA_CT

My wife found a really good AirBNB deal three blocks from the water in Virginia Beach. It's the Saturday-Wednesday of our spring break week, which is sort of weird. But we're thinking that maybe we'll catch a couple nights somewhere on the way back, depending on how the kids are doing away from home.

It won't be beach season there, but I think just being someplace else for a few days will be nice.

I'll also be taking a solo-ish trip to Colorado/Wyoming at some point in the next few months with the brewery boys. The company that is building the brew house is from out there, and we need to go for training.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> My wife found a really good AirBNB deal three blocks from the water in Virginia Beach. It's the Saturday-Wednesday of our spring break week, which is sort of weird. But we're thinking that maybe we'll catch a couple nights somewhere on the way back, depending on how the kids are doing away from home.
> 
> It won't be beach season there, but I think just being someplace else for a few days will be nice.
> 
> I'll also be taking a solo-ish trip to Colorado/Wyoming at some point in the next few months with the brewery boys. The company that is building the brew house is from out there, and we need to go for training.



I was hoping to head to FL for a few days but Princess has softball practice all week and being a Freshman and it's a new coach so she doesn't dare to miss any.  I hate when the teams have mandatory practices during school vacation weeks.  Hello???? vacation!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary sips his first taste of coffee.  It is dark and hot and flavorful. No snow or baseball hail or tornadoes down where Gary lives. Plenty of good coffee and wine though.   Every year we may get a water spout or two.  Just beyond the waves a mini hurricane will form.  Gary doesn't recall them making landfall. Nature attacks us with Santa Ana's, 50+ mph winds coming out of the deserts, in summer they're hot-hot and in winter they're cold-cold. If you're caught in a bad one while in the desert, it can strip the paint off the car or leave you driving blindly on the highways.  Earthquakes is the second disaster nature hits us with.  Gary been through all the big ones ... meh. Gotta be on a fault line in an older unreinforced brick building to be real scared. Otherwise meh ... might lose power for a day. Shortly after a big quake, Gary was coming south to LA from Santa Barbara, fortunately the freeway was barely moving, bumper to bumper due to quake damage to the freeway ... when an aftershock hit ... and Gary could see the freeway rolling up and down for miles, as if Mother Nature was straightening out her bedsheet. That one was scary ... that opened up Gary's eyes.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My wife found a really good AirBNB deal three blocks from the water in Virginia Beach. It's the Saturday-Wednesday of our spring break week, which is sort of weird. But we're thinking that maybe we'll catch a couple nights somewhere on the way back, depending on how the kids are doing away from home.
> 
> It won't be beach season there, but I think just being someplace else for a few days will be nice.
> 
> I'll also be taking a solo-ish trip to Colorado/Wyoming at some point in the next few months with the brewery boys. The company that is building the brew house is from out there, and we need to go for training.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was hoping to head to FL for a few days but Princess has softball practice all week and being a Freshman and it's a new coach so she doesn't dare to miss any.  I hate when the teams have mandatory practices during school vacation weeks.  Hello???? vacation!
Click to expand...


It's why I didn't go anywhere for break in high school either...well, maybe my junior and senior years? Our track team hosted a large meet usually on one of the weekends, too. By the time I was a senior , I just didn't care that much.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary could see the freeway rolling up and down for miles, as if Mother Nature was straightening out her bedsheet. That one was scary ..



I grew up on the New Madrid Fault line. I can remember when I was a teen seeing this one winter, only it was'nt a highway, it was the bare field next to the house. Weird feeling.


----------



## Gary A.

Mike, Max's human, is up in Oakland being a new grandfather.  Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary stepped up to take Max in during Mike's absence.  Mike is from Chicago.  We all share the same park three or four days a week and after our walk it isn't uncommon to also share coffee at Gary's place.  As the usual fare out here is sunshine with a nice ocean breeze, a few times during our walk or with coffee, Mike will look at all the colors in the park or the garden and give praise to day and to the Monet mixture of greens, reds and yellows.  Then Mike states that he'll be calling his brother in Chicago ... and rub it in.  As I get older and slowing down my pace, I notice and appreciate the weather much more now than in my youth. The weather is quite nice out here.


----------



## smoke665

As daylight dawns, damage reports are coming in. JSU a small university about 25 miles from us took a pretty serious hit. Roofs off dorms and apartments next to campus, coliseum and field house sustained considerable damage to roofs, cars tossed upside down, stores flattened around campus. Surprisingly despite the devastation their were no deaths, and only 3 injured. Thankful that school was out for spring break, or it could have been a different story.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary could see the freeway rolling up and down for miles, as if Mother Nature was straightening out her bedsheet. That one was scary ..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I grew up on the New Madrid Fault line. I can remember when I was a teen seeing this one winter, only it was'nt a highway, it was the bare field next to the house. Weird feeling.
Click to expand...

What is sorta odd but also sorta humbling is seeing the San Andreas Fault.  In Central California, between Highway 101 and the I5, is a stretch of  low rolling hills.  In the middle of the hills is a flat plain/shallow valley feature and in the middle of that shallow flat-bottomed valley there is a dark scare, a crack in the earth.  It isn't deep, it is sorta sealed off not opened like a canyon or arroyo, more like a surface crack in a window or glass, you can easily walk through and around and over that crack.  From the elevated highway at the southern end of the shallow valley, it is easily seen if you know what to look for, and it runs straight as an arrow, for miles and miles, as far as the eye can see. If you stare at crack and let it all soak in ... after a bit you'll realize how insignificant you are in the grand scheme of the Earth and how we are merely and provisionally sharing the Earth, the skies, the oceans ... the universe with everything else.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> As daylight dawns, damage reports are coming in. JSU a small university about 25 miles from us took a pretty serious hit. Roofs off dorms and apartments next to campus, coliseum and field house sustained considerable damage to roofs, cars tossed upside down, stores flattened around campus. Surprisingly despite the devastation their were no deaths, and only 3 injured. Thankful that school was out for spring break, or it could have been a different story.


Wow ... don't mess with Mother Nature. Gary is glad that you're okay.


----------



## davidharmier60

Nature can be a MOTHER....
4.5.2 hours today (four and a half plus a little over 2 minutes)
Weather here is windy and cool.
I will take all of this that nature will give!
Because sure as God made little green apples it will be 100 degrees and 80+ humidity soon enough. 
I called work and told Trish I'll have pennies starting tomorrow. She said I need them today. I said uh oh. She said it's ok tomorrow will be fine. Whew.
Have 5 more rolls in this box. See if I can get enough good copper pennies to make a roll.

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## terri

Whew!   As Smoke has been mentioning, the storm front that moved through the SE last night was wicked.   We had a major lightning show, in addition to the wind and rain - enough to wake us up a couple of times and keep the girls close by.        But I think Alabama caught the worst of it this time.    

It's partly sunny and mild here this morning.   We have some debris in the yard from the storm, nothing too bad.    I stood under our flowering cherry tree for a few minutes and closed my eyes to just listen to the honeybees.   They are very busy right now, and listening to them is quite a Zen experience.   

Ready or not, it's official now.   Happy first day of Spring, hosers!


----------



## Gary A.

Yes, Spring is finally here.  Everything is popping or beyond.  The grapes and pomegranate have little leaves, the citrus is overflowing with fruit, the avocados are ready for picking, the apple tree is full of blossoms and some fruit, the roses are budding, the herbs are herbing and Gary is back to mowing every week.


----------



## davidharmier60

If this is Spring I'll TAKE IT!
SO much better than what we call Summer!

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## vintagesnaps

I thought I heard it sprinkling a little last night, today's just gray, perfectly normal! lol even for the first day of spring. If we get the predicted 3-4 inches, that's not so normal! We have gotten snow at Easter but usually just a coating, not January style snow.


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## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Wow ... don't mess with Mother Nature. Gary is glad that you're okay.



Thanks, we were sweating it for a bit. You never know if they're over reacting or not. The weather and news was predicting widespread damage, schools were letting out early and businesses were closing. I haven't seen anything on the storm strength but I would assume that they'll rate the one at JSU a solid F1. F1 & F2 are typical for the area, lots of roof damage, signs down that kind of thing, and they are notorious for skipping (raise up and drop back down).

In 2011 we had the mother of all tornadoes an F4. The scale goes to F12 but they stop counting after F5 because there isn't anything but bare earth left. While the lessor ones tend to travel fast and skip along, an F4 is a lumbering giant with winds of a 190 mph that once it's down it goes for a long ways. This one started in Tuscaloosa and traveled parallel with I-59 to just north of Birmingham, where it veered to the other side of the interstate, and continued to just north of Gadsden, before it finally lifted up and dissipated, a meandering track of destruction almost 150 miles long.

A couple years before the storm, the local tv station in Birmingham had installed live feed cameras at different spots across the state. It was almost as if the tornado was sucking all the rain up, because the skies were clear. We sat mesmerized as we watched this giant slowly advancing in real time. You'd see it behind a building, then it would engulf the building, then all you saw was a foundation where the building once stood. Even concrete block buildings were no match for it. Can't remember all the details, but I think it killed over 60 people that day, and no telling how many injured.

One particular story I remember was a man and two small children in Birmingham that had taken shelter in one of the old claw foot bathtubs. Fortunately for them it was fastened down, because the tornado lifted the house and one of the children a 4 year old up and away. Miraculously the child was found a couple blocks away dazed and little bloody but otherwise fine. The Chief of one the rural departments SW of us, was a weather spotter, got a little to close. It picked him and his truck up and deposited them in the river. Fortunately he escaped. Sadly a man in one of the more expensive developments in Gadsden, knew the storm was coming, and elected to go to a church across the road from him, because it had a basement and his house didn't. The tornado missed his house by inches only causing minor damage, but destroyed the church. The debris fell into the basement and killed the man.

I think  the state set a record that day, all told there were 55 separate tornadoes that day in the state. You really didn't know which way to go!


----------



## davidharmier60

One Tornado (perhaps that Alabama one) destroyed a truck stop and a lot of trucks. 
A little one took down our power pole a couple months ago. 

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## davidharmier60

Actually it took down a tree which fell across the wire and that's what got our pole. The husband of one of the nicest people you could ever know fixed it the very next day for a quite reasonable price. 

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## vintagesnaps

On the news I'm in the darker blue blob on the map that's now showing 4-6" - in March?!?!! 

If I want to see something white and fluffy, how about a bunny??


----------



## JonA_CT

vintagesnaps said:


> On the news I'm in the darker blue blob on the map that's now showing 4-6" - in March?!?!!
> 
> If I want to see something white and fluffy, how about a bunny??



Please. We're in the burnt orange stripe that's forecasted for 8-12"+ tomorrow.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT The good news (if my math is right) it's only 93 days till the start of summer. Bad news is it's only 279 days till winter starts again.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> ....it's only 279 days till winter starts again.


  Well, that's without a doubt the single most depressing thing I've heard today!


----------



## davidharmier60

Good night and have a wonderful tomorrow. 

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## Gary A.

Gary had a nice day.  Gary wrapped up work early and a little after noon he put the top down, the volume up and headed down to Orange County Camera.  Gary hasn't been there in a long while.  They called him the other day and asked him to come on down, his presence was missed.  Gary had a nice time and some of his OC Camera buds showed up. The owner handed Gary a Leica M4 black paint.  It was very clean, not a scratch on it with a bit of brassing.  After messing with it a bit, Gary asked how much?  "$20,000", said the owner.  Why?  Because only 500 of those were made ... Gary gently put it down. It was 72F when Gary headed back north.  The freeway was backing up and was getting congested.  Gary dialed up some old Rock 'n Roll stuff ... Beatles, Beach Boys, even Buffalo Springfield. It was a good drive home.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


>



I WILL NOT!


----------



## Frank F.

You have not seen me in weeks, because I was working day & night.

Real estate development, Gary knows, can be quite demanding a task.

Look at this development:





*"My house in the middle of our street"*
I did aquire the neighbouring lot and can now build 500 sqm instead of 300 and 6 flats instead of 3 and 3 E-Carsharing-Spots instead of 0 and lots of bike parking and space to cater to the German cult of waste separation.





*"The secret back entry"*
so my site looks almost like a hortus conclusus now





*"The whole lot"* 
in all of its 270 sqm size, emptyness & beauty.





"*A tad of security for my neighbours"*


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## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> On the news I'm in the darker blue blob on the map that's now showing 4-6" - in March?!?!!
> 
> If I want to see something white and fluffy, how about a bunny??





JonA_CT said:


> Please. We're in the burnt orange stripe that's forecasted for 8-12"+ tomorrow.



We’re firmly in the 4-8” zone. Looks like it’s not predicted to start until after 7pm tonight. Maybe another snow day tomorrow. 

Jon you’re in the high risk for power outage area.  All of southern New England is.


----------



## davidharmier60

Looks like it will be high 60s outside when I do the Marquee. Supposedly going to low 80s this afternoon.

Good coffee. 

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## JonA_CT

I’m so excited to only have an early dismissal today!

The running forecast from the NWS is for 12-18” now with 13” being their best guess. The heavy stuff won’t be until later this afternoon.

We’ve been fortunate to miss most of the power outage issues here in New London. Hopefully that continues. (And my parents told me it costs them $100+ a day to run their back up generator, so hopefully they avoid it too).


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Good luck Jon. Nothing here so far, but the news just showed heavy snowfall at the Yuengling Brewery not too far away.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> You have not seen me in weeks, because I was working day & night.
> 
> Real estate development, Gary knows, can be quite demanding a task.
> 
> Look at this development:
> 
> 
> View attachment 155308
> *"My house in the middle of our street"*
> I did aquire the neighbouring lot and can now build 500 sqm instead of 300 and 6 flats instead of 3 and 3 E-Carsharing-Spots instead of 0 and lots of bike parking and space to cater to the German cult of waste separation.
> 
> 
> View attachment 155309
> *"The secret back entry"*
> so my site looks almost like a hortus conclusus now
> 
> 
> View attachment 155310
> *"The whole lot"*
> in all of its 270 sqm size, emptyness & beauty.
> 
> 
> View attachment 155311
> "*A tad of security for my neighbours"*


Wow, wow, wow ... Frank, is well on his way to be the next Donald Trump.  Frank's highrise is kinda like the Phoenix, from the flames of destruction rises Frank's new building.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  54F presently and it is projected to break 7oF in the early afternoon.  A touch of rain, 65% chance of around eleven o'clock, but the big rain is due on Thursday. 

Max has been here since Sunday and is still a very polite guest. Max and Maggie get along extremely well.  Their evening play is for one of them to start chewing on a nylabone while the other watches from a few inches away ... then at an opportunity of distraction, the nylabone will be taken away by the other beast and gnawed away with a flourish of new ownership.  Then the other beast will approach and wait for an opportunity to steal the treasure.  This behavior bugs the hell out of Mary Lou and Gary as they keep tossing additional nylabones at them in order to court a sense of fair play and equality. The nasty hairy beasts will both gnaw on separate bones for a bit ... then one pooch will return to the grass-is-greener game, creep up and wait for an opening to snatch.


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## Gary A.

M͠a͠x͠ and Maggie


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## limr

I had a snow day today. School called it last night. It has only just now started to really snow. I had just been flurrying for about 2 hours. But it's also supposed to be worse farther south (and my school is south of me) so I figure it will be a proper storm at some point, but just started later than predicted.


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## snowbear

Good afternoon, all you lovely people!

I decided not to journey into DC for the second say of the GIS conference, but I will go to the Development part, tomorrow.  Work county is closed, so I am at home with MLW & kitties.

The outside:



DSC_1284.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr




DSC_1282.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


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## davidharmier60

Morning peeps. (For 19 more minutes anyway). 5.75 hours. Marquee posed no problem. Don't know how the buffer ran the full store with the gauge bottomed out. 
Went and got propane.
Sold my box of pennies. Got a completely machine wrapped replacement box sealed by the Fed. Came back to the store and it's lunch time in the deli and until I get my check i can't afford lunch. So fooling around for a little while longer.

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## davidharmier60

Interesting box so far nothing newer than 2014. I'm sure it will change but most 2014 back to 2012 in the first 5 rolls are very nice pennies. 

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## Gary A.

The day is little more than half over and the rain has started to fall. Gary finished tossing chicken, veggies, herbs and vino into the slow cooker.  The rain is supposed to be a big one and flash floods alerts have gone out to the flash flood areas and evacuation orders are being enforced in the burn areas.

Gary carbonated some apple juice and it was just like Martinelli's at a fraction of the cost.


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## davidharmier60

Gary I would guess is a FAR FAR better man than I.

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## vintagesnaps

A friend/former co-worker posted a picture of her kids playing outside in the sunshine a couple of days ago. Today she posted a picture of them building a sizeable snowman. What is wrong with that picture?!! 

At least it melted off the street and off my driveway, but - this is nuts! Schools here were closed. In March. The Easter Bunny must be freaking out.


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## Gary A.

It rained here for about 30 minutes.


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## Tony744

No snow here...yet.


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## smoke665

No rain here today. Sunny most of the day, but there was a cold, cold wind.


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## SquarePeg

Hasn’t reached us yet although they closed the schools for any evening activities soon had to cancel 2 pitching clinics. Going to be hard to find a new date where both the venue and the pitching coach are available. 

I’ve had enough winter.  UNCLE


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## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> I’ve had enough winter. UNCLE



Look on the bright side, when the snow melts your house will still be there. For the next month or so storms here have a tendency to take it with them.


----------



## davidharmier60

And I still say I'll take what we have right now right through until it's winter again. 


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## davidharmier60

Argh. Double post.

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## waday

Evening all!

It’s snowed most of yesterday, last night, and all of today. We have about 8-10 inches. Ugh.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

We only got about 3 inches and all of it today. It has hovered at or slightly above freezing so the roads were just wet here at least. We have escaped deep snow for all 4 of the storms in the last 3 weeks.


----------



## SquarePeg

Dean_Gretsch said:


> We only got about 3 inches and all of it today. It has hovered at or slightly above freezing so the roads were just wet here at least. We have escaped deep snow for all 4 of the storms in the last 3 weeks.



You have just laughed at fate.  She’ll get you for that.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Nope, I knocked on wood


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Does anyone know what happened to nominated photos beginning with #12 post in March Photo of the Month?


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou is still raving about the dinner Gary whipped up.  It was just a chicken stew, but she loved it.  For Gary, the best part of dinner was the salad Mary Lou picked.  It looked awesome and tasted even better.  From field to table in five minutes, lettuce, tomatoes and avocados ... a simple fare but sooooo fresh, it was oddly as crisp ... as it melted in the mouth at the same time.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's not nice to fool mother nature. 

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## snowbear

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Nope, I knocked on wood


Don't do that - the old good-luck-giving wood nymphs have moved on to large vats of vinyl and polystyrene; you have to knock plastic.

Back to DC today for the ESRI Developer's Summit.  It's expected that most of the snow in my local area will be melted by this evening.


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy to report that this storm was a bust for us Just a dusting overnight.  Many cities and towns canceled school today based on the weather reports only to now find that it was a false alarm. And I do mean alarm.  These weather people on the news really get carried away.  I don’t know if it’s a New England thing or this is a national or even global phenomenon but it’s getting out of hand. The last storm we had, while it did dump about 2 feet on us, also generated completely unnecessary and overblown news and weather coverage for literally the entire day.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary had a nice day.  Gary wrapped up work early and a little after noon he put the top down, the volume up and headed down to Orange County Camera.  Gary hasn't been there in a long while.  They called him the other day and asked him to come on down, his presence was missed.  Gary had a nice time and some of his OC Camera buds showed up. The owner handed Gary a Leica M4 black paint.  It was very clean, not a scratch on it with a bit of brassing.  After messing with it a bit, Gary asked how much?  "$20,000", said the owner.  Why?  Because only 500 of those were made ... Gary gently put it down. It was 72F when Gary headed back north.  The freeway was backing up and was getting congested.  Gary dialed up some old Rock 'n Roll stuff ... Beatles, Beach Boys, even Buffalo Springfield. It was a good drive home.


It was cool talking gear with that guy. He definitely knew his stuff. He told me something that never occurred to me...."your better off buying a Voightlander body and putting Leica glass on it". I was in the mindset of saving the money on glass, buying a Leica body and putting Voightlander glass on it. More research. Lol. I got the bug picking up and holding a Leica M3 at a local camera store, it was like 10 grand for body only. The feel and precision of it was like nothing I have ever experienced before. Moral of the story? Don't pick up and fondle a Leica or you may get the fever.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary had a nice day.  Gary wrapped up work early and a little after noon he put the top down, the volume up and headed down to Orange County Camera.  Gary hasn't been there in a long while.  They called him the other day and asked him to come on down, his presence was missed.  Gary had a nice time and some of his OC Camera buds showed up. The owner handed Gary a Leica M4 black paint.  It was very clean, not a scratch on it with a bit of brassing.  After messing with it a bit, Gary asked how much?  "$20,000", said the owner.  Why?  Because only 500 of those were made ... Gary gently put it down. It was 72F when Gary headed back north.  The freeway was backing up and was getting congested.  Gary dialed up some old Rock 'n Roll stuff ... Beatles, Beach Boys, even Buffalo Springfield. It was a good drive home.
> 
> 
> 
> It was cool talking gear with that guy. He definitely knew his stuff. He told me something that never occurred to me...."your better off buying a Voightlander body and putting Leica glass on it". I was in the mindset of saving the money on glass, buying a Leica body and putting Voightlander glass on it. More research. Lol. I got the bug picking up and holding a Leica M3 at a local camera store, it was like 10 grand for body only. The feel and precision of it was like nothing I have ever experienced before. Moral of the story? Don't pick up and fondle a Leica or you may get the fever.
Click to expand...


I guess we all have our want list, but I'm clueless as to the value placed on this camera body. I can understand the high dollar for optics, and the value of digital bodies, but why so much for a mechanical body. Is it supply/demand and why is the model you viewed 10 grand, when you see them advertised for a thousand or less? Was it some sort of limited edition? Educate me please.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary had a nice day.  Gary wrapped up work early and a little after noon he put the top down, the volume up and headed down to Orange County Camera.  Gary hasn't been there in a long while.  They called him the other day and asked him to come on down, his presence was missed.  Gary had a nice time and some of his OC Camera buds showed up. The owner handed Gary a Leica M4 black paint.  It was very clean, not a scratch on it with a bit of brassing.  After messing with it a bit, Gary asked how much?  "$20,000", said the owner.  Why?  Because only 500 of those were made ... Gary gently put it down. It was 72F when Gary headed back north.  The freeway was backing up and was getting congested.  Gary dialed up some old Rock 'n Roll stuff ... Beatles, Beach Boys, even Buffalo Springfield. It was a good drive home.
> 
> 
> 
> It was cool talking gear with that guy. He definitely knew his stuff. He told me something that never occurred to me...."your better off buying a Voightlander body and putting Leica glass on it". I was in the mindset of saving the money on glass, buying a Leica body and putting Voightlander glass on it. More research. Lol. I got the bug picking up and holding a Leica M3 at a local camera store, it was like 10 grand for body only. The feel and precision of it was like nothing I have ever experienced before. Moral of the story? Don't pick up and fondle a Leica or you may get the fever.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I guess we all have our want list, but I'm clueless as to the value placed on this camera body. I can understand the high dollar for optics, and the value of digital bodies, but why so much for a mechanical body. Is it supply/demand and why is the model you viewed 10 grand, when you see them advertised for a thousand or less? Was it some sort of limited edition? Educate me please.
Click to expand...


From my limited understanding... It is rarity, condition, and collectible demand. These older Leica cameras are precision, hand built, mechanical marvels. They were built with the highest standards, material, and craftsmanship. They really are beautiful to look at and hold. Don't cock the shutter and press the shutter unless you want to fall in love. Hard to explain, it's more of an experience. At least for me, that is. I don't get all crazy with their digital bodies. I would not buy a collectible because I want a shooter. $800 for an M2 or M4/P not including glass. The glass is what drains the wallet, providing you go for the Summicron, which is the gold standard for rendering.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever different strokes for different folks I guess. Think if I was going to spend that much on a film camera I'd move to a medium format, or a 4x5, but that's just me. I was reminded again how much difference there is in a larger format negative, when I found some old 620 negatives. Despite being well over 65 years old, they were surprisingly sharp.  I finally remembered the camera my parents had, it was an inexpensive twin lens Argus 75.  Their's had the leather case.


----------



## waday

I've had my snow fill. This is from yesterday afternoon. Can't remember how many shots, but it's 11070 x 6427. 

I'm ready for 90F weather. 




Snow by Wade, on Flickr

**EDIT to the edit: Hmm, the image won't show up on my work computer, but will on my phone? Weird. It shows up in the edit screen on my computer, but not the post?


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever different strokes for different folks I guess. Think if I was going to spend that much on a film camera I'd move to a medium format, or a 4x5, but that's just me. I was reminded again how much difference there is in a larger format negative, when I found some old 620 negatives. Despite being well over 65 years old, they were surprisingly sharp.  I finally remembered the camera my parents had, it was an inexpensive twin lens Argus 75.  Their's had the leather case.
> 
> View attachment 155376


Every single antique store in Michigan has one of those, usually $20. If I recall correctly, you can sand the spools on a roll of 120 and use them. Don't quote me on that but I seem to recall a video on it using that camera.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Every single antique store in Michigan has one of those, usually $20. If I recall correctly, you can sand the spools on a roll of 120 and use them. Don't quote me on that but I seem to recall a video on it using that camera



I think it's easier to re-roll to a 620 spool. 

The point I was getting at was despite the fact that they were taken by an inexperienced person (my mother/father), there were no fancy sensors, (pretty much point/shoot) the quality of the image they produced was surprisingly good.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Every single antique store in Michigan has one of those, usually $20. If I recall correctly, you can sand the spools on a roll of 120 and use them. Don't quote me on that but I seem to recall a video on it using that camera
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think it's easier to re-roll to a 620 spool
Click to expand...

Well maybe. The video I seen, the guy had some medium sandpaper on a table and just quickly edged it to fit. Didn't take long. Just saying.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Well maybe. The video I seen, the guy had some medium sandpaper on a table and just quickly edged it to fit. Didn't take long. Just saying.



Hadn't seen that one, the other didn't take long either. I'm really thinking hard about a medium format again. The biggest hangup for me is the "wait", between taking the shot and seeing the result, even if I process the film myself. My wife constantly reminds me of how impatient I am.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well maybe. The video I seen, the guy had some medium sandpaper on a table and just quickly edged it to fit. Didn't take long. Just saying.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hadn't seen that one, the other didn't take long either. I'm really thinking hard about a medium format again. The biggest hangup for me is the "wait", between taking the shot and seeing the result, even if I process the film myself. My wife constantly reminds me of how impatient I am.
Click to expand...

Well, there always is the medium format Fujifilm GFX. [emoji12]


----------



## SquarePeg

Ugh migraine.  Talk to you all much later.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well maybe. The video I seen, the guy had some medium sandpaper on a table and just quickly edged it to fit. Didn't take long. Just saying.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hadn't seen that one, the other didn't take long either. I'm really thinking hard about a medium format again. The biggest hangup for me is the "wait", between taking the shot and seeing the result, even if I process the film myself. My wife constantly reminds me of how impatient I am.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well, there always is the medium format Fujifilm GFX. [emoji12]
Click to expand...

The other day in the camera shop, Gary was chatting with some old friends who have dived into large format film.  Kevin, new guy Gary hadn't met before was complaining about the price of film holders.  We chatted a bit when he whips out his GFX.  This was a first for Gary ... what a sweet camera.  If the GFX didn't require an entire set of new lenses ... Gary thinks he would be shooting medium format digital.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is almost raining today.  Yesterday was a bit of a bust for rain. Nothing in the rain barrels. Presently, there is a heavy mist.  The debate is to walk Miss Maggie or not to walk Miss Maggie.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> The other day in the camera shop, Gary was chatting with some old friends who have dived into large format film. Kevin, new guy Gary hadn't met before was complaining about the price of film holders. We chatted a bit when he whips out his GFX. This was a first for Gary ... what a sweet camera. If the GFX didn't require an entire set of new lenses ... Gary thinks he would be shooting medium format digital.



Well duh, if I wanted to drop 10k I'd have a Pentax 645 and glass on order.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh migraine.  Talk to you all much later.


Sorry.


----------



## Gary A.

Okay, broad brim hat, umbrella, waterproof shoes ... that should work.


----------



## Gary A.

But before Gary and Maggie venture out into the mist, Gary secured two tickets for this delightful sounding event:

*EOS Spring Release Wine Club Pick Up Party*
Join Us for a Celebration Honoring Our Spring Releases!

_Saturday, April 7th | 2 PM - 5 PM_


Spend your afternoon sipping on our newest releases and some of our best EOS vintages! In the spirit of springtime, we will be showcasing some fresh bites, prepared by our own chef, Danelle Jarzynski. Have a little fun in the sun with a game of horseshoes, corn hole or giant Jenga®. If games aren’t your forté, enjoy dancing to the spicy sounds of _Jon Stephen_ on the flamenco guitar.


----------



## davidharmier60

Twas a 4.25 hours today. Was off the clock but since I'm a super nice guy and Brenda needed ice for the deli drink dispenser I did it. Now I'm in Conroe to meet up with a fellow and possibly/probably take home a computer. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Back from our morning wet constitutional.  As Miss Maggie always hops into the creek everytime we walk through our neighborhood park ... running through the water, submerging her head in order to bite off hunks of algae which she tosses up on the bank ... Gary had little concerns about her temperament regarding getting wet.  As her breed came from Ireland, Gary figured the weather would stir up her genes from the Emerald Isle.


----------



## vintagesnaps

"O,Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"

Percy Bysshe Shelley 



Apparently, yes it can... snow predicted for Saturday.


----------



## snowbear

Winter weather, still
It is cold but I like it
I am a snowbear

On the train home from geo conference


----------



## davidharmier60

Today in my portion of East Texas it felt a lot like summer... snow you say?
Preposterous!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> "O,Wind,
> If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"
> 
> Percy Bysshe Shelley
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently, yes it can... snow predicted for Saturday.


It is still raining here.  Hours and hours of a gently, falling wetness.


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> "O,Wind,
> If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"
> 
> Percy Bysshe Shelley
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently, yes it can... snow predicted for Saturday.
> 
> 
> 
> It is still raining here.  Hours and hours of a gently, falling wetness.
Click to expand...



But it is probably warm in your place. We had changable temperature with 30°C difference within days, snow in the morning, sun in the afternoon. The weather is just crazy!


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well maybe. The video I seen, the guy had some medium sandpaper on a table and just quickly edged it to fit. Didn't take long. Just saying.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hadn't seen that one, the other didn't take long either. I'm really thinking hard about a medium format again. The biggest hangup for me is the "wait", between taking the shot and seeing the result, even if I process the film myself. My wife constantly reminds me of how impatient I am.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Well, there always is the medium format Fujifilm GFX. [emoji12]
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The other day in the camera shop, Gary was chatting with some old friends who have dived into large format film.  Kevin, new guy Gary hadn't met before was complaining about the price of film holders.  We chatted a bit when he whips out his GFX.  This was a first for Gary ... what a sweet camera.  If the GFX didn't require an entire set of new lenses ... Gary thinks he would be shooting medium format digital.
Click to expand...



Michael Erlewine bought, tested and sold the GFX and its Hasselblad twin, then got the D850 and found that she is simply the better camera. 

GFX AF is ugly slow drive by wire, D850 AF is fast with direct manual intevention if you want
GFX view finder is ugly slow, you get seasick if you move it. D850 has a great optical view finder and fast live view with peaking and silent shooting
GFX does not match D850 image quality, esp not the color quality


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Freakin Friday Hosers!!!!!  I am so glad this week is over.  I've got a massage and facial scheduled for tonight after work and I am really in need of some pampering.  The massive migraine from yesterday has started to recede - thank you Excedrin Migraine and almost a full day in a dark room with no noise.  I only came out of my cave yesterday a couple of times.  Stupid damp weather and of course the whole "spring forward" thing always messes me up for weeks after!  I'm hoping a scalp massage gets rid of the last of it.  

In other news - I thought my involuntary softball coaching career was finally done and had happily bowed out this year when it looked like we had more than enough coaches for the upcoming season.  My best laid plans, however... very unexpectedly and a week before the draft, 2 of our long time coaches had to drop out - one due to family obligations with a sick parent and one whose daughter decided to play lacrosse instead.  Ugh.  I had been looking forward to spending my free time going to the HS softball games where Princess will be playing on the Freshman team and then being the rec league social media photographer whenever I had a chance to get down to any of those games.  But now, I am coaching a team again for the spring.  After contacting at least 10 parents to see if anyone would step up, I gave up.  I do enjoy it and don't mean to whine about it but honestly, it's like having a second full time job and I understand why most people just run the other way when it comes to volunteering.  

Any other nerds been watching The Magicians on SYFY channel?  It's like an adult Harry Potter/Narnia combo.  Surprisingly well acted with lots of "that guy" actors in the smaller roles.


----------



## SquarePeg

Off to pick up the pup from his own pampering session at the groomer!  pics soon.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Happy Freakin Friday Hosers!!!!!  I am so glad this week is over.  I've got a massage and facial scheduled for tonight after work and I am really in need of some pampering.  The massive migraine from yesterday has started to recede - thank you Excedrin Migraine and almost a full day in a dark room with no noise.  I only came out of my cave yesterday a couple of times.  Stupid damp weather and of course the whole "spring forward" thing always messes me up for weeks after!  I'm hoping a scalp massage gets rid of the last of it.
> 
> In other news - I thought my involuntary softball coaching career was finally done and had happily bowed out this year when it looked like we had more than enough coaches for the upcoming season.  My best laid plans, however... very unexpectedly and a week before the draft, 2 of our long time coaches had to drop out - one due to family obligations with a sick parent and one whose daughter decided to play lacrosse instead.  Ugh.  I had been looking forward to spending my free time going to the HS softball games where Princess will be playing on the Freshman team and then being the rec league social media photographer whenever I had a chance to get down to any of those games.  But now, I am coaching a team again for the spring.  After contacting at least 10 parents to see if anyone would step up, I gave up.  I do enjoy it and don't mean to whine about it but honestly, it's like having a second full time job and I understand why most people just run the other way when it comes to volunteering.
> 
> Any other nerds been watching The Magicians on SYFY channel?  It's like an adult Harry Potter/Narnia combo.  Surprisingly well acted with lots of "that guy" actors in the smaller roles.


I've found that, in every organization I've been involved in, there is a core of people that do most of the work.  Often, the same people are in multiple organizations, and they do most of the work in each group.

I haven't watched it, but I'm going to have to give it a shot.

Most of the snow is gone.  I'm not sure what the cherry blossoms will look like for the meet-up, but at least there are other gardens around.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Off to pick up the pup from his own pampering session at the groomer!  pics soon.


Hope all goes well!

Our pup gets tortur... I mean, pampered at home. She is due for a bath and hair trim. Nails soon.

But, she just finished up round two of her vaccines last night at the vet, so I will let her have a few days off.


----------



## JonA_CT

Bathing a lab is useless (and only advised a couple times a year anyways). 

If he gets really mucked up, I'll tie him to a hitch post and hit him with the hose. But sometimes that's more effort than it is worth (since he'll dry himself on the sofa or the bed or any other soft, delicate surface not indicated for wet labrador use).


----------



## terri

Hang in there, Cat!  It IS a big job, so I don't blame you for feeling a mite exasperated.  Good luck with the team!  And enjoy your much deserved pampering.

Happy Friday, hosers!  It's spring!


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> ...or the bed or any other soft, delicate surface not indicated for wet labrador use).


Exactly what surfaces _are_ indicated for wet Labrador use?


----------



## JonA_CT

We bought him his own bed? So that's a good choice. He even uses it sometimes, although usually only when he is told to or feels guilty about something.


----------



## davidharmier60

I did in fact get a computer yesterday. Got it hooked up and it knows my wireless mouse but not the keyboard. Have a couple of NimH batteries charging and if it's not that not sure where I'll go from there.

Today the best part of 4 and 3/4 hours.
Going to check the PO Box and the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. And mess with the computer some more. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> I've found that, in every organization I've been involved in, there is a core of people that do most of the work. Often, the same people are in multiple organizations, and they do most of the work in each group.



Definitely true.  I've noticed it since Princess started pre-school.  It has always been the same volunteers over and over for everything.  I have been Girl Scout leader, Library Coordinator, Classroom Mom, Softball coach/League Registrar/Webmaster/Scheduler, Yearbook Committee and End of Year Pool Party Committee.   When Princess was in elementary school, I used the majority of my vacation time from work to spend time volunteering for one thing or another.  

One big issue is that the core group of people who have been both coaching and running the girls softball league for the past 4-5 years are all moving on after this year as most of our daughters are aging out of the league.  We have been actively recruiting parents from the younger divisions for the past 2 years but it is very hit or miss.  For every 10 people that we think will be a good fit, only 1 may be interested and have the time to give. 



waday said:


> Hope all goes well!
> 
> Our pup gets tortur... I mean, pampered at home. She is due for a bath and hair trim. Nails soon.
> 
> But, she just finished up round two of her vaccines last night at the vet, so I will let her have a few days off.



We bathe Xing every couple of weeks at home but I draw the line at cutting his nails and fur.  Every few months, when he starts to look homeless, I treat myself and pay someone else to do it.  



JonA_CT said:


> Bathing a lab is useless (and only advised a couple times a year anyways).
> 
> If he gets really mucked up, I'll tie him to a hitch post and hit him with the hose. But sometimes that's more effort than it is worth (since he'll dry himself on the sofa or the bed or any other soft, delicate surface not indicated for wet labrador use).



Our dog dries himself off on his towel.  I'll have to video it next time he does it.  I put the towel on the floor and he rolls all around until he is mostly dry.  It's a pretty cute trick and works great when he comes in from the rain/snow.  



terri said:


> Hang in there, Cat! It IS a big job, so I don't blame you for feeling a mite exasperated. Good luck with the team! And enjoy your much deserved pampering.
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers! It's spring!



Thank you Terri!  Spring has sprung but until this snow melts, we will be hibernating like it's still winter.  Was hoping for sunshine and nice weather when I go to DC in less than 2 weeks but I saw the big snowball fight on the mall so now I don't know what to expect...


----------



## SquarePeg

So handsome it looks like I used a vanity filter!

All clean and shiny.  Really annoying that I can’t upload a simple iPhone pic without either massively cropping or using Flickr. If he wasn’t so freakin cute I wouldn’t bother.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Freakin Friday Hosers!!!!!  I am so glad this week is over.  I've got a massage and facial scheduled for tonight after work and I am really in need of some pampering.  The massive migraine from yesterday has started to recede - thank you Excedrin Migraine and almost a full day in a dark room with no noise.  I only came out of my cave yesterday a couple of times.  Stupid damp weather and of course the whole "spring forward" thing always messes me up for weeks after!  I'm hoping a scalp massage gets rid of the last of it.
> 
> In other news - I thought my involuntary softball coaching career was finally done and had happily bowed out this year when it looked like we had more than enough coaches for the upcoming season.  My best laid plans, however... very unexpectedly and a week before the draft, 2 of our long time coaches had to drop out - one due to family obligations with a sick parent and one whose daughter decided to play lacrosse instead.  Ugh.  I had been looking forward to spending my free time going to the HS softball games where Princess will be playing on the Freshman team and then being the rec league social media photographer whenever I had a chance to get down to any of those games.  But now, I am coaching a team again for the spring.  After contacting at least 10 parents to see if anyone would step up, I gave up.  I do enjoy it and don't mean to whine about it but honestly, it's like having a second full time job and I understand why most people just run the other way when it comes to volunteering.
> 
> Any other nerds been watching The Magicians on SYFY channel?  It's like an adult Harry Potter/Narnia combo.  Surprisingly well acted with lots of "that guy" actors in the smaller roles.
> 
> 
> 
> I've found that, in every organization I've been involved in, there is a core of people that do most of the work.  Often, the same people are in multiple organizations, and they do most of the work in each group.
> 
> I haven't watched it, but I'm going to have to give it a shot.
> 
> Most of the snow is gone.  I'm not sure what the cherry blossoms will look like for the meet-up, but at least there are other gardens around.
Click to expand...

Gary is one of those who doesn't do any of the work but is happy to take the credit.


----------



## davidharmier60

Found a different USB keyboard and it works. Let me see if I wrote down the password. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

I went to the local pizza place and grabbed a grinder for lunch, which is very out of character.

But it's delicious. I'm not sure if its a New York thing, but they use these toasted sesame grinder rolls that are out of this world.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> So handsome it looks like I used a vanity filter!
> 
> All clean and shiny.  Really annoying that I can’t upload a simple iPhone pic without either massively cropping or using Flickr. If he wasn’t so freakin cute I wouldn’t bother.


Hey!  Lady!  What part of "TREATS" didn't you understand??????


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> I went to the local pizza place and grabbed a grinder for lunch, which is very out of character.
> 
> But it's delicious. I'm not sure if its a New York thing, but they use these toasted sesame grinder rolls that are out of this world.


WTF is a "grinder" in a gastronomic context?


----------



## davidharmier60

This is coming at you from a PC with a Dell Keyboard. Pictures is going to be a whole nuther problem!


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Bathing a lab is useless (and only advised a couple times a year anyways).
> 
> If he gets really mucked up, I'll tie him to a hitch post and hit him with the hose. But sometimes that's more effort than it is worth (since he'll dry himself on the sofa or the bed or any other soft, delicate surface not indicated for wet labrador use).



As in all things, Sadie is really laid back when it comes to bath time. We bathe her about once a month, because she staked out a section of the king bed shortly after arrival. When it's cold we give her one in the bath tub, but leaning over is hard on the back. During warm weather we have a large outside storage thing on the deck that she stands on which brings her up to waist height. Then run a hose from the utility sink in the laundry room (warm water). Makes it  a lot easier. 

I've always trimmed the nails, it's not that hard, and less traumatic if you do it on a regular basis. She isn't a big fan of nail clipping but will stand patiently while I lift each foot and snip away. 

As to grooming, I favor the scissor method. I've got a set with a large comb that I'll throw in my pocket when we go on walks. Every so often when she stops, I'll pull them out and clip away while she stares at whatever caught her attention. Little bit here, little bit there, keeps her looking groomed.


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I went to the local pizza place and grabbed a grinder for lunch, which is very out of character.
> 
> But it's delicious. I'm not sure if its a New York thing, but they use these toasted sesame grinder rolls that are out of this world.
> 
> 
> 
> WTF is a "grinder" in a gastronomic context?
Click to expand...


 A sub.


----------



## JonA_CT

Yes. And not the same thing as Grindr.


----------



## vintagesnaps

We call 'em hoagies. (Sandwiches, not dogs.)

Nice 'n sunny today, it's always like this before a storm. Definitely going to be a few inches of snow not rain. 
(Frank - what we've had has been a heckuva a lot for this time of year! We've had a little snow once in awhile around Easter but nothing like this.)


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I went to the local pizza place and grabbed a grinder for lunch, which is very out of character.
> 
> But it's delicious. I'm not sure if its a New York thing, but they use these toasted sesame grinder rolls that are out of this world.


Gary gave up leaven bread for Lent. 

Out here they go by Grinder, Torpedo, Sub/Submarine, Hoagie, et al.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is a beautiful day after a week of On and Off rain. The morning constitutional with Miss Maggie, Max, Mary Lou and Mike was nothing short of perfect.  Sunny, but cool, everything was emerald green from the recent rains.  The walk defined pleasant. 

Maggie, Max, Mike, Mary Lou and Gary are home kicking back in the patio.  The dogs are wrestling and we are drinking coffee and watching The View.  Everything is popping and the poppies and roses are blooming.  It is a spectacularly nice day.


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy National Puppy Day Maggie!


----------



## waday

How is this week not over yet? Another hour or so to go. Ugh.

My wife's one employee put her resignation in this week, so all her work will fall on my wife until they find a replacement. My supervisor also put her resignation in this week, and being the most senior in the group, I'm expecting an increased workload, as well. Double ugh.

That said, I could totally eat a sub/hoagie/grinder/po'boy/torpedo/blimp/etc right now.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> How is this week not over yet? Another hour or so to go. Ugh.
> 
> My wife's one employee put her resignation in this week, so all her work will fall on my wife until they find a replacement. My supervisor also put her resignation in this week, and being the most senior in the group, I'm expecting an increased workload, as well. Double ugh.
> 
> That said, I could totally eat a sub/hoagie/grinder/po'boy/torpedo/blimp/etc right now.



and maybe a bump in title and salary?


----------



## Gary A.

Gary


waday said:


> How is this week not over yet? Another hour or so to go. Ugh.
> 
> My wife's one employee put her resignation in this week, so all her work will fall on my wife until they find a replacement. My supervisor also put her resignation in this week, and being the most senior in the group, I'm expecting an increased workload, as well. Double ugh.
> 
> That said, I could totally eat a sub/hoagie/grinder/po'boy/torpedo/blimp/etc right now.


You guys work in the White House?


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is taking a break from processing.  Mary Lou collected and prepared some Naval Oranges, of which Mary Lou and Gary are snacking upon while watching cable news.  Gary is toying with pouring Mary Lou and Gary a glass of vino.  We haven’t had any wine in over a week.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> . We haven’t had any wine in over a week.



WHAT! Is everything okay? Are you feeling bad, have you been to the doctor?


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> How is this week not over yet? Another hour or so to go. Ugh.
> 
> My wife's one employee put her resignation in this week, so all her work will fall on my wife until they find a replacement. My supervisor also put her resignation in this week, and being the most senior in the group, I'm expecting an increased workload, as well. Double ugh.
> 
> That said, I could totally eat a sub/hoagie/grinder/po'boy/torpedo/blimp/etc right now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> and maybe a bump in title and salary?
Click to expand...

Maybe.. I know a lot of people would jump at it, but I see travel and very long hours. Ehhhh...


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> . We haven’t had any wine in over a week.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> WHAT! Is everything okay? Are you feeling bad, have you been to the doctor?
Click to expand...

About two weeks ago Gary got a bug.  A few days after Gary got ill ... Mary Lou got it.  It took her down pretty hard she is finally getting back to 100%.  We are enjoying a nice Roussanne from Temecula. It goes well with the oranges.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Gary is taking a break from processing. Mary Lou collected and prepared some Naval Oranges, of which Mary Lou and Gary are snacking upon while watching cable news. Gary is toying with pouring Mary Lou and Gary a glass of vino. We haven’t had any wine in over a week.









Glad you're on the mend!


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> I went to the local pizza place and grabbed a grinder for lunch, which is very out of character.
> 
> But it's delicious. I'm not sure if its a New York thing, but they use these toasted sesame grinder rolls that are out of this world.





tirediron said:


> WTF is a "grinder" in a gastronomic context?





SquarePeg said:


> A sub.





JonA_CT said:


> Yes. And not the same thing as Grindr.





vintagesnaps said:


> We call 'em hoagies. (Sandwiches, not dogs.)





Gary A. said:


> Out here they go by Grinder, Torpedo, Sub/Submarine, Hoagie, et al.





waday said:


> That said, I could totally eat a sub/hoagie/grinder/po'boy/torpedo/blimp/etc right now.



None of youse called it a wedge, which is its proper name! 

I spent a few hours at a college fair in the Bronx today. Talked to dozens of high school students and had cold pizza for lunch. Drove under the subway tracks to get to and from the highway.

So when I tells you it's a wedge, it's a friggin' wedge, you get me?

PS - My advice to you hosers: don't drive in the Bronx if you don't have to.


----------



## JonA_CT

Remember when Subway used to wedge their bread though? That was the worst. 

And I’m up for the fourth time since 10 PM. Cutting teeth is no joke.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm upright working towards awake. 
I'd happily give up Saturday. 
Got YouTube on the puter yesterday. 
Slowly getting it set up.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Headache free and ready for the weekend!  Breakfast with my mom and my aunts this morning followed by a few errands then hopefully a movie and late lunch with a friend.  Game Night?  Tomb Raider?  Red Sparrow?  Probably Tomb Raider since the others won’t lose anything watching later on a smaller screen.  I like to see the big action films at the theater...


----------



## JonA_CT

I have 85 pounds of warm, dog-balled lab in one side, and a 2.5 year old underneath a blanket that’s ten times to big for her on the other side.

Our entertainment? Little Einsteins, of course.

Mama bear is sleeping in because I’m abandoning her for most of the day to dig trenches at the brewery and to serve beer at a brew fest tonight.


----------



## Tony744

Brew fest?! 

Too bad I've got so many errands and chores to do today.


----------



## JonA_CT

Tony744 said:


> Brew fest?!
> 
> Too bad I've got so many errands and chores to do today.



Doesn’t start until 7 

It’s actually sort of up your way. It’s a small festival, 7-8 breweries I think, that’s supporting an educational fund in Somers. It’s wedge up between the east side of 91, 84, and the MA border. It’s an 1.5 hour over the river and through the woods trip from here...no direct highway route.


----------



## Tony744

I'll have to try to get down there. Might have to take mom into Chelsea today, she hasn't decided yet. Indecision is very annoying.


----------



## davidharmier60

Huh. If someone had told me ysesterday... The floors got professionally done last night.
I did get a little over 1.5 hours cleaning the bathrooms, sweeping and putting things where they belong.
Off until Monday morning woo hoo!


----------



## terri

Lazy morning here do far.  Sipping chai, my own mix, yum!  The temps around here have modified in a good way - much cooler.  Outside the birds are chirping and singing their approval of the fresh seed blend I stuffed in the feeders yesterday.

Nice morning.  Happy Saturday, hosers!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Remember when Subway used to wedge their bread though? That was the worst.
> 
> And I’m up for the fourth time since 10 PM. Cutting teeth is no joke.


The problem with Subway is that most of their sandwiches all taste the same.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Headache free and ready for the weekend!  Breakfast with my mom and my aunts this morning followed by a few errands then hopefully a movie and late lunch with a friend.  Game Night?  Tomb Raider?  Red Sparrow?  Probably Tomb Raider since the others won’t lose anything watching later on a smaller screen.  I like to see the big action films at the theater...


Get a projector.  Gary is lazy and doesn't use it much. But when he does is it quite enjoyable.  It's not a big deal to hook it up, just pull it out and plug in a few cords, then pull down the screen.  Outside is a bit more time as Gary has to assemble the frame/screen.  Gary is very lazy.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I have 85 pounds of warm, dog-balled lab in one side, and a 2.5 year old underneath a blanket that’s ten times to big for her on the other side.
> 
> Our entertainment? Little Einsteins, of course.
> 
> Mama bear is sleeping in because I’m abandoning her for most of the day to dig trenches at the brewery and to serve beer at a brew fest tonight.


Rent a trencher, it will take you less than an hour.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Looks like another perfect day ... Gary loves L.A. (and Randy Newman.)   Funny story from yesterday.  As most of y'all know, Mary Lou and Gary love the Hollywood Bowl.  An old soccer friend (sons were on the same club for years), called up Mary Lou, knowing that Mary Lou likes the Hollywood Bowl and inquired if we wanted to join them for Rod Stewart at the Bowl on the 26th?  Mary Lou replied that we already have tickets for the 25th ... so they also got tickets for the 25th. Now Gary has to work on the menu.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks that Miss Maggie is the most expressively happy creature on earth.


----------



## Gary A.

Speaking of movies ... Mary Lou and Gary Netflixed _Pirates of Somalia,_ five stars from Gary ... but he could sorta personally relate.


----------



## jcdeboever

Wife and I seen I can only imagine last night. Excellent


----------



## smoke665

4 hrs, manual labor and the body's shot. DW decided "we" (translation-me) needed another retaining wall to create another planting bed on the front of the house. Thankfully I was able to get a lot of the excavation done with the tractor and loader, but stacking blocks is PITA.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> 4 hrs, manual labor and the body's shot. DW decided "we" (translation-me) needed another retaining wall to create another planting bed on the front of the house. Thankfully I was able to get a lot of the excavation done with the tractor and loader, but stacking blocks is PITA.


Hey, can Gary borrow your tractor, he needs to grade a small area by the pond to install some stepping stones for chairs and a table.


----------



## JonA_CT

Not that kind of trench, Gary.




Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr

We had to cut roughly 100 linear feet of concrete (x2, I guess), jackhammer it all out, and dig out to the appropriate grade. The run up to where the guy is digging is going to be our floor drain for the brewery.

We were quoted $6k for the demo work. Woof. My buddy's uncle is a commercial plumber and has been giving us lots of help. He lent us his jackhammer, and we rented a concrete saw for $65. After about 6 hours of work from 3 unskilled laborers, we're pretty much done.

Edit: You can kind of see the cutout shapes of the brewhouse. The square cardboard to the right is our actual brewhouse, and we'll have a 10 barrel fermenter, 5x5 barrel fermenters, and a 10 barrel brite tank.


----------



## Tony744

Which brew house is this?


----------



## JonA_CT

Tox Brewing Company


----------



## Tony744

Checked out the offerings, looks like I may have to add it to my list of breweries to check out this year.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leo - you drove _under _the subway tracks?! Do you mean part of that old elevated line which mostly got torn down (but some of it's still up) and is in old movies all the time? You're quite an amazing person if you were underground and did that.

No snow yet, supposed to only get a couple of inches here so glad the clouds that are going to dump 3-5" of snow are far enough away. One of the local weather forecasters said something about _this_ spring snowfall... like we've had this so often lately it's the usual thing!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Wow, flipped on the news during commercials and saw a clip from the march in NYC and was going, that looks like Paul McCartney... and sure enough it was him! He said something about a good friend having been killed there and it dawned on me he was talking about John Lennon.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Not that kind of trench, Gary.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr
> 
> We had to cut roughly 100 linear feet of concrete (x2, I guess), jackhammer it all out, and dig out to the appropriate grade. The run up to where the guy is digging is going to be our floor drain for the brewery.
> 
> We were quoted $6k for the demo work. Woof. My buddy's uncle is a commercial plumber and has been giving us lots of help. He lent us his jackhammer, and we rented a concrete saw for $65. After about 6 hours of work from 3 unskilled laborers, we're pretty much done.
> 
> Edit: You can kind of see the cutout shapes of the brewhouse. The square cardboard to the right is our actual brewhouse, and we'll have a 10 barrel fermenter, 5x5 barrel fermenters, and a 10 barrel brite tank.


You could use Gary's expertise on this.


----------



## Gary A.

This is Tomatomania weekend ... out here a lot of nurseries have tomato sales.  Gary is off to Blue Hills for some tomatoes.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Wonder what's in Allentown PA? I mean, what's there hockey-wise... new site for the NCAA hockey regionals. I gotta go look at the brackets. At least if it's going to be cold and gray I can watch people skating and shooting pucks. 

Oh, Penn State is hosting this, didn't think of them, they haven't been Division I all that long coming from club hockey level.


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon folks. Just been down to the store for a few needed things. Told the cashier how I wish I had known. Home again. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is back from Blue Hills Nursery.  About 14-16 tomatoes and a dozen peppers later, Gary may be set for some early planting.  He also purchased a peanut plant.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave knows nothing about a peanut plant.


----------



## davidharmier60

And now it's time to say goodnight to all my friends. Because while I didn't NEED to awaken at 4am I did not knowing any better.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Tox Brewing Company



I hope that "Tox" isn't short for "Toxic" LOL


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. I didn't realize that you were getting DYI tomatoes. LOL Have you ever tried growing them upside down???  Have friend that does it with great success.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tox Brewing Company
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hope that "Tox" isn't short for "Toxic" LOL
Click to expand...

Look at the logo . . .


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Leo - you drove _under _the subway tracks?! Do you mean part of that old elevated line which mostly got torn down (but some of it's still up) and is in old movies all the time? You're quite an amazing person if you were underground and did that.
> 
> No snow yet, supposed to only get a couple of inches here so glad the clouds that are going to dump 3-5" of snow are far enough away. One of the local weather forecasters said something about _this_ spring snowfall... like we've had this so often lately it's the usual thing!



Nah, not underground. It's the 6 subway line, but at that point in the Bronx, it's technically not a subway but an el. I drove under it for a couple of miles.


----------



## limr

Imagine that view but with a lot more traffic and construction. A train did go over us at one point. It was simultaneously strange and not strange.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. I didn't realize that you were getting DYI tomatoes. LOL Have you ever tried growing them upside down???  Have friend that does it with great success.


At any given time, Gary has around 16 different varieties to select from.  I grew a Roma upside down ... it works.  But Gary has enough room where hanging a plant isn't needed.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Have you ever thought about Aquaponics.  Sustainable farming project combines aquaculture and hydroponics | Science| In-depth reporting on science and technology | DW | 04.07.2013  With your fish pond, love of weather and moderate weather you have an ideal setting.  I've toured a couple experimental plots, that show a lot of promise.


----------



## JonA_CT

The brewery event was a huge success. The feedback on our beer was almost 100% positive, and we went through nearly 300 samples of our IPA, 250 samples of our Pilsner, and 150 samples of our chocolate coconut stout. 

We also met some other local brewers, and are planning to collaborate on some beer releases when we open. Cool stuff.

After a day of manual labor and an evening of schmoozing though, I’m exhausted this morning.


----------



## JonA_CT

Oh. And I’m still at least 6 weeks and maybe closer to 8 weeks from being able to plant any vegetables around here. Jerks.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hi there y'all. It seems we will have corned beef hash,  scrambled eggs and dry crumbly biscuits. Later gators. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> After a day of manual labor and an evening of schmoozing though, I’m exhausted this morning.



To be young again!!!! 4 hours manual labor yesterday building a retaining wall, and I was done for the rest of the day, and had to load up on Advil to even be able to sleep. LOL

Oh Jon, no planting here yet, though in previous years we have already been busy in the fields planting corn. So it's late here, but I did notice that the apple trees are putting out leaves, and that the asparagus beds have a few heads peeking through.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. Have you ever thought about Aquaponics.  Sustainable farming project combines aquaculture and hydroponics | Science| In-depth reporting on science and technology | DW | 04.07.2013  With your fish pond, love of weather and moderate weather you have an ideal setting.  I've toured a couple experimental plots, that show a lot of promise.


The yards are quite self sustainable.  The only thing that leaves the yard are rose canes, because of the thorns, all else gets composed for fed to the worms. Gary hasn't used any fertilizers in a decade+. This soil is highly expansive ... clay ... it was horrible, yellow with little organics.  Now I have a good 6" to 12" of rich, black topsoil.  The plants are quite healthy, disease resistant and grow like weeds.  There is a decent amount of large insect predators, (mantis, lizards, birds) to eliminate any need for chemical pesticides. Gary biggest pest problems are slugs, snails and Japanese Beetles. Gary hasn't incorporated the pond into the sustainability cycle other than dumping the algae and gunk from the filters into the flower beds and in return tossing the slugs and snails into the pond, Koi treats.  Gary briefly looked into Tilapia, but they are very aggressive and won't mix well with the Koi.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> After a day of manual labor and an evening of schmoozing though, I’m exhausted this morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To be young again!!!! 4 hours manual labor yesterday building a retaining wall, and I was done for the rest of the day, and had to load up on Advil to even be able to sleep. LOL
> 
> Oh Jon, no planting here yet, though in previous years we have already been busy in the fields planting corn. So it's late here, but I did notice that the apple trees are putting out leaves, and that the asparagus beds have a few heads peeking through.
Click to expand...

Gary's apple tree has blossoms and a few small apples.


----------



## Tony744

The maple tree behind the shop is starting to bud, and Bandit has been hyper and more of a pain than usual. Hoping that's a sign that spring is finally  coming.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> This soil is highly expansive ... clay .



Interesting, we have the same problem here at home. The red clay here is horrible. We hauled about 20 loads of sandy loam in to put around the house after we built, to have a decent base for the sod. Planting fruit trees requires excavating a large hole, and replacing the soil.  Thankfully the farms in MO and IL are either rich sandy loam or black organic (river sediment) that are easily tilled and quite deep.


----------



## Gary A.

@smoke665: Okay, Gary just read the article.  The only and big difference between my yard and the experiment, is Gary has to replenish the water, as the evaporation it is not captured for recycling. But on the flip side, my yard's energy requirements must be significantly less. While Gary isn't growing hydroponically, he is growing most of his veggies in pots with a drip system which is quite efficient water-wise. Gary does use biological filtration for the pond and doesn't use any chemicals for water balance.  Gary does want a few chickens for slug & snail control, but the boss keeps vetoing his schemes.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> This soil is highly expansive ... clay .
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting, we have the same problem here at home. The red clay here is horrible. We hauled about 20 loads of sandy loam in to put around the house after we built, to have a decent base for the sod. Planting fruit trees requires excavating a large hole, and replacing the soil.  Thankfully the farms in MO and IL are either rich sandy loam or black organic (river sediment) that are easily tilled and quite deep.
Click to expand...

Most of the fruit trees here started from five gallon containers.  Gary dumps in a bucket or two of compost with his plantings.  It has worked out splendidly. Gary tries not to remove any plant detritus, but like to let it decompose in place. Mary Lou wasn't a big fan of this, and Gary still has to raid the green trash barrel after Mary Lou has worked in the yard, removing stuff from the trash barrel to the composters. But, it has worked out well.  There is a definite line in the cross section of the soil, a dark yellow sticky substance under a foot and on top a black, crumbly, full of worms, soil on top ... in geological terms, the line marks Pre-Gary time and Gary time.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> There is a definite line in the cross section of the soil,



I've just about given up on planting fruit trees here. Of the 6 I planted 10 years ago, only 3 remain, and only one of those is actually doing well. Getting the hole right seems to be the biggest issue. If you don't get it big enough that you can add enough good soil, the clay acts like a bowl and holds water. Not big enough and the roots don't have room to expand, because the clay is super hard in the summer when it drys.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> @smoke665: Okay, Gary just read the article.  The only and big difference between my yard and the experiment, is Gary has to replenish the water, as the evaporation it is not captured for recycling. But on the flip side, my yard's energy requirements must be significantly less. While Gary isn't growing hydroponically, he is growing most of his veggies in pots with a drip system which is quite efficient water-wise. Gary does use biological filtration for the pond and doesn't use any chemicals for water balance.  Gary does want a few chickens for slug & snail control, but the boss keeps vetoing his schemes.



Keeping chickens is popular here in our city.  Lots of them go missing, presumably to the coyotes that are getting more prevalent every year.  I wouldn’t want to have anything on our property that would attract predators. Also, chickens smell and are so gross.  Ever been to a poultry farm?  Yuck. I’m with Marylou in this one.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> There is a definite line in the cross section of the soil,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've just about given up on planting fruit trees here. Of the 6 I planted 10 years ago, only 3 remain, and only one of those is actually doing well. Getting the hole right seems to be the biggest issue. If you don't get it big enough that you can add enough good soil, the clay acts like a bowl and holds water. Not big enough and the roots don't have room to expand, because the clay is super hard in the summer when it drys.
Click to expand...

Generally, out here, you gotta dig a hole at least twice the size of the container. Dunno about your soil being too compact for roots to grow through, as you seem to have pine trees aplenty. Most likely you nailed it with drainage. Some deep root watering via a deep root watering system would keep the clay moist in summer.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @smoke665: Okay, Gary just read the article.  The only and big difference between my yard and the experiment, is Gary has to replenish the water, as the evaporation it is not captured for recycling. But on the flip side, my yard's energy requirements must be significantly less. While Gary isn't growing hydroponically, he is growing most of his veggies in pots with a drip system which is quite efficient water-wise. Gary does use biological filtration for the pond and doesn't use any chemicals for water balance.  Gary does want a few chickens for slug & snail control, but the boss keeps vetoing his schemes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Keeping chickens is popular here in our city.  Lots of them go missing, presumably to the coyotes that are getting more prevalent every year.  I wouldn’t want to have anything on our property that would attract predators. Also, chickens smell and are so gross.  Ever been to a poultry farm?  Yuck. I’m with Marylou in this one.
Click to expand...

I grew up in an agricultural community, plenty of chicken farms around.  Not a flock of chickens, just one or two ... train 'em to use the doggie door and it should be alright.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> train 'em to use the doggie door and it should be alright.



Know of a woman who keeps a rooster in her house. I grew up on a farm, but I hate chickens, sorry.

On the clay. The pine tree has a central tap root that's like a giant spike. Think it could penetrate rock, as apposed to other trees which have smaller roots that spread out. The red clay here is very solid dry, close to 500 kPa load bearing, but add moisture and it expands to become quick sand. When we built the house we had to float the foundations on a bed of compacted rock.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> ...Also, chickens smell and are so gross.  Ever been to a poultry farm?  Yuck. I’m with Marylou in this one.


Not true at all.  Like pigs and most other animals (and more than a few people I know), animals are a product of the conditions in which they're kept.  If you give a pig a nice clean area to live with a dry, covered sleeping area, and sufficient food, other than some minor instinctual rooting, they will be just as clean and pleasant smelling as a dog.  Likewise, chickens kept in small numbers in clean conditions will be no more odoriferous than any other bird.  Factory-farmed birds smell because they get essentially zero care and generally live in utterly deplorable conditions.


----------



## SquarePeg

Yes, I was referring to a large poultry farm which I guess is not what Gary has in mind for his patio.  Still, would not be something I would want running around while I was trying to enjoy some leisure time on the back deck.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Yes, I was referring to a large poultry farm which I guess is not what Gary has in mind for his patio.  Still, would not be something I would want running around while I was trying to enjoy some leisure time on the back deck.


Two words:  "Shake" and "''n Bake"!


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, I was referring to a large poultry farm which I guess is not what Gary has in mind for his patio.  Still, would not be something I would want running around while I was trying to enjoy some leisure time on the back deck.
> 
> 
> 
> Two words:  "Shake" and "''n Bake"!
Click to expand...

or "stir fried"


----------



## snowbear

I had to do something about all this chicken talk . . . chicken & chickpea wrap.  Tonight is MLW's lasagna.


----------



## davidharmier60

Tonight we will have Salmon Patties and Mac and Cheese. A real cullinary delight!


----------



## mishele

Who all is going to DC?


----------



## Gary A.

mishele said:


> Who all is going to DC?


Gary thinks you're a day late ...


----------



## mishele

Lol 
That would have been one hell of an event to photograph!!

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

mishele said:


> Who all is going to DC?


I guess I can go, though it's a bit far.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dinner was scrumptious. Now we're watching Price is Right on DVR.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has been processing most of the day.  He just came in from cleaning up a bunch of old tomatoes and installing a dozen new tomatoes. He also fixed his drip system ... which ceased to drip, and transplanted a four foot Kale.  Gary has a pot roast in the slow cooker and is taking a slight break until guests arrive.  Last night Mary Lou, Gary and Dr. Tom had dinner at Naples Ribs in Long Beach. Great ribs at Naples.  Gary had their special, Mahi-Mahi and a shrimp kabob.  Mary Lou had this giant slab of St. Louis Ribs and brought half home.  Gary is snacking on a rib from Naples, mmmmmhhh.  Their BBQ sauce is similar to Gary's BBQ sauce.


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh bother. Went to pour coffee and it was only hot water. Bummer big time.
Doesn't bode well for my Monday. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Tony744

Sounds about right for a Monday. Went to make my first cup of the morning (Keurig machine) and forgot to put the mug in place. Coffee all over the counter.


----------



## terri

Happy Monday, hosers! 

Well...you know.


----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> Oh bother. Went to pour coffee and it was only hot water. Bummer big time.
> Doesn't bode well for my Monday.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk





Tony744 said:


> Sounds about right for a Monday. Went to make my first cup of the morning (Keurig machine) and forgot to put the mug in place. Coffee all over the counter.



It is the epitome of the universe's cruelty that we hairless apes are forced to make coffee in the mornings without having had the chance to drink any coffee first.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is at CSULA. Not much traffic and Gary zipped in over most of the route. Yesterday was a good day. A beautiful sunny day. Gary whipped up a pot roast in the slow cooker. Mary Lou picked a fresh salad, Gary popped open a Firestone Pinot and later a very nice dessert wine. Dinner was served in the patio was pleasant and the guests enjoyable.


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> Oh bother. Went to pour coffee and it was only hot water. Bummer big time.
> Doesn't bode well for my Monday.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


  Sorry dude...  I think you should go back to bed and take a do-over for tomorrow!


----------



## Gary A.

The first Sweet Pea bloom at Gary’s place.


----------



## SquarePeg

mishele said:


> Who all is going to DC?



I'm going to be there 4/5 - 4/8.  Hoping to do a few meetups with TPF people during that time.  I have plans 4/5 but otherwise I'm mostly flexible.  Going to spend some time with my cousins as well as photography time.  Haven't planned anything specific yet - waiting on the weather -   but want to see the tidal basin, botanical gardens, monuments at night and at dawn...LOC and/or Capitol building...


----------



## davidharmier60

Well I lived through it. 5 hours today. Filters as well as all the usual stuff. Surprisingly I did not get a large fountain Dr. Pepper before leaving the store. Got a message that the dogs got out. Gonna hit the PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then go home and see what it takes to fix where they got out. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> mishele said:
> 
> 
> 
> Who all is going to DC?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm going to be there 4/5 - 4/8.  Hoping to do a few meetups with TPF people during that time.  I have plans 4/5 but otherwise I'm mostly flexible.  Going to spend some time with my cousins as well as photography time.  Haven't planned anything specific yet - waiting on the weather -   but want to see the tidal basin, botanical gardens, monuments at night and at dawn...LOC and/or Capitol building...
Click to expand...

I really want to come, but it depends on a few factors that are still in flux at the moment.


----------



## JonA_CT

Yeah, I wish I could join up, but it's not possible anymore.

In other news, one of my wife's co-workers is offloading a kamado-style ceramic grill for cheap. I should have it  by the weekend.


----------



## waday

So, I'm pretty late on the sale (I think it's ending soon), but BorrowLenses has a crazy used sale right now.

Fuji bodies are pretty darn cheap, and get even cheaper with a promo code, if anyone wants to pick one up. There's also a Fuji X100S.

I was too late for the m4/3 stuff, unfortunately. I saw someone saying they picked up an EM1 for less than $300.


----------



## davidharmier60

As near as I can tell the dogs dug out.  I fixed it the best I could with what I had available. And then had heck getting the two youngest dogs back inside the property.
Did five of 10 coin rolls. Did my comics on the computer. That way the pop up adds don't interfere. Fixing to do the other 5 because she wants the box tomorrow.
I would have as much chance of going to DC as I would flapping my arms and flying.

And now back to your regularly scheduled program!


----------



## Gary A.

@smoke665: Hey, Gary's oldest daughter and family are vacationing at Gulf Shores/Orange Beach.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> @smoke665: Hey, Gary's oldest daughter and family are vacationing at Gulf Shores/Orange Beach vacationing.



Bless their hearts. We love Gulf Shores, but avoid it like the plague during spring break!!!  We've spent a few dollars here  FLORA-BAMA: HOME OF THE BUSHWACKER and here Live music and food- Gulf Shores, AL- The Hangout   over the years, but I bet you can't find a parking place within 5 miles now. One of my best friends bought a condo on the beach two years ago out toward Ft. Morgan couple years ago. It stays rented year round.


----------



## Frank F.

I met some professional dancer friends of mine (Flamenco from Spain) on Saturday and enjoyed their show in Düsseldorf. Germany ( Flamenco - Wikipedia ):


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> So, I'm pretty late on the sale (I think it's ending soon), but BorrowLenses has a crazy used sale right now.
> 
> Fuji bodies are pretty darn cheap, and get even cheaper with a promo code, if anyone wants to pick one up. There's also a Fuji X100S.
> 
> I was too late for the m4/3 stuff, unfortunately. I saw someone saying they picked up an EM1 for less than $300.



I refuse to look.  I refuse to look.  I refuse to look.  I'm not going to look.  I'm not going to look.  I will not google this.  No, I won't.  No I said!!!


----------



## RowdyRay

JonA_CT said:


> In other news, one of my wife's co-workers is offloading a kamado-style ceramic grill for cheap. I should have it  by the weekend.



Nice! Have you ever used one before? If not, do some googling.


----------



## RowdyRay

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, I'm pretty late on the sale (I think it's ending soon), but BorrowLenses has a crazy used sale right now.
> 
> Fuji bodies are pretty darn cheap, and get even cheaper with a promo code, if anyone wants to pick one up. There's also a Fuji X100S.
> 
> I was too late for the m4/3 stuff, unfortunately. I saw someone saying they picked up an EM1 for less than $300.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I refuse to look.  I refuse to look.  I refuse to look.  I'm not going to look.  I'm not going to look.  I will not google this.  No, I won't.  No I said!!!
Click to expand...


Famous last words. You looked already didn't you?


----------



## Gary A.

@Jon: Which Kamado?  Gary gives himself about 40 minutes to an hour of prep/clean/heat time until you're good to toss raw stuff on the grill.  Gary recommends you get a twin probed, bluetooth thermometer.


----------



## snowbear

Tony744 said:


> Sounds about right for a Monday. Went to make my first cup of the morning (Keurig machine) and forgot to put the mug in place. Coffee all over the counter.


I leave a mug in the Keurig


limr said:


> It is the epitome of the universe's cruelty that we hairless apes are forced to make coffee in the mornings without having had the chance to drink any coffee first.


Automatic timer, locating coffee maker at bedside within reach, and setting up said coffee maker prior to bedtime.  Of course any liquid creamer would complicate things, but not render the scenario impossible.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dad sets it up and gets up before me to turn it on. He apologized for forgetting to put grounds in. The old coffeemaker sure was better than this one however. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, I'm pretty late on the sale (I think it's ending soon), but BorrowLenses has a crazy used sale right now.
> 
> Fuji bodies are pretty darn cheap, and get even cheaper with a promo code, if anyone wants to pick one up. There's also a Fuji X100S.
> 
> I was too late for the m4/3 stuff, unfortunately. I saw someone saying they picked up an EM1 for less than $300.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I refuse to look.  I refuse to look.  I refuse to look.  I'm not going to look.  I'm not going to look.  I will not google this.  No, I won't.  No I said!!!
Click to expand...

If I had seen the sale earlier, I would have spent way too much!

I saw an XT1, XE2, X-Pro1...


----------



## RowdyRay

Gary A. said:


> Which Kamado?  Gary gives himself about 40 minutes to an hour of prep/clean/heat time until you're good to toss raw stuff on the grill.  Gary recommends you get a twin probed, bluetooth thermometer.




Yep, Thermoworks makes the best. Period. Not cheap. I've slowly replaced all of my thermometers with their stuff. 

[URL="https://www.thermoworks.com/"]Welcome to ThermoWorks[/URL]

Lots of other brands out there. Just not accurate. Maverick is a great budget brand. Started with these. Accurate. Still use the ET-732 for my smoking. Only complaint is the wireless distance. Sounds like the ET-733 is better. Plan to replace it with Thermowork's Smoke. 

[URL="http://www.maverickhousewares.com/"]Home[/URL]


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has gone through a number of Bluetooth thermometers ... he hasn’t a clue which is the best. But he has basically settled on iGrill.  Gary think it’s important to learn the importance/benefits of cooking with thermeters.  Gary has also learned that a few degrees really don’t make a difference.  Lately, Gary has been using a handheld, non-Bluetooth , instant read thermometer. He likes that it can be easily calibrated. With the Kamado and the instant read,  Gary loses heat every time he takes a reading ... but he has found that a drop in BBQ heat when getting a reading, isn’t a big deal.


----------



## RowdyRay

iGrill is ok. Found one in a Pawn shop for 12.00. Gave it to my son for testing. Liked it for the Bluetooth, but not as accurate as his Mavericks. He gets all my castoffs. Lol. 

Cooking to temp rather than time makes a lot of difference. Especially wild game. A few degrees can take it from awesome to shoe leather. Also make a lot of sausage. A few degrees can make people sick. Another reason I prefer accuracy.


----------



## SquarePeg

Still haven't looked.  Of course it helps that I have already bought 5 lenses this year and I am out of gear money!!!!!! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> ... I am out of gear money!!!!!!


Sell the Princess?


----------



## Frank F.

Sale, sale ... I see the D5 is coming to a sub 4000€ price point soon: Nikon D5 DSLR Camera Body Double XQD Version (Dual XQD Slots)

, which is less than I paid for my D850 + grip + battery (I am a early adopter of stuff like this)

... tempting!!!


----------



## davidharmier60

In the meantime I am ever so grateful to have a Sony NEX-5 and a Canon XTi to play with.  It would be great to have a gazillion megapixels and L glass but it ain't likely to happen in my life. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

RowdyRay said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> In other news, one of my wife's co-workers is offloading a kamado-style ceramic grill for cheap. I should have it  by the weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice! Have you ever used one before? If not, do some googling.
Click to expand...


I haven't, but I've done a bunch of research. I almost pulled the trigger in the fall, but my wife asked me to wait for spring. After the miserable winter we've had, she made the right choice. I even stopped shoveling to the gas grill, haha. 




Gary A. said:


> @Jon: Which Kamado?  Gary gives himself about 40 minutes to an hour of prep/clean/heat time until you're good to toss raw stuff on the grill.  Gary recommends you get a twin probed, bluetooth thermometer.



This one was made by Vision Grills. Looks like a warehouse club brand, primarily (they got theirs at Sam's Club but I think Costco sells them too). It's only $100 though, and comes with the smoking stone, and they're going to deliver it...sooooo, no complaints here. I might replace grill grates, but that's short money. 



RowdyRay said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Which Kamado?  Gary gives himself about 40 minutes to an hour of prep/clean/heat time until you're good to toss raw stuff on the grill.  Gary recommends you get a twin probed, bluetooth thermometer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yep, Thermoworks makes the best. Period. Not cheap. I've slowly replaced all of my thermometers with their stuff.
> 
> [URL='https://www.thermoworks.com/']Welcome to ThermoWorks[/URL]
> 
> Lots of other brands out there. Just not accurate. Maverick is a great budget brand. Started with these. Accurate. Still use the ET-732 for my smoking. Only complaint is the wireless distance. Sounds like the ET-733 is better. Plan to replace it with Thermowork's Smoke.
> 
> [URL='http://www.maverickhousewares.com/']Home[/URL]
Click to expand...


Yeah, it's on my list. I have a Thermopen and a Thermopop that I use constantly in the kitchen. They've been bulletproof, so I'll be looking at the Smoke for sure.


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> In the meantime I am ever so grateful to have a Sony NEX-5 and a Canon XTi to play with.  It would be great to have a gazillion megapixels and L glass but it ain't likely to happen in my life.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


The best camera in the world is the one you have!


----------



## Gary A.

@Jon: I dunno ... $100 new doesn't sound right.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> @Jon: I dunno ... $100 new doesn't sound right.



Not new -- they've had it for a few years and haven't been using it. They heard me talking about buying one, and offered a mutually beneficial deal to get some patio space back.


----------



## davidharmier60

4.25 and a minute or two today. A few stockers and most customers will work with me. Others don't deem what I'm doing is important enough for just a little cooperation. 

Anyhow, I'm at the Deli to have biscuits and sausage gravy that Brenda made. 

Gotta call Dad and find out if I go from here to get a drum of soap for my Dad to Houston. After breakfast of course.

I'll admit the picture doesn't make look as good as it tastes. 




Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Well shoot just took Sadie out and heard a Turkey gooble. Have the granddaughter so I can't sit out and wait. Otherwise I'd be sitting out trying to call him in closer for a photo op, or a meeting with Mr Browning.


----------



## SquarePeg

draft night!  No not the good type of drafts.


----------



## davidharmier60

As of now it would sem my uncle (Moms Sisters Husband) is jacking us around. Dad can't get them on the phone nor have they returned any calls.
Ain't life just swell?


----------



## waday

Gooble, haha


----------



## Gary A.

This was another splendid day. Temps in the 70’s, nice Pacific breeze ... nothing but blue skies all day long.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> This was another splendid day. Temps in the 70’s, nice Pacific breeze ... nothing but blue skies all day long.


We had blue skies, too! We just couldn’t see them because of the clouds.


----------



## JonA_CT

I spent my entire day under a "shelter-in-place" protocol at my school because an unfired bullet was found in a classroom down the hall from me. 

It was a nightmare, but after searching roughly 600 lockers and interviewing the 60 kids that were in the room before it was found, it was determined that there was no imminent threat at the school. That took 5 hours. The kids were great for the most part. We were able to quietly get them to and from the cafeteria, and we were able to keep them out of the hallways where the searches were active. The toughest part was that we couldn't tell students why we were in the protocol for security reasons.

Then we had an hour-long faculty meeting to debrief. It's been a day.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I spent my entire day under a "shelter-in-place" protocol at my school because an unfired bullet was found in a classroom down the hall from me.
> 
> It was a nightmare, but after searching roughly 600 lockers and interviewing the 60 kids that were in the room before it was found, it was determined that there was no imminent threat at the school. That took 5 hours. The kids were great for the most part. We were able to quietly get them to and from the cafeteria, and we were able to keep them out of the hallways where the searches were active. The toughest part was that we couldn't tell students why we were in the protocol for security reasons.
> 
> Then we had an hour-long faculty meeting to debrief. It's been a day.


Exhausting ... but it would have been much worse than exhausting if the search had been short, less than complete and someone got hurt.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I spent my entire day under a "shelter-in-place" protocol at my school because an unfired bullet was found in a classroom down the hall from me.
> 
> It was a nightmare, but after searching roughly 600 lockers and interviewing the 60 kids that were in the room before it was found, it was determined that there was no imminent threat at the school. That took 5 hours. The kids were great for the most part. We were able to quietly get them to and from the cafeteria, and we were able to keep them out of the hallways where the searches were active. The toughest part was that we couldn't tell students why we were in the protocol for security reasons.
> 
> Then we had an hour-long faculty meeting to debrief. It's been a day.
> 
> 
> 
> Exhausting ... but it would have been much worse than exhausting if the search had been short, less than complete and someone got hurt.
Click to expand...


Our secretary took the biggest beating honestly -- she received over 300 phone calls during that 5 hour period.


----------



## jcdeboever

I got my Nikkor 16mm f2.8d fisheye today. Beautiful. Look out tractor shows, here comes my Nikon F and the fish. Sweeeeeeeet


----------



## davidharmier60

No fisheye lens for me. Whatever 19 factors out to on a Canon is as short as I have and am likely to have.

Y'all have a great night and a spectacular tomorrow. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

de-fished three shots for my architect today...


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> de-fished three shots for my architect today...



Couple questions. All the houses appear to be 4 stories, is this a restriction? Are you going to have off street parking? Will this be a single family home? What's the average square footage for single family 3 bedroom?


----------



## DakotaHolter

Hello from Northern Minnesota! Hope everyone had or has a great day!


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> de-fished three shots for my architect today...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Couple questions. All the houses appear to be 4 stories, is this a restriction? Are you going to have off street parking? Will this be a single family home? What's the average square footage for single family 3 bedroom?
Click to expand...


My current plan is to build 6 units of 3*65sqm 1*75sqm 1*105sqm 1*145sqm plus 3 e-car sharing spots plus bike parking etc. All to rent to people or sell per unit.


----------



## davidharmier60

Chances are about 50/50 that we will live here until death. The other chance is to not pay the note and get thrown out.
Happy Wednesday y'all. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

DakotaHolter said:


> Hello from Northern Minnesota! Hope everyone had or has a great day!


Welcome aboard.  Sit down and have a cup - there's pastries, too.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> de-fished three shots for my architect today...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Couple questions. All the houses appear to be 4 stories, is this a restriction? Are you going to have off street parking? Will this be a single family home? What's the average square footage for single family 3 bedroom?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My current plan is to build 6 units of 3*65sqm 1*75sqm 1*105sqm 1*145sqm plus 3 e-car sharing spots plus bike parking etc. All to rent to people or sell per unit.
Click to expand...


Interesting. That's a little small for my taste, our master bedroom suite is  bigger than the smaller ones, but we've encountered floor plans in some of the high density condos we've looked at that are in the same range. I am assuming land is at a premium? That's why I asked if there were height restrictions. Here when the land price goes up, so does the height.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> de-fished three shots for my architect today...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Couple questions. All the houses appear to be 4 stories, is this a restriction? Are you going to have off street parking? Will this be a single family home? What's the average square footage for single family 3 bedroom?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My current plan is to build 6 units of 3*65sqm 1*75sqm 1*105sqm 1*145sqm plus 3 e-car sharing spots plus bike parking etc. All to rent to people or sell per unit.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Interesting. That's a little small for my taste, our master bedroom suite is  bigger than the smaller ones, but we've encountered floor plans in some of the high density condos we've looked at that are in the same range. I am assuming land is at a premium? That's why I asked if there were height restrictions. Here when the land price goes up, so does the height.
Click to expand...


height restrictions in Germany are pure ideology in that they do not help the city grow to its needs and reduce the footprint per uint along the way

ecologic restrictions are mostly ideologic in that they do not help the ecosystem

My knowledge it cutting edge research and best practice worldwide and I cater to that knowledge

We are talking sale price of 4500€ per sqm minimum in this spot, so land price is a premium, although absolutely supportable and sensible plus a lot of added stupid ideological building restrictions hinder me from building more sustainable, more ecological. We build as sustainable and ecological as the building authorities let us.

A big problem are fire protection restrictions and height restrictions not allowing us to use certain materials, even if we pay a premium price.

Do not know where to start and where to end. My building will cater to all laws and restrictions and be as ecological and sustainable as possible within this framework.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> Do not know where to start and where to end. My building will cater to all laws and restrictions and be as ecological and sustainable as possible within this framework.



I suspected that was a problem. There as here, it's location. We looked at some condos in an exclusive high rise on the beach at Marco Island, Fl. The starting price for a 400 sq ft unit was $750k. Two bedrooms were  over $2 million. 

If you sell the units do you have home owners association fees to cover maintenance of common areas.? Here the HOA dues can become excessive.


----------



## waday

Frank F. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> de-fished three shots for my architect today...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Couple questions. All the houses appear to be 4 stories, is this a restriction? Are you going to have off street parking? Will this be a single family home? What's the average square footage for single family 3 bedroom?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My current plan is to build 6 units of 3*65sqm 1*75sqm 1*105sqm 1*145sqm plus 3 e-car sharing spots plus bike parking etc. All to rent to people or sell per unit.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Interesting. That's a little small for my taste, our master bedroom suite is  bigger than the smaller ones, but we've encountered floor plans in some of the high density condos we've looked at that are in the same range. I am assuming land is at a premium? That's why I asked if there were height restrictions. Here when the land price goes up, so does the height.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> height restrictions in Germany are pure ideology in that they do not help the city grow to its needs and reduce the footprint per uint along the way
> 
> ecologic restrictions are mostly ideologic in that they do not help the ecosystem
> 
> My knowledge it cutting edge research and best practice worldwide and I cater to that knowledge
> 
> We are talking sale price of 4500€ per sqm minimum in this spot, so land price is a premium, although absolutely supportable and sensible plus a lot of added stupid ideological building restrictions hinder me from building more sustainable, more ecological. We build as sustainable and ecological as the building authorities let us.
> 
> A big problem are fire protection restrictions and height restrictions not allowing us to use certain materials, even if we pay a premium price.
> 
> Do not know where to start and where to end. My building will cater to all laws and restrictions and be as ecological and sustainable as possible within this framework.
Click to expand...

I'm curious.

From both height and ecological/environmental perspectives, what specifically do you want to do that's not allowed by the governing agencies that you feel should be allowed?


----------



## Gary A.

@ waday: Typically and presently, most European cities have a height requirement merely for uniformity and appearances. As European cities are much older than U.S. cities, much of their requirements are sorta grandfathered in as modern materials, modern construction methodologies and modern technology (i.e. elevators) did not exist when the cities were first "regulated".


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> @ waday: Typically and presently, most European cities have a height requirement merely for uniformity and appearances. As European cities are much older than U.S. cities, much of their requirements are sorta grandfathered in as modern materials, modern construction methodologies and technology (i.e. elevators) did not exist when the cities were first "regulated".


Understood. But, I’m just curious as to what Frank wants to do specifically.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary has finished processing the Hawaiian Gardens Founder's Day Parade.  His shots were culled down to 252 from about 1500.  This parade, because the director, for some reason lost Gary's contact info, hired a pro to shoot the event.  He got ahold of Gary at the last minute.  Gary cut the pro a deal, you shoot the floats (heavy lifting) and he'll shoot color stuff of the indigenous peoples along the route.  The pro was happy with this as he had a tripod already setup and most likely was preparing to prefocus on a spot on the street and set up a tripwire.

#1






#2





#3





#4





#5





#6


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ waday: Typically and presently, most European cities have a height requirement merely for uniformity and appearances. As European cities are much older than U.S. cities, much of their requirements are sorta grandfathered in as modern materials, modern construction methodologies and technology (i.e. elevators) did not exist when the cities were first "regulated".
> 
> 
> 
> Understood. But, I’m just curious as to what Frank wants to do specifically.
Click to expand...

Frank wants to set the world on fire ... !


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ waday: Typically and presently, most European cities have a height requirement merely for uniformity and appearances. As European cities are much older than U.S. cities, much of their requirements are sorta grandfathered in as modern materials, modern construction methodologies and technology (i.e. elevators) did not exist when the cities were first "regulated".
> 
> 
> 
> Understood. But, I’m just curious as to what Frank wants to do specifically.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Frank wants to set the world on fire ... !
Click to expand...

I think there are restrictions on that...


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ waday: Typically and presently, most European cities have a height requirement merely for uniformity and appearances. As European cities are much older than U.S. cities, much of their requirements are sorta grandfathered in as modern materials, modern construction methodologies and technology (i.e. elevators) did not exist when the cities were first "regulated".
> 
> 
> 
> Understood. But, I’m just curious as to what Frank wants to do specifically.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Frank wants to set the world on fire ... !
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I think there are restrictions on that...
Click to expand...

Hence, his frustrations ...


----------



## davidharmier60

5 hours and a couple minutes today 
Our county courthouse is two stories. 
It has an elevator I've never seen.
But I'll tell you this. If I had to live above the first storie there would HAVE to be an elevator!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

I just had breakfast at the deli
Got about an hour and a half to kill to get my check. Got the Canon DSLR and a 70-300 in the truck. Might see what sort of pictures I can get. Overcast skies and looking like rain.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Do not know where to start and where to end. My building will cater to all laws and restrictions and be as ecological and sustainable as possible within this framework.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I suspected that was a problem. There as here, it's location. We looked at some condos in an exclusive high rise on the beach at Marco Island, Fl. The starting price for a 400 sq ft unit was $750k. Two bedrooms were  over $2 million.
> 
> If you sell the units do you have home owners association fees to cover maintenance of common areas.? Here the HOA dues can become excessive.
Click to expand...


I cannot think square feet. I build square meters. 550 square meters (5,920.15 square feet), which cost me ~1.6 Million Euros to build and will sell for at least 2.5 Million Euro, if I sell them. Of course most of the house will be owned buy the bank when I start, so it is a good idea to keep most of the house and let the tennents pay the duties with their rent over the years, plan b.

If I get green light for my next project, the difference will be a nice seed capital, even after significant tax duty, plan a.

For me it is a lot of work in project management (to finish the current project and prepare the next at the same time) and a lot of personal financial risk I take.

I do it for the following reasons:

a) I love to build and project manage
b) My architect is wonderful and we share the same goal: sustainable and aestetically pleasing dwellings in which people love to live
c) There is a perspective to build even better when I get bigger projects
d) I know I will not be poor when I grow old


----------



## SquarePeg

The week is flying by!  Busy every day and night this week which makes me a bit crazy and a lot cranky.  Tonight have to help at the little kids softball clinic.  These are 5-8 year olds and they are all adorably enthusiastic.  We try to teach them some skills but mostly we make it a fun experience for them so they'll want to play softball which, in our part of the country, is being crushed by lacrosse and spring soccer.  Soccer was always a fall sport here until about 5 or 6 years ago.  Now with soccer being played in the spring as well, the practice times and game times compete directly with our softball league and unfortunately, the girls are having to choose at a very early age.  Since softball can be a bit boring when you're young with all that standing around picking daisies in the outfield and then sitting on the bench waiting for your at bat - soccer, with it's constant action, is winning. 

Haven't had much time to shoot lately.  Soon the weather will break and it will be time to get out and explore.  Meanwhile, I'm really looking forward to my weekend in DC next week.  I hope the weather will be warm and dry!


----------



## davidharmier60

Even at whatever 300 works out to I'm going to have to be much closer to birds to even have a chance to crop. And now the sky has began leaking large amounts of rain.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Frank F. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Do not know where to start and where to end. My building will cater to all laws and restrictions and be as ecological and sustainable as possible within this framework.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I suspected that was a problem. There as here, it's location. We looked at some condos in an exclusive high rise on the beach at Marco Island, Fl. The starting price for a 400 sq ft unit was $750k. Two bedrooms were  over $2 million.
> 
> If you sell the units do you have home owners association fees to cover maintenance of common areas.? Here the HOA dues can become excessive.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I cannot think square feet. I build square meters. 550 square meters (5,920.15 square feet), which cost me ~1.6 Million Euros to build and will sell for at least 2.5 Million Euro, if I sell them. Of course most of the house will be owned buy the bank when I start, so it is a good idea to keep most of the house and let the tennents pay the duties with their rent over the years, plan b.
> 
> If I get green light for my next project, the difference will be a nice seed capital, even after significant tax duty, plan a.
> 
> For me it is a lot of work in project management (to finish the current project and prepare the next at the same time) and a lot of personal financial risk I take.
> 
> I do it for the following reasons:
> 
> a) I love to build and project manage
> b) My architect is wonderful and we share the same goal: sustainable and aestetically pleasing dwellings in which people love to live
> c) There is a perspective to build even better when I get bigger projects
> d) I know I will not be poor when I grow old
Click to expand...

I know a shade tree mechanic looking for a place to live. He likes rebuilding engines in his living room.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> The week is flying by!  Busy every day and night this week which makes me a bit crazy and a lot cranky.  Tonight have to help at the little kids softball clinic.  These are 5-8 year olds and they are all adorably enthusiastic.  We try to teach them some skills but mostly we make it a fun experience for them so they'll want to play softball which, in our part of the country, is being crushed by lacrosse and spring soccer.  Soccer was always a fall sport here until about 5 or 6 years ago.  Now with soccer being played in the spring as well, the practice times and game times compete directly with our softball league and unfortunately, the girls are having to choose at a very early age.  Since softball can be a bit boring when you're young with all that standing around picking daisies in the outfield and then sitting on the bench waiting for your at bat - soccer, with it's constant action, is winning.
> 
> Haven't had much time to shoot lately.  Soon the weather will break and it will be time to get out and explore.  Meanwhile, I'm really looking forward to my weekend in DC next week.  I hope the weather will be warm and dry!


Out here, soccer and baseball/softball are year round.  Not much lacrosse to speak of on the coast.

Gary just dropped off his photos at Hawaiian Gardens City Hall. The City guy said I outshot the "pro".  His stuff was pretty boring, perfectly exposed/processed ... but all-in-all, pretty boring.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Do not know where to start and where to end. My building will cater to all laws and restrictions and be as ecological and sustainable as possible within this framework.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I suspected that was a problem. There as here, it's location. We looked at some condos in an exclusive high rise on the beach at Marco Island, Fl. The starting price for a 400 sq ft unit was $750k. Two bedrooms were  over $2 million.
> 
> If you sell the units do you have home owners association fees to cover maintenance of common areas.? Here the HOA dues can become excessive.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I cannot think square feet. I build square meters. 550 square meters (5,920.15 square feet), which cost me ~1.6 Million Euros to build and will sell for at least 2.5 Million Euro, if I sell them. Of course most of the house will be owned buy the bank when I start, so it is a good idea to keep most of the house and let the tennents pay the duties with their rent over the years, plan b.
> 
> If I get green light for my next project, the difference will be a nice seed capital, even after significant tax duty, plan a.
> 
> For me it is a lot of work in project management (to finish the current project and prepare the next at the same time) and a lot of personal financial risk I take.
> 
> I do it for the following reasons:
> 
> a) I love to build and project manage
> b) My architect is wonderful and we share the same goal: sustainable and aestetically pleasing dwellings in which people love to live
> c) There is a perspective to build even better when I get bigger projects
> d) I know I will not be poor when I grow old
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I know a shade tree mechanic looking for a place to live. He likes rebuilding engines in his living room.
Click to expand...

Getting an engine and hoist in the living room gotta be a challenge.


----------



## RowdyRay

Gary A. said:


> Getting an engine and hoist in the living room gotta be a challenge.



Meh. Not as hard as you think. I know several people who completely rebuilt their Harleys in their living rooms. During the winter months, and on the road in spring. And....there were stairs involved. Where there's a will.........


----------



## vintagesnaps

The sky is falling! Opening Day got moved back a day. Think they said that hasn't happened since '66. 
That'll change my watching the parade on TV & eating popcorn plans! 

Wait, now I'm finding out the parade isn't til Monday - what the...??  Apparently MLB moved Opening Day up a week. I wondered, I thought it seemed odd for it to be on a Thursday. Because of the Easter weekend they're waiting til Game 4 to have the Opening Day parade.  Okay... well then I guess people can have a really long weekend and spread out the holiday fun & festivities!


----------



## RowdyRay

DakotaHolter said:


> Hello from Northern Minnesota! Hope everyone had or has a great day!



Welcome. What part of Northern Minnesota are you from? I'm just north of the Twin Cities, but enjoy every part of it.


----------



## jcdeboever

Baseball is back! Yes! Go Tigers! I'm not expecting much from them but gonna love watching them.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Baseball is back! Yes! Go Tigers! I'm not expecting much from them but gonna love watching them.


Gary's been holding back on this, (Turner's broken wrist and all ...), but Yes!, baseball starts for reals on Thursday.  Mary Lou and Gary have been kicking around attending opening day.  (Gary used to get in for free paying just doesn't seem right.)


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> The sky is falling! Opening Day got moved back a day. Think they said that hasn't happened since '66.
> That'll change my watching the parade on TV & eating popcorn plans!
> 
> Wait, now I'm finding out the parade isn't til Monday - what the...??  Apparently MLB moved Opening Day up a week. I wondered, I thought it seemed odd for it to be on a Thursday. Because of the Easter weekend they're waiting til Game 4 to have the Opening Day parade.  Okay... well then I guess people can have a really long weekend and spread out the holiday fun & festivities!



You guys have a parade for Opening Day?  What state are you in?


----------



## davidharmier60

I wish all a good night and a better tomorrow.  I think I might have a problem. 
I'm sending off funds for two more knives.
I need more knives like I need another hole in my head. But it's two Schrade knives from when they were still in the USA.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Hope this isn't a sign of things to come Dodger Stadium repairs underway after sewage floods field


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. Hope this isn't a sign of things to come Dodger Stadium repairs underway after sewage floods field


Yeah, we're all laughing at how crappy the game got. Ain't gonna affect Opening Day. (finger's are crossed)


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> The sky is falling! Opening Day got moved back a day. Think they said that hasn't happened since '66.
> That'll change my watching the parade on TV & eating popcorn plans!
> 
> Wait, now I'm finding out the parade isn't til Monday - what the...??  Apparently MLB moved Opening Day up a week. I wondered, I thought it seemed odd for it to be on a Thursday. Because of the Easter weekend they're waiting til Game 4 to have the Opening Day parade.  Okay... well then I guess people can have a really long weekend and spread out the holiday fun & festivities!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You guys have a parade for Opening Day?  What state are you in?
Click to expand...

State of Disillusionment ...


----------



## DakotaHolter

RowdyRay said:


> DakotaHolter said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hello from Northern Minnesota! Hope everyone had or has a great day!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Welcome. What part of Northern Minnesota are you from? I'm just north of the Twin Cities, but enjoy every part of it.
Click to expand...

Thank you! and small world.. I am near international falls so an hour away from Canada.


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh boy. It's raining about as hard as it was last night. The floor at the store is in for it...
I'd very much like to crawl back under the covers!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Tony744

Makes two of us. The head groundskeeper won't be in today, leaving me with all those duties. We have two large electrical cabinets that have to go out for paint today, and apparently he and I are the only ones with enough intelligence to figure out how to get the doors onto pallets. On top of that, today the company is picking up the hams (they hand out turkeys for Thanksgiving and hams for Easter to all the employees) which means they'll probably need me to go out on the road. Still waiting for a load of lumber, which I'll have to wiggle into the wood shop. And of course I have to try and find some time to remove the snow thrower from the tractor and attach the loader so we can start the spring clean up.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.

Good news #1 - MLW's payday is today, and mine is tomorrow.  
Good news #2 - Saturday is opening day for trout.  MD DNR has stocked 308,250 trout, both Rainbow and Golden, statewide.  There are 18,050 in the local (three counties) area.  Let's hope that at least two of these have my name on them.

Bad news - I developed a sore throat, overnight.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I never got trout fever. Just something about rubbing elbows with fellow fishermen that ruins it for me. I like peace, solitude and quiet when I enjoy nature.


----------



## smoke665

I enjoy trout fishing, though I wouldn't enjoy it in a crowd. Thankfully the Smokies are only 3 hrs away. Have a couple of spots that I can drive up the service roads far enough to get some privacy.


----------



## JonA_CT

My wife also gets paid today, and I also get paid tomorrow.

It feels like spring, but they are whispering about cold and maybe some snow next week. Bah humbug.


----------



## smoke665

Anyone else having trouble with TPF today. Several times this morning I kept getting bad link messages.


----------



## Cody'sCaptures

Ohhh Amazon deal of the day is eneloop batteries.. although I heard the Ikea AA's are the same as the pro for like $7


----------



## davidharmier60

Yippee! I was motoring along with the floor machine and the lights went OUT!
Until SHECO (Sam Houston Electric Company) gets the power on I can't start the buffer. The are fooling with a generator to get a couple of lights on and a few check out lines open. Does nothing for frozen or refrigerated food....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

The wife and I are almost fully caught up on Doctor Who, just need to finish up Season 10.


----------



## JonA_CT

Cody'sCaptures said:


> Ohhh Amazon deal of the day is eneloop batteries.. although I heard the Ikea AA's are the same as the pro for like $7



I’ve had really good luck with the IKEA batteries.


----------



## Gary A.

Cody'sCaptures said:


> Ohhh Amazon deal of the day is eneloop batteries.. although I heard the Ikea AA's are the same as the pro for like $7


Gary purchased some eneloop at Costco the other day.  AA, AAA, charger, plus adaptors for D&C cells, all in a nifty carrying case.


----------



## Gary A.

Max's human Mike, took Mary Lou and Gary out for dinner last night.  It was a thank you gift for harboring Max last week, while Mike took off to Oakland to see his newly born granddaughter. Tapas and Spanish vino ... a very very pleasant evening.  Mike remarked that he remembers when Bob's Big Boy was the best restaurant in Whittier.  The wine was priced well, the food was exceptional, but way overpriced. Thursday's are Samy's Camera day in the newspaper. There is a half page ad today, but the prices don't scream doorbuster: A7R III body - $3198, A9 body - 4498, Rebel T6 w/kit - $449, D850 body $3296.95, D500 $1896.95, et al.


----------



## davidharmier60

T6 with kit sounds like a reasonable deal at that price. I know nothing about the other stuff. They got power back at 8ish. They don't want the buffer running after 8 unless it already is. So 3.75 hours and start over in the morning. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Samy's Camera day in the newspaper


Supporting the local camera store (which is "local" about 40 minutes away) is great, but mine  doesn't carry anything outside CaNikoSony. I was told, "we don't carry a huge selection of brands" the last time I asked about m4/3.

I understand their perspective as a seller, but it's frustrating from a consumer's perspective when I can't go hold any of the cameras or lenses. I'd much rather buy from them than any of the other large retailers.

Speaking of, does anyone know if we have any threads on here about "what photography related item did you buy recently"? There's a fairly active one on another forum I frequent, and while it's pretty bad for GAS and GIGS*, it's really opened my eyes to products and brands available that I may not be familiar with. @terri, @tirediron, @SquarePeg, @limr, do any of you know if we have a similar thread somewhere? If not, I might start one... 

*GIGS - Grass is greener syndrome


----------



## Gary A.

Lumix DC-GH5 body - $1797.99, DMC-GX85 w/12-32 & 45-150 $499 (open box)


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> DMC-GX85 w/12-32 & 45-150 $499 (open box)


Wow! That's a great deal...


----------



## terri

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Samy's Camera day in the newspaper
> 
> 
> 
> Supporting the local camera store (which is "local" about 40 minutes away) is great, but mine  doesn't carry anything outside CaNikoSony. I was told, "we don't carry a huge selection of brands" the last time I asked about m4/3.
> 
> I understand their perspective as a seller, but it's frustrating from a consumer's perspective when I can't go hold any of the cameras or lenses. I'd much rather buy from them than any of the other large retailers.
> 
> Speaking of, does anyone know if we have any threads on here about "what photography related item did you buy recently"? There's a fairly active one on another forum I frequent, and while it's pretty bad for GAS and GIGS*, it's really opened my eyes to products and brands available that I may not be familiar with. @terri, @tirediron, @SquarePeg, @limr, do any of you know if we have a similar thread somewhere? If not, I might start one...
> 
> *GIGS - Grass is greener syndrome
Click to expand...

Hmm.   Not off the top of my head, no.    If you're wanting an all-purpose, both for analog/digital type of thread, you might want to open one here.


----------



## waday

terri said:


> Hmm.   Not off the top of my head, no.    If you're wanting an all-purpose, both for analog/digital type of thread, you might want to open one here.


Thanks! Just opened on here: What photography related item did you acquire?


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> Supporting the local camera store (which is "local" about 40 minutes away) is great, but mine doesn't carry anything outside CaNikoSony.



We have like 3 camera stores in the entire state. One is 70 miles away, one is 160 miles away, and one is 320 miles away. None of the stores in question carries much. Ritz, had a pretty decent store in Birmingham (50 miles) for a few months. They actually were stocking inventory, holding classes, seemed to be getting a good start, then boom they were gone.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Supporting the local camera store (which is "local" about 40 minutes away) is great, but mine doesn't carry anything outside CaNikoSony.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We have like 3 camera stores in the entire state. One is 70 miles away, one is 160 miles away, and one is 320 miles away. None of the stores in question carries much. Ritz, had a pretty decent store in Birmingham (50 miles) for a few months. They actually were stocking inventory, holding classes, seemed to be getting a good start, then boom they were gone.
Click to expand...

Ugh, that's sad to hear. I used to frequent Ritz as a kid, because it was located inside of the Boscov's at the mall. As my mom would shop, I'd look at the cameras.


----------



## Gary A.

We still have many camera shops out here.  But not like it was during the film days when every little city and town had a camera store.  Back then a small camera shop could survive on film processing alone.  Of the remaining shops, it's about a 50/50 between shops with a decent stock and those which are fading fast.  Gary's camera store of choice is OC Camera in Mission Viejo. Really nice people and a fun place just to hang and talk cameras and crap. The owner sees the sun setting and he's looking to get out and into something else. We've been chatting about marijuana sales ... but the market seems unstable as nobody knows what the Feds will do. Samy's is now a chain of six stores.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> The wife and I are almost fully caught up on Doctor Who, just need to finish up Season 10.


I watched "Blink" last night - one of my favorites.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> The wife and I are almost fully caught up on Doctor Who, just need to finish up Season 10.
> 
> 
> 
> I watched "Blink" last night - one of my favorites.
Click to expand...

I love that one, as well! The Weeping Angels are definitely one of my favorite species/enemies in Doctor Who. Their episodes were always very engaging. 

I think the Daleks are my number one favorite. The scene when the Daleks and the Cybermen first meet is probably one of my favorite scenes of the entire series. It goes on for around 2 minutes and is absolutely hilarious.


----------



## snowbear

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I never got trout fever. Just something about rubbing elbows with fellow fishermen that ruins it for me. I like peace, solitude and quiet when I enjoy nature.


I haven't been fishing, in general, for a number of years; neither offspring was very interested (though #1 went a couple times but always fell in water or mud) and I got busy with other things.

I'll probably take a fly rod, as well as a spin rod in case there are too many folks.  I'll pick up some bait hooks, a small block of Velveta, and small can of corn.


----------



## vintagesnaps

They look like R2-D2 and 3-CPO... 

Opening Day is an 'unofficial holiday' in Cincinnati. They might as well just make it a holiday for all that anything else gets done. I'll watch the open and the first pitch and then it won't be long before I'll get bored and switch over to hockey for the evening.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Velveeta and cheese? Just get a corn dog on a stick and dangle that in the water.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> pick up some bait hooks, a small block of Velveta, and small can of corn.



Inside the National Park it is strictly artificial, no corn, cheese or live bait.  Brooks are the only native species, which I've considered myself lucky if I caught any above the minimum 7". At lower elevations and outside the park you can find some Rainbow and Brown. They can get larger. Might be because of all the "corn" people feed them LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

We used to fish salt water for trout and redfish inshore and kingfish, ling, dolphin (fish) and red snaper. But offshore has all but been regulated so that it makes no sense to go.
And we live better than 140 miles from the gulf now. Used to be only 45 miles or so.


----------



## Tony744

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Samy's Camera day in the newspaper
> 
> 
> 
> Supporting the local camera store (which is "local" about 40 minutes away) is great, but mine  doesn't carry anything outside CaNikoSony. I was told, "we don't carry a huge selection of brands" the last time I asked about m4/3.
> 
> I understand their perspective as a seller, but it's frustrating from a consumer's perspective when I can't go hold any of the cameras or lenses. I'd much rather buy from them than any of the other large retailers.
> 
> Speaking of, does anyone know if we have any threads on here about "what photography related item did you buy recently"? There's a fairly active one on another forum I frequent, and while it's pretty bad for GAS and GIGS*, it's really opened my eyes to products and brands available that I may not be familiar with. @terri, @tirediron, @SquarePeg, @limr, do any of you know if we have a similar thread somewhere? If not, I might start one...
> 
> *GIGS - Grass is greener syndrome
Click to expand...


My favorite camera store is in the middle of relocating. Been trying to wait for them to reopen to buy a telephoto lens. Now that it's warming up, I don't know if I can hold out until their grand reopening on April 30.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> pick up some bait hooks, a small block of Velveta, and small can of corn.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Inside the National Park it is strictly artificial, no corn, cheese or live bait.  Brooks are the only native species, which I've considered myself lucky if I caught any above the minimum 7". At lower elevations and outside the park you can find some Rainbow and Brown. They can get larger. Might be because of all the "corn" people feed them LOL
Click to expand...

Same here - there are a number of waters that are special trout management areas: catch & release, artificial fly, artificial lure) and one trophy trout area (12" Brook trout minimum and 18" Brown trout minimum).  One of my favorites is a little stream that flows through Cunningham Falls State Park and Catoctin Mountain National Park.  The stream follows along side MD Route 77, the Federal Park (including Camp David) is on the north side, the State park on the south.  I've only seen Brook Trout there, but I haven't fished there in a long time.

In order to please the masses, a number of small ponds and streams are stocked for "put and take."  These carry a five-per-day limit.  I did pull a 13" rainbow out of one; it probably lived through the previous year.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> to please the masses, a number of small ponds and streams are stocked for "put and take." Th


 few years ago a friend of mine took his toddler grandson to a pay to fish area for trout. In all the excitement of watching grandson, he lost track of the count. By the time he remembered he had already run up a $100 bill.


----------



## davidharmier60

We had a mighty good crock pot concoction for dinner. No fish involved. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> ... a pay to fish area for trout. .../QUOTE]


What the heck is one of those?


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... a pay to fish area for trout. .../QUOTE]
> 
> 
> 
> What the heck is one of those?
Click to expand...


Don't know if they still have it but it was.a spring fed pond that they overstocked with hungry fish. You paid upfront like $10/person to fish, plus $5/lb for every fish caught.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... a pay to fish area for trout. .../QUOTE]
> 
> 
> 
> What the heck is one of those?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't know if they still have it but it was.a spring fed pond that they overstocked with hungry fish. You paid upfront like $10/person to fish, plus $5/lb for every fish caught.
Click to expand...

City folk payin' to pretend they're country folk?


----------



## waday

Notice to anyone that has a *MyFitnessPal* account. They've been hacked, and now people have names, emails, and passwords.

Change your passwords.

My wife joked that they now have the weight of everyone, too, haha.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Notice to anyone that has a *MyFitnessPal* account. They've been hacked, and now people have names, emails, and passwords.
> 
> Change your passwords.
> 
> My wife joked that they now have the weight of everyone, too, haha.



Thanks, Wade. I just logged in and changed passwords and even the email that I use (which I've been wanting to do for a while anyway.)


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just changed his password.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The thin film of morning fog is burning off and a wedge of dim yellow is hitting the front porch.  A very interesting article ... well it was interesting to Gary, on the front page of the 'California' section, in the LA Times.  "Start now to guard against dementia". What surprised Gary, according to the article, 70% of those affected by Alzheimer's/dementia are women, twice as many women as men.  Maria Shriver who founded the Women's Alzheimer's Movement, stated "it seems that we have all become so obsessed with our bodies that we have forgotten to take care of our brains." The reporter was speaking to the head neurology at Stanford who said "My waiting room with 70-year-olds with the bodies of 40-year-olds and no minds."

So heads up out there ... do some googling and think about your brains.


----------



## davidharmier60

4.25 and a minute or two today. 
The young bride of my Uncle has a fine upstanding family. A couple of them got hold of her drivers license number and social security numbers and (supposedly) she now has warrants out for her. He has cancer and is losing his brain. My Dad would like for me to work for them part time. Back in 2009 when the economy crashed he owed me back money.
I question how/if I will get paid. 

The whole thing stinks to high heaven. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

waday said:


> Notice to anyone that has a *MyFitnessPal* account. They've been hacked, and now people have names, emails, and passwords.
> 
> Change your passwords.
> 
> My wife joked that they now have the weight of everyone, too, haha.


Hmm.   I only downloaded the free app, some months back.   I've never logged into the website and don't recall ever making a password, since I just open the app.   It's the free version (though it's constantly asking me to purchase the upgrade version) and have never bought anything through it.   How much concern should I give this?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Maria Shriver who founded the Women's Alzheimer's Movement, stated "it seems that we have all become so obsessed with our bodies that we have forgotten to take care of our brains." The reporter was speaking to the head neurology at Stanford who said "My waiting room with 70-year-olds with the bodies of 40-year-olds and no minds."
> 
> So heads up out there ... do some googling and think about your brains.



This is infuriating for many reasons that I refuse to type on a tiny phone keyboard. But the rage...yup, I haz it. 

(Not with you, Tio, but rather the whole, "Hey, ladies, we finally recognize that your minds are important, too!" message.)


----------



## Gary A.

Talk to Maria Shriver.  Gary had no idea that it was a 2:1 split on Alzheimer's ... Gary thinks that the same deliver could also be used for men.  Gary thinks that all of us need a wake up call not only to take care of our bodies but our minds as well.


----------



## waday

terri said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Notice to anyone that has a *MyFitnessPal* account. They've been hacked, and now people have names, emails, and passwords.
> 
> Change your passwords.
> 
> My wife joked that they now have the weight of everyone, too, haha.
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm.   I only downloaded the free app, some months back.   I've never logged into the website and don't recall ever making a password, since I just open the app.   It's the free version (though it's constantly asking me to purchase the upgrade version) and have never bought anything through it.   How much concern should I give this?
Click to expand...

If you gave them your email and a password (and you use/used that email elsewhere), I'd be concerned. If you did not make a password or use your email, you're probably in the clear.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Notice to anyone that has a *MyFitnessPal* account. They've been hacked, and now people have names, emails, and passwords.
> 
> Change your passwords.
> 
> My wife joked that they now have the weight of everyone, too, haha.
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm.   I only downloaded the free app, some months back.   I've never logged into the website and don't recall ever making a password, since I just open the app.   It's the free version (though it's constantly asking me to purchase the upgrade version) and have never bought anything through it.   How much concern should I give this?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If you gave them your email and a password (and you use/used that email elsewhere), I'd be concerned. If you did not make a password or use your email, you're probably in the clear.
Click to expand...


You need to log into the app, too, and that login info is the same for the website, even if you don't use the web version, so I would change the password for that, too.


----------



## Gary A.

The article is equally about Shriver as it is about the female oriented Alzheimer’s 501(c)(3) organization/web site Shriver founded. Read the article written by a woman. Gary doesn’t think it is as you described.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> The article is equally about Shriver as it is about the female oriented Alzheimer’s 501(c)(3) organization/web site Shriver founded. Read the article written by a woman. Gary doesn’t think it is as you described.



Give me a chance to get to a real keyboard to explain what makes me angry before assuming it is Maria Shriver or the article


----------



## JonA_CT

I think I'm going to break the grill in by smoking about 12 pounds of cow. Of course, I've never done this before, but as the kids say, YOLO. 

I'm off to find Gary's iGrill (because I want it today, not next week sometime), some charcoal, and some brisket.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Opening Day, our unofficial holiday. 

With Bootsy, and with Freekbass (who was on local public radio for awhile, playing funk.) If you knew who some of these, um, local celebrities(?!) were this might make more sense (or maybe not). But we get to do it all again Monday - with a parade!


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary thinks that all of use need a wake up call not only to take care of our bodies but our minds as well.



I read the article in full, and saw nothing but a dreadful disease to get angry over. Found it interesting that the disease is there 20 years before you become symptomatic, and that by age 40, women's brains start to age at a more rapid rate then men. From my own personal experience I believe that daily "mental exercise" plays a part in how rapidly our mental prowess declines.  After I retired it wasn't long before I could tell the memory was getting worse. Maybe the use or lose it applies. Have had a couple of family members with Alzheimer, and it isn't a pretty picture.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I think I'm going to break the grill in by smoking about 12 pounds of cow. Of course, I've never done this before, but as the kids say, YOLO.
> 
> I'm off to find Gary's iGrill (because I want it today, not next week sometime), some charcoal, and some brisket.


Lump Charcoal!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thinks that all of use need a wake up call not only to take care of our bodies but our minds as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I read the article in full, and saw nothing but a dreadful disease to get angry over. Found it interesting that the disease is there 20 years before you become symptomatic, and that by age 40, women's brains start to age at a more rapid rate then men. From my own personal experience I believe that daily "mental exercise" plays a part in how rapidly our mental prowess declines.  After I retired it wasn't long before I could tell the memory was getting worse. Maybe the use or lose it applies. Have had a couple of family members with Alzheimer, and it isn't a pretty picture.
Click to expand...


Once again, I never said I was angry about the article itself.


----------



## RowdyRay

JonA_CT said:


> I think I'm going to break the grill in by smoking about 12 pounds of cow. Of course, I've never done this before, but as the kids say, YOLO.
> 
> I'm off to find Gary's iGrill (because I want it today, not next week sometime), some charcoal, and some brisket.



Hate to see you ruin dinner. I was about to send you a PM on this.

Pick up one of these as well. Generic ones work fine too. No lighter fluid. Food tastes much better.

Weber Compact Rapidfire Chimney Starter-7447 - The Home Depot


----------



## smoke665

Some times you just have to shake your head, because there really isn't an explanation.  On the news this afternoon.

Police: Judge admits to stealing neighbor's underwear

Seems the judge was caught on the street with several pairs of panties in.........hand


----------



## davidharmier60

Good night y'all and have a wonderful Saturday. I will be at work until at least 9am. And while the weather will be nice to  drive down south of Cleveland to the flea market that has been very good to me I can't afford to do it. So anybody that goes out and buys anything tomorrow is my idol.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

@Jon: Gary has found that a plan, ol', everyday, Home Depot type, heat gun works great. They are relatively inexpensive, they work, they're tasteless and they don't break. The expensive looftlighter type firestarters are great, but they only last for a dozen or so starts.  Gary's been using his Porter-Cable heat gun for a couple of years and you know how much Gary BBQ's.  As a bonus, if you ever have to remove some paint, you're good.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Some times you just have to shake your head, because there really isn't an explanation.  On the news this afternoon.
> 
> Police: Judge admits to stealing neighbor's underwear
> 
> Seems the judge was caught on the street with several pairs of panties in.........hand


What's next ... ?


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> @Jon: Gary has found that a plan, ol', everyday, Home Depot type, heat gun works great. They are relatively inexpensive, they work, they're tasteless and they don't break. The expensive looftlighter type firestarters are great, but they only last for a dozen or so starts.  Gary's been using his Porter-Cable heat gun for a couple of years and you know how much Gary BBQ's.  As a bonus, if you ever have to remove some paint, you're good.



I have two of the harbor freight ones...I'll have to give that a shot tomorrow.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Talk to Maria Shriver.  Gary had no idea that it was a 2:1 split on Alzheimer's ... Gary thinks that the same deliver could also be used for men.  Gary thinks that all of us need a wake up call not only to take care of our bodies but our minds as well.





smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thinks that all of use need a wake up call not only to take care of our bodies but our minds as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I read the article in full, and saw nothing but a dreadful disease to get angry over. Found it interesting that the disease is there 20 years before you become symptomatic, and that by age 40, women's brains start to age at a more rapid rate then men. From my own personal experience I believe that daily "mental exercise" plays a part in how rapidly our mental prowess declines.  After I retired it wasn't long before I could tell the memory was getting worse. Maybe the use or lose it applies. Have had a couple of family members with Alzheimer, and it isn't a pretty picture.
Click to expand...


Brain Training
https://www.lumosity.com/landing_pa...O3urGjqeD12pcvKN57og1Rwh5u4XSi1xoCRFAQAvD_BwE


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Brain Training



Seen something similar. A couple we're friends with, the woman had a mild stroke a couple years ago. Her doctor had her doing various brain teasers on her tablet.


----------



## DakotaHolter

How is everyone doing tonight?.. Any recent photographs anyone would like to share or talk about! id love to see them! ...


----------



## Frank F.

god is dead, long live god!
(= definition of Easter Saturday)




*morning prayer*


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all. Waiting to see who the keyholder is.

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## davidharmier60

4 hours today. If people wouldn't come in with mud and dirt on their shoes the floor would stay looking good. Oh well off until Monday. 

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----------



## JonA_CT

With @Gary A. and @RowdyRay 's tips to help, my first brisket was quite edible today. It took me a little while to dial in the smoker temps, but I only burned half the fuel I loaded in the 8 or so hours I had the smoker running. I think a little less salt and a little less cayenne in the rub, and perhaps a tighter wrap during the crutch next time. I'll be roasting a chicken tomorrow...that's much more within my comfort level.


I've been really down on photography stuff (well, and a lot of other things too ) recently, and way more anxious about things than I should be. It's been a year since I found out I'd been laid off (with my wife pregnant and the like). I haven't really been right since, and I'm just now figuring it out. I'm supposed to find out my teaching assignment for next year on Monday, and I've been freaking out about it, even though I don't care where I teach. I feel like the rug is just going to be pulled out from underneath me. For the first time in my life, I've realized that I don't have to fight through the stuff I'm feeling alone. My wife has been really supportive, and I'm calling for additional help on Monday.

As part of that, I'm sad that I'm not taking as many photos of Jack as I did of Tegan, but I just haven't felt like it. Thank god for my wife and her cell phone. Here are a few from the last couple weeks that I've finally gotten around to editing. Maybe more will come soon.


----------



## terri

You hang in there, punkin. 

As for Jack, especially in pic  #3, he's lucky I don't eat him.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey Hosers, Gary has been cleaning and prepping all jammin' day.  Hit all three goals ... easily.  Gary has seared and dumped a Tri-Tip into the Sous Vide ... mmmhhh ... for a 16 to 17 hour cook.  It is swimming in herbs, wine and Gary BBQ sauce.  Another Tri-Tip is marinating away in the fridge, smothered in different herbs.  The second Tri-Tip is destined for the Kamado.


----------



## Frank F.

Yesterday I took a walk though a nice park 30 minutes away by car. Lots of great shots in stark light. This original frame has so much revealing power that I will show it here while I will post all others to another thread:




 *about a groom and a bride*

D850 & 1.4/105E @f/1.4


----------



## Tony744

Happy Easter everyone!


----------



## Frank F.

Happy Easter and:

What about an occasional cup of tea in the Coffe House?


----------



## snowbear

Happy Easter.
Whatever hit me (I'm no longer convinced it was allergies) has moved to my chest, so no fishing today.  I have a few more of yesterday's photos to go through, and after that - bed.

_Branta canadensis_ which means "big, pretty bird that leaves poops like a dog's"



DSC_1341.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> means "big, pretty bird that leaves poops like a dog's"



Our old house was on a sheltered inlet to a large lake. The nice lawns/driveways/streets around the water became their prime feeding/bathroom locations. A few wouldn't have been so bad but they would swarm in by the thousands. We bought firecrackers and bottle rockets by the case to chase them off.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> With @Gary A. and @RowdyRay 's tips to help, my first brisket was quite edible today. It took me a little while to dial in the smoker temps, but I only burned half the fuel I loaded in the 8 or so hours I had the smoker running. I think a little less salt and a little less cayenne in the rub, and perhaps a tighter wrap during the crutch next time. I'll be roasting a chicken tomorrow...that's much more within my comfort level.
> 
> 
> I've been really down on photography stuff (well, and a lot of other things too ) recently, and way more anxious about things than I should be. It's been a year since I found out I'd been laid off (with my wife pregnant and the like). I haven't really been right since, and I'm just now figuring it out. I'm supposed to find out my teaching assignment for next year on Monday, and I've been freaking out about it, even though I don't care where I teach. I feel like the rug is just going to be pulled out from underneath me. For the first time in my life, I've realized that I don't have to fight through the stuff I'm feeling alone. My wife has been really supportive, and I'm calling for additional help on Monday.
> 
> As part of that, I'm sad that I'm not taking as many photos of Jack as I did of Tegan, but I just haven't felt like it. Thank god for my wife and her cell phone. Here are a few from the last couple weeks that I've finally gotten around to editing. Maybe more will come soon.
> 
> View attachment 155787 View attachment 155788 View attachment 155789



He’s adorable!  Nice shots Jon. Sorry to hear that you’re struggling.  Life is hard and raising two little ones is rewarding but mentally and physically exhausting.  I think most of us have been there and can say it gets easier!  As for work worries, don’t let them distract you from what’s important.  Lean on family and friends when you can.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hi there y'all. Jack looks like a fine little man. Wracking my brain and that's all I got.

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----------



## Fujidave

Grey day here today, but thanks to one of the members @BrentC  he told me how to set up my X-T20 on AF-C and chuffed that I got some shots of Susie running.  I love how the camera is set up now so much so, the X-T2 can go on BBF too


----------



## waday

Happy Easter!




Bunny Love by Wade, on Flickr


----------



## davidharmier60

Good Night my friends and let's have a nice Monday even though Monday generally HOOVERS!


----------



## waday

Woke up to about 4 inches of snow on the ground. 

Roads were ok, though. Temps are above freezing, so here's to hoping it melts quickly.


----------



## JonA_CT

Here too. We've canceled school for less around here, but now that it's April -- YOLO! Haha. My drive in was fine, but our buses had issues. I think we're probably around the 3-4 inch mark right now, and its still dumping. The kids are salty this morning.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> Here too. We've canceled school for less around here, but now that it's April -- YOLO! Haha. My drive in was fine, but our buses had issues. I think we're probably around the 3-4 inch mark right now, and its still dumping. The kids are salty this morning.


Haha.. schools around here had a 2-hour delay, but that was about it. I imagine if it had been a tad colder, and the snow stuck to the roads, it would have been a tad worse.


----------



## limr

Same here. Had a delay, but am at work now. Was a bit of a non-issue, which is strange considering we got more snow than predicted. Funny, it is totally white outside but I can hear the robins chattering. Because the window is open. Because yes, of course it was decided that the snow requires 85-degree temps in the office 

Seriously, people, settle down. We live in the northeast. It gets cold. We can handle it. No reason to cook us alive when we are just trying to get some work done.


----------



## davidharmier60

4.5 and a minute or two today. 
Indications are that school ain't open today around here. Talking to a nice fellow here in the deli about death and how the nicest people die before the grouchy or just plain bad people. 

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----------



## ceemac

Couple of inches here last night and more predicted. Sitting at -8C, snow blower well bonded to the corner of the driveway. Where's Spring?


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> Woke up to about 4 inches of snow on the ground.
> 
> Roads were ok, though. Temps are above freezing, so here's to hoping it melts quickly.



Seriously?????? Is this some sort of record for late season snow for you guys?????


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Seriously, people, settle down. We live in the northeast. It gets cold. We can handle it. No reason to cook us alive when we are just trying to get some work done.



I always found when traveling, that people in the south tend to overdo the A/C while people in the north tend to overdo the heat. There was a time one year in Jan/Feb when I had to go to Minneapolis almost every week. I'd drive to the airport in Birmingham with the A/C on,  and get off the plane in Minneapolis to 0 or below temps and snow everywhere.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Woke up to about 4 inches of snow on the ground.
> 
> Roads were ok, though. Temps are above freezing, so here's to hoping it melts quickly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously?????? Is this some sort of record for late season snow for you guys?????
Click to expand...

I don't think so, I think April is fair game for snow (albeit very light snow), unfortunately. For our area/region, Mother's Day weekend is considered the earliest people should start planting outside, because we can have frost through April.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> I don't think so, I think April is fair game for snow (albeit very light snow), unfortunately. For our area/region, Mother's Day weekend is considered the earliest people should start planting outside, because we can have frost through April.



Wow, we're actually late now on planting. Generally we like to have corn planted and up around the middle to third week of March, so it tassels before the the 4th of July, to beat the highest heat.


----------



## terri

Within a couple of weeks now, I will be moving the biggest potted plants back out to the screened in porch.   Mid-April is pretty safe to assume there will be no more frost at night.  They will stay out there until Halloween, at least, give or take a week.

So, although I have pushed back pretty hard on the oncoming spring, I admit it's nice to see the robins and bluebirds back in the yard.  We even had a flock of goldfinches over the weekend at the feeders.  Love them!  So, here comes the heat.


----------



## Fujidave

I`d be happy to see the robins and blue tits back here, I think the weather has made them clear off even though I keep putting food out for them, the bird bath is full as all the rai just makes it overflow now.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee  Hosers.  59F presently, on a gray overcast morning, but it should 66F and sunny by the afternoon.  Easter was perfect, we all cooked, ate, drank, relaxed, watched the Dodger-San Francisco game, laughed and just enjoyed life in the patio.  As Randy Newman sang ... "another perfect day".  The 16 hour sous vide Tri-Tip with a late game sear came out exceptionally well.  Guests were eating up the herbs smothering the meat as unrelentingly as they were eating the meat.  The Kamado cooked/smoked teriyaki chicken was delish and the vino was outstanding.  Wish you all were here.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't think so, I think April is fair game for snow (albeit very light snow), unfortunately. For our area/region, Mother's Day weekend is considered the earliest people should start planting outside, because we can have frost through April.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, we're actually late now on planting. Generally we like to have corn planted and up around the middle to third week of March, so it tassels before the the 4th of July, to beat the highest heat.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about corn or crops, and I don't think the Mother's Day guide applies to crops. I'm assuming there's an optimal time to plant based on soil temperature, which would differ for each region? If I recall from a few ag engineers I knew in college, corn planting here in PA is April/May and harvest is between September and October? I'm probably totally off.

From what I understand/understood, if soil temperatures were still pretty cold, the seeds would absorb water, but would not have any root or shoot growth. So, they'd be more susceptible to poor growth and seed rot if planted too early. But, if planted too late, harvest probably won't be at 100% either.

Good thing I'm not a farmer, because people would be waiting a long time to get fed from my crops.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> Good thing I'm not a farmer, because people would be waiting a long time to get fed from my crops.



Nah - you'd learn pretty fast, or starve.   I'm going with learn pretty fast.    All the guides we're thinking of for our areas are based on averages, of course.   That, and knowing our own weather/temperature zones.   Then it all comes down to what's happening currently each season.   Around here, we seem to be pretty on track.  

My screened in porch is covered in pollen - thick, greenish yellow dust.   Not much point in even cleaning it right now, since it will look the same in another three days.       But all these signs of Spring are suddenly okay by me.  

AND - they're back!!




 



 


These pics are from last year.  BUT -  we had decided to leave this nest alone and intact, based on what we were reading about returning birds, and sure enough - yesterday Mom & Dad (or one of these kids!) returned to it, and are very busy now cleaning and re-feathering.   So I expect another little group of baby swallows over the next few weeks.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously, people, settle down. We live in the northeast. It gets cold. We can handle it. No reason to cook us alive when we are just trying to get some work done.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I always found when traveling, that people in the south tend to overdo the A/C while people in the north tend to overdo the heat. There was a time one year in Jan/Feb when I had to go to Minneapolis almost every week. I'd drive to the airport in Birmingham with the A/C on,  and get off the plane in Minneapolis to 0 or below temps and snow everywhere.
Click to expand...


68 year round in my home.


----------



## davidharmier60

68 in the summer in our house would drive the electricity bill through the roof!
78 or maybe 76.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

I guess we got about 5" before the sun came out and literally vaporized the snow. The sidewalk outside is dry, and the road is pretty close too. The ground is  steaming in places.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> I guess we got about 5" before the sun came out and literally vaporized the snow. The sidewalk outside is dry, and the road is pretty close too. The ground is  steaming in places.


Lucky! No sun here, and it's hovering around 40°F. Grass is pretty much the only thing covered now.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> If I recall from a few ag engineers I knew in college, corn planting here in PA is April/May and harvest is between September and October? I'm probably totally off.



Nah you're probably about right for the area. Soil temperatures warm up earlier here. Corn doen't like heat either, so we try to get most of the growing on the front end before the high temperatures in July and August. Harvest depends on the weather, but usually we're done by the end of August on corn.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Now today feels like Opening Day!!! It was too cold for a penguin from the zoo to ride in the parade but at least the Roostermobile was there. This was the 99th annual parade, they're already talking about next year's 100th.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Friend of mine was in this band. 'Snow is falling' - yup, it was last night.


----------



## JonA_CT

Shhhhh....don’t tell momma, but I can’t bring myself to wake him up.


----------



## Tony744

Snowed for most of the morning, but nothing stuck to the roads. Finally stopped sometime after lunch and literally disappeared by the time I went outside for my afternoon break.



limr said:


> Same here. Had a delay, but am at work now. Was a bit of a non-issue, which is strange considering we got more snow than predicted. Funny, it is totally white outside but I can hear the robins chattering. Because the window is open. Because yes, of course it was decides that the snow requires 85-degree temps in the office
> 
> Seriously, people, settle down. We live in the northeast. It gets cold. We can handle it. No reason to cook us alive when we are just trying to get some work done.



I have the same problem at work, they keep the temp incredibly high. Really sucks on days when I'm constantly having to go in and out.


----------



## Gary A.

_Game Night, _a very very cute, terrific, plumb full of entertainment, more fun than a barrel of monkeys, movie!  (The Movie Pass strikes again.)


----------



## RowdyRay

Well, no Easter egg hunt this year. Friday into Saturday we got about 5" of wet snow. 

April showers are coming in the form of snow this year. Got another 2-3 this afternoon. By morning, supposed to have another 5-7. Tuesday into Wednesday, another 3-5. I hate heat, but tired of shoveling or blowing. Rain takes care of itself....usually.


----------



## Gary A.

For you true baseball fans:






LOL!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> For you true baseball fans:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LOL!


Love it. It made me get up and dance. I did the sausage swing dance.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> For you true baseball fans:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LOL!
> 
> 
> 
> Love it. It made me get up and dance. I did the sausage swing dance.
Click to expand...

LOL and ewwww!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> For you true baseball fans:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LOL!
> 
> 
> 
> Love it. It made me get up and dance. I did the sausage swing dance.
Click to expand...

If you go to the end it loads Gibson's home run. Well worth seeing.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> For you true baseball fans:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LOL!
> 
> 
> 
> Love it. It made me get up and dance. I did the sausage swing dance.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If you go to the end it loads Gibson's home run. Well worth seeing.
Click to expand...

Oh, I took it to the end.....I'm still dancing


----------



## snowbear

RowdyRay said:


> Well, no Easter egg hunt this year. Friday into Saturday we got about 5" of wet snow.
> 
> April showers are coming in the form of snow this year. Got another 2-3 this afternoon. By morning, supposed to have another 5-7. Tuesday into Wednesday, another 3-5. I hate heat, but tired of shoveling or blowing. Rain takes care of itself....usually.


That would make it a lot easier to hide them;  give each kit a snow shovel to help them find the eggs: "Hey Johnnie, I think there all in the driveway and the walkway - dig there, first."


----------



## jcdeboever

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> For you true baseball fans:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LOL!
> 
> 
> 
> Love it. It made me get up and dance. I did the sausage swing dance.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If you go to the end it loads Gibson's home run. Well worth seeing.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh, I took it to the end.....I'm still dancing
Click to expand...

I seen a Nikon Ftn. Scully. Classic.


----------



## Gary A.

I say D ... I say D,O ... D,O,D, ... D,O,D,G ... DODGERS! ... 

Okay, Danny Kaye is silly, but Gibson's home run is a thing of beauty and goosebumps ... even through Gary knows what's gonna happen ... it is still unbelievable. As Vin Scully announced "In a year that has been so improbable ... the impossible has happened."


----------



## jcdeboever

GO BLUE!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## SquarePeg

A dusting here.  All gone by 1pm.   I recall a small amount of snow once in mid May.  I had already planted flowers!


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> I guess we got about 5" before the sun came out and literally vaporized the snow. The sidewalk outside is dry, and the road is pretty close too. The ground is  steaming in places.





waday said:


> Lucky! No sun here, and it's hovering around 40°F. Grass is pretty much the only thing covered now.



We were somewhere in between. Sun came out, but no steaming pavement, and there are still big patches of snow on grass surfaces.

April storms are really all sound and fury, signifying nothing.



Tony744 said:


> I have the same problem at work, they keep the temp incredibly high. Really sucks on days when I'm constantly having to go in and out.



The thermostat is right near my desk. It was literally 85 degrees. The stupid thing is that each area can have a different set point, so maintenance could fulfill my request to set my area lower and it wouldn't affect anyone else in the suite. So I ask them to lower it, it's better for about 2-3 days, and then it creeps back up to 85 degrees.

I actually bought a small desktop "air conditioner" - basically a swamp cooler. Water evaporates through a 'cooling element' (filter) and gets fanned out. Won't work to cool the whole room off and in humid air, it probably won't work at all, but in the dry heat like we get in the office, and placed on my desk, it actually does a nice job. Not as good as a real air conditioner but better than a fan. 

So far, I'm working with people who also like to open the window to cool things down so I haven't needed the air cooler lately. Things may change when someone moves into the desk near the window. Hopefully it won't be much longer that the heat will be cranked so high.


----------



## grrr8scott

Gary A. said:


> For you true baseball fans:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LOL!


I used to have a copy of that record. Played it so often I memorized it. Oh the memories!


----------



## davidharmier60

I don't have my usual mug of coffee. 
This is not a good thing. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Tony744

GOTTA have coffee!!!


----------



## davidharmier60

Well the pot did get ready and I just finished the mug in a go cup.
So things aren't as bad as they at first seemed.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

No coffee for me.  Caffeine free since 2003.  Except for the occasional Diet Coke.  I buybthe caffeine free version for at home but they never have that when out.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> No coffee for me.  Caffeine free since 2003.  Except for the occasional Diet Coke.  I buybthe caffeine free version for at home but they never have that when out.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I guess we got about 5" before the sun came out and literally vaporized the snow. The sidewalk outside is dry, and the road is pretty close too. The ground is  steaming in places.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lucky! No sun here, and it's hovering around 40°F. Grass is pretty much the only thing covered now.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We were somewhere in between. Sun came out, but no steaming pavement, and there are still big patches of snow on grass surfaces.
> 
> April storms are really all sound and fury, signifying nothing.
> 
> 
> 
> Tony744 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have the same problem at work, they keep the temp incredibly high. Really sucks on days when I'm constantly having to go in and out.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The thermostat is right near my desk. It was literally 85 degrees. The stupid thing is that each area can have a different set point, so maintenance could fulfill my request to set my area lower and it wouldn't affect anyone else in the suite. So I ask them to lower it, it's better for about 2-3 days, and then it creeps back up to 85 degrees.
> 
> I actually bought a small desktop "air conditioner" - basically a swamp cooler. Water evaporates through a 'cooling element' (filter) and gets fanned out. Won't work to cool the whole room off and in humid air, it probably won't work at all, but in the dry heat like we get in the office, and placed on my desk, it actually does a nice job. Not as good as a real air conditioner but better than a fan.
> 
> So far, I'm working with people who also like to open the window to cool things down so I haven't needed the air cooler lately. Things may change when someone moves into the desk near the window. Hopefully it won't be much longer that the heat will be cranked so high.
Click to expand...

Sumpthin' like this?


----------



## Frank F.

In Bonn we prepare for the cherry blossom. Big party, too many tourists to even get through with a bicycle (lasts for two weeks), let alone a car, and I live in the middle of it:

Cherry Blossom - Bonn - Aktuelle 2018 - Lohnt es sich?

Cherry Blossom Festival

Blog - Kirschbluete Bonn


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> No coffee for me.  Caffeine free since 2003.  Except for the occasional Diet Coke.  I buybthe caffeine free version for at home but they never have that when out.


Wow! I had no idea. So, that makes you caffeine-free and no coffee for @terri.

What made you go caffeine free? My one sister doesn't regularly do caffeine, but it has more to do with the fact that she doesn't like hot drinks. She'll do the occasional soft drink, but she's mostly a water drinker. Similarly, her one daughter dislikes most sweets and hates soda, which is a stark contrast to all other nieces and nephews (and probably most kids her age). 

I've thought about giving up coffee, but I find that I drink it more because I enjoy the warm drink rather than the caffeine. I take it with me in the morning to work, and that's all I ever have. If I want more later, I do decaf. I've tried tea, but I can't really find one that I like enough to replace coffee. I do tend to like teas with mint, so maybe I should explore that more.


----------



## davidharmier60

4.25 hours today. Just finished breakfast at the deli. Got to go home and get Dad and go to Houston. 

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----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> No coffee for me.  Caffeine free since 2003.  Except for the occasional Diet Coke.  I buybthe caffeine free version for at home but they never have that when out.
> 
> 
> 
> Wow! I had no idea. So, that makes you caffeine-free and no coffee for @terri.
> 
> What made you go caffeine free? My one sister doesn't regularly do caffeine, but it has more to do with the fact that she doesn't like hot drinks. She'll do the occasional soft drink, but she's mostly a water drinker. Similarly, her one daughter dislikes most sweets and hates soda, which is a stark contrast to all other nieces and nephews (and probably most kids her age).
> 
> I've thought about giving up coffee, but I find that I drink it more because I enjoy the warm drink rather than the caffeine. I take it with me in the morning to work, and that's all I ever have. If I want more later, I do decaf. I've tried tea, but I can't really find one that I like enough to replace coffee. I do tend to like teas with mint, so maybe I should explore that more.
Click to expand...


I have never been a coffee drinker.  I think that is because my mom loves (turn your eyes away @Gary A. and @JonA_CT) that gross instant coffee and it always smelled and tasted so terrible when I was growing up that I just never wanted to drink coffee.  And now I see no reason to add a "vice" to my others!  The no caffeine at all started when I gave up soda for a long time after my daughter was born and I was trying to lose the baby weight and also no caffeine while nursing...  I missed my soda though so I switched to caffeine free diet coke a few years ago but only occasionally as it's so bad for you.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> No coffee for me.  Caffeine free since 2003.  Except for the occasional Diet Coke.  I buybthe caffeine free version for at home but they never have that when out.
> 
> 
> 
> Wow! I had no idea. So, that makes you caffeine-free and no coffee for @terri.
> 
> What made you go caffeine free? My one sister doesn't regularly do caffeine, but it has more to do with the fact that she doesn't like hot drinks. She'll do the occasional soft drink, but she's mostly a water drinker. Similarly, her one daughter dislikes most sweets and hates soda, which is a stark contrast to all other nieces and nephews (and probably most kids her age).
> 
> I've thought about giving up coffee, but I find that I drink it more because I enjoy the warm drink rather than the caffeine. I take it with me in the morning to work, and that's all I ever have. If I want more later, I do decaf. I've tried tea, but I can't really find one that I like enough to replace coffee. I do tend to like teas with mint, so maybe I should explore that more.
Click to expand...

At Gary's house, we're  beginning to explore all the teas that we can craft up from backyard stuff.  We have lots of herbal tea ingredients in the back ... citrus, tarragon, verbena, lemon balm, different flavored mints, a green/black tea plant and a coffee plant, et cetera. Gary needs to search for a good herbal tea DIY book.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> No coffee for me.  Caffeine free since 2003.  Except for the occasional Diet Coke.  I buybthe caffeine free version for at home but they never have that when out.
> 
> 
> 
> Wow! I had no idea. So, that makes you caffeine-free and no coffee for @terri.
> 
> What made you go caffeine free? My one sister doesn't regularly do caffeine, but it has more to do with the fact that she doesn't like hot drinks. She'll do the occasional soft drink, but she's mostly a water drinker. Similarly, her one daughter dislikes most sweets and hates soda, which is a stark contrast to all other nieces and nephews (and probably most kids her age).
> 
> I've thought about giving up coffee, but I find that I drink it more because I enjoy the warm drink rather than the caffeine. I take it with me in the morning to work, and that's all I ever have. If I want more later, I do decaf. I've tried tea, but I can't really find one that I like enough to replace coffee. I do tend to like teas with mint, so maybe I should explore that more.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have never been a coffee drinker.  I think that is because my mom loves (turn your eyes away @Gary A. and @JonA_CT) that gross instant coffee and it always smelled and tasted so terrible when I was growing up that I just never wanted to drink coffee.  And now I see no reason to add a "vice" to my others!  The no caffeine at all started when I gave up soda for a long time after my daughter was born and I was trying to lose the baby weight and also no caffeine while nursing...  I missed my soda though so I switched to caffeine free diet coke a few years ago but only occasionally as it's so bad for you.
Click to expand...

Gary is having a ton of success with the soda maker.  Gary gifted one to his youngest daughter and she is equally pleased with the results.  She's been purchasing carbonated water by the case at Costco and now no more.  There are tons of flavorings to add, but Gary would rather go a la natural with fruits and berries and melons from the yard.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary hasn't had any coffee in about a week.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> In Bonn we prepare for the cherry blossom. Big party, too many tourists to even get through with a bicycle (lasts for two weeks), let alone a car, and I live in the middle of it:
> 
> Cherry Blossom - Bonn - Aktuelle 2018 - Lohnt es sich?
> 
> Cherry Blossom Festival
> 
> Blog - Kirschbluete Bonn


A neighbor had a Cherry tree.  He would pack it in ice every winter in order to get some fruit. lol


----------



## terri

waday said:


> So, that makes you caffeine-free and no coffee for @terri.



I've slowly re-introduced coffee back onto my menu.   After a long break, while dieting, I returned with only limited use of cream, and it wasn't very good.   We've found some new beans at a local farmer's market that are really good, though.   Even limiting my cream to 3 TBS, I've been able to enjoy it.   Still only have coffee a couple-three times a week, though.   I also made up a batch of my own masala, so I make a mean chai now and love it.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou hasn't had any coffee for about a year. She didn't like black coffee and decided it was easier to eliminate the coffee with cream and sugar altogether as opposed to exercise in order to combat the calories.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hoser and non-Coffee Hosers.  It is another cool morning, about 59F presently.  Gary has prepared Maggie's breakfast of yogurt, bananas and some BBQed chicken. Soon we will be off on our walk.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hoser and non-Coffee Hosers.  It is another cool morning, about 59F presently.  Gary has prepared Maggie's breakfast of yogurt, bananas and some BBQed chicken. Soon we will be off on our walk.



Maggie eats better than me.

She can't have my coffee though.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I have never been a coffee drinker.  I think that is because my mom loves (turn your eyes away @Gary A. and @JonA_CT) that gross instant coffee and it always smelled and tasted so terrible when I was growing up that I just never wanted to drink coffee.  And now I see no reason to add a "vice" to my others!  The no caffeine at all started when I gave up soda for a long time after my daughter was born and I was trying to lose the baby weight and also no caffeine while nursing...  I missed my soda though so I switched to caffeine free diet coke a few years ago but only occasionally as it's so bad for you.


Instant, oi. There are only a few instant coffees that I can drink. I think the main problem with instant (aside from it's taste), is that the flavor is never "strong" enough for me. It's either made too weak, or too much powder making it sludgy.



Gary A. said:


> At Gary's house, we're beginning to explore all the teas that we can craft up from backyard stuff. We have lots of herbal tea ingredients in the back ... citrus, tarragon, verbena, lemon balm, different flavored mints, a green/black tea plant and a coffee plant, et cetera. Gary needs to search for a good herbal tea DIY book.


When the wife and I traveled to Ecuador, we stopped at a couple Juan Valdez Cafes here and there. They sold a packet of what appeared to be dehydrated fruits and spices. I could have sworn I took a picture of the package, but I can't find it. 



terri said:


> I've slowly re-introduced coffee back onto my menu. After a long break, while dieting, I returned with only limited use of cream, and it wasn't very good. We've found some new beans at a local farmer's market that are really good, though. Even limiting my cream to 3 TBS, I've been able to enjoy it. Still only have coffee a couple-three times a week, though. I also made up a batch of my own masala, so I make a mean chai now and love it.


Ooo.. chai! Yum! I never did sugar in my coffee (aside from flavored coffees when I do mochas/etc). But, I do like creamer. I've gone up significantly in my creamer usage, so I do need to watch that from time to time. I probably use about 2 tablespoons, maybe 3. I used to just have a sprinkle. Ugh.


----------



## JonA_CT

Black coffee is a lot easier to stomach when it's the good stuff.

I've pretty much stopped ordering coffee at breakfast restaurants around here, and I get my fix before I leave home. Since Dunkin is really the main option around here, I have to take my lumps and either order with a little bit of milk or up the ante for the cold brew which isn't terrible cold and black.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary hasn't had any coffee in about a week



What????? First no wine, now no coffee, you are seriously starting to worry me that something serious is wrong!!!

@JonA_CT we just got our order in last week, so we're good for at least 6 weeks on coffee. Costa Rican, Honduras, and Ethiopian. Should be an interesting 6 weeks. Currently finishing up on the Guatemala.


----------



## SquarePeg

My mom is hard core.  She likes her Taster's Choice instant coffee with no sugar and the teeniest drop of milk.  It's disgusting.


----------



## davidharmier60

Along with Houston we've now come to Pasadena for my freaking uncle. Now once we get the ok for the parts we go to our bank then up to his place.

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----------



## vintagesnaps

I could drink instant coffee if I had to - any port in a storm. 

I started drinking coffee when I started teaching, that's what did it! I use cream, but don't like it sweet, even flavored. Sprinkled a little cinnamon in it today. 

Which just ended up making me cough I'm so congested with this weather. Had snow Sunday, lots of rain and thunder overnight/this morning; the river level was already up this weekend. Now the sun's coming out, but more rain and storms later. OK mother nature, March is over!


----------



## Frank F.

today our daughter's room was subject to the holy inquisition by my lovely wife....

honi soit qui mal y pense


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hoser and non-Coffee Hosers.  It is another cool morning, about 59F presently.  Gary has prepared Maggie's breakfast of yogurt, bananas and some BBQed chicken. Soon we will be off on our walk.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maggie eats better than me.
> 
> She can't have my coffee though.
Click to expand...

Maggie eats better than Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> today our daughter's room was subject to the holy inquisition by my lovely wife....
> 
> honi soit qui mal y pense
> 
> View attachment 155883


Reihenfolge der Strumpfband?


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> No coffee for me.  Caffeine free since 2003.  Except for the occasional Diet Coke.  I buybthe caffeine free version for at home but they never have that when out.


Out!  Get out, right now! 
(jk)


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> My mom is hard core.  She likes her Taster's Choice instant coffee with no sugar and the teeniest drop of milk.  It's disgusting.


That's what got me through midnight shifts - eat a spoon full of instant crystals and wash it down with real coffee.


----------



## SquarePeg

gross


----------



## jcdeboever

I like any coffee. Some is just better than others. I drank percolator coffee for years until I joined here and bought a real maker. Then a French press. I had no problem with instant coffee until I got a proper maker. I still have almost a full jar of instant, probably will use it for developing some film.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I like any coffee.



Bet you won't like this https://www.orleanscoffee.com/how_to/what-is-chicory/ We had a couple of weekly deliveries into New Orleans. One driver in particular LOVED this stuff, and was always bringing some back to slip in the coffee maker in the break room.


----------



## Tony744

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> My mom is hard core.  She likes her Taster's Choice instant coffee with no sugar and the teeniest drop of milk.  It's disgusting.
> 
> 
> 
> That's what got me through midnight shifts - eat a spoon full of instant crystals and wash it down with real coffee.
Click to expand...


Been there, done that!


----------



## davidharmier60

Finally home! Got uncle's lawnmower running. 

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----------



## vintagesnaps

Flooding to the left of me, tornadoes to the right... Not exactly, but we had storms come thru sooner than I thought was expected and the worst of it went both ways around me. There was a tornado pretty far north of me where it's flatter than a pancake, with trees down, barns damaged, etc. but thankfully so far no injuries. Flooding in various flood prone areas that get it anytime it rains hard and fast for a short time, but worse than usual from what they're saying. 

I hear birds starting to chirp which is a good sign. Then for tomorrow morning - snow flurries! again! And the same for Fri./Sat. 
 This is really getting old.


----------



## espresso2x

jcdeboever said:


> I like any coffee. Some is just better than others. I drank percolator coffee for years until I joined here and bought a real maker. Then a French press. I had no problem with instant coffee until I got a proper maker. I still have almost a full jar of instant, probably will use it for developing some film.



Douwe Egberts instant coffees are very good!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

My dear old grandmother always had a jar of Sanka or Folgers Instant on hand. I hear it is still popular in Australia and New Zealand. I work for a company that owns and produces many coffee brands. They just installed a new type of machine in our break room that mixes a super strong liquid version ( comes frozen and you thaw just before use ) of instant coffee and hot water. It still tastes terrible IMO.


----------



## espresso2x

Dean_Gretsch said:


> My dear old grandmother always had a jar of Sanka or Folgers Instant on hand. I hear it is still popular in Australia and New Zealand. I work for a company that owns and produces many coffee brands. They just installed a new type of machine in our break room that mixes a super strong liquid version ( comes frozen and you thaw just before use ) of instant coffee and hot water. It still tastes terrible IMO.



I only drink espressos out in the big wide world. At home i drink DE Gold with Jersey (Gold Top) milk.


----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> My dear old grandmother always had a jar of Sanka or Folgers Instant on hand. I hear it is still popular in Australia and New Zealand. I work for a company that owns and produces many coffee brands. They just installed a new type of machine in our break room that mixes a super strong liquid version ( comes frozen and you thaw just before use ) of instant coffee and hot water. It still tastes terrible IMO.


Sanka is the cafe de la journee in Korea.  Sanka is what they served in coffee shops when Gary lived there. Thankfully they typically only poured half a cup.


----------



## davidharmier60

Youse people have a good night and a better tomorrow if at all possible. 
Supposed to start storming about 10pm.
I sure hope they understand if I don't do the Marquee in pouring rain. 

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----------



## Gary A.

Gary wrapped up work today then started to remove a giant Giant Bird of Paradise by the pond.  It Turned into a monster job and due to tight quarters, Gary ended up mulching it out in little pieces with hand tools. But, the job is done, fini ... three buckets of compost later Gary has replanted a Flowering Maple.  Gary was pleased with his compost, dark and earthy smelling with tons of worms.  Gary ran into a few grubs, the grubs ended up putting a smile on the face of a couple of Koi.  Gary’s back is painful, he has retired to the recliner watching Rachel.  He and Mary Lou, her back hurst also, are enjoying a glass of vino.  The wine is from Artiste in Los Olivos and it is delish.  Quite complex and full of flavor.  Miss Maggie is next to Gary, laying on her back with her head hanging over the edge.  Gary rubs her stomach.


----------



## Gary A.

After our wine, Gary plans to fire up the propane BBQ and put a sear on a Tri-Tip that’s been in the sous vide all day. It’s been cooking away in Gary’s BBQ sauce and a ton of rosemary and parsley.


----------



## limr

My first day in Istanbul was long and exhausting. I challenged myself to start getting acclimated as soon as I could, so I went shopping, I explored, and I tried out the few words I knew how to say in Turkish.

Late afternoon came and I was hungry and desperate for some coffee, but didn't really know what my options were. I stopped at a cafe close to my school/apartment thinking it would be a safe bet. The man asked if I wanted Turkish coffee or Nescafe. They didn't serve what I came to understand was called "filter coffee." I burst into tears.

The next few minutes was a combination of tissues, broken English and broken Turkish, and a steaming hot cup of Nescafe with UHT milk. By all rights, this beverage should have been sort of horrifying to me, but it was like sweet nectar for my bruised soul.

Thus began a long period of time drinking a lot of Nescafe because that was my only option if I wanted a mug of coffee instead of a tiny cup of Turkish coffee (which did hit the spot at times, but mornings were not those times.) I did get a French press for coffee at home, at least, but anything at a cafe or in the teacher's lounge was Nescafe. Got used to it, and even liked it...a lot of the time, anyway. Over the course of the three years, more and more "filtre kahve" places opened up and the situation improved.

Moving to Portugal was like moving to coffee heaven. Delicious espresso available for less than a euro and cafes on every corner. Mmmmm...."Meia de leite" in the morning (half espresso, half hot milk) and "cafe" (espresso) the rest of the day.

I never drank Nescafe regularly after I moved away from Turkey, but I do have to admit to giving into the occasional nostalgia-driven craving


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Gary A. said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> My dear old grandmother always had a jar of Sanka or Folgers Instant on hand. I hear it is still popular in Australia and New Zealand. I work for a company that owns and produces many coffee brands. They just installed a new type of machine in our break room that mixes a super strong liquid version ( comes frozen and you thaw just before use ) of instant coffee and hot water. It still tastes terrible IMO.
> 
> 
> 
> Sanka is the cafe de la journee in Korea.  Sanka is what they served in coffee shops when Gary lived there. Thankfully they typically only poured half a cup.
Click to expand...


I don't remember if I drank coffee in Korea. I do remember drinking maekju and soju however. Surely it was better than the thick, potent liquid they served demitasse style in Cairo though. Those little cups are more than big enough for their coffee


----------



## Gary A.

Ahhhhhhhh ... soju.  ​


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I heard on the radio a couple years ago, some American liquor society was betting on soju becoming the new " in " drink. I haven't heard anything about that since.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> My first day in Istanbul was long and exhausting. I challenged myself to start getting acclimated as soon as I could, so I went shopping, I explored, and I tried out the few words I knew how to say in Turkish.
> 
> Late afternoon came and I was hungry and desperate for some coffee, but didn't really know what my options were. I stopped at a cafe close to my school/apartment thinking it would be a safe bet. The man asked if I wanted Turkish coffee or Nescafe. They didn't serve what I came to understand was called "filter coffee." I burst into tears.
> 
> The next few minutes was a combination of tissues, broken English and broken Turkish, and a steaming hot cup of Nescafe with UHT milk. By all rights, this beverage should have been sort of horrifying to me, but it was like sweet nectar for my bruised soul.
> 
> Thus began a long period of time drinking a lot of Nescafe because that was my only option if I wanted a mug of coffee instead of a tiny cup of Turkish coffee (which did hit the spot at times, but mornings were not those times.) I did get a French press for coffee at home, at least, but anything at a cafe or in the teacher's lounge was Nescafe. Got used to it, and even liked it...a lot of the time, anyway. Over the course of the three years, more and more "filtre kahve" places opened up and the situation improved.
> 
> Moving to Portugal was like moving to coffee heaven. Delicious espresso available for less than a euro and cafes on every corner. Mmmmm...."Meia de leite" in the morning (half espresso, half hot milk) and "cafe" (espresso) the rest of the day.
> 
> I never drank Nescafe regularly after I moved away from Turkey, but I do have to admit to giving into the occasional nostalgia-driven craving


My mother-in-law is convinced that the Nescafé she buys in Ecuador is, and tastes, better than that sold in the US. I don’t disagree with her.


----------



## Gary A.

Images from today (iPhone):





Redwood tree from Miss Maggie’s walk.



 
The Marinate. 




Lookin’ into the Sous Vide bag.




Rose by the BBQ.




One side is seared.




Fini - Dinner is served.


----------



## ceemac

Any ex university students remember caffeine pills? A couple of those washed down with coffee and you could study all night.


----------



## Tony744

I've used those on occasion when I was a long haul trucker.


----------



## davidharmier60

Speaking of night. Mine was unusual. 
No waking up several times. 
No recalled dreaming. 
Was asleep and then the alarm went off.
Off to work shortly. 

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----------



## snowbear

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> My mom is hard core.  She likes her Taster's Choice instant coffee with no sugar and the teeniest drop of milk.  It's disgusting.
> 
> 
> 
> That's what got me through midnight shifts - eat a spoon full of instant crystals and wash it down with real coffee.
Click to expand...


I hope ypou folks realize that I really am kidding.  I did, however, drink a lot of black coffee during these shifts.  Ya gotta stay awake in 9-1-1


----------



## smoke665

Sweetest, most satisfying drink ever. We were on a house fire one night in January, bitter cold.  We all looked like walking ice men from the overspray off the hoses, and low and behold, out of the mist came a Red Cross service truck. All they had on board was Swiss Miss instant hot chocolate packets and a large container of hot water, but I've never tasted such great hot chocolate in my life. In all my years in the department this is the only time this has ever happened.


----------



## Fujidave

Well we beat the rain from our walk, but it was pretty damn cold out.


----------



## limr

ceemac said:


> Any ex university students remember caffeine pills? A couple of those washed down with coffee and you could study all night.



No Doze? Yeah, I only tried those once. Hated them.


----------



## JonA_CT

ceemac said:


> Any ex university students remember caffeine pills? A couple of those washed down with coffee and you could study all night.



I still have friends who use them instead of coffee.

Coffee is a ritual for me though...I'd have a hard time giving it up. I especially love when I have time to make a single pour-over cup with really fresh beans. The overall sensory experience -- pouring the water in a really specific way, stirring, the smells, the eventual taste...it can't be beat.


----------



## Gary A.

Tony744 said:


> I've used those on occasion when I was a long haul trucker.


"Guam Turnarounds", take one of those and you can drive to Guam, turn around and drive back.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> ceemac said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any ex university students remember caffeine pills? A couple of those washed down with coffee and you could study all night.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I still have friends who use them instead of coffee.
> 
> Coffee is a ritual for me though...I'd have a hard time giving it up. I especially love when I have time to make a single pour-over cup with really fresh beans. The overall sensory experience -- pouring the water in a really specific way, stirring, the smells, the eventual taste...it can't be beat.
Click to expand...

You must have some Japanese genes.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ceemac said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any ex university students remember caffeine pills? A couple of those washed down with coffee and you could study all night.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I still have friends who use them instead of coffee.
> 
> Coffee is a ritual for me though...I'd have a hard time giving it up. I especially love when I have time to make a single pour-over cup with really fresh beans. The overall sensory experience -- pouring the water in a really specific way, stirring, the smells, the eventual taste...it can't be beat.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You must have some Japanese genes.
Click to expand...


Or something...

Making bread and brewing beer are very ritualistic too. Same kind of thing  --sights, smells, touching the ingredients...


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> My mom is hard core.  She likes her Taster's Choice instant coffee with no sugar and the teeniest drop of milk.  It's disgusting.
> 
> 
> 
> That's what got me through midnight shifts - eat a spoon full of instant crystals and wash it down with real coffee.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I hope ypou folks realize that I really am kidding.  I did, however, drink a lot of black coffee during these shifts.  Ya gotta stay awake in 9-1-1
Click to expand...

When Gary was doing construction away from home, he'd visit Starbucks, usually his order would have a shot or two of espresso.  If you're gonna drink bad coffee, it might as well be thick bad coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ceemac said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any ex university students remember caffeine pills? A couple of those washed down with coffee and you could study all night.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I still have friends who use them instead of coffee.
> 
> Coffee is a ritual for me though...I'd have a hard time giving it up. I especially love when I have time to make a single pour-over cup with really fresh beans. The overall sensory experience -- pouring the water in a really specific way, stirring, the smells, the eventual taste...it can't be beat.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You must have some Japanese genes.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Or something...
> 
> Making bread and brewing beer are very ritualistic too. Same kind of thing  --sights, smells, touching the ingredients...
Click to expand...

Becoming one with what you're doing.  Sorta Zen-ish.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ceemac said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any ex university students remember caffeine pills? A couple of those washed down with coffee and you could study all night.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I still have friends who use them instead of coffee.
> 
> Coffee is a ritual for me though...I'd have a hard time giving it up. I especially love when I have time to make a single pour-over cup with really fresh beans. The overall sensory experience -- pouring the water in a really specific way, stirring, the smells, the eventual taste...it can't be beat.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You must have some Japanese genes.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Or something...
> 
> Making bread and brewing beer are very ritualistic too. Same kind of thing  --sights, smells, touching the ingredients...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Becoming one with what you're doing.  Sorta Zen-ish.
Click to expand...


BBQ is sorta that way too...I'm just not to the point yet where it's so familiar that it's comforting. I can do the other three almost asleep.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Well we beat the rain from our walk, but it was pretty damn cold out.


It is 7:43 and 55F presently, should break 70F today. A gray morning ... a quiet stillness in the air. A good morning for reading the paper and sipping coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ceemac said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any ex university students remember caffeine pills? A couple of those washed down with coffee and you could study all night.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I still have friends who use them instead of coffee.
> 
> Coffee is a ritual for me though...I'd have a hard time giving it up. I especially love when I have time to make a single pour-over cup with really fresh beans. The overall sensory experience -- pouring the water in a really specific way, stirring, the smells, the eventual taste...it can't be beat.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You must have some Japanese genes.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Or something...
> 
> Making bread and brewing beer are very ritualistic too. Same kind of thing  --sights, smells, touching the ingredients...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Becoming one with what you're doing.  Sorta Zen-ish.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> BBQ is sorta that way too...I'm just not to the point yet where it's so familiar that it's comforting. I can do the other three almost asleep.
Click to expand...

Taking on a Brisket as your first Kamado experience is a bit audacious.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Sweetest, most satisfying drink ever. We were on a house fire one night in January, bitter cold.  We all looked like walking ice men from the overspray off the hoses, and low and behold, out of the mist came a Red Cross service truck. All they had on board was Swiss Miss instant hot chocolate packets and a large container of hot water, but I've never tasted such great hot chocolate in my life. In all my years in the department this is the only time this has ever happened.


Gary likes Red Cross trucks. Gary likes fires.  We have big fires every year out here.  It is nice to grab a doughnut, a coffee and a bit of down time during a big one.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> . It is nice to grab a doughnut, a coffee and a bit of down time during a big one.



Dehydration and heat exhaustion are constant dangers for FFs. The same bunker gear designed to protect you from the heat also holds body heat in. I've gone down twice over the years. Finally realized there couldn't be a third one.


----------



## davidharmier60

Props to First Responders everywhere. 
5 hours and a few minutes. I had to throw on a long sleeve shirt to do the Marquee. 
A pretty chilly wind blowing. Wasting time until I can get my check. 

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## davidharmier60

Dad and I went up to uncle's place to check out a pressure washer. But the place is such a mess and they weren't there.
So back tomorrow against my better judgement. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## RowdyRay

Gary A. said:


> Taking on a Brisket as your first Kamado experience is a bit audacious.



That's basically what I told him. That and, GOOGLE! 

Very jealous of you and your tri tips. You guys trip over them and they practically give them away. IF I can find one, it's 8.00/Lbs. Couple summers ago, a local chain store got a truck load in for 4.00/Lbs. Bought 10. Vac'd and froze. Long gone. Awesome if done right.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Making bread and brewing beer are very ritualistic too. Same kind of thing --sights, smells, touching the ingredients...



Sounds like being in the darkroom to me.


----------



## terri

Tomorrow's dinner has just been made.   I have the most beautiful pan of baked lasagna cooling on the stove top.  Always better the day after it's baked.   I'll make a salad tomorrow and trust the hubby to find the perfect wine.

Tonight it's buttermilk pancakes.  I have to pull back from the above visual!  Just a tad difference between menus.


----------



## RowdyRay

Well the snow finally stopped early this morning. The airport says 8", we got at least 10". The patio table was cleaned off, and measured AFTER I got home from work. Sounds like we get a repeat this weekend. Sunday into Monday. Uggh! Next Wednesday.....60. 

Not sure I'll plant any gardens this year. The flower garden (north side) will be under snow until June and the vegetable garden (east side) will be under snow well after the normal planting date. Even if I intervene.


----------



## smoke665

RowdyRay said:


> You guys trip over them and they practically give them away. IF I can find one, it's 8.00/Lbs.



Same here, if you do find them, at a price you can afford, shoe leather would be more tender.


----------



## RowdyRay

smoke665 said:


> RowdyRay said:
> 
> 
> 
> You guys trip over them and they practically give them away. IF I can find one, it's 8.00/Lbs.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Same here, if you do find them, at a price you can afford, shoe leather would be more tender.
Click to expand...


Then you're cooking or slicing it wrong. Much like a brisket, get it right, it's awesome.


----------



## Tony744

JonA_CT said:


> I still have friends who use them instead of coffee.
> 
> Coffee is a ritual for me though...I'd have a hard time giving it up.



Same here. My morning wouldn't be the same without that first cup of coffee on the patio.


----------



## Gary A.

RowdyRay said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Taking on a Brisket as your first Kamado experience is a bit audacious.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's basically what I told him. That and, GOOGLE!
> 
> Very jealous of you and your tri tips. You guys trip over them and they practically give them away. IF I can find one, it's 8.00/Lbs. Couple summers ago, a local chain store got a truck load in for 4.00/Lbs. Bought 10. Vac'd and froze. Long gone. Awesome if done right.
Click to expand...

Tri-Tip is a lower quality cut.  Butchers used to turn the Tri-Tip area into hamburger. As you pointed out, if prepped and cooked right ...it turns into Prime Rib. On sale, it’s $2.99 a pound.  The one last night was from Costco.  Often, in other parts of the country Tri-tip is also called Santa Maria Cut, California Cut, Newport Steak. For $2.99, it is quite flavorful and a bargain.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Terri:  Gary has just returned from visiting K&L Wine Merchants.  A Disneyland for wine lovers. A warehouse setup by wine type and country of origin. It was nice to find wines from vineyards Mary Lou and Gary have visited. Gary picked up a French, Spanish, Willamette and Edna.


----------



## smoke665

RowdyRay said:


> Then you're cooking or slicing it wrong. Much like a brisket, get it right, it's awesome



The last one we tried was a "premarinated" one that we got at Sams. The samples they were handing out were a little on the tough side, but not like the one we brought home. We followed the cooking instructions on the label. I thought it might have to do with how we were cutting but it seem to make little difference how it was cut, and the after taste from the meat was horrible. We ended up pitching it. I've never found one in the stores unless it's in one of the "premarinated" packages.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> RowdyRay said:
> 
> 
> 
> Then you're cooking or slicing it wrong. Much like a brisket, get it right, it's awesome
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The last one we tried was a "premarinated" one that we got at Sams. The samples they were handing out were a little on the tough side, but not like the one we brought home. We followed the cooking instructions on the label. I thought it might have to do with how we were cutting but it seem to make little difference how it was cut, and the after taste from the meat was horrible. We ended up pitching it. I've never found one in the stores unless it's in one of the "premarinated" packages.
Click to expand...

The Tri-Tip Gary cooked for Easter received raves from all the guests and what little Tri-Tip that was left-over went home with the guests in doggie bags.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> he Tri-Tip Gary cooked for Easter received raves from all the guests and what little Tri-Tip that was left-over went home with the guests in doggie bag



Don't doubt it. We just don't seem to have the same available here.


----------



## davidharmier60

I should already be asleep. 
Have a good night and a better tomorrow if at all possible. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## vintagesnaps

'Shot rings out in the Memphis sky... 
Free at last, they took your life, They could not take your pride...'

50 years ago today.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> @ Terri:  Gary has just returned from visiting K&L Wine Merchants.  A Disneyland for wine lovers. A warehouse setup by wine type and country of origin. It was nice to find wines from vineyards Mary Lou and Gary have visited. Gary picked up a French, Spanish, Willamette and Edna.


Sounds fun!  You'll have to let me know what you think of the Willamette - I'm assuming that's a pinot.   I still hold that the best pinot comes from Willamette Valley.  Special climate.


----------



## Gary A.

Santa Rita Hills ... (a specialier climate).


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee and non-Coffee hosers.  On the gray and cool morning Gary is sipping his first cup of coffee in ....  mmmh ... ten days. Fresh ground and siphon brewed ... a wonderful morning eye opener and a treat well worth getting out of bed.


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## davidharmier60

4.75 and a minute or two today. 
Hung a request box for Trish. 
Tomorrow I'll hang some keyboard pull outs. Wouldn't know a wine from one place or another. 

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## Gary A.

After weaning off caffeine ... man did Gary feel the rush this morning after consuming a hot, caffeine laden beverage.


----------



## smoke665

Don't normally share these, but couldn't help thinking of our Northern members when I saw it.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> Don't normally share these, but couldn't help thinking of our Northern members when I saw it.
> View attachment 155976



There is a reason for the old joke, "We had spring on a Thursday this year."

(Spring in Florida? Bah! It is always summer there. Blech  )


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Santa Rita Hills ... (a specialier climate).


So wrong.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I think we're going to skip spring in April and go directly to summer in May. 

I did at least see a mama bunny  in the past week or two sunning herself in the last slit of the day's sun coming into the back yard. At first I saw white and thought, that isn't a possum?! too big to be a squirrel... 
I don't think I've seen a rabbit sitting back on the haunches like that. It just sat there and blinked in the sun  enjoying the warmth.

Next day or so I saw it again and something else zipped across the yard and I realized it was a baby rabbit. This was right before Easter, since then I think they went back into hibernation out of the snow. It's sunny today so maybe going into evening they'll be out again.

But the Frozen Four is tonight so I'll forget all about rabbits once I'm watching the college hockey semis.


----------



## davidharmier60

Figured we would be up at uncle's by now. Dad left a voicemail and he's never gotten back to us. So even though I can;t log into Watchuseek I'm reading threads there on the computer.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nice to have you back Gary - wine and coffee for all! 
(Decaf for the non-caffienated hosers!)


----------



## smoke665

Did @Gary A. feel the quake a few mins ago????


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Did @Gary A. feel the quake a few mins ago????


Looks like people that recorded how they felt said it was weak to light. Glad to hear.

Intensity Map:
M 5.3 - 57km SW of Channel Islands Beach, California

Overview:
M 5.3 - 57km SW of Channel Islands Beach, California


----------



## davidharmier60

No quakes in this part of Texas. 
But every now and then a BOOM that shakes the house.

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## smoke665

Getting old stinks. Today I put two new tires on the front of my second tractor, wasn't that difficult just  physical. Now the hands, arms, knees, feet, shoulders, and back are screaming "You Idiot",  and the Advil isn't working   I'm finding more and more my old body is in conflict with my young brain.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Did @Gary A. feel the quake a few mins ago????


Nope, it was pretty far away and pretty deep.  Gary's earthquake app states the earthquake was 99 miles away and 6.1 miles deep.  The quake was off of a channel island, Santa Cruz Island. The only inhabitants on Santa Cruz Island are a handful of park rangers and campground maintenance people.  Lots of good diving.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Getting old stinks. Today I put two new tires on the front of my second tractor, wasn't that difficult just  physical. Now the hands, arms, knees, feet, shoulders, and back are screaming "You Idiot",  and the Advil isn't working   I'm finding more and more my old body is in conflict with my young brain.


Yesterday, Mary Lou and Gary performed some significant gardening. Hours and hours of continuous and hard muscle straining.  Today, we opened a bottle of wine and relaxed in the patio.  Gary doesn't think the wine lessened us from feeling our tired strained muscles ... but rather it diverted our attention from being sore.  So far a lovely afternoon.


----------



## RowdyRay

smoke665 said:


> Getting old stinks. Today I put two new tires on the front of my second tractor, wasn't that difficult just  physical. Now the hands, arms, knees, feet, shoulders, and back are screaming "You Idiot",  and the Advil isn't working   I'm finding more and more my old body is in conflict with my young brain.



I hear ya. Moved all that snow yesterday. Alarm went off this morning. Flipped the covers back, sat up.....and cursed. Still think I'm 20. As I hobbled to the bathroom it sounded like Rice Crispies. Even the cat looked at me funny.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary doesn't think the wine lessened us from feeling our tired strained muscles .



Nope but a good bourbon will make you not care! LOL


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary doesn't think the wine lessened us from feeling our tired strained muscles .
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope but a good bourbon will make you not care! LOL
Click to expand...

Plenty of good bourbon here in the house, but the household much prefers our local fermentation beverage purveyors.  The nectar of the Gods.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Plenty of good bourbon here in the house, but the household much prefers our local fermentation beverage purveyors.



We were at our oldest son's for Easter. After lunch I was pleasantly surprised when he pulled out a new bottle of Knob Creek Smoked Maple. It was really  good!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary uses Knob Hill in his BBQ sauce.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all. I'm alive working on awake. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## limr

Hey hosers.

It appears to be snowing here. At least for now. Supposed to get up to 51 later.

Meh. Whatevs.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary uses Knob Hill in his BBQ sauce.



Daughter in law used some of it in the sauce for her Bread Pudding. Between her and my DW I am blessed with some fantastic culinary artists, which is partly why I can't keep weight off. LOL


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> It appears to be snowing here. At least for now. Supposed to get up to 51 later.
> 
> Meh. Whatevs.


I had very slight ice (and a few snowflakes) on my car this morning, alongside some pollen. We're supposed to get to 63. These temperature swings are killing me... it was ~30 this morning.


----------



## terri

The weather in these parts has been right where it's supposed to be, lately.   No more crazy-high temps.   They've been in the upper 50's/60's during the day, and drop very quickly as soon as the late afternoon sun starts to fade.   The heat is still coming on at night and in the early morning.    The moderating temps make the opening of the budding trees and bushes slow down, and the blooms are lasting longer.   The explosion of pollen has slowed somewhat, too.  A very nice spring week!    

March and April can be fine months around here, minus the wild windstorms.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> March and April can be fine months around here, minus the wild windstorms.



April 27th marks the 7 year anniversary of the day of storms here and the killer F5 that moved through Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and around us. Besides the sheer force of the tornado, what amazed us is that this is was the first time in my memory that I've ever watched a storm tracking over a 100 miles in "real time" video. A couple years prior to the storm, most of the TV stations around the area had been installing remote cameras on buildings every where. So you could watch the tornado advancing right up to the point that it hit the building the camera was on.


----------



## davidharmier60

It was 69 in our little town in Texas according to Accuweather. Going up near 80 later. Winter ain't much around here but a wet spell. Soon enough I'll break a sweat going out to my truck in the morning. 

4 and a couple minutes under .25 today
Trish put off the keyboard pull outs until another day.

I'm enjoying biscuits and sausage gravy and two pieces of sausage in the deli.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## Gary A.

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> It appears to be snowing here. At least for now. Supposed to get up to 51 later.
> 
> Meh. Whatevs.
> 
> 
> 
> I had very slight ice (and a few snowflakes) on my car this morning, alongside some pollen. We're supposed to get to 63. These temperature swings are killing me... it was ~30 this morning.
Click to expand...

20 to 30 degree swings are common out here.  They occur nightly. When Gary lived at the beach, every summer day it was around 80F during the day and then low 50's at night.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> It appears to be snowing here. At least for now. Supposed to get up to 51 later.
> 
> Meh. Whatevs.
> 
> 
> 
> I had very slight ice (and a few snowflakes) on my car this morning, alongside some pollen. We're supposed to get to 63. These temperature swings are killing me... it was ~30 this morning.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 20 to 30 degree swings are common out here.  They occur nightly. When Gary lived at the beach, every summer day it was around 80F during the day and then low 50's at night.
Click to expand...

They're pretty common here, too... I just can't wait for more stable weather. And sun.  So, please pardon my whining.


----------



## waday

So 2 Goats Were Stuck On A Beam Under A Bridge ...

Haha, that's pretty funny. Glad to see a happy ending.


----------



## NancyMoranG

waday said:


> So 2 Goats Were Stuck On A Beam Under A Bridge ...
> 
> Haha, that's pretty funny. Glad to see a happy ending.



"I told you this was a baaaaad idea"...
. Couldn't resist, or do just sheep make that sound?


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> So 2 Goats Were Stuck On A Beam Under A Bridge ...
> 
> Haha, that's pretty funny. Glad to see a happy ending.




Would be interesting to know if one was male and one female. Obviously they were "into butting heads" ----- You back up, No you backup, You back up first, No you back up first. LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

Heck of a goat story! Thanks!


----------



## terri

waday said:


> So 2 Goats Were Stuck On A Beam Under A Bridge ...
> 
> Haha, that's pretty funny. Glad to see a happy ending.


"There was no way I was letting go of that goat," said one of the rescuers.    Bet that's something he never thought he'd hear himself say. 

My hero!  I love goats.


----------



## Gary A.

Miss Maggie was awesome in her class this morning. She never fails to impress.


----------



## davidharmier60

Y'all have a great Friday night and a better tomorrow. After the morning I'm free until Monday.  

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## Frank F.

*that is how I feel today*


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Not sure how to interpret that...like a black hole or on a cloud? Either could work Frank.


----------



## Fujidave

Well that`s the house work cleaning all done.


----------



## Frank F.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Not sure how to interpret that...like a black hole or on a cloud? Either could work Frank.



somehow mysterious and dark I guess


----------



## smoke665

And we have rain again. Glad I decided to get my butt busy and mow yesterday.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Mow??? Our grass is still pretty brown.


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Mow??? Our grass is still pretty brown.



LOL this is actually the second time for us. Have maybe 2 weeks till the tractor and bush hog come out for firelane maintenance. Will start spraying brush killer along the lanes this week.


----------



## terri

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Mow??? Our grass is still pretty brown.


Those of us who live in the SE USA went through a very warm spell at the end of February.  Kind of spelled out early blooming and kick-started the grass.  Hubby has mowed three times already in our more natural (read: weed infested) back yard, and did the front & side yards yesterday  (Bermuda) for the first time this season.  Sad!  It's still fairly brown, but every rain greens it up.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's pissing rain in our little town. 
I Got a bit over 4.25 or under 4.5.
Probably Dad and I will go up to Lowe's in Livingston when I get home. 
Later gators. 

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## smoke665

@terri the outer yards are a mixture of things but mostly fescue, which during the spring grows rapidly then slows down in the heat of summer. Around the house we have Centipede. I love Centipede it's called the "lazy man" grass because of the lack of maintenance. Normally only requires mowing every couple of weeks to keep it nicely trimmed. We laid sod after we built the house, and it's gradually spreading outward. It's not as invasive as Bermuda, but sends out rhizomes. I've helped it along by trimming those off all along the walks and drive then transplanting. The other thing is the drought resistance. When it gets really dry it goes dormant and waits on the rain. Other than a top dressing with nitrogen once a year that's it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coff and non-Coffee Hosers.  Gary has mowing scheduled for today.  In winter it is once every two weeks, now it is weekly. Fortunately, 3/4 of the front is succulents, which requires weeding, but no mowing. The only reason we have grass is for the pooch.  Otherwise it would all be flowerbeds and groundcover.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> The only reason we have grass is for the pooch. Otherwise it would all be flowerbeds and groundcover.



Yup they're funny about that. LOL  Be nice if we could train them to astro turf and just hose it off when needed.


----------



## jcdeboever

Out in Ann Arbor for the annual Hash Bash today. I got my fish, 35 f/2 AFD, and some of this....


----------



## limr

It says Pennsylvania, but it pretty much works for the rest of the northeast as well.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The only reason we have grass is for the pooch. Otherwise it would all be flowerbeds and groundcover.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yup they're funny about that. LOL  Be nice if we could train them to astro turf and just hose it off when needed.
Click to expand...

Not for poopin', but for playing and running.  Cook had her own special pooping grounds where she always went (no training needed).  Maggie is more random, but graviating to a certain geographic area of the yard.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hosers. We did get a little snow but the sun melted it - but it's cold! I feel like I'm back in winter hibernation mode even though the sun is shining. I'm ready for a nap. But I got stuff to get done.

No sooner did I type that than it just clouded over. Okay... fine, see if I say it's sunny again! Jinxed myself.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Mow???

After while crocodiles.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Cook had her own special pooping grounds where she always went (no training needed). Maggie is more random, but graviating to a certain geographic area of the yard.



Sadie is like Cook was, there's one specific spot for pee and one for poop, never shall they coincide. Creates a lot of walking when we're on the road for her to finally give up in desperation and find a new spot. Millie on the other hand was of the "walk an drop" method who felt it was necessary to not miss a single spot in a 40 acre field while doing a half squat, duck walk. Muffin was a "grass connoisseur", it had to be the right height, the right color, the right smell, and the right density or she was not going period. Lastly Lola, bless her heart, you could tell her to poop or pee, and she'd immediately squat and do her business, no matter where, even in a parking lot.


----------



## jcdeboever

Perfect start to a beautiful evening...


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

My niece decided to ride out the hurricane in Fla. She finally thought of her dog and went out and dug up grass sod to put in a box for him so he didn't have to go out during the storm lol. The dog looked at her like she was crazy, went to the door and whined until she let him out.


----------



## snowbear

I saw exactly 17 snow flakes today - eight in DC and nine in Waldorf.




DSC_1397.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## davidharmier60

Winter is giving a last hurrah in East Texas. Gonna be low 40s by morning.
I need not awken at 4am tomorrow, but did today.
So y'all have a nice Saturday night and a nice Sunday!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cook had her own special pooping grounds where she always went (no training needed). Maggie is more random, but graviating to a certain geographic area of the yard.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sadie is like Cook was, there's one specific spot for pee and one for poop, never shall they coincide. Creates a lot of walking when we're on the road for her to finally give up in desperation and find a new spot. Millie on the other hand was of the "walk an drop" method who felt it was necessary to not miss a single spot in a 40 acre field while doing a half squat, duck walk. Muffin was a "grass connoisseur", it had to be the right height, the right color, the right smell, and the right density or she was not going period. Lastly Lola, bless her heart, you could tell her to poop or pee, and she'd immediately squat and do her business, no matter where, even in a parking lot.
Click to expand...

On walks, Cook would poop and pee at will.  But she was determined to completely clean out her intestine on a walk ... so her ending poops where much wetter than the starting poops.  Cook also used to play with her poop.  She would find odd spots to poop then it go. i.e. she would carefully backup to the edge of our retaining wall until her butt was ‘clear’, then bombs away, she’d poop for the drop.  Maggie is trained to poop/pee with the command of “Potty outside”, she gets the idea. Gary likes this conversation.


----------



## Gary A.

Another wonderful day.  In the morning it was muggy, 60% humditity.  We found it quite annoying on our all.  In the afternoon it warmed up a bit to 70F, dried out a bit, a nice sea breeze kept the backyard chimes gently ringing.  Gary took a break and read a book by the pond.  After a nice spell, he mowed the lawns and mulched up a ton of green waste. Presently, Mary Lou and he are relaxing on our recliners, sipping some wine and speaking about how best to attack our dinner. Miss Maggie is up with us, but she not having any wine and she had her dinner. So far 15,469 steps for 7.51 miles, 826 calories (above baseline) and still counting.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary ran into this little guy while working in the front. (A Monarch Chrysalis.)


----------



## jcdeboever

May have to do a time lapse on that... I wouldn't know where to start but may be worth it.


----------



## smoke665

The sun shine this morning is deceptive, as the temperature is currently hovering at 29 degrees, with the high expected to be mid 50's. Then it's back to 70-80 next week.


----------



## davidharmier60

I lived through another night. 
Decent mug of coffee to try and become human. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

With practice I should be able to take photos of some old slides.  Some are over 50 odd yrs of age, but I am looking forward to it.


----------



## JonA_CT

I’m almost done with 10 gallons of Double IPA for our next festival. I usually brew 5 gallon batches, and double the ingredients seems excessive.

 I’ll be brewing this beer on a rig 15 times the size I am today in the fall, and I’ll be starting with roughly 500 lbs of malt versus the 36 pounds I started today.


----------



## Tony744

Beer fest?


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> May have to do a time lapse on that... I wouldn't know where to start but may be worth it.


Gary has a ton of cocoons and chrysalis in the yards.  Mary Lou and Gary have planted beaucoup butterfly and hummingbird attracting plants in the yards. The creation of the chrysalis is much much more fascinating than emerging.  All the butterfly does is crawl out somewhat slimy, like a wet cat, then slowly unwraps the wings, pumps them up and dries out.  But making a Monarch chrysalis is pure fascination. The caterpillar attaches its butt to some overhang, then starts splitting it's outer skin, undulating its body to move the skin down while simultaneously secreting the chrysalis material.  At the end the Monarch will violently shake to be rid of the its former skin.


----------



## snowbear

According to the iPhone app, yesterday I walked just shy of 18,000 steps (8.7 miles).  I think this is a bit high, but today is a "take-it-easy" day, none the less.


----------



## davidharmier60

Nothing much to report.  Got a worn but clean 1919 penny out of a roll. A pretty nice 1958D as well. My Orient Mako watch is running certainly within -5 seconds in 24 hours. And my little Seiko 5 is running very close too. Other news Spaghetti is today's dinner. And that's all I got. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> Nothing much to report.  Got a worn but clean 1919 penny out of a roll. A pretty nice 1958D as well. My Orient Mako watch is running certainly within -5 seconds in 24 hours. And my little Seiko 5 is running very close too. Other news Spaghetti is today's dinner. And that's all I got.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Sounds like a good day to me!


----------



## Frank F.

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 156104
> Gary ran into this little guy while working in the front. (A Monarch Chrysalis.)




very exotic species


----------



## davidharmier60

Good night y'all and have a great Monday as if it is even possible...

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----------



## vintagesnaps

Watched the televised service that was held for the Canadian jr. hockey team players who died in a terrible bus crash Saturday. The father of one of the players had played minor pro hockey here in the late '90s (not sure if I saw him play or not; he also had played for a division rival so I might have seen him with another team in a game here). It was just heart wrenching to watch.


----------



## vintagesnaps

A coating to an inch... I'd think they're kidding but by now I know they're not! This is not even funny. Friday night had snow that was still there in the morning but gone by noon. I feel like I'm back in winter hibernation mode again. It's like we're living a version of the Groundhog Day movie!


----------



## davidharmier60

My phone says it's 51 degrees outside. 
I'll find out the truth in roughly 20 minutes.

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----------



## Fujidave

Back from a walk in the park, left the camera at home as lighting is terrible today.


----------



## davidharmier60

Overcast and mist. The better part of 4.75.
She still didn't want me to do the keyboard pull outs. Crazy Monday. No WAY to buff the whole store with pallets and stockers. 
Did the best I could. Going to continue to look at Watchuseek on the computer without logging in. And since she said she could take pennies tomorrow i may just go ahead and do 12 rolls. 

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----------



## smoke665

Mid 50's a little overcast, no wind. My kind of day!!!


----------



## Gary A.

We’ve had a spike in the temps, in the 80’s today.  Humidity is at 12%, not too bad at all. To celebrate the spike Gary is making some ice cream.


----------



## davidharmier60

I say HAH to your ice cream. Any Texan knows if it ain't Blue Bell it ain't ice cream!


----------



## Gary A.

Fini.


----------



## terri

Looks great.   I'll have some chocolate sprinkles with mine.


----------



## Gary A.

Coming up!  Gary also discovered a container of Orange Sorbet in the freezer.


----------



## Gary A.

Double Ghirardelli chocolate and made with coconut milk.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Double Ghirardelli chocolate made with coconut milk.



Oh boy might have just topped the Blue bell


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has never tasted Bluebell ... but he is so confident of his concoctions that he welcomes a blind taste contest.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary has never tasted Bluebell ... but he is so confident of his concoctions that he welcomes a blind taste contest.



Why do you use coconut milk? Lactose intolerance or other dairy allergy? Or is there something else that it contributes.


----------



## davidharmier60

Awe that's ok. We'll keep the Blue Bell for us!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has never tasted Bluebell ... but he is so confident of his concoctions that he welcomes a blind taste contest.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Why do you use coconut milk? Lactose intolerance or other dairy allergy? Or is there something else that it contributes.
Click to expand...

Gary’s youngest daughter is lactose intolerant.  With coconut milk, she can enjoy Gary’s ice cream.  Gary discovered that coconut milk also adds a bit more flavoring. Gary also makes a chocolate-Mandarin Orange ice cream which is a delight.


----------



## limr

Non-Texans are happy to let y'all keep the BlueBell


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou declares the ice cream as “Yummy”.


----------



## Gary A.

Rounding out the ice cream will another pot roast and cornbread.


----------



## snowbear

Scattered snow flurries this morning - I counted 32 flakes.  Stopped by the medical joint on the way home for the returned sinus and chest congestion; it's not flu.  I was given some antibiotics and asked to stay home tomorrow.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> ...and asked to stay home tomorrow.


are you sure that's actually related your possible illness?


----------



## jcdeboever

Supposed to have practice / scrimmage today? Not a Chance


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...and asked to stay home tomorrow.
> 
> 
> 
> are you sure that's actually related your possible illness?
Click to expand...

Yep.  I would rather be at the office . . . especially on a Tuesday.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sort of wish they'd tell me to stay home.
Would have a seriously detrimental effect on my check however. 

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----------



## smoke665

Past week or so a flock of Wild Turkeys has taken up residence on our property. Every morning when Sadie and I do our walk, we can hear the occasional chirp of the hens and the unmistakable gobble of the Tom, as he rounds them up and moves them out of our range.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> Past week or so a flock of Wild Turkeys has taken up residence on our property. Every morning when Sadie and I do our walk, we can hear the occasional chirp of the hens and the unmistakable gobble of the Tom, as he rounds them up and moves them out of our range.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT It's been several years since I hunted them, and not sure I'd care to put forth that much effort any more when I can buy a Butterball breast for a few bucks. However I might pull out the camo and calls to see if I could lure the Tom in for a portrait or two.


----------



## SquarePeg

Turkeys are mean.  Our city has tons of them roaming around.  They harass the joggers, block driveways and cause traffic when they sloooooowly walk across the street single file.  Recently a jogger was being attacked by this one turkey that hangs out near the cemetery.  A passing motorist had to pull over and go after the turkey with a snowbrush to rescue the woman.


----------



## JonA_CT

Ugh. Sounds like Canada Geese around here. One of the golf courses I play at has a kennel full of collies to keep them off the course because of their poop and because they were having problems with them surround golf balls near water features and not leaving.


----------



## davidharmier60

Way back when the girl I thought I was going to marry had a goose. That critter was kinda mean.

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----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Past week or so a flock of Wild Turkeys has taken up residence on our property. Every morning when Sadie and I do our walk, we can hear the occasional chirp of the hens and the unmistakable gobble of the Tom, as he rounds them up and moves them out of our range.


Maggie would want to play with them.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Turkeys are mean.  Our city has tons of them roaming around.  They harass the joggers, block driveways and cause traffic when they sloooooowly walk across the street single file.  Recently a jogger was being attacked by this one turkey that hangs out near the cemetery.  A passing motorist had to pull over and go after the turkey with a snowbrush to rescue the woman.


Sounds like the Peacocks we had to contend with when I lived on the peninsula. Terrible bird.  PS- What's a snowbrush?


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Ugh. Sounds like Canada Geese around here. One of the golf courses I play at has a kennel full of collies to keep them off the course because of their poop and because they were having problems with them surround golf balls near water features and not leaving.


We have a variety of geese at the regional park.  We walk Regional often as it is only a block south.  When walking around the lake, one quickly realizes that geese could easily pave the park in a week ... and consequently where a certain phrase is derived.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Turkeys are mean.  Our city has tons of them roaming around.  They harass the joggers, block driveways and cause traffic when they sloooooowly walk across the street single file.  Recently a jogger was being attacked by this one turkey that hangs out near the cemetery.  A passing motorist had to pull over and go after the turkey with a snowbrush to rescue the woman.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like the Peacocks we had to contend with when I lived on the peninsula. Terrible bird.  *PS- What's a snowbrush?*
Click to expand...


----------



## terri

My uncle tells this story about being attacked by a goose: 

"I was at a local park where there was a large flock of Canadian geese milling around, begging for scraps and pulling on grass.   One came near to the bench where I was sitting, and I extended an arm towards it.   Suddenly the wings opened wide and it charged me.   Before I knew it, his wings were beating me in the face, the beak was stabbing around my head and neck, and it was all I could do to try to grab that goose to throw him off of me.   Every time I put my hands on the body, it got wilder and the beating more intense.   So there I was -  fighting for my life, I'm thinking! - when a woman walks by and bellows: "YOU LET GO OF THAT GOOSE, YOU PERVERT!"  

The loud voice distracted the goose and I was able to shove him away and stand up.   The woman shot a disgusted look at me and kept going.  I went home with goose crap and feathers all over me."


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Turkeys are mean.  Our city has tons of them roaming around.  They harass the joggers, block driveways and cause traffic when they sloooooowly walk across the street single file.  Recently a jogger was being attacked by this one turkey that hangs out near the cemetery.  A passing motorist had to pull over and go after the turkey with a snowbrush to rescue the woman.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like the Peacocks we had to contend with when I lived on the peninsula. Terrible bird.  *PS- What's a snowbrush?*
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


I should be allowed to hit "funny" and "agree". This is my formal complaint.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Turkeys are mean.  Our city has tons of them roaming around.  They harass the joggers, block driveways and cause traffic when they sloooooowly walk across the street single file.  Recently a jogger was being attacked by this one turkey that hangs out near the cemetery.  A passing motorist had to pull over and go after the turkey with a snowbrush to rescue the woman.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like the Peacocks we had to contend with when I lived on the peninsula. Terrible bird.  *PS- What's a snowbrush?*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I should be allowed to hit "funny" and "agree". This is my formal complaint.
Click to expand...


 A lot of typing could be saved by a flip off button as well.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Recently a jogger was being attacked



I've heard that there was a gang problem in some areas of the country


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> My uncle tells this story about being attacked by a goose:
> 
> "I was at a local park where there was a large flock of Canadian geese milling around, begging for scraps and pulling on grass.   One came near to the bench where I was sitting, and I extended an arm towards it.   Suddenly the wings opened wide and it charged me.   Before I knew it, his wings were beating me in the face, the beak was stabbing around my head and neck, and it was all I could do to try to grab that goose to throw him off of me.   Every time I put my hands on the body, it got wilder and the beating more intense.   So there I was -  fighting for my life, I'm thinking! - when a woman walks by and bellows: "YOU LET GO OF THAT GOOSE, YOU PERVERT!"
> 
> The loud voice distracted the goose and I was able to shove him away and stand up.   The woman shot a disgusted look at me and kept going.  I went home with goose crap and feathers all over me."


----------



## waday

I love these stories on geese and birds.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> My uncle tells this story about being attacked by a goose:



He must have been "it" a lot when the kids played "Duck, Duck, Goose". LOL


----------



## ceemac

Have you got the Piranha Brothers there. Spiny Norman might be behind this.


----------



## Tony744

SquarePeg said:


> Turkeys are mean.  Our city has tons of them roaming around.  They harass the joggers, block driveways and cause traffic when they sloooooowly walk across the street single file.  Recently a jogger was being attacked by this one turkey that hangs out near the cemetery.  A passing motorist had to pull over and go after the turkey with a snowbrush to rescue the woman.



Don't forget about the turkey that chased the cop. I remember seeing that on the news last summer.


----------



## limr

Man, y'all must be doing something wrong. I never had any problems with turkeys or geese, and there are a LOT of both of them around here. We've got turkeys all over the woods here, and geese love my campus as well. The only time I ever had an issue was if I got too close to a nest, and even then, all I got was a hiss. I hissed back.



smoke665 said:


> Past week or so a flock of Wild Turkeys has taken up residence on our property. Every morning when Sadie and I do our walk, we can hear the occasional chirp of the hens and the unmistakable gobble of the Tom, as he rounds them up and moves them out of our range.



Sorry, but the capitalization of Wild Turkeys made me imagine your lawn scattered with empties


----------



## davidharmier60

Good night y'all and have a great Wednesday. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Sorry, but the capitalization of Wild Turkeys made me imagine your lawn scattered with empties



It's a Big Lawn. LOL


----------



## Fujidave

Well we have a lovely sunny day here, so out with the X-T20 and XC 50-230mm and try to find some swans and other things to try and take a photo of


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Well we have a lovely sunny day here, so out with the X-T20 and XC 50-230mm and try to find some swans and other things to try and take a photo of



That 50-230 is such a hidden gem. It’s perfect for outdoor nature/animal shots and even fast enough for sports action. Enjoy your outing!


----------



## Jeff15

Cr@p weather where I am for the last week, I am going out this afternoon even if all I can shoot is rain...........


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@Jeff15 I got a very nice shot of a Cooper's Hawk while handling an umbrella, a dog leash and the camera with a heavy Sigma 170-500. Make lemonade, man!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@SquarePeg  I give you an A+ for subtlety 

_See below...I forgot to add the quote
_


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Turkeys are mean.  Our city has tons of them roaming around.  They harass the joggers, block driveways and cause traffic when they sloooooowly walk across the street single file.  Recently a jogger was being attacked by this one turkey that hangs out near the cemetery.  A passing motorist had to pull over and go after the turkey with a snowbrush to rescue the woman.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like the Peacocks we had to contend with when I lived on the peninsula. Terrible bird.  *PS- What's a snowbrush?*
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


----------



## jcdeboever

We have plenty of geese, cranes, turkey where I live. I do what my dog does, pretend they belong and leave them a lone. Wise dog. I should add that I seen a "non-local, drunk" golfer messing with a sandhill. The sandhill jabbed him in the groin area and blood was everywhere. It was Swift and precise.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

My grandfather was an old school farmer. I can remember my younger ( and slower running ) sister screaming in terror as his " huge " domesticated goose chased and hissed at her. That goose lost it's head.


----------



## smoke665

Should have had my camera this morning. As Sadie and I were hiking the fire lanes, I heard a tom gobble ahead. Turned a corner and there he was strutting his stuff in a patch of sunlight streaming through the trees above.  The three of us eyed each other for a few mins, and then he calmly walked away into the brush, and we continued our walk. Surprisingly Sadie pretty much ignored him, maybe she instinctively knew not to mess with him.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Turkeys are mean.  Our city has tons of them roaming around.  They harass the joggers, block driveways and cause traffic when they sloooooowly walk across the street single file.  Recently a jogger was being attacked by this one turkey that hangs out near the cemetery.  A passing motorist had to pull over and go after the turkey with a snowbrush to rescue the woman.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like the Peacocks we had to contend with when I lived on the peninsula. Terrible bird.  *PS- What's a snowbrush?*
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...


While Gary gets your point ... and he understands living everyday next to Disneyland, Hollywood, Yosemite, Joshua Tree, Wine Country and Malibu ... the High Sierra to the Pacific Coast, from Giant Sequoia forests to Giant Kelp forests ... where perfect days just run together from one season to the next, would anger many who can't live comfortably outside all year long ... but in all innocence he actually has never heard of a "snowbrush".  (Hence the question.)

... Snowman, snow cone, snowfall, snow day, snow report, snowflake, yellow snow, snowpile, snowstorm, Snow Leopard, Snowden, snow cover, snowball, snowpack, snowmelt, snowshoe, snow plow, snow bank, snowboard, snow skis, snowcap, snow suit ... but never a snowbrush.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> never a snowbrush


Imagine a large brush that is designed to remove snow from your car without scratching the car. So, the bristles are often softer than the bristles of a broom. Some are extendable, and some have the ability to change the angle of the brush. These are more expensive than the simpler ones, but they also have more parts that can get rusted or broken.

Often, snow brushes will also include an ice scraper to remove ice from windows.

The ice scraper takes some getting used to...


----------



## davidharmier60

I suppose I'll add to the question of Snowbush. 

5 and almost a quarter. Fixed a freezer door in the produce department.  Just enjoyed breakfast in the deli.
I'd have bet money after yesterday I'd be hurting today. But I feel pretty good.

Family Pack of Drumsticks. 59 a pound
24 Pack 2 Water 2 for $4
Green Bell Peppers 2 for .88
(Bell Peppers are one of the few things I don't eat. Nasty!)

Gotta go home and get Dad and go to Houston. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm gonna guess that Gary's never seen one of these either...






A snow rake. Every few winters when we really get walloped, the snow becomes so packed that ice jams and other issues occur, and the local hardware stores get a run on these.


----------



## waday

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> never a snowbrush
> 
> 
> 
> Imagine a large brush that is designed to remove snow from your car without scratching the car. So, the bristles are often softer than the bristles of a broom. Some are extendable, and some have the ability to change the angle of the brush. These are more expensive than the simpler ones, but they also have more parts that can get rusted or broken.
> 
> Often, snow brushes will also include an ice scraper to remove ice from windows.
> 
> The ice scraper takes some getting used to...
Click to expand...


I’ll also add that the first time you forget to keep a snowbrush in your car in winter will be the last, as you curse under your breath while brushing several inches of snow from the windshield using your hand.


----------



## SquarePeg

https://www.amazon.com/Moover-Exten...-2-spons&keywords=extendable+snow+brush&psc=1

For @Gary A. when he goes to the mountains


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. we don need no stinkin brush...................


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well we have a lovely sunny day here, so out with the X-T20 and XC 50-230mm and try to find some swans and other things to try and take a photo of
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That 50-230 is such a hidden gem. It’s perfect for outdoor nature/animal shots and even fast enough for sports action. Enjoy your outing!
Click to expand...


Agree it is a cracking lens imo and very under rated too.  No swans today so went to the park with Susie and practiced BBF on the camera.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I'm gonna guess that Gary's never seen one of these either...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A snow rake. Every few winters when we really get walloped, the snow becomes so packed that ice jams and other issues occur, and the local hardware stores get a run on these.


Nope, all of Gary's rakes are for grass and leaves.  Gary is not totally ignorant of cold and snow.  Snow is about 30 minutes away, but we in California tend to keep it up in the mountains where it belongs.  Gary has lived in cold places like Tokyo, Seoul and Paris, but he has never seen a snowbrush or now, a snow rake. Next, he imagines you'll snow people will tell him of motorized snow sleds ... what would one call a motorized ... maybe a snowmobile.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> never a snowbrush
> 
> 
> 
> Imagine a large brush that is designed to remove snow from your car without scratching the car. So, the bristles are often softer than the bristles of a broom. Some are extendable, and some have the ability to change the angle of the brush. These are more expensive than the simpler ones, but they also have more parts that can get rusted or broken.
> 
> Often, snow brushes will also include an ice scraper to remove ice from windows.
> 
> The ice scraper takes some getting used to...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I’ll also add that the first time you forget to keep a snowbrush in your car in winter will be the last, as you curse under your breath while brushing several inches of snow from the windshield using your hand.
Click to expand...

Gary is on his way to Target in order to get a snowbrush for his car.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. we don need no stinkin brush...................


That's a nicely clean car, but will a Volt start when the batteries freeze?  Gary thinks he's take his car to a car wash when it gets that dirty.


----------



## grrr8scott

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Turkeys are mean.  Our city has tons of them roaming around.  They harass the joggers, block driveways and cause traffic when they sloooooowly walk across the street single file.  Recently a jogger was being attacked by this one turkey that hangs out near the cemetery.  A passing motorist had to pull over and go after the turkey with a snowbrush to rescue the woman.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like the Peacocks we had to contend with when I lived on the peninsula. Terrible bird.  PS- What's a snowbrush?
Click to expand...


Was that the PV Peninsula?  Where/when did you live there?  I lived there from '58-'67, when I graduated from high school.  My parents lived there (Lunada Bay) till they died.  The peacocks at the mayor's residence then were incredibly noisy.  When I first heard them I was about 9 years old, and didn't realize the sound was coming from birds!


----------



## RowdyRay

JonA_CT said:


> I'm gonna guess that Gary's never seen one of these either...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A snow rake. Every few winters when we really get walloped, the snow becomes so packed that ice jams and other issues occur, and the local hardware stores get a run on these.



Hehe, you beat me to it. Every smart Minnesotan owns one of these. The damage ice dams can do is unreal. Had one for many years. Now that the boys have their own homes, they stole...er....I mean borrowed mine. Had to hunt it down when needed. Guess what they got for Christmas. They laughed when I gave them to them. Now mine is right were it's supposed to be. Good thing, too. Needed it several times.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> https://www.amazon.com/Moover-Exten...-2-spons&keywords=extendable+snow+brush&psc=1
> 
> For @Gary A. when he goes to the mountains


And Goose/Turkey defense weapon.


----------



## Gary A.

grrr8scott said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Turkeys are mean.  Our city has tons of them roaming around.  They harass the joggers, block driveways and cause traffic when they sloooooowly walk across the street single file.  Recently a jogger was being attacked by this one turkey that hangs out near the cemetery.  A passing motorist had to pull over and go after the turkey with a snowbrush to rescue the woman.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like the Peacocks we had to contend with when I lived on the peninsula. Terrible bird.  PS- What's a snowbrush?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Was that the PV Peninsula?  Where/when did you live there?  I lived there from '58-'67, when I graduated from high school.  My parents lived there (Lunada Bay) till they died.  The peacocks at the mayor's residence then were incredibly noisy.  When I first heard them I was about 9 years old, and didn't realize the sound was coming from birds!
Click to expand...

Gary lived in PV during the ‘80’s, along the southern/San Pedro side, off Western. Before that he was in Manhattan Beach.  When Gary wins the lotto he’s moving back to PV.  Gary loves PV, the Peacocks notwithstanding. Oooooh, Luanda Bay is sooooo nice.  My oldest daughter attended Bishop Montgomery.


----------



## Gary A.

76F today with humidity in the 40%. 

Some PV stuff:

#1





#2





#3





#4





#5





#6


----------



## Tony744

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> never a snowbrush
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Imagine a large brush that is designed to remove snow from your car without scratching the car. So, the bristles are often softer than the bristles of a broom. Some are extendable, and some have the ability to change the angle of the brush. These are more expensive than the simpler ones, but they also have more parts that can get rusted or broken.
> 
> Often, snow brushes will also include an ice scraper to remove ice from windows.
> 
> The ice scraper takes some getting used to...
Click to expand...




smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. we don need no stinkin brush...................



Can't tell for sure...is that Jack Lemmon in _Grumpy Old Men_?


----------



## Gary A.

@RowdyRay: Minnesota is a long drive from PV.


----------



## Tony744

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. we don need no stinkin brush...................



Works fine for dry snow...won't do squat with the wet heavy stuff.


----------



## RowdyRay

Tony744 said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A. we don need no stinkin brush...................
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Works fine for dry snow...won't do squat with the wet heavy stuff.
Click to expand...


Or a warm car you parked in the driveway in the middle of a snow storm. Come out in the morning and it's frozen to everything.

Love these hair brained ideas from people who don't have a clue. The same idiots turn on their wiper blades and think that 6" of snow will magically remove itself if you drive fast enough. Lazy SOBs. Deal with it properly, or stay home.


----------



## smoke665

RowdyRay said:


> driveway in the middle of a snow storm.



And that's why I moved south 35 years ago, so I didn't have to deal with it.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I moved north from the south so I didn't have to deal with the humidity


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I moved north from the south so I didn't have to deal with the humidity



We have very efficient heat pumps for that .


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary watched _A Quiet Place_ ... meh. Mary Lou says two stars.   This morning Gary had a meeting at CSUSB (Cal State San Bernardino).  Cal State is in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains, simply a visually stunning environment.  Unfortunately, it gets hotter than hell there in summer and the city is neither a cultural or an economic powerhouse. Mary Lou and Gary are home, relaxing and watching cable news, (Mary Lou is a news junkie), sipping a Dunning/Paso Robles Pinot Noir.  Mary Lou and Gary likes this better than the Willamette Valley Pinot Nior we drank on Monday.  We’re also snacking on a sourdough baguette smeared with Gary’s pesto, along with a variety of cheeses and some ham.  In spite of the drive to San Bernardino ... all-in-all, a pleasant day.


----------



## grrr8scott

When Gary wins the lotto he’s moving back to PV.  Gary loves PV, the Peacocks notwithstanding. Oooooh, Luanda Bay is sooooo nice.  My oldest daughter attended Bishop Montgomery.[/QUOTE]

We sold my mom’s house in 2000.  I live near Modesto - couldn’t figure out a way to live there and work here.  Went back a few years ago to visit my brother in Redondo. PV is still a nice enclave, but traffic everywhere else was awful, even though I grew up dealing with it. I still love to visit LA from time to time.


----------



## grrr8scott

Gary A. said:


> 76F today with humidity in the 40%.
> 
> Some PV stuff:
> 
> #1
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #2
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #3
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #4
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #5
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #6





Gary A. said:


> 76F today with humidity in the 40%.
> 
> Some PV stuff:
> 
> #1
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #2
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #3
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #4
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #5
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #6


Now I’m getting homesick. I lived a couple miles north of that lighthouse. Marine land used to be just south of it. I walked there from home a couple times when I was a kid. As an adult, sometimes my mom and I would go for a run to the lighthouse and back. Good memories.


----------



## davidharmier60

Since the last update (God I hate it when my phone updates) I now get weather alerts that sound like tapatalk or gmail alerts. It says it's 55 in Shepherd. 
Thursday is a lot like Monday at the store.
A couple 18 wheelers of stock arrive.
Stockers are all over the place. Some will work with me. Others not so much. 
Yippee. Today,  tomorrow and Saturday to go.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Had to pop in to town, as I lost my receipt for the X-T20 and XC lenses that came with it.  Jessops were great again and printed another one out, so now I can register that kit on the New Fuji Connect site.  Today is very grey but mild out, might see if any bugs or critters are in the park.


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning Hosers!  Big day today.  Princess is starting pitcher for her first High School softball game.  She’s on the Freshman team. She hasn’t pitched much at all the past few years, preferring to play 2nd base or outfield so she’s pretty nervous!  

Apparently they pulled the designated freshman pitcher up to the JV team yesterday, leaving Princess and one other as the only players on the freshmen team with any pitching experience.  

I think she’ll do fine but her confidence is not where it should be since she didn’t know about it until late yesterday and didn’t have a lot of time to practice.  

I’ll be there with my camera and will do my best not to armchair quarterback the coaching decisions!  Pics later.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Good luck to both of you!


----------



## smoke665

The sun is shining, for now, but the cold and rain is coming. At least we had a few nice days, during which I was able to get most of the maintenance work done on my extra tractor in preparation for sale. It's been a good little workhorse, but I really don't need it. It's time to simplify and dispose of the excess in several areas.


----------



## JonA_CT

Tonight and tomorrow are all about packing. It's spring break and we're heading to Virginia Beach for a few days.

I'm not sure what we're going to do, as it's super weather dependent, but it'll be nice to get out of town for a little while. I think I'm only going to bring my Sony a6000. It's definitely a better vacation camera than the D800, although I might pack that with the landscape lenses just in case.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> we're heading to Virginia Beach for a few days


Please let me know how you like Virginia Beach! I think the weather there is supposed to be really nice this weekend (at least tomorrow and Saturday, looks rainy after that  ). The wife and I have often talked about Virginia Beach as a destination now for a while. We're planning a trip to Ocean City, MD, and we want to see Assateague Island and the wild horses. We are bringing our dog, and I think the Maryland side is dog friendly--the VA side is not, but I think that's because there's more wildlife/reserves down there.

While you can drive on the sand, I really don't want to take my car on the sand, because there's permit fees and other requirements that I won't have in time nor do I want to purchase (like boards for tires if they get stuck, shovel, jack, etc), meh. Too much work for what we want to do... relax!


----------



## terri

Morning, hosers.   We're without water completely atm.   There's a lot of new construction going on at the back of this subdivision, and somebody cut a water line.   We called the water dept as soon as I had that oh-so-yucky moment of flipping on a faucet and having nothing come out, and they were on it.   

All it takes is for someone to tell you there's no water for a few hours before you start reaching for it every 5 minutes.       Bah!   But it beats heading down to the basement and seeing a flood.    And I always pay my bills.    

When we moved here in 2015,  there were exactly 3 new houses under construction - building came to an abrupt halt after the first couple of phases when the financial crisis hit.  Since then, we've counted 23 more homes, and this place is just about at capacity.    I guess we're lucky it hasn't happened before.


----------



## davidharmier60

Happy late morning y'all. 
4 hours and several minutes today. 
We COULD have to go up to Uncle's place to work on a grungy pressure washer. 
If anyone cares I begin year 59 tomorrow. 
Dinner will be Beef Tips and Rice. 
Dessert will be German Chocolate cake. 
And if we don't go today it could very well be tomorrow. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

terri said:


> somebody cut a water line


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Morning Hosers!  Big day today.  Princess is starting pitcher for her first High School softball game.  She’s on the Freshman team. She hasn’t pitched much at all the past few years, preferring to play 2nd base or outfield so she’s pretty nervous!
> 
> Apparently they pulled the designated freshman pitcher up to the JV team yesterday, leaving Princess and one other as the only players on the freshmen team with any pitching experience.
> 
> I think she’ll do fine but her confidence is not where it should be since she didn’t know about it until late yesterday and didn’t have a lot of time to practice.
> 
> I’ll be there with my camera and will do my best not to armchair quarterback the coaching decisions!  Pics later.


Tell Princess to Break-a-Leg.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Morning, hosers.   We're without water completely atm.   There's a lot of new construction going on at the back of this subdivision, and somebody cut a water line.   We called the water dept as soon as I had that oh-so-yucky moment of flipping on a faucet and having nothing come out, and they were on it.
> 
> All it takes is for someone to tell you there's no water for a few hours before you start reaching for it every 5 minutes.       Bah!   But it beats heading down to the basement and seeing a flood.    And I always pay my bills.
> 
> When we moved here in 2015,  there were exactly 3 new houses under construction - building came to an abrupt halt after the first couple of phases when the financial crisis hit.  Since then, we've counted 23 more homes, and this place is just about at capacity.    I guess we're lucky it hasn't happened before.


Time for a quick vacation.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Happy late morning y'all.
> 4 hours and several minutes today.
> We COULD have to go up to Uncle's place to work on a grungy pressure washer.
> If anyone cares I begin year 59 tomorrow.
> Dinner will be Beef Tips and Rice.
> Dessert will be German Chocolate cake.
> And if we don't go today it could very well be tomorrow.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Working on a grungy pressure washer is not a good way to celebrates one's birth.


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh I totally agree....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee and Non-Coffee Hosers. Today should be in the low 70's today. The sun is out early today striking a bright wedge of yellow across the front porch. Not much of a porch really, more of a cleft in the east walls for the door.  Between the east walls and the drive is a planter area with a trellis above.  Mary Lou has been speaking for years of making a proper porch beneath the trellis.

After Miss Maggie's walk we all will be off to Temecula for some great grub and wonderful wine.


----------



## Fujidave

Terrible light today, but still had fun trying AF-C mode even on flowers too.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Morning Hosers!  Big day today.  Princess is starting pitcher for her first High School softball game.  She’s on the Freshman team. She hasn’t pitched much at all the past few years, preferring to play 2nd base or outfield so she’s pretty nervous!
> 
> Apparently they pulled the designated freshman pitcher up to the JV team yesterday, leaving Princess and one other as the only players on the freshmen team with any pitching experience.
> 
> I think she’ll do fine but her confidence is not where it should be since she didn’t know about it until late yesterday and didn’t have a lot of time to practice.
> 
> I’ll be there with my camera and will do my best not to armchair quarterback the coaching decisions!  Pics later.



Good luck to you both, and look forward to seeing the photos.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Terrible light today, but still had fun trying AF-C mode even on flowers too.


Tricky lighting can add drama to photos.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> somebody cut a water line
Click to expand...


   It's back on, though pressure is still way down.    Just a matter of time before full service.    Our HOA has a FB page, and these people are raising hell.   It's pretty funny!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Happy (tomorrow) Birthday David! I love German chocolate cake, enjoy!

Yeah, there's some strange bright thing in the sky here too! lol I think it'll be nice once they stop saying a chance of flurries/wintry mix, etc. etc. Maybe by May??


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

It's headache time. I'm all squinty and dull.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Wind's picking up here, and I swear I do better when it's cloudy and rainy etc. than on a bright sunny day, especially when it's breezy. It's too nice out! gimme gloom and doom, that I'm used to!

Hope the headache gets better Leo.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> somebody cut a water line
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's back on, though pressure is still way down.    Just a matter of time before full service.    Our HOA has a FB page, and these people are raising hell.   It's pretty funny!
Click to expand...


How would we know who the local jerks are if not for Facebook community pages?



limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> It's headache time. I'm all squinty and dull.



Ugh. Barometric pressure trigger?


----------



## waday

terri said:


> Our HOA has a FB page, and these people are raising hell.


Ugh. HOAs. LOL.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> HOAs.



Old house was in a subdivision with an HOA. I realise that with many families in close proximity regulations are in order, but I can tell you that living in the country in the middle of the property is  a whole lot better.


----------



## smoke665

Prior to building we looked at several condos, but HOA fees were deal breakers. For  $3-$6K per quarter I can do a lot of maintenance on my own property.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> HOAs.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Old house was in a subdivision with an HOA. I realise that with many families in close proximity regulations are in order, but I can tell you that living in the country in the middle of the property is  a whole lot better.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there are definitely pros and cons to HOAs.



smoke665 said:


> Prior to building we looked at several condos, but HOA fees were deal breakers. For  $3-$6K per quarter I can do a lot of maintenance on my own property.


What?! Ours aren't that bad...


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> What?! Ours aren't that bad.



Condos in high dollar resort areas. Good friend of mine owns a 2 bedroom facing the gulf, his are $4k/qtr, but he gets more than enough in part time rentals to cover it.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> What?! Ours aren't that bad.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Condos in high dollar resort areas. Good friend of mine owns a 2 bedroom facing the gulf, his are $4k/qtr, but he gets more than enough in part time rentals to cover it.
Click to expand...

Holy crap, mine is nothing like that.   Basically they like to have enough cash to keep the pool and surrounding grounds maintained, and you have to show them your exterior paint colors before you begin - stuff like that.    Overall, it helps keep the neighborhood presentable and certainly doesn't break the bank, while not being overly intrusive.  

I appreciate the freedom of living alone out in the country - we have friends who are doing just that - but it's not for me.   I wave at neighbors and have the occasional chats, but I still live like I'm alone out in the country.        I like the security of a neighborhood, and also the privacy of a glass of wine on my screened in back porch.

Water is back 100%.    Yay!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> How would we know who the local jerks are if not for Facebook community pages?



Exactly.       Amazing how you can predict reactions after awhile.    It's helpful to know which houses to quicken my step in front of when I'm out walking.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> I appreciate the freedom of living alone out in the country - we have friends who are doing just that - but it's not for me. I wave at neighbors and have the occasional chats, but I still live like I'm alone out in the country



We have neighbors they just aren't right next door. As the crow flies I have 4 good friends within a 2 mile radius. Expand that and the number goes up significantly. Our "neighborhood" is about 60 square miles, so we get to wave a lot at neighbors. LOL

@wayday over the years we've also looked at buying a lot in different RV resorts. Same thing, most of the nicer ones we've looked at are close to $2k/qtr. One in particular, has lots that people paid $40-$75k for, now you can now find those same lots for less than $20k because the HOA's keep going up. Another one that some friends bought into is now in the midst of a  huge lawsuit over the increasing fees.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary have arrived in Temecula. We’ve ordered lunch and sipping vino. The weather is perfect, sunny and upper 60’s, blue skies and fluffy clouds.


----------



## davidharmier60

So far as I know there ain't nowhere within driving distance like Temecula in this part of Texas. I have been looking at wine bottles at work. Some are WAY expensive. 
And that's the way it is. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

How about a story to make us smile and feel good for once?

'Oh my gosh, this is red!' The heartwarming moment six-year-old boy sees colors for the first time when his mother surprises him with a pair of correcting glasses


----------



## davidharmier60

Had a four hour and two or three minutes day for my 58th birthday. 
I may celebrate by going to Wal-Mart and getting a new Timex Expedition. 
But first the post office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Brenda staked me breakfast this morning. 
It was awful good!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Wow, what a first quarter I had, smoked the budget. April looking great as well. All the hard work is bearing fruit and I harvested a Fujifilm 35mm f/1.4. I didn't really need it but I have been amazed by the images, potentially, your able to get from it. I think it probably has the most impressive, online images, of any Fujifilm lens I have studied. Right up there with the 50-140 and the 16. I tried one before I committed to the Fuji system. My first test image with it yesterday reminded me of the reaction it gave me a little over a year ago, it was the first lens I slapped on my friends XT1. Man the micro contrast and sharpness. It is sweet.


----------



## Fujidave

So go out today for the whole day, battery all fully charged and go for a nice walk.  Take X-T20 out of bag switch on, and nothing then try it again and what a plonker I am.  I left the fully charged battery on top of my desk ooops, had a good walk though haha.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is finishing his coffee and getting ready to take Miss Maggie to her school.  Yesterday was a good day.  Mary Lou, Miss Maggie and Gary first drove out to Menifee to drop off a set of dishes to Mary Lou's niece, then off to Temecula.  It was Thornton Winery for brunch. Thornton has great food.  Gary is a member of Thornton purely for the discounts on the food. Gary had a Mushroom Medley Fettuccini ... is was soooooo delicious ... with a members free tasting Gary choose Champagne, a glass of Sweet Angels Waltz, to go with his fettuccini.  As it was getting late, Mary Lou decided on one more stop, Lorenzi, before coming home. Lorenzi is the best winery Mary Lou and Gary have discovered in Temecula.  Lorenzi is a small winery which only produces about 4,000 cases a year. So another free tasting, some nice chats with other tasters, (one from Maine), and then the hour, twenty minute drive home.  We had 'pickups' at both Thornton and Lorenzi so y'all come over the wine fridge is replenished.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> So go out today for the whole day, battery all fully charged and go for a nice walk.  Take X-T20 out of bag switch on, and nothing then try it again and what a plonker I am.  I left the fully charged battery on top of my desk ooops, had a good walk though haha.


Oops.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> So go out today for the whole day, battery all fully charged and go for a nice walk.  Take X-T20 out of bag switch on, and nothing then try it again and what a plonker I am.  I left the fully charged battery on top of my desk ooops, had a good walk though haha.
> 
> 
> 
> Oops.
Click to expand...


I now have a fully charged battery in the bag, just in case


----------



## JonA_CT

That's one of my hang ups with using the a6000, haha. I always seem to need to charge the batteries, and I'm not good about keeping the backups charged.

My D800 on the other hand? I charge it once a month, probably...its lasts for well over 500 shots.


----------



## SquarePeg

Everyone complains about the mirrorless battery life but I have not found that to be a big issue.  I do keep one of my Fuji batteries fully charged in my bag.  The other Fuji and 2 Wasabi's I rotate into the charger as needed but leaving the one in the bag I can avoid running into the situation that Fujidave found himself in.  I also keep an extra SD card in my bag that I do not use unless I am 100% stuck.  I don't normally even take the SD cards out of my camera.  Lately, I transfer wirelessly when I'm done and then reformat in camera...


----------



## jcdeboever

Fujidave said:


> So go out today for the whole day, battery all fully charged and go for a nice walk.  Take X-T20 out of bag switch on, and nothing then try it again and what a plonker I am.  I left the fully charged battery on top of my desk ooops, had a good walk though haha.


I've never done that....lol


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Everyone complains about the mirrorless battery life but I have not found that to be a big issue.  I do keep one of my Fuji batteries fully charged in my bag.  The other Fuji and 2 Wasabi's I rotate into the charger as needed but leaving the one in the bag I can avoid running into the situation that Fujidave found himself in.  I also keep an extra SD card in my bag that I do not use unless I am 100% stuck.  I don't normally even take the SD cards out of my camera.  Lately, I transfer wirelessly when I'm done and then reformat in camera...



Last years airshow I cleared over 1,500 photos and X-T20 was set to Raw/Jpeg. That was just one battery and still had enough left on.


----------



## limr

Sometimes the battery in the K1000 runs out, but I keep my Sunny 16 skills in my bag as a backup.


----------



## limr

Day 2 of the Jesus headache.


----------



## Fujidave

My way of taking a shot with either of my Fuji X cameras is, before the camera is to my eye It`s switched on, and before it`s back to my side it`s switched off


----------



## Fujidave

Question, what is the orange supporting member thingy on some members ?


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> So go out today for the whole day, battery all fully charged and go for a nice walk.  Take X-T20 out of bag switch on, and nothing then try it again and what a plonker I am.  I left the fully charged battery on top of my desk ooops, had a good walk though haha.



I feel your pain, I suffer from the dreaded disease "Hereafter".....,.................................i go from one room to another and can't remember what I'm hereafter!


----------



## Fujidave

I am only 56 and last week I went to the shop for some sugar, but came back with milk.. lol


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> I am only 56 and last week I went to the shop for some sugar, but came back with milk.. lol



LOL. I can remember with clarity things from 30, 40 or even more years ago, my problem is remembering 30 mins ago.

Maybe that's why I relate to Dr. Seuss


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am only 56 and last week I went to the shop for some sugar, but came back with milk.. lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LOL. I can remember with clarity things from 30, 40 or even more years ago, my problem is remembering 30 mins ago.
> 
> Maybe that's why I relate to Dr. Seuss
> View attachment 156348
Click to expand...


My long term memory is pretty good too, but short term is terrible.  Who are you again..lol


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> Question, what is the orange supporting member thingy on some members ?



It means they have chosen to contribute an annual fee ($25, iirc) to the forum. In exchange, you would get access to the subscribers' forums plus some other stuff that I can't remember. I'll hunt down the link for you.

Edit: Can't find it easily on my phone, but sonewhere there is more info about becoming a subscriber. If you or someone else can't track it down by later tonight, I'll give it a go when I am in front of a larger screen/keyboard.


----------



## Fujidave

limr said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Question, what is the orange supporting member thingy on some members ?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It means they have chosen to contribute an annual fee ($25, iirc) to the forum. In exchange, you would get access to the subscribers' forums plus some other stuff that I can't remember. I'll hunt down the link for you.
> 
> Edit: Can't find it easily on my phone, but sonewhere there is more info about becoming a subscriber. If you or someone else can't track it down by later tonight, I'll give it a go when I am in front of a larger screen/keyboard.
Click to expand...


Just found it in my profile, funny really as I am a member of two other photo forums but this one here is really to my liking, so much so that I think I will have the yearly one.  Just going to have a read about it now that I found it.


----------



## Gary A.

Miss Maggie did well in class. We’re at Lazy Dog for lunch. Dunno if Lazy Dog is a national chain, but they cater to our canine friends. They’re welcomed in the patio, brought water and provided a doggie selection of foods.


----------



## otherprof

Fujidave said:


> I am only 56 and last week I went to the shop for some sugar, but came back with milk.. lol


My favorite joke on the sugar/milk theme . . .
Two men are sitting in the living room after dinner while their wives are preparing drinks in the kitchen. 
Joe says, " We ate in a great Spanish restaurant last night."  
Bill: "What was the name of it?"
Joe: " I don't remember. Wait, what the name of that flower with the nice smell and thorns?"
Bill: "Rose?"
Joe: " Yeah, that's it." Then he yells toward the kitchen, "Rose! What was the name of that restaurant we ate at last night?"


----------



## Fujidave

otherprof said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am only 56 and last week I went to the shop for some sugar, but came back with milk.. lol
> 
> 
> 
> My favorite joke on the sugar/milk theme . . .
> Two men are sitting in the living room after dinner while their wives are preparing drinks in the kitchen.
> Joe says, " We ate in a great Spanish restaurant last night."
> Bill: "What was the name of it?"
> Joe: " I don't remember. Wait, what the name of that flower with the nice smell and thorns?"
> Bill: "Rose?"
> Joe: " Yeah, that's it." Then he yells toward the kitchen, "Rose! What was the name of that restaurant we ate at last night?"
Click to expand...


Classic


----------



## smoke665

My wife and I laugh at this one all the time, because it hits so close to home. Our master suite is on the top floor.

A senior couple are both having some short term memory loss. One evening they’re sitting and reading, when the husband gets up.

“Would you like anything from the kitchen?” he asks. “Some vanilla ice cream,” his wife replies.

“Okay.” he replies.  “Shouldn’t you write it down so you don’t forget it?” she asks.  “Don’t worry, I won’t forget.” he says.

“Well,” she says. “A few strawberries on top would be great. You want to write that down?
“I’ve got it, honey. A bowl of vanilla ice cream with strawberries on top.” “And add chocolate sauce, on top too. I just know you’ll forget. Are you sure you don't me to write it down for you?”, she asks.

A little miffed, he replies, “I’VE GOT IT! Ice cream, stawberries and chocolate sauce. I don’t need it written down, for gosh sakes!”

He heads out to the the kitchen. A half hour later, he comes back with a plate of ham and scrambled eggs, and gives it to his wife.

She stares at the plate a few seconds, then says,...................... “You forgot my toast!”


----------



## davidharmier60

I couldn't remember Brookshire Brothers store earlier today to save my butt.
When our store has a sale the other places can't touch our prices.

I went and got myself a birthday present. 

Love the yellow second hand and the black date wheel. 




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----------



## vintagesnaps

I just checked to make sure I was still in the Coffeehouse, I forgot where I left off.

Actually what supposedly happens is not that we get more forgetful, but we are more aware of it. (I guess when we're younger we don't notice or don't care.) 

I forget how I know that... some inservice on memory and cognition I think.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> My wife and I laugh at this one all the time, because it hits so close to home. Our master suite is on the top floor.
> 
> A senior couple are both having some short term memory loss. One evening they’re sitting and reading, when the husband gets up.
> 
> “Would you like anything from the kitchen?” he asks. “Some vanilla ice cream,” his wife replies.
> 
> “Okay.” he replies.  “Shouldn’t you write it down so you don’t forget it?” she asks.  “Don’t worry, I won’t forget.” he says.
> 
> “Well,” she says. “A few strawberries on top would be great. You want to write that down?
> “I’ve got it, honey. A bowl of vanilla ice cream with strawberries on top.” “And add chocolate sauce, on top too. I just know you’ll forget. Are you sure you don't me to write it down for you?”, she asks.
> 
> A little miffed, he replies, “I’VE GOT IT! Ice cream, stawberries and chocolate sauce. I don’t need it written down, for gosh sakes!”
> 
> He heads out to the the kitchen. A half hour later, he comes back with a plate of ham and scrambled eggs, and gives it to his wife.
> 
> She stares at the plate a few seconds, then says,...................... “You forgot my toast!”



Love it hahaha


----------



## vintagesnaps

Friend of mine said he was glad he got the grass cut in time for more snow.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Dinner!


----------



## smoke665

The joys of growing old with your spouse.

There was a time when if I did something to really P--- O-- the DW she would stay mad for days. You know the kind of mad where every response is a one syllable word...... You still mad? NO........You okay? YES.............Anything I can do? NO... and on, and on we'd play that game, till finally she'd get over it. 

Now if I really make her mad I just go out to the shop for a couple hours, and by the time I come back she can't remember so I'm home free...............only bad thing is I can't remember what it was I'm home free on!!


----------



## terri

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Dinner!
> 
> View attachment 156359


Beautiful!   A big salad and a glass of red wine to go with, please.


----------



## Gary A.

Home, Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are home.  After a nice lunch of fish, (not nearly as nice as yesterday’s lunch at Thornton’s), Gary re-upped his seats at the local theatre ... then some frozen yogurt which we brought home.  It has been a beautiful day, temps in the 70’s, nice and sunny.  We settling in for an afternoon of watching _Coco _and eating frozen yogurt.


----------



## smoke665

Enjoying fresh Aspergus from our bed in the yard. Already had a several smaller meals, but they are really producing now. Sadly we have to leave next week and by the time we get back it will be going to seed. Oh well, good while it lasted. Amazing how something I hated as a kid is now so good.


----------



## snowbear

MLW has to check folks in at the Fire/EMS Department's graduation, tomorrow morning.  I was going to wait for her to get home, grab the car and hot the local trout pond - I missed the passed few weekends for various reasons.

I went to a small training class at work, today, and was talking to a friend in the Emergency Management Office.  She tells me "There's an opening in the SAR/Community Disaster class, this weekend if you'd like to go (hint, hint).  There's going to be free breakfast (hint, hint, hint)."

So, instead of trying to nab a few Rainbows and Goldens, I'll be in class all weekend.  Oh, well.



Fujidave said:


> So go out today for the whole day, battery all fully charged and go for a nice walk.  Take X-T20 out of bag switch on, and nothing then try it again and what a plonker I am.  I left the fully charged battery on top of my desk ooops, had a good walk though haha.


I've done that once.  But when I discovered the battery was AWOL, I was in the air between Baltimore and San Diego.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I have three fully charged spares in the bag at all times. As soon as one dies, I recharge it as soon as I go home.


----------



## Tony744

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> So go out today for the whole day, battery all fully charged and go for a nice walk.  Take X-T20 out of bag switch on, and nothing then try it again and what a plonker I am.  I left the fully charged battery on top of my desk ooops, had a good walk though haha.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I feel your pain, I suffer from the dreaded disease "Hereafter".....,.................................i go from one room to another and can't remember what I'm hereafter!
Click to expand...


I do that all the time. Just this morning at work I walk into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. Mug in hand, I couldn't remember why I was in the kitchen.

Spent the day inside, packaging and shipping  finished products. On 3 separate orders I had everything wrapped, boxed, box sealed and shipping label attached...only to realize I forgot to put the paperwork inside the box.


----------



## Gary A.

Coco!!! Five Stars ... pure entertainment.  If you have any Mexican/Aztec blood ... Six Stars.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Enjoying fresh Aspergus from our bed in the yard. Already had a several smaller meals, but they are really producing now. Sadly we have to leave next week and by the time we get back it will be going to seed. Oh well, good while it lasted. Amazing how something I hated as a kid is now so good.


It grows wild everywhere around my crib. Will be picking it in the next few weeks.


----------



## davidharmier60

Nitey nite y'all. Got tomorrow. If I can get just 3 hours and 10 minutes that would make 25 hours even. Won't be a check as good as 27 hours but whatever. 

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## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> It grows wild everywhere around my crib. Will be picking it in the next few weeks.



Never seen it wild unless someone planted and left it. We have a raised bed that we planted 10 years ago that's still going strong


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> It grows wild everywhere around my crib. Will be picking it in the next few weeks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Never seen it wild unless someone planted and left it. We have a raised bed that we planted 10 years ago that's still going strong
Click to expand...

It grows in ditchs around farm land mostly. All over Michigan really. I was told that birds are responsible for the wild growth. Seriously though. I can go out for a couple hours and get a garbage bag full. Couple hours of blanching on the stove. Another hour to cut and freezer bag. Smelly pee all summer and fall


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> . Seriously though. I can go out for a couple hours and get a garbage bag full. Couple hours of blanching on the stove. Another hour to cut and freezer bag. Smelly pee all summer



Never tried freezing it.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> . Seriously though. I can go out for a couple hours and get a garbage bag full. Couple hours of blanching on the stove. Another hour to cut and freezer bag. Smelly pee all summer
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Never tried freezing it.
Click to expand...

It works great. Tender too.


----------



## davidharmier60

Mornin y'all. Once more into the breach go I in approximately 20 minutes. 
It's raining. Has rained pretty much all night. The floors will take a beating today.

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----------



## JonA_CT

1 hour and 47 minutes from my house to Vince Lombardi rest area in Jersey, even with a detour around the cross Bronx express (hahahahaha) way. Pretty decent.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> 1 hour and 47 minutes from my house to Vince Lombardi rest area in Jersey, even with a detour around the cross Bronx express (hahahahaha) way. Pretty decent.



Safe travels. Did you bring all your gear or just the mirrorless?


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 1 hour and 47 minutes from my house to Vince Lombardi rest area in Jersey, even with a detour around the cross Bronx express (hahahahaha) way. Pretty decent.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Safe travels. Did you bring all your gear or just the mirrorless?
Click to expand...


I brought my D800 and just the 15mm lens in case I decide to get up early and hit the coast somewhere. Otherwise, it’ll just be the a6000.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> 1 hour and 47 minutes from my house to Vince Lombardi rest area in Jersey, even with a detour around the cross Bronx express (hahahahaha) way. Pretty decent.



Hope it's better weather there then here. Heavy rain all day for us, up to 5".


----------



## pixmedic

not great at lighting glass.....yet. but the wife is experimenting with acid etching. 
its not actually "dark" in the middle...i just didnt get the lighting right. 
might try some wine glasses next.


----------



## smoke665

pixmedic said:


> not great at lighting glass.....yet. but the wife is experimenting with acid etching.
> its not actually "dark" in the middle...i just didnt get the lighting right.
> might try some wine glasses next.



Interesting. I've done a little glass etching using templates and a sand blaster, never tried the acid approach. Sounds a little scary. On lighting I've found this article extremely helpful. White-Line and Black-Line Lighting | Photography How To Articles – What's Your Specialty? Photographer


----------



## Fujidave

Just got back from a lovely walk only to see a message, my mum has had a fall so I am off to the hospital to see what has happend.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Just got back from a lovely walk only to see a message, my mum has had a fall so I am off to the hospital to see what has happend.



I hope she's ok!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> 1 hour and 47 minutes from my house to Vince Lombardi rest area in Jersey, even with a detour around the cross Bronx express (hahahahaha) way. Pretty decent.


That kinda time would get Gary down to Temecula, into Thornton, ordering food and sipping his second glass of Champagne.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 1 hour and 47 minutes from my house to Vince Lombardi rest area in Jersey, even with a detour around the cross Bronx express (hahahahaha) way. Pretty decent.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Safe travels. Did you bring all your gear or just the mirrorless?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I brought my D800 and just the 15mm lens in case I decide to get up early and hit the coast somewhere. Otherwise, it’ll just be the a6000.
Click to expand...

Light to Fight ...


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> not great at lighting glass.....yet. but the wife is experimenting with acid etching.
> its not actually "dark" in the middle...i just didnt get the lighting right.
> might try some wine glasses next.
> 
> View attachment 156380


Nice etching ... crappy photo ...


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Just got back from a lovely walk only to see a message, my mum has had a fall so I am off to the hospital to see what has happend.


Gary is hoping for the best for your mum.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Just got back from a lovely walk only to see a message, my mum has had a fall so I am off to the hospital to see what has happend.



So sorry, hope it's not bad.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The sun is out and it is a beautiful morning.  The first wedge of light is hitting the edge of the porch. A small long triangle of brightness pointing to the mailbox. Miss Maggie loves morning.  When Mary Lou and Gary get out of bed, she is all over us, wagging and wiggling her entire body, jumping up stretching her paws as high as they can reach and giving us her wet doggie kisses. Then she'll roll over on her back and wiggle on the floor inviting a stomach rub. No matter how grumpy one is in the morning, Miss Maggie will put a smile on your face.


----------



## terri

Fujidave said:


> Just got back from a lovely walk only to see a message, my mum has had a fall so I am off to the hospital to see what has happend.


Let us know how it goes, FD.  We're thinking about you.


----------



## davidharmier60

Agree FD, hope your Mum is ok!
26.08 hours as of clock out.
Won't be too bad of a check.

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----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> Just got back from a lovely walk only to see a message, my mum has had a fall so I am off to the hospital to see what has happend.



Hope she's okay!



Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 1 hour and 47 minutes from my house to Vince Lombardi rest area in Jersey, even with a detour around the cross Bronx express (hahahahaha) way. Pretty decent.
> 
> 
> 
> That kinda time would get Gary down to Temecula, into Thornton, ordering food and sipping his second glass of Champagne.
Click to expand...


It is an unfortunate fact of life in the NY-CT parts of the Tri-State area, that to get to many destinations for vacation, one must pass through New Jersey.

Jon, have you ever tried jumping off 95 onto 287 to cross the Tappan Zee and then cut down the Palisades? You can avoid the Bronx and the city bridges. And wave to me as you pass through White Plains during business hours


----------



## Gary A.

Gary made a turkey loaf last night.  Two pounds of turkey and maybe four pounds of other stuff.  Peppers (all kinds of peppers), cheeses, eggs, bread crumbs, Gary's BBQ sauce, tons of basil and Marjoram ... it was really good.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from a lovely walk only to see a message, my mum has had a fall so I am off to the hospital to see what has happend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hope she's okay!
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 1 hour and 47 minutes from my house to Vince Lombardi rest area in Jersey, even with a detour around the cross Bronx express (hahahahaha) way. Pretty decent.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That kinda time would get Gary down to Temecula, into Thornton, ordering food and sipping his second glass of Champagne.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It is an unfortunate fact of life in the NY-CT parts of the Tri-State area, that to get to many destinations for vacation, one must pass through New Jersey.
> 
> Jon, have you ever tried jumping off 95 onto 287 to cross the Tappan Zee and then cut down the Palisades? You can avoid the Bronx and the city bridges. And wave to me as you pass through White Plains during business hours
Click to expand...


If there’s a lot of traffic, that’s always the plan. We’ll usually hop in the Merritt in CT and head that way.  We left around 4:30 this morning, so it was construction traffic. Our GPS routed us to 287 to the Cross Country Parkway onto I87 and right over the GWB. We haven’t hit any traffic yet. This is my third stop in an hour, because I’m traveling with a 2-year-old  .

We’ll probably be able to wave on the way back...it’s almost assured that we’ll go around the city on the northbound leg.


----------



## smoke665

This morning I answered the door to find our neighbor from down the hill. Seems their little fur kid scooted out the door on them and ran up our driveway. As we were standing there discussing how to start looking for it, DW saw it come out from under the deck. Imagine our surprise when the neighbor shouted "SADIE COME HERE".  Runaway in hand we had a nice chat while both Sadies had fun playing on the deck.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from a lovely walk only to see a message, my mum has had a fall so I am off to the hospital to see what has happend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hope she's ok!
Click to expand...




Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from a lovely walk only to see a message, my mum has had a fall so I am off to the hospital to see what has happend.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is hoping for the best for your mum.
Click to expand...




smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from a lovely walk only to see a message, my mum has had a fall so I am off to the hospital to see what has happend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So sorry, hope it's not bad.
Click to expand...




terri said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from a lovely walk only to see a message, my mum has had a fall so I am off to the hospital to see what has happend.
> 
> 
> 
> Let us know how it goes, FD.  We're thinking about you.
Click to expand...




davidharmier60 said:


> Agree FD, hope your Mum is ok!
> 26.08 hours as of clock out.
> Won't be too bad of a check.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk





limr said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from a lovely walk only to see a message, my mum has had a fall so I am off to the hospital to see what has happend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hope she's okay!
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 1 hour and 47 minutes from my house to Vince Lombardi rest area in Jersey, even with a detour around the cross Bronx express (hahahahaha) way. Pretty decent.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That kinda time would get Gary down to Temecula, into Thornton, ordering food and sipping his second glass of Champagne.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It is an unfortunate fact of life in the NY-CT parts of the Tri-State area, that to get to many destinations for vacation, one must pass through New Jersey.
> 
> Jon, have you ever tried jumping off 95 onto 287 to cross the Tappan Zee and then cut down the Palisades? You can avoid the Bronx and the city bridges. And wave to me as you pass through White Plains during business hours
Click to expand...


Thank you all very much, Mum slipped in her kitchen and as she fell her hand hit a metal handle on a cupboard, slicing her palm open.  She is now back home but with a handful of stitches.
Thank you again everyone.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm glad your mom's OK, that can be a scare. 

Can you put something in the glass to show off the etching? I was thinking wine, but it isn't a wine glass... but what the heck put some wine in it anyway, and if it doesn't work you'll just have to drink it! lol Maybe some iced tea? kool-aid?? how about a Hawaiian Punch?

Cloudy and supposed to rain but not doing much yet. Dealing with a bit of a respiratory thing, a little scratchy throat yesterday then made the mistake of opening a window and woke up gaspy and grabbing the inhaler. Geez, since not working with kids and picking up colds anymore I didn't have trouble with it til the past couple years of early spring with summer going til November! Doesn't look like much is blooming but I guess the pollen has started. Maybe the snow tomorrow night will wash it down! 

Planned a lazy day anyway. Got soup out of the freezer yesterday for the weekend so no cooking. Watching lacrosse til playoff hockey comes on.


----------



## terri

Glad it wasn't serious, FD!


----------



## Fujidave

Too cheer my self up today, I have just brought my self Affinity Photo and the Work Book.


----------



## Fujidave

terri said:


> Glad it wasn't serious, FD!



Thank you terri, it was a scare for me but glad mum is at home and safe.


----------



## Frank F.

I am sorry to be here so rarely. Too much work. But I still love you.

yesterday in the forest:


----------



## davidharmier60

Burgers and Fries for dinner.
Yellow cake with chocolate icing a bit later.

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----------



## Tony744

Glad your mom is okay and it wasn't anything too serious FD.

Finally home. The one nice day of the weekend and I spent it driving mom around. She's been wanting to see my brother's new place out in Chelsea (that he moved into 10 months ago). Then had to visit dad at the nursing home. And of course I had errands to run. Too late to repair the front stairs, gonna have to save that for a nicer weekend


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> Thank you all very much, Mum slipped in her kitchen and as she fell her hand hit a metal handle on a cupboard, slicing her palm open.  She is now back home but with a handful of stitches.
> Thank you again everyone.



Whew! I'm sure it was scary and shaken up, but nothing worse than some stitches.

Having said that, I will probably freak out the first time I ever need stitches (which I am still hoping won't ever happen. It's really not a life experience I need to have, thankyouverymuch.)


----------



## smoke665

Well $%#& storm came through awhile ago with a lot of lightning and now our AT&T uverse is down. No landline or internet. Most likely a lightning strike at the service box a mile from us as nothing else is above ground. So much for the advatanges of buried cable. And, it will be Monday before they can get someone out.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Thank you all very much, Mum slipped in her kitchen and as she fell her hand hit a metal handle on a cupboard, slicing her palm open. She is now back home but with a handful of stitches.
> Thank you again everyone.



Glad all is well. Don't know your Moms age but I know how serious falls can be the older you are.


----------



## davidharmier60

Don't need to awaken at 4am tomorrow but did this morning. Pretty soon will be sawing logs. Have a nice night and a better tomorrow y'all. 

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----------



## RowdyRay

I'm in hibernation mode. Made it home Friday right as the heavy sleet hit. Switched to snow and hasn't stopped. Got about 12" out there now. Supposed to quit sometime tomorrow. More bonding time with the snow blower. Gonna be sore come Monday. 

I know others are getting hit hard too. Stay safe out there.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Too cheer my self up today, I have just brought my self Affinity Photo and the Work Book.



Love Affinity.  This guy cracks me up: 







Tony744 said:


> Glad your mom is okay and it wasn't anything too serious FD.
> 
> Finally home. The one nice day of the weekend and I spent it driving mom around. She's been wanting to see my brother's new place out in Chelsea (that he moved into 10 months ago). Then had to visit dad at the nursing home. And of course I had errands to run. Too late to repair the front stairs, gonna have to save that for a nicer weekend



I ran around all morning doing errands then had a softball practice that we just managed to get in before it got cold. 



RowdyRay said:


> I'm in hibernation mode. Made it home Friday right as the heavy sleet hit. Switched to snow and hasn't stopped. Got about 12" out there now. Supposed to quit sometime tomorrow. More bonding time with the snow blower. Gonna be sore come Monday.
> 
> I know others are getting hit hard too. Stay safe out there.



Yuck.  We’re expecting damp weather tomorrow and possibly below freezing temps so could be some snow...


----------



## Gary A.

@Fujidave:  Good news on your mum ... give her a hug from us.


----------



## Gary A.

This was a do nothing day.  Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary recuperated from a long and busy week. We were “couch potatoes” for most of the day.  We watched Galaxy vs. Fire. Entertained a visitor then Netflixed _A Perfect Day.  _A good story, with exceptional execution of realism and attention to accuracy and details.  All three of us are still on the recliners waiting for SNL.


----------



## Fujidave

Thanks again folks, mum is 85 yrs old this is the second time she has had a fall in two years.  It is a grey mild day here so I will let mum have a sleep in then go and do a shop for her.


----------



## pixmedic

What does lower quadrant abdominal evisceration, partially amputated foot, heroin and meth induced rage monster, and machete to the eyeball all have in common?

Ive seen them all on shift tonight.

And its not over yet.

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## Jeff15

One decent day yesterday, today back to dull and overcast. Give me light..........


----------



## smoke665

pixmedic said:


> What does lower quadrant abdominal evisceration, partially amputated foot, heroin and meth induced rage monster, and machete to the eyeball all have in common?
> 
> Ive seen them all on shift tonight.
> 
> And its not over yet.
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk



For us it seems to follow the moon. New moon and full moon nights were always busy.  We had a drug crazy with a rather large stick up his rear call the other night. Seems that in his addled state he thought it was a good idea to jump off a high porch on to a large shrub.


----------



## Fujidave

Well cleaning and shopping all done for mum, handy it`s only a quick bus ride from home.  Just had an email from Affinity saying my book has been dispatched, so looking forward to using AP.  Have it now set up to work with LR6


----------



## jcdeboever

Glad mum is OK Dave.


----------



## Fujidave

jcdeboever said:


> Glad mum is OK Dave.



Thank you JC, I have said to mum in the past about the handles sticking out too far so I hope she lets me change them to smaller ones.


----------



## jcdeboever

Prison Ministry cancelled today. We got hammered with sleet/freezing rain last night. Church was cancelled as well. Wasn't as bad in my neck of the woods but it looks like it's a mess further north.


----------



## smoke665

Really, I can't believe winter's grip this year. Rain and cool thus morning here. It rained steady last night but I don't think we got the 6" they were calling for


----------



## davidharmier60

We have nice weather in our little town. 
Pretty good coffee to ponder on it. 
No big plans for the day. More he said she said they said on the T.V. 

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----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> What does lower quadrant abdominal evisceration, partially amputated foot, heroin and meth induced rage monster, and machete to the eyeball all have in common?
> 
> Ive seen them all on shift tonight.
> 
> And its not over yet.
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


Never a dull moment. Sadly, big cities can/are similar to a battlefield.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Really, I can't believe winter's grip this year. Rain and cool thus morning here. It rained steady last night but I don't think we got the 6" they were calling for


You must have received most of our winter as we had none to speak of.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> You must have received most of our winter as we had none to speak of.



I always heard it never rained there, but then I remembered this............


----------



## Gary A.

Actually that song is very true on many levels.  It is literally true as we only average approx. 18" of rain a year, but when it does come, there is no gentleness or April Showers sissy stuff, it pours.  Most of our precipitation comes in winter.  France gets around 60" of rain a year and has about half as much flood control as California, (due to the steepness of our geography and the volume of rain in a small span of time).

The City of Los Angeles proper gets most of its water from the snowpack found in the Southern Sierra Nevada, a few hundred miles away.  The rest of Southern California gets much of its water from the California State Water Project (SWP) transported from water originating in the Northern Sierra Nevada across some 700 miles of channels.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## terri

Lovely light, steady rain and gray skies this morning.  Hot cup of coffee in my hand.   Perfect Sunday morning.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Since we're going back a few years.


----------



## Gary A.

@smoke665: As they say out here "Whiskey's for drinkin' ... water's for fightin'".


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. Since we're going back a few years.


If you want to go back ... how about some Al Jolson:


----------



## SquarePeg

Saw a couple of snowflakes this morning before it turned to sleety rain.  Very cold out.


----------



## Gary A.

Classically:


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> What does lower quadrant abdominal evisceration, partially amputated foot, heroin and meth induced rage monster, and machete to the eyeball all have in common?
> 
> Ive seen them all on shift tonight.
> 
> And its not over yet.
> 
> Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


I assume the machete was used to temper the meth rage?


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Saw a couple of snowflakes this morning before it turned to sleety rain.  Very cold out.



It was 80* here in VB a few miles inland at this awesome park we found.


----------



## Gary A.

Time to get a walk into the pooch, 58F right now but it should reach mid 70's.


----------



## davidharmier60

I had a white egret give me a pretty good shot a while ago. Maybe later I'll post it.
Almost a PERFECT day out there.
Carry on y'all.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie, Mike, Max and Gary are back from our walk drinking coffee in the patio watching M͠a͠x͠ and Maggie wrestle and reading the paper. 73F presently.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. I'm hampered without my high speed internet but another back at you-


----------



## Fujidave

OH goody, I am now a supporting member


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Jumping time direction but all time classic Percy Sledge was born in the little town of Leighton, AL


----------



## vintagesnaps

This is the kind of song written about the state where I live.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Maybe it rocks, or maybe there weren't lyrics to rhyme with 'mistake on the lake'.


----------



## Fujidave

Very mild here in East Sussex tonight, can here the little robin singing away and good to see the bumble bees back.


----------



## ceemac

Turning Spring here (maybe). Geese are coming back but there's still almost 2 ft of ice on the lake. They're wading around on a field in 6" of water from melting snow. Poor geese LOL


----------



## RowdyRay

I am officially sick of snow! The TC airport said almost 18" this morning. Now it's not supposed to stop until tomorrow some time, with another 3-6". Could break the record of 21.6". (For April in one fall)

Pooped and sore after 4.5 hours of cleaning up. Again tomorrow. Saying more on Wednesday. Thank God for beer. Poor man's Oxi.


----------



## smoke665

RowdyRay said:


> I am officially sick of snow



That's crazy! Winter doesn't want to keave


----------



## davidharmier60

Phone says it's 39 degrees out there heading for 60s.  No snow or even rain.
But by mid April all this SHOULD be over.
Monday Madness today. Suppliers and stockers all over the place. Fun.... not.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Tony744

Woke up to see snow and ice coating the cars. This is ridiculous!


----------



## SquarePeg

Tony744 said:


> Woke up to see snow and ice coating the cars. This is ridiculous!



Same here. But I work from home and it’s school vacation week so I’m going to wait it out and assume it will melt by the time I need to use the car later today.  Raining now...


----------



## Tony744

Raining here too, washing the snow and ice away. Fortunately, I have today off, the shop is closed for Patriots' Day.


----------



## Fujidave

Had to bank some money so popped to the bank then had a walk about with Susie.  Lovely and sunny with a cool breeze here today.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> y so popped to the bank then had a walk about



Couldn't help but notice the difference in how you say things. It's interesting how certain things are said in different parts of the world. When we first moved south many years ago DW laughed every time she heard someone say they were going to "carry someone" someplace rather then "take them". She was quite embarrassed when the day came that she realized she was saying the same thing. "Bless your/their heart" is another one. It can be used to express compassion, as an insult (as in you're so stupid), or both. Then there's "fixin" meaning you are fixing to. Throw in a few local adaptations of English, Scot, and Cherokee, and it can get confusing for a Northerner.


----------



## Fujidave

@smoke665 I can`t understand my self sometimes, born in Melbourne Australia moved to the UK then in the end settled down in Brighton UK.  On top of that I lived up North of the UK for a while, but moved back to Brighton.  So I think you could say, I talk oddly


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> y so popped to the bank then had a walk about
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Couldn't help but notice the difference in how you say things. It's interesting how certain things are said in different parts of the world. When we first moved south many years ago DW laughed every time she heard someone say they were going to "carry someone" someplace rather then "take them". She was quite embarrassed when the day came that she realized she was saying the same thing. "Bless your/their heart" is another one. It can be used to express compassion, as an insult (as in you're so stupid), or both. Then there's "fixin" meaning you are fixing to. Throw in a few local adaptations of English, Scot, and Cherokee, and it can get confusing for a Northerner.
Click to expand...

My personal favorite:  "mash" the button - usually an elevator, or something similar. 

"Mash" always seemed a mite extreme. But no one "presses" anything 'round here. 

Btw, how's your mama and them?


----------



## smoke665

@Fujidave despite having lived here almost 40 years now, there are still a few die hard idioms from the north. One in particular is for soft drinks. We grew up hearing them called sodas or pop. In the south it's "coke" regardless the brand or flavor.


----------



## Fujidave

terri said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> y so popped to the bank then had a walk about
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Couldn't help but notice the difference in how you say things. It's interesting how certain things are said in different parts of the world. When we first moved south many years ago DW laughed every time she heard someone say they were going to "carry someone" someplace rather then "take them". She was quite embarrassed when the day came that she realized she was saying the same thing. "Bless your/their heart" is another one. It can be used to express compassion, as an insult (as in you're so stupid), or both. Then there's "fixin" meaning you are fixing to. Throw in a few local adaptations of English, Scot, and Cherokee, and it can get confusing for a Northerner.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My personal favorite:  "mash" the button - usually an elevator, or something similar.
> 
> "Mash" always seemed a mite extreme. But no one "presses" anything 'round here.
> 
> Btw, how's your mama and them?
Click to expand...


Mum is a lot better now the pain is easing off a bit, I am going over tomorrow for lunch then show her some of my photos I have taken of Susie.


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> @smoke665 I can`t understand my self sometimes, born in Melbourne Australia moved to the UK then in the end settled down in Brighton UK.  On top of that I lived up North of the UK for a while, but moved back to Brighton.  So I think you could say, I talk oddly



I can relate  I have lived in a few very different places and have picked up bits of language from each place. Add to that my background in linguistics and 20+ years of teaching ESL to people from around the world, and what you get is quite the mixed up idiolect


----------



## Fujidave

Question, can I change my screen name to Dave instead of fujidave ?


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Mum is a lot better now the pain is easing off a bit, I am going over tomorrow for lunch then show her some of my photos I have taken of Susie.



Great news!!! So glad it wasn't more serious. Year before last I fell off a ladder and split the back of my head open on a piece of steel. It took 16 staples to close it up, and many days for the pain and headache to go away. Complicating the matter, I use a Cpap at night and the head gear was a constant irritant. Falls hurt a lot more the older you get.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> what you get is quite the mixed up idiolect



So do you say GATOR or GATER???


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Question, can I change my screen name to Dave instead of fujidave ?



@terri is the expert on that question.


----------



## waday

Fujidave said:


> Question, can I change my screen name to Dave instead of fujidave ?


Good idea. From what I hear, Fuji is just horrible.


----------



## ceemac

Back to winter. Could be a good thing. If it snows all summer, we might not have another round of forest fires.


----------



## smoke665

Just outside and saw a couple of snowflakes drift down, WTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Just outside and saw a couple of snowflakes drift down, WTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Wow! 

We saw a few snowflakes yesterday, but so far today, it's all heavy rain. Supposedly tomorrow could be more snow, but thankfully little to no accumulation is expected.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Just outside and saw a couple of snowflakes drift down, WTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!



You could make a snowman, if it cheers you up at all.  We have beautiful sunny weather here


----------



## smoke665

Supposedly the high today is 56, but considering it's only made it to 39 so far don't see it happening


----------



## SquarePeg

Fields closed today and tomorrow due to weather and field conditions.  No one wants to be out in this mess anyway.


----------



## terri

Fujidave said:


> Question, can I change my screen name to Dave instead of fujidave ?


Shoot me a pm so can have us a chaw and a talk about that.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Don't change your avatar at the same time or we won't know who you are. 

Dave? Dave?? Dave's not here. 

Or put at the bottom, the artist formerly known as (Fuji)Dave.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I saw a burst of either snow or haze, not sure what was going on out there and I don't want to know. It's cold and once in awhile a window rattles a little and I'm trying to tune it out! lol while I decide if dinner will be chicken & noodles or veggie soup and a grilled cheese; anything as long as it's soupy or stewy.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I didn't know I had a southern accent til I went to college north of here and got told so. Then after 20 years of working in the big city I mostly lost it til now, living far out in the boonies, I've reacquired it. (I've heard myself and been like, what did I just say?! lol) 

Anytime I've gone someplace like the Smokies or Little Brown County I come home with a southern accent. Of course, compared to people in the south, I don't have a true authentic accent, mostly just the midwest nasal twang.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Don't change your avatar at the same time or we won't know who you are.
> 
> Dave? Dave?? Dave's not here.
> 
> Or put at the bottom, the artist formerly known as (Fuji)Dave.



You will still know me, as my avatar will always be Susie plus I put in, They call me the Wanderer


----------



## davidharmier60

When I was an OTR driver I asked people if they could tell where I was from. (Texas). Most couldn't.
I did five hours and one minute today. Among the things I did was take the delis trash container out and clean the inside walls of it.
Trish told me I must figure out where to buff to keep from  getting with stockers. If I do I am to tell them they must move their carts and dollies and if they give me any guff I am to tell Trish.
As long as I start the buffer before they start getting things out I know where I must buff. And I sincerly hope to do just that.
When I arrived home we went across the road to our neighbors house. We moved her freezer from inside to out by the trailer they will live in while their house is moved and a new one put in.
Now messing with the copper I've kept. Going to cut down on the number in favor of quality.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> I didn't know I had a southern accent til I went to college north of here and got told so.



The majority of Anglo Saxon population of the south traces back to English, Irish, Scot and a dash of German. I've heard it said that the dialect is a mixture of Elizabethian English, Creole, and African. Which might explain some of the similarities among the rural areas of the NE. (I was told once by an older gentleman in Massachusetts that our accents were the same but it was to damned cold there to talk so slow)


----------



## davidharmier60

I use fixin to online but hardly ever in reality. Anyone who has ever heard Shirley Q Liquor knows "ask you momma how she been".

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

It's funny that I used to get asked where I was from in Oklahoma much more often than I do here in Pennsylvania. I would have thought my Kentucky brogue would blend in with the southwestern accent than here. Another reason they call it Pennsyltucky I suppose


----------



## SquarePeg

I nevah get ahsked wheya I'm frum.


----------



## snowbear

Fujidave said:


> Just got back from a lovely walk only to see a message, my mum has had a fall so I am off to the hospital to see what has happend.


Glad she's doing well.


----------



## limr

I was once asked where I was from. I was back in the New York area, so I just told them the town I was from (which was just one or two towns over from where I was, so I knew they would know of the town.) She said, "I meant, where were you from before you lived here?" I said I had moved around a little, lived in a few places. Finally she got more specific, "Yeah, but what country are you from?" That's when I realized that she thought I had a foreign accent and was not born in the States.

The funny thing was, she was the one with a slight accent that sounded like English was perhaps not her first language. I had just gotten back to the States after living overseas, and apparently, it was still very easy for me to unconsciously mimic her speech.

Which, by the way, is very common. It's a natural behavior to unconsciously "borrow" the speech patterns or accent of someone you're talking to when you feel a connection or are trying to create a connection. We don't even realize we are doing it. Sometimes we do it with gestures and body postures, too. It's called mirroring.


----------



## smoke665

@Dean_Gretsch been many years since I traveled PA, but I seem to remember there was a huge difference between the way people talked in Philly vs Pittsburg.


----------



## tirediron

"Where are you from?"

"My mother"

end of discussion!


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Don't change your avatar at the same time or we won't know who you are.
> 
> Dave? Dave?? Dave's not here.
> 
> Or put at the bottom, the artist formerly known as (Fuji)Dave.


"Dave.  What are you doing, Dave" -- HAL, 2010



SquarePeg said:


> I nevah get ahsked wheya I'm frum.


Why, donchooknow, I'm from Bawler, Merlin,


----------



## snowbear

There is a statue of William Wallace ("Braveheart") in Baltimore's Druid Hill Park.  One year after the annual memorial service at the statue, my parents and I went to the Inner Harbor, a series of shops and restaurants along with the National Aquarium and the Maryland Science Center.  We were in kilts and getting a few stares and smiles (from the lasses).  While standing at a fudge shop, watching the guys performing (tossing the paddles in the air and chanting), one of them saw dad in his kilt, and asked him to say something.  I don't recall exactly what dad said, but the fudge man said "I love your accent!"  Dad replied "Oh, you like a DC accent?"  --Crickets.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> @Dean_Gretsch been many years since I traveled PA, but I seem to remember there was a huge difference between the way people talked in Philly vs Pittsburg.


Two different states!

There's a big difference in the local accents and dialects of the Baltimore area are different from Maryland's DC suburbs.  The people in the three southern MD counties (that have been there a while) and the Eastern Shore (DelMarVa peninsula - east side of the Chesapeake Bay) have a slightly different accent, though it tends to sound more like Baltimore.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> @Dean_Gretsch been many years since I traveled PA, but I seem to remember there was a huge difference between the way people talked in Philly vs Pittsburg.



There is definitely a difference. I lived in Pittsburgh for 4 years and that is one of the dialects that rubbed off on me. Not so much the pronunciation, but some vocabulary and a few weird grammatical structures. The only real pronunciation that I changed was for the name of Andrew Carnegie. Growing up in NY, I always heard of "CARnegie Hall" and assumed that was also the pronunciation of the man's name. Alas, it is not. It's 'car-NEG-ie.' I still use the NY pronuncation for the concert hall in Manhattan, but otherwise, it's the Pittsburgh (and probably correct) pronunciation.

As for phrases: "My hair needs cut." or "The cats need fed." Also, sidewalks and roads can be "slippy" in the winter.

Some things that did NOT stick: gumband (for rubber band), pop (for soda), or adding an 'r' to words that didn't already have one (warsh the car).


----------



## snowbear

pop?  Is Your Significant Other A Foreigner?  Do You Speak His/Her Language?


----------



## smoke665

My father in law (Midwestern) still refers to soft drinks as SodiPop.


----------



## davidharmier60

All well and good. I be fixin to go to work. 


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

My other half lived in Ft Myers, Fla for many years after moving to the states from England. We went to a local restaurant where our waitress was very young and inexperienced in life. During one of her stops at our table, she looked at Katrina and asked " Where are you from?". Being me, I couldn't resist and said " Florida. Can't you tell by the tan?". The poor girl had such a look of confusion! I got a smack on the arm for that one.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> adding an 'r' to words that didn't already have one (warsh the car).



This is strange as I thought this was unique only to SE Missouri's Bootheel. I grew up hearing this and still do it today,


----------



## ceemac

we're so boring here. We all sound the same. Except we can't understand anyone from Quebec or Newfoundland.


----------



## ceemac

Got up early this morning. We just took down half a dozen trees to "firesmart" our property. Now we need darker curtains. It's a stunning morning here. -4C, Sunshine and blue sky. Lots of love from the sun bouncing off fresh snow.
Snow blower's still frozen to the driveway, tho.


----------



## Gary A.

52F presently, but it should break 70F today.  A cold wind came thundering through last night. Fortunately, it was expected and all the breakables were collected up and stored away.  Maggie has just walked away from her breakfast of Greek yogurt, rice, banana and ham.  Good thing she's very very cute, because she can be a frustrating PITA.  She has the most personality of any pooch I've had.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I know some French if it has to do with hockey - Beliveau, Lafleur, Flying Frenchmen, bleu blanc rouge, poutine. 

The sun came out. It's supposed to stay coolish but partly one thing or another for a few days, which is a nice improvement.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Dean_Gretsch been many years since I traveled PA, but I seem to remember there was a huge difference between the way people talked in Philly vs Pittsburg.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There is definitely a difference. I lived in Pittsburgh for 4 years and that is one of the dialects that rubbed off on me. Not so much the pronunciation, but some vocabulary and a few weird grammatical structures. The only real pronunciation that I changed was for the name of Andrew Carnegie. Growing up in NY, I always heard of "CARnegie Hall" and assumed that was also the pronunciation of the man's name. Alas, it is not. It's 'car-NEG-ie.' I still use the NY pronuncation for the concert hall in Manhattan, but otherwise, it's the Pittsburgh (and probably correct) pronunciation.
> 
> As for phrases: "My hair needs cut." or "The cats need fed." Also, sidewalks and roads can be "slippy" in the winter.
> 
> Some things that did NOT stick: gumband (for rubber band), pop (for soda), or adding an 'r' to words that didn't already have one (warsh the car).
Click to expand...

I'm guilty of some of those.

My hair gets cut. The dog gets fed. Roads are slippy.

When I was little, I always said "warsh", just like my mother. Until, one day, when I saw a sign spelled "wash" and said, "mom, look, they spelled warsh wrong." She laughed and said, "no, it's spelled correctly." I don't think I ever pronounced it warsh again.


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon y'all. Had 5 hours and 2 minutes today to bring a 2 day total to 10.03.
The floor machine ran low on battery power again. I told Trish I had tools in the truck and I could clean the battery terminals. She said go for it.
I'll find out in the morning if it helped. I fear if that wasn't it, one or both of the big deep cycle batteries has gone sour.
Like I said I'll find out in the morning if it helped. 

Making up a decent roll of 60s copper.
Thought I had a 6 worthy roll going but when it was done it was a mid 5.

My newest Timex Expedition seems to be spot on.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

A nice mild evening here in Hove, forecast for tomorrow is sun and more sun


----------



## smoke665

Well this has been an interesting day. We had a lot of frost this morning, cold, cloudy, damp. Now 3:30 in the afternoon the sun is shining and we have this (47 degrees difference in temps), had to turn the A/C. Crazy weather!


----------



## Gary A.

71F right now. Mary Lou and Gary are at the movies for _Isle of Dogs. _Note to Self, Popcorn is half off on Tuesdays.


----------



## davidharmier60

Mother nature needs valium or something. 
50 in the morning, 79 in the afternoon. 
I KNOW what she has up her sleeve for us.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## otherprof

limr said:


> I was once asked where I was from. I was back in the New York area, so I just told them the town I was from (which was just one or two towns over from where I was, so I knew they would know of the town.) She said, "I meant, where were you from before you lived here?" I said I had moved around a little, lived in a few places. Finally she got more specific, "Yeah, but what country are you from?" That's when I realized that she thought I had a foreign accent and was not born in the States.
> 
> The funny thing was, she was the one with a slight accent that sounded like English was perhaps not her first language. I had just gotten back to the States after living overseas, and apparently, it was still very easy for me to unconsciously mimic her speech.
> 
> Which, by the way, is very common. It's a natural behavior to unconsciously "borrow" the speech patterns or accent of someone you're talking to when you feel a connection or are trying to create a connection. We don't even realize we are doing it. Sometimes we do it with gestures and body postures, too. It's called mirroring.


"So he asked me, "Where you from?" and I said "New York." Then he asked, "What part?" and I said "All of me."


----------



## ceemac

otherprof said:


> "So he asked me, "Where you from?" and I said "New York." Then he asked, "What part?" and I said "All of me."



Happens here, too. People ask me if I've lived in B.C. all my life. I dunno. Got about 20 yrs to go, God willing. Ask me then.


----------



## Gary A.

otherprof said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was once asked where I was from. I was back in the New York area, so I just told them the town I was from (which was just one or two towns over from where I was, so I knew they would know of the town.) She said, "I meant, where were you from before you lived here?" I said I had moved around a little, lived in a few places. Finally she got more specific, "Yeah, but what country are you from?" That's when I realized that she thought I had a foreign accent and was not born in the States.
> 
> The funny thing was, she was the one with a slight accent that sounded like English was perhaps not her first language. I had just gotten back to the States after living overseas, and apparently, it was still very easy for me to unconsciously mimic her speech.
> 
> Which, by the way, is very common. It's a natural behavior to unconsciously "borrow" the speech patterns or accent of someone you're talking to when you feel a connection or are trying to create a connection. We don't even realize we are doing it. Sometimes we do it with gestures and body postures, too. It's called mirroring.
> 
> 
> 
> "So he asked me, "Where you from?" and I said "New York." Then he asked, "What part?" and I said "All of me."
Click to expand...

*Rim Shot*


----------



## Gary A.

_Isle of Dogs _is wonderful.  It is the _Grand Budapest Hotel _but with dogs. Five Stars. It is odd, quirky, entertaining and ultimately wonderful.  The Movie Pass strikes again.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> I know some French if it has to do with hockey - Beliveau, Lafleur, Flying Frenchmen, bleu blanc rouge, poutine.
> 
> The sun came out. It's supposed to stay coolish but partly one thing or another for a few days, which is a nice improvement.


I used to pick up a French language radio station (AM, around 700 kHz).  I knew the odd word but not enough to get what they were saying, but I still listened.  One night the person was talking fast, then shouted "Guy Lafleur" and "Henri Richard!"  Hotdamn! I had the Montreal Candiens!


----------



## smoke665

Pulling out early in the morning for a regional club rally at Stone Mountain, Ga. Should be interesting as there are over a hundred rigs registered.  Four days of fun, food and fellowship with friends from across the country.


----------



## Fujidave

Well it is a warm sunny start today, just having a brew then phone mum to see if she needs me over later.


----------



## davidharmier60

63 going to 80. Off to work including Marquee today. The eagle poops too.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

otherprof said:


> "So he asked me, "Where you from?" and I said "New York." Then he asked, "What part?" and I said "All of me."



Totally love that!


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> _Isle of Dogs _is wonderful.  It is the _Grand Budapest Hotel _but with dogs. Five Stars. It is odd, quirky, entertaining and ultimately wonderful.  The Movie Pass strikes again.



My cousin and her beau were just here visiting last weekend and they have the Movie Pass. It worked at my favorite theater.  They highly recommend!  I may have to get one.  

We saw Blockers. Raunchy, silly, hilariously funny movie with some life lessons thrown in for any teens who manage to get in to see it (rated R).


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> _Isle of Dogs _is wonderful.  It is the _Grand Budapest Hotel _but with dogs. Five Stars. It is odd, quirky, entertaining and ultimately wonderful.  The Movie Pass strikes again.


Awesome, can't wait to see it! Thanks for the review.


----------



## Fujidave

Had a lovely walk up on the South Downs with Susie, pretty warm in the sun but with a breeze.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _Isle of Dogs _is wonderful.  It is the _Grand Budapest Hotel _but with dogs. Five Stars. It is odd, quirky, entertaining and ultimately wonderful.  The Movie Pass strikes again.
> 
> 
> 
> Awesome, can't wait to see it! Thanks for the review.
Click to expand...

Originally, Gary was turned off by the animation style.  But after seeing trailer after trailer after trailer, Gary accommodated and accepted the differences ... making the movie easier to watch.  Mary Lou, who Rotten Tomatoes everything, liked the unusually high ratings.

Like Grand Budapest Hotel, a bizarre, but well executed storyline.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _Isle of Dogs _is wonderful.  It is the _Grand Budapest Hotel _but with dogs. Five Stars. It is odd, quirky, entertaining and ultimately wonderful.  The Movie Pass strikes again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My cousin and her beau were just here visiting last weekend and they have the Movie Pass. It worked at my favorite theater.  They highly recommend!  I may have to get one.
> 
> We saw Blockers. Raunchy, silly, hilariously funny movie with some life lessons thrown in for any teens who manage to get in to see it (rated R).
Click to expand...

What ... Gary recommendation isn't good enough for you?  It has to be family ...harumph!


----------



## davidharmier60

Whew. Had to do spelunking to find light bulbs. The men's room needed one.
The floor machine seemed better.
A bit over 5.75 hours today 15.51 for the week so far. Post office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Whoops misspoke. It is a little less than an hour to get check. Going to do that before going north towards home.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Hot hot hot evening, still very sunny too


----------



## jcdeboever

I miss Bob and @limr . They are so awesome, Cousin Don


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _Isle of Dogs _is wonderful.  It is the _Grand Budapest Hotel _but with dogs. Five Stars. It is odd, quirky, entertaining and ultimately wonderful.  The Movie Pass strikes again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My cousin and her beau were just here visiting last weekend and they have the Movie Pass. It worked at my favorite theater.  They highly recommend!  I may have to get one.
> 
> We saw Blockers. Raunchy, silly, hilariously funny movie with some life lessons thrown in for any teens who manage to get in to see it (rated R).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What ... Gary recommendation isn't good enough for you?  It has to be family ...harumph!
Click to expand...


I just assumed it wouldn’t apply to my nearby, comfy theater.   I probably wouldn’t have ever looked it up.  But they did so made it easy for me. I’m not crazy about not being able to buy/reserve my seat online but it’s close enough that I could either go get tix in advance or check for available seats and be there in time to ensure we get them.  The winning point for me is that I still get to use my loyalty card which earns me free tickets, popcorn and soda coupons which I give to Princess.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _Isle of Dogs _is wonderful.  It is the _Grand Budapest Hotel _but with dogs. Five Stars. It is odd, quirky, entertaining and ultimately wonderful.  The Movie Pass strikes again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My cousin and her beau were just here visiting last weekend and they have the Movie Pass. It worked at my favorite theater.  They highly recommend!  I may have to get one.
> 
> We saw Blockers. Raunchy, silly, hilariously funny movie with some life lessons thrown in for any teens who manage to get in to see it (rated R).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What ... Gary recommendation isn't good enough for you?  It has to be family ...harumph!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I just assumed it wouldn’t apply to my nearby, comfy theater.   I probably wouldn’t have ever looked it up.  But they did so made it easy for me. I’m not crazy about not being able to buy/reserve my seat online but it’s close enough that I could either go get tix in advance or check for available seats and be there in time to ensure we get them.  The winning point for me is that I still get to use my loyalty card which earns me free tickets, popcorn and soda coupons which I give to Princess.
Click to expand...

I thought I saw an article recently about how MoviePass' business model may not be sustainable at the current level?

ETA:

http://www.vulture.com/2018/04/here-is-exactly-how-much-money-moviepass-is-losing.html

MoviePass auditor has doubts about the company’s business model after significant losses


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh he$$. My computer is wigging out.
It keeps saying no input on the minister.
It will all the sudden come back and then go away again. I guess I got what I paid for. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> It keeps saying no input on the minister.


Sounds religious, you may need an exorcism


----------



## davidharmier60

Monitor. I don't know how minister got there. You may be right.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _Isle of Dogs _is wonderful.  It is the _Grand Budapest Hotel _but with dogs. Five Stars. It is odd, quirky, entertaining and ultimately wonderful.  The Movie Pass strikes again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My cousin and her beau were just here visiting last weekend and they have the Movie Pass. It worked at my favorite theater.  They highly recommend!  I may have to get one.
> 
> We saw Blockers. Raunchy, silly, hilariously funny movie with some life lessons thrown in for any teens who manage to get in to see it (rated R).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What ... Gary recommendation isn't good enough for you?  It has to be family ...harumph!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I just assumed it wouldn’t apply to my nearby, comfy theater.   I probably wouldn’t have ever looked it up.  But they did so made it easy for me. I’m not crazy about not being able to buy/reserve my seat online but it’s close enough that I could either go get tix in advance or check for available seats and be there in time to ensure we get them.  The winning point for me is that I still get to use my loyalty card which earns me free tickets, popcorn and soda coupons which I give to Princess.
Click to expand...

They just started an eTicket service.  The Landmark Theaters out here are reserve seating and Movie Pass works for Landmark.


----------



## davidharmier60

I would say whatever is wrong with the computer would be the video card. Except when it comes back from no input the hard drive whirls.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## RowdyRay

davidharmier60 said:


> I would say whatever is wrong with the computer would be the video card. Except when it comes back from no input the hard drive whirls.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



I was about to reply, but I'll send you a PM, so we don't clog up the thread.


----------



## limr

Hey, hosers.

Opening act finished. Rodriguez should be on stage in a few minutes.

Yup, I am taking myself out for a date tonight


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Hey, hosers.
> 
> Opening act finished. Rodriguez should be on stage in a few minutes.
> 
> Yup, I am taking myself out for a date tonight


Just be careful and make sure you don't slip a roofie in your drink!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, hosers.
> 
> Opening act finished. Rodriguez should be on stage in a few minutes.
> 
> Yup, I am taking myself out for a date tonight
> 
> 
> 
> Just be careful and make sure you don't slip a roofie in your drink!
Click to expand...


Of course! I don't feel like kicking my own ass for trying to get handsy without permission.


----------



## terri

Make sure you carry some mad money in case you need to duck out quickly.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _Isle of Dogs _is wonderful.  It is the _Grand Budapest Hotel _but with dogs. Five Stars. It is odd, quirky, entertaining and ultimately wonderful.  The Movie Pass strikes again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My cousin and her beau were just here visiting last weekend and they have the Movie Pass. It worked at my favorite theater.  They highly recommend!  I may have to get one.
> 
> We saw Blockers. Raunchy, silly, hilariously funny movie with some life lessons thrown in for any teens who manage to get in to see it (rated R).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What ... Gary recommendation isn't good enough for you?  It has to be family ...harumph!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I just assumed it wouldn’t apply to my nearby, comfy theater.   I probably wouldn’t have ever looked it up.  But they did so made it easy for me. I’m not crazy about not being able to buy/reserve my seat online but it’s close enough that I could either go get tix in advance or check for available seats and be there in time to ensure we get them.  The winning point for me is that I still get to use my loyalty card which earns me free tickets, popcorn and soda coupons which I give to Princess.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They just started an eTicket service.  The Landmark Theaters out here are reserve seating and Movie Pass works for Landmark.
Click to expand...


Interesting.  I love the reserved seating, lazy-boy with cup holder trend.  



limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, hosers.
> 
> Opening act finished. Rodriguez should be on stage in a few minutes.
> 
> Yup, I am taking myself out for a date tonight
> 
> 
> 
> Just be careful and make sure you don't slip a roofie in your drink!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Of course! I don't feel like kicking my own ass for trying to get handsy without permission.
Click to expand...


Taking the “me too” movement literally.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Taking the “me too” movement literally.



I ain't playin' no more, yo.


----------



## vintagesnaps

So did you and yourself have fun tonight Leo?

They're saying - snoowwww..... agaainnn........ Where did this come from? I was thinking it was supposed to be in the 50s and decent weather tomorrow. It better be! Going to a damn banquet in the spring and now I gotta figure out something else to wear?? I don't think so! lol If I have to get out a heavier jacket that'll mess up my new outfit I'm gonna be pissed. Or just wear my new cute jacket and freeze.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Anaheim can't win for losin'. Goal disallowed because of offsides for cryin' out loud. They can't buy a goal, why am I watching this?


----------



## Fujidave

Out at 6am for our walk, and it was pretty hot then and getting hotter as the day goes on.


----------



## mayasimi

Good Morning Everyone.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning everyone. Got a good mug to wake up with. Trying to pick a watch for today. Anyone who has been paying attention knows I'll choose a Timex. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Snowing in Western MA this morning.  That’s ok though since that’s really not like it’s happening  anywhere near here. Western MA is like a small separate continent from the rest of MA.


----------



## jcdeboever

How come the week goes by so slow heading into vacation?


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> How come the week goes by so slow heading into vacation?



FL or somewhere else?


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> How come the week goes by so slow heading into vacation?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> FL or somewhere else?
Click to expand...

FL.


----------



## Gary A.

mayasimi said:


> Good Morning Everyone.


Good Morning mayasimi.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. While Gary isn't going on vacation, this week has also flown by. Thursday already and Gary has been inspecting the Samy's Camera ads. 50F presently, but it is projected only to reach 67F today. Yesterday, Gary successfully attacked and destroyed a giant agave/maguey plant in the front succulents.  Man, that thing was dangerous.  It has extremely sharp, needle-like spine on the end of each branch and along the sides of the branches are a rows of teeth. The monster completely filled one of those 95 gallon green waste/trash rolling containers. The root ball/stem by itself must have weight around 75 lbs.  Gary's Milwaukee Reciprocating Saw conquered the monster, but it took an entire 18V battery to finish the beast off.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> So did you and yourself have fun tonight Leo?
> 
> They're saying - snoowwww..... agaainnn........ Where did this come from? I was thinking it was supposed to be in the 50s and decent weather tomorrow. It better be! Going to a damn banquet in the spring and now I gotta figure out something else to wear?? I don't think so! lol If I have to get out a heavier jacket that'll mess up my new outfit I'm gonna be pissed. Or just wear my new cute jacket and freeze.



We did have a good time together last night, thank you 

Get a silk undershirt to wear as a base layer and wear the cute jacket. Silk base layers are surprisingly warm and they are comfy and not bulky.


----------



## Fujidave

Red hot here today, up on the South Downs felt like we were in an oven cooking.


----------



## davidharmier60

5+ hours today 21.05 for the week. 
Went and got propane. Found out regulations are putting this place out of business. I would imagine next closest place is south a ways. Anyhow it got done.
FYI Fritos with jalapeno are pretty good and not too spicy. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, all.

It's in the 50s but rain is on the way.  Spent a nice, but cooler day, in Hagerstown (Western Maryland) at a GIS meeting.  I had a nice Cuban sandwich for lunch at 28South.
Tomorrow is clean up day, but I can't get away with jeans because I have to give a demo on one of our apps to a station, and I have a meeting with one of the Deputy Fire Chiefs.  We are trying to get a standard procedure in place for the station people to request maps.

I'm thinking about dropping fb.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> I'm thinking about dropping fb.


I've been thinking the same lately. 

I rarely go on it anymore, and when I do, it's just an echo chamber of similar thought processes. It makes me mad, so I sign off. I really can't stand the algorithm they use to shove similar thoughts in your face. IG is starting to be similar now. I hesitate whether or not I want to like or even look at a picture for more than a few milliseconds for fear of that person's stuff showing up in my feed more and more.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I only have FB friends that are real life people I know (from local hockey, or we used to work together, etc.) so I mostly see hockey stuff or pictures of people's kids, etc. It has gotten more aggravating to use though. I must say I saw some of the hearing with Zuckerburg and did he drink a lot of water! kept sipping it the whole time. It was popcorn worthy television.

It didn't actually snow and the sun's out so I'm wearing the cute jacket and pretending it's warmer than it is. I won't actually be outdoors that much, if anything it might be cold leaving but I'll take along something warmer and leave it in the car.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever which part of FL thus time?  Good time as most of our snowbird friends are headed home.

Nice in GA today. Sun is out, nice breeze comfortable weather. Just got back from exploring the area with some friends from MS. He's a photography hobbyist as well so it was nice having a shooting partner while the wives caught up since our last meeting.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Good afternoon, all.
> 
> It's in the 50s but rain is on the way.  Spent a nice, but cooler day, in Hagerstown (Western Maryland) at a GIS meeting.  I had a nice Cuban sandwich for lunch at 28South.
> Tomorrow is clean up day, but I can't get away with jeans because I have to give a demo on one of our apps to a station, and I have a meeting with one of the Deputy Fire Chiefs.  We are trying to get a standard procedure in place for the station people to request maps.
> 
> I'm thinking about dropping fb.





waday said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm thinking about dropping fb.
> 
> 
> 
> I've been thinking the same lately.
> 
> I rarely go on it anymore, and when I do, it's just an echo chamber of similar thought processes. It makes me mad, so I sign off. I really can't stand the algorithm they use to shove similar thoughts in your face. IG is starting to be similar now. I hesitate whether or not I want to like or even look at a picture for more than a few milliseconds for fear of that person's stuff showing up in my feed more and more.
Click to expand...


Curious @snowbear and @waday how many Facebook friends you have?  I don't feel like I see a lot of outside stuff in my FB feed, mostly just posts from friends and family and Photo or Parenting groups that I am a member of.  Maybe I just browse past it and don't realize it.  I use the "most recent" newsfeed and like @vintagesnaps  below, I only have Facebook friends that I've actually met and know fairly well and of course, my relatives.  I currently have 122 people on my friends list.  I know people who have 500+, even 1000+ "friends" which I can't even imagine what their Facebook feed must look like!  I immediately block anyone who re-posts or shares stuff from certain alt right and alt left sites and anyone who posts too much about their personal problems.  It's not Therapy people!  I like FB to keep up with my cousins and their kids (I have 27 first cousins on my mom's side alone) and I get a lot of relevant community info about the schools and sports.  Besides, without FB Community pages, how would I know who the local aholes are?



vintagesnaps said:


> I only have FB friends that are real life people I know (from local hockey, or we used to work together, etc.) so I mostly see hockey stuff or pictures of people's kids, etc. It has gotten more aggravating to use though. I must say I saw some of the hearing with Zuckerburg and did he drink a lot of water! kept sipping it the whole time. It was popcorn worthy television.
> 
> It didn't actually snow and the sun's out so I'm wearing the cute jacket and pretending it's warmer than it is. I won't actually be outdoors that much, if anything it might be cold leaving but I'll take along something warmer and leave it in the car.



Sounds like it worked out for you weather wise.  I didn't get to watch any of the Zuckerburg hearings.  Was he as awkward as he seems like he'd be?


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Curious @snowbear and @waday how many Facebook friends you have? I don't feel like I see a lot of outside stuff in my FB feed, mostly just posts from friends and family and Photo or Parenting groups that I am a member of. Maybe I just browse past it and don't realize it. I use the "most recent" newsfeed and like @vintagesnaps below, I only have Facebook friends that I've actually met and know fairly well and of course, my relatives. I currently have 122 people on my friends list. I know people who have 500+, even 1000+ "friends" which I can't even imagine what their Facebook feed must look like! I immediately block anyone who re-posts or shares stuff from certain alt right and alt left sites and anyone who posts too much about their personal problems. It's not Therapy people! I like FB to keep up with my cousins and their kids (I have 27 first cousins on my mom's side alone) and I get a lot of relevant community info about the schools and sports. Besides, without FB Community pages, how would I know who the local aholes are?


I have a little over 200, which is composed of family and friends. I do not accept requests from people I do not know.

One problem is when there's something big in the news (like there has been for the past 2 years). My feed gets spammed by friends that I don't want to block or see less of... I just don't necessarily need to see something get posted 15 times.

Then, there's the the "suggested" pages or news articles.


----------



## davidharmier60

I got into the computer enough to do the go back thing. I went back about a month.
Next time it booted up it never came out of no input. I guess I need to look inside again and see if a video card can be installed.
Video is built into the motherboard. 

In other news I repaired a sprinkler. I blamed it on the dogs. Dad allowed that he MIGHT have broken it. Oh well the glue seems to have done the job.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

The computer will in fact take a video card. 
The biggest issue is where I'll get one.

Question. Is it likely that all this came on suddenly because of a virus?

Should I try the video card route?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

I wish you all a good night and a better tomorrow (Friday) for those who don't have to work Saturday. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

I have about 50, including a few from here.  I filter out most of the crap so that’s not a big deal.  I find I use it 95% of the time for one hidden picture game.

@waday: check out Face Book Purity , a browser plug in that had some decent filtering.


----------



## Gary A.

Interestingly enough, Gary discovered today that Miss Maggie likes Yak.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I didn't get to watch any of the Zuckerburg hearings. Was he as awkward as he seems like he'd be?


There's an excellent meme of the Z dressed as the android Data from Star Trek, but I can't find it atm.  

The resemblence is uncanny.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> @jcdeboever which part of FL thus time?  Good time as most of our snowbird friends are headed home.
> 
> Nice in GA today. Sun is out, nice breeze comfortable weather. Just got back from exploring the area with some friends from MS. He's a photography hobbyist as well so it was nice having a shooting partner while the wives caught up since our last meeting.


Holiday, near Tarpon Springs. Not much bird shooting planned. I may get a few around the condo. I'm just not into birds in flight, I've tried some but not my cup of tea at this time. I'm more of an urban, street shooter. I will visit a botanical garden with tripod in hand. I am bringing my 23mm, 80mm, XT2, and Xpro2. I also packed the Nikon F / 35 f2, with a roll of Delta 3200 and 3 short rolls of TriX for Ybor City and Downtown Tampa. I plan on hitting Ybor at night, hense the reason for a roll of 3200.  I am going for s l o w , real s l o w shooting. I'm working on framing / composition the whole vacation. Looking will be more important than shooting My goal is quality, not quantity. If I take 100 images digitally, I want a 100% keeper rate. I am going for the same keeper rate using film, I will force myself to shoot the entire roll of 3200 to free up the camera. My last two times out with film, I spent about 2 hours of time and shot 4 frames. I've been challenging myself to use my brain and be very selective.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Looking will be more important than shooting My goal is quality, not quantity



Good hunting! Ybor City is such an eccentric area that I doubt you'll have to wait long. Downtown is also interesting. 

Typically the Manatee would have moved out by now but the weather has been so crazy that you might still find them at Three Sisters Springs, Crystal River.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> @waday: check out Face Book Purity , a browser plug in that had some decent filtering.


Thanks for the suggestion! I'll have to look into this.


----------



## Fujidave

Good afternoon all, a lovely sunny day here in East Sussex.  Went out early this morning and it was pretty warm then, only took a few shots in B&W and this time I thought about taking the shot, instead of just quickly taking it and I had fun.


----------



## Fujidave

Must ALWAYS remember I have BBF set on my X-T20, as first 4 shots  this morning were a blur.  Then I remembered BBF   ooooops


----------



## davidharmier60

Whew. Thought I'd never get through. 
Put together a couch for the break room. 
Put a key box up on the wall. 
Better than 6 hours today. 
Got a call from "the IRS" threatening me with arrest. Yeah sure.
Tractor Supply in Cleveland called about a job. But I'm pretty happy where I am.
About to do some penny rolls. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

It is noon, it is 67F and a beautiful day.  Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are having brunch outside in Huntington Beach.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> @waday: check out Face Book Purity , a browser plug in that had some decent filtering.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for the suggestion! I'll have to look into this.
Click to expand...

I think it's actually called Fluff Buster Purity (FBP)


----------



## vintagesnaps

Fluff buster and Facebook,  yeah that sounds about right. Just reported a 'fun' poll that for whatever reason got me curious and I looked at their page. Nina/Nino Rostovlllaaa whatever (who couldn't apparently decide which to pretend to be), in Georgia (not ours here in the US). I don't know what they're up to other than I suppose if someone likes it or comments they look at the person's page and depending on settings get whatever info. they can use. First I've actually seen any of that, and it was a friend just commenting on what seemed like a fun site. Reported it, hid it, blocked it. 

Somebody had posted on their page pointing out who and where they are (and I noticed they have several pages and a few  photos and no other info.) so I hope people start being more aware and check out where something comes from (even though it's harmless looking) and stop sharing those pages/polls, etc.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Other than that, I'm dead tired today, dead as a parrot. But it stayed sunny and I wore my cute jacket and it wasn't even cold yet when we left.

Nice evening, a banquet for the founding of the agency where I worked when I was first out of college; county where I grew up and where I live now, where I worked at summer camps etc. Hardly anyone there I knew from back in the day but I was pleasantly surprised that people actually seemed to care that some of us showed up! Fun displays from good ol' days at camp, etc.

So I'm resting like a Norwegian blue.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> It is noon, it is 67F and a beautiful day.  Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are having brunch outside in Huntington Beach.



Dukes?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Not sure if I'd describe Mr. Z as awkward, but he just kept sipping water so I guess he was sweating it!

Got asked 3-4 times by the same senator (forget who) that said he'd authored a bill awhile back related to under 16 yr. olds I think? and asked would he support legislation similar for 16+ kids - and he couldn't/didn't say yes. That one made me mad, that he wouldn't say he'd support measures to protect kids (even if they're teens). Seems like regulations will be coming that he may not like, lawyers for FB, Google, Twitter already got told you fix it or we'll do it for you. (Because they sent lawyers instead and apparently Congress was none too happy with that.)

It's fun being home during the day to see all this stuff as it's happening. (Sarcasm intended! lol) More drama than the soaps used to be. (Which I'd watch when school was first out for the summer, just because, then I'd get tired of them.)


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is noon, it is 67F and a beautiful day.  Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are having brunch outside in Huntington Beach.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dukes?
Click to expand...

Dukes ... you get around.  No not Dukes.  The Hangout on Bolsa Chica.  They have a patio which can accommodate our attack dog, Maggie.  On the way home we detoured to a nursery and picked up two Butterfly Bushes (Buddleia - Black Knight), a multicolored Flowering Maple, African and Persian Basil and a succulent. Drove home with the top down in order to fit the plants. Great weather and a pleasant day.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hey Gary, on Price is Right today they were sending everyone in the crowd to wine country. I notice most of the wine at our store comes from California. I'm thinking of trying a sweet red....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Hey Gary, on Price is Right today they were sending everyone in the crowd to wine country. I notice most of the wine at our store comes from California. I'm thinking of trying a sweet red....
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Unless it’s a dessert wine .,. Gary would be hard pressed to recommend a sweet red. Run some names by Gary and he’ll offer an opinion.


----------



## Gary A.

It has been a long day for Miss Maggie. She started early in Long Beach where Maggie graduated from her Magical Manners class. Then we put the top down on the Volvo and cruised along the beach to Huntington Beach. After brunch on the patio up to H&H for plants and a walk through the nursery. Finally home, ever be it so humble, and a glass of refreshing vino.


----------



## JonA_CT

Made my normal pizza dough and tried to cook it in the Kamado today. I need to make some adjustments I think. The pizza dough I normally make for the oven is roughly 72% hydration. I think that I need to bump that down into the 65% range with the hotter environment, because the outside of the crust was done well before the inside. 

It was still tasty. Our favorite combination this time of year is pancetta, asparagus, and goat cheese, with some nice olive oil and parm on top. I need to start investing in Parmesan futures I think.


----------



## Gary A.

Yep ... and raising the grill close to the top helps.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary tossed a corn beef in the slow cooker early this morning. So all we pretty much have to do this afternoon is to sip wine, relax and wait for dinner to finish. (See above)


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> and picked up two Butterfly Bushes (



We planted some of those a few years ago, can't remember the variety. True to the name they were magnets to butterflies. Not sure if I was lazy and didn't do a good job taking care of them, if it was pests or weather, but they just died one year.


----------



## snowbear

Good girl, Maggie.


----------



## Gary A.

We’ve had them before and they grew like weeds in this climate.  We dug them out to make room for grapes.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> We’ve had them before and they grew like weeds in this climate.  We dug them out to make room for grapes.



They did here also. Did you prune them?


----------



## Gary A.

Yes, we’d cut them down from about ten feet high to three feet.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Sadie says give Maggie an extra treat from her, for a job well done. 

Ms. Sadie has been socializing a lot this trip. We have lots of friends with fur kids, some of which she's met before. There's been much sniffing and pawing at each other. Unfortunately they don't have a nice enclosed area where they could all run free, and inside an RV is not the place for mad dashes from one end to the other.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is noon, it is 67F and a beautiful day.  Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are having brunch outside in Huntington Beach.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dukes?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> *Dukes ... you get around.  *No not Dukes.  The Hangout on Bolsa Chica.  They have a patio which can accommodate our attack dog, Maggie.  On the way home we detoured to a nursery and picked up two Butterfly Bushes (Buddleia - Black Knight), a multicolored Flowering Maple, African and Persian Basil and a succulent. Drove home with the top down in order to fit the plants. Great weather and a pleasant day.
Click to expand...


I enjoyed Duke’s on Waikiki when we were there a few years ago.  When we were in CA last year we spent a day in Huntington Beach and had brunch at Duke’s there.  Good drinks but food was just so-so.  When you mentioned brunch and HB it popped into my mind.


----------



## Gary A.

Great location ... so-so food.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all. 

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## davidharmier60

SOB. it is implied that I start at 5am.
You would think all the "management " would know this. And yet at 5:45am I am still waiting. And I wasn't told yesterday not to show today. One part of working here that is less than satisfyingly. 

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## Tony744

I feel for you. We have key cards to get into our shop, but for most of us it only works during normal hours. Anything beyond that the boss has to program the security system to let us in.

I was asked last summer to work one weekend. Saturday was no problem, but when I tried to get in Sunday...nothing.


----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon all, just come back from doing a shop and cleaning mums flat.  She has had some stitches out but the rest come out on Monday, plus it`s red hot here today.


----------



## SquarePeg

You should get paid for the time they make you wait and a minimum 4 hours if they never show up to let you in. 

#formerunionmember


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Afternoon all, just come back from doing a shop and cleaning mums flat.  She has had some stitches out but the rest come out on Monday, plus it`s red hot here today.


@Fujidave: What do peoples in East Sussex consider "red hot"?


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> You should get paid for the time they make you wait and a minimum 4 hours if they never show up to let you in.
> 
> #formerunionmember


What do we want ... Union!
When do we want it ... Now!

#I agree for getting paid when management screws up


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon all, just come back from doing a shop and cleaning mums flat.  She has had some stitches out but the rest come out on Monday, plus it`s red hot here today.
> 
> 
> 
> @Fujidave: What do peoples in East Sussex consider "red hot"?
Click to expand...


70s, I suspect. Cumbria is probably a different story altogether, but I don’t think it got above 65 when we were there in August, haha. 



I got 10 lbs of pork shoulder going on the Kamado this morning at 5:30, and I just threw a rack of spareribs in a few minutes ago. My parents and little brother are coming over (and they’ll be talking healthy doggy bags home )


----------



## davidharmier60

Ah, I couldn't take it out on who did show up. And we traded phone numbers to try and l keep it from happening again. 
3 hours and a bit. 30.22 for the week. 
Pretty early for the post office. May sluff off for a while. 

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## terri

Happy Saturday, hosers!   It's going to be a beautiful spring day, sunny with a high of 74.  Wow.   

Mama barn swallow has finished her rebuild of last year's nest, and is suddenly in it, rarely leaving.   I might have to stake it out to steal a peek for an egg count when she's gone.  They are right outside the front door, and I love hearing the excited chatter when Papa swallow swoops in with some grub.  

They also leave a mess, but I don't mind a bit.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Last night's corn beef was the best ever.  It cooked away in the slow cooker all day ... easy and delish. 57F presently, and it may hit 80F.  Nice and warm, good for all the plants. Mary Lou spotted a hummer's nest right outside the kitchen window.  Just a couple of feet away from a feeder.  The hummers don't even have to fly for breakfast. Gary is snacking on some Valencia orange and a hot morning beverage before our walk.  Miss Maggie has had her breakfast of Greek yogurt, banana and pancake. Valencia's aren't nearly as good as Naval or Mandarin oranges.  Gary is gonna reserve the Valencias for cooking and juicing.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon all, just come back from doing a shop and cleaning mums flat.  She has had some stitches out but the rest come out on Monday, plus it`s red hot here today.
> 
> 
> 
> @Fujidave: What do peoples in East Sussex consider "red hot"?
Click to expand...


When it is very warm I always say Red hot, sometimes I don`t like walking about in it but today was warmer than the last few days.  They say we are in for a thunder and lightning storm later, poor Susie will hate that


----------



## davidharmier60

We're supposed to get rain at some point.
If thunder accompanies it, a few dogs will be trying to climb up our butts.
Silly fools don't know thunder won't hurt you but lightning sure will!

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----------



## davidharmier60

Oh. And later in the year we will be swimming in 100% humidity. 
I'd take the 80s all summer long instead of the 100+ we will get.

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## Tony744

davidharmier60 said:


> .
> If thunder accompanies it, a few dogs will be trying to climb up our butts.



That sounds painful.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's a figure of speech. But rather true.
The largest, smallest and one medium size are the ones. Gun shots have a similar effect.  The two youngest bark at gun shots and aren't scared of thunder. 

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## snowbear

Tired and sore from walking up the mountain.  One thing is for certain - I'm not doing the dumb stuff I did when I was younger and thinner, like try to cross the stream on fallen (and slipper) logs, limbo under crap and jump from (slipper) rock to rock.  No fish caught, but I didn't see anyone else catch any, so t's all good.  I did take a wild flower walk and will tackle the photos tomorrow.  Now it's time for bed.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary made a ton of pesto today, in order to accommodate grilled pesto chicken with a black bean/pesto sauce.  Gary grilled veggies which were marinated in a sweet balsamic sauce. 

It was different and the guests really enjoyed the dinner.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 156644 Gary made a ton of pesto today, in order to accommodate grilled pesto chicken with a black bean/pesto sauce.  Gary grilled veggies which were marinated in a sweet balsamic sauce.
> 
> It was different and the guests really enjoyed the dinner.



That looks very yummy Gary.

Morning folks, a nice cool sunny day today which is nice.  We never got the forecast thunder and lightning storm which was good for Susie.


----------



## davidharmier60

It thundered, lightning and rained overnight. It is 62 degrees and 94% humidity out there. We are about to have pancakes and bacon.

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----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 156644 Gary made a ton of pesto today, in order to accommodate grilled pesto chicken with a black bean/pesto sauce.  Gary grilled veggies which were marinated in a sweet balsamic sauce.
> 
> It was different and the guests really enjoyed the dinner.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That looks very yummy Gary.
> 
> Morning folks, a nice cool sunny day today which is nice.  We never got the forecast thunder and lightning storm which was good for Susie.
Click to expand...

It was much more tasty than it looks.  The green pesto makes it visually much more uninviting than the actually end results. The grilled veggies were delightful, sweet with just the right amount of crunch. Paired with a Lincourt Chardonnay on the patio ... all-in-all a pleasant evening.


----------



## davidharmier60

My Sister is going to Fry up a big mess of Chicken Strips later. This makes me so VERY happy!

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## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Mary Lou wants this to be a couch potato day ... do nuthin' and just hang around the house and watch a movie or two.  Unfortunately, Gary had a rock slide in the pond yesterday ... and Gary wants to plant the two Butterfly Bushes ... first the bushes ... then he'll probably take a dive into the pond to restore the rocks which constituted the north-west wall, (next to the waterfall).  Gary has to roast some beans ... he only has enough for one more small carafe of coffee.  If Max and Mike come over after our walk, it will be fini for the cafe. So maybe a movie in the patio while Gary roasts away.


----------



## ceemac

Finally it's Spring up here and the outside temperature is within the operating range of my specifications. This makes my wife very happy.


----------



## Gary A.

75F presently.  Mary Lou, Maggie, Max and Gary have returned from out walk.  Mike, (Max’s human), will be visiting his daughter is Los Angeles and we are hosting Max for the day.  We’re all, sans Mary Lou, are in the patio, arms with coffee, newspaper, a nice Pacific breeze and listening to KUSC.


----------



## snowbear

Very nice temperature range this week: upper fifties to mid sixties for the highs, high fourties to low fifties for the lows; widows are open.  I could take this year-round.


----------



## Gary A.

The waterfall is rebuilt. Maggie and Max are napping the afternoon away.  About 80F with 22% humidity,  a beautiful summeresque day.  Quite, a lovely day, now that Gary’s major task of the day is completed.  About two hours of wading to rebuild the waterfall, plus a lot of plant trimming from the water.  Mary Lou spent the afternoon in the yard also, trimming here and there. She picked a ton of Sweet Peas and gave half to our neighbor and the remaining half is above the kitchen sink.  We ae now ready to be couch potatoes, in the patio, drinking our Dr. Peppers and discussing what movie to watch.


----------



## Gary A.

Taking a quick inventory of the deciduous trees, all are popping except the Silk tree.  There are new buds on the plum, the Waterfall Maple, the Japanese Maple,  the Persimmon ... the Silk Tree is always the last to pop.


----------



## davidharmier60

Do LOVE my Sister's fried chicken strips!
Just watched Jay Lenos Garage.

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## davidharmier60

I hope y'all have a great (as possible) Monday after a great Sunday night. 
I had a snippet of a dream the floor machine quit in the middle of the store. 
I really hope that one doesn't come true...

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## Fujidave

Morning all, sunny start today and with a lovely cool breeze.


----------



## davidharmier60

No coffee this morning. About par for Monday. 

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----------



## Fujidave

OK who pinched the blue skies, it has gone very hazy and white now.


----------



## smoke665

We got in yesterday ahead of the rain. 58 here this morning with gray sky's. Rained most of the night, or should say poured. They don't expect temperatures to rise above 70 for  most of the week, with rain likely every day.  I really wish I would have mowed before we left last week, as it's grown up bad now.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hi Hosers!  Hope everyone had a great weekend. Had a Softball scrimmage game yesterday. The new team looks good.  It was perfect softball weather.  Blue cloudless skies, temps in the high 50’s/low 60’s with just a hint of breeze.  It was so nice to be outside without freezing our butts off, we could’ve stayed out there all day and no one would have complained.  

Have not taken a ton of pics lately, other than the cloudy day realtor shoot.  I may post a few more of those later for critique. They could definitely have been better   

Happy Monday!


----------



## Fujidave

OH goodie the sun has come back out, so off to try and get a nice shot of the windmill and church.


----------



## smoke665

@Fujidave last week we were staying at a place with some great landscape photo opps. I had the best of intentions each day, setting my alarm, to get up before daylight and get out to those locations as the sun came up, and each day the alarm mysteriously got turned off.


----------



## CherylL

And yet rain again here no surprise.  I've been waiting patiently for my neighbor's cherry tree to blossom.  It will probably blossom when I have a house full of guests this coming weekend.  Cook and entertain or go next door with my camera??


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 58F and Gary is at CSULA. Should hit 80F today. This is another gray and overcast morning. Gary got a lot done yesterday and his little body reminded him of such when he awoke this morning.


----------



## davidharmier60

Talk about a Monday curse.
The floor machine ran low on battery power at about half of the store. 
The buffer has a screw on center thing that keeps pads on. It came off three times today. Never has before. It tossed the pad once. And with about 1/3 store left the engine up and quit. 

Here's hoping Tuesday will go better.

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----------



## Fujidave

Scran time, yummy


----------



## Fujidave

A lovely salad with with a few rolls and chicken plus the rest


----------



## davidharmier60

A Rose Bush which is not quite dead is surrounded by a nasty Bush. We can't take out the root system of that one without destroying the rose. So we clipped everything away from the rose and will do so again and again. This place was very pretty and well kept before we moved here.
Mowed and weedeated is about as good as it gets these days.

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----------



## smoke665

I would have been soooooo dead when my Dad got his hands on me if I'd done this!!! Boy, 12, steals credit card and goes on Bali holiday after fight with mother


----------



## smoke665

Deja Vu. We were at this same RV Park 2 years ago. While there a sudden storm came up with 70 mph straight line winds. Fortunately we were nose to the wind, and didn't really feel it. Our friends were parked broadside to the wind. It almost tipped them over, raising one side up a couple feet before it crashed back to the ground. Now this happened yesterday afternoon. Several campers flipped as tornado hits RV park in Foley think I'll find another park next time.


----------



## JonA_CT

I find that I’m pretty safe from tornadoes here. Hurricanes can be a bit hairy, and we got like 60 inches of snow this year (stopped counting, honestly). I think I’ll take it though.

Back to work today. I have 8 weeks until I get 10 weeks of Saturdays. Not that I’m counting or anything. I also had blood work done last week for the first time in probably 10 years, and everything is within spec. I’m going to call today a win.


----------



## espresso2x

smoke665 said:


> I would have been soooooo dead when my Dad got his hands on me if I'd done this!!! Boy, 12, steals credit card and goes on Bali holiday after fight with mother



Amazing story. The mind boggles!


----------



## davidharmier60

After today's fiasco tomorrow can only be better. Y'all have a great Monday night and a fine Tuesday 


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----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> I would have been soooooo dead when my Dad got his hands on me if I'd done this!!! Boy, 12, steals credit card and goes on Bali holiday after fight with mother


Gary doesn’t have the huevos to even think of disrespecting my parents thusly.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Gary did run away when he was 16 y/o ... he came back a year later. But Gary did it all on his nickel, he didn’t steal anything from his parents.


----------



## Gary A.

There are two, count ‘em, two Butterfly Bushes newly planted  on “the hill”.   Gary back is suffering.  It was a beautiful day.  Mary Lou took the Volvo, picked up a former student and cruised down to Seal Beach for a casual luncheon at the beach. Gary discovered a rather nasty rash on his arm in the same location which starting itching while he sawsall-ed the huge, killer, agave plant.


----------



## RowdyRay

Unreal. A week ago, we got 20" of snow. Today it was 69 degrees. Just as I predicted. Two weeks of spring and........BAM! Nineties and nearly the same percent of humidity. Lovley. (That was sarcasm)


----------



## Gary A.

78F was the high here with 46% humidity.  Gary was surprised that the humidity was approaching 50%. Tomorrow should be much of the same.


----------



## Fujidave

Grey and drizzle here today.  I wish Virgin media would not decide to work on their internet just when I need it.


----------



## davidharmier60

After work today i have been tasked to work on my computer. Got a nice mug of coffee so Tuesday already blows Monday put of the water!

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----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> I would have been soooooo dead when my Dad got his hands on me if I'd done this!!! Boy, 12, steals credit card and goes on Bali holiday after fight with mother





Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would have been soooooo dead when my Dad got his hands on me if I'd done this!!! Boy, 12, steals credit card and goes on Bali holiday after fight with mother
> 
> 
> 
> Gary doesn’t have the huevos to even think of disrespecting my parents thusly.
Click to expand...


My ex's cousin stole her Mom's Amex card when she was 18 and bought herself some breast implants.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> My ex's cousin stole her Mom's Amex card when she was 18 and bought herself some breast implants.



Be difficult to send those back for a refund. Bet it caused a large blowup at home. LOL


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would have been soooooo dead when my Dad got his hands on me if I'd done this!!! Boy, 12, steals credit card and goes on Bali holiday after fight with mother
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would have been soooooo dead when my Dad got his hands on me if I'd done this!!! Boy, 12, steals credit card and goes on Bali holiday after fight with mother
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary doesn’t have the huevos to even think of disrespecting my parents thusly.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My ex's cousin stole her Mom's Amex card when she was 18 and bought herself some breast implants.
Click to expand...

Stealing for a single vacation is pure selfish ... but stealing for a much needed medical procedure is somehow different ...


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> My ex's cousin stole her Mom's Amex card when she was 18 and bought herself some breast implants.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Be difficult to send those back for a refund. Bet it caused a large blowup at home. LOL
Click to expand...

Painful maybe ... but not difficult.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would have been soooooo dead when my Dad got his hands on me if I'd done this!!! Boy, 12, steals credit card and goes on Bali holiday after fight with mother
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would have been soooooo dead when my Dad got his hands on me if I'd done this!!! Boy, 12, steals credit card and goes on Bali holiday after fight with mother
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary doesn’t have the huevos to even think of disrespecting my parents thusly.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My ex's cousin stole her Mom's Amex card when she was 18 and bought herself some breast implants.
Click to expand...


----------



## Fujidave

Put it in the wrong thread, great to use paypal to pay and be a Supporting member here, but paypal are useless when I try to buy a Topaz plugin.  Just given them hell in an email saying one payment was instant, but the Topaz one is Pending and money is in my bank.  On a good note it`s raining..lol


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Put it in the wrong thread, great to use paypal to pay and be a Supporting member here, but paypal are useless when I try to buy a Topaz plugin.  Just given them hell in an email saying one payment was instant, but the Topaz one is Pending and money is in my bank.  On a good note it`s raining..lol


Gary doesn't use Paypal, with due respect to Elon Musk, consequently Gary cannot become a supporting member.  (He has tried.)


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary doesn't use Paypal, with due respect to Elon Musk, consequently Gary cannot become a supporting member. (He has tried.)



Gary could send a check to the address I posted above, see if they cash it.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> I would have been soooooo dead when my Dad got his hands on me if I'd done this!!! Boy, 12, steals credit card and goes on Bali holiday after fight with mother


His mother "said the boy doesn’t like hearing the word 'no'."

He's going to have a rough time with life.


----------



## davidharmier60

PayPal got me in a World of trouble. 
Therefore I don't have it either. 
6 and a bit hours today 10.32 for the week so far. Built a set of nesting tables. One coffee table and two little nesters which are at the ends of the Futon couch I assembled. The buffer ran almost flawlessly today. All I did was make sure the center thing was tight and the tank not empty. The guy is coming in the morning for the floor machine. I'm going to the second bank in town to try and get a box of pennies. Then PO, then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## davidharmier60

Home where 
A: we found out some stuff that ain't supposed to freeze obviously did.
B: swept the motor home pad.
C: took the computer open and removed and replaced every plug I could find and the memory. And so far so good.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Put it in the wrong thread, great to use paypal to pay and be a Supporting member here, but paypal are useless when I try to buy a Topaz plugin.  Just given them hell in an email saying one payment was instant, but the Topaz one is Pending and money is in my bank.  On a good note it`s raining..lol
> 
> 
> 
> Gary doesn't use Paypal, with due respect to Elon Musk, consequently Gary cannot become a supporting member.  (He has tried.)
Click to expand...


The way paypal are going I will be deleting my account with them.


----------



## SquarePeg

I use PayPal infrequently but when I do use it I have not had any issues.  What are some of the problems that people are hating on PayPal for?


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, well the rain has cleared and it is now just cloudy so hope the sun comes out.  Had a good talk with paypal and it seems their security does not like topaz at all so as I have enough editing software I dont need to buy the denoise at all.


----------



## davidharmier60

I have a small Bulova Water Pro watch. It is far too fiddly to set the time on.
Jumps a,second or two when the crown is pushed in. So I'll just wear a Timex. 
Got good coffee to ponder on it. 

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----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Morning all, well the rain has cleared and it is now just cloudy so hope the sun comes out.  Had a good talk with paypal and it seems their security does not like topaz at all so as I have enough editing software I dont need to buy the denoise at all.



Topaz Denoise is incredible.  Worth some hassle, IMO.  I got an email yesterday that they are having a 40% off sale.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Topaz Denoise is incredible. Worth some hassle, IMO. I got an email yesterday that they are having a 40% off sale.



I'm curious as to what exactly you find incredible. I've looked at their plug ins and seen many comments, but I can't seem to isolate anything really that can't be done manually, or with presets/actions, in LR or PS. I routinely shoot at high ISO up to 25600, and haven't encountered significant issues. However I'm always looking for something better.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning all, well the rain has cleared and it is now just cloudy so hope the sun comes out.  Had a good talk with paypal and it seems their security does not like topaz at all so as I have enough editing software I dont need to buy the denoise at all.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Topaz Denoise is incredible.  Worth some hassle, IMO.  I got an email yesterday that they are having a 40% off sale.
Click to expand...


That was the reason I tried to get it, I had a trial of it once and tested at 6400 iso on my 70D and thought it was really very good.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Topaz Denoise is incredible. Worth some hassle, IMO. I got an email yesterday that they are having a 40% off sale.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm curious as to what exactly you find incredible. I've looked at their plug ins and seen many comments, but I can't seem to isolate anything really that can't be done manually, or with presets/actions, in LR or PS. I routinely shoot at high ISO up to 25600, and haven't encountered significant issues. However I'm always looking for something better.
Click to expand...


@smoke665  It is worth getting, as imo it is the best one on the market.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> It is worth getting, as imo it is the best one on the market



But "why specifically", what does it do that I can't already do???? I have a ton of LR presets that I've either downloaded, bought, or built custom, same with actions in PS.  I've used and like the Nik Collection in LR for some time, but now since the latest update to LR with it's intelligent  "auto button", and the "Profiles", I rarely use it or need it.   So again what specifically would it do for me that I'm missing now?

I posted this in a series of photos shot last week. 9 pm at night, no lights, on the side of a mountain, and a very heavy crop. ISO 25600, f/4.5, 1/30 hand held. Is there noise yes, but some of that is the texture of the mountain behind. All in all I'm not sure that it could have been less noisy.



Opening Pledge by William Raber, on Flickr


----------



## Fujidave

Just emailed Topaz to ask for help on buying Denoise.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is worth getting, as imo it is the best one on the market
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But "why specifically", what does it do that I can't already do???? I have a ton of LR presets that I've either downloaded, bought, or built custom, same with actions in PS.  I've used and like the Nik Collection in LR for some time, but now since the latest update to LR with it's intelligent  "auto button", and the "Profiles", I rarely use it or need it.   So again what specifically would it do for me that I'm missing now?
Click to expand...


It`s hard to say really, but if I can get it then I will.  When I did a test at 6400 iso, it was with Deniose, Define,LR6, and PSE15 and Topaz beat the lot of them.


----------



## jcdeboever

No opportunity for methodical flower shots this week in Florida. It's been windy and sunny every day, not a good recipe for flower shots. So my tripod sits there dormant. I only managed to shoot one short roll of film, then loaded it with 3200 for night shooting the other night, and of course, a storm rolled in. So my film camera is dormant as well, maybe tonight I can purge it. The short roll was a good idea but the wife couldn't deal with the heat that day so we left early. She had an ear infection and I think the medicine they gave her at Urgent Care kind of played a part. She's better now so maybe a trip to Tampa or Ybor tonight. She doesn't dig Ybor at all but wants the car so I am at her mercy.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> It`s hard to say really, but if I can get it then I will. When I did a test at 6400 iso, it was with Deniose, Define,LR6, and PSE15 and Topaz beat the lot of them.



With the latest update I'm on version 7.3.1 on LR and version 19.1.3 on PS. I'm not promoting or putting down anything, just looking for specifics. I will say in the last couple of updates, that Adobe made some huge improvements in LR.


----------



## JonA_CT

My seats for Friday’s sox game. 




 

Did I mention they are free?


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> It`s hard to say really, but if I can get it then I will. When I did a test at 6400 iso, it was with Deniose, Define,LR6, and PSE15 and Topaz beat the lot of them.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> With the latest update I'm on version 7.3.1 on LR and version 19.1.3 on PS. I'm not promoting or putting down anything, just looking for specifics. I will say in the last couple of updates, that Adobe made some huge improvements in LR.
Click to expand...


I`d think that with the updates and your set up you`d be ok as is.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> I`d think that with the updates and your set up you`d be ok as is.



That's what I've found so far, but I'm no expert. Always looking for the better mousetrap, but I've been bitten before on software claims, therefore the questions.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> I`d think that with the updates and your set up you`d be ok as is.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's what I've found so far, but I'm no expert. Always looking for the better mousetrap, but I've been bitten before on software claims, therefore the questions.
Click to expand...


I can fully understand the questions, I was the same so had a trial version of it and liked it.  I am hoping that Topaz answer my email so I can get it for myself.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Waiting, waiting.... for a delivery, and as soon as I get up and start doing something they'll show up. Meanwhile I could just about doze off, this darn respiratory stuff! 

I don't use Paypal much either. There was a class action suit and I was one of the people affected. Related to them making it so at a certain point you had to get their credit card or allow access to your bank account info. No and no. Reason I was using Paypal a lot was after the stroke started doing online shopping for supplies which seemed just as well instead of using my credit card directly. At least it made them knock it off and they changed the site and that practice. That was like the third one I got a letter about... just sitting here minding my own business and get class action suit checks! 

OK I'm getting up before I'm asleep sitting here!


----------



## davidharmier60

Hi y'all. I got to assemble two bbq pits. 
Even the smallest one took over an hour.
A wee bit over 8 hours today.  And Trish wants me to build another larger one.
Haven't yet been where the computer is but I am confident it will be working. The Angels sure seem to have the Astros number....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> My ex's cousin stole her Mom's Amex card when she was 18 and bought herself some breast implants.


Nobody posted the obvious response . . . Pics or it didn't happen!  



SquarePeg said:


> Topaz Denoise is incredible.  Worth some hassle, IMO.  I got an email yesterday that they are having a 40% off sale.


Good to know.  I'm trying to remove some high-ISO noise from shots a geo-friend took of the Aurora in Iceland.


----------



## smoke665

Just came in from walking through the apple trees, and image my surprise when I found apples!!! Actually quite a few little apples, no bigger than the end of my finger, but apples none the less. Considering the spring we've had we were lucky to have blooms (they're still blooming). Guess that means I'll have to start spraying once the rain stops.


----------



## Dave442

Dodger Stadium - day game today. Visiting family on a short vacation.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is worth getting, as imo it is the best one on the market
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But "why specifically", what does it do that I can't already do???? I have a ton of LR presets that I've either downloaded, bought, or built custom, same with actions in PS.  I've used and like the Nik Collection in LR for some time, but now since the latest update to LR with it's intelligent  "auto button", and the "Profiles", I rarely use it or need it.   So again what specifically would it do for me that I'm missing now?
> 
> I posted this in a series of photos shot last week. 9 pm at night, no lights, on the side of a mountain, and a very heavy crop. ISO 25600, f/4.5, 1/30 hand held. Is there noise yes, but some of that is the texture of the mountain behind. All in all I'm not sure that it could have been less noisy.
> 
> 
> 
> Opening Pledge by William Raber, on Flickr
Click to expand...


If you’re happy with your current denoise software, no need to spend money!  If you’re curious, they probably offer a free trial?  I can’t recall...


JonA_CT said:


> My seats for Friday’s sox game.
> 
> View attachment 156837
> 
> Did I mention they are free?



Nice!  That’s about where we sit when my friend gets seats for us through his nephew who is facilities director for Fenway Park.  That’s also where the visiting team’s players seats are so be prepared for some opposition!  Are you Sox or NYY fan? Can never tell with you CT people.  Before you answer...Don’t disappoint me.  

And...the B’s just tied it up 4-4 v Leafs in game 7!!!!!


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Waiting, waiting.... for a delivery, and as soon as I get up and start doing something they'll show up. Meanwhile I could just about doze off, this darn respiratory stuff!
> 
> I don't use Paypal much either. There was a class action suit and I was one of the people affected. Related to them making it so at a certain point you had to get their credit card or allow access to your bank account info. No and no. Reason I was using Paypal a lot was after the stroke started doing online shopping for supplies which seemed just as well instead of using my credit card directly. At least it made them knock it off and they changed the site and that practice. That was like the third one I got a letter about... just sitting here minding my own business and get class action suit checks!
> 
> OK I'm getting up before I'm asleep sitting here!



 It’s definitely better to just use your credit card than use PayPal. You’re much more protected that way and for returns it takes out the middleman. PayPal is really only good if you’re doing a private transaction with somebody that you can’t exchange cash with or if you’re buying something from a site that you do not trust with your credit card info


----------



## SquarePeg

GOOOOOOOOOAL!


----------



## CherylL

The neighbor's cherry tree has one bloom.  It has until Fri at 2pm to be in full bloom.  The guests may not notice I am absent for a bit.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning all, well the rain has cleared and it is now just cloudy so hope the sun comes out.  Had a good talk with paypal and it seems their security does not like topaz at all so as I have enough editing software I dont need to buy the denoise at all.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Topaz Denoise is incredible.  Worth some hassle, IMO.  I got an email yesterday that they are having a 40% off sale.
Click to expand...


Yesterday I sent a polite email to Topaz, woke up this morning to see I had a reply from them and it is all sorted now.  So thank you very much Topaz, great service.


----------



## Fujidave

This was taken last week, but just had a call saying my mum has had another fall so I am all over the place at the moment.


----------



## snowbear

Fujidave said:


> This was taken last week, but just had a call saying my mum has had another fall so I am all over the place at the moment.
> 
> View attachment 156907


Sorry to hear this. 
I hope it goes well for her.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> This was taken last week, but just had a call saying my mum has had another fall so I am all over the place at the moment.
> 
> View attachment 156907



Sorry to hear that Dave.  Hope she is ok.  

My mom, 75, is pretty active - to the point where I worry that she is exhausting herself.  Actually haven’t heard from her since Sunday as she is off on a seniors bus tour of Nashville and Memphiswith sone friends.  I know she must be having fun if she hasn’t called us! Hopefully she’s having fun on one of those pedal bike moving taverns.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My seats for Friday’s sox game.
> 
> View attachment 156837
> 
> Did I mention they are free?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice!  That’s about where we sit when my friend gets seats for us through his nephew who is facilities director for Fenway Park.  That’s also where the visiting team’s players seats are so be prepared for some opposition!  Are you Sox or NYY fan? Can never tell with you CT people.  Before you answer...Don’t disappoint me.
> 
> And...the B’s just tied it up 4-4 v Leafs in game 7!!!!!
Click to expand...


Sox fan by birth. My grandfather was born in Wellesley the same year that Fenway Park opened, went to Boston schools, and got his engineering degree from MIT. There was never an option, haha.

The company my brother works for picked up 4 season tickets as part of their "morale" program this year. Hopefully, we'll get a couple games in. 

Football is more ambiguous because there were no family ties. My Dad is from Minnesota and is a Vikings fan, and the Giants became his local team because he had a friend with season tickets back in the Phil Simms era. I still have some old, old threadbare Superbowl t-shirts from the 80s.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My seats for Friday’s sox game.
> 
> View attachment 156837
> 
> Did I mention they are free?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice!  That’s about where we sit when my friend gets seats for us through his nephew who is facilities director for Fenway Park.  That’s also where the visiting team’s players seats are so be prepared for some opposition!  Are you Sox or NYY fan? Can never tell with you CT people.  Before you answer...Don’t disappoint me.
> 
> And...the B’s just tied it up 4-4 v Leafs in game 7!!!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Sox fan by birth. My grandfather was born in Wellesley the same year that Fenway Park opened, went to Boston schools, and got his engineering degree from MIT. There was never an option, haha.
> 
> The company my brother works for picked up 4 season tickets as part of their "morale" program this year. Hopefully, we'll get a couple games in.
> 
> Football is more ambiguous because there were no family ties. My Dad is from Minnesota and is a Vikings fan, and the Giants became his local team because he had a friend with season tickets back in the Phil Simms era. I still have some old, old threadbare Superbowl t-shirts from the 80s.
Click to expand...


So you lived through some of the Sox fan angst of the 90’s at least.  I lived it through 75 when I was 10, 86 when I was 21 and then the Yankee juggernaut that dominated the 90’s.  The really young people have no idea what it’s like to be perennial losers!  Since my daughter was born, there have been 5 Super Bowl wins (with 3 additional close SB losses), 3 World Series championships, a Celtics championship and a Stanley Cup.   It’s been a golden age for Boston sports.  These kids are spoiled!  Again this year Celtics and Bruins in the playoffs, Sox look GOOD and Patriots can never be counted out no matter who leaves in the off season...


----------



## JonA_CT

Agreed. That's why my students who are Pats fans are so annoying. At least my friends lived through them being utter crap, even with that blow out superbowl loss to the Packers. It's easy to be a Pats fan these days.

I still hate Yankees fans. If I carried a baseball bat around, they wouldn't finish "twenty-seven" before they got it. 

As far as Sox angst? Not as much as you, but it was still rough. My grandfather died the Spring of '04. Just missed seeing them win (he was a wee lad when they had previously won).


----------



## jcdeboever

Fujidave said:


> This was taken last week, but just had a call saying my mum has had another fall so I am all over the place at the moment.
> 
> View attachment 156907


Dave, you and your mum are in my prayers. Speedy recovery, healing, and health for her. Vitality and comfort for you my brother.


----------



## ceemac

Fujidave said:


> This was taken last week, but just had a call saying my mum has had another fall so I am all over the place at the moment.



Hey, Dave. Hope the fall wasn't too bad. Take care.Like jc says, she's in our prayers.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> This was taken last week, but just had a call saying my mum has had another fall so I am all over the place at the moment.
> 
> View attachment 156907


Man, that stuff is so tough on both of you.  Prayers to Mum.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is sipping a herbal tea this cool and overcast morning.  Gary hasn't gotten around to roasting any coffee.  This is a free day for Gary and he's thinking of cruising down to Temecula or maybe up the coast to Santa Barbara.


----------



## smoke665

No cruising for us today. We have granddaughter and alk the plans we had for things to do have been dampened by rain. Looks like a movie an play inside day


----------



## Gary A.

Or maybe toss some air in the tires and a bike ride along the beach ...


----------



## Gary A.

It is 56F right now, but should hit 70F here and 74F in Temecula ... a high of 63F in Santa Barbara.






Santa Barbara


----------



## ceemac

Nice. We just broke through the freezing point. Should hit about 70F today.


----------



## Gary A.

Or Gary could hang at home,


 
Drink some wine with Miss Maggie. 


 
Relax by the pond.


----------



## Fujidave

snowbear said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> This was taken last week, but just had a call saying my mum has had another fall so I am all over the place at the moment.
> 
> View attachment 156907
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear this.
> I hope it goes well for her.
Click to expand...




SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> This was taken last week, but just had a call saying my mum has had another fall so I am all over the place at the moment.
> 
> View attachment 156907
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear that Dave.  Hope she is ok.
> 
> My mom, 75, is pretty active - to the point where I worry that she is exhausting herself.  Actually haven’t heard from her since Sunday as she is off on a seniors bus tour of Nashville and Memphiswith sone friends.  I know she must be having fun if she hasn’t called us! Hopefully she’s having fun on one of those pedal bike moving taverns.
Click to expand...




jcdeboever said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> This was taken last week, but just had a call saying my mum has had another fall so I am all over the place at the moment.
> 
> View attachment 156907
> 
> 
> 
> Dave, you and your mum are in my prayers. Speedy recovery, healing, and health for her. Vitality and comfort for you my brother.
Click to expand...




ceemac said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> This was taken last week, but just had a call saying my mum has had another fall so I am all over the place at the moment.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, Dave. Hope the fall wasn't too bad. Take care.Like jc says, she's in our prayers.
Click to expand...




Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> This was taken last week, but just had a call saying my mum has had another fall so I am all over the place at the moment.
> 
> View attachment 156907
> 
> 
> 
> Man, that stuff is so tough on both of you.  Prayers to Mum.
Click to expand...



Thank you folks, just got back from the hospital, mum has a sore head and hip so they are keeping her in over night.  Some bloke came round the corner on his pushbike on the pathment, and smacked right into mum, then got up and rode off.  Thank god some passer bye went over to help her.  What is wrong with some people of today, he is a very lucky lad that I was not there.


----------



## Gary A.

@Fujidave:  Thanks for the update. Sorry for the accident/incident.


----------



## davidharmier60

Would have been a 4 hour day. But a bit over 1.5 to assemble another large grill.
24.29 for the week.  Just had biscuits and gravy and 3 pieces of sausage. Yum.
PO, the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Fujidave I feel for you. My Dad is 84 and wants to be more active.  But he falls now and then too.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Off to see Princess's HS softball game this afternoon.  Hopefully the weather today will hold and be better for photos than the last miserable freezing rain game.  It's an away game so leaving the pup at home as I don't know if dogs are welcome there.  So better weather and one less feisty doggie to worry about should make for some good photo time!

Rec softball opening game is Saturday.  My team is looking pretty darn good!  We have a very consistent pitcher and some strong power hitters.  Some of the infielders need to step up their game a bit but we'll get them there!  Practice practice practice all week long.  Looking forward to the season and some real games.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> @Fujidave:  Thanks for the update. Sorry for the accident/incident.



I was pretty peeved off to hear the lad just rode away, but just so glad it was not too bad.


----------



## davidharmier60

At the box at the front of the neighborhood there was a Lady looking at a flat tire. I changed to a temp spare for her. Strangely however when Dad and Sister came into the neighborhood she was still there....I haven't a clue what happened to her tire but whatever it was that tire is done for.


----------



## snowbear

Fujidave said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Fujidave:  Thanks for the update. Sorry for the accident/incident.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was pretty peeved off to hear the lad just rode away, but just so glad it was not too bad.
Click to expand...

A$$hole.  Any security cameras in the area - around here, between security and road intersection monitoring, cameras are everywhere.


----------



## Fujidave

snowbear said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Fujidave:  Thanks for the update. Sorry for the accident/incident.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was pretty peeved off to hear the lad just rode away, but just so glad it was not too bad.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> A$$hole.  Any security cameras in the area - around here, between security and road intersection monitoring, cameras are everywhere.
Click to expand...


No cameras at all, just glad a passer bye went to help.


----------



## Fujidave

Well I have managed to get the Macro pack installed in AP now.  Plus Topaz Denoise too


----------



## vintagesnaps

Dave, your poor mom, my goodness. Glad it wasn't any worse. 

David, at least you tried to help. 

I'm gettin' nothin' done. Just kind of worn out today after a few days of this respiratory stuff and doing some cooking and cleaning yesterday. Guess next week when I have a checkup I'll see if there's anything else to try besides a decongestant, 2 kinds of nasal spray, etc. besides moving out of sinus valley til the pollen's done!


----------



## Fujidave

It was a bit of a panic if I say so my self, funny really as when I visited mum she said mind your chest.


----------



## smoke665

@Fujidave terrible about what happened to your Mom, but so glad she's okay. I just cringe at how some people act today.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> @Fujidave terrible about what happened to your Mom, but so glad she's okay. I just cringe at how some people act today.



I was totally gobsmacked when told, the bloke looked at mum then rode off.  The sad thing is here in East Sussex, they spent millions making bike lanes but they just use the pathment instead.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> gobsmacked



Okay you got me, I had to look that one up!!! LOL  Love it!!! Might have to start something new here in the south.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary made it to Temecula. Our first tasting to complement our lunch.


----------



## davidharmier60

Gary, how about Berringer wines?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gobsmacked, you gotta watch British TV shows - Monty Python, Fawlty Towers,  The Young Ones... then you'd know things like what a biro is. (As Smokey starts looking that one up...) Guess that's why British shows like those used to be on 'educational' TV here, so we could learn about important things like the Ministry of Silly Walks and the fish slapping dance.


----------



## Tony744

Fujidave said:


> This was taken last week, but just had a call saying my mum has had another fall so I am all over the place at the moment.
> 
> View attachment 156907



Sorry to hear about your mom, glad she's doing okay.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Gary, how about Berringer wines?


Beringer runs the gamete from a fine, limited production private reserve wine costing over $100 to a commercial, mass produced blends for a few bucks.


----------



## davidharmier60

OK, Beringer. I know nothing. 
Red, White, Merlot?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Gobsmacked, you gotta watch British TV shows - Monty Python, Fawlty Towers,  The Young Ones... then you'd know things like what a biro is. (As Smokey starts looking that one up...) Guess that's why British shows like those used to be on 'educational' TV here, so we could learn about important things like the Ministry of Silly Walks and the fish slapping dance.



Y'all if some dumb... here  knocked someone's Mama catywampus, bless their hearts, I doubt they'd have the chance to skedaddle. We tend to take our Mamas pretty serious round here, and anybody who'd hurt someone's Mama is lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut.  You'd have to be so dumb you couldn't find your a.. with both hands in your back pockets to do something so stupid. By the time anyone in eyeshot got done raisin knots on his head, he'd have more lumps than Carter has pills, bless his heart. (As Other Sharon starts googling LOL).


----------



## limr

Gobsmacked is definitely one of the terms I picked up from my English colleagues. My other favorites are "knackered" and "to go pear-shaped." 

I'm sure if we all went full-on with our regional dialects, we'd all learn a few new words


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gobsmacked, you gotta watch British TV shows - Monty Python, Fawlty Towers,  The Young Ones... then you'd know things like what a biro is. (As Smokey starts looking that one up...) Guess that's why British shows like those used to be on 'educational' TV here, so we could learn about important things like the Ministry of Silly Walks and the fish slapping dance.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Y'all if some dumb... here  knocked someone's Mama catywampus, bless their hearts, I doubt they'd have the chance to skedaddle. We tend to take our Mamas pretty serious round here, and anybody who'd hurt someone's Mama is lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut.  You'd have to be so dumb you couldn't find your a.. with both hands in your back pockets to do something so stupid. By the time anyone in eyeshot got done raisin knots on his head, he'd have more lumps than Carter has pills, bless his heart. (As Other Sharon starts googling LOL).
Click to expand...


Shouldn't there be something about a duck on a june bug in there somewhere?


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Shouldn't there be something about a duck on a june bug in there somewhere?



You mean "faster than a chicken on a June bug"?


----------



## davidharmier60

Good Thursday night y'all and have a SUPER Friday! And iffin you don't have to go to work Saturday have yourself a wonderful weekend!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Shouldn't there be something about a duck on a june bug in there somewhere?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You mean "faster than a chicken on a June bug"?
Click to expand...


I guess that's Virginia vs Alabama


----------



## limr

What, I'm supposed to know what a friggin' june bug is? We ain't got none of them stupid bugs up here. Youse and the chickens can keep 'em, y'knowwatImean?


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Gobsmacked, you gotta watch British TV shows - Monty Python, Fawlty Towers,  The Young Ones... then you'd know things like what a biro is. (As Smokey starts looking that one up...) Guess that's why British shows like those used to be on 'educational' TV here, so we could learn about important things like the Ministry of Silly Walks and the fish slapping dance.



Loved watching all of those TV shows.

Well today is dark and grey out with a slight breeze.


----------



## snowbear

Chickens -- They can go on the side with rock, if you at a tablecloth restaurant.  But gimme a couple cakes and a Nattie Bo.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@Fujidave  Sorry about your mother's accident, but glad it wasn't worse. I only read this thread in spurts and am usually late to the party.


----------



## jcdeboever

Flying home today. Man, vacation flew by. Not ready to go home. Shot my short rolls (triX) (4) yesterday at the beach yesterday.

Went to Ybor Wed night with wife. She was difficult again, she really hates that area. She messes up my mojo for sure but what a trooper, she hung in there for a couple hours. I managed to get 25 shots with the 3200 speed but had to burn the roll up yesterday morning on the beach, probably going to be blown out, I had the F with 35 f2 pegged out at f/22 and 1/1000s. Next year, I'm bringing some Velvia 50 and or Pan F. I did take a couple landscape shots from the pier that would have been nice in color but all I had was B & W, live and learn I guess. It's a strange thing with me, I get so methodical in my approach that I overlook simple things like film selection. I never even considered color or speed other than I wanted to shoot a roll of 3200 just to see it.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Hope your return is pleasant and fast JC. Just getting started on mini vacation lol. Who goes to Alaska this time of year??? Me!


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> she really hates that area. She messes up my mojo for sure but what a trooper, she hung in there for a couple hours.



I've found that dropping the wife at the International Plaza and Bay Street with credit cards is a good way, to entertain her while I go to Ybor City.


----------



## Fujidave

Dean_Gretsch said:


> @Fujidave  Sorry about your mother's accident, but glad it wasn't worse. I only read this thread in spurts and am usually late to the party.



Thanks Dean, mum is back home and resting so I am going over tomorrow to do a shop and a bit of a clean for her.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

You're a good son, Dave. Your mother is lucky in many ways!


----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Hope your return is pleasant and fast JC. Just getting started on mini vacation lol. Who goes to Alaska this time of year??? Me!


Gary ventured to Alaska in February.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

It's almost like we picked this week as if we knew what the weather was going to be. NO RAIN in the rainforest while we are here. Happy dance


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> OK, Beringer. I know nothing.
> Red, White, Merlot?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


If you're new to wines ... start with a Merlot (red) or a Chardonnay (white).  Merlots, typically, are a bit on the sweet side and pretty even tasting, not a lot going on with them, middle of the road type of flavor.  Chardonnay are also middle of the road, but there are many great Chardonnay's out there. I don't think I've ever tasted a great Merlot.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Temecula was a wonderful escape.  Weather was perfect, blue skies, nothing but blue skies all day long. Warm and breezy, very little traffic.  Gary arrived in about an hour's time, without pushing it ... returning was about an hour and a half as we left around five o'clock into heavy traffic. Mary Lou tried a lobster panini at Thornton ... man, it was delicious beyond expectations.  It had so much buttered lobster that she could barely hold the sandwich without lobster squirting out and hitting the table next to us. At Doffo we ran into a pro photog who was photographing a new release.  He spotted Gary's Fuji and immediately stopped and wanted to talk ... to know who Gary was ... lol.  Then a final stop at Lorenzi ... sweet, glorious, winemaking Lorenzi.  We stretched out on high the patio with the vineyards spreading out to the hills, a nice breeze sweeping up from the valley, sipping the finest wines in Temecula. It was a totally relaxing day ... touring through rolling hills of vineyards, the top down, our spirits up ... it was like a movie.


----------



## Fujidave

Just been on the phone to my bank, my payments were declined because I was spending a lot of money so the Fraud folk stopped it all.  So sorry to say it was not Paypal at all.  I do understand if I am spending a lot of money that my bank would do that.  So just re ordered my very 1st flash.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Temecula was a wonderful escape.  Weather was perfect, blue skies, nothing but blue skies all day long. Warm and breezy, very little traffic.  Gary arrived in about an hour's time, without pushing it ... returning was about an hour and a half as we left around five o'clock into heavy traffic. Mary Lou tried a lobster panini at Thornton ... man, it was delicious beyond expectations.  It had so much buttered lobster that she could barely hold the sandwich without lobster squirting out and hitting the table next to us. At Doffo we ran into a pro photog who was photographing a new release.  He spotted Gary's Fuji and immediately stopped and wanted to talk ... to know who Gary was ... lol.  Then a final stop at Lorenzi ... sweet, glorious, winemaking Lorenzi.  We stretched out on high the patio with the vineyards spreading out to the hills, a nice breeze sweeping up from the valley, sipping the finest wines in Temecula. It was a totally relaxing day ... touring through rolling hills of vineyards, the top down, our spirits up ... it was like a movie.



Sounds like La La Land meets Sideways.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Just been on the phone to my bank, my payments were declined because I was spending a lot of money so the Fraud folk stopped it all.  So sorry to say it was not Paypal at all.  I do understand if I am spending a lot of money that my bank would do that.  So just re ordered my very 1st flash.



Some of the fraud alerts are ridiculous.  I ended up canceling my Citibank card because every time I tried to use it, which wasn't very often, they would block my card for possible fraud.  This wasn't even for big money transactions.  This was at places like Walmart for $100 or the grocery store...

Now Amex has sent me a text while I'm in the check out line waiting for my purchase to be approved, to ask me to respond yes or no if the purchaser is me!  Very advanced but only good if you would be the type of person to check a text while standing in the check out line (which I guess I am!).


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just been on the phone to my bank, my payments were declined because I was spending a lot of money so the Fraud folk stopped it all.  So sorry to say it was not Paypal at all.  I do understand if I am spending a lot of money that my bank would do that.  So just re ordered my very 1st flash.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some of the fraud alerts are ridiculous.  I ended up canceling my Citibank card because every time I tried to use it, which wasn't very often, they would block my card for possible fraud.  This wasn't even for big money transactions.  This was at places like Walmart for $100 or the grocery store...
> 
> Now Amex has sent me a text while I'm in the check out line waiting for my purchase to be approved, to ask me to respond yes or no if the purchaser is me!  Very advanced but only good if you would be the type of person to check a text while standing in the check out line (which I guess I am!).
Click to expand...


I can see why they did it as, I`d just splashed out over £300 quid.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> I can see why they did it as, I`d just splashed out over £300 quid.



And the flip side is getting hacked. Surprisingly despite all their fraud alerts in place, our Discover card has been hacked twice. Each time it's been caught before there were any problems but still, it's an irritation.


----------



## Fujidave

Here in the UK, we say April showers..lol  Well it has chucked it down all day.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has been credit card okay, but Mary Lou, (who has all the money), has been hacked three times.  It is always a PITA to get unhacked and a new card, et al.  One time the hacker used her card for a hotel stay in Los Angeles.  She was informed, by the bank, while the hacker was still checked in at the hotel.  She called the bank to tell them the hacker was at the hotel ... the bank wasn't impressed and then she called the hotel ... and nada.  She was so ticked ... She still get catalogs from the stores where her stolen credit was used.  Some pretty nice stores.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Temecula was a wonderful escape.  Weather was perfect, blue skies, nothing but blue skies all day long. Warm and breezy, very little traffic.  Gary arrived in about an hour's time, without pushing it ... returning was about an hour and a half as we left around five o'clock into heavy traffic. Mary Lou tried a lobster panini at Thornton ... man, it was delicious beyond expectations.  It had so much buttered lobster that she could barely hold the sandwich without lobster squirting out and hitting the table next to us. At Doffo we ran into a pro photog who was photographing a new release.  He spotted Gary's Fuji and immediately stopped and wanted to talk ... to know who Gary was ... lol.  Then a final stop at Lorenzi ... sweet, glorious, winemaking Lorenzi.  We stretched out on high the patio with the vineyards spreading out to the hills, a nice breeze sweeping up from the valley, sipping the finest wines in Temecula. It was a totally relaxing day ... touring through rolling hills of vineyards, the top down, our spirits up ... it was like a movie.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like La La Land meets Sideways.
Click to expand...

Pretty much, lol, we danced and sang our way through three wineries. (The best part, as we are members of the wineries, all the tastings were free. The lunch was 50% off.  The tastings at Lorenzi, our good friend who was pouring doubled up the pours and even sat and chatted with us a spell.  He did talk Gary into a 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon, of which only four cases were left.  But Gary did get his member's discount for that item.)


----------



## smoke665

Each time ours was hacked it was caught quickly before the hackers had a chance to run up much, and we were not charged. In each case the card company took the stance that it was more expensive to pursue it then drop it. One thing we never do is use a debit card on the road. While they will reimburse you for fraudulent debits, it may take a few days for the money to get back in your account. With a credit card it's on them.


----------



## davidharmier60

One of the hinge brackets on the grill I put up yesterday had the hole in the wrong place. I cobbed it up with a smaller bolt.
Trish is going to decide how much to discount it for being cobbed up.
5 and roughly a half today. 30 even for the week. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## SquarePeg

Did I tell you all that there was no softball game yesterday?  Sigh.  Although the rain had stopped by morning and it was a top 10 gorgeous day yesterday, the 1-2 inches that came down the previous night did a number on the opposing team's field and they had to postpone the game.  So much for all my rearranging of my schedule and work obligations to get to the game!  Not to mention getting up early to braid Princess's hair in her usual softball do...  all for naught!  Instead we got a late lunch when Princess got out of school and then went down to the park to work on her pitching and play with the dog.  It was a fun afternoon and I have the sunburn and sore muscles to prove it!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hosers, there's curling on in the middle of the afternoon, World Mixed Doubles. I thought curling was done for the season but I'll take it. 

The IIHF Under 18s (international) hockey tournament is going on, next game for the USA is Saturday morning. Canada surprisingly already got eliminated, but all they've shown have been Team USA games (I'm lucky they show any of it!).

There are a couple of former local college players still in the playoffs with the Bs, they may have been up and down from the P Bruins but at least one of them was playing last round. Other than that I'm not that into Boston because they are the teams we love to hate - BU, BC, pretty much anybody in Hockey East... lol (although I do enjoy watching the Beanpot). I'd be just as glad to see them win the Cup as much as anybody that's left (although I have to say Vegas is entertaining to watch and we have a former player there too). Hockey's a small world, we have former players everywhere.


----------



## JonA_CT

Sox lost...Pomeranz left 3 changeups out over the plate that got killed and that’s the difference in the game. 

Great seats though, and it sounds like I’ll be back up in June. You were right, Sharon...the rays tickets were the row behind us.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, very dark and grey out and damp.  Over to mums today so will be great to see and help her, so a day of rest from photo taking.


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## davidharmier60

Kinda wish I could go back to bed. But I must go in approximately 20 minutes. 

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## Fujidave

Afternoon all, just got back from mums after having a great day.  Did a shop and clean for her then made us lunch.  Still very grey here but mild.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Mary Lou and Gary will be heading northeast to San Bernardino.  A little trip to CSUSB Latino Book Fair.  Gary has donated ten cases of books to be given to the local populous.  We're looking at 74F today ... so another pleasant day.


----------



## terri

Happy weekend, hosers!

@Gary A. , I'm not ready to purge my books yet.  A few went to the local library when we moved, but the rest get lugged around like pets.  They go where I go!  

It's annual planting time today, hosers!


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## davidharmier60

Not exactly sure about today's hours but 5.13 or so seems about right. 35.something for the week.
Should be a VERY nice check. 
Built a large and a small Old Smokey grill.
Much easier and quicker than those others.
Post Office,  the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## vintagesnaps

Is it gray and cloudy everywhere? Even Dave across the pond said it was the same for him too. 

Team USA won and are playing for the gold Sunday in the World U18s. I'm half watching some lacrosse (and wondering how Notre Dame ended up Big Ten for hockey and ACC for lacrosse...?). This game's in OT and is never going to end if somebody doesn't score! Once they do I'm going back to hockey. Going to a 2nd OT...


----------



## smoke665

Not here, sunny and warm, for the next week. High was 78 with a nice breeze, same for the next several days. We spent most of yesterday and today, cleaning beds, and spreading bark, planted the new bed that I built a couple weeks ago. Think I'm done with retaining walls and beds, getting to old to stack the blocks. Reseeded a section of side yard with centipede. Will see how that goes, I've never had much luck with starting from seed. Usually I do better sprigging or laying sod, but I didn't have the time on this.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Happy weekend, hosers!
> 
> @Gary A. , I'm not ready to purge my books yet.  A few went to the local library when we moved, but the rest get lugged around like pets.  They go where I go!
> 
> It's annual planting time today, hosers!


This was tens cases of the same book.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Not here, sunny and warm, for the next week. High was 78 with a nice breeze, same for the next several days. We spent most of yesterday and today, cleaning beds, and spreading bark, planted the new bed that I built a couple weeks ago. Think I'm done with retaining walls and beds, getting to old to stack the blocks. Reseeded a section of side yard with centipede. Will see how that goes, I've never had much luck with starting from seed. Usually I do better sprigging or laying sod, but I didn't have the time on this.


Gary has had exceptional good luck hydroseeding.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Is it gray and cloudy everywhere? Even Dave across the pond said it was the same for him too.
> 
> Team USA won and are playing for the gold Sunday in the World U18s. I'm half watching some lacrosse (and wondering how Notre Dame ended up Big Ten for hockey and ACC for lacrosse...?). This game's in OT and is never going to end if somebody doesn't score! Once they do I'm going back to hockey. Going to a 2nd OT...


In football, ND is an Independent.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary has had exceptional good luck hydroseeding.



I don't have problems with most grass seed. Planted several thousand acres over the years, but centipede is my nemesis.


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## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are back from San Bernardino.  78F and very breezy ... very nice, and the event was equally nice. Thousands of books were given away to a widely diverse crowd, from families to older adults.

Gary had nice conversations with photogs who spotted my Fuji’s and started a conversation.  “Are those mirrorless?” and the conversation begins ...


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## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has had exceptional good luck hydroseeding.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't have problems with most grass seed. Planted several thousand acres over the years, but centipede is my nemesis.
Click to expand...

Me too, most likely tens of thousands actually.


----------



## snowbear

We went to Fire boss' retirement.  It took two and a half hours to get there, when it should have taken a little over one -- motorcycle crash had a state route shut down for a few hours.

I made him a map, then matted and framed it. all of the GIS team signed the mat.  The map was titled "Eight Minute Travel Time and Run Card", and showed the eight minute travel time (a standard Fire thing) from his house.  Other features were fire stations, places with liquor licenses, golf courses, hospitals and nursing homes.   The run card (basically a list of equipment/stations to respond on an incident, in the order from closest to furthest) was a listing of the 20 closest bars and liquor stores to his house, including how many minutes it should take to get there. The standard disclaimer was changed to "The County GIS office will not be held responsible for property damages, loss of business, nor personal injury due to incidents including, but not limited to dropped drinks, sliders, or nachos."

Everyone loved it.


----------



## Gary A.

On the way home from San Bernardino, we passed through Ontario. Ontario, when I was growing up was one of two big cities next to the little agricultural community where Gary lived. Chino had one traffic signal and it flashed only red in four directions. Ontario had multi-laned avenues with tri-colored traffic lights, block after block of signal lights. Ontario was host to my father’s favorite restaurant, Vince’s Spaghetti.  The spaghetti at Vince’s is soooo good that when I was a kid, all they offered on the menu was spaghetti and French Dips. If you’re only offering two items ... they better be good. Interestingly, while Gary has been eating Vince’s spaghetti since the 1950’s, Gary has never eaten one of their French Dips. When the family ate at Vince’s, we all had spaghetti except Mom. She, more often than not, ordered a French Dip.  Today, Mary Lou and Gary, ate Vince’s Spaghetti and we ordered a pair of French Dips to go.   The memories.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, another very grey and dark day here.  Hope you all have a good one.


----------



## Fujidave

OK, who nicked the sun as it feels more like a winters day out.  Came back early as I don`t like to have a camera out in the rain.


----------



## smoke665

Plenty of sun here as we head for the high 70's today.


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## davidharmier60

The weather outside looks pretty good. 
Having cinnamon toast and bacon.
Not at all sure what will happen today. 

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## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Morning all, another very grey and dark day here.  Hope you all have a good one.


Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers, another typically overcast morning. It is 58F so far, but should hit 70F after the marine layer burns off.  Gary plans to trim up the grapes as they are going nuts and climbing up all over the place.

Continuing from Gary's last post, the Vince's French Dip sandwiches were awesome.  Mary Lou and Gary each ate a half last night.  Vince's tosses some of the seasoned meat sauce ground beef into the au jus rendering the au jus very flavorful and the sandwich itself was up there with a Philippe's French Dip, home of the original French Dip.




 
A half order of Vince’s Spaghetti.


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## smoke665

@Gary A. My DW is an awesome cook, having won some competitions in years past. She made a variation of this the other night, so good. Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole - Spend With Pennies  . The recipe calls for italian sausage, which would probably put this over the top, but all she had on hand was ground beef. It was still fantastic.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. My DW is an awesome cook, having won some competitions in years past. She made a variation of this the other night, so good. Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole - Spend With Pennies  . The recipe calls for italian sausage, which would probably put this over the top, but all she had on hand was ground beef. It was still fantastic.


Around this household, Gary cooks the entree and Mary Lou the sides.  Mary Lou has trouble deciding which spaghetti is better, Vince's or Gary's. Gary's is healthier, as he uses ground turkey and turkey sausages in his sauce. Typically, Gary uses a pre-made sauce as a base, then tosses in stuff from the garden, tomatoes, peppers, basil, oregano, parsley, et cetera. He cooks the ground turkey and turkey sausages separate to minimize grease/fat. Vince's is cheaper, extremely tasty, no prep or clean-up but 30-40 minutes away.  On the flip side, Gary does, on occasion, make his own healthy wheat noodles.  Homemade noodles beats Vince's.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. My DW is an awesome cook, having won some competitions in years past. She made a variation of this the other night, so good. Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole - Spend With Pennies  . The recipe calls for italian sausage, which would probably put this over the top, but all she had on hand was ground beef. It was still fantastic.


Gary's first take was that it looked like a lasagna ... Gary likes that recipe ... he will make it soon.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary first take was that it looked like a lasagna ... Gary likes that recipe ... he will make it soon.



I am a big lasagne fan, and there is a hint of it in the dish, but there's more. Once you take a bite, you find there's more both in taste and texture. Add a Cesars salad on the side, some bread for dipping and nice dipping oil mix, and you have a feast.


----------



## davidharmier60

I haven't had Lasagna in a long time. Remember it being yummy!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I haven't had cinnamon toast in a long time. Or French dip, both sound good. Now to check out Charlie's recipe...

If I'd tossed anything from the yard in the pasta sauce I made it would've been grass and dirt. Grass cutting just started maybe a week ago, planting doesn't start here til after Mother's Day. 

Notre Dame used to be Independent in hockey too. They just won the ACC in lacrosse, and won the Big Ten regular season and tournament in hockey. Then they went to the finals in the NCAA Frozen Four and damn near won it all. Their rink is the only one I've seen anymore that has absolutely no dasher ads, those boards are pristine white with blue and gold striping.


----------



## RowdyRay

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. My DW is an awesome cook, having won some competitions in years past. She made a variation of this the other night, so good. Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole - Spend With Pennies  . The recipe calls for italian sausage, which would probably put this over the top, but all she had on hand was ground beef. It was still fantastic.



Thanks for the recipe. I've seen a number of spaghetti casserole recipes, but none that have sounded worth the effort. Just make spaghetti.

I will definitely give this a try. Going on a fishing trip next month. Who wants to spend it cooking, unless it's fresh fish? We make a lot of things ahead of time and bring with. Sounds like a perfect one for that.


----------



## smoke665

RowdyRay said:


> We make a lot of things ahead of time and bring with. Sounds like a perfect one for that.



DW always makes extra of the things we like, freezing the extra. When we leave in the RV, the freezer gets stocked with those frozen meals.


----------



## espresso2x

Heavy rain, high winds, snow??!! expected for parts of the UK on monday


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## smoke665

espresso2x said:


> snow??!!



Snow!!!!!!!!!!!! Are you kidding.


----------



## davidharmier60

I am about to go to sleep. 
I wish you as good a Monday as is possible. I figure the floor machine will do what it's supposed to. Have a nice y'all. 

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## Gary A.

Gary has just finished making a chicken dish with saffron.  This is Gary's first time cooking with saffron.


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## Fujidave

Very heavy rain here today, and the high winds are getting worse since we woke up.


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## Fujidave

Went out for a walk with Susie dry, came back like drowned rats and it feels more like a winters day.


----------



## smoke665

Morning Y'all, another sunny day in the south!!

I don't normally share these kind of things but my DW sent me this, and it was just to good not to share with the group. 

Apples & Wine

     Women are like apples on the tree. You'll only find the best high up on the tree. Most men are hesitant to reach for those because they're either afraid of falling and getting hurt, or just a tad on the lazy side. Instead they'll pickup one from the ground because it's easy and no work, but aren't always good. This leaves the apples at the top of the tree thinking there's something wrong with them, but the truth is they are the most amazing. They just have to wait for the right man, whose willing to put forth the effort to reach to their level.

     Men on the other hand are like fine wine. They start out as grapes, and it's up to the women to pick them and stomp the SH** out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with.


----------



## Fujidave

Just having a look at reviews on the Fuji X100F, and what I see I like a lot.  I might be getting one in a few months, so I might have to think about owning just two X camera`s.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Went out for a walk with Susie dry, came back like drowned rats and it feels more like a winters day.


There is a creek on our daily walks.  Miss Maggie always jumps into the water.  She will lay down in the shallow water and stick her head underwater seeking algae.  Then she bites off the algae and flings it onto the bank.  She runs through the water, sometimes straight and sometimes weaving up one bank then the other.  She and Max, the Golden Retriever, will wrestle in the water. Maggie gets hosed down every day when we get home.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Just having a look at reviews on the Fuji X100F, and what I see I like a lot.  I might be getting one in a few months, so I might have to think about owning just two X camera`s.


Gary has a X100S.  It is a great camera, but nothing all that different than an X-Pro with a 23mm lens. I know nothing about you or your photography and lenses ... but a fixed lens may not be the best choice for a second camera.  For a little more money you can get a XP2 ... then get the Fujinon f/2, 23mm.  The camera is a bit bigger, but the XP2 is a much more rugged and versatile camera as it accepts interchangeable lenses. 

More often than not, Gary shoots with two cameras, a long lens on one camera and a wide lens on the other.  It is much much faster capturing images that way than with one camera and trading out lenses. If all you shoot are landscapes and static subjects ... then one camera is fine.  But in a fluid, uncontrolled environment, two cameras will definitely increase your chances of success.

A used XP2 is about the same as a new X100F.

The X100 series are great for walking around, for when you want to go light, great for travel.  But if you're disciplined, a XP2 w/ a 23mm is similar.  (Just don't pocket additional lenses.)


----------



## Gary A.

Doesn't look like much, but it was quite good.




Gary’s recipe from yesterday. Delish!


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm munching on some green beans and some grilled chicken for lunch. Under the doctor's orders, I've been eating lots of lean protein and vegetables, some dairy, and have cut back on the carbs quite a bit. The hardest meal of the day has been breakfast, honestly. I don't love eggs and some of the non-egg breakfast suggestions are pretty gross. (Lunch meat and cheese roll ups? Sooooo salty. I can't do it, haha). Fortunately, I figured out this morning that the protein powder I buy fulfills my nutrient requirements for breakfast. It's hard to argue with the results. I've lost about 10 pounds in the last two weeks. The goal is another 20-30 if I want to avoid going on medication for my blood pressure. 

As someone who loves to cook and bake, it's been a little tough. I've been finding lots of ways to make healthier food though. (Except for Friday night. One does not go to Fenway Park and forgo a Fenway Frank. Or two.)


----------



## Gary A.

Miss Maggie from today’s walk waiting to be hosed down.


----------



## davidharmier60

6.01 hours today. I clocked out thinking I was done with 5.45. But when I got to the window I was handed 4 signs to put up.
So I clocked back in. Built the best large grill so far. Works smooth as butter. 
Got home and changed oil in the lawnmower, brought in a bag of dog food. 
Going to watch F1 or Drag Racing on the DVR.

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## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I'm munching on some green beans and some grilled chicken for lunch. Under the doctor's orders, I've been eating lots of lean protein and vegetables, some dairy, and have cut back on the carbs quite a bit. The hardest meal of the day has been breakfast, honestly. I don't love eggs and some of the non-egg breakfast suggestions are pretty gross. (Lunch meat and cheese roll ups? Sooooo salty. I can't do it, haha). Fortunately, I figured out this morning that the protein powder I buy fulfills my nutrient requirements for breakfast. It's hard to argue with the results. I've lost about 10 pounds in the last two weeks. The goal is another 20-30 if I want to avoid going on medication for my blood pressure.
> 
> As someone who loves to cook and bake, it's been a little tough. I've been finding lots of ways to make healthier food though. (Except for Friday night. One does not go to Fenway Park and forgo a Fenway Frank. Or two.)


Maybe a paleo cookbook.


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## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I'm munching on some green beans and some grilled chicken for lunch. Under the doctor's orders, I've been eating lots of lean protein and vegetables, some dairy, and have cut back on the carbs quite a bit. The hardest meal of the day has been breakfast, honestly. I don't love eggs and some of the non-egg breakfast suggestions are pretty gross. (Lunch meat and cheese roll ups? Sooooo salty. I can't do it, haha). Fortunately, I figured out this morning that the protein powder I buy fulfills my nutrient requirements for breakfast. It's hard to argue with the results. I've lost about 10 pounds in the last two weeks. The goal is another 20-30 if I want to avoid going on medication for my blood pressure.
> 
> As someone who loves to cook and bake, it's been a little tough. I've been finding lots of ways to make healthier food though. (Except for Friday night. One does not go to Fenway Park and forgo a Fenway Frank. Or two.)



Sounds similar to my weight watchers diet.  Breakfast is also hardest for me.  I usually end up going with either an egg white omelette with onions and peppers or a yogurt with fruit on the side.  Sometimes I throw in some toast but I use the Sara Lee Delightful whole wheat or whole grain bread.  It's only 45 calories/slice and lower in carbs than most breads.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm munching on some green beans and some grilled chicken for lunch. Under the doctor's orders, I've been eating lots of lean protein and vegetables, some dairy, and have cut back on the carbs quite a bit. The hardest meal of the day has been breakfast, honestly. I don't love eggs and some of the non-egg breakfast suggestions are pretty gross. (Lunch meat and cheese roll ups? Sooooo salty. I can't do it, haha). Fortunately, I figured out this morning that the protein powder I buy fulfills my nutrient requirements for breakfast. It's hard to argue with the results. I've lost about 10 pounds in the last two weeks. The goal is another 20-30 if I want to avoid going on medication for my blood pressure.
> 
> As someone who loves to cook and bake, it's been a little tough. I've been finding lots of ways to make healthier food though. (Except for Friday night. One does not go to Fenway Park and forgo a Fenway Frank. Or two.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds similar to my weight watchers diet.  Breakfast is also hardest for me.  I usually end up going with either an egg white omelette with onions and peppers or a yogurt with fruit on the side.  Sometimes I throw in some toast but I use the Sara Lee Delightful whole wheat or whole grain bread.  It's only 45 calories/slice and lower in carbs than most breads.
Click to expand...

Hey, that bread sounds interesting - I've not found one at my store for less than 60 calories/slice, I think it's some variety of Nature's Own whole wheat (they put out several kinds).    Carbs are THE hardest thing to avoid when dieting...I love my breads, pasta, potatoes... *sniffle*    But, if you just make a few adjustments (I learned to just weigh foods, usually resulting in decreased portions - smaller than I was previously allowing) and be patient, over time it's not that difficult to shed some pounds.   Over 8 months I've dropped about 30 pounds, and using that My Fitness Pal app helped, too.   I could likely increase portions a little now, but I'm so used to it, it doesn't bother me.



JonA_CT said:


> (Except for Friday night. One does not go to Fenway Park and forgo a Fenway Frank. Or two.)


Exactly!   We cook at home most of the time.   When we do decide to go out, I order what I want.   I'm there to eat, drink and be merry.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I'm munching on some green beans and some grilled chicken for lunch. Under the doctor's orders, I've been eating lots of lean protein and vegetables, some dairy, and have cut back on the carbs quite a bit. The hardest meal of the day has been breakfast, honestly. I don't love eggs and some of the non-egg breakfast suggestions are pretty gross. (Lunch meat and cheese roll ups? Sooooo salty. I can't do it, haha). Fortunately, I figured out this morning that the protein powder I buy fulfills my nutrient requirements for breakfast. It's hard to argue with the results. I've lost about 10 pounds in the last two weeks. The goal is another 20-30 if I want to avoid going on medication for my blood pressure.
> 
> As someone who loves to cook and bake, it's been a little tough. I've been finding lots of ways to make healthier food though. (Except for Friday night. One does not go to Fenway Park and forgo a Fenway Frank. Or two.)


Out here they’re named Dodger Dogs. Made extra long and specifically by a local meat factory for The Dodgers.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is roasting! (Finally)


----------



## vintagesnaps

Don't these hockey players know it's getting late for OT? Stop putzing around and score already.

The Las Vegas Knights tweeted that the playoffs have taken 10 years off their lives and they're only 1 year old. 

We have a former player there too, he's getting a lot of ice time tonight, scored one goal and an assist. 

Yay! scored halfway into OT, thank you! none of this 2 OT stuff tonight.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, had a lovely walk already as the sun is out and it`s a lovely day.


----------



## espresso2x

Spring has resprung; back on; normal service is resumed.



Fujidave said:


> Morning all, had a lovely walk already as the sun is out and it`s a lovely day.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all. Coffee is mighty fine this morning. Gotta go have whatever hours I'll get. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Don't these hockey players know it's getting late for OT? Stop putzing around and score already.
> 
> The Las Vegas Knights tweeted that the playoffs have taken 10 years off their lives and they're only 1 year old.
> 
> We have a former player there too, he's getting a lot of ice time tonight, scored one goal and an assist.
> 
> Yay! scored halfway into OT, thank you! none of this 2 OT stuff tonight.



What do you think about the Nashville team restricting playoff ticket sales to their own local tv area and now the Lightning posting a policy that those who buy club seats will not be allowed to wear the opposing teams colors.  So if a Bruins fan wants to fly to Tampa to see a game they can’t wear their Bruins T-shirt in the stands?  Seems like a pretty bush league policy to me!  Cmon Tampa.  If you want to play in the big leagues, the invasion of fans from out of town is part of that.  I guess Tampa’s not confident enough in their own fan base filling their seats!


----------



## Fujidave

Stuck in now, waiting for a delivery of a chair... Still nice and sunny but the wind is getting up a bit.


----------



## limr

Not feelin' it today, hosers. Not. Feelin'. It.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Morning all, had a lovely walk already as the sun is out and it`s a lovely day.


Aaarrghh ... you took our sun!  54F presently, and it may break 60F today.  It is cool and wet outside.  We had some precipitation last night, nothing measurable but definitely put a wet shine on all the plants and walkways.  Not nearly enough to turn off the irrigation though. Odd weather for it to be sunny and "lovely" in the UK, but wet and dreary in California.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't these hockey players know it's getting late for OT? Stop putzing around and score already.
> 
> The Las Vegas Knights tweeted that the playoffs have taken 10 years off their lives and they're only 1 year old.
> 
> We have a former player there too, he's getting a lot of ice time tonight, scored one goal and an assist.
> 
> Yay! scored halfway into OT, thank you! none of this 2 OT stuff tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What do you think about the Nashville team restricting playoff ticket sales to their own local tv area and now the Lightning posting a policy that those who buy club seats will not be allowed to wear the opposing teams colors.  So if a Bruins fan wants to fly to Tampa to see a game they can’t wear their Bruins T-shirt in the stands?  Seems like a pretty bush league policy to me!  Cmon Tampa.  If you want to play in the big leagues, the invasion of fans from out of town is part of that.  I guess Tampa’s not confident enough in their own fan base filling their seats!
Click to expand...

... and a bashing of one's First Amendment rights. It's Un-American!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers ... from dreary SoCal. Gary is having his second sip from a new batch of coffee. Gary's been drinking tea in the mornings because he's been too busy (lazy) to roast up a pound or two. No complaints about tea, but coffee wakes you up.  A real kick in the pants. mmmmhhh, hot, Colombian Supremo, Gary can taste the rainforests steaming away in his cup. The warm Magdalena River trickling down his throat. Real coffee is a blessing (and a kick in the pants to boot).


----------



## davidharmier60

4 and roughly 29 minutes to make 10.5 for the week so far. Got the first large grill I assembled to see if I could make the lid for better. Turns out I could indeed. 
Enjoying biscuits and sausage and gravy. 
Post Office,  box at the front of the neighborhood and then home after this.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

After more coffee ... and more thoughts on the above matter:
Gary is not a Bruin fan ... both Boston and especially UCLA ... don't give a rat's ... but that Tampa crap has just flipped me.  Go Boston!!!!  

Not letting the opposing teams fans wear their colors truly sucks. I imagine that the next step in this snowflake world is nobody keeps score and both teams win "Participation Medals".

(Gary is now scanning Amazon for a Boston jersey ...)


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Hey, that bread sounds interesting - I've not found one at my store for less than 60 calories/slice



We've been eating this for over a year and works for us. Delightful™ Healthy Multi-Grain Bread


----------



## Gary A.

Gary makes his own bread.


----------



## davidharmier60

Our PO Box is up for renewal. I offered since I'm getting a good check tomorrow to pay it for a year. No answer just yet.
And in my above post "for" should have been "fit". Not sure how that happened but happen it did.
Computer is working ok. But if I leave it alone for long enoughn it goes to No Input. Moving the mouse or hitting enter on the keyboard brings it right up.
So it's a lot like a screensaver, but not.


----------



## snowbear

76 and sunny.  Summer temps on the way.

@davidharmier60  - about where are you in TX?


----------



## davidharmier60

Approximately 50 miles Northeast of Houston near a wide spot in the road called Shepherd. Along 59/69.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

OK.  Might be heading towards DFW - not sure, yet.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary makes his own bread.



Of course he does, because he is the


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't these hockey players know it's getting late for OT? Stop putzing around and score already.
> 
> The Las Vegas Knights tweeted that the playoffs have taken 10 years off their lives and they're only 1 year old.
> 
> We have a former player there too, he's getting a lot of ice time tonight, scored one goal and an assist.
> 
> Yay! scored halfway into OT, thank you! none of this 2 OT stuff tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What do you think about the Nashville team restricting playoff ticket sales to their own local tv area and now the Lightning posting a policy that those who buy club seats will not be allowed to wear the opposing teams colors.  So if a Bruins fan wants to fly to Tampa to see a game they can’t wear their Bruins T-shirt in the stands?  Seems like a pretty bush league policy to me!  Cmon Tampa.  If you want to play in the big leagues, the invasion of fans from out of town is part of that.  I guess Tampa’s not confident enough in their own fan base filling their seats!
Click to expand...


The NHL needs to really dump Bettman, he has really ruined the NHL in my opinion. Sure it started with the player lockout / strike but still, it's a fantastic sport. I still watch and follow it but so many things are keeping it down. This is one that makes zero sense from a logical view. Who cares, sell tickets is what I'd be doing as an owner. However, Tampa pretty much sells out at home, every game, as does Nashville. They really can do whatever they want because the games are going to be sold out regardless of whatever, stupid rules they put in place. Most hockey arenas seat roughly 17-20 thousand. People are going to the games but these are true hockey fans mainly. The TV and national exposure is crap. I think the game, generally is good but the product is seriously lacking. Fighting (or lack there of), recognizable players, shoot outs, overtime, clutching and grabbing, goalie area, HUGE goalie equipment, player sticks,  small size of ice, are things that come to mind. Watch an international hockey game and NHL game back to back, and tell me what you think. The size of the ice rink alone is very different. The International game is way more exciting to watch for me. Don't get me wrong, I love the game because I am a real fan but some serious changes need to be made. OK rant over, I feel better now.


----------



## otherprof

In the N.Y. Times crossword today was the clue (3 down) “Early means of providing light for a photograph.”  The answer was “flashlamp.” I’d never seen that word before.  Were there flash lamps?  Sounds like an oxymoron to me.


----------



## markjwyatt

otherprof said:


> In the N.Y. Times crossword today was the clue (3 down) “Early means of providing light for a photograph.”  The answer was “flashlamp.” I’d never seen that word before.  Were there flash lamps?  Sounds like an oxymoron to me.



Old cameras had a "M" setting for bulbs. Later cameras had both "X" for flash and "M" for bulbs. I suspect flash lamp means the "M" type bulb. [corrected- I initially said "B" instead of "M"].


----------



## JonA_CT

But doesn’t the B bulb literally mean a bulb that you’d use as a shutter release?


----------



## markjwyatt

JonA_CT said:


> But doesn’t the B bulb literally mean a bulb that you’d use as a shutter release?



No. Here is my old Zeiss Icarex S TM Pro. It has two flash connections- one a lightning bolt (flash) the other a bulb (for flash bulbs). Maybe they did not use "B". Some cameras (like old Hasselblads) used an "M". Bulbs burned with different timing than flash, and needed different shutter control. The Zeiss has a focal plane shutter, but leaf shutter cameras did something similar.


----------



## espresso2x

otherprof said:


> In the N.Y. Times crossword today was the clue (3 down) “Early means of providing light for a photograph.”



Lightning?


----------



## markjwyatt

Interestingly, my Mamiya TLR lenses (the newer black ones) still had "M" or "X" on them. I think even in the late 70s/early 80s they may have still used flash bulbs for some special purpose work (say lighting huge interiors).


----------



## markjwyatt

JonA_CT said:


> But doesn’t the B bulb literally mean a bulb that you’d use as a shutter release?



There is a "B" as an indefinite shutter speed (i.e., as you may be implying, hold shutter open-typically with shutter release, count, then close by releasing).


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Gary makes his own bread.


He'd likely back off on that if he were trying to cut calories.        Flour is astonishingly high in calories - makes it really hard on bread-lovers like me!    I like to bake, period - breads, muffins, pie - and I like to make my own pasta, too.   It's fun and yummy, but cruelly high in calories.   You can allow yourself most anything, of course, as long as you pay attention to portions and splurge only occasionally.


----------



## smoke665

Here, kitty, kitty. Hmm a cat that can run 40 mph, take down prey of up to a 100 lbs, and jump 10' straight up, is loose in the Birmingham suburb of Pelham, police advise not to approach -- No kidding. 'Please do not shoot:' Domesticated African Serval 'Juno' lost in Pelham, wanted by owner


----------



## davidharmier60

I think I'd leave that cat ALONE!
Had leftovers for dinner. Some of the last two nights.

And that's all the news that's fit to print. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr




----------



## Tony744

That looks like something my cat would do.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary makes his own bread.
> 
> 
> 
> He'd likely back off on that if he were trying to cut calories.        Flour is astonishingly high in calories - makes it really hard on bread-lovers like me!    I like to bake, period - breads, muffins, pie - and I like to make my own pasta, too.   It's fun and yummy, but cruelly high in calories.   You can allow yourself most anything, of course, as long as you pay attention to portions and splurge only occasionally.
Click to expand...

Gary tends to think of carbs as pure sugar ... and 'sometimes' limits his consumption of breads based upon that fearful assumption.  (For the record, carbs are a combo of fiber and sugars.)


----------



## Gary A.

otherprof said:


> In the N.Y. Times crossword today was the clue (3 down) “Early means of providing light for a photograph.”  The answer was “flashlamp.” I’d never seen that word before.  Were there flash lamps?  Sounds like an oxymoron to me.


Flashlamps uses “Flash Powder” which is ignited remotely to create a flash of light for the photograph.  Gary doesn’t think they were very safe.  Previously, the flash powder had to be ignited by hand ... so an electrically operated/ignited flash powder was a significantly safer methodology for creating a flash of bright light.

Gary thinks the shutter in those days of flash powder was manually operated (not mechanical). The photographer removed the lens caps and went “one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi, three-Mississippi ...” until a proper exposure was attained, then slapped the lens cap back on the lens.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary spent a pleasant afternoon watching _Infinity Wars.  _2.5 hours of movie, nearly all entertaining, (if you’re not a big Sci-Fi/Marvel fan), or completely entertaining (if you are a Sci-Fi/Marvel fan).


----------



## markjwyatt

Gary A. said:


> ...
> Gary tends to think of carbs as pure sugar ... and 'sometimes' limits his consumption of breads based upon that fearful assumption.  (For the record, carbs are a combo of fiber and sugars.)



Sugar (sucrose) is [effectively] half carbs and half fat (fructose is metabolized by the liver into fat, much like alcohol).


----------



## Gary A.

markjwyatt said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...
> Gary tends to think of carbs as pure sugar ... and 'sometimes' limits his consumption of breads based upon that fearful assumption.  (For the record, carbs are a combo of fiber and sugars.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sugar (sucrose) is [effectively] half carbs and half fat (fructose is metabolized by the liver into fat, much like alcohol).
Click to expand...

Actually, they are both carbohydrates.  Sucrose is a combo of two simple sugars, glucose and fructose.  Oddly, both glucose and fructose share identical chemical formula but their molecular structures are different.

Glucose is the sugar of preference by it body. Glucose generates insulin to be released into the bloodstream which facilitates glucose to be absorbed and metabolized immediately by the cells or stored as glycogen. Fructose does not generate insulin release and is largely only metabolized in the liver, as you mentioned. Fructose gets metabolized after sucrose and tends to be stored as fat (lipogenic), as opposed to glycogen. The body breaks sucrose into its basic two sugar components of glucose and fructose, then treats the sugars separately as described above.

Table sugar is a sucrose.


----------



## markjwyatt

Gary A. said:


> markjwyatt said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...
> Gary tends to think of carbs as pure sugar ... and 'sometimes' limits his consumption of breads based upon that fearful assumption.  (For the record, carbs are a combo of fiber and sugars.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sugar (sucrose) is [effectively] half carbs and half fat (fructose is metabolized by the liver into fat, much like alcohol).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Actually, they are both carbohydrates.  Sucrose is a combo of two simple sugars, glucose and fructose.  Oddly, both glucose and fructose share identical chemical formula but their molecular structures are different.
> 
> Glucose is the sugar of preference by it body. Glucose generates insulin to be released into the bloodstream which facilitates glucose to be absorbed and metabolized immediately by the cells or stored as glycogen. Fructose does not generate insulin release and is only metabolized in the liver, as you mentioned. Fructose gets metabolized after sucrose and tends to be stored as fat (lipogenic), as opposed to glycogen. The body breaks sucrose into its basic two sugar components of glucose and fructose, then treats the sugars separately as described above.
> 
> Table sugar is a sucrose.
Click to expand...


I think we agree. I said "Sugar (sucrose) is [effectively] half carbs and half fat..." (1/2 glucose = food; 1/2 fructose = toxin processed into fat by liver).


----------



## otherprof

otherprof said:


> In the N.Y. Times crossword today was the clue (3 down) “Early means of providing light for a photograph.”  The answer was “flashlamp.” I’d never seen that word before.  Were there flash lamps?  Sounds like an oxymoron to me.


I thought lamps stayed lit and flashes, well, flashed. That’s why I was confused about the word.


----------



## Fujidave

Well yesterday was lovely and sunny, today is very windy and raining.  Don`t know when but I wish our summer would get a move on here...lol


----------



## davidharmier60

Well, the Eagle poops today. 
Got a fair mug of coffee to try and become human. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou and Gary spent a pleasant afternoon watching _Infinity Wars.  _2.5 hours of movie, nearly all entertaining, (if you’re not a big Sci-Fi/Marvel fan), or completely entertaining (if you are a Sci-Fi/Marvel fan).



Saw this the other night and loved it. Might have to nerd out and start a spoilers warning thread discussing what it all means going forward!


----------



## Fujidave

On wet rainy days like today, I think I will call my self Betty and take up knitting..lol


----------



## SquarePeg

Summer has arrived today.  Expected weather in the mid 80's and sunny skies.  Princess has an away game for the HS team this afternoon.  Going to try to finish work early so I can be there.  Will have to leave the pooch at home - too hot for my fur baby since I don't know if there will be any shade there.


----------



## waday

otherprof said:


> otherprof said:
> 
> 
> 
> In the N.Y. Times crossword today was the clue (3 down) “Early means of providing light for a photograph.”  The answer was “flashlamp.” I’d never seen that word before.  Were there flash lamps?  Sounds like an oxymoron to me.
> 
> 
> 
> I thought lamps stayed lit and flashes, well, flashed. That’s why I was confused about the word.
Click to expand...

Speaking of being confused with lighting, I was confused the other night when the wife and I watched a sitcom where a photographer was taking "portraits" but the strobes weren't flashing. He also had a big honking flash on the camera which never flashed once.

I usually chime in with comments about the logic or science of a show, and I'm trying to cut back on that, so I didn't say anything. As I'm rolling my eyes, the wife says, "Shouldn't the lights be flashing when he takes a picture?" 

"Well, ideally, yes..."


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> Well yesterday was lovely and sunny, today is very windy and raining.  Don`t know when but I wish our summer would get a move on here...lol



You can have ours if you want. We went from winter to summer pretty much overnight. Spring lasted for about an hour. Temps in the high 80s today and I want to crawl back into bed with a few ice packs for company.


----------



## Fujidave

It is poor Susie I feel sorry for when it rains, it really sticks the fear of god up her.  I remember the RSPCA told us she hates rain and water


----------



## Gary A.

markjwyatt said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> markjwyatt said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...
> Gary tends to think of carbs as pure sugar ... and 'sometimes' limits his consumption of breads based upon that fearful assumption.  (For the record, carbs are a combo of fiber and sugars.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sugar (sucrose) is [effectively] half carbs and half fat (fructose is metabolized by the liver into fat, much like alcohol).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Actually, they are both carbohydrates.  Sucrose is a combo of two simple sugars, glucose and fructose.  Oddly, both glucose and fructose share identical chemical formula but their molecular structures are different.
> 
> Glucose is the sugar of preference by it body. Glucose generates insulin to be released into the bloodstream which facilitates glucose to be absorbed and metabolized immediately by the cells or stored as glycogen. Fructose does not generate insulin release and is only metabolized in the liver, as you mentioned. Fructose gets metabolized after sucrose and tends to be stored as fat (lipogenic), as opposed to glycogen. The body breaks sucrose into its basic two sugar components of glucose and fructose, then treats the sugars separately as described above.
> 
> Table sugar is a sucrose.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think we agree. I said "Sugar (sucrose) is [effectively] half carbs and half fat..." (1/2 glucose = food; 1/2 fructose = toxin processed into fat by liver).
Click to expand...

ahhh ..not really. Sucrose, glucose and fructose are all 100% carbohydrates as well as a 100% subset called sugars. We do agree that sucrose is a combo of glucose and fructose.  But, the big but, fructose is not a toxin.  Sucrose and fructose each take a different metabolic pathway as an energy provider to the body.  Glucose generates insulin delivery and is immediately available for energy production, hence glucose will/can create an energy spike based upon insulin. Fructose, which does not trigger insulin delivery, will not produce an energy spike. Only in recent times, due to a readily and plentiful access to food, is fat production unhealthy, (well ... let's make that fat over-production). Primitive man generally had long spans of unscheduled fasts, which in turn gave an advantage in survival to those with a storage supply of fat. If Gary recalls some of his college classes correctly, most all organs/body elements will metabolize glucose, but a few body elements cannot and require fructose for energy ... sperm cannot metabolize glucose and needs fructose. Fat is not a toxin.  While an overabundance of fat is unhealthy ... an overabundance of most anything ingested by the body is harmful.


----------



## SquarePeg

Speaking of scared doggies...  I brought my furry bff to Princess's game yesterday because the weather was gorgeous and it's right up the street.  I didn't know that there was a track meet going on at the track next to the softball field!  Poor guy was jumpy and unhappy due to the really loud starter's pistol they were using for the meet.  I'll have to check for that in advance next time.  He hates to stay home but not as much as he hates the booms!


----------



## JonA_CT

Indeed, summer is here. It's 70 already and no humidity. Beautiful.

I'm catching 9 holes of golf with a buddy after work to celebrate. (And probably to curse summer as I'm dragging my ass up the hill to finish the front 9.)


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> It is poor Susie I feel sorry for when it rains, it really sticks the fear of god up her.  I remember the RSPCA told us she hates rain and water


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> markjwyatt said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> markjwyatt said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...
> Gary tends to think of carbs as pure sugar ... and 'sometimes' limits his consumption of breads based upon that fearful assumption.  (For the record, carbs are a combo of fiber and sugars.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sugar (sucrose) is [effectively] half carbs and half fat (fructose is metabolized by the liver into fat, much like alcohol).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Actually, they are both carbohydrates.  Sucrose is a combo of two simple sugars, glucose and fructose.  Oddly, both glucose and fructose share identical chemical formula but their molecular structures are different.
> 
> Glucose is the sugar of preference by it body. Glucose generates insulin to be released into the bloodstream which facilitates glucose to be absorbed and metabolized immediately by the cells or stored as glycogen. Fructose does not generate insulin release and is only metabolized in the liver, as you mentioned. Fructose gets metabolized after sucrose and tends to be stored as fat (lipogenic), as opposed to glycogen. The body breaks sucrose into its basic two sugar components of glucose and fructose, then treats the sugars separately as described above.
> 
> Table sugar is a sucrose.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think we agree. I said "Sugar (sucrose) is [effectively] half carbs and half fat..." (1/2 glucose = food; 1/2 fructose = toxin processed into fat by liver).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ahhh ..not really. Sucrose, glucose and fructose are all 100% carbohydrates as well as a 100% subset called sugars. We do agree that sucrose is a combo of glucose and fructose.  But, the big but, fructose is not a toxin.  Sucrose and fructose each take a different metabolic pathway as an energy provider to the body.  Glucose generates insulin delivery and is immediately available for energy production, hence glucose will/can create an energy spike based upon insulin. Fructose, which does not trigger insulin delivery will not produce an energy spike. Only in recent times, due to a readily and plentiful access to food, is fat production unhealthy, (well ... let's make that fat over-production). Primitive man generally had long spans of unscheduled fasts, which in turn gave an advantage in survival to those with a storage supply of fat. If Gary recalls some of his college classes correctly, most all organs/body elements will metabolize glucose, but a few body elements cannot and require fructose for energy ... sperm cannot metabolize glucose and needs fructose. Fat is not a toxin.  While an overabundance of fat is unhealthy ... an overabundance of most anything ingested by the body is harmful.
Click to expand...


It'd definitely be pretty weird to have something that a healthy body requires in the 10-20% range to be a toxin.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Speaking of scared doggies...  I brought my furry bff to Princess's game yesterday because the weather was gorgeous and it's right up the street.  I didn't know that there was a track meet going on at the track next to the softball field!  Poor guy was jumpy and unhappy due to the really loud starter's pistol they were using for the meet.  I'll have to check for that in advance next time.  He hates to stay home but not as much as he hates the booms!


The Cook hated loud noises. She was so completely scared that on Independence Day and New Years we would get her some doggie drugs.  As she got order, we just stayed home and cradled her all night.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary spent a pleasant afternoon watching _Infinity Wars.  _2.5 hours of movie, nearly all entertaining, (if you’re not a big Sci-Fi/Marvel fan), or completely entertaining (if you are a Sci-Fi/Marvel fan).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this the other night and loved it. Might have to nerd out and start a spoilers warning thread discussing what it all means going forward!
Click to expand...

What was odd/funny ... was that when the lights and credits came on, we were the only ones that stood up to leave.  I guess we didn't get the memo.  But halfway down the stairs, (we always sit in the middle of the back row), we took a seat figuring the entire theater knew more than we ... and they did, lol.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary spent a pleasant afternoon watching _Infinity Wars.  _2.5 hours of movie, nearly all entertaining, (if you’re not a big Sci-Fi/Marvel fan), or completely entertaining (if you are a Sci-Fi/Marvel fan).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this the other night and loved it. Might have to nerd out and start a spoilers warning thread discussing what it all means going forward!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What was odd/funny ... was that when the lights and credits came on, we were the only ones that stood up to leave.  I guess we didn't get the memo.  But halfway down the stairs, (we always sit in the middle of the back row), we took a seat figuring the entire theater knew more than we ... and they did, lol.
Click to expand...


Every Marvel movie has that little bit after the credits.  Sometimes more than one.  It's usually a clue about the next movie.  Did you get the clue at the end?  I didn't but had a total nerd with me who explained it.


----------



## smoke665

Everyone is so serious these days, how about a little levity to brighten your day!

THE BLONDE PILOT-

This is the story of the poor dizzy blonde flying in a two-seater airplane with just the pilot. He has a heart attack and dies. She, frantic, calls out a May Day.

"May Day! May Day! Help me! Help me! My pilot had a heart attack and is dead.

And I don't know how to fly. Help me! Please help me!"

She hears a voice over the radio saying: "This is Air Traffic Control and I have you loud and clear. I will talk you through this and get you back on the ground. I've had a lot of experience with this kind of problem.

'Now, just take a deep breath. Everything will be fine! Now give me your height and position."

She says, "I'm 5'4" and I'm in the front seat."

"O.K." says the voice on the radio....

"Repeat after me: Our Father. . Who art in Heaven. . . ...."


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary spent a pleasant afternoon watching _Infinity Wars.  _2.5 hours of movie, nearly all entertaining, (if you’re not a big Sci-Fi/Marvel fan), or completely entertaining (if you are a Sci-Fi/Marvel fan).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this the other night and loved it. Might have to nerd out and start a spoilers warning thread discussing what it all means going forward!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What was odd/funny ... was that when the lights and credits came on, we were the only ones that stood up to leave.  I guess we didn't get the memo.  But halfway down the stairs, (we always sit in the middle of the back row), we took a seat figuring the entire theater knew more than we ... and they did, lol.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Every Marvel movie has that little bit after the credits.  Sometimes more than one.  It's usually a clue about the next movie.  Did you get the clue at the end?  I didn't but had a total nerd with me who explained it.
Click to expand...

Captain Marvel ... ?


----------



## markjwyatt

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> markjwyatt said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> markjwyatt said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...
> Gary tends to think of carbs as pure sugar ... and 'sometimes' limits his consumption of breads based upon that fearful assumption.  (For the record, carbs are a combo of fiber and sugars.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sugar (sucrose) is [effectively] half carbs and half fat (fructose is metabolized by the liver into fat, much like alcohol).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Actually, they are both carbohydrates.  Sucrose is a combo of two simple sugars, glucose and fructose.  Oddly, both glucose and fructose share identical chemical formula but their molecular structures are different.
> 
> Glucose is the sugar of preference by it body. Glucose generates insulin to be released into the bloodstream which facilitates glucose to be absorbed and metabolized immediately by the cells or stored as glycogen. Fructose does not generate insulin release and is only metabolized in the liver, as you mentioned. Fructose gets metabolized after sucrose and tends to be stored as fat (lipogenic), as opposed to glycogen. The body breaks sucrose into its basic two sugar components of glucose and fructose, then treats the sugars separately as described above.
> 
> Table sugar is a sucrose.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think we agree. I said "Sugar (sucrose) is [effectively] half carbs and half fat..." (1/2 glucose = food; 1/2 fructose = toxin processed into fat by liver).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ahhh ..not really. Sucrose, glucose and fructose are all 100% carbohydrates as well as a 100% subset called sugars. We do agree that sucrose is a combo of glucose and fructose.  But, the big but, fructose is not a toxin.  Sucrose and fructose each take a different metabolic pathway as an energy provider to the body.  Glucose generates insulin delivery and is immediately available for energy production, hence glucose will/can create an energy spike based upon insulin. Fructose, which does not trigger insulin delivery will not produce an energy spike. Only in recent times, due to a readily and plentiful access to food, is fat production unhealthy, (well ... let's make that fat over-production). Primitive man generally had long spans of unscheduled fasts, which in turn gave an advantage in survival to those with a storage supply of fat. If Gary recalls some of his college classes correctly, most all organs/body elements will metabolize glucose, but a few body elements cannot and require fructose for energy ... sperm cannot metabolize glucose and needs fructose. Fat is not a toxin.  While an overabundance of fat is unhealthy ... an overabundance of most anything ingested by the body is harmful.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It'd definitely be pretty weird to have something that a healthy body requires in the 10-20% range to be a toxin.
Click to expand...



Gents (and any interested ladies)- watch this, then let's talk. Yes, to a biochemist, fructose is a "sugar". The human body does not recognize it as a sugar; it only recognizes glucose as a sugar. When the body sees fructose it sends it straight to the liver and says, "get rid of this". What do you call stuff in the blood stream that the liver immediately sets out to eliminate? A toxin. Like alcohol. Alcohol is also eliminated by the brain (thus the buzz). Fructose is not. This video will explain that fructose is eliminated by the liver in a manner very similar to alcohol.

The body requires NO fructose. Only glucose. Fructose is there to sweeten things up; nothing more.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Everyone is so serious these days, how about a little levity to brighten your day!
> 
> THE BLONDE PILOT-
> 
> This is the story of the poor dizzy blonde flying in a two-seater airplane with just the pilot. He has a heart attack and dies. She, frantic, calls out a May Day.
> 
> "May Day! May Day! Help me! Help me! My pilot had a heart attack and is dead.
> 
> And I don't know how to fly. Help me! Please help me!"
> 
> *HE* hears a voice over the radio saying: "This is Air Traffic Control and I have you loud and clear. I will talk you through this and get you back on the ground. I've had a lot of experience with this kind of problem.
> 
> 'Now, just take a deep breath. Everything will be fine! Now give me your height and position."
> 
> *HE *says, "I'm 5'4" and I'm in the front seat."
> 
> "O.K." says the voice on the radio....
> 
> "Repeat after me: Our Father. . Who art in Heaven. . . ...."



fify


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary spent a pleasant afternoon watching _Infinity Wars.  _2.5 hours of movie, nearly all entertaining, (if you’re not a big Sci-Fi/Marvel fan), or completely entertaining (if you are a Sci-Fi/Marvel fan).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Saw this the other night and loved it. Might have to nerd out and start a spoilers warning thread discussing what it all means going forward!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What was odd/funny ... was that when the lights and credits came on, we were the only ones that stood up to leave.  I guess we didn't get the memo.  But halfway down the stairs, (we always sit in the middle of the back row), we took a seat figuring the entire theater knew more than we ... and they did, lol.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Every Marvel movie has that little bit after the credits.  Sometimes more than one.  It's usually a clue about the next movie.  Did you get the clue at the end?  I didn't but had a total nerd with me who explained it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> XXXXXXX ... ?
Click to expand...


No Spoilers!  LOL.  Apparently every person in the country has already seen the movie... it broke the Force Awakens opening weekend record.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hey y'all. Apparently I had 5.05 hours today  because 15.35 for the week so far and yesterday it was 10.30. Floor machine worked perfectly. Buffer buffed like it was supposed to. The young fellow that took over for Robert (who got fired) spilled a mop bucket. I used the floor machine to suck up quite a bit of it. Cleaned the bathrooms. Swept. Had biscuits,  gravy and two pieces of sausage in the deli. Planning to fool around until noon to get my check. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

markjwyatt said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> markjwyatt said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> markjwyatt said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...
> Gary tends to think of carbs as pure sugar ... and 'sometimes' limits his consumption of breads based upon that fearful assumption.  (For the record, carbs are a combo of fiber and sugars.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sugar (sucrose) is [effectively] half carbs and half fat (fructose is metabolized by the liver into fat, much like alcohol).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Actually, they are both carbohydrates.  Sucrose is a combo of two simple sugars, glucose and fructose.  Oddly, both glucose and fructose share identical chemical formula but their molecular structures are different.
> 
> Glucose is the sugar of preference by it body. Glucose generates insulin to be released into the bloodstream which facilitates glucose to be absorbed and metabolized immediately by the cells or stored as glycogen. Fructose does not generate insulin release and is only metabolized in the liver, as you mentioned. Fructose gets metabolized after sucrose and tends to be stored as fat (lipogenic), as opposed to glycogen. The body breaks sucrose into its basic two sugar components of glucose and fructose, then treats the sugars separately as described above.
> 
> Table sugar is a sucrose.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think we agree. I said "Sugar (sucrose) is [effectively] half carbs and half fat..." (1/2 glucose = food; 1/2 fructose = toxin processed into fat by liver).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ahhh ..not really. Sucrose, glucose and fructose are all 100% carbohydrates as well as a 100% subset called sugars. We do agree that sucrose is a combo of glucose and fructose.  But, the big but, fructose is not a toxin.  Sucrose and fructose each take a different metabolic pathway as an energy provider to the body.  Glucose generates insulin delivery and is immediately available for energy production, hence glucose will/can create an energy spike based upon insulin. Fructose, which does not trigger insulin delivery will not produce an energy spike. Only in recent times, due to a readily and plentiful access to food, is fat production unhealthy, (well ... let's make that fat over-production). Primitive man generally had long spans of unscheduled fasts, which in turn gave an advantage in survival to those with a storage supply of fat. If Gary recalls some of his college classes correctly, most all organs/body elements will metabolize glucose, but a few body elements cannot and require fructose for energy ... sperm cannot metabolize glucose and needs fructose. Fat is not a toxin.  While an overabundance of fat is unhealthy ... an overabundance of most anything ingested by the body is harmful.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It'd definitely be pretty weird to have something that a healthy body requires in the 10-20% range to be a toxin.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Gents (and any interested ladies)- watch this, then let's talk. Yes, to a biochemist, fructose is a "sugar". The human body does not recognize it as a sugar; it only recognizes glucose as a sugar. When the body sees fructose it sends it straight to the liver and says, "get rid of this". What do you call stuff in the blood stream that the liver immediately sets out to eliminate? A toxin. Like alcohol. Alcohol is also eliminated by the brain (thus the buzz). Fructose is not. This video will explain that fructose is eliminated by the liver in a manner very similar to alcohol.
> 
> The body requires NO fructose. Only glucose. Fructose is there to sweeten things up; nothing more.
Click to expand...

Recent research at Yale has determined that the brain when exposed to high levels of glucose will make fructose.


----------



## waday

Yay summer!


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Recent research at Yale has determined that the brain when exposed to high levels of glucose will make fructose.


Recent research has also determined that when the body is exposed to carbs at high levels, it will make the taste receptor cells happy.


----------



## markjwyatt

Gary A. said:


> Recent research at Yale has determined that the brain when exposed to high levels of glucose will make fructose.



Interesting. Here is a link. Not sure the implications. Maybe a mechanism in the healthy body to get rid of too much glucose (in the study they infused glucose).

Fructose is generated in the human brain


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Recent research at Yale has determined that the brain when exposed to high levels of glucose will make fructose.
> 
> 
> 
> Recent research has also determined that when the body is exposed to carbs at high levels, it will make the taste receptor cells happy.
Click to expand...


Especially when cold, with lots of fat and air whipped in. Or maybe that's just me.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Recent research at Yale has determined that the brain when exposed to high levels of glucose will make fructose.
> 
> 
> 
> Recent research has also determined that when the body is exposed to carbs at high levels, it will make the taste receptor cells happy.
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Especially when cold, with lots of fat and air whipped in. Or maybe that's just me.
Click to expand...

I don't think the recent research evaluated cold vs hot or dense vs airy carbs, but I tend to agree with you. I'm assuming, depending on the form of the carbs, the taste receptors will not discriminate against types of carbs and will be happy with any or all of the above.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## JonA_CT




----------



## espresso2x

waday said:


> Yay summer!


That was yesterday, it's late October again here.


----------



## waday

espresso2x said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yay summer!
> 
> 
> 
> That was yesterday, it's late October again here.
Click to expand...

Here, it's 84 out right now. Supposed to be in the 80s tomorrow and Friday, as well. WOOHOO! (I seriously need to step outside for a few moments.)

Then back to spring with temps in the 70s.


----------



## Fujidave

If tomorrow is anything like the weather right now, then I will be one happy bunny


----------



## waday




----------



## Gary A.

Gary is returning from Maggie's morning constitutional.  It is 60F presently may hit the mid 60's today. Tonight Mary Lou and Gary will see _Belleville_ at the Pasadena Playhouse ... but first we have reservations at Sushi Klyosuzu in Arcadia.  Sushi Klyosuzu is the restaurant owned by the parents of Mirai Nagassu, the medal winning Olympic skater.  Gary is excited about the reservations, he is fulfilling a promise he made to himself after learning of the restaurant.


----------



## davidharmier60

Home again and tomorrow morning it starts over again. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

For those not aware, I was just reminded that next Satuday is World Naked Gardening Day. Not that it really matters when you live in the middle of the wood


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> For those not aware, I was just reminded that next Satuday is World Naked Gardening Day. Not that it really matters when you live in the middle of the wood


Gary's in.  

Yesterday he planted an African and a Persian basil, but he was responsibly clothed.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Recent research at Yale has determined that the brain when exposed to high levels of glucose will make fructose.



I've found that large quantities of alcohol will make you fructose.



Gary A. said:


> Gary's in.



Neighbors might need some ND sunglasses???


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Recent research at Yale has determined that the brain when exposed to high levels of glucose will make fructose.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've found that large quantities of alcohol will make you fructose.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's in.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Neighbors might need some ND sunglasses???
Click to expand...

Gary needs to be fructosed before he gardens naked.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> For those not aware, I was just reminded that next Satuday is World Naked Gardening Day. Not that it really matters when you live in the middle of the wood



Here in Brighton every year they have a Naked bike ride round town.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just told Mary Lou about Saturday ... she suggested for Gary to stock up on sunscreen.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm not sure that even an old lady would find me interesting naked.


----------



## markjwyatt

Gary A. said:


> Gary is returning from Maggie's morning constitutional.  It is 60F presently may hit the mid 60's today. Tonight Mary Lou and Gary will see _Belleville_ at the Pasadena Playhouse ... but first we have reservations at Sushi Klyosuzu in Arcadia.  Sushi Klyosuzu is the restaurant owned by the parents of Mirai Nagassu, the medal winning Olympic skater.  Gary is excited about the reservations, he is fulfilling a promise he made to himself after learning of the restaurant.



Is Gary bringing a camera to Sushi? Does Gary always refer to himself in 3rd person, or this is narrator?


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Yay summer!


----------



## snowbear

markjwyatt said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is returning from Maggie's morning constitutional.  It is 60F presently may hit the mid 60's today. Tonight Mary Lou and Gary will see _Belleville_ at the Pasadena Playhouse ... but first we have reservations at Sushi Klyosuzu in Arcadia.  Sushi Klyosuzu is the restaurant owned by the parents of Mirai Nagassu, the medal winning Olympic skater.  Gary is excited about the reservations, he is fulfilling a promise he made to himself after learning of the restaurant.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is Gary bringing a camera to Sushi? Does Gary always refer to himself in 3rd person, or this is narrator?
Click to expand...

It is as it was in the beginning, and as it shall always be.


----------



## limr

markjwyatt said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is returning from Maggie's morning constitutional.  It is 60F presently may hit the mid 60's today. Tonight Mary Lou and Gary will see _Belleville_ at the Pasadena Playhouse ... but first we have reservations at Sushi Klyosuzu in Arcadia.  Sushi Klyosuzu is the restaurant owned by the parents of Mirai Nagassu, the medal winning Olympic skater.  Gary is excited about the reservations, he is fulfilling a promise he made to himself after learning of the restaurant.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is Gary bringing a camera to Sushi? Does Gary always refer to himself in 3rd person, or this is narrator?
Click to expand...


We went through a phase 'round here a ways back, inspired by a Seinfeld episode. Gary is holding a torch for that phase


----------



## snowbear

Glucose?  Fructose?

I like pie.


----------



## snowbear

A three alarm fire in rows of town homes under construction; also spurred a brush fire.  Propane tanks added to the mess.
3-alarm fire breaks out at townhomes under construction in Prince George's Co.

At least it was not very windy.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Here in Brighton every year they have a Naked bike ride round



Considering how my posterior doesn't match up well with a bicycle seat anyhow, no way I'd want to try it.


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> For those not aware, I was just reminded that next Satuday is World Naked Gardening Day. Not that it really matters when you live in the middle of the wood
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here in Brighton every year they have a Naked bike ride round town.
Click to expand...


That's a thing in Cardiff, too, isn't it?


----------



## smoke665

markjwyatt said:


> ? Does Gary always refer to himself in 3rd person, or this is narrator?



I've come to believe that Gary is actually two different entities sharing the same body.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> I've found that large quantities of alcohol will make you fructose.



Oooo - snack bar.  I'll have one of each, please!



cmw3_d40_5188 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Glucose?  Fructose?
> 
> I like pie.


Fatcose


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sharon thinks Gary has been channeling 'Jimmy' again...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sharon is getting the impression this thread today is about hot weather, nakedidity, puking, and philosophy, not necessarily in that order (although one could lead to another). Leo seems to have expressed the end result of it best.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Sharon is getting the impression this thread today is about hot weather, nakedidity, puking, and philosophy, not necessarily in that order (although one could lead to another). Leo seems to have expressed the end result of it best.



Think I missed a couple of those.


----------



## otherprof

This screenshot is from an online course I’m taking on forensic science, from a University in Glasgow. No wonder it is so difficult to remember the 6 W’s!


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> hot weather, nakedidity, puking, and philosophy



I hear that's why they killed Socrates.


----------



## smoke665

otherprof said:


> This screenshot is from an online course I’m taking on forensic science, from a University in Glasgow. No wonder it is so difficult to remember the 6 W’s!



Now that's funny.  I wonder WHAT recreational substance they were using, WHERE they were using it,  WHO they were doing it with, WHEN they were doing it, and WHY they did it


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> hot weather, nakedidity, puking, and philosophy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hear that's why they killed Socrates.
Click to expand...

Wait ... What ... Socrates is dead?


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> hot weather, nakedidity, puking, and philosophy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hear that's why they killed Socrates.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Wait ... What ... Socrates is dead?
Click to expand...


They got him in the Great Celebrity Purge of 2016.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yay summer!
Click to expand...


----------



## JonA_CT

^ What I’m feeling after getting in 13000 steps at the golf course this afternoon.

I also ate some carbs. Because I walked 7 miles total today.


----------



## smoke665

@waday you'd never survive here. Add to your list - No-see-ums, chiggers, ticks, and fire ants. Then there's sunburn, and sunstroke.


----------



## jcdeboever

JC likes pie


----------



## Tony744

snowbear said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've found that large quantities of alcohol will make you fructose.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oooo - snack bar.  I'll have one of each, please!
> 
> 
> 
> cmw3_d40_5188 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
Click to expand...


Ditto for me!


----------



## Tony744

There's pie?!


----------



## smoke665

Every now and then the quid pro quo arrangement with the DW on camera equipment works out really well. The UPS truck showed up at an inopportune time a couple weeks ago, and the jig was up, she demanded her due. Fortunately for me her spending was on an Instant Pot.  2018's Top Instant Pots Reviews | Our Top InstaPot Pick Will Surprise You‎  For those clueless on the latest kitchen gadget, it's a high tech pressure cooker that makes my DW's life easier, and like the old saying "Happy wife, happy life". But Wait!!!!!!! There's more!!!!! she's on a cooking roll now, trying out new recipes, of which I'm the primary beneficiary.  For not much more then we would have spent on a single dinner at a restaurant, I've been the taste tester for Honey Garlic, chicken, Roast and Potatoes, and Blueberry/Orio cheesecake, and she's only had it for two days. The refrigerator is stocked with the ingredients for several more days of  "taste testing", so life is good.


----------



## davidharmier60

Pizza ($6 each) was dinner tonight. Now I must say good night and wish you all a nice night and a fine Thursday!


----------



## markjwyatt

Tony744 said:


> There's pie?!



All the pi you want for $3.14


----------



## SquarePeg

Ho Ho Hosers!  Is it Friday yet?  Is it too soon to be thinking about Friday?  Can we skip Thursday this week and move right into the weekend?


----------



## Tony744

Works for me! Whenever the big boss is in town, the work week always feels much longer.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> @waday you'd never survive here. Add to your list - No-see-ums, chiggers, ticks, and fire ants. Then there's sunburn, and sunstroke.


Oh, I love sun and summer. Today, I was relaxing in our house with the windows open, but when the wife came home, she said the house was in the 80s and that we had to turn the AC on. Lol

I do hate ticks; we have plenty up here. We had to up the dog’s tick medicine last year; after a short walk, I found 11 ticks walking around on Roxy. Little mother effers.

I have no desire to deal with fire ants or minuscule flying and biting machines.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> have no desire to deal with fire ants or minuscule flying and biting machines



The fire ants have already been bad this year. Get one mound killed and 2 more pop up. It's been to cool and wet for the ticks to be bad so far. Nothing seems to faze the armadillos.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Ho Ho Hosers!  Is it Friday yet?  Is it too soon to be thinking about Friday?  Can we skip Thursday this week and move right into the weekend?


Hop you callin' a ho? 



smoke665 said:


> The fire ants have already been bad this year. Get one mound killed and 2 more pop up. It's been to cool and wet for the ticks to be bad so far. Nothing seems to faze the armadillos.


Armadillo: Possum on the half-shell.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Every now and then the quid pro quo arrangement with the DW on camera equipment works out really well. The UPS truck showed up at an inopportune time a couple weeks ago, and the jig was up, she demanded her due. Fortunately for me her spending was on an Instant Pot.  2018's Top Instant Pots Reviews | Our Top InstaPot Pick Will Surprise You‎  For those clueless on the latest kitchen gadget, it's a high tech pressure cooker that makes my DW's life easier, and like the old saying "Happy wife, happy life". But Wait!!!!!!! There's more!!!!! she's on a cooking roll now, trying out new recipes, of which I'm the primary beneficiary.  For not much more then we would have spent on a single dinner at a restaurant, I've been the taste tester for Honey Garlic, chicken, Roast and Potatoes, and Blueberry/Orio cheesecake, and she's only had it for two days. The refrigerator is stocked with the ingredients for several more days of  "taste testing", so life is good.


Ask her to find the cauliflower Alfredo recipe. The sauce is pureed cauliflower. Healthy and delicious. The texture is just like cheese. I found a sun-dried tomato pesto that makes it just perfect.

ps  A little of the pesto goes a loooong way. Don't let it fool you.


----------



## Fujidave

Blue skies and sun is nearly out, busy day today so I do hope I get to take some photos.


----------



## davidharmier60

Walked into the kitchen and the coffeemaker wasn't on. I hope that is the only thing wrong with it. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> Possum on the half-shell.


Dillo power!


----------



## Fujidave

Had a lovely day today, and bumped in to Queen Victoria and she let me take her photo


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Possum on the half-shell.
> 
> 
> 
> Dillo power!
Click to expand...


nerd


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. This is the parent’s restaurant of Mirai Nagasu, the Olympic medal winning skater. The food was wonderfully authentic and equally delicious. The shop itself was tucked away on a busy street ... a locals only spot. While the parents/owners were very humble, one can tell they were still extremely proud of their Olympian daughter. Interestingly enough, there were no photos or trophies of any kind attesting to Nagasu’s successes in the restaurant. The patrons at the table next to us was playing a video of Nagasu skating on their cell phone, but other than that, Nada. After speaking to Mom about the achievements of her daughter she brought us the signed card of Mirai. If Sushi Kiyosuzu was nearby, we would be regulars.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Had a lovely day today, and bumped in to Queen Victoria and she let me take her photo


The Queen is a nice bird.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Many years ago, I would visit a small little pizza place in Oklahoma City near Tinker AFB and a GM plant. One day I went a little earlier than normal and had to wait a few minutes for the order. I noticed on the wall, the owner had his food license displayed and it said Pete Thorogood. I thought there was no way an east coast fellow would be in a little out of the way place in Oklahoma, but yep! He said they were brothers. He only had one picture of his brother in the place.


----------



## Gary A.

Was that pizza bad to the bone?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

ehhh...


----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> ehhh...



Gary thought you were speaking of George Thorogood ... the musician. Guessed wrong ... again. Okay, who is Pete's brother?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

No, no...you were right and yes, I did get the joke


----------



## smoke665

We have an old (40 years in same location) family owned pizza place in town, Maters   Home that is really hard to beat. They have such dedicated followers that they ship pizzas


----------



## davidharmier60

5 hours and a couple minutes today. 
20.39 for the week so far. 
Installed two file holders in the count room. Found unfrozen French fries. 
Beat the stockers and suppliers at their own games. Plan to have cold pizza from last night and look at penny rolls. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

The kids tell us here in Ketchikan, if you want good pizza, you must go to a Filipino restaurant


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm skeptical of pizza that is located too far away from New York City. But that's just me. (I'm sure it's good in Italy too, but I've never been). 

I was visiting my sister-in-law a few years back who lived out with Gary in the OC. She was really excited to get take-out from this NYC-style pizza place, so we drove out to grab it, and I ran inside to go pay and pick it up. She had taken care of us while we were out there, so I tried to be able to return the favor while I could. Evidently, while this was happening, my sister-in-law was telling my wife that I was going to flip out when I got the bill. It was something like $47 for two medium pizzas (with nothing fancy on them), and a large side salad. I didn't flip out, but I will comment that I can go to Sally's or Modern or Pepe's here in New Haven, get much better pizza, and walk out having spend $25, haha. That pizza paled in comparison, and my sister-in-law agreed the next time she was in CT.


----------



## JonA_CT

Dean_Gretsch said:


> The kids tell us here in Ketchikan, if you want good pizza, you must go to a Filipino restaurant



Interesting, haha! We have lots of mexi-italian restaurants in my city. It's pretty normal to be able to order pizza and tacos at the same place.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Today starts the official tourist season as the first cruise ship comes into port. Hopefully I can get some pics. All week they have been power-washing, painting and opening up the little shops that close during winter.


----------



## davidharmier60

Cold pizza is one of lifes little pleasures!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

JonA_CT said:


> I'm skeptical of pizza that is located too far away from New York City



There was a little shop out side the air force base in Biloxi, Mississippi that made awesome pizza called Moe's.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

davidharmier60 said:


> Cold pizza is one of lifes little pleasures!



Cold pizza and warm beer has sustained many young men!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I could eat cold pizza when I was younger... quite possibly often with a hangover. Those days are long over, thank goodness! lol I'll take my pizza nice 'n hot thankyouverymuch. 

The first sign of spring here is orange barrels. There aren't any scenic touristy boats coming here!


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> 'm skeptical of pizza that is located too far away from New York City



Oh no another N.Y. pizza only, won't be long till one of the Chicago purists chimes in. Fortunately we are far enough from either that we can enjoy both without guilt


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Possum on the half-shell.
> 
> 
> 
> Dillo power!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> nerd
Click to expand...

Glasses, calculator, and all!


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 'm skeptical of pizza that is located too far away from New York City
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh no another N.Y. pizza only, won't be long till one of the Chicago purists chimes in. Fortunately we are far enough from either that we can enjoy both without guilt
Click to expand...


Chicago is more like a casserole with a crust cooking container.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That may be but it's good. I haven't had that style pizza much but I wouldn't turn it away!

They were just dunking strips of cooked bacon in bourbon... gonna do something with it later, but in the meantime somebody dabbed some behind the ear like it was cologne. The chef just drank some out of the bowl. It's apparently to make a drink, they said it makes the bourbon more smoky (if somebody doesn't drink it in the meantime).


----------



## Gary A.

Gary makes his own pizzas and flatbreads.  

Gary always cooks the meat separate so his pizza haven't any grease. He like the crust thick and doughy and full of peppers and herbs.  Mary Lou likes the crust thin and cracker-like.  Kinda like a Trojan marrying a Bruin.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Gary makes his own pizzas and flatbreads.
> 
> Gary always cooks the meat separate so his pizza haven't any grease. He like the crust thick and doughy and full of peppers and herbs.  Mary Lou likes the crust think and cracker-like.  Kinda like a Trojan marrying a Bruin.



Mary Lou understands how pizza should be. 

(My East Coast elitism aside...I like any pizza that’s well balanced, and I’ll pick any local option over any of the national chains.)

(Northern New England has a think for naming their pizza places House of Pizza. Like at UMaine... Orono House of Pizza. Is that a thing anywhere else?)


----------



## otherprof

Dean_Gretsch said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm skeptical of pizza that is located too far away from New York City
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There was a little shop out side the air force base in Biloxi, Mississippi that made awesome pizza called Moe's.
Click to expand...

But what was the shop called?


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is ticked.  Via Amazon, he ordered a kilo of heirloom Chickpea seeds from the Ukraine.  Gary received a MAIL INTERCEPTION NOTICE from U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Plant Protection and Quarantine.  And they destroyed my chickpea seeds,  Bastards.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> kilo of heirloom Chickpea




Sure it was, is that what they call it now


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has never had his Chickpea seeds intercepted, removed and destroyed before.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I'm skeptical of pizza that is located too far away from New York City. But that's just me. (I'm sure it's good in Italy too, but I've never been).
> 
> I was visiting my sister-in-law a few years back who lived out with Gary in the OC. She was really excited to get take-out from this NYC-style pizza place, so we drove out to grab it, and I ran inside to go pay and pick it up. She had taken care of us while we were out there, so I tried to be able to return the favor while I could. Evidently, while this was happening, my sister-in-law was telling my wife that I was going to flip out when I got the bill. It was something like $47 for two medium pizzas (with nothing fancy on them), and a large side salad. I didn't flip out, but I will comment that I can go to Sally's or Modern or Pepe's here in New Haven, get much better pizza, and walk out having spend $25, haha. That pizza paled in comparison, and my sister-in-law agreed the next time she was in CT.



Love NY pizza best.  There is a place in Santa Barbara (Uncle somebody's Ny pizza that was excellent by away from NY standards)



davidharmier60 said:


> Cold pizza is one of lifes little pleasures!



No.



Gary A. said:


> Gary makes his own pizzas and flatbreads.
> 
> Gary always cooks the meat separate so his pizza haven't any grease. He like the crust thick and doughy and full of peppers and herbs.  Mary Lou likes the crust thin and cracker-like.  Kinda like a Trojan marrying a Bruin.



I'm with ML.  I love a good flatbread pizza too.



JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary makes his own pizzas and flatbreads.
> 
> Gary always cooks the meat separate so his pizza haven't any grease. He like the crust thick and doughy and full of peppers and herbs.  Mary Lou likes the crust think and cracker-like.  Kinda like a Trojan marrying a Bruin.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou understands how pizza should be.
> 
> (My East Coast elitism aside...I like any pizza that’s well balanced, and I’ll pick any local option over any of the national chains.)
> 
> (Northern New England has a think for naming their pizza places House of Pizza. Like at UMaine... Orono House of Pizza. Is that a thing anywhere else?)
Click to expand...


House or Pizza is usually Greek pizza.  A completely different discussion!


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Cold pizza and warm beer has sustained many young men!



Cold pizza, cold fried chicken, and warm beer has sustained a few older men as well


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> I'm skeptical of pizza that is located too far away from New York City. But that's just me. (I'm sure it's good in Italy too, but I've never been).



There is bad pizza in Italy.



JonA_CT said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> The kids tell us here in Ketchikan, if you want good pizza, you must go to a Filipino restaurant
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting, haha! We have lots of mexi-italian restaurants in my city. It's pretty normal to be able to order pizza and tacos at the same place.
Click to expand...


And around here (NYC and 'burbs), most Italian restaurants are run by Albanians and Croatians.



JonA_CT said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 'm skeptical of pizza that is located too far away from New York City
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh no another N.Y. pizza only, won't be long till one of the Chicago purists chimes in. Fortunately we are far enough from either that we can enjoy both without guilt
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Chicago is more like a casserole with a crust cooking container.
Click to expand...


That distinction is about style, though, not quality. Chicago style pizza can be very good, but it's a different animal. I am also suspect of pizza outside of NY because most places in the US serve NY-_style_ pizza, but just do a very poor job of it. Similarly, I would be suspect of having Chicago-style pizza outside of the Chicago area. Their specialty, they do it best.

Having said that, I have had some very good pizza outside of the NY area. On those occasions, however, it's been a much more European-style pizza than a NY slice. There's really nothing like a real NY pizza (I do happen to love that pizza, but I say this not as a sort of brag, but just more a comment on that fact that NY pizza really does have a distinctive quality that is _very_ difficult to replicate. Same with bagels.)

And Mary Lou is racking up the votes in the Coffee House today. Thin crust, all the way.


----------



## limr

Now I'm hungry.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Gary has never had his Chickpea seeds intercepted, removed and destroyed before.


Interesting.

USDA APHIS | Small Lots of Seed

Does California have any restrictions on bringing in seeds/plants into the state?


----------



## smoke665

Since I don't have a dog in the fight I can chuckle at all of y'all! I will say the only REALLY bad pizza in my memory was in DC. We ordered from a menu in the hotel room. Couldn't eat it, never had a sour pizza before and haven't had since.


----------



## davidharmier60

Speaking of dog.....
Hot Dogs for dinner. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Tony744

davidharmier60 said:


> Cold pizza is one of lifes little pleasures!



I wouldn't know...pizza never seems to last long enough to get cold.


----------



## davidharmier60

Good Thursday night y'all and have a wonderful Friday. And if you don't have to go to work on Saturday have a great weekend. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary NetFlixed _Kodachrome.  _Gary fives it a four out of five. It is all about relationship and stuff and almost nothing to do with “Kodachrome”.  Ed Harris was the father and a photojournalist. He played a terrific a$$hole ... but the movie gave little insight into the forces which pounded him into being said a$$hole. Worth watching.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone images


 
The courtyard. 

Last night Mary Lou, Mike (Max’s human), and Gary hit the Pasadena Playhouse to watch _Belleville_. A very interesting and engaging play, but man was it crazy manic and deeply depressing. The Pasadena Playhouse is lovely. It was built in 1927 and has a ton of charm.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary’s home roasted beans.


----------



## limr

espresso2x said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Greek pizza.  A completely different discussion!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As is Turkish pizza.
Click to expand...


That is a fast discussion: no such thing. 

They have various kinds of "pide" - bread with toppings, which sometimes includes cheese - but none of it could really be considered "pizza."


----------



## Fujidave

Well the sun is out and quite warm it is, off to the park in a bit with Susie.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> espresso2x said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Greek pizza.  A completely different discussion!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As is Turkish pizza.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That is a fast discussion: no such thing.
> 
> They have various kinds of "pide" - bread with toppings, which sometimes includes cheese - but none of it could really be considered "pizza."
Click to expand...

Sure there is . . . it has Swedish meatballs on it.


----------



## snowbear

Yay!  It's Friday!

The contest voting threads go up tonight.

We are going to a Sheep & Wool festival this weekend.  I've been told I can't get any live ones until after we move (to be friends with the goats and alpaca).


----------



## JonA_CT

My wife and I started dating 10 years ago today.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT you're still a babe in the woods. LOL  July 6th marks 39 years of marriage and still counting for us, which is outstanding considering the fact that DW was diagnosed with stage IV Multiple Myeloma (incurable cancer of the blood plasma) in 2009.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> @JonA_CT you're still a babe in the woods. LOL  July 6th marks 39 years of marriage and still counting for us, which is outstanding considering the fact that DW was diagnosed with stage IV Multiple Myeloma (incurable cancer of the blood plasma) in 2009.



That's great. I hope that we can make it that far with whatever comes our way. 

My parents are celebrating 42 years of marriage this year, and they got married within 4 months of meeting, thanks to the United States Navy. (My dad got transfer orders and didn't want to leave with out her, and she was crazy enough to say yes.) Its crazy how those things work out sometimes.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> ) Its crazy how those things work out sometimes.



Considering the strain that military life puts on marriages especially new ones, I'd call it fantastic that they've remained married


----------



## jcdeboever

Planning my parents 60th party end of june


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> ) Its crazy how those things work out sometimes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Considering the strain that military life puts on marriages especially new ones, I'd call it fantastic that they've remained married
Click to expand...


My Dad was a submariner, and it's very common for divorces to happen after retirement. They spend so much time disappearing into the world, even compared to most other military occupations, that it's hard to adjust to being with each other all the time when they are done.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> espresso2x said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Greek pizza.  A completely different discussion!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As is Turkish pizza.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That is a fast discussion: no such thing.
> 
> They have various kinds of "pide" - bread with toppings, which sometimes includes cheese - but none of it could really be considered "pizza."
Click to expand...

To Gary, pizza has to have a sauce, otherwise it's flatbread.  Of late, Gary has been using a lot of pesto in lieu of a tomato based sauce.  Gary planted two more basils for more pesto. Gary's pesto gets lots of compliments.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> ) Its crazy how those things work out sometimes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Considering the strain that military life puts on marriages especially new ones, I'd call it fantastic that they've remained married
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My Dad was a submariner, and it's very common for divorces to happen after retirement. They spend so much time disappearing into the world, even compared to most other military occupations, that it's hard to adjust to being with each other all the time when they are done.
Click to expand...

A few months ago, Mary Lou retired ... now Gary has to go into the office more often.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The sun is out sending streaks of light through the front trellis onto the porch. With no marine cover, things should start to warm up. No more sweaters for Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary received a UPS delivery of vino Wednesday evening/night. It was odd because wine is only delivered with a signature from a person 21+ years old.  Wednesday, we were at the theatre getting terribly depressed and UPS just left the wine on the porch. Gary found this all rather odd. Anyway, fresh wine from the Russian River Vineyard, you all are welcomed to stop on by for a glass or two.


----------



## waday




----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> We are going to a Sheep & Wool festival this weekend. I've been told I can't get any live ones until after we move (to be friends with the goats and alpaca).


My wife wants to go to that so bad, but not sure we'll make it this year.  She went to Rhinebeck last year and had a great time.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> espresso2x said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Greek pizza.  A completely different discussion!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As is Turkish pizza.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That is a fast discussion: no such thing.
> 
> They have various kinds of "pide" - bread with toppings, which sometimes includes cheese - but none of it could really be considered "pizza."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> To Gary, pizza has to have a sauce, otherwise it's flatbread.  Of late, Gary has been using a lot of pesto in lieu of a tomato based sauce.  Gary planted two more basils for more pesto. Gary's pesto gets lots of compliments.
Click to expand...


I think JC likes pesto but he's not sure what it is


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary received a UPS delivery of vino Wednesday evening/night. It was odd because wine is only delivered with a signature from a person 21+ years old.  Wednesday, we were at the theatre getting terribly depressed and UPS just left the wine on the porch. Gary found this all rather odd. Anyway, fresh wine from the Russian River Vineyard, you all are welcomed to stop on by for a glass or two.



Good thing Fred Sanford & Son weren't running your street that day....


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> espresso2x said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Greek pizza.  A completely different discussion!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As is Turkish pizza.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That is a fast discussion: no such thing.
> 
> They have various kinds of "pide" - bread with toppings, which sometimes includes cheese - but none of it could really be considered "pizza."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> To Gary, pizza has to have a sauce, otherwise it's flatbread.  Of late, Gary has been using a lot of pesto in lieu of a tomato based sauce.  Gary planted two more basils for more pesto. Gary's pesto gets lots of compliments.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think JC likes pesto but he's not sure what it is
Click to expand...

It's this real ugly green sauce made from basil, pine nuts, olive oil and Parmesan.  Gary tosses in a few red peppers for some kick.  Next time Gary make some he will send you a batch.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> espresso2x said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Greek pizza.  A completely different discussion!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As is Turkish pizza.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That is a fast discussion: no such thing.
> 
> They have various kinds of "pide" - bread with toppings, which sometimes includes cheese - but none of it could really be considered "pizza."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> To Gary, pizza has to have a sauce, otherwise it's flatbread.  Of late, Gary has been using a lot of pesto in lieu of a tomato based sauce.  Gary planted two more basils for more pesto. Gary's pesto gets lots of compliments.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think JC likes pesto but he's not sure what it is
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's this real ugly green sauce made from basil, pine nuts, olive oil and Parmesan.  Gary tosses in a few red peppers for some kick.  Next time Gary make some he will send you a batch.
Click to expand...


JC thinks it would be good on saltine crackers and a side of sardines...


----------



## davidharmier60

I don't have a very discriminating pallet. 
Pizza doesn't have to be great. Good does just fine. 

5.5ish hours. Did all the windows facing the highway.

Fixing to go to a Wal-Mart I've never been inside of. May buy a Timex Iron man digital. Don't need it. But when has that ever stopped us?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

I woke up many years ago with Pizza all over my face, I was rather drunk at the time and it still tasted good...lol


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> A few months ago, Mary Lou retired ... now Gary has to go into the office more often.



All those years my wife and I were in business, her office was in the far right front corner of the building and mine was in the far back left of of the building, with a long hall and several offices in between as a buffer. Many days we actually never saw the other during the day. That's why we now have multiple floors at our house. Sometimes you need a little space


----------



## davidharmier60

I have been a naughty boy.
Not one but two digital watches.
Oh well.

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----------



## terri

Ahh...happy Friday afternoon, hosers.   Warm and sunny here.    Pizza and salad for dinner later, but wine on the screened in porch will kick things off.  We've potted several annuals this week, along with herbs.  I call the porch our summer living room, and tonight we're officially moving in.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> A few months ago, Mary Lou retired ...



I didn't know Mary Lou has retired.   Good for her!  Happy Retirement wishes to her.

Now, quit yakking and go rustle up that woman some dinner!


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> A few months ago, Mary Lou retired ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't know Mary Lou has retired.   Good for her!  Happy Retirement wishes to her.
> 
> Now, quit yakking and go rustle up that woman some dinner!
Click to expand...

Yes Ma'am.  (Tonight we are off to the local theatre for _South Pacific, _starring John Cudia and Stephanie Wall.)


----------



## davidharmier60

Bad BAD boy!


----------



## snowbear

POTM voting is up; I'll do the Challenge Voting tomorrow.  One DQ (that's _not_ Dairy Queen) in POTM for self-nomination.

Going to bed - night, all


----------



## davidharmier60

Humph. I'm parked at work. It's raining. 
Betcha for a beer the keyholder is late.

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## davidharmier60

Guess I owe somebody a beer.
Keyholder showed 5 sharp.
4 hours and a couple minutes today. 
30.22 for the week. 
Gotta do a little shopping for my Sister. 
Then PO. Then box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon all, just back from helping mum for the day, good news she has had all her stitches taken out of her hand now but still has it wrapped up till it heals 100%.  Very hot here today, too hot for me as I now pay the price of working with  asbestos many years ago and smoking.


----------



## snowbear

After a delay due to MLW having some pain issues, w are on the way to sheep fest.  Of course, I didn’t comb or brush my hair, so I may get mistaken for one of the wooly ones.

Taking the 28-85/3.5-4.5, as well as the 50/1.8 and the 24/2.8.


----------



## Fujidave

snowbear said:


> POTM voting is up; I'll do the Challenge Voting tomorrow.  One DQ (that's _not_ Dairy Queen) in POTM for self-nomination.
> 
> Going to bed - night, all



Got it down to 3, and it will be hard to vote for just the 1.  Great photos in the POTM.


----------



## snowbear

They get better every month.  And even though the challenge numbers are lower than I’d like, the photos entered are always a pleasure to see.  I’m glad I get to see who takes them before everyone else.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Again no overcast, consequently Gary is expecting another warm day.  Gary thinks this would be a good day to clean out the pressurized pond filter.  It is so tedious, but Gary would rather get wet on a warm day than a cool day.  Good news on your mum.  Gary is glad you're looking after her. 

@Fujidave: So how hot, (in C or F), is "very hot" and "too hot"?

Last night Mary Lou and Gary attended _South Pacific _at our local La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts_. _ It was a wonderful show.  Live orchestration, good production value, a few Broadway performer singing their lungs out to a standing ovation.  Bravo, La Mirada. One of the best things is the theatre is only a couple minutes drive from the house ... we could have easily walked.  Mary Lou snuck in some vino in these little S'Well bottles that tuck nicely into her purse.  Gary's father and uncle were Marines during WWII and the story brought up bit and pieces of overheard conversations Gary remembered while growing up.


----------



## Fujidave

I`d say it`s in the 70s today, glad I am walking about in it now.  Funny really as when in Melbourne it did not bother me, sometimes I`d sunbath in 104, now that was hot.


----------



## Gary A.

For JC:


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> I`d say it`s in the 70s today, glad I am walking about in it now.  Funny really as when in Melbourne it did not bother me, sometimes I`d sunbath in 104, now that was hot.


You won't like it here.


----------



## davidharmier60

You'd absolutely hate my part of Texas!
It isn't as bad as it's gonna get....

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----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Very hot here today, too hot for me as I now pay the price of working with asbestos many years ago and smoking.



Heat is not a big trigger for me but humidity is. Had a mild asthma attack yesterday evening, but the rescue inhaler stopped it. Today I've been using it preemptively. The temperature is only 70 but the humidity is already 85 and rising.


----------



## davidharmier60

We are heading for 100 degrees and 90+ humidity


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> We are heading for 100 degrees and 90+ humidity



Hence the song!!!


----------



## Gary A.

35% humidity today ... a bit high for us.


----------



## JonA_CT

We won’t visit my in-laws who live out Dave’s way again. Once in July was enough.


----------



## JonA_CT

I also bought some Tri Tip (!?) to go in some tacos and in som salad for our gringo celebration this evening. I went to a different store than normal today, and there it was! It’s going to get a garlic rub/slather and a reverse dear treatment in the Kamado.


----------



## Gary A.

Be sure to remove the membrane on the flip side.


----------



## Fujidave

OMG OMG, just going through some old slides when we were in Australia, and I am over the moon that one of my first photos I ever took with my fathers help is in the lot, going to be very busy taking photos of them soon, my favourite I took is of Uluru.


----------



## RowdyRay

JonA_CT said:


> I also bought some Tri Tip (!?) to go in some tacos and in som salad for our gringo celebration this evening. I went to a different store than normal today, and there it was! It’s going to get a garlic rub/slather and a reverse dear treatment in the Kamado.





Gary A. said:


> Be sure to remove the membrane on the flip side.



Not sure if either of you have heard of or tried this, but it's really good. This is for TWO tri-tips, so cut in half for one. Make sure you use a course ground pepper or it will be very peppery. If you need to watch salt (like me) use low sodium soy sauce and granulated garlic or garlic powder. 

6 Hour Tri-tip Marinade

If you want more of an Asian flavor for stir fry or salad, use sesame oil. Toasted is awesome. Substitute the minced garlic for minced or grated fresh ginger. If you're into heat, Sriracha works well in it. You could also use hot peppers. Play around with it. We have.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hey there RR! i was out of this room for better than an hour. The computer never went no input and the monitor never went to sleep. One of them things that make you go huh?
It's working fabulously.


----------



## RowdyRay

@smoke665 My son was really interested in the million dollar spaghetti casserole. So we hit the store and threw it together last night. I only had one pound of our venison Italian sausage left, so I took out some venison pepperoni. Put some in the middle and on top. Kind of like spaghetti, lasagna and pizza collide. Lol. Don't be afraid to play with it. 

Wow, was that good. The grandkids loved it. My DIL law is not a big fan of sausage. She loved it and even had a big chunk, cold, for breakfast this morning. This is a keeper and will probably make a pan to take fishing next week. Thank you!


----------



## RowdyRay

davidharmier60 said:


> Hey there RR! i was out of this room for better than an hour. The computer never went no input and the monitor never went to sleep. One of them things that make you go huh?
> It's working fabulously.



That's awesome. Glad I could help.


----------



## smoke665

RowdyRay said:


> . Kind of like spaghetti, lasagna and pizza collide.



I think you may have a perfect description for it! Glad you liked it. It's a fairly fast and easy dish that is definitely on our keeper list.


----------



## Gary A.

RowdyRay said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I also bought some Tri Tip (!?) to go in some tacos and in som salad for our gringo celebration this evening. I went to a different store than normal today, and there it was! It’s going to get a garlic rub/slather and a reverse dear treatment in the Kamado.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Be sure to remove the membrane on the flip side.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not sure if either of you have heard of or tried this, but it's really good. This is for TWO tri-tips, so cut in half for one. Make sure you use a course ground pepper or it will be very peppery. If you need to watch salt (like me) use low sodium soy sauce and granulated garlic or garlic powder.
> 
> 6 Hour Tri-tip Marinade
> 
> If you want more of an Asian flavor for stir fry or salad, use sesame oil. Toasted is awesome. Substitute the minced garlic for minced or grated fresh ginger. If you're into heat, Sriracha works well in it. You could also use hot peppers. Play around with it. We have.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the recipe, Gary will take a look.  Gary has been cooking low and slow for a while, both the Kamado and the smoker are capable of low and slow. In the past year Gary acquired a Sous Vide.  Gary’s last Tri-Tip Gary cooked for 36 hours simmering away in Gary’s BBQ sauce, herbs and peppers. Gary gave the meat an initial sear in order to incorporate some cooked flavoring into the 36 hours of Sous Vide and then at the end for a crispy crust.  It was quite good.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> In the past year Gary acquired a Sous Vide, the last Tri-Tip Gary cooked took 36 hours marinading in



Gary needs to look at an "Instant Pot". I suspect you would like it.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> In the past year Gary acquired a Sous Vide, the last Tri-Tip Gary cooked took 36 hours marinading in
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary needs to look at an "Instant Pot". I suspect you would like it.
Click to expand...

Gary looked at them, but he has so much stuff he has to draw a line.  He does have this high performing rice cooker that also cooks soups and sauté and stuff, but it isn't pressurized like the insta-pot.  Gary doesn't need the speed of the Insta-Pot, (see 36 hours Sous Vide above, lol), so he has taken a pass on it. Speaking of pots ... he really wants to utilize his portable inductive cookery and start enjoying hot-pots in the patio.


----------



## davidharmier60

I don't know how it got so late. But even though I need not awaken at 4am tomorrow i did this morning. 
And all of a sudden sleep feels very soon.

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## snowbear

Felt critters at the festival.  No, I didn't buy it.



DSC_1538.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, a nice sunny day today just got back with Susie.  I let her stay at mums for the night so we had a nice walk,  have just ordered my last Topaz plugins so now have the ones I want plus just waiting for my JJC extension tubes for Fuji


----------



## davidharmier60

Scrambled eggs, little sausages and toast.
Reasonable mug of coffee to try and get with it. 

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## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  A bit of overcast this morning, so it should be a cooler day today.  Yesterday was warm ... hot by Fujidave's standards.  Gary took apart the pressurized pond filter and handful by handful washed out a billion of these thick little plastic spoked wagon wheel looking thingies. Very tedious, but it's done and Gary is good for another six months or so. This morning Gary refilled the feeders for the flying pigs.  The feeder in front and the feeder in back were nearly empty. 

Gary printed Million Dollar Spaghetti and was preparing to cook up same, when a discussion with Mary Lou persuaded otherwise  ... Gary is gonna work up a grilled veggie Pasta Primavera instead for dinner.  But later this week, he will make the Million Dollar Spaghetti.  Gary is gonna add some Sous Vide chicken to the Primavera.  ... into the Sous Vide bag Gary will add some peppers, herbs, lemon and orange zest and vino.  Then he'll grill the chicken for the final rise in temp when he grills the veggies. 

Gary discovered some good size bell peppers and zucchinis behind the roses.  Most of the grilled veggies will come from the yard and all the herbs will be fresh from the gardens. Y'all invited for dinner, if you have four legged friends they're welcomed also. Gary may open some bubbly tonight and espresso after dinner.


----------



## Fujidave

60 humidity here and going up, fantastic looking at these old slides and am well chuffed that some of my father are in them as I have never seen those.


----------



## Gary A.

36% here.  Gary has the Sous Vide fired up and the chicken cooking away in spices, fresh parsley, marjoram, rosemary and savory.  The juice from an orange, some orange zest all of it swimming in a Saucelito Canyon Cote de Blanc.


----------



## Gary A.

Cooking outside.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Charlie, you should have bought it! it's you. But it seems like felt work can get pricey.

I think dinner will be leftover veggie soup and I don't know what, some sort of sandwich (maybe a grilled/toasted cheese, whatever you call it when you do it in a pan with a dab of margarine til the bread's toasted and the cheese is melty). Yeah, I think I talked myself into that.

20 minutes til more hockey.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Charlie, you should have bought it! it's you. But it seems like felt work can get pricey.
> 
> I think dinner will be leftover veggie soup and I don't know what, some sort of sandwich (maybe a grilled/toasted cheese, whatever you call it when you do it in a pan with a dab of margarine til the bread's toasted and the cheese is melty). Yeah, I think I talked myself into that.
> 
> 20 minutes til more hockey.


You know if you lived out here, you'd be welcomed for dinner and hockey here.


----------



## davidharmier60

My Sister will likely be in the hospital tomorrow. She gets dehydrated. 
I'm watching Drag Racing from Atlanta. 
In an hour or so I'll be asleep. 
Have the best Monday it's possible to have.

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----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> My Sister will likely be in the hospital tomorrow. She gets dehydrated.
> I'm watching Drag Racing from Atlanta.
> In an hour or so I'll be asleep.
> Have the best Monday it's possible to have.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


That is sad.  Gary hopes it's something trivial. Best to her.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Charlie, you should have bought it! it's you. But it seems like felt work can get pricey.


Yes - a bit too high for my budget, but I did pick up a critter kit - a chipmunk.  Now I have to go through the tutorials, then see what I can do.


----------



## Fujidave

Had a lovely cool walk with Susie this morning, they say it is going to be the hottest Bank holiday on record today.  Have a good one folks.


----------



## davidharmier60

Monday Madness begins in approximately 24 minutes. 

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## Fujidave

It seems I got the photography bug from my father and his mother ( my gran )  have just found a old photo gran took of Pearl Harbor, plus a photo of mum and I on a beach in Australia.  This is a WOW for me to have now.


----------



## davidharmier60

4.37 hours today and for the week so far. 
No notifications so I don't know what's going on with my Sister. I guess the usual stops and then home and find out what's going on. 

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----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Had a lovely cool walk with Susie this morning, they say it is going to be the hottest Bank holiday on record today.  Have a good one folks.


Hottest ... like maybe 72F?


----------



## smoke665

Already 76 here, headed for mid 80's. At least the humidity isn't as bad 50%, with a nice breeze it's almost pleasant out there!


----------



## Gary A.

61F presently, heading into the mid 70's.


----------



## davidharmier60

It is approximately 83 degrees on the back porch. No one is home and no note was left. Dad has a VA appointment at 1:30 so I probably won't see them until much later this afternoon.


----------



## JonA_CT

I had some left over tri-tip and some homemade pico de gallo  for lunch. Tri-tip is pretty tasty, and at the $4 a pound I paid for it, a steal.

I’ll keep my eye open for those sales in the future.

Normal Monday otherwise. 33 days of school left after today.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a lovely cool walk with Susie this morning, they say it is going to be the hottest Bank holiday on record today.  Have a good one folks.
> 
> 
> 
> Hottest ... like maybe 72F?
Click to expand...


77F and humidity this morning was 90, cooled right down now though


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a lovely cool walk with Susie this morning, they say it is going to be the hottest Bank holiday on record today.  Have a good one folks.
> 
> 
> 
> Hottest ... like maybe 72F?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 77F and humidity this morning was 90, cooled right down now though
Click to expand...


77F may not sound that hot to someone used to dealing with dry air, but with 90% humidity, it feels like hell.


----------



## davidharmier60

Wait a while and hell will be right outside my door!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I had some left over tri-tip and some homemade pico de gallo  for lunch. Tri-tip is pretty tasty, and at the $4 a pound I paid for it, a steal.
> 
> I’ll keep my eye open for those sales in the future.
> 
> Normal Monday otherwise. 33 days of school left after today.


Yes, Tri-Tip is quite the bargain. Just takes a bit more prep work.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a lovely cool walk with Susie this morning, they say it is going to be the hottest Bank holiday on record today.  Have a good one folks.
> 
> 
> 
> Hottest ... like maybe 72F?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 77F and humidity this morning was 90, cooled right down now though
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 77F may not sound that hot to someone used to dealing with dry air, but with 90% humidity, it feels like hell.
Click to expand...

Gary likes dry air.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary likes dry air.



Gary wouldn't like SE Missouri -

In the bootheel of MO, along the Mississippi, during dog days of summer, the humidity can rise to the point that you can walk outside with a spray bottle of soap, and take shower while walking around the yard, then go back in and get in the shower to dry off.  It can get so humid  that the birds don't fly because they're afraid of drowning. It can get so humid that vegetables steam on the vine. It gets so humid you can only take one potato chip at a time out of the bag, or they'll turn limp before you can eat them. It can get so humid that your underwear and your butt cheeks become permanently vulcanized to each other.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm telling you East Texas ain't all that much different from what you described.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary likes dry air.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary wouldn't like SE Missouri -
> 
> In the bootheel of MO, along the Mississippi, during dog days of summer, the humidity can rise to the point that you can walk outside with a spray bottle of soap, and take shower while walking around the yard, then go back in and get in the shower to dry off.  It can get so humid  that the birds don't fly because they're afraid of drowning. It can get so humid that vegetables steam on the vine. It gets so humid you can only take one potato chip at a time out of the bag, or they'll turn limp before you can eat them. It can get so humid that your underwear and your butt cheeks become permanently vulcanized to each other.
Click to expand...

meh ... Gary has worked and lived in tropical rainforests.  Gary used to be an all-weather worker.  The weather is what it is and giving a rat's wouldn't make a dif ... so why sweat it.  Gary has also worked in deserts so dry that the sweat would evaporate before beading up on the skin.  If given a choice, Gary prefers dry to humid, warm to cold, hot to freezing. What Gary likes about SoCal is it significantly cools off at night and if you want something different, you can drive 20-30 minutes to the beach for a ten degree drop or 20-30 minutes inland for a ten degree rise.  If you're sick of the beach, then a 40 minute drive will get you 8,000 to 10,000 feet up and a 90 minute drive will get you into the heart of the desert.  Unfortunately, there are way too many people living here who have similar appreciation of dry.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary used to be an all-weather worker.



I suspect that Gary is like me, older and a lot less tolerant to extremes in any direction!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Yep, back then it was all about the job ... now it is all about a good life.


----------



## smoke665

OH NO SAY IT ISN'T SO CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW. Times they are tough for the Captain apparently. Man nicknamed 'Captain Jack Sparrow' huffed glue, kicked Tennessee cops, police say


----------



## Gary A.

Just some quick snaps of Miss Maggie, back from the groomers, sporting her summer coiff.


----------



## Fujidave

Miss Maggie is looking good @Gary A. 

Cool and very sunny today, off to get a haircut later as it`s quite long now.


----------



## davidharmier60

Once more into the breach go I. 
Coffee is hot but that's the best thing I can say about it. 

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----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Miss Maggie is looking good @Gary A.
> 
> Cool and very sunny today, off to get a haircut later as it`s quite long now.


If you go to the same place as Maggie, you'll get a snack bag of biscuits.


----------



## JonA_CT

A new barber shop opened here that offers an all-inclusive experience with a cut, a wet shave, your choice of brown liquor, and a cigar. Alas, I don’t require a barber’s services. (Nor would my wife like me coming home from the barber smelling of booze and cigar smoke).


----------



## davidharmier60

4 and a wee bit over a half hours today. 
9.11 for the week so far. 
Gotta bring a screw gun and some decent screws. Tried to put a First Aid kit on the inside of a door. No hand powered screwdriver is gonna do that.

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----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 157538 View attachment 157539
> Just some quick snaps of Miss Maggie, back from the groomers, sporting her summer coiff.


I'm sure you'll both appreciate it after her dives into the creek!    She'll get hosed down/dried off much faster.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> A new barber shop opened here that offers an all-inclusive experience with a cut, a wet shave, your choice of brown liquor, and a cigar. Alas, I don’t require a barber’s services. (Nor would my wife like me coming home from the barber smelling of booze and cigar smoke).


She most likely would not mind a snack bag of biscuits.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 157538 View attachment 157539
> Just some quick snaps of Miss Maggie, back from the groomers, sporting her summer coiff.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sure you'll both appreciate it after her dives into the creek!    She'll get hosed down/dried off much faster.
Click to expand...

This morning we ran into Michelle and Larry.  Larry is this really old pooch who can barely walk.  Michelle is a beautiful, graceful, black, standard poodle, who has these long legs that makes her appear to be dancing when she runs.  Michelle's human didn't recognize Maggie at first.  When Maggie dove into the creek coming up with a mouthful of algae and looking like a Trash Island dog  ... Michelle's human laughed and said "It's Maggie". Michelle and Maggie ran and wrestled and plunged in and out of the creek for about a mile.


----------



## vintagesnaps

32..... I'm not teaching anymore, don't have a countdown, but remember it well.

What Bank holiday, Dave? Can we celebrate it too? 

I've been half-watching the second half of the dumbest movie that Bruce Willis, Kim Basinger, and John Larroquette must've ever been in. An hour and a half of them running around to finally get to a wedding, with the addition of stupid low budget commercials throughout. Saw the beginning of it already so like a train wreck, I had to watch the rest of it to see what happened. Apparently it's possible to play an electric guitar on a tropical beach with no outlets anywhere to plug it in. Guess you weren't supposed to notice such things, but all those dropped dishes and drunken dances and crashed cars just for fake guitar playing on the beach in the end.

I have stuff I could've been doing this afternoon, but I blew it off to watch international hockey, then the station was out for awhile. The Czech and Swiss teams are tied in the 3rd. Lively crowd, the games are in Denmark.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Cool and very sunny today, off to get a haircut later as it`s quite long now.



My good friend and neighbor, find it very unfair that we don't get a discount, for only trimming the sides. It's like a landscaping company charging for mowing a lawn and only doing a little weed eating around the edges.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sister insisted I didn't drive her around. She went into town (5 miles or so) and Pam was going to take her to Cleveland. Not knowing how she'll be when she leaves the doctors office she palnned to go grocery shopping.  That's pretty much all I know at this time. Have been looking at copper pennies I rollled and misnamed. Have an ever growing stack that are going back out into the wild.


----------



## Gary A.

Half-Price-Popcorn-Movie-Tuesday.  _Ready Player 1, _shallow but still a well done movie. Mary Lou and Gary both enjoyed the movie, lots of entertainment value.


----------



## davidharmier60

While I was outside TRYING to shoot pic(s) of a Blue Jay Sister called and will be home in maybe 30 minutes.

Those darn Jays are out there pretty often except when I'm out there. The double pane window I look out of has water trails all down the inside . Doesn't really allow for shooting through.


----------



## smoke665

Okay I will never complain about the pine tree pollen in the south again!!!!

WATCH: Large cloud of pollen falls from tree


----------



## Gary A.

You hit Gary with one of those little Kubotas and he’d also dump all of his pollen.


----------



## Fujidave

Just had an email saying my JJC extension tubes will be delivered today, between now  and 8pm tonight so have to wait in now and it`s a lovely day too.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary has just taken his first sip of steaming Colombian Supremo.  It is a tall mug and Gary's nose was filled with coffee flavors.  Makes getting up all worth while.  It is a typical overcast and cool morning. 60F, 16C for Fujidave. Brighton is 17C, so about the same, but it will warm up to 24C here.  Yesterday was glorious.  As Mary Lou and Gary left the dark theater, the sun bright, golden and warm welcomed us back to the real world. Gary grilled up some Korean Spare Ribs, prepared by Tom's mother (Korean) and the first bite took me back to Pusan and Seoul. Another sip, the flavors become more distinct as the coffee cools ... a delight.  Gary has to get back to work. HiHo-HiHo.


----------



## Gary A.

Miss Maggie is great.  Whenever her food is prepared she will retire to her bed and patiently wait.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 157538 View attachment 157539
> Just some quick snaps of Miss Maggie, back from the groomers, sporting her summer coiff.


Rockin' the polygon look. Very nice.


----------



## davidharmier60

5 hours and a couple minutes today. 
14.21 or thereabouts for the week. 
Just enjoyed biscuits and sausage and gravy. Sold my box of pennies and going to see if I can get another box. Plan to goof off until noon to get my check. 

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## jcdeboever

Traveling a lot, not much time to post or take pics. I'm parked at the pickle park eating my lunch. Got two film cameras, no film. Could of sworn I had rolls in each with one extra roll. Geez, losing my mind .


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Traveling a lot, not much time to post or take pics. I'm parked at the pickle park eating my lunch. Got two film cameras, no film. Could of sworn I had rolls in each with one extra roll. Geez, losing my mind .




Gary has to laugh at you losing your mind.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Traveling a lot, not much time to post or take pics. I'm parked at the pickle park eating my lunch. Got two film cameras, no film. Could of sworn I had rolls in each with one extra roll. Geez, losing my mind .
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has to laugh at you losing your mind.
Click to expand...


I took a couple of great shots only to look down and notice the film advance not turning. To top it off, I grabbed the other one and did the same thing. My 4 best pics ever, non existent. I guess I'll need to take the pic of my cat out of the one, and the dog out of the other and replace them with a film box top to remind me, I have film in them.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> I took a couple of great shots only to look down and notice the film advance not turning. To top it off, I grabbed the other one and did the same thing. My 4 best pics ever, non existent. I guess I'll need to take the pic of my cat out of the one, and the dog out of the other and replace them with a film box top to remind me, I have film in them.


 I feel for you.  I was downtown one day with only the phone. I saw a group of Buddhist monks in orange robes by the Washington Monument; one had the selfie sick out, shooting away.  Unfortunately, it was misty-rainy and my stop & shoot result was pure crap.


----------



## davidharmier60

The camera in my phone has not been the same since the glass covering the lens got broken. Here's an example. 




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## vintagesnaps

I always used to save the box top and stick it in the bottom half of the everready case. So then, ya know, you're ever ready. But nothing's foolproof. It used to be handy to run in a drugstore and buy film.

On the weather map on a local station it showed 'moist'. They're already getting creative on how to describe what we'll have all summer and it's only May.


----------



## Fujidave

At last my JJC extension tubes just arrived, so once I do some chores tomorrow I can try them out.  Looking forward to trying to get some nice old slide shots too.


----------



## markjwyatt

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary has just taken his first sip of steaming Colombian Supremo.  It is a tall mug and Gary's nose was filled with coffee flavors.  Makes getting up all worth while.  It is a typical overcast and cool morning. 60F, 16C for Fujidave. Brighton is 17C, so about the same, but it will warm up to 24C here.  Yesterday was glorious.  As Mary Lou and Gary left the dark theater, the sun bright, golden and warm welcomed us back to the real world. Gary grilled up some Korean Spare Ribs, prepared by Tom's mother (Korean) and the first bite took me back to Pusan and Seoul. Another sip, the flavors become more distinct as the coffee cools ... a delight.  Gary has to get back to work. HiHo-HiHo.



I am still sipping Guatemala Huehuetenango. Yummy.

Speaking of coffee houses, any of you ever go to Intelligentisia Coffee or other more independent coffee houses (vs. Starbucks)? This one is in Pasadena. We have three in Southern California (West Hollywood, Venice, and Pasadena). I think the rest (and the origin) are in Chicago. I have four local and very good independent coffee houses in town (Pasadena is about 1 hour away).





Intelligentsia Coffee by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr





Intelligentsia Coffee Scene by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr





Macchiato by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr


----------



## vintagesnaps

That place looks good! 

It's one of those days of flipping over to the news briefly and feeling like I need a score card, or maybe cliff's notes. And don't people know by now if you're in front of a congressional committee, if they ask a question, answer it instead of hedging.

Luckily for the afternoon, there's international hockey on, I'll take this daytime hockey any day. Finland playing Denmark who's hosting the tournament, so the crowd's been enthusiastic. And there's no score yet, just starting the 2nd.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Denmark scored! the crowd are going wild!!

Now one of the Danish players is in the penalty box and holding the stick blade to block the camera. lol Well there goes that lead, Finland just scored.

edit - Denmark scored again to take the lead! The announcer said they're happy - no kidding, the whole place is chanting or singing, I'm not sure which, and banging and thumping.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hockey? What is this hockey you speak of. Baseball, Football, Curling, F1 racing and Drag Racing are sports I understand.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hockey involves a hard biscuit and a stick. Whack at it with the stick. If you get whistled, say I didn't do anything... but they'll make you go sit in a box anyway. 

In hockey, even country music singers and wookies can shoot a puck. (skip ahead to about 7 min.)


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> Hockey? What is this hockey you speak of. Baseball, Football, Curling, F1 racing and Drag Racing are sports I understand.


Ice Hockey was originated by groups of Canada's First Nations and Inuit when they started using broken tree limbs to fire frozen moose dung at each other.

Don't ask about the Scottish Caber Toss.


----------



## vintagesnaps

What'dya say? can't hear you, my player didn't do anything... 
the crowd disagrees, yup, he's going to the box.

Finland came back, game tied, and just under 2 minutes Denmark scored! They're going to blow the roof off the place!


----------



## Frank F.

I am in Spain at a Nikongear Workshop and have not forgotten you. Today's topic was a dancing class of our friend here who is a teacher for dancing at the local professional dancers school. They teach modern dance, classical ballet and flamenco... Today's class was modern dance


----------



## vintagesnaps

Denmark won! that was one heckuva 3rd period. 

Postgame on NHL Network with the Grim Reaper and Barenaked Ladies.


----------



## jcdeboever

Stu "the Grim Reaper" Grimson. That dude could throw down.


----------



## vintagesnaps

_These _Barenaked Ladies...


----------



## markjwyatt

Frank F. said:


> I am in Spain at a Nikongear Workshop and have not forgotten you. Today's topic was a dancing class of our friend here who is a teacher for dancing at the local professional dancers school. They teach modern dance, classical ballet and flamenco... Today's class was modern dance
> 
> View attachment 157581



Nice candid shot- kind of like a modern Cezanne.


----------



## markjwyatt

vintagesnaps said:


> Denmark won! that was one heckuva 3rd period.
> 
> Postgame on NHL Network with the Grim Reaper and Barenaked Ladies.




I suspect that instead of heading to a coffee shop, this may be more appropriate:





Robins_Bar1k by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr


----------



## davidharmier60

Burgers and fries.... But no cherry pies.

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## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Miss Maggie is great.  Whenever her food is prepared she will retire to her bed and patiently wait.



Sadie stands patiently upright on her hind legs so she can watch her meal being prepared. There are certain things that MUST be added, or she will turn her nose up at it. Things like shredded cheddar, chopped steak, chicken etc. Yup she's spoiled.


----------



## smoke665

Birmgham actually has a professional hockey team. Birmingham Bulls | Official Site For Birmingham Bulls Hockey | SPHL  Think of them as a cross between Football, WWE, and Stock Car Racing with sticks thrown in. Lots of blood.


----------



## jcdeboever

I am working tonight and maybe until Friday straight, on an agreement that would require a solid third shift of team. I am believing for this blessing. I am believing for great workers, workers that want to earn a good living. I would ask all believers to pray that we will deliver. Luck is not needed. Faith is. I can not fathom a situation where we can not deliver. There are employee challenges but we will work as a team.


----------



## Gary A.

markjwyatt said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary has just taken his first sip of steaming Colombian Supremo.  It is a tall mug and Gary's nose was filled with coffee flavors.  Makes getting up all worth while.  It is a typical overcast and cool morning. 60F, 16C for Fujidave. Brighton is 17C, so about the same, but it will warm up to 24C here.  Yesterday was glorious.  As Mary Lou and Gary left the dark theater, the sun bright, golden and warm welcomed us back to the real world. Gary grilled up some Korean Spare Ribs, prepared by Tom's mother (Korean) and the first bite took me back to Pusan and Seoul. Another sip, the flavors become more distinct as the coffee cools ... a delight.  Gary has to get back to work. HiHo-HiHo.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am still sipping Guatemala Huehuetenango. Yummy.
> 
> Speaking of coffee houses, any of you ever go to Intelligentisia Coffee or other more independent coffee houses (vs. Starbucks)? This one is in Pasadena. We have three in Southern California (West Hollywood, Venice, and Pasadena). I think the rest (and the origin) are in Chicago. I have four local and very good independent coffee houses in town (Pasadena is about 1 hour away).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Intelligentsia Coffee by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Intelligentsia Coffee Scene by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Macchiato by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr
Click to expand...


When in Pasadena Gary likes Jones Coffee Company. Gary believes Jones have a plantation(s) in Guatemala and they have full control over their coffee from source to final product. Gary also likes Tierra Mia Coffee shops. Tierra Mia serves coffee with some Latino zest blended in ...a  much much better coffee than Starbucks.  Since Gary has been roasting his own beans, his taste buds have found most commercial coffee shops to be sadly lacking.


----------



## Gary A.

Today Gary met up and had brunch with ‘otherprof’’. We connected at the ‘Original Farmers Market’ in Los Angeles.  Then we took a ride along the coast with stops for photos. 

Otherprof is a very very nice guy and Gary had a great time chatting with him and listening to his stories.


----------



## otherprof

markjwyatt said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary has just taken his first sip of steaming Colombian Supremo.  It is a tall mug and Gary's nose was filled with coffee flavors.  Makes getting up all worth while.  It is a typical overcast and cool morning. 60F, 16C for Fujidave. Brighton is 17C, so about the same, but it will warm up to 24C here.  Yesterday was glorious.  As Mary Lou and Gary left the dark theater, the sun bright, golden and warm welcomed us back to the real world. Gary grilled up some Korean Spare Ribs, prepared by Tom's mother (Korean) and the first bite took me back to Pusan and Seoul. Another sip, the flavors become more distinct as the coffee cools ... a delight.  Gary has to get back to work. HiHo-HiHo.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am still sipping Guatemala Huehuetenango. Yummy.
> 
> Speaking of coffee houses, any of you ever go to Intelligentisia Coffee or other more independent coffee houses (vs. Starbucks)? This one is in Pasadena. We have three in Southern California (West Hollywood, Venice, and Pasadena). I think the rest (and the origin) are in Chicago. I have four local and very good independent coffee houses in town (Pasadena is about 1 hour away).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Intelligentsia Coffee by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Intelligentsia Coffee Scene by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Macchiato by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr
Click to expand...

The L.A. Musem of Art C&M (coffee and milk) bar serves Intelligentsia coffee, and you are so right about the quality!


----------



## Fujidave

Busy day today running back and forwards, so I hope to try out the JJC extension tubes sometime today.  Sun is out and we have a nice cool breeze.


----------



## davidharmier60

Another day. A few more dollars. 
Good mug. But bleary eyes.


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## smoke665

@Gary A. Forever changed our coffee acceptance. While we dont't roast our own yet, we found a supplier who keeps us in fresh roasted beans. Organic Guatemalan, Puerto Rican, and Honduran beans are the favorites. Morning coffee is again a treat rather than just a caffeine boost to face the day.


----------



## JonA_CT

It's been a week. My baby boy has been down and out with a common infant viral infection. It's scary AF to have your kid's fever spike to almost 105, no matter what the doctor says to you. The fever finally broke this morning, thankfully.

In other news...I'm down 25lbs since I've switched my diet out. I'm learning a lot about myself again, and realize I do have a lot of control over some of the things that have been ailing me. Eating a diet with lots of veggies and lean protein has pretty much eliminated my gastric reflux. My carbs for the day yesterday was some pasta with some turkey sausage and red sauce (my daughter loves pasta, and it's a good way to get protein into her). A month ago, that red sauce would have kept me up all night if I hadn't taken some Zantac. I slept great last night without any help.

I've been digging South American coffees recently, although I know that'll change as I start making more iced coffee (nothing beats a Kenyan or Ethiopian coffee for that, imo). This morning was a peaberry-sized coffee from Brazil that I roasted fairly light. It tastes like almonds and dark chocolate, with just enough acidity to maintain balance. So good.


----------



## smoke665

We just finished the last of the Ethiopian and wasn't overly impressed. It seemed rather bland compared to the South American beans.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> We just finished the last of the Ethiopian and wasn't overly impressed. It seemed rather bland compared to the South American beans.



It's definitely going to be more delicate. Most African beans are better suited at a City, City+ roast which is lighter than you'll be able to buy any coffee at the supermarket (and probably most coffee shops, honestly, although I don't know about yours). It's all about floral and tea-like notes, berries, and citrus-like acidity. My wife doesn't like them much, either -- she definitely prefers the darker roasts with the chocolate and nuts theme. 

A lot of people love beans from Indonesia (Sumatra). They aren't my thing, so I completely get it, haha.


----------



## terri

So glad the little guy's doing better, Jon!

Beautiful morning here.  Sunshine and cool.  Happy Thursday, hosers!


----------



## Fujidave

After a busy day I managed to try one of my JJC extension tubes on a slide from the 1960s.  I will have a lot of work to get them back looking quite good, as we don`t have photos of them.


----------



## snowbear

Glad to hear the fever broke, Jon.  yes, that can be scary.
Joint Base Andrews requested one of our ladder trucks to hold the flag for the arrival of the plane from Korea.  If you see the video, we're the truck on the left (821 out of Oxon Hill).

What I learned today: The overflow tray on my Keurig  model K15 will hold the entire large serving of coffee, with a little space to spare.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> What I learned today: The overflow tray on my Keurig  model K15 will hold the entire large serving of coffee, with a little space to spare.



Oh my god, there's something in the air. I learned the exact same thing about the K50 we have at work!! 

I got it all set up, hit Start, and walked back into my office (just a few feet away). I heard it stop and I walked back to get my coffee. Saw the empty cup sitting next to the machine. Saw no liquid anywhere. Checked the overflow tray. Bingo! The exact amount of room needed. Luckily, I keep the tray clean, so I just poured the coffee into my cup, where it should have been in the first place.

I have said it before and I'll say it again - it is just cruel to have to make coffee before having had coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is crossing his fingers as Movie Pass is in monetary jeopardy and may close down in a month.  At this point, Gary is in the black with his Movie Pass as he has watched ten movies and the pass cost $90. Movie Pass has said that unless they sell a bunch more memberships and ads they may run out of cash.  If Movie Pass goes bust, Gary believes that Costco may give him a refund.  

Nothing else in this world is important.


----------



## Gary A.

@JonA_CT: Now you gotta learn how to make pasta. After you make some pasta, then you gotta search for different flours.  Gary generally uses wheat pasta, which is much better for you than the normal refined stuff you find in most markets.  Gary is ready to start making his own sausages. Most all of our ground beef recipes from burgers to sauces are now crafted with ground turkey.  The favor differences between beef and turkey is more than compensated with seasoning and herbs.

Gary is so glad that the fever broke.  Gary's youngest had to be hospitalized at about six weeks with RSV.  A terrible experience for all.


----------



## davidharmier60

4 and nearly 3/4 today. 
19 and one minute for the week so far. 
Post Office should be tossed.
Box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## Gary A.

This is wonderful:


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh joy... NOT!
We get to go up to my uncle's place and try to build a ramp up to the front porch. 

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----------



## markjwyatt

otherprof said:


> The L.A. Musem of Art C&M (coffee and milk) bar serves Intelligentsia coffee, and you are so right about the quality!



I see a lot of independents that use their coffee or at least retail it.


----------



## JonA_CT

Their prices are why I roast my own coffee. The most expensive single origin green coffee beans I buy are $8.50 a pound, and most are in the $6-7 range. Their single origin coffees are close to $30 a pound even when buying 5 lbs at a time.


----------



## markjwyatt

I do not buy coffee from them. I will just order a pour over ("V60") or have an espresso drink there. I find roasted whole beans at reasonable cost to drink at home (i.e., Huehuetenango for $$8.99/lb. at Smart and Final; Honduras Aldis, $4.99/12 oz. are typical).  It is good enough for every day (for us at least).

How do you roast at home? Convection Oven?


----------



## davidharmier60

Latest word is he is going into Hospice.
So for today the ramp is off. 
Back at home as comfortable as I can get.

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----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> What I learned today: The overflow tray on my Keurig  model K15 will hold the entire large serving of coffee, with a little space to spare.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh my god, there's something in the air. I learned the exact same thing about the K50 we have at work!!
> 
> I got it all set up, hit Start, and walked back into my office (just a few feet away). I heard it stop and I walked back to get my coffee. Saw the empty cup sitting next to the machine. Saw no liquid anywhere. Checked the overflow tray. Bingo! The exact amount of room needed. Luckily, I keep the tray clean, so I just poured the coffee into my cup, where it should have been in the first place.
> 
> I have said it before and I'll say it again - it is just cruel to have to make coffee before having had coffee.
Click to expand...

MLW asked me, on the way into work this morning, "Where do you want to get coffee?"  I told her that I had a cup this morning, and that I have coffee at work, so I was good.  Never again.


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> Latest word is he is going into Hospice.
> So for today the ramp is off.
> Back at home as comfortable as I can get.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


I hope things go well.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> " I told her that I had a cup this morning, and that I have coffee at work, so I was good



And that's when the fight would have started at my house!



JonA_CT said:


> buy are $8.50 a pound, and most are in the $6-7 range.



The FTO organics are roughly $13 roasted per spec. If you buy 3 shipping via express mail is included.


----------



## Gary A.

markjwyatt said:


> I do not buy coffee from them. I will just order a pour over ("V60") or have an espresso drink there. I find roasted whole beans at reasonable cost to drink at home (i.e., Huehuetenango for $$8.99/lb. at Smart and Final; Honduras Aldis, $4.99/12 oz. are typical).  It is good enough for every day (for us at least).
> 
> How do you roast at home? Convection Oven?


Gary uses a popcorn air popper.  You can roast in a frying pan (cast iron is good). Or, something Gary is considering, purchase a bonafide and dedicated coffee roaster eating up hundreds of dollars.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> markjwyatt said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do not buy coffee from them. I will just order a pour over ("V60") or have an espresso drink there. I find roasted whole beans at reasonable cost to drink at home (i.e., Huehuetenango for $$8.99/lb. at Smart and Final; Honduras Aldis, $4.99/12 oz. are typical).  It is good enough for every day (for us at least).
> 
> How do you roast at home? Convection Oven?
> 
> 
> 
> Gary uses a popcorn air popper.  You can roast in a frying pan (cast iron is good). Or, something Gary is considering, purchase a bonafide and dedicated coffee roaster eating up hundreds of dollars.
Click to expand...


Or with a fancy basket and rotisserie on the grill. I’m going to need to be able to roast 5 lbs at a time for the brewery, and that’s the current thinking on how to do it, as we won’t have space inside to set up a dedicated roaster. We’ll also sell coffee on the side.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> going to need to be able to roast 5 lbs at a time



For the difference in price I'm not sure it's worth it. This is the link to the place we use.    https://www.javatino.com/shop-now/    they supply commercial, and will roast to your spec.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary looks around the internet/Amazon for the best value.  But often he'll just go to Sweet Maria's for his needs.
sweetmarias.com


----------



## Fujidave

When I first joined this site I thought great members like all my photos, so I became a supporter.  Then I put up a photo, and it is not a good shot Dave which I really do like.  Thought I`d just say, as for me to learn and get better  (  I hope )  I do like to be told, so thank you and I look forward to taking on the tips/advice and help.  So you have got me here for life now.


----------



## otherprof

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> What I learned today: The overflow tray on my Keurig  model K15 will hold the entire large serving of coffee, with a little space to spare.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh my god, there's something in the air. I learned the exact same thing about the K50 we have at work!!
> 
> I got it all set up, hit Start, and walked back into my office (just a few feet away). I heard it stop and I walked back to get my coffee. Saw the empty cup sitting next to the machine. Saw no liquid anywhere. Checked the overflow tray. Bingo! The exact amount of room needed. Luckily, I keep the tray clean, so I just poured the coffee into my cup, where it should have been in the first place.
> 
> I have said it before and I'll say it again - it is just cruel to have to make coffee before having had coffee.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> MLW asked me, on the way into work this morning, "Where do you want to get coffee?"  I told her that I had a cup this morning, and that I have coffee at work, so I was good.  Never again.
Click to expand...


When I was teaching philosophy I always had a cup of coffee in my hand in class. And frequently other times during the day as well.  When I switched doctors, my new doctor asked me when I'd had my last echocardiogram. I replied that I had never had one, and he said we should do one to have a base line. So he gave me one in the office and when looking at the results he said, "Looks good, but you drink a lot of coffee, don't you?" I was shocked he could tell that from looking at the test output, and he pointed out a consistent little blip in my heart beat.  We agreed that if he could tell how much coffee I was drinking by checking my heart, I was drinking too much.  Note:  I still have two or three cups a day and that is fine for me. But I was really a chain-coffee-drinker.


----------



## Gary A.

When your heart says to slow down ... it probably is good idea to slow down.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary looks around the internet/Amazon for the best value. But often he'll just go to Sweet Maria's for his needs.
> sweetmarias.com



I looked at their site. While we were in FL this year we had the opportunity to visit and sample  several roasters who do online sales. Javentino, was the only one where the owner stood out at the street to flag us down after we had called saying we were having trouble finding him in a large industrial complex. Then he was so gracious and friendly in making us feel welcome that we went away feeling like we'd made a new friend.



Fujidave said:


> I do like to be told,



I suspect you'll find that there are many more than willing to "tell you".  Whether you learn from it is another story!!


----------



## Gary A.

Almost artichoke time.


----------



## davidharmier60

Fried chicken with Cole slaw. 
Price is Right on the DVR. 
For different reasons we go up to Uncle's place after work tomorrow. 


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----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary had dinner in Seal Beach. After dinner, we took a walk down the pier. The marine layer was closing in causing limited visibility.


----------



## Fujidave

Sunny and cool breeze today, busy sorting out some of the slides which sadly I had to bin a few as the scratches ruined them, if I can just get a few then overall I will be chuffed.


----------



## davidharmier60

Parked at work for another round.
Cool this morning getting to 80s this afternoon.

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----------



## Fujidave

It is such a shame that some of the slides had to be binned, but here is a quick one.  X-T20 XF 18-55mm using 11 of the jjc tubes.


----------



## snowbear

I'm swinging by one of the south-side stations to train someone on how to collect Rural Water Supply data (underground water tanks, drafting or dry hydrants) with the phone app.  He was planning on walking off the distances and marking them on a paper map.  This will be so much easier and the locations go directly into the geo-database.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> going to need to be able to roast 5 lbs at a time
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For the difference in price I'm not sure it's worth it. This is the link to the place we use.    https://www.javatino.com/shop-now/    they supply commercial, and will roast to your spec.
Click to expand...


The initial investment won't be so bad...some where around $1000-1500 probably. It won't be as fine tuned as a purpose-made roaster, but those run upwards of $10k to start and take up a lot of space. (Our tap room is about 500 sqft, and the brewery itself with the walk-in cooler is about 600 sqft). We have patio space outside that can be secured.

People (hipsters and neck-beard types that like craft beer) like the allure of hand-crafted items. There's something to me being able to talk about the coffee that I selected and roasted to order for our beers, and the varietals make a huge difference in the outcome of the beer. Based on feedback from our recent events, they are going to be huge sellers for us, and the coffee is a huge part of it. I'm sure Javino does a great job. I'm just picky and want to be able to have complete control, haha. 

In other news...

It's a beautiful Friday morning. I only have to teach 2 classes today because of Next Generation Science Standards testing, and no plans for the weekend. Life is good.


----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> I'm just picky and want to be able to have complete control, haha.



There you go! Nothing wrong with that. You sure you weren't from Missouri in another life? LOL


----------



## Fujidave

Well I think I may have managed to get a couple of keepers in photographing old slides, as to me the really important ones are of the family, two of which we never had as photos so chuffed I managed it.  The right PITA was clonning out the scratches.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning again.  I had a _very_ good training session.  The LT was real enthusiastic about GIS and the ability to make his own specialized maps.


----------



## Fujidave

I will put up the before and after on the slides, but first I must go and thank a man who said How too.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou and Gary had dinner in Seal Beach. After dinner, we took a walk down the pier. The marine layer was closing in causing limited visibility.



That first photo is gorgeous Gary.


----------



## davidharmier60

4 and roughly a half today. 
23.32 for the week so far. 
Enjoying biscuits and gravy and a piece of sausage. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

David I didn't see this when you first mentioned it, is it your uncle or your dad that moved into assisted living? Hope things go OK.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Denmark's up 3-0 over Norway, the 'home' crowd is enthusiastic! The USA barely won over Latvia yesterday; they're one of the smaller countries and sometimes those barely make it into Groups A & B to get to play at this level in the Worlds, but they've obviously developed their hockey program. 

Smokey, ya gotta love minor pro hockey! The lower the level of play the more 'entertainment' to put butts in the seats. Even at top minor pro there are thunder sticks (hate when they'd give those out) and the blimp that tossed out coupons til the guys maneuvering it had it crash in the zamboni end (darn I got a picture of the guys with the controls but missed a picture of the actual crash landing!) and that was the end of that promotion. Or the owner's dad driving this amphibious vehicle he'd bought and banging it into the back of the arena and knocking bricks loose, so much for that promotion idea (and what he bought it for I have no idea). Or quite memorable, the wedding during intermission - they gotta get those people off the ice! - I've never seen zambonis roar out so fast. (Apparently they had to stay on time or they could get fined by the league.) Never a dull moment.


----------



## SquarePeg

Had a coach heckle the pitcher on the opposing team last week...  she’s 11.  People are morons.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Had a coach heckle the pitcher on the opposing team last week...  she’s 11.  People are morons.


Way to set an example of sportsmanship....


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Even at top minor pro there are thunder sticks (hate when they'd give those out) and the blimp that tossed out coupons



Yup they had a blimp also, though they never bumped anything. LOL


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a coach heckle the pitcher on the opposing team last week...  she’s 11.  People are morons.
> 
> 
> 
> Way to set an example of sportsmanship....
Click to expand...


As one of the league board members, I voted to remove him from coaching but I was the only one.  Everyone else felt that a one game suspension and a one more strike and you’re out warning was enough.  He’s an ass and should not be around anyone’s children.  I volunteered to monitor the rest of his games.  In my head, I call him Buttermaker.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a coach heckle the pitcher on the opposing team last week...  she’s 11.  People are morons.
> 
> 
> 
> Way to set an example of sportsmanship....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> As one of the league board members, I voted to remove him from coaching but I was the only one.  Everyone else felt that a one game suspension and a one more strike and you’re out warning was enough.  He’s an ass and should not be around anyone’s children.  I volunteered to monitor the rest of his games.  In my head, I call him Buttermaker.
Click to expand...

That's ridiculous, and the coach should be removed.

My nephew (12 years old) has taken up lacrosse. At one of his games, a parent yelled out at the ref for a stupid mistake. The ref stopped the game, went over to the stands, demanded to know which parent said what, and said that one more outburst and he would be removed and not able to return. They're pretty strict against people heckling/yelling. While the person wasn't a coach, it was good to see how quickly it was handled.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Had a coach heckle the pitcher on the opposing team last week...  she’s 11.  People are morons.


That is horrible!


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Had a coach heckle the pitcher on the opposing team last week...  she’s 11.  People are morons.



That is just so sad, coach must of had a bad night sleep.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a coach heckle the pitcher on the opposing team last week...  she’s 11.  People are morons.
> 
> 
> 
> Way to set an example of sportsmanship....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> As one of the league board members, I voted to remove him from coaching but I was the only one.  Everyone else felt that a one game suspension and a one more strike and you’re out warning was enough.  He’s an ass and should not be around anyone’s children.  I volunteered to monitor the rest of his games.  In my head, I call him Buttermaker.
Click to expand...

Good for you!  Personally, Gary thinks a warning would be the usual and customary course. Being the monitor was a good move.  Don’t forget to video the future evidence evidence cuz most a$$holes will lie.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a coach heckle the pitcher on the opposing team last week...  she’s 11.  People are morons.
> 
> 
> 
> Way to set an example of sportsmanship....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> As one of the league board members, I voted to remove him from coaching but I was the only one.  Everyone else felt that a one game suspension and a one more strike and you’re out warning was enough.  He’s an ass and should not be around anyone’s children.  I volunteered to monitor the rest of his games.  In my head, I call him Buttermaker.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's ridiculous, and the coach should be removed.
> 
> My nephew (12 years old) has taken up lacrosse. At one of his games, a parent yelled out at the ref for a stupid mistake. The ref stopped the game, went over to the stands, demanded to know which parent said what, and said that one more outburst and he would be removed and not able to return. They're pretty strict against people heckling/yelling. While the person wasn't a coach, it was good to see how quickly it was handled.
Click to expand...


One of the issues is that there is an umpire shortage in our area. We’ve been recruiting for them from our older players so some of the games with the younger girls the umpires are just 15 or 16 years old.  They shouldn’t have to stand up to a grown man at that age and stop him from acting like a moron. 

My friend’s son is 15 and he’s a new umpire and at a game last week one of the coaches was screaming in his face and poked him in the chest. My friend actually had to go onto the field and get the coach away from his son.  Some people just do notbelong anywhere near youth sports.   It’s not the Olympics or Red Sox / Yankees!  It’s 12u softball for crying out loud.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a coach heckle the pitcher on the opposing team last week...  she’s 11.  People are morons.
> 
> 
> 
> Way to set an example of sportsmanship....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> As one of the league board members, I voted to remove him from coaching but I was the only one.  Everyone else felt that a one game suspension and a one more strike and you’re out warning was enough.  He’s an ass and should not be around anyone’s children.  I volunteered to monitor the rest of his games.  In my head, I call him Buttermaker.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Good for you!  Personally, Gary thinks a warning would be the usual and customary course. Being the monitor was a good move.  Don’t forget to video the future evidence evidence cuz most a$$holes will lie.
Click to expand...


Yes will have to tape him. I think he lied to us already when he gave his side of the story.  

I guess I need to finally try out the video feature on my Xt2.


----------



## Gary A.

When Gary was in Little League a fist fight broke out between an opposing team’s coach, who was riding our pitcher.  Our pitcher’s father had enough and started swinging at the coach.  To the coach’s credit, he did not return any swings and just kept backing up into center field until the father was tackled by less hot headed people.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a coach heckle the pitcher on the opposing team last week...  she’s 11.  People are morons.
> 
> 
> 
> Way to set an example of sportsmanship....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> As one of the league board members, I voted to remove him from coaching but I was the only one.  Everyone else felt that a one game suspension and a one more strike and you’re out warning was enough.  He’s an ass and should not be around anyone’s children.  I volunteered to monitor the rest of his games.  In my head, I call him Buttermaker.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Good for you!  Personally, Gary thinks a warning would be the usual and customary course. Being the monitor was a good move.  Don’t forget to video the future evidence evidence cuz most a$$holes will lie.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes will have to tape him. I think he lied to us already when he gave his side of the story.
> 
> I guess I need to finally try out the video feature on my Xt2.
Click to expand...

That will additionally make him upset, knowing that you are taping him will give him fits. Use the largest camera you have.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a coach heckle the pitcher on the opposing team last week...  she’s 11.  People are morons.
> 
> 
> 
> Way to set an example of sportsmanship....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> As one of the league board members, I voted to remove him from coaching but I was the only one.  Everyone else felt that a one game suspension and a one more strike and you’re out warning was enough.  He’s an ass and should not be around anyone’s children.  I volunteered to monitor the rest of his games.  In my head, I call him Buttermaker.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's ridiculous, and the coach should be removed.
> 
> My nephew (12 years old) has taken up lacrosse. At one of his games, a parent yelled out at the ref for a stupid mistake. The ref stopped the game, went over to the stands, demanded to know which parent said what, and said that one more outburst and he would be removed and not able to return. They're pretty strict against people heckling/yelling. While the person wasn't a coach, it was good to see how quickly it was handled.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> One of the issues is that there is an umpire shortage in our area. We’ve been recruiting for them from our older players so some of the games with the younger girls the umpires are just 15 or 16 years old.  They shouldn’t have to stand up to a grown man at that age and stop him from acting like a moron.
> 
> My friend’s son is 15 and he’s a new umpire and at a game last week one of the coaches was screaming in his face and poked him in the chest. My friend actually had to go onto the field and get the coach away from his son.  Some people just do notbelong anywhere near youth sports.   It’s not the Olympics or Red Sox / Yankees!  It’s 12u softball for crying out loud.
Click to expand...

Whoa, that's not right. Coach touching a teenager while yelling at them... yeah, that's assault and battery, or, well, I guess I'd leave that determination up to the police officer/judge.


----------



## Fujidave

I remember play Aussie rules football as a 10 yr old, one of the fathers came running over to me screaming, as I was a very good kicker I had to stop him in his tracks as I thought he was going to hit me.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a coach heckle the pitcher on the opposing team last week...  she’s 11.  People are morons.
> 
> 
> 
> Way to set an example of sportsmanship....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> As one of the league board members, I voted to remove him from coaching but I was the only one.  Everyone else felt that a one game suspension and a one more strike and you’re out warning was enough.  He’s an ass and should not be around anyone’s children.  I volunteered to monitor the rest of his games.  In my head, I call him Buttermaker.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's ridiculous, and the coach should be removed.
> 
> My nephew (12 years old) has taken up lacrosse. At one of his games, a parent yelled out at the ref for a stupid mistake. The ref stopped the game, went over to the stands, demanded to know which parent said what, and said that one more outburst and he would be removed and not able to return. They're pretty strict against people heckling/yelling. While the person wasn't a coach, it was good to see how quickly it was handled.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> One of the issues is that there is an umpire shortage in our area. We’ve been recruiting for them from our older players so some of the games with the younger girls the umpires are just 15 or 16 years old.  They shouldn’t have to stand up to a grown man at that age and stop him from acting like a moron.
> 
> My friend’s son is 15 and he’s a new umpire and at a game last week one of the coaches was screaming in his face and poked him in the chest. My friend actually had to go onto the field and get the coach away from his son.  Some people just do notbelong anywhere near youth sports.   It’s not the Olympics or Red Sox / Yankees!  It’s 12u softball for crying out loud.
Click to expand...

As an adult/parent having been through after school sports programs from five years old through college. Gary has witnessed all sorts of stupid and disrespectful actions by parents. But, screaming into the face and poking the chest of a 15 y/o ... that deserves more than a warning. That person should be banned for at least one season if not life.  So where was the adults from the other team.  Banned for life!


----------



## JonA_CT

I did two 11u baseball games as an ump in high school. It wasn’t worth the $25.


----------



## Gary A.

What is the league’s response to this?  (The screaming and touching.)


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a coach heckle the pitcher on the opposing team last week...  she’s 11.  People are morons.
> 
> 
> 
> Way to set an example of sportsmanship....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> As one of the league board members, I voted to remove him from coaching but I was the only one.  Everyone else felt that a one game suspension and a one more strike and you’re out warning was enough.  He’s an ass and should not be around anyone’s children.  I volunteered to monitor the rest of his games.  In my head, I call him Buttermaker.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's ridiculous, and the coach should be removed.
> 
> My nephew (12 years old) has taken up lacrosse. At one of his games, a parent yelled out at the ref for a stupid mistake. The ref stopped the game, went over to the stands, demanded to know which parent said what, and said that one more outburst and he would be removed and not able to return. They're pretty strict against people heckling/yelling. While the person wasn't a coach, it was good to see how quickly it was handled.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> One of the issues is that there is an umpire shortage in our area. We’ve been recruiting for them from our older players so some of the games with the younger girls the umpires are just 15 or 16 years old.  They shouldn’t have to stand up to a grown man at that age and stop him from acting like a moron.
> 
> My friend’s son is 15 and he’s a new umpire and at a game last week one of the coaches was screaming in his face and poked him in the chest. My friend actually had to go onto the field and get the coach away from his son.  Some people just do notbelong anywhere near youth sports.   It’s not the Olympics or Red Sox / Yankees!  It’s 12u softball for crying out loud.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> As an adult/parent having been through after school sports programs from five years old through college. Gary has witnessed all sorts of stupid and disrespectful actions by parents. But, screaming into the face and poking the chest of a 15 y/o ... that deserves more than a warning. That person should be banned for at least one season if not life.  So where was the adults from the other team.  Banned for life!
Click to expand...


My friend complained to the umpires association and they contacted the league (a neighboring city to ours).  The coach was given the boot.  Apparently it was not his first offense.

@JonA_CT these days they get $44 for what is roughly a 90 minute game.  $48 for the older divisions who play 1 hour 45.  Playoffs and tournaments they get more but that is usually the more experienced umps.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a coach heckle the pitcher on the opposing team last week...  she’s 11.  People are morons.
> 
> 
> 
> Way to set an example of sportsmanship....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> As one of the league board members, I voted to remove him from coaching but I was the only one.  Everyone else felt that a one game suspension and a one more strike and you’re out warning was enough.  He’s an ass and should not be around anyone’s children.  I volunteered to monitor the rest of his games.  In my head, I call him Buttermaker.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's ridiculous, and the coach should be removed.
> 
> My nephew (12 years old) has taken up lacrosse. At one of his games, a parent yelled out at the ref for a stupid mistake. The ref stopped the game, went over to the stands, demanded to know which parent said what, and said that one more outburst and he would be removed and not able to return. They're pretty strict against people heckling/yelling. While the person wasn't a coach, it was good to see how quickly it was handled.
Click to expand...

We were attending a soccer tournament at Lake Tahoe.  An uncle of one of the players became our cheerleader and lead us in song, “We are the Champions”.  The ref came over and demanded we stop or forfeit the game.  Gary figured the ref wasn’t a Queen fan.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'd document in various ways, but definitely document and report it. Every time it happens, it's what we used to call a 'paper trail'. Because as in this case, if it happens once, it could happen again. The thing is about video, so much of it (unless in the hands of a photographer) is so crappy you can't always see exactly what happened. As soon as possible, jot down date and time and a description of the person's actions and/or what was said (and maybe how long the incident went on, etc.). 

Sheesh, no excuse for an adult to go after a teenager trying to ref a game for younger kids.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Lacrosse!! I like watching that, the NCAA brackets and selection show were last weekend and I think playoffs start this weekend and go til the championship game Memorial Day. I mean, local hockey is done and the NHL is down to conference finals. what am I going to do from Memorial Day to Labor Day??

In the earlier IIHF game after Denmark won, they didn't even play their national anthem, they sang it; the place was packed to the rafters. Team USA coach used to coach here, geez hockey is a really small world, we have former somebodys in everything.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Lacrosse!!


I nearly played in high school, went to four practices then quit.
(The coach wanted too much of our time--practice every night from 4 to 7 pm. I told him that I got straight A's and didn't want the sport to impact my grades. He said, "Don't worry, we'll get you a tutor." I said I'd only need a tutor if I kept playing lacrosse.)

My nephew is all in now. It's all he watches, thinks about, and talks about. Glad that he's into that and not Minecraft like one of my other nephews, haha.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's Uncle (moms sisters husband). He has always been kind of a snit of a man. We went up there after work. First thing they had me do was take the truck and get the spare put on because it had a tire that was going to toss the tread sooner or later. Then we worked on a pressure washer that we had already spent a couple hours on. Got it to fire off after much rewiring and adjusting. Just need a new cutoff for when the trigger is released.Came home. Did 5 of 10 penny rolls. Did my comics online. Going to have leftover chicken from last night in a while. 
Made some Chardonnay that I did NOT like drinkable by mixing it with pink lemonade. Have a slight buzz from a couple ounces of that Chardonnay. I am not a drinker for the most part.
Anyhow now about to do the other 5 penny rolls.


----------



## davidharmier60

Had cold fried chicken and scrumptious caned corn. Watching Price is Right on the DVR.  Sister is STILL up at uncle's. She can never say no. Or that she must get home and rest. She is one of the good people in this world. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lacrosse!!
> 
> 
> 
> I nearly played in high school, went to four practices then quit.
> (The coach wanted too much of our time--practice every night from 4 to 7 pm. I told him that I got straight A's and didn't want the sport to impact my grades. He said, "Don't worry, we'll get you a tutor." I said I'd only need a tutor if I kept playing lacrosse.)
> 
> My nephew is all in now. It's all he watches, thinks about, and talks about. Glad that he's into that and not Minecraft like one of my other nephews, haha.
Click to expand...


Minecraft is out. The new game is Fortnight.  I heard today in the radio that there’s some guy pulling in 500k/month from YouTube to let people watch him play the game online.


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> Had cold fried chicken and scrumptious caned corn. Watching Price is Right on the DVR.  Sister is STILL up at uncle's. She can never say no. Or that she must get home and rest. She is one of the good people in this world.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


How d'ya cold fry something?


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Minecraft is out. The new game is Fortnight.  I heard today in the radio that there’s some guy pulling in 500k/month from YouTube to let people watch him play the game online.


I wonder how much a YouTube channel of me playing solitaire would bring in?


----------



## davidharmier60

I really wish I didn't have to go to work today. But such is life. Coffee is pretty good this morning. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Minecraft is out. The new game is Fortnight.  I heard today in the radio that there’s some guy pulling in 500k/month from YouTube to let people watch him play the game online.
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder how much a YouTube channel of me playing solitaire would bring in?
Click to expand...

I think people would pay you to stop?


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lacrosse!!
> 
> 
> 
> I nearly played in high school, went to four practices then quit.
> (The coach wanted too much of our time--practice every night from 4 to 7 pm. I told him that I got straight A's and didn't want the sport to impact my grades. He said, "Don't worry, we'll get you a tutor." I said I'd only need a tutor if I kept playing lacrosse.)
> 
> My nephew is all in now. It's all he watches, thinks about, and talks about. Glad that he's into that and not Minecraft like one of my other nephews, haha.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Minecraft is out. The new game is Fortnight.  I heard today in the radio that there’s some guy pulling in 500k/month from YouTube to let people watch him play the game online.
Click to expand...

That’s crazy. I have no idea what Fortnight is? I wonder if he plays that, as well?


----------



## smoke665

A little disappointed last night, went to my 50th high school reunion Alumni dinner. Sadly only 6 turned out from our year, and less than 30 from all years. I'll admit that this is the first one I've been to in 50 years, and will likely be the last. 4 of the kids i grew up with and ran around with in school have already departed this earth, several others no one knew anything about. Our generation wasn't overly thrilled with our school days. The specter of the war in Vietnam and a small town with limited opportunities had most anxious to hit the road after graduation and never look back. Ironic our class theme was "The places we will go", guess we did it.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lacrosse!!
> 
> 
> 
> I nearly played in high school, went to four practices then quit.
> (The coach wanted too much of our time--practice every night from 4 to 7 pm. I told him that I got straight A's and didn't want the sport to impact my grades. He said, "Don't worry, we'll get you a tutor." I said I'd only need a tutor if I kept playing lacrosse.)
> 
> My nephew is all in now. It's all he watches, thinks about, and talks about. Glad that he's into that and not Minecraft like one of my other nephews, haha.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Minecraft is out. The new game is Fortnight.  I heard today in the radio that there’s some guy pulling in 500k/month from YouTube to let people watch him play the game online.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That’s crazy. I have no idea what Fortnight is? I wonder if he plays that, as well?
Click to expand...


I have not seen it played yet but Princess tells me it’s kind of like Survivor meets Hunger Games.


----------



## ceemac

My 50th is coming up next weekend. We get a pretty good crowd, maybe 30 0r so. Guess we ate right. Good time for a trip to the coast. Get to see the kids. Got a daughter at UVic and my son just moved there.


----------



## Fujidave

Well took mum out for lunch and we had a great day.  Mum is over the moon that I`ve started sorting out the old slides from the 1960s, even better is, I just printed off 8 of them and I am over the moon with them as they printed out a lot better than I thought... Even better than the ones I put on here.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  The past few days have been cold and damp.  It is 57F presently and should hit mid 60's.  Winter was more pleasant than this Spring. Gary made double chocolate ice cream.  He squeezed a couple of oranges into the concoction.  It turned out quite good.  The orange added that bit of difference which turned good ice cream into something special. ... All ice cream is special, this was just specialer.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has returned from outside, retrieving the newspaper, dumping some trash, composting yesterdays tea leaves and coffee grounds ... and it is misty/wet outside, all the surfaces are covered in dampness ... not inviting or pleasant at all. Mary Lou and Gary are meeting friends in Pasadena for Dim Sum and Dim Sum makes everything better.


----------



## smoke665

ceemac said:


> My 50th is coming up next weekend. We get a pretty good crowd, maybe 30



Our Senior class was only 20 LOL


----------



## ceemac

smoke665 said:


> Our Senior class was only 20 LOL



Haha. We have them 5 years so the decline is more gradual.


----------



## Fujidave

Cold wet and raining here still.


----------



## davidharmier60

I've never been to a school reunion. 
This year will be 40.
5 hours and a little over a quarter today.
There was water dripping. There were non standard ceiling tiles. I pushed one of them up and had at least a quart and maybe a half gallon shower me. Got a little extra time watching the back door while the guy was on the roof to check the leak.
28.50 for the week.
Home now. It's going to hit 90 outside and that borders on too hot.
Going to mess with pennies and do my comics on the computer. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

David I was amazed how old the ones there looked I was apparently blessed.  All kidding aside some of them showed serious aging, but some actually aged well. One tall athletic looking lady started talking to me and even after she told me her name my mind couldn't place her. Later while looking at a yearbook it hit me. In school she had been frumpy and grossly overweight, nothing like the attractive well dressed lady now.


----------



## limr

Hey there hosers. Happy Saturday!

My high school senior class had a 20th reunion and planned several events over the course of a weekend. There was an informal gathering at a pub on Friday night, the official reunion dinner on Sat, and some kind of family day at a park on Sunday. I went to the pub night only because a friend of mine decided to fly in from out of town to visit and go to the pub night. It was more than enough. 30th reunion would be next year but I haven't heard anything about any planning yet, so who knows. I might consider going if they do it the same way and I would able to make a quick appearance at a pub night. Otherwise, nah. It's one thing to catch up over a few drinks, and it's a whole other thing to be trapped at a dinner with assigned seating and slide shows. Blech.


----------



## otherprof

My sixtieth high school reunion is in 2022. I still have trig homework I swore I would get finished someday, but something always comes up . . .


----------



## SquarePeg

Fun thing on Facebook - your rapper name is Lil followed by the last thing you ate.  

Lil Pretzel


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Fun thing on Facebook - your rapper name is Lil followed by the last thing you ate.
> 
> Lil Pretzel


Hmmm - Lil Totallyunrecognizableleftovermexicandelivery.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave Little Debbie


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Hey there hosers. Happy Saturday!
> 
> My high school senior class had a 20th reunion and planned several events over the course of a weekend. There was an informal gathering at a pub on Friday night, the official reunion dinner on Sat, and some kind of family day at a park on Sunday. I went to the pub night only because a friend of mine decided to fly in from out of town to visit and go to the pub night. It was more than enough. 30th reunion would be next year but I haven't heard anything about any planning yet, so who knows. I might consider going if they do it the same way and I would able to make a quick appearance at a pub night. Otherwise, nah. It's one thing to catch up over a few drinks, and it's a whole other thing to be trapped at a dinner with assigned seating and slide shows. Blech.


Agreed.    I've heard nothing from anyone for years now, and skipped the only one I did get contacted about since I lived out of state by then, and it was a big formal dinner at some club.   Icky.   Most of my friends in high school were a year or two ahead, really.


----------



## snowbear

Playing with the macro setting on the 28-85.  Cropped the stuffings out of this one.



DSC_1605.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

USCG in formation over the WW bridge, heading into DC.



DSC_1591.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## RowdyRay

Never been to any of my reunions. Didn't like those people back then and won't pretend I did. Long story, but kids these days have NO idea what real bullying is.

They manage to find me and send stuff out. Our 30th, in 2011, was to be a big todo. Hotel, fine dining and a weekend of golf. I hate golf! And.....more expensive than what I'm spending on a fishing trip next week. Not making that up. Guess which I'd rather spend my money on. I'll give you a hint. I'll be spending it with people that would give it their all to pull me out if I fell overboard.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Fun thing on Facebook - your rapper name is Lil followed by the last thing you ate.
> 
> Lil Pretzel


Lil' Dim Sum.


----------



## JonA_CT

Lil’ Paprikash.


----------



## smoke665

RowdyRay said:


> Didn't like those people back then and won't pretend I did.



DW and I were talking, we each had our friends that we hung out with, but most of the "classmates" you knew them, but didn't have much interaction. I was in sports, but couldn't tell you more than a couple of names of team mates. Guess we weren't the only ones who forgot most of those days.


----------



## davidharmier60

My best friend in High School moved directly after we graduated to Ohio.
I haven't seen my brother from another mother from down the street in over 20 years. It would take an awful lot to get me to a class reunion. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Tony744

Most of the friends I had back then I met outside of school. As for the kids I went to school with, I didn't care much for them then and I don't think that will have changed much now. Haven't bothered with any of our reunions.


----------



## SquarePeg

I enjoy HS reunions. It’s nice to see what everyone is up to.  Every 10 years or so is enough. But the people from HS that I really liked and was especially close to, we still get together at least annually for a drink or two - usually around the holidays.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Agreed.    I've heard nothing from anyone for years now, and skipped the only one I did get contacted about since I lived out of state by then, and it was a big formal dinner at some club.   Icky.   Most of my friends in high school were a year or two ahead, really.



I didn't go to my 10th. I was in Turkey and I also probably wouldn't have gone anyway. I didn't really have anything against anyone in high school, but 10 years seemed a bit too soon and I figured everyone would still be pretty cliquey.

I was curious enough by the 20th reuinion to go check out the pub night with my friend. Plus, there was an arrest made at the 10th reunion, and I was hoping to see some more action  (The guy who was arrested did show up at the 20th. He wasn't arrested again, but he had started balding at 38, which was a big deal because he had some major hair-metal-band hair going on back in the 80s.)

So I found that for the most part, the people who annoyed me still annoyed me, just in slightly different ways. Some people I didn't know well turned out to be more interesting than I thought they would be, and others turned out to be just as boring as I'd imagined they would be. Some people changed and got much nicer, and others who used to be nice turned out to be kinda horrible.

Meh. We'll see how curious I am next year if anything actually gets put together.


----------



## Fujidave

Hi all, a nice start for today sun is trying to come out.  Having a rest for a while from the old slides as now I got my favourites printed up.


----------



## jcdeboever

Lil fruit loops


----------



## jcdeboever

I don't go to my reunion's, no one knows where I live.


----------



## davidharmier60

Fedex and UPS can only find my place about half the time. Should be safe enough.


----------



## ceemac

limr said:


> I figured everyone would still be pretty cliquey.



You're right. However, holding your drink the correct way and chasing women eased off about the 40th and people no longer had a point to prove. So I'm looking forward to this one. The attendance list is about 60 people.


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Mother’s Day Hosers!!!


----------



## smoke665

ceemac said:


> However, holding your drink the correct way and chasing women eased off about the 40th and people no longer had a point to prove



I don't recall our class having cliques, there weren't that many of us to being with,  we'd been together since early childhood, so we knew each other fairly well and in our small community it was likely our parents knew each other as well. As in any group there are personality conflicts, for one reason or another so you may not have associated as close friends, but even then we still talked to each other. The other factor for us was this was a very "rural" area. Playmates growing up were far and few between, so as youngsters you didn't have a choice in being discriminating. Maybe some of that carried over in High School. For me, and most others I think it was more a case of we grew away from the area. Unless you were farming there were few work opportunities for young people, and other than Church, no social opportunities.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Happy Mother’s Day Hosers!!!


Back atcha!


----------



## otherprof

SquarePeg said:


> Happy Mother’s Day Hosers!!!


And to you and all the others too!


----------



## davidharmier60

My Mom checked out several years ago.  But to all you Moms Happy Mothers Day!


----------



## Gary A.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

College lacrosse back to back to back to back... 4 games in a row, so that's fine since it's gotten muggier and clouding up - yuck!

Lil' french toast. Last night it would have been Lil' Rocky Road (or Lil' chocolate marshmellow?).

I went to one class reunion, 15 or 20? It was OK, saw some friends from high school but a lot didn't come so it didn't particularly make me want to go again. I knew a lot of kids because I was in a lot of activities, but I had more friends from working at summer camp etc. that were the ones that lasted.


----------



## Gary A.

Whipping up a Mother’s Day dinner. Pasta Primavera with grilled veggies and chicken.


----------



## SquarePeg

My high school graduating class was over 400 kids.  This was all from one city - not a regional HS but it did include the trade school kids.  I knew who most everyone was and had several different groups of friends.  It was definitely cliquey.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> My high school graduating class was over 400 kids.



We would have had to have added middle school, elementary, Kindergarden, Sunday school, Bible School, and every other school in the community to have that many!


----------



## davidharmier60

My graduating class was over 600. I was a sort of a runt and so got picked on quite a bit. The cheerleaders was QUITE the cliq. The football players too.


----------



## jcdeboever

Happy mother's day. I just took mine and in-laws out after church because I am not sure how to cook. We went to a super restaurant that had breakfast, lunch, and dinner buffet style. They usually never have buffet's but did it for the massive crowd for the day. Oh my, excellent. I had breakfast, lunch, dinner, and three, no, four deserts. I am such a pig or can be that is. The rice pudding was orgasmic. The Greek baked cod was out of this world, not to mention the spinach pie. I had things I can't even straighten out in spell check, good food.  $20.00 a person, which I found reasonable considering the variety and quality. Those little Greek potatoes ruined my dress shirt, splashy little suckers but tasty. Oh my, the baklava is to die for. I am glad the weather was bad so I didn't have to golf on a bloated stomach. I probably would have had to lye a pile in a sand trap today.


----------



## Gary A.

Done cooking and now waiting for guests. Gary used the stove, propane grill, komado and Souse Vide today in crafting up some pasta primavera with grilled veggies and chicken.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- The weather is perfect for dining in the patio.


----------



## davidharmier60

Not in East Texas. We are already hitting 90.


----------



## Fujidave

A lovely sunny start today with a nice cool breeze, off to town in a bit once battery is charged.  I am going to try my best to get it right in camera today, so hope it is just the Jpegs I use.


----------



## pixmedic

Jason doesnt mind, if he doesn't, make the scene. Hes got a daytime job, hes doing all right

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> went to a super restaurant that had breakfast, lunch, and dinner buffet



Took my wife and sister-in-law to the same type of buffet. Only problem I had was trying to determine which bar to start at first. I finally ended  up combining the best of all of them at the same time. Made for an interesting taste delight.


----------



## SquarePeg

We have two rules for buffets in our family:  

#1. No thanks. 
#2. If you must, you can eat dessert first.


----------



## davidharmier60

4 hours and 52 minutes today and for the week so far. That's all I got right now 


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

No more bone dry pennies. A little Permatex White Lithium Grease makes them beautiful as long as they don't have blemishes or big scratches.
Coin purists hate me but that's ok.


----------



## Fujidave

Sunny with a nice breeze, as mum is still not 100% I am over to help her out today once she has her hand re-dressed.


----------



## davidharmier60

I don't wanna go. But go I must.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.  We had some heavy weather last night with some pretty close lightening strikes.  Let's hope this was the only danger from lightening to DC - we are really, really hoping the Caps can get to the finals.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Good morning, peeps.  We had some heavy weather last night with some pretty close lightening strikes.  Let's hope this was the only danger from lightening to DC - we are really, really hoping the Caps can get to the finals.


Us too. Tons of rain. A little hail. Big storms last couple days. Golf course is a lake, bad. Caps are gonna go all the way, I can't see anyone stopping them. Tampa was the only team that I could see giving them trouble but it seems like it's not in the cards.


----------



## snowbear

I wanted to get tickets for game three or four but there's no way - starting price for two is about the same as a Fuji X-T20 body.


----------



## smoke665

Yesterday was a travel day for us, 7 hours to the house. Despite no rain while we were gone the yard looks like it could be mowed for hay. Laundry, and several maintenance projects are going to keep me busy this week. On the good side I have a couple of light modifiers inbound that should be here by the end of the week.


----------



## JonA_CT

Morning ruminations...

1. The people who run Facebook buy and sell pages have got to be some of the nitpickiest people I've ever had the experience in dealing with.

2. It's the quickest I've gotten hits on gear I've had to sell ever.


----------



## JonA_CT

Seriously. Almost $900 of offers in 45 minutes.


----------



## RowdyRay

I'm off to chase the elusive Walleye for the next 5 days. Notice how I didn't say catch. Their are times you can't find them even with scuba gear. Lol. 

Bringing the S8630 with. Usually cold wet and miserable. This year looks to be nicer. Might even get some decent photos.


----------



## smoke665

Wish I'd known earlier I would have made a run to Birmingham to try and grab an extras slot. 
Streets, places closed for 'Live' movie filming in Birmingham Years ago they filmed parts of the movie "Failure To Launch" here in Gadsden, and prior to that "Kent State".


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Good morning, peeps.  We had some heavy weather last night with some pretty close lightening strikes.  Let's hope this was the only danger from lightening to DC - we are really, really hoping the Caps can get to the finals.



I am watching the weather as we have a game tonight and we can't really handle any more rain outs.  The schedule is getting tight!  Lots of events at the end of the school year and not enough dates to go around to reschedule all of these missed games!  As the league scheduler, I'm going nuts!!!!  



JonA_CT said:


> Seriously. Almost $900 of offers in 45 minutes.



Are you using NRDG - Nikon Buy & Sell Group?  I bought my Lensbaby Velvet through that group. I wish I had found it when I was selling my Nikon stuff!!!!!!  Didn't stumble across it until I had sold 90% of my stuff via Craigslist or forums.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Just perrfect days out here. Low 's, enough of a breeze to flutter the leaves, cool mornings and evenings.  Today Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are off to the Santa Barbara County wine country for a few days.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Seriously. Almost $900 of offers in 45 minutes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you using NRDG - Nikon Buy & Sell Group?  I bought my Lensbaby Velvet through that group. I wish I had found it when I was selling my Nikon stuff!!!!!!  Didn't stumble across it until I had sold 90% of my stuff via Craigslist or forums.
Click to expand...


Yes. Sweet Jesus. I've had hits on everything now but my 15mm prime and my 50mm prime. It looks like i'm going to do $2K+ by this afternoon.

EDIT: And that's with ZERO haggling. I guess it probably means I set fair prices too.


----------



## Gary A.

This appeared in yesterday's LA Times.  Gary is totally surprised by many facts: 

"Hear them roar: Trojans win title"

"The two best women's water polo teams in the country do not like one another. The distain USC and Stanford share is a natural development, considering they are the only schools that have won a national championship in the last nine years.

This was the only way the 2018 season could end, with the Trojans and Cardinal seemingly trying to tear each other apart, limb by limb, for 32 minutes.  Their NCAA semifinal match last year, won by Stanford, set the tome.  In that one, USC center Brigitta Games had two ribs broken in the second quarter, rendering her ineffective the rest of the match"

Good Lord this is swimming.  LOL


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Yes. Sweet Jesus. I've had hits on everything now but my 15mm prime and my 50mm prime. It looks like i'm going to do $2K+ by this afternoon.
> 
> EDIT: And that's with ZERO haggling. I guess it probably means I set fair prices too.



I believe there's a feedback thread to check for people who have had good transactions with other members.  I remember posting about the seller when I bought a lens there.  Also it's nice that you can see a person's facebook page if they are public and confirm that they are a real person.  My seller was a bit nervous about our deal and I made my Facebook public so he could see it and also gave him this site as a reference if he wanted to check up on me.


----------



## SquarePeg

@JonA_CT 

Are we going to Fuji or something else?  If Fuji, check out the Fuji X USA Buy/Swap/Sell Facebook page.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> @JonA_CT
> 
> Are we going to Fuji or something else?  If Fuji, check out the Fuji X USA Buy/Swap/Sell Facebook page.



Thanks! I may be shopping there sooner than I thought. I thought this was going to take weeks, and the things that I thought were going to be hard sells are already gone.


----------



## Fujidave

A cool breeze and 71f on the seafront today.  Had a haircut plus got a Vanguard 21 bag for carrying just the T20.  A nice shade of blue in colour.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> A cool breeze and 71f on the seafront today.  Had a haircut plus got a Vanguard 21 bag for carrying just the T20.  A nice shade of blue in colour.



Pics?


----------



## ceemac

RowdyRay said:


> I'm off to chase the elusive Walleye for the next 5 days. Notice how I didn't say catch. Their are times you can't find them even with scuba gear. Lol.



That's why they call it fishing, not catching. I'm waiting for the lake to stop turning over, then I'll throw in some flies and not catch fish myself.


----------



## Fujidave

Very quick shots with my wifes camera.  X-T20 + XF 35mm f2 is in fine plus you can put a 7inch tablet in too.


----------



## Fujidave

Plus a rain cover is in the bag.

Here it is

Vanguard Havana 21 Shoulder Bag - Jessops - Outfit Bags


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT, you have'nt changed your signature line yet?????


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> @JonA_CT, you have'nt changed your signature line yet?????



Not yet. I do have $2300 of PayPal invoices sent out though.

I guess I need to stop and buy some bubble wrap and some boxes.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Not yet. I do have $2300 of PayPal invoices sent out though.
> 
> I guess I need to stop and buy some bubble wrap and some boxes.



COOL!!! Are you shipping USPS Priority Flat Rate??? they supply the box.  Have someone coming to look at my extra tractor I have for sale tomorrow. Hopefully that will be gone, for me. Have my eye on a K1 MarkII and a couple of lenses.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not yet. I do have $2300 of PayPal invoices sent out though.
> 
> I guess I need to stop and buy some bubble wrap and some boxes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> COOL!!! Are you shipping USPS Priority Flat Rate??? they supply the box.  Have someone coming to look at my extra tractor I have for sale tomorrow. Hopefully that will be gone, for me. Have my eye on a K1 MarkII and a couple of lenses.
Click to expand...


I'm using PayPal to ship because it's discounted -- I think flat rate box is an option though. 

You guys are going to have to help me pick out my new toys.


----------



## davidharmier60

4 hours and however many minutes it took to get to 9.30 for the week so far. 
Post Office, box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @JonA_CT, you have'nt changed your signature line yet?????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not yet. I do have $2300 of PayPal invoices sent out though.
> 
> I guess I need to stop and buy some bubble wrap and some boxes.
Click to expand...


I found the flat rate option at the USPS was the most affordable option for CONUS.  I didn't use PayPal shipping, wasn't aware of a discount there!  I buy so much stuff from Amazon and am a big re-use/recycle pack rat so always have a bin of boxes, bubble wrap and those big air pillow things...


----------



## bogeyguy

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Just have perfect days out here. Low 's, enough of a breeze to flutter the leaves, cool mornings and evenings.  Today Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are off to the Santa Barbara County wine country for a few days.


Any volcanic ash falling on Cali yet.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> @JonA_CT
> 
> Are we going to Fuji or something else?  If Fuji, check out the Fuji X USA Buy/Swap/Sell Facebook page.


I put some Fuji stuff up on one. All I got were low ball offers. I had real fair pricing on them so I could sell quick. I kept everything except the 60mm macro and I sold that on here. I don't know. Everything I'm interested in is always at a ridiculous price. Also, I have seen a fair number of people buying stuff and not receiving the item, getting ripped off basically. I was going to buy a Leica M2 from someone and it was total junk, luckily it was local and I could look at it before I paid for it. It was not representative of what he said on FB nor were the pics. It was literally broke, jammed up. I made him a fair offer and he declined. I would have sent it out to a guy, $250 if no parts are needed. Guess I didn't need a Leica.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> @JonA_CT
> 
> Are we going to Fuji or something else?  If Fuji, check out the Fuji X USA Buy/Swap/Sell Facebook page.
> 
> 
> 
> I put some Fuji stuff up on one. All I got were low ball offers. I had real fair pricing on them so I could sell quick. I kept everything except the 60mm macro and I sold that on here. I don't know. Everything I'm interested in is always at a ridiculous price. Also, I have seen a fair number of people buying stuff and not receiving the item, getting ripped off basically. I was going to buy a Leica M2 from someone and it was total junk, luckily it was local and I could look at it before I paid for it. It was not representative of what he said on FB nor were the pics.
Click to expand...


I have purchased 2 used lenses from Facebook brand specific camera gear groups.  The Fuji 90mm was mint and great price.  Seller and I chatted via Facebook Messenger and each verified the other's credentials by checking out their Facebook pages and looking at other presence on the web.  I gave this site as a reference and he had a very up to date pro photography website and Instagram.  I bought a Nikon mount Lensbaby from the Nikon group Jon is talking about.  Same thing - checked out the seller's Facebook and photography website and also found a listing for him in the buy/sell feedback thread on the group page.  Chatted on Messenger and used Pay Pal for protection.  Again lens was as advertised "like new".


----------



## JonA_CT

Today has been a great day so far. The brewery received it's official approval and Brewer's Notice from Federal TTB. Now we're are on to the state process, which has been quoted at 4-5 weeks. At this pace, it's possible we could have a gathering of the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic chapter of TPF at the brewery by August.


----------



## davidharmier60

Except for I can't travel and have never taken to beer sounds like a winner!


----------



## SquarePeg

Tstorms rolling in from the South!  Games canceled.  The schedule is a house of cards...

Count me in for the TPF brewery meet up although I can't say I'm much of a craft beer aficionado - I do like a cold brew on a hot day!


----------



## JonA_CT

It’s ominously dark here, too.


----------



## markjwyatt

SquarePeg said:


> Tstorms rolling in from the South!  Games canceled.  The schedule is a house of cards...
> 
> Count me in for the TPF brewery meet up although I can't say I'm much of a craft beer aficionado - I do like a cold brew on a hot day!





JonA_CT said:


> It’s ominously dark here, too.



I expect some interesting atmospheric photos, maybe even lightning photos.


----------



## JonA_CT

Severe Thunderstorm Warning. Getting ready to rock and roll here.




 

They usually break apart when they hit the onshore breeze. The winds are out of the WNW today, so here we go.


----------



## SquarePeg

This woman is from my town and this is a path in the neighboring town that the dog and I walk alone all the time - although we usually stick to late afternoon due to there being more people around at that time.

Woman walking dog in Saugus escapes wild coyotes by climbing a tree - The Boston Globe


----------



## davidharmier60

I've seen deer out the back window but have never even heard of a coyote or such around here. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

We had several packs in the valley, would hear them howling every night. Then the cougars and panthers settled (4 legged kind) and coyotes left. The cats stayed mostly in the deep woods, and since my neighbor logged his property last year, they've apparently moved further from us.


----------



## JonA_CT

I’d be shocked if you didn’t have something, Dave. I live in a city of 25,000 plus over 7 square miles, and I see coyotes (and foxes and skunks and raccoons) with some regularity.


----------



## Tony744

TPF meetup AND a new brewery? Count me in!


----------



## davidharmier60

Maybe so but I've never seen or heard them. Soon to bed. Y'all have a nice night and as good of a Wednesday as is possible to have.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> This woman is from my town and this is a path in the neighboring town that the dog and I walk alone all the time - although we usually stick to late afternoon due to there being more people around at that time.
> 
> Woman walking dog in Saugus escapes wild coyotes by climbing a tree - The Boston Globe


She left the dog at the base of the tree?


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> This woman is from my town and this is a path in the neighboring town that the dog and I walk alone all the time - although we usually stick to late afternoon due to there being more people around at that time.
> 
> Woman walking dog in Saugus escapes wild coyotes by climbing a tree - The Boston Globe
> 
> 
> 
> She left the dog at the base of the tree?
Click to expand...

Sounds like it!


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> This woman is from my town and this is a path in the neighboring town that the dog and I walk alone all the time - although we usually stick to late afternoon due to there being more people around at that time.
> 
> Woman walking dog in Saugus escapes wild coyotes by climbing a tree - The Boston Globe
> 
> 
> 
> She left the dog at the base of the tree?
Click to expand...


Right!  I would have been trying to climb the tree with the dog stuffed down my shirt, lol.


----------



## JonA_CT

My X-T2 is being shipped tomorrow. I found a graphite version on the Fuji swap for $1075. When does the cult meet?


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> My X-T2 is being shipped tomorrow. I found a graphite version on the Fuji swap for $1075. When does the cult meet?



The first rule of the Fuji cult, I mean club, is that we don't talk about anything else except the Fuji club.


ETA ooooh graphite?  And a brewery?  And in a band?  A triple hipster!


----------



## limr

Le sigh.

Brief but violent storm front blew through the area around 4ish. A couple of tornadoes in some areas and a bunch of trees down. No power at Casa Leo


----------



## davidharmier60

Temps are trending up. Was 60 going up to 80. Now upper 60s/low 70s going to 90.
Pretty fair mug of coffee to try and understand. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Sorry to hear, Leo.
Hmm Brewery Meetup in CT - that could work.  Hopefully my other schedule would agree: Maine trip at the end of this month, State Fireman's Convention next month, Ohio Python Convention in July, and Towson Univ GIS Conference in August.


----------



## smoke665

Little cooler for us today after the pop up storm yesterday evening. Maybe we'll get another today, we could use the rain. Getting a little dry here. I've been cutting down a bank, and leveling a couple acres next to the road at our drive. When I ran the finish harrow over the area in preparation for seeding,  the heat and dry weather must have caused the "rock seeds" to POP.  I now have a littered field of rocks! So rather then seeding today I'll be hooking up to the rock rake to try and clean up.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> This woman is from my town and this is a path in the neighboring town that the dog and I walk alone all the time - although we usually stick to late afternoon due to there being more people around at that time.
> 
> Woman walking dog in Saugus escapes wild coyotes by climbing a tree - The Boston Globe
> 
> 
> 
> She left the dog at the base of the tree?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Right!  I would have been trying to climb the tree with the dog stuffed down my shirt, lol.
Click to expand...

Exactly! Even if it were a 150 pound dog, I’d be down there in front of it screaming and making myself look weird to those coyotes. No way would they have access to my dog without getting through me!


----------



## smoke665

Coyotes at least around here are opportunistic and will avoid humans at all cost. I've had packs come up on my deer stand, and run as soon as they were aware of me. We're to far south for wolfs, so I have no experience with them, but have to wonder if the encounter was with a wild dog, or possibly a wolf.


----------



## SquarePeg

My neighbors dog was off leash on a path in that same area a few years ago and he heard a "dog fight" and ran over to find his dog wounded from a coyote that he had to scare off.  They are very prevalent around here and getting bolder and bolder in the past few years.  Lots of speculation that the increase in coyote sightings (in people's yards during the day and all over the place at night) is due to the bunny explosion we are having.  No exaggeration at all to say that you see several wild bunnies every time you go outside in this city.  It's not unusual for there to be 3 or 4 of them who scatter when we open the door to let the dog out.  The streets at night are like a game of frogger with the bunnies and coyotes all over the place.  My friend let her dog out back the other night and when she called him in, he had a baby bunny in his mouth.  Gross!  

On the happy wildlife news front, our local swans have had a litter (?) of 7 babies and I'll be trying to catch them for a photo op on their maiden trip out of the nest later this week!


----------



## tirediron

Internet question of the day:  Shall I open the e-mail (w/ PDF attachment) entitled, "X-Rated Content - Men over 30 only!"  as well, apparently I need to re-enter my Net Flix payment information.  Since I don't have a Net Flix account, it should be okay to enter the information, right?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are in Solvang. Solvang is this weird little Danish tourist trap town in the Santa Ynez Valley, home to Santa Barbara County wine country. The weather has been wonderfully perfect. 47F presently, early in the morning, but it should top off at 70F+. Between coastal Santa Barbara and the Santa Ynez Valley is the San Marcos Pass. In the pass is an old stage coach station, Cold Springs Tavern, which is now a restaurant serving some great eats. We grabbed a tri-tip sandwich and a pork belly sandwich to go and consumed them on the lawn at Firestone Winery.

It was pure pleasure driving on a winding road, top down, through rolling hills of vineyards and oaks, the sun on our faces and the wind at our backs.


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> Internet question of the day:  Shall I open the e-mail (w/ PDF attachment) entitled, "X-Rated Content - Men over 30 only!"  as well, apparently I need to re-enter my Net Flix payment information.  Since I don't have a Net Flix account, it should be okay to enter the information, right?



First you must take this call from childlike sounding "Elizabeth" who is calling with important information about your credit card accounts.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Internet question of the day:  Shall I open the e-mail (w/ PDF attachment) entitled, "X-Rated Content - Men over 30 only!"  as well, apparently I need to re-enter my Net Flix payment information.  Since I don't have a Net Flix account, it should be okay to enter the information, right?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> First you must take this call from childlike sounding "Elizabeth" who is calling with important information about your credit card accounts.
Click to expand...

Oops, almost forgot about that!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has tons of bunnies (wild and feral) and tons of coyotes. Leaving for very early morning walks, The Cook and Gary always ran into coyotes. The coyotes always eyed Cook, measuring her up as an easy breakfast or too big and not worth the hassle. One night Mary Lou saw a dog jogging down the middle of the street. She pulled along side and opened her door calling to the dog in an attempt to secure the pooch and find the owner. It was a coyote.


----------



## Gary A.

The WiFi code at the hotel is “here4winetasting”.


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> Internet question of the day:  Shall I open the e-mail (w/ PDF attachment) entitled, "X-Rated Content - Men over 30 only!"  as well, apparently I need to re-enter my Net Flix payment information.  Since I don't have a Net Flix account, it should be okay to enter the information, right?



Only if you also enter your bank information, and a complete list of passwords!!!! 

Latest scam to hit me. I posted something on Craigslist, and now I get at least one or two text messages a day, telling me that 10 questions are pending on my items, and I need to log in to a website link.

Oh and @SquarePeg I don't get calls from Elizabeth anymore since we installed NOMOROBO. Kind of miss her perky little greeting. LOL


----------



## Fujidave

I think you will all start to see me getting more involved with this forum here now.  Today I asked a question on a forum I use, in a PM from a member it was like... if you don`t do skype then I will not help you.  So I put the question in this forum plus one Fuji forum,  I just got my answer to the help on the fuji one before here.  So I can now say I am a member on two very good forums that I know if I ask for help/advice I will get it, this is 1 and Fuji is the other.

On a better note we have rain here but cool...lol


----------



## Gary A.

Santa Barbara:

#1






#2





Cold Springs Travern:
#3





#4





#5


----------



## Fujidave

@Gary A. loving #3 of this good set.


----------



## terri

@Fujidave:    Of course, TPF is the bestest forum.  

@limr:  Leo, is the power back on yet?  That sucks!!

It's been cooler and drizzly the last couple of days here.  No wild storms, just on & off showers.  Fine with me!    Hubby planted some okra and they were drooping in the recent mini-heat wave, and they've rallied.   Roasted okra is the bomb!

Happy hump day, hosers!


----------



## Fujidave

@terri all I asked was How too, then the member says NO skype NO help, crazy.  So now here and Fuji will become my most used, and I do agree TPF is the best


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Internet question of the day:  Shall I open the e-mail (w/ PDF attachment) entitled, "X-Rated Content - Men over 30 only!"  as well, apparently I need to re-enter my Net Flix payment information.  Since I don't have a Net Flix account, it should be okay to enter the information, right?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Only if you also enter your bank information, and a complete list of passwords!!!!
> 
> Latest scam to hit me. I posted something on Craigslist, and now I get at least one or two text messages a day, telling me that 10 questions are pending on my items, and I need to log in to a website link.
> 
> Oh and @SquarePeg I don't get calls from Elizabeth anymore since we installed NOMOROBO. Kind of miss her perky little greeting. LOL
Click to expand...


"Hello???  hello???  Oh good you're home..."    little broom rider.  I will try to nomorobo.  Working at home and not  able to ignore my phone when it rings...


----------



## ceemac

SquarePeg said:


> First you must take this call from childlike sounding "Elizabeth" who is calling with important information about your credit card accounts.



I don't think we've heard from Elizabeth here yet, but Stephen Hawkings' wife has called a couple of times and left messages.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> @terri all I asked was How too, then the member says NO skype NO help, crazy.  So now here and Fuji will become my most used, and I do agree TPF is the best



No skype no help??? Could it have been a certain Travelling TPF'r?


----------



## Fujidave

On the said forum his 1st letter of his screen name is K.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is forcing himself to swallow this dark brown stuff at the hotel, hoping that he can adapt. At least it is hot.


----------



## davidharmier60

Have I ever mentioned I freaking HATE phone updates? Sometimes as little as 5 minutes apart I get a pop up ad now. 6 hours and a couple minutes today. 
15.52 for the week so far. Drove over to Cold Spring for propane. 
Got a holey box of pennies at a bank over there. Just had chicken tenders and home fries. Gonna get my check and run up to Livingston to pay on a loan. And stop at HEB to get dinner stuff. 

Later gators. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

terri said:


> @Fujidave:    Of course, TPF is the bestest forum.
> 
> @limr:  Leo, is the power back on yet?  That sucks!!
> 
> It's been cooler and drizzly the last couple of days here.  No wild storms, just on & off showers.  Fine with me!    Hubby planted some okra and they were drooping in the recent mini-heat wave, and they've rallied.   Roasted okra is the bomb!
> 
> Happy hump day, hosers!



Nope. In fact, my county and a few neighboring ones are in a state of emergency. 80% out of power. NY National Guard are coming. No word yet on a restoration time.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh gosh Leo, I wondered when I saw earlier that there were some counties in NY that were under a state of emergency and/or with power outages. Keep us posted.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Since there are no daytime international hockey games on today (round robin is done and elimination starts tomorrow) the hockey gods gave me a replay of the high school state championship game. I'll take it. 

Other than that it's dark and rainy and I've been dozing off, good day to do laundry and fall asleep.


----------



## Fujidave

OMG 1803 was a biggy.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> Internet question of the day:  Shall I open the e-mail (w/ PDF attachment) entitled, "X-Rated Content - Men over 30 only!"  as well, apparently I need to re-enter my Net Flix payment information.  Since I don't have a Net Flix account, it should be okay to enter the information, right?


Use @mishele ‘s info.  Send me a PM if you don’t have it.


----------



## markjwyatt

Gary A. said:


> Gary is forcing himself to swallow this dark brown stuff at the hotel, hoping that he can adapt. At least it is hot.



Been there. That is what independent coffee shops (and if that fails, Starbucks) are for. You may have to ingest enough to get started though.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Nope. In fact, my county and a few neighboring ones are in a state of emergency. 80% out of power. NY National Guard are coming. No word yet on a restoration time.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> I will try to nomorobo.



We have an ATT landline, to their credit there is no charge for NOMOROBO service. Verizon Cell on the other hand cost a $2-$3/month. considering the number of robo calls we're getting on cell now, it may be worth the cost. I really find it annoying for any carrier to charge their customers for blocking robo calls.


----------



## snowbear

Last night’s storms were well north of us, though we got rain and I heard distant rumbling.  A commuter train got stranded in high water in Frederick County and it took a few hours to get people off the train.

Storm, flooding traps MARC passengers for hours outside of Brunswick


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@Gary A.  #4 of the set you posted is my personal favorite of the set. Really nice!


----------



## davidharmier60

I forgot to go to HEB
But Dollar General in Goodrich had the wieners I didn't buy at our store.
Just finished Hot Dogs for dinner with Fritos Scoops with chili and cheese in them. While in Livingston I stopped at a Pawn Shop and found this at less than half the price of buying it new.




Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

@davidharmier60 Over the years I've owned a few good knives. Usually I lose the best ones, but close to 30 years ago, my oldest saved his money and surprised me with a Buck pen knife for my birthday. I've carried that in my pocket every day since. As you can imagine it's worn smooth from all the years and the blades are a little smaller then they once were from sharpening, but the 303X steel will still take and hold a razor sharp edge.


----------



## snowbear

I have a Buck #303 pen knife (same blade configuration as David's) that I got 40 years ago.  I replaced the plastic handle with some scrap teak after the first week.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

My father found this beauty many years ago while walking near my parents' home. The small blade was missing, so he hired a local knife maker to replace it.  After Dad's passing, I inherited it and carry it and use it almost every day. I have dropped it numerous times, as evidenced by the cracked handle material and broke the tips of both blades  That is why the main blade shows obvious reshaping.


----------



## smoke665

@Dean_Gretsch how about another from the past not sure the exact age as it was my grandfather's Keen Kutter stock knife which would put it pre 1940. That rounded blade on the left was wicked sharp when stropped, on a leather strap we kept in the barn. 3 generations used it.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

You can't fake the patina on those blades. Real steel.


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> You can't fake the patina on those blades. Real steel.



It won't hold an edge as long as as some of the more modern steels but it doesn't take much to keep it sharp either.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Fujidave:    Of course, TPF is the bestest forum.
> 
> @limr:  Leo, is the power back on yet?  That sucks!!
> 
> It's been cooler and drizzly the last couple of days here.  No wild storms, just on & off showers.  Fine with me!    Hubby planted some okra and they were drooping in the recent mini-heat wave, and they've rallied.   Roasted okra is the bomb!
> 
> Happy hump day, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope. In fact, my county and a few neighboring ones are in a state of emergency. 80% out of power. NY National Guard are coming. No word yet on a restoration time.
Click to expand...

Holy crap!  Hopefully soon.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

If you feel the need to be inspired by kindness and miracles, I recommend this show on TLC...
Watch Preview Of 'This Is Life Live' Sunday, April 23 On TLC - RedCarpetCrash.com


----------



## Fujidave

We have a nice sunny start today with a cool breeze, busy cleaning today then I might manage to get the camera out.  Hope you are staying safe in all the stormy weather you are getting in the USA.


----------



## davidharmier60

Almost time to go. Good mug.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

4 hours and 12 or so minutes today. 
20.24 for the week so far. 
Upper management wants Trish to hire another floor guy for Saturday and Sunday. 
She'd rather not and I agree. It would take 3-5 hours off my paycheck. 
The only plus side would be not getting up at 4am on a Saturday. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

A few from yesterday.


----------



## Fujidave

Managed to get out after doing the spring clean, have not had a good look but think I might of blown the lot of shots I took in aperture mode, not to fussed as out tomorrow again


----------



## SquarePeg

davidharmier60 said:


> 4 hours and 12 or so minutes today.
> 20.24 for the week so far.
> Upper management wants Trish to hire another floor guy for Saturday and Sunday.
> She'd rather not and I agree. It would take 3-5 hours off my paycheck.
> The only plus side would be not getting up at 4am on a Saturday.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



What’s temheir reasoning for hiring someone else?  Are you getting close enough hours to qualify for benefits?


----------



## smoke665

@Fujidave can we assume you are just being quiet about your invitation to the royal wedding and that is the reason for all the frantic practice of the last few weeks? Can we also assume you will be posting  a lot of pictures from the event on Monday????


----------



## Fujidave

I don`t think I`ll be watching it at all, plus we are not going to watch any News channels on Saturday


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> I don`t think I`ll be watching it at all, plus we are not going to watch any News channels on Saturday



Not sure I will either as the news media here has a fascination with the royal family


----------



## Frank F.

newest incarnation of my construction:


----------



## Frank F.

here is the bw original frame


----------



## RowdyRay

Dean_Gretsch said:


> My father found this beauty many years ago while walking near my parents' home. The small blade was missing, so he hired a local knife maker to replace it.  After Dad's passing, I inherited it and carry it and use it almost every day. I have dropped it numerous times, as evidenced by the cracked handle material and broke the tips of both blades  That is why the main blade shows obvious reshaping.
> 
> View attachment 157956



Dean, I have one almost identical to yours. My grandfather gave it to me. Been in my pocket for over 40 years. Think it's an Imperial? Looked it up once. Post more when I'm back from my fishing trip.


----------



## RowdyRay

Our fishing trip is going well. Weird to be this warm. It was 77 degrees yesterday on Red Lake. Got sunburn. Lol. Caught 8 nice walleyes. Deep fried those up with some cheese bombs. 

On Lake Of The Woods today. Temps more typical. Got off just before the rain hit. Caught 8 walleye, 1 sauger and 1 Northern. I caught a 26"er and my brother caught two 24"ers that had to be released. Fun, and we got pics.

The rest of the week will be cold and wet. Normal. Pics when I get home.


----------



## smoke665

Just after noon today I started on a repair project. The freeze proof faucet on our deck has been leaking and for some reason, it is an odd ball, that no one has parts for. So I went to Lowes a couple of days ago and bought the parts I "thought" I'd need. Fortunately it's easy to access the back from under our kitchen sink. All the parts laid out and ready to cut the CPVC pipe to it. I remembered I hadn't brought the cement in from the shop. I find it and the lid was loose so it's dried up. Quick trip to the store to get cement. Back home, start the disassembly process. I quickly discover my replacement is WAY to long. Back to the store....they don't have the one I need...............I spend the next 2 hrs or so, driving around to different locations. Finally find the right part. Back home takes 20 mins to reinstall everything. And that folks is why a 20 min project always seems to end up taking me 4 hours.


----------



## davidharmier60

Square Peg, 
The most hours I've gotten yet is 33.
28ish is more likely. 
But I work 6 days a week.
They want someone to spot mop and clean the bathrooms and whatever on Sunday.
I could volunteer to do Sunday. It starts at 6:30 rather than 5am. 

Again I don't think anyone will do it for only two days a week  I guess I'll bounce the me do Sunday idea off her tomorrow. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

The weather has been gloriously perfect. Gary ran into a couple from upstate NY while sipping wine. They fell in love with Maggie and we discussed the power loss in NY. Last night after dinner we ran into a group of tourists while strolling Solvang. Maggie performed for them, shaking, sitting, rolling over, dancing and giving kisses with a young girl. It was a group of six and they all had their phones out taking videos. Gary suspects that the video has gone viral by now.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Last week in MO, we found a nice dog park. When we arrived there were two or three in the small dog side and none on the large dog side. Sadie was having so much fun chasing and retrieving her ball that one of the patrons on the other side asked if we minded if her little dog (Ollie a dachshund/mutt mix) came over because the others on his side wouldn't play with him.  Ollie was a hoot, a furball of energy who had no idea of how to play ball but he would chase after Sadie as she ran the ball down as fast as his little legs could carry him with the equivalent of a doggie grin from ear to ear. With the heat it didn't take to long to wear them down till they both crashed in the shade, side by side, as new best friends.


----------



## limr

POWER, HOSERS!! I HAZ IT!!


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are home.


----------



## JonA_CT

So my X-T2 will be here today, but I won't have any lenses until tomorrow at the earliest. Boo hiss.


Otherwise, today and this weekend are looking pretty solid. Little bit of sun and a nice bit of ocean breeze, so I got a little bit of salt in the first breath outside. It's one of my favorite things about living where I do. After work, I'm hitting the driving range, and then making dinner for my kids. Afterwards, my wife and I are going to hit a restaurant we've been meaning to try in Niantic, and we'll might take an evening stroll on the beach.

First thing tomorrow, I'm hitting up my mom's Garden Club plant sale. I need to figure out what's going in the garden this year...I tried to do too much last year, so I'm thinking I'm going to keep it simple. Maybe some tomatoes, some squash, some cucumbers, and some peas. I'm meeting up with my former colleague to play golf, and then my wife's best friend and husband will be over for dinner. Going to be a busy day.


----------



## smoke665

Been many years since I played golf, now I'm so stiff I don't know if could even swing a club. I've also played under some less than ideal conditions, but these guys beat anything I ever did. On the news this morning-----http://www.golf.com/tour-news/2018/05/16/crazy-golfers-brave-erupting-volcano-hawaii-sneak-round-photos


----------



## smoke665

Forgot about this one. In 2013 there was a large fire in Pigeon Forge, TN that destroyed one of the ugly condo complexes on the side of a mountain. They were using a helicopter to transport water from area lakes. Do you get a mulligan for prop wash????


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> So my X-T2 will be here today, but I won't have any lenses until tomorrow at the earliest. Boo hiss.
> 
> 
> Otherwise, today and this weekend are looking pretty solid. Little bit of sun and a nice bit of ocean breeze, so I got a little bit of salt in the first breath outside. It's one of my favorite things about living where I do. After work, I'm hitting the driving range, and then making dinner for my kids. Afterwards, my wife and I are going to hit a restaurant we've been meaning to try in Niantic, and we'll might take an evening stroll on the beach.
> 
> First thing tomorrow, I'm hitting up my mom's Garden Club plant sale. I need to figure out what's going in the garden this year...I tried to do too much last year, so I'm thinking I'm going to keep it simple. Maybe some tomatoes, some squash, some cucumbers, and some peas. I'm meeting up with my former colleague to play golf, and then my wife's best friend and husband will be over for dinner. Going to be a busy day.



Welcome to the bright side. Hit em straight. Make another baby.


----------



## SquarePeg

Haven't played golf in almost 16 years.  Used to play every Sunday with my ex and his dad.  One Sunday I was about to tee off and realized that my pregnant belly was now in the way of my swing.  That was September of 2002.  Had Princess the following January and have not had time to play golf since.  Who has 4-5 hours free on a weekend when they have little kids?  (Oh yeah...dads do!)  There just always was something else that needed doing.  Now that I probably could make the time, I'm just not interested enough to get back into it.   If I have a couple of hours free on a weekend these days, I'm heading out with my camera somewhere or taking a hike with the dog.


----------



## terri

Never was too interested in the game itself, either playing or watching.   I've gone a few rounds, and actually wasn't too bad, but yuck!   Agree with SharonCat that there are so many other compelling things to do.    

But, to each his own, right?   

Happy Friday, hosers!    Still overcast and drizzling, keeping the temps down and the garden lush.


----------



## ceemac

I used to love golf. Especially all the lovely walks through the woods with the squirrels and the birds. Very peaceful.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Haven't played golf in almost 16 years.  Used to play every Sunday with my ex and his dad.  One Sunday I was about to tee off and realized that my pregnant belly was now in the way of my swing.  That was September of 2002.  Had Princess the following January and have not had time to play golf since.  Who has 4-5 hours free on a weekend when they have little kids?  (Oh yeah...dads do!)  There just always was something else that needed doing.  Now that I probably could make the time, I'm just not interested enough to get back into it.   If I have a couple of hours free on a weekend these days, I'm heading out with my camera somewhere or taking a hike with the dog.



I have the same problem with my belly but I'm not pregnant.


----------



## jcdeboever

ceemac said:


> I used to love golf. Especially all the lovely walks through the woods with the squirrels and the birds. Very peaceful.



You must hit em like I do


----------



## smoke665

At one time I played two to three times during the week, combining business with pleasure, and getting paid to play.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> At one time I played two to three times during the week, combining business with pleasure, and getting paid to play.



I really don't love the game because I suck at it. I only play it for the wife, gives us something to do together. If I had my choice, I'd rather go out and take pictures. I am not into it, I have a baseball swing and do not practice at all. I just go out there and hack it, get frustrated, and resentful. Golf starts MOnday, shoot me in the head now.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Who has 4-5 hours free on a weekend when they have little kids? (Oh yeah...dads do!)



Hey! It's my only thing, haha. I wouldn't play if I wasn't a teacher I don't think...I play a handful of rounds during the school year, usually on random days that we are off (Rosh Hashannah, Veteran's Day with some of my dad's buddies,  Wednesday before Thanksgiving, that kind of thing). During the summer, I play about once a week. It's usually only 9 holes at a local course that offers a really cheap walking rate in the afternoons. It ends up being a couple hours rather than 4 that way. (and I lose half as many balls. I make good contact with the ball, which is a blessing and a curse...my little brother who constantly tops them sometimes scores better than I do because he can find his ball). 

My wife likes to grab dinner and drinks with friends. The total time investment ends up being similar, and we're both happy with the time we spend away from each other and our kids. 

Looks like I'm getting ready to buy the 56mm f1.2. So much for being patient? (Prices are rock solid on them..I figure if I don't use it, I can easily flip it again).


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Who has 4-5 hours free on a weekend when they have little kids? (Oh yeah...dads do!)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey! It's my only thing, haha. I wouldn't play if I wasn't a teacher I don't think...I play a handful of rounds during the school year, usually on random days that we are off (Rosh Hashannah, Veteran's Day with some of my dad's buddies,  Wednesday before Thanksgiving, that kind of thing). During the summer, I play about once a week. It's usually only 9 holes at a local course that offers a really cheap walking rate in the afternoons. It ends up being a couple hours rather than 4 that way. (and I lose half as many balls. I make good contact with the ball, which is a blessing and a curse...my little brother who constantly tops them sometimes scores better than I do because he can find his ball).
> 
> My wife likes to grab dinner and drinks with friends. The total time investment ends up being similar, and we're both happy with the time we spend away from each other and our kids.
> 
> Looks like I'm getting ready to buy the 56mm f1.2. So much for being patient? (Prices are rock solid on them..I figure if I don't use it, I can easily flip it again).
Click to expand...


Lol, was just poking at you - everyone's entitled to some leisure activity that they enjoy, it makes them a better spouse and better parent.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Who has 4-5 hours free on a weekend when they have little kids? (Oh yeah...dads do!)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey! It's my only thing, haha. I wouldn't play if I wasn't a teacher I don't think...I play a handful of rounds during the school year, usually on random days that we are off (Rosh Hashannah, Veteran's Day with some of my dad's buddies,  Wednesday before Thanksgiving, that kind of thing). During the summer, I play about once a week. It's usually only 9 holes at a local course that offers a really cheap walking rate in the afternoons. It ends up being a couple hours rather than 4 that way. (and I lose half as many balls. I make good contact with the ball, which is a blessing and a curse...my little brother who constantly tops them sometimes scores better than I do because he can find his ball).
> 
> My wife likes to grab dinner and drinks with friends. The total time investment ends up being similar, and we're both happy with the time we spend away from each other and our kids.
> 
> Looks like I'm getting ready to buy the 56mm f1.2. So much for being patient? (Prices are rock solid on them..I figure if I don't use it, I can easily flip it again).
Click to expand...


It's the hardest lens to shoot, that I own. Maybe it's my copy, not sure. I miss my 60mm macro. When you nail focus with the 56, it's pretty special. I notice that it is way better when using raw and the 325 focus points. It creates a unique line draw, similar to the 50-140 but slightly more 3D looking. Definitely give it a spin before doing more serious work. I'm not trying to scare you off, it's just a different animal compared to the other Fuji glass I have. I think it is probably the quintessential portrait lens for people with skills. To just slap it on and go shoot without figuring it out (like I did), you will be disappointed with lots of missed shots. I can use it now but no one to shoot with it.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Forgot about this one. In 2013 there was a large fire in Pigeon Forge, TN that destroyed one of the ugly condo complexes on the side of a mountain. They were using a helicopter to transport water from area lakes. Do you get a mulligan for prop wash????
> View attachment 158039


Nah, just a drop.


----------



## Fujidave

So had the tripod and X-T20 today, go to catch the 77 bus.  Wait over an hour for it to turn up, and it don`t, so went over to Shoreham and had a nice time.

After doing the windows 10 1803 update the other day, I have just done a Disk clean up and got 29.5 GB more space now.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is home and will soon begin a morning walk with Miss Maggie.  Maggie was soooo happy to be home that she leaped into the air, twisted mid-air so she would land on her back.  Upon landing she wiggled her back into the grass while Gary rubbed her stomach.


----------



## jcdeboever

Fujidave said:


> So had the tripod and X-T20 today, go to catch the 77 bus.  Wait over an hour for it to turn up, and it don`t, so went over to Shoreham and had a nice time.
> 
> After doing the windows 10 1803 update the other day, I have just done a Disk clean up and got 29.5 GB more space now.



Got to love Windows. What a PITA OS. My wife was irritated the other day because it ran that update and took forever. She had a ton of work to do. The update blew out the printer driver, and messed up the display driver as well. I haven't turned on my widows box in a couple months, I hate it that bad. It took me an hour to get hers straightened out.


----------



## Gary A.

We all had a great time in the Santa Barbara County wine country.  Gary brought much more wine than he expected ... and he became a member of another winery.  Way too many club memberships.  Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary had a serious discussion on which wineries to drop. A great time driving through beautiful countrysides and beaches, eating incredible foods and drinking some of the best wines in the world.


----------



## Fujidave

jcdeboever said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> So had the tripod and X-T20 today, go to catch the 77 bus.  Wait over an hour for it to turn up, and it don`t, so went over to Shoreham and had a nice time.
> 
> After doing the windows 10 1803 update the other day, I have just done a Disk clean up and got 29.5 GB more space now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Got to love Windows. What a PITA OS. My wife was irritated the other day because it ran that update and took forever. She had a ton of work to do. The update blew out the printer driver, and messed up the display driver as well. I haven't turned on my widows box in a couple months, I hate it that bad. It took me an hour to get hers straightened out.
Click to expand...


Thank god the only thing it screwed up on was with my printer, so I just re did that.  I did try Linux Mint on my other lappy, but missed my LR6 & PSE15 with the plugins so much so, that I re installed win 10 back on.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> So had the tripod and X-T20 today, go to catch the 77 bus.  Wait over an hour for it to turn up, and it don`t, so went over to Shoreham and had a nice time.
> 
> After doing the windows 10 1803 update the other day, I have just done a Disk clean up and got 29.5 GB more space now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Got to love Windows. What a PITA OS. My wife was irritated the other day because it ran that update and took forever. She had a ton of work to do. The update blew out the printer driver, and messed up the display driver as well. I haven't turned on my widows box in a couple months, I hate it that bad. It took me an hour to get hers straightened out.
Click to expand...

Gary has been an Apple guy since the early 2000's ... he has never had a problem with any of his updates on any of his machines, from desktops to laptops to tablets to watches ... nada.


----------



## smoke665

My windows updated last night. So far so good.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> So had the tripod and X-T20 today, go to catch the 77 bus.  Wait over an hour for it to turn up, and it don`t, so went over to Shoreham and had a nice time.
> 
> After doing the windows 10 1803 update the other day, I have just done a Disk clean up and got 29.5 GB more space now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Got to love Windows. What a PITA OS. My wife was irritated the other day because it ran that update and took forever. She had a ton of work to do. The update blew out the printer driver, and messed up the display driver as well. I haven't turned on my widows box in a couple months, I hate it that bad. It took me an hour to get hers straightened out.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary has been an Apple guy since the early 2000's ... he has never had a problem with any of his updates on any of his machines, from desktops to laptops to tablets to watches ... nada.
Click to expand...


I use to like apples, but now only have a pair


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> So had the tripod and X-T20 today, go to catch the 77 bus.  Wait over an hour for it to turn up, and it don`t, so went over to Shoreham and had a nice time.
> 
> After doing the windows 10 1803 update the other day, I have just done a Disk clean up and got 29.5 GB more space now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Got to love Windows. What a PITA OS. My wife was irritated the other day because it ran that update and took forever. She had a ton of work to do. The update blew out the printer driver, and messed up the display driver as well. I haven't turned on my widows box in a couple months, I hate it that bad. It took me an hour to get hers straightened out.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary has been an Apple guy since the early 2000's ... he has never had a problem with any of his updates on any of his machines, from desktops to laptops to tablets to watches ... nada.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I use to like apples, but now only have a pair
Click to expand...

People complain about the price, but Apples grow on trees.


----------



## davidharmier60

I used to swing at golf balls long ago.
I know all about walking through the woods and dropping a ball.
5 point something. 25.58 For the week.
She talked them out of trying to hire another floor guy. However the professional floor people are coming tonight so I have off until Monday. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary made the golf team in high school.  But found it a bit boring.  Now, he just gets frustrated because he can’t get past the windmill.


----------



## snowbear

I used to play occasionally with dad.  I could drive the ball 500 yards, but the problem was, I putted the same way: 500 yards.


----------



## smoke665

Don't normally share these, but as someone who has problems with both allergies and Asthma, I found this one both funny and wishing I had one at the same time!


----------



## Fujidave

Many years ago in my youth, I worked on a golf course Devils Dyke it was called.  Even loved playing the game too.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Don't normally share these, but as someone who has problems with both allergies and Asthma, I found this one both funny and wishing I had one at the same time!



Love it and agree about it being Southern.


----------



## Frank F.

tomorrow is Kons' Catholic Confirmation ... I will not only be the father and host to a 14-person-sushi&wine feast, I will also be the official (paid) photographer for the event.

The Bishop wants a group shot inside the near dark church and I really do not know how to bring enough light. Quite possibly I will fix ISO to 2000 and pull a bounced SB800 flash at full power to get 1/160 and f/8 on the D850


----------



## vintagesnaps

I might like real golf if it involved windmills, I like Putt Putt. Or if you combined golf and hockey... Which isn't on this afternoon! But one thing about being home during the day is seeing news when things happen or as more info. comes out. Keep flipping back because there's supposed to be a press conference shortly, but can only watch so much of this.

The weather seems to be stuck in repeat mode, starts out OK then clouds up, gets darker, then nevermind it brightens up again! lol can't make up its mind if it's spring, summer, or groundhog day (the movie).


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Or if you combined golf and hockey...



So did you love the movie "Happy Gilmore"? LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

Caddyshack was a neat movie. I see myself as the Chevy Chase guy.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Don't think I ever saw it... 

Yay! Leo has power!!! 

But hey you moops, there's a Seinfeld for everything.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Don't think I ever saw it.



Not one of Sandler's more noteworthy works, but it has some funny moments. If you like hockey and golf, you'll get a chuckle


----------



## vintagesnaps




----------



## davidharmier60

Can't hardly beat corn on the cob!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

So we won a war that gave us freedom from our colonizers in 1783. Yet, for some reason, 235 years later, I have no option to watch my local news and weather this morning because one of their royal children is getting married.

The coverage started 4AM btw. Who is getting up that early to watch? I must be missing something.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Golf = a long, beautiful walk spoiled by a little white ball


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> So we won a war that gave us freedom from our colonizers in 1783. Yet, for some reason, 235 years later, I have no option to watch my local news and weather this morning because one of their royal children is getting married.
> 
> The coverage started 4AM btw. Who is getting up that early to watch? I must be missing something.



A bi-racial divorced American actress is marrying into the immediate British royal family.  It’s news.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Who is getting up that early to watch? I must be missing something.



You're not missing anything, I don't understand the fascination by those in this country with the British Monarchy, a mostly do nothing institution who's sole purpose is procreation, so that an heir to the throne exists. Put me in the not watching it column.


----------



## davidharmier60

I pretty much don't give a crap for what the Royals do. Got a pretty good mug of coffee. We are going at some point up to uncle's place for soap. Uncle departed a couple days ago. The place is being taken down.  Uncle's young bride is going up to Idaho with his daughter and her husband. 
The house is sold and will be moved.
I'll report back later. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Just back from a lovely day at mums, nice and sunny here.  On the wedding for me I don`t give a damn at all, the only one I ever liked was Princess Diana but only because I met her once, not being rude but at the end of the day, they are only people.


----------



## smoke665

Just getting ready to hook up to the mower to start working on fire lanes when this came up on FB memories. LOL what a day this was. We border a landlocked swamp on the back side of our property. It's like a giant bowl, that you're never quite sure where the edge is, because as it drys up, a crust forms over the top. Underneath that is a soupy mess. I got a little close and the whole front end fell through. Fortunately the bucket and the bottom of the tractor supported it enough to stop the sinking, otherwise not sure how far down it would have gone. Took the F350, and a snatch block to ease it out. Since I'll be mowing in the area, it serves to remind me. My baby after it was retrieved, the front tires were  under the surface at one point


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> but at the end of the day, they are only people.



People who spent 43 million dollars of their citizens money on a wedding. Wonder how many people got a piece of the $76,000 wedding cake?


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> So we won a war that gave us freedom from our colonizers in 1783. Yet, for some reason, 235 years later, I have no option to watch my local news and weather this morning because one of their royal children is getting married.
> 
> The coverage started 4AM btw. Who is getting up that early to watch? I must be missing something.


Headline in today's LA Times: "To some, monarchy is a royal pain"

But on the flip side, the bride is a local girl.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Just back from a lovely day at mums, nice and sunny here.  On the wedding for me I don`t give a damn at all, the only one I ever liked was Princess Diana but only because I met her once, not being rude but at the end of the day, they are only people.


An odd story from Gary.  When Diana passed, Gary was living in Paris.  A friend picked Gary up for breakfast and we chatted about her untimely death as we drove to the restaurant.  The next thing we know we're passing a bunch of flowers set on the tunnel medium. Gary says "Oh My God ... that's where she died ..." and then we almost died as the car swerved all over the road as we rubbernecked looking for more evidence of the accident.  When we shot out the other end of the tunnel the exit ramp was packed with press, people and flowers.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't think I ever saw it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not one of Sandler's more noteworthy works, but it has some funny moments. If you like hockey and golf, you'll get a chuckle
Click to expand...

Didn't Bob Barker kick his butt in that movie? I LMAO on that scene.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't think I ever saw it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not one of Sandler's more noteworthy works, but it has some funny moments. If you like hockey and golf, you'll get a chuckle
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Didn't Bob Barker kick his butt in that movie? I LMAO on that scene.
Click to expand...

Au contraire ... Bob Barker kicked Happy's butt:






Which was quite humorous ... if you like that type of humor ... violence and all ...


----------



## Gary A.

It is 60F presently, overcast and cool, but the temp should break 70F by the early afternoon.  It is good to be home, ever be it so humble. It was a great mini road trip ... but it is good to be home where all your stuff is.  Miss Maggie was so happy that she ran to the front yard, jumped into the air and twisted around so she would land on her back, then wiggled and rubbed herself into the ground. Of the three of us, she was clearly the happiest, as Mary Lou and Gary refrained from leaping into the air and landing on our backs in the front yard grass.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Didn't Bob Barker kick his butt in that movie? I LMAO on that scene.



I'd forgotten that part, yeah that was funny!


----------



## Gary A.

In honor of the royal wedding, Gary needs to remind Miss Maggie to wear her fascinator.


----------



## Fujidave

When I was working in Turning Point Princess Diana opened up the Smithfield project and I spent about 40 odd minutes talking with her, imo she was one hell of a great person.

On a happy note I have been looking at the rest of the old slides that I grabbed from mums today, and great to see more of the family, just a shame my brother is is some so they went in the bin   Made sure I kept the best ones though.


----------



## Fujidave

Ok you lovely Fuji folk, tomorrow is the London to Brighton Mini Run.  Just one camera and lens, which would you take.  X-T20 + XF 35mmf2 or X-T2 + XF 18-55mm ?


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Who is getting up that early to watch? I must be missing something.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You're not missing anything, I don't understand the fascination by those in this country with the British Monarchy, a mostly do nothing institution who's sole purpose is procreation, so that an heir to the throne exists. Put me in the not watching it column.
Click to expand...

Ehhh... you might want to do a little more reading.  The Monarchy does a great deal more than produce mail heirs!


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Ok you lovely Fuji folk, tomorrow is the London to Brighton Mini Run.  Just one camera and lens, which would you take.  X-T20 + XF 35mmf2 or X-T2 + XF 18-55mm ?



The zoom and xt2 for moving action hands down.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ok you lovely Fuji folk, tomorrow is the London to Brighton Mini Run.  Just one camera and lens, which would you take.  X-T20 + XF 35mmf2 or X-T2 + XF 18-55mm ?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The zoom and xt2 for moving action hands down.
Click to expand...


Great, and thank you Sharon.


----------



## Fujidave

I missed last years Mini run, so I am looking forward to this one.  As once they all park up members of the public can then take photos of them.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Fujidave:  As an Englander, (granted you don’t care about the wedding), but ... does it matter to you that the Prince is marrying an American (commoner)?


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> @ Fujidave:  As an Englander, (granted you don’t care about the wedding), but ... does it matter to you that the Prince is marrying an American (commoner)?



I am not fussed really, but how long will it last though, as her first marriage did not last long.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Fujidave:  As an Englander, (granted you don’t care about the wedding), but ... does it matter to you that the Prince is marrying an American (commoner)?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am not fussed really, but how long will it last though, as her first marriage did not last long.
Click to expand...

I wish nothing but the best for them.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @ Fujidave:  As an Englander, (granted you don’t care about the wedding), but ... does it matter to you that the Prince is marrying an American (commoner)?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am not fussed really, but how long will it last though, as her first marriage did not last long.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I wish nothing but the best for them.
Click to expand...


I agree 100% just goes to show their father how it should be done, one wife one marriage and no playing around.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> one wife one marriage and no playing around.



Hopefully will stay that way with the sons.


----------



## Fujidave

Just thinking about it, I will stick both X cameras in the slingbag then I have the best of both worlds.  So you might be seeing a lot of mini photos.


----------



## davidharmier60

Had a hand in loading a big trailer with drums, mixing tank and pressure washers. 
Pretty much wore me out. Cousin had to go empty that trailer, and come back and load a building. A better man than I fer sure!
Sister brought home Pizza Hut pizza.
The Cleveland Indians have gotten 3 runs off our starting pitcher.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

I am a gluten for punishment, bought a doggie cam (remote view, control camera) that I can access via cell or lap top. Went through the initial setup and it kind of worked, then it didn't, now it doesn't do anything. I know it's in the settings, somewhere that I've messed up, but my patience went out the window, so time to unplug and forget it for the night.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Just because someone was divorced once doesn't mean that person is incapable of having a lasting second marriage.

Being married at all doesn't make someone better or worse than people who have never been married or those who were once married but now aren't. Being married just once to the same person for their whole lives also doesn't necessarily represent jack s***.

Quite frankly, I think we all make far too big of a deal over the whole thing anyway. It has basically been a business contract for most of its existence, and even in the modern iteration of representing romantic love and committment, it's still an unnecessary formality. If the love and committment isn't there before the marriage, it ain't gonna be there afterwards. And if you're doing it for the tax breaks? Well then, hasn't it then become just a business contract again?

Meh. Whatever.

All I know is that I'm on vacation as of this morning.

Some peace and quiet...






...and a Negroni...


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> Just because someone was divorced once doesn't mean that person is incapable of having a lasting second marriage.



Well duh. First one lasted 8 years, the woman was crazy. Surprisingly I'm still close with her family because they think she's crazy also. Just visited her mother this past Sunday. Her sister and my wife are friends. i honestly have to wonder if her family feels guilty for not warning me  I do thank my ex for guiding me to my 2nd and final,soon to celebrate 40 years of marriage. Think it might last.


----------



## Gary A.

NetFlixed _The Hitman’s Bodyguard.  _A fun movie full of good action and easy nonstop entertainment.  Gary enjoyed the movie more than Mary Lou.  Gary would watch it again.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> NetFlixed _The Hitman’s Bodyguard.  _A fun movie full of good action and an easy nonstop entertainment.  Gary enjoyed the movie more than Mary Lou.  Gary would watch it again.



Was going to watch a movie tonight but got sucked into the College Softball World Series regional tournaments.  Incredible talent on display - very exciting stuff and got my softball fix despite another rain out today!  That makes 3 of our last 4 games were rained out resulting in a very busy schedule next week with 4 games in 5 days plus Princess has 2 HS games and she has to be at Softball Senior night so will miss one of our rec league games.  That's right... I'll be coaching the game and my own kid won't even be playing.  Argh!


----------



## Fujidave

Very foggy start here this morning, I will still go and watch the Mini run as never done one before.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning peeps. Good coffee. 
The parents of the Santa Fe shooter don't know that guy. He is not the wonderful son they knew. When I was going to school I never EVER even thought of killing my fellow students. Tra la.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just because someone was divorced once doesn't mean that person is incapable of having a lasting second marriage.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well duh. First one lasted 8 years, the woman was crazy. Surprisingly I'm still close with her family because they think she's crazy also. Just visited her mother this past Sunday. Her sister and my wife are friends. i honestly have to wonder if her family feels guilty for not warning me  I do thank my ex for guiding me to my 2nd and final,soon to celebrate 40 years of marriage. Think it might last.
Click to expand...


I was referring to Dave's comment that suggested that this current royal marriage might not last because Markle was divorced ("but how long will it last though, as her first marriage did not last long"), a statement which blames her for her past failed marriage and also suggests that she would again be to blame in the case that this current marriage ultimately ends in divorce as well. I find these sentiments to be logically flawed and also distasteful.


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> a statement which blames her for her past failed marriage and also suggests that she would again be to blame in the case that this current marriage ultimately ends in divorce as well.



That sort of depends on both of them. I obviously agree that just because your previous marriage ended in divorce, doesn't mean that a subsequent one will also. However there are some indicators (which most outsiders aren't privy to). If someone's marriage fails because "they" had  a history of spouse abuse, infidelity, mental issues, substance abuse etc, then it's highly likely that those issues will show up in their next marriage. Even then it is dependent on the partner as to what they will accept. In my case the marriage has lasted, in the case of my Ex, she's gone through 4 marriages, and currently living part time with the last.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> That sort of depends on both of them. I obviously agree that just because your previous marriage ended in divorce, doesn't mean that a subsequent one will also. However there are some indicators (*which most outsiders aren't privy to*). If someone's marriage fails because "they" had  a history of spouse abuse, infidelity, mental issues, substance abuse etc, then it's highly likely that those issues will show up in their next marriage. Even then it is dependent on the partner as to what they will accept. In my case the marriage has lasted, in the case of my Ex, she's gone through 4 marriages, and currently living part time with the last.



Yes, yes, "it all depends" etc. This does not remove the logical fallacy of the original statement. If the only 'evidence' is that she was once divorced, then the conclusion that she will be again is false. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.


----------



## smoke665

@limr perhaps you'r e being a little to critical over Dave's comment. As one who's been married to the same person over half my life, I could take offense to your earlier comment _"Being married just once to the same person for their whole lives also doesn't necessarily represent jack s***._
_Quite frankly, I think we all make far too big of a deal over the whole thing anyway. It has basically been a business contract for most of its existence, and even in the modern iteration of representing romantic love and committment, it's still an unnecessary formality." _I realize there are those who for what ever reason may not feel strongly about marriage, or may have had bad experiences, but to summarily write off the institution for all, is as wrong as summarily spinning your interpretation of Dave's earlier comment. In this day and age of instant gratification, to many think love and commitment is immediate but frankly love and commitment changes, grows and morphs into something far greater and longer lasting then the initial passion that might have brought two people together. Marriage may start as a contract but through the fire of years trials and struggles,  it is forged into a relationship. It's not for everyone, but for those who've found it, it's everything.


----------



## davidharmier60

I thought I was going to marry back when but she was like a switch got thrown overnight way before we got anywhere near an alter. Yesterday I brought home two buckets of stuff. Fittings, bolts, brass bits etc. I've been out sorting and got several useful fittings and such. Now I'm going to do three rolls of pennies and then my comics on the computer. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> Marriage may start as a contract but through the fire of years trials and struggles, it is forged into a relationship.


Start as a contract?   I dunno how they do it in 'Bama but, in this age, most marriages are not "starting off as a contract" for the vast majority of us.    It's supposed to be the logical conclusion to a courtship that was built on the initial romantic love and commitment.   If I'm understanding Leo correctly, she's only pointing out that a marriage contract is no guarantee of longevity.   People generally choose to stay together or separate based on the relationship alone, although I appreciate your point that it does and should evolve over time into something less about the flush of new romance and more into an untroubled love and commitment.    But since the contract isn't going to give you a guarantee of that, especially for people who aren't interested in having kids, it's not hard to understand why it seems a pointless step.

Dave _did_ make a comment that seemed to imply that, as someone who broke off a prior marriage, if this one doesn't work the weight of the failure would be heavier on her.   I found it an unfair observation, as well, but it's just his opinion and he's free to express it.


----------



## Fujidave

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just because someone was divorced once doesn't mean that person is incapable of having a lasting second marriage.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well duh. First one lasted 8 years, the woman was crazy. Surprisingly I'm still close with her family because they think she's crazy also. Just visited her mother this past Sunday. Her sister and my wife are friends. i honestly have to wonder if her family feels guilty for not warning me  I do thank my ex for guiding me to my 2nd and final,soon to celebrate 40 years of marriage. Think it might last.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I was referring to Dave's comment that suggested that this current royal marriage might not last because Markle was divorced ("but how long will it last though, as her first marriage did not last long"), a statement which blames her for her past failed marriage and also suggests that she would again be to blame in the case that this current marriage ultimately ends in divorce as well. I find these sentiments to be logically flawed and also distasteful.
Click to expand...


I was actually on about both of them, as they have both been divorced.


I am sorry if I peeved anyone off, but I was brought up to love and respect all women by both my mother and father.  They were both at my wedding when I was 21 I am now 56 and still with my wife who I love dearly, my father stayed married to my mum till the day he died, and I will do just the same.  Again I am sorry for peeving folk off, it must be me as I am Old School.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Start as a contract? I dunno how they do it in 'Bama



Improper use of the term, I was in a hurry and using Leo's term "_It has basically been a business contract for most of its existence" _not mine_. _While it does carry certain legal ramifications and responsibilities a more proper term in the biblical sense would be Covenant. 



terri said:


> it's not hard to understand why it seems a pointless step.



I could quote several scriptures on the subject but this is not the place for same. I will say that I grew up in the "free love" era, watched many of my friends lose themselves in those beliefs, and watched many more come to realize there is no such thing as the Free Lunch. Notwithstanding the biblical reasons, the legal ramifications of the lack of a marriage license, can leave someone sadly without.



terri said:


> Leo correctly, she's only pointing out that a marriage contract is no guarantee of longevity



May or not have been the intent, but her wording led me another way "_Being married just once to the same person for their whole lives also doesn't necessarily represent jack s***." _ and "_even in the modern iteration of representing romantic love and committment, it's still an unnecessary formality."_ How can you have commitment to someone if you aren't willing to be legally recognized and bound to honor that commitment?  The marriage covenant among other things represents your unconditional promises for the benefit of the other, you recognize it as a life commitment, that you must put someone else ahead of yourself, and that there will be confrontation, trials, and forgiveness. Otherwise, your free to leave whenever they p___ you off, sorry but I don't believe it works that way.

Like you read something more  ominous  in my post, so did I think Leo did to Dave's comment.


----------



## limr

Seems about right.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> Like you read something more ominous in my post,


Ominous?  Not at all, or you wouldn't have seen me reply to you with the razzing smilies.      Maybe I should have used a few more. 

As for your other comments, well...again, that contract doesn't prevent a person from leaving, whether they've gotten PO'd one time or a dozen.  We wouldn't need legal jargon like "irreconcilable differences" if it did.  It's the relationship that keeps people together.

It seems clear you're very sensitive to this issue, so fine with me to move along.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> It seems clear you're very sensitive to this issue, so fine with me to move along.



Only because I've seen the mess created for men and women over the years. Fine with me to move on, have a good evening and productive week.


----------



## smoke665

@limr I will be removing the disagree ratings on your posts shortly, not because I agree with anything you say, but because I allowed myself to be goaded into doing something I detest. I've complained before about the disagree button, they add nothing but negativity to the forum and I realized I'd done the very thing I've complained about.  In reviewing my own account I've received 16 dislikes and given 15 all of which were retaliatory and several of those as a direct result of previous disagreements we've already had. Not really proud of that and plan on doing things different in the future. Compare that to the 23 you've received and 34 given and you might want to consider doing the same. As we've found little we can agree on in the past, nor do I anticipate anything in the future and I can't block a moderator, how about we simply agree to disagree. I'll not comment on your future posts and you leave mine alone.


----------



## snowbear

I went to the gym for the first time in a long while.


----------



## davidharmier60

Steak, baked tater. Green beans.
Jay Leno on the DVR. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## Tony744

Ended up taking my mom to a concert today. Season closer of the New Hampshire Philharmonic. She's really starting to enjoy those symphony concerts.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> I went to the gym for the first time in a long while.


Will you regret it in the morning?


----------



## terri

Tony744 said:


> Ended up taking my mom to a concert today. Season closer of the New Hampshire Philharmonic. She's really starting to enjoy those symphony concerts.


Shoot, I like them, too!   The musicians are always top-notch.


----------



## Tony744

One of the cellists is a coworker of mine. The Phil is a very good orchestra.


----------



## jcdeboever

The Dodgers won again, Gary wasn't on the ledge early in the week but I thought to text him just in case... I told him to they are gonna go on a run so put his top down and enjoy the ride. I love how Turner talks to the young guys on the bench and tells them what the pitcher is doing (Hernandez). What a leader that guy is, so valuable. Wood finally got a win after pitching his butt off...again. what a team, look out, here come the Dodgers.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I went to the gym for the first time in a long while.
> 
> 
> 
> Will you regret it in the morning?
Click to expand...

I'm already sore.  I'm also considering getting up much earlier so I can fit in a half hour, a couple weekdays.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I went to the gym for the first time in a long while.
> 
> 
> 
> Will you regret it in the morning?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm already sore.  I'm also considering getting up much earlier so I can fit in a half hour, a couple weekdays.
Click to expand...

Mary Lou and Gary walk the pooch twice a day three to four miles and we try to squeeze in an hour of treadmill daily.  The dog walk is pretty low impact ... the treadmill is medium to high. We walk the dog twice a day out of fear of her high energy ... purely selfdefense and sanity.


----------



## Gary A.

Today, while Mary Lou was on the threadmill, Gary opened a bottle of sparkling wine and set a glassful in the threadmill’s cupholder.


----------



## smoke665

Woo Hoo!!! Just sold my spare tractor, will be back tomorrow with the rest of the money and to pickup. I see a new K1 Mark II, maybe some new glass in my near future and still have a nice deposit for the future.  Nice end to an otherwise stressful day.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Today, while Mary Lou was on the threadmill, Gary opened a bottle of sparkllng wine and set a glassful in the thresdmill’s cupholder.



And you'd be critical of me with a bourbon in the cup holder of a treadmill LOL

Wish you guys lived closer, I think Ms Maggie and Ms Sadie would enjoy wearing each other out!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> The Dodgers won again, Gary wasn't on the ledge early in the week but I thought to text him just in case... I told him to they are gonna go on a run so put his top down and enjoy the ride. I love how Turner talks to the young guys on the bench and tells them what the pitcher is doing (Hernandez). What a leader that guy is, so valuable. Wood finally got a win after pitching his butt off...again. what a team, look out, here come the Dodgers.


^Yes he did!^

JC is not a student of the game ... but rather a baseball scholar.


----------



## smoke665

Today there was a tragedy in Gadsden, AL. A pickup apparently managed to loose control and go through the guard rail on the bridge over the river. Over the last 38 years I've driven over this almost daily. It's not narrow, there's a substantial edge before you get to a large bumper/curb and then a solid guard rail. In all the years it's been there, serious accidents have occurred but no one has ever gone through the guard rail. I likely would have been dead before I hit the water, because it's a long way down. Authorities search for vehicle that drove off bridge over Coosa River


----------



## Fujidave

A nice cool day today, off to pick up Susie this morning as she stayed over at mums yesterday.


----------



## davidharmier60

Have a good Monday youse peeps.
I Gotta go.

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## SquarePeg

Our city has the oldest, continuously active, all volunteer symphony orchestra in the country.  They only perform a couple of times each year but they’re pretty fabulous.   Their holiday concert weekend sells out all performances every year and the annual outdoor free concert is always popular. 

 There’s a performance this week of the MSO with guest musicians  from the High School and Middle School performing  some original compositions.  I’m sorry to miss it but my nephew is in a play that night (one night only) and I can’t miss it (after all I’m his favorite). 

Two more rain outs this weekend.   The weather actually wasn’t that bad it just happened to rain during our game time on Saturday and then on Sunday it down poured right before, leaving the field unplayable.  The players are eager to play tonight.  We’re facing the leagues top pitcher.  Weather is expected to be “delightful” per accuweather app.  Bring it on!

Not sure of my Disagree for/against count and don’t care.  It’s just a button and a timesaver if I’m too busy to type, it’s not a referendum on the posters life or lifestyle.


----------



## smoke665

Busy day today. Sadie is off to the Vet this morning for her 6 month wellness check. The buyer of my tractor will be by with a trailer to pick it up, and I'm researching the glass options for the K1. I'm not sure what I'll do with my K3ii at this point. Had a wild thought last night that if I sold it and a few lenses, I have more then enough for a 645Z, but then I wouldn't have a compact carry round camera, and as a hobbyist I really don't need that level of camera.


----------



## SquarePeg

Prepping to convert my garage into a bedroom/bathroom suite for my mom.  She already lives with us but this will give her a bit more privacy and keep us all from getting on each other's nerves.  Having 3 generations of women all living in the same house is challenging!  Lots of work for me to do to get ready for construction to start mid June.  The garage is currently being used as a giant storage area and pool house (in summer) and also is our access point to the attic where I have more stuff in storage.  I have a lot of cleaning out to do and it will take up most of my Memorial Day weekend.  Not a fan of living with a renovation but have been putting it off for about 5 years and it's now or never!


----------



## davidharmier60

5.14 hours today and for the week so far. 
Figured I'd get a message to go straight down to deliver this drum. But nothing yet.


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----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Today there was a tragedy in Gadsden, AL. A pickup apparently managed to loose control and go through the guard rail on the bridge over the river. Over the last 38 years I've driven over this almost daily. It's not narrow, there's a substantial edge before you get to a large bumper/curb and then a solid guard rail. In all the years it's been there, serious accidents have occurred but no one has ever gone through the guard rail. I likely would have been dead before I hit the water, because it's a long way down. Authorities search for vehicle that drove off bridge over Coosa River


I drive bridges daily, two of which have a long way down into a river and aggressive drivers during rush hour. This is one of my fears, especially as traffic backs up.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is pissed.  He awoke at 5:00 a.m. for his early morning meetings at CSULA ... and it was cancelled. So now what, he has a dozen doughnuts and nowhere to go. 

This week begins our Hollywood Bowl season, starting on Friday with Paul Simon. He's really good. We purchased a collapsible, short table for picnicking prior to the festivities. It is far more comfortable to eat on the grounds as opposed to eating in our seats. If you're just having a burger then the seat are okay.  But we, like many other attending, make it an eating event, with tablecloths, matching napkins, our stainless steel wine glasses and this year ... metal utensils (keeping plastics out of the ocean). Gary has insulated bags and backpack for keeping the food and beverages at proper temps.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Woo Hoo!!! Just sold my *spare tractor...*.


Do.  Not. Understand.  This.  Concept.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> ...and it's now or never!


If 'never' is an option, why not go with that????


----------



## Gary A.

There are now 11 doughnuts.


----------



## Gary A.

For breakfast, Miss Maggie had a scrambled egg with yogurt.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is pissed.  He awoke at 5:00 a.m. for his early morning meetings at CSULA ... and it was cancelled. So now what, he has a dozen doughnuts and nowhere to go.
> 
> This week begins our Hollywood Bowl season, starting on Friday with Paul Simon. He's really good. We purchased a collapsible, short table for picnicking prior to the festivities. It is far more comfortable to eat on the grounds as opposed to eating in our seats. If you're just having a burger then the seat are okay.  But we, like many other attending, make it an eating event, with tablecloths, matching napkins, our stainless steel wine glasses and this year ... metal utensils (keeping plastics out of the ocean). Gary has insulated bags and backpack for keeping the food and beverages at proper temps.



Love that you're taking it to the next level with the switch from plastics!  Sounds like it will be a nice kick off to the season.  Who else will you see this year?


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> So now what, he has a dozen doughnuts and nowhere to go.



Well duh, I can think of at least 12 things to do!


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Woo Hoo!!! Just sold my *spare tractor...*.
> 
> 
> 
> Do.  Not. Understand.  This.  Concept.
Click to expand...


Actually having a little remorse. It's a 25hp tractor that's handy as can be. The turning radius is half that of my Kubota, but with a 60" zero turn mower it's not really needed.


----------



## Fujidave

Got windows 10 back on the other lappy, and sorted out some close ups of the Mini run.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like donuts


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is pissed.  He awoke at 5:00 a.m. for his early morning meetings at CSULA ... and it was cancelled. So now what, he has a dozen doughnuts and nowhere to go.
> 
> This week begins our Hollywood Bowl season, starting on Friday with Paul Simon. He's really good. We purchased a collapsible, short table for picnicking prior to the festivities. It is far more comfortable to eat on the grounds as opposed to eating in our seats. If you're just having a burger then the seat are okay.  But we, like many other attending, make it an eating event, with tablecloths, matching napkins, our stainless steel wine glasses and this year ... metal utensils (keeping plastics out of the ocean). Gary has insulated bags and backpack for keeping the food and beverages at proper temps.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Love that you're taking it to the next level with the switch from plastics!  Sounds like it will be a nice kick off to the season.  Who else will you see this year?
Click to expand...

I dunno, Mary Lou is in charge of the tickets ... but ... the Playboy Jazz Festival is next.  Gary believes we have the “Jazz 1” series, plus whatever else Mary Lou choose. The Playboy Jazz Festival is more of a giant party than a concert.  People, (including us), take Mardi Gras beads, and toss them around the bowl.  Others take Jell-O shots and similar to the beads, gets tossed to those waving their arms.  At all Bowl events, you share food and wine with your neighbors ... but even more so at the Playboy. People are literally dancing in the street and the aisles. 

The metal utilities are nice.  They come in their own little carrying bag and to save space the chop sticks are two pieces, (like a pool cue) and screw together.  The stainless wine glasses get a lot of compliments from both the staff and the spectators.


----------



## Gary A.

Eight doughnuts.


----------



## SquarePeg

Carpe vinum.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today there was a tragedy in Gadsden, AL. A pickup apparently managed to loose control and go through the guard rail on the bridge over the river. Over the last 38 years I've driven over this almost daily. It's not narrow, there's a substantial edge before you get to a large bumper/curb and then a solid guard rail. In all the years it's been there, serious accidents have occurred but no one has ever gone through the guard rail. I likely would have been dead before I hit the water, because it's a long way down. Authorities search for vehicle that drove off bridge over Coosa River
> 
> 
> 
> I drive bridges daily, two of which have a long way down into a river and aggressive drivers during rush hour. This is one of my fears, especially as traffic backs up.
Click to expand...


Latest update they think they've located the vehicle, it's 40' deep, a lot of trash accumulated over the years and a current. There's the remnants of a  civil war era steam paddle wheeler down there as well as old boats and barges that have sunk over the years.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today there was a tragedy in Gadsden, AL. A pickup apparently managed to loose control and go through the guard rail on the bridge over the river. Over the last 38 years I've driven over this almost daily. It's not narrow, there's a substantial edge before you get to a large bumper/curb and then a solid guard rail. In all the years it's been there, serious accidents have occurred but no one has ever gone through the guard rail. I likely would have been dead before I hit the water, because it's a long way down. Authorities search for vehicle that drove off bridge over Coosa River
> 
> 
> 
> I drive bridges daily, two of which have a long way down into a river and aggressive drivers during rush hour. This is one of my fears, especially as traffic backs up.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Latest update they think they've located the vehicle, it's 40' deep, a lot of trash accumulated over the years and a current. There's the remnants of a  civil war era steam paddle wheeler down there as well as old boats and barges that have sunk over the years.
Click to expand...

What an awful story.   I'm sure everyone in your area feels the effects from this, having used the bridge often.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> What an awful story. I'm sure everyone in your area feels the effects



Actually been across it twice today already. No one understands for sure how they did it. It's a nice wide 4 lane bridge with a raised pedestrian sidewalk on each side. The sidewalk is raised a good 12-16" above the pavement and a substantial steel pipe and concrete railing on the outside. It's almost as if they intentional tried to go off.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today there was a tragedy in Gadsden, AL. A pickup apparently managed to loose control and go through the guard rail on the bridge over the river. Over the last 38 years I've driven over this almost daily. It's not narrow, there's a substantial edge before you get to a large bumper/curb and then a solid guard rail. In all the years it's been there, serious accidents have occurred but no one has ever gone through the guard rail. I likely would have been dead before I hit the water, because it's a long way down. Authorities search for vehicle that drove off bridge over Coosa River
> 
> 
> 
> I drive bridges daily, two of which have a long way down into a river and aggressive drivers during rush hour. This is one of my fears, especially as traffic backs up.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Latest update they think they've located the vehicle, it's 40' deep, a lot of trash accumulated over the years and a current. There's the remnants of a  civil war era steam paddle wheeler down there as well as old boats and barges that have sunk over the years.
Click to expand...

The Coosa is 40' deep at that bridge? Wow, very deceiving. It looks like the Coosa just downstream turns into a reservoir for a hydroelectric dam?


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> The Coosa is 40' deep at that bridge?



In the old days it was a major shipping lane from Geogia down through Alabama, till Albama Power damned it up. Where Henry Neely Dam is now there were two locks to facilitate the shallow draft paddlewheelers that once travelled up and down. In those days it wasn't so deep.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today there was a tragedy in Gadsden, AL. A pickup apparently managed to loose control and go through the guard rail on the bridge over the river. Over the last 38 years I've driven over this almost daily. It's not narrow, there's a substantial edge before you get to a large bumper/curb and then a solid guard rail. In all the years it's been there, serious accidents have occurred but no one has ever gone through the guard rail. I likely would have been dead before I hit the water, because it's a long way down. Authorities search for vehicle that drove off bridge over Coosa River
> 
> 
> 
> I drive bridges daily, two of which have a long way down into a river and aggressive drivers during rush hour. This is one of my fears, especially as traffic backs up.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Latest update they think they've located the vehicle, it's 40' deep, a lot of trash accumulated over the years and a current. There's the remnants of a  civil war era steam paddle wheeler down there as well as old boats and barges that have sunk over the years.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The Coosa is 40' deep at that bridge? Wow, very deceiving. It looks like the Coosa just downstream turns into a reservoir for a hydroelectric dam?
Click to expand...

Water, water, water ... it seems that's all you think about.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Water, water, water ... it seems that's all you think about.



Well duh, gotta have something for ice cubes in the bourbon.

Not many know but Alabama, Georgia and Florida have been embroiled in a water feud for years Tri-State Water Wars (AL, GA, FL) | Southern Environmental Law Center Atlanta's high growth rate is the hog in the puddle that's consuming more and more, they've sucked their own Lake Lanier down, and want to grab our before it crosses the line. I guess we're a little more aware of it because the Coosa River Basin is/has been a major battle ground


----------



## davidharmier60

My understanding is a big pipeline will be installed from the Trinity River to Houston.
Might actually HELP with the flooding after the lake gets full.
When I got home I had two cold pieces of pizza and then we went to Houston to deliver the last drum.
We drove past uncles place. Cousin did not get the building. The guys who were to get the building next to that one haven't gotten it either.
The place looks like a tornado has gone through. They don't like the landowner and don't plan on leaving him a clean place.
Did my comics and now going through my 5.4x rolls looking for perfect examples. I just wonder what will happen when I get in the 6.5x and up!


----------



## smoke665

Just on the news the Post Office is releasing "Scratch and Sniff" stamps. U.S. Postal Service announces first-ever scratch and sniff stamp with popsicle scent  I see a whole new world of possibilities for the Post Office --- Well Done!!! LOL


----------



## jcdeboever

Great hockey tonight. What a game. Man, the Caps are punishing the Lightning. Been some great goaltending as well.


----------



## Fujidave

Cloudy and breezy today, but feels quite warm out.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hi. Bye. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> Great hockey tonight. What a game. Man, the Caps are punishing the Lightning. Been some great goaltending as well.


I was wondering how this was going to turn out.  It looked like the old Caps for games three and four.


----------



## smoke665

Morning all. Another day in the south. Starting to get muggy, thanks to the pop up showers. Grass growing means mowing again. My buyer came by with a trailer to pick up the tractor yesterday evening. I'll admit I felt some remorse at seeing it go. One of the most trouble free pieces of equipment I'd ever owned. Used it for over 15 years and sold it for $500 more than I paid for it. Still a dependable, solid  little work horse that the new owner will likely get another 15 years of service out of if he takes care of it.still have a few pieces of equipment to trade or sell for a larger Bush hog and disc. Especially if I trade the Kubota on a bigger model this fall. With all the respiratory problems I'd really like to have one with a heated/AC cab.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Great hockey tonight. What a game. Man, the Caps are punishing the Lightning. Been some great goaltending as well.
> 
> 
> 
> I was wondering how this was going to turn out.  It looked like the old Caps for games three and four.
Click to expand...

I'd be surprised if a lot of Tampa players can even get out of bed today. Every hit they put on those guys was brutal, all night long, and that is how you beat them guys. Caps are so big and physical. Those guys need to have eyes in the back of their head. It's gonna come down to the goalie Wednesday night.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Great hockey tonight. What a game. Man, the Caps are punishing the Lightning. Been some great goaltending as well.
> 
> 
> 
> I was wondering how this was going to turn out.  It looked like the old Caps for games three and four.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'd be surprised if a lot of Tampa players can even get out of bed today. Every hit they put on those guys was brutal, all night long, and that is how you beat them guys. Caps are so big and physical. Those guys need to have eyes in the back of their head. It's gonna come down to the goalie Wednesday night.
Click to expand...

Caps played very defensively, not allowing many opportunities.  They are shooting more, which has _always_ been one of their weaknesses.


----------



## CherylL

Workers inside the house, outside the house, a 20 month granddaughter, and 3 schnauzers.  It will be a bark fest day.


----------



## Fujidave

Well it started cloudy and windy here this morning, but now it is quite nice out.


----------



## davidharmier60

4.19 hours today 9.33 for the week so far. 
Taking a few groceries for my Sister home.
Later gators. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Presently 60F and overcast.  It is projected to hit 70F.  June gloom we call it ... no shadows but it keeps us cool.

Gary got an attempted scam yesterday. An official looking Apple receipt came into my email.  It was for iCloud memory upgrade, $49.98 with a $.01 tax.  There was a "Cancel Purchase" button which Gary hit and he was transported to a very very official looking Apple page requesting additional information in order to confirm the Cancel Purchase.  Gary started to scroll down the page and they want name ... okay, address, credit card number, DOB, social security number ... what-the-hell ... so Gary calls Apple and gets human.  A very nice gentleman confirmed Gary's suspicion of the scam. So be careful our there.  Gary forwarded the email to Apple.  Apple has a department dedicated to tracking down scammers.  Gary requested that if Apple caught the scammer to let them know who turned them in.


----------



## snowbear

Rain, again, but not what we've been having - only looking for 1/2", or so.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Presently 60F and overcast.  It is projected to hit 70F.  June gloom we call it ... no shadows but it keeps us cool.
> 
> Gary got an attempted scam yesterday. An official looking Apple receipt came into my email.  It was for iCloud memory upgrade, $49.98 with a $.01 tax.  There was a "Cancel Purchase" button which Gary hit and he was transported to a very very official looking Apple page requesting additional information in order to confirm the Cancel Purchase.  Gary started to scroll down the page and they want name ... okay, address, credit card number, DOB, social security number ... what-the-hell ... so Gary calls Apple and gets human.  A very nice gentleman confirmed Gary's suspicion of the scam. So be careful our there.  Gary forwarded the email to Apple.  Apple has a department dedicated to tracking down scammers.  Gary requested that if Apple caught the scammer to let them know who turned them in.



I have gotten quite a few "Thank you for your order/purchase" scam emails lately.   I ignore the emails and double check my credit card activity online.  Also beware of the Netflix "change your password" request email that is going around.  I changed my password just to be safe but I did it from my Netflix account, not from the email.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has the Tri-Tip in the Sous Vide, cooking it for tomorrow's Hollywood Bowl dinner.  French Dips with Gary BBQ sauce.

The kitchen smell heavenly.  In a frying pan, Gary gave the Tri-Tip a bit of a singe for flavoring.  The meat was heavily seasoned and much of the seasoning remained in the pan. Gary remove the meat and tossed in minced garlic and onion into the pan.  Gary cooked all that up and tossed the garlic, onions and leftover seasoning in with the Tri-Tip.  A little wine, a lot of BBQ sauce and into the water it all goes for about 28 hours.  Tomorrow, Gary will sear the meat again and give the final rise in temperature ... then viola! Extremely flavorful and tender Tri-Tip sandwiches.


----------



## otherprof

In the New York Times crossword today the clue for 25  across was “”Original of an old photo, informally.”  The answer was “neg”. I think a letter to the Times might be called for, letting them know film is still alive and kicking.


----------



## snowbear

. . . and the thunder storm has arrived.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> . . . and the thunder storm has arrived.


Missus Snowbear found your latest gear purchase invoices?


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> . . . and the thunder storm has arrived.
> 
> 
> 
> Missus Snowbear found your latest gear purchase invoices?
Click to expand...

Naw, she's good with it.  Actually, she's helping subsidize the new computer, next week.


----------



## davidharmier60

Y'all know by now that the eagle poops on Wednesday. I hope you have a good night and a better Wednesday!


----------



## Fujidave

A nice sunny start with a breeze today, just having another brew then over to mums to do a shop for her then hope to try and take some pics.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Overcast and a cool 60F presently.  Projected not to hit 70F today. Paul Simon this evening.  Mary Lou and Gary are working on our Bowl picnic.  We also picked up some reusable bamboo plates, light and attractive ... so no more paper or plastic one-use plates. Mary Lou sewed up a table cloth with matching napkins and Gary is cleaning up an insulated backpack and selecting some vino.  We're meeting some friends before the concert, so we gotta pack more than usual.  Typically we take a shuttle in because the parking there is awful. It is called 'Stacked Parking', the cars are packed nose to bumper with no driving aisles.  It's like a funnel, you can only move when the all cars ahead of you move.  A friend, who is going with us, has convinced us that if one arrives early enough and gets a parking spot near the exit, that the parking lot actually works well. So, we're gonna try his recommendation.  He is traveling with us, so if it become a mess, Gary can use him as a verbal punching bag. If it does work it will be great then all our picnic stuff can be stored in the car and not hauled around the bowl. (There are picnic tables at the Bowl, but they go fast.  Our table rolls-up into a strapped bag for easy transporting.)

The Tri-Tip is still cooking away.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm enjoying chicken tenders down at the deli. 5 hours and minutes in the teens.
14.43 for the week so far. It is approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes to getting my check. Getting to be too hot to sit in the truck without the AC running. 
May just go home and come back later.
Not sure at this time. 

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----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> so if it become a mess, Gary can use him as a verbal punching bag.


  hoping it works for you, and your friend!



Gary A. said:


> Our table rolls-up into a strapped bag for easy transporting.


  pics please - always looking for fun beach/picnic stuff.  We have a small white plastic table that folds flat and is about 2x2 when open.  Not a ton of space but very lightweight.  I've bungeed it to my backpack a couple of times but it's awkward at best...


----------



## Fujidave

Turned out to be a cracking day today, lovely and sunny with a cool breeze.  After helping mum I then went for a mooch before having a lovely lunch  then off to shoot some more photos.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Cool front came thru and it's nice and clear - and I can't breathe thru my nose! lol I like it less hot but I do better in the usual partly cloudy, partly muggy whatever than breezes blowing. 

Got used to hockey during the day but the worlds are over, USA beat Canada for the bronze and Sweden won gold leaving the Swiss with silver. One of the announcers said Sweden seemed to have annexed Copenhagen for the tournament they had so many fans at the games, and they'd be home in 5 minutes to celebrate!

At least TCM has movies on that I like, '40s detectives - Torchy Blane, the Thin Man, Perry Mason, and Dick Tracy (those I've never seen). Oh no, somebody got stabbed with a paper knife (I don't think those could actually do that much damage!); wouldn't quite be the same trying to whack somebody with a smart phone, certain lack of movie making drama.


----------



## Gary A.

27.5” square
Seven pieces: tabletop, legs (4) and 2 ‘beams’. 
The beams keep the tabletop rigid. 
Crate & Barrel


----------



## davidharmier60

Hung around and got my check.
At this time draining the excess water from the tank of our water system. 

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----------



## CherylL

Today's races tally:  Team Schnauzer 0  -  Chipmunk 3


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> Today's races tally:  Team Schnauzer 0  -  Chipmunk 3



Team Sadie is - 0, Squirrels -1,000,000,000,000, but that still doesn't stop her from trying. Lizards are another story.


----------



## snowbear

Going back a couple years: Zoe (as a kitten) 1, snakes 0.  Well, OK it was a tie, but she kept it at bay until daddy took the b*****d out.


----------



## Gary A.

Out of the Sous Vide and onto the grill.


----------



## davidharmier60

Got the water system sorted out. Now messing with pennies.


----------



## limr

Hosers.

Loaded my Mamiya 645 wrong. I had my best shots EVAH on that roll!


----------



## smoke665

Back from the oral surgeon, had tooth that had broken off leaving the roots, and of course the roots were cemented in with natures own 20 mule team synthetic extra strong natural epoxy. Add to that they were barely above the gum line resulted in an uncomfortable mining expedition to remove them  Now the feeling is coming back in my jaw


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> Going back a couple years: Zoe (as a kitten) 1, snakes 0.  Well, OK it was a tie, but she kept it at bay until daddy took the b*****d out.



Tough kitty!  We had a snake on the patio last year.  My 3 pups ran back to the door.


----------



## CherylL

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 158245
> Out of the Sous Vide and onto the grill.



Looks tempting, but I gave up red meat.


----------



## snowbear

CherylL said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Going back a couple years: Zoe (as a kitten) 1, snakes 0.  Well, OK it was a tie, but she kept it at bay until daddy took the b*****d out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tough kitty!  We had a snake on the patio last year.  My 3 pups ran back to the door.
Click to expand...

It was a small snake - maybe 16".  She was batting at it - it's a string!


----------



## smoke665

A few years ago, I was only half paying attention to our Boxer in the front yard, when I noticed her jumping and pouncing.  She had a 6' Pine Snake playing with it. She would slap her paw down on it's tail and when the head swung around she would jump back. The poor snake finally made it back to a pine tree. LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

Y'all have a great night and a better Thursday. 

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----------



## JonA_CT

Fuji 56mm @ F2. Acros sim and JPG sent to phone. 

Not bad. Early afternoon sunlight and model not all the way in the shade...whoops.


----------



## Fujidave

Well I think we are in for some rain today, very mild but also very grey and dull out.


----------



## davidharmier60

My phone says it's 67 going to 87 later.
Mug of coffee may get my eyes working. 

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----------



## Tony744

YAY!!! Last day of work before a 4 day weekend!


----------



## snowbear

WAY TO GO, CAPS!



Tony744 said:


> YAY!!! Last day of work before a 4 day weekend!


MLW has a four-day (Friday is Firefighter Appreciation Day); we're heading north, next week.


----------



## smoke665

That's the bad thing about being retired. You don't have the same appreciation for holidays that you once had.


----------



## Fujidave

Makes a nice changed today, as it`s raining but muggy.


----------



## smoke665

Oh man!!!!!!!!!! Just got in from weed eating, and I'm soaking wet. Not that hot but the humidity is almost unbearable.


----------



## ceemac

smoke665 said:


> That's the bad thing about being retired. You don't have the same appreciation for holidays that you once had.



Know what you mean. My wife doesn't give me any days off. (or pay).


----------



## davidharmier60

smoke665 said:


> Oh man!!!!!!!!!! Just got in from weed eating, and I'm soaking wet. Not that hot but the humidity is almost unbearable.


Sounds like my part of the world pretty soon. 4 and almost a half hours today. 
19.13 for the week so far. Trish was here earlier but is gone. Susan isn't as trusting as Trish. A checker weighed every roll.
But finally I got paid for them.
Brunch down at the deli. 
I'm supposed to take AC filters home with me. Blue Bell is only $4.88 so a half gallon or two of those as well.

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----------



## SquarePeg

Perfect day here today.  Currently hovering just under 70 and it's sunny with a few fluffy clouds.  Humidity is low and a nice breeze but not enough to call it wind.  Top 10 day, IMO.  Coaching a game tonight and it's going to be a beautiful night for a game.  Tomorrow it's supposed to be 88 and sunny and breezy.  Not the best cleaning out the garage weather but I'll take anything above 60 without rain!  

As said earlier- I'll be cleaning out the garage prepping for our renovation project.  What's everyone else up to this weekend?  Anyone heading to the beach?  Who is off tomorrow?  I'm working most of the day but I expect to get 0 calls or emails as everyone else in the world seems to have taken tomorrow off.  I do have Tuesday off for a 4 day weekend but with tomorrow expected to be so quiet, it will be more like a 5 day...


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Last night's Paul Simon concert at the Hollywood Bowl was an incredible experience.  One of the best concert Gary has ever attended.  Half a century of history rolled out to 17,000 awe stricken and standing participants.  (Yes, participants, we all sang and danced and all were touched by the music and Gary thinks we collectively touched Simon.)

It was a very cool evening, the cloudless night sky worked with the surrounding hills dropping the temps into the upper 50's. The 'show' part was wonderful.  Simon is master guitarist and a musical genius as he seamlessly wove the percussion, brass and string elements of his sizable band into a single voice. Simply mesmerizing.

That was merely the show part, the encore lasted an hour ... the show went from mesmerizing entertainment ... to an emotional experience.  Simon communicated with the audience on a level deeper than the ear.  The second half of the encore was pure Paul Simon, no band.  The man, alone in the middle of the stage, illuminated by a single light from above, the bowl barely visible in the darkness and Simon magically playing his songs using chords and notes not written on paper but from his heart.  The concert ended as an emotional experience, a spectacularly high note.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Perfect day here today.  Currently hovering just under 70 and it's sunny with a few fluffy clouds.  Humidity is low and a nice breeze but not enough to call it wind.  Top 10 day, IMO.  Coaching a game tonight and it's going to be a beautiful night for a game.  Tomorrow it's supposed to be 88 and sunny and breezy.  Not the best cleaning out the garage weather but I'll take anything above 60 without rain!
> 
> As said earlier- I'll be cleaning out the garage prepping for our renovation project.  What's everyone else up to this weekend?  Anyone heading to the beach?  Who is off tomorrow?  I'm working most of the day but I expect to get 0 calls or emails as everyone else in the world seems to have taken tomorrow off.  I do have Tuesday off for a 4 day weekend but with tomorrow expected to be so quiet, it will be more like a 5 day...


It may hit 70F today.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> As said earlier- I'll be cleaning out the garage prepping for our renovation project.  What's everyone else up to this weekend?  Anyone heading to the beach?  Who is off tomorrow?  I'm working most of the day but I expect to get 0 calls or emails as everyone else in the world seems to have taken tomorrow off.  I do have Tuesday off for a 4 day weekend but with tomorrow expected to be so quiet, it will be more like a 5 day...


We have a little cleaning to do and I'll try to hit the local trout pond one day.  We need to get the oil changed in the car and then off to Maine on Tuesday (we don't go anywhere on the actual Holiday weekend).  Monday night is the first game of the finals.


----------



## smoke665

Current condition here. Highly likely that humidity and temperature will be the same before the day is over.


----------



## davidharmier60

Glad to hear it Gary. Seeing as how by 8pm I'm nearly asleep unfortunately no concerts for me. Fortunately 106.9 Houstons Eagle is on 24/7 and doesn't cost a thing.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Perfect day here today.  Currently hovering just under 70 and it's sunny with a few fluffy clouds.  Humidity is low and a nice breeze but not enough to call it wind.  Top 10 day, IMO.  Coaching a game tonight and it's going to be a beautiful night for a game.  Tomorrow it's supposed to be 88 and sunny and breezy.  Not the best cleaning out the garage weather but I'll take anything above 60 without rain!
> 
> As said earlier- I'll be cleaning out the garage prepping for our renovation project.  What's everyone else up to this weekend?  Anyone heading to the beach?  Who is off tomorrow?  I'm working most of the day but I expect to get 0 calls or emails as everyone else in the world seems to have taken tomorrow off.  I do have Tuesday off for a 4 day weekend but with tomorrow expected to be so quiet, it will be more like a 5 day...


We just can't escape this weather system that's rolling north from the Gulf - we're going to be sodden over the long weekend!    You all will likely have better weather for most of the holiday weekend.   No beaches around here worth running to, given the forecast - Atlantic or Gulf Coast!


----------



## vintagesnaps

What beach? you have a beach??! lol Those of us in the middle of the two coasts don't have any damn beach, although the state park near me has one if you can call it that, it's along a lake (but I don't know if it's even open yet).

It's been nice and I'm terrible. lol OK not that bad but been on allergy meds etc. since the last Dr. appt. and just when I was thinking how much better I was doing, I woke up today with my mouth hanging open drooling on the pillow. Sitting here I still can't breathe without my mouth open, oy. 

It's supposed to heat up and get back to last weekend's late day storms so thanks a lot Terri for sending your weather this way when you're done with it! lol Since I took early retirement I still feel like it's a holiday weekend even if I'm not doing much, it's the principle of the thing! It's a holiday dammit!

Realized there is a local connection to the Caps, and here I was rooting for the Bolts. When all of 'my' teams are out of the playoffs I hope for whoever has someone that used to play/coach here, so I'm leaning more toward Vegas. I just think they could ditch that gila monster mascot and stick with the lit up drummers.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Oh man!!!!!!!!!! Just got in from weed eating, and I'm soaking wet. Not that hot but the humidity is almost unbearable.


Couldn't you just eat the weeds inside the house?


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> What beach? you have a beach??! lol Those of us in the middle of the two coasts don't have any damn beach, although the state park near me has one if you can call it that, it's along a lake (but I don't know if it's even open yet).
> 
> It's been nice and I'm terrible. lol OK not that bad but been on allergy meds etc. since the last Dr. appt. and just when I was thinking how much better I was doing, I woke up today with my mouth hanging open drooling on the pillow. Sitting here I still can't breathe without my mouth open, oy.
> 
> It's supposed to heat up and get back to last weekend's late day storms so thanks a lot Terri for sending your weather this way when you're done with it! lol Since I took early retirement I still feel like it's a holiday weekend even if I'm not doing much, it's the principle of the thing! It's a holiday dammit!
> 
> Realized there is a local connection to the Caps, and here I was rooting for the Bolts. When all of 'my' teams are out of the playoffs I hope for whoever has someone that used to play/coach here, so I'm leaning more toward Vegas. I just think they could ditch that gila monster mascot and stick with the lit up drummers.



Sorry to hear you're feeling bad.  Hoping the pollen goes away soon.

Don't they have sand along the side of Lakes Michigan and Erie (though that's a bit of a haul for you, I suspect)?

When we went to Seattle a few years back, MLW wanted to "go to the beach."  I told here they were probably not like what she was thinking of because of the geology - pebbles, not sand.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> That's the bad thing about being retired. You don't have the same appreciation for holidays that you once had.



If you're like me, holidays would just ruin all those places you have to yourself through the normal workweek
I am_ not_ retired, but imagine that is how it would be for me


----------



## RowdyRay

Back home. What a blast. We're definitely getting better at this. LOTS of walleye caught this year. Many too big or too small that were released. There are HARD rules on too big. Size limits that cannot be ignored, or face fines. There aren't any rules on too little, except those imposed on ourselves. Bet we threw back 50-60 in the 11-12" range. Catch them next year. Had two fish fries and still came home with some. 

So focused on fishing, not many pictures. Did get some, but it was overcast and raining most of the time. Chased a black billed magpie all over trying to get a shot. I've never seen one, and they certainly are not common in Wakish Minnesota! It finally got irked with me and bailed. But I have witnesses. Lol. 

Can't wait to go back again next year. Here's my 26"er and one of my brother's 24"er.


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> If you're like me, holidays would just ruin all those places you have to yourself through the normal workweek



Yup we travel during the down times to avoid the crowds.


----------



## Tony744

Plans for the holiday weekend: might catch the new Star Wars movie tomorrow morning (while most other people are at work  Gonna try to get out to the coast (either Sunday or Monday morning). Other than that, I'm pretty much winging it.


----------



## smoke665

Just finished watching a slide show of the Kilauea volcano eruptions. Fascinating and beautiful shots. So here's the question. Let's assume someone would say - "I'll pay for your trip and all expenses to go there and photograph these eruptions" -  would you:

 Go? How long would you stay, if they matched your pay?
Given the increasing instability and  "lava bombs", how close would you be willing to get for the shot? Close enough that the shoes start smoking???
Considering they're moving in military aircraft to evacuate rapidly if necessary,  what would be your signal to GET OUT FAST?


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Taking advantage of the internet connection not being too spotty at the moment.

Monday's lunch spot:


----------



## limr

Tuesday's lunch spot (Acadia in the distance):


----------



## limr

Wednesday:


----------



## limr

Today, with Canada across the water:


----------



## limr

Yes, I know, the horizon's a bit crooked on that last one.


----------



## RowdyRay

limr said:


> Yes, I know, the horizon's a bit crooked on that last one.



Doesn't matter. Looks like nice weather and hope you're having a great time. That's what matters. Vacations keep us sane. 

Just got back from mine. No desire to strangle anyone. That'll probably change next week. Lol.


----------



## Tony744

Sane? What is this sane you speak of?


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Just finished watching a slide show of the Kilauea volcano eruptions. Fascinating and beautiful shots. So here's the question. Let's assume someone would say - "I'll pay for your trip and all expenses to go there and photograph these eruptions" -  would you:
> 
> Go? How long would you stay, if they matched your pay?
> Given the increasing instability and  "lava bombs", how close would you be willing to get for the shot? Close enough that the shoes start smoking???
> Considering they're moving in military aircraft to evacuate rapidly if necessary,  what would be your signal to GET OUT FAST?


Gary would go in a New York minute. (But then, that’s what he used to do.)


----------



## Fujidave

We had a lot of rain last night, now past but they forecast more over the next few days.


----------



## davidharmier60

As usual I got to scramble to get out of here. Good coffee. Later y'all. 

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----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary would go in a New York minute. (But then, that’s what he used to do.)



I suspected Gary would. Having faced fire, smoke, and explosions many times, I would likely be there as well, though this is different. At a scene  we knew the plan going in, but this is different. The immense power, and unknowns of timing/location, make it an incalculable risk, the closer you get.


----------



## JonA_CT

I typically try to avoid Mother Nature when she's pissed. But that's just me, haha.


----------



## snowbear

Wonderful, Leonore!  We'll be in Portland next week.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Tuesday's lunch spot (Acadia in the distance):



Are you spending the long weekend in Maine?  Acadia is one of my favorite place in Maine. I wish it were closer  (5 hours for me)!  



JonA_CT said:


> I typically try to avoid Mother Nature when she's pissed. But that's just me, haha.



This!


----------



## RowdyRay

Tony744 said:


> Sane? What is this sane you speak of?


 

My definition varies from day to day.


----------



## jcdeboever

Congrats to @snowbear s Caps on making it to the Stanley Cup. I see them hoisting the Cup this year. Off to Toledo this morning, then St. Joe, MI and Chicago for the weekend. Unfortunately, won't be going downtown Chicago to shoot. I will be street shooting in downtown St. Joe and downtown Naperville, IL on Saturday. Cookout in Bolingbrook, IL Saturday night, graduation ceremony of Sunday. Now have to decide what lens to bring, probably the 56 f1.2. Just want to use one camera, one lens on this trip.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Just finished watching a slide show of the Kilauea volcano eruptions. Fascinating and beautiful shots. So here's the question. Let's assume someone would say - "I'll pay for your trip and all expenses to go there and photograph these eruptions" -  would you:
> 
> Go? How long would you stay, if they matched your pay?
> Given the increasing instability and  "lava bombs", how close would you be willing to get for the shot? Close enough that the shoes start smoking???
> Considering they're moving in military aircraft to evacuate rapidly if necessary,  what would be your signal to GET OUT FAST?



About ten years back if it had been me, then I`d jump at that with not a worry at all.  Ten years ago with my 1100D I was taking shots of some stormy waves, but wanted to get closer for the Wow shot as only had a 18-55mm on.  I got the Wow shot, but also got a smack with a big wave that sent me flying, got soaked like a drowned rat and so did the 1100D and we both got through it.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tuesday's lunch spot (Acadia in the distance):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you spending the long weekend in Maine?  Acadia is one of my favorite place in Maine. I wish it were closer  (5 hours for me)!
Click to expand...


We are actually leaving tomorrow. We left NY on Sat - spent one night in NH and then drove over to Maine. We are staying within sight of Acadia but have no interest in being near it for Memorial Day!


----------



## davidharmier60

4 hours and some minutes.
24.01 for the week so far. PO Box, box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I typically try to avoid Mother Nature when she's pissed. But that's just me, haha.


Ohhhh noooo ... an angry Mother Nature make for some spectacular images.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Today, with Canada across the water:



So you're near Lubec?


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today, with Canada across the water:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So you're near Lubec?
Click to expand...


We were IN Lubec. Had lunch and drove out to Quoddy Head for some pics. Got me some beach rocks and the feel of some salt water on my hands


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

The Jacarandas are in bloom. Most/all of the residential streets in La Mirada have street strips. The city offers free Jacarandas and installation for those strips. Consequently, the neighborhoods are filled with Jacarandas.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today, with Canada across the water:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So you're near Lubec?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We were IN Lubec. Had lunch and drove out to Quoddy Head for some pics. Got me some beach rocks and the feel of some salt water on my hands
Click to expand...


What's across the water (Campobello Island):



cmw3_e_quoddy_sign by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

A rubber tree at the Hollywood Bowl.


----------



## JacaRanda

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 158323
> iPhone
> 
> The Jacarandas are in bloom. Most/all of the residential streets in La Mirada have street strips. The city offers free Jacarandas and installation for those strips. Consequently, the neighborhoods are filled with Jacarandas.



I thought I heard my name. 
Hello Gary and all you beautiful people.  Happy (almost) Memorial Day.

I am a new dog owner times two.  They were a belated Valentines gift to Wifey and I will bombard you all with photos hopefully soon.

Miss you all!!!!!

Hmm, am I allowed to post my Instagram?


----------



## Fujidave

Had a walk with Susie, and I came back wet as the humidity here is 86 and going up.


----------



## snowbear

JacaRanda said:


> I thought I heard my name.
> Hello Gary and all you beautiful people.  Happy (almost) Memorial Day.
> 
> I am a new dog owner times two.  They were a belated Valentines gift to Wifey and I will bombard you all with photos hopefully soon.
> 
> Miss you all!!!!!
> 
> Hmm, am I allowed to post my Instagram?


Looking forward to puppies; post away.


----------



## Gary A.

Welcome back Jack.


----------



## Fujidave

JacaRanda said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 158323
> iPhone
> 
> The Jacarandas are in bloom. Most/all of the residential streets in La Mirada have street strips. The city offers free Jacarandas and installation for those strips. Consequently, the neighborhoods are filled with Jacarandas.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I thought I heard my name.
> Hello Gary and all you beautiful people.  Happy (almost) Memorial Day.
> 
> I am a new dog owner times two.  They were a belated Valentines gift to Wifey and I will bombard you all with photos hopefully soon.
> 
> Miss you all!!!!!
> 
> Hmm, am I allowed to post my Instagram?
Click to expand...



As a dog lover and owner I look forward to seeing some photos.


----------



## Gary A.

Miss Maggie would love to play with your pups.


----------



## Fujidave

Susie says, Hi Miss Maggie.




Beautiful Susie by Dave, on Flickr


----------



## waday

JacaRanda said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 158323
> iPhone
> 
> The Jacarandas are in bloom. Most/all of the residential streets in La Mirada have street strips. The city offers free Jacarandas and installation for those strips. Consequently, the neighborhoods are filled with Jacarandas.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I thought I heard my name.
> Hello Gary and all you beautiful people.  Happy (almost) Memorial Day.
> 
> I am a new dog owner times two.  They were a belated Valentines gift to Wifey and I will bombard you all with photos hopefully soon.
> 
> Miss you all!!!!!
> 
> Hmm, am I allowed to post my Instagram?
Click to expand...

Hello!


----------



## SquarePeg

JacaRanda said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 158323
> iPhone
> 
> The Jacarandas are in bloom. Most/all of the residential streets in La Mirada have street strips. The city offers free Jacarandas and installation for those strips. Consequently, the neighborhoods are filled with Jacarandas.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I thought I heard my name.
> Hello Gary and all you beautiful people.  Happy (almost) Memorial Day.
> 
> I am a new dog owner times two.  They were a belated Valentines gift to Wifey and I will bombard you all with photos hopefully soon.
> 
> Miss you all!!!!!
> 
> Hmm, am I allowed to post my Instagram?
Click to expand...


Welcome back!  Is that the craziest coincidence of all time that Gary posted about jacarandas on the same day you dropped in to say hello?  Maybe you have esp.


----------



## Gary A.

@JonA_CT:

I love what the Sous Vide does to the beef (in this case):



In the Sous Vide




Out of the Sous Vide




Out of the grill




Cut up for sandwiches.  It was wonderfully tender and bursting with flavor.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> JacaRanda said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 158323
> iPhone
> 
> The Jacarandas are in bloom. Most/all of the residential streets in La Mirada have street strips. The city offers free Jacarandas and installation for those strips. Consequently, the neighborhoods are filled with Jacarandas.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I thought I heard my name.
> Hello Gary and all you beautiful people.  Happy (almost) Memorial Day.
> 
> I am a new dog owner times two.  They were a belated Valentines gift to Wifey and I will bombard you all with photos hopefully soon.
> 
> Miss you all!!!!!
> 
> Hmm, am I allowed to post my Instagram?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Welcome back!  Is that the craziest coincidence of all time that Gary posted about jacarandas on the same day you dropped in to say hello?  Maybe you have esp.
Click to expand...

esp = exceptionally spectacular photographs


----------



## vintagesnaps

It looks good when it's done, I still can't get past the cooking it three different ways! lol and a visual image of those Birdseye baggies you'd toss in a pot of boiling water. Of course somebody on Top Chef usually does a sous vide so I guess you're on to something.

Last day of school, noticed the cars lining up and thought, is it that late already? no not quite, they're on early dismissal. Yesterday they had some sort of assembly or something, there were cars parking along the street and parents and kids around. It just seems so early, even for Memorial Day, we didn't have spring, went from snow in April to hot in May.

Speaking of school being out, Leo I had been wondering if you were in the end of the school year crazies but you're already outta there! Looks great wherever you are, I must have missed anything about where you were going!

Hey, it's Jacaranda!! good to see you on here. And no, no instagram!! lol jk
Sharon start the Twilight Zone music, doo doo doo doo...


----------



## limr

JacaRanda said:


> I thought I heard my name.
> Hello Gary and all you beautiful people.  Happy (almost) Memorial Day.
> 
> I am a new dog owner times two.  They were a belated Valentines gift to Wifey and I will bombard you all with photos hopefully soon.
> 
> Miss you all!!!!!
> 
> Hmm, am I allowed to post my Instagram?



JACA!!!


----------



## terri

JacaRanda said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 158323
> iPhone
> 
> The Jacarandas are in bloom. Most/all of the residential streets in La Mirada have street strips. The city offers free Jacarandas and installation for those strips. Consequently, the neighborhoods are filled with Jacarandas.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I thought I heard my name.
> Hello Gary and all you beautiful people.  Happy (almost) Memorial Day.
> 
> I am a new dog owner times two.  They were a belated Valentines gift to Wifey and I will bombard you all with photos hopefully soon.
> 
> Miss you all!!!!!
> 
> Hmm, am I allowed to post my Instagram?
Click to expand...

Hey!!!    HI!    You're here!     

Let's see the pups!


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> @JonA_CT:
> 
> I love what the Sous Vide does to the beef (in this case):
> View attachment 158336
> In the Sous Vide
> 
> View attachment 158338
> Out of the Sous Vide
> 
> View attachment 158339
> Out of the grill
> 
> View attachment 158337
> Cut up for sandwiches.  It was wonderfully tender and bursting with flavor.



Now that looks very very yummy.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> It looks good when it's done, I still can't get past the cooking it three different ways! lol and a visual image of those Birdseye baggies you'd toss in a pot of boiling water. Of course somebody on Top Chef usually does a sous vide so I guess you're on to something.
> 
> Last day of school, noticed the cars lining up and thought, is it that late already? no not quite, they're on early dismissal. Yesterday they had some sort of assembly or something, there were cars parking along the street and parents and kids around. It just seems so early, even for Memorial Day, we didn't have spring, went from snow in April to hot in May.
> 
> Speaking of school being out, Leo I had been wondering if you were in the end of the school year crazies but you're already outta there! Looks great wherever you are, I must have missed anything about where you were going!
> 
> Hey, it's Jacaranda!! good to see you on here. And no, no instagram!! lol jk
> Sharon start the Twilight Zone music, doo doo doo doo...


Actually, the water isn’t boiling.  Quite the opposite.  Gary cooked the Tri-Tip at 125F for about 28 hours.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Babcock Winery
Santa Rita Hills, California


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Susie says, Hi Miss Maggie.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Beautiful Susie by Dave, on Flickr



Maggie is ready to rumble with Susie. Does Susie like mud?


----------



## vintagesnaps

If that isn't a cute little face I don't know what is! 

Two Pinots and a Pony, that's a place I'd like to visit.


----------



## Gary A.

Babcock has an interesting tasting room.  Half antique store half wine shop and it is dog friendly.  The next three wine tasting parties after Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary, all had dogs.  The wines were good, the room was warehouse sized and full of interesting stuff and the dogs were fun.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Susie says, Hi Miss Maggie.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Beautiful Susie by Dave, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maggie is ready to rumble with Susie. Does Susie like mud?
> View attachment 158365
Click to expand...


Susie would love it..lol


----------



## davidharmier60

I get to go have fun today. 
Got a pretty fair mug of coffee.
Not in a time crunch like usual.

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----------



## SquarePeg

Garage clean out starting in 3...2...1...  see you on the flip side Houston.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Maggie is ready to rumble with Susie



Long hair and mud what a combination! How many baths/week does Maggie get? LOL


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 158325 View attachment 158326
> Miss Maggie would love to play with your pups.



Webster wants to play in the mud. Webster's fixed but he is still horny, so we need to watch for that....


----------



## smoke665

Spent an enjoyable afternoon yesterday. Have put together an informal photography club with a group of friends and neighbors who are of various skill levels. Round table discussion on the basics of a good exposure, followed by hands on practice in studio. Lots of laughs and good times, as each swapped out as model/photographer. Only bad thing is I was having so much fun watching them, I didn't shoot any


----------



## Fujidave

Well had a nice me and Susie walk time, left the camera at home for a change.  Have been trying to get practice in using layers in C1, oh what fun that is.


----------



## ceemac

Dog walks are good. There are some beautiful walks around here. It's a little awkward taking pictures. I keep Sara on a leash in case she picks up an interesting scent. I haven"t seen many animals yet , but there some dudes around that I don't want to meet.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maggie is ready to rumble with Susie
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Long hair and mud what a combination! How many baths/week does Maggie get? LOL
Click to expand...

Nearly every single day Maggie flings herself into the creek and mud.  Nearly every single day she gets hosed down. Every day when we hit the driveway, Mary Lou or Gary tells her "Grass Maggie" and she reluctantly drags herself to the front grass for a hosing.  The morning hosing is good practice for Gary in civil disobedience training.


 
Before



 
After


----------



## Fujidave

ceemac said:


> Dog walks are good. There are some beautiful walks around here. It's a little awkward taking pictures. I keep Sara on a leash in case she picks up an interesting scent. I haven"t seen many animals yet , but there some dudes around that I don't want to meet.



I think it is really good that some times I will not take the Fuji out, so it is just me and Susie.  Times like that I really do love.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 158325 View attachment 158326
> Miss Maggie would love to play with your pups.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Webster wants to play in the mud. Webster's fixed but he is still horny, so we need to watch for that....
> 
> View attachment 158377
Click to expand...

Maggie's BFF (Best Furry Friend) is Max, a Golden Retriever mix.  Max is overly protective of Maggie.  Max gets jealous when Maggie plays with other dogs.  Often, Max's human will leash Max up so Maggie can play with others.  After playtime, Max is sullen and sulks at Maggie.  Maggie will skip up to Max with this "Come-on Maxie, let's play...." then trots by him with some creek treasure or runs circles around him with a toy and Max totally ignores her. It's pretty funny.


 
Maggie pinning Max.




This is in the patio, after our walk and Maggie's daily hosing. Max is too tired to get up after running miles through the creek with Maggie. After our morning constitutional, Max and Mike (Max's human), usually come by for coffee and treats.


----------



## Gary A.

ceemac said:


> Dog walks are good. There are some beautiful walks around here. It's a little awkward taking pictures. I keep Sara on a leash in case she picks up an interesting scent. I haven"t seen many animals yet , but there some dudes around that I don't want to meet.


Maggie walks sans leash, until we meet an unknown dog.  Gary has trained her to be Street Wise and she won't stray into the street, even if chasing a cat. Off leash she has the freedom just a be a dog.  To run like a dog, play like a dog, investigate smells like a dog.  Gary likes her to be a dog and not a pet. Gary limits her training to safety issues, Stop, Come, Sit, Stay, Vacuum ...

Living in an urban area, the largest neighborhood wild animal are coyotes.  At 35 lbs, she's at a size where the coyotes think thrice about about challenging Maggie. Besides there are enough lap dogs, cats and bunnies around ... low hanging fruit ... easier pickings. But, I always keep Maggie in my sight. Maggie's morning park is long and narrow, easily scanned for dangers.  The park has no restrooms, no parking, fenced in, hidden with few entrances/exits rendering the park quite free of visitors. 

All Gary's photos of Miss Maggie were captured with an iPhone.


----------



## davidharmier60

Off until Monday. 4.3x hours.
28.37 for the week.
PO Box, box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## smoke665

Depends on location and time of the year on if Sadie is on leash or off. Despite her good manners most of the time, she is first and foremost a hunting dog, that is instilled in her genetics, so when the opportunity presents it's self she will become focused only on the prey, ignoring all else.  So in the field during season, or practice sessions she is off leash. Most of our daily walks involve fire lanes through heavy woods. In the winter when the foliage is down, there isn't as much problems and will work with her off leash, but in the warmer months, I normally use a 75' lead that she drags, as a safety precaution, but also a training aid, as last season, she was working just a tad to far in ahead.


----------



## ceemac

That's amazing. Gary. I don't think I've seen a dirtier dog.  The biggest off-leash problem I have with Sara is that she'll go into any body of water for a drink. I guess it's easier to drink when she's swimming. I think they call it troughing.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

From this morning’s walk.


----------



## Gary A.

ceemac said:


> That's amazing. Gary. I don't think I've seen a dirtier dog.  The biggest off-leash problem I have with Sara is that she'll go into any body of water for a drink. I guess it's easier to drink when she's swimming. I think they call it troughing.


Max and Maggie will run in the creek while their mouths are wide open in the water.  It reminds me of those forrest fire fighting super scooper filling up for another drop.


----------



## Gary A.

Maggie gets a hosing every day.


----------



## Gary A.

PS-  Maggie’s fur isn’t coarse like most dogs with water repellant fur.  It is very soft and human hair like.  Her fur just sucks up the water.


----------



## davidharmier60

Checking in on my phone because the computer is wigging out.  The screen goes to sleep. Then a noise, the light on the DVD drive blinks and it comes up. Then must click on a button.  Had a video playing on YouTube and having it go black in the middle of a video is like the straw that broke the camel's back. 

None of our dogs ever "leash".

But at least one will go into the pond green with pond scum. And come out stinky.

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----------



## vintagesnaps

Waiting for dinner, and now that I type that, it's time to go!


----------



## smoke665

Well today has been a bust. Went to town earlier today, and had a lot of breathing problems. Had several things to do outside but I've been staying inside in the A/C choosing breathing over productivity. Just check for alerts, now I know the reason for my problems. At least tomorrow is a good day.


----------



## SquarePeg

Amazing what you forget you own when you tuck things away.  We’re about 1/2 way through the garage clean up and I’m taking the rest of the night off.  Ordering in Chinese and making a nice pitcher of drinks.  Going to sit out on the deck and enjoy the nice warm weather that we’re having today.  Going to the cemetery tomorrow morning then will get back to work on the clean out.  Hope you all are having a nice weekend.


----------



## terri

A little less humid tonight than it has been.   No rain, actually some sun!  It's quiet around here, and we're enjoying the screened in porch, with the cats, surrounded by the herbs and flowers.  It's not bad!


----------



## davidharmier60

Thunder is getting closer.

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----------



## Fujidave

We had some rain last night but none of the storms that London had.  Today it is sunny and muggy with humidity at 93 and still going up.  Susie and I are over to mums today to help out then have some lunch.


----------



## SquarePeg

Right back at it today.  Garage clean out day 2 - the attic above the garage.  It was way too hot yesterday to be up there so saved that part of it for today.  Hoping to be finished with this by 2. Wouldn’t mind taking a break and catching a movie later this afternoon.  Solo!


----------



## smoke665

Hoping for a better day here as the Asthma alerts are gone for the next few days. Got close a couple times yesterday but managed to stay out of the ER.  Lot of work to do outside, so will be cautiously sticking my head out the door later.


----------



## davidharmier60

Starting to be good days to stay indoors in East Texas. The sun is shining and the heat is on. The AC is running more and more.

The computer got over whatever was pissing it off. Will do half of my penny rolls for the day and then do my comics on the computer. 

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----------



## Fujidave

Just got back from a lovely day at mums, warm but the humidity is up in to the 90s far to hot for me as it plays merry hell with my asthma and copd so the fans are now on in the flat.


----------



## markjwyatt

We had visitors from afar. Yum.


----------



## davidharmier60

Got darkish. Rained. Sun is back with a vengeance. 

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----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Just got back from a lovely day at mums, warm but the humidity is up in to the 90s far to hot for me as it plays merry hell with my asthma and copd so the fans are now on in the flat.



Feel for you no COPD but the Asthma plays the devil with my outside activities this time of the year. Spent all day inside yesterday, today and tomorrow are supposed to be better here.


----------



## Gary A.

Another perfect day ...71F and Gary can’t feel any humidity. Yesterday, Mary Lou and Gary spent the afternoon working in the yard.  Mary Lou dug up a ton of mint and marjoram. Gary cut down a ton of grapes, Cabernet and Zin and cleaned out the pond skimmer.  Yesterday we also caught Real Madrid and Liverpool in the championship game. What an exciting game, non-stop action.  Congrats to Madrid. Presently, we are all in the patio, reading the paper and listening to KUSC and jumping up for the occasional garden touch-up and pruning.


----------



## davidharmier60

Spending time outside ain't on the agenda. 
Meatloaf,  Mashed potatoes and gravy and broccoli will be dinner in about 2 hours. 

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----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from a lovely day at mums, warm but the humidity is up in to the 90s far to hot for me as it plays merry hell with my asthma and copd so the fans are now on in the flat.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Feel for you no COPD but the Asthma plays the devil with my outside activities this time of the year. Spent all day inside yesterday, today and tomorrow are supposed to be better here.
Click to expand...


The joys of working with asbestos and smoking gave me the copd, but I always suffered from asthma since a little boy, like you I have to stay indoors every so often.  On a better and happier note, the best thing that really did help change my life around after stopping smoking was getting Susie.  As when we go for our slow walks it can help with my chest, so my doctor is happy as am I.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> The joys of working with asbestos and smoking gave me the copd, but I always suffered from asthma since a little boy,



Surprisingly despite all the crud I've subjected my lungs to over the years, no COPD and the Asthma was Adult onset (age 60).


----------



## Jeff15

I too suffer with COPD, it's a real pain in the arse when I want to walk to the pub its only .6 of a mile but the first .4 of a mile is uphill..


----------



## RowdyRay

Jeff15 said:


> I too suffer with COPD, it's a real pain in the arse when I want to walk to the pub its only .6 of a mile but the first .4 of a mile is uphill..



I would think that's ideal. When you've had too many, you just roll home. Heck on your clothes, but you wouldn't care anyway. Lol.


----------



## smoke665

The first rain bands from Alberto have started moving through our area.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are watching _1968 _a CNN special.  For me, it is riveting having lived through and experienced firsthand and even participated in many of the stories and themes.  These were times of action. The action often was for good and other times for bad ... but always there was action.


----------



## RowdyRay

It's been disgustingly hot since Friday. 90's with humidity to match. Tomorrow is supposed to hit 100. What state am I in again? We're not even into June. 

My grill is getting a workout. Eating like a king and all leftovers are designed to be used in other dishes without ever heating up the house. Win/win.


----------



## Fujidave

A nice early walk with Susie this morning, nice 73F but the humidity is at 96 now so glad we went out early.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'll think about the Military as I use the floor machine and buffer this morning. 
No rest for retail. 

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----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers and Gary is wishing well to those this Memorial Day.  A sincere Thank You to all serving and to the Veterans. God Bless.


----------



## Gary A.

61F this morning and overcast.  It should hit the mid 70's today, dry, slight breeze off the Pacific and a sunny afternoon.


----------



## terri

Happy Memorial Day to our US hosers!    Always respect and gratitude to our service men and women.    

Anyone who wanted a day at the local pool or a cookout on  this US holiday is in for a disappointment around these parts.   We're in the middle of drizzle and off & on showers, with a nice thick cloud cover.   When the sun does break through, it's a steam bath - ugh.    I was planning on pasta and salad, so it matters not to me, but for the so-called "kick-off to summer" holiday, it's a wash.    

I hope the humidity backs off enough to make having a glass of wine on the screened in porch tolerable later on.   Hummers have moved in and are their usual aggressive, scolding selves at the feeder.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Happy Memorial Day to our US hosers!    Always respect and gratitude to our service men and women.
> 
> Anyone who wanted a day at the local pool or a cookout on  this US holiday is in for a disappointment around these parts.   We're in the middle of drizzle and off & on showers, with a nice thick cloud cover.   When the sun does break through, it's a steam bath - ugh.    I was planning on pasta and salad, so it matters not to me, but for the so-called "kick-off to summer" holiday, it's a wash.
> 
> I hope the humidity backs off enough to make having a glass of wine on the screened in porch tolerable later on.   Hummers have moved in and are their usual aggressive, scolding selves at the feeder.


We live in the patio nearly everyday all year.  Mary Lou and Gary spoke about installing screen, but quickly decided that there would be separation, we'd lose too much of the outside.  We have ceiling fans which keeps flies out in summer and we and our neighbors all have UV bug zappers which work well with nighttime critters. Occasionally, fruit flies will make a beeline for our wine ... when that happens we have the bamboo wine glass toppers which not only keep fruit flies out but with the raised lip on the topper can also be used for snacks.

Would ceiling fans work where you live?


----------



## davidharmier60

5.30 hours today and for the week so far. 
They seriously need a roof specialist. 
One ceiling tile had fallen. I had to go up and remove another and set the catch bucket correctly. Worked on de-spidering the lights. The ones outside was a job.
PO Box, the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

I have almost zero desire to do much sitting outdoors in the summer. It has always been deeply, deeply unpleasant for me.  I'd much rather be outdoors when there is a cool, crisp breeze and sweaters are needed. If I absolutely had to be exposed to summer weather around here, I'd have both screens AND fans.

But seriously, just give me a good blanket, an Adirondack chair, and a fire pit, and that's how I'd rather be outdoors (it should go without saying that there would be wine and books as well, natch  ).


----------



## ceemac

limr said:


> But seriously, just give me a good blanket, an Adirondack chair, and a fire pit, and that's how I'd rather be outdoors (it should go without saying that there would be wine and books as well, natch  ).



That sounds pleasant. Almost like here, except we add insect repellant and don't need the blankets. Sneaking in the odd campfire until they're banned. That would be OK as we have just a little smoke drifting in from the local forest fire. 
( Fortunately it's not much of a fire yet and the weather has cooled down)


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> I have almost zero desire to do much sitting outdoors in the summer. It has always been deeply, deeply unpleasant for me.  I'd much rather be outdoors when there is a cool, crisp breeze and sweaters are needed. If I absolutely had to be exposed to summer weather around here, I'd have both screens AND fans.
> 
> But seriously, just give me a good blanket, an Adirondack chair, and a fire pit, and that's how I'd rather be outdoors (it should go without saying that there would be wine and books as well, natch  ).


Along the beaches, the temps will drop into the 50’s during summer’s nights especially along the Palos Verdes Peninsula.  Most evenings a cold fog blows in from the Pacific and cools everything off, sweaters and blankets are the norm for evening wear.


----------



## Gary A.

The Green Heron is back, stalking all the little fish in the pond.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I suppose Terri once again you're going to send your rain this way! lol thaannks... What kickoff to summer??! - it went from snow to hot! Keeps trying to cloud up, otherwise going to be hot with the ever popular pop up thunderstorms til maybe midweek then be halfway decent. Sometimes we get an early unseasonable hot blast then it tapers off into warm days and cool evenings, but this year I wonder if that ship has sailed. 

I'm watching the college lacrosse championship game, then the Stanley Cup finals start tonight. I'm staying in the AC, I hate having some lousy respiratory thing in hot weather - at least with a cold in the winter you can snuggle in with some soup. At least I'm not really sick and I don't feel bad, just crummy! lol sitting here all stuffed up.


----------



## davidharmier60

I have been in the garage. With both front doors and the back door open, It isn't TOO dang hot. Was going through buckets of bolts and such getting more stainless and copper/brass etc. out of them. Now relaxing with coins and a book.


----------



## smoke665

Stick a fork in me I'm done for the day. Started an upgrade to the suspension on our 5th wheel. Adding heavier spring hangers, and wet bolts. Good thing I did as the manufacturer supplied plastic (Never Fail) bushings were pretty much gone. What a joke how cheap they try to make things. 3 hrs to do one side. In my younger days, I would have completed the job before I quit, but the old hands and body does do well on those jobs now. Time to load up on Advil and relax.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Would ceiling fans work where you live?


Oh yes, we have one overhead on the porch.   It definitely helps, though we'd rather not have to use it.   Here in the SE, we'd be toast without screens - it's more about mosquitoes than flies or gnats.   I appreciate the concept of separation but, the way this house is configured, our porch is up from the yard by about 5 feet, so it's kind of built in.    Perfect height for shepherd's hooks and the bird feeders - we can sit and watch the birds land only a few feet away to munch.   They're used to us now.    The birdbath is out in a little island that the previous homeowner created, and we have another feeder there, too.   They're all around, so fun to watch.    The fireflies have just appeared, too!   

But humidity like this, from this tropical low pressure system, is impossible to escape - it just has to move on out.   



vintagesnaps said:


> I suppose Terri once again you're going to send your rain this way! lol thaannks...


 Yeah, I think that's basically what will happen.   Sorry!


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> it's more about mosquitoes than flies or gnats.



And No-see-ums. At least you can hear the mosquitoes buzzing around you, but you don't have a clue on the No-see-ums till they bite.


----------



## Gary A.

We have few bitting and stinging insects: ants, spiders, bees and wasps sting ... mosquitos and ticks bite. 

The most common ant are the black Argentine ant, it is small and harmless. We also have a red ant, they hurt, but the reds hang in the more arid communities.  More of a country/desert ant than an urban insect.  Gary has only encountered one tick in all the years Gary has lived here.  That was a week ago up in Santa Barbara County when Mary Lou found a tick in the hotel bathroom.  Bees are everywhere of numerous types. But, you leave them alone and they'll leave you alone.  Mary Lou was bitten a week ago by a bee on a morning walk.  That was the first bee sting in her life.  Wasps, they're are many, but the most dangerous is the Yellow Jacket.  The other are much smaller and many are stingless. We do have mosquitos, but their populations are small and easily control. We find it an epidemic if a couple times a week, mosquitos disturb us in the patio.  We have all sizes of spiders from tarantulas to Black Widows to tiny guys. Typically, the ones that hurt ... you can see ... easily ... and they controlled via a broom. Nasty insect wise, it is rather benign out here.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Would ceiling fans work where you live?
> 
> 
> 
> Oh yes, we have one overhead on the porch.   It definitely helps, though we'd rather not have to use it.   Here in the SE, we'd be toast without screens - it's more about mosquitoes than flies or gnats.   I appreciate the concept of separation but, the way this house is configured, our porch is up from the yard by about 5 feet, so it's kind of built in.    Perfect height for shepherd's hooks and the bird feeders - we can sit and watch the birds land only a few feet away to munch.   They're used to us now.    The birdbath is out in a little island that the previous homeowner created, and we have another feeder there, too.   They're all around, so fun to watch.    The fireflies have just appeared, too!
> 
> But humidity like this, from this tropical low pressure system, is impossible to escape - it just has to move on out.
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I suppose Terri once again you're going to send your rain this way! lol thaannks...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah, I think that's basically what will happen.   Sorry!
Click to expand...

Our patio is at about the same grade as the house and yard.  Birds routinely fly in and about the patio. Especially hummers who will feed in the patio and have nested in the patio.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> We have few bitting and stinging insects: ants, spiders, bees and wasps sting ... mosquitos and ticks bite



That I could go for. Here we have it all it seems. Today outside, I pulled a tick off my ear, and another off my neck in less than hour. They aren't as bad this year as previous, but the year is early. Then we have a constant battle with Fire Ants, nasty buggers that swarm all over you and sting. Various and assorted snakes, the non-poisonous I don't mind, but there's always that split second when you have to decide which is which. Scorpions aren't as bad as they once were, but you still need to be careful when picking up things outside. Lots of red wasps, guinea  wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, and bumble bees. Spiders nonpoisonous, and the red widow, and the brown recluse. Then we get to the nuisance pests.


----------



## Tony744

smoke665 said:


> In my younger days, I would have completed the job before I quit, but the old hands and body does do well on those jobs now. Time to load up on Advil and relax.



It's one of the reasons I try to avoid working on my truck these days. I have a mechanic that lives across the street from where I work and repairs cars on the side in his home garage.


----------



## smoke665

Tony744 said:


> t's one of the reasons I try to avoid working on my truck these days. I have a mechanic that lives across the street from where I work and repairs cars on the side in his home garage



I don't mind it most times, and prefer to do it so I know it's right, plus it gives me the opportunity to inspect the vehicle/equipment for other issues. However the older I get the more I'm finding the body refusing to cooperate.


----------



## ceemac

I couldn't imagine living with poisonous insects and snakes. The only dangerous things we've got start at cougar size and get bigger. You're not likely to accidentally step on one of those or have a bear crawl up your pantleg while you're having a nap. LOL


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has dumped his strawberry ice cream concoction into the ice cream maker.  In about 40 minutes there will be ice cream!


----------



## JonA_CT

Flying out to Denver tomorrow after work, and traveling on to Fort Collins and Cheyenne, WY. I haven’t packed a single article yet.


----------



## NancyMoranG

When my mom and dad would go somewhere, my dad was packed 2 days early. The night before leaving, he would say 'are you packed yet?' And she would say with a cute smug look, 'mentally, I am'

My 7 siblings all agree that we were blessed in the parent department.


----------



## davidharmier60

Have your homemade ice cream Gary.
I am about to have Blue Bell. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Gary has dumped his strawberry ice cream concoction into the ice cream maker.  In about 40 minutes there will be ice cream!



We dug out the ice cream maker this weekend but it’s been a bit too cold to want to use it.  Hopefully this week. I think we’re going to try our own version of cookie dough ice cream.


----------



## JonA_CT

Mostly packed now. It'll be a mad dash to change, make sure I have everything I need, and catch my ride to the airport tomorrow afternoon.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou says it is delicious and that she wants to eat all the ice cream.


----------



## Fujidave

We had a down pouring of rain yesterday and all last night, plus the rain is back now but nothing like they are having up North.


----------



## smoke665

We had heavy rain at times through the night as the bands from Alberto passed through. Looks like most of the worst is over for us as the eye of the storm is now about a 100 miles south and west of us. We'll still have a couple rain bands over the morning but otherwise it's over for us.


----------



## ceemac

Fujidave said:


> We had a down pouring of rain yesterday and all last night, plus the rain is back now but nothing like they are having up North.



We need rain. Send it over here. We're part of the commonwealth.


----------



## davidharmier60

4.30 hours today 
10.05 for the week so far 
My butt is kinda dragging. 
The usual stops and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

ceemac said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> We had a down pouring of rain yesterday and all last night, plus the rain is back now but nothing like they are having up North.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We need rain. Send it over here. We're part of the commonwealth.
Click to expand...


It stopped raining long enough for me to get Susie out, so you can have our rain...lol


----------



## Gary A.

Out here, we'll take any rain from anybody.  To adjust to the years of drought, Gary has removed most of the grass in the front and replaced it with succulents and drought tolerant 'native' plants. Mary Lou and Gary shower with buckets and use the captured/used water in the planters. We water twice a week in front and thrice a week in the back for five minutes per zone. Even unused coffee/tea/et al is poured into the planters as opposed to the sink.  It is getting tough out here, too many people and not enough water.  According to Samuel Clemens, whiskey is for drinking ... water is for fighting.


----------



## ceemac

Fujidave said:


> It stopped raining long enough for me to get Susie out, so you can have our rain...lol



We'll trade you for a really really big campfire.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> ceemac said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> We had a down pouring of rain yesterday and all last night, plus the rain is back now but nothing like they are having up North.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We need rain. Send it over here. We're part of the commonwealth.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It stopped raining long enough for me to get Susie out, so you can have our rain...lol
Click to expand...

Trade you some sunshine and warm, dry days for some of that rain.


----------



## Gary A.

(... toss in some wonderful beach time and authentic Mexican food.)


----------



## snowbear

Just a little here, yesterday, but Ellicott City (North of DC and close to Baltimore) got severe flooding.  This is their second "100 year" storm in two years.  An off-duty National Guardsman went to help a local woman whom was trapped, and he was swept away.  We are all hoping he will be found.  ‘Washed away real quick’: Missing Md. man was trying to help woman trapped by flood 

Getting stuff packed for the trip; I'm trying to decide if I want to take the rods - I really only have one day.


----------



## ceemac

Gary A. said:


> (... toss in some wonderful beach time and authentic Mexican food.)



I miss Mexican food. The cariboo diet seems to be anything with french fries and beer.


----------



## Gary A.

... and we'll toss in some world class vino.

(Gary imagines there must be some wine that pairs well with 'bou. )


----------



## ceemac

Carlo Rossi in a jug?


----------



## terri

Morning, hosers!    Another soggy morning, after a drenching wet night of rain.   @Gary A. :  I'll always take rain over drought, too!   Even though either extreme causes difficulties, if it doesn't cause actual flooding, rain systems eventually move out and everything turns very lush.   That's better than cracking earth and stressed trees, certainly.

But I do miss the sun.


----------



## smoke665

Just came in to rest a bit, one more wheel to go and I'll be done with the suspension upgrade. Despite the rain and wind, the side I'm working on was mostly sheltered from the rain blowing in under the RV shed, at least until the eye moved further north, and the wind shifted.  Guess I'll wait it out a bit while I take a break. Not to upset because we needed the rain. This spring I finally got around to grading and leveling a large yard next to the road entrance. I'd seeded it but it was so dry, I was afraid that I'd have to reseed, looks like I'm good for now.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Morning, hosers!    Another soggy morning, after a drenching wet night of rain.   @Gary A. :  I'll always take rain over drought, too!   Even though either extreme causes difficulties, if it doesn't cause actual flooding, rain systems eventually move out and everything turns very lush.   That's better than cracking earth and stressed trees, certainly.
> 
> But I do miss the sun.


Until the drought hit, it was pretty good here.  Most of our water came from snowfall, hundreds of miles away in the Sierra. We could live with lots of sun, little humidity and still maintain lush yards. The drought screwed that up.


----------



## Gary A.

ceemac said:


> Carlo Rossi in a jug?


Yep, that's one of our best, blind-taste-winning, 'bou pairing wines.  Boxed 'bou wines are good too, they stack nicely.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary picked up a small pork shoulder yesterday.  $1.99 a pound, couldn't leave it in the store.  Looking up Sous Vide recipes to finish it off.


----------



## smoke665

Excited..........just placed the order for the K1 MkII. Won't be able to sleep now like a kid waiting on Christmas. LOL


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Excited..........just placed the order for the K1 MkII. Won't be able to sleep now like a kid waiting on Christmas. LOL



I am just the same, anything to do with camera stuff is great fun to wait for.


----------



## SquarePeg

Garage cleaned out - check
Attic done - check
Basement storage room - check
Feels about 15 years lighter around here.


----------



## davidharmier60

Until the pump runs dry we have water.
It's getting hot and humid out there.
Except for going and coming from work indoors is the place to be!


----------



## smoke665

My suspension upgrade is done, tools put up, scratch it off the list. As always seems to happen the very last bolt refused to come out, the impact wrench rounded off the nut before I realized it. 15 mins with a cut off wheel and I was back on track.  It wouldn't have been to long down the road before I lost the axles out from under it. I still can't believe they used plastic bushings in the spring eyes, non-greasable pins, and 3/16" thick hangers. What a joke on a trailer weighing close 16K. New bronze bushings to replace the plastic, pins that have grease zerks, and 1/2" thick hangers.


----------



## JonA_CT

My flight out tonight was delayed well past my connection, so I’m working with the airline to leave first thing tomorrow. Their payment system for my fat ass not to have a center seat is down though, so I’ve been on hold on and off for an hour and ten minutes and counting.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary remembers when flying was fun.


----------



## Tony744

smoke665 said:


> It wouldn't have been to long down the road before I lost the axles out from under it. I still can't believe they used plastic bushings in the spring eyes, non-greasable pins, and 3/16" thick hangers. What a joke on a trailer weighing close 16K. New bronze bushings to replace the plastic, pins that have grease zerks, and 1/2" thick hangers.



I had the same problem with the gooseneck car trailers I used to pull. It amazed me how cheap and flimsy the mounting hardware for the springs were.


----------



## smoke665

Tony744 said:


> It amazed me how cheap and flimsy the mounting hardware for the springs were.



RV trailers don't adhere to the same standards as vehicles. Dumb right. The sad thing is that for less than $200 per unit they could supply axles, brakes, springs, hangers suitable for the load. Had I had the option I would have gladly paid twice that just to have them.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary remembers when flying was fun.



All the years I spent crisscrossing the country I don't have a single fond memory of any of it. Loneliest place in the world is sitting in an airport late on a Friday waiting for your connecting flight home, and knowing you'll start all over on Sunday night.


----------



## Tony744

Fifteen years as a long haul trucker and there are days when I miss being out on the road. I don't miss dealing with the traffic in metropolitan areas, D.O.T. regulations,  or idiot motorists.


----------



## RowdyRay

smoke665 said:


> My suspension upgrade is done, tools put up, scratch it off the list. As always seems to happen the very last bolt refused to come out, the impact wrench rounded off the nut before I realized it. 15 mins with a cut off wheel and I was back on track.  It wouldn't have been to long down the road before I lost the axles out from under it. I still can't believe they used plastic bushings in the spring eyes, non-greasable pins, and 3/16" thick hangers. What a joke on a trailer weighing close 16K. New bronze bushings to replace the plastic, pins that have grease zerks, and 1/2" thick hangers.



I can believe it. Nothing is made the way it used to be....or to last. Manufacturers want you to, A) pay for an upgrade. Or, B) pay to have it repaired when their cheap materials fail. Funny....upgrade parts are available. Why weren't they used in the first place? Could give you many examples in my family alone.

Sad you had to fix it yourself, but it should be safer and tow better. Probably save some gas too. You have to protect your investment. Sucks, but that's how we try to look at it.


----------



## davidharmier60

you betcha they don't make stuff as good as they uesed to. My Dodge Ram 2500 Diesel went through any number of replacement wheel bearing/hub assemblies.
And they were even the upper priced ones sold.


----------



## JonA_CT

Ended up getting everything sorted, and then saw a baseball game in the new ball park here in Hartford. I’d upload some photos but the Flickr gods don’t give you the B.B. code option from their app. 

Getting ready to bunk down. Headed to Denver at 5:45 via Detroit.


----------



## limr

ceemac said:


> Carlo Rossi in a jug?



My father always kept a jug of Carlo Rossi Rose under his dinner chair. Sometimes he'd shake things up and get a Chablis or Paisano.

No, he wasn't an alcoholic, just Portuguese and accustomed to having a glass of wine with dinner. And he was supporting 7 people on a mechanic's salary, so Carlo Rossi fit the budget.

For special occasions, we'd break out the Mateus or Lancers  (Both Portuguese wines, btw. Just not the good stuff.)


----------



## Gary A.

This was another pleasant day.  Mid 70’s, nice breezes ... same-o same-o as yesterday and tomorrow. Gary finished early and Mary Lou and he zipped down to Long Beach to catch a movie.  _Beast, _a Hitchcock style suspense movie.  No CG, low production value, but welled played.  Super character development, five stars for those who like suspense stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are home now, the temps have dropped into the low 60’s and were having a glass of wine before a light dinner.  Either albondigas or ramen ...haven’t quite decided.


----------



## jcdeboever

Hot and humid in Ohio. Home now. No one thanked me for my service. My family seemed to forget all the dead bodies I pulled out of the rubble in Beirut and the terror that followed. Oh well, I served my in laws well this weekend.


----------



## Gary A.

Beirut, for me, was worse than Vietnam and Nicaragua.


----------



## Fujidave

Grey and dull out with humidity at 96, going to an old second hand camera shop in town for a mooch.


----------



## JonA_CT

You know you are on the early van from the hotel when it’s you and the early shuttle flight crew.


----------



## davidharmier60

Mornin y'all. Eagle poops today 
Coffee is drinkable. 
Have a good one y'all. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Grey and dull out with humidity at 96, going to an old second hand camera shop in town for a mooch.



I would be happy to visit any real camera store. As a young man there was a well stocked family store 30 miles away, that I could lose myself in. I can remember every detail of that store, the layout, shelves, even the smells. They stocked every kind of chemical, paper, darkroom supply you'd ever need, and long glass cases of cameras and lens, new and used. The owner was a walking encyclopedia of photography knowledge.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I visited a small camera shop just before our Alaska trip. I made a choice and then was told...cash only! Last time I was in the shop Guess it's back to online shopping


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I visited a small camera shop just before our Alaska trip. I made a choice and then was told...cash only! Last time I was in the shop Guess it's back to online shopping



Yep sometimes retailers are their own worst competitors. Around here Wally World is moving more and more toward the self checkout. The latest being installing self checkouts on what used to be checker isles, then force you into them by only having one or two live checker lanes open. Retailers forget that if they want to compete with online they have to provide value added service to justify the higher prices.


----------



## smoke665

Okay, just when you "think" you've heard everything, this pops up on the news. WTH?????? USGS Warning: Do Not Try To Roast Marshmallows Over Erupting Hawaii Volcano


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Ended up getting everything sorted, and then saw a baseball game in the new ball park here in Hartford. I’d upload some photos but the Flickr gods don’t give you the B.B. code option from their app.
> 
> Getting ready to bunk down. Headed to Denver at 5:45 via Detroit.



To post from your phone, you need to sign into Flickr in the phone's web browser.  You have to choose "show full site" or "show desktop site" or something like that...   I use Chrome and it works.  To copy paste the bb code on your phone (iphone?) you need to highlight the beginning of the code and then swipe down and off the dialogue box to capture the part that is off the screen then copy/paste.  It's a bit tricky but it does work.  Thanks @waday for sharing this trick which made my ipad and iphone usable for Flickr!


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ended up getting everything sorted, and then saw a baseball game in the new ball park here in Hartford. I’d upload some photos but the Flickr gods don’t give you the B.B. code option from their app.
> 
> Getting ready to bunk down. Headed to Denver at 5:45 via Detroit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To post from your phone, you need to sign into Flickr in the phone's web browser.  You have to choose "show full site" or "show desktop site" or something like that...   I use Chrome and it works.  To copy paste the bb code on your phone (iphone?) you need to highlight the beginning of the code and then swipe down and off the dialogue box to capture the part that is off the screen then copy/paste.  It's a bit tricky but it does work.  Thanks @waday for sharing this trick which made my ipad and iphone usable for Flickr!
Click to expand...

No problem! I'm just glad I found a trick to make it work. Maybe SmugMug will make it easier to copy/paste the code on an iPhone? I do find it extremely odd that something as simple as that can't be fixed by Flickr?


----------



## ceemac

smoke665 said:


> Okay, just when you "think" you've heard everything, this pops up on the news. WTH?????? USGS Warning: Do Not Try To Roast Marshmallows Over Erupting Hawaii Volcano



Haha. We're well protected in Canada, too. It was several years ago, but I think we were warned against using snowblowers on our roofs.


----------



## Fujidave

Got to say a thank you to Real Madrid, and a Big Thank you to Goal scorer Gareth Bale.  As I picked up my winnings and just treated my self.  Plus I got a Free shutter release cable.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  60F this morning but scheduled to hit 70F by the afternoon.  Gary received some precipitation during the night. Most likely not measurable, but definitely wet. The plants are happy. The backyard and patio are wet but the front driveway is dry.  Go figure.


----------



## smoke665

My yard is happy Gary. I had spread close to a 1/2 ton of fertilizer on the yards about a month ago, after the rains of late, it must have finally hit the root level, because it is "really" green today, and seems like it jumped a couple inches in height.


----------



## waday

Question for everyone.

If someone says, "I'll get this to you shortly," how long of a time does that mean?

I've had people say shortly and get it to me within an hour, and I've had people say shortly and get it to me within a few days. I find myself using that phrase more and more now, but I want to make sure I'm within the word's definition and acceptable spectrum of time.


----------



## Fujidave

waday said:


> Question for everyone.
> 
> If someone says, "I'll get this to you shortly," how long of a time does that mean?
> 
> I've had people say shortly and get it to me within an hour, and I've had people say shortly and get it to me within a few days. I find myself using that phrase more and more now, but I want to make sure I'm within the word's definition and acceptable spectrum of time.



If I was saying it will be with you shortly, in my mind I`d be thinking two days at the most.


----------



## JonA_CT

That means today for me, Wade.

On the ground in denver. Time to book it to Cheyenne.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Question for everyone.
> 
> If someone says, "I'll get this to you shortly," how long of a time does that mean?
> 
> I've had people say shortly and get it to me within an hour, and I've had people say shortly and get it to me within a few days. I find myself using that phrase more and more now, but I want to make sure I'm within the word's definition and acceptable spectrum of time.


Sorta depends on what they're gonna give you.  If it is sometime you need to finish the project ... or your portion of the project ... I would bug them (nicely) until you get it (like stand over their desk tapping you foot while playing Crush).


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ended up getting everything sorted, and then saw a baseball game in the new ball park here in Hartford. I’d upload some photos but the Flickr gods don’t give you the B.B. code option from their app.
> 
> Getting ready to bunk down. Headed to Denver at 5:45 via Detroit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To post from your phone, you need to sign into Flickr in the phone's web browser.  You have to choose "show full site" or "show desktop site" or something like that...   I use Chrome and it works.  To copy paste the bb code on your phone (iphone?) you need to highlight the beginning of the code and then swipe down and off the dialogue box to capture the part that is off the screen then copy/paste.  It's a bit tricky but it does work.  Thanks @waday for sharing this trick which made my ipad and iphone usable for Flickr!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No problem! I'm just glad I found a trick to make it work. Maybe SmugMug will make it easier to copy/paste the code on an iPhone? I do find it extremely odd that something as simple as that can't be fixed by Flickr?
Click to expand...


Flickr blames iPhone and vice versa.



waday said:


> Question for everyone.
> 
> If someone says, "I'll get this to you shortly," how long of a time does that mean?
> 
> I've had people say shortly and get it to me within an hour, and I've had people say shortly and get it to me within a few days. I find myself using that phrase more and more now, but I want to make sure I'm within the word's definition and acceptable spectrum of time.



It's a bit of a cop out answer.  In my world, if I say "shortly", which I rarely do, that is same day.  Anything other than same day, I give a rough expectation on when ie "Thursday" or "early next week"...  If someone tells me they'll get something to me "shortly", I usually ask for clarification.


----------



## Gary A.

The pork shoulder is still in the Sous Vide, humming away ... the water is at 165F, rendering the pork cooked ... I'm just adding a ton of flavor, vis-a-vis Gary's BBQ sauce, and handfuls of herbs Gary tossed into the mix.  Lots of sage this time.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Wade: "Shortly" to Gary means within an hour or two ... otherwise it would be "In the Morning" or "Late Afternoon" or "Thursday a.m.".  Gary's life has revolved around deadlines and he is quite specific when he gives notice on stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

@Fujidave: That first goal was amazing by Bale.  Give thanks to the Liverpool goalie as well for handing Madrid two more goals.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> @Fujidave: That first goal was amazing by Bale.  Give thanks to the Liverpool goalie as well for handing Madrid two more goals.



I do agree, but what I now find very sad indeed is, some of the Liverpool fans have been sending the goalie death threats, totally sad imo to be like that.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Fujidave: That first goal was amazing by Bale.  Give thanks to the Liverpool goalie as well for handing Madrid two more goals.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I do agree, but what I now find very sad indeed is, some of the Liverpool fans have been sending the goalie death threats, totally sad imo to be like that.
Click to expand...

Does not surprise me at all.  In Argentine or maybe it was Brazil ... down south anyway, fan(s) actually murdered their goalie after he scored a goal for the other team.  Maybe it was Colombia ... yeah, Colombia.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary knows that soccer matches in Europe have gotten more civilized.  But Gary remembers a Frenchman describing a visit he had to California.  He and his traveling bud were in San Francisco and the decided to join the crowds queuing up for a baseball game.  "I couldn't believe it," he said, "parents were bringing children to the game ... families were there!"


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Fujidave: That first goal was amazing by Bale.  Give thanks to the Liverpool goalie as well for handing Madrid two more goals.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I do agree, but what I now find very sad indeed is, some of the Liverpool fans have been sending the goalie death threats, totally sad imo to be like that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Does not surprise me at all.  In Argentine or maybe it was Brazil ... down south anyway, fan(s) actually murdered their goalie after he scored a goal for the other team.  Maybe it was Colombia ... yeah, Colombia.
Click to expand...



I remember many years ago, a player scored an own goal in a world cup game that knocked his team out.  He was sent home on the next plane and as soon as it landed he was taken off to the back and shot and killed.


----------



## davidharmier60

If you are from Europe or South America baseball is almost sedate. Heck, for that matter Football ain't nothing to get all worked up over.

5 and a bit over a half hours today 
15.40 for the week so far. 
Just had chicken tenders and gravy at the deli. Going to collect the payment for my penny box and go to Peoples Bank for another box. Then to the Post Office and then I ought to be able to get my check. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> Question for everyone.
> 
> If someone says, "I'll get this to you shortly," how long of a time does that mean?
> 
> I've had people say shortly and get it to me within an hour, and I've had people say shortly and get it to me within a few days. I find myself using that phrase more and more now, but I want to make sure I'm within the word's definition and acceptable spectrum of time.



Kind of like saying it's "Over yonder", you just assume the person you're talking to knows


----------



## waday

Thanks all!



Fujidave said:


> If I was saying it will be with you shortly, in my mind I`d be thinking two days at the most.


My initial thought of shortly was within a couple hours or close of business at the latest, but as I've started seeing more and more people say it, and it does seem to mean within a couple days to them.



JonA_CT said:


> That means today for me, Wade.


Thanks Jon!



Gary A. said:


> Sorta depends on what they're gonna give you.  If it is sometime you need to finish the project ... or your portion of the project ... I would bug them (nicely) until you get it (like stand over their desk tapping you foot while playing Crush).


That's true.. it does depend on what the product/deliverable is... that said, when I need to finish a project and they don't get me what they need by the previous day, I usually do bug them nicely until I get it.



Gary A. said:


> @ Wade: "Shortly" to Gary means within an hour or two ... otherwise it would be "In the Morning" or "Late Afternoon" or "Thursday a.m.".  Gary's life has revolved around deadlines and he is quite specific when he gives notice on stuff.


This is very helpful! I have found myself saying either "by noon" or "by COB". My previous boss' definition of COB was anytime before 8 AM the next day, LOL.



SquarePeg said:


> It's a bit of a cop out answer.  In my world, if I say "shortly", which I rarely do, that is same day.  Anything other than same day, I give a rough expectation on when ie "Thursday" or "early next week"...  If someone tells me they'll get something to me "shortly", I usually ask for clarification.


Yeah, it is a cop out answer. I find myself using it generally the same way, but when people ask for something from me too early (i.e., earlier than they actually need it), I do tend to use "shortly" as defined by a couple days. Someone just asked me for a report ASAP when the PM told me it's not needed for like 2 weeks. I told them "soon", LOL. 



smoke665 said:


> Kind of like saying it's "Over yonder", you just assume the person you're talking to knows


Good point... Wouldn't it be fun to start using idioms that make no sense?

Person: "Where is the report located?"
Me: "As the crow flies in the computer"
Person: "Yeah, but which folder?"
Me: "Open that document on location and you'll cross the Rubicon"​


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> ceemac said:
> 
> 
> 
> Carlo Rossi in a jug?
> 
> 
> 
> For special occasions, we'd break out the Mateus or Lancers  (Both Portuguese wines, btw. Just not the good stuff.)
Click to expand...

I haven’t had Mateus Rose in years; one of the first wines I ever had.

We hit CT on the Merritt a few minutes ago.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Fujidave: That first goal was amazing by Bale.  Give thanks to the Liverpool goalie as well for handing Madrid two more goals.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I do agree, but what I now find very sad indeed is, some of the Liverpool fans have been sending the goalie death threats, totally sad imo to be like that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Does not surprise me at all.  In Argentine or maybe it was Brazil ... down south anyway, fan(s) actually murdered their goalie after he scored a goal for the other team.  Maybe it was Colombia ... yeah, Colombia.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> I remember many years ago, a player scored an own goal in a world cup game that knocked his team out.  He was sent home on the next plane and as soon as it landed he was taken off to the back and shot and killed.
Click to expand...

Yes, the Colombia team goalie, see above.


----------



## Fujidave

This is the one Columbian defender Andres Escobar


Andrés Escobar - Wikipedia


----------



## Gary A.

@ Fujidave: PS- Mary Lou and her oldest son were at that game.  It was a World Cup game and the loss kick them out of contention.  The Colombian authorities stated that the murder was not related to the game winning goal.  Apparently, there are some stiff penalties for overdue library books.

Mary Lou was sitting near the goal and had a good view of the offense.


----------



## Gary A.

L-R: Max and Maggie playing in the mud.


----------



## Gary A.

Another iPhone image.


----------



## davidharmier60

Yikes! IRS says I owe them $29XX (call it 3K). I no more have 3K than I could flap my arms and fly. My suspicion is this ain't good.


----------



## SquarePeg

davidharmier60 said:


> Yikes! IRS says I owe them $29XX (call it 3K). I no more have 3K than I could flap my arms and fly. My suspicion is this ain't good.



If it was a phone call then disregard as that is a scam.  If they sent you a letter then call them but look up the phone number independent of the letter you received to make sure you are calling the actual IRS.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> We hit CT on the Merritt a few minutes ago.



Uck. The Merritt. I'm sorry.


----------



## davidharmier60

It sure LOOKS official Square Peg.


----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> It sure LOOKS official Square Peg.



Spammers go to great lengths to make things look official.

Here, check it against this:
www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-scamsconsumer-alerts


----------



## Gary A.

Gary opened the lid on the worm bin to toss in some bananas and discovered three of these guys.


----------



## limr

OH HAI!


----------



## terri

@Gary A. :  I hope you tossed in an extra banana!    

We had a small family of possums that visited our yard every night when we were living in Texas.   They were generally after whatever was thrown down from the bird feeders.   We learned to leave out a small apple, cut in half, and would watch one or two come slowly up, snatch up the apple half in those long, strange mouths, and go off with the booty, leaving the feeder alone.   They were actually gentle and shy, avoiding the cats.    I don't know why they have such a bad rep.


----------



## Gary A.

As an adult, they're pretty ugly ... with an armored skill, a long snout and jaw bristling with teeth and a long hairless rat tail. With our garden and fruit trees, we attract opossums like toys to an attic or flies to ointment. Gary's only fears are twofold ... as they eat carrion and rodents, Gary has a fear of them bearing disease and secondly, that one day Maggie will stumble upon one and accidentally get latched onto by an angry 'possum.  Which, again brings up Gary's first fear. Gary knows people who keep them as pets.

The vermiculture bin is located in a side yard.  Today we worked on the grapes across from the bin.  At the end of our trimming and processing of the grape vines we checked in on our little friends and they were gone, vam-moose. Interestingly enough, they had dragged a plastic bag and some dry leaves into the worm bin as bedding. They entered and exited through a handhold cutout in the upper bin.  The handhold is much too small for an adult opossum to squeeze through ... so Gary thinks that they are on their own.


----------



## davidharmier60

I was under the impression that we were having Spaghetti for dinner.  But it was Hot Dogs. Yummy.  My cousin had a pet racoon  back when....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Tony744

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Grey and dull out with humidity at 96, going to an old second hand camera shop in town for a mooch.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would be happy to visit any real camera store. As a young man there was a well stocked family store 30 miles away, that I could lose myself in. I can remember every detail of that store, the layout, shelves, even the smells. They stocked every kind of chemical, paper, darkroom supply you'd ever need, and long glass cases of cameras and lens, new and used. The owner was a walking encyclopedia of photography knowledge.
Click to expand...


Newtonville Camera just reopened yesterday after moving to a new location. Can't wait to get down there and see what they've got.


----------



## Gary A.

Regarding the disposition of the opossums. Gary's youngest daughter wants them and is already naming them. Gary's oldest daughter says to let Maggie have them.


----------



## limr

Gary should listen to the wise youngest daughter.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> L-R: Max and Maggie playing in the mud



That water looks awful black. Is there any concern that it might have pollutants not safe for doggies?


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> we attract opossums like toys to an attic or flies to ointment.



Maybe Gary needs to try a new culinary experience Possum Recipes


----------



## davidharmier60

I should already be in bed. Good night my peeps. Have a great Thursday!


----------



## RowdyRay

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> we attract opossums like toys to an attic or flies to ointment.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe Gary needs to try a new culinary experience Possum Recipes
Click to expand...


I was thinking it. Didn't say it. Good luck.


----------



## limr

Not predictable at all.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> L-R: Max and Maggie playing in the mud
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That water looks awful black. Is there any concern that it might have pollutants not safe for doggies?
Click to expand...

The blackness came from a mud bank Maggie intentionally and literally slide into. The water and associated monitor wells are tested weekly.

The dogs repeatedly run up and down is stirring up all the blackness in the water.  Undistrurded, the water is quite clear.


----------



## Gary A.

@smoke665: PS- Thank you for your concerns.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> he blackness came from a mud bank Maggie intentionally and literally slide into.



So is the soil there a loam, sand or muck. We have a red clay here, but in MO it ranges from sandy loam to muck. Some of the muck in the area has so much organic matter in it that burning off the stubble can set the ground on fire


----------



## Gary A.

The soil is actually clay.  But the creek has miles of park on both sides and collects a ton of organics from the grass clippings, falling leaves and algae blooms.  100 yards north of the photo the creek is natural with soft banks and a natural wetland ecosystem.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary should listen to the wise youngest daughter.


The opossums are gone.  After working the grapes we peaked into the worm bin and the three little guys were gone.  Opossums are very territorial, while they’re no longer sleeping with the worms, they’re not far away.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary should listen to the wise youngest daughter.
> 
> 
> 
> The opossums are gone.  After working the grapes we peaked into the worm bin and the three little guys were gone.  Opossums are very territorial, while they’re no longer sleeping with the worms, they’re not far away.
Click to expand...


I had one take up residence on my porch in Florida. We got along quite well. I called her (or him) Possy. 

I like possums.


----------



## vintagesnaps

My power's back on. Went off about 11:00. I heard a couple of clunks or bangs or something and thought is somebody banging their trash cans or what? since it's garbage night. It's or what - something happened down the road, sirens were going off. Last time this happened somebody hit a telephone pole. Then a utility truck and I guess a couple of ambulances going slowish, maybe our local officers/paramedics all out patrolling. Then after awhile I heard a saw... then voices... kind of figured out something fell, a tree? Rained really hard but didn't storm. Guess I'll see what's what in the morning. 

Was sitting here thinking, why am I still up? Oh yeah, the utility company's automated system called (with an estimate of 3:00 am) and I thought it usually calls back to confirm the power's on, but I'm about to give up. I'm usually up late but still. And it is so foggy and humid outside in just a couple of hours the humidity reading in the house is up to 80%, the AC will probably run like crazy.


----------



## Fujidave

Just got back in time from a hot walk with Susie, humidity is 100% and horrible plus just started to chuck it down.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Ever feel like you should have stayed in bed? This morning, after getting out of the shower, I thought I'd put a cup of coffee on so it would be done when I was dressed. Put the water in, put the pod in, and turned it on. Got dressed, took the socks out of the dryer and took them into the living room to sort, mate and fold. Went back to get the coffee and discovered I had not put the cup under...one cup of coffee all over the counter


----------



## smoke665

@Dean_Gretsch We use a drip coffee maker. One morning still in that nether land between sleep and awake, I filled the reservoir with water, put the coffee in, turned it on and left to let the fur kids out. I came back to find coffee everywhere. Seems I'd forgotten to empty the half pot left from the day before.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Ok, I feel better


----------



## limr

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Ok, I feel better



I did that with the little Keurig machine at work. It's a small model, no reservoir, so I poured the water in, put the refillable cup in, turned it on, and put my cup down. A few minutes later, I went to get my coffee, and saw my cup. Empty. Sitting right next to the machine where I had left it.

I wish I could at least blame that on being half-asleep, but alas, I had already managed to get myself out of the house and drive to work, so I really have no excuse.

The good thing was that I didn´t see any coffee anywhere. It confused me at first, but then I realized that the spill reservoir has just enough space to fit one entire cup of coffee. Since I always keep the machine clean, that meant a simple matter of pouring the coffee from the spill reservoir into my cup where it belonged


----------



## JonA_CT

Good morning, hosers. 

I finally made it all of the places I needed to be yesterday, but damn, was I about ready to fall over by the time I racked out last night. Cheyenne and Fort Collins are both beautiful. We are staying in a hostel here in Fort Collins, and this place is awesome. The building is set up around a solarium, and I'm sipping coffee on a couch with trickling water in the back ground, surrounded by tropical plants. I have a feeling this is similar to what Gary's back porch must be like. 

We found an incredible brewery last night that specialized in barrel-aged beers. I'm excited to see what we'll find today. 



P.S.

Baseball game from the other night....




Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr

The size of the beers they serve...($13 for a 32 oz local beer)




Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> The size of the beers they serve...($13 for a 32 oz local beer)



I didn't realize Dunkin Donuts served beer, all this time I'd been just buying their coffee.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Another overcast morning of 62F, but it should burn off and break 70F by the afternoon. The weather app says that it also feels like 62F. Last night Maggie introduced herself to Mother Opossum. Mother Opossum was rather rude and Maggie came and got us.  Mother Opossum was extremely hostile and never entered 'possum mode of pretending to be dead while exposing all their teeth. Mother retreated up to higher ground and we all did likewise into the house.  Maggie still wanted to play with our guest, so Mary Lou slid the security panel into the doggie door, locking Maggie inside.  It took Maggie about 1/2 a second to figure how to lift the panel up and slip out into the yard. The panel falling back into place announced Maggie's departure for inside the house. About 20 minutes later Maggie came back flustered that Mother Opossum wouldn't play with her and she settled in for the night.  Gary figures that Mother Opossum was aggressively protecting her kids which accounted for her angry growls and snarls even though she was never cornered.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Interestingly enough, there appears to be additional bedding materials (dried persimmon tree leaves) in the worm bin, but no occupants.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. they can be nasty critters. If you don't want to harm them, then the best thing might be to trap them, so they can be relocated far away. I have a couple different sizes of the these Live Animal Traps (5 Different Sizes in Stock) - Havahart® I prefer the two door model as they are more apt to enter if both ends are open.


----------



## Gary A.

@JonA_CT:  Mary Lou and Gary find the backyard very relaxing.  Mary Lou and Gary are traveling much less and eating out less, now than before we fixed up the yard. According to Mary Lou "... what's the point ...".


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. they can be nasty critters. If you don't want to harm them, then the best thing might be to trap them, so they can be relocated far away. I have a couple different sizes of the these Live Animal Traps (5 Different Sizes in Stock) - Havahart® I prefer the two door model as they are more apt to enter if both ends are open.


Gary’s neighbor has live traps which Gary can use.  The neighbor uses them mainly for raccoons.  After he captures them, he will paint their behinds red just to see if they return after release. Gary can imagine the thoughts of a newly release raccoon ... " I ain't ever goin' back there.  That human is a crazy ... spray paintin' my ass red and all ...".

The problem with a live trap is that I need to capture the babies as well.

In the past, Gary has waited until the Opossums 'play possum' then bags them up and take them upstream from where Maggie and Max were playing (in the black water), where the stream and surrounding land is natural and not developed into a park.  One time Gary walked the mile or so with an opossum scooped up on a shovel.  The opossum played possum the entire trip. (Playing possum is involuntary and may last a few minutes or even hours.)


----------



## ceemac

When my kids were young they made me live trap mice and we would release them in the park half amile away. Never thought of painting them red. haha


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. you and your possum story remind me of a friend of mine. He decided that he wanted a Fainting Goat to add to his menagerie of critters on his little farm. He searched till he found some in TN. His only vehicle was an Expedition and being the neophyte that he was made no preparations for transporting a 80lb  farm animal. So he folds down the seat in the rear puts the goat in the back and takes off.  Goats being goats it's climbing over everything and bouncing around like a ping pong ball in a hurricane. In frustration he screams a few choice words at the goat who promptly falls down feet in the air. He drove the remainder of the hour home, everytime the goat got up he screamed at it and causing it to  faint.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. you and your possum story remind me of a friend of mine. He decided that he wanted a Fainting Goat to add to his menagerie of critters on his little farm. He searched till he found some in TN. His only vehicle was an Expedition and being the neophyte that he was made no preparations for transporting a 80lb  farm animal. So he folds down the seat in the rear puts the goat in the back and takes off.  Goats being goats it's climbing over everything and bouncing around like a ping pong ball in a hurricane. In frustration he screams a few choice words at the goat who promptly falls down feet in the air. He drove the remainder of the hour home, everytime the goat got up he screamed at it and causing it to  faint.


Gary has a similar reaction when he gets screamed at.


----------



## Fujidave

Got well caught in a thunder storm me and Susie, got soaked through and I had to tell her Don`t worry about the thunder as it`s the lightning to be fearful of.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Got well caught in a thunder storm me and Susie, got soaked through and I had to tell her Don`t worry about the thunder as it`s the lightning to be fearful of.



Yup if it hits you, you won't hear the thunder. LOL


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Got well caught in a thunder storm me and Susie, got soaked through and I had to tell her Don`t worry about the thunder as it`s the lightning to be fearful of.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yup if it hits you, you won't hear the thunder. LOL
Click to expand...



Very true that.  I remember working on Devils Dyke when one of the members was teeing off, he got hit by lightning and was dead before he hit the ground or golf ball.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Very true that. I remember working on Devils Dyke when one of the members was teeing off, he got hit by lightning and was dead before he hit the ground or golf ball.



My father was hit twice in his life (not direct), once when it jumped from the tree to the tractor he was on, and once when it struck the CB antenna on the pickup he had his arm resting on. Other then some minor burns and a pair of new shoes on the truck strike (it blew silver dollar size holes in the soles), he never had any serious side effects.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Very true that. I remember working on Devils Dyke when one of the members was teeing off, he got hit by lightning and was dead before he hit the ground or golf ball.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My father was hit twice in his life (not direct), once when it jumped from the tree to the tractor he was on, and once when it struck the CB antenna on the pickup he had his arm resting on. Other then some minor burns and a pair of new shoes on the truck strike (it blew silver dollar size holes in the soles), he never had any serious side effects.
Click to expand...


One very lucky man then I`d say.


----------



## davidharmier60

This morning I walked out to the truck and realized I did not have my key blob. Looked everywhere I could including in the truck with a flashlight but did not find/see them.
So took the other vehicle to work. Explained to Trish  that I thought Sister NEEDED the car. So I had 4 and a half or so for the day and 20 and a little for the week.
Been reading. Need to do at least 7 penny rolls. Guess that comes next.


----------



## davidharmier60

OH. Learned from the wrecker driver who opened my truck at work. Pried the upper part of the door away from the body. Used a yardstick to push the unlock button.
Went and had a key cut. It is thin and is in my wallet so this can't happen again. I remember thinking I had to clip the keys to my belt loop after visiting the box at the front of the neighborhood but apparently I missed.


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> Learned from the wrecker driver who opened my truck at work. Pried the upper part of the door away from the body.



A county deputy did that for me at a gas station one time, when I locked the keys in the truck when I got out to fill up. Used a hard rubber wedge thingy, worked slick


----------



## davidharmier60

It was in fact Spaghetti night.
Thinking of Blue Bell later.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Sadie Mae talked us into a ride to Dairy Queen for desert


----------



## Tony744

davidharmier60 said:


> This morning I walked out to the truck and realized I did not have my key blob. Looked everywhere I could including in the truck with a flashlight but did not find/see them.
> So took the other vehicle to work. Explained to Trish  that I thought Sister NEEDED the car. So I had 4 and a half or so for the day and 20 and a little for the week.
> Been reading. Need to do at least 7 penny rolls. Guess that comes next.



Did that once back when I was driving truck. Stopped at the yard and got out of the truck to talk with the boss. Went to get back into the truck to find the door locked and the key sitting in the ignition.


----------



## davidharmier60

I did that at home when I was driving for PAM Transport.


----------



## davidharmier60

Very soon I will be in bed. Y'all have a good night and a better tomorrow!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's ol' Crown Vic has a keypad on the driver's side door.  Best thing ever.


----------



## smoke665

Sadie is one happy puppy, she does love ice cream, especially a vanilla cone for DQ.


----------



## Gary A.

The first artichokes of the season and some freshly picked squash for dinner.  BTW- The 28 hour Sous Vide pulled pork passed the Mary Lou test yesterday.  Consequently, we're having it again tonight. Gary just came in from trimming a bunch of Flame and Concord grapes growing wild through trees and bushes.  He also rotated the fire table so it would play better with the Tv. Hopefully we'll use that feature more with our daily browsing of the evening news & commentary programs.

@Peg: Tomorrow ... James Taylor.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Sadie is one happy puppy, she does love ice cream, especially a vanilla cone for DQ.


Gary has read that ice cream in general, especially ice cream and/or cones made with sugar substitute, isn't good for dogs.  Frozen yogurt was recommended as a substitute.


----------



## Gary A.

Miss Maggie has zonked out. This morning she played really hard ... with Max (the Goldie mix) and Michelle (a black standard poodle who runs like a deer).  Then Max came over for more roughhousing.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sadie is one happy puppy, she does love ice cream, especially a vanilla cone for DQ.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has read that ice cream in general, especially ice cream and/or cones made with sugar substitute, isn't good for dogs.  Frozen yogurt was recommended as a substitute.
Click to expand...


I think they've just about ruled all the artificial sweeteners are harmful to dogs. We watch carefully for them. Over the years our fur babies have enjoyed  the real thing vanilla in both ice cream and yogurt. As with all treats they do have limits on consumption.


----------



## RowdyRay

Spent a few hours tonight cleaning up this Schwinn tricycle. It was mostly all there, but missing a few fasteners. A trip to the local hardware store solved that. Greased and adjusted everything to spin and turn freely. All of the fenders had dents. All the brackets holding them on were bent. Pounded that all straight. The tassels were missing on one side. Luckily there was 6 strips. Just split them in half. The bell didn't work right, so I replaced it. Added the mirror. Polished all the chrome, including the rims. Used ColorBack on all the red. Almost looks new. Should have taken a before picture. 

100.00 new. Have less than 25.00 and some elbow grease into it. May be a cheapskate, but still spoil my Grandkids rotten. Going up to my son's place this weekend. There will be one happy 3 year old that can now chase his brothers around in style. Lol.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@RowdyRay  Looks nice! Very good job on that restoration.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary just finished dinner in the patio. This is the first patio dinner this year just for us. The artichokes were delightful. The weather perfect. For dessert Gary’s strawberry ice cream. Gary used a Ben & Jerry recipe but nearly doubled the strawberry content. Mary Lou and Gary have moved to the fire table, watching the news and sipping our Pinot Noir.


----------



## smoke665

@RowdyRay  That is one awesome ride!


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> The first artichokes of the season and some freshly picked squash for dinner.  BTW- The 28 hour Sous Vide pulled pork passed the Mary Lou test yesterday.  Consequently, we're having it again tonight. Gary just came in from trimming a bunch of Flame and Concord grapes growing wild through trees and bushes.  He also rotated the fire table so it would play better with the Tv. Hopefully we'll use that feature more with our daily browsing of the evening news & commentary programs.
> 
> @Peg: Tomorrow ... James Taylor.



You must have esp Gary.  This past weekend while cleaning out my garage I found a huge bin of cd's - everything from Snoop Dog to Hole to Marc Cohn.  We've been all digital for a long time now, from ipods to phones to Alexa/Amazon music... these babies were OLD.  I gave most of them away on our local Facebook Buy Nothing page but I did keep about 10 for my car and of course JT was among them.   Love my sweet baby James...


----------



## SquarePeg

Have I told you guys about Grad Night?  Grad Night is an event after our city's high school graduation that has turned one of the most dangerous night's for HS seniors into a safe and fun party.  After the ceremony, most families go out to dinner or off to some local parties but the kids don't drink because they want to come to the Grad Night party at the school later that night.  All seniors are brethalyzed on the way in and must be at the party by midnight.  It's an all night event with casino games, a dj, magic show, food, bouncy things like Wipe Out or the sumu wrestling suits...  everything from a baby farm animal petting zoo to a cash cube where they get in and grab at the money flying around.  The night ends with breakfast served by some of the parents of the senior class.  The whole thing is 100% free for the students to attend - all of the money is raised by the Grad Night committee from local businesses and personal donations from residents.  Attendance rate is usually above 90%.  It's a great event and I'm proud to be a part of it this year.  I'm on the volunteers committee in charge of recruiting enough people to run the whole night and clean up afterwards.  Tomorrow night is the big night.  I'll be there from 8pm through 5am directing our volunteers and making sure things run smoothly (and have to be awake/alert for this ).


----------



## Gary A.

For high school graduation, Gary’s class spent the night at Disneyland.


----------



## Gary A.

Warriors win game 1!  Go Golden State!


----------



## RowdyRay

Dean_Gretsch said:


> @RowdyRay  Looks nice! Very good job on that restoration.





smoke665 said:


> @RowdyRay  That is one awesome ride!



Thanks guys. Sure he'll love it! It's not Christmas or his birthday. He's gotten to that stage and needs one. Nothing more fun than just surprising them with stuff. Plus I'm guaranteed a big hug and a thank you. Well worth it.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sweet trike Rowdy Ray!
Never did have Blue Bell last night.
Dang look at the time
Gotta go.

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## Dean_Gretsch

SquarePeg said:


> Have I told you guys about Grad Night?  Grad Night is an event after our city's high school graduation that has turned one of the most dangerous night's for HS seniors into a safe and fun party.  After the ceremony, most families go out to dinner or off to some local parties but the kids don't drink because they want to come to the Grad Night party at the school later that night.  All seniors are brethalyzed on the way in and must be at the party by midnight.  It's an all night event with casino games, a dj, magic show, food, bouncy things like Wipe Out or the sumu wrestling suits...  everything from a baby farm animal petting zoo to a cash cube where they get in and grab at the money flying around.  The night ends with breakfast served by some of the parents of the senior class.  The whole thing is 100% free for the students to attend - all of the money is raised by the Grad Night committee from local businesses and personal donations from residents.  Attendance rate is usually above 90%.  It's a great event and I'm proud to be a part of it this year.  I'm on the volunteers committee in charge of recruiting enough people to run the whole night and clean up afterwards.  Tomorrow night is the big night.  I'll be there from 8pm through 5am directing our volunteers and making sure things run smoothly (and have to be awake/alert for this ).



Great idea. I am sure you will do well. Hope it is incredibly successful!


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Grad Night



I've seen this at local schools in the area over the years. Anytime parents take an active role in providing safe, fun alternatives for the kids it's an excellent idea. To often they don't, then wonder why their kids got in trouble. Several of the local churches hold "sleep ins" for teens where they show movies, have pizza, play games. The doors are locked, no one in, no one out till the next morning.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Sadie Mae talked us into a ride to Dairy Queen for desert


Good dog!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Have I told you guys about Grad Night?  Grad Night is an event after our city's high school graduation that has turned one of the most dangerous night's for HS seniors into a safe and fun party.  After the ceremony, most families go out to dinner or off to some local parties but the kids don't drink because they want to come to the Grad Night party at the school later that night.  All seniors are brethalyzed on the way in and must be at the party by midnight.  It's an all night event with casino games, a dj, magic show, food, bouncy things like Wipe Out or the sumu wrestling suits...  everything from a baby farm animal petting zoo to a cash cube where they get in and grab at the money flying around.  The night ends with breakfast served by some of the parents of the senior class.  The whole thing is 100% free for the students to attend - all of the money is raised by the Grad Night committee from local businesses and personal donations from residents.  Attendance rate is usually above 90%.  It's a great event and I'm proud to be a part of it this year.  I'm on the volunteers committee in charge of recruiting enough people to run the whole night and clean up afterwards.  Tomorrow night is the big night.  I'll be there from 8pm through 5am directing our volunteers and making sure things run smoothly (and have to be awake/alert for this ).


Excellant!


----------



## davidharmier60

5 hours and 20ish minutes today. 
25.37 for the week so far with tomorrow to go. Need a battery for a watch. Our store sells button cells for a mere $1.19. But the only one we have that I use is 377.
I need a 370/71 for one watch and a thicker same diameter for another. 
Gonna run down to Cleveland to Walgreens. Not cheap but they will have what I need.

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## waday

HEY! HEY! IT'S FRIDAY!

I'm making considerable progress on my work to-do list (woohoo!), which seems to be growing by the day (ugh!).

Ready for the weekend. Also, ready for the drive home when I can listen to my audiobook, _Dark Matter_. @terri, I'm just over halfway done. While I had it figured out within the first chapter, I'm thoroughly enjoying the ride and look forward to seeing how it ends. I could see this being turned into a movie. Once finished, I can give a more thorough review.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> HEY! HEY! IT'S FRIDAY!
> 
> I'm making considerable progress on my work to-do list (woohoo!), which seems to be growing by the day (ugh!).
> 
> Ready for the weekend. Also, ready for the drive home when I can listen to my audiobook, _Dark Matter_. @terri, I'm just over halfway done. While I had it figured out within the first chapter, I'm thoroughly enjoying the ride and look forward to seeing how it ends. I could see this being turned into a movie. Once finished, I can give a more thorough review.


Cool - thanks!    

And - Happy Friday to all hosers!


----------



## davidharmier60

My radio gave a pop and then quit on me.
There was a gadget behind the radio that sent power through a thing behind the back seat. The gadget behind the radio was melted severely. I put the wires back that I could find and now have both front speakers working. And a too dead battery to start the truck. Charging it now. 

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## smoke665

Friday - Ho hum. Just another day.


----------



## jcdeboever

Friday, good. Maybe catch a tractor show tomorrow. Run away, become a homeless person. Wifes on a let's "buy a camper" mission. Holy, ball busters Betty. I have zero interest in camping. Pooping in a tank sounds rather fun but all the other nonsense makes me want to give myself a wedgie. Supposedly, I'll love it because that's what her family did growing up. The only other positive thing besides pooping in a tank, the size of a laundry tub, is that it will force me to hide in the woods and try to capture some birds in flight... oh boy, I'm cleaning my 100-400 tonight... shoot me in the head now before I die a slow death from lime disease. I suppose the upholstery will be coach fabric too... I just threw up in my mouth a little...


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Wifes on a let's "buy a camper" mission. Holy, ball busters Betty. I have zero interest in camping.



That depends on what she wants. If it's a little pop-up model then it's camping, moving on up the ladder we do whats called "Glamping". All the things we enjoy from home like central heat/air, king size bed, recliners, big screens, satellite, washer/dryer, etc........except it has wheels.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wifes on a let's "buy a camper" mission. Holy, ball busters Betty. I have zero interest in camping.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That depends on what she wants. If it's a little pop-up model then it's camping, moving on up the ladder we do whats called "Glamping". All the things we enjoy from home like central heat/air, king size bed, recliners, big screens, satellite, washer/dryer, etc........except it has wheels.
Click to expand...

Oh I'm sure it will be a glamper model. I hope it comes with a darkroom and no port holes to stick a exhaust hose through


----------



## davidharmier60

We had a driver model glamper back in the 80s. Had Dodge running gear. Couldn't pass a gas station.


----------



## jcdeboever

davidharmier60 said:


> We had a driver model glamper back in the 80s. Had Dodge running gear. Couldn't pass a gas station.


That makes me feel better...


----------



## vintagesnaps

James Taylor in concert, that sounds good! and probably will sound good!

You mean they lock people _in_ with the kids?!!!! lol jk It's a good idea to have that sort of event, I'm just glad I don't have to do it! Been a long time since I taught jr. high and babysat at a school dance. Actually it was kind of fun while it lasted, but there's probably a reason I went from that to babies & toddlers for 20+ years.

I don't know JC... not been sounding so good, hope at least you can get out and enjoy some photography while you're camping/glamping. I used to work at summer camp, went camping with friends at our local state park all the time, but my later travels involved a nice bed, cable TV, minifridge, room service a phone call away... I'd at least want a cabin. My days of tents and pop up campers that almost got backed over the edge of the Smoky Mtns are over (and there's a reason they call them Smoky!).

Now I want some strawberry ice cream. I'll have to suffer thru with something chocolate instead.


----------



## Gary A.

Done with the food prep for the evening event.  From the _Hollywood Bowl Cookbook ... _Sweet and Sour Meatballs.  But Gary is using ground turkey instead of beef and a ton of seasoning/herbs for some flavor. Gary has made these before and they are quite good.


----------



## otherprof

*Happy National Doughnut Day to everyone in the USA!*


----------



## davidharmier60

I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a Hamburger today.
That's what's for dinner. Ready now!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Have I told you guys about Grad Night?  Grad Night is an event after our city's high school graduation that has turned one of the most dangerous night's for HS seniors into a safe and fun party.  After the ceremony, most families go out to dinner or off to some local parties but the kids don't drink because they want to come to the Grad Night party at the school later that night.  All seniors are brethalyzed on the way in and must be at the party by midnight.  It's an all night event with casino games, a dj, magic show, food, bouncy things like Wipe Out or the sumu wrestling suits...  everything from a baby farm animal petting zoo to a cash cube where they get in and grab at the money flying around.  The night ends with breakfast served by some of the parents of the senior class.  The whole thing is 100% free for the students to attend - all of the money is raised by the Grad Night committee from local businesses and personal donations from residents.  Attendance rate is usually above 90%.  It's a great event and I'm proud to be a part of it this year.  I'm on the volunteers committee in charge of recruiting enough people to run the whole night and clean up afterwards.  Tomorrow night is the big night.  I'll be there from 8pm through 5am directing our volunteers and making sure things run smoothly (and have to be awake/alert for this ).


This sounds awesome - hope the kids realize how lucky they are to have something this memorable, while being totally safe.   You and the organizers rock!   Good luck, and I hope it's at least sorta fun for you.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> James Taylor in concert, that sounds good! and probably will sound good!
> 
> You mean they lock people _in_ with the kids?!!!! lol jk It's a good idea to have that sort of event, I'm just glad I don't have to do it! Been a long time since I taught jr. high and babysat at a school dance. Actually it was kind of fun while it lasted, but there's probably a reason I went from that to babies & toddlers for 20+ years.
> 
> I don't know JC... not been sounding so good, hope at least you can get out and enjoy some photography while you're camping/glamping. I used to work at summer camp, went camping with friends at our local state park all the time, but my later travels involved a nice bed, cable TV, minifridge, room service a phone call away... I'd at least want a cabin. My days of tents and pop up campers that almost got backed over the edge of the Smoky Mtns are over (and there's a reason they call them Smoky!).
> 
> Now I want some strawberry ice cream. I'll have to suffer thru with something chocolate instead.



She bought one... spent all my cash but will pay it off on the first bill. It does look nice, can't wait to pee in the sink and poop in the tank... I'm not even going to hide it. It actually has a closet where I can develop, she actually pointed that out and to my surprise, I agree. I guess I am pretty special after all. I gotta put the hitch on the diesel, clean the connections, etc. I am a hampy camper now. I am a man of God, can I say....


----------



## Gary A.

Champagne Dinner at the Bowl. 




Waiting for Taylor and Crow.


----------



## davidharmier60

Can't fool around much. Gotta go.
Found out Trish won't be here all next week. Not sure what that's gonna do to my check and penny box.

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## ceemac

jcdeboever said:


> She bought one... spent all my cash but will pay it off on the first bill. It does look nice, can't wait to pee in the sink and poop in the tank... I'm not even going to hide it. It actually has a closet where I can develop, she actually pointed that out and to my surprise, I agree. I guess I am pretty special after all. I gotta put the hitch on the diesel, clean the connections, etc. I am a hampy camper now. I am a man of God, can I say....



If you use the tank, you have to pump it out.  Use the outhouse but not at dusk. You won't be alone.


----------



## jcdeboever

The tools for the tractor show today. Traveling light. Cool day, 55° currently.


----------



## Gary A.

Both are beautiful cameras.


----------



## davidharmier60

4 hours and enough minutes to have 30.14 for the week. Going through my pocket change. Going to mess with pennies. 

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## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Last night was wonderful.  Cheryl Crow warmed up for James Taylor and she was fun and entertaining.  JT has such an intimate performance that one feels it is singing directly and only to you.  Paul Simon was a maestro ... inspiring and emotional.  Taylor was like having a fine wine, comfortable and in your hand.  It was a great evening of very delish Hollywood Bowl Cookbook turkey meatballs and a Thornton Champagne (Sweet Angel's Waltz), performances which will never fade away, perfect weather, in the best outdoor venue in the world. Gary wishes all of you could have shared the evening with Mary Lou and Gary.


----------



## Fujidave

Well yesterday was a very busy day for me, and I loved it as saw some family I have not seen in a very long time.  Today I go out take some photos and some big totally fool comes up to me and says Phedofile or Photographer.   I totally love my photography BUT please dont call me a phedofile as you will find out why I did 15yrs in prison.  I totally hate being called that as all photographers have a hobby.


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## davidharmier60

Them's fighting words FD!


----------



## Fujidave

davidharmier60 said:


> Them's fighting words FD!



I don`t think any person needs to be called a nonce for taking photos of a young lady singing in a public space.  In the UK a person who is classed as a nonce (  prison slang ) is a pervert/phedofile.  Something I do not take kindly to being called by some idiot who knows nothing about photography here in the UK while taking a photo of a singer.


----------



## Fujidave

Two from today, nothing bad about them either.


----------



## limr

Pedophile? There isn't even a child on the stage.


----------



## snowbear

Some people need to stay at home.

A quick phone snap from out walk, Wednesday night.



Untitled by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Fujidave

limr said:


> Pedophile? There isn't even a child on the stage.




100%agree, I think she was 19yrs old and she asked if I would send the good photos to her email.
Here in the UK I am sad to say, that if you have a camera and point it at anyone, then you are classed as a pervert.  20 yrs if that had been said to me the fool would of been sorry, but with todays idiots,creeps and pathetic fools I just looked at the fool and he wandered off.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> She bought one... spent all my cash but will pay it off on the first bill. It does look nice, can't wait to pee in the sink and poop in the tank... I'm not even going to hide it. It actually has a closet where I can develop, she actually pointed that out and to my surprise, I agree. I guess I am pretty special after all. I gotta put the hitch on the diesel, clean the connections, etc. I am a hampy camper now. I am a man of God, can I say...



What, wait, don't just pop in and out with a statement like this. How about some details????????????

JC saw this today -  The definition of Camping - Is when you can walk among strangers in your PJ's with a dog leash in one hand, a bag full of poop in the other and still strike up a conversation with your neighbor.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Here in the UK I am sad to say, that if you have a camera and point it at anyone, then you are classed as a pervert



That's what you get for using one of the dinky little compact Fujis. Get yourself a big old honkin camera with a really long lens, they'll think you're a professional


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> She bought one... spent all my cash but will pay it off on the first bill. It does look nice, can't wait to pee in the sink and poop in the tank... I'm not even going to hide it. It actually has a closet where I can develop, she actually pointed that out and to my surprise, I agree. I guess I am pretty special after all. I gotta put the hitch on the diesel, clean the connections, etc. I am a hampy camper now. I am a man of God, can I say...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What, wait, don't just pop in and out with a statement like this. How about some details????????????
> 
> JC saw this today -  The definition of Camping - Is when you can walk among strangers in your PJ's with a dog leash in one hand, a bag full of poop in the other and still strike up a conversation with your neighbor.
Click to expand...

No details. I guess it ain't  final.


----------



## davidharmier60

I need not awaken at 4am tomorrow. 
But did this morning. My Sister's biscuits and sausage gravy blows Brendas out of the water. It's breakfast in the morning. 
Have a great Saturday night y'all. 
And a nice Sunday. See ya then.

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## Gary A.

From Maggie’s walk.


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## davidharmier60

Brenda doesn't use even a third as much sausage in her gravy. Probably a restriction by the store but there it is. 
My Sisters sausage gravy rocks!

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## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday was a good day for Miss Maggie.  She played with none different dogs and made a new friend. Maggie has a reputation. When we started our walk we ran into three of Maggie's friends coming up the street.  We chatted a bit, and they told us of a new dog in the park.  A seven month, Bull Terrier puppy, full of energy.  They said they told the terrier's human that the pup needs to meet Maggie as Maggie is the only dog that could match the pups energy.  At the park's entrance we ran into our daily walk mates of Max and Mike.  Mike said he ran into this little over-energized white puppy that was jumping all over Max. Mike told the owner of the white dog that her pup need to play with Maggie.  In the park Honey and Lucy were playing with the Frisbee.  Honey and Lucy's human said she told the Bull Terrier's human that her Bull Terrier needs to play with Maggie.  We get 3/4 of the way into our walk, Honey, Max and Maggie splashing in the water and wrestling and chasing the Frisbee ... when we run into this seven month old, full of beans, little white Bull Terrier, Mucca. Mucca is running and Maggie is running and Honey is running all up and down the creek. Lucy is quite old, about 16 y/o and would rather enjoy her walk on her own. Unfortunately Max, gets all uptight when Maggie plays with other dogs and tends not to participate and either growls at the other dog(s) playing with Maggie or just sits there and sulks. Maggie is a social butterfly and plays and plays with everybody. Meanwhile the three friends we ran into on the street return to the park. So now it is a bonafide pack running and weaving along the creek.  It was great seeing dogs just being dogs.

While all this was going on, we get a call that a friend of Mary Lou is coming over with her dog Quill for some dog time and socialization.  Unfortunately, Quill doesn't get any non-leash time out of the house. We feel the park or the school across from us are two great and secure places for non-leash time.  So we left our seven park friends and headed home.  Quill arrives, she's a month older than Maggie.  Quill is a Wired Hair Pointing Griffon, a very odd looking dog by any measure and a little larger than Maggie. Quill's human, still wasn't comfortable with off-leash time in the park, consequently the dogs ran and ran and ran around the backyard.






Miss Maggie had a good day.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- One of the dog's human had never seen a dry and non-muddy Maggie.  She couldn't believe it was the same dog. "She's soooo cute!" was her surprise response.


----------



## Gary A.

Hey, just felt a little earthquake.


----------



## davidharmier60

We have I believe two dogs who could run with Maggie. But I don't know that they would have all day stamina....


----------



## Gary A.

Today is warming up to around 80F ... (feels like 80F).  Therefore, we invited a few friends for a relaxing afternoon of: 






 And



.


----------



## davidharmier60

Ribs, potato salad and beans.
Maybe some Blue Bell later but that ain't necessary gonna happen. 

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## snowbear

Annapolis, MD.  Close to the final stretch home.  Lots of flooding - our swift water rescue had to pull a a fewpeople out of their swamped cars — if there’s high water in the road, Turn around, don’t drown.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary’s first Sangria of the year.


----------



## Gary A.

The pizza.


----------



## espresso2x

That looks good!!


----------



## Gary A.

Thanks espresso2x. It was delish. Gary made a thin cracker type crust stuffed with basil, oregano and savory. Next some sauce, mushrooms, artichokes, peppers, five cheeses and tomatoes. Gary grilled some chicken separately and it was added by the guest. A guest brought an excellent antipasto and Mary Lou made some hot wings. We watch the Warrior-Cav game in the patio and ate and ate and ate. But, the Sangria was wonderful and the treat of the evening. Red wine fortified with brandy, Grand Mariner, orange juice, Gary’s orange liqueur, lemon juice, apples, peaches, watermelon, strawberries, Valencia oranges, Mandarin oranges and a lavender sprig in every glass.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, a nice walk in the park with Susie as sun is out and about 70F so far.  Busy day today.


----------



## davidharmier60

Monday. A day NOT like any other day.
Off to work in a few minutes.

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## davidharmier60

4.42 hours today and for the week so far. 
Tried to trade in Lg shirts (3) for a 2x.
But they don't have any 2x at this time.
Large fits but I'd rather not wear a second skin. 2x just feels better. Anyhow Post Office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 
Oh and the second bank in town for 6 rolls of dimes then the library THEN the other stuff. 

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## Fujidave

Left the camera at home today, went out and had a great walk with Susie and just sat up on the South Downs enjoying the peace and quiet.


----------



## davidharmier60

Not even sure if I could sit in the shade of a tree and be comfortable. It's getting to be truly walk outside and break a sweat weather around here. 

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## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is mid morning and 75F and feels like 75F.  It may hit 80% this afternoon.  Gary has some paperwork to do, but after that ... contemplating loading up Mary Lou and Maggie and hit the Dog Beach in Huntington Beach.  Tomorrow things start to cool down again. The beach is about ten degrees cooler than inland. 

Yesterday was a good day.  The Sangria was delightful, the weather perfect, the food plentiful and the dogs had a great time being dogs running around the backyard and through the patio.  Between the game and the dogs, it was a two ring circus with beaucoup entertainment.


----------



## CherylL

Last Monday was a hot, hot, muggy night in Playa del Carmen.  Walked for several hours, late dinner of Mayan cuisine, shopped, walked again.  Went to the taxi station and was told the road was shut down from Cancun to Tulum.  This is a major 4 lane highway.  Asked the taxi caption why and he replied that there was a "manifestation".  I said what another cenote highway collapse?  He just said no.  Walked a few more blocks to the other taxi station and said they would not take us with no explanation.  I'm getting overheated by this point being out in the heat for 5 hours now.  We did get a taxi to a sister resort about 3 miles through town side road.  Finally got past the guard with a phone call.  That lobby has no A/C.  Bought $8 Tums in gift shop.   The PR woman and the Assist. GM called our resort and around to find out what happened.  First info was the taxis were on strike because of the Uber signed into law that evening.  But, then couldn't rent a car because the taxi drivers blocked the highway and it was a big 130km parking lot.  We did get a room there and didn't sleep much.  Got up early and called down to bellman and said taxis running for now.  Got back to our resort at 7:30am and shortly thereafter another blockade.  65 flights delayed that day.  Workers were stuck at their resorts too.  The Assist. GM was very nice at the sister resort.  He gave us T-shirts to sleep in and said we could enjoy the resort the next day.  He was cracking jokes as he walked us to our room that night to lighten things up.  I did tell him that I have never checked into a hotel with a small purse & camera before.  It was a rough night with the heat and I am too old for an all night out.


----------



## Gary A.

Tomorrow is Election Day ... Gary is busily reading stuff.


----------



## davidharmier60

I did three dime rolls before my comics. Found a 2018D. Did 5 rolls of pennies. Got at least three stacks (6) of filler copper. A few that MIGHT be real nice after White Lithium Grease treatment.
Gotta figure out something for lunch.


----------



## Gary A.

CherylL said:


> Last Monday was a hot, hot, muggy night in Playa del Carmen.  Walked for several hours, late dinner of Mayan cuisine, shopped, walked again.  Went to the taxi station and was told the road was shut down from Cancun to Tulum.  This is a major 4 lane highway.  Asked the taxi caption why and he replied that there was a "manifestation".  I said what another cenote highway collapse?  He just said no.  Walked a few more blocks to the other taxi station and said they would not take us with no explanation.  I'm getting overheated by this point being out in the heat for 5 hours now.  We did get a taxi to a sister resort about 3 miles through town side road.  Finally got past the guard with a phone call.  That lobby has no A/C.  Bought $8 Tums in gift shop.   The PR woman and the Assist. GM called our resort and around to find out what happened.  First info was the taxis were on strike because of the Uber signed into law that evening.  But, then couldn't rent a car because the taxi drivers blocked the highway and it was a big 130km parking lot.  We did get a room there and didn't sleep much.  Got up early and called down to bellman and said taxis running for now.  Got back to our resort at 7:30am and shortly thereafter another blockade.  65 flights delayed that day.  Workers were stuck at their resorts too.  The Assist. GM was very nice at the sister resort.  He gave us T-shirts to sleep in and said we could enjoy the resort the next day.  He was cracking jokes as he walked us to our room that night to lighten things up.  I did tell him that I have never checked into a hotel with a small purse & camera before.  It was a rough night with the heat and I am too old for an all night out.


Sorry for all your inconvenience.  None of that sounds good.  Gary hopes everything gets better.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I see that there's one extra sangria recipe to go with the 100 pizzas, seems like a fine idea! an extra beverage of your choice. Which does look good, it got hot too early but getting more seasonal and cool at night this week. I was half thinking the other day, I'm tired of hot and will be glad when fall gets here and then went - it's not even summer yet! Takes a day for the house to catch up to the temp change though, the AC's still running.


----------



## terri

CherylL said:


> Last Monday was a hot, hot, muggy night in Playa del Carmen.  Walked for several hours, late dinner of Mayan cuisine, shopped, walked again.  Went to the taxi station and was told the road was shut down from Cancun to Tulum.  This is a major 4 lane highway.  Asked the taxi caption why and he replied that there was a "manifestation".  I said what another cenote highway collapse?  He just said no.  Walked a few more blocks to the other taxi station and said they would not take us with no explanation.  I'm getting overheated by this point being out in the heat for 5 hours now.  We did get a taxi to a sister resort about 3 miles through town side road.  Finally got past the guard with a phone call.  That lobby has no A/C.  Bought $8 Tums in gift shop.   The PR woman and the Assist. GM called our resort and around to find out what happened.  First info was the taxis were on strike because of the Uber signed into law that evening.  But, then couldn't rent a car because the taxi drivers blocked the highway and it was a big 130km parking lot.  We did get a room there and didn't sleep much.  Got up early and called down to bellman and said taxis running for now.  Got back to our resort at 7:30am and shortly thereafter another blockade.  65 flights delayed that day.  Workers were stuck at their resorts too.  The Assist. GM was very nice at the sister resort.  He gave us T-shirts to sleep in and said we could enjoy the resort the next day.  He was cracking jokes as he walked us to our room that night to lighten things up.  I did tell him that I have never checked into a hotel with a small purse & camera before.  It was a rough night with the heat and I am too old for an all night out.


Holy crap!!   That's quite a tale - sure hope things settle down so you can just enjoy yourself.   "Manifestation" - odd choice of words for the situation.


----------



## tirediron

CherylL said:


> Last Monday was a hot, hot, muggy night in Playa del Carmen.  Walked for several hours, late dinner of Mayan cuisine, shopped, walked again.  Went to the taxi station and was told the road was shut down from Cancun to Tulum.  This is a major 4 lane highway.  Asked the taxi caption why and he replied that there was a "manifestation".  I said what another cenote highway collapse?  He just said no.  Walked a few more blocks to the other taxi station and said they would not take us with no explanation.  I'm getting overheated by this point being out in the heat for 5 hours now.  We did get a taxi to a sister resort about 3 miles through town side road.  Finally got past the guard with a phone call.  That lobby has no A/C.  Bought $8 Tums in gift shop.   The PR woman and the Assist. GM called our resort and around to find out what happened.  First info was the taxis were on strike because of the Uber signed into law that evening.  But, then couldn't rent a car because the taxi drivers blocked the highway and it was a big 130km parking lot.  We did get a room there and didn't sleep much.  Got up early and called down to bellman and said taxis running for now.  Got back to our resort at 7:30am and shortly thereafter another blockade.  65 flights delayed that day.  Workers were stuck at their resorts too.  The Assist. GM was very nice at the sister resort.  He gave us T-shirts to sleep in and said we could enjoy the resort the next day.  He was cracking jokes as he walked us to our room that night to lighten things up.  I did tell him that I have never checked into a hotel with a small purse & camera before.  It was a rough night with the heat and I am too old for an all night out.


Sounds like yet another good reason to never vacation outside of your own post code!


----------



## CherylL

Gary A. said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Last Monday was a hot, hot, muggy night in Playa del Carmen.  Walked for several hours, late dinner of Mayan cuisine, shopped, walked again.  Went to the taxi station and was told the road was shut down from Cancun to Tulum.  This is a major 4 lane highway.  Asked the taxi caption why and he replied that there was a "manifestation".  I said what another cenote highway collapse?  He just said no.  Walked a few more blocks to the other taxi station and said they would not take us with no explanation.  I'm getting overheated by this point being out in the heat for 5 hours now.  We did get a taxi to a sister resort about 3 miles through town side road.  Finally got past the guard with a phone call.  That lobby has no A/C.  Bought $8 Tums in gift shop.   The PR woman and the Assist. GM called our resort and around to find out what happened.  First info was the taxis were on strike because of the Uber signed into law that evening.  But, then couldn't rent a car because the taxi drivers blocked the highway and it was a big 130km parking lot.  We did get a room there and didn't sleep much.  Got up early and called down to bellman and said taxis running for now.  Got back to our resort at 7:30am and shortly thereafter another blockade.  65 flights delayed that day.  Workers were stuck at their resorts too.  The Assist. GM was very nice at the sister resort.  He gave us T-shirts to sleep in and said we could enjoy the resort the next day.  He was cracking jokes as he walked us to our room that night to lighten things up.  I did tell him that I have never checked into a hotel with a small purse & camera before.  It was a rough night with the heat and I am too old for an all night out.
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry for all your inconvenience.  None of that sounds good.  Gary hopes everything gets better.
Click to expand...


All was good the rest of the week, thanks


----------



## CherylL

terri said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Last Monday was a hot, hot, muggy night in Playa del Carmen.  Walked for several hours, late dinner of Mayan cuisine, shopped, walked again.  Went to the taxi station and was told the road was shut down from Cancun to Tulum.  This is a major 4 lane highway.  Asked the taxi caption why and he replied that there was a "manifestation".  I said what another cenote highway collapse?  He just said no.  Walked a few more blocks to the other taxi station and said they would not take us with no explanation.  I'm getting overheated by this point being out in the heat for 5 hours now.  We did get a taxi to a sister resort about 3 miles through town side road.  Finally got past the guard with a phone call.  That lobby has no A/C.  Bought $8 Tums in gift shop.   The PR woman and the Assist. GM called our resort and around to find out what happened.  First info was the taxis were on strike because of the Uber signed into law that evening.  But, then couldn't rent a car because the taxi drivers blocked the highway and it was a big 130km parking lot.  We did get a room there and didn't sleep much.  Got up early and called down to bellman and said taxis running for now.  Got back to our resort at 7:30am and shortly thereafter another blockade.  65 flights delayed that day.  Workers were stuck at their resorts too.  The Assist. GM was very nice at the sister resort.  He gave us T-shirts to sleep in and said we could enjoy the resort the next day.  He was cracking jokes as he walked us to our room that night to lighten things up.  I did tell him that I have never checked into a hotel with a small purse & camera before.  It was a rough night with the heat and I am too old for an all night out.
> 
> 
> 
> Holy crap!!   That's quite a tale - sure hope things settle down so you can just enjoy yourself.   "Manifestation" - odd choice of words for the situation.
Click to expand...


We stayed on property the remainder of the week.  There were a few more protests each day.  One was a rolling blockade of taxis.  We had to laugh later at his choice of "manifestation".  No wonder none of the taxi guys would tell us what was going on.  Fortunately the taxis agreed to stop the protest once the Governor said he would have a meeting with the reps.  That was the afternoon before we were flying out.


----------



## CherylL

tirediron said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Last Monday was a hot, hot, muggy night in Playa del Carmen.  Walked for several hours, late dinner of Mayan cuisine, shopped, walked again.  Went to the taxi station and was told the road was shut down from Cancun to Tulum.  This is a major 4 lane highway.  Asked the taxi caption why and he replied that there was a "manifestation".  I said what another cenote highway collapse?  He just said no.  Walked a few more blocks to the other taxi station and said they would not take us with no explanation.  I'm getting overheated by this point being out in the heat for 5 hours now.  We did get a taxi to a sister resort about 3 miles through town side road.  Finally got past the guard with a phone call.  That lobby has no A/C.  Bought $8 Tums in gift shop.   The PR woman and the Assist. GM called our resort and around to find out what happened.  First info was the taxis were on strike because of the Uber signed into law that evening.  But, then couldn't rent a car because the taxi drivers blocked the highway and it was a big 130km parking lot.  We did get a room there and didn't sleep much.  Got up early and called down to bellman and said taxis running for now.  Got back to our resort at 7:30am and shortly thereafter another blockade.  65 flights delayed that day.  Workers were stuck at their resorts too.  The Assist. GM was very nice at the sister resort.  He gave us T-shirts to sleep in and said we could enjoy the resort the next day.  He was cracking jokes as he walked us to our room that night to lighten things up.  I did tell him that I have never checked into a hotel with a small purse & camera before.  It was a rough night with the heat and I am too old for an all night out.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like yet another good reason to never vacation outside of your own post code!
Click to expand...


It won't stop me from going to Mexico.  The day after we got home there was a shooting on the interstate in the middle of the day in St. Louis.  Safety is relative.  Actually I wasn't afraid, but concerned how long it would last.  At first it was reported that it could be days before the road opened.


----------



## davidharmier60

Good night y'all. Have a wonderful tomorrow!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## Fujidave

A grey and dull day here today with a nice cool breeze.  Susie had fun in the park with some other dogs running around each other.


----------



## snowbear

Glad it all worked out, Cheryl.

So, it's back to work.  Fingers crossed for the Caps.


----------



## smoke665

Not the best of days yesterday for us. My DW went to the doctor on Friday with a cough and chest congestion she couldn't shake. I should have gone but I thought mine was getting better. She has a severely compromised immune system from all the chemo of the past. Monday I was worse so I went (We use the same office different doctors) Xrays and test, and my doctor and her doctor both come in. Seems her Xray results had come back confirming she has pneumonia and comparing mine to hers it appears I have also. They switched antibiotics on her and gave me the same. Back in two weeks for Xrays again. We've both got the pneumonia shot a few years ago after I was hospitalized for 3 days with a more severe case, and they have told us every tear we don't need another.  Not sure what's going on but apparently there is a strain of pneumonia going around in our area, have heard of multiple cases recently.


----------



## Fujidave

Well for a while I have been thinking of getting the fixed lens camera Fuji X100F.  Since having both my X cameras I have found I tend to use my favourite one the most, which is the X-T20.  So in the next few months to help fund buying a new X100F I am going to trade in the X-T2 and add some cash, plus the power booster grip that is still in the box.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Not the best of days yesterday for us. My DW went to the doctor on Friday with a cough and chest congestion she couldn't shake. I should have gone but I thought mine was getting better. She has a severely compromised immune system from all the chemo of the past. Monday I was worse so I went (We use the same office different doctors) Xrays and test, and my doctor and her doctor both come in. Seems her Xray results had come back confirming she has pneumonia and comparing mine to hers it appears I have also. They switched antibiotics on her and gave me the same. Back in two weeks for Xrays again. We've both got the pneumonia shot a few years ago after I was hospitalized for 3 days with a more severe case, and they have told us every tear we don't need another.  Not sure what's going on but apparently there is a strain of pneumonia going around in our area, have heard of multiple cases recently.



@smoke665  I wish you both a speedy recovery.


----------



## SquarePeg

Pneumonia is nothing to mess with.  My understanding is that once you get it you are more likely to get it again.  Princess has had walking pneumonia 2X.  Hope you are both feeling better soon!  

Well the Grad night event went really well.  The kids had a blast!  I was so busy that I took only 1 photo (with my iphone!) and never had a chance to take my camera out of the bag.  I was in charge of the volunteers and there were 118 of them so someone always needed something.  Our volunteer committee of 3 was a bit overwhelmed during the shift changes but otherwise it went smoothly.  I was exhausted the rest of the weekend after being up until 5am Friday night then having a ton of commitments the rest of the weekend.  Just starting to feel back to myself now.  Determined this weekend to get out and shoot some more before all the spring flowers are gone.  I've been letting softball team consume all my time lately.  Playoffs start Saturday afternoon.  Double elimination tournament.  Our best pitcher who is also one of our best infielders and hitters will miss the 2nd game and we drew a very tough team in game 1.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Not the best of days yesterday for us. My DW went to the doctor on Friday with a cough and chest congestion she couldn't shake. I should have gone but I thought mine was getting better. She has a severely compromised immune system from all the chemo of the past. Monday I was worse so I went (We use the same office different doctors) Xrays and test, and my doctor and her doctor both come in. Seems her Xray results had come back confirming she has pneumonia and comparing mine to hers it appears I have also. They switched antibiotics on her and gave me the same. Back in two weeks for Xrays again. We've both got the pneumonia shot a few years ago after I was hospitalized for 3 days with a more severe case, and they have told us every tear we don't need another.  Not sure what's going on but apparently there is a strain of pneumonia going around in our area, have heard of multiple cases recently.


Oof, hope you two get  better soon!


----------



## smoke665

Thanks Dave, Peg, and Wayday. We hadn't been feeling bad just a mild congestion, and tired, but at our age that's something to be expected. Nothing like I'd experienced when I had to be hospitalized. I had wondered at times, but then we had been told multiple times that the vaccine we had taken would protect us.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Thanks Dave, Peg, and Wayday. We hadn't been feeling bad just a mild congestion, and tired, but at our age that's something to be expected. Nothing like I'd experienced when I had to be hospitalized. I had wondered at times, but then we had been told multiple times that the vaccine we had taken would protect us.


And... when DW complains that you don't do enough together, remind her that you had pneumonia together!


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Well for a while I have been thinking of getting the fixed lens camera Fuji X100F.  Since having both my X cameras I have found I tend to use my favourite one the most, which is the X-T20.  So in the next few months to help fund buying a new X100F I am going to trade in the X-T2 and add some cash, plus the power booster grip that is still in the box.


Gary's not sure if that would be wise.  Gary has the X100S.  It is great as a travel camera or a 'second-thought' camera.  As in you're goin' out and at the last second decide to take a camera just for fun type of thing. Gary would dump the T20 before getting rid of the XT2.  But we all see and shoot differently. Gary hasn't replaced the S with the F as he is perfectly fine with a 23mm on the XP2.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Not the best of days yesterday for us. My DW went to the doctor on Friday with a cough and chest congestion she couldn't shake. I should have gone but I thought mine was getting better. She has a severely compromised immune system from all the chemo of the past. Monday I was worse so I went (We use the same office different doctors) Xrays and test, and my doctor and her doctor both come in. Seems her Xray results had come back confirming she has pneumonia and comparing mine to hers it appears I have also. They switched antibiotics on her and gave me the same. Back in two weeks for Xrays again. We've both got the pneumonia shot a few years ago after I was hospitalized for 3 days with a more severe case, and they have told us every tear we don't need another.  Not sure what's going on but apparently there is a strain of pneumonia going around in our area, have heard of multiple cases recently.


Pneumonia, at any age, is nothing to mess with or take lightly.  Take good care of each other.


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> And... when DW complains that you don't do enough together, remind her that you had pneumonia together



Funny you mention that, because the doctor said "Since you're wife has pneumonia it's likely you do as well unless you have a less than normal marriage" The insinuation was that I caught it from her, so I'm playing that card!! LOL


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## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Today is Election Day ... Gary has his 56 page Sample Ballot and will be marking it up this morning.  Weather is cooling off from the low 80's into the mid 70's ... yes, the Marine Layer is back with its overcast, gray and shadowless mornings. 63F presently, good for a hot cup of coffee. Today is also Movie Tuesday, when the popcorn is at half price.


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## davidharmier60

Whatever a Pollack would say for good morning. I had good coffee. I didn't want to go to work but I need to get paid. No real problem at work except the drink isle was shag nasty on the floor. Worked on it with a mop and going to scrub it WET in the morning. PO, box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. Oh and get some fuel before that. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well for a while I have been thinking of getting the fixed lens camera Fuji X100F.  Since having both my X cameras I have found I tend to use my favourite one the most, which is the X-T20.  So in the next few months to help fund buying a new X100F I am going to trade in the X-T2 and add some cash, plus the power booster grip that is still in the box.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's not sure if that would be wise.  Gary has the X100S.  It is great as a travel camera or a 'second-thought' camera.  As in you're goin' out and at the last second decide to take a camera just for fun type of thing. Gary would dump the T20 before getting rid of the XT2.  But we all see and shoot differently. Gary hasn't replaced the S with the F as he is perfectly fine with a 23mm on the XP2.
Click to expand...


As our local airshow is in August, I will stick the XC 50-230mm on the X-T2 and give it a go as that will make my mind up for me, as last year I got my best shots ever but with the lens on the X-T20.


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## Gary A.

@Fujidave:  Be sure to take the grip/booster as the additional power will increase camera performance.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> @Fujidave:  Be sure to take the grip/booster as the additional power will increase camera performance.



Will do as I must try it even though it was Free, then I have about 3 weeks to decide.  Or even sooner as I plan to put the XC 50-230mm back on the X-T2 and take some shots of Susie running in the park.


----------



## Fujidave

If I can do this with the X-T20, then in my mind or how I think if I can get a shot like this of Susie then I will get rid of the X-T20.  I never payed for that anyway as it was trade, but the X-T2 + great kit lens was a gift and I`ve never got rid of any gifts.





Watch it Susie by Dave, on Flickr


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well for a while I have been thinking of getting the fixed lens camera Fuji X100F.  Since having both my X cameras I have found I tend to use my favourite one the most, which is the X-T20.  So in the next few months to help fund buying a new X100F I am going to trade in the X-T2 and add some cash, plus the power booster grip that is still in the box.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary's not sure if that would be wise.  Gary has the X100S.  It is great as a travel camera or a 'second-thought' camera.  As in you're goin' out and at the last second decide to take a camera just for fun type of thing. Gary would dump the T20 before getting rid of the XT2.  But we all see and shoot differently. Gary hasn't replaced the S with the F as he is perfectly fine with a 23mm on the XP2.
Click to expand...


Yeah, you may end up regretting that one unless you just don't use the XT2. I may pull the trigger on the new 50MP rangefinder medium format camera when it comes out, late this year. It is supposed to have the GFX sensor in an oversized X-Pro 2 body. Probably grab the 32-64 zoom as well.


----------



## Fujidave

This was taken on Saturday of the band where one bloke was rude.  Never take a X-T2 + XF 18-55mm in to a toilet with you.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> If I can do this with the X-T20, then in my mind or how I think if I can get a shot like this of Susie then I will get rid of the X-T20.  I never payed for that anyway as it was trade, but the X-T2 + great kit lens was a gift and I`ve never got rid of any gifts.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Watch it Susie by Dave, on Flickr


Great shot of Susie! Maggie is wondering why she is so clean?


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> If I can do this with the X-T20, then in my mind or how I think if I can get a shot like this of Susie then I will get rid of the X-T20.  I never payed for that anyway as it was trade, but the X-T2 + great kit lens was a gift and I`ve never got rid of any gifts.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Watch it Susie by Dave, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> Great shot of Susie! Maggie is wondering why she is so clean?
Click to expand...


I think Susie has a self cleaning button.


----------



## Gary A.

From today's walk:







 




iPhone


----------



## Fujidave

Great shots of Miss Maggie.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Great shots of Miss Maggie.


Maggie had lots of fun this morning.


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## CherylL

That is one dirty pup, but I bet a happy one.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> Not the best of days yesterday for us. My DW went to the doctor on Friday with a cough and chest congestion she couldn't shake. I should have gone but I thought mine was getting better. She has a severely compromised immune system from all the chemo of the past. Monday I was worse so I went (We use the same office different doctors) Xrays and test, and my doctor and her doctor both come in. Seems her Xray results had come back confirming she has pneumonia and comparing mine to hers it appears I have also. They switched antibiotics on her and gave me the same. Back in two weeks for Xrays again. We've both got the pneumonia shot a few years ago after I was hospitalized for 3 days with a more severe case, and they have told us every tear we don't need another.  Not sure what's going on but apparently there is a strain of pneumonia going around in our area, have heard of multiple cases recently.



Wishing you both a speedy recovery.  So the pneumonia shots don't last?  That is on my list to get and the shingles vaccine.   I did get the D-TaP since we are expecting another grandchild.  Hoping you both are better soon.  Tough when you are both out at the same time.


----------



## CherylL

Resealing the shower today.  The hard part is getting the old stuff scraped out.


----------



## davidharmier60

Miss Maggie sure is filthy. I didn't have internet for a while. But now it's back.... wonder for how long......


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> Wishing you both a speedy recovery. So the pneumonia shots don't last? That is on my list to get and the shingles vaccine



Apparently not for all strains, even though it's in both lungs this time, it isn't far along. Caught it early enough to get rid of it. I've had the shingles - really bad - on the right torso, just under the arm all the way to waist around to the center of the back and around the front to the belly button. The first two weeks, I thought I'd die, the second two weeks, I wished I'd die, and the final two weeks I wasn't quite sure if and when the DW was going to put me out of my misery. It felt like someone was continuously ripping off skin. Took 6 months before I fully recovered. Since had the shingles shot as well.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are back from watching _Upgrade.  _An excellant movie. Gary gives it a five and Mary Lou dished out four stars.


----------



## RowdyRay

Sorry, been busy trying to figure out my son's car. Brought the tricycle up this weekend. One happy 3 year old! Tell him to say "cheese" and he mugs for the camera. Lol. He's so funny. 

When it got dark, we couldn't get him off it. He's loving it. PLUS....I got a big bear hug, a "Tank You" and a kiss on the cheek. Then he was off playing with it some more. Made my day.


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## davidharmier60

I should already be asleep. 
Y'all have a great Wednesday ya hear?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## Gary A.

iPhone

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary walked to our polling place. Upon our return, Mary Lou suggested a glass of wine and watch the returns from this patio. It was a good walk and now the last of the Sangria.


----------



## Gary A.

FYI- California has an Open Primary ... which means that the top two candidates runoff in the general regardless of party affiliation. (Unless one candidate wins it all by securing 50% +1 of the total vote.) 

FYI- There are more voters registered as “Unaffiliated” than Republicans in California.


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## Fujidave

We have a nice sunny day today with a cool breeze, just back from our walk and having a brew then over to help mum out before lunch.


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## davidharmier60

Cool is something you almost certainly can't say about East Texas until MAYBE October. It's walk outside and break a sweat weather around here. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## JonA_CT

I think I'm finally recovered from my trip to CO.

In the past week, I've been averaging about 4 hours or less of sleep due to a variety of factors. (Flights, jet lag, time at the bar, kids being awake 50,000 times, etc). We went to bed at like 7:30 last night, and our kids slept the entire night. Now I feel like asuper hero.

CO was a great time. We took care of the business aspect, and we got some time at some world class breweries, too. We even squeezed in a hike to the top a relatively modest 7600 foot mountain.

(iPhone pics...my camera battery died 1 mile from the trail head...you know, where my spare batteries were safely stored)




Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr




Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Still feeling a bit stabby after this morning's commute. I swear traffic has gotten worse since I got back from vacation, and I am convinced that it did so intentionally out of spite.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Still feeling a bit stabby after this morning's commute. I swear traffic has gotten worse since I got back from vacation, and I am convinced that it did so intentionally out of spite.


They're probably all jealous of your vacation.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Still feeling a bit stabby after this morning's commute. I swear traffic has gotten worse since I got back from vacation, and I am convinced that it did so intentionally out of spite.
> 
> 
> 
> They're probably all jealous of your vacation.
Click to expand...


Yup, totes jelly!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is scanning the morning paper checking out who won and who lost in yesterday's primary. A lifetime ago, Gary used to run political campaigns, like JonA_CT, he'd get little to no sleep the week leading up to election day. The good ol' days.

@Fujidave: you mentioned having a before lunch "brew" is that a hot beverage brew ... or a brew as in a "Pint" or a "Brewski"?


----------



## jcdeboever

Took the wife to med care station this morning.  Her one eye is swelled shut the other one close to being there. She has pink eye in both eyes. She gets those eyelash thingies,  that woman do, wonder if it was from that? Anyway, she's miserable. I'll be washing my hands a lot. Got golf lesson last night and learned a lot from the son in law, he is a scratch golfer. He said there is nothing wrong with my swing but my legs were too close together, causing excessive movement. He made me open my legs wider than my shoulders, straight down the middle now. Showed me a trick on pitching up on flat greens, use my 9 iron to roll in up to pin as opposed to gap wedge. Tonight we are working on my pitching with loft, and putting. He has a mirror thingy to check my alignment. I shot pretty good Monday night but I need to find consistency.  He also taught me that I don't need to use a driver on many holes, think about playing safe and getting a good second shot. He said I have so much power, that using a driver will often hinder me into difficult second shots if I skunk the drive.


----------



## ceemac

I saw a moose crossing the road in front of me on the way back from town.  My wife was fumbling with her camera, while I had the truck in reverse in case she lowered her head. Fortunately we were 200 ft away and she decided to follow her calf into the woods. What a beautiful girl, easily as high as my truck at the shoulders.( sorry no pics)


----------



## Gary A.

Dodgers are back at .500 ... per Stripling.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Dodgers are back at .500 ... per Stripling.


That kid has filthy stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dodgers are back at .500 ... per Stripling.
> 
> 
> 
> That kid has filthy stuff.
Click to expand...

He was trying to exercise max control over his curve.  Now the coaches told him to throw it hard ... as hard as he can and just aim for the center of the plate. Seems to be working.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dodgers are back at .500 ... per Stripling.
> 
> 
> 
> That kid has filthy stuff.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> He was trying to exercise max control over his curve.  Now the coaches told him to throw it hard ... as hard as he can and just aim for the center of the plate. Seems to be working.
Click to expand...

I read that and it's a common thing with young pitcher's,  trying to micro manage your stuff. He is gonna be a good one.


----------



## jcdeboever

I could see a Red Sox versus dodgers World Series. Or peg versus Gary


----------



## pixmedic

one cup to rule them all.




Lord of the Rings fabric wrapped tumbler by pixmedic, on Flickr


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is scanning the morning paper checking out who won and who lost in yesterday's primary. A lifetime ago, Gary used to run political campaigns, like JonA_CT, he'd get little to no sleep the week leading up to election day. The good ol' days.
> 
> @Fujidave: you mentioned having a before lunch "brew" is that a hot beverage brew ... or a brew as in a "Pint" or a "Brewski"?



Just got back from a lovely day with mum, had lunch then a mooch ( Walk ) around town.   @Gary A.  A brew is a cup/mug of Tea or Coffee.  I have tea as find it more refreshing.

On a great note, my mum said, keep both your cameras and practice and learn more as you don`t need another camera, but we can sort out a lens to get instead.  So now I have to think of just one of these lenses.

XF90mm
XF56mm
XF16mm.


----------



## Fujidave

JonA_CT said:


> I think I'm finally recovered from my trip to CO.
> 
> In the past week, I've been averaging about 4 hours or less of sleep due to a variety of factors. (Flights, jet lag, time at the bar, kids being awake 50,000 times, etc). We went to bed at like 7:30 last night, and our kids slept the entire night. Now I feel like asuper hero.
> 
> CO was a great time. We took care of the business aspect, and we got some time at some world class breweries, too. We even squeezed in a hike to the top a relatively modest 7600 foot mountain.
> 
> (iPhone pics...my camera battery died 1 mile from the trail head...you know, where my spare batteries were safely stored)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr



Two great shots, but that first is just stunning.


----------



## jcdeboever

Fujidave said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is scanning the morning paper checking out who won and who lost in yesterday's primary. A lifetime ago, Gary used to run political campaigns, like JonA_CT, he'd get little to no sleep the week leading up to election day. The good ol' days.
> 
> @Fujidave: you mentioned having a before lunch "brew" is that a hot beverage brew ... or a brew as in a "Pint" or a "Brewski"?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from a lovely day with mum, had lunch then a mooch ( Walk ) around town.   @Gary A.  A brew is a cup/mug of Tea or Coffee.  I have tea as find it more refreshing.
> 
> On a great note, my mum said, keep both your cameras and practice and learn more as you don`t need another camera, but we can sort out a lens to get instead.  So now I have to think of just one of these lenses.
> 
> XF90mm
> XF56mm
> XF16mm.
Click to expand...


16 is a killer lens, really special. Very handy. Close focus, fast. Fantastic  micro contrast. Pin sharp. Very creative lens. I two gun mine with the 80. Great for street. Great bokeh, smooth as silk


----------



## Fujidave

jcdeboever said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is scanning the morning paper checking out who won and who lost in yesterday's primary. A lifetime ago, Gary used to run political campaigns, like JonA_CT, he'd get little to no sleep the week leading up to election day. The good ol' days.
> 
> @Fujidave: you mentioned having a before lunch "brew" is that a hot beverage brew ... or a brew as in a "Pint" or a "Brewski"?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from a lovely day with mum, had lunch then a mooch ( Walk ) around town.   @Gary A.  A brew is a cup/mug of Tea or Coffee.  I have tea as find it more refreshing.
> 
> On a great note, my mum said, keep both your cameras and practice and learn more as you don`t need another camera, but we can sort out a lens to get instead.  So now I have to think of just one of these lenses.
> 
> XF90mm
> XF56mm
> XF16mm.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 16 is a killer lens. Very handy. Close focus, fast. Fantastic  micro contrast. Pin sharp. Very creative lens. I two gun mine with the 80. Great for street. Great bokeh, smooth as silk
Click to expand...


Am I right inthinking the 16mm is also the lightest of those 3 ?


----------



## jcdeboever

Fujidave said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Gary is scanning the morning paper checking out who won and who lost in yesterday's primary. A lifetime ago, Gary used to run political campaigns, like JonA_CT, he'd get little to no sleep the week leading up to election day. The good ol' days.
> 
> @Fujidave: you mentioned having a before lunch "brew" is that a hot beverage brew ... or a brew as in a "Pint" or a "Brewski"?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just got back from a lovely day with mum, had lunch then a mooch ( Walk ) around town.   @Gary A.  A brew is a cup/mug of Tea or Coffee.  I have tea as find it more refreshing.
> 
> On a great note, my mum said, keep both your cameras and practice and learn more as you don`t need another camera, but we can sort out a lens to get instead.  So now I have to think of just one of these lenses.
> 
> XF90mm
> XF56mm
> XF16mm.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 16 is a killer lens. Very handy. Close focus, fast. Fantastic  micro contrast. Pin sharp. Very creative lens. I two gun mine with the 80. Great for street. Great bokeh, smooth as silk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Am I right inthinking the 16mm is also the lightest of those 3 ?
Click to expand...


Not sure. Its chunky. Get the square lens hood as well so you look cool. The petal one is not sexy at all.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Took the wife to med care station this morning.  Her one eye is swelled shut the other one close to being there. She has pink eye in both eyes. She gets those eyelash thingies,  that woman do, wonder if it was from that? Anyway, she's miserable. I'll be washing my hands a lot. Got golf lesson last night and learned a lot from the son in law, he is a scratch golfer. He said there is nothing wrong with my swing but my legs were too close together, causing excessive movement. He made me open my legs wider than my shoulders, straight down the middle now. Showed me a trick on pitching up on flat greens, use my 9 iron to roll in up to pin as opposed to gap wedge. Tonight we are working on my pitching with loft, and putting. He has a mirror thingy to check my alignment. I shot pretty good Monday night but I need to find consistency.  He also taught me that I don't need to use a driver on many holes, think about playing safe and getting a good second shot. He said I have so much power, that using a driver will often hinder me into difficult second shots if I skunk the drive.



www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/conjunctivitis-types.htm

Um, what are "eye lash thingies" that we women supposedly do?


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Took the wife to med care station this morning.  Her one eye is swelled shut the other one close to being there. She has pink eye in both eyes. She gets those eyelash thingies,  that woman do, wonder if it was from that? Anyway, she's miserable. I'll be washing my hands a lot. Got golf lesson last night and learned a lot from the son in law, he is a scratch golfer. He said there is nothing wrong with my swing but my legs were too close together, causing excessive movement. He made me open my legs wider than my shoulders, straight down the middle now. Showed me a trick on pitching up on flat greens, use my 9 iron to roll in up to pin as opposed to gap wedge. Tonight we are working on my pitching with loft, and putting. He has a mirror thingy to check my alignment. I shot pretty good Monday night but I need to find consistency.  He also taught me that I don't need to use a driver on many holes, think about playing safe and getting a good second shot. He said I have so much power, that using a driver will often hinder me into difficult second shots if I skunk the drive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/conjunctivitis-types.htm
> 
> Um, what are "eye lash thingies" that we women supposedly do?
Click to expand...

They are long and put on individually. One lash at a time. They do make her eyes pop.


----------



## Fujidave

Looking on Wex 90mm is 540g 56mm is 405 and the lightest is the 16mm at 375, now that I do like to see.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Took the wife to med care station this morning.  Her one eye is swelled shut the other one close to being there. She has pink eye in both eyes. She gets those eyelash thingies,  that woman do, wonder if it was from that? Anyway, she's miserable. I'll be washing my hands a lot. Got golf lesson last night and learned a lot from the son in law, he is a scratch golfer. He said there is nothing wrong with my swing but my legs were too close together, causing excessive movement. He made me open my legs wider than my shoulders, straight down the middle now. Showed me a trick on pitching up on flat greens, use my 9 iron to roll in up to pin as opposed to gap wedge. Tonight we are working on my pitching with loft, and putting. He has a mirror thingy to check my alignment. I shot pretty good Monday night but I need to find consistency.  He also taught me that I don't need to use a driver on many holes, think about playing safe and getting a good second shot. He said I have so much power, that using a driver will often hinder me into difficult second shots if I skunk the drive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/conjunctivitis-types.htm
> 
> Um, what are "eye lash thingies" that we women supposedly do?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They are long and put on individually. One lash at a time. They do make her eyes pop.
Click to expand...


Oh. So false eyelashes but not the kind that come in one strip.

(PS - it's not really a thing that "women do." Some do. Most don't.)


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Took the wife to med care station this morning.  Her one eye is swelled shut the other one close to being there. She has pink eye in both eyes. She gets those eyelash thingies,  that woman do, wonder if it was from that? Anyway, she's miserable. I'll be washing my hands a lot. Got golf lesson last night and learned a lot from the son in law, he is a scratch golfer. He said there is nothing wrong with my swing but my legs were too close together, causing excessive movement. He made me open my legs wider than my shoulders, straight down the middle now. Showed me a trick on pitching up on flat greens, use my 9 iron to roll in up to pin as opposed to gap wedge. Tonight we are working on my pitching with loft, and putting. He has a mirror thingy to check my alignment. I shot pretty good Monday night but I need to find consistency.  He also taught me that I don't need to use a driver on many holes, think about playing safe and getting a good second shot. He said I have so much power, that using a driver will often hinder me into difficult second shots if I skunk the drive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/conjunctivitis-types.htm
> 
> Um, what are "eye lash thingies" that we women supposedly do?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They are long and put on individually. One lash at a time. They do make her eyes pop.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh. So false eyelashes but not the kind that come in one strip.
> 
> (PS - it's not really a thing that "women do." Some do. Most don't.)
Click to expand...

Right. She is gone a while. Once a month I believe.  She does the manicure, pedicure, hair thing as well. And massages too. I bought her an all day spa thing recently, she loves those. They do all the things I mentioned plus more. Face peels, massages, hot rocks, oils, steam bath, etc.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Take care, Smoke. I had a pneumonia shot (even though I'm not at the age yet and need a script from the Dr., but it was her idea in the first place! lol). So anyway, there's a new booster shot I'm supposed to get, to work on newer strains of pneumonia. I think it might be similar to a flu shot that even if you get it, you should have a milder case. Hope yours isn't too bad and you're better soon.

Oh, pinkeye... having worked with kids I've seen my share of pink bunny eyes! and had it myself. It's supposedly very contagious. Hope you don't get it JC and your wife's gets better soon.

Been waiting for the grass cutting, which I don't do! but saw his truck arrive so once that's done it should help put more fresh cut grass into the breeze with the pollen - whoo hoo! Would like to open windows since it got cool but left the AC on. Started again with the respiratory stuff, just one side of my nose stuffed up, but this is the third time around! Nothing new for me and after that spring snow everything was blooming so fast I think we got a pollen overload. 

The weather forecast showed the weather is delightful. Yeah, if you can breathe thru your nose maybe! lol So the plan is to get a pot of chicken going...


----------



## Breezy85

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Took the wife to med care station this morning.  Her one eye is swelled shut the other one close to being there. She has pink eye in both eyes. She gets those eyelash thingies,  that woman do, wonder if it was from that? Anyway, she's miserable. I'll be washing my hands a lot. Got golf lesson last night and learned a lot from the son in law, he is a scratch golfer. He said there is nothing wrong with my swing but my legs were too close together, causing excessive movement. He made me open my legs wider than my shoulders, straight down the middle now. Showed me a trick on pitching up on flat greens, use my 9 iron to roll in up to pin as opposed to gap wedge. Tonight we are working on my pitching with loft, and putting. He has a mirror thingy to check my alignment. I shot pretty good Monday night but I need to find consistency.  He also taught me that I don't need to use a driver on many holes, think about playing safe and getting a good second shot. He said I have so much power, that using a driver will often hinder me into difficult second shots if I skunk the drive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/conjunctivitis-types.htm
> 
> Um, what are "eye lash thingies" that we women supposedly do?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They are long and put on individually. One lash at a time. They do make her eyes pop.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh. So false eyelashes but not the kind that come in one strip.
> 
> (PS - it's not really a thing that "women do." Some do. Most don't.)
Click to expand...


Yeah I don't see most women with false eyelashes. My boss tried them once because we have a customer that has a beauty shop, but she said they were kind of awkward especially when she slept.


----------



## jcdeboever

Breezy85 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Took the wife to med care station this morning.  Her one eye is swelled shut the other one close to being there. She has pink eye in both eyes. She gets those eyelash thingies,  that woman do, wonder if it was from that? Anyway, she's miserable. I'll be washing my hands a lot. Got golf lesson last night and learned a lot from the son in law, he is a scratch golfer. He said there is nothing wrong with my swing but my legs were too close together, causing excessive movement. He made me open my legs wider than my shoulders, straight down the middle now. Showed me a trick on pitching up on flat greens, use my 9 iron to roll in up to pin as opposed to gap wedge. Tonight we are working on my pitching with loft, and putting. He has a mirror thingy to check my alignment. I shot pretty good Monday night but I need to find consistency.  He also taught me that I don't need to use a driver on many holes, think about playing safe and getting a good second shot. He said I have so much power, that using a driver will often hinder me into difficult second shots if I skunk the drive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/conjunctivitis-types.htm
> 
> Um, what are "eye lash thingies" that we women supposedly do?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They are long and put on individually. One lash at a time. They do make her eyes pop.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh. So false eyelashes but not the kind that come in one strip.
> 
> (PS - it's not really a thing that "women do." Some do. Most don't.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah I don't see most women with false eyelashes. My boss tried them once because we have a customer that has a beauty shop, but she said they were kind of awkward especially when she slept.
Click to expand...

I just assumed a lot do it. My mother in law, daughter in law, woman at church, etc. do it, so I thought it was a big thing. My mom doesn't do any of that, she is very traditional, she doesn't even go to a beauty salon, I think she BoRic's it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't know exactly what they do at a salon/spa when they do eyelashes. And I don't really want to know, I don't even like the thought of it. All I remember is those strip thingies Leo mentioned! lol The most I do is a little mascara if I'm going someplace mascara worthy, which isn't often. With this respiratory stuff, forget it. 

edit - My box o' goodies & gourmet groceries arrived, the drunken goat cheese I ordered is here. A drunken goat doesn't come with it.


----------



## davidharmier60

I didn't even realize I wasn't posting in this thread.  A little over 6 hours today. 
Cleaned up after the milk man who made quite a mess. Built an office chair.
Not even really sure where 6 hours came from. Bought a box of pennies to replace the one I sold to Susan. Gonna hit the Post office and then get my check.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

You still have a milk man?! not a bad idea, I do ordering for a lot of things these days, even ice cream. Dry ice is a wonderful thing.

Eww, having one eyelash glued on at a time, no no no no no! lol Not for me is all I can say. I don't think I even know anybody that goes to a spa. Anyway if someone may have had pinkeye and didn't realize it I suppose a spa/salon could be a place where something contagious like that could go around. I think people/kids can have pinkeye and not realize at first what it is, think it's because of having a cold or whatever. Til they wake up next morning with bunny eyes.


----------



## Breezy85

I would think maybe smaller towns without a huge grocery store still has a milk man? 
@davidharmier60 Where are you located?


----------



## davidharmier60

I thought I had mentioned it plenty of times. Small town of Shepherd, TX on 59/69 approx 46 miles from beltway 8 in Houston.
It is a big box truck from Hiland dairy. It used to be a black guy who took forever and ALWAYS parked where I couldn't get the floor machine outside to clean it out.
Now it's a heavyset Hispanic guy who gets in and out quicker and parks better. But his feet, the wheels on his dolly etc. made a freaking mess where he stopped to stock.
A mop and some strong spray soap got it. When I went to our bank to turn in dime rolls I traded two of them for Lommis marked rolls. They weren't any better than the ones from the second bank. The penny box I got at the second bank has some all copper rolls. 79, 81 etc. But I have other rolls to get fills from.

I will bet this is mostly info you didn't need....


----------



## Gary A.

On the same vein of information people don't need ... it has turned into a very pleasant day here @ 75F.  Mary Lou and Gary have a retirement celebration at 3:00 p.m. to attend then having guests for the basketball game.  Gary just finished setting up the Sous Vide for another round of BBQ pork.  This time a pork loin, the last time it was a pork shoulder. It will be done some time tomorrow.  This time he seared prior to insertion into the Sous Vide and a lot less herbs but more BBQ sauce.  Tomorrow Gary will make more BBQ sauce as he is getting thin on the sauce.  See Ya.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wishing you both a speedy recovery. So the pneumonia shots don't last? That is on my list to get and the shingles vaccine
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently not for all strains, even though it's in both lungs this time, it isn't far along. Caught it early enough to get rid of it. I've had the shingles - really bad - on the right torso, just under the arm all the way to waist around to the center of the back and around the front to the belly button. The first two weeks, I thought I'd die, the second two weeks, I wished I'd die, and the final two weeks I wasn't quite sure if and when the DW was going to put me out of my misery. It felt like someone was continuously ripping off skin. Took 6 months before I fully recovered. Since had the shingles shot as well.
Click to expand...


My uncle suffered with shingles for over many years.  He had permanent damage that was painful yet nothing on the skin.  Sorry you had to endure the pain.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> They are long and put on individually. One lash at a time. They do make her eyes pop.



Yikes hope she gets over it quickly as that's a bad place for infections. Odd this morning on the local news there was a younger girl we hadn't seen before that had those and must not have been able to afford every lash. Looked really weird. DW said they were extensions.


----------



## davidharmier60

I don't do ANYTHING to enhance my eyelids. But I get the odd hair in an eyeball now and then. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

vintagesnaps said:


> My box o' goodies & gourmet groceries arrived, the drunken goat cheese I ordered is here. A drunken goat doesn't come with it.



Can you imagine the fun a drunken* fainting* goat would be?


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> I don't know exactly what they do at a salon/spa when they do eyelashes. And I don't really want to know, I don't even like the thought of it. All I remember is those strip thingies Leo mentioned! lol The most I do is a little mascara if I'm going someplace mascara worthy, which isn't often. With this respiratory stuff, forget it.
> 
> edit - My box o' goodies & gourmet groceries arrived, the drunken goat cheese I ordered is here. A drunken goat doesn't come with it.


Gary doesn't know if it would be easier or harder to milk a goat which is drunk.


----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> My box o' goodies & gourmet groceries arrived, the drunken goat cheese I ordered is here. A drunken goat doesn't come with it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can you imagine the fun a drunken* fainting* goat would be?
Click to expand...

It would be fun to bar hop with your goat ... but you can't go to sports bars because every time a team scores the goat would pass out.  Every time the goat passes out the barkeep would cut you off.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 64F presently, but should get well into the 70's today.  Yesterday was busy for all, especially Miss Maggie. She met two new friends on our morning stroll, Dixie and Boficious, (Bo for short).  Both were pound pooches.  Dixie had socialization troubles and would rather be left alone, she was sweet but terribly insecure.  But Bo was all about fun and running and wrestling and chasing balls and Frisbees.  Maggie ran her little legs off with Bo.  Interestingly, she and her BFF Max are at this level of trust and hard wrestling play.  Gary has noticed when socializing with a new friend, Maggie starts at at a different, lower and less severe level of play and over time work up to her max level.  After a spell, Maggie and Bo were pretty much at her max play level. Both Dixie and Bo were mutts.  The 75 pound Dixie had German Shepard and something else and 60 pound Bo had ... mmmhhh ... something else and something else. Maggie comes in at 35 pounds, but she has never backed down from hard contact with larger dogs.  But with smaller dogs and children she plays much differently, much less contact and lower energy levels.

In the afternoon, Mary Lou and Gary attended a retirement celebration which ended in time for the game.  No time to cook, so Gary picked up Chinese, a few people brought 'pot luck' and we watched the game in the patio sipping and some great wines and coffee with dessert.  Max, the Goldie, came and Maggie went into attack mode and the dogs ran and ran around the backyard having a great time and a another source of entertainment.  Tonight is a play, _Borderland_, in Pasadena.


----------



## JonA_CT

One of my student's brother was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates yesterday. He threw 37 consecutive scoreless innings (of 44 innings pitched), had back to back no hitters (giving up a hit with an out left in the third game), and struck out 98 batters this year as a HS senior. His fastball touches 95 and is a consistent 92-93, and I guess his breaking ball is good too. He was offered a 500k signing bonus to head to rookie ball and skip his D1 scholarship to UConn. What a crazy decision to make for an 18 year old.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's been said it ain't bragging if you can do it. 5.19 hours today and 20.44 for the week so far. Went over to Cold Spring for propane. Post office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

CherylL said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wishing you both a speedy recovery. So the pneumonia shots don't last? That is on my list to get and the shingles vaccine
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently not for all strains, even though it's in both lungs this time, it isn't far along. Caught it early enough to get rid of it. I've had the shingles - really bad - on the right torso, just under the arm all the way to waist around to the center of the back and around the front to the belly button. The first two weeks, I thought I'd die, the second two weeks, I wished I'd die, and the final two weeks I wasn't quite sure if and when the DW was going to put me out of my misery. It felt like someone was continuously ripping off skin. Took 6 months before I fully recovered. Since had the shingles shot as well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My uncle suffered with shingles for over many years.  He had permanent damage that was painful yet nothing on the skin.  Sorry you had to endure the pain.
Click to expand...

My wife had shingles at the ripe old age of 28. As for someone continuously ripping off skin, that's what my wife said, as well.

And, we're all pretty sick on here, aren't we? I woke up today with a fever above 102, chills, nausea, headache, etc. UGH. We were supposed to be going camping this weekend, but if I feel like this tomorrow, not sure I'll be able to go.  Hoping it gets better at least to the point where I can move without feeling like my head is going to explode.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> I woke up today with a fever above 102, chills, nausea, headache, etc. UGH.



Being sick on a weekday is bad enough, being sick on the weekend and not being able to go camping is HORRIBLE!!! LOL Hope it's just a bug that passes quickly.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I woke up today with a fever above 102, chills, nausea, headache, etc. UGH.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Being sick on a weekday is bad enough, being sick on the weekend and not being able to go camping is HORRIBLE!!! LOL Hope it's just a bug that passes quickly.
Click to expand...

Thanks!


----------



## CherylL

waday said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wishing you both a speedy recovery. So the pneumonia shots don't last? That is on my list to get and the shingles vaccine
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently not for all strains, even though it's in both lungs this time, it isn't far along. Caught it early enough to get rid of it. I've had the shingles - really bad - on the right torso, just under the arm all the way to waist around to the center of the back and around the front to the belly button. The first two weeks, I thought I'd die, the second two weeks, I wished I'd die, and the final two weeks I wasn't quite sure if and when the DW was going to put me out of my misery. It felt like someone was continuously ripping off skin. Took 6 months before I fully recovered. Since had the shingles shot as well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My uncle suffered with shingles for over many years.  He had permanent damage that was painful yet nothing on the skin.  Sorry you had to endure the pain.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My wife had shingles at the ripe old age of 28. As for someone continuously ripping off skin, that's what my wife said, as well.
> 
> And, we're all pretty sick on here, aren't we? I woke up today with a fever above 102, chills, nausea, headache, etc. UGH. We were supposed to be going camping this weekend, but if I feel like this tomorrow, not sure I'll be able to go.  Hoping it gets better at least to the point where I can move without feeling like my head is going to explode.
Click to expand...


Oh no, your wife too young for the shingles.  I hope you feel better soon.  Flu in the summer sucks.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I think I'm finally recovered from my trip to CO.
> 
> In the past week, I've been averaging about 4 hours or less of sleep due to a variety of factors. (Flights, jet lag, time at the bar, kids being awake 50,000 times, etc). We went to bed at like 7:30 last night, and our kids slept the entire night. Now I feel like asuper hero.
> 
> CO was a great time. We took care of the business aspect, and we got some time at some world class breweries, too. We even squeezed in a hike to the top a relatively modest 7600 foot mountain.
> 
> (iPhone pics...my camera battery died 1 mile from the trail head...you know, where my spare batteries were safely stored)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Untitled by jwa04, on Flickr



You've got to get used to the shorter battery life of the mirrorless.  Always carry an extra battery in your pocket.  Sometimes I have to rifle through all my hoodies and jackets trying to find my spares!  I go out a lot without my bag lately when I head down to the softball field with my camera so it's just whatever pockets are handy.  



jcdeboever said:


> Breezy85 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Took the wife to med care station this morning.  Her one eye is swelled shut the other one close to being there. She has pink eye in both eyes. She gets those eyelash thingies,  that woman do, wonder if it was from that? Anyway, she's miserable. I'll be washing my hands a lot. Got golf lesson last night and learned a lot from the son in law, he is a scratch golfer. He said there is nothing wrong with my swing but my legs were too close together, causing excessive movement. He made me open my legs wider than my shoulders, straight down the middle now. Showed me a trick on pitching up on flat greens, use my 9 iron to roll in up to pin as opposed to gap wedge. Tonight we are working on my pitching with loft, and putting. He has a mirror thingy to check my alignment. I shot pretty good Monday night but I need to find consistency.  He also taught me that I don't need to use a driver on many holes, think about playing safe and getting a good second shot. He said I have so much power, that using a driver will often hinder me into difficult second shots if I skunk the drive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/conjunctivitis-types.htm
> 
> Um, what are "eye lash thingies" that we women supposedly do?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They are long and put on individually. One lash at a time. They do make her eyes pop.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Oh. So false eyelashes but not the kind that come in one strip.
> 
> (PS - it's not really a thing that "women do." Some do. Most don't.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah I don't see most women with false eyelashes. My boss tried them once because we have a customer that has a beauty shop, but she said they were kind of awkward especially when she slept.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I just assumed a lot do it. My mother in law, daughter in law, woman at church, etc. do it, so I thought it was a big thing. My mom doesn't do any of that, she is very traditional, she doesn't even go to a beauty salon, I think she BoRic's it.
Click to expand...


I do not get eyelash extensions (which is what I'm assuming the thingies are).  I have, however, had my own lashes tinted and curled.  It lasts about 8 weeks and no need for any mascara or false eyelashes.  Great for summer when no one wants to wear makeup.  It takes about an hour at the beauty place and is worth the $ and time.  I usually do it right before summer starts and sometimes again in the winter if I feel like I need a little beauty boost to get through the winter!




JonA_CT said:


> One of my student's brother was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates yesterday. He threw 37 consecutive scoreless innings (of 44 innings pitched), had back to back no hitters (giving up a hit with an out left in the third game), and struck out 98 batters this year as a HS senior. His fastball touches 95 and is a consistent 92-93, and I guess his breaking ball is good too. He was offered a 500k signing bonus to head to rookie ball and skip his D1 scholarship to UConn. What a crazy decision to make for an 18 year old.



He took the money and gave up the free education?  I guess he could put the money away and pay for his own college if the whole filthy rich baseball superstar thing doesn't pan out.  



waday said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wishing you both a speedy recovery. So the pneumonia shots don't last? That is on my list to get and the shingles vaccine
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently not for all strains, even though it's in both lungs this time, it isn't far along. Caught it early enough to get rid of it. I've had the shingles - really bad - on the right torso, just under the arm all the way to waist around to the center of the back and around the front to the belly button. The first two weeks, I thought I'd die, the second two weeks, I wished I'd die, and the final two weeks I wasn't quite sure if and when the DW was going to put me out of my misery. It felt like someone was continuously ripping off skin. Took 6 months before I fully recovered. Since had the shingles shot as well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My uncle suffered with shingles for over many years.  He had permanent damage that was painful yet nothing on the skin.  Sorry you had to endure the pain.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My wife had shingles at the ripe old age of 28. As for someone continuously ripping off skin, that's what my wife said, as well.
> 
> And, we're all pretty sick on here, aren't we? I woke up today with a fever above 102, chills, nausea, headache, etc. UGH. We were supposed to be going camping this weekend, but if I feel like this tomorrow, not sure I'll be able to go.  Hoping it gets better at least to the point where I can move without feeling like my head is going to explode.
Click to expand...


Shingles at a young age seems to run in my family.   My brother, 2 cousins and one uncle have all had it before age 50.  I talked my dr into giving me a script for the vaccine even though it's not recommended for my age.  The pharmacy would not administer it because it has not been tested on those under 55 so I am out of luck for a few years.


----------



## Gary A.

@waday:  Get well, man.  That all sucks.


----------



## Breezy85

Just noticed that I'm no longer a TPF Noob 

Not that's related to anything being discussed. Haha. I thought the post count to reach was 1000 and that I was a long way from that.
Hope you guys are enjoying me so far!


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> You've got to get used to the shorter battery life of the mirrorless. Always carry an extra battery in your pocket. Sometimes I have to rifle through all my hoodies and jackets trying to find my spares! I go out a lot without my bag lately when I head down to the softball field with my camera so it's just whatever pockets are handy.



I know. I also knew I needed to switch them out before I got in the car, and I just forgot. Ugh. 



SquarePeg said:


> He took the money and gave up the free education? I guess he could put the money away and pay for his own college if the whole filthy rich baseball superstar thing doesn't pan out.



He hasn’t made a decision yet. I heard he is leaning towards that, though. The scholarship over 4 years is worth less than half that, and he is an injury away from getting nothing. He has solid family support, and his dad works in finance. I’m assuming he’ll be alright either way. I’d feel bad for him to miss out on the college experience, though. He can always get the education part...but life as a 30-year-old undergrad isn’t the same.


----------



## Fujidave

waday said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wishing you both a speedy recovery. So the pneumonia shots don't last? That is on my list to get and the shingles vaccine
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently not for all strains, even though it's in both lungs this time, it isn't far along. Caught it early enough to get rid of it. I've had the shingles - really bad - on the right torso, just under the arm all the way to waist around to the center of the back and around the front to the belly button. The first two weeks, I thought I'd die, the second two weeks, I wished I'd die, and the final two weeks I wasn't quite sure if and when the DW was going to put me out of my misery. It felt like someone was continuously ripping off skin. Took 6 months before I fully recovered. Since had the shingles shot as well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My uncle suffered with shingles for over many years.  He had permanent damage that was painful yet nothing on the skin.  Sorry you had to endure the pain.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My wife had shingles at the ripe old age of 28. As for someone continuously ripping off skin, that's what my wife said, as well.
> 
> And, we're all pretty sick on here, aren't we? I woke up today with a fever above 102, chills, nausea, headache, etc. UGH. We were supposed to be going camping this weekend, but if I feel like this tomorrow, not sure I'll be able to go.  Hoping it gets better at least to the point where I can move without feeling like my head is going to explode.
Click to expand...


Wishing you a speedy recovery @waday


----------



## SquarePeg

@waday   Don't go camping in June if you're not feeling well.  Weather is way too unpredictable for that!  Unless you're glamping like some others on this site...


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> You've got to get used to the shorter battery life of the mirrorless. Always carry an extra battery in your pocket. Sometimes I have to rifle through all my hoodies and jackets trying to find my spares! I go out a lot without my bag lately when I head down to the softball field with my camera so it's just whatever pockets are handy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know. I also knew I needed to switch them out before I got in the car, and I just forgot. Ugh.
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> He took the money and gave up the free education? I guess he could put the money away and pay for his own college if the whole filthy rich baseball superstar thing doesn't pan out.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> He hasn’t made a decision yet. I heard he is leaning towards that, though. The scholarship over 4 years is worth less than half that, and he is an injury away from getting nothing. He has solid family support, and his dad works in finance. I’m assuming he’ll be alright either way. I’d feel bad for him to miss out on the college experience, though. He can always get the education part...but life as a 30-year-old undergrad isn’t the same.
Click to expand...

A half a mill plus a salary and an opportunity at the big leagues and 'real' money ... is worth putting off college. But, Gary strongly suggests he figures out how to always take a course or two a semester.  Once one stops college, it is very tough to get back on board.  As his dad is in finance, hopefully he can use that windfall and invest it wisely.


----------



## davidharmier60

I was wrong. I found out Lowes has Truefuel. So I went up to Livingston to get some. Got a few other items while there.
Came home and emptied the blue stuff out of the weedeater and cleaned the plug. Put in 92 Octane NON Ethynal fuel in and WHAT A DIFFERENCE!
Got into some terrible stuff trying to clean the path of the shock wire. Busted the strings right at the head. Finally got it fixed.
Got the wire at the top of the fence tight and ungrounded. Should be hot now.
Was stinking something terrible so had a shower. Listening to HEAVY Metal on youtube.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has been productive.  After some paperwork, Gary walked to the store for some BBQ sauce ingredients.  Crafted up some sauce.  Mary Lou gave a nod of approval.  Gary used some Honey Jack Daniels this time.  The pork is fini in the Sous Vide. So far 25 hours in.  Gary is gonna give it a few more hours then pull it, another quick sear and serve. Gary has toss some chocolate ice cream into the machine, that should be done in about 40 minutes.

Mary Lou is on the tread mill with some new sneakers. Some very very expensive sneakers.  Gary thinks that Mary Lou is talking to JC's wife.


----------



## waday

Thank you, all, appreciate the well wishes!

@SquarePeg , I am a little worried about that, especially since the wife’s family will be there and they like staying up very late and drinking. We will be slight glamping, since we’ll have a cabin. Apparently the cabin has a fridge, but no sink or bathroom.

Also, the doctor told me to get a shingles shot, as well, but I was denied everywhere. Haha


----------



## Gary A.

The Pulled Pork came out wonderfully tasty.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> The Pulled Pork came out wonderfully tasty.



I think Gary should travel the world preparing a meal for every TPF member. LOL


----------



## Gary A.

We have a play tonight. Mary Lou smuggles in these little S’well bottles filled with vino.


----------



## snowbear

WAY TO GO, CAPS!


----------



## Gary A.

_Bordertown Now_ was fantastic.  As a liberal Californian, Gary appreciated the tone and delivery.  As a Latino, Gary understood the nuances and when the play flipped into Spanish. As a human being, Gary was moved by the story, the plight of immigrants. 

Standing ovation, six stars out of five ... 

Gary doesn’t know if _Bordertown Now_ will be traveling.  But if it comes to a theatre near you, see it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 8:00 a.m., 64F and it feels like 64F.  Gary just finished prepping and tossing another pork loin into the Sous Vide. The pork loin above was a test ... a rather successful test.  Now, after some slight halftime adjustments, Gary is cooking another pork loin for the big game. Tomorrow is the Playboy Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl.  Mary Lou has convinced some old, old friends to join us.  It will be their first time there as adults, consequently we're going metal-to-the-petal to give them the proper Bowl experience. Gary started around 6:30 a.m. collecting herbs, both dried and fresh. (He has strung up bunches of herbs over the BBQ patio for drying.) Gary has removed most of the thin layer of fat and associated connective tissue This time no searing of any type, a little more liquid, (BBQ Sauce/vino), and Gary tossed in some lemon peel, lemon juice and onion powder. In about 26 hours Gary will pull it.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sounds good Gary.
4.46 hours today and 25.30 for the week so far. Just finished chicken and home fries at the deli. Brought a book in to read. When I hit a chapter I'll go to the post office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

OMG, Anthony Bourdain is dead.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> OMG, Anthony Bourdain is dead.



I saw that earlier, I followed his travel shows for awhile, and found them interesting. Strange that the current method of suicide seems to be by hanging, first Spade then Bourdain. Sadly we've found from dealing with this for a family member, that despite all the "help lines" and "government agencies" out there who will supposedly help, there is in reality little help for someone who is seriously considering suicide.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG, Anthony Bourdain is dead.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I saw that earlier, I followed his travel shows for awhile, and found them interesting. Strange that the current method of suicide seems to be by hanging, first Spade then Bourdain. Sadly we've found from dealing with this for a family member, that despite all the "help lines" and "government agencies" out there who will supposedly help, there is in reality little help for someone who is seriously considering suicide.
Click to expand...

Generally, as with most mental situations, help can only be effective after a person is ready to receive help.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Generally, as with most mental situations, help can only be effective after a person is ready to receive help.



In the case of someone who is a danger to themselves, I'm always reminded of  "Catch-22"  a satirical novel by American author Joseph Heller. As we have sadly found out, regardless of their actions to the contrary unless they say they are suicidal, there is not help, and if they recognize they have a problem then they are competent enough to seek out help for themselves, which is a revolving door of  "feel good" help as they shuttle people from one place to another.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG, Anthony Bourdain is dead.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I saw that earlier, I followed his travel shows for awhile, and found them interesting. Strange that the current method of suicide seems to be by hanging, first Spade then Bourdain. Sadly we've found from dealing with this for a family member, that despite all the "help lines" and "government agencies" out there who will supposedly help, there is in reality little help for someone who is seriously considering suicide.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Generally, as with most mental situations, help can only be effective after a person is ready to receive help.
Click to expand...

I'm not certain the newer strains of so called anti-depressants don't exacerbate the bad feelings.   These warnings of "increased thoughts of suicide" routinely play out on the commercials for this stuff - it seems wildly contraindicated.    Note that the increase of suicides across the country seems in step with the increase of these drugs, many of which weren't around 20 years ago.  



smoke665 said:


> which is a revolving door of "feel good" help as they shuttle people from one place to another.


No.   It's designed to just get people through _that one moment.    _



smoke665 said:


> if they recognize they have a problem then they are competent enough to seek out help for themselves


Wildly inaccurate, not to mention dismissive of an exceptionally complex condition.


----------



## Gary A.

Interestingly enough, in today’s LA Times: “Troubling new suicide trends” ... Subtitled: “Over half of states see rates jump more than 30% since 1999 - and economic issues area big reason.”


----------



## snowbear

Upon better explanation of what Smoke was trying to say, I retract my earlier statement.   Yes, I agree that sometimes various medical resources seem  to be less concerned with a patient's issues than they should be.  This also happens in too many other places.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- “More than a decade of steadily rising rates have made suicide the nation’s 10th-leading causes of death and one of only three causes of death - including Alzheimer’s disease and drug overdoses - that are increasing in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> PS- “More than a decade of steadily rising rates have made suicide the nation’s 10th-leading causes of death and one of only three causes of death - including Alzheimer’s disease and drug overdoses - that are increasing in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”


These are troubling stats.   Again, I question the increase in the dispensing of anti-depressants, whose side effects are reported to increase suicidal thoughts, as having a role in these statistics.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Terri is correct. I speak from personal experience.



As do I, PM sent to you.


----------



## SquarePeg

Terrible that anyone would feel so alone that they would take this step.  His popularity and success only confirm that those things don’t make anyone immune to mental illness and/or depression. 

Totally agree about the meds!  The side effects are worse than the illness.


----------



## Fujidave

Very very sad news to hear this, I use to take meds for bad depression, the police saved me as I was standing on top of a bridge.  Thoughts are with his loved ones.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Wildly inaccurate, not to mention dismissive of an exceptionally complex condition.



Unfortunately you are either misinformed or your state is much different than ours. I won't go into the private details, but we have just gone through it with a family member this week for the 5th attempt since last year this time and so many times in the last 10 years I've lost count. One time after drinking drain cleaner, once by eating and swallowing multiple morphine patches,  once by intentionally driving off the interstate at 120 mph, once by pesticide, but the choice is usually prescription overdoses (that was the intent this week when they were found in a parking lot having  a Gran Mall Seizure on the verge of cardiac arrest ). 

I've dealt with every federal and state agency I ever thought could help, so much so that I could write a book  on it. On this last attempt, we did convince Mental Health to put in a recommendation  on a hold for transfer to a psychiatric ward (but only after we had a melt down in the ER and shamed them on their incompetence).  After being comatose for three days, the family member woke up said they were fine, and checked themselves out of the hospital yesterday.

Mental health claimed they did their job, by making the recommendation but if the hospital said they're  okay to leave then it was out of their hands. The hospital claimed the patient was lucid and could not hold them if they wanted to leave. That revolving door was already spinning wide open. The suicide prevention hot line provided nothing but a number to the state coordinator for our area. Called them on Monday and got voice mail ---- they finally called back today, 5 days later. Which I'm surprised they even called, normally you have to keep calling them to get assistance.  Even if you're lucky enough for someone  to recognize there are  individuals in need of help, at most it might be 5 days in a psychiatric ward or if you're really lucky 3 months in a program after which, in either case they dump them back on the street with a pocket full of pills and the expectation they will take them as directed, because there isn't enough bed space to go around.

Our state has two mental hospitals for holds, that's it. If you go through the legal commitment process there's a joke at the court house, that they take a pool on who will make it back to town first, the deputy or the patient. Lawyers will tell you up front they don't want to take your money because it's a useless (we know, we tried).

I consider myself a sane, level headed, educated person with the knowledge and capability to seek out resources. For those with mental health problems unable to think clearly if they have no one to help them they're quickly lost in a bureaucratic maze of revolving doors and shuffling from one place to another.   So yeah maybe I'm dismissive, maybe I'm a little cynical, but one thing for certain, after working this problem for 9 years, I know first hand, what help is really there, what isn't, and the stench of BS.


----------



## terri

Ok.  You've made your point.   As someone who worked in the medical field for 20 years, I am neither misinformed or cynical.   Every story, every family, every case is different.  

Thanks for sharing your story.  I do, however, stand by my original observations.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Ok. You've made your point. As someone who worked in the medical field for 20 years, I am neither misinformed or cynical. Every story, every family, every case is different.



Terri, my post is not a commentary on the medical field as a whole. Throughout the ordeal we've found doctors, nurses, and other professionals who really do care and try, but ultimately it comes down to the limitations they face as well. After she read through the  history in that hospital alone, the nurse on duty couldn't believe it, and tried desperately to help, but at the end of the day her hands were tied, and all she could do was sympathize with our frustration and disbelief.

Broken arms can be splinted, diseases treated, hearts replaced, but disorders of the brain are a different matter. Add to that the legal implications that stand in the way of treating those in need for fear of violating their rights and you further complicate it. At least here, there is a preponderance of opinion that leans toward the protection of someones rights even if it means the individual might do harm to themselves or others. Then you have the sad situation that mental health is an out of sight, out of mind, subject that no one wants to talk about or fund. That's why our  prisons are now the mental hospitals of the state (there was a big story on this again the other day).  Back in February, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ordered the Alabama Department of Corrections to take new steps to keep inmates with serious mental illness from long stretches in solitary confinement. Unfortunately he can order all he wants, but with no where to go, they'll remain in solitary or be dumped back on the street. Another one of those "revolving doors" I talked about earlier.


----------



## davidharmier60

What I know about suicide in my part of the country would fit on the head of a pin with room left over. 
I must hit the sack pretty soon because 4AM comes early.


----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> What I know about suicide in my part of the country would fit on the head of a pin with room left over.
> I must hit the sack pretty soon because 4AM comes early.



Quite frankly, I believe most people are the same - what we know about suicide or what will or will not help those who are suicidal could fit on half of the head of a pin, and anyone who thinks they know the answer is grossly and dangerously oversimplifying.


----------



## snowbear

Good night, folks.  Storm has arrived.


----------



## Fujidave

Cloudy and muggy here today, over to mums to help out then have lunch.


----------



## smoke665

Morning all. I hope that I've turned the corner on the pneumonia. Wednesday and Thursday were bad days as it felt like I was trying to cough up pieces of lung. Yesterday seemed better and today is early, but hopefully the worst is over. Go in again next week for Xrays to confirm. Other than that it's typical summer weather here. Hot and humid, mixed with really hot and humid.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is 7:30 a.m., Gary has been up for a spell cooking and prepping for the Bowl. There are skewers of veggies outside on the grill and a pork loin in the Sous Vide. 64F presently, but it may hit 80F by the afternoon. As typical, the 64F feels like 64F and the 80F will feel like 80F.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Gary is still in his pajamas, lol.


----------



## davidharmier60

80 (if only that was how hot it will get) will feel like 86 or so with humidity. 
4.46 again 30.16 for the week. 
Just did the Post Office. Box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## smoke665

It's hot here already



 

Tomorrow through next week, they are calling for pop up thunderstorms. We could actually use the rain so won't complain.


----------



## Gary A.

Behold the Pork Loin fresh from the Sous Vide.


----------



## Fujidave

Very very heavy and stressful day today, I will be glad when it is tomorrow and hope it`s a better day.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Very very heavy and stressful day today, I will be glad when it is tomorrow and hope it`s a better day.



Here's hoping you get your better day also!!


----------



## smoke665

Stick a fork in me I'm done for the day. Had a pretty good run of 5 hrs mowing fire lanes and green fields, but the heat took it's toll. I'm a little over halfway done, so it should be easy to knock out. Plus I noticed some new wildflowers blooming and photography always takes precedent over work LOL


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

The Playboy Jazz Festival ... life is simply grand.


----------



## otherprof

smoke665 said:


> Morning all. I hope that I've turned the corner on the pneumonia. Wednesday and Thursday were bad days as it felt like I was trying to cough up pieces of lung. Yesterday seemed better and today is early, but hopefully the worst is over. Go in again next week for Xrays to confirm. Other than that it's typical summer weather here. Hot and humid, mixed with really hot and humid.


Hoping the x-rays show the pneumonia is gone!


----------



## davidharmier60

Hi y'all. No major plans for the day. 
SHOULD clean up my coin computer room.
Whether I will or not is up for grabs.
Going to put some Heavy Metal up on YouTube and think about it. 

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## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Very very heavy and stressful day today, I will be glad when it is tomorrow and hope it`s a better day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here's hoping you get your better day also!!
Click to expand...


Thank you smoke, today has been peaceful for me.  My brother made it very clear a while ago he wants nothing to do with mum, so I do all the running about for mum when she needs me and at the moment I have found it physically and mentally draining, plus mum is very stubborn.  Had a lovely walk with Susie earlier on and sat up on the South Downs just chilling out.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> plus mum is very stubborn



Stubborn elderly parents.........surely not!!!!! LOL Both my parents are deceased so I never got to the stubborn stage with them, but my mother in law is giving us a triple dose. My father in law is great, but even he won't tackle her. As such, over the years she's developed into a very difficult person to deal with.


----------



## Gary A.

Again, The Playboy Jazz Festival was simply grand.  Great food, actually way too much great food.  Gary and Mary Lou joined up with another couple and we both brought enough food for the entire party. But we shared with those around us and they with us. Gary's wines were a terrific hit as his pulled pork and BBQ sauce. Some were amazed that such good wine could be found in Temecula.




iPhone


----------



## Gary A.

The Bowl Party started from Mary Lou and Gary's house in La Mirada.  The first choice was comfort or style.  Tom came rolling in with this huge SUV and Gary had washed his little sports car. The weather was perfect, the consensus was style. We stuffed all our picnic supplies into the Volvo, put the top down ... headed down the highway looking for adventure. We arrived early enough to snag a picnic table inside and we unpacked and relaxed and ate and drank for an hour+.  Mary Lou even brought a rose and vase for our table and she also sewed a table cloth with matching napkins which had the word "Jazz" repeated into a pattern.

The music played from 3:00 p.m. until midnight. The music was nonstop as the stage rotated, taking one group out and bringing in the next.  There is a 'party' atmosphere for the Jazz Festival, people are dancing in the aisles, tossing jello shots, beach balls, bubbles and Mardi Gras beads. Acts from all over the world performed, Colombia, France, Cuba, et cetera ... there was a 17 y/o blind musician, Matthew Whitaker, who stood apart from most of the acts.  Gary will pick up one of his albums.


----------



## JonA_CT

I’m sitting at the laundromat. Our dryer isn’t heating again, so I’m guessing the thermostat blew. The part is only $7.50, but I bet my trip here will cost more.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Very very heavy and stressful day today, I will be glad when it is tomorrow and hope it`s a better day.


There are times when you just gotta take one day at a time ... just gotta take a step, a breath and then another step just to get through it all.  Tomorrow will be better.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I’m sitting at the laundromat. Our dryer isn’t heating again, so I’m guessing the thermostat blew. The part is only $7.50, but I bet my trip here will cost more.


Aren't appliances supposed to last forever?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Gary A. said:


> The music was nonstop as the stage rotated, taking one group out and brining in the next


I would have expected the people to be " pickled " rather than " brined ".


----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The music was nonstop as the stage rotated, taking one group out and brining in the next
> 
> 
> 
> I would have expected the people to be " pickled " rather than " brined ".
Click to expand...

oops ... Gary is tired this morning.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> I’m sitting at the laundromat. Our dryer isn’t heating again, so I’m guessing the thermostat blew. The part is only $7.50, but I bet my trip here will cost more.



We have a washer and dryer in the RV, but when we're on the road it's easy to overwhelm it's limited capacity, so it's off to the launderette. It hasn't gone unnoticed that most are now taking credit cards!! The promotion is for convenience, but I also suspect it's a way to "disguise" how much it costs now.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> oops ... Gary is tired this morning



No wonder. At your age it's hard on the body to stay up that late. LOL


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> oops ... Gary is tired this morning
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No wonder. At your age it's hard on the body to stay up that late. LOL
Click to expand...

Staying up late isn't a problem ... the pain is from getting up early.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> We have a washer and dryer in the RV, but when we're on the road it's easy to overwhelm it's limited capacity, so it's off to the launderette. It hasn't gone unnoticed that most are now taking credit cards!! The promotion is for convenience, but I also suspect it's a way to "disguise" how much it costs now.


Just pack an extra pair of socks and wait 'til you get home!


----------



## JonA_CT

It was $4.20 to dry three loads. Not bad.

This dryer is only 2.5 years old. It was down for a couple weeks around this time last year. It corresponds with our lab’s shed season. Not a coincidence, I’m guessing...so I’ve set a reminder for May ‘19 to deep clean the dryer and vents. 

Since I’ve already figured out that the parts manual lists a thermostat that blows 20 degrees before spec, it should be good as new on Tuesday.


----------



## davidharmier60

Like everything else the older stuff is almost always better.
Monday Madness begins in approximately 32 minutes.

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## Warhorse

Yep, they don't make anything like they used to...


----------



## davidharmier60

Not EVERYTHING. You can get a pretty good pocket knife. Or a writing instrument.
Cameras have gotten different if not better.
Some tools are better. Some NOT.

5 hours even today and for the week so far. 
Yet ANOTHER new milk man from Hiland.
Yesterday there were no gallons of milk.
No or very little bread. Anyhow the new guy is slow and still parked out there. I went out a different door and down a ramp and around the milk truck to wash out the floor machine. 

Just had chicken tenders and home fries at the deli. Going to the PO. Then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## Breezy85

Did you all hear about the IHOP news this morning?  Or pardon me...IHOb??


----------



## davidharmier60

It apparently wasn't news my Dad and Sister thought I needed to know.


----------



## Gary A.

On our morning walk, Maggie climbed this tree up nearly to that big branch.


----------



## otherprof

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> oops ... Gary is tired this morning
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No wonder. At your age it's hard on the body to stay up that late. LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Staying up late isn't a problem ... the pain is from getting up early.
Click to expand...

"From here on in, the mountais don't get any higher; the valleys just get deeper and deeper." Wish I could remember where that is from!


----------



## smoke665

otherprof said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> oops ... Gary is tired this morning
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No wonder. At your age it's hard on the body to stay up that late. LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Staying up late isn't a problem ... the pain is from getting up early.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> "From here on in, the mountais don't get any higher; the valleys just get deeper and deeper." Wish I could remember where that is from!
Click to expand...


I seem to be teetering on the edge of a "black hole" valley. LOL


----------



## smoke665

Just on the news from the WTH section, at least it was a happy ending. 
'Don't Jump!': 180-Pound St. Bernard Rescued From Rooftop


----------



## Gary A.

otherprof said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> oops ... Gary is tired this morning
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No wonder. At your age it's hard on the body to stay up that late. LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Staying up late isn't a problem ... the pain is from getting up early.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> "From here on in, the mountais don't get any higher; the valleys just get deeper and deeper." Wish I could remember where that is from!
Click to expand...

Gary thinks that came from Pete Seeger, _The Rainbow Quest_.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Just on the news from the WTH section, at least it was a happy ending.
> 'Don't Jump!': 180-Pound St. Bernard Rescued From Rooftop


I was moving in to assist Maggie in getting down, when she jumped.  We were all laughing about having to call the fire department to get a dog out of a tree.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> We were all laughing about having to call the fire department to get a dog out of a tree.



In the 25 years I've been involved in it, I can only remember two animal in distress calls. One was a cat stuck in a tree, and one was a dog that fell in a well. Both were rescued with out incident.


----------



## otherprof

Gary A. said:


> otherprof said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> oops ... Gary is tired this morning
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No wonder. At your age it's hard on the body to stay up that late. LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Staying up late isn't a problem ... the pain is from getting up early.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> "From here on in, the mountais don't get any higher; the valleys just get deeper and deeper." Wish I could remember where that is from!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary thinks that came from Pete Seeger, _The Rainbow Quest_.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Gary! Do I stil have two wishes left?


----------



## terri

otherprof said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> oops ... Gary is tired this morning
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No wonder. At your age it's hard on the body to stay up that late. LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Staying up late isn't a problem ... the pain is from getting up early.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> "From here on in, the mountais don't get any higher; the valleys just get deeper and deeper." Wish I could remember where that is from!
Click to expand...


Dunno, but this still rocks!


----------



## davidharmier60

The floor machine ran low on battery power again today. The charger has code SRT when it used to show .0000.
SRT means possible short circuit. 
I reckon one of two batteries is kaput.
Hopefully she got hold of the mechanic and he came today. But we'll see in approximately 10.5 hours. 

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## vintagesnaps

How'd we go from dogs to The Supremes to floor cleaning?! lol I may have to go back further... Or just wait and see what you hosers are talking about by tomorrow!


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> How'd we go from dogs to The Supremes to floor cleaning?! lol I may have to go back further... Or just wait and see what you hosers are talking about by tomorrow!



Here's the CliffsNotes version-


Staying up late
Pain of staying up late
Age, Mountains and Valley
Dianna Ross singing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"
Dogs in trees
Dogs on roofs
Floor cleaner kaput
Now you're up to speed LOL


----------



## jcdeboever

I strained my achilles tendon on Thursday.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's Tuesday. Off to work in less than 10 minutes 


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## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.  55 overnight, expected to hit upper 70s today and stay dry; pretty good for the Caps's parade.

Work Fire/EMS had a call for woman on a bridge (I-95 overpass) threatening to jump.  When she made a movement to go over, one of the EMS crew and a bystander quickly go to her and pulled her back. 



jcdeboever said:


> I strained my achilles tendon on Thursday.


Ouch.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Work Fire/EMS had a call for woman on a bridge (I-95 overpass) threatening to jump. When she made a movement to go over, one of the EMS crew and a bystander quickly go to her and pulled her back.



Here I think it's the heat, we've had some more "violent" ones the past couple of weeks. Had a domestic dispute yesterday with shots fired (no injuries thankfully), but doesn't always turn out that way, and the summer is still young. Few years ago a woman emptied a 9 shot clip at her husband and only grazed him a couple of times. SO  told her "you could have killed him". She responded "I was trying but he wouldn't stand still long enough". LOL


----------



## SquarePeg

Howdy Hosers!  I think I'm caught up on the coffee house crew.  

Gary - looks like it was a fun concert.  Miss Maggie is amazing.  Our dog is not into heights at all - the couch is about as high as he'll willingly climb.

JC - sorry about your injury.  I can sympathize.  Threw my back out on Saturday and have been wincing around in pain ever since.  Feels ok when I get moving and keep moving but any prolonged sitting or standing still will tighten it right back up.

Our softball team is in the midst of a double elimination tournament.  We won the first game and lost the second.  We play again tomorrow night in a Win or Go Home scenario.  It's been a long season and while I would love to see the girls win out and move on to the next round, I won't be too sorry to get my life back if we lose...  Had to speak to some of the player's parents last night about standing too close to our dugout/sidelines and "coaching" their kids (and the others) from the stands.  I had a player thrown out stealing third because her dad was screaming "Go" and she listened even though the 3rd base coach was clearing indicating stay put.  Every year our league asks for coach volunteers and all of these parents sit on their hands and do nothing.  All season I have told the parents that they are welcome to help out at practices and only 1 has stepped up and helped out with the team.  Then when we get to a playoff game they all want to be the coach?????  Not going to happen.  

On the homefront - new roof on the deck is just about complete - they are doing clean up and installing the ceiling fan and other lights today.  Then we can get the pool situated and enjoy the nice weather.  We're converting our garage into a bed/bath suite and work will be starting on that at the end of next week.  

What are everyone's vacation plans this summer?  We'll be heading to the beach in Maine for a week in July  and we're also going to the White Mtns for a week with extended family in August.


----------



## davidharmier60

I expect we'll go see my Aunt again. 
She and Dad are NOT getting any younger. 
It will be a day trip because I can't afford to vacation. On that note...

4.11 hours today and 9.11 for the week so far. 

Sold my box of pennies. Going to see if I can get another. Then PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. No breakfast at the deli today because there are hamburger patties at home.

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## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> I strained my achilles tendon on Thursday.


How?  You're an ol' man you shouldn't being doing anything that can cause that.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg: Boy can Gary empathize with you. Gary's blended family of softball, soccer and swimming left no day untouched.  For years nearly every weekday and every weekend had something going. Gary cannot tell how grand it is to have an empty nest and a calendar of mostly "our selfish stuff".  Good Lord ... there are days which are void of commitments of any kind. This is movie Tuesday's when popcorn is half price and the theater is empty. Midweek we can see a play and not worry about a practice. 

As to a vacation ... yesterday, Mary Lou and Gary discussed that subject.  Mary Lou does not like the heat, consequently, she doesn't want to go anywhere unless it is along the coast.  Even wine country is too hot for her comfort.  So we're pretty much staying home this summer.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I had a player thrown out stealing third because her dad was screaming "Go" and she listened even though the 3rd base coach was clearing indicating stay put.


Sounds like Dad should have been ejected from the stands.  Aggravating! 

We're likely to stay put this summer.   So far, we've had my neice visit for a weekend, and are hosting a big get-together of friends later this month.   My mom and sister are coming for a visit in July.  After that, we're going to chill out.  Maybe a long weekend someplace, we'll see.


----------



## Fujidave

Was all set to go to the music hall today, but mum phoned to see if I could help her out.  Hope to get there sometime soon now I have batteries all charged up, but for me family comes before my photography.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I strained my achilles tendon on Thursday.
> 
> 
> 
> How?  You're an ol' man you shouldn't being doing anything that can cause that.
Click to expand...

I stepped in a pot hole (parking lot), getting out of my truck. I noticed it and parked to avoid avoid running over it. Well got a phone call, forgot about it. Got out of truck and half stepped into it. Haven't been able to get off it long enough to get it to heal. Lots of ice when I can. Tylenol seems to help over Advil but Tylenol reeks havoc on my stomach, so I've taken it at night.


----------



## otherprof

jcdeboever said:


> I strained my achilles tendon on Thursday.


Wishiug a speedy recovery. For me, time, rest and painkillers were the only things that worked.


----------



## jcdeboever

otherprof said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I strained my achilles tendon on Thursday.
> 
> 
> 
> Wishiug a speedy recovery. For me, time, rest and painkillers were the only things that worked.
Click to expand...


yup, seem to lack all of that. I'm resting today though


----------



## CherylL

Team schnauzer 0 vs racoon 1.  But, one did get a hold of the raccoon's back foot.  The neighbor trapped it and somehow it got out of the cage.  They trapped it again in a trash can that was bungee corded and it got out of that too.


----------



## davidharmier60

Fine sentiment FujiDave! My Family comes first also.


----------



## Tony744

jcdeboever said:


> I strained my achilles tendon on Thursday.



Wishing you a speedy recovery.

I don't have plans to go anywhere for vacation. I may take a day off from work and go down to King Richard's Faire, but that's about it.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever I have a pretty good 6th sense that kicks in to warn me away from things like that, even if I'm not paying attention. Problem is that I get complacent so that on that rare occasion when it doesn't work you'll find me face planted in the dirt big time.


----------



## Gary A.

View attachment 159199
Today, Miss Maggie made a new friend. Meet Bo/Beau, a Wire Haired Fox Terrier. Bo/Beau has a sad story. He spent caged in a pet store for a year. He seems to be well adjusted, gentle, accommodating and social in spite of the caging. Maggie and Bo/Beau ran up and down the creek, wrestled and roughhoused for an hour. It was wonderful watching the dogs being dogs.


----------



## JonA_CT

I have 7 more days of work until 9 weeks of Saturdays.

We don't have any big trips planned, although we'll be making our annual pilgrimage to the Cape to camp right after my wife finishes up work on the 26th. We'll probably also make a three or four day camping trip to North Woodstock, NH,  and maybe elsewhere. Who knows.


----------



## Gary A.

Movie Tuesday today, _Rider.  _Gary found the movie to be very powerful.  Technically, there was much lacking, bad cuts and some OOF frames, but it was more than up for with honesty and a gritty looked into the life of a cowboy. Five stars from Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

A large popcorn was $4.70 today. We smuggled in Coke Zero and Junior Mints.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> A large popcorn was $4.70 today. We smuggled in Coke Zero and Junior Mints.



Shame on you!!!  We took the grandsons to the afternoon showing of "Solo: A Star Wars Story" last week, and even after the reduced ticket prices I think we dropped $60 with drinks, pop corn, and snacks.


----------



## davidharmier60

I haven't been in a move theater in probably 10 years. The nearest nice one is at least 35 miles away.
There is an OLD one in Cleveland. Maybe only one screen. Never seen a movie advertised that I wanted to see.

And on that note, good night my fellow photographers. The eagle poops tomorrow. And Blue Bell goes on sale for $4.88.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> We're likely to stay put this summer.   So far, we've had my neice visit for a weekend, and are hosting a big get-together of friends later this month.   My mom and sister are coming for a visit in July.  After that, we're going to chill out.  Maybe a long weekend someplace, we'll see.


No real "vacation" but I'm going to Columbus OH for a weekend conference and we're contemplating a trip to a Lobster Festival in August.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> A large popcorn was $4.70 today. We smuggled in Coke Zero and Junior Mints.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shame on you!!!  We took the grandsons to the afternoon showing of "Solo: A Star Wars Story" last week, and even after the reduced ticket prices I think we dropped $60 with drinks, pop corn, and snacks.
Click to expand...

Lol ... and for us the movie was free because of Movie Pass. The movie was in Long Beach and going home we drove down Pacific Coast Highway for a spell with the top down.  It was a pleasant afternoon.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're likely to stay put this summer.   So far, we've had my neice visit for a weekend, and are hosting a big get-together of friends later this month.   My mom and sister are coming for a visit in July.  After that, we're going to chill out.  Maybe a long weekend someplace, we'll see.
> 
> 
> 
> No real "vacation" but I'm going to Columbus OH for a weekend conference and we're contemplating a trip to a Lobster Festival in August.
Click to expand...


Locally, there are Lobster Festivals in Long Beach, Redondo Beach and San Pedro ... but they are in September.  Gary hopes the extra time will work to your advantage with your travel plans.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

I'm in the throes of recruitment for the program I'm building at school. It's work that I'm not used to yet, so it's taking a lot of energy and I find myself pretty tired most of the time. Just went to Maine for a week a couple of weeks ago, but we're thinking of another week off in July. So far the idea is to take the train up to Montreal.

Until then, I've been instituting a All Screens Off at 10:00pm policy to help improve my quality of sleep, so I have 20 minutes until signing off. For the past few weeks, I've been good at getting up to exercise before work on Mondays and Tuesdays, but then blew it the rest of the week. This week, I couldn't drag my ass out of bed on Mon or Tues, but still have hopes for the rest of the week.


----------



## RowdyRay

Just took a week off for a fishing trip in May. Won't be another official vacation until November for deer hunting. But I make the best of 3 day weekends and holidays. Also make it to my brother's lake place several times. Or the hunting property to cut the grass, relax and/or fish. Or I just wander off on my own and camp. Not glamping. A tent and a fire. Gone almost every other weekend during the summer. No complaints.


----------



## davidharmier60

Once more into the breach go I. 
Good coffee.

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----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> So far the idea is to take the train up to Montreal.


HEY!!!  And you didn't alert me to the fact that you'll be in my home town?   (or are you going undercover?)


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is overcast and in the 60's presently. Now Buehler is on the disabled list.  The Dodger dugout must look like a hospital ward.  Yesterday, Gary had scheduled phone calls to four wineries so he can close out his memberships.  Things got a little crazy so those those calls are rescheduled for today. He even has the phone numbers of the chosen wineries written down. Gary has way too many memberships.


----------



## davidharmier60

Approximately 5.5 hours today and 14.43 for the week so far. There was something on aisle 4 that the buffer wouldn't touch. 
Fabuloso and a mop fixed it.
The floor machine hadn't been worked on yet but it got through the whole store. 
I belong to roughly 5 sites. But that's it as far as memberships go.
Chicken Tenders just about gone.
Some good deals this week. Gonna take some stuff home fer sure. 

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## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Lol ... and for us the movie was free because of Movie Pass.



With matinee pricing + senior discount for DW and myself, the tickets were a minor part of the total cost. I'd thought about the movie pass, but I thought I heard from somewhere (maybe you) that it might be going by the wayside?


----------



## smoke665

We generally just do a few short trips during the summer because of the heat. Will head to the N. GA mountains in a couple of weeks if all goes well. We were there last summer and had a good time. Panned for gold while we were there, found enough to make it worthwhile and definitely make it a repeat.


----------



## davidharmier60

Parts of Georgia are pretty nice. 
But you can stick Atlanta where the Sun doesn't shine. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lol ... and for us the movie was free because of Movie Pass.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> With matinee pricing + senior discount for DW and myself, the tickets were a minor part of the total cost. I'd thought about the movie pass, but I thought I heard from somewhere (maybe you) that it might be going by the wayside?
Click to expand...

They're having some ups and downs, but if you buy the pass through Costco, (assuming you're a member), then if they go bust then Costco will reimburse the cost of Movie Pass..


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So far the idea is to take the train up to Montreal.
> 
> 
> 
> HEY!!!  And you didn't alert me to the fact that you'll be in my home town?   (or are you going undercover?)
Click to expand...

Paul!  How's it going?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nice to see you on here Paul! 

Now wait, Leo and Charlie are going to Montreal and Columbus - and hockey season is done!! Well, not that it's ever completely done, there are all kinds of camps and unofficial tournaments (captains' practices), etc. Montreal seems like it would be a cool place to go visit (when the Habs are playing, or even just practicing, or holding training camp). 

When you go to Columbus if you're by chance at the convention center, across High St. next to the Hampton is a small street that goes directly into the North Market parking lot - try the place run by a guy who's Polish or Hungarian I think, that's the best darn chicken I think I've ever had. Even the sauerkraut balls were good, and I don't even like sauerkraut. And The Fish Guys... their bisque, crab cakes & fish cakes, oh my. Or Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, they are splendid!! and in many unusual flavors (of the 'boozy' ones I like whiskey pecan). I'd usually take a small cooler along anytime I went to a conference (if I was lucky, catch a hockey game too). 

Now I'm going to have to go do a Jeni's order...


----------



## pgriz

snowbear said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So far the idea is to take the train up to Montreal.
> 
> 
> 
> HEY!!!  And you didn't alert me to the fact that you'll be in my home town?   (or are you going undercover?)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Paul!  How's it going?
Click to expand...

As I noted in another post... 6 funerals, 3 cancer diagnosis (and subsequent operations - not me, but close family members), 3 hospital trips for my 95-year old mom, and a new grandchild....  keeps one focused on the here and now.  Thanks for the welcome back.


----------



## Tony744

smoke665 said:


> Shame on you!!!  We took the grandsons to the afternoon showing of "Solo: A Star Wars Story" last week, and even after the reduced ticket prices I think we dropped $60 with drinks, pop corn, and snacks.



I caught "Solo" on opening weekend. The ticket price wasn't bad, but the beers, burger, chopped cobb salad, the snacks added up quickly.


----------



## smoke665

@Tony744  I think they sell popcorn here by the kernel.  What did you think of Solo?


----------



## Tony744

Wasn't quite the story line I envisioned for Han, but I still liked it.


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So far the idea is to take the train up to Montreal.
> 
> 
> 
> HEY!!!  And you didn't alert me to the fact that you'll be in my home town?   (or are you going undercover?)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Paul!  How's it going?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> As I noted in another post... 6 funerals, 3 cancer diagnosis (and subsequent operations - not me, but close family members), 3 hospital trips for my 95-year old mom, and a new grandchild....  keeps one focused on the here and now.  Thanks for the welcome back.
Click to expand...

Sorry about the first three, congrat's on the last.  We're all pulling for you.


----------



## smoke665

Same here. I have problems where they keep making movies in a series, but jump around. I have to think to much to figure out where I'm at


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> When you go to Columbus if you're by chance at the convention center, across High St. next to the Hampton is a small street that goes directly into the North Market parking lot - try the place run by a guy who's Polish or Hungarian I think, that's the best darn chicken I think I've ever had. Even the sauerkraut balls were good, and I don't even like sauerkraut. And The Fish Guys... their bisque, crab cakes & fish cakes, oh my. Or Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, they are splendid!! and in many unusual flavors (of the 'boozy' ones I like whiskey pecan). I'd usually take a small cooler along anytime I went to a conference (if I was lucky, catch a hockey game too).


I'll have to try and check them out.  Not sure where I'm staying but the conference is at the University.  I'll be flying up and Lyft/Ubering around.


----------



## davidharmier60

Nighty night folks. Have a nice Thursday. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> So far the idea is to take the train up to Montreal.
> 
> 
> 
> HEY!!!  And you didn't alert me to the fact that you'll be in my home town?   (or are you going undercover?)
Click to expand...


PAUL!! 

The idea to go to Montreal is a brand-spanking new idea as of a couple of days ago. We still have to actually make plans. But I'll say 'Allo to folks up there for ya


----------



## pgriz

C'est BONJOUR!  Hi!  Much as the francophone nationalists try to pretend that Montreal is a french-only city, the reality is that pretty much everyone here is at least bilingual, and usually tri-lingual or better.  We're in an apparently perpetual rebuild of the major arteries of the city, and we celebrate the fact with our Orange Cone festival, which are creatively installed at all street corners where you actually want to get somewhere.  As well, our well-known citizen Almonde Barré has a lot of streets named after him, as in Rue Barré.  But that's for the car-using folk.  For those with good leg muscles, you can walk, jog, run, sprint, or bike pretty much anywhere.    Let me know if you want a rundown of the mandatory tourist traps to see/avoid, and the places which will play nice with your camera (assuming you are bringing it).  If you reddit, the montreal subreddit has decent information.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Apparently we had a rare night-time tornado come through Wilkes-Barre about an hour ago. Damage to the largest shopping area, possible entrapment and minor injuries from vehicles being turned over. Could have been really bad if it had been a couple hours earlier when all the restaurants/stores would have been full.


----------



## Fujidave

Much needed rain here today, the gardens will love it.


----------



## smoke665

Wow, 


Dean_Gretsch said:


> Apparently we had a rare night-time tornado come through Wilkes-Barre about an hour ago. Damage to the largest shopping area, possible



Wow hope there are no serious injuries. Nighttime tornados are my biggest fear. It's like being in a pitch black room knowing there's 12 ga pointed somewhere but not knowing which way.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  World Cup starts today.  A very interesting collage on the front of the LA Times Sports section.  There are 32 thumbnail photos of faces, each face is painted up to represent the flag of a participating nation.  It is quite interesting.  Today is Samy Thursday and Samy's Camera is running three pages of camera stuff under their "No Tax Banner".  Pentax 645Z (body) for $3999 out the door, a full page of Canon along with the usual suspects.

Yesterday wasn't a good day.  Miss Maggie had some bug which kept her down.  Her right eye was full of gunk when I woke up yesterday.  Gary cleaned it up and Mary Lou administered some drops.  Usually she accompanies Gary getting the morning paper, but not yesterday.  She didn't want to go on her walk. She wouldn't eat her usual food, but did eat the eggs we made her for breakfast and dinner. On the course of the day, she stayed close to us and all we did was rest with her, watching a pair of NetFlixs and Gary worked  on the recliner with his laptop. This morning she jumped up to get the paper and bounced out the door. Hopefully, it was just a 24 hour bug, but Gary will walk her through a different park today, one with a lake but no creek for her to run through.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Much needed rain here today, the gardens will love it.


We could use some rain out here, (that is on a loop).  64F presently but should warm up into the 80's.  Gary needs to make a wine run to Temecula, but will wait until next week when the temps are back in the 70's.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Hopefully, it was just a 24 hour bug, but Gary will walk her through a different park today, one with a lake but no creek for her to run through.



Hope Ms Maggie gets over the bug quickly. Unfortunately they sometimes eat things they shouldn't.


----------



## Gary A.

Her eye isn't 100%, but it is much much better.  She is acting more like herself today and she is eating her breakfast of banana, yogurt and egg.


----------



## SquarePeg

Scary!  Looks like a lot of destruction in Wilkes Barre downtown area but no fatalities?  Some good news at least.  I was reading that had it been a few hours earlier there would have been a lot more people in that area and things could have been a lot worse!

Sounds like Maggie is on the mend.  My fur baby has been a bit down lately.  He's feeling a little neglected that I've been out of the house without him much more than usual.  We've had a busy softball season and I can't take him to the games when I'm coaching.  Our rec season is still going on as the team has made the championship round!  We have one loss and our opponent has none.  We'll need to beat them tonight and again on Saturday to win the championship.  While I'm enjoying myself, and of course want to see the girls win out, I'm ready for it to be over!!!!  My house and yard are even more neglected than the dog and I haven't been out with my camera in weeks.  We've been living on take out and snacks for the past 2 months which has completely stalled my weight loss.  Looking forward to some down time.


----------



## JonA_CT

I’m sitting at Six Flags grading papers and writing report card comments.


----------



## davidharmier60

Four and a quarter hours and a few minutes today.  19.12 for the week. 
Happy there were no fatalities in Wilkes Barre!
Getting hotter and more humid each day.
Nothing else to report.


----------



## smoke665

Not that I really want to go out, because it is hotter than Hades, but it's the thought that we can't for a bit. Had the driveway coated this morning, and will be this evening before we can drive on it!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hadn't heard about WBS, glad it wasn't worse than it was. 

Charlie I didn't often go up toward campus (since the days of my youth!). High St. has changed so much over the years some of it was almost unrecognizable last time I was there. Campus is nice. If you go south on High St. eventually you'll get to Short North w/shops & restaurants, then where you turn to go into the North Market, and Nationwide Arena District. You could look up any of those 3 to find out what's going on this summer. 

Nationwide usually has had their pro shop open in the summer (in the front courtyard area) and the practice rink in the back usually has something going on (if you want to get out of the hot and go in someplace nice and cold!). Of course I'm so diehard that I'd watch anybody skating and whacking pucks at anything.

Maybe if you wear something scarlet and gray Uber will be sure to pick you up!


----------



## snowbear

I’ll check it out.  I’m probably not going to have a lot of time, but it’s worth checking out.


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> C'est BONJOUR!  Hi!  Much as the francophone nationalists try to pretend that Montreal is a french-only city, the reality is that pretty much everyone here is at least bilingual, and usually tri-lingual or better.  We're in an apparently perpetual rebuild of the major arteries of the city, and we celebrate the fact with our Orange Cone festival, which are creatively installed at all street corners where you actually want to get somewhere.  As well, our well-known citizen Almonde Barré has a lot of streets named after him, as in Rue Barré.  But that's for the car-using folk.  For those with good leg muscles, you can walk, jog, run, sprint, or bike pretty much anywhere.    Let me know if you want a rundown of the mandatory tourist traps to see/avoid, and the places which will play nice with your camera (assuming you are bringing it).  If you reddit, the montreal subreddit has decent information.



I was in Montreal...wow, I guess it was almost exactly 13 years ago. It was our first trip together, Buzz and I. And yes, I remember that it was a non-issue to speak English.

I would gladly take recommendations for things off the beaten path, if you are willing to give up the intel  We'll be on foot, though we are not averse to taking public transportation. As for whether or not we'll be bringing cameras...what do you think?


----------



## SquarePeg

Ugh Hosers!  Lost 8-7 in 7 very hard fought innings.  Had the tying run on 3b with w outs in the 7th.  Crushing loss.  Princess had 4 rbi tonight including 3 in the 7th to get us close.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh Hosers!  Lost 8-7 in 7 very hard fought innings.  Had the tying run on 3b with w outs in the 7th.  Crushing loss.  Princess had 4 rbi tonight including 3 in the 7th to get us close.


Aww....that's a heartbreaker!   Sounds like they gave them a great fight.  I know that doesn't make it easier, but at least they know they didn't just roll over.  So- good job, regardless of the outcome.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh Hosers!  Lost 8-7 in 7 very hard fought innings.  Had the tying run on 3b with w outs in the 7th.  Crushing loss.  Princess had 4 rbi tonight including 3 in the 7th to get us close.


Oooooooohhhh ... that hurts. Sorry.


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> As for whether or not we'll be bringing cameras...what do you think?



I would hope you bring at least one camera, but Newyawkers can be funny at times, so I'm not going to make assumptions. 

What to do and see depends on how much time you've got.  Plenty of places that will try to lighten your wallets for you, but that seems to be "normal" for any place that can attract visitors.  

If you want to use the public transit system, which is very good, you can buy an Opus card and load it with whatever fare package works for you (from single fares, to 3-day passes, to week passes) at very reasonable prices (eg: $18CDN for 3 days unlimited travel on the system).  Info on bus routes, schedules, etc. is found on Société de transport de Montréal

If bicycles appeal to you (and Montreal has a large network of more-or-less coherent bike paths, lanes, etc.), then a 72-hour Bixi pass is $14CDN.  Pick the bikes up at any station, return it to any other station, and if your ride was under 30 minutes, then there are no additional charges.  Go to Google Maps, center on Montreal, and search for "Bixi".

Areas to explore are (in no particular order):

the Old Port area
Ile (island) Ste-Helene (get there by Metro)
Mont Royal (the "mountain" park in the center of the city) (walk, bike, bus)
rue St-Denis (bike, bus, Metro)
Park Extension (bus, Metro)
Botanical gardens and the Olympic stadium complex (bus, Metro)
the outdoor markets at Atwater or Jean Talon (both close to Metro stops)
Montreal food staples (Montreal bagels at either St-Viateur Bagel or Fairmount Bagel; smoked meat at Schwartz's Deli; poutine at Restaurant A.A in St-Henri, or Poutinville in the Gay Village).  Greek food is found near Park Ave. or St-Laurent.  Thai is well represented (Pamika on Sherbrooke St. East, Bangkok at Le Fabourg).  
If you're around on a Sunday, head up to the Monument to Sir George-Etienne Cartier (Park Avenue) for Tam-Tam (pickup drumming, 10am-ish to whenever the energy dies) which can be great, and can be meh.
If museums are your thing, there's Pointe-à-Callière in Old Montreal, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts on Sherbrooke, McCord museum, also on Sherbrooke.
For people watching there's Place Jacques Cartier (Old Montreal), which is touristy, but can be interesting, the boardwalk along the Old Port, the lookout on Mount Royal (Chalet de Mont Royal), McGill College (nice view towards mountain from the patio at Place Ville Marie)
If you like beer, there's a ton of small and micro craft breweries, with beer brewed on the premises.  Le Saint Bock on St-Denis has a massive beer list.  Plenty of others in the downtown area and pretty much everywhere.
If you need photo supplies, there's Photo Service on Notre Dame in Old Montreal, Lozeau on St-Hubert, and lots of places near downtown and the Old Port area.
Saturday nights are fireworks from the Internation Firework Competition held at La Ronde (Ile Ste-Helene).  Jacques Cartier bridge (overlooking the fireworks area) is shut down to auto traffic from about 8pm to midnight.
And of course, if you're interested in meeting, we could arrange a dinner and tour.


----------



## JonA_CT

I hate amusement parks. I don't like squeezing onto roller coasters in the like, and I honestly get overstimulated by all of the sensory crap around me (music blaring, food smells, sounds of people yelling, crowds of people near me, etc). But, our students had a great time. The park was relatively empty as we were late for school group season and early for the summer crowds, and my students were able to walk onto most of the rides. In fact, a few were able to ride Superman (considered one of the handful of best roller coasters in the world) twice in a 25 minutes, which is unheard of I guess.

The only snag was a ride breakdown that our students got caught in. We were short two students at our final check-in before heading home, and they were MIA for almost 45 minutes. Neither of them were answering their phones. It ended up that their phones were in a ride locker and they were stuck at the end of the ride for over an hour because the seat restraints wouldn't release and they had to call ride mechanics in. Of course, we didn't know that at the time.

Needless to say, I'm dragging this morning.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh Hosers!  Lost 8-7 in 7 very hard fought innings.  Had the tying run on 3b with w outs in the 7th.  Crushing loss.  Princess had 4 rbi tonight including 3 in the 7th to get us close.
> 
> 
> 
> Aww....that's a heartbreaker!   Sounds like they gave them a great fight.  I know that doesn't make it easier, but at least they know they didn't just roll over.  So- good job, regardless of the outcome.
Click to expand...




Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh Hosers!  Lost 8-7 in 7 very hard fought innings.  Had the tying run on 3b with w outs in the 7th.  Crushing loss.  Princess had 4 rbi tonight including 3 in the 7th to get us close.
> 
> 
> 
> Oooooooohhhh ... that hurts. Sorry.
Click to expand...


Thanks guys!  That should have read 2 outs...  was a fun season with a great group of girls.  Ready to have my free time and the trunk of my car back!


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh Hosers!  Lost 8-7 in 7 very hard fought innings.  Had the tying run on 3b with w outs in the 7th.  Crushing loss.  Princess had 4 rbi tonight including 3 in the 7th to get us close.


unfortunately,  that is part of the beauty of the game


----------



## waday

Happy (early) Father's Day to all the fathers out there! 

Also, Eid Mubarak! Today is Eid al-Fitr.


----------



## jcdeboever

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> As for whether or not we'll be bringing cameras...what do you think?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would hope you bring at least one camera, but Newyawkers can be funny at times, so I'm not going to make assumptions.
> 
> What to do and see depends on how much time you've got.  Plenty of places that will try to lighten your wallets for you, but that seems to be "normal" for any place that can attract visitors.
> 
> If you want to use the public transit system, which is very good, you can buy an Opus card and load it with whatever fare package works for you (from single fares, to 3-day passes, to week passes) at very reasonable prices (eg: $18CDN for 3 days unlimited travel on the system).  Info on bus routes, schedules, etc. is found on Société de transport de Montréal
> 
> If bicycles appeal to you (and Montreal has a large network of more-or-less coherent bike paths, lanes, etc.), then a 72-hour Bixi pass is $14CDN.  Pick the bikes up at any station, return it to any other station, and if your ride was under 30 minutes, then there are no additional charges.  Go to Google Maps, center on Montreal, and search for "Bixi".
> 
> Areas to explore are (in no particular order):
> 
> the Old Port area
> Ile (island) Ste-Helene (get there by Metro)
> Mont Royal (the "mountain" park in the center of the city) (walk, bike, bus)
> rue St-Denis (bike, bus, Metro)
> Park Extension (bus, Metro)
> Botanical gardens and the Olympic stadium complex (bus, Metro)
> the outdoor markets at Atwater or Jean Talon (both close to Metro stops)
> Montreal food staples (Montreal bagels at either St-Viateur Bagel or Fairmount Bagel; smoked meat at Schwartz's Deli; poutine at Restaurant A.A in St-Henri, or Poutinville in the Gay Village).  Greek food is found near Park Ave. or St-Laurent.  Thai is well represented (Pamika on Sherbrooke St. East, Bangkok at Le Fabourg).
> If you're around on a Sunday, head up to the Monument to Sir George-Etienne Cartier (Park Avenue) for Tam-Tam (pickup drumming, 10am-ish to whenever the energy dies) which can be great, and can be meh.
> If museums are your thing, there's Pointe-à-Callière in Old Montreal, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts on Sherbrooke, McCord museum, also on Sherbrooke.
> For people watching there's Place Jacques Cartier (Old Montreal), which is touristy, but can be interesting, the boardwalk along the Old Port, the lookout on Mount Royal (Chalet de Mont Royal), McGill College (nice view towards mountain from the patio at Place Ville Marie)
> If you like beer, there's a ton of small and micro craft breweries, with beer brewed on the premises.  Le Saint Bock on St-Denis has a massive beer list.  Plenty of others in the downtown area and pretty much everywhere.
> If you need photo supplies, there's Photo Service on Notre Dame in Old Montreal, Lozeau on St-Hubert, and lots of places near downtown and the Old Port area.
> Saturday nights are fireworks from the Internation Firework Competition held at La Ronde (Ile Ste-Helene).  Jacques Cartier bridge (overlooking the fireworks area) is shut down to auto traffic from about 8pm to midnight.
> And of course, if you're interested in meeting, we could arrange a dinner and tour.
Click to expand...

need to print this out. there is a vacation plan already done up for me.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I hate amusement parks. I don't like squeezing onto roller coasters in the like, and I honestly get overstimulated by all of the sensory crap around me (music blaring, food smells, sounds of people yelling, crowds of people near me, etc). But, our students had a great time. The park was relatively empty as we were late for school group season and early for the summer crowds, and my students were able to walk onto most of the rides. In fact, a few were able to ride Superman (considered one of the handful of best roller coasters in the world) twice in a 25 minutes, which is unheard of I guess.
> 
> The only snag was a ride breakdown that our students got caught in. We were short two students at our final check-in before heading home, and they were MIA for almost 45 minutes. Neither of them were answering their phones. It ended up that their phones were in a ride locker and they were stuck at the end of the ride for over an hour because the seat restraints wouldn't release and they had to call ride mechanics in. Of course, we didn't know that at the time.
> 
> Needless to say, I'm dragging this morning.


oh boy, that had to been irritating


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  World Cup starts today.  A very interesting collage on the front of the LA Times Sports section.  There are 32 thumbnail photos of faces, each face is painted up to represent the flag of a participating nation.  It is quite interesting.  Today is Samy Thursday and Samy's Camera is running three pages of camera stuff under their "No Tax Banner".  Pentax 645Z (body) for $3999 out the door, a full page of Canon along with the usual suspects.
> 
> Yesterday wasn't a good day.  Miss Maggie had some bug which kept her down.  Her right eye was full of gunk when I woke up yesterday.  Gary cleaned it up and Mary Lou administered some drops.  Usually she accompanies Gary getting the morning paper, but not yesterday.  She didn't want to go on her walk. She wouldn't eat her usual food, but did eat the eggs we made her for breakfast and dinner. On the course of the day, she stayed close to us and all we did was rest with her, watching a pair of NetFlixs and Gary worked  on the recliner with his laptop. This morning she jumped up to get the paper and bounced out the door. Hopefully, it was just a 24 hour bug, but Gary will walk her through a different park today, one with a lake but no creek for her to run through.


swamp eye, speedy recovery miss Maggie. gfx thumping pentax medium format inventory.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> pgriz said:
> 
> 
> 
> C'est BONJOUR!  Hi!  Much as the francophone nationalists try to pretend that Montreal is a french-only city, the reality is that pretty much everyone here is at least bilingual, and usually tri-lingual or better.  We're in an apparently perpetual rebuild of the major arteries of the city, and we celebrate the fact with our Orange Cone festival, which are creatively installed at all street corners where you actually want to get somewhere.  As well, our well-known citizen Almonde Barré has a lot of streets named after him, as in Rue Barré.  But that's for the car-using folk.  For those with good leg muscles, you can walk, jog, run, sprint, or bike pretty much anywhere.    Let me know if you want a rundown of the mandatory tourist traps to see/avoid, and the places which will play nice with your camera (assuming you are bringing it).  If you reddit, the montreal subreddit has decent information.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was in Montreal...wow, I guess it was almost exactly 13 years ago. It was our first trip together, Buzz and I. And yes, I remember that it was a non-issue to speak English.
> 
> I would gladly take recommendations for things off the beaten path, if you are willing to give up the intel  We'll be on foot, though we are not averse to taking public transportation. As for whether or not we'll be bringing cameras...what do you think?
Click to expand...

got to bring a camera, sounds like a holga party to me....


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh Hosers!  Lost 8-7 in 7 very hard fought innings.  Had the tying run on 3b with w outs in the 7th.  Crushing loss.  Princess had 4 rbi tonight including 3 in the 7th to get us close.
> 
> 
> 
> unfortunately,  that is part of the beauty of the game
Click to expand...


Love the game and will miss coaching a lot, mostly for the fun times watching the girls improve and bond.  Princess is too old for the spring rec league next year so I’ll have to settle for being a fan in the stands during the high school games.   I’ll stay on the board of the rec league for another year to help them keep the league moving forward.  We made a lot of positive changes over the past few years and I want to make sure they don’t backslide!


----------



## SquarePeg

Get ready for the deluge of photos as I finally have a weekend free!  First time since mid April.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

JonA_CT said:


> I hate amusement parks. I don't like squeezing onto roller coasters in the like, and I honestly get overstimulated by all of the sensory crap around me (music blaring, food smells, sounds of people yelling, crowds of people near me, etc). But, our students had a great time. The park was relatively empty as we were late for school group season and early for the summer crowds, and my students were able to walk onto most of the rides. In fact, a few were able to ride Superman (considered one of the handful of best roller coasters in the world) twice in a 25 minutes, which is unheard of I guess.
> 
> The only snag was a ride breakdown that our students got caught in. We were short two students at our final check-in before heading home, and they were MIA for almost 45 minutes. Neither of them were answering their phones. It ended up that their phones were in a ride locker and they were stuck at the end of the ride for over an hour because the seat restraints wouldn't release and they had to call ride mechanics in. Of course, we didn't know that at the time.
> 
> Needless to say, I'm dragging this morning.



That must have been scary with the MIA's. Have they discussed revamping protocol to prevent this in the future?


----------



## jcdeboever

Got all new kitchen appliances yesterday (class action wife camper settlement). LG brand, they all look the same to me. Our handyman (odd jobs that this odd man doesn't want to do) is taking the old stove, dishwasher, and microwave. The old fridge is going in the car garage. All I had to do was hard wire the dishwasher, run a new waterline to fridge. Put in a nice filter behind the watervalve, all braided hose. no more plastic water bottles, Thank You Lord! The old line corroded at the fridge valve some time ago and made a mess in the basement, of course it busted when we weren't home. I almost went with the "talk to me fridge" with built in blue tooth, geez I don't need friends that bad, and like the wife needs someone else to bark commands at...I lined up the bottom of the stove with foil since I'm the one that always cleans it. It's a convection oven, whatever the heck that is,  no dials, all touch pad, it's like using a phone. Microwave has a tray in it, dumb. Dish washer is strange, got to get the manual out for it.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh Hosers!  Lost 8-7 in 7 very hard fought innings.  Had the tying run on 3b with w outs in the 7th.  Crushing loss.  Princess had 4 rbi tonight including 3 in the 7th to get us close.
> 
> 
> 
> unfortunately,  that is part of the beauty of the game
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Love the game and will miss coaching a lot, mostly for the fun times watching the girls improve and bond.  Princess is too old for the spring rec league next year so I’ll have to settle for being a fan in the stands during the high school games.   I’ll stay on the board of the rec league for another year to help them keep the league moving forward.  We made a lot of positive changes over the past few years and I want to make sure they don’t backslide!
Click to expand...

That is very generous of you. The world needs more parents like you. Time is very valuable, as well as your experience.  They are lucky to have you.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Happy (early) Father's Day to all the fathers out there!
> 
> Also, Eid Mubarak! Today is Eid al-Fitr.


Eid Murbarak to you!  And now the Eid al-Fitr festival.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Got all new kitchen appliances yesterday (class action wife camper settlement). LG brand, they all look the same to me. Our handyman (odd jobs that this odd man doesn't want to do) is taking the old stove, dishwasher, and microwave. The old fridge is going in the car garage. All I had to do was hard wire the dishwasher, run a new waterline to fridge. Put in a nice filter behind the watervalve, all braided hose. no more plastic water bottles, Thank You Lord! The old line corroded at the fridge valve some time ago and made a mess in the basement, of course it busted when we weren't home. I almost went with the "talk to me fridge" with built in blue tooth, geez I don't need friends that bad, and like the wife needs someone else to bark commands at...I lined up the bottom of the stove with foil since I'm the one that always cleans it. It's a convection oven, whatever the heck that is,  no dials, all touch pad, it's like using a phone. Microwave has a tray in it, dumb. Dish washer is strange, got to get the manual out for it.


Good for you!  LG makes good stuff.  They've come a long way from when they were "Lucky Goldstar". Not to be competitive, but yesterday, Gary ordered a hand blender.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh Hosers!  Lost 8-7 in 7 very hard fought innings.  Had the tying run on 3b with w outs in the 7th.  Crushing loss.  Princess had 4 rbi tonight including 3 in the 7th to get us close.
> 
> 
> 
> unfortunately,  that is part of the beauty of the game
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Love the game and will miss coaching a lot, mostly for the fun times watching the girls improve and bond.  Princess is too old for the spring rec league next year so I’ll have to settle for being a fan in the stands during the high school games.   I’ll stay on the board of the rec league for another year to help them keep the league moving forward.  We made a lot of positive changes over the past few years and I want to make sure they don’t backslide!
Click to expand...

Gary wonders who will be the official high school team photog ...?


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Get ready for the deluge of photos as I finally have a weekend free!  First time since mid April.


Thanks for the heads-up.


----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hate amusement parks. I don't like squeezing onto roller coasters in the like, and I honestly get overstimulated by all of the sensory crap around me (music blaring, food smells, sounds of people yelling, crowds of people near me, etc). But, our students had a great time. The park was relatively empty as we were late for school group season and early for the summer crowds, and my students were able to walk onto most of the rides. In fact, a few were able to ride Superman (considered one of the handful of best roller coasters in the world) twice in a 25 minutes, which is unheard of I guess.
> 
> The only snag was a ride breakdown that our students got caught in. We were short two students at our final check-in before heading home, and they were MIA for almost 45 minutes. Neither of them were answering their phones. It ended up that their phones were in a ride locker and they were stuck at the end of the ride for over an hour because the seat restraints wouldn't release and they had to call ride mechanics in. Of course, we didn't know that at the time.
> 
> Needless to say, I'm dragging this morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That must have been scary with the MIA's. Have they discussed revamping protocol to prevent this in the future?
Click to expand...

The protocols that really need revamping is having the kids tell the amusement park employees to call the chaperons and let them know of the problem. Conversely, the employees need to also be instructed to ask the kids who to inform of the problem. Reliance needs to start at home.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hate amusement parks. I don't like squeezing onto roller coasters in the like, and I honestly get overstimulated by all of the sensory crap around me (music blaring, food smells, sounds of people yelling, crowds of people near me, etc). But, our students had a great time. The park was relatively empty as we were late for school group season and early for the summer crowds, and my students were able to walk onto most of the rides. In fact, a few were able to ride Superman (considered one of the handful of best roller coasters in the world) twice in a 25 minutes, which is unheard of I guess.
> 
> The only snag was a ride breakdown that our students got caught in. We were short two students at our final check-in before heading home, and they were MIA for almost 45 minutes. Neither of them were answering their phones. It ended up that their phones were in a ride locker and they were stuck at the end of the ride for over an hour because the seat restraints wouldn't release and they had to call ride mechanics in. Of course, we didn't know that at the time.
> 
> Needless to say, I'm dragging this morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That must have been scary with the MIA's. Have they discussed revamping protocol to prevent this in the future?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The protocols that really need revamping is having the kids tell the amusement park employees to call the chaperons and let them know of the problem. Conversely, the employees need to also be instructed to ask the kids who to inform of the problem. Reliance needs to start at home.
Click to expand...


Indeed. We checked in with security after 20 minutes and a quick lap. The part that I'll be discussing with guest relations or whoever I can get in touch with later is the fact that security didn't mention that there was a ride malfunctioning. They must have known (or if they didn't...it is a stupid for them NOT to know), and it would have been super simple with a radio to see if our kids were on the ride or not. 

I definitely had a pit in my stomach the entire time. It's a big place. The kids who were missing are good kids...but you never know what's going on in a fourteen year-old's head. It would have been easy for them to sneak away/out and we wouldn't have been able to prevent it. Conversely...they are getting old enough that adults need to be able to trust them. It's a tough place to be, honestly.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> I hate amusement parks. I don't like squeezing onto roller coasters in the like, and I honestly get overstimulated by all of the sensory crap around me (music blaring, food smells, sounds of people yelling, crowds of people near me, etc). But, our students had a great time. The park was relatively empty as we were late for school group season and early for the summer crowds, and my students were able to walk onto most of the rides. In fact, a few were able to ride Superman (considered one of the handful of best roller coasters in the world) twice in a 25 minutes, which is unheard of I guess.
> 
> The only snag was a ride breakdown that our students got caught in. We were short two students at our final check-in before heading home, and they were MIA for almost 45 minutes. Neither of them were answering their phones. It ended up that their phones were in a ride locker and they were stuck at the end of the ride for over an hour because the seat restraints wouldn't release and they had to call ride mechanics in. Of course, we didn't know that at the time.
> 
> Needless to say, I'm dragging this morning.


The local amusement park is the reason the work Fire Department has a world-class high-angle rescue team.  One of those coasters gets stuck every year, it seems, and it's never when the cars are a the bottom of the hills.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> the work Fire Department has a world-class high-angle rescue team



No roller coasters but a few steep bluffs on the mountains around us. We've had to make a few recovery/rescues Over the years. We have the equipment and a few members trained at rappelling and recovery. In my younger days I did it,


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hate amusement parks. I don't like squeezing onto roller coasters in the like, and I honestly get overstimulated by all of the sensory crap around me (music blaring, food smells, sounds of people yelling, crowds of people near me, etc). But, our students had a great time. The park was relatively empty as we were late for school group season and early for the summer crowds, and my students were able to walk onto most of the rides. In fact, a few were able to ride Superman (considered one of the handful of best roller coasters in the world) twice in a 25 minutes, which is unheard of I guess.
> 
> The only snag was a ride breakdown that our students got caught in. We were short two students at our final check-in before heading home, and they were MIA for almost 45 minutes. Neither of them were answering their phones. It ended up that their phones were in a ride locker and they were stuck at the end of the ride for over an hour because the seat restraints wouldn't release and they had to call ride mechanics in. Of course, we didn't know that at the time.
> 
> Needless to say, I'm dragging this morning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That must have been scary with the MIA's. Have they discussed revamping protocol to prevent this in the future?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The protocols that really need revamping is having the kids tell the amusement park employees to call the chaperons and let them know of the problem. Conversely, the employees need to also be instructed to ask the kids who to inform of the problem. Reliance needs to start at home.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Indeed. We checked in with security after 20 minutes and a quick lap. The part that I'll be discussing with guest relations or whoever I can get in touch with later is the fact that security didn't mention that there was a ride malfunctioning. They must have known (or if they didn't...it is a stupid for them NOT to know), and it would have been super simple with a radio to see if our kids were on the ride or not.
> 
> I definitely had a pit in my stomach the entire time. It's a big place. The kids who were missing are good kids...but you never know what's going on in a fourteen year-old's head. It would have been easy for them to sneak away/out and we wouldn't have been able to prevent it. Conversely...they are getting old enough that adults need to be able to trust them. It's a tough place to be, honestly.
Click to expand...


Yikes.  Must have been a rough wait until they were "found".    Glad it wasn't anything serious.  We rely so much on phones to keep in touch at places like this!  Putting them in a locker or having someone's battery die means no way to contact them.  We used to go to Disney and Universal a lot.  Once Princess was old enough to go off on her own with friends or with my nephew, we relied heavily on the phones.  We usually have a "let's meet at Spiderman at 3pm" back up plan in case phones died but that wouldn't have helped in your case.  Other than having a chaperone waiting while they ride, there really isn't a plan that you could have had that would have avoided this.  Security needs to rethink their set up if they knew that some kids were "missing" and didn't check to see if anyone was trapped on a ride.  That should have been the first thing they looked into!  Definitely follow up with Guest Relations.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and family got stuck on "It's a Small World" ride at Disneyland.  Firstly, Gary doesn't like that ride.  It starts out with dolls which have different faces, complexations, clothing and languages and it ends up with one language and every doll/mannequin looking the same.  About an hour stuck in these row boats listening to "It's a Small World After All ..." on a loop.  About the time Gary was getting up in order to leap from the row boat across three feet of water to the maintenance walkway, the boat started moving again. Gary still has nightmares of being stuck on a rowboat in Hell.


----------



## JonA_CT

So it wasn’t even that they weren’t carrying their phones...the specific ride has a no “loose articles” policy that prohibits anything in your pockets. I’m getting ready to call. It’ll be interesting to see what their response is...I doubt I’ll get much traction.


----------



## davidharmier60

Better part of 5.5 hours today. 24.39 for the week so far. Had chicken tenders and home fries at the deli. Changed light bulbs (48" tubes) until the box was 2 from empty. 
The newest milk man is slow as molasses.
That's why nearly 5.5. My Sister and Dad came to town. She probably did the PO but I don't KNOW that. So PO, box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

@Gary that Small World music is what we call ear worm music. It crawls in your head and won't leave. At Disney with the kids just after the Alddin movie came out. The chorus from Prince Ali got stuck in our heads for days.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> So it wasn’t even that they weren’t carrying their phones...the specific ride has a no “loose articles” policy that prohibits anything in your pockets. I’m getting ready to call. It’ll be interesting to see what their response is...I doubt I’ll get much traction.


If you get no action, call their PR department. They are paid to listen.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Maggie went squirrel hunting today.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dirty Dog!


----------



## smoke665

Latest doctor visit looks like DW and I are over pneumonia except for a lingering occasional cough. Not sure what's causing it, but apparently it has been really bad in the area.


----------



## Gary A.

Portugal - Spain tied at 3-3.  Ronaldo was amazing with a hat trick.  Diego Costa for Espana was amazing as well.  This was more of a battle for the Iberian Peninsula than a soccer match.


----------



## limr

Yes, thanks to that insanely bendy penalty kick from Ronaldo. That was a thing of beauty. Beckham would be proud


----------



## Gary A.

That was simply crazy.


----------



## Gary A.

Iran leads Portugal and Spain in total points. lol


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> That was simply crazy.



And I loved it!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Looks like Maggie's feeling just fine again! glad for that.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Looks like Maggie's feeling just fine again! glad for that.


Not quite 100%, but she is getting a lot of her spunk back.


----------



## davidharmier60

To be THAT dirty it has to be in the 90s percent while....


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 159274
> iPhone
> 
> Maggie went squirrel hunting today.


so much for the swamp eye....


----------



## vintagesnaps

That would be scary to not be able to find kids at an amusement park. I think I'd do the same and be contacting the place about procedures if a ride gets stuck to notify parents/adults accompanying them. I've done plenty of such trips but with younger kids, where there were more teachers/adults for the number of kids and we'd be at the rides with them. 

By jr. high we didn't take them on field trips, any given day could be a roller coaster ride or a 3 ring circus all on its own.

We did used to manage without cell phones ya know... now I suppose it's a matter of thinking about what if the phone's lost, not working, etc. and having alternate plans. Working at summer camp we had different ring tones on the phones for various staff so I could hear the phone if we were inside and know who was getting a call (or if it was for me, no don't call me with your problem! lol). Or there was always shouting across the field, breathe from the diaphragm and project! lol

How about 'If You're Happy and You Know It'.

The circus is waaay worse than amusement parks - in a confined place with at least a couple of kids who can only tolerate so much sensory stimuli. 
And then there are the clowns...


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Latest doctor visit looks like DW and I are over pneumonia except for a lingering occasional cough. Not sure what's causing it, but apparently it has been really bad in the area.


it's going around. I went to the doctors for my foot. told her I was short on breath lately,  she listened and said I have bronchitis, bad. She said how long you been feeling short of breath? ummm, a couple weeks or more. She called me a mule. I don't feel like I have it but she was like, if you start to cough up blood, just go to the emergency.  I'm  like, whaaaaaat? I guess that what's been going down, people are getting bronchitis with not the normal icky, sick feeling. Just walking around with a lung full of bacteria, eventually turning into pneumonia.


----------



## davidharmier60

So far as I know there is nothing like bronchitis happening in my part of the world. Leftover spaghetti was dinner. 
Maybe Blue Bell or maybe cookies later.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Jon - glad it worked out OK, in the end.  Do you ever get the feeling that people don't want to work or just don't care about their jobs?  My other boss (data warehouse, not GIS) talks a bit about the lack of work ethic.



Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> So it wasn’t even that they weren’t carrying their phones...the specific ride has a no “loose articles” policy that prohibits anything in your pockets. I’m getting ready to call. It’ll be interesting to see what their response is...I doubt I’ll get much traction.
> 
> 
> 
> If you get no action, call their PR department. They are paid to listen.
Click to expand...

or the local news station if it has a "listener's advocate" type of unit.  In DC, it's WJLA with "Seven on Your Side."


----------



## Gary A.

Anyone want a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier? (Slightly Used)


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, overcast with a nice cool breeze today.  Very busy day as over to mums to help out then I can chill out later this evening.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> Jon - glad it worked out OK, in the end.  Do you ever get the feeling that people don't want to work or just don't care about their jobs?  My other boss (data warehouse, not GIS) talks a bit about the lack of work ethic.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> So it wasn’t even that they weren’t carrying their phones...the specific ride has a no “loose articles” policy that prohibits anything in your pockets. I’m getting ready to call. It’ll be interesting to see what their response is...I doubt I’ll get much traction.
> 
> 
> 
> If you get no action, call their PR department. They are paid to listen.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> or the local news station if it has a "listener's advocate" type of unit.  In DC, it's WJLA with "Seven on Your Side."
Click to expand...


You hit the nail on the head, Charlie. The security folks did not follow protocol. They apologized, but unfortunately, I don’t know who we spoke with. 


In other news, brewery construction continues to advance. We’ve been hanging FRP board for the last week. It’s messy, slow work for us amateurs. The only piece we have left is the inside of our walk-in cooler. Hopefully,  we can get it done in 4-5 hours today.


----------



## Tony744

Can't wait until y'all open up. Always fun checking out a new brewery.


----------



## SquarePeg

Heading to the beach!  Blowing off the yard work and the housework and the camera for some r and r.


----------



## davidharmier60

5.5 plus today. Changed upwards of 50 light bulbs and have at least that many to go. 30.09 for the week. Weekend deli girl had chicken tenders and I partook of them.
Got to get bananas and buttermilk before leaving the store. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary spent most of the morning at the vet’s. Miss Maggie has a scratched cornea. Soooo, no creek, no mud, no wrestling, no roughhousing for Miss Maggie.  Today, it is overcast, 69F and it feels like 69F.  It may break 70F today with a nice Pacific breeze. 

Last night Mary Lou and Gary hit our local theatre for _Newsies_.  Man, that was soooooooooo entertaining, dancing, singing, David vs. Goliath story line ... live orchestration and only a three minute drive from the house.


----------



## Gary A.

This is a couch potato day, getting Maggie to rest all day, watch some World Cup (Peru - Denmark was another exciting match), and a NetFlix later.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Miss Maggie has a scratched cornea. Soooo, no creek, no mud, no wrestling, no



Oh No! Hope she rebounds quickly.



On the weather side I won't be moving far from my recliner. Outside temperature was registering 100 a little while ago.  We did have pleasant lunch and visit with my cousin and his wife that we haven't seen in a few years. They stopped by in route back to their home in southern IL


----------



## Tony744

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Miss Maggie has a scratched cornea. Soooo, no creek, no mud, no wrestling, no
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh No! Hope she rebounds quickly.
Click to expand...

I hope she's better soon.


----------



## davidharmier60

Moi ossi. IF I remember French at all it means me too!


----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> Moi ossi. IF I remember French at all it means me too!



Yes, you remember correctly  Correct words and pronunciation with one tiny spelling correction: moi aussi.


----------



## jcdeboever

Took my Father to Henry Ford Greenfield Village today, for Father's day.  We had fun. They had a car show. He said it was really fun. He wants to go back and look through the village, it was all cars today. Got some pics of him. He is one goofy father. He hardly ever looks at the camera and I asked him why? He said, Gordie Howe never did....


----------



## davidharmier60

I need not awaken at 4am tomorrow. But I did this morning.  Good night my peeps!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

couple shots of my father. xt2, 23 f/2. custom chrome simulation.


----------



## Gary A.

Thank you peeps (regarding Maggie).  Doc Wilson, (who loves Maggie), said she should be healed in less than a week.   This type of eye trauma is extremely painful, but Maggie isn’t complaining or rubbing her eye.  She is lethargic and taking things nice and easy.  We are giving her drops which minimize the pain and antibiotic. Maggie is resting with her head on Gary’s lap.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary’s hand blender arrived today.  Gary never had or used a hand blender.  He is quite impressed with the Kitchen Aid hand blender.  Vis-a-vis the blender Gary quickly whipped up some strawberry ice cream.  It was so much quicker than hand work and the results were better.  Crafting up ice cream requires a lot of whisking, the whisking attachment made the whisking quick and easy, like a hot knife through butter.  Gary purée the strawberries in the chopper attachment.  Much much easier to clean than a full size blender.  The chopper will also cut up herbs ... Gary uses a ton of herbs. Gary see a great friendship between himself and the hand blender.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all. Going to listen to Power Metal on YouTube. Search for the magic penny and look at Comics. 
Have a nice day. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Germany - Mexico.  Gary can hear the stadium roars clear to his house.


----------



## Gary A.

Mexico has a player named after a Taco Bell entree, Chicarito.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks Mexico has only half a chance of winning.  The Germans are twice the size of the Mexicans and the Germans are extremely disciplined.  But Mexico is coming at them time and time again.  No quarter given by either team.


----------



## Gary A.

MEXICO GOOOOOOAAALL!!!!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

The Gods are not with Germany this half.  A shot on goal was saved by goalie’s fingertips and the crossbar.  A quick shot of the Mexican crowd after the save, showed them all making the sign of the cross.


----------



## otherprof

Gary A. said:


> Thank you peeps (regarding Maggie).  Doc Wilson, (who loves Maggie), said she should be healed in less than a week.   This type of eye trauma is extremely painful, but Maggie isn’t complaining or rubbing her eye.  She is lethargic and taking things nice and easy.  We are giving her drops which minimize the pain and antibiotic. Maggie is resting with her head on Gary’s lap.


Just learned about Maggie. All my wishes for her speedy recovery.


----------



## Gary A.

otherprof said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you peeps (regarding Maggie).  Doc Wilson, (who loves Maggie), said she should be healed in less than a week.   This type of eye trauma is extremely painful, but Maggie isn’t complaining or rubbing her eye.  She is lethargic and taking things nice and easy.  We are giving her drops which minimize the pain and antibiotic. Maggie is resting with her head on Gary’s lap.
> 
> 
> 
> Just learned about Maggie. All my wishes for her speedy recovery.
Click to expand...

Thank you.  Everyday she gets better and closer to her old, over-energized self.


----------



## Gary A.

5 minutes to go, Mexico up 1 - zero and the yellows are coming out on Germany.


----------



## Gary A.

Wow! Wow! Wow!

Final Score:

Mexico 1 - Germany Zero


----------



## Gary A.

LOL ... now the Sombreros are coming out all over the stadium.


----------



## Fujidave

What a great day today taking photos of the singers, that was until the x-t2 decided it did not want to switch back on.  I had to take out the fully charged battery three/four times just to get the camera to switch back on.  A camera that you spend just under two grand SHOULD switch on each time, so tomorrow the x-t2 can go back to Jessops and they can send it off to fuji to fix.


----------



## davidharmier60

You spend that kind of green on something and it darn sure should work.


----------



## JonA_CT

Watching the US Open (of Golf) today. 3 rounds in and the best score is +3. The course has been brutal so far.

In others news...behind the beer...





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2091061041170657
			




For you Fuji users, all of the footage in the brewery and at the manufacturing facility are with the X-T2, for whatever its worth. FB maxes resolution out at 720P though.


----------



## Fujidave

davidharmier60 said:


> You spend that kind of green on something and it darn sure should work.



Looking on the Net and another Fuji forum it seems as though it happens to a few owners, hope fuji can sort it out.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> What a great day today taking photos of the singers, that was until the x-t2 decided it did not want to switch back on.  I had to take out the fully charged battery three/four times just to get the camera to switch back on.  A camera that you spend just under two grand SHOULD switch on each time, so tomorrow the x-t2 can go back to Jessops and they can send it off to fuji to fix.


----------



## CherylL

Fujidave said:


> What a great day today taking photos of the singers, that was until the x-t2 decided it did not want to switch back on.  I had to take out the fully charged battery three/four times just to get the camera to switch back on.  A camera that you spend just under two grand SHOULD switch on each time, so tomorrow the x-t2 can go back to Jessops and they can send it off to fuji to fix.



That happened to me one day at the beach.  Took the battery out and then switched on.  The heat maybe?  Or I was turning it off and on several times before that and playing with the settings.


----------



## NancyMoranG

@Jona ..I am a hands in the air type of gal. You would have been looking for kids AND 1 chaperone..
There should be a posting on the boards that show 'wait times' for rides with also a ' active riders delayed on xxx ride'.. Code for we screwed up and there are people stuck....
At least you could head there to check it out...
Happy Fathers Day, newbie....


----------



## Fujidave

CherylL said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> What a great day today taking photos of the singers, that was until the x-t2 decided it did not want to switch back on.  I had to take out the fully charged battery three/four times just to get the camera to switch back on.  A camera that you spend just under two grand SHOULD switch on each time, so tomorrow the x-t2 can go back to Jessops and they can send it off to fuji to fix.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That happened to me one day at the beach.  Took the battery out and then switched on.  The heat maybe?  Or I was turning it off and on several times before that and playing with the settings.
Click to expand...


It has done it a few times over so many days, but thinking about it now I have still got three months left on the warranty so will do the firmware tomorrow and go from there.  If it still does it next month then I will send it back for a fix.


----------



## JonA_CT

NancyMoranG said:


> @Jona ..I am a hands in the air type of gal. You would have been looking for kids AND 1 chaperone..
> There should be a posting on the boards that show 'wait times' for rides with also a ' active riders delayed on xxx ride'.. Code for we screwed up and there are people stuck....
> At least you could head there to check it out...
> Happy Fathers Day, newbie....



Thanks!

I lost a chaperone in NYC once. Well, a chaperone and her two kids lost us. They got on the wrong ferry at the Statue of Liberty, and ended up in Bayonne, NJ. We went on to Ellis Island and Battery Park. They eventually found us again, at a decent personal expense.


----------



## NancyMoranG

That would be a tough place to be a chaperone!


----------



## grrr8scott

Gary A. said:


> Wow! Wow! Wow!
> 
> Final Score:
> 
> Mexico 1 - Germany Zero


Germany looked disinterested, at best. Mexico could easily have won 3-0.  Really disappointing.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Keep feeling better Maggie. 

JC your dad took advice from Gordie? that's high up in my opinion! lol One time went to an autograph signing with him, stood in line forever. But a hand shake from Gordie alone was worth it, he wasn't exactly young then but what a vibrant personality.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> What a great day today taking photos of the singers, that was until the x-t2 decided it did not want to switch back on.  I had to take out the fully charged battery three/four times just to get the camera to switch back on.  A camera that you spend just under two grand SHOULD switch on each time, so tomorrow the x-t2 can go back to Jessops and they can send it off to fuji to fix.


Gary has never experienced that type of problem with his XT2 or XP2 or XP1 or X100S.  That did happen once or twice with his XT1’s, but a battery removal unbricked them.


----------



## ceemac

Fujidave said:


> What a great day today taking photos of the singers, that was until the x-t2 decided it did not want to switch back on. I had to take out the fully charged battery three/four times just to get the camera to switch back on. A camera that you spend just under two grand SHOULD switch on each time, so tomorrow the x-t2 can go back to Jessops and they can send it off to fuji to fix.



Might be something simple. I had the same problem with my Canon 6D. Checked the batteries and recharged them. Eventually I noticed that the SD card door was ajar. End of problem.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> Keep feeling better Maggie.
> 
> JC your dad took advice from Gordie? that's high up in my opinion! lol One time went to an autograph signing with him, stood in line forever. But a hand shake from Gordie alone was worth it, he wasn't exactly young then but what a vibrant personality.


Gordie was a good man. I met him several times. My youngest son went to school with his Grandson in Ohio, many moons ago. Gordie's son, ex hockey player was a doctor where I lived in my first marriage.


----------



## Fujidave

Very overcast with a breeze today, will give the battery a full charge then do the firmware update today.
PS: Have just sent an Email asking Fuji should it be sent in for a fix , check up.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sitting in the parking lot at work. 
Haven't had or used the two digital cameras enough to have problems. 
Here's hoping Miss Maggie gets better quickly.  Here's hoping the floor machine will get through the whole store. 
And that's all I got. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Last Monday of the school year. I have 9.5 weeks of Saturdays starting on Friday. I can do this.


----------



## jcdeboever

Fujidave said:


> Very overcast with a breeze today, will give the battery a full charge then do the firmware update today.
> PS: Have just sent an Email asking Fuji should it be sent in for a fix , check up.


My XT2 freezes up on me occasionally.  Not sure why. I just pop off the grip and put it back on. One time I had to pop off the grip and remove the camera battery, put it back in. It does it very sporadically. My D3300 did that to.


----------



## smoke665

My Pentax k3ii became unresponsive a couple times with one lens. Removing battery would unfreeze it. Cleaned the contacts on the camera and lens, problem solved, never did it again.


----------



## SquarePeg

I have not experienced that with my XT2 but I have seen a few posts on the Fuji forums about the issue.  Are you sure it is not the power saver/auto off feature?  I have to press the shutter release to "wake up" the XT2 if it goes into sleep mode.  And not just a little half press either - full press.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> I have not experienced that with my XT2 but I have seen a few posts on the Fuji forums about the issue.  Are you sure it is not the power saver/auto off feature?  I have to press the shutter release to "wake up" the XT2 if it goes into sleep mode.  And not just a little half press either - full press.



Where is that power saver/auto off feature in the menu ?
Just found it, have switched it to off.


----------



## waday

Today is sunny, gorgeous, and hot. Have fun to all those that get to be outside in this weather!

Also, I think I was passed by an armada of Apple Maps self-driving-capable (not actually self-driving) vans barreling down the highways in PA. There were at least three of them, and everything was covered up on them except for the one van that looked like the cover came off the side where it said "Apple Maps". Interesting.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is again overcast and a cool morning.  Perfect for a hot beverage and a dance with the morning paper.  61F presently, but should hit the mid 70's.  Gary has seen a number of mapping vehicles around, but none of the self-driving type. Miss Maggie is feeling better.  She came with me to retrieve the paper from the driveway. When she feels badly she just stay put.  For Father's Day, Gary's youngest daughter came up from San Diego with two of her dogs, Holly, a Golden Retriever and Tiny Rick, a rescued Chihuahua. Amy literally scooped up Tiny Rick from the streets of San Diego, but couldn't find Rick's humans.  This is the first time Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary have met Tiny Rick. Rick has a ton of personality and hits well above his weight.  At only nine pounds, the Koi weight more than Rick. All day Gary was fearful of stepping on Tiny Rick. Holly is Holly, she is quite loving but has a lot of insecurity issues. Her eyes are full of apprehension and even angst. Between Maggie eye injury and Holly's angst, there wasn't much playing yesterday. All-in-all, a good day.  Gary hopes that all you dad's out there had an equally pleasant day as he.


----------



## Gary A.

Holly, Maggie, Amy and Tiny Rick.


----------



## waday

Funny thing happened this past weekend.

We were going through pictures of our kid with the wife's cousin and her husband. Wife's cousin just recently got married and is now trying to get pregnant, so she's a mush to pictures of kids. 

I show one picture of our kid with Christmas light bokeh balls in the background, and the husband goes, "that's weird, I thought only the iPhone 8 and later had portrait mode".


----------



## davidharmier60

Hello from the parking lot again.
Changed nearly 50 more light bulbs and I ain't EVEN done. Post Office, library, box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 5.34 hours today and for the week so far. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

@ waday: That's great!


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> "that's weird, I thought only the iPhone 8 and later had portrait mode".



And that is why it's so tough for photographers to make a living, they don't know the difference, giving them a simplistic view of what a real photographer has to do.


----------



## smoke665

Just went out to try and spray, came back in fairly quick. Currently 88 projected to top 90, which I can deal with but with the humidity already is above 70% and very little decrease during the day, until this evening it goes back up. Night time temperature forecast of 75 with a humidity of 92%. WTH


----------



## Fujidave

Firmware update done and one fully charged battery now in the X-T2.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> "that's weird, I thought only the iPhone 8 and later had portrait mode".
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And that is why it's so tough for photographers to make a living, they don't know the difference, giving them a simplistic view of what a real photographer has to do.
Click to expand...

Right?! I was thinking, "You ignored the fact that I have a great lens with a wide enough aperture to get bokeh balls at close distance, and I used off camera lighting to get the right exposure." LOL


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> Right?! I was thinking, "You ignored the fact that I have a great lens with a wide enough aperture to get bokeh balls at close distance, and I used off camera lighting to get the right exposure." LOL



Don't forget the personal expenditure in time to learn what Bokeh is and how to use it. Plus all the time spent learning how to get a good exposure, the expense of equipment and the time spent in post, etc, etc., etc................ I get it, Apple and others have a product that makes the ordinary, lazy person "look" like a photographer, but it still sucks that these uninformed actually believe they are photographers.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Right?! I was thinking, "You ignored the fact that I have a great lens with a wide enough aperture to get bokeh balls at close distance, and I used off camera lighting to get the right exposure." LOL
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't forget the personal expenditure in time to learn what Bokeh is and how to use it. Plus all the time spent learning how to get a good exposure, the expense of equipment and the time spent in post, etc, etc., etc................ I get it, Apple and others have a product that makes the ordinary, lazy person "look" like a photographer, but it still sucks that these uninformed actually believe they are photographers.
Click to expand...

It's more like when all you have is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail.  Similarly, when all you know is a camera phone ....


----------



## davidharmier60

Heck. I KNOW I'm not a photographer. At least since film days.
Just did my comics. Have 5 more rolls of pennies to go through. Trish said she'd take my box tomorrow.
More Power Metal to come on YouTube. And some reading. WEB Griffin "In Danger's Path".


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is watching Tunisia - England , accompanied by Mary Lou Strawberry Pie and Gary Strawberry Ice Cream.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Life is grand.


----------



## Gary A.

Gawd, the players are being attacked by a zillion mosquitoes.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That could've worked into the cheezy '60s sci-fi movie I was just watching (and why, I couldn't say, other than it was so bad it was funny). Swarming insects could fit in fine with a futuristic movie set in - 2015!! - with two rivals to control the universe, United Democracies and Corporation Crazies or some such thing. By the end there was plenty of water with red food coloring in it rushing and splashing and fire and lasers zinging around yet somehow they got out and swam thru it to their fake toy spaceships and ended up at a tiki bar beside somebody's pool. The worst was the voice dubbing, but that added to the cheeziness. 

Is it time for some lightbulb jokes for David, like how many Davids does it take to change 50 light bulbs?


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> how many Davids does it take to change 50 light bulbs



From your question I have ascertained that David is not a programmer, since changing the bulb is clearly a hardware issue.


----------



## Gary A.

Announcer at the Tunisia- England match “... England could have run up the proverbial Cricket Score.’


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> like how many Davids does it take to change 50 light bulbs?



If David is a college professor, we can say that it would only take one, but there would be 50 technical papers (one for each) generated. LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

I do believe I mentioned that these are 48" T8 bulbs. Insert and half twist. If they had them I suppose I could replace the bad ballasts as well.
As far from programming as one could get. It is somewhat amazing how many dark fixtures are now lit up again.
Almost gotta wear shades in the produce department. The other end of the store may be a bit harder with more dead ballasts.....


----------



## vintagesnaps

That press conference that was just on... as one of the CNN reporters who has young kids said, it was hard to watch; nm on the rest of what I was going to say other than what I've seen in photos would be the type thing that in past jobs as a mandated reporter, I would have been reporting as suspected neglect/abuse, even if it was just one child. 

The retired general who was just on CNN apparently posted a photo on his Twitter showing a concentration camp in WWII and commenting that's where and when children were separated from families. He said the skies are darkening and he was sending up a flare. 

Interesting too that the director of legislative whatever who was on trying to explain the policy, has quit and is leaving. That to me says it all right there.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Okay, now for some lightbulb jokes... how many dogs does it take to change a lightbulb? Depends on what dog.

Dog Joke: How Many Dogs Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb? - The Dogington Post

How about a cat? one, it just climbs on up there...


----------



## davidharmier60

I wish you all a good night and a better tomorrow. Soon I'll be lights out. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Should I buy a used X100T or a 23mm f2?


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> I do believe I mentioned that these are 48" T8 bulbs. Insert and half twist. If they had them I suppose I could replace the bad ballasts as well.
> As far from programming as one could get. It is somewhat amazing how many dark fixtures are now lit up again.
> Almost gotta wear shades in the produce department. The other end of the store may be a bit harder with more dead ballasts.....


You should replace them with a T-8 LED retrofit kit. They will never need replacing for 25 years and you’ll save bunches of money paid out to the power company.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Should I buy a used X100T or a 23mm f2?


The T has a 16mp sensor. Other than that, Gary would say yeah, go for it. When you head out with the family the X100T is easily grabbed for the odd candid shot. And it is better looking than the XT2.


----------



## Gary A.

The 23mm f/2 is a sweet little lens.


----------



## Gary A.

Both.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, nice walk with Susie in the park.  It is very cloudy and overcast but with a cool breeze today.


----------



## davidharmier60

Gary A. said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do believe I mentioned that these are 48" T8 bulbs. Insert and half twist. If they had them I suppose I could replace the bad ballasts as well.
> As far from programming as one could get. It is somewhat amazing how many dark fixtures are now lit up again.
> Almost gotta wear shades in the produce department. The other end of the store may be a bit harder with more dead ballasts.....
> 
> 
> 
> You should replace them with a T-8 LED retrofit kit. They will never need replacing for 25 years and you’ll save bunches of money paid out to the power company.
Click to expand...

Tell that to the tightwads that won't fix the roof.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh and good morning 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

I would only be guessing. 
But since I've replaced around 100 bulbs I would think 500 to 600 easy and maybe more. Lot of fixtures. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> Should I buy a used X100T or a 23mm f2?


Both. The 23 f2 is an excellent lens. Close focus, just right field of view, super micro contrast, instant AF, short focus throw if using manual, no distortion. The only negative I can think of is CA wide open on chrome surface edges when close up shooting. I trust most non macro lens would exhibit that behavior. The B & W images this lens can produce is impressive. It's right there with the 16mm, 35mm 1.4, and 60mm in terms of micro contrast for b & w photography. 

I've never shot with a 100t. If your looking for a pure pocket sized camera, maybe a Ricoh GRII would be worth a look? No viewfinder in the box but APC sensor, raw DNG files, excellent image quality.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Should I buy a used X100T or a 23mm f2?



I returned the 23 f/2.  It was fine but nothing special.  It didn’t really do anything the 18-55 couldn’t do.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I returned the 23 f/2. It was fine but nothing special. It didn’t really do anything the 18-55 couldn’t do.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> Should I buy a used X100T or a 23mm f2?


Yes.


----------



## JonA_CT

Y'all are enablers. Wrong crowd to ask, haha.


----------



## davidharmier60

I used every good bulb in the store. 
All I have left are bulbs that work but with dark ends. Perhaps that is why one ballast flickered two of them. Maybe new bulbs will work. Anyhow 5++ hours today and 10.57 for the week so far. 
Tomorrow is marquee day,  filter day and whatever else. Enjoying chicken tenders and home fries at the deli. 
People's (2nd bank in town), post office, box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Should I buy a used X100T or a 23mm f2?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I returned the 23 f/2.  It was fine but nothing special.  It didn’t really do anything the 18-55 couldn’t do.
Click to expand...


I respectfully disagree. Maybe for your use but generally speaking, it's dramatically different in many ways. Micro contrast being the biggest difference. I noticed it right away with my custom acros setting, I was really surprised by the tonal range and crispness it renders. I like the color it renders in the chrome simulation as well, very different. A little saturated for velvia use but provia seems a little cleaner than the kit on some colors, like blues, greens, yellows. I think the line draw is similar to the kit lens. I don't think it's sharper but the micro contrast gives the appearance it is, both color and monochrome.  The 23 f2 is a definite improvement over the 1.4 for monochrome, that is for sure. I like the kit lens for convivence but for me, the 23 f2 is a winner over the kit.


----------



## davidharmier60

Home now.  INSANIA - ILLUSIONS is on YouTube.


----------



## JonA_CT

So I bought the 23mm. And a Rokinon 12mm. And some filters. But no X100T.


----------



## JonA_CT

In my defense, I’ve had $700 sitting in PayPal to buy more Fuji crap for awhile.


----------



## Gary A.

There is no defense for you.


----------



## Gary A.

Russia 3 - Egypt 1. 

Not stellar soccer, but still entertaining.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> So I bought the 23mm. And a Rokinon 12mm. And some filters. But no X100T.



I'm not much for wide angle shooting but I've considered that Rokinon for the occasional landscape stuff.  Can't wait to hear how you like it.


----------



## CherylL

Is this the official Fuji club meeting?  When I picked up the used 35mm the other day, I did get to see and hold a new 50-140.  Wow!  The size does defeat the purpose of less weight.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> In my defense, I’ve had $700 sitting in PayPal to buy more Fuji crap for awhile.



I really shouldn't laugh, kind of like laughing at myself??


----------



## JonA_CT

CherylL said:


> Is this the official Fuji club meeting?  When I picked up the used 35mm the other day, I did get to see and hold a new 50-140.  Wow!  The size does defeat the purpose of less weight.



Security camera footage of @Gary A. at the last Coffee House get together...


----------



## Fujidave

I was doing some searching today about why my X-T2 was not turning back on.  I`d take a few shots then turn it off, but with in so many seconds I`d try to turn in on to take some more.  Searching online I came across a piece saying you should leave it for about 20/30 seconds before turning it straight back on.


----------



## waday

Fujidave said:


> Searching online I came across a piece saying you should leave it for about 20/30 seconds before turning it straight back on.


I wonder why? Is there a reason that we shouldn't turn our cameras back on immediately?


----------



## espresso2x

waday said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Searching online I came across a piece saying you should leave it for about 20/30 seconds before turning it straight back on.
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder why? Is there a reason that we shouldn't turn our cameras back on immediately?
Click to expand...


To let something dissipate i guess. Little gremlins?


----------



## Fujidave

waday said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Searching online I came across a piece saying you should leave it for about 20/30 seconds before turning it straight back on.
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder why? Is there a reason that we shouldn't turn our cameras back on immediately?
Click to expand...


I think it said it had to give the camera enough time to turn off.


----------



## smoke665

@Fujidave  Should have got a Pentax, my new one, uses AI to anticipate when I'm ready to snap a shot and turns itself on.


----------



## espresso2x

I think they live in an old shoe..or a Canon 1000D.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> @Fujidave  Should have got a Pentax, my new one, uses AI to anticipate when I'm ready to snap a shot and turns itself on.



What is this thing called Pentax


----------



## snowbear

CherylL said:


> Is this the official Fuji club meeting?


I really have to start locking the door when I go out.


----------



## smoke665

Get a room you guys! Fujifilm Cameras


----------



## Fujidave

CherylL said:


> Is this the official Fuji club meeting?  When I picked up the used 35mm the other day, I did get to see and hold a new 50-140.  Wow!  The size does defeat the purpose of less weight.



As you will know, Fuji Rocks.  Sadly Canon,Nikon and Pentax socks


----------



## smoke665

Now @Fujidave don't go to far out in that deep water. You don't want everyone after you!!


----------



## davidharmier60

Good night y'all. Among the stuff tomorrow the Eagle poops.


----------



## Gary A.

CherylL said:


> Is this the official Fuji club meeting?  When I picked up the used 35mm the other day, I did get to see and hold a new 50-140.  Wow!  The size does defeat the purpose of less weight.


The XT2 w/power booster and the 50-140 is significantly less bulk and weight than my old 1D with a 70-200.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, another cloudy and overcast day today so over to mums to help her then might manage to pop in the church to take some shots if it`s open.


----------



## jcdeboever

CherylL said:


> Is this the official Fuji club meeting?  When I picked up the used 35mm the other day, I did get to see and hold a new 50-140.  Wow!  The size does defeat the purpose of less weight.


That is a freaky, good hunk of glass. We do gather in here mostly because this is where Father Fuji (Gary) and Sister Peg hang out. Today we are praying for thanks that Fuji didn't get into pixel shift technology.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Today we are praying for thanks that Fuji didn't get into pixel shift technology



I guess it's easy to not miss something you've never had. Bless their hearts Fuji finally got on board with 5 axis shake reduction at the sensor putting them on the verge of pixel shift. Course there's been a big technology jump that now allows Pentax to do "hand held" pixel shift images, that combines hand movement and sensor movement. It's nice to see old technology you've been accustomed to imitated, kinda confirms your choice in the first place. Is high ISO next? It's a big jump from 12,800 native to 819,200 native. 

Just razzing you JC,  Fuji makes a great camera and you've done an excellent job of exploiting the features of same and that is the most important thing. All the features in the world are useless unless you are willing to learn how to best utilize them.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> I was doing some searching today about why my X-T2 was not turning back on.  I`d take a few shots then turn it off, but with in so many seconds I`d try to turn in on to take some more.  Searching online I came across a piece saying you should leave it for about 20/30 seconds before turning it straight back on.


Interesting.  Gary is constantly turning the camera off between shots to conserve battery.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Searching online I came across a piece saying you should leave it for about 20/30 seconds before turning it straight back on.
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder why? Is there a reason that we shouldn't turn our cameras back on immediately?
Click to expand...

Maybe Camera Union rules ...


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Searching online I came across a piece saying you should leave it for about 20/30 seconds before turning it straight back on.
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder why? Is there a reason that we shouldn't turn our cameras back on immediately?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think it said it had to give the camera enough time to turn off.
Click to expand...

Those hard working Fuji's don't want to stop working.


----------



## Gary A.

Portugal 1 - Morocco 0 at half.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is up at 5:20 a.m. to watch World Cup.  Gary woke up to Mary Lou's alarm as it was she to professed getting up early for the match.  Mary Lou is still in bed.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Gary is up at 5:20 a.m. to watch World Cup.  Gary woke up to Mary Lou's alarm as it was she to professed getting up early for the match.  Mary Lou is still in bed.



I put the match on for my study hall students this morning. Ronaldo has some beautiful legs.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today we are praying for thanks that Fuji didn't get into pixel shift technology
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I guess it's easy to not miss something you've never had. Bless their hearts Fuji finally got on board with 5 axis shake reduction at the sensor putting them on the verge of pixel shift. Course there's been a big technology jump that now allows Pentax to do "hand held" pixel shift images, that combines hand movement and sensor movement. It's nice to see old technology you've been accustomed to imitated, kinda confirms your choice in the first place. Is high ISO next? It's a big jump from 12,800 native to 819,200 native.
> 
> Just razzing you JC,  Fuji makes a great camera and you've done an excellent job of exploiting the features of same and that is the most important thing. All the features in the world are useless unless you are willing to learn how to best utilize them.
Click to expand...

Fins on cars Gary calls it.  

Real photographer don't need all that razzle-dazzle, shiny consumer baiting glitter ... just great lenses and sensors in a solid camera.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is up at 5:20 a.m. to watch World Cup.  Gary woke up to Mary Lou's alarm as it was she to professed getting up early for the match.  Mary Lou is still in bed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I put the match on for my study hall students this morning. Ronaldo has some beautiful legs.
Click to expand...

And a head worthy of butting balls into the end zone ... ahhhh ... goal.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday was a good day. Four mile walk with Maggie, roasted up some Colombian Supremo beans, watched World Cup, a quick trip to Long Beach for Movie Tuesday then dinner in Seal Beach.  Perfect top-down, upper 70's weather. This is another overcast morning, 63F presently ... it may hit 80F.  80F out here feels like 80F.  

Ronaldo beats Morocco.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> just great lenses and sensors in a solid camera.



That's why I thought it was odd that Fuji doesn't have that many lenses in their line up anyhow, but still the 5 axis feature will only work with a few. Unlike my choice that is backward compatible with all.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> just great lenses and sensors in a solid camera.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's why I thought it was odd that Fuji doesn't have that many lenses in their line up anyhow, but still the 5 axis feature will only work with a few. Unlike my choice that is backward compatible with all.
Click to expand...

A few years ago, the X series was entirely new ... designed and built from scratch, including the mount, requiring all new lenses.  Takes awhile for R&D to catch up to what older camera lines have.  There's a lot to say about starting from scratch and discarding the sins of the past in a new design.  As there is a lot to say about a company who compromises on a new product in order to accommodate older designs.


----------



## CherylL

Gary A. said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is this the official Fuji club meeting?  When I picked up the used 35mm the other day, I did get to see and hold a new 50-140.  Wow!  The size does defeat the purpose of less weight.
> 
> 
> 
> The XT2 w/power booster and the 50-140 is significantly less bulk and weight than my old 1D with a 70-200.
Click to expand...


The camera store had a used one recently that sold.  I did put my name on the list if another one comes in.  The timing and the price have to be good.  And I will need time to overthink if I really need it or not.


----------



## Gary A.

CherylL said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is this the official Fuji club meeting?  When I picked up the used 35mm the other day, I did get to see and hold a new 50-140.  Wow!  The size does defeat the purpose of less weight.
> 
> 
> 
> The XT2 w/power booster and the 50-140 is significantly less bulk and weight than my old 1D with a 70-200.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The camera store had a used one recently that sold.  I did put my name on the list if another one comes in.  The timing and the price have to be good.  And I will need time to overthink if I really need it or not.
Click to expand...

It all depends on what you shoot and how you shoot. As smoke665 stated, it has been taking some time for Fuji to flesh out their lens lineup.  Gary waited years for the 50-140 f/2.8 to arrive. That lens certainly improved my photography and matched up with my photographic vision and what Gary desired in a final image.


----------



## Gary A.

Last night’s dinner at Beachwood. Gary had a brisket sandwich and Mary Lou a chicken salad. Both were delish. The brisket was quite smokey. Gary had a pineapple cider, a first for Gary. It was nearly as sweet as he first suspected. Mary Lou a Pilsner.


----------



## Fujidave

Out today after helping mum, X-T2 worked like a dream too as I took it easy switching on/off and no trouble at all.  I now have to make up my mind for new lens.  Either the XF 16mm or XF 90mm.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was doing some searching today about why my X-T2 was not turning back on.  I`d take a few shots then turn it off, but with in so many seconds I`d try to turn in on to take some more.  Searching online I came across a piece saying you should leave it for about 20/30 seconds before turning it straight back on.
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting.  Gary is constantly turning the camera off between shots to conserve battery.
Click to expand...

me too. I think this what is happening


----------



## waday

Fujidave said:


> Out today after helping mum, X-T2 worked like a dream too as I took it easy switching on/off and no trouble at all.  I now have to make up my mind for new lens.  Either the XF 16mm or XF 90mm.


I hear the 23 mm is pretty good.


----------



## davidharmier60

Fuji sounds pretty good. 
I had quite near 6 hours today. 
16.56 for the week so far. 
They want me to assemble a book case.
I need a hammer which I will bring from home. We have a big bad hammer here.
Having chicken tenders and home fries at the deli. Waiting to get my check. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

We have two little pigeon fledglings on our deck. They won't leave.

Two days ago, my wife goes, "come quick, there are two birds sitting side by side on the deck, they're really cute!" Yes, they were cute, really cute. I figured they'd leave by the afternoon, but nope. Since they probably sat in the full sun all day, I figured I'd put a little thing of water out there for them. I open the door, and they clumsily fly away. The mom looked pretty angry with me.

I figured they left, but nope, they came back. Sat there all day yesterday, and they were there this morning, as well. The mom is looking after them.

As long as they feel they are safe and they grow up and leave, I hope they stay as long as they need. But they pooped everywhere, ugh.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> a lot to say about starting from scratch and discarding the sins of the past in a new design



As is "Don't try to fix it if it isn't broke". Pentax glass has always been solid, other then the change from M42 to bayonet mount there haven't been radical changes. They've also taken a slightly different approach in putting the electronics in the body, making it easier to he backward compatible


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> We have two little pigeon fledglings on our deck. They won't leave.
> 
> Two days ago, my wife goes, "come quick, there are two birds sitting side by side on the deck, they're really cute!" Yes, they were cute, really cute. I figured they'd leave by the afternoon, but nope. Since they probably sat in the full sun all day, I figured I'd put a little thing of water out there for them. I open the door, and they clumsily fly away. The mom looked pretty angry with me.
> 
> I figured they left, but nope, they came back. Sat there all day yesterday, and they were there this morning, as well. The mom is looking after them.
> 
> As long as they feel they are safe and they grow up and leave, I hope they stay as long as they need. But they pooped everywhere, ugh.


Mary Lou was complaining on the mess the Hummingbird babies are doing on the garage door. LOL


----------



## vintagesnaps

I've had mourning doves, they could make you want to moan... Used to toss some twigs on the light over the garage door and think it's a nest, then toss their little poop balls onto the driveway, I was always sweeping them up. My dad put a small flower pot up there, upside down, and that took care of that. It's still up there! Sort of pinkish/terra cotta color but made of textured hard plastic, so withstands the rain and blends in almost with the brick. 

Gee, I should market those, anti-poopin' bird covers. 

Had robins over the downspout but year to year they kept adding to their condo til it toppled over and they didn't start there this year. Didn't mind the robins. Have lots of cardinals, they think they own the bushes out front but they're nice birds to have around, often sit on the front porch railing at dusk and chatter.


----------



## smoke665

Birds in close proximity of the house, are unwelcome after an incident many years ago. When the kids were young, we had a Barn Swallow build a nest way up on a shelf in our garage. The kids had a step ladder there, and every day they would climb up to check the progress. One day after they hatched and matured, the DW with kids in tow came to me in tears, one of the little birds was on the floor of the garage. I HAD TO HELP IMMEDIATELY. Now I grew up on a farm with lots of barns and lots of Barn Swallows so I should have known better, but all that knowledge went out the window, as I carefully scooped up the little bird. Carefully I climbed the ladder, and gently reached in to place him in the nest with his other siblings. Just as I released my grip, THEY ALL EXPLODED OUT OF THE NEST INTO MY FACE. Scared me so bad it knocked me off the ladder which I kicked into the wall. I landed on my feet in time to see a 4' long 3/4" pipe clamp that was dislodged from the wall by the ladder pass by my line of site, on it's way to my bare big toe. It hit square on the top, the pain was immediate and overwhelming. I fell to the ground writhing in agony, with the four little Barn Swallows still circling over my head. Who as they made their last circle each in turn took a dump on me! My DW and kids who were moments ago in tears where now rolling in the floor laughing hysterically. I was so mad I didn't go to the hospital like I should have until a few days later after which it had gotten infected, and almost had to be amputated. So no bird feeds, or anything else to entice any birds close to the house for me.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Birds in close proximity of the house, are unwelcome after an incident many years ago. When the kids were young, we had a Barn Swallow build a nest way up on a shelf in our garage. The kids had a step ladder there, and every day they would climb up to check the progress. One day after they hatched and matured, the DW with kids in tow came to me in tears, one of the little birds was on the floor of the garage. I HAD TO HELP IMMEDIATELY. Now I grew up on a farm with lots of barns and lots of Barn Swallows so I should have known better, but all that knowledge went out the window, as I carefully scooped up the little bird. Carefully I climbed the ladder, and gently reached in to place him in the nest with his other siblings. Just as I released my grip, THEY ALL EXPLODED OUT OF THE NEST INTO MY FACE. Scared me so bad it knocked me off the ladder which I kicked into the wall. I landed on my feet in time to see a 4' long 3/4" pipe clamp that was dislodged from the wall by the ladder pass by my line of site, on it's way to my bare big toe. It hit square on the top, the pain was immediate and overwhelming. I fell to the ground in writhing in agony, with the four little Barn Swallows still circling over my head. Who as they made their last circle each in turn took a dump on me! My DW and kids who were moments ago in tears where now rolling in the floor laughing hysterically. I was so mad I didn't go to the hospital like I should have until a few days later after which it had gotten infected, and almost had to be amputated. So no bird feeds, or anything else to entice any birds close to the house for me.


LMAO.

Totally not the bird's fault.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Have lots of cardinals, they think they own the bushes out front but they're nice birds to have around, often sit on the front porch railing at dusk and chatter.


Cardinals are some of my favorite birds.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is up at 5:20 a.m. to watch World Cup.  Gary woke up to Mary Lou's alarm as it was she to professed getting up early for the match.  Mary Lou is still in bed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I put the match on for my study hall students this morning. Ronaldo has some beautiful legs.
Click to expand...


Força força Portugal!!


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> Cardinals are some of my favorite birds.



Nope. We have one end of our house that is all insulated low E reflective glass from floor to ceiling two stories. Cardinals being highly territorial every spring we had one that would show up and fight with his reflection in the glass. At daylight he would start his incessant thumping against the glass. I tried everything, ribbons, foil, alarm clock. Finally bought an owl decoy which worked until I walked out one morning and found him on top of the owl trying to get lucky. Lets just say Mr. Cardinal was introduced to Mr Remington and is no longer a problem.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cardinals are some of my favorite birds.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope. We have one end of our house that is all insulated low E reflective glass from floor to ceiling two stories. Cardinals being highly territorial every spring we had one that would show up and fight with his reflection in the glass. At daylight he would start his incessant thumping against the glass. I tried everything, ribbons, foil, alarm clock. Finally bought an owl decoy which worked until I walked out one morning and found him on top of the owl trying to get lucky. Lets just say Mr. Cardinal was introduced to Mr Remington and is no longer a problem.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you have bad luck with birds


----------



## Gary A.

Gary used to have seed bird feeders in the back.  Flocks of birds messing up everything.  Now only Hummingbird feeders and only the garage door. Our main complaint are with birds, especially Mockingbirds eating our soft fruits, in particular the grapes.  It seems that every year Gary is in a tug-of-war with Mockingbirds on one side, Gary on the other and grapes in-between.


----------



## jcdeboever

I farted so loud just now, my cat jumped three feet in the air. I had a truck stop, broccoli, cheese, and egg white bagel today for lunch. Thought it would be nutritious, not deadly. I am hurting, bad move.


----------



## davidharmier60

We just had hot dogs and Fritos with chili on them. I should have some deadly silent farts tomorrow. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## ceemac

I'm almost at the age where you're not supposed to trust a fart.


----------



## Tony744

The truck stop wasn't a T/A was it. Their food would occasionally  come back to haunt me.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I tried out a new Instant Pot recipe---Honey Garlic Chicken. Yum! Jasmine rice and carrots for the win!


----------



## RowdyRay

ceemac said:


> I'm almost at the age where you're not supposed to trust a fart.



What age is that? Just turned 55 and haven't trusted one for years. Can you clear a hunting shack?


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I tried out a new Instant Pot recipe---Honey Garlic Chicken. Yum! Jasmine rice and carrots for the win!



Lol my DW is an instant pot fanatic. We've had the Honey Garlic Chicken, it is good. I can count on a new recepie every night, but I'm not complaining.


----------



## smoke665

RowdyRay said:


> ceemac said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm almost at the age where you're not supposed to trust a fart.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What age is that? Just turned 55 and haven't trusted one for years. Can you clear a hunting shack?
Click to expand...


With enough cold beer and a gallon jug of pickled eggs I can clear shack and stampede all the wildlife in a 10 mile radius.


----------



## Tony744

smoke665 said:


> RowdyRay said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ceemac said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm almost at the age where you're not supposed to trust a fart.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What age is that? Just turned 55 and haven't trusted one for years. Can you clear a hunting shack?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> With enough cold beer and a gallon jug of pickled eggs I can clear shack and stampede all the wildlife in a 10 mile radius.
Click to expand...


I once emptied a city bus during rush hour. Amazing what nearly a dozen hard boiled eggs and 3 bowls of bacon jalapeno chili will do.


----------



## SquarePeg

Can you guys start your own thread for that topic please?  You can call it TMI or **** no one wants to know.

Pun intended


----------



## limr

The sophistication level of the "conversation" has reached an all-time low. Thanks.


----------



## Gary A.

JC started it.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I think JC is about to get his knuckles rapped with a ruler!


----------



## limr

Oh please, no one is playing the scolding, nagging, humorless mother here. Just some of us who are wondering when we're going to move on from the fart jokes of pre-teens.


----------



## espresso2x




----------



## Dean_Gretsch

limr said:


> Oh please, no one is playing the scolding, nagging, humorless mother here. Just some of us who are wondering when we're going to move on from the fart jokes of pre-teens.



Mother? I was insinuating the strict, no-fun allowing nuns of a Catholic school


----------



## limr

Dean_Gretsch said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh please, no one is playing the scolding, nagging, humorless mother here. Just some of us who are wondering when we're going to move on from the fart jokes of pre-teens.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mother? I was insinuating the strict, no-fun allowing nuns of a Catholic school
Click to expand...


And who was the head of the nuns? The _Mother_ Superior.   

Either way, my point stands.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

OK, so how many hail Mary's do they have to say?


----------



## espresso2x

Dean_Gretsch said:


> OK, so how many hail Mary's do they have to say?



Pass.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone images from Gary’s stroll to the store:


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, nice sunny cool start today so charge up the battery and off to see who`s singing today.


----------



## jcdeboever

Tony744 said:


> The truck stop wasn't a T/A was it. Their food would occasionally  come back to haunt me.


it was


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

@Gary A.  what’s your secret for getting your iPhone photos to post?  Mine all error out due to file size.  I’ve given up on sharing them as not worth the effort of Flickr and also sometimes not something I want on my Flickr feed...


----------



## smoke665

Morning all. Looks to be another hot, muggy, keep myself in the A/C so I can breathe kind of day. My DW broached the subject of how it might be time to start thinking about downsizing again, as the struggle to keep up the property during the summer is becoming more and more difficult. Normally I would have shrugged her off, but this time it's made me question it as well.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Morning all. Looks to be another hot, muggy, keep myself in the A/C so I can breathe kind of day. My DW broached the subject of how it might be time to start thinking about downsizing again, as the struggle to keep up the property during the summer is becoming more and more difficult. Normally I would have shrugged her off, but this time it's made me question it as well.



No youngsters wanting to earn a couple bucks to help you out Smoke? I bought my first car helping a neighbor over a couple years with yardwork and farm chores.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Oh good Lord! They just got rid of one annoying " star " on tv ( Roseanne ) and now they are talking about bringing back another ( Fran Drescher )


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Question for anyone with an ornamental pond: Is there a way to rid one of leeches and_ not_ harm tadpoles/frogs or cattails and water irises?


----------



## RowdyRay

When we were kids, dad would put some chicken in a burlap sack. Tied it off with a piece of rope and tossed it in. Pulled it out a couple days later and it was full. 

Didn't want to suggest that so I googled it. Same thing only using a coffee can with holes punched in it. Check it out.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I may have to do something like that when the Missus isn't looking


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Can you guys start your own thread for that topic please?  You can call it TMI or **** no one wants to know.
> 
> Pun intended


Great idea.   It could be called "For Men Only - The Adolescent Boy Thread."

That way, I can safely catch up on this thread without feeling like I wasted moments of my life I can't get back.  

Nice shots, Gary.   How's Maggie's eye?


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> No youngsters wanting to earn a couple bucks to help you out Smoke



Some things I can, but I wouldn't trust them on tractor and steep slopes


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> @Gary A.  what’s your secret for getting your iPhone photos to post?  Mine all error out due to file size.  I’ve given up on sharing them as not worth the effort of Flickr and also sometimes not something I want on my Flickr feed...


Gary crops them.  It is odd that the original file sizes differ greatly. It is about a 50:50 shot for Gary if the image/file will upload directly with no modifications.  After that, Gary starts trimming the sucker.  If the files won't load after a crop or two, Gary will walk away, spit on the ground and curse TPF and a few generations of offsprings.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can you guys start your own thread for that topic please?  You can call it TMI or **** no one wants to know.
> 
> Pun intended
> 
> 
> 
> Great idea.   It could be called "For Men Only - The Adolescent Boy Thread."
> 
> That way, I can safely catch up on this thread without feeling like I wasted moments of my life I can't get back.
> 
> Nice shots, Gary.   How's Maggie's eye?
Click to expand...

Miss Maggie's eye seems to be about 100% recovered. Doc Wilson said it should be fully healed in less than a week. She is back to being a handful of energy and love.  More people know Maggie than Mary Lou and Gary. She played with a dog, Beau/Bo, in the park about ten days ago.  The other day Beau/Bo and human drove up from Huntington Beach (about 30 minutes away), for the dogs to play again.

Thank you for asking.  In a nutshell, while she is still receiving medication (eyedrops), Maggie is no longer in pain and back to her ol', PITA, wonderful self.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Morning all. Looks to be another hot, muggy, keep myself in the A/C so I can breathe kind of day. My DW broached the subject of how it might be time to start thinking about downsizing again, as the struggle to keep up the property during the summer is becoming more and more difficult. Normally I would have shrugged her off, but this time it's made me question it as well.


Downsizing as in maintaining less acreage or downsizing as in moving?


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> reat idea. It could be called "For Men Only -



No need to be ugly, but your idea of a men only or ladies only thread is a good idea. A place where each could speak feely without comment by the other side.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can you guys start your own thread for that topic please?  You can call it TMI or **** no one wants to know.
> 
> Pun intended
> 
> 
> 
> Great idea.   It could be called "For Men Only - The Adolescent Boy Thread."
> 
> That way, I can safely catch up on this thread without feeling like I wasted moments of my life I can't get back.
> 
> Nice shots, Gary.   How's Maggie's eye?
Click to expand...

Le Petomane is still Gary's hero.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning all. Looks to be another hot, muggy, keep myself in the A/C so I can breathe kind of day. My DW broached the subject of how it might be time to start thinking about downsizing again, as the struggle to keep up the property during the summer is becoming more and more difficult. Normally I would have shrugged her off, but this time it's made me question it as well.
> 
> 
> 
> Downsizing as in maintaining less acreage or downsizing as in moving?
Click to expand...


Probably both. Maybe to a climate more friendly to the Asthma.


----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Question for anyone with an ornamental pond: Is there a way to rid one of leeches and_ not_ harm tadpoles/frogs or cattails and water irises?



"If there's anythin' I hate in this world it's leeches—filthy devils," Charlie Allnut- Captain of the African Queen.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning all. Looks to be another hot, muggy, keep myself in the A/C so I can breathe kind of day. My DW broached the subject of how it might be time to start thinking about downsizing again, as the struggle to keep up the property during the summer is becoming more and more difficult. Normally I would have shrugged her off, but this time it's made me question it as well.
> 
> 
> 
> Downsizing as in maintaining less acreage or downsizing as in moving?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Probably both. Maybe to a climate more friendly to the Asthma.
Click to expand...

65F presently and it may hit 78F by the afternoon.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

terri said:


> Great idea. It could be called "For Men Only - The Adolescent Boy Thread."
> 
> That way, I can safely catch up on this thread without feeling like I wasted moments of my life I can't get back.



But, but...that would leave women with no one to boss around but_ other_ women Wonder how that would work?


----------



## waday

Y'all, I'm going on vacation in a little over a week. It cannot get here fast enough.

Doesn't it look like I'm ready. I am always ready. I have been ready since first call. I am ready. Roll!


----------



## SquarePeg

Dean_Gretsch said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Great idea. It could be called "For Men Only - The Adolescent Boy Thread."
> 
> That way, I can safely catch up on this thread without feeling like I wasted moments of my life I can't get back.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But, but...that would leave women with no one to boss around but_ other_ women Wonder how that would work?
Click to expand...


The gender stereotyping by some members in this thread is absolutely ridiculous.  

And what makes you think we don't already have our own secret thread where we manage to exist just fine with "no one to boss around".   When we're done gossiping about who can't roast a chicken, we plot ways to sneak our new hats into the house without the menfolk seeing all the packages.  Usually the strategy starts with hiding the packages downstairs at Fred and Ethel's...


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> And what makes you think we don't already have our own secret thread where we manage to exist just fine with "no one to boss around". When we're done gossiping about who can't roast a chicken, we plot ways to sneak our new hats into the house without the menfolk seeing all the packages. Usually the strategy starts with hiding the packages downstairs at Fred and Ethel's...


Wait a minute, womenfolk are allowed to have thoughts and be individuals? Preposterous.


----------



## waday

Has anyone tried fading clothes or fabric with bleach?

I bought a hat online, and it showed up a really, really bright red. Looked more orange online. I'm not excited about walking around with a bright red hat. I'd like to fade it.

Any other suggestions?


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Some things I can, but I wouldn't trust them on tractor and steep slopes


You just need to buy the right tractor!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

"The gender stereotyping by some members in this thread is absolutely ridiculous"...
I know, right? Wags my manly finger at Terri


----------



## espresso2x

waday said:


> Has anyone tried fading clothes or fabric with bleach?
> 
> I bought a hat online, and it showed up a really, really bright red. Looked more orange online. I'm not excited about walking around with a bright red hat. I'd like to fade it.
> 
> Any other suggestions?



Sunlight. Would take a while though.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Has anyone tried fading clothes or fabric with bleach?
> 
> I bought a hat online, and it showed up a really, really bright red. Looked more orange online. I'm not excited about walking around with a bright red hat. I'd like to fade it.
> 
> Any other suggestions?



RIT color remover. The amount of color removed can be controlled.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

waday said:


> Has anyone tried fading clothes or fabric with bleach?
> 
> I bought a hat online, and it showed up a really, really bright red. Looked more orange online. I'm not excited about walking around with a bright red hat. I'd like to fade it.
> 
> Any other suggestions?


 I am not making a pitch for Walmart. But if you wanna get a cheap hat before all the tariffs kick in. You can at least look at it before you buy it. I'm just saying.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Apparently speech recognition does not include punctuation.


----------



## Fujidave

Today I was taking photos of the singers then I got a call from my mum.  It totally ripped my heart out, as my brother who had mental health issues commited suicide, then I got a call saying my son who was on holiday in Australia had killed himself.  My whole world came crashing down so I wont be about for a bit, as we are all devistated beyond words, I have to sort out going to Australia to bring my boy home.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm astounded, they're showing live a roundtable being held with the first lady at an immigrant detention center. Good for her going down there and taking with her, reporters and cameras and microphones.


----------



## waday

Fujidave said:


> Today I was taking photos of the singers then I got a call from my mum.  It totally ripped my heart out, as my brother who had mental health issues commited suicide, then I got a call saying my son who was on holiday in Australia had killed himself.  My whole world came crashing down so I wont be about for a bit, as we are all devistated beyond words, I have to sort out going to Australia to bring my boy home.


I'm so sorry to hear this.  When you're ready, we'll all be here to support you. Please take care.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Today I was taking photos of the singers then I got a call from my mum.  It totally ripped my heart out, as my brother who had mental health issues commited suicide, then I got a call saying my son who was on holiday in Australia had killed himself.  My whole world came crashing down so I wont be about for a bit, as we are all devistated beyond words, I have to sort out going to Australia to bring my boy home.



So very sorry for your terrible news Dave.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@Fujidave Godspeed to you. I am gobsmacked. You are in my thoughts and prayers.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> reat idea. It could be called "For Men Only -
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No need to be ugly, but your idea of a men only or ladies only thread is a good idea. A place where each could speak feely without comment by the other side.
Click to expand...




Dean_Gretsch said:


> "The gender stereotyping by some members in this thread is absolutely ridiculous"...
> I know, right? Wags my manly finger at Terri


...who remains unmoved by such an action.


----------



## terri

Fujidave said:


> Today I was taking photos of the singers then I got a call from my mum.  It totally ripped my heart out, as my brother who had mental health issues commited suicide, then I got a call saying my son who was on holiday in Australia had killed himself.  My whole world came crashing down so I wont be about for a bit, as we are all devistated beyond words, I have to sort out going to Australia to bring my boy home.


Good god.  So sorry for your loss - my thoughts are with you and your family.


----------



## vintagesnaps

They wrapped it up then came back to her starting a tour with cameras going along, at least til they got to one of the rooms, where I imagine was to protect the kids' privacy. Most of the kids there are older and came here unaccompanied or for whatever reason may have been displaced, so they aren't the kids that just were taken from parents. So, it's good to see it, but we aren't really seeing the kids that have certainly experienced recent trauma. 

This week made me think of when I was in high school and state institutions for the developmentally disabled were just starting to let people see the back wards. We started out taking a van up to do holiday parties with the kids (and adults); later did work projects (painting) and eventually went into the back wards. I saw things that today are still so vivid I feel like I was there yesterday. 

No one, no child, should ever have to go thru this.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh Dave, I'm so sorry to hear that. Check back in with us when you can. Thoughts are with you.


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Some things I can, but I wouldn't trust them on tractor and steep slopes
> 
> 
> 
> You just need to buy the right tractor!
Click to expand...


My 4 wheel drive Kubota handles it, just near the climate controlled cab model.


----------



## smoke665

So sorry @Fujidave That's terrible.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Today I was taking photos of the singers then I got a call from my mum.  It totally ripped my heart out, as my brother who had mental health issues commited suicide, then I got a call saying my son who was on holiday in Australia had killed himself.  My whole world came crashing down so I wont be about for a bit, as we are all devistated beyond words, I have to sort out going to Australia to bring my boy home.


I am so sorry.  You have my prayers.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> RIT color remover. The amount of color removed can be controlled.


I'll have to try this, thank you!


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> They wrapped it up then came back to her starting a tour with cameras going along, at least til they got to one of the rooms, where I imagine was to protect the kids' privacy. Most of the kids there are older and came here unaccompanied or for whatever reason may have been displaced, so they aren't the kids that just were taken from parents. So, it's good to see it, but we aren't really seeing the kids that have certainly experienced recent trauma.
> 
> This week made me think of when I was in high school and state institutions for the developmentally disabled were just starting to let people see the back wards. We started out taking a van up to do holiday parties with the kids (and adults); later did work projects (painting) and eventually went into the back wards. I saw things that today are still so vivid I feel like I was there yesterday.
> 
> No one, no child, should ever have to go thru this.


Mary Lou and Gary are discussing traveling down to Texas.


----------



## jcdeboever

Fujidave said:


> Today I was taking photos of the singers then I got a call from my mum.  It totally ripped my heart out, as my brother who had mental health issues commited suicide, then I got a call saying my son who was on holiday in Australia had killed himself.  My whole world came crashing down so I wont be about for a bit, as we are all devistated beyond words, I have to sort out going to Australia to bring my boy home.



Dave, I wish I was close to you so I could be there if you needed someone. I am so sorry for your loss. You have blessed us in many ways with your presence in this forum. You are funny, skillful, caring, and considerate of others. I am going to pray for you, and your mum. I want you to know, you can reach out to me at any time my brother.


----------



## snowbear

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Question for anyone with an ornamental pond: Is there a way to rid one of leeches and_ not_ harm tadpoles/frogs or cattails and water irises?


Trout or bass.  Oh, wait.  Nevermind.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> Has anyone tried fading clothes or fabric with bleach?
> 
> I bought a hat online, and it showed up a really, really bright red. Looked more orange online. I'm not excited about walking around with a bright red hat. I'd like to fade it.
> 
> Any other suggestions?


Rub it the dirt for several hours. or (better) sew on a Washington Capitals emblem.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can you guys start your own thread for that topic please?  You can call it TMI or **** no one wants to know.
> 
> Pun intended
> 
> 
> 
> That way, I can safely catch up on this thread without feeling like I wasted moments of my life I can't get back.
Click to expand...

But this whole thread is intended to be a moment's waste, though we can certainly do without the bodily function posts.


----------



## snowbear

Fujidave said:


> Today I was taking photos of the singers then I got a call from my mum.  It totally ripped my heart out, as my brother who had mental health issues commited suicide, then I got a call saying my son who was on holiday in Australia had killed himself.  My whole world came crashing down so I wont be about for a bit, as we are all devistated beyond words, I have to sort out going to Australia to bring my boy home.


I'm so sorry to hear this.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Dave, am so sorry for you and your family. 
We lost our son almost a year ago and many prayers for your family to cope...


----------



## smoke665

Well this is interesting Shots exchanged during road rage incident on I-20 during morning rush hour I was within eye sight of where this took place this morning, apparently as it was happening. Coming into Birmingham on I59 south, when traffic on the off ramp to I459/20 came to a screeching halt. I continued on I-59 so I bypassed it.


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> Today I was taking photos of the singers then I got a call from my mum.  It totally ripped my heart out, as my brother who had mental health issues commited suicide, then I got a call saying my son who was on holiday in Australia had killed himself.  My whole world came crashing down so I wont be about for a bit, as we are all devistated beyond words, I have to sort out going to Australia to bring my boy home.



Dave, I am so so sorry  I can't even imagine your pain right now. As Wade said, we'll be here for support when you are ready. Reach out if you need anything.


----------



## davidharmier60

Condolences FujiDave.
I assembled that book case today.
5.5ish hours today 22.27 or so with two days to go. Going through my copper again with lead pipe seriousness. Amy spot or blemish and it goes. Have put aside enough to do the rest of the current box and get into the next one.
Won't be too long and I'll be hitting the sheets.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can you guys start your own thread for that topic please?  You can call it TMI or **** no one wants to know.
> 
> Pun intended
> 
> 
> 
> Great idea.   It could be called "For Men Only - The Adolescent Boy Thread."
> 
> That way, I can safely catch up on this thread without feeling like I wasted moments of my life I can't get back.
> 
> Nice shots, Gary.   How's Maggie's eye?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Miss Maggie's eye seems to be about 100% recovered. Doc Wilson said it should be fully healed in less than a week. She is back to being a handful of energy and love.  More people know Maggie than Mary Lou and Gary. She played with a dog, Beau/Bo, in the park about ten days ago.  The other day Beau/Bo and human drove up from Huntington Beach (about 30 minutes away), for the dogs to play again.
> 
> Thank you for asking.  In a nutshell, while she is still receiving medication (eyedrops), Maggie is no longer in pain and back to her ol', PITA, wonderful self.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear that.   Odin used to get what the vet called "eye ulcers" with some regularity, especially in his younger days.   Granted, he had those big old pug eyes, but he also loved plunging his head into any bush, pile of leaves, you name it - with no regard for sticks or debris.   He gave himself some doozies!   He required surgery once, but the rest of the time he healed up just with the eyedrops.   He was a pita, and I still miss him.


----------



## RowdyRay

@Fujidave. I am so sorry to hear this. Can't imagine either. Please take care.


----------



## espresso2x

An awful tragedy Dave. Condolences.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can you guys start your own thread for that topic please?  You can call it TMI or **** no one wants to know.
> 
> Pun intended
> 
> 
> 
> Great idea.   It could be called "For Men Only - The Adolescent Boy Thread."
> 
> That way, I can safely catch up on this thread without feeling like I wasted moments of my life I can't get back.
> 
> Nice shots, Gary.   How's Maggie's eye?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Miss Maggie's eye seems to be about 100% recovered. Doc Wilson said it should be fully healed in less than a week. She is back to being a handful of energy and love.  More people know Maggie than Mary Lou and Gary. She played with a dog, Beau/Bo, in the park about ten days ago.  The other day Beau/Bo and human drove up from Huntington Beach (about 30 minutes away), for the dogs to play again.
> 
> Thank you for asking.  In a nutshell, while she is still receiving medication (eyedrops), Maggie is no longer in pain and back to her ol', PITA, wonderful self.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Glad to hear that.   Odin used to get what the vet called "eye ulcers" with some regularity, especially in his younger days.   Granted, he had those big old pug eyes, but he also loved plunging his head into any bush, pile of leaves, you name it - with no regard for sticks or debris.   He gave himself some doozies!   He required surgery once, but the rest of the time he healed up just with the eyedrops.   He was a pita, and I still miss him.
Click to expand...

Doc Wilson used the same terminology of "eye ulcer" for Maggie's plight.


----------



## ceemac

OMG, Dave. Take care


----------



## Fujidave

thanks folks it turns out our son died during a drinking session.


----------



## snowbear

Fujidave said:


> thanks folks it turns out our son died during a drinking session.


This makes it no less tragic, perhaps more so.  We are all here for you.


----------



## smoke665

@Fujidave as Snowbear stated above losing a child or loved one for any reason is tragic. My heart and prayers go out to you.


----------



## JonA_CT

So sorry, Dave. I can’t imagine what you’re going through. 


I’m free as of this morning. I’m grabbing a breakfast sandwich from the market right next to the brewery, and I have a couple things to do at the brewery before I ruin a beautiful day by going to the golf course.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Trying to get my brain up and running. It's kinda slow goin' so far.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> thanks folks it turns out our son died during a drinking session.


*sigh*  Sorry Dave.


----------



## Gary A.

Brazil 0 - Costa Rica 0  at half.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary, again, is up early, 5:00 a.m. early to catch World Cup.  Mary Lou is still in bed counting sheep.  Brazil is outplaying Costa Rica ... attacking ... attacking ... attacking Costa Rica's defense is bending but not breaking. Brazil's uniforms are very colorful, .


----------



## Gary A.

A video review of a potential penalty in the Costa Rican box.  The penalty was overturned by the video, no PK for Brazil, but the Brazilian striker is nominated for an Academy Award - Best Dramatic Acting in a Sporting Event.


----------



## waday

TGIF.

But, seriously, is it 5 PM, yet?


----------



## Gary A.

Brazil has finally worn down the Costa Rican D ... Brazil 2 - Costa Rica 0.

Two goals in Stoppage Time.


----------



## Gary A.

The game is over and Mary Lou is still in bed.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> So sorry, Dave. I can’t imagine what you’re going through.
> 
> 
> I’m free as of this morning. I’m grabbing a breakfast sandwich from the market right next to the brewery, and I have a couple things to do at the brewery before I ruin a beautiful day by going to the golf course.


----------



## waday




----------



## ceemac

Well. the true cost of my camera purchase last winter has finally revealed itself. NEW APPLIANCES!! I could no longer repair our old washing machine. My wife and i were in town yesterday so I stopped by the appliance store. I told her to wait in the car while I bought a washer. She followed me in.


----------



## davidharmier60

Again FD. Condolences. 
5 hours and 3 minutes today. 
27.5 even for the week so far. 
No breakfast because my arse is dragging. 
PO. Box at the front of the neighborhood and then home for better living through chemistry!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

waday said:


> TGIF.
> 
> But, seriously, is it 5 PM, yet?



We have summer hours and the college closes at noon. I have 45 minutes left. It still feels too long!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is 66F presently, but should break 80F.  This evening were planning to see a free concert at the Segerstrom Center's patio down in Orange County.  The guitarist is a professor at Whittier College and Maggie's BFF (Best Furry Friend) human knows the guitarist (Mike's ex-wife is a retired Whittier College professor). Mary Lou, Mike and Gary are packing up a picnic basket and selecting wines for the show.  Yesterday we hit the Concerts in the Park series at the local park.  Man, it was crowded yesterday.  Maggie, for all her boldness of running with the big dogs, is generally very shy and timid in a new situation.  She did not like the large crowds, loud noises and unfamiliar smells of the concert.  We walked her slowly around the event a few times.  We pledged to take Maggie back until she relaxes and enjoys all the newness of things.  When dry and not muddied-up, Miss Maggie is very cute and she attracted a ton of attention.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> TGIF.
> 
> But, seriously, is it 5 PM, yet?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We have summer hours and the college closes at noon. I have 45 minutes left. It still feels too long!
Click to expand...

Lucky! Every year, there's a push to allow employees to work four 10-hour days to have Fridays off in the summer. Every year, it's the same response from management: "but but but, we need you at your desk just in case a client calls".

That said, I just finished up a scheduled call with a client. Went well, and happy that he deferred to me over his legal team as the expert on specific regulations, LOL. Hoping that the rest of the day goes smoothly (i.e., uneventful).


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> TGIF.
> 
> But, seriously, is it 5 PM, yet?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We have summer hours and the college closes at noon. I have 45 minutes left. It still feels too long!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Lucky! Every year, there's a push to allow employees to work four 10-hour days to have Fridays off in the summer. Every year, it's the same response from management: "but but but, we need you at your desk just in case a client calls".
> 
> That said, I just finished up a scheduled call with a client. Went well, and happy that he deferred to me over his legal team as the expert on specific regulations, LOL. Hoping that the rest of the day goes smoothly (i.e., uneventful).
Click to expand...

Ten hour days ... plus on-call Fridays, cell phones and lap tops.  The receptionist can forward all calls to the 'field'.  Set it up as a trial balloon.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Ten hour days ... plus on-call Fridays, cell phones and lap tops.  The receptionist can forward all calls to the 'field'.  Set it up as a trial balloon.


I have a cell phone with constant access to email. I have a laptop (could use cell phone as hot spot to connect laptop to internet, if needed). I'm also expected to work from home (i.e., after hours, weekends), if needed. I can set up my desk phone to forward calls to my cell phone.

It's all there, except support from management.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> It's all there, except support from management.



Break 'em!   Wear 'em down!       It will only take the right one to cave.  Can't imagine they don't like the idea, too!   

Hot, sunny.... summer has settled in.    Earlier this spring, we had a huge old forsythia bush pulled from an island area in the back yard.   It was poorly schemed out, with the larger plants placed in front of a smaller rose bush - so overgrown, we literally didn't even know it was back there.    Now the roses are able to bloom, and we planted a small assembly of black-eyed Susans in front of them.   They are just now starting to bloom.   We get a lot of American Goldfinches in the spring, and now they'll be back in the fall to go for the thistle.    Behind that are 2 very large butterfly bushes in full bloom.   

It's starting to look less neglected around here - it's been a battle!   Former homeowners let everything get overgrown and choke one another out.

Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ten hour days ... plus on-call Fridays, cell phones and lap tops.  The receptionist can forward all calls to the 'field'.  Set it up as a trial balloon.
> 
> 
> 
> I have a cell phone with constant access to email. I have a laptop (could use cell phone as hot spot to connect laptop to internet, if needed). I'm also expected to work from home (i.e., after hours, weekends), if needed. I can set up my desk phone to forward calls to my cell phone.
> 
> It's all there, except support from management.
Click to expand...

Get a full size cardboard cutout of you person and set it up in the office Thursday night.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ten hour days ... plus on-call Fridays, cell phones and lap tops.  The receptionist can forward all calls to the 'field'.  Set it up as a trial balloon.
> 
> 
> 
> I have a cell phone with constant access to email. I have a laptop (could use cell phone as hot spot to connect laptop to internet, if needed). I'm also expected to work from home (i.e., after hours, weekends), if needed. I can set up my desk phone to forward calls to my cell phone.
> 
> It's all there, except support from management.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Get a full size cardboard cutout of you person and set it up in the office Thursday night.
Click to expand...

Yes, I should do this. I’ll put a speaker in there so that they’ll hear an occasional curse word. Maybe add some movement like my head hitting the desk. LOL


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ten hour days ... plus on-call Fridays, cell phones and lap tops.  The receptionist can forward all calls to the 'field'.  Set it up as a trial balloon.
> 
> 
> 
> I have a cell phone with constant access to email. I have a laptop (could use cell phone as hot spot to connect laptop to internet, if needed). I'm also expected to work from home (i.e., after hours, weekends), if needed. I can set up my desk phone to forward calls to my cell phone.
> 
> It's all there, except support from management.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Get a full size cardboard cutout of you person and set it up in the office Thursday night.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, I should do this. I’ll put a speaker in there so that they’ll hear an occasional curse word. Maybe add some movement like my head hitting the desk. LOL
Click to expand...

Just loop a voice recorder.


----------



## waday

LOL. I should do this.

The funny thing is that my supervisor doesn't even work out of this office. My reportee works out of a different office. I typically do not work with anyone in my office.

And yet, I have to be "in the office".

Engineers (and managers) aren't that progressive when it comes to work-life balance and telecommuting.


----------



## Gary A.

Unfortunately, the cut-out isn't my idea.  I had a lot of friends at CBS news LA.  They told me of a story about one of their anchors.  Bill Stout was this old, cantankerous, former newspaper reporter, CBSLA anchor. Bill gave an Op-Ed piece early in the show, then had to hang around for the wide angle 'Family Shot' at the end of the broadcast. This vexed Stout for years as he would rather be in a bar than hanging around the newsroom for a couple of hours.  One day he shows up with a cardboard cut-out of himself that he lifted from some promo somewhere.  He instructed one of the grips to setup the cutout at the end of the show.  Worked great for awhile ... then there were a few calls that Stout looked pale and ill.  The next day Stout took the cut-out into makeup for some color.


----------



## smoke665

ceemac said:


> I told her to wait in the car while I bought a washer. She followed me in.



Well duh, a washer needs a new dryer, and then they don't match the "other" appliances, so before long you have a new kitchen!! Been there seen it.


----------



## davidharmier60

I feel slightly less dragging arse now. Wish a cardboard cut out of me could work. But it can't run a floor machine or buffer.


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> I feel slightly less dragging arse now. Wish a cardboard cut out of me could work. But it can't run a floor machine or buffer.


You should get a remote control and some servos.


----------



## Tony744

Fujidave said:


> Today I was taking photos of the singers then I got a call from my mum.  It totally ripped my heart out, as my brother who had mental health issues commited suicide, then I got a call saying my son who was on holiday in Australia had killed himself.  My whole world came crashing down so I wont be about for a bit, as we are all devistated beyond words, I have to sort out going to Australia to bring my boy home.



Sorry to hear this. Thoughts and prayers are with you.


----------



## smoke665

@waday I was VP of a privately owned company for a few years. The President of the company could be a royal jerk. He wanted to take off on Friday afternoons, but didn't want anyone else to. So he'd leave and then call back at various times during the afternoon to check if various members of the management team were still in the office. We all finally had our fill of him, so when he'd leave I'd call the department heads and retire to the conference room for a weekly poker game/happy hour. When he'd call the receptionist would page us and we'd answer. Not sure if someone tipped him off, but one Friday he came back unexpected, and found us all in the conference room. It was hilarious actually, because he couldn't fire all of us, all he could do was slam the door and storm out. The next week he made it known that HE would be in the office on Friday afternoons in the future.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> @waday I was VP of a privately owned company for a few years. The President of the company could be a royal jerk. He wanted to take off on Friday afternoons, but didn't want anyone else to. So he'd leave and then call back at various times during the afternoon to check if various members of the management team were still in the office. We all finally had our fill of him, so when he'd leave I'd call the department heads and retire to the conference room for a weekly poker game/happy hour. When he'd call the receptionist would page us and we'd answer. Not sure if someone tipped him off, but one Friday he came back unexpected, and found us all in the conference room. It was hilarious actually, because he couldn't fire all of us, all he could do was slam the door and storm out. The next week he made it known that HE would be in the office on Friday afternoons in the future.


LOL, I love this. My previous supervisor used to do that sometimes. If she worked from home, or if I was going to work from home for some reason, she'd call, IM, or email me occasionally with some non-important issues to see if I was "available".

We have instant messaging, which has our "status" of available, busy, offline, etc. My previous supervisor would track my status, so I changed my settings to have it display available whenever the computer was on. It was pretty oppressive, because if I had to read a report that I printed out or if I was looking at a drawing, she'd see me as "away" since I would be inactive for several minutes. She'd then think I wasn't working.


----------



## waday

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @waday I was VP of a privately owned company for a few years. The President of the company could be a royal jerk. He wanted to take off on Friday afternoons, but didn't want anyone else to. So he'd leave and then call back at various times during the afternoon to check if various members of the management team were still in the office. We all finally had our fill of him, so when he'd leave I'd call the department heads and retire to the conference room for a weekly poker game/happy hour. When he'd call the receptionist would page us and we'd answer. Not sure if someone tipped him off, but one Friday he came back unexpected, and found us all in the conference room. It was hilarious actually, because he couldn't fire all of us, all he could do was slam the door and storm out. The next week he made it known that HE would be in the office on Friday afternoons in the future.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL, I love this. My previous supervisor used to do that sometimes. If she worked from home, or if I was going to work from home for some reason, she'd call, IM, or email me occasionally with some non-important issues to see if I was "available".
> 
> We have instant messaging, which has our "status" of available, busy, offline, etc. My previous supervisor would track my status, so I changed my settings to have it display available whenever the computer was on. It was pretty oppressive, because if I had to read a report that I printed out or if I was looking at a drawing, she'd see me as "away" since I would be inactive for several minutes. She'd then think I wasn't working.
Click to expand...

So, in other words, I could have been goofing off on the internet, and it would have shown "available" since the computer was active so she would have thought I was working. But when I was actually working just not using the computer, it showed as "away" and she thought I wasn't working.


----------



## JonA_CT

Sigh. It’s not what it looks like. 

(Hit a tree branch on the follow through of a swing. Now I don’t have a 4 iron.)


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> LOL. I should do this.
> 
> The funny thing is that my supervisor doesn't even work out of this office. My reportee works out of a different office. I typically do not work with anyone in my office.
> 
> And yet, I have to be "in the office".
> 
> Engineers (and managers) aren't that progressive when it comes to work-life balance and telecommuting.





waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @waday I was VP of a privately owned company for a few years. The President of the company could be a royal jerk. He wanted to take off on Friday afternoons, but didn't want anyone else to. So he'd leave and then call back at various times during the afternoon to check if various members of the management team were still in the office. We all finally had our fill of him, so when he'd leave I'd call the department heads and retire to the conference room for a weekly poker game/happy hour. When he'd call the receptionist would page us and we'd answer. Not sure if someone tipped him off, but one Friday he came back unexpected, and found us all in the conference room. It was hilarious actually, because he couldn't fire all of us, all he could do was slam the door and storm out. The next week he made it known that HE would be in the office on Friday afternoons in the future.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL, I love this. My previous supervisor used to do that sometimes. If she worked from home, or if I was going to work from home for some reason, she'd call, IM, or email me occasionally with some non-important issues to see if I was "available".
> 
> We have instant messaging, which has our "status" of available, busy, offline, etc. My previous supervisor would track my status, so I changed my settings to have it display available whenever the computer was on. It was pretty oppressive, because if I had to read a report that I printed out or if I was looking at a drawing, she'd see me as "away" since I would be inactive for several minutes. She'd then think I wasn't working.
Click to expand...


Seems like a trust issue.  Usually when someone doesn't trust their employees to get their work done from home it's because they would not get anything done if THEY were at home.  



JonA_CT said:


> View attachment 159543
> 
> Sigh. It’s not what it looks like.
> 
> (Hit a tree branch on the follow through of a swing. Now I don’t have a 4 iron.)



It looks like you were in the woods when you swung!


----------



## JonA_CT

Not woods, but also not an ideal placement of the ball on the previous shot, haha.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> Not woods, but also not an ideal placement of the ball on the previous shot, haha.


Story of my golf game


----------



## davidharmier60

I haven't swung a golf club in 20+ years.
But the worst thing I would have done was drop a ball off a water hazard. Never ever would I have swung into/under a tree.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> (Hit a tree branch on the follow through of a swing. Now I don’t have a 4 iron.)



Jon get one of these. Light weight, collapsible, saves a lot of wear and tear on equipment


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Seems like a trust issue. Usually when someone doesn't trust their employees to get their work done from home it's because they would not get anything done if THEY were at home.


She definitely had/has trust issues, as well as control issues. She also has really bad stereotyping and typecasting issues, as well as pigeonholing issues. I know they seem like the synonyms, but they all have slight variations that make them very different. Don't get me wrong, if she liked you, she was very loyal and would defend you. At times, she could be a great supervisor. But, it wasn't always sunshine and roses.


----------



## smoke665

Sorry, but oddly this just came in from a friend. Don't normally re-share, but I though it was funny.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> We have instant messaging, which has our "status" of available, busy, offline, etc. My previous supervisor would track my status, so I changed my settings to have it display available whenever the computer was on. It was pretty oppressive, because if I had to read a report that I printed out or if I was looking at a drawing, she'd see me as "away" since I would be inactive for several minutes. She'd then think I wasn't working.



We have instant messaging too, and no one actually pays attention to what someone's status is. Part of that is that the system is used for easier communication amongst enrollment staff so when, say, a counselor is working with a student and needs a quick answer from someone in the registrar (which is in another building), it's faster and more reliable than email. But it's also because no one really cares. If someone isn't doing their work, it's a lot more apparent in may ways other than their instant messaging status.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's just about that time. 
Sleepiness is near.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> View attachment 159543
> Now I don’t have a 4 iron.)


Sure you do.  You just have to get on your knees to use it.



limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> We have instant messaging, which has our "status" of available, busy, offline, etc. My previous supervisor would track my status, so I changed my settings to have it display available whenever the computer was on. It was pretty oppressive, because if I had to read a report that I printed out or if I was looking at a drawing, she'd see me as "away" since I would be inactive for several minutes. She'd then think I wasn't working.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We have instant messaging too, and no one actually pays attention to what someone's status is. Part of that is that the system is used for easier communication amongst enrollment staff so when, say, a counselor is working with a student and needs a quick answer from someone in the registrar (which is in another building), it's faster and more reliable than email. But it's also because no one really cares. If someone isn't doing their work, it's a lot more apparent in may ways other than their instant messaging status.
Click to expand...

We have Skype Business (AKA Lync).
I telecommuted one day last week, and doubt I will do it again.  The connection isn't great (I suspect the VPN) and trying to do GIS on one screen is &$*#_*@$.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> We have instant messaging, which has our "status" of available, busy, offline, etc. My previous supervisor would track my status, so I changed my settings to have it display available whenever the computer was on. It was pretty oppressive, because if I had to read a report that I printed out or if I was looking at a drawing, she'd see me as "away" since I would be inactive for several minutes. She'd then think I wasn't working.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We have instant messaging too, and no one actually pays attention to what someone's status is. Part of that is that the system is used for easier communication amongst enrollment staff so when, say, a counselor is working with a student and needs a quick answer from someone in the registrar (which is in another building), it's faster and more reliable than email. But it's also because no one really cares. If someone isn't doing their work, it's a lot more apparent in may ways other than their instant messaging status.
Click to expand...


Several upper mgmt in our company any use IM status as a time clock.  It’s a very easily fooled system though. 


When Princess and her BFF take your camera and think they’re models but don’t know how to use the speed light.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> We have instant messaging, which has our "status" of available, busy, offline, etc. My previous supervisor would track my status, so I changed my settings to have it display available whenever the computer was on. It was pretty oppressive, because if I had to read a report that I printed out or if I was looking at a drawing, she'd see me as "away" since I would be inactive for several minutes. She'd then think I wasn't working.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We have instant messaging too, and no one actually pays attention to what someone's status is. Part of that is that the system is used for easier communication amongst enrollment staff so when, say, a counselor is working with a student and needs a quick answer from someone in the registrar (which is in another building), it's faster and more reliable than email. But it's also because no one really cares. If someone isn't doing their work, it's a lot more apparent in may ways other than their instant messaging status.
Click to expand...

That’s how it’s supposed to work for us, too, but it ends up being used similar to @SquarePeg ’s time clock... “You didn’t sign in until 8:45 today, are you going to stay later to make up for it?” Meanwhile, they ignore the emails sent at 10 pm the previous night.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> View attachment 159543
> 
> Sigh. It’s not what it looks like.
> 
> (Hit a tree branch on the follow through of a swing. Now I don’t have a 4 iron.)


Given that 50% of it (approximately) is missing, does that make it a 2 iron?


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> I haven't swung a golf club in 20+ years.
> But the worst thing I would have done was drop a ball off a water hazard. Never ever would I have swung into/under a tree.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Last time I swung a club was immediately before the course marshal escorted me (and several shipmates) off of the Port Royal Golf Course in Hamilton, Bermuda.  Apparently playing polo with the gas-powered golf carts (which had governors that were ridiculously easy to disable) was considered "inappropriate"....     Who knew?


----------



## limr

waday said:


> That’s how it’s supposed to work for us, too, but it ends up being used similar to @SquarePeg ’s time clock... “You didn’t sign in until 8:45 today, are you going to stay later to make up for it?” Meanwhile, they ignore the emails sent at 10 pm the previous night.



Working at a college certainly has its disfunctions, but this is definitely not one of them. I would never make it in a corporate job


----------



## limr

In fact, one of the associate deans that I work closely with was on vacation a couple of weeks back. He answered an email during that time, and got "scolded" by his/our boss for working while on vacation. No, he didn't really get in trouble - it was more of a good-natured ribbing: "What are you doing on your work email?? This is your vacation time, go get some rest and enjoy yourself!"  Our boss is a firm believer in a work-life balance. And yes, I do understand how lucky I am


----------



## Fujidave

As I think it will help me, I am off out with the camera today as I have to start again and for me it might try and help a bit plus it is my way of trying to get my head right.


----------



## davidharmier60

The go back to bed gene is large in me.
Sure wish I could have the weekend off. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

what's a work / life balance?


----------



## jcdeboever

no tractor show in ohio for me today, raining all day. bummer. going to botanical garden I guess.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> what's a work / life balance?



Retiring early enough to enjoy what you spent your life working for.


----------



## snowbear

I'm still recovering from a Benadryl coma.  Going back to bed.


----------



## ceemac

smoke665 said:


> Retiring early enough to enjoy what you spent your life working for.



Thanks Smoke. I'll show this to my wife. She keeps finding work to balance my life with.


----------



## smoke665

ceemac said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Retiring early enough to enjoy what you spent your life working for.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks Smoke. I'll show this to my wife. She keeps finding work to balance my life with.
Click to expand...


And in an ideal world, I will have transferred seed money to my kids and grandkids, provided enough to last my wife if she survives me and spent my last dollar on the day I die, thereby going out of the this world the same way I came in.


----------



## davidharmier60

Somewhat better than 5 hours today. 
Assembled a table and 4 chairs. 
33.05 for the week.
Gonna get a right reasonable check next Wednesday. Got some New York style eclairs to try. Decedent is the only way to describe them! Good stuff Maynard!
Gotta get milk, eggs and wieners to take home.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Geez I worked for a county agency for 20+ years, I thought they were anal, but we even had 'virtual' status, at least my job did (not the classroom teaching jobs). And that was in a job having to account for every blasted thing. Wade your peeps at work are wackadoodle. 

Oh, there's a trade... now things have picked up, got the 4th round done in more like 40 minutes so they might get this draft done in, oh, 4 hours maybe? Then they replay last night's first round and today's rounds so I can watch it all again.


----------



## Fujidave

Well today I went out X-T2 + XF 35mm in the small bag, I went to watch the singers and it took me two hours till I grabbed the camera, and I am so glad I did as well.  I only took a few ( 2,204 ),  when I first started I felt so guilty that I burst in to tears, then I swear blind I heard a voice say Come on Dave do what you love.  I was not being hard or cruel but today helped me so much so that I actually enjoyed my self.  I have a lot of editing to do but it will be nice.  As I could not bring my self to go and bring my boy back the family have gone or the do later as they fly out in the early hours.  My photography is going to be so helpful to me at this time.


----------



## smoke665

@Fujidave we each deal with grief in different ways. There is no wrong or right only what works to get you through the darkest hours.


----------



## Fujidave

These two are from Thursday, in the next few days I will edit some from today.
The lad is Louis, and the young lady is Roxi.  I am going to carry on taking photos as for me it will help me a lot.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Tardes Coffee Hosers.  It is 4:00 p.m., 73F, but pretty humid at 63%, but still comfortable. Today was a day of World Cup, Belgium-Tunisia, Mexico-South Korea and Germany-Sweden.  Germany-Sweden was the absolute best.  Germany was clearly the better team, but the gritty Swedes refused to be overwhelmed and steamrollered. Germany finally scored the winning goal with less than a minute to go in Stoppage Time. With no US Team in the games, it is easy for Gary to root for the underdog.

This morning, Miss Maggie was one of nine pooches in a pack.  Max, Winston, Larry, Sophia Marie, Buddy, Honey, Lucy, Michelle and Maggie were running free and happy in the park.  It was great fun for all, chasing, getting chased, roughhousing and plunging into the creek. It's a dog life.​


----------



## smoke665

Got a reprieve on the weather yesterday so was able to get a little work done outside. Mid to high 80's with 45% humidity and a nice breeze, it was wonderful. Today it's back to the temperatures in the 90's and humidity the right there with it.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Yesterday we hit the Segerstrom Center, a huge performing art facility in Orange County. It was Cubano Night, a free outdoor concert on the patio. We packed up a picnic, some vino and enjoyed a very pleasant evening listening to wonderful Cuban Jazz in a small, intimate venu on a cool night.


----------



## davidharmier60

We had hamburgers tonight. I'm thinking of Blue Bell. But still pretty full from dinner.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## espresso2x

What's Blue Bell?


----------



## smoke665

espresso2x said:


> What's Blue Bell?



Ice cream. It's like crack to southerners.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Got a reprieve on the weather yesterday so was able to get a little work done outside. Mid to high 80's with 45% humidity and a nice breeze, it was wonderful. Today it's back to the temperatures in the 90's and humidity the right there with it.


Things are much different here.  The humidity goes up as the temp goes down and vice versa ... as the temps go up the air gets drier. When it gets hot ... the humidity drops into the 20's.  During 'Fire Season' the humidity will be in the teens.


----------



## Gary A.

Back, Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are back from our second walk of the day.  Presently, Gary has 18,490 steps for the day.  For Gary, that is pretty good. We are relaxing a bit before dinner.  Mary Lou brought out some salami, cheese and crackers ... Gary some vino and we're watching the Dodgers beat the Mets.


----------



## Gary A.

Miss Maggie watching James Corden and Sir Paul McCartney.

This video is great. 





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2262522967097719
			




Well worth watching.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Things are much different here. The humidity goes up as the temp goes down and vice versa



I wish, current temperature 75. Current humidity 100% and it isn't raining


----------



## Gary A.

Woooooooooo ... a squeeze play scores Bellinger!


----------



## jcdeboever

Went out today with camera for an hour and a half. Felt uninspired today. Watched the Tigers a little, they played really bad. Film rolls piling up. Golf tomorrow, not feeling that either.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Woooooooooo ... a squeeze play scores Bellinger!


Good thing they are playing well or Arizona would be running away with the division.


----------



## Gary A.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ... A Grand Slam for Kemp!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

The Cubano musicians from last night had been around SoCal at different venues at other times.

#1





#2





#3





#4





#5





These musicians played last night, but above images are them playing in different groups.  Just a bit odd.


----------



## smoke665

6 am and sun is out this morning. 70 degrees with 100% humidity. The humidity is oppressive, for me I would liken it to being waterboarded, as I breathe the moisture laden air. Our HVAC is running over time making it bearable inside at least. Our FD is practicing this afternoon, doing a controlled burn on an old house. I'm supposed to be there with camera, but with the humidity still close to 70% the weather is predicting a heat index of 102. I'm hoping they postpone it as I really don't want to see any of our guys end up in the hospital from heat stroke.


----------



## JonA_CT

I’m a little “dehydrated” this morning.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I’m a little “dehydrated” this morning.



I recommend some pancakes with greasy home fries and a glass of chocolate milk.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> In fact, one of the associate deans that I work closely with was on vacation a couple of weeks back. He answered an email during that time, and got "scolded" by his/our boss for working while on vacation. No, he didn't really get in trouble - it was more of a good-natured ribbing: "What are you doing on your work email?? This is your vacation time, go get some rest and enjoy yourself!"  Our boss is a firm believer in a work-life balance. And yes, I do understand how lucky I am


That is awesome! 

My supervisor makes it a point to say that he ALWAYS takes his laptop and works while on vacation. I guess he’s trying to tell me something. Umm, that’s nice and all, but I don’t. I’m going on vacation to get away from my job.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Looking out the window, Gary sees a heavy and gray Marine Layer keeping things cool. 64F this morning and it feels like 64F with a 5mph breeze. Projected to hit 74F by the afternoon.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Wade your peeps at work are wackadoodle.


Yes, they are. In consulting, everything is money, so taking a vacation, for the company, is like doubly losing money. Not only am I not there to work on projects, if I’m using paid time off, the company has to pay for my time off. I’m sure they hate it and would give zero PTO if it wouldn’t mean an exodus of employees.

The funny thing is that every consulting company that I’ve worked for “wonders” why they can’t keep people in my age group.


----------



## Gary A.

Miss Maggie and Gary are up early watching World Cup. The game is so lopsided that Maggie is watching upside down. She’s on her back with her head dangling off the end of the recliner. England is humiliating Panama at World Cup. At half it was 5-0 England. Now, as Gary was typing it became six - zero.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Those pics are great of the musicians Gary.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Miss Maggie and Gary are up early watching World Cup. The game is so lopsided that Maggie is watching upside down. She’s on her back with her head dangling off the end of the recliner. England is humiliating Panama at World Cup. At half it was 5-0 England. Now, as Gary was typing it became six - zero.


 On 7 shots total, and 6 shots on goal. Woof. Poor Panama.


----------



## Gary A.

PANAMA Scores! And the Panamanians go wild in the stands.


----------



## davidharmier60

Soccer does nothing for me.
Heck I don't even know how the Astros did last night. Sunday is my only sleep in day.
Breakfast coming up in minutes. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

The missus was a little more “dehydrated” than I was this morning. Some peanut butter toast helped me, but she required grease. We went with some chili cheese waffle fries, and some fish tacos from a local place. Now it’s nap tome.


----------



## grrr8scott

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> In fact, one of the associate deans that I work closely with was on vacation a couple of weeks back. He answered an email during that time, and got "scolded" by his/our boss for working while on vacation. No, he didn't really get in trouble - it was more of a good-natured ribbing: "What are you doing on your work email?? This is your vacation time, go get some rest and enjoy yourself!"  Our boss is a firm believer in a work-life balance. And yes, I do understand how lucky I am
> 
> 
> 
> That is awesome!
> 
> My supervisor makes it a point to say that he ALWAYS takes his laptop and works while on vacation. I guess he’s trying to tell me something. Umm, that’s nice and all, but I don’t. I’m going on vacation to get away from my job.
Click to expand...

When I was a young attorney working for a law firm in the days before cell phones, my boss told his secretary to track me down while I was with my kids at a Disneyland. Apparently she told him that wasn’t going to happen.  Lol


----------



## davidharmier60

Just finished my comics on ArcaMax Publishing. Did 8 rolls of pennies prior to that and now going to do 7 more. Found out Astros won yet again.
Thay play again this afternoon and I think I'll be awake for the whole game......


----------



## grrr8scott

Gary A. said:


> Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers. Looking out the window, Gary sees a heavy and gray Marine Layer keeping things cool. 64F this morning and it feels like 64F with a 5mph breeze. Projected to hit 74F by the afternoon.


I remember those days. Loved the marine layer and the June gloom. I always associated that with the end of school.  Here it’s already in the 80s heading toward the high 90s, but the humidity isn’t bad.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Third time 'round watching the NHL Draft. They've been replaying it continuously (except for ads for the hair club, etc.). Not sure if I'll stay with it, the second time thru I saw things I missed the first time, but have seen most of it by now (you'd think, but did just see something else I missed before). 

Some of these kids being drafted (the NHL drafts at 18) have dads who played hockey, and they shouldn't have kids this age! We're past the days of a half dozen Sutter brutters playing, in recent drafts we're getting a bunch of Sutterbrutter kids.


----------



## waday

grrr8scott said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> In fact, one of the associate deans that I work closely with was on vacation a couple of weeks back. He answered an email during that time, and got "scolded" by his/our boss for working while on vacation. No, he didn't really get in trouble - it was more of a good-natured ribbing: "What are you doing on your work email?? This is your vacation time, go get some rest and enjoy yourself!"  Our boss is a firm believer in a work-life balance. And yes, I do understand how lucky I am
> 
> 
> 
> That is awesome!
> 
> My supervisor makes it a point to say that he ALWAYS takes his laptop and works while on vacation. I guess he’s trying to tell me something. Umm, that’s nice and all, but I don’t. I’m going on vacation to get away from my job.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> When I was a young attorney working for a law firm in the days before cell phones, my boss told his secretary to track me down while I was with my kids at a Disneyland. Apparently she told him that wasn’t going to happen.  Lol
Click to expand...

Oh jeez, big nope there. That’s crazy.


----------



## davidharmier60

Wowsers! Through 5 innings 9 to 1 Astros. 


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Feeling proud of myself today.  Pool pump stopped working.  No power.  The GFCI plug wouldn’t reset.  Found a video on YouTube, went to Home Depot, bought a new one.  Came home,  swapped out the GFCI plug and we’re back in business.   Saved myself $200 on a new pump.  

The guy at Home Depot was a bit surprised when I told him what I was looking for and why.  Nothing gets me more annoyed than someone assuming because I’m a woman that I’m not “handy”.  Since my divorce many many years ago I’ve put up an above ground pool with the help of my sister in law and two teenagers, hung drywall, tiled a kitchen floor, replaced faucets, rescreened a sliding door, cut and installed crown molding, installed a ceiling fan and put together, refinished and restored countless pieces of furniture.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> The guy at Home Depot was a bit surprised when I told him what I was looking for and why. Nothing gets me more annoyed than someone assuming because I’m a woman that I’m not “handy”



Learned a long time ago that women can be just as qualified for the task as men. My top driver for over 15 years was a woman.  Unfortunately there are some men who don't believe and sadly some women who lack the confidence to believe in themselves. Good Job.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Feeling proud of myself today.  Pool pump stopped working.  No power.  The GFCI plug wouldn’t reset.  Found a video on YouTube, went to Home Depot, bought a new one.  Came home,  swapped out the GFCI plug and we’re back in business.   Saved myself $200 on a new pump.
> 
> The guy at Home Depot was a bit surprised when I told him what I was looking for and why.  Nothing gets me more annoyed than someone assuming because I’m a woman that I’m not “handy”.  Since my divorce many many years ago I’ve put up an above ground pool with the help of my sister in law and two teenagers, hung drywall, tiled a kitchen floor, replaced faucets, rescreened a sliding door, cut and installed crown molding, installed a ceiling fan and put together, refinished and restored countless pieces of furniture.


Gary has changed diapers, does the dishes, cooks, vacuums and cannot parallel park.


----------



## limr

SOME men?

Yeah. Okay.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Feeling proud of myself today.  Pool pump stopped working.  No power.  The GFCI plug wouldn’t reset.  Found a video on YouTube, went to Home Depot, bought a new one.  Came home,  swapped out the GFCI plug and we’re back in business.   Saved myself $200 on a new pump.
> 
> The guy at Home Depot was a bit surprised when I told him what I was looking for and why.  Nothing gets me more annoyed than someone assuming because I’m a woman that I’m not “handy”.  Since my divorce many many years ago I’ve put up an above ground pool with the help of my sister in law and two teenagers, hung drywall, tiled a kitchen floor, replaced faucets, rescreened a sliding door, cut and installed crown molding, installed a ceiling fan and put together, refinished and restored countless pieces of furniture.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has changed diapers, does the dishes, cooks, vacuums and cannot parallel park.
Click to expand...


Okay. I can parallel park. But only because my minivan has a backup camera


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> SOME men?
> 
> Yeah. Okay.


  The implied emphasis meaning?


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> The implied emphasis meaning?



Let it go John. It's not worth the effort.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Okay. I can parallel park. But only because my minivan has a backup camera



Try it in a Tractor trailer with 53' box van, and no camera LOL


----------



## Tony744

I have.


----------



## smoke665

Tony744 said:


> I have.



But did you do it without having to pull forward a couple of times


----------



## Tony744

Yep! In LA no less. While some idiot across the street was struggling to park his car.


----------



## smoke665

Tony744 said:


> Yep! In LA no less. While some idiot across the street was struggling to park his car.



You the man then Tony


----------



## limr

What is not worth the effort? @tirediron - weren't you just asking a question for clarification?

And the answer: The emphasis on "some" implies that it is an understatement to say "some" when it would be more accurate to say "a whole lot of."


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh man. I got so busy putting the table and chairs together I forgot to plug the floor machine. So dust mopped, spot mopped, cleaned the restrooms and break room, put some stuff back where it belongs and did the trash cans. 3.07 hours today and for the week so far. No point in going to the post office this early. So home it will be.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Wow, wow, wow ... A handball in the box.  The Kingdom of Saudi Arabian has a PK to tie up the game. KSA lines up the ball, one-on-one with the Egyptian goalie ... and it is BLOCKED!  Amazing play and even Miss Maggie is going wild with excitement jumping up and down, high-fiving Mary Lou and Gary.  Gary and Maggie love World Cup.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is skipping his early morning meetings in favor of watching World Cup, drinking coffee, eating a doughnut with Maggie.  Another penalty in the box, but this time KSA scoring the equalizer.  1-1 at half.  Miss Maggie is a true sports dog, she cheers for good play regardless of the team.


----------



## Gary A.

Tomorrow is Miss Maggie first birthday.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Tomorrow is Miss Maggie first birthday.


Happy birthday!


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> We have instant messaging, which has our "status" of available, busy, offline, etc. My previous supervisor would track my status, so I changed my settings to have it display available whenever the computer was on. It was pretty oppressive, because if I had to read a report that I printed out or if I was looking at a drawing, she'd see me as "away" since I would be inactive for several minutes. She'd then think I wasn't working.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We have instant messaging too, and no one actually pays attention to what someone's status is. Part of that is that the system is used for easier communication amongst enrollment staff so when, say, a counselor is working with a student and needs a quick answer from someone in the registrar (which is in another building), it's faster and more reliable than email. But it's also because no one really cares. If someone isn't doing their work, it's a lot more apparent in may ways other than their instant messaging status.
Click to expand...

LOL. Just had to share. I sent out a message saying that I'd be on vacation and that if anyone needed anything from me, get it to me now.

A coworker responded saying they'd be on vacation the same week and that they'd have their computer with them to work if anyone needed anything from them.

Yeah, corporations suck.


----------



## davidharmier60

My Sister suggested I weedeatered the yard. My Dad Thanked me!
Having a large bowl of cereal listening to Power Metal.


----------



## Gary A.

A busy day ... Maggie got the 'All-Clear' from Doc Gregg. The cornea has healed but there are two white spots remaining (red under magnification and direct lighting). Gary hopes they're not scare tissue creating blind spots. The vet waiting room was like a dog convention.  Dogs of all types and sizes, but everybody made a fuss over Maggie, the dog that looks like a plush toy.

We exited the vet's in time for Maggie's morning walk and ran into Max, Honey and Lucy.  Lots of running and wrestling and Frisbee keep-away. We are home, a freshly hosed dog is resting quietly, waiting for Iran - Portugal match.

Tonight there is Rod Stewart at The Bowl, consequently, Gary will be cooking in the afternoon.


----------



## espresso2x

kornflakes?



davidharmier60 said:


> My Sister suggested I weedeatered the yard. My Dad Thanked me!
> Having a large bowl of cereal listening to Power Metal.


----------



## limr

espresso2x said:


> kornflakes?



Groan-worthy, yet clever. I approve!


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> espresso2x said:
> 
> 
> 
> kornflakes?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Groan-worthy, yet clever. I approve!
Click to expand...

 Would you say it was korny?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Happy birthday to Maggie! 

Corporations seem to have a bunch of suck ups working there. 
So enjoy your vacation!


----------



## vintagesnaps




----------



## Gary A.

Thank you Sharon and Wade.

Sincerely,
Miss Maggie


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> So enjoy your vacation!


Thank you!


----------



## davidharmier60

Good night y'all and have a wonderful tomorrow. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are at the Bowl waiting for Cyndi Lauper and Rod Stewart.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay. I can parallel park. But only because my minivan has a backup camera
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Try it in a Tractor trailer with 53' box van, and no camera LOL
Click to expand...

no problem[emoji12]


----------



## Gary A.

So far: Peru 1 - Socceroos 0


----------



## davidharmier60

Today things went a little better. 4 hours and 27 or so minutes today. 7.34 for the week so far. Chicken Tenders just out of the drier. Going to go get a new box of pennies and some nickels at People's Bank.

Then PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

My wife is finally done for the summer. We’re on our way to Cape Cod.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dinner very soon. I do not yet know what it is.....


----------



## davidharmier60

As it turns out it was Chicken Ricearoni and hominy.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are back from Movie Tuesday.  _RGB _... Gary was completely surprised how interesting and influential her life and entertaining a movie. Gary knew little of Ginsberg, but now recognizes that she truly is a national treasure.


----------



## Gary A.

BTW- About a week ago, the churning paddle in Gary's ice cream maker quit functioning.  It was still under warranty and after a few emails ... a new replacement ice cream maker arrived today.  Gary endorses and will continue to purchase Gourmia products.  The replacement process was easy, quick and painless. (Gary also has a Gourmia Siphon Coffee Maker.)


----------



## davidharmier60

I don't particularly wish to go to work today. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Just popping in to say hi, we have been very busy the last few days sorting out paperwork and getting ready to bury my brother this sunday.  We are hoping to have our boy back home next week so we can then sort that out, I will try and pop in if and when I can then once it is all over I hope to be able to carry on taking photos, I have a lot to edit once I decide to start looking at them.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Just popping in to say hi, we have been very busy the last few days sorting out paperwork and getting ready to bury my brother this sunday.  We are hoping to have our boy back home next week so we can then sort that out, I will try and pop in if and when I can then once it is all over I hope to be able to carry on taking photos, I have a lot to edit once I decide to start looking at them.



Dave glad you popped in, been thinking about you the last few days. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I was wondering about you too Dave. Chin up!


----------



## terri

Fujidave said:


> Just popping in to say hi, we have been very busy the last few days sorting out paperwork and getting ready to bury my brother this sunday.  We are hoping to have our boy back home next week so we can then sort that out, I will try and pop in if and when I can then once it is all over I hope to be able to carry on taking photos, I have a lot to edit once I decide to start looking at them.


Family first.  You're taking care of what matters, and then photography will hopefully be a good thing to focus on.   Take care of yourself.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Just popping in to say hi, we have been very busy the last few days sorting out paperwork and getting ready to bury my brother this sunday.  We are hoping to have our boy back home next week so we can then sort that out, I will try and pop in if and when I can then once it is all over I hope to be able to carry on taking photos, I have a lot to edit once I decide to start looking at them.


Take care Dave.


----------



## Gary A.

Mexico 0 - Sweden 0 at half.

This game is being played in Ekaterinburg Arena.  Gary likes looking up the cities where the World Cup is being played. Ekaterinburg, the fourth largest city in Russia, is in the very middle of the country.


----------



## Gary A.

Sweden Scores!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## SquarePeg

Garage demo



 





 

Garage reno in progress.  

Some collateral damage on the stairs.  


 

Framing is almost done


----------



## davidharmier60

Today was a little over 5.5 hours.
13.07 for the week so far. 
Got to take a few things home.
Got to go to Tractor Supply in Livingston for dog food. 

Enjoying chicken tenders down at the deli. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

Looks good Sharon; you doing the work yourself?


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> Looks good Sharon; you doing the work yourself?



I'm handy but I'm not crazy!!!


----------



## davidharmier60

It's something I could CONCIEVABLY do. But at the present time it's FAR too hot and wet for such things! I worked on the lawnmower in mostly shade and a shower ain't too far in the future.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Looks good Sharon; you doing the work yourself?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm handy but I'm not crazy!!!
Click to expand...

Good call. Looks plum.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Looks good Sharon; you doing the work yourself?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm handy but I'm not crazy!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Good call. Looks plum.
Click to expand...

Your post reminded me of the days when we had online chatrooms, JC. My AOL username was PLM1LVL. I was asked more than once if I was Eve Plumb ( Jan Brady )


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Garage demo
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 159766
> 
> Garage reno in progress.
> 
> Some collateral damage on the stairs.
> View attachment 159767
> 
> Framing is almost done
> View attachment 159768


Looks great!   You could put a darkroom in there!


----------



## davidharmier60

Butter beans and cornbread. 
Price is Right on the DVR. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Weird weather for the beach, but my little girl was working it today. X-T2 and Acros sim, jpg, blah blah blah


----------



## waday

Like your daughter, @JonA_CT  , these little fledglings were workin’ it, too.

They’re still here, which means little use of our deck. 




Fledglings by Wade, on Flickr


----------



## JonA_CT

It’s pouring here on the Cape. Not ideal when you are camping, but we are making it work. Headed to breakfast and then to Chatham for the morning.


----------



## smoke665

So I started back on a secondary corticosteroid that I had been on last year. I had come off if it earlier this year because it was throwing me into the donut hole mid year, but in thinking about it I had less problems during the summer last year as compared to this. Been back on it a week now, and seems to be helping. The downside, is it seems to be causing increased vision problems   I can't win. Last trip to the optometrist he told me I might get another year before I needed cataract surgery, that was three years ago. LOL I can't win!!


----------



## ceemac

Get both eyes done, Smoke. From what I understand, it corrects your vision to such an extent that the difference between your eyes becomes quite noticeable. I just had surgery a few weeks ago, so I'll have to do the cataract thing next winter. On the bright side, if you have astigmatism, they can correct for that.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> Last trip to the optometrist he told me I might get another year before I needed cataract surgery, that was three years ago.





ceemac said:


> Get both eyes done, Smoke. From what I understand, it corrects your vision to such an extent that the difference between your eyes becomes quite noticeable. I just had surgery a few weeks ago, so I'll have to do the cataract thing next winter. On the bright side, if you have astigmatism, they can correct for that.



My Dad just had both eyes done (about a month apart). He is singing the praises. He’s able to go completely without glasses for the first time in years.


----------



## smoke665

My wife had both eyes done 2 years ago, and has no problems either. It's one of those things like a tooth, you know going will make it better, but until you can't stand it anymore, it's easy to put off. LOL


----------



## ceemac

my wife decided she wanted to learn how to launch the yacht and get the trailer back down the driveway. She did a better job than me. Let the fishing begin!!


----------



## Gary A.

First Matches:
Senegal - Colombia
Japan - Poland

(USA is still out of the tournament.) 

Mary Lou says that World Cup is controlling our lives. (LOL - she is a much bigger soccer fan than Gary.)


----------



## Gary A.

What is odd is that for 15 years we've never had a problem getting the dog into the groomers.  This week the only openings they have is on Friday, a day there isn't any World Cup.  Mary Lou thinks the groomers are all "hunkered down" choosing soccer over dogs.


----------



## davidharmier60

Perhaps it makes me bigoted or such but no soccer. Close enough to 5 hours to make 18.04 for the week so far. As most days when I clock out I'm down at the deli enjoying chicken tenders and home fries.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> So I started back on a secondary corticosteroid that I had been on last year. I had come off if it earlier this year because it was throwing me into the donut hole mid year, but in thinking about it I had less problems during the summer last year as compared to this. Been back on it a week now, and seems to be helping. The downside, is it seems to be causing increased vision problems   I can't win. Last trip to the optometrist he told me I might get another year before I needed cataract surgery, that was three years ago. LOL I can't win!!





ceemac said:


> Get both eyes done, Smoke. From what I understand, it corrects your vision to such an extent that the difference between your eyes becomes quite noticeable. I just had surgery a few weeks ago, so I'll have to do the cataract thing next winter. On the bright side, if you have astigmatism, they can correct for that.





JonA_CT said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Last trip to the optometrist he told me I might get another year before I needed cataract surgery, that was three years ago.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ceemac said:
> 
> 
> 
> Get both eyes done, Smoke. From what I understand, it corrects your vision to such an extent that the difference between your eyes becomes quite noticeable. I just had surgery a few weeks ago, so I'll have to do the cataract thing next winter. On the bright side, if you have astigmatism, they can correct for that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My Dad just had both eyes done (about a month apart). He is singing the praises. He’s able to go completely without glasses for the first time in years.
Click to expand...


I had both done (rear lens element) last year.  I had them adjusted for no glasses for things within arm's length which is great for the desktop computer at work, though I still need glasses for driving, TV, reading, etc.  I figure I've worn glasses for 51 years so this is fine.


----------



## vintagesnaps

A rolling roadblock... this is a new one. Apparently driving reeeal slow allows for potholes to get filled. I guess they're well ahead of the rolling roadblock tossing gravel and tar into the potholes before the traffic gets there. I wouldn't want to be one of the cars in the front of the pack to be the first to drive thru it. Well gee, it was worth it for the TV station that got a chopper so we can see fun things like this. 

I'm behind on my no credit just for the fun of it online course - so I'm cramming! Ahh the memories of college days... But I'm not going so far as pulling an all nighter.


----------



## smoke665

@davidharmier60 No soccer for me either. Never had an interest in it.

@snowbear Well it's official I called the Optometrist and lucked out on a cancellation. Right eye cataract is pretty bad, left eye close. Consultation scheduled for first of August to have cataract  surgery.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> @davidharmier60 No soccer for me either. Never had an interest in it.


But you miss out on fun fake injuries!


----------



## waday




----------



## smoke665

@waday Every Saturday from Sept 1 through Nov 24th I'll be glued to the TV,and since we're Alabama there will be a couple more appearances in Dec and Jan.


----------



## smoke665

Interesting morning, less than 2 miles from the house, and I come up on an MVA rollover that just happened. First time in a long time I've been first on the scene. LOL Fortunately the driver was wearing his seat belt, and climbing out as I arrived. Injuries were minor, a quick assessment, put lifesaver on standby (SOP for rollovers), packed a couple of lacerations,  and sat down with the patient to wait for everyone else.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> @waday Every Saturday from Sept 1 through Nov 24th I'll be glued to the TV,and since we're Alabama there will be a couple more appearances in Dec and Jan.


Do they also have a lot of fake injuries that you find entertaining?


----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> Perhaps it makes me bigoted or such but no soccer. Close enough to 5 hours to make 18.04 for the week so far. As most days when I clock out I'm down at the deli enjoying chicken tenders and home fries.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Um...why would it make you bigoted? I don't understand how you're making the connection between bigotry and not liking soccer.


----------



## davidharmier60

Only that I am American first and foremost. 
Maybe not bigot but maybe anti other countries. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> Only that I am American first and foremost.
> Maybe not bigot but maybe anti other countries.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


What?

Americans do play soccer... the USA team wasn't good enough to make it to the World Cup this year.

I'm still confused at how you're making the connection to being an American and soccer (and adding bigotry in the mix somehow)?


----------



## limr

And the US women's team has been the most successful national team in the women's World Cup. The women's tournament started in 1991, so there have been 9 tournaments. The US women have won it three times, more than anyone else.


----------



## SquarePeg

Soccer is for foreigners!  

Number of soccer players in the U.S. 2017 | Statistic


----------



## ceemac

SquarePeg said:


> Soccer is for foreigners!



Apparently it is, for Canadians. We would rather stick to safer sports like hockey and football.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> Do they also have a lot of fake injuries that you find entertaining?



Nope when someone goes down you can pretty much bet it's real.


----------



## smoke665

Nasty little storm just came through packing straight line winds of over 70 mph. Power's out, limbs everywhere. Just walked around the corner of the drive, we have a large tree that went across the drive and snapped the service line from the road. I can't clean it up until the power company does their thing because of the danger of it reenergizing. Apparently a lot of damage in the county so may be a long night in the dark.


----------



## jcdeboever

stay s


smoke665 said:


> Nasty little storm just came through packing straight line winds of over 70 mph. Power's out, limbs everywhere. Just walked around the corner of the drive, we have a large tree that went across the drive and snapped the service line from the road. I can't clean it up until the power company does their thing because of the danger of it reenergizing. Apparently a lot of damage in the county so may be a long night in the dark.


stay safe smoke. hope it's not to hot


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> stay safe smoke. hope it's not to hot



It's still raining off and on and the temps are down but the humidity is way up. With everything blocking drive can't even leave to go get something to eat.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

And now, a word from the Cute Sponsors...

Video of police dog performing CPR goes viral


----------



## smoke665

@Dean_Gretsch I saw that on the news the other day. Cute


----------



## smoke665

Well  just busted a trail with the tractor and loader down an old logging path to get to the road. I was hoping the power lines were broke there, so could start clearing drive. No such luck, they're laying up under/around/in the tree. No way I can safely work on the tree until the power company trips the breaker at the road. Gonna be a long, long nigh, just saw where an estimated 156,000 with power out. 8500 in the county


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> @davidharmier60 No soccer for me either. Never had an interest in it.
> 
> @snowbear Well it's official I called the Optometrist and lucked out on a cancellation. Right eye cataract is pretty bad, left eye close. Consultation scheduled for first of August to have cataract  surgery.


My symptom was multiple vision - traffic lights looked like propeller blades.


----------



## davidharmier60

Spaghetti tonight. Price is Right on the DVR. Maybe a Blue Bell vanilla Coke float a little later.....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Five dead and maybe three injured at shooting this afternoon; at the Capital Gazette, a local newspaper in Annapolis.  Work county bomb squad responded to help sweep the building.  Shooter in custody (the police were on scene in about 60 seconds), but uncooperative.

The building is adjacent to a shopping mall and close to a hospital.


----------



## tirediron

Dean_Gretsch said:


> And now, a word from the Cute Sponsors...
> 
> Video of police dog performing CPR goes viral


Link just goes to a commercial...


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

tirediron said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> And now, a word from the Cute Sponsors...
> 
> Video of police dog performing CPR goes viral
> 
> 
> 
> Link just goes to a commercial...
Click to expand...


Hmmm....just worked for me again


----------



## snowbear

Dean_Gretsch said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> And now, a word from the Cute Sponsors...
> 
> Video of police dog performing CPR goes viral
> 
> 
> 
> Link just goes to a commercial...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hmmm....just worked for me again
Click to expand...

Maybe the video has a tarriff


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Five dead and maybe three injured at shooting this afternoon; at the Capital Gazette, a local newspaper in Annapolis.  Work county bomb squad responded to help sweep the building.  Shooter in custody (the police were on scene in about 60 seconds), but uncooperative.
> 
> The building is adjacent to a shopping mall and close to a hospital.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all. I'll let you know later if it was good or not. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Good morning!  Today's big event is a haircut from the lovely Sarah.


----------



## smoke665

16 hrs later still without power. Guess we will be cleaning out refrigerators and freezer today. I did manage to get the tree pushed off the drive, so we can get out. No idea when power will be restored. Will likely head to a motel shortly.


----------



## SquarePeg

Finished 2nd in the trivia night at “the club” last night (friend’s country club).  Definitely feel like there was a trick question at the end.

What was the most watched tv show during the 2017-2018 season?  Don’t google it just take your guess...

ETA question specified 18-49 demographic I believe


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Finished 2nd in the trivia night at “the club” last night (friend’s country club).  Definitely feel like there was a trick question at the end.
> 
> What was the most watched tv show during the 2017-2018 season?  Don’t google it just take your guess...
> 
> ETA question specified 18-49 demographic I believe


The Big Bang Theory?


----------



## limr

Super Bowl? NBA draft?


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Finished 2nd in the trivia night at “the club” last night (friend’s country club).  Definitely feel like there was a trick question at the end.
> 
> What was the most watched tv show during the 2017-2018 season?  Don’t google it just take your guess...
> 
> ETA question specified 18-49 demographic I believe


the doctor?


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Finished 2nd in the trivia night at “the club” last night (friend’s country club).  Definitely feel like there was a trick question at the end.
> 
> What was the most watched tv show during the 2017-2018 season?  Don’t google it just take your guess...
> 
> ETA question specified 18-49 demographic I believe



Sunday Night Football.


----------



## waday

@SquarePeg ...


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Five dead and maybe three injured at shooting this afternoon; at the Capital Gazette, a local newspaper in Annapolis.  Work county bomb squad responded to help sweep the building.  Shooter in custody (the police were on scene in about 60 seconds), but uncooperative.
> 
> The building is adjacent to a shopping mall and close to a hospital.


Gary's been following this.  Very sad ... and it was a local paper, not the type that would investigate Congress or international affairs. Another unstable person armed with a shotgun. At the LA Times we had security at all the entrances and exits.  All the bigger papers had security, even the middle sized papers had security. To be honest, especially in this day, Gary doesn't understand why the Capital Gazette didn't have security.  (Not that it would have/could have stopped the guy, but maybe some security could have slowed him down for some to escape.)


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Good morning!  Today's big event is a haircut from the lovely Sarah.


Gary has a haircut planned as well, for both he and Miss Maggie.


----------



## Gary A.

NFL, if that counts as a "show". Pour moi, it would be Big Bang.  But Gary watches more straight 'News' along with 'News & Commentary' than anything else.


----------



## davidharmier60

Wasn't a great morning but then I don't usually have a great morning. I'm over in Cold Springs for propane. About to head back. It's rather humid and muggy outside. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is 65F presently and overcast.  Projected to hit 75F today and it will feel like 75F. Gary updated the firmware on his XT2 ... and it still works.  Gary has never had a problem with Fuji firmware upgrades. Wednesday, Gary went clubbing with a friend, Mike.  Mike's niece was in town playing a gig at a LA club.  Three acts.  The first was a pair of women loudly banging on an electronic drum set to some prerecorded noises and repeating seemingly random odd lines ... things like "I am better after the collusion".  The second act was a women tossing power point slides up on a screen, large red lettering describing her life.  Things like, "There were red and orange Cheetos spilled on the road." Followed by her interpretation of that event, accompanied by prerecorded sounds/music and her playing an electronic keyboard live. Mike's niece has a PhD in music and plays the bass. She was in a trio, a guy playing very odd flutes and an instrument which was a cross between a pipe organ and an accordion, a singer with an exceptional voice and her on the bass.  The trio played Bulgarian folk songs.  While odd, the music was quite nice and even soothing. Gary took pictures.


----------



## SquarePeg

@Gary A. @waday @limr @jcdeboever @JonA_CT ... sorry had to run out for a bit!  So, our guess was This Is Us since it was wildly popular and had that big Super Bowl lead in.  The question was a bit vague as far as was it a single show that was most watched or what was most watched during the season.... It must have been single show.  The answer was:  



Spoiler: ?????



Roseanne!



Can you believe that?  Terrible final question.  We lost 20 points on that one and ended up in 2nd place.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is 65F presently and overcast.  Projected to hit 75F today and it will feel like 75F. Gary updated the firmware on his XT2 ... and it still works.  Gary has never had a problem with Fuji firmware upgrades. Wednesday, Gary went clubbing with a friend, Mike.  Mike's niece was in town playing a gig at a LA club.  Three acts.  The first was a pair of women loudly banging on an electronic drum set to some prerecorded noises and repeating seemingly random odd lines ... things like "I am better after the collusion".  The second act was a women tossing power point slides up on a screen, large red lettering describing her life.  Things like, "There were red and orange Cheetos spilled on the road." Followed by her interpretation of that event, accompanied by prerecorded sounds/music and her playing an electronic keyboard live. Mike's niece has a PhD in music and plays the bass. She was in a trio, a guy playing very odd flutes and an instrument which was a cross between a pipe organ and an accordion, a singer with an exceptional voice and her on the bass.  The trio played Bulgarian folk songs.  While odd, the music was quite nice and even soothing. Gary took pictures.



Reminds me of the show I love, "Later with Jools Holland". He often has obscure musicians from different parts of the world that are very interesting. He also has icons on the show as well. I trust he is well respected in the music world.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning!  Today's big event is a haircut from the lovely Sarah.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has a haircut planned as well, for both he and Miss Maggie.
Click to expand...


I've got a massage scheduled this afternoon - which is timely because I have a kink in my left shoulder that has been really bugging me the past few days.  Dinner out tonight with a friend for his birthday and then tomorrow night the club that my sister-in-law runs is closing forever and there is a big party for all of the regular customers and employees - food, drinks, multiple bands playing motown and classic rock...should be a fun night.  I expect to be a bit "dehydrated" on Sunday.   I'm off from work after this afternoon through the 5th. 

Contractors took today off as the plumber had an emergency with his dog and they are at the point where they cannot continue until he does his work and the plumbing inspector signs off.  First quiet day in 2 weeks.  No jack hammers, nail guns, compressors, saws...  sweet silence!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning!  Today's big event is a haircut from the lovely Sarah.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has a haircut planned as well, for both he and Miss Maggie.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've got a massage scheduled this afternoon - which is timely because I have a kink in my left shoulder that has been really bugging me the past few days.  Dinner out tonight with a friend for his birthday and then tomorrow night the club that my sister-in-law runs is closing forever and there is a big party for all of the regular customers and employees - food, drinks, multiple bands playing motown and classic rock...should be a fun night.  I expect to be a bit "dehydrated" on Sunday.   I'm off from work after this afternoon through the 5th.
> 
> Contractors took today off as the plumber had an emergency with his dog and they are at the point where they cannot continue until he does his work and the plumbing inspector signs off.  First quiet day in 2 weeks.  No jack hammers, nail guns, compressors, saws...  sweet silence!
Click to expand...

Gary was on a big job which required two pile drivers, both hammering away all day for months.  Oddly, they both finished about the same time.  The following day, all the workers were walking around with a "What was that?" look on our faces wondering what happened to all the noise and the shaking ground.


----------



## davidharmier60

Roseanne? Get a rope!
5.36 hours today 23.39 for the week so far. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> @Gary A. @waday @limr @jcdeboever @JonA_CT ... sorry had to run out for a bit!  So, our guess was This Is Us since it was wildly popular and had that big Super Bowl lead in.  The question was a bit vague as far as was it a single show that was most watched or what was most watched during the season.... It must have been single show.  The answer was:
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: ?????
> 
> 
> 
> Roseanne!
> 
> 
> 
> Can you believe that?  Terrible final question.  We lost 20 points on that one and ended up in 2nd place.


Hmm, I disagree with this. I demand a recount.


----------



## smoke665

Power still out, for about a 3 mile stretch on our road. Went out thus morning and picked up a 30 amp rv ready generator/inverter. Transferred the little bit we had in downstairs unit to kitchen. Lost a little out of botb, but not bad. We figure we saved at least $300 in frozen food between refrigerators and freezer. Love the way the generatir/invested units work. It has an electronic throttle that regulates speed to load. Right now it's only running less than half throttle. It's also super quite


Update: Power company is working on lines, said we should have power shortly


----------



## davidharmier60

The last of the Chili from days ago along with one tamale. Price is Right on the DVR. 
Almost certainly Buttermilk Pie later.
Astros on later as well.

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----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> Buttermilk Pie later



That's something I haven't had in ages! Need to remind DW​


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> ...Update: Power company is working on lines, said we should have power shortly


Their version of 'shortly' or yours?


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> Their version of 'shortly' or yours



Apparently thier version was a little longer than mine, but the powers just came on. 29 hrs without a/c in Alabama in the summer is no fun.


----------



## smoke665

Wow finally had a chance to tour the property. Had a lot of trees down, several blocking the fire lanes. I was able to push most out of the way with the tractor and loader except for one massive pin oak. Will have to go back with the chain saw to break it down into more manageable sections. I've come to believe now that we got hit by a small tornado. The trees weren't just blown over but twisted and splintered, something more on the order of a tornado.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hi y'all. My part of the world without AC is pretty bad.
A little over 4 hours today.Just not enough make work to keep me there any longer.
27.52 for the week. Could be better but it is what it is.
Going to do my comics online next.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> Wow finally had a chance to tour the property. Had a lot of trees down, several blocking the fire lanes. I was able to push most out of the way with the tractor and loader except for one massive pin oak. Will have to go back with the chain saw to break it down into more manageable sections. I've come to believe now that we got hit by a small tornado. The trees weren't just blown over but twisted and splintered, something more on the order of a tornado.



Strong storms here too Thursday evening.  Lost a big branch from the maple and smaller ones.  One of the pines was hit hard and will need to come down.  Power back on after 14 hours and fortunate no damage to the house or fence.  The team schnauzer has been busy marking all the "new" trees out back.  The back yard is a mess.  Our tree guy will be here in a day or two.  His priority is trees on houses.


----------



## smoke665

@CherylL I saw on radar where the line of storms was all the way up in MO.  We have most of the property her in pine plantation. Not sure of total damage as we lost the tops out of several pines (which leads me to also believe it was a small tornado).


----------



## limr

There is still 15 minutes left and we are the first to score on Uruguay in 500+ minutes of play. Força Portugal!


----------



## limr

Four minutes of stoppage time.

It's not looking good.

A minhota can still hope, though!


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> @CherylL I saw on radar where the line of storms was all the way up in MO.  We have most of the property her in pine plantation. Not sure of total damage as we lost the tops out of several pines (which leads me to also believe it was a small tornado).



Very may have been a tornado.  I am outside St. Louis in IL which is the Metro East.   There was rotation spotted in Mo before it moved into my area.  The pine tree damage is very strange.  There are 5 mature tall pines in a row and touching limbs at the base.  The 2nd one from the end looks like limbs were randomly torn out with the one side pretty much gone of limbs.  The other pine trees look untouched.


----------



## smoke665

@CherylL we must have had the same storm. LOL because the same strange things here. I have about 3 acres of  planted long leaf pine behind the house. The top 15 feet was twisted off one tree in the center of the stand, the others weren't even damaged. Throughout the remaining plots it was pretty much the same. One tree here and there with no damage around.


----------



## davidharmier60

Had a Chef Salad about 4 hours ago. It's getting hungry around here again.


----------



## Gary A.

Miss Maggie got a hair cut.


----------



## smoke665

Look'n good Maggie. Ms Sadie got her summer cut today. I don't really like it that short, but it's so hot, I know she's cooler.


----------



## smoke665

Got really bummed out last night. Yesterday shot some in studio of Sadie that didn't really go as planned. She was great as always, but the preconceived ideas in the brain, fell short in real life. When I imported them I quickly grew frustrated with the set. So then I go over to the file with my granddaughter to edit a couple that her mother wanted, and they looked off, which started me questioning how much my eyesight has actually deteriorated. After the optometrist visit, it seems the cataract in the right eye has gotten pretty bad, and the left eye isn't far behind. Finally just shut it down in disgust.


----------



## Fujidave

Well thats my brother cremated now, so I will be coming back early now.

Red hot here today, on a good note my teams I picked to win in the world cup knockout stages have all won.


----------



## smoke665

Good to see you back @Fujidave


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Good to see you back @Fujidave



Thank you smoke, nice to be back too.  Our boy comes home Thursday and we say goodbye to him next Sunday too, we are all just getting on with it all now.


----------



## davidharmier60

Going to be pancakes in a moment. 

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----------



## Gary A.

We are all sad about your circumstances, but glad that you are getting through it all. While you'll never be able to, nor should you, put this behind you, it is good that you are able to move forward. Give Mum a hug from all of us.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Russia - Espana.  Gary hopes the Spaniards kicks some Ruskie butt!


----------



## Gary A.

64F presently, should hit 79F today and feel like 79F .  Next week it should break into the 80's. Still no need for A/C, yet.  Typically, the A/C kicks in for a week or two in August and a week or two in September.  In July A/C kicks in for the occasional hot day.  In general the A/C goes off at night.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Russia - Espana.  Gary hopes the Spaniards kicks some Ruskie butt!



And I am wishing they both could lose :/


----------



## JonA_CT

I’m building a cart for my Kamado today. Sanding has got to be the worst thing ever


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I’m building a cart for my Kamado today. Sanding has got to be the worst thing ever


They are available online, in different sizes and configurations.


----------



## Fujidave

I wish I`d put a bet down on the losers in the world cup, as with Germany, Argentina and Portugal going out I would of been winning.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I’m building a cart for my Kamado today. Sanding has got to be the worst thing ever
> 
> 
> 
> They are available online, in different sizes and configurations.
Click to expand...

 For $150? Hahaha. That’s about what I have in it for stain, hardware, and finishing supplies. Since it’s going to be outside, I’m only finishing sanding the shelving. The rest of it will be fine with the mill marks knocked off. But it’s hot and humid, and I’m ready for my second shower of the day already. (And I have sawdust plastered to me)


----------



## Tony744

JonA_CT said:


> Sanding has got to be the worst thing ever



Just bring by the shop...I'll hit with the sandblaster.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I’m building a cart for my Kamado today. Sanding has got to be the worst thing ever
> 
> 
> 
> They are available online, in different sizes and configurations.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> For $150? Hahaha. That’s about what I have in it for stain, hardware, and finishing supplies. Since it’s going to be outside, I’m only finishing sanding the shelving. The rest of it will be fine with the mill marks knocked off. But it’s hot and humid, and I’m ready for my second shower of the day already. (And I have sawdust plastered to me)
Click to expand...

Gary uses the wheels that came with the Komado and decided to get a separate outdoor prep table. This, which has a stainless steel top.


----------



## TreeofLifeStairs

Man, you guys post so much here. I can never keep up with this thread.


----------



## davidharmier60

Yeah! I got logged into Watchuseek!


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon.  Happy Canada Day to my northern cousins.


----------



## limr

And Spain is out.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> And Spain is out.


 Are you hiding from the heat? It’s thoroughly disgusting outside.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And Spain is out.
> 
> 
> 
> Are you hiding from the heat? It’s thoroughly disgusting outside.
Click to expand...


Absolutely. I will have to leave the house to do some errands and I will go see Buzz for dinner, but otherwise, there is no way I am stepping out in this heat.


----------



## Fujidave

Sun dropped right down so took Susie out to the park, glad the sun has gone but it`s still pretty hot out.


----------



## Gary A.

On the spur of the moment we ended up in Temecula ... wine tasting and eating good stuff.


----------



## Fujidave

Well the world cup games were poor poor poor and poor, if and it is if the England team do get through then please don`t go to a shoot out.


----------



## davidharmier60

Nitey nite y'all. Going to see the inside of my eyelids. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

I'm working on my Fuji file workflow. I think I'm getting it. X-Transformer works in Lightroom...I think its been the easiest/best solution so far.




tuckerjuly2018 by jwa04, on Flickr

Fuji XT-2, Rokinon 12mm, f-stop ???, 12800 ISO, 1/250s. 

The files are crisp, and the colors are almost spot on SOOC. Good stuff.


----------



## terri

Awww...what a face!  Sweet doggy.


----------



## SquarePeg

Finally cooled off here.  What’s freakin hot day!  Nasty hot even at 9am when I was vacuuming the pool it was enough to wear me out.  Princess had friends over and my cousin dropped in with his littles so they could cool off with a swim.  Spent the rest of the day indoors reading a Grisham.  Camino Island.  Not one of his best but kept me entertained enough.  Wanted to see a movie but nothing caught my eye this week.  Saw Jurassic World last weekend.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, Susie and I were up and out at 5am for a cool walk as we are forecast for yet another scorcher today can`t wait till it drops as this heat is playing merry hell with my chest.


----------



## davidharmier60

We have feels like of mid 100s around here. Another 6 days of 4am.


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----------



## Fujidave

Just come back from a walk round the block with Susie, and it is too hot to do a thing.  Here in the UK we are not use to these heatwaves, so looking forward to it cooling down soon I hope.


----------



## SquarePeg

Heading to the beach today with a carful of Princess and friends.  Expecting high of 87 today with humidity around the same.  

Contractor and plumber are busting through from the garage to the main house today so a good day for us to be gone!  

.


----------



## ceemac

We've been getting lousy weather here, thunder, lightning, torrential rain. What was left of the garden after it froze over night last week, was pretty much finished off by Saturday's marble sized hail storm. At least the mosquitoes are thinning out. (that's the only rant I can come up with).


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. I plan on spending this week the same way I have spent the weekend: assiduously avoiding the searing heat outside.


----------



## Fujidave

The other day before I tried to take Susie out, I did the 5 second trick and thought Not a chance in hell are we going out.  Today I noticed some melting on the pathments here.


----------



## CherylL

Worker out front cleaning up the landscaping and the tree people arriving soon to take away the large branches.  The schnauzer pups are on full alert.  Another hot humid day.  We do tell the workers they are welcome to come in and cool off.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 66F presently but should warm up to 80F with humidity we’ll under 50%. Very nice weather. May hit the beach today, presently at CSULA.


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday’s breakfast:





Mary Lou’s lobster panini sandwich  



 
Gary’s Country Benedict.


----------



## davidharmier60

I dearly love me some chicken with gravy!
5.50 hours today and for the week so far. 
It's rather warn outside. 



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----------



## smoke665

Someone sent me this earlier. First of all I have no intention of getting this close to a den, unless I've got 5 gallons of gas and some matches. Sure as heck wouldn't hang my camera out over them


----------



## jcdeboever

scorching hot and humid again. still dealing with pneumonia and at work today.  sick of this pneumonia, having a hard time shaking it off. diagnosed a week ago after CT skan but certain I've had a month or more. second script of antibiotics plus IV's. I feel like I've been run over by a truck....


----------



## davidharmier60

It's absolutely hot and humid outside in east Texas


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hope you feel better JC. 

We seem to all be in the same lousy weather. Blech. I'm ready for fall. That and hockey season's really over now since the draft, so this summer might be the summer of the DVDs! Not going out. I'll just watch the new neighbors moving in and try to figure out who's staying and who's just helping schlep stuff into the house.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> scorching hot and humid again. still dealing with pneumonia and at work today.  sick of this pneumonia, having a hard time shaking it off. diagnosed a week ago after CT skan but certain I've had a month or more. second script of antibiotics plus IV's. I feel like I've been run over by a truck....



JC I'm still recovering from it for over a month now, and I had the pneumonia vaccine two years ago. It can be tough, you might need to stay at home and rest for a week or so, if you expect to shake it.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> scorching hot and humid again. still dealing with pneumonia and at work today.  sick of this pneumonia, having a hard time shaking it off. diagnosed a week ago after CT skan but certain I've had a month or more. second script of antibiotics plus IV's. I feel like I've been run over by a truck....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JC I'm still recovering from it for over a month now, and I had the pneumonia vaccine two years ago. It can be tough, you might need to stay at home and rest for a week or so, if you expect to shake it.
Click to expand...

I rested Tuesday through Sunday, except for Friday night. Had a party for my parents in Detroit for their 60th.


----------



## vintagesnaps

If you're too sick to party with the 80 something crowd, you better stay home in bed.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey FujiDave, meant to ask how you're doing, how's your family doing?


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> If you're too sick to party with the 80 something crowd, you better stay home in bed.



LOL, I was going to say that, but you beat me to it!!!!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Great minds, being entertained at JC's expense! 

I do feel bad though, I had a respiratory thing and it's miserable when it's hot out - who wants a cup of hot tea or soup when it's 90 and the air outside is soupy?


----------



## Gary A.

Brazil beats Mexico 

Now it’s Belgium - Japan .


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

 A wonderful day. In the 70’s, dry a as bone. Sipping on coffee watching World Cup in the patio.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Brazil beats Mexico
> 
> Now it’s Belgium - Japan .



Damn. I was hoping Mexico would knock out Brazil.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Hey FujiDave, meant to ask how you're doing, how's your family doing?



I am getting there, but very very slowly the only problem now is... The wife has said it was my fault about our son, it`s the 3rd time now she has said it so I`ve told her Say it just once more and I am off and you can be on your own with a nice divorce.


----------



## Fujidave

Feel so sorry for Japan as think they played beautifully until the 94th minute.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

From yesterday, it was very pleasant tasting wines and hanging in the vineyards. 

(Man, had to crop this puppy about 50% in order to upload into TPF.)


----------



## davidharmier60

Going to have the same beef patties as last night. Doesn't hurt my feelings at all.
Baked potato to go along with it.

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----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Someone sent me this earlier. First of all I have no intention of getting this close to a den, unless I've got 5 gallons of gas and some matches. Sure as heck wouldn't hang my camera out over them


The only thing missing from that was, "Hey, hold my beer and watch this!"


----------



## vintagesnaps

I didn't even look because - snakes! Actually jk because I've petted/touched them, you know when zoo people bring animals to show kids etc. I held a boa which was okay til it was getting tighter around my arm and its face was getting closer and I was like that's enough now... lol

They grows things in rows here but you don't get a bottle of wine out of any of it! darn it. 

That's a shame Dave, because it's usually what's going on within a person. My background's more in child development but we know that there can be issues with brain chemistry, etc. and it seems to usually be more than any one thing. 

Sometimes people react out of anger and despair when dealing with something, I hope she realizes in time that placing blame isn't going to change what happened. If there's any grief counseling available in your area I'd consider that. I had a former coworker who lost her husband due to suicide, and she and her kids still go to a support program.


----------



## Tony744

Sorry to hear your wife's feeling that way. I have to agree with Sharon about looking into grief counseling. Sounds like she's having a lot of trouble dealing with the loss.

Hot and muggy here as well. Feels like I'm back in Guam. The grounds keeping department at work (which consists of me and the head grounds keeper) spent most of the day sitting in the wood shop with the door closed, the lights off, and the fan going. At least until after lunch when I had to run some electrical parts up to Andover.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm not long for awake. It seems tougher and tougher to go to bed early enough to not be useless in the morning.


----------



## ceemac

limr said:


> Damn. I was hoping Mexico would knock out Brazil.


But it's still nice watching adults play. It's a much different game when the players stay on their feet LOL.


----------



## RowdyRay

tirediron said:


> The only thing missing from that was, "Hey, hold my beer and watch this!"



Wrong. I have numerous T-shirts with different versions of that statement on them. Given to me by my friends and brothers for crazy stunts I've pulled over the years that began with that sentence. Still alive to wear them. NONE of them involved venomous snakes. That's beyond alcohol. That's just plain stupid!

Didn't watch the video. Didn't have to. Seen enough of them. Prefer to sleep well tonight. Don't dislike snakes or spiders. I just have one rule when it comes to the venomous ones. You stay over there, and I'll stay over here. Invade my personal space and I'll beat you with whatever I have available. I'm still here. Works fine for me.


----------



## RowdyRay

ceemac said:


> But it's still nice watching adults play. It's a much different game when the players stay on their feet LOL.



Guessing you have grandchildren? I've never been a huge fan of soccer.....but watching a bunch of 8 year olds play is worse than pulling teeth. Bring your camera. It's a great way to practice shooting moving subjects. And the time passes much faster. Just a helpful hint to fellow grandparents.


----------



## Fujidave

I think Mum and I are coping better than my wife, she is just angry that it happend so many miles from us so she is more upset I think.  I will talk to her about seeing someone though.

Well it is sunny and warm today but cooler so I am off out once battery is charged to take some photos of the singers today.


----------



## davidharmier60

Parked at work waiting on the keyholder. 

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----------



## ceemac

RowdyRay said:


> Guessing you have grandchildren? I've never been a huge fan of soccer.....but watching a bunch of 8 year olds play is worse than pulling teeth. Bring your camera. It's a great way to practice shooting moving subjects. And the time passes much faster. Just a helpful hint to fellow grandparents.



Haha. I was talking about the first games in the world cup. There doesn't seem to be all the pain and agony involved. The players are more interested in actually playing than rolling around on the ground. Must be a hardier lot.


----------



## ceemac

RowdyRay said:


> Wrong. I have numerous T-shirts with different versions of that statement on them. Given to me by my friends and brothers for crazy stunts I've pulled over the years that began with that sentence. Still alive to wear them. NONE of them involved venomous snakes. That's beyond alcohol. That's just plain stupid!


Do you ever just sit back with a beer and wonder how we made it this far?


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> I think Mum and I are coping better than my wife, she is just angry that it happend so many miles from us so she is more upset I think.  I will talk to her about seeing someone though.
> 
> Well it is sunny and warm today but cooler so I am off out once battery is charged to take some photos of the singers today.


A very tragic situation.  Having to contend with the death of a child must be biggest adversity in the life of a parent.  It is sad that your wife is so consumed with grief that she cannot see that you are equally pained.  Prayers.


----------



## Gary A.

ceemac said:


> RowdyRay said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong. I have numerous T-shirts with different versions of that statement on them. Given to me by my friends and brothers for crazy stunts I've pulled over the years that began with that sentence. Still alive to wear them. NONE of them involved venomous snakes. That's beyond alcohol. That's just plain stupid!
> 
> 
> 
> Do you ever just sit back with a beer and wonder how we made it this far?
Click to expand...

Every effin' day when Gary was young.  (Now it's with a glass of wine.)

Gary and associates, (fellow delinquents), used to head out to the desert, usually Joshua Tree and collect rattlesnakes between drinking cases of beer. Gary distinctly remembers a biology field trip to a SoCal ecosystem ripe with rattlers.  The professor stated that if anyone was dumb enough to be bitten by a rattlesnake, the bite would qualify you for an automatic F in the class.


----------



## davidharmier60

Weren't many snakes in my growing up. 
4.13 I figure because 10.03 for the week so far. No tenders today. So sausage and biscuits and sausage gravy. With enough extra sausage to have a piece with pretty much every bite of the biscuits. 

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----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  

Sweden 0 - Suisse 0

67F right now, cool and overcast.  The temp is projected to hit 77F.  But there is a heatwave coming in around the weekend.  May require that Gary fires up the A/C for a couple of days. 

Gary is underwater, he has lawns which need attending, paperwork to finish, photos to process and he is consumed by the writing a 'Statement of Purpose' for a friend's graduate school application.  While he has only written the beginning, Gary thinks it is turning out well.  He has mentally written the ending now the tedious part fleshing out the middle.

Mary Lou and Gary art trying out a new diet.  One can only eat during an hour hour period. Drink is acceptable 24 hours, but solids are limited into an eight hour span.  We choose to eat from Noon until 8:00 p.m. Consequently, no snacks or munchies while watching soccer.  But the Colombian Supremo is hot and flavorful.


----------



## Fujidave

They did forecast for a cool day, well they got that wrong its red hot out again.


----------



## Fujidave

Come on lads you can do England proud tonight


----------



## Fujidave

It seems as though the Ref is clueless


*'That is ridiculous'*

Colombia 0-0 England






Danny Murphy

Former England midfielder

It has to be a red card. That is ridiculous. What is the point having VAR if someone headbutts someone in the face and not get sent off? You can't headbutt someone and not get a red card. That is ludicrous.


----------



## Fujidave

At last clueless Ref gave us a penalty, columbia are playing well dirty. 1-0 to us


----------



## Gary A.

It's only a game.


----------



## Gary A.

England 1 - Colombia 1 in Stoppage Time.


----------



## Gary A.

On an Own Goal ...


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## markjwyatt

Gary A. said:


> It's only a game.



I keep trying to tell my daughters that- one crying for Argentina and Messi, the other Germany and Kroos. That phrase goes over in this household like a lead zeppelin (yes, I realize)...


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


>


----------



## Fujidave

Our plane is all ready to bring our team home tomorrow as can`t see us winning now.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Boy it got dark. But I'll take rain and a break from the heat, a repeat of yesterday. How come we're all under the heat dome except Gary?? Get in here with the rest of us, misery loves company. This would be more fun if this dome was like the one on Get Smart.

I've been watching a little of the soccer. It's just too slow paced for me, the action takes so long to move down the field and nobody ever comes close to scoring. If there isn't hockey on I like lacrosse and rugby but soccer just isn't my thing.  

I was back and forth between that and one of those beach party movies, which at least had Buster Keaton in it. Any of those movies done as a series seem to run its course after, like, the second movie! Then Elvis came on, riding in a jeep in the Smokies, and I realized he was actually in the jeep in and out of sun and shade, and it sure looks like he was really in the Smokies. Not very Elvis-like though. Came back to soccer since it went into OT to see how it turns out.


----------



## pgriz

Finishing going through the wedding photos of a week ago.  Thank goodness for shallow DOF.  Totally amazing what headgear people wear at weddings, such as trees, flagpoles, chunks of buildings, etc.  Fortunately, shallow DOF mushes that into vague shapes.  

We're having the same heat "up north" as you people "down south".  Yesterday, took a shower, put on clean, dry clothes, and within 5 minutes was soaked from head to toe with sweat.  Decided, if you can't beat it, might as well join it, and went on a three hour 18 km (a little over 10 miles) paddle in my kayak.  Fortunately, had several litres of water with me, and had another two after I got back, so wasn't too dehydrated.  My wife (the smarter one) just shook her head a little when I told her I was out for a paddle.  Then again, she does know me.   

When we came home from the cottage, we collected by 95-year old mother and brought her to stay with us (we have air conditioning, she does not) for the next week or so.  The local health authority called me asking me if I knew if she was ok, as they were calling all seniors in their area, and she wasn't answering her phone.  Told them that she was safe with us.  

Also having a visit by my newest grand-daughter - a cool place to rest while mom runs around in the heat buying groceries.  I'll be heading out shortly to BBQ some chops.  Maybe I'll just save the gas and throw them on top of the BBQ cover.  Might take a couple of minutes longer to cook.


----------



## Fujidave

OMG the very first time we HAVE won on penalties, oh yes.


----------



## davidharmier60

I suppose I'm happy about WHATEVER y'all are talking about....


----------



## vintagesnaps

Dave's team won! after a, um... penalty shot OT? in hockey it's called a shootout, I forget what they called it in the soccer game. 

Elvis went blonde, he's supposed to be an identical cousin. Sure, okay...


----------



## Gary A.

Shootout.


----------



## Tony744

ceemac said:


> RowdyRay said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong. I have numerous T-shirts with different versions of that statement on them. Given to me by my friends and brothers for crazy stunts I've pulled over the years that began with that sentence. Still alive to wear them. NONE of them involved venomous snakes. That's beyond alcohol. That's just plain stupid!
> 
> 
> 
> Do you ever just sit back with a beer and wonder how we made it this far?
Click to expand...


All the d*@#$d time!


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Dave's team won! after a, um... penalty shot OT? in hockey it's called a shootout, I forget what they called it in the soccer game.
> 
> Elvis went blonde, he's supposed to be an identical cousin. Sure, okay...



Yup, penalties. So when you see a score, you see "FT (P)" for the full time score and then the score after penalties.


----------



## limr

So since Portugal is out, I am basically paying attention to which team I want to be knocked out. Russia and Brazil need to go out in the quarters.

It would be nice to see a first-time winner take it all, so that excludes Uruguay, France, and England (sorry, Dave!) But ultimately, I would be fine if anyone other that Brazil or Russia.


----------



## snowbear

[QUOTE="limr, post: 3880111, member: 151259"It would be nice to see a first-time winner take it all . . .[/QUOTE]

LIECHTENSTEIN!  LIECHTENSTEIN!  RAH!  RAH!  RAH!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> [QUOTE="limr, post: 3880111, member: 151259"It would be nice to see a first-time winner take it all . . .



LIECHTENSTEIN!  LIECHTENSTEIN!  RAH!  RAH!  RAH! [/QUOTE]

Would totally root for them if they ever make it in!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It would be nice to see a first-time winner take it all . . .
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LIECHTENSTEIN!  LIECHTENSTEIN!  RAH!  RAH!  RAH!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Would totally root for them if they ever make it in!
Click to expand...

or the Duchy of Grand Fenwick.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It would be nice to see a first-time winner take it all . . .
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LIECHTENSTEIN!  LIECHTENSTEIN!  RAH!  RAH!  RAH!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Would totally root for them if they ever make it in!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> or the Duchy of Grand Fenwick.
Click to expand...


Or Andorra.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Boy it got dark. But I'll take rain and a break from the heat, a repeat of yesterday. How come we're all under the heat dome except Gary?? Get in here with the rest of us, misery loves company. This would be more fun if this dome was like the one on Get Smart.
> 
> I've been watching a little of the soccer. It's just too slow paced for me, the action takes so long to move down the field and nobody ever comes close to scoring. If there isn't hockey on I like lacrosse and rugby but soccer just isn't my thing.
> 
> I was back and forth between that and one of those beach party movies, which at least had Buster Keaton in it. Any of those movies done as a series seem to run its course after, like, the second movie! Then Elvis came on, riding in a jeep in the Smokies, and I realized he was actually in the jeep in and out of sun and shade, and it sure looks like he was really in the Smokies. Not very Elvis-like though. Came back to soccer since it went into OT to see how it turns out.


The heat dome will be smothering us by the end of this week. Fortunately, the heat will be quite dry and the nights will still remain 20 to 30 degrees cooler than the days.


----------



## davidharmier60

Isn't raining just now
Hope it stays that way for Marquee. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Happy Independence Day, American hosers!

Pancakes anyone?


----------



## smoke665

Happy 4th July Y'all!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Happy Independence Day to all Americans. A Happy Fourth of July to the rest.


----------



## snowbear

Happy Fourth, folks - be safe and be smart - go to a professional fireworks show.




cmw3_d40_DSC_4039-72 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Happy Independence Day, American hosers!
> 
> Pancakes anyone?
> 
> View attachment 160009


Gary likes pancakes, (but can't/won't eat until noon).


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy 4th July Y'all!!!!
> 
> View attachment 160010
> 
> 
> 
> That is such a wonderful image!  Nominated for PTM.
Click to expand...


Wow!!!!! Thank you John!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## SquarePeg

Just back from breakfast at ihop with my mom.  Our usual local diner is closed today   so had to slum it with a 2 x 2 x 2...  

Having the usual suspects over today for BBQ and swimming.   Pool is clean and shiny and a very comfortable 83 degrees.  Construction debris is all out of the way, corn is shucked,  tips are marinating, chicken is dry rubbed and today’s cocktail will be my new favorite Blueberry Sparkle (blueberry vodka, lemonade, fresh blueberries, prosecco and a sugar rim).  Red white and blue cupcakes and s’mores for dessert.  

Happy 4th to everyone.


----------



## CherylL

Have a safe & happy 4th!  Getting the batteries charged & gear ready for our trip when the grandbaby arrives.  Our Turkish daughter is home for the weekend.  One of our many students we hosted from the Uni and the only one that lived with us for a year.  Always a pleasure to have younger people in the house again.   We had 4 house guests a month ago, it was a millennial weekend.




Quincy - Happy 4th of July by Cheryl, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Wow ... dunno about cocktails in favor of vino ... but the rest is worth moving east.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Happy Independence Day to all Americans. A Happy Fourth of July to the rest.




I _adore_ this image  - has a Diane Arbus feel.


----------



## Tony744

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Independence Day to all Americans. A Happy Fourth of July to the rest.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I _adore_ this image  - has a Diane Arbus feel.
Click to expand...

Happy 4th everyone[emoji3] Sitting at my brother's place in Chelsea. Gonna catch a show with a few of his friends later than catch the fireworks at the esplanade

Sent from my Moto E (4) using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Independence Day, American hosers!
> 
> Pancakes anyone?
> 
> View attachment 160009
> 
> 
> 
> Gary likes pancakes, (but can't/won't eat until noon).
Click to expand...


My baking steel came in yesterday. I had to try in both modes...so pizza last night in tht oven and as a griddle this morning. Good stuff.


----------



## davidharmier60

Since rain is in the forecast it should be a nice quiet 4th. 4.4x hours today 14.4x for the week so far. Got my check well before noon. Not sure why but I ain't complaining. 
Home now and may go out to the garage and listen to LPs.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Since it isn't quite so blipping hot as it has been.

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----------



## SquarePeg

Tony744 said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Independence Day to all Americans. A Happy Fourth of July to the rest.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I _adore_ this image  - has a Diane Arbus feel.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Happy 4th everyone[emoji3] Sitting at my brother's place in Chelsea. Gonna catch a show with a few of his friends later than catch the fireworks at the esplanade
> 
> Sent from my Moto E (4) using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...


Curious to get your take on the fireworks this year.  Went last year and for the first time ever it was disappointing. The new sponsor cheaped out or hired someone new and not as good.  Have been so many times over the years and last year was the only time it was boring and uninspired.  Hoping to hear they got their **** together this year but not dragging myself in there again hntik I see someone me good reviews.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Wow ... dunno about cocktails in favor of vino ... but the rest is worth moving east.



Such a wine snob!  Lol.


----------



## Tony744

SquarePeg said:


> Tony744 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Independence Day to all Americans. A Happy Fourth of July to the rest.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I _adore_ this image  - has a Diane Arbus feel.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Happy 4th everyone[emoji3] Sitting at my brother's place in Chelsea. Gonna catch a show with a few of his friends later than catch the fireworks at the esplanade
> 
> Sent from my Moto E (4) using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Curious to get your take on the fireworks this year.  Went last year and for the first time ever it was disappointing. The new sponsor cheaped out or hired someone new and not as good.  Have been so many times over the years and last year was the only time it was boring and uninspired.  Hoping to hear they got their **** together this year but not dragging myself in there again hntik I see someone me good reviews.
Click to expand...

Just asked my brother what he thought of it last year. He can't remember if he went

Sent from my Moto E (4) using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## smoke665

Ribs, baked beans, a couple of "Truck Stop Honeys" (https://www.backfortybeer.com/truck-stop-honey-brown-ale) and the cool a/c will finish out my day.


----------



## RowdyRay

ceemac said:


> Do you ever just sit back with a beer and wonder how we made it this far?



Oh yeah, all the time. But, sitting around a fire with a beer is usually how the stories get retold. Then I have to plead with my nephews or grandchildren not to try that! Lol.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> Have a safe & happy 4th! Getting the batteries charged & gear ready for our trip when the grandbaby arrives.



Back at you Cheryl. Looking forward to those grandbaby photos!!!


----------



## RowdyRay

Happy Independence Day everyone! 

No fireworks this year. The mayor of St. Paul said he couldn't see spending money on it when we can't get the budget in check. Have to admire him for it, but the public isn't happy. Pretty sure he could have turned to the private sector and the funds would have been raised if given notice. Haven't heard if anyone has stepped up. 

It was supposed to be really hot again with storms later. Been raining most of the morning. Still supposed to be storms later, but suspect they won't be as bad since it isn't as hot as expected. The plan was to spin a pork roast on the grill, hasselback potatoes and a new ruby raspberry slaw. Doesn't look like that will happen. Oh well.


----------



## snowbear

I'm sure someone would have stepped in.  In the long run, cutting back on this kind of thing is better than laying off workers - I don't know of many local governments that are fully staffed - we sure aren't.

Hot again, here.  We might get some relief on the weekend.

We won't be going anywhere for the fireworks - it's just too darned hot.  The heat has actually affected my health.  MLW is out with sister "S" getting a cell hone for sister "A" (she has none).  Lazy Lobster rolls in on Friday for a couple of weeks then heads back to ME.  MLW and "S" are going to drive them up, while I'm in Columbus at the Python conference.


----------



## vintagesnaps

You aren't going to the convention center, huh? the Pokemon championships?! lol
Hope you feel better by the time you go.

They've been having air quality whatever here because of the heat and humidity (affecting people with asthma etc.). So I'm staying in, doing some online shopping with the 4th of July sales. Although there's not much I'm shopping for this time of year, more 'window' shopping (or is it 'Windows' shopping?).

And there's USA hockey on the NHL Network. Replays, but I'll take what hockey I can get.


----------



## Fujidave

Our boy arrives back in the UK in the early hours, so I will be busy from now till Sunday.  Then hopefully we can try and start getting on with our lives while never forgetting our loved ones, so see you all soon.


----------



## ceemac

Have a HAPPY 4TH OF JULY. Stay safe in your heatwave.


----------



## snowbear

Fujidave said:


> Our boy arrives back in the UK in the early hours, so I will be busy from now till Sunday.  Then hopefully we can try and start getting on with our lives while never forgetting our loved ones, so see you all soon.


Take care. You all are in our thoughts and prayers.


----------



## davidharmier60

On the plus side I didn't have to change the Marquee in pouring rain. On the minus side it happens tomorrow. We had leftover fried chicken from yesterday. I made a Blue Bell vanilla Coke float. The rain stopped at some point and it looks blipping hot out there. The AC hasn't run non stop but has been running. And that's the way it is.

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----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> You aren't going to the convention center, huh? the Pokemon championships?! lol
> Hope you feel better by the time you go.
> 
> They've been having air quality whatever here because of the heat and humidity (affecting people with asthma etc.). So I'm staying in, doing some online shopping with the 4th of July sales. Although there's not much I'm shopping for this time of year, more 'window' shopping (or is it 'Windows' shopping?).
> 
> And there's USA hockey on the NHL Network. Replays, but I'll take what hockey I can get.



Thanks - it's passing.
I'm going to take some time and get down to Hamilton and meet up with one of the nephews and niece-in-law.


----------



## davidharmier60

Once more into the breach go I in approximately 15 minutes. 
Hope you have a a wonderful day. 

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----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Independence Day to all Americans. A Happy Fourth of July to the rest.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I _adore_ this image  - has a Diane Arbus feel.
Click to expand...


Thank you. Yes, it does have a bit of Arbus-esque.


----------



## davidharmier60

5.45 hours today and 20.38 for the week so far. Just finished chicken tenders and gravy. Going to the PO,  box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Sausage links with cheese, mac and cheese and carrots for dinner. 
3 possible desserts later. But maybe not. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Tony744

I thought the fireworks show last year was pretty good. Since it was the first time I saw them in Boston I can't give much of a comparison. And, unfortunately, we didn't make back to the esplanade in time so I didn't get to see the with the Pops playing in the background. My trip into Boston yesterday was...an experience.


----------



## jcdeboever

Don't look now, the Dodgers are in 1st place. Epic rebound is even more impressive considering all the injuries. What a deep team, and incredible manager.


----------



## Gary A.

Yep, the Dodgers just keep coming.  They just swept the Pirates, but the best part was Hill being thrown out at the plate.


----------



## smoke665

Today marks mine and my DW's  39th wedding anniversary. The road has had a few potholes, along the way, and 9 years ago we feared that we'd reached the end of our story,.but God thought otherwise. He showed us that everyday is a blessing and reminded us there are no guarantees on our days. Don't sweat the small stuff, love each day, and live it like you want to live it again. This evening we'll celebrate with dinner out, and Sunday leave out on yet another adventure.


----------



## Gary A.

68F presently, but projected to hit 110F with single digit humidity. Wednesday it was in the mid 70's, yesterday in the mid 90's and today triple digits. Yesterday Gary hit the yard work hard. Mowed, trimmed, pruned trees and grapes and at 94F with 23% humidity it wasn't bad at all. World Cup is on and that will be our day, stay inside, A/C on and watch World Cup.  Tomorrow the temp will be dropping.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Today marks mine and my DW's  39th wedding anniversary. The road has had a few potholes, along the way, and 9 years ago we feared that we'd reached the end of our story,.but God thought otherwise. He showed us that everyday is a blessing and reminded us there are no guarantees on our days. Don't sweat the small stuff, love each day, and live it like you want to live it again. This evening we'll celebrate with dinner out, and Sunday leave out on yet another adventure.


Happy Anniversary to you two!


----------



## Gary A.

France Gooooaaalllll!


----------



## Gary A.

Half: France 1 - Uruguay 0


----------



## davidharmier60

Good on ya Smoke!
4.38 hours today 25 and some for the week so far. Dearly LOVE me some chicken!




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----------



## Tony744

davidharmier60 said:


> Good on ya Smoke!
> 4.38 hours today 25 and some for the week so far. Dearly LOVE me some chicken!View attachment 160102
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Happy anniversary to you two Smoke!

Sent from my Moto E (4) using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## SquarePeg

TGIFF Hosers!  Still hot and steamy here with thunderstorms rolling in later.  Just going to take it easy today and tonight.  The weekend is supposed to be wonderful with 80’s and sunshine.  Will head to our fav dog friendly beach with HRH and the pup to meet a few other friends with dogs and princesses.  Should be fun.


----------



## Tony744

SquarePeg said:


> TGIFF Hosers!  Still hot and steamy here with thunderstorms rolling in later.  Just going to take it easy today and tonight.  The weekend is supposed to be wonderful with 80’s and sunshine.  Will head to our fav dog friendly beach with HRH and the pup to meet a few other friends with dogs and princesses.  Should be fun.


Hot and muggy here, rain and thunder started about 15 minutes ago.

Sent from my Moto E (4) using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

77F here, Sunny and not Muggy.


----------



## Gary A.

France 2 - Uruguay 0
France advances.


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> Dearly LOVE me some chicken!



Thanks David!!! That chicken reminds me of what they serve at our little country quick mart. The oil must be 20 years old, you walk in to pay for gas, and the smell permeates your clothes instantly, but those are the BEST chicken fingers bar none.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Yep, the Dodgers just keep coming.  They just swept the Pirates, but the best part was Hill being thrown out at the plate.


He is one guy I wouldn't want to meet in an alley, unless I had a gun. He is tough as nails.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> 68F presently, but projected to hit 110F with single digit humidity. Wednesday it was in the mid 70's, yesterday in the mid 90's and today triple digits. Yesterday Gary hit the yard work hard. Mowed, trimmed, pruned trees and grapes and at 94F with 23% humidity it wasn't bad at all. World Cup is on and that will be our day, stay inside, A/C on and watch World Cup.  Tomorrow the temp will be dropping.


GO Belgium!


----------



## jcdeboever

Happy Anniversary to you and the Mrs. @smoke665


----------



## SquarePeg

Storm is here.  Pup is sticking so close to me that I can’t even walk to the other room without tripping over him.  Poor guy is just recovered from the fireworks trauma.   He handles it better than some but still gets pretty squirelly.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Tuned in midway to some movie about going to the moon. Some of it.seems realistic enough (I guesss), but they started naming the controls and just making up stuff. They told James Caan the astronaut they could do this or that and if they did _that_ he may not get back and he was like, what?!???????!!!!!!!!!!! lol This wasn't supposed to be funny but to top it off they've got Ted Baxter explaining things to reporters.

What's a blunky?? Now they lost contact but he's out walking on the surface reeaaallly slow and he looks ridiculous, it's too funny. 

Finally a front blowing thru, still warm but breezy and supposed to actually be nice over the weekend.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Today marks mine and my DW's  39th wedding anniversary. The road has had a few potholes, along the way, and 9 years ago we feared that we'd reached the end of our story,.but God thought otherwise. He showed us that everyday is a blessing and reminded us there are no guarantees on our days. Don't sweat the small stuff, love each day, and live it like you want to live it again. This evening we'll celebrate with dinner out, and Sunday leave out on yet another adventure.



Happy anniversary to you and your wife. Those are words of wisdom every young couple should see and hopefully have enough sense to follow.


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Tuned in midway to some movie about going to the moon. Some of it.seems realistic enough (I guesss), but they started naming the controls and just making up stuff. They told James Caan the astronaut they could do this or that and if they did _that_ he may not get back and he was like, what?!???????!!!!!!!!!!! lol This wasn't supposed to be funny but to top it off they've got Ted Baxter explaining things to reporters.
> 
> What's a blunky?? Now they lost contact but he's out walking on the surface reeaaallly slow and he looks ridiculous, it's too funny.
> 
> Finally a front blowing thru, still warm but breezy and supposed to actually be nice over the weekend.



Countdown?


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's it!! All is well, he's on the fake moon surface and found the shelter thingy, so James Caan can go on to do other movies... 

Now it's 2001 A Space Odyssey, which I've seen and still don't get the rectangular thing that keeps showing up and what's going on at the end I have no idea. I've seen enough of people in monkey costumes banging things, time to go get something done!


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Yep, the Dodgers just keep coming.  They just swept the Pirates, but the best part was Hill being thrown out at the plate.


Dave Roberts on XM radio… He was asked, what did you think when Rich Hill slid head 1st into  Home plate? Dave said get up...lol


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yep, the Dodgers just keep coming.  They just swept the Pirates, but the best part was Hill being thrown out at the plate.
> 
> 
> 
> Dave Roberts on XM radio… He was asked, what did you think when Rich Hill slid head 1st into  Home plate? Dave said get up...lol
Click to expand...

LOL!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 68F presently, but projected to hit 110F with single digit humidity. Wednesday it was in the mid 70's, yesterday in the mid 90's and today triple digits. Yesterday Gary hit the yard work hard. Mowed, trimmed, pruned trees and grapes and at 94F with 23% humidity it wasn't bad at all. World Cup is on and that will be our day, stay inside, A/C on and watch World Cup.  Tomorrow the temp will be dropping.
> 
> 
> 
> GO Belgium!
Click to expand...

Brazil 1 - Belgium 2

Go Belgium!


----------



## Gary A.

It is 106F reading off the patio thermometer.  Feels like 106F, lol.  15% humidity.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> It is 106F reading off the patio thermometer.  Feels like 106F, lol.  15% humidity.


My Temecula family is with us for a few days, and they said that their thermometer is reading 112 degrees at home. Wowza!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just checked ... 115F in the shade (literally).  Humidity 10%, Feels like 115F, Chance of Rain - 0.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is finishing up with making strawberry ice cream and will soon start making some blueberry ice cream.  All with the new ice cream maker per the warranty.  If Gary is up to it, maybe some chocolate as well. Presently, there is spaghetti sauce simmering away.  Gary used about eight different types of tomatoes in crafting up his sauce.


----------



## davidharmier60

Just had a Hot Dog and Fritos with chili. 
The AC quit cooling earlier. A reset button is what it turned out to be.  Whew!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

The Temecula family headed out today to see some friends from Pennsylvania before they fly back west. Man, having family 3500 miles away sucks.

My daughter absolutely fell in love with her cousin, and as adults, we know it might be a couple years before they see each other again. Feeling sad tonight.


----------



## snowbear

Happy anniversary, Smoke.  MLW and I hit 34 last month



JonA_CT said:


> Man, having family 3500 miles away sucks.


For a few of mine, that wouldn't be far enough.


----------



## compur

It's about 5pm and the temp now in my part of LA is 114 according to weather.com. Supposed to drop to 102 tomorrow and then down to the 90s. So, at least it is brief.


----------



## JonA_CT

The Temecula family. We realized we should take some pictures right as they were getting ready to leave. Not bad, considering.


----------



## Gary A.

The Blueberry is in the machine.


----------



## davidharmier60

The fan is spinning and the Cannon is loaded. In about 10 minutes I'm off to see the wizard. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Church family coming over today for pot luck. ribs and chicken being prepared by father in law. I am running on empty but will get through it. Trying to get through this pneumonia but it's s l o w going away, doctors this morning at 9:20. My wife likes to entertain so she will be in her glory. I just want to be left alone.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Church family coming over today for pot luck. ribs and chicken being prepared by father in law. I am running on empty but will get through it. Trying to get through this pneumonia but it's s l o w going away, doctors this morning at 9:20. My wife likes to entertain so she will be in her glory. I just want to be left alone.



JC I know you're a tough dude but pneumonia is no joke. Antibiotics is one part of the treatment, bed rest is the other. My pulmonologist was very specific about what I could do ----- pretty much nothing for a couple weeks.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary just checked ... 115F in the shade (literally).  Humidity 10%, Feels like 115F, Chance of Rain - 0.



That's crazy, not the temp, ........... The 10% humidity. Don't think I've ever experienced that here.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Church family coming over today for pot luck. ribs and chicken being prepared by father in law. I am running on empty but will get through it. Trying to get through this pneumonia but it's s l o w going away, doctors this morning at 9:20. My wife likes to entertain so she will be in her glory. I just want to be left alone.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JC I know you're a tough dude but pneumonia is no joke. Antibiotics is one part of the treatment, bed rest is the other. My pulmonologist was very specific about what I could do ----- pretty much nothing for a couple weeks.
Click to expand...

I know but unfortunately, it's been virtually impossible for me to rest. I have only been able to sneak in a few days of rest, if you could call it that. Work issues, planned events, etc. Probably the reason it's been hanging on. At the end of the day, other people just don't care, it's all about them. Most people are just insensitive. My wife should have canceled today's event but nope, it's more important than my health. We are going to Tennessee at the end of next week and I have zero f'ing energy. Work people are the same way. I just suck it up.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I know but unfortunately, it's been virtually impossible for me to rest



Yeah I did that the first time. When if finally hit me is on the way to ER when I started passing out, blood pressure spiking, and I spent 3 days in the hospital on an IV and oxygen. I followed doctors advice after that. This last time it wasn't as bad, maybe the pneumonia shot I got 2 years ago helped,but still I tried to take it easy for a couple of weeks.


----------



## Fujidave

Thank God mum phoned last night, as it was this morning we said goodbye to our boy.  My head had been so far up my backside I thought it was tomorrow, he had a great send off and will be solely missed but never forgotten.  Now we have to carry on with our lives and get on with it all.


----------



## Fujidave

jcdeboever said:


> Church family coming over today for pot luck. ribs and chicken being prepared by father in law. I am running on empty but will get through it. Trying to get through this pneumonia but it's s l o w going away, doctors this morning at 9:20. My wife likes to entertain so she will be in her glory. I just want to be left alone.



I know it must be hard, but try and take it easy when you can mate.


----------



## smoke665

@Fujidave glad your back. Can't imagine what you been through.


----------



## Fujidave

Thanks smoke, today was very hard if I have to say.  A parent should never have to say goodbye to their children first, but now it is all over we have to just try and get on as sadly we have too get on with our lives but not forget our loved ones either.


----------



## Fujidave

1-0 oh yes, come on England.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> 1-0 oh yes, come on England.


Kane has a nose like a rudder.


----------



## Fujidave

We should be 2-0 up but player messed up


----------



## Fujidave

Half Time


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary just checked ... 115F in the shade (literally).  Humidity 10%, Feels like 115F, Chance of Rain - 0.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's crazy, not the temp, ........... The 10% humidity. Don't think I've ever experienced that here.
Click to expand...

Los Angeles sits with the Pacific on one side and 50 miles away are 10,000' high San Gabriel mountains. The mountains trap the cool water from the Pacific. Gary imagines the communities beyond the basin the humidity would be in single digit.  The low humidity is to wild fires like pouring gasoline on the dry fuel source. It should be in the mid 90"s today.  During summer, the beach, on any given day is about ten degrees cooler than where Gary lives, (about halfway between the ocean and the mountains), nearer the mountains you can add another ten degrees+.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> We should be 2-0 up but player messed up


Gary says you should be up 3-0.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> We should be 2-0 up but player messed up
> 
> 
> 
> Gary says you should be up 3-0.
Click to expand...


Be great if Harry Kane gets a few


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> We should be 2-0 up but player messed up
> 
> 
> 
> Gary says you should be up 3-0.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Be great if Harry Kane gets a few
Click to expand...

It would be great if Sterling would get just one.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> We should be 2-0 up but player messed up
> 
> 
> 
> Gary says you should be up 3-0.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Be great if Harry Kane gets a few
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It would be great if Sterling would get just one.
Click to expand...


Now that would be great.


----------



## Gary A.

England is very very good.


----------



## Gary A.

Projected to be only 98F today.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> England is very very good.



They are playing very well I have to say.


----------



## Fujidave

OMG 2-0


----------



## Gary A.

Goooooooalllllll England.


----------



## Fujidave

He might be small, but what a fantastic save by our goalie


----------



## Fujidave

What another great save by Pickford


----------



## Fujidave

5 mins extra time


----------



## Fujidave

England WIN 2-0


----------



## Gary A.

God save the Queen ...


----------



## Fujidave

Footballs Coming it`s coming HOME.  Best I have seen England play in many many years.


----------



## Fujidave

11 goals England scored in 1966, 2018 England score 11 it looks very very good for us now


----------



## limr

Now let's just hope Croatia can knock Russia out.


----------



## Fujidave

limr said:


> Now let's just hope Croatia can knock Russia out.



I`d like Russia to win, then we can stuff them good style


----------



## compur

Well, it hit 117 in parts of LA yesterday. About 115 where I live. But, right now it's noon and only 100° so far today and headed for only 104 this afternoon, they say. What a relief!


----------



## Gary A.

Supposed to hit 97F here.  Presently 91F.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Not being hockey it's not all the usual teams for me and I haven't watched it much, and I know nothing about Croatia. Smaller countries that play in international hockey I know.

So I guess I'll just say - Go England! 
(Any country that can produce the likes of Monty Python I'd support!)


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now let's just hope Croatia can knock Russia out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I`d like Russia to win, then we can stuff them good style
Click to expand...

Gary is torn on this.  He can appreciate England's desire for revenge regarding some foul play on sovereign soil ... but he  doesn't want Russia having any joy in advancing.  (If Gary was a Brit he definitely would want a match between England and the Ruskies.)


----------



## Fujidave

So it goes to extra time now, this would be a very good outcome.  In the dying second just as the Ref blows for full time Croatia score... hahahahaha  but I would not not to be a russian player if that happens as plastic face might want a word with them...lol


----------



## Fujidave

Croatia 2-1 winning mmmmm nice.


----------



## Fujidave

OH Crap 2-2


----------



## Fujidave

Penalties now, the Russian who scored was aloud to play only because Putin did something


----------



## limr

C'mon, Croatia!


----------



## Fujidave

Bye bye russia hahaha


----------



## Fujidave

Thank you very much Croatia xxx


----------



## limr

Excellent!


----------



## Fujidave

limr said:


> Excellent!



I would love England to win the world cup, but if Croatia beat us then I`d love to see them win it.


----------



## Gary A.

Exciting.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Exciting.



I really do wish the Croatia v England game was the Final.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Fujidave: I was pulling for Sweden.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Exciting.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I really do wish the Croatia v England game was the Final.
Click to expand...

Of course to you.  LOL


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Excellent!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would love England to win the world cup, but if Croatia beat us then I`d love to see them win it.
Click to expand...


I would love to see a first-time winner, so of the remaining teams, that would be Croatia or Belgium. But if not, I'm happy to see either England or France win.

So basically, I am good no matter who wins, now 

Buzz (my boyfriend..or his alias, anyway) has a lot of relatives on his mother's side in England, so he's obviously rooting for them to take it all.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is favoring Belgium.  Put one in a win column for JC's people.


----------



## Gary A.

Or England ... one for good, ol' Dave.


----------



## Gary A.

Maybe Belgium and England can tie.


----------



## JonA_CT

More pizza. This one is fresh mozzarella, basil, prosciutto, and some good canned tomatoes ground down with some salt.


----------



## JonA_CT

Sorry, just felt like you all needed a look at the backside too. This baking steel is awesome. (Which is good...because we agreed not to get pizza out for the rest of the summer when we bought it).


----------



## Fujidave

JonA_CT said:


> More pizza. This one is fresh mozzarella, basil, prosciutto, and some good canned tomatoes ground down with some salt.
> 
> View attachment 160144



Looks very Yummy.


----------



## Gary A.

Similar back as to what Gary gets from his cast iron pizza pan.


----------



## RowdyRay

JonA_CT said:


> Sorry, just felt like you all needed a look at the backside too. This baking steel is awesome. (Which is good...because we agreed not to get pizza out for the rest of the summer when we bought it).
> 
> View attachment 160145



Looks delicious. What kind of steel are you talking about? And are you doing this in the oven or egg?


----------



## RowdyRay

Gary A. said:


> Similar back as to what Gary gets from his cast iron pizza pan.



Still kicking myself for not nabbing a Lodge when I had the chance a few years ago. (Thrift store find) Didn't think I'd use it. Then I found out how good homemade pizzas can be. Didn't pass on the wok a couple months ago.

Oh well. Have a stone I use in the Akorn and a ceramic tile for the gas grill. Gets the job done.


----------



## JonA_CT

RowdyRay said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, just felt like you all needed a look at the backside too. This baking steel is awesome. (Which is good...because we agreed not to get pizza out for the rest of the summer when we bought it).
> 
> View attachment 160145
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looks delicious. What kind of steel are you talking about? And are you doing this in the oven or egg?
Click to expand...


www.bakingsteel.com

I’ve been using it in the oven for now. It’ll fit in the egg, so I’ll probably give that a go at some point.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> More pizza. This one is fresh mozzarella, basil, prosciutto, and some good canned tomatoes ground down with some salt.
> 
> View attachment 160144


Looks like you dropped it.


----------



## Fujidave

Just got back walking Susie and it is already about 25f and going up, looks like it will be a hot day today.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's low 80s outside going to high 90s.
It actually looks pretty nice out the storm  door. Before much longer there will be breakfast. Have a nice day. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## ceemac

No heat wave here yet. It's about 8 C, hitting a high of 20C. But probably more thunder and lightning. At least we're getting rain with the lightning. Haven't had any new fires for a while. My heart goes out to the western states. We can have large fires here, but without the winds.


----------



## davidharmier60

Biscuits and sausage gravy that blows away anything Brenda ever makes!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Actually getting fed up with our heatwave now. Just wish it was cooler.


----------



## davidharmier60

How does a 2 year old shoot himself in the head? Happened in Houston. 
Hamburger and fries for dinner. 
It seems it never made upper 90s.
I had to go out to the garage a couple times and as long as I was in shade it wasn't at all bad.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

davidharmier60 said:


> How does a 2 year old shoot himself in the head?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Lazy parents not keeping a gun away or locked up, the mind boggles.


----------



## RowdyRay

davidharmier60 said:


> How does a 2 year old shoot himself in the head? Happened in Houston.



Really want me to answer that?


----------



## davidharmier60

Frankly,  I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he had some help.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

90F, cooling down from 115F on Friday. Off to Pasadena for Dim Sum dinner ... 33% humidity.


----------



## davidharmier60

Have a good night and as good of a Monday as is possible. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, at last it is cooler today as Susie and I had a lovely walk in the park and we enjoyed it more than yesterday.


----------



## Fujidave

Well now the sun is back out Susie refused to come out..lol she can`t take her coat off so I don`t blame her.
On a good note, most of my photos starting next week will be upside down and all wonky as I have to wear varifocal glasses once I pick them up hahaha.


----------



## ceemac

How's everything going, Dave?


----------



## Fujidave

ceemac said:


> How's everything going, Dave?



Not to bad at all really, think we all cried so much when we first heard now we are just slowly getting on.

Managed to quickly get Susie round the block as clouds covered the sun for us


----------



## otherprof

Spotted in the "Letters" section of the New York Times Book Review, yesterday, 7/9: "To the Editor: I enjoyed the reviews by Roxane Gay and Howell Raines considering various aspects of  " To Kill a Mockingbird," But the bird in the cover illustration? That's a tufted titmouse."   I immediately thought: Monty Python meets Photo Forum.


----------



## davidharmier60

4.45 hours today and for the week so far. 
I Got asked to bring milk home and told the AC is on the fritz again. Yippee. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Spotted this gem in a parking lot near dinner yesterday. Gary hopes the owner didn’t eat in the same place as he.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 160223
> Spotted this gem in a parking lot near dinner yesterday. Gary hopes the owner didn’t eat in the same place as he.



It could be a spelling mistake...lol It should read masticate hahaha


----------



## ceemac

I had a loaner car from a body shop many years ago. People kept staring at me. I didn't know why until I was putting some stuff in the trunk. There was a bumper sticker stating I was naked from the waist down.


----------



## terri

otherprof said:


> Spotted in the "Letters" section of the New York Times Book Review, yesterday, 7/9: "To the Editor: I enjoyed the reviews by Roxane Gay and Howell Raines considering various aspects of  " To Kill a Mockingbird," But the bird in the cover illustration? That's a tufted titmouse."   I immediately thought: Monty Python meets Photo Forum.


That's hilarious!


----------



## terri

Happy Monday, hosers!


----------



## Fujidave

terri said:


> Happy Monday, hosers!



Always wondered what this Hoser lark was, think I will go for the Ice Hockey loser

Hoser - Wikipedia


----------



## TreeofLifeStairs

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 160223
> Spotted this gem in a parking lot near dinner yesterday. Gary hopes the owner didn’t eat in the same place as he.



The owner probably wasn’t eating there. He was probably making the food. He didn’t order the clam chowder did he?


Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## davidharmier60

The outside fan motor died. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

TreeofLifeStairs said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 160223
> Spotted this gem in a parking lot near dinner yesterday. Gary hopes the owner didn’t eat in the same place as he.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The owner probably wasn’t eating there. He was probably making the food. He didn’t order the clam chowder did he?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...

Point made ... Fortunately, we had Chinese, no chowder ... Dim Sum.


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Monday, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Always wondered what this Hoser lark was, think I will go for the Ice Hockey loser
> 
> Hoser - Wikipedia
Click to expand...


It started out thusly:
The Coffee House

And it turned into 'hosers' thusly:
The Coffee House


----------



## Fujidave

limr said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Monday, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Always wondered what this Hoser lark was, think I will go for the Ice Hockey loser
> 
> Hoser - Wikipedia
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It started out thusly:
> The Coffee House
> 
> And it turned into 'hosers' thusly:
> The Coffee House
Click to expand...


AH now I understand, thanks for that too.


----------



## vintagesnaps

At least the bumper sticker didn't also say 'WHILE DRIVING', although that doesn't mean that isn't what goes on in that car.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It is still hot out here. It is down from 115F on Friday to 96F today.  But as the temp drops the humidity goes up ... from 10% on Friday to 25% today.  They claim that you start to feel humidity after 50% ... but during our walk this morning we could definitely feel a difference in both the temp and the humidity. We had the A/C off due to the lowering temperature ... but Mary Lou decided to toss in the towel and turn on the A/C as opposed to acclimatize.  Gary was quite comfortable in the patio with the fans on.  But once you start moving around, you'll get hot, fast.


----------



## Gary A.

Even though Gary is a wine guy, he has decided to take Mary Lou and Maggie out for an evening beer.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Didn't everybody used to stay up too late watching SCTV?? with Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas as The Beaver. I've been a hockey fan long enough to know SCTV was the beginning of that term. Take off, hosers.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> At least the bumper sticker didn't also say 'WHILE DRIVING', although that doesn't mean that isn't what goes on in that car.


Somehow, Gary suspects it may be a chronic condition, where time and location may be meaningless.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Just don't follow that car down the street.


----------



## RowdyRay

vintagesnaps said:


> Didn't everybody used to stay up too late watching SCTV?? with Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas as The Beaver. I've been a hockey fan long enough to know SCTV was the beginning of that term. Take off, hosers.



I knew where it came from. Don't remember exactly when that first aired. We all thought it was funny, but a buddy of ours was obsessed with it. Like the folks in the video. We haven't called him by his real name since. He'll forever be known as "Hoser." It was on his wedding invitations. It'll probably be on his headstone.


----------



## davidharmier60

Earlier I meant to post more info.
The outside fan motor died. We were at Graingers in Conroe. We got out for $88 and change. Had to drill 4 holes to mount this motor. Just got it working again.
Just got the internet to work again too.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## otherprof

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 160223
> Spotted this gem in a parking lot near dinner yesterday. Gary hopes the owner didn’t eat in the same place as he.


Nice catch!  Just goes to show you should always leave a good tip for the waitress especially if you park in the same spot when you go to the diner


----------



## davidharmier60

Nitey nite folks. It was rather trying day after work.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 160223
> Spotted this gem in a parking lot near dinner yesterday. Gary hopes the owner didn’t eat in the same place as he.


or that it belongs to the chef.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, cool here with some cloud so Susie and I had a lovely walk in the park.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> At least the bumper sticker didn't also say 'WHILE DRIVING', although that doesn't mean that isn't what goes on in that car.



Our Dually sits up pretty high which sometimes gives you more view than you like while driving down the interstate


----------



## smoke665

Won't be long till I want one of these LOL


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  73F presently, but should hit upper 80's today.  The plants have taken a real beating in the heat wave. Soon, Gary will be back at the nursery for more tomatoes and peppers.


----------



## davidharmier60

Apparently 5.11 hours today because 9.56 for the week so far. Went and got Diesel to put in the trailer that contains all the stuff from the freezer. Went out to my truck to get the box of pennies Trish wanted. Didn't burst into flames but it's pretty hot in my dark blue truck. Having chicken tenders and gravy before I go get another box of pennies, hit the PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has been working on paperwork ... now it is time for Miss Maggie's constitutional ... then back for more paperwork and World Cup.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Won't be long till I want one of these LOL


It's good that the font size is so large


----------



## waday

Just got back to work after vacation. Sitting at my desk eating lunch.


----------



## Fujidave

Well what a great day it was today, this morning I  set up Across plus the shadows, highlights and others on the X-T2 and I totally love it. Most of my shots are good enough to use Sooc.


----------



## Gary A.

Good for you. None of my shots are ever good enough SOOC.  I've always, at a minimum do some burning and dodging.


----------



## Gary A.

Belgium - France has started.


----------



## Fujidave

This is just one from todays batch, one of my best I think and also today I loved my photography as I did not rush to take any shots at all.


----------



## davidharmier60

Nicely done FD.
About to do my comics on ArcaMax.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey, Mick Jagger is at the soccer game.


----------



## davidharmier60

/\ yippee


----------



## smoke665

Very nice Dave!


----------



## snowbear

Nice, indeed, Dave.  Things squared away with the Mrs?

I had a station map book to do this morning (takes a couple of hours) so I decided to run the preliminary set up for the other four stations in that battalion.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's been the highlight for me so far, tuned in during the half to see what was going on but it's the same running around advancing behavior. 

Well, there are some interesting hats etc. in the crowd.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Very nice Dave!



Thank you smoke I put it in the black and white thread to, as would like some CC on the shot.


----------



## Fujidave

snowbear said:


> Nice, indeed, Dave.  Things squared away with the Mrs?
> 
> I had a station map book to do this morning (takes a couple of hours) so I decided to run the preliminary set up for the other four stations in that battalion.



She is hardly talking to me at the moment and is refusing to see any one too, just hope she comes round from it all and talks.


----------



## snowbear

People handle grief in different ways.  Hoping things work out for you guys.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry to hear that, it was a terrible loss to recover from. Some grief counseling might do her a world of good to be able to talk to somebody but she may not be ready for that yet.


----------



## Fujidave

snowbear said:


> People handle grief in different ways.  Hoping things work out for you guys.



Thank you, I`am sure she will get through this and then talk, like you say we all handle grief in different ways.


----------



## vintagesnaps

On a lighter note, if France wins and England wins then this could be what to look forward in the final.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> On a lighter note, if France wins and England wins then this could be what to look forward in the final.



Unavailable


----------



## terri

Fujidave said:


> This is just one from todays batch, one of my best I think and also today I loved my photography as I did not rush to take any shots at all.
> 
> View attachment 160276


Very nice capture!   

You and your family have my continuing sympathies during this.


----------



## Fujidave

terri said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> This is just one from todays batch, one of my best I think and also today I loved my photography as I did not rush to take any shots at all.
> 
> View attachment 160276
> 
> 
> 
> Very nice capture!
> 
> You and your family have my continuing sympathies during this.
Click to expand...


I`am finding that my photography is really helping me at the moment and mum is keeping herself busy, we are just worried about my wife now.
Thank you too.


----------



## Gary A.

Viva France!


----------



## terri

Fujidave said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> This is just one from todays batch, one of my best I think and also today I loved my photography as I did not rush to take any shots at all.
> 
> View attachment 160276
> 
> 
> 
> Very nice capture!
> 
> You and your family have my continuing sympathies during this.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I`am finding that my photography is really helping me at the moment and mum is keeping herself busy, we are just worried about my wife now.
Click to expand...

Yes.       To each his or her own time.    It's a great thing for you to have an absorbing hobby - does she have anything that can occupy her in this way?


----------



## Fujidave

terri said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> This is just one from todays batch, one of my best I think and also today I loved my photography as I did not rush to take any shots at all.
> 
> View attachment 160276
> 
> 
> 
> Very nice capture!
> 
> You and your family have my continuing sympathies during this.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I`am finding that my photography is really helping me at the moment and mum is keeping herself busy, we are just worried about my wife now.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes.       To each his or her own time.    It's a great thing for you to have an absorbing hobby - does she have anything that can occupy her in this way?
Click to expand...


Her work in Age UK here, but I think she is going to pack it in but keeping my fingers crossed she sticks to it as the staff are being very helpful to her.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> On a lighter note, if France wins and England wins then this could be what to look forward in the final.



Just came up, loved the monty python lot and that was a funny one too.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I shouldn't have started on Monty Python, now I won't get anything done. Well, maybe one more in the Leaderboard time wasting thread...


----------



## davidharmier60

LOVE me some Monty Python!


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Gary’s Grapes.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, very overcast  and cloudy here but they forecast sun today so over to mums to help her out then lunch.


----------



## waday

Morning! Sunny here, with a high of 87F--currently it's about 80F out.

I am stuck inside, but at least it's hump day!


----------



## ceemac

We're stuck inside ,too. 2nd wave of mosquitoes. Nobody's ever seen it so bad. Clouds of them at our doors waiting for us to come out to play. If they made OFF that was SPF30 it would outsell beer north of Cache Creek!


----------



## terri

Eww, mosquito invasion!  Not good in so many ways.  Stay covered!

Happy hump day , hosers!


----------



## waday

ceemac said:


> If they made OFF that was SPF30


You should develop and market this.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  We are still on the edge of the heat wave.  69F this morning but should heat up into the upper 80's. Some paperwork, a walk with Mary Lou and Maggie, then back for World Cup.

@ceemac: UG! Mosquitos suck.   We have nothing like clouds here ... but even a single mosquito is irritating.  Gary has UV traps all over the yard. He even has a solar powered UV trap.


waday said:


> ceemac said:
> 
> 
> 
> If they made OFF that was SPF30
> 
> 
> 
> You should develop and market this.
Click to expand...

It's called a Flame Thrower.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ceemac said:
> 
> 
> 
> If they made OFF that was SPF30
> 
> 
> 
> You should develop and market this.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's called a Flame Thrower.
Click to expand...

True, I doubt mosquitoes would be attracted to burnt skin..

Oh, Elon Musk... California’s bill to regulate Elon Musk’s flamethrower is being held in committee


----------



## Gary A.

Musk is always ahead of the game.


----------



## waday

For better or for worse


----------



## Gary A.

Being ahead works well with curve balls ... dunno about mosquitos.


----------



## waday

I guess baseballs would work against mosquitoes, but you'll need a lot of them


----------



## Gary A.

Ceemac has a lot of them ... clouds, if Gary remembers correctly.


----------



## Gary A.

A nice World Cup photo in The Times.


----------



## Gary A.

Also, a fun headline below the fold, "England awash with Cup fervor as Wimbledon makes a racket".


----------



## davidharmier60

Hi there y'all. 5.xx hours today and 15.30 for the week so far. Slaughtering time until I can get my check. Had chicken tenders and gravy. It's back to very warm outside. So I'm parked in the deli until check.
Going to put some gas in my truck and then head home. Dad and Sister were here earlier. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Nice grapes Gary!   I have 2 super powers and one of them is that I am not allergic to mosquito bites.  They land on me, they rarely bite me (too bitter???) but even when they do, I do not get an itchy bump.  Princess is like a buffet for them and must douse herself in bug spray if going out at dusk or later. 

For the record, my other super power is my sense of smell.  It is more of a curse though - I have super sensitive sinuses.  Can barely tolerate certain smelly foods and it's torture to walk through the cosmetics area at Macy's or be around someone who overdid it with the cologne or body spray.  One of the many reasons I stopped commuting on the train every day.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I have 2 super powers and one of them is that I am not allergic to mosquito bites. They land on me, they rarely bite me (too bitter???) but even when they do, I do not get an itchy bump. Princess is like a buffet for them and must douse herself in bug spray if going out at dusk or later.


That's how my wife and I are. My wife rarely gets bit, while I'll have a gazillion red, incredibly itchy bites within minutes of being outside at dusk or later. Ugh.


----------



## Gary A.

England Scores!


----------



## vintagesnaps

That was early. Wimbledon's on two ESPN channels but I can't get real into it (did see Federer's out). I'm having hockey withdrawal and it's not even the middle of July. I need them to bring back Pro Beach Hockey - ramp it up! Wonder if that's on a DVD, maybe YouTube...?

Mosquitoes always seem to like me too. Would one of those flamethrowers work on them? 

But really, what on earth would you do with one of those things? Probably just a matter of time before somebody sets who knows what on fire and causes an injury/accident. Elon Musk may have some interesting ideas but the practical aspects of things, not so much. He's like a kid that needs a new toy to stay occupied and out of trouble. 

Or give him one of those Scripto lighters (do they still make them the same way??! lol) that you can take off the top, turn the dial and crank up the butane, then take it to a concert. 

Now see, does this make sense?? We can't take lighters to concerts anymore but he's selling flamethrowers.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> I'm having hockey withdrawal and it's not even the middle of July.


An AHL coach lives in my neighborhood, and he's currently moving to work for another team. He and his wife were always very nice and friendly. Sad to see them leaving.


----------



## Fujidave

Cracking day today, plenty to edit tomorrow.
Who ever wins tonight will win the world cup


----------



## terri

Fujidave said:


> Cracking day today, plenty to edit tomorrow.
> Who ever wins tonight will win the world cup


You mean there's an actual end to this! ?


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's interfering with Judge Judy, we can't have that! lol

Not so famous movie lines - 
'I'll buy you the best cup of coffee in Vancouver when we land.' 

I took a break from soccer when I was wondering why a cow was chasing/batting a soccer ball in an ad in the background and what the ad was for anyway. Then I started wondering what it would be like to take photos of those ads because the light seems to pulsate... backlit signs in a hockey arena I can do.

I'm curious now what AHL team... The things I have to ponder - will the cow with the soccer ball ever come back? will the plane in this movie ever land? will somebody score and win this game for England? All this waiting for the dryer load to get done.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The plane landed after a lot of screeching brakes and somebody offered to buy the pilot a drink. Whew!

A break??


----------



## Gary A.

The Tablecloths beat the Queen.


----------



## Fujidave

Unlucky England, but you did me proud to be English


----------



## Gary A.

A bowl of Gary’s Blueberry and Strawberry ice cream.


----------



## Jeff15

Bad luck England, did very well to get this far.............


----------



## limr

Well, I guess it's Go Croatia time!  We could have a first time winner in just a few more days! 



SquarePeg said:


> Nice grapes Gary!   I have 2 super powers and one of them is that I am not allergic to mosquito bites.  They land on me, they rarely bite me (too bitter???) but even when they do, I do not get an itchy bump.  Princess is like a buffet for them and must douse herself in bug spray if going out at dusk or later.



I would give a body part to have that super power (okay, a non-essential body part. Like some nail clippings.)

I once had 52 mosquito bites, all on my legs from the knees down. At their worst, I couldn't walk for more than 5 minutes before my legs were on fire. It was just awful. Had scars on my legs for about 2 weeks after they finally stopped itching.


----------



## Jeff15

Its all very sad.............................


----------



## compur

limr said:


> I once had 52 mosquito bites, all on my legs from the knees down. At their worst, I couldn't walk for more than 5 minutes before my legs were on fire. It was just awful. Had scars on my legs for about 2 weeks after they finally stopped itching.



Ouch!


----------



## davidharmier60

Poison ivy or oak trumps skeeters. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

compur said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I once had 52 mosquito bites, all on my legs from the knees down. At their worst, I couldn't walk for more than 5 minutes before my legs were on fire. It was just awful. Had scars on my legs for about 2 weeks after they finally stopped itching.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ouch!
Click to expand...


Yarp.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hope youse peeps have a good night and a better Thursday. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Having internet withdrawal. In the middle of nowhere NGA mountains. At least I've racked up a few hundred decent shots to sort through.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Having internet withdrawal. In the middle of nowhere NGA mountains. At least I've racked up a few hundred decent shots to sort through.



Do you and your wife camp at sites or just find a spot and park alone? Several people at work have regular campsites they leave their campers at and go on weekends/holidays. From their comments they make a lot of friends among the regulars.


----------



## ceemac

SquarePeg said:


> one of them is that I am not allergic to mosquito bites.



Haha. Come up here. Allergic or not, these ones leave welts the size of marbles.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Unlucky England, but you did me proud to be English


It was an extremely well played and entertaining match.


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Having internet withdrawal. In the middle of nowhere NGA mountains. At least I've racked up a few hundred decent shots to sort through.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you and your wife camp at sites or just find a spot and park alone? Several people at work have regular campsites they leave their campers at and go on weekends/holidays. From their comments they make a lot of friends among the regulars.
Click to expand...


We generally stay at better campgrounds with all the amenities. We were supposed to have a large group meet up, but several cancelled at the last minute. This was not my choice of places and will 've the last time here.


----------



## tirediron

@snowbear -  Whattsamatter dude... the GIS game not paying the bills?  You had to branch out?


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sunny and cool here today Susie and I had a lovely walk earlier on so start some editing in a bit from the last few days.


----------



## davidharmier60

Gotta go to work SOON. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Jeff15

I am still editing from the last few days...........


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> @snowbear -  Whattsamatter dude... the GIS game not paying the bills?  You had to branch out?


Ya gotta diversify!


----------



## smoke665

Today is the last day in NGa, for most part its been good. I was a little disappointed yesterday we went to the Foxfire Museum. I've collected many of the Foxfire books over the years and found them to be informative on the primitive ways. I expected to see craftsmen at work, but other then one lone lady weaving, it was nothing but a village of empty buildings.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I think I have 7 of the Foxfire volumes. Isn't that all there is?


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I think I have 7 of the Foxfire volumes. Isn't that all there is?



There were 12 in the original series, plus two anniversary editions. Currently 14 total.


----------



## Fujidave

Quick walk round the block with Susie, the sun is now out but not to warm and a nice breeze.


----------



## davidharmier60

Roughly 4.25 hours today and 19.44 or 5 for the week so far. I'm of two minds about Saturday. I'd love to have an actual two day weekend, but I'll miss the 4 to 5 hours on my check. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Jeff15

Hazy and low cloud here at the moment............


----------



## waday




----------



## Jeff15

That sounds good............


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  The sun is out and it is already 73F.  Should hit the upper 80's. The A/C is off.  Mary Lou finally turned it off yesterday.  Things are slowly getting back to normal.  The 2" hose transporting the water from the skimmer pump to the waterfall cracked and sprung a leak.  Gary patched it up and it seems the patch is holding.  Which is good, otherwise Gary would have to dig up and replace the entire hose.  That would be at least half a day's work.


----------



## Fujidave

Just having a look through some of the photos in the different threads, and I find that for me I am just putting a comment on a shot to get higher on the leader board.  So for me and me only, I am not fussed now about getting the top poster as I`d like to have a good look at a photo then say why I like it or not.


----------



## davidharmier60

I know I won't make a leaderboard as a photographer.  Might have made it in film.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nobody's going to make it anywhere much on the Leaderboard. The points are meaningless. They count for nothing. Just the honor of knowing you're helping contribute to silliness and time wasting at the highest level of nonsensical nothingness.


----------



## waday

It


----------



## waday

will


----------



## waday

be


----------



## waday

hard


----------



## waday

to


----------



## waday

catch


----------



## vintagesnaps

To what?? tell us! 

I discovered international lacrosse on ESPN - yay!! (on the Deuce and ESPN U). And it just started today (well, last night over there). So I'll have a week and a half of more lacrosse.


----------



## waday

@Fujidave


----------



## vintagesnaps

To catch...??


----------



## vintagesnaps

LOL!!!


Well that was hardly worth waiting for...


----------



## waday

on


----------



## waday

the


----------



## waday

leaderboard,


----------



## waday

but


----------



## waday

this


----------



## waday

brings


----------



## waday

back good memories of when we were trying to get to 1,000 pages.

I can't space it out, it's taking too long. LOL


----------



## Fujidave

Cool


----------



## vintagesnaps

You've almost gotten it to 3330. Which means bupkus.


----------



## Fujidave

Plus 1


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> You've almost gotten it to 3330. Which means bupkus.


Woo


----------



## waday

waday said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> You've almost gotten it to 3330. Which means bupkus.
> 
> 
> 
> Woo
Click to expand...

HOO!


----------



## Fujidave

Yippee


----------



## Fujidave

ki


----------



## Fujidave

yay Hosers


----------



## vintagesnaps

I see what you're doing there...


----------



## smoke665

Narrowly avoided a nasty disaster today. I was trying to multi-task (not good for me), working on editing shots, and flushing the black tank in preparation for leaving tomorrow. I hooked up the water hose, turned it on and in my haste to get back to editing I pulled the wrong valve open. As I sat there working away I began hearing a very faint gurgling noise. Not to be disturbed I ignored it. Then the noise developed into a gurgling/hissing sound. Again I tried to ignore it. When the noise finally got to loud to ignore I got up to investigate. As soon as I stepped in the bathroom, my eyes were drawn to the bubbling seething cauldron in the toilet bowl ready to explode at any second. Like a flash I was out the door and pulling the correct valve open. The pressure inside the tank had already reached the danger point, and as the valve was released it caused the normally flexible slinky 4" drain hose to pop rigid like a fire hose. Fortunately for me the end stayed in the drain, or there would have been a mess all over our RV, and the neighbors.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Narrowly avoided a nasty disaster today. I was trying to multi-task (not good for me), working on editing shots, and flushing the black tank in preparation for leaving tomorrow. I hooked up the water hose, turned it on and in my haste to get back to editing I pulled the wrong valve open. As I sat there working away I began hearing a very faint gurgling noise. Not to be disturbed I ignored it. Then the noise developed into a gurgling/hissing sound. Again I tried to ignore it. When the noise finally got to loud to ignore I got up to investigate. As soon as I stepped in the bathroom, my eyes were drawn to the bubbling seething cauldron in the toilet bowl ready to explode at any second. Like a flash I was out the door and pulling the correct valve open. The pressure inside the tank had already reached the danger point, and as the valve was released it caused the normally flexible slinky 4" drain hose to pop rigid like a fire hose. Fortunately for me the end stayed in the drain, or there would have been a mess all over our RV, and the neighbors.



Very lucky I`d say.


----------



## snowbear

Yo, Waday . . . Take that crap to the other place Leaderboard


----------



## snowbear

I need this!


----------



## davidharmier60

I may have mentioned that I am of two minds. In any case I will learn the truth tomorrow.
In approximately 30 minutes I'll be asleep.


----------



## RowdyRay

smoke665 said:


> Narrowly avoided a nasty disaster today. I was trying to multi-task (not good for me), working on editing shots, and flushing the black tank in preparation for leaving tomorrow. I hooked up the water hose, turned it on and in my haste to get back to editing I pulled the wrong valve open. As I sat there working away I began hearing a very faint gurgling noise. Not to be disturbed I ignored it. Then the noise developed into a gurgling/hissing sound. Again I tried to ignore it. When the noise finally got to loud to ignore I got up to investigate. As soon as I stepped in the bathroom, my eyes were drawn to the bubbling seething cauldron in the toilet bowl ready to explode at any second. Like a flash I was out the door and pulling the correct valve open. The pressure inside the tank had already reached the danger point, and as the valve was released it caused the normally flexible slinky 4" drain hose to pop rigid like a fire hose. Fortunately for me the end stayed in the drain, or there would have been a mess all over our RV, and the neighbors.



Really lucky. Think they call that a $h!t storm.


----------



## RowdyRay

snowbear said:


> I need this!



Me too. Just put it on the wish list. Then I saw this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076QL3WTJ/ref=sspa_dk_detail_5?psc=1

Wish I could find this on a T-shirt or bumper sticker:

https://www.amazon.com/Funny-Photog..._rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=6DZRQ2ZYXBFHEAJH67PE


----------



## smoke665

RowdyRay said:


> Really lucky. Think they call that a $h!t storm.



Friend of ours wasn't so lucky. When he heard the hissing and gurgling. He stepped on the flush lever. Bad move.


----------



## RowdyRay

smoke665 said:


> RowdyRay said:
> 
> 
> 
> Really lucky. Think they call that a $h!t storm.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Friend of ours wasn't so lucky. When he heard the hissing and gurgling. He stepped on the flush lever. Bad move.
Click to expand...


Yes. Bad move! We've had issues....luckily nothing like that. Usually a clogged or kinked hose. Nothing that results in "THE" storm.


----------



## tirediron

Many years ago when I was a young sailor on HMCS/M Okanagan, an Oberon-Class submarine, we had a similar experience.  We had a 2500 gallon black-water tank, and when that filled up, it had to pumped outboard; when we were at depth, we used HP air at about 30psi over sea-pressure to push the black-water to sea.  The first step in the procedure was to shut the valve isolating the tank from the line coming from the heads (toilets).  The second step was to make a pipe (announcement) throughout the boat indicating that the heads were out of bounds.  

On this particular day, we had a very junior outside engineer tasked with emptying the blackwater tank.  The trimming officer (the person whose job it was to make the pipes) was a chap of Korean heritage with an accent so strong you could cut it with a knife.  As luck would have it, the engineer forgot to isolate the tank, and Lt Tam forgot to make the pipe...  someone used the heads and stepped on the flushing foot-pedal...  a 2500 gallon blackwater tank charged with air at 30psi all of a sudden given a 2" escape pipe...  the ensuing pipe became legendary in the annals of Canadian submarine history:  "Hear though...  no passage thwew contwol.  Sh*t on deck!" (and everywhere else for that matter!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Yo, Waday . . . Take that crap to the other place Leaderboard



Postwhoring


----------



## limr

Is


----------



## limr

Like


----------



## limr

Riding


----------



## limr

A


----------



## limr

Bike.


----------



## limr

Except now we don't have to contend with the jamming 30-seconds-between-posts requirement. A lot of so much annoyance that was!


----------



## limr

Our Leaderboardspeak is coming back to me, too


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Our Leaderboardspeak is coming back to me, too


Congratulations; you just made it to my ignore list.

Edit: crap: moderator.  Oh well.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our Leaderboardspeak is coming back to me, too
> 
> 
> 
> Congratulations; you just made it to my ignore list.
> 
> Edit: crap: moderator.  Oh well.
Click to expand...


----------



## SquarePeg

Back to serious coffee house talk about how many hours Dave Who Messes With Pennies worked and what Gary is making for dinner...


----------



## snowbear

Well. My contract boss left today.  I suspect she had enough of the BE she has to put up with.  No idea who will be taking her position, but hopefully they will be as hands off as she was.  I love it when a boss leaves you alone and let's you do your job.

The contract, which was to expire on June 30 (end of our fiscal year) was extended to October.  Knowing a new administration starts in January, and only a three month extendion, I guess I'm now actually looking elsewhere instead of waiting and taking chances.  Real retirement was not good to me.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Well. My contract boss left today.  I suspect she had enough of the BE she has to put up with.  No idea who will be taking her position, but hopefully they will be as hands off as she was.  I love it when a boss leaves you alone and let's you do your job.
> 
> The contract, which was to expire on June 30 (end of our fiscal year) was extended to October.  Knowing a new administration starts in January, and only a three month extendion, I guess I'm now actually looking elsewhere instead of waiting and taking chances.  Real retirement was not good to me.



Good luck with that! I wish you an even better hands-off boss!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

snowbear said:


> Well. My contract boss left today.  I suspect she had enough of the BE she has to put up with.  No idea who will be taking her position, but hopefully they will be as hands off as she was.  I love it when a boss leaves you alone and let's you do your job.
> 
> The contract, which was to expire on June 30 (end of our fiscal year) was extended to October.  Knowing a new administration starts in January, and only a three month extendion, I guess I'm now actually looking elsewhere instead of waiting and taking chances.  Real retirement was not good to me.



Maybe they will offer you the job, and you can be hands-off and go shoot photos all day


----------



## Gary A.

RowdyRay said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I need this!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Me too. Just put it on the wish list. Then I saw this:
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076QL3WTJ/ref=sspa_dk_detail_5?psc=1
> 
> Wish I could find this on a T-shirt or bumper sticker:
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Funny-Photog..._rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=6DZRQ2ZYXBFHEAJH67PE
Click to expand...

ooooo ... oooo ... Gary has to have that cup.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Many years ago when I was a young sailor on HMCS/M Okanagan, an Oberon-Class submarine, we had a similar experience.  We had a 2500 gallon black-water tank, and when that filled up, it had to pumped outboard; when we were at depth, we used HP air at about 30psi over sea-pressure to push the black-water to sea.  The first step in the procedure was to shut the valve isolating the tank from the line coming from the heads (toilets).  The second step was to make a pipe (announcement) throughout the boat indicating that the heads were out of bounds.
> 
> On this particular day, we had a very junior outside engineer tasked with emptying the blackwater tank.  The trimming officer (the person whose job it was to make the pipes) was a chap of Korean heritage with an accent so strong you could cut it with a knife.  As luck would have it, the engineer forgot to isolate the tank, and Lt Tam forgot to make the pipe...  someone used the heads and stepped on the flushing foot-pedal...  a 2500 gallon blackwater tank charged with air at 30psi all of a sudden given a 2" escape pipe...  the ensuing pipe became legendary in the annals of Canadian submarine history:  "Hear though...  no passage thwew contwol.  Sh*t on deck!" (and everywhere else for that matter!


Man, I imagine you had to open the windows to get rid of the stink.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Many years ago when I was a young sailor on HMCS/M Okanagan, an Oberon-Class submarine, we had a similar experience.  We had a 2500 gallon black-water tank, and when that filled up, it had to pumped outboard; when we were at depth, we used HP air at about 30psi over sea-pressure to push the black-water to sea.  The first step in the procedure was to shut the valve isolating the tank from the line coming from the heads (toilets).  The second step was to make a pipe (announcement) throughout the boat indicating that the heads were out of bounds.
> 
> On this particular day, we had a very junior outside engineer tasked with emptying the blackwater tank.  The trimming officer (the person whose job it was to make the pipes) was a chap of Korean heritage with an accent so strong you could cut it with a knife.  As luck would have it, the engineer forgot to isolate the tank, and Lt Tam forgot to make the pipe...  someone used the heads and stepped on the flushing foot-pedal...  a 2500 gallon blackwater tank charged with air at 30psi all of a sudden given a 2" escape pipe...  the ensuing pipe became legendary in the annals of Canadian submarine history:  "Hear though...  no passage thwew contwol.  Sh*t on deck!" (and everywhere else for that matter!
> 
> 
> 
> Man, I imagine you had to open the windows to get rid of the stink.
Click to expand...

Nah.... just prop the screen door open!


----------



## Jeff15

Seem like our heatwave is over, for now anyway......


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, lovely walk with Susie at 6am nice and cool with a slight breeze.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Except now we don't have to contend with the jamming 30-seconds-between-posts requirement. A lot of so much annoyance that was!


WHAT? I do.

Humph. (Otherwise, I would have made it longer, LOL)


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Jeff15

Every day is a weekend for me............


----------



## waday




----------



## Jeff15

The trouble with retirement is we don't get a day off..........


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 160391


Hey, next time ask permission when you use a photo of Gary in your post.


----------



## Gary A.

Jeff15 said:


> Every day is a weekend for me............


Every weekend is a day for Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  70F as Miss Maggie, Mary Lou and Gary begin our morning walk. Gary is pissed, a pair of relatively expensive Nikes are falling apart.  They are quite comfy, very lightweight but the sole from the toe to behind the ball of the foot has peeled back. There is a few miles on them, but most the thread is still there.  No more Nikes for Gary ...


----------



## SquarePeg

Electrical inspection done!  Plumbing inspection on Monday then we’re in the home stretch!!!  Looking forward to quiet mornings and privacy restored.


----------



## davidharmier60

I do get a two day weekend. 24.59 hours for the week. Could be worse but could be better. Gotta go to Livingston for mower blades and dog food. May get a pair of jeans if I can afford to. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Electrical inspection done!  Plumbing inspection on Monday then we’re in the home stretch!!!  Looking forward to quiet mornings and privacy restored.


Huh... inspections.  I always seem to forget to have those done.  Glad it went well.


----------



## JonA_CT

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Electrical inspection done!  Plumbing inspection on Monday then we’re in the home stretch!!!  Looking forward to quiet mornings and privacy restored.
> 
> 
> 
> Huh... inspections.  I always seem to forget to have those done.  Glad it went well.
Click to expand...


I think you only need those if you get building permits.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Electrical inspection done!  Plumbing inspection on Monday then we’re in the home stretch!!!  Looking forward to quiet mornings and privacy restored.
> 
> 
> 
> Huh... inspections.  I always seem to forget to have those done.  Glad it went well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think you only need those if you get building permits.
Click to expand...

That's how it works!


----------



## Gary A.

Typically, in the US, residential permits are required for installation/modification of living spaces. But the permitting is regulated by jurisdiction.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is a hero. The A/C froze up. A call to the A/C guy ended up in a few brief instructions. Gary dismantaled the case, followed the instruction, (only got shocked twice), and the A/C is back online.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Typically, in the US, residential permits are required for installation/modification of living spaces. But the permitting is regulated by jurisdiction.


Much the same as here.  I tend to forget to pull them most of the time....


----------



## JonA_CT

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Typically, in the US, residential permits are required for installation/modification of living spaces. But the permitting is regulated by jurisdiction.
> 
> 
> 
> Much the same as here.  I tend to forget to pull them most of the time....
Click to expand...


I’m very “forgetful” too. So I make nice with all of my neighbors.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Typically, in the US, residential permits are required for installation/modification of living spaces. But the permitting is regulated by jurisdiction.
> 
> 
> 
> Much the same as here.  I tend to forget to pull them most of the time....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I’m very “forgetful” too. So I make nice with all of my neighbors.
Click to expand...

When the wife and I were looking to buy, we avoided all properties that we knew had non-permitted work. We loved one house, but it had a large sunroom, fence, and some plumbing work that wasn't permitted. Nope. Too much liability, and then if we were to go and sell, we'd have the same problems. Not worth it from our perspective.


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Typically, in the US, residential permits are required for installation/modification of living spaces. But the permitting is regulated by jurisdiction.
> 
> 
> 
> Much the same as here.  I tend to forget to pull them most of the time....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I’m very “forgetful” too. So I make nice with all of my neighbors.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> When the wife and I were looking to buy, we avoided all properties that we knew had non-permitted work. We loved one house, but it had a large sunroom, fence, and some plumbing work that wasn't permitted. Nope. Too much liability, and then if we were to go and sell, we'd have the same problems. Not worth it from our perspective.
Click to expand...


Ahhh yeah. I’m not talking big projects like that. 

Our city has a lot of silly rules. Technically, when I replaced the top rail of my deck railing that was rotted out, I needed to pull a $100 permit. For me to pull a piece of wood, and replace it with a $12 piece of wood and a dollar of screws, it seemed excessive.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> Ahhh yeah. I’m not talking big projects like that.
> 
> Our city has a lot of silly rules. Technically, when I replaced the top rail of my deck railing that was rotted out, I needed to pull a $100 permit. For me to pull a piece of wood, and replace it with a $12 piece of wood and a dollar of screws, it seemed excessive.


Wow, that does seem pretty excessive!


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Typically, in the US, residential permits are required for installation/modification of living spaces. But the permitting is regulated by jurisdiction.
> 
> 
> 
> Much the same as here.  I tend to forget to pull them most of the time....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I’m very “forgetful” too. So I make nice with all of my neighbors.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> When the wife and I were looking to buy, we avoided all properties that we knew had non-permitted work. We loved one house, but it had a large sunroom, fence, and some plumbing work that wasn't permitted. Nope. Too much liability, and then if we were to go and sell, we'd have the same problems. Not worth it from our perspective.
Click to expand...


Usually, getting stuff into compliance isn't much of a problem if the original work is performed per regulations.  With cameras and all, inspection of stuff behind drywall, typically, is minimally destructive. If stuff isn't up to code ... now it gets destructive, expensive and a problem.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Typically, in the US, residential permits are required for installation/modification of living spaces. But the permitting is regulated by jurisdiction.
> 
> 
> 
> Much the same as here.  I tend to forget to pull them most of the time....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I’m very “forgetful” too. So I make nice with all of my neighbors.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> When the wife and I were looking to buy, we avoided all properties that we knew had non-permitted work. We loved one house, but it had a large sunroom, fence, and some plumbing work that wasn't permitted. Nope. Too much liability, and then if we were to go and sell, we'd have the same problems. Not worth it from our perspective.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ahhh yeah. I’m not talking big projects like that.
> 
> Our city has a lot of silly rules. Technically, when I replaced the top rail of my deck railing that was rotted out, I needed to pull a $100 permit. For me to pull a piece of wood, and replace it with a $12 piece of wood and a dollar of screws, it seemed excessive.
Click to expand...

That is silly.


----------



## Gary A.

Here, you can install a ground floor, free standing deck without a needing a permit.


----------



## davidharmier60

Got my shopping done. Been home for a while. My AC in my truck wouldn't blow air. When I got home I tested the wires and they were not getting power.
Checked the fuses and they aren't blown. Tomorrow morning before it gets oppressive outside I will pull the dashboard and probably jump power to the switch.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Typically, in the US, residential permits are required for installation/modification of living spaces. But the permitting is regulated by jurisdiction.
> 
> 
> 
> Much the same as here.  I tend to forget to pull them most of the time....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I’m very “forgetful” too. So I make nice with all of my neighbors.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> When the wife and I were looking to buy, we avoided all properties that we knew had non-permitted work. We loved one house, but it had a large sunroom, fence, and some plumbing work that wasn't permitted. Nope. Too much liability, and then if we were to go and sell, we'd have the same problems. Not worth it from our perspective.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Usually, getting stuff into compliance isn't much of a problem if the work is performed per regulations.  With cameras and all, inspection of stuff behind drywall, typically, is minimally destructive. If stuff isn't up to code ... now it gets destructive, expensive and a problem.
Click to expand...

Well, it can have several problems. Inspectors won't use cameras to inspect behind drywall during the home buying process, because it would involve some holes. The problem would come if code enforcement finds out and wants to take a look after the house is bought. If not up to code, very destructive and very expensive. 

Another problem is that if it's found to not have permits, that additional square footage, if being accounted for in the price of the house, will not make it's appraisal value. Unless buying in cash, lenders will not provide a mortgage that doesn't meet appraisal.



Gary A. said:


> Here, you can install a deck without a needing a permit.


Like @JonA_CT , one needs permits for a lot in my municipality, including decks.


----------



## smoke665

@tirediron They have submarines????? I didn't know that. My hat's off to anyone who could serve in one. I'm so claustrophobic getting me in one would be like trying to shove a cat in a toliet.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> @tirediron They have submarines????? I didn't know that. My hat's off to anyone who could serve in one. I'm so claustrophobic getting me in one would be like trying to shove a cat in a toliet.



I have a deep appreciation as well. I rode some US hardware for 3 ten day stretches in a former career. That was plenty, and ours (I'm sure the RCN is similar) go out for 6+ months at a time.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## snowbear

We have aerial imagery made each winter (less tree cover); The permit folks can compare external changes, including measurements, to a property over the years, and see if any permits were pulled during that time frame.

Not that they would actually do this.


----------



## Jeff15

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 160405



What does this mean.....?


----------



## pixmedic

Jeff15 said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 160405
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What does this mean.....?
Click to expand...

 
exactly


----------



## Jeff15

What exactly...


----------



## RowdyRay

Jeff15 said:


> What exactly...



Someone is have a problem with proper grammar. Or spell check. Or both. The last part should read "THERE YOU ARE".


----------



## Fujidave

Well what a fantastic day today, met up with a Facebook mate who gave me some tips, tried his Fuji 56mm and fell in love with it.  Then took 100s of photos and got drunk in a jazz club, so off to bed then edit some shots to share tomorrow.


----------



## smoke665

We are almost back on our mountain, and man it is SO HOT...........I'm sweating like a politician on election day.........Stopped at the store on the way in to get bread, and all they had was toast..... Had a traffic jam, while a funeral procession pulled through the Dairy Queen......Had to break wind to get a breeze......The fire ants in the pasture are smoking...... Got a call on the cell from the Jehovah Witnesses, they were telemarketing..........Saw a couple of trees fighting over a dog......."The hotter than all  get out", got the hell out.....Just saw a Nun walk by in Daisy Dukes........At least we're home and can enjoy some Instant Sun tea!


----------



## davidharmier60

Hamburger and fries for dinner. 
The computer is having a connection issue. I rebooted it. It got to the page it wouldn't before the reboot but wouldn't then go to the next page. Sigh.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

RowdyRay said:


> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> What exactly...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Someone is have a problem with proper grammar. Or spell check. Or both. The last part should read "THERE YOU ARE".
Click to expand...


The first part should be " wherever " also.


----------



## RowdyRay

Dean_Gretsch said:


> RowdyRay said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> What exactly...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Someone is have a problem with proper grammar. Or spell check. Or both. The last part should read "THERE YOU ARE".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The first part should be " wherever " also.
Click to expand...


Lol. Oops. Where's the slap myself on the forehead smilie? This will do.


----------



## RowdyRay

What can I say? It was an eleven hour Friday. My brain is fried. Time for a few beers.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> When the wife and I were looking to buy, we avoided all properties that we knew had non-permitted work. We loved one house, but it had a large sunroom, fence, and some plumbing work that wasn't permitted. Nope. Too much liability, and then if we were to go and sell, we'd have the same problems. Not worth it from our perspective.


As long as it's done right, who cares?  The problem with code is, it's a _*minimum*_ standard.  Very, very little of the work I do does not exceed code by a LONG way.  F'rinstance, the deck I rebuilt is about 7x10; it's on double-ganged 2x10 on full-dimension 6x6 posts going into 24x24x12 footings...  Code requirement would be single 2x8, 4x4 posts and probably 12x12x6 footings.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> ...Our city has a lot of silly rules. Technically, when I replaced the top rail of my deck railing that was rotted out, I needed to pull a $100 permit. For me to pull a piece of wood, and replace it with a $12 piece of wood and a dollar of screws, it seemed excessive.


Chances are, if you were to comply with the letter of the law, you'd need to pull a permit to swap out an electrical outlet...


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> @tirediron They have submarines????? I didn't know that. My hat's off to anyone who could serve in one. I'm so claustrophobic getting me in one would be like trying to shove a cat in a toliet.


  Appropriate analogy!  It was good fun... when I was 20-something.  Not sure I'd enjoy it quite as much 30 years later...


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @tirediron They have submarines????? I didn't know that. My hat's off to anyone who could serve in one. I'm so claustrophobic getting me in one would be like trying to shove a cat in a toliet.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have a deep appreciation as well. I rode some US hardware for 3 ten day stretches in a former career. That was plenty, and ours (I'm sure the RCN is similar) go out for 6+ months at a time.
Click to expand...

We go on extended deployments, but because ours are conventional boats, we're limited in our dived time; typical ~72 hours is about the most without snorting and 45 days away from the wall.   Lots of out for 45 days, in for 12 hours and back out for another 45 however...


----------



## tirediron

RowdyRay said:


> Someone is have a problem with proper grammar...


I don't have a problem with my Grammar... she's dead!


----------



## ceemac

As I recall, when my wife and I re-did the kitchen floor, I could disconnect the gas stove. But I had to get a gas fitter, who had to get a permit, to hook it back up. I think it was around 250.00.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Electrical inspection done!  Plumbing inspection on Monday then we’re in the home stretch!!!  Looking forward to quiet mornings and privacy restored.
> 
> 
> 
> Huh... inspections.  I always seem to forget to have those done.  Glad it went well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think you only need those if you get building permits.
Click to expand...




Gary A. said:


> Typically, in the US, residential permits are required for installation/modification of living spaces. But the permitting is regulated by jurisdiction.





JonA_CT said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Typically, in the US, residential permits are required for installation/modification of living spaces. But the permitting is regulated by jurisdiction.
> 
> 
> 
> Much the same as here.  I tend to forget to pull them most of the time....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I’m very “forgetful” too. So I make nice with all of my neighbors.
Click to expand...


I make sure everything we do is permitted because a) I want the work done right and I don’t know enough to make that determination and b) I don’t want to have issues when I sell the house some day.  

Our city has very strict zoning and code requirements which can be restrictive but are also one of the reasons everyone wants to live here instead of the surrounding towns.  I also have this one ahole neighbor who likes to call and complain about everything we do because he doesn’t like that my daughter and her friends make noise while they’re in the pool at _3 o’clock in the afternoon._  He sent the building inspector to see if our pool met code requirements (it does), he had someone from some other agency checking all of my contractor’s guys for licenses (they have them) and he is just a grumpy nasty jerk.  

@JonA_CT  is your brew  group going to be at the brewers fest in VT at the end of the month?


----------



## smoke665

I can see the need for building restrictions/codes/etc. when you have houses in close proximity. The nice thing about living in the country is there are none. Within a 2 mile radius of our house there are homes ranging from junky, barely liveable homes to some well over the 2 million mark. Makes for an eclectic neighborhood, and the reason why we built in the middle of our property, so we can neither see nor be seen, by others. The only restrictions in the county are for septic tanks, you need a perc test, before installing one, but even then there are no "poop" inspectors checking to see if you did one.


----------



## davidharmier60

We live sorta in the sticks and don't pull permits for anything. I'm getting ready to go fix my AC.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 160405



You did that on purpose!  



Dean_Gretsch said:


> RowdyRay said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> What exactly...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Someone is have a problem with proper grammar. Or spell check. Or both. The last part should read "THERE YOU ARE".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The first part should be " wherever " also.
Click to expand...


Brownie points.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> @JonA_CT is your brew group going to be at the brewers fest in VT at the end of the month?



Nah...we have only been doing CT events. We have one coming up in September, but we might have to pull out because our equipment has not arrived yet. (Only 3 weeks late so far...we really need it before the beginning of August).


----------



## Gary A.

*"Nants ingonyama bagithi baba ..."*

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 70F right now, but should hit the mid to upper 80's.  Mary Lou and Gary hit _The Lion King_ last night.  A lovely musical ... we left the show with a strong desire to be Lions or at least live in the Pride Lands. It was a warm evening, about 70F.  We drove home with the top down. This was a first for Gary, driving at night with the top down. A very pleasurable experience.


----------



## Fujidave

Well had a good walk with Susie, edited some of yesterdays shots and now just chilling out.


----------



## Gary A.

Kitchen update: Gary has upgraded his manual liquid carbonation device to an electric carbonation device.  A definite and significant improvement.  The manual worked well.  It delivered good CO2 into whatever liquid I desired.  But the electric is great, the BQ (Bubble Quality) is similar to commercial soda in both small size and concentration.  A simple press of the button ... and Viola!  The manual requires the operator to repeatedly depress a button until the release valve kicks in.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Gary A. said:


> A simple press of the button ... and Viola! .



Don't you love auto correct?


----------



## davidharmier60

Broke the original switch trying to get the wire loom off of it. Have the fan wired to come on with the key just as the compressor is wired. Need to get at least a toggle switch to kill the fan as I usually don't need AC going to work. Got the push mower started and did the front yard and side. Put blades on the tractor. 

Relaxing now. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Well they think it` All Over, well it is Now..lol England lost 2-0


----------



## JonA_CT

We ended up going to our local festival today. It was just getting going, but the crowds will be huge this afternoon and tonight as people get ready for the big fireworks show.

While we were eating lunch, I caught a photographer from the local paper framing up in his head my daughter and her Mac and cheese. I gave the “get your shot” nod, and he took a couple from where he was, and walked over to get a few more. It was interesting to watch him work. He went for wide and close framing after he introduced himself. It’ll be cool to see if any of them make the paper tomorrow.


----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> A simple press of the button ... and Viola! .
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't you love auto correct?
Click to expand...

LOL ... Gary really did mean that after pressing the button, a string instrument appears in the bottle.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Well they think it` All Over, well it is Now..lol England lost 2-0


You Englanders had plenty of opportunities ...


----------



## davidharmier60

Y'all are probably talking about soccer. We don't 'get' soccer.
Just did my comics on ArcaMax.
Been reading too. John Sandford - Rough Country


----------



## Fujidave

Our goalie Pickford did another fantastic save again.


----------



## snowbear

Ended up canceling the Ohio trip - too much going on.  We're going to try for the Esri Conference in San Diego next year; I want MLW to go with me.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Our goalie Pickford did another fantastic save again.


 ... Two saves too few.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes Pickford.  He plays futbol similar to how Americans play football.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Gary likes Pickford.  He plays futbol similar to how Americans play football.



I think that now the world cup is over for us, a lot of the big name clubs might try and buy him.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## Fujidave

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 160474



My school teacher always tried her very best to teach our class good grammar, she still tells me now and I am nearly 57 my teacher was my Mum


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 160474


----------



## JonA_CT

Thousands hit Sailfest for food, fun and fireworks

My daughter's picture is in there...I'll buy a copy of the paper tomorrow to see if it make the print edition.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all lovely and sunny today and rather warm, might be picking up my new Varifocal glasses today then lunch at Mum`s.


----------



## smoke665

Guess we won't be going to the gulf till cold weather has a chance to clean things up. Though not as bad as Florida, the health warnings for our coast was on the news today. They're saying now that even breathing the air close to this crap can cause problems. Aerial footage shows devastation from toxic blue-green algae on Southwest Florida waterways


----------



## davidharmier60

I put on my cleanest dirty shirt.
Sunday morning going down.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Tony744

Johnny Cash!

Funny story about that song. When Kris Kristofferson was trying to make his break in Nashville he was working as a helicopter pilot. One day he landed his bird in Cash's yard getting his attention. Cash recorded that song which became a #1 hit.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Thousands hit Sailfest for food, fun and fireworks
> 
> My daughter's picture is in there...I'll buy a copy of the paper tomorrow to see if it make the print edition.


mmmmmhhh ... Mac & Cheese.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Thousands hit Sailfest for food, fun and fireworks
> 
> My daughter's picture is in there...I'll buy a copy of the paper tomorrow to see if it make the print edition.


You should subscribe.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Guess we won't be going to the gulf till cold weather has a chance to clean things up. Though not as bad as Florida, the health warnings for our coast was on the news today. They're saying now that even breathing the air close to this crap can cause problems. Aerial footage shows devastation from toxic blue-green algae on Southwest Florida waterways


Sorta makes earthquakes look tame.


----------



## Gary A.

Getting ready for World Cup!  The Croatian bar that Gary knows of, is 30 minutes away.  Too far and too early.  Mary Lou is speaking of making 'French Toast'.  Gary is getting out of his PJ's and heading to Panera for some bagels and pastries.  Much easier.  Sometimes easy is better than good.  Gotta go 15 minutes before guests arrive.


----------



## snowbear

One application submitted.  I'll spend the next couple of days going through the various jobs emails I get.



smoke665 said:


> Guess we won't be going to the gulf till cold weather has a chance to clean things up. Though not as bad as Florida, the health warnings for our coast was on the news today. They're saying now that even breathing the air close to this crap can cause problems. Aerial footage shows devastation from toxic blue-green algae on Southwest Florida waterways


No thanks - I'll stay up this way.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> No thanks - I'll stay up this way



In another story, Lake Erie may get it this summer as well


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> One application submitted. I'll spend the next couple of days going through the various jobs emails I get.



So are you thinking of pulling up roots and moving or staying local????  Years ago, when we moved here for a job, I told the DW that the plan was to stay a couple of years and transfer to somewhere else. Then after the years sort of faded away, I told her that when we retired she could pick the place. So when retirement came around she searched, and read everything she could find, but when it came down to choosing the place to build, she chose here. LOL


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> One application submitted. I'll spend the next couple of days going through the various jobs emails I get.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So are you thinking of pulling up roots and moving or staying local????  Years ago, when we moved here for a job, I told the DW that the plan was to stay a couple of years and transfer to somewhere else. Then after the years sort of faded away, I told her that when we retired she could pick the place. So when retirement came around she searched, and read everything she could find, but when it came down to choosing the place to build, she chose here. LOL
Click to expand...


Moving isn't as much fun the older you get.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thousands hit Sailfest for food, fun and fireworks
> 
> My daughter's picture is in there...I'll buy a copy of the paper tomorrow to see if it make the print edition.
> 
> 
> 
> You should subscribe.
Click to expand...


I subscribe to the other paper in the area. I did buy two Sunday Bulletins though.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'd like to think we moved for the last time.
But I fear that's not to be.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Where is she Jon? scrolling across everybody's heads are cut off! lol Maybe they're on there somewhere else except across the top of the page and I just didn't see them.

International lacrosse on ESPN earlier, Team USA squeaked past Canada even with a bad penalty at the end (and good efforts goaltending). Replay this evening. 

I wondered Charlie if you had come this-a-way, bummer but it's so darn hot and hazy and humid it was a crappy weekend to do much outdoors anyway. Went cruising thru the local car cruise in but hardly anyone there and I took maybe 3 pictures and we left and got ice cream. 

I didn't catch what all was happening with your job, did someone else leaving/retiring or whatever eliminate your position? Or affect it some way that you're looking for something else.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> One application submitted. I'll spend the next couple of days going through the various jobs emails I get.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So are you thinking of pulling up roots and moving or staying local????  Years ago, when we moved here for a job, I told the DW that the plan was to stay a couple of years and transfer to somewhere else. Then after the years sort of faded away, I told her that when we retired she could pick the place. So when retirement came around she searched, and read everything she could find, but when it came down to choosing the place to build, she chose here. LOL
Click to expand...


Either way.  Our ultimate goal is to go north, but other directions are options if something comes up.  MLW doesn't want to abandon the Chief, but with the change in administration, all bets are off.

This particular one is about an hour further north than we currently work; still in MD but not far from PA.  We will move.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> I wondered Charlie if you had come this-a-way, bummer but it's so darn hot and hazy and humid it was a crappy weekend to do much outdoors anyway. Went cruising thru the local car cruise in but hardly anyone there and I took maybe 3 pictures and we left and got ice cream.
> 
> I didn't catch what all was happening with your job, did someone else leaving/retiring or whatever eliminate your position? Or affect it some way that you're looking for something else.


I was supposed to go up there at the end of the month.  Everything's canceled and the only thing I actually paid was the flight.  Southwest just gives me a credit so I'll fly somewhere else later.

Nothing has happened, but contract may not be renewed.  My contact boss resigned and the contract, which was up at the end of June, has only been extended until October.  Maybe it's because we are just starting a new fiscal year, I don't know.

The administration will be changing, due to term limits.  My company is actually based in Illinois, and it's always more desirable for contracts to be awarded to local companies.  From what I've seen, when a contract changes, the contacted managers may change, but the workers are generally kept, but not always; it depends on the company.  But I don't want to take a chance on being left out, so I start looking now.


----------



## Fujidave

Great day today down at the music hall, cracking day seeing the singers.


----------



## davidharmier60

Jiminy! I just went down to the store for groceries and to reset the charger on the floor machine. They stripped and rewxwed the floor Friday night.
Where there isn't a horrible mess the floor looks good. But there is SO MUCH MESS! Tomorrow morning ought to be really special.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, lovely and sunny with a cool breeze so just having a brew then off to pick up Susie, as she stayed over at Mum`s.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Now you know that changing one's oil on a hot day when one is slightly claustrophobic and prone to dizziness when looking up can lead to feeling kinda doubleplusungood and one must go inside to sit upright with some ice water to ixnay the urlhay.


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh Monday. The coffeemaker wasn't on this morning.  I started it. Amazingly I didn't leave me head at home.
4 hours and 5x minutes. 
Got to take tomato sauce home.
Just had chicken tenders and gravy. 
Gonna shop, hit the PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Now you know that changing one's oil on a hot day when one is slightly claustrophobic and prone to dizziness when looking up can lead to feeling kinda doubleplusungood and one must go inside to sit upright with some ice water to ixnay the urlhay.





Hope that passes soon, and for good!    


Happy Monday, hosers.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Man, an amazing drive.  Dunno why, but the freeways were wide open this morning.  It was like a wet dream drive.  Just got home and the A/C is out again.  Gotta call the A/C man. Gary’s oldest daughter and kids are in town from St. Louis.  They all like salmon ... so salmon for dinner.


----------



## JonA_CT

My in laws are in town this week, and then we are headed out to the Poconos for a few days next week. Summer feels like it’s slipping away.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Now you know that changing one's oil on a hot day when one is slightly claustrophobic and prone to dizziness when looking up can lead to feeling kinda doubleplusungood and one must go inside to sit upright with some ice water to ixnay the urlhay.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Now you know that changing one's oil on a hot day when one is slightly claustrophobic and prone to dizziness when looking up can lead to feeling kinda doubleplusungood and one must go inside to sit upright with some ice water to ixnay the urlhay.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hope that passes soon, and for good!
> 
> 
> Happy Monday, hosers.
Click to expand...




snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Now you know that changing one's oil on a hot day when one is slightly claustrophobic and prone to dizziness when looking up can lead to feeling kinda doubleplusungood and one must go inside to sit upright with some ice water to ixnay the urlhay.
Click to expand...


Nothing that some cold water, air conditioning, and upright sitting didn't cure, at least for the moment. I found that I will have to lie mostly on my side when changing oil, especially on hot days.

As for the dizziness - not sure what all is up with that. It isn't all the time; mostly I just have to avoid looking straight up or being upsidedown. Every once in a while, I will feel dizzy for a day or two, but thankfully nothing bad enough that it affects functioning. And I can't stand up too quickly without getting a head rush.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gotta call the A/C man. Gary’s oldest daughter and kids are in town from St. Louis. They all like salmon ... so salmon for dinner.



But I thought the weather was always a perfect 72 degrees there???? No worries on our air for at least the next few years. Just replaced both units this spring to the tune of 11k. Until warranty runs out they're the A/c companies problem.

Great news on visiting daughter and family, know you'll enjoy that.


----------



## smoke665

Feeling a little voyeuristic. I installed a remote control camera that I can access over the internet from my cell phone, to check on Sadie Mae while we are away. We call it Sadiecam.  it has audio so I can listen and talk to her. She's a little freaked out about that part, can't figure out where I'm hiding.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> As for the dizziness - not sure what all is up with that. It isn't all the time; mostly I just have to avoid looking straight up or being upsidedown. Every once in a while, I will feel dizzy for a day or two, but thankfully nothing bad enough that it affects functioning. And I can't stand up too quickly without getting a head rush.



That is all inner ear and sinus related.  I’ve had similar episodes and it is usually mild dizziness and comes and goes before being annoying enough to go to the dr.


----------



## davidharmier60

Spaghetti soon. YouTube is keeping me humming and tapping to the music.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> As for the dizziness - not sure what all is up with that. It isn't all the time; mostly I just have to avoid looking straight up or being upsidedown. Every once in a while, I will feel dizzy for a day or two, but thankfully nothing bad enough that it affects functioning. And I can't stand up too quickly without getting a head rush.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is all inner ear and sinus related.  I’ve had similar episodes and it is usually mild dizziness and comes and goes before being annoying enough to go to the dr.
Click to expand...

Good call.  I would guess that, and also suggest you keep your B/P checked, especially if you run on the low side.


----------



## tirediron

So........ under the heading of, "Why did I get stung by wasps walking down the driveway yesterday?"









20' from the front door...


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> So........ under the heading of, "Why did I get stung by wasps walking down the driveway yesterday?"



Here in our part of the world we call those hornets. A sure fire way to tell is go up and thump that sucker on the side. If they're still chasing you after a mile of running for your life ..... they're probably the mean little buggers we call hornets.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> So........ under the heading of, "Why did I get stung by wasps walking down the driveway yesterday?"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here in our part of the world we call those hornets. A sure fire way to tell is go up and thump that sucker on the side. If they're still chasing you after a mile of running for your life ..... they're probably the mean little buggers we call hornets.
Click to expand...

There's a package coming in the mail for you... ignore the buzzing noise.  Just open it!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> So........ under the heading of, "Why did I get stung by wasps walking down the driveway yesterday?"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 20' from the front door...



Does anyone else see a face in the nest that reminds them of Munch's "The Scream"?

Totally the first thing I saw.


----------



## tirediron

Now that you mention it.


----------



## RowdyRay

tirediron said:


> Now that you mention it.



Beat me to it. It does look like it.


----------



## RowdyRay

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> So........ under the heading of, "Why did I get stung by wasps walking down the driveway yesterday?"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here in our part of the world we call those hornets. A sure fire way to tell is go up and thump that sucker on the side. If they're still chasing you after a mile of running for your life ..... they're probably the mean little buggers we call hornets.
Click to expand...


Hornets are lazy. Maybe a half mile. Ground bees are worse. Hornets give up, but ground bees are ruthless. Just when you thought it was safe to stop running......Run again! Trust me. 

I'm not allergic to bee stings, but a good portion of my family is. Stung so many times I can't count. Just so others can enjoy their day. Pushed them or yelled at them to run, and I hang back. Sucks, but the day wasn't ruined and no EpiPens were used.


----------



## SquarePeg

Yuck sorry you got stung.  

Hosers!  All star Game tomorrow night.  Chris Sale starting for the AL.  I can’t believe I’ve barely watched any ball and it’s the all star break!  Wow that was a busy spring.  Time to get back to the things I enjoy.


----------



## snowbear

Blah - feels like I'm trying to come down with a sinus infection.  Jammin' allergies.



SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  All star Game tomorrow night.  Chris Sale starting for the AL.  I can’t believe I’ve barely watched any ball and it’s the all star break!  Wow that was a busy spring.  Time to get back to the things I enjoy.


I think that is here.


----------



## terri

tirediron said:


> So........ under the heading of, "Why did I get stung by wasps walking down the driveway yesterday?"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 20' from the front door...




That's really beautiful.   Terrifying, but beautiful.     

Not what you want to see just outside the front door, or anywhere near your home!


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> So........ under the heading of, "Why did I get stung by wasps walking down the driveway yesterday?"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 20' from the front door...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's really beautiful.   Terrifying, but beautiful.
> 
> Not what you want to see just outside the front door, or anywhere near your home!
Click to expand...

Definitely not; in another hour or so it will be pulp.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, a lot cooler today thank god as the heat has played hell with my COPD so glad it is not so hot.  Susie stayed at Mum`s again so off to go and get her in a bit.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> Blah - feels like I'm trying to come down with a sinus infection.  Jammin' allergies.



Feel better.  Come to St. Louis, we have all kinds of allergy irritants. We are hosting a grad student from Panama and she is experiencing allergies for the first time.


----------



## CherylL

Picked up a new car on our trip.  One for my miniature series.  Now to get some models.


----------



## snowbear

CherylL said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Blah - feels like I'm trying to come down with a sinus infection.  Jammin' allergies.
> 
> 
> 
> That's OK - we have enough here.
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gotta call the A/C man. Gary’s oldest daughter and kids are in town from St. Louis. They all like salmon ... so salmon for dinner.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But I thought the weather was always a perfect 72 degrees there???? No worries on our air for at least the next few years. Just replaced both units this spring to the tune of 11k. Until warranty runs out they're the A/c companies problem.
> 
> Great news on visiting daughter and family, know you'll enjoy that.
Click to expand...

Gary fixed the A/C in time for the guests.  But we stayed outside most of the time. The guests were Gary's oldest daughter and his two grandchildren in from St. Louis. The weather here seemed like a Spring day to them.  We took a long 3 mile walk along the creek and horse paths during the hottest part of the day. The kids had a lot of full chasing Maggie through the water and under the bridges. 

Unfortunately, LA doesn't have perfect 72F weather all year round.  If Gary wanted that, he'd move to San Diego.


----------



## Gary A.

CherylL said:


> Picked up a new car on our trip.  One for my miniature series.  Now to get some models.


What year and model?


----------



## waday

CherylL said:


> Picked up a new car on our trip.  One for my miniature series.  Now to get some models.


I must be doing something wrong, because I usually just get little trinkets and souvenirs on vacation.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday was a good day.  Between work and play Gary racked up more than 19,000 steps (9+ miles).  Gary's grandchildren, Luke 8 and Claire 4, flew in from St. Louis. Walks along the horse trails and games and water hoses and Maggie dominated the day. Gary tossed a huge Salmon, (the biggest he could find at Costco), onto the Kamado, and it tuned out deliciously perfect. (He had to cut the fish in half and it still barely fit.) We all drank Champagne and Zin from Temecula, drove around town with the top down, sipped on freshly roasted coffee and bubbly water flavored with fruits and leaves from the yard. A very pleasant day.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning again  y'all. 5.38 if I remember correctly 10.21 for the week so far. 
Enjoying chicken tenders and gravy and home fries at the deli. Sold my box of pennies to Trish. Going to get another box, the PO, box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

@ smoke665: Starting the morning constitutional with Miss Maggie.  70F presently, may reach the mid 80's, no humidity to speak of ... turning off A/C.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Unfortunately, LA doesn't have perfect 72F weather all year round.



Really????  Seems it never rains in Southern California....or at least I've heard that kind of talk before.


----------



## smoke665

RowdyRay said:


> but ground bees are ruthless. Just when you thought it was safe to stop running......Run again! Trust me.



We have yellow jackets (wasps) that burrow in the ground. Mean little buggers that will sting you for no reason. They aren't nearly as bad as the Guinea Wasps. They nest everywhere in shrubs, under rocks, eves, anywhere they can find a little shelter. They're territorial, you get within a few feet of the nest and they'll swarm you. Had some build a nest in one of the post on the RV shelter. My wife just walked by and they got her a couple of times before she got away. I tried using wasp spray on them and it just made them mad, chased me down the driveway a good 100 yards. Finally let them settle down, and used starting fluid and a match to fry them.


----------



## CherylL

Gary A. said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Picked up a new car on our trip.  One for my miniature series.  Now to get some models.
> 
> 
> 
> What year and model?
Click to expand...


'57 Corvette hard top


----------



## CherylL

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gotta call the A/C man. Gary’s oldest daughter and kids are in town from St. Louis. They all like salmon ... so salmon for dinner.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But I thought the weather was always a perfect 72 degrees there???? No worries on our air for at least the next few years. Just replaced both units this spring to the tune of 11k. Until warranty runs out they're the A/c companies problem.
> 
> Great news on visiting daughter and family, know you'll enjoy that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary fixed the A/C in time for the guests.  But we stayed outside most of the time. The guests were Gary's oldest daughter and his two grandchildren in from St. Louis. The weather here seemed like a Spring day to them.  We took a long 3 mile walk along the creek and horse paths during the hottest part of the day. The kids had a lot of full chasing Maggie through the water and under the bridges.
> 
> Unfortunately, LA doesn't have perfect 72F weather all year round.  If Gary wanted that, he'd move to San Diego.
Click to expand...


Tell them not to come back to St. Louis.  Horrible hot humid summer.  We got home from Mexico first of June and it was lower humidity in Mexico!


----------



## Gary A.

CherylL said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Picked up a new car on our trip.  One for my miniature series.  Now to get some models.
> 
> 
> 
> What year and model?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> '57 Corvette hard top
Click to expand...

Nice.


----------



## Gary A.

CherylL said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gotta call the A/C man. Gary’s oldest daughter and kids are in town from St. Louis. They all like salmon ... so salmon for dinner.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But I thought the weather was always a perfect 72 degrees there???? No worries on our air for at least the next few years. Just replaced both units this spring to the tune of 11k. Until warranty runs out they're the A/c companies problem.
> 
> Great news on visiting daughter and family, know you'll enjoy that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary fixed the A/C in time for the guests.  But we stayed outside most of the time. The guests were Gary's oldest daughter and his two grandchildren in from St. Louis. The weather here seemed like a Spring day to them.  We took a long 3 mile walk along the creek and horse paths during the hottest part of the day. The kids had a lot of full chasing Maggie through the water and under the bridges.
> 
> Unfortunately, LA doesn't have perfect 72F weather all year round.  If Gary wanted that, he'd move to San Diego.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Tell them not to come back to St. Louis.  Horrible hot humid summer.  We got home from Mexico first of June and it was lower humidity in Mexico!
Click to expand...

Her husband is coming out today and landing in San Diego.  He said that the windows were all fogged up like a steam bath.


----------



## SquarePeg

Torrential downpour just passed through.  Flash flood warnings in effect.   Safe and sound here at home.  Princess is up in Maine with her friends family.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Torrential downpour just passed through.  Flash flood warnings in effect.   Safe and sound here at home.  Princess is up in Maine with her friends family.


We were part of that at the southern end of it. Had some lightning and pretty loud thunder, as well.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Had some lightning and pretty loud thunder, as well.



Yes thunder now.  Scaredy doggie time.


----------



## vintagesnaps

We had pop up thunderstorms here last night, got really dark once but never did rain, just cruised on by. Sunny and a little breezy today which is a coolerish front coming thru - supposed to be mid 80s mid 60s which I'll take! it's an improvement. Hope SharonCat that your storms move on thru without getting too bad.


----------



## davidharmier60

Just STEAMY and NEAR 100 outside. That's why I'm inside!


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> Just STEAMY and NEAR 100 outside. That's why I'm inside!



Same here.


----------



## Fujidave

Nice cool breeze today, had a cracker too and it looks like one of my best too as one of the singers is going to help me set up a page for all my busker shots.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good for you Dave! 

'I'm so sick I should've been buried yesterday!' lol Not me! Quote of a line from this film short that's on... at a little outdoor cafe with a sign up that says Biggest Glass of Beer in Town, 5 cents. Yup, it was a big glass mug and did it look good! 

A Vitaphone Variety, didn't see the year. I don't get the 'plot' because there isn't any... This cafe owner was hiring waiters and they had these applicants? lined up, one looked like a tall Curly and another looked like a short Laurel. He went down the line making jokes and that was the end... 

Ooh, there's a George Raft movie coming on. He and Bogie are in a truck so obviously in studio bouncing along not actually going anywhere. 'You dirty son of a road hog!' lol Not one of the better lines by Bogie.


----------



## Fujidave

Thank you Sharon, I am really looking forward to it.  I have a Facebook account that I set up so got all the singers/buskers as friends so they see all the photos I take and share, but Emily Rose is going to show me how to set up another page just for the photos so I can then Tag who`s who.


----------



## Tony744

Got back to work after lunch in time to see dark clouds rolling in, and 3 pallets of miscellaneous product sitting in the parking lot. Jumped into the tractor and started moving them into the garage we use for storage. Was going for the third pallet when the skies opened up. A moment or two later a bolt of lightning struck somewhere behind the garage.


----------



## Gary A.

A warm and pleasant day. Mary Lou took the kids to the water park, another easy walk in the opposite direction.  There is a large pirate head in the kiddie area.  The head fills with water then slowly spills the at first, then the spill picks up a bit of speed.  The little ones all scream and scatter as the pirate tips.  The head flips back upright and starts to fill again and the little ones return ... and it begins again, ad infinitum.


----------



## smoke665

Tony744 said:


> A moment or two later a bolt of lightning struck somewhere behind the garage.



If it's not close enough to make the hair stand up on your arms and the back of your neck, you've still got a few minutes. LOL


----------



## JonA_CT

Same set of thunderstorms came through here...mostly just heavy rain here on the coast (on-shore marine flow for the win, per usual), but it seems like there might have been a tornado further north, close to UCONN.


----------



## CherylL

About an hour out from home Saturday, we drove through a heavy rain storm.  Lots of cars pulled off the interstate.  Finally, got ahead of it and an hour after we got home it hit us again!  Lost power for 5 hours.

I do want to clarify my earlier post that the corvette is a miniature.  Wish it was the real thing.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, lovely sunny day today so got Susie out early before it gets too hot.  Over to help Mum then off to see the singers.


----------



## davidharmier60

I like the miniature stuff too.
Another day another 60 cents after taxes.

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----------



## Gary A.

CherylL said:


> About an hour out from home Saturday, we drove through a heavy rain storm.  Lots of cars pulled off the interstate.  Finally, got ahead of it and an hour after we got home it hit us again!  Lost power for 5 hours.
> 
> I do want to clarify my earlier post that the corvette is a miniature.  Wish it was the real thing.


Interestingly enough, the other day Gary was speaking to a friend about convertibles.  He had a '57 Corvette.  I mentioned those didn't have any suspensions.  He started laughing and then began the long monologue on the major deficiency of that car, including, but not limited to safety issues of steering and braking.  Apparently, it was relatively easy to kill yourself in that car ... no, that's not it ...  The car would kill you, either slowly over time by taking your kidney's out or quickly in an uncontrollable, momentous crash. (But either way, you looked good going ...)


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Aahhhhhh ... the Marine Layer is somewhat back.  It is slightly overcast and 70F presently.  Projected to break into the lower to mid 80's.  Gary is thinking of either Dog Beach or a movie for the afternoon. Mary Lou is beat after being in the sun at the water park yesterday. Some breakfast for Miss Maggie ... maybe an egg with her banana and yogurt ...


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Are the kids still visiting?


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. Are the kids still visiting?


Yes they are.  Both Sarah and her husband are from SoCal and they have a lot of relatives here.  So a day or two here ... a day or two there, et cetera.  And Amy just returned from a trip to Ireland.  So they're all here.


----------



## davidharmier60

Two difference guys I talk to here at the store say it's hot out there. Tell me something I DON'T know. 5 plus hours. 
16.07 for the week so far. 
Deli had chicken and dumplings for lunch.
Not bad at all. Got to kill about 50 more minutes.  Yuck. 

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----------



## SquarePeg

Wow finally made it outside today.  It’s 81 with a beautiful light breeze and some fluffy clouds.  Top 10 day!


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Yes they are. Both Sarah and her husband are from SoCal and they have a lot of relatives here. So a day or two here ... a day or two there, et cetera. And Amy just returned from a trip to Ireland. So they're all here.



Hope you enjoy. It's difficult when kids live so far away, but then it makes it really special when everyone is together.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Low humidity!

Glad those of you on the east coast that checked in here are doing OK, looks like there was a good bit of flooding after the storms.


----------



## smoke665

Picked up a used dehumidifier the other day to put in our RV. We've been experiencing some problems with mildew if we leave it closed up in the summer. Just hooked it up today and in 4 hours of running it's already pulled a gallon of water out of the air inside the trailer, and we've left the A/C on  since we got back in. At this rate I'll need to run a hose to the outside. Exterior humidity is only 62% but has been in the high 80% to low 90% over the last week ago.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes they are. Both Sarah and her husband are from SoCal and they have a lot of relatives here. So a day or two here ... a day or two there, et cetera. And Amy just returned from a trip to Ireland. So they're all here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hope you enjoy. It's difficult when kids live so far away, but then it makes it really special when everyone is together.
Click to expand...

Sarah says the weather will cool off by October.  So we'll be visiting them when the weather is more humane.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> we'll be visiting them when the weather is more humane



I grew up 100 miles south of St Louis, 20 miles or so from the Mississippi River, in what's called the Delta. At least St. Louis has some hills to get you high enough to catch a breeze every now and then. In the Delta when the ambient temperature is hitting close to the 100 mark and the humidity is the same, it is horrible.


----------



## dxqcanada

Hmm, up here in Canada ... 72F with 47% humidity, and sun ... sitting on my shady deck with a beer (and a laptop).


----------



## terri

dxqcanada said:


> Hmm, up here in Canada ... 72F with 47% humidity, and sun ... sitting on my shady deck with a beer (and a laptop).


That one's hard to beat.


----------



## dxqcanada

Though it has not been that nice this year ... this is what I expect for Canadian summers ... but we are getting warmer every year ... that cold front that just came through cooled things down.


----------



## Fujidave

Well it was another pretty warm day today, only a slight cool breeze so I think the weather lot don`t know when we will get cool weather.


----------



## Gary A.

Mid 80's, humidity in the low 30 percentile about to drop top and head down to Long Beach (70's) to watch _Three Identical Strangers_.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Wow finally made it outside today.  It’s 81 with a beautiful light breeze and some fluffy clouds.  Top 10 day!



We finally have lower humidity today too.  Sat outside for a little while.


----------



## davidharmier60

I got good shots of the front of the house 
The rear is going to take some work.
And if they insist on roof shots we are hosed. 

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----------



## Gary A.

The movie was good and free, (Movie Pass has been a windfall for us). Mid 70's in Long Beach, drove with the top down.  Guests came over and we enjoyed Japanese.  Presently, eating homemade blueberry and strawberry ice cream and sipping a glass of Meritage from Santa Barbara County.


----------



## ceemac

Beautiful here. 26C in the sun, humidity about 25%.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, overcast and cool today so Susie had a good run in the park and loved it.  Today I will be meeting up with Emily who has kindly offer to help set up my new page for the photos of the singers from the music hall, so I am looking forward to that.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> The movie was good and free, (Movie Pass has been a windfall for us). Mid 70's in Long Beach, drove with the top down.  Guests came over and we enjoyed Japanese.  Presently, eating homemade blueberry and strawberry ice cream and sipping a glass of Meritage from Santa Barbara County.



What did you see?  I’m in the mood for a movie tonight but don’t see anything interesting...


----------



## smoke665

Spent 2 1/2 hrs on the phone yesterday evening  getting shuffled from one tech support agent to another with my bank and my accounting software after my bank's "world class" phone app locked all my online services (not the 1st time it's done it, but it will be the last). Finally gave up in disgust. Apparently it reset itself overnight, because this morning everything logged in with no problems. What PITA!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The movie was good and free, (Movie Pass has been a windfall for us). Mid 70's in Long Beach, drove with the top down.  Guests came over and we enjoyed Japanese.  Presently, eating homemade blueberry and strawberry ice cream and sipping a glass of Meritage from Santa Barbara County.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What did you see?  I’m in the mood for a movie tonight but don’t see anything interesting...
Click to expand...

_Three Identical Strangers_.  A documentary of triplets separated as infants. Not pure entertainment, but some twists and turns and it will make you think.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks you would really enjoy _RBG_.  Gary found _Leave No Trace_ ... okay, Mary Lou liked it more than he.


----------



## Gary A.

_American Animals_ was good, not five star good, but worth seeing.


----------



## Gary A.

_The Rider_ was good, not five star good, but still worth seeing.


----------



## Gary A.

And _Upgrade_ was very good, pure entertainment. _The Rider_ and _American Animals_ was quasi documentary.


----------



## Gary A.

Check, 'Rotten Tomatoes' for more info.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> _Three Identical Strangers_.  A documentary of triplets separated as infants. Not pure entertainment, but some twists and turns and it will make you think.





Spoiler: Spoiler



...That was the one where the triplets were part of an experiment that's still ongoing that also involves a bunch of other siblings that were also separated at birth (even though they don't know) and where everything is being held confidential until around 2060?


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _Three Identical Strangers_.  A documentary of triplets separated as infants. Not pure entertainment, but some twists and turns and it will make you think.
> 
> 
> 
> ...That was the one where the triplets were part of an experiment that's still ongoing that also involves a bunch of other siblings that were also separated at birth (even though they don't know) and where everything is being held confidential until around 2060?
Click to expand...

Yep ... 2075. (Don't give away the plot )


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _Three Identical Strangers_.  A documentary of triplets separated as infants. Not pure entertainment, but some twists and turns and it will make you think.
> 
> 
> 
> ...That was the one where the triplets were part of an experiment that's still ongoing that also involves a bunch of other siblings that were also separated at birth (even though they don't know) and where everything is being held confidential until around 2060?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yep ... 2075. (Don't give away the plot )
Click to expand...

I read an article about it....

I'll put my previous post in spoiler quotes...


----------



## davidharmier60

A few seconds after noon folks.
For the last hour or so was working in the milk cooler where I put in liners the other day.  Took a Lot of scraping sweeping and mopping to get the stinky stuff up off the floor. Much kneeling,  squatting and getting head down to floor level. About kicked my butt. Just enjoyed chicken tenders and gravy at the deli. PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## vintagesnaps

I had my share of triplets and quadruplets when I was working... even one family that had a set of each, still young enough to not be in school yet. Mealtime at their house was an interesting experience! 

I would go get something done but international lacrosse is on, USA leading Australia. Haven't seen much of the tournament, only US or Canada games were on and with the time difference they started out showing later replays of early morning/middle of the night games but weren't showing those anymore. And the US and Canada both qualified early and had bye days so the tourney's almost over and I hardly saw much of it. I think it'll be the US and Canada in the consolation and championship games tomorrow and Saturday.


----------



## Fujidave

Got about about an hour ago from a fantastic day taking photos and getting help setting up a site on FB for my singers photos.  Walk in and I get an ashtray thrown at me by the wife who then says Why did I send our boy off and what have I been doing today. So after sorting out my arm and head I tell her go to bed or I call the police.  Yes we lost our son, but I lost our son and my brother, so if she is still bad with me in the morning she can have a divorce and I can live my life, I am sorry but I am fed up of been hit and slapped and accused of killing our boy.  Sorry about this rant but I have to say it to get it off my chest.


----------



## snowbear

I had a fun day at work.

The Fire/EMS Department has to check if any new residential development is within seven minutes of an existing fire station; any parcels outside seven minutes have a fee levied.  I set up a web app that allows the Investigators run the check.  The problem is, and I can't really do anything about it, proposed roads are probably not in the database, so the we can't readily run those in the coverage analysis.

In that event, we have to add the roads into the database, rebuild the road network, and run the analysis locally.  It's not difficult, but adding the roads can be very time consuming.  We need at least a drawing (drafting or another map).  I can then take that image, "paste" it to my map (georeferencing) by making registration points on both the drawing and the map, then trace the developer's roads as new data records for my roads.  I then set speed limits and relative elevation (typically zero), run a calculation to determine how long it takes to drive across each road segment, then I tell the computer to "build network."  Once that's done, I run the time analysis, make a final map, add a narrative to the email and it's off to the Fire folks.  The longest part is georeferencing and tracing the roads.  I grabbed a PNG the developer emailed - just a copy of a map with their lines drawn on it.  Pasted it to my work map, traced the roads and _BAM_ - most of the development is covered.  It was a little over four hours, only because I had some issues with the network so I ran it a second time.  Unfortunately, what they REALLY wanted was the area that wasn't covered; they didn't draw those lines on the little map.  It's OK, the boss sent on.

Now comes the rest of the day (and some of Monday).  I extracted the large scale drawings (1" = 30') from the supplied PDF (I think there were 16 of them) using a screen capture tool.  Now I'll bring each into Photoshop, then stitch them together so I have one big-@$$ image (60" x 60" should cover it), then georeference THAT bad boy.  Once those roads are added, I'll run it again, though I don't think it will matter much - there are no additional access roads.

The boss is going to tell / suggest that either the developers run the analysis themselves, or supply us with the electronic CAD (drafting) files, and we will run everything.  If they want us to do it, he's going to say he needs another full time contractor just to handle this.


----------



## snowbear

Fujidave said:


> Got about about an hour ago from a fantastic day taking photos and getting help setting up a site on FB for my singers photos.  Walk in and I get an ashtray thrown at me by the wife who then says Why did I send our boy off and what have I been doing today. So after sorting out my arm and head I tell her go to bed or I call the police.  Yes we lost our son, but I lost our son and my brother, so if she is still bad with me in the morning she can have a divorce and I can live my life, I am sorry but I am fed up of been hit and slapped and accused of killing our boy.  Sorry about this rant but I have to say it to get it off my chest.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Got about about an hour ago from a fantastic day taking photos and getting help setting up a site on FB for my singers photos.  Walk in and I get an ashtray thrown at me by the wife who then says Why did I send our boy off and what have I been doing today. So after sorting out my arm and head I tell her go to bed or I call the police.  Yes we lost our son, but I lost our son and my brother, so if she is still bad with me in the morning she can have a divorce and I can live my life, I am sorry but I am fed up of been hit and slapped and accused of killing our boy.  Sorry about this rant but I have to say it to get it off my chest.


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> Got about about an hour ago from a fantastic day taking photos and getting help setting up a site on FB for my singers photos.  Walk in and I get an ashtray thrown at me by the wife who then says Why did I send our boy off and what have I been doing today. So after sorting out my arm and head I tell her go to bed or I call the police.  Yes we lost our son, but I lost our son and my brother, so if she is still bad with me in the morning she can have a divorce and I can live my life, I am sorry but I am fed up of been hit and slapped and accused of killing our boy.  Sorry about this rant but I have to say it to get it off my chest.


 
I'm sorry


----------



## davidharmier60

Geez FD I know not what to say. Hang in there buddy!


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> I had my share of triplets and quadruplets when I was working... even one family that had a set of each, still young enough to not be in school yet. Mealtime at their house was an interesting experience!
> 
> I would go get something done but international lacrosse is on, USA leading Australia. Haven't seen much of the tournament, only US or Canada games were on and with the time difference they started out showing later replays of early morning/middle of the night games but weren't showing those anymore. And the US and Canada both qualified early and had bye days so the tourney's almost over and I hardly saw much of it. I think it'll be the US and Canada in the consolation and championship games tomorrow and Saturday.



I’m sorry, are you seriously telling me that people watch lacrosse even though they don’t have a kid on the team?  

@Fujidave  I’m so sorry for your troubles.  Sounds like your wife is in pain and lashing out.  Don’t let this tragedy tear you apart.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> I’m sorry, are you seriously telling me that people watch lacrosse even though they don’t have a kid on the team?


Strange, isn't it.  Kinda like watching baseball without a kid on the team.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I’m sorry, are you seriously telling me that people watch lacrosse even though they don’t have a kid on the team?
> 
> 
> 
> Strange, isn't it.  Kinda like watching baseball without a kid on the team.
Click to expand...


Nah. Baseball is boring. Lacrosse is more fun to watch.


----------



## Gary A.

Maggie and M͠a͠x͠

We are dog sitting M͠a͠x͠, until his human returns from a six day trip.


----------



## Gary A.

This is Philippe’s, home of the original French Dip. Philippe’s claims to have invented the French Dip. The sandwiches here are absolutely Delish.  Mary Lou and Gary will be watching _The Humans _tonight at the Ahmanson Theatre.


----------



## davidharmier60

The baseball game doesn't start until 9:05 our time so I won't even see the start of it.


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----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> We are dog sitting M͠a͠x͠, until his human



It looks like Maggie and Max don't mind in the least.


----------



## Fujidave

Well both my self and the wife sat down and had a talk and a good cry together for the first time, we think it did us both the best thing for us so I think we might actually get through this now together.


----------



## compur

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 160702
> This is Philippe’s, home of the original French Dip. Philippe’s claims to have invented the French Dip. The sandwiches here are absolutely Delish.  Mary Lou and Gary will be watching _The Humans _tonight at the Ahmanson Theatre.



Only in LA can you get a French Dip in Chinatown.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Well both my self and the wife sat down and had a talk and a good cry together for the first time, we think it did us both the best thing for us so I think we might actually get through this now together.



Hopefully so, the pain of losing a loved one is terrible, and those not experiencing it, don't have a clue what you guys are going through.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well both my self and the wife sat down and had a talk and a good cry together for the first time, we think it did us both the best thing for us so I think we might actually get through this now together.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hopefully so, the pain of losing a loved one is terrible, and those not experiencing it, don't have a clue what you guys are going through.
Click to expand...


Thank you smoke, it was actually the first time we both sat and talked then just cried our eyes out, it has helped us to understand how we both felt and will now talk more to each other.


----------



## Gary A.

compur said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 160702
> This is Philippe’s, home of the original French Dip. Philippe’s claims to have invented the French Dip. The sandwiches here are absolutely Delish.  Mary Lou and Gary will be watching _The Humans _tonight at the Ahmanson Theatre.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Only in LA can you get a French Dip in Chinatown.
Click to expand...

And that sorta looks like my car ... only different ... lol. (same color and shape)  
Remember "Little Joe's"? An Italian restaurant in the heart of Chinatown (Little Joe's is now gone.) It was there before Chinatown was Chinatown.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> We are dog sitting M͠a͠x͠, until his human
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It looks like Maggie and Max don't mind in the least.
Click to expand...

They are actually Best Friends. They love being together. At the park, if Maggie runs off and plays with other dogs, (Maggie is a social butterfly), Max will sulk. When she returns Max gives her the cold shoulder. Maggie will run circles around Max, tease him, growl at him, even grab his rear leg and pull on it until fully extended ... and Maxie will ignore her. But eventually, Max cannot resist Maggie's Irish charm and they start playing again.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. The play was superb.  If any of you have the chance to see _The Humans ... _do so.  Gary believes that every single person in the theatre was relating to the situation and the characters.


----------



## davidharmier60

It is utterly beyond my wildest dreams to go see a play. It is pretty unlikely that a movie is in my future too.
5 and a half and a few minutes today. 
28 and a few for the week so far. 
I feel as though I was run over by a truck,  then it backed over me and hit me again.
Feeling good is about as good as it gets.

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----------



## smoke665

Don't normally share but this one was amusing


----------



## vintagesnaps

Glad things were better for you Dave the next morning. I would say the throwing things can't happen again, hope it won't. I guess time will tell how it goes from here but I'm glad things got resolved and you woke up to a new and better day.


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Friday Hosers!  I hope everyone has plans to do some shooting this weekend.


----------



## vintagesnaps

No, I don't! lol We went from too hot to rain all weekend. Been dark all morning into the afternoon but hasn't actually rained much. Not sure if I hear thunder rumbling or if it's a train or a truck banging along. 

Lacrosse is summertime hockey! Now when this is done, I don't know what I'll do! I haven't seen international lacrosse on in a long time and I'll take what I can get. 

The Iroquois Nation(als) were up starting the second half over Australia. (They used to be called Nation, now Nationals.) The Australian fans are quite lively and seem to be enjoying their big plastic glasses of beer. They keep doing a cheer and I think the announcers are getting loopy because one of them went into the break at the half going 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oy, Oy, Oy'. Kinda gets stuck in your head. 

I still think Pro Beach Hockey should come back - Ramp It Up!


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's thunder. It better not knock out power before this game's done, it's for the Bronze medal.

The announcer who _sounds_ like Steve Levy on ESPN, not sure who he is, but he is losing it! lol the Aussies just scored and he did the cheer again. The Iroquois Nation used to always be a top team in lacrosse; he said earlier they were born with sticks in their hands. 

Uh oh Australia just scored again, they keep coming back. Now he's talking about some Aussie fan along the sidelines dressed in an adult onesie, and they got the guy on camera. Yeah, pretty much, they're a nutty bunch.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The Iroquois managed to hang on to their lead to win the bronze. No medals handed out shown because as often happens they've got to hurry up and cutaway to some rerun...

The US and Canada play early Saturday, how early is he talking?? Early for most people or early for lazyass night owls like me? I hit the snooze enough times today it was so dark. 

Keeps thundering and getting darker and darker...


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Glad things were better for you Dave the next morning. I would say the throwing things can't happen again, hope it won't. I guess time will tell how it goes from here but I'm glad things got resolved and you woke up to a new and better day.



Thank you, I said the reason why I did not call the police was, the ashtray hit my arm then head so it was the arm that helped.  The wife has said it wont happen again, which I do actually believe her


----------



## Gary A.

Another pleasantly warm day. This morning Miss Maggie ran into Michelle.  This beautiful black standard poodle with a splash of white on her chest.  Michelle runs like a deer, stretching out her long legs gliding across the landscape.  Much different than Maggie who digs in to gain speed.  Maggie had a good morning playing with Max and Michelle. Maggie came home quite filthy.


----------



## davidharmier60

Thank goodness for youtube. My favorite album in it's entirety  with no commercials. Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime.


----------



## davidharmier60

Shepherds Pie for dinner at Daves.
Almost certainly ice cream later. 

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----------



## smoke665

Nothing pleasant about the heat and humidity here in Hades today. At least we had the pleasure of granddaughter all day. She always makes things seem better.

Tonight they can't decide if we will have storms or not. I can pass on the storms, but rain would be nice.


----------



## compur

Gary A. said:


> Remember "Little Joe's"? An Italian restaurant in the heart of Chinatown (Little Joe's is now gone.) It was there before Chinatown was Chinatown.



That's probably before my time. I spent my youth in the SF Bay Area and didn't move to LA until after Chinatown was Chinatown. 

But I do remember the Hollywood Brown Derby, Schwabs Drug Store and Columbia Studios at Gower Gulch.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sunny out with a nice breeze so we are over to Mums to help out.  They are saying this is the driest on record ever since records began back in 1961 so still no rain at all for us.


----------



## smoke665

No storms and no rain for us yet. Yards are starting to look a little crispy.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Happy Friday Hosers!  I hope everyone has plans to do some shooting this weekend.


Gonna hit the King Tut Exhibit, gotta call to see about photography limitations.


----------



## JonA_CT

Just cooked up some English bangers, mash, onion gravy, and beans for my wife’s parents, and now their off on the second half of their road trip. It’s hard enough to get proper bangers here in the Northeast, and it’s impossible in SE TX. My father-in-law has only had them at home in Cumberland since he moved to TX, so it was a nice treat.

It’s nice to be done with family visits this summer though.


----------



## snowbear

I'ts supposed to rain all weekend, so I'll be inside.  I'll think of something to shoot.

edit:  Hmmmmm


----------



## davidharmier60

Good is still as good as it gets. Did the floors, bathrooms and assembled a grill. Got the things on the list my Sister made out.
It's step outside and sweat weather here. If it DOES rain it will almost certainly do it on Wednesday because that's  Marquee day.
Going to play with pennies and listen to something on YouTube.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> I'ts supposed to rain all weekend, so I'll be inside.  I'll think of something to shoot.
> 
> edit:  Hmmmmm



That’s a fun idea.  And don’t forget the negative space challenge this week.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'ts supposed to rain all weekend, so I'll be inside.  I'll think of something to shoot.
> 
> edit:  Hmmmmm
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That’s a fun idea.  And don’t forget the negative space challenge this week.
Click to expand...

One is in LR, as we type.


----------



## davidharmier60

Strange.... I stepped out the back door to take a picture in natural light and DID NOT burst into flames or even sweat. Wouldn't want to be out there very long however.


----------



## Fujidave

Evening all, had a lovely few hours at Mum`s then went off to the music hall to watch and photography the singers.


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm at home, wanted to go to a tractor show. Guess it doesn't matter, raining on and off all day, little thunderstorms here and there.  Doctors gave me a medicine to help my pneumonia that has me in hives, itching like crazy, and I'm swelled up like porky pig. The devil is working overtime on me, I swear, thank God he has already been defeated. The good news is that the medicine has me breathing way better but my face looks like a cherry pie...


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> Strange.... I stepped out the back door to take a picture in natural light and DID NOT burst into flames or even sweat. Wouldn't want to be out there very long however.



Just checked the temperature, 91 with 60% humidity at 5 pm. At least it's cooled down from the high today.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> The good news is that the medicine has me breathing way better but my face looks like a cherry pie...



Glad to hear you're doing better!!!


----------



## davidharmier60

I need not awaken at 4am tomorrow. 
But I did this morning. Watched a very long video on the Moon shot and all leading up to it. But soon will be sawing logs. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Mary Lou and Gary met up with Tom in Pasadena. A Dim Sum lunch, then down to Los Angeles and the California Science Center for the King Tut exhibit.  Fascinating and simply wonderful. Years ago Gary had visited another Tut exhibition, this one was bigger and better with many pieces being shown for the first time out of Egypt.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone


----------



## Fujidave

Many many years ago we went to a King Tut showing in London, we saw a lot of fantastic things but my favourite was the small ish Gold Bust.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, lovely sunny start today so just having a brew then off out for a mooch then pick Susie up from Mum`s.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all. That's all I got. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Miss Maggie at tea.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Mary Lou picked some grapes this morning.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Many many years ago we went to a King Tut showing in London, we saw a lot of fantastic things but my favourite was the small ish Gold Bust.


iPhone

No small bust for LA.


----------



## davidharmier60

Tut Tut. Maggie looks like a pretty good dog.


----------



## Fujidave

davidharmier60 said:


> Tut Tut. Maggie looks like a pretty good dog.



Agree Miss Maggie looks great.


----------



## davidharmier60

Now I must say good night. 
Try to have the best Monday that it's possible to have. I'll try too.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Just found out my oldest nephew is moving to San Diego area in 3 weeks!  Not the nephew that is currently in San Juan Capistrano teaching, hell be back mid August and will finish school this year in MA before moving to CA himself.  
This is one of my other nephews, family nickname #1.  It's a good move for him with a job and apartment all lined up but we'll miss him terribly.  Get ready @GaryA for the invasion of the New Englanders.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Just found out my oldest nephew is moving to San Diego area in 3 weeks!  Not the nephew that is currently in San Juan Capistrano teaching, hell be back mid August and will finish school this year in MA before moving to CA himself.
> This is one of my other nephews, family nickname #1.  It's a good move for him with a job and apartment all lined up but we'll miss him terribly.  Get ready @GaryA for the invasion of the New Englanders.


No! No! No!    There is already too many peoples in California.  Why can't you people stay put?  Or at best, come on in, clog up our freeways, leave your coin, then go home!

As he is a relative of yours ... then maybe we'll make an exception. Gary will call up Sacramento and tell them #1 is oaky ... but none of this Patriot/Celtic/Red Sox/Bruin crap ... that baggage stops stays at the border.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Interestingly enough, yesterday, while in route to King Tut, we were speaking of the higher than normal out of state cars.  There always a number of cars from different states and countries here ... but this summer there seems to be a ton of them.  And they all drive slow and not recklessly.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Gary update:  Saturday morning, while walking Maggie and Max, the dogs took out his knee. We were all in the park and Gary unleashed Max for the dogs to play unrestrictively ... with wild abandonment.  They were running full tilt, snapping and growling at each other with abandonment them Max, the 75 pound Golden Retriever and Maggie, another 35 pounds of pure muscle, hit the side of Gary's knee.  Gary never saw it coming and not only took him out of the game, he's presently on the injury roster.  It hurts like hell when he rotates his knee.  Between the knee brace and over-the-counter pain killers he's getting by and managed King Tut.  But don't ask him to pivot.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Tut stuff. Can’t go home without a pair of slippers, autographed by the King himself. Or maybe a bit of glam, like a Tut key ring for your chariot


----------



## limr




----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just found out my oldest nephew is moving to San Diego area in 3 weeks!  Not the nephew that is currently in San Juan Capistrano teaching, hell be back mid August and will finish school this year in MA before moving to CA himself.
> This is one of my other nephews, family nickname #1.  It's a good move for him with a job and apartment all lined up but we'll miss him terribly.  Get ready @GaryA for the invasion of the New Englanders.
> 
> 
> 
> No! No! No!    There is already too many peoples in California.  Why can't you people stay put?  Or at best, come on in, clog up our freeways, leave your coin, then go home!
> 
> As he is a relative of yours ... then maybe we'll make an exception. Gary will call up Sacramento and tell them #1 is oaky ... but none of this Patriot/Celtic/Red Sox/Bruin crap ... that baggage stops stays at the border.
Click to expand...


One of the first things we talked about after he told me he was moving was getting the mlb package on his phone so he could watch the Sox., lol.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

The exhibit was amazing. We had the audio thingies which really enhance the experience. 

(The Fuji images are stunning. One day Gary will process them.)


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, had a nice cool walk with Susie before the sun comes out, we are forecast for a hot and humid day today so will stay in now till the sun drops.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just found out my oldest nephew is moving to San Diego area in 3 weeks!  Not the nephew that is currently in San Juan Capistrano teaching, hell be back mid August and will finish school this year in MA before moving to CA himself.
> This is one of my other nephews, family nickname #1.  It's a good move for him with a job and apartment all lined up but we'll miss him terribly.  Get ready @GaryA for the invasion of the New Englanders.
> 
> 
> 
> No! No! No!    There is already too many peoples in California.  Why can't you people stay put?  Or at best, come on in, clog up our freeways, leave your coin, then go home!
> 
> As he is a relative of yours ... then maybe we'll make an exception. Gary will call up Sacramento and tell them #1 is oaky ... but none of this Patriot/Celtic/Red Sox/Bruin crap ... that baggage stops stays at the border.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> One of the first things we talked about after he told me he was moving was getting the mlb package on his phone so he could watch the Sox., lol.
Click to expand...


Tell him to check out YouTube TV. NESN is included, along with a normal roster of TV channels. We don’t have cable/satellite anymore, and it’s been going well.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> PS- Gary update:  Saturday morning, while walking Maggie and Max, the dogs took out his knee. We were all in the park and Gary unleashed Max for the dogs to play unrestrictively ... with wild abandonment.  They were running full tilt, snapping and growling at each other with abandonment them Max, the 75 pound Golden Retriever and Maggie, another 35 pounds of pure muscle, hit the side of Gary's knee.  Gary never saw it coming and not only took him out of the game, he's presently on the injury roster.  It hurts like hell when he rotates his knee.  Between the knee brace and over-the-counter pain killers he's getting by and managed King Tut.  But don't ask him to pivot.


so, I assume skiing is not on the agenda... get well soon. ice


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just found out my oldest nephew is moving to San Diego area in 3 weeks!  Not the nephew that is currently in San Juan Capistrano teaching, hell be back mid August and will finish school this year in MA before moving to CA himself.
> This is one of my other nephews, family nickname #1.  It's a good move for him with a job and apartment all lined up but we'll miss him terribly.  Get ready @GaryA for the invasion of the New Englanders.
> 
> 
> 
> No! No! No!    There is already too many peoples in California.  Why can't you people stay put?  Or at best, come on in, clog up our freeways, leave your coin, then go home!
> 
> As he is a relative of yours ... then maybe we'll make an exception. Gary will call up Sacramento and tell them #1 is oaky ... but none of this Patriot/Celtic/Red Sox/Bruin crap ... that baggage stops stays at the border.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> One of the first things we talked about after he told me he was moving was getting the mlb package on his phone so he could watch the Sox., lol.
Click to expand...

love the mlb package and mlb statcast.  I am such a baseball nerd... I watch a lot of baseball, many teams. 

I hate to say it but butt chin dombrowski irritates me and has made me a hater of the red stockings. I only love JD Martinez and DD put it to that guy. Sorry to say he has quickly dismantled your farm system, just like he did in Detroit. I don't like the mental makeup of your impressive team. Right now, I have Cleveland vs LA Dodgers in the World Series, Dodgers in 6. A lot can change though, with trades looming large.


----------



## SquarePeg

Boo


----------



## JonA_CT

I think JC hates the AL East. 

The Sox are on pace for 112 wins, and the Yankees are on pace to win 107.

(But Price pukes on his Nikes every time he takes the hill in October, and Porcello isn’t much better. I get the rationale, haha)


----------



## Fujidave

Well it is now very hot out as me and Susie had a good long walk and just chilled out in the shade under a tree.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just found out my oldest nephew is moving to San Diego area in 3 weeks!  Not the nephew that is currently in San Juan Capistrano teaching, hell be back mid August and will finish school this year in MA before moving to CA himself.
> This is one of my other nephews, family nickname #1.  It's a good move for him with a job and apartment all lined up but we'll miss him terribly.  Get ready @GaryA for the invasion of the New Englanders.
> 
> 
> 
> No! No! No!    There is already too many peoples in California.  Why can't you people stay put?  Or at best, come on in, clog up our freeways, leave your coin, then go home!
> 
> As he is a relative of yours ... then maybe we'll make an exception. Gary will call up Sacramento and tell them #1 is oaky ... but none of this Patriot/Celtic/Red Sox/Bruin crap ... that baggage stops stays at the border.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> One of the first things we talked about after he told me he was moving was getting the mlb package on his phone so he could watch the Sox., lol.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> love the mlb package and mlb statcast.  I am such a baseball nerd... I watch a lot of baseball, many teams.
> 
> I hate to say it but butt chin dombrowski irritates me and has made me a hater of the red stockings. I only love JD Martinez and DD put it to that guy. Sorry to say he has quickly dismantled your farm system, just like he did in Detroit. I don't like the mental makeup of your impressive team. Right now, I have Cleveland vs LA Dodgers in the World Series, Dodgers in 6. A lot can change though, with trades looming large.
Click to expand...

Yeah!


----------



## markjwyatt

Gary- I noticed the King Tut pics were on an iphone. Were the photo limitations you mentioned greater than hoped (or maybe the knee injury changed the plans- hope you are recovering)? I am not knocking the iPhone- I have gotten some great pics on them, and I suspect it may be one of the most effective street cameras (they do not draw attention).


----------



## compur




----------



## Gary A.

markjwyatt said:


> Gary- I noticed the King Tut pics were on an iphone. Were the photo limitations you mentioned greater than hoped (or maybe the knee injury cahnged the plans- hope you are recovering)? I am not knocking the iPhone- I have gotten some great pics on them, and I suspect it may be one of the most effective street cameras (they do not draw attention).


The only limitations on cameras is not to be a jerk and interfere with the viewing by others (no tripods, lights, et cetera). Gary took his XP2 w/50-140 f/2.8 and a Zeiss 32mm f/1.8.  Gary is pretty slow on the processing, hence the iPhone.


----------



## davidharmier60

5.15 hours today. My truck wouldn't even THINK of starting this morning. So I drove the expired in May Mitsubishi to work.
I have to go to Livingston to get dog food and pictures printed and I'm going to go home and get the truck going for that trip.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I think JC hates the AL East.
> 
> The Sox are on pace for 112 wins, and the Yankees are on pace to win 107.
> 
> (But Price pukes on his Nikes every time he takes the hill in October, and Porcello isn’t much better. I get the rationale, haha)



I am not a fan of Price as a pitcher, especially in October.  He was, however, very nice when he did some volunteering for the charity that my brother and sister-in-law run.


----------



## markjwyatt

Gary A. said:


> markjwyatt said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary- I noticed the King Tut pics were on an iphone. Were the photo limitations you mentioned greater than hoped (or maybe the knee injury cahnged the plans- hope you are recovering)? I am not knocking the iPhone- I have gotten some great pics on them, and I suspect it may be one of the most effective street cameras (they do not draw attention).
> 
> 
> 
> The only limitations on cameras is not to be a jerk and interfere with the viewing by others (no tripods, lights, et cetera). Gary took his XP2 w/50-140 f/2.8 and a Zeiss 32mm f/1.8.  Gary is pretty slow on the processing, hence the iPhone.
Click to expand...


The Zeiss 32mm f/1.8 sounds really nice. I have an adapted Carl Zeiss 50mm f1.8 Ultron (came with my first SLR I bought let's say many years ago and re-invigorated for my second half of life photography), but it is completely manual (and not a normal lens on my Fuji XT-2). It has its strengths (bokeh), but is not as fun to shoot with as a modern lens.

Just looking at eh Zeiss web site, the 2.8/12 also looks interesting. On the other hand, I think my next Fuji lens ay be the 10-24 (currently I only have the 18-55, but it is pretty adequate all around).


----------



## Gary A.

compur said:


>


Should Gary ask for a refund?


----------



## Gary A.

markjwyatt said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> markjwyatt said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary- I noticed the King Tut pics were on an iphone. Were the photo limitations you mentioned greater than hoped (or maybe the knee injury cahnged the plans- hope you are recovering)? I am not knocking the iPhone- I have gotten some great pics on them, and I suspect it may be one of the most effective street cameras (they do not draw attention).
> 
> 
> 
> The only limitations on cameras is not to be a jerk and interfere with the viewing by others (no tripods, lights, et cetera). Gary took his XP2 w/50-140 f/2.8 and a Zeiss 32mm f/1.8.  Gary is pretty slow on the processing, hence the iPhone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The Zeiss 32mm f/1.8 sounds really nice. I have an adapted Carl Zeiss 50mm f1.8 Ultron (came with my first SLR I bought let's say many years ago and re-invigorated for my second half of life photography), but it is completely manual (and not a normal lens on my Fuji XT-2). It has its strengths (bokeh), but is not as fun to shoot with a modern lens.
> 
> Just looking at eh Zeiss web site, the 2.8/12 also looks interesting. On the other hand, I think my next Fuji lens ay be the 10-24 (currently I only have the 18-55, but it is pretty adequate all around).
Click to expand...

The Zeiss is automatic with a Fuji mount.


----------



## markjwyatt

Gary A. said:


> markjwyatt said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> markjwyatt said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary- I noticed the King Tut pics were on an iphone. Were the photo limitations you mentioned greater than hoped (or maybe the knee injury cahnged the plans- hope you are recovering)? I am not knocking the iPhone- I have gotten some great pics on them, and I suspect it may be one of the most effective street cameras (they do not draw attention).
> 
> 
> 
> The only limitations on cameras is not to be a jerk and interfere with the viewing by others (no tripods, lights, et cetera). Gary took his XP2 w/50-140 f/2.8 and a Zeiss 32mm f/1.8.  Gary is pretty slow on the processing, hence the iPhone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The Zeiss 32mm f/1.8 sounds really nice. I have an adapted Carl Zeiss 50mm f1.8 Ultron (came with my first SLR I bought let's say many years ago and re-invigorated for my second half of life photography), but it is completely manual (and not a normal lens on my Fuji XT-2). It has its strengths (bokeh), but is not as fun to shoot with a modern lens.
> 
> Just looking at eh Zeiss web site, the 2.8/12 also looks interesting. On the other hand, I think my next Fuji lens ay be the 10-24 (currently I only have the 18-55, but it is pretty adequate all around).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The Zeiss is automatic with a Fuji mount.
Click to expand...



Yes, that is my point. It is a Zeiss, but has the modern conveniences.


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I think JC hates the AL East.
> 
> The Sox are on pace for 112 wins, and the Yankees are on pace to win 107.
> 
> (But Price pukes on his Nikes every time he takes the hill in October, and Porcello isn’t much better. I get the rationale, haha)


yup, that's what I don't like about them. Betts is one heck of a player, maybe the best or really close to Trout.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> PS- Gary update:  Saturday morning, while walking Maggie and Max, the dogs took out his knee. We were all in the park and Gary unleashed Max for the dogs to play unrestrictively ... with wild abandonment.  They were running full tilt, snapping and growling at each other with abandonment them Max, the 75 pound Golden Retriever and Maggie, another 35 pounds of pure muscle, hit the side of Gary's knee.  Gary never saw it coming and not only took him out of the game, he's presently on the injury roster.  It hurts like hell when he rotates his knee.  Between the knee brace and over-the-counter pain killers he's getting by and managed King Tut.  But don't ask him to pivot.



Missed this earlier - stay off of it.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- Gary update:  Saturday morning, while walking Maggie and Max, the dogs took out his knee. We were all in the park and Gary unleashed Max for the dogs to play unrestrictively ... with wild abandonment.  They were running full tilt, snapping and growling at each other with abandonment them Max, the 75 pound Golden Retriever and Maggie, another 35 pounds of pure muscle, hit the side of Gary's knee.  Gary never saw it coming and not only took him out of the game, he's presently on the injury roster.  It hurts like hell when he rotates his knee.  Between the knee brace and over-the-counter pain killers he's getting by and managed King Tut.  But don't ask him to pivot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Missed this earlier - stay off of it.
Click to expand...

Can't do that.  Took the brace off yesterday ... after a bit, stuck it back on. As of yet, no painkillers today ... so it's getting better or the brace is cutting off the circulation and killing everything from the knee down.  Either way it's an improvement from the moment of impact.  Max's head nailed the side of my knee right behind the kneecap (inside the leg).


----------



## Gary A.

markjwyatt said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> markjwyatt said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> markjwyatt said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary- I noticed the King Tut pics were on an iphone. Were the photo limitations you mentioned greater than hoped (or maybe the knee injury cahnged the plans- hope you are recovering)? I am not knocking the iPhone- I have gotten some great pics on them, and I suspect it may be one of the most effective street cameras (they do not draw attention).
> 
> 
> 
> The only limitations on cameras is not to be a jerk and interfere with the viewing by others (no tripods, lights, et cetera). Gary took his XP2 w/50-140 f/2.8 and a Zeiss 32mm f/1.8.  Gary is pretty slow on the processing, hence the iPhone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The Zeiss 32mm f/1.8 sounds really nice. I have an adapted Carl Zeiss 50mm f1.8 Ultron (came with my first SLR I bought let's say many years ago and re-invigorated for my second half of life photography), but it is completely manual (and not a normal lens on my Fuji XT-2). It has its strengths (bokeh), but is not as fun to shoot with a modern lens.
> 
> Just looking at eh Zeiss web site, the 2.8/12 also looks interesting. On the other hand, I think my next Fuji lens ay be the 10-24 (currently I only have the 18-55, but it is pretty adequate all around).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The Zeiss is automatic with a Fuji mount.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, that is my point. It is a Zeiss, but has the modern conveniences.
Click to expand...

Gary has the Zeiss 50mm macro and the 12mm.  To Gary's eyes, the Fuji equivalent is equally sharp, but the Zeiss has a slightly different rendering.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Ms Sadie says Maggie is innocent, that you just happened to get in her way LOL Hope your on the mend quickly


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- Gary update:  Saturday morning, while walking Maggie and Max, the dogs took out his knee. We were all in the park and Gary unleashed Max for the dogs to play unrestrictively ... with wild abandonment.  They were running full tilt, snapping and growling at each other with abandonment them Max, the 75 pound Golden Retriever and Maggie, another 35 pounds of pure muscle, hit the side of Gary's knee.  Gary never saw it coming and not only took him out of the game, he's presently on the injury roster.  It hurts like hell when he rotates his knee.  Between the knee brace and over-the-counter pain killers he's getting by and managed King Tut.  But don't ask him to pivot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Missed this earlier - stay off of it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Can't do that.  Took the brace off yesterday ... after a bit, stuck it back on. As of yet, no painkillers today ... so it's getting better or the brace is cutting off the circulation and killing everything from the knee down.  Either way it's an improvement from the moment of impact.  Max's head nailed the side of my knee right behind the kneecap (inside the leg).
Click to expand...


As a knee pain sufferer, I totally sympathize.  You need to let it heal.  Don’t try to rush it.  Stay off it as much as you can.


----------



## smoke665

I've been noticing one of my pecan trees was losing a few leaves and finally got around to spraying it today. Like something out of a horror movie at least a couple of gallons of hairy caterpillars started dropping to the ground. Apparently it's been infested by the Walnut Caterpillar. Surprisingly the tree next to it appears untouched???? Not sure if its the fact it's a different variety or what.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Take it easy on the knee. 

I did a quick search for Ancient Architects. It's some dude in the UK, a one man show. He shows up on LinkedIn as working for some digital marketing company. 

I'll stick to Steve Martin's King Tut, although I'm not sure what it says when I found myself singing along and know most of the words.


----------



## davidharmier60

Steve martin doing King Tut and the Bangles doing Walk Like an Egyption are both GREAT clips!
The battery in my truck is officially bad according to AutoZone. I have a trickle charger on it and am sure I can nurse it until a new one can be had.
Gonna be a couple weeks anyway you slice it.


----------



## Fujidave

Well that was a lovely cool walk with Susie, a cracking little breeze to keep us both cool.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is back at the water park with Mary Lou, daughter and grandkids. Gary and his braced knee are staying out of the water. Everybody is having a great time.


----------



## RowdyRay

davidharmier60 said:


> Steve martin doing King Tut and the Bangles doing Walk Like an Egyption are both GREAT clips!
> The battery in my truck is officially bad according to AutoZone. I have a trickle charger on it and am sure I can nurse it until a new one can be had.
> Gonna be a couple weeks anyway you slice it.



Don't put too much faith in AutoZone. They'll sell you anything. I'll save the rant. You recently rewired some stuff. Blower motor? Make sure there isn't a short in the vehicle that is draining the battery. Properly test it. I'll send you a PM.


----------



## snowbear

Howard County, MD LODD (Line of Duty Death).  Seven-alarm house fire, he fell through the floor into the basement.
Howard Co. firefighter dies battling 7 alarm house fire in Clarksville


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, we have already had our walk this morning as we are on a weather warning to stay out of the sun between 11am and 3pm.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Howard County, MD LODD (Line of Duty Death).  Seven-alarm house fire, he fell through the floor into the basement.
> Howard Co. firefighter dies battling 7 alarm house fire in Clarksville



Sad


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

It's still summer, isn't it? Le sigh.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Howard County, MD LODD (Line of Duty Death).  Seven-alarm house fire, he fell through the floor into the basement.
> Howard Co. firefighter dies battling 7 alarm house fire in Clarksville



So sad. People sometimes question why, as a volunteer department, we train so much. Its for this very reason, because fighting fires is extremely dangerous. 2 years ago a neighboring department lost a member in a 2 story house fire, lot of training and safety violations by the member and the department, but basically he got separated from his partner in heavy smoke, and in his confusion trying to find his way out,  ran out of air. When they found him he was less than 20' from an exit point. We follow the rule "Risk a lot to save a lot, risk a little to save a little, and risk nothing to save nothing". Prayers go out to the family of a brother in arms.


----------



## waday

Sad about the firefighter. 

In other sad news, it's been raining nonstop for us for the past few days, which is leading to flooding. Things I don't want to think about but have to: my mother's house flooding.

It flooded in the 70s, and then again in 2011. This rain needs to stop. The river forecasts have been all over the place. Right now, it won't flood, but last night, I was making preparations to empty the house. We're still preparing to move the things we can upstairs or out of the house. It's a very frustrating process.

While my grandparents didn't know it when building the house, this is why one should never, ever, ever buy or build in the floodplain.


----------



## Fujidave

Too hot to be out with the camera so came back home.


----------



## Fujidave

snowbear said:


> Howard County, MD LODD (Line of Duty Death).  Seven-alarm house fire, he fell through the floor into the basement.
> Howard Co. firefighter dies battling 7 alarm house fire in Clarksville



That is so sad


----------



## CherylL

Gary A. said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- Gary update:  Saturday morning, while walking Maggie and Max, the dogs took out his knee. We were all in the park and Gary unleashed Max for the dogs to play unrestrictively ... with wild abandonment.  They were running full tilt, snapping and growling at each other with abandonment them Max, the 75 pound Golden Retriever and Maggie, another 35 pounds of pure muscle, hit the side of Gary's knee.  Gary never saw it coming and not only took him out of the game, he's presently on the injury roster.  It hurts like hell when he rotates his knee.  Between the knee brace and over-the-counter pain killers he's getting by and managed King Tut.  But don't ask him to pivot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Missed this earlier - stay off of it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Can't do that.  Took the brace off yesterday ... after a bit, stuck it back on. As of yet, no painkillers today ... so it's getting better or the brace is cutting off the circulation and killing everything from the knee down.  Either way it's an improvement from the moment of impact.  Max's head nailed the side of my knee right behind the kneecap (inside the leg).
Click to expand...


Hope you have a speedy recovery!  My friend broke her arm when her lab ran into her as he chased the grandpup.  My pups like to sleep on the stairs and I told my bunch if they come home and find me at the bottom of the stairs they will know what happened.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think JC hates the AL East.
> 
> The Sox are on pace for 112 wins, and the Yankees are on pace to win 107.
> 
> (But Price pukes on his Nikes every time he takes the hill in October, and Porcello isn’t much better. I get the rationale, haha)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am not a fan of Price as a pitcher, especially in October.  He was, however, very nice when he did some volunteering for the charity that my brother and sister-in-law run.
Click to expand...

He is an enigma. He all the stuff to be flat out nasty but for whatever reason, he just throws untimely, bad pitches. Porcello is fine if he keeps the ball down and doesn't get fancy. Porcello never really has been as good as he should be. Even in in Cy year, he could have been better. Both guys think to much. You guys will probably get Friers from us, which is fine. That guy is a gas can, he is due to blow up. Statistically,  he is pitching out of his norm. I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry to hear that Charlie, noticed you had the black armband style avatar on. 

Aw, SharonCat sorry your dog is sick, hope the meds help him feel better soon.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The weather forecast is actually - nice! This weekend - high in the upper 70's, sunshine, low humidity... I'll feel like I moved out of sinus valley. Picture taking time!!


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.


oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Howard County, MD LODD (Line of Duty Death).  Seven-alarm house fire, he fell through the floor into the basement.
> Howard Co. firefighter dies battling 7 alarm house fire in Clarksville


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
Click to expand...

Nobody uses flea collars anymore, it is either a topical oil which lasts a month or a pill/chewy which lasts three months. Both are much more effective than a flea collar.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nobody uses flea collars anymore, it is either a topical oil which lasts a month or a pill/chewy which lasts three months. Both are much more effective than a flea collar.
Click to expand...

We had to move away from the topical oil, because it was ineffective. The chewy pill (which Roxy dislikes) is much more effective. I just have to remember it every 3 months. Once a month was easier to remember.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.


That is sad.  We found a tick our a hotel room in Santa Barbara.  We figured Maggie may have picked it up and it found her distasteful and jumped off, (a lot of civil creatures find Maggie ill mannered) ... or ... the previous occupant left the live tick.  Gary has had dogs most of his life and he never found a tick on any of his dogs.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nobody uses flea collars anymore, it is either a topical oil which lasts a month or a pill/chewy which lasts three months. Both are much more effective than a flea collar.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We had to move away from the topical oil, because it was ineffective. The chewy pill (which Roxy dislikes) is much more effective. I just have to remember it every 3 months. Once a month was easier to remember.
Click to expand...

Yep, the vet reports that fleas are becoming immune to Frontline. We use Nexguard, it is supposed to have a beef flavor.  Maggie seems to like them.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nobody uses flea collars anymore, it is either a topical oil which lasts a month or a pill/chewy which lasts three months. Both are much more effective than a flea collar.
Click to expand...

hmmm, we are behind the times I guess.


----------



## Gary A.

CherylL said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> PS- Gary update:  Saturday morning, while walking Maggie and Max, the dogs took out his knee. We were all in the park and Gary unleashed Max for the dogs to play unrestrictively ... with wild abandonment.  They were running full tilt, snapping and growling at each other with abandonment them Max, the 75 pound Golden Retriever and Maggie, another 35 pounds of pure muscle, hit the side of Gary's knee.  Gary never saw it coming and not only took him out of the game, he's presently on the injury roster.  It hurts like hell when he rotates his knee.  Between the knee brace and over-the-counter pain killers he's getting by and managed King Tut.  But don't ask him to pivot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Missed this earlier - stay off of it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Can't do that.  Took the brace off yesterday ... after a bit, stuck it back on. As of yet, no painkillers today ... so it's getting better or the brace is cutting off the circulation and killing everything from the knee down.  Either way it's an improvement from the moment of impact.  Max's head nailed the side of my knee right behind the kneecap (inside the leg).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hope you have a speedy recovery!  My friend broke her arm when her lab ran into her as he chased the grandpup.  My pups like to sleep on the stairs and I told my bunch if they come home and find me at the bottom of the stairs they will know what happened.
Click to expand...

Upon impact, Mary Lou saw me go down and she thought the dogs broke my leg.  No brace today, it is very tender but no longer painful when I move. So in a day or two Gary thinks he'll be 100%.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nobody uses flea collars anymore, it is either a topical oil which lasts a month or a pill/chewy which lasts three months. Both are much more effective than a flea collar.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> hmmm, we are behind the times I guess.
Click to expand...

Compared to Frontline, Nexguard, et al, the flea collars are pretty much worthless. The new flea stuff is significantly more expensive, but also much more effective.  You get what you pay for.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nobody uses flea collars anymore, it is either a topical oil which lasts a month or a pill/chewy which lasts three months. Both are much more effective than a flea collar.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> hmmm, we are behind the times I guess.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Compared to Frontline, Nexguard, et al, the flea collars are pretty much worthless. The new flea stuff is significantly more expensive, but also much more effective.  You get what you pay for.
Click to expand...

I wonder if that's why he's been scooting on his but in the grass. maybe he has a flea in his but?


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nobody uses flea collars anymore, it is either a topical oil which lasts a month or a pill/chewy which lasts three months. Both are much more effective than a flea collar.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> hmmm, we are behind the times I guess.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Compared to Frontline, Nexguard, et al, the flea collars are pretty much worthless. The new flea stuff is significantly more expensive, but also much more effective.  You get what you pay for.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I wonder if that's why he's been scooting on his but in the grass. maybe he has a flea in his but?
Click to expand...

LOL ... typically dogs scoot on their butts because there is some poop hanging around back there on the down-under.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nobody uses flea collars anymore, it is either a topical oil which lasts a month or a pill/chewy which lasts three months. Both are much more effective than a flea collar.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> hmmm, we are behind the times I guess.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Compared to Frontline, Nexguard, et al, the flea collars are pretty much worthless. The new flea stuff is significantly more expensive, but also much more effective.  You get what you pay for.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I wonder if that's why he's been scooting on his but in the grass. maybe he has a flea in his but?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... typically dogs scoot on their butts because there is some poop hanging around back there on the down-under.
Click to expand...

oh, makes sense. it was impressive none the less. never seen him do that. he went about ten feet


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
> 
> 
> 
> Nobody uses flea collars anymore, it is either a topical oil which lasts a month or a pill/chewy which lasts three months. Both are much more effective than a flea collar.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> hmmm, we are behind the times I guess.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Compared to Frontline, Nexguard, et al, the flea collars are pretty much worthless. The new flea stuff is significantly more expensive, but also much more effective.  You get what you pay for.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I wonder if that's why he's been scooting on his but in the grass. maybe he has a flea in his but?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... typically dogs scoot on their butts because there is some poop hanging around back there on the down-under.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> oh, makes sense. it was impressive none the less. never seen him do that. he went about ten feet
Click to expand...

LOL like a soccer goal victory slide.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
Click to expand...




Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nobody uses flea collars anymore, it is either a topical oil which lasts a month or a pill/chewy which lasts three months. Both are much more effective than a flea collar.
Click to expand...




waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nobody uses flea collars anymore, it is either a topical oil which lasts a month or a pill/chewy which lasts three months. Both are much more effective than a flea collar.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We had to move away from the topical oil, because it was ineffective. The chewy pill (which Roxy dislikes) is much more effective. I just have to remember it every 3 months. Once a month was easier to remember.
Click to expand...


We've been using Frontline for years (topical oil) and never had any issues.  Unfortunately, we had a glitch this year and he didn't get treated in May or June.  I thought Princess had taken care of it and she thought I had...  



Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> That is sad.  We found a tick our a hotel room in Santa Barbara.  We figured Maggie may have picked it up and it found her distasteful and jumped off, (a lot of civil creatures find Maggie ill mannered) ... or ... the previous occupant left the live tick.  Gary has had dogs most of his life and he never found a tick on any of his dogs.
Click to expand...


The vet was telling us that this has been the worst year every for ticks.  We found 1 on him back in May and took it off.  That could have been the one...  It's the only tick we have ever found on him.



Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nobody uses flea collars anymore, it is either a topical oil which lasts a month or a pill/chewy which lasts three months. Both are much more effective than a flea collar.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We had to move away from the topical oil, because it was ineffective. The chewy pill (which Roxy dislikes) is much more effective. I just have to remember it every 3 months. Once a month was easier to remember.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yep, the vet reports that fleas are becoming immune to Frontline. We use Nexguard, it is supposed to have a beef flavor.  Maggie seems to like them.
Click to expand...


We'll be switching to the chewable.  I was hesitant to do that because it seems like it could have more side effects but have to have something that works.  



Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nobody uses flea collars anymore, it is either a topical oil which lasts a month or a pill/chewy which lasts three months. Both are much more effective than a flea collar.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> hmmm, we are behind the times I guess.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Compared to Frontline, Nexguard, et al, the flea collars are pretty much worthless. The new flea stuff is significantly more expensive, but also much more effective.  You get what you pay for.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I wonder if that's why he's been scooting on his but in the grass. maybe he has a flea in his but?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... typically dogs scoot on their butts because there is some poop hanging around back there on the down-under.
Click to expand...


Gross TMI alert - stop reading now if you're squeamish....  you've been warned.  When dogs scoot on their butts it means that their anal glands are clogged.  The glands secrete when they poop.  If they are clogged, they are very uncomfortable for the dog.  The vet or the groomer can express them to clear the blockage.  This usually resolves the issue.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nobody uses flea collars anymore, it is either a topical oil which lasts a month or a pill/chewy which lasts three months. Both are much more effective than a flea collar.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> hmmm, we are behind the times I guess.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Compared to Frontline, Nexguard, et al, the flea collars are pretty much worthless. The new flea stuff is significantly more expensive, but also much more effective.  You get what you pay for.
Click to expand...

Just a year or so ago, I had Roxy out for a nice walk along a stream by our house. When I brought her back in the house, I found a tick on a quick tick check. I decided to do a more thorough check just in case there were any others. I found 10 more. We need something effective here. The pill doesn't prevent ticks from being on the dog, but it kills the tick as soon as it bites. We don't use Nexguard.. the brand is escaping me at the moment. But, yes, it is quite the expensive, yet effective, pill.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nobody uses flea collars anymore, it is either a topical oil which lasts a month or a pill/chewy which lasts three months. Both are much more effective than a flea collar.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nobody uses flea collars anymore, it is either a topical oil which lasts a month or a pill/chewy which lasts three months. Both are much more effective than a flea collar.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We had to move away from the topical oil, because it was ineffective. The chewy pill (which Roxy dislikes) is much more effective. I just have to remember it every 3 months. Once a month was easier to remember.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We've been using Frontline for years (topical oil) and never had any issues.  Unfortunately, we had a glitch this year and he didn't get treated in May or June.  I thought Princess had taken care of it and she thought I had...
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That is sad.  We found a tick our a hotel room in Santa Barbara.  We figured Maggie may have picked it up and it found her distasteful and jumped off, (a lot of civil creatures find Maggie ill mannered) ... or ... the previous occupant left the live tick.  Gary has had dogs most of his life and he never found a tick on any of his dogs.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The vet was telling us that this has been the worst year every for ticks.  We found 1 on him back in May and took it off.  That could have been the one...  It's the only tick we have ever found on him.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nobody uses flea collars anymore, it is either a topical oil which lasts a month or a pill/chewy which lasts three months. Both are much more effective than a flea collar.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We had to move away from the topical oil, because it was ineffective. The chewy pill (which Roxy dislikes) is much more effective. I just have to remember it every 3 months. Once a month was easier to remember.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yep, the vet reports that fleas are becoming immune to Frontline. We use Nexguard, it is supposed to have a beef flavor.  Maggie seems to like them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We'll be switching to the chewable.  I was hesitant to do that because it seems like it could have more side effects but have to have something that works.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> oh, poor boy. don't the flea collars prevent those things?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nobody uses flea collars anymore, it is either a topical oil which lasts a month or a pill/chewy which lasts three months. Both are much more effective than a flea collar.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> hmmm, we are behind the times I guess.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Compared to Frontline, Nexguard, et al, the flea collars are pretty much worthless. The new flea stuff is significantly more expensive, but also much more effective.  You get what you pay for.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I wonder if that's why he's been scooting on his but in the grass. maybe he has a flea in his but?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL ... typically dogs scoot on their butts because there is some poop hanging around back there on the down-under.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Gross TMI alert - stop reading now if you're squeamish....  you've been warned.  When dogs scoot on their butts it means that their anal glands are clogged.  The glands secrete when they poop.  If they are clogged, they are very uncomfortable for the dog.  The vet or the groomer can express them to clear the blockage.  This usually resolves the issue.
Click to expand...

I'll get the wife on it


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> We've been using Frontline for years (topical oil) and never had any issues. Unfortunately, we had a glitch this year and he didn't get treated in May or June. I thought Princess had taken care of it and she thought I had...


We had to move away from Frontline after we found multiple attached ticks on Roxy.


----------



## Gary A.

"Gross TMI alert - stop reading now if you're squeamish.... you've been warned. When dogs scoot on their butts it means that their anal glands are clogged. The glands secrete when they poop. If they are clogged, they are very uncomfortable for the dog. The vet or the groomer can express them to clear the blockage. This usually resolves the issue."

Oh yeah, that too.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> We've been using Frontline for years (topical oil) and never had any issues. Unfortunately, we had a glitch this year and he didn't get treated in May or June. I thought Princess had taken care of it and she thought I had...
> 
> 
> 
> We had to move away from Frontline after we found multiple attached ticks on Roxy.
Click to expand...

As a general rule, you really have to go deep in the bush to find ticks out here.


----------



## jcdeboever

Do we have anal glands? I feel like scooting lately...


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> We've been using Frontline for years (topical oil) and never had any issues. Unfortunately, we had a glitch this year and he didn't get treated in May or June. I thought Princess had taken care of it and she thought I had...
> 
> 
> 
> We had to move away from Frontline after we found multiple attached ticks on Roxy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> As a general rule, you really have to go deep in the bush to find ticks out here.
Click to expand...

Not here, unfortunately.


----------



## davidharmier60

Really nice stuff y'all are talking about! 
I went for propane today. Got just under 6 hours. Just over 11 for the week so far.
The truck started every time. Now back to YouTube.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Compared to Frontline, Nexguard, et al, the flea collars are pretty much worthless. The new flea stuff is significantly more expensive, but also much more effective. You get what you pay for.



Here where we are, mosquitoes (that carry heartworms) and ticks (Lyme) are a fact of life. When we got Sadie as a rescue she was still being treated for heartworms, I can tell you it's rough on them. So she'll be on a heartworm preventative for the rest of her life. We just switched over to a new one this year Proheart 6  ProHeart® 6 (moxidectin) | 6-Month Heartworm Disease Prevention     It's given as an injection every 6 months, cost wise it's actually a little cheaper than the pills, and also guards against hook worms.  She's now on a monthly chewable called  Simparica  Simparica - Flea and Tick Protection     for fleas and ticks. It offers better tick control then the Nexguard she was on.

Surprised that no one's mentioned Dog Flu. We just had to get her vaccinated for that, because many places around are now requiring proof of vaccination. In January in FL, just about everywhere we went they were requiring it.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Do we have anal glands? I feel like scooting lately...



JC you're a hoot. Just when I think you can't leave me shaking my head, you come up with a new one! LOL


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> Really nice stuff y'all are talking about!
> I went for propane today. Got just under 6 hours. Just over 11 for the week so far.
> The truck started every time. Now back to YouTube.


Shaking my head what
Propane and hours today
Truck works, now YouTube


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Really nice stuff y'all are talking about!
> I went for propane today. Got just under 6 hours. Just over 11 for the week so far.
> The truck started every time. Now back to YouTube.
> 
> 
> 
> Shaking my head what
> Propane and hours today
> Truck works, now YouTube
Click to expand...


Dave, this is not the haiku thread lol.


----------



## davidharmier60

I didn't post Haiku. Someone quoted me and it LOOKS like Haiku.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.


That sucks!   I hope he's soon sorted.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.



Awwww poor pup!  Extra treats are in order.  And belly rubs.


----------



## Fujidave

@SquarePeg Hope your pooch gets well soon.

We had a lovely walk round the bloke Susie and I, loved it too as it was so cool with a nice little breeze.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.


Awww; poor puppy.


----------



## ceemac

Maybe my wife and I should see a vet. We just spent a few days camping in Jasper with her brother and his wife. We did a few hikes and we're feeling pretty lethargic. I'm pretty sure old age takes longer. The brain just says "Go for it"


----------



## davidharmier60

Good Night y'all. The Eagle poops tomorrow. but $160 of it MUST go in the bank.
Have a nice Wednesday.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Just back from the vet.  The dog has lyme disease.  Antibiotics and pain meds for the next month.  Poor guy.  He's been limping a bit and more sleepy/lethargic than usual so took him in for a check up.  Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.


Gracious!   Glad you are an alert mama and took him right in.  Quick diagnosis and treatment, so hopefully he'll turn around  quickly.  Poor thing!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Dog poop, eagle poop, did the title of this thread change?!! 

You hosers better clean things up  because I don't want to get on here with my morning coffee tomorrow and read any more stories about poop!  And stop quoting each other!! 

I just hope I don't have a dream about JC doing a butt scootin' boogie across the carpet, that's a mental image nobody needs...


----------



## ceemac

vintagesnaps said:


> You hosers better clean things up  because I don't want to get on here with my morning coffee tomorrow and read any more stories about poop!


What time's your coffee? Had a bear poop in the middle of my driveway last week. What a pile that was!!



vintagesnaps said:


> And stop quoting each other!!


Sorry


----------



## ceemac

I just checked my weather forecast on the weather network. The question of the day is "what shape is wombat poop?" I'll post the answer when I find out what time vintagesnaps grabs a coffee and logs on.
Don't quote me on that.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, already had our cool walk as it is going to be a very hot day today just wish it would cool down as my chest does not like all this heat.


----------



## davidharmier60

Another Wednesday. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

ceemac said:


> What time's your coffee? Had a bear poop in the middle of my driveway last week



First cup of the day a nice medium roast from Brazil, not bad. We are experiencing a revival of the bear population in our area. Over the last few years we've had several sightings in the rural areas. This year they've expanded into the larger cities. Birmingham and Huntsville have had a couple, and yesterday on the news there was a video of one in the suburbs of Marietta, Ga


----------



## JonA_CT

Camping coffee has chunks.


----------



## smoke665

Hurt my back last week, lifting something I shouldn't have, and was just about over it until yesterday. Like a dummy I took a rather heavy box down from a high shelf and turned. Now it's twice as bad  Looks like I'll be spending the day in my recliner with a heating pad/ice pack.


----------



## bogeyguy

Ice first. then heat.


----------



## ceemac

smoke665 said:


> We are experiencing a revival of the bear population in our area. Over the last few years we've had several sightings in the rural areas. This year they've expanded into the larger cities. Birmingham and Huntsville have had a couple, and yesterday on the news there was a video of one in the suburbs of Marietta, Ga


We had a longer winter than usual so it's taken them longer to move up into the hills. We carry spray, but I've only seen 1 or 2.
Take it easy with your back. I don't know why our brains don't age at the same rate our bodies do. LOL 
I've still got this eye thing going on. It's healing, but there's a brochure on the problem that starts out " As we age.."


----------



## smoke665

ceemac said:


> I don't know why our brains don't age at the same rate our bodies do. LOL
> I've still got this eye thing going on. It's healing, but there's a brochure on the problem that starts out " As we age.."



Nothing golden about age, everything pretty much sucks. On a good day it takes several steps to loosen up everything to stand up straight after I've been sitting. Next month I have cataract surgery. Earlier this year a colonoscopy caught some precancerous problems. At least it confirmed to my wife that my head was not anywhere in that general area. Later this year will have another tooth implant.  I am slowly becoming the "Six Million Dollar Man".


----------



## SquarePeg

Age is a frame of mind.  My soon to be 76 year old mom always says if you think you're old - you're old.  She takes a boogie board to the beach, still works 3-4 days /week because she likes it and has a better social life than me.  She runs circles around us all.


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> Another Wednesday.


Third Monday of the week...


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> ...  And stop quoting each other!!
> 
> I just hope I don't have a dream about JC doing a butt scootin' boogie across the carpet, that's a mental image nobody needs...


ahhhh ... Gary thinks that would be found more in the realm of nightmare than a dream. (oops, I quoted you.)


----------



## tirediron

bogeyguy said:


> Ice Whiskey first. then heat. then more whiskey


FTFY


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Age is a frame of mind.



Yup, mine still thinks I'm 20, that's what get's me in trouble.


----------



## Gary A.

ceemac said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> You hosers better clean things up  because I don't want to get on here with my morning coffee tomorrow and read any more stories about poop!
> 
> 
> 
> What time's your coffee? Had a bear poop in the middle of my driveway last week. What a pile that was!!
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> And stop quoting each other!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sorry
Click to expand...

LOL ... OMG, Gary doesn't know if he should laugh, cry in alarm, sympathy ... Gary cannot relate to bear crap.  He imagines that bear is bigger and stinkier (smells like berries), than the occasional coyote crap he finds in his yard. Down here in the foothills and on hot days, the bears jump into the swimming pools.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> bogeyguy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ice Whiskey first. then heat. then more whiskey
> 
> 
> 
> FTFY
Click to expand...

Ice in the whiskey is optional.


----------



## ceemac

Gary A. said:


> He imagines that bear is bigger and stinkier (smells like berries)


Usually just black bears, not terribly big. I'm more afraid of running into a moose with a calf. Now those ladies are big.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. We are in another heatwave.  Yesterday, and today we will break 90F. Presently 72F and feels like 72F. A/C is on.  A/C in July is odd for us. Nearly, every week in summer the local news sports videos of bears in swimming pools. Usually they're just a quick dip, a few different strokes, then the bear leisurely scampers back over the wall into the brush. This should be a light day for Gary. Maybe a quick trip to Dog Beach with Maggie ... maybe a through cleaning of the pressurized filter for the pond.  Yesterday, he cleaned out the skimmer, that is pretty easy, just hosing down a net and some brushed.  The pressurized filter has a billion little plastic wagon wheels, cleaning them is tedious and time consuming.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> OMG, Gary doesn't know if he should laugh, cry in alarm, sympathy ...



In some places they have started to become large pests...like rats. Gatlinburg has a running battle with them, as they like to hang out downtown along the strip because of the availability of food from the tourists. Wildlife officials have to trap and relocate them, but the joke is they beat them back. There is a large candy store on the corner across from the Aquarium that has been "broken into" several times by bears with a sweet tooth.


----------



## Gary A.

ceemac said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> He imagines that bear is bigger and stinkier (smells like berries)
> 
> 
> 
> Usually just black bears, not terribly big. I'm more afraid of running into a moose with a calf. Now those ladies are big.
Click to expand...

That's what we have here in SoCal. Unfortunately the Brown Bears (including the Grizzly are gone from California.)  But wolves are returning to California.  So there is hope for other species to return if we continue to create and enforce sound environmental policies which share the states's natural resources with all life and not exploit natural resources merely for the benefit of one species.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG, Gary doesn't know if he should laugh, cry in alarm, sympathy ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In some places they have started to become large pests...like rats. Gatlinburg has a running battle with them, as they like to hang out downtown along the strip because of the availability of food from the tourists. Wildlife officials have to trap and relocate them, but the joke is they beat them back. There is a large candy store on the corner across from the Aquarium that has been "broken into" several times by bears with a sweet tooth.
Click to expand...

In Los Angeles and the surrounding foothill communities, urban bear encounters have been reported as long as Gary can remember.  Usually, the bears are drugged, hauled off and released deep in the forrest where there is little chance of a return visit.  Once a bear has been educated on the easy pickings of an unlocked garbage can, or the fun of a pool party, it is hard for them go back to hunting/foraging in the wild. In the foothills, all/most of the pets spend the night inside.  Between coyotes and Mountain Lions, house cats and small dogs are low hanging fruit.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG, Gary doesn't know if he should laugh, cry in alarm, sympathy ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In some places they have started to become large pests...like rats. Gatlinburg has a running battle with them, as they like to hang out downtown along the strip because of the availability of food from the tourists. Wildlife officials have to trap and relocate them, but the joke is they beat them back. There is a large candy store on the corner across from the Aquarium that has been "broken into" several times by bears with a sweet tooth.
Click to expand...


I was just in Gatlinburg. I didn't see one bear (outside of the million carved ones on the side of the road).  However, I never seen so many fat people (many made me feel pretty good about myself, and I'm obese) in one spot in my life. That tourist trap should be called cankle strip, geez. I was walking behind a lady with a bus for a butt and I couldn't tell if she was farting while she walked or if the noise was from the flaps clapping together.


----------



## smoke665

We seen almost as many there as in the woods. An article from last month Watch frightened tourists leap out of the way as bear runs through downtown Gatlinburg 

Generally try to stay away from that part during heavy tourist season.


----------



## ceemac

Gary A. said:


> Down here in the foothills and on hot days, the bears jump into the swimming pools.


It's ironic. We've been living in critter  country for 4 years. I've seen 2 bears, 1 moose and some cougar tracks. That's it!


----------



## jcdeboever

ceemac said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Down here in the foothills and on hot days, the bears jump into the swimming pools.
> 
> 
> 
> It's ironic. We've been living in critter  country for 4 years. I've seen 2 bears, 1 moose and some cougar tracks. That's it!
Click to expand...

My dog and I were at a stand off with a ground hog yesterday. It was on the other side of our fence. The thing kept charging through the fence and retreating back behind it, making a weird clicking noise. My dog was kinda of being a mamas boy, he would jump back and just bark... This went on for about 5 minutes. I think it was a female and possibly had a family under our enclosed deck. That little devil wasn't playing.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> We seen almost as many there as in the woods. An article from last month Watch frightened tourists leap out of the way as bear runs through downtown Gatlinburg
> 
> Generally try to stay away from that part during heavy tourist season.


Watched the video. Where were the frightened tourists leaping out of the way of the bear?  I just saw a bunch of people standing around watching a frightened bear trying to run away from humans.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> Where were the frightened tourists leaping out of the way of the bear?



Editorial leeway in the headline


----------



## davidharmier60

Biggest pest animal in my part of the world is the wild Hog.

5.45 hours and a couple minutes today. 
17.11 or 12 for the week so far. 
Enjoying chicken tenders and gravy at the deli while waiting on the check.
I fully expect the truck to start but we all know sometimes it's just wishful thinking. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## compur

Coyotes are a common site in my LA neighborhood. Some pet owners whine about their presence but this was their turf long before it was ours. They mostly eat rodents and fallen fruit. I'd much rather see coyotes around here than rats. 

I haven't seen a bear yet but there was a mountain lion spotted nearby recently. Raccoons are pretty common too but my main peeve are the skunks that come out every night.


----------



## snowbear

The last wild bears I saw were in the Pocono Mountains a few years ago when I was up for a MUC-athon (land cover survey).  One was wondering through the camp, having acquired a taste for dumpster goodies, the other two being a mom & cub, longing a number of yards from the interstate.


----------



## davidharmier60

The truck started like a champ.
Deposited $180 in the bank.
Mailed off an Invicta 8926 case to NY.
Found out what was wrong with the mower. Now going to look at pennies and do my comics at ArcaMax. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Not sure how the conversation got to be about bears, but at least we aren't talking about bears pooping. In or out of the woods. 


When that Charlotte Observer page loads there's an image that seems to show someone/some people running off, but it's not as noticeable in the video - which is from a tourist at the scene. The video seems to follow the bear more than the peopl off to the right so it's hard to tell if there are more people out of view running from the bear or not. The headline could be what was described by people at the scene who observed what happened more than what is shown in the video clip.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> When that Charlotte Observer page loads there's an image that seems to show someone/some people running off, but it's not as noticeable in the video - which is from a tourist at the scene. The video seems to follow the bear more than the peopl off to the right so it's hard to tell if there are more people out of view running from the bear or not. The headline could be what was described by people at the scene who observed what happened more than what is shown in the video clip.


As the bear's unofficial attorney, I'd like to state that it appears the people were fleeing an approaching car as they were jaywalking in the street. My client would like to state that running into the street was a selfless act of great bravery to notify the driver of the car of the careless humans in the street that obviously were not paying attention.


----------



## snowbear

No, they were running back to their cars and homes in order to get the friendly and good looking bear well deserved snacks of nuts and raisins.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Talk about poop, I'm watching some of the hearing today... hit the mute for a bit and it got interesting to notice facial expressions and gestures, maybe it's being a photographer. 

Interesting how the response goes from smiling and laughing and giving a wink and taking drinks from a bottle of diet cola, to looking down when being asked direct questions. Gotta wonder why someone can't look directly back at the person asking questions and interesting that the behavior changes so much from one question to another.  These hearings would be an interesting study...


----------



## vintagesnaps

An interlude from the rose garden, you know I just flipped on the news at the top of the hour and I get drawn in, better than the soaps used to be! I may have to go make a big bowl of popcorn. But nah, I think I'm going to go get something done.


----------



## snowbear

The news depresses me too much; I look for the cooking shows.  Not the competitions so much, but those that really try to teach you something.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah, I liked those too, but it seems like the competition shows are so popular now, which can be fun but there are too many of them. They show enough reruns of cupcake wars!! lol 

The second half of the summer, daytime TV really tanks. Let's see, I could watch shopping for Christmas in July, maybe it's time for holiday food treats!

At least the weekend is looking nice, meanwhile the fluff cycle of the dryer keeps calling me...


----------



## SquarePeg

Ugh mammogram scheduled tonight.  There will be much wine afterwards...


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh mammogram scheduled tonight.  There will be much wine afterwards...


Let it go quickly, be pain free, and yield uneventful results.    

Any excuse for wine works for me.


----------



## davidharmier60

Excellent Chicken noodle soup for dinner. 
Almost certainly Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla with chocolate topping in a little while. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Cracking day at the Music Hall, enjoying the singers and band but it was so hot again.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> When that Charlotte Observer page loads there's an image that seems to show someone/some people running off, but it's not as noticeable in the video - which is from a tourist at the scene. The video seems to follow the bear more than the peopl off to the right so it's hard to tell if there are more people out of view running from the bear or not. The headline could be what was described by people at the scene who observed what happened more than what is shown in the video clip.
> 
> 
> 
> As the bear's unofficial attorney, I'd like to state that it appears the people were fleeing an approaching car as they were jaywalking in the street. My client would like to state that running into the street was a selfless act of great bravery to notify the driver of the car of the careless humans in the street that obviously were not paying attention.
Click to expand...

Is your client a Chicago Bear ... maybe a Boston Bruin ... a Golden Bear?


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> When that Charlotte Observer page loads there's an image that seems to show someone/some people running off, but it's not as noticeable in the video - which is from a tourist at the scene. The video seems to follow the bear more than the peopl off to the right so it's hard to tell if there are more people out of view running from the bear or not. The headline could be what was described by people at the scene who observed what happened more than what is shown in the video clip.
> 
> 
> 
> As the bear's unofficial attorney, I'd like to state that it appears the people were fleeing an approaching car as they were jaywalking in the street. My client would like to state that running into the street was a selfless act of great bravery to notify the driver of the car of the careless humans in the street that obviously were not paying attention.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Is your client a Chicago Bear ... maybe a Boston Bruin ... a Golden Bear?
Click to expand...

My client questions the need for this level of distinction and thinks it could lead to stereotypes.


----------



## SquarePeg

Is he being tried by a jury of his bears?


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Is he being tried by a jury of his bears?


No, plea beargain.

OK, that's it for me.


----------



## Gary A.

This morning, when Gary and company started our morning walk, a flock of 20 green parrots squawked and flew  overhead. (Gary took a head count.) It was all very odd.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, had our early walk as it is going to be another hot day today, just wish it would cool day as I totally hate it now.


----------



## Fujidave

Well batteries are all charged up spare cards in the bag, so just having a brew then off out for a bit.


----------



## JonA_CT

We had to retreat from the woods yesterday afternoon because my baby boy was running a high fever, and my wife (reasonably) wanted to be home.

So we have a couple days where we have nothing planned, which is kind of nice other than the fact that he isn't feeling well.

My baby girl also turned 3 last week. 




tegan3 by jwa04, on Flickr


----------



## davidharmier60

Cute. 4.37 or so today.
27.46 for the week so far. 
Truck started fine and the AC is rocking!
PO. Box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 75F presently and it feels like 75F, but it should warm up to the upper 80's. Soooo, the heatwave is breaking.  This last wave even hit the beaches hard.  Typically, the beach is a good ten degrees cooler than inland, but not with this wave.  The ugly part is that many/most who live at the beach (and a few miles inland) don't have A/C.  When I lived close to the beach on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, we had a house built in the last 1930's and no central HVAC. Every week in late August, when the beach heated up, we'd all sleep huddled up in the living room where there was a window shaker A/C unit.  We looked like refugees, sleeping bags and pillows scattered across the floor, every nigt scrambling to get close to the window unit. But, that was a great house, rounded doorways, multi-tiered ceilings, built in bookshelves and china cabinets.  Every room had a different texture of plaster.  Loved that house.


----------



## smoke665

Slow day in the south, in the headlines here. Hogs running wild in Lipscomb, AL Myself I don't really see the problem, I see meat in the freezer, and BBQ in the future, problem solved.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. 75F presently and it feels like 75F, but it should warm up to the upper 80's. Soooo, the heatwave is breaking.  This last wave even hit the beaches hard.  Typically, the beach is a good ten degrees cooler than inland, but not with this wave.  The ugly part is that many/most who live at the beach (and a few miles inland) don't have A/C.  When I lived close to the beach on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, we had a house built in the last 1930's and no central HVAC. Every week in late August, when the beach heated up, we'd all sleep huddled up in the living room where there was a window shaker A/C unit.  We looked like refugees, sleeping bags and pillows scattered across the floor, every nigt scrambling to get close to the window unit. But, that was a great house, rounded doorways, multi-tiered ceilings, built in bookshelves and china cabinets.  Every room had a different texture of plaster.  Loved that house.



We lived in an old house growing up (rented the 2nd floor apts in a Mansard style 3 family in the city), it had beautiful architectural features like built ins, stained glass, transom windows over interior doorways, a beautiful interior staircase and large pantry off the kitchen.  We also had the one ac that we all had to share during heatwaves.  

The house is still there, turned into condos years ago.  I’m sure they’re beautifully restored.  It’s a very trendy area now.  If I could afford it, I’d look to move to  that area again when Princess finishes school but that part of Cambridge is no longer affordable for average families.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just finished scrambling Miss Maggie some eggs for her breakfast.


smoke665 said:


> Slow day in the south, in the headlines here. Hogs running wild in Lipscomb, AL Myself I don't really see the problem, I see meat in the freezer, and BBQ in the future, problem solved.


Man, that headline is such a softball ... but Gary shall exercise restraint.


----------



## Fujidave

Just got in from a long day at the music hall, took a few shots, filled 4 64GB cards so might be busy on the editing but totally loved it.


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon y'all. I talked to Larry the lawnmower man and we can get a wheel from him. The left front on the mower has been rigged but it's plum wallerd out.
Reminds me to go out and get it off and into my truck for after work tomorrow. 

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## Fujidave

Morning all, well what a horrible very hot and humid night it was last night.  Susie and I have had our very early morning walk before the sun gets too hot, think a lot of folk are fed up up with this heat now.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  72F presently ... feels like 72F .  Yesterday, Mary Lou and Gary worked in the yard. It was in the 80's but dry and comfortable. Mary Lou trimmed roses and trees (Avocado and Silk) and Gary mowed, edged and did a deep cleaning on the pressurized pond filter.  Over the course of the two heat waves and some dead drip controller batteries, Gary has lost his tomatoes .  Next week when temps stabilize in the lower 80's, he will replant.  The back is looking good and y'all are welcomed to come over to relax in the patio with a glass of vino.

For a quick lunch, Mary Lou made these peanut butter and grape sandwiches (not grape jelly but whole grapes from the back).  It was quite good but look like a peanut butter - boba sandwich.


----------



## davidharmier60

When i was just a pup. My Grandfather had a house up on blocks with a central ceiling fan. At night with a window cracked open a nice breeze came through. 

5.55 hours today and 27.4x for the week so far. 

It was suggested to me Wal-Mart might have a watch strap I'm looking for. 
So I'm going to Livingston to look.

After of course I finish my chicken tenders and gravy. 

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## Fujidave

Forecast for a lot of rain, we had 3 minutes of it.. haha  Susie and I had a nice cool walk, then once we got back I sorted out all the photos I have taken of the singers, they are well chuffed with them


----------



## SquarePeg

Scooby doo’s woes continue.  Found a tick on his shoulder and could not get it to come off.  Took him to the vet and it was a skin tag!    

Feeling like a very failed fur baby mama this week.  Poor guy has a crazy lady trying to pull his skin off!  Fortunately we used the plastic tick tweezers so no major damage done...still, he’s pissed.


----------



## Jeff15

They said we would have rain today buts its just as hot and no rain....


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Scooby doo’s woes continue.  Found a tick on his shoulder and could not get it to come off.  Took him to the vet and it was a skin tag!
> 
> Feeling like a very failed fur baby mama this week.  Poor guy has a crazy lady trying to pull his skin off!  Fortunately we used the plastic tick tweezers so no major damage done...still, he’s pissed.


Now, that's funny!    I can just picture you, telling him to hold still and it will be over in a minute....meanwhile....


----------



## Jeff15

I never thought I would say this but how I wish for rain, just to cool things off a bit.....


----------



## davidharmier60

Leftovers tonight. Chicken noodle soup and corn bread. The thinking is that watermelon is for dessert in a while.
Price is Right on the DVR. 


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## Dean_Gretsch

@SquarePeg  I think I saw you say you needed new glasses? Poor fur baby might agree with you


----------



## Fujidave

The rain we were forecast was for an hour of too of storms, but sadly it stopped raining after a few minutes and it is still hot and humid here.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

We've had many inches_ too_ much here. Would send some to you and western US if I could.


----------



## Fujidave

Dean_Gretsch said:


> We've had many inches_ too_ much here. Would send some to you and western US if I could.



I think all the gardens could do with a whole day of rain, as it is hard to find any green grass here as it is all scorched brown.


----------



## RowdyRay

smoke665 said:


> Slow day in the south, in the headlines here. Hogs running wild in Lipscomb, AL Myself I don't really see the problem, I see meat in the freezer, and BBQ in the future, problem solved.



Yep. Haven't seen any hogs officer. Care for some ribs?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

As a young teen growing up in Kentucky, I remember doing a job for one of the local farmers with my cousin in a tobacco field away from the farmhouse and on an isolated part of the property. Before he left, the old farmer warned us to keep an eye out for wild hogs that liked rooting up his fields. I couldn't wait to finish the job and leave!


----------



## Tony744

Gary A. said:


> The back is looking good and y'all are welcomed to come over to relax in the patio with a glass of vino.



If I was still living in California I might take ya up on that offer.


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> As a young teen growing up in Kentucky, I remember doing a job for one of the local farmers with my cousin in a tobacco field away from the farmhouse and on an isolated part of the property. Before he left, the old farmer warned us to keep an eye out for wild hogs that liked rooting up his fields.



As a kid growing up on a farm, feeding time was always a challenge. In a normal year, Dad would feed out around 200 head of cattle, and 1500 to 2000 hogs. He had this thing about buying gilts from farms in the mountains of northern Arkansas. Claimed they were better mothers and raised heartier pigs. Granted they did that,  but they were the meanest critters you'd ever meet. They had tusks that would rip your leg open in the blink of an eye.


----------



## davidharmier60

Good night peeps. Should  already be in bed.

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## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> We've had many inches_ too_ much here. Would send some to you and western US if I could.


ooouuuuuu ... Gary and all the fires out here would love some rain.  Just hot and dry out here.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> We've had many inches_ too_ much here. Would send some to you and western US if I could.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think all the gardens could do with a whole day of rain, as it is hard to find any green grass here as it is all scorched brown.
Click to expand...

Welcome to California and Gary's vegetable garden.


----------



## Gary A.

RowdyRay said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Slow day in the south, in the headlines here. Hogs running wild in Lipscomb, AL Myself I don't really see the problem, I see meat in the freezer, and BBQ in the future, problem solved.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yep. Haven't seen any hogs officer. Care for some ribs?
Click to expand...

LOL ... What hog ...?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Gary A. said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> We've had many inches_ too_ much here. Would send some to you and western US if I could.
> 
> 
> 
> ooouuuuuu ... Gary and all the fires out here would love some rain.  Just hot and dry out here.
Click to expand...


I think Elan Musk should design a feasible system to keep our snow from winter removal and send to you the following summer.


----------



## Gary A.

Afternoon y'all.  Mary Lou and Gary are back from watching a movie On warmer/hot days we like catching movies along the beach. Today was _Heart's Beat Loud_. A totally lovely and entertaining cinematic experience.  A 5 Star from both Mary Lou and Gary.  Ted Danson was in the movie, as a supporting actor, and the best part was he was tending a bar.


----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> We've had many inches_ too_ much here. Would send some to you and western US if I could.
> 
> 
> 
> ooouuuuuu ... Gary and all the fires out here would love some rain.  Just hot and dry out here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think Elan Musk should design a feasible system to keep our snow from winter removal and send to you the following summer.
Click to expand...

Good idea ... Elon would vacuum tube the snow to his house in Los Angeles.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Scooby doo’s woes continue.  Found a tick on his shoulder and could not get it to come off.  Took him to the vet and it was a skin tag!
> 
> Feeling like a very failed fur baby mama this week.  Poor guy has a crazy lady trying to pull his skin off!  Fortunately we used the plastic tick tweezers so no major damage done...still, he’s pissed.
> 
> 
> 
> Now, that's funny!    I can just picture you, telling him to hold still and it will be over in a minute....meanwhile....
Click to expand...


Yup. Poor guy.  Good news is that when I got back from dinner tonight he was his old self - running around, wiggling in happiness at my return, running to the fridge to get his carrot treat.  The antibiotics must have started to win the battle with the Lyme disease symptoms.  



Dean_Gretsch said:


> @SquarePeg  I think I saw you say you needed new glasses? Poor fur baby might agree with you



I was wearing the new glasses lol.  It was hard to see the head of the  “tick” with our dogs thick long fur.  It’s only the 2nd one we thought we found on him and the first was on his head so that was easy to see.  Not sure how that skin tag got that big without me ever noticing it...


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Post dinner vino, EOS Dolcini Rosso, Delish and perfect for relaxing and watching cable news.




iPhone

Gary has a Tri-Tip in the Sous Vide, cooking away for tomorrow’s dinner. The nested is seasoned and herbed up swimming in a bath of Gary’s Famous BBQ Sauce. Gary tossed the Sous Vide outside to keep any generated heat out of the kitchen.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, just back from a walk with Susie and we got wet from the rain OH YES.  It is quite breezy at the moment now and the rain has blown over, but it is lovely and cool at long last.


----------



## Fujidave

Well as it is not red hot, Susie and I had another good walk in the park but it is quite windy out now but lovely and cool.


----------



## davidharmier60

32.31 for the week. Having Little Debbie snack before leaving the store. 
It has attained walk outside and sweat weather.

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## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is 8:45 a.m., 76F and were are about to start our walk.  Wonderful red moon last night.  Miss Maggie is getting antsy pants in anticipation of running through the park and sliding into the creek and mud. The park is in a narrow arroyo. Upon arrival Maggie always goes to the rim and peers out looking for friends and playmates. About halfway down to the floor Maggie takes off like a rocket and plunges into the creek.  We're off.


----------



## Fujidave

Well I am off to take Susie out for her last walk before bed.


----------



## davidharmier60

Even though it's only 5:45 I feel sleepy coming on. It's awful warm outside. 

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## smoke665

Been another hot one here today. The only good thing about the heat is when it gets hot and dry the Centipede goes dormant, so we haven't had to mow the lawns for two weeks. Got a small shower two days ago, that wasn't nearly enough. Looks like rain chances again the first of the week. The down side of the hot, dry weather, is the ticks seem to like it, been finding 2-3 a day on me or Sadie.


----------



## Fujidave

Well we just dried off, we both came back like drowned rats but it was beautiful and Susie for once did not pull as she normally hates water.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, very windy and chucking it down and is forecast for the couple of days.


----------



## SquarePeg

Those big thunderstorms missed us yesterday.  My brother is about an hour north and they got hammered for a few hours with nasty wind and downpours and doggie scaring thunder boomers.  Got to show my mom how to give the dog his meds while I’m away.  That should be fun.  

1st full day of vacation was pretty good.  Went to the gardens in the morning, enjoyed the pool and relaxed on the deck in the afternoon then went for a nice walk with the pup and then watched the Sox lay one on the Twins while I edited my photos.  I know jc thinks they’re a house of cards but I think they may be the real deal. Very fun to watch.  Except for Price.  He’s the weak link come playoffs.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

OMG!  Last night was a perfect evening. Mary Lou and Gary attended, for our first time, MUSE/IQUE at the Huntington Library in San Marino, (adjacent to Pasadena).

Firstly, the Huntington Library is simply a wonderful place, art galleries and these simply amazingly breath taking themed botanical gardens which seemingly stretched out beyond the horizon.  It was an outdoor venue set on a huge lawn with the ornate greenhouse behind us. The temps were in the mid to low 70's, a wispy Pacific breeze, kept us refreshed but not enough to be disturbing.  Best of all the event was small, no more than a few hundred people.  The parking was free, we could pack in a picnic or order one there. We all sat at tables of six and had nice chats with the other attendees.  The music was wonderful, the dancers superb, the singer was operatic.

The worst for me was the setup did not lend itself to photography without Gary pushing into 'No Man's Land' occupied by the paid still photog and videographers. A younger Gary would have seen it as a challenge and pushed the limits, but an old tired Gary didn't see a point.  So the XT2 w/ 50-140 stayed silent.

From the website:
"Mingling and dining 6pm / Performance 8pm

We’re having a party, The Huntington is our backyard, and our guest are a global “Who’s Who,” sharing the global sounds that have expanded our sonic horizons!

-New York-based Ballet Hispánico burns the floor with their trademark “CARMEN.maquia," a remixed and revitalized interpretation of Bizet’s “Carmen”—this time with a rare chance to witness the artistic interplay of dancer and musician as Alyssa Park joins on violin.

-It’s Gershwin x2, with show-stopping pianist HyeJin Kim playing the Concerto in F like it’s a personal love letter to Gershwin’s adopted home of New York City, and Alyssa Park playing the Heifetz arrangement of “It Ain’t Necessarily So” from Porgy and Bess.

-Colombian vocalist Catalina Cuervo breaks your heart wide open with the poignancy of Lin Manuel Miranda’s “Breathe,” and more.

-And in a patriotic flourish, trumpeter Rob Schaer plays a selection from the score of “Lincoln,” taking us back to the values of freedom and democracy this country was founded on.

Summer is the time to celebrate music and freedom on a global scale, and everyone's invited. It’s the American way!"

In a word, the evening was grand.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sounds lovely Gary.
Here it thundered to scare the dogs last night but no rain fell. 
Today the AC has been running more often and for longer since about 9am.
Need to go out and put a charger on my truck.
NOT looking forward to it!


----------



## CherylL

Subscribed! I've been in "no longer a newbie, moving up!" since 2012 purgatory.  Happy to support the site.


----------



## Fujidave

So the wife phones me earlier and says go out tonight, so I go out have a fantastic time taking photos that are crap.  Come home to a note saying cant live with a killer and she takes my Susie.  So at this moment in time you could say my head is totally done in.


----------



## Gary A.

The weather has taken a turn for the worse. It has jumped to 97F with 30% humidity ... feels like 100F.  Man the humidity sucks ... feel like Gary is walking around in an armpit. Gary and Leo can't wait until it cools off.  Gary just finished brewing together some chocolate ice cream and tossed it into the machine for churning and freezing.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> So the wife phones me earlier and says go out tonight, so I go out have a fantastic time taking photos that are crap.  Come home to a note saying cant live with a killer and she takes my Susie.  So at this moment in time you could say my head is totally done in.


I am sooooooo sorry.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> So the wife phones me earlier and says go out tonight, so I go out have a fantastic time taking photos that are crap.  Come home to a note saying cant live with a killer and she takes my Susie.  So at this moment in time you could say my head is totally done in.
> 
> 
> 
> I am sooooooo sorry.
Click to expand...



As Ned Kelly said, Such is Life


----------



## ceemac

WTF, Dave. That more than sucks.


----------



## Fujidave

ceemac said:


> WTF, Dave. That more than sucks.



IMO her choice as I will find her take back suise and bang in for a divorce, as totally fed up with her hitting me and blaming me, she can be sad and lonely once I get my susie back.


----------



## davidharmier60

We are out of ice cream and money.
First couple days of this week outta be fun.
NOT!

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----------



## Gary A.

For JC, Mister Baseball.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> ceemac said:
> 
> 
> 
> WTF, Dave. That more than sucks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IMO her choice as I will find her take back suise and bang in for a divorce, as totally fed up with her hitting me and blaming me, she can be sad and lonely once I get my susie back.
Click to expand...


I don't have any knowledge of your family situation other then what you've posted here, but you seem to be a level headed individual. I can also say I was raised in a home where the only hitting that took place was when Dad's hand connected with my butt (usually for something I well deserved and only as the last resort). Hitting is never acceptable between husband and wife. Reading between the lines I suspect there were problems before your son's death, that just hadn't surfaced. If both parties really care about saving their marriage then counseling could help, likely both together and individually. I speak from experience of a bad first marriage that counseling only works if both parties want it to. I could have saved myself a year of grief and a pot of money, if I'd realized that earlier, and parted ways with a crazy woman (she's gone through 4 more since me).  The bright side was that I met the one who was "supposed" to be my life mate. Just celebrated our 39th anniversary.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> It has jumped to 97F with 30% humidity ... feels like 100F. Man the humidity sucks ... f



*30% HUMIDITY, *that's terrible Gary, I don't know how you are surviving it,  should we take up a collection to send you so you can buy your own personal  portable HVAC unit ????. 

The high here today was 95 with 73% humidity. Which, I might add felt really good, considering the recent days of 100 degrees (actual temps - not feels like) with 85% humidity. This week temperatures are expected to be above 90 all week with humidity ranging from 69% to 73%.


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> So the wife phones me earlier and says go out tonight, so I go out have a fantastic time taking photos that are crap.  Come home to a note saying cant live with a killer and she takes my Susie.  So at this moment in time you could say my head is totally done in.



Dave, Dave, Dave...I'm so sorry


----------



## ceemac

Gary A. said:


> The weather has taken a turn for the worse. It has jumped to 97F with 30% humidity ... feels like 100F.



Don't pay any attention to Smoke. We've jumped up to 33%. I know exactly what you going thru.


----------



## Fujidave

Mum phoned to say the wife has left Susie at hers and gone to stay with her mum, I am also going to take some time out too then hope we can both get through this with the right help, see you all soon once we get back on track together.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Fujidave said:


> Mum phoned to say the wife has left Susie at hers and gone to stay with her mum, I am also going to take some time out too then hope we can both get through this with the right help, see you all soon once we get back on track together.


Good luck, Dave. I hope the best for you both.


----------



## jcdeboever

Sorry to hear this Dave. Take a deep breath. Praying for you.


----------



## SquarePeg

Woke up this morning to a ton of Flickr notifications.  Apparently one of my flower photos was featured in “explore” yesterday.  Lots of faves and over 2k views but all in all, still have under 100 followers lol!  

Heading to the beach for a few days.  Hoping for sunny skies and not so humid.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Mum phoned to say the wife has left Susie at hers and gone to stay with her mum, I am also going to take some time out too then hope we can both get through this with the right help, see you all soon once we get back on track together.



Glad to see that you’ll have Susie to comfort you.


----------



## smoke665

@Fujidave Good news on Susie. Prayers for a positive outcome for you.


----------



## smoke665

ceemac said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The weather has taken a turn for the worse. It has jumped to 97F with 30% humidity ... feels like 100F.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't pay any attention to Smoke. We've jumped up to 33%. I know exactly what you going thru.
Click to expand...


Suck it up buttercups, you haven't seen anything yet.


 

Once the sun gets up the heat will rise (expected to hit mid 90's) and the humidity will drop to the high 60's- low 70's as the sun burns off the moisture.


----------



## CherylL

Fujidave said:


> Mum phoned to say the wife has left Susie at hers and gone to stay with her mum, I am also going to take some time out too then hope we can both get through this with the right help, see you all soon once we get back on track together.



Best wishes Dave.  Hugs.


----------



## Gary A.

ceemac said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The weather has taken a turn for the worse. It has jumped to 97F with 30% humidity ... feels like 100F.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't pay any attention to Smoke. We've jumped up to 33%. I know exactly what you going thru.
Click to expand...

Yep, it sucks when Mother Nature keeps tossing curve balls at you.


----------



## waday

Good news. My mother's house did not flood. Crested on Thursday a foot below their prediction, which had also been lowered an additional foot from the previous day.

In preparation for the flood, two of my siblings and I moved stuff from the basement to the upper floor of the house. In a previous flood, we assumed that we lost my grandfather's camera (along with ALL of his negatives). In looking through all this stuff, just before I left, I found his camera bag. I was immediately elated, and I took it with me when I left. On the drive home, I was ecstatic, and I called my wife saying that I found the camera bag.

I get home, take the camera bag upstairs, open it. I see a Minolta lens, that's good. An old flash, also good. And, then the elation turns to deflation. The bag is empty sans these items and a few accessories. No camera.

It's not a collectible camera, an expensive camera, or even a great camera. It's just a normal Minolta camera. But, it's my grandfather's normal camera. I want the memories. If I could, I'd even settle just for knowing what model it was, but there are no pictures of his camera.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Good news. My mother's house did not flood. Crested on Thursday a foot below their prediction, which had also been lowered an additional foot from the previous day.
> 
> In preparation for the flood, two of my siblings and I moved stuff from the basement to the upper floor of the house. In a previous flood, we assumed that we lost my grandfather's camera (along with ALL of his negatives). In looking through all this stuff, just before I left, I found his camera bag. I was immediately elated, and I took it with me when I left. On the drive home, I was ecstatic, and I called my wife saying that I found the camera bag.
> 
> I get home, take the camera bag upstairs, open it. I see a Minolta lens, that's good. An old flash, also good. And, then the elation turns to deflation. The bag is empty sans these items and a few accessories. No camera.
> 
> It's not a collectible camera, an expensive camera, or even a great camera. It's just a normal Minolta camera. But, it's my grandfather's normal camera. I want the memories. If I could, I'd even settle just for knowing what model it was, but there are no pictures of his camera.



Oh man what a let down!  Hope you can use the lens and think of him when you do.  No negatives either?


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Woke up this morning to a ton of Flickr notifications.  Apparently one of my flower photos was featured in “explore” yesterday.  Lots of faves and over 2k views but all in all, still have under 100 followers lol!
> 
> Heading to the beach for a few days.  Hoping for sunny skies and not so humid.



Congrats on Explore!


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Good news. My mother's house did not flood. Crested on Thursday a foot below their prediction, which had also been lowered an additional foot from the previous day.
> 
> In preparation for the flood, two of my siblings and I moved stuff from the basement to the upper floor of the house. In a previous flood, we assumed that we lost my grandfather's camera (along with ALL of his negatives). In looking through all this stuff, just before I left, I found his camera bag. I was immediately elated, and I took it with me when I left. On the drive home, I was ecstatic, and I called my wife saying that I found the camera bag.
> 
> I get home, take the camera bag upstairs, open it. I see a Minolta lens, that's good. An old flash, also good. And, then the elation turns to deflation. The bag is empty sans these items and a few accessories. No camera.
> 
> It's not a collectible camera, an expensive camera, or even a great camera. It's just a normal Minolta camera. But, it's my grandfather's normal camera. I want the memories. If I could, I'd even settle just for knowing what model it was, but there are no pictures of his camera.


Damn!


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Yep, it sucks when Mother Nature keeps tossing curve balls at you.



Calling for rain here for the next few days which we really need, so no choice but to get the tractor out and hook up to the Bush Hog to catch up some mowing that I'd been putting off. 4 hrs later I was done --- good thing it was getting a little cool out there without a jacket today. 92 degrees,  really low humidity (63%) and a nice breeze.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry to hear about that Dave, but glad to know Susie was at your mom's, that bothered me as much as anything to think what a lousy thing to do taking your dog. Sounds like in the long run you'll be better off to move on with your life, and you still have Susie and your mum and us, and a fun photography project to look forward to. 

Wade that's a shame to not find the camera, I guess you can at least use the camera bag and carry it with you.


----------



## vintagesnaps

So has JC seen that front page of the LA Times yet? I spotted ours right away, and Yankee Stadium... the Cubs, the St. Louis arch and the Brooklyn bridge. And something that looks like it's from the Teletubbies, the thing that calls them when it's time to come home.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Oh man what a let down!  Hope you can use the lens and think of him when you do.  No negatives either?


Thanks. I need to figure out the lens mount and then find an adapter. No, no negatives, either. (I do know that those were destroyed in the past flood.) He was really good with his organization--almost maddeningly good at it. He had a level of patience for doing things that I've never seen in anyone else. He kept boxes for everything, and when he didn't have the box, he somehow found a box that fit the product, bought foam, cut the foam to fit the box and product, and very clearly labeled the outside. He treated his equipment and belongings with extreme care; I have a couple of video cameras from him that look almost brand new.

To see that the camera is NOT in the camera bag is very frustrating. Ugh.



vintagesnaps said:


> Wade that's a shame to not find the camera, I guess you can at least use the camera bag and carry it with you.


Very good point. It needs a once-over to clean it up, but I will definitely plan on using it.


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon all. The floor machine didn't QUITE get through the whole store. But enough that the floor came out pretty good. 5.35 hours today anf for the week so far.
Will sell my penny box to Trish tomorrow. And hopefully get another box. The watch I wore today had the strap  come off one side. When I got home I stuck this strap on it.



Armitron Digital on 18mm red leather exposed by Just Plain Dave, on Flickr


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Woke up this morning to a ton of Flickr notifications.  Apparently one of my flower photos was featured in “explore” yesterday.  Lots of faves and over 2k views but all in all, still have under 100 followers lol!
> 
> Heading to the beach for a few days.  Hoping for sunny skies and not so humid.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats on Explore!
Click to expand...


Thanks Cheryl.  I had no idea it would draw so many views! Over 5k...  wish I had known, I would have cleaned up my Flickr feed!!   There’s some junk in there that I uploaded just to be able to post on here.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Afternoon all. The floor machine didn't QUITE get through the whole store. But enough that the floor came out pretty good. 5.35 hours today anf for the week so far.
> Will sell my penny box to Trish tomorrow. And hopefully get another box. The watch I wore today had the strap  come off one side. When I got home I stuck this strap on it.
> 
> 
> 
> Armitron Digital on 18mm red leather exposed by Just Plain Dave, on Flickr


Dude, that's fur not hair.


----------



## davidharmier60

What can I say. I have furry arms.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Woke up this morning to a ton of Flickr notifications.  Apparently one of my flower photos was featured in “explore” yesterday.  Lots of faves and over 2k views but all in all, still have under 100 followers lol!
> 
> Heading to the beach for a few days.  Hoping for sunny skies and not so humid.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats on Explore!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks Cheryl.  I had no idea it would draw so many views! Over 5k...  wish I had known, I would have cleaned up my Flickr feed!!   There’s some junk in there that I uploaded just to be able to post on here.
Click to expand...


Did you accept the invite to the Explore group?  There is a thank you thread on the Explore group that you can say a word or two.  The protocol is to thank for the invite.  And if you are into stats, go to this site to see your ranking:  Scout: Find your photos in Flickr's Explore pages.


----------



## Tony744

Fujidave said:


> Mum phoned to say the wife has left Susie at hers and gone to stay with her mum, I am also going to take some time out too then hope we can both get through this with the right help, see you all soon once we get back on track together.



Sorry to hear the news Dave. Wishing you the best.


----------



## snowbear

Playing catch up.
Dave: sorry to hear this.  I hope it all works out.

SharonCat: Congrat's. I don't generally bother with the Explore feature, but now I'm going to have to look, though I'm sure I've seen it since I follow you.

Wade:  If it's one of the SRT models, it should be a "standard" Minolta mount. I don't think they changed the mounts until the Maxxum series was out, around the mid 1980s.


----------



## JonA_CT

Wade — if what Charlie said is true, let me know...I have a Minolta film camera that I’ll send your way.


----------



## davidharmier60

Good night y'all. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Northern California has lost more than 700 homes in the present and uncontained wildfires.  There are fire crews on the NorCal fire lines from Florida, Colorado, Montana, Oregon and other states.

Thank You for all your help.


----------



## Gary A.

In another tragic experience, recently the LA Times, Pulitzer Prize winning, food critic, Jonathon Gold, 58, passed from pancreatic cancer.  Gold was amazing and was loved by all in the city.  Until Gold, most food critics reviewed only the better, upper scale, Michelin rated restaurants.  Gold went into all the neighborhoods across this sprawling city of 4 million in a county of 11 million. He ate at Ma & Pa places, food trucks, hole-in-the-walls and ethnic restaurants.  He was a weekly treasure map of discovery for Angelenos.  He was the Anthony Bourdain before Anthony Bourdain.  Bourdain brought the cultures and tastes of the world into Gary house.  Gold took Gary out of his house and showed him world tastes and cultures in neighborhoods he would not have normally visited.


----------



## Gary A.

In honor of Gold and how he brought the city together through food. On Saturday, (Gold’s birthday), many city landmarks were illuminated in gold.


----------



## pixmedic

their are know rules in photography


----------



## waday

@snowbear and @JonA_CT , you two are the best!



snowbear said:


> Wade:  If it's one of the SRT models, it should be a "standard" Minolta mount. I don't think they changed the mounts until the Maxxum series was out, around the mid 1980s.


Thank you!! This narrows it down, and I _think_ I might know which model... I vaguely remember two cameras: one was silver and looked like the old "classic" film cameras and the other was black, a bit bulkier, and I remember a small screen on top. But I think I only ever saw him use one--given my age and the age of the camera from your description, it was the Maxxum series. The lens I found is the Maxxum AF 50 (see picture below).

I did a quick web search for Minolta Maxxum, and I seem to recall the oddly-shaped and designed Maxxum 7000. Hard to forget a shutter button like that!

Here's a picture I found on the web: https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/431/19266549476_654f920d82_b.jpg



JonA_CT said:


> Wade — if what Charlie said is true, let me know...I have a Minolta film camera that I’ll send your way.


Jon, which camera do you have? If you're not using it, I'll gladly accept and pay!  I've been meaning to get into film more; now that I found some of my grandfather's stuff, the motivation is back!

Also, I did find this really cool video camera... not sure super 8 film is in my budget to play around with, but it's definitely neat to have. I'm going to keep looking through some of the boxes to see if I find anything else. I did find a Brownie camera, but it's in really, really rough shape.

BTW, in the Sankyo video camera photo, that's my grandfather's old camera bag. LOL.




Old cameras by Wade, on Flickr




Old cameras by Wade, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has some old Minolta film that should fit the camera ... maybe it's SRT film ...


----------



## snowbear

I think the 7000 is the changeover for Minolta mounts; I don't believe any of the earlier models had AF.  The earlier lenses, at least back to the 70's, were labeled MC or MD "Rokkor" or Rokkor-X" (I think the actual brand name, like older Nikon "Nikkor" lenses)


----------



## davidharmier60

Rain rain go away and come back tonight. 
The lights flickered and then went out.
A generator is running a couple strings of lights and the register. I cleaned the restrooms and break room by the light of my EDC Fenix P2D. An old light but a good one! Cleaned out the floor machine and have it all ready for when the power comes back. Sold my pennies to Trish and depending if Peoples Bank has power may or may not get another. Going to head that way soon and see. Then PO, the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Beach therapy. Cheaper and more effective than the alternative.  

I had a nice photo to post but the ridiculous size limits make it too much effort.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> I think the 7000 is the changeover for Minolta mounts; I don't believe any of the earlier models had AF.  The earlier lenses, at least back to the 70's, were labeled MC or MD "Rokkor" or Rokkor-X" (I think the actual brand name, like older Nikon "Nikkor" lenses)


What's with the "kkor" moniker?


----------



## compur

waday said:


> What's with the "kkor" moniker?




"Rokkor" comes from Rokko, a mountain visible from Minolta's lens factory in Japan.
"Nikkor" comes from a shortening of Nippon Kogaku (Japan Optical), which was Nikon's original name.

As for the "r" at the end, my guess is it was inspired by all the German lens design names that
ended in "...ar" such as Protar, Tessar, Elmar, Zoomar, etc dating back to the late 1800s.
And, my guess is these names were inspired by the German word "okular" (of the eyes).

But, in any case, there have been a zillion lens design names ending in either "-ar" or "-or."


----------



## compur

snowbear said:


> I think the 7000 is the changeover for Minolta mounts; I don't believe any of the earlier models had AF.  The earlier lenses, at least back to the 70's, were labeled MC or MD "Rokkor" or Rokkor-X" (I think the actual brand name, like older Nikon "Nikkor" lenses)



Yes, the Maxxum 7000 was Minolta's first AF SLR and it was also the first really successful AF SLR from any manufacturer. (Nikon, Canon, Pentax and others made earlier ones but they were not very practical and they flopped.) The 7000 used Minolta's new AF mount which was used on all its subsequent Maxxum models and is still used on Sony Alpha DSLRs.

There were actually 4 Minolta _manual_ _focus _SLR mounts: SR, MC, MD and MD X600.

The Minolta X600 camera had a "focus confirmation" feature requiring an additional tab on the MD mount. These cameras were never marketed by Minolta in the USA but the lenses were.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Beach therapy. Cheaper and more effective than the alternative



Might want to wear shoes. All over the news here the last few days. Teen infected with hookworms after being buried in sand at Florida beach


----------



## waday

compur said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> What's with the "kkor" moniker?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "Rokkor" comes from Rokko, a mountain visible from Minolta's lens factory in Japan.
> "Nikkor" comes from a shortening of Nippon Kogaku (Japan Optical), which was Nikon's original name.
> 
> As for the "r" at the end, my guess is it was inspired by all the German lens design names that
> ended in "...ar" such as Protar, Tessar, Elmar, Zoomar, etc dating back to the late 1800s.
> And, my guess is these names were inspired by the German word "okular" (of the eyes).
> 
> But, in any case, there have been a zillion lens design names ending in either "-ar" or "-or."
Click to expand...

Awesome, thank you!


----------



## snowbear

compur said:


> There were actually 4 Minolta _manual_ _focus _SLR mounts: SR, MC, MD and MD X600.
> 
> The Minolta X600 camera had a "focus confirmation" feature requiring an additional tab on the MD mount. These cameras were never marketed by Minolta in the USA but the lenses were.


That's interesting.  I don't recall which the SRT101 and SRT201 used (IIRC they were the same mount) - Dad had the 101 and I had the 201.
Son #1 is going to send pics of the 101 lens mount after work, tonight.  I'll post them so you can compare to what you have.


----------



## Fujidave

Hi folks, just an update today on my own I went to counciling and they actually advised me to walk away and leave my marriage.  Reason they said was if I stay with the wife I WILL end up being killed by her.  The abuse I have had for the last 25yrs is a very big warning side of the beatings I have had, and I was gobsmacked at how they were so worried about me.  So as of now my marriage is over BUT I am alive,  I am going to carry on seeing the councilor and it will be hard, but she said the abuse is one of the worst she has ever seen or heard of.


----------



## compur

snowbear said:


> compur said:
> 
> 
> 
> There were actually 4 Minolta _manual_ _focus _SLR mounts: SR, MC, MD and MD X600.
> 
> The Minolta X600 camera had a "focus confirmation" feature requiring an additional tab on the MD mount. These cameras were never marketed by Minolta in the USA but the lenses were.
> 
> 
> 
> That's interesting.  I don't recall which the SRT101 and SRT201 used (IIRC they were the same mount) - Dad had the 101 and I had the 201.
> Son #1 is going to send pics of the 101 lens mount after work, tonight.  I'll post them so you can compare to what you have.
Click to expand...


The SRT models originally came with MC mount lenses though they can use any of the Minolta manual focus mount lenses. MC stands for "meter coupled."

The earlier SR mount lenses were originally for the SR-series cameras which didn't have TTL metering such as the SR-2 which was Minolta's first SLR (despite the "2" in its name).


----------



## davidharmier60

The power had been out at home too. But was on when I got here. Peoples Bank never lost power and I did get a box of pennies.
Somehow the frezzer in the garage got unplugged. LOTS of food ruined.. All I know for sure is I didn't do it.
And now back to reading, John Sanford right now.

OH, And FujiDave... while nothing like it has ever happened to me I FEEL for you buddy!


----------



## smoke665

@Fujidave so glad you checked in. Healing can never start till you take the first step, and counseling will go a long way toward helping you. Sounds like you're finally moving forward. As a VFFR I can't tell you how many domestic calls I've been on over the years. You just never know what goes on behind closed doors, I even got called out on my next door neighbors once - talk about not knowing what to say. Fortunately most calls were minor and were calmed down by the time the LE cleared the scene for us, but every now and then you got a bad one. Beatings, stabbings, gun shots, even a couple that were run over with a car. Most people always assume the victim in a domestic abuse situation is the female, but the reality is it's about equally divided. Made a run on one where the wife had emptied a 9 shot clip in her husband's direction when the argument turned violent. Your counselor was right the danger is real, unchecked abuse goes downhill.


----------



## smoke665

I know the dog people out there will get it


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Beach therapy. Cheaper and more effective than the alternative
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Might want to wear shoes. All over the news here the last few days. Teen infected with hookworms after being buried in sand at Florida beach
Click to expand...


Never heard of that up this way.  Greenheads (painful bites) are the beach scourge and sometimes sea lice (gross).


----------



## SquarePeg

@Fujidave  stay safe and do what feels right for you.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Beach therapy. Cheaper and more effective than the alternative
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Might want to wear shoes. All over the news here the last few days. Teen infected with hookworms after being buried in sand at Florida beach
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Never heard of that up this way.  Greenheads (painful bites) are the beach scourge and sometimes sea lice (gross).
Click to expand...


Yeah, along the coast we have sea lice, and jellyfish. We arrived at the beach once to find it covered with slimy sea slugs. Though not harmful they stunk something terrible. 

According to one of the doctor interviews I saw they suspected the hook worms came from an infected dog who left a pile on the beach. Alabama beaches have a no dogs on beach rule, but several in FL have dog friendly beaches.


----------



## Gary A.

We have Gray Whales and sharks.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> @Fujidave so glad you checked in. Healing can never start till you take the first step, and counseling will go a long way toward helping you. Sounds like you're finally moving forward. As a VFFR I can't tell you how many domestic calls I've been on over the years. You just never know what goes on behind closed doors, I even got called out on my next door neighbors once - talk about not knowing what to say. Fortunately most calls were minor and were calmed down by the time the LE cleared the scene for us, but every now and then you got a bad one. Beatings, stabbings, gun shots, even a couple that were run over with a car. Most people always assume the victim in a domestic abuse situation is the female, but the reality is it's about equally divided. Made a run on one where the wife had emptied a 9 shot clip in her husband's direction when the argument turned violent. Your counselor was right the danger is real, unchecked abuse goes downhill.



I have been so blind to it all, but as soon as I told her of the time the wife hit me with an axe, she was gobsmacked and just said You need to leave And Now.  So I just need to rebuild my life now and move on.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'd say so. It's good you've talked to someone. Like many things in life, it will likely be a process and take some time. But now you can start moving forward to a better life. It'll probably keep getting better from here.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm waiting 8 seconds... 


We have carp.
Not worth the wait was it?


----------



## snowbear

Jellyfish, some sharks (mainly hammerheads), a couple of skate, and the worst of all - tourists.

MLW told me of some entertainment that happened.  One of the stations went on a call and neglected to properly chock the wheels on the pumper.  I'm sure you can guess what happened next; yep, the piece pops into gear, rolls down the road, and takes out a hydrant.  On further inspection, they notice a LOT of water coming up from the ground, so the hydrant must have been connected to a larger main.  Then something else starts flowing up - not exactly water - sewage.  Needles to say, the road is closed.  We are surely glad we don't go home that way.

On the side note, I always knew that town was full of sh**.


----------



## terri

Fujidave said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Fujidave so glad you checked in. Healing can never start till you take the first step, and counseling will go a long way toward helping you. Sounds like you're finally moving forward. As a VFFR I can't tell you how many domestic calls I've been on over the years. You just never know what goes on behind closed doors, I even got called out on my next door neighbors once - talk about not knowing what to say. Fortunately most calls were minor and were calmed down by the time the LE cleared the scene for us, but every now and then you got a bad one. Beatings, stabbings, gun shots, even a couple that were run over with a car. Most people always assume the victim in a domestic abuse situation is the female, but the reality is it's about equally divided. Made a run on one where the wife had emptied a 9 shot clip in her husband's direction when the argument turned violent. Your counselor was right the danger is real, unchecked abuse goes downhill.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have been so blind to it all, but as soon as I told her of the time the wife hit me with an axe, she was gobsmacked and just said You need to leave And Now.  So I just need to rebuild my life now and move on.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you're taking important steps in the right direction.    Good luck to you in this process, and take care of Dave!


----------



## davidharmier60

My, but the Hawker Sea Fury is an AWESOME plane!
(Thanks to YouTube!)


----------



## SquarePeg

I may or may not have had my second piece of fried dough in 2 days...  Beach therapy photo from earlier:


----------



## smoke665

Yeah we have rain at last. It was really getting dry here. Being on a community water supply it's way to expensive water yard or shrubs.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are at The Segerstrom Center  for the Arts waiting for _School of Rock _to begin. The Segerstrom is in Orange County, about the same distance from Gary’s home as Hollywood (roughly 20 miles). But, man ... it is a much much easier drive to Segerstrom than to the theatres in Los Angeles. Few bottlenecks and HOV lanes allowed Gary to blow through the freeways.


----------



## RowdyRay

@waday. Not sure if the others responded. I have a Maxxum 7000. Picked it up from a thrift store. Have NO idea if it works. Planned to give the lens to my nephew that got the Sony A200. Think he lost interest already. You can probably have that too. Just PM me.


----------



## snowbear

Here is the mount for the SRT101.


----------



## pixmedic

HA! i knew it!

Grammar Purity is One Big Ponzi Scheme


----------



## Gary A.

pixmedic said:


> HA! i knew it!
> 
> Grammar Purity is One Big Ponzi Scheme


LOL ... but the author  is fundamentally wrong, (in a gray context way).  There are grammar police, the code books used are called stylebooks.  Most journalists use the AP Stylebook. (Granted "style" is, in most judicial court systems, different than "laws and rules" written in stone.  But for journalists and other professional writers and some students/classes, a stylebook is the law.)

AP Stylebook


----------



## davidharmier60

Chicken Tenders, gravy and home fries.
Good morning (for 15 more minutes anyway). I may or may not have mentioned that the freezer got unplugged and a lot of food got ruined. Today's check will replace some of it. Have to take Sister shopping because my truck has current registration. 
And that's the news.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

Updates here and there
Multiple methods from Dave
Haiku and Coffee


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

The pond looks quite nice.
A Lilly has sprouted white.
The fish are happy.


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> Chicken Tenders, gravy and home fries.


Are chicken toughs an equally popular menu item?


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 161412
> iPhone
> 
> The pond looks quite nice.
> A Lilly has sprouted white.
> The fish are happy.



Do you find that the pond attracts a lot of insects?  There are so many mosquitoes around here in summer that I can’t imagine having any water around. Even with my seeming immunity to bug bites, at my favorite gardens I avoid the lily ponds in summer.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 161412
> iPhone
> 
> The pond looks quite nice.
> A Lilly has sprouted white.
> The fish are happy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do you find that the pond attracts a lot of insects?  There are so many mosquitoes around here in summer that I can’t imagine having any water around. Even with my seeming immunity to bug bites, at my favorite gardens I avoid the lily ponds in summer.
Click to expand...

Yes, the water attracts insects, Dragonflies are Gary's favorite.

In particular to mosquitos, the Mosquito Life Cycle:
1) Mosquitos require standing water to propagate/breed. Mosquitos lay eggs in standing water.
2) The hatchlings are larva which live entirely in water feeding on whatever small stuff they can manage eat.
3) After larva, mosquitos transform into a non-eating pupa.  The pupa will molt multiple times eventually changing into the flying, blood sucking insect, we all know and love.
4) The winged mosquito crawls out of the water for the first time in the mosquito's life.  Dries off and flies into the sunset looking for some blood and a mate in order to start the cycle again.

Gary hasn't any standing water.  The pond and Gary's two water fountains, circulates the water via-a-vis pumps.  The pumping action destroys the mosquitos while they are water bound eggs, larvae and pupae . The pumps are more than sufficient to interrupt the mosquito life cycle.  But, and in addition to the pumps, Gary has Mosquito Fish in the pond and the larger water fountain.  These fish are dark gray and small, little more than an inch long.  They take care of mosquitos and control other small water creatures and provide a food stock for several species of birds, even an entertain Green Heron the stalks the Mosquito Fish from the banks of the pond. Finally, Gary has ceiling fans in the patio.  Mosquitos can barely fly. The wind generated by the ceiling fans are sufficient to keep most mosquitos and flies out of the patio.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> the flying insect we know and love.


LOL


----------



## vintagesnaps

Why are they called chicken tenders??

I have an AP stylebook, probably not a current one. I may have an education book from a college English course somewhere but I did well in that and don't think I had to take freshman English. I kept what I liked so any geology book I ever had is long gone! lol I think that was the lesser of several evils in choosing a science class.


----------



## jcdeboever

vintagesnaps said:


> So has JC seen that front page of the LA Times yet? I spotted ours right away, and Yankee Stadium... the Cubs, the St. Louis arch and the Brooklyn bridge. And something that looks like it's from the Teletubbies, the thing that calls them when it's time to come home.


I loved it. Too cool, baseball porn


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Beach therapy. Cheaper and more effective than the alternative.
> 
> I had a nice photo to post but the ridiculous size limits make it too much effort.


I scale mine in Gimp


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Why are they called chicken tenders??


They're a part of the chicken. They are under the breast. Apparently, each chicken has two tenders. So, for example, if you eat four, that one meal came from 2 different chickens, presumably.

And imagine the number of people a day eating a multitude of chicken tenders... and then the number of chickens required to supply that demand per day. And then the number of chickens per week, month, and year.

Ok. Done.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Beach therapy. Cheaper and more effective than the alternative.
> 
> I had a nice photo to post but the ridiculous size limits make it too much effort.
> 
> 
> 
> I scale mine in Gimp
Click to expand...

Most likely Peg is referencing a cell phone image.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why are they called chicken tenders??
> 
> 
> 
> They're a part of the chicken. They are under the breast. Apparently, each chicken has two tenders. So, for example, if you eat four, that one meal came from 2 different chickens, presumably.
> 
> And imagine the number of people a day eating a multitude of chicken tenders... and then the number of chickens required to supply that demand per day. And then the number of chickens per week, month, and year.
> 
> Ok. Done.
Click to expand...

Is a chicken considered 'legal tender'?


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Beach therapy. Cheaper and more effective than the alternative.
> 
> I had a nice photo to post but the ridiculous size limits make it too much effort.
> 
> 
> 
> I scale mine in Gimp
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Most likely Peg is referencing a cell phone image.
Click to expand...

oh, I forgot the cell phone is a camera too. [emoji12]


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why are they called chicken tenders??
> 
> 
> 
> They're a part of the chicken. They are under the breast. Apparently, each chicken has two tenders. So, for example, if you eat four, that one meal came from 2 different chickens, presumably.
> 
> And imagine the number of people a day eating a multitude of chicken tenders... and then the number of chickens required to supply that demand per day. And then the number of chickens per week, month, and year.
> 
> Ok. Done.
Click to expand...


Actually only partly right. I designed and sold equipment in the poultry industry for a few years. Unless it says "whole" on the package it's likely trimmings that have been ground and under heat and pressure extruded back into something that resembles a cut of meat.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why are they called chicken tenders??
> 
> 
> 
> They're a part of the chicken. They are under the breast. Apparently, each chicken has two tenders. So, for example, if you eat four, that one meal came from 2 different chickens, presumably.
> 
> And imagine the number of people a day eating a multitude of chicken tenders... and then the number of chickens required to supply that demand per day. And then the number of chickens per week, month, and year.
> 
> Ok. Done.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Actually only partly right. I designed and sold equipment in the poultry industry for a few years. Unless it says "whole" on the package it's likely trimmings that have been ground and under heat and pressure extruded back into something that resembles a cut of meat.
Click to expand...

Don't worry; I usually never trust what the meat industry tells me.


----------



## limr

The only reason I care even one iota about baseball right now is because the first stop this train makes out of Grand Central is at Yankee Stadium. The last I checked, it was the top of the 8th and the Orioles were ahead 7-1. If a lot of those fans have given up and are headed home, my train ride might go from its current state of quiet and sedate to annoying AF.

So please let the Yankees at least score a few to make it interesting enough for fans to stick around for the 9th. Beyond that, I don't give a tiny rat's ass.


----------



## davidharmier60

My Sister uses the meat from the breast of the chicken. The ones at work aren't nearly as good as she makes but I prefer them to biscuits and sausage. In some instances they aren't exactly tender.

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----------



## Gary A.

BTW- _The School of Rock_ was excellent fun, a ten on the fun scale.  The kids were sooooo talented.  If/when the musical arrives in your area ... go.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> Don't worry; I usually never trust what the meat industry tells me.



When I was involved in the industry the evolution of the extruded meat was still in it's infancy, but the ability to produce a structured product with the same characteristics (texture, etc.) was pretty amazing. Since the process included the bones as well, there was a lot of push back especially in the beef segment when "mad cow disease" hit the scene. Since then legislation has prevented the use of beef bones in the mix, but I'm not sure about poultry.  There was a saying in the poultry segment that "They used everything but the cluck" on a bird. If it can't be sold for consumption it's sent to the rendering plant (along with the offal) to be converted  into a protien supplement that is fed back to the birds.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't worry; I usually never trust what the meat industry tells me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When I was involved in the industry the evolution of the extruded meat was still in it's infancy, but the ability to produce a structured product with the same characteristics (texture, etc.) was pretty amazing. Since the process included the bones as well, there was a lot of push back especially in the beef segment when "mad cow disease" hit the scene. Since then legislation has prevented the use of beef bones in the mix, but I'm not sure about poultry.  There was a saying in the poultry segment that "They used everything but the cluck" on a bird. If it can't be sold for consumption it's sent to the rendering plant (along with the offal) to be converted  into a protien supplement that is fed back to the birds.
Click to expand...

Disgusting.

I worked on a wastewater permitting/sampling aspect of a rendering facility. Thankfully, at the time, I wasn’t hazwoper certified, so I couldn’t join my coworker in the field. He reported back that it was horrifying. The pond they sent their wastewater to had a foot or more solid, floating layer of let’s call it sludge.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hmm. Sludge. One of the things I did today was the drain in the milk cooler. The stuff in that drain was a lot like sludge. And you can not convince me it is actually a drain.
A chicken spaghetti dish my Sister makes was dinner tonight. The freezer plug situation will be cured by a 3 or 4 foot extension cord. And the store has Blue Bell two for $9 with a $10 purchase. My Sister says no problem. Ha ha.

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----------



## limr

And none of this makes me regret giving up meat.


----------



## smoke665

@waday I remember I had to go to one for a site survey on a new finished product loadout.  I'd made the mistake of wearing a brand new pair of Hush Puppy loafers that day. It was hot that day, on the way back with the a/c on I kept smelling the stench of the place. Apparently the shoes/soles had soaked up the smell. Finally pitched them out the window and drove home shoeless.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes hush puppies.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are on the shuttle heading to the Hollywood Bowl.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Picnicking at the Bowl.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't worry; I usually never trust what the meat industry tells me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When I was involved in the industry the evolution of the extruded meat was still in it's infancy, but the ability to produce a structured product with the same characteristics (texture, etc.) was pretty amazing. Since the process included the bones as well, there was a lot of push back especially in the beef segment when "mad cow disease" hit the scene. Since then legislation has prevented the use of beef bones in the mix, but I'm not sure about poultry.  There was a saying in the poultry segment that "They used everything but the cluck" on a bird. If it can't be sold for consumption it's sent to the rendering plant (along with the offal) to be converted  into a protien supplement that is fed back to the birds.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Disgusting.
> 
> I worked on a wastewater permitting/sampling aspect of a rendering facility. Thankfully, at the time, I wasn’t hazwoper certified, so I couldn’t join my coworker in the field. He reported back that it was horrifying. The pond they sent their wastewater to had a foot or more solid, floating layer of let’s call it sludge.
Click to expand...

As a teen-ager I worked for my father in his sewer & drain business.  One of our regular jobs was pumping out the settling/separation tank at the local poultry processing facility.  On a warm August day, that was...umm...  whiffy.

Anyone else for a hot dog?


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> BTW- _The School of Rock_ was excellent fun, a ten on the fun scale.  The kids were sooooo talented.  If/when the musical arrives in your area ... go.



I’ll keep an eye out for that one.  I try to see as many shows as I can unless it’s crazy pricing like Hamilton.  We go for cheaper seats and more shows - quantity over quality is the way to go  in this case.  We went to see Moulin Rouge tonight at the Colonial in Boston.  It was fabulous and I highly recommend!  I believe this is the national premier.  It will definitely make it to Broadway and be a huge hit.


----------



## ceemac

Wow, another night of Nature's fury. The windows are rattling and the flashes are lighting up the entire sky. Storms are more spectacular when you're at 3500 ft. and they're right above you.  Fortunately we're getting rain to lessen the chances of new fires. I'd take pictures, but I'm hiding under the bed with the dog.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

It was a very warm day, but a perfect evening with temps in the low 70’s and a nice, cool breeze sweeping the Hollywood Hills.


----------



## davidharmier60

I guess there is something to be said by living in the land of fruits and nuts.
The alarm went off as a surprise this morning. No multiple wake up and roll over like usual. But I gotta go!

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----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> BTW- _The School of Rock_ was excellent fun, a ten on the fun scale.  The kids were sooooo talented.  If/when the musical arrives in your area ... go.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I’ll keep an eye out for that one.  I try to see as many shows as I can unless it’s crazy pricing like Hamilton.  We go for cheaper seats and more shows - quantity over quality is the way to go  in this case.  We went to see Moulin Rouge tonight at the Colonial in Boston.  It was fabulous and I highly recommend!  I believe this is the national premier.  It will definitely make it to Broadway and be a huge hit.
> View attachment 161431
Click to expand...

We are similar, cheaper seats but more shows.  Last night was the start of our "Jazz 2 Series" at the Bowl. Taj Mahal was the main event. He and his group are soooo good. Melissa Etheridge somehow got on the ticket also.  This was her first time playing at the Bowl. You could tell in her performance this was a Bucket List thing. She played her heart out.  She told a story that for 30 years she lived around the corner from the Bowl.  One day, while she was running the neighborhood, a car came up, rolled down their window and ask "How do you get to the Hollywood Bowl?"  She replied "Practice, lots of practice."


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> BTW- _The School of Rock_ was excellent fun, a ten on the fun scale.  The kids were sooooo talented.  If/when the musical arrives in your area ... go.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I’ll keep an eye out for that one.  I try to see as many shows as I can unless it’s crazy pricing like Hamilton.  We go for cheaper seats and more shows - quantity over quality is the way to go  in this case.  We went to see Moulin Rouge tonight at the Colonial in Boston.  It was fabulous and I highly recommend!  I believe this is the national premier.  It will definitely make it to Broadway and be a huge hit.
> View attachment 161431
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We are similar, cheaper seats but more shows.  Last night was the start of our "Jazz 2 Series" at the Bowl. Taj Mahal was the main event. He and his group are soooo good. Melissa Etheridge somehow got on the ticket also.  This was her first time playing at the Bowl. You could tell in her performance this was a Bucket List thing. She played her heart out.  She told a story that for 30 years she lived around the corner from the Bowl.  One day, while she was running the neighborhood, a car came up, rolled down their window and ask "How do you get to the Hollywood Bowl?"  She replied "Practice, lots of practice."
Click to expand...


She always puts on a great show!  You’re lucky to have such “easy” access.  Usually I don’t mind the cheap seats but I did wish we had slightly better seats last night as some of the show involves some light audience  interaction and that would have been very cool.  I liked it so much I may have to see again with my sister in law before it goes on its way.  She was very jealous and a bit annoyed that I hadn’t thought to ask her to join us when we got the tix as she loves the movie.  It’s her birthday later this month so maybe a night out for that.


----------



## davidharmier60

About 30 minutes afternoon y'all. 5 hours today 23.05 for the week so far. Now we are going to go unload the freezer, load my truck up with garbage, go get a trash sticker for my truck and go lose all the trash at the county site.


----------



## Gary A.

From last night:

Taj Mahal:  "... If there was a river made of whiskey.  If there was a river made of whiskey and I was a diving duck.  I'd go to the bottom and never come up."


----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg: '"Easy"' ... lol, that is subjective.  The La Mirada Theatre is easy, like three minutes away by car easy. Last night there was a Dodger game between Gary and the Hollywood Bowl. Fortunately, we managed to time it right and skirt around the Dodger Stadium traffic.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Thanks to Monty Python the first thing that always comes to mind is Hollywood Bowel. Taj Mahal would be good to hear in concert. What a cool place to be able to go on a regular basis.

All of a sudden this week, with it now being later in the summer, the annual cicada thingies have started up their racket. That's the closest thing to an outdoor concert near me!

I didn't know a tender was part of a chicken, I figured it was a marketing ploy.


----------



## davidharmier60

Got rid of the trash. Just had a good (not great) piece of Watermelon. Listened to my favorite album "Operation:Mindcrime" by Queensrýche. Started the album "Empire". Back to it shortly. 

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----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> Thanks to Monty Python the first thing that always comes to mind is Hollywood Bowel. Taj Mahal would be good to hear in concert. What a cool place to be able to go on a regular basis.
> 
> All of a sudden this week, with it now being later in the summer, the annual cicada thingies have started up their racket. That's the closest thing to an outdoor concert near me!
> 
> I didn't know a tender was part of a chicken, I figured it was a marketing ploy.


If Gary was a chicken, he thinks all his parts would be considered as 'tender'.

At one time, most of Hollywood was a bowel ... but the Bowl has always been special and regarded as arguably/possibly the finest outdoor musical venue in the world.  Mary Lou and Gary do feel fortunate that Bowl is accessible and equally important, is that we go.


----------



## Gary A.

Biscuits and Gravy from Gary’s breakfast.


----------



## RowdyRay

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 161457
> Biscuits and Gravy from Gary’s breakfast.



Where's the drooling smiley? Now I want biscuits and gravy. Should do that this weekend. Haven't made it from scratch in a long time. Throw a fried egg on top of the biscuit. Sooo good.


----------



## limr

I still remember the first time I encountered biscuits and gravy with this kind of white gravy. It was my first semester of college in Florida. I had time between classes and was checking out the cafeteria. I saw someone ask for this and I watched as the woman handed him the plate.

I must admit that I found it quite...unappealing. It kinda sorta horrified me. It still feels like a totally alien sort of food. They don't have this in the northeast. Gravy is brown and smoother.


----------



## snowbear

My introduction was through a friend (from SW Virginia).  He didn't use sausage for that batch, but ground beef; I still got addicted.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Biscuits and Gravy from Gary’s breakfast



A southern staple for breakfast. DW makes the best gravy, but unfortunately didn't get the biscuit making genes passed down. Thankfully her mother taught me the art.


----------



## snowbear

Well, the fun never ends.  The same town that had the engine roll into the hydrant the other day, causing water main and sewer breaks, had a three alarm fire (about 100 fire fighters) in a building that housed a restaurant, a bridal shop and some apartments.  Apparently, shortly after the investigation began, some employees showed up, one of whom told one of the investigators "I know who probably did this."  She was located, tried to flee, and arrested by the Police Department.


----------



## davidharmier60

Friday. Yeah.
Although I have to go to work tomorrow as well.

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----------



## Fujidave

Hi folks still here, have been very busy taking photos of the singers and tomorrow will be my busiest day as will be taking photos of Gay Pride then of the singers.  The wife has started an anger management set up so we are not going to rush a divorce yet and see how it goes.  I am back home at the flat with Susie and getting everything ready for tomorrow.


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Friday Hosers!  Enjoy the weekend.  Plans?


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Happy Friday Hosers!  Enjoy the weekend.  Plans?



Overtime from 8-2 tomorrow. Then a long long nap. Might get my nails done.


----------



## ceemac

Fujidave said:


> Hi folks still here, have been very busy taking photos of the singers and tomorrow will be my busiest day as will be taking photos of Gay Pride then of the singers. The wife has started an anger management set up so we are not going to rush a divorce yet and see how it goes. I am back home at the flat with Susie and getting everything ready for tomorrow.



Good luck, Dave. But be careful in case calling you a killer goes a little deeper than anger.


----------



## Fujidave

ceemac said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi folks still here, have been very busy taking photos of the singers and tomorrow will be my busiest day as will be taking photos of Gay Pride then of the singers. The wife has started an anger management set up so we are not going to rush a divorce yet and see how it goes. I am back home at the flat with Susie and getting everything ready for tomorrow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck, Dave. But be careful in case calling you a killer goes a little deeper than anger.
Click to expand...


I will be very careful, as she knows not to come back till she has really sorted her anger out 100%.


----------



## Fujidave

What we have found out though, the anger goes back even before the deaths.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Hi folks still here, have been very busy taking photos of the singers and tomorrow will be my busiest day as will be taking photos of Gay Pride then of the singers.  The wife has started an anger management set up so we are not going to rush a divorce yet and see how it goes.  I am back home at the flat with Susie and getting everything ready for tomorrow.


That is very good news.  Good luck to both of you.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi folks still here, have been very busy taking photos of the singers and tomorrow will be my busiest day as will be taking photos of Gay Pride then of the singers.  The wife has started an anger management set up so we are not going to rush a divorce yet and see how it goes.  I am back home at the flat with Susie and getting everything ready for tomorrow.
> 
> 
> 
> That is very good news.  Good luck to both of you.
Click to expand...


Thank you Gary, now we know the anger goes back many years we can work on that, then slowly go forward in future I hope.


----------



## smoke665

@Fujidave as Gary said good luck to both of you. Just don't get discouraged and take it slow, as you got to this point over "Many years". Recovery won't happen overnight.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> @Fujidave as Gary said good luck to both of you. Just don't get discouraged and take it slow, as you got to this point over "Many years". Recovery won't happen overnight.



I do agree it won`t/can`t be solved straight off, we both talk every night on the phone which is nice.  Sonia has actually said she only wants us to be together again once we both sort out our grief and her anger so it is quite positive but we know it will take time to get to an end we are both happy and safe with.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Happy Friday Hosers!  Enjoy the weekend.  Plans?


Driving passed you (and severl others in the NY/NE area)!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Happy Friday Hosers!  Enjoy the weekend.  Plans?


Drying out from the deluge of rain that's rolled through here all week.  Some feeble sunshine is trying to break through.   Went for a walk early this morning, and it's positively squishy out there!

But the rain is always welcome here.  Temperature wise, it's been a great summer.   

Wine and pizza tonight.


----------



## Fujidave

As it is another hot day here, I will be making a chicken salad up for my tea tonight, and as I can be lazy sometimes tomorrow I will be eating out


----------



## ceemac

Fujidave said:


> As it is another hot day here, I will be making a chicken salad up for my tea tonight, and as I can be lazy sometimes tomorrow I will be eating out



As I get older, I find I'm questioning things I've always just accepted. I have many questions, some for God, some for mortals. Why do you call dinner "tea"?


----------



## Fujidave

ceemac said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> As it is another hot day here, I will be making a chicken salad up for my tea tonight, and as I can be lazy sometimes tomorrow I will be eating out
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As I get older, I find I'm questioning things I've always just accepted. I have many questions, some for God, some for mortals. Why do you call dinner "tea"?
Click to expand...


As a little boy growing up in Australia, Mum would call out Come on boys it`s Tea time now.  So it always stuck with me.


----------



## davidharmier60

If tea is cold and sweet yes.
If hot I'll take coffee every time. 
5 hours and some today. 28.33 with tomorrow to go. Gonna hit the Post office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 
Where I suspect Sister and I will be going shopping. 

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----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday Hosers!  Enjoy the weekend.  Plans?
> 
> 
> 
> Driving passed you (and severl others in the NY/NE area)!
Click to expand...


Heading up to Maine?  I hope you'll get some time on the beach!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday Hosers!  Enjoy the weekend.  Plans?
> 
> 
> 
> Drying out from the deluge of rain that's rolled through here all week.  Some feeble sunshine is trying to break through.   Went for a walk early this morning, and it's positively squishy out there!
> 
> But the rain is always welcome here.  Temperature wise, it's been a great summer.
> 
> Wine and pizza tonight.
Click to expand...


We've had lost of threatening clouds but only really one or two downpours over the past week.  I hope your rainy weather isn't headed up here this weekend.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just did 4 hours of yard work.  Worked my butt off mowing, weeding, cutting back a rogue bush that tripled in size overnight... Not sure if it was the winter we had or the really wet spring or what but the trees and flowering shrubs in our front yard have just exploded with growth this year.  I've got some nice new blisters and an aching back for my trouble but the yard and front of house look good for the first time in weeks.  I was busy with softball in the spring then the construction took over so a lot of yard chores got neglected.  I was going to have Princess mow but she's not exactly thorough.  Last time it looked like she'd done the macarena while mowing...


----------



## Gary A.

Dodgers 21  -  Brewers 5


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Dodgers 21  -  Brewers 5



I do love a nice Brew


----------



## davidharmier60

Whataburger for you that don't have one is a smashing place to eat lunch!

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----------



## vintagesnaps

What? a burger?!? 

Had to...


Yesterday when you hosers were talking about the School of Rock I kept thinking that I was thinking of something else... finally realized it was Schoolhouse Rock.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> What? a burger?!?
> 
> Had to...
> 
> 
> Yesterday when you hosers were talking about the School of Rock I kept thinking that I was thinking of something else... finally realized it was Schoolhouse Rock.


"Stick it to the Man!" _School of Rock_


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday Hosers!  Enjoy the weekend.  Plans?
> 
> 
> 
> Driving passed you (and severl others in the NY/NE area)!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Heading up to Maine?  I hope you'll get some time on the beach!
Click to expand...

No time; we’re delivering #2 and heading back on Sunday.  I have a conference to attend Tue and Wed.  Maybe a more leisurely trip next year.  Lobster and blueberries are on the agenda, though


----------



## RowdyRay

snowbear said:


> No time; we’re delivering #2 and heading back on Sunday.  I have a conference to attend Tue and Wed.  Maybe a more leisurely trip next year.  Lobster and blueberries are on the agenda, though



Priorities, man.......priorities. Lol. Would be on the top of my list too.


----------



## snowbear

For me, the beach is primarily a place to sit while salt water fishing.


----------



## davidharmier60

For me a Boat serves that purpose.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> "Stick it to the Man!" _School of Rock_



"I'm just a Bill" _ School House Rock_



snowbear said:


> No time; we’re delivering #2 and heading back on Sunday. I have a conference to attend Tue and Wed. Maybe a more leisurely trip next year. Lobster and blueberries are on the agenda, though



Not sure if you have a favorite place already but my mom swear's by the lobster dinner at Lobster Cove on York Beach.  They do a whole thing with the steamers, corn on the cob, lobster and then Maine blueberry pie.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, very hot already here so it looks like it will be a very knackering day for me Gay Pride is here and all the Love will be fantastic.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all. Soon I must go. 

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----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Not sure if you have a favorite place already but my mom swear's by the lobster dinner at Lobster Cove on York Beach.  They do a whole thing with the steamers, corn on the cob, lobster and then Maine blueberry pie.


Oooo this sounds good.  We may to give this a shot.  Thank you.


----------



## snowbear

We got off to a very late start but made it to Norwalk, CT a little after midnight.  Light rain as we roll up the Hutch.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm off for 43 or so hours. 
4 hours and 20 minutes or so today.
33 hours and 15 minutes for the week.
Going down to our bank to get a few rolls of new pennies. PO, and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> We got off to a very late start but made it to Norwalk, CT a little after midnight.  Light rain as we roll up the Hutch.



What does roll up the Hutch mean?


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We got off to a very late start but made it to Norwalk, CT a little after midnight.  Light rain as we roll up the Hutch.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What does roll up the Hutch mean?
Click to expand...


Hutchinson River Parkway, turns into the Whitestone Expressway at Throgs Neck in the Bronx, and the Merritt Parkway in CT. Everyone around here calls it the Hutch.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We got off to a very late start but made it to Norwalk, CT a little after midnight.  Light rain as we roll up the Hutch.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What does roll up the Hutch mean?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hutchinson River Parkway, turns into the Whitestone Expressway at Throgs Neck in the Bronx, and the Merritt Parkway in CT. Everyone around here calls it the Hutch.
Click to expand...


Not what I was thinking at all!  I thought a Hutch might be some kind of camper or something and they were setting it up for the night lol.


----------



## snowbear

Leo knows it.
Tonight’s hotel reservation got screwed up so we’re having to cancel.  There’s nothing around with available rooms within budget, so we’re heading back soon.  Find someplace less expensive for the night.

I’ll get the August POTM nomination page up tonight when we stop, and do the voting for July tomorrow when we get home.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Leo knows it.
> Tonight’s hotel reservation got screwed up so we’re having to cancel.  There’s nothing around with available rooms within budget, so we’re heading back soon.  Find someplace less expensive for the night.
> 
> I’ll get the August POTM nomination page up tonight when we stop, and do the voting for July tomorrow when we get home.



If you head down 95 to rte 1 there are a ton of inexpensive hotels like Hampton, Ramada etc. just get away from the coast a hit and prices drop.


----------



## tirediron




----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


>



New ride?


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> New ride?
Click to expand...


----------



## Gary A.

Nice!


----------



## Gary A.

Miss Maggie made a trip to the groomers.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sigh. I went to our bank hoping to get Loomis rolls with new pennies. She gave me customer wrapped rolls. So far out of ten I've done 8. And except for one all have been all copper.
Much of it going as give back as i usually put from 5 to 10 back in each roll. Meeanwhile listening  to Power Metal on YouTube.


----------



## SquarePeg

How bout those Red Sox?  

@jcdeboever 
@Gary A. 
@JonA_CT 

I know the Yanks are short a few of their big bats but Sox pitching looked sweet this series so far.  Going for the sweep  tomorrow night.  Price vs Tanaka.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leo knows it.
> Tonight’s hotel reservation got screwed up so we’re having to cancel.  There’s nothing around with available rooms within budget, so we’re heading back soon.  Find someplace less expensive for the night.
> 
> I’ll get the August POTM nomination page up tonight when we stop, and do the voting for July tomorrow when we get home.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you head down 95 to rte 1 there are a ton of inexpensive hotels like Hampton, Ramada etc. just get away from the coast a hit and prices drop.
Click to expand...

Yeah, we’ll find something.  Coming into Sturbridge, now.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> How bout those Red Sox?
> 
> @jcdeboever
> @Gary A.
> @JonA_CT
> 
> I know the Yanks are short a few of their big bats but Sox pitching looked sweet this series so far.  Going for the sweep  tomorrow night.  Price vs Tanaka.


The Red Sox are kicking serious butt.  They definitely will make the playoffs ... but then they have to get past the Yankees.  Red Sox and Yankees, Gary believes, have the best shot of winning it all.  Pretty much a coin toss between them.  Houston has a dark horse chance of becoming world champions.  Dodgers are the walking wounded.  Gary thinks the Red Sox are a slightly better team on paper ... but the Yankees don’t give a rat’s about paper.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


>


Love the colour.


----------



## ceemac

tirediron said:


>



Nice truck and it really is a pretty colour. I see they're still working on hwy 1 in Saanich,


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> How bout those Red Sox?
> 
> @jcdeboever
> @Gary A.
> @JonA_CT
> 
> I know the Yanks are short a few of their big bats but Sox pitching looked sweet this series so far.  Going for the sweep  tomorrow night.  Price vs Tanaka.



Well, I've got Price pitching in my fantasy league today. I've dropped him 4 times this year. But Tanaka pitched well last time out. Should be a good one. Red Sox are the best lineup in the game. Picking up Pierce has been paying off. Kinsler was a smart pick up for 2B, the guy has a glove. Trout and Betts are the best players in the game, then there is everyone else. Those two are clearly better than all others, total 5 tool guys. Right now, it's hard not to pick the Red stockings to win it all but if you watch the game a lot, it will come down to pitching. I still think the Indians are under the radar, they starting pitching is so good, great manager, and high character guys in the lineup. The A's are a dangerous team, I wouldn't want to play them if the playoffs started today. The Dodgers are the deepest team in baseball with that super flex lineup (managers dream). The Dodgers are just a bunch of blue collar, lunch pail, kick your butt in alley bunch of guys, love them, and they have the best manager in baseball, well tie with Tito in Cleveland. The Yanks are very dangerous if they have a lead after 4 or 5, that bullpen is scary solid. Cubbies don't scare me a bit. Waiting for the Nationals to go on a roll but they are dysfunctional. Houston is scary good and are probably going to make it very difficult for anyone. I'm torn between them and Cleveland going to WS.

Oh, if I were commissioner, I would let the WS teams have an expanded roster of 5 additional players for the first 31 days of the following season.


----------



## Tony744

This little fuzz ball was just chilling in the middle of the street this morning.


----------



## SquarePeg

Tony744 said:


> This little fuzz ball was just chilling in the middle of the street this morning.



I don’t know about your area but our city is practically overrun with bunnies this year. I can’t remember the last time I went out back and didn’t see at least one scampering away.  On our walks, the dog is on alert the whole time!  I can’t let him off leash at all these days or I’ll end up chasing him chasing a bunny.


----------



## Tony744

We've got rabbits, skunks, and I've even seen a fox in our neighborhood. Saw a baby skunk the other morning when I was making my coffee. It was gone by the time I grabbed my camera.


----------



## davidharmier60

Most mornings when I walk out the door a rabbit takes off. The other morning two of the dogs chased a rabbit. But the rabbit won. My Dad puts extra water in the coffeemaker to make it go farther. 
6 days a week I get first pot.
Sunday I get the dregs.
It's coffee. That's all I'll say about it. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## compur

Raccoons, coyotes, lots of skunks and the occasional mountain lion here in northern LA.


----------



## SquarePeg

compur said:


> Raccoons, coyotes, lots of skunks and the occasional mountain lion here in northern LA.



LA Los Angeles or LA Louisiana?


----------



## snowbear

Raccoons, skunks, white tail deer, rabbits, opossums, foxes, the occasional coyote, and tourists.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Raccoons, skunks, white tail deer, rabbits, opossums, foxes, the occasional coyote, and tourists.



I’m sensing a lack of appreciation for the tourist trade...


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> Love the colour.


Thanks!  That was a big part of the decision, I'm somewhat ashamed to admit!



ceemac said:


> Nice truck and it really is a pretty colour. I see they're still working on hwy 1 in Saanich,


Thanks, and yes....  it's a complete clusterf***... $85million (before cost over-runs) and it won't solve a thing.


----------



## davidharmier60

You will never catch many if ANY tourists around my little town.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another warm day, upper 80's. Today Miss Maggie played with nearly the entire pack.  Max, Michelle, Lucy, Honey and Bosco were all there running and mud wrestling. It is great watching dogs just be dogs.  Gary just finished mowing and trimming the back.  He has a Tri-Tip in the Sous Vide for 25 hours so far.  He about to pull it and give it a sear. It's been cooking away in spices, some herbs and beer (Stella).


----------



## snowbear

Made it to the office so I could pick up my map for next week.  We should be home within the hour.



SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Raccoons, skunks, white tail deer, rabbits, opossums, foxes, the occasional coyote, and tourists.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I’m sensing a lack of appreciation for the tourist trade...
Click to expand...

They serve a purpose.  Of course there is a difference between tourists and visitors.


----------



## compur

SquarePeg said:


> LA Los Angeles or LA Louisiana?



La La Land, Shaky Town, City of Angels, The Big Avocado.


----------



## vintagesnaps

For some unknown reason (in between shows??) I got to watching some of the livestock auction from the state fair on local PBS. They rerun these things all summer from past years up til the fair starts. This year's top market barrow (AKA big piggie) went for over $30 thousand. 

Then the buyers (such as Bob Evans) all come up on stage, and as someone's feeding the pig off to one side while the presentation finishes up, a band starts playing - and the pig took off! It was hilarious, just ran in circles around the stage... lol The emcee said it was used to country music and hadn't heard the fight song yet. 

That's about as exciting as this Sunday is gonna be. Switched to a replay of the British Baking Show. I'm still trying to get a handle on what a pudding actually is, much less that a biscuit is a cookie and I don't know what a cracker is.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary knows what Tri-Tip is. But he doesn’t know Tri-Tip that been in the Sous Vide for more than 24 hours, swimming in beer, spices and herbs is. But ... he will soon find out as it is getting a sear and final temperature rise on the grill.


----------



## Gary A.

Fini!


----------



## compur

vintagesnaps said:


> ... and I don't know what a cracker is.



If you're ever in So. California just go to East LA and ask anybody. They'll tell you what a cracker is.


----------



## smoke665

compur said:


> If you're ever in So. California just go to East LA and ask anybody. They'll tell you what a cracker is.



Probably not the same 

Georgia cracker - Wikipedia


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes crackers.


----------



## vintagesnaps

And a jumper is a sweater. 

Am watching the British Baking Show for like the third time, had to finally look up what a clootie dumpling was. I'm still not sure how any of this fits into being puddings but a lot of it looks good, especially anything with sticky toffee sauce on it or whiskey in it.


----------



## smoke665

Poor Sadie Mae always on the hunt for something, she learned that toads are not suitable quarry. Last night before I could stop her she grabbed a toad in the grass. Fortunately she spit it out quickly but not fast enough to prevent the yaking and foaming at the mouth that accompanies toad tasting. It didn't last long but the learning experience will be remembered.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> How bout those Red Sox?
> 
> @jcdeboever
> @Gary A.
> @JonA_CT
> 
> I know the Yanks are short a few of their big bats but Sox pitching looked sweet this series so far.  Going for the sweep  tomorrow night.  Price vs Tanaka.
> 
> 
> 
> The Red Sox are kicking serious butt.  They definitely will make the playoffs ... but then they have to get past the Yankees.  Red Sox and Yankees, Gary believes, have the best shot of winning it all.  Pretty much a coin toss between them.  Houston has a dark horse chance of becoming world champions.  Dodgers are the walking wounded.  Gary thinks the Red Sox are a slightly better team on paper ... but the Yankees don’t give a rat’s about paper.
Click to expand...


The Yankees didn't put up much of a fight this past series.  Love to see Sox starting pitchers giving the bullpen a rest up.  Even Price was good.  



jcdeboever said:


> Well, I've got Price pitching in my fantasy league today. I've dropped him 4 times this year. But Tanaka pitched well last time out. Should be a good one. Red Sox are the best lineup in the game. Picking up Pierce has been paying off. Kinsler was a smart pick up for 2B, the guy has a glove. Trout and Betts are the best players in the game, then there is everyone else. Those two are clearly better than all others, total 5 tool guys. Right now, it's hard not to pick the Red stockings to win it all but if you watch the game a lot, it will come down to pitching. I still think the Indians are under the radar, they starting pitching is so good, great manager, and high character guys in the lineup. The A's are a dangerous team, I wouldn't want to play them if the playoffs started today. The Dodgers are the deepest team in baseball with that super flex lineup (managers dream). The Dodgers are just a bunch of blue collar, lunch pail, kick your butt in alley bunch of guys, love them, and they have the best manager in baseball, well tie with Tito in Cleveland. The Yanks are very dangerous if they have a lead after 4 or 5, that bullpen is scary solid. Cubbies don't scare me a bit. Waiting for the Nationals to go on a roll but they are dysfunctional. Houston is scary good and are probably going to make it very difficult for anyone. I'm torn between them and Cleveland going to WS.
> 
> Oh, if I were commissioner, I would let the WS teams have an expanded roster of 5 additional players for the first 31 days of the following season.



Going to a game in 2 weeks vs Cleveland.  Should be a good one.

Due to the 8pm start last night I was asleep when the Sox came from behind to tie it up and then the walk off in extras.  I was very pleasantly surprised to wake up to a win.


----------



## davidharmier60

5 hours and 4 minutes today. The floor machine only got about 2/3 of the store before the batteries gave up. But mopping and buffing made the floor look pretty good. Rather thought my Sister was gonna send me a list of things to bring home but it ain't happened yet. Think I'll go back in and see what the deli has.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> How bout those Red Sox?
> 
> @jcdeboever
> @Gary A.
> @JonA_CT
> 
> I know the Yanks are short a few of their big bats but Sox pitching looked sweet this series so far.  Going for the sweep  tomorrow night.  Price vs Tanaka.
> 
> 
> 
> The Red Sox are kicking serious butt.  They definitely will make the playoffs ... but then they have to get past the Yankees.  Red Sox and Yankees, Gary believes, have the best shot of winning it all.  Pretty much a coin toss between them.  Houston has a dark horse chance of becoming world champions.  Dodgers are the walking wounded.  Gary thinks the Red Sox are a slightly better team on paper ... but the Yankees don’t give a rat’s about paper.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The Yankees didn't put up much of a fight this past series.  Love to see Sox starting pitchers giving the bullpen a rest up.  Even Price was good.
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, I've got Price pitching in my fantasy league today. I've dropped him 4 times this year. But Tanaka pitched well last time out. Should be a good one. Red Sox are the best lineup in the game. Picking up Pierce has been paying off. Kinsler was a smart pick up for 2B, the guy has a glove. Trout and Betts are the best players in the game, then there is everyone else. Those two are clearly better than all others, total 5 tool guys. Right now, it's hard not to pick the Red stockings to win it all but if you watch the game a lot, it will come down to pitching. I still think the Indians are under the radar, they starting pitching is so good, great manager, and high character guys in the lineup. The A's are a dangerous team, I wouldn't want to play them if the playoffs started today. The Dodgers are the deepest team in baseball with that super flex lineup (managers dream). The Dodgers are just a bunch of blue collar, lunch pail, kick your butt in alley bunch of guys, love them, and they have the best manager in baseball, well tie with Tito in Cleveland. The Yanks are very dangerous if they have a lead after 4 or 5, that bullpen is scary solid. Cubbies don't scare me a bit. Waiting for the Nationals to go on a roll but they are dysfunctional. Houston is scary good and are probably going to make it very difficult for anyone. I'm torn between them and Cleveland going to WS.
> 
> Oh, if I were commissioner, I would let the WS teams have an expanded roster of 5 additional players for the first 31 days of the following season.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Going to a game in 2 weeks vs Cleveland.  Should be a good one.
> 
> Due to the 8pm start last night I was asleep when the Sox came from behind to tie it up and then the walk off in extras.  I was very pleasantly surprised to wake up to a win.
Click to expand...

Due to a 4:30 a.m. wake up call, the Yanks were ahead when Gary went to bed.


----------



## Fujidave

Hi folks at this moment in time, I look like a red raw lobster as going to the gay pride so early in the morning on Saturday then getting back home in the evening was too much for me. ie Far to long in the hot sun.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Hi folks at this moment in time, I look like a red raw lobster as going to the gay pride so early in the morning on Saturday then getting back home in the evening was too much for me. ie Far to long in the hot sun.



Sunblock is a must!


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi folks at this moment in time, I look like a red raw lobster as going to the gay pride so early in the morning on Saturday then getting back home in the evening was too much for me. ie Far to long in the hot sun.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sunblock is a must!
Click to expand...


I will make sure next time 100% I have sunblock on.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Hi folks at this moment in time, I look like a red raw lobster as going to the gay pride so early in the morning on Saturday then getting back home in the evening was too much for me. ie Far to long in the hot sun.


What-the-Hell ... no one gets sunburned in England. Gary would be happy to lend you some melanin, he has plenty.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi folks at this moment in time, I look like a red raw lobster as going to the gay pride so early in the morning on Saturday then getting back home in the evening was too much for me. ie Far to long in the hot sun.
> 
> 
> 
> What-the-Hell ... no one gets sunburned in England. Gary would be happy to lend you some melanin, he has plenty.
Click to expand...


We are not really use to this heat here in the UK...lol


----------



## Fujidave

Strange really as growing up in Australia it did not bother me, and many times it would hit 100f or over, but like I have said in the past it is a different heat.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Strange really as growing up in Australia it did not bother me, and many times it would hit 100f or over, but like I have said in the past it is a different heat.



And it could be humidity. Midpoint of a 15 Month tour in Iraq youngest came home on leave in July. He claimed dealing with heat in the desert was easy compared to AL and the humidity .


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Strange really as growing up in Australia it did not bother me, and many times it would hit 100f or over, but like I have said in the past it is a different heat.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And it could be humidity. Midpoint of a 15 Month tour in Iraq youngest came home on leave in July. He claimed dealing with heat in the desert was easy compared to AL and the humidity .
Click to expand...


My late father was the same, he would work from three to six months in a lot of the Middle East countries, and would say the same.


----------



## Gary A.

Yep, humidity sucks.  Having covered US forces in deserts and in tropics ... Gary would take desert to tropic any day as far as comfort goes.

But dry heat is deceptive.  Working in real low humidity, the sweat evaporates before it has a chance to bead up on the skin.  As such it leaves you nice and dry and comfy ... until you keel over with cramps and/or heat stroke.  Heat stroke comes rapidly in a dry environment, sometimes people will drop while standing or in mid stride ... just bam and a face plant.  In a hot and wet environment, you not only feel much hotter, but you have sweat pouring into your eyes, your wet clothing rubs you raw, you stink like a sewer. In the high humidity, heat stroke typically comes sooner than in dry. 

It takes about five days to a week to acclimatize to dry/wet heat.  Gary remembers Marines, new to the desert, having to drink liquids until they urinate every 20 minutes when on patrol/training.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just came in from outside ... man, it is like a sauna outside. We are in another heat wave, in the 90’s and 29% humidity.  This is all out of the norm here.  Gary may move in with Fujidave.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> In a hot and wet environment, you not only feel much hotter, but you have sweat pouring into your eyes, your wet clothing rubs you raw, you stink like a sewer. In the high humidity, heat stroke typically comes sooner than in dry.



I've had two serious ones both on fire calls. I was lucky that on the first one, the safety officer caught me mid fall as I rotated out of the sructure. The second I knew what was happening and got to safety before I collapsed and the medics were on me in seconds. They are not fun, I learned the signs after that.


----------



## Fujidave

I saw on the News here that you have got some serious wild fires in California.


----------



## Fujidave

Europe and Japan are also getting this horrible and worse heatwave too.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's just a trifle warm and humid outside. That's why I'm inside.


----------



## smoke665

Do I see a niche for the pros here. A photo would be a lot cheaper then plastic surgery! Plastic surgeons say more patients coming in with 'Snapchat dysmorphia'


----------



## Jeff15

Nothing that a nice cold beer can't cure...............


----------



## pixmedic

bringing 'em back for the new school year!  @limr  be careful hanging out in those downtown ice cream parlors, its a tough crowd in there.


----------



## terri

pixmedic said:


> bringing 'em back for the new school year!  @limr  be careful hanging out in those downtown ice cream parlors, its a tough crowd in there.
> 
> 
> View attachment 161549


I think you still got to slap the kids with a ruler when they mouthed off back then, though.   I mean, they had to offer something for all that nonsense.   Plus, oppressive rules kinda bring out the hostility, eh?


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> bringing 'em back for the new school year!  @limr  be careful hanging out in those downtown ice cream parlors, its a tough crowd in there.
> 
> 
> View attachment 161549



I am so fired.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> I saw on the News here that you have got some serious wild fires in California.


Yes, they are horrific. Last year was considered one of the worse fire year ever ... but this year looks to be worse. California used to have a “Fire Season” ... but with climate change Fire Season is now all year long. Gary believes that there are about 14,000 Fire Fighters combating the infernos.  (They are infernos.  The fires are so large and intense that they are generating their own weather pattern.) So far 273,664 acres have burned and the fires are only 30% contained.  Fire Fighters have arrived from all across the United States and even other countries. Recently, New Zealand and Australia have sent crews. God Bless all the Fire Fighters, especially those that are far from home.


----------



## Jeff G

Our air quality in Central Cal right now is atrocious. We had 28 out of 31 days in July with temps between 100 and 106 F. The other three days dipped down to 98 and 99 degrees. So far August has been the same. 

With the heat and the smoke from all the fires it has been miserable outside, what good is a swimming pool if all you do is cough while your in it.  I am so done with summer. 

Feeling cranky, really wanted to float in the pool tonight. (Insert pouty face here).  Heat didn't used to bother me but this year it's getting to me.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Knowing how much even a few hundred acres can taxed the stamina of a FF, I can't even imagine a fire that big.


----------



## ceemac

I can't imagine the stress the people must be going through because of the speed the fires are moving. That stress is going to be with them a long time. It will be years until a helicopter is just a helicopter and the smell of smoke is just the neighbours BBQ.


----------



## Gary A.

Jeff G said:


> Our air quality in Central Cal right now is atrocious. We had 28 out of 31 days in July with temps between 100 and 106 F. The other three days dipped down to 98 and 99 degrees. So far August has been the same.
> 
> With the heat and the smoke from all the fires it has been miserable outside, what good is a swimming pool if all you do is cough while your in it.  I am so done with summer.
> 
> Feeling cranky, really wanted to float in the pool tonight. (Insert pouty face here).  Heat didn't used to bother me but this year it's getting to me.


It’s no picnic down here.  We hit 115 and 116 in one of the heatwaves. The Central Valley is always hot in summer. This is the first year we’ve run the A/C in July. Usually, we only run the A/C for two weeks in late August. Smoke is a killer.


----------



## Jeff G

Gary, I feel for you, those temps are extra bad when they are so far above the norm.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Strange really as growing up in Australia it did not bother me, and many times it would hit 100f or over, but like I have said in the past it is a different heat.



I feel that the sun is much stronger now than years past.  I used to love to sit in the sun at the beach but now I have to be under my umbrella and covered with sunblock or I fry.



limr said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> bringing 'em back for the new school year!  @limr  be careful hanging out in those downtown ice cream parlors, its a tough crowd in there.
> 
> 
> View attachment 161549
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am so fired.
Click to expand...


Just the one petticoat today?  For shame!


----------



## Gary A.

Jeff G said:


> Gary, I feel for you, those temps are extra bad when they are so far above the norm.


Gary thinks it s bad for everybody out here.  Gary is surprised that the smoke has reached the Central Valley.  Smoke wears you down.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. Knowing how much even a few hundred acres can taxed the stamina of a FF, I can't even imagine a fire that big.


Gary has covered quite a few large fires, but nothing like the last year’s Thomas Fire (281,893 acres) or this years Mendocino Complex Fire (283,800 and counting).  The smoke generated by a large fire is physically devastating to the body. Even with good equipment, high end respirator, googles, et al, after a few hours of moving in thick smoke, your body starts to shut down. You feel as if you’re moving in a sea of molasses, every movement is literally a painful struggle, a fight against total and complete mental and physical exhaustion.

The smoke generated by these monster fires has to be potentially deadly beyond reason.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, another hot stuffy start today so took Susie out early and the forecast says it will cool down then ( Heard that before too ).


----------



## davidharmier60

Thunder last evening but nothing came of it. Tuesday. Another day another 65 cents after taxes. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> The smoke generated by these monster fires has to be potentially deadly beyond reason.



All smoke can be deadly. We were always taught that the toxicity of a brush fire was less so, unless the concentration was so high that the CO2 displaced the oxygen, and there was no long term effect from breathing. Unlike structure fires where the presence of  vinyl, plastic, chemicals and solvents created highly toxic gases like phosogen, cyanide, etc. Your working distances from the support vehicle made using SCBA's impractical anyhow.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Strange really as growing up in Australia it did not bother me, and many times it would hit 100f or over, but like I have said in the past it is a different heat.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I feel that the sun is much stronger now than years past.  I used to love to sit in the sun at the beach but now I have to be under my umbrella and covered with sunblock or I fry.
Click to expand...


I feel like the sun has gone postal and is trying to murder us all.



> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> bringing 'em back for the new school year!  @limr  be careful hanging out in those downtown ice cream parlors, its a tough crowd in there.
> 
> 
> View attachment 161549
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am so fired.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Just the one petticoat today?  For shame!
Click to expand...


Hey, pick any one of those rules and I guarantee I will have broken it by the end of business hours  Well, except the first one. And I guess the one about getting home late will be broken after business hours.

But, y'know. Still.


----------



## JonA_CT

Nothing like heading to the woods, moving a heavy cooler awkwardly, and having to return to civilization for a shot of Toradol in the ass, a cocktail of pharmaceuticals in pill form, and the suggestion that I should return home rather than sleeping on the ground for the next 4 days. 

(The PA also laughed, and said that he’d be headed back to camp too)


----------



## Jeff G

Gary A. said:


> Jeff G said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary, I feel for you, those temps are extra bad when they are so far above the norm.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thinks it s bad for everybody out here.  Gary is surprised that the smoke has reached the Central Valley.  Smoke wears you down.
Click to expand...


We get the smoke from the Sacramento area and the LA area, then it just sits in the central valley. I am thankful we are not in the direct path of the fires.


----------



## Gary A.

Jeff G said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeff G said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary, I feel for you, those temps are extra bad when they are so far above the norm.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary thinks it s bad for everybody out here.  Gary is surprised that the smoke has reached the Central Valley.  Smoke wears you down.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We get the smoke from the Sacramento area and the LA area, then it just sits in the central valley. I am thankful we are not in the direct path of the fires.
Click to expand...

But you also get some fine vino from Lodi, Clarksburg and Livermore.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Nothing like heading to the woods, moving a heavy cooler awkwardly, and having to return to civilization for a shot of Toradol in the ass, a cocktail of pharmaceuticals in pill form, and the suggestion that I should return home rather than sleeping on the ground for the next 4 days.
> 
> (The PA also laughed, and said that he’d be headed back to camp too)



Your family is not destined for camping this year!  Maybe go with my kind of camping - a hotel without room service.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nothing like heading to the woods, moving a heavy cooler awkwardly, and having to return to civilization for a shot of Toradol in the ass, a cocktail of pharmaceuticals in pill form, and the suggestion that I should return home rather than sleeping on the ground for the next 4 days.
> 
> (The PA also laughed, and said that he’d be headed back to camp too)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Your family is not destined for camping this year!  Maybe go with my kind of camping - a hotel without room service.
Click to expand...

Yes, anyplace where your shoes don't get shined when left outside the door is camping.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Nothing like heading to the woods, moving a heavy cooler awkwardly, and having to return to civilization for a shot of Toradol in the ass, a cocktail of pharmaceuticals in pill form, and the suggestion that I should return home rather than sleeping on the ground for the next 4 days.
> 
> (The PA also laughed, and said that he’d be headed back to camp too)


Gary could have used some of that Toradol for his knee.  The only thing Gary get's back there is a swift kick.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> a hotel without room service


What an inhospitable place!


----------



## davidharmier60

What in the h e double hockey sticks is a Hotel? If it ain't Motel 6 I've never been there.

5 hours and 11 minutes today.
10.16 for the week so far. 
Gonna get another box of pennies and hit the PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

By the way I'm driving the Mitsubishi today. 
I put a piece of camo tape over the 05 on the registration sticker. Made it look like it happened naturally. Hope I don't get called down about it!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

We "Glamp" about 6 months out of the year. Have all the necessities without the hassle of a hotel/motel.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Have all the necessities without the hassle of a hotel/motel.


Honest question: what about a hotel is a hassle?


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> We "Glamp" about 6 months out of the year. Have all the necessities without the hassle of a hotel/motel.
> View attachment 161556



Smoke - we certainly have different styles.  It's hilarious to me that you think a hotel is a hassle (is it the pool?  the room service?  the maid service?  the on site bar/restaurant/spa? the great location)  but dragging around that giant trailer, hooking it up, breaking it down, emptying the waste tank (guessing here as I'm not that familiar), finding/reserving sites, checking in/out of campgrounds, stopping for gas every hour...  is not a hassle?  My sister-in-law's parents had one of those and it was super nice so I know they can be very luxurious but still, a lot involved if you plan on using it to travel.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary prefer hotels as they are better located, for how we travel, than camp grounds/RV parks.  We don't stay in one place very long.  (A moving target is hard to hit.)


----------



## smoke665

@waday

During the working years, I traveled a lot, staying in many upscale hotels across the country, but I might be on the west coast one day, and east coast the next, hotels were a necessity. Now when we travel it's for longer periods generally 4 to 6 weeks at a time. Living out of a suitcase for that long by itself would be a hassle. We have everything we need including washer/dryer on board. Plus we haven't been without doggies in years, which many of the hotels now frown on. When we do have to travel for a short stay we weigh the economics of hotel or RV, usually it starts to even out at about 4 days. 

@SquarePeg 

Depending on were we stay, most of the amenities (even maid service) are at the better resorts.  We once spent 2 weeks next to a retired doctor who was in a large  motor coach pulling an equally large trailer. The back half of the trailer was divided into space to haul his Corvette, Harley, and golf cart. The front half was fully furnished living area for their butler/chauffeur. We belong to a couple of different "members only" resorts that have some really nice destination locations. Just like destination hotels they have activities, and amenities for the guests. Unlike the anonymity of hotel guests you tend to make acquaintances with your neighbors,   As to travel with the trailer, the truck is sized to accommodate  the trailer and outfitted with the extras to make it just as comfortable to drive as a luxury car. I normally limit my driving to about 300 miles per day but I've pulled as much as 500 in a day. I truthfully can't say that it makes me any more tired than doing the same in a car. With everything hydraulic/electric I can set up or breakdown and roll in less than 30 mins. If we're just stopping for the night we don't unhook, so setup is less then 15 mins. How long does it take to drag everything from your car to your room and back??? 

@Gary A.

Locations are a matter of what you're willing to pay for. We've never found an area that didn't have a nice location within 30 mins of anything we wanted to see or do. When we travel, we generally look for a centralized location that we can work out from over the course of a few days. That's the advantage of the lifestyle, you move as fast or slow as you want, there is no schedule.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Not doing it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Harold Lloyd movies on TCM, all day, all night. And a photo booth.

Harold and the magic photobooth


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Not doing it.



I remember that one, but for some reason it says video unavailable???  This is more of an example of what not to do.  To often we see people pulling trailers far over the capability of the truck, or people driving motor homes, far in excess of their capability to drive. Makes for an unpleasant and unsafe experience. 

Between 65 and 70 is a sweet spot for my rig. I can set the cruise and exhaust brake, and unless there's traffic to contend with or some really steep hills, I never have to touch the brake or accelerator. The dual rear wheels, make the rig stable, but the trucks built in smart towing feature take it to a new level of stability with sway and roll control. Even in bad cross winds that would buffet a car, a light touch on the wheel is all you need. The computer uses the accelerator, and individual wheel braking to compensate far faster then a human could hope to.


----------



## SquarePeg

My favorite camper movie - We're The Millers


I'm actually going on our first non hotel vacation in quite a while.  Rented a big 7 bedroom house in NH White Mountains with extended family.  I love the sitting around after dinner playing games and making s'mores but not looking forward to making beds and doing dishes.  Not much of a vacation.  My mom differentiates it like so:  A vacation is when you don't have to do any normal day to day chores.  A trip, on the other hand, is doing your chores somewhere else!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @waday
> 
> During the working years, I traveled a lot, staying in many upscale hotels across the country, but I might be on the west coast one day, and east coast the next, hotels were a necessity. Now when we travel it's for longer periods generally 4 to 6 weeks at a time. Living out of a suitcase for that long by itself would be a hassle. We have everything we need including washer/dryer on board. Plus we haven't been without doggies in years, which many of the hotels now frown on. When we do have to travel for a short stay we weigh the economics of hotel or RV, usually it starts to even out at about 4 days.
> 
> @SquarePeg
> 
> Depending on were we stay, most of the amenities (even maid service) are at the better resorts.  We once spent 2 weeks next to a retired doctor who was in a large  motor coach pulling an equally large trailer. The back half of the trailer was divided into space to haul his Corvette, Harley, and golf cart. The front half was fully furnished living area for their butler/chauffeur. We belong to a couple of different "members only" resorts that have some really nice destination locations. Just like destination hotels they have activities, and amenities for the guests. Unlike the anonymity of hotel guests you tend to make acquaintances with your neighbors,   As to travel with the trailer, the truck is sized to accommodate  the trailer and outfitted with the extras to make it just as comfortable to drive as a luxury car. I normally limit my driving to about 300 miles per day but I've pulled as much as 500 in a day. I truthfully can't say that it makes me any more tired than doing the same in a car. With everything hydraulic/electric I can set up or breakdown and roll in less than 30 mins. If we're just stopping for the night we don't unhook, so setup is less then 15 mins. How long does it take to drag everything from your car to your room and back???
> 
> @Gary A.
> 
> Locations are a matter of what you're willing to pay for. We've never found an area that didn't have a nice location within 30 mins of anything we wanted to see or do. When we travel, we generally look for a centralized location that we can work out from over the course of a few days. That's the advantage of the lifestyle, you move as fast or slow as you want, there is no schedule.


We travel much differently. We never go direct and we are always taking side roads and byways on the whim. Hauling a bigass trailer would not work well for our explorations.  Packing and unpacking is a breeze as we are now traveling in a sports car, a suitcase for the humans, a shopping bag for Maggie and a camera bag. Easy-Pezy.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> During the working years, I traveled a lot, staying in many upscale hotels across the country, but I might be on the west coast one day, and east coast the next, hotels were a necessity. Now when we travel it's for longer periods generally 4 to 6 weeks at a time. Living out of a suitcase for that long by itself would be a hassle. We have everything we need including washer/dryer on board. Plus we haven't been without doggies in years, which many of the hotels now frown on. When we do have to travel for a short stay we weigh the economics of hotel or RV, usually it starts to even out at about 4 days.


I can appreciate this, especially for long-term travel. 

When we vacation, we typically don't bring Roxy (dog). She either stays with family, or goes to an overnight dog daycare. If we bring her, the whole vacation needs to be planned out accordingly. Yeah, a lot of hotels aren't exactly dog friendly.

We'll do a mini benefit-cost ratio when traveling, but if the cost isn't much more, we'd rather have better benefits.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Packing and unpacking is a breeze as we are now traveling in a sports car, a suitcase for the humans, a shopping bag for Maggie and a camera bag. Easy-Pezy.



Short two or three day trips we can do that, but when you've been on the road for two or three weeks, wearing the same clothes every day gets old even for me, and the DW isn't doing it period  At 13'-3" overall height and right at 75' in overall length, we do have to be cautious of routes when towing, but once we've settled the truck goes most places your car will, and with 4 wheel drive a lot of places it won't.



SquarePeg said:


> A vacation is when you don't have to do any normal day to day chores.



With both of us working it takes a whopping 15-20 mins to vacuum, dust, make the bed and we're done. While out we generally do hot cereal, frozen breakfast sandwiches, etc. unless we're lazy and staying in, then we'll do a big breakfast outside (which is pretty much the meal for the day). On days we get up and get going we generally try to eat a large meal out somewhere around the 2 pm-3pm time frame. During our home time, DW freezes a lot of leftovers. So on the days we eat out good, we survive on leftovers heated in the MW for supper. Not much cooking going on, though occasionally depending on where we are we will grill fresh seafood or steaks on the gas grill. Having endured all those years of hotel food, because I was to tired to go out, I much prefer the flexibility we have now.



waday said:


> We'll do a mini benefit-cost ratio when traveling, but if the cost isn't much more, we'd rather have better benefits.



I guess better benefits is debatable. After years of sleeping in hotel beds, I appreciate the fact that I know who's been doing what in my comfortable king size bed. We keep dual households with most things other than fresh foods (a lot of that we buy on the road). I appreciate being able to open my closet and find a lot of the same clothes that are in my closet at home. I appreciate opening the bathroom cabinet and finding all my toiletries the same as my cabinet at home. We take a satellite receiver from the house when we go, so all my TV shows are there when I want them. Most places have WIFI and for those that don't we hot spot a phone.  I can open the basement storage and there's my grill and tools, or if I want to go fishing there's my fly rod, bass rod, and tackle. I also like the fact that Sadie is comfortable with her surroundings, and I don't worry so much about leaving her unattended. Taking her outside is easier, have you ever taken one down an elevator, or had to go searching for grass for them to go on? I once stood in a tiny median in the middle of a four lane street in Washington, DC because that was the only D*&^ grass in a 10 block radius I could find, and our precious baby would not go on anything but grass


----------



## Gary A.

Gary doesn’t wear the same clothes everyday.  Gary packs wells with tons of travel experience. Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary hit all sorts of hidden, locals only, byways in-route and we never stay longer than three days in any one place. Yes, you can go more places off road, but Gary gets there a lot faster and ... with more style and fun when the top is down.

So far, Maggie hasn’t had a problem traveling.  As she is only one year old, when we hit the vineyards, Maggie is the designated driver because she’s underaged for wine tasting.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> you can go more places off road, but Gary gets there a lot faster and ... with more style and fun when the top is down.



Not so sure about the faster part Gary. I run 65 to 70 when towing because that's the sweet spot for torque and efficiency, but it could just as easily do it much faster. Been more than a few who thought they were fast found out what 6 tires pulling, 450 hp and 900 ft lbs of torque can do when the light turns green. Based on the looks and comments when I pull in, I guess the style part is a matter of taste. The convertible part you got me on.


----------



## Gary A.

Out here 55 MPH is the max for vehicles pulling trailers.  Conversely, you never saw the looks or heard the comments Gary gets ... especially when his designated driver is at the wheel.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Conversely, you never saw the looks or heard the comments Gary gets ... especially when his designated driver is at the wheel.



No I imagine that might be a little unsettling to see (especially meeting you) LOL Ms Sadie is to to prone to "hang a right" if she sees a squirrel on the side of the road, to ever trust behind the wheel


----------



## davidharmier60

The only times I ever stayed in a motel were either motorcycle road racing or Airshow reasons. And to be perfectly honest when Tom had anything to do with it we stayed in nicer places than road race.
But neither of those things has happened in better than 10 years. And since then I have never been able to afford to go anywhere. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## compur

pixmedic said:


> View attachment 161549



No offense meant to pixmedic but ... me thinks this list is bogus.


----------



## smoke665

The DW made these for desert tonight. OMG I love this woman. These are the messiest most amazing things ever. I have cinnamon, sugar, ice cream and apple juice from ear to ear, and all over the shirt.  https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a22127755/apple-pie-tacos-recipe/ The fact that she used medium tortillas straight from the package rather then cutting them down like the recipe says might be why they were on the messy side. Like eating half a pie LOL


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> The DW made these for desert tonight. OMG I love this woman. These are the messiest most amazing things ever. I have cinnamon, sugar, ice cream and apple juice from ear to ear, and all over the shirt.  Best Apple Pie Tacos Recipe  — How To Make Apple Pie Tacos The fact that she used medium tortillas straight from the package rather then cutting them down like the recipe says might be why they were on the messy side. Like eating half a pie LOL


WANT!


----------



## CherylL

The RV vs hotel debate is a live and well at my house.  My parents had a pull behind and I went on 2 short trips with them.  Confined in a tin can when it rains.  When we lived in Colorado in our early years of marriage, we camped in tents off of old logging trails.  Great that there was no people around.  I did enjoy it back then, but I really don't want to go to an RV park or tent camp.   I'll take the hotel with a pool, restaurants, room service, etc.  I would rather do that for a week than RV for 2 months.  My compromise after husband retires is to rent a house or condo for month somewhere.  I'll have research where I can take 3 schnauzers.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> 'll have research where I can take 3 schnauzers



Fur kids are a problem. Usually if they accept there's a premium. 

RV lifestyle isn't for all, we've been doing it now for 20 years, and still enjoy it.


----------



## limr

CherylL said:


> Great that there was no people around.  I did enjoy it back then, but I really don't want to go to an RV park or tent camp.   I'll take the hotel with a pool, restaurants, room service, etc.  I would rather do that for a week than RV for 2 months.  My compromise after husband retires is to rent a house or condo for month somewhere.  I'll have research where I can take 3 schnauzers.



This ^^^  I don't want to have to park in an RV park next to others. If I could just park anywhere and have some privacy, that might change the equation for me, but it seems there's a certain social element to being in an RV park that I _really_ just don't want when I am on vacation. Making small talk with people I don't know (or hell, even with people I do know!) absolutely exhausts me, and that kind of defeats the purpose of being on vacation!  I'd much much rather stay in a hotel (many have guest laundry rooms where you can do your own laundry, and even kitchenettes if you want to cook for yourselves and avoid room service), or, as you mentioned, rent a house somewhere.


----------



## Gary A.

Special Election today.


----------



## Gary A.

Hint:  If you tell the hotel that it is a service dog, typically there is no premium charged.


----------



## Gary A.

We have very little problems finding dog friendly accommodations.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary just returned from a movie in Long Beach.  _Blindspotting ... _a terrific movie.  Gary gives it six stars out of five. It really shines a bright light on our society and the racial divide haunting this country.  It’s not playing everywhere, but well worth seeking out.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Hint:  If you tell the hotel that it is a service dog, typically there is no premium charged.


As someone who works closely with several service dog organizations and has several close friends who use service dogs, I would say that saying, or even suggesting your dog is a service animal if it isn't is a pretty slimy trick; right up up there with parking in a handicapped space when you're not entitled to.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hint:  If you tell the hotel that it is a service dog, typically there is no premium charged.
> 
> 
> 
> As someone who works closely with several service dog organizations and has several close friends who use service dogs, I would say that saying, or even suggesting your dog is a service animal if it isn't is a pretty slimy trick; right up up there with parking in a handicapped space when you're not entitled to.
Click to expand...

Oh Please and Screw you! We are not taking a limited number of reserved dog rooms away from a service dog.  I also have friends with service dogs.  It is Not the same thing as a handicap parking place ... and I am insulted by your misguided insinuation.  This was actually bought up to us by a hotel clerk who told us with a nudge-nudge, wink-wink, that our “dog is a service dog ... right”.


----------



## RowdyRay

Gary A. said:


> Hint:  If you tell the hotel that it is a service dog, typically there is no premium charged.



Been in the handicapped transportation business for 30 years. Dealt with many service dogs. Pretty sure the clients don't have them for the hotel perks.


----------



## Gary A.

RowdyRay said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hint:  If you tell the hotel that it is a service dog, typically there is no premium charged.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Been in the handicapped transportation business for 30 years. Dealt with many service dogs. Pretty sure the clients don't have them for the hotel perks.
Click to expand...

I never said that people with service dogs have them for hotel perks. Why do you think that?  Why would you think I think that?


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hint:  If you tell the hotel that it is a service dog, typically there is no premium charged.
> 
> 
> 
> As someone who works closely with several service dog organizations and has several close friends who use service dogs, I would say that saying, or even suggesting your dog is a service animal if it isn't is a pretty slimy trick; right up up there with parking in a handicapped space when you're not entitled to.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh Please and Screw you! We are not taking a limited number of reserved dog rooms away from a service dog.  I also have friends with service dogs.  It is Not the same thing as a handicap parking place ... and I am insulted by your misguided insinuation.  This was actually bought up to us by a hotel clerk who told us with a nudge-nudge, wink-wink, that our “dog is a service dog ... right”.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry Gary, but I don't believe you're seeing the big picture here.  I grant you that there is a difference in that there aren't necessarily  a finite number of spaces for service dogs, BUT...  what this does do is cause problems for legitimate service dogs and their humans as people see "service animals"  which clearly aren't service animals being allowed in places where regular pets aren't allowed to go, and where they have deliberately not brought their own pets.  Further service dogs have received training which allows them to function appropriately in situations where many dogs wouldn't, causing further problems for legitimate service dogs.  I don't doubt for a minute that Miss Maggie would behave in an absolutely appropriate manner, but you have to admit that many wouldn't. I don't doubt that a hotel clerk suggested this to you, but I would be willing to bet that senior management weren't aware he/she was doing this.


----------



## SquarePeg

Couldn’t help but think of this:  Emotional support peacock denied flight by United Airlines


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hint:  If you tell the hotel that it is a service dog, typically there is no premium charged.
> 
> 
> 
> As someone who works closely with several service dog organizations and has several close friends who use service dogs, I would say that saying, or even suggesting your dog is a service animal if it isn't is a pretty slimy trick; right up up there with parking in a handicapped space when you're not entitled to.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh Please and Screw you! We are not taking a limited number of reserved dog rooms away from a service dog.  I also have friends with service dogs.  It is Not the same thing as a handicap parking place ... and I am insulted by your misguided insinuation.  This was actually bought up to us by a hotel clerk who told us with a nudge-nudge, wink-wink, that our “dog is a service dog ... right”.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm sorry Gary, but I don't believe you're seeing the big picture here.  I grant you that there is a difference in that there aren't necessarily  a finite number of spaces for service dogs, BUT...  what this does do is cause problems for legitimate service dogs and their humans as people see "service animals"  which clearly aren't service animals being allowed in places where regular pets aren't allowed to go, and where they have deliberately not brought their own pets.  Further service dogs have received training which allows them to function appropriately in situations where many dogs wouldn't, causing further problems for legitimate service dogs.  I don't doubt for a minute that Miss Maggie would behave in an absolutely appropriate manner, but you have to admit that many wouldn't. I don't doubt that a hotel clerk suggested this to you, but I would be willing to bet that senior management weren't aware he/she was doing this.
Click to expand...

This is a pivot ... people claiming their dog is a service dog in a selfish lie for their dog to gain access to areas which would normally be off limits to non-service dogs has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on receiving a service dog discount on a hotel room ... especially a discount encouraged by the hotel staff.

Again, your pivot away from my original statement is much different than my statement.  While I acknowledge that there is a problem with person falsely claiming a service dog status in order to bring their dogs into a no dog allowed area ... that is completely different from getting a dog premium waved on a room which was original reserved as a regular dog room. 

Service dogs are allowed into a non-dog environment because they perform a medical service, similar to crutches or wheelchairs.  Yes they are trained and well behave ... and again this is another pivot.  Misbehaving organism, regardless of species, are not and should not be allowed where they would infringe upon the well being of others.

The wink-wink came from the hotel manager ... which is irrelevant and again a pivot.  So you would question and police the righteous of the hotel staff when offer a discount?  Demand to see the company policy ... please!


----------



## Gary A.

By the way, this is not a ‘big picture’ discussion.  I narrowly defined my remarks to hotel room dog premium.  Not a general discussion of service dog misrepsentation. Regardless of your pivots and attempting to take the discussion to places the original statement didn’t go to or represent ... you are still wrong and I still resent you alluding that I am “slimy” for accepting a discount offered by the hotel.


----------



## davidharmier60

Gee that was fun.... NOT. 
Wednesday 
Marquee 
Payday 
And time is getting away from me.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

And the one night I turn in early! LOL 

As we are travelers with a fur kid, we take notice of such things. In our travels we've noticed that different states are taking on more strict laws in an attempt to discourage claiming a pet as a service animal. Including in some cases a hefty fine for doing so. 

Frankly Sadie is better behaved and less prone to cause damage, or disturb others then many kids I've seen. We always try to patronize those establishments with pet friendly policies. There's a restaurant in Gatlinburg that she gets the royal treatment. The waiter brings her a water bowl when they bring the drinks, and wait staff in general makes it point to swing by every so often with treats of one sort or another, and  love on her.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary - I understand the distinction you’re making.  I would only see a problem with this if there were a limited number of rooms for those with dogs and the "service dog" distinction got  you an accessible room when those were all booked up.  

Marriott Residence Inn is usually a dog friendly option and Loews (but pricey).  Found this online:  Have dog, will travel: Top pet-friendly hotel chains

We don't normally take our dog when we travel.  It depends on the destination but even if the hotel is dog friendly, the places we'll be going while we are traveling, are not.  No point in taking him along if he's going to be left in the hotel room for hours on end.  He'd be more comfortable at home.  If we're going somewhere that will involve a lot of outdoor time and a dog friendly beach, that's a different story.  I have an aunt who takes care of our boy when we go away.  She spoils him rotten and sometimes he is a bit of a diva for the first couple of days after we return.  Expecting us to carry him up/down the stairs, wanting to ride shotgun, thinking he's going to sit at the table with us during dinner...


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> I guess better benefits is debatable. After years of sleeping in hotel beds, I appreciate the fact that I know who's been doing what in my comfortable king size bed. We keep dual households with most things other than fresh foods (a lot of that we buy on the road). I appreciate being able to open my closet and find a lot of the same clothes that are in my closet at home. I appreciate opening the bathroom cabinet and finding all my toiletries the same as my cabinet at home. We take a satellite receiver from the house when we go, so all my TV shows are there when I want them. Most places have WIFI and for those that don't we hot spot a phone. I can open the basement storage and there's my grill and tools, or if I want to go fishing there's my fly rod, bass rod, and tackle.


Understood. We have different vacation destinations and itineraries, so I can see benefits to both.



smoke665 said:


> I also like the fact that Sadie is comfortable with her surroundings, and I don't worry so much about leaving her unattended. Taking her outside is easier, have you ever taken one down an elevator, or had to go searching for grass for them to go on? I once stood in a tiny median in the middle of a four lane street in Washington, DC because that was the only D*&^ grass in a 10 block radius I could find, and our precious baby would not go on anything but grass


Roxy is usually ok in hotels. Roxy has visited several hotels, and yes, did the elevator thing. Not that bad, because elevator. The only problem arose when others with two small dogs tried to cram into an elevator with me and Roxy. Roxy doesn't like dogs her size or smaller, so I kept her in a corner blocked by my legs. She was too distracted by the elevator and people to really care about the dog.

Roxy will typically do her business anywhere outside where she thinks she's allowed... so, she'll go on sidewalks. When we're in Brooklyn, we have to do three floors up and down; she'll go on the sidewalk since there's not much grass around. And the few spaces of grass sometimes have trash or broken glass in them, so I am hesitant to let her walk on the grass there.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> By the way, this is not a ‘big picture’ discussion.  I narrowly defined my remarks to hotel room dog premium.  Not a general discussion of service dog misrepsentation. Regardless of your pivots and attempting to take the discussion to places the original statement didn’t go to or represent ... you are still wrong and I still resent you alluding that I am “slimy” for accepting a discount offered by the hotel.


I'm sorry Gary, I was not referring to you as slimy (as I did not think you would actually do this) - rather that the action was.  Again, I beg to differ - this is a small aspect of a very big picture.  While the laws are likely different in California, in BC that would actually constitute a criminal offense. 

I am very sorry if I've offended; this is a topic fairly close to me, and I have seen the problems arising from misrepresentation of service dogs, so any evidence of it tends to bother me.  I understand that this is in the class of offenses that most people believe don't matter; pushing the speed limit a bit, parking in a 'No Parking' area, inflating costs on an insurance claim, etc, but the truth is, these do have an effect, and while usually small, not readily apparent, it is there. 

Again, I am sorry for having caused offense!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary - I understand the distinction you’re making.  I would only see a problem with this if there were a limited number of rooms for those with dogs and the "service dog" distinction got  you an accessible room when those were all booked up.
> 
> Marriott Residence Inn is usually a dog friendly option and Loews (but pricey).  Found this online:  Have dog, will travel: Top pet-friendly hotel chains
> 
> We don't normally take our dog when we travel.  It depends on the destination but even if the hotel is dog friendly, the places we'll be going while we are traveling, are not.  No point in taking him along if he's going to be left in the hotel room for hours on end.  He'd be more comfortable at home.  If we're going somewhere that will involve a lot of outdoor time and a dog friendly beach, that's a different story.  I have an aunt who takes care of our boy when we go away.  She spoils him rotten and sometimes he is a bit of a diva for the first couple of days after we return.  Expecting us to carry him up/down the stairs, wanting to ride shotgun, thinking he's going to sit at the table with us during dinner...


It is Gary's understanding that Service Dogs have carte blanc and are not restricted to the limited number of pet dedicated rooms of a pet friendly hotel.  Service dogs are considered a medical device.  While most pet friendly hotels have limited rooms dedicated for pets, a service dog is not a pet and can stay in any room. Under U.S. ADA requirements, Gary believes that all hotels must accept service dogs. Claiming your non-service dog is a service dog will not reduce or eliminate rooms for those people requiring a service dog as a medical aid. Additionally, service dogs have certification(s) paperwork identifying them as such.


----------



## compur

*Copied from California Penal Code:*
***********************************************************************************************************************
*Penal Code - PEN*
*PART 1. OF CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS [25 - 680]*

...

*CHAPTER 12. Other Injuries to Persons [346 - 367g]*
_  ( Chapter 12 enacted 1872. )_

*365.7.  *
(a) Any person who knowingly and fraudulently represents himself or herself, through verbal or written notice, to be the owner or trainer of any canine licensed as, to be qualified as, or identified as, a guide, signal, or service dog, as defined in subdivisions (d), (e), and (f) of Section 365.5 and paragraph (6) of subdivision (b) of Section 54.1 of the Civil Code, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment.

(b) As used in this section, “owner” means any person who owns a guide, signal, or service dog, or who is authorized by the owner to use the guide, signal, or service dog.

_(Added by Stats. 1994, Ch. 1257, Sec. 12. Effective January 1, 1995.)
*************************************************************************_


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> By the way, this is not a ‘big picture’ discussion.  I narrowly defined my remarks to hotel room dog premium.  Not a general discussion of service dog misrepsentation. Regardless of your pivots and attempting to take the discussion to places the original statement didn’t go to or represent ... you are still wrong and I still resent you alluding that I am “slimy” for accepting a discount offered by the hotel.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sorry Gary, I was not referring to you as slimy (as I did not think you would actually do this) - rather that the action was.  Again, I beg to differ - this is a small aspect of a very big picture.  While the laws are likely different in California, in BC that would actually constitute a criminal offense.
> 
> I am very sorry if I've offended; this is a topic fairly close to me, and I have seen the problems arising from misrepresentation of service dogs, so any evidence of it tends to bother me.  I understand that this is in the class of offenses that most people believe don't matter; pushing the speed limit a bit, parking in a 'No Parking' area, inflating costs on an insurance claim, etc, but the truth is, these do have an effect, and while usually small, not readily apparent, it is there.
> 
> Again, I am sorry for having caused offense!
Click to expand...

Gary doesn't know about service dog fraud but handicap parking fraud in California is either an "infraction or a misdemeanor. An infraction is punishable by a fine ranging from $250 to $1,000. A misdemeanor conviction is punishable by up to six months in county jail and the same fine".  The difference between an infraction and misdemeanor is circumstantial. 

Gary has often ... observed dog(s) inside establishments claiming to be service dogs, while he is outside with his pooch following the rules. Unlike fraudulent handicap parking, where one may actually and directly deny a handicap person access, (handicap parking stall is larger to accommodate wheelchairs and closer for those with limited mobility), service dog fraud seems to be a victimless violation (more or less).  All thing being equal, a fraudulent service dog in a restaurant is no more offensive than a service dog in a restaurant, et cetera.


----------



## Gary A.

Now, Gary does know about service dog fraud. Thank you compur, he thought it would be similar to other ADA fraud.


----------



## JonA_CT

Jon’s back is better this morning, although to add insult to injury yesterday, a severe thunderstorm rolled through the campsite. Some of the craziest rain I’ve seen in the Northeast, lots of lightening, and wind. The campsite was okay, save for our rainfly doing jack all against sideways rain, haha. With everything wet, we ate at the local brewpub for dinner. Jon makes better beer and better pizza.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> Jon’s back is better this morning, although to add insult to injury yesterday, a severe thunderstorm rolled through the campsite. Some of the craziest rain I’ve seen in the Northeast, lots of lightening, and wind. The campsite was okay, save for our rainfly doing jack all against sideways rain, haha. With everything wet, we ate at the local brewpub for dinner. Jon makes better beer and better pizza.


And it would appear, the recent weather has caused Jon to channel his inner GaryA!


----------



## JonA_CT

tirediron said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Jon’s back is better this morning, although to add insult to injury yesterday, a severe thunderstorm rolled through the campsite. Some of the craziest rain I’ve seen in the Northeast, lots of lightening, and wind. The campsite was okay, save for our rainfly doing jack all against sideways rain, haha. With everything wet, we ate at the local brewpub for dinner. Jon makes better beer and better pizza.
> 
> 
> 
> And it would appear, the recent weather has caused Jon to channel his inner GaryA!
Click to expand...


For one post only.


----------



## compur

Compur just learned a new word:* illeism *


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT your story reminded me of a similar camping trip years ago. Back when tents were heavy canvas affairs, we had bought a new one with a waterproofing vinyl coating that extended 6" up the sides. The rest of the canvas was still the same old wax coated canvas that was waterproof until you touched it. We were in the mountains with four kids when a bad rain storm came in. Huddled in the dry of our new tent, I remember well telling the kids DO NOT TOUCH THE TENT! You can't believe how many times 40 little fingers can touch something in the blink of an eye. As the rain dripped through every spot it wasn't long till the waterproof bottom filled up like a giant bowl. We finally ended up huddled in the car till morning.


----------



## Gary A.

compur said:


> Compur just learned a new word:* illeism *


Gary is illeismatic.


----------



## smoke665

I wish Sadie had her credentials. Had to board her at Doggie Spa today while DW goes through her annual round of tests at Emory Hospital. Based on the look she was giving me Ms Sadie was not a happy camper. There will be a McDonalds Cheesburger in her future this afternoon, so she'll forgive me quickly.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> I wish Sadie had her credentials. Had to board her at Doggie Spa today while DW goes through her annual round of tests at Emory Hospital. Based on the look she was giving me Ms Sadie was not a happy camper. There will be a McDonalds Cheesburger in her future this afternoon, so she'll forgive me quickly.


  Nothing like a cheap date!


----------



## JonA_CT

Our pup is staying with someone we found through Rover. He loves camping, but we’re here to cycle the Lehigh Gorge and it wasn’t going to work out for him.

Don’t feel bad though. He has a large fenced in yard to play in, a stream to swim in, a bed (with people!) that he’s sleeping in, and 3 other pups to play with. He’s not going to want to come home. 

(We’re seriously considering a second dog...he enjoys other canine company so much.)


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> @JonA_CT your story reminded me of a similar camping trip years ago. Back when tents were heavy canvas affairs, we had bought a new one with a waterproofing vinyl coating that extended 6" up the sides. The rest of the canvas was still the same old wax coated canvas that was waterproof until you touched it. We were in the mountains with four kids when a bad rain storm came in. Huddled in the dry of our new tent, I remember well telling the kids DO NOT TOUCH THE TENT! You can't believe how many times 40 little fingers can touch something in the blink of an eye. As the rain dripped through every spot it wasn't long till the waterproof bottom filled up like a giant bowl. We finally ended up huddled in the car till morning.



Reason #572 why I don't camp.


----------



## terri

We used to camp quite a bit, even packing our all our gear and flying out to camp in the North Ridge of the Grand Canyon.   It was a spectacular experience, and I'm so glad we did it before the airlines discovered a new revenue stream by charging for everything not a "carry-on."    

We have since discovered the wonders of cabins.


----------



## davidharmier60

Last time I slept anywhere but my own bed... A couple years ago in the back of my truck with a sleeping bag and under a cover. 

As for today. 6 hours and a bit. As I unplugged the charger from the floor machine a cable came off from corrosion. 
Had to hacksaw a bolt off because I couldn't break it. Will see in the morning what the charger says and how the machine runs.

Just had chicken and dumplings at the deli as I await time to get my check. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Most memorable camping trip ever. We were on a two day canoe trip down a whitewater river in the Ozarks. As night approached we found a suitable gravel bar and rolled out the sleeping bags. Overnight a strong storm moved through with lots of rain and lightning. All we could do was ride it out, huddled under our canoes, as the water steadily rose. Fortunately it was over quickly, but everything was to soaked to sleep, and we couldn't leave till daylight.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> we’re here to cycle the Lehigh Gorge


wat.

You're in PA?


----------



## limr

I have camped only once in my life. It was on a beach in southern Turkey. My friend...misrepresented...the sleeping facilities (there were none) so we draped a tarp over a tree branch and I slept under that for a week. I was young and stupid, and though it was more comfortable than you'd think, I am not sure the old meatsack could handle that again. Still, the view from my "tent" was worth it:


----------



## terri

limr said:


> I have camped only once in my life. It was on a beach in southern Turkey. My friend...misrepresented...the sleeping facilities (there were none) so we draped a tarp over a tree branch and I slept under that for a week. I was young and stupid, and though it was more comfortable than you'd think, I am not sure the old meatsack could handle that again. Still, the view from my "tent" was worth it:
> 
> View attachment 161597


Beautiful!   I'm sure the occasional "I'm on a beach in southern Turkey!" moments outweighed the general discomfort.    And yeah, we all miss the being young & stupid part, which allows us to venture into lots of weird/different scenarios that may not happen when we get older and annoyingly pragmatic.


----------



## compur

I camped as a kid with my folks a few times. One particularly pleasant time was in Yosemite in the 1950s. We had a big tent pitched near a stream. I remember watching The Fire Falls at night. Later a bear invaded a nearby tent and stole their peanut butter.


----------



## tirediron

compur said:


> I camped as a kid with my folks a few times. One particularly pleasant time was in Yosemite in the 1950s. We had a big tent pitched near a stream. I remember watching The Fire Falls at night. Later a bear invaded a nearby tent and stole their peanut butter.


Yogi?  Or Boo-boo?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> compur said:
> 
> 
> 
> I camped as a kid with my folks a few times. One particularly pleasant time was in Yosemite in the 1950s. We had a big tent pitched near a stream. I remember watching The Fire Falls at night. Later a bear invaded a nearby tent and stole their peanut butter.
> 
> 
> 
> Yogi?  Or Boo-boo?
Click to expand...


No, no, no, that's Jellystone, not Yosemite!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> compur said:
> 
> 
> 
> I camped as a kid with my folks a few times. One particularly pleasant time was in Yosemite in the 1950s. We had a big tent pitched near a stream. I remember watching The Fire Falls at night. Later a bear invaded a nearby tent and stole their peanut butter.
> 
> 
> 
> Yogi?  Or Boo-boo?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No, no, no, that's Jellystone, not Yosemite!
Click to expand...

There'za difference?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> compur said:
> 
> 
> 
> I camped as a kid with my folks a few times. One particularly pleasant time was in Yosemite in the 1950s. We had a big tent pitched near a stream. I remember watching The Fire Falls at night. Later a bear invaded a nearby tent and stole their peanut butter.
> 
> 
> 
> Yogi?  Or Boo-boo?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No, no, no, that's Jellystone, not Yosemite!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There'za difference?
Click to expand...


----------



## smoke665

Left this morning at 4:30, 15 hrs later stick a fork in me I'm done. Today was my DW's 2nd annual post transplant full workup at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. Because of the distance they schedule all her tests on the same day. The waiting isn't bad because the whole hospital complex is very nice. The trip home was horrendous as we were done just at rush hour. Atlanta in rush hour can be dicey, finally hit some open road and then torrential rain. As we got into town this was our main road thru town, covered in over a foot of water in places.


----------



## snowbear

Well, another GIS conference is over.  My lightening talk went OK, I guess - nobody threw fruit or vegetables at me.


----------



## SquarePeg

@smoke665  I hope all is well!  That’s a car--you ending to a long day.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has showered and is a bit refreshed after being wilted for most of the day. He worked outside today in upper 90F heat and was drenched in sweat.  This is the third or fourth heatwave of summer. Enough is enough ... July’s electrical bill was the highest of all time. Time to go solar at this rate. The sunlight today was very odd. The light was reddish-yellow as it had to traveled through smoke clouds in order to reach where Gary was standing. Gary looked up and 3/4 of the sky was smoke. Not a good sign.


----------



## jcdeboever

I got pulled over again, let go again, no ticket again. One marker light out, checked my load of rims in back, all secure. Almost exact same location, with in a couple of blocks from the last pull over, and this time I wasn't talking to Gary on the phone. Funny thing is, I was thinking of calling him when the lights lit up in my mirrors. lol


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> @smoke665  I hope all is well!  That’s a car--you ending to a long day.



Won't know the results until we go back to meet with her doctor in two weeks, but we feel confident that the in-depth tests will confirm what the 6 week blood tests have been showing all along, that all is still well.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> @smoke665  I hope all is well!  That’s a car--you ending to a long day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Won't know the results until we go back to meet with her doctor in two weeks, but we feel confident that the in-depth tests will confirm what the 6 week blood tests have been showing all along, that all is still well.
Click to expand...


I am believing she is healthy.


----------



## Gary A.

The local news reported that smoke from all the wildfires are covering 3/4 of California.


----------



## snowbear

Fingers crossed, Smoke.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> The light was reddish-yellow as it had to traveled through smoke clouds in order to reach where Gary was standing.



I remember a time not that long ago when we experienced something similar from all the brush fires around. Not only did it affect the sunlight, but it made for some strange moonlight as well.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever an @snowbear The blood tests they do throughout the year only detect the cancer once it's reached a certain threat level. Multiple Myeloma is one of the rarer  blood cancers. What Is Multiple Myeloma?  As of yet it is incurable but can sometimes be forced into a "smoldering" state during which it's not producing new cells or causing any harm. The tests she underwent yesterday are far more advanced at detecting it, then the blood tests. At her first annual check 1 year post stem cell transplant, she was declared to be in clinical remission, meaning they couldn't find any cells on the tests. That would be the ideal result again, as any cells detected would mean it had awakened and the clock was ticking again.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Max and Maggie playing with a ‘Fun Stick’.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Mary Lou, similar to Leo, detests heat.  Normally, we'd be all over the state hitting wineries and jazz festivals.  But for the last month we've pretty much been holed-up inside, hugging the A/C, scared of the sunlight.  NetFlix is our best friend. Yesterday, a friend who lives in Riverside County had a mandatory evacuation due to the fires. That fire may have cut off our route to Temecula wine country.  Mary Lou wants a little pool with no fish so she can dip her feet. She is scared of fish pee. Gary explained that the biological filters mitigate the pee ... but she is still reluctant to dip a toe in the Koi pond. But yesterday, while cleaning up the lime tree, she did put a finger in the pond, testing for coolness.


----------



## davidharmier60

Heatwave sheatwave.
Here in Texas 90 with 80+ humidity is the norm.

5 hours and a couple minutes today. 
Found another bad connection on the floor machine. Repaired it. Hope for the best but prepared for the worst. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Heatwave sheatwave.
> Here in Texas 90 with 80+ humidity is the norm.
> 
> 5 hours and a couple minutes today.
> Found another bad connection on the floor machine. Repaired it. Hope for the best but prepared for the worst.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Which is why Gary doesn't live in Texas.


----------



## Warhorse

Working on clearing out my basement to prepare it for the install of an interior drain system with sump pump. Our basement was finished off, will now be demo’d for access to all exterior basement walls. Once new drain/pump has been installed, restoration can begin.

What the hey, it’s only money... big money.


----------



## davidharmier60

Got home. Was some shade. Did a bit of weedeating. Now watching YouTube about the Mosquito plane.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Which is why Gary doesn't live in Texas.



From the sound of your heat complaints lately, I say you were close. LOL


----------



## otherprof

smoke665 said:


> Left this morning at 4:30, 15 hrs later stick a fork in me I'm done. Today was my DW's 2nd annual post transplant full workup at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. Because of the distance they schedule all her tests on the same day. The waiting isn't bad because the whole hospital complex is very nice. The trip home was horrendous as we were done just at rush hour. Atlanta in rush hour can be dicey, finally hit some open road and then torrential rain. As we got into town this was our main road thru town, covered in over a foot of water in places.
> View attachment 161599


Hoping everything went well.


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm so mad. I lost my patience today trying to load a roll of 120 FP4+ on a reel. I gave up. I could not get that MF'r to load on that reel at all. It was probably all scratched to hell anyway, so I took it out of the bag. It was me because I had no problem when looking at it. Tractor show pics. It was super curly on the end, not like the last roll. I tried snipping the corners off, nope. I have one more roll to load, gonna cool down and do it later. I can load 135 all day long, without a hitch but throw some 120 at me and it gets interesting. I am a 54 year old noob and want to bang my head on the wall.


----------



## Fujidave

Been super busy trying to take photos in a Jazz pub in town, so hard as the lighting is bonkers and it`s dark.


----------



## otherprof

jcdeboever said:


> I got pulled over again, let go again, no ticket again. One marker light out, checked my load of rims in back, all secure. Almost exact same location, with in a couple of blocks from the last pull over, and this time I wasn't talking to Gary on the phone. Funny thing is, I was thinking of calling him when the lights lit up in my mirrors. lol


There is indeed something fishy about the scales of justice! I think you must  be on the "catch and release" list!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks is all a plot ... a Gary Conspiracy.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Another day ... another romp in the mud. (Miss Maggie is one happy pup.)


----------



## davidharmier60

A 'Gary" conspiracy is something not worth thinking about.....
A cop conspiracy on the other hand.....


----------



## SquarePeg

@Gary A.   School of Rock, Boston  FEB 12–24


----------



## Gary A.

Be there or be square. Princess will love it, but you will have to explain a lot of the rock references.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is in Claremont, a city in the foothills of the local mountains. The air color and quality is 4X worse here than closer to the coast. Seems like dusk outside.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Be there or be *square*. Princess will love it, but you will have to explain a lot of the rock references.



I see what you did there.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Princess will love it, but you will have to explain a lot of the rock references.



Oh and Princess has some Rock genes.  She had to listen to my music until she made it to the front seat.  Recently caught her singing along to some Aerosmith before she remembered to change the station to Top 40.   Check out the tshirt (she stole it from me!).


----------



## otherprof

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 161634
> iPhone
> 
> Another day ... another romp in the mud. (Miss Maggie is one happy pup.)


My granddog an hour after a romp in the mud. (Taken by my daughter.) “But I just had a bath last month!” says Bailey.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Another day ... another romp in the mud. (Miss Maggie is one happy pup.)



Ours have all enjoyed the romping in the mud part, it's the bath after that's the problem.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 161634
> iPhone
> 
> Another day ... another romp in the mud. (Miss Maggie is one happy pup.)


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> we’re here to cycle the Lehigh Gorge
> 
> 
> 
> wat.
> 
> You're in PA?
Click to expand...


Until tomorrow morning! We’re camping in Mt Pocono, and made the drive down to Rockport to access the trail. We rode up to White Haven and back today...about 20 miles I think. Such a gorgeous place to spend time.


----------



## davidharmier60

Back in 1991 or so I was in Pocono for Road Racing with my buddy.
Just finished a Hamburger, fries and onion rings. Perhaps Blue Bell later but that ain't a sure thing. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Had my consult with the eye surgeon today on the cataracts. First one in a little over two weeks, second one two weeks later if all goes well. Amazed at how advanced they've become. Once they replace the lenses, he told me I'd have auto focus, coupled with  automatic aperture and shutter control. However if I wanted all the bells and whistles I'd need to step up to the full frame lenses. which are extra


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> we’re here to cycle the Lehigh Gorge
> 
> 
> 
> wat.
> 
> You're in PA?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Until tomorrow morning! We’re camping in Mt Pocono, and made the drive down to Rockport to access the trail. We rode up to White Haven and back today...about 20 miles I think. Such a gorgeous place to spend time.
Click to expand...

Lehigh Gorge is amazingly beautiful!


----------



## Gary A.

A light ash is falling around the house, the smoke filled sky is now 100% from horizon to horizon. A reddish-yellow glow, generating little to no shadows, has filled Gary’s world.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Had my consult with the eye surgeon today on the cataracts. First one in a little over two weeks, second one two weeks later if all goes well. Amazed at how advanced they've become. Once they replace the lenses, he told me I'd have auto focus, coupled with  automatic aperture and shutter control. However if I wanted all the bells and whistles I'd need to step up to the full frame lenses. which are extra


I opted for the mid-range zoom.  It's been a year, already, so I have to make an appointment with the oppotr opptrom  eye doctor.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 161634
> iPhone
> 
> Another day ... another romp in the mud. (Miss Maggie is one happy pup.)


Whattttttttttttttttttttttt?


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 161634
> iPhone
> 
> Another day ... another romp in the mud. (Miss Maggie is one happy pup.)
> 
> 
> 
> Whattttttttttttttttttttttt?
Click to expand...

She's an off-roader, I reckon.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> A light ash is falling around the house, the smoke filled sky is now 100% from horizon to horizon. A reddish-yellow glow, generating little to no shadows, has filled Gary’s world.



Sorry to hear this Gary.  I hope you and your friends/family are safe.  Praying for some rain for you and no wind!


----------



## Gary A.

We’re fine.  We live in an urban/suburban area.  Our friend who was evacuated just received a phone call from a neighbor who ignored the mandatory evacuation order and stayed behind to save his house, just told her that five houses on her street have exploded.  Our friend is on edge (understatement).


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. I've been following the fires on the news, terrible. Living in a highly wooded area my nose is always checking the air for smoke.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> we’re here to cycle the Lehigh Gorge
> 
> 
> 
> wat.
> 
> You're in PA?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Until tomorrow morning! We’re camping in Mt Pocono, and made the drive down to Rockport to access the trail. We rode up to White Haven and back today...about 20 miles I think. Such a gorgeous place to spend time.
Click to expand...




waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> we’re here to cycle the Lehigh Gorge
> 
> 
> 
> wat.
> 
> You're in PA?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Until tomorrow morning! We’re camping in Mt Pocono, and made the drive down to Rockport to access the trail. We rode up to White Haven and back today...about 20 miles I think. Such a gorgeous place to spend time.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Lehigh Gorge is amazingly beautiful!
Click to expand...


Interesting to see people talk about places I see/hear mentioned almost daily. @JonA_CT  You've had some heat and humidity to contend with. Not my favorite cycling conditions I prefer autumn for that.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. I've been following the fires on the news, terrible. Living in a highly wooded area my nose is always checking the air for smoke.


Sorta like Vets from Vietnam and later ... whenever they hear a helicopter they feel compelled to look up.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Gary A. I've been following the fires on the news, terrible. Living in a highly wooded area my nose is always checking the air for smoke.
> 
> 
> 
> Sorta like Vets from Vietnam and later ... whenever they hear a helicopter they feel compelled to look up.
Click to expand...


Yup. The Gatlinburg fire that destroyed so many homes and lives, the estimated the winds it generated were up to 90 mph in places.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Fujidave-

Shot these the other day in a dim night club with tricky/bad lighting.  Fuji X-T2 @ 6400 ISO, Fujinon 50-140:

#1






#2





#3





#4





The bassist is the niece of Mike, (Max's human). Gary and Maggie meet Mike and Max most every morning for our walk and Maggie's mud bath.


----------



## davidharmier60

Mud bath.... I like it!
5 hours and a half and a few minutes today.  27.07 for the week with a day to go.
Not sure if I'm to bring anything home.
Going to message Sister to find out.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Do I hate having a summer cold.. YES.  Eyes are watering like mad keep sneezing and have a cough from the pits of hell, yuck.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> @ Fujidave-
> 
> Shot these the other day in a dim night club with tricky/bad lighting.  Fuji X-T2 @ 6400 ISO, Fujinon 50-140:
> 
> #1
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #2
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #3
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> #4
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The bassist is the niece of Mike, (Max's human). Gary and Maggie meet Mike and Max most every morning for our walk and Maggie's mud bath.




Good set of images Gary.  I hope to be ordering the XF 90mm in the next few days as at the moment if I do, then I save £100.


----------



## JonA_CT

Dean_Gretsch said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> we’re here to cycle the Lehigh Gorge
> 
> 
> 
> wat.
> 
> You're in PA?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Until tomorrow morning! We’re camping in Mt Pocono, and made the drive down to Rockport to access the trail. We rode up to White Haven and back today...about 20 miles I think. Such a gorgeous place to spend time.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> we’re here to cycle the Lehigh Gorge
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> wat.
> 
> You're in PA?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Until tomorrow morning! We’re camping in Mt Pocono, and made the drive down to Rockport to access the trail. We rode up to White Haven and back today...about 20 miles I think. Such a gorgeous place to spend time.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Lehigh Gorge is amazingly beautiful!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Interesting to see people talk about places I see/hear mentioned almost daily. @JonA_CT  You've had some heat and humidity to contend with. Not my favorite cycling conditions I prefer autumn for that.
Click to expand...


Ahhh yes. We were in the area Monday through this morning...we picked yesterday because the weather we going to be cooler and drier than the other days. It was in the upper 60s for our early start. I still soaked through everything though, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

Fire update:  The friend’s house survived.  A gate was broken by fire fighters getting to the backyard.  A number of items have melted in the yard and the neighborhood is covered by dead birds and ash.


----------



## jcdeboever

My cat is driving me insane. Why she wants to snuggle when I'm doing scans is beyond me. She is relentless so I locked her out. Now she is howling like a wounded alien baby outside the door. She's got food, got fresh water, her poop box is clean...geez.  She sneaks in my darkroom as well, unknown to me. Last night, I was making a contact sheet and she came up dodged the contact sheet. 

At least I do not have anything melting in my backyard... geez2.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Fire update: The friend’s house survived. A gate is broken by fire fighters getting to the backyard. A number of items have melted in the yard and the neighborhood is covered by dead birds and ash.



Minor inconveniences in the big picture. Assuming their house is out of danger now?


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> My cat is driving me insane. Why she wants to snuggle when I'm doing scans is beyond me. She is relentless so I locked her out. Now she is howling like a wounded alien baby outside the door. She's got food, got fresh water, her poop box is clean...geez.  She sneaks in my darkroom as well, unknown to me. Last night, I was making a contact sheet and she came up dodged the contact sheet.
> 
> At least I do not have anything melting in my backyard... geez2.


She just loves you.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hot Dogs for dinner with Fritos scoops with chili and cheese. Maybe Blue Bell later but that ain't a sure thing. Price is Right on the DVR. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

I think I put twice the amount of garlic necessary in my fresh tomato sauce tonight.


----------



## Gary A.

Soooo ... you made it twice as good ...


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> I think I put twice the amount of garlic necessary in my fresh tomato sauce tonight.



There can be no "more than necessary" amount of garlic. More garlic is always necessary.

(I fully recognize how easily hyperbole is disproved, and I don't care; I stand by my statement.)


----------



## SquarePeg

Darn it.  This post made me realize I forgot the garlic and I’m making sauce tomorrow.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Darn it.  This post made me realize I forgot the garlic and I’m making sauce tomorrow.


That should be just about enough time for a quick roadtrip to @Gary A. , pick some fresh and get home in time for sauce-making.


----------



## compur

My Italian mother used to make garlic bread with real San Francisco sourdough.

I've never tasted its equal since.

BTW, you haven't had sourdough until you've had San Francisco sourdough, especially from Boudin Bakery.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sun is out and we have a slight breeze today.  Easy day for me as this head cold has now gone to my chest and my eyes are just watering like mad.


----------



## davidharmier60

My Grandmother made homemade bread that was out of this world. Never found anything like it.

Saturday. Yuck. Off to work again.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

5am is supposed to be the start time.
No keyholder as of yet. SIGH.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

On the news this morning, the good news is that our area is supposedly in a good location to view the meteor showers, and the weather clouds will be clear. The bad news is the best time for viewing will be from 2 am till about an hour before Sunup.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Darn it.  This post made me realize I forgot the garlic and I’m making sauce tomorrow.
> 
> 
> 
> That should be just about enough time for a quick roadtrip to @Gary A. , pick some fresh and get home in time for sauce-making.
Click to expand...

Gary has garlic growing in a number of places in the back.  Garlic, like tomatoes, comes in numerous flavors.  Gary even has some 'hot' Ukrainian garlic.  Plenty of onions too.


----------



## Gary A.

compur said:


> My Italian mother used to make garlic bread with real San Francisco sourdough.
> 
> I've never tasted its equal since.
> 
> BTW, you haven't had sourdough until you've had San Francisco sourdough, especially from Boudin Bakery.


That stuff is good, but Gary prefers San Francisco's Tartine Breads.


----------



## davidharmier60

Finally clocked in 5:18
Floor machine MUST have new batteries. 
Half the store just got water put down and vacuumed up. Fixed the worst of it with a mop. Got to do a little shopping before leaving. 31.45 for the week.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

From the LA Times:






A helicopter fighting the Holy fire drops water on flames at along Ortega Highway. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

"Tera Swick watched in horror as monster flames raced down a mountain Friday morning and toward her mother’s neighborhood.

She and her family had been tracking the Holy fire during the last few days, watching it gain steam then stall as it climbed through the Santa Ana Mountains from Orange County into the foothills above the Riverside County lake community.

All night, the fire raced toward the Robin Hood Oaks subdivision, which was illuminated with flames and the flashing lights of fire trucks. Swick had a U-Haul packed with belongings ready to go with her family.

Then, a plane flew in low and dropped water on the flames. Swick and her family screamed with excitement.
“They’re just amazing,” she said. “We’re cheering them on every time they’re making drops.”

It was that kind of day on the Holy fire lines, as a squadron of 12 fixed-wing planes and 14 helicopters pounded the 21,400-acre fire with water and retardant.

It’s been an epic aerial assault that is showing signs of success. By Saturday morning, containment of the fire had jumped from 5% to 29% in less than 24 hours. While flames whipped dangerously close to Lake Elsinore suburban developments, there has not been a major loss of housing so far."


Totaling all the fires raging in California, the acreage burned is greater than the State of Rhode Island.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Miss Maggie pulled a muscle and she been limping since yesterday.  Consequently, no walk today.  This 'No Walk Day' will not make her happy. But it will keep her clean.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> From the LA Times:


That's a fantastic image!


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> From the LA Times:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's a fantastic image!
Click to expand...

A helicopter fighting the Holy fire drops water on flames at along Ortega Highway. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday, the temp dropped by ten degrees.  Maybe the heatwave broke.  Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are in the patio, it is very pleasant out here today.  We're gonna NetFlix out here while the weather is pleasant.  Maggie is bugging the hell out of us ... she misses her mud.


----------



## JonA_CT

I sold a print today.


----------



## JonA_CT

I've also been on hold for 40 minutes with the internet company who claims I'm delinquent on an account that I auto-pay and have their confirmation that the debit was successful. 

Retribution perhaps.


----------



## davidharmier60

The computer was acting very wonky. Shut it down earlier and this is after a fresh restart. Home. Nothing much happening around here.


----------



## SquarePeg

After a long delay for inspections which caused the contractor to have a schedule conflict...we have walls!


----------



## Gary A.

Nice.


----------



## RowdyRay

JonA_CT said:


> I've also been on hold for 40 minutes with the internet company who claims I'm delinquent on an account that I auto-pay and have their confirmation that the debit was successful.
> 
> Retribution perhaps.



Don't you just love technology? Wonderful thing, unless it screws up. The stories I can tell you about my electric company. Back before pay-on-line or auto-pay, I would call it in. They charged me 24,800.00 over a 248.00 bill. I typed that correctly, the employee did not. A week of hell. Since then, I've been on the budget plan and auto-pay. Everything was fine. Until about a year ago. Came home from work and silence. WTF? All the neighbors had power. Called. Said I didn't pay the bill for 3 months. Funny, the money is missing from my bank account. Everyone I spoke to acted like I was a dead beat. Finally talked to a manager. He discovered their updated system was not recording my payments. Said the person responsible for turning it on or off was already out of my area, and service wouldn't be restored until the next day. THINK AGAIN! Long story short...it was restored within an hour. 

There have been several other minor instances, but not once have I ever been compensated for my time or inconvenience. Lucky to get an apology. Tired of it! Good luck.


----------



## TreeofLifeStairs

RowdyRay said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've also been on hold for 40 minutes with the internet company who claims I'm delinquent on an account that I auto-pay and have their confirmation that the debit was successful.
> 
> Retribution perhaps.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't you just love technology? Wonderful thing, unless it screws up. The stories I can tell you about my electric company. Back before pay-on-line or auto-pay, I would call it in. They charged me 24,800.00 over a 248.00 bill. I typed that correctly, the employee did not. A week of hell. Since then, I've been on the budget plan and auto-pay. Everything was fine. Until about a year ago. Came home from work and silence. WTF? All the neighbors had power. Called. Said I didn't pay the bill for 3 months. Funny, the money is missing from my bank account. Everyone I spoke to acted like I was a dead beat. Finally talked to a manager. He discovered their updated system was not recording my payments. Said the person responsible for turning it on or off was already out of my area, and service wouldn't be restored until the next day. THINK AGAIN! Long story short...it was restored within an hour.
> 
> There have been several other minor instances, but not once have I ever been compensated for my time or inconvenience. Lucky to get an apology. Tired of it! Good luck.
Click to expand...


I have a reef tank, and being without power for more than 3-4 hours can be disastrous. 


Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## davidharmier60

No power here means no AC. A TOTALLY bad scene.


----------



## ceemac

Wow!! Another whopper storm going thru. Continuous thunder and lightning. We've been pretty smokey for the last couple of days. Now the sky is a very spooky orange. Really quite amazing. Fortunately, we're getting a little rain which should keep new fire starts down. It's nothing like it was last year.


----------



## RowdyRay

TreeofLifeStairs said:


> I have a reef tank, and being without power for more than 3-4 hours can be disastrous.



Could be disastrous for anybody. Had no idea how long it had been out, since I was at work. 100 degrees outside and the place was closed up. Bet it was close to 140 inside. Thought the cat was dead. Luckily she was fine. No goofier than she was before. You'd have to meet my cat. 



davidharmier60 said:


> No power here means no AC. A TOTALLY bad scene.



Exactly. We don't have that many days when it's unbearable. When you need it, you need it. Inexcusable.


----------



## davidharmier60

Yeah, in California they have maybe 15-20 days you wouldn't want a convertable. In Texas we have maybe 5-10 when you WOULD...


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Yeah, in California they have maybe 15-20 days you wouldn't want a convertable. In Texas we have maybe 5-10 when you WOULD...


Not this year. July must have been one of the hottest July’s in recorded history. This July we’ve run the A/C as much as we would normally run in two years.


----------



## compur

tirediron said:


> That's a fantastic image!



More like fantastic photoshop, I'd say.


----------



## otherprof

RowdyRay said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've also been on hold for 40 minutes with the internet company who claims I'm delinquent on an account that I auto-pay and have their confirmation that the debit was successful.
> 
> Retribution perhaps.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't you just love technology? Wonderful thing, unless it screws up. The stories I can tell you about my electric company. Back before pay-on-line or auto-pay, I would call it in. They charged me 24,800.00 over a 248.00 bill. I typed that correctly, the employee did not. A week of hell. Since then, I've been on the budget plan and auto-pay. Everything was fine. Until about a year ago. Came home from work and silence. WTF? All the neighbors had power. Called. Said I didn't pay the bill for 3 months. Funny, the money is missing from my bank account. Everyone I spoke to acted like I was a dead beat. Finally talked to a manager. He discovered their updated system was not recording my payments. Said the person responsible for turning it on or off was already out of my area, and service wouldn't be restored until the next day. THINK AGAIN! Long story short...it was restored within an hour.
> 
> There have been several other minor instances, but not once have I ever been compensated for my time or inconvenience. Lucky to get an apology. Tired of it! Good luck.
Click to expand...

Sounds like it was human error both times.  I have a friend who once summed it up this way : “These damn computers! They never do what I want them to do! They always do what I tell them to do!”


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, managed a nice slow walk with Susie as my head feels a bit clearer.  I now just have to wait for this hellish cough to clear up and I can start to get out with Fuji again.


----------



## smoke665

Many states Alabama included have laws preventing the power company from turning you off during the coldest winter months and hottest summer months for nonpayment. Fortunately we've never experienced errors with Alabama Power, maybe it's luck?


----------



## jcdeboever

I don't auto pay anything. I just pay everything on the first of every month. I like to know what I'm paying for exactly.


----------



## Tony744

jcdeboever said:


> My cat is driving me insane. Why she wants to snuggle when I'm doing scans is beyond me. She is relentless so I locked her out. Now she is howling like a wounded alien baby outside the door. She's got food, got fresh water, her poop box is clean...geez.  She sneaks in my darkroom as well, unknown to me. Last night, I was making a contact sheet and she came up dodged the contact sheet.
> 
> At least I do not have anything melting in my backyard... geez2.



My cat does the same thing. Demands attention when I'm in the middle of something. Doesn't seem interested in playing when I'm not doing anything.


----------



## davidharmier60

A cat owns you. Not the other way around. I don't have a lot planned today.
Scrambled eggs and Little Sizzlers up before too long.


----------



## tirediron

compur said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's a fantastic image!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> More like fantastic photoshop, I'd say.
Click to expand...

Ehh?  How's that?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Friday, Maggie was playing so hard that she ended up limping.  Hopefully, just a pulled muscle, nothing seems broken.  We kept her home yesterday, with just a short walk around the neighborhood, no park or mud, about a mile.  It was good for her to stretch out her muscles, but she's still favoring her front left leg.  So no Creek Park today and her friends and the water and mud. Creek Park is northwest, today we'll go south to the regional park.  Regional has a lake, but she doesn't jump in.  She likes chasing the geese. After our walk, maybe a quick trip to Seal or Huntington.  She has developed a shyness of people and Gary needs to get her out of her safety zone more. In the 80's today, in the 70's at the beach.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- This afternoon Gary will be making some strawberry ice cream and maybe some mango sorbet.  If anyone is interested come on by.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is reading the paper in the patio. It is cooler today than yesterday. The A/C if off for the first time since early July. It is nice getting our outside back again.  Mary Lou wants a spa ... *sigh*.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Gary is reading the paper in the patio. It is cooler today than yesterday. The A/C if off for the first time since early July. It is nice getting our outside back again.  Mary Lou wants a spa ... *sigh*.


Mary Lou should want a closer, not a spa. Man, your Dodgers have had the injury bug this year.


----------



## Gary A.

Buehler did his job ... sadly, the bullpen did not.


----------



## davidharmier60

My Sister's Chicken Tenders a bit later.
Messing with pennies and reading.
Storm came by a while ago and dropped a fair amount of water.


----------



## CherylL

The neighbor down the street has a sunflower garden this year.  I've been down twice taking photos and shared the photos with the neighbor.  She was very happy to get photos.  The ones on her cell phone didn't work out.  Her husband came out and gave me a set each of ND filters & close ups from his film days.  He no longer has the camera.  I don't know if they will fit my lenses, but he said to keep them for a lens later on.


----------



## SquarePeg

hey all!  Just chillin tonight.  Had the whole crew over today for my moms birthday and for some locals here to say goodbye to #1 nephew.  It poured several times today with a lot of flooded roads and major traffic backed up everywhere. Hoping for better weather for our upcoming trip to the mountains.  Work here will continue while we’re gone so hoping to come home to major progress.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, as I felt better last night went out to take some images in a lovely pub lucky I missed all the rain.  Then this morning feel terrible again as this cold really does not want to clear up,  looking like I will have to leave the airshow till next year as it`s this weekend and can`t see me getting over the cold by then


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh goody. Monday morning again. 


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> Oh goody. Monday morning again.
> 
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Don't worry, the week is almost over; the hardest part is starting it.


----------



## waday




----------



## davidharmier60

Well I got through Monday the 13th.
5.09 hours today and for the week so far. 
The floor machine didn't EVEN get through the whole store. The batteries for it are quite pricey. And she wants them checked daily for acid. 

Brunching at the deli.

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----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Another lovely day.  We are in the patio again, Mary Lou, Maggie and our neighbor Katheryn with her little dog Blanca. Top down today zipping around LA. Maggie is doing better, we're gonna try taking down to the creek this morning.  Soooo, we're keeping out fingers cross.


----------



## Fujidave

Susie and I got totally soaked through earlier on, sun came out so we went out for a stroll and when we got back we looked like two drowned rats.  The rain came from know where and totally chucked it down.


----------



## davidharmier60

The only 'Legal' vehicle in the family is taking Dad to the VA  driven by Sister. I have the place to myself along with 9 dogs.
Comics have been done. 5 rolls of pennies to finish a box that Trish will buy tomorrow.
And 70s on YouTube.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Over the weekend my best friend said only here could she get out of her car and hear polka music, and a rooster. 

That was in the afternoon, when it poured, and my friend had been sick and sounded about ready to hack up a lung so we bagged doing anything. But apparently later the country rock band played on, because about 11 they cranked it up; I left the door open and got a free concert in the comfort of my living room.


----------



## davidharmier60

Gotta love that /\

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----------



## davidharmier60

My Sister's chicken tenders followed by Blue Bell homemade vanilla with chocolate sauce.
On now I bid y'all good night and have the best Tuesday it's possible to have.


----------



## RowdyRay

davidharmier60 said:


> My Sister's chicken tenders followed by Blue Bell homemade vanilla with chocolate sauce.
> On now I bid y'all good night and have the best Tuesday it's possible to have.



These chicken tenders must be amazing. She do something special? 

Oooh, I made biscuits and gravy Saturday morning. Cheated on the biscuits. Used Pillsbury Homestyle. I know....but the gravy was from scratch. Used our venison breakfast sausage. Like Jimmy Deans with venison and pork. Topped with an over easy egg, it was heaven. Had enough for Sunday morning as well. The Surgeon General would probably have a fit. Don't care. Been over a year since I've made it. Think that qualifies as moderation. Lol.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, well at last I think these antibiotics might be slowly working.  My chest does not feel so tight and the cough is a little better.


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh boy I get to do it again. 

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----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary has a pork loin in the Sous Vide.  It has been spa-ing away since yesterday in preparation for the Hollywood Bowl tonight.  Gustavo Dudamel with the LA Phil and Omara Portuondo, an extraordinary singer from Cuba, are on stage tonight.  Gary thinks Dudamel and Portuondo will pair well with pulled pork cooked in a green Hatch Chili sauce and some California bubbly. Gary broke his phone yesterday, so the repair is paramount and the first thing after Miss Maggie takes her constitutional.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave's phone has had a broken screen since it was about a week old.
Dave had 5 hours and 19 minutes. 
10.31 for the week so far. 
Enjoying chicken tenders and gravy at the deli. Going to send off mail for some watch straps.

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----------



## Gary A.

Dinner at the Bowl. 



 
The wonderful Miss Maggie. Back in the creek.


----------



## CherylL

Took photos at an event at the Uni for my International volunteer group.  Lighting terrible.  Met a grad student from India that is into photography.  Building a set for the grand girl's first day of school interview.  I've done these since preschool.  The set won't be as ellaborate as @smoke665 .  A table and backdrop.  When one grand is interviewed, the other grand gets to push record, and yell out quiet on the set.  This year I bought them a clapperboard.


----------



## ceemac

Gary A. said:


> The wonderful Miss Maggie. Back in the creek.


Haha. I guess morning constitutional means something different in California!


----------



## Fujidave

Got some more antibiotics for this chest infection as it just won`t clear, on a happy note though the XF 90mm f2 has been ordered so should have that in a few days


----------



## waday

Fujidave said:


> on a happy note though the XF 90mm f2 has been ordered so should have that in a few days


Congrats! Enjoy the new lens!


----------



## Fujidave

waday said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> on a happy note though the XF 90mm f2 has been ordered so should have that in a few days
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats! Enjoy the new lens!
Click to expand...


Thank you, getting it from Jessops would of taken weeks, so phoned Wex to order it so hope to have it by this coming Monday


----------



## Gary A.

ceemac said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The wonderful Miss Maggie. Back in the creek.
> 
> 
> 
> Haha. I guess morning constitutional means something different in California!
Click to expand...

Welllll ... more like something different to a Wheaten Terrier.


----------



## Gary A.

Last night, it was a perfect 70F evening at the Bowl with a slight breeze, just enough to keep the flags moving.  Gustavo Dudamel with the LA Phil were top notch playing a selection of songs from Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico and Austria (the curve ball).  The Cubana, Omara Portuondo, was part of the Buena Vista Social Club.  She's getting along in age, but we all felt as if we're watching and listening to a legend.

No big acts last night, just entertainment ... music performed just for the sake of music.  Wonderful and pure.


----------



## Fujidave

Just seen this, don`t think many street photographers will be happy.


https://idpc.org.mt/en/documents/data protection and street photography.pdf


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm in Cold Springs for propane. 
No new batteries just yet. Mopped the worst of it. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Just seen this, don`t think many street photographers will be happy.
> 
> 
> https://idpc.org.mt/en/documents/data protection and street photography.pdf


Wow, pretty strong stuff.  Gary knows that in France, a photo can only be published with the consent of the subject.  In the UK the rules for photography in public are much stricter than in the USA.  But, as you UK-ers are leaving the EU, it shouldn't effect you directly unless to travel.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Just seen this, don`t think many street photographers will be happy.
> 
> 
> https://idpc.org.mt/en/documents/data protection and street photography.pdf


Lines are drawn and moved all the time.  Some lines by legislation, some lines via the courts ... Gary doesn't see this as a victory for privacy as much as another infringement on personal freedom(s).  

Democratic governments tend to snip here ... snip there ... as a mob with less freedoms is easier to control than a mob with greater freedoms. It is all about control.


----------



## tirediron

Fujidave said:


> Just seen this, don`t think many street photographers will be happy.
> 
> 
> https://idpc.org.mt/en/documents/data protection and street photography.pdf


It would be interesting to know how the act defines "data" - on the surface it seems like shooting on film and processing in a wet darkroom might circumvent the entire issue.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just seen this, don`t think many street photographers will be happy.
> 
> 
> https://idpc.org.mt/en/documents/data protection and street photography.pdf
> 
> 
> 
> It would be interesting to know how the act defines "data" - on the surface it seems like shooting on film and processing in a wet darkroom might circumvent the entire issue.
Click to expand...

Gary doesn't think that would work.  Data is data ... whether it is electronic or not. Granted, the EU may define data in narrow terms, but Gary thinks this is a broad, all encompassing interpretation and that it won't be limited by a narrow definition.

If data is defined narrowly, you would still have to digitize the image to get it on the internet ... if that was your intent.  If the image is strictly for personal viewing, then the new ruling has no teeth.


----------



## Fujidave

Even if they did make it law, it would never stop me as I`d carry on with my buskers and singers images


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good to know that punk rock was still alive and well in 2015, '16 at the Isle of Wight festival in the UK. A couple of the same bands from the '80s, although the crowd at the festival wasn't quite jumping up and down as much as those in videos from then. I was thinking that If I tried to do any slam dancing these days I'd probably do myself an injury.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That law is apparently talking about commercial use or publication, so what's the problem? It doesn't say people can't _take_ pictures out and about, it says basically if you want to make money with your pictures, you need to get written permission. So get releases signed...

I'm on another board that in recent years seems to have attracted all the people with cameras who thought they could make money with their cameras. They don't last all that long because of a saturated market and underpricing etc. etc. and fizzle out after a couple of years.

My point is that this has come about I think with the abundance of people with cameras (and phones) that are misguided at the very least. Things get more regulated when there are more people being irresponsible. I saw something about someone taking pictures of people's phone screens and plastering that all over the place. Good grief, someone ought to be able to send a text on their phone and have some privacy. I mean, there's a limit!

Yeah, you should be able to print what you want in the privacy of your own darkroom! lol Just watch out for the zombies... even photo chemistry doesn't do in a zombie.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Just saw on the news that MickeyD's is going to have kiosks. And, there's going to be a new Girl Scout cookie! Woo-hoo!

Guess it's a slow news day; other than that there's a green blob on the radar coming our way, which unless it's a Ghostbusters movie and there's slime coming it's going to rain later.


----------



## davidharmier60

6 hours and some today 
16.47 for the week so far 
Chicken Spaghetti at the deli. Can get check pretty soon.  Got to take a few things home for Sister. 

Did I mention it's hot out there?

Have 200+ pounds of scrap metal in the back of my truck. Ought to be a real hoot when I get home to unload it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> Gary doesn't think that would work.  Data is data ... whether it is electronic or not. .


Fair enough, but all the definitions for data I can find relate it to facts, figures, numbers... information.  If I create an image on film and make a wet print, and DO NOT scan or otherwise render it in to electronic format, is that print subject to the letter of the law?  The spirit, certainly, but the letter?  I'm curious...


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Just saw on the news that MickeyD's is going to have kiosks.


I went to a McD's a little over a month ago, and saw and used these. After ordering from a gigantic screen kiosk*, you take a drink cup and a little numbered sign and go sit down at a table. The workers then bring the food out to your table based on the numbered sign.

*Seriously, the kiosk is HUGE. I'm used to like 15-inch max touch screens for ordering at kiosks. Nope. This thing was at least 20x30-inches. HUGE. Example (Google Image Search)


----------



## otherprof

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just seen this, don`t think many street photographers will be happy.
> 
> 
> https://idpc.org.mt/en/documents/data protection and street photography.pdf
> 
> 
> 
> Lines are drawn and moved all the time.  Some lines by legislation, some lines via the courts ... Gary doesn't see this as a victory for privacy as much as another infringement on personal freedom(s).
> 
> Democratic governments tend to snip here ... snip there ... as a mob with less freedoms is easier to control than a mob with greater freedoms. It is all about control.
Click to expand...

Is the act an EU law, or does it just apply to Malta where the IDPC is located?  I read through their About Us information and could not tell. There was only one reference to the EU in that section, and it only mentioned “cooperation.”


----------



## Fujidave

otherprof said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just seen this, don`t think many street photographers will be happy.
> 
> 
> https://idpc.org.mt/en/documents/data protection and street photography.pdf
> 
> 
> 
> Lines are drawn and moved all the time.  Some lines by legislation, some lines via the courts ... Gary doesn't see this as a victory for privacy as much as another infringement on personal freedom(s).
> 
> Democratic governments tend to snip here ... snip there ... as a mob with less freedoms is easier to control than a mob with greater freedoms. It is all about control.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Is the act an EU law, or does it just apply to Malta where the IDPC is located?  I read through their About Us information and could not tell. There was only one reference to the EU in that section, and it only mentioned “cooperation.”
Click to expand...


I had seen this on a forum I use, some are saying it is total crap and not true so I have not a clue on it.


----------



## limr

Hey kids.

I feel like I've had three weeks crammed into these past three days at work. As I've mentioned, I'm now running a new program that, long story short, is designed to help students graduate, and I've been deep in the recruiting process for the summer. This morning was our orientation for the students we have recruited so far. I was at work for 12 hours yesterday making sure that everything was ready and organized. Hosted 35 of the students this morning, finished by about 1:30, then caught up on some other work for the rest of the day. I still have two more days and then I am working overtime on Saturday.

So yes, I'll have that drink now. And since I don't get overtime for the extra time yesterday, I will be leaving early on Friday.

In other news, falling asleep with a cat snuggled right up against your shoulder, purring right into your ear is a wonderful, wonderful thing.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> After ordering from a gigantic screen kiosk*, you take a drink cup and a little numbered sign and



It didn't ask if you wanted a hot Apple Pie with that?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> In other news, falling asleep with a cat snuggled right up against your shoulder, purring right into your ear is a wonderful, wonderful thing.


There's nothing like kitty therapy.


----------



## davidharmier60

Good night y'all and have a wonderful Thursday if at all possible. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Isn't Thursday Friday's foreplay?

We're heading to the shore on Sunday; going to pick up some maters, melons, lopes and Silver Queen corn.


----------



## smoke665

Had to go to Cape Girardeau, MO this week on family business. While here I've been amazed at the number of deer, within the city limits. Staying at my sister in laws house, and have seen several already in her backyard. Today driving down a busy street, one came out of nowhere right in front of us. According to the Wildlife Conservation they've reached a density of 37/square mile as of April, probably more since then. The problem has gotten to the point that an "urban hunt" ordinance in the works.


----------



## Gary A.

We have wild lions within Los Angeles' city limits to help control deer.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just saw on the news that MickeyD's is going to have kiosks.
> 
> 
> 
> I went to a McD's a little over a month ago, and saw and used these. After ordering from a gigantic screen kiosk*, you take a drink cup and a little numbered sign and go sit down at a table. The workers then bring the food out to your table based on the numbered sign.
> 
> *Seriously, the kiosk is HUGE. I'm used to like 15-inch max touch screens for ordering at kiosks. Nope. This thing was at least 20x30-inches. HUGE. Example (Google Image Search)
Click to expand...


Tried the McD’s kiosk a few weeks ago at Princess’ insistence.  It took twice as long to order our meal as just talking to the woman at the counter.  If there had been a long line maybe it would have saved a little time, but when was the last time you had to wait more than a minute to order? These “conveniences” are designed to eliminate even more jobs from our economy.  I never use the self checkouts unless it’s absolutely the only option.  Target and Walmart and Stop & Shop have been cutting back on cashiers and leaving us to do all the work.  No thanks.  Don’t all these corporations realize that if they all continue to cut jobs to show profit to please Wall st then they’ll have no customers left with any money to spend?


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou ordered a spa today!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, grotty here today with rain set in for the day.  I think the airshow might be cancelled for today for safety reasons, plus this year I am giving it a rest as still got this stupid cold and horrible cough.


----------



## davidharmier60

Another day. Number 4 of 6.
I really can't think of anything else to say.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> We have wild lions within Los Angeles' city limits to help control deer.



At one time they had large cats, but now Bobcats and Coyotes are the only predators. In years past tere was a virus that took out a chunk of the population, but it seems to have declined. Hunting is the main management of population. Which is probably why the population has grown so large within the city limits


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just saw on the news that MickeyD's is going to have kiosks.
> 
> 
> 
> I went to a McD's a little over a month ago, and saw and used these. After ordering from a gigantic screen kiosk*, you take a drink cup and a little numbered sign and go sit down at a table. The workers then bring the food out to your table based on the numbered sign.
> 
> *Seriously, the kiosk is HUGE. I'm used to like 15-inch max touch screens for ordering at kiosks. Nope. This thing was at least 20x30-inches. HUGE. Example (Google Image Search)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Tried the McD’s kiosk a few weeks ago at Princess’ insistence.  It took twice as long to order our meal as just talking to the woman at the counter.  If there had been a long line maybe it would have saved a little time, but when was the last time you had to wait more than a minute to order? These “conveniences” are designed to eliminate even more jobs from our economy.  I never use the self checkouts unless it’s absolutely the only option.  Target and Walmart and Stop & Shop have been cutting back on cashiers and leaving us to do all the work.  No thanks.  Don’t all these corporations realize that if they all continue to cut jobs to show profit to please Wall st then they’ll have no customers left with any money to spend?
Click to expand...

It was extremely confusing, and I agree, took much longer to order. I went with family on vacation, and we hit the McD's at prime time on a Sunday morning, so there was a line.

re: everything else you mention, I totally agree. I hate the self-checkout lines, because the machines never seem to work properly, and when you need help, the person is either busy or not there.

That said, I remember reading an article a few months ago where a supermarket wanted to figure out why they were "selling" so many carrots when their stock didn't match the sales. People, apparently, routinely took any vegetable/fruit they wanted and marked it as a carrot (the cheapest option) at the self-checkout.


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just saw on the news that MickeyD's is going to have kiosks.
> 
> 
> 
> I went to a McD's a little over a month ago, and saw and used these. After ordering from a gigantic screen kiosk*, you take a drink cup and a little numbered sign and go sit down at a table. The workers then bring the food out to your table based on the numbered sign.
> 
> *Seriously, the kiosk is HUGE. I'm used to like 15-inch max touch screens for ordering at kiosks. Nope. This thing was at least 20x30-inches. HUGE. Example (Google Image Search)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Tried the McD’s kiosk a few weeks ago at Princess’ insistence.  It took twice as long to order our meal as just talking to the woman at the counter.  If there had been a long line maybe it would have saved a little time, but when was the last time you had to wait more than a minute to order? These “conveniences” are designed to eliminate even more jobs from our economy.  I never use the self checkouts unless it’s absolutely the only option.  Target and Walmart and Stop & Shop have been cutting back on cashiers and leaving us to do all the work.  No thanks.  Don’t all these corporations realize that if they all continue to cut jobs to show profit to please Wall st then they’ll have no customers left with any money to spend?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It was extremely confusing, and I agree, took much longer to order. I went with family on vacation, and we hit the McD's at prime time on a Sunday morning, so there was a line.
> 
> re: everything else you mention, I totally agree. I hate the self-checkout lines, because the machines never seem to work properly, and when you need help, the person is either busy or not there.
> 
> That said, I remember reading an article a few months ago where a supermarket wanted to figure out why they were "selling" so many carrots when their stock didn't match the sales. People, apparently, routinely took any vegetable/fruit they wanted and marked it as a carrot (the cheapest option) at the self-checkout.
Click to expand...


Ugh. We stopped at a Wendy's on the way down to Virginia Beach on the Eastern Shore that only had kiosks. It was a nightmare. I waited 25 minutes to order because the only "cashier" had to assist every person with their order. The screen loading times and and me not knowing what category things are under makes it awful too...I used one at a McD's last week in Mt Pocono, and I didn't know here to find a Yogurt Parfait at breakfast. (Desserts? I think is where it was).

Regarding self-checkout lines and people being sheisty -- my wife and I had a really intense conversation with one of our friends about that a few months ago, although what she was doing was maybe worse. She was taking the self-scanner things that you scan as you go with at Stop and Shop -- and scanning the cheapest shredded cheese (as an example) and then putting more expensive cheese of the same size in the cart. She argued she wasn't hurting anyone, while we argued that she was taking advantage of her privilege as a well-off white woman to get away with paying less money for her groceries. I won't go any further with the "privilege" piece here as I know it makes people uncomfortable and isn't really for this thread, but I think you guys know what I mean. She ended up agreeing that she was wrong, although I don't if she changed her behavior or not.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> Ugh. We stopped at a Wendy's on the way down to Virginia Beach on the Eastern Shore that only had kiosks. It was a nightmare. I waited 25 minutes to order because the only "cashier" had to assist every person with their order. The screen loading times and and me not knowing what category things are under makes it awful too...I used one at a McD's last week in Mt Pocono, and I didn't know here to find a Yogurt Parfait at breakfast. (Desserts? I think is where it was).


Totally agree, the items are not well organized at all. That said, I usually find all self-serve kiosks to be pretty confusing. They try to shove marketing in your face. At the Sheetz gas stations around us, they sell custom subs and sandwiches (which are actually quite good). But, the whole ordering process is as confusing to be as they try to get you to buy this sandwich or that drink. You have to find the tiny little "no" or "skip" that's usually hidden somewhere on the screen.



JonA_CT said:


> Regarding self-checkout lines and people being sheisty -- my wife and I had a really intense conversation with one of our friends about that a few months ago, although what she was doing was maybe worse. She was taking the self-scanner things that you scan as you go with at Stop and Shop -- and scanning the cheapest shredded cheese (as an example) and then putting more expensive cheese of the same size in the cart. She argued she wasn't hurting anyone, while we argued that she was taking advantage of her privilege as a well-off white woman to get away with paying less money for her groceries. I won't go any further with the "privilege" piece here as I know it makes people uncomfortable and isn't really for this thread, but I think you guys know what I mean. She ended up agreeing that she was wrong, although I don't if she changed her behavior or not.


Yeah, that's pretty horrible. She is definitely using her privilege, because she knows she likely won't be caught. The supermarkets around us that do that will have "audits" every now and then. But even then, the person doesn't usually care, only needs to scan like 5-6 items, and usually doesn't dig around in the bags. The wife and I don't cheat it, so we don't care. The only time I get mad at the audits is when the person screws up, like (1) the time they erased the entire order and we had to have a cashier redo everything, including unbagging and rebagging, or (2) when the one teenager upturned a cake with icing on it, or (3) when a different teenager upturned a crappy plate of packaged sushi ruining it.


----------



## smoke665

Kind of shocked this morning when DW informed me that she was leaving me because of my obsession with the Monkees. I thought she was joking............

But then I saw her face!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just saw on the news that MickeyD's is going to have kiosks.
> 
> 
> 
> I went to a McD's a little over a month ago, and saw and used these. After ordering from a gigantic screen kiosk*, you take a drink cup and a little numbered sign and go sit down at a table. The workers then bring the food out to your table based on the numbered sign.
> 
> *Seriously, the kiosk is HUGE. I'm used to like 15-inch max touch screens for ordering at kiosks. Nope. This thing was at least 20x30-inches. HUGE. Example (Google Image Search)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Tried the McD’s kiosk a few weeks ago at Princess’ insistence.  It took twice as long to order our meal as just talking to the woman at the counter.  If there had been a long line maybe it would have saved a little time, but when was the last time you had to wait more than a minute to order? These “conveniences” are designed to eliminate even more jobs from our economy.  I never use the self checkouts unless it’s absolutely the only option.  Target and Walmart and Stop & Shop have been cutting back on cashiers and leaving us to do all the work.  No thanks.  Don’t all these corporations realize that if they all continue to cut jobs to show profit to please Wall st then they’ll have no customers left with any money to spend?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It was extremely confusing, and I agree, took much longer to order. I went with family on vacation, and we hit the McD's at prime time on a Sunday morning, so there was a line.
> 
> re: everything else you mention, I totally agree. I hate the self-checkout lines, because the machines never seem to work properly, and when you need help, the person is either busy or not there.
> 
> That said, I remember reading an article a few months ago where a supermarket wanted to figure out why they were "selling" so many carrots when their stock didn't match the sales. People, apparently, routinely took any vegetable/fruit they wanted and marked it as a carrot (the cheapest option) at the self-checkout.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ugh. We stopped at a Wendy's on the way down to Virginia Beach on the Eastern Shore that only had kiosks. It was a nightmare. I waited 25 minutes to order because the only "cashier" had to assist every person with their order. The screen loading times and and me not knowing what category things are under makes it awful too...I used one at a McD's last week in Mt Pocono, and I didn't know here to find a Yogurt Parfait at breakfast. (Desserts? I think is where it was).
> 
> Regarding self-checkout lines and people being sheisty -- my wife and I had a really intense conversation with one of our friends about that a few months ago, although what she was doing was maybe worse. She was taking the self-scanner things that you scan as you go with at Stop and Shop -- and scanning the cheapest shredded cheese (as an example) and then putting more expensive cheese of the same size in the cart. She argued she wasn't hurting anyone, while we argued that she was taking advantage of her privilege as a well-off white woman to get away with paying less money for her groceries. I won't go any further with the "privilege" piece here as I know it makes people uncomfortable and isn't really for this thread, but I think you guys know what I mean. She ended up agreeing that she was wrong, although I don't if she changed her behavior or not.
Click to expand...

Gary didn't know that "privilege" was another word for stealing ...


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Gary didn't know that "privilege" was another word for stealing ...


It's from a "they won't suspect her" aspect given her race.


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary didn't know that "privilege" was another word for stealing ...
> 
> 
> 
> It's from a "they won't suspect her" aspect given her race.
Click to expand...

and socio-economic status


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary didn't know that "privilege" was another word for stealing ...
> 
> 
> 
> It's from a "they won't suspect her" aspect given her race.
Click to expand...

Please................  


While I am a firm believer in adherence to law, I have to admit that I'm not entirely sure I'm all that against people taking action which will encourage retailers to move away from these wretched self-checkout systems.  Aside from the whole, "they never work properly and/or aren't intuitive" aspect of things, why am I expected to pay the same price at a self-check-out, where I have to do the work, as at a proper check-out where there's a clerk to do the work.


----------



## Fujidave

RIP To the Queen of Soul    You were great Aretha.


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> Please................


Seeing how you're a white male, I understand your response.

ETA: With that said, I'm done with this discussion. Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss more.


----------



## terri

Fujidave said:


> RIP To the Queen of Soul    You were great Aretha.


Yes, I just heard.  We've lost her.


----------



## waday

I've been calling my neighbor by the wrong name for 3 years.

His name is Rob. I've been calling him Bob. Ugh.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> RIP To the Queen of Soul    You were great Aretha.


*sigh* She will be missed. 

Gary first saw her as the opening act for Blood, Sweat and Tears at the Greek.  Nobody knew Aretha and we all felt antsy not wanting any delays for B, S and T. But she immediately silenced the crowd ... to a person we all felt a combo of reverence and r e s p e c t.  

Sadly, B, S and T were all stoned and couldn't play a single chord without screwing up or falling down on stage.  It was the only show Gary has attended where there were no calls for an encore.  The spectators were all filing out when B, S and T fired up the band again to slobber all over the mics. There were a few cat calls as we all left the arena. The band was so stoned they most likely thought we were giving them a standing ovation as we moved towards the exits.


----------



## snowbear

Fujidave said:


> RIP To the Queen of Soul    You were great Aretha.


So sad to see her go.


----------



## otherprof

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just saw on the news that MickeyD's is going to have kiosks.
> 
> 
> 
> I went to a McD's a little over a month ago, and saw and used these. After ordering from a gigantic screen kiosk*, you take a drink cup and a little numbered sign and go sit down at a table. The workers then bring the food out to your table based on the numbered sign.
> 
> *Seriously, the kiosk is HUGE. I'm used to like 15-inch max touch screens for ordering at kiosks. Nope. This thing was at least 20x30-inches. HUGE. Example (Google Image Search)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Tried the McD’s kiosk a few weeks ago at Princess’ insistence.  It took twice as long to order our meal as just talking to the woman at the counter.  If there had been a long line maybe it would have saved a little time, but when was the last time you had to wait more than a minute to order? These “conveniences” are designed to eliminate even more jobs from our economy.  I never use the self checkouts unless it’s absolutely the only option.  Target and Walmart and Stop & Shop have been cutting back on cashiers and leaving us to do all the work.  No thanks.  Don’t all these corporations realize that if they all continue to cut jobs to show profit to please Wall st then they’ll have no customers left with any money to spend?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It was extremely confusing, and I agree, took much longer to order. I went with family on vacation, and we hit the McD's at prime time on a Sunday morning, so there was a line.
> 
> re: everything else you mention, I totally agree. I hate the self-checkout lines, because the machines never seem to work properly, and when you need help, the person is either busy or not there.
> 
> That said, I remember reading an article a few months ago where a supermarket wanted to figure out why they were "selling" so many carrots when their stock didn't match the sales. People, apparently, routinely took any vegetable/fruit they wanted and marked it as a carrot (the cheapest option) at the self-checkout.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ugh. We stopped at a Wendy's on the way down to Virginia Beach on the Eastern Shore that only had kiosks. It was a nightmare. I waited 25 minutes to order because the only "cashier" had to assist every person with their order. The screen loading times and and me not knowing what category things are under makes it awful too...I used one at a McD's last week in Mt Pocono, and I didn't know here to find a Yogurt Parfait at breakfast. (Desserts? I think is where it was).
> 
> Regarding self-checkout lines and people being sheisty -- my wife and I had a really intense conversation with one of our friends about that a few months ago, although what she was doing was maybe worse. She was taking the self-scanner things that you scan as you go with at Stop and Shop -- and scanning the cheapest shredded cheese (as an example) and then putting more expensive cheese of the same size in the cart. She argued she wasn't hurting anyone, while we argued that she was taking advantage of her privilege as a well-off white woman to get away with paying less money for her groceries. I won't go any further with the "privilege" piece here as I know it makes people uncomfortable and isn't really for this thread, but I think you guys know what I mean. She ended up agreeing that she was wrong, although I don't if she changed her behavior or not.
Click to expand...

I don't see how her color or her sex enter into this. She was a thief. You attributed her action to her sex and her ethnicity.  If it were a black man doing the same thing, you wouldn't trace his behavior to his sex and race, would you?


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Please................
> 
> 
> 
> Seeing how you're a white male, I understand your response.
> 
> ETA: With that said, I'm done with this discussion. Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss more.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Good call on John (tirediron). But "privilege" was a word never occurred to me or I would use as a description for her actions.  I get it, but I not sensitive enough to have used privilege to address the situation. I will keep that word in mind next time I find a white person stealing.  (seriously)
Click to expand...




otherprof said:


> I don't see how her color or her sex enter into this. She was a thief. You attributed her action to her sex and her ethnicity. If it were a black man doing the same thing, you wouldn't trace his behavior to his sex and race, would you?


Reread it. Jon is mentioning sex and race with respect to "getting away with it"--not related to the crime itself. That is, she's trusted more; thus, under less scrutiny by the store. If you've never had a store employee or manager stand behind and follow you while you shop, watching you, oppressing you, you won't understand.

Ok ok.. really really done with this discussion.


----------



## davidharmier60

RIP Aretha!
Whatever the name of the Jake and Elwood movie she was great in that!
6 hours and a few.
23 exactly for the week so far. 
FINALLY they got new batteries in the floor machine. Scrubbing the whole store makes a difference. Will be going to the post office to see if I got a couple of watch straps. Then stop by the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

As I had to go out today I gave my Mums address to deliver the XF90mm f2 to her, just had a phone call saying it has been delivered so tomorrow I look forward to getting it on the X-T2


----------



## Fujidave

davidharmier60 said:


> RIP Aretha!
> Whatever the name of the Jake and Elwood movie she was great in that!
> 6 hours and a few.
> 23 exactly for the week so far.
> FINALLY they got new batteries in the floor machine. Scrubbing the whole store makes a difference. Will be going to the post office to see if I got a couple of watch straps. Then stop by the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



The Blues Brothers.


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh. And I'll wait in a line rather than use a self checkout.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

The stand in line vs use self check out is kind of a "bite your nose off to spite your face" kind of debate. Prior to the advent of the self checkout, stores were notorious for having a line of checkouts but only having a couple actually open. As I consider my time more important then making a point, at least now I have the option of choosing if I want to wait or not. As a whole i haven't noticed where the actual number of open checkouts has changed.

On the subject of stealing it has no barriers for race or gender, and is wrong no matter who does it. I don't suspect one over another, I'm by nature suspicious of all


----------



## davidharmier60

Came home and used a machete on bothersome trees. Much sweat. 
Now fixin' to read for a while. John Sandford - Easy Prey for those interested.


----------



## otherprof

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Please................
> 
> 
> 
> Seeing how you're a white male, I understand your response.
> 
> ETA: With that said, I'm done with this discussion. Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss more.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Good call on John (tirediron). But "privilege" was a word never occurred to me or I would use as a description for her actions.  I get it, but I not sensitive enough to have used privilege to address the situation. I will keep that word in mind next time I find a white person stealing.  (seriously)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> otherprof said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't see how her color or her sex enter into this. She was a thief. You attributed her action to her sex and her ethnicity. If it were a black man doing the same thing, you wouldn't trace his behavior to his sex and race, would you?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Reread it. Jon is mentioning sex and race with respect to "getting away with it"--not related to the crime itself. That is, she's trusted more; thus, under less scrutiny by the store. If you've never had a store employee or manager stand behind and follow you while you shop, watching you, oppressing you, you won't understand.
> 
> Ok ok.. really really done with this discussion.
Click to expand...

I re-read it. Her willingness to take the chance is attributed to her awareness of being white and female with absolutely no proof that that was the case and no way to verify it. Makes as much sense to me as saying a black person who did the same thing must have assumed they would be caught because they must have assumed they were under the watchful eyes of a store detective. Of course profiling does occur, but I leave mind reading to The Amazing Randi.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> As I consider my time more important then making a point, at least now I have the option of choosing if I want to wait or not.


Not at my supermarket. It's wait or... wait at mine. When I visit, there are typically lines at both, even though they will usually have like 5-6 cashiers PLUS a self-checkout area that has 12 or so kiosks. Of course, if one visits off-peak, they have a couple of cashiers open with the kiosks. If one visits at night (24 hour supermarket), I believe they usually only have self-checkout open.

Also, sorry if I offend anyone, but the people that have full carts at the self-checkout are beyond infuriating. I wish the supermarket would designate the self-checkout to shoppers with less than 20 items or so.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> I wish the supermarket would designate the self-checkout to shoppers with less than 20 items or so.



The local Wally Worlds here have the typical self checkouts, but a recent addition has been the self check out lanes, complete with conveyors. Despite the additions, there's still a ton of unmanned checkouts and still only a few actually open.


----------



## snowbear

We will use the self checkout if we only have a couple of items.  Like Wade, it bugs the crap out of me to see someone in the self check out with a full cart, and even worse, if they are alone.  
But, I am considerate of others - something I fear is becoming a historic attribute.

I also will bag the groceries if the checker doesn't have the "bridge" between the conveyor and the bagging station.


----------



## Dave442

Art show in Manhattan Beach (California). I know there is some photography as my sister has some of her work up. Show runs from Aug 18 to Oct 14 with the opening tomorrow evening Aug 17.  A bit far for me to make it, but if your in the SoCal area...

Can do a search on the following topic for further information:
*Art Exhibition: TERRA FIRMA: A Commentary on Land*


----------



## Gary A.

Gary used to live in Manhattan Beach.  Gary will make a run.


----------



## davidharmier60

At the very least we will have salad.
Not sure what else at this time. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## CherylL

I never use self checkout.  I do enough with the hunting for groceries it is nice to be waited on.  The same goes for a sit down restaurant vs fast food.


----------



## compur

I remember when I first heard this back in the 1960s. I was a rock musician then and mostly into British Invasion stuff. I wasn't all that aware of soul at the time but Aretha's voice and style just blew me away:


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sun is out at the moment with a bit of a breeze.  Just having a brew then jump on the bus to go over to Mums and get my 90mm then the fun begins, still have this cold though.


----------



## bulldurham

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> RIP To the Queen of Soul    You were great Aretha.
> 
> 
> 
> *sigh* She will be missed.
> 
> Gary first saw her as the opening act for Blood, Sweat and Tears at the Greek.  Nobody knew Aretha and we all felt antsy not wanting any delays for B, S and T. But she immediately silenced the crowd ... to a person we all felt a combo of reverence and r e s p e c t.
> 
> Sadly, B, S and T were all stoned and couldn't play a single chord without screwing up or falling down on stage.  It was the only show Gary has attended where there were no calls for an encore.  The spectators were all filing out when B, S and T fired up the band again to slobber all over the mics. There were a few cat calls as we all left the arena. The band was so stoned they most likely thought we were giving them a standing ovation as we moved towards the exits.
Click to expand...


I think you and I may have haunted the same places in and around the same time period, albeit I think I was there a bit earlier. I saw The Doors, Jim Morrison do a face plant at the Greek, so stoned he couldn't even raise his head, circa 1968 or 69. My favorite place to hang out was the Golden Bear in HB where Paul Butterfield, Alvin Lee, and Jeff Beck made their monthly rounds. 

So Cal was THE place to grow up in during the era of the '60's but you couldn't pay me to live there again. I just wish I'd had the presence of mind to go see her perform when I had the chance. Sighhhh, one more regret.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

bulldurham said:


> I just wish I'd had the presence of mind to go see her perform when I had the chance. Sighhhh, one more regret.



I guess it is human to have regrets, but be happy we lived during the time when we can experience things like her music whenever we wish. From the photos you post, you are living a life to be envied, so you get no empathy from me, lol. I mean this in a good way, BD. BTW, you're showing your age with the Doors reference


----------



## bulldurham

Dean_Gretsch said:


> bulldurham said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just wish I'd had the presence of mind to go see her perform when I had the chance. Sighhhh, one more regret.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I guess it is human to have regrets, but be happy we lived during the time when we can experience things like her music whenever we wish. From the photos you post, you are living a life to be envied, so you get no empathy from me, lol. I mean this in a good way, BD. BTW, you're showing your age with the Doors reference
Click to expand...


The Beatles, Dodger Stadium 1966 and the Monterey Pop Festival the following year, that's showing my age and where I lost about 10% of my hearing.


----------



## waday




----------



## terri

Indeed - it's Friday, hosers!    

The usual red wine and pizza tonight at my house.   Anyone doing anything special this weekend?


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

A ginger bloom from the front.


----------



## Gary A.

bulldurham said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> RIP To the Queen of Soul    You were great Aretha.
> 
> 
> 
> *sigh* She will be missed.
> 
> Gary first saw her as the opening act for Blood, Sweat and Tears at the Greek.  Nobody knew Aretha and we all felt antsy not wanting any delays for B, S and T. But she immediately silenced the crowd ... to a person we all felt a combo of reverence and r e s p e c t.
> 
> Sadly, B, S and T were all stoned and couldn't play a single chord without screwing up or falling down on stage.  It was the only show Gary has attended where there were no calls for an encore.  The spectators were all filing out when B, S and T fired up the band again to slobber all over the mics. There were a few cat calls as we all left the arena. The band was so stoned they most likely thought we were giving them a standing ovation as we moved towards the exits.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think you and I may have haunted the same places in and around the same time period, albeit I think I was there a bit earlier. I saw The Doors, Jim Morrison do a face plant at the Greek, so stoned he couldn't even raise his head, circa 1968 or 69. My favorite place to hang out was the Golden Bear in HB where Paul Butterfield, Alvin Lee, and Jeff Beck made their monthly rounds.
> 
> So Cal was THE place to grow up in during the era of the '60's but you couldn't pay me to live there again. I just wish I'd had the presence of mind to go see her perform when I had the chance. Sighhhh, one more regret.
Click to expand...

Yep, same time period, 1969 - 1970 for the Aretha at the Greek.  Gary remembers taking his HS/GF, Sandy.





Sandy - circa 1970-ish

Gary loved the Bear, it was one of his favorite hangouts.  He lived in Huntington Beach for a spell and remembers the plastic cow looking down from the roof of the surf shop directly across the street from the Bear.  Kenny Rankin was one of Gary's faves to watch at the Bear.  For those not familiar with Huntington Beach.  Main Street ends/starts at the pier and PCH in Huntington Beach. On the corner North-East of PCH & Main was the Golden Bear, across the street to the south was the pier and the Pacific (the Shining Sea).  One evening, Gary was at the Bear being entertained by Steve Martin, when Steve pulled the audience out of the street onto PCH.  He then coaxed us across the street (the pier side), where he proceeded to stick his thumb out in a hitchhiker's fashion. Soon a car pulled over, Martin hopped in and the car disappeared into the night heading to Newport Beach.  The audience were left standing there, rather dumbfounded, wondering "Now What?". By ones and two's we eventually moseyed back to the Bear. Gary love's The Bear.

Gary loves California ... housing is high, taxes are high, way ... way too many people in the south ... but the weather is great, waves are perfect, the geography is awe-inspiring, the cities and entertainment are world class and the living standard for how Gary lives and for what he finds desirable ... unmatched.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Indeed - it's Friday, hosers!
> 
> The usual red wine and pizza tonight at my house.   Anyone doing anything special this weekend?


Tonight is another Bowl Day.  LA Phil w/Dudamel at the helm along with a pair of Spanish guitarists Rodrigo and Gabriella.  A red and some bubbly tonight.  We always share our wines and vittles with our neighbors.


----------



## Gary A.

PS- Gary plans to make some Mango sorbet to accompany our vittles.


----------



## bulldurham

I worked at my brother's surfboard company, Plastic Fantastic, one block to the south of Main St on 3rd. I think this is where it used to be: 
*33°39'31.0"N 117°59'56.6"W*
I spent every morning surfing the pier, every afternoon buffing out boards, every night hot coating. We put out a lot of boards from 1966 to 1971 when I was still there...though I did go spend a summer in Hawaii at the shop there. Most recently, one of my best high school friend, Bob Beardsley ended up being the City Manager of HB. Funny how it all goes round and round. I'm a '64 Glendora High School Grad.


----------



## davidharmier60

Late morning y'all. 
6 hours and a couple minutes today 
29.03 for the week so far 
No deli today because there is still chicken tenders at home. PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!! The image quality of the XF 90mm f2 totally blew me away today, what a fantastic lens this is


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

bulldurham said:


> The Beatles, Dodger Stadium 1966 and the Monterey Pop Festival the following year, that's showing my age and where I lost about 10% of my hearing.



Hmmm, I blame Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and a pair of headphones cranked very high, late at nights in the 70's, for any hearing loss I have.


----------



## waday

This triple play... LOL

https://deadspin.com/this-triple-play-confused-the-hell-out-of-everyone-invo-1828413719


----------



## davidharmier60

Shoot. Only one tender at home. So my Sister heated up a Pizza for me. Gonna do pennies and comics pretty soon.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Dave442

bulldurham said:


> I worked at my brother's surfboard company, Plastic Fantastic, one block to the south of Main St on 3rd. I think this is where it used to be:
> *33°39'31.0"N 117°59'56.6"W*
> I spent every morning surfing the pier, every afternoon buffing out boards, every night hot coating. We put out a lot of boards from 1966 to 1971 when I was still there...though I did go spend a summer in Hawaii at the shop there. Most recently, one of my best high school friend, Bob Beardsley ended up being the City Manager of HB. Funny how it all goes round and round. I'm a '64 Glendora High School Grad.


Lived in Glendora, above Rubel Castle, in the 80’s and my brother is a GHS grad. Seemed like everything was 1 hour from there (Huntington Beach, Malibu Beach or anything in between).


----------



## Gary A.

bulldurham said:


> I worked at my brother's surfboard company, Plastic Fantastic, one block to the south of Main St on 3rd. I think this is where it used to be:
> *33°39'31.0"N 117°59'56.6"W*
> I spent every morning surfing the pier, every afternoon buffing out boards, every night hot coating. We put out a lot of boards from 1966 to 1971 when I was still there...though I did go spend a summer in Hawaii at the shop there. Most recently, one of my best high school friend, Bob Beardsley ended up being the City Manager of HB. Funny how it all goes round and round. I'm a '64 Glendora High School Grad.


Gary used to live on 10th a block up from PCH.  Surf City. 
Chino High, class of '70.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The sun came out for awhile and I'm hoping to do a little Polaroiding this weekend, but we shall see what we shall see... the forecast is the usual possibility of pop ups so it'll be picture taking and/or dinner out and about. And either way maybe some ice cream on the way back.

Fujidave you enjoy that new lens!


----------



## Gary A.

The mango sorbet is ready to chill.


----------



## Gary A.

Looks like baby food.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Fujidave you enjoy that new lens!



Thank you, I love the lens a lot after today, hope to take my first portrait of a lovely young Spanish lady in a few days.

Was gutted the man just appeared as I clicked.





Roxanne by Dave, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

This is much nicer than your other stuff.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> This is much nicer than your other stuff.



Thank you Gary, I really do appreciate that.  I think as long as I can stay at that same angle keeping the bins out of view and people then they might well turn out good.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Really nice, Dave!


----------



## Fujidave

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Really nice, Dave!



Thank you Dean, if I am right, I think this 90mm renders skin tones better than my other lenses.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Fujidave said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> Really nice, Dave!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you Dean, if I am right, I think this 90mm renders skin tones better than my other lenses.
Click to expand...


The skin tones are nice but I noticed the color of that Strat is spot on!


----------



## Fujidave

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> Really nice, Dave!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you Dean, if I am right, I think this 90mm renders skin tones better than my other lenses.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The skin tones are nice but I noticed the color of that Strat is spot on!
Click to expand...


That one was one of the Raw files too.


----------



## Fujidave

I hope to be able to take a nice image soon for the Ladies Night comp too.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm getting pretty good at watch pics with the Canon XTI.  But I don't get shots like Fujidave posts.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

davidharmier60 said:


> I'm getting pretty good at watch pics with the Canon XTI.  But I don't get shots like Fujidave posts.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



If there are no pictures, it never happened, David


----------



## davidharmier60

Next time on the computer maybe a pic or two. 

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----------



## JonA_CT

I got super lucky today, and happened to be in a great spot to catch Barque Eagle on her way into port today.

She is used as a training ship for the Coast Guard Academy now, but her history is super interesting.

USCGC Eagle (WIX-327) - Wikipedia


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Thanks for that, Jon. The son-in-law is in the USCG. I will have to send him that link to see if he knows about it. His last ship was a cutter. He just changed duty stations and I do not know the type of ship he will be on now.


----------



## SquarePeg

Back from the mountains.  Tired.   Got up at 4:30 to catch sunrise at the lake.  Spent the day at Cranmore Mtn riding the mountain coaster and zip lines then drove home 2.5 hours.  Going to watch the Sox while I unpack and do laundry and try not to fall asleep too early.

The mountain house rental was incredible!  There were 11 of us (extended family) including 4 teenagers and a 7 yo and we still had plenty of space. Had a blast.  I’ll post some pics later...


----------



## Tony744

terri said:


> Indeed - it's Friday, hosers!
> 
> The usual red wine and pizza tonight at my house.   Anyone doing anything special this weekend?



This post reminded me to check the schedule for Winnekenni Castle. Turns out the there's a dixie land band playing Sunday, may go check it out.


----------



## tirediron

Fujidave said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave you enjoy that new lens!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you, I love the lens a lot after today, hope to take my first portrait of a lovely young Spanish lady in a few days.
> 
> Was gutted the man just appeared as I clicked.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Roxanne by Dave, on Flickr
Click to expand...

What man?




Literally a <60 second edit; with 5-10 minutes work, you'd never know he was there!


----------



## davidharmier60

I don't wanna go. But my Sister informed me she must have $180 from the next check to pay a bill. So I'm going to get at least 4 hours today. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Anyone doing anything special this weekend?


The Watch Office person canceled her leave, so MLW isn't working today  We're heading to the Eastern Shore for produce, and Ikea for a bookcase to send up to lazy_lobster.  I'm going to try to fit in a landscape for @SquarePeg, and maybe a couple alphabet shots.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Back from the mountains.  Tired.   Got up at 4:30 to catch sunrise at the lake.  Spent the day at Cranmore Mtn riding the mountain coaster and zip lines then drove home 2.5 hours.  Going to watch the Sox while I unpack and do laundry and try not to fall asleep too early.
> 
> The mountain house rental was incredible!  There were 11 of us (extended family) including 4 teenagers and a 7 yo and we still had plenty of space. Had a blast.  I’ll post some pics later...


That really does sound like a great week.   Zip lines are on my bucket list!


----------



## davidharmier60

Almost 4 hours today and just 10 minutes under 34 hours for the week. It's done fooled around and got hot outside. 
Just finished chicken tenders and gravy at the deli. Gonna hit the Post Office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

I shot my first air show this morning.  Not sure if they came out good, I don't review the images, I have it turned off. Probably not, O was shooting them in continuous AF, wide zone, at slow shutter speeds to show the propeller.  uuuummmmmm, I was using a 400 mm lens and shooting at 1/60s....should be bad


----------



## RowdyRay

jcdeboever said:


> I shot my first air show this morning.  Not sure if they came out good, I don't review the images, I have it turned off. Probably not, O was shooting them in continuous AF, wide zone, at slow shutter speeds to show the propeller.  uuuummmmmm, I was using a 400 mm lens and shooting at 1/60s....should be bad



Sarcasm? Seeing what you can do, I doubt their bad.


----------



## jcdeboever

RowdyRay said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I shot my first air show this morning.  Not sure if they came out good, I don't review the images, I have it turned off. Probably not, O was shooting them in continuous AF, wide zone, at slow shutter speeds to show the propeller.  uuuummmmmm, I was using a 400 mm lens and shooting at 1/60s....should be bad
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sarcasm? Seeing what you can do, I doubt their bad.
Click to expand...

lol, not sure. will soon find out. I'm street shooting now in the same area. pretty much done though. worn out


----------



## Gary A.

Last night the Bowl was wonderful. Another perfect evening of 75F. LA Phil performed a collection from Latin America. The piece from Mexico was especially wonderful. At times it made me think of the theme from The Magnificent Seven and other times Sherazade. It took Gary back to the many trips he has taken Meh-he-co, the pine filled mountains, verdant valleys and endless beaches.

Later, Dudamel accompanied a pair of guitarists. They were fantastic. Gary first thought they were from Espana and we were to be entertained with classical Spanish guitar. But, they were from Mexico, played their own music and shredded the Bowl. They were amazing. Rogillo and Gabrela, goggle them for a real musical treat.


----------



## davidharmier60

Here is one of my best watch pics


----------



## tirediron

Not bad at all; I like that watch!


----------



## jcdeboever

OK, my first shot of the day (today) at the small air show. *LOL, didn't even see it..*. well I may have but didn't remember it.  XT2, 100-400, hand held with rapid strap, f/16, 1/60s, ISO 250, custom acros. SOOC. Yes, slow shutter, thinking about propeller movement. Oh, it is also in continuous AF wide, CL, center weight meter.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Back from the mountains.  Tired.   Got up at 4:30 to catch sunrise at the lake.  Spent the day at Cranmore Mtn riding the mountain coaster and zip lines then drove home 2.5 hours.  Going to watch the Sox while I unpack and do laundry and try not to fall asleep too early.
> 
> The mountain house rental was incredible!  There were 11 of us (extended family) including 4 teenagers and a 7 yo and we still had plenty of space. Had a blast.  I’ll post some pics later...
> 
> 
> 
> That really does sound like a great week.   Zip lines are on my bucket list!
Click to expand...


This one was a very mild “chair style” so you’re sitting tandem and buckled to the chair which zips backwards to the top then comes back down to the base.  Not a traditional zip experience whee you climb a bunch of towers.


----------



## terri

Interesting!   Not sure I'd want to go backwards on the thing, but yeah - I'm guessing it was still a blast.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary cools his toes after working hard in the yard.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

davidharmier60 said:


> View attachment 161997 Here is one of my best watch pics



Do you model or stop strangers on the street?


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Interesting!   Not sure I'd want to go backwards on the thing, but yeah - I'm guessing it was still a blast.



Princess and my nephew enjoyed it.


----------



## davidharmier60

Not as of yet Dean. I'd like to shoot some of the girls at work and even a few of the guys. But I think it would be frowned upon if I brought my camera in. I'm supposed to be working.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@SquarePeg  I wonder how many people know Yuengling ( the shirt your daughter is wearing ). A local brewery that happens to be America's oldest still in continuous operation here in Pennsylvania.


----------



## SquarePeg

Dean_Gretsch said:


> @SquarePeg  I wonder how many people know Yuengling ( the shirt your daughter is wearing ). A local brewery that happens to be America's oldest still in continuous operation here in Pennsylvania.



I wouldn’t normally let my 15 yo wear a beer shirt but she had a bit of a sunburn on her shoulders from the day before and needed to cover up. All her stuff was irritating her and it’s my softest tshirt.  My sister in law runs a bar/restaurant so we have a good supply of Yuengling stuff - shirts, beer cozies, hats etc.  other than it being a beer, I don’t know much about it.


----------



## limr

Dean_Gretsch said:


> @SquarePeg  I wonder how many people know Yuengling ( the shirt your daughter is wearing ). A local brewery that happens to be America's oldest still in continuous operation here in Pennsylvania.



SOME of us are well aware of Yuengling, and what it's like to drink far too many 75-cent pints at the 901 pub near Harrisburg when she and her friend were stranded by a freak snowstorm on their way home for spring break and had to spend their evening listening to Nancy Sinatra on the juke box, playing card games with a dude who called himself Lone Wolf.

Um...theoretically


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> I wouldn’t normally let my 15 yo wear a beer shirt


It's OK - they make ice cream, too.


----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon folks, picked up Susie from Mum`s this morning as she stayed over then had a walk back and now the weather has gone down hill as rain yet again.  Had some fun trying to stand still yesterday trying to take shots of the singers but it was fun, but pretty cold.


----------



## davidharmier60

My one day of not waking at 4am. 
Got a pretty good mug with which to try and become human. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday was grueling, demo-ing the rose garden, working in dirt which thinks itself as concrete, with weather that thinks it's more tropical than Mediterranean.  The biggest job is attempting to save this Verbena which has grown into a small tree.  Wispy and lovely, but in the way of the new spa.  Gary used a rotohammer and shovel to excavate a new home.  Today he'll dig up the Verbena and make the transfer to the new location ... notify the post office of the new address, et al.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Yesterday was grueling, demo-ing the rose garden, working in dirt which thinks itself as concrete, with weather that thinks it's more tropical than Mediterranean.  The biggest job is attempting to save this Verbena which has grown into a small tree.  Wispy and lovely, but in the way of the new spa.  Gary used a rotohammer and shovel to excavate a new home.  Today he'll dig up the Verbena and make the transfer to the new location ... notify the post office of the new address, et al.



Looking forward to pics of you and ML and Maggie in the new spa.


----------



## smoke665

Hit the road early this morning headed home. Couple more hours and our Hell week will be over. The in-laws finally agreed that it was time for nursing home. They are 96 & 90. They've been living at home with assistance, but thier health has deteriorated substantially. Lots of paperwork, packing, errands, and details. Thankfully the worst is over. Next month we go back to finish up the house and have an auction. It will take them some time to get used to, but the facility is super nice. DW and I are exhausted.


----------



## otherprof

Dean_Gretsch said:


> @SquarePeg  I wonder how many people know Yuengling ( the shirt your daughter is wearing ). A local brewery that happens to be America's oldest still in continuous operation here in Pennsylvania.


The first time I had a Yuengling was on a beach near St Pete Fla. years ago. I had never heard of it.  When the waitress came around I couldn’t remember the name of the beer, so I told her it was the Chinese brand. Much head scratching followed, and then much laughter. If only I had meant it as a joke!


----------



## davidharmier60

Beef Stroganoff on noodles and broccoli florets for dinner. Maybe Blue Bell later or maybe not. Astros are doing good today. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

otherprof said:


> The first time I had a Yuengling was on a beach near St Pete Fla. years ago. I had never heard of it.  When the waitress came around I couldn’t remember the name of the beer, so I told her it was the Chinese brand. Much head scratching followed, and then much laughter. If only I had meant it as a joke!



I had a similar experience in Oklahoma City when I ordered a Moosehead from a very young waitress in a restaurant. I could tell she thought I was pulling her leg and really did not want to go ask anyone if they served that brand


----------



## davidharmier60

Nitey nite y'all. Another 5 day week IF the professional floor people don't cancel. 
Have the best Monday it's possible to have. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

BTW - Gary knows you all are on pins and needles wondering ... Yes! The Verbena was moved.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sun is out and the cloud has blown over for now.  Just charging batteries then might pop down to the music hall


----------



## SquarePeg

Mornin Hosers.  Back to work after vacation really sucks. Commence pity party now please.


----------



## smoke665

Another whirlwind day for us playing catchup. Then off to Emory in Atlanta in the morning again. Haven't looked at the calendar but I think there's a couple of rest up days after that and before cataract surgery. This busy retired life is starting to suck big time.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Mornin Hosers.  Back to work after vacation really sucks. Commence pity party now please.


Stay home... sell Princess into  servitude and live off the proceeds!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Mornin Hosers.  Back to work after vacation really sucks. Commence pity party now please.


Work sucks!  The end of vacation sucks!   You deserve another week off, at least!   The corporate world is for the birds!

....how am I doing so far?


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Mornin Hosers.  Back to work after vacation really sucks. Commence pity party now please.



Awww . . . take a nice slow-shutter shot and you'll feel better.  Send it to the Photo Challenge to feel great.


----------



## davidharmier60

Work doesn't exactly suck. 
It's quite repetitive though. 
5.25 hours today and for the week so far. 
Having chicken tenders and gravy at the deli. Have a small list of things to bring home. And a few people came through on the watch site and some Orange straps are coming my way. So a check of the PO is called for.

And now back to your original story.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

I like gravy


----------



## snowbear

I can honestly say, for most of my career with the work county, I have really enjoyed it.  Of course there were bad days and a couple of bad years in one agency, but I actually looked forward to coming in for most of the 35+ years.  Still do.



jcdeboever said:


> I like gravy


Especially with biscuits.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  School started today and traffic was a bear getting into CSULA. Just finished a breakfast burrito topped off with some mango sorbet ... soooo good.


----------



## jcdeboever

I am worn out with my own imagination.


----------



## jcdeboever

my wife asked me today...did the doctor make you look like a little boy today? they clean you up for tests. I said yes, she is in for a surprise. LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

I have this feeling that if a doctor got a really good look inside me he might just condemn me. I feel every bit of my 58 years.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Boy. I hope Blue Bell goes on sale Wednesday. Just finished Vanilla. 
Dad apparently finished the Great Divide yesterday. Might have to bring home a lesser brand tomorrow. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> I have this feeling that if a doctor got a really good look inside me he might just condemn me. I feel every bit of my 58 years.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Hate to scare you David, but it gets exponentially worse with each year.


----------



## CherylL

Spent a long weekend with the new grandbaby and have a bunch of photos to edit.  Their house doesn't have that much natural light for the lifestyle type photos, but did get some that I am happy with.  SIL moved 2 couches for me to get good light on their group photo with their pups.  Today was back to school video interviews with 2 of the grands.  The clapperboard was a big hit.  The 5yo wanted to clap and clap and clap.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> clapperboard was a big hit



Now that is cool!!!!


----------



## waday

Eid Mubarak!


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Eid Mubarak!



It’s a day of rejoice and bliss, 
It’s a day of blessing and peace, 
It’s a day to reflect and ponder, 
It’s a day to celebrate together!


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> clapperboard was a big hit
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now that is cool!!!!
Click to expand...


A $15 clapperboard was a big hit.  The 5 & 8yo were impressed with the set.  It was a sheet over an old projector screen, their table set and I made the Kidz Newz in PS.  Not a fancy set like yours   The girls want me to add a Breaking News graphic at the beginning of their video.  I'll make something up in AE.


----------



## CherylL

waday said:


> Eid Mubarak!


My Turkish daughter is visiting her family and happy she can share in the holiday with them.


----------



## waday

CherylL said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Eid Mubarak!
> 
> 
> 
> My Turkish daughter is visiting her family and happy she can share in the holiday with them.
Click to expand...

My wife is half-Palestinian, so her family celebrates. They include me in the celebration; such a welcoming family, people, and culture.


----------



## Gary A.

When Gary lived in Paris, his interpreter was Muslim. Gary learned a lot from her.


----------



## davidharmier60

I played the part of a plumber today.
The womens bathroom toilet was running and nothing would stop it. The auto part store was out of stock so over to Cold Spring across from the propane place.
It now flushes better than it ever did.
This month and even year are flying by.
Filter change was supposed to be yesterday but I never ordered any more.
So one 20x20 went in the deli and five 20x30 on the back wall.

Almost 6 hours today and 11.25 for the week so far. Enjoying chicken fried steak with gravy at the deli. 

Got to mail something for my Sister and so have a reason to go to the PO.
And sold my coins so going to People's Bank before PO.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh. There is Muslim and there is Radical Islam. Glad Gary met a Muslim. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> Oh. There is Muslim and there is Radical Islam. Glad Gary met a Muslim.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Just like there is Christian, and there is radical Christian. It's in every faith, whether or not you acknowledge it.


----------



## CherylL

waday said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Eid Mubarak!
> 
> 
> 
> My Turkish daughter is visiting her family and happy she can share in the holiday with them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My wife is half-Palestinian, so her family celebrates. They include me in the celebration; such a welcoming family, people, and culture.
Click to expand...


I've met several faculty and student Palestinians from the Uni.  We hosted a visiting scholar a few years ago.  I've learned from hosting students from around the world is that we are more alike than different.


----------



## waday

CherylL said:


> I've learned from hosting students from around the world is that we are more alike than different.


Similarities are everywhere. If people weren't so xenophobic, we might actually get along.

My mother is Italian. My father-in law is Palestinian. My mother-in-law is Ecuadorian. We're pretty diverse over here, and we're all alike... All stubborn.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh. There is Muslim and there is Radical Islam. Glad Gary met a Muslim.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Just like there is Christian, and there is radical Christian. It's in every faith, whether or not you acknowledge it.
Click to expand...

I subscribe more to radical agnosticism myself...


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh. There is Muslim and there is Radical Islam. Glad Gary met a Muslim.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Just like there is Christian, and there is radical Christian. It's in every faith, whether or not you acknowledge it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I subscribe more to radical agnosticism myself...
Click to expand...

Rather, you subscribe more to agnosticism... not necessarily radical agnosticism.

Radical in this sense implying those that do bad things in the name of their religion (or otherwise misusing their faith).

For example, the recent/ongoing scandal hitting the Catholic church, where some priests used their position as power over children...


----------



## smoke665

At Emory Hospital, for results of DW's 2nd annual post stem cell transplant full workup. Looks like our battles aren't over. Sometime in the past year her cancer reared its head again, trying to break out. Fortunately it's still at a low point. Starting a new 8 week regiment of Chemo and a just released antibody that specifically targets the cancer cells. Looks like our travel plans have been put on hold for the next 6 months, as we try to beat it down again.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh. There is Muslim and there is Radical Islam. Glad Gary met a Muslim.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Just like there is Christian, and there is radical Christian. It's in every faith, whether or not you acknowledge it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I subscribe more to radical agnosticism myself...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Rather, you subscribe more to agnosticism... not necessarily radical agnosticism.
> 
> Radical in this sense implying those that do bad things in the name of their religion (or otherwise misusing their faith).
> 
> For example, the recent/ongoing scandal hitting the Catholic church, where some priests used their position as power over children...
Click to expand...

How about radical sarcasm; would you go for radical sarcasm?????


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh. There is Muslim and there is Radical Islam. Glad Gary met a Muslim.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Just like there is Christian, and there is radical Christian. It's in every faith, whether or not you acknowledge it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I subscribe more to radical agnosticism myself...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Rather, you subscribe more to agnosticism... not necessarily radical agnosticism.
> 
> Radical in this sense implying those that do bad things in the name of their religion (or otherwise misusing their faith).
> 
> For example, the recent/ongoing scandal hitting the Catholic church, where some priests used their position as power over children...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> How about radical sarcasm; would you go for radical sarcasm?????
Click to expand...


----------



## davidharmier60

Catholic Priests have been doing little boys as long as I can remember. My point is that Radical Islam wants you I and every American dead. I don't know of any Christian religion that thinks THAT way. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

Yeah, I better leave this alone.


----------



## Gary A.

CherylL said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Eid Mubarak!
> 
> 
> 
> My Turkish daughter is visiting her family and happy she can share in the holiday with them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My wife is half-Palestinian, so her family celebrates. They include me in the celebration; such a welcoming family, people, and culture.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've met several faculty and student Palestinians from the Uni.  We hosted a visiting scholar a few years ago.  I've learned from hosting students from around the world is that we are more alike than different.
Click to expand...

Gary has found Russians ... rank and file Ruskies to be very similar to Americans.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh. There is Muslim and there is Radical Islam. Glad Gary met a Muslim.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Just like there is Christian, and there is radical Christian. It's in every faith, whether or not you acknowledge it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I subscribe more to radical agnosticism myself...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Rather, you subscribe more to agnosticism... not necessarily radical agnosticism.
> 
> Radical in this sense implying those that do bad things in the name of their religion (or otherwise misusing their faith).
> 
> For example, the recent/ongoing scandal hitting the Catholic church, where some priests used their position as power over children...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> How about radical sarcasm; would you go for radical sarcasm?????
Click to expand...

All sarcasm kills.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sarcasm is how some people live.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> Catholic Priests have been doing little boys as long as I can remember. My point is that Radical Islam wants you I and every American dead. I don't know of any Christian religion that thinks THAT way.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


For clarification David, extreme Muslims want All infidels either converted or dead, not solely Americans. Americans who are Muslim, need no conversion and need not be killed.

Gary is done.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm hip dude.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

What a totally great day today was, totally nailed my shots with the XF 90mm then some fool with a Nikon say OH cheap camera, but I just laughed as when he walked off he fell over smashing his lens.  Never try to belittle me as you come off looking stupid just as he did   hahaha.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> At Emory Hospital, for results of DW's 2nd annual post stem cell transplant full workup. Looks like our battles aren't over. Sometime in the past year her cancer reared its head again, trying to break out. Fortunately it's still at a low point. Starting a new 8 week regiment of Chemo and a just released antibody that specifically targets the cancer cells. Looks like our travel plans have been put on hold for the next 6 months, as we try to beat it down again.



Sorry to hear this smoke.  Will keep good thoughts for you both.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> At Emory Hospital, for results of DW's 2nd annual post stem cell transplant full workup. Looks like our battles aren't over. Sometime in the past year her cancer reared its head again, trying to break out. Fortunately it's still at a low point. Starting a new 8 week regiment of Chemo and a just released antibody that specifically targets the cancer cells. Looks like our travel plans have been put on hold for the next 6 months, as we try to beat it down again.



Thoughts are with you both, and hoping on a speedy recovery smoke.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Never try to belittle me as you come off looking stupid just as he did  hahaha.



Okay not to poke fun, but you have a camera in your hands, the person who just insulted you suddenly makes a fool of themselves, and you don't take a picture. Hmmmm what's wrong with this???


----------



## limr

CherylL said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Eid Mubarak!
> 
> 
> 
> My Turkish daughter is visiting her family and happy she can share in the holiday with them.
Click to expand...


Then you would say "Kurban bayramınız kutlu olsun!" to her instead


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg and @Fujidave thanks guys. Still trying to process the news, kind of feel like we took a shot in the gut because we had hoped to get at least 5 years out of the stem cell transplant. Multiple Myeloma  is incurable, but some (like DW) respond to treatments that keep it knocked down. November of this year will mark 9 years since diagnosis. The latest round of treatments will use a new antibody drug that specifically targets the cancer cells.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> At Emory Hospital, for results of DW's 2nd annual post stem cell transplant full workup. Looks like our battles aren't over. Sometime in the past year her cancer reared its head again, trying to break out. Fortunately it's still at a low point. Starting a new 8 week regiment of Chemo and a just released antibody that specifically targets the cancer cells. Looks like our travel plans have been put on hold for the next 6 months, as we try to beat it down again.


I'm sorry to hear that.   Glad that she's under such close supervision, so these kinds of flare ups are caught early.   Best wishes for this getting knocked out quickly.


----------



## terri

davidharmier60 said:


> Catholic Priests have been doing little boys as long as I can remember. My point is that Radical Islam wants you I and every American dead. I don't know of any Christian religion that thinks THAT way.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Okay, just to be clear:  this kind of comment is way out of line, both in the Coffee House thread and TPF, overall.    Keep this stuff to yourself, please.  Thanks.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh. There is Muslim and there is Radical Islam. Glad Gary met a Muslim.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Just like there is Christian, and there is radical Christian. It's in every faith, whether or not you acknowledge it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I subscribe more to radical agnosticism myself...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Rather, you subscribe more to agnosticism... not necessarily radical agnosticism.
> 
> Radical in this sense implying those that do bad things in the name of their religion (or otherwise misusing their faith).
> 
> For example, the recent/ongoing scandal hitting the Catholic church, where some priests used their position as power over children...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> How about radical sarcasm; would you go for radical sarcasm?????
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Ehh?  Howzzat?


----------



## davidharmier60

Terri said cool it. I'm cooling it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary just returned from BlacKKKlansman ... Gary throughly enjoyed the movie ... well worth seeing. A cameo by Harry Belafonte.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has a turkey loaf, resplendent with herbs, chilies and mushrooms. Mary Lou and Gary are sipping a Dave Harvey GSM while waiting for the loaf to heat up.


----------



## RowdyRay

Gary A. said:


> Gary has a turkey loaf, resplendent with herbs, chilies and mushrooms. Mary Lou and Gary are sipping a Dave Harvey GSM while waiting for the loaf to heat up.



Sounds delicious. Haven't made one in a while. Usually a cold weather meal.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary pinched a corner ... delish.


----------



## otherprof

smoke665 said:


> At Emory Hospital, for results of DW's 2nd annual post stem cell transplant full workup. Looks like our battles aren't over. Sometime in the past year her cancer reared its head again, trying to break out. Fortunately it's still at a low point. Starting a new 8 week regiment of Chemo and a just released antibody that specifically targets the cancer cells. Looks like our travel plans have been put on hold for the next 6 months, as we try to beat it down again.


Hoping for DW’s full recovery.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 162112
> Gary pinched a corner ... delish.



My not-so-baby anymore boy loves meatballs, so I was charged to make a large batch for his birthday yesterday. I usually use a mixture of beef/lamb and pork, but I couldn't find any ground pork at the store yesterday (and didn't have time to grind it myself), so I subbed in ground turkey. They were awesome. The balls were more tender with the turkey. I think it's a permanent change.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT you found lamb but not pork?? What a difference a few hundred miles makes in grocery stores. I can't tell you the last time I saw lamb available anywhere even the specialty meat markets.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> @JonA_CT you found lamb but not pork?? What a difference a few hundred miles makes in grocery stores. I can't tell you the last time I saw lamb available anywhere even the specialty meat markets.



I usually use beef OR lamb. I went with beef yesterday 'cause I can't afford to use lamb with company coming over, haha. But yes, ground lamb was available yesterday at all three stores I stopped in (Walmart, BJs Wholesale, and Stop and Shop). So was ground bison, haha. I can usually get chops and racks of lamb at all of those places too, although I typically have to hit up a different grocery in the area (ShopRite) if I want a whole leg of lamb, which is my favorite cut. Actually, I end up buying most large cuts of meat from ShopRite because they still have a butcher you can talk to in the store, and still get big primal cuts in that they will custom cut for free.

EDIT: ShopRite carries almost everything, honestly. They carry a lot of specialty cuts that reflect the diverse needs of our community, including a full selection of halal and kosher meats.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> They carry a lot of specialty cuts that reflect the diverse needs of our community, including a full selection of halal and kosher meats.



The lack of diversity in our general area might be the reason they aren't available. There's a more diverse population in and around Huntsville and Birmingham, so I'm sure there are at least specialty stores in those locations that carry.


----------



## CherylL

davidharmier60 said:


> My point is that Radical Islam wants you I and every American dead.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



I've heard this before.  A distant relative told me it was a matter of time before my Turkish daughter would turn on us and kill us in our sleep.  I told him no worries.  I lock her in her room at night and I have mace on the bedside.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> At Emory Hospital, for results of DW's 2nd annual post stem cell transplant full workup. Looks like our battles aren't over. Sometime in the past year her cancer reared its head again, trying to break out. Fortunately it's still at a low point. Starting a new 8 week regiment of Chemo and a just released antibody that specifically targets the cancer cells. Looks like our travel plans have been put on hold for the next 6 months, as we try to beat it down again.



So sorry Smoke.  Prayers for you and wife.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 162112
> Gary pinched a corner ... delish.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My not-so-baby anymore boy loves meatballs, so I was charged to make a large batch for his birthday yesterday. I usually use a mixture of beef/lamb and pork, but I couldn't find any ground pork at the store yesterday (and didn't have time to grind it myself), so I subbed in ground turkey. They were awesome. The balls were more tender with the turkey. I think it's a permanent change.
Click to expand...

Gary made a turkey meatball soup ... they were so good that now he makes them sans soup.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @JonA_CT you found lamb but not pork?? What a difference a few hundred miles makes in grocery stores. I can't tell you the last time I saw lamb available anywhere even the specialty meat markets.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I usually use beef OR lamb. I went with beef yesterday 'cause I can't afford to use lamb with company coming over, haha. But yes, ground lamb was available yesterday at all three stores I stopped in (Walmart, BJs Wholesale, and Stop and Shop). So was ground bison, haha. I can usually get chops and racks of lamb at all of those places too, although I typically have to hit up a different grocery in the area (ShopRite) if I want a whole leg of lamb, which is my favorite cut. Actually, I end up buying most large cuts of meat from ShopRite because they still have a butcher you can talk to in the store, and still get big primal cuts in that they will custom cut for free.
> 
> EDIT: ShopRite carries almost everything, honestly. They carry a lot of specialty cuts that reflect the diverse needs of our community, including a full selection of halal and kosher meats.
Click to expand...

All the major grocery/supermarkets stores out here have butchers, Vons, Albertsons, Stater Bros, Ralphs, et al. Gary doesn't shop in Walmart or Whole Foods. There are a few specialty fish markets nearby with daily stuff coming in directly from the fishing boats. (A ten minute drive beats a 30 minute drive to the docks.) There are also Asian and Latino supermarket chains out here.  Gary lives in the suburbs, but in the city, there are markets for nearly every ethnic people under the sun.  i.e. Not just general Asian markets but Thai markets, Filipino markets, Japanese markets, Indian markets, Chinese markets, Vietnamese markets, et cetera.  Lots of interesting/odd stuff in them.

Starting today, Tri-Tip is on sale for $2.99 a pound at Stater Bros.


----------



## smoke665

Here there is a large selection of beef, pork, poultry and seafood (gulf). Once you get past that the selection drops off fast.


----------



## Gary A.

@ Jon: You would like it out here.


----------



## SquarePeg

We usually go to a butcher shop for our meats (Dom's Sausage in Malden).  They are a bit pricey but worth the extra costs.  They carry pretty much everything but they are best known for... no not sausage... marinated steak tips.  We save them for special occasions!  They sell a ground mix that makes delicious meatballs (pretty sure it's beef, veal and pork).  I usually go with that but the secret ingredient to my meatballs is the egg/cheese/garlic ratio.  Got to get that just right for the best taste.  However, for a big crowd I will get the cheaper "meatloaf mix" from Stop and Shop as the flavor is still good and costs a lot less.  

Whole Foods does have a good meat selection but I don't shop there often.  I like Trader Joe's - better flowers!


----------



## Gary A.

Gary used to shop at Traders, but ... as all his wine comes in directly from wineries, and as nearly all his veggies and fruits are self grown, he is no longer a member.

Trader Joe's the health food store for alcoholics.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Gary used to shop at Traders, but ... as all his wine comes in directly from wineries, and as nearly all his veggies and fruits are self grown, he is no longer a member.
> 
> Trader Joe's the health food store for alcoholics.



Maybe it's a Massachusetts thing but TJ's does not sell alcohol here.  We do tend to be very prudish with our blue laws...  They still gate off the beer and wine section at S&S on Sundays...


----------



## davidharmier60

I've never tried to buy beer or wine at our store on Sunday morning. But it's been a long time since I saw blue law around here. 6 hours and some today. 17.40 for the week so far. She has to confirm but I probably get Saturday off. Got to take a few things home for Sister. 
In roughly 17 minutes I can get my check. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary used to shop at Traders, but ... as all his wine comes in directly from wineries, and as nearly all his veggies and fruits are self grown, he is no longer a member.
> 
> Trader Joe's the health food store for alcoholics.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe it's a Massachusetts thing but TJ's does not sell alcohol here.  We do tend to be very prudish with our blue laws...  They still gate off the beer and wine section at S&S on Sundays...
Click to expand...

Wow, I am surprised.  TJ’s carries wonderful selections of vinos from California and the world with very good pricing.   In California, TJ’s carried their own brand of vino, Charles Shaw.  Charles Shaw is the ‘overstock’ from some very fine wineries.  (The better wineries will only bottle a finite amount of wine, law of supply and demand, in order to keep higher pricing. The wineries will sell off the excess.)  For years and years Charles Shaw went for two dollars a bottle.  Charles Shaw went by the moniker of Two Buck Chuck.

On election days, the bars are closed out here.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> On election days, the bars are closed out here.



Wow that's the one day you can count on them being open here!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> On election days, the bars are closed out here.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow that's the one day you can count on them being open here!!!!
Click to expand...

Oh man, what a soft ball ... but Gary will respect the TOSR.


----------



## snowbear

Goat.  I can't find goat that isn't running around, being cute.


----------



## smoke665

Atlanta has to be the worst city in the country to drive in. I think NY, LA, and Chicago all send their taxi/bus drivers here to train. I couldn't deal with it everyday, I'd end up killing someone.  They are extremely aggressive, cutting in and out without signals, if you signal a lane change they cut you off - intentionally. Yesterday, was no exception, two guys passed me, that had to be running in excess of a 100 mph (I was on 80), weaving in and out and trying to ram each other, in an apparent road rage. Over the course of the day, lost count of the near misses, with people cutting me off, got flipped off, tailgated, and endured the stop and go madhouse at 5 pm. Oldest son lives in suburbs, but works in the heart of downtown. He rides the bus because of the traffic. Even the fact that GA has some of the highest insurance rates in the country, with large increases every year, hasn't tempered their driving.


----------



## davidharmier60

I think I mentioned this in the past. When I was an OTR truck driver we called the Atlanta Loop the Atlanta 500. With yellow and red flags and all.
Thankfully I never had a crash there. But I don't believe I could do it today.....


----------



## SquarePeg

I've never driven in Atlanta but I have several customers who live/work in the downtown area and they have nothing but awful things to say about the traffic and drivers.


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> When I was an OTR truck driver we called the Atlanta Loop the Atlanta 500



It still is. Actually I've never seen a good time to be on the I285 loop. They force all trucks (except local deliveries) to use the loop, you have three major interstates coming in and going out, and a host of multi-lane feeders that dump into it. I've actually found that staying off the loop and going straight through is faster, with less traffic, most days. We got on I20 on the east side of downtown at rush hour. the traffic was moderate, but moving good, till we got to the I285 intersection on the west side. I20 was a parking lot in all 10 lanes till we got about 20 miles out.


----------



## JonA_CT

I had my first and only order of whole belly clams of the summer. They are my favorite New England classic, but I’ll pay for it tonight and tomorrow.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I had my first and only order of whole belly clams of the summer. They are my favorite New England classic, but I’ll pay for it tonight and tomorrow.



Sounds a bit like my relationship with ice cream.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had my first and only order of whole belly clams of the summer. They are my favorite New England classic, but I’ll pay for it tonight and tomorrow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds a bit like my relationship with ice cream.
Click to expand...


Our local ice cream shop keeps lactaid on the counter


----------



## SquarePeg

Princess is home watching a movie with the latest version of He’s Not My Boyfriend and a couple of other guys and girls.  I was informed the other day that they are officially “dating” whatever that means in high school these days... I’m hoping it means sitting next to each other and texting hearts and smiley faces.  

I guess I’ll need to come up with a new nickname for him.  How about Dingo Trying to Steal My Baby?  Boy Wonder?  Prince Charming?


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes clams and ice cream. Gary’s mango sorbet is wonderful.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Princess is home watching a movie with the latest version of He’s Not My Boyfriend and a couple of other guys and girls.  I was informed the other day that they are officially “dating” whatever that means in high school these days... I’m hoping it means sitting next to each other and texting hearts and smiley faces.
> 
> I guess I’ll need to come up with a new nickname for him.  How about Dingo Trying to Steal My Baby?  Boy Wonder?  Prince Charming?



He'd better not?

Or, if you'll use it to his face, something that'll make him super uncomfortable... like HoneyBuns or Hercules or FlufferNutter.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has just finished todays spa work, trenching.  He dug up about 40’ long x 12” deep electrical trench.  He is drenched with sweat from head to toe.  Gary is disgusting.  He’s about 50% finished with trenching.  He is glad he got a good jump on it, even though he physically disgusting.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Princess is home watching a movie with the latest version of He’s Not My Boyfriend and a couple of other guys and girls.  I was informed the other day that they are officially “dating” whatever that means in high school these days... I’m hoping it means sitting next to each other and texting hearts and smiley faces.
> 
> I guess I’ll need to come up with a new nickname for him.  How about Dingo Trying to Steal My Baby?  Boy Wonder?  Prince Charming?


“Maggot” worked well when Gary’s daughters were in high school.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> I guess I’ll need to come up with a new nickname for him. How about Dingo Trying to Steal My Baby? Boy Wonder? Prince Charming?



Insignificant  Other????


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> “Maggot” worked well when Gary’s daughters were in high school.



Numbnuts seemed to work well when daughter brought them home. Kind of set the tone of the relationship. LOL


----------



## terri

The One To Watch?


----------



## Gary A.

My Sarah and her homecoming:





Sarah (middle) w/ friends





Sarah w/Maggot

My Amy at her prom:




Amy looking cute.





Amy w/Maggot.


----------



## snowbear

Atlanta is one place that makes me feel good about DC / Baltimore drivers


SquarePeg said:


> Princess is home watching a movie with the latest version of He’s Not My Boyfriend and a couple of other guys and girls.  I was informed the other day that they are officially “dating” whatever that means in high school these days... I’m hoping it means sitting next to each other and texting hearts and smiley faces.
> 
> I guess I’ll need to come up with a new nickname for him.  How about Dingo Trying to Steal My Baby?  Boy Wonder?  Prince Charming?


Son?
Future Son in law?


----------



## smoke665

Pretty young ladies Gary!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Pretty young ladies Gary!


Thank you smoke665.  Sometimes one can get lucky ... twice.


----------



## SquarePeg

Beautiful daughters Gary!  Maggot is a good one. 

He’d Better Not is a great play on He’s Not My Boyfriend.  

After getting 13 hits and losing on Monday and then giving up 13 hits and losing on Tuesday, the Sox are finally giving the Indians the business.  4 game series ends with a getaway game tomorrow at 1.   This could be a preview of the ALCS.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@SquarePeg  You should_ never_ follow a sentence about your daughter's_ NOT_ boyfriend with "After getting 13 hits and losing on Monday and then giving up 13 hits and losing on Tuesday..." 

You could call him " The Future News Report " as you're cleaning a handgun...


----------



## limr

Hey hosers, guess who doesn't have to do overtime on Saturday! 

This past Sunday, I recovered by staying on the couch and binge-watching Netflix. I had been on a Marvel movie kick, but I got up to Spiderman and that has proven a bit annoying to find - it's only streaming if I have Starz or the Starz app, and I refuse to buy it. I broke my rule the previous weekend and watched Thor: Ragnorak out of order, but I don't want to watch any of the remaining without watching Spiderman first. I can borrow it from the library as it turns out, but didn't have a chance to get it before Sunday.

So I had to figure out something else to binge-watch. Decided to start watching the BBC series, _Sherlock._ Totally working for me. Have a few more episodes to watch and then I'll have to find a new way to get my Benedict Cumberbatch uh, escapist television fix.

#firstworldproblems

Edit: And I know the new season of _Orange Is The New Black_ is out, but I am not emotionally ready for that show yet. It will leave me feeling like a wrung-out dishtowel and I already kind of feel that way these days, so no. Not ready.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary likes NetFlix.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary spent the early evening resting in the patio, eating chips, sipping wine and watching cable news.  It has been a very pleasant evening.


----------



## compur

Gary A. said:


> Charles Shaw is the ‘overstock’ from some very fine wineries.  (The better wineries will only bottle a finite amount of wine, law of supply and demand, in order to keep higher pricing. The wineries will sell off the excess.)



Charles Shaw wines come from _one _winery: Bronco Wine Company in Ceres, CA They specializes in low cost product. The CEO of Bronco is related to Ernest Gallo.

You can read about how they keep their costs down here:
The real reasons Trader Joe's wine is so cheap


----------



## Gary A.

compur said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Charles Shaw is the ‘overstock’ from some very fine wineries.  (The better wineries will only bottle a finite amount of wine, law of supply and demand, in order to keep higher pricing. The wineries will sell off the excess.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Charles Shaw wines come from _one _winery: Bronco Wine Company in Ceres, CA They specializes in low cost product. The CEO of Bronco is related to Ernest Gallo.
> 
> You can read about how they keep their costs down here:
> The real reasons Trader Joe's wine is so cheap
Click to expand...

Gary didn’t know that. Thanks.

Gary is sipping an EOS Zinfandel ...Paso, so good.  If you like wine, lets hook up at a winery, doing some tasting and shooting.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all. That's all I got. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Edit: And I know the new season of _Orange Is The New Black_ is out, but I am not emotionally ready for that show yet. It will leave me feeling like a wrung-out dishtowel and I already kind of feel that way these days, so no. Not ready.



Good call. The first few episodes took me a long time to process and get through. They were absolutely brutal.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Princess is home watching a movie with the latest version of He’s Not My Boyfriend and a couple of other guys and girls.  I was informed the other day that they are officially “dating” whatever that means in high school these days... I’m hoping it means sitting next to each other and texting hearts and smiley faces.
> 
> I guess I’ll need to come up with a new nickname for him.  How about Dingo Trying to Steal My Baby?  Boy Wonder?  Prince Charming?


oh boy, you don't want to know what my nickname is for him.... ok, you do....Woody


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> He’d Better Not is a great play on He’s Not My Boyfriend.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I live along a river...I usually just stood on the front porch, casually pointing at the view and whispering " It carries bodies away nicely...".


----------



## Gary A.

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I live along a river...I usually just stood on the front porch, casually pointing at the view and whispering " It carries bodies away nicely...".


If you want to get graphic ... "Look maggot, laying a hand on Princess will piss off me and her Uncle Vince.  He just got out, but he's more then willing to spent another five years for beating the crap out maggots like you, who are less than a perfect gentleman with Princess."


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> I live along a river...I usually just stood on the front porch, casually pointing at the view and whispering " It carries bodies away nicely...".
> 
> 
> 
> If you want to get graphic ... "Look maggot, laying a hand on Princess will piss off me and her Uncle Vince.  He just got out, but he's more then willing to spent another five years for beating the crap out maggots like you, who are less than a perfect gentleman with Princess."
Click to expand...


Around here, you might just have to whisper "Have you met my brother Vinny from Staten Island?"


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> I live along a river...I usually just stood on the front porch, casually pointing at the view and whispering " It carries bodies away nicely...".
> 
> 
> 
> If you want to get graphic ... "Look maggot, laying a hand on Princess will piss off me and her Uncle Vince.  He just got out, but he's more then willing to spent another five years for beating the crap out maggots like you, who are less than a perfect gentleman with Princess."
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Around here, you might just have to whisper "Have you met my brother Vinny from Staten Island?"
Click to expand...

Naahhh ... these are high school kids.  You have to just get in their face and: 

1. tell 'em what you gonna tell 'em.
2. tell 'em.
3. tell 'em what you told them.


----------



## terri

compur said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Charles Shaw is the ‘overstock’ from some very fine wineries.  (The better wineries will only bottle a finite amount of wine, law of supply and demand, in order to keep higher pricing. The wineries will sell off the excess.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Charles Shaw wines come from _one _winery: Bronco Wine Company in Ceres, CA They specializes in low cost product. The CEO of Bronco is related to Ernest Gallo.
> 
> You can read about how they keep their costs down here:
> The real reasons Trader Joe's wine is so cheap
Click to expand...

Agreed.  The majority of wine sold at local TJ's is utter swill.   It's leftover product from grapes cooked in high heat, reducing actual acid in the grapes so you get thin, jammy flavors which are tossed together with zero thought to actual winemaking craft.  Anyone who resorts to tossing oak chips into steel vats to "improve" flavor is only interested in pawning high-yield/low quality crap on unsuspecting wannabe wine enthusiasts who have yet to develop actual palates.    Though this bogus trick is practiced regularly now, it started with the likes of Two-Buck Chuck in CA.    If you want quality wine produced by winemakers who actually care about craft, look to Spain, southern Rhone Valley/France, and Italy, for starters.   These are wines produced from small-yield vineyards, and you can still get good prices on the vast majority of it.   CA can produce decent wines, but you'd think from the prices that they were imported from halfway around the world.   It's nonsense and they've turned it into little more than a quantity-over-quality racket out there.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

terri said:


> compur said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Charles Shaw is the ‘overstock’ from some very fine wineries.  (The better wineries will only bottle a finite amount of wine, law of supply and demand, in order to keep higher pricing. The wineries will sell off the excess.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Charles Shaw wines come from _one _winery: Bronco Wine Company in Ceres, CA They specializes in low cost product. The CEO of Bronco is related to Ernest Gallo.
> 
> You can read about how they keep their costs down here:
> The real reasons Trader Joe's wine is so cheap
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Agreed.  The majority of wine sold at local TJ's is utter swill.   It's leftover product from grapes cooked in high heat, reducing actual acid in the grapes so you get thin, jammy flavors which are tossed together with zero thought to actual winemaking craft.  Anyone who resorts to tossing oak chips into steel vats to "improve" flavor is only interested in pawning high-yield/low quality crap on unsuspecting wannabe wine enthusiasts who have yet to develop actual palates.    Though this bogus trick is practiced regularly now, it started with the likes of Two-Buck Chuck in CA.    If you want quality wine produced by winemakers who actually care about craft, look to Spain, southern Rhone Valley/France, and Italy, for starters.   These are wines produced from small-yield vineyards, and you can still get good prices on the vast majority of it.   CA can produce decent wines, but you'd think from the prices that they were imported from halfway around the world.   It's nonsense and they've turned it into little more than a quantity-over-quality racket out there.
Click to expand...


_But_, were they innovative enough to see the need for " the box "? Having a package solution that won't roll away in a tremor has to be worth much!


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> I live along a river...I usually just stood on the front porch, casually pointing at the view and whispering " It carries bodies away nicely...".
> 
> 
> 
> If you want to get graphic ... "Look maggot, laying a hand on Princess will piss off me and her Uncle Vince.  He just got out, but he's more then willing to spent another five years for beating the crap out maggots like you, who are less than a perfect gentleman with Princess."
Click to expand...


This is funny because my brother’s nickname is Don Franco (a family joke, he’s not connected) and we call his BFF Paulie Two Toes (he might have some juice).  I had them stare down some Wannabe beaus on our family cruise last year.  They were a bit buzzed and took it very seriously - Princess was less than amused.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> compur said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Charles Shaw is the ‘overstock’ from some very fine wineries.  (The better wineries will only bottle a finite amount of wine, law of supply and demand, in order to keep higher pricing. The wineries will sell off the excess.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Charles Shaw wines come from _one _winery: Bronco Wine Company in Ceres, CA They specializes in low cost product. The CEO of Bronco is related to Ernest Gallo.
> 
> You can read about how they keep their costs down here:
> The real reasons Trader Joe's wine is so cheap
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Agreed.  The majority of wine sold at local TJ's is utter swill.   It's leftover product from grapes cooked in high heat, reducing actual acid in the grapes so you get thin, jammy flavors which are tossed together with zero thought to actual winemaking craft.  Anyone who resorts to tossing oak chips into steel vats to "improve" flavor is only interested in pawning high-yield/low quality crap on unsuspecting wannabe wine enthusiasts who have yet to develop actual palates.    Though this bogus trick is practiced regularly now, it started with the likes of Two-Buck Chuck in CA.    If you want quality wine produced by winemakers who actually care about craft, look to Spain, southern Rhone Valley/France, and Italy, for starters.   These are wines produced from small-yield vineyards, and you can still get good prices on the vast majority of it.   CA can produce decent wines, but you'd think from the prices that they were imported from halfway around the world.   It's nonsense and they've turned it into little more than a quantity-over-quality racket out there.
Click to expand...


There is bad wine made everywhere ... there is good wine made in a lot of places ... there is great wine made only in a few places. 

Gary agrees the better wines in California are very overpriced ... but head to head, the moderately priced California wines will, more often than not, beat equally priced wines in Europe.  The better wines are priced to the market ... Californians are willing to overpay for their vino.  As a Californian, Gary has a household full of wonderful, overpriced Californian wine.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> beat equally priced wines in Europe


The Judgment Of Paris: The Blind Taste Test That Decanted The Wine World


----------



## davidharmier60

I do not have a pallet for wine. To be perfectly honest a fountain Dr. Pepper is pretty darn good.
% hours and enough minutes to get to 23 even for the week. Came home and weed eatered part of the yard and got a blower started for Dad.
Just did my comics. Got what I belive is the perfect strap for this watch in the mail.




Blue Expedition on C&amp;B Orange NATO by Just Plain Dave, on Flickr


----------



## terri

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> beat equally priced wines in Europe
> 
> 
> 
> The Judgment Of Paris: The Blind Taste Test That Decanted The Wine World
Click to expand...

Yeah, that happened.   I think a movie about it was made, if I'm not mistaken?   It was back in the 70s, when CA was breaking into the world market.   There's beautiful terroir in many areas.  

But that doesn't change what it's become since then.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> beat equally priced wines in Europe
> 
> 
> 
> The Judgment Of Paris: The Blind Taste Test That Decanted The Wine World
Click to expand...

_Bottle Shock _is the movie.  Quite entertaining.


----------



## Gary A.

A wonderful image from the Times’ Sports section.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> beat equally priced wines in Europe
> 
> 
> 
> The Judgment Of Paris: The Blind Taste Test That Decanted The Wine World
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> _Bottle Shock _is the movie.  Quite entertaining.
Click to expand...

That's it.   I liked it, and it has the advantage of being based on the true story.  I liked _Sideways _better for entertainment value.  Both flicks were love letters to Napa Valley.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> beat equally priced wines in Europe
> 
> 
> 
> The Judgment Of Paris: The Blind Taste Test That Decanted The Wine World
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> _Bottle Shock _is the movie.  Quite entertaining.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's it.   I liked it, and it has the advantage of being based on the true story.  I liked _Sideways _better for entertainment value.  Both flicks were love letters to Napa Valley.
Click to expand...

_Sideways_ took place in the Santa Rita Hills/Santa Barbara County.


----------



## Dave442

Working most the time in Latin America has moved me to the Chilean and Argentine wines. A tour of a few wineries will turn up talent brought in from around the world with California highly represented. Although when in California I usually go with a California wine. Of course when I was in west Texas in the early 80's my gift to family in California was always a bottle from the local Llano Estacado winery.


----------



## markjwyatt

My [red] wine choice hierarchy is usually

1. California
2. Australia
3. France
4. Spain
5. Argentina
6. Chile
7. other (Italy, South Africa, etc.)

Not an expert opinion, based on personal experience, but usually works out.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Naahhh ... these are high school kids. You have to just get in their face and:
> 
> 1. tell 'em what you gonna tell 'em.
> 2. tell 'em.
> 3. tell 'em what you told them.



I never had to say much. When they came around it wasn't unusual for me to have a couple of guns  in view, and be sharpening a rather large XXX Case Hunting knife while scowling in their direction. The sound of that knife dragging across stone was unnerving to most. Few years back a young man came to the warehouse for a small package pickup. Every one was busy loading trucks, so I told him I'd take him out and get it. I noticed he was on the skittish side and kept watching me. Finally asked him if he was okay, told me that he had come to my house to see my daughter many years back and that I'd scared the hell out of him. He never got over it apparently. Young minds are so impressionable LOL


----------



## Gary A.

Gary thinks there are two reasons for the California high wine pricing ... the cost of labor here is very high (union farm labor) and the local economy can bear the cost.


----------



## markjwyatt

re: CA wines

Deals can be found + the rest of my list...


----------



## limr

Then there are the overlooked Portuguese wines that are quietly being discovered by an international market. We finally decided to share


----------



## markjwyatt

limr said:


> Then there are the overlooked Portuguese wines that are quietly being discovered by an international market. We finally decided to share



I hear some are quite good. I have not tried them yet.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

markjwyatt said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Then there are the overlooked Portuguese wines that are quietly being discovered by an international market. We finally decided to share
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hear some are quite good. I have not tried them yet.
Click to expand...


That is because the little rowboat delivering them is still making it's way across the ocean

Sorry @limr  ( couldn't resist )


----------



## markjwyatt

Dean_Gretsch said:


> markjwyatt said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Then there are the overlooked Portuguese wines that are quietly being discovered by an international market. We finally decided to share
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hear some are quite good. I have not tried them yet.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That is because the little rowboat delivering them is still making it's way across the ocean
> 
> Sorry @limr  ( couldn't resist )
Click to expand...


Haha. That explains it.


----------



## compur

terri said:


> I liked _Sideways _better for entertainment value.  Both flicks were love letters to Napa Valley.



The "Sideways" story took place in the Santa Barbara wine country located in Southern California. The Napa Valley wine region is hundreds of miles away in Northern California.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are at the Segerstrom waiting for _On Your Feet _to begin.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou and Gary are at the Segerstrom waiting for _On Your Feet _to begin.



Your evening is beginning and mine is coming to an end.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> beat equally priced wines in Europe
> 
> 
> 
> The Judgment Of Paris: The Blind Taste Test That Decanted The Wine World
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> _Bottle Shock _is the movie.  Quite entertaining.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's it.   I liked it, and it has the advantage of being based on the true story.  I liked _Sideways _better for entertainment value.  Both flicks were love letters to Napa Valley.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> _Sideways_ took place in the Santa Rita Hills/Santa Barbara County.
Click to expand...

You may not recall the scene where they were drinking all night, showing label after label of juice.    Napa stuff was clearly represented.    Jeez.


----------



## limr

markjwyatt said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> markjwyatt said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Then there are the overlooked Portuguese wines that are quietly being discovered by an international market. We finally decided to share
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hear some are quite good. I have not tried them yet.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That is because the little rowboat delivering them is still making it's way across the ocean
> 
> Sorry @limr  ( couldn't resist )
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Haha. That explains it.
Click to expand...


Nah, that doesn't explain it at all. If it's one thing in this world that the Portuguese know how to do, it's to get a boat, any boat, across an ocean.

The Douro region is of course known for its port wine, but it's been getting a lot of attention for its table wines in recent years. Also, the reds from the Alentejo have long been known inside the country, but they are now making their way abroad. Traditionally, the vast majority of wine production in Portugal has been consumed within the country, but that's starting to change as the country is starting to think a bit more globally.

When I lived there, I rarely paid more than 5 euros for wine and it was always good. I once accidentally picked up a bottle thinking it was 6 or 7 euros and then at the checkout realizing it was about 13. I just went ahead and paid for it, deciding to spluge. It was excellent.

The only wine other than port that really made a name for itself outside of the country is vinho verde, a fresh efervescent wine from the north. Casal Garcia is the label that most may know in the US, and it's decent enough. Wish you all could taste the really good ones. Having lived in the north, I was totally spoiled. Might have to make a visit soon and bring a carry-on that is empty on the way there and loaded on the way back


----------



## compur

terri said:


> You may not recall the scene where they were drinking all night, showing label after label of juice.    Napa stuff was clearly represented.    Jeez.



OK. Case dismissed.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sunny with a slight breeze here.  Still have this horrible chest cough and now my arthritis in my shoulder has kicked up again for the first time in a few years so giving it a rest for a few days.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all. I'm going to go off to work in roughly 15 minutes. Got a lovely mug of coffee to try and get eyes clear and such.
I am not a morning person. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Nah, that doesn't explain it at all. If it's one thing in this world that the Portuguese know how to do, it's to get a boat, any boat, across an ocean.


All of the oceans.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.

It's blood day!  I've gotten drawn in (OK, I jumped in) to a "Battle of the Badges" blood donation - Police vs. Fire.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Good morning, peeps.
> 
> It's blood day!  I've gotten drawn in (OK, I jumped in) to a "Battle of the Badges" blood donation - Police vs. Fire.



I can't give blood. It seems I have lived in a country with mad cow disease.


----------



## smoke665

My bank talked me into using their new mobile app on my phone to make deposits. What a crock, I tried at least 15 times to deposit a $100 bill, failed everytime.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> beat equally priced wines in Europe
> 
> 
> 
> The Judgment Of Paris: The Blind Taste Test That Decanted The Wine World
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> _Bottle Shock _is the movie.  Quite entertaining.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's it.   I liked it, and it has the advantage of being based on the true story.  I liked _Sideways _better for entertainment value.  Both flicks were love letters to Napa Valley.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> _Sideways_ took place in the Santa Rita Hills/Santa Barbara County.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You may not recall the scene where they were drinking all night, showing label after label of juice.    Napa stuff was clearly represented.    Jeez.
Click to expand...




terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> beat equally priced wines in Europe
> 
> 
> 
> The Judgment Of Paris: The Blind Taste Test That Decanted The Wine World
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> _Bottle Shock _is the movie.  Quite entertaining.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's it.   I liked it, and it has the advantage of being based on the true story.  I liked _Sideways _better for entertainment value.  Both flicks were love letters to Napa Valley.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> _Sideways_ took place in the Santa Rita Hills/Santa Barbara County.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You may not recall the scene where they were drinking all night, showing label after label of juice.    Napa stuff was clearly represented.    Jeez.
Click to expand...

There is now a hotel named after the movie in Buellton, the Sideways Inn.  Numerous signs attesting to movie scene locations scattered across the Santa Rita Hills/Santa Barbara County wine country. The bar scenes were shot in the Hitching Post II on Highway 246 in Buellton.  Typically, we stay in Buellton or Solvang when we spend the night. There were two now three Hitching Post Restaurants in the area.










Hitching Post I





Outside The Hitching Post





Wine tasting in Los Olivos.  The very small town of Los Olivos is in the heart of the Santa Barbara County wine country.





The famous Fat Cat of Los Olivos.





Pairing music with vino in Los Olivos


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, peeps.
> 
> It's blood day!  I've gotten drawn in (OK, I jumped in) to a "Battle of the Badges" blood donation - Police vs. Fire.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I can't give blood. It seems I have lived in a country with mad cow disease.
Click to expand...

Those Red Cross forms are killers. Having lived in Europe, Africa and Asia ... there were always long explanations after the check marks. Mary Lou and Gary were regulars, every six weeks for years.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> My bank talked me into using their new mobile app on my phone to make deposits. What a crock, I tried at least 15 times to deposit a $100 bill, failed everytime.


Check your account, you may be $1500 richer.


----------



## davidharmier60

I use to give blood like clockwork. Now I'd need to drive 40 miles to give. In my Dodge diesel that got near 20mpg thast wasn't so bad. In my Chevy gasser that does maybe a little better than 15mpg not so much. 
Back when I was doing it my cholesterol was creeping down.
5.17 or 18 hours today.
28.17 or 18 for the week. 
I have tomorrow off. May come in and clean bathrooms and put better wheels on a shopping cart. But maybe not.

Thinking about the deli.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is 70F outside (and inside) with a nice Marine Layer which removes shadows and morning heat.  The temp will barely break 80F today, nice to get back to something resembling normal. 

_On Your Feet! _Was very entertaining.  A musical autobiography of Gloria Esteban.  Gary knew it was written by Esteban, but not that it was autobiographical.  A fun and entertaining evening, lots and lots of dance and music ... not so much dialogue.


----------



## Gary A.

From the top of the Segerstrom. 



 
Walking to the upper deck from the parking lot


----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers !       The morning walk earlier was amazing.    Humidity way down, temperature was 64 degrees, and leaves are beginning to fall.  It feels like September out there, at a time of year when we could be sweating the 90's.  Wow!

There will be celebrating on the screened in porch this evening.   Wine and pizza night. 

Last night, Mars was right next to the moon, glowing red.  It's so clear, I hope for another great evening of stargazing.


----------



## SquarePeg

It's cool here today too - very pleasantly so!  The Accuweather app called today "delightful" and they were right!  Of course next week when school starts it will be in the mid 90's (no ac at the high school).


----------



## smoke665

Looks like I'll be busy building Christmas gifts. Already have three requests. Looks like a @Gary A. kind of thing. LOL


----------



## Gary A.

Make that four requests.


----------



## davidharmier60

Got home and the outside unit of the AC had made a weird noise. The fan blade got loose from the hub. Beat it with a hammer and put two screws to keep it secure. 
Running right now and cooling as it should. About to do my comics at ArcaMax.


----------



## smoke665

Boring night on the tv last night, so I started watching the 2019 swimsuit calendar shoot for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Thought I might pick up some "photography tips". After watching for a bit I realized that at my age, 10 mins with most of the bubble heads modeling would be more than enough for me, but the gear these guys were using, now that I could develop a long standing relationship with!!!!


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou and Gary were regulars, every six weeks for years.


When I was taking classes at UMD, I was giving every possibility.  I even started helping out with giving out drinks and snacks to the folks that donated.



limr said:


> I can't give blood. It seems I have lived in a country with mad cow disease.


Neither can MLW - she has a blood disorder and no spleen.  I donated what they call "Power Red" (or doubles) where they take your blood out, running it through a machine to remove the platelets and some of the serum getting a bag of concentrated blood.  The serum, along with saline (salt water) is then put back into your arm for a second collection to be concentrated.  Finally. they return a second batch of your serum with the saline.

This means that you can claim half of my second batch. MLW gets half because she can't donate, either (ITP).
This was #16 for me, so I'm now in the two gallon club.  Actually, I've given a little more since I've done three or four times.


----------



## CherylL

I took a relative to the hospital today for out patient minor surgery.  In the waiting room a man tried changing the TV by slamming his finger into the screen many times.  Thought he would break it!  I did tell him politely that it wasn't touch screen.  Sorta creepy man.  When he first arrived I was the only one in the waiting room.  There were about dozen empty chairs around the room and he sat in the one next to me.  Shortly after the TV incident, I told reception that I was taking a short walk.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mary Lou and Gary were regulars, every six weeks for years.
> 
> 
> 
> When I was taking classes at UMD, I was giving every possibility.  I even started helping out with giving out drinks and snacks to the folks that donated.
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't give blood. It seems I have lived in a country with mad cow disease.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Neither can MLW - she has a blood disorder and no spleen.  I donated what they call "Power Red" (or doubles) where they take your blood out, running it through a machine to remove the platelets and some of the serum getting a bag of concentrated blood.  The serum, along with saline (salt water) is then put back into your arm for a second collection to be concentrated.  Finally. they return a second batch of your serum with the saline.
> 
> This means that you can claim half of my second batch. MLW gets half because she can't donate, either (ITP).
> This was #16 for me, so I'm now in the two gallon club.  Actually, I've given a little more since I've done three or four times.
Click to expand...

Gary used to give blood and platelets, but now he gets these rather large welts after the needle is removed.  So he has given up on giving blood.  

Gary also has donated two quarts of his bone marrow.


----------



## Gary A.

CherylL said:


> I took a relative to the hospital today for out patient minor surgery.  In the waiting room a man tried changing the TV by slamming his finger into the screen many times.  Thought he would break it!  I did tell him politely that it wasn't touch screen.  Sorta creepy man.  When he first arrived I was the only one in the waiting room.  There were about dozen empty chairs around the room and he sat in the one next to me.  Shortly after the TV incident, I told reception that I was taking a short walk.


That sucks.  You're already on edge about the surgery ... then some weird person starts doing weird stuff. Gary hopes the surgery went well.


----------



## davidharmier60

Cream tuna on toast with fries and onion rings was dinner. Possibly Blue Bell later but that ain't a sure thing. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

CherylL said:


> I took a relative to the hospital today for out patient minor surgery.  In the waiting room a man tried changing the TV by slamming his finger into the screen many times.  Thought he would break it!  I did tell him politely that it wasn't touch screen.  Sorta creepy man.  When he first arrived I was the only one in the waiting room.  There were about dozen empty chairs around the room and he sat in the one next to me.  Shortly after the TV incident, I told reception that I was taking a short walk.


Hope surgery went OK and TV poker was gone when you got back.


----------



## CherylL

Gary A. said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> I took a relative to the hospital today for out patient minor surgery.  In the waiting room a man tried changing the TV by slamming his finger into the screen many times.  Thought he would break it!  I did tell him politely that it wasn't touch screen.  Sorta creepy man.  When he first arrived I was the only one in the waiting room.  There were about dozen empty chairs around the room and he sat in the one next to me.  Shortly after the TV incident, I told reception that I was taking a short walk.
> 
> 
> 
> That sucks.  You're already on edge about the surgery ... then some weird person starts doing weird stuff. Gary hopes the surgery went well.
Click to expand...


Thanks, the surgery went as planned.  I was alone with the guy for about 15 minutes.  He was agitated when he walked in and no one at reception. He sat down in a huff and asked where was everyone.  I assured him that there was a full house of workers and clients in the back.  I wonder if he was high or a medical issue because he couldn't sit still.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is so beat-up.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary is so beat-up



Just looking at it makes my back hurt!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sunny start today with a cool breeze so Susie and I had a lovely walk in the park.  Might go and watch the singers later but will feel strange not having and using the camera though.


----------



## davidharmier60

Crap. Crud. Etc.
The outside AC unit is down again.
Trying to get awake and clear eyed enough to deal with it. Ain't life swell?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is so beat-up
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just looking at it makes my back hurt!
Click to expand...

That's just half the trenching.


----------



## Gary A.

Marine layer is heavier this morning ... gonna be another perfect day.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Morning all, sunny start today with a cool breeze so Susie and I had a lovely walk in the park.  Might go and watch the singers later but will feel strange not having and using the camera though.


Pourquoi pas de camera? Est-ce l'arthrite?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  yesterday Gary rented a trencher.  It was a worthless piece of crap. It took far more effort and sweat to haul around a 200 lb. piece of pig iron than to have used a shovel.  There was an auger or the right side of the pig, designed to move the dirt out from the chain to the side of the trencher.  That auger kept pulling the trencher to the right ... after an hour of ... _less than desirable results ... _and an equivalent loss of  full days worth of sweat, Gary returned the pig.  Fortunately, he received a full refund from Home Depot. (Actually, Mary Lou got the refund as Gary was in the parking lot kicking the sucker.)  The early image was from Gary's shovel work.)


----------



## Gary A.

Today, electrical and concrete contractors are coming over for estimates and tonight a musical program named "Route 66" at the Huntington Library.  The Library is fabulous ... Gary is looking forward to the show, sipping vino, eating dinner, making new friends under the stars.  The Library is a small venue, hosting only a few hundred people, rendering parking easy and free, the grounds/botanical gardens are wondrous and the director and musicians are world class.  (Music will sooth Gary's aching little body.)


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> That's just half the trenching.



I would have rented one of these, my hands don't fit a shovel handle anymore  you can dig a lot of trench in a short amount of time. Home Depot rents them for $209 a day.




But for $40 more and a case of beer, I would have went with this, just for Wow factor


----------



## Gary A.

Gotta size the equipment for the job ... not the ego ...


----------



## Gary A.

This was the iron pig. It came with an 18" blade, what was all Gary theoretically needed.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gotta size the equipment for the job ... not the ego ...



I was trying to size the equipment for you Gary. If it was "my ego", I'd go with one of these.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gotta size the equipment for the job ... not the ego ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was trying to size the equipment for you Gary. If it was "my ego", I'd go with one of these.
> View attachment 162240
Click to expand...

That is funny!


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> This was the iron pig. It came with an 18" blade



No wonder it didn't work, the one I showed you earlier would have worked. We had  a Ditch Witch similar with tracks that worked great.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> This was the iron pig. It came with an 18" blade
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No wonder it didn't work, the one I showed you earlier would have worked. We had  a Ditch Witch similar with tracks that worked great.
Click to expand...

Gary has often used Ditch Witches on his construction jobs, no problem with them.  Some of the ride alongs had enclosed cabs with A/C.


----------



## davidharmier60

Apparently the wires that go to a plug for direction of the motor got bumped by the fan and unplugged. Have taken steps to make sure that don't happen again.
Last check showed 91 on the back porch. AC is holding inside at 79.

Thought about going to work to clean the bathrooms and other stuff but I lost the will to do so.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  yesterday Gary rented a trencher.  It was a worthless piece of crap. It took far more effort and sweat to haul around a 200 lb. piece of pig iron than to have used a shovel.  There was an auger or the right side of the pig, designed to move the dirt out from the chain to the side of the trencher.  That auger kept pulling the trencher to the right ... after an hour of ... _less than desirable results ... _and an equivalent loss of  full days worth of sweat, Gary returned the pig.  Fortunately, he received a full refund from Home Depot. (Actually, Mary Lou got the refund as Gary was in the parking lot kicking the sucker.)  The early image was from Gary's shovel work.)


there is a skill to that mule fo sho


----------



## jcdeboever

ditch witch is what I'm talking about. Went to drag race today. Fired off two rolls in no time. One guy in the stands looked at me and said, "son, you need a proper camera". I said, "it's all I got", he said, "well, stupid is as stupid does". I don't have a motor drive so I was epileptic about the whole half hour frames per second, wearing shorts, dress socks, and a wife beater.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> ditch witch is what I'm talking about. Went to drag race today. Fired off two rolls in no time. One guy in the stands looked at me and said, "son, you need a proper camera". I said, "it's all I got", he said, "well, stupid is as stupid does". I don't have a motor drive so I was epileptic about the whole half hour frames per second, wearing shorts, dress socks, and a wife beater.


A homie at the races ... lol.


----------



## jcdeboever

I like the Nikon F rewind crank


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> ditch witch is what I'm talking about. Went to drag race today. Fired off two rolls in no time. One guy in the stands looked at me and said, "son, you need a proper camera". I said, "it's all I got", he said, "well, stupid is as stupid does". I don't have a motor drive so I was epileptic about the whole half hour frames per second, wearing shorts, dress socks, and a wife beater.
> 
> 
> 
> A homie at the races ... lol.
Click to expand...


my wife hasn't been home much at all as of late. I can dress any way I want, lol. she has to dress me, according to her. I am not sure I agree but the clothes fit, so I guess she is in tune.


----------



## limr

Don't care in the least what you were wearing, but could we at least stop calling it a wife beater?


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> wearing shorts, dress socks, and a wife beater.



Only thing missing are sock garters LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

Grilled cheese sandwich for dinner. 
Blue Bell later for sure.
Some Cop show on TV.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> wearing shorts, dress socks, and a wife beater.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Only thing missing are sock garters LOL
Click to expand...


I got those stabilizing my onion sacks...


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Don't care in the least what you were wearing, but could we at least stop calling it a wife beater?



Oh limr, you are the best


----------



## compur

I don't hate barbecue sauce but I do dislike it and consider it an excellent way to ruin otherwise tasty meats.

What I _do _hate are spicy-hot foods sold without any warning as to their toxic nature before purchase. I consider this a form of felony assault and battery and offenders should be punished accordingly.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't care in the least what you were wearing, but could we at least stop calling it a wife beater?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh limr, you are the best
Click to expand...


Do you really think I am joking or are you being intentionally patronizing as to signal that you are not planning on taking me seriously?


----------



## CherylL

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> ditch witch is what I'm talking about. Went to drag race today. Fired off two rolls in no time. One guy in the stands looked at me and said, "son, you need a proper camera". I said, "it's all I got", he said, "well, stupid is as stupid does". I don't have a motor drive so I was epileptic about the whole half hour frames per second, wearing shorts, dress socks, and a wife beater.
> 
> 
> 
> A homie at the races ... lol.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> my wife hasn't been home much at all as of late. I can dress any way I want, lol. she has to dress me, according to her. I am not sure I agree but the clothes fit, so I guess she is in tune.
Click to expand...


My husband is a shopper and can dress himself most of the time.  He does have a problem thinking things match.  We have a big debate over khaki & green.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> a big debate over khaki & green



And something is wrong with that color match? I'm missing something.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> a big debate over khaki & green
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And something is wrong with that color match? I'm missing something.
Click to expand...


He thinks a green khaki is the same as a tan khaki pants.  He will ask me in the store if something matches and I say no.  Then he will ask the sales clerk for a 2nd opinion.  And she will say no.  The one thing we both agree on is no tank tops for men.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't care in the least what you were wearing, but could we at least stop calling it a wife beater?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh limr, you are the best
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Do you really think I am joking or are you being intentionally patronizing as to signal that you are not planning on taking me seriously?
Click to expand...


I thought you were joking. Now that I know your serious, I am going to straighten up because you just scared me that you were really serious.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> thinks a green khaki is the same as a tan khaki pants.



Thank modern marketing for leading him astray. Khaki in the traditional sense is a light yellowish/brown, but today it isn't unusual to see stores advertising khaki pants in multiple colors. I remain a purist on the color


----------



## davidharmier60

Nite y'all. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Boston translation


----------



## davidharmier60

Mornin' youse peeps. Scrambled eggs, little Sizzlers and toast was breakfast. The AC is still running ok.
I may go out and check the mail but that is NOT carved in stone.
Am going to mess with pennies.


----------



## SquarePeg

Blew off the planned beach day, passed on a brunch invite, not interested in the tv or my current book... may have to take a hike with scooby-doo.   It’s national doggie day after all!  Got to spend time with my bff.


----------



## terri

Hee hee!   What a face...I think you're being encouraged to do exactly that!


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone




Last night was very pleasant. We dined under a large oak tree and then a wonderful performances of music, dance and song.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  This has been a busy morning.  Gary had scheduled an early morning bike ride via his recently restored road bike. But had to cancel because his rear tire wasn't true. Maggie had her walk and played Frisbee with Honey. After the walk Maggie, Honey and associated humans stopped at the house for more shenanigans and tea. A well seasoned Tri-Tip is in the Sous Vide, a rear tire is trued, the Sous Vide software has been updated, Maggie hosed down from her walk, a Haiku correct and another added, a breakfast burrito consumed and now it is time for more trenching.


----------



## davidharmier60

Had a salad. Some sort of pasta and meat concoction is coming up in 10 minutes or so. Astros are working on a sweep of the series with the Angels. Here's hoping. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

My neighbor got a new car. He said it took two year for delivery.


----------



## crzyfotopeeple

Ok. I'm tired of waiting. What did your neighbor buy?


----------



## davidharmier60

Nitey nite y'all. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

crzyfotopeeple said:


> Ok. I'm tired of waiting. What did your neighbor buy?



Given the wait time and the emblem, I'd say Tesla


----------



## Gary A.

A Tesla.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> My bank talked me into using their new mobile app on my phone to make deposits. What a crock, I tried at least 15 times to deposit a $100 bill, failed everytime.


Send it to me; mine will let me do with no issues!


----------



## ceemac

SquarePeg said:


> It’s national doggie day after all! Got to spend time with my bff.


You Americans are lucky. My wife told me that in Canada it was national "work your husband like a dog day"  I wanted a deck, she wanted a lawn, not just grass. Apparently she didn't hear me.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, cloudy today but cool out.  Over to Mums today as it is her 86th birthday.  Love you loads Mum xx


----------



## davidharmier60

Back to work soon. yippee

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

One eye down, one to go. Now to get though the two weeks inbetween with the unequal vision.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> One eye down, one to go. Now to get though the two weeks inbetween with the unequal vision.


Soon, you won't have any excuses for poor photography. 

You need a Pirate patch.  That way your looks will match your speech.  Aarrgh!


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Had a serious heart to heart with the surgeon before, to make certain nothing he was installing would change my "conservative views".  

Just removed the patch, and the difference is amazing. It's still slightly blurry, which should clear up in a few days, but the brightness difference is unreal. Whites are so white they're almost luminous. I can actually see without glasses, on anything but close up out of that eye.  They told me it would be difficult in the interim because of the strength of my glasses. Will have to figure out how to make it work for now.


----------



## waday




----------



## waday




----------



## ceemac

smoke665 said:


> Will have to figure out how to make it work for now.



Remove a lens from your glasses? (the one you don't need.)


----------



## smoke665

ceemac said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Will have to figure out how to make it work for now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Remove a lens from your glasses? (the one you don't need.)
Click to expand...


Just did it. That helps but trying to reconcile the difference in brightness between eyes is still a problem


----------



## Gary A.

When the other eye gets fixed ... you can remove the remaining lens.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> ceemac said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Will have to figure out how to make it work for now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Remove a lens from your glasses? (the one you don't need.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Just did it. That helps but trying to reconcile the difference in brightness between eyes is still a problem
Click to expand...

I'm sure I missed this, so sorry for asking if you already answered, buy why didn't you get both done at the same time?


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> buy why didn't you get both done at the same time?



In case they screw up!!!! 

Mine doesn't recommend it. Even though with today's surgery, the risk of eye infection and other serious complications is very low, complications at the same time, could be visually devastating for a period of time and perhaps even permanently. Also,  performing cataract surgery on each eye on separate days allows the surgeon and patient to evaluate the visual outcome of the first surgery, which might influence choices made for the second surgery


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> buy why didn't you get both done at the same time?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In case they screw up!!!!
> 
> Mine doesn't recommend it. Even though with today's surgery, the risk of eye infection and other serious complications is very low, complications at the same time, could be visually devastating for a period of time and perhaps even permanently. Also,  performing cataract surgery on each eye on separate days allows the surgeon and patient to evaluate the visual outcome of the first surgery, which might influence choices made for the second surgery
Click to expand...

Ah, that's right, you're having cataract surgery, as well. I'm glad it's going well thus far, aside from the difficulty in using two different eyes! 

I've known at least three people that have gone the LASIK route (through three different doctors), all three did both on the same day. I'm guessing that time off work also factored into their decision to do both at the same time.


----------



## SquarePeg

Anyone else watching Succession on HBO?


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Anyone else watching Succession on HBO?


Not, yet. My wife wanted to start that, and then I ended up diverting twice, LOL. The first was watching the Detectorists, all three seasons. We finished those in like a week or so (half-hour episodes with not many episodes per season). And then I had this crazy idea to watch Harry Potter from beginning to end, so we're currently doing that, LOL.

But, it's on our list.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone else watching Succession on HBO?
> 
> 
> 
> Not, yet. My wife wanted to start that, and then I ended up diverting twice, LOL. The first was watching the Detectorists, all three seasons. We finished those in like a week or so (half-hour episodes with not many episodes per season). And then I had this crazy idea to watch Harry Potter from beginning to end, so we're currently doing that, LOL.
> 
> But, it's on our list.
Click to expand...


I recommend it.  Terrific acting by the 2 leads - Brian Cox and Jeremy Stern.   Really enjoying it so far.  Hoping to finish the season tonight.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> 've known at least three people that have gone the LASIK route (through three different doctors), all three did both on the same day. I'm guessing that time off work also factored into their decision to do both at the same time.




My daughter had LASIK, but they still did one eye at a time. LASIK makes corrections to the cornea, Cataract surgery replaces the natural lens with a new synthetic lens.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone else watching Succession on HBO?
> 
> 
> 
> Not, yet. My wife wanted to start that, and then I ended up diverting twice, LOL. The first was watching the Detectorists, all three seasons. We finished those in like a week or so (half-hour episodes with not many episodes per season). And then I had this crazy idea to watch Harry Potter from beginning to end, so we're currently doing that, LOL.
> 
> But, it's on our list.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I recommend it.  Terrific acting by the 2 leads - Brian Cox and Jeremy Stern.   Really enjoying it so far.  Hoping to finish the season tonight.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Will check it out!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah, there's a reason they only do one eye at a time... I had a procedure done and everything went black afterwards for awhile. And it was preventive but we so far haven't done the other one because I kept seeing dark spots from the laser way longer than you're supposed to. My mom has had umpteen eye surgeries since I was in high school and boy the laser now is lots better than what they used to do! (You don't want to know.) 

But I didn't even like it during an eye exam when they thought the drops to dilate didn't go in one eye so did an extra drop - then one eye un-dilated and the other didn't til next morning and I felt like I was looking underwater all evening! lol

Glad Smoke that yours went well, bet you'll be glad when it recovers completely.


----------



## snowbear

jcdeboever said:


> ditch witch is what I'm talking about. Went to drag race today. Fired off two rolls in no time. One guy in the stands looked at me and said, "son, you need a proper camera". I said, "it's all I got", he said, "well, stupid is as stupid does". I don't have a motor drive so I was epileptic about the whole half hour frames per second, wearing shorts, dress socks, and a wife beater.


I'd have told him it _is_ a proper camera.


----------



## snowbear

Well, the work computer (actually the user account) is fixed, sort of.  It turns out the security software is interpreting .lock files as malicious.  The problem is, when a map is opened in the GIS software, a lock is placed on the local databases (not the countywide enterprise servers) where the map layers reside.  So I'm still just working in Python, today.

Glad the eye work went well, Smoke.  Mine went fine, and it'a been a year, already.

I tried to slice off the tip of my right "social" finger while washing dishes, yesterday.  I've been put out of commission by MLW for a couple of days.


----------



## vintagesnaps

OK I saw this before and at first was trying to think what do you wear that would be called a wife beater?! But really JC, this is the 21st century, something named after hitting a spouse is really not something to joke about.

And I think you may have meant apoplectic not epileptic, because that condition isn't particularly something to joke about either if you know anyone who has epilepsy. (I guess neither is, I had to look up apoplexy because you don't really hear that term used.)


----------



## vintagesnaps

Charlie, not too much I hope.


----------



## smoke665

@snowbear so far so good. As my vision has been clearing another pleasant thing I've noticed is the difference in Blues between the two eyes. All the shades of blue when view from the good eye now appear much brighter, more blue. The surgeon also told me I'd see improved greens.


----------



## vintagesnaps

William Shatner is coming here. What exactly does he do on stage??! I mean, when it's not a Trekkie autograph signing type event? It's at a theater, sounds like a one man show; I'm trying to imagine what he does, he doesn't sing does he?? lol I have a friend that I bet will go so I suppose I'll find out.


----------



## jcdeboever

snowbear said:


> Well, the work computer (actually the user account) is fixed, sort of.  It turns out the security software is interpreting .lock files as malicious.  The problem is, when a map is opened in the GIS software, a lock is placed on the local databases (not the countywide enterprise servers) where the map layers reside.  So I'm still just working in Python, today.
> 
> Glad the eye work went well, Smoke.  Mine went fine, and it'a been a year, already.
> 
> I tried to slice off the tip of my right "social" finger while washing dishes, yesterday.  I've been put out of commission by MLW for a couple of days.



Missing tips and Python don't work well together. This will not fix your problem, I'm just being to sexy for my keyboard, lol. Hopefully, no alarms sound off...


 # Mandelbrot set
  print (lambda Ru,Ro,Iu,Io,IM,Sx,Sy:reduce(lambda x,y:x+y,map(lambda y,
  Iu=Iu,Io=Io,Ru=Ru,Ro=Ro,Sy=Sy,L=lambda yc,Iu=Iu,Io=Io,Ru=Ru,Ro=Ro,i=IM,
  Sx=Sx,Sy=Sy:reduce(lambda x,y:x+y,map(lambda x,xc=Ru,yc=yc,Ru=Ru,Ro=Ro,
  i=i,Sx=Sx,F=lambda xc,yc,x,y,k,f=lambda xc,yc,x,y,k,fk<=0)or (x*x+y*y
  >=4.0) or 1+f(xc,yc,x*x-y*y+xc,2.0*x*y+yc,k-1,f):f(xc,yc,x,y,k,f):chr(
  64+F(Ru+x*(Ro-Ru)/Sx,yc,0,0,i)),range(Sx))):L(Iu+y*(Io-Iu)/Sy),range(Sy
  ))))(-2.1, 0.7, -1.2, 1.2, 30, 80, 24)
  #    \___ ___/  \___ ___/  |   |   |__ lines on screen
  #        V          V      |   |______ columns on screen
  #        |          |      |__________ maximum of "iterations"
  #        |          |_________________ range on y axis
  #        |____________________________ range on x axis


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> OK I saw this before and at first was trying to think what do you wear that would be called a wife beater?! But really JC, this is the 21st century, something named after hitting a spouse is really not something to joke about.



Not to start an argument but to enlighten. The term used for a tank top type shirt supposedly had an early start in the Medieval era as "waif beater", referring to a knight who on the field of battle lost his clothing, leaving only his chainmail undershirt intact. That man, left abandoned on the field and certainly ready to be speared, was called a "waif beater," with "waif" referring to an abandoned person and "beater" as in he's about to get beat.  The actual use of the term first came about in today's use around the last of the 1800's thanks to the NYT who used 'wife beater", to describe someone who had committed the act. It became tied to the shirt in the late 40's when a viral news story showed a Michigan man in a dirty white tank top, who was arrested for beating his wife to death. Throughout the publicity of the murder and trial, it always showed him in the white tank top, and referred to him as wife beater. 

Up to this point it was considered a derogatory term, but thanks to Hollywood they started the trend toward glamorizing the shirt as a symbol of violent, abusive and outright dangerous men.  Remember  "A Street Car Named Desire"? What Hollywood shows, people want to emulate, so it's no surprise that it became rooted in the 90's as a confluence of rising "rap, gay and gang subcultures."  Fashion followed with not only the shirts, but the term being bantered about among the fashionable elites, and the magazines that served them.

It's only been in recent times that the general sentiment is swinging back to the derogatory meaning. As with all transitions they take time to work their way out of the general language use of the population.  I doubt very seriously that JC or any other man or women who either has used or will use the term again during the transition is making light of abuse of a spouse, but rather was an innocent transgression.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> Well, the work computer (actually the user account) is fixed, sort of. It turns out the security software is interpreting .lock files as malicious. The problem is, when a map is opened in the GIS software, a lock is placed on the local databases (not the countywide enterprise servers) where the map layers reside. So I'm still just working in Python, today.


I hate when stuff like that happens. One time I had to get IT on the phone with someone from a regulatory agency, because the agency's software wasn't working with my company's IT/security. Fun stuff. LOL


----------



## markjwyatt

vintagesnaps said:


> William Shatner is coming here. What exactly does he do on stage??! I mean, when it's not a Trekkie autograph signing type event? It's at a theater, sounds like a one man show; I'm trying to imagine what he does, he doesn't sing does he?? lol I have a friend that I bet will go so I suppose I'll find out.



He probably says profound and illuminating things like "name your own price" or "jelly jiggles and bellies wiggle".


----------



## SquarePeg

We need a mansplain button to go with all the others.


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon y'all. Truck didn't even crank a full turn this morning so drove the expired Mitsubishi to work. 
5.42 hours. Was to install a shelf in the meat deprtment but that is put off until Wednesday.
The filters that were supposed to be changed on the 20th got here today. So got that done.
I would have thought that all the walking I do behind machines and otherwise and all the 
ladder climbing etc. would have made me feel better. But it ain't happening that way.
My right leg sometimes aches.

Anyhow have done my comics, all but one roll in the box of pennies I'll sell tomorrow and have Shine Down playing on YouTube.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> We need a mansplain button to go with all the others.



Ayup.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> William Shatner is coming here. What exactly does he do on stage??! I mean, when it's not a Trekkie autograph signing type event? It's at a theater, sounds like a one man show; I'm trying to imagine what he does, he doesn't sing does he?? lol I have a friend that I bet will go so I suppose I'll find out.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> OK I saw this before and at first was trying to think what do you wear that would be called a wife beater?! But really JC, this is the 21st century, something named after hitting a spouse is really not something to joke about.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not to start an argument but to enlighten. The term used for a tank top type shirt supposedly had an early start in the Medieval era as "waif beater", referring to a knight who on the field of battle lost his clothing, leaving only his chainmail undershirt intact. That man, left abandoned on the field and certainly ready to be speared, was called a "waif beater," with "waif" referring to an abandoned person and "beater" as in he's about to get beat.  The actual use of the term first came about in today's use around the last of the 1800's thanks to the NYT who used 'wife beater", to describe someone who had committed the act. It became tied to the shirt in the late 40's when a viral news story showed a Michigan man in a dirty white tank top, who was arrested for beating his wife to death. Throughout the publicity of the murder and trial, it always showed him in the white tank top, and referred to him as wife beater.
> 
> Up to this point it was considered a derogatory term, but thanks to Hollywood they started the trend toward glamorizing the shirt as a symbol of violent, abusive and outright dangerous men.  Remember  "A Street Car Named Desire"? What Hollywood shows, people want to emulate, so it's no surprise that it became rooted in the 90's as a confluence of rising "rap, gay and gang subcultures."  Fashion followed with not only the shirts, but the term being bantered about among the fashionable elites, and the magazines that served them.
> 
> It's only been in recent times that the general sentiment is swinging back to the derogatory meaning. As with all transitions they take time to work their way out of the general language use of the population.  I doubt very seriously that JC or any other man or women who either has used or will use the term again during the transition is making light of abuse of a spouse, but rather was an innocent transgression.
Click to expand...

thanks bud, I think...


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> We need a mansplain button to go with all the others.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ayup.
Click to expand...

Huh...  "wife-beater"  is offensive, but "mainsplainin'" (atrocious grammar aside) is supposed to be acceptable?  Interesting...


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> We need a mansplain button to go with all the others.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ayup.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Huh...  "wife-beater"  is offensive, but "mainsplainin'" (atrocious grammar aside) is supposed to be acceptable?  Interesting...
Click to expand...


It's mansplaining, not "mainsplainin" and yes, references to physical violence against women are more offensive than a term that calls out rude behavior.


----------



## jcdeboever

I just farted and baby girl jumped about three feet.


----------



## davidharmier60

The quiet ones are the deadly ones you know...


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> We need a mansplain button to go with all the others.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ayup.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Huh...  "wife-beater"  is offensive, but "mainsplainin'" (atrocious grammar aside) is supposed to be acceptable?  Interesting...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's mansplaining, not "mainsplainin" and yes, references to physical violence against women are more offensive than a term that calls out rude behavior.
Click to expand...

Apologies.  I missed the memo appointing you the arbiter responsible for determining degrees of offensiveness.


----------



## RowdyRay

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> We need a mansplain button to go with all the others.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ayup.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Huh...  "wife-beater"  is offensive, but "mainsplainin'" (atrocious grammar aside) is supposed to be acceptable?  Interesting...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's mansplaining, not "mainsplainin" and yes, references to physical violence against women are more offensive than a term that calls out rude behavior.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Apologies.  I missed the memo appointing you the arbiter responsible for determining degrees of offensiveness.
Click to expand...


I didn't. Thought that was pretty clear. Crystal clear.


----------



## Gary A.

Now for something completely different ... Gary pulled the Tri-Tip after 24+ hours in the Sous Vide then a quick sear 0n the BBQ ... mmmmhhhhhh it is so good and so tender that no knife required.  Gary has decided to start riding again and dropped off his steel road bike at a local shop which offered a special on tune-up.  Mary Lou came with me and as we drove up she casually mentioned that the workers will go nuts. Gary didn't give the remark a second thought, wheeled in the bike ... and the store went nuts.  Mary Lou just stood back and laughed while Gary provided a seminar on the bike's history.  Gary has a 1970 era Medici ... an American made racing bike on par with the best in the world at that time.  All the US Olympic Bike Teams raced on Medici. What should have taken five minutes ended up closer to an hour.  The home and Gary attacked the trenching again, turning himself into another ball of pure sweat.  But he's 90% finished, with maybe some 15' to go ... but it's the ugly 15' ... through trees and roots and stuff.


----------



## dxqcanada

Gary A needs some dynamite !! 
Hmm, actually that is not a good thing.


----------



## Gary A.

dxqcanada said:


> Gary A needs some dynamite !!
> Hmm, actually that is not a good thing.


YES!  !


----------



## dxqcanada




----------



## Gary A.

C-4 might be better.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> C-4 might be better.


Mehhh...  a couple of sticks of 80% will get the job done just fine!


----------



## dxqcanada

Umm, did I just make a reference to that Gallager dude ?


----------



## Gary A.

dxqcanada said:


> Umm, did I just make a reference to that Gallager dude ?


LOL ... actually he once smashed a watermelon on Gary’s and date’s table.


----------



## dxqcanada

Whaattt ? Really ?


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## Gary A.

dxqcanada said:


> Whaattt ? Really ?


Yeah .... many, many years ago at the Comedy Club in Costa Mesa (IIRC).


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> C-4 might be better.
> 
> 
> 
> Mehhh...  a couple of sticks of 80% will get the job done just fine!
Click to expand...

In the field, we’d use a pinch of the stuff to heat up our coffee.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> C-4 might be better.
> 
> 
> 
> Mehhh...  a couple of sticks of 80% will get the job done just fine!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> In the field, we’d use a pinch of the stuff to heat up our coffee.
Click to expand...

It makes a great food-warmer, as long as idjit doesn't drop something heavy on it while it's burning!


----------



## terri

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> We need a mansplain button to go with all the others.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ayup.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Huh...  "wife-beater"  is offensive, but "mainsplainin'" (atrocious grammar aside) is supposed to be acceptable?  Interesting...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's mansplaining, not "mainsplainin" and yes, references to physical violence against women are more offensive than a term that calls out rude behavior.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Apologies.  I missed the memo appointing you the arbiter responsible for determining degrees of offensiveness.
Click to expand...

Then you'd best sit up straight and start paying attention!          Geez.     What do we pay you to do, loaf around and talk about photography?!


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Now for something completely different ... Gary pulled the Tri-Tip after 24+ hours in the Sous Vide then a quick sear 0n the BBQ ... mmmmhhhhhh it is so good and so tender that no knife required.  Gary has decided to start riding again and dropped off his steel road bike at a local shop which offered a special on tune-up.  Mary Lou came with me and as we drove up she casually mentioned that the workers will go nuts. Gary didn't give the remark a second thought, wheeled in the bike ... and the store went nuts.  Mary Lou just stood back and laughed while Gary provided a seminar on the bike's history.  Gary has a 1970 era Medici ... an American made racing bike on par with the best in the world at that time.  All the US Olympic Bike Teams raced on Medici. What should have taken five minutes ended up closer to an hour.  The home and Gary attacked the trenching again, turning himself into another ball of pure sweat.  But he's 90% finished, with maybe some 15' to go ... but it's the ugly 15' ... through trees and roots and stuff.



All your hard work trenching will be worth it when you and ML sip your first glass of wine in the new jacuzzi while listening to some Sade.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Think of all the healthy therapy your body is receiving with all that hard work!

On top of everything else going on here, as I drove up our drive Sunday after church, I happened to notice something strange on the roof of the house. Closer inspection revealed what looked like missing shingles. Apparently while we were gone a storm came through. I was really sweating getting it repaired before the next storm as there'd been no interior damage yet. In years past I would have scurried up the steep slope without a thought, but after a bad fall off a ladder 2 years ago that split the back of my head and took several weeks to recover from, I'm hesitant about heights. Fortunately I was able to get a couple of young roofers out yesterday, who replaced 6 shingles and told me there was also hail damage. So now we wait for the adjuster, to see if it's covered.


----------



## smoke665

Here's a scary little tidbit. On the news, this morning only 25 days till fall. That was followed by a meme on social media which advised only 17 weeks left till Christmas!!! Seriously it doesn't seem like time moved that fast, more like I've had a reallllyyyy long nap, and missed some days.


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> C-4 might be better.
> 
> 
> 
> Mehhh...  a couple of sticks of 80% will get the job done just fine!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> In the field, we’d use a pinch of the stuff to heat up our coffee.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It makes a great food-warmer, as long as idjit doesn't drop something heavy on it while it's burning!
Click to expand...

LOL ... never use a foot to put it out.


----------



## SquarePeg

I'm all set with summer.  I haven't been to the beach more than 3 or 4 times this year, which is unusual for me - it's been too humid to enjoy the warm weather.  I used to love the hot days but it seems that high humidity has become the norm.  I don't remember that from when I was young.  I wonder if it's a recent change to the weather patterns.  Tomorrow is the first day of school for Princess (sophomore year) and it's going to be 98 and high humidity.  No ac at the high school and they have field hockey practice for 2 hours after school.  It's going to be a cranky night tomorrow.  Hopefully there's no big homework assignment for the first day.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. Think of all the healthy therapy your body is receiving with all that hard work!  ...



Actually yes ... somewhere in the back of Gary's cream-cheese brain, he is appreciating that in association with his 8-16 diet, he is toning up and losing weight.  Gary hates gyms.  Gary's attitude is that he is in shape because he does things ... not for him to do things to be in shape.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> I'm all set with summer.  I haven't been to the beach more than 3 or 4 times this year, which is unusual for me - it's been too humid to enjoy the warm weather.  I used to love the hot days but it seems that high humidity has become the norm.  I don't remember that from when I was young.  I wonder if it's a recent change to the weather patterns.  Tomorrow is the first day of school for Princess (sophomore year) and it's going to be 98 and high humidity.  No ac at the high school and they have field hockey practice for 2 hours after school.  It's going to be a cranky night tomorrow.  Hopefully there's no big homework assignment for the first day.


A glass or two of Chardonnay will cure the cranky evening (for you not Princess).


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now for something completely different ... Gary pulled the Tri-Tip after 24+ hours in the Sous Vide then a quick sear 0n the BBQ ... mmmmhhhhhh it is so good and so tender that no knife required.  Gary has decided to start riding again and dropped off his steel road bike at a local shop which offered a special on tune-up.  Mary Lou came with me and as we drove up she casually mentioned that the workers will go nuts. Gary didn't give the remark a second thought, wheeled in the bike ... and the store went nuts.  Mary Lou just stood back and laughed while Gary provided a seminar on the bike's history.  Gary has a 1970 era Medici ... an American made racing bike on par with the best in the world at that time.  All the US Olympic Bike Teams raced on Medici. What should have taken five minutes ended up closer to an hour.  The home and Gary attacked the trenching again, turning himself into another ball of pure sweat.  But he's 90% finished, with maybe some 15' to go ... but it's the ugly 15' ... through trees and roots and stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> All your hard work trenching will be worth it when you and ML sip your first glass of wine in the new jacuzzi while listening to some Sade.
Click to expand...

Every evening after working in the back, Mary Lou looks at the clearing where the hot tub will go and says "I can sure use the hot tub tonight." lol


----------



## Gary A.

@smoke665:  Mary Lou hates it whenever Gary climbs up on the roof.  You might think of getting a harness and what construction workers call a yo-yo.  Gary believes they are call 'Fall Limiters'/'Fall Protection'.  You clip it to your harness and the other clips to an anchor on the roof (a roof clamp or a zip line). It works like a chest strap on the seat belt.  It allows easy motion but will retract with a very quick pull.


----------



## davidharmier60

If a couple of young roofers got on our roof and put one foot wrong they would fall through. 

4.3x hours today and 10.25 for the week so far.  

Tomorrow will be busy. Was going to replace the wheels on a basket but that has to wait until tomorrow. One or two shelves to put up in the meat department and of course the Marquee. 

Just finished chicken tenders and gravy at the deli. Going to People's Bank before PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I'm all set with summer.  I haven't been to the beach more than 3 or 4 times this year, which is unusual for me - it's been too humid to enjoy the warm weather.  I used to love the hot days but it seems that high humidity has become the norm.  I don't remember that from when I was young.  I wonder if it's a recent change to the weather patterns.  Tomorrow is the first day of school for Princess (sophomore year) and it's going to be 98 and high humidity.  No ac at the high school and they have field hockey practice for 2 hours after school.  It's going to be a cranky night tomorrow.  Hopefully there's no big homework assignment for the first day.


Holy crap!!   That sounds nasty - too much like Georgia!!    Around here the kids go back in early August, but the schools keep the AC running.   After school sports is always a nail-biter - it's just too hot to do much and, despite efforts to keep them hydrated it can't stop annual reports of heat exhaustion, passing out, or even deaths in a few tragic instances.   It's still too hot, people!!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm all set with summer.  I haven't been to the beach more than 3 or 4 times this year, which is unusual for me - it's been too humid to enjoy the warm weather.  I used to love the hot days but it seems that high humidity has become the norm.  I don't remember that from when I was young.  I wonder if it's a recent change to the weather patterns.  Tomorrow is the first day of school for Princess (sophomore year) and it's going to be 98 and high humidity.  No ac at the high school and they have field hockey practice for 2 hours after school.  It's going to be a cranky night tomorrow.  Hopefully there's no big homework assignment for the first day.
> 
> 
> 
> Holy crap!!   That sounds nasty - too much like Georgia!!    Around here the kids go back in early August, but the schools keep the AC running.   After school sports is always a nail-biter - it's just too hot to do much and, despite efforts to keep them hydrated it can't stop annual reports of heat exhaustion, passing out, or even deaths in a few tragic instances.   It's still too hot, people!!
Click to expand...


Used to be that ac in the school would be a waste as it would only be needed for one or two days at the most.  It didn't really heat up here until late June after school got out and school used to start the day after Labor Day.  Now the weather is definitely hotter earlier and stays hot longer and school starts the last week of August...  I feel bad for the kids but if it were just sitting in a classroom I would say suck it up buttercup...  

The field hockey coach is all about speed and they run sprints for at least half of every practice (including yesterday when it was in the 90's).  Plus, Princess and the majority of the team didn't pass the sprint test last week so have to be in "fitness club" which means they have to run additional sprints after practice until they can meet the coach's goals.  They have to run:  5 100 yard sprints (25 yards and back) with a goal of 25 seconds and a rest of 45 seconds between each.  Next do 5 200 yard sprints (25 yards and back) with a goal of 55 seconds and a 1 min rest between each.  I'm overheated just thinking about it.  

I feel that today and tomorrow will be way too hot for this type of practice.  Adding a note to an email to "listen to your body and drink lots of water" doesn't excuse or indemnify the coach from responsibility for even starting that type of practice when the temps and humidity are above 90.   The football team has a scrimmage tomorrow after school and there are many parents calling for that to be canceled because of the heat and how dangerous it will be for the kids to be out there in all that equipment.  Of course the football mentality of being tough (from the coaches and players) is what prevents many of these kids from speaking up when they are not feeling right...


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> @smoke665:  Mary Lou hates it whenever Gary climbs up on the roof.  You might think of getting a harness and what construction workers call a yo-yo.  Gary believes they are call 'Fall Limiters'/'Fall Protection'.  You clip it to your harness and the other clips to an anchor on the roof (a roof clamp or a zip line). It works like a chest strap on the seat belt.  It allows easy motion but will retract with a very quick pull.



As I stood in the shade sweating, and watching them work, I only had one thought "money well spent'.


----------



## davidharmier60

The computer is getting irritable. Perhaps a reboot is needed.....


----------



## SquarePeg

Hmmmm...  I am also irritable.  Rebooting now.


----------



## waday

First, almond/soy/coconut/etc. can't use the term milk anymore. Now, companies can't use the term "meat" for fake meat products. Seems like a couple industries are losing business as people move to plant-based diets. They're grasping at straws to do whatever they can to try to hurt the meat-substitute/plant-based protein market.

Meat is also a term for the edible portions of fruits and nuts. 

Missouri becomes first state in US to regulate use of the word 'meat'


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Hmmmm...  I am also irritable.  Rebooting now.


Is that why psychiatrists always have people lie down on a couch, in case they fall over while rebooting?


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Here's a scary little tidbit. On the news, this morning only 25 days till fall. That was followed by a meme on social media which advised only 17 weeks left till Christmas!!! Seriously it doesn't seem like time moved that fast, more like I've had a reallllyyyy long nap, and missed some days.



Bring it!


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Bring it!



I will admit that I'm no longer a summer person, just can't take the heat.


----------



## snowbear

My main issue is the humidity


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> My main issue is the humidity



For me humidity is a trigger for Asthma (both hot or cold),  as is a rapid change in temperature. If I walk out of a warm house into the cold, or out of cool house into the heat, without an adjustment period of inactivity, it can trigger an attack. I can handle humidity as long as it doesn't go to the extreme.


----------



## limr

The sun is making a serious attempt to murder us here in the Tri-State area, hosers.

I will be remaining indoors.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> I'm all set with summer.  I haven't been to the beach more than 3 or 4 times this year, which is unusual for me - it's been too humid to enjoy the warm weather.  I used to love the hot days but it seems that high humidity has become the norm.  I don't remember that from when I was young.  I wonder if it's a recent change to the weather patterns.  Tomorrow is the first day of school for Princess (sophomore year) and it's going to be 98 and high humidity.  No ac at the high school and they have field hockey practice for 2 hours after school.  It's going to be a cranky night tomorrow.  Hopefully there's no big homework assignment for the first day.



The schools around here all have AC now.  When my girls were in grade school there was no AC and parents brought in fans.  Heat wave around here this week and some high schools are cancelling their outdoor events.


----------



## CherylL

We had another khaki fashion near miss here the other night.  Taking a young couple from Mexico grad students out for Italian as a farewell dinner.  Husband has on his new "khaki" linen shorts that have a weave texture light tan and medium tan with a brown and tan stripe shirt.  No and no.  He said they were both khaki color.  Had to explain texture and stripes do not match.


----------



## Gary A.

We're pretty much getting back to normal out here.  82F but the humidity is high at 43%.  No A/C needed for a while. Work on touching up the trenching for a few hours, showered and now diving into some paperwork.


----------



## davidharmier60

25 days to fall my happy arse.
I bet you I will sweat on Thanksgiving day and PROBABLY on Christmas day. 
If it does anything fall like in Texas it will be rain.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Looks like a new roof is in our future. Insurance adjuster was here today and says it has significant hail and wind damage. Can't seem to catch a break this year.


----------



## RowdyRay

I hate heat, but humidity is more the culprit. Living in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, anytime it's over 80, it's humid. Keep my place like a refrigerator. As cold as I can get it. Don't care. I'll bend over and pay the bill. In fact, it costs more to cool my place than it does to heat it. You'd think it would be the other way around. Gas is cheaper than electric. Try to keep it in the 65-68 degree range. All year. My friends and family know to bring a sweater or flannel with. Not changing it for you. 

It was around 90 with high humidity over the weekend. Got up yesterday morning and the phone said it was 76. Awesome. Stepped outside and my glasses instantly fogged. No wind and the humidity was thick enough to cut with a knife. Started the work truck, cranked up the AC and went back inside for a bit. Dense fog in some places. Had to drive with the wipers on. Miserable 10 1/2 hour day. 

But my day wasn't over. Whenever this happens, it's ALWAYS followed by a nasty storm. Don't know why, but a cold front has to battle with that humidity. Why can't we just have the cold front? Had to keep an eye on that. It did get nasty. Luckily it broke apart and went to the north and south of me. Others weren't so lucky. Once the danger passed, I promptly fell asleep on the couch. Wiped me out. Dragged my sorry butt to bed around midnight. Only to get up and do it again. Today wasn't nearly as bad. The humidity broke, but rained all day.


----------



## ceemac

smoke665 said:


> Here's a scary little tidbit. On the news, this morning only 25 days till fall. That was followed by a meme on social media which advised only 17 weeks left till Christmas!!! Seriously it doesn't seem like time moved that fast, more like I've had a reallllyyyy long nap, and missed some days.



This year seems to have disappeared faster. I was thinking of finding another photo for my avatar, but in a month and a half it will be relevant (as will the clock in my truck. I get to once again remove the sticky note that says add 1 hour)


----------



## Gary A.

Wow, Gary just felt an earthquake.


----------



## markjwyatt

Gary A. said:


> Wow, Gary just felt an earthquake.



Yep it was a small one, but I felt it too.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, cool here today but raining.  Still have this horrible cold on my chest that is really slowing me down, so will be over the moon if and when it clears off.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all. Have an excellent mug of coffee to try and get with it. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Wow, Gary just felt an earthquake.



We actually had one in AL, last week Huntsville area has second earthquake of the year We have a few of these small ones every year.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Morning all, cool here today but raining.  Still have this horrible cold on my chest that is really slowing me down, so will be over the moon if and when it clears off.


Man, you've had that cold forever.  Maybe it's time for some serious intervention by a doctor ...


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, Gary just felt an earthquake.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We actually had one in AL, last week Huntsville area has second earthquake of the year We have a few of these small ones every year.
Click to expand...

Mary Lou and Gary were in a restaurant when it hit and everybody got quiet and still real quick ... then after a realization that the roof wasn't going to collapse or a huge crevice open up to swallow us all ... smiles broke out and people starting speaking again.  It was only a 4.4 located in La Verne, a little community about 25 miles northeast of Los Angeles in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou and Gary were in a restaurant when it hit and everybody got quiet and still real quick



Growing up in the bootheel of MO, they were common, due to living on the New Madrid fault line. Most were small but I can remember some more violent ones where I actually saw the ground roll. We were in church one Sunday when a bad one hit. Our church had a huge stained glass dome over the sanctuary. As the dome started shaking it didn't take long to clear out the nonbelievers. LOL


----------



## Gary A.

Gary found this in the park today.















Miss Maggie hit a new personal best for mud.


----------



## davidharmier60

I thought I had a drill in my truck. But it was a driver. Came home to get the drill but found the drill attachment for the driver and took that. Put up a shelf in the meat department and put good wheels on a shopping cart.  Not sure 17 what but 17.xx hours for the week so far. 

Maggie is one grody dog. Muddy doesn't cover it. Got home the second time and the power is out. At some point I'll have to get the generator out for the fridge at least.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Muddy Miss Maggie makes me merry.


----------



## snowbear

The only quake I've felt was 5.8 centered in Mineral, VA on October 23, 2011.  Hurricane Irene came through a few days later.

Zoomed phone snap


----------



## terri

Holy crap!   Maggie loves her some mud, doesn't she?   

Get the hose!


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary found this in the park today.



OMG!!! Our previous baby Millie loved to run in the mud and water to cool off while we were hunting, but even she never got THAT muddy. Sadie is a little on the prissy side she gets dirty in the field, but she doesn't particularly like it. How do you ever get her clean???? Is her coat similar to a water spaniel, somewhat oily to resist the water????


----------



## davidharmier60

Power returned. Yeah!
Gonna boot up the puter pretty soon.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> Zoomed phone snap


If I fits, I sits.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary found this in the park today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> OMG!!! Our previous baby Millie loved to run in the mud and water to cool off while we were hunting, but even she never got THAT muddy. Sadie is a little on the prissy side she gets dirty in the field, but she doesn't particularly like it. How do you ever get her clean???? Is her coat similar to a water spaniel, somewhat oily to resist the water????
Click to expand...

Gary just hoses her down in the front.  Her hair is soft and absorbant like human hair. It feels like human hair, much different than normal, coarse, water repellant dog fur.  She was fairly clean for most of the walk ... but on the way out she took one more dip for the road.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Holy crap!   Maggie loves her some mud, doesn't she?
> 
> Get the hose!


Yep, every morning she gets hosed down ... no shampoo but lots of hosing.  She smelled as bad as she looked today.  Maggie is wonderful.


----------



## limr

That is one dirty dog! 

I have been in a few earthquakes in Istanbul. I think the biggest measured in the 6 range somewhere. It was strong enough that I could see the walls swaying up on the 6th floor of the apartment building. 

Got one of my 3-day headaches. Good times.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Got one of my 3-day headaches. Good times.


----------



## CherylL

Miss Maggie has all the fun.  Hope you can walk home from the park.  I wouldn't want the mess in a car.

Living in Illinois we feel the New Madrid quakes.  The last big one was 10 years ago maybe.  It was at 5 am and woke me up with the bed shaking.  My first thought, not being yet awake, was poltergeist.


----------



## Gary A.

Found this puppy in the yard, about a foot tall.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is over here smiling as you people speak of earthquakes.


----------



## Gary A.

After a hard day of checking water quality it’s time for a nap.


----------



## Gary A.

@CherylIL: While Gary has installed a waterproof ‘pet hammock’ in the backseat... we do walk to Creek Park.


----------



## ceemac

Well, Gary, there's definitely a lot of contrast in your life.


----------



## Gary A.

ceemac said:


> Well, Gary, there's definitely a lot of contrast in your life.


With Maggie it’s Night and Day, .


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning all, cool here today but raining.  Still have this horrible cold on my chest that is really slowing me down, so will be over the moon if and when it clears off.
> 
> 
> 
> Man, you've had that cold forever.  Maybe it's time for some serious intervention by a doctor ...
Click to expand...


I did have a chest X-Ray and it just showed up as a bad chest infection, so on some antibiotics that might just be working at last ( I hope ).

The sun is out and we have a nice cool breeze today here.


----------



## davidharmier60

My weather app says it'll be 93 today.
That is stay inside weather.
Got a nice mug. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary is over here smiling as you people speak of earthquakes.



Though I'm not sure that it's something good to win at, the earthquake activity along the New Madrid fault line surpasses CA. In the known history of the world, no other earthquakes have lasted so long or produced so much evidence of damage as the New Madrid earthquakes. Three of the earthquakes are on the list of America’s top earthquakes: the first one on December 16, 1811, a magnitude of 8.1 on the Richter scale; the second on January 23, 1812, at 7.8; and the third on February 7, 1812, at as much as 8.8 magnitude. After the February 7 earthquake, the Mississippi actually ran backwards for several hours. The force of the land upheaval 15 miles south of New Madrid created Reelfoot Lake, drowned the inhabitants of an Indian village; turned the river against itself to flow backwards; devastated thousands of acres of virgin forest; caused sand blows, created two temporary waterfalls in the Mississippi, and forever changed the course of the river. There are literally 1000's of recorded quacks over the years. By and large they occur in areas without significant concentrations of structures, so most people have learned to ignore them as a part of daily life.


----------



## smoke665

Went to the doctor for followup on the cataract surgery on the first eye, go back again next week, then done with it. So far no problems with the surgery. However, the fact that I required such strong glasses, is causing some major problems with vision, that I'll just have to put up with till the next surgery in just over another week. I'm getting a lot of eye strain in the eye not repaired as it trys to "keep up" with the repaired eye, and the color shift between the two is driving me crazy.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Went to the doctor for followup on the cataract surgery on the first eye, go back again next week, then done with it. So far no problems with the surgery. However, the fact that I required such strong glasses, is causing some major problems with vision, that I'll just have to put up with till the next surgery in just over another week. I'm getting a lot of eye strain in the eye not repaired as it trys to "keep up" with the repaired eye, and the color shift between the two is driving me crazy.



Get that patch!


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Get that patch!



LOL. I do resort to blocking that eye or shutting it throughout the day. The eye that was repaired continues to improve such that I don't need glasses to drive now, or watch TV. Supposedly I'll be able to get by with only reading glasses when finished. They told me I'd have some serious problems in the interim, they were right.


----------



## Gary A.

*"Alaska* registers the most earthquakes in a given year, with *California* placing second, until 2014 when a sudden increase in seismicity in *Oklahoma* pushed it well past *California* as the second most active in terms of magnitude (M) 3.0 and greater earthquakes."

"The *1906 San Francisco earthquake* measured a *magnitude* 7.9 and ruptured 300 miles of the *San Andreas Fault*, which slipped as much as 20 feet in some places. Historians estimate that more than 3,000 people died in the quake and the ensuing fire, making it the deadliest earthquake in U.S. history.Nov 21, 2008"


----------



## ceemac

The fox keeps coming back. I'm trying to put a lawn in before the snow flies, not big, about 1000 sq.ft. I've had to repair it the last 3 days. I saw him this morning. Beautiful little critter, just a pup, running around in circles. I went out flailing my arms. He grabbed a piece of landscape material and ran faster. I threw a stick into the trees and he fetched it and waited for me to throw it again. He looked like Miss Maggie when he left. I feel like Elmer Fudd. Pesky wabbit.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> *"Alaska* registers the most earthquakes in a given year, with *California* placing second, until 2014 when a sudden increase in seismicity in *Oklahoma* pushed it well past *California* as the second most active in terms of magnitude (M) 3.0 and greater earthquakes."
> 
> "The *1906 San Francisco earthquake* measured a *magnitude* 7.9 and ruptured 300 miles of the *San Andreas Fault*, which slipped as much as 20 feet in some places. Historians estimate that more than 3,000 people died in the quake and the ensuing fire, making it the deadliest earthquake in U.S. history.Nov 21, 2008"



Because of the lack of seismic equipment in the area, the magnitude of the 1811-1812 quake vary from 7.4-8.6. However the USGS said this about the quake "The area of strong shaking associated with these shocks is two to three times as large as that of the 1964 Alaska earthquake and 10 times as large as that of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake." Summary of 1811-1812 New Madrid Earthquakes Sequence  Like I said earlier I've experienced one growing up where I actually saw the ground roll. Things were thrown off the shelves, in the house, and cattle/horses went crazy.


----------



## terri

ceemac said:


> The fox keeps coming back. I'm trying to put a lawn in before the snow flies, not big, about 1000 sq.ft. I've had to repair it the last 3 days. I saw him this morning. Beautiful little critter, just a pup, running around in circles. I went out flailing my arms. He grabbed a piece of landscape material and ran faster. I threw a stick into the trees and he fetched it and waited for me to throw it again. He looked like Miss Maggie when he left. I feel like Elmer Fudd. Pesky wabbit.


Sounds like you're making a new friend.       Have the camera ready.


----------



## markjwyatt

Gary A. said:


> *...*until 2014 when a sudden increase in seismicity in *Oklahoma* pushed it well past *California* as the second most active in terms of magnitude (M) 3.0 and greater earthquakes."



Fracking.


----------



## waday

markjwyatt said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> *...*until 2014 when a sudden increase in seismicity in *Oklahoma* pushed it well past *California* as the second most active in terms of magnitude (M) 3.0 and greater earthquakes."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fracking.
Click to expand...

That was my thought, as well


----------



## davidharmier60

I'd like to know who fracking cares.
The better part of 6 hours today
5 minutes under 23 hours for the week so far. A microwave oven is being sent to us by a friend of Sister and Dad.
But because it hasn't yet arrived I'm eating at the deli. Gotta take some stuff home.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

ceemac said:


> The fox keeps coming back. I'm trying to put a lawn in before the snow flies, not big, about 1000 sq.ft. I've had to repair it the last 3 days. I saw him this morning. Beautiful little critter, just a pup, running around in circles. I went out flailing my arms. He grabbed a piece of landscape material and ran faster. I threw a stick into the trees and he fetched it and waited for me to throw it again. He looked like Miss Maggie when he left. I feel like Elmer Fudd. Pesky wabbit.


Gary would feed the little guy.


----------



## Fujidave

Had a nice time today, chest felt a lot better so chilled out with Sam and the 90mm wide open.





Sam by Dave, on Flickr


----------



## Gary A.

Very nice Fujidave.  You're getting a 3-D effect wide open.  Good news on the chest infection.  How's Mum?


----------



## Gary A.

Upper 80's today, but the humidity at 26%, it is quite comfortable.  Much more comfortable than earlier when the temps were in the low 80's and humidity above 50%.  Gary's whipping up some Chicken Saltimbocca if anybody is hungry come on by.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Chicken Saltimbocca if anybody is hungry come on by.



Wish you were closer, FD board meeting tonight for me, so not much on my supper menu.


----------



## davidharmier60

Saying good night now. Wish tomorrow was my Friday on one hand but like the check with 6 days on it.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Chicken Saltimbocca if anybody is hungry come on by.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Which you were closer, FD board meeting tonight for me, so not much on my supper menu.
Click to expand...

It's smelling quite savory.


----------



## ceemac

Gary A. said:


> Gary would feed the little guy.



Haha. That would be like inviting Dennis the Menace over for milk and cookies.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Chicken Saltimbocca if anybody is hungry come on by.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Which you were closer, FD board meeting tonight for me, so not much on my supper menu.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's smelling quite savory.
Click to expand...


I actually lucked out for once. Today was the Board Sec/Treas's birthday, so her daughter surprised her with an impromptu party complete with ice cream and cake. Nothing like a huge sugar rush late in the evening to perk you up.


----------



## Fujidave

Gary A. said:


> Very nice Fujidave.  You're getting a 3-D effect wide open.  Good news on the chest infection.  How's Mum?



Thank you Gary, really do love this 90mm wide open.  Mum is fine too thank you we went out for her 86th the other day and had a great time.

Today is forecast for a sunny one, busy too this morning as have to go and talk to the bank manager, then might managed a mooch about town.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all. Good coffee to try and get with it. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is over here smiling as you people speak of earthquakes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Though I'm not sure that it's something good to win at, the earthquake activity along the New Madrid fault line surpasses CA. In the known history of the world, no other earthquakes have lasted so long or produced so much evidence of damage as the New Madrid earthquakes. Three of the earthquakes are on the list of America’s top earthquakes: the first one on December 16, 1811, a magnitude of 8.1 on the Richter scale; the second on January 23, 1812, at 7.8; and the third on February 7, 1812, at as much as 8.8 magnitude. After the February 7 earthquake, the Mississippi actually ran backwards for several hours. The force of the land upheaval 15 miles south of New Madrid created Reelfoot Lake, drowned the inhabitants of an Indian village; turned the river against itself to flow backwards; devastated thousands of acres of virgin forest; caused sand blows, created two temporary waterfalls in the Mississippi, and forever changed the course of the river. There are literally 1000's of recorded quacks over the years. By and large they occur in areas without significant concentrations of structures, so most people have learned to ignore them as a part of daily life.
Click to expand...


But the coast still beats New Madrid because of the volcanoes.


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Friday of a long weekend Hosers!  Celebrate good times come on!


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> But the coast still beats New Madrid because they have volcanoes.



And they have Gary to contend with.


----------



## smoke665

So what are holiday plans? Anything exciting

We're staying home, which is probably a good thing because granddaughter will be here tonight. Likely take a couple days to rest up from that little whirlwind.


----------



## SquarePeg

We’ll be staying mostly local.  Princess has field hockey practice every day but Sunday.  Going to Maine that day tobiur fav dog friendly beach.  Monday bbq here.  Hoping to take advantage of the current cooler temps to get some yard work in today and Saturday.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

I will probably need some crashy time on the couch with kitties, but will also have to work on my syllabus. Other than that, who knows? Chores, errands, maybe a little shopping.


----------



## snowbear

MLW found an unused gift card so we're going to the movies tomorrow morning.  It's supposed to storm/rain all weekend so we'll just do some inside stuff.  I have a couple of art things I want to work on.


----------



## waday

We're staying in and relaxing. It is supposed to rain all weekend, so that hampers plans. If we can, we may grill on Monday. We're going to see Cirque du Soleil on Saturday, so that should be fun. Otherwise, the house needs a good cleanup, and we need some rest from work.


----------



## smoke665

Oh most important thing I forgot!!!!! Football starts down south, tomorrow. Auburn in the afternoon and Alabama tomorrow evening. Just got a glimpse of  DW 's  snack men, so it will be a great day in the recliner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is set to order a couple hundred feet of conduit, the trenching is completed.  Gary just has to clean out the loose dirt and check a few places for proper depth.  Gary twisted an ankle digging away while anchoring himself in loose dirt.  He was lazy and wore Crocs instead of work boots.  Normally he'd be wearing boots.  The boots may have saved his ankle.  Consequently, Gary missed a day's worth of work and snuggled up with his new friend Mr. Ibuprofen.


----------



## Gary A.

The Chicken Saltimbocca was a big hit last night.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> MLW found an unused gift card so we're going to the movies tomorrow morning.  It's supposed to storm/rain all weekend so we'll just do some inside stuff.  I have a couple of art things I want to work on.



What are you seeing?


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is set to order a couple hundred feet of conduit, the trenching is completed.  Gary just has to clean out the loose dirt and check a few places for proper depth.  Gary twisted an ankle digging away while anchoring himself in loose dirt.  He was lazy and wore Crocks instead of work boots.  Normally he'd be wearing boots.  The boots may have saved his ankle.  Consequently, Gary missed a day's worth of work and snuggled up with his new friend Mr. Ibuprofen.



But crocs are so awesome, how could you resist.  I would wear mine everywhere if Princess wouldn't die of embarassment lol.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> MLW found an unused gift card so we're going to the movies tomorrow morning.  It's supposed to storm/rain all weekend so we'll just do some inside stuff.  I have a couple of art things I want to work on.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What are you seeing?
Click to expand...

If Gary can interrupt ... He and Mary Lou watched _Fallout_ (Mission Impossible) on Tuesday.  A very very good movie, if you're into action and stuff. Totally entertaining.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> I have a couple of art things I want to work on.


You'll have to share!    Your ink drawings, or something else?


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> MLW found an unused gift card so we're going to the movies tomorrow morning.  It's supposed to storm/rain all weekend so we'll just do some inside stuff.  I have a couple of art things I want to work on.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What are you seeing?
Click to expand...

Christopher Robin.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Oh most important thing I forgot!!!!! Football starts down south, tomorrow. Auburn in the afternoon and Alabama tomorrow evening.


Baltimore won the preseason with the DC team! 



SquarePeg said:


> But crocs are so awesome, how could you resist.  I would wear mine everywhere if Princess wouldn't die of embarassment lol.


Sounds like the standard footwear when He-who-shall-not-be-named/target-on-back/we're-dating comes around.



terri said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have a couple of art things I want to work on.
> 
> 
> 
> You'll have to share!    Your ink drawings, or something else?
Click to expand...

A while back, I started sketching a red-wing blackbird and I was going to post photos of the steps.  The first two steps were done (rough sketch & pencil outline); now it's time for the color.  I've decided on acrylic but I might include acrylic inks along with the paints.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> We're staying in and relaxing. It is supposed to rain all weekend, so that hampers plans. If we can, we may grill on Monday. We're going to see Cirque du Soleil on Saturday, so that should be fun. Otherwise, the house needs a good cleanup, and we need some rest from work.


We've misplaced a folder with a bunch of MLW's recipes.  We'll be looking for that, this weekend.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> A while back, I started sketching a red-wing blackbird and I was going to post photos of the steps. The first two steps were done (rough sketch & pencil outline); now it's time for the color. I've decided on acrylic but I might include acrylic inks along with the paints.


I remember those sketches of the blackbird!   You had a good start on him.   Gah - acrylic and ink...two mediums I remain in complete fear of.      You go, Bear!


----------



## terri

Weather around here is going to be kind of hit or miss, so we're planning menus around that.   Humidity has been back up, but not as nasty as it was earlier in the month.    Wine on the screened in porch should be just fine in the evenings.

And - it's going to be _September_, hosers!!        As in - no.more.August.    Bring on the fall!


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> A while back, I started sketching a red-wing blackbird and I was going to post photos of the steps. The first two steps were done (rough sketch & pencil outline); now it's time for the color. I've decided on acrylic but I might include acrylic inks along with the paints.
> 
> 
> 
> I remember those sketches of the blackbird!   You had a good start on him.   Gah - acrylic and ink...two mediums I remain in complete fear of.      You go, Bear!
Click to expand...

Just remember - acrylic and ink can be treated like watercolor.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> A while back, I started sketching a red-wing blackbird and I was going to post photos of the steps. The first two steps were done (rough sketch & pencil outline); now it's time for the color. I've decided on acrylic but I might include acrylic inks along with the paints.
> 
> 
> 
> I remember those sketches of the blackbird!   You had a good start on him.   Gah - acrylic and ink...two mediums I remain in complete fear of.      You go, Bear!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Just remember - acrylic and ink can be treated like watercolor.
Click to expand...

Um, okay.    When you get back to your art thread, I'll let you expand on what that's supposed to mean.        All I do is oil pastels, and not very skillfully at that.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Baltimore won the preseason with the DC team!



Baltimore has a football team??? 

Standing in line at the tag office all you heard was "War Eagle" and "Roll Tide". It's fall in Bama. LOL


----------



## Fujidave

Busy busy day today, bank then the police then back to the bank.  I am now leaving the wife as she emptied our joint bank account, hence why the bank and police are now trying to help me.  They think I might be lucky and get some money back BUT not a lot, so I did not have the right head on me today to take any singers photos, she has really fleeced me and not a lot I can do


----------



## waday

I'll also add that this weekend I plan on scanning three rolls of film. I'm a little disappointed, because I think I overdeveloped the two Kodak rolls by a minute or so. I guess we'll see once I have them scanned.


----------



## Gary A.

Fujidave said:


> Busy busy day today, bank then the police then back to the bank.  I am now leaving the wife as she emptied our joint bank account, hence why the bank and police are now trying to help me.  They think I might be lucky and get some money back BUT not a lot, so I did not have the right head on me today to take any singers photos, she has really fleeced me and not a lot I can do




Susie is always welcomed here.  (Dunno about her human.)


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Busy busy day today, bank then the police then back to the bank.  I am now leaving the wife as she emptied our joint bank account, hence why the bank and police are now trying to help me.  They think I might be lucky and get some money back BUT not a lot, so I did not have the right head on me today to take any singers photos, she has really fleeced me and not a lot I can do



Ah man, that sucks Dave. I can feel for you as my first marriage ended really bad. 40 years later and I still hate the woman. Tried to bury the hatchet with her about 10 years ago for the sake of the kids, and she took that to the opportunity to bury it in the back of my head, so I avoid her like the plague. Would have felt bad about it ending badly, but she's been married twice since me, and both of those ended just as bad. Even the kids have unfriended her on FB!  However I've gained two new friends. We formed the" ExClub", we meet every so often to have a drink and remind each other how lucky we are to be rid of her.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> A while back, I started sketching a red-wing blackbird and I was going to post photos of the steps. The first two steps were done (rough sketch & pencil outline); now it's time for the color. I've decided on acrylic but I might include acrylic inks along with the paints.
> 
> 
> 
> I remember those sketches of the blackbird!   You had a good start on him.   Gah - acrylic and ink...two mediums I remain in complete fear of.      You go, Bear!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Just remember - acrylic and ink can be treated like watercolor.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Um, okay.    When you get back to your art thread, I'll let you expand on what that's supposed to mean.        All I do is oil pastels, and not very skillfully at that.
Click to expand...


Dip your pastels into water and have at it!
I've seen some your work - you do just fine.


----------



## davidharmier60

I got nothing to compare with what y'all are posting. It's at least 90 outside with at least 75% humidity.
I had a bit over 5 hours today. Got my feet and the legs of my jeans wet hosing down all the condensers out back.
Have 28.08 for the week so far. Had fried fish at the deli and that whoops chicken tenders arse!
Sister brought home mucho groceries and the shopping cart I fixed sure came in handy.
Monday will find me back at work. No rest for a grocery store.

Fuji Dave I wish you all the best. When I was in my late teens I thought I might marry Krystal. But one night it was like a switch was thrown in her head. NEVER the same after that so no danger.

And that's all the news that's fit to print.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> A while back, I started sketching a red-wing blackbird and I was going to post photos of the steps. The first two steps were done (rough sketch & pencil outline); now it's time for the color. I've decided on acrylic but I might include acrylic inks along with the paints.
> 
> 
> 
> I remember those sketches of the blackbird!   You had a good start on him.   Gah - acrylic and ink...two mediums I remain in complete fear of.      You go, Bear!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Just remember - acrylic and ink can be treated like watercolor.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Um, okay.    When you get back to your art thread, I'll let you expand on what that's supposed to mean.        All I do is oil pastels, and not very skillfully at that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Dip your pastels into water and have at it!
> I've seen some your work - you do just fine.
Click to expand...

Thank you!   I enjoy them, but am very aware of my limits.  
I found a set of water soluble op's, that I picked up somewhere.  I forgot I had them.  I'm sure they were meant for hand coloring.


----------



## snowbear

Want to have watercolor fun?  Go to Staples, Office Depot, or the local drug store; grab a grownup coloring book and a set of kid’s watercolors (the kind with 8 to 12 colts and a cheap brush).

I’ve seen some water soluble oils but have not tried them.  Marshall’s is a brand that’s been marketed to photographers but the one time I tried, I just used regular oils.


----------



## smoke665

Sign of age. In years past I would have braved the traffic jams, and huge crowds, for the Lynyrd Skynyrd: Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour, tonight at the Oak Mountain Amphitheater south of Birmingham, with Hank Williams, Jr, and the Marshall Tucker Band,   Ticket prices range from $80 in the nose bleed to well over $400 for prime seating. Supposedly been sold out for days. Traffic is backed up for miles along I65 both ways as concert goers mixed with 5 o'clock work traffic have brought everything to a standstill.


----------



## davidharmier60

The big concert venue in my part of the world is clear over off I-45. So our traffic never suffers from that.
I think I'll go ahead and say good night. Won't be for a bit yet but I figure I got to say something.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Busy busy day today, bank then the police then back to the bank.  I am now leaving the wife as she emptied our joint bank account, hence why the bank and police are now trying to help me.  They think I might be lucky and get some money back BUT not a lot, so I did not have the right head on me today to take any singers photos, she has really fleeced me and not a lot I can do
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ah man, that sucks Dave. I can feel for you as my first marriage ended really bad. 40 years later and I still hate the woman. Tried to bury the hatchet with her about 10 years ago for the sake of the kids, and she took that to the opportunity to bury it in the back of my head, so I avoid her like the plague. Would have felt bad about it ending badly, but she's been married twice since me, and both of those ended just as bad. Even the kids have unfriended her on FB!  However I've gained two new friends. We formed the" ExClub", we meet every so often to have a drink and remind each other how lucky we are to be rid of her.
Click to expand...


@smoke665 good that you have sense of humor about the nonsense.  I know someone like you describe and the real losers in the whole scenario are the (adult) kids.   Sorry @Fujidave for what you are going through now.


----------



## CherylL

The highlight of this weekend is the Greek fest.  I bought a few more of the Really Useful Boxes to organize my gear.  I found a usb cable that I have no clue what it goes to.  What do you do with gear gadgets that you don't want and isn't really worth a bother to sell?


----------



## SquarePeg

Took the dog over to the beach for some exercise.  What a great night!  Cool, no breeze, nice clouds for a spectacular sunset.  Grabbed this with my phone while we were walking.  The sky turned hot pink as we were driving away but had to get on the road to pick up takeout for mom.


----------



## dxqcanada

My cat wants to cough up a fur ball.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> The highlight of this weekend is the Greek fest.  I bought a few more of the Really Useful Boxes to organize my gear.  I found a usb cable that I have no clue what it goes to.  What do you do with gear gadgets that you don't want and isn't really worth a bother to sell?



If I know I will never use it, I give it away on our community Facebook “buy nothing” group.   There are enough photography hobbyists in my town that there are always a few takers.  If I’m not sure, I stuff it in the misc gear box in the closet.


----------



## dxqcanada

dxqcanada said:


> My cat wants to cough up a fur ball.



Ok good, he didn't ... or maybe that was not good for him.


----------



## Gary A.

A glass of vino, some dinner then off to The Maverick Theatre for _Dr. Jeckll & Mr. Hyde the Play._


----------



## dxqcanada

Hmm, theatre ... reminds me of the time I went to see King Lear at Stradford and Christopher Plummer spat on everyone in the first row whenever he said anything ... they seemed like it.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> good that you have sense of humor about the nonsense. I know someone like you describe and the real losers in the



I look at it as as a correction in life. I got two beautiful kids that grew into outstanding adults and parents to their own kids, and I found my real soulmate (just celebrated our 38th anniversary).


----------



## SquarePeg

It's in the low 60's right now!  I might even put socks on.


----------



## Gary A.

dxqcanada said:


> Hmm, theatre ... reminds me of the time I went to see King Lear at Stradford and Christopher Plummer spat on everyone in the first row whenever he said anything ... they seemed like it.


LOL ... that happened to me with Julio Iglesias at the Greek.  It was a fundraiser and somehow we ended up in row three ... the entire evening we were watching spindle and body fluids dripping and hanging off his lips.  I don’t think we were in the splash zone ...


----------



## Gary A.

70F presently, top down weather. Waiting for the play to begin. The theatre holds a little under 60, we’re in the front row, Julio Inglesis seating. This should be fun. ... And it has a bar with snacks!


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> dxqcanada said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm, theatre ... reminds me of the time I went to see King Lear at Stradford and Christopher Plummer spat on everyone in the first row whenever he said anything ... they seemed like it.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL ... that happened to me with Julio Iglesias at the Greek.  It was a fundraiser and somehow we ended up in row three ... the entire evening we were watching spindle and body fluids dripping and hanging off his lips.  I don’t think we were in the splash zone ...
Click to expand...


Front row for Dirty Dancing the musical.  Every time Johnny and Baby pirouetted we got a sweat shower.  It was gross!


----------



## Gary A.

Man, it is half time and this show is fantastic!


----------



## RowdyRay

Strange. Been to many local theater productions. Most of the time in the first two rows. Not once has it included bodily fluids. Perfectly fine with that.


----------



## davidharmier60

Up to get some Saturday hours.
Nice mug of coffee. 
Was watching live orchestra on YouTube last night. It is amazing the sounds that come out of instruments. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Sometimes it's better to just stay in bed. Got up early to do some maintenance/clean up work on the Rv. As I lifted a hose off a hanger it broke up a large wasp nest lurking within. I tried to outrun (I did) but my eyesight is off yet and the pavement blurred, causing me to fall/slide across the asphalt. So now a bad case of road rash on the left arm and the skin peeled off the elbow. The jeans partially protected the right knee, but not enough to save the skin, and the right hand got the skin peeled of the side. Luckily nothing broken, and luckily it wasn't the DW who got the hose, as she wouldn't have been able to get away from them.


----------



## Gary A.

Not a good way to start the weekend. (Not a good way to start any day.)


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Not a good way to start the weekend. (Not a good way to start any day.)



You got that right. When I turned my head to see if I was far enough away and then turned back is when my vision blurred. One minute I was upright and the next on the ground, went down hard.


----------



## davidharmier60

I can't run anymore. They'd have gotten me.


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh. 4 and enough to have 32.50 for the week. 
Microwave troubles. The 1000W came without a driveshaft. A 900W Sister was given has one. Our dead 750W gadget would work in the 1000W oven.
But not in the 900W oven. So the 1000W is going back. And we have a new 900W where the 750W was.


----------



## Fujidave

What a total fantastic day today, had a go at the speed trials on the sea front then the singers and then in the Paris House pub with the 90mm met a mate who is a pro and he is going to let me join in, in the background of his next shoot.  On the EX I really dont give a damn about her now, she can rot in hell for or I care as I just want to get on with my life and enjoy myself


----------



## davidharmier60

The difference between the the first mug out of the pot and one of the last is a truly BIG difference.  They say rain is coming. 
This ain't designed to make me happy.
Got pennies to mess with and YouTube to make me tap my feet.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## otherprof

Spotted a rare bird this morning. On page two of the main section of the New York Times, in the "Inside the Times" piece, is a photograph of a 35mm, panoramic, film, Hasselblad rangefinder. I didn't know that ever existed. The camera was used to photograph empty storefronts and their environs in Manhattan and Brooklyn for "This Space Availavble," a special section included with the Sunday paper. I've tried to find a link to the "Inside the Times" piece to  provide a link, but couldn't find it online - and I have full online access. Maybe someone else will have more luck. This particular "Inside the Time" was called "Taking a Long (and Wide) View."


----------



## vintagesnaps

So far I found an article about the show The View that I have no intention of reading, an article about prison life, the view on systems change that looks like a snoozer... LA roasts NY - coast to coast rivalry?? Maybe it's about roasting coffee...


----------



## compur

otherprof said:


> Spotted a rare bird this morning. On page two of the main section of the New York Times, in the "Inside the Times" piece, is a photograph of a 35mm, panoramic, film, Hasselblad rangefinder. I didn't know that ever existed.



The XPan:
The Hasselblad Xpan | Fuji TX1 TX2 | Camera Review


----------



## davidharmier60

Ribs, potato salad and beans for dinner. 
Could be Blue Bell later but that ain't a sure thing. And now back to your previous program. 

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----------



## JonA_CT

I discovered pupusas today at a deli up the street run by an Salvadoran family. So good. I’m currently on the couch. I may not move the rest of the day.


----------



## davidharmier60

Drizzling rain and I have the parking lot all to myself. I'd really rather be in bed.

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----------



## davidharmier60

4 hours and 33 minutes today. Just didn't have the gumption to do any more. Heard today that some sort of Tropical Depression is coming. Yippee. 
Got to go find an air filter for the lawn tractor. 

That is all.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I discovered pupusas today at a deli up the street run by an Salvadoran family. So good. I’m currently on the couch. I may not move the rest of the day.


Sooooooo good.  You have Gary salivating.  Gary has a salmon marinading away for dinner.  Maybe pupusas for lunch or a gordita or an arepas.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I discovered pupusas today at a deli up the street run by an Salvadoran family. So good. I’m currently on the couch. I may not move the rest of the day.


Yesterday, per Mr. iWatch, Gary had 17,265 steps for 9.07 miles. His Exercise was 167 minutes, Move was 1,275 calories and Stand Time 17 hours.  After jumping off the couch on Friday, Maggie came up limping.  Gary would have added an additional 3 miles if he and Maggie taken a walk.


----------



## JonA_CT

JonA_CT said:


> I discovered pupusas today at a deli up the street run by an Salvadoran family. So good. I’m currently on the couch. I may not move the rest of the day.





Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I discovered pupusas today at a deli up the street run by an Salvadoran family. So good. I’m currently on the couch. I may not move the rest of the day.
> 
> 
> 
> Yesterday, per Mr. iWatch, Gary had 17,265 steps for 9.07 miles. His Exercise was 167 minutes, Move was 1,275 calories and Stand Time 17 hours.  After jumping off the couch on Friday, Maggie came up limping.  Gary would have added an additional 3 miles if he and Maggie taken a walk.
Click to expand...


That’s me when I play golf.

Last week was the first week of school. I have 2 classrooms this year at opposite sides of the building. Just at work, I averaged almost 10,000 steps each day, and with the travel between, I don’t have time to eat, haha. That’s one way to lose a few pounds.


----------



## SquarePeg

Having a few guests for bbq today.  Tried to keep it small but the usual suspects have all texted or called that they will be here soon and what can they bring and can they bring a friend etc....  Hard to host a small dinner here when we have such a big family and everyone is used to our open house policy on the holidays.  Plus it’s going to be humid and in the 90’s so it will be nice to have the pool get some more use before we have to close it up.  Princess has fh practice later so the teens will all be gone by 4.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Having a few guests for bbq today.  Tried to keep it small but the usual suspects have all texted or called that they will be here soon and what can they bring and can they bring a friend etc....  Hard to host a small dinner here when we have such a big family and everyone is used to our open house policy on the holidays.  Plus it’s going to be humid and in the 90’s so it will be nice to have the pool get some more use before we have to close it up.  Princess has fh practice later so the teens will all be gone by 4.


Guests are coming for salmon and Korean BBQ Chicken.  Mary Lou and Gary just returned from our walk with Maggie.  Mike and Max are here ... Mike for coffee and Max for more running around with Maggie.  Then we'll be heading out to Mexico 1900, for some Pozole and a Gordita.


----------



## terri

It's breezy and nice here, despite the humidity still being with us.   We were thinking about grilling but may drop back and punt that idea.   It's surprisingly quiet around here - neighbors are all off.   Love it.        Nice lazy day so far.


----------



## Gary A.

Marine Layer is burning off, 75F presently ... may break 80F.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I discovered pupusas today at a deli up the street run by an Salvadoran family. So good. I’m currently on the couch. I may not move the rest of the day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I discovered pupusas today at a deli up the street run by an Salvadoran family. So good. I’m currently on the couch. I may not move the rest of the day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yesterday, per Mr. iWatch, Gary had 17,265 steps for 9.07 miles. His Exercise was 167 minutes, Move was 1,275 calories and Stand Time 17 hours.  After jumping off the couch on Friday, Maggie came up limping.  Gary would have added an additional 3 miles if he and Maggie taken a walk.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That’s me when I play golf.
> 
> Last week was the first week of school. I have 2 classrooms this year at opposite sides of the building. Just at work, I averaged almost 10,000 steps each day, and with the travel between, I don’t have time to eat, haha. That’s one way to lose a few pounds.
Click to expand...

Gary accumulated his numbers from cleaning up all the trencheorks. Gotta hit 18”.


----------



## JonA_CT

At least it’s not humid there, right? 

I soaked through my shirt putting two car seats in my van. Ugh.


----------



## davidharmier60

Did my chores. Did my Comics. Three rolls to go and my box of pennies gets bought tomorrow. Nothing great to eat around here.
If I were to spend more than a minute outside I would sweat.


----------



## Gary A.

No gorditas/pupusas at 1900, so Gary settled for sopes. The diff between sopes and pupusas are pupusas are split like a pita and filled. Sopes are dished and all the good stuff piled on top.


----------



## smoke665

I can't believe how y'all eat. I try to only eat twice a day, limit my servings and still I'm not dropping any weight. Just looking at your food pictures puts 5lbs on me


----------



## Gary A.

The 8-16 diet/fast really limits you to two meals a day. This trenchwork has Gary sweating like a pig everyday for a couple of hours. Between the two Gary has lost weight and toned up a bit.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Not exactly a couch potato and sweating is guaranteed here anytime you try to do anything outside in the heat and humidity. Tried to get out before the heat this morning to trim a couple hundred feet of ground cover that was creeping over the borders.  Got all the firelanes and one of the meadows mowed (hopefully last for season). Left two for now as the switch grass is going to seed in them. Still have day or so spraying herbicide and another day to spread lime and fertilizer. Will be wrapping up for the season before long.


----------



## davidharmier60

I NEED to get after the growth around the pond. Whether I will or not is a question for another time.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Having a few guests for bbq today.  Tried to keep it small but the usual suspects have all texted or called that they will be here soon and what can they bring and can they bring a friend etc....  Hard to host a small dinner here when we have such a big family and everyone is used to our open house policy on the holidays.  Plus it’s going to be humid and in the 90’s so it will be nice to have the pool get some more use before we have to close it up.  Princess has fh practice later so the teens will all be gone by 4.
> 
> 
> 
> Guests are coming for salmon and Korean BBQ Chicken.  Mary Lou and Gary just returned from our walk with Maggie.  Mike and Max are here ... Mike for coffee and Max for more running around with Maggie.  Then we'll be heading out to Mexico 1900, for some Pozole and a Gordita.
Click to expand...


Interested in sharing the Korean BBQ recipe?  I had a great one but haven’t made it in years and have apparently lost it and can’t quite get it right now.


----------



## RowdyRay

JonA_CT said:


> I discovered pupusas today at a deli up the street run by an Salvadoran family. So good. I’m currently on the couch. I may not move the rest of the day.





Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I discovered pupusas today at a deli up the street run by an Salvadoran family. So good. I’m currently on the couch. I may not move the rest of the day.
> 
> 
> 
> Sooooooo good.  You have Gary salivating.  Gary has a salmon marinading away for dinner.  Maybe pupusas for lunch or a gordita or an arepas.
Click to expand...


You guys are killing me. I'm starving! Was out shooting with my new found friend. What a day! I'll post pictures.

LOVE trying new foods. Here in MN, it's not just around the corner. You have to search for it sometimes. Being close to the Twin Cities helps. Many are similar. Had pupusas on vacation a few years ago. Awesome. But only a few places that serve them here. Sopes, I can find at numerous places. Some even have specials on them certain days. Taken advantage of it. Arepas were a new one to me. A place called Arepa Bites opened up not far from here about a year ago. Been back several times to try more. They make a home fry out of Yuca that is crazy good. Deep fried, seasoned and served with several sauces. Tried it another time and wasn't impressed. They have it figured out.

Could try and make it myself, but I'm no chef. And costs even more.


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh brother. The coffeemaker is full of hot water. That did not go through grounds.
So np morning pick me up. 
Dammit Jim!

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----------



## SquarePeg

So...yesterday I told Princess to skip field hockey practice because 

1- it was 95 and hunid as hell at 4pm
2- we had a houseful of guests and she was enjoying visiting with her cousins
3- it was a holiday and I wasn’t thrilled with them scheduling a practice to begin with

There’s a game today followed by a meeting with the coaches for the parents.  I’m sure she’ll be benched for the game or at least for the first quarter.  Although the number of girls on the team doesn’t really support having girls sit out.  It will be an interesting parents meeting afterwards.  

As someone who has coached kids for years in our rec softball league, I try to respect the coaches who volunteer and work with my daughter but with the heat we’ve had for the last few weeks and all of the running they’ve had them doing in 90+ temps, it will be hard for me not to call out the coach if she gives me any bs about my decision yesterday.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> or an arepa


There used to be place around us that sold arepas. My wife and I visited frequently, taking advantage of the buy 3 deal. Unfortunately, they ended up closing down. 

I want to find a place that sells arepas and humitas, and I'll be good to go.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> At least it’s not humid there, right?
> 
> I soaked through my shirt putting two car seats in my van. Ugh.


Much more humid than normal, around 50%.  Normally, at least in Gary's lifetime, summers were 20% to 35% max.  But not this year. Out here and generally, the warmer it gets the lower the humidity and vice versa.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Having a few guests for bbq today.  Tried to keep it small but the usual suspects have all texted or called that they will be here soon and what can they bring and can they bring a friend etc....  Hard to host a small dinner here when we have such a big family and everyone is used to our open house policy on the holidays.  Plus it’s going to be humid and in the 90’s so it will be nice to have the pool get some more use before we have to close it up.  Princess has fh practice later so the teens will all be gone by 4.
> 
> 
> 
> Guests are coming for salmon and Korean BBQ Chicken.  Mary Lou and Gary just returned from our walk with Maggie.  Mike and Max are here ... Mike for coffee and Max for more running around with Maggie.  Then we'll be heading out to Mexico 1900, for some Pozole and a Gordita.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Interested in sharing the Korean BBQ recipe?  I had a great one but haven’t made it in years and have apparently lost it and can’t quite get it right now.
Click to expand...

Dak Bulgogi

1/2 cup (125ml) soy sauce
2 tablespoons Korean chili paste (gochujang) or Sriracha, depending on how hot you like things
1 onion, peeled and grated or pureed in a food processor
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 tablespoon mirin or rice wine
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 apple, grated or asian pear
1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
A lot of black pepper (to taste)
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
4-5 boneless skinless chicken thighs

1. Mix the soy sauce, chili paste or hot sauce, onion, brown sugar, mirin or rice wine, garlic, apple, sesame oil, ginger, a few generous turns of black pepper, and sesame seeds in a large zip-top freezer bag.

2. Lay the thighs on a cutting board, cover with a sheet of plastic wrap on in a zip lock bag and pound them so they’re about 1/3-inch thick.

3. Cut chicken into bite size pieces. Put the thighs in the plastic bag with the marinade and massage it so the marinade covers the chicken. Refrigerate for several hours, or overnight. The chicken can also be marinated in a stainless steel or glass bowl, covered and turned several times while it’s marinating.  You can cut lengths of scallions and put them in the bag with the marinade, then grill them with the chicken, too.)

4. Cook with high heat. Put the chicken in a large, lightly oiled skillet/pan. When the chicken is seared on the bottom, stir the chicken and add any leftover marinade and let it reduce in the pan while the chicken finishes cooking.  Gary uses a cast iron pizza pan in the BBQ, but a skillet on the stove is the same thing.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> So...yesterday I told Princess to skip field hockey practice because
> 
> 1- it was 95 and hunid as hell at 4pm
> 2- we had a houseful of guests and she was enjoying visiting with her cousins
> 3- it was a holiday and I wasn’t thrilled with them scheduling a practice to begin with
> 
> There’s a game today followed by a meeting with the coaches for the parents.  I’m sure she’ll be benched for the game or at least for the first quarter.  Although the number of girls on the team doesn’t really support having girls sit out.  It will be an interesting parents meeting afterwards.
> 
> As someone who has coached kids for years in our rec softball league, I try to respect the coaches who volunteer and work with my daughter but with the heat we’ve had for the last few weeks and all of the running they’ve had them doing in 90+ temps, it will be hard for me not to call out the coach if she gives me any bs about my decision yesterday.


That's called conditioning...


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> So...yesterday I told Princess to skip field hockey practice because
> 
> 1- it was 95 and hunid as hell at 4pm
> 2- we had a houseful of guests and she was enjoying visiting with her cousins
> 3- it was a holiday and I wasn’t thrilled with them scheduling a practice to begin with
> 
> There’s a game today followed by a meeting with the coaches for the parents.  I’m sure she’ll be benched for the game or at least for the first quarter.  Although the number of girls on the team doesn’t really support having girls sit out.  It will be an interesting parents meeting afterwards.
> 
> As someone who has coached kids for years in our rec softball league, I try to respect the coaches who volunteer and work with my daughter but with the heat we’ve had for the last few weeks and all of the running they’ve had them doing in 90+ temps, it will be hard for me not to call out the coach if she gives me any bs about my decision yesterday.


Calling practice on a holiday is BS. But, as you already know, the coach can't have parents overriding their decisions. Good luck on this one.


----------



## JonA_CT

I sat out the first quarter of a playoff game for football my senior year because I missed the final walkthrough because of my brother's wedding. So there's that, haha.


----------



## SquarePeg

As the parent, I’ll over ride any decision that I feel is necessary.   I am ultimately responsible for my child’s health and safety. Anyone who puts sports ahead of that can go fly a kite for all I care.  

It’s not “conditioning” to risk their health running sprints in heat that has been deemed unsafe to be outside in.  Most other towns and other sports canceled practices and games last week.  No other teams has practice over the holiday weekend.  

Teaching young people that sports should take priority over a brothers weddzing is ridiculous.     

If I wouldn’t let my dog run around in that heat, why would I let my child?


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> If I wouldn’t let my dog run around in that heat, why would I let my child?


'Cause your dog isn't likely to crash the car, stay out after curfew, get caught on the living room couch with a boy....


----------



## davidharmier60

Whew. 4.33 yesterday. Enough today for 10.49 hours for the week so far. 
A hole in the siding. A bottle of expanding foam. A hole freaking bottle and still some light leaks. Had enough. 
Going to People's Bank before PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> If I wouldn’t let my dog run around in that heat, why would I let my child?
> 
> 
> 
> 'Cause your dog isn't likely to crash the car, stay out after curfew, get caught on the living room couch with a boy....
Click to expand...

That would be a bad dog. A very bad dog!



SquarePeg said:


> If I wouldn’t let my dog run around in that heat


Same. I feel bad for Roxy, because I haven't been able to take her on long afternoon walks recently. It's either raining or terribly hot.


----------



## terri

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> If I wouldn’t let my dog run around in that heat, why would I let my child?
> 
> 
> 
> 'Cause your dog isn't likely to crash the car, stay out after curfew, get caught on the living room couch with a boy....
Click to expand...

What does one have to do with the other?    Seriously, that's a lame comment.  

Her daughter is certainly old enough to appreciate potential consequences of her actions.   And for all you know, several parents opted out of practice due to the excessive heat and humidity, not to mention the poor decision to schedule it on a US holiday.    Hardly a shocker.


----------



## davidharmier60

Forgot one stop. The Library. Got some more John Sandford and a W.E.B. Griffin.
And a very VERY bad dog indeed would wreck a car.


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg three kids heavily involved in sports from the time they were old enough all the way through school. Not sure it's the same there as it is here, but the competitiveness of sports is way over the top at most k12 schools. I believe that sports builds character, and conditions kids for life, but the extreme the adults take (parents and coaches) gets to be to much. When my granddaughter was a senior in high school (after playing competitive soccer for years) did some refereeing for a little extra money with the grade school leagues. She finally had to quit because she couldn't tolerate being cussed out by parents. Yes coaches give of their time, but that doesn't make them gods, they should use some common sense when scheduling.


----------



## waday

Does anyone know what happened to @KenC?

He hasn't been around in a long time (~January 2017). Just wondering if anyone has seen/heard from him.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> @SquarePeg three kids heavily involved in sports from the time they were old enough all the way through school. Not sure it's the same there as it is here, but the competitiveness of sports is way over the top at most k12 schools. I believe that sports builds character, and conditions kids for life, but the extreme the adults take (parents and coaches) gets to be to much. When my granddaughter was a senior in high school (after playing competitive soccer for years) did some refereeing for a little extra money with the grade school leagues. She finally had to quit because she couldn't tolerate being cussed out by parents. Yes coaches give of their time, but that doesn't make them gods, they should use some common sense when scheduling.



Agree.  The level of commitment they expect for HS sports is so unrealistic.  I love that team sports build relationships and lasting friendships and teach teamwork and responsibility but I already told Princess that we’re not drinking the koolaide and letting it rule our lives.  

Many parents have unrealistic thoughts of scholarships and many coaches are in it to win it and not to educate and develop the players.  Our city is a very competitive sports town with several 1st or 2nd place finishes in state championships for football, volleyball, girls basketball, lacrosse etc and many of these parents are more into it than the kids.


----------



## davidharmier60

I don't have kids. Not even accidentally. So I have no dog in this fight. 
But I know if I did in this heat and humidity.....


----------



## dxqcanada

SquarePeg said:


> Interested in sharing the Korean BBQ recipe?  I had a great one but haven’t made it in years and have apparently lost it and can’t quite get it right now.



Hmm, I am going to be making marinate for Kalbi today.



Sent from my iPad using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @SquarePeg three kids heavily involved in sports from the time they were old enough all the way through school. Not sure it's the same there as it is here, but the competitiveness of sports is way over the top at most k12 schools. I believe that sports builds character, and conditions kids for life, but the extreme the adults take (parents and coaches) gets to be to much. When my granddaughter was a senior in high school (after playing competitive soccer for years) did some refereeing for a little extra money with the grade school leagues. She finally had to quit because she couldn't tolerate being cussed out by parents. Yes coaches give of their time, but that doesn't make them gods, they should use some common sense when scheduling.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Agree.  The level of commitment they expect for HS sports is so unrealistic.  I love that team sports build relationships and lasting friendships and teach teamwork and responsibility but I already told Princess that we’re not drinking the koolaide and letting it rule our lives.
> 
> Many parents have unrealistic thoughts of scholarships and many coaches are in it to win it and not to educate and develop the players.  Our city is a very competitive sports town with several 1st or 2nd place finishes in state championships for football, volleyball, girls basketball, lacrosse etc and many of these parents are more into it than the kids.
Click to expand...

Agreed.  Sports, when I was growing up, sportsmanship was equally as important as competition.  Yes, winning made it all more fun, but, if you played your best ... losing was not shameful ... losing is never good but not shameful as what I often see now with kids.  I played a ton of sports through college and beyond.  In high school, because the coaches job depended upon winning, things got significantly more intense and serious. Back when I was a kid in little league, basketball, flag football ... I remember parents only cheering and encouraging good play and not sidelining.  Today, things seem to be sooo different.  When Mary Lou's granddaughter Ava started AYSO when she was five y/o or so ... Ava's mother wanted Ava to be outfitted with Predator cleats. Predator's start around $100 and go as high as $400 a pair.  But I digress.












Today, many parents seem only to care about winning ... winning is not only the most important thing but the only thing, regardless of age.  Gary has observed this first hand for decades. Between Mary Lou's kids and Gary's kids, he and Mary Lou spend nearly every weekend on a couple days a week on the pitch or at the pool (Gary's kids swam competitively).





Sarah digging in.





Amy diving in.





Mary Lou's youngest son Steven beat a defender. 

The coaches Gary had in college all stressed academics first and sports second ... even though their jobs were on the line. Mary Lou's eldest son made the Olympic Development Team in soccer.  His entire life was soccer ... unfortunately, that's pretty much all he knows ...


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. I was into track and basketball in school, but gave it all up at about the same time I got my drivers licence, my first car, and discovered girls. I learned you have to set your priorities in life  By the time I got to college it was a struggle to maintain a job, and school, so sports were out..........and there were more girls. 

Your first picture reminds me or our kids when they first got into sports. It was so much fun watching them at that age. As they got older they got into competitive leagues that played all over the state. It was exciting, but for me it was never as much fun as watching the little ones play. There's just something inherently hilarious about seeing a whole cluster of little kids on a soccer field suddenly drop to the ground in unison, to inspect a bug,  to see  the 2nd base man/girl picking their nose without a clue of what's going on, or to watch a peewee football team running around in circles because they don't have a clue which way to go or who has the ball. Those were our best sports moments.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Max finds some glasses during today’s walk.


----------



## dxqcanada

Hmm, that's one smart looking dog.


----------



## Gary A.

dxqcanada said:


> Hmm, that's one smart looking dog.


Yes he is. He needs a pipe and a jacket with patches on the arms.


----------



## RowdyRay

@Gary A. Thanks for sharing that recipe. Didn't ask for it, but sure sounds good. I'll give that a try. Really been on a spicy kick lately.


----------



## Gary A.

RowdyRay said:


> @Gary A. Thanks for sharing that recipe. Didn't ask for it, but sure sounds good. I'll give that a try. Really been on a spicy kick lately.


The Korean dinner guest didn't complain. 

Gary cooks a lot ... if you want more recipes just hit me up. Gary's Chicken Saltimbocca was easy to make yet very very tasty.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> I was into track and basketball in school


I was on the varsity drinking team.


----------



## Tony744

You too?


----------



## dxqcanada

Kalbi should be ready for BBQ by the weekend 
Sadly it is not my perfected recipe


----------



## limr

First day of classes, on the books, hosers. Got myself a little sushi for dinner.

And then it's back to the salt mines tomorrow. At least teaching is just Tues/Thurs evenings, not every day.


----------



## snowbear

Son #1 brought some sushi home, once.  I fried that stuff up and it tasted just like fish!


----------



## waday

I love sushi, but go for the vegetarian-friendly sushi.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> I love sushi, but go for the vegetarian-friendly sushi.


That seems to usually be the best for me.   And good wasabi is crucial!


----------



## smoke665

Whew. Thankfully getting some overcast skies and cooler weather thanks to the hurricane south of us, Just came in from playing ball with Sadie. Think I've created a monster, as she goes bananas over chasing and retrieving her ball. It's good retrieving pactice to release to the hand in preparation for bird season. My arm gets sore after a bit so have to limit it to shorter sessions, but she makes it a point to remind me throughout the day that it's time for another session. If I try to ignore her, she barks and paws me, till we go, then she's happy till the next one.


----------



## waday

terri said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I love sushi, but go for the vegetarian-friendly sushi.
> 
> 
> 
> That seems to usually be the best for me.   And good wasabi is crucial!
Click to expand...

Definitely! I love me some wasabi.

A former coworker of mine didn't know what wasabi was, and despite all warnings from several people, decided to put a tablespoon-sized portion (pretty much the whole thing on her plate) on a single piece because she wasn't afraid of "hot". Yeah, wasabi is a different kind of "hot". She learned that as tears were streaming down her face, and she couldn't breathe for a few seconds. LOL


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> I love sushi, but go for the vegetarian-friendly sushi.


You mean the stuff made out of shark?  I understand they're VERY friendly toward vegetarians!


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I love sushi, but go for the vegetarian-friendly sushi.
> 
> 
> 
> You mean the stuff made out of shark?  I understand they're VERY friendly toward vegetarians!
Click to expand...


----------



## smoke665

Had a friend once who said he wouldn't take anyone fishing who liked sushi. He was afraid they'd eat all the bait.


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> You mean the stuff made out of shark


On a more serious note, eating shark is bad. Really bad. Shark populations are declining quite rapidly due to overfishing and human impacts, with estimates being shown in the 100 million sharks per year. This is very bad for sharks, but also the ecosystem in general.

Also, shark finning is something that is ridiculously horrible and should never be supported.


----------



## davidharmier60

I haven't been offshore fishing in ages.
But we were fishing for King fish, Cobia, Dolphin (not the Flipper sort) and Red Snapper. Shark was not taken.

5 and nearly 3/4 today. 16.39 for the week so far. 

Check may not happen today because Monday was a Holliday for SOME people.
Going to go ask about it and if not going to the post office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## vintagesnaps

We have carp. Not gonna eat anything out of the river. 

I gotta go back and write down recipes!


----------



## smoke665

One of the big names in the south. Welcome to Delta Pride ! Catfish, the other, other white meat.


----------



## Gary A.

Wine Tasting: Sanford Winery, Santa Barbara County.


----------



## davidharmier60

Did get the check. Was a pretty decent one. Sister got most of it.


----------



## Gary A.

Today’s Bowl picnic. Overcast and cool this evening. 66F presently.


----------



## smoke665

Starting to think I have a black cloud overhead. Yesterday I found out by accident that the young lady who scheduled my second cataract surgery, put the wrong date on my surgery packet. Based on the dates they gave us we scheduled DW's chemo infusions, which once started are locked in for 9 weeks. Then the young lady who had made the mistake got an attitude, with me about fixing the problem. In the end, to her credit she changed their schedule around to make it work. Then I got to my Optometrist for the final check on the right eye, and find out the domino effect had screwed up my follow up appointments with him. They managed to work things around, and then I get a text from the pharmacy that my insurance has declined payment on the second round of drops needed for the surgery because it hasn't been thirty days since the last refill. Thirty more minutes on the phone with them, and they finely approved. When I get to the pharmacy I find out they only have 2 of the 3 drops I need in stock. More phone calls and they find another pharmacy 20 mins away that has it in stock. With all my problems solved I hurry home to meet a roofing contractor who was supposed to be coming out to do an estimate. He doesn't show, doesn't call, doesn't answer his phone. Perfect end to a crappy day!


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Starting to think I have a black cloud overhead. Yesterday I found out by accident that the young lady who scheduled my second cataract surgery, put the wrong date on my surgery packet. Based on the dates they gave us we scheduled DW's chemo infusions, which once started are locked in for 9 weeks. Then the young lady who had made the mistake got an attitude, with me about fixing the problem. In the end, to her credit she changed their schedule around to make it work. Then I got to my Optometrist for the final check on the right eye, and find out the domino effect had screwed up my follow up appointments with him. They managed to work things around, and then I get a text from the pharmacy that my insurance has declined payment on the second round of drops needed for the surgery because it hasn't been thirty days since the last refill. Thirty more minutes on the phone with them, and they finely approved. When I get to the pharmacy I find out they only have 2 of the 3 drops I need in stock. More phone calls and they find another pharmacy 20 mins away that has it in stock. With all my problems solved I hurry home to meet a roofing contractor who was supposed to be coming out to do an estimate. He doesn't show, doesn't call, doesn't answer his phone. Perfect end to a crappy day!


Yikes, sorry to hear about all that. Hope things start looking up!

And to help you, here are a few funny gifs...


----------



## davidharmier60

I woke up in a pretty bad mood. I feel like a rat running on a wheel. I couldn't even wear the happy Orange NATO on my Blue Expedition. Instead it's a plain black NATO. 

4.55 hours today and for the week so far 21.30.
Post Office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 



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----------



## davidharmier60

I woke up in a pretty bad mood. I feel like a rat running on a wheel. I couldn't even wear the happy Orange NATO on my Blue Expedition. Instead it's a plain black NATO. 

4.55 hours today and for the week so far 21.30.
Post Office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. View attachment 162789

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----------



## davidharmier60

Crap. Double post. 

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----------



## SquarePeg

We have tile!!!  Sort of.  Pics later.  This reno is taking forever.  New estimate on completion is first week of October as we have run into another project on the contractor's schedule and are sharing the tile guy and the floor guy.  Sigh


----------



## vintagesnaps

This has been a morning...

Yesterday my dad fell and hit his head and went to the hospital. So they transferred him to a university hospital to see a neurosurgeon. My mom said he was complaining a lot which I said is probably good. This morning so far so good, looks like they won't have to do surgery as the bleed is responding to medications. My mom said he's in a bad mood which again is encouraging; I'd be more concerned if he wasn't. My younger brother is there getting to be the one dealing with the bad mood! 

To top it off, there was an active shooter downtown (my brother doesn't live too far from there so he won't be stopping back at home anytime soon). The guy came in thru a loading dock into a lobby so there's speculation it was a situation specific incident; now they're saying he was dressed business casual and carrying a briefcase. A couple of people died and there were a few injured - then it dawned on me they could have been taken to the hospital where my dad is, although more likely it would've been a different one; there are more than one within blocks of each other. 

Guess I'll see what else the day brings.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Now that they showed a TV crew at the hospital, it might be where my dad is, sort of... had to check the map because people call things something different than what they really are. It's a big complex so he's probably in a different building. Bet they heard the sirens coming in.

There was yellow caution tape and the reporter was saying it had nothing to do with the situation, it was from construction. Of course. There's yellow tape all over. One of the eye witnesses was a construction worker, he really got a close up view of a couple of the people injured.

One of the reporters said it's eerily quiet, yeah I noticed no traffic, no cars at all.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hope it all works out VS. I have done the comics. Listening to 60's Doowop.


----------



## waday

One fun thing I've been doing at work is introducing new sayings and idioms, and then watching others use these new sayings. It's pretty entertaining.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Not feeling it today.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> This has been a morning...



Sounds like you've had one of my days! LOL  Talking from experience as an older man "When I stop complaining, you might want to check on me!!!"   I've had more serious falls the last couple of years, that or I don't bounce like I used to and it seems to take longer to recover after. Hope you Dad is already on the mend!


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, peeps.

I half-jokingly asked MLW if I could go to a Geo Preparedness Summit; she said sure, if we could wait until the end of the month to make the reservations (the summit is free to me).  It's in Boulder, CO during the first week of December.


----------



## smoke665

RIP Bandit. East bound and down - Burt Reynolds, Star of ‘Deliverance,’ ‘Smokey and the Bandit,’ Dies at 82


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> Starting to think I have a black cloud overhead. Yesterday I found out by accident that the young lady who scheduled my second cataract surgery, put the wrong date on my surgery packet. Based on the dates they gave us we scheduled DW's chemo infusions, which once started are locked in for 9 weeks. Then the young lady who had made the mistake got an attitude, with me about fixing the problem. In the end, to her credit she changed their schedule around to make it work. Then I got to my Optometrist for the final check on the right eye, and find out the domino effect had screwed up my follow up appointments with him. They managed to work things around, and then I get a text from the pharmacy that my insurance has declined payment on the second round of drops needed for the surgery because it hasn't been thirty days since the last refill. Thirty more minutes on the phone with them, and they finely approved. When I get to the pharmacy I find out they only have 2 of the 3 drops I need in stock. More phone calls and they find another pharmacy 20 mins away that has it in stock. With all my problems solved I hurry home to meet a roofing contractor who was supposed to be coming out to do an estimate. He doesn't show, doesn't call, doesn't answer his phone. Perfect end to a crappy day!



Sorry Smoke for the bad day.  My husband had the same problem with the eye drops not all available at the same pharmacy.   Don't you know the rule of marriage?   You both can't have medical events at the same time.    When my husband was scheduled for a second eye surgery I came down with the flu.  Fortunately the doctor had a free car service.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> One fun thing I've been doing at work is introducing new sayings and idioms, and then watching others use these new sayings. It's pretty entertaining.



Love it.  Don't forget to make up your own sports metaphors for the pep talks.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> One fun thing I've been doing at work is introducing new sayings and idioms, and then watching others use these new sayings. It's pretty entertaining.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Love it.  Don't forget to make up your own sports metaphors for the pep talks.
Click to expand...

Oh oh oh... I'm so going to try this.

"Like a dog barking at a postal worker, this needs your full attention." LOL


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> One fun thing I've been doing at work is introducing new sayings and idioms, and then watching others use these new sayings. It's pretty entertaining.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Love it.  Don't forget to make up your own sports metaphors for the pep talks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh oh oh... I'm so going to try this.
> 
> "Like a dog barking at a postal worker, this needs your full attention." LOL
Click to expand...


Swing for those end zones!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Not feeling it today.


Yep.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> RIP Bandit. East bound and down - Burt Reynolds, Star of ‘Deliverance,’ ‘Smokey and the Bandit,’ Dies at 82


----------



## davidharmier60

Yep. Every Star I have watched over the years is dying off.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Starting to think I have a black cloud overhead. Yesterday I found out by accident that the young lady who scheduled my second cataract surgery, put the wrong date on my surgery packet. Based on the dates they gave us we scheduled DW's chemo infusions, which once started are locked in for 9 weeks. Then the young lady who had made the mistake got an attitude, with me about fixing the problem. In the end, to her credit she changed their schedule around to make it work. Then I got to my Optometrist for the final check on the right eye, and find out the domino effect had screwed up my follow up appointments with him. They managed to work things around, and then I get a text from the pharmacy that my insurance has declined payment on the second round of drops needed for the surgery because it hasn't been thirty days since the last refill. Thirty more minutes on the phone with them, and they finely approved. When I get to the pharmacy I find out they only have 2 of the 3 drops I need in stock. More phone calls and they find another pharmacy 20 mins away that has it in stock. With all my problems solved I hurry home to meet a roofing contractor who was supposed to be coming out to do an estimate. He doesn't show, doesn't call, doesn't answer his phone. Perfect end to a crappy day!


With a day like that, sucide seems like a pretty good option.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> RIP Bandit. East bound and down - Burt Reynolds, Star of ‘Deliverance,’ ‘Smokey and the Bandit,’ Dies at 82



My dad loved Smokey and the Bandit. We probably watched it 20 times together. RIP Burt.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> This has been a morning...
> 
> Yesterday my dad fell and hit his head and went to the hospital. So they transferred him to a university hospital to see a neurosurgeon. My mom said he was complaining a lot which I said is probably good. This morning so far so good, looks like they won't have to do surgery as the bleed is responding to medications. My mom said he's in a bad mood which again is encouraging; I'd be more concerned if he wasn't. My younger brother is there getting to be the one dealing with the bad mood!
> 
> To top it off, there was an active shooter downtown (my brother doesn't live too far from there so he won't be stopping back at home anytime soon). The guy came in thru a loading dock into a lobby so there's speculation it was a situation specific incident; now they're saying he was dressed business casual and carrying a briefcase. A couple of people died and there were a few injured - then it dawned on me they could have been taken to the hospital where my dad is, although more likely it would've been a different one; there are more than one within blocks of each other.
> 
> Guess I'll see what else the day brings.


Wishing the best for Dad.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> RIP Bandit. East bound and down - Burt Reynolds, Star of ‘Deliverance,’ ‘Smokey and the Bandit,’ Dies at 82
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My dad loved Smokey and the Bandit. We probably watched it 20 times together. RIP Burt.
Click to expand...


I’m old enough that I saw it at the Drive In.  I remember my brother and I thinking it was the best movie ever.


----------



## Gary A.

RIP Burt.  Gary has always liked Reynolds.  He never seemed to take himself seriously ... his entire life.


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday’s Bowl visit was grand. Due to a scheduling conflict Mary Lou switched some tickets around and we ended up attending an event with, for us, we’re unknown. One performer Rosalie, was from Spain. Barcelona in fact. Her performance combined a troupe of dancers and extensive lights and lasers. A very impressive and artistically strong performance ... Catalonia Strong.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> RIP Bandit. East bound and down - Burt Reynolds, Star of ‘Deliverance,’ ‘Smokey and the Bandit,’ Dies at 82
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My dad loved Smokey and the Bandit. We probably watched it 20 times together. RIP Burt.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I’m old enough that I saw it at the Drive In.  I remember my brother and I thinking it was the best movie ever.
Click to expand...


I remember seeing " White Lightning " at the drive in. I still smile when I recall the iconic laugh of his when he asked for " Shakey Puddin' ".

shakey puddin burt reynolds - Bing video


----------



## Gary A.

The second performer was Juanes, a group from Colombia. Mary Lou and Gary were clearly in a small minority not knowing Juanes and his songs.  Juanes had a ton of super videos backing up his performance and songs. Every song from both performers were in Spanish.  Gary had no idea that there were some many Colombians living in LA as nearly every song was a sing-a-long. All-in-all another splendid evening under the stars.


----------



## smoke665

Back in the days of "expense accounts" I went to "Best Little Whorehouse In Tx" just after it opened, on one of my N.Y. trips. It was good but the movie release is the one I remember. Reynolds was a perfect choice for Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd and I still grin at the memory of Charles Dunning as the Governor doing the "Little Sidestep".


----------



## vintagesnaps

My dad's been doing OK and later in the afternoon my mom called and said he'd probably get released tomorrow morning. He's going from intensive care to getting kicked out! lol I imagine he'll be sore but glad he's doing fine.  

The active shooter situation was on local TV all day. No clue why the guy went to that office tower, seems to have had no connection to it and so far no reason for any of it (other than obviously some sort of mental health issues). Police were on scene fast or it probably would have been even worse.


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> My dad's been doing OK and later in the afternoon my mom called and said he'd probably get released tomorrow morning. He's going from intensive care to getting kicked out! lol I imagine he'll be sore but glad he's doing fine.
> 
> The active shooter situation was on local TV all day. No clue why the guy went to that office tower, seems to have had no connection to it and so far no reason for any of it (other than obviously some sort of mental health issues). Police were on scene fast or it probably would have been even worse.



Glad your dad is ok.


----------



## Gary A.

BTW- Mary Lou and Gary watch _Juliet Naked._ Man, what a wonderful movie. Five stars ... on the smile scale. Just a fun movie, highly recommended.


----------



## snowbear

Glad your Dad was OK, 


vintagesnaps said:


> My dad's been doing OK and later in the afternoon my mom called and said he'd probably get released tomorrow morning. He's going from intensive care to getting kicked out! lol I imagine he'll be sore but glad he's doing fine.
> 
> The active shooter situation was on local TV all day. No clue why the guy went to that office tower, seems to have had no connection to it and so far no reason for any of it (other than obviously some sort of mental health issues). Police were on scene fast or it probably would have been even worse.


Glad your dad is OK.

The investigators will figure out motive; sometimes it's not obvious.


----------



## SquarePeg

The tile looks great.  Once the white grout is done, it will look so much better as you won’t be able to see individual tiles, just the marble wall.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> The second performer was Juanes, a group from Colombia. Mary Lou and Gary were clearly in a small minority not knowing Juanes and his songs.  Juanes had a ton of super videos backing up his performance and songs. Every song from both performers were in Spanish.  Gary had no idea that there were some many Colombians living in LA as nearly every song was a sing-a-long. All-in-all another splendid evening under the stars.


What.. You don't know who Juanes is?

My wife loves him, as does her family. When we were dating, I bought two of his albums so I could become familiar with his music. 

Pardon me while I go find one of the old love songs...

_Para tu amor lo tengo todo
Desde mi sangre hasta la esencia de mi ser
Y para tu amor que es mi tesoro
Tengo mi vida toda entera a tus pies

Y tengo también
Un corazón que se muere por dar amor
Y que no conoce el fin
Un corazón que late por vos_​


----------



## SquarePeg

From 95 and humid to socks and sweater weather in 24 hours.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> From 95 and humid to socks and sweater weather in 24 hours.



I'll take your socks and sweater weather and give you our heat and humidity!


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> From 95 and humid to socks and sweater weather in 24 hours.



Isn't it glorious! 

(Still humid, though.)


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> From 95 and humid to socks and sweater weather in 24 hours.


Yeah - we're looking at low 70s and into upper 60s at night for the next couple of days - windows open if the humidity isn't too high.

Atlantic coast should see some threats from Florence around the end of next week, while the Lakes area will be getting remnants of Gordon, so keep an eye open.

I'm getting a new GIS project that is not Fire/EMS related!  We have a request to map HOAs and Civic Associations.  I'll have to do a lot of research, first, since a bunch of these carry PO Boxes.


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m happy to have the cooler weather for the weekend.  Family reunion is Sunday and it would be a tough day for the older crowd if they had to be out in the heat.  Not to mention moi sitting in the sun at Princess’s field hockey game.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The second performer was Juanes, a group from Colombia. Mary Lou and Gary were clearly in a small minority not knowing Juanes and his songs.  Juanes had a ton of super videos backing up his performance and songs. Every song from both performers were in Spanish.  Gary had no idea that there were some many Colombians living in LA as nearly every song was a sing-a-long. All-in-all another splendid evening under the stars.
> 
> 
> 
> What.. You don't know who Juanes is?
> 
> My wife loves him, as does her family. When we were dating, I bought two of his albums so I could become familiar with his music.
> 
> Pardon me while I go find one of the old love songs...
> 
> _Para tu amor lo tengo todo
> Desde mi sangre hasta la esencia de mi ser
> Y para tu amor que es mi tesoro
> Tengo mi vida toda entera a tus pies
> 
> Y tengo también
> Un corazón que se muere por dar amor
> Y que no conoce el fin
> Un corazón que late por vos_​
Click to expand...

LOL!  Gary knows him now.    He was very good.  Juanes had Mary Lou and Gary dancing in our seats along with the 14,098 Colombians at the Bowl.  Gary has given some thought of an album or two. He loves Los Angeles and spoke of LA in glowing terms the entire night.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary opens the blinds and tilts his head upwards ... the sky is thick with a heavy marine layer, a continuous blanket of clouds.  It is 66F presently, should break into the 80's by the afternoon ... "another perfect day ...".  No A/C needed here for awhile. 

@ Peg: When Gary lived at the beach, during the day it was 75F.  Then the six o'clock fog would rolled in, and it would drop to 55F nearly every night in summer.  Gary thinks he should move back.


----------



## davidharmier60

I can see that Gary. Smokey and the Bandit was one great movie. Truly Burt never seemed to take himself seriously. 

I'm over in Cold Springs for propane. 

Would that today was truly my Friday. 
But I get a few more hours tomorrow. 

For the first time in forever I'm listening to Michael Berry in the radio.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> The tile looks great.  Once the white grout is done, it will look so much better as you won’t be able to see individual tiles, just the marble wall.
> 
> View attachment 162832


Looking good!   It's going to be gorgeous!    

Still hot & humid here - we had our little taste of fall in the third week of August!   It was welcome, but weird.    I can't stress anymore over too much heat, because September is finally here and it only gets better from here.    Plus...I hate seeing the hummingbirds go.   Love those mad little buggers.        They are a seasonal treat.


----------



## davidharmier60

Mmmm.... fried Fish. Not as good as last week but good all the same. 

5.50 hours today and for the week so far 27.20.

Pints of Blue Bell are 2 for $4. May take a couple home.

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----------



## smoke665

Driving in a nearby town I saw coming toward us, 3 police cars with lights and sirens pursuing an SUV. As they got closer i was puzzled by how slow they were going, then I saw the driver and passenger. Two little old white haired ladies who could barely see above the dash and were completely oblivious to the goings on behind them. They couldn't have been going more than 20mph. It was a "hot pusuit" in slow motion.


----------



## Gary A.

Years ago, Gary was driving southbound on the 405 freeway when the northbound traffic thinned and ceased.  Gary noticed in his rearview mirror people with signs, hanging off the bridges.  After a short spell, a white Bronco goes driving northbound with scores of law enforcement vehicles in parade behind the Bronco with all their lights flashing.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary A. said:


> BTW- Mary Lou and Gary watch _Juliet Naked._ Man, what a wonderful movie. Five stars ... on the smile scale. Just a fun movie, highly recommended.


Speaking of movies, _To Kill a Mockingbird_ was playing on TMC.  Man ... what a movie.


----------



## davidharmier60

Reading another John Sandford book. "Broken Prey" this time. Get to reading and lose all track of time.


----------



## snowbear

Here's one for the or the spelling and grammar folks.

On the way into work, this morning, we saw a couple of motorcyclists.  They were wearing jackets identifying them with the Pagans Motorcycle Club.  The banner on their jackets was "PAGAN'S" so I guess the club belongs to the one Pagan.


----------



## Jeff15

If THEY were wearing jackets surly this implies more than one..??


----------



## davidharmier60

Or the apostrophe police need to be called.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> Reading another John Sandford book. "Broken Prey" this time. Get to reading and lose all track of time.



I don't read as much anymore, sad really, because at one time I enjoyed if very much. During my high travel days, it wasn't unusual for me knock out a novel every couple days. It was a way to forget I was in an airport/on a plane/or in a motel miles from home.


----------



## davidharmier60

Lucas Davenport is kinda like Reacher in that I have no idea who could actually play them. I know Tom Cruise did play Reacher but the Reacher in the book would wipe up the floor with Cruise. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary surprised Mary Lou with her new and now favorite mug.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 162868
> Gary surprised Mary Lou with her new and now favorite mug.



I've said it before: Mary Lou and I need to go out for a drink and be friends


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are relaxing in the back patio, sipping a nice Rose of Pinot Nior and watching cable news.  The setting sun is backlighting all the leaves and the bunches of Cabernet grapes hanging around the patio.  Very pleasant and relaxing.


----------



## davidharmier60

To bed I must go. 4AM comes early.


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> To bed I must go. 4AM comes early.



I beat you David, sort of. Layed back in recliner after supper and 3 hours later just woke up. Haven't done that it in a long time


----------



## snowbear

Jeff15 said:


> If THEY were wearing jackets surly this implies more than one..??


They = bikers; Pagan = the one to whom the bikers belong.


----------



## Jeff15

OK then...................


----------



## snowbear

Happy Saturday!

A round of thunderstorms went through this morning (sometime between midnight and three) so we're still warm and a but muggy; maybe the cooler temps will roll in later.

MLW is doing twelve at the Watch Office and Zoe is trying to "trick" me (rolls on her back like she wants a belly rub, then grabs my hand after the first or second rub).  My finger has healed pretty well so I'm going to clean up a bit.  I'm making corn chowder for dinner; I'll serve them with black beans and, if I get real adventurous, some home made biscuits (I generally do not bake).


----------



## smoke665

Can't believe that after the long prebed nap last night, I not only slept good but overslept this morning. Still have no clue as to why I seemed to need so much sleep.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If THEY were wearing jackets surly this implies more than one..??
> 
> 
> 
> They = bikers; Pagan = the one to whom the bikers belong.
Click to expand...

Maybe the club is “employee owned”? So they each feel like an owner?


----------



## JonA_CT

I got my pups normal dog food from Amazon for $27 instead of $47 (instead of $60 at Petsmart) this morning. That’s a solid win. (I had to subscribe...think that’s why they offered the 40% off coupon?)


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> I got my pups normal dog food from Amazon for $27 instead of $47 (instead of $60 at Petsmart) this morning. That’s a solid win. (I had to subscribe...think that’s why they offered the 40% off coupon?)


Nice! Love a good savings.

I switched to Chewy after Amazon kept sending me broken and moldy packages. Plus, I get free shipping, which happens to be one day given proximity to their distribution center.


----------



## Jeff15

I am off to Glasgow for a few days tomorrow, weather don't look good but I will do my best Photographically.....


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Can't believe that after the long prebed nap last night, I not only slept good but overslept this morning. Still have no clue as to why I seemed to need so much sleep.


Perhaps, one is tired?


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If THEY were wearing jackets surly this implies more than one..??
> 
> 
> 
> They = bikers; Pagan = the one to whom the bikers belong.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Maybe the club is “employee owned”? So they each feel like an owner?
Click to expand...

Hmmm.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If THEY were wearing jackets surly this implies more than one..??
> 
> 
> 
> They = bikers; Pagan = the one to whom the bikers belong.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Maybe the club is “employee owned”? So they each feel like an owner?
Click to expand...

An ESOP motorcycle gang ... lol ... most likely it has good bennies.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I got my pups normal dog food from Amazon for $27 instead of $47 (instead of $60 at Petsmart) this morning. That’s a solid win. (I had to subscribe...think that’s why they offered the 40% off coupon?)


Miss Maggie is a Costco feeding/eating dog. (After the intense "Pagan's" review, Gary isn't sure if he should use feeding or eating when describing Maggie's source of food stock.)


----------



## Gary A.

Jeff15 said:


> I am off to Glasgow for a few days tomorrow, weather don't look good but I will do my best Photographically.....


Stay dry.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I got my pups normal dog food from Amazon for $27 instead of $47 (instead of $60 at Petsmart) this morning. That’s a solid win. (I had to subscribe...think that’s why they offered the 40% off coupon?)
> 
> 
> 
> Miss Maggie is a Costco feeding/eating dog. (After the intense "Pagan's" review, Gary isn't sure if he should use feeding or eating when describing Maggie's source of food stock.)
Click to expand...


Maybe Tucker will be too, when our Costco finally goes in next year.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I got my pups normal dog food from Amazon for $27 instead of $47 (instead of $60 at Petsmart) this morning. That’s a solid win. (I had to subscribe...think that’s why they offered the 40% off coupon?)
> 
> 
> 
> Miss Maggie is a Costco feeding/eating dog. (After the intense "Pagan's" review, Gary isn't sure if he should use feeding or eating when describing Maggie's source of food stock.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Maybe Tucker will be too, when our Costco finally goes in next year.
Click to expand...

The Costco food gets good ratings.  She eats both the dry and wet from Costco.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I got my pups normal dog food from Amazon for $27 instead of $47 (instead of $60 at Petsmart) this morning. That’s a solid win. (I had to subscribe...think that’s why they offered the 40% off coupon?)



Keep a close eye on this. The subscribe and save option does NOT lock in pricing.  I have read some complaints about the prices jumping up quite a bit.  On the plus side, you can cancel at any time no penalties.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I got my pups normal dog food from Amazon for $27 instead of $47 (instead of $60 at Petsmart) this morning. That’s a solid win. (I had to subscribe...think that’s why they offered the 40% off coupon?)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Keep a close eye on this. The subscribe and save option does NOT lock in pricing.  I have read some complaints about the prices jumping up quite a bit.  On the plus side, you can cancel at any time no penalties.
Click to expand...


They give you about a week’s notice before they charge you and ship each month, so as long as I read that e-mail, I’m fine. We get a few other essentials that way (laundry detergent, wipes, diapers, etc) that we may not need every month so I usually check and adjust anyways.


----------



## smoke665

We've fed our fur kids Science Diet for years. No problems ever.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm fixin to go to Livingston to Tractor Supply for dog food. I guess that means no ice cream going home today.

32.30 for the week. 

One dog gets special food. The other 8 get what's cheap.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

waday said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If THEY were wearing jackets surly this implies more than one..??
> 
> 
> 
> They = bikers; Pagan = the one to whom the bikers belong.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Maybe the club is “employee owned”? So they each feel like an owner?
Click to expand...


Face it, kids. It's an incorrectly-placed apostrophe. Or, the bikers really do belong to just the one pagan. Or someone named Pagan.


----------



## davidharmier60

Like I said get the apostrophe Police.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Gary A. said:


> .


Speaking of movies, _To Kill a Mockingbird_ was playing on TMC.  Man ... what a movie.[/QUOTE]

Absolutely my favorite movie. I replay it in my mind when trying to forget other things when trying to sleep. 
Thanks for another vote for a great movie..


----------



## smoke665

Oldest son had a part in the local theater production of it, several years ago.


----------



## davidharmier60

Nite y'all. See ya tomorrow.


----------



## davidharmier60

Made it through another night. It was raining to beat the band when I went to bed and the water splashing into the tote tried to keep me up.
Need a 20x30 heavy Silver tarp to stop most of the leaks. But then darn thing costs like $140 and just as we don't have the money for a lot of things that is just another thing on the list.
Did my comics. Did 9 rolls of pennies. I have better than 1000 copper coins in open top rolls over half of which will make it into permanent rolls.
But instead going to read John Sandford - Invisible Prey.


----------



## Tony744

So...yesterday morning I decided to take a drive down the back roads to Carver and check out King Richard's Faire. After a 2 1/2 hour drive I pulled into the lot, got out of the car, and got a call from work. Boss decided to go hit Treehouse Brewery in Charlton. Everyone from work was invited. He even rented a car so we wouldn't have to worry about driving. I figured he rented one of those large passenger vans. NOPE!


----------



## davidharmier60

Have to back that thing down our road. No WAY to turn it around down here!


----------



## Tony744

Driver ended having to do that at one point. Stopped off at one of our coworker's house between breweries to raid his liquor cabinet.


----------



## JonA_CT

Tony744 said:


> So...yesterday morning I decided to take a drive down the back roads to Carver and check out King Richard's Faire. After a 2 1/2 hour drive I pulled into the lot, got out of the car, and got a call from work. Boss decided to go hit Treehouse Brewery in Charlton. Everyone from work was invited. He even rented a car so we wouldn't have to worry about driving. I figured he rented one of those large passenger vans. NOPE!
> View attachment 162998



Nice boss. Yesterday would have been a beautiful day to grab some beers there.

For those of you not from the Northeast...some of the world's top rated beer is brewed there. You can only buy the beer at the brewery, and usually, it's an hour wait for the privilege.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I got my pups normal dog food from Amazon for $27 instead of $47 (instead of $60 at Petsmart) this morning. That’s a solid win. (I had to subscribe...think that’s why they offered the 40% off coupon?)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Keep a close eye on this. The subscribe and save option does NOT lock in pricing.  I have read some complaints about the prices jumping up quite a bit.  On the plus side, you can cancel at any time no penalties.
Click to expand...


I'll have to check this out.  The pups are on Zignature.  The local shop gives a free bag after 10.  The pups like the turkey and the duck.  They liked the sample pack of kangaroo.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hi y'all. 4.45 hours today and for the week so far. Whoops. Just remembered something I have to do before I leave.
After I finish my chicken tenders.....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

This rain needs to move on, and we need to dry out.

Looks like Hurricane Florence is projected to make landfall in North Carolina. Not sure what it's going to do then, but I really really hope it doesn't move north into PA. We have enough water around here right now. Remnants of a hurricane will likely cause major widespread flooding, since many rivers and streams are already projected to be in flood stages (or darn near flooding) through the rest of the week (if they're not already flooding).

Happy Monday. Blech.


----------



## terri

After a wet, rainy August that kept the temps down and the flowers happy, we've entered the typical dry, hot end-of-summer days.   The lawn is drying out and turning brown.   Since this is what _August_ usually looks like, I don't mind.   September makes me happy no matter what.      

Not sure the hurricane will stretch its wet fingers all the way to GA, but we'd take some of that rain.    

Happy Monday, hosers!


----------



## davidharmier60

The sky gives the impression that it could give up some rain here is East Texas. Did what I had to do off the clock. Oh well.
Comics coming up next.


----------



## smoke665

Tony744 said:


> figured he rented one of those large passenger vans. NOPE!



You at least got the "large passenger" part right. LOL


----------



## Gary A.

As most of you may have observed, Mary Lou and Gary like theatre.  Recently we found the Maverick Theater, a tiny little theatre in Fullerton.  For Halloween we have tickets for _Night of the Living Dead_ and for November, Gary just picked up tickets for _Plan Nine from Outer Space_ (a play based upon, arguably, the worst movie of all time).


----------



## SquarePeg

Hey Hosers!  Sitting at the dentist waiting for Princess.  She lost a filling.   Fun.  Cold and rainy day.  Heard some voices out front earlier and stepped out to find our tile guy and his assistant picking all the crab apples off of our tree.  I don’t mind as we don’t eat them but they could have at least asked. 

A neighbor was complaining earlier this summer that she came home from work one day and found her peach tree in her front yard picked clean.  Her kids were so disappointed as they had been waiting for the right time to pick them. What is wrong with people that they just take what isn’t theirs?  The brazenness of going into someone’s front yard in the middle of the day and just helping yourself.  Unreal.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Hey Hosers!  Sitting at the dentist waiting for Princess.  She lost a filling.   Fun.  Cold and rainy day.  Heard some voices out front earlier and stepped out to find our tile guy and his assistant picking all the crab apples off of our tree.  I don’t mind as we don’t eat them but they could have at least asked.
> 
> A neighbor was complaining earlier this summer that she came home from work one day and found her peach tree in her front yard picked clean.  Her kids were so disappointed as they had been waiting for the right time to pick them. What is wrong with people that they just take what isn’t theirs?  The brazenness of going into someone’s front yard in the middle of the day and just helping yourself.  Unreal.


That's horrible!

You should charge them 15 installed tiles per apple...


----------



## Gary A.

Yep, they at least could have asked.  Taking without permission is stealing.  Gary would charge/subtract a crab apple fee from the final payment.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary have numerous Plumeria around the house.  After pruning we will stack the limbs, some as long as five to ten feet, in the street strip for the taking, A Plumeria will start from stems and the stems typically cost $10.00 a linear foot at the nursery.  People come by and take the free Plumeria stems, which is what we desire, but some will strip the leaves from the stems and leave a pile of Plumeria leaves in our yard to be cleaned up. While not as offensive as stealing, but taking the stems and leaving the leaves is still pretty rude.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Hey Hosers!  Sitting at the dentist waiting for Princess.  She lost a filling.   Fun.  Cold and rainy day.  Heard some voices out front earlier and stepped out to find our tile guy and his assistant picking all the crab apples off of our tree.  I don’t mind as we don’t eat them but they could have at least asked.
> 
> A neighbor was complaining earlier this summer that she came home from work one day and found her peach tree in her front yard picked clean.  Her kids were so disappointed as they had been waiting for the right time to pick them. What is wrong with people that they just take what isn’t theirs?  The brazenness of going into someone’s front yard in the middle of the day and just helping yourself.  Unreal.



Have to agree they should have asked first. My Dad would have whipped my rear if he saw me doing something like that. The contractor that put in our driveway, the workers left drink cans and cigarette buts scattered everywhere. You'd have thought I cussed them out when I asked them to pickup their trash, (something I  did the second time I had to ask).


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> ....  Heard some voices out front earlier and stepped out to find our tile guy and his assistant picking all the crab apples off of our tree.  I don’t mind as we don’t eat them but they could have at least asked..


One of the very few occasions anyone has been in to do work in my home was to install hardwood flooring (because free installation was part of the sale offer).  While taking a break, rather than ask to use the washroom (one of the doors off of the hallway in which he was working), he went into the backyard and relieved himself in full view of the neighbour's MIL suite (inhabited by an 80-something year old MIL).  Classsssssy.  Oddly, after my mentioning* this to the store manager there was a new installer the next day.

*By "mentioning" I should clarify that despite the 25+ mile distance between my home and the store, the manager did NOT need an amplified electronic device to hear my complaint.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Hey Hosers!  Sitting at the dentist waiting for Princess.  She lost a filling.   Fun.  Cold and rainy day.  Heard some voices out front earlier and stepped out to find our tile guy and his assistant picking all the crab apples off of our tree.  I don’t mind as we don’t eat them but they could have at least asked.
> 
> A neighbor was complaining earlier this summer that she came home from work one day and found her peach tree in her front yard picked clean.  Her kids were so disappointed as they had been waiting for the right time to pick them. What is wrong with people that they just take what isn’t theirs?  The brazenness of going into someone’s front yard in the middle of the day and just helping yourself.  Unreal.


We had an orange tree in the backyard at our house in Texas, which was the best thing about living in Texas, but that's another story.       We briefly had a lawn service when we first moved there, and they cheerfully started letting themselves into the back yard - which was only accessible by a gate - to help themselves in December.   (Our neighbors watched them and informed us.)   Hubby finally intercepted them one day and said, Just ring the bell - we don't mind sharing.   But you have to stop acting like you're entitled to this back yard just because you mowed the grass for a couple months one year!  



SquarePeg said:


> Cold and rainy day.


  You say that like it's a bad thing.


----------



## davidharmier60

Getting mighty close to time to say Good Night. Aound here going into someones back yard univited could very well get you shot.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone

Mary Lou, Miss Maggie and Gary are relaxing in the back, sipping vino and watching some cable news. 



 

A wonderful g. stepp Riesling and a very pleasant evening. Mary Lou and Gary watched _Searching_, a very suspenseful movie, well worth watching.


----------



## Tony744

JonA_CT said:


> Tony744 said:
> 
> 
> 
> So...yesterday morning I decided to take a drive down the back roads to Carver and check out King Richard's Faire. After a 2 1/2 hour drive I pulled into the lot, got out of the car, and got a call from work. Boss decided to go hit Treehouse Brewery in Charlton. Everyone from work was invited. He even rented a car so we wouldn't have to worry about driving. I figured he rented one of those large passenger vans. NOPE!
> View attachment 162998
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice boss. Yesterday would have been a beautiful day to grab some beers there.
> 
> For those of you not from the Northeast...some of the world's top rated beer is brewed there. You can only buy the beer at the brewery, and usually, it's an hour wait for the privilege.
Click to expand...


The beer was great. The two pint limit had all of us bit irritated though. Ended up going to the River Styx brewery in Fitchburg (after a pit stop at a coworkers' house to raid his liquor cabinet).


----------



## Gary A.

All those in the path of or indirectly affected by Florence ... be safe and God Bless. Gary hopes for the best for you people.


----------



## smoke665

On my way to Cataract Surgery this morning for the 2nd eye!!! Will be so glad to have equal vision again.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> On my way to Cataract Surgery this morning for the 2nd eye!!! Will be so glad to have equal vision again.


Good luck!  If you can read this, it worked.


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> Good luck! If you can read this, it worked.



But I can read that now if I close the bad eye. LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

Good golly Miss Molly. The floor machine was talking to me but I couldn't hear it.
I forgot to put down the squeegee. 
On top of that I forgot to put the box of pennies in the truck.  I think I needed at least another mug of coffee. 

Anyhow 5 hours and 5 minutes today with 9.50 for the week so far. 

Post Office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Will bring pennies tomorrow. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> This rain needs to move on, and we need to dry out.
> 
> Looks like Hurricane Florence is projected to make landfall in North Carolina. Not sure what it's going to do then, but I really really hope it doesn't move north into PA. We have enough water around here right now. Remnants of a hurricane will likely cause major widespread flooding, since many rivers and streams are already projected to be in flood stages (or darn near flooding) through the rest of the week (if they're not already flooding).



They do have a tendency to hook back around so NE could see some rain out of it.

The "cone of uncertainty", which is where it will likely go 60% - 70% of the time, hits just below the Virginia-Maryland border, so DC will certainly be within the storm's influence.  Considering rotation is counter-clockwise, we will get the winds off of the Atlantic. 

The GIS boss will be the first into the Emergency Operations Center, if activated, followed by the other three County GIS people.  My fellow contractor and I will not be asked to report to the EOC due to the contortions with getting permission from corporate and process to approve overtime, but we may need to provide support, if during normal work hours.


----------



## snowbear

Different subject:  MLW saw something on FB about a sky festival in Jasper, Alberta; one highlight being the Aurora.  She want's to go one year.  Works for me!


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> This rain needs to move on, and we need to dry out.
> 
> Looks like Hurricane Florence is projected to make landfall in North Carolina. Not sure what it's going to do then, but I really really hope it doesn't move north into PA. We have enough water around here right now. Remnants of a hurricane will likely cause major widespread flooding, since many rivers and streams are already projected to be in flood stages (or darn near flooding) through the rest of the week (if they're not already flooding).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They do have a tendency to hook back around so NE could see some rain out of it.
> 
> The "cone of uncertainty", which is where it will likely go 60% - 70% of the time, hits just below the Virginia-Maryland border, so DC will certainly be within the storm's influence.  Considering rotation is counter-clockwise, we will get the winds off of the Atlantic.
> 
> The GIS boss will be the first into the Emergency Operations Center, if activated, followed by the other three County GIS people.  My fellow contractor and I will not be asked to report to the EOC due to the contortions with getting permission from corporate and process to approve overtime, but we may need to provide support, if during normal work hours.
Click to expand...

Really hoping we don't get too much. Do you mean the center of the cone or the outer edges? Most spaghetti models have it going directly into North Carolina coast, and then the models are pretty confused after that. Some are showing it going into Ohio or even Indiana and moving up through NE. Others have it going straight up to MD and PA. 

Good luck and thanks for your help during times of crisis! One of my former coworkers helped out with 24-hour reporting of flooding/storms. I helped out with logging peak floods with GPS equipment in conjunction with USGS (so they could update their records).


----------



## davidharmier60

Sad day in History. THANKS first responders!
Now back to reading WEB Griffin - Top Secret


----------



## otherprof

smoke665 said:


> On my way to Cataract Surgery this morning for the 2nd eye!!! Will be so glad to have equal vision again.


Good luck and a quick recovery.  I just scheduled myself for cataract surgery in November.


----------



## snowbear

My cataract surgery went very well.  I opted to have my dominant (left) eye done first, so the results were pretty much immediate.



waday said:


> Really hoping we don't get too much. Do you mean the center of the cone or the outer edges? Most spaghetti models have it going directly into North Carolina coast, and then the models are pretty confused after that. Some are showing it going into Ohio or even Indiana and moving up through NE. Others have it going straight up to MD and PA.
> 
> Good luck and thanks for your help during times of crisis! One of my former coworkers helped out with 24-hour reporting of flooding/storms. I helped out with logging peak floods with GPS equipment in conjunction with USGS (so they could update their records).


The "cone" I'm referring to is the white area around the predicted location points ("M").  It's supposed to represent where the storm will likely track 60% to 70% of the time, based on five-years historic data.

For us, worst case is if this ***** comes right up the Chesapeake.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> The "cone" I'm referring to is the white area around the predicted location points ("M"). It's supposed to represent where the storm will likely track 60% to 70% of the time, based on five-years historic data.
> 
> For us, worst case is if this ***** comes right up the Chesapeake.


Gotcha. Yes, right up the Chesapeake would be bad news. Don't want to think about that...

Models have it going further west than earlier today... but it could hook right back around.




Source: FLORENCE Spaghetti Models | Cyclocane


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> On my way to Cataract Surgery this morning for the 2nd eye!!! Will be so glad to have equal vision again.



Good luck on the surgery!  Coloring with my 2yo grand daughter today and she picked up a crayon and said red.  It was red.  Thought of you.   Then the next dozen crayons she picked up and said red.


----------



## snowbear

The other bad scenario is if it decides to stall after it makes landfall, as Harvey did last year.  it may weaken from a hurricane to a tropical storm, but that is still a lot of water getting dumped.

Speaking of water, how much is in one inch of rain?  If it rains one inch, uniformly, over the entire DC Metro area (5,564 square miles, a little over 6.1 million people) would be a bit more than 17,000,000 gallons.


----------



## waday

I have a fear of centipedes. I hate them. I don't know if it's the legs, their wiggles as they walk, or the fact that one fell on me when I was a kid and decided to crawl across my shoulder. LOL--it's funny now. But, I hate them. I mean, I can typically gather courage to plop a cup around them and take them outside, but I'm not going to cuddle up next to one.

That said, yesterday, I went to take the dog outside the back door through the "rec room" (which is just a small room that we're using as storage). I turn the lights on and see a centipede on the ceiling a couple feet away from me. I immediately freeze, and I'm just staring at it. Okay, okay, I may have let out a yelp, which caused the dog to be on alert and my wife to call down to me. So, as I'm staring at it, my wife asks me what's up. My eyes are locked onto it, and as I start to respond to her, out of nowhere it just falls from the ceiling. Just like that. One second it's on the ceiling, the next second it's raining fear, daggers, and legs.

Thanks for making me feel like I'm alive centipede.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> I have a fear of centipedes. I hate them. I don't know if it's the legs, their wiggles as they walk, or the fact that one fell on me when I was a kid and decided to crawl across my shoulder. LOL--it's funny now. But, I hate them. I mean, I can typically gather courage to plop a cup around them and take them outside, but I'm not going to cuddle up next to one.
> 
> That said, yesterday, I went to take the dog outside the back door through the "rec room" (which is just a small room that we're using as storage). I turn the lights on and see a centipede on the ceiling a couple feet away from me. I immediately freeze, and I'm just staring at it. Okay, okay, I may have let out a yelp, which caused the dog to be on alert and my wife to call down to me. So, as I'm staring at it, my wife asks me what's up. My eyes are locked onto it, and as I start to respond to her, out of nowhere it just falls from the ceiling. Just like that. One second it's on the ceiling, the next second it's raining fear, daggers, and legs.
> 
> Thanks for making me feel like I'm alive centipede.


Ouch.  No judgement from me.  Centipedes are OK - at least they have legs.  My phobia is snakes.  I know many are beneficial but I don't care.  I can go to the zoo and see them behind the glass, and I'm OK, but any of them that free range and I'm history.

Oh, silverfish and cockroaches, though not a fear, just loathing.  If I see one, I grab a hockey stick and try my best slap shot.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> Speaking of water, how much is in one inch of rain? If it rains one inch, uniformly, over the entire DC Metro area (5,564 square miles, a little over 6.1 million people) would be a bit more than 17,000,000 gallons.


Isn't it more than that? That doesn't seem like that much for 5564 square miles?


----------



## snowbear

Wow - way off.  I'm trying to do too many things and going between two computers.
4 billion square inches in a square mile, so it's about 22 trillion square miles in the region.  231 cubic inches in a gallon, so that makes 95 trillion gallons.

I wonder if I can get a boat in the next day or two?


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> Wow - way off.  I'm trying to do too many things and going between two computers.
> 4 billion square inches in a square mile, so it's about 22 trillion square miles in the region.  231 cubic inches in a gallon, so that makes 95 trillion gallons.
> 
> I wonder if I can get a boat in the next day or two?


So much water!


----------



## snowbear

Anyone in the DC area that's interested, our Fire Chief is going to be on DC Fox5 news at 6;30 this evening talking about being a first responder to the Pentagon on 9/11 - he was with Arlington County at the time.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> I have a fear of centipedes. I hate them. I don't know if it's the legs, their wiggles as they walk, or the fact that one fell on me when I was a kid and decided to crawl across my shoulder. LOL--it's funny now. But, I hate them. I mean, I can typically gather courage to plop a cup around them and take them outside, but I'm not going to cuddle up next to one.
> 
> That said, yesterday, I went to take the dog outside the back door through the "rec room" (which is just a small room that we're using as storage). I turn the lights on and see a centipede on the ceiling a couple feet away from me. I immediately freeze, and I'm just staring at it. Okay, okay, I may have let out a yelp, which caused the dog to be on alert and my wife to call down to me. So, as I'm staring at it, my wife asks me what's up. My eyes are locked onto it, and as I start to respond to her, out of nowhere it just falls from the ceiling. Just like that. One second it's on the ceiling, the next second it's raining fear, daggers, and legs.
> 
> Thanks for making me feel like I'm alive centipede.



I sympathize. There are a few things that make me freeze like that. Heart starts racing, blood rushes to my head - total fight or flight response. Millipedes, stink bugs, palmetto bugs, and these big black gross grasshopper things that jump really far amd randomly. Don't know what they are called but I have killed two in my basement in the past year while trying to do laundry, and I hate them enough to consider starting to use a laundromat!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I sympathize. There are a few things that make me freeze like that. Heart starts racing, blood rushes to my head - total fight or flight response. Millipedes, stink bugs, palmetto bugs, and these big black gross grasshopper things that jump really far amd randomly. Don't know what they are called but I have killed two in my basement in the past year while trying to do laundry, and I hate them enough to consider starting to use a laundromat!


Take your pick.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Just went to the eye Dr. myself yesterday. I think they were trying to do me in... there for almost 3 hours and way too much sitting in and getting in and out of frankenstein's laboratory style chairs. My hip/thigh aches today (on the side affected by the stroke). It does get better and easier all the time, but earlier I fell asleep before I even finished my coffee.

My best friend took a few days off work so besides the appt. yesterday (while she ran errands and still came back to wait and wait...) we'll see what we decide to do rest of the week. Maybe go check out an area fabric/quilt shop (if it's accessible enough since it's in an older historic type bldg.). Not sure about getting out and doing any picture taking til maybe later fall.

Gnats. Those have been bad with the leaves coming down and all the rain. But I guess I'll take those over big funky bugs. Between bugginess and going from spring to fall allergies with not much break in between, I'd be just as glad to have a snowpack on the ground anytime now. Maybe a hard freeze??


----------



## vintagesnaps

Thought of this the other day - Charlie you're an artist, why not offer to dab some fabric paint over the unnecessary apostrophes on the motorcycle guys' jackets?? Bet that'd be interesting.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Thought of this the other day - Charlie you're an artist, why not offer to dab some fabric paint over the unnecessary apostrophes on the motorcycle guys' jackets?? Bet that'd be interesting.


I'll outsource that job.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> On my way to Cataract Surgery this morning for the 2nd eye!!! Will be so glad to have equal vision again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck on the surgery!  Coloring with my 2yo grand daughter today and she picked up a crayon and said red.  It was red.  Thought of you.   Then the next dozen crayons she picked up and said red.
Click to expand...


I hope you got a photo of that for this week’s challenge.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have a fear of centipedes. I hate them. I don't know if it's the legs, their wiggles as they walk, or the fact that one fell on me when I was a kid and decided to crawl across my shoulder. LOL--it's funny now. But, I hate them. I mean, I can typically gather courage to plop a cup around them and take them outside, but I'm not going to cuddle up next to one.
> 
> That said, yesterday, I went to take the dog outside the back door through the "rec room" (which is just a small room that we're using as storage). I turn the lights on and see a centipede on the ceiling a couple feet away from me. I immediately freeze, and I'm just staring at it. Okay, okay, I may have let out a yelp, which caused the dog to be on alert and my wife to call down to me. So, as I'm staring at it, my wife asks me what's up. My eyes are locked onto it, and as I start to respond to her, out of nowhere it just falls from the ceiling. Just like that. One second it's on the ceiling, the next second it's raining fear, daggers, and legs.
> 
> Thanks for making me feel like I'm alive centipede.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I sympathize. There are a few things that make me freeze like that. Heart starts racing, blood rushes to my head - total fight or flight response. Millipedes, stink bugs, palmetto bugs, and these big black gross grasshopper things that jump really far amd randomly. Don't know what they are called but I have killed two in my basement in the past year while trying to do laundry, and I hate them enough to consider starting to use a laundromat!
Click to expand...

Yuck! I'm generally ok with millipedes and stink bugs, and I can take them outside no problem with a cup. No thank you to palmetto and other random jumping bugs. Another "nope" for me is spiders. I'm generally ok with spiders, as long as they're not big and they don't jump. And, they're not near me. But if spiders start rivaling the size of quarters, I tend to freeze. The biggest I saw in my house was around the size of a half-dollar, and I had a hard time with it. I did manage to get it outside.

When I was in the field with a coworker, we were in a small building in the woods. I'm standing behind the guy, and I look over at the wall. There sat a spider, nearly matching the color of the wall, with a leg span/diameter of around 3-inches. I let out a "holy ****", and I took a picture of it (not sure if I'll be able to find it). The guy turns around, sees it, and kicks the wall with his arms flailing about. Terrifying and hilarious at the same time. I did feel bad for the spider, because it was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.


----------



## snowbear

A few years ago, this was in the corner of the dining room.  I took a few shots then decided to see what it was.  Yep, male Black Widow.  I figured it was deceased as I shot it with the speedlight at close range, several times and it didn't move.  I was getting ready to just pick it up when I thought better and poked it instead.  It moved.

Fly swatter fodder.


----------



## Gary A.

The male Black Widows are harmless to humans.


----------



## snowbear

Gary A. said:


> The male Black Widows are harmless to humans.


Yup, sure.


----------



## smoke665

otherprof said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> On my way to Cataract Surgery this morning for the 2nd eye!!! Will be so glad to have equal vision again.
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck and a quick recovery.  I just scheduled myself for cataract surgery in November.
Click to expand...


The first one a week ago was a piece of cake. Because of schedule conflict I had to have this one done at a different surgery center. The surgeon was the same. A lot of the procedures at this one were different. Not sure if that was the reason but this one was more uncomfortable. Lingering headache and eye that feels scratched.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I sympathize. There are a few things that make me freeze like that. Heart starts racing, blood rushes to my head - total fight or flight response. Millipedes, stink bugs, palmetto bugs, and these big black gross grasshopper things that jump really far amd randomly. Don't know what they are called but I have killed two in my basement in the past year while trying to do laundry, and I hate them enough to consider starting to use a laundromat!
> 
> 
> 
> Take your pick.
> 
> View attachment 163066
Click to expand...


Nah, if I'm going to have bad aim with something, it had better have a longer handle or some other superpower. In some cases, like the jumping grasshoppers or palmetto bugs, even anything with a handle is too close. I prefer dumping an obsene amount of bug spray from as far away as I can physically manage while still delivering a lethal dose of poison.

These things are awesome, though, for the bugs I don't mind getting a little bit closer to, mostly because they don't fly, or they're too dumb to fly: 
Mosquito and Flying Insect Bug Zapper Racket


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> On my way to Cataract Surgery this morning for the 2nd eye!!! Will be so glad to have equal vision again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck on the surgery!  Coloring with my 2yo grand daughter today and she picked up a crayon and said red.  It was red.  Thought of you.   Then the next dozen crayons she picked up and said red.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I hope you got a photo of that for this week’s challenge.
Click to expand...


Not for the challenge, but did take a few of the little one.  She had pink on today.  The photo session was cut short when she fell outside and skinned her knee.  We were outside a total of 5 minutes.  I did get some in the house before the incident.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I sympathize. There are a few things that make me freeze like that. Heart starts racing, blood rushes to my head - total fight or flight response. Millipedes, stink bugs, palmetto bugs, and these big black gross grasshopper things that jump really far amd randomly. Don't know what they are called but I have killed two in my basement in the past year while trying to do laundry, and I hate them enough to consider starting to use a laundromat!
> 
> 
> 
> Take your pick.
> 
> View attachment 163066
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nah, if I'm going to have bad aim with something, it had better have a longer handle or some other superpower. In some cases, like the jumping grasshoppers or palmetto bugs, even anything with a handle is too close. I prefer dumping an obsene amount of bug spray from as far away as I can physically manage while still delivering a lethal dose of poison.
> 
> These things are awesome, though, for the bugs I don't mind getting a little bit closer to, mostly because they don't fly, or they're too dumb to fly:
> Mosquito and Flying Insect Bug Zapper Racket
Click to expand...


2 tips 

1- aerosol hairspray will knock down anything that flies or crawls. Usually more handy than bug spray and won’t leave your house quite as toxic smelling.  

2- mom zapped herself with one of those a few years ago. She said it hurt like a sob.  Be careful.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> On my way to Cataract Surgery this morning for the 2nd eye!!! Will be so glad to have equal vision again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck on the surgery!  Coloring with my 2yo grand daughter today and she picked up a crayon and said red.  It was red.  Thought of you.   Then the next dozen crayons she picked up and said red.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I hope you got a photo of that for this week’s challenge.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not for the challenge, but did take a few of the little one.  She had pink on today.  The photo session was cut short when she fell outside and skinned her knee.  We were outside a total of 5 minutes.  I did get some in the house before the incident.
Click to expand...


Hope she’s ok. Blood is red.


----------



## smoke665

We use one of those electric swatters to play ball with the carpenter bees that seem to love our deck. Safer then pesticide, and makes a satisfying ZZZAAAPPPP noise when you hit the sweet spot!

@CheryIL we joke our granddaughter should have been named Grace, because that's the only way she'd have it. Her knees are constantly skinned up.


----------



## davidharmier60

They showed George W. Throw out the first pitch not long after 9-11 before Astros at Detroit. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> 1- aerosol hairspray will knock down anything that flies or crawls. Usually more handy than bug spray and won’t leave your house quite as toxic smelling.


Bonus tip 1a, if you have a lighter, use it in conjunction with the hairspray to just burn everything and make it all sterile.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> if you have a lighter, use it in conjunction with the hairspray



We've used White Rain for years to charge the potato gun. More bang for the buck. LOL


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> A few years ago, this was in the corner of the dining room.  I took a few shots then decided to see what it was.  Yep, male Black Widow.  I figured it was deceased as I shot it with the speedlight at close range, several times and it didn't move.  I was getting ready to just pick it up when I thought better and poked it instead.  It moved.
> 
> Fly swatter fodder.



We use a flip flop around here. A little bit of leverage and a bit of weight, so there's a good thwack.


----------



## davidharmier60

In my part of the world give a spider an inch and it'll take a yard easily.
And on that note I'm saying good night.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> 2 tips
> 
> 1- aerosol hairspray will knock down anything that flies or crawls. Usually more handy than bug spray and won’t leave your house quite as toxic smelling.
> 
> 2- mom zapped herself with one of those a few years ago. She said it hurt like a sob.  Be careful.



1 - Yup - I've been known to use just about anything in an aeresol can, and if hairspray is handy, I reach for that first. I should get some super strong hold so I can freeze the bugs right out of the air 

2 - Already learned that lesson


----------



## Gary A.

Gary tends to escort spiders he finds indoors to the great outside.  Spider are very beneficial.  Gary likes their webs. But flies are disgusting and have no redeeming value.






For flies and other small insect vermin, Gary uses his Bug-A-Salt. It shoots a load of table salt to devastating effect on flies, slugs, et al. The shot is like a shotgun and creates a pattern, so most often, close is good enough ... marksmanship is of secondary importance.


----------



## davidharmier60

Mentally I feel a bit better this morning. 
Gary that looks like a fun toy.
Marquee day. Eagle poops today. 
Have a nice Wednesday y'all. 

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----------



## snowbear

She's tracking further south, so it looks good for us - not so much for SC and GA.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> She's tracking further south, so it looks good for us - not so much for SC and GA.


Yeah, look at that shift. Wow, the models really all came together to show it hitting the NC/SC border, then kinda dipping and hooking around to hit west/northwest PA.


----------



## smoke665

Wow, thinking of all our TPF friends on the east coast. Hope all weather storm safely.

On another note, I am experiencing a first for me. I'm sitting here reading my screen WITHOUT glasses. For someone who's spent the last 35 plus years needing progressively stronger and stronger prescriptions, that's nothing short of a miracle for me.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm led to believe I can't have Lasic
Could no more afford it then flap my arms and fly.
5.44 today 15.3x for the week so far. 
She laughed when I said I was subcontionly thinking of 9-11.
Sold my box of pennies. 
Need the check to put some gas in my truck. Down at deli just now waiting for it.

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----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> Sold my box of pennies.


When you say sold, do you mean exchanged for a higher denomination? Or are you selling the pennies that you found that have some value higher than one cent? What do you do with the pennies that you find? Do you collect them?

I used to collect coins when I was a kid, but usually they were just ones that I liked as opposed to ones that had any value above face value. For example, I liked wheat pennies, but I also liked pennies that were damaged or green. I found a penny that someone pretty much dunked in black paint; I fancied that for a while.


----------



## davidharmier60

I go through a box ($25) each week.
Looking for nice copper coins and obvious errors. Then I sell that box to the store and get another. I say obvious errors because double dies and such is to hard for me to see.

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----------



## wannabe photographer

Just something to make my crappy day


----------



## waday

Gotcha


----------



## waday

wannabe photographer said:


> Just something to make my crappy day
> 
> View attachment 163092


I love that photograph!


----------



## SquarePeg

davidharmier60 said:


> I go through a box ($25) each week.
> Looking for nice copper coins and obvious errors. Then I sell that box to the store and get another. I say obvious errors because double dies and such is to hard for me to see.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



What do you do with the nice copper coins and obvious errors?


----------



## davidharmier60

Roll up the copper and I haven't yet found an obvious error. Really REALLY nice ones go in flips.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

davidharmier60 said:


> Roll up the copper and I haven't yet found an obvious error. Really REALLY nice ones go in flips.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



What do you do with them when you roll them up?  Do you save them?  Are they worth more?  Is this conversation going to be like pulling teeth Dave?  lol.


----------



## davidharmier60

Well since they stopped making copper pennies in 1982 I figure at some point they will be worth something more than face value.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## markjwyatt

waday said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sold my box of pennies.
> 
> 
> 
> When you say sold, do you mean exchanged for a higher denomination? Or are you selling the pennies that you found that have some value higher than one cent? ...
Click to expand...


Pre late-1982 pennies are currently worth about 1.7 cents each. I collect those if I find them. I sort nickels out also. They are currently worth 3.7 cents each and fairly recently were worth 5 cents or above (copper and nickel fluctuate a lot). Canadian 1955-1981 nickels are pure nickel (US nickels are 75% copper/25% nickel)and are worth 5.5 US cents each now. Even zinc pennies are worth 0.6 cents now! Most other circulated coins are worth 5-15% of face value so are better spent than saved. My (ummm) 2 cents worth.

Resource: Current Melt Value Of Coins - How Much Is Your Coin Worth?


----------



## davidharmier60

I have approximately 80 rolls of copper.
Of those at least 50 are very nice rolls.
I figure I have at least a few more years of lucid thought. I just keep them and add to them as I go.

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----------



## markjwyatt

davidharmier60 said:


> I have approximately 80 rolls of copper.
> Of those at least 50 are very nice rolls.
> I figure I have at least a few more years of lucid thought. I just keep them and add to them as I go.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Yep. I bought some rolls of nickels in the 2008-2010 time frame (maybe 20 or so), and  now I have a big plastic container and as I get them in change I sort them out (and darker pennies) and toss the nickels in. Pennies I just toss into another container to sort later.


----------



## waday

@markjwyatt , how do you get the extra value from those pennies? Say you have a penny that's face value is 1 cent, but it's really worth 3 cents. How do you go about getting that extra 2 cents? I'm honestly curious, not sarcastic--I didn't want this to come across as sarcasm.


----------



## markjwyatt

waday said:


> @markjwyatt , how do you get the extra value from those pennies? Say you have a penny that's face value is 1 cent, but it's really worth 3 cents. How do you go about getting that extra 2 cents? I'm honestly curious, not sarcastic--I didn't want this to come across as sarcasm.



At some point you can sell them. Look on ebay sometimes. Remember silver coins int he 1960s and early 1970s? They discontinued them and now they are worth over 10x face value. I remember working retail in the early 1980s. Occasionally a silver dime or quarter showed up in the coin drawer. When I counted at the end of the day, I just switched it with a current coin and kept it.  Just stick-em in the garage and forget about them for a while.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

My mother became a U.S. citizen this morning.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> My mother became a U.S. citizen this morning.



Congrats Momma R!


----------



## Gary A.

Welcome Mom, to citizenship and the opportunity to vote.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has been roasting coffee today.  He tried a cast iron skillet ... nope ... the results were not nearly as good as the popcorn popper.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'll be darned if I know what I'll do with these pennies. I consider it a fairly harmless project.
Thousands of people who have more money than I do the same thing with Nickels, Dimes, Quarters and Half Dollars. And find their fair share of silver.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> My mother became a U.S. citizen this morning.



This must be a great relief with today's political climate.  Congrats and a very belated welcome!


----------



## SquarePeg

Shower is grouted and looks exactly as I envisioned. The trim and glass half wall will go in next.  Not visible in this pic but the shower floor has hexagon shaped white marble tiles with a pale silver grout (didn’t dare use white on the floors) and that is what the floor of the finished bath will have.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary has been roasting coffee today.  He tried a cast iron skillet ... nope ... the results were not nearly as good as the popcorn popper.



Why exactly????? Curious mind??? Are you using a hot air popcorn popper by chance, that would really keep them in motion for even heating I'd think.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> how do you get the extra value from those pennies?



Melt them down without getting caught 

Buy one of these put it in the right spot and you can generate anywhere from 50 cents to a dollar on every penny. My DW loves these things, we've got them (pennies) from everywhere.


----------



## davidharmier60

Looks like something I could NEVER afford...

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----------



## terri

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> My mother became a U.S. citizen this morning.


That's wonderful!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Shower is grouted and looks exactly as I envisioned. The trim and glass half wall will go in next.  Not visible in this pic but the shower floor has hexagon shaped white marble tiles with a pale silver grout (didn’t dare use white on the floors) and that is what the floor of the finished bath will have.
> View attachment 163101


Looks gorgeous.   I really like those small hexagonal tiles, too, from what I've seen. 

I have remodeling envy here!


----------



## davidharmier60

I long since should have been in bed. Good night y'all.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary has been roasting coffee today.  He tried a cast iron skillet ... nope ... the results were not nearly as good as the popcorn popper.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Why exactly????? Curious mind??? Are you using a hot air popcorn popper by chance, that would really keep them in motion for even heating I'd think.
Click to expand...


He is. And your assumption is correct -- a lot of airflow makes the process much more efficient!

(I've been buying coffee recently...shhh.....)


----------



## Gary A.

@smoke665 : After a dedicated coffee roaster, (which are quite expensive), Gary went with the second best option, a popcorn popper. It works quite well and as a starter roaster, it made my entry into home roasting quite affordable.


----------



## Gary A.

The problem with popcorn poppers is, unmodified, they don’t hold a lot of beans per roast. Which is the main reason why Gary may upgrade to a bonafide roaster and the only reason Gary tried a cast iron skillet.


----------



## Gary A.

Popcorn Poppet



 
Skillet


----------



## markjwyatt

A message from our sponsor... ("A Good Day Begins with a Good Coffee")




coffee by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 163107
> Popcorn Poppet
> 
> View attachment 163108
> Skillet



Oh yeah. Much better roast on the popcorn popper.

I can do between 8-10 oz on my modified Presto Poplite. The total cost is about $30, with the popper. I can send you the steps I took if you’re interested.


----------



## davidharmier60

I season my coffee with sugar and  creamer. No need for super fancy beans.
Folgers Classic roast is quite good enough.

5 and a half and a few minutes today. 
21.07 for the week so far. 

Sister was going to have me bring home stuff but hasn't. 

Blue Bell half gallon is nearly 8 bucks 
Blue Bunny not quite a half gallon is 4.97.
With chocolate sauce on it we ain't gonna miss Blue Bell THAT much.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 163107
> Popcorn Poppet
> 
> View attachment 163108
> Skillet
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh yeah. Much better roast on the popcorn popper.
> 
> I can do between 8-10 oz on my modified Presto Poplite. The total cost is about $30, with the popper. I can send you the steps I took if you’re interested.
Click to expand...

Nahhh ... if I'm to upgrade it will be to a real machine.


----------



## vintagesnaps

A real machine - you mean one of those old metal popcorn poppers we had when we were kids? My mom used to take it along on vacation to heat soup in the motel room. 

Good for your mom, Leo! 

My dad got released from the hospital to the rehab place I went after my stroke. He's been complaining and making bad jokes so I think he's fine as far as hitting his head hard goes. We'll see by next week how he's doing after laying flat for almost two weeks, I think he'll be there awhile getting therapy (and not being a happy camper). 

There was a Columbo on with lots of Polaroids in the background, which I enjoyed while I'm waiting for the guy who cuts my grass and the guy who drives the brown truck (because as soon as I start doing something one or the other is bound to come to the front door).


----------



## davidharmier60

We were sent a 1000W Microwave that didn't have a driveshaft for the rotating plate.
We were given a 900W that was working perfectly well.
We got another 1000W that is complete with driveshaft.
Switched them out when I got home after putting a little oil in my truck.
Boxed up the 900W for a garage sale or something.
The 1000W without driveshaft goes out in the mail when 'they 'send us a mailing label.
Now Irfanview wouldn't shut down so I rebooted the computer. 
It USUALLY lets me restore. Not this time. Have it all to do over again.
Yippee.


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> A real machine - you mean one of those old metal popcorn poppers we had when we were kids? My mom used to take it along on vacation to heat soup in the motel room.
> 
> Good for your mom, Leo!
> 
> My dad got released from the hospital to the rehab place I went after my stroke. He's been complaining and making bad jokes so I think he's fine as far as hitting his head hard goes. We'll see by next week how he's doing after laying flat for almost two weeks, I think he'll be there awhile getting therapy (and not being a happy camper).
> 
> There was a Columbo on with lots of Polaroids in the background, which I enjoyed while I'm waiting for the guy who cuts my grass and the guy who drives the brown truck (because as soon as I start doing something one or the other is bound to come to the front door).


Glad to hear that about your Dad, Sharon!   Hope the rest of his recovery goes by just as well.


----------



## CherylL

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> My mother became a U.S. citizen this morning.



Congrats!


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m not sure if this made the news anywhere outside of New England, but there have been over 60 houses a few miles north of us that have exploded. There are natural gas explosions happening in all these homes starting around 4pm and there are three cities where they evacuated everybody and they’ve turned off the power and the gas. They don’t have a timeline when people would be allowed back into their homes. So far there’s been a lot of injuries and one fatality. An 18-year-old boy was killed when a chimney from a house that exploded fell on top of the car he was sitting in.  I’ve never heard of anything like this happening before.   One news station is reporting that the gas company was working on upgrading gas lines in one of the neighborhoods where this is happening.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gas explosions, fires reported in Massachusetts towns - CNN


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Gas explosions, fires reported in Massachusetts towns - CNN



I haven't had much chance to sit down and read details today, but I did see something about that. So awful


----------



## Gary A.

That made the news out here.  Terrible ...  Over-pressurized pipes ... homes exploding all over the landscape. The residents must be horrified. Amazing for that to happen.  We, who are not in those exploding communities, can thank our lucky stars.


----------



## davidharmier60

No natural gas comes to our house. 
Propane runs the stove.
Sitting in parking lot at work. 
Just me and the Blue Bell guy.
Get to do it all over again starting in less than 10 minutes. 

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----------



## smoke665

That would be scary. Sounds like that gas company is facing a huge liability.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> That would be scary. Sounds like that gas company is facing a huge liability.



It was pretty chaotic.  Many people were on their way home from work and school and police were trying to warn people not to go home and to get out.   All electricity was shut off to avoid it sparking any more fires.  I have friends who have had to relocate to stay with family and they have no idea how long they will be out of their home.


----------



## smoke665

I was on a fire scene once where the line from an LP tank ruptured. The vapor being heavier then air settled in a ditch to the side of the house till a burning ember set it off. That will wake you up!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> I was on a fire scene once where the line from an LP tank ruptured. The vapor being heavier then air settled in a ditch to the side of the house till a burning ember set it off. That will wake you up!


There was a big fire in Anaheim.  Like ... six square blocks went up in flames.  Mostly apartment buildings.  All of the gas meters turned into geysers of flames shooting high into the smokey sky.  It felt like a scene from Hell.


----------



## Gary A.

Yesterday evening, Gary walked into a campaign office in Orange County and volunteered to work on the campaign.  The office put him immediately to work and he started making phone calls.  Gary is glad he did so.


----------



## otherprof

vintagesnaps said:


> A real machine - you mean one of those old metal popcorn poppers we had when we were kids? My mom used to take it along on vacation to heat soup in the motel room.
> 
> Good for your mom, Leo!
> 
> My dad got released from the hospital to the rehab place I went after my stroke. He's been complaining and making bad jokes so I think he's fine as far as hitting his head hard goes. We'll see by next week how he's doing after laying flat for almost two weeks, I think he'll be there awhile getting therapy (and not being a happy camper).
> 
> There was a Columbo on with lots of Polaroids in the background, which I enjoyed while I'm waiting for the guy who cuts my grass and the guy who drives the brown truck (because as soon as I start doing something one or the other is bound to come to the front door).



Hoping all the best for your dad.


----------



## otherprof

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 163107
> Popcorn Poppet
> 
> View attachment 163108
> Skillet


Keep the popcorn popper going. The downside is you'll have lats of people sitting in your kitchen all day with their laptops plugged in, ala Starbucks.


----------



## davidharmier60

Good for you if that's what you wanted Gary. 5.13 hours today 26.20 for the week so far. It rained earlier today. I would imagine I have containers of water to empty when I get home.

I have a dream. Get our leaking falling down house removed and put a single wide with metal roof in its place. I'm fairly certain it will only remain a dream.

Finishing chicken tenders at the deli. PO, library, box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## Gary A.

@ Sharon: Good news for Dad. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> There was a Columbo on with lots of Polaroids in the background, which I enjoyed while I'm waiting for the guy who cuts my grass and the guy who drives the brown truck (because as soon as I start doing something one or the other is bound to come to the front door).


Good to hear about your dad! 

re: Columbo, I love that show so much. There were a few that were photography/videography related. I used to watch it with my grandparents every day when it came on. The magician one was always my favorite as a kid. I liked the Johnny Cash one, too. As I got older, I started to laugh at the "evidence" he used to try to convict someone, but it was still good nonetheless. I watched it on TV until the station started to repeat the same 3 or 4 ones. And then the commercials... so many commercials. A single Columbo seemed to last at least 3-3.5 hours.


----------



## SquarePeg

I believe my mom still watches it.  That and her all time favorite Murder She Wrote.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary received three wine shipments this week.  He was getting low ... but now back to ship shape.  A shipment from the Russian River Vineyard up in Sonoma.  Another package from Sanford Vinyard in Santa Barbara County and a final delivery from Naked Wines a non-profit that works with and supports little wineries up and down the state.  Gary is set for a while.


----------



## snowbear

Working on mapping HOAs.  GIS boss sends an email: “The Community Relations Office sent me a spreadsheet list of the HOAs and I put it in the project folder.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is it only has names, city and the state; no addresses.  Have fun!”

I’ve been at it all week and I’m at about 30%.


----------



## davidharmier60

It never rained QUITE enough to fill the containers.
So Pennies, Comics, Dinner and very soon bed.


----------



## smoke665

Long day, just sat down to finally eat something today. Drove in yesterday to MO to start the clean out process on my in-laws house. Fortunately they had gotten rid of a lot over the last couple years. Still it's not a fun way to spend a few days. We made good progress today and will go back tomorrow. Brother in law and his son coming next week to finish up. Sunday we load up and drive back home. Father in law is 96 and Mother in law is 90. Father on law is a WWII vet.


----------



## SquarePeg

Finished with work early enough to head to Princess's away game.  It was at a field a few towns away that I had only been to once before for a softball game.  My phone was on 8% battery life so I plugged it in when I got in the car and fired up the Waze gps app.  If you've never used Waze, it will sometimes use unusual routes to avoid traffic... As I arrived at a crossroads I realized that the phone charger was not plugged into the "lighter" thingy and my phone was at 1% and had frozen after the last turn.  I took a chance and went right.  I did not choose wisely.  I did eventually make it to the game but I missed the first half.  

The Varsity field hockey coach sent a very aggressive email to the team this morning about some players not participating in the latest fundraiser (by submitting 15 emails each to send the fundraiser info to).  Threatening extra conditioning drills after practice and advising she would "doubt the commitment" of anyone who was "selfish" enough not to participate.  I could not believe the nerve.  She must not have realized that most of these kids don't check emails, it's usually a family email account used for school stuff.  I'm sure the AD got some very upset and angry calls because a half hour later we received another email from coach retracting the threat about the conditioning and saying participation in the fundraiser was absolutely totally voluntary and her only intent was for the betterment of the team by raising the money.  This was followed by yet another email tonight apologizing for the first 2 emails.   Sigh.  

For the record - I did not call or email the AD when I read the first email.  I called another mom on the team and vented.  As some of you may have read in my post about the team practicing in that extreme heat, I have already filed this coach in my "Jackhole" folder.  I knew that others would pick up the ball this time around.  And another thing, I paid $300 sports fee for Princess to participate in field hockey and except for the uniform, the parents supply all of the equipment (safety goggles, stick, shin pads, cleats).  I think she would have gotten a better response to her fundraiser if she had indicated what the needs of the team were and had something that the girls can participate in like a car wash or wrapping paper sales or whatever - not just an email for a "fund me" type of site.  

OK - secondary venting over.   Thanks for "listening".  

On an up note.. woooohooooo it's the weekend!


----------



## limr




----------



## snowbear

I'm tired.  I quit.  Goodnight.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is home after a rough afternoon driving all over Los Angeles in LA traffic collecting all the electrical materials needed for the hot tub.  After unloading the SUV Mary Lou whipped up some pork sandwiches from the pork loin Gary had Sous Vide earlier in the week.  OMG, it was possibly the absolute best sandwich Gary has ever eaten.  The pork was Sous Vide in a mixture of orange juice, wine, seasonings, garlic and basil.  Mary Lou heated the pork in the leftover juices and dipped the rolls in same.  She added a touch of chili verde to the pork as it was heated. It was delicious. Better than delicious ... (whatever that may be).


----------



## davidharmier60

Waiting to see who unlocks the store.
Wishing I was still asleep. 
We joke amongst ourselves about hot tubs and steam showers. This is Texas.
That is all.

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## JonA_CT

I've already been busy this morning. I've got the house tidy, grocery lists made (and ordered the groceries for pickup), watched an episode of Jack Ryan on Amazon, and worked the computer to pay off my last Verizon bill. (I switched to T-Mobile. The service area isn't quite as good, but they paid off our phones ($800!) and the monthly bill is about the same with more benefits.)


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

JonA_CT said:


> I've already been busy this morning. I've got the house tidy, grocery lists made (and ordered the groceries for pickup), watched an episode of Jack Ryan on Amazon, and worked the computer to pay off my last Verizon bill. (I switched to T-Mobile. The service area isn't quite as good, but they paid off our phones ($800!) and the monthly bill is about the same with more benefits.)



Sounds like a good move to me! I hate debt!


----------



## JonA_CT

Dean_Gretsch said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've already been busy this morning. I've got the house tidy, grocery lists made (and ordered the groceries for pickup), watched an episode of Jack Ryan on Amazon, and worked the computer to pay off my last Verizon bill. (I switched to T-Mobile. The service area isn't quite as good, but they paid off our phones ($800!) and the monthly bill is about the same with more benefits.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like a good move to me! I hate debt!
Click to expand...


Me too. We're aggressively paying down our graduate school debt (and the credit card debt that came with it). We are hoping that it'll all be paid off by the time we are done paying day care in a few years. It'll be right in time for us to shift that monthly expense over to college accounts, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary hasn't any debt.


----------



## Gary A.

Coffee Report:

Gary is sipping his first cup of skillet roasted coffee.  There is a burnt edge to the brew, but overall a much lighter cup than the popcorn popper.  It's okay, but not to Gary's taste. The skillet coffee was unevenly roasted even though Gary constantly stirred the beans. Gary may integrate the skillet beans with the popcorn beans.


----------



## terri

Gary A. said:


> Gary hasn't any debt.


Gary is old.


----------



## terri

According to the latest weather report, we're not likely to get a drop from what's left of Florence.   Havoc has been wreaked by this thing, yet here we sit, sunny and breezy.    The wind has picked up and likely to continue gusting, but it's all dry air.    Here's hoping there are no more fatalities from this hurricane, though with ongoing rising waters it's still extremely dangerous.   Stay safe, to anyone still in its path!


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave just recently got home with 30.46 hours for the week.  Brought home requested groceries.
About to do half the pennies I'll ultimately do today, then comics, then the other half.
Blue sky and quite warm outside.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is jealous of Gary for having no debt.


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary hasn't any debt.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary is old.
Click to expand...

Actually, Gary had a discussion with his accountant way back when Gary was in his early 50's.  His accountant and he discussed a friend that went debt free.  Gary decided that debt free wasn't a bad deal ... over the next few years did so and has kept to it ever since.


----------



## SquarePeg

Other than a very modest mortgage, I am debt free.  The house is worth more than 3x what I owe so I don’t really count that! 

But with college for Princess 3 years away, and her recent talk about med school, that will likely change soon.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Gary hasn't any debt.



Took a lot of years but we don't either except the recurring monthly bills.


----------



## davidharmier60

Pizza for dinner and Let's Make a Deal on DVR. Possible ice cream later. 

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## limr

I got myself completely of debt a few years ago and kept it that way until Dec of last year when I bought my new car. I have been paying extra on it every month because I want it to be paid off before I buy a house. It is a 5-year loan and less than 2 years later, I have paid off a bit more than half of the amount. I am looking to have it completely paid by next Dec at the latest. It helps that I bought at a good time and have good credit. My interest rate on the loan was less than 1%.


----------



## tirediron

Other than what's accumulated on this month's credit-card statement (and will paid off before the due date) I owes nothin' to no one.  That said, in my mind, a vehicle payment or mortgage, assuming that the payments are within your capability to manage don't really count as "debts" (I know that they are) but transportation and housing are pretty much essential...


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is very sad that Anthony Bourdain has passed.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave ain't sure but wasn't Anthony Bourdain with a rather hard band.
The name escapes me just now.
Lived through another night.
No apparent rain coming.
Live Orchestra on YouTube. 

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----------



## limr

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave ain't sure but wasn't Anthony Bourdain with a rather hard band.
> The name escapes me just now.
> Lived through another night.
> No apparent rain coming.
> Live Orchestra on YouTube.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Anthony Bourdain was a celebrity chef who killed himself a few months back.
Anthony Bourdain - Wikipedia


----------



## ceemac

Finally got the little rascal (with my camera). After 15 minutes of playing gimme my gloves back, I won his friendship.


----------



## Gary A.

WOW! And a relationship to boot.  Well done.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hmph. So I was wrong. Listening to piano music by Chopin, Debussy, Beethoven etc.
And reading John Sandford. 

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## CherylL

Went to the musical play Evita yesterday.  First time I saw the 2 wings opened up for a full house.


----------



## ceemac

Gary A. said:


> WOW! And a relationship to boot. Well done.



It's going to be hard to not feed him, but he likes my gardening gloves.


----------



## davidharmier60

Spaghetti before too long. And it would be in my best interest to be in bed by 8PM.
Interesting critter ceemac....


----------



## smoke665

Whew, 900 miles of driving and two hard days of cleaning out DW's parents house, it's good to be home with feet up. I erroneously assumed that their little house wouldn't have that much  Forgot about all those drawers, cabinets, closets.......


----------



## Jeff15

Did they pay you............................


----------



## davidharmier60

Stuff is a very good reason why I think moving ever again is a terrible idea. 
If I'm the last one alive ( which seems quite possible) I don't know what I'll do. 
Possibly burn this place down.

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----------



## smoke665

@Jeff15  Nope, but I don't mind. Father in law is 96 and Mother in law is 90, they're both in a nursing home, and at this stage not going back home. They finally told us to sell the house, and already have a contract for sale, will close this month.


----------



## Gary A.

Willie and Gary installed all the 220V and the 110V yesterday.  Gary finished gluing up the last two pipe pipe fittings today and has started filling up the trenches.  Whew ... like smoke665, the hard work is over.  

Gary is jumping into the shower and then Mary Lou and he are heading out for _Romona_.  _ Romona _is pretty famous out here.  It takes place in the late 1800 in SoCal.  While it is a romance story, the main plot was to illuminate the horrible and sub-human treatment of Native Americans.  Much of the play is based upon actual events.  The play will be performed outside at the Mission San Gabriel, incorporating the mission, founded in 1771, into the play.  Adios.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dave is for bed here directly. I hope y'all have a better Monday than mine.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Saw some of the posts recently about Columbo tv show. Am watching now on MeTV, Sunday 8 pm. 
Tonight is William Shatner as bad guy and do remember it, but will watch some of it.
I do enjoy it.
I seem to remember 1 with Richard Boone as a blind killer. I can NEVER find that episode? Do they not allow reruns of certain contracts ? 

Been lurking but not posting much....


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> Saw some of the posts recently about Columbo tv show. Am watching now on MeTV, Sunday 8 pm.
> Tonight is William Shatner as bad guy and do remember it, but will watch some of it.
> I do enjoy it.
> I seem to remember 1 with Richard Boone as a blind killer. I can NEVER find that episode? Do they not allow reruns of certain contracts ?
> 
> Been lurking but not posting much....



Hey Nancy!  Hope you’re well.  Are you up here or somewhere else?  Did you see on the news about the fatal shark attack in Truro?  

I’m thinking of a weekend photo trip later this month to the cape.  Any suggestions for photo spots?  Looking mostly for beaches/dunes and lighthouses.  Haven’t been to the cape in years...


----------



## tirediron

ceemac said:


> Finally got the little rascal (with my camera). After 15 minutes of playing gimme my gloves back, I won his friendship.
> 
> View attachment 163219


Fantastic!


----------



## ceemac

tirediron said:


> Fantastic!


Thanks. I wish I had time to use the 42" VAR you suggested I get.


----------



## davidharmier60

I REALLY hope y'all have a better Monday than mine. The truck wouldn't start so I'm driving the expired in May Mitsubishi. 
Sitting in the parking lot alone for the moment. Oh yippy another week begins. 

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----------



## Dean_Gretsch

davidharmier60 said:


> Dave ain't sure but wasn't Anthony Bourdain with a rather hard band.
> The name escapes me just now.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Perhaps David is thinking of Dave Mustaine ( sp ) ?


----------



## davidharmier60

5.15 hours today and for the week so far. 
Jodi asked me if I could fix this.
I'll give it a try but I think the movement has failed.




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----------



## Gary A.

_Romona_ turned out to be a dance interpretation of the play.  Each scene was danced out in different locations. As a group, the audience was escorted all over the Mission San Gabriel compound. The first scene was danced in a plaza with this huge concrete fountain.  A pair of goats added some color to the dance.  Then inside the playhouse and the dancers performed upstairs on a second floor walkway above the lobby.  Then outside again, once again ushered back inside the playhouse, (we sat in the back while the dancers performed in the front seats), outside then finally back in the playhouse where we, the audience, sat on stage while the dancers, danced in the seats.  Mary Lou found it very different and fascinating.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary’s two Anthony Bourdain books arrived, _Les Halles_ and _Appetites a Cookbook._  A cursory look has Bourdain speaking to you, in his own wise-cracking style, on every page and overflowing with savory recipes.


----------



## davidharmier60

And I have two of the bleariest eyes that there could be. I feel better than I have any right to after yesterday. 

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----------



## smoke665

Morning all. Looks like I'll be getting a lot more time for photography. Our plan was to load up today, and head for the mountains for a few days, to be with a group of friends, instead we'll be in isolation mode for ????.  Found out yesterday that the new treatments have caused DW's white count to plummet into the danger zone, putting her at high risk for infections.  The good news is she is tolerating the treatments without a lot of other side effects. For now it's a wait and see as they adjust the protocol. Just another step in the journey for us.


----------



## Gary A.

Sorry for the blood count. There are a lot of good movies out on Amazon and Netflix.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Today is trench filling day. Gary's back is already aching with the thought. Yesterday, Mary Lou and Gary watched _We The Animals_.  A very disturbing and depressing movie.  The movie hit squarely and hard all the emotional buttons it was designed to hit ... but unfortunately those buttons were not the 'Happy' buttons that we enjoy getting hit. The movie was exceptional, the script, the acting, the cinematography all came together with severe and heavy hearted impact. Gary gives it Four Sad Stars.


----------



## NancyMoranG

SquarePeg said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Saw some of the posts recently about Columbo tv show. Am watching now on MeTV, Sunday 8 pm.
> Tonight is William Shatner as bad guy and do remember it, but will watch some of it.
> I do enjoy it.
> I seem to remember 1 with Richard Boone as a blind killer. I can NEVER find that episode? Do they not allow reruns of certain contracts ?
> 
> Been lurking but not posting much....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey Nancy!  Hope you’re well.  Are you up here or somewhere else?  Did you see on the news about the fatal shark attack in Truro?
> 
> I’m thinking of a weekend photo trip later this month to the cape.  Any suggestions for photo spots?  Looking mostly for beaches/dunes and lighthouses.  Haven’t been to the cape in years...
Click to expand...


We are at a campground outside Acadia N.P., Maine, since June.
We went down to the Cape for Kevin's birthday July 3, and for 1 yr 'end of my life as I knew it' on July 29.
It's just awful...

The Cape should be beautiful with fall in the air. If I think of a place for photos, I will let you know.


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Saw some of the posts recently about Columbo tv show. Am watching now on MeTV, Sunday 8 pm.
> Tonight is William Shatner as bad guy and do remember it, but will watch some of it.
> I do enjoy it.
> I seem to remember 1 with Richard Boone as a blind killer. I can NEVER find that episode? Do they not allow reruns of certain contracts ?
> 
> Been lurking but not posting much....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey Nancy!  Hope you’re well.  Are you up here or somewhere else?  Did you see on the news about the fatal shark attack in Truro?
> 
> I’m thinking of a weekend photo trip later this month to the cape.  Any suggestions for photo spots?  Looking mostly for beaches/dunes and lighthouses.  Haven’t been to the cape in years...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We are at a campground outside Acadia N.P., Maine, since June.
> We went down to the Cape for Kevin's birthday July 3, and for 1 yr 'end of my life as I knew it' on July 29.
> It's just awful...
> 
> The Cape should be beautiful with fall in the air. If I think of a place for photos, I will let you know.
Click to expand...


So sorry for this sad anniversary for you Nancy.  

Acadia is so beautiful and so different from the Cape.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Thank you.


----------



## SquarePeg

wow is it pouring out right now.  I guess the edges of Florence have finally arrived.  Lots of thunder too.  Doggy-do is very unhappy.


----------



## davidharmier60

5 and a bit today. 10.2x for the week so far. 
I have a limited view out the window but my gut feeling is that there isn't a cloud in the sky. In other words HOT.

Enjoying chicken tenders and gravy at the deli. Peoples Bank, PO, the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home.

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----------



## Fujidave

Just checking in to say Hi,  I am still taking images of the vocalists and they are loving them to the point that some are asking me to shoot big band shots.  This one is from the other day of Aimee, taken with the T2 +90mm.





Aimee by Dave, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

Well that didn't take long.

Lawsuit filed against gas company after Massachusetts blasts


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> Morning all. Looks like I'll be getting a lot more time for photography. Our plan was to load up today, and head for the mountains for a few days, to be with a group of friends, instead we'll be in isolation mode for ????.  Found out yesterday that the new treatments have caused DW's white count to plummet into the danger zone, putting her at high risk for infections.  The good news is she is tolerating the treatments without a lot of other side effects. For now it's a wait and see as they adjust the protocol. Just another step in the journey for us.



Sorry for her low count.  Hopefully, you can take a trip soon.


----------



## jcdeboever

Went to the car show for the aged event tonight. I had a good time, I took around 3 short rolls of HP5+, got to use it up I guess. I never really loved it but I need room for my TriX roll of canisters. I am working out my $15 super cruddy, garage sale 135 f2.5 nikkor, AIS. I took it all apart, cleaned it, and put it back together....no left over parts this time.... will see. Looked good through viewfinder. What a mess.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Well that didn't take long.
> 
> Lawsuit filed against gas company after Massachusetts blasts



I would think it's important to get that started and get people on the record about what happened.  Witnesses move away or die, people have short memories and evidence doesn't stick around when people rebuild.


----------



## waday




----------



## waday

Happy Wednesday!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well that didn't take long.
> 
> Lawsuit filed against gas company after Massachusetts blasts
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would think it's important to get that started and get people on the record about what happened.  Witnesses move away or die, people have short memories and evidence doesn't stick around when people rebuild.
Click to expand...

If the gas company over-pressurized and blew up Gary's house ... I think he would have "Call Attorney" pretty high on his post House-Blew-Up list.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> Happy Wednesday!


Indeed!


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> If the gas company over-pressurized and blew up Gary's house ... I think he would have "Call Attorney" pretty high on his post House-Blew-Up list.



My comment wasn't a negative, from initial reports I read,  something failed twice, the pressure was  high and the warning signals at the control panel were not caught. It was a given that lawsuits would be filed, just a question as to how many days. In the gas companies defense they did already contribute 10 million to a relief fund.  Sadly when the ambulance chasers start frothing at the mouth, the claims mount up and the company files bankruptcy. When that happens, a new company will buy up the assets for pennies on the dollar (without claim liability) and business will continue as before, while the people who deserve compensation will be SOL.


----------



## davidharmier60

Better than 6 hours today. One minute under 17 hours for the week so far. 
Check is ready. Once I get the money I have to go to Livingston to pay the finance company. Then send off 20 to 40 dollars as part payment on two watches. 

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----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> If the gas company over-pressurized and blew up Gary's house ... I think he would have "Call Attorney" pretty high on his post House-Blew-Up list.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My comment wasn't a negative, from initial reports I read,  something failed twice, the pressure was  high and the warning signals at the control panel were not caught. It was a given that lawsuits would be filed, just a question as to how many days. In the gas companies defense they did already contribute 10 million to a relief fund.  Sadly when the ambulance chasers start frothing at the mouth, the claims mount up and the company files bankruptcy. When that happens, a new company will buy up the assets for pennies on the dollar (without claim liability) and business will continue as before, while the people who deserve compensation will be SOL.
Click to expand...

The ambulance chasers, while having an ability to claim huge amounts of money, do not dictate or decide how much is reasonable and customary.  That is decided upon by the judge and jury.  Maybe, a company which killed one person and literally blew-up dozens of homes possibly due to an apparent negligence on their part (gas line over-pressurized by 12 fold) ... should no longer operate a public utility. Any sale will have judicial oversight, which includes the claims/compensation for those harmed by any gas company negligence.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Any sale will have judicial oversight, which includes the claims/compensation for those harmed by any gas company negligence.



Oldest son works for one of the largest Bankruptcy courts in the nation. He sees it happen all the time. If they file  Chapter 11 it puts a stay on collection of claims, and prevents further suits from being filed with out the court's approval. It they file Chapter 7, the company is liquidated and the money goes first to the Trustee for fees, then to the secured creditors, then the unsecured. By the time it gets there it's pretty diluted, and once their lawyers get a piece the claimants get squat. I've been there done that on collecting against companies in bankruptcy, finally got to the point that it was cheaper to write off the debt then try to collect.


----------



## smoke665

Man, all day I've been dying from the heat. Thought I was going through some weird old man hot flashes, till I saw the weather a little bit ago. For some strange reason the temperature topped 100 today, and it's still hot. 94 at almost 6 pm. I'm melting!!!!!!


----------



## davidharmier60

Are you SURE you aren't somewhere in Texas?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> Are you SURE you aren't somewhere in Texas?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



David it's been miserable today.


----------



## CherylL

Was a hot miserable day here too at 95.  It did rain this morning for a quick shower which all that does is pump up the humidity.  I hope it doesn't rain this weekend.  There is a small balloon festival nearby.


----------



## smoke665

@CherylL crazy weather. Calling for 51 by Friday.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Acadia, Maine is in the 60's day/50's night. Some rain due tomorrow then lower temps.
Leaves are turning.


----------



## limr

NancyMoranG said:


> Acadia, Maine is in the 60's day/50's night. Some rain due tomorrow then lower temps.
> Leaves are turning.



That sounds heavenly to me! And actually, just checked my local forcast (NYC area) and it looks like we're getting essentially the same in a couple of days. Still low-70s day/low-60s night until Saturday, and then temps will drop. So will humidity. It's going to be glorious!


----------



## SquarePeg

Got my suede boots and my sweaters all ready to go!


----------



## CherylL

Looks like Sat will be 73 and dry.  Poor Snickers is having 5 teeth extracted today.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  64F presently, with a nice Marine Layer tossing a blanket of light gray across the sky.  It may break 80F today.  The Bowl tonight, the last of our Jazz series.  Latin Jazz, if Gary remembers correctly. Yesterday, another shipment of vino arrived from Firestone.  Firestone isn't the best winery, but membership at one winery, provides free tastings and discounts at the other four or five wineries with the same owner. Yesterday Gary finished 95% of the trenching ... fini ... filled in.  The stub up to the hot tup is still open, but the rest is completed. Gary will miss breaking his back and sweating like a pig.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> Looks like Sat will be 73 and dry.  Poor Snickers is having 5 teeth extracted today.



Yikes!


----------



## davidharmier60

5.39 hours today and 22.38 for the week so far. No Blue Bell going home because of budget. PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 
It's rather warn and humid outside. 
East Texas at it's best. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Two days of high winds here, I think they forecast some sun for tomorrow along with more wind.


----------



## smoke665

Already at 88 headed for high 90's. Ready for cooler weather


----------



## terri

It's been hot and dry in the SE USA, no question.   August was nicer, with so much rain.    But there's supposed to be a cooling off starting next week, and it will likely be our real end of summer - minus the weird spikes here and there of heat that we usually get.    

Yay, fall!


----------



## davidharmier60

G'night y'all.


----------



## waday

Commute in today was horrendous.

At least it's Friday!


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Commute in today was horrendous.
> 
> At least it's Friday!



Sorry to hear that.  Fridays are made for working remotely!  My commute was also tough...tripped over the dog on the way from the kitchen to my desk.


----------



## JonA_CT

I also tripped this morning while bringing the dog in from his morning constitutional. I caught my flip flop on the step funny, and went to grab the banister, and missed. I have a large bruise and a chunk and then a long strip of skin missing from the top of my hand now. Great start to a Friday.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT We must have similar genes. I'm still healing from my asphalt encounter.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Commute in today was horrendous.
> 
> At least it's Friday!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear that.  Fridays are made for working remotely!  My commute was also tough...tripped over the dog on the way from the kitchen to my desk.
Click to expand...

That commute sounds very nice! Sure beats my commute!



JonA_CT said:


> I also tripped this morning while bringing the dog in from his morning constitutional. I caught my flip flop on the step funny, and went to grab the banister, and missed. I have a large bruise and a chunk and then a long strip of skin missing from the top of my hand now. Great start to a Friday.


OUCH! Sorry to hear this.


----------



## Fujidave

Good result at Jessops today, as trading in my X-T20 and both XC lenses, plus X-T2 and power booster grip, and walking out with a new X-T3 + XF 50mm f2 and some money over   So one camera and some great glass.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Good result at Jessops today, as trading in my X-T20 and both XC lenses, plus X-T2 and power booster grip, and walking out with a new X-T3 + XF 50mm f2 and some money over   So one camera and some great glass.



Cool.  Looking forward to your reviews of how it compares to the Xt2.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

CherylL said:


> Looks like Sat will be 73 and dry.  Poor Snickers is having 5 teeth extracted today.


Hope Snickers is him/herself today. That must be tough.


JonA_CT said:


> I also tripped this morning while bringing the dog in from his morning constitutional. I caught my flip flop on the step funny, and went to grab the banister, and missed. I have a large bruise and a chunk and then a long strip of skin missing from the top of my hand now. Great start to a Friday.


But, it is_ still_ Friday! You could have done it on a Monday.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good result at Jessops today, as trading in my X-T20 and both XC lenses, plus X-T2 and power booster grip, and walking out with a new X-T3 + XF 50mm f2 and some money over   So one camera and some great glass.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cool.  Looking forward to your reviews of how it compares to the Xt2.
Click to expand...


Once I do have the X-T3 I will let you know, I have heard and seen that the AF is a lot quicker, plus as I just want only Primes I might get rid of the XF 18-55mm but still thinking about that.


----------



## CherylL

Dean_Gretsch said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like Sat will be 73 and dry.  Poor Snickers is having 5 teeth extracted today.
> 
> 
> 
> Hope Snickers is him/herself today. That must be tough.
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I also tripped this morning while bringing the dog in from his morning constitutional. I caught my flip flop on the step funny, and went to grab the banister, and missed. I have a large bruise and a chunk and then a long strip of skin missing from the top of my hand now. Great start to a Friday.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> But, it is_ still_ Friday! You could have done it on a Monday.
Click to expand...


Snickers is doing good.  He is on pain meds & soft food for awhile.  He enjoyed the chicken broth infused dog food last night.


----------



## davidharmier60

5.48 hours today and for the week so far 28.28. My commute is all of 10 minutes. 
Hardly ever anything to slow me except a train. One of our dogs gets chicken or tuna juice or something else special or he won't eat.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good result at Jessops today, as trading in my X-T20 and both XC lenses, plus X-T2 and power booster grip, and walking out with a new X-T3 + XF 50mm f2 and some money over   So one camera and some great glass.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cool.  Looking forward to your reviews of how it compares to the Xt2.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Once I do have the X-T3 I will let you know, I have heard and seen that the AF is a lot quicker, plus as I just want only Primes I might get rid of the XF 18-55mm but still thinking about that.
Click to expand...


Sorry thought walking out with a new xt3 meant you had it already.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good result at Jessops today, as trading in my X-T20 and both XC lenses, plus X-T2 and power booster grip, and walking out with a new X-T3 + XF 50mm f2 and some money over   So one camera and some great glass.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cool.  Looking forward to your reviews of how it compares to the Xt2.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Once I do have the X-T3 I will let you know, I have heard and seen that the AF is a lot quicker, plus as I just want only Primes I might get rid of the XF 18-55mm but still thinking about that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Sorry thought walking out with a new xt3 meant you had it already.
Click to expand...


I only had the X-T2 with me today, I hope to of switched to the X-T3 in a couple of weeks as Jessops don`t have them in yet.


----------



## jcdeboever

I'm considering getting rid of all my digital and just go with film. I don't think there is anything I can't do with film that I can do with digital. I know film is dead, just not for me.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I'm considering getting rid of all my digital and just go with film. I don't think there is anything I can't do with film that I can do with digital. I know film is dead, just not for me.



I'm not sure I'd dump my digital. But I have seriously considered medium or large format film


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Commute in today was horrendous.
> 
> At least it's Friday!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear that.  Fridays are made for working remotely!  My commute was also tough...tripped over the dog on the way from the kitchen to my desk.
Click to expand...


I nearly tripped on Mrs.Parker this morning! Poor thing caught a piece of my foot, too. Unfortunately, I then had to get into a car to hurdle myself down a highway towards work. No working remotely for me.

However, I came in late and will leave early. Hosers, I am drained. Yesterday morning I was at an urgent care center to get checked out for an infection that developed nearly overnight. Nothing serious, but enough to cause my body to send all resources to fighting it. As a result, resources heretofore deployed to keeping the headache at bay or preventing the mysterious ache in my right elbow were redirected, leaving my head and elbow vulnerable to attack. So now they both hurt too.

And so, I am here for the few meetings I have to be at, and then I am leaving for some rest and recovery, some dinner with Buzz, and then some Netflix binge-watching with the kitties. (My current obsession is Agents of SHEILD.)


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Commute in today was horrendous.
> 
> At least it's Friday!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear that.  Fridays are made for working remotely!  My commute was also tough...tripped over the dog on the way from the kitchen to my desk.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I nearly tripped on Mrs.Parker this morning! Poor thing caught a piece of my foot, too. Unfortunately, I then had to get into a car to hurdle myself down a highway towards work. No working remotely for me.
> 
> However, I came in late and will leave early. Hosers, I am drained. Yesterday morning I was at an urgent care center to get checked out for an infection that developed nearly overnight. Nothing serious, but enough to cause my body to send all resources to fighting it. As a result, resources heretofore deployed to keeping the headache at bay or preventing the mysterious ache in my right elbow were redirected, leaving my head and elbow vulnerable to attack. So now they both hurt too.
> 
> And so, I am here for the few meetings I have to be at, and then I am leaving for some rest and recovery, some dinner with Buzz, and then some Netflix binge-watching with the kitties. (My current obsession is Agents of SHEILD.)
Click to expand...


I swear my cat try's to trip me all the time. She runs in front of me and makes me hesitate all the time. One of these days she's gonna get stepped on.  Hope you fell better


----------



## Gary A.

Pan Fried Salmon




The picnic




iPhone

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Yesterday Bowl night, the last of the Jazz Series. Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis.  We've never heard of Clayton Hamilton, but they were very very good.  This big brass sounds blasting out across the Hollywood Hills. But the star of the show was, of course, Wynton Marsalis.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm considering getting rid of all my digital and just go with film. I don't think there is anything I can't do with film that I can do with digital. I know film is dead, just not for me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure I'd dump my digital. But I have seriously considered medium or large format film
Click to expand...

I do have some interest in the new Fuji medium format that is coming out. Thats kind of what I was thinking, sell all my Fujifilm gear for the GX50R and a lens. It's should be announced next week. Everything else film.


----------



## Gary A.

Marsalis orchestrated an animal theme performance along with three extremely talented dancers.  He started with The Chicken, the band played chicken noises and transformed it all in a musical experience.  Then a dancer struts on stage ... followed by another and another, soon it appeared to be a flock ... next frogs, elephants, lions, penguins et al ... wonderfully matching and crafting the sounds of the instruments into the sounds of the animals and then a transformation into music.  Extraordinary show, the dancers, the music, the weather ... simply perfection.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> I do have some interest in the new Fuji medium format that is coming out.



Have no interest in spending $$$$$ for a medium format digital, but there are some fantastic deals on film cameras.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm considering getting rid of all my digital and just go with film. I don't think there is anything I can't do with film that I can do with digital. I know film is dead, just not for me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure I'd dump my digital. But I have seriously considered medium or large format film
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I do have some interest in the new Fuji medium format that is coming out. Thats kind of what I was thinking, sell all my Fujifilm gear for the GX50R and a lens. It's should be announced next week. Everything else film.
Click to expand...

Don't you already have a Fuji medium format camera?


----------



## waday

Hope you feel better, @limr! A Netflix binge sounds amazing. 

The in-laws are coming tonight, and the father-in-law is looking to buy a car tomorrow (he thinks he'll get a better price by us rather than in Brooklyn). So, I have been assigned the one to drive him around and likely do some of the negotiating for him. I hate buying cars, and I know I'm probably not going to appreciate buying one with him. He's very nice, but sometimes he can get hung up on the smallest of details. It's going to be interesting. 

When I buy a car, I do all the negotiating up front for everyone before it starts. Surprising that it's actually worked for me twice, LOL. "The car is listed at $20K. You'll ask for my offer, I"ll say something ridiculous like $15 because I have to start low and you start high, then you'll go talk to your manager and come down to $19.5. I'll offer $16, and you'll talk to your manager and come down to $18.5. I'll give you one final offer of $17.5, and you'll come back with $18 after talking with your manager. We'll agree on $18. Can we just go with $18 now and call it a day without all of the back and forth?"



limr said:


> Unfortunately, I then had to get into a car to hurdle myself down a highway towards work.


That's exactly what it is. Hurdling down a highway.

When I lived outside Philly, I never had to get on a highway unless we were going out of town. Now, I have to drive one daily. Between the other drivers and tractor trailers, it's going to be the death of me.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm considering getting rid of all my digital and just go with film. I don't think there is anything I can't do with film that I can do with digital. I know film is dead, just not for me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure I'd dump my digital. But I have seriously considered medium or large format film
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I do have some interest in the new Fuji medium format that is coming out. Thats kind of what I was thinking, sell all my Fujifilm gear for the GX50R and a lens. It's should be announced next week. Everything else film.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't you already have a Fuji medium format camera?
Click to expand...


Actually, 2. GA645Zi and the GX680 beast on loan. I can never figure out what lens I want to use with the Fuji Digital.


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> Hope you feel better, @limr! A Netflix binge sounds amazing.
> 
> The in-laws are coming tonight, and the father-in-law is looking to buy a car tomorrow (he thinks he'll get a better price by us rather than in Brooklyn). So, I have been assigned the one to drive him around and likely do some of the negotiating for him. I hate buying cars, and I know I'm probably not going to appreciate buying one with him. He's very nice, but sometimes he can get hung up on the smallest of details. It's going to be interesting.
> 
> When I buy a car, I do all the negotiating up front for everyone before it starts. Surprising that it's actually worked for me twice, LOL. "The car is listed at $20K. You'll ask for my offer, I"ll say something ridiculous like $15 because I have to start low and you start high, then you'll go talk to your manager and come down to $19.5. I'll offer $16, and you'll talk to your manager and come down to $18.5. I'll give you one final offer of $17.5, and you'll come back with $18 after talking with your manager. We'll agree on $18. Can we just go with $18 now and call it a day without all of the back and forth?"
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Unfortunately, I then had to get into a car to hurdle myself down a highway towards work.
> 
> 
> 
> That's exactly what it is. Hurdling down a highway.
> 
> When I lived outside Philly, I never had to get on a highway unless we were going out of town. Now, I have to drive one daily. Between the other drivers and tractor trailers, it's going to be the death of me.
Click to expand...


I just hit 60K on my truck for the year. Drove to Jackson the other night, 28 cars passed me in the left lane, 21 were looking at their phones going 80 MPH


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> I just hit 60K on my truck for the year.


Hopefully you're not the one making the illegal right hand turn all the time causing the rear right tires of the trailer to get stuck on the barrier, which then requires the police to be called, with a tow truck to pull you off the barrier, while blocking the road?

Seriously, that happens like once a week. It's extremely annoying.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hope you feel better, @limr! A Netflix binge sounds amazing.
> 
> The in-laws are coming tonight, and the father-in-law is looking to buy a car tomorrow (he thinks he'll get a better price by us rather than in Brooklyn). So, I have been assigned the one to drive him around and likely do some of the negotiating for him. I hate buying cars, and I know I'm probably not going to appreciate buying one with him. He's very nice, but sometimes he can get hung up on the smallest of details. It's going to be interesting.
> 
> When I buy a car, I do all the negotiating up front for everyone before it starts. Surprising that it's actually worked for me twice, LOL. "The car is listed at $20K. You'll ask for my offer, I"ll say something ridiculous like $15 because I have to start low and you start high, then you'll go talk to your manager and come down to $19.5. I'll offer $16, and you'll talk to your manager and come down to $18.5. I'll give you one final offer of $17.5, and you'll come back with $18 after talking with your manager. We'll agree on $18. Can we just go with $18 now and call it a day without all of the back and forth?"
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Unfortunately, I then had to get into a car to hurdle myself down a highway towards work.
> 
> 
> 
> That's exactly what it is. Hurdling down a highway.
> 
> When I lived outside Philly, I never had to get on a highway unless we were going out of town. Now, I have to drive one daily. Between the other drivers and tractor trailers, it's going to be the death of me.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I just hit 60K on my truck for the year. Drove to Jackson the other night, 28 cars passed me in the left lane, 21 were looking at their phones going 80 MPH
Click to expand...

What could possibly go wrong?


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> 28 cars passed me in the left lane, 21 were looking at their phones going 80 MPH


There are good and bad car drivers and good and bad truck drivers. I've seen truck drivers on laptops. I've seen car drivers reading magazines.

My favorite was the truck driver that blocked traffic by driving very slow in the left lane, which then caused one driver to get really bad road rage, fly in front of the truck, and slam on his brakes, causing everyone to brake and freak out.

Bad drivers all around.


----------



## smoke665

@waday I despise car dealerships, and the way they run back and forth to a sales manager. Over the years, I've learned the best way is to build the specs on a vehicle, and send it to the sales manger for a quote, for order. Car dealers are notorious  to  load up vehicles with high margin (for them) accessories.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> @waday I despise car dealerships, and the way they run back and forth to a sales manager. Over the years, I've learned the best way is to build the specs on a vehicle, and send it to the sales manger for a quote, for order. Car dealers are notorious  to  load up vehicles with high margin (for them) accessories.


That's a thought! I, too, despise them. Just the thought of having to deal with a salesperson is getting me anxious. When we bought the car for my wife, the salesman kept talking directly to me. I told him multiple times that it would be my wife's car, she's making the decision, and that he needed to speak to her. He only started talking to her when I ignored him.


----------



## smoke665

@waday I like to pull an old sales trick out of the bag. When they come up to me wanting to help, I ask them if they're authorized to make a deal on price, if not then they can't help me and should bring me someone who can. They either have to lie, stutter, or go find their boss.

I find the quote for order to be the way I get exactly what I want at a fair price. I do the same thing on our trades. When I ask for the quote it's on a cash price (I'll arrange my own financing or use their's if more attractive at the time of delivery), with no trade in. Once I have a deal on the new one, I'll send out rfqs on my old vehicle. Because why in the world would you want to pay a car dealer to sell you car to a another dealer, and make a profit off doing it, when you can do the same thing?


----------



## Dave442

Took the paint to the farmhouse yesterday. Probably take more than this weekend to complete the project, especially with rain in the forecast.

Certainly no rain on Baker Mayfield's first regular season NFL game, great to see those Browns fans so excited last night.


----------



## SquarePeg

Car buying sucks.  I kept my previous car way longer than I wanted to because I didn't want to deal with the bs from the dealerships.


----------



## SquarePeg

Do you have any of those "the sticker price is the price" dealerships in your area?  I can't think of the name of the chain...


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Do you have any of those "the sticker price is the price" dealerships in your area?




Yeah these guys. LOL


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Commute in today was horrendous.
> 
> At least it's Friday!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear that.  Fridays are made for working remotely!  My commute was also tough...tripped over the dog on the way from the kitchen to my desk.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I nearly tripped on Mrs.Parker this morning! Poor thing caught a piece of my foot, too. Unfortunately, I then had to get into a car to hurdle myself down a highway towards work. No working remotely for me.
> 
> However, I came in late and will leave early. Hosers, I am drained. Yesterday morning I was at an urgent care center to get checked out for an infection that developed nearly overnight. Nothing serious, but enough to cause my body to send all resources to fighting it. As a result, resources heretofore deployed to keeping the headache at bay or preventing the mysterious ache in my right elbow were redirected, leaving my head and elbow vulnerable to attack. So now they both hurt too.
> 
> And so, I am here for the few meetings I have to be at, and then I am leaving for some rest and recovery, some dinner with Buzz, and then some Netflix binge-watching with the kitties. (My current obsession is Agents of SHEILD.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I swear my cat try's to trip me all the time. She runs in front of me and makes me hesitate all the time. One of these days she's gonna get stepped on.  Hope you fell better
Click to expand...


Thanks, JC. Am feeling better today. Low energy and not a lot of appetite, but manageable.

The funny thing is that it is usually Zelda who runs in front of my feet, so when my foot met fur, I yelled, "I'm so sorry Zelda!" and only then looked down and realized it was Mrs. Parker. As a brown tabby, she's kinda hard to see if the light is dim, so I am usually careful to watch out for her. This morning, I failed


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Commute in today was horrendous.
> 
> At least it's Friday!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear that.  Fridays are made for working remotely!  My commute was also tough...tripped over the dog on the way from the kitchen to my desk.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I nearly tripped on Mrs.Parker this morning! Poor thing caught a piece of my foot, too. Unfortunately, I then had to get into a car to hurdle myself down a highway towards work. No working remotely for me.
> 
> However, I came in late and will leave early. Hosers, I am drained. Yesterday morning I was at an urgent care center to get checked out for an infection that developed nearly overnight. Nothing serious, but enough to cause my body to send all resources to fighting it. As a result, resources heretofore deployed to keeping the headache at bay or preventing the mysterious ache in my right elbow were redirected, leaving my head and elbow vulnerable to attack. So now they both hurt too.
> 
> And so, I am here for the few meetings I have to be at, and then I am leaving for some rest and recovery, some dinner with Buzz, and then some Netflix binge-watching with the kitties. (My current obsession is Agents of SHEILD.)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I swear my cat try's to trip me all the time. She runs in front of me and makes me hesitate all the time. One of these days she's gonna get stepped on.  Hope you fell better
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks, JC. Am feeling better today. Low energy and not a lot of appetite, but manageable.
> 
> The funny thing is that it is usually Zelda who runs in front of my feet, so when my foot met fur, I yelled, "I'm so sorry Zelda!" and only then looked down and realized it was Mrs. Parker. As a brown tabby, she's kinda hard to see if the light is dim, so I am usually careful to watch out for her. This morning, I failed
Click to expand...

Why do they do that? They really seem like they are trying to trip us...


----------



## Fred von den Berg

I lost my beloved Swansea City baseball cap sometime over the last few days. I'm terrible for putting things like caps and umbrellas down and then forgetting them. Anyway, I bought myself a Raiders cap to replace my lost love. I know, I'm shameless!


----------



## davidharmier60

The only time recently when I tried to buy a used truck off a dealer lot it was a clusterfuge. I wish to get a used Mazda 3.
Probably a tote your note lot if it happens at all.

Sister made excellent Chicken and Rice the other night. It was still excellent just now.

No ice cream in the house.
If I take my roughly 7.50 in Quarters tomorrow i have to bring home sugar and toilet paper and maybe a half gallon of Blue Bell. 

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----------



## smoke665

Started building set for Halloween theme shoot. Have just about everything I need to put it together now. My first attempt at making tombstones.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@waday  I just bought a new car and the first thing I told the salesman was " If you get pushy, I will walk out the door ". It was not a threat. I was simply telling him that I would not play games. I told him what I wanted and would settle for nothing less or more. I went to the dealership knowing the model, tranny and the color ( I thought, but actually changed my mind ). I think both of us were happy with the deal.


----------



## snowbear

@limr - feel better, Hon.

MLW is working the front 12 @ the Watch Office tomorrow.  The staffing officer is her friend, so they are making dinner: meatballs and tomato-basil-mozzarella salad.  If I can get my butt out of bed, I'm tagging along, but I'm going to spend the day around Catoctin Mountain / Gettysburg.  I'm taking both the fly rod and the camera, so who knows what I'll end up doing.


----------



## limr

jcdeboever said:


> Why do they do that? They really seem like they are trying to trip us...



Zelda tends to do this only when she senses that I am about to leave the house.That's when she starts running right next to my feet, meowing pathetically, like she's begging me not to leave.

I guess they figure their humans cannot leave if we're lying on the floor with broken legs from tripping over a cat


----------



## limr

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @waday I despise car dealerships, and the way they run back and forth to a sales manager. Over the years, I've learned the best way is to build the specs on a vehicle, and send it to the sales manger for a quote, for order. Car dealers are notorious  to  load up vehicles with high margin (for them) accessories.
> 
> 
> 
> That's a thought! I, too, despise them. Just the thought of having to deal with a salesperson is getting me anxious. When we bought the car for my wife, the salesman kept talking directly to me. I told him multiple times that it would be my wife's car, she's making the decision, and that he needed to speak to her. He only started talking to her when I ignored him.
Click to expand...


That's what happened to me when I was shopping for a car last time. I wanted to test drive an Impreza. The salesman kept directing questions to Buzz and I kept answering them. He lost the sale. I did decide on a different car ultimately, but even if I had decided that I really wanted an Impreza, I would have gone to a different dealership. 

When I was shopping for my Cobalt back in 2005, I was shopping alone, so the salesman didn't direct all his questions to my male companion, obviously, but he still almost lost a sale because he kept trying to convince me that I wanted an automatic transmission. "Most women do," he said. "So do most men these days," I said. "Still don't care. It's a deal-breaker for me. No manual transmission, no sale."


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ...I guess they figure their humans *feeding unit(s)* cannot leave if we're lying on the floor with broken legs from tripping over a cat


FTFY


----------



## vintagesnaps

Today's news included a report that apparently you can trade food stamps for lap dances (til you get busted and the place gets shut down, that is). In another story, security footage from a Popeyes showed two guys labeled as 'suspected chicken thieves' as they were taking frozen chickens with seemingly not an ounce of sense as one had on a jacket with 'Trust no 1 ever' on the back and the other had his face toward the security camera.

And a guy went into a dollar store and stole - umbrellas. Now why not steal something you can set up in a wallymart parking lot and sell out of your trunk - that people actually want?? Can you see somebody over by his car going psst! got umbrellas here... To top it off, the guy apparently has done this before, so employees chased him and he ran into traffic and got clipped by a car. He wasn't seriously hurt but sat in the street yelling at people.

No, there isn't a full moon or anything...


----------



## davidharmier60

Walked into the kitchen and the coffeemaker wasn't on. Pushed the button and luckily it began perking.
Got a pretty good mug with which to attempt to get with it. 

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----------



## snowbear

Good morning.  We’re off to the Watch Office, then I’m heading north. It’s raining slightly so I’ll have to see how that develops.  Definite plans include apple cider from Catoctin and photos from somewhere along the way.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Good morning.  We’re off to the Watch Office, then I’m heading north. It’s raining slightly so I’ll have to see how that develops.  Definite plans include apple cider from Catoctin and photos from somewhere along the way.



Enjoy your day!  Looking forward to the photos.  

I’m heading to breakfast club then a softball game to get some photos of our league’s fall team for our social media then a walk in the woods with the dog.  Have lots of chores to do this afternoon including getting the pool squared away for the winter and yard work. Later Hosers!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why do they do that? They really seem like they are trying to trip us...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Zelda tends to do this only when she senses that I am about to leave the house.That's when she starts running right next to my feet, meowing pathetically, like she's begging me not to leave.
> 
> I guess they figure their humans cannot leave if we're lying on the floor with broken legs from tripping over a cat
Click to expand...

I get a lot of that here, from Bex - the babycat.   She is very concerned about my comings and goings and darts in front of me a lot.   I take it as an attention getting device - and it works, sometimes exactly as you experienced!        Finn came to us as a stray, and she is much less concerned about her humans.   She yawns in my face when I tell her I'm leaving, and when I'm back - even 6 hours later - she yawns in my face some more.    They are very different girls.


----------



## smoke665

Not just cats. Sadie Mae is clingy she wants to be as close to us as she can get. Might be partially due to her previous life, where she didn't get much attention. It can get to be a challenge at times.


----------



## davidharmier60

There might be a cat or three that could make it in our house. But I wouldn't want to bet on it. 

4.4x hours today and 33.13 for the week.

Off to the post office. 

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----------



## davidharmier60

Oh goody. The power went out about 10 minutes ago. Yippee.

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----------



## snowbear

I didn't do any shooting at Gettysburg, but I got a few at the National Fallen Firefighter Memorial and a local park.











"Skillet," the name with the coins, was ours (work County).











I also have a few of covered bridges but I'll post them on Sharon Cat's Alternate Routes, later.


----------



## davidharmier60

The power came back WELL before the worst estimate. Was reading by flashlight and all the sudden there was light (and AC!)


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, we have rain again today so two days on the trot now.  They do say it will be dry this week though.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Nice pics @snowbear


----------



## smoke665

A couple of 50's era chairs that belonged to the DW's grandmother. At first I was a little hesitant about hauling them back, but they actually look like they belong at the fire pit. Ready for it to cool off so we can sit by the fire in the evenings, and do a little "campfire cooking" in the cast iron pots.



woods walk09232018_149.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Nice pics @snowbear


Thank you.  I'm really loving this no frills 28-85 Nikkor.  I did get some sun flare at one of the covered bridges, but it's been worth the $75 or so I paid for it.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Finally!  Finally, the 110V and 220V installations are 99% completed and working.  Gary still has some minor stuff to perform, some PVC gluing, some leveling some fine grading of the trenches ... but it is finished.  Gary tossed in 20, count 'em, 20,  110V outlets all over the back ... and pulled up miles of extension cord. With all the extra extension cords Gary is ready for an electric car.  He is starting to reassemble the patio and yard out of construction mode and into living mode. Today is a busy day.  Meeting up with the weekend dog pack at Creek Park.  Maggie is the Social Director.  She really is, the dogs would normally just say "Hello" then carry on sniffing around or chasing a Frisbee.  But Maggie engages them and gets them to play with her, then gets them to play and run with others.  It is quite interesting watching it all. The humans have told Mary Lou and Gary that when Maggie's not there, nothing much happens.  When Maggie arrives, all hell breaks loose, lots of running through the creek and barking and lots of games. It is very enjoyable watching dogs ... just be dogs ... off their leashes and having fun.  Then off to Costco as we are out of Maggie Chow.  Then off to Pasadena for lunch with Pasadena friends and a play, _Native Gardens,_ at 2:00 p.m. It is supposed to be hilarious.  Somewhere in there Gary wants to wash the car.


----------



## Braineack

don't mind me, just prepping for a wedding:







(2) gripped D800s
(1) gripped D610
104mm 1.4e (not pictured; renting)
85mm 1.8g
58mm 1.4g
35mm 1.4g
70-200mm 2.8 VC
24-70mm 2.8 VC
17mm 3.5
extension tubes
(1) Flashpoint XPLOR 600 w/8' extension cable
(1) newer vk-750ii (for ttl for assistant to use)
(1) Flashpoint Zoom R2 TTL
(3) Flashpoint Zoom R2 manual
(1) Flashpoint R2 transmitter
(2) Flashpoint R2 Pro Transmitter
(1) lightmeter
(2) spare camera batteries (8 in total)
240GB of memory cards
tons of AA batteries (8 for backups)
34" Beauty dish softbox
(3) fullsized light stands
(1) mini-backgroun light stand
(1) 42" shoot-through umbrella (prop for rain shot)
Tripod
Monopod
Reflector
(2) Bounce cards for speedlights


----------



## limr

Braineack said:


> don't mind me, just prepping for a wedding:



Oof. Can't say that I envy you. Hope it goes well!

In other news, I really should sync my Fitbit more often. It takes forever if I leave it for more than a day or two.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Braineack said:


> don't mind me, just prepping for a wedding:


So where do you get a use for the extension tubes, if I may ask?


----------



## snowbear

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Braineack said:
> 
> 
> 
> don't mind me, just prepping for a wedding:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So where do you get a use for the extension tubes, if I may ask?
Click to expand...

Put that long telephoto on them so you can use it in a small church?


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon peeps. It rained HARD overnight. But right now it looks pretty good out the window.
I tried several shots of a watch with the Canon XTi and Canon 18-55. And could not get a good one.
Here's what I mean.
Not exactly in focus and just not a very good pic of a not very good watch.



Invicta 48mm Heavy by Just Plain Dave, on Flickr


----------



## tirediron

I'm guessing that because you were so close to your minimum focusing distance, your DoF was literally just a few at best, hence the reason for the sharply focused bezel at the 7.00pm position, and softening image right.


----------



## SquarePeg

What he said.  your wrist and the watch were not 100% square to the lens so the left side is in focus and the right side is not because it was just a tiny bit further away.  More dof or square it up.


----------



## Braineack

Dean_Gretsch said:


> So where do you get a use for the extension tubes, if I may ask?



rings & flowers.


I used them for my last wedding too:




DSC_1267 by Braineack, on Flickr


----------



## davidharmier60

Tried a few things and got a somewhat better pic. Don't feel like doing what I have to to get it up on Flickr.


----------



## smoke665

Friend sent me this awhile ago.....

A slice of pie in Jamaica is $2.00
It's $2.50 in the Bahamas
These are the Pie Rates of the Caribbean..............

Sorry, it's been a lonnnnggg weekend.


----------



## davidharmier60

Nighty nite my peeps. A little Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla and then bedtime. 4AM comes way too early.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Friend sent me this awhile ago.....
> 
> A slice of pie in Jamaica is $2.00
> It's $2.50 in the Bahamas
> These are the Pie Rates of the Caribbean..............
> 
> Sorry, it's been a lonnnnggg weekend.


Shiver me timbers ...


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary barely made the opening curtain ... but we hit all the stuff we needed to do in the a.m. The play, interestingly enough, was directed by Jason Alexander.  Native Gardens was fun and current, touching lightly and humorously on stereotypes, immigration, et al.  It was all entertaining and fun ... and if Native Garden comes your way, jump on it. The weather is perfect and we cruised home the long way with the top down, making for a great afternoon.


----------



## SquarePeg

Probably the only one in New England not watching Patriots.  I just can’t get too interested in football while baseball is still being played.  I did check the score and see the Pats are losing to the Lions.  But Sox and Indians are tied in the 9th in a probable play off preview...

Saw the movie _A Simple Favor_ earlier tonight.  Liked it a lot. Fast paced, decent acting, interesting plot twists and much better ending than the similarly themed _Gone Girl_.  Not something that has to be seen on the big screen but if you have Movie Pass... check it out.


----------



## Gary A.

Dodgers 14 -  Padres 0


----------



## Gary A.

A free Cuban Jazz concert in the patio of the Segrestrom Center in Orange County.

Dayren Santamaria & Made in Cuba:

#1






#2





#3





#4


----------



## snowbear

He would be 82, today.




Jim Henson Memorial Bench and Garden by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> would be 82, today.



Have to wonder if he ever found the "Rainbow Connection" ?


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> He would be 82, today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jim Henson Memorial Bench and Garden by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr



He died really young if I’m remembering right?  Some type of strep infection?


----------



## smoke665

Toxic shock syndrome brought on by pneumonia


----------



## Braineack

I hope to go by taxoplasmosis from doing the litter-box twice a day.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> He would be 82, today.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jim Henson Memorial Bench and Garden by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> He died really young if I’m remembering right?  Some type of strep infection?
Click to expand...

Yes.

The photo is at U of Md - he's an alum, and semi-local; he moved to MD when he was young (his father worked for the USDA).


----------



## terri

Happy Monday, hosers!       Gonna be...a week.


----------



## waday

terri said:


> Happy Monday, hosers!       Gonna be...a week.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Friend sent me this awhile ago.....
> 
> A slice of pie in Jamaica is $2.00
> It's $2.50 in the Bahamas
> These are the Pie Rates of the Caribbean..............
> 
> Sorry, it's been a lonnnnggg weekend.


Dad jokes?

Now that I'm a dad...

Did you hear about the new restaurant on the moon? Great food, but no atmosphere.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Friend sent me this awhile ago.....
> 
> A slice of pie in Jamaica is $2.00
> It's $2.50 in the Bahamas
> These are the Pie Rates of the Caribbean..............
> 
> Sorry, it's been a lonnnnggg weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> Dad jokes?
> 
> Now that I'm a dad...
> 
> Did you hear about the new restaurant on the moon? Great food, but no atmosphere.
Click to expand...


In my case Grandpa, not that far away from Great Grandpa. Like the moon joke will have to share that one!


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> In my case Grandpa, not that far away from Great Grandpa.


Congrats!



smoke665 said:


> Like the moon joke will have to share that one!


You can also end it with: I tried to make a reservation, but they said the moon was full.


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon kids. The truck turned over several times and didn't light off. And then didn't have battery power to spin. So got to work in the expired Mitsubishi.
Came home and first put a battery charger on the truck. It was showing abnormally high voltage. So to much trouble swapped the battery from the Mitsubishi into my truck and vise versa.
No dragging starter, the truck lights right off. And at least now the Mitsubishi starts on my battery. But at least Dad can easily get a charger to the Mitsu.
5.12 hours today and for the week at this point.

Off to do three rolls of pennies and then my my comics on Arcamax.


----------



## smoke665

Finally settled on a roofing bid for the house. All told it came in pretty close to the insurance estimate. Guess we are fortunate that our house goes up and not out, having 3 floors cuts down on the amount of roof surface. Hopefully they'll be able to get it done within the next couple of weeks depending on weather. Once that's done, I'll have to start making some deck repairs. So much for pressure treated lumber lasting a lifetime. At least I should have a couple of months of cool weather, before it turns off cold.


----------



## davidharmier60

There is no hope for our roof. 
Strategicly placed buckets and containers.
Life is just peachy keen. 

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----------



## CherylL

There was a chipmunk in our garage over the weekend.  Had to leave the doors open for a day and he finally left.  Every time I walk out there I think I see something scurrying about.


----------



## SquarePeg

The dog was out back this morning eating grass and weeds.  He’s been sneezing and snorting all day.  He just sneezed out a blade of grass about 5 inches long.  Sooo gross.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> The dog was out back this morning eating grass and weeds.  He’s been sneezing and snorting all day.  He just sneezed out a blade of grass about 5 inches long.  Sooo gross.


He's so cute!        But I'm still glad I didn't have to clean it up.   I got enough on my plate with the occasional cat yak.


----------



## SquarePeg

YeH it was  about halfway out of his nose and I had to pull it the rest of the way out.  Totally gross then he sneezed all over me.  He’s exhausted now and snoring really loud.  Poor guy must have been really uncomfortable all day.  Was going to take him to the vet tomorrow to see what was up.  I guess I saved about $300 in vet bills for the relatively low cost of being grossed out and an extra shower today.


----------



## davidharmier60

Truck started like a champ.
Waiting on a keyholder. 

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----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> The dog was out back this morning eating grass and weeds.  He’s been sneezing and snorting all day.  He just sneezed out a blade of grass about 5 inches long.  Sooo gross.


Poor puppy.
Better sneezing it out than . . .


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Poor puppy.
> Better sneezing it out than .



That was what I was thinking. We had a Boxer who would chow down on stringy things, and then need extractions. Fortunately the occasional pull was all that was needed rather then a trip to the vet for surgery.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> The dog was out back this morning eating grass and weeds.  He’s been sneezing and snorting all day.  He just sneezed out a blade of grass about 5 inches long.  Sooo gross.
> 
> 
> 
> Poor puppy.
> Better sneezing it out than . . .
Click to expand...


He seems to be fine this morning.  Lots of loud snotty snoring last night (him not me) but he’s peppy and playful today.  

Off topic slightly but a PSA - I’ve been giving him these chews that help with aches and stiffness in older dogs and I can’t believe how much more agile he’s been on the stairs and on our hikes and so much more playful.  A very noticeable difference.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Off topic slightly but a PSA - I’ve been giving him these chews that help with aches and stiffness in older dogs and I can’t believe how much more agile he’s been on the stairs and on our hikes and so much more playful. A very noticeable difference.


Two late dogs in my family were given those chews, and I agree, they helped wonders!


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Hope you fell better





waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Off topic slightly but a PSA - I’ve been giving him these chews that help with aches and stiffness in older dogs and I can’t believe how much more agile he’s been on the stairs and on our hikes and so much more playful. A very noticeable difference.
> 
> 
> 
> Two late dogs in my family were given those chews, and I agree, they helped wonders!
Click to expand...


Yes, I think I need to find the human equivalent!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> YeH it was  about halfway out of his nose and I had to pull it the rest of the way out.  Totally gross then he sneezed all over me.  He’s exhausted now and snoring really loud.  Poor guy must have been really uncomfortable all day.  Was going to take him to the vet tomorrow to see what was up.  I guess I saved about $300 in vet bills for the relatively low cost of being grossed out and an extra shower today.


If you taught him how to chew his food before swallowing ... you wouldn't have to pull grass out his nose.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hope you fell better
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Off topic slightly but a PSA - I’ve been giving him these chews that help with aches and stiffness in older dogs and I can’t believe how much more agile he’s been on the stairs and on our hikes and so much more playful. A very noticeable difference.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Two late dogs in my family were given those chews, and I agree, they helped wonders!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, I think I need to find the human equivalent!
Click to expand...

If you're giving the dog glucosamine and chondroitin, there is glucosamine and chondroitin for humans also.


----------



## davidharmier60

I could use the human version!
10.10 for the week so far. 
PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> YeH it was  about halfway out of his nose and I had to pull it the rest of the way out.  Totally gross then he sneezed all over me.  He’s exhausted now and snoring really loud.  Poor guy must have been really uncomfortable all day.  Was going to take him to the vet tomorrow to see what was up.  I guess I saved about $300 in vet bills for the relatively low cost of being grossed out and an extra shower today.
> 
> 
> 
> If you taught him how to chew his food before swallowing ... you wouldn't have to pull grass out his nose.
Click to expand...


Or if we cut the grass more often it wouldn't get to be 5 inches long...



Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hope you fell better
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Off topic slightly but a PSA - I’ve been giving him these chews that help with aches and stiffness in older dogs and I can’t believe how much more agile he’s been on the stairs and on our hikes and so much more playful. A very noticeable difference.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Two late dogs in my family were given those chews, and I agree, they helped wonders!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, I think I need to find the human equivalent!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If you're giving the dog glucosamine and chondroitin, there is glucosamine and chondroitin for humans also.
Click to expand...


"The active ingredients include glucosamine, chondroitin, and MSM. "   

I've avoided anything with glucosamine as I had gestational diabetes which supposedly puts me more at risk for Type 2 later in life.  There were some studies showing it could affect blood sugar then there were some studies have disputed that glucosamine affects blood sugar.  Even though my blood sugar returned to normal after my pregnancy, I'm not sure I'm willing to risk it with contradictory info out there.


----------



## Gary A.

Eating a donut effects one blood sugar.  Gary doesn't know much about glucosamine, but Gary does have above normal knowledge of diabetes.  Causing a spike in one's sugar should only be a problem is you are diabetic. Granted, if you have been diagnosed as pre-diabetic, one doesn't want to over burden/stress the pancreas, but I doubt glucosamine would be the straw that broke the camel's back ... especially with the average American diet of processed foods.

Disclaimer: Gary is not a physician nor does he play one on Tv.


----------



## vintagesnaps

OK this is reminding me of experiences with kids' noses so I'm changing the subject! because I'm retired and don't have to deal with kids' (or dogs or anybody's noses) anymore! 

My dad is doing OK in rehab, he just seems to keep having issues with his pants disappearing. Went up there Sat. and he was in bed because - no pants again. I was like, my mom had just sent my brother up there with more pants! But later found out they were just all in the laundry, and my brother took up more pants (doubt my mom realized how long he might be there or how many changes of clothes to send). I guess it's good this is what we're dealing with. He does go for a follow up to the orthopedic Dr. since he'd dislocated his shoulder and broken his collarbone when he fell down the stairs. We don't know how many steps or how far he fell, but enough to do some damage. I think he's gonna be there awhile...


----------



## smoke665

@vintagesnaps your kid comment reminded me. When youngest about a year old we caught him poking hamburger up his nose. Before we could stop him it was to far up to retrieve. A trip to the ER to retrieve the piece of hamburger revealed a couple of peas were already up there. It was bad enough with our own kids, couldn't do it someone else's.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Unfortunately this reminded me of the snot of all snots. At camp one summer this kid sneezed and he was an older kid that was kind of tall - I swear it was hanging from his nose to the floor. Longest string of snot - ever! Prize winning.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> My dad is doing OK in rehab, he just seems to keep having issues with his pants disappearing


We had the same problem (not with pants, but with other clothes) disappearing when my grandparents were in a nursing home. It didn't matter what we did with labeling, they always went missing.


----------



## smoke665

Okay it's almost the first of October, and I'm really done with summer, 90 plus temps and bugs. Not funny y'all


----------



## CherylL

vintagesnaps said:


> OK this is reminding me of experiences with kids' noses so I'm changing the subject! because I'm retired and don't have to deal with kids' (or dogs or anybody's noses) anymore!
> 
> My dad is doing OK in rehab, he just seems to keep having issues with his pants disappearing. Went up there Sat. and he was in bed because - no pants again. I was like, my mom had just sent my brother up there with more pants! But later found out they were just all in the laundry, and my brother took up more pants (doubt my mom realized how long he might be there or how many changes of clothes to send). I guess it's good this is what we're dealing with. He does go for a follow up to the orthopedic Dr. since he'd dislocated his shoulder and broken his collarbone when he fell down the stairs. We don't know how many steps or how far he fell, but enough to do some damage. I think he's gonna be there awhile...



Hope your dad has a speedy recovery.  The missing pants reminded me of my uncle who told his wife to bring more shorts.  She brought underwear.  He said no gym shorts and new ones too!  He didn't want to wear any old ratty shorts for the staff


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Poor puppy.
> Better sneezing it out than .
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That was what I was thinking. We had a Boxer who would chow down on stringy things, and then need extractions. Fortunately the occasional pull was all that was needed rather then a trip to the vet for surgery.
Click to expand...


Sounds right for boxers.  We had 2 and managed to get in the trash.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are in Buttonwillow on the way up to San Francisco. Buttonwillow is One of those non-descript Central Valley aggie towns who’s claim for existence is picking crops and servicing those traveling through. In particular we are having pupusas at Tita’s Pupusera. A delight which greatly exceeds the location.


----------



## markjwyatt

Since sugar was brought up, I have to post this. This video changed my life when I came across it in 2013 (or at least my diet):






"...I hope by the end of the story I will have debunked the last 30 years of nutrition information in America..." 

(clue: he does)


----------



## Gary A.

Pupusas


----------



## davidharmier60

ELO is such good music. YouTube for the WIN!


----------



## markjwyatt

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 163587
> Pupusas



y no fructosa!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sunny here today so had a lovely walk with Susie now going to be busy as getting the cameras cleaned and boxed up as Jessops will have the X-T3 and lens in this week.


----------



## SquarePeg

stomach bug...yuck


----------



## Fujidave

Well Thank you very much Jessops, got more than the quote and he said I really do look after my photography stuff, so in the next few days I will be picking up one silver ( Hipster ) X-T3 & a black XF 50mm f2 and some kit cleaning stuff and filters and not one bit of cash to pay out.  Then in a month I can claim £200 cash back from Fuji


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


>


Seriously, it's the same here. It's 78 right now, and it's supposed to hit 80. Only a couple days ago we were wearing jackets and thanking the 60 degree weather.


----------



## JonA_CT

It's not hot here, but it's moist. I'm over that, too. (As my forehead is slowly beading up)


----------



## waday

It's been moist, wet, and damp here for days and days.  Really hoping the weather this weekend is as forecast: mostly sunny.


----------



## SquarePeg

Freezing yesterday with lots of rain.  Warm and cloudy this morning.  Still a bit of damp in the air.  The weekend looks good though - 65 - 72 with no rain.  Nice weather for an outing.  Maybe will go to one of the local wildlife sanctuaries or might take the pup to the beach.  He's still not 100% himself after the grass thing.  Snoring again all night very loud.  Poor guy.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hey y'all. As soon as I got to the Marquee it began to rain. Now it looks pretty nice out there. 6.22 hours today 16.32 for the week so far.  Approximately 25 minutes to check.
Got to take a few things home. 

And now back to your regularly scheduled program. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Last week we had rain and bad gales, this week we have beautiful sunny days and blue skies.
Can`t wait till I get my X-T3, are you getting the silver one too @SquarePeg


----------



## SquarePeg

C'mon now Dave you know I don't need it.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> C'mon now Dave you know I don't need it.



But you`d never miss a shot at SB with the team and Princess would be like, WOW  Mum you rock...lol


----------



## limr

Why isn't it 17:00 yet????


----------



## davidharmier60

Google has alerted me that rain is expected at 6PM in Shepherd. So maybe 6:03 or so here at home. YIPPEE. NOT!


----------



## waday

So, this is a week where nothing is going right at work. Everything is a fire, technology isn't working, deadlines are intersecting, people are giving me mixed information, and people are being demanding for projects that have long-ish lead times (at least longer than my current projects).

Tell me it'll end soon.


----------



## SquarePeg

Wow.  Just unbelievable.  Chills.





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2177910999089533


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.

Kitties have been fed and I've done my morning computer ritual (kill spam at the other site), so I''m heading back to bed for a little bit.  We are off, today; we have to go sign the lease for another ten months, ten (I think( we are going to head to Timonium (outside of Baltimore) to try an Irish pub.

I'm also off tomorrow.  MLW is giving me a birthday present that requires me to be in Alexandria, VA.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Good morning.
> 
> Kitties have been fed and I've done my morning computer ritual (kill spam at the other site), so I''m heading back to bed for a little bit.  We are off, today; we have to go sign the lease for another ten months, ten (I think( we are going to head to Timonium (outside of Baltimore) to try an Irish pub.
> 
> I'm also off tomorrow.  MLW is giving me a birthday present that requires me to be in Alexandria, VA.



Happy Birthday!


----------



## Gary A.

Bon Anniversaire!


----------



## jcdeboever

Happy Birthday my brother from another mother


----------



## waday

Happy birthday!


----------



## snowbear

Thank y'all.  We're celebrating a little late (it was Monday).
Getting ready to head out for the lease signing, then Ikea to get a bookcase to ship to ME.  It's now available in College Park, so no Irish pub, but Founding Farmers tomorrow night.


----------



## davidharmier60

Happy birthday from a VERY square Dave.
4 hours and what ever minutes it took to have 21.29 for the week so far.
Some sort of front came through yesterday. There is actually a cool breeze blowing through my truck.
I bought a can of pineapple chunks.
At least slightly better for me than fried chicken tenders. Gonna hit the Post office,  library then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Good morning.
> 
> Kitties have been fed and I've done my morning computer ritual (kill spam at the other site), so I''m heading back to bed for a little bit.  We are off, today; we have to go sign the lease for another ten months, ten (I think( we are going to head to Timonium (outside of Baltimore) to try an Irish pub.
> 
> I'm also off tomorrow.  MLW is giving me a birthday present that requires me to be in Alexandria, VA.



Happy Birthday, Bear!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Happy Birthday Charlie!! and have fun this weekend.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Wade - tomorrow's Friday.


----------



## vintagesnaps

How Soon Is...
Leo's clock at work going to move faster so she'll be able to get outta there?!...
Now??!


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Good morning.
> 
> Kitties have been fed and I've done my morning computer ritual (kill spam at the other site), so I''m heading back to bed for a little bit.  We are off, today; we have to go sign the lease for another ten months, ten (I think( we are going to head to Timonium (outside of Baltimore) to try an Irish pub.
> 
> I'm also off tomorrow.  MLW is giving me a birthday present that requires me to be in Alexandria, VA.


Happy birthday, Bear!


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Wade - tomorrow's Friday.


Good choice! The wife and I got married on a Friday night, and we used this as the cake cutting song.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> How Soon Is...
> Leo's clock at work going to move faster so she'll be able to get outta there?!...
> Now??!



Love this song 

The clock was watched even longer today since it was a teaching day. The whistle finally blew at 7:15 pm.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Happy Birthday, Bear!!





vintagesnaps said:


> Happy Birthday Charlie!! and have fun this weekend.





terri said:


> Happy birthday, Bear!



thank you, ladies.


----------



## ceemac

snowbear said:


> MLW is giving me a birthday present that requires me to be in Alexandria, VA.



HAPPY BIRTHDAY.  
What a great idea. Maybe I'll give my wife a birthday present that requires her to be in Alexandria, Va. (wherever that is)


----------



## ceemac

waday said:


> Tell me it'll end soon.


Haha! Not even in retirement, my friend. Don't get your hopes up


----------



## SquarePeg

Going to Sox vs Yanks tonight at Fenway.  Not usually a fan of going to these games in person as the Friday night crowd can be a bit "robust" and the weather is going to be chilly but we were offered some 5th row seats near home plate so really no way I would even think of passing on that.  Going to bring my camera and hope the rain stops by game time as predicted.  Sox have already clinched the division and home field throughout the playoffs so this game really doesn't mean anything to them but

1 - It's the NYY
2 - NYY need a win to get home field in the wild card game vs A's
3 - Probable preview of the ALDS

Sox are going to want this one even if they do use the B team


----------



## Gary A.

Go White Sox!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Going to Sox vs Yanks tonight at Fenway.  Not usually a fan of going to these games in person as the Friday night crowd can be a bit "robust" and the weather is going to be chilly but we were offered some 5th row seats near home plate so really no way I would even think of passing on that.  Going to bring my camera and hope the rain stops by game time as predicted.  Sox have already clinched the division and home field throughout the playoffs so this game really doesn't mean anything to them but
> 
> 1 - It's the NYY
> 2 - NYY need a win to get home field in the wild card game vs A's
> 3 - Probable preview of the ALDS
> 
> Sox are going to want this one even if they do use the B team


You should have a blast!  Definitely too good to pass up.  Have fun!

Happy Friday in general, hosers!


----------



## waday




----------



## waday




----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


>





You have arrived at your destination.


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon peeps. Had a bit beyond 6 hours today. Got home and the dogs had gotten out and appaeratly back in. Went and looked for the spot. May have messed up some rabbit escapes before finding the spot. Should have stopped that nonsense. Then did half my pennies for today. Then did my comics. Finally came here to see what's happening. I don't get a weekend. I get half a day or more on Saturday and a full Sunday. We are pretty much broke until next Wednesday. My Sister got my $20 and didn't want me to spend my $10 on gas for the Mitsubishi.
The guy I'm buying two watches from says he understands.

And now back to your regulary scheduled program.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I was going to watch the movie coming on TCM but it has French subtitles and I don't know if I can do anything on a Friday afternoon that involves actually paying attention. But it's a version of the Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith, and realized I've seen this, so I shouldn't have to actually think too much to follow the plot. My high school French only gets me so far.


----------



## vintagesnaps

BoSox, ChiSox, it makes no difference to me. But have fun at the game! Good seats you got!! It's clear and sunny and cool and breezy here and I hope it breezes on over to the east coast fast for tonight's game.


----------



## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> I was going to watch the movie coming on TCM but it has French subtitles and I don't know if I can do anything on a Friday afternoon that involves actually paying attention. But it's a version of the Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith, and realized I've seen this, so I shouldn't have to actually think too much to follow the plot. My high school French only gets me so far.


Gary was in Paris watching _Men in Black.  _What was odd was the subtitles, when the aliens were speaking to each other, the subtitles were in French.  (Gary quickly looked around and said to himself "Merde, bien sur".) But initially it hit him as odd.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> My high school French only gets me so far.



Sadly the gist of my foreign language skills are limited, to "where's the restroom", and "Beer please", plus a few dirty words here and there. I always  had good intentions of learning other languages, but just never got around to it.


----------



## davidharmier60

One skillet had Italian pasta and shrimp. 
One had Cajun pasta and chicken. 
A bit of each. And later am going to try Blue Bell Ice Cream Cone.
My Sister got all that and much more from our across the road neighbor Rita.
So while we are pretty much broke until next Wednesday we will have stuff to eat.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Good night y'all. 4am one more time this week. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Thanks @ceemac.  If you look at a map, Washington, DC looks like a diamond with the left 1/3 chopped off.  Arlington and Alexandria (Virginia) make up that 1/3 - Alexandria being the southern-most piece..

Well, I went to Sur La Table to take their Knife Skills 101 class.  Six of us diced, minced and julienned veggies for pepper and tomato soup, crudites, and green goddess dressing.  I learned how to dice an onion with two sets of cuts, rather than the three I'm used to, and picked up some good pointers for the other cuts.

I also went shopping with a discount and picked up a utility knife to go along with the chef's knife I got earlier this year.  I sent some general snaps of the "toy store" to MLW.  She called me after the class and told me to go ahead and pick up the dutch oven that was on sale (lobster or steamed crab orange).


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Knife Skills 101 class.



What a difference local makes, I grew up with a very different set o "knife skills" LOL

Happy belated birthday!


----------



## Gary A.

Ouuuuuuuh ... Gary would have loved to take the knife class with you. 

(Being Latino, knife skills are more on the innate side of the spectrum. Did they offer switchblade skills?). 

Seriously, I truly would have loved to have joined you.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, guys.  It was fun.
#1 son in town this weekend and wants to help cook, so I can play.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are at the local theatre for _A Night with Janis Joplin_. OMG!!!


----------



## Gary A.

It is halftime... it is a great show. The show is a combo of Joplin’s life and the music/artists that influenced her music. The songs alternated between Joplin’s songs and songs from those that influenced her. Everything ... everything is high octane... the theatre is rockin, Fortunately in California, we are used to buildings rockin’ ‘n’ shakin’.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning peeps. Good coffee without ants.
Ants have been problematic around here.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Lordy but I hate Saturday morning. 
Nobody takes 5am seriously. 
Waiting on a freaking keyholder. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Got a rude wake up call this morning on my  trail walk with Sadie - KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN STUPID.  She and I both walked right over a small copperhead lying in plain view in the middle of trail. As I was stepping over the snake, my brain finally kicked in.  I guess the only thing that saved us, was the fact that the temperature was so cool this morning that the snake was really sluggish, or one of us probably would have been bitten.


----------



## davidharmier60

Finally at 5:32 Rachell showed up. Got everything done. 32.20 for the week.
Yeah, stepping over a Copperhead has got to be tough on the heart..



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

We need to do a TPF cookbook. This reminds me Gary posted a good sounding recipe and I forgot to jot it down and now I'll never find it! And how do you cut an onion 2 ways instead of 3? Now I'll be trying to figure that out! lol


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> We need to do a TPF cookbook. This reminds me Gary posted a good sounding recipe and I forgot to jot it down and now I'll never find it! And how do you cut an onion 2 ways instead of 3? Now I'll be trying to figure that out! lol


I like the idea; count me in for jambalaya and cottage or shepherd's pie (the difference is the meat used).

The onion: first set of cuts (on a half onion) are wedges (think orange slices), then chop from stem end to root end, completing the dice.  The layer rings will break apart.  MLW will take some snaps while I cut a couple of onions (for practice and soup).


----------



## davidharmier60

I don't know about cutting an onion but I can get a knife sharp enough to do it!


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> I don't know about cutting an onion but I can get a knife sharp enough to do it!


A sharp  knife is much safer than a dull one.

That was another thing - if cutting an onion is making you tear up, your knife may not be sharp enough or the onion isn't fresh.


----------



## vintagesnaps

OK, dice _half_ an onion, that makes sense. I think. Let us know when the Shepherd's Pie will be ready. No don't, that sounds good on a fall day! lol 

I'm doing nothing today but it's actually sunny this weekend so looking forward to a day out and about tomorrow, maybe some Polaroiding? After we stop to see my dad and listen to him complain about the food at the rehab place - he'd rather have some home cooking!


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> OK, dice _half_ an onion, that makes sense. I think. Let us know when the Shepherd's Pie will be ready. No don't, that sounds good on a fall day! lol
> 
> I'm doing nothing today but it's actually sunny this weekend so looking forward to a day out and about tomorrow, maybe some Polaroiding? After we stop to see my dad and listen to him complain about the food at the rehab place - he'd rather have some home cooking!


Sounds like a winner.  Mom was in a rehab place (a couple) last year and only wanted to go home.

We're getting some cleaning done, and packing some things to send north.

#1 son is in town this weekend and has offered to come by and help cook dinner, tomorrow.


----------



## davidharmier60

My Sisters homemade Chicken Noodle soup.  Yummy! And that Blue Bell Ice Cream Cone was good. Some of that before this day is over.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know about cutting an onion but I can get a knife sharp enough to do it!
> 
> 
> 
> A sharp  knife is much safer than a dull one.
> 
> That was another thing - if cutting an onion is making you tear up, your knife may not be sharp enough or the onion isn't fresh.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I don't care how sharp the knife or how fresh the onion, my eyes burn without fail by halfway through the chopping.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know about cutting an onion but I can get a knife sharp enough to do it!
> 
> 
> 
> A sharp  knife is much safer than a dull one.
> 
> That was another thing - if cutting an onion is making you tear up, your knife may not be sharp enough or the onion isn't fresh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, I don't care how sharp the knife or how fresh the onion, my eyes burn without fail by halfway through the chopping.
Click to expand...


My friends who work in restaraunts have told me the only way to fix that is speed!

Lately, I’ve been buying bags of onions because they are cheaper, but they are smaller so I sometimes need to prep and chop more than one. I’m not fast enough for that!


----------



## smoke665

DW either puts the cutting board close to the vent hood, and runs it, or else she dices them on a board in the sink and turns the water on.  As to sharpening a knife, I was taught by a master carver how to sharpen a variety of tool edges.


----------



## Gary A.

Freeze the onions for about 20 minutes before chopping. Little to no tears.


----------



## Gary A.

Then chop quickly.


----------



## CherylL

@snowbear Happy belated birthday!  Wishing you a good birthday week.


----------



## davidharmier60

That Blue Bell Ice Cream Cone MAY be my favorite now. Good Stuff Maynard!
And on that note I think it's time to say good night.


----------



## snowbear

Putting the onion is the freezer helps, too.  So does using Vidalia, or other sweet onions.



CherylL said:


> @snowbear Happy belated birthday!  Wishing you a good birthday week.


Thank you.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know about cutting an onion but I can get a knife sharp enough to do it!
> 
> 
> 
> A sharp  knife is much safer than a dull one.
> 
> That was another thing - if cutting an onion is making you tear up, your knife may not be sharp enough or the onion isn't fresh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, I don't care how sharp the knife or how fresh the onion, my eyes burn without fail by halfway through the chopping.
Click to expand...


The trick to not tearing up while chopping onions is to keep your mouth closed while you do it.,  trust me this works.  If you guys are really nice to me I’ll tell you how to defrost your steak, chicken, fish... in an hour.


----------



## terri

Well, nice is always relative around here, but...spill it, sister!       I'm ready to hear your secret.


----------



## JonA_CT

I downsized the camera equipment quite a bit a couple months ago, as I had brewery-related expenses and I didn't want to pull more money from our family savings. (Our tanks arrived Friday -- small brewery spaces and large tanks and pallets make getting everything through the door an adventure, but hey...it's in). 

It's been sort of nice only working with a camera and one lens, to a certain extent. I'm looking for a good deal on a UWA lens of some sort, but I feel like the pressure is off a little bit, and it's kind of nice.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> The trick to not tearing up while chopping onions is to keep your mouth closed while you do it.



But there's only so many onions DW might need chopped in a day  sorry, I was always a sucker for a lead in.


----------



## JonA_CT

We’ll have about 1350 gallons of tank space. We can also fit at least 50 half-barrel kegs in the walk-in cooler at any given time.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I downsized the camera equipment quite a bit a couple months ago, as I had brewery-related expenses and I didn't want to pull more money from our family savings. (Our tanks arrived Friday -- small brewery spaces and large tanks and pallets make getting everything through the door an adventure, but hey...it's in).
> 
> It's been sort of nice only working with a camera and one lens, to a certain extent. I'm looking for a good deal on a UWA lens of some sort, but I feel like the pressure is off a little bit, and it's kind of nice.
> 
> View attachment 163805



Adorable!


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know about cutting an onion but I can get a knife sharp enough to do it!
> 
> 
> 
> A sharp  knife is much safer than a dull one.
> 
> That was another thing - if cutting an onion is making you tear up, your knife may not be sharp enough or the onion isn't fresh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, I don't care how sharp the knife or how fresh the onion, my eyes burn without fail by halfway through the chopping.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The trick to not tearing up while chopping onions is to keep your mouth closed while you do it.,  trust me this works.  If you guys are really nice to me I’ll tell you how to defrost your steak, chicken, fish... in an hour.
Click to expand...

Personally, Gary feels that most all people should keep their mouths shut while doing things ... that would make the world a better place.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I downsized the camera equipment quite a bit a couple months ago, as I had brewery-related expenses and I didn't want to pull more money from our family savings. (Our tanks arrived Friday -- small brewery spaces and large tanks and pallets make getting everything through the door an adventure, but hey...it's in).
> 
> It's been sort of nice only working with a camera and one lens, to a certain extent. I'm looking for a good deal on a UWA lens of some sort, but I feel like the pressure is off a little bit, and it's kind of nice.
> 
> View attachment 163805


OMG a fun sized JonA!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> I downsized the camera equipment quite a bit a couple months ago, as I had brewery-related expenses and I didn't want to pull more money from our family savings. (Our tanks arrived Friday -- small brewery spaces and large tanks and pallets make getting everything through the door an adventure, but hey...it's in).
> 
> It's been sort of nice only working with a camera and one lens, to a certain extent. I'm looking for a good deal on a UWA lens of some sort, but I feel like the pressure is off a little bit, and it's kind of nice.
> 
> View attachment 163805


In a perfect world ... Gary would strongly suggest dumping it all and get a X100F ... for now.  Small, with terrific IQ ... add the lens conversion kits for a little wider and a little longer and you set until soccer.  For sports you'll want some reach ... but a F100F is really all you need for now.


----------



## Gary A.

Dodgers finally made the playoffs ... man, what a ride.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all. The Astros are going to the playoffs. They won a record 102 or maybe 103 games. I know Publishers Clearing House will NEVER come here. But still I do the searches which I am in the midst of doing. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

We are finally ready to pour.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary and Mary Lou are still chatting about _A Night with Janis Joplin.  _It was just soooo good, raw and powerful. Especially for us old farts who were living back then.  Unlike other shows, shows in which one enjoys the moment, a show which creates memories ... this show really blew the dust off of a ton of old memories ... the concerts, the light shows, tie-dyed and bell bottoms, civil rights protests, women rights protests, war, burning up B of A's on the weekend ... sex, drugs and rock 'n roll ... wow ... the 60's and 70's. If anybody has a shot at this show go see it, (especially if you're an old fart and remember Joplin ... and saw her perform) ... the Broadway cast really belts out the music.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Gary and Mary Lou are still chatting about _A Night with Janis Joplin.  _It was just soooo good, raw and powerful. Especially for us old farts who were living back then.  Unlike other shows, shows in which one enjoys the moment, a show which creates memories ... this show really blew the dust off of a ton of old memories ... the concerts, the light shows, tie-dyed and bell bottoms, civil rights protests, women rights protests, war, burning up B of A's on the weekend ... sex, drugs and rock 'n roll ... wow ... the 60's and 70's. If anybody has a shot at this show go see it, (especially if you're an old fart and remember Joplin ... and saw her perform) ... the Broadway cast really belts out the music.



Love her music and though I was young in the 60’s and 70’s, my aunt and uncle (who lived with us until I was 13) were definitely “hippies” so we heard a lot of Janis back then and saw a lot of parties.   I would definitely see this!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Well, nice is always relative around here, but...spill it, sister!       I'm ready to hear your secret.



Since you asked so nicely...

Put the meat to be defrosted in a plastic baggie or keep it wrapped up in the plastic and foam tray from the grocery store.  Put it in a pan of *cold* water, like a 13x9 glass baking dish. Upside down if it’s got the foam tray.  Put a can of tomatos or can of soup, something heavy, on top to keep it submerged if it’s a floater.  It will be thawed out in about an hour.  I thaw those  prepackaged chicken breasts this way.  Take them right from the freezer and ready to cook in about half an hour.  I’ve also used this for frozen steaks and fish.    No more planning ahead and much less waste.  It seems obvious but I’m always amazed at how many people have never heard of doing it this way.


----------



## Gary A.

With the Sous Vide, Gary will toss the frozen meat into the bag and cook it frozen.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. Loved Janis and her unique voice. Piece Of My Heart and Me And Bobby McGee, were my favorites.


----------



## Jeff G




----------



## davidharmier60

Dave wishes Gary much luck in his endeavers. 
Sitting here with 6 rolls of copper to back into the wild, 50 stacks of 6 for the next box and 6 stacks of 5 to finish this roll tomorrow
Need batteries for three watches at this time. Our store sells two of them at a GREAT price. The other one will cost nearly 7 bucks at Walgreens.
Finished Harlan Coben - Play Dead (his first of many novels) and have started John Sandford  - Stolen Prey.
Dinner is to be a Pork Roast, Baked Potatoes and Corn on the Cob. Couple hours yet.
Think I'll return to reading for a while.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Dodgers finally made the playoffs ... man, what a ride.


 

Tomorrow is going to be a very exciting baseball day!


----------



## Gary A.

So far, this has been a lovely day.  Hours in the park with Miss Maggie.  Usually, kickof starts at 9:00 p.m. but today Maggie’s friends staggered into the park and our usual hour+ walk turned into a couple of hours with Bosch, Max, and Champ built up the pack.  Than we all stopped in at Gary’s house for coffee. More dog play in the backyard and more conversations around the patio.  The coffee turned into wine tasting and finally the guests have left.  Gary grabbed his tools and dug out/moved the 220V stub-up for the hot tub a foot or so to the proper and final location. Meanwhile, Mary Lou took a run for frozen yogurt for two ... presently we are relaxing at watching a Netflix, eating frozen yogurt and drinking the last of the wine tasting.  Maggie is exhausted and sleeping. Life is good.


----------



## Gary A.

Jeff G said:


> View attachment 163831


Damn ... Gary has been ratted out!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, nice is always relative around here, but...spill it, sister!       I'm ready to hear your secret.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Since you asked so nicely...
> 
> Put the meat to be defrosted in a plastic baggie or keep it wrapped up in the plastic and foam tray from the grocery store.  Put it in a pan of *cold* water, like a 13x9 glass baking dish. Upside down if it’s got the foam tray.  Put a can of tomatos or can of soup, something heavy, on top to keep it submerged if it’s a floater.  It will be thawed out in about an hour.  I thaw those  prepackaged chicken breasts this way.  Take them right from the freezer and ready to cook in about half an hour.  I’ve also used this for frozen steaks and fish.    No more planning ahead and much less waste.  It seems obvious but I’m always amazed at how many people have never heard of doing it this way.
Click to expand...

Thanks, this does sound easy!


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm over in Cold Springs for propane. 
It is almost certainly going to rain some more. If only we could afford a good tarp and some boards and screws.
Could stop a few leaks if.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well, nice is always relative around here, but...spill it, sister!       I'm ready to hear your secret.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Since you asked so nicely...
> 
> Put the meat to be defrosted in a plastic baggie or keep it wrapped up in the plastic and foam tray from the grocery store.  Put it in a pan of *cold* water, like a 13x9 glass baking dish. Upside down if it’s got the foam tray.  Put a can of tomatos or can of soup, something heavy, on top to keep it submerged if it’s a floater.  It will be thawed out in about an hour.  I thaw those  prepackaged chicken breasts this way.  Take them right from the freezer and ready to cook in about half an hour.  I’ve also used this for frozen steaks and fish.    No more planning ahead and much less waste.  It seems obvious but I’m always amazed at how many people have never heard of doing it this way.
Click to expand...


I use the cold water method.  I switched to flash frozen chicken tenderloins.  Faster to thaw out in a bowl of cold water.  Most of what I make these days for 2 people the chicken is cut up or skewered anyway.


----------



## tirediron

Did I miss anything good in the last week?


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> Did I miss anything good in the last week?



How to thaw out chicken.
How to bury a hornet.
Cheryl got explored on Flickr.
Jon's kid is cute.
Cheryl's dog is cute.
Dave counted some pennies, clocked his hours, ate some Bluebell and drove an unregistered car.
Destin and FujiDave got XT3s.
Dodgers, Red Sox and Astros are in the playoffs.  Gary, Sharon and Dave are happy.
I went to a lighthouse, a Red Sox game and a sculpture garden.
We all like Janis.
Gary's life is awesome.


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> If only we could afford a good tarp and some boards and screws.


Are there any government programs/grants to help with home repair that you could apply for?


----------



## davidharmier60

Damif I know. 

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----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> Damif I know.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Here's a fact sheet from the USDA: https://www.rd.usda.gov/files/fact-sheet/RD-Factsheet-RHS-SFH504HomeRepair.pdf

More information here: Single Family Housing Repair Loans & Grants | USDA Rural Development

See if this applies?


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> Damif I know.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


And more links: Home Repairs: Texas | HUD.gov / U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Gary is home early in order tp catch the concrete pour.  And it has just arrived. Adios.


----------



## davidharmier60

Got 6 hours exactly today. If only I could do that every day!


----------



## Fujidave

Evening all have been so busy for quite a while now, as really throwing myself in to my photography.  Have been asked if I`d do the photos of a church band this Wednesday which I am looking forward too, and the smooth high iso of the X-T3 is great and loving the face/eye detection.


----------



## Dave442

Painted the farmhouse last week and then a BBQ there over the weekend to inaugurate.


----------



## Gary A.

Pour is rescheduled for tomorrow. which is good because the game is on!  Every now and then ESPN shows a wide angle shot from the top of the stadium, the San Gabriels in the background ... man ... what a beautiful stadium.


----------



## Gary A.

Marl Lou, Maggie and Gary are watching the game armed with popcorn and candy.  Gary thought of making a dash to the stadium, but he was expecting concrete today.


----------



## SquarePeg

@Gary A. is this win or go home for the Dodgers?


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> @Gary A. is this win or go home for the Dodgers?


Nope ... a tie-breaker for Division Title.


----------



## Gary A.

Marquez vs. Buehler


----------



## Gary A.

Cody ... Cody ... Cody !!!!!

Two zip, Dodgers.


----------



## Gary A.

Double for Puig!


----------



## Gary A.

Muncy!!!!! Four zip Dodgers.


----------



## Gary A.

Buehler knocks in Kiki ... Five Zip Dodgers.


----------



## Dave442

Arrived at the house just in time to see the Dodgers go up 5-0. That reminded me to call my younger brother and sure enough he is at the game - says it is getting loud there.


----------



## smoke665

Thought I was finished with Halloween set, but then I saw an idea that I just had to try.  $10 and a couple hours later, I have glowing embers to put under the witches pot. The area in the center is hollowed out and sized so the pot will fit in. Only thing if I did it again is that I'd use flicker lights (though that won't make any difference in a photo). Tomorrow is the final setup and shoot on Wednesday assuming my little witch is over the sniffles.


----------



## Gary A.

Dave442 said:


> Arrived at the house just in time to see the Dodgers go up 5-0. That reminded me to call my younger brother and sure enough he is at the game - says it is getting loud there.


If Gary didn’t have concrete coming in today ... he’d be with your brother eating Dodger Dogs.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sisters Chicken Noodle soup is still very good reheated! And there is still some Blue Bell Ice Cream Cone for later. Life could be better but not much. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Dave442 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Arrived at the house just in time to see the Dodgers go up 5-0. That reminded me to call my younger brother and sure enough he is at the game - says it is getting loud there.
> 
> 
> 
> If Gary didn’t have concrete coming in today ... he’d be with your brother eating Dodger Dogs.
Click to expand...


I had the tv muted so not sure if this was already discussed during the game but...

Gary has a legit excuse for not being there.  Where is the rest of Dodger nation?  I can't believe the number of empty seats at an important game.  I know it's a day game and a Monday but, frankly, that is a lame fan turn out.  The Red Sox could play at 3am and Fenway would be filled.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dave442 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Arrived at the house just in time to see the Dodgers go up 5-0. That reminded me to call my younger brother and sure enough he is at the game - says it is getting loud there.
> 
> 
> 
> If Gary didn’t have concrete coming in today ... he’d be with your brother eating Dodger Dogs.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I had the tv muted so not sure if this was already discussed during the game but...
> 
> Gary has a legit excuse for not being there.  Where is the rest of Dodger nation?  I can't believe the number of empty seats at an important game.  I know it's a day game and a Monday but, frankly, that is a lame fan turn out.  The Red Sox could play at 3am and Fenway would be filled.
Click to expand...

Gary was surprised as well.  Welcome to LA.  Last minute day game, fickled/spoiled fans, not enough time to reschedule the movie shoot and the surf is up.


----------



## Gary A.

But ... what a beautiful view from the top of the stadium.


----------



## SquarePeg

It is gorgeous.  The nephew has been to Dodger's stadium twice and to a game at Padres.


----------



## Gary A.

The Coliseum?


----------



## Gary A.

Et vous?


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, grotty weather has now come in but our summer is now over anyway but it is getting colder each day now.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's back to hot and humid outside my ACd truck. I somehow didn't get clocked in this morning.  So Trish clocked me in and out.
Darn near 11 hours for two days. 
Sold my box of pennies so off to People's Bank before PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## SquarePeg

Sitting in my car waiting for Princess’s field hockey game to start.  It’s 55 and that spritzy umbrellas are useless rain.  Yuck. See you all later!


----------



## Gary A.

The slab is poured.  The workers are in finish mode.  Gary has been incorporating all the excess dirt into the existing landscape. Lots of dirt, we cut into the grade about six inches on the west side to be level on the east side. On the north side of the yard, Gary has extended the retaining wall up and has been dumping dirt behind the wall.  On the south Gary has been spreading the dirt along the lower east side building it up a bit.  All that is left is the stamping and staining ... then fini.


----------



## compur

I live in LA, not too far from the stadium. I've been there but never to see a Dodgers game. I have no interest in that. I understand viewer ratings are on the decline for pro sports in general.


----------



## SquarePeg

compur said:


> I live in LA, not too far from the stadium. I've been there but never to see a Dodgers game. I have no interest in that. I understand viewer ratings are on the decline for pro sports in general.



I wonder if profits are also on the decline or if people are just watching differently and they’re still measuring the same way, like a lot of other things.


----------



## compur

Personally, I think pro sports has just jumped the shark too many times. But, I'm no sports fan so what do I know?


----------



## Dave442

Going with the Rockies tonight after going with the Dodgers last night.


----------



## JonA_CT

Dave442 said:


> Going with the Rockies tonight after going with the Dodgers last night.



And they just scored.


----------



## JonA_CT

In other news...however they have the catcher's glove mic'd amp'd whatever sounds cartoonish.


----------



## SquarePeg

Dave442 said:


> Going with the Rockies tonight after going with the Dodgers last night.



Have to pull for former Sox pitcher Lester and also I’m a Madden fan.


----------



## CherylL

I have the 2yo tomorrow.  Mini mouse and tea party all day.  She doesn't like hummus.  I'll keep trying


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> compur said:
> 
> 
> 
> I live in LA, not too far from the stadium. I've been there but never to see a Dodgers game. I have no interest in that. I understand viewer ratings are on the decline for pro sports in general.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder if profits are also on the decline or if people are just watching differently and they’re still measuring the same way, like a lot of other things.
Click to expand...

Gary suspects that TV/Cable/Satellite revenues far exceed gate receipts.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> compur said:
> 
> 
> 
> I live in LA, not too far from the stadium. I've been there but never to see a Dodgers game. I have no interest in that. I understand viewer ratings are on the decline for pro sports in general.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder if profits are also on the decline or if people are just watching differently and they’re still measuring the same way, like a lot of other things.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary suspect that TV/Cable/Satellite revenues far exceed gate receipts.
Click to expand...


I have quite a few friends and relatives that now live outside New England who watch on their phones and tablets with that mlb package.


----------



## markjwyatt

I've only gone to one Dodgers game in my life (last week). They lost. To the Padres. TO THE PADRES. Worst Dodger game in history.


----------



## markjwyatt

I used to live in San Diego County. Many of the weddings I shot (context- this is a photo forum) included speeches such as 'they come together for the good times, picnics, travelling, children...and the bad times...like the PADRES GAMES...' and that was a few decades ago. Some things never change.


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh man. Walked in to get my mug and the coffeemaker only has hot water again 
What a tragedy. Other than that Mrs. Lincoln how did you like the play?

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----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. It rained last night ... somewhat unbelievable considering it sorta came out of nowhere ... unexpected. Mary Lou is a weather nerd and let Gary know of the impending precipitation.  Gary tarped the slab before going to bed.  The concrete was drying quickly, but the rain may still have damaged the stamping.  Mary Lou and Gary decided on a slate stamp with a medium gray tint to match the stones around the pond. Today should be tint and a gloss finish.  It will take months to decide upon and restore the yard.  Miss Maggie and Gary are off on our morning constitution.


----------



## smoke665

Alabama's coach Saban last week was complaining of declining fans in the stadium. IMO it's hard for someone who makes a gazzilion million dollars a year to understand that the average middle class family of four would find it difficult to spend anywhere from $250 to $400 for tickets even once a season let alone every game. Go to a playoff and you'll drop a few thousand. Sports in general are pricing themselves out of fans.


----------



## Dave442

Well the Rockies were able to pull out a late win, not bad after three days of games in three different time zones. Now to root for my boyhood hometown Astros (last time I went to one of their games it was in the Astrodome).


----------



## davidharmier60

We USED to go to Astros games. But they sho nuff priced us out.
5.51 hours today and I think 15.28 or so for the week so far. Enjoying chicken tenders and gravy at the deli. Been a while. 
Loaded up my truck like Sanford and Son with scrap metal. Maybe 300 pounds but maybe not. Guess I'll get rid of it before going home.

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----------



## davidharmier60

Maybe 16.28 or so come to think of it. 

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----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm glad my cell phone is deader than a doornail so I didn't have to hear it go off. It was bad enough on TV today - not the second alert, except it cut in midsentence of a Monk episode. The first monthly siren testing at noon caused the usual red line running across but the sound never came on, just a buzz. Smack dab in a preseason exhibition tie game in Germany. Had to get behind the bookcase where I can barely reach the plug to reboot. Messin' with my hockey is not allowed!! lol

The good thing is, it's all over with and - - - - - 
regular season hockey starts tonight!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Gary A.

Max, Michael, Maggie and Gary retired to the patio after the morning's romp in the park.  (Michael is Max's human.) We had news on the Tv when a notice warned us of the upcoming Presidential Alert.  Michael is not a fan of the president and turned off his cell phone in protest of the Presidential Alert. After the alert, he turned on his phone and surprisingly he circumvented the presidential notice.  We celebrated his small victory, but on the way to his car, he was hit by a second alert.  It is hard to beat the government.


----------



## SquarePeg

The only alert that I want to get


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh brother. Got home. Sister almost immediately took my truck. The lawn tractor would not mow. It threw the mower belt and as luck would have it it needs a new belt. So I did one roll of pennies. Started a second and the phone rang.
Sister had a flat tire in Livingston. The Mitsubishi didn't have the gas to get to a station. Neighbor Rita had a can. The Mitsubishi needed a gallon of water and a quart of oil. And of course it expired in May. So anyhow got to a station and got gas. Got to where she was and changed to the spare. It needed air so we went to a gas station and used 6 quarters to put air in the tire. Just as I got to the boxes at the front of the neighborhood the Mitsubishi died. The way it sounds trying to start I believe it's terminal. 

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----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> The only alert that I want to get


Isn't that common knowledge ...?  ... Why do you need an alert for something everybody already knows?


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Isn't that common knowledge ...? ... Why do you need an alert for something everybody already knows?



for fun


----------



## davidharmier60

It's suspiciously quiet here at work. 
I wonder if they cancelled Thursday and didn't tell me?

I'm sure not.

This is nervous energy.

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----------



## snowbear

My phone is always in silent so I just get a buzz.  I sent a message to FEMA complaining about their spam and asked to be removed from their list.


----------



## SquarePeg

Bring on the beasts!  Excited for Sox vs NYY despite my deeply ingrained Yankee hate.  More sweet to beat!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Guess what today is in LA ...


----------



## Gary A.

Special Playoff Section in The Times. Full of good stuff.


----------



## Gary A.

For Peg:


----------



## smoke665

Sad news that we expected to be forthcoming, but you're never really ready for. Mother In Law passed away early am this morning. She had been going down fast over the last month, struggling with congestive heart failure and cancer, both of which she had refused treatment on. At the ripe old age of 90,  she went out of this life the same way she lived it on her own terms to the last. Packing up to leave later today.


----------



## Jeff G

Sorry to hear that Smoke, 90 is a pretty good run though.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Sad news that we expected to be forthcoming, but you're never really ready for. Mother In Law passed away early am this morning. She had been going down fast over the last month, struggling with congestive heart failure and cancer, both of which she had refused treatment on. At the ripe old age of 90,  she went out of this life the same way she lived it on her own terms to the last. Packing up to leave later today.



Sorry for your loss.  I hope your wife had time to say her goodbyes.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Sad news that we expected to be forthcoming, but you're never really ready for. Mother In Law passed away early am this morning. She had been going down fast over the last month, struggling with congestive heart failure and cancer, both of which she had refused treatment on. At the ripe old age of 90,  she went out of this life the same way she lived it on her own terms to the last. Packing up to leave later today.


Condolences ... to you and her daughter.


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg and @Gary A. Thank you for the kind words. We were fortunate to have had a good visit with her a little over two weeks ago, during which she was cognizant and aware of everything going on, talking and laughing. The big worry now is her Dad who at 96 may just give up, I think a lot of what's kept him going the last few years was his concern for her. He's currently on the short list to get into a very nice VA home, which would help, as the socialization with other Vets would give him something to look forward to.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> ...she went out of this life the same way she lived it on her own terms to the last. ....


At the age of 90, hard to ask for anything better than that!


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @SquarePeg and @Gary A. Thank you for the kind words. We were fortunate to have had a good visit with her a little over two weeks ago, during which she was cognizant and aware of everything going on, talking and laughing. The big worry now is her Dad who at 96 may just give up, I think a lot of what's kept him going the last few years was his concern for her. He's currently on the short list to get into a very nice VA home, which would help, as the socialization with other Vets would give him something to look forward to.


When Mom died, Dad tossed in the towel on life. He had no interest in anything.  Took him a couple years to pass.


----------



## waday

Sorry to hear this Smoke. My condolences.


----------



## davidharmier60

No water in the oil of the Mitsubishi. 
Most likely two things. Water got away and it got hot. Gauge never indicated that. 
Or timing belt gone. Either way a LOT of  work. Not at all sure where we go from here. 6 hours and  some today. 
Worked on a couple of 6 wheelers.
Need wheels, bolts, small wheels etc.
Too tuckered out to do anything else today.
Only did 3 penny rolls yesterday. Could do 9 today. Might or might not. Later.

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----------



## Fujidave

Evening all, weather was grotty today but still had great fun with the X-T3 and god I love it


----------



## Braineack

gotta get the shot you were hired for...


----------



## waday

Braineack said:


> gotta get the shot you were hired for...


If family would cause her to miss the shot, and then she'd be sued by the bride/groom for not getting the shot, this would be good video evidence in her favor, LOL.


----------



## waday

Roxy says hi.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary has just returned from Home Depot.  Gary saw a number of Dodger caps in the store. (Gary was one of them.)


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> Gary has just returned from Home Depot.  Gary saw a number Dodger caps in the store. (Gary was one of them.)


I gather that Dodgers fans apparently need a lot of home improvement?


----------



## Braineack

waday said:


> Braineack said:
> 
> 
> 
> gotta get the shot you were hired for...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If family would cause her to miss the shot, and then she'd be sued by the bride/groom for not getting the shot, this would be good video evidence in her favor, LOL.
Click to expand...


video is helping me get mentally prepped for the wedding im doing saturday...


----------



## waday

Braineack said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Braineack said:
> 
> 
> 
> gotta get the shot you were hired for...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If family would cause her to miss the shot, and then she'd be sued by the bride/groom for not getting the shot, this would be good video evidence in her favor, LOL.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> video is helping me get mentally prepped for the wedding im doing saturday...
Click to expand...

Good luck!


----------



## SquarePeg

Braineack said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Braineack said:
> 
> 
> 
> gotta get the shot you were hired for...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If family would cause her to miss the shot, and then she'd be sued by the bride/groom for not getting the shot, this would be good video evidence in her favor, LOL.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> video is helping me get mentally prepped for the wedding im doing saturday...
Click to expand...


Don't forget to post some pics.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Braineack said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Braineack said:
> 
> 
> 
> gotta get the shot you were hired for...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If family would cause her to miss the shot, and then she'd be sued by the bride/groom for not getting the shot, this would be good video evidence in her favor, LOL.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> video is helping me get mentally prepped for the wedding im doing saturday...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't forget to post some pics.
Click to expand...

Bonus points if the pics are of you elbowing people out of the way


----------



## snowbear

Sorry to hear the bad news, @smoke665.
@JonA_CT:  I just got notification of a Census Bureau article on craft breweries.

Off to BWI to pick up the rental.  We asked for a Wrangler - we'll see what happens.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Roxy says hi.


Hey Roxy.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Roxy says hi.



Hey Gurrrrrl...


----------



## davidharmier60

Doesn't appear that we will get rain today. Found a 1994S Cameo or Reverse Cameo coin in a roll a while ago.
Through with pennies today. Now going to read for a while. Silken Prey by John Sandford.


----------



## JohnS.

Got offered $125 for my Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 from someone on craigslist. Why do they even bother?


----------



## SquarePeg

JohnS. said:


> Got offered $125 for my Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 from someone on craigslist. Why do they even bother?



Did they want you to ship it to some other address because it's a gift for their cousin and they are in the military?  

The guy I sold my Tokina 11-16 to drove 2 hours to meet me to pay cash and he forgot to bring his camera to test out the lens.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> Sorry to hear the bad news, @smoke665.
> @JonA_CT:  I just got notification of a Census Bureau article on craft breweries.
> 
> Off to BWI to pick up the rental.  We asked for a Wrangler - we'll see what happens.



 The glass is still “small” in CT! Things are cooking now. I’m hoping you’ll be able to stop in on your way to Portland soon.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 164033 View attachment 164034 Special Playoff Section in The Times. Full of good stuff.


I felt something move....


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Sad news that we expected to be forthcoming, but you're never really ready for. Mother In Law passed away early am this morning. She had been going down fast over the last month, struggling with congestive heart failure and cancer, both of which she had refused treatment on. At the ripe old age of 90,  she went out of this life the same way she lived it on her own terms to the last. Packing up to leave later today.


Sorry for your loss my brother.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Roxy says hi.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey Gurrrrrl...
Click to expand...


Hey ladies, y'all looking pretty awesome. My human shoots film, he is a dork. He could buy me a lot more bones instead of black plastic canisters and stinky water bottles. I chewed on some of those canisters to piss him off, it worked.


----------



## SquarePeg

Ummmm, my dog is a boy.


----------



## jcdeboever

Flippin between Red Wings and baseball


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Ummmm, my dog is a boy.


Well he's pretty according to Webster


----------



## stapo49

jcdeboever said:


> Flippin between Red Wings and baseball
> View attachment 164047


I love ice hockey. When I was in Canada many years (Gretsky was still with Oilers) ago arrived during Stanley Cup play offs and decided to support the Calgary Flames .

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## RowdyRay

JohnS. said:


> Got offered $125 for my Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 from someone on craigslist. Why do they even bother?



Short answer: Because it doesn't hurt to ask. Don't like the offer, ignore it. Believe it or not, there are plenty of sellers who have no idea what they have. Got a lot of good deals that way. 



SquarePeg said:


> JohnS. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Got offered $125 for my Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 from someone on craigslist. Why do they even bother?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did they want you to ship it to some other address because it's a gift for their cousin and they are in the military?
> 
> The guy I sold my Tokina 11-16 to drove 2 hours to meet me to pay cash and he forgot to bring his camera to test out the lens.
Click to expand...


Had a similar situation when selling a Sony lens. Guy drove over an hour to meet me. Got there. No camera. He got this panicked look on his face, threw open the doors and searched the car. Then he thought he left it on TOP of the car and drove off. Called his wife. She confirmed it was sitting next to the front door.....right where he left it. Phew!! Worked out in the end.


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Roxy says hi.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey Gurrrrrl...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hey ladies, y'all looking pretty awesome. My human shoots film, he is a dork. He could buy me a lot more bones instead of black plastic canisters and stinky water bottles. I chewed on some of those canisters to piss him off, it worked.
> 
> View attachment 164046
Click to expand...

Roxy says she’s single and ready to mingle, but that she’s a smart, strong willed woman who doesn’t take any grief and demands respect.


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Roxy says hi.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey Gurrrrrl...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hey ladies, y'all looking pretty awesome. My human shoots film, he is a dork. He could buy me a lot more bones instead of black plastic canisters and stinky water bottles. I chewed on some of those canisters to piss him off, it worked.
> 
> View attachment 164046
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Roxy says she’s single and ready to mingle, but that she’s a smart, strong willed woman who doesn’t take any grief and demands respect.
Click to expand...

Webster's a bad boy, she would love him.He is kinda dumb though....


----------



## Gary A.

stapo49 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Flippin between Red Wings and baseball
> View attachment 164047
> 
> 
> 
> I love ice hockey. When I was in Canada many years (Gretsky was still with Oilers) ago arrived during Stanley Cup play offs and decided to support the Calgary Flames .
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Gary has a used and autographed hockey stick from The Great One.


----------



## stapo49

Gary A. said:


> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Flippin between Red Wings and baseball
> View attachment 164047
> 
> 
> 
> I love ice hockey. When I was in Canada many years (Gretsky was still with Oilers) ago arrived during Stanley Cup play offs and decided to support the Calgary Flames .
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gary has a used and autographed hockey stick from The Great One.
Click to expand...

Really? You would keep that forever. It sort of reminds me of aussie rules on ice. Especially the body checking. Watched a good documentary on Netflix about the ice hockey enforcers. They where hard bastards!

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Another day. 
Come on Coffee do your thing!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear the bad news, @smoke665.
> @JonA_CT:  I just got notification of a Census Bureau article on craft breweries.
> 
> Off to BWI to pick up the rental.  We asked for a Wrangler - we'll see what happens.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The glass is still “small” in CT! Things are cooking now. I’m hoping you’ll be able to stop in on your way to Portland soon.
Click to expand...

We're heading up about 2:00 this afternoon.  Our plan is to go to Long Island and grab the ferry, then stay in New London - Mystic - Stonington tonight.  That puts us fairly close to half-way.

We are taking some time to do things more than drive up and back, whether it's more time in Maine or a side trip to Clyde's Cider Mill or anything else.  I'll send you a PM with my contact info a little later on.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> We're heading up about 2:00 this afternoon.


A little later, and we might have seen each other on the road. We're heading up to Brooklyn tonight; Long Island tomorrow for a birthday party.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear the bad news, @smoke665.
> @JonA_CT:  I just got notification of a Census Bureau article on craft breweries.
> 
> Off to BWI to pick up the rental.  We asked for a Wrangler - we'll see what happens.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The glass is still “small” in CT! Things are cooking now. I’m hoping you’ll be able to stop in on your way to Portland soon.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We're heading up about 2:00 this afternoon.  Our plan is to go to Long Island and grab the ferry, then stay in New London - Mystic - Stonington tonight.  That puts us fairly close to half-way.
> 
> We are taking some time to do things more than drive up and back, whether it's more time in Maine or a side trip to Clyde's Cider Mill or anything else.  I'll send you a PM with my contact info a little later on.
Click to expand...


Make sure you hit the basement of the old mill for the good stuff. Just be warned that “Blackout” isn’t just the name


----------



## terri

Happy Friday , hosers!  

That's all I have right now.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## jcdeboever

Friday


----------



## davidharmier60

Got through Friday unscathed. Enjoying fried Fish at the deli. Going to get insurance and inspection when I leave. And send $20 more for two watches. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Happy Friday , hosers!
> 
> That's all I have right now.



I had a doctor's appt this morning, and since I am basically fried, I gave myself the rest of the day off work. Went to the doc, then to Starbucks for a nice big coffee. Just finished treating myself to a manicure (and a big tip for the manicurist). I am considering taking myself to lunch before doing a few more chores and some shopping.

Didn't realize how much I needed this until I started doing it!


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday , hosers!
> 
> That's all I have right now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had a doctor's appt this morning, and since I am basically fried, I gave myself the rest of the day off work. Went to the doc, then to Starbucks for a nice big coffee. Just finished treating myself to a manicure (and a big tip for the manicurist). I am considering taking myself to lunch before doing a few more chores and some shopping.
> 
> Didn't realize how much I needed this until I started doing it!
Click to expand...


oh, 4 day weekend for you?


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary missed the LA - Atlantic game last night, even though we were only a couple miles away. We had tickets for _Sweat _at the Mark Taper Forum.  _Sweat _was simply terrific ... extremely well written, thought stimulating and and times gut-wrenching. The acting, like most Los Angeles theatre, was realistic and five star.  If you have a chance ... see it.

Los Angeles theatre is spread out all over the city, but the Mark Taper Forum is part of The Music Center in downtown LA near City Hall. Across the street is The Disney Concert Hall.  It is an entire block and a half devoted to live entertainment, with three anchoring theaters and underground parking going down 12 levels. Mary Lou and Gary picnic on the patio before the performance.  It was a lovely time watching all the people dressed in evening wear walking past us to an LA Opera event at the Dorothy Chandler. Mary Lou and Gary pick up beef dips at Philippe's, one of the best sandwiches in the world, some Sanford Pinot Noir and a slice of blackberry pie and a slice of chocolate cake.
iPhone




Mark Taper from our picnic table.




The picnic.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday , hosers!
> 
> That's all I have right now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had a doctor's appt this morning, and since I am basically fried, I gave myself the rest of the day off work. Went to the doc, then to Starbucks for a nice big coffee. Just finished treating myself to a manicure (and a big tip for the manicurist). I am considering taking myself to lunch before doing a few more chores and some shopping.
> 
> Didn't realize how much I needed this until I started doing it!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> oh, 4 day weekend for you?
Click to expand...


Yup, although only because I also took Monday off. My school is always open for Columbus Day. I even forgot that it was this Monday - I just took the day off because Buzz and I were supposed to try to get away for a long weekend. The plans fell through, but I kept the days off because, as mentioned, I'm fried.

And now I'm at the diner for some lunch.
Waiter: "French fries or fruit cup?"
Me: "Fruit cup, please."
*waiter brings food with home fries"
Um. Okay. Didn't realize that was a choice?


----------



## terri

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday , hosers!
> 
> That's all I have right now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had a doctor's appt this morning, and since I am basically fried, I gave myself the rest of the day off work. Went to the doc, then to Starbucks for a nice big coffee. Just finished treating myself to a manicure (and a big tip for the manicurist). I am considering taking myself to lunch before doing a few more chores and some shopping.
> 
> Didn't realize how much I needed this until I started doing it!
Click to expand...

Good for you!   Does no good to ignore your own needs until you're worn down to a nub.   You have PTO, take it fer cryin' out loud.   (This, from someone who routinely cashed in her PTO every year because it built up to a stupid, UNUSED amount.    So, I get it!)


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday , hosers!
> 
> That's all I have right now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had a doctor's appt this morning, and since I am basically fried, I gave myself the rest of the day off work. Went to the doc, then to Starbucks for a nice big coffee. Just finished treating myself to a manicure (and a big tip for the manicurist). I am considering taking myself to lunch before doing a few more chores and some shopping.
> 
> Didn't realize how much I needed this until I started doing it!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Good for you!   Does no good to ignore your own needs until you're worn down to a nub.   You have PTO, take it fer cryin' out loud.   (This, from someone who routinely cashed in her PTO every year because it built up to a stupid, UNUSED amount.    So, I get it!)
Click to expand...


I use all my time every year.  I carry over one day in case of emergency and that’s it.  I was just on my calendar plotting out how/when to use the almost 2 weeks I have left.  Going to start with this coming Tuesday.  Decided to skip the white mountains this weekend  due to crazy crowds expected.  Will do a one or two day trip midweek.  

Debating Acadia next weekend, thanks @Destin  for stirring that up!  But then if I skip that I could get the xt3... decisions...


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh man. The spare I put on the day IT happened threw the tread. Now at a tire shop trying to get rolling again. 
When it rains it seems to POUR.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday , hosers!
> 
> That's all I have right now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had a doctor's appt this morning, and since I am basically fried, I gave myself the rest of the day off work. Went to the doc, then to Starbucks for a nice big coffee. Just finished treating myself to a manicure (and a big tip for the manicurist). I am considering taking myself to lunch before doing a few more chores and some shopping.
> 
> Didn't realize how much I needed this until I started doing it!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Good for you!   Does no good to ignore your own needs until you're worn down to a nub.   You have PTO, take it fer cryin' out loud.   (This, from someone who routinely cashed in her PTO every year because it built up to a stupid, UNUSED amount.    So, I get it!)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I use all my time every year.  I carry over one day in case of emergency and that’s it.  I was just on my calendar plotting out how/when to use the almost 2 weeks I have left.  Going to start with this coming Tuesday.  Decided to skip the white mountains this weekend  due to crazy crowds expected.  Will do a one or two day trip midweek.
> 
> Debating Acadia next weekend, thanks @Destin  for stirring that up!  But then if I skip that I could get the xt3... decisions...
Click to expand...


I definitely have to be better about using my time. I have a lot of annual leave time. Like, enough that people get mad at how many days off I get each year. It accumulates over the course of the year - I think a small number of days can be carried over but otherwise, I lose it. We're on an academic year, so my time just started accumulating in Sept. Still have plenty - we start with a chunk and then it slowly builds off.

So yeah, there will be more self-care days ahead of me!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday , hosers!
> 
> That's all I have right now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had a doctor's appt this morning, and since I am basically fried, I gave myself the rest of the day off work. Went to the doc, then to Starbucks for a nice big coffee. Just finished treating myself to a manicure (and a big tip for the manicurist). I am considering taking myself to lunch before doing a few more chores and some shopping.
> 
> Didn't realize how much I needed this until I started doing it!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Good for you!   Does no good to ignore your own needs until you're worn down to a nub.   You have PTO, take it fer cryin' out loud.   (This, from someone who routinely cashed in her PTO every year because it built up to a stupid, UNUSED amount.    So, I get it!)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I use all my time every year.  I carry over one day in case of emergency and that’s it.  I was just on my calendar plotting out how/when to use the almost 2 weeks I have left.  Going to start with this coming Tuesday.  Decided to skip the white mountains this weekend  due to crazy crowds expected.  Will do a one or two day trip midweek.
> 
> Debating Acadia next weekend, thanks @Destin  for stirring that up!  But then if I skip that I could get the xt3... decisions...
Click to expand...

Smart girl!    Sounds like you've established a good habit.   It's nice to give yourself a little bonus check from PTO, but you sure can't get that time back.


----------



## Destin

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday , hosers!
> 
> That's all I have right now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had a doctor's appt this morning, and since I am basically fried, I gave myself the rest of the day off work. Went to the doc, then to Starbucks for a nice big coffee. Just finished treating myself to a manicure (and a big tip for the manicurist). I am considering taking myself to lunch before doing a few more chores and some shopping.
> 
> Didn't realize how much I needed this until I started doing it!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Good for you!   Does no good to ignore your own needs until you're worn down to a nub.   You have PTO, take it fer cryin' out loud.   (This, from someone who routinely cashed in her PTO every year because it built up to a stupid, UNUSED amount.    So, I get it!)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I use all my time every year.  I carry over one day in case of emergency and that’s it.  I was just on my calendar plotting out how/when to use the almost 2 weeks I have left.  Going to start with this coming Tuesday.  Decided to skip the white mountains this weekend  due to crazy crowds expected.  Will do a one or two day trip midweek.
> 
> Debating Acadia next weekend, thanks @Destin  for stirring that up!  But then if I skip that I could get the xt3... decisions...
Click to expand...


I’m glad I could help. 

In my opinion, experiences trump material goods. Take the x-t2 and shoot some photos at Acadia.


----------



## davidharmier60

Got a decent looking Michelen (sp) tire on my spare wheel because my good wheel was in the garage at home.
It is believed there was too much air in the spare that cosed it to throw the tread. He only took this tire to 60 psi.
I guess that will teach me something.


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> ...He only took this tire to 60 psi.


Unless you're running super-low profile tires like a 335/25R22, most passenger car tires should be in the 32-36psi range, with almost none (of which I'm aware) running over 40psi.


----------



## davidharmier60

These are E rated 80psi tires. I thought I had 65 in the one that threw the tread but it seems there was more pressure.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Since we couldn’t catch the ferry we’re re-routing to Palisades Park; we’re staying in Stamford tonight.  We’ll stop and play in Mystic on Monday.

Rental is bright red Wrangler 4-door (JKU in Jeepspeak).


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> These are E rated 80psi tires. I thought I had 65 in the one that threw the tread but it seems there was more pressure.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


That's maximum LOAD pressure (max tire pressure under maximum load).  The manufacturer's sticker on the 'B' pillar of the driver's door will give you recommended tire pressure.


----------



## jcdeboever

Red Sox looking strong.


----------



## jcdeboever

JD Martinez looks just like my youngest son, uncanny


----------



## Destin

tirediron said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> These are E rated 80psi tires. I thought I had 65 in the one that threw the tread but it seems there was more pressure.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> That's maximum LOAD pressure (max tire pressure under maximum load).  The manufacturer's sticker on the 'B' pillar of the driver's door will give you recommended tire pressure.
Click to expand...


This. Many people run far too much air in their tires which leads to premature wear, rough ride, and decreased fuel efficiency. 

Always set tire pressure to the reccomended pressure on the B pillar.


----------



## snowbear

. . . Unless you’re on the beach; then air down a bit.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Red Sox looking strong.



The bullpen is a nightmare tonight!


----------



## Gary A.

Dodgers are up 2 zip, top of fifth.


----------



## SquarePeg

Sox are hanging on by a thread 5-3 bottom 8th.  Had to go to Porcello in th 8th to get 2 outs.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is soooo beat.  After planting three tomatoes, Gary moved the tiles on the patio. The patio is concrete with these 12”x12” plastic/rubber tiles on top.  The tiles are floating on the concrete and are interlocking. Gary disassembled moved then reassembled all the damn tiles. In between moving the tiles Gary was moving furniture and potted plants around.  But he finished it all.


----------



## Gary A.

Took Gary six hours of continuous work to get it all done.  A shower, dinner, vino, Miss Maggie and the Playoffs. Life is good.


----------



## Dave442

Made it to the beach in the afternoon, a bit of rain but the wife went for a swim with the kids. Wore my Astros cap and helped them to a win while swinging in the hammock. Back home and just grated some parmesan for topping the wifes' lasagna and will see if the Dodgers can hold their lead. May have to wear my Rockies cap Sunday and see if they can win one against the Brewers.


----------



## Gary A.

Dave442 said:


> Made it to the beach in the afternoon, a bit of rain but the wife went for a swim with the kids. Wore my Astros cap and helped them to a win while swinging in the hammock. Back home and just grated some parmesan for topping the wifes' lasagna and will see if the Dodgers can hold their lead. May have to wear my Rockies cap Sunday and see if they can win one against the Brewers.


Is there a team you don’t like?


----------



## Gary A.

Another Shut-Out, 3-Zip Kershaw.


----------



## davidharmier60

34.50 for the week. Messed with more 6 wheelers. If she gets me some new wheels I can get all the 6 wheelers working good.
Going to go by the Post Office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home and give the Mitsubishi a test that tells me if I'm fixing it or dragging it across a scale. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Dave442

Gary A. said:


> Dave442 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Made it to the beach in the afternoon, a bit of rain but the wife went for a swim with the kids. Wore my Astros cap and helped them to a win while swinging in the hammock. Back home and just grated some parmesan for topping the wifes' lasagna and will see if the Dodgers can hold their lead. May have to wear my Rockies cap Sunday and see if they can win one against the Brewers.
> 
> 
> 
> Is there a team you don’t like?
Click to expand...

My first little-league team I played on was called the Phillies, but I stopped liking the real Phillies after they beat the Astros in the 1980 NLCS. However, I'm not as bad as my friend from the Dominican Republic, every team that has a player from the DR he calls "my team" (seems like it covers every team in baseball).


----------



## davidharmier60

The test was inconclusive. I THOUGHT it told me the water pump was bad. Started to take it apart. Find that the water is coming from a weep hole at the main shaft area where I don't think there ought to be water. Don't know where to go from here.


----------



## Gary A.

davidharmier60 said:


> The test was inconclusive. I THOUGHT it told me the water pump was bad. Started to take it apart. Find that the water is coming from a weep hole at the main shaft area where I don't think there ought to be water. Don't know where to go from here.


Maybe a crack in the head/block ... ?


----------



## davidharmier60

Probably. They want 5 bucks and up to talk to a mechanic. I reckon it's terminal.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Evening all, rained all day so once we got back from our walk in a soggy park I got some practice in using C1 and some of the presets, actually like using it now.


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> . Find that the water is coming from a weep hole at the main shaft area where I don't think there ought to be water.



A blown head gasket will general allow blow by into the coolant. You can rent a pressure gauge at the auto parts chain to see. Normal coolant pressure is usually less then 16 psi. When the coolant system is overpresurized it will seek the point of least resistance. I'd rent the guage and test that first. If pressure is not high then bad pump.


----------



## limr

In other news...GO GATORS!! We've got 8 points on #5 LSU and there are 40 seconds left.


----------



## limr

28 seconds...


----------



## limr

INTERCEPTION!  GAME JAMMIN' OVER!


----------



## limr

Zelda was unimpressed.


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> The test was inconclusive. I THOUGHT it told me the water pump was bad. Started to take it apart. Find that the water is coming from a weep hole at the main shaft area where I don't think there ought to be water. Don't know where to go from here.


Water coming out the weephole on the main shaft is normally an indication that your pump seals are beginning to fail; throwing in a new/reconditioned pump now will almost certainly save you grief farther down the road.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> . Find that the water is coming from a weep hole at the main shaft area where I don't think there ought to be water.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A blown head gasket will general allow blow by into the coolant. You can rent a pressure gauge at the auto parts chain to see. Normal coolant pressure is usually less then 16 psi. When the coolant system is overpresurized it will seek the point of least resistance. I'd rent the guage and test that first. If pressure is not high then bad pump.
Click to expand...

Just remove your oil-fill cap and dipstick.  If you see frothy yellow/brown foam on either, you have water in the oil, and a good chance you've got a failed head gasket.


----------



## davidharmier60

I would need to remove the entire intake system to test compression. On a carburetor engine no problem. No water shows on the dipstick.  If in fact it lost timing it is an interference engine. It is quite likely a piston or three wacked valves. 
My thoughts are to scrap it. However getting something to replace it is problematic at best. But I think it's a lost cause. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> I would need to remove the entire intake system to test compression. On a carburetor engine no problem. No water shows on the dipstick.  If in fact it lost timing it is an interference engine. It is quite likely a piston or three wacked valves.
> My thoughts are to scrap it. However getting something to replace it is problematic at best. But I think it's a lost cause.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


I've lost track... what was the original issue?


----------



## davidharmier60

Coming back from Livingston where I had gone to change a flat on my truck just before the road into our neighborhood the Mitsubishi  sort of bucked and died. When I came to a stop I opened the hood and water gushed out underneath. I tried the starter and it sounded badly wounded. Traced the water yo coming out behind the main (crankshaft) pulley. Initially I thought it was a weep hole. But looking at it without water squirting out there is no weep hole there. So we have water where it shouldn't be. No or at least only one or two cylinders seem to have any compression at all.
And as I've said I would have to take the whole top off the engine to even try a compression test. And since it is an interference engine the 4 that don't have compression may have a very legitament reason for it. It has over 200K miles. My feelings are to scrap it.


----------



## tirediron

Okay, gotit... I thought you were referring to the weep hole on the water-pump main shaft.  I'm guessing you may have dropped the timing belt, and on an interference engine, that's pretty much a guarantee that it's the end.


----------



## jcdeboever

tirediron said:


> Okay, gotit... I thought you were referring to the weep hole on the water-pump main shaft.  I'm guessing you may have dropped the timing belt, and on an interference engine, that's pretty much a guarantee that it's the end.


I hear Taps...


----------



## Gary A.

It was been a long day, good ... but long. Gary is politically active and today the campaign kicked off the initial canvassing. A very good turnout and precanvassing, rev up the troops, with speeches by four local congress members. Gary shot the pregame warmup then home for more dirt moving and landscape fine tuning. Some vino, dinner, dessert and then off to a local College for some folk music.


----------



## compur

limr said:


> Zelda was unimpressed.


I have the same reaction to professional sports.


----------



## limr

compur said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Zelda was unimpressed.
> 
> 
> 
> I have the same reaction to professional sports.
Click to expand...


It's actually college sports.


----------



## Gary A.

Back.  Whittier College is only 15 minutes away. Easy-Pezy. Mary Lou and Gary spent the evening with Dave Wilcox.  Mary Lou mentioned that we’ve never been to a folk singer's show.  Wilcox was very entertaining and his songs well worth listening too.  He had a very cool carbon fiber acoustic guitar.  Three cables coming out of the bottom plus a dedicated mic.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sisters biscuits and sausage gravy that blows away anything at the deli. 
Watching Blue Bloods on the DVR. 

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## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  A cool 62F morning.  The sun is hitting the front. There is a 30 degree line separating shadow from light cast by the arbor.  The demarkation between shadow and light has nicely bisected the door bell button.  The temp may hit 75F and Maggie is letting Gary know that she is ready for her walk.  A sip of hot tea and Gary hits the Post Reply.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Zelda was unimpressed.



We don't have any Rally Cats, either.


----------



## davidharmier60

Huh. A bit of thunder. Maybe a sprinkling of rain. Now it's as it never happened.
Since I've gotten halfway there I guess I'll pull the timing cover and see if it did in fact break the belt. If so it's all over but for the crying.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Evening all, rained all day so once we got back from our walk in a soggy park I got some practice in using C1 and some of the presets, actually like using it now.



Are you using the free version for Fuji or the full paid version?


----------



## smoke665

Whew, back from a whirlwind trip again. Rolled out this morning at 8:30 pulled in 6.5 hrs later. Not bad for a 385 mile trip, with a couple quick stops along the way for fuel and lunch. Might have exceeded the speed limit a couple of times


----------



## Gary A.

Gary's last trip to San Francisco (400 miles) took a wee bit longer, but we made a few stops along the way.


----------



## snowbear

Hot lobster roll at Frank’s Gourmet Grill, Mystic, CT. by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## davidharmier60

G'night y'all. 

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## snowbear

This weekend's ride - top panels off.



DSC_2133.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

Saw this lunchbox in a shop in Mystic (note the cassette tape).  No, I didn't get it, but I wanted to.



DSC_2089.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

Went down to the beach and saw a woman with a small pony.



DSC_2098.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

Now, it's time to finish my popcorn and wine spritzer before climbing into bed.  Tomorrow we go back to Mystic to hit the Cider Mill, and _maybe_ the shop that had the lunchbox.


----------



## Fujidave

So last night at the gig I shot at ISO 25,600 and was very happy again


----------



## waday

When you're the center of attention and you have a hat...


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> When you're the center of attention and you have a hat...



Wow she's grown so much !  Cute idea. I hope you got at least one with her face.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> When you're the center of attention and you have a hat...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow she's grown so much !  Cute idea. I hope you got at least one with her face.
Click to expand...

She really has! Almost walking, and the one year mark is coming up here shortly. And, I did, haha. She had about 20 people around her, looking at her, calling her name and laughing. She was so nervous, LOL.

(Side note: I'm quickly finding that I'm not a fan of iPhone processing as much as iPad processing... and I prefer desktop over iPad.)

But, she preferred the grass:


----------



## davidharmier60

Evening y'all. 5.20 hours today. Tried to get to the timing on the Mitsubishi but only got frustrated. But it's either that or block/head/head gasket problem.
Don't know when if ever we'll get another vehicle. We will try to part it out or if that doesn't work out drag it over a scale.
Dinner soon but I know not yet what it is. Found a nice 1902 Indian Head penny today. Tops the 1906 I got a day or two ago.
Now back to music on YouTube and Field of Prey by John Sandford.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> When you're the center of attention and you have a hat...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow she's grown so much !  Cute idea. I hope you got at least one with her face.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> She really has! Almost walking, and the one year mark is coming up here shortly. And, I did, haha. She had about 20 people around her, looking at her, calling her name and laughing. She was so nervous, LOL.
> 
> (Side note: I'm quickly finding that I'm not a fan of iPhone processing as much as iPad processing... and I prefer desktop over iPad.)
> 
> But, she preferred the grass:
Click to expand...


I like her boots. Kinda want a pair in my size.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I like her boots. Kinda want a pair in my size.


Thank you.  She has received multiple compliments on them.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Peeps.

Made it home without incident.  We have liquid fudge for Paula @ Fire/EMS and Clyde's cider for GIS Boss.  The Wrangler goes back to Baltimore so  it will be a late night.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> When you're the center of attention and you have a hat...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow she's grown so much !  Cute idea. I hope you got at least one with her face.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> She really has! Almost walking, and the one year mark is coming up here shortly. And, I did, haha. She had about 20 people around her, looking at her, calling her name and laughing. She was so nervous, LOL.
> 
> (Side note: I'm quickly finding that I'm not a fan of iPhone processing as much as iPad processing... and I prefer desktop over iPad.)
> 
> But, she preferred the grass:
Click to expand...

Oh, what a cutie pie!   She looks much more comfortable in the second shot, sitting in the grass.    Those little boots look great.  

Glad you made it home without incident, Charlie.

It's Tuesday, hosers.    I'm suddenly thinking about tacos for dinner.   Taco Tuesday - meatless,_ and_ alliterate.   It's a win!


----------



## SquarePeg

Be jealous Hosers - be very very jealous.  My views today.  Quick iPhone shot while I take a break for lunch.  




NH! by SharonCat..., on Flickr


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon y'all. Dang truck wouldn't start ar work. Trish her own self got cables from her car and jumped me off. Got a 'new' box of pennies and the mail. Brought home stuff. Gotta go back up there at 4pm because a 'new' buffer is being delivered. 

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----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Be jealous Hosers - be very very jealous.  My views today.  Quick iPhone shot while I take a break for lunch.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> NH! by SharonCat..., on Flickr


I am totally jealous of your views today!   Wow!!    That just screams October.   

Could I interest you in a shot of my half-dead back yard, dry and crackling?   ....no?    But it includes the half-rotten trampoline netting from the kids next door!


----------



## waday

terri said:


> Could I interest you in a shot of my half-dead back yard, dry and crackling? ....no?


LOL.

I can offer a view of cubicles and fluorescent lights? But, the photo wouldn't include that familiar electronic hum...


----------



## smoke665

Overcast and a nice breeze.......hope it stays that way. Right now the hurricane is about 500 miles southeast of us. If it continues its current track it will come in and curve to the east of us, leaving us alone. If it comes inland further west, we could get some significant rain and wind.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Overcast and a nice breeze.......hope it stays that way. Right now the hurricane is about 500 miles southeast of us. If it continues its current track it will come in and curve to the east of us, leaving us alone. If it comes inland further west, we could get some significant rain and wind.


Apologies to those that it would impact, but I'm also a fan of it's current trajectory. Anything to keep the rain away from PA.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> Apologies to those that it would impact, but I'm also a fan of it's current trajectory. Anything to keep the rain away from PA.



We could actually use some rain, but not a flood. The wind is another matter. Our roof was a casualty few weeks ago when a strong straight line wind worked it over. The insurance has settled, and the contract awarded, but not done yet. Hmmm wonder if I can claim it again???? LOL


----------



## SquarePeg

It was 80 degrees in the mountains of NH today. I could not believe it.  And it was sunny most of the day.  I was hoping for cloudy and cool.  Still a great day.  I chased the clouds all the way up rte 16 to Gorham then West across rte 2 to the other side to Cannon Mtn and Franconia Notch.  Was planning to take the Kanc back across but ran out of daylight so took the highway home. I’ll post some photos tomorrow.  Off to watch the Sox!


----------



## davidharmier60

The 'new' buffer looks more beat up than the one we had. In it's favor it has a 12V starting system and will restart hot which is something the other one scoffed at.
A minus is it has a v-twin engine so it will use more gas. Another plus is that we will have three propane bottles instead of just two.
The older unit had a slide throttle. This one has a lever like a mower has to keep the blade break off. It will run at 2800 RPM with that lever pulled all the way.
I hardly ever ran the old one anywhere near that RPM. First test tomorrow.


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh dear it's raining again. Should get called to empty a bucket before too long.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenas Noches Coffee Hosers.  Mary Lou and Gary spent most of the day running errands.  We stopped at the iPhone repair store and Gary replaced his broken glass ... again.  Next he filled up then sped off to ‘Savers’ a thrift store.  Gary can’t remember the last time he was in a thrift store.  This place was huge, probably a former supermarket.  We picked up toys for Miss Maggie.  A bag of golf balls, Titleist and Strada, bags of stuff toys and a stuff toy bowling set.  We discovered a new eatery, Ortega’s Fish and Grill.  This was Taco Tuesday, a buck 49 for these fabulous tacos. Gary had a fish, crispy shrimp and carnitas tacos and he shall return. Two taco lunches for Mary Lou and Gary cost ten bucks including a 25% tip.  Then a cross town trip ... actually across three different towns to Pier 1 for a wine glass to replace the glass Gary broke.  Stops at a couple of pet stores for Maggie’s “Digestables”.  Then home and Mary Lou began clipping foliage, clearing a path for the hot tub and Gary started moving dirt and backfilling the newly poured slab.


----------



## Gary A.

Maggie is sooo funny.  She has an open toy box whose contents were diminishing as her toys were slowly being chewed up or lost. We dumped her new toys into the toy box.  After a bit Maggie started exploring her box and started pulling out just the new stuff.  She carefully pulled off all the tags and one by one closely examined each new item. She has presently removed the cover off a golf ball and the rubber bands are all independently popping.  Maggie has backed off and watching the inner ball move and hop around on its own power as the band snaps. All very entertaining for Maggie, Mary Lou and Gary.


----------



## terri

Good morning, hosers! 

Happy Category 4 Hurricane Michael Day!

No worries here, I'm on the line of the "cone of uncertainty."   Yeah! 

Better here than the Florida panhandle, though.    This thing has exploded and is just getting started.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Better here than the Florida panhandle, though. This thing has exploded and is just getting started.



Yup we've been watching it as well, if it continues on the projected path it will pass southeast of us.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Better here than the Florida panhandle, though. This thing has exploded and is just getting started.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yup we've been watching it as well, if it continues on the projected path it will pass southeast of us.
Click to expand...

It's one scary mutha atm.  A little wobble here or there could impact us a lot.   It's tracking further north than it was yesterday, I think.


----------



## SquarePeg

I’ve been out of the loop on the hurricane.  Will have to check the path to see if my FL family is in the line.  They’re on west coast north of Tampa in Hernandez Beach right on the water - one of those inlets off of the gulf.


----------



## Gary A.

Maggie’s Mulligan and a tuff off stuffed toy hair from last night.


----------



## smoke665

@Gary A. I'm sure you're aware of it, but as a reminder, there are significant dangers to a dog that eats/swallows string, rubber bands, etc., when they create an intestinal blockage. Seems like some are more susceptible then others. Our Boxer took a liking to the green plastic grass in our granddaughters Easter basket. Other then having to manually pull out the strings left hanging when she went out, she suffered no apparent harm. Our daughters dog on the other hand, tore up a couch pillow, swallowing a few strands, that caused immediate blockage. Emergency surgery was required to remove.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> @Gary A. I'm sure you're aware of it, but as a reminder, there are significant dangers to a dog that eats/swallows string, rubber bands, etc., when they create an intestinal blockage. Seems like some are more susceptible then others. Our Boxer took a liking to the green plastic grass in our granddaughters Easter basket. Other then having to manually pull out the strings left hanging when she went out, she suffered no apparent harm. Our daughters dog on the other hand, tore up a couch pillow, swallowing a few strands, that caused immediate blockage. Emergency surgery was required to remove.


Thanks for the heads up, but she does not eat/swallow/consume any of the rubber bands. That ball will weight the same before and after Maggie's Mulligan.


----------



## jcdeboever

Webster shitted out a putter over the weekend


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever They say that dogs are a reflection of their masters, so it's no wonder that Webster is a rounder. LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

Better part of 6 hours. That buffer is a physical beast. Wants to veer off to the left. Buffs like mad however. Having chicken tenders and gravy at the deli. Since it's almost an hour to get check probably will hit the Post office. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I’ve been out of the loop on the hurricane.  Will have to check the path to see if my FL family is in the line.  They’re on west coast north of Tampa in Hernandez Beach right on the water - one of those inlets off of the gulf.


Easy to get out of the loop, since it blew up so fast and caught quite a few folks off guard.   Hope everyone in your family is safe.   My sister is about an hour inland from Tampa and has no concerns about this one.   Lots of rain, some wind, but nothing like last year.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Terri I heard them talking about it going into Georgia, hope everyone there stays safe. 

We're getting an aerohub, whatever that will be, along one of the busier bottlenecks during am & pm drive time. I wasn't really paying attention and looked up at the graphics and it looks like they're planning to land airplanes on the interstate... well, that could work, people wouldn't have to drive, just fly over and parachute in to work! lol 

And another good reason to be retired... 

Today was having to deal with verfying online that no, I don't work and yes, I'm now retired (no **** jack, what do they think they send me a payment each month for??!). Dumb thing kept shutting down and if you don't get online to verify this, you lose your insurance. It's done but it ain't over, going to find a way to provide um, 'feedback' on apparently 'everybody' having problems with this not working - and keeping your insurance depending on it. Just checked my mom's to make sure hers isn't involved in this stupidity (it isn't, hers is for retired school employees, mine is for teachers, which means making it as anal retentive, convoluted, nonsensical, and useless as possible!!). 

Did I say I'm glad I'm retired???!!!!!!!!


----------



## davidharmier60

Yum. Roasted chicken, taters, carrots and onions. And almost certainly Blue Bell later.  I don't think we expect any more rain today. Tomorrow after work I'm going to get some tires changed and go to Cleveland to get a belt for the lawn tractor. 

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----------



## terri

Morning, hosers!

Happy to be on the other side of Michael.   We made it through just fine.   It's gut wrenching to see the devastation in Florida.    South Georgia is pretty ripped up, too.


----------



## davidharmier60

Right around 5 hours today and for the week so far 23.04. At the tire shop. Then Cleveland for a lawnmower belt and dog food.

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----------



## davidharmier60

Spent more at the tire shop than I planned.
Messed up other things. But the belt came home with Sister and it's on the mower. 
Dog food was bought. Some bolts to try and fix a couple of shopping carts.
May not even get my comics done today but maybe so.

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----------



## davidharmier60

Also have all 4 aluminum wheels on my truck and 3 good and 1 decent tire.
And a spare that holds air. 

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----------



## Gary A.

Gary hopes all those affected by Michael are safe.  God Bless you all.


----------



## Gary A.

Finally.


----------



## dxqcanada

Ah great ... you got Muskoka Chairs, you are much Canadian.


----------



## RowdyRay

dxqcanada said:


> Ah great ... you got Muskoka Chairs, you are much Canadian.



And for those not in Canada.... an Adirondack chair. At least that's what us Minnesotans call them.


----------



## davidharmier60

And I say good night folks. The floor people WERE to be this weekend so I would be done after tomorrow. But now it's NEXT weekend. So two more days for me.


----------



## Gary A.

Us Californians call them Adirondack as well. These have built in feet rests which tuck under the seat.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Us Californians call them Adirondack as well. These have built in feet rests which tuck under the seat.



Those are comfy to sit but not easy to get out of after a couple of margaritas.  Theoretically of course...


Gary tonight at 11 ET MLB network has a special on the 1988 Dodgers narrated by Bryan Cranston.


----------



## RowdyRay

SquarePeg said:


> Those are comfy to sit but not easy to get out of after a couple of margaritas.  Theoretically of course...



I've done some research and concur.


----------



## Gary A.

The hot tub works.


----------



## dxqcanada

I still see Muskoka chairs.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Us Californians call them Adirondack as well. These have built in feet rests which tuck under the seat.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Those are comfy to sit but not easy to get out of after a couple of margaritas.  Theoretically of course...
> 
> 
> Gary tonight at 11 ET MLB network has a special on the 1988 Dodgers narrated by Bryan Cranston.
Click to expand...

Gary was there for Gibson’s HR.


----------



## SquarePeg

Off Eck?


----------



## Gary A.

Yep , bottom of the ninth.


----------



## Gary A.

Full count.


----------



## Gary A.

Gibson slaps it to right, than rounds the bases dragging his bad leg behind him.


----------



## Gary A.

The place went nuts.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> The place went nuts.



Eckersly woukd sometimes reluctantly talk about that during his Sox broadcasting stints.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all. That's all I got. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Oh man what a shock this morning 46 degrees when Sadie and I hit the trail. I love it!!


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Oh man what a shock this morning 46 degrees when Sadie and I hit the trail. I love it!!



We’re expecting a frost early next week!  I was hoping to get a few more weeks of 50’s and 60’s at night for my late blooming hydrangeas.  Last year the first frost killed them right after they bloomed.  Not sure why they are weeks behind the curve again this year.  I’ll have to do some research.


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg Last night was the coldest for the foreseeable future.  Lows in the low 50's and highs in the mid 70's. I can live with that. Low 60's tomorrow at game time. Hmmm wonder what DW would think about moving one of the TV's out by the firepit.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

They just said we may have a frost here on Sunday No more mosquitoes!


----------



## snowbear

Warm and muggy, yesterday, with a thunderstorm in the evening and more overnight.  Absolutely stunning this morning - nice and cool with no humidity; more this weekend.

Staying late tonight as MLW has to work the LODD funeral planning detail.  I'll help a little after I clock out.  We were planning on going to the Apple Harvest Festival in PA but are going to skip this year.  I'll do some shots around home.


----------



## davidharmier60

5 hours even today. I got here at 5 even after having to battery charge the truck to get it started. Jodi didn't show up until 6
But Trish clocked me in at 5.
28.04 for the week so far. Off to PO, Library,  box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## Gary A.

@ Peg: Thanks for the heads-up on the 1988 Dodger season.  It was enjoyable to watch and remember.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Presently it is 62F but should break 80F by the afternoon. No frost here or mugginess ... just good ol' fashion nice weather.  High school football game tonight, Wednesday Mary Lou and Gary watched _Antigone Now, _a modernized version of the Greek classic.  It was surprising good. Most of the weekend will be spent putting the yard back together and working out some new landscaping ideas as there is a lot of bare dirt where the roses used to be.  Mary Lou thinks herbs and stuff, lavender, rosemary and thyme on the bottom. Maggie and Gary are off on a walk.


----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!    

It's October here at last...stupendous weather, cool temps and warm sun.   Still have some stubborn hummingbirds at the feeder.   I thought they'd take the hint when the hurricane blew through that it was time to migrate on.   

Going to be a glorious night on the deck.   Last night was so crisp and clear the Milky Way looked like a solid rainbow of stars across the sky.


----------



## waday

Happy Friday!


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## jcdeboever

I had to put on a coat today, chilly. I found an exposed roll of TriX in the coat pocket from last year. I'm pretty sure it's from the Air Museum. I could have sworn I misplaced one, never thought to look in the useless cell phone pocket. Kind of jonesing to develop it. I recall I took some on a tripod but not for certain, have to check my journal. I think I used my Nikon FM and a nifty 50 plus the 50-135. I kind of recall going crazy looking for a roll of film last year... the suspense is killing me... they probably suck though, I've shot digital there and the lighting was horrible.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Us Californians call them Adirondack as well. These have built in feet rests which tuck under the seat.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Those are comfy to sit but not easy to get out of after a couple of margaritas.  Theoretically of course...
> 
> 
> Gary tonight at 11 ET MLB network has a special on the 1988 Dodgers narrated by Bryan Cranston.
Click to expand...

I taped it, I am going to watch it eventually. I laughed my ars off on his One Man MLB show a few years ago, it was brilliant.


----------



## limr

Dean_Gretsch said:


> They just said we may have a frost here on Sunday No more mosquitoes!



Seeiously! I got bitten a few days ago. In October. In New York. Totally unacceptable!! Bastards need to die already!

I can't even describe how happy I was with the weather today. I finally got to wear tights and boots, and I even needed a jacket and scarf. Sooooo happy!

We hates summer forever!


----------



## Derrel

limr said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> They just said we may have a frost here on Sunday No more mosquitoes!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Seeiously! I got bitten a few days ago. In October. In New York. Totally unacceptable!! Bastards need to die already!
> 
> I can't even describe how happy I was with the weather today. I finally got to wear tights and boots, and I even needed a jacket and scarf. Sooooo happy!
> 
> We hates summer forever!
> View attachment 164351
Click to expand...


Ohhhh, tights and boots....now yer talkin'.

Here? Wayyyy,wayyy west coast? Lovely autumn days. Foggy in the mornings in low-lying areas near the Willamette and Columbia Rivers, then from about 8 AM onward, beautiful blue-sky days, not a cloud in the sky, temps in the low 70's. Trees turning gold and yellow and red. A wonderful time of the year.


----------



## smoke665

Coming over the mountain from town yesterday  in the middle of a sea of green forest was one single scarlet red tree. The sun was coming through the clouds just right that it had it's own spotlight. Maybe fall color is around the corner.


----------



## jcdeboever

I was right, it is the air museum


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary keeps teasing me with his TriTip and delightful foods, via text pics. Of course as I'm frying baloney in a pan.


----------



## davidharmier60

Happy Saturday y'all. 
Phone says it's mid 60s outside.
Feels like heaven.
Hope someone opens up right at 5am so I can give the floor what it needs.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Gary keeps teasing me with his TriTip and delightful foods, via text pics. Of course as I'm frying baloney in a pan.



Hey there is an art to properly frying baloney in a skillet. The line between to little an to much is very thin. It's like frying up Spam. It took many years at Deer Camp beside some of the great culinary masters to learn the proper technique.


----------



## jcdeboever

Ok, just finished my fried baloney, egg, and cheese sandwich. Getting ready to slay the loading of 120 on a reel. Oh boy


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Ok, just finished my fried baloney, egg, and cheese sandwich. Getting ready to slay the loading of 120 on a reel. Oh boy



Have you been practicing?


----------



## Gary A.

Practice makes perfect ... well ... perfect practice makes perfect.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, just finished my fried baloney, egg, and cheese sandwich. Getting ready to slay the loading of 120 on a reel. Oh boy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have you been practicing?
Click to expand...

Nope, I bought a couple new tanks, thanks to @Jeff Canes and the link he provided . They work perfect, OH MY LORD, so much easier. First shot, perfect.


----------



## Gary A.

Mosquitos suck!  We don't have them out here as badly as other places ... but they still suck.  Gary has been in places where he had to stick a cigarette in his mouth just to keep from gagging on them (and Gary doesn't smoke).  In truth, mosquitos out here are more of an annoyance than a nuisance.  Even though, one or two bites and Mary Lou says it's time to go in.  Consequently, Gary has setup a few zappers in the yard and he even has a couple of solar zappers.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, just finished my fried baloney, egg, and cheese sandwich. Getting ready to slay the loading of 120 on a reel. Oh boy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have you been practicing?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nope, I bought a couple new tanks, thanks to @Jeff Canes and the link he provided . They work perfect, OH MY LORD, so much easier. First shot, perfect.
> 
> View attachment 164374
Click to expand...

Good news on the reel.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  It is raining. It was raining last light.  Gary was at a football game, getting soaked and sitting on metal bleachers, when a thunderstorm opened up. Bright flashes across the entire eastern sky menaced the game.  Gary was counting the seconds between flashes and thunder ... as the game progressed the count was getting lower. Finally, the game was called because of lightening ... which allowed Mary Lou and Gary to scoot home and catch the final innings of the Dodger-Brewer game.  Looking out the door at the light rain Mary Lou exclaimed "The plants are happy."  And they are, their smiling faces looking upwards into the gentle wetness of the sky.


----------



## SquarePeg

Rainy and cold here.  The family is clambering for me to turn on the heat but I have a pretty set process. The heat goes on 11/1 or first snow whichever comes first. Until then put on a hoodie, grab a fleece throw and have a hot beverage of your choice.


----------



## snowbear

The windows were opened last night and I'm lounging around in gym shorts and a long sleeve t-shirt.  It  rained earlier, but we have some blue in the sky.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Not supposed to rain today but it looks gray enough. Today my best friend's coming up and we're picking up the grocery order, dropping that at my parents for my mom (well, most of it, some of it's mine), then going to see my dad (who got cleared to bear weight on his shoulder to walk with the walker). 

But at least it's coooool!!! Of course it dropped to cold before leveling off to halfway normal! and yes, I've had the heat on! lol lows into the 30s. Usually this time of year just enough to take off the chill in the morning.

Hey the sun's trying to peek out! 

There was curling on last night!! I knew you'd all be thrilled to know that...


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Nope, I bought a couple new tanks,



Does the film slide in or do you roll it in. The problem I always had with the plastic reels, is making sure they were completely dry before I started sliding the film in. Invariably I would start loading and hit a drop of water along the way.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Rainy and cold here.  The family is clambering for me to turn on the heat but I have a pretty set process. The heat goes on 11/1 or first snow whichever comes first. Until then put on a hoodie, grab a fleece throw and have a hot beverage of your choice.


Dunno if you're Grinch or Scrooge ...


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nope, I bought a couple new tanks,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Does the film slide in or do you roll it in. The problem I always had with the plastic reels, is making sure they were completely dry before I started sliding the film in. Invariably I would start loading and hit a drop of water along the way.
Click to expand...


The film slides in on the shelf provided to guide it into the rollers that grab it. Everything is dry, not sure what you mean there. If I am developing a lot, like I do with color batch's, I use a blower to dry the reels prior to placing them on the shelf.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Everything is dry, not sure what you mean there. If I am developing a lot, like I do with color batch's, I use a blower to dry the reels prior to placing them on the shelf.



Back when I had a darkroom, I might have anywhere from 10-20 rolls to develop in a very short time. I didn't always have the luxury of waiting for reels to dry completely, which was why I like the wire. Even damp you could still load the film


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Everything is dry, not sure what you mean there. If I am developing a lot, like I do with color batch's, I use a blower to dry the reels prior to placing them on the shelf.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Back when I had a darkroom, I might have anywhere from 10-20 rolls to develop in a very short time. I didn't always have the luxury of waiting for reels to dry completely, which was why I like the wire. Even damp you could still load the film
Click to expand...


Yup, thats what I thought you were talking about. I use a Data Vac as a blower, works fantastic. .

Google Express


----------



## davidharmier60

Wouldn't know the first thing about developing film.
Rachelle opened up this morning in a timely fashion.
Made the floor look pretty darn good. Repaird some shopping carts.
Came out with 32.45 for the week. Got a valve stem for the lawn tractor and gas for it too.
Just showed the Mitsubishi to a Lady from work who is going to talk to her mechanic son and get back to me.
Now going to look at 6 more penny rolls and then read some more.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Rainy and cold here.  The family is clambering for me to turn on the heat but I have a pretty set process. The heat goes on 11/1 or first snow whichever comes first. Until then put on a hoodie, grab a fleece throw and have a hot beverage of your choice.
> 
> 
> 
> Dunno if you're Grinch or Scrooge ...
Click to expand...


Maybe I’m Bob Cratchet.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Rainy and cold here.  The family is clambering for me to turn on the heat but I have a pretty set process. The heat goes on 11/1 or first snow whichever comes first. Until then put on a hoodie, grab a fleece throw and have a hot beverage of your choice.
> 
> 
> 
> Dunno if you're Grinch or Scrooge ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Maybe I’m Bob Cratchet.
Click to expand...

No way, you're management.


----------



## davidharmier60

Man. If Joe Pike as written by Robert Crais and Jack Reacher as written by Lee Child ever met up mad at each other it would be the fight of the century!


----------



## davidharmier60

While I need not awaken at 4am tomorrow i did this morning. Good night y'all. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

I find out the Astros whipped up a 1-0 in the ALCS. I have some sludge in my mug that is loosely based on coffee. 
That's all I got right now. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Always a good night when Bama wins, but it wasn't without cost. Mizzou was a very contact aggressive team, who cost us a few bruises and injuries along the way. Most frightening was when Tua had to come out after he apparently aggravated an earlier knee sprain. Then we lost Ruggs and Smith with leg injuries. Ruggs came back but Smith didn't, and as of now it's unclear of his status going forward.

This morning I overslept  (must be the cooler weather). As Sadie and I headed out the door for the morning walk, I thankfully grabbed a light jacket. Good thing I did as it might have been a little cool without. 

Fall tends to be my favorite time of the year!!


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## Gary A.

Dodgers win!

Trojans win!

Bruins win ... (meh) 

A good day for Los Angeles.


----------



## Gary A.

The Lakers are back.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> The Lakers are back.



Are they making basketballs smaller, or are his hands really that big? LOL


----------



## Gary A.

King James is huge.  (OJ’s gloves don’t fit him either.)


----------



## davidharmier60

You can HAVE basketball.  I sure miss the white machine wrapped rolls. Get better coins from them. This box all customer wrapped. Not a lot of keeper copper in these rolls.


----------



## davidharmier60

My Sister made a soup of ground beef, noodles, potatoes, tomatoes etc. 
Very good! I'll see maybe 45 minutes of the game but must get to bed at a reasonable time for work tomorrow. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> King James is huge.  (OJ’s gloves don’t fit him either.)


Is he the feller that makes all the bibles?


----------



## terri

jcdeboever said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, just finished my fried baloney, egg, and cheese sandwich. Getting ready to slay the loading of 120 on a reel. Oh boy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have you been practicing?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nope, I bought a couple new tanks, thanks to @Jeff Canes and the link he provided . They work perfect, OH MY LORD, so much easier. First shot, perfect.
> 
> View attachment 164374
Click to expand...

Ooo!   That reel looks very interesting.   Can you share the link Jeff gave?


----------



## jcdeboever

terri said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, just finished my fried baloney, egg, and cheese sandwich. Getting ready to slay the loading of 120 on a reel. Oh boy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have you been practicing?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nope, I bought a couple new tanks, thanks to @Jeff Canes and the link he provided . They work perfect, OH MY LORD, so much easier. First shot, perfect.
> 
> View attachment 164374
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ooo!   That reel looks very interesting.   Can you share the link Jeff gave?
Click to expand...

Arista Premium Plastic Developing Reel | Freestyle Photographic Supplies


----------



## Gary A.

tirediron said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> King James is huge.  (OJ’s gloves don’t fit him either.)
> 
> 
> 
> Is he the feller that makes all the bibles?
Click to expand...

Yes, plus he’s carries his team during the playoffs.


----------



## Gary A.

Movie update:

“First Man” - A biography of Neil Armstrong. A very different movie, dives into the private life of an American hero and... for better or worse, the movie shows the human/stoic/OCD side of Armstrong. The movie is very different cinematography wise and script wise. 3.5 Stars

“All About Nina”- For me, at least 5 Stars. Funny, Sad, Deep, Poignant, Convincingly Realistic ... just works on so many different levels. Well scripted and well acted. It is about a snapshot of a female standup comedian’s life.


----------



## davidharmier60

How can someone who wakes up as bleary eyed as me make it in the world?
Monday again. I'll let you know later if it was good or not.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning Hosers!  Mondays are great.  Mondays are great.  Mondays are great.  Mondays are great...


----------



## smoke665

So long Chrome can't say it's been a pleasant experience. After several months of pulling my hair out trying to make the Chrome browser render images correctly I finally gave up. This morning I spent some time on the phone with tech support at X-Rite who were able to verify that my Windows 10 settings were correct, and that the profile was being loaded across the board.  I'd been hesitant to give up Chrome, but after hearing it's at the bottom of the pile on rendering images correctly in web browsers yet again, I took the plunge and installed Firefox. What a difference, web images are vibrant again, and not the washed out, bland looking things I was seeing on Chrome.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> So long Chrome can't say it's been a pleasant experience. After several months of pulling my hair out trying to make the Chrome browser render images correctly I finally gave up. This morning I spent some time on the phone with tech support at X-Rite who were able to verify that my Windows 10 settings were correct, and that the profile was being loaded across the board.  I'd been hesitant to give up Chrome, but after hearing it's at the bottom of the pile on rendering images correctly in web browsers yet again, I took the plunge and installed Firefox. What a difference, web images are vibrant again, and not the washed out, bland looking things I was seeing on Chrome.



Interesting info.  I hate W10.  It seems to reset and wipe out my calibrations very frequently and when I use my monitor instead of my ipad, everything looks redder.  I may try a different browser and see if that improves things.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Morning Hosers! Mondays are great. Mondays are great. Mondays are great. Mondays are great...


A coworker, presumably being nice, said, "Happy Monday!"

Reminded me way too much of Office Space.


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg I still believe that something transpired on the last big Windows Creator update. It really tried forcing the Edge browser, but it doesn't render colors correctly either.  It's still early in testing it out, but so far, so good.


----------



## jcdeboever

I am not a Windows fan at all as many of you know but the Edge browser is the best thing about W10. Microsoft finally got it right on the browser front.


----------



## JonA_CT

Sarcastically, Wade? My co-worker who said it to me definitely stayed up to watch the Pats game last night.

Hey @Gary A. ...the science teacher is thinking about bringing our kids to see First Man — what would you think about it for 8th graders?


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Hosers! Mondays are great. Mondays are great. Mondays are great. Mondays are great...
> 
> 
> 
> A coworker, presumably being nice, said, "Happy Monday!"
> 
> Reminded me way too much of Office Space.
Click to expand...


What an ahole.


----------



## JonA_CT

I can’t imagine using any browser other than Chrome at this point. (Except on iOS devices, I guess). It might be because all of my productivity tools for work are Google-based now. I also use my accounts across 4-5 devices in our building, and with the profile function of Chrome, everything looks the same no matter where I am. 

I use the Google Apps on my iOS devices. I actually just picked up a new iPad and Apple Pencil to use for notes and grading. The Notes App integrates seamlessly with Google Drive and Google Classroom. It’s been sort of life changing.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> Sarcastically, Wade? My co-worker who said it to me definitely stayed up to watch the Pats game last night.


Hard to tell. I don't think it was sarcastically, so I felt bad for making a stank face. LOL


----------



## jcdeboever

JonA_CT said:


> I can’t imagine using any browser other than Chrome at this point. (Except on iOS devices, I guess). It might be because all of my productivity tools for work are Google-based now. I also use my accounts across 4-5 devices in our building, and with the profile function of Chrome, everything looks the same no matter where I am.
> 
> I use the Google Apps on my iOS devices. I actually just picked up a new iPad and Apple Pencil to use for notes and grading. The Notes App integrates seamlessly with Google Drive and Google Classroom. It’s been sort of life changing.


And that my friend is where Chrome shines. I tried to integrate that system at work but the GM is MS Office dependent.  Google has a lot going when it comes to integration.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can’t imagine using any browser other than Chrome at this point. (Except on iOS devices, I guess). It might be because all of my productivity tools for work are Google-based now. I also use my accounts across 4-5 devices in our building, and with the profile function of Chrome, everything looks the same no matter where I am.
> 
> I use the Google Apps on my iOS devices. I actually just picked up a new iPad and Apple Pencil to use for notes and grading. The Notes App integrates seamlessly with Google Drive and Google Classroom. It’s been sort of life changing.
> 
> 
> 
> And that my friend is where Chrome shines. I tried to integrate that system at work but the GM is MS Office dependent.  Google has a lot going when it comes to integration.
Click to expand...


We recently switched to Google from MS Office.  It has some pros (document sharing) and many cons (mostly related to Gmail which is terrible compared to Outlook IMO).  I use Chrome on my ipad and iphone.  I get confused when I open something and it defaults to Safari.  One day, I was in Safari and realized I had over 30 tabs open...  I frequently will hit a stall on my iphone and will realize I have more than 20 apps open.  I miss my Samsung Galaxy Note when it comes to all of that type of stuff but I will be getting another iphone when this one dies.  I can't give up the seamless access/transfer of photos from my phone and tablet.  Plus I like to stalk Princess using "find my iphone" to make sure she is where she is supposed to be.  Shhhhh.


----------



## waday

Does anyone know if we have a photo theme on highly edited photographs (thinking similar to art rather than a "recognizable" photograph)?


----------



## waday

@SquarePeg , I took a few photos of my daughter yesterday, but I have serious problems with white balance across the images using iPad/Affinity. I edited about 5 images, and 2 have the same color, the other 3 are all different.  On the computer (Lightroom), I'd easily copy/paste the settings from one to next, but I can't seem to figure out how to do that on Affinity. Any tips?


----------



## davidharmier60

Fortunately I see things ok on my phone.
It wasn't the best Monday ever but did get almost every part of the floor scrubbed and buffed. Only the very front cross aisle because it was too late. 5.12 hours today and for the week so far. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> @SquarePeg , I took a few photos of my daughter yesterday, but I have serious problems with white balance across the images using iPad/Affinity. I edited about 5 images, and 2 have the same color, the other 3 are all different.  On the computer (Lightroom), I'd easily copy/paste the settings from one to next, but I can't seem to figure out how to do that on Affinity. Any tips?



Hmmm - I typically shoot in Auto WB and very rarely change it.  There was one set of softball photos that I took that all had a wonky WB and I ended up using the Auto WB filter in Affinity to fix them.  Did you try that already?

ETA - Even though this was one of the rare instances where I used raw files instead of jpegs I didn't touch the wb in "develop", I used the Auto WB filter in the "photo" persona.


----------



## smoke665

@jcdeboever I tried in vain to get Edge to render images properly but it kept doing the same as Chrome. Which is why I still believe there is something amiss in Windows settings. What a PITA that Creator update has been. On another note, there are some striking resemblances in Edge to Firefox (layout). 

@JonA_CT  Yup that's going to create some issues for me as well. We drank the Google koolaid and now everything from calendars, to do  lists, to email, to web history is synced between myself and DW.  I will still need to keep Chrome for that.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> @SquarePeg , I took a few photos of my daughter yesterday, but I have serious problems with white balance across the images using iPad/Affinity. I edited about 5 images, and 2 have the same color, the other 3 are all different.  On the computer (Lightroom), I'd easily copy/paste the settings from one to next, but I can't seem to figure out how to do that on Affinity. Any tips?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm - I typically shoot in Auto WB and very rarely change it.  There was one set of softball photos that I took that all had a wonky WB and I ended up using the Auto WB filter in Affinity to fix them.  Did you try that already?
Click to expand...

Thanks Sharon, I did.. maybe I’ll try again when I get home. The first 2 had “good enough” WB SOOC, but I did still use Affinity’s auto WB. Then, the following three, when I used auto WB, it made them all have a red tint. Lesson learned, I should have just used my WB card, but nooooooo, I was too lazy to dig it out.

I did rush my editing, because Doctor Who was starting, LOL.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Sarcastically, Wade? My co-worker who said it to me definitely stayed up to watch the Pats game last night.
> 
> Hey @Gary A. ...the science teacher is thinking about bringing our kids to see First Man — what would you think about it for 8th graders?


I think it would be okay ... there is more personal/introverted perspective in the middle than action ... but it really shows a realistic first person, unromantic, view of what it takes to be an astronaut.  The opening scene of an X15 flight, is something everybody should experience, especially science classes.


----------



## Gary A.

It would be nice to rent the movie and then stop and discuss after different and pertinent scenes.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> It would be nice to rent the movie and then stop and discuss after different and pertinent scenes.



Interesting that you say this, about the only thing I still remember from Lit class in college was the time the professor showed the movie "To Kill A Mockingbird". It took several days as he would stop every so often and open the class to discussion. We'd already had to read the book, so this really helped understand.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> but it really shows a realistic first person, unromantic, view of what it takes to be an astronaut.





Gary A. said:


> It would be nice to rent the movie and then stop and discuss after different and pertinent scenes.


I'm glad to hear this! I want to see the movie, and if it's showing a realistic view of what it's like to be in such a position, I'm all for it. Realistic views of science, engineering, etc are so important for young folks. The one person that I work with started with us fresh out of college a year ago, and she's still learning what it is like to be in the real world. (She'll be there for the next few years.) Being able to pause the movie to discuss it with students as you watch would be extremely helpful, I would think?

My one nephew has a particularly idealistic view of science and research. He often claims he loves science. This past summer, he wanted to do science camp. It was only a week, and it wasn't sleepover camp. Easy, right? He stopped after the first day, because he said it was boring. He likes the end result, but not the work to get there. I've bought him fun science experiments to do at home, but he won't do them because "they're too much work". 

In the past, I worked for a metals laboratory, I've been a lab assistant for my university's laboratory, and I've worked with a professor doing research. Collecting samples in the field isn't nearly has fun as it sounds, and working with dangerous strains of E. coli in the lab is pretty stressful. Late nights without sleep in the lab aren't fun (especially when security comes in and questions what you're doing while you're in the middle of work, LOL). Patience is extremely important, and it's not always available when you want it.

Saying that you work in a laboratory, collect samples in the field, and work with dangerous strains of bacteria sounds so interesting and exciting. But, when you realize after you spent several hours worth of work that you need to redo it because of accidental contamination or due to incorrect procedures, it's frustrating. And it's even more frustrating when it's not your fault, rather that of others. Or, when you realize that samples included raw wastewater samples from the local wastewater treatment plant, uh... meh. That smell is ingrained in my mind. You have to LIKE and LOVE the work, otherwise, you're going to quit. Some parts are fun, some parts want to make you jab a sharpened pencil into your palm.

This comic always comes to mind...


----------



## smoke665

Don't normally share these kind of things, but I know there are a lot of cat lovers on here. This is why I won't have a cat ---they don't play around LOL


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Things are warming up around here as a Santa Ana wind is blowing in off the deserts. @smoke665: 7% humidity.


----------



## waday

Deja vu...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sometimes cats and kids are brighter than their grown ups.  
Ya gotta wonder sometimes... 

I think it's nice to watch a movie thru and get into the flow of it, then watch it another time and stop and discuss with your peep(s); or if your peeps aren't around and it's just you, you start to notice different things you missed the first time.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Wade do you mean a photo illustration? I've done alternate processes (cyanotypes, lumen prints, etc.) which take a photograph and transform it into another type of artwork (or into something else, or another galaxy...). 

But I don't know offhand if there's a thread for either of those. So no help am I young Jedi.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> 7% humidity.



No wonder you ain't right boy, it's so dry out there it's turning you into a mummy.   Currently a pleasant 78. The rest of the week it isn't expected to get above 70 as a high, and down to a low of 38 one night-----My kind of weather. It could stay this way all year for me.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Wade do you mean a photo illustration? I've done alternate processes (cyanotypes, lumen prints, etc.) which take a photograph and transform it into another type of artwork (or into something else, or another galaxy...).
> 
> But I don't know offhand if there's a thread for either of those. So no help am I young Jedi.


For something like this, if you still have your retinas after looking at it...




Bright Dog by Wade, on Flickr

So, yes, I think "alternate processes" could be included in this.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> For something like this, if you still have your retinas after looking at it...



Whoa!!! That's bright!!!!!! Might want to warn us ahead of time. LOL  FYI I like it, I like it very much!!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm not sure what you'd call that...

We had a cairn terrier when we were kids. But it wasn't red & purple...


I don't know Wade, the teacher in me would send you back to work on it some more so I'd get what the intention was or where you were going with this idea... maybe you're on to something I just don't quite get.


----------



## davidharmier60

Still talking about how stuff looks on 'puters eh?
I finished the box of peenies Trish will purchase tomorrow. 
I've gone through most of the rolls of 60's I had rolled and ditched everything with the tiniest problem.
Now I'm going to do the same thing to other copper rolls I did.
At least until dinner.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> I'm glad to hear this! I want to see the movie, and if it's showing a realistic view of what it's like to be in such a position, I'm all for it. Realistic views of science, engineering, etc are so important for young folks. The one person that I work with started with us fresh out of college a year ago, and she's still learning what it is like to be in the real world. (She'll be there for the next few years.) Being able to pause the movie to discuss it with students as you watch would be extremely helpful, I would think?
> 
> My one nephew has a particularly idealistic view of science and research. He often claims he loves science. This past summer, he wanted to do science camp. It was only a week, and it wasn't sleepover camp. Easy, right? He stopped after the first day, because he said it was boring. He likes the end result, but not the work to get there. I've bought him fun science experiments to do at home, but he won't do them because "they're too much work".
> 
> In the past, I worked for a metals laboratory, I've been a lab assistant for my university's laboratory, and I've worked with a professor doing research. Collecting samples in the field isn't nearly has fun as it sounds, and working with dangerous strains of E. coli in the lab is pretty stressful. Late nights without sleep in the lab aren't fun (especially when security comes in and questions what you're doing while you're in the middle of work, LOL). Patience is extremely important, and it's not always available when you want it.
> 
> Saying that you work in a laboratory, collect samples in the field, and work with dangerous strains of bacteria sounds so interesting and exciting. But, when you realize after you spent several hours worth of work that you need to redo it because of accidental contamination or due to incorrect procedures, it's frustrating. And it's even more frustrating when it's not your fault, rather that of others. Or, when you realize that samples included raw wastewater samples from the local wastewater treatment plant, uh... meh. That smell is ingrained in my mind. You have to LIKE and LOVE the work, otherwise, you're going to quit. Some parts are fun, some parts want to make you jab a sharpened pencil into your palm.
> 
> This comic always comes to mind...



Funnily enough, it was the precision of lab work that made me almost major in biology. My sister is a microbiologist and she worked at the University of Florida when I went there (which is also one of the reasons I went there - my parents thought she would keep an eye on me. Ha! Joke was on them because she moved to Jacksonville after just one semester!  ) I spent a bunch of time with her in her lab and helped her with a few experiments now and again. There was one experiment that required her to go and check the progress of something at about 1am and she was afraid to go alone, so she got me to go with her in exchange for her buying me dinner. We went to a place with an all-you-can-eat buffet (hey, it was Florida in the late '80s - that was really popular back then!). We were still full when we went to the lab at 1am! 

She also helped me get a job in a bio lab as a student worker. I didn't like the dishwashing, but after a while, I got to help making simple solutions and going to the library for research. Loved that.

I think what stopped me was that I was afraid of organic chemistry and math, and then I got hooked on Linguistics before I could take a harder science class to test myself. I still really like the thought of lab work, though and hope to someday take some Bio and Chem classes now that I can do so for free at my community college.

It might have to wait, though, until after I take some classes in Cybersecurity


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 7% humidity.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No wonder you ain't right boy, it's so dry out there it's turning you into a mummy.   Currently a pleasant 78. The rest of the week it isn't expected to get above 70 as a high, and down to a low of 38 one night-----My kind of weather. It could stay this way all year for me.
Click to expand...

Down to 5%.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm glad to hear this! I want to see the movie, and if it's showing a realistic view of what it's like to be in such a position, I'm all for it. Realistic views of science, engineering, etc are so important for young folks. The one person that I work with started with us fresh out of college a year ago, and she's still learning what it is like to be in the real world. (She'll be there for the next few years.) Being able to pause the movie to discuss it with students as you watch would be extremely helpful, I would think?
> 
> My one nephew has a particularly idealistic view of science and research. He often claims he loves science. This past summer, he wanted to do science camp. It was only a week, and it wasn't sleepover camp. Easy, right? He stopped after the first day, because he said it was boring. He likes the end result, but not the work to get there. I've bought him fun science experiments to do at home, but he won't do them because "they're too much work".
> 
> In the past, I worked for a metals laboratory, I've been a lab assistant for my university's laboratory, and I've worked with a professor doing research. Collecting samples in the field isn't nearly has fun as it sounds, and working with dangerous strains of E. coli in the lab is pretty stressful. Late nights without sleep in the lab aren't fun (especially when security comes in and questions what you're doing while you're in the middle of work, LOL). Patience is extremely important, and it's not always available when you want it.
> 
> Saying that you work in a laboratory, collect samples in the field, and work with dangerous strains of bacteria sounds so interesting and exciting. But, when you realize after you spent several hours worth of work that you need to redo it because of accidental contamination or due to incorrect procedures, it's frustrating. And it's even more frustrating when it's not your fault, rather that of others. Or, when you realize that samples included raw wastewater samples from the local wastewater treatment plant, uh... meh. That smell is ingrained in my mind. You have to LIKE and LOVE the work, otherwise, you're going to quit. Some parts are fun, some parts want to make you jab a sharpened pencil into your palm.
> 
> This comic always comes to mind...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Funnily enough, it was the precision of lab work that made me almost major in biology. My sister is a microbiologist and she worked at the University of Florida when I went there (which is also one of the reasons I went there - my parents thought she would keep an eye on me. Ha! Joke was on them because she moved to Jacksonville after just one semester!  ) I spent a bunch of time with her in her lab and helped her with a few experiments now and again. There was one experiment that required her to go and check the progress of something at about 1am and she was afraid to go alone, so she got me to go with her in exchange for her buying me dinner. We went to a place with an all-you-can-eat buffet (hey, it was Florida in the late '80s - that was really popular back then!). We were still full when we went to the lab at 1am!
> 
> She also helped me get a job in a bio lab as a student worker. I didn't like the dishwashing, but after a while, I got to help making simple solutions and going to the library for research. Loved that.
> 
> I think what stopped me was that I was afraid of organic chemistry and math, and then I got hooked on Linguistics before I could take a harder science class to test myself. I still really like the thought of lab work, though and hope to someday take some Bio and Chem classes now that I can do so for free at my community college.
> 
> It might have to wait, though, until after I take some classes in Cybersecurity
Click to expand...

Organic is a monster.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Hosers! Mondays are great. Mondays are great. Mondays are great. Mondays are great...
> 
> 
> 
> A coworker, presumably being nice, said, "Happy Monday!"
> 
> Reminded me way too much of Office Space.
Click to expand...

After the last time someone said that to me, I had to enroll in an anger management class.


----------



## Gary A.

@JonA_CT: Gary has some friends at JPL that, if they’re not too busy, who might be persuaded to Skype the science class and participate with the movie discussion. (Should the science teach want to rent the movie.). One rocket scientist in particular might be fun on the lunar lander crash, (Gary thinks that scene is in the trailer), as she is presently working on a Mars helicopter.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> I can’t imagine using any browser other than Chrome at this point. (Except on iOS devices, I guess). It might be because all of my productivity tools for work are Google-based now. I also use my accounts across 4-5 devices in our building, and with the profile function of Chrome, everything looks the same no matter where I am.
> 
> I use the Google Apps on my iOS devices. I actually just picked up a new iPad and Apple Pencil to use for notes and grading. The Notes App integrates seamlessly with Google Drive and Google Classroom. It’s been sort of life changing.


I use Chrome on the PCs and Safari on the phone.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> . . . take some classes in Cybersecurity


I took a week-long crash course a few years ago.  Loved trying to hack on Wi-Fi and cracking passwords.  We even got to try the RFID snooper.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> . . . take some classes in Cybersecurity
> 
> 
> 
> I took a week-long crash course a few years ago.  Loved trying to hack on Wi-Fi and cracking passwords.  We even got to try the RFID snooper.
Click to expand...


We have a whole Associate Degree program - I could get another certification for free (no need for the degree). I think I would enjoy the irony of having a Paralegal Cert right next to my hacking credentials


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> . . . take some classes in Cybersecurity
> 
> 
> 
> I took a week-long crash course a few years ago.  Loved trying to hack on Wi-Fi and cracking passwords.  We even got to try the RFID snooper.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We have a whole Associate Degree program - I could get another certification for free (no need for the degree). I think I would enjoy the irony of having a Paralegal Cert right next to my hacking credentials
Click to expand...

So then you can be the grammar AND the cyber police! 

I enjoyed it, though some was a bit over my head.  We were told "Break into the laptops up here, NOT the real ones in the building."  We were at the State Police & Correctional Services Academy.

I actually got to try out a little of the craft later, when I was asked to check out the browser history of one of the clerks in the office (boy, ya oughtta be ashamed of yourself!)


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> @JonA_CT: Gary has some friends at JPL that, if they’re not too busy, who might be persuaded to Skype the science class and participate with the movie discussion. (Should the science teach want to rent the movie.). One rocket scientist in particular might be fun on the lunar lander crash, (Gary thinks that scene is in the trailer), as she is presently working on a Mars helicopter.



That's some cool stuff. I'll let you know if she's interested. 

I'm watching the Packers right now because my wife thinks that Aaron Rodgers is dreamy AND uber manly.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just back from the senior night festivities for the varsity field hockey team.  The woman who usually takes all the pics for the event has a senior on the team this year so asked me to cover it for her.  I've taken pics from the sidelines many times but this time was on the field at the 50 for the introductions.  Hard to find a spot where people aren't backlit by the lights!  And of course it was a light rain.  Used the Fuji 90mm so had to zoom with my feet all over the place.  Then switched to the 18-55 for photos with the families after the game and couldn't figure out why my settings looked off.  I hadn't used that lens since the beach the other day and the polarizer was still on.  Argh!  Hopefully got good enough to fix them up.  I converted a few in camera raw and they look ok.  Too tired to edit them tonight.


----------



## davidharmier60

Phone says it won't top 60 degrees today.
Says humidity is 97% however.
Off to work before too long. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Dagnabbit. The truck charged all night but wouldn't start this morning. Then it did. 
Got here late and disconnected the battery.
Now it's doing the same thing. A starter is needed. Only 8.40 for the week so far. 
Not good.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

limr said:


> I think what stopped me was that I was afraid of organic chemistry and math, and then I got hooked on Linguistics before I could take a harder science class to test myself. I still really like the thought of lab work, though and hope to someday take some Bio and Chem classes now that I can do so for free at my community college.


Do it! Bio and chem labs were so much fun.

I still remember it was like the first week, and the person running the lab just went over everything and said that if we break anything, we pretty much have to pay for it. Well, what did I do? I dropped a test tube with a bunch of little metal beads that scattered all over everywhere. He must have seen the look of horror on my face, because he was nice about it. LOL.



Gary A. said:


> Organic is a monster.


I loved organic chemistry, but I had a great professor. The only university level chemistry class that I got an A in, LOL.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> For something like this, if you still have your retinas after looking at it...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Whoa!!! That's bright!!!!!! Might want to warn us ahead of time. LOL  FYI I like it, I like it very much!!!
Click to expand...

Thank you!


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> I don't know Wade, the teacher in me would send you back to work on it some more so I'd get what the intention was or where you were going with this idea... maybe you're on to something I just don't quite get.


What do you get out of the image? The student in me would fight back with, "art is what exists in our own minds".

The "normal" portrait of Roxy was okay, but underwhelming. I've taken those images before. This image, though; it screamed to make it "bright and different", and who am I to change what it wants?


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think what stopped me was that I was afraid of organic chemistry and math, and then I got hooked on Linguistics before I could take a harder science class to test myself. I still really like the thought of lab work, though and hope to someday take some Bio and Chem classes now that I can do so for free at my community college.
> 
> 
> 
> Do it! Bio and chem labs were so much fun.
> 
> I still remember it was like the first week, and the person running the lab just went over everything and said that if we break anything, we pretty much have to pay for it. Well, what did I do? I dropped a test tube with a bunch of little metal beads that scattered all over everywhere. He must have seen the look of horror on my face, because he was nice about it. LOL.
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Organic is a monster.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I loved organic chemistry, but I had a great professor. The only university level chemistry class that I got an A in, LOL.
Click to expand...

You are The Man! (An A in Organic ... I bet you even studied.)


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> Dagnabbit. The truck charged all night but wouldn't start this morning. Then it did.
> Got here late and disconnected the battery.
> Now it's doing the same thing. *A starter is needed*.


Are you sure it's the starter?  Is the battery taking/holding a charge?  Is the alternator alternating?  The voltage-regulator regulating?  Starters are pretty reliable and when they fail, it's usually noisy and smelly.


----------



## waday

Gary A. said:


> You are The Man! (An A in Organic ... I bet you even studied.)


Studying was a bad habit of mine in college. 

Organic just "made sense" to me. I could easily visualize everything in my head.


----------



## Gary A.

waday said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> You are The Man! (An A in Organic ... I bet you even studied.)
> 
> 
> 
> Studying was a bad habit of mine in college.
> 
> Organic just "made sense" to me. I could easily visualize everything in my head.
Click to expand...

Really ... man, those chains go on forever.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> Studying was a bad habit of mine in college.



I always found that I could party right up to about 7 pm of the night before an exam which put me in a relaxed mood, then cram all night. That way I still retained something at test time the next day


----------



## smoke665

Being born with the ability to speed read and comprehend helped. Unfortunately the retention part has never been a strong trait.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Studying was a bad habit of mine in college.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I always found that I could party right up to about 7 pm of the night before an exam which put me in a relaxed mood, then cram all night. That way I still retained something at test time the next day
Click to expand...

My idea of partying was watching science fiction movies and TV shows before/during studying...


----------



## davidharmier60

The Alternator does alternate. A man who should know said I had a dead cell in the battery.  $104.50 later it is starting like it should.
I forgot pennies this morning. As it turns out she doesn't need them before Thursday. Gonna go through stuff I already rolled and if so much as a blemish or scratch and it's GONE!


----------



## smoke665

A little seasonal humor. 

Did you know that if you divide a pumpkin's circumference by a pumpkin's diameter it will = pumpkin *π 
*
Sorry It's been a rainy dreary day, and I got bored. LOL


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> A little seasonal humor.
> 
> Did you know that if divide a pumpkin's circumference by a pumpkin's diameter it will = pumpkin *π
> *
> Sorry It's been a rainy dreary day, and I got bored. LOL


Grooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!


----------



## waday

When people have awkward conversations at work, I wish they'd close their door. Because, I'm at the cube right outside... So, when person A thinks that something was a bait and switch, and person B says that's not his problem, and then A says that B should check with people C, because they have the same problem, and then awkward pauses ensue, person me feels involved and awkward, as well.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sounds like you need a soundproof cubicle. Did they model the movie Office Space after your workplace?! lol

I've pulled my share of all nighters. By freshman year I was already familiar with all the nighttime security guys. (I was going to say guards but I think they were just upperclassmen who roamed the halls to watch out for us nightowls.)

Wade to me, the colorful dog looks like an experiment playing around editing and having fun with it. Which is fine to enjoy, but that response would probably be to send you off to the art teacher! lol... can't help it, it's the teacher in me, I'd have a student explain the thought process... I think art needs to convey something to the viewer, and I'd want to see the purpose, thought, or intention, etc. You know, I took a lot of art all thru school and am pretty damn good at it. We all probably take pride in our work and talents etc. and art takes talent as well as knowledge and learning and practice, etc. I know enough about composition etc. along with my ability to have gotten photos accepted into juried exhibits. I put a lot into creative work that I do so to me there's more to it. But that's me.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> When people have awkward conversations at work, I wish they'd close their door. Because, I'm at the cube right outside... So, when person A thinks that something was a bait and switch, and person B says that's not his problem, and then A says that B should check with people C, because they have the same problem, and then awkward pauses ensue, person me feels involved and awkward, as well.



I do not miss being in a cubicle farm!  The loud talkers, the speakerphone aholes, the shitty music dj's, the smelly lunch in the cube eaters and my personal favorite...the nothing better to do chit chatters who spoiled the shows that I hadn't had time to watch yet!


----------



## SquarePeg

and now I have to go find this super offensive colorful dog photo that I somehow missed


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> I think art needs to convey something to the viewer, and I'd want to see the purpose, thought, or intention, etc



Most times I agree but, can you really say this comment applies to Jackson Pollack's "Number 5" (1948), which last sold for more then $150 million. Or Picasso's (1932) "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust", which last sold for more than $106 million. Or Warhol's "Eight Elvises" (1963) that brought a cool $100 million. Sometimes "art" just is for no reason.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary have just returned from a couple of nurseries picking up a number of things as we start to re-landscape the back.  Three Flowering Maples, trailing rosemary, cilantro, parsley, oregano, thyme and some onions (Walla Walla).  Maggie had a good time taking in all the new smells.  Gary is watching the ALCS game, Boston is ahead 2-1 top of the fifth.  He will soon be returning to the back to install some more stepping stones.


----------



## davidharmier60

Astros tied it and then Boston hit a solo dinger for 3-2. We had that ground beef etc soup again. And soon I must abandon it because work tomorrow. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Dave will be sad when he wakes up and checks the final score.


----------



## SquarePeg

So this just happened... earlier today I took a couple of photos of my friend’s Realtor team for her website and ads in the local paper.  I haven’t processed any of the photos yet, they’re still on the card.  Someone from her office/website  just posted a photo on Facebook that my friend’s daughter must have taken with her cell phone from behind and to the side of where I was standing with a caption about “team photos today thanks to photographer Sharon Cat...”. they tried to tag me in the photo but my profile is set up for me to have to approve any tags.   These cell phone photos are terrible quality and they were taken before I rearranged them into a good group pose and corrected their stance for the light - they’re truly awful looking.  Because you can’t see me in the photo, it doesn’t appear to be a “behind the scenes” type of look so the assumption will be that I took them and that that is the team photo.   Now I’m not a pro and don’t care all that much about future business since that’s not my goal but I wouldn’t want anyone to think I took those photos.  I do sometimes volunteer my time and efforts for local events, political ads, high school stuff for my daughter...   I commented “I didn’t take those”.  

Thoughts?  Should I ask her to take them down or to remove my name?  It’s awkward.


----------



## davidharmier60

Yippee. It's Wednesday. Astros lost at home. Dang.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> So this just happened... earlier today I took a couple of photos of my friend’s Realtor team for her website and ads in the local paper.  I haven’t processed any of the photos yet, they’re still on the card.  Someone from her office/website  just posted a photo on Facebook that my friend’s daughter must have taken with her cell phone from behind and to the side of where I was standing with a caption about “team photos today thanks to photographer Sharon Cat...”. they tried to tag me in the photo but my profile is set up for me to have to approve any tags.   These cell phone photos are terrible quality and they were taken before I rearranged them into a good group pose and corrected their stance for the light - they’re truly awful looking.  Because you can’t see me in the photo, it doesn’t appear to be a “behind the scenes” type of look so the assumption will be that I took them and that that is the team photo.   Now I’m not a pro and don’t care all that much about future business since that’s not my goal but I wouldn’t want anyone to think I took those photos.  I do sometimes volunteer my time and efforts for local events, political ads, high school stuff for my daughter...   I commented “I didn’t take those”.
> 
> Thoughts?  Should I ask her to take them down or to remove my name?  It’s awkward.



Just photoshop yourself into the picture, and all is good.  Here - you can use this one.


----------



## SquarePeg

Working today but no other commitments.  No game or practice for Princess,  no errands or favors to take care of, no dinner plans or deadlines. First time in a while that I won’t have to scramble around at lunch or after work. Looking forward to a good day!   Go Sox!!


----------



## SquarePeg

For the science nerds (and you know who you are...).  This is a still photo, not a video.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> So this just happened... earlier today I took a couple of photos of my friend’s Realtor team for her website and ads in the local paper.  I haven’t processed any of the photos yet, they’re still on the card.  Someone from her office/website  just posted a photo on Facebook that my friend’s daughter must have taken with her cell phone from behind and to the side of where I was standing with a caption about “team photos today thanks to photographer Sharon Cat...”. they tried to tag me in the photo but my profile is set up for me to have to approve any tags.   These cell phone photos are terrible quality and they were taken before I rearranged them into a good group pose and corrected their stance for the light - they’re truly awful looking.  Because you can’t see me in the photo, it doesn’t appear to be a “behind the scenes” type of look so the assumption will be that I took them and that that is the team photo.   Now I’m not a pro and don’t care all that much about future business since that’s not my goal but I wouldn’t want anyone to think I took those photos.  I do sometimes volunteer my time and efforts for local events, political ads, high school stuff for my daughter...   I commented “I didn’t take those”.
> 
> Thoughts?  Should I ask her to take them down or to remove my name?  It’s awkward.


Ugh. Groan. etc. I’d probably contact her right away before she sends them off somewhere (like the paper)?


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> For the science nerds (and you know who you are...).  This is a still photo, not a video.


COOL!


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> So this just happened... earlier today I took a couple of photos of my friend’s Realtor team for her website and ads in the local paper.  I haven’t processed any of the photos yet, they’re still on the card.  Someone from her office/website  just posted a photo on Facebook that my friend’s daughter must have taken with her cell phone from behind and to the side of where I was standing with a caption about “team photos today thanks to photographer Sharon Cat...”. they tried to tag me in the photo but my profile is set up for me to have to approve any tags.   These cell phone photos are terrible quality and they were taken before I rearranged them into a good group pose and corrected their stance for the light - they’re truly awful looking.  Because you can’t see me in the photo, it doesn’t appear to be a “behind the scenes” type of look so the assumption will be that I took them and that that is the team photo.   Now I’m not a pro and don’t care all that much about future business since that’s not my goal but I wouldn’t want anyone to think I took those photos.  I do sometimes volunteer my time and efforts for local events, political ads, high school stuff for my daughter...   I commented “I didn’t take those”.
> 
> Thoughts?  Should I ask her to take them down or to remove my name?  It’s awkward.


It's nothing to do with whether you got paid or anything else.  It's your work, and this is making it appear as though the quality of your work is sub-par.  Awkward or not, I would definitely ask the person to remove the images; explain why, but have them removed.  You don't even have to say that they're bad, simply say that they're not reflective of your work, and people who see the post will form an incorrect impression about your work.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> For the science nerds (and you know who you are...).  This is a still photo, not a video.


I almost had a seizure looking at it


----------



## jcdeboever

I must be mental or something. I sold the majority of my Fujifilm gear today to fund a new Fuji camera purchase. I was kind of depressed letting it go. Now I just own the 35 1.4, 18-55, 55-200 and the XT2. I feel strange, like my cat died or something.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> When people have awkward conversations at work, I wish they'd close their door. Because, I'm at the cube right outside... So, when person A thinks that something was a bait and switch, and person B says that's not his problem, and then A says that B should check with people C, because they have the same problem, and then awkward pauses ensue, person me feels involved and awkward, as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I do not miss being in a cubicle farm!  The loud talkers, the speakerphone aholes, the shitty music dj's, the smelly lunch in the cube eaters and my personal favorite...the nothing better to do chit chatters who spoiled the shows that I hadn't had time to watch yet!
Click to expand...

Or the lactose intolerant guy eating icecream sandwich's and cheese sticks....


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> I must be mental or something. I sold the majority of my Fujifilm gear today to fund a new Fuji camera purchase. I was kind of depressed letting it go. Now I just own the 35 1.4, 18-55, 55-200 and the XT2. I feel strange, like my cat died or something.


Going medium format?


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I do not miss being in a cubicle farm!  The loud talkers, the speakerphone aholes, the shitty music dj's, the smelly lunch in the cube eaters and my personal favorite...the nothing better to do chit chatters who spoiled the shows that I hadn't had time to watch yet!


We have a 2:00 crew here. Every day at 2, a group of like 5-6 guys are in the kitchen. I have to avoid the kitchen during this timeframe, otherwise I feel like an outsider.



SquarePeg said:


> and now I have to go find this super offensive colorful dog photo that I somehow missed


What did you think?


----------



## davidharmier60

Somewhat over 6 hours today. Averaged a little over 5 for three days so far.
All the HEAVY boxes of floor tiles I moved a while back had to be moved again. 
Gonna live better through chemistry when I get home. Did I mention I got a new battery yesterday? It started this morning peachy keen. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> I must be mental or something. I sold the majority of my Fujifilm gear today to fund a new Fuji camera purchase. I was kind of depressed letting it go. Now I just own the 35 1.4, 18-55, 55-200 and the XT2. I feel strange, like my cat died or something.
> 
> 
> 
> Going medium format?
Click to expand...

I am. It just makes more sense IMO. I was considering other options, like the XT3. However, I am just such a slow, methodical shooter. I really think the XT2 & XP2 are too fast and I have to really turn everything off when I use it. I really do not care for auto focus, I guess I'm stupid, as one lady photog told me. She literally said that. She asked what I was doing when I was turn the focus ring, I said manual focusing. She said, are you stupid or something?


----------



## waday

jcdeboever said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Going medium format?
> 
> 
> 
> I am. It just makes more sense IMO. I was considering other options, like the XT3. However, I am just such a slow, methodical shooter. I really think the XT2 & XP2 are too fast and I have to really turn everything off when I use it.
Click to expand...

Nice! Which model are you going for? They intrigue me so much, but I don't have the budget for them. It did look like they had some amazing sales on body/lens combos a couple weeks back.



> I really do not care for auto focus, I guess I'm stupid, as one lady photog told me. She literally said that. She asked what I was doing when I was turn the focus ring, I said manual focusing. She said, are you stupid or something?


Do you. Do what makes you happy. If you like manual focus, do manual focus. If you like film, do film. If you like digital, do digital.

I'd rather have 5 great photographs after a days worth of shooting (heck, make that 1, LOL) than 100 subpar photographs.

Funny story (related to manual focus). On another forum, there was a member who posted a question about why his shots weren't clear with his brand new equipment that cost him lots of money; he was disappointed. Well, it turned out that he was shooting manual focus, handheld at telephoto focal lengths, of moving animals, from a boat floating down a river. In that case, manual focus probably wasn't the best. LOL.


----------



## jcdeboever

waday said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Going medium format?
> 
> 
> 
> I am. It just makes more sense IMO. I was considering other options, like the XT3. However, I am just such a slow, methodical shooter. I really think the XT2 & XP2 are too fast and I have to really turn everything off when I use it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nice! Which model are you going for? They intrigue me so much, but I don't have the budget for them. It did look like they had some amazing sales on body/lens combos a couple weeks back.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I really do not care for auto focus, I guess I'm stupid, as one lady photog told me. She literally said that. She asked what I was doing when I was turn the focus ring, I said manual focusing. She said, are you stupid or something?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Do you. Do what makes you happy. If you like manual focus, do manual focus. If you like film, do film. If you like digital, do digital.
> 
> I'd rather have 5 great photographs after a days worth of shooting (heck, make that 1, LOL) than 100 subpar photographs.
> 
> Funny story (related to manual focus). On another forum, there was a member who posted a question about why his shots weren't clear with his brand new equipment that cost him lots of money; he was disappointed. Well, it turned out that he was shooting manual focus, handheld at telephoto focal lengths, of moving animals, from a boat floating down a river. In that case, manual focus probably wasn't the best. LOL.
Click to expand...

GFX50R,  63 lens


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> . I sold the majority of my Fujifilm gear today



The way you sell off equipment least you don't have to worry about it being obsolete LOL


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> What did you think?


 I liked it.   From the critique I expected something much crazier.  It looks like a Pixma filter which I think are fun.



waday said:


> We have a 2:00 crew here. Every day at 2, a group of like 5-6 guys are in the kitchen. I have to avoid the kitchen during this timeframe, otherwise I feel like an outsider.



OMG like reliving high school all over again.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> GFX50R, 63 lens



That surprised me I figured you would jump to medium format film.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> GFX50R, 63 lens
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That surprised me I figured you would jump to medium format film.
Click to expand...

I already have that


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> OMG like reliving high school all over again.


Yes. I've walked in the kitchen when they're in there, and everyone stops talking.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dad and Sister are gone in my truck (the only working vehicle in the family) to the VA in Houston.
A regular appointment, nothing critical.
Going through the pennies I marked in the low 7s. Out of 50 only 36 are staying. This was 7.3
7.4 is up next.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG like reliving high school all over again.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes. I've walked in the kitchen when they're in there, and everyone stops talking.
Click to expand...


Even paranoid people have enemies.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG like reliving high school all over again.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes. I've walked in the kitchen when they're in there, and everyone stops talking.
Click to expand...


Don't feel bad, when I would walk in the break room, they'd not only stop talking, but they were like roaches fleeing the room when you turned the light on. Course when you own the company, I guess people don't want to take a chance on the boss tagging them with a new project. LOL


----------



## jcdeboever

Baby girl just beat the crap out of Webster. He came down to the man cave (he never does). Baby girl darted after him, jumped on his head and bit the crap out of his ears. He didn't know what hit him....lol


----------



## davidharmier60

Gotta hit the bed here directly. Y'all have a nice Thursday ya hear?


----------



## waday

I can’t stop laughing at this...


----------



## RowdyRay

waday said:


> I can’t stop laughing at this...



Why?


----------



## limr

RowdyRay said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can’t stop laughing at this...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Why?
Click to expand...


Because it's not the original song for that video but it works perfectly.

Skip to 3:40:


----------



## SquarePeg

Mornin Hosers!  Happy Almost Friday to all and Fake Friday for me  I’m off work tomorrow, hoping to head back to NH, lakes region this time, before all the color fades away!


----------



## davidharmier60

Cold Spring, TX for propane. 
5 hours for sure. Gonna try for 6.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Got 6 even. 21.10 for 4 days. Got a 'Fed' box of pennies.  Nothing earth shattering out of it yet.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I think Wade's ready for it to be Friday. Or the weekend. (I get it, but it's not _that _funny! lol) Although there are plenty of things I don't get but don't really mind.


----------



## smoke665

Just got back in from a 6 hour round trip to help son for a couple hours. I'm getting to old for this!!!


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> I think Wade's ready for it to be Friday. Or the weekend. (I get it, but it's not _that _funny! lol) Although there are plenty of things I don't get but don't really mind.


Yes! I’m ready for Friday. Been a crazy week, and so will next week. Can’t wait for October to end.


----------



## snowbear

Tonight brings a frost warning for the DC area.  We are expecting overnight temps in the thirties, locally.  Am I nuts for wanting to keep the window open?  MLW thinks so.


----------



## DanOstergren

snowbear said:


> Tonight brings a frost warning for the DC area.  We are expecting overnight temps in the thirties, locally.  Am I nuts for wanting to keep the window open?  MLW thinks so.


Oh man, this is something I do not miss about living on the East Coast.


----------



## snowbear

I love it.  MLW, though, calls me "a bear of little brain."


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

But, aren't bears warm and snuggly?


----------



## snowbear

Dean_Gretsch said:


> But, aren't bears warm and snuggly?


Some are. Some are devious predators.  I'm part of the first group.


----------



## Tony744

Back after having been gone awhile. Been busy with work, chores, errand, getting abducted by witches, and all the other little distractions life throws at you to get in the way of one enjoying life.


----------



## DanOstergren

snowbear said:


> I love it.  MLW, though, calls me "a bear of little brain."


 I definitely prefer warmer climates. 
A few years ago I lived in NYC, and one winter we had so much snow it was crazy. I believe one night the city got covered in 3 feet overnight. It was beautiful at first, but then turned into one disgusting mess, and then every few days it would get covered again by another couple of feet. Ever since that winter I feel very grateful to live in a place that is lucky to get a foot of snow over the course of an entire season.


----------



## smoke665

The ideal temperature for me is 69.9 degrees, for DW it is 89.9, so we have a running battle over comfort. She turns up the air until my clothes becomes sweat soaked and then I turn down the air until she turns blue.


----------



## Gary A.

At the end of yesterday’s NLCS game, Dodger Stadium played Randy Newman’s “I love LA”.  This was, to quote Newman’s song, “... another perfect day, I love LA.” Warm and dry, nothin’ finer. In Gary’s youth, Gary didn’t care about weather ... it was what it was and deal with it.  But as Gary get’s older, he appreciates ‘good’ weather ... he doesn’t mind cold ... doesn’t mind wet ... hates in between... but warm and dry is best.


----------



## Jeff G

65°, shorts and a t-shirt is perfect, the wife likes it just about 75°...unfortunatly we are still in the mid to upper 80's for the rest of the month.


----------



## SquarePeg

DanOstergren said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I love it.  MLW, though, calls me "a bear of little brain."
> 
> 
> 
> I definitely prefer warmer climates.
> A few years ago I lived in NYC, and one winter we had so much snow it was crazy. I believe one night the city got covered in 3 feet overnight. It was beautiful at first, but then turned into one disgusting mess, and then every few days it would get covered again by another couple of feet. Ever since that winter I feel very grateful to live in a place that is lucky to get a foot of snow over the course of an entire season.
Click to expand...


It snowed in NH White Mtns last night.  Just a dusting but hoping it didn’t kill off all the foliage before I get back up there.


----------



## SquarePeg

My ideal weather is 65-75 and partly cloudy with a very slight breeze.  I do not belong in New England.


----------



## Gary A.

This was a busy day, lots of paperwork then getting the backyard back in shape after being ripped up.  After it all, a dip in the hot tub with a glass or two of vino.  There is still a lot to do to recover the backyard back into its former glory ... but everyday Gary chips away at the chaos of the backyard. Mary Lou and Gary both agree that it is so nice to climb into the hot tub after a long day.


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> My ideal weather is 65-75 and partly cloudy with a very slight breeze.  I do not belong in New England.


Sounds like San Diego to me ... year round. (But you know that, .)


----------



## DanOstergren

I prefer 90 with a breeze. Bring on the heat so I can wear the least amount of clothes as possible.


----------



## SquarePeg

DanOstergren said:


> I prefer 90 with a breeze. Bring on the heat so I can wear the least amount of clothes as possible.



Yeah I felt that way when I was young and hot.  It passes lol.


----------



## limr

I need a variety of weather to be happy - even summer, although I could absolutely live without NY summers. If it never got hotter than 75, as that is really my upper limit of tolerance, I wouldn't hate summer oh-so-very-much. Ideal temps are 40s and 50s since that's when I can be in the sun and actually enjoy it instead of wanting it to just go super nova already and take us all with it. I also do not want sun all the time. It's oppressive and harsh. I need breaks from the sun, just as I need breaks from the rain and clouds. I looooove having a chill in the air. I just pull my jacket a little closer and feel the breeze on my face. It's the only time I feel like I can breathe freely.

And having said that, it's time to brush my teeth, crack the bedroom window a bit, and do some sleepin'.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Last night we had a deep freeze.  Goodbye ragweed, goodbye grass pollen. And leaves, unless you're planning to turn pretty colors just fall off already!


----------



## SquarePeg

Go 2018 Red Sox! A truly humble and likable team.


----------



## Tony744

Just came back from the shop to find Thanksgiving dinner.


----------



## JonA_CT

I’ve seen tons of turkeys recently.

First frost this morning. Beautifully clear out, too. Really a perfect fall morning.


----------



## SquarePeg

Was supposed to spend today up in NH but the Princess is home from school sick so looks like I’ll be getting some stuff done around the house.  Sigh.


----------



## Gary A.

Tony744 said:


> Just came back from the shop to find Thanksgiving dinner.


Wild turkeys in a scary neighborhood ... you're a tougher man than Gary.


----------



## Gary A.

limr said:


> I need a variety of weather to be happy - even summer, although I could absolutely live without NY summers. If it never got hotter than 75, as that is really my upper limit of tolerance, I wouldn't hate summer oh-so-very-much. Ideal temps are 40s and 50s since that's when I can be in the sun and actually enjoy it instead of wanting it to just go super nova already and take us all with it. I also do not want sun all the time. It's oppressive and harsh. I need breaks from the sun, just as I need breaks from the rain and clouds. I looooove having a chill in the air. I just pull my jacket a little closer and feel the breeze on my face. It's the only time I feel like I can breathe freely.
> 
> And having said that, it's time to brush my teeth, crack the bedroom window a bit, and do some sleepin'.


Sounds sorta like San Francisco to Gary.


----------



## pixmedic

It's beginning to look a lot like (A TPF) Christmas...






Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

I had an ultra-wide zoom arrive yesterday after I had sworn off buying camera gear. Shockingly, my wife encouraged the purchase as she enjoys both the presence of landscapes in our house and the meager funds that have been trickling in from local print sales.  It’s a Tokina, so we’ll have to see how it does.


----------



## davidharmier60

I just clocked out at 1:20
29.3x for the week. 
Wet and HUNGRY. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I need a variety of weather to be happy - even summer, although I could absolutely live without NY summers. If it never got hotter than 75, as that is really my upper limit of tolerance, I wouldn't hate summer oh-so-very-much. Ideal temps are 40s and 50s since that's when I can be in the sun and actually enjoy it instead of wanting it to just go super nova already and take us all with it. I also do not want sun all the time. It's oppressive and harsh. I need breaks from the sun, just as I need breaks from the rain and clouds. I looooove having a chill in the air. I just pull my jacket a little closer and feel the breeze on my face. It's the only time I feel like I can breathe freely.
> 
> And having said that, it's time to brush my teeth, crack the bedroom window a bit, and do some sleepin'.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds sorta like San Francisco to Gary.
Click to expand...


Except it doesn't get cold enough there in the winter. I said that 40s and 50s might be ideal for the most part, but I also want times when it is a bit warmer and other times when it is colder.

I don't want to live in a place that has little variation in climate. I've done that and it is depressing as hell for me. 

And if I had to choose and area that had one end of the spectrum that was more extreme than the other, I would take cold snowy winters over hot summers. I would take that deal all day long.

Besides, I am totally a fish out of water on the West coast. I have said this before and you'll never convince me otherwise.


----------



## snowbear

Another week is over in about 5 minutes.

I've re-opened a back burner project I was doing: build a network on our two and a half rivers (Potomac, Patuxent, Anacostia) and measure who is closest to each navigation buoy.  I've got the network done and the in-county public boat ramps mapped so I have a basic response plan, at least from river access.   Which stations are fairly simple - we have one fire boat, one water rescue house boat, and four stations that have a boat/trailer. One is near the Potomac, two near the Patuxent (one south, one north) and one in the middle of the county.  All I have to do is get the calculations from each of those stations to each boat ramp.  The only real inconsistency will be units of measurement.  We do everything by time now, so station to ramps will be in minutes.  Speed limits on the rivers are complex (like 6 MPH around the WW Bridge, and "Minimum Wake" around marinas and some shorelines, so I am going with feet.

Still no work on our contract, only speculation (extended to the end of the year and going out for re-bid).  The good news is, historically the worker bees are picked up by the new incoming company, though nothing is guaranteed.  I am actively looking elsewhere and occasionally applying (application #2 this weekend).


----------



## Jeff15

Bah Humbug................


----------



## davidharmier60

Tacos and Tostadas for dinner. 
Don't 'feel' ice cream later.
Happy I got close to 30 hours today. 
But slap wore out.
Tough work getting spiders to leave the carts.

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----------



## davidharmier60

Just went to Cleveland Wal-Mart for dog food and a few other things. 
Got gas. Have $10 to get me to Wednesday  noon.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## CherylL

Sewing the pups Christmas attire for their annual photo.  I am not sure about building a set this year.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is still recovering from yesterday blow-out by Milwaukee.  Mary Lou and Gary had visitors over for the game.  Pizza and wine in the patio.  Weather wise a very pleasant evening for it outside.  No mosquitos, shirt sleeve temps and plenty of vino and pizza ... plus Max came over and played with Maggie all evening. The final game is in a few hours and we're going to relax and catch a Netflix then back to the patio for the seventh game. Maggie is all wiped out from playing with all her friends in the park this morning.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> Sewing the pups Christmas attire for their annual photo.  I am not sure about building a set this year.



You’re multi talented!  Looking forward to seeing your results.  I can’t sew.  If I can find it I’ll share the photo of the duct tape rain coat Princess made for the neighbor’s dog when she was about 10.


----------



## Jeff15

Is it Sunday yet.....?


----------



## SquarePeg

Jeff15 said:


> Is it Sunday yet.....?



Don’t wish away time.  You can’t get it back.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it Sunday yet.....?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don’t wish away time.  You can’t get it back.
Click to expand...

Unless it’s Tuesday. Tuesdays stink.


----------



## davidharmier60

I feel like Monday is as bad as it gets.....
But I goofed up pretty bad on a Tuesday. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sewing the pups Christmas attire for their annual photo.  I am not sure about building a set this year.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You’re multi talented!  Looking forward to seeing your results.  I can’t sew.  If I can find it I’ll share the photo of the duct tape rain coat Princess made for the neighbor’s dog when she was about 10.
Click to expand...


A duct tape rain coat is creative!  What I made today was fairly simple.  I made my first dress when I was around 7 years old.  My daughters never wanted to learn so now I am stuck sewing projects for them.  I made the grands hand embroidered Christmas stockings and I spelled one wrong   Had to rip it apart and redo.  I recently made a fold over pouch for the X-T2.  I wanted something that I would protect the camera in my day backpack.  Using the camera strap cross-body with the pouch it looks like a plain purse.   I actually use it more than the bulky camera bag.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> Sewing the pups Christmas attire for their annual photo.  I am not sure about building a set this year.



Sure you should Cheryl


----------



## tirediron

Ugh... 10 hours laying on my back and/or side on rough concrete in a crawlspace varying between 18" and 24" high, BUT 340 of 400 square feet of the floor which had at best R-12 (and unbeknownst to me in several large areas, R-sweet f*** all) now has R40 held in place by Silverboard sound-deadening board.  I expect tootsies will be just a little warmer this winter.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sewing the pups Christmas attire for their annual photo.  I am not sure about building a set this year.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sure you should Cheryl
Click to expand...

Nooooooooo...  you should swing by Smoke's digs and have him build it for you!


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sewing the pups Christmas attire for their annual photo.  I am not sure about building a set this year.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You’re multi talented!  Looking forward to seeing your results.  I can’t sew.  If I can find it I’ll share the photo of the duct tape rain coat Princess made for the neighbor’s dog when she was about 10.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> A duct tape rain coat is creative!  What I made today was fairly simple.  I made my first dress when I was around 7 years old.  My daughters never wanted to learn so now I am stuck sewing projects for them.  I made the grands hand embroidered Christmas stockings and I spelled one wrong   Had to rip it apart and redo.  I recently made a fold over pouch for the X-T2.  I wanted something that I would protect the camera in my day backpack.  Using the camera strap cross-body with the pouch it looks like a plain purse.   I actually use it more than the bulky camera bag.
Click to expand...


Love the pouch idea for the xt2. I frequently throw mine in my large purse and was going to buy one of those neoprene pouches but ended up with one of those sacks that the sheets come in - the ones that match the sheets..,


----------



## davidharmier60

Nite y'all. 

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----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all.  Pancakes pretty soon. 
Reasonable mug of coffee but not great.
Fox News on. Yuck.

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----------



## smoke665

@tirediron several years ago at our old house I got the S### scared out of me in a tight crawl space, when I heard these really scary snuffling noises. My head was against an HVAC duct, and it seems that my fur baby Millie was trying to track me down by sniffing at the vents. The duct was acting like a giant stethescop. When you can barely move in a tight space and it's dark, you can form all kinds of images in your mind.

On another front, it was cold out this morning, 40 degrees when Sadie and I hit the trail.


----------



## SquarePeg

Cold and damp today.  Hoping it dries up enough to get the backyard squared away for winter.  The work on the garage conversion drags on and on.  Flooring almost done but their plan for the stairs wasn’t feasible per the tile guy so had to rethink and reorder some tiles so waiting again!  Plumber coming tomorrow to install the bathroom fixtures.  Then it’s just the finish work...   I’m out of patience.  No wonder people hate contractors.


----------



## CherylL

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sewing the pups Christmas attire for their annual photo.  I am not sure about building a set this year.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sure you should Cheryl
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nooooooooo...  you should swing by Smoke's digs and have him build it for you!
Click to expand...


Great idea!  Hopefully he will throw in the shipping crate lights & fog machine too.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sewing the pups Christmas attire for their annual photo.  I am not sure about building a set this year.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You’re multi talented!  Looking forward to seeing your results.  I can’t sew.  If I can find it I’ll share the photo of the duct tape rain coat Princess made for the neighbor’s dog when she was about 10.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> A duct tape rain coat is creative!  What I made today was fairly simple.  I made my first dress when I was around 7 years old.  My daughters never wanted to learn so now I am stuck sewing projects for them.  I made the grands hand embroidered Christmas stockings and I spelled one wrong   Had to rip it apart and redo.  I recently made a fold over pouch for the X-T2.  I wanted something that I would protect the camera in my day backpack.  Using the camera strap cross-body with the pouch it looks like a plain purse.   I actually use it more than the bulky camera bag.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Love the pouch idea for the xt2. I frequently throw mine in my large purse and was going to buy one of those neoprene pouches but ended up with one of those sacks that the sheets come in - the ones that match the sheets..,
Click to expand...


I looked at neoprene pouches online.   I used prequilted material for the pouch.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> Great idea! Hopefully he will throw in the shipping crate lights & fog machine too.



Me thinks John volunteered waaaayyyyy to much. LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

Blue Bloods. Like Tom Sellick.
Even like Donny Walberg. 
Good show.

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## SquarePeg

davidharmier60 said:


> Blue Bloods. Like Tom Sellick.
> Even like Donny Walberg.
> Good show.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



My m0m watches that.  It’s a bit on the preachy side for me.  I do like Tom though, just not as that particular character.  Loved him on Friends and in that mystery series Jesse Stone.  Watched the Magnum PI remake the other night- I enjoy the scenery on the two Hawaii shows.  And nice views of the islands too...


----------



## davidharmier60

I remember the original Magnum PI and can't think of watching the new one. 
Some more ceiling fell. Prayers that we get the house in Downtown Shepherd. 
Moving Hoover's badly. But in this case it will be well worth it.

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## Gary A.

Buenas tardes Coffee Hosers. A lovely warm and dry afternoon. Mary Lou and Gary are back to the Pasadena Playhouse for the ‘Woman in Black’. It is supposed to be extremely scary. Gary will let you know.


----------



## Jeff15

Blue Bloods - What series is showing in the States ??


----------



## SquarePeg

Jeff15 said:


> Blue Bloods - What series is showing in the States ??



Based on my brief obsession with British tv, I think that translates into what season in US tv talk.  Season 9 according to my on screen guide.


----------



## Jeff15

Thanks for that......


----------



## Gary A.

Halftime ... excellent play so far. @ Jeff15, the Woman in Black is an English export having played in London for 30 years.


----------



## davidharmier60

My computer is wigging out. 
Posting from phone. 
Because it's wigging out only YouTube is running. I've been reading John Sandford- Twisted Prey. Potato Soup very soon.

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## davidharmier60

Potato Soup is very good. 
Am thinking ice cream before bed.

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## davidharmier60

And nitey nite y'all. 

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## Gary A.

The play was excellent. Very different and very entertaining. Gary doesn’t scare easily but Mary Lou flinched a few times. If you get the chance well worth the time to see.


----------



## davidharmier60

Monday Madness begins soon.

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## Tony744

No work for me today. Got a call from the nursing home this morning, dad passed away


----------



## smoke665

Tony744 said:


> No work for me today. Got a call from the nursing home this morning, dad passed away



So sorry. Condolences to you and your family


----------



## Tony744

Thanks.


----------



## Gary A.

Tony744 said:


> No work for me today. Got a call from the nursing home this morning, dad passed away


Sorry about your loss.


----------



## tirediron

Tony744 said:


> No work for me today. Got a call from the nursing home this morning, dad passed away


Sorry to hear this!


----------



## SquarePeg

Tony744 said:


> No work for me today. Got a call from the nursing home this morning, dad passed away



Sorry for your loss Tony.


----------



## limr

Tony744 said:


> No work for me today. Got a call from the nursing home this morning, dad passed away



I'm so sorry for your loss


----------



## terri

Tony744 said:


> No work for me today. Got a call from the nursing home this morning, dad passed away


Oh no.   I'm so sorry for your loss - my sympathies to you and your family.


----------



## davidharmier60

Very sorry Tony.
 Got 6 hours exactly.
Got a couple of boxes to see what Dad and Sister think of them. Going to hit the Post Office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## snowbear

Tony744 said:


> No work for me today. Got a call from the nursing home this morning, dad passed away


So sorry to hear this.


----------



## markjwyatt

Tony744 said:


> No work for me today. Got a call from the nursing home this morning, dad passed away



So sorry, Tony. I went through that last year. My condolences to you and your family.


----------



## Tony744

Thanks everyone.


----------



## smoke665

Little late this morning when Sadie and I started our walk but I thought I detected some patches of frost. This evening the tell tale signs looks like we has a heavier frost then I thought.


----------



## Gary A.

iPhone


----------



## Tony744

DOH! I have a cousin coming from Canada this evening, have to pick her up at the bus station. Forgot game 1 is tonight or I would have suggest she go to Worcester or Nashua instead.


----------



## SquarePeg

Tony744 said:


> DOH! I have a cousin coming from Canada this evening, have to pick her up at the bus station. Forgot game 1 is tonight or I would have suggest she go to Worcester or Nashua instead.



Looks like you'll be listening on WEEI tonight.  At least you won't have to listen to Joe Buck.


----------



## SquarePeg

Howdy Hosers!!!  With apologies to GaryA...


----------



## davidharmier60

Whoops. Forgot to plug the floor machine in. Spot mopped and swept and put stuff back where it belongs. Managed to get 4 hours and a few for 10.04 for the week so far. And I also say pardon to Gary but agree wholeheartedly with GO SOX!

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## smoke665

My thoughtful son bought me 10 lottery tickets. So if you don't hear from me anymore I won! LOL


----------



## Gary A.

Chicken Saltimbocca with red potatoes, green asparagus, and orange tomatoes from the garden. Paired with a lovely Sauvignon Blanc. Watching a very good game one of the World Series.


----------



## ceemac

Tony744 said:


> No work for me today. Got a call from the nursing home this morning, dad passed away


Hey, Tony, sorry to hear about your dad. Take care.


----------



## davidharmier60

Life is just peachy keen. Then you die.
Wednesday. Eagle poop and Marquee are the biggies today.
We sure need the house in Downtown Shepherd vacated so we can begin moving. Prayers from them that do so can not hurt!

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## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> My thoughtful son bought me 10 lottery tickets. So if you don't hear from me anymore I won! LOL


He wasted his money - we have the winner.


----------



## Gary A.

snowbear said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> My thoughtful son bought me 10 lottery tickets. So if you don't hear from me anymore I won! LOL
> 
> 
> 
> He wasted his money - we have the winner.
Click to expand...

Sorry Charlie ... the doughnut storekeep assured Gary that he had purchased the winning ticket ... he explained that if it wasn't for his extreme honesty, he would have pocketed Gary's ticket and switched it out for different, losing ticket.


----------



## SquarePeg

I did not win.  I actually had a chance because I bought tickets this time.  

Off to work I go...


----------



## snowbear

Haven't been to SC in years, so we didn't win the big amount.  We haven't checked the tickets for smaller amounts; if any, they will likely be $4 like other times.
Oh, well, we don't play that often ($50 or less per year) so it's just entertainment.


----------



## davidharmier60

You can't win if you don't play.
But also you don't throw away huge amounts of dollars trying to win.
6.25 hours today and for the week so far 16.29. Enjoying chicken tenders and gravy at the deli. Reckon I'll put some gas in the only vehicle that runs. Of course visit the PO. Oh and the library. 

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## smoke665

I suspect that my Son bought my tickets at the outlet store, obviously the numbers were defective - no matches!!!!!!!!!!  Oh well at least I don't have to worry myself sick on how to spend all that money!!!

Just saw this: LOL


----------



## compur

_“The Lottery, with its weekly pay-out of enormous prizes, was the one public event to which the proles [working class] paid serious attention. It was probable that there were some millions of proles for whom the Lottery was the principal if not the only reason for remaining alive. It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their intellectual stimulant. Where the Lottery was concerned, even people who could barely read and write seemed capable of intricate calculations and staggering feats of memory. There was a whole tribe of men who made their living simply by selling systems, forecasts, and lucky amulets. Winston had nothing to do with the Lottery, which was managed by the Ministry of Plenty, but he was aware (indeed everyone in the party was aware) that the prizes were largely imaginary. Only small sums were actually paid out, the winners of the big prizes being nonexistent persons.”_

- George Orwell, _1984_


----------



## limr

compur said:


> _“The Lottery, with its weekly pay-out of enormous prizes, was the one public event to which the proles [working class] paid serious attention. It was probable that there were some millions of proles for whom the Lottery was the principal if not the only reason for remaining alive. It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their intellectual stimulant. Where the Lottery was concerned, even people who could barely read and write seemed capable of intricate calculations and staggering feats of memory. There was a whole tribe of men who made their living simply by selling systems, forecasts, and lucky amulets. Winston had nothing to do with the Lottery, which was managed by the Ministry of Plenty, but he was aware (indeed everyone in the party was aware) that the prizes were largely imaginary. Only small sums were actually paid out, the winners of the big prizes being nonexistent persons.”_
> 
> - George Orwell, _1984_



We can always rely on Orwell for our daily dose of nihilism


----------



## jcdeboever

I don't play, there is a reason no one has won in a while, until yesterday, odds. I actually would buy a ticket to be honest, but I never remember to do so. It just doesn't cross my mind.  If I went into a store and someone tried to sell me, I would buy one.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> compur said:
> 
> 
> 
> _“The Lottery, with its weekly pay-out of enormous prizes, was the one public event to which the proles [working class] paid serious attention. It was probable that there were some millions of proles for whom the Lottery was the principal if not the only reason for remaining alive. It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their intellectual stimulant. Where the Lottery was concerned, even people who could barely read and write seemed capable of intricate calculations and staggering feats of memory. There was a whole tribe of men who made their living simply by selling systems, forecasts, and lucky amulets. Winston had nothing to do with the Lottery, which was managed by the Ministry of Plenty, but he was aware (indeed everyone in the party was aware) that the prizes were largely imaginary. Only small sums were actually paid out, the winners of the big prizes being nonexistent persons.”_
> 
> - George Orwell, _1984_
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We can always rely on Orwell for our daily dose of nihilism
Click to expand...

Had to look that word up.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary are making a wine run to Temecula.


----------



## Gary A.

Arrival


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou and Gary are making a wine run to Temecula.



Just think Gary, if you had won the big one, and had taken the lump sum, after tax you could have bought somewhere in the neighborhood of 30-40 million bottles depending on your taste LOL


----------



## Gary A.

Gary would be happy with just a million or two bottles.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 164920
> Arrival


Sweet Angel’s Waltz ... is sooooo good.


----------



## davidharmier60

Potato Soup for dinner.  The last of the Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla coming up in 30 minutes or so. 

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## Gary A.

We are back from Temecula loaded down with bags of good stuff.


----------



## davidharmier60

4 hours and enough minutes to get 21.16 for the week so far. People's Bank, then our bank, then Post Office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## davidharmier60

Now we are off to early vote and other chores.

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## waday

Got back from Omaha, Nebraska last night. Wish I had the opportunity to see more of the city, but what I walked of it to grab lunch the one day, seemed pretty nice.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Odds are, you'll have fun!! I think that was the saying from our state lottery on our former team's scoreboard. I ought to know, I took enough pictures of the damn thing! lol I had fun at the games, I don't know how much fun it is to buy lottery tickets. Odds are, I enjoy hockey much more.


----------



## davidharmier60

Nite y'all. 

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----------



## Gary A.

It has been a long long day.  There was a good walk with Miss Maggie.  She and Max really mixed it up today.  Some paperwork then off to the yards for mowing and trimming, cleaned out a filter on the pond, installed some stepping stones, demo-ed the old soaker hose system (it was buried 1.5 feet in spots) and installed a new soaker hose system. Then ... some wine and a dip in the hot tub with Mary Lou.  It was sooooooooo nice, lounging in the bubbles, sipping our wine, so relaxing having the jets massage Gary’s aching muscles ... we should have done the hot tub years ago.


----------



## jcdeboever

Gary A. said:


> It has been a long long day.  There was a good walk with Miss Maggie.  She and Max really mixed it up today.  Some paperwork then off to the yards for mowing and trimming, cleaned out a filter on the pond, installed some stepping stones, demo-ed the old soaker hose system (it was buried 1.5 feet in spots) and installed a new soaker hose system. Then ... some wine and a dip in the hot tub with Mary Lou.  It was sooooooooo nice, lounging in the bubbles, sipping our wine, so relaxing having the jets massage Gary’s aching muscles ... we should have done the hot tub years ago.


Last time I was in a hot tub, I woke up in urgent care with a headache and 14 stitches in my head. No more hot tubs for the round guy.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Last time I was in a hot tub



Last time for me was at a hotel in Indy. Had to crawl the last 20 feet back to the room, and felt horrible the next morning. Apparently drinking double vodka martinis while in a hot tub is not a good idea


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> It has been a long long day.  There was a good walk with Miss Maggie.  She and Max really mixed it up today.  Some paperwork then off to the yards for mowing and trimming, cleaned out a filter on the pond, installed some stepping stones, demo-ed the old soaker hose system (it was buried 1.5 feet in spots) and installed a new soaker hose system. Then ... some wine and a dip in the hot tub with Mary Lou.  It was sooooooooo nice, lounging in the bubbles, sipping our wine, so relaxing having the jets massage Gary’s aching muscles ... we should have done the hot tub years ago.



Gary - You've been working hard this fall on your outdoor space.  Glad you're enjoying the hot tub.  I love a nice soak, so relaxing.  I've been threatening the family for a few years that I want to get rid of the pool and just get a hot tub.  But, my mom loves the pool so every spring we open it up and every fall while we're closing it I complain and say this is the last year!  I'd like a nice patio and hot tub with maybe a pergola over it in place of the pool. 

Happy Friday to All!  No work for me today, just kicking back getting some things done around the house.  Need to come up with a theme for this week's challenge.  Time to look back at some of the suggestions people have sent me to find something we haven't done yet.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It has been a long long day.  There was a good walk with Miss Maggie.  She and Max really mixed it up today.  Some paperwork then off to the yards for mowing and trimming, cleaned out a filter on the pond, installed some stepping stones, demo-ed the old soaker hose system (it was buried 1.5 feet in spots) and installed a new soaker hose system. Then ... some wine and a dip in the hot tub with Mary Lou.  It was sooooooooo nice, lounging in the bubbles, sipping our wine, so relaxing having the jets massage Gary’s aching muscles ... we should have done the hot tub years ago.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary - You've been working hard this fall on your outdoor space.  Glad you're enjoying the hot tub.  I love a nice soak, so relaxing.  I've been threatening the family for a few years that I want to get rid of the pool and just get a hot tub.  But, my mom loves the pool so every spring we open it up and every fall while we're closing it I complain and say this is the last year!  I'd like a nice patio and hot tub with maybe a pergola over it in place of the pool.
> 
> Happy Friday to All!  No work for me today, just kicking back getting some things done around the house.  Need to come up with a theme for this week's challenge.  Time to look back at some of the suggestions people have sent me to find something we haven't done yet.
Click to expand...


Do you have space on your pool deck? Our friends for an inflatable one from BJs I think...I thought it was kind of ridiculous at first, but it was cheap and super functional. This is their first winter with it though...it’ll be interesting to see how that goes.


----------



## waday

Happy Friday!

Last time I was in a hot tub, it ended up being a time machine that malfunctioned and took me back to 1986 with my two friends and nephew.


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg We had a pool at the old house. While the kids were younger, it got a lot of use, but as they grew up and went off to college it became an albatross. The last year we were there I think it got used at most a half dozen times. When we built the house, a pool was never in our plans. We've thought about a hot tub, but I suspect we'd get more use from a whirlpool tub.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It has been a long long day.  There was a good walk with Miss Maggie.  She and Max really mixed it up today.  Some paperwork then off to the yards for mowing and trimming, cleaned out a filter on the pond, installed some stepping stones, demo-ed the old soaker hose system (it was buried 1.5 feet in spots) and installed a new soaker hose system. Then ... some wine and a dip in the hot tub with Mary Lou.  It was sooooooooo nice, lounging in the bubbles, sipping our wine, so relaxing having the jets massage Gary’s aching muscles ... we should have done the hot tub years ago.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary - You've been working hard this fall on your outdoor space.  Glad you're enjoying the hot tub.  I love a nice soak, so relaxing.  I've been threatening the family for a few years that I want to get rid of the pool and just get a hot tub.  But, my mom loves the pool so every spring we open it up and every fall while we're closing it I complain and say this is the last year!  I'd like a nice patio and hot tub with maybe a pergola over it in place of the pool.
> 
> Happy Friday to All!  No work for me today, just kicking back getting some things done around the house.  Need to come up with a theme for this week's challenge.  Time to look back at some of the suggestions people have sent me to find something we haven't done yet.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Do you have space on your pool deck? Our friends for an inflatable one from BJs I think...I thought it was kind of ridiculous at first, but it was cheap and super functional. This is their first winter with it though...it’ll be interesting to see how that goes.
Click to expand...


We had a couple of those inflatable ring pools when the kids were younger and they were great.  The only issue in this region is storage over the winter.  You can't leave it up because the temps get too low so you have to store it over the winter.  It can't sit in a shed or unheated garage because the material will get small cracks from the cold.  Learned our lesson after the first one when I had to patch it a dozen times.  Once we started storing them in the basement which is heated, it was great.  We don't have a pool deck.  It's an above ground.  We currently have one of the Intex ultra frame pools that looks just like this:







it's big (12 X 22, 4.5 ft deep) and fairly easy to put up/take down.  This year Princess and 2 of her pals put the pool up without my help in about 2 hours.  I have a company that comes over with a tanker truck full of water and fills it up in about 20 minutes.  It costs me less to fill this pool every year than most of our friends with permanent pools pay to have their pools professionally opened/closed every year.  

We do have friends who have one of the inflatable hot tubs but haven't really discussed with her how they liked it.  They call it the Hillbilly Hot Tub (apologies to any TPF hillbillies).   I really would like a nice 6-8 person tub that I can just flip open and use without a lot of other work.  



smoke665 said:


> @SquarePeg We had a pool at the old house. While the kids were younger, it got a lot of use, but as they grew up and went off to college it became an albatross. The last year we were there I think it got used at most a half dozen times. When we built the house, a pool was never in our plans. We've thought about a hot tub, but I suspect we'd get more use from a whirlpool tub.



The first couple of weeks after the pool is opened, while school is still in session, the yard is full of kids using the pool after school.  After about 3 weeks, the thrill of swimming after a long winter fades and then the beaches will call them away once school is out.  Then it is either my mom in there for a quick swim or my cousin will stop by with his little ones if it's super hot out.  I think he went in the pool more than I did this year.  When I'm in the pool I'm usually vacuuming it!


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> It has been a long long day.  There was a good walk with Miss Maggie.  She and Max really mixed it up today.  Some paperwork then off to the yards for mowing and trimming, cleaned out a filter on the pond, installed some stepping stones, demo-ed the old soaker hose system (it was buried 1.5 feet in spots) and installed a new soaker hose system. Then ... some wine and a dip in the hot tub with Mary Lou.  It was sooooooooo nice, lounging in the bubbles, sipping our wine, so relaxing having the jets massage Gary’s aching muscles ... we should have done the hot tub years ago.
> 
> 
> 
> Last time I was in a hot tub, I woke up in urgent care with a headache and 14 stitches in my head. No more hot tubs for the round guy.
Click to expand...

You must have looked like Frankenstein...


----------



## smoke665

Out in the woods, if we want a hot tub, all it takes is borrowing the stock tank, stack a few cinder blocks, and build a fire in an old oil drum (helps if you burn the oil out first LOL), you slide the drum closer or farther away depending on what you want the water temp to be.


----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!   It's rainy and chilly here - I love it, after all the dry heat of September.   This is yummy.   Wine and .... something for dinner tonight.     

I love the _idea_ of a hot tub, but not the maintenance.   If the hubby liked them better, it would help, but he's largely indifferent.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Or... use a water trough?? lol Used to see them out along country roads but don't see them anymore.

Have never been in a hot tub, and I like showers better than taking baths so not interested in one. In a cool pool when it's hot out was fine for me (but never interested in owning/cleaning one). I have sat on a water bed, and that was all I did in it or on it, might as well be in a canoe. Which I've done with kids on the river, and not doing that ever again either! lol I'm a landlubber.

Kind of engrossing being home during the day and seeing news as it's happening, been watching them load up a van apparently belonging to the person who has been arrested for the bomb mailings. Disturbing they still found more. Probably will still be at a Dr. appt. when there's a press conference at 2:30.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> Out in the woods, if we want a hot tub, all it takes is borrowing the stock tank, stack a few cinder blocks, and build a fire in an old oil drum (helps if you burn the oil out first LOL), you slide the drum closer or farther away depending on what you want the water temp to be.
> View attachment 164978


OMG!    Don't fall asleep; you might end up boiled to death!


----------



## Gary A.

We are literally surrounded by pools. We really prefer the hot tub to a pool plus it leaves significant room for gardening. Mary Lou practices some water aerobics in the tub. Gary drinks vino.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou likes it cool ... so the tub is set at 98F.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> OMG! Don't fall asleep; you might end up boiled to death!



Adds another dimension to a "Red neck". 



Gary A. said:


> Mary Lou likes it cool ... so the tub is set at 98F.



Wouldn't that make it "Lukewarm" tub?


----------



## limr

I would rather have a pool. Hot tubs make me feel kinda sick after about 5-10 minutes. They kinda freak me out. I would rather sit in a bathtub and let the water slowly cool until it's time to get out. When I move, I want to invest in a really great bathtub.

I would use a pool far more than a hot tub. I love to swim, so it would allow me to finally be able to exercise outdoors in the summer. I used to swim laps regularly and I miss it a lot.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Hot tubs make me feel kinda sick after about 5-10 minutes.


I completely agree. I've only been in a hot tub once in my life. I got out within 5 minutes, as I overheated very easily. While I like my showers HOT, I dislike immersing myself in hot water. Baths are also usually a no for me...


----------



## terri

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hot tubs make me feel kinda sick after about 5-10 minutes.
> 
> 
> 
> I completely agree. I've only been in a hot tub once in my life. I got out within 5 minutes, as I overheated very easily. While I like my showers HOT, I dislike immersing myself in hot water. Baths are also usually a no for me...
Click to expand...

If you can't personally control the temperature, then I agree.   I've been in one where I had to keep getting out or I'd start to feel nauseated, and it was awful.   I've also been in one that was delightful, with air jets, room to bob around, and just relax in.   They can be wonderful or they can be icky.    No question.


----------



## tirediron

Hot tubs:  Nothing more than a big old pool of Campbell's Cream of Human Effluent Soup!


----------



## Gary A.

terri said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hot tubs make me feel kinda sick after about 5-10 minutes.
> 
> 
> 
> I completely agree. I've only been in a hot tub once in my life. I got out within 5 minutes, as I overheated very easily. While I like my showers HOT, I dislike immersing myself in hot water. Baths are also usually a no for me...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> If you can't personally control the temperature, then I agree.   I've been in one where I had to keep getting out or I'd start to feel nauseated, and it was awful.   I've also been in one that was delightful, with air jets, room to bob around, and just relax in.   They can be wonderful or they can be icky.    No question.
Click to expand...

Gary and Mary Lou's tub seats "six" (which means four comfortably), a ton of jets from the feet to the neck (60 IIRC), each station/seat has different types of jets ... some stations swirl, some pulsate, some are needle point, et cetera. There is a waterfall, which Gary initially thought as dumb, but once in the waterfall adds a lot of ambience.  The color of the light is controllable and even the waterfall internally lights up.  The amount of bubbles is controllable and the global power of the jets is controllable and all the jets (sans the needle point jets), are individually controllable.


----------



## vintagesnaps

A waterfall, disco lights, and you garden in there?? ooohh

I'm just being a smart aleck, I know you meant there's room to garden in your backyard AKA your outdoor paradise as well as have a hot tub.

I think John's on the right track, toss in some noodles and slap a Campbell's Soup label on the side! lol relax in it and when you get out, dinner's ready!


----------



## davidharmier60

As a general rule in Texas if you want a hot tub or sauna just got outside.
Today I had to bug out a little earlier than I wanted to. The truck left my Sister stranded at the food truck.
I got a 60amp push button switch and wired it in. Key on and push button. Dad thinks the valets at the VA will be terribly confused. But the switch is easy to see as you get in.
26.xx after 5 days. 31 ought to be easy enough.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sharon thinks Gary should get a U Soup 5000. But it'll attract swingers.


----------



## vintagesnaps

And one of these - it's bluetooth!


----------



## Jeff15

Hot Tubs, how the rich live...............?...........


----------



## ceemac

smoke665 said:


> Wouldn't that make it "Lukewarm" tub?


What's happenned to your memory, Smoke? It depends who's in it.


----------



## smoke665

ceemac said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wouldn't that make it "Lukewarm" tub?
> 
> 
> 
> What's happenned to your memory, Smoke? It depends who's in it.
Click to expand...


That ship sailed years ago. LOL Unless that other "who" had a fifth of good sipping bourbon and an assortment of tailgate goodies to snack on.


----------



## SquarePeg

Once was in an outdoor hot tub at a ski resort in winter and it started snowing. It was a wonderfully bizarre experience. 

Running back toward the indoor pool area through the snow in your bathing suit and towel trying not to end up on your ass completely removes whatever relaxation you got from the tub to begin with.


----------



## jcdeboever




----------



## SquarePeg

Yikes Hosers!  Was up until after 3am watching the Red Sox lose in extra extra extra innings.  Sooooo tired today.  Going to cancel my original plans to drive up to my brother’s house in NH for lunch at some pub they’ve been raving about.  Nasty rainy weather and over tired driver are a bad combo.  

Instead I’m going to watch Netflix, edit photos on the couch and take cat naps all day.  Might have a few friends over for the game tonight if the bad weather doesn’t keep everyone home.  

What is everyone up to today?  Tomorrow?


----------



## davidharmier60

5 hours and enough to have 32.25 for the week. Post Office where I might have 1, 3 or no watches waiting. Then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 
Later to the house we probably are going to move into to look around a bit.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Yikes Hosers!  Was up until after 3am watching the Red Sox lose in extra extra extra innings.  Sooooo tired today.  Going to cancel my original plans to drive up to my brother’s house in NH for lunch at some pub they’ve been raving about.  Nasty rainy weather and over tired driver are a bad combo.
> 
> Instead I’m going to watch Netflix, edit photos on the couch and take cat naps all day.  Might have a few friends over for the game tonight if the bad weather doesn’t keep everyone home.
> 
> What is everyone up to today?  Tomorrow?


Relaxing weekend here.   The rain has moved out and is headed your way, I'm afraid.   The wind has picked up and it feels chillier than it is.   We have a pot of chili brewing.   Cooking and staying in rule the day.   The cats like it.   

Get some rest!


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Yikes Hosers!  Was up until after 3am watching the Red Sox lose in extra extra extra innings.  Sooooo tired today.  Going to cancel my original plans to drive up to my brother’s house in NH for lunch at some pub they’ve been raving about.  Nasty rainy weather and over tired driver are a bad combo.
> 
> Instead I’m going to watch Netflix, edit photos on the couch and take cat naps all day.  Might have a few friends over for the game tonight if the bad weather doesn’t keep everyone home.
> 
> What is everyone up to today?  Tomorrow?



I've hit the point in every semester that essentially grinds time to a halt, and every day feels like it takes an entire week. This generally means that my weekends are spent in a stupor, trying to recover from the approximately 168 hours I've worked each day during the week.

So yeah, I'm still in my robe, doing some puttering, doing little chores here and there, interspersed with couch time with the kitties. Going to watch some college football a little later with some pizza and Buzz.

Tomorrow? Probably more of the same. Minus the college football. And the pizza will be a day old.


----------



## davidharmier60

Were two watches in the mail. 
This and a Timex Waterbury.




Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Man ... Gary is at Costco and there are no parking places. He had to sit and wait until someone pulled out.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Man ... Gary is at Vostco and there are no parking places. He had to sit and wait until someone pulled out.



Dodger fans and stocking up for tailgate and game watching parties?  Everyone buying extra coffee for tonight?


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Yikes Hosers!  Was up until after 3am watching the Red Sox lose in extra extra extra innings.  Sooooo tired today.  Going to cancel my original plans to drive up to my brother’s house in NH for lunch at some pub they’ve been raving about.  Nasty rainy weather and over tired driver are a bad combo.
> 
> Instead I’m going to watch Netflix, edit photos on the couch and take cat naps all day.  Might have a few friends over for the game tonight if the bad weather doesn’t keep everyone home.
> 
> What is everyone up to today?  Tomorrow?


Relaxing day in with wife and daughter. We worked so much last week, I traveled out of state for several days, we’re ready to relax. Plus, the rain all day today made it easy.


----------



## Gary A.

Tonight Mary Lou and Gary are having guests for dinner than off to the Maverick Theater for a play, _Night of the Living Dead_. Should be fun. Gary has a Tri-Tip in the Sous Vide, it’s been simmering away for 30+ hours.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Man ... Gary is at Costco and there are no parking places. He had to sit and wait until someone pulled out.



We made the mistake of stopping at Wally World yesterday afternoon. Note for future-never go to Wally World on a fall Saturday afternoon in Alabama when Bama and Auburn both have a bye.


----------



## limr

@waday Have you seen all of these?
Party Rock Anthem has the same BPM as a lot of songs, and it's a glorious meme now

I personally most enjoy the Depeche Mode and Dropkick Murphy versions. There is also one song that sounds like it's k-pop or similar, and it is quite entertaining.


----------



## davidharmier60

Happy Sunday y'all. 
Very nice weather. 
No big plans for the day except to search for the magic penny and look at Comics. 
And get out of the living room and away from Fox News. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

limr said:


> @waday Have you seen all of these?
> Party Rock Anthem has the same BPM as a lot of songs, and it's a glorious meme now
> 
> I personally most enjoy the Depeche Mode and Dropkick Murphy versions. There is also one song that sounds like it's k-pop or similar, and it is quite entertaining.


LOL! I had not seen those...

Some of those are really, really funny! The Depeche Mode on was good... the Cantina Band, haha. The Gotye one actually works pretty well, too!


----------



## Fujidave

Hi folks, my laptop has been going crazy so will be getting a new one this Tuesday/ordering it from Dell.  17inch screen but have a choice of two.


----------



## terri

A beautiful Sunday here - 72 degrees for a high and deep, clear blue sky.      Car washing now, football later.   Laid back day. 

Happy Sunday, hosers!


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Foggy this morning.  Just a surprise as yesterday was pretty warm.  Yesterday was successful, the Sous Vide Tri-Tip was super, simmered for 30+ hours in wine, herbs and seasonings.  We and guests ate in the patio and watched the start of the LA-Boston game.  Dinner menu was Tri-Tip, scalloped potatoes, garden fresh salads, garlic bread and Blanc de Blancs.  Then, with the top down, we were off to The Maverick Theater for _Night of the Living Dead_.  The play was nothing but fun ... good, old fashion scary fun.  The theater is tiny which brings the audience, all of the audience, into the story. Lots and lots of zombies coming out of every window, door and crevice ... tons of severed limbs, shotgun blasts and a cornucopia of flesh eating.  In the end, a truck crashes through the stage.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## smoke665

Beautiful day here. Up at 6 this morning for early service, then back to get in a little time on the deck. Weather has taken a toll on it, with several boards needing replacement.


----------



## davidharmier60

No magic penny. 
Classic music on YouTube. 
Seems to be quite nice outside.
The AC hasn't come on yet today.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Salmon patties and Mac and cheese for dinner. Still no ice cream. Have $10 to get gas in the truck. Life is hard and then you die.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Gary sunk the new soaker hose(s) into its new location ... more digging and squirming amongst roses.  He is semi-beat ... time for a shower and get ready for the WS. He is gulping up some Dr. Pepper and snacking on Cheese Puffs.  Mary Lou claims that Cheese Puffs are nutritious.


----------



## Gary A.

On Maggie and Gary's morning constitutional, we ran into a few of Maggie's friends, Honey, Chloe and Franklin. (Maggie has more friends than Gary.)  On the way out of the park we ran into two new dogs, Jack and Rivers. Both were rescued from the pound and physically, both dogs looked like they had the same parents. The human attached to the new dogs said she recently had the dogs DNA tested and the tan/brown and white pooch was a pure-breed American Staffordshire Terrier and the black & white some mix of pit bull et al. Both dogs were simply beautiful and equally magnificent.  The Amstaffs look like a pit bulls who have trained for a combo beauty and muscle building contest. Maggie, the parks social director, broke down their initial reservations and aloofness and after a spell and Maggie's persistence, the new dogs reluctantly joined the pack and all running and playing together.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Cheese Puffs are nutritious.



Can't believe you didn't know. That's why Utz comes in the large economy size LOL


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Cheese Puffs are nutritious.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Can't believe you didn't know. That's why Utz comes in the large economy size LOL
> View attachment 165062
Click to expand...

Gary has spent much of his life living in foreign countries ... consequently, much of his formal 'American'  education is lacking.


----------



## snowbear

I went to one of the local L.L. Bean stores yesterday, and got myself what I thought was a three season coat - water resistant outer shell with warm removable liner that can be worn alone.  But, apparently I actually bought myself a light rain jacket and Zoe a cat bed.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Uh oh, I think the movie on TCM now might be the one where - a mummy enters the darkroom!!! And a wooden tripod doesn't faze the mummy - oh wait, that's a vampire that a wooden stake is supposed to do in. Well, it's a heckuva thing for a mummy to disturb someone making prints in the darkroom.






Oh yeah, this is it, the guy was just hanging up some prints to dry, that mummy's got to find him soon (I hope, some of these Hammer films are so cheesy).


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Gary and guests are watching the WS after a very nice dinner in the patio. Tom brought over some Korean style chicken and spicy pork which Gary grilled up on the BBQ.  Mary Lou worked on the sides, rice, salad, grilled veggies and garlic bread. Cookies and espresso for dessert for those with a sweet tooth.


----------



## Gary A.

Our friend Ann getting devoured by some zombies who were waiting for us in the parking lot.


----------



## davidharmier60

Monday. It all starts over. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Well it might of taken me ages to do but have just managed to get my X-T3 cashback sorted out and have made up my mind what Dell 17inch laptop to get then I can start to get back in the photography.


Inspiron 17 7786 2-in-1 Laptop with Dell Cinema | Dell UK


----------



## davidharmier60

Monday Madness. 4.30 hours today and for the week so far. Could have gone and gotten propane. But not enough gas to do so. She says it'll get done. I'm not ready to bet on it. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers. Another foggy morning ... there is no joy in Mudville, the mighty Dodgers have struck out.


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning Hosers!  

Congrats to the 2018 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox!!!!


----------



## Fujidave

I have ALWAYS said, bet on RED 
Reason why, I loved Babe Ruth.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Morning Hosers!
> 
> Congrats to the 2018 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox!!!!


Happy that they came through, I know you've been a fan all season!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Hosers!
> 
> Congrats to the 2018 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> Happy that they came through, I know you've been a fan all season!
Click to expand...


Been  a fan since age 10 in 1975 when the Sox lost to the Reds in 7 games.   Glad to see the "lovable losers" days are long over!


----------



## jcdeboever

I like cheese balls


----------



## limr

Congrats, Red Sox!

Does this mean baseball is over now???


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Does this mean baseball is over now???


Sports never end...


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Congrats, Red Sox!
> 
> Does this mean baseball is over now???



Yes, until April.


----------



## Fujidave

As a little boy growing up in Australia my father followed the Red Sox and it was him who got me into it too.  All time favourites were Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb.  I never knew the rules but just loved it all.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does this mean baseball is over now???
> 
> 
> 
> Sports never end...
Click to expand...


Ah, I said baseball, not all sports  It's just that I don't give a crap about baseball. College football and hockey are my thing. Summer is a sports wasteland as far as I am concerned


----------



## smoke665

Had a visitor this morning just before lunch. Outside working and looked up to see a large doe, just standing there watching me. I've kind of missed their visits the last few months, so glad to see her. There was a time when we had a couple that lived on the property year round, every year they'd bring the babies up to the front yard to show them off. In the fall, herds would move through with as many as a dozen or more, they could be a little destructive to trees, but for some reason they all disappeared for several months.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Had a visitor this morning just before lunch. Outside working and looked up to see a large doe, just standing there watching me. I've kind of missed their visits the last few months, so glad to see her. There was a time when we had a couple that lived on the property year round, every year they'd bring the babies up to the front yard to show them off. In the fall, herds would move through with as many as a dozen or more, they could be a little destructive to trees, but for some reason they all disappeared for several months.



Maybe a predator moved in but has now moved on.


----------



## jcdeboever

limr said:


> Congrats, Red Sox!
> 
> Does this mean baseball is over now???


It's never over.


----------



## jcdeboever

smoke665 said:


> Had a visitor this morning just before lunch. Outside working and looked up to see a large doe, just standing there watching me. I've kind of missed their visits the last few months, so glad to see her. There was a time when we had a couple that lived on the property year round, every year they'd bring the babies up to the front yard to show them off. In the fall, herds would move through with as many as a dozen or more, they could be a little destructive to trees, but for some reason they all disappeared for several months.


Have you changed from your old spice aftershave?


----------



## waday

@snowbear , what are your thoughts on the new season of Doctor Who?

First, I'll just say that, IMO, Jodie Whittaker fits right in as the Doctor. She's great.

I'll put my thoughts on the last three episodes in a spoiler just in case you haven't seen them and because of River Song 



Spoiler: Thoughts/Possible Spoilers



The first episode seemed very Doctor Who. I was happy. It had everything it needed, for me anyways, including an alien, action, humorous back and forth between the Doctor and the villain, etc.

The second episode was good, but it was very reminiscent of Timeless. Not sure if you've watched that show or not, but it was way, way too close to that. I mean, I liked it, but it felt like a Timeless episode. The wife and I are big Timeless fans, as well, so it was an easy spot. I get that shows can be similar, but that was way too close.

The third episode now, I'm kinda scratching my head. There wasn't anything "alien" about the arachnids. Yes, they were big and scary, but it wasn't alien. And, the way it ended, a "natural" death being trapped in a room and forced to starve to death? That doesn't seem humane at all...

So, trying to figure out if this show is morphing into a generic Sci-Fi (with the same "meh" writing) rather than being the classic Doctor Who that I love. I guess I need to keep watching and not freak out just yet.

I read an article before the series started that indicated that we should expect a new Doctor Who, and that we likely wouldn't see any of the previous villains. So, no Daleks, no Cybermen, etc. If true, that's disappointing to me. I'm hoping that they don't completely remove all previous Doctor Who characters in an attempt to "reinvent" the show with a female Doctor. IMO, they don't need to do that, because Jodie Whittaker is a great Doctor.


----------



## Fujidave

waday said:


> @snowbear , what are your thoughts on the new season of Doctor Who?
> 
> First, I'll just say that, IMO, Jodie Whittaker fits right in as the Doctor. She's great.
> 
> I'll put my thoughts on the last three episodes in a spoiler just in case you haven't seen them and because of River Song
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Thoughts/Possible Spoilers
> 
> 
> 
> The first episode seemed very Doctor Who. I was happy. It had everything it needed, for me anyways, including an alien, action, humorous back and forth between the Doctor and the villain, etc.
> 
> The second episode was good, but it was very reminiscent of Timeless. Not sure if you've watched that show or not, but it was way, way too close to that. I mean, I liked it, but it felt like a Timeless episode. The wife and I are big Timeless fans, as well, so it was an easy spot. I get that shows can be similar, but that was way too close.
> 
> The third episode now, I'm kinda scratching my head. There wasn't anything "alien" about the arachnids. Yes, they were big and scary, but it wasn't alien. And, the way it ended, a "natural" death being trapped in a room and forced to starve to death? That doesn't seem humane at all...
> 
> So, trying to figure out if this show is morphing into a generic Sci-Fi (with the same "meh" writing) rather than being the classic Doctor Who that I love. I guess I need to keep watching and not freak out just yet.
> 
> I read an article before the series started that indicated that we should expect a new Doctor Who, and that we likely wouldn't see any of the previous villains. So, no Daleks, no Cybermen, etc. If true, that's disappointing to me. I'm hoping that they don't completely remove all previous Doctor Who characters in an attempt to "reinvent" the show with a female Doctor. IMO, they don't need to do that, because Jodie Whittaker is a great Doctor.




IMO Jodie is a very good and fine actress and she will fit in very well as the new Doctor.


----------



## waday

Fujidave said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> @snowbear , what are your thoughts on the new season of Doctor Who?
> 
> First, I'll just say that, IMO, Jodie Whittaker fits right in as the Doctor. She's great.
> 
> I'll put my thoughts on the last three episodes in a spoiler just in case you haven't seen them and because of River Song
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Thoughts/Possible Spoilers
> 
> 
> 
> The first episode seemed very Doctor Who. I was happy. It had everything it needed, for me anyways, including an alien, action, humorous back and forth between the Doctor and the villain, etc.
> 
> The second episode was good, but it was very reminiscent of Timeless. Not sure if you've watched that show or not, but it was way, way too close to that. I mean, I liked it, but it felt like a Timeless episode. The wife and I are big Timeless fans, as well, so it was an easy spot. I get that shows can be similar, but that was way too close.
> 
> The third episode now, I'm kinda scratching my head. There wasn't anything "alien" about the arachnids. Yes, they were big and scary, but it wasn't alien. And, the way it ended, a "natural" death being trapped in a room and forced to starve to death? That doesn't seem humane at all...
> 
> So, trying to figure out if this show is morphing into a generic Sci-Fi (with the same "meh" writing) rather than being the classic Doctor Who that I love. I guess I need to keep watching and not freak out just yet.
> 
> I read an article before the series started that indicated that we should expect a new Doctor Who, and that we likely wouldn't see any of the previous villains. So, no Daleks, no Cybermen, etc. If true, that's disappointing to me. I'm hoping that they don't completely remove all previous Doctor Who characters in an attempt to "reinvent" the show with a female Doctor. IMO, they don't need to do that, because Jodie Whittaker is a great Doctor.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IMO Jodie is a very good and fine actress and she will fit in very well as the new Doctor.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree. She fits the personality very well.


----------



## jcdeboever

Oh my my 63mm arrived today and I paid for the GFX50R.  I am out of lotion.


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> Have you changed from your old spice aftershave?



Maybe it's the aftershave and the sign?


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Maybe a predator moved in but has now moved on.



Yup the two cougars we had roaming around scared a lot of critters and people. The four legged kind not to be confused with the two legged kind, who are still here, still scaring people but at least don't bother the deer.


----------



## smoke665

To often we complain about companies but never brag on them. Couple of years ago we stumbled onto a coffee roaster in Orlando, FL by the name of Javantino https://www.javatino.com/ the owner was so gracious and friendly and coffees so good that we've continue to order from them. If you order two or more bags the shipping is free. Last Friday I placed a renewal order and inadvertently duplicated an item without even noticing till it charged my card. I called Jose and explained the problem to which he said he'd take care of it and issue a credit. Today I got an email in that the order had just been roasted and shipped. Imagine my surprise when I found that he not only issued a credit for the duplicate, but shipped the duplicate anyhow. Called it an early Holiday gift in appreciation for being a good customer. Great company if you like coffee!


----------



## SquarePeg

SquarePeg said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sewing the pups Christmas attire for their annual photo.  I am not sure about building a set this year.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You’re multi talented!  Looking forward to seeing your results.  I can’t sew.  If I can find it I’ll share the photo of the duct tape rain coat Princess made for the neighbor’s dog when she was about 10.
Click to expand...


Look what popped up in my facebook memories feed today!  This is our pup’s bff Riley wearing an original creation by Princess.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Had a visitor this morning just before lunch. Outside working and looked up to see a large doe, just standing there watching me. I've kind of missed their visits the last few months, so glad to see her. There was a time when we had a couple that lived on the property year round, every year they'd bring the babies up to the front yard to show them off. In the fall, herds would move through with as many as a dozen or more, they could be a little destructive to trees, but for some reason they all disappeared for several months.


In other news...  Smoke is out shopping for a new, larger freezer!


----------



## JonA_CT

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a visitor this morning just before lunch. Outside working and looked up to see a large doe, just standing there watching me. I've kind of missed their visits the last few months, so glad to see her. There was a time when we had a couple that lived on the property year round, every year they'd bring the babies up to the front yard to show them off. In the fall, herds would move through with as many as a dozen or more, they could be a little destructive to trees, but for some reason they all disappeared for several months.
> 
> 
> 
> In other news...  Smoke is out shopping for a new, larger freezer!
Click to expand...


I trust that he has plenty of space for whichever of god's creatures he needs to store. He strikes me as the kinda guy who is prepared for these types of situations, haha.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary spent the afternoon restoring the backyard.  Finally, the new grass seed is beginning to sprout.  Gary planted a palette worth of herbs and a pair of Flowering Maples.  Rosemary, lavenadar, parsley, cilantro, thyme, oregano all made it into the ground.  Gary is using these herbs as a ground cover and not planted as a garden. He ran into some very healthy grubs while collecting compost from the compost bins.  They were about as long and as thick as Gary’s pinky finger.  The koi were quite appreciative of the grubs.


----------



## smoke665

@tirediron and @JonA_CT I haven't deer hunted in a few years. The stands are still there waiting, and the green fields are still maintained, but I just don't do well sitting in the cold anymore, the DW views them as cute pets, and frowns on me shooting them. I get enough venison from friends and neighbors to satisfy my needs so they get a pass on our place, until they become pests. When they start eating DWs flowers and plants she thinks less fondly of them  I do still enjoy bird hunting though. There's something about watching a dog get birdie, thats such a rush.


----------



## davidharmier60

Man y'all are verbose.
Tuesday. A full store scrub and buff day.
Got a pretty good mug. 
See a deer around here at times.
Even in the backyard until the dogs see them. Congrats to the Red Sox.
Later y'all. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Even Gary's fish eat first class, geez his whole eco system is living the good life.


----------



## Gary A.

jcdeboever said:


> Even Gary's fish eat first class, geez his whole eco system is living the good life.


Chez Gary ... guests often comment how fat the koi are.  Gary has been cutting down on the amount of koi food he dumps into the pond. With all the trenching and grading for the hot tub, the koi have been snacking on lots of grubs and slugs. The koi are sooooo soothing ... it is nice to relax by the pond, the sounds of a gentle waterfall, a glass of wine or a tea, read the paper and watch the koi glide by.  The koi are well over a foot long and must weight around 10+ pounds.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> The koi are well over a foot long and must weight around 10+ pounds.



I've heard pickled carp isn't bad


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> The koi are well over a foot long and must weight around 10+ pounds.



Wow, that's huge!  How big is the pond?


----------



## Gary A.

SquarePeg said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The koi are well over a foot long and must weight around 10+ pounds.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow, that's huge!  How big is the pond?
Click to expand...

It is irregularly shaped, but Gary figures between 2400 and 2800 gallons. About four feet at the deepest, about a foot in the shallowest. (A bit of a shallow shelf for sitting and communing with the fish.)


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> The koi are well over a foot long and must weight around 10+ pounds.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've heard pickled carp isn't bad
Click to expand...

Koi normal lifespan is between 20-30 years.


----------



## Fujidave

Dell call centres are totally clueless, why can`t companies use people who you can understand and they can understand you, laptop ordered but only after over an hour on the phone


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Dell call centres are totally clueless, why can`t companies use people who you can understand and they can understand you, laptop ordered but only after over an hour on the phone



I've used Dell for years, but I may have to go with another brand this time. They just don't seem to be competitive on price or features.


----------



## SquarePeg

We have a Toshiba laptop that has really been tested and performed well.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> We have a Toshiba laptop that has really been tested and performed well.



My other laptop is an oldish Toshiba Satellite 15.6 screen and the screen is stunning.  As windows 10 is slow on it I might put Linux Mint back on it as it was fast then.


----------



## vintagesnaps

'There's something funny going on in this joint.' 

Yep, Bogie with a white streak in his hair like the bride of Frankenstein.

Getting ready for trick or treat - getting out my big jack-o-lantern bowl to wash today for the candy tomorrow, etc.

'Whad'ya think this is, Halloween??' says the butler in the spooky mansion.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dell call centres are totally clueless, why can`t companies use people who you can understand and they can understand you, laptop ordered but only after over an hour on the phone
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've used Dell for years, but I may have to go with another brand this time. They just don't seem to be competitive on price or features.
Click to expand...


It`s the very first time with me getting a Dell, I split the price with my Mum and she was like, How much


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> It`s the very first time with me getting a Dell, I split the price with my Mum and she was like, How much



I've got to replace my Dell laptop, it's been a good one, but it's been well used. The keys are worn slick, the DVD is gone, and it's acting funky. What did you get????


----------



## Fujidave

Got this one. £1,048.99



Inspiron 17 7786 2-in-1 Laptop with Dell Cinema | Dell UK


----------



## vintagesnaps

Moral of the story - don't fire off flashbulbs from your Speed Graphics at Kong or next thing you know he's climbing up buildings. Especially not with a three head flash.


----------



## Gary A.

_The Hate U Give _is exceptional, a must see. At least five star. Brilliant and emotional.


----------



## JonA_CT

Gary A. said:


> _The Hate U Give _is exceptional, a must see. At least five star. Brilliant and emotional.



The book was great. A bunch of my students have read it, but our field trip request to see it was denied. Sigh.


----------



## dxqcanada

smoke665 said:


> I've got to replace my Dell laptop, it's been a good one, but it's been well used. The keys are worn slick, the DVD is gone, and it's acting funky. What did you get????



After my MacBook GPU quit on me I got a Dell XPS 13 ... cause I could not afford a 12" MacBook.


----------



## Gary A.

_The Hate U Give _is an exceptional movie, truly a must see. At least five star. Brilliant and emotional and powerful. (Plus, one of Mary Lou’s students worked on the film.)


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _The Hate U Give _is exceptional, a must see. At least five star. Brilliant and emotional.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The book was great. A bunch of my students have read it, but our field trip request to see it was denied. Sigh.
Click to expand...

Interesting.  Was it deemed inappropriate for the age of the students, or something similar?    

Kudos for asking, since your students were already familiar with it.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _The Hate U Give _is exceptional, a must see. At least five star. Brilliant and emotional.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The book was great. A bunch of my students have read it, but our field trip request to see it was denied. Sigh.
Click to expand...

*sigh* ... hey, maybe for extra credit ... what powerful discussions comparing the book to the movie with race relations as a common thread.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou, Maggie and Gary are enjoying the 75F afternoon, sipping some wine, snacking an empanada from a new bakery we discovered and watching cable news.


----------



## JonA_CT

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _The Hate U Give _is exceptional, a must see. At least five star. Brilliant and emotional.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The book was great. A bunch of my students have read it, but our field trip request to see it was denied. Sigh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Interesting.  Was it deemed inappropriate for the age of the students, or something similar?
> 
> Kudos for asking, since your students were already familiar with it.
Click to expand...


Who do you think gave them the book? 



Gary A. said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _The Hate U Give _is exceptional, a must see. At least five star. Brilliant and emotional.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The book was great. A bunch of my students have read it, but our field trip request to see it was denied. Sigh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> *sigh* ... hey, maybe for extra credit ... what powerful discussions comparing the book to the movie with the race relations as a common thread.
Click to expand...


For sure. That's the reason it wasn't approved. My principal tried to say it was too sexual (nope), but he finally admitted that he was worried about parental/community kickback because the issues are hotly contested right now. Too real. Too fresh. Too emotional.

Honestly...from his perspective, I get it. Principals are quickly becoming political figures, and risky decisions can cause contracts to be non-renewed.

But then, he said this: "You know -- if you get a movie with a lot of positive messages -- like remember that movie Remember the Titans? I'd be happy to approve something like that." 

That's when I realized that he didn't get it, and he probably won't ever.


----------



## Gary A.

Taco Tuesday! A buck fifty each, above are chicken, crispy shrimp and a fish taco.


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _The Hate U Give _is exceptional, a must see. At least five star. Brilliant and emotional.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The book was great. A bunch of my students have read it, but our field trip request to see it was denied. Sigh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Interesting.  Was it deemed inappropriate for the age of the students, or something similar?
> 
> Kudos for asking, since your students were already familiar with it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Who do you think gave them the book?
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _The Hate U Give _is exceptional, a must see. At least five star. Brilliant and emotional.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The book was great. A bunch of my students have read it, but our field trip request to see it was denied. Sigh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> *sigh* ... hey, maybe for extra credit ... what powerful discussions comparing the book to the movie with the race relations as a common thread.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For sure. That's the reason it wasn't approved. My principal tried to say it was too sexual (nope), but he finally admitted that he was worried about parental/community kickback because the issues are hotly contested right now. Too real. Too fresh. Too emotional.
> 
> Honestly...from his perspective, I get it. Principals are quickly becoming political figures, and risky decisions can cause contracts to be non-renewed.
> 
> But then, he said this: "You know -- if you get a movie with a lot of positive messages -- like remember that movie Remember the Titans? I'd be happy to approve something like that."
> 
> That's when I realized that he didn't get it, and he probably won't ever.
Click to expand...

OMG no comparison between those two movies.  The principal is sorta like a politician where it is better to get re-elected than do the right thing.


----------



## Gary A.

Honestly, Gary didn’t expect much ... thinking ... okay, Mary Lou owes me one, as we’re here for her former student. The movie brought tears to Mary Lou and Gary stood up and applauded at the end.


----------



## Gary A.




----------



## dxqcanada

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 165172
> 
> Taco Tuesday! A buck fifty each, above are chicken, crispy shrimp and a fish taco.



That ain't Taco Bell !!!


----------



## Gary A.

JonA_CT said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _The Hate U Give _is exceptional, a must see. At least five star. Brilliant and emotional.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The book was great. A bunch of my students have read it, but our field trip request to see it was denied. Sigh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Interesting.  Was it deemed inappropriate for the age of the students, or something similar?
> 
> Kudos for asking, since your students were already familiar with it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Who do you think gave them the book?
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> _The Hate U Give _is exceptional, a must see. At least five star. Brilliant and emotional.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The book was great. A bunch of my students have read it, but our field trip request to see it was denied. Sigh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> *sigh* ... hey, maybe for extra credit ... what powerful discussions comparing the book to the movie with the race relations as a common thread.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> For sure. That's the reason it wasn't approved. My principal tried to say it was too sexual (nope), but he finally admitted that he was worried about parental/community kickback because the issues are hotly contested right now. Too real. Too fresh. Too emotional.
> 
> Honestly...from his perspective, I get it. Principals are quickly becoming political figures, and risky decisions can cause contracts to be non-renewed.
> 
> But then, he said this: "You know -- if you get a movie with a lot of positive messages -- like remember that movie Remember the Titans? I'd be happy to approve something like that."
> 
> That's when I realized that he didn't get it, and he probably won't ever.
Click to expand...

And too honest.


----------



## Gary A.

dxqcanada said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 165172
> 
> Taco Tuesday! A buck fifty each, above are chicken, crispy shrimp and a fish taco.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That ain't Taco Bell !!!
Click to expand...

The taco were great and the salsa amazing. Next door was a Latin American bakery which, even after eating a plateful of tacos, thrust my salivary glands into high gear.


----------



## Gary A.

The end.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> and a fish taco.



Ohhhh, good fish tacos are my downfall.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sewing the pups Christmas attire for their annual photo.  I am not sure about building a set this year.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You’re multi talented!  Looking forward to seeing your results.  I can’t sew.  If I can find it I’ll share the photo of the duct tape rain coat Princess made for the neighbor’s dog when she was about 10.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Look what popped up in my facebook memories feed today!  This is our pup’s bff Riley wearing an original creation by Princess.
> View attachment 165131
Click to expand...


Love it!  Your daughter is very creative.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> and a fish taco.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ohhhh, good fish tacos are my downfall.
Click to expand...

Then you would live at Ortega’s Fish & Grill. It is a fresh seafood market as well..


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> Then you would live at Ortega’s Fish & Grill. It is a fresh seafood market as well.



Living in an area that has a high concentration of Hispanic communities, we are fortunate that some of them have opened really good restaurants, a few of which satisfy my cravings for a good fish taco.


----------



## Gary A.

smoke665 said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Then you would live at Ortega’s Fish & Grill. It is a fresh seafood market as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Living in an area that has a high concentration of Hispanic communities, we are fortunate that some of them have opened really good restaurants, a few of which satisfy my cravings for a good fish taco.
Click to expand...

While that is certainly true ... but Gary thinks that California, having been a part of Mexico, may have greater and posssibly superior and more authentic tacos, et al than Alabama.


----------



## SquarePeg

Saw _A Star is Born_ tonight.  Loved it!  Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper have incredible chemistry, you could feel it right through the screen.  Great music and story updated for this era of the music business.  A tear or two were shed and everyone was buzzing on the way out about how much they enjoyed it and how good both stars were.  Two thumbs up.


----------



## smoke665

Gary A. said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Then you would live at Ortega’s Fish & Grill. It is a fresh seafood market as well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Living in an area that has a high concentration of Hispanic communities, we are fortunate that some of them have opened really good restaurants, a few of which satisfy my cravings for a good fish taco.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> While that is certainly true ... but Gary thinks that California, having been a part of Mexico, may have greater and posssibly superior and more authentic tacos, et al than Alabama.
Click to expand...


Yeah but most of ours are recent transplants


----------



## davidharmier60

Hmph. Apparently I never checked in after yesterday morning. I got enough time to have 10.02. Today 6.09 to give 16.11.
Enjoying chicken at the deli. Check in approximately 30 minutes. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

Happy Halloween, hosers!     

We're pulling a first here, and skipping out of trick or treaters to go have dinner in town.    Since moving here 3 years ago, the building has picked up and the once vacant back side of this subdivision has almost completely filled up with new homes and families.   

Hope they all have fun, I know I will.   And no giving away unopened bags of leftover candy to the library this year.


----------



## davidharmier60

No kids are likely to show up. 
It will be just another (rainy) night at our house. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

terri said:


> Happy Halloween, hosers!
> 
> We're pulling a first here, and skipping out of trick or treaters to go have dinner in town.    Since moving here 3 years ago, the building has picked up and the once vacant back side of this subdivision has almost completely filled up with new homes and families.
> 
> Hope they all have fun, I know I will.   And no giving away unopened bags of leftover candy to the library this year.


Happy Halloween! 

The past few years, we actually did the same. We went to the movies, did dinner out, or just stayed home with the light outside off. But, this year, since the daughter is here, we decided to walk around. In this area, we do trick-or-treating the Thursday before Halloween, so that's already done for us!

The daycare had everyone dress up in pink for the last day of Breast Cancer Awareness month. So, daughter went to daycare decked out in pink jeans and pink sweater.


----------



## JonA_CT

My wife is walking around with my princess in her princess gear. I’ll be drinking bourbon and hanging out with Tigger at home to pass out candy.

I’m trying to like Halloween for my children’s sake, but  years of playing Halloween gigs killed it for me, haha.


----------



## smoke665

We don't get trick or treaters here, but at the old house we did. One year I dressed up in mask, old clothes and sat real still in a rocker on the porch holding a bowl of candy. Most of the kids would tentively approach and take a couple pieces. The older ones weren't as nice. When they'd reach in to grab a handful I'd grab their wrist and scream no. Scared one boy so bad he jumped off the porch, over the shrubs, and was still running flat out a block later.


----------



## SquarePeg

Had a great time at the Sox Championship parade!  Lots of pics to come but I’ll post them in a separate thread.




Mookie MVP


We don’t get any trick or treaters here because our street is busy.  Everyone goes on the blocks behind us which have zero traffic except for residents because they all eventually dead end at the golf course.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Rainy day here, some places apparently rescheduled trick or treating due to expected heavy rain south/SE of me. Not us - we're hardy out here in the country! lol Heaviest rain supposed to not get going til 8-9 pm and our T&T is done by 7:30. I like that 1 1/2 hours, that's just enough! 

The past couple of years I've practically run out of candy. I imagine it will be a light crowd tonight. Our town suggested yesterday that people could do their picture taking or share candy with neighbors or whatever on their own if they wanted (for those who don't want to tromp in the rain I suppose and would rather make their own fun).


----------



## Gary A.

Happy Happy Halloween y’all.
We stay home for the little beggars.  Gary likes to mess with the kids by saying stuff like “Hey, you’re Spider-Man!” To a kid dresssed like Superman, just to see how they react.


----------



## smoke665

For any of those who enjoy wine. I got a $100 wine voucher on a $160 purchase from Naked Wine Online. If you can use it send me a PM with an email address, and I'll email you the information and numbers.


----------



## Gary A.

Gary is a member of Naked Wines. Super-Duper wines at Naked Wines ... plus, if there’s a wine you didn’t like, Naked will give you a full refund.


----------



## Gary A.

Additionally, Naked Wine represents winemakers from around the world.  The coupon is a good deal.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> @snowbear , what are your thoughts on the new season of Doctor Who?
> 
> First, I'll just say that, IMO, Jodie Whittaker fits right in as the Doctor. She's great.
> 
> I'll put my thoughts on the last three episodes in a spoiler just in case you haven't seen them and because of River Song
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Thoughts/Possible Spoilers
> 
> 
> 
> The first episode seemed very Doctor Who. I was happy. It had everything it needed, for me anyways, including an alien, action, humorous back and forth between the Doctor and the villain, etc.
> 
> The second episode was good, but it was very reminiscent of Timeless. Not sure if you've watched that show or not, but it was way, way too close to that. I mean, I liked it, but it felt like a Timeless episode. The wife and I are big Timeless fans, as well, so it was an easy spot. I get that shows can be similar, but that was way too close.
> 
> The third episode now, I'm kinda scratching my head. There wasn't anything "alien" about the arachnids. Yes, they were big and scary, but it wasn't alien. And, the way it ended, a "natural" death being trapped in a room and forced to starve to death? That doesn't seem humane at all...
> 
> So, trying to figure out if this show is morphing into a generic Sci-Fi (with the same "meh" writing) rather than being the classic Doctor Who that I love. I guess I need to keep watching and not freak out just yet.
> 
> I read an article before the series started that indicated that we should expect a new Doctor Who, and that we likely wouldn't see any of the previous villains. So, no Daleks, no Cybermen, etc. If true, that's disappointing to me. I'm hoping that they don't completely remove all previous Doctor Who characters in an attempt to "reinvent" the show with a female Doctor. IMO, they don't need to do that, because Jodie Whittaker is a great Doctor.


Love it, love her - she appears to be having fun with the roll.

As far as the third episode - I finally watched it last night and, though no aliens, I was reminded of the with the "cars" that were stuck on the freeway/flyway (air pollution).  I seem to recall some episodes with (I think) the first Doctor, that were set with the Aztecs. I'm sure they will eventually bring back the Cybermen and the Daleks, but, pl;ease, NOT the weeping angels - they scare the bejeesies out of me.



terri said:


> Happy Halloween, hosers!
> 
> We're pulling a first here, and skipping out of trick or treaters to go have dinner in town.    Since moving here 3 years ago, the building has picked up and the once vacant back side of this subdivision has almost completely filled up with new homes and families.
> 
> Hope they all have fun, I know I will.   And no giving away unopened bags of leftover candy to the library this year.


We bought candy the first couple years we were in Waldorf and got zero kids and finally gave up.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> but, pl;ease, NOT the weeping angels - they scare the bejeesies out of me.


I hope they bring them back, I love the Weeping Angels!  I think the idea for them as the villain works really well, and yes, very creepy!


----------



## SquarePeg

Gary A. said:


> Happy Happy Halloween y’all.
> We stay home for the little beggars.  Gary likes to mess with the kids by saying stuff like “Hey, you’re Spider-Man!” To a kid dresssed like Superman, just to see how they react.



Omg you’re That Guy, lol.  


Didn’t buy any candy this year because they never come.  Of course this year some poor ghost will show up and get nothing!


----------



## davidharmier60

On the way far outside chance there are a few Snickers and Twix to hand out.
But the dogs will make ANYONE feel unwelcome. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou and Gary will have a quick dip in the hot tub before the Trick or Treaters.


----------



## JonA_CT

The church that normally does a trunk-or-treat across the street from us cancelled this year, and our trick-or-treater load dropped from 40-50 to 0. Sigh.

Time to sugar up my students before they head off to the next class tomorrow 

The kids in their costumes. The princess chose something different for this evening, haha. Please ignore the porch steps I was supposed to repaint this summer!


----------



## SquarePeg

They’re beautiful Jon.


----------



## terri

Great photos, Jon!   Hope they had fun.

Tonight was a great idea - stress free.  A lovely dinner nearby, nursed a bottle of wine, then strolled through the city park watching the rest of the trick or treaters.  We headed to another one of our favorite places for coffee and dessert, then strolled back to the car.  The neighborhood has emptied of the door to door canvassing, but a few doors down there's still a little party going on.   The cats didn't wig out this year, thank goodness.  

Gorgeous night out there.  Glad it worked out, since rain is moving in tomorrow.   Hope everyone had a nice Halloween!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Both youngsters have very bright and expressive eyes. Beautiful children 

Psst...I think the stairs give character to photos!


----------



## Gary A.

Jon- I echo Dean, you’re blessed with two beautiful children. (Your steps suck, but the children are wonderful.)


----------



## Gary A.

A block away there are three parties with a hundreds of people walking around.  Many in the neighborhood have tables set up in their driveways stocked with candy for the kids and all sorts of bevereges for the adults. Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking.  Gary has called them out on it. Gary has passed out some vino to adults he knows. Maggie has decided to bark at the kids.  Gary is having some one-on-one time with Maggie discussing her bark. Gary thinks they’re finding some common ground to resolve the matter.


----------



## Gary A.

Mary Lou has purchased more candy than Trick-or-Treaters ... Gary has discovered fun sized candy.


----------



## RowdyRay

I bought a couple of bags of candy in hopes some would stop by. No such luck. Oh well, I'll share with coworkers. 

Miss the days when we'd get 100+ kids. Chaotic, but fun.


----------



## davidharmier60

Back when we lived in Houston was the last time we had numbers. Up here they go for tightly packed neighborhoods.
Thursday. Grocers Supply comes. Usually after I'm done but not always.
Back to the grind.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, the rain has cleared off now but is forecast to come back later.  It is not as cold as it has been so that is nice.


----------



## Fujidave

As most members look here so if you have a FREE Flickr account you need to read this as it looks like I will be shutting my free account down.


Let’s be candid.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> As most members look here so if you have a FREE Flickr account you need to read this as it looks like I will be shutting my free account down.
> 
> 
> Let’s be candid.



Just checked my account looks like I'm halfway to the 1,000 photo limit since 2016. I figured there would be changes when it was spun off to SmugMug, earlier this year. I'm not sure I'll go with the pro plan at $50 a year, as I have other online storage options available. I mostly use it to link anyhow, which I can do with the other online sites, or I might just do routine housekeeping to keep it below the 1,000 photo limit.


----------



## limr

Gary A. said:


> Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking.  Gary has called them out on it.



Leo thinks that there was nothing to call them out on. If they want to have a quiet night, just leave them alone.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> As most members look here so if you have a FREE Flickr account you need to read this as it looks like I will be shutting my free account down.
> 
> 
> Let’s be candid.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just checked my account looks like I'm halfway to the 1,000 photo limit since 2016. I figured there would be changes when it was spun off to SmugMug, earlier this year. I'm not sure I'll go with the pro plan at $50 a year, as I have other online storage options available. I mostly use it to link anyhow, which I can do with the other online sites, or I might just do routine housekeeping to keep it below the 1,000 photo limit.
Click to expand...

Apparently, I have like 5,900 photos. Ugh. I guess I need to figure out if I need to move my photos elsewhere, as I'm not really a fan of having to pay for yet another yearly service. I'm sure it's worth it for some people, but not for me.


----------



## Fujidave

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> As most members look here so if you have a FREE Flickr account you need to read this as it looks like I will be shutting my free account down.
> 
> 
> Let’s be candid.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just checked my account looks like I'm halfway to the 1,000 photo limit since 2016. I figured there would be changes when it was spun off to SmugMug, earlier this year. I'm not sure I'll go with the pro plan at $50 a year, as I have other online storage options available. I mostly use it to link anyhow, which I can do with the other online sites, or I might just do routine housekeeping to keep it below the 1,000 photo limit.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Apparently, I have like 5,900 photos. Ugh. I guess I need to figure out if I need to move my photos elsewhere, as I'm not really a fan of having to pay for yet another yearly service. I'm sure it's worth it for some people, but not for me.
Click to expand...


I have two Flickr Free accounts, the main one has well over 4,000 images so I think I will be busy downloading the best ones, then see if I can get both accounts under the 1,000 limit while I search for a good/great website to build up.


----------



## SquarePeg

This was inevitable as they didn’t seem to have a good way to monetize the site other than monthly fee.  

I won’t pay.  I already have storage with Prine and photo sharing with Google photos.  I’ll keep my account under 1k photos and use it for hosting only.  I’m sure a lot of people will just delete the old stuff.  It’s a shame that a lot of old threads will now have blank spots in them.  


I have 3 accounts.  My personal one, one for family stuff and one for photos I take and want to share with others like the Softball photo shoot I did last year for UNE.


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## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking.  Gary has called them out on it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leo thinks that there was nothing to call them out on. If they want to have a quiet night, just leave them alone.
Click to expand...

Anti-social behavior is not condoned in  this neighborhood. Once a year children get dressed up and come to houses. If you don't want to give candy to teens dressed up in Tee-Shirts ... Gary understands that ... so close up shop at 9:00 p.m.

The neighbors Gary speaks of, have extremely loud pool parties nearly every stinkin' Saturday.  Gary can hear them arguing who is the drunkest over their radio which gets louder as they get drunker. One day a year, buy some candy and be pleasant ... let the children have have a good time at one's personal expense. Gary says Bah Humbug to those who feel they need private time on a children's holiday.  Pick another day.


----------



## Gary A.

Buenos Dias Coffee Hosers.  Mary Lou and Gary enjoy this little, very oddball, theatre next door in Fullerton. There are two connected stages one seats about sixty and the other seats about 100. The first show we saw at the Maverick was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which was just a super experience.  Recently, we attended a fun show last week, _"The Night of the Living Dead" _and it was another grand time.  Tickets went on sale at midnight for another show,_ "Santa Clause Conquers the Martians". _By 8:00 a.m. most of the shows were sold out and Gary had to scramble to find any tickets. Who knew that _Santa Clause Conquers the Martians_ was so popular? Who knew that people would buy all the tickets in the wee hours after Halloween? Our next show at the Maverick is _Plan 9 from Outer Space_.


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## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> This was inevitable as they didn’t seem to have a good way to monetize the site other than monthly fee.
> 
> I won’t pay.  I already have storage with Prine and photo sharing with Google photos.  I’ll keep my account under 1k photos and use it for hosting only.  I’m sure a lot of people will just delete the old stuff.  It’s a shame that a lot of old threads will now have blank spots in them.
> 
> 
> I have 3 accounts.  My personal one, one for family stuff and one for photos I take and want to share with others like the Softball photo shoot I did last year for UNE.



I have two Google photo accounts, but I might open up another two Flickr accounts as my main one still has a lot from my Canon days so it will be easy to just delete most of them.  I won`t worry about my private one as already have those images stored on a DVD and Memory stick.


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## Gary A.

Annnnd ... Gary just picked up tickets for The MistleTones.  According to the Maverick website: " The MistleTones have been bringing laughter to the holidays for 15 years using their blend of Christmas parodies, handbells, and traditional tunes. With crowd favorites like "We Will Flock You", "Come Fly Away" and "Can't Wrap This", you’ll want to make this your tradition every year!"


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## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> I’m sure a lot of people will just delete the old stuff. It’s a shame that a lot of old threads will now have blank spots in them.



Might be time for site administrators to look at setting up a housecleaning procedure that deletes the dead threads from years ago anyhow.


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## Frank F.

Fujidave said:


> As most members look here so if you have a FREE Flickr account you need to read this as it looks like I will be shutting my free account down.



as a long time Flickr user
and long time pro user for 10+ years
I switched to "free" a while ago, because I do not use the service much.

And now?

"Free accounts will soon be limited to 1,000 photos or videos. Flickr isn’t Flickr without the contributions and participation of our free members, and we remain committed to a vibrant free offering.

If you are a free member with more than 1,000 photos or videos, you will have ample time to upgrade to Pro (for 30% off your first year) or download your photos and videos.* Read more about this decision."


By the current rules I use 1.1% of my allowed space.

What will I do? Downloady content and shut the furk down?


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## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> I won’t pay.  I already have storage with Prine and photo sharing with Google photos.  I’ll keep my account under 1k photos and use it for hosting only.  I’m sure a lot of people will just delete the old stuff.  It’s a shame that a lot of old threads will now have blank spots in them.




the blank sports in numerous sites follow the external hosting. That is why I try to avoid external hosting


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## Fujidave

On my main account I just wiped off over 1,000 images as they were with the Canon 70D, later on I will open up another account but just for my vocalists images.


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## snowbear

Fujidave said:


> As most members look here so if you have a FREE Flickr account you need to read this as it looks like I will be shutting my free account down.
> 
> 
> Let’s be candid.



I figured this would eventually happen.

I have 1,027 on Flickr.  There are almost 70 that are no longer needed (events I shot and those that needed them have gotten them) so I'm downloading and will delete.  As for future - I'll either create an additional free account (I have several email addresses for various functions) or migrate somewhere else.  I'll put a bunch on morgueFile since I really don't care if it gets downloaded and used.


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## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking.  Gary has called them out on it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leo thinks that there was nothing to call them out on. If they want to have a quiet night, just leave them alone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Anti-social behavior is not condoned in  this neighborhood. Once a year children get dressed up and come to houses. If you don't want to give candy to teens dressed up in Tee-Shirts ... Gary understands that ... so close up shop at 9:00 p.m.
> 
> The neighbors Gary speaks of, have extremely loud pool parties nearly every stinkin' Saturday.  Gary can hear them arguing who is the drunkest over their radio which gets louder as they get drunker. One day a year, buy some candy and be pleasant ... let the children have have a good time at one's personal expense. Gary says Bah Humbug to those who feel they need private time on a children's holiday.  Pick another day.
Click to expand...


And I object to the idea of enforced compliance to social activity if one does not want to participate. People have no obligation to hand out candy, and no, it is not a moral or societal failure if they want to sit out a holiday, "children's" or otherwise.


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## SquarePeg

The rule of thumb around here is that if the front porch/front door light is on, come on up for some candy.  If it's off, then no candy.  No obligation for the no candy people to pretend they aren't home. 

I enjoy seeing the kids in their costumes and miss that now that Princess no longer trick or treats.  We've been here 17 years and other than immediate neighbors we don't get anyone.  I sometimes hang at my friend's house and help them give out the candy. Their neighborhood is very busy for Halloween because all the houses are close and there are no hills.  People from the ritzier part of town where there is a significant distance from house to hour and people from "the highlands" section sometimes trick or treat in the flat, more heavily populated neighborhoods since it's easier, especially with littles. 

I do have an issue with people who turn teenagers away just because they don't have a fancy costume on or make comments like "aren't you a little old to be trick or treating" etc.  If they make the effort to go door to door, smile and give them the candy!  I'd rather see them trick or treating than off drinking in the woods or smashing pumpkins and throwing eggs around town.


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## Gary A.

We give candy to all and all get candy.


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## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking.  Gary has called them out on it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leo thinks that there was nothing to call them out on. If they want to have a quiet night, just leave them alone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Anti-social behavior is not condoned in  this neighborhood. Once a year children get dressed up and come to houses. If you don't want to give candy to teens dressed up in Tee-Shirts ... Gary understands that ... so close up shop at 9:00 p.m.
> 
> The neighbors Gary speaks of, have extremely loud pool parties nearly every stinkin' Saturday.  Gary can hear them arguing who is the drunkest over their radio which gets louder as they get drunker. One day a year, buy some candy and be pleasant ... let the children have have a good time at one's personal expense. Gary says Bah Humbug to those who feel they need private time on a children's holiday.  Pick another day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And I object to the idea of enforced compliance to social activity if one does not want to participate. People have no obligation to hand out candy, and no, it is not a moral or societal failure if they want to sit out a holiday, "children's" or otherwise.
Click to expand...

Yes it is.


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## vintagesnaps

I'm Halloween-ed out. Drizzly and gray and I could just snooze!

Gary those type neighbors probably aren't going to get in the groove, not if they're that intent on drinking and other loud obnoxious behaviors. As aggravating as they are, maybe it's just as well their lights were off for trick or treating so kids weren't going to their house anyway (they sound like poor role models). I don't know why they don't want to join in with the neighborhood but they're probably going to scrooge it up no matter what you or any other neighbors do. They have to live with themselves, you'd think that'd be punishment enough! (but probably isn't to them).

I have new neighbors next door and they were handing out candy. Across the street they didn't but they're just getting up there age-wise. We do the same thing here, lights off if you're not handing out candy. They travel in packs! lol Some meet up at the school and all had parents with them. Small town - the police chief went by and somebody yelled 'hi Bill'! as they were patrolling.

Best costume was an inflatable T-rex, it was funny bobbing around. Also liked the Ghostbusters with dad as the Stay puft man! Some - I don't know what they were! If I said 'Happy Halloween!' usually some kid would yell it back! Lots of little ones in strollers so we have plenty of busy Halloweens ahead.

And... even with the rain almost ran out of candy!


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## markjwyatt

SquarePeg said:


> The rule of thumb around here is that if the front porch/front door light is on, come on up for some candy.  If it's off, then no candy.  No obligation for the no candy people to pretend they aren't home...




We have a gate. If it's open, we have candy (or we forgot to lock it). If its closed- no candy. It varies year-to-year, especially now that our daughters are grown up.


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## Gary A.

vintagesnaps said:


> I'm Halloween-ed out. Drizzly and gray and I could just snooze!
> 
> Gary those type neighbors probably aren't going to get in the groove, not if they're that intent on drinking and other loud obnoxious behaviors. As aggravating as they are, maybe it's just as well their lights were off for trick or treating so kids weren't going to their house anyway (they sound like poor role models). I don't know why they don't want to join in with the neighborhood but they're probably going to scrooge it up no matter what you or any other neighbors do. They have to live with themselves, you'd think that'd be punishment enough! (but probably isn't to them).
> 
> I have new neighbors next door and they were handing out candy. Across the street they didn't but they're just getting up there age-wise. We do the same thing here, lights off if you're not handing out candy. They travel in packs! lol Some meet up at the school and all had parents with them. Small town - the police chief went by and somebody yelled 'hi Bill'! as they were patrolling.
> 
> Best costume was an inflatable T-rex, it was funny bobbing around. Also liked the Ghostbusters with dad as the Stay puft man! Some - I don't know what they were! If I said 'Happy Halloween!' usually some kid would yell it back! Lots of little ones in strollers so we have plenty of busy Halloweens ahead.
> 
> And... even with the rain almost ran out of candy!


Last year, they set up a table in their driveway with chairs with a big screen Tv.


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## terri

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking.  Gary has called them out on it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leo thinks that there was nothing to call them out on. If they want to have a quiet night, just leave them alone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Anti-social behavior is not condoned in  this neighborhood. Once a year children get dressed up and come to houses. If you don't want to give candy to teens dressed up in Tee-Shirts ... Gary understands that ... so close up shop at 9:00 p.m.
> 
> The neighbors Gary speaks of, have extremely loud pool parties nearly every stinkin' Saturday.  Gary can hear them arguing who is the drunkest over their radio which gets louder as they get drunker. One day a year, buy some candy and be pleasant ... let the children have have a good time at one's personal expense. Gary says Bah Humbug to those who feel they need private time on a children's holiday.  Pick another day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And I object to the idea of enforced compliance to social activity if one does not want to participate. People have no obligation to hand out candy, and no, it is not a moral or societal failure if they want to sit out a holiday, "children's" or otherwise.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes it is.
Click to expand...

Just your opinion, of course.    My hubby and I left the house last night after decades of being at home.   I have no problem with giving out candy, and no problem with anyone who doesn't feel like giving out candy.    

Live and let live.


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## vintagesnaps

Was the big screen TV in the driveway supposed to be fun?? funny??! I don't get that but whatever, sounds like they have partying on the brain. Some people just aren't home from work, have other plans, other things to do... sometimes here people leave a dish of candy out for kids to help themselves (and there will be adults nearby so they aren't going to snag too many pieces of candy!). 

I have 0 photos on my Flickr page other than the header, haven't used it in ages. I'd usually only have maybe 10 or so on there at a time, not even close to 1000, so I guess I don't really have to do anything.


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## SquarePeg

Best costume of the night.  Not my photo but I have permission to share. One of the young girls from our softball league. 

Look away if your squeamish...









Last chance.....






You were warned...


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## SquarePeg

My other favorite was a visual pun.  Teacher in a pickle costume.  She was "in a pickle".  None of the kids in her 5th grade class got it.


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## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Best costume of the night.  Not my photo but I have permission to share. One of the young girls from our softball league.
> 
> Look away if your squeamish...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> Last chance.....
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> You were warned...
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> 
> View attachment 165226 View attachment 165227


Great job with makeup!!    The costume was much easier, no doubt.....    

I'm sure she had a blast watching reactions all night.   Good stuff!


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## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking.  Gary has called them out on it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leo thinks that there was nothing to call them out on. If they want to have a quiet night, just leave them alone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Anti-social behavior is not condoned in  this neighborhood. Once a year children get dressed up and come to houses. If you don't want to give candy to teens dressed up in Tee-Shirts ... Gary understands that ... so close up shop at 9:00 p.m.
> 
> The neighbors Gary speaks of, have extremely loud pool parties nearly every stinkin' Saturday.  Gary can hear them arguing who is the drunkest over their radio which gets louder as they get drunker. One day a year, buy some candy and be pleasant ... let the children have have a good time at one's personal expense. Gary says Bah Humbug to those who feel they need private time on a children's holiday.  Pick another day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And I object to the idea of enforced compliance to social activity if one does not want to participate. People have no obligation to hand out candy, and no, it is not a moral or societal failure if they want to sit out a holiday, "children's" or otherwise.
Click to expand...

Of course there is no "obli


limr said:


> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking.  Gary has called them out on it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leo thinks that there was nothing to call them out on. If they want to have a quiet night, just leave them alone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Anti-social behavior is not condoned in  this neighborhood. Once a year children get dressed up and come to houses. If you don't want to give candy to teens dressed up in Tee-Shirts ... Gary understands that ... so close up shop at 9:00 p.m.
> 
> The neighbors Gary speaks of, have extremely loud pool parties nearly every stinkin' Saturday.  Gary can hear them arguing who is the drunkest over their radio which gets louder as they get drunker. One day a year, buy some candy and be pleasant ... let the children have have a good time at one's personal expense. Gary says Bah Humbug to those who feel they need private time on a children's holiday.  Pick another day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And I object to the idea of enforced compliance to social activity if one does not want to participate. People have no obligation to hand out candy, and no, it is not a moral or societal failure if they want to sit out a holiday, "children's" or otherwise.
Click to expand...

There is no obligation ... there is no law ... to Gary it is a matter of being a little magnanimous. Spend ten bucks, turn on your porch light, make a child happy.  Participate ... make a child smile.  You don’t even have to find a kid, they’ll come to you. Yes, for Gary it is both a moral and societal black mark for, those who do not face extreme circumstances, not to participate just one day a year and hand out some candy to children.  Participating in Halloween, is similar to Gary, as  helping out a handicapped person at the store, or giving an elderly person your seat on the bus, returning a wallet to its owner, giving a glass of water to the post person on a hot day, taking in a lost dog or cat ... making a child smile.

Yes, Halloween is cheesy and a pain in the neck and something most of us would rather not do after a tough day at work.  Yes, all ages participate in Halloween, but I choose to focus on the children, all dressed up in make-believe outfits, big-eyed and so happy to receive a piece of candy.  For those who put ‘making a child happy’ over their own wants and turn on the porch light instead of retreating to the backyard ... God Bless you, you made a child happy.

Our days are made up of thousands of tiny acts.  There is no law declaring we be decent and kind. There is no written obligation requiring humans to act humanely, but if we have an opportunity to make someone smile after we execute a tiny act ... we, society, even the world is just a little warmer a little better.


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## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
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> 
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> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
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> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking.  Gary has called them out on it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leo thinks that there was nothing to call them out on. If they want to have a quiet night, just leave them alone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Anti-social behavior is not condoned in  this neighborhood. Once a year children get dressed up and come to houses. If you don't want to give candy to teens dressed up in Tee-Shirts ... Gary understands that ... so close up shop at 9:00 p.m.
> 
> The neighbors Gary speaks of, have extremely loud pool parties nearly every stinkin' Saturday.  Gary can hear them arguing who is the drunkest over their radio which gets louder as they get drunker. One day a year, buy some candy and be pleasant ... let the children have have a good time at one's personal expense. Gary says Bah Humbug to those who feel they need private time on a children's holiday.  Pick another day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And I object to the idea of enforced compliance to social activity if one does not want to participate. People have no obligation to hand out candy, and no, it is not a moral or societal failure if they want to sit out a holiday, "children's" or otherwise.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Of course there is no "obli
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
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> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking.  Gary has called them out on it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Leo thinks that there was nothing to call them out on. If they want to have a quiet night, just leave them alone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Anti-social behavior is not condoned in  this neighborhood. Once a year children get dressed up and come to houses. If you don't want to give candy to teens dressed up in Tee-Shirts ... Gary understands that ... so close up shop at 9:00 p.m.
> 
> The neighbors Gary speaks of, have extremely loud pool parties nearly every stinkin' Saturday.  Gary can hear them arguing who is the drunkest over their radio which gets louder as they get drunker. One day a year, buy some candy and be pleasant ... let the children have have a good time at one's personal expense. Gary says Bah Humbug to those who feel they need private time on a children's holiday.  Pick another day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And I object to the idea of enforced compliance to social activity if one does not want to participate. People have no obligation to hand out candy, and no, it is not a moral or societal failure if they want to sit out a holiday, "children's" or otherwise.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There is no obligation ... there is no law ... to Gary it is a matter of being a little magnanimous. Spend ten bucks, turn on your porch light, make a child happy.  Participate ... make a child smile.  You don’t even have to find a kid, they’ll come to you. Yes, for Gary it is both a moral and societal black mark for, those who do not face extreme circumstances, not to participate just one day a year and hand out some candy to children.  Participating in Halloween, is similar to Gary, as  helping out a handicapped person at the store, or giving an elderly person your seat on the bus, returning a wallet to its owner, giving a glass of water to the post person on a hot day, taking in a lost dog or cat ... making a child smile.
> 
> Yes, Halloween is cheesy and a pain in the neck and something most of us would rather not do after a tough day at work.  Yes, all ages participate in Halloween, but I choose to focus on the children, all dressed up in make-believe outfits, big-eyed and so happy to receive a piece of candy.  For those who put ‘making a child happy’ over their own wants and turn on the porch light instead of retreating to the backyard ... God Bless you, you made a child happy.
> 
> Our days are made up of thousands of tiny acts.  There is no law declaring we be decent and kind. There is no written obligation requiring humans to act humanely, but if we have an opportunity to make someone smile after we execute a tiny act ... we, society, even the world is just a little warmer a little better.
Click to expand...


There are many ways to be decent and kind, and telling someone that they are being selfish and anti-social because they don't want to hand out candy to children is being narrow-minded. You are insisting that everyone else should abide by _one standard_ of being decent and kind, and to all feel the same way about this holiday. It's also a false dichotomy to say that handing out candy=decent and kind while not handing out candy=not decent or kind. 

Do not project your beliefs of the value of this holiday on others. If you want to participate, knock yourself out. If someone else is having a rough time, or is exhausted, or is sad, or is angry, or is in pain, or is WHATEVER, then don't judge them for not making the same decision that you did. Maybe it's just too much for them that night. Maybe it's not just a pain in the ass, but requires a much bigger effort than it does you. SO WHAT? So what if they didn't take that one day to hand out candy to kids? 

And people being decent and kind on one day of the year? How about being decent and kind EVERY day of the year, in different ways, to different people, because they want to rather than because they were shamed into it, or because everyone else was doing it and they are just following the crowd?  I'd rather pay for someone's coffee at a drive-through on a random Tuesday than be yet another person in a line of people who feel like they have to be civic-minded on one day of the year and then they can go back to not giving a crap.


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## terri

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
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> 
> 
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> Gary A. said:
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> 
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> limr said:
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> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking.  Gary has called them out on it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leo thinks that there was nothing to call them out on. If they want to have a quiet night, just leave them alone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Anti-social behavior is not condoned in  this neighborhood. Once a year children get dressed up and come to houses. If you don't want to give candy to teens dressed up in Tee-Shirts ... Gary understands that ... so close up shop at 9:00 p.m.
> 
> The neighbors Gary speaks of, have extremely loud pool parties nearly every stinkin' Saturday.  Gary can hear them arguing who is the drunkest over their radio which gets louder as they get drunker. One day a year, buy some candy and be pleasant ... let the children have have a good time at one's personal expense. Gary says Bah Humbug to those who feel they need private time on a children's holiday.  Pick another day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And I object to the idea of enforced compliance to social activity if one does not want to participate. People have no obligation to hand out candy, and no, it is not a moral or societal failure if they want to sit out a holiday, "children's" or otherwise.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Of course there is no "obli
> 
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> limr said:
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> Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking.  Gary has called them out on it.
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> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Leo thinks that there was nothing to call them out on. If they want to have a quiet night, just leave them alone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Anti-social behavior is not condoned in  this neighborhood. Once a year children get dressed up and come to houses. If you don't want to give candy to teens dressed up in Tee-Shirts ... Gary understands that ... so close up shop at 9:00 p.m.
> 
> The neighbors Gary speaks of, have extremely loud pool parties nearly every stinkin' Saturday.  Gary can hear them arguing who is the drunkest over their radio which gets louder as they get drunker. One day a year, buy some candy and be pleasant ... let the children have have a good time at one's personal expense. Gary says Bah Humbug to those who feel they need private time on a children's holiday.  Pick another day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And I object to the idea of enforced compliance to social activity if one does not want to participate. People have no obligation to hand out candy, and no, it is not a moral or societal failure if they want to sit out a holiday, "children's" or otherwise.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There is no obligation ... there is no law ... to Gary it is a matter of being a little magnanimous. Spend ten bucks, turn on your porch light, make a child happy.  Participate ... make a child smile.  You don’t even have to find a kid, they’ll come to you. Yes, for Gary it is both a moral and societal black mark for, those who do not face extreme circumstances, not to participate just one day a year and hand out some candy to children.  Participating in Halloween, is similar to Gary, as  helping out a handicapped person at the store, or giving an elderly person your seat on the bus, returning a wallet to its owner, giving a glass of water to the post person on a hot day, taking in a lost dog or cat ... making a child smile.
> 
> Yes, Halloween is cheesy and a pain in the neck and something most of us would rather not do after a tough day at work.  Yes, all ages participate in Halloween, but I choose to focus on the children, all dressed up in make-believe outfits, big-eyed and so happy to receive a piece of candy.  For those who put ‘making a child happy’ over their own wants and turn on the porch light instead of retreating to the backyard ... God Bless you, you made a child happy.
> 
> Our days are made up of thousands of tiny acts.  There is no law declaring we be decent and kind. There is no written obligation requiring humans to act humanely, but if we have an opportunity to make someone smile after we execute a tiny act ... we, society, even the world is just a little warmer a little better.
Click to expand...

I get that you mean this in a benign way, Gary, but to imply that anyone who skips out on Halloween is immoral is really a stretch.  I find this little speech over the top, insulting and judgmental.  Where do you get off assuming that folks who take a pass on Halloween are immoral child-haters?  You don't know people's circumstances.  

You spend a lot of time in this thread letting us know about your latest meal, glass of wine and your dog's latest twitch - no one judges you for it.   As I said earlier, live and let live.   Why can't you do the same?  Please bear in mind we don't all come from the same place.  To spout your own sense of morality on the forum as absolute gospel is, frankly, pretty obnoxious.


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## Fujidave

Morning all, a nice sunny day here today with just a slight breeze but not cold at all.
@SquarePeg now that is some cool make up indeed.


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## davidharmier60

The truck is finally fixed. It didn't need a start button. It needed a solenoid.
We drove the illegal Avenger to Cleveland to get one put on for $30 
And now it starts with a key like a normal vehicle 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## Frank F.

Halloween discussion: We were awarded unesco world heritage for our habits and rituals celebrating St Martin (10 Nov).

The children make lampions and walk through the streets singing, some male actor incorporates the Saint on a horse and plays the scene sharing his gown with a poor man by a large festive fire in a public place...

... afterwards the children go from door to door and beg for candy as as has been for centuries in the Rhine Valley.

That is why I tell Halloween kids: Come back on St Martin. Halloween is a marketing idea from America with no roots in our culture.

I feel we should not impose our standards on others.


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## smoke665

After years of using nothing but Dell, I took the plunge yesterday and went with HP as a replacement for my laptop. I7, 16 GB DDR4-2666 SDRAM, 1TB HD plus 256GB M.2 SSD, and a NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 6 GB GDDR5. Hopefully this will last me for a few years again.


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## Fujidave

Does anyone have any idea where Dell will deliver from ?


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## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> After years of using nothing but Dell, I took the plunge yesterday and went with HP as a replacement for my laptop. I7, 16 GB DDR4-2666 SDRAM, 1TB HD plus 256GB M.2 SSD, and a NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 6 GB GDDR5. Hopefully this will last me for a few years again.



We’ve talked about this, haha. Should’ve bought an Apple.

(I understand there are a lot of reasons not to...but my first MacBook Pro lasted me 6 years, and I just hit my year 3 mark with my second without a problem. )


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## JonA_CT

Fujidave said:


> Does anyone have any idea where Dell will deliver from ?



It’s been awhile, but the last time I owned a Dell, it was assembled and shipped from India.


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## Fujidave

JonA_CT said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does anyone have any idea where Dell will deliver from ?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It’s been awhile, but the last time I owned a Dell, it was assembled and shipped from India.
Click to expand...


Thanks for that.


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## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> We’ve talked about this, haha. Should’ve bought an Apple.
> 
> (I understand there are a lot of reasons not to...but my first MacBook Pro lasted me 6 years, and I just hit my year 3 mark with my second without a problem. )



My current Dell is at the 4 year mark. Still working without issues except it's in serious need of performance upgrades, and the cost of upgrading isn't feasible, compared to the all the advances of the last 4 years. Plus my laptop gets heavy use daily for both business and pleasure. Not joking when I said the keys were worn slick from use. Ive thought seriously about Apple but all the business software is windows. Granted I could run a virtual windows inside Apple, but a PC running windows is less hassle for me. I know it, I've used it for years, and there's no learning curve. At my age, that's a big consideration (I don't do change well LOL).


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## limr

5 hours until Buzz and I leave for Maine.


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## Frank F.

I guess two weeks next to Gary would be nice to fullfill my photon needs.

Light levels here in Northern Europe are very low but light quality is great:


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## Gary A.

limr said:


> Gary A. said:
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> limr said:
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> Gary A. said:
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> limr said:
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> Gary A. said:
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> 
> Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking.  Gary has called them out on it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leo thinks that there was nothing to call them out on. If they want to have a quiet night, just leave them alone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Anti-social behavior is not condoned in  this neighborhood. Once a year children get dressed up and come to houses. If you don't want to give candy to teens dressed up in Tee-Shirts ... Gary understands that ... so close up shop at 9:00 p.m.
> 
> The neighbors Gary speaks of, have extremely loud pool parties nearly every stinkin' Saturday.  Gary can hear them arguing who is the drunkest over their radio which gets louder as they get drunker. One day a year, buy some candy and be pleasant ... let the children have have a good time at one's personal expense. Gary says Bah Humbug to those who feel they need private time on a children's holiday.  Pick another day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And I object to the idea of enforced compliance to social activity if one does not want to participate. People have no obligation to hand out candy, and no, it is not a moral or societal failure if they want to sit out a holiday, "children's" or otherwise.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Of course there is no "obli
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
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> limr said:
> 
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> Gary A. said:
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> Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking.  Gary has called them out on it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Leo thinks that there was nothing to call them out on. If they want to have a quiet night, just leave them alone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Anti-social behavior is not condoned in  this neighborhood. Once a year children get dressed up and come to houses. If you don't want to give candy to teens dressed up in Tee-Shirts ... Gary understands that ... so close up shop at 9:00 p.m.
> 
> The neighbors Gary speaks of, have extremely loud pool parties nearly every stinkin' Saturday.  Gary can hear them arguing who is the drunkest over their radio which gets louder as they get drunker. One day a year, buy some candy and be pleasant ... let the children have have a good time at one's personal expense. Gary says Bah Humbug to those who feel they need private time on a children's holiday.  Pick another day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And I object to the idea of enforced compliance to social activity if one does not want to participate. People have no obligation to hand out candy, and no, it is not a moral or societal failure if they want to sit out a holiday, "children's" or otherwise.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There is no obligation ... there is no law ... to Gary it is a matter of being a little magnanimous. Spend ten bucks, turn on your porch light, make a child happy.  Participate ... make a child smile.  You don’t even have to find a kid, they’ll come to you. Yes, for Gary it is both a moral and societal black mark for, those who do not face extreme circumstances, not to participate just one day a year and hand out some candy to children.  Participating in Halloween, is similar to Gary, as  helping out a handicapped person at the store, or giving an elderly person your seat on the bus, returning a wallet to its owner, giving a glass of water to the post person on a hot day, taking in a lost dog or cat ... making a child smile.
> 
> Yes, Halloween is cheesy and a pain in the neck and something most of us would rather not do after a tough day at work.  Yes, all ages participate in Halloween, but I choose to focus on the children, all dressed up in make-believe outfits, big-eyed and so happy to receive a piece of candy.  For those who put ‘making a child happy’ over their own wants and turn on the porch light instead of retreating to the backyard ... God Bless you, you made a child happy.
> 
> Our days are made up of thousands of tiny acts.  There is no law declaring we be decent and kind. There is no written obligation requiring humans to act humanely, but if we have an opportunity to make someone smile after we execute a tiny act ... we, society, even the world is just a little warmer a little better.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> There are many ways to be decent and kind, and telling someone that they are being selfish and anti-social because they don't want to hand out candy to children is being narrow-minded. You are insisting that everyone else should abide by _one standard_ of being decent and kind, and to all feel the same way about this holiday. It's also a false dichotomy to say that handing out candy=decent and kind while not handing out candy=not decent or kind.
> 
> Do not project your beliefs of the value of this holiday on others. If you want to participate, knock yourself out. If someone else is having a rough time, or is exhausted, or is sad, or is angry, or is in pain, or is WHATEVER, then don't judge them for not making the same decision that you did. Maybe it's just too much for them that night. Maybe it's not just a pain in the ass, but requires a much bigger effort than it does you. SO WHAT? So what if they didn't take that one day to hand out candy to kids?
> 
> And people being decent and kind on one day of the year? How about being decent and kind EVERY day of the year, in different ways, to different people, because they want to rather than because they were shamed into it, or because everyone else was doing it and they are just following the crowd?  I'd rather pay for someone's coffee at a drive-through on a random Tuesday than be yet another person in a line of people who feel like they have to be civic-minded on one day of the year and then they can go back to not giving a crap.
Click to expand...


_"There are many ways to be decent and kind,"_

Yes there are.  Gary never said handing out candy on Halloween is the only way. 


_"... and telling someone that they are being selfish and anti-social because they don't want to hand out candy to children is being narrow-minded."_

Not at all. Highlighting an act, especially to someone you know, verbally and by example is a damn good way to let that person know that there is an opportunity to be better.  Yesterday, Mary Lou very nicely informed two young men not pick up the beer can they had tossed into the bushes in the park.  She was direct but much less confrontational with her choice of words than Gary would have been.  The young men picked up the can, we had a nice chat and they petted Maggie. Maybe, next time the young men will toss trash in a trash can ... and maybe next year my neighbors won't darken their porch and retreat to the backyard. When I am being selfish, Gary hopes that someone, even a stranger will let him know that there is a better and more helpful path available than a self-serving or lazy path.


_"You are insisting that everyone else should abide by one standard of being decent and kind, and to all feel the same way about this holiday."_

No Gary is not.  Gary is pointing out the simple opportunity Halloween provides to bring a smile to a child's face. Gary is not judgemental on most stuff, like using cream and sugar in coffee, et al.  While he doesn't practice altering his coffee, he doesn't care if others do ... it isn't important.  But children are important ... people are important ... if there is an opportunity to be kind to a child, Gary thinks that opportunity should be taken, especially if no harm is done to the person performing the kind act.  


_"It's also a false dichotomy to say that handing out candy=decent and kind while not handing out candy=not decent or kind."_

Again, you are wrong. Project this: 

1) Two children
2) Two bowls of candy 
3) Two adults. 

One adult hands a child a piece of candy.  One adult turns their back on the child.
Which act would be considered kind and which act would be considered unkind?


_"Do not project your beliefs of the value of this holiday on others."_
 Your arguments against my values is a projection of your values.  Why is your projection more important than Gary's projection.  In this particular case, I will stand up for kindness, especially towards children, in any forum from the internet to life outside the internet.  You will not stop me.


_"If you want to participate, knock yourself out."_

Gary does such.  He needs no encouragement from you or others.


_"If someone else is having a rough time, or is exhausted, or is sad, or is angry, or is in pain, or is WHATEVER, then don't judge them for not making the same decision that you did."_

We are judged and we all others by acts. We are all a summery of our acts.  Some acts add little to our character ... some acts add a lot to our character. If one had a crappy day and just wants to run away from children playing make believe and requesting that you acknowledge their costume and give them a piece of candy ... Gary can understand that.  But the person the has a crappy day and stills opens the door hands the children a piece of candy and puts a smile on a kid's face ... that act speaks to more character than the person that darkens the porch and retreats. 


_"Maybe it's just too much for them that night. Maybe it's not just a pain in the ass, but requires a much bigger effort than it does you. SO WHAT? So what if they didn't take that one day to hand out candy to kids?"_

We are all a summary of our acts.  Our acts directly speak to our character ... not only to who we want to be, but also defines who we are.


_"And people being decent and kind on one day of the year? How about being decent and kind EVERY day of the year, in different ways, to different people, ... "_

We were speaking to Halloween in particular ... but if you read and absorbed my text, Gary CLEARLY and REPEATEDLY spoke to other types of kindness/decency.


_"... because they want to rather than because they were shamed into it, or because everyone else was doing it and they are just following the crowd?"_

Handing out a piece of candy on a child's make-believe day ... really isn't that big of a deal.  You open the door, you serve out a bowl and they reach in. Fini.  If you want to extend yourself, push the limits of kindness to a child ... then you give them some sort of praise regarding their costume (then watch their eyes get big or they act out the costume). Gary would hope that some/most/all of us would see this as a simple act of kindness.  As such, some/most/all would want to perform said 'kind' act out of a desire to capitalize on the opportunity. In a good/better/perfect world 'kind' acts should not stem from shame or obligation. A kind act is a reward for all, in and of itself.

_
"I'd rather pay for someone's coffee at a drive-through on a random Tuesday"_

Did you pay for someone's coffee at a drive-through?  Have you ever randomly paid for someone else's coffee? This isn't a contest, this isn't an either/or act ... one could actually do both. Perform an act of kindness when it is at your front door and perform an act of kindness when it is not expected. Kindness Squared.  A winner for all.


_"... than be yet another person in a line of people who feel like they have to be civic-minded on one day of the year and then they can go back to not giving a crap."_

Gary feels that there is always hope.  Performing an act of kindness through whatever motivation drives you there, (i.e. warm heart or shame), is still a kind act and benefits at least one person.  Not performing a kind act benefits no one.


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## Gary A.

Frank F. said:


> I guess two weeks next to Gary would be nice to fullfill my photon needs.
> 
> Light levels here in Northern Europe are very low but light quality is great:
> 
> View attachment 165271


LOL ... I remember you love the light you found here.


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## Gary A.

terri said:


> Gary A. said:
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> limr said:
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> limr said:
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> Gary A. said:
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> 
> Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking.  Gary has called them out on it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leo thinks that there was nothing to call them out on. If they want to have a quiet night, just leave them alone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Anti-social behavior is not condoned in  this neighborhood. Once a year children get dressed up and come to houses. If you don't want to give candy to teens dressed up in Tee-Shirts ... Gary understands that ... so close up shop at 9:00 p.m.
> 
> The neighbors Gary speaks of, have extremely loud pool parties nearly every stinkin' Saturday.  Gary can hear them arguing who is the drunkest over their radio which gets louder as they get drunker. One day a year, buy some candy and be pleasant ... let the children have have a good time at one's personal expense. Gary says Bah Humbug to those who feel they need private time on a children's holiday.  Pick another day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And I object to the idea of enforced compliance to social activity if one does not want to participate. People have no obligation to hand out candy, and no, it is not a moral or societal failure if they want to sit out a holiday, "children's" or otherwise.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Of course there is no "obli
> 
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> limr said:
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> Gary A. said:
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> limr said:
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> Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking.  Gary has called them out on it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Leo thinks that there was nothing to call them out on. If they want to have a quiet night, just leave them alone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Anti-social behavior is not condoned in  this neighborhood. Once a year children get dressed up and come to houses. If you don't want to give candy to teens dressed up in Tee-Shirts ... Gary understands that ... so close up shop at 9:00 p.m.
> 
> The neighbors Gary speaks of, have extremely loud pool parties nearly every stinkin' Saturday.  Gary can hear them arguing who is the drunkest over their radio which gets louder as they get drunker. One day a year, buy some candy and be pleasant ... let the children have have a good time at one's personal expense. Gary says Bah Humbug to those who feel they need private time on a children's holiday.  Pick another day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And I object to the idea of enforced compliance to social activity if one does not want to participate. People have no obligation to hand out candy, and no, it is not a moral or societal failure if they want to sit out a holiday, "children's" or otherwise.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There is no obligation ... there is no law ... to Gary it is a matter of being a little magnanimous. Spend ten bucks, turn on your porch light, make a child happy.  Participate ... make a child smile.  You don’t even have to find a kid, they’ll come to you. Yes, for Gary it is both a moral and societal black mark for, those who do not face extreme circumstances, not to participate just one day a year and hand out some candy to children.  Participating in Halloween, is similar to Gary, as  helping out a handicapped person at the store, or giving an elderly person your seat on the bus, returning a wallet to its owner, giving a glass of water to the post person on a hot day, taking in a lost dog or cat ... making a child smile.
> 
> Yes, Halloween is cheesy and a pain in the neck and something most of us would rather not do after a tough day at work.  Yes, all ages participate in Halloween, but I choose to focus on the children, all dressed up in make-believe outfits, big-eyed and so happy to receive a piece of candy.  For those who put ‘making a child happy’ over their own wants and turn on the porch light instead of retreating to the backyard ... God Bless you, you made a child happy.
> 
> Our days are made up of thousands of tiny acts.  There is no law declaring we be decent and kind. There is no written obligation requiring humans to act humanely, but if we have an opportunity to make someone smile after we execute a tiny act ... we, society, even the world is just a little warmer a little better.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I get that you mean this in a benign way, Gary, but to imply that anyone who skips out on Halloween is immoral is really a stretch.  I find this little speech over the top, insulting and judgmental.  Where do you get off assuming that folks who take a pass on Halloween are immoral child-haters?  You don't know people's circumstances.
> 
> You spend a lot of time in this thread letting us know about your latest meal, glass of wine and your dog's latest twitch - no one judges you for it.   As I said earlier, live and let live.   Why can't you do the same?  Please bear in mind we don't all come from the same place.  To spout your own sense of morality on the forum as absolute gospel is, frankly, pretty obnoxious.
Click to expand...

Immoral is too strong, but 'kindness towards others' is a moral act and handing out a piece of candy on Halloween is an act of kindness.  On a bus Gary will offer his seat to the elderly or those who appear would be better off seating than standing ... and he would encourage others to do the same.


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## terri

I was hoping you'd be smart enough to let this go, Gary, but clearly you aren't.    This is what you originally said, about 5 pages ago: 


Gary A. said:


> Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking. Gary has called them out on it.


I can only remind you that your neighbors were well with in their rights to enjoy a quiet night on their patio.   If that had been me, and some self-righteous neighbor with a puffed-up sense of morality walked into my patio and lectured me, it would not have gone well.   You were out of line to invade on your neighbors' privacy - period.   I also noted that you went on to complain about these neighbors and their pool parties, which seem to offend you.   Sounds like a separate issue and you used Halloween to wage a holy war on their characters - as you see it.   For a self-professed progressive in the great state of California, you sure come off like a tight-ass here.

The rest of this stuff is bordering on trolling.    


Gary A. said:


> Yes, for Gary it is both a moral and societal black mark for, those who do not face extreme circumstances, not to participate just one day a year and hand out some candy to children.



blah blah blah, it's great to be you.   You did call it immoral, and you are out of line.   Minding one's own business hardly equates to treating children badly.   It's a shame you just can't see it, but it doesn't give you the right to lecture others.   

Drop it, please.   Thank you.


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## limr

Gary A. said:


> limr said:
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> Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking.  Gary has called them out on it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leo thinks that there was nothing to call them out on. If they want to have a quiet night, just leave them alone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Anti-social behavior is not condoned in  this neighborhood. Once a year children get dressed up and come to houses. If you don't want to give candy to teens dressed up in Tee-Shirts ... Gary understands that ... so close up shop at 9:00 p.m.
> 
> The neighbors Gary speaks of, have extremely loud pool parties nearly every stinkin' Saturday.  Gary can hear them arguing who is the drunkest over their radio which gets louder as they get drunker. One day a year, buy some candy and be pleasant ... let the children have have a good time at one's personal expense. Gary says Bah Humbug to those who feel they need private time on a children's holiday.  Pick another day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And I object to the idea of enforced compliance to social activity if one does not want to participate. People have no obligation to hand out candy, and no, it is not a moral or societal failure if they want to sit out a holiday, "children's" or otherwise.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Of course there is no "obli
> 
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> limr said:
> 
> 
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> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
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> limr said:
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> Gary A. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gary’s next door neighbor has a dark house and they are in their patio drinking.  Gary has called them out on it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Leo thinks that there was nothing to call them out on. If they want to have a quiet night, just leave them alone.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Anti-social behavior is not condoned in  this neighborhood. Once a year children get dressed up and come to houses. If you don't want to give candy to teens dressed up in Tee-Shirts ... Gary understands that ... so close up shop at 9:00 p.m.
> 
> The neighbors Gary speaks of, have extremely loud pool parties nearly every stinkin' Saturday.  Gary can hear them arguing who is the drunkest over their radio which gets louder as they get drunker. One day a year, buy some candy and be pleasant ... let the children have have a good time at one's personal expense. Gary says Bah Humbug to those who feel they need private time on a children's holiday.  Pick another day.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And I object to the idea of enforced compliance to social activity if one does not want to participate. People have no obligation to hand out candy, and no, it is not a moral or societal failure if they want to sit out a holiday, "children's" or otherwise.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There is no obligation ... there is no law ... to Gary it is a matter of being a little magnanimous. Spend ten bucks, turn on your porch light, make a child happy.  Participate ... make a child smile.  You don’t even have to find a kid, they’ll come to you. Yes, for Gary it is both a moral and societal black mark for, those who do not face extreme circumstances, not to participate just one day a year and hand out some candy to children.  Participating in Halloween, is similar to Gary, as  helping out a handicapped person at the store, or giving an elderly person your seat on the bus, returning a wallet to its owner, giving a glass of water to the post person on a hot day, taking in a lost dog or cat ... making a child smile.
> 
> Yes, Halloween is cheesy and a pain in the neck and something most of us would rather not do after a tough day at work.  Yes, all ages participate in Halloween, but I choose to focus on the children, all dressed up in make-believe outfits, big-eyed and so happy to receive a piece of candy.  For those who put ‘making a child happy’ over their own wants and turn on the porch light instead of retreating to the backyard ... God Bless you, you made a child happy.
> 
> Our days are made up of thousands of tiny acts.  There is no law declaring we be decent and kind. There is no written obligation requiring humans to act humanely, but if we have an opportunity to make someone smile after we execute a tiny act ... we, society, even the world is just a little warmer a little better.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> There are many ways to be decent and kind, and telling someone that they are being selfish and anti-social because they don't want to hand out candy to children is being narrow-minded. You are insisting that everyone else should abide by _one standard_ of being decent and kind, and to all feel the same way about this holiday. It's also a false dichotomy to say that handing out candy=decent and kind while not handing out candy=not decent or kind.
> 
> Do not project your beliefs of the value of this holiday on others. If you want to participate, knock yourself out. If someone else is having a rough time, or is exhausted, or is sad, or is angry, or is in pain, or is WHATEVER, then don't judge them for not making the same decision that you did. Maybe it's just too much for them that night. Maybe it's not just a pain in the ass, but requires a much bigger effort than it does you. SO WHAT? So what if they didn't take that one day to hand out candy to kids?
> 
> And people being decent and kind on one day of the year? How about being decent and kind EVERY day of the year, in different ways, to different people, because they want to rather than because they were shamed into it, or because everyone else was doing it and they are just following the crowd?  I'd rather pay for someone's coffee at a drive-through on a random Tuesday than be yet another person in a line of people who feel like they have to be civic-minded on one day of the year and then they can go back to not giving a crap.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> _"There are many ways to be decent and kind,"_
> 
> Yes there are.  Gary never said handing out candy on Halloween is the only way.
> 
> 
> _"... and telling someone that they are being selfish and anti-social because they don't want to hand out candy to children is being narrow-minded."_
> 
> Not at all. Highlighting an act, especially to someone you know, verbally and by example is a damn good way to let that person know that there is an opportunity to be better.  Yesterday, Mary Lou very nicely informed two young men not pick up the beer can they had tossed into the bushes in the park.  She was direct but much less confrontational with her choice of words than Gary would have been.  The young men picked up the can, we had a nice chat and they petted Maggie. Maybe, next time the young men will toss trash in a trash can ... and maybe next year my neighbors won't darken their porch and retreat to the backyard. When I am being selfish, Gary hopes that someone, even a stranger will let him know that there is a better and more helpful path available than a self-serving or lazy path.
> 
> 
> _"You are insisting that everyone else should abide by one standard of being decent and kind, and to all feel the same way about this holiday."_
> 
> No Gary is not.  Gary is pointing out the simple opportunity Halloween provides to bring a smile to a child's face. Gary is not judgemental on most stuff, like using cream and sugar in coffee, et al.  While he doesn't practice altering his coffee, he doesn't care if others do ... it isn't important.  But children are important ... people are important ... if there is an opportunity to be kind to a child, Gary thinks that opportunity should be taken, especially if no harm is done to the person performing the kind act.
> 
> 
> _"It's also a false dichotomy to say that handing out candy=decent and kind while not handing out candy=not decent or kind."_
> 
> Again, you are wrong. Project this:
> 
> 1) Two children
> 2) Two bowls of candy
> 3) Two adults.
> 
> One adult hands a child a piece of candy.  One adult turns their back on the child.
> Which act would be considered kind and which act would be considered unkind?
> 
> 
> _"Do not project your beliefs of the value of this holiday on others."_
> Your arguments against my values is a projection of your values.  Why is your projection more important than Gary's projection.  In this particular case, I will stand up for kindness, especially towards children, in any forum from the internet to life outside the internet.  You will not stop me.
> 
> 
> _"If you want to participate, knock yourself out."_
> 
> Gary does such.  He needs no encouragement from you or others.
> 
> 
> _"If someone else is having a rough time, or is exhausted, or is sad, or is angry, or is in pain, or is WHATEVER, then don't judge them for not making the same decision that you did."_
> 
> We are judged and we all others by acts. We are all a summery of our acts.  Some acts add little to our character ... some acts add a lot to our character. If one had a crappy day and just wants to run away from children playing make believe and requesting that you acknowledge their costume and give them a piece of candy ... Gary can understand that.  But the person the has a crappy day and stills opens the door hands the children a piece of candy and puts a smile on a kid's face ... that act speaks to more character than the person that darkens the porch and retreats.
> 
> 
> _"Maybe it's just too much for them that night. Maybe it's not just a pain in the ass, but requires a much bigger effort than it does you. SO WHAT? So what if they didn't take that one day to hand out candy to kids?"_
> 
> We are all a summary of our acts.  Our acts directly speak to our character ... not only to who we want to be, but also defines who we are.
> 
> 
> _"And people being decent and kind on one day of the year? How about being decent and kind EVERY day of the year, in different ways, to different people, ... "_
> 
> We were speaking to Halloween in particular ... but if you read and absorbed my text, Gary CLEARLY and REPEATEDLY spoke to other types of kindness/decency.
> 
> 
> _"... because they want to rather than because they were shamed into it, or because everyone else was doing it and they are just following the crowd?"_
> 
> Handing out a piece of candy on a child's make-believe day ... really isn't that big of a deal.  You open the door, you serve out a bowl and they reach in. Fini.  If you want to extend yourself, push the limits of kindness to a child ... then you give them some sort of praise regarding their costume (then watch their eyes get big or they act out the costume). Gary would hope that some/most/all of us would see this as a simple act of kindness.  As such, some/most/all would want to perform said 'kind' act out of a desire to capitalize on the opportunity. In a good/better/perfect world 'kind' acts should not stem from shame or obligation. A kind act is a reward for all, in and of itself.
> 
> _
> "I'd rather pay for someone's coffee at a drive-through on a random Tuesday"_
> 
> Did you pay for someone's coffee at a drive-through?  Have you ever randomly paid for someone else's coffee? This isn't a contest, this isn't an either/or act ... one could actually do both. Perform an act of kindness when it is at your front door and perform an act of kindness when it is not expected. Kindness Squared.  A winner for all.
> 
> 
> _"... than be yet another person in a line of people who feel like they have to be civic-minded on one day of the year and then they can go back to not giving a crap."_
> 
> Gary feels that there is always hope.  Performing an act of kindness through whatever motivation drives you there, (i.e. warm heart or shame), is still a kind act and benefits at least one person.  Not performing a kind act benefits no one.
Click to expand...


Tl;dr. I have no time for judgmental nonsense.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> 5 hours until Buzz and I leave for Maine.



There is still some color up there!  Spotty but nice if today's rain storm doesn't knock it all down.  Today I was downtown and it was like a snowstorm of yellow leaves.  



terri said:


> Drop it, please. Thank you.



I second that motion.  There must be something better to argue about.  

Chocolate or Vanilla?  Red or White?  NY or LA?  Football or Soccer?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> 5 hours until Buzz and I leave for Maine.


Lucky.  What part?  If you go through Portland, wave to lazy lobster as you go by Congress Street.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Drop it, please. Thank you.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I second that motion.  There must be something better to argue about.
> 
> Chocolate or Vanilla?  Red or White?  NY or LA?  Football or Soccer?
Click to expand...

Portrait or Landscape?


----------



## Fujidave

X-T2 or Silver X-T3 ?


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 5 hours until Buzz and I leave for Maine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There is still some color up there!  Spotty but nice if today's rain storm doesn't knock it all down.  Today I was downtown and it was like a snowstorm of yellow leaves.
Click to expand...


Good to know! We are just now getting some decent color around here. Everything is later this year.



> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Drop it, please. Thank you.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I second that motion.  There must be something better to argue about.
> 
> Chocolate or Vanilla?  Red or White?  NY or LA?  Football or Soccer?
Click to expand...


I do like chocolate, but I generally prefer vanilla in most cases. I enjoy the creamy rich flavor of real vanilla.

Definitely red, though I do also drink white and some situations are better suited to it. I tend to think of it as a good for summer afternoons.

NY, baby, all day long! 

Football or soccer...some say they are the same thing  I enjoy both, but am probably more likely to watch a football - an _American_ football - game over a soccer match.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 5 hours until Buzz and I leave for Maine.
> 
> 
> 
> Lucky.  What part?  If you go through Portland, wave to lazy lobster as you go by Congress Street.
Click to expand...


Ogunquit. Don't know if we'll go into Portland but if we do, we'll wave!


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Chocolate or Vanilla?


Chocolate for almost everything. Vanilla for ice cream. Cake... white cake with white icing is my jam.


----------



## Fujidave

Or you could have a nice big bowl of Vanilla covered with Chocolate, now that is nice.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 5 hours until Buzz and I leave for Maine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There is still some color up there!  Spotty but nice if today's rain storm doesn't knock it all down.  Today I was downtown and it was like a snowstorm of yellow leaves.
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Drop it, please. Thank you.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I second that motion.  There must be something better to argue about.
> 
> Chocolate or Vanilla?  Red or White?  NY or LA?  Football or Soccer?
Click to expand...

French vanilla, red, bay-bay!  NY all the time, and American football.   

Portrait or landscape, that's a toughie.  More subjective.


----------



## Fujidave

On a more serious note though, I think @SquarePeg still wants a Silver X-T3


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> I second that motion.  There must be something better to argue about.
> 
> Chocolate or Vanilla?  Red or White?  NY or LA?  Football or Soccer?


I forgot to vote:
Chocolate syrup on vanilla ice cream
Red
NY
Meh - Ice Hockey and the Scottish Heptathlon.

I accomplished what I took of for so I'm heading out with the camera to try and capture some more alphabet.  I downloaded all of my Flickr images and deleted a bunch, putting me just above 900.  I'll adjust some more, later.


----------



## davidharmier60

Blue Bell Great Divide for ice cream. 
DSLR rather than Mirrorless. 
Have no opinion on Red or White.
5 hours and a few today.
Sister and I are in Houston to attempt to get a duplicate title. Waiting for our ticket number to be called.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Dave442

Vanilla with chocolate chips.
Red tonight, white as I might.
LA - there in December.
Watch Football on TV, go to a Soccer match.
Keeping my Flickr Pro for now.
Saw Bohemian Rhapsody last night and liked it.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I second that motion.  There must be something better to argue about.
> 
> Chocolate or Vanilla?  Red or White?  NY or LA?  Football or Soccer?
> 
> 
> 
> I forgot to vote:
> Chocolate syrup on vanilla ice cream
> Red
> NY
> Meh - Ice Hockey and the Scottish Heptathlon.
> 
> I accomplished what I took of for so I'm heading out with the camera to try and capture some more alphabet.  I downloaded all of my Flickr images and deleted a bunch, putting me just above 900.  I'll adjust some more, later.
Click to expand...


I deleted a bunch of junk out of my Flickr but later, started to reconsider using it as my back-up storage.  $50/year is not that steep.  I've been debating canceling Amazon Prime as it enables my shopping addiction and we rarely use it for videos anymore.  We have Graboid and Netflix...  I was hesitating on canceling because I have photos on there but I can move them to Flickr...  Need to see what we're going to drop and if it's worth it to keep Flickr.  It is certainly the easiest option as I upload most of my photos there right now and I have icloud and an external drive...




Dave442 said:


> Vanilla with chocolate chips.
> Red tonight, white as I might.
> LA - there in December.
> Watch Football on TV, go to a Soccer match.
> Keeping my Flickr Pro for now.
> Saw Bohemian Rhapsody last night and liked it.



Going to see Bohemian Rhapsody tomorrow - glad to know it was good.  I'd see if just for the mood and the music...


----------



## Fujidave

I was thinking earlier on, we all pay a fortune for our cameras then some might moan about $50 per year so I think once my Flickr builds back up I will get the Pro.


----------



## Frank F.

IMO my friend Gary did overreact.

BUT the topic raises some very interesting philosophical question I think about a lot:

Is it really the good deed or is the intention more important?

Where is the line between encouraging nice behaviour and invasion of privacy?

Is it possible to come to terms with neighbours who do not want to?

Up to which point should you act yourself and when should you better call the police?

All these decisions constitute your personality much more than your behaviour IMO

Frank eagerly waiting for your opinion (drop Halloween topic)


----------



## davidharmier60

Got the title (wasn't much chance it would be a problem but there was a chance)
Had 3 Taco Bell soft tacos.
We shopped at Wal-Mart in Porter.
Sister is inside Popeyes getting dinner.

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## Frank F.

I have been away for a while and came back as I saw on my Paypal that I still support this site. So a pictorial greeting from Germany:






my wife in an exhibition





current form of my planned house. I managed to buy parts of the neighbouring lot and can now build 600sqm living space to rent out instead of 300sqm only. Building lots are scarce in the center of our growing city.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> Where is the line between encouraging nice behaviour and invasion of privacy?
> 
> Is it possible to come to terms with neighbours who do not want to?



I grew up in the country where the neighbors were far and few between. Then for over 30 years in the city where the neighbors were obnoxiously close. We built our retirement home in the country, almost a mile off the road. All we see are woods and mountains. We have a lot of neighbors (just not close) who are much nicer/caring/helpful than any of those we had in the city. Maybe it was the confining nature of the city (you're forced to be close), or maybe it's the fact that neighbors actually have to exert the effort to see one another. In any case we know and socialize with people from our little valley, and in town we hardly knew the people on our street.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'll take vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce (lite/no sugar these days), or chocolate chip, or chocolate (smallish portions - little dishes!). 

And there is no sport besides hockey. Or maybe curling, that's on tonight.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah it's different in a city (at least where I worked) and different in different neighborhoods (I used to see families who didn't take their kids trick or treating because it wasn't that safe in their neighborhoods with drug dealers, etc. and now there are more community events).                                                                                                                        Neighbors that act like idiots probably just will; but even if a neighbor is nice enough, every neighbor isn't necessarily going to be involved in every community event (and they don't have to be). If noise/partying gets too loud, too disruptive, it's probably best to call and let the police handle it. If someone is being obnoxious or drunk or both, you never know how they might respond in a situation and proably better to not put yourself at risk.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> I'll take vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce (lite/no sugar these days), or chocolate chip, or chocolate (smallish portions - little dishes!).
> 
> And there is no sport besides hockey. Or maybe curling, that's on tonight.



I don`t need curling, my hair is too curly any way


----------



## vintagesnaps

But, but - it involves ice! And it's Curling Night in America (according to NBC Sports Network that is! lol). In college where I got started as a hockey fan there was curling usually after the hockey games in our ice arena.  

Sharon, I like the softball in the head! That's some creativity!! 

And 40 bucks is what I spent on candy (and only had like 4 pieces of candy left). Not everybody can do that. Especially if they've spent their money on big screen TVs and alcoholic beverages! lol they have their own priorities it seems.


----------



## Frank F.

vintagesnaps said:


> But, but - it involves ice! And it's Curling Night in America (according to NBC Sports Network that is! lol). In college where I got started as a hockey fan there was curling usually after the hockey games in our ice arena.
> 
> Sharon, I like the softball in the head! That's some creativity!!
> 
> And 40 bucks is what I spent on candy (and only had like 4 pieces of candy left). Not everybody can do that. Especially if they've spent their money on big screen TVs and alcoholic beverages! lol they have their own priorities it seems.



Some people regard sugar as poison. So your good deed would read "poisoning kids" for them. People are different. We can only respect them up to a certain point, from there we must stand our ground.

E.g.: I do do eat meat so I do annoy some vegetarians and vegans, altough I respect their not eating meat.


----------



## Frank F.

@smoke665 : it depends on the size of the city, the quarter you live in and your personality. Within a mile radius from the house I live in there are 3000 to 4000 people just now, but it is still relatively calm and quiet and well behaved and I know a lot of them nice people here


----------



## Frank F.

thank you,@vintagesnaps


----------



## davidharmier60

The chicken hit the spot. The mashed potatoes and gravy were perfect. The Cole slaw was Cole slaw. The Mac and cheese was icky. Finishing Price is Right on the DVR. Then going to finish my multiple Customers Clearing House emails.

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----------



## SquarePeg

We have mostly nice neighbors that we are friends with and one jerky cranky ahole.


----------



## tirediron

Gary A. said:


> We give candy to all and all get candy.


I'll assume then, mine is simply delayed in the mail?


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, looks like it might be a nice sunny day today with no rain forecast at all.


----------



## davidharmier60

Don't believe we expect any rain.
Going to go add some time to next week's check. We are going to sell the Mitsubishi today and then try to get the Dodge Avenger legal. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

It’s raining cats and dogs here as my nana used to say.  

Had a photo meet up scheduled with my photo club that we’ve pushed to tomorrow.   Going to drop Princess off at Drivers Ed (oh no!!!!!) and then get some chores done.  Lunch and a movie later with a good friend I haven’t seen in a while. Have a feeling this weekend will be gone in a blink.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.  We had a brief thunder storm last night.

Haircut day with a new person and place.  The other person was so busy, she was not always responsive with appointment requests.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Good morning.  We had a brief thunder storm last night.
> 
> Haircut day with a new person and place.  The other person was so busy, she was not always responsive with appointment requests.



I need a haircut. I've been going on Saturdays ever since I started working full-time, but the woman whom I usually go to has had to temporarily stop working Saturday hours. Not sure when she's going to start again, so now I have to figure out if I go to someone else, or if I take a couple of hours off to go see her during the week.

#firstworldproblems


----------



## snowbear

I no longer look like a shaggy dog.

There are a bunch of stickers in the area that put the state flag on outlines of animal and other objects: crabs, dogs, horses, anchors.  The display at the supermarket showed one with a calico cat (official state cat) wearing a flag scarf/bandana.  Unfortunately they didn’t have any.


----------



## Fujidave

A beautiful sunny day here in the good old South East.
Haircut I could do with as I could quite easliy be mistaken for a Caveman...lol


----------



## davidharmier60

Beautiful sunny day here too.
5 hours and roughly 20 minutes. 
30.5x for the week. 
PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## JonA_CT

I’m due for a beard trim, but they give me anxiety. I haven’t clean shaven since late June, and I get nervous that they will take too much length off when I get trimmed at barber.


----------



## smoke665

It really doesn't seem fair that I get charged the same price as someone with a full head of hair. Kind of like hiring someone to trim the edges but pay for having the lawn mowed  It also isn't fair that the sides grow so much faster then the top. I mean the sides are in the shade most of the day, the top gets full sunlight, so what the heck is up with that. Had a friend try to explain it that it's like a mountain top. Over the years all the nutrients gradually get washed down the slopes.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> It really doesn't seem fair that I get charged the same price as someone with a full head of hair.


Just compensation for getting blinded by that glare.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> It really doesn't seem fair that I get charged the same price as someone with a full head of hair.
> 
> 
> 
> Just compensation for getting blinded by that glare.
Click to expand...


Interesting article on baldness by ethnicity. No doubt I fall in the Nordic category (won't mention where) Ethnicity and Hair Loss Rates | HT&RC  Guess I shouldn't complain as mine has taken a lot of years, my oldest son had long flowing beautiful hair, and then in his early 20's it disappeared all over


----------



## smoke665

Just got back from a scouting trip up to the valley head, looking for fall color. Good thing I didn't get up before daylight to go shoot or I'd been really mad. Other then the occasional spot of color it was mostly a mixture of trees whose leaves had simply turned brown and dropped, still green leaves, and a few drab looking colors. Guess our fall color was a bust this year.


----------



## davidharmier60

Last thing I heard was at least a week after Wednesday night's rain there would be no more.  Dad says %100 tonight.

Yippee.

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----------



## Fujidave

Morning all,  looks like a nice start to today so just having a brew then off in to town as we have the London to Brighton Veteran Car run.


----------



## davidharmier60

Rained much of the night. 
Seems to be done.
Sisters Biscuits Sausage gravy soon.
Pennies, comics and general mayhem. 

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----------



## Fujidave

Just back from a lovely day in town, took some images of the London to Brighton Veteran Car run, plus a few of Mr & Mrs Horner, aka Christian is F1 Red Bull boss and Geri Halliwell aka Ginger Spice from the Spice Girls.


----------



## smoke665

Coming back from church today, we took a short cut down a road we don't normally go on. About a mile from our house we got a shock. A large cougar (4 legs guys), ran right out in front of us, forcing me to slam on the brakes. He/she was moving on as it crossed the road and bounded into the woods. I've never seen one in person (seen pictures on game cameras). They are not something I want to meet on the trail unprepared, time to start carrying when Sadie and I go for our early morning trail walks.


----------



## davidharmier60

The consistency of the biscuits and sausage gravy was the same as always. However the sausage had no taste. If not for the salt and pepper it would have been terrible. Oh well, can't have it all. 
Sure do need Cassie and her herd to move to Idaho. But not before getting the Avenger legal.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, grey and overcast here today not up to much today either.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning. Monday Madness begins in approximately 40 minutes. 
Good mug of coffee to try and get going.

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----------



## Dikkie

Trying to drink less coffee.
Because of too much coffee I get weird heart pressure lately.
Last weekend, tried 24 hours without, got a headache due to the addiction.
Today, started a monday morning without coffee again, without sugar.
Go go go !


----------



## smoke665

Mornings without coffee would be unbearable for me. Although, the last trip to the doctor wasn't the best. After a consistent pattern of high blood pressure despite the medication I'm on, he added a second one pill. So far he hasn't cut me off the coffee but I suspect it's only a matter of time.


----------



## jcdeboever

Downloaded Capture One yesterday. Screw software editing, how do y'all do it? It's so flippin complicated. I need to figure out a way to get motivated to learn it. Maybe some LSD? Geez...


----------



## smoke665

jcdeboever said:


> , how do y'all do it? It's so flippin complicated



It gets easier JC. Just like being behind the lens you didn't get to where you are now without a lot of practice. Over time I've developed a standardized workflow that incorporates certain common user presets that apply to all images, which cuts the time in editing. Knowing what, when and where to use features will make it easier and faster.


----------



## SquarePeg

jcdeboever said:


> Downloaded Capture One yesterday. Screw software editing, how do y'all do it? It's so flippin complicated. I need to figure out a way to get motivated to learn it. Maybe some LSD? Geez...



If you don’t like to edit try something simple like Snapseed on a tablet.  

Bohemian Rhapsody- 4 stars

Minus 1 star because the actor playing Freddie just wasn’t good looking enough.  The weird teeth and distended jaw were just awkward and distracting on Mr Robot.  The real Freddie was hot.  Everything else about the movie, including the actors’ performances, was excellent.


----------



## Fujidave

jcdeboever said:


> Downloaded Capture One yesterday. Screw software editing, how do y'all do it? It's so flippin complicated. I need to figure out a way to get motivated to learn it. Maybe some LSD? Geez...



@jcdeboever this might help you out a bit mate, plus a lot of videos are about too on Youtube.

http://downloads.phaseone.com/cf2a9...a606654/English/Capture One 11 User Guide.pdf


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> If you don’t like to edit try something simple like Snapseed on a tablet.


Snapseed is really, really great for quick edits. And you can easily save the edits for future use on different photographs, pretty cool. That's probably one of my more used programs. Not my preference for big edits, but it does surprisingly well with photos (even with the healing brush*).

*There are significant limitations with the healing tool in Snapseed compared to other programs I've used like PS, LR, and Affinity.


----------



## waday

Someone hacked my Hulu account. Ugh. Changed my password and removed/logged out of all devices on the account.


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> Someone hacked my Hulu account. Ugh. Changed my password and removed/logged out of all devices on the account.



Good luck. We had that happen to our Netflix account. Netflix ended up having to change the registration email to help us. It was a nightmare.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> 
> Downloaded Capture One yesterday. Screw software editing, how do y'all do it? It's so flippin complicated. I need to figure out a way to get motivated to learn it. Maybe some LSD? Geez...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you don’t like to edit try something simple like Snapseed on a tablet.
> 
> Bohemian Rhapsody- 4 stars
> 
> Minus 1 star because the actor playing Freddie just wasn’t good looking enough.  The weird teeth and distended jaw were just awkward and distracting on Mr Robot.  The real Freddie was hot.  Everything else about the movie, including the actors’ performances, was excellent.
Click to expand...

My sister saw it yesterday and texted me with a rave review.    She said it made her cry twice.       She's not one for movie tears, so that's a significant statement.    I'm ready to go see it soon!

Overcast and mildly misty out there, cool and lovely.   Wonderful day IMO, whenever the sun isn't beating down and turning everything into kindle.   Happy Monday, hosers!


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Someone hacked my Hulu account. Ugh. Changed my password and removed/logged out of all devices on the account.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck. We had that happen to our Netflix account. Netflix ended up having to change the registration email to help us. It was a nightmare.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jon, I'll keep this in mind! Good to know that Netflix helped you out! I know that my email and several no-longer-used iterations of my password are out there, but not sure how they got Hulu.  

A while back, someone kept trying to get some sort of Comcast trial wifi using my email address but they couldn't get into my email to "confirm" the email address, thankfully. (I don't have Comcast, so emails from them were an immediate red flag.) When I called Comcast to report this, the people at Comcast either played dumb or were inept at handling the inquiry, because they acted like they didn't understand the situation. After a 15 minute long, increasingly infuriating conversation, I just hung up.


----------



## davidharmier60

My Sister and I talked about that movie. The feeling is we won't go when it's just out but wait a while.
I got roughly 5 and 3/4 hours today. I'm either entitled now or soon for a week of payed vacation. 
Sister didn't think a part time worker would get it. But Trish is the one who told me.
I have some pretty serious tape. I used it on the lower part of the windshield on the Avenger.
If we get it legal it will get either a blend of oil or full strength synthetic. Want that engine to live!


----------



## limr

I don't need to see _Bohemian Rhapsody_ in the theaters, though I do definitely want to see it. I might see it in the theaters, though, simply for the sound.

In the meantime, we're back from Maine and I have to go to work tomorrow. Le sigh.


----------



## smoke665

Anyone else not happy with it being completely dark at 5 pm??? I wish they'd leave daylight savings time year round!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Anyone else not happy with it being completely dark at 5 pm??? I wish they'd leave daylight savings time year round!



I haven't been very happy with_ ANYTHING_ for the last 2 years, lol. That is why I am VOTING tomorrow night if it is the last thing I ever do!


----------



## limr

I'd rather deal with nightfall at 5pm than have to wake up in darkness M-F.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> I don't need to see _Bohemian Rhapsody_ in the theaters, though I do definitely want to see it. I might see it in the theaters, though, simply for the sound.
> 
> In the meantime, we're back from Maine and I have to go to work tomorrow. Le sigh.


Beautiful!   I haven't visited Maine in years, and remember fondly how beautiful it is. 

I do like longer evenings in warm weather, mainly to relax in the screened in porch with a glass of wine.   Since it's fall, I am happy to snuggle inside, have a fire...with a glass of wine.   

The end of daylight savings time is a little bittersweet, but not too big a deal.


----------



## smoke665

Regardless of the time I go to bed, or the time on the clock when the sun peeks over the mountain I'm awake, so the time change on the beginning of day is no big deal. Losing that hour at the end of the day messes with my cicada rythym.


----------



## snowbear

When I was working 12-hour shifts, I never saw the daylight in the winter until days off.


----------



## compur

limr said:


>



Great photo.


----------



## snowbear

Dean_Gretsch said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone else not happy with it being completely dark at 5 pm??? I wish they'd leave daylight savings time year round!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I haven't been very happy with_ ANYTHING_ for the last 2 years, lol. That is why I am VOTING tomorrow night if it is the last thing I ever do!
Click to expand...


I took advantage of the early voting and went last Friday.
Please do vote, but be careful in this thread - we don't want to cross into politics outside the subscriber's area.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Beautiful!   I haven't visited Maine in years, and remember fondly how beautiful it is.


If we make it there as permanent residents, you (and Leonore & Buzz) will have to visit.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> I'd rather deal with nightfall at 5pm than have to wake up in darkness M-F.



I feel the opposite.  I couldn’t care less if it’s dark in the morning but I absolutely hate that it’s dark when I finish work.  Makes me feel like all there is, is work and sleep.


----------



## snowbear

We've been going in to work "the back way" as a gas line is being installed parallel to a part of US 301, and one lane is shut down.  We've been seeing a couple of deer, mostly does, along the way since we going through a rural area.

This morning a beautiful buck strolled across the road.  I will definitely be taking the camera on the trip, from now on.


----------



## limr

Circadian rhythm.



SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'd rather deal with nightfall at 5pm than have to wake up in darkness M-F.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I feel the opposite.  I couldn’t care less if it’s dark in the morning but I absolutely hate that it’s dark when I finish work.  Makes me feel like all there is, is work and sleep.
Click to expand...


Since I tend to have more energy in the evening, I feel like I end up with more time if it is already dark when I leave work. When I get home, it looks like it is already time to get ready for bed, but then I see it's only 6:00 and I relax, knowing I still have the whole evening ahead of me. In the morning, however, it kills me to have to get out of bed when it's still dark. It makes me feel like I haven't gotten a full night's sleep and so I get out of bed feeling very unrested.


----------



## limr

compur said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Great photo.
Click to expand...


Thanks


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, a grey start here today but not cold at all.  Today is my COPD review which I think I might fail but will have to wait and see as chest feels horrible.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Morning all, a grey start here today but not cold at all.  Today is my COPD review which I think I might fail but will have to wait and see as chest feels horrible.



Yuck, hope it goes well Dave. No COPD for me, but late onset Adult Asthma, diagnosed at 61. Gives me fits at times, and can send me scurrying to find an ER during a bad attack.


----------



## JonA_CT

I waited in line to vote for about 20 minutes with my fellow Americans this morning. It’s the first time I’ve had to wait to vote at midterms.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> I waited in line to vote for about 20 minutes with my fellow Americans this morning. It’s the first time I’ve had to wait to vote at midterms.


It's been a National trend; record numbers of early voters, too.

It's been raining but not at the moment.  I'm hoping to see Willy Whitetail this morning.


----------



## smoke665

Will be going to vote shortly myself. I like to go during the off times. The people who have to work don't need me clogging up the line.


----------



## jcdeboever

I voted, I was the first one at the door. I was prepared, took me 5 minutes.


----------



## waday

Went to vote, and there were only two people in front of me. But, it was raining something awful, and I was a little later than usual.

Happy to see others voting!


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning all, a grey start here today but not cold at all.  Today is my COPD review which I think I might fail but will have to wait and see as chest feels horrible.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yuck, hope it goes well Dave. No COPD for me, but late onset Adult Asthma, diagnosed at 61. Gives me fits at times, and can send me scurrying to find an ER during a bad attack.
Click to expand...


Just back from seeing the nurse, told her I lost some weight as use to be just over 10 stone but now just under.  Blood pressure fine as is Oxygen levels, told her I do get more tired now so she has made an appointment for me to see my doctor in the morning just to make sure all is fine.  Do actually feel good to hear some great positives too.


----------



## SquarePeg

I’ll be going to vote shortly.  I like to wait for the commuters to be off to work.  I usually go during my lunch break.  There is never a line here.  The city has several voting places split up by ward and lots of volunteers to make it all run smoothly.  I see other places on tv with those long lines and I just don’t get it.


----------



## limr




----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I’ll be going to vote shortly.  I like to wait for the commuters to be off to work.  I usually go during my lunch break.  There is never a line here.  The city has several voting places split up by ward and lots of volunteers to make it all run smoothly.  I see other places on tv with those long lines and I just don’t get it.


I'll be interested in hearing if you're able to zip through.  

I think some of those long lines are from heavily populated areas with perhaps an inadequate number of places.   I've been caught only twice in my lifetime, and it is a drag.  And it was during early voting, too!

Everyone get out and vote, if you haven't already.   I voted about 2 weeks ago.  There were 12 people ahead of me.   In my small town, that's big turnout.


----------



## waday

We don't get stickers for voting.


----------



## snowbear

No deer today.  We went by a country church that is a voting place - the parking area was packed, even in the steady rain.
Putting the finishing touches on two "dashboards" that show response area and calls for selected stations, and selected trucks (ladder truck or water tower) for the Chief.  I need to figure out how to get counts for the calls in each of those selected areas.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> We don't get stickers for voting.


I didn't get one for the General - I still have mine from the Primary on my door security card.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> We don't get stickers for voting.
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't get one for the General - I still have mine from the Primary on my door security card.
Click to expand...


One of the reasons I go early is so I can get a sticker before they run out.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> We don't get stickers for voting.


Well!   The very idea!


----------



## Fujidave

waday said:


> We don't get stickers for voting.



Over here in the UK, we vote then get told to move on...lol  Plus the queues of people waiting to vote is mad.


----------



## smoke665

Wow just voted, and there was a line of people out the door at our polling place out in the boonies.


----------



## waday

terri said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> We don't get stickers for voting.
> 
> 
> 
> Well!   The very idea!
Click to expand...

It's such a little thing, but makes people happy. Plus, my daughter would have loved it on her forehead.. not that I would have done that, just sayin, hypothetically speaking...


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> View attachment 165486





waday said:


> We don't get stickers for voting.





limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> We don't get stickers for voting.
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't get one for the General - I still have mine from the Primary on my door security card.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> One of the reasons I go early is so I can get a sticker before they run out.
Click to expand...


We don’t get stickers either so I brought my own.


----------



## Fujidave

You could all get a lovely big sticker saying, WE LOVE TRUMP


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> You could all get a lovely big sticker saying, WE LOVE TRUMP



Only if you all wear a “We thought Brexit was a good idea” pin.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> You could all get a lovely big sticker saying, WE LOVE TRUMP
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Only if you all wear a “We thought Brexit was a good idea” pin.
Click to expand...


 I would have to edit it though.


----------



## Fujidave

Two words that go well together=Plum + May


----------



## smoke665

And the coffee house thread slowly moves from civic duty to political fodder. SMH


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> And the coffee house thread slowly moves from civic duty to political fodder. SMH



Sorry.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> And the coffee house thread slowly moves from civic duty to political fodder. SMH


Sometimes people get a comment in here or there; you know that.     It never gets out of control. 

Relax!   Smile!


----------



## Fujidave

Can any member start a post in the Subscribers thread ?


----------



## terri

Fujidave said:


> Can any member start a post in the Subscribers thread ?


Any_ Subscriber_ can, yes.    You're eligible, so you can do what you want.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Can any member start a post in the Subscribers thread ?



Buyer Beware


----------



## Fujidave

terri said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can any member start a post in the Subscribers thread ?
> 
> 
> 
> Any_ Subscriber_ can, yes.    You're eligible, so you can do what you want.
Click to expand...


Thank you.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Sometimes people get a comment in here or there; you know that.  It never gets out of control.
> 
> Relax! Smile!



Yup, that's why I added the SMH. Makes me no difference one way or the other.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> We don’t get stickers either so I brought my own.
> View attachment 165488


Nothing to do with the current election or anything else, but I've always been puzzled by the choice of symbol here.  Why aren't there slews of "You have to be an @$$ to be a democrat" and similar slogans being tossed about by the other parties?  It seems like such low-hanging fruit...


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> We don’t get stickers either so I brought my own.
> View attachment 165488
> 
> 
> 
> Nothing to do with the current election or anything else, but I've always been puzzled by the choice of symbol here.  Why aren't there slews of "You have to be an @$$ to be a democrat" and similar slogans being tossed about by the other parties?  It seems like such low-hanging fruit...
Click to expand...


Exactly.  

Election 101:How did the Republican and Democratic parties get their animal symbols?


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> We don’t get stickers either so I brought my own.
> View attachment 165488
> 
> 
> 
> Nothing to do with the current election or anything else, but I've always been puzzled by the choice of symbol here.  Why aren't there slews of "You have to be an @$$ to be a democrat" and similar slogans being tossed about by the other parties?  It seems like such low-hanging fruit...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Exactly.
> 
> Election 101:How did the Republican and Democratic parties get their animal symbols?
Click to expand...


Very interesting reading that.


----------



## snowbear

From history.com:


> The Democratic Party's *donkey* and the Republican Party's *elephant* have been on the political scene since the 19th century. The origins of the Democratic *donkey* can be traced to the 1828 presidential campaign of Andrew Jackson. During that race, opponents of Jackson called him a jackass.


----------



## tirediron

Interesting... 'though really it should be the symbol for ALL politics, not just one party!


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> Interesting... 'though really it should be the symbol for ALL politics, not just one party!


Or something with a very large mouth.

Finally, no more jammin' political ads after tonight.  Now if we can only get them to pick up their roadside signs.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting... 'though really it should be the symbol for ALL politics, not just one party!
> 
> 
> 
> Or something with a very large mouth.
> 
> Finally, no more jammin' political ads after tonight.  Now if we can only get them to pick up their roadside signs.
Click to expand...

Some very forward thinking township here starting paying a " bounty " for political signs here and making the candidates reimburse them for it.


----------



## smoke665

I watched with amusement yesterday as two on duty police officers gathered up at least a couple dozen illegally placed political signs, next to the road at a very busy intersection. They were all for one guy running for circuit judge.


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> We don't get stickers for voting.
> 
> 
> 
> Well!   The very idea!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's such a little thing, but makes people happy. Plus, my daughter would have loved it on her forehead.. not that I would have done that, just sayin, hypothetically speaking...
Click to expand...


I had my son with me, and they have both of us a sticker!

My daughter was quite annoyed when we got home.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> We don't get stickers for voting.
> 
> 
> 
> Well!   The very idea!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's such a little thing, but makes people happy. Plus, my daughter would have loved it on her forehead.. not that I would have done that, just sayin, hypothetically speaking...
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I had my son with me, and they have both of us a sticker!
> 
> My daughter was quite annoyed when we got home.
Click to expand...

WHAT. I WANT A STICKER!

I'm going to buy my own next election.. Or, maybe I'll buy a roll of like 500-1000, and GIVE them to the voting place to hand out. If the stickers are based on tax payer dollars, maybe they figure they'd rather spend that money elsewhere?


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> Now if we can only get them to pick up their roadside signs.


I think I'm actually more annoyed with the road signs than the political ads on TV... I can mute the TV ads, but I can't avoid the road signs.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Another good reason to live in a small town out in the country - what signs?? I'd have to go all of 10-15 minutes drive time to see some! lol 

I'm tired of hitting the mute. Been watching old movies instead. I think tomorrow will be soon enough to find out election results, they're never all in til late anyway.


----------



## Streets

Gary A. said:


> View attachment 165073
> Our friend Ann getting devoured by some zombies who were waiting for us in the parking lot.



NOW I remember why I decided to use Ugly Hedgehog instead of this clown forum.


----------



## Fujidave

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> We don't get stickers for voting.
> 
> 
> 
> Well!   The very idea!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's such a little thing, but makes people happy. Plus, my daughter would have loved it on her forehead.. not that I would have done that, just sayin, hypothetically speaking...
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I had my son with me, and they have both of us a sticker!
> 
> My daughter was quite annoyed when we got home.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> WHAT. I WANT A STICKER!
> 
> I'm going to buy my own next election.. Or, maybe I'll buy a roll of like 500-1000, and GIVE them to the voting place to hand out. If the stickers are based on tax payer dollars, maybe they figure they'd rather spend that money elsewhere?
Click to expand...


Well you can`t have a sticker


----------



## vintagesnaps

I wish we'd just stay on standard time, farmers have lights on their big tractors and can work when it's dark so it doesn't seem like they need extra daylight in the evening so much anymore (which seems to have been at least partly the reason for daylight savings). I'd just like it if we at least went back to what we used to do and switch in April and back in late October (if it's sunny for trick or treating at 6 you can't tell if people have porch lights on or not! lol). In March who's going to be outdoors in the evening when it's still cold? I don't like it getting so dark in the morning either.

Used to be that Indiana stayed on standard time and Ohio was on daylight savings so I could go somewhere like Little Nashville and it'd take an hour instead of two to get there (not really but it seemed like it! lol). 

edit - I always had stickers in my desk at work but now I don't know... probably have some in my desk at home if anyone wants me to send them a sticker. Who knows what you'd get. (I'm kidding, I'm not sending all you peeps stickers!)

Lovely photo Leo, looks wonderfully relaxing there.


----------



## smoke665

For all those poor souls that feel shorted because they didn't get a sticker. Print it off, slap some scotch tape on it.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Hmmm...I got to the voting place at about 5:30, walked right in, voted AND got a sticker! Naa, naa, naaa, naa!


----------



## Fujidave

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Hmmm...I got to the voting place at about 5:30, walked right in, voted AND got a sticker! Naa, naa, naaa, naa!



Don`t tell @waday


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Waday and I live in the same state


----------



## davidharmier60

We voted early and got stickers.
6 hours and maybe 20 minutes because she insisted I do the windows. I did the outside and she wants the inside done tomorrow. Also to get the car insured and inspected. It has been assured to my Sister that Cassie can get the registration. 
I have my doubts because the north side of 8 grand was financed in 2017. And there is a lien against the title. But I am told to do it and we'll be out the insurance and inspection if the car is repossessed. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

One of my lifelong best friends from grade school through college just posted a picture of her and her aunt outside the poll getting ready to go in and vote. Her aunt is 103 years old, sharp mind, and still getting around with a walker. How about it, any other "senior voter stories" out there that can top this lady? I'm amazed to think about all the people she voted for that I've only read about in history books.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Wow. Over 100,000,000 projected to vote! Go America!!!


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> One of my lifelong best friends from grade school through college just posted a picture of her and her aunt outside the poll getting ready to go in and vote. Her aunt is 103 years old, sharp mind, and still getting around with a walker. How about it, any other "senior voter stories" out there that can top this lady? I'm amazed to think about all the people she voted for that I've only read about in history books.



My mother is 82 and voted for the first time in her entire life this morning. And not just in a U.S. election. There were no real elections she could have voted in when she lived in Salazar's Portugal.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dad is 84. He and Sister voted straight.
I mixed it up by choosing an opponent judge candidate.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Streets said:


> NOW I remember why I decided to use Ugly Hedgehog instead of this clown forum.


We may be clowns but we look a whole helluva lot better, and collectively, know more.


----------



## waday

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Waday and I live in the same state


----------



## JonA_CT

Fujidave said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> We don't get stickers for voting.
> 
> 
> 
> Well!   The very idea!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's such a little thing, but makes people happy. Plus, my daughter would have loved it on her forehead.. not that I would have done that, just sayin, hypothetically speaking...
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I had my son with me, and they have both of us a sticker!
> 
> My daughter was quite annoyed when we got home.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> WHAT. I WANT A STICKER!
> 
> I'm going to buy my own next election.. Or, maybe I'll buy a roll of like 500-1000, and GIVE them to the voting place to hand out. If the stickers are based on tax payer dollars, maybe they figure they'd rather spend that money elsewhere?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well you can`t have a sticker
Click to expand...


My iPhone thinks its smarter than me...bleh.


----------



## SquarePeg

Back from dinner.  Kicking around the idea of a very last minute NY trip this weekend...need to check the weather and see what shows we might like to see.  I’m thinking train down on Friday after work. Dinner and drinks with friends from the city.  Saturday hit a museum and Central Park then a show.  Sunday check out Brooklyn hipster stuff. Train Home Sunday afternoon.


----------



## snowbear

Interesting blurb on newsfeed: "I Voted" stickers in Culpeper, VA were designed by 9 year old.  She did a good job.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, we have high winds and it`s chucking it down at the moment so a lazy day today.  Well done to all the Demi lot in the USA.


----------



## smoke665

Finally the dust has settled on the national and local elections. Mostly voting in our state went as predicted on the national level. There were a few surprises in the local races. Mike Hale, Jefferson County's (Birmingham) Sheriff for the last 20 years was soundly defeated by a newcomer. Which is surprising as he seemed to be well liked, and has remained free of controversies that inevitably dog career politicians.   In our county after 18 years we got rid of a slug state senator, who's been riding on his father's coat tails way to long. All of the state amendments passed. Two were controversial, one which allows the posting of the ten commandments on public buildings and one on the sanctity of unborn lives. I suspect one or both will be challenged in the courts. Lastly we may not have a lottery, but at least we can buy alcohol 7 days a week county wide to drown our sadness.


----------



## snowbear

Yes - gamblin's the work of the devil but booze is heavenly.


----------



## Fujidave

snowbear said:


> Yes - gamblin's the work of the devil but booze is heavenly.



Or you could just have a booze up with the devil


----------



## Fujidave

I can`t see any cats or dogs, but the rain is really coming down now and very windy too.


----------



## smoke665

At least the alcohol referendum was a much tighter margin then the other two.


----------



## Fujidave

snowbear said:


> Interesting blurb on newsfeed: "I Voted" stickers in Culpeper, VA were designed by 9 year old.  She did a good job.



If this young girl can make them, then so can @waday


----------



## davidharmier60

6 hours and a few. 18.1x for the week so far. At the insurance agency. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

I decided to surprise DW by taking her out to lunch. She was a little hesitant about my choice of location (The Exxon market down the road from us) but she came around when she saw the meal. Chicken and dressing with giblet gravy, cranberries, green bean casserole, macaroni casserole, roll, and Butterfinger cake. So good! The lady that owns the station does this a few times a year, she is a really good cook. Now I'm ready for a power nap.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> I decided to surprise DW by taking her out to lunch. She was a little hesitant about my choice of location (The Exxon market down the road from us) but she came around when she saw the meal. Chicken and dressing with giblet gravy, cranberries, green bean casserole, macaroni casserole, roll, and Butterfinger cake. So good! The lady that owns the station does this a few times a year, she is a really good cook. Now I'm ready for a power nap.



Sounds very yummy that.  I just had a nice Chippy yum yum.


----------



## vintagesnaps

You just had a what?? lol Well, as long as it was yummy...

Sometimes I'm sorry I'm home during the day to see these live press conferencs  (the ones from the WH which they mostly quit having). Whaddya know, apparently if you lose you can still claim you won; I don't think that works in sports! lol

Nothing much out of the ordinary with local elections; our governor had suggested voting for the person/candidatee and not so much by party. He didn't go to the last convention because he couldn't support their choice of candidate; at least the man has some sense and does what he believes is best.

Enough of that, I switched to TCM and there's a special on Mary Pickford, so I'll watch silent era clips while waiting for a Schwan's delivery. Oh! the yellow truck is here.


----------



## Fujidave

Fish and Chips=Chippy.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Fish and Chips=Chippy.



So what is the fish used, and are the chips similar to our French fries, or slices more like potatoe chips


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Sometimes I'm sorry I'm home during the day to see these live press conferencs  (the ones from the WH which they mostly quit having). Whaddya know, apparently if you lose you can still claim you won; I don't think that works in sports! lol


Sure you can - if the Rangers lose to the Caps 2-4, but they out-shoot the caps 32 - 28 . . .


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Fish and Chips=Chippy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So what is the fish used, and are the chips similar to our French fries, or slices more like potatoe chips
Click to expand...


Just normal chunky chips and a large cod, lovely jubbly.


INFORMAL•BRITISH
used to express delight or approval.
"fish and chips and a few beers on the way back from a match—lovely jubbly!"


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> "fish and chips and a few beers



Here it's catfish in a spicy corn meal breading, fried with slaw, hush puppies, and of course beer.!


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> "fish and chips and a few beers
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here it's catfish in a spicy corn meal breading, fried with slaw, hush puppies, and of course beer.!
Click to expand...


What is a Catfish ? Is it a cat that looks like a fish ?


----------



## davidharmier60

Catfish will hurt you if given the chance.
But it's pretty good eating!
Just got the car inspected.
Tomorrow we find out if Cassie is just blowing hot air or not.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> "fish and chips and a few beers
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here it's catfish in a spicy corn meal breading, fried with slaw, hush puppies, and of course beer.!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> What is a Catfish ? Is it a cat that looks like a fish ?
Click to expand...


Catfish - Wikipedia  in the wild they can grow quite large. I've caught several in the plus 20# range, and seen a few that were in the 50# plus range. I think the record is close to 120# The meat is white and firm, but can easily take on a muddy taste from the water. Here in the south they raise catfish commercially in large ponds under strict water control guidelines. In Alabama they produce in excess of 100 million pounds a year, Mississippi is the largest producer at over 400 million pounds.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> "fish and chips and a few beers
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here it's catfish in a spicy corn meal breading, fried with slaw, hush puppies, and of course beer.!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> What is a Catfish ? Is it a cat that looks like a fish ?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Catfish - Wikipedia  in the wild they can grow quite large. I've caught several in the plus 20# range, and seen a few that were in the 50# plus range. I think the record is close to 120# The meat is white and firm, but can easily take on a muddy taste from the water. Here in the south they raise catfish commercially in large ponds under strict water control guidelines. In Alabama they produce in excess of 100 million pounds a year, Mississippi is the largest producer at over 400 million pounds.
Click to expand...


I had actually heard of catfish, but my god they can get big, looking at the one photo in that link was a monster


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> I had actually heard of catfish, but my god they can get big, looking at the one photo in that link was a monster



I found one on the banks of the Mississippi years ago that had been hit by a barge. It was over 8' and twice as big around as me. Divers doing damn inspections at a local hydro electric reservoir have reported being freaked out by having man sized fish brush up against them in the murky water.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had actually heard of catfish, but my god they can get big, looking at the one photo in that link was a monster
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I found one on the banks of the Mississippi years ago that had been hit by a barge. It was over 8' and twice as big around as me. Divers doing damn inspections at a local hydro electric reservoir have reported being freaked out by having man sized fish brush up against them in the murky water.
Click to expand...

Those large ones have pretty much found a spot to sit and eat with minimal danger to themselves. In some places where they have netting (think industrial sites that I work with), I remember talking with divers who clean the netting. They said that when they go in the water to spray the netting off, the catfish know and hang around downstream of the netting and just eat whatever flows to them.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> Divers doing damn inspections at a local hydro electric reservoir have reported being freaked out by having man sized fish brush up against them in the murky water.



Pass.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had actually heard of catfish, but my god they can get big, looking at the one photo in that link was a monster
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I found one on the banks of the Mississippi years ago that had been hit by a barge. It was over 8' and twice as big around as me. Divers doing damn inspections at a local hydro electric reservoir have reported being freaked out by having man sized fish brush up against them in the murky water.
Click to expand...


OMG!! If that happened to me, I`d need a change of clothes.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> Pass.



So can I count you in on the next Noodling trip???? If a girl would do it, surely you could LOL


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pass.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So can I count you in on the next Noodling trip???? If a girl would do it, surely you could LOL
Click to expand...


OMG OMG!!! it`s taking her arm


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> OMG OMG!!! it`s taking her arm



Well kind of. You reach under the ledges, brush, trees, etc. where they are hiding, and use your fingers to tickle them a little, till they strike your hand, the arm just follows when they swallow. LOL No serious damage, other than a few scratches occasionally,


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG OMG!!! it`s taking her arm
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well kind of. You reach under the ledges, brush, trees, etc. where they are hiding, and use your fingers to tickle them a little, till they strike your hand, the arm just follows when they swallow. LOL No serious damage, other than a few scratches occasionally,
Click to expand...


Tickle them are you serious ?


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Tickle them are you serious ?



Yup, that or wiggle your fingers like a tasty snack. LOL


----------



## smoke665

@Fujidave it's somewhat an aggressive action on their part, you're invading their space. I've watched people do it, but in reality there's no way I'm going to stick my hand down in a dark hole hoping something is going to latch on. The girl was going down under the ledge on a boat ramp, so the other dangers aren't as bad, but I've seen guys go up under brush, logs, etc. Those guys are short more then a few bricks, because those are the same places that alligators, water moccasins, and snapping turtles populate.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> @Fujidave it's somewhat an aggressive action on their part, you're invading their space. I've watched people do it, but in reality there's no way I'm going to stick my hand down in a dark hole hoping something is going to latch on. The girl was going down under the ledge on a boat ramp, so the other dangers aren't as bad, but I've seen guys go up under brush, logs, etc. Those guys are short more then a few bricks, because those are the same places that alligators, water moccasins, and snapping turtles populate.


"Hold my beer and watch th...................."

"And in other news, local fisherman Clem Kadiddlehopper disappeared during a fishing expedition along the banks of the Okaffenee River..."


----------



## compur

It's called noodling (fishing for catfish using one's bare hands).

Some catfish species grow to hundreds of pounds.
Giant Catfish May Be World's Largest Freshwater Fish


----------



## davidharmier60

You can noodle all you want. Leave ME out of it. Just had Spaghetti for dinner.
Maybe Blue Bell later but I'm pretty full just now.

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----------



## smoke665

compur said:


> It's called noodling (fishing for catfish using one's bare hands).
> 
> Some catfish species grow to hundreds of pounds.
> Giant Catfish May Be World's Largest Freshwater Fish



With extra emphasis on "using". LOL The link references a Thailand fish. Here in the states I believe the record is a little over 140# . That's still a lot of fish. I photographed a couple of local fishermen with their catch several years ago. The catfish weighed in at just over 60#. The men stood on each side with a hand in the gills so the head was even with their shoulders, and the tail was still laying on the ground.



tirediron said:


> "And in other news, local fisherman Clem Kadiddlehopper disappeared during a fishing expedition along the banks of the Okaffenee River..."



Many years ago I was fishing with my Father-in-law and wife's Uncle at the intersection of a channel that dumped into the Mississippi. We'd set out drop lines all morning and were making the first check round. Her Uncle was in the very front of the boat, and as we pulled up he saw the tree the line was tied to, move. He stood up, grabbed the line and pulled. It pulled back jerking him completely out of the boat. Once we got him back in the boat we tried without success to land the fish, but couldn't do it. Only thing left was to cut the line and remember the one that got away.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, well the rain has cleared from yesterday and last night but is forecast to come back later on.  Hope to hear some news on when my laptop might arrive in the UK as found out it is coming from China.


----------



## davidharmier60

Was supposed to start raining about midnight. It either didn't or the Tarp I put up Tuesday helped. I figure it's the Former.
Weather guessers blew it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Morning all, well the rain has cleared from yesterday and last night but is forecast to come back later on.  Hope to hear some news on when my laptop might arrive in the UK as found out it is coming from China.



Got my HP on Monday. Going through the arderous task of transferring everything over. Did a little editing last night in LR. Man what a difference in speed.


----------



## Fujidave

Just back from a lovely time with Mum, and Susie had a blast too.


----------



## Fujidave

Lol... My job is more exciting love it.


----------



## davidharmier60

4 hours and a roughly half. 22.48 for the week so far. PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home to find out about the Avenger. 

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----------



## Fujidave

JonA_CT said:


> Our Kickstarter launched today.
> 
> Tox Brewing Company
> 
> My friend Dayne spent countless hours on the video. It was all shot with cell phones, except for the obvious drone footage which was done with a DJI Mavic Air. We'll be using the money to outfit/furnish the tap room, hopefully.



Great video showing how you guys are doing


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning all, well the rain has cleared from yesterday and last night but is forecast to come back later on.  Hope to hear some news on when my laptop might arrive in the UK as found out it is coming from China.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Got my HP on Monday. Going through the arderous task of transferring everything over. Did a little editing last night in LR. Man what a difference in speed.
Click to expand...


Once mine does arrive, all I will be doing is getting my bookmarks back.


----------



## davidharmier60

The car is registered y'all. New plates and we get a year! This is a GOOD thing!
Finishing up comics online and then more penny stuff to do.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good luck with the brewery Jon! 

Every time the leaves rustle I jump up - waiting for the brown truck. Unfortunately just supplies more than fun stuff, but it's giving me some exercise.  Or as my dad calls it, calisthenics. That's what he calls the therapy room at the rehab place, but I don't think anyone's exactly doing jumping jacks in there!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Good luck @JonA_CT with the venture. Hope it makes you guys a bundle. Nicely done video. Enough humor to keep you watching.

@smoke665  Are you and your wife still fans of the Instant Pot? We still love ours and use it regularly. I like it because we always have leftovers for me to take to work, lol. Have you tried cakes made in them? The texture is like an English pudding, according to the Olde Lady. Who knew steam would bake a cake? I am the baker of our house and just made a pumpkin chocolate chip breakfast cake. Last week was an incredible chocolate bundt. You have to buy a half ( 6 cup ) bundt pan and use the trivet to keep the pan up off the water. Amazon sells the bundt pan for something like 12 bucks + shipping. We have decided our IP is a staple just like a microwave or toaster in our kitchen!


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Are you and your wife still fans of the Instant Pot? W



Yup, DW uses it everyday, for everything from breakfast to dinner, to desserts. We are hooked on a 10 grain oatmeal and a porridge mix that we get from a place in GA, the Instant Pot works great for those. She's made cheese cakes, cakes, and cobblers. Ours is not the biggest one, which works well for just the two of us.   Our oldest son and daughter in law have six children ranging in age from 2 to 17.  She had the big one and  just bought two more of the large ones, to keep up with feeding the herd. LOL


----------



## vintagesnaps

Porridge?!? You can keep that Smoke, I'm going to Dean's house for some of that bundt cake. (If we all show up looking pitiful you'll make us a cake, right Dean? lol)  

What is this instant pot you speak of? I'd get one if it made things instantly all on its own.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

vintagesnaps said:


> Porridge?!? You can keep that Smoke, I'm going to Dean's house for some of that bundt cake. (If we all show up looking pitiful you'll make us a cake, right Dean? lol)
> 
> What is this instant pot you speak of? I'd get one if it made things instantly all on its own.



It's the newest kitchen gadget to really catch on. Basically, it is just a fancy pressure cooker, lol, but websites have sprung up that give you some really great recipes and tips. There are several brands on the market and " Instant Pot " is a brand. For most of the recipes, it's a one-pot, easy way to make homemade, superfast food.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> What is this instant pot you speak of? I'd get one if it made things instantly all on its own.



Electric Pressure Cooker, Smart Cooker, Multi Cooker, 饮尚宝电压力锅 DW just fixes for the two of us, but a 2# roast, potatoes,and carrots, takes about 45 mins. Because it cooks with steam and pressure food remains moist. Also it's kind of a one pot meal deal. Using trivets, racks, etc. you can fix more then one thing at a time in it.

Also, the porridge is a mixture of white grits, yellow grits, cracked wheat, & whole rice, we like ours with just butter on it, but you can add white & brown sugar, honey, raisins, nuts, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, sliced bananas, cinnamon, nutmeg, apple pie spice, & fresh cream if you want a little change. Good stuff on a cold morning.

Edit: we also do a hot cereal from the same place - 10 Grain is a mixture of cracked wheat, barley, stone ground white and yellow grits, millet, rolled oats, rye, triticale, brown rice, soy grits & whole flax seeds. Add a little fruit or sugar, its really good.


----------



## davidharmier60

The last of the Beef Tips and Rice for dinner. And an RC Cola Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla float for dessert. 

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----------



## SquarePeg

I had a sports banquet to go to with Princess tonight.  Instead of the usual pizza or gross fried appetizer buffet, was pleasantly surprised by Chinese food that was very good.  

One of the other mwacs put together a slide show of photos we had both taken at the games.  It was cute with fun music to go along with it.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, a grey start too today with rain forecast to come in.


----------



## JonA_CT

Our crowdfunding campaign has had a great start. Through just over 24 hours, we are 75% funded (or about $9k so far), and we are the top trending campaign in CT right now, as well as the top trending brewery in the country. So this is a good morning, haha.


----------



## Fujidave

Well yet another day of rain here, think it is in for the weekend too.


----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers !

My niece is in for a weekend visit.   We've had some rain but it's moving out.  Chilly but sunny this weekend.   We'll have fun!


----------



## davidharmier60

It rained hard a couple times last night.
The last tarp I put up seems to have stopped the leak into my room and the utility hallway was dry this morning. 
It is a sorry looking grey day here.
I'm over in Cold Springs for propane. 
5 hours is assured. Maybe more depending upon what she says when I get back. 

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----------



## davidharmier60

28.05 for the week aftrer 5 of 6 days.
Trying to decide what to put on YouTube. Perhaps some power metal.
The car is off to to the VA at this time.
I have the house and 9 dogs all to myself.


----------



## Fujidave

Hope members are safe and well away from this.


California wildfire advances on Malibu


----------



## vintagesnaps

Fujidave it's rainy here too but the freezing kind. It wasn't supposed to get this far south... but I heard it hitting last night and looked at the radar and yes, it was blue instead of green. More of the same tonight, so there goes going to a hockey game. It might not do much but I'm not going to risk a fall stepping on a patch of that clear ice from freezing rain that you can't see. 

At least there's a double header of curling on TV tonight, I'll take what I can get.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Thanks Dean and Smoke! My limit is two pots and/or pans for any given meal so a one pot wonder sounds excellent!!

That doesn't sound like porridge Smoke, I like grits. Porridge is like something out of the Dickens era that they made out of I don't know what. Kind of like gruel. I should learn how to make grits (don't see them this far north but I've had them going to the Smokies etc.). Especially if you can make them taste like apple pie!


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Fujidave it's rainy here too but the freezing kind. It wasn't supposed to get this far south... but I heard it hitting last night and looked at the radar and yes, it was blue instead of green. More of the same tonight, so there goes going to a hockey game. It might not do much but I'm not going to risk a fall stepping on a patch of that clear ice from freezing rain that you can't see.
> 
> At least there's a double header of curling on TV tonight, I'll take what I can get.



We have all the rain and high winds at the moment, but it is very mild though.


----------



## compur

Fujidave said:


> Hope members are safe and well away from this.
> 
> 
> California wildfire advances on Malibu



People often say that we don't have seasons here is Southern California but it's not true. We _do _have 4 distinct seasons: the Summer season, the Wildfire season, the Mudslide season and the Awards season.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Hope members are safe and well away from this.
> 
> 
> California wildfire advances on Malibu



I think @Gary A. is well south of Malibu??????  Hope all is well.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> That doesn't sound like porridge Smoke, I like grits. Porridge is like something out of the Dickens era that they made out of I don't know what. Kind of like gruel. I should learn how to make grits (don't see them this far north but I've had them going to the Smokies etc.). Especially if you can make them taste like apple pie!



This the place we get our from Cereals, Seeds, & Grains the shipping is a factor on a small order. The porridge is also sold by https://gotmountainlife.com/product/nora-mills-granarys-pioneers-porridge-2lb-bag/ the porridge is the same but the shipping is less. I told you wrong on the porridge, DW mixes Brown Sugar and Butter in, so good. Had some this morning.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Our crowdfunding campaign has had a great start. Through just over 24 hours, we are 75% funded (or about $9k so far), and we are the top trending campaign in CT right now, as well as the top trending brewery in the country. So this is a good morning, haha.


It looks like you made it.  I kicked in a little, anyway.


----------



## ceemac

vintagesnaps said:


> That doesn't sound like porridge Smoke, I like grits. Porridge is like something out of the Dickens era that they made out of I don't know what. Kind of like gruel.


When I was in my teens, I went on an organized hike in the mountains. The last night we ended up at a wilderness campsite and it just pissed down rain. The only food we had left for breakfast was porridge and the only place dry to cook it was an outhouse. We couldn't stay in there for any length of time so it got a little burnt. I've never been able to eat that brand in over 50 years.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, wet and raining here again today but very mild though.
@Gary A. Hope the fires are not near you mate as just seen it is now very close.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.
It's in the upper 30s today, with a freeze warning tonight.  It will be just me and the cats - MLW picked up OT for both front and back 12.


----------



## smoke665

light frost and a nip in the air when Sadie and I hit the trails this morning just after daylight. Love this weather!!!


----------



## davidharmier60

It's a bit chilly here in East Texas. Almost 5 hours today and 33.x for the week. Got a snack from the Little Debbie display. Gonna hit the Post office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. Mary will be along about 11am to get the title and other papers signed by my Sister for the Mitsubishi. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Just put the heating on now, as it has gone from quite mild today to damn cold now.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's not just cool here but is lightly raining as well. I ain't going outside!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, we have another grotty day here so a lazy day for me.  Very high winds and raining yet again.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  Hope you’re all enjoying the weekend.  We’re wrapping up our remodel, finally!  Finishing touches tomorrow and it’s ready. 















Also, did you know that uncropped iPhone photos can once again be uploaded directly to the forum?  Fluke or update?  Shhhhh...


----------



## smoke665

I guess winter officially arrived on our mountain. Heavy killing frost this morning with the temperature still hovering at the freeze mark. Potential lows in the next couple days could hit 28.


----------



## jcdeboever

SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hope members are safe and well away from this.
> 
> 
> California wildfire advances on Malibu
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think @Gary A. is well south of Malibu??????  Hope all is well.
Click to expand...


They are 45 miles north of Gary, he's good.


----------



## JonA_CT

Look at that! Woohoo!

More work at the brewery today, and then we have some friends coming over. At some point, I also have to prepare for the 19 parent-teacher conferences I have tomorrow.


----------



## JonA_CT

A big thank you to all the Coffee House vets this morning.


----------



## davidharmier60

My Dad was on a leaky Coast Guard ship during Korea. It's 45 degrees and grey looking outside. I killed a Casio watch yesterday. Makes me sad. Soon as breakfast is over I'm getting away from the T.V. and Fox News. 

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----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  Hope you’re all enjoying the weekend.  We’re wrapping up our remodel, finally!  Finishing touches tomorrow and it’s ready.
> View attachment 165706
> 
> View attachment 165707
> 
> View attachment 165708
> View attachment 165709
> Also, did you know that uncropped iPhone photos can once again be uploaded directly to the forum?  Fluke or update?  Shhhhh...


Loving that hexagonal tile!  Color scheme, layout. ..it all looks great.   I'm sure it was a pita, but hopefully this makes it all worthwhile.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> A big thank you to all the Coffee House vets this morning.


Hoser vets, and all our vets - thank you for your service, and hard work.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  Hope you’re all enjoying the weekend.  We’re wrapping up our remodel, finally!  Finishing touches tomorrow and it’s ready....


Is that an optical illusion in the second from the last; it seems like the interior wall ends about 6" before the exterior wall...


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  Hope you’re all enjoying the weekend.  We’re wrapping up our remodel, finally!  Finishing touches tomorrow and it’s ready....
> 
> 
> 
> Is that an optical illusion in the second from the last; it seems like the interior wall ends about 6" before the exterior wall...
Click to expand...


No, not an illusion, there is a space there. It used to be a tall cabinet behind the stairs which are on the other side of that wall.  I had them leave it open as a cubby because I have several tall items that need storage and are too heavy to put in the attic.  Bonus - the 10’ wide seamless paper that I have will fit in there too.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  Hope you’re all enjoying the weekend.  We’re wrapping up our remodel, finally!  Finishing touches tomorrow and it’s ready.
> View attachment 165706
> 
> View attachment 165707
> 
> View attachment 165708
> View attachment 165709
> Also, did you know that uncropped iPhone photos can once again be uploaded directly to the forum?  Fluke or update?  Shhhhh...
> 
> 
> 
> Loving that hexagonal tile!  Color scheme, layout. ..it all looks great.   I'm sure it was a pita, but hopefully this makes it all worthwhile.
Click to expand...


Major pita!  But yes I’m very happy with the way it turned out.  I stole the wainscoting and color palette from a Benjamin Moore ad in a magazine and it looks exactly the way I wanted.  Renovating is a series of compromises and it’s not for the weak!


----------



## davidharmier60

I have a big white two door cabinet in my "office". I began clearing it out.
I have one shelf and part of another clear.
Gotta bring in a much larger box for flashlights. 
And a smaller one for batteries and flashlight parts.
Knives are a whole other problem.
And we don't absolutely know if we are moving.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  Hope you’re all enjoying the weekend.  We’re wrapping up our remodel, finally!  Finishing touches tomorrow and it’s ready....
> 
> 
> 
> Is that an optical illusion in the second from the last; it seems like the interior wall ends about 6" before the exterior wall...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No, not an illusion, there is a space there. It used to be a tall cabinet behind the stairs which are on the other side of that wall.  I had them leave it open as a cubby because I have several tall items that need storage and are too heavy to put in the attic.  Bonus - the 10’ wide seamless paper that I have will fit in there too.
Click to expand...

Nice!


----------



## davidharmier60

I'll be saying good night and have as good a Monday as is possible. Mine depends on when Grocers Supply gets there. Later is better. Waiting when we get there not so much. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, grey and grotty out again forecast for the rain is it will clear away by tomorrow.


----------



## Fujidave

Rain cleared off sun came out, so Susie and I had a walk and by god it is freezing out so back now and heating is on to warm up.


----------



## smoke665

@Fujidave Saturday was a beautiful sunny day, cold as ####, barely got above 40 and a wind that cut like a knife. Yesterday not as sunny but warmer and without the wind. All in all not a bad day. Woke up to your weather thus morning- Rain & Cold. I'm trying to kick this stuff back your way.


----------



## Fujidave

On a good note, just had an update on my laptop as it now says Plan Committed Note.  So it sounds like it is at the Hub and might be delivered tomorrow, still waiting for Fuji on my cashback though.


----------



## terri

Nasty day around here, as well.   Pouring rain off and on, chilly and gusty.    The cats are bored already and will be acting out until it's time for their naps.   Glad I have a big pot of soup already.   Yuck!


----------



## Fujidave

I hope that any members in or around California are not near the horrible wildfires as they look terrible.


----------



## davidharmier60

Not exactly a Chamber of Commerce type of day in Shepherd. The guessers did get one thing right. Right at 8am it rained pretty hard. Shoulda took the truck today. But it wouldn't have mattered because I needed bolts from home. A little over 5 hours for this Monday. Brought in a box for flashlights and flashlight parts. After comics and the last five penny rolls for the box she's buying tomorrow.


----------



## davidharmier60

Darn triple post.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

davidharmier60 said:


> Darn triple post.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



I had to log out of Chrome just for a comment to show up, very strange.


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> Darn triple post.


----------



## snowbear

It got up to 50, today.  I'm making beef stew for dinner.


----------



## davidharmier60

Chili and Tamales. Perhaps Blue Bell later but that ain't a sure thing. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Has Gary been on? He isn't close to the wildfires is he?? 
That's been so much devastation.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I like that blue and white, Sharon, very nice. I hope you remembered to take the saran wrap off the toitie before anyone tried to use it!

This week is clean out the freezer for leftovers. Couple of short weeks, sort of... my best friend is using up some odd days of vacation before the end of the year and we're doing stuff Thursday, then the same thing more or less the first half of next week. Not sure what we're doing for Thanksgiving with my dad still being in rehab. He is doing better, goes down to the lobby (although he has to take the wheelchair not the walker) to look at the bulletin board, see what's going on, etc. which is good that he's motivated to go nosing around.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, the rain has now cleared at last and it`s not to bad out.  Have to wait in for the laptop to arrive today.


----------



## Fujidave

@Gary A. Hi Gary, hope you are safe and not near the fires stay safe and hope to hear from you soon.


----------



## davidharmier60

Rain has chilled out for the moment. In fact phone doesn't show any for today.
Supposed to feel like 27 out there.
Off to work all too soon.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

The cold nasty rain that was plaguing terri has migrated north.  Really sucky here today.  Hope it ends by afternoon.  I have dinner plans and would rather not have to deal with the weather.


----------



## smoke665

Rained most of the day yesterday, hopefully will clear up today. Sadie was not a happy puppy as we weren't able to do our long walk during the day. Had to run out to the store yesterday evening. Cursed my stupidity for not going earlier, as the rain, fog and lights made a soupy blinding mess trying to see past the hood of the car.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Darn triple post.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had to log out of Chrome just for a comment to show up, very strange.
Click to expand...


I've had issues with Chrome. There have been a few cases where it got so bad I finally had to reinstall it.


----------



## snowbear

I find it helpful to periodically clear out the browser's cache and cookies.

I'll send Gary a phone message in a little while - it's only 06:00 there.


----------



## Fujidave

Had a lovely walk with Susie out in the sunshine, but it is pretty cold.  Laptop delivery is between 5pm and 6pm.


----------



## snowbear

Gary and family are fine - 50 miles (and LA) between the fires and them.


----------



## terri

Good to know, Charlie!

Rain and drizzle are still tracking through here, but it's supposed to clear out this afternoon.   Still chilly, but hey - it's November!   That part I have no problem with.    Now that I have a real fireplace again (out with you, gas logs!) I'm looking forward to chilly nights.    We're having a cord of wood delivered later this week (after the rain moves out).       Hubby's in need of a chopping block.


----------



## Fujidave

snowbear said:


> Gary and family are fine - 50 miles (and LA) between the fires and them.



Thank you for saying, and great to hear they are safe.


----------



## davidharmier60

Tis a bit cool here. Little bitty ice balls fell followed by what could have been snow at work. There is a double window in front of me. I cannot see through it for the water on it. Now back to your regularly scheduled program. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Well the Monster was delivered bang on time


----------



## snowbear

We have rain. off and on, as well.  Might get a "wintry mix" on Thursday; my guess will be snow to the west and north of the city, rain t the east and south.

MLW did something to her back last night, so I stayed home with her.  She was trying to get a carrot cake and tiramisu made for the Chief's birthday; so I'm doing the heavier mixing and helping out (I don't normally bake).


----------



## Fujidave

OMG!!! This laptop is like lightning fast now and I love the screen.


----------



## smoke665

Here's a reverse to pull on your DW, we've all been there. Wife texts husband-

Wife: On your way home from office stop by the farmers market  and pickup fresh vegetables.....And Linda says hi!

Husband: Linda who?

Wife: Nobody, just making sure you read my message. 

Husband: Had me confused because I'm with Linda, so which one.

Wife: WTH! Where are you? You better have a good explanation.  You're supposed to be at work.

Husband: Restaurant next to farmers market. 

Wife: 15 mins later "WTH are you now? You're not at the restaurant. 

Husband: course not I'm at the office, but since you're next to the farmers market don't forget to pickup the vegetables you wanted


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> We have rain. off and on, as well.  Might get a "wintry mix" on Thursday; my guess will be snow to the west and north of the city, rain t the east and south.
> 
> MLW did something to her back last night, so I stayed home with her.  She was trying to get a carrot cake and tiramisu made for the Chief's birthday; so I'm doing the heavier mixing and helping out (I don't normally bake).


Aw, you're very sweet to help like that!  I've had to cook/bake while nursing an injury; it's not fun!


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> Here's a reverse to pull on your DW, we've all been there. Wife texts husband-
> 
> Wife: On your way home from office stop by the farmers market  and pickup fresh vegetables.....And Linda says hi!
> 
> Husband: Linda who?
> 
> Wife: Nobody, just making sure you read my message.
> 
> Husband: Had me confused because I'm with Linda, so which one.
> 
> Wife: WTH! Where are you? You better have a good explanation.  You're supposed to be at work.
> 
> Husband: Restaurant next to farmers market.
> 
> Wife: 15 mins later "WTH are you now? You're not at the restaurant.
> 
> Husband: course not I'm at the office, but since you're next to the farmers market don't forget to pickup the vegetables you wanted


Um, no - "we" haven't all been there; I can assure you that I've never had such a silly exchange with my husband.   I get that it's supposed to be funny, but the touche moment falls flat IMO.


----------



## SquarePeg

It reminds me of a funny thing I read a little while ago, I can't remember the context but basically - a Mom was watching tv with her teenage son.  He had left his phone on the kitchen counter but when he heard his text alert go off he got up to check his phone.  It was a message from the mom saying "while you're up, can you get me some cookies and a glass of water?"

I have been waiting to catch Princess with that one.  But of course her phone is never that far away...


----------



## terri

Kind of along the same lines, but....


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Kind of along the same lines, but.



So you're saying the humour depends on which foot the joke's on?


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Kind of along the same lines, but.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So you're saying the humour depends on which foot the joke's on?
Click to expand...

By jove, there's hope for you yet!


----------



## Fujidave

Well that`s both Affinity Photo and C1 back on the new lappy and by god it is instant for coming on.  So I can now get back to taking photos, OH Happy days


----------



## smoke665

@Fujidave took me the better part of a week to transfer all the files and software to mine. Part of that was because I didn't want my  ssd C drive maxed out with software that I wasn't concerned about operating speed. Sometimes it was a challenge to force them to install on D.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sausage links with cheese,  Mac and cheese and black eyed peas for dinner. 
Likely to be under 30 degrees in the morning.  Need to find my knit cap.
Won't keep me from Blue Bell later. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

I can still eat ice cream when it's cold, although I don't as often. 

Thanks Charlie for checking on Gary; ask him to stop in for a cup of coffee, we miss him and we worry. And we want wine stories, although Terri's are keeping us going. 

And he needs to counteract Smoke's porridge stories! lol I can't help it, it sounds like some kind of gruesome gruel that they used to make kids eat. See, even on the package with the three bears, they're fixing it for the baby bear! 

Actually, the ingredients sound like a nice warm bowl of cereal like oatmeal. I might try it if they have a small enough bag. Interesting website you linked Smoke, reminds me of a place I've been that I order from that has an Amish community and carry all kinds of nonelectrical equipment etc. Not that I need that but they have lots of handy household gadgets and popcorn and other goodies!


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Actually, the ingredients sound like a nice warm bowl of cereal like oatmeal.



Somewhat like, only a gazillion times better. Great for cold mornings. Nora Mills also has a 10 grain oatmeal mixture that is equally good. Only bad thing is it's hard to go back to plain old oatmeal after. 

As to Gary's food tastes, they're not all that different (we both like good food). Over the years I've enjoyed dining at some of the nicest restaurants the big cities have to offer, but I'm a country boy at heart, who is equally pleased with the simple fare.  Talked to Gary today actually. He's doing well, and is still safely away from the fire. Sent me a picture of him and Maggie on their walk. He's enjoying much better weather then I am, though he did say there were starting to get some ash drifting in.


----------



## CherylL

I went from 85 degree weather to 35 and a one hour time change.  I told my husband just like that show Manifest.  The grands almost believed me when I said we flew thru a black hole and gained an hour.


----------



## limr

Gonna be good and cold tomorrow, and then possibility of a snow day on Thursday. Ain't gonna lie, hosers, I am wicked ready for a snow day.


----------



## snowbear

Son #1 got a little snow earlier (Tulsa)


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> @Fujidave took me the better part of a week to transfer all the files and software to mine. Part of that was because I didn't want my  ssd C drive maxed out with software that I wasn't concerned about operating speed. Sometimes it was a challenge to force them to install on D.



I see what you mean as I have to get all the updates done, but having trouble again downloading Topaz Studio, so as long as my other editing stuff works I wont bother with it.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, had a nice walk with Susie and now just having a brew then will carry on setting up the laptop.


----------



## davidharmier60

Phone says 30 out there. Going up to 41 and back down to 29 this evening. 
A might chilly in the house as well.
Can't seem to keep my hands off the coffee mug!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Well just managed to buy my internet security so chuffed there as hate the mcafee one, so went with kaspersky again.  I have managed to get most of my Topaz plugins up and running in Affinity Photo too, plus my Denoise by Topaz so I will leave it at that now.  Having always used a 15.6 screen for years, this is a godsend having 17.3 now just beautiful to use.


----------



## SquarePeg

I like Webroot security software.  Not as intrusive as the others and have not had a problem in the 5 years we’ve been using it.


----------



## smoke665

I used Norton Corporate edition for years, but when I went to the Windows Creator update, it wouldn't play nice with Norton. As a stop gap I downloaded McAfee and haven't had a problem. It does seem to try to worm it's way into to many areas, but it's easy to disable those.

Between the manufacturer and windows, I've had to delete a ton of bloatware. They must get a kickback somehow if you sign up for movies, music, news, talk, etc.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I don't like listing the software I use since it could potentially give anyone interested help in bypassing the security, but I will say the one I use can be very intrusive. Almost every thing you do has to be approved by you. Like travel restrictions and airport security, I guess we have to live with minor annoyances to protect ourselves in this tech world we live in today.


----------



## Fujidave

Tried Norton once and Never again, then tried Kaspersky for a few years and like it. I tend to switch on the add blocker as don`t like seeing the adds here there and everywhere.  Can`t wait till I am out tomorrow with the camera and start to really get into using C1 and AP together as my Adobe ones will never go on this laptop now.


----------



## smoke665

The version of Norton I used for years was expensive compared to the other options, but security on our network was essential, as all of our operations were dependent. I could have purchased the newer version which would have worked with Win update, but I really didn't need that level of security anymore.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Gonna be* good* and *cold* tomorrow, and then possibility of a snow day on Thursday. Ain't gonna lie, hosers, I am wicked ready for a snow day.


No such thing!


----------



## Fujidave

I only wanted Kaspersky again as it does a good enough job of trying to stop any hackers or virus getting on while keeping the laptop safe.  Still can`t believe how great this Dell is though.


----------



## smoke665

Seems our trip to MO has yet another delay  First it was doctors appointments and business delays and now there's a winter storm warning directly in our path. Snow I can deal with but freezing rain and the 1/4 inch of ice accumulation they're talking about followed by snow, is a PITA.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> Seems our trip to MO has yet another delay  First it was doctors appointments and business delays and now there's a winter storm warning directly in our path. Snow I can deal with but freezing rain and the 1/4 inch of ice accumulation they're talking about followed by snow, is a PITA.



Better to play it safe with the freezing rain/ice.  Expected 3 to 5 inches in our area tomorrow.  I planned on getting the Thanksgiving shopping today, but caught hubby's cold.  May go later with the all of the milk & bread crowd.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Gonna be* good* and *cold* tomorrow, and then possibility of a snow day on Thursday. Ain't gonna lie, hosers, I am wicked ready for a snow day.
> 
> 
> 
> No such thing!
Click to expand...


Of course there is. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Of course there is. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.


Hmmmm... I don't think that's the case.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> Better to play it safe with the freezing rain/ice. Expected 3 to 5 inches in our area tomorrow. I planned on getting the Thanksgiving shopping today, but caught hubby's cold. May go later with the all of the milk & bread crowd.



Our route goes up through Jackson, TN, Dyersburg, and crosses the river into MO at Caruthersville. From the forecast we were concerned about hitting the freezing rain just north of Jackson. Last thing in the world you ever, ever want to do is cross that big exposed bridge over the river with ice on it.  We got caught in it once, started following a Semi, that was clearing the road until we hit the elevated bridge span where it was froze solid. He started jackknifing  but luckily managed to recover and gently bump the concrete rail. I was using my brake like I had a dozen eggs between the pedal and my foot, coming to a stop inches from him. Took a good 15 mins of nerve wracking slipping/sliding to get the rest of the way off that beast.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Of course there is. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmmm... I don't think that's the case.
Click to expand...


Because it's impossible to imagine that not everyone feels exactly the same as you?

Edit: And yes, I am sure it's just a joke, just some teasing, yadda yadda. Forgive me if I am not amused by the 5,682nd time I have heard the joke.


----------



## davidharmier60

Y'all should have seen me in Chicago in an 18 Wheeler. Got 6 hours and a couple minutes today. 17.34 with three days yet to go. My Sister was going to message me a list but instead drove the truck up here.
Turkey for .29 cents a pound! IF you spend $25. She did and took a 14# home. Check in about 8 minutes.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ...Edit: And yes, I am sure it's just a joke, just some teasing, yadda yadda. Forgive me if I am not amused by the 5,6824th nd time I have heard the joke.


You mis-counted too!


----------



## davidharmier60

Was wrong about check. Bank and PO closed Monday. Somehow that makes checks not delivered by noon on Wednesday. Kind of need it because Sister can kill two birds with one stone if I get it.
Car if I find out it's available.


----------



## SquarePeg

davidharmier60 said:


> Was wrong about check. Bank and PO closed Monday. Somehow that makes checks not delivered by noon on Wednesday. Kind of need it because Sister can kill two birds with one stone if I get it.
> Car if I find out it's available.



Around here everything gets pushed out a day when there’s a holiday.  That being said, direct deposit is always on time!


----------



## davidharmier60

We can't get direct deposit and besides I need cash and it would be tough to come by if I didn't have it first!


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Better to play it safe with the freezing rain/ice. Expected 3 to 5 inches in our area tomorrow. I planned on getting the Thanksgiving shopping today, but caught hubby's cold. May go later with the all of the milk & bread crowd.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Our route goes up through Jackson, TN, Dyersburg, and crosses the river into MO at Caruthersville. From the forecast we were concerned about hitting the freezing rain just north of Jackson. Last thing in the world you ever, ever want to do is cross that big exposed bridge over the river with ice on it.  We got caught in it once, started following a Semi, that was clearing the road until we hit the elevated bridge span where it was froze solid. He started jackknifing  but luckily managed to recover and gently bump the concrete rail. I was using my brake like I had a dozen eggs between the pedal and my foot, coming to a stop inches from him. Took a good 15 mins of nerve wracking slipping/sliding to get the rest of the way off that beast.
Click to expand...


Sounds treacherous!  The prediction for our area is now 5 to 7 inches.  The plow guy has been texted to put on the list.  You are dropping off the Christmas background set, set of lights & the snow machine??


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Around here everything gets pushed out a day when there’s a holiday.  That being said, direct deposit is always on time!


And sometimes, early.


----------



## limr




----------



## SquarePeg

Low 20’s tonight! Brrrrr!  No snow though.  Chilly and windy tomorrow.    

What are everyone’s plans for the Thanksgiving holiday?  We are heading to my brother’s in NH, a little over an hour away.  There’ll be about a dozen of us for dinner.  I’ll be bringing desserts - some homemade sweets and some pies from a local bakery.  I like to bake but pies are not my thing.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, a bit of a dull start but not cold at all so just having a brew then off to Mums then a mooch round town.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's 55 within the house. Supposedly 29 outside.  Cassie whom we got the car from and if she moves we get the house, left at 3am to go to Idaho. Here's hoping it takes.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

We have a dusting on the ground; up to one inch predicted locally.

Maintenance is coming by to replace the garbage disposal and clear the drain (too many veggy peelings, I guess), so we'll go in to work later.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Low 20’s tonight! Brrrrr!  No snow though.  Chilly and windy tomorrow.
> 
> What are everyone’s plans for the Thanksgiving holiday?  We are heading to my brother’s in NH, a little over an hour away.  There’ll be about a dozen of us for dinner.  I’ll be bringing desserts - some homemade sweets and some pies from a local bakery.  I like to bake but pies are not my thing.


We're kicking around some options, but will likely stick to home.   My mom's visiting my brother in Colorado, my sister is staying home, as well.  

We're a lazy bunch this year.   

I'll be cooking up a small feast, watching my Lions getting beaten.   At least I can have a real fire going this year.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Low 20’s tonight! Brrrrr!  No snow though.  Chilly and windy tomorrow.
> 
> What are everyone’s plans for the Thanksgiving holiday?  We are heading to my brother’s in NH, a little over an hour away.  There’ll be about a dozen of us for dinner.  I’ll be bringing desserts - some homemade sweets and some pies from a local bakery.  I like to bake but pies are not my thing.


It's just the two of us this year, so just a quiet day at home.  We'll pick up a small turkey, make some real cranberry sauce and some jambalaya.


----------



## waday

Snow: we're getting some right now. Supposed to get 1-3 inches, then some ice after that. Looks like most schools are closed, but daycare is still open.

Thanksgiving: we're slated for NYC this year.


----------



## smoke665

It's getting so I hate Holidays. It seems like that's when all the problems come up. This week has been a PITA, and next week isn't looking good either. Every thing from health problems, weather problems, and family emergencies have taken over control at our house.


----------



## waday

And I just realized that I left my snow brush at home.


----------



## JonA_CT

We took our team to a special school-day AHL hockey game yesterday at the Hartford Civic Center. Cool stuff -- they scored all 5 goals of the game in the first period. I personally think that the defenders/goalies were still hungover since the game started at 11AM! I snapped some pics for Sharon. I got the old Whalers banners in there, too -- I'll have to post them later.

Our first snow of the year is coming today, about 2-3 weeks ahead of schedule. The maintenance staff here are running around like turkeys trying to all of the leaves picked up before it comes. If they fail, who knows when they will have the next opportunity.


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> And I just realized that I left my snow brush at home.



n00b

(This will be me soon -- we had to return our leased Outback, and I bought a truck, but I never added those essentials back haha)


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> And I just realized that I left my snow brush at home.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> n00b
> 
> (This will be me soon -- we had to return our leased Outback, and I bought a truck, but I never added those essentials back haha)
Click to expand...

LOL. Yeah, I take it out every spring, and I ALWAYS forget to put it back in when November hits. Well, I'll be that guy brushing the snow off with my arm, LOL.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## davidharmier60

Almost 5 hours today. 22.34 for the week so far. The car indicates 46 degrees outside.  Sunny and probably going to get above 55 before the day is over.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## stapo49

Summer has decided to appear here. A lovely 36 degrees celcius today. All most hot enough to get in the ocean [emoji6]

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> And I just realized that I left my snow brush at home.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> n00b
> 
> (This will be me soon -- we had to return our leased Outback, and I bought a truck, but I never added those essentials back haha)
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL. Yeah, I take it out every spring, and I ALWAYS forget to put it back in when November hits. Well, I'll be that guy brushing the snow off with my arm, LOL.
Click to expand...


Come brush mine off, will you? I just took this minutes ago...


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

stapo49 said:


> Summer has decided to appear here. A lovely 36 degrees celcius today. All most hot enough to get in the ocean [emoji6]
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk



Do we have a raspberry emoji?


----------



## terri

@SquarePeg - Sharon, I love your new avatar!   Been meaning to mention it for 2 days.        He's so cute.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I heard ice hitting last night but if there was any sleet, snow or whatever it was early before I was up! lol Another good reason to be retired. Schools here were on a 2 hr. delay, but ice was worse south with some power outages. Hasn't been doing much here but seems to be getting darker, and so far warm enough to just be rain. 

Nice day to stay in and do nothing! lol Half watching some movie with Ingrid Bergman wandering around Italy, which was interesting at first but I got tired of visiting tourist sites (and I've seen this before). Guess I'll wait and see how it turns out (because I forget), the next movie involves a scoundrel so that sounds better!


----------



## vintagesnaps

THE WHALE!!!!!!!!!

OK, now I'm caught up. 


I don't know what I'm doing for Turkey day, but probably nobody's cooking! lol More likely getting turkey dinners to go and then go, to my mom's or the rehab facility where my dad is, or both. I wouldn't mind just relaxing at home and going to the camera swap that weekend!


----------



## markjwyatt

Snow? What's that? Is it the cold white stuff they get up in the mountains?


----------



## davidharmier60

Snow was a lot of fun when I was a kid. Not so much these days.
It's 61 on the back porch and roughly 60 on the thermostat.
I can't leave well enough alone in pennies. 
Going back through rolls making the best out of 80-82 which have the best defined reverses besides the very odd 75 and up. The sun seems to be hiding behind a cloud....


----------



## smoke665

Cold and wet here, only light snow dusting last night. Almost did a butt plant on the steps off the deck, when I discovered the hard way they had a little ice forming.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

...and about an hour and half later


----------



## vintagesnaps

Smoke, pictures or it didn't happen. (I wouldn't be joking if you got hurt, glad you didn't.)

Seems like some of you are going to need to buy scrapers.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Smoke, pictures or it didn't happen. (I wouldn't be joking if you got hurt, glad you didn't.)
> 
> Seems like some of you are going to need to buy scrapers.



The word was "almost", which like being close only counts in horse shoes. And why would we ever need scrapers this far south?????

Here in the south people are bad about jackrabbit starts when the light turns green, and slamming on the brakes at the last minute when it turns red.  For years after we moved here it was hilarious to watch the drivers after a snow. When the light turned green they'd gas it and just sit there spinning, or they'd run up on a light and go sliding through the intersections. Both were accompanied by looks of utter confusion on the drivers faces.


----------



## limr

College closed early and it still took me 2 hours to get home. Most of it sucked, but the last mile or two was kinda fun  And now I have wine and cats and will go make dinner, so it's all good.


----------



## otherprof

My backyard,  Long Island, NY two hours ago.


----------



## smoke665

@otherprof  glad it's you're yard and not mine!


----------



## davidharmier60

The last of the Chili and Tamales. 
Maybe something for dessert but probably not. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

otherprof said:


> My backyard,  Long Island, NY two hours ago.
> 
> View attachment 165952


Looks beautiful!


----------



## JonA_CT

4.5” and counting here.


----------



## snowbear

We had rain at home bu 11:30, sleet at the office.  It's still raining a little and the WX folks are talking about flooding.


----------



## waday

Dean_Gretsch said:


> ...and about an hour and half later
> 
> View attachment 165949


Mine was completely covered when I went out. I put my arm in a reusable bag and did the best I could, LOL.

We got around 7-inches total, here. Much higher than they predicted yesterday.



limr said:


> College closed early and it still took me 2 hours to get home. Most of it sucked, but the last mile or two was kinda fun  And now I have wine and cats and will go make dinner, so it's all good.


My commute to get my daughter was hell, so was my wife's to go home. What should have taken me 30-45 minutes took over 3 hours. My wife, who is CLOSER to the daycare by about 20 minutes, ended up taking so long in traffic that I made it to the daycare first.

But, I can't complain compared to those on the highway south of me. Due to various accidents/etc, people were apparently stuck on the highway for 6-7 hours before moving.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...and about an hour and half later
> 
> View attachment 165949
> 
> 
> 
> Mine was completely covered when I went out. I put my arm in a reusable bag and did the best I could, LOL.
> 
> We got around 7-inches total, here. Much higher than they predicted yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> College closed early and it still took me 2 hours to get home. Most of it sucked, but the last mile or two was kinda fun  And now I have wine and cats and will go make dinner, so it's all good.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My commute to get my daughter was hell, so was my wife's to go home. What should have taken me 30-45 minutes took over 3 hours. My wife, who is CLOSER to the daycare by about 20 minutes, ended up taking so long in traffic that I made it to the daycare first.
> 
> But, I can't complain compared to those on the highway south of me. Due to various accidents/etc, people were apparently stuck on the highway for 6-7 hours before moving.
Click to expand...


Awful!

There was traffic when I first left school, but honestly, it still would have taken me that long. The roads were soooo slippery and I never went faster than 30mph on the highway. On the local roads in my town, I was going slow because of the hills and curves and would pull over if a car came up behind me and wanted to go faster. I then saw several of those cars pulled over - one of them sideways - about a mile or two later. There was one more bad hill to go up about 1.5 mile until my house and a bunch of cars were getting stuck, so I pulled into the town hall parking lot to keep an eye on the hill and wait it out. A little while later, the plow went up the hill. Didn't do a whole heck of a lot but cars weren't getting stuck anymore, so I started up. Had enough traction to keep moving in a generally forward direction, but definitely got some good practice at controlling a car that wanted to be sideways. And then I was home.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> And then I was home.


To wine and cats!   It doesn't get any better.  

It's freezing out there, but the rain has moved out at last so at least it's dry around here.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...and about an hour and half later
> 
> View attachment 165949
> 
> 
> 
> Mine was completely covered when I went out. I put my arm in a reusable bag and did the best I could, LOL.
> 
> We got around 7-inches total, here. Much higher than they predicted yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> College closed early and it still took me 2 hours to get home. Most of it sucked, but the last mile or two was kinda fun  And now I have wine and cats and will go make dinner, so it's all good.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My commute to get my daughter was hell, so was my wife's to go home. What should have taken me 30-45 minutes took over 3 hours. My wife, who is CLOSER to the daycare by about 20 minutes, ended up taking so long in traffic that I made it to the daycare first.
> 
> But, I can't complain compared to those on the highway south of me. Due to various accidents/etc, people were apparently stuck on the highway for 6-7 hours before moving.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Awful!
> 
> There was traffic when I first left school, but honestly, it still would have taken me that long. The roads were soooo slippery and I never went faster than 30mph on the highway. On the local roads in my town, I was going slow because of the hills and curves and would pull over if a car came up behind me and wanted to go faster. I then saw several of those cars pulled over - one of them sideways - about a mile or two later. There was one more bad hill to go up about 1.5 mile until my house and a bunch of cars were getting stuck, so I pulled into the town hall parking lot to keep an eye on the hill and wait it out. A little while later, the plow went up the hill. Didn't do a whole heck of a lot but cars weren't getting stuck anymore, so I started up. Had enough traction to keep moving in a generally forward direction, but definitely got some good practice at controlling a car that wanted to be sideways. And then I was home.
Click to expand...

It sounds like your driving was the perfect example of how one should drive in the snow. Slow and steady. And, if needed, pull over until conditions get better!

Glad you made it safely! Glad we all made it safely!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, a grey start today but very mild still so just having a brew then off to pick up Susie as she stayed at Mums last night.


----------



## davidharmier60

Phone says it is 37 outside. I'd bet 58 on the thermostat. I'll see if I'm right in a few minutes. Yep slow and steady in the snow.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## stapo49

Dean_Gretsch said:


> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Summer has decided to appear here. A lovely 36 degrees celcius today. All most hot enough to get in the ocean [emoji6]
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do we have a raspberry emoji?
Click to expand...

Sorry wrong about that. Actually 37 celcius lol

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

Slush puddle special this morning. We got about 5 inches of snow before it switched over to rain for the last few hours. I had to stand in a just over the ankle slush puddle to shovel the snow boulders from the back of my driveway. 

My cold and wet feet have announced the end of my waterproof boots. It's been a good run, but it's time to retire them.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

It switched over to a wintry mix here last night, but went back to big, fluffy flakes later. All that was forecast, so local plowing hasn't begun yet. Good day to be off work at least.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Slush puddle special this morning. We got about 5 inches of snow before it switched over to rain for the last few hours. I had to stand in a just over the ankle slush puddle to shovel the snow boulders from the back of my driveway.
> 
> My cold and wet feet have announced the end of my waterproof boots. It's been a good run, but it's time to retire them.



We have a spot at the end of our driveway that dips and has a surprisingly deep puddle whenever we get this type of snow then rain.  It looks like a few inches but is more like a  6+ Monster.   I try to clear it but it always reforms.   It’s retired quite a few “waterproof” snow boots.  The only thing that truly works vs the monster is the knee high rain boots.  Good thing because that’s all I could find this morning.  Can’t remember where I put my snow boots when I lost my mud room and garage to the renovation.  I got the walkway done so my bff from ups can get here, hoping the rain finishes the driveway.


----------



## davidharmier60

5 hours and a couple minutes over a half hours today. 28.05 for the week so far. 
I can't say for sure what the temp is outside. But I'm not quite ready to remove my outer flannel shirt. Sun is gloriously shining. I imagine inside of the car will be quite warm. Had some fish at the deli. 
About to hit the PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## ceemac

Wow! I just got back home from the Fleetwood Mac performance on Wednesday night in Vancouver. Words can't describe it. It was, for me, the show of a lifetime. Plus my daughter came over from Victoria to join me. Too special


----------



## limr

stapo49 said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Summer has decided to appear here. A lovely 36 degrees celcius today. All most hot enough to get in the ocean [emoji6]
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do we have a raspberry emoji?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sorry wrong about that. Actually 37 celcius lol
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


You can keep your sauna weather. 37*C is horrible. I'd rather be here.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> Slush puddle special this morning. We got about 5 inches of snow before it switched over to rain for the last few hours. I had to stand in a just over the ankle slush puddle to shovel the snow boulders from the back of my driveway.
> 
> My cold and wet feet have announced the end of my waterproof boots. It's been a good run, but it's time to retire them *up skirts and move somewhere civilized!!!*


FTFY


----------



## davidharmier60

Even HAD I been willing to remove my flannel shirt outside I sure would have put it back on inside the house. The sunshine is making it no warmer in here. Did three rolls of pennies, then comics. No about to do my email. Then three more rolls. Exciting life eh what?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@Fujidave Is this like an annual Christmas event in the UK? My other half wasn't familiar with the name of this company, but she has been here in the US for about 30 years now. Really like this commercial.


----------



## smoke665

ceemac said:


> Wow! I just got back home from the Fleetwood Mac performance on Wednesday night in Vancouver. Words can't describe it. It was, for me, the show of a lifetime. Plus my daughter came over from Victoria to join me. Too special



Ceemac you're telling your age there with your music LOL I have a cousin who was one of the founders of, and remaining member in REO Speedway. Wish I'd have been nicer to him as kids now! LOL


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Gary Richrath or Kevin Kronan @smoke665 ?


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Gary Richrath or Kevin Kronan @smoke665 ?



Neal Doughty, keyboard


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Ahh...the 2 I mentioned were the only ones I knew by name ( and probably butchered the spelling, lol ).


----------



## stapo49

limr said:


> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Summer has decided to appear here. A lovely 36 degrees celcius today. All most hot enough to get in the ocean [emoji6]
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do we have a raspberry emoji?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sorry wrong about that. Actually 37 celcius lol
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You can keep your sauna weather. 37*C is horrible. I'd rather be here.
Click to expand...

No its actually a dry heat here. More desert than tropics.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Ahh...the 2 I mentioned were the only ones I knew by name ( and probably butchered the spelling, lol



Neal's mother was the daughter of my great uncle (my grandfathers brother), so I guess technically that would make him a 2nd cousin. I think the last time I ever saw him in person was at the funeral of his grandfather/my uncle in Evansville many years ago, before he'd really hit it big. This was back when dressing like a hippie wasn't cool yet, so he made quite an appearance at the funeral.


----------



## Fujidave

Dean_Gretsch said:


> @Fujidave Is this like an annual Christmas event in the UK? My other half wasn't familiar with the name of this company, but she has been here in the US for about 30 years now. Really like this commercial.



Fantastic John Lewis advert, the sad part is christmas is not really a family thing now for many UK folk as they all do their own thing.  That little boy is just like me running down the stairs on christmas day, and I`m 57 yrs old...lol


----------



## smoke665

Okay if the DW comes to bed in some of these, I'm not sleeping  https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&k...targid=kwd-45675035734&ref=pd_sl_161x3emadc_e


----------



## limr

stapo49 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Summer has decided to appear here. A lovely 36 degrees celcius today. All most hot enough to get in the ocean [emoji6]
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do we have a raspberry emoji?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sorry wrong about that. Actually 37 celcius lol
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You can keep your sauna weather. 37*C is horrible. I'd rather be here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No its actually a dry heat here. More desert than tropics.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Yes, a sauna is a dry heat. You're thinking of a steamroom. Either way, you can still keep it


----------



## davidharmier60

I got down to a T-Shirt but am now about ready to get flannel on again.
We had hamburgers and fries and rings for dinner.
And of course I must go to work in the morning. Later gators.


----------



## stapo49

limr said:


> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Summer has decided to appear here. A lovely 36 degrees celcius today. All most hot enough to get in the ocean [emoji6]
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do we have a raspberry emoji?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sorry wrong about that. Actually 37 celcius lol
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You can keep your sauna weather. 37*C is horrible. I'd rather be here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> No its actually a dry heat here. More desert than tropics.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, a sauna is a dry heat. You're thinking of a steamroom. Either way, you can still keep it
Click to expand...


You obviously hail from cooler climes?


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy FRIDAY to all my Hosers!  Enjoy the weekend and the weather, whatever it may be.  I like all seasons except deep winter.  I pretty much hibernate from 1/2 - 3/31 every year.  I try to look at it as a chance to recharge my batteries, to do some learning and to finish some project or other.


----------



## terri

ceemac said:


> Wow! I just got back home from the Fleetwood Mac performance on Wednesday night in Vancouver. Words can't describe it. It was, for me, the show of a lifetime. Plus my daughter came over from Victoria to join me. Too special


I heard that Neil Finn joined them.  I'm guessing he was on stage, too?

As a Crowded House fan, it still blows me away that he joined that band.  He's an awesome musician in his own right.


----------



## ceemac

terri said:


> I heard that Neil Finn joined them. I'm guessing he was on stage, too?


As was Mike Campbell (from Tom Petty). Finn was fantastic. He picked up his acoustic and did his song " don't dream it's over". They did Free Falling for their encore, with pics of Tom Petty on the big screen. A rather touching tribute.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, no frost yet but it is nippy out.  Charging up the batteries as off out tonight shooting a jazz gig.


----------



## davidharmier60

Phone says 41 degrees going to 69 and back down to 42. Good mug of coffee. 
Thinking about doing a number on my room. Watches, pocket knives, pens pencils and STUFF everywhere. 
But for now I got to suit up and go to work.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## jcdeboever

Yesterday, went from 18° and white out snow to 70° and sun. Florida is nice when your not ready for winter. Heading to zoo this morning,  gonna get there when gates open. Digital camera free vacation. 5 rolls of Portra 400 and a half roll of Gold 200. 100 - 300 ais, 50 1.8 ais, forgot my 6t close up lens like an idiot, grabbed the ND, and a empty case for the 6t, in think I left it on a lens. Probably only day shooting color.


----------



## limr

stapo49 said:


> You obviously hail from cooler climes?



...and have also had enough experiences living in the hotter climes to know that I despise it. 

It's genetic, too. My father, who grew up in a warmer climate, hated to be hot and loved the NY winters.


----------



## davidharmier60

5 hours and enough minutes to have 30.30 for the week. There is a bake sale going on in front of the store.  Two women, one teen and what I believe were three tykes running around across from my truck.  Had I had the Canon DSLR with me there was a picture or three to be had. But alas I did not. Going to the PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Whoops 33.30 hours. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Surprised places near me still have power out. Didn't get much of the ice here, one of those fluky storms from the south/east. Friend of mine had hers yesterday come on, go back off I don't know how many times.


----------



## smoke665

DW started decorating yesterday, because of company plans and travel. She got the first tree up, and some of the other decorations up. I hate decorating, so I cleaned house for her, and hauled the containers in and out. This morning early, somehow the Santa hats under the tree, managed to keep walking to different parts of the house. Later today an artificial poinsettia still packed in the plastic storage container, managed to jump out and run to the dining room, where it exploded into tiny pieces everywhere......... Me thinks a certain fur kid, is already on the naughty list.


----------



## stapo49

limr said:


> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You obviously hail from cooler climes?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...and have also had enough experiences living in the hotter climes to know that I despise it.
> 
> It's genetic, too. My father, who grew up in a warmer climate, hated to be hot and loved the NY winters.
Click to expand...


No vacations to Australia in summer then lol


----------



## davidharmier60

Grilled Cheese sammiches in about 15 minutes. I see Blue Bell later.


----------



## limr

stapo49 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You obviously hail from cooler climes?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...and have also had enough experiences living in the hotter climes to know that I despise it.
> 
> It's genetic, too. My father, who grew up in a warmer climate, hated to be hot and loved the NY winters.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No vacations to Australia in summer then lol
Click to expand...


If it's near the ocean (and its associated breezes) and the hotel is air conditioned, I can tolerate dry heat for a short period of time. But really, I could happily live the rest of my life without ever experiencing temps over 25-27C.


----------



## stapo49

limr said:


> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You obviously hail from cooler climes?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...and have also had enough experiences living in the hotter climes to know that I despise it.
> 
> It's genetic, too. My father, who grew up in a warmer climate, hated to be hot and loved the NY winters.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No vacations to Australia in summer then lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> If it's near the ocean (and its associated breezes) and the hotel is air conditioned, I can tolerate dry heat for a short period of time. But really, I could happily live the rest of my life without ever experiencing temps over 25-27C.
Click to expand...

Fair enough [emoji1]

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> DW started decorating yesterday, because of company plans and travel. She got the first tree up, and some of the other decorations up. I hate decorating, so I cleaned house for her, and hauled the containers in and out. This morning early, somehow the Santa hats under the tree, managed to keep walking to different parts of the house. Later today an artificial poinsettia still packed in the plastic storage container, managed to jump out and run to the dining room, where it exploded into tiny pieces everywhere......... Me thinks a certain fur kid, is already on the naughty list.



Sadie is decorating for you!


----------



## CherylL

Finally left the house today.  This cold has got me down.  A zoo at the grocery store today.  I did get some of my Thanksgiving groceries the other day with the snow storm apocalypse people.


----------



## smoke665

@CherylL sorry about the cold, hope you're on the mend quickly. We were supposed to be up your way last week, but seemed like everything conspired against us. Might be a good thing, as I wasn't looking forward to the cold. As to Sadie decorating, her idea of decorating leaves a lot to be desired.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> @CherylL sorry about the cold, hope you're on the mend quickly. We were supposed to be up your way last week, but seemed like everything conspired against us. Might be a good thing, as I wasn't looking forward to the cold. As to Sadie decorating, her idea of decorating leaves a lot to be desired.



Thanks.  I was thinking that just last week I was sitting on a beach drinking mojitos!  Now the cold and snow and holiday to-dos.  I'll take sunny warm weather all year long.  I'm not building a Christmas grand kids set this year, but I did pick up something at a vintage store that has given me inspiration.  The owner is on the look out for another item.  Don't want to give it away or jinx myself.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> I'll take sunny warm weather all year long. I'm not building a Christmas grand kids set this year, but I did pick up something at a vintage store that has given me inspiration. The owner is on the look out for another item. Don't want to give it away or jinx myself.



No set for me this year either. I kinda feel bad, because I haven't really had any inspiration on a theme. Nothing has "jumped" out at me. I've got a couple of ideas for studio (more conventional type), and a couple of locations picked out. Some friends of ours own a wedding venue in an old barn. She's one of those rare individuals who can take all variety of junk and make it look like it belongs there. I'm anxious to see if she's done any decorating for Christmas yet.

If you need an idea, I saw a great one yesterday. If you can find an OLD step side pickup. Let the tailgate down, and put a red&green plaid blanket down. Stand a sled up in the front add a wreath and some greenery on the back of the cab. Plop the kids, doggies, etc on the blanket and shoot away.


----------



## davidharmier60

If I ever win PCH (yeah right) I'm going to move to a place where it's nice most of the year. Not too hot, not too cold.

But since that ain't gonna happen I'll stay right here in Texas!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, a bit nippy out with sun forecast to come out.  Had a great time at last nights jazz gig, crazy lighting so will be happy if I get a few keepers.


----------



## davidharmier60

Morning y'all. No sun at this time.
Fried eggs and bacon coming soon.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> If you need an idea, I saw a great one yesterday. If you can find an OLD step side pickup. Let the tailgate down, and put a red&green plaid blanket down. Stand a sled up in the front add a wreath and some greenery on the back of the cab. Plop the kids, doggies, etc on the blanket and shoot away.



Did you hack into my computer???   I shot a miniature scene similar to this with the pups last month.   It is for the Christmas card and I wanted to have it ready for Mpix black friday sale.  At least they had one last year after I ordered early.

Our friends play Santa & Mrs. Claus.  They are arriving at SIL's family's party.  I'll try to take photos and video.  I don't know how the lighting will be and too many people in a house.  So maybe bounce flash?


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> Did you hack into my computer???  I shot a miniature scene similar to this with the pups last month. It is for the Christmas card and I wanted to have it ready for Mpix black friday sale.



No, but that's a strange coincidence. We were at Hobby Lobby picking up a couple things for props, for Sadie pictures, and there was a young woman in line in front of us doing the same thing. We started talking and she shared a picture of what she was doing with her husbands truck.


----------



## snowbear

I picked up some local beer.




DSC_2190.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## davidharmier60

Chicken and rice and cornbread for dinner.
Price is Right on the DVR. 
Monday staring me in the face. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, grey and very cold out so not up to much today.


----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon all just got back from town, as went to have a look at getting the New Fuji XF10 camera but the shops don`t have them in at the moment.  Then I saw the X100F and handled that and WOW I was sold, what a beautiful camera that is, so it looks like I will be adding that to work along side of my X-T3


----------



## JonA_CT

Anyone want to message me a great mac-and-cheese recipe? I'm going to bring that to my parents for Thanksgiving -- my kids won't eat much of what my mom is planning, and they should have a something they really like on the table. 

I have a stove-top recipe that I really like (The Food Lab's Ultra-Gooey Stovetop Mac and Cheese Recipe) , but it doesn't travel well. I've never loved any of the baked mac-and-cheese recipes I've made so far.


----------



## davidharmier60

Monday was interesting to say the least. The floor machine was leaving too much water down. I had the feeling the vacuum wasn't doing what it should. I didn't find the problem until I went to wash it out. 
Water was coming out where it should not. An important hose had come loose.
Got it fixed and ready for tomorrow. 5.22 hours today.
Trish wants pennies tomorrow. So I'll be doing that. Then comics online.

My Sister makes Kraft Mac and Cheese with Tuna in it. Pretty good stuff but certainly not homemade.


----------



## snowbear

Just went down to a (fairly) local farm store and got a turkey.  If it were any fresher, we'd needed to chase it around the pen.  We'll pick up the shrimp and either andouille or crab meat on Wednesday.




JonA_CT said:


> Anyone want to message me a great mac-and-cheese recipe? I'm going to bring that to my parents for Thanksgiving -- my kids won't eat much of what my mom is planning, and they should have a something they really like on the table.
> 
> I have a stove-top recipe that I really like (The Food Lab's Ultra-Gooey Stovetop Mac and Cheese Recipe) , but it doesn't travel well. I've never loved any of the baked mac-and-cheese recipes I've made so far.


I'll look in the library when I get home, if you haven't gotten one by then.


----------



## JonA_CT

Thanks, Charlie!

My mission for tomorrow is to get the ingredients for mac and cheese, a charcuterie board, and for two pies tomorrow. If I get the pie crusts made, all the better.


----------



## snowbear

We have the turkey in the brine.  We wanted a 12-pounder but ended up with one a little bigger.  I'll make some soup and gumbo out of the leftovers.


----------



## terri

We found Arkansas Black apples this year.     I love them for apple pie.  Pie baking is officially on my schedule for Wednesday evening.   

I was at the grocery store earlier, and the place was already a zoo!

Meanwhile, I made a little treat for myself last night.   Baked apple slices with brown sugar and nutmeg.


----------



## snowbear

I've never heard of them.  How do they compare to Granny Smiths?


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> I've never heard of them.  How do they compare to Granny Smiths?


Well for starters, they're red apples - deep red, and they turn nearly black with some age.  As for tartness, they're probably similar.   Very tart, very crisp - wonderful to bake with.  

I imagine that they don't get shipped to your part of the country in large amounts, but you might find them at a farmer's market.   Just now coming on.


----------



## snowbear

#1 is in Tulsa - he may have access to them.  We just shipped him a pack of scrapple*, so he owes us.

* For those not in the know, scrapple is a pork loaf - everything but the oink.  It's indigenous to the mid-Atlantic area - PA, NJ, DE, MD and VA.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> #1 is in Tulsa - he may have access to them.  We just shipped him a pack of scrapple*, so he owes us.
> 
> * For those not in the know, scrapple is a pork loaf - everything but the oink.  It's indigenous to the mid-Atlantic area - PA, NJ, DE, MD and VA BIG PILE OF NOPE!



Please don't ever send me scrapple.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Please don't ever send me scrapple.


I'll take an order... extra oink in mine please!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, bitterly cold out but no frost yet.  Off to buy some shoes and trousers today then be lazy.


----------



## davidharmier60

I got chores after work today.
Get something for my Sister from the library, see about getting a key or two made.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Anyone want to message me a great mac-and-cheese recipe? I'm going to bring that to my parents for Thanksgiving -- my kids won't eat much of what my mom is planning, and they should have a something they really like on the table.
> 
> I have a stove-top recipe that I really like (The Food Lab's Ultra-Gooey Stovetop Mac and Cheese Recipe) , but it doesn't travel well. I've never loved any of the baked mac-and-cheese recipes I've made so far.



The key to awesome baked Mac and cheese is to use ritz cracker topping and butter the crumbs before hand.   Crush a full sleeve of ritz in a plastic baggie with a rolling pin.  Melt a stick of butter in a sauté pan.  Add the crushed crackers to the pan and stir until fully mixed and lightly toasted.  Do not burn them!  Then put those on top before baking.  

I use shredded triple cheddar and fresh grated Parmesan with half and half to make my cheese sauce.  I don’t really have a recipe to share, I’ve been making it so long that I just eye ball it.


----------



## smoke665

Pass on the scrapple, could never develop a taste for chitlins either.

Sadie Mae is draggy today. Her big adventure out yesterday was to the Vet for her annual checkup and round of shots. She wasn't a happy camper when she realized where we were. The shots always seem to make them feel a little down for a day or so.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> The key to awesome baked Mac and cheese is to use ritz cracker topping and butter the crumbs before hand.



That brings back memories. My Mother used to do make it like this when I was a kid.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> The key to awesome baked Mac and cheese is to use ritz cracker topping and butter the crumbs before hand.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That brings back memories. My Mother used to do make it like this when I was a kid.
Click to expand...


It's how my grandmother taught me to make it.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> It's how my grandmother taught me to make it.



Sometimes the old ways are still the best!!!


----------



## waday

terri said:


> I was at the grocery store earlier, and the place was already a zoo!


I need to go later today for non-Thanksgiving-related items, and I'm dreading it.


----------



## JonA_CT

My dad and older brother enjoy scrapple, and it’s one of their regional foods my mom has a pretty easy time convincing the commissary on the base to carry. I’ve never developed a taste for it...the texture is incredibly unpleasant, haha.

I have a full shopping list now.  I need to decide how much time/effort I want to put into the charcuterie. The price point on the cheeses at Trader Joe’s is way better than the local cheese shop or than Stop and Shop or Big Y, but it’s a 45 minute ride. We’ll see how today goes, I guess.

My Mac and cheese mix will likely come from Stop and Shop though...they sell deli cheese ends in a “Mac-and-cheese” blend that is a little of everything. It’s never repeatable, but its always delicious.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was at the grocery store earlier, and the place was already a zoo!
> 
> 
> 
> I need to go later today for non-Thanksgiving-related items, and I'm dreading it.
Click to expand...

As well you should.      It's officially cray-cray time.  

God speed, man!


----------



## waday

terri said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was at the grocery store earlier, and the place was already a zoo!
> 
> 
> 
> I need to go later today for non-Thanksgiving-related items, and I'm dreading it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> As well you should.      It's officially cray-cray time.
> 
> God speed, man!
Click to expand...


----------



## davidharmier60

Our store wasn't quite that bad when I left.
I'm in Cold Springs for propane. 
Got me a 6 hour day I think.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was at the grocery store earlier, and the place was already a zoo!
> 
> 
> 
> I need to go later today for non-Thanksgiving-related items, and I'm dreading it.
Click to expand...


Ugh.  I went Sunday night so I could avoid the stores today and tomorrow.  If you go after 8pm it's really not that bad. 



JonA_CT said:


> My dad and older brother enjoy scrapple, and it’s one of their regional foods my mom has a pretty easy time convincing the commissary on the base to carry. I’ve never developed a taste for it...the texture is incredibly unpleasant, haha.
> 
> I have a full shopping list now.  I need to decide how much time/effort I want to put into the charcuterie. The price point on the cheeses at Trader Joe’s is way better than the local cheese shop or than Stop and Shop or Big Y, but it’s a 45 minute ride. We’ll see how today goes, I guess.
> 
> My Mac and cheese mix will likely come from Stop and Shop though...they sell deli cheese ends in a “Mac-and-cheese” blend that is a little of everything. It’s never repeatable, but its always delicious.



Don't forget the secret ingredient that no one talks about.  If you want creamy mac and cheese you need to add some 



Spoiler: don't look if you're a food snob



Velveeta.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was at the grocery store earlier, and the place was already a zoo!
> 
> 
> 
> I need to go later today for non-Thanksgiving-related items, and I'm dreading it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ugh.  I went Sunday night so I could avoid the stores today and tomorrow.  If you go after 8pm it's really not that bad.
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My dad and older brother enjoy scrapple, and it’s one of their regional foods my mom has a pretty easy time convincing the commissary on the base to carry. I’ve never developed a taste for it...the texture is incredibly unpleasant, haha.
> 
> I have a full shopping list now.  I need to decide how much time/effort I want to put into the charcuterie. The price point on the cheeses at Trader Joe’s is way better than the local cheese shop or than Stop and Shop or Big Y, but it’s a 45 minute ride. We’ll see how today goes, I guess.
> 
> My Mac and cheese mix will likely come from Stop and Shop though...they sell deli cheese ends in a “Mac-and-cheese” blend that is a little of everything. It’s never repeatable, but its always delicious.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't forget the secret ingredient that no one talks about.  If you want creamy mac and cheese you need to add some
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: don't look if you're a food snob
> 
> 
> 
> Velveeta.
Click to expand...


See, that’s the magic of deli cheese! Even the nice deli cheese has some “American” ingenuity to it!


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was at the grocery store earlier, and the place was already a zoo!
> 
> 
> 
> I need to go later today for non-Thanksgiving-related items, and I'm dreading it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ugh.  I went Sunday night so I could avoid the stores today and tomorrow.  If you go after 8pm it's really not that bad.
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My dad and older brother enjoy scrapple, and it’s one of their regional foods my mom has a pretty easy time convincing the commissary on the base to carry. I’ve never developed a taste for it...the texture is incredibly unpleasant, haha.
> 
> I have a full shopping list now.  I need to decide how much time/effort I want to put into the charcuterie. The price point on the cheeses at Trader Joe’s is way better than the local cheese shop or than Stop and Shop or Big Y, but it’s a 45 minute ride. We’ll see how today goes, I guess.
> 
> My Mac and cheese mix will likely come from Stop and Shop though...they sell deli cheese ends in a “Mac-and-cheese” blend that is a little of everything. It’s never repeatable, but its always delicious.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't forget the secret ingredient that no one talks about.  If you want creamy mac and cheese you need to add some
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: don't look if you're a food snob
> 
> 
> 
> Velveeta.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> See, that’s the magic of deli cheese! Even the nice deli cheese has some “American” ingenuity to it!
Click to expand...


Deli cheese and Velveeta are the same thing?  I don't think there's a substitute for Velveeta!  It's too bad that there are no Cheesetiques up here as that would be the perfect spot for you to get what you need.  Your leftover deli ends comment reminded me of them.  They have a cheese dish on the dinner menu there that is essentially the leftover bits of cheeses from the cheese shop area all melted together and served with a warm crostini bread.  Different every time and so yummy!


----------



## JonA_CT

No, not the same...but all of the deli cut cheeses seem to melt a little more creamy or nicely than the block cheeses of the same variety. It works well in Mac and cheese.

And that sounds awesome. Cheese is a definite vice, and I like all kinds, haha. Even Stilton has appropriate uses!


----------



## Fujidave

OMG!!! This X100F is just WOW, can`t wait to try it out tomorrow.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Please don't ever send me scrapple.


No problem; I know it’s not for everyone.

That’s how I feel about bait sushi.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Please don't ever send me scrapple.
> 
> 
> 
> I'll take an order... extra oink in mine please!
Click to expand...

Like haggis but with more flavor.


----------



## smoke665

I hate you people talking about food, and I'm on this stinking diet!!!!  Thankfully it will only be us on Thanksgiving but still, that's the one day a year I really pig out. However DW and I both reached a point were it was go buy new clothes or drop some pounds. I will admit I ran the mental calculations on clothes more then once before I agreed to the diet. We both are on steroids of one sort or another, so being hungry all the time was no help on the waistline.


----------



## davidharmier60

SWince getting the job at the store over a year ago, I have gone from 40 inch waist down to 36.
I have dropped better than 20 pounds. Still have a gut and we will pig out on Turkey and Mashed Taters and Gravy and Sweet taters etc. Velveeta might be good in Mac and Cheese. But it makes LOUSY hot dog cheese.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was at the grocery store earlier, and the place was already a zoo!
> 
> 
> 
> I need to go later today for non-Thanksgiving-related items, and I'm dreading it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ugh.  I went Sunday night so I could avoid the stores today and tomorrow.  If you go after 8pm it's really not that bad.
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> My dad and older brother enjoy scrapple, and it’s one of their regional foods my mom has a pretty easy time convincing the commissary on the base to carry. I’ve never developed a taste for it...the texture is incredibly unpleasant, haha.
> 
> I have a full shopping list now.  I need to decide how much time/effort I want to put into the charcuterie. The price point on the cheeses at Trader Joe’s is way better than the local cheese shop or than Stop and Shop or Big Y, but it’s a 45 minute ride. We’ll see how today goes, I guess.
> 
> My Mac and cheese mix will likely come from Stop and Shop though...they sell deli cheese ends in a “Mac-and-cheese” blend that is a little of everything. It’s never repeatable, but its always delicious.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Don't forget the secret ingredient that no one talks about.  If you want creamy mac and cheese you need to add some
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: don't look if you're a food snob
> 
> 
> 
> Velveeta.
Click to expand...


No not velveeta!  I was a past velveeta user.  Two years ago I cut out the processed stuff, pasta, pork, beef, canned food, etc.  Whole grains are now in.  Slowly getting my husband on board so I don't have to cook 2 meals.  We were at the store last week and he asked about the cheese in the box.  He couldn't remember the name.  He wanted it for grilled cheese sandwiches.  After I asked But Why a few times he changed his mind.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Please don't ever send me scrapple.
> 
> 
> 
> No problem; I know it’s not for everyone.
> 
> That’s how I feel about bait sushi.
Click to expand...


Mmmmm, sushi


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Please don't ever send me scrapple.
> 
> 
> 
> No problem; I know it’s not for everyone.
> 
> That’s how I feel about bait sushi.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Mmmmm, sushi
Click to expand...

Can you get sushi with extra oink?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Please don't ever send me scrapple.
> 
> 
> 
> No problem; I know it’s not for everyone.
> 
> That’s how I feel about bait sushi.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Mmmmm, sushi
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Can you get sushi with extra oink?
Click to expand...


You seem to know all about it, so why don't you tell me?


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> You seem to know all about it, so why don't you tell me?


I don't... that's why I'm asking, but it sounds like it would be tasty.  California Scrapple Rolls?


----------



## snowbear

We just slice it thin, throw it on the griddle (or in a pan) and let it get crispy.  Some folks will flour it first.  It's got a little spice in it, so no need to add anything, IMO.


----------



## waday

terri said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was at the grocery store earlier, and the place was already a zoo!
> 
> 
> 
> I need to go later today for non-Thanksgiving-related items, and I'm dreading it.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> As well you should.      It's officially cray-cray time.
> 
> God speed, man!
Click to expand...

So, um, it was actually a fairly pleasant experience... In and out within 20 minutes or so. I mean, it was busy, but people were actually pretty nice. I went to a different supermarket (but same chain) as normal. Maybe people there are just nicer?


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> the texture is incredibly unpleasant


Dare I ask, what is the consistency of scrapple? I've never had it (nor will I ever). Just curious.


----------



## stapo49

I had to google this "scrapple" thing as I had never heard of it. Sounds like an American Haggis lol.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, freezing cold out and we have had our first snowfall of the year.  Off to the vets in a bit as Susie has to have her booster jab, then hope to try out my new Fuji camera.


----------



## Frank F.

horses


Fujidave said:


> OMG!!! This X100F is just WOW, can`t wait to try it out tomorrow.




I own, use and love my X100T and was still tempted to buy the X100F. I just could not justify to spend another 1400€ on on a camera that is quite similar to the camera I spent 1400€ for fn 2015.

Have fun. Great canera!!!


----------



## Frank F.

horses

Album "horses" by Frank Fremerey on YouPic


----------



## davidharmier60

I think I'm off tomorrow. 
She wants me to be done by 7am.
Ha ha. Crud look at the time. 
I gotta boogie.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> the texture is incredibly unpleasant
> 
> 
> 
> Dare I ask, what is the consistency of scrapple? I've never had it (nor will I ever). Just curious.
Click to expand...


It’s hard to describe, haha. It has a lot of filler/binders in it...I think cornmeal? So it’s kind of gritty and gelatinous.


----------



## smoke665

I had a bad experience in my teens, when our class did a tour of a large packing house. The place was greasy, nasty everywhere, but the coup de gras was when we got to the room where they were making hot dogs. In the middle of the floor were two large men in dirty boots with scoop shovels. On the floor was a large pile of pink slime they were shoveling into a hopper that fed the machine that made the hot dogs. It was years before I could eat any meat that wasn't readily recognizable and still if the texture is off forget it, I'll be gagging big time.


----------



## SquarePeg

I have never eaten a hot dog and never will.  My mom says I took one sniff and refused to try it.  After reading this post, I'm so glad I've always found them disgusting.  

Scrapple is also on my "no thanks" list.  I'm not a food snob nor am I a particularly healthy eater but, for various reasons,  scrapple, spam and hot dogs all totally gross me out.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> the texture is incredibly unpleasant
> 
> 
> 
> Dare I ask, what is the consistency of scrapple? I've never had it (nor will I ever). Just curious.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It’s hard to describe, haha. It has a lot of filler/binders in it...I think cornmeal? So it’s kind of gritty and gelatinous.
Click to expand...

I was afraid you were going to say that. Big bag of nopes for me. I can’t do anything with that consistency. I once had a bad version of gulab jamun, and to this day, I can’t eat it. I also once had a dream where I ate so many peanut butter cups that it took me several years to eat them again in real life, lol.

@SquarePeg , if you ever want to try a hotdog, try fake hotdogs. What I remember of me eating meat as a kid, I don’t think I liked hotdogs, I always preferred burgers. Now, I get to enjoy both, cruelty (and in my opinion) disgusting free.


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg the good news is that this particular plant was shut down a couple years later for a gazillion health violations. Not sure how similar facilities are now.


----------



## snowbear

stapo49 said:


> I had to google this "scrapple" thing as I had never heard of it. Sounds like an American Haggis lol.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


Pretty much but where haggis is made with mutton and served with neeps and tatties, scrapple is pork and typically used as a breakfast meat.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> the texture is incredibly unpleasant
> 
> 
> 
> Dare I ask, what is the consistency of scrapple? I've never had it (nor will I ever). Just curious.
Click to expand...

If sliced thin & grilled/fried - it's pretty crispy.  Thicker cuts are crispy on the outside and softer inside - warm cornmeal is about right.  Right out of the package (it's made by boiling the pork stuff, cornmeal and wheat flour) it's a bit gritty.

I'm sure it originated with PA Dutch (well, Germans or "Deutsch_"_).


----------



## davidharmier60

Hey y'all. A wee bit over 5 hours today. 
17.3x for the week so far. Still don't know about tomorrow. But if they want me, I'll take the money! Had Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy,  homemade dressing with Turkey gravy and yams at the deli.
Brought a book to read to wait for the check. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

How'd we get on scrapple? Not familiar with that, but here people (some that is) like goetta. Can't say I love it but it's not bad, ground pork and/or beef with oats, sort of like meatloaf rolled up. Putting it on a pizza is pushing it though if you ask me! lol

Not a fan of hot dogs, too many summers week after week holding them on sticks over campfires with kids. 

Luckily the only factory tour I did with kids was Kenner Toys where Care Bears popped out of a machine onto a conveyor belt, that was entertaining.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I like to keep cooking simple, the fewer ingredients the better. Boil water, toss in pasta, turn down the heat and give it a stir or two, once it's starting to stick to the sides turn the heat down to low; add some margarine/butter then go to the fridge and get the milk to pour in a largeish splash, add chunks of Herkimer cheddar cheese (or whatever cheddar or gouda or colby/cojack if that's what's in the fridge) and let it all melt. No I don't do baked mac 'n cheese, I only cook things once! lol


----------



## Fujidave

Frank F. said:


> horses
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> OMG!!! This X100F is just WOW, can`t wait to try it out tomorrow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I own, use and love my X100T and was still tempted to buy the X100F. I just could not justify to spend another 1400€ on on a camera that is quite similar to the camera I spent 1400€ for fn 2015.
> 
> Have fun. Great canera!!!
Click to expand...


Thanks Frank, the weather was totally rotten today so was not happy with my shots, but it will be fun/great to learn using the X100F.


----------



## snowbear

Tomorrow will be a busy cooking day, even though it's only two of us.  We've settled on turkey, sweet potatoes (sliced & roasted, not the casserole), cranberry sauce (home made), and shrimp & sausage jambalaya.  Some of the leftover bird will go into a turkey & sausage gumbo for Sunday, and to the office to share on Monday.


Maybe eggs & scrapple for breakfast.


----------



## terri

Sounds simple and tasty, Charlie!   We're standing down and staying here, as well, so it's going to be a feast for two.   I'm happy to go visit and let others cook, but I seem to overeat when I do that, so I'm very happy to be in charge of the menu this year.   

I have a very nice, minimally processed 14-pound turkey to roast tomorrow.   We're not eating a lot of meat these days so, when we do, I tend to avoid heavily processed stuff and stick to whole birds, or large cuts of beef.   I tried to tease the hubby into making his famous mashed potatoes (he has a secret recipe that calls for Yukon Gold, a bit of butter and heavy cream) but he's also recently shed a bunch of weight, so he nixed it.   *sniffle*   We'll likely stick to jasmine rice or something similar for the white carb portion of the meal that can accept my yummy scratch turkey gravy.       Seared rainbow chard on the side, and my famous apple pie for dessert.   

Wine geeks that we are, he has pulled a prize from the cellar:    



 

Nicely aged CdP - I can't wait.           Lots of football on, too - so a relaxing day in store for tomorrow.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Tomorrow will be a busy cooking day, even though it's only two of us.  We've settled on turkey, sweet potatoes (sliced & roasted, not the casserole), cranberry sauce (home made), and shrimp & sausage jambalaya.  Some of the leftover bird will go into a turkey & sausage gumbo for Sunday, and to the office to share on Monday.
> 
> 
> Maybe eggs & scrapple for breakfast.



Roasted is the way to go with sweet potatoes.  I've never been a fan of that overly gooey and sugary sweet potato and marshmallow casserole.  Roasted with some salt, pepper, oregano and garlic salt makes for a delicious sweet and salty side dish!


----------



## Frank F.

as I pour my wine I do not expect bigger pours but with a cat like this I might receive bigger purrs:


----------



## Frank F.

terri said:


> Sounds simple and tasty, Charlie!   We're standing down and staying here, as well, so it's going to be a feast for two.   I'm happy to go visit and let others cook, but I seem to overeat when I do that, so I'm very happy to be in charge of the menu this year.
> 
> I have a very nice, minimally processed 14-pound turkey to roast tomorrow.   We're not eating a lot of meat these days so, when we do, I tend to avoid heavily processed stuff and stick to whole birds, or large cuts of beef.   I tried to tease the hubby into making his famous mashed potatoes (he has a secret recipe that calls for Yukon Gold, a bit of butter and heavy cream) but he's also recently shed a bunch of weight, so he nixed it.   *sniffle*   We'll likely stick to jasmine rice or something similar for the white carb portion of the meal that can accept my yummy scratch turkey gravy.       Seared rainbow chard on the side, and my famous apple pie for dessert.
> 
> Wine geeks that we are, he has pulled a prize from the cellar:
> View attachment 166214
> 
> Nicely aged CdP - I can't wait.           Lots of football on, too - so a relaxing day in store for tomorrow.




I hope your Cote du Rhone will stand up to your expectation.

I live on the Cote du Rhin and currently we we have more wine than water to process


----------



## smoke665

THERE I FIXED IT! Rolled up trowel  attached with bungee cord fix for lost wiper blade.  Spotted at local Wal-Mart


----------



## tirediron

That's not a broken wiper repair, that's a new optional accessory from Ronco - the windshield shammy.  The left side wipes, the right side polishes.


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> That's not a broken wiper repair, that's a new optional accessory from Ronco - the windshield shammy.  The left side wipes, the right side polishes.



Yup, all that extra grit, and dirt in that rag, helps polish away the tough bugs. LOL


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Yup, all that extra grit, and dirt in that rag, helps polish away the tough bugs. LOL


Exactly!  And for only $19.95!  But wait... there's more!


----------



## davidharmier60

Finally found out I have tomorrow off. 
Sister brought home chicken for dinner. 
I do believe there will be Blue Bell later. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> But wait... there's more!



Let me guess, If you act now they throw in the bungee?


----------



## snowbear

no - you get three additional wipes in designer colors.


----------



## limr

Took the day off today and did a little shopping. Picked up fixings for my fresh pumpkin pie. It's just me and Buzz tomorrow. Both of our families are scattered to the winds and we are looking forward to a peaceful and quiet dinner together. We'll have a nice fire going, some good food, good wine, fresh pie, no drama, no chaos, no polite smiling while biting our tongues...

Terri, enjoy that wine!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Took the day off today and did a little shopping. Picked up fixings for my fresh pumpkin pie. It's just me and Buzz tomorrow. Both of our families are scattered to the winds and we are looking forward to a peaceful and quiet dinner together. We'll have a nice fire going, some good food, good wine, fresh pie, no drama, no chaos, no polite smiling while biting our tongues...
> 
> Terri, enjoy that wine!


Sounds lovely!    I hope the wine shows well; looking forward to it. 

I wish I could make a pumpkin pie, but I'd be the only one enjoying it.  Le sigh.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Took the day off today and did a little shopping. Picked up fixings for my fresh pumpkin pie. It's just me and Buzz tomorrow. Both of our families are scattered to the winds and we are looking forward to a peaceful and quiet dinner together. We'll have a nice fire going, some good food, good wine, fresh pie, no drama, no chaos, no polite smiling while biting our tongues...
> 
> Terri, enjoy that wine!
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds lovely!    I hope the wine shows well; looking forward to it.
> 
> I wish I could make a pumpkin pie, but I'd be the only one enjoying it.  Le sigh.
Click to expand...


Buzz will eat apple pie - and I make a mean one! - but he prefers pumpkin. Me, as long as it's pie, I am generally good


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> no - you get three additional wipes in designer colors.


Ding, ding, ding!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Buzz will eat apple pie - and I make a mean one! - but he prefers pumpkin. Me, as long as it's pie, I am generally good


Scrapple Pie?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Pie? Did someone say pie We had a nice broccoli quiche for dinner


----------



## limr

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Pie? Did someone say pie We had a nice broccoli quiche for dinner



Mmm, sounds good! Been a while since I made a quiche. Might have to rectify that soon. I like to make something on Sunday that I can have for lunches during the week. I've had a lot of soup this semester; might be time for something else


----------



## davidharmier60

Golly but I like that Blue Bell! Won't be awake too much longer because I did awaken at 4AM.


----------



## SquarePeg

Heading into the kitchen to start my desserts for tomorrow.  Signing off for the night!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my USA friends at TPF.  The rest of you - happy workday.


----------



## terri

Dean_Gretsch said:


> View attachment 166224 Pie? Did someone say pie We had a nice broccoli quiche for dinner


That looks beautiful!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, still dark out and we have a frosty start here, not up to much today.


----------



## davidharmier60

Jiminy! My phone had near 100% battery last night. This morning it was down to 14 or 4 (I couldn't see that well). The computer needed a reboot but seems to be ok.
Sister is going to make dressing from scratch. I seem to remember Stove Top Stuffing talked about.
Anyhow I have a decent mug of coffee. A MESS of pennies and such on my desk.

Happy Thanksgiving y'all.


----------



## snowbear

A happy and safe Thanksgiving to the U.S. TPFers.


----------



## waday

Happy Thanksgiving!


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> A happy and safe Thanksgiving to the U.S. TPFers.


Thanks, Charlie!   I am looking forward to a lovely day, and the weather is cooperating here, too.    You have a great Thanksgiving, too!


----------



## limr

Happy Thanksgiving!


----------



## tirediron

Happy Turkeymas to all you Southoftheborderians!


----------



## snowbear

John - I know Canada's Thanksgiving was a few weeks ago.  What are the traditions up there?


----------



## Fujidave

Well that was freezing cold today, as it has made my arthritis kick in on my shoulder OH what fun...NOT


----------



## davidharmier60

Went down to the store to get a few things for my Sister. Controlled Panedmonium!


----------



## smoke665

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!!! Just finished up all of today's calories on my diet in one meal. Ask me if I care!!!!!!!!!


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> John - I know Canada's Thanksgiving was a few weeks ago.  What are the traditions up there?


It's pretty much the same as for you (with less emphasis on shopping, 'though we're catching up on that).  Get together with family, stuff yourself silly and lay around the house doing as little as you can!


----------



## davidharmier60

The Turkey was very good. The potatoes came with something and weren't great.
The dressing,  while good, was not as good as what Diane made. Sister makes a corn casserole that is great. Throw in olives, stuffed celery and stuffed eggs.
And we are full.

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## SquarePeg

Oh yeaaaaah!


----------



## tirediron

On my way!


----------



## limr

I made a damn fine pie this year. I used a combo of mostly kabocha with some acorn squash for the filling. So yummy.


----------



## RowdyRay

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

Was supposed to go to my sister's place. My truck didn't want to. Drove it last Sunday and all was fine. Hit the key today....nothing. Spent the day trouble shooting. Long story short, it's the starter solenoid. Guess what I'll be doing this weekend? Trying really hard to not complain. It's been a fantastic vehicle. This happened in my driveway. Not in the middle of the night 100 miles from home. When does that happen? Never. An inconvenience, but one I can live with.  

I'm thankful for awesome neighbors. We've always tried to look out for one another. When they saw me home and working on the truck, it was a steady stream of plated leftovers. Tried to decline, but that was pointless. I'm stuffed, and enough food for the next couple of days.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

That's a very good way to look at it Ray. Happy Thanksgiving.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, another very cold and grey day here so not up to much today.


----------



## SquarePeg

RowdyRay said:


> Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
> 
> Was supposed to go to my sister's place. My truck didn't want to. Drove it last Sunday and all was fine. Hit the key today....nothing. Spent the day trouble shooting. Long story short, it's the starter solenoid. Guess what I'll be doing this weekend? Trying really hard to not complain. It's been a fantastic vehicle. This happened in my driveway. Not in the middle of the night 100 miles from home. When does that happen? Never. An inconvenience, but one I can live with.
> 
> I'm thankful for awesome neighbors. We've always tried to look out for one another. When they saw me home and working on the truck, it was a steady stream of plated leftovers. Tried to decline, but that was pointless. I'm stuffed, and enough food for the next couple of days.



Glad you didn’t get stuck somewhere!  I had a similar issue with my car not starting yesterday but I think it’s the alternator.   The garage doesn’t open until Saturday so will have to wait to find out for sure.  Had to borrow my sister-in-law’s car for the drive up to NH for Thanksgiving  dinner.   They were heading to her sister’s house and they took my brother’s car so I could use hers.  One of the perks of having family living in the downstairs apartment is that there’s almost always an extra car to use.  Thankful for that as we would have been pretty bummed if we didn’t have a car and has to skip dinner.


----------



## davidharmier60

My old truck woke right up with a new solenoid. Gotta bug out in a few.
Back to work like yesterday never happened. 

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## Fujidave

Had a nice day today, went to login to Flickr and it wont let me at all.  It seems as though the new owners don`t want my money to go Pro so not happy with the way they are doing things, stupid Flickr owners


----------



## smoke665

Little groggy this morning. Little bit spent the night and she's like a Tasmanian devil on steroids when she sleeps. Spinning, turning, kicking, hitting.


----------



## davidharmier60

5 and a few. 22.45 for the week. 
Not little kick boxers in my life but I seem to run laps when asleep. It seems to be pissing rain just now.

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## snowbear

I had to get up at 06:30 to feed the girls, then went back to bed until a little after 8,  We had turkey sandwiches for lunch, then I made turkey stock (about 1-1/2 gallons, I think).  Used a cup of it for dinner: garlic butter shrimp and rice.  Otherwise, it's been a lazy day.


----------



## RowdyRay

SquarePeg said:


> Glad you didn’t get stuck somewhere!  I had a similar issue with my car not starting yesterday but I think it’s the alternator.   The garage doesn’t open until Saturday so will have to wait to find out for sure.  Had to borrow my sister-in-law’s car for the drive up to NH for Thanksgiving  dinner.   They were heading to her sister’s house and they took my brother’s car so I could use hers.  One of the perks of having family living in the downstairs apartment is that there’s almost always an extra car to use.  Thankful for that as we would have been pretty bummed if we didn’t have a car and has to skip dinner.



Glad I wasn't stuck walking, and glad you got to where you were going. Wish I had that convenience. Living alone has it's challenges. Yes, I have a company truck, but they put GPS units in them several years ago. Can't just run down the road a couple blocks for a part or TP. They know when I open a door. I've gotten phone calls when I move it to remove snow on the weekends.

Everything was closed yesterday, but picked up a rebuild kit for the solenoid today. Tried to drop the starter...that didn't go well. My son is coming over tomorrow. We'll beat it into submission. Lol. I'm not made out of money. Almost 200.00 for a new starter. Little over 100.00 for a rebuilt one. Add labor if you bring it into a shop. And towing if not in your driveway. If we can get it out, it's a 30.00 fix and some elbow grease. Wish me luck.


----------



## smoke665

RowdyRay said:


> Everything was closed yesterday, but picked up a rebuild kit for the solenoid today. Tried to drop the starter...that didn't go well. My son is coming over tomorrow. We'll beat it into submission. Lol. I'm not made out of money. Almost 200.00 for a new starter. Little over 100.00 for a rebuilt one. If we can get it out, it's a 30.00 fix and some elbow grease. Wish me luck.



Have you noticed that most manufacturers seem to think the starter should be put in the most out the way, hard to get to place on the entire engine???? I've thought at times it would be easier to just pull the whole engine, then try to reach into places not designed for hands.


----------



## davidharmier60

It was a cake walk to get the starterout of my 99 Chevy 2500. And a solenoid fixed it for sure!

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## RowdyRay

smoke665 said:


> Have you noticed that most manufacturers seem to think the starter should be put in the most out the way, hard to get to place on the entire engine???? I've thought at times it would be easier to just pull the whole engine, then try to reach into places not designed for hands.



Most definitely! And they're doing it on purpose. You should be able to do basic repairs. My son has to unbolt and remove his intake manifold to replace spark plugs on his VW Jetta. 150.00 per hour shop labor and charge you twice the price you can buy the part at the local parts store. Ridiculous. I'll shut up now.


----------



## smoke665

RowdyRay said:


> Ridiculous. I'll shut up now.



Why? Why should you have to remove the motor mounts and Jack up a v6 engine to replace the spark plugs on the back side. I had a 69 318 v8 dodge that would burn the tires off and still get 20 mpg if you drove it sensibly. Yet still had all the room you'd ever need to work on it.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, very wet and dark out plus my arthritis is giving me pain like never before.  Have made an appointment for Monday to see a doctor in the hope he will give me some painkillers, till then it`s no photography at all.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sigh. Another day of work.

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----------



## JonA_CT

RowdyRay said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have you noticed that most manufacturers seem to think the starter should be put in the most out the way, hard to get to place on the entire engine???? I've thought at times it would be easier to just pull the whole engine, then try to reach into places not designed for hands.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Most definitely! And they're doing it on purpose. You should be able to do basic repairs. My son has to unbolt and remove his intake manifold to replace spark plugs on his VW Jetta. 150.00 per hour shop labor and charge you twice the price you can buy the part at the local parts store. Ridiculous. I'll shut up now.
Click to expand...


My buddy has a 2010? Ford Fusion that needed a headlamp replaced. We had to put it on a jack remove a wheel, and remove the wheel well cover just to have a mostly blind chance at reaching up and over to the front of the car to access the headlight assembly. It took two of us 45 minutes to take it all apart, replace the bulb, and put it all back together. So silly, even if it was the first replacement in 175000 miles.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Morning all, very wet and dark out plus my arthritis is giving me pain like never before.  Have made an appointment for Monday to see a doctor in the hope he will give me some painkillers, till then it`s no photography at all.



Feel your pain, literally. Most of mine is confined to hands and left shoulder. It's strange but it seems to bother me more during times when the temperature is about to change.


----------



## SquarePeg

Changes in barometric pressure can be a trigger for aches and pains as well as migraines and sinus headaches. 

I think they do build the cars like that on purpose. 

No mechanic available until Monday.  Have been using uber to get around but mostly staying put.  On the plus side, the house is now clean and organized. 

Went to my HS Reunion last night. 35 years!!  It was fun to see everyone.  Good turn out and lots of laughs.  I almost used the car as an excuse and skipped it, I’m very glad that I didn’t.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> On the plus side, the house is now clean and organized.


  See?  Silver linings and all that.

Drizzly and gray outside this morning, which doesn't bother me at all.   Good day to catch up on laundry (which always bothers me!).

Tonight will be some leftover turkey dinner dishes, with wine and a fire.  The cats love the fires more than we do, I think!


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning all, very wet and dark out plus my arthritis is giving me pain like never before.  Have made an appointment for Monday to see a doctor in the hope he will give me some painkillers, till then it`s no photography at all.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Feel your pain, literally. Most of mine is confined to hands and left shoulder. It's strange but it seems to bother me more during times when the temperature is about to change.
Click to expand...


Mine is in the left shoulder too, as many years ago I dislocated it twice in one day.


----------



## davidharmier60

62 at the moment heading for lower 70s. 
27 hours and 15 minutes for the week. 
Not too bad for being off thanksgiving. 
Got a bunch of penny wrappers at our bank. About to check the PO Box. On the way to the house I'll check the box at the front of the neighborhood. 

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## davidharmier60

Oh. Sunny with high wispy clouds. 
No rain as far as I know.

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## Fujidave

Grey dark and chucking it down still.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Mine is in the left shoulder too, as many years ago I dislocated it twice in one day.



Mine is a college football injury.............
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
tried to sneak in to many adult beverages, and tripped on the bleachers, while trying to hang on to everything.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Had no intention of buying anything yesterday, but after doing some chores, including the dreaded vacuuming that is somehow always a pain in the ass, I broke down and bought a Roomba. Big discounts ($150 off,) so I got a fancier one than I probably would have otherwise chosen.

If either Zelda or Mrs.Parker enjoy riding it, I will be sure to share the evidence


----------



## snowbear

We hit Sears on Thursday night, and got one of those measuring cups with the spout, used to minimize the fat when making gravy.  We have some bills to pay, and I head for Colorado next week.

I'm trying to decide on taking a film body as well as the digital with me.  I only really have one day to myself.


----------



## terri

@limr, let us know how it works, too!   I've been eying these things for some time, but I'm too cheap to pull the trigger.    I'm assuming that the more you pay, the stronger the suction and the ability to transition between hard floors and an area rug.   I've seen a video on a Roomba that shows one model transitioning without a hitch, but I'm still skeptical - and that model was around the $700 range.     

All the programming features make it look cool, though, and I'd love it for a daily run, with 2 cats in the house.


----------



## davidharmier60

I measured the drivers side windshield wiper at 24". Then I measured the other side and knew it wasn't 24 also. Ran up to Livingston Wal-Mart and the book said 22". So now the car has two wipers.
Also got a bottle of window cleaner for the squirter because the one I've been using at work is worn out.
Also got a tube of grease for the grease gun at work to that I can lube the main wheels on the 6 wheelers.
And last but not least I saw a Camillus fixed blade that was just so cute I had to have it.
Did 5 rolls of pennies. Did my comics at ArcaMax.com. About to do 5 more rolls. Got a nice 53D wheat and a decent 30D from the earlier 5 rolls. I simply love these unmarked white machine wrapped rolls. 
I got a nice 47 Canadian penny out of this box too.


----------



## RowdyRay

It's alive!!!!

It wasn't that the starter was in such a horrible place. Tight but manageable. 4 wheel drive and lots of room under it. It's 17 years old and had never been removed. Seriously. Almost 280,000 miles. MN uses a ton of salt on the roads and everything rusts. I was doing pullups on the wrench and the bolts didn't budge. My son brought over his breaker bar and a piece of pipe. Sprayed the bolts with rust buster yesterday. Finally let loose with a loud crack. Luckily neither broke. Once we got it out, it was just a matter of rebuilding the solenoid. The copper contacts were toast, as I suspected. Fires right up like it should now. 

Can't justify putting a ton of money into this thing. It was maintained well before I got it, and I have continued to do the same. Because I have a company vehicle, I only put 3-5,000 miles a year on personal vehicles. Hoping to get another year or two out of it. Need to pay off a couple things. Been very reliable, but the body may fall off of it first. Lol.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> how it works,



We've had one for few years now, here's my take.

It does a decent job on tile and hardwood.
Lacks the deep clean ability of our upright on carpet.
It does a good job keeping the dust bunnies from under sofas, beds, etc.
The more furniture you have in a room the less efficient it is. It will get under something and take forever to find it's way out.
All in all, if I knew then what I know now, I'd have put the money toward a good lightweight vacuum .


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hockey night in Canada, and in the United States and Newfoundland... the night of baby blue blazers. In the Hockey Fights Cancer charity auction they're already well into the hundreds, on up to $12,000 - even with the exchange rate I won't be bidding! lol


----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon all, hardly any sleep last night as my shoulder has been agony all night.  Thank god I`m seeing the doctor tomorrow in the hope he will prescribe painkillers that will work.


----------



## davidharmier60

Happy Sunday y'all. 
Pennies and comics are my big plans.
It's 68 degrees in the house. 
It looks rather grey outside. 

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----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Afternoon all, hardly any sleep last night as my shoulder has been agony all night.  Thank god I`m seeing the doctor tomorrow in the hope he will prescribe painkillers that will work.



Sorry to hear that Dave. Hope the doc is able to help get some relief. Having a few problems myself as the weather has been damp and cold the last few days.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon all, hardly any sleep last night as my shoulder has been agony all night.  Thank god I`m seeing the doctor tomorrow in the hope he will prescribe painkillers that will work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear that Dave. Hope the doc is able to help get some relief. Having a few problems myself as the weather has been damp and cold the last few days.
Click to expand...


Thank you smoke, just like with you it is down to the damp and cold.  This time though it is at it`s worst pain wise plus I have dropped a few things while holding them, so I think I will need keyhole surgery this time but just want it all pain free.


----------



## JonA_CT

I missed what you did to your shoulder, Dave, but I'm a laparoscopic shoulder surgery survivor. It's worth it, if the doctor says it might be necessary. I tore my labrum about 6 years ago and lived with the pain for awhile, then did the rehab thing for awhile, and ultimately the MRI said surgery. It took a few months to get back up to speed after, but I've been largely pain free since.


----------



## davidharmier60

Good night y'all. 4am will be here before I know it. 

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## tirediron

Thought at least one of the Coffee House patrons might appreciate this one from today...


----------



## Fujidave

Thank god I`m seeing the doctor in a couple of hours, as another night with hardly any sleep.


----------



## Fujidave

JonA_CT said:


> I missed what you did to your shoulder, Dave, but I'm a laparoscopic shoulder surgery survivor. It's worth it, if the doctor says it might be necessary. I tore my labrum about 6 years ago and lived with the pain for awhile, then did the rehab thing for awhile, and ultimately the MRI said surgery. It took a few months to get back up to speed after, but I've been largely pain free since.



I think for long term it is better to have the surgery on the shoulder, as over the years the steroid injections have helped.


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> Thought at least one of the Coffee House patrons might appreciate this one from today...



That’s what my baby would look like if we didn’t keep his ear fringe short.  I’m sure he was the smartest dog you saw all day.


----------



## waday

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

I'm on cup 3 right now of coffee. Still not doing it for me.

The wife and I decided to splurge over the weekend on Christmas gifts (joint for the house, rather than for each other). We got an electric fireplace TV console table that is way bigger than we expected in the house, and we also got a soundbar to replace our aging surround sound system. The soundbar doesn't have a subwoofer; we're debating whether or not to return for another one with a subwoofer.


----------



## davidharmier60

5.50 hours today and for the week so far. 
Heard Trish was going to be on vacation but I heard wrong. She wants pennies tomorrow. PO Box next. Got to mail something. Then the box at the front of the neighborhood. Then home for hopefully a nice leftover lunch.

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----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> ... I’m sure he was the smartest dog you saw all day.


Won't comment on that, but he was definitely one of the easiest to shoot!


----------



## Fujidave

Well the doctor gave me some painkillers, Zapain and they do help a bit thank god so should have a nice sleep tonight.  We did have a good talk and we agreed keyhole surgery will be a lot better, so hope to see the Top shoulder expert soon in the South East here.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I talked to Boston today, but they didn't sound particularly Bostonian (about my order from the Museum of Fine Arts). I suppose I sounded sufficiently nasaly Midwestern since I feel like I have a cold but I don't. I've been kind of dragging all weekend, Thanksgiving wore me out and I guess the weather changing got some respiratory thing going. Blech. 

And it's snowing! It's kinda pretty. I want to hibernate. I heard the kids on the playground earlier, guess the temp hadn't dropped too much yet and they got sent outside to squeal.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dad and Sister are off to the VA. Got the house and 9 dogs all to myself.
Had a very nice Turkey Sandwich and some olives.
Now about to do 4 rolls of pennies, comics and than the other 4 rolls.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The flakes are getting bigger.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> Thought at least one of the Coffee House patrons might appreciate this one from today...


Nice job.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> The flakes are getting bigger.


Yeah - here, too.
Oh, you're talking about snow . . . never mind.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thought at least one of the Coffee House patrons might appreciate this one from today...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice job.
Click to expand...

Thanks!


----------



## smoke665

Just took Sadie out and it's snowing. I counted at least 4 or 5 flakes.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Just took Sadie out and it's snowing. I counted at least 4 or 5 flakes.



Does that meet the requirements for a blizzard in Alabama?


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just took Sadie out and it's snowing. I counted at least 4 or 5 flakes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Does that meet the requirements for a blizzard in Alabama?
Click to expand...


It could warrant a run to the grocery store for bread and milk


----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon all, a very nice sleep last night and only a little bit of pain but still a damn sight better.  We have had rain all day today and it`s been grey and dark.  I have sent messages to Yahoo and Flickr asking for help about my account on both, still not one reply from either of them so have opened up another Flickr account.  Sad really as I would of payed to go Pro on the other one, so can now wait till it gets just under a 1,000 then I might think about it.


----------



## Fujidave

Australia Refuse to sell knickers 

No sale for Australia's enormous Knickers


----------



## SquarePeg

Did one of you Hosers post in here recently about getting a new tv set up?  Looking for recommendations on a new large screen (55-65" screen) and sound bar.


----------



## davidharmier60

I had (and probably still have) a pretty good surround system when we lived in Houston.
Up here we have a 36" Tube T.V. with the sound turned up pretty load for Dad.

5 hours and apparently 41 minutes because yesterday was 5.50 and the overall is 11.31

Got a box of my favorite white machine wrapped pennies. About to have Tamales out of a can.

Back to your regularly scheduled program.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Did one of you Hosers post in here recently about getting a new tv set up?  Looking for recommendations on a new large screen (55-65" screen) and sound bar.


I did!

Last year, we bought a 65" Sony. It was a really good price, but it's huge. Like, HUGE. Like, ridiculously huge. We hooked up our Sony surround sound to it, and while I loved the surround sound, the surround sound system was aging and it kept switching between various sound modes every now and then.

So, we just this past Sunday splurged on a Bose Solos 5 (I think) sound bar, but I actually don't really like it. I went for the name, LOL. I don't know if it's just because we're going from surround system to sound bar, or if it's the sound bar itself. The sound isn't as warm as I wanted it, and I don't know the correct terminology, but it just sounds shallow and no where near dynamic. It'd be great for a small room and if you don't have experience with a surround system. So, if you're going from TV speakers to sound bar, you'll love it. Otherwise, get a soundbar with a subwoofer or a surround sound system.


----------



## Braineack

65" huge?  I just replaced mine for a 75" and I still think it's small...


----------



## waday

Braineack said:


> 65" huge?  I just replaced mine for a 75" and I still think it's small...


Meh. I have no need for such a large screen. I'd rather not have to turn my head to see either side of the screen. LOL


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> Braineack said:
> 
> 
> 
> 65" huge?  I just replaced mine for a 75" and I still think it's small...
> 
> 
> 
> Meh. I have no need for such a large screen. I'd rather not have to turn my head to see either side of the screen. LOL
Click to expand...

Geezzzzzzz.... I feel inadequate.   My one television is a 30" unit, and that seems plenty large, if not a little too big at times.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Did one of you Hosers post in here recently about getting a new tv set up?  Looking for recommendations on a new large screen (55-65" screen) and sound bar.



Before you settle on screen size consider the room size. How big a TV should I buy? makes for  better viewing experience.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did one of you Hosers post in here recently about getting a new tv set up?  Looking for recommendations on a new large screen (55-65" screen) and sound bar.
> 
> 
> 
> I did!
> 
> Last year, we bought a 65" Sony. It was a really good price, but it's huge. Like, HUGE. Like, ridiculously huge. We hooked up our Sony surround sound to it, and while I loved the surround sound, the surround sound system was aging and it kept switching between various sound modes every now and then.
> 
> So, we just this past Sunday splurged on a Bose Solos 5 (I think) sound bar, but I actually don't really like it. I went for the name, LOL. I don't know if it's just because we're going from surround system to sound bar, or if it's the sound bar itself. The sound isn't as warm as I wanted it, and I don't know the correct terminology, but it just sounds shallow and no where near dynamic. It'd be great for a small room and if you don't have experience with a surround system. So, if you're going from TV speakers to sound bar, you'll love it. Otherwise, get a soundbar with a subwoofer or a surround sound system.
Click to expand...


What model Sony did you get?  I currently have a 47" in the space but there is room for more.  The 57" width of the 65" screen might look a bit tight so was leaning toward a 55" but that hardly seems worth the upgrade.   Current tv is a Sharp that I bought from Dell at a great price 10 years ago - have not had any issues with it but looking to upgrade to a 4K smart tv and size up a bit.

Have not had a soundbar before but I will be getting one.  Probably not a Bose as I think anything will be an upgrade over the existing system.  



Braineack said:


> 65" huge?  I just replaced mine for a 75" and I still think it's small...



It's a big room so a bigger screen would be nice but wall space is at a premium because it's an open floor plan and we have a very big fireplace to work around and a ton of windows on the other walls.  I do not want to hang the tv over the fireplace.  Just not a fan of that look.  



tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Braineack said:
> 
> 
> 
> 65" huge?  I just replaced mine for a 75" and I still think it's small...
> 
> 
> 
> Meh. I have no need for such a large screen. I'd rather not have to turn my head to see either side of the screen. LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Geezzzzzzz.... I feel inadequate.   My one television is a 30" unit, and that seems plenty large, if not a little too big at times.
Click to expand...


With my eyesight, a bigger tv is better.  When I watch on the smaller bedroom tv, I can see it fine but can't read the on screen guide or closed captioning (which I use when the house is noisy with teenagers!).


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Braineack said:
> 
> 
> 
> 65" huge?  I just replaced mine for a 75" and I still think it's small...
> 
> 
> 
> Meh. I have no need for such a large screen. I'd rather not have to turn my head to see either side of the screen. LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Geezzzzzzz.... I feel inadequate.   My one television is a 30" unit, and that seems plenty large, if not a little too big at times.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree. In the store, the 65" didn't look that big, but when we got it home... Wow, it dwarfed the room.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> What model Sony did you get? I currently have a 47" in the space but there is room for more. The 57" width of the 65" screen might look a bit tight so was leaning toward a 55" but that hardly seems worth the upgrade. Current tv is a Sharp that I bought from Dell at a great price 10 years ago - have not had any issues with it but looking to upgrade to a 4K smart tv and size up a bit.
> 
> Have not had a soundbar before but I will be getting one. Probably not a Bose as I think anything will be an upgrade over the existing system.


Not sure on model, but it is a smart, 4K TV. Love the smart TV and all the apps. We subscribe to a few different streaming services, and I can't say how awesome it is to be able to put on Sesame Street or the Wiggles for our little one to distract her when we need a few minutes.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> ... or closed captioning (which I use when the house is noisy with teenagers!).


Muzzle the teen-agers?


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did one of you Hosers post in here recently about getting a new tv set up?  Looking for recommendations on a new large screen (55-65" screen) and sound bar.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before you settle on screen size consider the room size. How big a TV should I buy? makes for  better viewing experience.
Click to expand...

That's a good rule of thumb, but from a strictly viewing perspective. They do touch on decor, but it's buried deep in the article. If it's going to look bad in the room, I'd personally err on the smaller side.


----------



## smoke665

We have three 4k smart tvs two Vizio,one Sony. The picture quality of Vizio seems better then the Sony. However one of the Vizio units has been problematic with issues that appear suddenly and disappear on thier own. When connected to the internet Vizio pushes firmware updates without consent. I suspect that might be part of it.


----------



## Braineack

SquarePeg said:


> It's a big room so a bigger screen would be nice but wall space is at a premium because it's an open floor plan and we have a very big fireplace to work around and a ton of windows on the other walls. I do not want to hang the tv over the fireplace. Just not a fan of that look.



65":






75":






cat for scale.


This is the NU8000, so far so good.  very good picture and surprisingly good sound.   if you view on angles, it washes out a lot more than the Vizio it replaced.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did one of you Hosers post in here recently about getting a new tv set up?  Looking for recommendations on a new large screen (55-65" screen) and sound bar.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before you settle on screen size consider the room size. How big a TV should I buy? makes for  better viewing experience.
Click to expand...


Hmmm - according to that website we should get a 105" tv based on our room size and viewing distance.  I have a cardboard box  from one of our new doors and I'm going to cut it the size of the potential tv screens and put it on the wall in that spot and see if it looks too big.  

Although size definitely matters it's not all that matters!  I want to get something that isn't going to die on us after the warranty runs out or have glitches with the smart tv aspect like Smoke mentions with that Vizio.  Was hoping someone had a specific make/model they could recommend.  Have been reading reviews for a few days and haven't really narrowed it down at all.


----------



## SquarePeg

Braineack said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a big room so a bigger screen would be nice but wall space is at a premium because it's an open floor plan and we have a very big fireplace to work around and a ton of windows on the other walls. I do not want to hang the tv over the fireplace. Just not a fan of that look.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 65":
> 
> View attachment 166396
> 
> 75":
> 
> View attachment 166397
> 
> 
> cat for scale.
> 
> 
> This is the NU8000, so far so good.  very good picture and surprisingly good sound.   if you view on angles, it washes out a lot more than the Vizio it replaced.
Click to expand...


Aesthetically, the larger one fits your space much better!  Thanks for the info on the NU8000 - we do have a lot of angled seats since we have a big sectional and some loungers so not all of the best seats face the tv.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did one of you Hosers post in here recently about getting a new tv set up?  Looking for recommendations on a new large screen (55-65" screen) and sound bar.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before you settle on screen size consider the room size. How big a TV should I buy? makes for  better viewing experience.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hmmm - according to that website we should get a 105" tv based on our room size and viewing distance.  I have a cardboard box  from one of our new doors and I'm going to cut it the size of the potential tv screens and put it on the wall in that spot and see if it looks too big.
> 
> Although size definitely matters it's not all that matters!  I want to get something that isn't going to die on us after the warranty runs out or have glitches with the smart tv aspect like Smoke mentions with that Vizio.  Was hoping someone had a specific make/model they could recommend.  Have been reading reviews for a few days and haven't really narrowed it down at all.
Click to expand...


I`d rather watch a TV than a bit of cardboard


----------



## Braineack

It's not bad, but it's noticeable over the old Vizio I had in place.  The Samsung has really deep blacks if you sit dead center, but appears a bit washed out if you sit on the end of the couch perpendicular to it in my pics [close side].  Sony panels with IPS might be better.

the vizio is 4 years old, d-series irrc, and we've always had sound-sync issues with vizios, even my last 55" one (e-series).

I still have a 55" Panasonic Plasma that I love in the bedroom that will never get replaced, despite 4:3 bars and the food network logo burned in.


use rtings.com -- they are technical reviews, but test EVERYTHING.


I really wanted to go OLED, but my plasma got burn-in pretty quick, and OLED is still susceptible to it so I just went QLED (which is just a gimmicky term).  But OLED really blows everything else away in terms of picture quality and there's so decent deals on them, but they are more $$$.


----------



## waday

Fujidave said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did one of you Hosers post in here recently about getting a new tv set up?  Looking for recommendations on a new large screen (55-65" screen) and sound bar.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before you settle on screen size consider the room size. How big a TV should I buy? makes for  better viewing experience.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hmmm - according to that website we should get a 105" tv based on our room size and viewing distance.  I have a cardboard box  from one of our new doors and I'm going to cut it the size of the potential tv screens and put it on the wall in that spot and see if it looks too big.
> 
> Although size definitely matters it's not all that matters!  I want to get something that isn't going to die on us after the warranty runs out or have glitches with the smart tv aspect like Smoke mentions with that Vizio.  Was hoping someone had a specific make/model they could recommend.  Have been reading reviews for a few days and haven't really narrowed it down at all.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I`d rather watch a TV than a bit of cardboard
Click to expand...

Depends on the show...


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Hmmm - according to that website we should get a 105"



I think that's diagonal?

@Fujidave maybe she has a full box of crayons and is very talented. LOL


----------



## Fujidave

waday said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did one of you Hosers post in here recently about getting a new tv set up?  Looking for recommendations on a new large screen (55-65" screen) and sound bar.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before you settle on screen size consider the room size. How big a TV should I buy? makes for  better viewing experience.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hmmm - according to that website we should get a 105" tv based on our room size and viewing distance.  I have a cardboard box  from one of our new doors and I'm going to cut it the size of the potential tv screens and put it on the wall in that spot and see if it looks too big.
> 
> Although size definitely matters it's not all that matters!  I want to get something that isn't going to die on us after the warranty runs out or have glitches with the smart tv aspect like Smoke mentions with that Vizio.  Was hoping someone had a specific make/model they could recommend.  Have been reading reviews for a few days and haven't really narrowed it down at all.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I`d rather watch a TV than a bit of cardboard
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Depends on the show...
Click to expand...


It could be The Board Meeting...Lol


----------



## tirediron

Fujidave said:


> I`d rather watch a TV than a bit of cardboard


Given the crap most broadcasters are sending over the air-waves, I think you'd be better off with the cardboard.


----------



## SquarePeg

You guys are hilarious!  And so helpful.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> You guys are hilarious!  And so helpful.



Your more than welcome


----------



## davidharmier60

IF we move to the house in Shepherd, we will almost certainly have to go wall mounted flat screen.
Probably something in the 55" area and it won't be an expensive model, possibly even used.
My phone says 60 outside. The thermostat says 58 inside. I find it rather chilly.


----------



## davidharmier60

Good night my peeps. The Eagle poops tomorrow. And the deli will have something good to eat while I wait. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

davidharmier60 said:


> Good night my peeps. The Eagle poops tomorrow. And the deli will have something good to eat while I wait.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Are these last two sentences related?


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good night my peeps. The Eagle poops tomorrow. And the deli will have something good to eat while I wait.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are these last two sentences related?
Click to expand...


Lord I hope not, but you never know about those Texans


----------



## Fujidave

davidharmier60 said:


> Good night my peeps. The Eagle poops tomorrow. And the deli will have something good to eat while I wait.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Is that with a Side Salad or Fries


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, another very wet and grey day here.  Painkillers are still taking the most of the pain away so had a good sleep again.


----------



## smoke665

Morning all. I thought Alabama was cold. Last night here in MO it was 18 WTH. No wonder I moved south. 

On another note, trying to gracefully extracate myself from a family issue without causing a rucus. I love my older son's wife like a daughter, but over the years she's always had this problem with associating price with quality. I've offered to do family photos for free but she has this notion that she needs to pay someone for them to have value. Problem is she can't recognize value. She will pay without actually researching quality. They just had family photos done by a young lady with a camera. Frankly they're awful, missed focus, missed exposure,WB off bad, faces distored. The biggest source of irritation though is that they have some beautiful little foster children, whom I have some great shots of. They have absolutely refused to allow me to share any of those on social media, but apparently it's okay for the girl with camera to post on FB. When I asked why they were on FB all I got was a lot of silence. Rather then create a scene I just said nice shots, and let it drop. Since girl with camera doesn't provide finished print, just a JPEG file, I gave them the name of the lab I use, but knowing them they'll end up at Costco.


----------



## waday

Took down the sound bar and put the surround system back up. Sound bar is going back this weekend.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Morning all. I thought Alabama was cold. Last night here in MO it was 18 WTH. No wonder I moved south.
> 
> On another note, trying to gracefully extracate myself from a family issue without causing a rucus. I love my older son's wife like a daughter, but over the years she's always had this problem with associating price with quality. I've offered to do family photos for free but she has this notion that she needs to pay someone for them to have value. Problem is she can't recognize value. She will pay without actually researching quality. They just had family photos done by a young lady with a camera. Frankly they're awful, missed focus, missed exposure,WB off bad, faces distored. The biggest source of irritation though is that they have some beautiful little foster children, whom I have some great shots of. They have absolutely refused to allow me to share any of those on social media, but apparently it's okay for the girl with camera to post on FB. When I asked why they were on FB all I got was a lot of silence. Rather then create a scene I just said nice shots, and let it drop. Since girl with camera doesn't provide finished print, just a JPEG file, I gave them the name of the lab I use, but knowing them they'll end up at Costco.



Tell her that lab you shared is super expensive and she should probably just get them done at Costco.  I'm sure that will resolve the issue.


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg good idea! I guess the social media posting issue is the part that p####s me off the most.


----------



## davidharmier60

Just a bit under 6 hours today. 
17.26 for the week so far. 
Chicken Tenders at deli. 
Just waiting for the check to be ready.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Took down the sound bar and put the surround system back up. Sound bar is going back this weekend.



Ended up buying a 65" 4K HDR and a sound bar online yesterday.  It may be too big - the cardboard was actually not quite big enough to do my little experiment...  Being delivered tomorrow!  If it's too big I'll just return it and get the 60" or 55"  or maybe keep it anyway and finally reconfigure my living room - been thinking of adding a wall to separate the living and dining rooms since the open concept is a bit annoying as far as sound traveling to other rooms.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Took down the sound bar and put the surround system back up. Sound bar is going back this weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ended up buying a 65" 4K HDR and a sound bar online yesterday.  It may be too big - the cardboard was actually not quite big enough to do my little experiment...  Being delivered tomorrow!  If it's too big I'll just return it and get the 60" or 55"  or maybe keep it anyway and finally reconfigure my living room - been thinking of adding a wall to separate the living and dining rooms since the open concept is a bit annoying as far as sound traveling to other rooms.
Click to expand...


Good call on ordering it online, haha. I had to put the seats down in the mini van to get ours from BJs to my house. I don’t know if your Pilot would manage!

I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. We are in need of a new sound bar - ours is old, and doesn’t play nicely with any of our remotes. Because it still makes noise, my wife says its fine, of course.


----------



## JonA_CT

https://www.amazon.com/Mount-Soundb...ons&keywords=Sound+bar+mounting+bracket&psc=1

I also highly recommend these brackets for mounting your sound bar if you wall mount your TV.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Took down the sound bar and put the surround system back up. Sound bar is going back this weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ended up buying a 65" 4K HDR and a sound bar online yesterday.  It may be too big - the cardboard was actually not quite big enough to do my little experiment...  Being delivered tomorrow!  If it's too big I'll just return it and get the 60" or 55"  or maybe keep it anyway and finally reconfigure my living room - been thinking of adding a wall to separate the living and dining rooms since the open concept is a bit annoying as far as sound traveling to other rooms.
Click to expand...

Nice! Congrats and hope you like it! Keep us informed


----------



## davidharmier60

If there was a place to put it, my Sony Receiver and at least a few front speakers would be put up.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Took down the sound bar and put the surround system back up. Sound bar is going back this weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ended up buying a 65" 4K HDR and a sound bar online yesterday.  It may be too big - the cardboard was actually not quite big enough to do my little experiment...  Being delivered tomorrow!  If it's too big I'll just return it and get the 60" or 55"  or maybe keep it anyway and finally reconfigure my living room - been thinking of adding a wall to separate the living and dining rooms since the open concept is a bit annoying as far as sound traveling to other rooms.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Good call on ordering it online, haha. I had to put the seats down in the mini van to get ours from BJs to my house. I don’t know if your Pilot would manage!
> 
> I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. We are in need of a new sound bar - ours is old, and doesn’t play nicely with any of our remotes. Because it still makes noise, my wife says its fine, of course.
Click to expand...


The Pilot is very roomy and probably would have been ok laying it flat in the back with both back rows folded down.  I would have picked it up if it had been available at the Best Buy down the street but it wasn't and I would have had to go into Cambridge which can be a hassle during the week.  2 day free delivery was just fine with me.  

Not wall mounting the tv unless I have to as I haven't finalized my plans for the room and don't want to do anything permanent until I do.  I'm hoping that the stand will fit on the existing console.  If the feet are at least 3 inches from the sides, it should be ok - that specification was not online so had to judge it from the photo.  Our current tv has a center stand so I didn't really consider that until after buying this one - the tv is 57.5" wide and the console is 52".  There is a 15 day no questions asked return policy and Best Buy is literally just down the street so we'll see how we do.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Took down the sound bar and put the surround system back up. Sound bar is going back this weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ended up buying a 65" 4K HDR and a sound bar online yesterday.  It may be too big - the cardboard was actually not quite big enough to do my little experiment...  Being delivered tomorrow!  If it's too big I'll just return it and get the 60" or 55"  or maybe keep it anyway and finally reconfigure my living room - been thinking of adding a wall to separate the living and dining rooms since the open concept is a bit annoying as far as sound traveling to other rooms.
Click to expand...

I think the "open concept" of houses these days is way overrated for that very reason.   Sound travels everywhere and there are few barriers.   I don't like hearing my fridge click on and off or the water running while I'm in the living room trying to read or watch a show.    I liked my former house, a standard "Colonial" style, better.    I have no need to be able to throw a football from one corner of the house to the other!


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> I have no need to be able to throw a football from one corner of the house to the other!


Fair enough, but it's cool to know that you can do it if the mood strikes you!


----------



## davidharmier60

We are semi open here. The T.V. is usually loud enough to preclude hearing anything else. The house we MAY move into is tighter and smaller.  This tube T.V. sticking out a couple feet won't fly.

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## smoke665

Our old house was a one story ranch style 4 bedrooms at on end everything else at the other. Didn't notice any sound issues. New house is 3 story with media room on ground floor, and master suite on the top floor. Unfortunately it overlooks the great room which is open to the peak. The steep pitch roof is like a giant stethoscope. Any noise on the main level seems to be amplified. You can lay in bed and hear a whisper in the kitchen.


----------



## davidharmier60

We are single story. The living room is central. The master bedroom at one end.
The dining room and my "office" at the other end. When I'm in my office I can hear everything in here. But they can never hear me. There is a bathroom between this room and my room but I can usually hear anything they say in my room.


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## CherylL

We have a story and a half with open concept.  The openness is good when we have a crowd over.  The big mistake when we built was the finished part of the basement is under the master bedroom.  Back then with teens the noise came up thru the vents.  

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.  The house guests are gone and so is the pie.


----------



## smoke665

@CherylL glad to see you survived the holidays! Welcome back.


----------



## davidharmier60

And good night to you all.

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## Fujidave

Morning all, yet another wet rainy and grey day but very mild though.


----------



## davidharmier60

Phone says 60 and going up
Thermostat says 65
And I'm sitting here shivering. 
I don't get it. Off to work in a few.

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## SquarePeg

Morning Hosers!  Just curious who still sends Christmas cards and do you use one of your own photos or buy cards in the store?  I used to send a photo card with a holiday themed pic of Princess and the pup but she is not into it anymore.  Last year was the first year I didn't send any cards and the number of cards we receive has really dropped over the years.  Do people just not send cards anymore or are we just a lot less popular than we used to be?


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Do people just not send cards anymore or are we just a lot less popular than we used to be?



Maybe a little of both 

We still send out cards though the list has decreased


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Morning Hosers!  Just curious who still sends Christmas cards and do you use one of your own photos or buy cards in the store?  I used to send a photo card with a holiday themed pic of Princess and the pup but she is not into it anymore.  Last year was the first year I didn't send any cards and the number of cards we receive has really dropped over the years.  Do people just not send cards anymore or are we just a lot less popular than we used to be?


The wife and I send out cards, but it's really only to people that we keep in contact with on a regular/semi-regular basis. We used to do store bought cards, but we recently started sending photo cards (and I see this trend staying the same as daughter grows). So, family/friends that we speak to at least once a year gets one, but that friend that we catch up with every 5 years doesn't get one.

Same here; we do not get many cards anymore. When we first got married, we would get a couple dozen, but now we get a dozen or less mostly from close family. My family is definitely more into sending cards than the wife's family.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning Hosers!  Just curious who still sends Christmas cards and do you use one of your own photos or buy cards in the store?  I used to send a photo card with a holiday themed pic of Princess and the pup but she is not into it anymore.  Last year was the first year I didn't send any cards and the number of cards we receive has really dropped over the years.  Do people just not send cards anymore or are we just a lot less popular than we used to be?
> 
> 
> 
> The wife and I send out cards, but it's really only to people that we keep in contact with on a regular/semi-regular basis. We used to do store bought cards, but we recently started sending photo cards (and I see this trend staying the same as daughter grows). So, family/friends that we speak to at least once a year gets one, but that friend that we catch up with every 5 years doesn't get one.
> 
> Same here; we do not get many cards anymore. When we first got married, we would get a couple dozen, but now we get a dozen or less mostly from close family. My family is definitely more into sending cards than the wife's family.
Click to expand...


When you have little ones, and usually it's at the same time that most of your friends do too, then it's nice to keep up with everyone and see the kids grow up.  I have a "Santa's mailbox" that I keep all of the old photo cards in of all my friend's and cousin's and coworker's kids through the years.  Could never bring myself to throw away any of them.  Now that I think about it, I guess that is the reason for fewer cards the past few years.  Once the kids become teenagers they no longer cooperate with the Christmas card photo and parents just stop sending cards altogether.  

Enjoy the pre-teen years as much as you can, especially with a girl because the teen years are tough!


----------



## terri

Morning, hosers!   We quit sending cards some years ago - about the same time we noticed the drop-off in the cards we were getting.   Within the last few years, the cards we receive are mainly from vendors we've used.        My mom still sends them, and she ain't changing her ways.   

The strong winds have finally died down here, and we have a sunny day with high in the upper 50's to look forward to.   I'll definitely be going for a walk later.   I really, really despise walking in the wind regardless of temps!


----------



## davidharmier60

Hey y'all. 5 hours and enough to get 3 minutes under 23 for the week so far. 
Sister asked me to go to Tractor Supply for dog food and bird food. Was going to get pint Blue Bell and a few other things but it'll wait. Gonna hit the Post office before going to Livingston. 

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## waday

SquarePeg said:


> When you have little ones, and usually it's at the same time that most of your friends do too, then it's nice to keep up with everyone and see the kids grow up.  I have a "Santa's mailbox" that I keep all of the old photo cards in of all my friend's and cousin's and coworker's kids through the years.  Could never bring myself to throw away any of them.  Now that I think about it, I guess that is the reason for fewer cards the past few years.  Once the kids become teenagers they no longer cooperate with the Christmas card photo and parents just stop sending cards altogether.
> 
> Enjoy the pre-teen years as much as you can, especially with a girl because the teen years are tough!


Good point! Oh jeez, I've heard that from so many people--that teen years are tough. I'm scared.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

We send cards ( well I do ) to family and a few friends and their family from work, and they send cards as well. The other half doesn't like her pic taken, so we send store-bought ones. The whole e-card fad has faded ( thank God! ) here at least. They just said " I remembered your birthday at the last moment, but not in time to mail a card!", :-(


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> d point! Oh jeez, I've heard that from so many people--that teen years are tough. I'm scared.



Be afraid, be very afraid, raging hormones are not to be trifeled with!


----------



## waday

If wanting new gear is considered GAS, would wanting new gear but not having the funds for new gear be considered camstipation?







I'll be here all week.


----------



## tirediron

*Grooaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn*


----------



## RowdyRay

waday said:


> If wanting new gear is considered GAS, would wanting new gear but not having the funds for new gear be considered camstipation?



That's what I have! Must be contagious.


----------



## davidharmier60

Were it not for the kindness of strangers sending gift cards Thanksgiving would have been much less.
As far as cards go, a few Aunts send one but that's about it.

And on that note I will be off to bed shortly.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> @CherylL glad to see you survived the holidays! Welcome back.



Thanks!  Finally feeling better too.  Had a houseful for Thanksgiving.  Hope you had a good holiday.  Did you make your trip?


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Morning Hosers!  Just curious who still sends Christmas cards and do you use one of your own photos or buy cards in the store?  I used to send a photo card with a holiday themed pic of Princess and the pup but she is not into it anymore.  Last year was the first year I didn't send any cards and the number of cards we receive has really dropped over the years.  Do people just not send cards anymore or are we just a lot less popular than we used to be?



I've noticed a big drop off too.  I sent out photo cards last year and ordered mine for this year.  The pups are still okay with it   I think with FB you see everyone's photos through out the year so that may have contributed to the demise of cards.  There are still a few elderly people that we send to with personal notes.  I ordered 50 cards this year and will rethink the whole greeting cards for next year depending on how many we receive.  

I have saved photo-cards from friends and family through out the years.  Hard to throw away.


----------



## smoke665

Sadie & I spent a big chunk of today trudging through the mud of field after field in search of birds. Despite hunting her little heart out, we didn't encounter a single quail. Apparently the coyote scrounge continues. Sadie did bring back several pounds of Bootheel black dirt firmly stuck to her fur like balls everywhere. Took awhile to get that all washed out.  After that she wolfed down her supper, headed to bed, and has been out ever since.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, wet out from all the rain but we are forecast sunshine today so might try and go for a mooch sometime.


----------



## smoke665

Dreary day but warmer. Headed home.


----------



## Fujidave

Well the sun came out today at last, so went out and had fun with the Fuji X100F photographing graffiti.


----------



## Dave442

Expecting snow in a couple hours. Need to sand and oil the workbench over the weekend, I've neglected it over the last 30 years.


----------



## smoke665

Little longer them normal trip home but we took a different route, plus had a lot of rain along the way. Did manage to explore a couple interesting places in route


----------



## davidharmier60

My Sister made Chicken Enchiladas for dinner. I just had a little Pralines and Cream by Blue Bell. 
And very shortly to bed.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, chucking it down here and it`s a grotty grey out.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sitting in the parking lot. 
There is a Dollar General truck waiting too.
And we are IT at this time.
32 hours will be easy.
Going to try for 33+.

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## terri

Fujidave said:


> it`s a grotty grey out.


FD wins The Phrase of the Day.   

It's a grotty gray out here, too, with rain alternating between drizzle and pouring.

Good day for hot coffee and a good book.


----------



## davidharmier60

33.36 or maybe .37 for the week. 
There doesn't seem to be a cloud in the sky. I get to Weedeat when I get home.
Oh boy.

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## snowbear

Boarding in 15.
Even though I put my TSA PreCheck number in my profile, the info didn’t make it to my ticket.  Nancy, at the gate counter, fixed it for me.  At least the trip home will be easier.


----------



## Fujidave

terri said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> it`s a grotty grey out.
> 
> 
> 
> FD wins The Phrase of the Day.
> 
> It's a grotty gray out here, too, with rain alternating between drizzle and pouring.
> 
> Good day for hot coffee and a good book.
Click to expand...



Grey - Wikipedia


----------



## terri

Gray is as grey does.    So nyahh.


----------



## Fujidave

terri said:


> Gray is as grey does.    So nyahh.



Grey Gray or it might be pink


----------



## davidharmier60

Wasn't too bad when I got home. Had to pull the mower out of the ditch. He thought it was okay to cut the ditch but the water thought otherwise. Just had some really good sausage on bread.
Messing with pennies.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, damp and dark out but very mild again so will try some indoor photography today I think.


----------



## davidharmier60

Shaping up to be a swell day here. Got right chilly overnight.
About to have fried eggs and fried spam for breakfast.
Pennies to mess with and comics to look at.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, wet and raining out so not much to do today.


----------



## Jeff15

Out today dodging the rain..........


----------



## Fujidave

Well the rain has been in for the day, but they say tomorrow will be dry and a bit of sun thank god.


----------



## davidharmier60

5.25 hours today and for the week so far. 
Went for propane. About to go hit the PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## Fujidave

What on earth is wrong with some people, as just seen on the news that a family ( 7 ) of Swans were shot and killed


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't know, what is wrong with people? good grief.

Been watching coverage off and on about Pres. Bush most of the day, the flight out of Texas, arrival at Andrews, motorcade to the Capitol. Seems like we just did this, when was the last time they had a state funeral before McCain, Reagan maybe?

Otherwise my dad who was in rehab was released but couldn't manage at home and went back to rehab, so been looking into assisted living options. Since his fall we've been talking about them moving, just a matter of figuring out where they want to go. That big 2 story house of theirs is about the most inconvenient innaccessible place! Will be glad when it all gets figured out.


----------



## smoke665

Sad day for us as we learned yesterday evening that my 97 yr young Father in law passed unexpectedly. Thankfully we spent an enjoyable couple days just last week visiting with him. Life is to short for the good guys. He was a decorated veteran of WWII, and all around great person.


----------



## Jeff15

Sorry to hear your news but I hope I am still around at 97....


----------



## smoke665

Jeff15 said:


> Sorry to hear your news but I hope I am still around at 97....



True that. He was actually in decent health. He had trouble swallowing as a result of a fall that broke his neck, crushed his larynx, and damaged the muscles in his neck four years ago. He fell forward and caught a steel rail straight to the neck. He apparently got food lodged in his throat and they couldn't get it out in time.


----------



## Jeff15

Sorry to hear that Smoke........


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Sad day for us as we learned yesterday evening that my 97 yr young Father in law passed unexpectedly. Thankfully we spent an enjoyable couple days just last week visiting with him. Life is to short for the good guys. He was a decorated veteran of WWII, and all around great person.



@smoke665  So sorry to hear this sad news, all my thoughts and prays are with you and family.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> I don't know, what is wrong with people? good grief.



Some folk think it might be down to people who go fishing, kill the Swans so they can get the fish first, all very sad really and hope they catch who did it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

What losers.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Smoke, sorry to hear that. Condolences.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's just about my bedtime y'all. Have as nice of a Tuesday as you can!


----------



## snowbear

Just a quick check in.

Walked a lot yesterday, and touched the flatirons (mountains); got a pano of peaks along the great divide, and a shot of a “celebrity” house.  I’ll post some after dinner.

It snowed a little last night (dusting, even by DC standards).

Two lessons learned:  drink lots of water due to the elevation, and Boulder can be a real cheap drunk, for the same reason.

Sorry to hear that, Smoke.


----------



## terri

That's repulsive.


smoke665 said:


> Sad day for us as we learned yesterday evening that my 97 yr young Father in law passed unexpectedly. Thankfully we spent an enjoyable couple days just last week visiting with him. Life is to short for the good guys. He was a decorated veteran of WWII, and all around great person.


My condolences to you and your family.   Age doesn't matter when it's an unexpected event like this.


----------



## snowbear

The Flatirons. I made it to near the tree line at the base of the centered peak.



DSC_2221.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


If you remember "Mork & Mindy" (Robin Williams and Pam Dawber, later Jonathan Winters), this is the house that was used in the external shots.



DSC_2292.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

Long's Peak.



DSC_2247.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

Some new friends.



DSC_2280.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

Fujidave said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know, what is wrong with people? good grief.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some folk think it might be down to people who go fishing, kill the Swans so they can get the fish first, all very sad really and hope they catch who did it.
Click to expand...

I missed this -- I guess there are @$$holes everywhere - hope they are caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent.


----------



## ceemac

Sorry to hear about your Dad, Smoke. Hope your family`s OK, this close to Christmas.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Sad day for us as we learned yesterday evening that my 97 yr young Father in law passed unexpectedly. Thankfully we spent an enjoyable couple days just last week visiting with him. Life is to short for the good guys. He was a decorated veteran of WWII, and all around great person.


Sorry to hear this; my condolences.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, we have a sunny start today so over to mums then have a mooch about.


----------



## davidharmier60

Another day. It's quite chilly outside going to high 60s before the day is over. 
Good coffee. Later.

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## bribrius

Good morning God. Quiet time before kids get up for school


----------



## Jeff15

First frost of the winter this morning, had to de ice the car.....


----------



## CherylL

@smoke665 my condolences.  Thoughts and prayers with you and family.


----------



## davidharmier60

5 and just enough to have 11 hours for two days. Was just informed no checks tomorrow as the Post Office will be closed for 41s funeral. He won't go down as the best President we ever had bit he sure was a nice classy guy. Anyway I sold my box of pennies. Going to see about getting another. Then to the Post office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## Fujidave

Had a lovely day today, sun was out so I went out for a mooch with the X100F.


----------



## vintagesnaps

You went out for a what? translate 'mooch'! Not that we don't have sayings here too, just not the same ones. 

Have flipped over to C-SPAN every so often, quite a steady stream of visitors. Bob Dole was there earlier, went in by the casket, how old is he I wonder? An aide helped him up out of a wheelchair so he could stand and salute. Then Cindy McCain, my goodness she just did all this for her husband a few months ago, she looked rather teary. Lots of people with kids too, who may be too young to really get it now but probably will remember it someday.

There have been some cool shots from overhead, there's a camera waaay up high, what a view. The changing of the guard reminds me of going to DC one summer and seeing them do that outside the Capitol. I'd never be able to stand that still for a half hour.


----------



## Jeff15

Did not manage to get out today but tomorrow I will at least for a few hours.....


----------



## davidharmier60

Hamburger, fries and onion rings was dinner. Price is Right down. Now Let's Make a Deal is on. Do not foresee Blue Bell later. 

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## davidharmier60

Oh goody. The temperature is probably still going to start with a 3 as I do marquee. 
Best case it starts with 4.
Yippee.

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## bribrius

It is 8 degrees right now. 
Kids off to school
Time to start my day i late


----------



## CherylL

Shoveled the dusting of snow from the top of the driveway and sprinkled salt.  The driveway is an incline and if you have the speed then at the top the wheels will catch on the clear section.  It was only a dusting with a little ice underneath.


----------



## davidharmier60

Huh. Last thing I heard yesterday was that checks would not be here until Thursday. 
I don't know HOW they got here but they did. Only thing I don't know is if they have enough cash to cash them. Anyhow 17.15 hours total so far. And I am enjoying chicken tenders and gravy at the deli. 

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## Fujidave

Evening all, been very very busy the last day or too, hope it calms down soon.


----------



## davidharmier60

Pork chops, baked potato and green beans was dinner. Tonight I feel Blue Bell later. 

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## vintagesnaps

We got snow. Not a lot, but it's cold enough it didn't all melt yet. 

Realized that I've heard Hail to the Chief a number of times the last couple of days or so. Now on local news, there's the news guy again in front of the police station I used to go past all the time when I was working, always a fun time in the city! (Maybe that's why I like it out here in the country, peace and quiet!) And a woman had a baby on the interstate, although they did pull over (you never know...).


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@smoke665  Very sorry to read about your family's loss. Sending my condolences to all of the family.


----------



## bribrius

My d7100 is so beat. Not from overuse, maybe bad use.. 50k on it i guess?? Whats the difference if i use the lenses on the d800 in crop mode? You know. In case the 7100 just decides to not work..


----------



## bribrius

Says it goes to only 15 mp.  Cant be right, is it?


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> @smoke665  Very sorry to read about your family's loss. Sending my condolences to all of the family.



Thanks Dean. We were fortunate the weather cleared here today for his funeral. A quiet unassuming man, belied the fact that he was a decorated veteran of WWII, who came ashore in the 2nd wave at Omaha Beach and fought in 5 major campaigns across Europe including the Battle Of The Bulge. He was laid to rest with full military honors and 3 volley salute. He was a good soldier, a good father, and my friend.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  Been busy lately so haven’t been online much, hope everyone is well. Will try to catch up tomorrow!  

Cheers! 



 

This is a “White Christmas” martini. Baileys, vanilla vodka and White Godiva.  Yummmmm!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, wet and raining out but very mild again.


----------



## davidharmier60

Alive and awake for yet another day. 
Chilly outside heading for 60ish.


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## JonA_CT

I just ate McDonald's Oatmeal and I'm drinking a McDonald's coffee over here. That might give you some clues about how crazy life has been.

Smoke, I'm sorry to hear of your FIL's passing. There aren't too many men from that generation left. My wife lost her grandfather at the age of 94 a couple of weeks ago. He was another quiet man who never spoke of his time in Ardennes.


----------



## bribrius

Coffee by the water. Morning peeps


----------



## davidharmier60

It's not exactly warm here. The sky looks like snow or rain are very likely. 
4.45 hours today and 22 even for the week so far. They got a box with wheels in it.
All small wheels. Going to bring the truck tomorrow for the tools. Might have finally convinced them that I know where to get what we need in Houston without shipping charges. Off to the post office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## bribrius

Lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

Watching the train preparing for the arrival of the motorcade, and it made me think of Keith on here, he was such a train buff. Saw a video done some time ago where Pres. Bush actually drove his 4141 locomotive, maybe just a couple of miles but still. They're showing that the train car has a large plexiglass window so people might be able to see the casket as the train goes by. Wonder when the last time was that a train carried a President?

Wow, they just showed a shot of it straight on, you can really see it in the flag painted car (which is beautifully done artwork). Last night the church in Houston was such a lovely brick building lighted, and I being a photographer found myself noticing the huge lights set up across the coutyard/street to light the building. There were branches framing it that were lighted too and it was just lovely. The girls in white robes holding tall golden candles and a cross made me think it seemd almost Christmassy.

edit - There's a camera on the train, rather fascinating to see the view from there.


----------



## bribrius

vintagesnaps said:


> Watching the train preparing for the arrival of the motorcade, and it made me think of Keith on here, he was such a train buff. Saw a video done some time ago where Pres. Bush actually drove his 4141 locomotive, maybe just a couple of miles but still. They're showing that the train car has a large plexiglass window so people might be able to see the casket as the train goes by. Wonder when the last time was that a train carried a President?
> 
> Wow, they just showed a shot of it straight on, you can really see it in the flag painted car (which is beautifully done artwork). Last night the church in Houston was such a lovely brick building lighted, and I being a photographer found myself noticing the huge lights set up across the coutyard/street to light the building. There were branches framing it that were lighted too and it was just lovely. The girls in white robes holding tall golden candles and a cross made me think it seemd almost Christmassy.
> 
> edit - There's a camera on the train, rather fascinating to see the view from there.


Yeah.. And who is paying for it all....


----------



## davidharmier60

If it wasn't so far over I'd be over taking pictures.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Apparently Union Pacific paid for it to be built; the locomotive was commissioned in '05 and has been in use by the railroad ever since. Not sure if they'll keep using it; sounds like the car transporting him may end up in a museum. The train travels to Dallas after this.

Too bad David you aren't closer. C-SPAN.org | National Politics | History | Nonfiction Books has been live streaming views from the train and overhead the whole way (and have saved videos on their website). Getting close to arrival I think, it keeps sounding the horn.


----------



## SquarePeg

@JonA_CT   thought of you when I saw this:


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> @JonA_CT   thought of you when I saw this:
> 
> View attachment 166661



I’m literally going to be able to swim in it soon. We are so close to flipping the switch on the first brew day, and we’ve had a series of small set backs. Yesterday’s setback was that our walk-in cooler compressor, which came with the space, was not rewired as part of the electrical work that was done. There’s also a question as to if has all the refrigerant it needs (we need 35lbs total at $80 per). It’s the never ending to-do list, haha.


----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon all, the weather here has been horrible wet and raining the last few days.  Been very busy too taking some things over to Mums, even both my X cameras are at hers so only have a point and shoot to use at the moment.


----------



## smoke665

Wet and nasty here, but at least no snow. On our way to doctor's office for appointment we missed on Wed. Not a fan of driving in Birmingham traffic in the rain, but it could be worse......It could be Atlanta.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's actually sunny, I must be in the middle between Dave and Smoke! 

I woke up early with leg cramping that just started up again, and am going on not much sleep. It's hard to describe, I haven't had this in a long time and one of those things since the stroke I kind of forget about til it happens again. My whole leg tightens up and literally sometimes lifts my foot off the ground. Think I'll get out my old notebook of exercises and find something gentle to try and get the muscles to ease up and chill out already .I could go for a glass of wine and it's not even noon yet!

Looks like SharonCat is getting ready for the weekend!


----------



## smoke665

@vintagesnaps I'm a firm believer in the wisdom of Grandparents. Up until she died in her late 90's my Grandma believed that a large tablespoon of good whiskey in the morning and another in the evening aided disposition, eased the pain of aging and added to ones longevity. If a tablespoon worked for her, my regiment should carry me well into the 100 plus range.


----------



## davidharmier60

The effing buffer would not start this morning. If it gets fixed they will call me. 
If not there is no point in being here tomorrow. 5.20 hours today and 27.20 for the week so far. On the plus side I'd get a day off. On the minus side the paycheck will suffer. Off to the post office and then play it by ear.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> I’m literally going to be able to swim in it soon.


"Yes, this beer has Jon's personal touch to it; what do you taste?"


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I’m literally going to be able to swim in it soon.
> 
> 
> 
> "Yes, this beer has Jon's personal touch to it; what do you taste?"
Click to expand...


Wood smoke and sap, warming spices, and salt


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I’m literally going to be able to swim in it soon.
> 
> 
> 
> "Yes, this beer has Jon's personal touch to it; what do you taste?"
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Wood smoke and sap, warming spices, and salt
Click to expand...

I would have thought snips and snails and puppy-dogs' tails


----------



## vintagesnaps

Wood smoke and warming spices sounds good... OK Smoke, gotta get me a bottle of Jack Daniels then, huh? How about whiskey & pecan ice cream?

I keep getting up moving around and now I'm feeling sore muscles a bit but stopped the leg spasms/cramps, I don't know what the heck I did this week! lol 

Had a home heating oil delivery from the mill down the street and got my tractor calendar. Yup, it's a thrill a minute living out in the country.


----------



## davidharmier60

Got home and was told the air pump for the aerobic system had died. I went out and pulled the wires from the motor. No call as of yet.


----------



## bribrius

davidharmier60 said:


> Got home and was told the air pump for the aerobic system had died. I went out and pulled the wires from the motor. No call as of yet.


I dont know what that is. I usually pretty happy just to have heat


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> How about whiskey & pecan ice cream?



Crown Royal makes a nice salted carmel, that would work better.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> How about whiskey & pecan ice cream?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Crown Royal makes a nice salted carmel, that would work better.
Click to expand...


Salted caramel is my current favorite flavor.  There is a Stoli Salted Caramel vodka and a be Baileys Irish Cream Salted Caramel flavor.  I have been working on perfecting a salted caramel martini


----------



## davidharmier60

Spaghetti tonight. Just now found out to show up at 5am in the morning. So 31 hours easy and maybe 32+.

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----------



## smoke665

Smokey Mountain Moonshine has a salted carmel, that's in a lot of stores around the country. They bought out competitor Tennessee Whiskey, to get the recipe. It's good but I'm not sure it's as good as the original.


----------



## snowbear

MLW bought me a new laptop while I was in Colorado so I'm trying to get everything migrated over.  I'm trying out the pen, now.

We got a real fir wreath for the front door and decorated it with some pine cones and other things.  i'll get the tree up tomorrow while she is pulling the OT gig.  Photos later.


----------



## SquarePeg

Been wanting a stainless steel top dining table for my kitchen for a while.  I like the way the industrial top of the table contrasts with the distressed look and soft teal color of the chairs.  Bonus may get some cool reflections when I use it for photos.  I take a lot of my indoor flower pics in this spot due to the light.


----------



## tirediron

New table or did you just get a skin fabbed up for an existing one?


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Been wanting a stainless steel top dining table for my kitchen for



Curious to see how you like it after a month. DW wanted all brushed stainless on the appliances. We didn't know going in how bad they show finger prints.


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> New table or did you just get a skin fabbed up for an existing one?



It’s new.  I wanted something smaller than my existing table which was a counter height that seated 8.  I’ve been looking for something like this in a smaller size for a while.  I plan to distress the legs a bit since I don’t really care for the darker stain but it was a close out item for a great price!  



smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Been wanting a stainless steel top dining table for my kitchen for
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Curious to see how you like it after a month. DW wanted all brushed stainless on the appliances. We didn't know going in how bad they show finger prints.
Click to expand...


We have had all stainless appliances for 10 years and haven’t found fingerprints to be much of an issue, especially now that there are no littles running around.  I just spray a small spritz of stainless steel polish (very very small amount) on a microfiber cloth and swipe it over the appliance if it gets grubby looking.  Too much polish will make the fingerprints really ‘pop” lol.  Our fridge is newer and has a “no fingerprints” finish which is pretty effective but not 100%.   With the table we’ll see but I’m not too worried about it.  Hopefully a scratched/dented/marked up look is going to give it some character and any fingerprints will be less noticeable, especially if I don’t wear my glasses!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sun is coming out and it`s very windy but still mild.  Might try and get out today even though I`m full of a cold, which is not great leading up to Christmas.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's raining on and off since yesterday morning. Should be plenty of muddy footprints to clean up.
Got a pretty good mug this morning. 

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----------



## Fujidave

Been chucking it down all day, but managed to get some shots.  Just charging up the battery as going back out I hope to take some shots of some jazz.


----------



## davidharmier60

Spot mopped, swept up, cleaned the restrooms and break room. Finished with 31.15 for the week. Listening to the radio killing time until the mail is tossed.

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----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Watching the Roomba do its thing. I am observing how it behaves so I know what to expect if I want to run it when I am not home. Fascinating little thing.


----------



## limr

Damn, that little thing picks up a lot of cat hair! I don't have a big space, and I use the virtual wall to keep it out of the bathroom (just easier to do that room myself than to keep getting the Roomba unstuck), so it covered basically the entire space in 35 minutes before the bin filled up. I imagine if I run it every day, not as much cat hair will build up and it will run a bit longer before it fills up. 

I am going to run it again today to get more hair out of the carpet, but I will give the girls a break and do it a little later. They're all settled in for naps at the moment, so I don't want to disturb them again so soon. Although the Roomba doesn't freak them out nearly as much as the regular vacuum cleaner does (regular machine is much louder and scarier!), neither have tried to ride it yet, which is very disappointing.


----------



## snowbear

I'd set up an obstacle course to see what the tolerances are, but I'm evil.  

Running the new laptop through it's paces.  Microsoft service tier 2 is supposed to be calling soon:  Outlook is getting email just fine, but it won't send.  Both Thunderbird and the 2003 version of Outlook (old computer) are sending just fine, but the latest doesn't want to play with SMTP.

On the other hand, I loaded 14 shots of Boulder (from Arapaho Park) through LR's panorama merge.  The other computer would have spun for 30 minutes then choked, whereas I got this in about 5 minutes.  I'm happy.




Boulder, CO Pano.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Although the Roomba doesn't freak them out nearly as much as the regular vacuum cleaner does (regular machine is much louder and scarier!), neither have tried to ride it yet, which is very disappointing.


In time.  Just keep telling them that you DON'T want them to ride it, and they will.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Running the new laptop through it's



Might have missed it earlier, but what did you get?


----------



## davidharmier60

1901 was a fairly interesting year (Wikipedia)


----------



## snowbear

OMG! OMG!
BBC America is running a STOS marathon and THE GORN is on now!



smoke665 said:


> Might have missed it earlier, but what did you get?


I didn't specify but I went with the Dell 7000 15" 2-in-1.  i7, 16 GB Ram, 512GB SSD, Invidia graphics.  I picked up a 2TB HDD and ordered the bracket and cable.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> OMG! OMG!
> BBC America is running a STOS marathon and THE GORN is on now!



THE GORN! THE GORN!


----------



## snowbear

<---  New avatar for @limr


----------



## JonA_CT

Baby boy is off all dairy while we isolate some belly issues he has been having . I had no idea how much things like dairy-free yogurt cost. I’m hoping he is just sensitive to lactose, and not milk protein.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> <---  New avatar for @limr



Literally* still laughing out loud! 



(*Literally used in the actual sense, not in the currently misused sense.)


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Baby boy is off all dairy while we isolate some belly issues he has been having . I had no idea how much things like dairy-free yogurt cost. I’m hoping he is just sensitive to lactose, and not milk protein.


Poor baby.
Andrew, like me, was allergic to milk (I'm no longer allergic).  We had to spend a small fortune on Isomil.


----------



## limr

"If he has the time, doctor. If he has the time."

WHY WOULDN'T HE HAVE THE TIME? A SNAIL MOVES FASTER THAN A GORN!


----------



## limr

I love how sparkly and fabulous the Metron is.


----------



## limr

Roomba's second run went for 1h 20m before it docked itself. Got stuck a few times. I think I need to run it a few more times while I'm home to feel confident enough to run it when I'm not home.


----------



## snowbear

It sounds like you have a solid plan.

Hey - put your phone on it, turn on a walking/tracking app and map the inside of your house!


----------



## davidharmier60

With 9 dogs a Roomba wouldn't stand a chance!!


----------



## Fujidave

Well went out today and shot some more graffiti, put it in Capture one Pro 12 and edited some then went back out for a gig.  Came back and capture one pro 12 wants to be a fool as would not open then it uninstalls it self and now I can`t even download it again.  Will be getting on to my bank on Monday and telling them someone stole the lot and it was not me.  100% c1 pro 12 WHAT A CON.


----------



## limr

Even with 2 cats and a small space, I will probably try to run it every day just to keep up.


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> Even with 2 cats and a small space, I will probably try to run it every day just to keep up.



We found that to be the case with our dog. My wife still usually ran the regular vacuum once a week.

Bruce has been on vacation for a little while...my children were terrorizing him a little too much to keep him on station.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Even with 2 cats and a small space, I will probably try to run it every day just to keep up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We found that to be the case with our dog. My wife still usually ran the regular vacuum once a week.
> 
> Bruce has been on vacation for a little while...my children were terrorizing him a little too much to keep him on station.
Click to expand...


Bruce. Good name! 

I figured I would still have to do a regular vacuuming on weekends, but having this run during the week will help the weekend cleaning chores go much quicker. I'll probably do daily runs for the next week to find any other trouble spots and how to deal with them, and see how reliably it can get through a cycle on its own. It got stuck under my couch twice, for example, so I had to block it off. I'll hit that spot with the regular vacuum cleaner.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, just got back from picking up Susie as she stayed at Mums last night so walked back as the sun is out and it`s breezy.  Capture one Pro 12 still won`t work at all, so I hope they sort the troubles out soon.


----------



## smoke665

Power went out at our house shortly after midnight, not expected to be restored until after 11 am today.  Starting to be a real PITA, as this is happening a lot of late.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's just a wee bit chilly in the house.
Pancakes and Little Sizzlers pretty soon.
Fox News on the T.V. that I wish to get away from asap.

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----------



## smoke665

Well 11am came and went, still no power. Now they're saying almost midnight.  This unacceptable all around the valley they have power except for the residents along our road. When we first moved here we went for 6 to 7 years without power loss, now it happens several times a year. Last time we were out for 3 days. Time to start dropping complaints with PSC. We're in the process of having gas fireplace logs installed. I'd already decided to run a tap for the BBQ grill, now might be a good time to run one for a standby generator. Starting to get cool in the house but thankfully we have a generator on the 5th wheel so for now warm and have power there.


----------



## davidharmier60

It is approximately 42 outside. The thermostat has it at 64 inside. I doubt that.
Pot Roast and ? will be dinner later. Trish will be absent this coming week.
Don't know exactly how that will affect me. That's life.


----------



## snowbear

We has snow!


----------



## terri

It's been a cold and very rainy weekend, hosers.   The rain just stopped a couple of hours ago.   The cats are bored and showing their displeasure by creating lots of mischief.    Finn knocked every loose paper on the desk she could find, then studiously went about opening every lower cupboard, every drawer, she could find.    Bex isn't that imaginative; she just watches and ambushes her sister.    

They're both sleeping atm...in rooms as far from each other as the house allows.     @limr , I think a Roomba would be a perfect distraction on days like this!


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> We has snow!


Sorry!


----------



## BlackSheep

We have a Roomba, it works good with our 2 cats. But I've always been too scared to let it run when no-one is home, because I read this:

https://twentytwowords.com/this-is-what-happens-when-a-roomba-meets-a-dog-turd/


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We has snow!
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry!
Click to expand...

Don't be . . . I like it.


----------



## davidharmier60

The phone weather app says 46 in Shepherd. Also allows for upper 30s when I leave for work tomorrow. Yippee.
Potatoes and carrots and gravy with the roast. Probably a Blue Bell Ice Cream bar later.

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----------



## SquarePeg

Briefly considered a roomba but as the pup considers the vacuum to be his mortal enemy, I’m worried about the barking and growling that would ensue any time it went near him.  We have all hardwoods with a few area rugs so it’s easy enough to run around the house with the microfiber dust mop or a swiffer a few times/week.  Plus I have my 2x month cleaning lady who rocks this place.  

This weekend I tried to get the house in order for the holidays. Ended up with an upset stomach yesterday afternoon so only got half my list done.  I did the floors and they look great.  Polished and buffed to a nice shine.  Taking the rugs to be professionally cleaned later today - I like to drop them off before the holidays and pick them up after then I don’t have to worry about any of them getting trashed while the hordes are here slopping red wine and leaving a trail of chocolate crumbs all over.  If you feed them they will come. 

Putting up the tree tonight and will finish decking the halls.  Hope to finally get back to some photos!  I miss my camera.


----------



## Fujidave

Hi folks will be very busy until the New Year now as moving things to Mums so hope to be back sometime next year, as the ex is back and I`m getting out.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> did the floors and they look great. Polished and buffed to a nice shine



My DW refuses to let me buff our floors. Several years ago I had a day at home while she was at work, so decided the hardwood floors in our dining room needed a shine. Being the woodworker that I am I assumed the best was to use  Johnson's Paste Wax, applied with my high speed power buffer as the way to go. When I finished, that wood shined liked high quality furniture. Put my tools up, just as wife was getting home. As I headed across the dining room in my sock feet to meet her, I quickly found myself laying flat on my back. The wife hearing the yell and crash came running (in stockings, having kicked her shoes off at the door). Her balance was a little better then mine as she slid across the floor, arms flailing. Fortunately I had closed the basement door, because it was the only thing that stopped her slide. Thereafter I was forbidden to ever wax floors again!!!!!!!!!


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> did the floors and they look great. Polished and buffed to a nice shine
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My DW refuses to let me buff our floors. Several years ago I had a day at home while she was at work, so decided the hardwood floors in our dining room needed a shine. Being the woodworker that I am I assumed the best was to use  Johnson's Paste Wax, applied with my high speed power buffer as the way to go. When I finished, that wood shined liked high quality furniture. Put my tools up, just as wife was getting home. As I headed across the dining room in my sock feet to meet her, I quickly found myself laying flat on my back. The wife hearing the yell and crash came running (in stockings, having kicked her shoes off at the door). Her balance was a little better then mine as she slid across the floor, arms flailing. Fortunately I had closed the basement door, because it was the only thing that stopped her slide. Thereafter I was forbidden to ever wax floors again!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...


I used a liquid floor polish that has some carnauba wax in it applied with a sponge mop and buffed manually using a cloth diaper attached to an old flat mop head (best buffer per my nana).  They are not overly slippery but have a nice sheen.  This stuff can get very high gloss and slippery if you do a few coats but I like the softer look and prefer to not end up on my ass.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Freezing fog, that's a fun change of pace! I wondered this morning before I had my glasses on, did it do something?? no, nothing on the ground... and since I'm a retired night owl it wasn't early so wasn't exactly foggy by then.

I managed to do it again, kept waking up with leg spasms. This time I realized what I did; was reaching up into the small cabinet over the sink where I have my stash (canned goods, etc. to keep on hand). So while I was getting something out I started destashing things like those pkgs. of plastic silverware & napkins they give you with carryout, etc. And here I was thinking wow I was able to reach clear to the back of the little top shelf. Yeah, I reached it all right!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Plus I have my 2x month cleaning lady who rocks this place.


That's the best vacuum cleaner of ALL TIME.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> did the floors and they look great. Polished and buffed to a nice shine
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My DW refuses to let me buff our floors. Several years ago I had a day at home while she was at work, so decided the hardwood floors in our dining room needed a shine. Being the woodworker that I am I assumed the best was to use  Johnson's Paste Wax, applied with my high speed power buffer as the way to go. When I finished, that wood shined liked high quality furniture. Put my tools up, just as wife was getting home. As I headed across the dining room in my sock feet to meet her, I quickly found myself laying flat on my back. The wife hearing the yell and crash came running (in stockings, having kicked her shoes off at the door). Her balance was a little better then mine as she slid across the floor, arms flailing. Fortunately I had closed the basement door, because it was the only thing that stopped her slide. Thereafter I was forbidden to ever wax floors again!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

The minute you said Johnson's Paste Wax, I knew how this story was going to end!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Dave sorry you're dealing with that again. Can't help but wonder where the heck she was all this time and why she's coming back now. Anyway I'm glad at least you've got your mom's place to go. Check in when you can so we at least hear a quick hi from you.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hey all. The buffer/floor machine mechanic hadn't shown up.
I spot mopped and had the floor looking pretty good.
Then the customers came through. Doesn't look quite so good after that.
4.08 hours. Did half my pennies for today then the comics.
Going to do the other half and already know even without Trish there they'll be bought.
Wish you the best of luck FD


----------



## davidharmier60

We had the Roast, potatoes and carrots again. My Sister made a really tasty but awfully ugly cake. And we got a drive gadget from Amazon for a microwave we were sent months ago that was missing said gadget. I need my mini file set that is missing to modify the Amazon part.

Sure wish I knew where that file set is....

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----------



## JonA_CT

Christmas Card Reject #001 of XXX.




 

Christmas Card Reject #002 of XXX. 



 

Evidently...saying smile to a 3 and a half year old means make your "give people nightmares" face.


----------



## tirediron

Somehow, I'm not entirely sure that "XXX" allows a sufficient number of attempts to make this a success; I would suggest XXX,XXX,XXX at a minimum!   Good luck!


----------



## JonA_CT

tirediron said:


> Somehow, I'm not entirely sure that "XXX" allows a sufficient number of attempts to make this a success; I would suggest XXX,XXX,XXX at a minimum!   Good luck!



I managed to get a few that were a little better. I know I have a 1 year old and a 3 year old, so I have no delusions. My wife asked "couldn't you just photoshop his face from this one and her face from this one and...", and I told her yes, but these things are going to family and friends who know the kids. They'll know what I did, haha.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT don't discount those shots, they are real, they show the unbridled personality of two beautiful children. What more could you ask for???


----------



## smoke665

@Fujidave She moved out, now you're letting her back in, and you're moving out. Hmmmm what could possibly go wrong with this scenario????


----------



## snowbear

Fujidave said:


> Hi folks will be very busy until the New Year now as moving things to Mums so hope to be back sometime next year, as the ex is back and I`m getting out.


This sounds a bit like a reverse Brexit.  Best of luck to you.


----------



## Jeff15

Ba Humbug..................


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> @Fujidave She moved out, now you're letting her back in, and you're moving out. Hmmmm what could possibly go wrong with this scenario????





snowbear said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi folks will be very busy until the New Year now as moving things to Mums so hope to be back sometime next year, as the ex is back and I`m getting out.
> 
> 
> 
> This sounds a bit like a reverse Brexit.  Best of luck to you.
Click to expand...


Flat is in the witches name so just getting the last of my things over to Mums, so see you all in the New Year.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Flat is in the witches name so just getting the last of my things over to Mums, so see you all in the New Year.



I guess I'm like the woman that I read about who's cheating husband got the house. On the final day she was there she bought several pounds of raw shrimp and some cheap caviar. In every room she took the end caps off the curtain rods, stuffed them full of shrimp & caviar and replaced the end caps. After a few days the stench started, the husband tried everything to find the source of the smell. The husband had to take out another loan to buy another house to live in though he didn't know how he would pay for it, because  the house wouldn't sell, no one wanted it. One day the woman mentioned to her Ex that she really missed the old house, but she didn't have much money to buy it back. The husband jumped at the chance thinking she didn't know about the smell, offering her the house at a fraction of it's value on a quick sale. The deal was done and the husband stood smiling as a moving van removed his remaining furniture INCLUDING the curtains and curtain rods from the house. 

Know where you can get a good deal on shrimp???????


----------



## davidharmier60

4 hours and nearly enough for 10 hours for the week. Sold my box of pennies to the store and going to People's Bank to see what they have. Then to the Post Office because two watches might be there. 

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----------



## davidharmier60

We don't have the most up to date Post Office in our town. By 11:45 no watches.
But that's not to say at least one may have arrived after I left. But I'll see about it tomorrow. I have wheels to change out so working until or even after noon is quite possible. 

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----------



## davidharmier60

Tacos and Tostadas for dinner. 
Should NOT have gone back for seconds but it was better than usual. Price is Right on the DVR. Probably a Blue Bell bar later.

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----------



## CherylL

JonA_CT said:


> Christmas Card Reject #001 of XXX.
> 
> View attachment 166801
> 
> Christmas Card Reject #002 of XXX.
> 
> View attachment 166802
> 
> Evidently...saying smile to a 3 and a half year old means make your "give people nightmares" face.



Super cute!  The out takes look like keepers to me.


----------



## CherylL

I went to the craft store today and got inspired to maybe set up a Christmas set this year.  Last year was the lights as background and too much work.  If I do something this year it will be simpler.  I did order a $16 backdrop.


----------



## bosuzoku27

Hi all, it's been a while.  Wasn't too active here before but some events have gotten me back more in touch with my camera, such as some kimono outings and Tokyo Comic Con, where I cosplayed for the first time at a public event!  When I have more time I might share some photos from those experiences...


----------



## davidharmier60

Lordy but it looks deserted here at 4:45
Got chores to do today. Floors, marquee and wheels on 6 wheelers. 
Should get 6 hours pretty easy.

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----------



## davidharmier60

A bit beyond 6 hours today. Got a 6 wheeler named Thumper  quieted down. Got one with really worn bearings fixed.  And a few others.  There are two in the freezer completely loaded that need at least small wheels. Got this very cool watch at the Post Office.




Aragon Divemaster by Just Plain Dave, on Flickr


----------



## Jeff15

Off out with the local wildlife in the morning, results tomorrow pm.........


----------



## tirediron

Cool watch!  I like that.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> I went to the craft store today and got inspired to maybe set up a Christmas set this year.  Last year was the lights as background and too much work.  If I do something this year it will be simpler.  I did order a $16 backdrop.



I'm kinda bummed on the printed backgrounds. It's next to impossible to get the creases/wrinkles out, then when you do unless you store them on a roll, you get to do it all over, same with the cloth backdrops. I ordered some seamless paper the other day that I'm anxious to try. Since my "studio" is one bay of the garage and it's 10' to the joists, I'm thinking about ordering a roller system to just get everything out of the way.


----------



## pixmedic




----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> I went to the craft store today and got inspired to maybe set up a Christmas set this year.  Last year was the lights as background and too much work.  If I do something this year it will be simpler.  I did order a $16 backdrop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm kinda bummed on the printed backgrounds. It's next to impossible to get the creases/wrinkles out, then when you do unless you store them on a roll, you get to do it all over, same with the cloth backdrops. I ordered some seamless paper the other day that I'm anxious to try. Since my "studio" is one bay of the garage and it's 10' to the joists, I'm thinking about ordering a roller system to just get everything out of the way.
Click to expand...


A rolling rack system is a great idea!  When I was a kid my Dad got a set of old maps that were on rollers and housed in a large box mounted on the wall.  There were tabs on the bottom to pull down each map.  The reviews on the background I ordered did state the wrinkle problem.  I bought on clearance at the craft store sturdy cardboard wine bottle gift tubes.  I'll tape then together and use as a roller.  I did think about getting PVC pipe, but I like the diameter of the tubes better.  The background is neutral and I can accessorize with the seasons.   It would make a good background when I video the grands too with their kid's new's.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hi all. 5 hours and a minute. 21.23 for the week so far with one day to go.
Killing a little time for the Post Office to maybe get the mail tossed. Got a Clive Cussler book to help.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

I came to the TDPS Drivers license office. 
Get to wait a while. I can remember when this place wasn't this busy.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Jeff15

Since having GPS some years ago I no longer own a map..........


----------



## smoke665

Jeff15 said:


> Since having GPS some years ago I no longer own a map..........



I do. I take great satisfaction in screwing with the smug female voice of the GPS, makes me feel like I can't be replaced by a computer.


----------



## Jeff15

You could change it for a male voice...................


----------



## limr

Jeff15 said:


> You could change it for a male voice...................



Because those are never smug. </sarcasm>


----------



## Jeff15

Any voice you like then.....................


----------



## limr

Jeff15 said:


> Any voice you like then.....................



I'd totally set mine up with something like Scooby Doo or Stephen Hawking. Or anything auto-tuned. That would be fun. And mine would curse a lot, but also give me encouragement and praise.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

CherylL said:


> I went to the craft store today and got inspired to maybe set up a Christmas set this year.  Last year was the lights as background and too much work.  If I do something this year it will be simpler.  I did order a $16 backdrop.





smoke665 said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> I went to the craft store today and got inspired to maybe set up a Christmas set this year.  Last year was the lights as background and too much work.  If I do something this year it will be simpler.  I did order a $16 backdrop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm kinda bummed on the printed backgrounds. It's next to impossible to get the creases/wrinkles out, then when you do unless you store them on a roll, you get to do it all over, same with the cloth backdrops. I ordered some seamless paper the other day that I'm anxious to try. Since my "studio" is one bay of the garage and it's 10' to the joists, I'm thinking about ordering a roller system to just get everything out of the way.
Click to expand...


You two had me looking on Ebay for backdrops. Most that I looked at said they were a single use item and did warn about wrinkles, but these were paper ones. Smoke, I like your idea about the roller.


----------



## smoke665

Jeff15 said:


> You could change it for a male voice...................



I was raised to be polite to women, even when they didn't deserve it, which includes making vulgar comments at it. If it was a smug male voice all bets would be off and would likely end up being thrown out the window. After traveling all over this country I still know my way around without one. Most times I know the route I'm going, I only use it to find a specific address, or to tell me arrival time.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any voice you like then.....................
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd totally set mine up with something like Scooby Doo or Stephen Hawking. Or anything auto-tuned. That would be fun. And mine would curse a lot, but also give me encouragement and praise.
Click to expand...


Siri is my gps.  I have him set up with a male Brit accent.  We call him Prince Harry. 

Still need the occasional map as gps isn’t that reliable in NH and VT mountains.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Still need the occasional map as gps isn’t that reliable in NH and VT mountains.


Agreed.    I've been directed straight to cemetery entrances and down roads that dead end.    I like keeping area paper maps when I'm in completely unfamiliar territory.

In other news: Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Still need the occasional map as gps isn’t that reliable in NH and VT mountains.
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed.    I've been directed straight to cemetery entrances and down roads that dead end.    I like keeping area paper maps when I'm in completely unfamiliar territory.
> 
> In other news: Happy Friday, hosers!
Click to expand...


I’ve been up in the White Mtns a few times using my phone gps only to have “signal lost” pop up. Not fun when you’re still 5 miles from your destination and have no idea where to go at the next turn.


----------



## CherylL

Dean_Gretsch said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> I went to the craft store today and got inspired to maybe set up a Christmas set this year.  Last year was the lights as background and too much work.  If I do something this year it will be simpler.  I did order a $16 backdrop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> I went to the craft store today and got inspired to maybe set up a Christmas set this year.  Last year was the lights as background and too much work.  If I do something this year it will be simpler.  I did order a $16 backdrop.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm kinda bummed on the printed backgrounds. It's next to impossible to get the creases/wrinkles out, then when you do unless you store them on a roll, you get to do it all over, same with the cloth backdrops. I ordered some seamless paper the other day that I'm anxious to try. Since my "studio" is one bay of the garage and it's 10' to the joists, I'm thinking about ordering a roller system to just get everything out of the way.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You two had me looking on Ebay for backdrops. Most that I looked at said they were a single use item and did warn about wrinkles, but these were paper ones. Smoke, I like your idea about the roller.
Click to expand...


The one I bought is very thin vinyl.  It has the wrinkles and I have it rolled up now.  If they won't come out I will photoshop them which would add time onto each photo.   I am glad it isn't heavy since I am taping this to an old projector screen.


----------



## CherylL

Made the 2nd batch of kadaifi today.  I made my husband's favorite coconut bars last week.  Sugar cookies on the baking list next.  I've got about 10 people who all have a different favorite so I rotate each year a different set.  Years ago I baked many different cookies & breads and I think they all got a little spoiled with the assortment. 

I have one roll of MIL's wrapping paper left.  She passed in '09.  I wrapped husband's gift with some this year and used her red yarn as a bow.  Now if I can find Obsession then it will actually smell like her too.   We used to joke that she swam laps in the stuff.


----------



## snowbear

Jeff15 said:


> Since having GPS some years ago I no longer own a map..........





smoke665 said:


> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Since having GPS some years ago I no longer own a map..........
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I do. I take great satisfaction in screwing with the smug female voice of the GPS, makes me feel like I can't be replaced by a computer.
Click to expand...




limr said:


> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You could change it for a male voice...................
> 
> 
> 
> i NOT ONLY OWN MAPS, i MAKE THEM.
> Because those are never smug. </sarcasm>
Click to expand...

I use "Natalie" on Waze - a wonderful sounding woman from the UK.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Still need the occasional map as gps isn’t that reliable in NH and VT mountains.


or the GPS/phone dies.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

CherylL said:


> I have one roll of MIL's wrapping paper left. She passed in '09. I wrapped husband's gift with some this year and used her red yarn as a bow. Now if I can find Obsession then it will actually smell like her too. We used to joke that she swam laps in the stuff.



That is just about the most thoughtful thing I have read in a_ long_ time. Bless you!


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> The one I bought is very thin vinyl. It has the wrinkles and I have it rolled up now. If they won't come out I will photoshop them which would add time onto each photo. I am glad it isn't heavy since I am taping this to an old projector screen.



Photoshop them. Been there done that, and still found some I missed. I've found the best way is to stretch them over a wood frame then use a hand held steamer. Let it cool for a day and then roll it up. Otherwise they seem to come back


----------



## SquarePeg

Ugh. The dog needs emergency surgery for bladder stones.  The vet had been treating him for a UTI but it wasn’t getting any better so took him back in today.  XRay found many small stones and 2 big ones, one of which was close to causing a blockage.   Now I’m sitting in the waiting area waiting for them to do intake for him.   Poor baby. He’s so sweet.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh. The dog needs emergency surgery for bladder stones.  The vet had been treating him for a UTI but it wasn’t getting any better so took him back in today.  XRay found many small stones and 2 big ones, one of which was close to causing a blockage.   Now I’m sitting in the waiting area waiting for them to do intake for him.   Poor baby. He’s so sweet.



So Sorry Fur Kids are our babies also. Having dealt with kidney stones on a personal level, not something a I'd wish on anyone. Hopefully there is a quick resolution with a speedy recovery.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh. The dog needs emergency surgery for bladder stones.  The vet had been treating him for a UTI but it wasn’t getting any better so took him back in today.  XRay found many small stones and 2 big ones, one of which was close to causing a blockage.   Now I’m sitting in the waiting area waiting for them to do intake for him.   Poor baby. He’s so sweet.


So sorry; poor pups.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh. The dog needs emergency surgery for bladder stones.  The vet had been treating him for a UTI but it wasn’t getting any better so took him back in today.  XRay found many small stones and 2 big ones, one of which was close to causing a blockage.   Now I’m sitting in the waiting area waiting for them to do intake for him.   Poor baby. He’s so sweet.


Oh no!    Poor little guy.     

I hope he sails through all this with minimal difficulty and is back home at the card table soon, ready to cheat.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

As empty nesters, our lone pup has become even more important to us. I wish the best for a speedy and full recovery.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh. The dog needs emergency surgery for bladder stones.  The vet had been treating him for a UTI but it wasn’t getting any better so took him back in today.  XRay found many small stones and 2 big ones, one of which was close to causing a blockage.   Now I’m sitting in the waiting area waiting for them to do intake for him.   Poor baby. He’s so sweet.


Poor pupper!


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh. The dog needs emergency surgery for bladder stones.  The vet had been treating him for a UTI but it wasn’t getting any better so took him back in today.  XRay found many small stones and 2 big ones, one of which was close to causing a blockage.   Now I’m sitting in the waiting area waiting for them to do intake for him.   Poor baby. He’s so sweet.



Hope the pup has a speedy recovery.  One of our pups had the same thing last year.  He had dental surgery a few months ago.  Each time it was nervousness waiting to hear how he did in surgery.


----------



## CherylL

Dean_Gretsch said:


> As empty nesters, our lone pup has become even more important to us.


Yes that is so very true!  My adult daughters roll their eyes when I refer to them as their brothers.


----------



## SquarePeg

Thanks all.  He was having a minor procedure tonight to head off the emergency and will have surgery tomorrow if tonight goes well.  Waiting to hear back from the vet. 

Terri I believe this is the photo you're talking about.  He cheats.


----------



## Amber's Fire

If only that Mushroom Worked!


----------



## Fujidave

Hi folks this will be my last post for a long time here might even be next summer.  Last night at Mums I had a very serious scare in my life, one minute I was talking to Mum at 7.30pm then the next it went all black and I woke up in hospital.  Doctors told me I had a very bad Angina attack, after lots of blood tests and a chest xray I was release this morning at about 5.30am shattered but still frightened.  I have to see a heart specialist before Christmas.  So I Hope and Wish you all a great Christmas and New Year xxx


----------



## Jeff15

All the very best to you Dave, get well soon...........


----------



## SquarePeg

Best of luck Dave hope you get well soon.  

Our dog did well through the initial procedure to remove the blockage and is scheduled for surgery late this afternoon.  Going over there shortly to visit with him for a bit.  They don’t have an exact surgery time and don’t allow visitors after 5pm so we will not be able to wait on site during the surgery but they will call us immediately after and we can see him again tomorrow while he is recovering and hopefully he will be home by Monday.  No sleep for me last night!  Was staying awake waiting for the all clear call so drank some caffeinated soda.  They didn’t call until well after midnight with the update and I was wide awake all night after that.  

Started watching The Marvelous Mrs Maisel last night.  Great show.


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg great news. Hoping all goes well and fur kid is home soon.

@Fujidave as if you didn't have enough going on already. Best of luck to you, hoping for a quick recovery.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh. The dog needs emergency surgery for bladder stones.  The vet had been treating him for a UTI but it wasn’t getting any better so took him back in today.  XRay found many small stones and 2 big ones, one of which was close to causing a blockage.   Now I’m sitting in the waiting area waiting for them to do intake for him.   Poor baby. He’s so sweet.



Poor little thing


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> Hi folks this will be my last post for a long time here might even be next summer.  Last night at Mums I had a very serious scare in my life, one minute I was talking to Mum at 7.30pm then the next it went all black and I woke up in hospital.  Doctors told me I had a very bad Angina attack, after lots of blood tests and a chest xray I was release this morning at about 5.30am shattered but still frightened.  I have to see a heart specialist before Christmas.  So I Hope and Wish you all a great Christmas and New Year xxx



Dave, take care of yourself. Hope you are well soon!



SquarePeg said:


> Best of luck Dave hope you get well soon.
> 
> Our dog did well through the initial procedure to remove the blockage and is scheduled for surgery late this afternoon.  Going over there shortly to visit with him for a bit.  They don’t have an exact surgery time and don’t allow visitors after 5pm so we will not be able to wait on site during the surgery but they will call us immediately after and we can see him again tomorrow while he is recovering and hopefully he will be home by Monday.  No sleep for me last night!  Was staying awake waiting for the all clear call so drank some caffeinated soda.  They didn’t call until well after midnight with the update and I was wide awake all night after that.
> 
> Started watching The Marvelous Mrs Maisel last night.  Great show.



And I hope puppers flies through the surgery and is up and about in no time!

Been wanting to start watching that, too. I have to get through one more week of the semester and then I am taking a proper vacation - 10 whole days away! Might start watching during the break.


----------



## Amber's Fire

Fujidave said:


> Hi folks this will be my last post for a long time here might even be next summer.  Last night at Mums I had a very serious scare in my life, one minute I was talking to Mum at 7.30pm then the next it went all black and I woke up in hospital.  Doctors told me I had a very bad Angina attack, after lots of blood tests and a chest xray I was release this morning at about 5.30am shattered but still frightened.  I have to see a heart specialist before Christmas.  So I Hope and Wish you all a great Christmas and New Year xxx


----------



## Amber's Fire

_I don't know you, but I'm very very Sorry...
And I am wishing you the very Best.
♡♡♡♡_


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Get well Dave and Happy holidays.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Thanks all.  He was having a minor procedure tonight to head off the emergency and will have surgery tomorrow if tonight goes well.  Waiting to hear back from the vet.
> 
> Terri I believe this is the photo you're talking about.  He cheats.
> 
> View attachment 166903


That's the one!  Good luck today and keep us posted. 

Dave, take care of yourself!  Check in when you can - we'll keep the lights on for you.


----------



## davidharmier60

I would have sworn I posted on the computer. Yes FD get well.
In case I did post the pulled pork was very good and we are watching the Texans at the Jets.

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----------



## CherylL

Fujidave said:


> Hi folks this will be my last post for a long time here might even be next summer.  Last night at Mums I had a very serious scare in my life, one minute I was talking to Mum at 7.30pm then the next it went all black and I woke up in hospital.  Doctors told me I had a very bad Angina attack, after lots of blood tests and a chest xray I was release this morning at about 5.30am shattered but still frightened.  I have to see a heart specialist before Christmas.  So I Hope and Wish you all a great Christmas and New Year xxx



Dave, what a fright!  Speedy recovery.  Hope you have a good Christmas & New Year too.


----------



## Tony744

Sorry to hear the troubles you're going through, FD . I hope your better soon.


----------



## SquarePeg

Dog’s surgery went well.  Hoping to bring him home tomorrow.  Thanks to you all for your thoughts and good wishes.


----------



## smoke665

Man satellite tv companies are getting sneaky with marketing. Just got an email in from Dish advertising a new channel addition for almost what I pay for SEC channel. DOGTV ABOUT it's advertised as relaxing and stimulating TV for my dog??? Oh heck where do I sign up for Sadie?


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Dog’s surgery went well.  Hoping to bring him home tomorrow.  Thanks to you all for your thoughts and good wishes.


Roxy sends her love!


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Man satellite tv companies are getting sneaky with marketing. Just got an email in from Dish advertising a new channel addition for almost what I pay for SEC channel. DOGTV ABOUT it's advertised as relaxing and stimulating TV for my dog??? Oh heck where do I sign up for Sadie?


It's not bad enough that we rot our brains and those of our children, now they want us to rot our dog's brains??????????


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> s not bad enough that we rot our brains and those of our children, now they want us to rot our dog's brains????



It may be a mute point, because it's debatable as to what they actually see on the TV. Dogs have a much lower color spectrum then humans and require a refresh rate on images of just over 70 frames per second to detect continuous movement. With the current standard of 60 for Tv's it's borderline for them.


----------



## Overread

I thought most film and TV was in the 23 bracket rather than the 60. At least for the original recording as opposed to the refresh rate of the screen


----------



## davidharmier60

Scrambled eggs,  bacon and toast. 
No huge plans for the day. 
Our dogs find enough stuff outside to go nuts about.

Get better Fuji Dave!

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----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> s not bad enough that we rot our brains and those of our children, now they want us to rot our dog's brains????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It may be a mute point, because it's debatable as to what they actually see on the TV. Dogs have a much lower color spectrum then humans and require a refresh rate on images of just over 70 frames per second to detect continuous movement. With the current standard of 60 for Tv's it's borderline for them.
Click to expand...


My late, best friend Baxter would come running anytime the commercial " I'd get it myself, but I don't have thumbs " came on. He loved to watch other animals, especially dogs, on tv, but our gal Daisy either doesn't see it well or could care less.


----------



## smoke665

Overread said:


> I thought most film and TV was in the 23 bracket rather than the 60. At least for the original recording as opposed to the refresh rate of the screen



No idea on the original. I was referring to the so called tv standard. I believe humans can determine  movement down to 17 frames


----------



## JonA_CT

5 days until my recess for Christmas. I can do this. Maybe. This is typically my least favorite week of the year.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> 5 days until my recess for Christmas. I can do this. Maybe. This is typically my least favorite week of the year.



Feelin' your pain, Jon.


----------



## davidharmier60

I seem to get about 4.5 to 5 hours out of a tank of propane. So today is propane day.
Going to hit the bank over here in Cold Springs and see of I can change my penny luck.

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----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> 5 days until my recess for Christmas. I can do this. Maybe. This is typically my least favorite week of the year.


Hang in there!    You've got this.


----------



## terri

Oh, and happy Monday, hosers!


----------



## SquarePeg

Sorry, no sympathy for those about to have 10+ days off!  Cry me a river hosers!  I’ll be off Fri then working 12/24 then off 12/25-26 then right back at it.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Sorry, no sympathy for those about to have 10+ days off!  Cry me a river hosers!  I’ll be off Fri then working 12/24 then off 12/25-26 then right back at it.


Haha, same, except I'm taking off 12/24, and back to work on 12/26.


----------



## limr

I am not going to lie, I have landed in a very lucky job that allows me enough days off to take a little extra time.

The college stays open for 4 holidays during the year so that they are able to close for the week between Xmas and New Year's. So we always have to work on days like Columbus or Veteran's Day, etc. 

As a teaching adjunct, I had a long stretch of time (classes start after MLK day) for a break, but of course it was unpaid, so I usually went in to work my other PT jobs to tide me over until my first teaching pay (usually mid-Feb at the earliest, more often and of Feb). 

My FT position now is technically considered a counseling (non-teaching faculty) line, which means I have a lot of PTO but I have to officially enter the days that the college closes during the winter break as vacation days, whereas staff just gets 4 "free" days of holiday that does not come out of their time.

In exchange for my large # of vacation days, I work from 8-5, so 8 full hours and an unpaid lunch hour.


----------



## davidharmier60

Not 100% sure but I imagine I'll be there doing floors and bathrooms on the 24th and again 26th.


----------



## RowdyRay

SquarePeg said:


> Sorry, no sympathy for those about to have 10+ days off!  Cry me a river hosers!  I’ll be off Fri then working 12/24 then off 12/25-26 then right back at it.



Couldn't agree more. I'll be working the 24th, although it's typically a slow day. 20 years here, and they usually ask if I want it off. Unpaid or use a vacation day. I'd rather work it and they always let me off early. Something is better than nothing and use my vacation days for, well......vacations. Off the 25th, paid. (If it lands on the weekend I'm SOL) Back at it the 26th.

I may grumble about my job, and some days can be 10-11 hours. (Compensated for over time) But, they just gave me a VERY generous Christmas bonus. There's usually a little something extra, but I was shocked. Someone splurged on a new camera......

I'll share when it gets here.


----------



## davidharmier60

The meatloaf we had last night was just as good tonight. Probably a Blue Bell Ice cream bar before bed.

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----------



## SquarePeg

RowdyRay said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, no sympathy for those about to have 10+ days off!  Cry me a river hosers!  I’ll be off Fri then working 12/24 then off 12/25-26 then right back at it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Couldn't agree more. I'll be working the 24th, although it's typically a slow day. 20 years here, and they usually ask if I want it off. Unpaid or use a vacation day. I'd rather work it and they always let me off early. Something is better than nothing and use my vacation days for, well......vacations. Off the 25th, paid. (If it lands on the weekend I'm SOL) Back at it the 26th.
> 
> I may grumble about my job, and some days can be 10-11 hours. (Compensated for over time) But, they just gave me a VERY generous Christmas bonus. There's usually a little something extra, but I was shocked. Someone splurged on a new camera......
> 
> I'll share when it gets here.
Click to expand...


A new camera?  Sweet!  I had hoped to trade my Xt2 for a new Xt3 but the pup’s medical bills have put that plan on hold.  Sigh.  I’m happy that they were able to treat him but my lord the cost!


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> I’m happy that they were able to treat him but my lord the cost!



There was a time when we had three.  I almost fainted when we got a bill for $900 for annual shots, blood work, ect. for all of them. That's why Sadie Mae is an only child!!


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I’m happy that they were able to treat him but my lord the cost!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There was a time when we had three.  I almost fainted when we got a bill for $900 for annual shots, blood work, ect. for all of them. That's why Sadie Mae is an only child!!
Click to expand...


Yep very expensive.  We have 3 and factor in grooming fees.  Good thing they don't eat much.


----------



## CherylL

I went to the grands' Christmas program at their church last night.  Felt really odd because I didn't bring my camera.  Sometimes I just want to enjoy an event and not document.  Daughter took cell phone pics & video.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's actually sunny! After freezing fog, then flash fog, I'll take it! 

All I can say is if you want winter break and spring break, etc. go be a teacher! (with an according pay drop!). My job as an EIS went from 9 to 12 months and my pay was way more, but no summers off... it's a trade off. Came in handy when I had to retire early since it put me back about where I'd have been if I'd retired from a 9 month job. Or something like that.


----------



## smoke665

After a freezing cold start, the sun came out and warmed up quite nicely. 

@CherylL  Our fur kids have always eaten well, so the expense is a little more. As to the grandkids program and pictures - GOOD FOR YOU. It's easy to become so involved in the documenting that you miss the part which form the memories.


----------



## RowdyRay

SquarePeg said:


> A new camera?  Sweet!  I had hoped to trade my Xt2 for a new Xt3 but the pup’s medical bills have put that plan on hold.  Sigh.  I’m happy that they were able to treat him but my lord the cost!



Yeah, that was one of the big reasons I didn't get another dog. Plus, I was so close to the last one, I can't do it again. Glad your pup is doing well, though. 

There'll be plenty of cameras waiting for you when the time is right. I was going to wait until after Xmas. Just couldn't pass this deal up.


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh swell. It began raining during the night.
I'm supposed to do Marquee today. 
Got a pretty good mug with which to attempt to get with it. 

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----------



## davidharmier60

Well the rain didn't kill me. 
6 hours and about 5 minutes it seems.
17.21 for the week so far 
Having Chicken Alfredo, mashed potatoes and gravy and corn at the deli. 
Won't be a record check today but I'm going to wait for it anyway. 

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----------



## davidharmier60

Rained much of the night. But supposed to be clear later today. Got a decent bonus in my Christmas card and used it to buy outright a watch I was going to buy on time. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Morning hosers.

It's headache time. Going into work a bit late, though also planning on staying late.

Tomorrow 5pm can't come soon enough.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hey Hosers!  Sorry about the headache limr - it's been a difficult fall for migraine sufferers.  The damp weather and the rapid changes in temps/barometric pressure have really been rough to deal with.  

I have a day off tomorrow.  Most of the shopping and errands and wrapping will be finished tonight and it's too early to start cooking...  I think I'm going to go to a movie and treat myself to a nice lunch and mani/pedi after before the madness of the holiday really kicks in.  Any suggestions on a movie?  Aquaman looks hot... uh, I mean interesting.  Or Spiderverse?  Mary Queen of Scots?  Welcome to Malwern?  So many choices but nothing that jumps out as best choice. 

Where's @Gary A. when I need a movie recommendation?


----------



## JonA_CT

Oh a movie...maybe that’s what my wife and I will do with our free time tomorrow. We get out of work at noon, and my daughter won’t be out of school until 3:25...

I think the last thing we saw was The Last Jedi.


----------



## terri

We're thinking about seeing The Favorite tonight, though that's not written in stone.

Crappy, rainy day out there right now.   Makes me want to stay in tonight, but we'll see.  

Hope the headache passes soon, @limr.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's a trifle chilly in the shade or with the wind blowing. The only clouds are off to the east. 23 hours exactly when I clocked out. Post Office, then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I have been thinking 'bout going to see " Welcome to Marwen ". It is supposedly very Forrest Gumpish. We haven't been to the movies since " Horrible Bosses "


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Oh a movie...maybe that’s what my wife and I will do with our free time tomorrow. We get out of work at noon, and my daughter won’t be out of school until 3:25...
> 
> I think the last thing we saw was The Last Jedi.



I greatly enjoyed Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star Is Born if either is still playing!



terri said:


> We're thinking about seeing The Favorite tonight, though that's not written in stone.
> 
> Crappy, rainy day out there right now.   Makes me want to stay in tonight, but we'll see.
> 
> Hope the headache passes soon, @limr.



That's on my short list.  If you see tonight let me know how you liked it.



Dean_Gretsch said:


> I have been thinking 'bout going to see " Welcome to Marwen ". It is supposedly very Forrest Gumpish. We haven't been to the movies since " Horrible Bosses "



I like Steve Carrell and most of the rest of the cast but not sure how I feel about the premise of the movie.


----------



## CherylL

I'd like to see Welcome to Malwern.  The previews look good.   Busy week ahead around here.  The pups better get their naps in today.  I've got the beds made and have a little cleaning to do.  This weekend is a trip to 2 stores for food and the cooking will begin.  First house guest should be here Saturday, my Turkish daughter.  She is a very good photo assistant.  I plan on putting her to work when I take the family & pup photos.  The rest of the family in later.   Got a surprise package from Harry & David yesterday from a past student from Nepal.   He was one of our first students we hosted back in 2003.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Bummer about the headache Leo, it's almost 3:30 - hang in there.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Sorry, no sympathy for those about to have 10+ days off!  Cry me a river hosers!  I’ll be off Fri then working 12/24 then off 12/25-26 then right back at it.


Off on the 25th and the 1st; working the rest


----------



## terri

We skipped the movie.       All we went out for was Chinese food.    Tasted great,  though!


----------



## RowdyRay

terri said:


> We skipped the movie.       All we went out for was Chinese food.    Tasted great,  though!



Bummer, I was hoping for a review. Oh well, now I'm hungry for Chinese food. Thanks a lot! Lol.


----------



## smoke665

Long day for us. Took a road trip to see our youngest for Christmas as he can't come home this year. 9 hrs round trip with visit. Rained all day, but the visit was worth it.


----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!   

More rain today.   It's not cold out there, with Fahrenheit temps in the 50's, but the rain, mist, and general overcast day makes it seem colder.

Fire tonight, with pizza, salad and red wine.   Yay!

Last weekend for Christmas shopping.  For those who need it, better get going.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> More rain today.   It's not cold out there, with Fahrenheit temps in the 50's, but the rain, mist, and general overcast day makes it seem colder.
> 
> Fire tonight, with pizza, salad and red wine.   Yay!
> 
> Last weekend for Christmas shopping.  For those who need it, better get going.



Gray and rainy here too.  Shopping mostly done!  

Feeling a bit annoyed because our annual holiday get together with my oldest friends is tonight and I’m no longer looking forward to it.  

We usually meet at a local pub type place and enjoy a drink or two, sometimes we order apps - it’s a drop in type of thing and people come and go throughout the night.  We’ve been doing this at the same place for 20+ years. 

One of my friends unilaterally decided to “host” everyone at her house instead this year which is not really what I’m in the mood for.  Now we have to be there at a certain time for “dinner” and it will be difficult to exit when I want to.  Not to mention the increase in alcohol consumption that is sure to take place at a house party!  I have a hair appointment at 9am tomorrow and was planning on a short visit tonight...  

First world problems I know but can’t really complain about it to my friends lol so you’re all getting an earful!


----------



## SquarePeg

Sad little cone boy.  He hates it so much.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Sad little cone boy.  He hates it so much.
> 
> View attachment 167086


The bow makes it.  

Hope the dinner party went well.    It does sound like a different vibe than what you've all gotten used to.


----------



## snowbear

The bow is a win.  Glad he's doing OK.


----------



## smoke665

Finally after days of rain, the sun is out this morning. Sadie is a happy pup as we head out the door for our morning walk. Something that's been absent lately.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Day 3 of the headache. This one seems to be of the variety that is worse in the morning and gets more manageable during the course of the day. So I feel pretty rough when I wake up, but coffee and Advil actually makes a dent in the pain. The headache is never totally gone, but it becomes more background pain.

Yesterday it was 60 degrees and raining. I didn't care about the rain since sunlight just makes my headaches worse, but the drastic temperature and pressure change made my sinuses go crazy. I felt horrible when I woke up, but managed to drag myself to work. I was late, but I went.

Today is for finishing my grading, cleaning, and packing for vacation. Leaving at oh-dark-thirty on Sunday morning and coming back 10 days later.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Day 3 of the headache. This one seems to be of the variety that is worse in the morning and gets more manageable during the course of the day. So I feel pretty rough when I wake up, but coffee and Advil actually makes a dent in the pain. The headache is never totally gone, but it becomes more background pain.
> 
> Yesterday it was 60 degrees and raining. I didn't care about the rain since sunlight just makes my headaches worse, but the drastic temperature and pressure change made my sinuses go crazy. I felt horrible when I woke up, but managed to drag myself to work. I was late, but I went.
> 
> Today is for finishing my grading, cleaning, and packing for vacation. Leaving at oh-dark-thirty on Sunday morning and coming back 10 days later.



Sounds like that headache is sinus related.  Maybe elevate your head and shoulders a bit when sleeping might help.  Steam and antihistamines!  



terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sad little cone boy.  He hates it so much.
> 
> View attachment 167086
> 
> 
> 
> The bow makes it.
> 
> Hope the dinner party went well.    It does sound like a different vibe than what you've all gotten used to.
Click to expand...


The dinner party was fine.  Definitely a different vibe but still nice to see everyone.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Sounds like that headache is sinus related.  Maybe elevate your head and shoulders a bit when sleeping might help.  Steam and antihistamines!



There are months when I have both sinus headaches and migraine mingled together. The migraine came first this time. Yesterday's was certainly sinus-related, and this morning was probably a bit of the same. The coffee and Advil can knock down the sinus symptoms, but the underlying migraine lingers. Luckily, it's not too bad this month. There are months, though, when the sinuses are quiet, but the migraine is just awful and no amount of medicine touches it.

I have a complicated head


----------



## davidharmier60

Happy Saturday y'all. 4 hours and enough to have 32.41 for the week.
While I have no bounce flash (just straight on) I am to shoot at a wedding tomorrow.
Since they can't afford a pro I'll just have to do.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Day 3 of the headache. This one seems to be of the variety that is worse in the morning and gets more manageable during the course of the day. So I feel pretty rough when I wake up, but coffee and Advil actually makes a dent in the pain. The headache is never totally gone, but it becomes more background pain.
> 
> Yesterday it was 60 degrees and raining. I didn't care about the rain since sunlight just makes my headaches worse, but the drastic temperature and pressure change made my sinuses go crazy. I felt horrible when I woke up, but managed to drag myself to work. I was late, but I went.
> 
> Today is for finishing my grading, cleaning, and packing for vacation. Leaving at oh-dark-thirty on Sunday morning and coming back 10 days later.


Hope you have a wonderful vacation!   Kick that headache out the back porch.   Relax and rejuvenate. 

....hell, that sounds so good I might sneak into your suitcase.


----------



## limr

*Cleaning*: check.
*Laundry*: check.
*Packing*: started, not finished yet. Crap, gotta get that done because I have to get out of bed stupid early!
*Grading*: finished, and about to submit grades. Four students will fail because they disappeared halfway through the semester (pretty typical.) One student is failing because she is not ready to go to the next level of college writing. I feel bad, but I just can't. I wrote an email explaining the grade to her. This is one of the many reasons that I love teaching but despise grading.

Speaking of teaching, this also may be the last class I teach for the next two years or so. The program I'm running is about to ramp up (external study being done starting in Sept 2019). This was just the pilot year and I only taught one class, and I'm beyond exhausted. I think I need to focus on only one job until it starts to settle down a bit. 

I know it's for the best, but it's just weird. Not only will I miss the classroom (NOT the grading!), but I can't even remember the last time I just had one job.

So. So, there's that.

And there's vacation. Tomorrow. Stupid early. But for 10 whole days. Ten.Whole.Days. I can barely believe it.

Gotta finish packing now.


----------



## snowbear




----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> *Cleaning*: check.
> *Laundry*: check.
> *Packing*: started, not finished yet. Crap, gotta get that done because I have to get out of bed stupid early!
> *Grading*: finished, and about to submit grades. Four students will fail because they disappeared halfway through the semester (pretty typical.) One student is failing because she is not ready to go to the next level of college writing. I feel bad, but I just can't. I wrote an email explaining the grade to her. This is one of the many reasons that I love teaching but despise grading.
> 
> Speaking of teaching, this also may be the last class I teach for the next two years or so. The program I'm running is about to ramp up (external study being done starting in Sept 2019). This was just the pilot year and I only taught one class, and I'm beyond exhausted. I think I need to focus on only one job until it starts to settle down a bit.
> 
> I know it's for the best, but it's just weird. Not only will I miss the classroom (NOT the grading!), but I can't even remember the last time I just had one job.
> 
> So. So, there's that.
> 
> And there's vacation. Tomorrow. Stupid early. But for 10 whole days. Ten.Whole.Days. I can barely believe it.
> 
> Gotta finish packing now.


You can only do so much.  Enjoy the vacation.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> *Cleaning*: check.
> *Laundry*: check.
> *Packing*: started, not finished yet. Crap, gotta get that done because I have to get out of bed stupid early!
> *Grading*: finished, and about to submit grades. Four students will fail because they disappeared halfway through the semester (pretty typical.) One student is failing because she is not ready to go to the next level of college writing. I feel bad, but I just can't. I wrote an email explaining the grade to her. This is one of the many reasons that I love teaching but despise grading.
> 
> Speaking of teaching, this also may be the last class I teach for the next two years or so. The program I'm running is about to ramp up (external study being done starting in Sept 2019). This was just the pilot year and I only taught one class, and I'm beyond exhausted. I think I need to focus on only one job until it starts to settle down a bit.
> 
> I know it's for the best, but it's just weird. Not only will I miss the classroom (NOT the grading!), but I can't even remember the last time I just had one job.
> 
> So. So, there's that.
> 
> And there's vacation. Tomorrow. Stupid early. But for 10 whole days. Ten.Whole.Days. I can barely believe it.
> 
> Gotta finish packing now.



Cleaning - check.  cleaning crew coming Monday morning 
Cooking - starting that tomorrow 
Shopping - check
Drinking - check


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

SquarePeg said:


> Drinking - check


Do we get the Tipsy Elf on the shelf pics?


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> *Cleaning*: check.
> *Laundry*: check.
> *Packing*: started, not finished yet. Crap, gotta get that done because I have to get out of bed stupid early!
> *Grading*: finished, and about to submit grades. Four students will fail because they disappeared halfway through the semester (pretty typical.) One student is failing because she is not ready to go to the next level of college writing. I feel bad, but I just can't. I wrote an email explaining the grade to her. This is one of the many reasons that I love teaching but despise grading.
> 
> Speaking of teaching, this also may be the last class I teach for the next two years or so. The program I'm running is about to ramp up (external study being done starting in Sept 2019). This was just the pilot year and I only taught one class, and I'm beyond exhausted. I think I need to focus on only one job until it starts to settle down a bit.
> 
> I know it's for the best, but it's just weird. Not only will I miss the classroom (NOT the grading!), but I can't even remember the last time I just had one job.
> 
> So. So, there's that.
> 
> And there's vacation. Tomorrow. Stupid early. But for 10 whole days. Ten.Whole.Days. I can barely believe it.
> 
> Gotta finish packing now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cleaning - check.  cleaning crew coming Monday morning
> Cooking - starting that tomorrow
> Shopping - check
> Drinking - check
Click to expand...


Ah yes, there will be drinking 

On the road, almost in NC. Woot!


----------



## davidharmier60

Pretty soon I'm off to take stuff for the reception and see what I can do with my camera.
Wish me luck.


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> Pretty soon I'm off to take stuff for the reception and see what I can do with my camera.
> Wish me luck.


Luck!


----------



## CherylL

First house guest delayed 2 days.  The grands have been over the past 3 days so enjoying the peace and quiet today.  Upstairs furnace not working and the repair man was here today to fix. If we weren't having guests sleep up there then we would have waited for repair.

Shopping for food - done
Cleaning - still working on that one
Cooking - starts tomorrow
Drinking - picked up the champagne, cranberry juice for the @SquarePeg drink suggestion.


----------



## davidharmier60

I guess I did ok at the wedding. I don't really feel like putting it up on Flickr so I can post it here.


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> I guess I did ok at the wedding. I don't really feel like putting it up on Flickr so I can post it here.


You can upload to your gallery here!


----------



## JonA_CT

We got a dusting of snow overnight. My daughter almost lost her mind she was so excited.

Happy Christmas Eve, hosers! I’ve got cookies to decorate and some bread to bake before we head to my parents for dinner tonight.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> We got a dusting of snow overnight. My daughter almost lost her mind she was so excited.
> 
> Happy Christmas Eve, hosers! I’ve got cookies to decorate and some bread to bake before we head to my parents for dinner tonight.


Sounds lovely, Jon!   I have a cherry pie to bake later, and a Tom Yum soup for a different flavor profile for dinner tonight,  before tomorrow's gorge.  

Happy Christmas Eve to you, too, and all you hosers.


----------



## smoke665

May the closeness of friends, the comfort of home, and the joy of the season renew your spirits. From our house to yours -  Merry Christmas Y'all!!!!!!!!!


----------



## davidharmier60

Youse which had today off... Phooey.
I got 5.10 hours. Have tomorrow off and then right back on Wednesday. 
Remember the reason for the season. 

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----------



## snowbear

We've been told we can kick out of work at 1:00, so I'll leave whenever MLW gets here - she's off for the week and is out with here sisters for lunch.

A happy and safe holiday to you all.



2018 Door Wreath (created by Miriam Wrenn) by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr

(Sorry, I don't have any appropriate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa photos)


----------



## JonA_CT

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> We got a dusting of snow overnight. My daughter almost lost her mind she was so excited.
> 
> Happy Christmas Eve, hosers! I’ve got cookies to decorate and some bread to bake before we head to my parents for dinner tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds lovely, Jon!   I have a cherry pie to bake later, and a Tom Yum soup for a different flavor profile for dinner tonight,  before tomorrow's gorge.
> 
> Happy Christmas Eve to you, too, and all you hosers.
Click to expand...


I’d love a bowl of tom yum tonight! When Christmas is my show to run, that may happen, haha.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't know what that is but since it says 'yum' it must be good!

Just taking a break, half watching Jools Holland (yeah, that's real Christmassy!). My best friend's coming up with soup etc. for dinner and a movie, probably 'White Christmas', which with commercials turns into like a 3 hour movie! Could watch the DVD but my player tried to eat one and now turns on, wheezes, goes off and just sits there and blinks. 

Then tomorrow to mom's for whatever dinner my brother ordered, then over to the rehab place to visit with dad (and take him a plate of goodies and/or leftovers). Kind of a weird Christmas, but my dad tried coming home and just wasn't ready yet, your body heals as fast as it's going to. 

Hope everybody has a nice Christmas eve.


----------



## davidharmier60

Our traditional Christmas Eve dinner is Mexican Food. An Enchilada Casserole, cheese and chips are coming up shortly!


----------



## limr

Our impromptu holiday bush. I wrapped Buzz's gift. He did not have a chance to wrap mine before we left. I may have to make him unwrap his, then use the paper to wrap mine, and then I can unwrap mine


----------



## SquarePeg

Merry Christmas all!


----------



## terri

Back atcha, Cat!


----------



## VidThreeNorth

About a half hour to go, so Merry Christmas!  Maybe time for a scotch before I'm done. . . .


----------



## davidharmier60

A big ole pot of Chili is being worked on.
Of course Chili is better when it's cold outside. And it's pretty close to 70 out there. But such is life. 

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----------



## pixmedic




----------



## davidharmier60

Chili wasn't the best Dad has ever made.
But pretty good. Watching people win on Price is Right. 

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----------



## snowbear

And I'm spending some time at the minor illness and injury place.  A local rash on my wrist is beyond ignoring; it's only been a couple weeks!


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh goody. Wednesday. Back to the grindstone. 

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----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> And I'm spending some time at the minor illness and injury place.  A local rash on my wrist is beyond ignoring; it's only been a couple weeks!



Maybe it's going around. Had a spot develop on my cheek that lingered past normal. Doc gave me steroid cream which cleared it up in a few days. Hope you're on the mend quickly.

In other news the sun is shining again. Seems strange after days of overcast skies and rain. Christmas is over, as is my cheating on the diet. All that food was nice while it lasted, but I'll pay for it now. Why is it that it takes weeks of limiting calories to lose 5lbs, but only a couple days to gain the same? Life just doesn't seem fair.


----------



## limr

Y'all, y'all, Y'AAAAALLLLL!

There is a cat cafe in Savannah.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Y'all, y'all, Y'AAAAALLLLL!
> 
> There is a cat cafe in Savannah.


This, of course, is the News of the Day.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Y'all, y'all, Y'AAAAALLLLL!
> 
> There is a cat cafe in Savannah.
> 
> 
> 
> This, of course, is the News of the Day.
Click to expand...


Fer realz!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Fur realz!


FTFY


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Y'all, y'all, Y'AAAAALLLLL!
> 
> There is a cat cafe in Savannah.



Awesome.  I went to the one in San Diego.  Just be aware their coffee cups are on the small side.


----------



## limr

What Daisy May wanted, Daisy May got.


----------



## limr

Pumpkin settling on my lap.


----------



## limr

These two decided that my bag was an awesome place to take a nap. They were there for about half an hour.


----------



## davidharmier60

The Weather guessers blew it. 
According to my phone by 4am the rain would stop. At 4:20 It's coming down in buckets. More fun than I should be allowed to have.

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----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon all, just popping in to say Hi and hope you all had a great Christmas.  Chest feels a lot better but still waiting for a call from the hospital and at long last the cold I`ve had for god knows how many months has cleared


----------



## terri

limr said:


> These two decided that my bag was an awesome place to take a nap. They were there for about half an hour.


Can't.stand.the.cuteness.   

@Fujidave:  good news!    Hope you continue to improve.   Happy holidays!


----------



## snowbear

So I'm looking at aerial imagery and classifying subdivisions as commercial. residential, schools, churches, etc. and I find a small cemetery, not attached to a church.

Coin toss:  heads - commercial, tails - residential.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> So I'm looking at aerial imagery and classifying subdivisions as commercial. residential, schools, churches, etc. and I find a small cemetery, not attached to a church.
> 
> Coin toss:  heads - commercial, tails - residential.



Long term care community?


----------



## Jeff G

Obviously commercial, but is it considered recycling or long term storage.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> So I'm looking at aerial imagery and classifying subdivisions as commercial. residential, schools, churches, etc. and I find a small cemetery, not attached to a church.
> 
> Coin toss:  heads - commercial, tails - residential.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Long term care community?
Click to expand...

I'm keeping the classifications simple - it was heads - commercial.

Edit: The adjacent property is a VFW post.  I'm not sure if it's their's or not so I'll have to make a field trip or send my intern to do it.


----------



## smoke665

Jeff G said:


> Obviously commercial, but is it considered recycling or long term storage.



Obviously recycling, as Cryogenics would be longterm storage.


----------



## vintagesnaps

What a nice camera shot! Team Canada is in the house, and the camera there got an overhead shot of Canada's goalie with the Canucks flag in the frame... 

I like Boxing Day, and the day after, and the day after that... watching the World Jrs. in international hockey.

John, I thought they said one of the arenas where this tournament is being held is in your neck of the woods, is that right?? By god if it is you better get to a game and take some pictures!! lol 

FujiDave - I was just thinking about you earlier today! Glad you stopped in and that eternal cold is finally easing up and the chest problems etc. are getting better. Take care.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Not even a minute in and Canada scored.

Wonder if the Spengler Cup is online? I could watch two games at once maybe. There is no such thing as too much hockey.


Leo that is two cats, right? not one cat with four ears?? Too bad they can't snuggle a little closer. Good for a winter's night.


----------



## tirediron

vintagesnaps said:


> ...John, I thought they said one of the arenas where this tournament is being held is in your neck of the woods, is that right?? By god if it is you better get to a game and take some pictures!! lol


 Yep, 20 minutes down the road.  I would have had to apply for credentials about six months ago, and they only have a couple of spots for non-affiliated journalists so my chances were slim at best.  If I was actually interested in hockey....


----------



## davidharmier60

A little more than 4.5 yesterday.
15.32 for the week plus whatever I get for Christmas day. Friday which would be swell except I gotta go tomorrow too. 

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----------



## davidharmier60

Yesterday she wanted me to empty the bottles of propane. Ran one this morning until it almost died. The other one finished. 
Over in Cold Springs for propane. 5 hours fer sure and some more.

Now as you were.

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----------



## smoke665

One day of sun and the monsoons have returned. Rained all night, and still going. Flash flood warnings up.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> One day of sun and the monsoons have returned. Rained all night, and still going. Flash flood warnings up.


Same here.    It's very warm outside, though.   Feels colder in here than out there in the wet!  

Nasty front rolling through.   Ugh.


----------



## SquarePeg

Warm and rainy here.  Low 50’s expected tomorrow.   

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Day.  Lots of family and friends visited and helped us to eat all the desserts and drink almost all the liquor!  Will need to restock just about everything.  Now that most of “the kids” are 21+ (except Princess and 2 nephews) I’ll have to adjust our planning for future holidays!

So...resolutions?


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> resolutions?



I made one many years ago - Don't make New Years Resolutions. I'm proud to say I haven't failed at it yet!


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. We're in Hilton Head now. It's a weird place. Feels like I'm an extra in "The Truman Show." This is what happens when we plan a vacation when we are already fried from the semester. "Yeah, we just want super low key - just walk on the beach, hang out at the hotel bar..." Yeah, no, that doesn't really work for us. Savannah suited us better. Eh, live and learn.

It's way to warm for my tastes. I have been biting my tongue every time one of the locals coos and gushes about how we must be loving the weather, coming from New York.

Storm going through. My hair has been getting poofier and poofier. It's not quite at "inexplicable" yet, but "frizzy" is definitely not adequate to describe it.

But there is wine and I got some new shoes, and I still don't have to be at work until Thursday at the very least, so it's all good.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, it is grey and damp out today but still quite mild for December.


----------



## smoke665

Warm and damp here, but a change is on the horizon, as the temperatures starts to fall next week.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Hey hosers. We're in Hilton Head now. It's a weird place. Feels like I'm an extra in "The Truman Show." This is what happens when we plan a vacation when we are already fried from the semester. "Yeah, we just want super low key - just walk on the beach, hang out at the hotel bar..." Yeah, no, that doesn't really work for us. Savannah suited us better. Eh, live and learn.
> 
> It's way to warm for my tastes. I have been biting my tongue every time one of the locals coos and gushes about how we must be loving the weather, coming from New York.
> 
> Storm going through. My hair has been getting poofier and poofier. It's not quite at "inexplicable" yet, but "frizzy" is definitely not adequate to describe it.
> 
> But there is wine and I got some new shoes, and I still don't have to be at work until Thursday at the very least, so it's all good.


I thought about you in the midst of this recent warm spell.   You would definitely have loved the chillier weather we've been having.    That's the SE for you - we get a good change of seasons, but over the winter we get these weird warm blasts.   It'll likely move out right as you head back North.   Just luck of the draw!

But hey, time off, new shoes and lots of wine are never bad things.   Plus, a cat cafe!   



SquarePeg said:


> So...resolutions?


mmm, not really.   When the topic comes up I usually mumble the same stuff about making more time for photography and art in general, but that's kind of a year-round self-nagging thing, so it loses its punch.     

What about you?


----------



## smoke665

About this time last Dec/Jan we rolled into (almost) Savannah in the worst winter storm they'd seen in 25 years. We spent 2 days stuck in an RV park 60 mile West of Savannah on the 3rd day (Savannah still ice bound), we slipped and slid to I95 and headed south.


----------



## davidharmier60

Accuweather said 47 this morning with a high of 47 and never higher than 50% rain chance. It's lightly raining and I'll bet you for a beer it will rain hard before the day is over. 27 hours for the week and depending on what they give me for Christmas day 31+ is on tap.

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## davidharmier60

Pizza for dinner. Live PD on the T.V.
I'm thinking of a float later.
But that don't mean it will happen. 
I'm all set to mail off a watch that I wasn't truly happy with.  But it should come back nearly perfect. 

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## SquarePeg

terri said:


> What about you?



Nothing too unusual.  Mostly get more exercise.  The pup and I are determined not to fall into our usual winter couch potato routine.


----------



## JonA_CT

I made Gumbo. The house smells amazing.

We are also brewing our first batch of beer Monday, hopefully. We have one last hurdle to clear before then (clearing the water from the pressure test and loading glycol solution for our fermenter temperature control system).


----------



## davidharmier60

I am enjoying said float!


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

So, apparently Hilton Head reeeeaaaally doesn't suit us. We're cutting our stay here short and heading up to DC on Monday, which gets us out of here and also breaks up the drive back to NY.

Eh, live and learn.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> So, apparently Hilton Head reeeeaaaally doesn't suit us. We're cutting our stay here short and heading up to DC on Monday, which gets us out of here and also breaks up the drive back to NY.
> 
> Eh, live and learn.


Y'all gonna give me a call when you get here?


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> So, apparently Hilton Head reeeeaaaally doesn't suit us. We're cutting our stay here short and heading up to DC on Monday, which gets us out of here and also breaks up the drive back to NY.
> 
> Eh, live and learn.
> 
> 
> 
> Y'all gonna give me a call when you get here?
Click to expand...


We'll be there for just a day, so it'll depend on how early we're planning to leave.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, had a nice walk in the park with Susie as it is still very mild here but grey skies still.


----------



## smoke665

Late night for us, but well  worth it as we watched Alabama defeat Oklahoma to go on to the National Championship. No disrespect to Oklahoma but we couldn't help feeling a little sweet revenge over the Hiseman Tropy snub. Roll Tide!


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> So, apparently Hilton Head reeeeaaaally doesn't suit us. We're cutting our stay here short and heading up to DC on Monday, which gets us out of here and also breaks up the drive back to NY.
> 
> Eh, live and learn.



Haven’t been but from what I know about HH, I’m not surprised that it’s a miss for you.   Golf and sunny beaches and resorts don’t seem to be your style.  Have you been to Cape Ann?  I think you would enjoy Gloucester and Rockport in the off season.  Lots of beaches to explore and nice B&B’s to choose from.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> So, apparently Hilton Head reeeeaaaally doesn't suit us. We're cutting our stay here short and heading up to DC on Monday, which gets us out of here and also breaks up the drive back to NY.
> 
> Eh, live and learn.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Haven’t been but from what I know about HH, I’m not surprised that it’s a miss for you.   Golf and sunny beaches and resorts don’t seem to be your style.  Have you been to Cape Ann?  I think you would enjoy Gloucester and Rockport in the off season.  Lots of beaches to explore and nice B&B’s to choose from.
Click to expand...


I believe we stopped in Gloucester once, but haven't been back to stay. Definitely looks more our speed and it's officially on the list now for places to hit for a long weekend 

The only positive about where we are in HH is that we are right on the beach, so I get my ocean fix. And it's been mostly cloudy with rain off and on, so that makes walking on the beach tolerable to me. I much prefer rocky New England beaches. There's always something a little weird about putting your hand in the ocean water and it NOT coming out completely numbed from the cold


----------



## limr

And apparently, exactly 2 years ago, I was actually at a New England beach! 

This came up in my Facebook 'memories' as Alice's first trip to the beach, 30 December 2016. Can't remember which beach but I know it was Maine.


----------



## limr

This morning I saw a woman wearing a long down coat, a scarf, and a hat.

It is 62 degrees.

This is a silly place.


----------



## limr

I was wrong. Alice's first trip to the beach was in New Bedford, Mass.


----------



## Jeff G

It is the same here, anything less than 80° F and you would think we were having a blizzard.  I wear shorts all year  long and they think I am crazy. California ....go figure.


----------



## limr

Jeff G said:


> It is the same here, anything less than 80° F and you would think we were having a blizzard.  I wear shorts all year  long and they think I am crazy. California ....go figure.



Sounds like it is also a silly place.


----------



## davidharmier60

California is the land of fruits and nuts or haven't you heard?
I haven't seen a beach in at least two and probably three years.
I don't believe the Gulf of Mexico could ever make you numb.....


----------



## CherylL

Are the holidays over yet?  Hope everyone had a good one.  Last of the house guests left today.  There has been a lot of activity here that 2 of the 3 dogs have been shaking from too much commotion.  We went to a Christmas party one night and I got tackled by a 7yo boy.  He ran and jumped up on me.  I think he just wanted a hug.  I fell over into the metal baby gate and took it off the wall and banged up me knee.  Lucky I didn't break anything.  May have to go to the ortho if it doesn't get better.  Had a funeral too this week.  Looking forward to some peace and quiet.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> Are the holidays over yet?  Hope everyone had a good one.  Last of the house guests left today.  There has been a lot of activity here that 2 of the 3 dogs have been shaking from too much commotion.  We went to a Christmas party one night and I got tackled by a 7yo boy.  He ran and jumped up on me.  I think he just wanted a hug.  I fell over into the metal baby gate and took it off the wall and banged up me knee.  Lucky I didn't break anything.  May have to go to the ortho if it doesn't get better.  Had a funeral too this week.  Looking forward to some peace and quiet.



Rough week!  I’ve had a few overly enthusiastic kids “hug” me and throw out my back over the years so now I’ve got the defensive turn and block thing down to a science.  Our dog got a ton of attention from our guests.  He finally got his cone off on Thursday.  He was so excited that he rubbed his nose on everything in sight the whole night.  Rubbed a small patch of fur right off his little nose!


----------



## davidharmier60

Nite y'all. It all starts over tomorrow at 5am.

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## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Are the holidays over yet?  Hope everyone had a good one.  Last of the house guests left today.  There has been a lot of activity here that 2 of the 3 dogs have been shaking from too much commotion.  We went to a Christmas party one night and I got tackled by a 7yo boy.  He ran and jumped up on me.  I think he just wanted a hug.  I fell over into the metal baby gate and took it off the wall and banged up me knee.  Lucky I didn't break anything.  May have to go to the ortho if it doesn't get better.  Had a funeral too this week.  Looking forward to some peace and quiet.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Rough week!  I’ve had a few overly enthusiastic kids “hug” me and throw out my back over the years so now I’ve got the defensive turn and block thing down to a science.  Our dog got a ton of attention from our guests.  He finally got his cone off on Thursday.  He was so excited that he rubbed his nose on everything in sight the whole night.  Rubbed a small patch of fur right off his little nose!
Click to expand...


Long time with the cone!  I bet he was happy to get the thing off.  My 5yo grand daughter likes to hug me and lift her feet up.  I told her my back can't handle the weight.  BTW, a few of us loved your drink of champagne and cranberry juice!   I added a sugared orange slice.  The beer drinkers said no thanks and that was okay, more for me


----------



## smoke665

Who says an old dog can't learn. Tonight the ice maker in the downstairs fridge was making a popping noise, but not dumping ice. I tapped on it, didn't help. For some DA reason I decided to use my thumb to push them up from the bottom. Holy S###, anyone else know there's a red hot heating element on the bottom to make the cubes release? I do now!


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> Who says an old dog can't learn. Tonight the ice maker in the downstairs fridge was making a popping noise, but not dumping ice. I tapped on it, didn't help. For some DA reason I decided to use my thumb to push them up from the bottom. Holy S###, anyone else know there's a red hot heating element on the bottom to make the cubes release? I do now!
> View attachment 167396



Better put some ice on that burn!  Sorry couldn't resist.  I didn't know about a heating element.  Speedy recovery.


----------



## RowdyRay

smoke665 said:


> Who says an old dog can't learn. Tonight the ice maker in the downstairs fridge was making a popping noise, but not dumping ice. I tapped on it, didn't help. For some DA reason I decided to use my thumb to push them up from the bottom. Holy S###, anyone else know there's a red hot heating element on the bottom to make the cubes release? I do now!
> View attachment 167396



Didn't know that either. I'll keep that in mind. Those are the worst too. It'll make you realize just how many times a day your thumb touches something.


----------



## tirediron

Owww!!


----------



## JonA_CT

That’s tough, Smoke. I had a similar burn a few years ago (although I should have known not to grab even a mostly unburned log out of the fire pit without gloves). You’ll definitely cuss that coil 10 times a day for the next week.


----------



## smoke665

I mean seriously who hides a red hot branding iron in a place where some fool like me can touch it, with not one single "DANGER DONT TOUCH" label anywhere? 

Oh and that wives tale about not being able to tell between hot and cold is total BS!


----------



## davidharmier60

Rain was pattering on the roof as my alarm went off. Yippee. Off to work pretty soon.

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## snowbear

Ouch, Smoke.  I've never has a refrigerator with the ice maker, but I'll keep that in mind if we ever get one.


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## snowbear

Jon, I see the brewery is getting close to opening.  I've elected to pick up my supporting stuff so we'll be up.


----------



## Jeff G

Ouch! @ Smoke. Will store that tidbit away for things to warchout for .


----------



## davidharmier60

5.23 hours today. Going to mail a few things and MAYBE get a watch.

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## snowbear

The IT Department opened the gates at 2, but MLW had to stay until 3.  Made it home without any major issues.  Traffic was real light going in (Monday before a Tuesday holiday and the Feds staying home).  Heavier on the way home but maybe from travelers; the rain doesn't help any.  The local supermarket parking lot is packed so I'm glad we didn't have to stop off for anything.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> Jon, I see the brewery is getting close to opening.  I've elected to pick up my supporting stuff so we'll be up.



We are brewing batch #1 in the morning! I look forward to finally meeting you and your LW soon.


----------



## RowdyRay

Everyone please be safe this New Year's Eve. Going to get nasty in some parts. 

We're only expected to get a few inches, but it started out rain/sleet. The wind is really picking up now and it's supposed to drop below zero. Not a good combo. Made it home before it got real bad. Quiet night at home this year. Hopefully it'll be cleaned up by Wednesday morning.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Staying home tonight and saving all my energy for the UK/Penn St game tomorrow. I may live in Pa, but I am a Wildcats fan by birth!


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Jon, I see the brewery is getting close to opening.  I've elected to pick up my supporting stuff so we'll be up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We are brewing batch #1 in the morning! I look forward to finally meeting you and your LW soon.
Click to expand...

And I am looking forward to meeting you.  I don't know when, yet . . . lazy lobster will be flying back to Portland next weekend (we think) so this will be an unrushed weekender.  I am trying to add a stop in Norwalk, to visit a certain cutlery outlet.


----------



## snowbear

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Staying home tonight and saving all my energy for the UK/Penn St game tomorrow. I may live in Pa, but I am a Wildcats fan by birth!


We are staying home, as well.  We have never gone out to a New Year's party; in fact, I think I've only gone out to two.  Having worked several in 9-1-1 / Police dispatch, I have no intention of being on the roads.

No football games but I might go get a pair of shoes.  Yeah, my life is so enviable.


----------



## smoke665

Well we headed north to spend New Years in what we expected to be cold and snow in the Smokies. Instead we found  a balmy 75  Based on the front moving through tonight that might not be a good thing as they're calling for some wind and storms tonight.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Well we headed north to spend New Years in what we expected to be cold and snow in the Smokies. Instead we found  a balmy 75  Based on the front moving through tonight that might not be a good thing as they're calling for some wind and storms tonight.



Are you in the Gatlinburg area?


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> you in the Gatlinburg area



Pigeon Forge


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

How is the area recovering from the fire? That whole area is one of my favorite vacation places in the US.


----------



## davidharmier60

What is this Wednesday morning you speak of? I have my usual work tomorrow.
And off to bed shortly.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@vintagesnaps I just saw they are having an outdoor televised hockey game at Notre Dame's football stadium. You might like that.


----------



## tirediron

Don't YOU wish you were this well dressed?


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> How is the area recovering from the fire? That whole area is one of my favorite vacation places in the US.



Still a few places here and there but it's mostly cleaned up. We've been half way looking at property, as our RV days might be winding down. Prices have jumped a lot.


----------



## limr

Dean_Gretsch said:


> @vintagesnaps I just saw they are having an outdoor televised hockey game at Notre Dame's football stadium. You might like that.



The outdoor game is always fun.

Plans for tonight: to keep our new (3-4 years or so) tradition of watching the Twilight Zone marathon on SciFi network, try to stay awake long enough to drink a glass of champagne, then fall asleep, wake up late, and watch football and/or hockey.

Buzz and I are cuh-raaaaayyyyzy.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just back from a very nice dinner and drinks with the too old to go “out” but too young to just stay in members of the family.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning and good new year!  We ended up just ordering delivery dinner (I had salmon with Korean BBQ glaze).  MLW & lazy lobster watched a little TV while I screwed around on the computer.

MLW wanted to switch to a new cable provider so we have new boxes.  The living room is fine, but the TV in the bedroom is not as new and doesn't work with the new setup.  When it was first turned on by the tech to test, everything was fine.  I turned the TV off (the box stays on but goes into sleep mode) and went about my business.  I decided to turn it back on while I was at my desk and the audio was fine, but no picture.  I fiddled around with it and found if I unplugged the power cord from the box (cold reset) everything was fine.  I swapped boxes with the living room and the issue stayed with the bedroom TV.

So, today I get shoes and maybe a TV, depending on the deals we find.


----------



## davidharmier60

I don't recall EVER doing the whole store floor machine and buffer without running into another human being. Happened this morning. 1 stocker, no deli.
Fooled around as much as I could and got 4.5 or so. 10.26 for the week so far. 
Going to drop a few things in the PO Box. 
And since everything else is closed I'll go home.

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## Dean_Gretsch

*SNELL YEAH!!*


----------



## smoke665

DW fixed a large pot of black eyed peas and ham, seasoned greens and cast iron skillet full of cornbread, for our New Years meal. Will have to wait to see if it brings good luck for the year, but I can say right now it was sure good.


----------



## terri

And in other news, the Detroit Lions football team has fired their offensive coordinator, the man with THE best name in pro sports:   Jim-Bob Cooter.

This pisses me off.  Now we'll _never_ get a drinking game named after him!


----------



## davidharmier60

Just under 6 hours today. 
16.10 for the week so far.
The Eagle poops today. 
And it's raining to beat the band. 

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## SquarePeg

Hosers!  2nd attempt at the 52 week Dogwood challenge.  Last year I barely lasted a month.  This year I'm more determined but have less free time!  Can't do it if I don't try.  

Have started my Creative Live annual pass with a watercolors course.  I never did sign up for that course I wanted to take because the logistics were too difficult so this is the next best thing.


----------



## Fujidave

Evening all, managed to have a nice walk round town today with the X100F and it was cold and horrible breathing it in too.  As each day goes by I manage a longer walk which is great, while sitting down this little guy came over to me, quite a crop too.


----------



## davidharmier60

Trish had led me to believe that checks would be ready at 12.
Theresa said they wern't there and 4:30. 
I'll get it tomorrow. 
Got a box of pennies at People's Bank.
Got a decent 57D wheat and three EXCELLENT 82 Copper.
And incidently this is the watch I got Monday.



Wenger Aerograph 1-02-19 by Just Plain Dave, on Flickr


----------



## tirediron

Nice!


----------



## davidharmier60

Thanks. Domed Crystal. Big readable hands. And small seconds. And of course Swiss Made!


----------



## davidharmier60

Today was a rainy cold MESS! Could not wait to get home, dry and warm!
20 and roughly a half for the week so far.
Not certain what dinner will be. But I do believe it's being worked on.
Listening to Power Metal and reading.


----------



## davidharmier60

Goodnight y'all. It's gonna be Friday 4am before I know it. Have as good a Friday as it is possible to have. 

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## smoke665

Hey @snowbear you been on the road this week????



Christmas20190102_0331.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Hey @snowbear you been on the road this week????
> 
> 
> 
> Christmas20190102_0331.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr


Not me - I think that's Uncle Jethro.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, very very cold out me and my chest hate this cold weather so roll on when it gets warmer.


----------



## davidharmier60

Friday greetings y'all. 5 hours and two minutes. I have no notifications to bring home anything. So post office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## limr

Hey hosers. 

It's been a 2-day work week after 12 full days away from work, and I am already waiting for 5 o'clock.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I would be.

Just under a month til Groundhog Day, just over a month til Chinese New Year. 

This is what my assistant at work used to do, the first week of school she'd look thru the calendar to see when our next day off was, when our breaks were, etc. Schools here aren't back in session yet. Surprising how much more quiet it is here even though it's always quiet here!

Now FujiDave you take it easy out there in the cold so you don't get sick again.


----------



## terri

Hang in there, Leo!    After all, it IS Friday, no matter what.

I have to take both my girls to the vet later today.    I received a postcard from my vet, announcing that she is closing the practice by month's end.   Miss Finn just needs a rabies vax, but last night I found a tick on Bex.   I have extracted them before with no issues, but this little bugger was right below her mouth, in a weird angle.   I should have let it alone and let the vet handle it, but I detest ticks so much I had to try.   

Bex clearly did _not_ appreciate the loving care she was receiving, and the procedure didn't go well.     So, to the vet with her!    So much for trying to save her the trip. 

Oh, who am I kidding, I was trying to save myself - my _ears,_ mainly - from having two yowling cats letting me know how little they enjoy car rides.   Twelve minutes to the vet feels like an hour.    The decibel levels of their protests are...impressive.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Terri you probably didn't mean that to be quite so funny but I can't help but laugh (or maybe you did, keeping a sense of humor about cats riding in cars!). You and Leo both come up with some adventurous stories sometimes.

Oh and Dean, yeah I was looking forward to the NHL Winter Classic... so Saturday when I tried to reboot the cable for the umpteenth time, the whole thing went dead. The cable guy came Monday, said the signal wasn't good, put in a new line outside, new cable box, new remote - nuthin'. Brought in his tablety gadget and yeah, he was getting cable TV... I watched the Winter Classic online but by the time I jumped thru hoops and got connected the open was over and I missed seeing that part at Notre Dame stadium. And they only showed one lousy song by Weezer. 

So today I'm waiting for the brown truck with a new smallish TV. The plan is for it to go in the extra room later on and give me time to look for a a new TV and VCR/DVD player since mine tried to eat a DVD. And it won't spit it back out. I discovered that live streaming isn't all it's cracked up to be either.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> It's been a 2-day work week after 12 full days away from work, and I am already waiting for 5 o'clock.



Just think about how much next week is going to suck. That should make you appreciate today.  



terri said:


> Hang in there, Leo!    After all, it IS Friday, no matter what.
> 
> I have to take both my girls to the vet later today.    I received a postcard from my vet, announcing that she is closing the practice by month's end.   Miss Finn just needs a rabies vax, but last night I found a tick on Bex.   I have extracted them before with no issues, but this little bugger was right below her mouth, in a weird angle.   I should have let it alone and let the vet handle it, but I detest ticks so much I had to try.
> 
> Bex clearly did _not_ appreciate the loving care she was receiving, and the procedure didn't go well.     So, to the vet with her!    So much for trying to save her the trip.
> 
> Oh, who am I kidding, I was trying to save myself - my _ears,_ mainly - from having two yowling cats letting me know how little they enjoy car rides.   Twelve minutes to the vet feels like an hour.    The decibel levels of their protests are...impressive.



Fun stuff.  Are you sure it's not a skin tag?  I told you all the skin tag story I think...  poor pets!  Our pup used to love going in the car but now he apparently associates that with going to the surgical vet so now he runs and hides when I say we're going in the car.  He is no longer a happy head out the window passenger - he is a lay on the back seat and make pathetic whiny noises passenger.  I used to take him with me whenever I could (Home Depot, Pet Smart, errands when it wasn't too hot/cold out, driving Princess to school or to a friend's...) but now he would rather stay home.  Princess is happy to ride shotgun once again - she had been sitting in back to avoid the dog hair on her ubiquitous black yoga pants.


----------



## terri

Oh, we had a blast.    

Finn and Bex got to meet their new vet - very nice guy who will be buying the practice from our current vet.   We love her, especially how compassionate and gentle she was with Odin (and us) when it was time to say goodbye.   But she's ready to go into semi-retirement, so it may turn out that she'll come in part time and work for this guy.   Fine by us!



SquarePeg said:


> Are you sure it's not a skin tag?


Yep - it was definitely a tick.   When I pulled it last night I saw its nasty little legs waving in the air.    I was hoping to see the whole body intact, but since I pinched down I knew I may have squashed its nasty head.   The vet took a good look and said with the presence of a plug-like hole, it was likely I got it all out.   Just watch it, etc.    He gave Finn her shot and looked her over, too.

Both kitties are healthy and happy.   Back into their carriers so they could go y-y-Y-O-W-W-W-L-L all the way home!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Whew! glad that's over! At least as you said, they're now healthy and happy. Maybe you should have a glass of wine.

So should I. New TVs are thin and lightweight! but... I cannot get the cord in to the old adapter. I just cannot reach it, and it looks like I'll have to unplug the old DVD and in the future, plug a new DVD into the top of three outlets not the bottom, to have room for this new plug/cord. So no TV yet til I get reinforcements (AKA someone with longer arms and/or the ability to get back in there where I can't). This is what I get for having got a nice heavy wood bookcase etc.        

Good news is that the brown truck also brought a copy of my birth certificate in case I need to prove to the license bureau that I was actually born and didn't crawl out from under a rock.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm just now watching the NHRA finals.
Gonna have some Blue Bell Pecan Pralines and Cream later.

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## JonA_CT

Got the second batch done at the brewery tonight. Just heading home. I left the house this morning at 6:30. Woof.


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## Fujidave

Good morning all, it is a cloudy and nippy start today Mum has got Susie as I`m shooting my first jazz gig of 2019 later on using both X cameras and really looking forward to it


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## smoke665

Yesterday was another gray dreary day, managed a little shopping along the wine trail. GaryA is a bad influence on me. However we'd already hit the moonshine distilleries earlier in the week, so the wine kind of rounded things out. Last night we took in another show, had intended on a few night light shots but just as we were leaving it started pouring, so the camera stayed home. Today is finally clear and sunny. Will be driving up into the mountains today for a relaxing day, before we head in tomorrow.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Clingman's Dome? I like the drive over into Cherokee, NC.


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## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Clingman's Dome? I like the drive over into Cherokee, NC.



Will head out that way, not sure what is open. Last time during the Obama administration when they had a shut down, they closed  everything. They even hauled in concrete barriers to close off the pull offs along the highway. It's my understanding that parts are still open this time.


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## davidharmier60

I'd comment but usually when nothing should be said I say the wrong thing. 
We are going to have breakfast for dinner soon.  The computer wigged out again.
But after two shut down and restart it is working again but don't want to open too many wimdows.

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## smoke665

@Dean_Gretsch headed out toward the Gap, and Clingmans this morning. At the entrance, the gate to 441 was open but a warning sign was advising of ice and high winds. There was a lot of traffic (dumb me forgot about it being Saturday). As we climbed into the higher elevations the roads were wet but clear, with a couple of inches of snow on the ground. About 5 miles from the Gap,the traffic slowed to a crawl and the snow turned to mostly ice. Looked like they were spreading sand at some point but the road was still slick, with people sliding around. We continued on at a crawl till we were within a couple miles of the Gap. We could see it around the corner, but just couldn't get there. Traffic  was at a complete stop. No choice but to turn around and head back down. Half way down met some rangers headed up with their lights on, and when we got to Sugar Land the gate going up was closed, with a couple more rangers set up as guards. Guess we were lucky to get as far as we did. Bad thing is I didn't get many pictures because of the traffic, and slick roads. The pull offs were solid sheets of ice, and unsafe to get off on.


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## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> @Dean_Gretsch headed out toward the Gap, and Clingmans this morning. At the entrance, the gate to 441 was open but a warning sign was advising of ice and high winds. There was a lot of traffic (dumb me forgot about it being Saturday). As we climbed into the higher elevations the roads were wet but clear, with a couple of inches of snow on the ground. About 5 miles from the Gap,the traffic slowed to a crawl and the snow turned to mostly ice. Looked like they were spreading sand at some point but the road was still slick, with people sliding around. We continued on at a crawl till we were within a couple miles of the Gap. We could see it around the corner, but just couldn't get there. Traffic  was at a complete stop. No choice but to turn around and head back down. Half way down met some rangers headed up with their lights on, and when we got to Sugar Land the gate going up was closed, with a couple more rangers set up as guards. Guess we were lucky to get as far as we did. Bad thing is I didn't get many pictures because of the traffic, and slick roads. The pull offs were solid sheets of ice, and unsafe to get off on.



Well darn! Did you ever stop at the old historic farm on the left hand side going toward Cherokee from Gatlinburg just as you hit the valley on the North Carolina side? I always loved going to that place.


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Well darn! Did you ever stop at the old historic farm on the left hand side going toward Cherokee from Gatlinburg just as you hit the valley on the North Carolina side? I always loved going to that place.



You mean the Oconaluftee Visitor Center? Yeah it's neat, good place to see Turkey and Elk, in that big field. However if you really want to see Elk, go out on the reservation, past the school (go to the T, t/l, then t/l  on a little paved road that runs along the river. They stand in the road, won't move. You can get up close if you're willing to risk getting the crap beat out of you by a big bull.  We spent a couple of weeks over in Maggie Valley, couple years ago. Explored that whole area. It's pretty up around the Cataloochee ski area also.


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## Dean_Gretsch

Not sure what it was called. It was an old farm that depicted life from the 18th century. I just remember it being near the mountains but in the valley. I haven't been to that area since around 1999 or 2000. The Aquarium in Gatlinburg was still being built when I was last there.


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## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Not sure what it was called. It was an old farm that depicted life from the 18th century. I just remember it being near the mountains but in the



Yup that's the Oconaluftee Center. I hadn't been through the Gap rd since before the fire, to Cherokee so I was kinda bummed that we couldn't make it. As we were headed up the effects of the fire were still very much visible on the the Gatlinburg side of Chimney Rocks. Here's a shot still below the snow line the fire took most of the forest on the front peaks. In the distance you can see the trees covered with ice/snow.



 
The other side of Chimney rocks, was still as pristine as ever. We just crossed above the snow line here.


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## davidharmier60

I got NOTHING to compare with that.
Just had donuts. Have a really bad mug of coffee. 6 days a week I get first mug out of the pot. On Sunday I get molested last mug. Oh well I'm wearing my favorite watch on me today. The Aragon Dive Master. So beautiful. 

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## CherylL

I'm still limping along with the banged up knee.  Probably should see the doc this week.  The weekend is beautiful weather of 50's and was hoping to get out and shoot, but staying off the knee as much as possible.  Getting caught up on dejunking my photo files from the last few years and transferring onto externals.


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## davidharmier60

Ham and Scalloped potatoes was dinner.
The dogs won't stop barking.
Ain't life swell?

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## smoke665

CherylL said:


> I'm still limping along with the banged up knee



Oh No! Did you pirouette left and should have been right? LOL Hope it isn't serious.


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## smoke665

We arrived in the mountains on a glorious beautiful day, and then it rained everyday we were there until today when we left it was another glorious beautiful day.  Oh well there will be others, and we have a lot to get done. Plumbers coming to run gas line for fireplace tomorrow, then eye surgery on Wednesday, meeting with architect on Thursday, and Sadie Mae goes in for minor surgery on Friday. If the weather holds, need to rent a dozer for some cleanup work, in preparation for a controlled burn on the property.


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## davidharmier60

Ugh Monday morning. 
Got a pretty good mug. 
Off to work soon

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## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm still limping along with the banged up knee
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh No! Did you pirouette left and should have been right? LOL Hope it isn't serious.
Click to expand...


No dancing   A first grader boy jumped on me.  I should wear a sign that I am not a jungle gym.  It is getting better each day and will go to the doc later this week depending.


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## davidharmier60

Propane day. Over in Cold Springs. 
Going to see if I can get a box of pennies while I'm over here.

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## smoke665

I was already having difficulty coming up with inspiration for a Valentines shoot with granddaughter, and then @CherylL had to up the ante with her fantastic Milk Baby shot, so I was feeling pretty depressed driving down the street, when I spied a treasure sitting outside an antique shop. Two more treasures inside added and few items from Walmart - I'm inspired!!! It's all coming together now, can't wait to set it up. Thank you Cheryl for giving me the figurative kick in the butt to get me going.


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## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> I was already having difficulty coming up with inspiration for a Valentines shoot with granddaughter, and then @CherylL had to up the ante with her fantastic Milk Baby shot, so I was feeling pretty depressed driving down the street, when I spied a treasure sitting outside an antique shop. Two more treasures inside added and few items from Walmart - I'm inspired!!! It's all coming together now, can't wait to set it up. Thank you Cheryl for giving me the figurative kick in the butt to get me going.


Why not up her at her own game?  Milk is for lightweights... go for the bourbon baby shot!


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## smoke665

@tirediron no milk will be featured in the upcoming shoot and good bourbon is to expensive to waste. I will say we were in TN last week visiting a couple of our favorite hangouts, so moonshine might  be an option. However the Blue Flame stuff is not something you don't want any sparks around!


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## davidharmier60

The Dodge Avenger has all new brake pads. No more grinding.
Hot Dogs for dinner. 
Probably Blue Bell Pecan Pralines and Cream later. 

A pair of Jeans was hours do combat not necessarily by working on the car but that's how the smart money bets. 

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## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> I was already having difficulty coming up with inspiration for a Valentines shoot with granddaughter, and then @CherylL had to up the ante with her fantastic Milk Baby shot, so I was feeling pretty depressed driving down the street, when I spied a treasure sitting outside an antique shop. Two more treasures inside added and few items from Walmart - I'm inspired!!! It's all coming together now, can't wait to set it up. Thank you Cheryl for giving me the figurative kick in the butt to get me going.



Oh no Valentines already?  I need to start scouting for my set.


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## limr




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## JonA_CT

I hit my head pretty good over the weekend, and wasn't feeling right (and my wife said I was acting funny), so I went to the doctor yesterday. The CT scan was clear fortunately, but he still diagnosed me with a concussion and is keeping me out of work until next Tuesday. I'm not supposed to mentally exert myself in anyway -- no reading, limited TV, not much computer use, etc. This is going to be a miserable, boring week. (The irony, of course, is that I have to prep plans for each day I'm out.)

I know that it's the right thing...I was feeling okay when I woke up, and after a couple hours I'm groggy (almost feeling a little drunk) and tired again.


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## smoke665

@JonA_CT Oh man, that's kinda scary. Hope you're on the mend quickly.


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## terri

JonA_CT said:


> I hit my head pretty good over the weekend, and wasn't feeling right (and my wife said I was acting funny), so I went to the doctor yesterday. The CT scan was clear fortunately, but he still diagnosed me with a concussion and is keeping me out of work until next Tuesday. I'm not supposed to mentally exert myself in anyway -- no reading, limited TV, not much computer use, etc. This is going to be a miserable, boring week. (The irony, of course, is that I have to prep plans for each day I'm out.)
> 
> I know that it's the right thing...I was feeling okay when I woke up, and after a couple hours I'm groggy (almost feeling a little drunk) and tired again.


Dang, Jon.  That's nothing to play with.   Glad your wife was there to observe your behavior, which is very telling.

No reading would be the worst of it for me, but in the interest of getting past this quickly and resting your brain, doctor's orders rule!

Take it easy, and get well soon.


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## davidharmier60

Yeah, a busted head is something else!
I got in the upper 4 hours with 10.36 for the week so far. Going to read a little bit and have brunch. Then to the Post Office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## CherylL

JonA_CT said:


> I hit my head pretty good over the weekend, and wasn't feeling right (and my wife said I was acting funny), so I went to the doctor yesterday. The CT scan was clear fortunately, but he still diagnosed me with a concussion and is keeping me out of work until next Tuesday. I'm not supposed to mentally exert myself in anyway -- no reading, limited TV, not much computer use, etc. This is going to be a miserable, boring week. (The irony, of course, is that I have to prep plans for each day I'm out.)
> 
> I know that it's the right thing...I was feeling okay when I woke up, and after a couple hours I'm groggy (almost feeling a little drunk) and tired again.



I hope you feel better soon.  Sounds like a long week to recover doing nothing.  Maybe listen to music?


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## Jeff G

Jon, sounds like you will be taking up meditaion whether you want to or not, they sure didn't leave you with much else to do. I would go stir crazy!


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## davidharmier60

The computer wigged out again. 
Tomorrow it is possible we'll get A/V bought and installed.

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## davidharmier60

6 and better than a half hours today. 
17.20 for the week so far. Had to do some mopping. About to go get check. Been having chicken tenders at the deli. 

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## smoke665

Finally back from the Eye doctor/surgeon after YAG Laser Surgery on my right eye. A 5 min procedure that took 4 hrs.  but hopefully now my vision will be matched. After the cataract surgery I was one of the 10% who had cells form on the back of the capsule that holds the lens causing a slight blurriness in that eye, like fog on a window.


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## davidharmier60

The computer booted up. But it ain't talking to the monitor. So can't even buy anti virus just now. Sister said we need to find a repair shop. 

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## davidharmier60

Hamburger, fries and onion rings was dinner. I took power away from the computer and will try another boot in a little while but don't have a lot of hope.

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## limr

Hey hosers.

Rough day. Found out late last night that a colleague died suddenly yesterday. She was only 66. There were others who knew her a lot better than I did, but it still kinda hit hard. She was the one who took me under her wing when I first got a full time staff position almost 3 years ago. She had a big personality, everyone knew her, and even when we complained about her, we loved her. The entire campus was in shock all day.


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## Jeff G

Sorry to hear about your loss, the older we get the more frequent they seem to become.


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## limr

Jeff G said:


> Sorry to hear about your loss, the older we get the more frequent they seem to become.



Thanks, Jeff. All too right about that


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## davidharmier60

Daves other Mother (NICE Lady!) Died Monday night. Funeral is Saturday. 
Going to try and get off for it. 

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## smoke665

Condolences to those who have lost loved ones. Last year was hard for us, my mother-in-law passed away in October and my father-in-law in Dec. This evening will be attending services for a friend, neighbor, and comrade in arms from the Fire Dept. As Jeff said above the circle of family and friends keeps eroding away.


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## JonA_CT

Sorry for those of you who are feeling loss right now. It's always tough.

I'm feeling much better. I woke up this morning without feeling drunk/hungover, which is the first time since the injury happened Friday. I'm still going to try to take it easy, even though all I want to do is go go go!


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## davidharmier60

The boss ladies aren't here yet so not sure I'll have Saturday off. Almost 5 hours today and 22.17 for the week so far. 

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## Jeff G

That's good news Jon, just resist the urge and don't over do it.


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## terri

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Rough day. Found out late last night that a colleague died suddenly yesterday. She was only 66. There were others who knew her a lot better than I did, but it still kinda hit hard. She was the one who took me under her wing when I first got a full time staff position almost 3 years ago. She had a big personality, everyone knew her, and even when we complained about her, we loved her. The entire campus was in shock all day.


That's a shock.     A young age, relatively speaking, still working, involved and dynamic.

Very sorry for the loss of your colleague.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Sorry for those of you who are feeling loss right now. It's always tough.
> 
> I'm feeling much better. I woke up this morning without feeling drunk/hungover, which is the first time since the injury happened Friday. I'm still going to try to take it easy, even though all I want to do is go go go!


Glad to hear this!    Light at the end of the tunnel.   Continue to take it easy, avoid any backsliding of progress!


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## CherylL

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Rough day. Found out late last night that a colleague died suddenly yesterday. She was only 66. There were others who knew her a lot better than I did, but it still kinda hit hard. She was the one who took me under her wing when I first got a full time staff position almost 3 years ago. She had a big personality, everyone knew her, and even when we complained about her, we loved her. The entire campus was in shock all day.



My condolences on your colleague.  Suddenly and at the relatively young age it is a shock.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> Condolences to those who have lost loved ones. Last year was hard for us, my mother-in-law passed away in October and my father-in-law in Dec. This evening will be attending services for a friend, neighbor, and comrade in arms from the Fire Dept. As Jeff said above the circle of family and friends keeps eroding away.



It does seen the circle is getting smaller.   My condolences for you and family.  Once you hit your 60's it seems to be getting too close to home.


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## CherylL

On another note, I am walking better.  The knee is not full strength but at least it moves.  I did 2 short shopping trips.  Yesterday I spent $8 at the Dollar store and today $6 at Michael's for my Valentine set.  Don't tell @smoke665 about my big set budget.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> On another note, I am walking better.  The knee is not full strength but at least it moves.  I did 2 short shopping trips.  Yesterday I spent $8 at the Dollar store and today $6 at Michael's for my Valentine set.  Don't tell @smoke665 about my big set budget.



Glad you're on the mend. I think I'm about double on set expenditure so far which includes part of the outfit, and about that much more to get the rest. Couple of big spending production companies aren't we? LOL


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## vintagesnaps

Jon keep taking it easy, seems like concussions are nothing to mess around with. 

Leo sorry about the loss for you and your college. Went back earlier in the thread and thought it looked like you'd had an interesting start to the week, that's too bad to have something like a loss of a colleague happen.


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## smoke665

Had a large turn out this evening by county FD departments to pay their final respects for a fellow member who lost his battle with cancer. Don't think there was a dry eye out there when when dispatch made the final call/end of watch over the radio. RIP SV674, one day we'll ride together again my friend.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> On another note, I am walking better.  The knee is not full strength but at least it moves.  I did 2 short shopping trips.  Yesterday I spent $8 at the Dollar store and today $6 at Michael's for my Valentine set.  Don't tell @smoke665 about my big set budget.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glad you're on the mend. I think I'm about double on set expenditure so far which includes part of the outfit, and about that much more to get the rest. Couple of big spending production companies aren't we? LOL
Click to expand...


My $ includes the pups' outfits   Daughter will take care of the grand girls' wardrobe.  Yes, big production companies.


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## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> Had a large turn out this evening by county FD departments to pay their final respects for a fellow member who lost his battle with cancer. Don't think there was a dry eye out there when when dispatch made the final call/end of watch over the radio. RIP SV674, one day we'll ride together again my friend.



It is hard to lose an old friend and colleague.  That is touching there was a final call/end of watch.


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## smoke665

Anyone else relate?


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## terri

smoke665 said:


> Anyone else relate?
> View attachment 167874


Nope!   Eww.

In other news, Happy Friday, hosers!   Beautiful, sunny winter day out there.   Chilly and perfect.


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## limr

Buzz and I walk into the room where the other person is so we can actually, you know, speak to each other.


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## davidharmier60

I don't know this "marriage ".
I thought I would but someone hit the b***h switch before it got serious. 
I got very nearly 7 hours today. Used nearly an entire box of bulbs in the deli. 
Going to hit the PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## smoke665

With three floors walking into another room isn't always the option for us unless we want to go up and down three flights of stairs a gazillion times a day. Upgraded our home phones some time back to include intercom thinking that would help, but DW refuses to even learn how to use it, despite the fact that for 25 years she had no problem using a much more complicated phone system at our office.  

And on another note our Valentine photos are on hold for now as granddaughter has the flu. Bless her heart she looks pitiful. Despite most people getting the flu shot here, there's another strain that's popped up with a resistance to the vaccine. It's starting to hit all the schools pretty hard, to the point that they're talking about closing for a few days.


----------



## SquarePeg

Flu is everywhere up here this month.  Most of our house had it last week, mildly though because all had flu shots.  I think my work from home and mildly germaphobe lifestyle works in my favor this time of year.  Lots of hand washing and we use paper towels for drying our hands.  When I’m in public places I make an effort not to touch railings, door handles, elevator buttons, etc. and I almost never handle money.  I’m not Howie Mandell or Howard Hughes level, just aware of where I put my hands.


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## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> . I think my work from home and mildly germaphobe lifestyle works in my favor this time of yea



Because of DW's low immune system we both have to be very careful. Hand washing, avoiding crowded enclosed areas, and wearing masks have been a way of life for us for a long time. 

In granddaughters case she was never in daycare and just started preschool this past fall. She's been sick a lot ever since. I suspect that might be because she had no exposure to some of the childhood germs earlier in life and is playing catchup.


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## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Flu is everywhere up here this month.  Most of our house had it last week, mildly though because all had flu shots.  I think my work from home and mildly germaphobe lifestyle works in my favor this time of year.  Lots of hand washing and we use paper towels for drying our hands.  When I’m in public places I make an effort not to touch railings, door handles, elevator buttons, etc. and I almost never handle money.  I’m not Howie Mandell or Howard Hughes level, just aware of where I put my hands.


That's good practice.    Whenever I get home from the grocery store, I wash my hands even before unloading the bags.   After everything is put up, I wash again.   

Anytime after being around people in a public place, hand washing rules!   It ain't crazy if you don't get sick, which I rarely do.


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## davidharmier60

If life hasn't killed me yet I seriously doubt the Flu could do it. 33.13 hours total for the week. And we are on the way to Pearland for the funeral. 

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## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> And on another note our Valentine photos are on hold for now as granddaughter has the flu. Bless her heart she looks pitiful. Despite most people getting the flu shot here, there's another strain that's popped up with a resistance to the vaccine. It's starting to hit all the schools pretty hard, to the point that they're talking about closing for a few days.



Hope your grand daughter feels better soon.  Schools are one big germ fest.  I am careful when out and use hand sanitizer.  After touching restaurant menus, doors, carts, etc.  And don't touch your face until you wash up.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The snow's at a bit of a lull with only a couple of inches so far, with more on the way. Nice and scenic! Was planning a weekend of taking it easy anyway, with the holidays and one thing and another it's been exhausting lately. The best thing on TV was John Candy in 'Summer Vacation'; good for a veg out day (and he was wearing a hockey jersey!).


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## smoke665

@CherylL My ex sister in law lives in Fenton, said it took 6 hours for her to make the 12 mile drive from work to home yesterday. My daughter in Springfield, IL said they got hit pretty good also. How's it your way??


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> @CherylL My ex sister in law lives in Fenton, said it took 6 hours for her to make the 12 mile drive from work to home yesterday. My daughter in Springfield, IL said they got hit pretty good also. How's it your way??



We have about 8 inches so far.  My husband was driving up from Memphis yesterday and St. Louis was a mess.  He had to get off one interstate to 2 lane and then another interstate.  It had just started to jam up so lucky he made it home finally.  A real mess.  Some sections of interstates in MO were shut down over night trapping motorists in their cars/trucks.


----------



## davidharmier60

The service was very nice. Almost a Catholic Mass but without the body of Christ. As it happens she asked that no service would happen.
My buddy from back then is nearly unrecognizable. I had forgotten that I was the best man at his wedding. 
His wife back then was kinda cold and distant. But being exposed to that family has rubbed off on her and she has become gracious and sweet. She told anyone who would listen that I had been the best man. 
And I gotta tell you she aged a whole lot better than he did!

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## snowbear

Just dropping in for a minute.

Sorry, Leonore, I know it's hard to lose a coworker, even if you weren't real close.
Jon & CheryIL - glad to hear things are getting better.

Weather folks are calling for 8" to 10" of the white stuff with the higher amounts to the south of DC.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Weather folks are calling for 8" to 10" of the white stuff with the higher amounts to the south of DC.


   Sounds like it's time to snuggle down in front of the fire, or rattle around in the kitchen with the soup pot and have playoff football in the background.


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## Jeff G

I miss the quiet that comes with the snow, but I sure don't  miss shoveling it or the mess it makes of the roads.


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## smoke665

Jeff G said:


> I miss the quiet that comes with the snow, but I sure don't  miss shoveling it or the mess it makes of the roads.



Or the mess it makes of your vehicle. We were only in it a little two weeks ago and the truck was covered.


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## davidharmier60

Only one of the daughters was easily recognized. The youngest one still looks too young to have 4 kids. Yesterday was a very nice day. I wish it could happen again but not with a death to start it.

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## SquarePeg

Today is Princess’s birthday.  16.  Taking her for her learner’s permit tomorrow.  That’s right folks she’ll be on the roads.  Take appropriate precautions.


----------



## tirediron

Mehhh... 3200 miles, two mountain ranges and the Juan de Fuca Strait?  I'm good.


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## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Today is Princess’s birthday.  16.  Taking her for her learner’s permit tomorrow.  That’s right folks she’ll be on the roads.  Take appropriate precautions.
> 
> View attachment 167949


Aw, she looks so pretty in this shot!    Turning 16 and obtaining one's diver's permit are big moments - enjoy yourselves!


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Today is Princess’s birthday.  16.  Taking her for her learner’s permit tomorrow.  That’s right folks she’ll be on the roads.  Take appropriate precautions.
> 
> View attachment 167949



Happy birthday!  The big milestone of driving   When our oldest got her license my biggest fear was her rushing home to meet curfew.  Instead of saying what time to be home I would tell her what time to leave wherever she was at...friend's house, school, etc.  We did live about 8 miles from the town where her events were held and the school.  It was 2 lane highway to get home.


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## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Today is Princess’s birthday.  16.  Taking her for her learner’s permit tomorrow.  That’s right folks she’ll be on the roads.  Take appropriate precautions.
> 
> View attachment 167949



Honestly, I thought Massachusetts driver’s ed just taught you had to use your horn, your flippah, and how to disable your turn signal. 

So that’s why I avoid Boston metro traffic unless absolutely necessary in general!


----------



## vintagesnaps

We got a whole bunch more snow overnight! The 3-5" that we got Fri. night into Sat. was gradual enough that the roads were pretty clear. Yowza, the bushes around my house got hammered from the weight of the snow and we ended up with 8-9". Maybe a little more Sun. night but there's 40 degrees in the forecast - yay! It's pretty for awhile but it needs to melt away by next weekend!


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today is Princess’s birthday.  16.  Taking her for her learner’s permit tomorrow.  That’s right folks she’ll be on the roads.  Take appropriate precautions.
> 
> View attachment 167949
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Honestly, I thought Massachusetts driver’s ed just taught you had to use your horn, your flippah, and how to disable your turn signal.
> 
> So that’s why I avoid Boston metro traffic unless absolutely necessary in general!
Click to expand...


You forgot Tailgating 101 and Rotaries for Road Ragers.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today is Princess’s birthday.  16.  Taking her for her learner’s permit tomorrow.  That’s right folks she’ll be on the roads.  Take appropriate precautions.
> 
> View attachment 167949
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Honestly, I thought Massachusetts driver’s ed just taught you had to use your horn, your flippah, and how to disable your turn signal.
> 
> So that’s why I avoid Boston metro traffic unless absolutely necessary in general!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You forgot Tailgating 101 and Rotaries for Road Ragers.
Click to expand...


You guys do love a good rotary. I forgot about that. Although, I have to say -- even the Mass. rotaries didn't prepare me for driving in England where they have truly perfected the art -- 5 or 6 feeder roads, 4-5 lanes, traffic lights in the middle...plus, they run clockwise rather than counter-clockwise! (And the stick is on the wrong side of the car too). 

Good luck, though. Our neighbor has slowly been getting enough hours to be able to take her test, and we can sometimes hear the how the lessons are going, haha.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today is Princess’s birthday.  16.  Taking her for her learner’s permit tomorrow.  That’s right folks she’ll be on the roads.  Take appropriate precautions.
> 
> View attachment 167949
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Honestly, I thought Massachusetts driver’s ed just taught you had to use your horn, your flippah, and how to disable your turn signal.
> 
> So that’s why I avoid Boston metro traffic unless absolutely necessary in general!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You forgot Tailgating 101 and Rotaries for Road Ragers.
Click to expand...


Let's not forget Lesson 4: How to cut off cars to get into the passing lane just to slow down to pace the cars in the middle lane. 

Rotaries, roundabouts...we call them traffic circles in these parts. I do wish Americans could get them hang of them like they have in Europe.


----------



## SquarePeg

Yeah yeah Europe is so much better, blah blah blah... oh limr it’s you!  I thought Frank had wandered back in for a second there...


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Yeah yeah Europe is so much better, blah blah blah... oh limr it’s you!  I thought Frank had wandered back in for a second there...



Oh, the Europeans are looney tunes in cars, but there are two things they understand better than Americans: passing lanes and traffic circles. Otherwise, it's just as much as a cluster*** , just in different ways


----------



## Frank F.

SquarePeg said:


> Yeah yeah Europe is so much better, blah blah blah... oh limr it’s you!  I thought Frank had wandered back in for a second there...




I was never away and still pay my support for this site. Every part of the world have their merits. I simply hope for the best for the whole planet and humanity, that the will to self destruct will lose against the will to be happy ever after. I am thinking globally, acting locally.

See my sustainable green house that will be ready to move in in roughly one year:







I am missing Gary!


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> See my sustainable green house that will be ready to move in in roughly one year:



To each their own I guess. We just got back from one of our favorite hangouts near Gatlinburg, TN. I'm always taken aback by the construction in the area, where the houses/condos cover the mountain tops, giving them the appearance of bee hives. I know the premium on space dictates this, but I'm always glad to get back to my mountain where neighbors aren't close. A place far removed from the noise of civilization, a place of solitude where my daily visitors are the deer, turkey, and other wildlife that we share the place with.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> See my sustainable green house that will be ready to move in in roughly one year:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To each their own I guess. We just got back from one of our favorite hangouts near Gatlinburg, TN. I'm always taken aback by the construction in the area, where the houses/condos cover the mountain tops, giving them the appearance of bee hives. I know the premium on space dictates this, but I'm always glad to get back to my mountain where neighbors aren't close. A place far removed from the noise of civilization, a place of solitude where my daily visitors are the deer, turkey, and other wildlife that we share the place with.
Click to expand...

I've said many times, the ideal place to live is somewhere where going to see your next-door neighbour is an all-day trip!


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> See my sustainable green house that will be ready to move in in roughly one year:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To each their own I guess. We just got back from one of our favorite hangouts near Gatlinburg, TN. I'm always taken aback by the construction in the area, where the houses/condos cover the mountain tops, giving them the appearance of bee hives. I know the premium on space dictates this, but I'm always glad to get back to my mountain where neighbors aren't close. A place far removed from the noise of civilization, a place of solitude where my daily visitors are the deer, turkey, and other wildlife that we share the place with.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I've said many times, the ideal place to live is somewhere where going to see your next-door neighbour is an all-day trip!
Click to expand...


Not sure if it's the case everywhere or just with me, but for over 30 years I lived in subdivisions with neighbors (maybe not as close as Frank) but other than those who lived next to us we didn't really know our neighbors. In the 12 years we've lived in this 26 mile long rural valley, we've met and know by  name, people from one end to the other. We've developed friendships, unlike what we'd experienced in town.


----------



## davidharmier60

I wasn't sure the buffer would get through tomorrow. So I'm over in Cold Springs for propane. Where there are a few sales places south of Cleveland there are a wreck or three every weekend. The highway department sure needs to build an overpass there. Otherwise it doesn't seem to matter much who is driving. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> See my sustainable green house that will be ready to move in in roughly one year:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To each their own I guess. We just got back from one of our favorite hangouts near Gatlinburg, TN. I'm always taken aback by the construction in the area, where the houses/condos cover the mountain tops, giving them the appearance of bee hives. I know the premium on space dictates this, but I'm always glad to get back to my mountain where neighbors aren't close. A place far removed from the noise of civilization, a place of solitude where my daily visitors are the deer, turkey, and other wildlife that we share the place with.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I've said many times, the ideal place to live is somewhere where going to see your next-door neighbour is an all-day trip!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not sure if it's the case everywhere or just with me, but for over 30 years I lived in subdivisions with neighbors (maybe not as close as Frank) but other than those who lived next to us we didn't really know our neighbors. In the 12 years we've lived in this 26 mile long rural valley, we've met and know by  name, people from one end to the other. We've developed friendships, unlike what we'd experienced in town.
Click to expand...


I know lots of people in my quarter. A walkable neighbourhood. That is important.

Everyone walks, everyone talks. Cars are a communication barrier. In a high traffic street you do not stop the car in the middle of the road, wind down the window and have a chat while hundreds of cars line up behind you.

If you walk to work, to school, to shop, to doctors, to friends you meet people you talk  you might even have a coffee, a tea, a cigarrette, a glass of wine or beer....

In my quarter there are 3000 people per square Kilometer (2.5 acres) and only half of the households have a car. Not because they are poor, lots of people here have a lot of money, but because a car is more a PITA than a useful addition...


----------



## Frank F.

Where is Gary Ayala? He disappeared from all forums by end of October / early November.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> Everyone walks, everyone talks. Cars are a communication barrier. In a high traffic street you do not stop the car in the middle of the road, wind down the window



And that may be a reason for the difference here. Work school and residential areas are more spread out.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> Everyone walks, everyone talks. Cars are a communication barrier. In a high traffic street you do not stop the car in the middle of the road, wind down the window
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And that may be a reason for the difference here. Work school and residential areas are more spread out.
Click to expand...



We have these areas too. Poor areas losing people to the cities like the suburban sprawl in the US of A. Only the well off can afford to live in the city center urban villages with nice neighbourhoods.

IMO everybody should be able to live in such a sustainable area if he/she wishes to. That is why I am thinking about redeveloping areas of sprawl into sustainanble, walkable areas and not only me but a lot of people thinking about life with smaller footprints in energy and material and space.

Europe is is smaller, Australia and America are much bigger, less people per Unit area, also in Ireland e.g. 25 people per sqkm in Ireland, ten times as much in Germany, a hundred times as much in my quarter. That creates another sense of space

I like the density, I like being known and know people in my quarter. It feels like a village. I just wish people would leave the cars outside and walk into the area. Or they would park their cars on their turf and not use up public space


----------



## markjwyatt

I love round-abouts in France. I remember in the early-mid 2000s I spent some time in France (multiple trips), and wanted to see some sights while there, so wrote out directions on paper to get to them (did not have GPS those trips). Roundabouts helped immensely, as I could go 2 or even 3 times around them as I conjectured which was the correct exit to take (It was not always as clear as one would hope).


----------



## markjwyatt

Frank F. said:


> ...
> 
> I like the density, I like being known and know people in my quarter. It feels like a village. I just wish people would leave the cars outside and walk into the area. Or they would park their cars on their turf and not use up public space



Europe and Germany included is much better about intra-city transport than the US (and with density it becomes more practical). On the other hand, my personal experience in Germany is that many people are just as adamant as Americans about owning a car. New business models (such as Uber, but even beyond that into easy car leasing services, ebikes, etc.) could change that.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> We have these areas too. Poor areas losing people to the cities like the suburban sprawl in the US of A. Only the well off can afford to live in the city center urban villages with nice neighbourhoods.
> 
> IMO everybody should be able to live in such a sustainable area if he/she wishes to. That is why I am thinking about redeveloping areas of sprawl into sustainanble, walkable areas and not only me but a lot of people thinking about life with smaller footprints in energy and material and space.



We've had a lot of that in the revitalization of our downtown. There's been a real boon there as developers have converted the multistory buildings into combination retail (ground floor) and luxury residential lofts (upper floors). The local news in Birmingham did a story recently on the renovations. The city recently passed measures designating the downtown as an entertainment district.  Apparently it's all being received well, because there's a waiting list on the properties as they're finished. However it seems to be mostly oriented toward younger professionals. Don't see many families with children.

As to green living, I have the ultimate in green space living. Several years ago I received a federal grant to convert  our property into wildlife habitat and managed woodlands. The state forestry service and biologist came in and laid out a sustainable plan. We planted the trees, grasses, and shrubs they recommended for browse for the deer, turkey and the open areas with edges for the birds like quail and dove. Other then maintaining the fire lanes and yards around the house there's very little maintenance. An added benefit are the roughly 2 miles of walking trails around the property, and eventually the sale of timber. Our all electric house was built to the most current energy efficient standards of the time.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Roundabouts here... and people can't drive in them. I hate the one near me with a hill in the middle, don't ask me the point of that. You can't see what the other car is doing, if they're slowing down or zipping on around (because if it doesn't say stop or yield, they aren't). At least there's not much traffic thru it, out where I live I can't see why they even bothered. 

In the city, that's a whole other story. The method of driving in snow is everybody hop in their cars and drive around like maniacs. Oh yeah, that's pretty much the daily routine. That and driving like bats out of hell after work, especially on Fridays. Just get out of the way!


----------



## vintagesnaps

There was a guy in this movie I was watching using a Widelux. Why he was in the bathroom with it I can't say, seems like an odd choice in a small space. At least when I start on a late late movie or foreign film TCM has them streaming so I can watch it the next day. 

Today is all '40s crime dramas; the one that was just on had plenty of running around with Speed Graphics, etc. and riding around in those big cars with running boards. Jimmy Cagney of course will turn up later. Up next, 'The Finger Points'!


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> I've said many times, the ideal place to live is somewhere where going to see your next-door neighbour is an all-day trip!


and may require a snowmobile.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've said many times, the ideal place to live is somewhere where going to see your next-door neighbour is an all-day trip!
> 
> 
> 
> and may require a snowmobile.
Click to expand...

A Landrover or quad, sure.  Snowmobiles are RIGHT out!


----------



## limr

Give me wide open spaces and neighbors that I can't see or hear, and never have to talk to, and I'm good.

Even with more inter-city public transportation options, it's not viable for many people in the US to go without having a car. Distances are too great just for day-to-day purposes in many cases. I commute almost 50 miles every day for work, for example. If I had to take public transportation to and from work, I would spend my life doing three things: working, sleeping, and sitting on a bus. And that's only in the case that the public buses ever actually came to my town. Currently, the closest bus stop to me is probably about 10 miles away, and I would have to pay a taxi or an Uber-type service just to get to the bus stop? Nope.


----------



## markjwyatt

limr said:


> Give me wide open spaces and neighbors that I can't see or hear, and never have to talk to, and I'm good.
> 
> Even with more inter-city public transportation options, it's not viable for many people in the US to go without having a car. Distances are too great just for day-to-day purposes in many cases. I commute almost 50 miles every day for work, for example. If I had to take public transportation to and from work, I would spend my life doing three things: working, sleeping, and sitting on a bus. And that's only in the case that the public buses ever actually came to my town. Currently, the closest bus stop to me is probably about 10 miles away, and I would have to pay a taxi or an Uber-type service just to get to the bus stop? Nope.



Even in much of Europe it helps to have a car for longer distance trips. In the US it is a necessity.


----------



## limr

markjwyatt said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Give me wide open spaces and neighbors that I can't see or hear, and never have to talk to, and I'm good.
> 
> Even with more inter-city public transportation options, it's not viable for many people in the US to go without having a car. Distances are too great just for day-to-day purposes in many cases. I commute almost 50 miles every day for work, for example. If I had to take public transportation to and from work, I would spend my life doing three things: working, sleeping, and sitting on a bus. And that's only in the case that the public buses ever actually came to my town. Currently, the closest bus stop to me is probably about 10 miles away, and I would have to pay a taxi or an Uber-type service just to get to the bus stop? Nope.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Even in much of Europe it helps to have a car for longer distance trips. In the US it is a necessity.
Click to expand...


True. When I lived in Braga, Portugal, I didn't own a car. Thankfully, it wasn't too much of an issue, but Braga is a large enough city to have buses, but small enough to still be walkable for most daily tasks. On the occasion that I had to do a bigger shopping at Carrefour or something, I would borrow a car or even rent one.

If I lived in the suburbs of the town, however, it would be a much harder thing to get by without a car.

Not everyone is cut out for living in close proximity to others in an urban or even semi-urban setting. It can take a serious toll on a person's mental and even physical health. Braga was fine for a couple of years, but if I had settled there for longer, I would have moved out of the city center.


----------



## Frank F.

markjwyatt said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...
> 
> I like the density, I like being known and know people in my quarter. It feels like a village. I just wish people would leave the cars outside and walk into the area. Or they would park their cars on their turf and not use up public space
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Europe and Germany included is much better about intra-city transport than the US (and with density it becomes more practical). On the other hand, my personal experience in Germany is that many people are just as adamant as Americans about owning a car. New business models (such as Uber, but even beyond that into easy car leasing services, ebikes, etc.) could change that.
Click to expand...



yes, Germans are car crazy people, but the younger generation are less of it...


----------



## Frank F.

@limr  true. people differ in a lot of ways and while I am a very social family man in the city, I sometimes wish to live far outside on a self sustaining farm and let the city be city...


----------



## Frank F.

limr said:


> Give me wide open spaces and neighbors that I can't see or hear, and never have to talk to, and I'm good.
> 
> Even with more inter-city public transportation options, it's not viable for many people in the US to go without having a car. Distances are too great just for day-to-day purposes in many cases. I commute almost 50 miles every day for work, for example. If I had to take public transportation to and from work, I would spend my life doing three things: working, sleeping, and sitting on a bus. And that's only in the case that the public buses ever actually came to my town. Currently, the closest bus stop to me is probably about 10 miles away, and I would have to pay a taxi or an Uber-type service just to get to the bus stop? Nope.




my theory is, that planning and realizing walkable neighbourhoods is a long distance run. My new house accommodates three families and an elderly couple...


----------



## davidharmier60

At the reception we went to a big nice house that was not more than 20 feet from it's neighbors. Up here where we live i can't quite throw a rock and hit the house across the road. I sorta prefer here.
Look at the time. Gotta boogie.

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## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> My new house accommodates three families and an elderly couple



In this high density world of yours, how many square feet of living space do they consider adequate to accommodate a family?


----------



## JonA_CT

I’m sure substantially less than in the US, Smoke. The family dynamic is different. 

Marie Kondo, who is Japanese, has been making waves the last few weeks because of her Netflix show on tidying. She mentions several times how Americans value space differently than other cultures. She was especially shocked by the size of American kitchens. We value it as a family meeting space, and there’s a lot of cultural emphasis placed on cooking. For others, it’s just a prep space, haha. 

I’ll keep my family-sized kitchen, though.

In other news, I’m back at work today. Finally.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT Great news on being back to work. No lingering problems hopefully. I haven't seen an update on the first batch at the brewery? Any news there?


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> @JonA_CT Great news on being back to work. No lingering problems hopefully. I haven't seen an update on the first batch at the brewery? Any news there?



We have 4 batches in fermenters now. The first 2 are ready to be packaged.

Unfortunately, we need a small administrative approval from the federal government for each beer we brew for the first time. That office is closed indefinitely, so we are in a holding pattern as far as actually opening. Once the shutdown clears, it could be almost 2 months to get that approval because we are one of many breweries across the country who are submitting that form with no one able to sign off. It’s worse in CT though because every beer requires it. In other states, it’s only recipes that will be served across state lines.


----------



## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @JonA_CT Great news on being back to work. No lingering problems hopefully. I haven't seen an update on the first batch at the brewery? Any news there?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We have 4 batches in fermenters now. The first 2 are ready to be packaged.
> 
> Unfortunately, we need a small administrative approval from the federal government for each beer we brew for the first time. That office is closed indefinitely, so we are in a holding pattern as far as actually opening. Once the shutdown clears, it could be almost 2 months to get that approval because we are one of many breweries across the country who are submitting that form with no one able to sign off. It’s worse in CT though because every beer requires it. In other states, it’s only recipes that will be served across state lines.
Click to expand...


I'm assuming that approval is required for selling, but would approval be required for giving it away? I'm sure there would be plenty of TPF members willing to sample. LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

5.3x hours today 11.24 for the week so far. 
My BSH Invicta should be at the PO.
Going there, then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## davidharmier60

It WAS here! Take a gander at this!




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## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> We have 4 batches in fermenters now. The first 2 are ready to be packaged.
> 
> Unfortunately, we need a small administrative approval from the federal government for each beer we brew for the first time. That office is closed indefinitely, so we are in a holding pattern as far as actually opening. Once the shutdown clears, it could be almost 2 months to get that approval because we are one of many breweries across the country who are submitting that form with no one able to sign off. It’s worse in CT though because every beer requires it. In other states, it’s only recipes that will be served across state lines.



Sounds like a Spring, or potential Summer field trip - either of which is fine.  We will most likely have a new vehicle for the trip, with plenty of trunk space.



smoke665 said:


> I'm assuming that approval is required for selling, but would approval be required for giving it away? I'm sure there would be plenty of TPF members willing to sample. LOL


I kicked in a few pennies so I have a glass waiting for me, and my name will be on the wall.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Jon glad you're back to work, now for a snow day?!?!? 

I don't want to watch a show about someone tidying up, but if they want to come to my house and do a demo, that'd be fine! I'll keep my big kitchen too, with a nice big picture window. 

The early news said they need certified lifeguards at a local city pool this summer, then showed a live look at the city - gray, fog & gloomy! lol I just hope it warms up enough for this snow to melt before we get more.


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## davidharmier60

Sausage, Mac and cheese and green beans. If it survived there was a service of Blue Bell Great Divide left.....

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## davidharmier60

No Blue Bell. Pecan pie. 
And good night to you all and have a wonderful tomorrow. 

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## snowbear

Early start this morning -- I have the geo-committee meeting on the Eastern Shore.


----------



## CherylL

Yesterday had a knee x-ray to see if anything was broken and all okay.  The goal now is to build up strength.  I was hesitant to do too much with still having discomfort.

I ordered something for the Valentine backdrop, but I can use it for other projects so not counting that into the budget.  I don't know when I'll get to set up and shoot.  One of the pups has dental surgery and one of the grand kids has the flu.  If one gets it they all get it like a domino effect.


----------



## terri

CherylL said:


> Yesterday had a knee x-ray to see if anything was broken and all okay.  The goal now is to build up strength.  I was hesitant to do too much with still having discomfort.
> 
> I ordered something for the Valentine backdrop, but I can use it for other projects so not counting that into the budget.  I don't know when I'll get to set up and shoot.  One of the pups has dental surgery and one of the grand kids has the flu.  If one gets it they all get it like a domino effect.


Ugh, a bum knee can really make it hard to get around - glad the x-ray showed no lasting damage, Cheryl!  

Sounds like everything is a bit hectic in your household.      Hang in there!


----------



## davidharmier60

6 and almost a half. 17.50 for the week so far. Got to take milk home. Gonna get my check in a few.

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## smoke665

CherylL said:


> Yesterday had a knee x-ray to see if anything was broken and all okay.  The goal now is to build up strength.  I was hesitant to do too much with still having discomfort.
> 
> I ordered something for the Valentine backdrop, but I can use it for other projects so not counting that into the budget.  I don't know when I'll get to set up and shoot.  One of the pups has dental surgery and one of the grand kids has the flu.  If one gets it they all get it like a domino effect.



Glad nothing broken. I have found that as I get older things hurt much longer then they used to.

Our granddaughter is finally over the flu we hope. Getting her tomorrow for a few hours. Will try on outfits, and finalize the little details for up coming shoots. Just so you know, we spent another $10 on a bow and itger small set decorations. Wouldn't want you to fall behind on budget


----------



## vintagesnaps

There are some odd movies on TCM today... Coming up - 'Night of the Lepus', which you'd think sounds like it might have to do with Limr (s)! (I had to, Leo! lol) but no, it involves rampaging rabbits.

It stars Dr. McCoy from Star Trek, who might have been better off to ask the Enterprise to beam him up after about the first 15 minutes (and if he's lucky maybe his scenes are over). Also Janet Leigh, Stuart Whitman... how did these people have the misfortune to end up in this movie?? lol


----------



## smoke665

Yesterday St. Peter was heard saying "Well Hello Dolly". Carol Channing, star of Broadway's 'Hello Dolly!' dies at 97 - CNN just caught this on the news.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Yesterday St. Peter was heard saying "Well Hello Dolly". Carol Channing, star of Broadway's 'Hello Dolly!' dies at 97 - CNN just caught this on the news.



Yeah, I heard her first on-screen kiss was with a young fellow also having his first on-screen kiss: Clint Eastwood.


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yesterday St. Peter was heard saying "Well Hello Dolly". Carol Channing, star of Broadway's 'Hello Dolly!' dies at 97 - CNN just caught this on the news.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I heard her first on-screen kiss was with a young fellow also having his first on-screen kiss: Clint Eastwood.
Click to expand...


I saw that in a NY Post article. Supposedly they "spent a long time practicing, trying to figure out how to do it with both our faces facing forward", but it ultimately ended up on the cutting room floor. Hmmm maybe they needed more practice LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

The very air is wet. 99% humidity. 
56 degrees right now going to upper 60s. 
Sitting in the parking lot waiting on a keyholder. 

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## davidharmier60

It still seems quite humid. A bit over 6 hours and 22.53 for the week so far. 
Apparently nothing needs to be taken home. PO and the other box after I visit our bank. 

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## vintagesnaps

Do I ever have a lot of half or mostly empty (with one left!) packets of sewing and embroidery needles! Going thru accumulated needlework supplies while we're going to have accumulating snow for two weekends in a row.


----------



## smoke665

Temperatures warmed overnight, giving us a heavy fog this morning. It was so heavy, that on our morning walk Sadie ran up on a squirrel sitting on the ground in the middle of the trail. Not sure who was more surprised as they faced off nose to nose. I'll give the squirrel credit, that triple backflip, spin, and run trick it pulled off probably saved it's life. LOL


----------



## terri

It's foggier around here, as well, but not to that extent!   Slightly warmer temps and rain moved through the area late yesterday likely brought the fog.  Today is dry but overcast.   

Happy Friday, hosers!   Anyone have exciting weekend plans to share?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

terri said:


> Anyone have exciting weekend plans to share?


 Snow shoveling and more removal efforts is my prediction for weekend plans


----------



## terri

eek!   It's heading your way, isn't it?   One of winter's delights!   

Stay warm!


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Snow shoveling and more removal efforts is my prediction for weekend plans



Thankfully here conditions are such that we follow the "God Rule - what  he puts down he'll take away". If I had to deal with freezing my buns off, I'd want to spend as little time as possible, I'd want to be sure it was far enough away that it wouldn't blow back, and I'd have to have some "fun incentive" to get me out there. Maybe one of these?...?


----------



## CherylL

The smallest pup Quincy had 12 teeth extracted yesterday.  He is doing ok and will be on pain meds for a week.  The Valentine budge went up another $6 yesterday plus another $50 which the items can be used for the grands on any occasion so not counting that into the budget.  I may start setting up this weekend.  I need help moving things around in the basement.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> The smallest pup Quincy had 12 teeth extracted yesterday.  He is doing ok and will be on pain meds for a week.  The Valentine budge went up another $6 yesterday plus another $50 which the items can be used for the grands on any occasion so not counting that into the budget.  I may start setting up this weekend.  I need help moving things around in the basement.



Yikes, hope the fur kid is doing well. Ms Sadie had some minor surgery last week, teeth cleaning and a small growth removed from her eyelid. doesn't seem to have slowed her down any.

I'm anxious to see what you've come up with for set!!  I think I we have everything for Valentines now. I'm really torn between an outside location and inside.  The only space big enough inside is in the garage, which has a time limit as the DW's car gets moved to the shed when we set up. May just wait for the weather to decide for me.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> The smallest pup Quincy had 12 teeth extracted yesterday.  He is doing ok and will be on pain meds for a week.  The Valentine budge went up another $6 yesterday plus another $50 which the items can be used for the grands on any occasion so not counting that into the budget.  I may start setting up this weekend.  I need help moving things around in the basement.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yikes, hope the fur kid is doing well. Ms Sadie had some minor surgery last week, teeth cleaning and a small growth removed from her eyelid. doesn't seem to have slowed her down any.
> 
> I'm anxious to see what you've come up with for set!!  I think I we have everything for Valentines now. I'm really torn between an outside location and inside.  The only space big enough inside is in the garage, which has a time limit as the DW's car gets moved to the shed when we set up. May just wait for the weather to decide for me.
Click to expand...


Hope Sadie is recovering!  Quincy slept good last night on pain meds while I had a nightmare about his ordeal.  

The area in the basement is the only clutter free wall.  I do have to move 2 items.  Placing the light stand is tricky because of the tight space width wise.  I have a few participation ideas for the 3 grands.  They will get bribed with the smile for mommy type photos and then we will try some fun stuff.  The pups are easier because they work for dog treats.


----------



## smoke665

@CherylL didn't slow down Sadie much. Hey I just saw on the news that SEMO is projected to get hammered tomorrow. Is any of that headed your way?


----------



## vintagesnaps

I've been hearing drips since yesterday, so at least some of what's already on the ground has melted. But it's got a ways to go. 

The latest forecast just on made me go yikes!! I'm in the 6-10" range bordering on an 8-12" band of snow. It might start out Sat. as the ever popular wintry mix (including a bit of ice but supposedly not enough to be problematic) but then boy, is it gonna snow!! Then a drop to bitter temps Sun. which is only supposed to last for a day or two. It's a long weekend but ought to be a quiet one, I doubt I'll see much go by besides the salt truck/snow plow til Tuesday.

So my plans this weekend are to get back to my big baggie of packets of sharps and betweens and tapestry needles that I rounded up (and needles for millinery and darning and crewel work which I've never done but used a few needles out of most of the packets for something!). There are some that must be out of my grandma's sewing cabinet, one was marked 35 cents. Maybe I'll actually do some needlework too.


----------



## CherylL

@smoke665 we are in the 2 to 4 inch band.  Just north of us is 4 to 6 inches.  Predicting high winds.

@vintagesnaps we had about 8 to 10 inches last weekend.  Stay safe!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Thanks, so did I! lol It was only a few inches Sat. and roads were cleared but then Sun. woke up to another few/several inches! My poor bushes got darn near flattened! They've since mostly bounced back. 

I didn't really want a repeat this weekend since I had plans. Was supposed to go to a needlework event of all things held at a state park in the area (which just happens to be where it's held, it doesn't have anything to do remotely with wildlife but maybe a bit of 'wild life'; if someone finishes a project they have a glass of wine or nonalcoholic beverage of their choice! lol if you want to call that wild). Those plans went out the window, walking with a cane I don't even chance it. Especially not with a foot of snow coming!


----------



## davidharmier60

I got to 28 hours even with a day to go. 
Just had leftover spaghetti for dinner. 
Got the aerobic system fixed when I got back from Lowes. Watching Price is Right and the last guy on there was something else. Lite in the loafers sort of guy.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## Warhorse

Having lived in the snow belt of northern Michigan for years, I feel for you guys dealing with a foot of snow when you are not used to it, be careful out there and try not to over do it, you can always take a break and warm up, then take another stab it, no use having a heart attack over it.


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## SquarePeg

Warhorse said:


> Having lived in the snow belt of northern Michigan for years, I feel for you guys dealing with a foot of snow when you are not used to it, be careful out there and try not to over do it, you can always take a break and warm up, then take another stab it, no use having a heart attack over it.



I either pay someone else to do it or wait for the melt.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> Having lived in the snow belt of northern Michigan for years, I feel for you guys dealing with a foot of snow when you are not used to it, be careful out there and try not to over do it, you can always take a break and warm up, then take another stab it, no use having a heart attack over it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I either pay someone else to do it or wait for the melt.
Click to expand...

Ehhh????  If you're going to do that, what's the point of owning a teen-ager???????


----------



## otherprof

Interesting obit, in today’s NY Times , of the photographer of cats, Walter Chandoha.  His cat photography began in 1949 when he rescued a freezing kitten in the snow in Astoria NY.  He became the go-to cat photographer, and took 90,000 pictures of them.  The obit covers more than half a page and included photos. Tad hen is coming out with a retrospective volume.  I wish they had shown some of his work as a combat photographer in the South Pacific during WWII.


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> Having lived in the snow belt of northern Michigan for years, I feel for you guys dealing with a foot of snow when you are not used to it, be careful out there and try not to over do it, you can always take a break and warm up, then take another stab it, no use having a heart attack over it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I either pay someone else to do it or wait for the melt.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ehhh????  If you're going to do that, what's the point of owning a teen-ager???????
Click to expand...


You’ve obviously never been a 16 year old girl.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> Having lived in the snow belt of northern Michigan for years, I feel for you guys dealing with a foot of snow when you are not used to it, be careful out there and try not to over do it, you can always take a break and warm up, then take another stab it, no use having a heart attack over it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I either pay someone else to do it or wait for the melt.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ehhh????  If you're going to do that, what's the point of owning a teen-ager???????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You’ve obviously never been a 16 year old girl.
Click to expand...


Well, but I have been, and cleaning the snow was an enforced chore from about the age of 8 or 9. But then again, I had crazy Portuguese parents, so there is only so far you can generalize.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> Having lived in the snow belt of northern Michigan for years, I feel for you guys dealing with a foot of snow when you are not used to it, be careful out there and try not to over do it, you can always take a break and warm up, then take another stab it, no use having a heart attack over it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I either pay someone else to do it or wait for the melt.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Ehhh????  If you're going to do that, what's the point of owning a teen-ager???????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You’ve obviously never been a 16 year old girl.
Click to expand...

True, but she must want her allowance, new clothes or supper...  Perfect time to learn about the barter system.  One clear driveway = one new blouse.


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> True, but she must want her allowance, new clothes or supper... Perfect time to learn about the barter system. One clear driveway = one new blouse.



Have you any experience being the father of a teenage girl??? My poor boys didn't get away with anything (with me anyhow-Mom different story), my daughter on the other hand learned at an early age that she could work me or her brothers into doing the work, she'd get the pay, and not figuring out until days later that we'd been had. LOL


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## smoke665

Snows to the north of us, winds to the south, here I am stuck in the middle with rain


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> Snows to the north of us, winds to the south, here I am stuck in the middle with rain



Sounds like a good place to be. That tornado looks like it meant business down there.


----------



## limr

It's snowiiiiiiiing!!


----------



## snowbear

Rain, here, but getting colder.
Tomorrow we go to the _Square H_ and pick up a new shiny.  Photos later.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

limr said:


> It's snowiiiiiiiing!!



It's rainiiiiiing!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I got up at 4 am to shovel sidewalk, shower, make lunch, breakfast and go to work. The rain was most welcomed.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

And now it is back to snow.


----------



## smoke665

Went to walk Sadie this morning, didn't take long for either of us. Temperature was hovering just at freezing and the wind was blowing from the north. As the old timers would say it was "colder'n a well diggers ***". Planned on service this morning, but the little country Church we go to doesn't  turn the heat up till right before service starts. DW has a really hard time with cold thanks to the treatments and I'm getting that way. Looks like an inside day for us.


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## SquarePeg

Freezing rain here covering the 3-4” of snow from yesterday.  Clean up is going to be ugly.  Denial.


----------



## davidharmier60

Approximately freezing outside. But the sun is shining bright. High to be upper 40s to low 50s about 4pm and back down to 31 overnight.  Just had corn pancakes (yummy) and bacon. Don't have a church. 
But speak to the big guy pretty often. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## limr

Hey hosers. Stopped snowing here, too. It was raining and we've got some ice on the trees. Hoping the wind doesn't pick up and knock anything down, but otherwise, nothing much is happening outside.

Temps are hovering around freezing at the moment, but dropping. Low of 3F tonight and a high of 11F tomorrow. Looks like a few more nights of single-digit nighttime lows and highs in teens or twenties.

Now that's a proper winter cold snap!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Kept hearing the snow plow scraping by last night (1:30 am was the last time around - hey we know how to live it up out here in the country!). Beautifully sunny and pretty darn cold with a quick dip down to single digits tonight then seasonal by Monday. Should be clear enough to see the moon eclipse tonight. Otherwise just a lazy Sunday.


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## SquarePeg

Still icy rain here.  Got my neighbor’s kid over with his friend to clear the driveway and front walk.   Princess and I spent the morning clearing closets of things to donate or throw out.  Declutter is our goal for January.   February we’ll organize and March we’re going to do some painting and redecorating.


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## davidharmier60

Done all the penny stuff I plan to do today. 
Did my comics on the computer and plan to read for a while. Found out it won't take much to run a small propane tank out where the big tank is nearly empty. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## snowbear

Partly cloudy but windy.

It's done.  The color is "Dark Olive."


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## limr

snowbear said:


> Partly cloudy but windy.
> 
> It's done.  The color is "Dark Olive."
> View attachment 168292



Mazel Tov!


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Partly cloudy but windy.
> 
> It's done. The color is "Dark Olive



We looked at a new CRV the other day for DW. I'm just not sold yet on the the 4 cyl, but that seems to be the only thing available now in the smaller SUVs.

Finally started working smarter today. Every time I pull a folded up background out of a storage container, I go through the steaming and pressing routine to get the %$#@ wrinkled out. Today I took 3 of the most used and worked them smooth. Then rolled them on some 1-1/2" PVC tubing. So far it seems to be working really well.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Partly cloudy but windy.
> 
> It's done.  The color is "Dark Olive."
> View attachment 168292



Would love to hear your reviews after you’ve had this for a bit.  My aunt  bought one recently as well and really likes it so far.  I love my Honda Pilot but my next car will probably be smaller, either a CRV or a RAV4.  I think my days of car pooling and coaching are done and I don’t want Princess to have room for too many passengers once she starts driving on her own.   I’d like to stick with Honda but a lot will depend on price with the options that I want.


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## SquarePeg

When you’re on the couch without permission...


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## limr

I'm trapped under a Zelda.

Actually, I take that back. Within 30 seconds of taking this picture, she jumped off my lap, puncturing my knee in the process.


----------



## smoke665

Didn't look at the Rav4 yet, but we found the CRV comfortable. There was enough room for me as a passenger or driver, and enough adjustment for DW to be able to see over the dash and reach the pedal. The Pilot we liked, but she could only reach the gas and brake with her tip toe.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> When you’re on the couch without permission...


That.little.FACE!       Oh, he's a mess, isn't he?

@limr:  Sounds like Finn's technique!


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Didn't look at the Rav4 yet, but we found the CRV comfortable. There was enough room for me as a passenger or driver, and enough adjustment for DW to be able to see over the dash and reach the pedal. The Pilot we liked, but she could only reach the gas and brake with her tip toe.



The driver side seat on my Pilot is adjustable forward/back/up/down/recline and the seat bottom can be tilted forward/back for shorter/longer legs.  Your wife would have to be extremely short if the seat couldn’t be adjusted for her.  The up/down and tilt adjustments are key.  Probably you just needed to lower the whole seat and tilt it just a bit forward to get it to the right position for her legs.  My mom, 5’2” and shrinking has driven my car many times and she likes to be up close.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> When you’re on the couch without permission...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That.little.FACE!       Oh, he's a mess, isn't he?
> 
> @limr:  Sounds like Finn's technique!
Click to expand...


He popped up to do his “cute face” so he wouldn’t get in trouble.  Since his bladder surgery he’s not supposed to be on the couch when I’m not there with him.  He’s been a bit more accident prone than before. 




Peek a boo!

You can see those marks on his face where he rubbed his fur off in his nose rubbing frenzy when the cone was removed last month.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Your wife would have to be extremely short if the seat couldn’t be adjusted for her.



Tried both the new CRV and the Pilot. CRV side by side, adjusted enough that she could drive. Even maxed out on adjustment on the Pilot it wasn't enough. Maybe the new ones are different? Plus she requires specific adjustments, she's always been petite, but the cancer caused her to loose just over 4" in height in the torso.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Would love to hear your reviews after you’ve had this for a bit.  My aunt  bought one recently as well and really likes it so far.  I love my Honda Pilot but my next car will probably be smaller, either a CRV or a RAV4.  I think my days of car pooling and coaching are done and I don’t want Princess to have room for too many passengers once she starts driving on her own.   I’d like to stick with Honda but a lot will depend on price with the options that I want.


Yesterday, in addition to this one, we drove a RAV4, an Escape, a Cherokee and a Rogue.  This is a lot quieter than the others and seems to have more features.  We did like the Cherokee (base, not the Grand) but it was smaller, inside.  MLW rode in the back of the CR-V and had plenty of leg room, even with my seat all the way back.  This one _seems_ to be as roomy as the Chevy TrailBlazer (GMC Envoy/Isuzu Ascender).

It isn't quick off the line, but I haven't really tried either; it's a 1.5 Turbo - I think the 2.0 Turbo is available on the higher trim.  We also took out the Accord but we both really wanted to get back into an SUV/Crossover.

It is a CVT which is definitely different: no shifting feel but there are Low and Second points on the stick.  We went with the second trim so there's a lot of things to get used to: auto high beams, butt warmers, dual-zone heat/AC, and the various safety features.  We decided not to trade in the Camry but we will probably sell it later, or use it to trade in on a second car (maybe this time next year).  It has a slippy trans, hesitating between second and third under load.  The door lock sensor or driver's lock solenoid also needs  to be replaced but that's just an inconvenience.  For now, we'll run it a few miles each week.


----------



## davidharmier60

The Avenger we drive is a four cylinder no turbo. But it will get up and go smartly.
My Sister made Chicken Tenders and Dad made beans. Maybe a fudge bar by Blue Bell later but maybe not. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m spoiled by the pick-up on my Pilot.  That thing moves when you hit the gas, even on hills which is where I’ve found that 4cl will let you down, especially with a heavier suv type of car.  I always choose a suv from the aisle at National rental when I travel so I’ve driven a bunch of different model suvs for more than just a test drive.  Stay away from the Equinox and the lower level Jeeps like the Liberty and Freedom (I think it was called?).  Dodge Journey was nice and it’s a 7 passenger but much smaller profile than the a Pilot.  

I’m not a fan of the new shape on the Pilots or I would’ve traded mine in by now.


----------



## SquarePeg

Did not go out to watch the Pats game tonight due to the freezing rain and icy roads.  Princess has friends over so I’m watching the game alone.  Weird experience for me.  I usually go out or have friends over or P and I watch together.


----------



## SquarePeg

this game!  The announcers are giving themselves emotional whiplash.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> I’m spoiled by the pick-up on my Pilot. That thing moves when you hit the gas, even on hills



Nothing worse then pulling out to pass and having to fall back in, that's what scares me about the 4cyl. even with turbo.


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m too old for overtime.  My Fitbit just recorded a 15 minute run during 4Q!


----------



## terri

...was it worth the wait?  

Fun game!    I enjoy football the most when I don't really care who wins.   Good action tonight!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> ...was it worth the wait?
> 
> Fun game!    I enjoy football the most when I don't really care who wins.   Good action tonight!



Saints got robbed which is a shame.  Would have liked to see Brees vs Brady.  Not sure how the Super Bowl will be able to top either of today’s games, especially for those outside of New England.  I do like the poetry of Patriots vs Rams as that was the match up that started the Tom Brady era! I guess you all will have to just enjoy rooting against us.  

This will be 8th Super Bowl for Pats in the Brady era.   I still remember when Bledsoe went down during that game and my ex looked at me and said “there goes the season”.  Just one of the many things he was so so very wrong about.  Lol.


----------



## davidharmier60

Monday. Yuck.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> I’m spoiled by the pick-up on my Pilot.  That thing moves when you hit the gas, even on hills which is where I’ve found that 4cl will let you down, especially with a heavier suv type of car.  I always choose a suv from the aisle at National rental when I travel so I’ve driven a bunch of different model suvs for more than just a test drive.


The 2.0 liter turbo is matched up with a 10-speed auto, not the CVT.  Is was peppy enough in the Accord sport level.  if we decided to stay with a sedan, that would have been my choice.



SquarePeg said:


> . . . lower level Jeeps like the Liberty and Freedom (I think it was called?).


The Compass.  The new little one is the Renegade which is based on the Fiat 500X.


----------



## JonA_CT

I’m gonna stay inside today.


----------



## SquarePeg

@JonA_CT  that’s good frozen soap bubble temps if you can find a spot out of the wind.  

Last year


----------



## terri

Holy crap!    It's cold up there.   I grew up in Michigan, and learned to drive and generally cope with winter weather.   Now I'm in GA,  where any temps below freezing are troublesome, and temps below the 20's are an outrage.    

Stay safe and warm up there, New England hosers!


----------



## Fujidave

With me being born in Melbourne Australia, I totally hate cold weather as I say I Don`t do Winter.


----------



## SquarePeg

I just hibernate.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I just hibernate.


And why not?   It's fun!   Coziness and all that.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

This is the time of year when working from home would be so great.


----------



## davidharmier60

5 hours and some. I looked at it but can't remember. Not more than 20 minutes. 
Martin Luther King had the right idea.
It's a shame he was struck down.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## limr

Bah, you hosers don't appreciate winter at all!


----------



## Fujidave

limr said:


> Bah, you hosers don't appreciate winter at all!



I HATE the cold dark mornings, then HATE the snow


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bah, you hosers don't appreciate winter at all!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I HATE the cold dark mornings, then HATE the snow
Click to expand...


And I despise the heat and think the summer sun is oppressive and hellish.


----------



## Fujidave

limr said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bah, you hosers don't appreciate winter at all!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I HATE the cold dark mornings, then HATE the snow
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And I despise the heat and think the summer sun is oppressive and hellish.
Click to expand...


As long as the heat is about 73 ish then I`m happy


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bah, you hosers don't appreciate winter at all!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I HATE the cold dark mornings, then HATE the snow
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And I despise the heat and think the summer sun is oppressive and hellish.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> As long as the heat is about 73 ish then I`m happy
Click to expand...


My comfort zone is cooler than that, probably 40s and 50s. My body works best when it's cold enough to need a jacket. It takes me no time at all to warm up, so there are temps that would be fine if I were just sitting still, but if I have to move at all, I get too hot. So 40s and 50s are good because when I start getting too hot, I can take off a layer and be comfortable  and when I stop moving and start cooling off, I can put the layer back on and be fine.

When I lived in Pittsburgh, we had a big storm and then a cold snap. It was -22 air temp (-44 with wind chill.) I bundled up and walked to campus for school/work. By the time I got there (2 miles), I was sweating because I couldn't take a layer off. I mean seriously sweating. My hair was as wet as if I'd just taken a shower.

I think that's still the coldest day on record in Pittsburgh.

Edit: To be fair, -22 was the low. It started to warm up around 9am. I can't remember what time I walked to school, so it may have been more like -18 to -15 when I was walking. And it was a balmy -5 in the afternoon when I walked home.


----------



## SquarePeg

Dean_Gretsch said:


> This is the time of year when working from home would be so great.



I do love working from home.  



limr said:


> Bah, you hosers don't appreciate winter at all!



I do but not -10!



Fujidave said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bah, you hosers don't appreciate winter at all!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I HATE the cold dark mornings, then HATE the snow
Click to expand...


The dark is what I hate too. And the wind.


----------



## SquarePeg

For limr


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> This is the time of year when working from home would be so great.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I do love working from home.
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bah, you hosers don't appreciate winter at all!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I do but not -10!
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bah, you hosers don't appreciate winter at all!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I HATE the cold dark mornings, then HATE the snow
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The dark is what I hate too. And the wind.
Click to expand...


Yesterday I`d say was just like a winters day, beautiful blue sky no wind at all but it was freezing cold.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> For limr
> 
> View attachment 168335








I don't even have a problem with the Pats. Just can't stand Brady. He is Such.A.Tool.


----------



## limr

While it's always hard for me to wake up pre-6am for work, I will admit that it is slightly harder when it's dark outside.

Having said that, though, shorter days (along with the colder temps) are a respite for me. Winter soothes me. Not saying that I would want to be out in negative temps all day long, but the thought of going out to do errands is much MUCH easier when it's 10F than when it's 90F.

This may help explain my reaction to hot vs cold weather:
Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder: SAD in the Summer


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Bah, you hosers don't appreciate winter at all!


Nope.  Not even a teeny-tiny little bit.


----------



## smoke665

Moved south to get away from the cold.......didnt move far enough. At least our cold weather only last for a few days. Guess that's why when it's only 10 degrees out you still see people on the streets wearing flip flops, shorts and hoodies. They figure it's not worth the effort to change wardrobe.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> For limr
> 
> View attachment 168335
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't even have a problem with the Pats. Just can't stand Brady. He is Such.A.Tool.
Click to expand...

Lots of anguish in the sports world over the "non-call" during the Saints/Rams game yesterday.   Me, I say it's karma for Bountygate!    To see Sean Payton look so shellshocked over a bad call against his team did not bother me in the slightest.

Still, I get that lots of fans would have liked seeing the Old Goats Superbowl - Brady is 41, Brees is 40.    But I'm with the kitty up there.


----------



## SquarePeg

Yeah lots of whining on the web today about the non call.  It was a gross mistake on the part of the refs and should be challengeable by the coach.   But... why were they throwing the ball to begin with?  All they needed was to run out the clock and kick the FG to win it if I’m remembering correctly.   

Lots of whining too from the rest of the country about the OT coin flip and KC not getting a chance at the ball  in OT.  To that I say the game requires both defense and offense.  Have to have both to win.  They had Brady in a bind throwing for 9+ yards on 3rd down several times in the 4q 2 min drive and the OT drive and couldn’t stop him.  That young QB is great but that’s not a championship caliber defense and Andy Reid just let it happen.  Didn’t even call a time out to give his d line a breath and a chance to regroup before that last play with the game on the line.  Crappy coaching.


----------



## RowdyRay

limr said:


> This may help explain my reaction to hot vs cold weather:
> Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder: SAD in the Summer



Huh, I'm the same way. Never knew it had a label or name. Have to look more into that. 

I don't like the short hours of light, but winter has never depressed me. Don't hibernate either. Very active in the winter. My programmable thermostat doesn't vary much. 60 F when sleeping or gone. 65 F while getting ready for work or home in the evenings. I've turned it up for company, but many leave their coats on. Lol.  

It's not about saving money. I hate heat. Anything over 85 F is miserable to me. In fact I've gotten physically ill when temps approach 100 F. That's when I hibernate. Anywhere with AC.


----------



## limr

RowdyRay said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> This may help explain my reaction to hot vs cold weather:
> Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder: SAD in the Summer
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Huh, I'm the same way. Never knew it had a label or name. Have to look more into that.
> 
> I don't like the short hours of light, but winter has never depressed me. Don't hibernate either. Very active in the winter. My programmable thermostat doesn't vary much. 60 F when sleeping or gone. 65 F while getting ready for work or home in the evenings. I've turned it up for company, but many leave their coats on. Lol.
> 
> It's not about saving money. I hate heat. Anything over 85 F is miserable to me. In fact I've gotten physically ill when temps approach 100 F. That's when I hibernate. Anywhere with AC.
Click to expand...


Yup, I have gotten sick when it's hot, too. It definitely tied to humidity, too. I was visiting my friend in Virginia about 10 years ago, and went out for a jog early in the morning. It was around 7-7:30am and in the low 70s F, but very humid. I had to turn around within about 5-10 minutes and walk back to her house to drink ice water and lie in front of a fan. I came >< this close to vomiting.

My eyes are particularly sensitive to light, and bright light can trigger a headache, even with sunglasses on, so that's why I really don't mind the lack of light.


----------



## davidharmier60

Tuesday. Not quite as bad as Monday. 
Decent coffee. Temp creeping up.

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----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> My new house accommodates three families and an elderly couple
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In this high density world of yours, how many square feet of living space do they consider adequate to accommodate a family?
Click to expand...



it depends on how deep your pockets are.

we are lucky and pay just over 1000€ for 108sqm /four bed rooms per including central heating and all other expenses.

In the new house three families will have 140sqm each plus garden access and pay roughly 12€ plus 2€ expenses per sqm per month. This is obviously not for the poor but is just 4% RoI because building costs are really high


----------



## Frank F.

JonA_CT said:


> I’m sure substantially less than in the US, Smoke. The family dynamic is different.
> 
> Marie Kondo, who is Japanese, has been making waves the last few weeks because of her Netflix show on tidying. She mentions several times how Americans value space differently than other cultures. She was especially shocked by the size of American kitchens. We value it as a family meeting space, and there’s a lot of cultural emphasis placed on cooking. For others, it’s just a prep space, haha.
> 
> I’ll keep my family-sized kitchen, though.
> 
> In other news, I’m back at work today. Finally.




one of the family appartements has a 55 sqm kitchen / living room open space with direct private garden access...


----------



## Frank F.

We are in the minus 10 Celsius area here and the sun rise by the river is gorgeous!

The river is a ten minute walk from home.


----------



## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> we are lucky and pay just over 1000€ for 108sqm /four bed rooms per including central heating and all other expenses.
> 
> In the new house three families will have 140sqm each plus garden access and pay roughly 12€ plus 2€ expenses per sqm per month. This is obviously not for the poor but is just 4% RoI because building costs are really high



Interesting. Here (if my math is correct) we paid roughly $68/sqft to build 3600 sqft 11 years ago. However i finished out the inside of the bottom floor myself. I was never very good at metric so I'll leave the conversion to you. We're currently looking at the addition of a 500 sqft four season room and office. The architect gave us an initial budget estimate of $100/sq ft.


----------



## JonA_CT

The apartment you live in now seems pretty reasonably priced, honestly. It's about the same size my house is, and the expenses are similar. If you took my living area and put it into a thriving city in the Northeast, it'd be 3 or maybe 4 times as much as that.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> we are lucky and pay just over 1000€ for 108sqm /four bed rooms per including central heating and all other expenses.
> 
> In the new house three families will have 140sqm each plus garden access and pay roughly 12€ plus 2€ expenses per sqm per month. This is obviously not for the poor but is just 4% RoI because building costs are really high
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting. Here (if my math is correct) we paid roughly $68/sqft to build 3600 sqft 11 years ago. I was never very good at metric so I'll leave the conversion to you. We're currently looking at the addition of a 500 sqft four season room and office. The architect gave us an initial budget estimate of $100/sq ft.
Click to expand...


You live in a cheap part of the country. I know that's not including the land costs, but my 1100 sqft house has to carry a $285,000 replacement value for insurance. I know some of that includes things that aren't building materials and labor, but it doesn't cover that big of a difference!


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> we are lucky and pay just over 1000€ for 108sqm /four bed rooms per including central heating and all other expenses.
> 
> In the new house three families will have 140sqm each plus garden access and pay roughly 12€ plus 2€ expenses per sqm per month. This is obviously not for the poor but is just 4% RoI because building costs are really high
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting. Here (if my math is correct) we paid roughly $68/sqft to build 3600 sqft 11 years ago. However i finished out the inside of the bottom floor myself. I was never very good at metric so I'll leave the conversion to you. We're currently looking at the addition of a 500 sqft four season room and office. The architect gave us an initial budget estimate of $100/sq ft.
Click to expand...



Building in my town is ~3000+X€ per realized sqm rent out space gross total including the lot and planning, all.

The net worth of space to let is only part of the gross space, that includes staircases and public areas like hall ways and bicycle cellar and space for the garbage bins and the lift and technical installation space...

So if you find other prices much cheaper they often count any built sqm, rentable or not and discount taxes and planning too. In other words: 1415€ might be the excact same amount with a different reference point.

One sqm equals 10.7639 sqfeet, so roughy 11x


----------



## Frank F.

JonA_CT said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frank F. said:
> 
> 
> 
> we are lucky and pay just over 1000€ for 108sqm /four bed rooms per including central heating and all other expenses.
> 
> In the new house three families will have 140sqm each plus garden access and pay roughly 12€ plus 2€ expenses per sqm per month. This is obviously not for the poor but is just 4% RoI because building costs are really high
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting. Here (if my math is correct) we paid roughly $68/sqft to build 3600 sqft 11 years ago. I was never very good at metric so I'll leave the conversion to you. We're currently looking at the addition of a 500 sqft four season room and office. The architect gave us an initial budget estimate of $100/sq ft.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You live in a cheap part of the country. I know that's not including the land costs, but my 1100 sqft house has to carry a $285,000 replacement value for insurance. I know some of that includes things that aren't building materials and labor, but it doesn't cover that big of a difference!
Click to expand...



that is 2850US$ per Square Meter... Same here in Euro.

One Dollar is .88 Eurocents


----------



## SquarePeg

The median housing cost per sq foot in my city is $357 per Zillow for listing price.  Most homes sell for more than list. 

Avg rent here (very small rental inventory) is $2500/mo for 1000 sq ft but good luck finding something and be ready to pay more if you need parking.


----------



## smoke665

And this is why we have an abundance of large homes in our valley. It's far enough out to be reasonable but close enough in to be livable.


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## davidharmier60

I can't converse in that language. 
We live in an 80x24 doublewide.
Our mortgage is nearly $800 a month.
Do with that what you will.
I had 5.32 hours today 10.42 for the week so far. Sold my box of pennies to the store and going to People's Bank to see what they have. Then to the Post Office and then to the box at the front of the neighborhood. 

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## davidharmier60

Mexican Cornbread Caserol for dinner.
Good stuff Maynard. Almost certainly a Blue Bell Fudge bar later. 

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## smoke665

We made progress today. We now have a gas line installed, gas fireplace logs, an emergency gas heater in the garage (for when the electricity goes out in the winter), a gas hookup for the BBQ grill, and a gas hookup for future generator. Wouldn't be so bad if we hadn't started this project back in November. First everyone was sold out of the logs we wanted, had to order them from the only Plumbing supply house in town. Then we couldn't find a plumber, they'd say they were coming out to price it and never show up, or else they would come out and price it, but wouldn't show up to install, or answer the phone. Then the supplier claimed the logs we ordered were on back order, and strung us out for three weeks. When I finally went down last week to cancel the order,  I found out the supplier  actually had them, but didn't know it   Finally got in touch with a plumber Friday who said he'd be here yesterday - OMG he showed up!!!! Gave us a price said he'd be here this morning with materials and crew. Double OMG he showed up at 8 am as he said he would. Tried to order the LP tank last week, but the gas company said to wait until the line was being installed and they'd be out right away. Called to order it today, now they claim the earliest they can deliver it is Feb 11th, unless they have an opening before then. Seriously this has to rank up there as one of the most exasperating home improvement projects I've ever undertaken.  If we're lucky we might get to use the gas logs before summer.


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## davidharmier60

It began raining about 2am. It's still raining lightly. The Weather bug says it will be raining about the time I do Marquee and 38 degrees to boot. Yippee.

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## vintagesnaps

Rainy here and the snow's all melting... just in time for more Saturday. Not too much this time supposedly. Oh, and a good ol' wintry mix and a refreeze tomorrow, goody! lol Not that it matters to me, but probably there are side streets and back roads not completely cleared yet. 

Mostly kind of a lazy day. The little simple needlework project I'm trying to finish up was a kit with floss that is extra tangly (AKA not very silky smooth so doesn't glide but catches on everything!). And I messed up a couple of stitches and had to pull out a whole row and start over... why is it a simple quick thing can end up taking forever!? lol I restarted and was on a roll with it, so takng a break then I'm going to get the darn thing done today!! (or tonight?!)


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## davidharmier60

I could not feel my fingers after pulling the Marquee. Wet AND cold. I was given a pair of nice leather gloves and it wasn't raining when I put the new stuff up. Went and got propane. Had 6 hours and 4 minutes giving 17.46 for the week so far. Just had last night's dinner reheated. I see Blue Bell in my future if only a Fudge bar. 

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## Frank F.

Today we were invited to the Legal Department of our University by the Chief of their library. He was keen to present books from the possesion of my great grandfather. A nerdy and very special event, bewitching.


----------



## davidharmier60

Another 6 plus day. 24.58 with a day to go. The Floor People are coming Friday night.
Never did have Blue Bell last night......


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## vintagesnaps

How cool Frank! 

Same ol', same ol'... a little snow, a temp drop, a little more snow for the weekend... I'm still messing with this tangling floss but I'm determined to finish this darn thing! lol


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## SquarePeg

Hey Hosers!  Wine and chocolate last night, rainy weather plus dehydration = fighting off a migraine all day today.  Finally got a chance to rest in a dark room for an hour which seems to have done the trick.   Going to order some Panera delivery and just rest in tonight.  It’s pouring and very windy here.  Lots of trees down and traffic issues.


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## davidharmier60

My phones weather bug is almost useless. It WAS right about the temp this morning. 
But it had 47 as high and nearly 60 was the truth. Earlier it said 32 tonight. 
now it says 35. What ever....


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## smoke665

Just above freezing for us today, At least the rain stopped and the sun came out for a bit. Short lived reprieve it's getting cold again.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Hey Hosers!  Wine and chocolate last night, rainy weather plus dehydration = fighting off a migraine all day today.  Finally got a chance to rest in a dark room for an hour which seems to have done the trick.   Going to order some Panera delivery and just rest in tonight.  It’s pouring and very windy here.  Lots of trees down and traffic issues.


Ugh, sorry for the migraine, Cat.  Your post started off so well with the words "wine and chocolate," too!       A migraine just doesn't seem fair. 

We've had some of that wind the last few days.   It has died down a little today, but colder air is coming in.  Gonna be a chilly weekend!


----------



## RowdyRay

We've had it pretty good this year. Very little snow so far. Keep getting missed. Started out about 15 F this morning and steadily dropping. The wind is just crazy. Like, "Sweep the planet clean", crazy. "Try and keep the truck on the road", crazy. Actually wore my coat for the first time this year. (I do keep it in the truck in case of breakdowns and such) Expected to be -10 tonight and 4 or 5 tomorrow. Just hope the wind dies down. That's what really makes it unbearable. 

Trust me, it could be much worse. Experienced it many times and not complaining. Just hate the heating bill when it dips down like this. Hopefully it's short lived, and we can move on to spring. But, I've seen this before, and it usually means we'll be DUMPED on in March. The snowblowers are tuned up and ready......I'm not!


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## davidharmier60

My Sister who is a great humanitarian spent the night with a friend. So I have the truck. So I had to scrape a window so I could get here. The truck doesn't tell me the temp. It also never gets as warm as the car. Today is my last day this week.

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## smoke665

Everyone check your lunar eclipse shots, to see if you caught this. During the Lunar Eclipse, Something Slammed Into the Moon haven't checked mine yet. If I did I probably thought it was dust and cloned it out. LOL


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## davidharmier60

30.36 hours for 5 days. Not too shabby.
It's still a little chilly outside but the sun is bright and there are only some high wispy clouds. 

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## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Everyone check your lunar eclipse shots, to see if you caught this. During the Lunar Eclipse, Something Slammed Into the Moon haven't checked mine yet. If I did I probably thought it was dust and cloned it out. LOL


I did catch something just a couple of degrees away, at about the 1000 position, just a couple of minutes before totality.  Unfortunately, it only resolves itself as a string of about five pixels, but it's very definitely something...


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## vintagesnaps

"Dead Pixels in the Sky"
4against1 

Maybe these five guys were out there in little spaceships...






Nah, just some music for a Friday.


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## vintagesnaps

The sun is shining!! So I've got some cyanotypes going... 

I like this fabric better than pretreated paper, it's usually too flimsy. With the first one I headed to the kitchen sink then thought, oh sh... I forget about dishes in the sink, but there were only a couple of things in there. Then when the water hit the fabric it all went blue, so I thought well, I'll see... But yeah, it turned out. Not going to do any more yet til I figure out for the quilting class I'm going to take what size the pattern pieces will be so I can plan the fabric design.


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## davidharmier60

Saturday morning not at work. What a novel idea. I didn't get the last molested mug out of the pot. While it's not freshly brewed first mug it's not burned too bad.
May go to Wal-Mart in Livingston today. 
Something possibly there I'd like to try.
It's said to be 40 outside going up to 61 this afternoon. We'll see what happens. 

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## smoke665

Got back a little bit ago from my morning hike with Sadie. It was 28 when we headed out, but no wind so it made for a pleasantly brisk walk. Some of the steeper parts of the trail were a little icy so I had to be wary of footing. It's hard to push myself to get out there when conditions are difficult, but I can feel and see the difference in my general health and weight that the consistent exercise is bringing.


----------



## davidharmier60

On the back porch the thermometer says 41. It is cloudy for the next several hours.
I probably will not venture out until the sun comes back.


----------



## SquarePeg

Went to a wake last night.  One of the members of our Softball board lost her husband.  Because they were both so involved in the community and have 3 kids in HS who all play sports, I think everyone in town was at the wake.  We waited outside in the freezing cold over an hour to get inside to pay our respects.  I’m sure the number of people there was both a comfort and an ordeal for the family.  It started at 4 and was just about 7 when we were leaving and the line was still around the corner.  

I was chilled to the bone when we got home and tried soup and a hot shower to warm up but just couldn’t get past it.   Woke up today with sore muscles and a stuffy nose.  

Lots to do this weekend.  Might try my hand at refinishing a side board.  Thinking of using what’s called a Bermuda Blending technique to make it really colorful.  Anyone tried something like this?


----------



## terri

I'm sorry for the loss in your community, Sharon!       From what you've said, this man was very much appreciated and well liked.   I hope the family does gain some comfort from everyone showing up like that.  



SquarePeg said:


> Thinking of using what’s called a Bermuda Blending technique to make it really colorful. Anyone tried something like this?



I've not heard of this technique specifically, but I own a couple of off-pieces that have similar looks, though maybe not as colorful.   Looks fun!   Post some before and after shots, if you decide to go for it.    The restorations I've done have all been pretty straightforward sanding/staining, nice results but nothing fancy.


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## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> The sun is shining!! So I've got some cyanotypes going...


ooo, I like it!   I'll look for them in the Alt section soon!


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## davidharmier60

I did venture out. It's nearly 60 out there. I went to the Wal-Mart Super Center in Livingston and they did not have the food item I was looking for. But I got a strap for a Digital watch and one for my BSH Invicta. Listening to R&B and Soul on Youtube. Still feels weird not having gone to work this morning.


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## davidharmier60

Morning kids. It's a might chilly in the house. Decent mug of coffee. 

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## davidharmier60

Monday Madness begins in approximately 10 minutes. At least the supply truck isn't here yet.

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## davidharmier60

Had 5.47 today. She wants/needs pennies tomorrow. Off to the post office. 

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## davidharmier60

Sister made a spaghetti like substance from spaghetti squash. Not the worst thing ever. Also carrots and crock pot chicken. 
The chicken was perfect.
Finished my box that Trish will buy tomorrow. Have been going back through my copper pennies again. Pretty much any scratch or ding and they are going back to the wild. 

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## vintagesnaps

Where is everybody?? David's talking to himself! lol 

Terri the cyanotyped fabric is still sitting on the kitchen table and that's as far as it's gotten! Maybe I'll motivate to scan one. 

Not expecting sun anytime soon, we may have a flash freeze. I still have a tiny hill of snow from the plow that could be a good size for squirrels to ski down. 

Hope everybody farther north stays safe in the bitter cold coming.


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## vintagesnaps

I've had spaghetti squash, I like it but it makes so much. Out of season here I think.

What do pennies do out in the wild?? lol


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## davidharmier60

Also there are anything from deep full reverse down to worn reverse. 
Full but not deep all get put together in rolls. 82 and to a lesser extent 81 back are the most likely to have deep reverse. 
Worn reverse back to the wild. 

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## davidharmier60

Anywhere from 5 to 10 copper go into each roll I look through and roll up to put into the box. That's the wild.

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## vintagesnaps

They can't get too wild in a box, can they? 

I think I've been stuck indoors too much...


----------



## snowbear

Happy Tuesday!

Stuffed bell peppers, last night; MLW did a wonderful job on them.

Rain today, switching to snow this evening, mainly north and west of the city.  Tonight the slushy mix is expected to re-freeze.  I am commuting into town for the next two days for a Fed GIS conference so it's train time!  I have a job interview on Thursday, but I don't expect much in the result - it's GIS but in Transportation, not my area of comfort.  I'm really not ready to go anywhere; I applied back when our contract renewal was an unknown so I'm just going along for the interviewing practice.

@JonA_CT:  Feds are open for t least three weeks, so hopefully, Tox can get closer to opening.


----------



## smoke665

So irritated, have nothing to do today, nowhere to go, my plan was to sleep in late. So 5 am comes I'm awake, tried to convince myself I could go back to sleep, but it wasn't happening. 

At least the winter storm threat we were under didn't materialize.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> @JonA_CT:  Feds are open for t least three weeks, so hopefully, Tox can get closer to opening.



March, perhaps, for opening...


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> So irritated, have nothing to do today, nowhere to go, my plan was to sleep in late. So 5 am comes I'm awake, tried to convince myself I could go back to sleep, but it wasn't happening.
> 
> At least the winter storm threat we were under didn't materialize.



Sounds like a great day to hunker down with some video tutorials on Creative Live.  Check out what’s streaming free today or treat yourself to one that’s on sale.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> So irritated, have nothing to do today, nowhere to go, my plan was to sleep in late. So 5 am comes I'm awake, tried to convince myself I could go back to sleep, but it wasn't happening.
> 
> At least the winter storm threat we were under didn't materialize.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like a great day to hunker down with some video tutorials on Creative Live.  Check out what’s streaming free today or treat yourself to one that’s on sale.
Click to expand...


Just did an abbreviated walk with Sadie. While it isn't freezing yet, the combination of cold and moisture laden air makes it seem cold. 

I like your idea!


----------



## snowbear

Nice train ride.  Now for a busy day.



JonA_CT said:


> March, perhaps, for opening...


That sounds good.


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> Terri the cyanotyped fabric is still sitting on the kitchen table and that's as far as it's gotten! Maybe I'll motivate to scan one.


Sounds good - I'd love to see what the fabric gave you!


----------



## terri

The rain has just started here this morning.  I think we're too far south to get any of the snow, so for us just a nasty rain event, followed by the cold.   We're definitely not too far south to be part of these polar vortexes!   eek!


----------



## davidharmier60

One minute under six hours. New sign up in the deli. Not every day is exactly the same. Post Office only had the new add from the store. Going home to get Dad and do a few errands. 

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## SquarePeg

We got a dusting this morning and maybe some more tonight?   Dropping into the teens for the rest of the week then warming up over the weekend.


----------



## CherylL

I made bread pudding today.  Haven't made this in ages and forgot how much sugar is required.  The recipe calls for heavy cream, but I used half and half.


----------



## RowdyRay

CherylL said:


> I made bread pudding today.  Haven't made this in ages and forgot how much sugar is required.  The recipe calls for heavy cream, but I used half and half.



I LOVE bread pudding. Tried making it once and it was nothing like what I grew up eating. My mom's was very good, but grandma made the best. She'd put raisins in it. Sounds strange unless you tried it. Half and half is all they ever used. Save some to pour over the top. Of course vanilla ice cream is best when hot out of the oven, but french vanilla coffee creamer works in a pinch. (It's like melted ice cream)

All of it totally bad for you. Considering how often I get to eat it, I should be fine. Lol.


----------



## CherylL

RowdyRay said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> I made bread pudding today.  Haven't made this in ages and forgot how much sugar is required.  The recipe calls for heavy cream, but I used half and half.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I LOVE bread pudding. Tried making it once and it was nothing like what I grew up eating. My mom's was very good, but grandma made the best. She'd put raisins in it. Sounds strange unless you tried it. Half and half is all they ever used. Save some to pour over the top. Of course vanilla ice cream is best when hot out of the oven, but french vanilla coffee creamer works in a pinch. (It's like melted ice cream)
> 
> All of it totally bad for you. Considering how often I get to eat it, I should be fine. Lol.
Click to expand...


The original recipe called for heavy cream, but my Mother who gave me the recipe changed to half and half.  It has a ton of sugar!  I cut my sugar intake a few years ago and now the old recipes are super sweet.  I didn't make the sauce this time.  And of course you have to have raisins!

My grandmother made a butter pie.  My uncle made it for me a month before he died.  He was very ill, but surprised me with the pie.  He gave me the recipe and it does take extra work to get a good consistency.


----------



## RowdyRay

Well, survived the snow storm they were warning everyone about. Supposed to be 9 inches. Think I got 4. Got that all cleaned up after work last night. But there's a polar vortex following it. Going to be brutal for the next couple of days. Temp was dropping all day and the wind is whipping right now. Negative 20's tonight with a high of -14 tomorrow. Same for Thursday. Then Friday is 20 and the weekend is supposed to be 40 with the possibility of freezing rain. WTF? 

-22 right now. Not looking forward to working tomorrow, the windchill factor is supposed to be like negative 50-60.


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## smoke665

-20, -50, -60 - WTH! I'd be hauling my rear south just as fast as I could go. Dropping into 20's here tonight and I'm freezing my buns off. I can tolerate it though because it'll be back to 60's by the weekend.


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## davidharmier60

It will be a balmy 35ish when I take down the Marquee. The thermostat reads 57 in the hallway. At least no rain today.

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## RowdyRay

They lied. It was -29 when I got up. On the bright side, I was told to stay home and stay warm. Really? Thanks captain obvious.


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## vintagesnaps

Glad you didn't have to go out Ray, bad enough here just opening the door for a package.

Couple of the universities in the area had cancelled last night but the one near me hadn't; someone posted on their FB page - 'Cancel. Classes.' They did by today, I can't imagine they'd expect students to walk all over campus with the wind chill this morning (which sounds like it's died down but still gusty). I went to school up north, I had a big heavy parka and long johns, but here nobody has clothes for bitter cold.

Been going thru needlwork projects I started years ago, so spending time getting supplies together and figuring out what I want to work on. At least I kept supplies together, kept info. from classes, etc., who knew!


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## terri

I talked with my mom, who lives by herself in Michigan, earlier this morning.   When at first she wasn't answering I started leaving a message with this: "You'd better not be outside!"    She wasn't...she was in the basement messing around with her loom and forgot to bring the phone with her.   She's hanging in there, appreciably cowed by all warnings to stay inside.     Apparently the temps will be back in the 40's by the weekend - she says that will feel like spring.  

Hope everyone who is living through this cold spell respects Mother Nature and rides this out safely!


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## vintagesnaps

Oh no, it's so cold people's cell phones might not work!! egads what will they do without that screen to obsess over?! Apparently the battery may stop working til it warms up. Might be the healthiest thing that could happen for some people. (Not that I wouldn't want someone to be able to use the phone to make a call when needed.)


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## davidharmier60

6 and somewhat more than 15 minutes. 
18.08 for the week so far. About to go in and get my check. Then over to Cold Spring for a tank of propane for our stove.

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## davidharmier60

What a nice shiny new tank. Just hit the Post office so going towards the house. 

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## Dean_Gretsch

Sitting in the airport waiting on storms to die down between Fla and Newark, NJ. Flight delayed 3 1/2 hrs so far.


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## RowdyRay

My local weather app said we hit - 57 windchill last night. It was one of those, "let's clear the planet" kinda winds. I did not go out to experience it. In my younger days I ventured out in - 35+ many times. Old enough to know better now. Got nothing to prove. Lol.

Had a feeling they would shut things down, so I grabbed a few things on the way home yesterday. Fine for a couple days. 

Please be safe everyone. Stay home if you can. Use your head if you can't.


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## Dean_Gretsch

RowdyRay said:


> My local weather app said we hit - 57 windchill last night. It was one of those, "let's clear the planet" kinda winds. I did not go out to experience it. In my younger days I ventured out in - 35+ many times. Old enough to know better now. Got nothing to prove. Lol.
> 
> Had a feeling they would shut things down, so I grabbed a few things on the way home yesterday. Fine for a couple days.
> 
> Please be safe everyone. Stay home if you can. Use your head if you can't.


I remember working construction in my earlier days in Oklahoma when it was -33 wc. It's actually hard to think when you're that cold.


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## smoke665

Just got back from turnaround to take care of some business in TN. 2hrs each way, and 1hr to handle.  At least the weather was perfect. We went up the interstate going, but came back through the country on the way back. Very little traffic and pretty drive.


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## SquarePeg

Got caught in a small snow squall ton9ght.  Princess was driving and suddenly we were in almost white out conditions.  Pulled over in a strip mall parking lot and checked the weather app.  We could see it would end soon so we waited it out and it passed over us in about 15 minutes.  So other Sharon, that is one good thing about phones.  We would have kept going thinking it would get worse. 

Princess did good for a first tine snow driver but I took over for the rest of the way home.


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## Dean_Gretsch

Woohoo! Home sweet home, and -8 degrees.


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## davidharmier60

I'll take Texas for $500 Alex.
39 going up to 58.
I too experienced cold as a young pup.
Don't need any - temperature to prove anything. 

Wondering what I can do today to get at least 5 hours. 

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## Frank F.

I hear the US is hit by cold wind from the North up to minus 50 Farenheit?

Stay safe, buddies and share pictures. The coldest we had here in Western Germany was minus 25 Celsius in 1984 with wind coming from the East (Siberia), yours is coming from the North I guess?

This is what I see, when I look through my window at 50.7 degrees northern latitude and 60 meters above sea level at roughly freezing point / 0 Celsius:


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## JonA_CT

All the schools are delayed two hours here this morning. It’s 1*F and the winds are blowing a bit, but I think the bigger problem is that snow squall that blew through last night put down about an inch of snow. It isn’t enough to plow really and it’s too cold for road treatments to work without the help of the sun. Everything looks frozen solid outside.


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## Frank F.

RowdyRay said:


> Well, survived the snow storm they were warning everyone about. Supposed to be 9 inches. Think I got 4. Got that all cleaned up after work last night. But there's a polar vortex following it. Going to be brutal for the next couple of days. Temp was dropping all day and the wind is whipping right now. Negative 20's tonight with a high of -14 tomorrow. Same for Thursday. Then Friday is 20 and the weekend is supposed to be 40 with the possibility of freezing rain. WTF?
> 
> -22 right now. Not looking forward to working tomorrow, the windchill factor is supposed to be like negative 50-60.




is a polar vortex a usual phenomenon or an exceptional? I mean every other year or every 20 or 200?


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## smoke665

Frank F. said:


> is a polar vortex a usual phenomenon or an exceptional? I mean every other year or every



Common to some degree and not necessarily confined to the US. What Is a Polar Vortex? | NOAA SciJinks – All About Weather

Temps already rising here. Should hit 50's today 60's by the weekend and up to 70's by next week.


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## limr

Hey hosers.

That same squall made passed over here, too. It was wild. Went through around 4pm yesterday. Luckily it didn't cause too much issue with the roads, so my commute home was fine.

Today, I am home sick, so it can be whatever the hell it wants to be outside. 

I still crack the window open at night.


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## Tropicalmemories

At least it's warmer where I am, but serious air pollution this week.

Over 200 for PM 2.5 - which means Hazardous for all people.  Going to take some street photos tomorrow of everyone wearing their masks.


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## smoke665

Tropicalmemories said:


> Over 200 for PM 2.5 - which means Hazardous for all people. Going to take some street photos tomorrow of everyone



Even with a mask that would likely send me to the ER. Is this because of weather (inversion) or man made?


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## Tropicalmemories

smoke665 said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> Over 200 for PM 2.5 - which means Hazardous for all people. Going to take some street photos tomorrow of everyone
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Even with a mask that would likely send me to the ER. Is this because of weather (inversion) or man made?
Click to expand...


Mainly man made.  No rain or wind to clear the pollution from intense traffic, uncontrolled industry and smoke from field burning that drifts in to the city.


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## Tropicalmemories




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## smoke665

Tropicalmemories said:


> No rain or wind to clear the pollution from intense traffic, uncontrolled industry and smoke from field burning that drifts in to the city



We have that at times. Especially when there is a temperature inversion that traps it next to the ground.


----------



## limr

Apparently Zelda has a cold, too  She's been sneezing today. She sneezed several times in a row earlier this morning, then again a few minutes ago. She is now curled up on my lap.


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## terri

limr said:


> Apparently Zelda has a cold, too  She's been sneezing today. She sneezed several times in a row earlier this morning, then again a few minutes ago. She is now curled up on my lap.


Aww, poor Zelda!  Hope she's better very soon.

Apparently this cold spell will be over for just about everyone by the weekend.   Hang tough, stay safe, hosers!


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## limr

Sleepy girl:


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## terri

A pink nose!       And a big mama's girl, too.


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## vintagesnaps

Aww Zelda... 

I have something like a cold too, started with an asthma gasping thing a couple of days ago first thing in the morning, then sneezing and sniffling and feels now like a head cold. I'm running my warm mist 'humidifier' (well that's what it says on the box!) but it's a little easier to fill than my old spurting vaporizer. Got it on the higher setting - it has actually 2 whole settings! Helped me feel better yesterday. 

At least it looks nice and sunny, for now... We got a little snow last night and weren't supposed to, but the cold predicted, that we got. At least it's a brief dip then back into warmer temps. I feel for all you hosers who have had to go out in it. 

I'm going to get back to my project with the extra tangly floss because I'm determined to finish it, but have broken three needles now (two were included). I don't know if I've ever broken a needle before. Once it's done I'm throwing out the rest of this floss!


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## vintagesnaps

Yes Frank, it's coming from the north and next time they can keep it up there instead of sharing it with the rest of us! lol These kind of temps and conditions aren't like anything I remember ever having. It has dropped to single digits or a little below zero here, and it's not like I haven't had to run a trickle of water and leave cabinet doors open under the sinks, but I don't remember such extreme cold north of here and covering this much of the country quite like this. (Since when do they light the tracks on fire in Chicago?? a controlled burn of course.) 

I don't even know what a vortex is, and no don't tell me! lol I'm with Leo, I'm under the weather and staying in out of the weather and don't give a rat's ass what the weather does out there.


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## snowbear

Keep Zelda warm.

The polar vortex is just a low pressure area with wind that is swirling around it.  Think of a hurricane without the damaging winds, and it isn't really moving - it just stays around the north pole.

I took off today - I had a job interview.  It will take them about two weeks to make a decision and hire.


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## limr

Looks like another sick day for me tomorrow. Feel worse than this morning and I have a fever. No more work for me this week. Probably should have taken yesterday off, too, but for a Board of Trustees presentation, one takes a fistful of Advil and Sudafed and sucks it up for one day.

Well, at least this way, I get four full days to recover.


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## snowbear

limr said:


> Looks like another sick day for me tomorrow. Feel worse than this morning and I have a fever. No more work for me this week. Probably should have taken yesterday off, too, but for a Board of Trustees presentation, one takes a fistful of Advil and Sudafed and sucks it up for one day.
> 
> Well, at least this way, I get four full days to recover.


Hot tea.
With honey.
And a little bourbon.


And, of course, snuggling with kitties.


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## limr

Oh yeah, I forgot I have a face steamer thingy, too. And taking a long hot shower can help raise the humidity, which might help with the breathing.


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## Fujidave

We had some snow last night and it`s pretty cold out, not as bad as in the USA?Canada but still too cold for me.


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## terri

Temps are officially on the rise around here, though still well within winter's parameters.  I'll take it! 

Happy Friday, hosers!   Pizza, salad, red wine and a fire tonight, as we ride out the last of the bitter cold. 

Who has exciting weekend plans?


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## Fujidave

terri said:


> Temps are officially on the rise around here, though still well within winter's parameters.  I'll take it!
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!   Pizza, salad, red wine and a fire tonight, as we ride out the last of the bitter cold.
> 
> Who has exciting weekend plans?



Glad you are all copping in that crazy cold weather.
My plans for tomorrow are I hope to go and take some jazz shots, then Sunday Susie and I are off to my Mums


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## JonA_CT

We're looking at a camper tomorrow. Our kids love camping, but after a few very wet trips last year, I'm over tent camping. Hopefully, everything will check out.

Random and personal question for y'all...I just finished my taxes, and my refund was significantly larger than I expected. Do you guys change your W4 to try to come as close to breaking even as possible each year? We're obviously making it with what we've been taking home, but I also feel like I shouldn't let the government make interest on my money while I could be.


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## davidharmier60

I'll still take Texas for $500 Alex.
50  and drizzling when I left home.
57 or 8 now and no moisture on the way over to Cold Spring for propane. 
The throttle cable busted on the buffer.
I have a way to run it at a set speed.
I have to be able to moderate the throttle when a tank runs low. So got both filled.

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## smoke665

@JonA_CT I always followed the course of breaking even, but I also put the extra back in savings. With today's current rates, it isn't much, but it's better then nothing. When I did my taxes, if I owed money I had it to pay, if I didn't I already had my refund. Many years ago I had to switch to estimated quarterly payments because of self employment earnings. That really ticked me off, because I hadn't actually made that money and until the end of the year, I wouldn't know. Eventually my earnings from farming passed the 50% mark and I was able to drop the estimated payments. The down side is they have to be filed and payed in full by March 1st which puts the squeeze on to close out the year, and get everything to the accountant.


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## smoke665

Whew, taking a coffee break. The temperature warmed up enough to get out and start pruning. Just got done with the "Crepe Murder" as my daughter in law claims. Here in the south we prune them to grow like trees, so it's pretty severe. Haven't done that much physical activity in awhile, so the muscles and back are already screaming. Chances are tonight will be an Advil kind of night. Still have the fruit trees, then it's on to the winter clean up on the pines, so if the weather holds for the next few days, I should be able to get done with all of it. Then time to spread lime and fertilizer on the yards, fertilize/mulch the fruit trees, and planting beds, then mulch them. I'm tired already. At least today will be a treat day. We're going out to eat with friends at a new restaurant called Bama Bucks. In addition to the normal fare, they serve wild game and buffalo. It's a big place, built in the middle of a facility that raises deer commercially for breeding. Should be interesting.


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## davidharmier60

6 hours and some minutes 
29.45 for the week so far 

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## limr

terri said:


> Temps are officially on the rise around here, though still well within winter's parameters.  I'll take it!
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!   Pizza, salad, red wine and a fire tonight, as we ride out the last of the bitter cold.
> 
> Who has exciting weekend plans?



Is binge-watching Netflix while coughing, blowing my nose, occasionally taking some Advil, and making endless cups of tea exciting? 



JonA_CT said:


> We're looking at a camper tomorrow. Our kids love camping, but after a few very wet trips last year, I'm over tent camping. Hopefully, everything will check out.
> 
> Random and personal question for y'all...I just finished my taxes, and my refund was significantly larger than I expected. Do you guys change your W4 to try to come as close to breaking even as possible each year? We're obviously making it with what we've been taking home, but I also feel like I shouldn't let the government make interest on my money while I could be.



When I was adjuncting and waitressing, my income was so variable and inconsistent, that any tax bill more than maybe $200 would have sent me into crisis. In fact, two years in a row, they took way too little out throughout the year, and I was hit with tax bills over $1000 (fed plus state combined). The first year was horrible. For the next year, I had to make sure I managed to save some money over the course of the year so I could pay that kind of tax bill. I managed to do it, but just barely. I was also trying to save to get me through summer months when teaching opportunities were harder to come by.

So I switched it for more taxes to be taken out from my paychecks. This way, I only had to save for the summer, and if I got a refund, that could be added to my summer savings to make things a little bit easier.

These days, I usually end up with a federal refund and a state tax bill, so I use the fed's money to pay the state, and pocket the rest, which is nothing to write home about, but enough to make a bigger payment on my car that month. I suppose I could finagle it better to break more even, but I honestly can't be bothered at this point. I'm still trying to adjust to having more complicated taxes than I ever had before - not super complicated in the grand scheme of things, but now there's retirement stuff and health care and next year, there might be a house. That's a lot to handle for a person who has taken 10 minutes each year to fill out an EZ form her entire life


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## Fujidave

Morning all, still quite dark here and actually feels mild out a lazy indoor day as jazz has been put off.


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## JonA_CT

I’ve made it 10 years of working in school without catching any of the stomach bugs that circulate several times of year. 

It was a good run. I’ll be in bed with a sleeve of saltines and some pedialyte.


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## Dean_Gretsch

Good news and bad news...Good news: Last frigid day for a bit! Woohoo! Bad news: Last day of vacation! Ah well, it was good while it lasted.

Sits across the room from Jon and his bug Hope it's a short sickness for you. You teachers and doctors, bus drivers, taxi drivers. etc. are constantly exposed. Play that card and hopefully the wife and kids will take pity and treat you to an easy day. We all deserve one of those every now and again.


----------



## smoke665

Our trip to Bama Bucks yesterday was great. Good food, very reasonable prices, and fantastic atmosphere. We were seated on a glass walled porch overlooking their wildlife park area with its menagery of critters. Unfortunately the deer herd with its monstrous bucks was on the other side of the road just put of view. We timed it just right as before we were done there was a long line of people waiting to get in, but even if we hadn't, the grounds provide ample opportunity to relax and enjoy. They have a large fire pit, with comfortable chairs to sit and talk or watch the deer, or an old timey general store to browse through. 

My brace of marinated and grilled quail was excellent. DW and one of the couple we went with stayed with the more conventional ribeye, also excellent. The other member of the party tried the White Chocolate Chicken. Judging by the clean plate and comments, it was also good.

The owners have spent a ton of money on the facility, built in the middle of nowhere, a good distance from any town. Yet the fact that it stays packed is a ttestament to the adage "If you build it they will come".


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## Tropicalmemories

I have to say the US tax system and US weather sounds like a challenge.

Take care all.


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## davidharmier60

The tax system does leave something to be desired. In my part of Texas the biggest weather problem is Hurricane. 

5 hours and a few minutes or so. 
35.25 for the week. Off to the post office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## limr

JonA_CT said:


> I’ve made it 10 years of working in school without catching any of the stomach bugs that circulate several times of year.
> 
> It was a good run. I’ll be in bed with a sleeve of saltines and some pedialyte.



Ugh, sorry! Stomach flu, in my experience, is thankfully short but very intense. Hope you feel better soon!

Meanwhile, my cold is hanging on like a vice. Had a bad night of coughing last night. Finally fell asleep for real (rather than dozing) around 4am, and woke up feeling like my head and neck had been used as a pinata.

Had breakfast, some coffee to help deal with the headache, and now I have couch, blanket, kitties, and _The Empire Strikes Back._


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## smoke665

JonA_CT said:


> I’ve made it 10 years of working in school without catching any of the stomach bugs that circulate several times of year.
> 
> It was a good run. I’ll be in bed with a sleeve of saltines and some pedialyte.



Ugh no fun. We've managed to avoid it so far. It's pretty bad in the schools, they closed most of the area schools Thursday and supposedly reopening on Monday. Hope you recover quickly.

Today the weather here is 99.99999% perfect. The sun is shining, the sky's are blue, and the Temperature is 70 degrees. This would be my ideal year round. Didn't even mind the finishing up pruning the fruit trees.


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## vintagesnaps

Oh Jon, your days were probably numbered! lol I used to catch every respiratory thing that came down the pike, and I washed my hands a hundred times a day. (OK those may be over estimates or out and out exaggerations...) Hope you feel better. Our good ol' family doctor used to suggest saltine crackers and sip 7up (but I suppose you have your kids' pedialyte to borrow!).

Leo if you watch Empire then you've got to watch Jedi to make sure it all turns out OK! Hope you feel better, if you keep the cough or temp all weekend I think you might be in for a trip to the Dr. Monday.  

Did you know there's a Cat Bowl _and_ a Kitten Bowl??!!! I'm watching Monk, that's about all I ever watch on Hallmark. Tomorrow afternoon I understand there's a big football game on, my plan is to watch Curling Worlds. USA lost to Sweden last night in a shootout which consisted of throwing - one stone.


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## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Our good ol' family doctor used to suggest saltine crackers and sip 7up (but I suppose you have your kids' pedialyte to borrow!).



For me, it's saltines and ginger ale. And mint tea. Ginger and peppermint help settle the stomach.



> Leo if you watch Empire then you've got to watch Jedi to make sure it all turns out OK!



I know, I can't wait to see what happens! 



> Hope you feel better, if you keep the cough or temp all weekend I think you might be in for a trip to the Dr. Monday.



The temperature raises to about 99 at night, so it's not an all-day fever. The cough is pretty normal, actually. Any time I get any kind of cold, even a mild one (and this is not a mild one), it always settles in my lungs. After three years in Istanbul pollution and then living with black mold for over a year in Portugal (and getting pneumonia as a result), my lungs are a bit vulnerable to upper respiratory infection.



> Did you know there's a Cat Bowl _and_ a Kitten Bowl??!!! I'm watching Monk, that's about all I ever watch on Hallmark. Tomorrow afternoon I understand there's a big football game on, my plan is to watch Curling Worlds. USA lost to Sweden last night in a shootout which consisted of throwing - one stone.



I know! Total feline score tomorrow!  Didn't realize curling was on. I doubt I'll be watching the Super Bowl tomorrow. I like football, but I really don't care much about the Super Bowl. And I can always catch the commercials online.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Keep enjoying tea and kitties. I have asthma and mine's flared up with a fairly mild respiratory whatever this week so I hope your breathing stays OK. I think this rapid mild to cold back and forth is wreaking havoc. I have my new warm mist 'humidifier' going, which is just a fancy new and improved vaporizer (it is easier to fill and doesn't spurt all over the place!). 

Tonight my best friend is coming up with lasagna and garlic bread from a local place along with my grocery order which includes wine - because. It's maybe going to be an early evening, although the asthma meds have me wide awake. Once I retired early from teaching I haven't needed them til the past couple of years at times and I forgot how wired I get on the inhalers - like a whole pot of coffee going all day without the enjoyment of actually drinking coffee. I don't like it one bit! I may have to switch to decaf for the duration, although caffeine can help with the asthma, helps open up the ol' bronchial tubes! 

Oh, the Cat Bowl is tonight?! Wasn't paying much attention to the commercial but it looks like the cats are laying around, playing with toys, wandering around - they don't expect cats to follow signals and all go in the same direction down the 'field' do they?? lol I should try to remeber to turn it on, but there's Quebec league junior hockey soon and Hockey Night in Canada tonight so we'll see.


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## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> have asthma and mine's flared up with a fairly mild respiratory whatever this week so I hope your breathing stays OK. I think this rapid mild to cold back and forth is wreaking havoc. I have my new



I was diagnosed with adult onset Asthma at age 60 though I suspect it had been going for awhile. It got pretty bad for a few years. Ended up in the ER several times. Then last year it mysteriously started getting better. So much so that my Pulmonologist is gradually weaning me off the meds. 

Temperature changes didn't bother me much but humidity was one of my triggers.


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## JonA_CT

Thanks, all. I’m running a fever but my stomach has chilled out now. The kids have had a particularly tough day, so my wife is on her last nerve. She just left to pick up dinner from McDonalds for her and the kids...a sure sign she’s just about had it. I’ve been trying to help but horizontal feels a lot better than vertical.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> We're looking at a camper tomorrow. Our kids love camping, but after a few very wet trips last year, I'm over tent camping. Hopefully, everything will check out.
> 
> Random and personal question for y'all...I just finished my taxes, and my refund was significantly larger than I expected. Do you guys change your W4 to try to come as close to breaking even as possible each year? We're obviously making it with what we've been taking home, but I also feel like I shouldn't let the government make interest on my money while I could be.



First year I owned my home I got a whopper of a refund.  Way more than we expected.  Used it to build a nice covered deck and pay for summer vacation.  I decided not to change my withholding and, with the next year’s refund I updated our furnace then after that used it toward new appliances...  while yes I could go back to break even, I won’t.  I know that they have “my” money when I could have it but I like getting that big refund without having to think about putting it aside every month or being tempted to use it for other little things throughout the year or worrying about owing the government money.  It’s always earmarked for a home improvement and anything leftovergoes toward upgrading our vacation plans.



JonA_CT said:


> I’ve made it 10 years of working in school without catching any of the stomach bugs that circulate several times of year.
> 
> It was a good run. I’ll be in bed with a sleeve of saltines and some pedialyte.



Sorry bud.  That stinks.  Hope you’re well enough to eat some wings and other Super Bowl goodies.


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## SquarePeg

Got a haircut today and apparently we were not on the same page because it’s a good 2 inches shorter than I wanted.  I thought I was pretty clear, even had a photo of the cut and style that  I wanted... but nope.  Not a total disaster, it’s actually a pretty nice cut but definitely not what I asked for and definitely not what I expected.  Good thing it’s only hair and will grow out by summer.  Has anyone seen my TB12 hat?


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## limr

Jaysus, would someone please keep George Lucas away from Star Wars once and for all? With every new release, he makes more changes that are just bad.

End of Jedi when Vader tosses the Emperor over the rail into the pit? Vader was silent the whole time, and it totally worked that way. But now. Lucas had to mess with it. He added audio of Vader saying, in the cheesiest possible way, "No....NOOOOOOOO!" And it just so does not work at all.

No wonder Lucas' first wife, Marcia, won an Oscar for editing the original movie. Left to his own devices, he would have made a joke of a movie.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

At least you won


SquarePeg said:


> Got a haircut today and apparently we were not on the same page because it’s a good 2 inches shorter than I wanted.  I thought I was pretty clear, even had a photo of the cut and style that  I wanted... but nope.  Not a total disaster, it’s actually a pretty nice cut but definitely not what I asked for and definitely not what I expected.  Good thing it’s only hair and will grow out by summer.  Has anyone seen my TB12 hat?


At least you won't have to go back for a while, and you'll save some cash.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sun is out and it`s cold plus we have a heavy Jack Frost.  Susie and I are off to Mums today.


----------



## davidharmier60

It is overcast outside. Going to hit low 70s today. I had allergies when I was younger.
Haven't been hit too hard in several years. 
Apparently the dogs tired themselves out overnight because for the most part they are draped here and there. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

A lovely winters day today and just how it should be, lovely blue skies and not to cold in the sunshine so had lunch at Mums then went for a mooch.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Got a haircut today and apparently we were not on the same page because it’s a good 2 inches shorter than I wanted.  I thought I was pretty clear, even had a photo of the cut and style that  I wanted... but nope.  Not a total disaster, it’s actually a pretty nice cut but definitely not what I asked for and definitely not what I expected.  Good thing it’s only hair and will grow out by summer.  Has anyone seen my TB12 hat?


Ugh, I'm going for a haircut this Tuesday, and my plan is to let her do what she was trying to talk me into the last time: some layers and shortening it a bit.   It took me 2 years to grow out my hair and I've enjoyed how easy one length is.  I'm not a hair person.  But it's been awhile, so I'm trying to make a little change.  

Here's hoping that what happened to you doesn't happen again!   Sometimes these stylists just do what they want.   And still expect a good tip.


----------



## JonA_CT

I fought the good fight but I’m getting IV fluids and testing done at the hospital. They’re thinking it’s norovirus, which the doc says has been going around the local schools.

Hopefully, I’ll be home before the game tonight.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Got a haircut today and apparently we were not on the same page because it’s a good 2 inches shorter than I wanted.  I thought I was pretty clear, even had a photo of the cut and style that  I wanted... but nope.  Not a total disaster, it’s actually a pretty nice cut but definitely not what I asked for and definitely not what I expected.  Good thing it’s only hair and will grow out by summer.  Has anyone seen my TB12 hat?
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh, I'm going for a haircut this Tuesday, and my plan is to let her do what she was trying to talk me into the last time: some layers and shortening it a bit.   It took me 2 years to grow out my hair and I've enjoyed how easy one length is.  I'm not a hair person.  But it's been awhile, so I'm trying to make a little change.
> 
> Here's hoping that what happened to you doesn't happen again!   Sometimes these stylists just do what they want.   And still expect a good tip.
Click to expand...


She is usually great about doing exactly what I ask for.  Not sure how we got it crossed up.  As I said it’s not bad and it’ll grow but just not what I wanted.  Shamelessly filtered head shot from my iPhone attached.  Didn’t feel like checking my make up first.  



JonA_CT said:


> I fought the good fight but I’m getting IV fluids and testing done at the hospital. They’re thinking it’s norovirus, which the doc says has been going around the local schools.
> 
> Hopefully, I’ll be home before the game tonight.



Ugh.  Hope you’re ok.  I’m sure they will want as many patients gone by game time as they can.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Got a haircut today and apparently we were not on the same page because it’s a good 2 inches shorter than I wanted.  I thought I was pretty clear, even had a photo of the cut and style that  I wanted... but nope.  Not a total disaster, it’s actually a pretty nice cut but definitely not what I asked for and definitely not what I expected.  Good thing it’s only hair and will grow out by summer.  Has anyone seen my TB12 hat?
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh, I'm going for a haircut this Tuesday, and my plan is to let her do what she was trying to talk me into the last time: some layers and shortening it a bit.   It took me 2 years to grow out my hair and I've enjoyed how easy one length is.  I'm not a hair person.  But it's been awhile, so I'm trying to make a little change.
> 
> Here's hoping that what happened to you doesn't happen again!   Sometimes these stylists just do what they want.   And still expect a good tip.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> She is usually great about doing exactly what I ask for.  Not sure how we got it crossed up.  As I said it’s not bad and it’ll grow but just not what I wanted.  Shamelessly filtered head shot from my iPhone attached.  Didn’t feel like checking my make up first.
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> I fought the good fight but I’m getting IV fluids and testing done at the hospital. They’re thinking it’s norovirus, which the doc says has been going around the local schools.
> 
> Hopefully, I’ll be home before the game tonight.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ugh.  Hope you’re ok.  I’m sure they will want as many patients gone by game time as they can.
Click to expand...


I think the cut suits you.


----------



## SquarePeg

Thanks @Fujidave


----------



## SquarePeg

My fellow Americans...  What’s everyone doing for the Super Bowl?


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> My fellow Americans...  What’s everyone doing for the Super Bowl?


Hoping that there's going to be at least one channel on with something worth watching....


----------



## vintagesnaps

Tried watching the replay of the Cat Bowl, every time I switched over they weren't showing anything that looked remotely football-like except cats sitting on the field (and one in a maze...??). The Kitten Bowl came on, kittens being much more energenic it looks more lively - I don't think the cats were impressed and neither was I. But it's to get pets adopted which is a good thing.

Hey wait, those kittens are tussling around, maybe they should go out for hockey. And there's a wire attached to that football! I call shenanigans! lol

I'm going to watch Curling Worlds, Men's Canada (edit - Women's, read that wrong! oops then Men's, a double header!) v. Sweden, who's hosting. (There you go John!) Had to look up how this works, only saw one game w/Team USA Friday night; they get points each 'leg' til finals in the spring where Team USA Men's clinched a spot.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> My fellow Americans...  What’s everyone doing for the Super Bowl?


We'll be watching it!  Not going to a party this year, though.   I just hope it's not a blowout.   That's always fun for those rooting for the winner, but makes for awful football.

Wow, she did cut off quite a bit, didn't she?  It doesn't look bad at all, and I like the side bangs.  It's just shorter than I'm used to seeing on you.  

Here's to a good Super Bowl!


----------



## smoke665

College football is in my blood, but I can't stand pro ball. I've got a couple of movies qued up and ready.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hairstyle looks cute SharonCat, I like the way it's styled and should look good as it gets a bit longer too.

And just realized The Beanpot is Monday! The Beanpot, Sharon, The Beanpot!!!

Previews on NESN tomorrow afternoon, then Harvard v. BC. My alma mater's former coach went on to coach BC and has been there ever since. Then BU v. Northeastern - go Huskies! Saw them here in a tournament & they brought their DogHouse, I guess they take it on the road. Hockey is a small world.


----------



## davidharmier60

My phone was wrong again. 
65 the highest and light drizzle out and about. Got Popeyes Chicken because that's what my Dad likes. Now heading home again. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Much later than usual I bid you Good Night. 
Blame it on the stupid bowl.
Come on Rams!!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

Congrats to the Pats, Sharon must be very happy!  

That was probably the most boring Super Bowl in many moons, imo.   Defense ruled until the middle of the 4th quarter when offense woke up.   Zzzzzz....  

Season's over!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, still dark out and mild but chucking it down.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Happy Chinese New Year all!

It's the Year of the Pig.


----------



## D7K

Hey all; not a regular of this coffee house and to be honest I'm having a beer, but I thought I'd check in...  One of those hazy late winter days here, knocking on the door of 12 degrees but no shooting for me today unfortunately.. Have a good one all.. and as mentioned above, Happy Chinese New Year...


----------



## SquarePeg

D7K said:


> Hey all; not a regular of this coffee house and to be honest I'm having a beer, but I thought I'd check in...  One of those hazy late winter days here, knocking on the door of 12 degrees but no shooting for me today unfortunately.. Have a good one all.. and as mentioned above, Happy Chinese New Year...



Welcome to the Coffee House.  Coffee not required!

GM Hosers!  I’m sure you all enjoyed seeing our Patriots win another Super Bowl.  

Princess has already asked to skip school tomorrow for the parade.  Unfortunately I won’t be able to get down there myself this year for photos.  

In other news, the Red Sox equipment truck leaves Fenway today for Ft Meyers and baseball opening day is 3/28!  My love of baseball makes the Patriots no more than a pleasant distraction in the mlb offseason.


----------



## JonA_CT

I missed the second half of the game last night. I was flat out exhausted. Congrats on the Pats win.

The weather is going to be as nice as it will ever be for a February Parade...I'd want to skip school too!

Between the IV fluids, the rest, and some meds the doctor gave me to slow down my digestive system, I'm feeling about 80% better today. I came to work because I need to save my absences for when my children inevitably come down with the same thing.


----------



## CherylL

JonA_CT said:


> I missed the second half of the game last night. I was flat out exhausted. Congrats on the Pats win.
> 
> The weather is going to be as nice as it will ever be for a February Parade...I'd want to skip school too!
> 
> Between the IV fluids, the rest, and some meds the doctor gave me to slow down my digestive system, I'm feeling about 80% better today. I came to work because I need to save my absences for when my children inevitably come down with the same thing.



Hope you feel better soon!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Glad you're doing better Jon, hope you keep getting better as the week goes along. Yeah, I think it should be a skip school day, or they should just close schools altogether! 

Here Opening Day might as well be a holiday (and I can't believe we're talking baseball already!). Hadn't thought about it being time for training camp. I used to know it when I was working since a friend from work (we shared a classroom for years, alternate home visit/class days) is married to one of the Reds equipment managers. He always had to go before pitchers and catchers, and sometimes it was the end of January. I haven't heard on the news if The Trucks left yet ('Truck Day'!), maybe this week?

Flipped on NESN and half watching a history of The Beanpot. Everyone in the show, narrator, people being interviewed, all have Boston accents, which is noticeable to me since my ears are used to our nasal twang! They've been showing Jack Parker w/BU and that made me remember, I think they played here in a tournament too, I swear I think I have a picture of him walking out on the ice; and then I happened to think it was him and Red Berenson of Michigan, is that possible? Boy I'd have to hunt to find those pictures.


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Glad you're doing better Jon, hope you keep getting better as the week goes along. Yeah, I think it should be a skip school day, or they should just close schools altogether!
> 
> Here Opening Day might as well be a holiday (and I can't believe we're talking baseball already!). Hadn't thought about it being time for training camp. I used to know it when I was working since a friend from work (we shared a classroom for years, alternate home visit/class days) is married to one of the Reds equipment managers. He always had to go before pitchers and catchers, and sometimes it was the end of January. I haven't heard on the news if The Trucks left yet ('Truck Day'!), maybe this week?
> 
> Flipped on NESN and half watching a history of The Beanpot. Everyone in the show, narrator, people being interviewed, all have Boston accents, which is noticeable to me since my ears are used to our nasal twang! They've been showing Jack Parker w/BU and that made me remember, I think they played here in a tournament too, I swear I think I have a picture of him walking out on the ice; and then I happened to think it was him and Red Berenson of Michigan, is that possible? Boy I'd have to hunt to find those pictures.



Did they talk about the Blizzard of 78 and all of the people that got stranded at the Beanpot and had to stay overnight in the Gahden ?


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> GM Hosers!  I’m sure you all enjoyed seeing our Patriots win another Super Bowl.


Was that yesterday?


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> GM Hosers!  I’m sure you all enjoyed seeing our Patriots win another Super Bowl.
> 
> 
> 
> Was that yesterday?
Click to expand...


Seems like it's everyday.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> GM Hosers!  I’m sure you all enjoyed seeing our Patriots win another Super Bowl.
> 
> 
> 
> Was that yesterday?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Seems like it's everyday.
Click to expand...

BOOM!


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> ...another Super Bowl.


Izzat like a noodle bowl?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Not that I heard today, Sharon, but that sounds familiar, I've probably heard the story. I was in college for the blizzard of '78, I knew when I woke up and there was snow plastered to the window that I wouldn't be student teaching that day. They sent in the Nat'l Guard to dig us out. 

The school colors for all 4 teams are red.

'But have you seen the trophy? It's a pot of beans.'


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...another Super Bowl.
> 
> 
> 
> Izzat like a noodle bowl?
Click to expand...

More like a burrito bowl.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Northeastern defeated BU in a quick under a minute OT. So on to next Monday... 

Meanwhile I saw the same clip I don't know how many times of an interview in front of a truck being loaded or unloaded, maybe game equipment coming back? Left on NESN after the game and saw a highlight of the team arriving back. Finally, some hockey news... 

No, here's the same clip again... this time they showed them painting the truck, it's Red Sox Truck Day.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, wet and drizzle out but very mild so a lazy day today.


----------



## SquarePeg

Damp here today.  There was a gorgeous rainbow to our north this morning.   It’s going to clear up and be beautiful parade weather.  Last Patriots parade it was snowing!  Dropped Princess and crew at the train station.  Wish I could have gone today. 

2017 parade weather:


----------



## Fujidave

Well I made up my mind, I have enquired about joining the local photography club here in town so I look forward to getting a reply.


----------



## SquarePeg

Stole this from a friend who is at the parade.  It’s hilarious.


----------



## terri

That's his "So excited to be here again!" look.


----------



## Fujidave

Well that was quick, just had a reply saying as a guest for two meetings I can go and see if I like it and pay £3 then if I join then it is about £50 per year.  They do competitions and have speakers come in to do talks.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> That's his "So excited to be here again!" look.



And his “I’m angry” face and his “best day ever” face and his “I love the refs “ face...


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's his "So excited to be here again!" look.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And his “I’m angry” face and his “best day ever” face and his “I love the refs “ face...
Click to expand...


And my personal favorite, his “how f’in dumb are you?” face. 

People give him a lot of crap, but there’s no one better to interview when you ask the right questions. I remember an EEI interview from a few years ago where they got him talking about Lawrence Taylor and how he changed the game of football forever. It was like listening to someone’s dissertation on how to build a defense. He went on for almost 20 minutes and the hosts just got out of the way. I’m sure it helped that it was a historical football question that had nothing to do with his current team, haha.


----------



## RowdyRay

Fujidave said:


> Well that was quick, just had a reply saying as a guest for two meetings I can go and see if I like it and pay £3 then if I join then it is about £50 per year.  They do competitions and have speakers come in to do talks.



Let us know how it goes. Hope it's better than my experience. Found one that meets about 6 miles from my place. Awesome. Same kind of deal. Went twice. 

I was looking for a group of like minded people that would get together at a local park, zoo, lake, water falls...something. Pick each others brains. Share some knowledge. Nope. Mainly focused on judging photos taken by members. Guess who won? Those with the deepest pockets. Kind of like high school. Shrugging that off. Going to check another one out next month. Not holding my breath.


----------



## SquarePeg

RowdyRay said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well that was quick, just had a reply saying as a guest for two meetings I can go and see if I like it and pay £3 then if I join then it is about £50 per year.  They do competitions and have speakers come in to do talks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Let us know how it goes. Hope it's better than my experience. Found one that meets about 6 miles from my place. Awesome. Same kind of deal. Went twice.
> 
> I was looking for a group of like minded people that would get together at a local park, zoo, lake, water falls...something. Pick each others brains. Share some knowledge. Nope. Mainly focused on judging photos taken by members. Guess who won? Those with the deepest pockets. Kind of like high school. Shrugging that off. Going to check another one out next month. Not holding my breath.
Click to expand...


What you’re looking for is a “meet up” group not a camera club.  Check out meetup.com and I bet you’ll find some like minded people.


----------



## Fujidave

RowdyRay said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well that was quick, just had a reply saying as a guest for two meetings I can go and see if I like it and pay £3 then if I join then it is about £50 per year.  They do competitions and have speakers come in to do talks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Let us know how it goes. Hope it's better than my experience. Found one that meets about 6 miles from my place. Awesome. Same kind of deal. Went twice.
> 
> I was looking for a group of like minded people that would get together at a local park, zoo, lake, water falls...something. Pick each others brains. Share some knowledge. Nope. Mainly focused on judging photos taken by members. Guess who won? Those with the deepest pockets. Kind of like high school. Shrugging that off. Going to check another one out next month. Not holding my breath.
Click to expand...


I will give it a go as £3 for one night will give me an idea.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> RowdyRay said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well that was quick, just had a reply saying as a guest for two meetings I can go and see if I like it and pay £3 then if I join then it is about £50 per year.  They do competitions and have speakers come in to do talks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Let us know how it goes. Hope it's better than my experience. Found one that meets about 6 miles from my place. Awesome. Same kind of deal. Went twice.
> 
> I was looking for a group of like minded people that would get together at a local park, zoo, lake, water falls...something. Pick each others brains. Share some knowledge. Nope. Mainly focused on judging photos taken by members. Guess who won? Those with the deepest pockets. Kind of like high school. Shrugging that off. Going to check another one out next month. Not holding my breath.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> What you’re looking for is a “meet up” group not a camera club.  Check out meetup.com and I bet you’ll find some like minded people.
Click to expand...


I use to do just that with the Brighton Meet up called Photo Buddies, was well cool too, but it just stopped.


----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon all, it is very warm and mild out for Febuary, went over to help Mum do some stuff and now back home.


----------



## smoke665

After two months and $$$$ dollars invested we now have a supplemental gas heater in the basement garage, BBQ grill hookup, generator hook up, and gas fireplace logs. Only problem is, winter cold is about over here. At least I won't have to fill the grill tanks anymore.


----------



## davidharmier60

Wow! Been three days since I posted.
Just waiting to get my check. 
16.30 for the week so far. 
I suppose congratulations to the Patriots 
although they win enough already.
Cloudy. Humid. The car says it's 75.
About time to go in and get the check. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sun is trying to come out and it`s quite mild again but very windy out.


----------



## smoke665

Loving the warmer weather, but that means the start of my busy season as I rush to get everything done outside before the onset of the  "Yellow Curse". Every spring when the pine trees bloom there is a cloud of yellow pollen in the air. It covers everything with a layer of the cursed dust. The least little disturbance stirs it up, the sinuses rebel and swell, the nose runs and the eyes burn.


----------



## D7K

Sounds like a truly magical time


----------



## Fujidave

Well the sun was lovely when it came out today, but the high winds did make it nippy out.


----------



## snowbear

The state has been doing the pre-season trout stocking for a couple of weeks; I just got my license.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's a little early here for people to go fishing, usually it's summer when school's out before I start seeing people walking along with their fishing poles. But yeah, had to go to the license bureau and saw signs about getting fishing licenses. My experience fishing with kids at camp was mostly untangling fishing line, and the way they'd keep smacking the water I think we just terrorized the fish! lol

We've got lots of rain here, FujiDave, give it some time and it will probably come your way. Makes for a cloudy rainy day that makes me feel like just doing crafts in between trips to check the dryer (but I haven't exactly gotten a lot done!).


----------



## terri

It's a ridiculously warm day - 80'F out there, with sun and fluffy white clouds.   The house thermostat claims it's 76'F in here - 76!      We typically keep it on 68 during the winter.   It feels warm and sluggish outside.   We were out running errands and didn't bother with the dashboard shield - and ended up feeling so stifled we had to run the A/C.   In February.

The jonquils are popping, and so are the weeds.   Thankfully, we're due for a swift chill-down by the weekend.   As much as I appreciate not having to run the heat, this sucks.   I'm not ready for Spring yet!


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> The jonquils are popping



We saw some today, I was shocked. These false start springs wreck havoc on our fruit trees.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> It's a little early here for people to go fishing, usually it's summer when school's out before I start seeing people walking along with their fishing poles. But yeah, had to go to the license bureau and saw signs about getting fishing licenses. My experience fishing with kids at camp was mostly untangling fishing line, and the way they'd keep smacking the water I think we just terrorized the fish! lol
> 
> We've got lots of rain here, FujiDave, give it some time and it will probably come your way. Makes for a cloudy rainy day that makes me feel like just doing crafts in between trips to check the dryer (but I haven't exactly gotten a lot done!).



Wonder if that`s all the rain we are getting tomorrow, and all day too.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah Dave, probably, isn't it nice we can share?? lol 80 Terri! 80?! whew. It's about 60 here and dropped to 66 in the house so I turned the heat up a notch. Yep, cold coming this weekend, it is just February. 

And I agree, the early blast of spring wreaks havoc with plants & trees. I'm just far enough north to not be affected by it so much here. My best friend is maybe a 20-30 minute drive south of me and she said last weekend how much snow was still here. Things used to bloom a good couple of weeks later here than at work. 

There's been flooding and apparently storms went thru well north of me where they have power outages.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, well the rain woke me up and it is chucking it down so won`t be up to much today.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's a might chilly outside. The truck doesn't tell me. 26.55 with a day to go.  Apparently I have nothing to take home. Post Office and then to the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

So we have been battered all day by Storm Eric.  Know need to give them a name, just say something like, a storm will batter folk today


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Know need to give them a name, just say something like, a storm will batter folk today



That's so people can blame someone. Imagine a few days from now some poor fellow walks into a bar, when they ask his name, he says Eric.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't know how they got started naming them, especially storms... I mean, we have thunderstorms often enough I don't see a need. That's right Smoke, I wouldn't want to have one named after me!! Dave, there should be sunshine coming your way, it's cold but beautiful blue sky and sunshine here!

Being home on weekdays isn't usually all that interesting and neither is daytime TV, but I just flipped over to the hearing and popcorn worthy is an understatement; this is serious stuff. This man seems incapable of answering a yes-no question. One of them told him to quit trying to run out the clock. Sort of like getting called into the principal's office or yelled at by your mom. 

I have just a little more to do with my super tangling floss and I'm done! lol It wouldn't have been worth taking it all out and starting over with better quality than whatever was put in this little kit, but I got far enough along I wanted to finish it. Not buying one of these again! 

Now to unpack boxed left by the brown truck that are unfortunately more supplies than fun stuff.


----------



## Fujidave

Tomorrows forecast is for sunny spells but breezy.
I like the idea of having all storms called Billy Bob, as love that name.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, no rain at the moment but we have very bad gusty winds and strong too think Susie and I are off to Mums today.


----------



## D7K

Woke at 03:59 - Into the mountain and spent an hour shooting in -15.. It was awesome, even managed to catch a little visibility of the galactic centre which was awesome but next time, I'm going with the idea of shooting the stars not the sunrise! Clouds blanketed the city, could barely tell where the snow ended and the sky began, at least 6ft of snow up there..  What a way to start the weekend...... Can't wait to get a good luck at the shots and see what is for editing!  And now I'm having a well earned Stella...(Beer...not woman)


----------



## Frank F.

I am scanning old Fujichrome and Kodachrome slides. Very convinent with the ES-2 and the D850. The scans have a lot of editing leverage, I can extract details never seen before not in projection even.







I took this picture in 1986 when I was working on an organic farm near my home town... Kodakchrome in the famous original paper frames with rounded corners 



...


----------



## D7K

I scanned around 500 slides for my dad a few years ago, a lot of his diving and deep sea welding stuff, it was great...


----------



## D7K

and here's me this morning courtesy of my wife's iPhone....


----------



## smoke665

D7K said:


> and here's me this morning courtesy of my wife's iPhone



Beautiful spot, but looks really cold, and I don't do really cold anymore. Getting up at 4 am probably wouldn't happen either unless it was to use the bathroom. 

@Frank F. I applaude your effort. I have several large boxes of slides taken by my father, that I need to sort through and copy. I intended on doing it this winter, but looks like it's going to be postponed again.


----------



## SquarePeg

D7K said:


> and here's me this morning courtesy of my wife's iPhone....
> 
> View attachment 169029



Cool photo.  Looks almost like you’re standing on the clouds.


----------



## D7K

SquarePeg said:


> D7K said:
> 
> 
> 
> and here's me this morning courtesy of my wife's iPhone....
> 
> View attachment 169029
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cool photo.  Looks almost like you’re standing on the clouds.
Click to expand...

was hard to see where the snow ended and the sky began right!


----------



## SquarePeg

D7K said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> D7K said:
> 
> 
> 
> and here's me this morning courtesy of my wife's iPhone....
> 
> View attachment 169029
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cool photo.  Looks almost like you’re standing on the clouds.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> was hard to see where the snow ended and the sky began right!
Click to expand...


Might be cool to PS some of the cloud texture over the snow.


----------



## D7K

SquarePeg said:


> D7K said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> D7K said:
> 
> 
> 
> and here's me this morning courtesy of my wife's iPhone....
> 
> View attachment 169029
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cool photo.  Looks almost like you’re standing on the clouds.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> was hard to see where the snow ended and the sky began right!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Might be cool to PS some of the cloud texture over the snow.
Click to expand...


I barely know which is which


----------



## smoke665

My Morning Scare

Every morning just after daylight, Sadie and I walk the fire lanes/trails around the property. At the farthest point of the loop we make, the trail traverses a section of dark and dreary swamp. Today, as I approached the entrance I thought I detected moaning, but the wind was blowing, so I just assumed that it was the sound that the wind sometimes makes in the trees and continued on.

As we got deeper into the darkness  the sound became louder, and caused the hair to rise up on my neck.  Just as we rounded a corner in the trail, ahead in the murky light I could see something on the ground. My hand instinctively went to the pistol I always carry in the woods. I called Sadie in close and eased up to investigate. There on the ground was an elderly woman in tattered, filthy clothes, laying face down, and moaning softly.

Having been trained as a First Responder, I gently reached down to roll her over. Without warning she grabbed my hand and started trying bite it, as if she would chew it off. Without hesitation I smacked her on the head with the pistol hard enough that it startled her into letting go. Immediately I started backing up, but the old woman, quick as a snake grabbed my leg and started pulling it.




Kind of like I'm pulling yours  Now that I've hopefully brought a smile to your face, y'all have a great Saturday!


----------



## davidharmier60

4 hours and some. 31.27 for the week. 
According to my phone 38 going up to 45 at 2pm and then falling again....
Texas weather. If you don't like wait an hour or so and it'll change. 

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## terri

Frank F. said:


> I am scanning old Fujichrome and Kodachrome slides. Very convinent with the ES-2 and the D850. The scans have a lot of editing leverage, I can extract details never seen before not in projection even.
> 
> View attachment 169028
> 
> 
> I took this picture in 1986 when I was working on an organic farm near my home town... Kodakchrome in the famous original paper frames with rounded corners
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This is really beautiful.   @D7K:   Your shot is beautiful, too - but, between the two, somehow I'd rather see myself in Frank's shot than yours.   Gimme sunflowers over snow!


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> My Morning Scare
> 
> Every morning just after daylight, Sadie and I walk the fire lanes/trails around the property. At the farthest point of the loop we make, the trail traverses a section of dark and dreary swamp. Today, as I approached the entrance I thought I detected moaning, but the wind was blowing, so I just assumed that it was the sound that the wind sometimes makes in the trees and continued on.
> 
> As we got deeper into the darkness  the sound became louder, and caused the hair to rise up on my neck.  Just as we rounded a corner in the trail, ahead in the murky light I could see something on the ground. My hand instinctively went to the pistol I always carry in the woods. I called Sadie in close and eased up to investigate. There on the ground was an elderly woman in tattered, filthy clothes, laying face down, and moaning softly.
> 
> Having been trained as a First Responder, I gently reached down to roll her over. Without warning she grabbed my hand and started trying bite it, as if she would chew it off. Without hesitation I smacked her on the head with the pistol hard enough that it startled her into letting go. Immediately I started backing up, but the old woman, quick as a snake grabbed my leg and started pulling it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Kind of like I'm pulling yours  Now that I've hopefully brought a smile to your face, y'all have a great Saturday!



Wow, you had me until the pistol whip.  Have a great Saturday.


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## Fujidave

D7K said:


> and here's me this morning courtesy of my wife's iPhone....
> 
> View attachment 169029



Cracking image.

We got battered today while out and about, I don`t like Eric now.


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## vintagesnaps

See, they shouldn't name storms after people! lol Sunshine's coming.

I'm going to do timed test strips of the cyanotype fabrics in a more controlled way than leaving it on the table in the window and going, what time did I put that in the window? lol Well that was just to see what the fabric did. Might as well sit something on the strips in case they do turn out so I'll have a stirp of patterned fabric, I might be able to use it. And then I'll scan them all and post something!


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## Fujidave

Eric was ok as watered the garden yesterday, but he was very windy today.
On a good note, we popped in to a charity shop and OMG a brand new X-T2 and think XF 56mm for sale for about £65 or£70 so I might end up having that as Mum went back down once I can home with Susie.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> My Morning Scare
> 
> Every morning just after daylight, Sadie and I walk the fire lanes/trails around the property. At the farthest point of the loop we make, the trail traverses a section of dark and dreary swamp. Today, as I approached the entrance I thought I detected moaning, but the wind was blowing, so I just assumed that it was the sound that the wind sometimes makes in the trees and continued on.
> 
> As we got deeper into the darkness  the sound became louder, and caused the hair to rise up on my neck.  Just as we rounded a corner in the trail, ahead in the murky light I could see something on the ground. My hand instinctively went to the pistol I always carry in the woods. I called Sadie in close and eased up to investigate. There on the ground was an elderly woman in tattered, filthy clothes, laying face down, and moaning softly.
> 
> Having been trained as a First Responder, I gently reached down to roll her over. Without warning she grabbed my hand and started trying bite it, as if she would chew it off. Without hesitation I smacked her on the head with the pistol hard enough that it startled her into letting go. Immediately I started backing up, but the old woman, quick as a snake grabbed my leg and started pulling it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Kind of like I'm pulling yours  Now that I've hopefully brought a smile to your face, y'all have a great Saturday!



Did not get me though


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## davidharmier60

I currently have the house to myself (along with the dogs). Dad and Sister went to Lufkin because my aunt is up there in a psychological hospital. She takes meds to keep her calm and somebody messed up.
She attacked another person in her nursing home and got sent up to the hospital. 

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## Fujidave

Morning all, very cloudy with rain today but very mild.  Think I might take up Tap Dancing and Knitting...lol


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## davidharmier60

It's supposed to get to 69 today. 
It's my Dad's birthday today. 
We are to have an omelette for breakfast. 
Turkey and some of the trimmings for dinner. Watching the Greg Gutfeld show on DVR. Later I'll look through 12 rolls of pennies and do my comics online. 

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## CherylL

Sleet today and rain yet again tonight & tomorrow.  The back yard looks like a swamp.  Tired of wiping up 12 muddy paws.


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## Fujidave

My day today weather wise was grot... ie Raining so come sunshine please come back


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## vintagesnaps

Been snowing just enough to be pretty. It's brightening up and the birds started chirping so maybe it will just stay like this? Or maybe not, it's supposed to keep snowing... but not too much!


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## Fujidave

Morning all, sun is out but have to wait in for repair man as there is a leak in the bathroom.


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## davidharmier60

Ugh. Monday. 

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## smoke665

Yesterday was one of our infamous cold/damp days. In the low 40's, but the mist and wind made it seem frigid out. Today and tomorrow supoosed to be back to low 60's but the rain continues. DW has doctor appointments both days so st least we'll be inside.


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## davidharmier60

Propane day. I'm in Cold Springs. 
It's rather dreary outside. But the temperature is nice.

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## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> My Morning Scare
> 
> Every morning just after daylight, Sadie and I walk the fire lanes/trails around the property. At the farthest point of the loop we make, the trail traverses a section of dark and dreary swamp. Today, as I approached the entrance I thought I detected moaning, but the wind was blowing, so I just assumed that it was the sound that the wind sometimes makes in the trees and continued on.
> 
> As we got deeper into the darkness  the sound became louder, and caused the hair to rise up on my neck.  Just as we rounded a corner in the trail, ahead in the murky light I could see something on the ground. My hand instinctively went to the pistol I always carry in the woods. I called Sadie in close and eased up to investigate. There on the ground was an elderly woman in tattered, filthy clothes, laying face down, and moaning softly.
> 
> Having been trained as a First Responder, I gently reached down to roll her over. Without warning she grabbed my hand and started trying bite it, as if she would chew it off. Without hesitation I smacked her on the head with the pistol hard enough that it startled her into letting go. Immediately I started backing up, but the old woman, quick as a snake grabbed my leg and started pulling it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Kind of like I'm pulling yours  Now that I've hopefully brought a smile to your face, y'all have a great Saturday!




Yea, The Zombie-Apocalypse finally arrived!!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

The Beanpot is tonight!!!!!

Consolation and championship games - BU v. Harvard then BC v. Northeastern. Go NU! rock the DogHouse!


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## davidharmier60

FINALLY posting from the computer....


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## Fujidave

Morning all, sun is coming out and nice and mild too so another busy day today.


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## limr

Snow day for Leo!


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## JonA_CT

I’d more call it a Murder Sleet and freezing rain day here for Jon. 

Sadly, the inch-ish of whatever the hell this is in the ground is the most winter we’ve had around here since the middle of November.


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## davidharmier60

What is up with Gary?
I had 4 hours and a bit today. Ran out of stuff to do.
It's going to be 30's (upper) when I do marquee but at least no rain!


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## vintagesnaps

It's just gray and gloom and doom here, which is apparently the forecast til the weekend when we may get - snow. A little fluffiness that melts fast would be plenty! 

Northeastern U and their DogHouse won the Beanpot, and a nice shiny silver one, without actual beans in it. It was a good game, they have a talented young goalie (and are some of these kids going to college when they're 12??!!!)


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## davidharmier60

16 hours for the week so far. 
Doing the Marquee was cold but dry except for the drew and frost on the letters.

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## davidharmier60

Orange Chicken over tasteless rice.
Mashed potatoes and gravy. 
Green Beans.
Almost time for the check. 

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## davidharmier60

6 hours and 4 minutes. 22.04 for the week with 2 days to go. Every 6 wheeler I know about and 1 I never saw before got greased. I need to go to Wal-Mart and get another tube of grease. But I might have a box at home.... Post Office next.

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## smoke665

Usually Sadie doesn't pay much attention to what's going on outside but last night she had a fit running from window to window. Went out to check but didn't see anything, however whatever had her upset, also had every dog in the general area barking. Things eventually quieted down for the rest of the night. This morning on our walk, whatever had her upset the night before most have left a strong scent because she was nose to the ground as we stepped off the deck. As we got to a clearing with bare dirt a little over a 100 yards from the house, the tracks told the story. Our local cougars apparently made a pass through the property. Unusual for them to come close to the house and a little unnerving.


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## davidharmier60

An awesome WUS Brother who wishes to stay anonymous sent me this!




Seiko SRPB39K1 by Just Plain Dave, on Flickr


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## Jeff G

David, that looks similar to the watch I am currently wearing.


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## Dean_Gretsch

Well, you two have very similar wrists!


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## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Well, you two have very similar wrists!



Or the same brother!!!!


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## SquarePeg

WUS?


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## Jeff G

I had to buy my own.


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## davidharmier60

WUS = Watch u seek (another website)


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## JonA_CT

@SquarePeg 

Seems like this is perfect for your daughter...is it weird for you to send it to her? Haha


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## SquarePeg

Love it!  They could have picked a better photo of him w/out that weird neck beard...


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## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Love it!  They could have picked a better photo of him w/out that weird neck beard...



I miss his hair....the neck beard just makes sure he doesn’t look like a Yankee.


----------



## smoke665

So far this week the UPS man has made two deliveries to my door step. Neither of which the DW noticed. G.A.S. got the best of me, I added another AB800, 6 heavy duty stands, 2 umbrellas, another boom arm, a Monopod and another AB Cybersync receiver to fill out studio equipment. Two more deliveries to go. If I manage to sneak those in, without getting caught I'll consider myself lucky and quit while I'm ahead.


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## Fujidave

Morning all, sun is out and it`s quite mild again.  Been so busy the last couple of days so hope to be able to slow down a bit soon.


----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!   

From the current weather and apparent short-term forecast, we'll be in the rain/clouds/somewhat milder temps for days.   This bodes for early blooming all around.  I'm still in winter-mode, but Mother Nature has other ideas this year.


----------



## Jeff G

Smoke, you resemble my signature line


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## smoke665

Jeff G said:


> Smoke, you resemble my signature line



I like the line "But honey, they were on sale that saved me a ton of money. It's like when you go to Belk's (one of the stores she likes) and use your members card to take advantage of a big sale, then talk about how much money you saved."


----------



## Fujidave

I had GAS the other week, went in to a charity shop with Mum and spent £75, but came out with a lovely Black X-T3 and it is in fantastic condition too so next month more GAS as might get the new XF 16mm f2.8


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Snow day for Leo!


Tuesday was my first actual snow day since college, now that I started my new job.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Snow day for Leo!
> 
> 
> 
> Tuesday was my first actual snow day since college, now that I started my new job.
Click to expand...


Congrats!
Forgive me if I have forgotten, but what is your new job?


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## davidharmier60

Today I left the store with 26.55 hours down.
Still have the house to myself (along with 9 dogs)
Been through my comics and all the penny rolls I plan to do today.
Going back through copper rolls with slash and burn on my mind. 
ANY flaw at all and they are gone.
There sure are a lot of them.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Snow day for Leo!
> 
> 
> 
> Tuesday was my first actual snow day since college, now that I started my new job.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Congrats!
> Forgive me if I have forgotten, but what is your new job?
Click to expand...

Thanks! I haven't posted in here since I got the new job!


----------



## terri

Congrats on getting the new job!   All I recall is that you were looking but didn't really like the idea of having to look.


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## vintagesnaps

What new job?? Whatever it is, snow days!!


----------



## waday

terri said:


> Congrats on getting the new job!   All I recall is that you were looking but didn't really like the idea of having to look.





vintagesnaps said:


> What new job?? Whatever it is, snow days!!



Thanks! Hahaha.. that doesn’t sound like me at all... 

It’s a manager job (different company), and it has much better benefits than my previous job. One of which means that I don’t have to work 60+ hour weeks, and my number of days off nearly doubled.


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## davidharmier60

I got a call saying my Aunt Virginia was at the home in Shepherd.
Dad and Sister got home and there was a call from Corrigan and she was there.
Sister left to go see her. I had a Turkey sandwich.
Fixin to get some Blue Bell.


----------



## RowdyRay

After a mild winter start this year, it's been a wild ride. From a stretch of -30 to +40 and now back to back snowfalls. Sorry that I haven't been able to participate in some of the contests or post new pictures. (I got out for a bit this evening) The shortest work day in the last several weeks was 9 1/4 hours. And then I needed to clean up the mess. Even with a snowblower, I hurt everywhere. Several nights I've fallen asleep within minutes of sitting down. 

In my younger years my brother and I cleared a LOT of roofs. Some of those people are begging us to do it again. Have 3 to do tomorrow. Don't want to. I'll be a hurtin' SOB. But.....that lovely cash will allow me to pay off a lens I have on layaway, early. Trying to convince myself it's worth it. Lol.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, very mild out and cloudy too with some drizzle.


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## SquarePeg

Hosers!  Going to be a mild weekend here in the 40”s and mostly sunny.  I have to be at UNE in Maine at 10 Sunday morning for a shoot with the same softball team I shot last year.  Debating driving up this afternoon and spending the night in Portland.  I could go out at sunrise to shoot Portland Head Lighthouse.  Been keeping an eye on the weather and cloud cover at sunrise is only expected to be 8%.  Not sure that’s going to be conducive to a great sunrise.  Have to decide soon.


----------



## smoke665

RowdyRay said:


> n my younger years my brother and I cleared a LOT of roofs. Some of those people are begging us to do it again. Have 3 to do tomorrow.



Thank goodness I live an area where "What God puts down, God will clear away". I'll take our humidity, at least I can stay inside when it's bad. LOL

Headed out the door at just after Sunrise today in a pleasant 50 degrees, with little wind. We had some rain last night but it's pushed on through. Today we get a break, but the rains are back in force tomorrow and most of next week. Predictions are for torrential rains with flooding in the low lying areas.


----------



## snowbear

"FA3 . . . " -- UAS registration number.  Yeah, one of those.  I bought it a while back but I've only tried flying once.  I can make it do tricks, like rolling over on takeoff!  It's a cheap (relatively) toy that, I hope, I'll learn to fly properly.  Once I'm to the point of making consistent level flights, I'll add a camera to it.

I figure, since I was asked to be the GIS member of the Fire/EMS UAS planning committee, I might as well try one out.  I've also been pointed to the MSGIC (State geo group) UAS working committee.


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## davidharmier60

It's gloomy and rather cool here in my part of the world. I came out with 31.15 for the week. No notice to bring home anything. 
Got some granola bars to munch on.
Will head to the post office when I start the truck. 

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## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  Going to be a mild weekend here in the 40”s and mostly sunny.  I have to be at UNE in Maine at 10 Sunday morning for a shoot with the same softball team I shot last year.  Debating driving up this afternoon and spending the night in Portland.  I could go out at sunrise to shoot Portland Head Lighthouse.  Been keeping an eye on the weather and cloud cover at sunrise is only expected to be 8%.  Not sure that’s going to be conducive to a great sunrise.  Have to decide soon.



I say go! Even if it's too cloudy for a sunrise shot, it just makes your Sunday morning easier to already be there. Plus, Portland


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  Going to be a mild weekend here in the 40”s and mostly sunny.  I have to be at UNE in Maine at 10 Sunday morning for a shoot with the same softball team I shot last year.  Debating driving up this afternoon and spending the night in Portland.  I could go out at sunrise to shoot Portland Head Lighthouse.  Been keeping an eye on the weather and cloud cover at sunrise is only expected to be 8%.  Not sure that’s going to be conducive to a great sunrise.  Have to decide soon.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I say go! Even if it's too cloudy for a sunrise shot, it just makes your Sunday morning easier to already be there. Plus, Portland
Click to expand...


I think it won’t be cloudy enough not too cloudy.  I like about 30-40% cloud cover for nice sunrise sky.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  Going to be a mild weekend here in the 40”s and mostly sunny.  I have to be at UNE in Maine at 10 Sunday morning for a shoot with the same softball team I shot last year.  Debating driving up this afternoon and spending the night in Portland.  I could go out at sunrise to shoot Portland Head Lighthouse.  Been keeping an eye on the weather and cloud cover at sunrise is only expected to be 8%.  Not sure that’s going to be conducive to a great sunrise.  Have to decide soon.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I say go! Even if it's too cloudy for a sunrise shot, it just makes your Sunday morning easier to already be there. Plus, Portland
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think it won’t be cloudy enough not too cloudy.  I like about 30-40% cloud cover for nice sunrise sky.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a fun way to spend your weekend!   I say go, too!   I agree with you about cloud cover.   Cloudless skies have their place in certain shots, but usually not for a brilliant sunrise/set kind of image.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  Going to be a mild weekend here in the 40”s and mostly sunny.  I have to be at UNE in Maine at 10 Sunday morning for a shoot with the same softball team I shot last year.  Debating driving up this afternoon and spending the night in Portland.  I could go out at sunrise to shoot Portland Head Lighthouse.  Been keeping an eye on the weather and cloud cover at sunrise is only expected to be 8%.  Not sure that’s going to be conducive to a great sunrise.  Have to decide soon.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I say go! Even if it's too cloudy for a sunrise shot, it just makes your Sunday morning easier to already be there. Plus, Portland
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I think it won’t be cloudy enough not too cloudy.  I like about 30-40% cloud cover for nice sunrise sky.
Click to expand...


Ah, I misunderstood. In my defense, I was still waiting for coffee  Doesn't change my mind - go!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sunny start today and very mild again for a Febuary, so Susie and I are off to Mums.


----------



## Fujidave

What a beautiful day today was, sun came out and it was very warm for a Febuary winters day,


----------



## smoke665

Another gloomy, damp and cool day.  Calling for heavy rains later today, and into next week.


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## davidharmier60

Gloomy and moist. Did half the penny rolls I intend to do today.
Did my comics at Arcamax. Have gone through some of my 74-79 copper with ruthless efficiency getting rid of anything that won't get better with White Silicon Grease. Did the same with 81-82.
Going to do 80 next and then the rest of 74-79. Wearing my Brotherhood BSH watch today.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, very mild today but very grey out so off to Mums again to help.


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## davidharmier60

Monday begins 

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## davidharmier60

Got through Monday unscathed. 
4.32. Crashed pretty hard in the bathtub last night. Going to go home and live better through chemistry. 

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## davidharmier60

I'd still like to know what happened to Gary.
We just had hot dogs and Fritos with chili. 
I feel a bit better than this morning. Price is Right on the DVR. 

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## smoke665

Another overcast day, but at least no rain, but the reprieve is short lived as it moves back in tonight. 911 is toning out "Areal Flood Warnings". I always get a chuckle out of that, took me a while to figure out it wasn't a mistake when I first heard it several years ago. It actually means "_flooding that develops more gradually, usually from prolonged and persistent moderate to heavy rainfall.This results in a gradual ponding or buildup of water in low-lying, flood prone areas, as well as small creeks and streams. The flooding normally occurs more than six hours after the rainfall begins, and may cover a large area." _


----------



## SquarePeg

Snowing here most of the day but not a lot of accumulation - under 6" for sure.  Temps really dropped late in the afternoon so it's pretty icy out there.  I ended up just doing a day trip to UNE and not going to Portland.  It was the right call as it was totally cloudless until well after 12 so I think the sunrise would have been not worth the extra effort.  I took about 500 photos of the UNE softball team and must have done about 300 squats.  My legs feel like I ran a marathon yesterday.  

Still light out at 5:30 today!  Spring is on it's way and I couldn't be happier about that.  I'm heading to FL for a long weekend next weekend.  Looking forward to some sunny days and warmer temps.  It won't be a photo centric trip but maybe will get a few outings in.


----------



## CherylL

@smoke665 "Areal" never heard that term before.  We are getting yet another snow system tomorrow.  This is getting old and we are not that far north!


----------



## Tony744

We got about 2 or 3 inches out this way. Anything on the ground will be ice by morning.


----------



## smoke665

I think I prefer our rain to snow. At least at our elevation it would take "A Real" flood before it caused us problems. 

Sadly, I came to the realization today that I need to service the mower as the first cut of the season is only days away.


----------



## davidharmier60

Another day. Another 42.50 before taxes. 
Car says it's 47. Phone claims it will rain around noon. That's all I got at 4.47.

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## davidharmier60

Car now says 42
It has rained. A gully washer for a while.
Light mist at the moment. 
A little under 42.50 today. 
9.24 for the week so far. 
Sold my box of pennies to the store. 
Going to go try and get another.
Then PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 
For better living through chemistry. 

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## Fujidave

Afternoon all, had a good mooch round town today, once I got some SD cards for my 2nd X-T3 body


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## davidharmier60

Dinner is to be Chef Salad. 
I'd STILL like to know about Gary.....


----------



## Fujidave

davidharmier60 said:


> Dinner is to be Chef Salad.
> I'd STILL like to know about Gary.....



Morning all, sun is out so off to Mums today.
Agree with you David I`d like to know how Garry is.


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## davidharmier60

43 according to the car.
At least no rain for the Marquee work.
Got Marquee and filters to do today.
5+ hours should be easy. 

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## smoke665

I fear I may develop web toes before this week is out. The ground is so waterlogged already that you have to tread lightly in the yard. They've lowered the forecast from 11 inches cumulative to 8, but based on the amount that fell last night I have to wonder.


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## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> I fear I may develop web toes before this week is out. The ground is so waterlogged already that you have to tread lightly in the yard. They've lowered the forecast from 11 inches cumulative to 8, but based on the amount that fell last night I have to wonder.



Seems I remember you saying your mowing season was to start soon? You may have a jungle to contend with before that can happen!


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I fear I may develop web toes before this week is out. The ground is so waterlogged already that you have to tread lightly in the yard. They've lowered the forecast from 11 inches cumulative to 8, but based on the amount that fell last night I have to wonder.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Seems I remember you saying your mowing season was to start soon? You may have a jungle to contend with before that can happen!
Click to expand...


And need pontoon outriggers to get over it. The centipede in the yards closer to the house is still dormant, it'll be another 30 days at least before it wakes up. However the fescue in the outlying areas is already green and growing, over 6" in some areas and could stand to be mowed now.


----------



## SquarePeg

I sent Gary a PM several months ago but he never responded.  Per jc he was fine.  I hope that’s still the case. Sometimes people get busy or need a break from the net.  

I miss his updates on Maggie and his daily activities and winery pics.  It’s almost baseball season!  Maybe he’ll make an appearance to tell us about the LAD’s prospects this year.


----------



## smoke665

Havent talked to Gary in a couple weeks, but the last time I did he was doing great.


----------



## snowbear

I called to him while the fires were still going on (I don't remember how long ago), and he was fine.  I didn't ask about his being off line - I figured he'd have said if he wanted me know.


----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon all, what a lovely sunny day it has been here on the South Coast might be wearing shorts soon too.


----------



## RowdyRay

We're being socked with yet another snow storm. 9-10" expected. Break on Thursday and starts in again on Friday. Sick of moving it. My body is still recovering from the 4 rooves I cleared Saturday. 

Most everything has been cancelled. Waiting to see if I have to work today. Sounds like the runways are shut down at MSP airport. That doesn't happen often. Gonna be a blast.


----------



## snowbear

Looking out the window, there are two or three inches on the grass and just a dusting on the hard surfaces; rain/snow mix coming in; up to five inches closer to DC.  County work decided two hour delay opening last night, then changed to full shutdown this morning.  There was a multi-vehicle crash on the commute route, so I'm glad we stayed home.

MLW is going to make cheesecake.  I'll share with y'all.


----------



## terri

Fujidave said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dinner is to be Chef Salad.
> I'd STILL like to know about Gary.....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Morning all, sun is out so off to Mums today.
> Agree with you David I`d like to know how Garry is.
Click to expand...

By various accounts here, he's fine.   His last post was shortly after Halloween, when he grew agitated over the issue of handing out Halloween candy.   Someone suggested he may have overreacted and he hasn't been seen since.   There's nothing preventing him from posting here, as he was and still is a member in good standing at TPF.



smoke665 said:


> I fear I may develop web toes before this week is out. The ground is so waterlogged already that you have to tread lightly in the yard. They've lowered the forecast from 11 inches cumulative to 8, but based on the amount that fell last night I have to wonder.


  It's just now moving out of our area.  Yesterday was the worst!   Constant rain/thunder (weird to hear in February), and the temps never got out of the 30's F.   Today is another raw day, just misting and light rain.

Forecasters are promising "significantly warmer temps" by tomorrow.   Our jonquils are all up, some early buds are forming on trees - spring is suddenly knocking on the door.       Ready or not!


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Looking out the window, there are two or three inches on the grass and just a dusting on the hard surfaces; rain/snow mix coming in; up to five inches closer to DC.  County work decided two hour delay opening last night, then changed to full shutdown this morning.  There was a multi-vehicle crash on the commute route, so I'm glad we stayed home.
> 
> MLW is going to make cheesecake.  I'll share with y'all.


mmm...cheesecake!   I'll have a thin slice and a cup of coffee, please.  And it'll still cost me about 400 calories.


----------



## davidharmier60

6+ hours today. 16.11 for the week so far. 
Gary, if you happen to look but not post we are thinking of you and Maggie.
Car says 50 degrees.  Sunny and I can't see a cloud in the sky. Apparently I have nothing to take home. PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## vintagesnaps

Snow and thunder snow and freezing rain last night which between that and the plow I woke up more than once. Today snow and iciness and dripping. I'm in a snow belt I swear, schools from here northward all closed but south of here a few delays at most. Waiting for my best friend to stop up and will see what it was like for her getting up here, roads are clear maybe a bit slushy. 

I found Gary elsewhere but I hope he'll finish taking a break from the internet and stop in here. Gary we miss you.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> mmm...cheesecake!   I'll have a thin slice and a cup of coffee, please.  And it'll still cost me about 400 calories.



But it is worth it.  Baking is finished, sitting in the oven, cooling down.  Into the fridge before bed.

MLW has to go to the office and print a bunch of stuff - Chief is making a presentation to the County Exec and Council tomorrow.  I have to supply a map (24x36) but it is done and I can print it in the AM.


----------



## RowdyRay

The powers that be claim we got 8", but I clearly measured 10". Spent 4 hours and a tank and a half of gas cleaning it up. But I help the neighbors out, especially the older ones. Another 6-9 coming this weekend. Running out of places to put it.


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## Fujidave

Afternoon all, just got back from Mums, and she gave me the X-T3 that she got from a charity shop and OMG this black beauty is brand spanking NEW and all for £75.


----------



## davidharmier60

4 and a little over 3/4 hours today.
22.01 for the week so far. 
Chilly and raining. Ugh.

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## davidharmier60

One of the things I'm trying to get a bank account for is a second battery for my Canon DSLR. Then I might carry it around. 

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## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Afternoon all, just got back from Mums, and she gave me the X-T3 that she got from a charity shop and OMG this black beauty is brand spanking NEW and all for £75.



Hate to say it Dave but someone is probably very upset to be missing their brand new camera.  At that price and so soon after the release, I would have to think it was either stolen or was donated in error.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon all, just got back from Mums, and she gave me the X-T3 that she got from a charity shop and OMG this black beauty is brand spanking NEW and all for £75.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hate to say it Dave but someone is probably very upset to be missing their brand new camera.  At that price and so soon after the release, I would have to think it was either stolen or was donated in error.
Click to expand...


I did all the police checks and even got in contact with Fuji and it came back Not stolen, so it might of been an unwanted gift.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Maybe somebody got it for Christmas and didn't want it? good you checked into it first Dave to make sure it wasn't reported stolen.

It's sunny!!!  I'm doing more fabric sun prints and might actually get them scanned in. One of these days that is...! lol Obviously I'm not in a big hurry to scan them since I was mostly trying it out and figuring out exposure times. 15 minutes seems best.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon all, just got back from Mums, and she gave me the X-T3 that she got from a charity shop and OMG this black beauty is brand spanking NEW and all for £75.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hate to say it Dave but someone is probably very upset to be missing their brand new camera.  At that price and so soon after the release, I would have to think it was either stolen or was donated in error.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I did all the police checks and even got in contact with Fuji and it came back Not stolen, so it might of been an unwanted gift.
Click to expand...


So how that you have both, do you prefer the all black or the silver model?


----------



## compur

Somebody maybe thought it was one of those useless (joke) old film cameras. 

It does say FUJI*FILM* right on the front.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sounds like a screamin' deal FujiDave! But I am SUPER happy I got my Canon Rebel XTi with two lenses for $100. Because I had a couple lenses and a flash that work on it.
Just had Tacos and Tostadas for dinner. Maybe a Blue Bell Fudge Bar in a while but maybe not.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon all, just got back from Mums, and she gave me the X-T3 that she got from a charity shop and OMG this black beauty is brand spanking NEW and all for £75.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hate to say it Dave but someone is probably very upset to be missing their brand new camera.  At that price and so soon after the release, I would have to think it was either stolen or was donated in error.
Click to expand...


Or a disgruntled spouse getting revenge. Few years ago went to visit son. In his neighbors yard across the street was a very nice, very large Craftsman roll around tool chest, stuffed full of tools and a sign on it $100 for all (probably close to $2k easy). Told my son about it, he said the couple were in the middle of a nasty divorce proceedings. We went back out to investigate, and someone was already in the process of loading it in a truck (not the woman's estranged husband).


----------



## snowbear

Well, hosers, here's a piece of MLW's cheesecake, topped off with cherries and chocolate syrup.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> Well, hosers, here's a piece of MLW's cheesecake, topped off with cherries and chocolate syrup.
> 
> View attachment 169490


Email me a slice (or 10)?


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon all, just got back from Mums, and she gave me the X-T3 that she got from a charity shop and OMG this black beauty is brand spanking NEW and all for £75.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hate to say it Dave but someone is probably very upset to be missing their brand new camera.  At that price and so soon after the release, I would have to think it was either stolen or was donated in error.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I did all the police checks and even got in contact with Fuji and it came back Not stolen, so it might of been an unwanted gift.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> So how that you have both, do you prefer the all black or the silver model?
Click to expand...


I`d say the black is better hands down, it just looks so good.

Morning all, we have very thick fog here today but still quite mild.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## JonA_CT

I'm off today because daycare is closed. Jack (18 months yesterday!) is going hanging out with me all day, and I'm bringing Tegan to school in a little bit. 

Anyone here ever sell to KEH? I was trying to sell some dregs I had laying around, and their quotes were pretty fair (especially considering having to ship, pay fees, etc)  so I sent them in. It's been sort of annoying since then, though. They aren't very forthcoming with their processing time when you get the quote, and the processing time they send after is clearly rainbows and butterflies. They have a system to track what they are doing on their end, and its been in the "evaluating" stage for 2 weeks now. I sent an e-mail after the first week just asking how much longer it might be, and the e-mail was "We're almost done!". My e-mail this morning was a bit more curt. They've had the stuff for almost a month now. My wife's quip this morning was, "How much longer are they going to keep it before you just assume you gave it away?" I'm not quite at that point yet, but even if they pay top dollar, I'm not sure I'll give a ringing endorsement of their service.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> I'm off today because daycare is closed. Jack (18 months yesterday!) is going hanging out with me all day, and I'm bringing Tegan to school in a little bit.
> 
> Anyone here ever sell to KEH? I was trying to sell some dregs I had laying around, and their quotes were pretty fair (especially considering having to ship, pay fees, etc)  so I sent them in. It's been sort of annoying since then, though. They aren't very forthcoming with their processing time when you get the quote, and the processing time they send after is clearly rainbows and butterflies. They have a system to track what they are doing on their end, and its been in the "evaluating" stage for 2 weeks now. I sent an e-mail after the first week just asking how much longer it might be, and the e-mail was "We're almost done!". My e-mail this morning was a bit more curt. They've had the stuff for almost a month now. My wife's quip this morning was, "How much longer are they going to keep it before you just assume you gave it away?" I'm not quite at that point yet, but even if they pay top dollar, I'm not sure I'll give a ringing endorsement of their service.



I had one experience with them but not selling to.  I bought a used lens from them that was listed as Nikon mount but when it arrived it was Canon.  Kind of annoying but they refunded me and sent me a return shipping label so customer service was good.


----------



## snowbear

I haven't sold but I've bought a few lenses.  I'm very happy with them.
It's supposed to rain all weekend and I have the travelling lens.


----------



## JonA_CT

I bought my D600 and a tamron zoom from them with no issues. I got both for a fair price, and I was pretty happy with that decision. I also bought a Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 zoom from them that I used for a couple weeks and just decided I didn't want, and the return process was smooth. I wouldn't hesitate to buy something from them if I thought it was the right deal. But selling to them? Meh.


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## SquarePeg

Good to know.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT have you checked to see if your items are listed for sale on their site? Maybe they're trying to cut down the inventory carrying costs? Or the outright purchase items may take a back seat to those that are being traded on another item? I also wonder if they are certain waiting or hold periods that they follow to verify if the items might be stolen.


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> @JonA_CT have you checked to see if your items are listed for sale on their site? Maybe they're trying to cut down the inventory carrying costs? Or the outright purchase items may take a back seat to those that are being traded on another item? I also wonder if they are certain waiting or hold periods that they follow to verify if the items might be stolen.



Their inventory is so large, it's hard to know. I don't think so, though. That would be more of a consignment model, and I'd expect a larger percentage back in that case because they aren't taking on any risk.

As far as making sure things aren't stolen, I could appreciate that. But...explain it as part of the process? Make sure your customer knows what to expect, maybe?


----------



## smoke665

Interesting evening spent visiting with the ex's in my life. Ex brother-in-laws, sister-in-law, and ex-wife. In MO to attend the funeral of my ex mother-in-law who despite the ugly divorce 40+ years ago remained a friend to the end (she never approved of her daughter's actions). I'm glad she and I had the opportunity to have a nice visit right before Christmas. Funny in that during that visit, she told me that I'd always be her favorite son-in-law. Even stranger is the fact that DW and I are friends with and have regular contact with all the family (except the Ex). After 20 years of not speaking I attempted to bury the hatchet with Ex for the kids sake. It went well for a couple months until when I wasn't looking she dug it up and buried it in my back. She's currently on number 3+????? Having divorced the third one but still living with him (I  don't ask don't care).


----------



## SquarePeg

I was happy to let my ex have his family in the divorce.  Let him keep his friends too.  Had to give him something.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> I was happy to let my ex have his family in the divorce.  Let him keep his friends too.  Had to give him something.



We came from small towns, plus there were two children from that first marriage who I had custody of, so contact was inevitable with her side of the family. Her sister is the same age as DW, they were HS friends, long before she and I met. The sister-in-law's husband and I were the same age and good friends having hunted and fished together for years, and the two younger brothers of the Ex were like my own little brothers. By and large the ex's family disapproved of most of the things she did, so there was never any animosity toward me.


----------



## waday

davidharmier60 said:


> Sounds like a screamin' deal FujiDave! But I am SUPER happy I got my Canon Rebel XTi with two lenses for $100. Because I had a couple lenses and a flash that work on it.
> Just had Tacos and Tostadas for dinner. Maybe a Blue Bell Fudge Bar in a while but maybe not.


My first DSLR was the XSi, which is one model year later. Which two lenses do you have?


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @JonA_CT have you checked to see if your items are listed for sale on their site? Maybe they're trying to cut down the inventory carrying costs? Or the outright purchase items may take a back seat to those that are being traded on another item? I also wonder if they are certain waiting or hold periods that they follow to verify if the items might be stolen.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Their inventory is so large, it's hard to know. I don't think so, though. That would be more of a consignment model, and I'd expect a larger percentage back in that case because they aren't taking on any risk.
> 
> As far as making sure things aren't stolen, I could appreciate that. But...explain it as part of the process? Make sure your customer knows what to expect, maybe?
Click to expand...

That sounds like a reasonable customer request, given that it's taking so long.   Obviously, moving stuff out and taking in $ will take precedent over moving items in and paying out $.    But a month to look over items and pay out seems fair.   I have been in their stores (at the old address they were at for decades and again in their new location), and honestly, for the size of their inventory they aren't particularly well staffed.   Likely the delay is just due to volume of work for one, maybe 2 people.   When I was last in there some years ago to pick something up, there were a few people in the back, one guy at the counter, and a "Help Wanted" sign on the wall.    

But - they've never done wrong by me with their sales or customer service.   Even with small-dollar items, if I had questions they've been unfailingly helpful and courteous over the phone.   .


----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!

I haven't seen the sun in a week.  I'm going to think back fondly of these damp, cool, misty, overcast days next August when the sun is burning the yard, but for now a glimpse of even a watery February sun would seem nice.   Rain in the forecast for later today.  Again.


----------



## Fujidave

Well it started out very foggy this morning then the sun came out, and now it`s quite warm for a Febuary winters day.


----------



## JonA_CT

So to finish the KEH story --

They replied back to my e-mail this morning saying that it had they had finished the quote last week but never officially sent it back to me, and they apologized for the error.

For what it's worth -- they thought everything was in better condition than I did, and paid more than the quote on all but the camera body I sent. For that, I asked a clarifying question about the quote (they rated it Bargain, and I was shocked by that...), but they said it was because of the number of shutter actuations. With the increased value of the other items, I walked away with nearly the original quote anyways. Good stuff. 

They've already paid via PayPal.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'll have to give a rundown on lenses when I get home. Yesterday must have been 21.16 or whatever because with 6 hours today it is 27.04. But at least 31 hours are in the bag. I am a man of many talents. 
Today I worked on a pallet jack and made it MUCH better. 

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## davidharmier60

OK. I'm fairly certain I got a Canon 70-300 along with the 18-55 EFS 3.5-5.6 but I know not where the 70-300 is. I suppose it's POSSIBLE that the Quantaray 70-300 4-5.6 is what came with it.
I have a Phoenix 19-35 3.5-4.5 that works with the XTi and a Sigma 70-300 4-5.6 that has a foggy rear element that also works. Hmm. I also have a Sigma 28-105 4.5.6 that I thought didn't work but it just did.
But here at the house for watch and coin pictures the 18-55 EFS stays on the camera.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> So to finish the KEH story --
> 
> They replied back to my e-mail this morning saying that it had they had finished the quote last week but never officially sent it back to me, and they apologized for the error.
> 
> For what it's worth -- they thought everything was in better condition than I did, and paid more than the quote on all but the camera body I sent. For that, I asked a clarifying question about the quote (they rated it Bargain, and I was shocked by that...), but they said it was because of the number of shutter actuations. With the increased value of the other items, I walked away with nearly the original quote anyways. Good stuff.
> 
> They've already paid via PayPal.


Nice!  All's well that ends well.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sunny start today and mild again but have a busy day.


----------



## davidharmier60

Kinda gloomy and humid.
31.32 for the week. 
Post Office and then to the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 
Oh put a quart of Mobil Synthetic 5w-20 in the car. It's a tiny bit over full but I reckon it'll be ok.

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## davidharmier60

Crud. Just as I parked the car the sky starting crying.  It's raining pretty hard. 
Not going in until it lets up.

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## vintagesnaps

I'm having a not-busy day, slept in, did do a small load of towels which will dry themselves with at least no hanging up clothes (and if they don't hop out and fold themselves I guess I'll have to do that part!). Did some scanning finally, by tomorrow or Monday we're supposed to have some sunshine so maybe I'll try some cyan prints that I could use in a quilt not just as experiments. Well, not that they aren't all experimental!


----------



## smoke665

We said our goodbyes and left MO early this morning, glad we did, because we managed to get ahead of the storms moving through. We've had so much rain, already, and we still have several more days in the forecast. The Coosa River that bisects our town, is at almost a foot above flood stage. With the rains tonight and this week still coming, I don't see it falling anytime soon. Fortunately there aren't any homes in the flood plain that are affected yet, but that might change. Black Creek which feeds our local tourist attraction Noccalula Falls, is swollen. I need to get out tomorrow and get some shots, but here's a video that was posted of it yesterday. I've actually seen it go completely over the foot bridge you see in the background.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hope the flooding where you live Smoke doesn't get too bad. Rivers here have been somewhat above flood stage, which happens sometimes along boat docks and ramps, etc. Just hope all the flooding doesn't damage people's homes. We haven't had as much rain as I thought they'd said at first, and I'm not sure if we're still supposed to get much overnight before it heads out. Glad you were ahead of the storms Smoke.


----------



## davidharmier60

Evening y'all. I went to Cleveland to get a battery for a watch. While there I got Dominos Pizzas.
The watch is still quite dead. When Lake Livingston gets full people downstream have problems.
But as long as the dam holds we don't. I'm fixing to have a float.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Glad you were ahead of the storms Smoke.



We skipped across the NE corner of MS on the return, it was 72 degrees, 2 1/2 hrs later on the eastern side of AL the temperature was 59 and falling fast. So fortunately the tornadoes are staying west of us, but we're getting soaked with torrential rain.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Glad you were ahead of the storms Smoke.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We skipped across the NE corner of MS on the return, it was 72 degrees, 2 1/2 hrs later on the eastern side of AL the temperature was 59 and falling fast. So fortunately the tornadoes are staying west of us, but we're getting soaked with torrential rain.
Click to expand...


Stay safe!  Lots of flooding and tornado activity in the South.


----------



## CherylL

Another gloomy foggy rainy day.  The backyard is a big mud pit in spots.  The pups are walking around the bad areas so at least they are trying not to bring in mud.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, another busy day as off to Mums again to help out.


----------



## terri

The sun is shining today!!!       It's been 8 days since we had sunshine around here.   It was pouring again around 6 AM, coming down so hard I figured we were in for another day of this crap.   The sun woke me up two hours later.   

Rain will be back by Wednesday, but for the next couple of days it will be nice.   I try to not wish away rain in this state - I've lived through too many nasty droughts for that - but we need to dry out at least a little before the next round!


----------



## Fujidave

Well it was hot today for a winters day, OH YES


----------



## davidharmier60

On Sunday the coffee leaves much to be desired. I opened the weather bug in my phone and it said 44 at the time going to a high of 64 and down to 40 this evening. No indication of rain.
Never had a float because all we had was Great Divide ice cream. That was pretty good though.
Have done half of the penny rolls I intend to. Have done my comics online.
My life isn't terribly exciting is it?


----------



## smoke665

Nice sunny day headed for a high of 59. If it weren't for the wind it would be really nice out.


----------



## snowbear

Coffee and chocolate.




DSC_2424.jpg by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr




DSC_2391.jpg by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## vintagesnaps

Get busy Charlie, you've got some pickin' and grindin' to do! And send the other beans to that bunny who makes creme eggs and clucks. 
(Too bad, they aren't really your beans...)

Wind has kept up all day, but at least it's blowing out the rain and bringing in some sunshine. Should ease up later this evening and get colder, but I'll take cold sunshine for a change from a whole lot of wet!

Arrgh, they had to go and put a wintry mix into the 5 day! Drat! lol Well at least a couple of days to do more sun prints, then I'll probably be done experimenting til I get fabrics picked out and get going with the quilt class.


----------



## snowbear

Technically, they are my beans - and yours (US Botanic Garden).  We just can't pick 'em.

There's also THIS:


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Arrgh, they had to go and put a wintry mix into the 5 day! Drat! lol Well at least a couple of days to do more sun prints, then I'll probably be done experimenting til I get fabrics picked out and get going with the quilt class.


Would a UV sun lamp or possibly black light work?


----------



## SquarePeg

Anyone else annoyed by the smartphone commercial about the one mom who “bokehs” the other moms child?  Apparently we’re pronouncing it bokah now.


----------



## davidharmier60

Yippee it's Monday. 
Had a pretty good mug this morning. 
Got a plan for Monday Madness which of course won't survive first contact. 
Have a good one kids.

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## JonA_CT

sooooo an X-T2 with booster grip and a bunch of accessories are arriving today. I can't believe how cheap they've gotten.

Of course, now I'm playing the lens dilemma again, haha. I can't decide what I want (although I know the 23mm didn't work for me, so that's out). I can afford the 56mm, or I can afford the 35mm f2 and 50mm f2, or the 35mm f1.4 and the 18-55mm... 

The rendering from the 56mm is so nice, but the AF is a hair slow for my kids. Meh. I need to make a decision today because it's ridiculous to have a camera and no lenses.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> sooooo an X-T2 with booster grip and a bunch of accessories are arriving today. I can't believe how cheap they've gotten.
> 
> Of course, now I'm playing the lens dilemma again, haha. I can't decide what I want (although I know the 23mm didn't work for me, so that's out). I can afford the 56mm, or I can afford the 35mm f2 and 50mm f2, or the 35mm f1.4 and the 18-55mm...
> 
> The rendering from the 56mm is so nice, but the AF is a hair slow for my kids. Meh. I need to make a decision today because it's ridiculous to have a camera and no lenses.



I have the 35 f/2 and af is sooo fast but I confess that I rarely use it.  The 18-55 is so much more convenient and I am not opposed to bumping up the ISO when I need to increase exposure.  

Lenses I use all the time:  18-55, 60mm macro, 50-230.   Lenses I like but could live without:  90 f/2, 14mm, 35 f/2.   

Last time I was shooting landscapes I used the 18-55 the whole time.   I use the 50-230 for sports stuff and the 60 for flowers.  Portraits I don’t do a ton of but I did a softball team shoot the other day with only the 18-55 and the photos came out really nice.  I’ll post some later.


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## SquarePeg

Ignore you want to borrow the 35 f/2 tI check it out let me know.  I just think the versatility of the 18-55 can’t be beat.


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## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Anyone else annoyed by the smartphone commercial about the one mom who “bokehs” the other moms child?  Apparently we’re pronouncing it bokah now.


Yep, I saw that.   It's just something you use like a sliding scale now.   Yeah.


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## davidharmier60

Afternoon kiddos. There is a FINE line between enough grease and too much grease in a main wheel on a 6 wheeler. Cleaned up a heck of a mess where a stocker stepped in grease and spread it around. I THINK I found the offensive 6 wheeler and took care of it but we'll see.
4.58 today. And tomorrow will be 5+ because I will need to go get propane.
An 18-55 EFS lense LIVES on my Canon XTi. It focuses closer than any other lense I have
I have yet to see bokah in any pic I have taken.


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## vintagesnaps

Jon I got a laugh out of the lens not being fast enough for your kids! it just sounded funny. One of these days when they get older and aren't constantly on the move the lens should be able to keep up with them!

Charlie I love Peeps!! not to eat though, I got plush ones. And I could use a UV light source, but I don't have one. Never looked into one because... I dunno, would rather budget/spend on film etc. rather than a light to use from time to time.

And today has been - sunny!!!


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## smoke665

Oh man it was nice out today. Started a little cool, but the sun came out, the wind stopped, and the temperature rose. Perfect day to do a good clean up on the wife's car.


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## davidharmier60

It's in the low 50s outside and rain is called for. Yippee. Got a nice mug of coffee. 

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## SquarePeg

It was so windy here yesterday and today. There are a lot of posts on Facebook about missing/found yard items.  Someone has found a Jaguar car cover.  Someone else has lost their recycle bins.  A neighbor had their gas grill blow right off of their deck!  Lots of clean up to do when it settles down.  The only good news is that it wasn’t trash day or there would have been a lot more stuff blowing around.


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## snowbear

It couldn't have been too bad - the Jaguar stayed where it was.   Yesterday was windy, here, as well.  I heard 50MPH for a number of gusts.

Sorting through the Botanic Garden shots - I'm going to order a couple of prints.  Has anyone had metallic prints made?  I'm thinking about going that route for "Starburst."


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## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> It couldn't have been too bad - the Jaguar stayed where it was.   Yesterday was windy, here, as well.  I heard 50MPH for a number of gusts.
> 
> Sorting through the Botanic Garden shots - I'm going to order a couple of prints.  Has anyone had metallic prints made?  I'm thinking about going that route for "Starburst."



Got a nice metallic print for my secret Santa 2 years ago.  It was from BayPhoto I believe.  I really like it and think it would be a great format for colorful florals.


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## SquarePeg

Just seeing that one of our shed doors is on the ground 20 ft from the shed.  It’s that molded plastic material so not super heavy but still for it to go that far is scary.  I hope none of the bunnies that live under the shed were hurt.


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## davidharmier60

I've yet to see any rain. I'm on the way to Coldspring.

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## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Got a nice metallic print for my secret Santa 2 years ago.  It was from BayPhoto I believe.  I really like it and think it would be a great format for colorful florals.


Thanks.

Let's hope bunnies are fine.


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## Fujidave

Afternoon all, have been busy and even going to meet up with a young lady tomorrow who wants me to take some promo shots for her.  This is something I have only ever dreamed of when I started taking images of the vocalists and now it looks like my dream will come true


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## davidharmier60

I've been home for at least 2.5 hours and the rain has made an appearance.
Not hard rain but a lot of water is dripping off the tarp outside my 'office' window.


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## vintagesnaps

It's still sunny!  Two whole days in a row! 

Then I think we're getting plunged back into winter by the weekend. 

I guess I'd have to see a metallic print in person. I like photos under glass, in a frame (that can be dusted! lol).


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## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Has anyone had metallic prints made? I'



I've had a couple. Didn't like them.


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## davidharmier60

It came a gully washer about an hour and a half ago. Pot Pie for dinner.
Thinking about what watch to wear tomorrow.


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## snowbear

MLW's wrists are really bothering her, again, so she went to the lawyer and they re-opened the original case; she goes to see the doctor on Friday.  She had a bad day at the office (people-related) and she's really looking forward to the inevitable break she will get when she is placed on OJI status.

I had an email come in from the management company of a local apartment/condo/commercial center.  The person (she's in Houston) is trying to figure out how many crimes have been reported within three miles of the center.  We don't normally do work for the public (we do internal maps and analysis) but I was given permission to do it.  It was really easy, and took less than an hour to put together.  Although I am using the County's account for running everything, it's on  my time.

fr65  <--  Zoe says "Hi."  She typed it all by herself.


----------



## RowdyRay

Got about 10 more inches Saturday evening into Sunday. Luckily the 45+ mph winds didn't let it settle.....much. A lot of drifting due to the high mounds we already have. Had to take out the screen door window to get out on Sunday evening. Came over the house and dropped on the porch. Packed down solid. Another couple inches today. Single digits for the highs this week and more snow coming Friday. 

I hurt every where! Haven't moved this much snow since the early 90's. Without a decent blower, you can't throw it over the mounds.


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## Fujidave

Morning all, sunny here again so will make the most of today as rain is coming in the next few days.


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## SquarePeg

Hey Hosers!  It's Friday for me - yippeeeee!  Heading to FL tonight for an extra long weekend.  I'm not taking my camera and am going to try for an internet/social media hiatus to recharge.   I'll only be using my phone for travel apps and to keep in touch with Princess.  No games, no Facebook/Instagram/Flickr, no photos, no email, no liking, no commenting, no forum posting...   I'll be back on Monday and will catch up with you all then.


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## SquarePeg

I will post next week's challenge before the black out begins.


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## davidharmier60

Man oh man somebody stopped up the Mens toilet. Took some doing but I got it cleared out. 16.01 for the week so far. 
It's quite moist outside. Fog or highway mist makes the woods on the other side of the highway almost invisible. 
Reading Harlan Coben while I wait to get my check. 

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## vintagesnaps

Have fun Sharon! sounds great 'roughin' it' in the lovely sunshine. 

Charlie, Zoe forgot to use spell check! lol I glanced at the keyboard to see if those letters and numbers were close together that she hit those keys; then I thought, hey maybe switch keys around... she could tap out a novel! lol

(And what happened to your wife's wrists?? I must have missed hearing about that, I don't remember anything happening. I don't know what OJI means but it's good she's going to get a break, that sounds miserable trying to do anything.)


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## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Hey Hosers!  It's Friday for me - yippeeeee!  Heading to FL tonight for an extra long weekend.  I'm not taking my camera and am going to try for an internet/social media hiatus to recharge.   I'll only be using my phone for travel apps and to keep in touch with Princess.  No games, no Facebook/Instagram/Flickr, no photos, no email, no liking, no commenting, no forum posting...   I'll be back on Monday and will catch up with you all then.



Have a great time off the grid!


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## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Hey Hosers!  It's Friday for me - yippeeeee!  Heading to FL tonight for an extra long weekend.  I'm not taking my camera and am going to try for an internet/social media hiatus to recharge.   I'll only be using my phone for travel apps and to keep in touch with Princess.  No games, no Facebook/Instagram/Flickr, no photos, no email, no liking, no commenting, no forum posting...   I'll be back on Monday and will catch up with you all then.


Enjoy!   It sounds relaxing and well deserved.


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## vintagesnaps

Hey Terri Terri Terri! Did you see Freestyle is doing an analog catalog again?? A real catalog!! lol Mentions hand tinting/coloring, pencils, oils - ooh!


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## Fujidave

Great day today, had a lovely talk with the young lady who has asked me to do some promo shots for.  We both have some ideas and are looking forward to the shoot.


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## smoke665

Spent most of the day building a custom storage area in the garage for photography equipment. Sadly not sure that it will hold it all, but it will take care of the big stuff. Next step will be a background stand that folds down from the ceiling, and background/floor covering storage on the wall.


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## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Have fun Sharon! sounds great 'roughin' it' in the lovely sunshine.
> 
> Charlie, Zoe forgot to use spell check! lol I glanced at the keyboard to see if those letters and numbers were close together that she hit those keys; then I thought, hey maybe switch keys around... she could tap out a novel! lol
> 
> (And what happened to your wife's wrists?? I must have missed hearing about that, I don't remember anything happening. I don't know what OJI means but it's good she's going to get a break, that sounds miserable trying to do anything.)


Zoe likes to lay on the desk, either to my right or directly in front of me.  She usually steps on the keyboard on the way or will rest a paw on the touch pad.

MLW had surgery for occupational carpal and cubital tunnel syndromes a few years ago.  The pain returned about a year ago.


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## davidharmier60

Chicken Ricearony was dinner.
Watching Drag Racing from Arizona on the DVR. Fog advisory for the morning yay.

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## Tony744

The turkeys have returned to work.







And this one felt he had to ham it up for the camera.


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## RowdyRay

They said nothing about this, but woke up to 4 more inches. Brings the official total to 38.9 inches this month! 4th snowiest month on record. I live outside of the heat bubble of the Twin Cities and typically get more. And have. The forecasters have been vague about what's coming Friday. Today they said measurable. That usually means 4+ but not sure where it will track. Going to be some major flooding come spring. 

Haven't started the small blower for a while. Good to run them frequently and perfect for this little bit. The recoil cord broke on the second pull. Great. Has electric start, so used that. Ran fine, but found an ice chunk at the end of the driveway and F'd up the auger. Out of commission for now. Already asked a lot from the big blower, but praying it will not let me down. 

Getting too old for this $#1t! Off to find my white flag. I surrender!


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## vintagesnaps

If you wave a white flag in all that snow nobody'll see you. 

I hope you don't get too much more. We're supposed to get snow this weekend but I haven't heard projected totals (not too much I don't think) but it's time for it to wrap it up for the winter! And we don't need any spring snow either.


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## snowbear

NWS is talking about a possible mix Friday morning.  We would like to take a small road trip this weekend, but not sure where - shore or hills.


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## D7K

Not been on here for the last few days, just got back from Budapest around 1am last night, a lot of shots to go through! Beautiful city and a busy few days ahead, hope to share some soon..


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## Tony744

Woke up to more snow this morning. Glad I fixed my snowblower over the weekend. Had to replace the auger and wheel drive belts. Replacing them was fairly easy, finding them was an ordeal. Hit over half a dozen places before I found a store that had them in stock.


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## davidharmier60

Coffeemaker wasn't on this morning. 
Guess I'll take a go cup with me.
Happy Thursday y'all. 

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## Fujidave

Afternoon, well the rain has now come back and heating is back on as it is pretty cold here today.


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## NancyMoranG

@SquarePeg where in Florida will you be?


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## davidharmier60

45 degrees according to the car. 
Misting rain. Not really fit for man nor beast out there.

5 hours and 20 odd minutes today. 
21.22 for the week so far. 
Sitting in the car snacking and listening to the Eagle 106.9.

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## smoke665

Rained most of the day. Tried to catch up on some inside chores, but seemed like everything I touched became a problem. Gave up in frustration and decided to program a new lighting setup in the Cyber Commander, when two of the receivers suddenly stopped working, headed for the computer to trouble shoot, and ran head first into a door that I'd left standing open (no clue why I did it). I sat down on a stool to let the stars quit circling my head, pressed the test button and everything started working just as mysteriously as they had quit.  Not one of my more stellar days. The only good thing about the day, is that today is the 2nd anniversary of Sadie Mae's adoption, for that I am thankful.


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## Fujidave

Morning all, well the sun has well done one as it`s another grotty cloudy grey day with drizzle.


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## davidharmier60

Phone claims 45 out there. Fog advisory for the morning. Supposed to hit high 60s later. Got decent coffee. 
Welcome to March. 
What happened to January and February?

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## terri

Rainy again (shocker) but is supposed to clear out by this afternoon.   We're on track to get much colder again after the next rain front rolls through, and I'm very happy!   It's been cool-ish, but we need a nice sub-freezing snap to stop the darned weeds from sprouting out there.   Two more weeks, at least, please!   

I'll get my spring fever soon enough.   I love heading to the nursery and getting my herb garden going, but I have to wait until mid-April.   After that, it's time to look at annuals and such.   My screened in porch gradually becomes the summer living room, and we spend a lot of time out there.   But I'm not quite ready yet.  

In other news - happy Friday, hosers!       Hope everyone is on tap to have a fun weekend, or at least a restful one if desired.


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## davidharmier60

45 degrees and damp. There was no mail at either stop. 26.15 hours with a day to go.
Listening to Motown on YouTube. About to look at some pennies.


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## snowbear

We woke up to a dusting of snow/sleet on the grass and car.  The roads were fine on our commute but there were a diaper load of crashes north of the city; one fatal.

MLW has her medical assessment and has been placed in IOJ no work mode until next week.  We’re leaving for the Risk Management office in a few, then home.


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## vintagesnaps

Snowed here too, about 6:30 or so last night it was still light enough to see it was white out there; it's melted but there's more a-comin'! I'm real tired of these French toast weekends (I don't know if I even want to get on Facebook to see the usual weather prediction from my French toast friend!) Good thing I have some indoor hobbies.

Too bad real life isn't like some of these daytime/late night commercials. A pizza just dropped by a little parachute onto a picnic table, then a nice big hamburger under a glass lid rose out of a pond among the cattails! That'd be handy if you're out picnicking or fishing.


----------



## smoke665

Best crab legs in the south, but you might want to practice your "tongs fencing" before you go.  Two people arrested after fight over crab legs


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## JonA_CT

We brewed a beer with triticale as a main component of the grist. No, I don’t really know what it is. But, it wasn’t locally grown, and this beer is featuring CT ingredients.


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## davidharmier60

It just doesn't seem right I gotta go to work on Saturday. Last night the phone indicated   55 this morning going up to 70.
This morning it says 53 going to 59.
I'm not sure it has any basis in facts.
Good mug of coffee. 

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## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> We brewed a beer with triticale as a main component of the grist. No, I don’t really know what it is. But, it wasn’t locally grown, and this beer is featuring CT ingredients.


If it were quatro-triticale, you could call it "Tribble."


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## snowbear

We are heading to the ocean today.  MLW has never been to Chincoteague or Assateague Islands so we're going to go look for some wild ponies.


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## terri

That sounds like so much fun, Bear.   Hope you get good weather.    Enjoy!


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## Fujidave

Well our weather has gone down the pan here, and so they say we now have stupid Storm Freya to hit us.  OH what joy... NOT.


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## limr

Hey hosers.

Weather is doing stuff here, too. What is it doing? Meh, who knows? I don't really pay attention. Every time someone asks me if I know what the weather is supposed to be like, I say, "Um, have you met me? Since when do I know the answer to that?"

Having a slow morning of coffee and reading. I always have to recover from the week on Saturdays.

Our bursar office was closed yesterday for the funeral of another co-worker who died suddenly and too young. She was a sweet woman, and she had friends not just in her department - all of us in the building knew and liked her. So two well-liked colleagues and also our former president have died in quick succession. It's been a rough month at my college.

Was going to show a few pictures for Women's History Month. There's a display case at school and the folks in Student Involvement arranged artists to show work during Black History Month, and they were doing the same. However, it went from one artist per week to a few artist per week, then all 11 artists in one week because of comstruction scheduling, and then to no one at all because they can't find the key to the space.  I backed out when it went to everyone crammed into the small space. Oh well.


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## davidharmier60

5.03 hours today. I was here at 4.45am. The keyholder got here at 5.08am. Clocked in 5.09. 31 and a bit under 1/4 for the week. In a few minutes or so I will go hit the PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## terri

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Weather is doing stuff here, too. What is it doing? Meh, who knows? I don't really pay attention. Every time someone asks me if I know what the weather is supposed to be like, I say, "Um, have you met me? Since when do I know the answer to that?"
> 
> Having a slow morning of coffee and reading. I always have to recover from the week on Saturdays.
> 
> Our bursar office was closed yesterday for the funeral of another co-worker who died suddenly and too young. She was a sweet woman, and she had friends not just in her department - all of us in the building knew and liked her. So two well-liked colleagues and also our former president have died in quick succession. It's been a rough month at my college.
> 
> Was going to show a few pictures for Women's History Month. There's a display case at school and the folks in Student Involvement arranged artists to show work during Black History Month, and they were doing the same. However, it went from one artist per week to a few artist per week, then all 11 artists in one week because of comstruction scheduling, and then to no one at all because they can't find the key to the space.  I backed out when it went to everyone crammed into the small space. Oh well.


For pete's sake, they couldn't find the key?!    Lame!       It could have been interesting.    Oh well.   Maybe someone will take the initiative and get someone from maintenance over there.   

Sorry to hear about your colleagues - you're right, this has been a sad month there at your college.


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## davidharmier60

The box at the front of the neighborhood had a note about an oversize package for Dad.
Went back to town for it. It was a BIG bag of meds from the VA. Sister is off with Pam.
Another rollicking Saturday.


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## Jeff15

I don't mind stormy weather cos its all about the light....Just give me light.........


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## Tony744

More snow fell here today. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as they predicted. Snow fall remained light and melt almost as soon as it hit the ground. What little did accumulate melted away in no time. Wish the storm coming in tomorrow night would be like that.


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## snowbear

Well, it was an all day trip, 42 degrees, and cloudy, but it didn't rain.  It was a bit windy on the beach so we didn't stand there very long.

I got a few shots and we did see some ponies - about 8, all doing what they like to do - graze, but these two did look up occasionally.  I got about 40 yards from the closest one, and used the old Vivitar at 205mm.



DSC_2497.jpg by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr

We saw a few birds, too.



DSC_2447.jpg by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr

This was at the Navy/NASA Facility (Wallops Island).



DSC_2500.jpg by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


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## Fujidave

Morning all, very windy here and chucking it down so not up to much today at all.


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## waday

Morning all!

The wife got a text message from a friend. Friend asked if I could take pictures of their kid, otherwise they’d spend the $300 for a professional photographer.


----------



## JonA_CT

Good friends, at least? I don’t mind when my close friends ask me to take photos for them, and I’m usually happy to do it. Then again, they don’t mention how much money they might save! I do get FB messages from people who I’m not close with who ask me if I’m willing to do photos. I usually just mention that I’m busy being a teacher, a brewer, and a dad at this point. 

It’s my wife’s birthday today. I made her browned butter banana nut muffins for breakfast, and just lit the smoker because she requested pulled pork for dinner. It should be a nice little break before the snow tonight. We got about 4 or 5 inches yesterday that pretty much melted when the sun came out. They are calling for another 4 or 5 inches tonight.


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## Tony744

We're expecting 6 to 9 inches here. Gonna make tomorrow morning fun. NOT!


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## snowbear

Good morning, hosers.  Zoe let me sleep in for a bit.
Expecting rain and possibly freezing rain or sleet; snow north and west of the city.


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## davidharmier60

Sunday y'all. Last mug from a molested pot. Breakfast soon. Dad is mad and not talking to Sister because she was gone most of the day yesterday. Ain't life swell?

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## waday

JonA_CT said:


> Good friends, at least? I don’t mind when my close friends ask me to take photos for them, and I’m usually happy to do it. Then again, they don’t mention how much money they might save! I do get FB messages from people who I’m not close with who ask me if I’m willing to do photos. I usually just mention that I’m busy being a teacher, a brewer, and a dad at this point.
> 
> It’s my wife’s birthday today. I made her browned butter banana nut muffins for breakfast, and just lit the smoker because she requested pulled pork for dinner. It should be a nice little break before the snow tonight. We got about 4 or 5 inches yesterday that pretty much melted when the sun came out. They are calling for another 4 or 5 inches tonight.


Ugh, random people for me would be a no, especially if they’re expecting free or nearly free photos. I agree with you in the mention of how much they’d save. I wouldn’t have expected any money, nor would have I accepted any, but the mention of it was a “really?” moment. We’re not super close. Hung out a few times. I felt justified in saying no this time.

The wife also asked me to “teach” her husband photography so they could do the same thing. After I sat down with him for an hour and a half, I think he realized that it’s not the camera. LOL

Happy birthday to your wife! 

It’s snowing right now, and we’re supposed to get 6 or so inches.


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## Fujidave

Morning all, well storm freya gave us a battering yesterday and last night, it has now cleared off but more rain is forecast for us this week.


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## davidharmier60

The phone claims it's 36 degrees outside. 
The high is to be 43. The coffee is decent. 
Gotta go. 

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## limr

Hey hosers. 

We got more or less half a foot overnight. Bright and sunny now. Lots of schools - including mine - made the call last night, so I have a snow day. Can't blame them. The storm came pretty fast and looked like it was going to be worse. Even though it stopped snowing before morning, it takes a while to clean parking lots for students and faculty, so I expected there would be delays at least.

Snow totals turned out to be in the middle range of the predictions. Probably would have been fine with just a delay, but I am not going to look a gift snow day in the mouth!


----------



## terri

Morning, hosers!

There was a nasty front that rolled through the SE USA last night - back to back tornadoes that killed up to 23 people.     Hoping Smoke and his family made it through all right.   

Temps are scheduled to plunge after this, too.  Sub-freezing temps for the next few days.  Keeping those unfortunate folks who lost family, homes and businesses in my thoughts.

Feeling very lucky this Monday morning.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> We got more or less half a foot overnight. Bright and sunny now. Lots of schools - including mine - made the call last night, so I have a snow day. Can't blame them. The storm came pretty fast and looked like it was going to be worse. Even though it stopped snowing before morning, it takes a while to clean parking lots for students and faculty, so I expected there would be delays at least.
> 
> Snow totals turned out to be in the middle range of the predictions. Probably would have been fine with just a delay, but I am not going to look a gift snow day in the mouth!


Lucky! Glad that everyone made the safe call! I was hoping the snow for us would start just a little bit later than it did, so that it would have lasted throughout the night. It did not, but I will not complain about a paid 2-hour delay! 

That said, I'm sick and have been sick for the better part of 5 days, and both my wife and daughter have been sick for the past couple of days. I'm ready for a few days of no one in our house being sick.


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## davidharmier60

The car now says 33 degrees. It feels awful chilly outside. No sun to be seen. When the car warms up enough to make me warm I'll go to the post office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> @SquarePeg where in Florida will you be?



Hi Nancy.  Sorry didn’t see this before I left and I’ve been off the grid all weekend!  I was in Orlando and Tampa.  

Now I am at the airport with a flight that was delayed 5 hours.  Orlando airport is the armpit of airports.  No good food, no good shopping, screaming kids everywhere, grannies in wheelchairs, babies in strollers, groups of cheerleaders and marching bands and no comfy seating or charging stations to be found.  



Tony744 said:


> More snow fell here today. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as they predicted. Snow fall remained light and melt almost as soon as it hit the ground. What little did accumulate melted away in no time. Wish the storm coming in tomorrow night would be like that.





Tony744 said:


> We're expecting 6 to 9 inches here. Gonna make tomorrow morning fun. NOT!



Well it must have stuck because Princess has no school and my flight got pushed back.  Was supposed to land at 1 but now won’t get in until after 6. 


Anyone have any Netflix suggestions?  Just finished the excellent Umbrella Academy series.  Looking for something not quite as weird.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Well it must have stuck because Princess has no school and my flight got pushed back.  Was supposed to land at 1 but now won’t get in until after 6.
> 
> 
> Anyone have any Netflix suggestions?  Just finished the excellent Umbrella Academy series.  Looking for something not quite as weird.



Good luck getting home! If it looks like it does around here, there was enough snow for delays but the roads have been clear for hours. It was bright and sunny for a while but has clouded up again.

As for Netflix - if you like Fred Armison and Bill Hader, try watching _Documentary Now - _a serious of short (20-25 minutes) mockumentaries. They're really funny.


----------



## SquarePeg

Boarded!  They had pushed us to 5pm boarding them pulled back to 2pm.  I think it was just a trick to make everyone ok with the 4 hour delay vs the potential 7 hours.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Anyone have any Netflix suggestions? Just finished the excellent Umbrella Academy series. Looking for something not quite as weird.



A few off the top of my head:

One Day at a Time (comedy, remake)
Russian Doll (this is weird, lol. The wife and I are three episodes in.)
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (comedy)
The Good Place (comedy)


----------



## JonA_CT

I second the Russian Doll recommendation. We finished it a couple weeks ago...seriously great season of a show. I’m actually kind of hoping they leave it be — that well done, IMO.


----------



## limr

Russian Doll is next on my list.


----------



## limr

And I still haven't watched the last season of _Orange is the New Black_!


----------



## Tony744

We got about 8 inches of snow around here. Some areas around Boston got almost 17.


----------



## davidharmier60

All the way up to 39 here. Never has been any sun today. Rained lightly earlier.
We had Pot Roast with taters, onions and carrots last night and we are about to have it again.


----------



## NancyMoranG

@SquarePeg, no worries, I think you enjoyed our weather! I knew you had a short trip planned. 
As I saw the weather, I wondered how you would get back! My brother is in Quincy.

I am just starting to get back posting on the Forum after @ 18 months and our sons death. It's been tough no doubt.

We are in Florida near family since mid-November. Have been following you all, just haven't posted ....


----------



## JoeU

This is making me glad I live in Oregon. We've only had one light dusting of snow where I am this winter.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Has anyone heard from Smoke? Hope the tornadoes missed his area.


----------



## snowbear

He posted in another thread this morning.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Thank you. I see he just did about 10 minutes ago too.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Hoping Smoke and his family made it through all right.





Dean_Gretsch said:


> Has anyone heard from Smoke? Hope the tornadoes missed his area.



Still here. We got heavy rains most of the afternoon, but the tornadoes were about a 150 miles south of us. Lot of destruction in the Smith Station and Beauregard area (west/nw of Columbus, GA).


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Glad to hear you're OK.


----------



## smoke665

I think @bulldurham got it worse then we did on the wind.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

That isn't good since he is still recovering from the hurricane.


----------



## smoke665

The storms yesterday overshadowed the tragedy in the county next to us. An 11 year old girl went missing Friday evening. They found her Saturday.  Alabama authorities charge man in death of 11-year-old girl - CNN I just can't understand the evil in this world today.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Smoke, I guess it's the 24 HR a day news these days, and we hear of so many more crimes. Seeing all the 'cold cases' they are solving with DNA, it's always been there, just that we weren't aware of every single 1.

Yes, hope all our TPF folks in harms way, are ok..


----------



## bulldurham

They are going to do my framing in and roof this week. It will be over 6 months since the storm before my house is livable again. We got hammered last night but nothing like Alabama and Georgia got it; we all lived.


----------



## JoeU

Good to see you made it through. Best wishes on the house. I've been through a rebuild from a house fire, but I can't even imagine what you must be going through.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's why I got on, after the news tonight that reminded me I'd thought about Smoke at some point today - glad you weren't in that area affected Smoke, sorry for all the people affected by the devastation.

I think that's what happens Nancy, we used to only see so much national news compared to these days.

There wasn't much snow after all but it did get cold. For me it was a good sun print day!


----------



## davidharmier60

Big news around here was a head on collision that killed a few. 
28 degrees says the car. Phone says it'll hit 50 later. Believe it when it happens. 
I'm in the parking lot waiting. 

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## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone have any Netflix suggestions? Just finished the excellent Umbrella Academy series. Looking for something not quite as weird.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A few off the top of my head:
> 
> One Day at a Time (comedy, remake)
> Russian Doll (this is weird, lol. The wife and I are three episodes in.)
> Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (comedy)
> The Good Place (comedy)
Click to expand...




JonA_CT said:


> I second the Russian Doll recommendation. We finished it a couple weeks ago...seriously great season of a show. I’m actually kind of hoping they leave it be — that well done, IMO.





limr said:


> Russian Doll is next on my list.



Wasn’t planning on watching Russian Doll but between TPF and Facebook that makes it the most recommended show!


----------



## smoke665

@NancyMoranG and @vintagesnaps I first started as a VFFR around 1972, before the internet and 24 hr news. Some of the runs I've been on over the years still haunt my dreams, you're correct the evil people can do, has always been there, but I wonder if it isn't getting worse. At times it seems like either people become desensitized by all the coverage or in some cases get ideas from the coverage.

Followup to the murder of the little girl, the man in custody is the brother-in-law of the aunt who was supposed to be watching the little girl. She left the man to watch the girl for a few minutes while she ran to the store.


----------



## davidharmier60

It is 35 and the wind feels like a cold knife.
5 hours and a few for 10.14 for the week so far. 

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## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> It is 35 and the wind feels like a cold knife.
> 5 hours and a few for 10.14 for the week so far.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



26 here this morning, as Sadie and I hit the trail, but surprisingly not that bad as there was little if any wind.


----------



## tirediron

Chatty bunch aren't you?  I miss anything interesting?


----------



## snowbear

Tomorrow the NPS is supposed to announce the prediction for cherry blossom peak.



tirediron said:


> Chatty bunch aren't you?  I miss anything interesting?


Just the usual.


----------



## davidharmier60

Going to be in the 30s when I do the Marquee. Yippee. Trying to get woke up good. 

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## SquarePeg

Despite my constant Purel use at the airport and on the plane, I’ve got a terrible stuffy nose and sore throat this morning.   Must have missed a germ or two...  going to be a long day for me trying to catch up at work.


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg and that is why DW's doctor has told her not to fly because of her immune system. He equated sitting in a confined tube of recirculated air to sitting in an inoculated Petri dish. It wasn't if you'll be exposed but how bad and with what.

Brisk 28 with sun and clear skys this morning on our walk. Had it not been for the wind it would have been pleasant.


----------



## davidharmier60

It either wasn't 30s or i got acclimated. 
Wasn't terrible. 16 hours even for the week so far. Instead of sitting in the deli or the car I'm going to the post office and the library while waiting for the check. 
Brought a Cheeseburger out to the car.
Good stuff Maynard. 

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## NancyMoranG

Hmmm, I fly next week, maybe I should find a face mask?


----------



## JonA_CT

This post is just to announce that I am no longer camera-less and lens-less. (X-T2 and 35mm f1.4)

I know it should be a cat but I don’t have one and my neighbors won’t lend me theirs.


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> Hmmm, I fly next week, maybe I should find a face mask?



The way I feel today, I wish I’d worn one.


----------



## snowbear

Cold but that's OK.

I got a new map request but it's not a good thing.  2018 was a bad year for fire fatalities in the Work County - Nine fatalities in seven fires, the victims all being 60 or older.  There was no working smoke alarm in four of the homes, two with working alarms but only on the lower level (fire and occupants were on upper levels), and one alarm that the status hasn't been determined.

PLEASE, folks, make sure you have working smoke alarms outside every bedroom.  And check those batteries.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> This post is just to announce that I am no longer camera-less and lens-less. (X-T2 and 35mm f1.4)
> 
> I know it should be a cat but I don’t have one and my neighbors won’t lend me theirs.
> 
> View attachment 169819


Puppies are good, too.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> 2018 was a bad year for fire fatalities in the Work County - Nine fatalities in seven fires, the



Over the last few years our structure fires have declined, partly because the abandoned houses were eventually destroyed by the meth heads forcing them to go elsewhere. Surprisingly there have been no fatalities. Hope it stays that way.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> I second the Russian Doll recommendation. We finished it a couple weeks ago...seriously great season of a show. I’m actually kind of hoping they leave it be — that well done, IMO.


I agree, that was a great show and season. Very cool. That ending!


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## davidharmier60

Sigh. I was here at 4:45 like usual. 
But no keyholder. The deli girl asked me about it. Then a stocker showed up. 
Finally at 5:40 Jodi showed up. Mondays and Thursdays are truck days. I got to bust a move on those days. So I spot mopped,  dust mopped and did the bathrooms. 
Was kinda a short day. But 20.13 for the week so far. Off to the post office. 

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## davidharmier60

The brown truck should show up today with a new air pump for our Aerobic System.
They have been to both of our neighbors so it SHOULD be no problem....
But Fedex sure had trouble getting a blower motor to me!


----------



## vintagesnaps

SharonCat that's terrible! and hilarious! and took me a second to realize what the book was.

Nancy, you need to go all out, get something like here at 45 seconds when Luke comes into the Cantina and again at 1 minute with a creature seated at one of the tables... (I've seen this movie too often if the Cantina scene is what came to mind for a good face mask!). 
Creature Cantina - Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope

Yesterday was a surprise sun  day, and I used up the last of the fabric squares which are laying all over the kitchen table. Guess now I'll have to do something with them but I was on a roll! No more sun, instead clouds, 2-3" of snow, then rain and thundersnow? or thunderstorms depending on when the temp changes. 

Some hockey team ought to name themselves the Thundersnow. 

Now I have that Cantina song stuck in my head.


----------



## davidharmier60

Everybody in the whole cell block was dancing to the jailhouse rock!


----------



## JonA_CT

I have 325 pages of student work to grade and 83 comments to write before Thursday next week.

So naturally I'm...


----------



## vintagesnaps

We can help you with some comments... 

Oh I forgot what grading papers was like... after 20+ years of EI my time teaching jr. high was eons ago, and it was special ed, but still, there was detention duty. They were supposed to write sentences and some sneaky (so they thought) kids always had to try it with two pencils (did that actually make it faster?? lol). One time a kid asked what I was going to do with their papers and I said wallpaper my bathroom.


----------



## vintagesnaps

'You are the lucky recipient of a passing grade.'

'You have achieved a whopping modicum of success.'

'After seeing this grade your parents may be inclined to pretend they don't know you. Oops I mean, be so proud.'


I probably have more...


----------



## JonA_CT

vintagesnaps said:


> 'You are the lucky recipient of a passing grade.'
> 
> 'You have achieved a whopping modicum of success.'
> 
> 'After seeing this grade your parents may be inclined to pretend they don't know you. Oops I mean, be so proud.'
> 
> 
> I probably have more...



“Well, it’s hard to get a stallion from two ponies.”

And many, many others that have been whispered in faculty meetings and in hallways that can’t be repeated here, haha.


----------



## davidharmier60

Chicken Fried steak, mashed taters, corn and gravy. I brought home two pints of Blue Bell Pecan Pralines and Cream and will have a bit of it before too long.

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## Tony744

I'm coming to your house for dinner!


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> 'You are the lucky recipient of a passing grade.'
> 
> 'You have achieved a whopping modicum of success.'
> 
> 'After seeing this grade your parents may be inclined to pretend they don't know you. Oops I mean, be so proud.'
> 
> 
> I probably have more...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> “Well, it’s hard to get a stallion from two ponies.”
> 
> And many, many others that have been whispered in faculty meetings and in hallways that can’t be repeated here, haha.
Click to expand...


My favorite was the time I went to the parent/teacher conference for middle school it was a meeting with a "team" of teachers though one did most of the talking.  A friend had the meeting after mine so I hung out and waited and we went for dinner afterwards.  Of course we compared notes!  The teacher had said almost the exact same thing, practically word for word, about both of our daughters - 2 very different kids.  Some gems that could mean absolutely anything:  A pleasure to have in class, Very engaged, Good at advocating for herself (aka she is a pain in the butt)...  So funny.


----------



## tirediron

JonA_CT said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> 'You are the lucky recipient of a passing grade.'
> 
> 'You have achieved a whopping modicum of success.'
> 
> 'After seeing this grade your parents may be inclined to pretend they don't know you. Oops I mean, be so proud.'
> 
> 
> I probably have more...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> “Well, it’s hard to get a stallion from two ponies.”
> 
> And many, many others that have been whispered in faculty meetings and in hallways that can’t be repeated here, haha.
Click to expand...

"Your presence in my classroom has a deprived a village somewhere of its idiot!"


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> I have 325 pages of student work to grade and 83 comments to write before Thursday next week.



An A-minus? Why minus?








vintagesnaps said:


> sentences and some sneaky (so they thought) kids always had to try it with two pencils *(did that actually make it faster??* lol).



Maybe, maybe not, but the challenge of it made it less boring. So I've heard


----------



## RowdyRay

Guess it was too much to ask for no problems from the blower for the rest of the season. Now the big one is down. Broke last weekend. Long story. Gotta bring it out to dad's tomorrow night. He's got torches, punches and bigger drills. One way or another, it'll get fixed. Have to. Got another storm coming in Saturday. Supposed to be a whopper. 9"+. Wet and heavy. Heart attack snow. And another behind it Tuesday? Wet and heavy too. Just wont end.

On a better note....Some of the eagles are coming back. Got off work early yesterday and the sun was still out. Visited some nearby nests. Didn't see any activity. Stumbled on a spot that ducks were coming in to feed. Didn't know there were any around in February! Man, am I rusty. Slow on the draw. Lot of butt and wing shots. Many were overexposed because the new 80D picks up so much more light. Only single degrees out and my fingers were completely frozen. The touch screen does not respond to an icicle, BTW. A whole new learning curve......

I was just happy to get out and shoot something. Can't wait for spring!


----------



## davidharmier60

Happy Friday y'all. 
After work today I'm off until Monday. 
60s all day with some rain called for. 


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## snowbear

Cherry blossoms: 
Peak Bloom April 3-6, 2019 (Wednesday through Saturday)
Festival events and activities.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> 'You are the lucky recipient of a passing grade.'
> 
> 'You have achieved a whopping modicum of success.'
> 
> 'After seeing this grade your parents may be inclined to pretend they don't know you. Oops I mean, be so proud.'
> 
> 
> I probably have more...


Oldie but goodie:
"You are not a failure, but rather a model of a bad example."


----------



## smoke665

I like the one "keep at it, you're still a few fries short of a Happy Meal", or "Your belt has missed a few loops" and "Proof that evolution can go in reverse". 

Once again, rain is in our forecast. Have a brush pile where I cleaned out a pine thicket, that I've been trying to burn for a month. Either it's to wet or the wind is blowing to hard. Last evening I thought it would burn, but after a few atttemps to get going, it finally died out.


----------



## snowbear

We are supposed to get a snow/rain mix and the snow that falls will just melt as the ground temps are too high (except the higher hills to north and west).

My, how my mind is working today.
The mountains here are the Appalachians.  The word is pronounced differently, depending on where you are from.  I originally used "ap-uh-LAY-chens" but have adopted the Southwest Virginian (and I guess elsewhere) "apple-LATCH-uns."

This got me to a town in Work County - Mt. Rainier.  The volcano in Washington State is Mount "ruh-NEAR."  Ours is Mount "RAIN-yer."

Well, back to GIS and Python.


----------



## davidharmier60

25.22 for the week 
Better than a poke in the eye. 
Definitely too wet to burn anything at our property. I am eating Pineapple chunks.
Figure it's a little better than fried food.
At the PO I'm going to mail off for yet another watch. If it is everything I've been reading about it will get a lot of wearing. 

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## smoke665

Sorry, don't normally share these, but I found this familiar. LOL


----------



## vintagesnaps

'Applelaychens'. I didn't know I had a southern accent til I went north to college. Kind of lost it working in the city but got it back since I live out here with the cows and chickens. Goes well with the nasal twang. 

Not much snow, the whole thing shifted south. I'm sick of french toast (buying bread and milk).


----------



## vintagesnaps

There's been a Columbo on from the '70's involving cameras. On the shelf back there behind him is a Colorpack like mine I think, and a couple of Polaroid packfilm 100-400 series cameras. Dick Van Dyke's character just popped one open to get the negative, one of the earlier roll film Polaroids. And incriminated himself - Polaroids save the day and catch the criminal!


----------



## smoke665

A true Southerner never loses the accent totally. From the south all the way up into the Appalachians, and southern Virginia, people primarily speak a form of Elizabethan English, except in the cities and more densely populated areas, where the influence from others has diluted it. Back when I traveled a lot, I was surprised to find that rural Massachusetts was very similar.  Had an old gentlemen tell me once that we both had the same accent, except where he lived it was to damn cold to draw everything out.


----------



## vintagesnaps

We're somewhere in the middle, not truly anything...


----------



## davidharmier60

The car showed 70 degrees on the way home. This is Texas. If you don't like the weather wait a bit and it'll change.


----------



## snowbear

We haz snow!

Southern Virginia is not the same as Southwestern Virginia.  Southern Virginia includes places like Norfolk and Danville (on the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont).  Southwestern VA is in the mountains: Big Stone Gap, Haysi, Dante, Clintwood, Norton, Pound . . .


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Sorry, don't normally share these, but I found this familiar. LOL
> View attachment 169891


I think the quotation marks are a bit off.

Some of us do laundry and dishes without wanting anything.


----------



## davidharmier60

For the temp out there there hasn't been a peek of sunshine.


----------



## davidharmier60

Happy Saturday y'all. 
Weird not to be at work. 
May go to my favorite flea market in Cleveland and see if they have anything I can't live without. Have molested mug of coffee. Pretty much have to awaken at 4am to get good coffee. 

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## smoke665

Headed to Spring BBQ Fundraiser at the Fire Hall. Going to seem strange this year to not be working, but will enjoy the time to sit and visit with friends from all over the valley.  May be cut short if all the bad weather they are predicting for today comes through.


----------



## davidharmier60

My phone is getting to the point that it must be replaced. The septic system has a working air pump. Several branches were placed on the burn pile. But here we are.

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## NancyMoranG

@vintagesnaps, you and I must have been watching same Colombo with Dick Van Dyke yesterday! I caught the last 40 minutes and had seen it before, always liked that one..


----------



## RowdyRay

Woohoo! Got the snow blower fixed. Part of it was my fault, but think we've got it figured out. Hope so, it's sleeting/snowing like an SOB right now. Find out tomorrow morning.

On a better note.....I'm now the proud owner of a Tamron 150-600mm. Sorry for the crummy cellphone pic. Without pics it didn't happen, right? Can't wait for spring!


----------



## waday




----------



## Tony744

NancyMoranG said:


> @vintagesnaps, you and I must have been watching same Colombo with Dick Van Dyke yesterday! I caught the last 40 minutes and had seen it before, always liked that one..



That episode just started here.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Man, Mother Nature refuses to shed her winter garb. Roads were covered with sleet/ice this morning. We can get snow here for another month and a half yet.


----------



## smoke665

Thankfully, no snow and the storms predicted for yesterday fizzled out, but rain continues.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's kinda foggy outside. And I figure the humidity is back with a vengeance. 

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## Tony744

Started snowing here a couple hours ago, coming down pretty hard.


----------



## SquarePeg

Sloppy out there this morning.  Heavy snow just turning to rain.  Lots of spin outs on the roads because they didn’t plow or sand anything.  Good day to stay home.  I’m back inside now and not going out again today.  

Saw Captain Marvel yesterday.  Liked it a lot.  Good characters and fun to see the 90’s again!  Had crappy seats though.  The only guy in the theater who didn’t recline his seat and he was about 7 ft tall.  Eventually I had to sit up straight and lean to the side.  Have never had this issue with stadium seating before.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Meeting up with family and cousins this weekend in NYC for St Patrick's parade.
We march IN the parade with Police Officers section because of my uncle.
Always a blast, and other NYC folks ?


----------



## davidharmier60

A/C weather in Texas. Sister and Dad have left to go see crazy Aunt in Lufkin.
I'm about to go weedeat the front yard.


----------



## RowdyRay

I hate cutting the grass. What I wouldn't give right now to be using the mower instead of the blower. Got another 6" of heavy wet crud. Over 4 hours helping everyone get it cleared. The mounds are so high, it's hard to throw it over. If you don't, it slides back down and you have to move it again! Just crazy. But the blower never missed a beat. Happy about that. 

Originally they said another round Tuesday into Wednesday. Now they're saying 43 and a thunderstorm. In March. The rain will lower the snow some, but with the ground frozen, there's no where for it to go. Could get interesting. Going to be a lot of flooding.


----------



## snowbear

Goats!


----------



## Tony744

I tried that once. Borrowed a few goats and staked them to the yard to mow the lawn for me. Came home and the goats had eaten through the ropes and were chowing down on my girlfriends' flower garden.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'd say move south, but you do have that giant hockey stick, and Warroad, and, um, I don't know what else but lots of hockey so there is that.

According to this TV station there were at least 4 things to do in Minnesota this weekend, and this.
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/video/4043883-hockey-hair-video-highlights-seasons-best/

edit - Link isn't working, and I give up! It's on the website for Ch. 4 CBS Minnesota WCCO; look for Hockey Hair Highlights, Seasons Best!


----------



## davidharmier60

F a bunch of DLST.
Another week another decent check.
64 according to the phone 93% humidity and close to 80 later.

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----------



## smoke665

If I believe Sadie's internal weather clock, then yesterday must have been the first day of spring. She had the zoomies all day, constantly barking an pawing me to go outside. She spent most of the day on the deck, running from one side of the house to the other, chasing lizards. What she finds so fascinating about those little critters is beyond me. She doesn't kill them, but catches them, and brings them to the door.  Its a little disconcerting to look up and see a wriggling tail hanging out of her mouth. Usually after a couple of hours she's ready to take a nap, but yesterday at 8 pm she was still wanting back out.


----------



## RowdyRay

vintagesnaps said:


> I'd say move south, but you do have that giant hockey stick, and Warroad, and, um, I don't know what else but lots of hockey so there is that.
> 
> According to this TV station there were at least 4 things to do in Minnesota this weekend, and this.
> http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/video/4043883-hockey-hair-video-highlights-seasons-best/
> 
> edit - Link isn't working, and I give up! It's on the website for Ch. 4 CBS Minnesota WCCO; look for Hockey Hair Highlights, Seasons Best!



I would, except I don't take heat well. Love it here. But mother nature is really testing us this winter.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> What she finds so fascinating about those little critters is beyond me.


That's funny, Roxy has a similar fascination with toads. In the summer, we'll have toads popping up on the sidewalks at night. She will run up to them and smell them. That's all she does. Whenever they hop, she gets scared haha.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> What she finds so fascinating about those little critters is beyond me.
> 
> 
> 
> That's funny, Roxy has a similar fascination with toads. In the summer, we'll have toads popping up on the sidewalks at night. She will run up to them and smell them. That's all she does. Whenever they hop, she gets scared haha.
Click to expand...


Our first Britt would grab them. Common yard variety toads here, excrete a foul tasting substance through the skin that will cause a dog to have huge globs of foam at the mouth and shake their head for several minutes trying to get the taste out. Bless her heart Millie would never learn, no matter how many times it happened.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> If I believe Sadie's internal weather clock, then yesterday must have been the first day of spring. She had the zoomies all day, constantly barking an pawing me to go outside. She spent most of the day on the deck, running from one side of the house to the other, chasing lizards. What she finds so fascinating about those little critters is beyond me. She doesn't kill them, but catches them, and brings them to the door.  Its a little disconcerting to look up and see a wriggling tail hanging out of her mouth. Usually after a couple of hours she's ready to take a nap, but yesterday at 8 pm she was still wanting back out.



She may be thrown off by the whole Spring Forward thing.  I know I am.


----------



## Fujidave

Just waiting for my XF50-140mm and XF56mm  plus a Godox flash and transmitter to arrive.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> She may be thrown off by the whole Spring Forward thing. I know I am.



Maybe, she wants to go outside now, but it's raining, so instead she's running up and down 2 flights of stairs, just as fast as she can go. Sounds like a cattle stampede every time.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If I believe Sadie's internal weather clock, then yesterday must have been the first day of spring. She had the zoomies all day, constantly barking an pawing me to go outside. She spent most of the day on the deck, running from one side of the house to the other, chasing lizards. What she finds so fascinating about those little critters is beyond me. She doesn't kill them, but catches them, and brings them to the door.  Its a little disconcerting to look up and see a wriggling tail hanging out of her mouth. Usually after a couple of hours she's ready to take a nap, but yesterday at 8 pm she was still wanting back out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> She may be thrown off by the whole Spring Forward thing.  I know I am.
Click to expand...

Agreed!   Falling back is much easier than Springing Forward.   I've been mildly disconcerted by the extended daylight and the sense of being late in the morning.


----------



## davidharmier60

5.56 hours today. 65 degrees and rain (lightly ). Two of our dogs never stop for long.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If I believe Sadie's internal weather clock, then yesterday must have been the first day of spring. She had the zoomies all day, constantly barking an pawing me to go outside. She spent most of the day on the deck, running from one side of the house to the other, chasing lizards. What she finds so fascinating about those little critters is beyond me. She doesn't kill them, but catches them, and brings them to the door.  Its a little disconcerting to look up and see a wriggling tail hanging out of her mouth. Usually after a couple of hours she's ready to take a nap, but yesterday at 8 pm she was still wanting back out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> She may be thrown off by the whole Spring Forward thing.  I know I am.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Agreed!   Falling back is much easier than Springing Forward.   I've been mildly disconcerted by the extended daylight and the sense of being late in the morning.
Click to expand...


I’m the opposite. I’m annoyed at the time it takes my body/mind to adjust to the Spring forward but so so so happy about the extra daylight that I much prefer it to the fall back.  That extra 1 hour of sleep on 1 day only is nothing to get excited about when it’s suddenly dark at 430pm!  That throws me off for weeks.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If I believe Sadie's internal weather clock, then yesterday must have been the first day of spring. She had the zoomies all day, constantly barking an pawing me to go outside. She spent most of the day on the deck, running from one side of the house to the other, chasing lizards. What she finds so fascinating about those little critters is beyond me. She doesn't kill them, but catches them, and brings them to the door.  Its a little disconcerting to look up and see a wriggling tail hanging out of her mouth. Usually after a couple of hours she's ready to take a nap, but yesterday at 8 pm she was still wanting back out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> She may be thrown off by the whole Spring Forward thing.  I know I am.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Agreed!   Falling back is much easier than Springing Forward.   I've been mildly disconcerted by the extended daylight and the sense of being late in the morning.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I’m the opposite. I’m annoyed at the time it takes my body/mind to adjust to the Spring forward but so so so happy about the extra daylight that I much prefer it to the fall back.  That extra 1 hour of sleep on 1 day only is nothing to get excited about when it’s suddenly dark at 430pm!  That throws me off for weeks.
Click to expand...


Meanwhile, that extra hour of sleep in Fall is everything to me. I don't give a tiny rat's ass if it gets dark at 4:30. I would rather have more light in the morning than have to feel like I am waking up in the middle of the night, like I did this morning.

Having said that, I wish they would do away with the entire concept. It's completely antiquated and unnecessary at best, and at worst, studies have shown that it can be actively harmful for modern lifestyles.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If I believe Sadie's internal weather clock, then yesterday must have been the first day of spring. She had the zoomies all day, constantly barking an pawing me to go outside. She spent most of the day on the deck, running from one side of the house to the other, chasing lizards. What she finds so fascinating about those little critters is beyond me. She doesn't kill them, but catches them, and brings them to the door.  Its a little disconcerting to look up and see a wriggling tail hanging out of her mouth. Usually after a couple of hours she's ready to take a nap, but yesterday at 8 pm she was still wanting back out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> She may be thrown off by the whole Spring Forward thing.  I know I am.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Agreed!   Falling back is much easier than Springing Forward.   I've been mildly disconcerted by the extended daylight and the sense of being late in the morning.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I’m the opposite. I’m annoyed at the time it takes my body/mind to adjust to the Spring forward but so so so happy about the extra daylight that I much prefer it to the fall back.  That extra 1 hour of sleep on 1 day only is nothing to get excited about when it’s suddenly dark at 430pm!  That throws me off for weeks.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Meanwhile, that extra hour of sleep in Fall is everything to me. I don't give a tiny rat's ass if it gets dark at 4:30. I would rather have more light in the morning than have to feel like I am waking up in the middle of the night, like I did this morning.
> 
> Having said that, I wish they would do away with the entire concept. It's completely antiquated and unnecessary at best, and at worst, studies have shown that it can be actively harmful for modern lifestyles.
Click to expand...


When fall comes, move it back half hour and NEVER touch it again!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If I believe Sadie's internal weather clock, then yesterday must have been the first day of spring. She had the zoomies all day, constantly barking an pawing me to go outside. She spent most of the day on the deck, running from one side of the house to the other, chasing lizards. What she finds so fascinating about those little critters is beyond me. She doesn't kill them, but catches them, and brings them to the door.  Its a little disconcerting to look up and see a wriggling tail hanging out of her mouth. Usually after a couple of hours she's ready to take a nap, but yesterday at 8 pm she was still wanting back out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> She may be thrown off by the whole Spring Forward thing.  I know I am.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Agreed!   Falling back is much easier than Springing Forward.   I've been mildly disconcerted by the extended daylight and the sense of being late in the morning.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I’m the opposite. I’m annoyed at the time it takes my body/mind to adjust to the Spring forward but so so so happy about the extra daylight that I much prefer it to the fall back.  That extra 1 hour of sleep on 1 day only is nothing to get excited about when it’s suddenly dark at 430pm!  That throws me off for weeks.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Meanwhile, that extra hour of sleep in Fall is everything to me. I don't give a tiny rat's ass if it gets dark at 4:30. I would rather have more light in the morning than have to feel like I am waking up in the middle of the night, like I did this morning.
> 
> Having said that, I wish they would do away with the entire concept. It's completely antiquated and unnecessary at best, and at worst, studies have shown that it can be actively harmful for modern lifestyles.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> When fall comes, move it back half hour and NEVER touch it again!
Click to expand...

There you go - easy peasy.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Let's just stay on Standard time. Or at least go back to the time change in April. It's barely March and another month of cool/cold weather (for many of us anyway) and school's not out til the end of May, so why have it light later this time of year? Nothing seasonal is even open weekends yet. We've got a ways to go til spring/summer. I hated when I was working that it was back to it being dark going to work in the morning.

Of course now I don't even bother to change the clocks til closer to April, I don't have to be anywhere and can exist in my own little time zone! lol The clocks on the computer, TV/cable, etc. all change themselves anyway. I've got an appointment later in the month so by then I probably need to reset something...

Today and tomorrow -  - but I ran out of fabric other than cyan and white that I bought by mistake. Was scrounging around trying to figure out what pattern to make that would be minimally white. Or I may just try it and save the rest of it til later on, maybe I'll have a use for it sometime. Or get out the Velox and do some lumen prints tomorrow.


----------



## snowbear

The only clock I had to change was the microwave - we found out the Honda's clock changed automatically. 

It reminds me of when I had to work a rotating shift: going from day work to evening or from evening to midnights was fine but the midnight to daywork would kill me each time.  I don't miss those days at all.


----------



## CherylL

Sun was came out today and felt the warmth.  Is Spring really coming??  The baby grandson has been in town with his parents.  Of course I kept my camera ready.  When my daughter wants his attention she calls out "fried chicken" and smiles.  Got some cute smiley photos.  But at only 8 months he doesn't know what fried chicken is yet he laughs.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If I believe Sadie's internal weather clock, then yesterday must have been the first day of spring. She had the zoomies all day, constantly barking an pawing me to go outside. She spent most of the day on the deck, running from one side of the house to the other, chasing lizards. What she finds so fascinating about those little critters is beyond me. She doesn't kill them, but catches them, and brings them to the door.  Its a little disconcerting to look up and see a wriggling tail hanging out of her mouth. Usually after a couple of hours she's ready to take a nap, but yesterday at 8 pm she was still wanting back out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> She may be thrown off by the whole Spring Forward thing.  I know I am.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Agreed!   Falling back is much easier than Springing Forward.   I've been mildly disconcerted by the extended daylight and the sense of being late in the morning.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I’m the opposite. I’m annoyed at the time it takes my body/mind to adjust to the Spring forward but so so so happy about the extra daylight that I much prefer it to the fall back.  That extra 1 hour of sleep on 1 day only is nothing to get excited about when it’s suddenly dark at 430pm!  That throws me off for weeks.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Meanwhile, that extra hour of sleep in Fall is everything to me. I don't give a tiny rat's ass if it gets dark at 4:30. I would rather have more light in the morning than have to feel like I am waking up in the middle of the night, like I did this morning.
> 
> Having said that, I wish they would do away with the entire concept. It's completely antiquated and unnecessary at best, and at worst, studies have shown that it can be actively harmful for modern lifestyles.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> When fall comes, move it back half hour and NEVER touch it again!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There you go - easy peasy.
Click to expand...


Yup.  Now to get the rest of the country to agree!




snowbear said:


> The only clock I had to change was the microwave - we found out the Honda's clock changed automatically.
> 
> It reminds me of when I had to work a rotating shift: going from day work to evening or from evening to midnights was fine but the midnight to daywork would kill me each time.  I don't miss those days at all.



My Honda clock is suddenly correct after being wrong for 6 months.


----------



## JonA_CT

The brewery has an opening date, at least internally. It’s exciting and terrifying at the same time.

Last night, I got my grill-based coffee roaster put together and tested with 2.5 lbs of beans. I have 15 lbs to get through in the next couple of days for one of our stouts.


----------



## smoke665

Today is a date that remains etched in memory in our state. On this date in 1993 the weather was much like it is today, when a freak snowstorm came out of nowhere. In just over 24 hours it dumped 2 feet of snow on us (they missed the forecast). The temperature plummeted and the winds reached gale force, causing drifts over 4 foot. Between the wind and the heavy snow on the pine trees, falling limbs/trees took down power lines everywhere, and the drifts prevented crews from getting in. We went without power for 7 days. Had to live in the family room with the fireplace for heat, and a kerosene heater to cook on. Fortunately we had enough wood and kerosene to get through. Wouldn't want to do it again but in looking back it wasn't that bad either. As a family we were forced to be together without outside distractions, no tv, internet or phones, only a battery powered radio. We actually talked, played games, worked on puzzles, etc.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> The brewery has an opening date, at least internally. It’s exciting and terrifying at the same time.
> 
> Last night, I got my grill-based coffee roaster put together and tested with 2.5 lbs of beans. I have 15 lbs to get through in the next couple of days for one of our stouts.



I can't wait - nice road trip for Kaiteki.  No 1 is in town next week, so this sounds like the timing might work out.  No 2 (Lazy Lobster) should be in the air heading to Tulsa and will come this way with their brother before heading back to ME (way less expensive to get to Maine from from Baltimore than from Tulsa).


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## davidharmier60

5 hours and a few minutes for 10.59 for the week.


----------



## JonA_CT

A student gave me a box of Thin Mints. I normally just donate for the troops when the girl scouts come around.

So yes, I've consumed 700 calories I didn't intend to this morning.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> The brewery has an opening date, at least internally. It’s exciting and terrifying at the same time.
> 
> Last night, I got my grill-based coffee roaster put together and tested with 2.5 lbs of beans. I have 15 lbs to get through in the next couple of days for one of our stouts.


That's exciting news!!    Congrats!    

We'll want pictures of the grand opening, of course.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> Today is a date that remains etched in memory in our state. On this date in 1993 the weather was much like it is today, when a freak snowstorm came out of nowhere. In just over 24 hours it dumped 2 feet of snow on us (they missed the forecast). The temperature plummeted and the winds reached gale force, causing drifts over 4 foot. Between the wind and the heavy snow on the pine trees, falling limbs/trees took down power lines everywhere, and the drifts prevented crews from getting in. We went without power for 7 days. Had to live in the family room with the fireplace for heat, and a kerosene heater to cook on. Fortunately we had enough wood and kerosene to get through. Wouldn't want to do it again but in looking back it wasn't that bad either. As a family we were forced to be together without outside distractions, no tv, internet or phones, only a battery powered radio. We actually talked, played games, worked on puzzles, etc.
> View attachment 170042


I remember living through that.   The week the South freaked out.


----------



## smoke665

Oh wow all over the news thus morning are stories on the collage admission scandals involving some of the most prestigious universities in the country. Charges still emerging but over 30 charged so far including college employees, celebrities and wealthy people. Investigations of College Admissions and Testing Bribery Scheme


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> A student gave me a box of Thin Mints. I normally just donate for the troops when the girl scouts come around.
> 
> So yes, I've consumed 700 calories I didn't intend to this morning.


One of MLW's work buddies had a daughter who is in Scouts.  Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Trefoils, Do-Si-Dos, and Savannah Smiles; I think we got two boxes of each.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Oh wow all over the news thus morning are stories on the collage admission scandals involving some of the most prestigious universities in the country. Charges still emerging but over 30 charged so far including college employees, celebrities and wealthy people. Investigations of College Admissions and Testing Bribery Scheme



Two stars charged - Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives) but not her husband (William H. Macy of Shameless tv show) and Lori Laughlin (and her husband) from Hallmark tv series.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Lori Laughlin


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh wow all over the news thus morning are stories on the collage admission scandals involving some of the most prestigious universities in the country. Charges still emerging but over 30 charged so far including college employees, celebrities and wealthy people. Investigations of College Admissions and Testing Bribery Scheme
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Two stars charged - Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives) but not her husband (William H. Macy of Shameless tv show) and Lori Laughlin (and her husband) from Hallmark tv series.
Click to expand...

Not really sure how I see this is worthy of police time or effort...


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh wow all over the news thus morning are stories on the collage admission scandals involving some of the most prestigious universities in the country. Charges still emerging but over 30 charged so far including college employees, celebrities and wealthy people. Investigations of College Admissions and Testing Bribery Scheme
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Two stars charged - Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives) but not her husband (William H. Macy of Shameless tv show) and Lori Laughlin (and her husband) from Hallmark tv series.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not really sure how I see this is worthy of police time or effort...
Click to expand...


Fraud and conspiracy are federal crimes and are regularly subject to investigation by the FBI.


----------



## terri

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh wow all over the news thus morning are stories on the collage admission scandals involving some of the most prestigious universities in the country. Charges still emerging but over 30 charged so far including college employees, celebrities and wealthy people. Investigations of College Admissions and Testing Bribery Scheme
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Two stars charged - Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives) but not her husband (William H. Macy of Shameless tv show) and Lori Laughlin (and her husband) from Hallmark tv series.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not really sure how I see this is worthy of police time or effort...
Click to expand...

Huh?!   Bribery, fraud, and conspiring to cover it up...?     Just because it's white-collar criminality doesn't make it less criminal.


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> Not really sure how I see this is worthy of police time or effort...



Because it involved everything from racketeering to bribery to fraud. Oldest grandson is going through this now with meeting college entrance requirements. The competition for admittance at better schools is really tough. Forget scholarships it's tough to get in. These people were doing everything from paying people to correct student SAT scores, using Ps to supply doctored sports photographs and fraudulent participation in sports, to paying school coaches and admittance admins to look the other way. Doing so deprived deserving legitimate candidates of a chance to attend the school, and in many cases took scholarship money away from students that actually need it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It sounds like quite a scam, and yes they needed to investigate and prosecute to put a stop to it. I imagine it was more prosecuters' time and staff involved than police depts. since it is federal. At least the students for the most part apparently didn't know what the parents were doing; I'm glad the students weren't involved by their parents in carrying out fraudulent activity (although now they know what their parents did).

Two days in a row of  . And of course I feel like I'm coming down with some respiratory thing...  Never fails!  Had some more coffee at lunch which made me feel better. And The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep are both on today - a double Bogey!!

Gee it doesn't look like anybody was committing fraud to try to get into my alma mater! Not to get into a state university...


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> At least the students for the most part apparently didn't know what the parents were doing; I'm glad the students weren't involved by their parents in carrying out fraudulent activity



I'd have to disagree with you on that. Especially the ones involving sports doctored photos and previous play, knew they didn't play sports, the coaches knew they didn't, and if the school took some of the money (which supposedly happened) then the schools knew it. The ones who got in on fraudulent SAT scores, might have been to stupid to realize they weren't scholars, but if they had any sense at all they'd know something was up. Grandson has taken his 4 times now trying to get his score up, but while they're good they aren't quite good enough for the school he's wanting to go to.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Then go look it up...! lol I just read a NYT article, etc. Apparently the guy and his 'company' such as it was running the scam submitted materials instead of the students; he/his company did the photoshopping. They put a student's face onto another student photo showing that other student playing whatever sport. I don't think the students (most anyway) ever saw what was sent in that was fraudulent. 

Of course this just came out so we may find out more later.


----------



## smoke665

@vintagesnaps it's pretty much been the news all day, mixed reports on the number some say 30 but this evening they're saying 50?? 

As to the kids knowledge, part of the scheme involved  bribing college athletic coaches to facilitate non-recruits admittance to elite universities as recruits regardless of their actual athletic abilities or histories. Now granted the kids may not have known the extent of the bribing, but they'd have to be pretty dumb to not know something was up when they were accepted based on a sport that in some cases they knew they'd never played. Federal prosecutors accused Loughlin and her fashion designer hubby, Mossimo Giannulli, of agreeing to pay $500,000 to get daughters Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose Giannulli designated as recruits to the University of Southern California crew team — even though they didn’t actually participate in the sport. In a Youtube video last year Jade claimed she didn’t “really care about school” but wanted to attend college for the “experience” of “partying” and “game days.” Not saying all the kids were like this, but I'm betting a big percentage were.


----------



## Tony744

JonA_CT said:


> The brewery has an opening date, at least internally. It’s exciting and terrifying at the same time.
> 
> Last night, I got my grill-based coffee roaster put together and tested with 2.5 lbs of beans. I have 15 lbs to get through in the next couple of days for one of our stouts.



Congrats! Looking forward to taking a road trip down there to check it out.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> @vintagesnaps it's pretty much been the news all day, mixed reports on the number some say 30 but this evening they're saying 50??
> 
> As to the kids knowledge, part of the scheme involved  bribing college athletic coaches to facilitate non-recruits admittance to elite universities as recruits regardless of their actual athletic abilities or histories. Now granted the kids may not have known the extent of the bribing, but they'd have to be pretty dumb to not know something was up when they were accepted based on a sport that in some cases they knew they'd never played. Federal prosecutors accused Loughlin and her fashion designer hubby, Mossimo Giannulli, of agreeing to pay $500,000 to get daughters Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose Giannulli designated as recruits to the University of Southern California crew team — even though they didn’t actually participate in the sport. In a Youtube video last year Jade claimed she didn’t “really care about school” but wanted to attend college for the “experience” of “partying” and “game days.” Not saying all the kids were like this, but I'm betting a big percentage were.



Saw the two girls on the news and their YT video shows they have an entitlement attitude.  It is sad that this has been going on with the entitled taking spots to students who actually put in the time and effort.  My daughters prepped and prepped for their SATs with online practice, reading, studying and Saturday all day prep classes.  This was after working hard taking honors classes for 4 years in high school.   The ones buying their way in to only not be able to actually do the course work.  Are grades then purchased?


----------



## limr

Some kids knew more than others:

This article includes transcripts:

https://deadspin.com/here-are-all-t...lflow_deadspin_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

"Here we have the lovely story of a parent getting his son into USC as a pole vaulter with a photoshopped picture of someone pole vaulting. The only problem? The son didn’t know he was admitted through the track and field team:"

"This Sloane character allegedly chose water polo as the route for his son into USC, despite the fact that he never played water polo and his high school didn’t have a water polo team. So Sloane bought a bunch of water polo stuff on Amazon and conducted a photo shoot, which CW-1 advised him on:"


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> Huh?!   Bribery, fraud, and conspiring to cover it up...?     Just because it's white-collar criminality doesn't make it less criminal.


But aren't these private, for-profit businesses?  Shouldn't they be able to select their customers however they want?


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> But aren't these private, for-profit businesses? Shouldn't they be able to select their customers however they want?



Yes and no, private universities enter a gray area where tax dollars are concerned Harvard and Yale are estimated at about 500 million/year received, Stanford close to $700 million, plus many of the students that go qualify for federal assistance in student loans, grants etc. Plus private or not their still subject to federal laws regarding equal opportunities. As of now, the universities have not been charged with complicity, though that might change as the rats caught in the traps start to squeal.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Huh?!   Bribery, fraud, and conspiring to cover it up...?     Just because it's white-collar criminality doesn't make it less criminal.
> 
> 
> 
> But aren't these private, for-profit businesses?  Shouldn't they be able to select their customers however they want?
Click to expand...


These are _universities_ who are supposed to recruit and educate _students_ not customers. And even if you try to hide behind that that excuse, it doesn't make any difference. Private corporations are subject to federal conspiracy and fraud laws, and they clearly crossed the line and were acting illegally. 

Any institution getting federal dollars in any way are subject to federal equal opportunity laws as well. It's called the Fourteenth Amendment.


----------



## smoke665

Again there's still no news that any of the universities involved were complicit in the scheme but at the very least it shows they lacked oversight on their employees. The individuals are going to have a tough time, RICCO, Mail Fraud, these people knew what was going on, they just didn't think the laws applied to them. Sadly given the way the system works, they'll probably pay some fines and walk away.


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh wow all over the news thus morning are stories on the collage admission scandals involving some of the most prestigious universities in the country. Charges still emerging but over 30 charged so far including college employees, celebrities and wealthy people. Investigations of College Admissions and Testing Bribery Scheme
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Two stars charged - Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives) but not her husband (William H. Macy of Shameless tv show) and Lori Laughlin (and her husband) from Hallmark tv series.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not really sure how I see this is worthy of police time or effort...
Click to expand...




smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not really sure how I see this is worthy of police time or effort...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Because it involved everything from racketeering to bribery to fraud. Oldest grandson is going through this now with meeting college entrance requirements. The competition for admittance at better schools is really tough. Forget scholarships it's tough to get in. These people were doing everything from paying people to correct student SAT scores, using Ps to supply doctored sports photographs and fraudulent participation in sports, to paying school coaches and admittance admins to look the other way. Doing so deprived deserving legitimate candidates of a chance to attend the school, and in many cases took scholarship money away from students that actually need it.
Click to expand...




smoke665 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> At least the students for the most part apparently didn't know what the parents were doing; I'm glad the students weren't involved by their parents in carrying out fraudulent activity
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd have to disagree with you on that. Especially the ones involving sports doctored photos and previous play, knew they didn't play sports, the coaches knew they didn't, and if the school took some of the money (which supposedly happened) then the schools knew it. The ones who got in on fraudulent SAT scores, might have been to stupid to realize they weren't scholars, but if they had any sense at all they'd know something was up. Grandson has taken his 4 times now trying to get his score up, but while they're good they aren't quite good enough for the school he's wanting to go to.
Click to expand...




tirediron said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Huh?!   Bribery, fraud, and conspiring to cover it up...?     Just because it's white-collar criminality doesn't make it less criminal.
> 
> 
> 
> But aren't these private, for-profit businesses?  Shouldn't they be able to select their customers however they want?
Click to expand...


I think it will be a major factor that they made their payments through a fraudulent charity and then supposedly wrote it off on their taxes as a charitable donation.  Tax fraud.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> I think it will be a major factor that they made their payments through a fraudulent charity and then supposedly wrote it off on their taxes as a charitable donation.  Tax fraud.


Well... that's not cricket!


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think it will be a major factor that they made their payments through a fraudulent charity and then supposedly wrote it off on their taxes as a charitable donation.  Tax fraud.
> 
> 
> 
> Well... that's not cricket!
Click to expand...


It prevents them from saying they didn’t know what the consultant was doing was illegal.  If they were to claim the money they paid was for advice on getting accepted and they had no idea what the company was doing they would not be able to explain why they thought the service was tax deductible.


----------



## JonA_CT

Damn...they set up a sham charity to be able to write off their bribes? I hope they throw the book at them. One of my friends has a theory that if you are incredibly wealthy, you are some how a bad person. I give him crap for it all the time because it is such a broad take, but there are times like this where it feels somewhat prescient.


----------



## smoke665

Surprisingly none of the individuals have been charged with tax evasion yet. In the case of the parents the charges are mail and wire fraud. Conviction carries a fine of no more then $500k and no more then 5 yrs prison. For the parents involved in the securities/investment business a conviction would likely bar them permanently as well. It will be interesting to see how the judges view the parents participation. They could either lean toward the lenient side and hand out some hefty fines with probation, or they could set some examples.


----------



## waday

Arrests happening...

Actress taken into custody in 'Varsity Blues' college admissions scam


----------



## davidharmier60

Wow. I never went to college. 
Makes me wonder. 
Makes my news means almost nothing. 
6.13 hours today 17.10 for the week so far. 
My phone did not mention rain, but then my phone is almost always wrong on weather. Apparently there is a system that is going to cause all sorts of trouble. 
Going to read now and wait for the check. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Makes you wonder what?


----------



## Tony744

Woohoo! My photography workshop starts tonight!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Jon, I think the guy who ran this scam set up a charity so the parents could 'donate' to that instead of making a direct payment to him. Apparently students took the ACTs/SATs but the parents were told to try to find a medical/other reason that their child couldn't take it as scheduled for their location. Then the guy running this scam would have them schedule it at one of two locations where he had someone take the test and another person there would send in that test instead of the student's actual test. (Apparently students took the test assuming that the score they got back was theirs, but it wasn't.)

Smoke, this guy had someone photoshopping heads onto photos to make it look like a student had played a sport, and other photos were supposedly staged so for those a student would've obviously known the photo was not of a sport they'd actually played (at least not at high school or varsity level, I suppose they could've played it in earlier grades). I read it was considered that the sport had not been played 'competitively'. This was apparently presented as getting an athletic scholarship then the sport could be dropped once they were in school.

Kids may have wondered or had doubts but most likely if their parents said it was OK to do this, kids would typically want to believe their parents so may have shoved aside any misgivings - if the parent said it was OK, then they probably accepted it as being OK.


----------



## vintagesnaps

What workshop are you taking Tony? 

The  came out and I did a couple of sun prints but not feeling up to par I ran out of steam. I couldn't even make jello without flinging the lid on the floor! I mean, how hard is it to make jello?? lol but at least there wasn't much water left in the pan. I think I'm just taking it easy the rest of the week sitting here with my box of kleenex.


----------



## Tony744

Beyond Auto. It's learning how to more effectively use semi-auto modes. It's the first of many workshops Newtonville Camera will be hosting not that they've settled into their new location.


----------



## vintagesnaps

A real camera store! (I 'cheated' and looked it up!). Wish our real camera store was still around. Have fun!


----------



## snowbear

Work contract is out for bid.  One of the bidders is already here and wants (at least) the GIS portion has called me for a resume and letter of intent (minimum of one year).

They have an office I could walk to from work!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Fingers crossed! 

Hey we're at 3700 pages - do we win a prize when we hit 4000? have a party?? anything...??


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Fingers crossed!
> 
> Hey we're at 3700 pages - do we win a prize when we hit 4000? have a party?? anything...??


I’ve been told I have a home for as long as I wat it.  The GIS manager can tell the incoming company he wants to keep onsite personnel.

We can throw our own party.


----------



## davidharmier60

I wonder who wrote the book of love.


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> I wonder who wrote the book of love.



I always thought it was "mmbadoo-ooh, who", whatever that means


----------



## davidharmier60

Yeah but I didn't know how to spell all that.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Sipping on a nice mug of coffee. 
Getting kind of tired of 5am starts.
Have as good a Thursday as can be. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Tony744

The workshop was great! Learned some new things, met some great people. Looking forward to the second class next week and can't wait until they start up the other workshops.


----------



## snowbear

Two more days.




davidharmier60 said:


> I wonder who wrote the book of love.


Long Haired Country Boy?


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Two more days.   _*Until?*_
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder who wrote the book of love.
> 
> 
> 
> Long Haired Country Boy?
Click to expand...


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning Hosers!  Hope those in the middle of the country are ok after the bomb cyclone or whatever they’re calling it?  Going to be in the high 50’s here the next few days but windy and then rainy tomorrow.   

Taking the pup to the vet today for some routine shots.   Then working my butt off all day because it’s been super busy since I got back from FL.  Other than the Softball pics last month, I’ve barely used my camera since fall.  I need a photo outing this weekend.  Let’s hope for no snow!


----------



## smoke665

It's been a stressful time here yearly Urology checkup last month didn't go as planned.  Yesterday they did a biopsy, so 24 to 48 hrs of taking it easy for me, along with more stress of waiting for results. The waiting throughout has been the hardest part of it all. Ready to move on.

Looking a lot like spring here, and I'm behind on outside work. More rain predicted for the next couple days. At some point I'm going to have to really hit it. Have a lot of record keeping to catch up on, and some photo editing so today won't be wasted.


----------



## Frank F.

smoke665 said:


> It's been a stressful time here yearly Urology checkup last month didn't go as planned.  Yesterday they did a biopsy, so 24 to 48 hrs of taking it easy for me, along with more stress of waiting for results. The waiting throughout has been the hardest part of it all. Ready to move on.
> 
> Looking a lot like spring here, and I'm behind on outside work. More rain predicted for the next couple days. At some point I'm going to have to really hit it. Have a lot of record keeping to catch up on, and some photo editing so today won't be wasted.




good luck with your diagnosis!!!


----------



## davidharmier60

Indeed good luck. I don't exactly know what two days meant. I'm in Cold Springs for propane. One tank ran dry and the other one I don't trust to last more than Saturday. 
So she sent me to get propane. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Two more days.   _*Until?*_



We are off next week - #1 and sig. other will be in town after dropping #2 off at BWI for return trip to Maine.  MLW has a pretty full schedule set up, mostly for her.  I'll tag along for some of it, but I'll be taking some time to play with the fishing gear and learn to fly the quadcopter.


----------



## CherylL

@smoke665 good luck and try not to stress waiting.

Sun out today and super windy.  I am taking newborn photos for a friend today.  I don't know how dark her apartment so taking flash to bounce.   I'll bump up the ISO first.  And no worries....no baby in a sling, wrapped up like a burrito, or head in hands shot.  Just natural mom & baby shots.


----------



## SquarePeg

And of course my flight to Ireland next month is on a Boeing 737 Max 8...

It's too far out for the airline to cancel and refund so we have to wait.  Debating biting the bullet and rebooking on another airline vs waiting until Norwegian takes action.  By then, all the decent prices on other airlines will be long gone...  And if they (FAA, Boeing, Norwegian etc.) should come back with some issue identified and "fixed", I'm not sure I'd be willing to take their word for it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm not sure I'd want to get in one of those planes either anytime soon. The international airport here already cancelled those flights a day or two ago so of course it's been on the local news, people waiting at the airport to catch a flight to get the heck out of Dodge. 

Wind's picking up, sounded like somebody was kicking a can down the street!


----------



## vintagesnaps

These guys did - wrote it, performed it - with Dick Clark! 






...and recorded it.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> And of course my flight to Ireland next month is on a Boeing 737 Max 8...


Not today (at least).

I checked my Ohio flights (July) - they are on the 700 series.


----------



## otherprof

smoke665 said:


> It's been a stressful time here yearly Urology checkup last month didn't go as planned.  Yesterday they did a biopsy, so 24 to 48 hrs of taking it easy for me, along with more stress of waiting for results. The waiting throughout has been the hardest part of it all. Ready to move on.
> 
> Looking a lot like spring here, and I'm behind on outside work. More rain predicted for the next couple days. At some point I'm going to have to really hit it. Have a lot of record keeping to catch up on, and some photo editing so today won't be wasted.


Good luck on the biopsy results.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> I'm not sure I'd want to get in one of those planes either anytime soon. The international airport here already cancelled those flights a day or two ago so of course it's been on the local news, people waiting at the airport to catch a flight to get the heck out of Dodge.
> 
> Wind's picking up, sounded like somebody was kicking a can down the street!



Probably still to early to determine how bad the shortage and resulting cancellations will be as there's no way of knowing how long it will take to fix the problem, get it approved, fix the planes, and get them back in the air. Some airlines won't get hit as hard as others, based on the number of aircraft in the fleet. As of the news today it represents around 380 planes out of a global fleet of 24400, so how they take up the slack will be a big consideration.  I would hate to be one of those with future travel plans, because of the uncertainty. Right now there's no way of knowing what to do.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Charlie, you were in the wrong decade, and possibly crazy as a loon.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> It's been a stressful time here yearly Urology checkup last month didn't go as planned.  Yesterday they did a biopsy, so 24 to 48 hrs of taking it easy for me, along with more stress of waiting for results. The waiting throughout has been the hardest part of it all. Ready to move on.


Missed this - fingers crossed.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Charlie, you were in the wrong decade, and possibly crazy as a loon.


Oh, I didn't have the decades mixed, just what was playing in my ears at the time.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> And of course my flight to Ireland next month is on a Boeing 737 Max 8...
> 
> It's too far out for the airline to cancel and refund so we have to wait.  Debating biting the bullet and rebooking on another airline vs waiting until Norwegian takes action.  By then, all the decent prices on other airlines will be long gone...  And if they (FAA, Boeing, Norwegian etc.) should come back with some issue identified and "fixed", I'm not sure I'd be willing to take their word for it.


You may not have to do anything, the airlines might reach out to passengers scheduled on the Max 8.   They may be re-assigning all those flights right now.  You could call them and ask what their game plan is.  Somewhere I heard that this fix will take about a month.   You'd think they'd have to have backups in their fleet.


----------



## snowbear

I'm sure there are a few backups but probably not enough to cover all of the grounded ships.  I also doubt that flight crews have to be qualified for everything in the fleet (what are the operational differences between the 737-8 and an Airbus-whatever?)


----------



## vintagesnaps

All I heard locally is that they grounded flights on those Boeings, but nothing yet on what should be done about tickets for upcoming fights. Local news just showed people waiting...

Charlie I wondered how you went from '50s Book of Love to '70s CDB! 

On a day that's nice enough out to open up a little all I started hearing is a buzz saw. But my nose and head are getting more stuffed up so I guess that's enough 'fresh' air! And now a megaphone for loading buses at the elementary school up the street, don't remember ever hearing that before!

Uh oh, they just issued a tornado warning in Indiana. Apparently damage in KY, looks like it's south of me, and some farther north. Birds still chirping for now anyway.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> And of course my flight to Ireland next month is on a Boeing 737 Max 8...
> 
> It's too far out for the airline to cancel and refund so we have to wait.  Debating biting the bullet and rebooking on another airline vs waiting until Norwegian takes action.  By then, all the decent prices on other airlines will be long gone...  And if they (FAA, Boeing, Norwegian etc.) should come back with some issue identified and "fixed", I'm not sure I'd be willing to take their word for it.


Can I have your camera stuff?


----------



## smoke665

I heard a little while ago that airlines in general have 1 backup plane for every 50-60 in use. That makes me cringe a little. Glad I'm not crisscrossing the country everyday anymore.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't know about back ups but I've seen them stacking up. Late enough afternoon leaving work on the outside loop of the interstate in the flight path they circle like vultures! 

Now things quited down, no more buzz saw, no more megaphones, just the wind. I'll be glad when this goes on thru and is done, hope damage for everyone is minimal.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> I heard a little while ago that airlines in general have 1 backup plane for every 50-60 in use. That makes me cringe a little. Glad I'm not crisscrossing the country everyday anymore.


I don't fly very much at all - in fact I've flown more in the passed three years than the first 57.  I've had more issues with weather (and available crews) than actual planes.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Now things quited down, no more buzz saw, no more megaphones, just the wind. I'll be glad when this goes on thru and is done, hope damage for everyone is minimal.


Stay safe.


----------



## smoke665

@snowbear I haven't flown much in the last 20 years, but prior to that there were times when it seemed like I was living on a plane. No crashes but there were a lot rough rides over the years.


----------



## davidharmier60

Last time I flew was November of 2011. We left out of Vegas in a 757. We caught wake turbulance from a 737. That 57 wagged a bit.


----------



## Tony744

@smoke665 Good luck with the diagnosis.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Heavy rain but most of it stayed south. Flights halted for at least an hour, one roof over gas pumps ripped off, flooding in places. Sun came out and supposedly there was a rainbow but I didn't see nuthin'! Managed to be out of the worst of it so far but still storm watch til later this evening. Birdies chirpin'.

Been back and forth between keeping tabs on the weather and a movie with Joan Crawford clomping like a a Clydesdale with Clark Gable and Ted Healy's Stooges before they were The Three. Some early movies, one from 1929, love the art deco designs and fashions - I wanna be a flapper! (Not really, just the fashions and movie sets and glam).


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure I'd want to get in one of those planes either anytime soon. The international airport here already cancelled those flights a day or two ago so of course it's been on the local news, people waiting at the airport to catch a flight to get the heck out of Dodge.
> 
> Wind's picking up, sounded like somebody was kicking a can down the street!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Probably still to early to determine how bad the shortage and resulting cancellations will be as there's no way of knowing how long it will take to fix the problem, get it approved, fix the planes, and get them back in the air. Some airlines won't get hit as hard as others, based on the number of aircraft in the fleet. As of the news today it represents around 380 planes out of a global fleet of 24400, so how they take up the slack will be a big consideration.  I would hate to be one of those with future travel plans, because of the uncertainty. Right now there's no way of knowing what to do.
Click to expand...




terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> And of course my flight to Ireland next month is on a Boeing 737 Max 8...
> 
> It's too far out for the airline to cancel and refund so we have to wait.  Debating biting the bullet and rebooking on another airline vs waiting until Norwegian takes action.  By then, all the decent prices on other airlines will be long gone...  And if they (FAA, Boeing, Norwegian etc.) should come back with some issue identified and "fixed", I'm not sure I'd be willing to take their word for it.
> 
> 
> 
> You may not have to do anything, the airlines might reach out to passengers scheduled on the Max 8.   They may be re-assigning all those flights right now.  You could call them and ask what their game plan is.  Somewhere I heard that this fix will take about a month.   You'd think they'd have to have backups in their fleet.
Click to expand...


For the flights that we are scheduled to take, PVD to DUB, they are currently substituting a larger plane and flying one flight per day from SWF (upper NY) to DUB - bussing people from PVD tp SWF which is 3+ hours.  I spoke to them today.  They won’t refund our flight because officially it hasn’t been affected yet.  They are currently rebooking and rerouting through 3/31.  We don’t travel until late April.


----------



## Dave442

Checked my flights - no 737 Max 8's, just have the older 737-800's and the 319 and 320 Airbuses for the next couple months.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good thing there's time yet before your trip Sharon, and that your upcoming travel sounds OK Dave.

Storms moving on thru and missed me, mostly flooding to the south. They were showing one intersection in the part of the city where I worked; that main road goes down, down, down for 5+ miles til finally you get to the bottom, and that's where it's flooded with all this water running downhill.

Sun's out so I hope this is the end of it, glad there wasn't major damage.

(And they were showing a rainbow to the south, earlier there was one to the north, didn't see either one, I'm in the middle of nothing! lol)


----------



## davidharmier60

The coffeemaker wasn't ready when I went for it. Got some now and it's hitting the spot. It's Friday and that is nice for some people but I of course must go in tomorrow as well.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Rain moved in again last night, but the storms had weakened substantially by the time they got to us. Course that didn't prevent us from losing power, an occurrence that happens way to frequently. It's beyond frustration to stand on your dark deck and see the neighbors lights all shining on the ridges surrounding you. For whatever the reason the line that supplies our road goes down at least once a month sometimes more, and it's getting worse. Talking to a real person at the power company is impossible. If you call they route you through a voice mail system, and if you go to their office the person you need to talk to is always somewhere else. Looks like its time to file a complaint with the PSC, that usually gets some fast response.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> For whatever the reason the line that supplies our road goes down at least once a month sometimes more, and it's getting worse.


My grandparents' house was like that, but they were in town. There was a line that supplied my grandparents' house and one or two other houses on the block. All of the other houses in the area were on a different line. Because there were so few houses impacted when that line went down, it always took them a long time to fix it. Most of the time they never realized it was down.


----------



## smoke665

@waday In our case there's more like a few hundred on the line. It's more a case of an old line that is in need of serious upgrades.  We put in gas in December to feed a fireplace, and auxiliary/emergency heat in the basement. Also had them put in a tap for a standby generator, but the cost of the other was more then expected so the generator will have to wait till this fall.


----------



## davidharmier60

The sun is shining and there are some high wispy clouds. My phone says it's 56 degrees outside. I kinda believe it. 
5 hours and a few for 28.05 for the week so far with a day to go. Will hit the PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then go home. 

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----------



## Fujidave

OH Goody, all my babies arrived today.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Your what arrived??! lol I must've missed something! 

Top Chef ended and Project Runway started, fabulous looking food and fashions (except a few designs that didn't quite work out in the limited time they have).

Just another gray day, and I'm stuffed up. Don't feel too bad but not exactly a ball of fire either. So after getting my grocery order done to pick up Sat. I'm doing... not much! Probably do some online looking/shopping for fabric for a quilt in my head. Or get back to looking at quilt books for block patterns. Or veg out in front of the TV.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Your what arrived??! lol I must've missed something!
> 
> Top Chef ended and Project Runway started, fabulous looking food and fashions (except a few designs that didn't quite work out in the limited time they have).
> 
> Just another gray day, and I'm stuffed up. Don't feel too bad but not exactly a ball of fire either. So after getting my grocery order done to pick up Sat. I'm doing... not much! Probably do some online looking/shopping for fabric for a quilt in my head. Or get back to looking at quilt books for block patterns. Or veg out in front of the TV.



My XF56mm f1.2, XF50-140mm, Peak Design Slide and Godox TT685 flash and Expro Transmitter.


----------



## RowdyRay

Oh.... Those kind a of babies! Nice! let us know what you think. Have you tried or used the Peak Design Slide before? I love mine. Can't wait for photos.


----------



## smoke665

WTH, temperature dropping back close to freezing again?????? I'm going ground hog hunting tomorrow!!!


----------



## snowbear

WHISTLE PIGS!


----------



## davidharmier60

One more 5am in the morning. Good Night y'all.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Top Chef ended and Project Runway started, fabulous looking food and fashions (except a few designs that didn't quite work out in the limited time they have)



I saw both of those episodes. Hadn't paid attention to Top Chef at all this season, but watched the finale. Enjoyed the first episode of the new Project Runway. Love me some Christian Siriano, so it'll be fun to see him in this new role.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Shouldn't be rain here for another 2 months, but there's a thunderstorm today.  At least the rain and grey skies matches the mood set by the news from Christchurch.


----------



## Fujidave

RowdyRay said:


> Oh.... Those kind a of babies! Nice! let us know what you think. Have you tried or used the Peak Design Slide before? I love mine. Can't wait for photos.



First time ever using the Peak Design but heard so many good things about them.  Have to send the flash back, as they sent me the wrong one.


----------



## Fujidave

Glad I have started painting the bathroom, as the weather is grotty as anything today.


----------



## snowbear

At the DC Travel & Adventure Show.  Mr & Mrs Bear withTC and the Traveling Duck of Justice from Bangor Police Department.

Up next, Samantha Brown.


----------



## davidharmier60

5.04 today and 33.09 for the week. Brought home Garbanzo Beans, Skinless Boneless Chicken Breasts, two Avacados and two Blue Bell half gallons. Doing penny rolls and wearing this watch.



Baby Orange Diver Saturday 3-16-19 by Just Plain Dave, on Flickr


----------



## Frank F.

A good photo is a nice thing. Taken with an exceptional lens some magic is cast over it.
In this case the Nikkor 1.4/105E:


----------



## waday

Tropicalmemories said:


> news from Christchurch


----------



## snowbear

The meet & Greet line was over an hour so only photos from the seats.
She gave a nice talk about her travel hints.




Samantha Brown #1 by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## terri

I ran into town this afternoon for an errand.   I saw THIS when I parked the car.   That yellow stuff is pollen.   POLLEN!   It's not even April and the disgusting stuff is already flooding the air.          Spring is here, ready or not - and no, I'm not ready!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> I ran into town this afternoon for an errand.   I saw THIS when I parked the car.   That yellow stuff is pollen.   POLLEN!   It's not even April and the disgusting stuff is already flooding the air.          Spring is here, ready or not - and no, I'm not ready!
> 
> View attachment 170182



Yuck!  Not looking forward to pollen season around here.  

Just back from a nice early dinner out with a friend.  Settled in for more of our Game of Thrones marathon rewatch before the final season starts.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> At the DC Travel & Adventure Show.  Mr & Mrs Bear withTC and the Traveling Duck of Justice from Bangor Police Department.
> 
> Up next, Samantha Brown.
> 
> View attachment 170165


Soooooooooo.... the take-away is that there's no duckin' justice in Bangor?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

terri said:


> I ran into town this afternoon for an errand.   I saw THIS when I parked the car.   That yellow stuff is pollen.   POLLEN!   It's not even April and the disgusting stuff is already flooding the air.          Spring is here, ready or not - and no, I'm not ready!
> 
> View attachment 170182



I have adult allergies now, but still would welcome the pollen over the mosquitoes that plagued us last year. I'd take the dog for a walk and return home eaten alive!


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> That yellow stuff is pollen. POLLEN! It's no



Pine pollen, the dreaded spring bloom in the south.


----------



## Frank F.

terri said:


> I ran into town this afternoon for an errand.   I saw THIS when I parked the car.   That yellow stuff is pollen.   POLLEN!   It's not even April and the disgusting stuff is already flooding the air.          Spring is here, ready or not - and no, I'm not ready!
> 
> View attachment 170182




yes, pollen. when I see them yellow dust like stuff I know my car will have trouble with ignition. The stuff goes anywhere...


----------



## davidharmier60

I've got a surprisingly good mug of last of the pot coffee.
I used to be terribly effected by pollen but as I have gotten older it has slacked off.
Have a nice Sunday everyone.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.

Sona Naomh Pádraig Lá



cmw3_d40_bodhran1 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Frankinfuji

Walking around a night market in Bangkok today and saw Crocodile meat on sale.


----------



## smoke665

Ohhhh man!!!! Love alligator (assume Crock tastes the same), blackened, grilled or fried. I could spend some time at that stand!


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Good morning, peeps.
> 
> Sona Naomh Pádraig Lá
> 
> 
> 
> cmw3_d40_bodhran1 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


This is lovely, Charlie.   I like the design a lot.  Can't tell from the photo if the whole thing is a painting or if this is a painted plate.   ?


----------



## vintagesnaps

I think it might be a plate that Charlie painted. I'm part Irish but have no idea what he said.

I'm working my way back thru the thread so didn't recognize who was in the photo, I imagine she'd be an interesting speaker.


----------



## smoke665

Gradually coming along with dual use garage/studio conversion. Most of the gear is stored in plastic totes in a built in closet, within easy reach. Next project will be the hanging backdrop. Today I took a little side trip to construct a laptop shelf that mounts to a pole. All scrap and a couple bolts, so basically free. It rotates around the post moves up and down and best of all keeps stuff safe and off the floor.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## vintagesnaps




----------



## davidharmier60

Fried Shrimp, baked potato and spaghetti squash. Definitely Blue Bell later if only a Fudge bar. But probably a bowl.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps




----------



## snowbear

Mostly correct. I drew and painted the knot designs with acrylics but it's  not a plate; it's a Bodhrán, a Celtic drum.  Sharon's second video starts off with one.


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> Good morning, peeps.
> 
> Sona Naomh Pádraig Lá
> 
> 
> 
> cmw3_d40_bodhran1 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr



Very cool painting!  I made a Celtic heart knot from my daughter's wedding bouquet ribbon as a Christmas ornament gift.   Like how your painting is interwoven.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Mostly correct. I drew and painted the knot designs with acrylics but it's  not a plate; it's a Bodhrán, a Celtic drum.  Sharon's second video starts off with one.


Cool!!

Acrylics, eh?  I keep forgetting you're proficient in more than one medium.  I always think of ink first.   

I love that you did this on a drum!  Great work!


----------



## snowbear

Thank you.  This is a very simple design as knot work goes.



CherylL said:


> Very cool painting!  I made a Celtic heart knot from my daughter's wedding bouquet ribbon as a Christmas ornament gift.   Like how your painting is interwoven.


I love the Claddhah (hands. heart & crown).


----------



## Fujidave

Well the sun came out, but by god it`s cold today.


----------



## davidharmier60

Monday. 5.25 hours today. 
Finished a pint of Blue Bell Pecan Pralines and Cream last night. There are 6 leftover Shrimp from dinner waiting at home.
PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## Frank F.

today I made pancakes for the kids


----------



## smoke665

@Frank F. looks like a few might have gotten a little "overdone". LOL


----------



## SquarePeg

Oh I disagree.  I love a pancake with crunchy edges.  The flavor is in the brown!


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> The flavor is in the brown!



In this case there appears to be a few that passed the brown stage by a good bit. LOL I'm not one to talk though, as I could never cook a pancake, they either turn out runny in the center or "Brown Crunchy".


----------



## smoke665

Say what you will about Alabama College sports, but one thing you can't say is they aren't proficient in anything but football!!! 
Auburn dubbed winners of ‘Sex Tournament’ by Alabama TV station


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> The flavor is in the brown!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In this case there appears to be a few that passed the brown stage by a good bit. LOL I'm not one to talk though, as I could never cook a pancake, they either turn out runny in the center or "Brown Crunchy".
Click to expand...

Sufficient quantities of bacon, sausage and maple syrup will overcome the issue.


----------



## Frank F.

Family was happy, I was happy, taste was great. Not bad for a first try!


----------



## davidharmier60

Hot Dogs and Fritos with chili on them was dinner. Sister just got home from moving my Aunt to a home in Elkhart, TX. She was still asleep when she left Elkhart so it will be interesting when Aunt awakens.
She is strong as an Ox but her brain is dementia messed up.
Anyhow it's about bedtime.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sitting in the parking lot waiting. 
To do the same thing trying to get a different result. Insane I am.

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----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> The flavor is in the brown!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In this case there appears to be a few that passed the brown stage by a good bit. LOL I'm not one to talk though, as I could never cook a pancake, they either turn out runny in the center or "Brown Crunchy".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sufficient quantities of bacon, sausage and maple syrup will overcome the issue.
Click to expand...

and butter.
.......

Good morning, peeps.  Today is lunch with the kids, MLW, and SIL.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> The flavor is in the brown!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In this case there appears to be a few that passed the brown stage by a good bit. LOL I'm not one to talk though, as I could never cook a pancake, they either turn out runny in the center or "Brown Crunchy".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sufficient quantities of bacon, sausage and maple syrup will overcome the issue.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> and butter.
> .......
> 
> Good morning, peeps.  Today is lunch with the kids, MLW, and SIL.
Click to expand...

BUTTER????  Jeesus H.  Keerist man... do you want a heart-attack?


----------



## davidharmier60

As long as it's fatal I'll take that Heart Attack! 4 and about 3/4 today 10.21 (I think) for the week so far. 

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----------



## SquarePeg

Morning Hosers!  Inspired by Frank I am going to make pancakes for my brunch today.


----------



## SquarePeg

I will definitely be having mine with butter.


----------



## smoke665

Just got back from a County Commissioners work session, on rural trash pickup issues. A representative of the company under contract, to provide the service, was there to answer questions and resolve complaints. Listening to residents complaints from across the county became almost humorous at times. Everything from not picking up, to crushing/destroying cans, to littering the highways with trash, to physical altercations between drivers and residents, to accidents (driver rolled his truck not far from our house 2 weeks ago - police found out his licence was suspended), to one driver getting p....d and dumping the entire contents of the trash truck in the middle of the road. This is not a small fly by night company, but a publicly traded large company. I actually started feeling a little sorry for the representative part way through. He had this "are you kidding me? They did what?" look on his face.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Flip 'em when they start to bubble. I made pancakes too, power of suggestion.

Just don't listen to the guy that has his 'own' Keto diet who says to eat lard, or put that on your pancakes! (Do they even make that anymore?? lol) Why do people follow those type diets? The Keto started out for people who have seizures to help control them. That Paleo/caveman diet has nothing in years of medical research to support following it. And why do people not get their kids vaccinated?? Measles were completely gone by 2000 and now they're back. Just has me shaking my head. OK, off my soapbox.

Sun had been in and out but staying bright now so might go use up some more cyanotype fabric, although all I have left is blue & white. I'll probably figure out something to do with it.

Couple of early 'talkies' on TCM this afternoon. Love the sets and costumes, but the plots are a little thin, just puttin' on a show. There was some early Ethel Waters, she had quite a voice. Maybe I'll just stay in the Jazz Age and stay off the news! lol


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I will definitely be having mine with butter.


A well-browned pancake, preferably made with buttermilk (ok, ok, it can be low-fat butermilk) is a thing of beauty with only butter melting on top.   Yum!!  

That oily margarine stuff is revolting.   I don't use butter enough to have it make much dietary difference.  

I'm not a particular fan of syrup, either.   Cheaper brands aren't really anything beyond corn syrup and artificial colors and flavors.   Real maple syrup is ok - I just don't have much of a taste for it.   Plus, I don't want anything making my well-browned pancake mushy.


----------



## davidharmier60

I came down to the Library because a piano player came and did Irving Berlin and other stuff. Good stuff. Now going to head on home because Chicken Enchiladas are dinner tonight and I love them!

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----------



## Tony744

Mine don't linger around long enough to get mushy.


----------



## SquarePeg

Facebook funny of the day


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh brother. I looked at my watch at 2:35.
Rolled over and POOF it was 4am.
Got a fairly righteous mug with which to attempt to get with it. Have a nice Wednesday y'all. 

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----------



## terri

Happy First Day of Spring!     

Still not particularly ready for it, but it's officially here, so why fight it?    I'm starting to think about my favorite annuals, and porch time in the evenings.


----------



## smoke665

Between freezing this morning and pollen flying it's not been a pleasant day so far. Nose and eyes are feeling the effects.


----------



## davidharmier60

Very nearly 7 hours today. Checks are late. 
PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## vintagesnaps

The calendar lies! lol I heard that and was like, really?? I don't think so... We've got a ways to go, cold and gray today, although 50s is better than snow! People don't  plant here til Mother's Day, got a while before I'll go out and do a little something with a flower bed. What exactly I don't know besides sweeping off stepping stones, but I want a gazing ball.


----------



## davidharmier60

Tacos and Tostadas for dinner. 
Let's Make a Deal on the DVR. 

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----------



## Jeff15

Spring has sprung here in the uk..............


----------



## Tony744

Last class for the photography workshop. We got bonuses at work last week so I decided to get me a wide angle lens. Came in early to buy one lens, ended up buying two.

Sent from my Moto E (4) using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## davidharmier60

Must be off to bed. 4am will be here all too soon!


----------



## Jeff15

Its 5 o'clock somewhere..........


----------



## davidharmier60

4 and roughly 3/4 hours today. 22 and a bit for the week so far. Got a pretty decent check for last week. Snacked on a few things. Going to the PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## smoke665

And so it begins. Got the mower out today, and went over the front yards. Really not excited about this weekly chore.


----------



## RowdyRay

smoke665 said:


> And so it begins. Got the mower out today, and went over the front yards. Really not excited about this weekly chore.



Weekly chore? If I waited a week, I'd be bailing it. Hate cutting grass.


----------



## Frankinfuji

RowdyRay said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> And so it begins. Got the mower out today, and went over the front yards. Really not excited about this weekly chore.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Weekly chore? If I waited a week, I'd be bailing it. Hate cutting grass.
Click to expand...


Ah the joys of living in Asia.

My Housekeeper employs a gardener who mows whatever that tropical leafy plant is that passes for a lawn in the Tropics.


----------



## smoke665

RowdyRay said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> And so it begins. Got the mower out today, and went over the front yards. Really not excited about this weekly chore.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Weekly chore? If I waited a week, I'd be bailing it. Hate cutting grass.
Click to expand...


We live in the middle of woods and fields. Some of it cleared, some not, with a couple miles of fire lanes. Around the house the main yards are Centipede (they call in the lazy man's grass), grows slow and dense. Could actually get by with only mowing every couple weeks. The outer boundaries and fire lanes are primarily Fescue and Orchard Grass, which are cut higner. The open fields are either Switch Grass or a mixture of deer friendly browse. To mow everything takes a couple days with tractor & Bush hog and the zero turn, less if DW helps, so there's a lot that doesn't get hit every week.


----------



## smoke665

Snakes, scorpions, spiders, Cougars, bears, and Panthers, but at least we are dealing with this. Invasion of poisonous toads triggers warning in local neighborhood


----------



## davidharmier60

The car said 63 When I got in. Already up to 65. Bright sun and high wispy clouds. 
Just a tic under 5 hours today making 27.05 for the week so far with a day to go. 
At the PO I'm going to grab a money order. 
Then towards home and will hit the other box on the way.

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----------



## SquarePeg

Have you all seen the latest Facebook craze?  Apologies to any FL hosers...

Google "Florida Man" followed by your birthday month and year and share the headline for that day.  It's hilariously terrible how much weird stuff happens in this world but particularly in FL...

Mine was Florida Man attacked by crazy squirrel


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Have you all seen the latest Facebook craze?  Apologies to any FL hosers...
> 
> Google "Florida Man" followed by your birthday month and year and share the headline for that day.  It's hilariously terrible how much weird stuff happens in this world but particularly in FL...
> 
> Mine was Florida Man attacked by crazy squirrel


Mine is:

Florida Man ends argument with chainsaw strike


----------



## smoke665

I can't win. First really pretty day here to get out and take care of spring work, and I lasted an hour before the sinuses felt like they were on fire, the eyes started burning, and the head started pounding.  This despite the fact that I take Zyrtec D year round because of allergies. Spring in the South, is a *****, and no relief in sight for several days. Advil don't fail me know.


----------



## davidharmier60

Went to Wal-Mart with my Sister and brought home two pairs of shoes. Low top leather with heels and gripper soles and mid rise with similar specs. I can trade days wearing them and they should last longer than the two pairs of sneakers did.It is 79 or 80 out there. Dinner is to be Pot Pie in about an hour....
YUMMY!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

We all need some feel-good news in this terrible world today. Hope this makes you smile like it does me:
Blind Love: Golden Retriever Gets His Own 'Seeing-Eye' Puppy


----------



## limr

Dean_Gretsch said:


> We all need some feel-good news in this terrible world today. Hope this makes you smile like it does me:
> Blind Love: Golden Retriever Gets His Own 'Seeing-Eye' Puppy


----------



## davidharmier60

49 heading to 74. Had a good mug.

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----------



## davidharmier60

5 hours and a enough to have 32.37 for the week. Gonna mail something off and check the box. Then to the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## smoke665

Actually got a lot done today outside. For some reason the pollen wasn't as bad as predicted, maybe because there was little if any wind to stir it up. I took advantage of the calm and dry weather to finally burn a large brush pile at the far edge of my yard. I had cleaned out a pine thicket, with the tractor and loader, pushing it up in a pile to burn back in the fall, but the weather has been so uncooperative that I couldn't set it on fire. At least it was dry enough that there isn't a lot left to push up. From there I moved to spraying our Long Leaf Pine. Sadly we've developed some serious Pine Beetle problems. Not sure that the spray will save them at this point, but I really hate to lose several thousand dollars of prime timber. Another 5 years and they would be ready for harvest, as salvage they go to the chip plant for cheap.


----------



## SquarePeg

Someone looks like a puppy after his grooming today!



 

The fur was literally flying on the way home.


----------



## SquarePeg

Pre-groom


----------



## SquarePeg

Last one.  He’s just so cute!


----------



## davidharmier60

Happy Sunday y'all. 
Usual Sunday mug of coffee. Could be better but could be worse. 

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----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Last one.  He’s just so cute!
> 
> View attachment 170584


He is a cutie, and you did well - he was definitely in need of his grooming!   Our cats are losing their winter coats, too.  After months of little shedding, suddenly the fur is aloft, even when barely petting them!

It's a critter thing.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Last one.  He’s just so cute!
> 
> View attachment 170584



So cute!  That is a lot of fur flying!  Our Boxers were the same way shedding small hairs everywhere.


----------



## CherylL

I haven't picked up a camera in a week.  At least I got the landscaping cleaned up and shop vac the garage.  Last year I waited too long and we went from winter to summer overnight.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Last one.  He’s just so cute!
> 
> View attachment 170584



So stinkin' cute! Those ears are killing me.


----------



## limr

Margaritas.Are.Awesome.


----------



## terri

mmm...margaritas!    I like extra lime wedges in mine.   Yum!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> mmm...margaritas!    I like extra lime wedges in mine.   Yum!



Me too. You can see the tip of the extra wedge on the left side of the picture


----------



## SquarePeg

That margarita looked good and I almost ordered one but I was feeling like a beer .


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> That margarita looked good and I almost ordered one but I was feeling like a beer .
> 
> View attachment 170652



Whatcha got there?


----------



## SquarePeg

Just a lite beer on tap.   Nothing fancy but it was nice and cold.  Trying to diet.


----------



## terri

Mmm, beer on tap is always so much better!

Y'all are making me thirsty!


----------



## smoke665

Errand time and spring work for me, depending on if/when rain comes. Busy week ahead


----------



## davidharmier60

Got through Monday unscathed. 
5.15 hours today and for the week so far. 
I could do with a Marguerita now.
Put batteries in two watches for Jodi. 
Another one busted the dial pins and I need to come up with a plan to keep the dial from moving again.
Off to the post office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## davidharmier60

Yesterday turned into a nitemare. 
Dogs digging out and mortgage rates skyrocketing. I don't care anymore. 

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----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.

MLW booked the hotel for this year's Maine trip (May).  The primary intent is to assist lazy lobster move for the summer (they are staying in Portland) but she want's to take some time and do things, rather than a 4-day rush up and back.

Another contract bidder sent me a Letter of Intent, yesterday.  The pre-bid session (Q&A) is this week, and the county want's it awarded by the middle of May.


----------



## JonA_CT

Our first customer has officially purchased a beer! Our soft openings start this week, and we'll be open for business completely the next weekend. 

She's currently performing on Broadway, so we "opened" for a few minutes on her off-day so that she could beat the crowds!


----------



## davidharmier60

5 hours and some today. 10.54 for the week so far. The DA** dogs got out again.
Fixed that area ran and cleared all the shock wire. Neighbor got a new box and her old one still works good. A dog that didn't deserve it got shocked. If the two year olds aren't stopped by this they will be shot.
And I still don't care.


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Our first customer has officially purchased a beer! Our soft openings start this week, and we'll be open for business completely the next weekend.
> 
> She's currently performing on Broadway, so we "opened" for a few minutes on her off-day so that she could beat the crowds!
> 
> View attachment 170720 View attachment 170721


Awesome.  I'm not sure if we can get up until May, but we'll see.


----------



## davidharmier60

Geez, an hour after I should be in bed..... Good Night Y'all.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Our first customer has officially purchased a beer! Our soft openings start this week, and we'll be open for business completely the next weekend.
> 
> She's currently performing on Broadway, so we "opened" for a few minutes on her off-day so that she could beat the crowds!



Congrats!  When is the TPF meet up?  How close are you to Foxwoods?  Could be a multi-tasking trip!  Any lighthouses nearby?  A 3-fer!!!


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our first customer has officially purchased a beer! Our soft openings start this week, and we'll be open for business completely the next weekend.
> 
> She's currently performing on Broadway, so we "opened" for a few minutes on her off-day so that she could beat the crowds!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats!  When is the TPF meet up?  How close are you to Foxwoods?  Could be a multi-tasking trip!  Any lighthouses nearby?  A 3-fer!!!
Click to expand...


1. You tell me.
2. 20 minutes if you’re not scared of driving fast on country roads.
3. Several, including one that was just opened up to tours here in New London after being closed to the public for a bit.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats!  When is the TPF meet up?  How close are you to Foxwoods?  Could be a multi-tasking trip!  Any lighthouses nearby?  A 3-fer!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 1. You tell me.
> 2. 20 minutes if you’re not scared of driving fast on country roads.
> 3. Several, including one that was just opened up to tours here in New London after being closed to the public for a bit.
Click to expand...


1. Count me in.
2. Buckle up.
3. I'll bring extra film.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our first customer has officially purchased a beer! Our soft openings start this week, and we'll be open for business completely the next weekend.
> 
> She's currently performing on Broadway, so we "opened" for a few minutes on her off-day so that she could beat the crowds!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats!  When is the TPF meet up?  How close are you to Foxwoods?  Could be a multi-tasking trip!  Any lighthouses nearby?  A 3-fer!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 1. You tell me.
> 2. 20 minutes if you’re not scared of driving fast on country roads.
> 3. Several, including one that was just opened up to tours here in New London after being closed to the public for a bit.
Click to expand...


I'm in!  Any time after I get back from Ireland works for me.  Who else wants to join?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Will be with you in spirit! 

Congrats Jon!!! But the big question is, can your beer develop film??


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our first customer has officially purchased a beer! Our soft openings start this week, and we'll be open for business completely the next weekend.
> 
> She's currently performing on Broadway, so we "opened" for a few minutes on her off-day so that she could beat the crowds!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats!  When is the TPF meet up?  How close are you to Foxwoods?  Could be a multi-tasking trip!  Any lighthouses nearby?  A 3-fer!!!
Click to expand...

Wouldn't Bushwoods be a more interesting choice?


----------



## vintagesnaps

This Bushwood??


----------



## Tony744

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our first customer has officially purchased a beer! Our soft openings start this week, and we'll be open for business completely the next weekend.
> 
> She's currently performing on Broadway, so we "opened" for a few minutes on her off-day so that she could beat the crowds!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats!  When is the TPF meet up?  How close are you to Foxwoods?  Could be a multi-tasking trip!  Any lighthouses nearby?  A 3-fer!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 1. You tell me.
> 2. 20 minutes if you’re not scared of driving fast on country roads.
> 3. Several, including one that was just opened up to tours here in New London after being closed to the public for a bit.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm in!  Any time after I get back from Ireland works for me.  Who else wants to join?
Click to expand...


I'm in! Just let me know when.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Our first customer has officially purchased a beer! Our soft openings start this week, and we'll be open for business completely the next weekend.
> 
> She's currently performing on Broadway, so we "opened" for a few minutes on her off-day so that she could beat the crowds!
> 
> View attachment 170720 View attachment 170721


This is awesome!       Love the pic and the special circumstances behind your official first customer.    Congrats!

I'm going to miss all the fun.      I want to be a New Englander, too!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our first customer has officially purchased a beer! Our soft openings start this week, and we'll be open for business completely the next weekend.
> 
> She's currently performing on Broadway, so we "opened" for a few minutes on her off-day so that she could beat the crowds!
> 
> View attachment 170720 View attachment 170721
> 
> 
> 
> This is awesome!       Love the pic and the special circumstances behind your official first customer.    Congrats!
> 
> I'm going to miss all the fun.      I want to be a New Englander, too!
Click to expand...


Get your butt up here then!


----------



## tirediron

vintagesnaps said:


> This Bushwood??


Izzer another one?


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our first customer has officially purchased a beer! Our soft openings start this week, and we'll be open for business completely the next weekend.
> 
> She's currently performing on Broadway, so we "opened" for a few minutes on her off-day so that she could beat the crowds!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats!  When is the TPF meet up?  How close are you to Foxwoods?  Could be a multi-tasking trip!  Any lighthouses nearby?  A 3-fer!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 1. You tell me.
> 2. 20 minutes if you’re not scared of driving fast on country roads.
> 3. Several, including one that was just opened up to tours here in New London after being closed to the public for a bit.
Click to expand...




SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our first customer has officially purchased a beer! Our soft openings start this week, and we'll be open for business completely the next weekend.
> 
> She's currently performing on Broadway, so we "opened" for a few minutes on her off-day so that she could beat the crowds!
> 
> View attachment 170720 View attachment 170721
> 
> 
> 
> This is awesome!       Love the pic and the special circumstances behind your official first customer.    Congrats!
> 
> I'm going to miss all the fun.      I want to be a New Englander, too!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Get your butt up here then!
Click to expand...


Come on up, Terri!


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm in Texas with NO chance of getting to New England. 6.75 or so today with 17.46 for the week so far. About to have a cheese burger at the deli. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## snowbear

terri said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our first customer has officially purchased a beer! Our soft openings start this week, and we'll be open for business completely the next weekend.
> 
> She's currently performing on Broadway, so we "opened" for a few minutes on her off-day so that she could beat the crowds!
> 
> View attachment 170720 View attachment 170721
> 
> 
> 
> This is awesome!       Love the pic and the special circumstances behind your official first customer.    Congrats!
> 
> I'm going to miss all the fun.      I want to be a New Englander, too!
Click to expand...

Please stop by MD on your way ay up; I’ll grab a ride with you since MLW won’t be ready to retire for at least two years.


----------



## davidharmier60

The Target store in Humble used to have a nice if somewhat more expensive than Wal-Mart selection of Timex and other watches. Now one end cap and nothing I had to have. Did get a Maglite 1aaa Led Solitaire on clearance. Just finished the chicken pot pie from a few days ago. 
And very soon must hit the sack.

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## vintagesnaps

Me too, I'd like it in New England, there are Frozen Four regionals, The Whale, and there's this for the drive...

10 hours of it, Jon!

http://youtu.be/ykh2RSpzxa4

edit - Or, after hearing the song twice and that was enough! the short version. With I think my college goalie, #1 in old school brown leather pads & blocker.


----------



## snowbear

We will occasionally buy a couple of Power Ball lottery tickets, generally $100 or less in a year.  We are not gamblers but fall into the "what the heck" category.  MLW insisted I pick the the numbers, tonight.  I selected 20, 25, 36, 40, 45 and the power ball of seven (7).  Not really unusual, other than they are mostly in the middle of the range (1 -60, I think).

Fire stations 820, 825, 836, 840, and 845 (the "8" is a regional inter-operability prefix) are in the seventh battalion (887).  Apparently one week away from work was not enough.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our first customer has officially purchased a beer! Our soft openings start this week, and we'll be open for business completely the next weekend.
> 
> She's currently performing on Broadway, so we "opened" for a few minutes on her off-day so that she could beat the crowds!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats!  When is the TPF meet up?  How close are you to Foxwoods?  Could be a multi-tasking trip!  Any lighthouses nearby?  A 3-fer!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 1. You tell me.
> 2. 20 minutes if you’re not scared of driving fast on country roads.
> 3. Several, including one that was just opened up to tours here in New London after being closed to the public for a bit.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our first customer has officially purchased a beer! Our soft openings start this week, and we'll be open for business completely the next weekend.
> 
> She's currently performing on Broadway, so we "opened" for a few minutes on her off-day so that she could beat the crowds!
> 
> View attachment 170720 View attachment 170721
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> This is awesome!       Love the pic and the special circumstances behind your official first customer.    Congrats!
> 
> I'm going to miss all the fun.      I want to be a New Englander, too!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Get your butt up here then!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Come on up, Terri!
Click to expand...

Oh, don't tempt me!


----------



## Tropicalmemories

On a long business trip, playing with a mobile phone editing app in a grey motel, looking forward to the return leg.


----------



## davidharmier60

Thursday. Sort of like Monday but not as early in the day. Gotta go get propane today. Have a nice day y'all. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our first customer has officially purchased a beer! Our soft openings start this week, and we'll be open for business completely the next weekend.
> 
> She's currently performing on Broadway, so we "opened" for a few minutes on her off-day so that she could beat the crowds!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats!  When is the TPF meet up?  How close are you to Foxwoods?  Could be a multi-tasking trip!  Any lighthouses nearby?  A 3-fer!!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 1. You tell me.
> 2. 20 minutes if you’re not scared of driving fast on country roads.
> 3. Several, including one that was just opened up to tours here in New London after being closed to the public for a bit.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our first customer has officially purchased a beer! Our soft openings start this week, and we'll be open for business completely the next weekend.
> 
> She's currently performing on Broadway, so we "opened" for a few minutes on her off-day so that she could beat the crowds!
> 
> View attachment 170720 View attachment 170721
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> This is awesome!       Love the pic and the special circumstances behind your official first customer.    Congrats!
> 
> I'm going to miss all the fun.      I want to be a New Englander, too!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Get your butt up here then!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Come on up, Terri!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oh, don't tempt me!
Click to expand...


New London (and the world-class casinos nearby, too) is very centrally located between Boston and NYC. It's a 2-2.5 hour drive to both depending on traffic, and you can take commuter rail from NYC right to historic downtown New London. 

This is a crappy time of year to visit, though. May or September/October are the perfect times. Nice weather, but not as crowded as it is during the summer.


----------



## SquarePeg

Princess has me almost convinced that we need a 2nd dog.  I'm concerned about our current cutie.  Anyone have any experience adopting a youngish dog (maybe not a puppy but not much older) when you have an older dog that has had the house and family to themselves for 10 years?  Our dog is not aggressive but he is not overly friendly with other dogs.  He thinks he is a person.


----------



## smoke665

We had three at one time a Brittany female came first, and quickly became the alpha. A year later came a Yorkie female puppy. The Britt tolerated the Yorkie but was never overly friendly toward her. A year later a Boxer female came. The Boxer and the Yorkie quickly became lifelong  best friends, and played together constantly. As the Boxer grew it was amazing at how careful she was in her play with the Yorkie, despite their tug of war battles with mock growls and head shakes, she knew instinctively to not hurt her buddy. The Brittany and the Boxer was another story. They ignored each other most of the time but as the Boxer grew in size she started questioning the Britt's alpha spot. Had several fights, over the years.


----------



## CherylL

We had an older schnauzer, Teddy, that went blind and really lost his spunk.  Snickers was added to the family and he was about 11 months old so still sorta a puppy, but not all that biting phase.  The first few days Teddy barked at him and I think because he didn't know where Snickers was standing.  Turned out that Snickers helped Teddy navigate the yard and house.  His spunk did come back with a playmate.  Snickers would lead Teddy back to the house when he was lost in the yard.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> We had three at one time a Brittany female came first, and quickly became the alpha. A year later came a Yorkie female puppy. The Britt tolerated the Yorkie but was never overly friendly toward her. A year later a Boxer female came. The Boxer and the Yorkie quickly became lifelong  best friends, and played together constantly. As the Boxer grew it was amazing at how careful she was in her play with the Yorkie, despite their tug of war battles with mock growls and head shakes, she knew instinctively to not hurt her buddy. The Brittany and the Boxer was another story. They ignored each other most of the time but as the Boxer grew in size she started questioning the Britt's alpha spot. Had several fights, over the years.



Our dog is 10 and about 15lbs.  Our criteria for the prospective dog  - will grow to about the same size and be a year or younger when we get it and a female.  Our dog is not good with larger male dogs.



CherylL said:


> We had an older schnauzer, Teddy, that went blind and really lost his spunk.  Snickers was added to the family and he was about 11 months old so still sorta a puppy, but not all that biting phase.  The first few days Teddy barked at him and I think because he didn't know where Snickers was standing.  Turned out that Snickers helped Teddy navigate the yard and house.  His spunk did come back with a playmate.  Snickers would lead Teddy back to the house when he was lost in the yard.



This is a sweet story.  Sniff sniff.  Is it dusty in here?


----------



## davidharmier60

In Cold Springs for propane 

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## limr

@terri - don't listen to Jon, April is a fine time to visit the northeast


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## vintagesnaps

Opening Day!!!!! I like a good parade - from the comfort of my living room. 100th parade, 150th anniversary for the team - that's a lot of baseball!

Fireworks shooting out of the back of a truck, yeah there's a great idea! Must've been loud there from the way the announcers reacted. Different stations set up at different locations to see it all.


----------



## vintagesnaps

2+ hours and parade was winding down. Saw pigs not flying, someone riding in an old style bathtub following a Beer Saved Baseball float, Santa following a garbage truck, I think those wre the oddities/lowlights! lol

Sun started shining and highlights were Rosie Reds (my grandma was one but don't ask me what they did!), one of the vintage ball clubs, Mr. Red who will be on benches in various vintage Red Stockings/Reds uniforms around the city this summer, and an old style bus going to Crosley Field. And a '50s red & white Chevy with Johnny Bench and the MLB commissioner; local sports announcer turned into a kid/rabid fan. One of the announcers said when she first met Bench she was speechless; once I got to go out on the ice pregame and take pictures of his ceremonial puck drop and I was just hoping to not fall on my ass.

There were a lot of kids that didn't go to school today! They need to go back to this being on a Monday and just close schools, make it an official holiday already!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all from UK
Just got time for a sm cappchino want to be out with camera but have to do gardening whilst the sun is out.  I sound like a five year old I want.....  I wanna play with my camera not the weeds lol


----------



## davidharmier60

Another day of 6 plus for 24.06 for the week with two days to go.
No dog escapees for the second day in a row.
And that's all I got right now.


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## snowbear

My Python conference trip to Columbus is booked.  Unfortunately I missed where to put in my credit for having to cancel last year, so I can take a shot trip by the end of June.  I’ve been told to take a long weekend for myself.  Thinking about upper NY/Mass/NH/VT for photos, fishing or both.  Any suggestions?


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> My Python conference trip to Columbus is booked.  Unfortunately I missed where to put in my credit for having to cancel last year, so I can take a shot trip by the end of June.  I’ve been told to take a long weekend for myself.  Thinking about upper NY/Mass/NH/VT for photos, fishing or both.  Any suggestions?



Quechee VT balloon festival 6/14-16.  I’m going with my photo meet up group.  

Cape is lovely in June before the hoard descends.    I’m sure @NancyMoranG could offer some photo suggestions near the canal.  

If you want city sights then Boston is nice in June as well.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> My Python conference trip to Columbus is booked.  Unfortunately I missed where to put in my credit for having to cancel last year, so I can take a shot trip by the end of June.  I’ve been told to take a long weekend for myself.  Thinking about upper NY/Mass/NH/VT for photos, fishing or both.  Any suggestions?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Quechee VT balloon festival 6/14-16.  I’m going with my photo meet up group.
> 
> Cape is lovely in June before the hoard descends.    I’m sure @NancyMoranG could offer some photo suggestions near the canal.
> 
> If you want city sights then Boston is nice in June as well.
Click to expand...

These sound promising.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> My Python conference trip to Columbus is booked.  Unfortunately I missed where to put in my credit for having to cancel last year, so I can take a shot trip by the end of June.  I’ve been told to take a long weekend for myself.  Thinking about upper NY/Mass/NH/VT for photos, fishing or both.  Any suggestions?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Quechee VT balloon festival 6/14-16.  I’m going with my photo meet up group.
> 
> Cape is lovely in June before the hoard descends.    I’m sure @NancyMoranG could offer some photo suggestions near the canal.
> 
> If you want city sights then Boston is nice in June as well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> These sound promising.
Click to expand...


Let me know what you decide on.  Would love to meet up for a photo walk if you’re going to be nearby.


----------



## davidharmier60

Got through Friday unscathed. 5 and a bit today and 29.12 for the week so far. 
It very lightly drizzled earlier. Clouds between the sun and the ground. Feels like maybe 70ish outside. To the PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## Derrel

SNIP>>>"beer saved baseball."

I like beer....it is what makes baseball barely tolerable for me...


----------



## JonA_CT

Derrel said:


> SNIP>>>"beer saved baseball."
> 
> I like beer....it is what makes baseball barely tolerable for me...



I do enjoy a beer at a baseball game. And it’s about the only time I’ll eat a hot dog, too.

I can only afford one of each at the parks around here, haha.


----------



## SquarePeg

I love baseball - with or without beer.  But I especially love baseball at night in the summer with beer and cracker jacks.  Have never eaten a hot dog and never will.


----------



## smoke665

@Derrel Beer is the universally accepted method of making all things tolerable from love to baseball, and everything in between. 

@JonA_CT sadly between ticket prices, and food prices they've just about priced families out of most sporting events. Try to go to an SEC game with a family of four. For the price of championship playoffs tickets you could buy a nice car.


----------



## smoke665

Warm day out, so bath time for Sadie. During colder weather, have no choice but to do in the bathtub, but when it gets warm we run a hose from the laundry room sink (warm water) out the door to the deck. It's a lot easier and faster, but the back still takes a beating bending over.


----------



## SquarePeg

Our dog fits in the sink .  It's easy enough to sanitize the sink and counter afterwards.


----------



## davidharmier60

No dogs dug out or escaped today. Three days in a row might be a record.
All but one are too big for the sink.

In other news the the Sun has made an appearance.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> My Python conference trip to Columbus is booked.  Unfortunately I missed where to put in my credit for having to cancel last year, so I can take a shot trip by the end of June.  I’ve been told to take a long weekend for myself.  Thinking about upper NY/Mass/NH/VT for photos, fishing or both.  Any suggestions?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Quechee VT balloon festival 6/14-16.  I’m going with my photo meet up group.
> 
> Cape is lovely in June before the hoard descends.    I’m sure @NancyMoranG could offer some photo suggestions near the canal.
> 
> If you want city sights then Boston is nice in June as well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> These sound promising.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Let me know what you decide on.  Would love to meet up for a photo walk if you’re going to be nearby.
Click to expand...

Will do.  I'm going to try to finalize everything this weekend.


----------



## davidharmier60

Geez Louise! I didn't get logged in until 5.47. So no floor machine or buffer.
Did some mopping. Really cleaned the restrooms and break room. 32 and a half for the week. So thought 33 was easy and maybe even 34. Oh well. Light rain is beginning to fall. If the computer acts better than yesterday I'll see y'all later.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## limr

Hey hosers. Back in NY. Got to drive this for a week out in the west. Good pick-up, had its moments, though it was also a lumbering oaf in the curves. It's kind of a ridiculous car.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Hey hosers. Back in NY. Got to drive this for a week out in the west. Good pick-up, had its moments, though it was also a lumbering oaf in the curves. It's kind of a ridiculous car.
> View attachment 170903


It looks kinda fun!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Looks like some reject from the '80s. What car is that?? 

How could anyone pass up a hot dog? What else could we have put on sticks to hold over a campfire with kids prior to a dessert of marshmellows on sticks?? I prefer them with chili and cheese as opposed to either raw or burnt or dropped on the ground.

Edit - I know what it reminds me of but had to look it up, a Dodge Charger. Paint it orange and you could've Dukes of Hazzarded it all over the place!


----------



## Tony744

I briefly considered buying one of those. But as with most American performance cars (short of high priced Corvettes) handling can be a handful. That...and the insurance would've been outrageous.


----------



## smoke665

At least the rain last night rinsed the pollen out of the air for a bit. Packing up to head out for a few days. Not going far, I have an appointment with a couple of doctors for consultations tomorrow that will take all day so planning on relaxing for a couple of days after letting DW do some  shopping and maybe get a little photography in.


----------



## davidharmier60

46 going to 58 and back down to 38 tonight.  The computer worked ok.
Just didn't visit the site among the other stuff I did yesterday. One of our oldest dogs  gave us a scare yesterday. But he's back this morning. Other than that Mrs Lincoln how did you like the play?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## smoke665

Looks like a repair or replacement of our side by side refrigerator is on the near horizon. The refrigerator side is suddenly freezing everything. Ice milk with my cereal is not a pleasant experience


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Looks like a repair or replacement of our side by side refrigerator is on the near horizon. The refrigerator side is suddenly freezing everything. Ice milk with my cereal is not a pleasant experience




Lessons learned by me:  Side by sides are terrible.  No space, hard to access.  I hated mine so much that I was waiting impatiently for it to break down so I could dump it. Darn thing lasted 15 years.  If you have to get a new one, get the freezer on the bottom 3 door model.  Soooo much better as far as storage and organization go.   Skip the water dispenser since it always breaks before the fridge and takes up so much space.


----------



## SquarePeg

68! And gorgeous here today.  We have softball assessments for our rec league today.  Of course they are indoors because it’s rarely nice out this time of year.  Hoping we can get the girls outside for a bit today.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Looks like a repair or replacement of our side by side refrigerator is on the near horizon. The refrigerator side is suddenly freezing everything. Ice milk with my cereal is not a pleasant experience


Rice-Krispiesicles?


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Lessons learned by me:  Side by sides are terrible.  No space, hard to access.  I hated mine so much that I was waiting impatiently for it to break down so I could dump it. Darn thing lasted 15 years.  If you have to get a new one, get the freezer on the bottom 3 door model.  Soooo much better as far as storage and organization go.   Skip the water dispenser since it always breaks before the fridge and takes up so much space.


Interesting....  looked at a LOT of refrigerators when the I remolded the kitchen about 7 years ago; settled on a GE side-by-side (no water/ice for the very reasons you mentioned), and couldn't be more satisfied.  My brother & father both have the freezer in the bottom units and invariably the freezer turns into one big mess as it's basically a drawer into which everything gets dumped and then rummaged through.


----------



## smoke665

The only problem we've had with the ice dispenser is a cheap plastic part that closed the door broke. Ordered a modified replacement. The water dispenser uses a $40 filter that seems to require replacing every other week if you believe the light. Learned I could just hit the reset button, haven't changed it since.


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lessons learned by me:  Side by sides are terrible.  No space, hard to access.  I hated mine so much that I was waiting impatiently for it to break down so I could dump it. Darn thing lasted 15 years.  If you have to get a new one, get the freezer on the bottom 3 door model.  Soooo much better as far as storage and organization go.   Skip the water dispenser since it always breaks before the fridge and takes up so much space.
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting....  looked at a LOT of refrigerators when the I remolded the kitchen about 7 years ago; settled on a GE side-by-side (no water/ice for the very reasons you mentioned), and couldn't be more satisfied.  My brother & father both have the freezer in the bottom units and invariably the freezer turns into one big mess as it's basically a drawer into which everything gets dumped and then rummaged through.
Click to expand...


The model we had was one with water and ice dispenser in the freezer side door which took up the majority of the freezer space!


----------



## SquarePeg

Just watched Den of Thieves.  Surprising twist at the end.  Entertaining despite starring Gerard Butler who I usually find to be awful.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> It looks kinda fun!



It had its moments  It had an option to shift manually using flappy paddles (only two pedals, so still cheating  ) and there were times when I'd downshift to get into the power band when passing or going up hill, and I'd hear this deep roaring engine, and I was all, "Who dat?" and then realize it was me 

And getting up to speed entering a highway was kinda fun 



vintagesnaps said:


> Looks like some reject from the '80s. What car is that??
> 
> How could anyone pass up a hot dog? What else could we have put on sticks to hold over a campfire with kids prior to a dessert of marshmellows on sticks?? I prefer them with chili and cheese as opposed to either raw or burnt or dropped on the ground.
> 
> Edit - I know what it reminds me of but had to look it up, a Dodge Charger. Paint it orange and you could've Dukes of Hazzarded it all over the place!



It was actually a 2019 Challenger (they look very similar).



Tony744 said:


> I briefly considered buying one of those. But as with most American performance cars (short of high priced Corvettes) handling can be a handful. That...and the insurance would've been outrageous.



There's the saying that it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than to drive a fast car slow. Mostly, it just felt like it was annoyed that we were not going over 100 mph, just as long as the road was straight. Once it was in a curve, though, it was as I said - a lumbering oaf. Like maneuvering a boat.

It was fun for a week, but I was happy to come home to my Mazda


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like a repair or replacement of our side by side refrigerator is on the near horizon. The refrigerator side is suddenly freezing everything. Ice milk with my cereal is not a pleasant experience
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lessons learned by me:  Side by sides are terrible.  No space, hard to access.  I hated mine so much that I was waiting impatiently for it to break down so I could dump it. Darn thing lasted 15 years.  If you have to get a new one, get the freezer on the bottom 3 door model.  Soooo much better as far as storage and organization go.   Skip the water dispenser since it always breaks before the fridge and takes up so much space.
Click to expand...


I wanted the 3 door model, but the fridge is built in.  Had to go with another side by side.


----------



## CherylL

Saw "The Play That Goes Wrong" last night and felt good to laugh.  The play before that was "Oslo".   It was very good too, but not upbeat like last night's play.  At the Oslo performance, the man sitting a seat away coughed/sneezed on me and showered my face.  Felt dirty sitting thru the last act.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sunny here today so off out to test the XF50-140mm as have not been able too yet.


----------



## Original katomi

Re cars, have to agree to your comment about driving a slow car fast.  My old car by the time I got to 60mph I had to really drive it  the new car has oh so many electric what nots the car does not need me...  get to 70 mph and the new car is yea well now  this is so boooring I want to go fast lol


----------



## JonA_CT

Survived the soft opening weekend of the brewery. Barely.

In addition to my normal job last week, I worked around 45 hours at the brewery. I can't wait until things stabilize a bit and we can hire some help.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> Saw "The Play That Goes Wrong" last night and felt good to laugh.  The play before that was "Oslo".   It was very good too, but not upbeat like last night's play.  At the Oslo performance, the man sitting a seat away coughed/sneezed on me and showered my face.  Felt dirty sitting thru the last act.



Gross.  I read once that on an airplane, the coverage from a sneeze goes 4 rows up and 2 rows back!  



JonA_CT said:


> Survived the soft opening weekend of the brewery. Barely.
> 
> In addition to my normal job last week, I worked around 45 hours at the brewery. I can't wait until things stabilize a bit and we can hire some help.



congrats!


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> Saw "The Play That Goes Wrong" last night and felt good to laugh.  The play before that was "Oslo".   It was very good too, but not upbeat like last night's play.  At the Oslo performance, the man sitting a seat away coughed/sneezed on me and showered my face.  Felt dirty sitting thru the last act.



I'd like to think it was an accident, but unfortunately there are some really inconsiderate people out there. Because of DW's compromised immune system we have to be always on the alert. Doc has banned her from flying on a commercial airline, calls them "flying Petri dishes" for germs.


----------



## terri

CherylL said:


> Saw "The Play That Goes Wrong" last night and felt good to laugh.  The play before that was "Oslo".   It was very good too, but not upbeat like last night's play.  At the Oslo performance, the man sitting a seat away coughed/sneezed on me and showered my face.  Felt dirty sitting thru the last act.


Eww, disgusting!     Hopefully you get through the next 48 hours without coming down sick.   Hang in there!

@JonA_CT:  sounds like it was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time.   Congrats!


----------



## Fujidave

Evening all, well a great day using the XF50-140mm for the first time today.  What a great lens it is and a joy to use.


----------



## CherylL

terri said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Saw "The Play That Goes Wrong" last night and felt good to laugh.  The play before that was "Oslo".   It was very good too, but not upbeat like last night's play.  At the Oslo performance, the man sitting a seat away coughed/sneezed on me and showered my face.  Felt dirty sitting thru the last act.
> 
> 
> 
> Eww, disgusting!     Hopefully you get through the next 48 hours without coming down sick.   Hang in there!
> 
> @JonA_CT:  sounds like it was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time.   Congrats!
Click to expand...


The shower sneeze was from the previous play a few weeks back.  He did have his arm raised, but I think it sprayed sideways towards me.  I was disgusted and tried to wipe it off.  Got home and washed face twice.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Saw "The Play That Goes Wrong" last night and felt good to laugh.  The play before that was "Oslo".   It was very good too, but not upbeat like last night's play.  At the Oslo performance, the man sitting a seat away coughed/sneezed on me and showered my face.  Felt dirty sitting thru the last act.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd like to think it was an accident, but unfortunately there are some really inconsiderate people out there. Because of DW's compromised immune system we have to be always on the alert. Doc has banned her from flying on a commercial airline, calls them "flying Petri dishes" for germs.
Click to expand...


Airlines are a flying petri dish!  I take alcohol wipes and get the seat belt, tray, armrest and window shade wiped down.  Schools are bad too.  The flu has been running rampant at the grade school.  When I went to my grand daughter's classroom last month for a presentation, I purposely did not touch anything.  No water fountain either.


----------



## smoke665

@CherylL Unfortunately not just the surfaces, according to him. The recirculated air keeps everything suspended.


----------



## vintagesnaps

So it was a Dodge... that kind of retro I think we could do without! lol

Ended up getting sunny today, supposed to rain. Got stuff midweek so trying to get laundry and whatnot done today and tomorrow. Got a little pot of chicken going which I decided I'd rather not bother with but already'd thawed the darn chicken.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's 58 and supposedly raining lightly in Shepherd which is about 4.5 south of us..
5.09 hours today. The windshield was frosted this morning but the car heats FAST and in 3 or 4 minutes it was whipped clear. The truck has a new trash sticker. We're have leftovers tonight and I am going to have my Sisters EXCELLANT chicken noodle soup!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, well our weather has now gone to pot as the rain has come back.


----------



## Fujidave

OH  goody just got my PD replacement anchors delivered.


----------



## phlash46

snowbear said:


> Welcome to _The Coffee House_, where there is no competition, no Leaderboard, no C&C, and no stress. It was started by small group of TPF gnomes who not only like photography, but also like to share coffee, cinnamon buns, poems, and stories.
> 
> Pull up a seat, grab a cup, and unwind!
> 
> View attachment 88454
> _© Copyright Lewis Clarke and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons License_


They are in my back yard right now!


----------



## Original katomi

Rain stopped play/work here, so thought I,d pop in for a cuppa, make it strong as am cold wet ooooooh ta


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon y'all. 5 hours and a minute today. 10 hours and 10 minutes for the week.
Sister and Dad are off to get dog food which I will need to get from the trunk of the car into the house.
Camera battery was dead so it is charging up. It is 64 going up to 68 and down to 42 overnight.
The sun is shining brightly and will be when I do the Marquee in the morning.
Have a happy Tuesday y'all.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Cinnamon buns??!!! where? lol


----------



## Paul Sheridan

Derrel said:


> SNIP>>>"beer saved baseball."
> 
> I like beer....it is what makes baseball barely tolerable for me...



Great line, except I will need to drink so much, to be able to tolerate, that I will need to be at home on my sofa, not at a "ball park!"


----------



## smoke665

Interesting afternoon. DW, Sadie and I were exploring the trails in Oak Mountain State Park, today and stumbled onto a movie production set. Seems they've been filming for the upcoming Netflix movie The Devil All The Time for the past week at one of the park's cabins. The Devil All the Time (2020) - IMDb It's based on the Ray Pollock book by the same name. Kept trying to inch in closer, but the county deputies running security kept moving us back.  Did manage to get the attention of one of the production crew running around with a clipboard lining people up, to see if they needed any extras. Told me as a matter of fact they were looking for an overweight, crazy old man............Little Smart..s, I hate how they always want to type cast me!!!



 
Best I could do of the actors, they were all clustered at the left, to many trees in the way.


----------



## CherylL

@smoke665 wow cool to stumble upon the movie set.  It amazes me how much gear and people it takes.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> @smoke665 wow cool to stumble upon the movie set.  It amazes me how much gear and people it takes.



Oh this was only a little bit of the gear. Further up the mountain at a landing were several trailers, equipment, and a big concession tent. They had various and sundry old vehicles scattered everywhere. 5 miles or so back down the mountain was their base camp. A huge parking lot with RV dressing rooms, semi trailer offices, and yet more trailers full of equipment. They had at a half dozen passenger vans running non stop back and forth shuttling people.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, cold damp and overcast out so off to help Mum today.


----------



## davidharmier60

My phone says it's 45 degrees outside. 
It still says no rain for the Marquee work. 
4am is what it is. Have a nice Wednesday y'all.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon all, so went over to help Mum this morning and lovely blue skies and sun was warm, now the sky is grey and we just had hail chucking it down April showers OH what joy..lol


----------



## JonA_CT

Product photography is the worst. Especially when you don’t have a studio and lots of lights. 

(One speedlight and a flash bender will have to do)


----------



## smoke665

Pulled the first tick of summer off my leg this morning. There are some things about warm weather I could do without.


----------



## Derrel

We have VERY few ticks here, in this, the far NW corner of Oregon. Ticks are not part of our experience, but in central or eastern OR, ticks are not unheard of.


----------



## SquarePeg

Ticks love it here.  Tick spray, long pants, socks and flea/tick medicine for pets are mandatory here.  Even with all our precautions our dog picked up lyme disease last year.


----------



## smoke665

Sadie is on heartworm prevention and flea tick prevention which works well. Spring is really bad here for ticks. Looks like it's time to pull out the spray repellant


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Ticks love it here.  Tick spray, long pants, socks and flea/tick medicine for pets are mandatory here.  Even with all our precautions our dog picked up lyme disease last year.



I can understand the spray but you dress your pets in "long pants and socks"?  Do they prefer shoes or sandals?


----------



## Fujidave

Ticks make me Cross 

On a more serious note, we used to keep an eye open for our pets when we lived in Australia as the ticks were a right PITA.


----------



## tirediron

Very few ticks on Vancouver Island; we will see a few in the central Island area once things warm up and dry out a bit.  Tocks, on the other hand are a different story.  We are inundated with those, and it's not uncommon to count up to 60 of them, just walking for a minute!


----------



## limr

Had to reschedule a teeth cleaning appointment that was originally set for the Saturday when we were traveling back from New Mexico. My choices were either today at 2pm or almost 2 months from now. Since I have plenty of leave time left, I chose to take a half day from work and book the appointment for today.

I was done a little after 3pm. I decided it was the perfect opportunity to finally see Captain Marvel.

And before anyone makes fun of me for waiting so long, know that going to a 3:45 matinee on a Wednesday 4 weeks after its release gave me a totally private screening of the film. Not a soul in that theater except me.

It was glorious.

Also know that a "small" soda these days is practically the size of my head.


----------



## limr

And yes, I'm going to have to work hard to avoid spoilers for Avengers: Endgame after it comes out in May because I plan on taking another half day from work for another afternoon matinee sometime in June


----------



## snowbear

Well, I'm compliant with the Fed's Real ID - hit the Motor Vehicle Admin this morning with my documents.  The license already had the little star so I didn't have to pay any real $$$.

The flight & hotel booked for June - fishing & photos planed for New Hampshire & possibly photos in Vermont ; I'll let you know @SquarePeg.   The middle of May is still on for Tox & Maine.  The start of May will bring the new work contract; I've already had two of the bidding vendors contact me.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I still haven't done the Real ID thing yet. I just got a new passport and think that will suffice for now.


----------



## RowdyRay

I hate ticks. Hate them. What is the purpose of these disgusting insects? Seriously, I'd like to know. In the past they were an annoyance. Now they can kill you! For someone who loves to be outside camping, fishing, hunting and now wildlife photography....They're a major threat to my well being. Spent way more than I'd like to on Permethrin. But, it works. It's just a matter of time before they tell us the chemical will kill you faster than the tick.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Whilst eating breakfast this morning I was wondering how girls manage to wear a towel as clothing?

If I tried it, the towel would be around my feet in 5 minutes.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, we have hail and rain here today and the wind is up too plus grotty grey skies.


----------



## davidharmier60

The last three hours of my night went by in a flash. Hard to believe I've been working at the store well over a year.
Good mug of coffee to try and get my mind right.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I still haven't done the Real ID thing yet. I just got a new passport and think that will suffice for now.


I would think that it would be - it is a proof of ID and was one of the documents that could be used for MVA.  I don't know about PA but the email I got from MD states "Failure to respond will result in further action against your license or identification card."

As far as lines it was minimal.  At the local MVA branch there was a separate line, just for folks that made online appointments.  I had to wait about ten minutes, as opposed to the 20-30 minutes for the rest of the services.

Passports are the next thing, but we're not in any rush; we might try to get back to Campabello Island (New Brunswick) in May, if there's time.  MLW has to get a certified copy of our marriage license because of her name change, so we'll probably apply for the passports at the same time.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Fujidave

Our seasons are roughly as follows.

Freezing cold
Cold
Nippy
Wet 
Warm
Hot
Too Hot


----------



## smoke665

Passports aren't that difficult, except if you do your own photos. Don't know why I had so much problem making the size compliant.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Passports aren't that difficult, except if you do your own photos. Don't know why I had so much problem making the size compliant.


Since I needed mine fairly quickly, I didn't tempt fate with that.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Had to reschedule a teeth cleaning appointment that was originally set for the Saturday when we were traveling back from New Mexico. My choices were either today at 2pm or almost 2 months from now. Since I have plenty of leave time left, I chose to take a half day from work and book the appointment for today.
> 
> I was done a little after 3pm. I decided it was the perfect opportunity to finally see Captain Marvel.
> 
> And before anyone makes fun of me for waiting so long, know that going to a 3:45 matinee on a Wednesday 4 weeks after its release gave me a totally private screening of the film. Not a soul in that theater except me.
> 
> It was glorious.
> 
> Also know that a "small" soda these days is practically the size of my head.



Sounds like you had a much better experience than I did.  See my earlier post on this with the Jolly Green Giant sitting in front of me.  And did he recline?  No of course not.  Who goes to the movies and doesn't recline their seat?  It's not a damn airplane - lean back, relax!









limr said:


> And yes, I'm going to have to work hard to avoid spoilers for Avengers: Endgame after it comes out in May because I plan on taking another half day from work for another afternoon matinee sometime in June



I will be in Ireland when it's released!  Although we may take a break from the endless pubs and sight seeing to see it.


----------



## davidharmier60

5 hours and a couple minutes today. 
21:08 for the week so far.
Fujidave your weather sounds very similar to mine only we don't get freezing cold very often. What we do get is 100% humidity. 
Sometime in the future I'll break a sweat walking from the house to the vehicle. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Also know that a "small" soda these days is practically the size of my head.


LMAO. Yes. The last time we went to the theater, my wife ordered a small and I mistakenly ordered a medium. The small was like 32 ounces, I think the medium was like 42 or 48 ounces--either way, it was huge. Soon they're going to have to start offering catheters so that people don't miss the movie by using the restroom every few moments from finishing their gallon of refreshment.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Sounds like you had a much better experience than I did. See my earlier post on this with the Jolly Green Giant sitting in front of me. And did he recline? No of course not. Who goes to the movies and doesn't recline their seat? It's not a damn airplane - lean back, relax!


Was that David Lynch?


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Fujidave said:


> Our seasons are roughly as follows.
> 
> Freezing cold
> Cold
> Nippy
> Wet
> Warm
> Hot
> Too Hot



Seasons where I live .....

Hot
Really hot
Really hot with flooding
Damn!


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Also know that a "small" soda these days is practically the size of my head.
> 
> 
> 
> LMAO. Yes. The last time we went to the theater, my wife ordered a small and I mistakenly ordered a medium. The small was like 32 ounces, I think the medium was like 42 or 48 ounces--either way, it was huge. Soon they're going to have to start offering catheters so that people don't miss the movie by using the restroom every few moments from finishing their gallon of refreshment.
Click to expand...


I very rarely even drink soda (aside from the occasional ginger ale for an upset tummy or as a mixer with whisky) but felt like having something to sip at, so I decided to have my annual Diet Coke. If I have the option for fountain soda vs bottled, I always choose fountain.

These pictures don't fully capture the size (short cup but huge diameter. Could barely keep it in one hand), but here is a small soda:


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had to reschedule a teeth cleaning appointment that was originally set for the Saturday when we were traveling back from New Mexico. My choices were either today at 2pm or almost 2 months from now. Since I have plenty of leave time left, I chose to take a half day from work and book the appointment for today.
> 
> I was done a little after 3pm. I decided it was the perfect opportunity to finally see Captain Marvel.
> 
> And before anyone makes fun of me for waiting so long, know that going to a 3:45 matinee on a Wednesday 4 weeks after its release gave me a totally private screening of the film. Not a soul in that theater except me.
> 
> It was glorious.
> 
> Also know that a "small" soda these days is practically the size of my head.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like you had a much better experience than I did.  See my earlier post on this with the Jolly Green Giant sitting in front of me.  And did he recline?  No of course not.  Who goes to the movies and doesn't recline their seat?  It's not a damn airplane - lean back, relax!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> And yes, I'm going to have to work hard to avoid spoilers for Avengers: Endgame after it comes out in May because I plan on taking another half day from work for another afternoon matinee sometime in June
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I will be in Ireland when it's released!  Although we may take a break from the endless pubs and sight seeing to see it.
Click to expand...


Sorry but that is so funny, you go to watch some thing and a jolly green giants head is in the way.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Also know that a "small" soda these days is practically the size of my head.
> 
> 
> 
> LMAO. Yes. The last time we went to the theater, my wife ordered a small and I mistakenly ordered a medium. The small was like 32 ounces, I think the medium was like 42 or 48 ounces--either way, it was huge. Soon they're going to have to start offering catheters so that people don't miss the movie by using the restroom every few moments from finishing their gallon of refreshment.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I very rarely even drink soda (aside from the occasional ginger ale for an upset tummy or as a mixer with whisky) but felt like having something to sip at, so I decided to have my annual Diet Coke. If I have the option for fountain soda vs bottled, I always choose fountain.
> 
> These pictures don't fully capture the size (short cup but huge diameter. Could barely keep it in one hand), but here is a small soda:
> View attachment 171151 View attachment 171152
Click to expand...

Ha! That's insane. I like fountain better than bottle, as well.


----------



## Tony744

SquarePeg said:


>


I thought our seasons were winter and road work.


----------



## RowdyRay

Tony744 said:


> I thought our seasons were winter and road work.



That's Minnesota seasons. Going to be bad this summer.


----------



## davidharmier60

We are having a tussle with our mortgage holder.
Our payment has been  $876 for quite some time.
Now the company progresses insurance has wiped our escrow and they'd like a bit over 5K.
IF we were able to pay that amount our bill will go up near 1K.
If we don't it goes up to 1400 and change.
It's nearly certain that my cousins house in town will be cleared out if we need it
Something has got to give before too long.


----------



## snowbear

Tony744 said:


> I thought our seasons were winter and road work.


I think ours might be Potholes, More-Potholes, and Wet-Packed-Gravel-Filled-Potholes.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

davidharmier60 said:


> We are having a tussle with our mortgage holder.
> Our payment has been  $876 for quite some time.
> Now the company progresses insurance has wiped our escrow and they'd like a bit over 5K.
> IF we were able to pay that amount our bill will go up near 1K.
> If we don't it goes up to 1400 and change.
> It's nearly certain that my cousins house in town will be cleared out if we need it
> Something has got to give before too long.



Sorry to hear that.

It's just wrong that people are under pressure on basic needs like housing.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, another grotty day out and it`s blowing a gale again.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all from UK. Just popped in for a coffee both here and RL time to get back to sorting the garden between the rain showers


----------



## smoke665

Let's see our choices for weather seem to be rain or cool, today we got both. Fortunately most of our day was planned for inside anyhow. Need to catch up on things after being gone for a week.


----------



## SquarePeg

Still chilled to the bone from spending the late afternoon yesterday watching Princess's HS softball game.  It seemed so nice and warm when I first stepped outside but when I got to the field it was super windy and bitingly cold.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

SquarePeg said:


> Still chilled to the bone from spending the late afternoon yesterday watching Princess's HS softball game.  It seemed so nice and warm when I first stepped outside but when I got to the field it was super windy and bitingly cold.



Don't know if it's headed your way, but we had sleet this morning and rain now.


----------



## SquarePeg

Dean_Gretsch said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Still chilled to the bone from spending the late afternoon yesterday watching Princess's HS softball game.  It seemed so nice and warm when I first stepped outside but when I got to the field it was super windy and bitingly cold.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't know if it's headed your way, but we had sleet this morning and rain now.
Click to expand...


Not for the weekend which is looking decent - but rain predicted for early next week.


----------



## JonFZ300

Must be rain and wind everywhere... It's starting here in Western Washington. Sunday is supposed to be decent though.


----------



## Fujidave

Garbage weather still here, but they say it will be a better weekend which I hope so as got the heating on now as it`s cold.


----------



## davidharmier60

Cloud cover means no sun. Still it's something like 70 degrees outside. 
Did all my usual stuff plus installed an oven/stove in the deli, put a new heavy roll of paper up in the deli, killed and disposed of a rather large mouse and fixed one of the doors that was known as a miserable piece of junk so it works pretty good. 
I'm a Jack of many trades and darn good at a few of them. 27:12 for the week so far with a day to go.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

Finally getting back to my normal self. This winter has been very annoying. I had a cold/flu in January, pneumonia last month which lasted several weeks, then just this week got hit with a sinus infection, ear infection, and conjunctivitis (which apparently comes along with some ear infections--I did not know that). Antibiotics are working wonders.

Really, really looking forward to warmer weather and "longer days".

Does anyone else have SAD here? I feel like it's getting worse for me every year.


----------



## markjwyatt

snowbear said:


> Tony744 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I thought our seasons were winter and road work.
> 
> 
> 
> I think ours might be Potholes, More-Potholes, and Wet-Packed-Gravel-Filled-Potholes.
Click to expand...


I thought you were going to say you were from Michigan, but then I saw the last part ("Wet-Packed-Gravel-Filled-Potholes"). I don't think Michigan gets to that condition. Maybe more like Potholes, More-Potholes, and Below-ground-level-streets with bumps.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Does anyone else have SAD here? I feel like it's getting worse for me every year.



I assume you mean winter SAD because that's more common, and I don't have that in the slightest, but I get summer SAD.

What does NOT make it better is when I get judged as some sort of a "freak" because I hate summer, or the constant need to either lie or explain whenever I hear "Oh, aren't you so glad it's finally getting warmer? Isn't it beautiful outside?" And I hear this All.The.Time. Because the assumption is that I must obviously also love summer, just like "normal" people. What is even more frustrating is it's often the same people! Even the ones who know I hate summer seem to forget or not really believe me, and when I reiterate that I disagree with them, they just sort of laugh or shake their heads and call me a weirdo. It's quite frankly exhausting. 

Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder: SAD in the Summer


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Finally getting back to my normal self. This winter has been very annoying. I had a cold/flu in January, pneumonia last month which lasted several weeks, then just this week got hit with a sinus infection, ear infection, and conjunctivitis (which apparently comes along with some ear infections--I did not know that). Antibiotics are working wonders.
> 
> Really, really looking forward to warmer weather and "longer days".
> 
> Does anyone else have SAD here? I feel like it's getting worse for me every year.



I've diagnosed myself with SAD, does that count?  Have you tried one of those sunlight lamps?  My mom has one and never uses it so I've been threatening to steal it.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does anyone else have SAD here? I feel like it's getting worse for me every year.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I assume you mean winter SAD because that's more common, and I don't have that in the slightest, but I get summer SAD.
> 
> What does NOT make it better is when I get judged as some sort of a "freak" because I hate summer, or the constant need to either lie or explain whenever I hear "Oh, aren't you so glad it's finally getting warmer? Isn't it beautiful outside?" And I hear this All.The.Time. Because the assumption is that I must obviously also love summer, just like "normal" people. What is even more frustrating is it's often the same people! Even the ones who know I hate summer seem to forget or not really believe me, and when I reiterate that I disagree with them, they just sort of laugh or shake their heads and call me a weirdo. It's quite frankly exhausting.
> 
> Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder: SAD in the Summer
Click to expand...

Agreed.   I seem to prefer the transitional seasons the best - it's not frigid outside, but not hot, either.   70's F are pretty easy to take.   I never get SAD in the winter - and I grew up in Michigan, where winters are long.   If I get SAD at all, it will start in August - by then, my flowers are fading, the grass is a little burnt, and I have fall fever, really badly.   I think I love fall the most, since the oppressive heat and humidity are on the wane, and cooler temps and football are on the rise.


----------



## limr

Me in the summer:


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Me in the summer:
> 
> View attachment 171226


You've got 1 and 2 reversed!


----------



## vintagesnaps

'I Hate Summer Weirdos' unite!! I like summer OK up til the 90 degree stuff, but this summer I could use it to get hot and brown by July/August and none of this grass cutting in November crap. My allergies/asthma have been terrible the past couple of years, I'm now on 2 nasal sprays, 2 allergy meds, and 2 inhalers as needed, and nothing's even blooming here yet!! lol I used to work at camp and enjoyed summers but that was then, this is now!

But blooming has started at my parent's house which is in a town like 15 min. south of me, it's like a whole other weather pattern (and cooler here 'up north'! away from buildings and the air smells good). I was waiting in the car while my best friend ran some stuff in and of course they're talking... meanwhile the guys that do her grass cutting etc. were trimming and blowing stuff all over and one of them started circling the car like a shark. Next door they were running something, and cars cut thru on their street - geez it was noisy!! I was ready to get out of the damn suburb already and get home to my peace and quiet. Maybe after 20 years of working in the city and coming home to quiet I like it here, peeps can keep their damn suburbs in the summer, I want none of it! lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

Pothole patching in the big city starts late winter, then soon it will be Orange Barrel season, the official start of spring. Or wait, was that on Opening Day?? 

In the town near me (my hometown) is a shortcut that has always been called the Baja because it had large perpetual holes. Since, like, the '80's. They had paved and it has been really nice and smooth but it was holey the other day.

Did I say I like living out in the country?? With the convenience of town 15 minutes and a world away.


----------



## Fujidave

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does anyone else have SAD here? I feel like it's getting worse for me every year.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I assume you mean winter SAD because that's more common, and I don't have that in the slightest, but I get summer SAD.
> 
> What does NOT make it better is when I get judged as some sort of a "freak" because I hate summer, or the constant need to either lie or explain whenever I hear "Oh, aren't you so glad it's finally getting warmer? Isn't it beautiful outside?" And I hear this All.The.Time. Because the assumption is that I must obviously also love summer, just like "normal" people. What is even more frustrating is it's often the same people! Even the ones who know I hate summer seem to forget or not really believe me, and when I reiterate that I disagree with them, they just sort of laugh or shake their heads and call me a weirdo. It's quite frankly exhausting.
> 
> Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder: SAD in the Summer
Click to expand...


One of my old friends hated summer, but he totally loved the winter as how he use to say was he felt human.  Me I don`t like the winter months as I get ill, but I also hate the hot summer months as find it hard to breathe maybe about in the 60s and I`m happy.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> maybe about in the 60s and I`m happy.



70 year round for me.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does anyone else have SAD here? I feel like it's getting worse for me every year.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I assume you mean winter SAD because that's more common, and I don't have that in the slightest, but I get summer SAD.
> 
> What does NOT make it better is when I get judged as some sort of a "freak" because I hate summer, or the constant need to either lie or explain whenever I hear "Oh, aren't you so glad it's finally getting warmer? Isn't it beautiful outside?" And I hear this All.The.Time. Because the assumption is that I must obviously also love summer, just like "normal" people. What is even more frustrating is it's often the same people! Even the ones who know I hate summer seem to forget or not really believe me, and when I reiterate that I disagree with them, they just sort of laugh or shake their heads and call me a weirdo. It's quite frankly exhausting.
> 
> Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder: SAD in the Summer
Click to expand...


Yes, and sorry for making the assumption. I definitely understand, and that sounds extremely frustrating. My wife and I joke, because she's more of a cool/warm weather person, whereas I'm a hot weather person. Don't get me wrong, we both enjoy each other's weather, but we have our favorites.

Taking a walk on a brisk fall morning, or a crisp winter night, can be some of the most relaxing walks for me. Looking up at the stars in winter, or the sounds and smells of snow--I love it. But, I also personally bask in the hot sun, and I thoroughly enjoy daylight outside of work. The feeling of the sun evaporating the rain off the pavement, or a slight breeze conflicting with the heat from the sun... very pleasant for me.

That said, I will not judge if you do not like summer. 



SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Finally getting back to my normal self. This winter has been very annoying. I had a cold/flu in January, pneumonia last month which lasted several weeks, then just this week got hit with a sinus infection, ear infection, and conjunctivitis (which apparently comes along with some ear infections--I did not know that). Antibiotics are working wonders.
> 
> Really, really looking forward to warmer weather and "longer days".
> 
> Does anyone else have SAD here? I feel like it's getting worse for me every year.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've diagnosed myself with SAD, does that count?  Have you tried one of those sunlight lamps?  My mom has one and never uses it so I've been threatening to steal it.
Click to expand...

I have one that is an alarm clock, so it gradually gets brighter up to the time you want to wake up. It can also be used to go to sleep, where it gets darker and darker until it turns off. I do think it works, especially for waking up.

Steal it and try it!


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> maybe about in the 60s and I`m happy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 70 year round for me.
Click to expand...


As a little boy growing up in Australia, I actually liked the hot weather but now I can`t stand it plus the humidity does me right in.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> plus the humidity does me right in.



You wouldn't like it here then. Humidity in south starts when the temperature reaches 32 in the spring, and doesn't drop until it reaches 32 in the winter. The only reason we don't reach 100 percent humidity is that when it does, they call it rain.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> plus the humidity does me right in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You wouldn't like it here then. Humidity in south starts when the temperature reaches 32 in the spring, and doesn't drop until it reaches 32 in the winter. The only reason we don't reach 100 percent humidity is that when it does, they call it rain.
> 
> View attachment 171230
Click to expand...


Agree with that image you put in, one summer here we had a downpour of rain I got soaked through but hated it as I was still so hot.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Blech. I think I have the same weather as you Dave, and I don't know how that's possible half a world away!! lol Maybe we're just sharing and passing it along. 

Sometimes in the summer it rains and just gets more humid instead of cooling off. Better here heading north and uphill out of the valley that is the city where it's even worse.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dad called earlier. It seems 'crazy' aunt fell.
No one saw it (or will own up to it anyhow) and she got taken to a hospital in Palestine. They were going to go back to the nursing home so no telling when they will be home. As to weather. Only when the wind comes from W/NW or North does humidity fall under 50%. But the prevailing winds come from SE. The sun has made it through. I'm watching the Gatornationals on DVR.

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## Tony744

vintagesnaps said:


> Sometimes in the summer it rains and just gets more humid instead of cooling off. Better here heading north and uphill out of the valley that is the city where it's even worse.



That's because it's so hot that as soon as the rain clouds pass all that water immediately starts evaporating, adding to the moisture in the air. We get the same problem here when the summer showers roll through.


----------



## SquarePeg

I’d rather be baked than steamed.


----------



## Jeff G

Winter is my preference too, the air quality is horrible in the summer, especially the last three years worth of forest fires.


----------



## stapo49

To all those who don't like summer you probably dont want to come here to Perth, Western Australia lol. Hottest summer day recorded here was 46 Celsius. I still remember it because my father in law still went out and played 18 holes. We regularly have a weeks ranging from 35 to 38 Celsius . Autumn now so today a cool 25 Celsius. 

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


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## limr

Fujidave said:


> One of my old friends hated summer, but he totally loved the winter as how he use to say was he felt human.  Me I don`t like the winter months as I get ill, but I also hate the hot summer months as find it hard to breathe maybe about in the 60s and I`m happy.



I don't like the same weather all the time. My happiest range is probably 40s through 60s. If the summer never got hotter than 75, I'd be better with it. Anything hotter than that and everything just gets more difficult for me.



waday said:


> Yes, and sorry for making the assumption. I definitely understand, and that sounds extremely frustrating. My wife and I joke, because she's more of a cool/warm weather person, whereas I'm a hot weather person. Don't get me wrong, we both enjoy each other's weather, but we have our favorites.
> 
> Taking a walk on a brisk fall morning, or a crisp winter night, can be some of the most relaxing walks for me. Looking up at the stars in winter, or the sounds and smells of snow--I love it. But, I also personally bask in the hot sun, and I thoroughly enjoy daylight outside of work. The feeling of the sun evaporating the rain off the pavement, or a slight breeze conflicting with the heat from the sun... very pleasant for me.
> 
> That said, I will not judge if you do not like summer.



Oh, I don't think you did anything wrong by assuming SAD referred to winter SAD. It is pretty much the default. In fact, having it in response to summer is usually referred to as 'reverse SAD.'

Buzz and I are exactly the opposite. I get him through the winter and he gets me through the summer. I tease him about buying him a giant heat lamp and a big rock so he can bask like a lizard all winter long. And he'll build me a big walk-in freezer so I can cool off in the summer 

The only time I can enjoy being in hot weather is if I am right next to a large body of cold water so I can cool off at any time. Otherwise, I basically hide out in air-conditioned spaces with dim lighting from probably mid-to-late June until the end of September.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, overcast here today with a bit of blue sky just peeking through not sure what I`m up to yet.


----------



## Tony744

I've been to Perth. Unfortunately, I don't remember very much of it  Damn! You guys can drink!


----------



## stapo49

Tony744 said:


> I've been to Perth. Unfortunately, I don't remember very much of it  Damn! You guys can drink!


Hahaha. It's the heat!

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

My phone says it's 100% humidity. 
67 going up to 81.
Rain around noon. Yippee
Have an excellent mug of coffee. 

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----------



## snowbear

Good morning, hosers.
Autumn, Winter, and Spring for me.  Summer is OK - I don't mind warm but I hate hot and humid.

I planned on hitting the local trout pond this morning but I twisted my back, yesterday.  I'll hit the heating pad, instead, and try for the water tomorrow.


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning!  Princess has a game at 9 so I’ll be outside all morning.  It’s cold and cloudy now but expected to clear and warm up a bit.  

Nothing is colder than April softball!  I’ll be better prepared today.  Warmer clothes, hat, gloves, blanket and sunglasses.  All the things I was wishing I had with me at the last game.  

Drinks with friends tonight, sleeping in tomorrow then a spa appointment tomorrow afternoon!  These are s few of my favorite things.,,


----------



## waday

limr said:


> The only time I can enjoy being in hot weather is if I am right next to a large body of cold water so I can cool off at any time.


That sounds good right about now!


----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon all, a day just right for me today as blue skies and a lovely breeze.


----------



## davidharmier60

A few splatters of rain as I walked to the truck. Shortly after the sky fell. It's rather ugly outside.  Trish had Saturday duty today and would like pennies Monday.
If nothing terrible happens it will be easy. 
33:15 for the week.

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----------



## smoke665

Long day today, planting beds cleaned out, ready for spray and mulch, manure spread around all the Apple trees, all the yards mowed, 500lbs of fertilizer and a 1/2 ton of lime spread on yards and orchard, and finally got the last of an ugly brush pile burned. Planned on doing a little shooting before dark, but once I sat down the muscles refused to move again. Looks like the rest of the evening will be Advil and my recliner.


----------



## stapo49

smoke665 said:


> Long day today, planting beds cleaned out, ready for spray and mulch, manure spread around all the Apple trees, all the yards mowed, 500lbs of fertilizer and a 1/2 ton of lime spread on yards and orchard, and finally got the last of an ugly brush pile burned. Planned on doing a little shooting before dark, but once I sat down the muscles refused to move again. Looks like the rest of the evening will be Advil and my recliner.


Just a lazy day then? Lol

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Got my hair cut this morning. The woman I go to usually ends up styling my hair too flat or too 80s, but today it came out really nice.

Then I took my newly-coiffed hair and spent a few hours working on my car  Gave Alice a good spring cleaning and wash, switched out the snow tires, and changed the oil.

Most of the curls still look good.


----------



## RowdyRay

Crappy day today. Raining off and on since 4 AM. Got up early to get some errands done and planned to meet up with a guy from Craig's List for some camera gear at noon. Until the truck died. Just quit....no spark. Thankfully, I pay for roadside assistance. Or, one would think. Until I waited almost 4 hours for the tow truck. Granted, it is a full size 4wd truck and requires a flatbed. 

When the guy finally got there, he had no idea how to hook it up. I had to help. He was going to hook it up to a point that would clearly damage a brake line. Like I wanted or needed to pay for more repairs. When we finally got rolling, he didn't shut my drivers door fully. It flew open and sprung the hinges. Luckily still closes, but will never be the same. Just can't win. 

My son gave me a ride for the camera gear. That's another story.


----------



## SquarePeg

RowdyRay said:


> Crappy day today. Raining off and on since 4 AM. Got up early to get some errands done and planned to meet up with a guy from Craig's List for some camera gear at noon. Until the truck died. Just quit....no spark. Thankfully, I pay for roadside assistance. Or, one would think. Until I waited almost 4 hours for the tow truck. Granted, it is a full size 4wd truck and requires a flatbed.
> 
> When the guy finally got there, he had no idea how to hook it up. I had to help. He was going to hook it up to a point that would clearly damage a brake line. Like I wanted or needed to pay for more repairs. When we finally got rolling, he didn't shut my drivers door fully. It flew open and sprung the hinges. Luckily still closes, but will never be the same. Just can't win.
> 
> My son gave me a ride for the camera gear. That's another story.



That’s terrible.  I hope you’re going to report the incompetence to your roadside assistance provider.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

RowdyRay said:


> Crappy day today. Raining off and on since 4 AM. Got up early to get some errands done and planned to meet up with a guy from Craig's List for some camera gear at noon. Until the truck died. Just quit....no spark. Thankfully, I pay for roadside assistance. Or, one would think. Until I waited almost 4 hours for the tow truck. Granted, it is a full size 4wd truck and requires a flatbed.
> 
> When the guy finally got there, he had no idea how to hook it up. I had to help. He was going to hook it up to a point that would clearly damage a brake line. Like I wanted or needed to pay for more repairs. When we finally got rolling, he didn't shut my drivers door fully. It flew open and sprung the hinges. Luckily still closes, but will never be the same. Just can't win.
> 
> My son gave me a ride for the camera gear. That's another story.



Not a good day - shouldn't the tow company pay for new door hinges etc?


----------



## RowdyRay

I reported it. Not holding my breath. Just like everything else in my life.....I'm stuck fixing it. It gets damn old!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, very grey skies and forecast for rain today so not up to much apart from waiting for my new small camera to arrive.


----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon, my new Ricoh GRII arrived on time so just charging up the battery then playtime.


----------



## waday

Fujidave said:


> Afternoon, my new Ricoh GRII arrived on time so just charging up the battery then playtime.


Post a review and some sample images!!

I want it so bad, but really really really need to justify the price for it vs a cheaper lens for my existing setup.

Oh, wait.... GRII... any reason not the GRIII?


----------



## davidharmier60

Before I got the Canon DSLR I used a PS Nikon and now I know not where the Nikon is. Other than that happy Sunday. 

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----------



## Fujidave

waday said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon, my new Ricoh GRII arrived on time so just charging up the battery then playtime.
> 
> 
> 
> Post a review and some sample images!!
> 
> I want it so bad, but really really really need to justify the price for it vs a cheaper lens for my existing setup.
> 
> Oh, wait.... GRII... any reason not the GRIII?
Click to expand...


Price stopped me getting the GRIII as I got the GRII £200 cheaper than the III.  It`s a great little camera this GRII and it will be fun to use it as it will come out every time I go out.

Give me a few days and once I get some images I will tag you.


----------



## Fujidave

@waday  couple of quick shots from earlier on.




Susie by Dave, on Flickr




Susie by Dave, on Flickr




Susie 1 by Dave, on Flickr


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Fujidave said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon, my new Ricoh GRII arrived on time so just charging up the battery then playtime.
> 
> 
> 
> Post a review and some sample images!!
> 
> I want it so bad, but really really really need to justify the price for it vs a cheaper lens for my existing setup.
> 
> Oh, wait.... GRII... any reason not the GRIII?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Price stopped me getting the GRIII as I got the GRII £200 cheaper than the III.  It`s a great little camera this GRII and it will be fun to use it as it will come out every time I go out.
> 
> Give me a few days and once I get some images I will tag you.
Click to expand...


Wise plan.  I saved a lot by getting the Fuji X-T2 when the X-T3 came out.

They don't stop  being great cameras just because a newer model came out.

Will be good to hear your thoughts on the GR


----------



## waday

Fujidave said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon, my new Ricoh GRII arrived on time so just charging up the battery then playtime.
> 
> 
> 
> Post a review and some sample images!!
> 
> I want it so bad, but really really really need to justify the price for it vs a cheaper lens for my existing setup.
> 
> Oh, wait.... GRII... any reason not the GRIII?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Price stopped me getting the GRIII as I got the GRII £200 cheaper than the III.  It`s a great little camera this GRII and it will be fun to use it as it will come out every time I go out.
> 
> Give me a few days and once I get some images I will tag you.
Click to expand...

Gotcha, that’s the reason I’ve been debating the II (and the flash).

Thanks for the dog photos. I’m interested in seeing other shots, as well!

Thanks for letting me live vicariously through you, for the moment.


----------



## waday

Fujidave said:


> @waday  couple of quick shots from earlier on.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Susie by Dave, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Susie by Dave, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Susie 1 by Dave, on Flickr


I like the first


----------



## Fujidave

waday said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon, my new Ricoh GRII arrived on time so just charging up the battery then playtime.
> 
> 
> 
> Post a review and some sample images!!
> 
> I want it so bad, but really really really need to justify the price for it vs a cheaper lens for my existing setup.
> 
> Oh, wait.... GRII... any reason not the GRIII?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Price stopped me getting the GRIII as I got the GRII £200 cheaper than the III.  It`s a great little camera this GRII and it will be fun to use it as it will come out every time I go out.
> 
> Give me a few days and once I get some images I will tag you.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gotcha, that’s the reason I’ve been debating the II (and the flash).
> 
> Thanks for the dog photos. I’m interested in seeing other shots, as well!
> 
> Thanks for letting me live vicariously through you, for the moment.
Click to expand...




waday said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> @waday  couple of quick shots from earlier on.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Susie by Dave, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Susie by Dave, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Susie 1 by Dave, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> I like the first
Click to expand...


Thank you, I`m in town this Wednesday so it will get a good testing out even though I might not try  the High Contrast as it can be very dark but I will suss it all out and let you know.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Just got a white umbrella to try on the LED ring-light I bought last year.

Will get my 'model' to pose for me this evening for some test shots.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Test shot using the white flash umbrella attached to an LED ringlight.

I think it seems to work OK for a low cost single light?


----------



## Derrel

Yeah, it works. I took your posted .JPG,and burned down the right hand side and lower right hand corner. about 3/4 of a stop, and pulled the curves down a bit, here is "my take" on the shot. I hope you don't mind.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Derrel said:


> Yeah, it works. I took your posted .JPG,and burned down the right hand side and lower right hand corner. about 3/4 of a stop, and pulled the curves down a bit, here is "my take" on the shot. I hope you don't mind.View attachment 171301



That's a nice edit!  Yes, the light was a bit harsh at the white edges in my shot.

Thank you.


----------



## davidharmier60

Suzi looks like a good dog.
The power went out about an hour ago.
I'm thinking of getting the generator out but by the time I got it started and got the extension cords runned it would probably come back on.

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----------



## davidharmier60

Yep. Would have just about had it all strung out and hooked up and the power is back. 

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----------



## RowdyRay

Well, the truck is alive! My son came over this morning and we did some Googling and testing. He has more patience than I do for electrical issues. Trust me. Long story short, it was the coil. Oddly, it was the cheapest part that could be responsible. 30.00. That NEVER happens. While digging we found a few other things that needed replacing. Distributor cap, rotor, spark plugs and air filter. Runs great, now!

Since it took less time than we thought to fix, we messed with the door hinges. Works much better, but still not perfect. It's an old truck, I can live with it. At least it latches and stays closed! Last fall I had to replace the latch mechanism, because it would randomly pop open while driving down the road. Lol.


----------



## smoke665

Tropicalmemories said:


> Test shot using the white flash umbrella attached to an LED ringlight.



You are glutton for making it hard. LOL Mirror as a back ground, across the room from a window reflecting light.  Even a cheap mirror can reflect over 99% of the incident light it receives. Keep an eye on your backgrounds and move around before you take the shot.

My experience with LED lights of any kind, is that they are under powered compared to even a speed light. Given the (1/80, f/2, ISO 400) used I'd guess this light has the same limitations. The good thing is they don't generate much heat, so you might experiment with moving it closer. That would help you get a better exposure choice and softer light.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

smoke665 said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> Test shot using the white flash umbrella attached to an LED ringlight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You are glutton for making it hard. LOL Mirror as a back ground, across the room from a window reflecting light.  Even a cheap mirror can reflect over 99% of the incident light it receives. Keep an eye on your backgrounds and move around before you take the shot.
> 
> My experience with LED lights of any kind, is that they are under powered compared to even a speed light. Given the (1/80, f/2, ISO 400) used I'd guess this light has the same limitations. The good thing is they don't generate much heat, so you might experiment with moving it closer. That would help you get a better exposure choice and softer light.
Click to expand...


Thank you.  Good tips.

The mirror in the background was because we'd been using it to try to get a fun multi-image in the previous shot, but for the close up, you're right - I should have moved.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, another overcast and cloudy day and nippy too.


----------



## davidharmier60

Mist on the windshield. Monday Madness begins shortly. But for the moment I have the parking lot all to my lonesome.

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----------



## smoke665

Tropicalmemories said:


> The mirror in the background was because we'd been using it to try to get a fun multi-image in the previous shot, but for the close up, you're right - I should have moved.


t

Much better.  It's hard for me to remember to constantly check the background as I move around, I tend to get tunnel vision through the viewfinder, focusing just on the subject.


----------



## Fujidave

Well it looks like I will be trying out the new Ricoh GRII tonight as just seen my favourite singer is singing Jazz tonight so will take X-T3 and GRII.


----------



## davidharmier60

5:01 hours today and for the week so far.
It was lightly raining when I washed out the floor machine. Now some sun but clouds all around. Sold my pennies to the store. 
The last box was quite disappointing. 
Don't want another one like that. But not sure how to avoid it. 

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----------



## waday

Fujidave said:


> Thank you, I`m in town this Wednesday so it will get a good testing out even though I might not try  the High Contrast as it can be very dark but I will suss it all out and let you know.


Thank you!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I agree about backgrounds. In the one with the mirror, it might have been better to make sure the closet door was closed. Years of being a photographer I think you learn to notice details (maybe that's why there's a saying about the devil being in the details!). I think people would do better to spend more time looking through the viewfinder and thinking and noticing, and in these digital days particularly to not necessarily always release the shutter.


----------



## smoke665

17-Foot Python In Florida Breaks Record, Park Officials Say  Okay this would definitely scare the bejesus out of me. Now I'll be looking over my shoulder every time I get close to the swamp.


----------



## SquarePeg

Don't worry... A Florida Man will take care of it.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> A Florida Man will take care of it.



Maybe he can come up and take care of the 12' gator recently spotted on a lake less then 30 miles west of of me. I thought we were well north of Gator territory, but apparently not.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Don't worry... A Florida Man will take care of it.



Actually  I think Florida Man will try to prove his Florida Manliness by betting his friend he could wrestle the python and escape its grip. Then Florida Man asks his friend to hold his beer and proceeds to be crushed to death in the python's grip.


----------



## Tony744

Sounds about right.

I think somebody forgot to tell the weather that it's spring. Cold, rainy, miserable day. Obviously couldn't get any grounds keeping done at work. Tomorrow's looking like it's gonna much the same as today. And of course our delivery driver is out this week which throws another wrinkle into my week. Among other jobs, I'm also the back up driver.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> A Florida Man will take care of it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe he can come up and take care of the 12' gator recently spotted on a lake less then 30 miles west of of me. I thought we were well north of Gator territory, but apparently not.
Click to expand...

My guess is a pet that got too big for the owner.  We've had two in the Potomac over the past many years.


----------



## CherylL

@smoke665 think of the photo opportunities!  Snake and gater could be your niche.


----------



## stapo49

In Australia if the Great White sharks don't get you then the crocodiles and the snakes will lol. Not to mention the drop bears!

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> @smoke665 think of the photo opportunities!  Snake and gater could be your niche.



Another movie


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> @smoke665 think of the photo opportunities!  Snake and gater could be your niche.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Another movie
> View attachment 171376
Click to expand...


And a song!  heehee


----------



## limr

stapo49 said:


> In Australia if the Great White sharks don't get you then the crocodiles and the snakes will lol. Not to mention the drop bears!
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk



I hear there are very few things in Australia that are NOT deadly.


----------



## stapo49

limr said:


> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> In Australia if the Great White sharks don't get you then the crocodiles and the snakes will lol. Not to mention the drop bears!
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hear there are very few things in Australia that are NOT deadly.
Click to expand...

True, we do have possums and koalas.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

59 degrees heading up to 86.
No rain called for.
This all from my phone which is often wrong.  There has to be more to life than getting to work at 5am. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

limr said:


> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> In Australia if the Great White sharks don't get you then the crocodiles and the snakes will lol. Not to mention the drop bears!
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hear there are very few things in Australia that are NOT deadly.
Click to expand...

I enjoyed this article:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/05/01/the-extraordinary-life-and-death-of-the-worlds-oldest-known-spider


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, grotty and raining here today.  Last night I took both the X-T3  and Ricoh GRII to shoot the Jazz in a small pub and I was happy with some from the shots with the GRII at 3200 iso which that shot is in the black and white thread as tomorrow daytime will test the GRII more.


----------



## stapo49

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> In Australia if the Great White sharks don't get you then the crocodiles and the snakes will lol. Not to mention the drop bears!
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hear there are very few things in Australia that are NOT deadly.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I enjoyed this article:
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/05/01/the-extraordinary-life-and-death-of-the-worlds-oldest-known-spider
Click to expand...

Actually some of my relatives in-law farm in that area. Interesting article.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

5 and roughly 3/4 hours today.
A hose would not come off a bib.
Used a grinder and f'd the bib.
Went and got another and changed the faucet. The meat department boss Tracy said she thinks the threads on the one I took off were goofy. And Trish agreed it needed change and that I'm a good man no matter who says different. Got home and the two escape artists were out. Think I got that fixed. Comics online coming up. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## RowdyRay

67 degrees yesterday. Think we set a record. 60's this morning.....and went downhill from there. 33 now. Going to get hammered Wednesday through Friday. 12-18" of heavy wet snow. Saturday and Sunday back in the 50's. WTF?

Praying the weather forecasters are wrong, but it'll be the one time they're right. If you don't hear from me for several days, you'll know why.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, blue skies here today but very breezy and the wind is cold.


----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon all, well the sun came out but in the wind it`s pretty cold.
@waday as the weather was not too bad today I tested out the Ricoh GRII and will upload a small review for you with some shots from today ONLY Jpegs as with this camera that is all I will shoot in, only cropped too and they will go in the General Gallery and I will tag you.


----------



## waday

Fujidave said:


> Afternoon all, well the sun came out but in the wind it`s pretty cold.
> @waday as the weather was not too bad today I tested out the Ricoh GRII and will upload a small review for you with some shots from today ONLY Jpegs as with this camera that is all I will shoot in, only cropped too and they will go in the General Gallery and I will tag you.


Thank you!


----------



## Fujidave

waday said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon all, well the sun came out but in the wind it`s pretty cold.
> @waday as the weather was not too bad today I tested out the Ricoh GRII and will upload a small review for you with some shots from today ONLY Jpegs as with this camera that is all I will shoot in, only cropped too and they will go in the General Gallery and I will tag you.
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you!
Click to expand...


Just put it up now for you and tagged you in it.


----------



## davidharmier60

6 and some. 17:13 for the week so far.
Had chicken nuggets at the deli.
Check ready soon. 
Sun is out and I reckon it could touch 90 later.

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----------



## vintagesnaps

Wade, you're 'It'.


----------



## snowbear

Good evening, peeps.

My haircut Saturday morning, drowning a couple worms while MLW gets her perm & cut, and taking our passport photos in the afternoon.  LOTS of traffic this morning from a fatal crash in the work county - tractor-trailer, car, and school bus involved.  Luckily the bus only had two kids on bard, both transported but, apparently OK.  The car driver was the fatality.   It seems one of our (work county) ambulances came across the crash - there's a hospital near the intersection.

@JonA_CT - two Tox questions: do you serve food or just the beer, and are you open on Sundays?


----------



## smoke665

Another long day of outside work for me. Hopefully will be caught up this week on spring work.


----------



## RowdyRay

It's been snowing since noon. Wet sloppy stuff falling so fast that even the warm ground has succumbed and it's accumulating. This afternoon's rush hour was a nightmare. How quickly these morons forget. Mind boggling. The bigger idiots are our own DOT. They've known this was coming for days and they're scrambling to put plows back on the trucks. And NO salt has been put down before or during. Someone needs to be fired. Happened last year, were you not paying attention? NO excuse for this. 

The forecast has been updated for the Twin Cities. They said the heat saved us. Pushed it off to the west. 4-6". Think I have that already, and it shows no sign of stopping. The rest of the state isn't going to be so lucky. Some may see up to 24"!


----------



## smoke665

@RowdyRay I've been watching that on the news, that's crazy.


----------



## RowdyRay

smoke665 said:


> @RowdyRay I've been watching that on the news, that's crazy.



Yeah, not uncommon for mother nature to show us what she can do at the end of winter/beginning of spring. But it all runs down hill. There's already been a ton of flooding and this just adds more. Feel sorry for those south of us.


----------



## snowbear

In a few generations it'll be warmer, longer.  Where I am will be closer to what Florida has now.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

snowbear said:


> In a few generations it'll be warmer, longer.  Where I am will be closer to what Florida has now.


Somehow bikinis in a forest doesn't work like on a beach


----------



## limr

It always amazes me when people around here are surprised at snow storms in late March or early April. I mean, come ON people! Is this your first time in the northeast? It doesn't happen every year, but it happens enough times that they shouldn't be totally shocked, running around saying, "Can you BELIEVE this???" Uh, yeah? Because I live here? And have a working memory?



snowbear said:


> In a few generations it'll be warmer, longer.  Where I am will be closer to what Florida has now.



Assuming where you are now isn't totally under water by then.

Also, ew.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Assuming where you are now isn't totally under water by then.


And that humanity hasn’t obliterated itself...


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Assuming where you are now isn't totally under water by then.
> 
> 
> 
> And that humanity hasn’t obliterated itself...
Click to expand...


Well, that will just mean no witnesses


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Dean_Gretsch said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> In a few generations it'll be warmer, longer.  Where I am will be closer to what Florida has now.
> 
> 
> 
> Somehow bikinis in a forest doesn't work like on a beach
Click to expand...


Works for me


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, it`s like a winters day out as blue skies sunny and frosty but so cold.


----------



## JonA_CT

snowbear said:


> two Tox questions: do you serve food or just the beer, and are you open on Sundays?



We do not serve food, but on Sundays we are trying to have a food truck in. Otherwise, you can BYOF and there are lots of options in the immediate area (including a deli next door on one side and a Greek-style pizza joint on the other).

We’re open from 12-6 on Sundays. If that doesn’t fit your itinerary, I do have a key to the place


----------



## snowbear

We'll most likely be there on the Saturday (May 11), but if the traffic & whatnot do not work in our favor, I wanted to know about Sunday.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## davidharmier60

4 and roughly 3/4. 22.11 for the week so far with two to go. Sunshine but lots of clouds around. Sitting in the truck snacking. When I'm done it's off to the PO.

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----------



## Original katomi

That pic on the evolution of photography made me think.
It has got like that with the ever bigger mem cards, I pic brought to mind when I used film, I would find that I was tearing thro rolls on film without a descent result. To solve this I would use a med format camera, yep 12 shot, as this made me think about every shot. As an aside I have just seen a 200Gb sd card.... wonder what will last longest battery sd card


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Original katomi said:


> That pic on the evolution of photography made me think.
> It has got like that with the ever bigger mem cards, I pic brought to mind when I used film, I would find that I was tearing thro rolls on film without a descent result. To solve this I would use a med format camera, yep 12 shot, as this made me think about every shot. As an aside I have just seen a 200Gb sd card.... wonder what will last longest battery sd card



Yep - although it's possible to take hundreds of photos of the same scene using digital - there's still a cost in your time.  You'd need to look through all the shots to find the best one.


----------



## vintagesnaps

More like 30 out of 36 good shots, and most of however many are on a media card... but of course that's having been a photographer like, forever. I don't remember getting just a few good shots but it was so long ago dinosaurs were roaming the earth. Unless I'm playing around with plastic camera experimental stuff, then I may get a few good ones and a bunch that teach me what not to do again! 

Started with a sore throat last night and drooling on the pillow, by today it's more congestion, and - things are just now this week starting to bloom here!! Friend of mine said her allergies are the worst they've been in 5 years! I'm staying in. Glad I made soup and froze it so today can be a sandwich and nuke the soup kind of day.


----------



## davidharmier60

The escapees were out when I got home. I fixed where I think they got out. Dad went in my truck to look for them. When Sister got home she let the gate sneaker out. When she got back the boy dog came in and the girl and the gate sneaker went running around. It rained fairly hard and the girl is wet and stinky.
I'm thinking bad thoughts.


----------



## snowbear

Tropicalmemories said:


> You'd need to look through all the shots to find the best one.


I've seen a lot of shots where the people taking them aren't looking for the good ones.


vintagesnaps said:


> Started with a sore throat last night and drooling on the pillow, by today it's more congestion, and - things are just now this week starting to bloom here!! Friend of mine said her allergies are the worst they've been in 5 years! I'm staying in. Glad I made soup and froze it so today can be a sandwich and nuke the soup kind of day.


Sorry to hear this.  Maybe the snows will probably take out the pollen.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Ooh I hope so! Not supposed to snow here, but as long as it rains that should help. It's too warm and stuffy for early April. 

But there's hockey, I almost forgot the semis of the Frozen Four were today! Tuned in late for the first game, but it pretty much was going Minn.-Duluth's way over Providence anyway. Now UMass v. Denver, so far UMass is ahead 3-1 in their first Frozen Four appearance.


----------



## vintagesnaps

UMass won their semi in OT and are going to the national championship Sat. night.

There are no rabbits in Buffalo. According to Barry and Bucci that is, announcing the game. Those two and the ESPN music during a hockey game makes me miss NHL2Night, I used to tape it weeknights to watch the next day. 

I guess the rabbits are hiding because of the snow? 

I bought a Peep, not the kind you eat but the plush kind. It's sherbet orange. It can sit on the table and be cute for Easter.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sunny here but very cold and more like a winters day.  Off to Mums to help her out then hope to go for a mooch.


----------



## davidharmier60

Friday. I'll let you know later if it was good or not. Sitting in the parking lot waiting for a keyholder. Funny or not my birthday is tomorrow and I'll be here again. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

For all the Flickr users. Anyone notice that photos are loading extremely slow on android devices? I've been seeing it over the past week or so. Only happening on my Android devises and doesn't appear to be network related.


----------



## JonA_CT

Crazy Friday for me. We were frantically packing last night, and I had to drive to my parents house for a couple of last minute things for the RV (It's parked there now because we got it right after a snow storm, and they had cleared space we could store it).

My wife, kids, and dog are going to head over there after she gets out of work for final stowing/organization, and eventually to sleep because we'll be kicking off at 0500. I will be opening the taproom at the brewery right after work, and will head over after to meet them.

In the morning, we're headed for Luray, VA and Shenandoah National Park. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate!


----------



## davidharmier60

Propane day. In Cold Springs. 
Cloudy and cool. Maybe we'll make 79 later but I ain't counting on it.

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----------



## davidharmier60

BTW 4 minutes under 28 hours for the week with a day to go.
And a real page turner of a book "Don't Let Go" by Harlan Coben.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> I bought a Peep, not the kind you eat but the plush kind. It's sherbet orange. It can sit on the table and be cute for Easter.


I have the traditional yellow.




PEEPS! by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Derrel

Trail Blazers tip-off Sunday at 12:30 at Moda Center, opponent is the OKC Thunder.  Go Blazers!


----------



## terri

They're ba-ack!   Every mid-April these barn swallows appear in the sky around here, swooping and circling around, looking for choice nesting grounds.

A few days ago, they alighted over the garage:







And now, down to business:





Sorry for the dark and blurry cell phone shots, but I try not to disturb them as I spy on every move.     This will be their third year in a row with this nest.  We leave it alone during the fall and winter, and let the birds do the repair and cleanup.

Soon, we'll have some eggs.


----------



## tirediron

You got some damn-all funny looking barns down there in North Mexico!!!!


----------



## RowdyRay

tirediron said:


> You got some damn-all funny looking barns down there in North Mexico!!!!



I didn't want to be the one to point that out. Lol.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I had robins but they just kept adding to the same nest for maybe three summers til it was turning into a high rise condo then the whole thing toppled off the downspout (after the baby birds had long since left the nest - whew!).


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, well our weather is NOT in summer at all as it`s gone back to winter time.  Freezing cold here and have the heating on again and skies are yuck and grey.


----------



## davidharmier60

It was minimally raining when I washed out the floor machine. A little more so now.
33.30 for the week. Was going to have to go to Cleveland and get a part for the lawn mower. But Larry saved me a trip and some money and gave me something that should work. PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

tirediron said:


> You got some damn-all funny looking barns down there in North Mexico!!!!


They don't discriminate.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Taxes. Done.

It's not that they were complicated, but I just didn't feel like doing them. But I also didn't want to deal with them at the last minute, so they are done and I can enjoy the rest of my weekend.

Well, except for the work that I brought home with me. But THEN I can relax and enjoy the rest of my weekend


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh yippee. We are under a Tornado Watch until 7pm
For a short time there was sun and all.
Just heard some far off thunder.
Yippee.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Mine are done too, almost forgot I hadn't done them. Already have the money spent! Not really, but need a new DVD/VCR player and want a new lamp and to replace a couple of pieces of furniture I don't use anyway (the ol' hunter green loveseat is going!).


----------



## davidharmier60

Birthday smithday. Mexican food for dinner. Should already be in bed. 
Kinda tickled how Vegas NHRA came out.
Y'all have a nice night and a better tomorrow. 

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## davidharmier60

Rumor is my Sister is going to make biscuits and sausage gravy.
The coffee is surprisingly good.


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----------



## Tony744




----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon all, after helping Mum today I managed to get to town and had great fun shooting the Brighton Marathon with the Ricoh GRII.


----------



## smoke665

After a night of storms some severe to the west of us. The skys are clear, the sun is shining and the temperature dropping. Looking at a 30degree drop from yesterday.


----------



## SquarePeg

Softball season is here!  Been freezing my butt off all week at some cold, wet, windy games.  Of course today and yesterday no games - sunny and warm.   Avoiding yard work as best I can.  Hoping for dinner and drinks tonight unless something (ie Princess) pulls me away.


----------



## davidharmier60

The sun is gloriously shining and the temp is 68. The biscuits and sausage gravy was GREAT!
Got a box of pennies ready for tomorrow. Saw my comics. Listening to Rockabilly on YouTube.


----------



## smoke665

Spent an enjoyable afternoon attending the stage musical of the Little Mermaid by a local theater group, with our granddaughter.  I was surprised at the quality of the performance held in the theater hall at our local college. From talent, to set design it rivaled some of the Broadway shows I've had the privilege of attending over the years. Apparently it impressed granddaughter as well, as she remained spellbound for the 2hr show. This was the first stage performance she's been to, and based on her reaction, I suspect it won't be the last.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, a bit overcast here but they say the sun will come out.


----------



## davidharmier60

46 heading for 78. No rain indicated by my phone. The coffeemaker wasn't on. 
Not the recipe for a happy Monday. 

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## Tony744

Pouring rain with thunder and lightning here.


----------



## terri

The last 48 hours of local weather:
* Saturday afternoon: I'm outside in shorts and a tee shirt, potting some herbs in the sun.   I get a slight sunburn. 

* Saturday night:  We're out on the screened in porch, marveling at the beautiful sunset and having a glass of wine.

* Sunday afternoon: A storm rolls through.   Not a lot of rain, and it stops after a couple of hours.   Then the wind picks up.   We lose power. 

* Sunday evening:  The power comes back on.   The wind has become more violent.  Earlier in the day, expecting rain, I had brought in the 2 open bird feeders but left the tube feeder outside, so the birds had food during the rain.    I noticed it was completely empty at 6 PM.   The wind was banging the feeder so violently against the squirrel baffle below that it was knocking the seeds out, and I watched the last of it flying away in the wind.  

* 9 PM Sunday: A tornado warning lights up our cell phones, and we head to the basement with 2 yowling, protesting cats.   We listen to the wind over the tornado siren for half an hour before we venture back upstairs. 

This morning, the sun is shining, and skies are clear.   The wind is still gusting and steady, though I can keep seeds in the feeder.   We have a lot of debris to pick up in the yard.   Ah, Spring!


----------



## davidharmier60

It's done got warm in my truck. 
5.13 for the day and week so far. 
Sold a box of pennies to the store. 
Don't absolutely need another today.
But don't have a clue where I will replace it. 

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----------



## Derrel

I have a lot of memories of barn swallows from my boyhood...


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> The last 48 hours of local weather:
> * Saturday afternoon: I'm outside in shorts and a tee shirt, potting some herbs in the sun.   I get a slight sunburn.
> 
> * Saturday night:  We're out on the screened in porch, marveling at the beautiful sunset and having a glass of wine.
> 
> * Sunday afternoon: A storm rolls through.   Not a lot of rain, and it stops after a couple of hours.   Then the wind picks up.   We lose power.
> 
> * Sunday evening:  The power comes back on.   The wind has become more violent.  Earlier in the day, expecting rain, I had brought in the 2 open bird feeders but left the tube feeder outside, so the birds had food during the rain.    I noticed it was completely empty at 6 PM.   The wind was banging the feeder so violently against the squirrel baffle below that it was knocking the seeds out, and I watched the last of it flying away in the wind.
> 
> * 9 PM Sunday: A tornado warning lights up our cell phones, and we head to the basement with 2 yowling, protesting cats.   We listen to the wind over the tornado siren for half an hour before we venture back upstairs.
> 
> This morning, the sun is shining, and skies are clear.   The wind is still gusting and steady, though I can keep seeds in the feeder.   We have a lot of debris to pick up in the yard.   Ah, Spring!


Glad to hear no one was hurt and no real damage.  The kitties I've known get pissed, then get over it quickly.  I wish humans were the same way.

Not much, locally, last night, though it was pretty windy and humid, so we turned on the A/C util this morning.  We drove through the back end of the rains on the morning commute - those large, hard hitting rain drops.  It's still fairly windy at work - the tree limbs are doing a slow Cha-Cha and my desktop UPS has kicked in a few times (lights flickered a couple of times.


----------



## Fujidave

Heartbreaking to see Notre Dame burning down, so so sad.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> The last 48 hours of local weather:
> * Saturday afternoon: I'm outside in shorts and a tee shirt, potting some herbs in the sun.   I get a slight sunburn.
> 
> * Saturday night:  We're out on the screened in porch, marveling at the beautiful sunset and having a glass of wine.
> 
> * Sunday afternoon: A storm rolls through.   Not a lot of rain, and it stops after a couple of hours.   Then the wind picks up.   We lose power.
> 
> * Sunday evening:  The power comes back on.   The wind has become more violent.  Earlier in the day, expecting rain, I had brought in the 2 open bird feeders but left the tube feeder outside, so the birds had food during the rain.    I noticed it was completely empty at 6 PM.   The wind was banging the feeder so violently against the squirrel baffle below that it was knocking the seeds out, and I watched the last of it flying away in the wind.
> 
> * 9 PM Sunday: A tornado warning lights up our cell phones, and we head to the basement with 2 yowling, protesting cats.   We listen to the wind over the tornado siren for half an hour before we venture back upstairs.
> 
> This morning, the sun is shining, and skies are clear.   The wind is still gusting and steady, though I can keep seeds in the feeder.   We have a lot of debris to pick up in the yard.   Ah, Spring!



Yikes!  Not a fun ending to the weekend.  Glad you are all ok.  Overall a beautiful weekend here through yesterday afternoon.  We had t-storms here last night that kept the pup (and therefore me) awake and terrified.  Looks to be sunny and windy tomorrow.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> The kitties I've known get pissed, then get over it quickly. I wish humans were the same way.


Truth!      The indignity of being swept up and carried downstairs without so much as a treat to make it better!   Then, being cats, they settled in and refused to come back upstairs with us.   They stayed down there another hour.   



SquarePeg said:


> We had t-storms here last night that kept the pup (and therefore me) awake and terrified.


Poor little guy!   Dogs are more sensitive to weather, I think.   As much as the cats cower and run when there are fireworks outside, thunder/high winds don't faze them a bit.   My mom's Airedale used to crawl into the bathtub and hide during thunderstorms.


----------



## terri

Fujidave said:


> Heartbreaking to see Notre Dame burning down, so so sad.


It's awful to see, isn't it?   All that history...the last I heard, first responders were getting as much art and artifacts out of there as they could.


----------



## Fujidave

terri said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Heartbreaking to see Notre Dame burning down, so so sad.
> 
> 
> 
> It's awful to see, isn't it?   All that history...the last I heard, first responders were getting as much art and artifacts out of there as they could.
Click to expand...


I had many happy holidays as a child in Paris, went to Notre Dame many times while there just so sad to see.


----------



## SquarePeg

Shopping has become way too easy these days.  Simply google something - like for example "hiking pants for women" and then like magic your Facebook and Instagram feeds will magically be filled with all of these different styles.  I don't even have to surf the web...  

Seriously though - all I wanted to do was find a 2nd color of my favorite hiking pants and since I couldn't remember where/when I got them and I must have cut off the tags...  well damn there are a lot of options!  My feeds are flooded with nothing but.  Haven't found my exact ones yet.  I thought they were Eddie Bauer but if they ever made this style they don't now.


----------



## smoke665

Tragic Roof collapses at Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral as massive fire rages not sure if they'll even be able to save any of it now.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Tragic Roof collapses at Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral as massive fire rages not sure if they'll even be able to save any of it now.



Just seen on the news here, the chief of fire has said the structure has been saved, if they can rebuild it then I think it should be as a lot of priceless history was taken out by the firemen and one very badly injured too.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> if they can rebuild it then I think it should be



Might depend on if they can find the craftsmen capable doing it.


----------



## Tony744

Last I heard, they do intend to rebuild.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That was what was said on the news, that Pres. Macron announced it would be rebuilt. I had coverage on much of the afternoon watching as it happened. I remember noticing light in the spire and then it dawned on me what it was; that probably acted like a flume and pulled fire up. Then I'd left the room for a few minutes and came back and glanced at the TV and thought - the spire is gone! they showed footage of it toppling. The scaffolding wasn't exactly helping it seemed, because you could tell at least the fire wasn't spreading but it wasn't going out either.

I'm glad at least the towers seem intact; I thought I saw fire starting to show in a window and my heart sank that it may have spread there. Glad they were able to get out many valued items, and statues on top apparently had already been taken down during construction.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Terri glad you got thru your weekend! Just saw there was a tornado that touched down well north of me; last evening the weather beeping thing on TV went off and I looked to be on the fringes so just got wind off and on. Supposed to be nice now for about a day and a half.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Shopping has become way too easy these days.  Simply google something - like for example "hiking pants for women" and then like magic your Facebook and Instagram feeds will magically be filled with all of these different styles.  I don't even have to surf the web...
> 
> Seriously though - all I wanted to do was find a 2nd color of my favorite hiking pants and since I couldn't remember where/when I got them and I must have cut off the tags...  well damn there are a lot of options!  My feeds are flooded with nothing but.  Haven't found my exact ones yet.  I thought they were Eddie Bauer but if they ever made this style they don't now.



I hate that when you research something the item follows you everywhere.  Double worse if you google something for a friend to help and then that too follows you.  Data mining to get you to buy.


----------



## CherylL

Rained and cold over the weekend.  Celebrated our anniversary with a nice meal out.  I had the salmon over lobster risotto.  Sunny today and started the spring cleaning.  Washed a set of curtains and they shrank terribly.  I knew that was a risk, but time for new ones.  I have them hanging up now and very pathetic looking.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> Data mining to get you to buy.



And maybe sometimes you might not want to buy.......in the near future. Sunday at Church we were discussing some problems with the cemetery. On the way home DW and I were talking and made the comment about how it might just be easier to be cremated. When we got home and booted up FB all of a sudden an ad for a crematorium popped up in my feed. Coincidence??? We both have "smart phones" but now I'm wondering if they might be to smart.


----------



## RowdyRay

smoke665 said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Data mining to get you to buy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And maybe sometimes you might not want to buy.......in the near future. Sunday at Church we were discussing some problems with the cemetery. On the way home DW and I were talking and made the comment about how it might just be easier to be cremated. When we got home and booted up FB all of a sudden an ad for a crematorium popped up in my feed. Coincidence??? We both have "smart phones" but now I'm wondering if they might be to smart.
Click to expand...


Not a coincidence. Worse than telemarketers calling me during dinner. Perfectly capable of finding siding or windows on my own. Or in your case, cremation. 

What really pisses me off with this method or technique is that they assume you are so stupid you couldn't possibly make a proper decision without their help. Think again. Lol.


----------



## Derrel

SquarePeg said:


> Shopping has become way too easy these days.  Simply* google something - like for example "hiking pants for women*" and then *like magic your Facebook and Instagram feeds will magically be filled with all of these different styles.*  I don't even have to surf the web...
> 
> Seriously though - all I wanted to do was find a 2nd color of my favorite hiking pants and since I couldn't remember where/when I got them and I must have cut off the tags...  well damn there are a lot of options!  My feeds are flooded with nothing but.  Haven't found my exact ones yet.  I thought they were Eddie Bauer but if they ever made this style they don't now.



Saves time on web searches! lol.


----------



## smoke665

@RowdyRay but I'm not sure it was targeted. I hadn't searched the internet for anything, no inquires anywhere, web browsers off on our phones. So if it wasn't coincidental then I'm really spooked now.


----------



## vintagesnaps

So wait, did you 'comment' on it or were just talking in the car?? Maybe you were in the Twilight Zone, better hope Rod Serling's ghost wasn't riding in the back seat.

The more cheezy & crappy a product is, the more the peeps selling the product seem to work the SEO to make sure their crap rises to the top of a search. Those scammers and spammers are busy little bees.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> wait, did you 'comment' on it or were just talking in the car??



No comments, no searching, looking, no nothing. We were in the car driving home and made the comment. 30 mins later the ad popped up on FB feed. I know Google now (on phone) listens for voice commands, but now I'm wondering if its listening to more.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Doo doo, doo doo...

I didn't know Google 'listens' to voice commands on a smart phone; maybe it was still somehow functioning?? Glad I just have home phone(s) and a stupid phone that can barely text much less anything else.


----------



## limr

Happy 9th birthday to my sweet furry little brats


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nice photos in B&W there. And happy birthday girls!


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Nice photos in B&W there. And happy birthday girls!



Their glam shots  Thanks from me and from the girls!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, very overcast here again so not up to much once I do my X-T3s FW update.
Good to see that Notre Dame can be saved as they have 100s of millions already donated to rebuild it once the fire has been put out.


----------



## snowbear

CherylL said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Shopping has become way too easy these days.  Simply google something - like for example "hiking pants for women" and then like magic your Facebook and Instagram feeds will magically be filled with all of these different styles.  I don't even have to surf the web...
> 
> Seriously though - all I wanted to do was find a 2nd color of my favorite hiking pants and since I couldn't remember where/when I got them and I must have cut off the tags...  well damn there are a lot of options!  My feeds are flooded with nothing but.  Haven't found my exact ones yet.  I thought they were Eddie Bauer but if they ever made this style they don't now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hate that when you research something the item follows you everywhere.  Double worse if you google something for a friend to help and then that too follows you.  Data mining to get you to buy.
Click to expand...


I regularly clear cookies and that seems to get rid of some of the annoyances.  I might have to sign on to sites, again,  but that's OK.  An ad blocker also gets rid of some.


----------



## davidharmier60

Goodness. Notre Dame burned?
I don't hear nothing in the store. 
The year is flying by. But today was like a turtle.  10.14 for the week so far. 
Stops to make and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Data mining to get you to buy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And maybe sometimes you might not want to buy.......in the near future. Sunday at Church we were discussing some problems with the cemetery. On the way home DW and I were talking and made the comment about how it might just be easier to be cremated. When we got home and booted up FB all of a sudden an ad for a crematorium popped up in my feed. Coincidence??? We both have "smart phones" but now I'm wondering if they might be to smart.
Click to expand...


That is creepy!  As an experiment you could say an item every day for a few days and see if it pops up.


----------



## CherylL

limr said:


> Happy 9th birthday to my sweet furry little brats
> 
> View attachment 171649
> 
> 
> View attachment 171650


 Happy Birthday sweet kitties.


----------



## Paul Sheridan

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> A Florida Man will take care of it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe he can come up and take care of the 12' gator recently spotted on a lake less then 30 miles west of of me. I thought we were well north of Gator territory, but apparently not.
Click to expand...


Remember, you are living on their (gators'...) land. Who was first?


----------



## smoke665

Paul Sheridan said:


> Remember, you are living on their (gators'...) land. Who was first?



Actually we were first. Gators stings this far north has only been a recent occurrence. I'm happy to let them have their space. Did a float trip in kayaks on the Peace River in S FL a couple years ago. Got up close and personal with a bunch of Gators, including a 14' one called Grumpy, won't do that again!


----------



## smoke665

I know what I'm doing while the kids are hunting eggs!!!!!



 

RECIPE:
1 shot Godiva Dark Chocolate Liqueur
1 shot Salted Caramel Vodka
A splash of half and half


----------



## JonA_CT

Hey y’all. It’s weird to have no work at all. I’ve spent a few minutes talking shop with the boys at the brewery, but haven’t even thought about school.

Luray has been beautiful, save for some scary weather on sunday night. Tornado watches are no joke in an RV. We checked out the caverns yesterday, and hit up Skyline drive today. 

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!


----------



## terri

Glad it's going well, Jon!   Hope you have a wonderful week, as well.


----------



## davidharmier60

Checks are late, SIGH. 16.26 for the week so far. My phone app said nothing about rain. Slight drizzle as I did Marquee. I'm told it will storm later. Just another day in paradise. 

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----------



## davidharmier60

At least whatever the weather did it did not kill the power. A pasta and chicken dinner.
Price is Right on the DVR. German Chocolate cake later.... yummy!

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----------



## davidharmier60

What? A lovely day. It just stopped raining for the first time today. It looks like more is coming. 5 and roughly a half hour today.
22.07 or so for the week so far. 

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----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> wait, did you 'comment' on it or were just talking in the car??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No comments, no searching, looking, no nothing. We were in the car driving home and made the comment. 30 mins later the ad popped up on FB feed. I know Google now (on phone) listens for voice commands, but now I'm wondering if its listening to more.
Click to expand...

I absolutely believe phones are listening to us--information sells like crazy. What you describe isn't really new, unfortunately, and you can find many other examples on the internet. Like you, I've had things pop up that I never searched for and were only discussed verbally between the wife and I. I remember one article (can't find it now, sorry) talking about how they started to make up fake conversations about things that they never would have searched for (e.g., travel to certain countries, adopting pets, etc). Sure enough, they started seeing ads for these things.

After this stuff happened to me, I pretty much turned off all microphone access to nearly every app. I also don't allow the use of "Hey Siri" on my phone, and I wouldn't personally recommend it to anyone. I do sometimes use Siri, but only manually. With "Hey Siri" or "Hey Google" (I don't know what Google's version is), the microphone is essentially always on and recording information..waiting for the voice commands. I absolutely believe that Apple, or Google, or any number of apps on my phone, could be listening in, as well. Which is why I removed microphone access. Not sure if that'll do anything, but I hope it does.


----------



## Original katomi

Plant the phone in a BIG bucket of water lol
But seriously, Mobil phones as good as they are can be so intusive, some people can’t seem to live without them. Lol


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> wait, did you 'comment' on it or were just talking in the car??
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No comments, no searching, looking, no nothing. We were in the car driving home and made the comment. 30 mins later the ad popped up on FB feed. I know Google now (on phone) listens for voice commands, but now I'm wondering if its listening to more.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I absolutely believe phones are listening to us--information sells like crazy. What you describe isn't really new, unfortunately, and you can find many other examples on the internet. Like you, I've had things pop up that I never searched for and were only discussed verbally between the wife and I. I remember one article (can't find it now, sorry) talking about how they started to make up fake conversations about things that they never would have searched for (e.g., travel to certain countries, adopting pets, etc). Sure enough, they started seeing ads for these things.
> 
> After this stuff happened to me, I pretty much turned off all microphone access to nearly every app. I also don't allow the use of "Hey Siri" on my phone, and I wouldn't personally recommend it to anyone. I do sometimes use Siri, but only manually. With "Hey Siri" or "Hey Google" (I don't know what Google's version is), the microphone is essentially always on and recording information..waiting for the voice commands. I absolutely believe that Apple, or Google, or any number of apps on my phone, could be listening in, as well. Which is why I removed microphone access. Not sure if that'll do anything, but I hope it does.
Click to expand...


I agree they are listening.  I agree it's creepy/intrusive/annoying.  For me, the convenience of "Hey Siri" and "Alexa" outweigh the negatives.  If they want to listen to us I'm sure they are bored out of their minds 99% of the time.  As long as I don't have to dial our favorite pizza place, look up the weather, turn off my own lights, search for a good radio station, scroll around on Netflix looking for a specific show or touch my phone while driving, I'm ok with the trade off.


----------



## smoke665

@waday On the news all the time are people complaining about compromising or nude photos of them showing up on the internet. Has me so worried I put black tape over the lens on my phone.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I agree they are listening.  I agree it's creepy/intrusive/annoying.  For me, the convenience of "Hey Siri" and "Alexa" outweigh the negatives.  If they want to listen to us I'm sure they are bored out of their minds 99% of the time.  As long as I don't have to dial our favorite pizza place, look up the weather, turn off my own lights, search for a good radio station, scroll around on Netflix looking for a specific show or touch my phone while driving, I'm ok with the trade off.


I'm personally not ok with it, because I see it as an invasion of privacy. If I allow them to spy on me, it'll only get worse. If they want to record me, they need to make it known clearly, not through some legal jargon buried within thousands of pages of terms and conditions and privacy policies.

I'm ok with a few more taps, but: we don't have a "favorite" pizza place, I don't like Apple's Weather app (nor do I like Siri's response), we don't have a smart house or smart appliances, and my car only has an aux input and no phone interaction.



smoke665 said:


> @waday On the news all the time are people complaining about compromising or nude photos of them showing up on the internet. Has me so worried I put black tape over the lens on my phone.


That's a good idea. I'd do that, if I didn't use my camera so much. I do usually do that on my laptop/computer. 

Did you hear about that Facetime bug that allowed people to spy on you extremely easily? Scary.


----------



## smoke665

@waday


----------



## davidharmier60

A main reason I keep my old Samsung 6 Active. It is beginning to mess up but my Sister just got a much newer phone and it scares me. Spaghetti tonight. Maybe cake or Blue Bell later but probably not. 

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## davidharmier60

There is an 18 Wheeler broke down In our parking lot. I suspect he isn't having a nice Friday. As for me. Waiting for the keyholder. 

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## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!   Glad this week is drawing to a close.   Been a doozy.


----------



## Tony744

terri said:


> Happy Friday, hosers!   Glad this week is drawing to a close.   Been a doozy.


It's amazing how a four day week could end up feeling like a ten day week.

Sent from my Moto E (4) using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## SquarePeg

Tony744 said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!   Glad this week is drawing to a close.   Been a doozy.
> 
> 
> 
> It's amazing how a four day week could end up feeling like a ten day week.
> 
> Sent from my Moto E (4) using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
Click to expand...


That is because we are expected to still get 5 days worth of work done!


----------



## CherylL

Let the cooking begin.  I'm hosting Easter as usual.  Trying to come up with a menu is tricky with all of my picky eaters.  I made little Easter baskets for the grands.  Daughter doesn't want them to have much candy.  I've got the plastic eggs filled with $ for the hunt.


----------



## smoke665

@CherylL the other day at the farm store, they had just gotten a new shipment of chicks. Took a picture of them and texted DIL that we were buying some for granddaughter for Easter. Which got a rise out of her, so ever since I've been telling her they were coming to her house. They'll be out of town this weekend so we took her home after a visit today. As I was handing DIL her stuff, I mentioned, "I know you said no live chickens but these were to cute to pass up" and handed her the chicks. She was in mid chewing me out, before it registered. LOL


----------



## SquarePeg

Easter is our one holiday that we have dinner out.  It's nice not to worry about cooking or cleaning up afterwards.  When my daughter and nephew were little we always had dinner here with a very competitive Easter egg hunt afterwards.  My step father would always hid one big money egg ($20) in a very high up spot for my older nephew (aka #1) to find.  Once the 3 stooges found out (Princess and my 2 nephews, who are all 7 years younger than #1) they started trying to find that one first and would walk right past the candy and pocket change eggs...  Princess still expects a basket each year.  Now I typically fill it with some candy, hair scrunchies/headbands, a book and some small gifts.  

Dinner suggestions when you have picky eaters - which we used to have... when Princess was younger she had 4 food groups - pizza, mac n cheese, chicken fingers and of course french fries.   I would cook whatever the adults like to eat and then make chicken nuggets and frozen fries for the kids.  Eventually they got curious and started trying the adult food.  

Happy Easter everyone.  Here is my annual favorite Easter post:


----------



## vintagesnaps

The Easter Bunny arrives Sat. morning, probably in an antique fire truck, but they sometimes change it up. Usually I forget and just catch him going by out the window! Santa I remember to watch for, the bunny not so much.

The World Under 18s hockey started tonight - I didn't realize it was on. Team USA is up 1 over Slovakia halfway into the 1st period. Looking up the schedule I see that the game was earlier so I already saw the score! kind of takes away the suspense.


----------



## RowdyRay

Picky eaters? My mom had the solution for that. Eat what I make or go hungry. Lol. She's been gone about 14 years, but dad is the same way. 

He cooks up 2 big hams, real mashed potatoes, gravy made from the ham drippings and a couple of vegetables. Usually carrots and harvard beets. (It's a German thing) There's always dinner rolls to mop your plate, and several pies. Now that mom is gone, they're usually store-bought, but he doesn't scrimp. 

Same meal for as long as I can remember. Eat it, or don't. Most do and come for the ham. Not your typical ham. Drooling already.


----------



## Tony744

The company I work for gives everybody hams from a local farm every year , as well as turkeys for Thanksgiving.


----------



## CherylL

RowdyRay said:


> Picky eaters? My mom had the solution for that. Eat what I make or go hungry. Lol.



My Dad was the same way.  I hated the pigs feet, ox tail, head cheese, pig snoots & fried brains.  The last time we had the fried brains everyone thought it tasted off.  Even the dog got sick.  Luckily that was scrapped from future menus.


----------



## Tony744

I MUST be tired. I read pig snoots as pig snots.


----------



## CherylL

Tony744 said:


> I MUST be tired. I read pig snoots as pig snots.



Close in taste I'm sure.


----------



## davidharmier60

As it happens the professional floor people were supposed to be here last night.
But they put it off for a week.
Last gasp of winter. 42 outside.
No rain supposed to be. 
Good coffee. 

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## davidharmier60

Ended up with 22.37 for the week. 
Got a needed wheel for the lawn tractor but have no bolt for it. Going to heat up some chicken tenders my Sister made.

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----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> I hated the pigs feet, ox tail, head cheese, pig snoots & fried brains. The last time we had the fried brains everyone thought it tasted off.



CherylL bless your heart. I grew up on a farm, where we raised our own meat (chicken, pork & beef) and did our own processing. Not once did my parents/grandparents suggest pig snoots!!. There was pickled pigs feet, not all that bad - it's an acquired taste, fried brains & headcheese , no way I will ever acquire a taste for it, I remember ox tail soup a couple times, that I only picked at, and fried Rocky Mountain Oysters were on the menu during season, with a LOT of mustard, they were palatable.  Edited: And lots of beer. LOL


----------



## Fujidave

Not fried, but I know Zombies love brains...lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm going to Tony's for dinner, I'm not eating with the rest of you hosers!! 

I have some vague memory of pickled pigs' feet, etc. and yup, had farmers in the family! My grandma would eat the stuff none of the rest of us would touch. 

The Easter bunny came by in a yellow race car, with him sitting in the passenger side waving a checkered flag out the window. I of course forgot and in my hurry to get to a window I just got a blurry shot! lol

And unless kids have food allergies etc. it's usually best to offer what is being served for dinner. Of course be realistic about what kids will eat and fix something they'd like, or if they don't want to eat at the time maybe let them have a simple snack later. If they're young they can go thru stages, or will eat something at home/school and not at the other place (go figure!), and it takes I forget how many times for young children to see a new food before they'll try it.


----------



## smoke665

Mornin Y'all! After a cool, rainy couple of days, looks like we might have some clearing. Headed to early Church service, and maybe a little photography later today.

Just got the tracking update yesterday, I found a really good deal on a used Pentax SMC FA 50 mm 1.4, which should mate well with K1MII. Can't wait to try it. I'm in the process of replacing some the  APS-C glass that doesn't provide a full image circle on the full frame.


----------



## davidharmier60

I played with my NEX5 mirrorless camera a bit yesterday. It took a pretty nice picture of my Frankenseiko watch. But I kept trying to look through the eyepiece and it hasn't got one. Coming from AE1 and EOS650 the DSLR is the camera for me!
Just had fried eggs and bacon and toast. 
Am at a standstill on pennies. The rolls in the current box have few shiny shield pennies. I have completely run out of 2018 to put at the ends of the rolls. Going to unwrap the machine rolled stuff I have and see if I can come up with some shield.
The bank had no power yesterday and I could have nipped the problem right if I could have gotten some Loomis rolls.
Oh the trials and tribulations of Poor Old Dave. 

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----------



## vintagesnaps

Frankenseiko! lol 

Not doing much today, this respiratory thing is hanging on from last week, about the time I thought I was finally better I woke up stuffed up etc. again and not quie a ball of fire today. 

But at least there's hockey on, World U18's and the last of the first round of NHL playoffs. 

And, found Limr's enjoying Easter eggs!


----------



## davidharmier60

Frankenseiko is a former Yobokies watch that I broke the stem on and then pulled the dial off the movement which cleared the hands off. The case is possibly SKX
But also possibly a Seiko 5 from back a ways. 4 o'clock crown that screws down but a bezel with no clicks that can go either way. That's the main reason I don't think SKX.  Anyhow 5 and a half hours today. 
Going to go get a box of pennies and then try to get some Loomis rolls at our bank.


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## smoke665

Didn't expect it to arrive so soon, but in my mail today was the new (to me) Pentax FA 50mm f/1.4. Haven't had a chance to really work with it, but based on this shot, I think I'm going to like it. Already discovered that at wide open I'll likely need to stay on a tripod as my hand shake is to much for shake correction to overcome with such a thin DOF. ISO 200, f/1.4, 1/800.


----------



## davidharmier60

Dagnabbit. I went by our bank again.
The black lady there is not Katherine who is very nice to me. Whoever this person is she seems to hate me. 

We just had tacos and tostadas. 
Banana pudding in a while.

Nice picture above!

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## CherylL

Grand's 6 birthday party is Saturday.  Looks like rain so no outdoors at the park.  Plan B is the local skating rink which I am sure it is loud and not my favorite place to get the yearly video and photos.  I'm taking photos for our grad student we are hosting from Panama sometime in the next week or more.  Hopefully there will be some good sunny evenings.

Was in a big box drug store yesterday.  At check out I reminded the clerk that the items were buy one and get one half off.  She took a long pause and said no they are buy on and get one 50% off.


----------



## davidharmier60

Some people. Good coffee. 
Wednesday.
Have as good a Wednesday as is possible. 

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## Dean_Gretsch

CherylL said:


> Was in a big box drug store yesterday. At check out I reminded the clerk that the items were buy one and get one half off. She took a long pause and said no they are buy on and get one 50% off.



With today's tech, it's only going to get worse. Isn't it amazing a retail store cannot sell anything when a power lapse occurs? The number of cashiers that can't count must double every few months


----------



## SquarePeg

Dean_Gretsch said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Was in a big box drug store yesterday. At check out I reminded the clerk that the items were buy one and get one half off. She took a long pause and said no they are buy on and get one 50% off.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> With today's tech, it's only going to get worse. Isn't it amazing a retail store cannot sell anything when a power lapse occurs? The number of cashiers that can't count must double every few months
Click to expand...


Not only can they not sell you anything when the power is off, most customers can't buy anything because they don't carry cash (me included!).


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Ahh, yes! I am a plastic carrier as well. I have not returned to a semi-local camera store because they were cash only. Good point! I wonder whatever happened to those carbon copy sliding machines they used when credit cards first came in vogue?


----------



## JonA_CT

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Ahh, yes! I am a plastic carrier as well. I have not returned to a semi-local camera store because they were cash only. Good point! I wonder whatever happened to those carbon copy sliding machines they used when credit cards first came in vogue?



They still exist. A few months ago, Harbor Freight's headquarters were evacuated because of the wildfires in CA, and they couldn't process credit cards nationally as a result. This was high brewery build out time, and I used to make several purchases there every weekend. They pulled one out. 

It's a huge security risk, though. I used my American Express (the easiest card company to deal with in fraud situations, imo) so I didn't worry much, but it is uncomfortable to have your credit card number actually printed out and held in a file these days. 

I used to use them in college too...I worked for a non-profit museum that still relied on dial-up internet for card transactions back in the mid-to-late aughts, and our system used to crash a couple of times a week.


----------



## JonA_CT

Side note: We use Square at the brewery. We can ring all of our transactions without the internet (or power for that matter), but we have to be comfortable with the fact that a transaction might get denied at the end of the day. Comcast took 3 weeks longer than advertised to get our internet set up, so we lived with it for awhile. Thankfully, we didn't have a single transaction denied.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ahh, yes! I am a plastic carrier as well. I have not returned to a semi-local camera store because they were cash only. Good point! I wonder whatever happened to those carbon copy sliding machines they used when credit cards first came in vogue?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They still exist. A few months ago, Harbor Freight's headquarters were evacuated because of the wildfires in CA, and they couldn't process credit cards nationally as a result. This was high brewery build out time, and I used to make several purchases there every weekend. They pulled one out.
> 
> It's a huge security risk, though. I used my American Express (the easiest card company to deal with in fraud situations, imo) so I didn't worry much, but it is uncomfortable to have your credit card number actually printed out and held in a file these days.
> 
> I used to use them in college too...I worked for a non-profit museum that still relied on dial-up internet for card transactions back in the mid-to-late aughts, and our system used to crash a couple of times a week.
Click to expand...


I cringe every time I order take out over the phone and the young girl repeats my card number back to me very loudly including expiration date!  I get a mental picture of some scumbag with a pen and paper lurking behind the soda case.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

A local grocery has a rewards program that gives you the keychain fob, but many people in front of me seem to forget theirs and have the cashier look their account up by also very audibly giving their phone number. I might be overly paranoid, but would just skip my reward if I didn't have the fob.


----------



## limr

When cashiers ask for my phone number, I almost always ask them why (depends on the store, why I am there, and whether or not I have already given them my number.) They usually don't know how to answer that, so they just carry on with the checking out process. 

In general, I don't worry about someone overhearing. Most people wouldn't notice an elephant in front of them, much less an opportunity to steal someone's identity. Besides, who can remember phone numbers anymore?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

limr said:


> When cashiers ask for my phone number, I almost always ask them why (depends on the store, why I am there, and whether or not I have already given them my number.) They usually don't know how to answer that, so they just carry on with the checking out process.
> 
> In general, I don't worry about someone overhearing. Most people wouldn't notice an elephant in front of them, much less an opportunity to steal someone's identity. Besides, who can remember phone numbers anymore?


With voice recorder apps on most smart phones, remembrance isn't a worry


----------



## waday

limr said:


> When cashiers ask for my phone number, I almost always ask them why (depends on the store, why I am there, and whether or not I have already given them my number.) They usually don't know how to answer that, so they just carry on with the checking out process.


I'm the same. If I know that I have a "rewards" card there and I actually want the "points", I'll give them that information. Otherwise, I always say no thanks. I don't think I reap any rewards for 99% of the rewards programs I am a "member" of.

Some of them don't even give you rewards, rather they are only used to track you. For example, Lowes. Their website FAQ literally says, "There are no discounts or other incentive programs currently associated with the MyLowe's card. We offer other ways to save you money every day. To learn more, read about our Everyday Low Prices."

So... why sign up? So they can track what, when, and where you shop? So that you can be further targeted by Lowes and any other companies that Lowes will sell, er, I mean "share" your information with? No, thank you.

We get tracked enough everywhere else, I don't understand why I can't just purchase something without being hounded for my personal information.

Living off-the-grid sounds more appealing every day....

ETA:
Not to mention these companies then getting hacked because they don't care about your information enough to properly protect it...


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ahh, yes! I am a plastic carrier as well. I have not returned to a semi-local camera store because they were cash only. Good point! I wonder whatever happened to those carbon copy sliding machines they used when credit cards first came in vogue?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They still exist. A few months ago, Harbor Freight's headquarters were evacuated because of the wildfires in CA, and they couldn't process credit cards nationally as a result. This was high brewery build out time, and I used to make several purchases there every weekend. They pulled one out.
> 
> It's a huge security risk, though. I used my American Express (the easiest card company to deal with in fraud situations, imo) so I didn't worry much, but it is uncomfortable to have your credit card number actually printed out and held in a file these days.
> 
> I used to use them in college too...I worked for a non-profit museum that still relied on dial-up internet for card transactions back in the mid-to-late aughts, and our system used to crash a couple of times a week.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I cringe every time I order take out over the phone and the young girl repeats my card number back to me very loudly including expiration date!  I get a mental picture of some scumbag with a pen and paper lurking behind the soda case.
Click to expand...


Yeah -- most of our local places are on BeyondMenu (or GrubHub..I'm sure both work around you), so I use them to make delivery orders for that very reason. I get billed by the one website rather than the people with the machine at the store. 



limr said:


> When cashiers ask for my phone number, I almost always ask them why (depends on the store, why I am there, and whether or not I have already given them my number.) They usually don't know how to answer that, so they just carry on with the checking out process.
> 
> In general, I don't worry about someone overhearing. Most people wouldn't notice an elephant in front of them, much less an opportunity to steal someone's identity. Besides, who can remember phone numbers anymore?



Yeah, I skip phone numbers and e-mails pretty routinely. We collected zip codes at the museum, and that freaked certain people out. They would get really suspicious and ask why and then usually decline to answer. We literally just used it to see where visitors were coming from (marketing blah blah blah), and it wasn't even linked to their transaction. 

I just thought the paranoia over zip codes was funny...I live in a relatively small city, but I think somewhere around 25000 other people share my zip code!


----------



## JonA_CT

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> When cashiers ask for my phone number, I almost always ask them why (depends on the store, why I am there, and whether or not I have already given them my number.) They usually don't know how to answer that, so they just carry on with the checking out process.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So... why sign up? So they can track what, when, and where you shop? So that you can be further targeted by Lowes and any other companies that Lowes will sell, er, I mean "share" your information with? No, thank you.
> 
> We get tracked enough everywhere else, I don't understand why I can't just purchase something without being hounded for my personal information.
Click to expand...


Targeted marketing, of course. Some times I don't mind...at BJs Wholesale Club, I only routinely buy a few things -- coffee, diapers, wipes, lunch meat, turkey meatballs, and chicken strips. At least monthly, I get coupons for between $2 and $5 off of each of these things in the mail. There, it's linked to my membership account, obviously, since you need the card to make each purchase.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Some of them don't even give you rewards, rather they are only used to track you. For example, Lowes. Their website FAQ literally says, "There are no discounts or other incentive programs currently associated with the MyLowe's card. We offer other ways to save you money every day. To learn more, read about our Everyday Low Prices."
> 
> So... why sign up? So they can track what, when, and where you shop? So that you can be further targeted by Lowes and any other companies that Lowes will sell, er, I mean "share" your information with? No, thank you.



MyLowe's came in handy last year when we had to patch a wall and I couldn't find the name of the paint to match it.   



JonA_CT said:


> Yeah -- most of our local places are on BeyondMenu (or GrubHub..I'm sure both work around you), so I use them to make delivery orders for that very reason. I get billed by the one website rather than the people with the machine at the store.



This place is strictly mom and pop - I'm just happy they take credit cards at all.  They wouldn't have a clue about DoorDash or UberEats or any of Princess's other favorite apps.


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> We get tracked enough everywhere else, I don't understand why I can't just purchase something without being hounded for my personal information.
> 
> Living off-the-grid sounds more appealing every day....
> 
> ETA:
> Not to mention these companies then getting hacked because they don't care about your information enough to properly protect it...


Cash is king!  With exception of purchasing fuel (and I only do it that way because idiotic laws recently enacted in BC make it pretty much impractical to fill up your vehicle when you pay cash).  Almost everything is done with cash, and I'm a member of exactly zero "rewards" programs.


----------



## JonA_CT

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Through cash rewards, I save about $6-700 a year using my Amex everywhere.


----------



## Soocom1

In the US we've been pre-pay for more than 15 years. 

Dosent solve anything.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Through cash rewards, I save about $6-700 a year using my Amex everywhere.



Agreed!   I never pay cash - only use it for tipping.  I don't carry a balance on any cards and I find it so much easier to keep records and budget when everything is recorded for me to review and track spending.  Plus haven't paid for a flight or hotel since 2013 due to credit card miles/bonuses.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> MyLowe's came in handy last year when we had to patch a wall and I couldn't find the name of the paint to match it.


I just check the name on the top of the paint can in my garage that has enough to cover 1 square foot, but for some reason, I kept it instead of throwing it out.


----------



## limr

Dean_Gretsch said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> When cashiers ask for my phone number, I almost always ask them why (depends on the store, why I am there, and whether or not I have already given them my number.) They usually don't know how to answer that, so they just carry on with the checking out process.
> 
> In general, I don't worry about someone overhearing. Most people wouldn't notice an elephant in front of them, much less an opportunity to steal someone's identity. Besides, who can remember phone numbers anymore?
> 
> 
> 
> With voice recorder apps on most smart phones, remembrance isn't a worry
Click to expand...


Again, this relies on a person's capability to both notice and care enough to try to get people's information this way.

People are remarkably unobservant.

Plus, it's a lot easier to get information, especially a phone number, from the Internet rather than hanging out in checkout lines waiting for someone to give their phone number.


----------



## davidharmier60

I have an email address that does not include any portion of my name.
I get anywhere from 4 to 8 political emails every day. Whatever I search for on Google pops up as an advertisement on my comics pages. 

As for my day. 5 and a little over 3/4 hours today. 17.09 for the week in which I will be off Saturday. The checks are here and will be available after noon.

I don't know what good it does but I have a Walgreens fob I use. We DO get % off coupons sent to us from Tractor Supply. 
And O'Reilly sends stuff too.

My phone did not indicate any rain. But it's sprinkling with rather big drops.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Through cash rewards, I save about $6-700 a year using my Amex everywhere.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed!  I never pay cash - only use it for tipping.  I don't carry a balance on any cards and I find it so much easier to keep records and budget when everything is recorded for me to review and track spending.  Plus haven't paid for a flight or hotel since 2013 due to credit card miles/bonuses.
Click to expand...

And herein lies the problem.  You are NOT saving money; these so-called rewards are COSTING you (and everyone else) money; a lot of money.  "Rewards programs", "incentives" or whatever name the company chooses to give them have one purpose:  To get you, the consumer to use your plastic for payment instead of using cash.  Why?  Because the more you do that, the more payment-processing companies can charge their 1.75 - 3.55% processing fee to the retailer.  The net result of this is that the retailer, recognizing that a majority of people today are too lazy too bother with cash, immediately increases his prices about 2.5% (national average in Canada, YMMV) to account for the fees that MOST customers will cost him. 

Oh, and if you're a "But I use my debit card, not my credit card..." sort of person, well, guess what? The banks still charge for that privilege, but the fees are much more cleverly hidden.  It's all well and good to think that you get money back, but if you actually put pencil to paper and calculate what 2.5% of everything you spend in a year would be...


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Through cash rewards, I save about $6-700 a year using my Amex everywhere.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed!  I never pay cash - only use it for tipping.  I don't carry a balance on any cards and I find it so much easier to keep records and budget when everything is recorded for me to review and track spending.  Plus haven't paid for a flight or hotel since 2013 due to credit card miles/bonuses.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> And herein lies the problem.  You are NOT saving money; these so-called rewards are COSTING you (and everyone else) money; a lot of money.  "Rewards programs", "incentives" or whatever name the company chooses to give them have one purpose:  To get you, the consumer to use your plastic for payment instead of using cash.  Why?  Because the more you do that, the more payment-processing companies can charge their 1.75 - 3.55% processing fee to the retailer.  The net result of this is that the retailer, recognizing that a majority of people today are too lazy too bother with cash, immediately increases his prices about 2.5% (national average in Canada, YMMV) to account for the fees that MOST customers will cost him.
> 
> Oh, and if you're a "But I use my debit card, not my credit card..." sort of person, well, guess what? The banks still charge for that privilege, but the fees are much more cleverly hidden.  It's all well and good to think that you get money back, but if you actually put pencil to paper and calculate what 2.5% of everything you spend in a year would be...
Click to expand...


Yeah yeah so you've said before - we'll have to agree to disagree on the cash is better for everyone theory.  Retailers will charge what the market will bear and not a cent less no matter what the payment process is.  I think you're jealous of all my free travel


----------



## vintagesnaps

It may not happen again, but... go the better part of a week without power! All I had was the radio and candles and flashlights. We had hurricane force winds get this far north and so many lines and tree branches were down, everything was down! My work cell phone was going down within a day or two but they since boosted the backup for the towers and I'm farther from the towers. Gas pumps were down too, gas stations were closed, there was no going anywhere! I'm keeping landlines and keep some cash on hand. 

Only time I need cash at home is something like realizing the day the grass would be cut I was low on checks so paid in cash. Or some neighborhood kid comes to the door selling coupon books or whatever the elementary school is doing for a fundraiser. This year it was two girls, Brianna and Brianna (Bree-ann-a and Bree-_awn_-a); the youngest who was about 7 going on 27 gave me restaurant recommendations, Hot Head Burritos and the smoothie place! 

I remember many years ago our local camera store owner telling me how much the fees made a difference for small businesses, harder to absorb the cost. I usually pay cash, makes you think twice before you get it out of your wallet to spend it!


----------



## limr

It's all made-up crap anyway. Spend your money the way you see fit, and others will do the same.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I just spent some of mine on photography. (My refund!)


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Yeah yeah so you've said before - we'll have to agree to disagree on the cash is better for everyone theory.  Retailers will charge what the market will bear and not a cent less no matter what the payment process is.  I think you're jealous of all my free travel


I'm not going to say that cash is better for everyone, rather that it's widespread use would be beneficial to everyone.  You're right, retailers will charge what the market will bear, but they have to add that 2.5% (Or whatever amount is appropriate)...  I use 2.85% based on an average of the fees I pay to electronic payment processors. 

Jealous of free travel?  NO!  I have done more than enough travelling to last me a half-dozen lifetimes.  I could VERY happily spend the rest of my days confined to Vancouver Island!  Now... if you'd said free camera gear?  We'd have to discuss that!


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> Jealous of free travel? NO! I have done more than enough travelling to last me a half-dozen lifetimes. I could VERY happily spend the rest of my days confined to Vancouver Island! Now... if you'd said free camera gear? We'd have to discuss that!



You could get camera gear.  My points are flexible and could be used on Amazon to buy gear or to pay my card when the bill comes in but... they go much further when used for travel.  a $500 flight might be 32,500 points / a $500 purchase on Amazon would be 62,500 points / a $500 gift card can be had for 50,000 points


----------



## Fujidave

Had a mooch with the GRII today after I went to Jessops.


----------



## vintagesnaps

John, you could do your own reality show where _nobody_ gets voted off the island!

Dave, I bet (hope?) you got something photography related at Jessops...

I think I forgot to post about Easter night... about 12:30ish I heard something and thought is it raining? Then I heard banging/noises, a loud pop and a car door and voices and wondered what on earth are they doing next door? Heard the same sound again but louder and thought it almost sounds like hail?!? but by then knew something was wrong. Walking into the kitchen I could see the sky lit up out back and realized I'd heard the fire crackling, thought their fire pit must have caught something on fire, but it was an outbuilding next to their fence along one side of my yard. It was ablaze, when I called they said a deputy was on scene (that was the car door) and the fire dept. had been dispatched.

Talk about heart pounding, felt like it took forever but was only minutes. That little wood outbuilding was going up in flames fast. Stood there thinking it's going to catch their (wood) fence. Once they got the hoses on it the fire was out fast but it kept smoking (smelled like a campfire), they were here about an hour. One of those things that could've been worse, it wasn't close to a house or garage (their house and mine are brick). I don't even know them since they bought the house and moved in, but they now have no little outbuilding and a big ol' hole in the fence.

It was more fun when the Easter bunny rode by with all the fire vehicles.


----------



## CherylL

vintagesnaps said:


> John, you could do your own reality show where _nobody_ gets voted off the island!
> 
> Dave, I bet (hope?) you got something photography related at Jessops...
> 
> I think I forgot to post about Easter night... about 12:30ish I heard something and thought is it raining? Then I heard banging/noises, a loud pop and a car door and voices and wondered what on earth are they doing next door? Heard the same sound again but louder and thought it almost sounds like hail?!? but by then knew something was wrong. Walking into the kitchen I could see the sky lit up out back and realized I'd heard the fire crackling, thought their fire pit must have caught something on fire, but it was an outbuilding next to their fence along one side of my yard. It was ablaze, when I called they said a deputy was on scene (that was the car door) and the fire dept. had been dispatched.
> 
> Talk about heart pounding, felt like it took forever but was only minutes. That little wood outbuilding was going up in flames fast. Stood there thinking it's going to catch their (wood) fence. Once they got the hoses on it the fire was out fast but it kept smoking (smelled like a campfire), they were here about an hour. One of those things that could've been worse, it wasn't close to a house or garage (their house and mine are brick). I don't even know them since they bought the house and moved in, but they now have no little outbuilding and a big ol' hole in the fence.
> 
> It was more fun when the Easter bunny rode by with all the fire vehicles.



Wow!  Scary to have a fire so close by.  Our daughter's car burst into flames in our garage.  We were out of town and thankfully my daughter was not in the shower above the garage.  She was running late between class & her job.  It didn't get into the house except smoke damage.   We had to paint inside and replace insulation.  It could have been much worse.  The garage was a big mess.  The wall of tools and shelving was melted into the car so when it was towed out they had to pry items off.


----------



## davidharmier60

Closest I can get to weird noises was when gun shots went off next door when we still lived in Houston.
I say it was drug related because I had been keeping a list of how many different vehicles had been visiting for minutes each. We have heavy weather coming in about an hour and a half. If as heavy as they say we may very well lose power and tarps off the roof. Sure glad I did the Marquee today!


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> I'm not going to say that cash is better for everyone, rather that it's widespread use would be beneficial to everyone.



I only carry two cards, I also carry cash but rarely use it. I Quick Books for business and Quicken for personal. Using the cards lets me download transaction into categorized transactions. I pay the balance in full and take the cash back. 

When we travel most of the truck stops give a discount for cash or debit cards, so I buy prepaid debit cards at Kroger with my credit card (cash back), which also earns me fuel discount points at Kroger. Using the prepaid debit cards on the road is safer as well.


----------



## RowdyRay

Anybody that thinks they're saving money with an "incentive program" or "rewards program", is a fool. There, I said it. Somebody is making money from it and it's not you or the retailer you bought from. It's a greedy middle man skimming money from a simple electronic money transfer. They WANT you to believe you're saving money. And if you carry a balance on that card, charge you a crazy interest rate that completely negates any savings that may have occurred. Wake up. Nothing is free!


----------



## limr

Jeez, enough already. Relax.

You can disagree with how someone spends their money and also NOT talk to them as if they are children.


----------



## SquarePeg

I don't care if others don't get it.  More room on the plane for me.  But hey Rowdy - maybe take it "down a notch" before you pop a key on that keyboard.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Well, he said he said it and he did! lol Maybe a bit too emphatically for the coffee house... I'm not so sure how worthwhile those type things are but if you travel and would use points etc. it might be worth it; it wouldn't be for me.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Now why is it after another NHL game that went into a second overtime, NBCSN goes to a special for like, a half hour? Why kill time for another half hour to start showing curling that was supposed to air at 10:30 - at 12:30??? I know I'm a night owl but still... 

And why did they move the NY Islanders off the island?? Saying the next game is in Brooklyn still makes me go - what??? lol Still sounds just, wrong. Thank goodness the Rangers are still at MSG then all is right with the world.


----------



## smoke665

A friend put me on to the gift/debit cards at Kroger. You can buy them at face value, using your credit card with cash back bonus. Every dollar spent gets you one fuel point, which you can use for a discount at Kroger fuel, but gift cards get you anywhere from 2 -4 times the points. 100 points equals $.10/gal. There's a limit of a $1.00/gal max, and 35 gallons per fueling, but on my truck that's a $35 savings per fill up. We've found Kroger fuel prices generally some of the lowest in an area, plus being a member with their loyalty card gets you an automatic $.03/ gal discount on the front end before your fuel point credit. Plus we save at the pump at other fuel stations that charge a premium for credit card transactions by us using the debit card.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> John, you could do your own reality show where _nobody_ gets voted off the island!
> 
> Dave, I bet (hope?) you got something photography related at Jessops...
> 
> I think I forgot to post about Easter night... about 12:30ish I heard something and thought is it raining? Then I heard banging/noises, a loud pop and a car door and voices and wondered what on earth are they doing next door? Heard the same sound again but louder and thought it almost sounds like hail?!? but by then knew something was wrong. Walking into the kitchen I could see the sky lit up out back and realized I'd heard the fire crackling, thought their fire pit must have caught something on fire, but it was an outbuilding next to their fence along one side of my yard. It was ablaze, when I called they said a deputy was on scene (that was the car door) and the fire dept. had been dispatched.
> 
> Talk about heart pounding, felt like it took forever but was only minutes. That little wood outbuilding was going up in flames fast. Stood there thinking it's going to catch their (wood) fence. Once they got the hoses on it the fire was out fast but it kept smoking (smelled like a campfire), they were here about an hour. One of those things that could've been worse, it wasn't close to a house or garage (their house and mine are brick). I don't even know them since they bought the house and moved in, but they now have no little outbuilding and a big ol' hole in the fence.
> 
> It was more fun when the Easter bunny rode by with all the fire vehicles.



I hope to be picking up a Fuji X-H1 as need the IBIS for my 90mm and 56mm.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Now why is it after another NHL game that went into a second overtime, NBCSN goes to a special for like, a half hour? Why kill time for another half hour to start showing curling that was supposed to air at 10:30 - at 12:30??? I know I'm a night owl but still...
> 
> And why did they move the NY Islanders off the island?? Saying the next game is in Brooklyn still makes me go - what??? lol Still sounds just, wrong. Thank goodness the Rangers are still at MSG then all is right with the world.


 
Well, Brooklyn is still _technically _on the Island. But I agree, it's still wrong if it's not in Nassau. But who cares about the Islanders anyway?  The Rangers are still at the Garden. That's what counts!


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> We've found Kroger fuel prices generally some of the lowest in an area


And, there's a reason for that.  Much like buying fuel from Costco and similar places.



smoke665 said:


> ...other fuel stations that charge a premium for credit card transactions by us using the debit card.


Izzn't that against the credit-card company rules?


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> And, there's a reason for that. Much like buying fuel from Costco and similar places.



??? Not sure where you're going. We've never had a problem at Krogers fuel, or the participating Shell stations that honor Kroger Fuel discounts. There's a lot of our RV friends doing this as well, with no problems. Because these are typically high volume fuel stops the likely hood of contamination of the fuel is actually less.

On charging a premium, apparently not as we see it all over. Truck stop signs display both cash and credit price. The smaller stations a lot of the times are less upfront. They usually have a notification somewhere but you have to look for it.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm in Cold Springs for propane. 
The boss lady went into a spiel about not getting charged as much on a tank not empty. The man said "take it Livingston and they will charge by the gallon".
Then he lifted the not empty tank and said there aren't barely nothing in here.
So it was $28 just like always. 


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## JonA_CT

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> And, there's a reason for that. Much like buying fuel from Costco and similar places.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ??? Not sure where you're going. We've never had a problem at Krogers fuel, or the participating Shell stations that honor Kroger Fuel discounts. There's a lot of our RV friends doing this as well, with no problems. Because these are typically high volume fuel stops the likely hood of contamination of the fuel is actually less.
> 
> On charging a premium, apparently not as we see it all over. Truck stop signs display both cash and credit price. The smaller stations a lot of the times are less upfront. They usually have a notification somewhere but you have to look for it.
Click to expand...


Me either, and I'm guessing most people must not have big problems because the busiest gas stations around here are the wholesale club, Cumberland Farms (local c-store chain that offers discounts through their phone app), and the stop and shop grocery store fuel stations.


----------



## tirediron

The problem with "Big Box Gas" is it's very often dregs; it may have sat longer than is ideal, it may not have all of the additives of the "top tier" fuels, etc.  These days, almost all gas is decent, but if you're going to get bad fuel, your chances are much higher at a non-refinery aligned vendor; they're just buying whatever is cheapest, and just like everything else, there's a reason it's cheap.

Interesting as far as the credit cards; I've never noticed that in the US, but I haven't bought fuel there in many years.  It's odd that a policy like that would be different unless there are federal laws which permit/deny it.  In Canada, as far as I know, NO retailer may add a surcharge for using credit cards, and it's spelled out very clearly in the agreement with <insert credit card here> that as a retailer, you may not do that.


----------



## JonA_CT

tirediron said:


> Interesting as far as the credit cards; I've never noticed that in the US, but I haven't bought fuel there in many years. It's odd that a policy like that would be different unless there are federal laws which permit/deny it. In Canada, as far as I know, NO retailer may add a surcharge for using credit cards, and it's spelled out very clearly in the agreement with <insert credit card here> that as a retailer, you may not do that.



 Back in 2008, many states made it legal for gas stations to have different credit card and cash price because the cost of gas had skyrocketed. Some still take advantage of it, but most don't, at least around here. I've noticed its really popular for diesel fuel at places that service big trucks, too.


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> The problem with "Big Box Gas" is it's very often dregs; it may have sat longer than is ideal, it may not have all of the additives of the "top tier" fuels, etc. These days, almost all gas is decent, but if you're going to get bad fuel, your chances are much higher at a non-refinery aligned vendor; they're just buying whatever is cheapest, and just like everything else, there's a reason it's cheap.



Don't know how it is there, or in other parts of the country, but here in the south, we're serviced by Colonial Pipeline, all the distributors (regardless of affiliation)get their gas from same faucet. The only difference is the bucket of additives they dump in the truck when they leave.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't know that there's an extra charge for using a credit card, I think the fees are worked into overall cost and pricing. I've never really noticed any particular gas stations more busy than others. I guess it's populated enough in the region that gas stations keep pricing competitive or people will just go to the next one! Exits along the interstate are where the gas prices are higher. It_ is _cheaper in the country! I'd try to get gas closer to home when I was working. 

More international hockey today, elimation rounds started for Mens U18's, Canada leading over Latvia. Forgot about the USA game this morning so I'm not looking at the score til the replay tonight! Not as many teams in womens so not many games were on, USA Womens won the Worlds. Mens Worlds start next week I think.


----------



## davidharmier60

I buy gas almost always for cash. Shell has a rewards card that 'saves' from 5 cents to 15 cents per gallon.
At least I'm getting name brand fuel......


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> At least I'm getting name brand fuel



See my post above, you're likely only getting the name brand "additives", which are questionable at best on benefit. All fuel is required to meet legal requirements for RVP, ethanol percentage, octane, detergent content and more.


----------



## davidharmier60

It's going into a 99 Chevy truck so whatever......


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m off to the Emerald Isle!  See you all on the flip side.


----------



## smoke665

If I hear another Piper Cub pilot bragging about being able to land on a postal stamp, I'm going to pull my hair out.  Small plane crash lands on top of Idaho tree, pilot rescued


----------



## Tony744

Have a safe and fun trip. And don't forget the photos!


----------



## CherylL

@SquarePeg have a great trip and remember to take photos


----------



## snowbear

CherylL said:


> Was in a big box drug store yesterday.  At check out I reminded the clerk that the items were buy one and get one half off.  She took a long pause and said no they are buy on and get one 50% off.


Another math wiz, wasting away in retail.


----------



## davidharmier60

My Sister made a dish called Shepherds Pie.  Ground beef, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy and cheese. Pretty good stuff. 
Just had some Banana pudding. 
Watching F1 from China on the DVR. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ahh, yes! I am a plastic carrier as well. I have not returned to a semi-local camera store because they were cash only. Good point! I wonder whatever happened to those carbon copy sliding machines they used when credit cards first came in vogue?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They still exist. A few months ago, Harbor Freight's headquarters were evacuated because of the wildfires in CA, and they couldn't process credit cards nationally as a result. This was high brewery build out time, and I used to make several purchases there every weekend. They pulled one out.
> 
> It's a huge security risk, though. I used my American Express (the easiest card company to deal with in fraud situations, imo) so I didn't worry much, but it is uncomfortable to have your credit card number actually printed out and held in a file these days.
> 
> I used to use them in college too...I worked for a non-profit museum that still relied on dial-up internet for card transactions back in the mid-to-late aughts, and our system used to crash a couple of times a week.
Click to expand...


I spent a summer working with my uncle delivering English muffins (the main brand).  Join Base Andrews was on his route and they had issued him a  plastic card for printing up the daily invoices - not a credit card, but it had the pertinent information imprinted in raised characters.  He just used a hard rubber roller, since that was the only place that issued a card.


----------



## Raw photographer

Nice photo


----------



## vintagesnaps

Have fun!


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> I’m off to the Emerald Isle!  See you all on the flip side.


Break a leg . . . no, wait, wrong event.  Bon Voyage and happy landings.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> If I hear another Piper Cub pilot bragging about being able to land on a postal stamp, I'm going to pull my hair out.  Small plane crash lands on top of Idaho tree, pilot rescued


What's a postage stamp?


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> I’m off to the Emerald Isle!  See you all on the flip side.


Have a Guinness (or ten) for me!


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> My Sister made a dish called Shepherds Pie.  Ground beef, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy and cheese. Pretty good stuff.
> Just had some Banana pudding.
> Watching F1 from China on the DVR.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Was it real shepherd, or did she cut corners and use some of that cheap poodle?


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Heading to the beach for a long weekend.  It's 40C/104F in the city and I ride a bike to work, so it's a bit warm!


----------



## davidharmier60

It's hard to nail down the Professional floor guys. Find out today if I have tomorrow off. 
Good mug of coffee this morning. 
If tomorrow is in fact off I'm going to an RC flying field in Livingston to see what I can see. Got the battery all charged up for the DSLR. Later ladies and gentlemen. 

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## smoke665

Looks like summer in the south finally headed our way. Earlier they had predicted we might reach 90 by the first of the week, at least that's been revised down a little to 86. Maintenance day for me as I try to find out why our zero turn mower suddenly decided it didn't want to move.


----------



## davidharmier60

29.29 for the week. The truck doesn't tell me the temp. Sun. Bright. Warm. PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home 

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## Original katomi

Getting cold and windy in Hampshire UK.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Today TCM has on Wheeler & Woolsey movies. They're so corny. It seems like they cranked these out as fast as they could crank a camera back in the day. The last one involved alcohol in lemon syrup going in the fountain drinks by mistake. This one they're 'city slickers' going out west, which in old movies always looked like it was still the 1800's. Except for women in flapper dresses.


----------



## davidharmier60

Tomorrow I have off. I probably already mentioned that I'm going to an RC flying field in Livingston. Then into Shepherd to the post office. Then home I'm sure.

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## Tony744

If the weather's decent tomorrow, gonna hike out to a marsh nearby. There's an osprey nest sitting on top of a dead tree just off the shore.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, we are getting battered by some silly named storm today OH what joy.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning from Hampshire UK storm here as well . It’s put today’s plans to pot


----------



## Tony744

Morning. Still raining here. My trip out to the marsh may have to wait for another day.


----------



## davidharmier60

The planes are for the most part the same.
Radio tech and support equipment has changed drastically. I forgot the Camera. 
Foam war birds and an F-22 were here as well. Off the Post Office and then home. 

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## Fujidave

Afternoon all, well went out today but storm stupid gave us a battering.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Might rain, might not, who knows. Later grocery & prescription pickup, grab some carry out, etc. (that's take away for you FujiDave). Plenty of hockey on later, USA Men's U18 and CBJ playoff game, doesn't seem like they ever had a team quite like this.


----------



## davidharmier60

All the foam stuff (two war birds and a stick plane) could hover in the wind.
The foam F-22 could blast through the gusts.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Looks like a good noir film coming up but a late start. Which is OK since the CBJ game went into OT, and a second OT, but we won! 

Ready for a late night popcorn worthy movie with Raymond Burr, I like him as a bad guy before he reformed and became Perry Mason! And Jim Backus, don't think I've ever seen Mr. Magoo in this kind of movie.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Might rain, might not, who knows. Later grocery & prescription pickup, grab some carry out, etc. (that's take away for you FujiDave). Plenty of hockey on later, USA Men's U18 and CBJ playoff game, doesn't seem like they ever had a team quite like this.



I sometimes say carry out, but normally once I`ve been to the pub


----------



## Original katomi

Morning from UK 
Just finished sorting out and repairing the damage from the storm last night. Most of problems were things that were not nailed down and were blown around.


----------



## smoke665

Don't normally post this kind of stuff, but yesterday we went to a festival in another town. One the vendors there was serving these. OMG it was so good. My favorite food groups all in one! We'll be making this at our house! Fried Green Tomato and Pimiento Cheese BLT - Taste of the South


----------



## davidharmier60

Not a tremendous amount of stuff happening today. The mower is acting up and my best guess is the fuel pump isn't keeping up. Somewhere between weeks and a few months we have to move.
Not looking forward to it. Thinking of getting an electric Park Flyer because I could use it at home (wherever home turns out to be). A decent radio for RC is bucks up.
I like the idea of an electric plane. Lighter weight less likely to splat so hard.
And all the new stuff is sort of crash proof anyhow.
Anyhow that's all my thinking just now.


----------



## CherylL

Bitter cold today after the rain yesterday.  Glad I didn't pack away all of my winter stuff.  Turkish daughter in town with a friend.  They have been out sight seeing 2 days and a wedding last night.  Good to have young people in the house again if only for a short time.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Watching the end of the U18 hockey worlds, USA won the bronze over Canada. Sweden playing Russia in a low scoring game that probably could go either way. This is the time of year I start flipping channels and going is this what's on regular TV when there's no hockey??!


----------



## davidharmier60

A pasta and chicken dinner. 
Astros on T.V.
Blue Bell later. 

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## davidharmier60

4.54 hours today. Going to get a box of pennies. Then to the Post Office. 

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## davidharmier60

Tried everything I was told on the lawn tractor and it still won't run right.
Just had Salmon patties,  Sweet taters and broccoli.  Have started on a sure method of moving my coins and not having them scattered throughout the box.

Other than that Price is Right on the DVR. 
Almost certainly Blue Bell later. 

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----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> Tried everything I was told on the lawn tractor and it still won't run right.


Whatsamatter withit?


----------



## davidharmier60

Won't make power. RPM. Won't run the blades or even pull itself around the property.  Cleaned the carb. Cleaned and gapped the plug. Tomorrow just for jollies I'll get a fuel filter. But this one is clear and can see nothing wrong. Maybe the ethanol fuel has captured enough water to be the problem with NO end in sight...

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----------



## snowbear

My company's contract has been extended, yet again.  It was to expire (after a number of extensions) at the end of this month; the new bids aren't being opened for a couple more weeks.

I've already been contacted by two of the companies, asking for my resume, current salary and requesting I sign a letter of intent (one year).


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> Won't make power. RPM. Won't run the blades or even pull itself around the property.  Cleaned the carb. Cleaned and gapped the plug. Tomorrow just for jollies I'll get a fuel filter. But this one is clear and can see nothing wrong. Maybe the ethanol fuel has captured enough water to be the problem with NO end in sight...
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


DO.  NOT.  EVER.  RUN.  ETHANOL.  IN.  A.  SMALL.  ENGINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It is absolute murder on all gaskets, o-rings, seals, etc, especially in diaphragm carburetors.  I wouldn't bother cleaning the carb; buy a rebuild key, and replace all the consumable parts.  Check your plugs to make sure they're gapped correctly and clean, Do a compression & leak-down test (if you don't have the tools, you can usually borrow them from big chain-store auto parts sales houses) as burned valves, burned-through head-gaskets and worn rings are very common on small engines.  I would do a spark test (you should get at least 1/4"), and definitely change the fuel filter.


----------



## JonA_CT

Can you still get ethanol free gas up there? There are only a few stations here in CT that don’t have 10% ethanol. We have to treat fuel for small engines,m. They’ve also started selling small engine gas in QT containers at Home Depot. 


I’m just getting home after work and then brew work. I’ll put myself at 17 hours for today. I had 7 hours yesterday, so that puts me to 24 hours for the week so far. I should be less than 80 this week. I think.


----------



## davidharmier60

We have True Fuel for the Weed eater.
Made ALL the difference!
But the Weed eater only uses a pint at a time. The mower uses gallons.
10% Ethanol is pervasive. 
Later y'all. 

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----------



## tirediron

Here our high-test and farm gas (which anyone can buy up to 5 gallons of) are both ethanol free.  Regular has 10% and mid-grade 5.


----------



## davidharmier60

Learned a few more things to try.
5.19 hours today 10.15 for the week so far. 
Pennies tomorrow. Post Office and then to the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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## davidharmier60

No water came out of the gas tank.
Runs for seconds and dies.
Marquee today and maybe even get paid.


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----------



## smoke665

Hard to find any ethanol free gas here, which create problems for everyone with small engines. The newer ones are compatible with ethanol, but unless you run them weekly the gas is prone to gum up the carburetor. I've become fairly adept at pulling them, and doing quick cleans.


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh bother. The coffeemaker wasn't on. 
My phone says 4.06. But the time clock is 3 or 4 minutes slow from that. Just one of the many things my phone doesn't do right. 

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----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon all, just thought I`d login and say it`s been great here but I`m leaving now.  I am fed up getting PMs about trying to be top poster all the time and as it`s doing my head in I have decided to leave, so I wish you all the best in the future.


----------



## davidharmier60

I am bummed out to read that!
Right at 5 hours today 21.25 for the week so far. Off to the post office and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> getting PMs about trying to be top poster all the time



Huh??


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> getting PMs about trying to be top poster all the time
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Huh??
Click to expand...

Agreed - huh??

Curious to know who is so bothered by that.   You should forward those PMs to me or @limr or someone else on the staff, and not think twice about it.   You sure shouldn't let yourself get run off the forum over it.

Seriously, people - can we leave each other alone about this kind of nonsense?


----------



## Derrel

Fujidave said:


> Afternoon all, just thought I`d login and say it`s been great here but I`m leaving now.  I am fed up getting PMs about trying to be top poster all the time and as it`s doing my head in I have decided to leave, so I wish you all the best in the future.



I do not understand this... F*** those people PM'ing you. They can go take a flying leap!


----------



## vintagesnaps

PMs about being top poster???

Is that something with the software that you get notifications if you don't adjust settings to _not_ get them?? Because the site keeps points that are basically meaningless! So is it sending that info. for an individual account??

Does Dave need to check settings on his profile page? It's been so long since I signed up I don't remember how I set it up, but when the site was changed I had to ask about not getting notifications about something, but I can't remember what is was.

Could IT for the site check into it so if nothing else rule out if it's not notifications? It makes no sense to me that individual users would PM him about being top poster. I mean, who keeps track?? But if that's what's going on it sounds like harassment and anyone doing that should be removed from the site.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Fujidave said:


> Afternoon all, just thought I`d login and say it`s been great here but I`m leaving now.  I am fed up getting PMs about trying to be top poster all the time and as it`s doing my head in I have decided to leave, so I wish you all the best in the future.



Sorry to hear that.  This forum is one of the few active and friendly photo sites on the web.

I'm also a member of dpreview, but posting pictures there is like a blood sport.


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> No water came out of the gas tank.
> Runs for seconds and dies.
> Marquee today and maybe even get paid.
> 
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


So it's almost certainly fuel.  Is this one those s**tty new Briggs' engines with a vacuum-style fuel pump?


----------



## davidharmier60

Yes it is. Pulling and sanding the coil made it run for some time. But pulling the blade button makes it very mad. Gotta pull the deck and look for a seized bearing or something. 

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----------



## snowbear

Fujidave said:


> Afternoon all, just thought I`d login and say it`s been great here but I`m leaving now.  I am fed up getting PMs about trying to be top poster all the time and as it`s doing my head in I have decided to leave, so I wish you all the best in the future.


Damn.  Put the bloody *****s on ignore.


----------



## zulu42

*Gasoline fuel tip:*

Find your local small general aviation airport, bring a gas can, and buy AVGAS 100LL for all your small engines.

100 octane, ethanol free, lasts 2+years without stabilizer, mixes great with 2 cycle oil. Say goodbye to your fuel troubles.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh yeah, there's an 'Ignore' feature Dave! Or if need be try 'Report' to a mod. Tell the polar bear, he can sit on them!


----------



## tirediron

zulu42 said:


> *Gasoline fuel tip:*
> 
> Find your local small general aviation airport, bring a gas can, and buy AVGAS 100LL for all your small engines.
> 
> 100 octane, ethanol free, lasts 2+years without stabilizer, mixes great with 2 cycle oil. Say goodbye to your fuel troubles.


I would be careful with this.  Yes, AVGAS will make your engines run like a scalded cat, BUT...  most small engines are designed for 87-89 octane.  Prolonged use of 100 octane will potentially cause damage due to overheating and excessive power.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Oh yeah, there's an 'Ignore' feature Dave! Or if need be try 'Report' to a mod. Tell the polar bear, he can sit on them!


Leonore . . . I'm not a full mod; only contests.


----------



## smoke665

On the back side of our property is a swamp. Yesterday I was testing the edge backing up with the brush hog, as I felt it give I made rapid exit. This is from a few years ago when i wasn't so careful. I keep it around as a reminder to keep my distance, because it never dries up. It will form a dry crust over the top with soup underneath. Break through that crust and you're in trouble. This time it sunk to the belly, fortunately the bucket kept it from going deeper. Took a winch and snatch block to twist it out. Here it is on more stable ground, thought it was a gonner for sure.


----------



## zulu42

tirediron said:


> zulu42 said:
> 
> 
> 
> *Gasoline fuel tip:*
> 
> Find your local small general aviation airport, bring a gas can, and buy AVGAS 100LL for all your small engines.
> 
> 100 octane, ethanol free, lasts 2+years without stabilizer, mixes great with 2 cycle oil. Say goodbye to your fuel troubles.
> 
> 
> 
> I would be careful with this.  Yes, AVGAS will make your engines run like a scalded cat, BUT...  most small engines are designed for 87-89 octane.  Prolonged use of 100 octane will potentially cause damage due to overheating and excessive power.
Click to expand...


Always good to include a disclaimer, no doubt.  Though I have about a dozen small engines as examples. Some have been running like a top on avgas for 25+ years and no carb rebuilds. YMMV


----------



## Tropicalmemories

tirediron said:


> zulu42 said:
> 
> 
> 
> *Gasoline fuel tip:*
> 
> Find your local small general aviation airport, bring a gas can, and buy AVGAS 100LL for all your small engines.
> 
> 100 octane, ethanol free, lasts 2+years without stabilizer, mixes great with 2 cycle oil. Say goodbye to your fuel troubles.
> 
> 
> 
> I would be careful with this.  Yes, AVGAS will make your engines run like a scalded cat, BUT...  most small engines are designed for 87-89 octane.  Prolonged use of 100 octane will potentially cause damage due to overheating and excessive power.
Click to expand...


I may have got it wrong, but I don't think Octane numbers work that way?  Higher Octane has greater knock prevention so allows engines to run a higher compression without the detonation that damages valves and pistons, and this high compression is where the higher power comes from - but the high octane additives actually make it less 'explosive'.  

So using high octane fuel in low compression engines dies not increase power and damage is caused by running high compression engines on low octane fuel.


----------



## tirediron

zulu42 said:


> Always good to include a disclaimer, no doubt.  Though I have about a dozen small engines as examples. Some have been running like a top on avgas for 25+ years and no carb rebuilds. YMMV


Older engines, especially those with cast iron heads & grey iron piston rings are going to fair a lot better, and as long as you're not running it for a long time (in a generator for instance I think it would be a bad idea) it shouldn't be an issue.


----------



## zulu42

And don't run avgas in anything with a catalytic converter.


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon folks. The floor machine is really cramping my style. As the battery situation WAS when the low battery light started blinking it would still put down liquid and vacuum it up. As it is now once that light starts blinking the drive motors quit. So anyhow a bit under 5 hours and 26.14 for the week with only a day to go. I puled the deck out from under the mower and no bearings were frozen and nothing wrapped around the blades. Doesn't explain all the shuddering before the motor shuts down. Unless of course a or both blades are badly out of balance. It seems like the motor itself is the problem but I haven't a clue what to do about it.


----------



## CherylL

The ground is saturated around here.  We have a new sump pump arriving Monday.  The one we have now is on borrowed time.  Looks like no rain on Sunday so I can get photos of a grad friend.


----------



## davidharmier60

A bit under 5 hours today. 31.05 for the week. By never using the buffing pads in the floor machine I was able to get some liquid throughout the store. Reading and snacking then PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Thanks for all the small engine talk...you guys jinxed me. I had to pull the carb off my mower yesterday and clean it


----------



## tirediron

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Thanks for all the small engine talk...you guys jinxed me. I had to pull the carb off my mower yesterday and clean it


----------



## limr

May the Fourth be with you, hosers.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Thanks for all the small engine talk...you guys jinxed me. I had to pull the carb off my mower yesterday and clean it



Sorry about that .


----------



## davidharmier60

No further news on our mower.  It has turned out to be a very nice day.
I would have gone to the flying field but would need gas I can't afford.
So staying home seems like the best plan.....


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Thanks for all the small engine talk...you guys jinxed me. I had to pull the carb off my mower yesterday and clean it



I know it! I've got an ATV and a chain saw that I planned on cleaning carbs on last week, then the big mower went down, and took priority. Seems like it's a never ending cycle.


----------



## NancyMoranG

limr said:


> May the Fourth be with you, hosers.



Driving in Texas today and the highway electronic board read 
'I find your lack of seatbelt disturbing, ' then next flash screen said,
'May the 4th be with you, text I will not..'
Obviously DOT has a sense of humor...


----------



## davidharmier60

Txdot does in fact have a sense of humor.
Looks like another beautiful day. 
May go to the flying field afterall.

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----------



## davidharmier60

Came to the flying field in Livingston. 
Couple people flew a total of 4 planes. 
Pictures later I think.

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----------



## davidharmier60

Spitfire Electric by Just Plain Dave, on Flickr

Something similar to this will be my my reintroduction to RC. AS3X tech to slow down the reaction and go level if the sticks are released. And greater than 3 foot wingspan so I can see it.
Gonna be a while before I can do it. Obviously the thing to do would be get a good radio with at least 8 plane memory and buy BNF planes. But I plan to buy a Ready to Fly example with a lesser radio to start.


----------



## tirediron

Very cool!


----------



## SquarePeg

Hey Hosers!  Hope everyone is well and happy.  Ireland was gorgeous and lots of fun but I’m happy to be back in the land of water pressure and speed limits.


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> Hey Hosers!  Hope everyone is well and happy.  Ireland was gorgeous and lots of fun but I’m happy to be back in the land of water pressure and speed limits.



Welcome home!


----------



## Tony744

Welcome back!


----------



## tirediron

Where's my Guinness?????


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Hey Hosers!  Hope everyone is well and happy.  Ireland was gorgeous and lots of fun but I’m happy to be back in the land of water pressure and speed limits.


Welcome back!   Glad you had fun, despite low water pressure.      Go wash that hair now!


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh I hate when that happens. 
I looked at the Timex at 1:30 or so.
Then rolled over and poof it was 4am. 
Good coffee and a loose plan to get through Monday....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> Where's my Guinness?????



Burp


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> Spitfire Electric by Just Plain Dave, on Flickr
> 
> Something similar to this will be my my reintroduction to RC. AS3X tech to slow down the reaction and go level if the sticks are released. And greater than 3 foot wingspan so I can see it.
> Gonna be a while before I can do it. Obviously the thing to do would be get a good radio with at least 8 plane memory and buy BNF planes. But I plan to buy a Ready to Fly example with a lesser radio to start.



Nice!! I had a distant cousin that built radio controlled replica war birds, some of which almost seemed big enough to hold a small child. 

I know they don't have the same cool factor of your example, but have you checked out drones?


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Where's my Guinness?????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Burp
Click to expand...

Christmas Card List
Sharon


----------



## davidharmier60

Got ZERO interest in drones.
Don't believe I could fly a helicopter. 
But airplanes are my passion!
5.20 hours today. Played the part of a plumber today. Saw my Sister pulling into the lot as I was pulling out. So I figure she hit the Post office. But like a fool I am going there.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Here’s a Guinness with my face on the foam.  It’s called a stoutie.


----------



## Derrel

How do they get your face in the foam? Is it some type of special food-safe, soy ink or what?


----------



## Original katomi

davidharmier60 said:


> Got ZERO interest in drones.
> Don't believe I could fly a helicopter.
> But airplanes are my passion!
> 5.20 hours today. Played the part of a plumber today. Saw my Sister pulling into the lot as I was pulling out. So I figure she hit the Post office. But like a fool I am going there.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Ruddy drones. Had one round here at bedroom window height at 10.30...1100pm
Big torch to highlight it so all other homes could see it and a er um go away hand gestures


----------



## SquarePeg

Derrel said:


> How do they get your face in the foam? Is it some type of special food-safe, soy ink or what?



They put the glass of beer in this thing that looked like a It was this cool little printer head thing that came down and printed it on the foam.  I wish I had thought to get a photo of it.  I'm assuming it was food-safe!  Kind of like when they print the photos on a cake.  I found this photo on google:


----------



## vintagesnaps

Glad you had beer and fun!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Derrel said:
> 
> 
> 
> How do they get your face in the foam? Is it some type of special food-safe, soy ink or what?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They put the glass of beer in this thing that looked like a It was this cool little printer head thing that came down and printed it on the foam.  I wish I had thought to get a photo of it.  I'm assuming it was food-safe!  Kind of like when they print the photos on a cake.  I found this photo on google:
Click to expand...


Cool!!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

'Nuisance' rain tomorrow, well when isn't it?? lol Not that we don't need rain but we've had enough for awhile! Looks decent for the weekend, that'd be nice. 

Hoping the CBJ get it back tonight, would love to see them go to the next playoff round. Gotta wait til Friday for the Worlds in hockey to start.


----------



## snowbear

Fáilte ar ais abhaile.


SquarePeg said:


> Here’s a Guinness with my face on the foam.
> 
> View attachment 172671


StoutPeg!

Glad you enjoyed it, but please, don't tell me those crosses are "Selltick"


----------



## Derrel

Nearly 80 here today! May often has 10-15 days of very nice weather here in the greater Portland area.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Fáilte ar ais abhaile.
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here’s a Guinness with my face on the foam.
> 
> View attachment 172671
> 
> 
> 
> StoutPeg!
> 
> Glad you enjoyed it, but please, don't tell me those crosses are "Selltick"
Click to expand...


Not loving the nickname.  They are keltic


----------



## davidharmier60

Again. Woke up looked at watch 1:30ish.
Rolled over got comfortable and next thing I know it's time to get up. Coffee is pretty good. More of the same to come.
I heard it was going to rain through Saturday.  Doesn't seem to have started just yet. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

snowbear said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon all, just thought I`d login and say it`s been great here but I`m leaving now.  I am fed up getting PMs about trying to be top poster all the time and as it`s doing my head in I have decided to leave, so I wish you all the best in the future.
> 
> 
> 
> Damn.  Put the bloody *****s on ignore.
Click to expand...


Just done that, totally forgot I could do it here.


----------



## Fred von den Berg

Oh, very messy. Barcelona are out and Liverpool are amazingly in to the final of the Champions League after coming back from a 3-0 defeat in Spain to win 4-0 tonight.


----------



## JonA_CT

My brother is a Liverpool fan (has a you'll never walk alone tattoo and everything), and was hyperventilating when he called to tell me. 

Mind you, my involvement in English Football is to pretend I am a Spurs fan and that Harry Kane is dreamy primarily as a way to get under his skin.


----------



## davidharmier60

Had 5 and a few minutes today.
10.39 for the week so far. 
With Sister off with her friends Dad made dinner. Hamburger steak, green beans and carrots. The hamburger steak was great!
Been watching foam airplane building on YouTube.  Gonna do something and buy a cheap radio for it. Something along the lines of my Telemaster 40. But of course it will be electric.

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----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm not familiar with those international sports, but the Worlds in hockey start Friday!! (I may have said that before, I am a rabid hockey fan ya know!) College lacrosse playoffs start this weekend, that's almost hockey on dry land, I'll watch that.

Our Bluejackets are done for the season, in a series with two of the worst refs when they were in the minors and how they're still refs I don't know (oh yeah I do, the two referee system...). Looked at the game notes and how did I know? the way the game was going I knew it, and not just one but two of them! lol I felt bad for Bob (the goalie) but at least there's something to build on for the future.


----------



## snowbear

Fujidave said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Afternoon all, just thought I`d login and say it`s been great here but I`m leaving now.  I am fed up getting PMs about trying to be top poster all the time and as it`s doing my head in I have decided to leave, so I wish you all the best in the future.
> 
> 
> 
> Damn.  Put the bloody *****s on ignore.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Just done that, totally forgot I could do it here.
Click to expand...

Glad you're back, mate.


----------



## snowbear

THREE MORE DAYS!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yay!! FujiDave is back!!


----------



## davidharmier60

This is getting irritating. Looked at the Timex at 2:20. And then it was 4am. 
Good mug of coffee. According to my phone it won't rain while doing the Marquee. And if the stars align I get paid today. Have a nice Wednesday y'all. 

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----------



## Tony744

It's only Wednesday? I woke up thinking it was Thursday!


----------



## Fujidave

Susie and I got soaked from the rain when we went out this morning, and now we are back home it`s lovely and sunny...lol


----------



## smoke665

@Fujidave Glad you decided to stay!!!!


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> @Fujidave Glad you decided to stay!!!!



Thank you Smoke, I had to stay anyway as who could I share my totally fantastic photographic skils and amazing editing too


----------



## Fujidave

On a really good note, as some of you know I take a lot of images of the vocalists here in Brighton and because of that I have my very first Promo shoot this week.  Ever since I picked up a camera my big dream was to do something like this and now it is going to come true.  So watch this space.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Waiting, waiting, waiting... grass cutting, delivery... if I'd slept in like I felt, they would've all shown up early! lol

At least Miss Fisher Mysteries are back on Ovation on Wednesday mornings so I can see what flapper outfit she's wearing, when she drives a cool car with running boards or flies a vintage plane.


----------



## Fujidave

One thing I have been trying to do is Bounce flash, my first go was like... OMG this flash will bounce but only once I throw it out the window lol.  Slowly getting the hang of it now though.


----------



## davidharmier60

I too am glad FD decided to stay!
5 and almost 3/4 hours today.
16 and almost 3/4 for the week so far.
Waiting on a Cheeseburger from the deli.
Stars did align and check will be ready.

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----------



## smoke665

A little update and public service notice to all the men on TPF. Supposedly I'm being released from the hospital later today, following Robotic Laparoscopic Prostatectomy surgery yesterday.

Because of previous kidney stones, I've done a yearly checkup at a Urologist who also does a routine PSA test (an indicator for Prostate Cancer). At my check up in January he noted that my PSA level had doubled from the previous year. A 2nd followup a month later showed it doubled again. That and a 4k test showed a significant risk for cancer. A prostate biopsy in early March confirmed aggressive cancer. Mine was borderline on radiation treatment, but because every indication was that it was still contained I opted to remove it. Thankfully mine was caught early enough that they were able to remove it and save nerves.

So here's the public service part. Caught early it's one the easiest to stop, but once it spreads it's deadly. Bad thing is you don't really know it till it's to late. Getting a PSA test is a simple blood test that can save your life, yet many doctors fail to do it as part of an annual exam. If you are 50 or older, (younger if there is history in your family, because it's genetic) make sure you get a PSA test EVERY year.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Glad it's done and you were preventive Smoke, we want to keep you around for many years to come. 

While I'm waiting it would be a good day to report a couple of losers to the Do Not Call list. When I have before I stopped getting calls from the ones I reported. One looks local and left a message about being from the Nielsen ratings. I doubt it, since when do they call daily to the point of harassment?? I remember doing a survey years ago where you keep track of what you watch.

I could watch The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That. 

edit - OK, twice yesterday, twice today, these people are going down! lol Nielsen my ass.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> A little update and public service notice to all the men on TPF. Supposedly I'm being released from the hospital later today, following Robotic Laparoscopic Prostatectomy surgery yesterday.
> 
> Because of previous kidney stones, I've done a yearly checkup at a Urologist who also does a routine PSA test (an indicator for Prostate Cancer). At my check up in January he noted that my PSA level had doubled from the previous year. A 2nd followup a month later showed it doubled again. That and a 4k test showed a significant risk for cancer. A prostate biopsy in early March confirmed aggressive cancer. Mine was borderline on radiation treatment, but because every indication was that it was still contained I opted to remove it. Thankfully mine was caught early enough that they were able to remove it and save nerves.
> 
> So here's the public service part. Caught early it's one the easiest to stop, but once it spreads it's deadly. Bad thing is you don't really know it till it's to late. Getting a PSA test is a simple blood test that can save your life, yet many doctors fail to do it as part of an annual exam. If you are 50 or older, (younger if there is history in your family, because it's genetic) make sure you get a PSA test EVERY year.



I have a test every year.


----------



## smoke665

@Fujidave keep doing it. I almost didn't go to my appt, and right up to the point that he gave me the biopsy results I didn't believe there was a problem

@vintagesnaps Thank You! Kinda partial to looking at the grass from above!


----------



## Tony744

Damn it! Missed him again! Glanced out my window and saw a hawk flying around. Grabbed my camera and ran outside but he was gone.


----------



## Derrel

smoke665 said:


> SNIP>being released from the hospital later today,>SNIP



That's good news!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Tony, the white squirrel(s) taunt me in the same way.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, wet here today and forecast for rain most of the day.


----------



## davidharmier60

Saw a couple of real interesting birds yesterday. But shooting through the storm door I didn't get any good shots.
I didn't look at the time overnight. 
4am still came but not like the past couple days. Nice mug of coffee. 
Ordered up a new carburetor for the lawn tractor yesterday. It was running and I squirted carb cleaner at the throttle pivot and the engine died. There was a sucking sound. I think air leaks around the shaft.
We'll see in several days. 

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----------



## Original katomi

Cold grey morning here. Don’t think coffee is going to make much difference


----------



## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> Cold grey morning here. Don’t think coffee is going to make much difference


Add some "sweetener" to it . . . rum, scotch, bourbon . . .


----------



## JonA_CT

Allergy season has been dampened (hah!) by the frequent rain so far this spring. We've had a mostly dry week, and now my face feels like it's going to explode. A couple of my students came in with their eyes nearly swollen shut from pollen. I've never seen anything like that before.


----------



## Derrel

Supposed to reach 86 here today


----------



## davidharmier60

I'd guess around 82 or so here.
Cloudy and maybe a trifle of fog.
5 hours and a few today.
21.53 for the week so far with two days to go. Going to the PO because I got something too big for the box at the front of the neighborhood. Should be the last thing I ordered from PCH. Aunt who had dementia but otherwise healthy expired last night. Sister will be home today.
That's all the news that's fit to print. 

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----------



## Fujidave

davidharmier60 said:


> I'd guess around 82 or so here.
> Cloudy and maybe a trifle of fog.
> 5 hours and a few today.
> 21.53 for the week so far with two days to go. Going to the PO because I got something too big for the box at the front of the neighborhood. Should be the last thing I ordered from PCH. Aunt who had dementia but otherwise healthy expired last night. Sister will be home today.
> That's all the news that's fit to print.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Sorry to hear about your Aunt, thoughts are with you and family David.


----------



## limr

Derrel said:


> Supposed to reach 86 here today



Ew.


----------



## limr

Supposedly in the mid-50s right now. Cloudy. Perfect weather for me to sit outside to get some air.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Allergy season has been dampened (hah!) by the frequent rain so far this spring. We've had a mostly dry week, and now my face feels like it's going to explode. A couple of my students came in with their eyes nearly swollen shut from pollen. I've never seen anything like that before.



One day out in the breezy sunshine yesterday and I was suffering!  I may have to give in and start taking allergy meds again.  I've been trying to  get away from that the past few years (with very limited success) by using air filters, closing windows when it is breezy, washing hands/face and changing clothes immediately when I come indoors, and being conscious of the environment when I'm outdoors.  I just don't like the way the allergy meds impact me.  It's a game of figuring out the lesser of the two evils.  The symptoms or the side effects.  

Good PSA Smoke, glad you're ok.  Screenings save lives!  Went for my annual skin cancer screening yesterday (I have had 2 squamous cell cancers removed from my leg several years ago so I'm diligent about screenings).   They identified what they called a pre-pre cancerous spot on my nose.  They immediately treated the spot with cryotherapy - they used liquid nitrogen to freeze and remove the abnormal cells.  It stung a bit but was so quick it could not be considered painful.  The skin will blister and shed off - hopefully leaving nothing but a pale scar.  Fun times.


----------



## Derrel

It has been my experience that allergies get worse with age. For me a combination of nasal drops or spray and pills has been the best, along with regular nasal irrigation in the mornings


----------



## terri

I've been lucky to never have been impacted by seasonal allergies.   I agree that they can get worse with age, and for me the last couple of springs I've noticed more sneezing/runny nose during the peak of spring pollen (it gets disgusting around here - coats everything in sight!).   But it's minor compared to what happens to some of you.  



SquarePeg said:


> Went for my annual skin cancer screening yesterday (I have had 2 squamous cell cancers removed from my leg several years ago so I'm diligent about screenings). They identified what they called a pre-pre cancerous spot on my nose. They immediately treated the spot with cryotherapy - they used liquid nitrogen to freeze and remove the abnormal cells. It stung a bit but was so quick it could not be considered painful. The skin will blister and shed off - hopefully leaving nothing but a pale scar. Fun times.


Holy crap!   Glad you went in and got it taken care of - and you too, Smoke.   Preventive measures are amazingly effective in even the nastiest cancers.


----------



## Fujidave

Just got a message, my first ever promo shoot is this Saturday.  I`m sooooo looking forward to this.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

SquarePeg said:


> I just don't like the way the allergy meds impact me. It's a game of figuring out the lesser of the two evils. The symptoms or the side effects.



You and me both! For me, the stuffy head and sneezing is more tolerable than the headaches I get from taking over the counter pills.


----------



## SquarePeg

Dean_Gretsch said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just don't like the way the allergy meds impact me. It's a game of figuring out the lesser of the two evils. The symptoms or the side effects.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You and me both! For me, the stuffy head and sneezing is more tolerable than the headaches I get from taking over the counter pills.
Click to expand...


Yes - they make me dehydrated and give me sleep and stomach issues.  I'd rather have the sniffles and watery eyes.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

We have a couple air purifiers made by Hunter ( the fan company ) that works wonders! One in the living room and one in the bedroom really makes a huge difference.


----------



## waday

JonA_CT said:


> Allergy season has been dampened (hah!) by the frequent rain so far this spring. We've had a mostly dry week, and now my face feels like it's going to explode. A couple of my students came in with their eyes nearly swollen shut from pollen. I've never seen anything like that before.


This season has been terrible for my family. Someone has been sick nearly every week since January; we had a few lucky weeks interspersed in there. 

Since people are giving their general health PSAs, I’ll add mine. I’ve known for a while now that I am predisposed to high blood pressure. I finally made an appointment with the doctor after taking and logging my BP a few times a day for a few weeks using a wrist monitor. Doctor put me on meds, then upped the meds, and now my BP has decreased (significantly) to a healthy level. 

So, check your BP occasionally and talk to your doctor if you think you have high BP.


----------



## Tony744

Allergies used to be real bad for me as a kid. Was getting allergy shots every two weeks. One spring allergies hit me real bad. Doc decided to take me off the allergy shots and I haven't had a problem(other than minor sniffles) with allergies since.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, already had a lovely walk as sun is out and it`s nice and cool.


----------



## davidharmier60

What? A lovely day. Thunder and lightning and dripping water. It sure is tempting to go back to sleep and blow off the day.
But of course I won't. Later y'all. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon, a lovely day here today as the sun is out and there is a beautiful breeze to keep you nice and cool.  Getting my cameras and flash all ready for tomorrows promo shoot, so if I`m happy with them I will share some.


----------



## davidharmier60

It stopped raining but looks like it will start again soon. Rather warm and humid.
5 hours and 9 minutes today. 
27.02 for the week with a day to go. Dollar General didn't have any foam board yesterday.  Going to go look again. Then to the Post Office and then to the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## Original katomi

Hi all.


----------



## waday

It's Friday afternoon. I'm ready to leave work. Really. Any minute now.

Oh, wait.... 100 minutes from now. Counting them down.


----------



## terri

It is now_ late_ Friday afternoon...as in, happy weekend, hosers!    

Pizza, salad and wine tonight.   Wine comes first, out on the screened in porch.   It's supposed to have started raining hours ago, but we're going to take advantage of the delay to enjoy the porch.


----------



## snowbear

Good evening, peeps.  We had to go buy some luggage - the big suitcase had to go, after 35+ years.  The hinge braces had come off (the rivets were sheared), and the lining had given up a while back.  Yep, the luggage gorillas finally won.  The two smaller cases are fine so we have some extra.  Sears had a four-piece set on sale.

MLW has said we can take the cross-sound ferry on the way up, so we'll get a little break, plus it puts us fairly close to Jon's nano-brewery.


----------



## SquarePeg

Appropriate for our earlier conversation...


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all. Well today’s project is stuffed. Went into get some steel cut yesterday the staff said come in sat the gov is about then he will do it for you. Called in gov was there all on own and really sorry but could not cut steel. Left cutting list and phone number. Looks like I will be burning weeds today


----------



## Fujidave

OMG  What a fantastic day and dream come true for me today, I had the great pleasure of doing my first ever promo photo shoot of a young lady named Lo.  I`m just going to upload a straight Sooc image of her now in the people thread, would love some advice too.


----------



## smoke665

Day 4 post surgery is going better. Starting to eat real food, and able to walk better. Just got done walking around on the driveway. It's not the trail I'm used to walking everyday, but it's better then the last few days.


----------



## snowbear

At Tox with @JonA_CT

Edit:  The Belladonna (chocolate coconut stout) is wonderful.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Day 4 post surgery is going better. Starting to eat real food, and able to walk better. Just got done walking around on the driveway. It's not the trail I'm used to walking everyday, but it's better then the last few days.


One day at a time.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hi y'all. Finished the pay period with 32 hours and 2 minutes. Just had boiled shrimp and crackers. Watching Price is Right from yesterday on the DVR. 
Got the foam boards for the plane I'm going to build. And we have a decent hot glue gun but I have to get a package of glue sticks. And then find a clear flat area on which to attempt to build....

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----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> Just had boiled shrimp and crackers.



Bummed big time. With everything going on we missed the Crawdad Boil at the Humane Society yesterday. They were selling Cajun Boiled for $3/lb. Carry out to raise money. Would have gone for a good cause and been an enjoyable feast for us.


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Mother’s Day!  My mom and my baby-


----------



## snowbear

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms.




Untitled by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Original katomi

Smoke nice to hear that you are on the mend. One day at a time take care


----------



## davidharmier60

Just cut out two wing halves.
Thinking about trying to draw out a fuselage half. Good cup of coffee even for a Sunday. We are fighting about the tires on the car. They are minus most of the tread.
One of them has a a crooked slit on it.
Doesn't look like a hit but more like the tire just gave up. We can't really afford to buy tires. Life is just peachy keen. 

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----------



## smoke665

Found this cleaning up files. Oh the shame they must bear. LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

Went to Livingston to Tractor Supply and Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart. 
Dog food. Black foam board which will be the fuselage I think. Eckhard sausage for dinner and glue sticks at Wal-Mart. 
The fuselage may be quite tricky.
But I'm going to give it a try.

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----------



## snowbear

Wow - Best Buy is carrying the Nikon Holy Trinity!


----------



## davidharmier60

Sausage, baked potato and little cabbages was dinner. Now going to do the Sunday night shuffle. 

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----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> Day 4 post surgery is going better. Starting to eat real food, and able to walk better. Just got done walking around on the driveway. It's not the trail I'm used to walking everyday, but it's better then the last few days.



Take it easy getting back up to speed.  Eating real food is a good start!


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Day 4 post surgery is going better. Starting to eat real food, and able to walk better. Just got done walking around on the driveway. It's not the trail I'm used to walking everyday, but it's better then the last few days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take it easy getting back up to speed.  Eating real food is a good start!
Click to expand...


Day 6 started off good with all systems finally up to speed. Haven't been able to walk much because it's rained all day and as s result the stiffness has set in, at least the pain level is way down. Tomorrow I get the last of the tubes out, which will be a big relief.


----------



## snowbear

Well . . . it seems I'm getting a daughter-in-law.  Andrew (number one) and Hannah (his siggy-other) just called MLW from Tulsa to tell us they are engaged.


----------



## davidharmier60

All's quiet on the western front. 
But the fan is running and the cannon loaded......

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----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Well . . . it seems I'm getting a daughter-in-law.  Andrew (number one) and Hannah (his siggy-other) just called MLW from Tulsa to tell us they are engaged.




Happy news!  Best wishes to them both.


----------



## smoke665

Looking forward to getting out this week, but not looking forward to these little buggers. Relatively wet, mild winter has made them bad this year. Sadie takes a flea/tick medication that kills them if they bite, but still she can carry them inside. Outside during season, I use spray to ward them off. For those not familiar with the dangers, here's a good read 7 Types of Ticks That Transmit Diseases - How to Identify Ticks


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all just read a post. Now I know what NSFW means opps
Smoke nice to hear that you are improving.
Just got home from taking dogs out, nice time out but it’s going to cost me to get ALL the sand out of the car


----------



## waday

Anyone else watching Game of Thrones?



Spoiler: not really a spoiler but just in case



I wasn't happy with this second to last episode. I'm also not happy with how they're ending this series. I wish at least one of Dany's actions this season would have felt organic, but unfortunately, they all feel forced.


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## SquarePeg

Spoiler: Definite spoilers from last night GOT



Yes I’m watching.  I am happy with some of this season but not everything.  I think they needed more episodes to make her transition from reason to madness seem more believable.   The fewer but longer episode lay out this season doesn’t give them time to build to any of the character transformations.   Ariya’s abrupt about face from fearless warrior bent on killing Cersei  to frightened and running for her life is another example.  They did lay it out but with it all happening within the episode it seems like such a stretch.   I was happy with the way they ended the Cersei/Jamie storyline and with the overall story arc but again feels forced due to having it all shoved into such a short time span for us.


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## smoke665




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## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Spoiler: Definite spoilers from last night GOT
> 
> 
> 
> Yes I’m watching.  I am happy with some of this season but not everything.  I think they needed more episodes to make her transition from reason to madness seem more believable.   The fewer but longer episode lay out this season doesn’t give them time to build to any of the character transformations.   Ariya’s abrupt about face from fearless warrior bent on killing Cersei  to frightened and running for her life is another example.  They did lay it out but with it all happening within the episode it seems like such a stretch.   I was happy with the way they ended the Cersei/Jamie storyline and with the overall story arc but again feels forced due to having it all shoved into such a short time span for us.





Spoiler: spoiler spoiler spoiler



I agree they're trying to wrap things up quickly, and I am happy with the season in general, but I'd question why they chose to do 6 episodes instead of the usual 10 if they needed more time to wrap it up.. and why they chose to have such long seemingly pointless scenes in this episode, such as the Cleganebowl, the numerous scenes of Dany on the dragon strafing through the city, or the Jaime/Euron fight, when they could have used that time for character development in other ways. Everything Dany does seems so incredibly forced...

Yeeeeah, Arya's whole about face was very frustrating. She's been on a mission to get to Cersei the entire series, and in a sentence or two the Hound can convince her to turn around when she's literally steps away from Cersei? Eeeeeeehhh...

And, I swear, if Euron comes back in the last episode, I'm going to be very mad. We never _saw_ him die, and in GoT, if you don't see someone die, they probably didn't. IMO, he should have been done at the hands of Dany and her dragon, which would have been appropriate vengeance for Rhaegal's death. But instead, he finds his way to the beach at the same time as Jaime, where Jaime is stabbed twice in the side but is still able to walk around like normal to go find Cersei, and where Euron is stabbed in the chest but is still laying there talking to himself out loud... 

And, I don't feel sorry for Tyrian. He's failed Dany so many times. She needs to off him.

I get that the show wants me to hate Dany, but they haven't delivered. It's frustrating. I'm still a Dany fan. LOL


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## davidharmier60

Never have I ever watched Game of Thrones. Over in Cold Springs for propane. 
Couldn't believe the buffer got through the whole store this morning. 
Anyhow it's beginning to feel like Texas.
Out in the sun is not so nice.
Still ok in the shade. 

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## SquarePeg

Never have I ever Dave?  Drink!



Spoiler: Spoily spoilers



Dany and her quest for her lost birthright?  If she thinks that just her birth entitles her to be queen of it all, then by those standards she should now bow to John but instead she is more interested in her quest than anointing the “rightful heir”.  So she’s a bit of a power mad hypocrite who happens to have a dragon.   If Jon had slept with her again (knowing she is his aunt) then all would have been ok?  All she needs is a man?  Give me a break.  I don’t hate her but I have never been her biggest fan.  I disagree with your take and think Tyrion was loyal to her but it was a mistake.  For me, the story has always been about the Starks (including Jon).   Maybe because the story opened with them?


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## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Spoiler: Spoily spoilers
> 
> 
> 
> Dany and her quest for her lost birthright?  If she thinks that just her birth entitles her to be queen of it all, then by those standards she should now bow to John but instead she is more interested in her quest than anointing the “rightful heir”.  So she’s a bit of a power mad hypocrite who happens to have a dragon.   If Jon had slept with her again (knowing she is his aunt) then all would have been ok?  All she needs is a man?  Give me a break.  I don’t hate her but I have never been her biggest fan.  I disagree with your take and think Tyrion was loyal to her but it was a mistake.  For me, the story has always been about the Starks (including Jon).   Maybe because the story opened with them?





Spoiler: SPOIL!



What I'm saying is that I wish the change from good Dany to bad Dany was more organic. IMO, they should have started that change several seasons ago rather than waiting for the last season.

Tyrion was pretty loyal to Dany (and gave her good advice) until this season. He freed Jaime to go to Cersei to try to escape. He told Varys about Jon being the rightful heir. If he was loyal to her, he would have tried to see her succeed rather than betray her, and he would have kept his mouth shut about Jon. He says to Varys that he needed to pick someone (Dany) and stand by them while simultaneously giving Varys information that would help the opposing side? That's hard to swallow. I always liked how Tyrion was clever and his plans made sense in the long run. They don't have the long run here, so I feel like they've made everything so abbreviated that it makes the characters play dumb.

What makes me mad about the show, is that we _liked _Dany for seven seasons; she was the "Breaker of Chains". She was methodical and always _learned_.  And now, all of a sudden, she's acting irrational and we're supposed to hate her.

I get that we're supposed to see her as the Mad Queen, but why is it that she has to be the "Mad Queen" when Jon isn't poised to be the "Mad King". Because she's a she and he's a he? He's lost as much as she has... But, according to Tormund, who else could have climbed on a dragon like Jon did... oh wait, yeah, Dany, who born the dragon eggs in fire...

For Dany, there was just such a _stark_ difference between season 7 and season 8. Yes, sorry for that pun.


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## SquarePeg

Spoiler: dirty rotten spoilers



@waday  - have you read the books?  Just curious as, though it was some time ago, I seem to recall a lot of Danerys internal struggles about whether or not she and her dragons were monsters?  Her fear of being alone and unloved?  Her envy and paranoia about the way the northerners were embracing Jon was similar to how her brother lost it when the Dothraki decided she was one of them and he was the one left out.  And in the books there was a lot more back story about her family's habit of turning mad and paranoid - seeing betrayers everywhere and of course the infamous "burn them all" story that is mentioned in the series and elaborated on in the books.  I do agree it could have been handled better by HBO - if this is even what Martin intended for the final book...  Think of the people who named their babies Khaleesi and the people who got dragon tattoos.  Note to self - don’t get the tattoo until the last book is out.


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## smoke665

X rays confirmed no leakage, last of the tubes out, incisions healing nicely  and pathology report confirmed they got all the cancer. No followup radiation for this guy. Pretty much released to do what I feel like, just no heavy lifting. Think I hear the beach or the mountains calling me to come recuperate.


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## waday

Spoiler: Ugh, Spoilers



@SquarePeg , I have not read the books, but they're on my "to read at some point" list (along with the LOTR series). I'm strictly speaking about the show.

I totally get that there's backstory to where she's going and why she's getting there. I'm not saying that there's not a backstory, so I hope that's coming across in my responses?

We get _some_ of that backstory and some feeling of Dany being alone (Jorah and Missendei are gone), and definitely the parallels with her brother and the Dothraki. But, IMO, the entire backstory does not come across in the show, and the viewer is left to figure things out* this season. I guess that's what happens when the show finishes before the books and needs to end abruptly.

I think that Martin did have a hand in finishing the series? To what extent, we'll probably never know...

I tend to be one of those people that hates movies based on books, because the movie usually never does the book justice. So, I understand where you're coming from if you're comparing the show to books. The problem that I'm trying to convey is that this backstory is not making it into this season, where they've been forced to end it all very abruptly. To me, it's a bit messy with dots that aren't always connected logically; the connections are forced by the plot.

*The wife and I watched "The Wandering Earth" on Friday night. We watched it as if it was a comedy, because it was unwatchable otherwise. It was 1,000 times worse than this episode. Things would happen without you knowing why, and it jumped around like crazy. I get that it was a mega Chinese hit, but I'd classify it as a D-rated sci-fi movie that premiers on Syfy channel without much fanfare. If the viewer can't connect the dots (or is forced to make huge assumptions), the writers didn't do their job.

<<<<SPOILER within a SPOILER>>>> They're going to fly Earth (yes, the entire planet) to a solar system 4.2 light years away within 2,500 years (uh, what now?), and they have problems passing Jupiter. Who thought of this plan and forgot to account for Jupiter? Yikes. Almost as bad as sharks in tornadoes...

If I had to rate this season of GoT, I'd probably rate it in the B to C range, which is a shame.


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## Fujidave

Morning all, sunny start here so had a lovely walk in the park with Susie.


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## Tropicalmemories

waday said:


> Anyone else watching Game of Thrones?
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler: not really a spoiler but just in case
> 
> 
> 
> I wasn't happy with this second to last episode. I'm also not happy with how they're ending this series. I wish at least one of Dany's actions this season would have felt organic, but unfortunately, they all feel forced.



Watched it since Series 1, but no longer care who sits on the Iron Throne and got bored part way through last two and was editing photos while it was on.  Too much petty infighting, it's getting like a Thai 'lakorn' soap opera but with boobies.

Agree that the actions of the Mother of not many Dragons Now are looking illogical and forced - it's as contrived as Batman vs Superman.


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## waday

Tropicalmemories said:


> Watched it since Series 1, but no longer care who sits on the Iron Throne and got bored part way through last two and was editing photos while it was on.  Too much petty infighting, it's getting like a Thai 'lakorn' soap opera but with boobies.
> 
> Agree that the actions of the Mother of not many Dragons Now are looking illogical and forced - it's as contrived as Batman vs Superman.


When my wife and I started watching it, we watched the first few seasons and stopped. I think it was probably the same reason, we got kinda bored... but then we came back to it. I'm really glad we did.

As much as I complain about it, I'm doing it out of love, because I really do love the show.  I may not be as happy with this season, or how it's ending, but I'm also sad that it's ending, haha.

The nudity has decreased quite a bit in the latter half of the series.


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## JonA_CT

You GOT people are so annoying. Only one more week of having to avoid social media for two full days each week. I'll be so thankful.

We need to talk about important things. Like sensor size and ISO and whatever. 


Also -- it was great to meet @snowbear this weekend. Unfortunately, he caught me at a busy/under-staffed time. Hopefully, I'll be able to grab a beer with him next time.


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## waday

JonA_CT said:


> ou GOT people are so annoying. Only one more week of having to avoid social media for two full days each week. I'll be so thankful.


Hey! We kept our discussions in spoiler posts, thank you very much!  I understand though, this is pretty much how I feel when people start talking about baseball, football, basketball, etc. for 3/4 of the year. You learn to deal with it by simply ignoring it.



> We need to talk about important things. Like sensor size and ISO and whatever.


This is the Coffee House, yo! We don't talk about nonsense like sensor size, ISO, and photography in here!


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## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> You GOT people are so annoying. Only one more week of having to avoid social media for two full days each week. I'll be so thankful.
> 
> We need to talk about important things. Like sensor size and ISO and whatever.
> 
> 
> Also -- it was great to meet @snowbear this weekend. Unfortunately, he caught me at a busy/under-staffed time. Hopefully, I'll be able to grab a beer with him next time.



Sounds like a plan, Jon.  It was a pleasure to meet you and have a few words, at least.
As far as GOT - I read the first four books and felt they were well worth the free price that was offered at the time.  I'm not interested in the TV series.
-----
Yesterday was chilly and overcast but we got a bunch of lazy_lobster's boxes moved.  Today it's raining (snow in the mountains) so we will finish packing and move everything out tomorrow.

I made it to the coast yesterday afternoon.  This is Ship Cove, a short hop (about 1/2 km / 1/3 mile) northwest of the Portland Head Lighthouse.



Ship Cove, Maine Pano.jpg by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


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## SquarePeg

Don't forget to stop at the Maine Diner in Wells on your way home!


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## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Don't forget to stop at the Maine Diner in Wells on your way home!


We'll try, though we're driving straight through.


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## davidharmier60

Hey y'all. 4 hours and whatever it took to have 10.30 for the week so far. 
It's beginning to feel a lot like Texas.

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## SquarePeg

SquarePeg said:


> Don't forget to stop at the Maine Diner in Wells on your way home!



Wave when you pass through Melrose if you're taking rte 1 south.


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## snowbear

Probably 495 so I'll use the sunroof for better altitude.

I will probably catch you in Quechhee, in June, if the fishing is lousy.


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## davidharmier60

Oh man. Wednesday again. 
Marquee among other things. 
If the stars align I get paid today. 
It sure is quiet except for the sound of the fan.....

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## davidharmier60

Got through Wednesday. 5 and I think 46 minutes. 16.16 for the week so far. I was told checks are here. So enjoying a pulled pork sammich with green beans and mashed potatoes. On the model building front. Wasted 2 foam boards so far trying to make a fuselage. The third try could be saved with tape and sandpaper. But was told what I already knew. By the time I buy all the electronics and a radio it would be cheaper to buy an RTF. Benny says the hobby shop he goes to has used planes starting at $75.

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## davidharmier60

There is a hobby shop here in town by appointment only.  Benny is going to take me to the shop he goes to.  I'm going to play it by ear. 

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## vintagesnaps

At least two daytime international hockey games every day this week - I like it. There's no such thing as too much hockey.


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## Jeff G

David, Be careful it gets addictive. LOL!


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## davidharmier60

Oh I know. Back in the 80s when Gary was alive I built the planes and he made them look fantastic. I had a Telemaster 40, a Beercat biplane that looked and flew fantastic and an old timer undercambered wing that was slow flying and lots of fun.
I had a .61 four stroke on the Telemaster and it sounded and looked great. Digital radios were just coming around and when Gary died I kinda stopped flying.


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## Dean_Gretsch

There is a nearby RC field that I like to go to and photograph the planes. This is the largest I have seen there.


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## Tony744

Damn! You could almost ride that!


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## Jeff G

This is my current favorite in my hanger.


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## davidharmier60

Sweet P47 Jeff!
I'm conflicted. For around 70 I can get motor servos emc etc. From Flite Test.
Radio is about 50 for a decent FlySky. 
And building a kit from FT would be SO much easier. It sucks to be poor.
Thursday. I'll let you know later if it was good or not. 

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## smoke665

waday said:


> football,



Not talk about football? You would be a very lonely person in the south!


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## smoke665

@davidharmier60 and @Jeff G go big or go home. LOL


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## SquarePeg

Well...looks like I’m getting sucked back in to the rec softball league.  Princess wants to play summer ball this year and they didn’t have a coach for the 18u team.  I got a few of the other parents who are former coaches to commit to co-coaching with me.  It will be a different type of summer for me this year!  We usually take the summer off from any organized sports.  But I miss coaching so not totally dreading it.


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## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> football,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not talk about football? You would be a very lonely person in the south!
Click to expand...

I understand what you mean, but I hope that "people in the south" have more to talk about than football?


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## smoke665

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> football,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not talk about football? You would be a very lonely person in the south!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I understand what you mean, but I hope that "people in the south" have more to talk about than football?
Click to expand...


Of course we do. After Auburn made the final four this year, we now have basketball


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## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> football,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not talk about football? You would be a very lonely person in the south!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I understand what you mean, but I hope that "people in the south" have more to talk about than football?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Of course we do. After Auburn made the final four this year, we now have basketball
Click to expand...


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## smoke665

@waday actually I'm not a big fan of Gatorade  There are other interests that get discussed but sports (high school and college) get a lot of attention. Maybe because it transcends all socio-economic groups. A millionare and a poor man have little in common except they both share equal pride in their teams and can discuss the subject as equals. Last year in Dec. I was killing time waiting on DW at a store in Tn. I struck up a conversation with a man wearing a Clemson hat. Wasn't long before there was a group of both men and women who had been total strangers now discussing a common interest.


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## Jeff G

Waday, you are not alone, in general not a big fan of team sports, guess I'm just not competitive. 

Smoke, I would love to have a large jet like that, but they are a pain to transport and I'd have to win the lottery!


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## davidharmier60

Thursday has been ok so far. Must go to Livingston to make a loan payment. 
Probably get a replacement box of pennies up there.

Anything as large as that F-16 will sure leave a mark if it fails. I'm going to do foam for the foreseeable future. 

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## snowbear

Not really news . . .




cmw3_d750_DSC_2692.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


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## davidharmier60

Sister is in the Hospital. 
Dad made Hamburger steak, potatoes cut up with butter and green beans. 
Got a box of pennies at BBVA Compass bank. I would not be surprised if they get boxes at the same place People's Bank does. Unmarked machine wrapped. 
Going to find out if I can send a MO or Cashiers check to Flite Test. Get one of their kits and all electric stuff except radio and receiver. 

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## SquarePeg

When you mistakenly order a cheese pizza “with cheese” from our local pizza place and only teens are working there...




Untitled by SharonCat..., on Flickr


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## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> When you mistakenly order a cheese pizza “with cheese” from our local pizza place and only teens are working there...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Untitled by SharonCat..., on Flickr


They could've done a better job of placing the slices.  It looks  like the cutting is a bit wonky, too.


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## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> When you mistakenly order a cheese pizza “with cheese” from our local pizza place and only teens are working there...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Untitled by SharonCat..., on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> They could've done a better job of placing the slices.  It looks  like the cutting is a bit wonky, too.
Click to expand...


Oh yeah terrible job with the cutting as well but the crust was nice and crunchy without being burnt and the actual pizza cheese was perfect.  Fortunately the cheese slices were so cheap/waxy we just peeled them right off - when we were done laughing our butts off.  That's what we get for letting anyone over 18 order on the app!


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## davidharmier60

Oh goody. Friday is done with 26.30 for the week so far. Oh crummy I get to be here tomorrow too.

That was one funky looking pizza...

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## limr

Hey hosers. Heading up to Lake George for the weekend.

Sharon, the picture of that pizza is still making me laugh


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## waday

limr said:


> Hey hosers. Heading up to Lake George for the weekend.
> 
> Sharon, the picture of that pizza is still making me laugh


Have fun!

We're going to a show featuring Duke Ellington's music.

Hard to believe we're almost to June.


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## terri

OMG - that is hilarious, Sharon!    The rest of it does look like crusty perfection, though - glad it was tasty.  

Lake George sounds like a lovely way to spend the weekend, Leo.

Nothing exciting for me this weekend, just puttering in the garden.   I'm also having to re-pot a few of my herbs already, they are growing like wildfire.   Some cooking will commence as soon as I get them trimmed back.   

We have brand new  baby swallows outside the front door, and both parents are swooping in and out, filling those arching little heads.   We can hear all the excitement whenever they land.    

Happy Friday, hosers.


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## smoke665

TGIF, just started to feel like I was on the mend from the surgery on Monday, and then a painful sore throat kicked in. Trip to the doctor Tuesday and hope I've turned the corner finally. So ready to get back active.


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## davidharmier60

We messed with the Lawn mower again. 
I opened up the new carburetor and made sure it passes gas. The spark is not the hottest I ever saw but it acts like a gas problem. Any thoughts?

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## smoke665

@davidharmier60 just out of curiosity, have you checked the key in the flywheel to be sure it didn't partially shear? Had that happen once, was a bugger to track down, throws the timing off.


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## davidharmier60

No but I will!

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## vintagesnaps

Sharon you're probably doing good if they took the plastic wrapping off the cheese squares.

I just can't kick this respiratory stuff, third time around with it. I feel OK so don't feel sick, just not up to par but started with a sore throat and back to the hoarseness, etc. again. Rainy and going to heat up so mostly staying in I think.

My best friend works til 5 Sat. then coming up for dinner and we might run over and visit my dad, he's still in rehab but not really rehabbing just been on a waiting list; my mom's about ready to move into the retirement community where they're going and all I know is I'll be glad when they're settled somewhere!


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## RowdyRay

TGIF. Never seen a pizza like that. Sure made me laugh. I owned a pizza place for 10 years and would've fired the person who let that go out the door. 

Still up north on LOTW. Slamming the walleyes. Best year we've ever had!


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## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> We messed with the Lawn mower again.
> I opened up the new carburetor and made sure it passes gas. The spark is not the hottest I ever saw but it acts like a gas problem. Any thoughts?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


Has this got a points & condenser ignition?  If so, have you replaced either/both?  With a mechanical ignition most of the problems can be traced back to points, condenser, and/or as Smoke mentioned, timing.  The magnets in the flywheel can also contribute to it.  You could also have a bad coil....


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## smoke665

tirediron said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> We messed with the Lawn mower again.
> I opened up the new carburetor and made sure it passes gas. The spark is not the hottest I ever saw but it acts like a gas problem. Any thoughts?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Has this got a points & condenser ignition?  If so, have you replaced either/both?  With a mechanical ignition most of the problems can be traced back to points, condenser, and/or as Smoke mentioned, timing.  We magnets in the flywheel can also contribute to it.  You could also have a bad coil....
Click to expand...


And I'm assuming you did a compression test already.


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## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> We messed with the Lawn mower again.
> I opened up the new carburetor and made sure it passes gas. The spark is not the hottest I ever saw but it acts like a gas problem. Any thoughts?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Has this got a points & condenser ignition?  If so, have you replaced either/both?  With a mechanical ignition most of the problems can be traced back to points, condenser, and/or as Smoke mentioned, timing.  We magnets in the flywheel can also contribute to it.  You could also have a bad coil....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And I'm assuming you did a compression test already.
Click to expand...

Leakdown test?  One cylinder?  Two, or ?


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## davidharmier60

Things to ponder on......

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## davidharmier60

Pork chops,  whole kernel corn and spinach. And Pecan Pralines and Cream later....

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## SquarePeg

Chicken teriyaki, baked potato and grilled veggies.  And a chocolate martini...


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## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Chicken teriyaki, baked potato and grilled veggies.  And a chocolate martini...


Sounds wayyyyyyyyy too much like work unless it's a new flavour of Hungry Man!


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## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Chicken teriyaki, baked potato and grilled veggies.  And a chocolate martini...
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds wayyyyyyyyy too much like work unless it's a new flavour of Hungry Man!
Click to expand...


It’s not work!  We sit, we order, they bring it over.


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## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Chicken teriyaki, baked potato and grilled veggies.  And a chocolate martini...
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds wayyyyyyyyy too much like work unless it's a new flavour of Hungry Man!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It’s not work!  We sit, we order, they bring it over.
Click to expand...

Ahhh... gotit.


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## davidharmier60

If only I didn't have to go to work today. 
Of course the check would suffer. 
Coffee isn't all it can be. He only made half a pot. It throws off the mixture. 

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## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.  Got home without any major problems, though the NJT was a bit messy and some on and off heavy rains.  Zoe is happy we are home.  She stayed hidden when SIL come over to feed her, but when we got in, she was talking & fussing, asked to be picked up (uncommon) and being a general ankle-winding band aid.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> the NJT was a bit messy



Doesn't this go without saying?


----------



## Tony744

snowbear said:


> h the NJT was a bit messy .



You mean there are times when it isn't?


----------



## limr

Tony744 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> h the NJT was a bit messy .
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You mean there are times when it isn't?
Click to expand...


In the Twilight Zone, maybe?


----------



## snowbear

I've seen it lighter, but it wasn't horrible.  Mainly crashes, one had just occurred.  Even 15 (Merritt/Hutch) was fun because of the roaming construction crews -- pothole assault teams, I guess.


----------



## davidharmier60

Got through Saturday ok.
31.20 for the week. 
Gonna check the PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home where I will mess with the Lawn mower again. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey, 10 am til 1 in the morning. 
International, Memorial Cup, Calder Cup. A hockey fan's dream...

Supposed to be hot today but it keeps getting dark and a little wind starts to pick up then the sun comes out again. We might have weather later.

And in between games, college lacrosse.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> ...and being a general ankle-winding band aid.


   I love this!


----------



## davidharmier60

The flywheel is right where it should be on the shaft. I'm truly out of ideas. 
Coffee is ok after another spoon of sugar.
Gotta go do some shopping today. 

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----------



## Original katomi

Hi from UK,  whilst I don’t understand your terms NJT and so on I read that as some road system like our M 25 the parking lot. 
Rain here has meant that the diy jobs are on hold, but that does mean that outdoor photography is out as well.


----------



## smoke665

davidharmier60 said:


> The flywheel is right where it should be on the shaft. I'm truly out of ideas.
> Coffee is ok after another spoon of sugar.
> Gotta go do some shopping today.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Then -

Compression
Points & condenser or electronic module 
Coil pack
New spark plug
Fresh gas
I think you said you replaced the carb already. There's really not much else you can do.


----------



## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> Hi from UK,  whilst I don’t understand your terms NJT and so on I read that as some road system like our M 25 the parking lot.
> Rain here has meant that the diy jobs are on hold, but that does mean that outdoor photography is out as well.


NJT = New Jersey Turnpike.  Part of our Interstate 95 (I-95) highway - one of the main North-South high speed, limited access roadways along the eastern coast.   Yes, many places on our roadways can be like parking lots; generally near the urban centers and frequently at specific times of the day, or during certain weather conditions.  Motor vehicle collisions can also create major delays.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi from UK,  whilst I don’t understand your terms NJT and so on I read that as some road system like our M 25 the parking lot.
> Rain here has meant that the diy jobs are on hold, but that does mean that outdoor photography is out as well.
> 
> 
> 
> NJT = New Jersey Turnpike.  Part of our Interstate 95 (I-95) highway - one of the main North-South high speed, limited access roadways along the eastern coast.   Yes, many places on our roadways can be like parking lots; generally near the urban centers and frequently at specific times of the day, or during certain weather conditions.  Motor vehicle collisions can also create major delays.
Click to expand...


I-95 runs from Maine to Florida. For most of its run, it's toll-free, but there are toll sections and bridges as well, one of which is the section that runs through New Jersey - thus the name NJ Turnpike. That section basically runs between NY City and Philadephia, two of the most traffic-congested urban areas. So it's not so bad when going through Central Jersey. But the northern stretch just outside of NYC and the southern stretch that passes by Philly? Ew.


----------



## Original katomi

Thanks all, makes sense now
The m25 is the motorway around London. Still slow, and like you say accidents cause mayhem.
It seems to me us brits can’t cope with a change in the weather.
Oh we have a snow flake on the road, panic
Instead of slowing down when it rains a lot of drivers here seem to want to rush.  Are the rushing home so their cars don’t get wet
I like to watch the Ice Road Truckers. I wonder what it would be like if Brit’s took on that job..


----------



## smoke665

Original katomi said:


> I like to watch the Ice Road Truckers. I wonder what it would be like if Brit’s took on that job..



Probably better then a southern driver. LOL A single snow flake causes mass panic here.


----------



## Tony744

Sounds like L. A. They shut down the pass into L. A. with only a dusting of snow on the ground.


----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon all, grotty yucky day today so when I popped in to town I thought!!!  OMG that was some walk as I`m back in Brighton Australia, but not really haha.  This upside down house is doing the rounds and ended up in Brighton UK.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> davidharmier60 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The flywheel is right where it should be on the shaft. I'm truly out of ideas.
> Coffee is ok after another spoon of sugar.
> Gotta go do some shopping today.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Then -
> 
> Compression
> Points & condenser or electronic module
> Coil pack
> New spark plug
> Fresh gas
> I think you said you replaced the carb already. There's really not much else you can do.
Click to expand...

Pretty much....  BUT, first things first.  Let's definitively determine whether it's a fuel or electronics problem.  Get a spray can of Happy Sniff (engine starting fluid or ether).  Lift the hood (cheat the interlock if yours has one to prevent the starting running of the engine with the hood up), remove the air cleaner and any piping so that you can see and easily access the actual throat of the carburetor.  Start the tractor and at the first sign of it faltering, start spraying the starting fluid into the intake.  If the engine picks up/runs more smoothly, then you have a fuel issue.  If it still stalls, the problem is almost certainly spark/electrical.

Once we know for certain which side of the equation we're trying to solve for 'X' on, we're half-way there.

What make & model of tractor, what make & model of engine?


----------



## terri

The kids are all right.   

There's a total of 5.


(Kinda dark, because this swallow's nest stays in deep shadow.)   Peeking through the door window here.


----------



## davidharmier60

I call it a lawn tractor but in fact it's a Craftsman riding lawnmower. 
It has a coil that makes spark.
Will get some starting fluid when we go out later.

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----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> what make & model of engine?



According to what he just posted, it's a Craftsman riding mower. In the past the engine was built by Briggs & Straton and Kawasaki, but a few years ago they switched to MTD I think.

@davidharmier60 is this a single cylinder or twin?


----------



## davidharmier60

Single

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----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> Single
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


actual model info off the tag would help.  You can have a dozen engines, similar in outward appearance with the same maker's plate, that come from five different factories with different carbs, coils, etc....


----------



## davidharmier60

It isn't the original engine even. We are about to leave to go visit my Sister at the Hospital in Houston.  I will get starting fluid on the way home.

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----------



## davidharmier60

Sister looks better but isn't at all well yet.
Will try starting fluid tomorrow after work. 
Got 4 more roll of pennies to do.

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----------



## SquarePeg

Hi all.  Hope everyone is well and happy.  Tonight is the much anticipated finale of Game of Thrones.  See you tomorrow!


----------



## limr

Lake George cell phone snaps


----------



## vintagesnaps

What's the first one? did you encounter Big Foot?? Can tell there's a full moon...


I like Adirondac with all the water ripples, nice photo. That one would be film worthy (you did shoot some film there didn't ya??!).


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> What's the first one? did you encounter Big Foot?? Can tell there's a full moon...
> 
> 
> I like Adirondac with all the water ripples, nice photo. That one would be film worthy (you did shoot some film there didn't ya??!).



Thanks, Sharon!

I have shot film there before, but I didn't bring a camera with me this time. It was a quick weekend trip and I wasn't in a picture-taking sort of mind. Just needed to be away for a couple of days and not think of anything.

Here are a few shots from previous trips:

The Adirondac:



Adirondack by limrodrigues, on Flickr




Pier by limrodrigues, on Flickr




Minnehaha by limrodrigues, on Flickr




Viewfinder by limrodrigues, on Flickr




Duck 1 by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh goody it's Monday. 
According to my phone it is 5 minutes to 5.
My watch is at 12 minutes. 
Why is the phone so fast?

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----------



## Tony744

Mondays


----------



## Original katomi

It’s about midday here well plus/minus 10 mins


----------



## davidharmier60

5.44 hours today. No notifications to bring home anything. Going to the PO and then the Library to get plans for an airplane printed out. Then to the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

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----------



## Derrel

I have seen GOT seasons 1-5 only..


----------



## Tropicalmemories

SquarePeg said:


> Hi all.  Hope everyone is well and happy.  Tonight is the much anticipated finale of Game of Thrones.  See you tomorrow!



Ended with a whimper, not a bang.  :-(


----------



## smoke665

Having lived through one these massive outbreak days in Alabama has given me an appreciation for the destruction that takes place. Hopefully our Oklahoma members are all okay. Video of a storm chaser that got a little to up close and personal with the one in Magnum, OK. Tornado Blasts Through Home in Mangum, OK | The Weather Channel


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## davidharmier60

A wee bit over 5 hours today. 
A guy is supposed to arrive about noon to remove and take a ramp that goes up to our back porch. I will miss that ramp....

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----------



## vintagesnaps

Uh oh, Canada up 1 early in the 1st against 'us'/US. This could probably go either way. Usually if it isn't us then I'm glad it's Canada still in it (whatever it is) but - go USA!! We've done pretty well in this tournament. I'll cheer for Canada watching the Memorial Cup this week because - they're all in Canada. 

Oh no... Canada just scored again. This is not a good start. It's still in the preliminary round not elimination yet so not sure how much difference this game will make for later rounds. 

I like daytime hockey. But this game not so much!


----------



## vintagesnaps

So David how's your sister? I don't remember seeing why she's in the hospital but I hope she's better soon.


----------



## vintagesnaps

We just had a player leave the ice hurt, not sure what happened. He made it to the bench but was on the floor, couldn't see him below the boards. He was in some pain, finally able to get up and leave on his own. 

Watching lacrosse over the weekend there was a player hurt and it took them awhile to get him immobilized on the stretcher. I didn't see it and they said they weren't showing the replay because his leg bent in a way the leg isn't supposed to bend. 

I think I'll be glad when this period is done and we start the second and maybe start fresh. Good, the horn sounded.


----------



## compur

vintagesnaps said:


> did you encounter Big Foot??



Did this question ever get answered?


----------



## davidharmier60

Sister has Chrones. She had among other things a hole open up where there shouldn't be one. A rash on her arms.
Low blood pressure and low sugar.
They looked (scoped her intestines) today and didn't find anything bad.
I helped and less than an hour the ramp was down and gone. Watching Flite Test vlogs on YouTube. Doing the rest of the penny box that leaves tomorrow. 

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----------



## vintagesnaps

Hope she's better and glad she got checked out that wasn't anything worse.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Well that game stunk, we didn't even score a goal. They usually replay the USA games in the evening but I don't think I want to see this one again... 

Going to watch what sound like a couple of suspenseful B&W crime drama type movies, must be the theme for the day on TCM. Earlier watched a French foreign film that was an earlier version of an Edward G. Robinson movie that was on next, but hockey took priority over Edward G. (seen it before anyway).


----------



## davidharmier60

As near as I can tell the checks are here. I'm waiting on a Cheeseburger and fries at the deli. It was a 6 and 20ish minutes day.
Marquee went well.17.14 for the week so far. Last word on Sister is blood clots
 In her lungs. It's being addressed. 
That is all I got to say.

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----------



## davidharmier60

Talked to Dad. He got an offer on a twin cylinder Briggs and Stratton engine.
So we drove way over to Magnolia and it turned out to be an opposed twin with NO muffler. And the pullies are for a different style of blade use. So we didn't get it.


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----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sun is out and I`m just about to leave to go to hospital for a heart stress test.  If I don`t login the next day or so then something went badly wrong, but fingers crossed it all goes well.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Fujidave said:


> Morning all, sun is out and I`m just about to leave to go to hospital for a heart stress test.  If I don`t login the next day or so then something went badly wrong, but fingers crossed it all goes well.



Hope all goes well.


----------



## Original katomi

All the best


----------



## davidharmier60

Get fixed FD. We would miss your posts too much! Another day a lot like the others. 
Good coffee.

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----------



## Tony744

Best of luck FD.


----------



## waday

Fujidave said:


> Morning all, sun is out and I`m just about to leave to go to hospital for a heart stress test.  If I don`t login the next day or so then something went badly wrong, but fingers crossed it all goes well.


Good luck!


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Morning all, sun is out and I`m just about to leave to go to hospital for a heart stress test.  If I don`t login the next day or so then something went badly wrong, but fingers crossed it all goes well.



Good luck FD! Hope all goes well.


----------



## snowbear

David - hope your sis is doing better.
FD - Good luck.
Compur - I think that was a bear statue

Emergency Ops exercise, today.  I'm not participating so it will be nice & quiet.  I have to put the finishing touches on two maps that go to the County Exec's office (office being a generic organizational term), and start on an analysis for the Fire Chief.


----------



## smoke665

Looks like summer is on us in the south. Calling for the highs to top 95 over the weekend. Guess it won't affect me much as I'm in the 3rd week of recovery after surgery, and not up to speed yet anyhow. Picked up what they think is a viral sore throat a week after surgery, that just keeps hanging on, draining my energy.


----------



## snowbear

80s today.  I miss Maine already.


----------



## Fujidave

Thanks folks, just got back now.  I was scared about my heart rate being forced up but our fantastic NHS did a great job in looking after me through out the test.  First they did a base line test of my heart beat and blood pressure to get a reading, then every 3 mins they injected me with a drug to speed up my heart while taking photos of the heart and valves and what a great time and cool too hear my heart rate beating like the clappers in my head.  On top of that the top doctor said... Your heart is good and strong so you are all clear now.


----------



## CherylL

Fujidave said:


> Thanks folks, just got back now.  I was scared about my heart rate being forced up but our fantastic NHS did a great job in looking after me through out the test.  First they did a base line test of my heart beat and blood pressure to get a reading, then every 3 mins they injected me with a drug to speed up my heart while taking photos of the heart and valves and what a great time and cool too hear my heart rate beating like the clappers in my head.  On top of that the top doctor said... Your heart is good and strong so you are all clear now.



Good news!


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Thanks folks, just got back now.  I was scared about my heart rate being forced up but our fantastic NHS did a great job in looking after me through out the test.  First they did a base line test of my heart beat and blood pressure to get a reading, then every 3 mins they injected me with a drug to speed up my heart while taking photos of the heart and valves and what a great time and cool too hear my heart rate beating like the clappers in my head.  On top of that the top doctor said... Your heart is good and strong so you are all clear now.



Wow.  Glad you're ok.  When I had my stress test they made me walk then run on a treadmill to get my heart rate up.  Not ideal for me as a I have a bad knee and was worried I would wipe out.  Now that would have gotten my heart rate up for sure.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks folks, just got back now.  I was scared about my heart rate being forced up but our fantastic NHS did a great job in looking after me through out the test.  First they did a base line test of my heart beat and blood pressure to get a reading, then every 3 mins they injected me with a drug to speed up my heart while taking photos of the heart and valves and what a great time and cool too hear my heart rate beating like the clappers in my head.  On top of that the top doctor said... Your heart is good and strong so you are all clear now.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow.  Glad you're ok.  When I had my stress test they made me walk then run on a treadmill to get my heart rate up.  Not ideal for me as a I have a bad knee and was worried I would wipe out.  Now that would have gotten my heart rate up for sure.
Click to expand...


I had a letter here when I got back home, from the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Induction Session saying I have an appointment in June to start up some ways to help my lungs out ( Have COPD from asbestos and smoking.. NOW Stopped )  so that will make me get knackered quick but by the time I finish it after 8 weeks I should be fit and just carry on to stay fit.


----------



## waday

@Fujidave , I should change my username to RicohWade, cause I have a GRiii coming to me at some point today hopefully possibly.


----------



## Fujidave

waday said:


> @Fujidave , I should change my username to RicohWade, cause I have a GRiii coming to me at some point today hopefully possibly.



Nice one.  Did you hear that @SquarePeg is NOT getting the X-T3 but is getting the GFX100...lol


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm not getting anything much less a camera. 6 and a half hours today. 
Was a busy boy. Filters, door knob into the employees restroom. Door stop into the new break room where the time clock is.
Check six thermostats etc.
23.4x for the week so far. No notifications to bring home anything. People's Bank for a box of pennies. PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## waday

Fujidave said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Fujidave , I should change my username to RicohWade, cause I have a GRiii coming to me at some point today hopefully possibly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice one.  Did you hear that @SquarePeg is NOT getting the X-T3 but is getting the GFX100...lol
Click to expand...

I did not hear that FujiSquarePeg was getting that, but I'm excited to see the results!


----------



## Warhorse

Great news indeed!

I get to have another one done the middle of next month. Its been a dozen or so years since my last.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Wait a minute, you all are changing names?? Fucoh Riji who??

My first camera was a Ricoh Singlex II. My first digital is a Ricoh GXR. 

Team USA lost, I don't wanna talk about it... Well, there's still lacrosse, Canadian Major Junior hockey...


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Fujidave , I should change my username to RicohWade, cause I have a GRiii coming to me at some point today hopefully possibly.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice one.  Did you hear that @SquarePeg is NOT getting the X-T3 but is getting the GFX100...lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I did not hear that FujiSquarePeg was getting that, but I'm excited to see the results!
Click to expand...


I am not sure what Fuji Dave is talking about.  I am not getting the XT3 because my XT2 is perfect.  I was having a buffering issue for softball photos but I figured it out.  Since I'm shooting during the day in good light I just shoot in jpeg only for softball and no more buffering!  '

I do not have nor do I plan to get a GFX100.  

Yours Truly,
FujiSquare


----------



## smoke665

Great news @Fujidave. Last one I had done I had to get the heart rate up the old fashion way, on a treadmill. By the time it got high enough I was to tired to care if showed anything or not.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Must be the after effects of that test FujiDave went thru, it's got him imagining things... 

Those don't sound fun, glad everyone's doing well.

Smoke I'm on the third time around with the same respiratory thing, starts out as a sore throat then goes into losing my voice (but I can still type!! lol). I've been on two allergy meds, a decongestant, two nasal sprays, have two inhalers, what else can I possibly squirt up my nose to get rid of this?? I'm maxed out.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Great news @Fujidave. Last one I had done I had to get the heart rate up the old fashion way, on a treadmill. By the time it got high enough I was to tired to care if showed anything or not.




Thanks smoke, the one thing that I found really cool though was hearing my heart beating in my head.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Canada won their game in the Worlds earlier so I guess now it's O Canada into the weekend.

During intermission of this Finland-Sweden game they were showing an ancient stone castle there in Slovakia that looked interesting. And photogenic, somebody get a camera.

There are ads for Coke Zero saying Zero Calorriii or something, I can't read most of the dasher ads but usually I can figure out some of the hockey terms/stats.

I liked when they always played O Canada at hockey games here, not playing both still just seems wrong.


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Canada won their game in the Worlds earlier so I guess now it's O Canada into the weekend.
> 
> During intermission of this Finland-Sweden game they were showing an ancient stone castle there in Slovakia that looked interesting. And photogenic, somebody get a camera.
> 
> There are ads for Coke Zero saying Zero Calorriii or something, I can't read most of the dasher ads but usually I can figure out some of the hockey terms/stats.
> 
> I liked when they always played O Canada at hockey games here, not playing both still just seems wrong.



Are you saying they don’t play the Canadian national anthem anymore even when they’re playing a Canadian team?  In NHL?


----------



## davidharmier60

Oven grilled chicken,  peas and carrots and little tomatoes. Chicken a bit tough but very tasty. Apparently my Dad finished the Great Divide ice cream so probably vanilla with chocolate sauce later.

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----------



## Tony744

Glad to hear you're okay Dave.

Moved all the sandblasting equipment (at work) behind to garage because they were supposed to be repaving the parking lot this weekend. Find out from the boss it's postponed until next weekend due to rain. Dragged everything back out and set it up back in front of the garage only for the boss to tell me that they will be tearing up the old asphalt in front of the garage area tomorrow.


----------



## Fujidave

Thanks Tony.

Morning all, the sun is out and it`s quite warm too but with a breeze so might pop out later for a little walk again.


----------



## davidharmier60

It doesn't appear that it will rain today. 
Stayed up too late to get Sister's stuff in the house when she was brought home by Pam. Good coffee to try and blink two clear eyes. 

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----------



## Tony744

Four day weekend! 

I think I may head out to Plum Island. Try and capture some shore birds.


----------



## SquarePeg

Tony744 said:


> Four day weekend!
> 
> I think I may head out to Plum Island. Try and capture some shore birds.



I have been wanting to get to the nature preserve out there.  Have you been to the GBH rookery?  I believe it’s in Georgetown or close by.


----------



## Tony744

SquarePeg said:


> Tony744 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Four day weekend!
> 
> I think I may head out to Plum Island. Try and capture some shore birds.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have been wanting to get to the nature preserve out there.  Have you been to the GBH rookery?  I believe it’s in Georgetown or close by.
Click to expand...

Not yet, but it's on my list.

Sent from my Moto E (4) using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## smoke665

Tony744 said:


> Four day weekend!
> 
> I think I may head out to Plum Island. Try and capture some shore birds.



Don't get me wrong, I enjoy retirement, but weekends and holidays, don't have the same excitement that they once had


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Don't get me wrong, I enjoy retirement, but weekends and holidays, don't have the same excitement that they once had



*PLEASE* refrain from destroying my hopes and dreams of what retirement will be!


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Don't get me wrong, I enjoy retirement, but weekends and holidays, don't have the same excitement that they once had


Poor.  Muffin.


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don't get me wrong, I enjoy retirement, but weekends and holidays, don't have the same excitement that they once had
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *PLEASE* refrain from destroying my hopes and dreams of what retirement will be!
Click to expand...


FYI Dean. Even a bad day in retirement is still a better day then going to work. My goal was to retire at 50, I missed it by 6 years. Unfortunately I learned that life has a way of throwing you curves. Two years later, our nest egg took some serious hits, when DW was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. I went back to work as a Freight Broker, because of the flexibility on hours and the $$$$.   When we were in the Transportation Business, I held Brokerage, Contract and Common Authorities, so I still had a lot of contacts. Finally gave that up in 2015.

My advise to any young person just starting, SAVE, INVEST, SAVE, because by the time you get to the point of thinking about retirement it's to late to build the cushion you need for retirement. Whatever you think you might need in retirement ---- double it, Hell triple it. Make sure your insurance needs are covered, Cancer, Heart, and other medical issues can easily soar into the millions and long term maintenance of those conditions can top $40k per month. Make sure you have a medical reserve put back, because even with insurance your deductibles can get high fast. It's not hard to go in and out of the donut hole in the first month of the year, and into catastrophic coverage. Paying 5% deductible on a $100 medication isn't much but paying 5% on a $15,000 medication is another matter.


----------



## SquarePeg

Went to see Booksmart last night.  It was funny and very well done.  I love a good high school comedy when you want a laugh and a walk down memory lane.  If you're not a fan of movies like American Pie, Fast Times etc then you won't like it.


----------



## Warhorse

After almost five years into retirement, I see no downside to it.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Well the Flickr migration has been a spectacular screw-up.


----------



## tirediron

Tropicalmemories said:


> Well the Flickr migration has been a spectacular screw-up.


Details?


----------



## Fujidave

Tropicalmemories said:


> Well the Flickr migration has been a spectacular screw-up.



It took me about five minutes to upload just one photo, I think the staff made a mistake saying it would be down in one day, NOT a chance in HELL.  Give it about a week and it might work fine.


----------



## SquarePeg

Tropicalmemories said:


> Well the Flickr migration has been a spectacular screw-up.





tirediron said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well the Flickr migration has been a spectacular screw-up.
> 
> 
> 
> Details?
Click to expand...




Fujidave said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well the Flickr migration has been a spectacular screw-up.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It took me about five minutes to upload just one photo, I think the staff made a mistake saying it would be down in one day, NOT a chance in HELL.  Give it about a week and it might work fine.
Click to expand...


Hmmm... doesn't seem that these issues are affecting my access at all.   I was able to get into my photos with no issues about an hour ago.  Didn't have a chance to check it yesterday.  I just did a test and uploaded a photo from my pc with no lag time at all.  Tested on my phone and that worked fine as well.


----------



## davidharmier60

Flickr doesn't recognize my primary or secondary email. I can't get in.
It was a nearly 5 hour day. 28 and I think 44 minutes for the week so far. 
We found a broken pushrod in the mower.
Now it will run as long as choked.
Also we got 4 tires with actuall tread on the Avenger. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Burger steak, broccoli with lemon and canned okra and tomatoes. 
Price is Right on the DVR. 
And two new Blue Bell half gallons to choose from later.
Exciting stuff eh?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

I haven't been to Flickr for a couple of days.  When I got to the main page, there was a notice about the site being back up.


----------



## snowbear

Sad.




cmw3_d750_DSC_2739.jpg by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

There was a little hesitation on Flickr earlier, but other then that worked fine for me.


----------



## limr

They couldn't display my photostream for a while today, but can access it now.

Testing:



rBridge by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I tried uploading a couple hours ago and it froze, then I got the " Bad Panda " page again and a page saying that Flickr was aware of the problem, after I initially had the " Site is Up " notification @snowbear mentioned. Just now checked again and I could upload, so hopefully it's all good again.


----------



## RowdyRay

Have so much to upload. Knew it would be a cluster "F*%#".  I'll wait.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

tirediron said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well the Flickr migration has been a spectacular screw-up.
> 
> 
> 
> Details?
Click to expand...


All followers disappeared.
New photos uploading as Private
Info page is blank with no option to change to Public
In Public view no photos older than one month appear
Android App worked last night, but very slow, request to Upgrade and log in again in message from Flickr on Help Forum - did that, now just get a message saying 'Flickr is Down'.
Down Detector site still reporting IOS and Android Apps being non functional as of 10 minutes ago
No notifications being received via email account.
Problems seem to be linked to geography and browser/system - but people on Forum saying it's still slow when/if it works.

Glad I downloaded copies of all my photos last month!


----------



## crf8

iOS ap not functional, able to upload from computer but unable to make a new folder.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, overcast but very muggy here today.  Susie and I are off to Mums today then I will go out for a small walk to start getting my energy back up.


----------



## davidharmier60

Phone doesn't indicate rain today.
Gonna get the push mower going and do right around the house when I get home. 
Since having put the pushrod in the engine it ran longer than it had in quite some time but only with the choke on. We are going to pull the intake manifold to look for a leak.
Doesn't seem that there is anywhere else to look. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy long weekend Hosers!  

Is like to offer my thanks and recognition to our TPF members who served/are serving in the military and to their families who also “serve” along with them.


----------



## terri

Nice, Sharon - yes, Memorial Day here in the US is to honor and remember our military service people who died while serving.     Gratitude!

Hope those who celebrate have a lovely holiday!


----------



## davidharmier60

34.04 for the week. PO and then the box at the front of the neighborhood and then home. After I get some Kool Aid at Dollar General. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Played in a fundraiser corn hole tournament today.   Got crushed in the first round by a team that plays in a weekly corn hole league.  Who knew that was even a thing?????  Seriously.  It’s a thing.


----------



## Tony744

Every time someone says corn hole, I get Beavus and Butthead flashbacks.


----------



## davidharmier60

It is a funny name.....
Happy Sunday 
Molested coffee. 
May attempt to cut out a wing before it gets hot.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

Tony744 said:


> Every time someone says corn hole, I get Beavus and Butthead flashbacks.


What does it mean in this context?


----------



## davidharmier60

Got a wing built. Not about to win best in show but swinging it around shows it has lift. Now watching NHRA Atlanta on the DVR. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> Tony744 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Every time someone says corn hole, I get Beavus and Butthead flashbacks.
> 
> 
> 
> What does it mean in this context?
Click to expand...


----------



## smoke665

AND THEY'RE OFF..........The Indy 500 just got the green flag.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't get it... (why is putting underwear on your head called that...??) nm don't tell me, I'll just stay clueless... 

I feel like this today... woke up stuffed up, drooling with the side of my face crusty from sleeping that way, spilled coffee on the floor (Noooo! not my coffee!!), etc. etc.


----------



## davidharmier60

My Sister was sent a Samsung S7 in an Otterbox. My S6 Active is about done.
Most recent thing is battery shows 50% or less and when the charger is plugged in it shows 70% or more. To keep the phone from dying suddenly a charger must stay plugged in. The S7 isn't so very different from my S6 so it looks like a win.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

However so far I can't get into TPF on that phone. I wrote down a password for it but don't know which email I used. 
Trials and tribulations. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I don't get it... (why is putting underwear on your head called that...??) nm don't tell me, I'll just stay clueless...
> 
> I feel like this today... woke up stuffed up, drooling with the side of my face crusty from sleeping that way, spilled coffee on the floor (Noooo! not my coffee!!), etc. etc.



It's Beavis and Butthead. Don't overthink it 

Hope you feel better, and deepest sympathies over your spilled coffee!


----------



## davidharmier60

The S7 gets phone calls, Gmail, messenger and has a WAY better camera.
But this old S6 must soldier along a bit longer. Monday Madness awaits.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Monday wasn't quite as mad as usual. 
5 hours and 26 minutes on this Memorial day.  Going to see if I can get Tapatalk straight on the S7.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Derrel

SquarePeg said:


> Played in a fundraiser corn hole tournament today.   Got crushed in the first round by a team that plays in a weekly corn hole league.  Who knew that was even a thing?????  Seriously.  It’s a thing.



Yesterday I was on my YouTube TV account, and under sports they showed coverage from a corn hole tournament covered by one of the sports networks.  Seriously. I was very surprised by this


----------



## smoke665

Derrel said:


> Yesterday I was on my YouTube TV account, and under sports they showed coverage from a corn hole tournament covered by one of the sports networks. Seriously. I was very sur



Two local college students won the American Cornhole League National College Doubles Championship in January of this year. Given the payouts there's more money in playing cornhole then in photography  American Cornhole League


----------



## Derrel

I had no idea.


----------



## smoke665

Derrel said:


> I had no idea.



I didn't either until the local guys won. Who'd of thought you could make $$$$$ playing cornhole. Kind of makes me feel foolish for making fun of friends who played it now.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, feel horrible today as still suffering from having my drink spiked on Saturday.  From Saturday till Monday I can not remember a thing at all so trying to take it easy for a while.


----------



## davidharmier60

Another day. Still using the S6 Active to post this. Have yet to have TPF on the S7.
Getting it set up slowly. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Tropicalmemories

I suspected that Flickr is much less active since the lengthy migration - so posted a cat picture to test my theory.

No faves after 4 days.  That's proof - Flickr is doomed!


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> Morning all, feel horrible today as still suffering from having my drink spiked on Saturday.  From Saturday till Monday I can not remember a thing at all so trying to take it easy for a while.



WTH! that's pretty scary Dave. No idea who or what?????


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning all, feel horrible today as still suffering from having my drink spiked on Saturday.  From Saturday till Monday I can not remember a thing at all so trying to take it easy for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> WTH! that's pretty scary Dave. No idea who or what?????
Click to expand...


I remember I got to the music hall to take some photos, and then it`s all a total blank.  So went to hospital yesterday as felt horrible as only drank shandy, they did a test and it came back I`d been spiked.  The thing that really scares me is I can not remember anything at all.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Fujidave said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning all, feel horrible today as still suffering from having my drink spiked on Saturday.  From Saturday till Monday I can not remember a thing at all so trying to take it easy for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> WTH! that's pretty scary Dave. No idea who or what?????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I remember I got to the music hall to take some photos, and then it`s all a total blank.  So went to hospital yesterday as felt horrible as only drank shandy, they did a test and it came back I`d been spiked.  The thing that really scares me is I can not remember anything at all.
Click to expand...


That is worrying.

Sounds like Rohypnol?

Perhaps intended for someone else?

Are you OK now?


----------



## Fujidave

Tropicalmemories said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning all, feel horrible today as still suffering from having my drink spiked on Saturday.  From Saturday till Monday I can not remember a thing at all so trying to take it easy for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> WTH! that's pretty scary Dave. No idea who or what?????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I remember I got to the music hall to take some photos, and then it`s all a total blank.  So went to hospital yesterday as felt horrible as only drank shandy, they did a test and it came back I`d been spiked.  The thing that really scares me is I can not remember anything at all.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That is worrying.
> 
> Sounds like Rohypnol?
> 
> Perhaps intended for someone else?
> 
> Are you OK now?
Click to expand...


As soon as I said I can`t remember anything the nurse said it might be Rohypnol and after a urine test it showed up some was still in my system.  I feel ok now but just a bit knackered and scared I can`t remember anything at all, on a great note I came back with my camera.


----------



## Original katomi

B hell scary hope you are ok soon


----------



## Fujidave

Original katomi said:


> B hell scary hope you are ok soon



Thanks, should be back to normal in a few days.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hey y'all. On the S6 still.
I guess I need to pull TPF up on the computer and see if I can figure it out.
A bit under 5 hours today. 10.18 for the week so far. Sister and Dad just came home. Gotta see what is going on.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## terri

Fujidave said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> B hell scary hope you are ok soon
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, should be back to normal in a few days.
Click to expand...

Gosh, I'm glad you'll be okay after that.   Very unnerving, to say the least.  But I agree, it's a good thing you came home with your camera - it might have been intended for someone else.   No one seems to have wanted to rob you, at least.   

Nasty business.  Get well soon!


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> As soon as I said I can`t remember anything the nurse said it might be Rohypnol and after a urine test it showed up some was still in my system. I feel ok now but just a bit knackered and scared I can`t remember anything at all, on a great note I came back with my ca



Scary for sure. Never had that happen to me before thank goodness. I did have a "fatal attraction" once. She was 5' tall and just about the same size around, the wife of one of our drivers, who I may have said hello to once or twice when she was in the office. DW thought it was hilarious............me not so much, especially after she started sending crazy letters to the house, and was seen in the neighborhood stalking.


----------



## Fujidave

terri said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> B hell scary hope you are ok soon
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, should be back to normal in a few days.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Gosh, I'm glad you'll be okay after that.   Very unnerving, to say the least.  But I agree, it's a good thing you came home with your camera - it might have been intended for someone else.   No one seems to have wanted to rob you, at least.
> 
> Nasty business.  Get well soon!
Click to expand...




smoke665 said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> As soon as I said I can`t remember anything the nurse said it might be Rohypnol and after a urine test it showed up some was still in my system. I feel ok now but just a bit knackered and scared I can`t remember anything at all, on a great note I came back with my ca
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Scary for sure. Never had that happen to me before thank goodness. I did have a "fatal attraction" once. She was 5' tall and just about the same size around, the wife of one of our drivers, who I may have said hello to once or twice when she was in the office. DW thought it was hilarious............me not so much, especially after she started sending crazy letters to the house, and was seen in the neighborhood stalking.
Click to expand...


Today I have just been taking it easy, I have given up trying to figure it out but yes very scary indeed and will never leave a drink on it`s own again.


----------



## davidharmier60

Well shoot. My current password isn't what I thought it was. And I haven't a clue what it is.
Gonna be pretty hard to set up TPF on the S7 under these conditions.
Anyhow good night Coffee House


----------



## davidharmier60

Mmm

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

davidharmier60 said:


> Well shoot. My current password isn't what I thought it was. And I haven't a clue what it is.
> Gonna be pretty hard to set up TPF on the S7 under these conditions.
> Anyhow good night Coffee House


If the computer is set to save passwords, you should be able to see what it is, there.  For Chrome, it's in the settings.


----------



## Derrel

Fujidave said:


> Morning all, feel horrible today as still suffering from having my drink spiked on Saturday.  From Saturday till Monday I can not remember a thing at all so trying to take it easy for a while.



wow! I would like to hear a little bit more about this.


----------



## Fujidave

Derrel said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning all, feel horrible today as still suffering from having my drink spiked on Saturday.  From Saturday till Monday I can not remember a thing at all so trying to take it easy for a while.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> wow! I would like to hear a little bit more about this.
Click to expand...


Evening all, as I felt good today Susie and I went to Mums and chilled out.

Hi Derrel, on Saturday I went to the music hall to take some photos and Roxi was singing so got a pint of shandy and took some photos of her set then when she finished and went I stayed to photograph a new singer and in between me moving away from my drink to take shots of Ella someone must of spiked my drink.  I nearly fell in Mums when picking up Susie which I don`t remember at all.  Came home and it is all a total blank from Saturday till Sunday and then Monday I went to hospital as felt horrible, talked to a nurse who said sounds like my drink was spiked.  After a urine test it came back as Rohynol in my blood stream but only a bit as left it too late to report to the police.  One thing I have learnt from it is NEVER leave your drink alone,  I`m fine now but was scared stiff that I can`t remember a thing at all.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Geez Dave, glad you got home OK. I'm not sure if you'll know who did it unless they do it again at that bar or elsewhere and eventually get caught; it could be some random nut who dropped it in whatever drink was handy or thought it was someone else's. 

Keep taking it easy and I'm glad you're safe.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Geez Dave, glad you got home OK. I'm not sure if you'll know who did it unless they do it again at that bar or elsewhere and eventually get caught; it could be some random nut who dropped it in whatever drink was handy or thought it was someone else's.
> 
> Keep taking it easy and I'm glad you're safe.



Thank you, when I told Mum what the test and nurse showed and said, she said it was a sick thing to do.


----------



## Derrel

Wow, Dave. You "got roofied" as we say in the states!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah. You know, I think women become aware of the possibility of this type thing at a relatively young age (like when old enough to have a drink). If I've wandered off when I come back I get a fresh drink (by then it's probably moslty melted ice or backwash anyway). I might have wasted money on a drink that way but it's not worth finishing it and taking a chance, not unless I've been sitting there keeping an eye on it or had a friend watch it when I left the table.

Sorry you had this happen, I imagine it could have been totally random and if it hadn't been your drink it would've been the next person's drink at the table or bar.


----------



## Fujidave

I do find it sad that people in this world do it for fun, or even worse but just so glad I`m well on the way to feeling better now even though it is very very scary.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Well, Dave, since you seem to be on the mend, I'd say learn from this and make the best of it. It is sad that there are people who'd do this, but this is our world. We are supposed to be civilized and mature, but there are exceptions to every rule.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah, there seem to be people who have warped ways to get their kicks. Sounds disturbing to have this happen at a place where you go all the time. They say to always be aware, that something can happen anyplace anytime, but I think it can be harder to keep that in mind day to day in familiar places where we feel more relaxed. 

Wonder if the bar or any place else in the area has had anything like this happen lately? Maybe it should be reported just so the authorities have a record of it even if there isn't much they can do after the fact, there could get to be a pattern of incidents. Or this could have been a one time thing by some nut who doesn't live around there, just passing thru wreaking havoc.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Perhaps the bar has video cameras even.


----------



## Derrel

Definitely, report this to management. They might have CCTV footage!


----------



## Fujidave

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Perhaps the bar has video cameras even.





Derrel said:


> Definitely, report this to management. They might have CCTV footage!



The sad thing is, no CCTV at all but I have let one of the staff know.


----------



## Derrel

I thought all of England was under CCTV surveillance!


----------



## Fujidave

Derrel said:


> I thought all of England was under CCTV surveillance!



I actually wish it was, yes a lot of CCTV is about but even worse it`s not switched on all the time here in town.


----------



## davidharmier60

Was a 6+ hour day. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## davidharmier60

Roughly 16 and a half for the week so far. 
Now about to hit the sack.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Yeah. You know, I think women become aware of the possibility of this type thing at a relatively young age (like when old enough to have a drink). If I've wandered off when I come back I get a fresh drink (by then it's probably moslty melted ice or backwash anyway). I might have wasted money on a drink that way but it's not worth finishing it and taking a chance, not unless I've been sitting there keeping an eye on it or had a friend watch it when I left the table.



Exactly this. I've known not to leave a drink unattended since I was a teenager.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah. You know, I think women become aware of the possibility of this type thing at a relatively young age (like when old enough to have a drink). If I've wandered off when I come back I get a fresh drink (by then it's probably moslty melted ice or backwash anyway). I might have wasted money on a drink that way but it's not worth finishing it and taking a chance, not unless I've been sitting there keeping an eye on it or had a friend watch it when I left the table.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Exactly this. I've known not to leave a drink unattended since I was a teenager.
Click to expand...


Unfortunately, one of the many things that women have to think about that men (usually) do not even give a second thought to.  Like ways to protect yourself and be safe when hiking, running, walking at night, in parking structures, staying in a hotel alone, taking a taxi or Uber, camping, walking on campus, at a party...  

Sorry to hear that this happened to you Dave.  Hope you’re feeling better.


----------



## Tony744

Being aware of my surroundings is a habit I've had for a very long time. Comes from having lived in some rough neighborhoods.


----------



## smoke665

Three weeks post surgery and maybe I'm finally turning the corner. The remnants of the respiratory infection are still barely hanging on, but otherwise finally getting back to normal. Yesterday spent most of the day on the tractor catching up on spraying/edging fire lanes, pine trees, and property lines. Felt good to actually be doing something productive for a change.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah. You know, I think women become aware of the possibility of this type thing at a relatively young age (like when old enough to have a drink). If I've wandered off when I come back I get a fresh drink (by then it's probably moslty melted ice or backwash anyway). I might have wasted money on a drink that way but it's not worth finishing it and taking a chance, not unless I've been sitting there keeping an eye on it or had a friend watch it when I left the table.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Exactly this. I've known not to leave a drink unattended since I was a teenager.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Unfortunately, one of the many things that women have to think about that men (usually) do not even give a second thought to.  Like ways to protect yourself and be safe when hiking, running, walking at night, in parking structures, staying in a hotel alone, taking a taxi or Uber, camping, walking on campus, at a party...
> 
> Sorry to hear that this happened to you Dave.  Hope you’re feeling better.
Click to expand...


It is a sad world where folk have to drug women or men to get away with doing what they like, but now after a few days of thinking.  It is strange that NOT one of the vocalists have asked how I am, so have decided to not go again as they wont miss me and I wont miss them.  Tomorrow though I`m off to church to shoot a gig.


----------



## davidharmier60

Today was 5 hours and whatever it took to have 21.45 for the week so far. Sister was to be at her doctor office and trying to get into surgery at Kingwood Hospital. 
I haven't gotten a message about it as of yet. Finishing up comics on the computer and then will watch more Flite Test vlogs on YouTube. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Original katomi

Went into our local We buy shop  saw a real nice lens, size I am looking for  price... mouthwatering
THEN I noticed that was for a Nik and not canon.... gutted
Re Tony744. I have worked and lived in some rough places so understands the comment and agree.
Flip side is. Sometime ago an over zealous store guard grabbed me by the shoulder from behind. No warning or call just grab.
End result he learnt how to fly, and I am stood there ready to defend.. no time to think just reacted because the area I was working in did not give time or second chances. But no harm done and once explained and watched vid store and police could see... made me think ...made the store guard do it the correct way 
Just as an aside. If  I am taking photos in a pub/club/place where there are drinks I don’t drink. It seems funny to some people to try and ever so accidentally knock your drink over the camera.
The camera has an extra strap that is attached to me so that a knock and drop or grab and run are no so easy
Ok I have been long winded yes I go out at night to take photos but I always have one eye and an ear on what’s going on.. if it feels unsafe I exit


----------



## vintagesnaps

The 'new' '80's Twilight Zone shows started on MeTV the other night. First one was with Bruce Willis, it wasn't bad. Tonight it involves a camera but unfortunately it's a TV camera so that's disappointing! It glowed purple and the 'astronaut' disappeared. Then later he all of a sudden reappeared, ooh, spooky. The originals were better.

And what's going to happen when one of the characters says 'this is just getting too weird'?!


----------



## davidharmier60

Today was 6 hours and two minutes.
27.47 for the week so far with a day to go. 
Sister is almost certainly spending another night at Memorial Hospital. Dad was just rattling things in the kitchen. But this phone will only work with Tapatalk in here where the Wi-Fi is. Still the S6 because I haven't been able to get TPF on the S7.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

An old saying in our area, "sometimes you get the peanut, sometimes the hull".  For the past few weeks seems like we're knee deep in hulls and the pile keeps growing. Last night admitted DW in the hospital for gastrointestinal problems and kidney problems. Her low immune system makes it difficult to fight off infections, and the years of chemo have put severe strain on the kidneys. Tests today and tomorrow so hopefully will know something soon.


----------



## davidharmier60

Today was 5 hours and a couple minutes.
32.49 for the week. We cleaned up.the freezer in the garage. I'm in the midst of my comics online. My BSH Invicta watch is running about 10 seconds behind the watch I set it to yesterday. I have been fighting with it for quite some time.
Since I don't know if I've ever shown it....
Here is a picture. 




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## davidharmier60

Sunday morning. 
About find out how goofy the coffee is.
See ya later.

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## waday

@Fujidave , glad you’re ok!

I got my Ricoh GRIII, and I’m very happy with it. Probably one of my best purchases, yet. 

Now I’m debating whether or not I need my 17mm (34 mm eq.) for my m43 system. I doubt I’ll ever use both together, and I’ll probably opt for the GRIII given the larger sensor. The only thing the 17mm has going for it is f/1.8...


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## Tony744

Enjoying Viking days at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut[emoji2] 

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## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> An old saying in our area, "sometimes you get the peanut, sometimes the hull".  For the past few weeks seems like we're knee deep in hulls and the pile keeps growing. Last night admitted DW in the hospital for gastrointestinal problems and kidney problems. Her low immune system makes it difficult to fight off infections, and the years of chemo have put severe strain on the kidneys. Tests today and tomorrow so hopefully will know something soon.



Hope she is feeling better soon.  You both have had your share of medical stuff this year and hoping things start looking up.


----------



## CherylL

Just got back from a family trip.  Video and photos still on the cameras.   My 9yo grand took photos and video with my action Fuji XP125.   Curios how stable the video.  She picked up using it quickly.  The last day it was fogged over and I thought maybe it had a leak.  It was sun screen smeared on the lens and the back screen.

Did I miss anything??


----------



## smoke665

Thursday night admitted DW to the hospital. Turns out she was in Acute Renal Failure brought on by severe dehydration and the strain of being sick for the last month. Three days later, several bags of fluid and supplements her kidneys are slowly responding. Dr seems to think by tomorrow she'll be close to 20% function and able to continue further treatment as outpatient.


----------



## snowbear

Heading to Charm City in a little while.  I got "recruited" to be the GIS contact for the Fire/EMS UAS Acquisition committee and the FAA is having a symposium for the next three days.


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## davidharmier60

I cut some SERIOUS grass with a push mower. I can barely keep my eyes open. 
Our large propane tank is gone. Two guys with a trailer and an engine hoist took it.
We are using a 40 gallon tank to run our gas stove/oven. We won't be in this house much longer. Anyhow Monday awaits.
yippee. 

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## davidharmier60

Today I got 5.15 hours. Fixed a sign board in the produce dept. Cleaned out the floor machine better than ever. Shopped for my Dad before coming home. She said she would take pennies tomorrow.  Gonna get to it as I have ten rolls to do.

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## Original katomi

Hi all.


----------



## smoke665

Looks like Google crapped in a bunch of people's Nests. That major Google outage meant some Nest users couldn’t unlock doors or use the AC just another reason why I don't want a smart home.


----------



## Original katomi

Oh boy sci fi horror coming true


----------



## Original katomi

Apparently I am spending way too much time here. I now have someone keeping an eye on me


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> View attachment 174236 Apparently I am spending way too much time here. I now have someone keeping an eye on me



What a beautiful kitty! 

I need details - name, male or female, age, favorite toys...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hope your wife keeps getting better Smoke.

No smart anything, no smart phone, no smart house... I want to outsmart my appliances! lol Seriously I'm not doing any the programmed whatever, I don't have a need for it. I'm not sure what Nest is other than one of the dumb daytime/late night dumb commercials I try to ignore. Or those things birds build in trees then baby birds stick their heads out. Although I do like Mayhem, he's pretty funny.

Although I think there could be an awards show for all the cheezy commercials. The guy disco dancing thru the office and when he's cutting his grass, or the big purple glittery thing cleaning the bathroom (which could come to my house, clean and be entertaining!). Then there would need to be an awards category for local ads, like the guy stuck in the airport instead of using the shuttle, or the car dealer/auto repair shop that's open til 3 AM! (hate to think what they get at that hour!). Or they could bring back the Gong Show and just put 'em all on there.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> Just got back from a family trip.  Video and photos still on the cameras.   My 9yo grand took photos and video with my action Fuji XP125.   Curios how stable the video.  She picked up using it quickly.  The last day it was fogged over and I thought maybe it had a leak.  It was sun screen smeared on the lens and the back screen.
> 
> Did I miss anything??



Just a new member of my family!  This is Harlie.  




Untitled by SharonCat..., on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Hope your wife keeps getting better Smoke



Thank you, just got home with her a little bit ago. They've postponed her chemo treatments for three weeks to give her kidneys time to recuperate. Scary how fast Acute Renal Failure can happen. Literally happened over the course of just a few days.



vintagesnaps said:


> No smart anything, no smart phone, no smart house...



We have a few things like phones and Tv's but I refuse to allow a refrigerator or washing machine to "tell me" I need to do something.


----------



## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> View attachment 174236





SquarePeg said:


>



Awwwwww !!


----------



## JonA_CT

Tony744 said:


> Enjoying Viking days at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut[emoji2]
> 
> Sent from my Moto E (4) using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app



I worked there during college, but haven't been back since they've done the redesign. How was it? (psst...you were only 15 minutes from some awesome beer).


In other news, I'm down to 9 days of school. Once school is out, I'll have a more reasonable schedule. I'm pretty excited...not going to lie. By the time next school year roles around, my role at the brewery should be mostly administrative. I'm looking forward to it.


----------



## davidharmier60

What a great looking pup!
Good night y'all. 
Have a great Tuesday!

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## Tony744

JonA_CT said:


> Tony744 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Enjoying Viking days at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut[emoji2]
> 
> Sent from my Moto E (4) using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I worked there during college, but haven't been back since they've done the redesign. How was it? (psst...you were only 15 minutes from some awesome beer).
Click to expand...


I had a great time! Too much to see and do in one visit so I will be heading down again. Also wanna be there when they launch the Mayflower II, she's currently there undergoing restoration. And I'll be sure to hit the brewery on at least one of those visits.


----------



## Original katomi

limr said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 174236 Apparently I am spending way too much time here. I now have someone keeping an eye on me
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What a beautiful kitty!
> 
> I need details - name, male or female, age, favorite toys...
Click to expand...

He is Charlie, and his fav toys are human feet and legs loves to wrap around and claw. Ouch


----------



## davidharmier60

10.18 for the week so far. I guess that means 5.03 hours today. 
I have had a work shirt go rogue.
Can't find it anywhere. Had 4 now 3.
Kind of a bummer.

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## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Just a new member of my family!  This is Harlie.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Untitled by SharonCat..., on Flickr




Awwwww cuteness overload!


----------



## vintagesnaps

School's almost out for Jon!!!    Summertime and the livin' is easy... 

Old habit, doesn't make any difference to me now! but realized I've almost always been on a school schedule - went to school, went to college, taught school...

This respiratory stuff is gettin' old! eye watering yesterday, woke up with sore throat & hoarseness today, OK spring going into summer, knock it off already.


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## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> This respiratory stuff is gettin' old! eye watering yesterday, woke up with sore throat & hoarseness today, OK spring going into summer, knock it off already.



I hear you, I developed a bad sore throat 4 days after my surgery, from there it moved into my sinuses, left ear, and lymph nodes on the left side. Several rounds of antibiotics, and it's better, but the lymph node on the neck still swells some and gets irritated.


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## vintagesnaps

Woodstock is on TCM tonight. 3 Days - I mean, 3 hours - of Peace and Music. A little too young at the time, but know some of the music. Too young to be a hippie but even us kids had bell bottoms.

edit - Director's Cut, don't think I've ever seen this. It's been on before but not with all the interviews etc., at least I don't remember seeing all this. It's actually a little slow going getting to the concert part.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Woodstock is on TCM tonight. 3 Days - I mean, 3 hours - of Peace and Music. A little too young at the time, but know some of the music. Too young to be a hippie but even us kids had bell bottoms.



Biggest regret of my life. myself and a couple college roommates were going. I let my fiancee talk me out of it. We later married and divorced 8 years later. Not only did i miss out on the greatest opportunity of a lifetime, but if I'd gone, I likely wouldn't have married my 2nd biggest regret!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I guess this director's cut just came out in May?? or this 3 hour version came out on DVD maybe? No wonder I never saw it. But this is going to be long... I'm not familiar with anybody that's been on so far.

I was at the age to be into bubble gum music, but I did have a batik headband I made at summer camp.

I want to see Santana, Sly and the Family Stone, and Hendrix. They always played 'Foxy Lady' at local hockey games, was trying to remember why and I think just because the goalie liked Hendrix.

Edit - OK, I know The Who. I want a jacket/vest with fringe a mile long! that would've been cool.


----------



## smoke665

On the news yesterday, talk about having a bad day! Tracy Morgan crashes $2 million supercar half-mile from dealership: report | Fox News


----------



## compur

vintagesnaps said:


> Woodstock is on TCM tonight. 3 Days - I mean, 3 hours - of Peace and Music. A little too young at the time, but know some of the music. Too young to be a hippie but even us kids had bell bottoms.
> 
> edit - Director's Cut, don't think I've ever seen this. It's been on before but not with all the interviews etc., at least I don't remember seeing all this. It's actually a little slow going getting to the concert part.



I think it was 4 hours. I fell asleep after about an hour so I'm not sure.

I'm _not_ too young for the music, unfortunately. 

I wasn't at Woodstock but I was at Altamont and also hung out at the Fillmore a lot.


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## vintagesnaps

Cool. It _was_ almost 4 hours! til close to midnight, the director's cut apparently came out in '94 on the 25th anniversary. What I'd seen was actually about the 50th; a backer dropped out and said it was cancelled but they got another company's support and it's apparently on. Smoke - bummer you missed the original, you ought to catch this one! The Killers, The Raconteurs, Santana, Robert Plant, John Sebastian, Country Joe - wonder if he'll do the Fish Song.

Compur there's that movie about Altamont too and I've heard about the Fillmore. Good times, huh?

Do I need the TV to beep at me that it's going to storm? it's dark in the afternoon, I think I can tell. Tornado conditons, yeah, that they need to let us know.

That video on Fox got the info. from a tabloid, he didn't actually crash his car or collide with another car, they sideswiped him. Glad he's OK especially after he was in that limo crash before.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> That video on Fox got the info. from a tabloid, he didn't actually crash his car or collide with another car, they sideswiped him. Glad he's OK especially after he was in that limo crash before.



Yeah they were talking about it on the news again today. The woman in the Honda was at fault. Funny thing is I thought NY was a no fault state, meaning his insurance will end up paying most if not all of the repair to his car. Just said on the news that little scratch on his car could total $125,000.


----------



## Original katomi

Don’t know if you get uk news Trump was in our area today, all over BBC &ITV news.


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## CherylL

vintagesnaps said:


> Woodstock is on TCM tonight. 3 Days - I mean, 3 hours - of Peace and Music. A little too young at the time, but know some of the music. Too young to be a hippie but even us kids had bell bottoms.
> 
> edit - Director's Cut, don't think I've ever seen this. It's been on before but not with all the interviews etc., at least I don't remember seeing all this. It's actually a little slow going getting to the concert part.



I'd like to see the director's cut version.  My brother tried to get me in the theatre when the first came out, but they wouldn't let me in at 12 years old.  He tried to tell them I was his child lol.  He was home on leave and said I could ask for anything to do one day.  I said ride in a plane, ride in a boat, and go see Woodstock.  We did ride in a plane...it was one of those little planes that was in a field next to a highway and the price was a penny a pound.   Had to step on a bathroom scale.  Wonder now if that was safe.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Original katomi said:


> Don’t know if you get uk news Trump was in our area today, all over BBC &ITV news.



Can the queen still decree " Off with his head! "?


----------



## Original katomi

I don’t know do know that there are a lot of people on the streets who are not pleased to see him( according to the news that is. )


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Original katomi said:


> I don’t know do know that there are a lot of people on the streets who are not pleased to see him( according to the news that is. )


We are kind of hoping there's a problem with his passport and he's stuck at his Scottish golf course for the next 2 years


----------



## SquarePeg

Please keep the political talk to the subscribers forum.  

On a much less controversial note, here’s a cute puppy update.  




Untitled by SharonCat..., on Flickr


----------



## vintagesnaps

That sounds like it was fun Cheryl, riding in one of those planes. When I was a kid we used to go to a local airport and watch the small planes. There's a small airport in the area named after the Wright Bros. that has artwork of them on one of the hangars. They have a replica of one of their early planes but limited hours and I've been past it but haven't gone in. 

One of the Wright Bros. factories was discovered in Dayton, uncovered when tearing down some old factories/warehouses and is getting renovated into a museum/multi use bldg. There's an older part of town I've been to once that has their original bicycle shop; it was a Sunday and not open but there was a National Park Service staff person in uniform there. I should actually go in one of those places sometime!

My sore throat has gone into something like a head cold. It's lovely. My eye is still watery, I'm supposed to use artificial tears; I'm on enough nasal sprays and allergy meds! sheesh


----------



## davidharmier60

Apparently I haven't been in here for two days. Yesterday I didn't get into bed until nearly 9pm. But we got my Sister home from Methodist Hospital. Today I had a bit over 6 hours giving 22.06 for the week so far.  Wearing one of my favorite watches. 





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## CherylL

@SquarePeg, you need to post a puppy photo each day!  How is the other pup handling the new arrival?


----------



## terri

CherylL said:


> @SquarePeg, you need to post a puppy photo each day!  How is the other pup handling the new arrival?


I second this!


----------



## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> Don’t know if you get uk news Trump was in our area today, all over BBC &ITV news.


Yes, I know.  That's all I can say in this thread as it is not in the Supporting Members area so:
  1. No politics and
  2. No adult language.


----------



## snowbear

I finally got the time to post the contest voting threads.

Can we take up a collection to send @tirediron to class so he can learn how to post a link back to the original thread?  

I'll chip in US dollars, not Canadian.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> @SquarePeg, you need to post a puppy photo each day!  How is the other pup handling the new arrival?



I’ll do my best.  She had a nice ride today to pick up Princess from school.  They both did!

Xing has been aloof most of the time, bossy to th puppy when needed and overall a bit horrified at having to share his space and his people with a wriggly, slurpy, ball of energy.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> That sounds like it was fun Cheryl, riding in one of those planes. When I was a kid we used to go to a local airport and watch the small planes. There's a small airport in the area named after the Wright Bros. that has artwork of them on one of the hangars. They have a replica of one of their early planes but limited hours and I've been past it but haven't gone in.
> 
> One of the Wright Bros. factories was discovered in Dayton, uncovered when tearing down some old factories/warehouses and is getting renovated into a museum/multi use bldg. There's an older part of town I've been to once that has their original bicycle shop; it was a Sunday and not open but there was a National Park Service staff person in uniform there. I should actually go in one of those places sometime!
> 
> My sore throat has gone into something like a head cold. It's lovely. My eye is still watery, I'm supposed to use artificial tears; I'm on enough nasal sprays and allergy meds! sheesh



I got the sore throat, and the next day it went right to a head cold that has now gone to my chest and hate the cough I now have.

Morning all, not up to much today as it`s chucking it down here.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all


----------



## smoke665

@Fujidave I've  we've had a solid month of it. Started getting a sore throat early last month. Dr. Seemed to think it was viral. Then it moved into the ear and lymph nodes. Tbe sore throat finally cleared up but the lymph nodes continue to swell. They get better, think it's gone and then out the blue they swell up. Looks like I'll be on my way to an Ear, Nose & Throat specialist next week.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.  Hard to type because Zoe is planted between me and he keyboard.

Baltimore was interesting - the symposium was geared to drone pilots and the companies or agencies that have or are starting drone operations.  Nothing that specifically relates to me and the GIS field, but still some good information on what direction the FAA and the industry is going.

One week until Vermont.


----------



## smoke665

@snowbear any mention of the autonomous drones that Amazon is going to release to the skys?


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. 

No stuffy nose or cough, but it's headache time. To make things more interesting for this month's migraine is a dizzy spell. I get these every once in a while. Suppose it's vertigo. I wake up and just feel dizzy all day long. It's okay as long as I'm keeping my head fairly straight, but any bending down or leaning back and my head goes all wonky.

At the moment I am annoyed because my cold pack has gotten warm and the other one hasn't been in the freezer long enough to cool down.

But I am home instead of work, so that is good. The college has flex Fridays through the end of July and closes at noon. I have vacation time to burn so I just went ahead and took every flex Friday off, so I have 4-day work weeks for the next 7 weeks. Or, well, technically the next 6 weeks because the first week of July is an actual vacation, so that is a 0-day work week


----------



## terri

The short work week sounds fantastic, but the migraine + dizziness does not.    

I suppose you've already had your inner ears checked in the past to make sure there's nothing that could cause it?   When I get dizzy, I tend to get nauseated as well, so it's always been something to avoid at all costs.   You're smart to stay home, screw it!


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> @Fujidave I've  we've had a solid month of it. Started getting a sore throat early last month. Dr. Seemed to think it was viral. Then it moved into the ear and lymph nodes. Tbe sore throat finally cleared up but the lymph nodes continue to swell. They get better, think it's gone and then out the blue they swell up. Looks like I'll be on my way to an Ear, Nose & Throat specialist next week.



Come this Monday 10th think I will of had the cough about 3 weeks.


----------



## Fujidave

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> No stuffy nose or cough, but it's headache time. To make things more interesting for this month's migraine is a dizzy spell. I get these every once in a while. Suppose it's vertigo. I wake up and just feel dizzy all day long. It's okay as long as I'm keeping my head fairly straight, but any bending down or leaning back and my head goes all wonky.
> 
> At the moment I am annoyed because my cold pack has gotten warm and the other one hasn't been in the freezer long enough to cool down.
> 
> But I am home instead of work, so that is good. The college has flex Fridays through the end of July and closes at noon. I have vacation time to burn so I just went ahead and took every flex Friday off, so I have 4-day work weeks for the next 7 weeks. Or, well, technically the next 6 weeks because the first week of July is an actual vacation, so that is a 0-day work week




My Mum get headaches and migraines like that, so she has to go back to bed for most of the day.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> No stuffy nose or cough, but it's headache time. To make things more interesting for this month's migraine is a dizzy spell. I get these every once in a while. Suppose it's vertigo. I wake up and just feel dizzy all day long. It's okay as long as I'm keeping my head fairly straight, but any bending down or leaning back and my head goes all wonky.
> 
> At the moment I am annoyed because my cold pack has gotten warm and the other one hasn't been in the freezer long enough to cool down.
> 
> But I am home instead of work, so that is good. The college has flex Fridays through the end of July and closes at noon. I have vacation time to burn so I just went ahead and took every flex Friday off, so I have 4-day work weeks for the next 7 weeks. Or, well, technically the next 6 weeks because the first week of July is an actual vacation, so that is a 0-day work week



From one dizzy broad to another - it’s a fluid thing!  I’ve found that sinus is the root of all evil.  If I treat that the other symptoms like dizziness or nausea will subside.  

Cute puppy update:



Untitled by SharonCat..., on Flickr

#whitewalker #nightqueen


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 174421 View attachment 174422
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> @SquarePeg, you need to post a puppy photo each day!  How is the other pup handling the new arrival?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I’ll do my best.  She had a nice ride today to pick up Princess from school.  They both did!
> 
> Xing has been aloof most of the time, bossy to th puppy when needed and overall a bit horrified at having to share his space and his people with a wriggly, slurpy, ball of energy.
Click to expand...


It takes a few days to integrate into the family.  My pups have their favorite toys and places to sit.  Seems they all have their little territory staked out and get along.  BUT feeding time is another matter.  Three bowls in 3 corners of the kitchen.  At first there was a fight and I had to sit in the middle of the triangle like a lunch room monitor


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> No stuffy nose or cough, but it's headache time. To make things more interesting for this month's migraine is a dizzy spell. I get these every once in a while. Suppose it's vertigo. I wake up and just feel dizzy all day long. It's okay as long as I'm keeping my head fairly straight, but any bending down or leaning back and my head goes all wonky.
> 
> At the moment I am annoyed because my cold pack has gotten warm and the other one hasn't been in the freezer long enough to cool down.
> 
> But I am home instead of work, so that is good. The college has flex Fridays through the end of July and closes at noon. I have vacation time to burn so I just went ahead and took every flex Friday off, so I have 4-day work weeks for the next 7 weeks. Or, well, technically the next 6 weeks because the first week of July is an actual vacation, so that is a 0-day work week
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From one dizzy broad to another - it’s a fluid thing!  I’ve found that sinus is the root of all evil.  If I treat that the other symptoms like dizziness or nausea will subside.
> 
> Cute puppy update:
> 
> 
> 
> Untitled by SharonCat..., on Flickr
> 
> #whitewalker #nightqueen
Click to expand...



The puppy is, OH so cute.


----------



## CherylL

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> No stuffy nose or cough, but it's headache time. To make things more interesting for this month's migraine is a dizzy spell. I get these every once in a while. Suppose it's vertigo. I wake up and just feel dizzy all day long. It's okay as long as I'm keeping my head fairly straight, but any bending down or leaning back and my head goes all wonky.
> 
> At the moment I am annoyed because my cold pack has gotten warm and the other one hasn't been in the freezer long enough to cool down.
> 
> But I am home instead of work, so that is good. The college has flex Fridays through the end of July and closes at noon. I have vacation time to burn so I just went ahead and took every flex Friday off, so I have 4-day work weeks for the next 7 weeks. Or, well, technically the next 6 weeks because the first week of July is an actual vacation, so that is a 0-day work week



Vertigo sucks!  Hope you get relief soon.  Maybe a decongestant to clear up the sinus?


----------



## limr

terri said:


> I suppose you've already had your inner ears checked in the past to make sure there's nothing that could cause it?



I haven't. I told my doctor about it and she just asked how often it happens, how bad it is, and how long it lasts. I told her and she didn't seem particularly concerned. Whether or not that is an appropriate response, I couldn't tell ya 



Fujidave said:


> My Mum get headaches and migraines like that, so she has to go back to bed for most of the day.



Mine vary in intensity. Sometimes they're not so bad and I can manage it with just a couple of Advil. Other times, nothing touches it and I spend the day on the couch with a cold pack and the shades down. 



SquarePeg said:


> From one dizzy broad to another - it’s a fluid thing!  I’ve found that sinus is the root of all evil.  If I treat that the other symptoms like dizziness or nausea will subside.
> 
> Cute puppy update:
> 
> 
> 
> Untitled by SharonCat..., on Flickr
> 
> #whitewalker #nightqueen



First of all, PUPPYYYYYYYYY!!!  She is SO stinkin' cute!

I had a feeling that the sinuses were involved (aren't they always??). I have also been kind of congested the since about Wednesday. Wasn't sure if allergies were starting up or if it was sinus, but eyes were not itchy so I suspected the latter. Cold and caffeine help, and I also took a decongestant this morning along with the Advil, and it has been helping. Definitely better than yesterday.



CherylL said:


> Vertigo sucks!  Hope you get relief soon.  Maybe a decongestant to clear up the sinus?



Thanks. I did take a decongestant this morning. Seems to be helping. Going to have a bit more coffee and some more Advil.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> BUT feeding time is another matter.



When we had three, Boxer, Brittany, and Yorky. No one messed with the Yorky at meal time she was like a little Tasmanian devil. They had all been raised together as puppies so she didn't realize there was a size difference. The Brittany would wolf hers down and then stare at the Boxer because she liked to eat slower. It would make the Boxer so nervous she couldn't eat, and would eventually walk away giving up her meal. We ended up having to confine the Britt to another room at meal time, problem solved.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Coffee helps, coffee always helps! Geez is everybody sick??? Besides that (sniffle, cough), been dealing with my parents getting moved into a retirement community (one at a time) and stuff they forgot or didn't think about, etc. I do not feel up to going to their house to find and get things tomorrow but so it goes.

Leo, hope you feel better, glad you worked out flex days (I loved flex time!!). Cheryl, you'd enjoy having a turn monitoring a lunch room with jr. high kids, about the same level of maturity as puppies! lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

They were testing drones in my area, even on the news are they loud! I don't see how they'd land a package on your porch, that's gonna take some manuvering. Can you expect the ones that leave packages in bushes and can't even ring a doorbell to do that??!! lol They have to have it in sight so have to be fairly close to not drop it, I don't know, on your roof? your dog? your kids/grandkids in the summer in the wading pool in your yard??

And I think the aforementioned comment was more about current events/news from across the pond more than meant to be political; it's hard to completely avoid it with one thing after another. But I think everyone's trying to adhere to guidelines, I've had to sometimes bite my tongue (or the equivalent on a keyboard!). I guess a reminder doesn't hurt.

When we were kids we always had an assortment of cats and dogs... the cats were the most creative, like the one that would always leave a mouse on the front porch/steps, or the one that came in thru the chimney and had her kittens under my bed... (And she was tan and came thru gray from the soot.)


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> They were testing drones in my area, even on the news are they loud! I don't see how they'd land a package on your porch, that's gonna take some manuvering. Can you expect the ones that leave packages in bushes and can't even ring a doorbell to do that??!! lol They have to have it in sight so have to be fairly close to not drop it, I don't know, on your roof? your dog? your kids/grandkids in the summer in the wading pool in your yard??



I'm not in favor of Amazon's plan for several reasons. First the news videos of it in flight are deceptive, sort of like looking at a 747 on the horizon, vs up close. I was shocked when I saw this as it put the size in perspective. Amazon's drone delivery service is one step closer to taking flight Second these things are autonomous operating on their own, that's a lot of crap flying around without human oversight. Third with a 15 mile range they're out of line of sight even if they had a human operator.


----------



## CherylL

@smoke665 Funny the pecking order of the pack.  The young smallest schnauzer runs rough shod over the other 2.  Sometimes the alpha Snickers has to put him in his place.

@vintagesnaps, Sharon I filled in one day at the local elementary school lunch duty.  The flu was going around the staff so I answered the call to help.  It was chaotic noise level.  And the food all mixed together when the kids scraped their plates into the trash.  The smell was terrible.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> @snowbear any mention of the autonomous drones that Amazon is going to release to the skys?


Not on that specific application but there are many tests going on (did you know that Uber has an Air Division?).  The main theme was Safety.  The FAA s working with the industry to make these things happen and I think all the legitimate players agree that safety is the first priority.

Other words in high use: "Beyond Visual Line of Sight," and "Fly Over People."  Much of the "vision" is long term - 2030 / 2035, but if it all goes to schedule, there may be elements of "The Jetsons" in my lifetime.


Edit:  It's my understanding that they are not completely autonomous.  There still has to be a certified pilot in control.  They may not be physically flying it, but they are at the controls - not unlike a commercial plane being on autopilot.  BTW, the pilot certification is something like $250 to take the test and must be renewed every three(?) years.  Even the public safety people have to comply, though you (pilot/company/government agency) can apply for exceptions.  For example -  a power company might need to file an exception to the BVLOS to inspect power lines after a hurricane or tornado because they can't physically get in with trucks.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The Jetsons?!! We have enough problems with people in vehicles on the ground! Friday afternoon traffic is people driving like bats out of h#%$ (which I do not miss!!). Don't put those people in flying vehicles! lol if they crash into each other don't do it over my house!


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> (did you know that Uber has an Air Division?). The main theme was Safety. The FAA s working with the industry to make these things happen and I think all the legitimate players agree that safety is the first priority.



I saw a blurb about Uber, but I think they're still a ways off. Drone operation with line of sight with an operator, but flying autonomous drones as big as a man over multiple, variable routes, IMO is a recipe for disaster.


----------



## smoke665

@vintagesnaps, @Fujidave and all the others under the weather.I found the cure for what ails you tonight. Take 2/3 cups of real honey, not the watered down crap from the store, and 1/2 cup water. Combine in a small sauce pan and heat over medium heat, stirring frequently. Bring to a simmer for 5 mins. Let it cool then in a mason jar combine honey and 1 1/2 cups of a good 100 proof bourbon. Shake well.  Serve warm (not hot), or over ice. Either way two good drinks and you really don't care what ails you.

Edit: In my haste to sample I forgot. Add a touch of real lemon juice to taste, especially if you drink it warm.

Footnote: Be careful on dosing as it's easy to get a wee much, resulting in headaches the next morning.


----------



## davidharmier60

The way some of our neighbors get FedEx we figure they pay for a truck for this area.
I got to 4 or 6 minutes under 28 hours today and good thing I did because I got a call that I don't have to go in tomorrow. 
My buddy Benny said there will be a lot of flyers at the field in Livingston tomorrow and I'm going to go see. I put the plane I downloaded the plans for together and flew it as a glider. I think with a motor and electronics it will fly nicely. Benny says he has an FM radio he will give me but that is only part of what's missing. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## vintagesnaps

I have to watch the sugar so maybe I'll skip the honey and just go straight to the bourbon! (yeah, gotta watch that too but a little's OK, everything good is carbolicious).

That reminds me I got a sample pack of some kind of Jack Daniels flavor coffee, I forgot I had it til I was looking for something else. I better brew it up and see what it is!

On TCM there's a promo for their Sat. midnight noir movie which replays on Sundays. Eddie the host has a rocks glass and a coffee mug, and at the end pours what's in the glass into his coffee. There's an idea...


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, very windy here today and wet out from all the rain we had but tomorrow is not looking too bad.


----------



## smoke665

@vintagesnaps actually there are several benefits to adding the raw honey besides being a good match with the bourbon. Raw (not the pasteurized diluted stuff from the store) is loaded with antioxidants, has antibacterial and antifungal properties, aids digestion issues (potent prebiotic, treats H. Pylori bacteria, and is claimed to treat diarrhea), can be used to heal wounds, and is loaded with Phytonutrients. If you get the unfiltered, unpasteurized raw honey chances are you'll find bits of the comb which provide added benefits to your heart, gut and liver. Finally raw Honey has been  suggested by some as a substitute for sugar in helping keep blood glucose levels down, due to honey's lower glycemic index (GI) score.


----------



## smoke665

Had one of those days today. We have a large storage closet in our basement that holds filing cabinets and other records storage, with room left over for my studio lights. Sometime over the last 2 weeks I misplaced the key, spent the last two days searching everywhere I could think of with no success. This morning early after watching several videos, I decided to try and pick the lock. After an hour of frustration I gave up on that. Next up was to fabricate a bump key, sounded easy enough, but like the lock pick, things can be deceiving. Last resort was to drill the lock. Just as I almost reached the end, the bit veered off and snapped. So now I've got a hardened steel bit blocking any further drilling. Out comes the angle grinder, split the handle, remove it, pull the lock, and turn the interior rod with some long nose vice grips. 4 hours and the door is unlocked. Now I'm off to buy a replacement lock set.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

smoke665 said:


> Had one of those days today. We have a large storage closet our basement that holds filing cabinets and other records storage, with room left over for my studio lights. Sometime over the last 2 weeks I misplaced the key, spent the last two days searching everywhere I could think of with no success. This morning early after watching several videos, I decided to try and pick the lock. After an hour of frustration I gave up on that. Next up was to fabricate a bump key, sounded easy enough, but like the lock pick, things can be deceiving. Last resort was to drill the lock. Just as I almost reached the end, the bit veered off and snapped. So now I've got a hardened steel bit blocking any further drilling. Out comes the angle grinder, split the handle, remove it, pull the lock, and turn the interior rod with some long nose vice grips. 4 hours and the door is unlocked. Now I'm off to buy a replacement lock set.



Did your neighbours learn any new swear words?


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Just bought a used Fuji XF23 f1.4 - so photographing everything within range.

Impressed so far.


----------



## smoke665

Tropicalmemories said:


> Did your neighbours learn any new swear word



No I was pretty mellow during the ordeal, but even if I had, closest neighbor is about a 1/2 mile away, and a good 300' below me.


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon y'all. The flying wasn't anything too special.  An E-Flite Timber Turbo with a 4 cell battery barely turned a wheel before climbing like a homesick Angel. I think my Flite Test Bloody Baron will do very well on a 3cell battery.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## vintagesnaps

So who else needs one of Smoke's hot toddies tonight? - besides Smoke!! I do... yeah I could add a little honey, there are things like salad dressings that if you only have a couple of TBSPs are a reasonable amount of sugariness. 

But I don't see time today to stop and get any beverages anyway, going to my parents to get stuff to my mom, and with the rain possibility looks like another trip to get framed photos etc. another day. 

There is hockey to watch tonight, the AHL Calder Cup finals, which is the top minor pro league of NHL affiliates. I love minor pro hockey, they gave the fans cow bells with sponsor names on them (I gotta wonder whose idea that was!!), play in a vintage arena, even one guy in the stands with a white cockatoo? on his shoulder! lol how'd he get in? That level is a little more loose and freewheeling than major league!


----------



## davidharmier60

We were supposed to get a call and go see a lawn tractor. But the call never came.
About to go to bed because Monday Madness begins at 5am.
Hope you have a good night and a better tomorrow. 

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## Fujidave

Afternoon all, we have had rain all day oh what joy


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## davidharmier60

5.09 hours today. Forgot my wallet in my shorts so borrowed a dollar from Trish for a drink. Got 10 rolls of pennies to do so I can sell my box of pennies to the store tomorrow. Have Rockabilly Radio on YouTube to do rolls by.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## tirediron

Pro Tip:  Before you spend ten minutes wondering what the %#@& Adobe did to the Spot Healing Brush in the latest CC update, cursing them six ways from Sunday about their buggy software, and sending your blood-pressure to the near boiling, make sure your screen is clean!  Just sayin...


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> Pro Tip:  Before you spend ten minutes wondering what the %#@& Adobe did to the Spot Healing Brush in the latest CC update, cursing them six ways from Sunday about their buggy software, and sending your blood-pressure to the near boiling, make sure your screen is clean!  Just sayin...



In Ps or Lr, I just had an update the other day on Ps and didn't notice anything different. Nothing changed in Lr either???????


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pro Tip:  Before you spend ten minutes wondering what the %#@& Adobe did to the Spot Healing Brush in the latest CC update, cursing them six ways from Sunday about their buggy software, and sending your blood-pressure to the near boiling, *make sure your screen is clean*!  Just sayin...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In Ps or Lr, I just had an update the other day on Ps and didn't notice anything different. Nothing changed in Lr either???????
Click to expand...

It's really hard to get rid of a blemish on someone's face when said blemish is actually a dust speck on your monitor!


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pro Tip:  Before you spend ten minutes wondering what the %#@& Adobe did to the Spot Healing Brush in the latest CC update, cursing them six ways from Sunday about their buggy software, and sending your blood-pressure to the near boiling, *make sure your screen is clean*!  Just sayin...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In Ps or Lr, I just had an update the other day on Ps and didn't notice anything different. Nothing changed in Lr either???????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's really hard to get rid of a blemish on someone's face when said blemish is actually a dust speck on your monitor!
Click to expand...


Oh LOL. I thought that only happened to me!


----------



## stapo49

0420 in the morning and it's still raining. Has been steady for days.  Looks like June is going to make up for May's dry.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


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## terri

stapo49 said:


> 0420 in the morning and it's still raining. Has been steady for days.  Looks like June is going to make up for May's dry.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


We just came out of that.   Tons of rain that started last Thursday!    The clouds didn't lift until late yesterday, and this morning the sun is out again. 

But we had a very dry, hot end of May, so I welcomed every drop.  Temps have dropped off, and it suddenly seems normal again.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## vintagesnaps

I live in the wrong place for that kind of priority.

May was dry?? I either missed it or it's been so long I forgot. It is actually sunny, slightly breezy, and not hot!! I hope it stays like this long enough for my everything to dry up.


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## davidharmier60

I am willing to bet it will rain tomorrow morning because it's Marquee day.
5.03 hours today for 10.12 for the week so far.  Spam sammich was lunch. Have done my comics online. Just had trouble getting on Watchuseek but it's up now.
It's nice and sunny and hot outside. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## SquarePeg

Just heard that a beloved coworker died very suddenly yesterday.  Have worked with him for almost 20 years.  He was young.  Very tragic loss for his family and friends.  Live for today people!


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Just heard that a beloved coworker died very suddenly yesterday.  Have worked with him for almost 20 years.  He was young.  Very tragic loss for his family and friends.  Live for today people!



Sorry to hear the sad news.
I was always taught, enjoy each day as it could/might be your last.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Just heard that a beloved coworker died very suddenly yesterday.  Have worked with him for almost 20 years.  He was young.  Very tragic loss for his family and friends.  Live for today people!



So sorry, Sharon


----------



## snowbear

So sorry, Sharon.

Well, I have a new employer as of July 1.  The contract was awarded to a company that's based in this region.  My salary will stay the same but I will be picking up health benefits (as secondary to MLW's), and they may help me get to San Diego, next year.

2.5 days until VT


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## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> 2.5 days until VT



Are you definitely going to Quechee?  Pm me if you want to meet up.  I’ll be with my photography meet up group.  I don’t know the area but one of the guys has been before and has some photo spots in mind - you’re welcome to join us.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 2.5 days until VT
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you definitely going to Quechee?  Pm me if you want to meet up.  I’ll be with my photography meet up group.  I don’t know the area but one of the guys has been before and has some photo spots in mind - you’re welcome to join us.
Click to expand...

I'm staying near Manchester Center but the Quechee is still a possibility.  Honestly, it's been so long since I've done any real fly fishing, I don't expect to catch anything, but I ill spend a couple of hours on the water.  I think it's supposed to rain on Saturday; if it's not too heavy, I'll still be fishing (the trout are already wet, so they don't care).  I'll have to see how it goes - maybe head up for a couple of hours.

I still have your number from your DC trip.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 2.5 days until VT
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you definitely going to Quechee?  Pm me if you want to meet up.  I’ll be with my photography meet up group.  I don’t know the area but one of the guys has been before and has some photo spots in mind - you’re welcome to join us.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm staying near Manchester Center but the Quechee is still a possibility.  Honestly, it's been so long since I've done any real fly fishing, I don't expect to catch anything, but I ill spend a couple of hours on the water.  I think it's supposed to rain on Saturday; if it's not too heavy, I'll still be fishing (the trout are already wet, so they don't care).  I'll have to see how it goes - maybe head up for a couple of hours.
> 
> I still have your number from your DC trip.
Click to expand...


I’m sure the balloon risings are weather dependent so will be keeping an eye on that.  I’m planning to drive up Friday mid day and watch the sunset balloon rising then staying over to catch the one at dawn.  If the weather means no balloons then I won’t be going.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry Sharon to hear about your coworker.

Charlie that sounds good, the new job and the trip. Have fun.

Still sunny but 'cloud deck' is coming. Ooh, supposed to be in the 60s tomorrow! even wth a warmup over the weekend it sounds halfway normal.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 2.5 days until VT
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Are you definitely going to Quechee?  Pm me if you want to meet up.  I’ll be with my photography meet up group.  I don’t know the area but one of the guys has been before and has some photo spots in mind - you’re welcome to join us.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm staying near Manchester Center but the Quechee is still a possibility.  Honestly, it's been so long since I've done any real fly fishing, I don't expect to catch anything, but I ill spend a couple of hours on the water.  I think it's supposed to rain on Saturday; if it's not too heavy, I'll still be fishing (the trout are already wet, so they don't care).  I'll have to see how it goes - maybe head up for a couple of hours.
> 
> I still have your number from your DC trip.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I’m sure the balloon risings are weather dependent so will be keeping an eye on that.  I’m planning to drive up Friday mid day and watch the sunset balloon rising then staying over to catch the one at dawn.  If the weather means no balloons then I won’t be going.
Click to expand...


It looks like the weather prediction has changes a little - rain on Sunday.



 

Sunset sounds promising - my flight hits Manchester (NH) on Friday at 4:30; sunset (WRJ) is supposed to be about 8:30.  It would only be 30 minutes longer to get to the hotel, that way.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Charlie that sounds good, the new job and the trip. Have fun.



It's just a new company getting the contract; the job is the same.  There was a stipulation that, at the County's discretion, any current contracted employees would remain.  I was previously told not to worry.  Benefits will probably change.

The trip should be good, even with some rain.  I wish MLW were going, but this trip is just using an airline credit I got for missing my Ohio Python Conference, last year.


----------



## davidharmier60

I would have lost the bet. Bright sun and warm doing the Marquee.  6 hours and a 20 or so minutes today. 16 and something for the week. Check was decent even with missing Saturday. Looking at a plane I wish I could buy. I could rob it for servos and a motor. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## CherylL

It doesn't feel like June here in the midwest.  Overcast and rain again with cold temps.  I scouted out a place for sunset photos.  What predicts a pretty sunset?


----------



## tirediron

CherylL said:


> ...What predicts a pretty sunset?


A broken/forgotten camera


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all nice weather chart. Only it’s not much good to me lol


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> It doesn't feel like June here in the midwest.  Overcast and rain again with cold temps.  I scouted out a place for sunset photos.  What predicts a pretty sunset?



Moisture in the air earlier that day or the day before, a lot of low puffy clouds, a break at the horizon or just above for the sun to light them up.   

There’s an app for that. Called Sky fire or something like that.  I think it’s a paid add on to TPE app.  Haven’t tried it yet but I think there’s a free trial.  

I find fall sunsets the most colorful.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Clear blue sky, white fluffy clouds I think... hard to know, haven't seen it in so long! lol Too humid and hazy much of the summer. I agree fall is nice, you might get an orange sky or a harvest moon while it's still light, etc. 

Game 7. Would like to see St. Louis get a shot at winning the Cup, but there is a former local college player starting for the B's tonight so there is that.


----------



## stapo49

Still raining off and on here until Sunday. I was hoping to be able to get back to the beach with my camera but haven't been able to time it right. Might head up to Bali for a week. It's cheap and only roughly 3 hours flight away.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.  It started raining last night and still going.

The GIS Company has made some upgrades to it's interface between the Python programming language an it's online map platform (Python API and AGOL for any geo-geeks).  It fixes a problem I had where I couldn't access maps unless they were shared to the public (most of mine aren't) - woohoo!

It doesn't take much to make me happy.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@snowbear  Is the June POTM contest locked intentionally?


----------



## snowbear

Dean_Gretsch said:


> @snowbear  Is the June POTM contest locked intentionally?


Fixed.  Not sure what happened - I probably hit that one instead of May - I lock them when I create the voting threads to keep a last minute entry from messing me up.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> It doesn't feel like June here in the midwest.  Overcast and rain again with cold temps.  I scouted out a place for sunset photos.  What predicts a pretty sunset?



I think Tirediron had the best answer. That seems to be the only time I ever see them.


----------



## stapo49

snowbear said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> @snowbear  Is the June POTM contest locked intentionally?
> 
> 
> 
> Fixed.  Not sure what happened - I probably hit that one instead of May - I lock them when I create the voting threads to keep a last minute entry from messing me up.
Click to expand...

 That explains it, thanks. Thought it was me lol.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


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## Original katomi

Hi all wet cold here so much for a day out.


----------



## stapo49

Original katomi said:


> Hi all wet cold here so much for a day out.


Is it suppose to be summer where you are?

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

B’s lost.  Boring game they were never really in it.  Happy for Blues fan.


----------



## smoke665

My idea bank was starting to get a little slim on themed shoots with granddaughter. Today DW just signed her up for 3 yr old dance classes, ballet and tap. Suddenly I see a whole new world of photo opportunities.


----------



## Original katomi

stapo49 said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi all wet cold here so much for a day out.
> 
> 
> 
> Is it suppose to be summer where you are?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Hi in the UK


----------



## stapo49

Original katomi said:


> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi all wet cold here so much for a day out.
> 
> 
> 
> Is it suppose to be summer where you are?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Hi in the UK
Click to expand...


I see. Usual English summers day then [emoji3]


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm glad we can all share the same crummy weather here and across the Atlantic...


----------



## Fujidave

Evening all, well today has been a washout as rained all day.  Forecast for tomorrow is for sun, so it will rain or snow then...lol


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> My idea bank was starting to get a little slim on themed shoots with granddaughter. Today DW just signed her up for 3 yr old dance classes, ballet and tap. Suddenly I see a whole new world of photo opportunities.


Looking forward to seeing how this plays out!


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> Looking forward to seeing how this plays out!



Probably not well for me.  When I casually mentioned to DW about the shoes, outfits, etc., I was informed that "WE will get her what she needs", in that tone of voice that after 40 years, means shut up.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Looking forward to seeing how this plays out!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Probably not well for me.  When I casually mentioned to DW about the shoes, outfits, etc., I was informed that "WE will get her what she needs", in that tone of voice that after 40 years, means shut up.
Click to expand...


Oh, I dunno. You should be able to get some pretty darned cute candid action shots.


----------



## SquarePeg

Daily (we’ll almost daily) cute puppy pic


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Daily (we’ll almost daily) cute puppy pic
> 
> View attachment 174809


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Looking forward to seeing how this plays out!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Probably not well for me.  When I casually mentioned to DW about the shoes, outfits, etc., I was informed that "WE will get her what she needs", in that tone of voice that after 40 years, means shut up.
Click to expand...

Well...  I meant the portraiture part of it... that other bit was assumed.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Daily (we’ll almost daily) cute puppy pic
> 
> View attachment 174809


I hope you are taking the baby to VT - I will definitely stop by.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Daily (we’ll almost daily) cute puppy pic
> 
> View attachment 174809
> 
> 
> 
> I hope you are taking the baby to VT - I will definitely stop by.
Click to expand...


No keaving both my girls at home.  No dogs are allowed into the festival grounds and too young to leave at the hotel even for s few hours. She’s going to stay home with Princess and learn how to walk on a leash.  Right now she just rolls around trying to chew it.


----------



## snowbear

Oh well.

Looks like rain this morning (Manchester VT) and Sunday so tomorrow should be the best day.  In case it gets too nasty to fish or shoot, I’m taking a sketch pad and pencils.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Oh well.
> 
> Looks like rain this morning (Manchester VT) and Sunday so tomorrow should be the best day.  In case it gets too nasty to fish or shoot, I’m taking a sketch pad and pencils.



Meeting up with my group at 4pm and hoping it clears and winds are calm for the 6pm ascension.  Headed to a spot on the river.  Will be back at it at 5am to shoot the 6am ascension which looks to be the most likely due to weather.  I think we’re headed to a covered bridge for that one.

Text me if you want to join in.


----------



## davidharmier60

Hi y'all. Didn't post yesterday. 
27.15 for the week so far with a day to go. 
I have the house to myself (along with 9 dogs) as Sister and Dad went to visit my Uncle Donnie and his two daughters. 
And as swell as it would have been to see them I just couldn't find the energy to go. 
Gonna finish a roll of pennies and then do my comics online. 

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----------



## vintagesnaps

The puppy reminds me of a firehouse dog.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, overcast here with rain forecast for later today.


----------



## snowbear

Well, the first round of drowning feathers is done, and my waders are wet (a good thing).  Lessons learned from this morning's adventure:
*1. When in doubt, ask the local talent*.  Quite a bit of the Battenkill is lined with private property and there are not ample places to park.  I stopped at the Orvis outlet store and Monica was knowledgeable enough about fly fishing and the area to give me a couple of places to try.  She also pointed out a couple of photo spots to check out.

*2. Moving water is faster, and river rocks are slipperier than they appear*.  As I said, my waders and boots are wet from the Battenkill.  I was very close to having _all_ of me wet from the Battenkill.  The streams I am / was used to are much smaller than where I fished today.  I can see a wading staff (a longer folding cane) in my future if I try this again (and I will).  A kayak would be better, for here, but  staff is much cheaper and I can take it on a plane.




cmw3_d750_DSC_2751.jpg by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah Charlie but you got a fabulous picture so who cares if you almost fell in?! (Which I'm glad you didn't!)

It's actually a nice rainy day, a little cool and drizzly, no heat or pop up thunderstorms or downpours, etc. I like a day like this. So do the birdies out there chirping. Messing with some craft & embroidery stuff, organizing and putting away glue, etc. and getting started on something new. Maybe. If I quite messing around.


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon y'all. Finished the week with 32 hours and 5 minutes. I've been through my comics online. Have done 7 of the rolls of 10 I plan to do. Yesterday I made a 30" by 7" wing of the KFm2 wing. When I finish today's rolls I am going to make a 26×7" wing and attempt to inlet it into the bottom of the fuselage. I need to get some hobby grade plywood for the cabane struts. I plan to glue the inner struts directly to the sides of the fuselage. I need to introduce a bit of positive incidence to the upper wing but that shouldn't be too hard. Outer struts might be a bit tougher....

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## smoke665

Finally, a good day for a change. With DW on the mower and me on the tractor we completely finished all the mowing today. Normally it's a two day job, but it was a beautiful day, with a nice breeze.  The body is feeling the effects now though.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Finally, a good day for a change. With DW on the mower and me on the tractor we completely finished all the mowing today. Normally it's a two day job, but it was a beautiful day, with a nice breeze.  *The body is feeling the effects now though.*


Sounds like a job for............ Bourbon!


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> like a job for............ Bourbon



Already on ice


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all. Still raining.
Just a thought  given that biometric tech is improving all the time and that eye scanning progs are already in the domestic  market, a phone not sure which now, do we really want to post images of our eyes... given that they could be our future pass code, door key. 
Just a thought not putting down good photography


----------



## smoke665

Original katomi said:


> Hi all. Still raining.
> Just a thought  given that biometric tech is improving all the time and that eye scanning progs are already in the domestic  market, a phone not sure which now, do we really want to post images of our eyes... given that they could be our future pass code, door key.
> Just a thought not putting down good photography



It's my understanding that the technology uses infrared light to illuminate the blood vessels in the iris to create a unique recognizable pattern. An image wouldn't work.


----------



## davidharmier60

My eyes are rarely ever clear enough for an eye scanner to work.
Happy Sunday y'all. 
Got that wing made and inlet but it is a job that ugly isn't a good enough word for.
I can mostly hide the ugly...
Sure do need some plywood to start the upper wing project. The weather is such that I'll probably go out and push mow some more.

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----------



## Original katomi

smoke665 said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi all. Still raining.
> Just a thought  given that biometric tech is improving all the time and that eye scanning progs are already in the domestic  market, a phone not sure which now, do we really want to post images of our eyes... given that they could be our future pass code, door key.
> Just a thought not putting down good photography
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's my understanding that the technology uses infrared light to illuminate the blood vessels in the iris to create a unique recognizable pattern. An image wouldn't work.
Click to expand...

Oh that good to know just proves that I am a fossil


----------



## davidharmier60

I was wrong about the weather. I big wind and now it's raining. Can't win.

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----------



## Original katomi

yep.  cold and wet here


----------



## snowbear

It's raining here, as well. I did get out this morning and took a few shots (Square Peg's Weekly Challenge). Though I don't mind getting a little wet when fishing, I don't want to get soaked, so I've retreated indoors and will do a little art -- watercolor pencils (imagine that).




cmw3_d750_DSC_2782.jpg by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## vintagesnaps

They do that at the eye doctor, scan the inside of your eyeball. I don't know what they're looking at, looks like a bad road map to me with lines going every which way. 

I don't know if it's a good idea or not, the way everything gets hacked; newer technology may be good but it's got to be more secure than it is now for it to be usable in the real world.

Sun is shining, sort of... After that nice gentle rain all day yesterday it cut loose last night, sirens went off but was in another part of the county heading the other way. TV/Cable kept beeping with flash flood warnings but not near me. Was watching the midnight noir movie so the beeping going off would about make me jump right in the middle of whatever suspenseful thing was happening in the movie.

Hoping the rain holds off til evening, my best friend's coming up then we're going to stop in to see my dad and grab some dinner. Then I want a nice quiet Monday. No downpours, no beeping...


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m interrupting the weather chat with today’s cute puppy pic




 

They are almost getting along.


----------



## Original katomi

Cute


----------



## snowbear

Awww.


----------



## snowbear

One small (8-1/2" x 5-1/2") watercolor done.  Thinking about what subject for a second.




Vermont Watercolor #1 by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## davidharmier60

We just got a flood warning. Great.


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----------



## Tony744

vintagesnaps said:


> They do that at the eye doctor, scan the inside of your eyeball. I don't know what they're looking at, looks like a bad road map to me with lines going every which way.



Must be a map of New England roads.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> One small (8-1/2" x 5-1/2") watercolor done.  Thinking about what subject for a second.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Vermont Watercolor #1 by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


Love it, Charlie!    I admire your work with watercolors as well as ink.  I need to post some of my oil pastel stuff in the Creative Corner.  Keep forgetting.


----------



## smoke665

Tony744 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> They do that at the eye doctor, scan the inside of your eyeball. I don't know what they're looking at, looks like a bad road map to me with lines going every which way.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Must be a map of New England roads.
Click to expand...


Back in my younger days, even a computer couldn't have figured out that map after a night out.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> One small (8-1/2" x 5-1/2") watercolor done.  Thinking about what subject for a second.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Vermont Watercolor #1 by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> Love it, Charlie!    I admire your work with watercolors as well as ink.  I need to post some of my oil pastel stuff in the Creative Corner.  Keep forgetting.
Click to expand...

Please do.


----------



## davidharmier60

Monday. Got 5.42 out of it. Have done my comics online. Have done 5 of 8 rolls to finish a box I'll sell tomorrow. Will probably go do a little work on the plane. Cut a few aileron's and put a few pieces of wood where the rubber bands will go.

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----------



## terri

Visited my mom last week.   We drove into the city just so I could geek out in this store.   It's a former glove factory.   Now, it has over a million used and rare books - on FOUR.HUGE.STORIES.    You are given a map when you walk in!    


























Look at it!        I freely admit to crawling along the floor, looking at titles.   I only walked out with 4, mainly because I had to get 'em in the suitcase.   Did I mention I geeked out?


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Visited my mom last week.   We drove into the city just so I could geek out in this store.   It's a former glove factory.   Now, it has over a million used and rare books - on FOUR.HUGE.STORIES.    You are given a map when you walk in!
> 
> View attachment 175014
> 
> View attachment 175015
> 
> View attachment 175016
> 
> 
> View attachment 175017
> 
> View attachment 175018
> 
> 
> View attachment 175019
> Look at it!        I freely admit to crawling along the floor, looking at titles.   I only walked out with 4, mainly because I had to get 'em in the suitcase.   Did I mention I geeked out?



Oh.My.God.


----------



## terri

Magical, it was.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Magical, it was.



*starts planning road trip to Michigan; plans to drive because more books*


----------



## Tony744

I'd have to rent a Uhaul for that trip.


----------



## smoke665

Been outside this morning finishing the set build for 4th of July photos. I should have done this a week ago, but I kept postponing it. Now I'm dying out there, had to come in to re-hydrate, and change into dry clothes. No wind and 96% humidity


----------



## Original katomi

Cold wet here


----------



## davidharmier60

Lots of fat dark clouds that LOOK like rain clouds but no rain called for. Of course tomorrow is Wednesday and I have Marquee duty. 11.30 after two days. 
Did what I could to the plane. Sold my pennies and got a 'Fed ' box to replace it. 
The plane needs everything.  Servos, motor, ESC, receiver and of course transmitter. Got a byatch letter from PCH telling me to submit 51 dollars. But I've already sent off two of the outstanding orders. I'll send the last one probably Thursday. Then I can begin saving up for 
servos and such.

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----------



## limr

Summer hasn't even really started and I can't wait for it to be over.


----------



## Jeff G

It was 103°F today,  even a swimming pool isn't much help when the water is 83°F, but it does feel better than the ambient temperature.


----------



## Jeff G

Terri, I would need at least a week in there! Books are a definite vice in our house.


----------



## smoke665

@Jeff G I don't mind temperature (in reason) but humidity is horrible. It was in the high 80's here on Saturday, with a nice breeze and low humidity. Worked outside all day and hardly broke a sweat. Unlike today high 70's , 96% humidity and no breeze. It was like trying to breathe with your head underwater. Couple hours outside and my clothes were soaked.


----------



## Jeff G

I'm ok with the high temps and humidity, as long as it's overcast, the second the sun comes out I feel like a vampire shrivelling up. 

My wife doesn't do humidity well, but the sun doesn't bother her either, go figure.


----------



## limr

Jeff G said:


> I'm ok with the high temps and humidity, as long as it's overcast, the second the sun comes out I feel like a vampire shrivelling up.
> 
> My wife doesn't do humidity well, but the sun doesn't bother her either, go figure.



I hate it all.  

Heat, either dry or hot, saps my energy almost immediately. Granted, I can tolerate slightly higher temps if it's dry, but even so, I still don't tolerate it well. The 80s are _sort of t_olerable if it's dry and I don't have to do anything. Add humidity and I am in hell.

I am happiest when temps are in the 40s or 50s.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

G'morning photo enthusiasts. Take a peek at_ these_ beauties!

Winning Nat Geo photos reveal nature and humanity at their finest


----------



## Jeff G

limr said:


> I am happiest when temps are in the 40s or 50s.


   Agreed!  I swear the people in this town are solor powered, it gets down to 80 and they start breaking out thier coats.


----------



## Jeff G

Cool link Dean! Some awesome shots.


----------



## terri

Dean_Gretsch said:


> G'morning photo enthusiasts. Take a peek at_ these_ beauties!
> 
> Winning Nat Geo photos reveal nature and humanity at their finest


Great link.   Some beautiful work in there!


----------



## davidharmier60

It was hummy and muggid when I took the Marquee down. The sun was out when I put the new one up. Sweat? You got it.
18.07 for the week so far. Comics done.
Finishing a book right now.

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----------



## snowbear

Any Windows users ever lose the drag & drop capability?  Work desktop has done it twice in as many days.
Running a file system check to see if anything is corrupt.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Any Windows users ever lose the drag & drop capability?  Work desktop has done it twice in as many days.
> Running a file system check to see if anything is corrupt.


Ewww.   Nothing like that has happened on my end.   

Yet.


----------



## snowbear

I've read it could be a corrupt explorer.exe file.  We'll see what happens with the scan.  There's a utility that creates a fresh of the protected system files and will try to restore from that.  Something like the mkunix Unix command that rebuilds itself.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> ..Something like the mkunix Unix command that rebuilds itself.


rm -r / *.*


----------



## snowbear

Scan found nothing unusual so it must be an "undocumented feature" (ie: a bug).



tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> ..Something like the mkunix Unix command that rebuilds itself.
> 
> 
> 
> rm -r / *.*
Click to expand...

Not quite.


----------



## terri

Ugh.   Glad the scan was okay, but still hate it when things start acting wonky for no apparent reason.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> Scan found nothing unusual so it must be an "undocumented feature" (ie: a bug).
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> ..Something like the mkunix Unix command that rebuilds itself.
> 
> 
> 
> rm -r / *.*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not quite.
Click to expand...

That fixes ALL Unix problems...


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Scan found nothing unusual so it must be an "undocumented feature" (ie: a bug).
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> ..Something like the mkunix Unix command that rebuilds itself.
> 
> 
> 
> rm -r / *.*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not quite.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That fixes ALL Unix problems...
Click to expand...


and in the Windows / MS-DOS world . . . "format c:"


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Ugh.   Glad the scan was okay, but still hate it when things start acting wonky for no apparent reason.


We'll see; so far, so good.


----------



## smoke665

Installed anything new lately?? Updates???


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Installed anything new lately?? Updates???


No changes for a quite a few weeks.  This started Tuesday, after I came back from Vermont.

Wait!  That's it!  I need to go back to New England!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Installed anything new lately?? Updates???



Thanks to your thread, I updated the firmware for my old sl1. I checked for the t7i, but there was nothing for it. Once I figured out where to save the update to the SD card, it was a snap


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Installed anything new lately?? Updates???
> 
> 
> 
> No changes for a quite a few weeks.  This started Tuesday, after I came back from Vermont.
> 
> Wait!  That's it!  I need to go back to new England!
Click to expand...


Only this time do everything in reverse, so to undo what you did the first time.


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Installed anything new lately?? Updates???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks to your thread, I updated the firmware for my old sl1. I checked for the t7i, but there was nothing for it. Once I figured out where to save the update to the SD card, it was a snap
Click to expand...


Over the last few years, I've never had a problem until this time. Tech support called me back yesterday evening said they had it figured out, but I missed their call and haven't had time to call back.


----------



## davidharmier60

Late afternoon y'all. Over 6 hours today. 
Propane run. Filters. 24.33 for the week so far. Comics done. A website has me mighty confused. It says it has 4126 pages. But every alert I get is in the 25-2600 range which is where I'm at in the thread. Most recent one I'm looking at right now. Strange. 

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----------



## smoke665

Morning Y'all! TGIF for those poor people working, but just another day for me. LOL

My day didn't start out the best, yesterday I got an old song "I'm A Believer" by the Monkees in my head and couldn't stop humming it. This morning it was back, so much so that DW told me she was going to tape my mouth shut if I didn't quit!!! At first I thought she was kidding 

...................................................... then I saw her face 

Headed out to meet some friends for a late lunch, then a little shopping. To hot and humid for much else.


----------



## Jeff G

Smoke, I get in trouble for planting songs in the wife units head, so I know that look!


----------



## davidharmier60

Huh. I put the lawn mower back together with the old carburetor.  It started and ran like a scalded dog. It was a 5+ day. I am pretty sure I saw 30.16 when I clocked out. 
I cut some grass. Then I stalled out the mower. Who knows why it runs right but it does. Getting ready to do my comics online. 

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----------



## smoke665

Extreme cliff divers strike again. We have a 90' waterfall in our town. Over the years it has proven to be to tempting for some. Several jumpers and even a few kayakers have made the plunge. Today 4 more were added to the list. Four people jump into Noccalula Falls, climb out uninjured


----------



## CherylL

The knee issue is back.  It didn't heal up completely from the Christmas night fall.  Used it on vacation and now paying for it.  Ortho in a week.  Back in Feb/Mar I started a photography wish list on places in the area a day's drive.  Most involve a short hike.  Have to wait until the knee works and for it to quit raining.


----------



## Jeff G

smoke665 said:


> Extreme cliff divers strike again



And to think I'm excited to make it off the couch in one piece!


----------



## smoke665

@CherylL that stinks. On the positive side if it's as humid there as it is here, you wouldn't find a hike enjoyable anyhow.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Morning Y'all! TGIF for those poor people working, but just another day for me. LOL
> 
> My day didn't start out the best, yesterday I got an old song "I'm A Believer" by the Monkees in my head and couldn't stop humming it. This morning it was back, so much so that DW told me she was going to tape my mouth shut if I didn't quit!!! At first I thought she was kidding
> 
> ...................................................... then I saw her face
> 
> Headed out to meet some friends for a late lunch, then a little shopping. To hot and humid for much else.



Ha! You just reminded me of a fellow I worked with in Norman, Oklahoma 30 years ago. Every day at some point when I was near him, I'd start whistling the theme to " All In The Family ". It drove him crazy, because at some point after, he'd find himself humming, singing or whistling it himself He should never admitted it bothered him


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> The knee issue is back.  It didn't heal up completely from the Christmas night fall.  Used it on vacation and now paying for it.  Ortho in a week.  Back in Feb/Mar I started a photography wish list on places in the area a day's drive.  Most involve a short hike.  Have to wait until the knee works and for it to quit raining.



I have knee issues (partially torn meniscus) and have found that stationary bike before any activity really loosened it up.


----------



## SquarePeg

Today Harlie was pet of the week at our vets office.  Here’s their photo of her cuteness.


----------



## Derrel

smoke665 said:


> Extreme cliff divers strike again. We have a 90' waterfall in our town. Over the years it has proven to be to tempting for some. Several jumpers and even a few kayakers have made the plunge. Today 4 more were added to the list. Four people jump into Noccalula Falls, climb out uninjured



good golly!!
_from places ranging from Pennsylvania to Tennessee and ranged in age from 18 to 25.
_
*Oh, to be young and invincible again!!*


----------



## smoke665

Derrel said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Extreme cliff divers strike again. We have a 90' waterfall in our town. Over the years it has proven to be to tempting for some. Several jumpers and even a few kayakers have made the plunge. Today 4 more were added to the list. Four people jump into Noccalula Falls, climb out uninjured
> 
> 
> 
> 
> good golly!!
> _from places ranging from Pennsylvania to Tennessee and ranged in age from 18 to 25.
> _
> *Oh, to be young and invincible again!!*
Click to expand...


Legend has it that the Cherokee Princess Nocallula jumped to her death rather then marry the the brave picked by her father, the Chief. Surprinsgly of all the people who have jumped  she's the only one who's been reported dying from the act. There have been many deaths below the falls, in the boulder strewn ravine. The boulders, some as big as a house, (you can see some of them toward the end of the video below) attract people to climb on them. During high water, they get wet and slippery, people slide off and get pinned under them by the current.

When the kayakers went over, there was no law against it, something the city has since changed. The Extreme Kayakers were there to do a video, heres the link with some cool footage


----------



## SquarePeg

Wow.  Crazy people.


----------



## Jeff G

That's an awesome vid Smoke! All I can think of is how much water would have gone up my nose.


----------



## smoke665

Jeff G said:


> That's an awesome vid Smoke! All I can think of is how much water would have gone up my nose.



I couldn't find the still image of them just before they hit the the water. It shows them leaning forward, face first. Never did see one of them at the point of contact with the water, so I don't know if they leaned forward to let the helmet take the impact or what. I found a "Splat meter" online, according to it calculating the estimated weight and distance, he would have been traveling at 55 miles per hour when he hit, but that doesn't factor in the increase caused by the flowing water. Helmet or no helmet, that would have been one heck of an impact to absorb.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Jeff G said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's an awesome vid Smoke! All I can think of is how much water would have gone up my nose.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I couldn't find the still image of them just before they hit the the water. It shows them leaning forward, face first. Never did see one of them at the point of contact with the water, so I don't know if they leaned forward to let the helmet take the impact or what. I found a "Splat meter" online, according to it calculating the estimated weight and distance, he would have been traveling at 55 miles per hour when he hit, but that doesn't factor in the increase caused by the flowing water. Helmet or no helmet, that would have been one heck of an impact to absorb.
Click to expand...

Hold my beer and watch this!


----------



## davidharmier60

Late afternoon again y'all. Finished with something over 35 hours. Will be perhaps the best check so far. Dad and I just returned from a get together to look at the life of my Aunt and Uncle. But mostly a bunch of BS flowing about. Doing the second half of my comics right now.
Then my customary 10 rolls of pennies on Saturday. 

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----------



## Derrel

wow...some video of the kayakers going over the falls!!


----------



## Tony744

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeff G said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's an awesome vid Smoke! All I can think of is how much water would have gone up my nose.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I couldn't find the still image of them just before they hit the the water. It shows them leaning forward, face first. Never did see one of them at the point of contact with the water, so I don't know if they leaned forward to let the helmet take the impact or what. I found a "Splat meter" online, according to it calculating the estimated weight and distance, he would have been traveling at 55 miles per hour when he hit, but that doesn't factor in the increase caused by the flowing water. Helmet or no helmet, that would have been one heck of an impact to absorb.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Hold my beer and watch this!
Click to expand...


I've been known to say that on occasion.


----------



## davidharmier60

Happy Sunday y'all. I did some more mowing. Still PLENTY for Dad to do.
Comics have all been seen.
7 rolls of pennies to attend to. 
Need to really be thinking of packing up a bunch of stuff. 

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----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> @CherylL that stinks. On the positive side if it's as humid there as it is here, you wouldn't find a hike enjoyable anyhow.



It has been unseasonable cool here, but rain almost everyday.  There was a festival this weekend that I wanted to attend, but can't walk on uneven ground and sure the place would be a mud hole in the rain.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> The knee issue is back.  It didn't heal up completely from the Christmas night fall.  Used it on vacation and now paying for it.  Ortho in a week.  Back in Feb/Mar I started a photography wish list on places in the area a day's drive.  Most involve a short hike.  Have to wait until the knee works and for it to quit raining.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have knee issues (partially torn meniscus) and have found that stationary bike before any activity really loosened it up.
Click to expand...


I do stretches and have a little workout.  Haven't been on the rowing machine since the accident.  There is popping and grinding going on.  Hopefully I will get some answers from the ortho doc.  Have to wait another week for my appointment.


----------



## smoke665

To much going on the next two weeks. Just started a project I've been putting off for awhile, doing a painted canvas background. I bought a 9x12 painters canvas drop cloth at Harbor Freight some time ago and just now getting around to the paint. I'm limited on space (Part of the garage so I have A/C), got half of it painted with a flat black base, need to let it dry so I can roll up that part and do the other half. I was lazy and didn't coat it first, so I'm paying for it now. It's not that it's sucking up paint, it just takes longer to roll it on for a good coverage. Not sure if I'll leave it flat black or add some more color in it. Did a test sample with some dark brown and dark green that didn't look bad. Also might try some gray streaks. 

Just saw that the H1 Unlimited Hydroplanes are running at Lake Guntersville next weekend. These turbine powered monsters are a cross between a boat and an F22 Raptor, literally flying inches above the water. They run an average of 130 mph, and reach 200 mph on the straightaways over a 2 1/2 mile course. May have to break away for at least a day to go watch for a bit.


----------



## Jeff G

Cheryl, sorry the knee is still acting up, I have one that's bad and one that's really bad so I understand the frustration. Had surgery on one of them with no following improvement. I'm almost to the point of being willing to let them replace it but it just seems a bit scary.

Smoke, the hydroplane races sound fun, also a good photo op.


----------



## davidharmier60

Today was 5.28. Trish wasn't there for some reason but I will have pennies in the truck tomorrow. About 3/4 of the way through my comics online. There was no power (and no coffee) this morning. 
Rained pretty hard overnight and until 9:30 or so. Bright sun now.

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## CherylL

Jeff G said:


> Cheryl, sorry the knee is still acting up, I have one that's bad and one that's really bad so I understand the frustration. Had surgery on one of them with no following improvement. I'm almost to the point of being willing to let them replace it but it just seems a bit scary.
> 
> Smoke, the hydroplane races sound fun, also a good photo op.



Sorry for your knee troubles.  My husband had both of his replaced.  The 2nd one he waited too long and was a slow recovery, but he is happy he can walk now without pain.


----------



## Jeff G

Everyone I have talked to who has had the knee replacement said it was worth it, still kind of freaks me out.


----------



## smoke665

I'm not drinking to much coffee, I'm on an aggressive diet plan! Coffee could help you burn fat, new study says


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> I'm not drinking to much coffee, I'm on an aggressive diet plan! Coffee could help you burn fat, new study says


*Steps on scale*

I call Bullsh**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not drinking to much coffee, I'm on an aggressive diet plan! Coffee could help you burn fat, new study says
> 
> 
> 
> *Steps on scale*
> 
> I call Bullsh**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...


Not only am I going to be skinny, but I'm going to live a looooonnnnggg life. LOL Drinking alcohol was linked to longevity in a new study


----------



## Original katomi

Is there any other drink than coffee twitch, shake, twitch lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't think any amount of bourbon hot toddies could have kept me from going to the doctor later today. I don't know when the last time was that I was this sick. I can hardly get up and do anything, up and down all night. Yesterday woke up with one side of my face/eye so swollen I look like somebody socked me. But no, I didn't get in a hockey fight! That side of my nose and that eye has been watering and dripping then went into congestion and is so sore and tender. I hate being sick in hot weather. Not that I enjoy it anytime! but still...


----------



## Original katomi

I know about knee problems, fruit juice esp citriis causes a lot of pain


----------



## smoke665

@vintagesnaps sorry to hear you still aren't on the mend. I think DW and I are finally over ours. Finished up the last round of antibiotics last week, figures crossed but so far okay.


----------



## davidharmier60

I don't foresee getting knees or hips replaced anytime soon. 
10.44 for the week so far. 
Sold a box to the store and got a customer wrapped box to replace it. 
It rained again earlier but sun, heat and humidity are up again.
Don't know exactly why I'm trying to get back into RC flying with the Texas weather. 
But I am.

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## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> I don't think any amount of bourbon hot toddies could have kept me from going to the doctor later today. I don't know when the last time was that I was this sick. I can hardly get up and do anything, up and down all night. Yesterday woke up with one side of my face/eye so swollen I look like somebody socked me. But no, I didn't get in a hockey fight! That side of my nose and that eye has been watering and dripping then went into congestion and is so sore and tender. I hate being sick in hot weather. Not that I enjoy it anytime! but still...


Agreed.   The heat makes you feel uncomfortable enough!   Being actually sick with something at the same time seems an unfair double-punch.


----------



## davidharmier60

Oh he double hockey sticks. The 40 gallon tank for our stove is empty. We can't figure out why it's empty already. But it is.

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## CherylL

vintagesnaps said:


> I don't think any amount of bourbon hot toddies could have kept me from going to the doctor later today. I don't know when the last time was that I was this sick. I can hardly get up and do anything, up and down all night. Yesterday woke up with one side of my face/eye so swollen I look like somebody socked me. But no, I didn't get in a hockey fight! That side of my nose and that eye has been watering and dripping then went into congestion and is so sore and tender. I hate being sick in hot weather. Not that I enjoy it anytime! but still...



The hot weather seems to make it worse.  Hope you get relief soon.


----------



## smoke665

Really wish I was younger I'd have a couple of these running around. Fire truck converted into a mobile beer tap is A1 upcyling


----------



## SquarePeg

Look at poor Xing’s face!  He’s horrified at the puppy still being here.  Oh nooooooo!


----------



## SquarePeg

And cute puppy pic...




I see you by SharonCat..., on Flickr


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Look at poor Xing’s face!  He’s horrified at the puppy still being here.  Oh nooooooo!
> 
> View attachment 175550


    Oh, that is priceless.... 

Moooomm!   Why haven't you gotten rid of him yet?!?    We have to get back to normal around here....you know, where *I *am King!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Too cute! A bit of 101 Dalmatians, a little touch of firehouse dog, and those blue eyes! How could you look into those eyes and not fall in love? 

Now there's a use for an older fire truck, ours here just bring Santa and the Easter Bunny on a ride thru town. Not at the same time. Maybe they should hook up some beer taps for Oktoberfest. 

(Edit - But now why do those sites have to steal from elsewhere? no wonder newspapers are struggling. The article from the Toledo Blade was re-written [poorly] and the photographer wasn't credited. I'm sick of online thievery!)


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah boy, I'm feeling better! Dr. put me on one of those antibiotics where you take a large dose the first day, etc. By last night already the running and dripping eased up, and while I was still up and down overnight it wasn't as much. Still don't exactly feel like a ball of fire, but don't look like I got socked in the eye and looking thru a slit!

Hope your knee gets better Cheryl, why do so many of us have or had knee troubles? I had arthroscopic years ago to have cartilidge cleaned out, but it's still wonky.


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon y'all. 6 and a few today. 
17.04 for the week so far. 
Took trash to the collection facility. 
Picked up garage sale stuff from the neighbor. Working on Comics online. 
Then some penny stuff to do. 
Put a bug in Bennies ear to get that small plane with the broken wing to me.

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## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Look at poor Xing’s face!  He’s horrified at the puppy still being here.  Oh nooooooo!
> 
> View attachment 175550



"Mom!  His paw is touching my paw!  And he is on MY bed!"


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Look at poor Xing’s face!  He’s horrified at the puppy still being here.  Oh nooooooo!
> 
> View attachment 175550
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "Mom!  His paw is touching my paw!  And he is on MY bed!"
Click to expand...


Serious side eye!


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon again y'all. 22.34 for the week so far. It's pouring rain and the lights just blipped. I hope the power doesn't go but it probably will. Sister and Dad were or are in Cleveland. Doctor and shopping.  The tree outside of my 'office' jumps around every few minutes. This can't be good.

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## vintagesnaps

Hope your weather settles down Dave. 

I feel so much better after a couple of days of presumably a good dose of antibiotics (I figured the first day of 500mg ought to do something!) I slept in and am still tired but the sleep probably helped. 

So I should be better by the 4th weekend which will involve - getting more stuff at my parents' house! thought we were almost done, but nooo...! lol I didn't realize how much over 40 years got accumulated.  Better take along a 6 pack, or wait - those bourbon hot toddies!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

" Will that be cash, check or charge?" I asked the lady as I folded her purchases. As I watched her fumble through her purse, I couldn't help but notice the tv remote in her bag.
" So, do you always carry the remote with you?".
" No. My husband refused to come shopping with me, and I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him legally".


----------



## davidharmier60

That's pretty evil alright!
Finished with 33.38.
Heard thunder as I walked from the truck to the house. Just rained a bit.
Working on Comics online. 
Then coins.
Then a little work on the airplane. 

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## CherylL

Bought a toy bubble machine last week. Thanks @SquarePeg for the suggestion.  I had to wait a few days because of rain or too windy.  Finally a nice evening and had it set up in the middle of the yard on a small table.  Camera A on a tripod for video and camera B set up for high shutter speed.  Invited the neighbor over to see the show.  Turned it on and let the schnauzers out back.  All three were ho hum and had zero interest.  In my mind all week I had a schnauzer bubble mania event and then nothing.  Oh well I'll set up for the grands.


----------



## davidharmier60

We just had potatoes made in an Insta pot.
I have a feeling that when she gets that thing figured out we will eat better.
Crock pot chicken and green beans. 
Going to have some Blue Bell if I can stay awake for another hour. Doesn't seem likely. 

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## SquarePeg

Dean_Gretsch said:


> " Will that be cash, check or charge?" I asked the lady as I folded her purchases. As I watched her fumble through her purse, I couldn't help but notice the tv remote in her bag.
> " So, do you always carry the remote with you?".
> " No. My husband refused to come shopping with me, and I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him legally".



Before my divorce I would take the remote out with me whenever we were fighting.  It always mysteriously reappeared when I wanted to watch something.  Believe me he deserved much worse.


----------



## davidharmier60

Happy Sunday y'all. Since we have no propane to cook with dinners and such are an adventure. Got the airplane pretty much  done. Need servos etc. Just chillin with Rockabilly Radio on YouTube.  Back to reading a book.

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## limr

Boat hasn't started moving yet, but vacation has officially begun.


----------



## vintagesnaps

You need a refill. Where ya goin'? have fun!!


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> You need a refill. Where ya goin'? have fun!!



I totally do! Headed to Halifax first, then back down to Boston and Newport before back to NY. Seven days. Planning on as little screen time as possible, though of course getting my fix while we are still sitting in the harbor  Departure is delayed a bit to wait for a plane that came in late into Newark.


----------



## pgriz

Think you need to wash out your glass.  You've got too much city floating near the top of it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Pgriz, haven't seen you in awhile! 

Not that into tennis but got to watching some of Wimbledon and a young 15 yr. old defeated Venus Williams. Venus smiled almost like she was the one that won! and congratulated her and the crowd gave Venus a nice acknowledgement/applause as she headed off. The girl who won (nicknamed Coco) afterwards said that was the first time she cried when she won. I imagine it could be somewhat overwhelming to play against and then defeat a veteran player that's inspired her.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> I don't think any amount of bourbon hot toddies could have kept me from going to the doctor later today. I don't know when the last time was that I was this sick. I can hardly get up and do anything, up and down all night. Yesterday woke up with one side of my face/eye so swollen I look like somebody socked me. But no, I didn't get in a hockey fight! That side of my nose and that eye has been watering and dripping then went into congestion and is so sore and tender. I hate being sick in hot weather. Not that I enjoy it anytime! but still...


Get better.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> You need a refill. Where ya goin'? have fun!!
> 
> 
> 
> I totally do! Headed to Halifax first, then back down to Boston and Newport before back to NY. Seven days. Planning on as little screen time as possible, though of course getting my fix while we are still sitting in the harbor  Departure is delayed a bit to wait for a plane that came in late into Newark.
Click to expand...

Have fun - wish it were me.



pgriz said:


> Think you need to wash out your glass.  You've got too much city floating near the top of it.


Yo . . . how ya been?


----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> Think you need to wash out your glass.  You've got too much city floating near the top of it.



Paul!!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Eeeeeeeee! eeeeeeeeeeeee! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Is this going to keep up the rest of the afternoon and all night?? Probably. The cable company shows the weather service alerts for everything within like, 100 miles! lol OK not quite that many but it would be nice if they could just show it by county not everything in the tristate area and beyond! lol

I'm watching Lucille Ball movies on TCM, most of which aren't that great but still.
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!


----------



## CherylL

vintagesnaps said:


> Eeeeeeeee! eeeeeeeeeeeee! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Is this going to keep up the rest of the afternoon and all night?? Probably. The cable company shows the weather service alerts for everything within like, 100 miles! lol OK not quite that many but it would be nice if they could just show it by county not everything in the tristate area and beyond! lol
> 
> I'm watching Lucille Ball movies on TCM, most of which aren't that great but still.
> Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!



Wow, stay safe!  We have been on a rinse and repeat with the winds/rain.  This has been the summer of storms.


----------



## CherylL

I got a shot in the knee yesterday and some relief!  On meds for the swelling and starting therapy next week.  Hopefully I can get to my day trip wish list before summer is over.  Short hikes and photos hoping.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The cable is beeping about thunderstorms 90 miles east of me, and heading further east. They're covering an awfully big area! The thing is then you get so you just ignore it unless/until you realize it is actually getting close to you, but I guess it's better than not doing notifications.

Hope the shot helps your knee so you can get out and about before too long! There's a good bit of summer left so hopefully you can get in some picture taking.


----------



## smoke665

@vintagesnaps hope you survived the storms last night. Rained here off and on all night, sometimes extremely heavy, but no storms.

I have to make a 6 hr round trip today to help a family member that I'm not looking forward to. The traffic is horrendous and the family member involved is a real PITA but I'm the only one left to help. Going to be a long day for me.


----------



## smoke665

what a waste, 45,000 barrels, 12,037,500 Fifths, gone! This is the second fire at a distillery in less then a month. Massive fire at Jim Beam bourbon warehouse in Kentucky


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's a shame for any business/factory but whoa. 

We didn't even get a raindrop. I'm not sure why the cable keeps beeping alerts for sometimes 2-3 counties, a good hour and a half away (already east of here and moving on eastward). That's probably why it's getting so annoying, it would make sense if it was heading this way to give plenty of warning. 

Today is brown truck, grass cutting, another delivery. I'm way better but not quite a ball of fire and don't really feel like having to put a bunch of stuff away, but then some of it is ice cream so that's some incentive!


----------



## davidharmier60

Hey y'all. I got all ready to do the Marquee and was told the add runs until tomorrow. 
So undid my preparations and got a bit over 5 hours. 15.10 for the week so far. 
Wouldn't have gotten rained on doing the Marquee but it is lightly raining in the area right now. Sister and Dad are off somewhere. I had a cheeseburger in the deli waiting on the check. Doing comics online now. Looks dark and ugly out the window....

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## vintagesnaps

Did the same thing here, I was dozing off and it started rumbling and getting dark. Did the TV start beeping at me?? no it did not!! lol Stormed awhile then brightened up and looks on the radar like spotted rain/storm clouds still coming. The weather guy said popcorn, I think he meant pop up! lol

The Jim Beam fire made local news, they said they think it might have started due to lightning. 

I may not have gotten around to making a bourbon hot toddy but I got Brown Butter Bourbon Pecan ice cream. It's good. I ruined my appetite for dinner (who am I kidding? have chicken thawing). 

Popcorn sounds good...


----------



## pgriz

limr said:


> Paul!!!





> Yo . . . how ya been?



Yeah, it's me.  Decided to pop in and see who's alive, and who's moved on.  Had a very hard two years - wife had cancer (now in remission), along with both sister-in-laws who also went through cancer (also both in remission), then the increasingly poor health of my mother (95 years), and her death last Christmas day.  Four more relatives (aunt, three uncles) also left this world.  Arranging funerals, dealing with estate issues, etc. are not activities that bring smiles.  On the plus side, expecting any day now my third grandchild, and my wife is exploring south-east Asia with a good friend.  Did the photography honours for a nephew and his lovely wife for their wedding.  So the camera equipment still sees use.  But not  of the type that needs to be publicly exhibited.  Life.

At Easter, she and I went for a weekend in Boston, and thoroughly enjoyed being out of reach of urgent phonecalls and the like.  Sure, we had our smartphones, but darn, kept on forgetting to check the messages.  

So, Lenny, enjoy the cruise, breathe deeply of the maritime air, luxuriate in the company of your partner, and enjoy the chance to get away.


----------



## snowbear

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Paul!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yo . . . how ya been?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, it's me.  Decided to pop in and see who's alive, and who's moved on.  Had a very hard two years - wife had cancer (now in remission), along with both sister-in-laws who also went through cancer (also both in remission), then the increasingly poor health of my mother (95 years), and her death last Christmas day.  Four more relatives (aunt, three uncles) also left this world.  Arranging funerals, dealing with estate issues, etc. are not activities that bring smiles.  On the plus side, expecting any day now my third grandchild, and my wife is exploring south-east Asia with a good friend.  Did the photography honours for a nephew and his lovely wife for their wedding.  So the camera equipment still sees use.  But not  of the type that needs to be publicly exhibited.  Life.
> 
> At Easter, she and I went for a weekend in Boston, and thoroughly enjoyed being out of reach of urgent phonecalls and the like.  Sure, we had our smartphones, but darn, kept on forgetting to check the messages.
> 
> So, Lenny, enjoy the cruise, breathe deeply of the maritime air, luxuriate in the company of your partner, and enjoy the chance to get away.
Click to expand...


I know how it goes.  We had a couple of bad years - mom-law, two brothers-in-law passed (MLW's uncle passed just passed over the weekend).  Some good things happened, like I'm getting paid, now, and the oldest (in Tulsa, OK) is getting married sometime next year.

Glad you're still hanging around.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> what a waste, 45,000 barrels, 12,037,500 Fifths, gone! This is the second fire at a distillery in less then a month. Massive fire at Jim Beam bourbon warehouse in Kentucky


Thank goodness there's still Old No. 7.


----------



## smoke665

An old one but still funny.

Two dogs and a cat have died.
All three are faced with God who wants to know what they believe in.
The first dog says: "I believe in discipline training and loyalty to my master."
"Good, answer" says God. "Then sit down on my right side. To the next dog he asks, what do you believe in?"
The next dog answers: "I believe in the love, care and protection of my master."
"Ah, also a good answer" said God. "You may sit to my left."
Then he looks at the cat and asks, "And what do you believe in?"
The cat answers: "I believe you're sitting in my seat."


----------



## davidharmier60

Sounds like a cat.
A bit beyond 6 hours today. 
21.25 for the week so far. 
Apparently we get paid extra for today. 
She said quote "I need you to git."
There was pressure on the stockers to git as well. It rained pretty hard this morning but had quit by the time I did Marquee. 
I told Trish we should get propane tomorrow and that is when she said Got.
Going to do my comics and 5 rolls of pennies and then I'm going to see how many sheets of foam I have. I have a plan to build an acrobatic stick airplane.
If only I could afford all the other stuff needed to finish planes.

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----------



## limr

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Paul!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yo . . . how ya been?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, it's me.  Decided to pop in and see who's alive, and who's moved on.  Had a very hard two years - wife had cancer (now in remission), along with both sister-in-laws who also went through cancer (also both in remission), then the increasingly poor health of my mother (95 years), and her death last Christmas day.  Four more relatives (aunt, three uncles) also left this world.  Arranging funerals, dealing with estate issues, etc. are not activities that bring smiles.  On the plus side, expecting any day now my third grandchild, and my wife is exploring south-east Asia with a good friend.  Did the photography honours for a nephew and his lovely wife for their wedding.  So the camera equipment still sees use.  But not  of the type that needs to be publicly exhibited.  Life.
> 
> At Easter, she and I went for a weekend in Boston, and thoroughly enjoyed being out of reach of urgent phonecalls and the like.  Sure, we had our smartphones, but darn, kept on forgetting to check the messages.
> 
> So, Lenny, enjoy the cruise, breathe deeply of the maritime air, luxuriate in the company of your partner, and enjoy the chance to get away.
Click to expand...


I'm so sorry, Paul    I hope you have many years of good things ahead of you to balance things.

In the meantime, I will indeed breathe deep and focus on brighter horizons.


----------



## smoke665

Glad I switched to Mayfield! Woman tampering with ice cream in Texas facing up to 20 years in jail @davidharmier60 aren't you in TX and a fan of Blue Bell?


----------



## Original katomi

Back from a few days away hot and tired chat to you all when I have unpacked


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Glad I switched to Mayfield! Woman tampering with ice cream in Texas facing up to 20 years in jail @davidharmier60 aren't you in TX and a fan of Blue Bell?



Hmmm...reminds me of an episode of entitlement that seems to have been swept under the rug because of the amount of money this " star " creates for a handful of people...
Ariana Grande Says "I Hate Americans. I Hate America." After Appearing to Lick On-Display Doughnuts


----------



## Jeff G

Yesterday we had a little earthquake to start the holiday off. Just a little rollin' and shakin' but nothing to worry about. We had to reassure the cats that everything was fine but that was about it.


----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon y'all. 6 and a bit today. 
Got propane and when I got home I unhooked the 40# tank and went and got it filled. Got 5 more sheets of foam board to experiment with. Plan to create a foam sorta Ugly Stick. About a 27" fuselage and hopefully about a 30" symmetrical wing.
Just need everything else to complete it.....

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----------



## vintagesnaps

An octopus on the ice, yeah that's my kind of hockey! 

An afternoon of Stanley Cup finals replays and boy, is this bringing back some memories. Forgot about one of our (brief) former players who later was diagnosed with a prior undetected heart condition that cut short his talented playing career. Good to see him win and skate the Cup, that he got to have that experience. 

Then going on with hockey trade news etc. there was a tweet by one of our former goalies in quite the 4th of July outfit about how his family doesn't want to be with him dressed like that! lol This was like old home week today.


----------



## CherylL

pgriz said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Paul!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yo . . . how ya been?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, it's me.  Decided to pop in and see who's alive, and who's moved on.  Had a very hard two years - wife had cancer (now in remission), along with both sister-in-laws who also went through cancer (also both in remission), then the increasingly poor health of my mother (95 years), and her death last Christmas day.  Four more relatives (aunt, three uncles) also left this world.  Arranging funerals, dealing with estate issues, etc. are not activities that bring smiles.  On the plus side, expecting any day now my third grandchild, and my wife is exploring south-east Asia with a good friend.  Did the photography honours for a nephew and his lovely wife for their wedding.  So the camera equipment still sees use.  But not  of the type that needs to be publicly exhibited.  Life.
> 
> At Easter, she and I went for a weekend in Boston, and thoroughly enjoyed being out of reach of urgent phonecalls and the like.  Sure, we had our smartphones, but darn, kept on forgetting to check the messages.
> 
> So, Lenny, enjoy the cruise, breathe deeply of the maritime air, luxuriate in the company of your partner, and enjoy the chance to get away.
Click to expand...


So very sorry on all of your losses.  Seems like it rains it pours.  Losing a parent is very difficult.  Grandchildren bring new life and new hope into our lives.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Another earthquake. So far no major injuries or damage, but I suppose it's early yet to know for sure. Hope everybody in the area is OK. 

Which made me think, it wasn't to bad in LA, they showed the Dodgers game and apparently they kept playing - but I wondered about Gary... Anybody heard from him lately? Too bad he didn't take a break and c'mon back, I'd like it if he did. I miss Gary.


----------



## Original katomi

Late to the game as not been watching tv much but are those effected by quake ok


----------



## Jeff G

Another decent quake last night, this one lasted quite a bit longer than the one on the 4th. Had to hold the TV still as it was rockin' pretty good and grabbed the oil hurricane lamp off the bookshelf before it could travel too far. Amazingly enough nothing broke. Had several items barely hanging on the edge of shelves. I feel for the folks in the Ridgecrest area, I saw some vids from their area and they got a pretty good shaking.

 The Cats do not like quakes, only one of our four was indifferent to it. They do make you feel a little queasy, not sure if it's an inner ear thing or a low frequency thing but it affects the wife more than me.
Hope any of you further south didn't have any problems.


----------



## smoke665

@Jeff G have a granddaughter in LA, she said it woke her up, shaking the bed. Maybe this is the last of them.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Heard today they expect aftershocks still. Didn't hear about any really bad injuries but there were some fires because of gas lines being damaged I think. Sounds like a lot of people are staying outside; I'm used to weather conditions where if anything you want to get indoors.


----------



## smoke665

@vintagesnaps growing up along the New Madrid fault line, they were pretty regular occurrences. Usually no more then an interesting rumble, though a few caused things to fall off shelves and once when I was outside I saw the ground roll like a wave. That was freaky.


----------



## davidharmier60

I THINK I'll take a hurricane over an earthquake. Rachel fussed at me because I didn't call her at 5:10 or so. I messaged her about 6:10 saying I wanted on the record I was there at 5am. Mopped and dust mopped and did the bathrooms and ended with around 32 hours for the week. 
Got my ugly stick pretty much cut out and glued together as much as I could.
Dealing with yet another PCH email.
And listening to Rockabilly on YouTube. 

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## Jeff G

Well I did something stupid this afternoon, I had my phone in my pocket and didn't  know it, then I jumped in the swimming pool.   Yes, my swimsuit has pockets, and I always keep my phone in my pocket so out of habit without thinking about it, in it went. I didn't  notice the whole time  I was in the pool, so an hour later when I take off my suit I finally noticed, instant face palm. 

I have been overdue for a new phone for a while, but would have preferred doing it when I was ready. It is now in a bag of rice but it was submerged long enough that I doubt it will be recoverable.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Ooops. Bummer, but at least it wasn't a brand new phone. 

Got the last of the stuff at my parents' and we are done with that house!! done done done! Why o why didn't they downsize years ago?! lol Lots of little frames all over the house didn't seem like much til ya round 'em all up, popped the pics out of frames to put in photo albums. 

I'm beat and besides trying to do this type stuff using a cane, and not a damn chair left I can sit in (perched on the arm of the sofa for a break or two), it was a job! And my shoulder hurts on the weaker side and realized, oh, it was trying to reach up high to get that vintage metal bun warmer thingy (even using a crappy reacher tool that was there!). Shoulda just left it. The realtor/auctioneer will deal with the rest of the furniture and dishes etc. etc. 

Then my best friend ran back over to get the last of the larger framed family/ancestor photos etc. and grab a bite and she found a box I overlooked. She said it has old stuff from college days and from what she said, well, this ought to be interesting! 

Time after a burger and fries for - ice cream! Thought about a bottle of wine that's been in the fridge for awhile but junk food won out.


----------



## smoke665

Deep question for the the day. Our fingers have fingertips, yet our toes don't have toetips, so how can we tiptoe, but not tipfinger?


----------



## Jeff G

@Sharon  Junk food ALWAYS wins!


----------



## Jeff G

@smoke  you just broke my brain!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Smoke must've had an interesting time at the wedding this weekend.


----------



## smoke665

Jeff G said:


> @smoke  you just broke my brain!



My mind sometimes goes in directions that I have no control over. LOL


----------



## Original katomi

Ugg morning all,


----------



## smoke665

@vintagesnaps The wedding was interesting. DW and I both quickly determined that there's very little difference between photographing elderly and kids.  No attention span, easily distracted, and no sense of time.  Have a ton of shots to edit of which I believe a few turned out okay.


----------



## davidharmier60

Happy Sunday y'all.  At least this part of Tapatalk works. EDC forums won't respond. Got coffee that hasn't been molested. No huge plans for the day.
Considering the move in 4-8 weeks and freaking out.

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## SquarePeg

Jeff G said:


> Well I did something stupid this afternoon, I had my phone in my pocket and didn't  know it, then I jumped in the swimming pool.   Yes, my swimsuit has pockets, and I always keep my phone in my pocket so out of habit without thinking about it, in it went. I didn't  notice the whole time  I was in the pool, so an hour later when I take off my suit I finally noticed, instant face palm.
> 
> I have been overdue for a new phone for a while, but would have preferred doing it when I was ready. It is now in a bag of rice but it was submerged long enough that I doubt it will be recoverable.



not one of the newer “waterproof” phones?

What are you planning on getting?  I need a new phone.  Probably an iPhone so it can synchronize with my iPad Pro.


----------



## tirediron

Izzer an echo in here?


----------



## Jeff G

@SquarePeg   probably going to get a Moto Z4. I tend to go a long time between phones, I try to see which ones look like they have the most longevity to them while still having the features I like.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I definitely have longevity in phones, Nokia came out with a newer version of mine that I realized is 15+ years old! Took that long to quit working.

Yesterday wore me out. My brother said can I let the realtor know we're done and I said after tonight yes! and there was great rejoicing. We kind of worked at different times in and out, he left to go to church etc. Of course he was back over there looking in boxes labelled trucks so he might have been there awhile.


----------



## Jeff G

When we cleaned out the in-laws house it was a nightmare, they were serious hoarders, no joke, who has 5 one gallon jugs of Windex and never cleans their windows?  I feel for you Sharon.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Jeff G said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well I did something stupid this afternoon, I had my phone in my pocket and didn't  know it, then I jumped in the swimming pool.   Yes, my swimsuit has pockets, and I always keep my phone in my pocket so out of habit without thinking about it, in it went. I didn't  notice the whole time  I was in the pool, so an hour later when I take off my suit I finally noticed, instant face palm.
> 
> I have been overdue for a new phone for a while, but would have preferred doing it when I was ready. It is now in a bag of rice but it was submerged long enough that I doubt it will be recoverable.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> not one of the newer “waterproof” phones?
> 
> What are you planning on getting?  I need a new phone.  Probably an iPhone so it can synchronize with my iPad Pro.
Click to expand...

My “water resistant” iPhone 7 is good for up to 3-feet and 30 minutes, according to Apple. It’s lasted a drop in the tub when the toddler smacked it out of my hand.

re: synchronizing, I highly recommend it. It’s great to be able to sync shots between the iPad and iPhone while on vacation or out and about. And Snapseed works great on the iPhone!


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeff G said:
> 
> 
> 
> Well I did something stupid this afternoon, I had my phone in my pocket and didn't  know it, then I jumped in the swimming pool.   Yes, my swimsuit has pockets, and I always keep my phone in my pocket so out of habit without thinking about it, in it went. I didn't  notice the whole time  I was in the pool, so an hour later when I take off my suit I finally noticed, instant face palm.
> 
> I have been overdue for a new phone for a while, but would have preferred doing it when I was ready. It is now in a bag of rice but it was submerged long enough that I doubt it will be recoverable.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> not one of the newer “waterproof” phones?
> 
> What are you planning on getting?  I need a new phone.  Probably an iPhone so it can synchronize with my iPad Pro.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My “water resistant” iPhone 7 is good for up to 3-feet and 30 minutes, according to Apple. It’s lasted a drop in the tub when the toddler smacked it out of my hand.
> 
> re: synchronizing, I highly recommend it. It’s great to be able to sync shots between the iPad and iPhone while on vacation or out and about. And Snapseed works great on the iPhone!
Click to expand...


Yes the syncing is great for photo access!  I’m not crazy about my iPhone but I need it for FaceTime when I travel and it comes in handy to keep track of Princess using the find my iPhone feature with her iTunes info (shhhhhh).  So will probably buy another one... prices are insane right now though so holding out as long as I can.


----------



## SquarePeg

Cute puppy pic


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## davidharmier60

That IS a cute pup!
Another Funday Monday.
Trish did over an hour as a checkout person because whoever was scheduled to be there wasn't. I got 5.23 hours today. 
Got a light working in the deli steam table.
Mopped around Jodi's office because she asked me too. About to do my comics online. Then 3 more rolls to finish a box I'll sell tomorrow. I have a sorta Ugly Stick just about built. Just have to get some glue and some clamping stuff to have the fuselage.
Made a wing and tail feathers. Got to find out if I can send a money order for electronics...

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## Dean_Gretsch

Photographers capture gorgeous images of canine pals in U.K. contest

The one titled " Honey Saluki " is my favorite


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Cute puppy pic
> View attachment 176243



LOVE her!!


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## davidharmier60

Wednesday was a hoot. Fixed one of the meat department meat racks. One of the casters had a bent shaft. Got it fairly straight and beat it back into place.
Checks weren't ready at noon. I was going to get glue and clamping stuff bit do not feel like going out again. The sun is shining bright and humidity is pretty high.
About to do my comics online. 

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## smoke665

DW & I were just talking about how it seemed like people were getting dumber by the year, then this popped up. Mom arrested for driving with kids on top of SUV in inflatable pool seriously is there something in the water, the air, food, genetics............. It just seems like people have no common sense anymore.


----------



## Jeff G

@smoke  To be fair it said nothing in the pool's instuctions about not driving with children in it.   It is incredible just how dense the general public is becoming, sometimes it seems like this kind of behavior is becoming the norm rather than the exception.


----------



## Original katomi

Well hi all power cut here today,


----------



## snowbear

Storming.  Hopefully it will cool things off and not just make it muggy.

Someone scraped the Honda in front of the wheel - not horrible but she's still going to the shop on Monday.  I noticed it this morning so it happened a day or two ago.


----------



## davidharmier60

Sheesh. I went to Livingston to get glue and clamping stuff. I got a 2x2x36 piece of metal to clamp down. But 2 inches fits across the bottom just peachy. But 2 upright is too tall. If it ain't one thing it's another. Then at home the subject of roof leaks came up. I got up on the roof to fix where a tarp tore loose (actually two tarps). I'm about tuckered out.
A storm is supposed to go a chore in Louisiana and we're supposed to get some rain on Saturday. Yippee.

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## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Storming.  Hopefully it will cool things off and not just make it muggy.
> 
> Someone scraped the Honda in front of the wheel - not horrible but she's still going to the shop on Monday.  I noticed it this morning so it happened a day or two ago.



People are so rude, I bet whoever hit it knew they did it.


----------



## davidharmier60

Ended up with 29.01 hours for the week.
Adjusted the lawnmower and it started right up. It got stuck trying to mow the ditch but did fine once we got it on the driveway. Used our portable band saw to make the 2x2 angle iron a 2x1. It is Right now gluing the joined in the fuselage. 
Going to relax, do some pennies and comics.

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## vintagesnaps

That's a bummer Charlie. Why can't these peeps scratch a car when it's old, I hate the first scratch/ding on a new car...

I'm getting loopy. My parents' house already has a sale pending, but we can't get away from just one more thing... in the auction that's scheduled I saw in the pictures an old record player that only plays 45s and some big band records (which were apparently buried in the basement). So sure, I can get those, but then they called back and there are 3 boxes in the kitchen of personal stuff. Arghhh... what else can it be??!!! I thought we got all that kind of stuff.....  I'm taking along garbage bags and hopefully it can go in the trash for pickup. I thought we were done but it's a variation of the Groundhog Day movie.....


----------



## smoke665

I feel for you @vintagesnaps, when we cleaned out my parents house (a big 2 story farmhouse with full basement), and the remainder of what was in the barns, we brought back a semi trailer stuffed full, plus had a huge auction, that lasted all day. The stuff that came back sat in the warehouse packed away in big wooden storage crates. We'd unpack one every so often, sort the things we wanted to keep, sell what we didn't, and throw away the rest, finally got rid of the last one after 10 years. LOL


----------



## snowbear

We got a real good cantaloupe from Delmarva last weekend. Tomorrow we're heading to Lancaster, Pennsylvania.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> Lancaster, Pennsylvania


Where ya headed?


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lancaster, Pennsylvania
> 
> 
> 
> Where ya headed?
Click to expand...

We want to check out Kauffman's at Bird in Hand.


----------



## vintagesnaps

A barn! oh Smoke, thank goodness they're in the 'burbs and there's no barn!! They do have a big two story. And they took stuff! and so did we!! If stuff doesn't sell I was thinking today we could go in with wheelbarrows, no, a snowplow! lol 

I did end up with - tintypes!! I have to show them to my dad, other pictures I recognize but I don't know who these people are! lol

Sounds fun Charlie! Just looked it up, they have online shopping! I like places like that.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lancaster, Pennsylvania
> 
> 
> 
> Where ya headed?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We want to check out Kauffman's at Bird in Hand.
Click to expand...

Nice! That's such a cute area with lots of great little places. I was just down that way last week.

If I remember correctly, on the same road about 1-1.5 miles west, there's also a Bird-in-Hand Farmers Market, which I visited probably 2 years ago. Cute place and good food.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> A barn! oh Smoke, thank goodness they're in the 'burbs and there's no barn!!



That was "barns", plural as in 3 to be exact. Fortunately they were mostly empty as we'd already had big equipment auction a couple years prior. The basement was the depository for the remainder of items from my grandmother's and great aunt's house, so there was a mess to deal with. Being 7 hrs away didn't help matters. To be honest a lot of what we brought back we shouldn't have, but those things we couldnt decide on and the boxes of pictures, mementos, etc. that would have eaten up our time went on the truck, for sorting through later.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lancaster, Pennsylvania
> 
> 
> 
> Where ya headed?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We want to check out Kauffman's at Bird in Hand.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nice! That's such a cute area with lots of great little places. I was just down that way last week.
> 
> If I remember correctly, on the same road about 1-1.5 miles west, there's also a Bird-in-Hand Farmers Market, which I visited probably 2 years ago. Cute place and good food.
Click to expand...

Thanks - we'll check it out.  It's been a while since I was in that area.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lancaster, Pennsylvania
> 
> 
> 
> Where ya headed?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We want to check out Kauffman's at Bird in Hand.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Nice! That's such a cute area with lots of great little places. I was just down that way last week.
> 
> If I remember correctly, on the same road about 1-1.5 miles west, there's also a Bird-in-Hand Farmers Market, which I visited probably 2 years ago. Cute place and good food.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks - we'll check it out.  It's been a while since I was in that area.
Click to expand...


Last time we were in that area there was a “microburst” that was terrifying.  I still think it was a tornado !  Scariest 10 minutes of my life - parked on the highway while it passsed over us, couldn’t see the car that was just 2 ft in front, was just about to have the kids get down on the floor of the car when it started to let up.   Enjoyed the sights there after that but have had a new respect for the weather ever since.


----------



## davidharmier60

Happy Saturday y'all. I don't like it because it hurts my check. But my Sister loves that I get a day off. Finished the joiner floor in the Frankenstick fuselage. Glued the tail feathers into place. Going to see about wing mounting and cutting a hatch or two.
No big plans for the day. 

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## snowbear

Getting close to home; the trip was nice, except for spots of heavy traffic.  We got some peaches, tomatoes, jam and honey.  We took a side trip to Hershey.  I love that the air smells like chocolate.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> Getting close to home; the trip was nice, except for spots of heavy traffic.  We got some peaches, tomatoes, jam and honey.  We took a side trip to Hershey.  I love that the air smells like chocolate.


Glad to hear you had a good trip! Also happy to hear you stopped by Hershey. Growing up in the area, I always loved going through Hershey to smell chocolate and to see the streetlights.


----------



## smoke665

Many years ago spent a lot of time in Hershey area. Interesting place.

Tried for several days to find a mobile detail service to come out and wash and wax the 5th wheel. Most just said no, only one gave me a price of $400, which I would have gladly paid, but haven't heard from him since. Gave up and started the project myself. It's not that hard but I'm not as young as I once was 2-3 hrs in the heat does me in. At that rate should complete it in less then week.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Interesting place.


Huh, Hershey said the same of you—interesting person.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The scent of chocolate in the air... the streets must be full of people just driving around with the windows down!

After the auctioneer called that there were 3 boxes of personal stuff at the parents' house (couldn't think what we left that we'd need to get), my brother stopped and made quick work of it, they all went to the curb! lol There were valuable items like homemade tapes of TV shows, etc. And of course no VCR player. We were saying we think we're done and it sucks us back in! Now to get the old record player that needs a part, related to the tone arm? have it written down somewhere... And the records that I think are 78s, there's nothing that goes together!


----------



## davidharmier60

Happy Tuesday y'all. 
5 more hours and a trifle for 10.14 for the week so far. The weather is warm and humid. Still on a Rockabilly kick on YouTube. Selling a box of pennies to the store tomorrow. Later.

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## vintagesnaps

Here goes the TV again, eeeeeh! eeeeeeeeeh! Thunderstorm warnings a little north of me. The notifications are good but maybe a tone that didn't set my teeth on edge would be nice. Hopefully the storms won't be too bad, it is getting a little darker.


----------



## snowbear

I hope the storms *ended* quickly, Sharon.  We just had hot.
So, Smoke, the issue with LR has *ended* - that's good to hear.

I want at least one of my Coffee House peeps to go out and shoot something for the July Sm4him Photo Challenge.  The theme is *End* or *Ending.*  Come on, now. you know you really want to.


----------



## smoke665

Temperature here yesterday was hot but there was a nice breeze most of the day that made it bearable. Worked outside yesterday morning waxing on the RV, till it was break time. Then went back yesterday evening and almost overdid it. The nice breeze that kept things bearable suddenly quit, what a difference, had to quit.


----------



## CherylL

We made a quick weekend trip to the grandson's 1st birthday party.   I had my camera ready to take photos at the party, indoor rec center with the 35mm.  They had a photographer lined up for their family photo later, but that person cancelled.  Good thing she called me before we left and I grabbed a crate and the 56mm.   Did a quick session that evening of the 3 of them.  By that evening my knee was hurting and we only walked a little way down the path by the lake.


----------



## snowbear

We're expecting the thermometer to hit 101 F (38.3 C), this weekend, as far up as southern Maine.  Yep, Summer is here and is carrying a very large sledge hammer.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Supposed to get into the 90's here this weekend, not so hot today but rain off and on just making it steamy. All I have going on is another trip over to my parents' house and hope that's it! To get a record player that only plays 45s and some big band records, and check around and make sure there's nothing else.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sharon was always a lot of fun. She's why I'm 'the other'. Glad to have gotten to know her.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> I hope the storms *ended* quickly, Sharon.  We just had hot.
> So, Smoke, the issue with LR has *ended* - that's good to hear.
> 
> I want at least one of my Coffee House peeps to go out and shoot something for the July Sm4him Photo Challenge.  The theme is *End* or *Ending.*  Come on, now. you know you really want to.



I will try to come up with something.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hope the storms *ended* quickly, Sharon.  We just had hot.
> So, Smoke, the issue with LR has *ended* - that's good to hear.
> 
> I want at least one of my Coffee House peeps to go out and shoot something for the July Sm4him Photo Challenge.  The theme is *End* or *Ending.*  Come on, now. you know you really want to.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I will try to come up with something.
Click to expand...

And I, yours.


----------



## davidharmier60

The check wasn't too bad considering. 
About two weeks ago I found a $50 on the floor. It was never claimed and was returned to me yesterday. So I have approximately $70 to $90 to spend on servos and such. I think buying a power pack from Flite Test will be my best bet IF they will take a money order or Cashiers check. I guess I better find out. Yesterday I began the process of attaching the upper wing to Frankenbaron. The epoxy seems to have a pretty good grip on things. I'm going to have rubber bands holding the upper wing because otherwise I'm sure it would fly off the minute it got in the air.

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----------



## RowdyRay

It's been god awful here since last week. 90's with humidity you can cut with a knife. Step out of an air conditioned building or car and my glasses fog. Miserable. Last Saturday, I got out REALLY early for a little camera time. But, even the critters weren't moving. Not much to shoot.

Just trying not to melt. I can deal with 90's, but the humidity is oppressive. And of course, that brings on storms. Daily, they pop up out of nowhere. Some have high winds and/or hail. Others just dump rain. With all the rain we got this spring, that causes flash flooding. It has no where to go. Crazy. 

Supposed to break this Sunday but, even the weather forecasters don't have a clue.


----------



## limr

Seems like it's time to dust this one off for another year. You're welcome.

Warning: Language is so so SO very NOT safe for work.

(PS - I love this woman.)


----------



## terri

Nasty heat wave for large parts of the country, especially moving along the Midwest and east coast.   

We're only at the moderately unbearable point of the scale around here.  It could always get worse.   

Last year was wonderful.   Not surprising to have to pay for it now.


----------



## davidharmier60

Good old Texas. Hot and humid is our weather most of a year. 21.23 for the week so far. Need to think about packing up for the move but it makes my head hurt.

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## davidharmier60

Afternoon y'all. 26.36 with a day to go. 
Would be a happier Friday if I didn't have to be there at 5am tomorrow. Comics are done. Renaming pictures just now.
Carry on with your regularly scheduled program. 

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----------



## vintagesnaps

Doing a grocery order to pick up tomorrow and decided to add a bottle of wine... did anyone know they still make Boone's Farm??!! lol Besides strawberry which isn't surprising they have blue Hawaiian. 

And there's a place called cupcake vineyards? do I want to know...?? guess this is what you get at the grocery store but there are some decent choices so it'll do!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Flip Flop wine? I hope the second half of the alphabet gets better...

Sheep Thrills, now we're getting somewhere!


----------



## smoke665

Back at wax on, wax off this morning until a storm cut me short. I wasn't complaining. I really don't mind the heat but the humidity kills me. It's still 90% humidity out there.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Doing a grocery order to pick up tomorrow and decided to add a bottle of wine... did anyone know they still make Boone's Farm??!! lol Besides strawberry which isn't surprising they have blue Hawaiian.
> 
> And there's a place called cupcake vineyards? do I want to know...?? guess this is what you get at the grocery store but there are some decent choices so it'll do!



"Strawberry Hill", boy that brings back some college memories....... usually accompanied with a little smoke, and a sing along. LOL


----------



## davidharmier60

We still sell cheap stuff at the store. 
Finished the week with 32.16.
Since the check for 27 hours wasn't too bad this is just fine. Have done my comics online and some of the penny rolls I plan to do. It's quite hot in the room where the planes are.  May or may not work on Frankenbaron. 

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----------



## vintagesnaps

I did not get any Boone's Farm, I think it might cause flashbacks. (It never was that good just cheap, up there with Mad Dog.) Going to taste test one of the three I got with carryout pizza & lasagna. We might actually be finished at my parent's house, maybe it won't drag me back for one more thing (but I'm not counting it out just yet).


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I did not get any Boone's Farm,



That was the correct choice.


----------



## Original katomi

As if the heat was not enough we now have noise on the prom.  Music on the beach ... so it’s bang crash bang scream apparently it’s called music these days we are being promised 30 deg c today,tomorrow. 

Somebody scoop me up and pour me back in my can please


----------



## davidharmier60

Occasionally our neighbors across the road play music VERY loud. Better when we hear birds and crickets. 
Rather quiet Sunday morning. 
Dad is banging around the kitchen making something for breakfast. 
Looks like the sun is out in all it's glory. 
So will be a repeat of most of the year hot and humid. After breakfast I will do comics  online. Yesterday this watch crashed face down on a hardwood floor. The surround of the date window popped out and later in the day the bezel insert fell off. Need to get to Hobby Lobby for the proper glue to reattach the insert.




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----------



## Original katomi

Hope you get dadswatch fixed


----------



## vintagesnaps

Last night had the 'Sheep Thrills' wine, it was pretty darn good! Somewhere in the mountains of Italy people are tending vineyards and sheep for the good of buying wine with your groceries.


----------



## JonA_CT

Hey coffee house hosers. We've had a whirlwind summer over here...I'm currently outside of Rolla, MO visiting my cousin, which was the third stop on our cross country trek this summer. We started off in Pittsburgh and then in Chicago, and we're heading home tomorrow. Hopefully, we can make it in 2 days.

I've realized on this trip that there is beauty everywhere -- my cousin's husband is from MO, and he has taken us to the most beautiful places. We've swam in pristine creeks, paddled canoes through high cliffs and by flood plains, and we've hiked to natural springs and bridges. I had no idea what to expect, but I think we're going to have to come back here next summer. 

I did bring my camera, but I'm bad at taking it out. I'll have to see if I can find some good pictures to share.


----------



## CherylL

JonA_CT said:


> Hey coffee house hosers. We've had a whirlwind summer over here...I'm currently outside of Rolla, MO visiting my cousin, which was the third stop on our cross country trek this summer. We started off in Pittsburgh and then in Chicago, and we're heading home tomorrow. Hopefully, we can make it in 2 days.
> 
> I've realized on this trip that there is beauty everywhere -- my cousin's husband is from MO, and he has taken us to the most beautiful places. We've swam in pristine creeks, paddled canoes through high cliffs and by flood plains, and we've hiked to natural springs and bridges. I had no idea what to expect, but I think we're going to have to come back here next summer.
> 
> I did bring my camera, but I'm bad at taking it out. I'll have to see if I can find some good pictures to share.



Beautiful area.  I'd like to visit Meramac State Park.  Rolla is the 1/2 way point to visit my daughter.


----------



## smoke665

@JonA_CT having spent the first 28 years of my life in Swampeast Mo, I can tell you that part of the state is no place to be in the summer. However there are some much more attractive places in the state.


----------



## RowdyRay

@JonA_CT Hope you do find some pics. Would love to see them. Beautiful part of the country.  

Most of my in-laws side was from around the Marceline area. Northern part of the state, but we ventured to many other places while down there. Enjoyed our stay, no matter what season. Unfortunately, they've all passed and haven't been down that way in 15 years?


----------



## snowbear

JonA_CT said:


> Hey coffee house hosers. We've had a whirlwind summer over here...I'm currently outside of Rolla, MO visiting my cousin, which was the third stop on our cross country trek this summer. We started off in Pittsburgh and then in Chicago, and we're heading home tomorrow. Hopefully, we can make it in 2 days.
> 
> I've realized on this trip that there is beauty everywhere -- my cousin's husband is from MO, and he has taken us to the most beautiful places. We've swam in pristine creeks, paddled canoes through high cliffs and by flood plains, and we've hiked to natural springs and bridges. I had no idea what to expect, but I think we're going to have to come back here next summer.
> 
> I did bring my camera, but I'm bad at taking it out. I'll have to see if I can find some good pictures to share.


Safe trip back.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hi Hosers!   haven't done much shooting or online posting since the balloon festival.   Coaching Princess’s summer softball team, training the new puppy, busy at work and trying to keep cool in all this heat!  It’s been a fast summer so far - it’s been too hot for the beach or for more than a few minutes in the pool. Princess got her drivers license on Saturday.  She’s been hogging the car all week while she takes one unnecessary car ride after another lol.   The good news is now I don’t have to go the grocery store or the drugstore or pick up our Chinese food


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all 32 deg c here @ time of post. To hot to do photography as iam melting on the camera . Hope all out there are ok


----------



## smoke665

What a relief this morning as Sadie and I took our morning walk in pleasant 55 degree temperature. Currently 74 headed to a high of 80. Our reprieve won't last long as the temperatures start rising again by the weekend


----------



## Original katomi

Still hot, even this manaquin had ideas about cooling down


----------



## vintagesnaps

Looks like she's ready to pull the fire alarm, she must be hot! (Where is this anyway?)

OK I watched it again (2001 A Space Odyssey) and still don't get the ending. From what the TCM host said I guess it was supposed to be a mystery as to what it meant, neither Arthur Clarke or Stanley Kubrick would give an explanation. I get that this monolith thingy sent a signal to Jupiter, so Dave ends up taking a '60s psychedelic trip there, becomes an old man and evolves into a new being/lifeform; but I don't get the 18th century room, knocking over the glass, etc. 

I like mysteries that I can't figure out til the end of the book, but then you do find out who dunnit.


----------



## terri

JonA_CT said:


> Hey coffee house hosers. We've had a whirlwind summer over here...I'm currently outside of Rolla, MO visiting my cousin, which was the third stop on our cross country trek this summer. We started off in Pittsburgh and then in Chicago, and we're heading home tomorrow. Hopefully, we can make it in 2 days.
> 
> I've realized on this trip that there is beauty everywhere -- my cousin's husband is from MO, and he has taken us to the most beautiful places. We've swam in pristine creeks, paddled canoes through high cliffs and by flood plains, and we've hiked to natural springs and bridges. I had no idea what to expect, but I think we're going to have to come back here next summer.
> 
> I did bring my camera, but I'm bad at taking it out. I'll have to see if I can find some good pictures to share.


Missouri is beautiful!   I have family there answer spent a lot of summers as a kid doing those exact things.   We hiked and camped around the Ozarks, too.  Gorgeous countryside.  Hope you did get a few shots to share.


----------



## vintagesnaps

'Coffee House Hosers', Jon we could be a softball team, that would look good on jerseys.


----------



## JonA_CT

I'll have to sort through the card for real, but I grabbed these last night. Not bad for being early and using the "kit" lens for the X-T2. (Stitched together three landscape shots). 18mm @ 4000 ISO, 13 second exposure for each shot.


----------



## CherylL

The last few days have been pleasant to sit outside.  I had my husband move the hummingbird feeder twice.  Trying to find the right spot to take photos.  Knee thing still going on so sitting in backyard shooting birds this summer.  No nature trail for awhile.


----------



## Jeff G

9:00 at night and it's still 92°F and we are out of ice cream   the rest of the week looks like it will be between 105°F and 111°F, going to have to remedy the ice cream situation tomorrow. The heat is sucking all of the will to do anything other than sprawl in front of the TV right out of me.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning peeps.
Heading out to Columbus a little later for a Python conference.


----------



## smoke665

Temperatures climbing slightly over the next few days, but it looks like the stifling humidity we had last week is staying away. According to my seasons guide it's only 59 days, 20 hrs, and 23 mins till the official start of fall and it's only 36 days, 17 hrs and 23 mins till football in the south officially begins for us.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all 27 deg c indoors with the fan on.


----------



## compur

vintagesnaps said:


> Looks like she's ready to pull the fire alarm, she must be hot! (Where is this anyway?)
> 
> OK I watched it again (2001 A Space Odyssey) and still don't get the ending. From what the TCM host said I guess it was supposed to be a mystery as to what it meant, neither Arthur Clarke or Stanley Kubrick would give an explanation. I get that this monolith thingy sent a signal to Jupiter, so Dave ends up taking a '60s psychedelic trip there, becomes an old man and evolves into a new being/lifeform; but I don't get the 18th century room, knocking over the glass, etc.
> 
> I like mysteries that I can't figure out til the end of the book, but then you do find out who dunnit.



See:
The End of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ Explained By Stanley Kubrick


----------



## limr

This is our last Flex Friday week. I have had 4-day weeks since the beginning of June.

Next week's gonna suck.

One more hour to go before I enjoy my last 3-day weekend in a while. My brain is already on its way out of the building.


----------



## snowbear

Enjoy it, Leo.

Made it to OSU, thinking about where to go for dinner - probably the pizza place around the corner.
This place is not in the running . . .


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> This is our last Flex Friday week. I have had 4-day weeks since the beginning of June.
> 
> Next week's gonna suck.
> 
> One more hour to go before I enjoy my last 3-day weekend in a while. My brain is already on its way out of the building.



Just think your halfway through your least favorite time of year.   Sooner than you think it will be Labor Day weekend and you’ll be lounging around in a hoodie.


----------



## Original katomi

An eak house wonder if they have noticed


----------



## vintagesnaps

I wondered who's eak house is it?! (Looked it up, never heard of it.) Wondered what pizza place? but I haven't been up there in a long time. Used to go to Columbus every so often but not up to campus much, and last time I did there was a lot that was new. Too bad Crazy Mama's is long gone, a punk rock bar Charlie!

I don't know, Compur, that's a reasonable explanation but from a guy who does paranormal research and on one of those sites that seems to mostly be about ads. Seems like if fictional futuristic beings could create an environment they'd be able to figure out what earth looked like in the '60s and not made an 18th century room. I'm done trying to figure it out! lol I'll just go with it was the psychedelic '60s and leave it to the imagination.

Hi Leo, bye Leo! Hope you're enjoying your long weekend.


----------



## davidharmier60

I haven't been here in days.  The mornings when I walk out at approximately 4:30 have been cool the last couple days.
Humidity is down as well. 
27.53 with tomorrow to go. 
They bumped me up to 9 an hour from 8.50. Every little bit helps.
Have Frankenplanes ready for servos etc.
PCH just won't leave me alone.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> This is our last Flex Friday week. I have had 4-day weeks since the beginning of June.
> 
> Next week's gonna suck.
> 
> One more hour to go before I enjoy my last 3-day weekend in a while. My brain is already on its way out of the building.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just think your halfway through your least favorite time of year.   Sooner than you think it will be Labor Day weekend and you’ll be lounging around in a hoodie.
Click to expand...


To be fair, I keep the house cold enough that I can do that now 

August is the busiest month of the year for colleges, so I have a feeling that August is going to fly by. Thank you, Jebus! (Simpsons reference, not a typo  )

I feel like I spent my last Flex Friday away from work well. Started off with a meeting with a real estate agent that I'm starting to work with to buy my first home. Then did a little shopping, had lunch with Buzz, got my nails done, and went home and took a nap. Went back out to have dinner with Buzz, and we just sat outside for a little while, watching the wildlife, drinking a little wine. I got to finally try one of the little Cohiba shorts that a friend got for me a few months back. Will snuggle with some kitties, have some tea, and settle down to bed.

It was a good day.


----------



## snowbear

I ended up catching a burger at the hotel; it was decent.

Tonight our nephew and his LW came up from near Cincinnati and we went to a German place; very enjoyable.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> I ended up catching a burger at the hotel...


Hmmm... not sure I'd want to stay at a place where they throw the food...


----------



## vintagesnaps

New kind of room service? Sounds like an old skit with Aykroyd and Belushi.

Glad you enjoyed your Flex Friday Leo. 

My best friend had taken off work and we went looking for a quilt shop - that was closed/empty. Nice thing is they moved to a location that will be closer and handier, but by the time we found the store it was almost closing time. So went to dinner at a Panera which we haven't been to in awhile, summer's been nothing but trips to my parents' house, etc. 

Went to the Dr. the other day, poking around my sinuses and eye socket found where the infection is! ouch! Back on antibiotics so ought to kick it this time.


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I ended up catching a burger at the hotel...
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm... not sure I'd want to stay at a place where they throw the food...
Click to expand...

They didn’t throw it, silly; they give you goalie’s gear and slap shot it.  I stopped it so I got a 10% discount.


----------



## snowbear

Waiting for the conference to open.




View from Ohio Union by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

The cool dry days from the first of the week are only memories as the temperature and humidity climb back to typical summer in the south. At least we get another reprieve as we're planning on heading to the Smokey's for a few days next week. Because of all the health problems this year, will be the first trip out.


----------



## smoke665

Just got an article in on my news feed about an annual event near my old home in MO. The Leopold Picnic, was started in 1892 by St John's Church and has continued every year since. Leopold is German Dutch settlement not much more then a crossroad in the middle of nowhere. I think the population is listed as 65, and is reported to have the smallest school district in the state. However on one special day each year the church grounds are flooded by a few thousand people who come from all over to enjoy the food, music and of course................the beer.  There was just something about buying and drinking beer from your own little tin buckets, that somehow made it taste better. According to the article, they're estimating cooking close to 1500# of fried chicken, 1200# of beef for kettle beef, no mention of the chicken & Dumplings or the gallons of beer, but it's got to be a lot. Lots of fond memories of picnics past here.


----------



## davidharmier60

Mmm. Chicken and Dumplings!
32.44 for the week. I have a new job.
Once a week really clean the tops of the ice freezers. A compressor died and I was told it was very dirty. More job security. 
Dad is mowing behind the house. 
I'm about to get more comfortable and make myself a Spam sammich. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## davidharmier60

Ah. Sunday morning and the dogs wouldn't shut up. 7:30 is about my usual Sunday time anyhow. Coffee is pretty good this morning. No huge plans for the day. 
Take it as it comes.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## tirediron

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I ended up catching a burger at the hotel...
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm... not sure I'd want to stay at a place where they throw the food...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> They didn’t throw it, silly; they give you goalie’s gear and slap shot it.  I stopped it so I got a 10% discount.
Click to expand...

Ahhh... okay, see that makes sense.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey, you may have come up with a new way to serve concessions at hockey games!


----------



## Tony744

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I ended up catching a burger at the hotel...
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm... not sure I'd want to stay at a place where they throw the food...
Click to expand...


Depends on what kind of food they're throwing. Burgers. hotdogs, steaks, etc. wouldn't be too bad. Something like chili might get a tad messy.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all can a staff member or a moderater pm  me please as I have a question  thanks


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> Hi all can a staff member or a moderater pm  me please as I have a question  thanks



(PS - Or you can PM one of us, or even all of us.  )


----------



## snowbear

Heading home.  The neighbors.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> Heading home.  The neighbors.
> 
> View attachment 177241


Funny looking Snowbear...  must have been playing in the mud!


----------



## SquarePeg

In a funk.  Haven’t picked up my camera in weeks - since the balloon fest.  Not even the cutest puppy ever can motivate me to take more than a snapshot.  Not handling the heat very well this summer so I’ve been hibernating a lot - reading and surfing.  Haven’t been exercising other than walking the dogs.  Have also had a run of bad luck around the house.  Leaking sink $$, dryer had to be repaired $$, hot water tank had to be replaced $$$, lawn mower died $$$, car ac had to be fixed $$, now abs light keeps lighting up...

Vacation in the White Mtns with extended family is in a few weeks so need to make some hiking plans and get my act together.


----------



## davidharmier60

Happy Monday y'all. 5.06 hours today. 
She will take pennies tomorrow so that's what I'm doing next. Comics are done. 
That's all I got. 

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## vintagesnaps

Sorry SharonCat you've been on a stretch of one thing after another. My best friend (who's helped me with dealing with my parents' house etc.) said maybe it'll be a good fall!! lol let's hope! 

Watching old movies and puttering around. I'm finally feeling almost back to normal so this second antiobiotic seems to be doing the trick. Kind of nice to have a normal boring week!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> In a funk.  Haven’t picked up my camera in weeks - since the balloon fest.  Not even the cutest puppy ever can motivate me to take more than a snapshot.  Not handling the heat very well this summer so I’ve been hibernating a lot - reading and surfing.  Haven’t been exercising other than walking the dogs.  Have also had a run of bad luck around the house.  Leaking sink $$, dryer had to be repaired $$, hot water tank had to be replaced $$$, lawn mower died $$$, car ac had to be fixed $$, now abs light keeps lighting up...
> 
> Vacation in the White Mtns with extended family is in a few weeks so need to make some hiking plans and get my act together.


I'm crossing my fingers that you have great weather.   Meaning, a bit cooler and low humidity!    This summer in my part of the world has had me dragging, too.  Hard to get motivated when you don't want to step outside. 
 Having to spend extra  $$ on fixing household items always seems like a betrayal.      Supposed to last indefinitely, dammit!


----------



## Original katomi

Just came back indoors. There is a fox that walks around where we live, just got some pics and vid footage via infrared I need to practice using ir camcorder shake of what lol It looks like it’s playing tag with our cats.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> In a funk.  Haven’t picked up my camera in weeks - since the balloon fest.  Not even the cutest puppy ever can motivate me to take more than a snapshot.  Not handling the heat very well this summer so I’ve been hibernating a lot - reading and surfing.  Haven’t been exercising other than walking the dogs.  Have also had a run of bad luck around the house.  Leaking sink $$, dryer had to be repaired $$, hot water tank had to be replaced $$$, lawn mower died $$$, car ac had to be fixed $$, now abs light keeps lighting up...
> 
> Vacation in the White Mtns with extended family is in a few weeks so need to make some hiking plans and get my act together.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm crossing my fingers that you have great weather.   Meaning, a bit cooler and low humidity!    This summer in my part of the world has had me dragging, too.  Hard to get motivated when you don't want to step outside.
> Having to spend extra  $$ on fixing household items always seems like a betrayal.      Supposed to last indefinitely, dammit!
Click to expand...


Yes the $900 for the new water heater was a bummer but should have been expected. Those tend to go right when the 6 yr warranty is up.  Good news is we did get the lawn mower back up and working.   

Between the weather and being stuck to the house because of the puppy, it's just been a very different summer than I'm used to.  Haven't been to the beach or to Maine or the mountains even once.  Normally I would have snuck in a couple of long weekends up at York Beach or a few days in Portland but with Princess at 16 I really don't want to leave her home alone (too much temptation for any teenager) and if I take her with me we have to figure out puppy sitting...  Plus my sister-in-law that I like to travel with had foot surgery and is in a boot and has to use one of those knee scooters for another 4 weeks which really sucks for her but also sucks for me!


----------



## davidharmier60

Gee that was fun NOT.
At about 3:30 We left for the Hospital my Sister was in in the south part of Houston. 
We got home at 7:20. Picked up Pizza Hut pizza for dinner.  Just about to hit the sack. 

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## vintagesnaps

Sorry your sister's in the hospital again. 

A teenager and a puppy, that sounds like never a dull moment! Too bad your sister in law couldn't get out and about to be able to travel and do things. Bummer. You've had your share of one thing and another. 

At least we finally got done with my parents' house, seemed like that was a snowball rollin' down a hill. No, a mountain! All I know is after this summer I say - 

C'mon fall!!!


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> ...Yes the $900 for the new water heater


$900 for a 6 year water heater??????   Ouch!  I hope that's at least natural gas and not electric


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Yes the $900 for the new water heater
> 
> 
> 
> $900 for a 6 year water heater??????   Ouch!  I hope that's at least natural gas and not electric
Click to expand...


That included the plumber to install it and disposal of the old one.  Yes gas not electric so not anything I could DIY.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's lousy for such an expense for something didn't really last all that long. It does seem prices and salaries are different regionally though. I made more working in the big city than if I'd worked where I live now, but then costs are more in the city too. I usually tried to get gas and groceries etc. near home. Many things _are_ cheaper in the country!


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> That's lousy for such an expense for something didn't really last all that long. It does seem prices and salaries are different regionally though. I made more working in the big city than if I'd worked where I live now, but then costs are more in the city too. I usually tried to get gas and groceries etc. near home. Many things _are_ cheaper in the country!



I had a neighbor/friend who was a plumber and he was always great about doing things like this for us at the "family" rate so was a bit shell shocked by the cost this time around.  But they moved away a while ago.  Stinks to pay full price!  I had to call 4 plumbers before I could even get one to call me back.  With the cost of college and the job market these days - seems like the ones who are in the cat bird seat are the tradesmen  -  no college debt and more work than they can handle, around here at least.  The housing market is so hot that people can't afford to trade up so everyone is remodeling, adding on, converting...


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> ...seems like the ones who are in the cat bird seat are the tradesmen ...


Yep.  I know lots of unemployed Bachelor of <Degree>; everything from arts to science.  I don't know ANY unemployed Red Seals; in fact everyone I know in the trades has more work than they can manage, including apprentices.  If Princess really wants to earn a good living, she can't do any better than getting her HVAC ticket.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I had an old fellow tell me long ago to learn a trade. There is always work there to fall back on if your current work fails.


----------



## davidharmier60

I'm a Jack of all trades but the master of none. Fortunately driving screws and such don't need a license. 10.51 for two days so far.  The top of the ice machines look 100% better. Will vacuum the coils on Thursday. 
Nearly done with comics online. Going to.do most of this box of pennies by Friday because of the big RC fly in this weekend. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## vintagesnaps

We used to say at work we'd never _not_ have jobs, there are always more kids! Also used to joke that we should get a motor home and drive down the streets, pick 'em up as we go! lol Guess it depends on your field of work. 

Tonight is the last night of sci-fi on TCM, have on Close Encounters but never that into it. Maybe it's just not that believable, maybe the special effects were more impressive back in the day; seems long already and they haven't started with dragging mud in the house to build a thing... he's already staring at the mound of shaving cream squirted out of the can. 

I'm waiting for Star Wars, nothing but Star Wars... need to make popcorn between movies. Love the original, but I think this is the later revised version.


----------



## Braineack

thumbs down,  had a company print/frame a large print of mine and it looked wonderful, so I had them do a trip-tic of a different image, and they screwed up colors on two of images.

 Doesn't convey very well here, but the image on the left is the correct saturation and warmth, which matched my monitor.   Image to the left is very washed out and blue toned IRL -- the water looks purple.













They did this one for me perfectly last week:






very annoying.  I'm sure they'll make good, but unsure how that even happens on a batch job like that...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Camera sighting, a Kodak that took 126 maybe? yep, found it...






edit - Another camera sighting, a little rangefinder which I had to look up because I couldn't place it, a Rollei 35. And a bunch of guys who got out of a van and the 'astronauts'?? at the end - looked like Devo. They just needed the flower pot hats.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Bummer Braineack, I see it in the first set of two, water on the right definitely looks purplish to me. That's a shame, that's a cool set of three, very nice. Sure needs to be reprinted...


----------



## tirediron

Conveys plenty well; that's 100% unacceptable.  I hope you didn't pay for it or get your money back.


----------



## smoke665

I normally do a lot of work myself, but early this year I needed a black iron gas line run from a tank to the house, less then 100' , with three drops and hookup fireplace and heater. Out of 20 gas certified plumbers, I only found one who would do it at $2000. 

There is no unemployment among the trades.


----------



## smoke665

My northern friends have trouble understanding how in the south we use the same words to convey different meanings. Like "Bless your heart", could be anything from words of encouragement to an insult, it all depends on the timing and inflection in your voice. Here's another, to help with translation.


----------



## SquarePeg

Northern slang:

I’m good = get the hell out of my face.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Northern slang:
> 
> I’m good = get the hell out of my face.



They left that one off the list but it goes "you good Assh..."


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Northern slang:
> 
> I’m good = get the hell out of my face.



Yup.


----------



## limr




----------



## vintagesnaps

Here it's a little bit northern, a little southern. We say You All, can't just say you, but not quite y'all! We're the Mid.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> We say You All, can't just say you, but not quite y'all



Could be worse, "Youse guys" could be from Jersey.  From Y'all To Youse: 8 English Ways to Make "You" Plural


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Northern slang:
> 
> I’m good = get the hell out of my face.


Yep - even I use this one.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Some things are universal. 

They might need to expand the green part on that map, you all! 

And there's you kids, you people...


----------



## limr

Youse is more New York than Jersey.


----------



## SquarePeg

NJ = Am I right?


----------



## smoke665

Actually according to an article in the Chicago Tribune ""Youse" originated in Ireland among speakers switching from Gaelic to English. Gaelic has a second-person plural, _sibh_, and the Irish thought their newly acquired language ought to have one, too. So they conceived the neat solution of adding an "s" to "you" to make it plural. Irish immigrants brought "youse" to the United States, and it was once widely used in cities where they settled. (It's still widely used in Ireland.) The word can now be heard mainly among older people in ethnic neighborhoods of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis, as well as in the mining communities of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. (The Southwest Sider who asked my friend and me if we were lost was definitely Irish, because after asking if we were lost, he offered us a beer and invited us to join him to watch the mourners arriving at a wake across the street.) In Pittsburgh, the word is "_yinz_," a contraction of the Scots-Irish "you uns.""  Here's hoping all youse enjoy this


----------



## limr

Actually, according to someone who actually lives here and who has studied language for 25+ years, youse is still more New York than Jersey.


----------



## Braineack

Youse is a verb, and it's spelled: U-S-E


----------



## limr

Braineack said:


> Youse is a verb, and it's spelled: U-S-E



In response, I offer you a Bronx salute.


----------



## Braineack

good news:



> Hi Scott,
> 
> Thank you for reaching out. I'm so sorry to hear that one of your frames arrived damaged and the other two had printing issues with the color balance! We definitely stand by our 100% Happiness Guarantee and are committed to ensuring you are provided with an absolutely perfect piece every time. We're determined to make this right for you.
> 
> I've already put replacement frames into production for you, and our team will start crafting them right away. There's no need to send the original frames back. You're free to keep it or dispose of them as you'd like.
> 
> Thanks, Scott! Keep an eye on your email for tracking for your replacement pieces, and we hope you love them!


----------



## Jeff G

Glad to see they are making things right.


----------



## Braineack

It's one of the reasons I went with them in the first place in case their print quality sucked and i wasnt happy.  I've printed with arttoframes.com before and the print quality was low so i had it printed by White House Custom Color and just replaced the print in the frame. 

I used framebridge this time, and they mentioned using archival inks and real epson photo paper so I thought I'd give them a try -- I thought the prices were really reasonable as well.  That one print is 33x22" and only cost $150 shipped with the frame.  I was very happy with the first print, so I ordered more.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Y'all know youse are hosers.


----------



## compur




----------



## davidharmier60

Afternoon y'all. I done had some watermelon and some Praline and Cream ice Cream. Did half the comics and am charging the camera battery so I can post this watch on WUS.






Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Y'all know youse are hosers.


 
Total hosers, eh.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Y'all know youse are hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Total hosers, eh.
Click to expand...

Hey, you can have your "youse'es", your "yall's" and your "You-alls".  Please leave "eh" where it belongs, that is:  North of the 49th!  Thankyouverymuch! 

And, if you are going to purloin our phrase, at least youse it correctly.  Vis:  "Total hosers, eh?"


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Y'all know youse are hosers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Total hosers, eh.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Hey, you can have your "youse'es", your "yall's" and your "You-alls".  Please leave "eh" where it belongs, that is:  North of the 49th!  Thankyouverymuch!
> 
> And, if you are going to purloin our phrase, at least youse it correctly.  Vis:  "Total hosers, eh?"
Click to expand...


Hoser.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Hoser.


And your point Madam?


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hoser.
> 
> 
> 
> And your point Madam?
Click to expand...


Is there a point, Sir?


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hoser.
> 
> 
> 
> And your point Madam?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Is there a point, Sir?
Click to expand...

Clearly there is; two educated and articulate people such as ourselves wouldn't engage in pointless jibery would we?


----------



## smoke665

I recently called a retired engineer friend of mine and asked him what he was working on in his free time.

He replied that he was starting a new project "Aqua-thermal treatment of ceramics, aluminium, and steel under a constrained environment".

I was quite impressed until further questioning revealed that he was washing dishes in hot water under his wife's supervision. Sometimes its how you tell the story thats more important then the story!


----------



## Original katomi

Same goes for titles, Over here the powers that be started calling caretakers, janitors to non uk peeps, site and premises , buildings, managers.


----------



## markjwyatt

Original katomi said:


> Same goes for titles, Over here the powers that be started calling caretakers, janitors to non uk peeps, site and premises , buildings, managers.



secretary = administrative assistant
janitor = sanitary engineer


----------



## zulu42

smoke665 said:


> I recently called a retired engineer friend of mine and asked him what he was working on in his free time.
> 
> He replied that he was starting a new project "Aqua-thermal treatment of ceramics, aluminium, and steel under a constrained environment".
> 
> I was quite impressed until further questioning revealed that he was washing dishes in hot water under his wife's supervision. Sometimes its how you tell the story thats more important then the story!



I'm the "pressure differential particle separation engineer" at our house. Which means I run the vacuum cleaner.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leo's starting to sound Canadian. Have some poutine.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hoser.
> 
> 
> 
> And your point Madam?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Is there a point, Sir?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Clearly there is; two educated and articulate people such as ourselves wouldn't engage in pointless jibery would we?
Click to expand...


Huzzah, eh?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey, has FujiDave been on lately? What made him come to mind was a Hitchcock episode filmed in Gr. Britain at Brighton and I think he lives more or less in that area.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Hey, has FujiDave been on lately



Thought about him the other day, haven't seen him lately


----------



## Jeff G

He's still posting to his Flickr account but he has been scarce here.


----------



## SquarePeg

Yeah since the whole “I was roofied” thing...  hope all is well.


----------



## snowbear

It looks like his last post was July 6.


----------



## snowbear

I just slathered mayo on my buns.






Spoiler



Hamburger buns.


----------



## vintagesnaps

You tricky bear! 

There's hockey on!!! Replay of the game I came into in the middle this afternoon, World Junior Summer Showcase hosted by Team USA at their training facility/arena in Michigan. And there are - scouts!!! Nobody else much there watching, when a puck rang off the post did it echo! Brings back memories... 

Nothing like some nice icy hockey on a hot summer's day.


----------



## davidharmier60

Wow. Carnage at the flying field.
Biggest loss was a beautiful turbine Huey helicopter that was motoring along and something flew off of it and then it dived into the ground. Only the turbine gear survived. A Corsair, a Zero and one Mustang will likely never fly again. 
Could have bought an Amazingly Beautiful  Westland Hylander and probably should have. But I figure I should get my foam Frankenplanes flyable first.
Probably going to spend at least a couple hours at the field today.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

I'm very happy about the July 2019 Sm4him Challenge: we actually have more entrants that the POTM! 


Thanks to everyone that entered, some of whom stop by here, once in a while.
NOW GO VOTE!


----------



## vintagesnaps

There was a shooting in Dayton O., that's a little too close to home, my brother used to live right in the area where it happened. I've been there, not in a long time but there are shops and bars and restaurants, etc. Not random, the shooter killed his sister and possibly her boyfriend so it must have been targeted, he must have known where they were to get them as they came out. He doesn't live in that area. 

Reports on the local news have been that police patrol the area and were on the scene within 24 seconds. Besides it being shocking and upsetting I'm angry that those semiautomatic weapons that can shoot rounds are available - nobody needs those, nobody. Not that he couldn't have shown up with a gun, but not to do this much this fast, and to think what could have happened if police weren't right there to stop him. 

Trying to keep busy to not think about it too much. My best friend's coming up later and I don't know on a Sunday if she's even seen it.


----------



## JonFZ300

I'm 100% with you in sentiment.

However, pistols are "semi-auto." Anything with a clip and all pistols are "semi-auto." With 3 or 4 pistols and a little bit of training, body counts similar to those using a rifle could be achieved., maybe even more.

So we have a choice in this country. We either ban guns altogether or make it very hard to get them or we don't. In my opinion, we made that choice a long time ago (or at least from 2007 when Scalia wrote the SC decision that basically means anyone can own any gun) and these are the consequences.

It's hard to imagine that there are people who shrug and say, "Well all these innocent dead people is just the price we pay for the right/freedom to bear arms." I'm afraid that is exactly what is happening in this country.


----------



## terri

I appreciate the desire to discuss solutions to this horrible event, but we have to refrain from this discussion in the Off Topic forum.   

The appropriate place where this (and any) discussion can continue is the Subscriber's Forum.   I'm glad your family members are all safe, Sharon.   

Thanks, all!


----------



## smoke665

Okay,  my Brown Turkey Fig tree has literally exploded with figs this year, that are just starting to ripen. Pulled a few today that were ready, super sweet, really good just eating, but need some ideas on what to do with them. Anyone have any good fig recipes? Freezing, canning, jams?


----------



## Braineack

Success!







bonus:


----------



## snowbear

I'm waiting to see how this works out:
Driverless shuttle in Brooklyn starting today (Aug 8, 2019)


----------



## Braineack

cant even get my roomba to hit all areas of my floor, yet here we are...


----------



## davidharmier60

Driverless cars are a disaster waiting. 
I apparently haven't been here in a few days. Payday has been moved to Thursday at noon. I had to reattach the steering arm on the lawnmower. My Dad is driving my Sister crazy. Doing Rockabilly Radio on YouTube. And doing comics.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

They're testing in Brooklyn???? Bad idea. Or, good idea since if it works there, chances are it will work in places that aren't such a cluster****. It'll never work in Boston 

I'm telling ya, we are getting closer and closer to being shuttled off to Carousel when the gems on our palms start flashing red.


----------



## Jeff G

Honestly driverless can't  be much worse than some of the morons who are behind the wheel these days. I think 1 in 5 is actually watching the road ahead of them on the way to work.


----------



## Original katomi

limr said:


> They're testing in Brooklyn???? Bad idea. Or, good idea since if it works there, chances are it will work in places that aren't such a cluster****. It'll never work in Boston
> 
> I'm telling ya, we are getting closer and closer to being shuttled off to Carousel when the gems on our palms start flashing red.


Sad thing is, that’s now a generation joke, you have to be of an a generation to know about Logan’s run.
But you are correct, how long before cell phones are surgery imbedded


----------



## Tony744

limr said:


> They're testing in Brooklyn???? Bad idea. Or, good idea since if it works there, chances are it will work in places that aren't such a cluster****. It'll never work in Boston
> .



GPS gets lost in Boston, I can just imagine the disaster of driverless cars trying to navigate around.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> They're testing in Brooklyn???? Bad idea. Or, good idea since if it works there, chances are it will work in places that aren't such a cluster****. It'll never work in Boston
> 
> I'm telling ya, we are getting closer and closer to being shuttled off to Carousel when the gems on our palms start flashing red.


Ferry terminal at Dock 72 to Cumberland Gate (Navy Yards, I guess); if Google is spotting them correctly, it appears to be just a few blocks.



Tony744 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> They're testing in Brooklyn???? Bad idea. Or, good idea since if it works there, chances are it will work in places that aren't such a cluster****. It'll never work in Boston
> .
> 
> 
> 
> 
> GPS gets lost in Boston, I can just imagine the disaster of driverless cars trying to navigate around.
Click to expand...

I don't know how these are set up, but they could be using inertial guidance instead of GPS.  I read the (RAF) Harriers were using IG which caused some issued=s at the beginning of the Falklands War because they were operating from a carrier (pitch & roll).  There is some development going on with IG devices for to use inside, to better navigate where they are in a fire (you can't see crap in the smoke).


----------



## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> . . . how long before cell phones are surgery imbedded


In some folks, I think they already are.


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m curious about their collision avoidance programming and what type of decision making criteria is being used.  If the straight ahead collision can’t be avoided by braking, will they swerve to avoid?  Can the car determine what is ahead in the next lane before it swerves?  What if the options are to collide or to go off the road?


----------



## Original katomi

SquarePeg said:


> I’m curious about their collision avoidance programming and what type of decision making criteria is being used.  If the straight ahead collision can’t be avoided by braking, will they swerve to avoid?  Can the car determine what is ahead in the next lane before it swerves?  What if the options are to collide or to go off the road?


This is an old argument, in a loose, loose situation what would the AI do ver what would a human do


----------



## Original katomi

snowbear said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> . . . how long before cell phones are surgery imbedded
> 
> 
> 
> In some folks, I think they already are.
Click to expand...

I know my sister seem can’t live without hers, I have to think where the h..... did leave mine


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> I’m curious about their collision avoidance programming and what type of decision making criteria is being used.  If the straight ahead collision can’t be avoided by braking, will they swerve to avoid?  Can the car determine what is ahead in the next lane before it swerves?  What if the options are to collide or to go off the road?



I have the same concerns. The sensors may be able to determine a set of parameter, but not all situations are cut and dried. Many years ago there was a classic case involving a car and a truck here in the state. A mother with child was attempting to back out of a drive onto a highway. Witnesses said she stopped, turned her head and looked at the on coming truck, turned her head the other way and backed directly in the path of the truck. She and the child died in the wreck. The driver was legally operating his truck well within the speed limit. He later said that he let off the accelerator when he saw the woman and was preparing to brake, but when he saw her look at him he assumed she would remain stopped. The family sued the trucking company on behalf of the child and won a five million dollar settlement. Despite the witness ttestimony, the jury decided that the driver should have anticipated she would back out, and taken appropriate collision avoidance.

So how in the world do they really believe they can program a machine to learn how to handle all situations.


----------



## Jeff G

As machines get smarter people get lazier. You would think with a freakin' mega computer in everyones hands people would get smarter, not just shoot selfies and look at facebook all day. The next generation will be more than happy to be glued to thier phone rather than steering the vehicle. Just us old geezers prefer to be in control of our own fate.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I was thinking it could work, maybe, if it goes from one point to another; but then if it will be in the street with other cars, maybe not so much. If it was on a track, that seems more workable than this. 

And I wondered why Leo was talking about going off to a carousel, I couldn't imagine under what circumstances she'd go ride a horsey up and down around in a circle.


----------



## Original katomi

vintagesnaps said:


> I was thinking it could work, maybe, if it goes from one point to another; but then if it will be in the street with other cars, maybe not so much. If it was on a track, that seems more workable than this.
> 
> And I wondered why Leo was talking about going off to a carousel, I couldn't imagine under what circumstances she'd go ride a horsey up and down around in a circle.


As I posted it’s a generation joke from a film of a past generation


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> I’m curious about their collision avoidance programming and what type of decision making criteria is being used.  If the straight ahead collision can’t be avoided by braking, will they swerve to avoid?  Can the car determine what is ahead in the next lane before it swerves?  What if the options are to collide or to go off the road?


Our CR-V does a fair job of keeping you between the lines, letting you know when there's another vehicle beside you (I haven't noticed bicycles, yet), and slowing down (rapidly) when something in front of you is slowing or stopping.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Ferry terminal at Dock 72 to Cumberland Gate (Navy Yards, I guess); if Google is spotting them correctly, it appears to be just a few blocks.



And 2 blocks off the BQE? Still a cluster. 



Original katomi said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was thinking it could work, maybe, if it goes from one point to another; but then if it will be in the street with other cars, maybe not so much. If it was on a track, that seems more workable than this.
> 
> And I wondered why Leo was talking about going off to a carousel, I couldn't imagine under what circumstances she'd go ride a horsey up and down around in a circle.
> 
> 
> 
> As I posted it’s a generation joke from a film of a past generation
Click to expand...


Extra Internet points to all who get the reference


----------



## CherylL

I purchased a dog blanket online today for future photos.  A friend just got a puppy, a boxer.  Another friend will help me take photos since my knee is still on the mend.  There may or may not be a tutu involved


----------



## Jeff G

CherylL said:


> There may or may not be a tutu involved


 Your going to wear a tutu? That's one way to make a puppy smile!


----------



## CherylL

Jeff G said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> There may or may not be a tutu involved
> 
> 
> 
> Your going to wear a tutu? That's one way to make a puppy smile!
Click to expand...


Now that is an idea!  Anything to get the shot, right?


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> A friend just got a puppy, a boxer.



Boxers are my other favorite breed. We got Lola when she was just a puppy, lived to be almost 13, and was the funniest goof ball ever. She had facial expressions, and the noises she would make as if she was trying so hard to talk. Can't wait to see the pictures.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> She had facial expressions, and the noises she would make as if she was trying so hard to talk.



I always said if one day the first boxer we had ever said anything to me, I'd answer before I realized he actually spoke, because he wanted to talk so badly too. You could see in his facial expressions he wanted to answer.


----------



## SquarePeg

Our new puppy is obsessed with the wild bunnies that have infested our back yard.  There were at least 3 nests that I'm aware of so there are a crapload of baby bunnies that are now out and exploring the yard.  They do not know enough to run from Puppy Bunny Commando.  They just freeze as if that makes them invisible.  It doesn't.  I make noise and clap loudly but they still do not run for cover.  I have to go out there first and chase them away (under the deck, behind the shed, under the fence).  Then the puppy (who is getting bigger at 5 months/21 lbs) runs obsessively back and forth to check on every spot where she has seen or smelled a bunny.  An endless cycle of running/looking/sniffing from one spot to another that would go on for hours if I didn't go break it up.


----------



## CherylL

Before there was schnauzers there were 2 boxers.  Mother & son brindles.  We moved to several states and I always felt safe with these 2 pups in the house.


----------



## tirediron

CherylL said:


> Before there was schnauzers there were 2 boxers.  Mother & son brindles.  We moved to several states and I always felt safe with these 2 pups in the house.
> 
> View attachment 177872


That tongue looks like it could clean a supper plate in no time flat!


----------



## smoke665

Saw this pop up on a news feed today. I can't believe there was any doubt in the first place. Kinda like proving water is wet. LOL Cats understand their names and are probably just choosing to ignore you, a study suggests


----------



## terri

Huh.  My cats definitely know their names, and always respond when I say them.  

Even if it's just a swivel of an ear.    They're not going to respond like dogs, nor would I expect them to. 

But they're communicative in all kinds of sweet and funny ways.


----------



## snowbear

Zoe knows her name but typically reacts by turning her head the other way; she can hear a treat bag (or bag of Goldfish) being picked up two rooms away.

We actually met one of the newer neighbors, yesterday.  A very nice young lady that has a Maine Coon mix and has taken to feeding one of the strays.  She works as a bartender in Alexandria, VA.  After talking to her for a few minutes, MLW commented "She has the kind personality of I was talking about that people need to be in retail; or customer service.  She would make me want to buy something or leave a large tip."


----------



## Jeff G

Oh they know thier names alright, depends which tone you use with them whether or not they will choose to respond, they always know when it's treat time!


----------



## CherylL

tirediron said:


> That tongue looks like it could clean a supper plate in no time flat!



and the kitchen floor!


----------



## smoke665

@CherylL We had three dogs at one time. A Brittney, a Yorkie and a Boxer. They all came into the house as puppies, the Britt first, the Yorkie second and the Boxer last. The Yorkie considered herself just as big as the others, because that's all she knew. She and the Boxer were best buds, played together constantly. One of their favorite past times was to lay on the floor nose to nose and lick each other's face. Considering the size difference on the tongues you can imagine what the Yorkie looked like. After a few mins every hair on her head would be slicked down tight to the head. LOL


----------



## limr

Zelda usually comes trotting over when I call her unless she is sleeping or all settled in somewhere. Mrs. Parker normally responds to her name by trilling and rolling over or rubbing her face onto the nearest object. Even when all they do is an ear swivel, they still respond to their names. It's not fair to say they ignore us just because they choose not to immediately jump up in excitement like most dogs would.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I almost forgot today is Gretzky Day!! Only on the NHL Network that is.

Like the early days I remember, organ music, no dasher ads, still one player with no helmet, no hoopla & entertainment just hockey... And why was I yelling to the TV for someone to pass? this game was in the '80s! lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yay, Gretz scored his 500th goal on an empty netter! Realized a lot of these guys are future NY Rangers, Gretz, Mess, MacTavish (who later retired before he had to start wearing a helmet!), Teke! (Tikkanen), even Slats (Sather) their coach. 

So now an hour of Gretz getting traded. I saw him in an exhibition game when he was first with LA and remember him taking off down the ice toward the net and the rest of the team looked like the Keystone cops trying to turn and catch up with him. So Gretz brings hockey to warmer climates... I saw him in games on TV more later on with the Rangers, didn't see much hockey on TV in his early days.


----------



## CherylL

@smoke665 I can imagine it would only take two licks from the Boxer to soak a Yorkie.  We had a cat before the mother boxer and she ruled the roost over the 2 boxers.  She wasn't thrilled with all of the boxer puppies in the house.  The cat liked to sit on the arm of the chair and when the male walked by she would jump on his back for a ride.  His head would turn left - right - left - right trying to find the cat.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Hello again, been a while. 
Just voted in the July contest. Great shots as always!
I am working in the Grand Tetons at the Colter Bay Marina store. (6 miles from Main lodge-Jackson Lake Lodge)
Interesting summer. Am working with people 1/3 or so of my age and I am running circles around THEM!?
Going to try and remember how to attach a photo or 2, wish me luck!

My view from my store late May.


----------



## NancyMoranG

This little guy sniffed the store door with mama nearby. We all ran door to door as she moved towards the woods. Ranger close by keeping anyone nearby, back from her path.
Late May - very early June.


----------



## davidharmier60

Boy this joint is jumping!
Finished the week with 33.46.
Check won't Hoover that's fer sure. 
Our dogs are not talkers. But one woos at us. No closer to having my Frankenplanes flyable. Benny said he has something else I need. He was at the flying field today but making preparations to leave as he had gotten a call from work. It was a bit windy but two planes went up. And that's all the news that's fit to print. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> Hello again, been a while.
> Just voted in the July contest. Great shots as always!
> I am working in the Grand Tetons at the Colter Bay Marina store. (6 miles from Main lodge-Jackson Lake Lodge)
> Interesting summer. Am working with people 1/3 or so of my age and I am running circles around THEM!?
> Going to try and remember how to attach a photo or 2, wish me luck!
> 
> My view from my store late May.View attachment 177973



Wow what a great opportunity.    Not hard to run rings around the millennials.  Jealous of your view!  Looks like a great summer for pics.  Hope to see more.


----------



## Original katomi

Wind here killed the W/e plans,  as well as most of the veg plants in the garden. As Iam indoors thought I,d play with this weeks challenge.


----------



## smoke665

Some days are good some are better. It's been to long since we cooked out over the fire, time to get back into the swing of things even if it is hot. Just put supper on the fire. Pork chops smothered in brown gray and onions, fried corn, 'A Mean" 3 bean salad and Blueberry Streusel  with ice cream for dessert. Haven't eaten all day in anticipation of this!!!



2019-08-11_03-15-43 by William Raber, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

And just like on cooking shows it's already done. 
Main course



 

Followed by dessert


----------



## terri

NancyMoranG said:


> Hello again, been a while.
> Just voted in the July contest. Great shots as always!
> I am working in the Grand Tetons at the Colter Bay Marina store. (6 miles from Main lodge-Jackson Lake Lodge)
> Interesting summer. Am working with people 1/3 or so of my age and I am running circles around THEM!?
> Going to try and remember how to attach a photo or 2, wish me luck!
> 
> My view from my store late May.View attachment 177973


Great to see you, Nancy!  

Oh my, that view is gorgeous...it probably doesn't feel a whole lot like work!   Love the shot of the little bear, too.       Happy that you checked in with us - enjoy the rest of the summer up there!


----------



## smoke665

Oh joy, yet another day of triple digit temperatures. Got out early yesterday to spray fence rows and along the fire lanes. Lasted till 11 before the heat drove me in. Glanced at the thermometer, had to do a double take, 102.2 in the sun. I stayed in the rest of the day. Thankfully a cold front is coming in tonight that will give some relief for a few days.


----------



## Jeff G

Stay cool, I can't wait for fall, it won't get cool again here until late November.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey Nancy, glad you stopped in! Gorgeous picture!

Smoke that big ol' blueberry thingy looks delicious! (Looked back and you said streusel, that's a big yummy streusel!)

Second time the past few days that a movie had a scene in San Francisco where the cable car comes down the hill, and pivots on that big circular thing which turns so it can go back up the hill. These movies always seem to involve some crime drama too, the last one was with Bogie on the run but he didn't do it!


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> Smoke that big ol' blueberry thingy looks delicious! (Looked back and you said streusel, that's a big yummy streusel!)



It was and still is. Big scoop of vanilla ice cream, and drizzle the blueberry topping that DW mixed up over the top, and it's almost a meal in itself. I almost got it overdone on the bottom and top. Been awhile since I've fixed it, and fire has no control knob to adjust the heat, you have to pay attention to the height from the fire, and the time.


----------



## CherylL

NancyMoranG said:


> Hello again, been a while.
> Just voted in the July contest. Great shots as always!
> I am working in the Grand Tetons at the Colter Bay Marina store. (6 miles from Main lodge-Jackson Lake Lodge)
> Interesting summer. Am working with people 1/3 or so of my age and I am running circles around THEM!?
> Going to try and remember how to attach a photo or 2, wish me luck!
> 
> My view from my store late May.View attachment 177973



Wonderful view!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I agree that blueberry concoction looks delicious. I'd chance the weight gain!


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Hey, has FujiDave been on lately? What made him come to mind was a Hitchcock episode filmed in Gr. Britain at Brighton and I think he lives more or less in that area.





smoke665 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, has FujiDave been on lately
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thought about him the other day, haven't seen him lately
Click to expand...




Jeff G said:


> He's still posting to his Flickr account but he has been scarce here.





SquarePeg said:


> Yeah since the whole “I was roofied” thing...  hope all is well.





snowbear said:


> It looks like his last post was July 6.



Hi folks, thank you all for the caring thoughts.  I got over the spiked drink and thought I need to try and sort out my health, for the last six weeks I have been going to the COPD Rehab gym and been so busy with my vocalist images.  I`m glad to say the gym has been helping with my breathing better and once I finish next week I will be joining a local gym to carry on getting and staying fit.  I have also added new cameras and a lens or two my kit, as I now get credit for doing all the vocalist photos.  Here are a couple from the big band jazz gig I shot with the Fuji X-H1 + XF16-55mm f2,8.




The Big Band Plays Jazz by Dave, on Flickr




The Big Band Drummer by Dave, on Flickr

I also want to say I am sorry for not logging in sooner, I have just been so very busy but I`m back now.


----------



## snowbear

Glad to hear you're doing well.


----------



## Fujidave

snowbear said:


> Glad to hear you're doing well.



Thank you snowbear.


----------



## smoke665

Hey @Fujidave as above glad all is well. The band images are grest!


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Hey @Fujidave as above glad all is well. The band images are grest!



Thank you smoke, funny thing too is I still think I might get another camera as my way of thinking is I would have a lens on the cameras I own..lol


----------



## Jeff G

Glad things are looking up Dave, been enjoying your shots on Flickr, but missed you being here.


----------



## Fujidave

Jeff G said:


> Glad things are looking up Dave, been enjoying your shots on Flickr, but missed you being here.



Thank you Jeff, the gig shots have been very busy but I have enjoyed it more so last Sunday nights gig as was chuffed I got so many keepers from a dark room with crazy lighting.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nice photos! and nice to see you.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Nice photos! and nice to see you.



Nice to see you too, and thank you.


----------



## smoke665

Okay I'm a dog person but I know there's a lot of cat people on here and even I have to admit this ones pretty good.


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Okay I'm a dog person but I know there's a lot of cat people on here and even I have to admit this ones pretty good.



Four


----------



## Jeff G

When did golf get goalies?!?!  LOL!


----------



## Fujidave

Jeff G said:


> When did golf get goalies?!?!  LOL!



That`s the Perrrfect answer


----------



## CherylL

Fujidave said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, has FujiDave been on lately? What made him come to mind was a Hitchcock episode filmed in Gr. Britain at Brighton and I think he lives more or less in that area.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, has FujiDave been on lately
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thought about him the other day, haven't seen him lately
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeff G said:
> 
> 
> 
> He's still posting to his Flickr account but he has been scarce here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah since the whole “I was roofied” thing...  hope all is well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> It looks like his last post was July 6.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hi folks, thank you all for the caring thoughts.  I got over the spiked drink and thought I need to try and sort out my health, for the last six weeks I have been going to the COPD Rehab gym and been so busy with my vocalist images.  I`m glad to say the gym has been helping with my breathing better and once I finish next week I will be joining a local gym to carry on getting and staying fit.  I have also added new cameras and a lens or two my kit, as I now get credit for doing all the vocalist photos.  Here are a couple from the big band jazz gig I shot with the Fuji X-H1 + XF16-55mm f2,8.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Big Band Plays Jazz by Dave, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Big Band Drummer by Dave, on Flickr
> 
> I also want to say I am sorry for not logging in sooner, I have just been so very busy but I`m back now.
Click to expand...


Glad you are back!  Did you have to adjust any noise on the band photos?  Great photos.


----------



## Fujidave

CherylL said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, has FujiDave been on lately? What made him come to mind was a Hitchcock episode filmed in Gr. Britain at Brighton and I think he lives more or less in that area.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, has FujiDave been on lately
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thought about him the other day, haven't seen him lately
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeff G said:
> 
> 
> 
> He's still posting to his Flickr account but he has been scarce here.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah since the whole “I was roofied” thing...  hope all is well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> It looks like his last post was July 6.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hi folks, thank you all for the caring thoughts.  I got over the spiked drink and thought I need to try and sort out my health, for the last six weeks I have been going to the COPD Rehab gym and been so busy with my vocalist images.  I`m glad to say the gym has been helping with my breathing better and once I finish next week I will be joining a local gym to carry on getting and staying fit.  I have also added new cameras and a lens or two my kit, as I now get credit for doing all the vocalist photos.  Here are a couple from the big band jazz gig I shot with the Fuji X-H1 + XF16-55mm f2,8.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Big Band Plays Jazz by Dave, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Big Band Drummer by Dave, on Flickr
> 
> I also want to say I am sorry for not logging in sooner, I have just been so very busy but I`m back now.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Glad you are back!  Did you have to adjust any noise on the band photos?  Great photos.
Click to expand...



Thank you, and as they photos did not look to bad I did not use any NR at all even some were at iso 8000.


----------



## stapo49

I was cleaning out some cupboards at home and found this from the 1986 Calgary Stampede. One big party in cowtown. I was 23 at the time.




Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## Tony744

Glad to see you're okay Dave.



smoke665 said:


> Okay I'm a dog person but I know there's a lot of cat people on here and even I have to admit this ones pretty good.



That hazard looks like it could be more frustrating than the sand traps.


----------



## snowbear

Jeff G said:


> When did golf get goalies?!?!  LOL!


Caddyshack 2, IIRC.


----------



## CherylL

I bought a backdrop today.  It was expensive at $11.  A grey queen flat sheet.  I'll test it tomorrow when I video the grands back to school interviews.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> I bought a backdrop today.  It was expensive at $11.  A grey queen flat sheet.  I'll test it tomorrow when I video the grands back to school interviews.



I tried using sheets but I can never get all the wrinkles out! A while back, Someone on here (Derrel?) suggested using a grey fleece blanket and I’ve tried that and it was so much easier than the sheet.  I also used a painters canvas drop cloth to hang on a fence for a backdrop at a school event and just bumped the exposure a bit to get it white and that worked really well.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  Started a Pilates class tonight and wow am I out of shape and stiff compared to this time last year!  Flexibility is certainly a use it or lose it thing when you’re well past 40.  A few months of couch potato in the winter followed by too busy to exercise in spring and too hot to exercise in summer = a really old Squarepeg.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> I bought a backdrop today.  It was expensive at $11.  A grey queen flat sheet.  I'll test it tomorrow when I video the grands back to school interviews.



If you don't have one already, buy a small clothes steamer, they aren't expensive. It will be your best friend.


----------



## vintagesnaps

If there were goalies in golf I'd watch golf.


----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon all, just back from my rehab gym and knackered as did 5 minutes on the treadmill and two of those were running on the incline of 3.0.


----------



## limr

Hosers.

Working in August in Counseling at a community college be like...


----------



## limr

Also like...


----------



## SquarePeg

But not like?


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> But not like?



More like...






(SPOTTED KITTY BELLEH!!! )


----------



## vintagesnaps

This is me now, school's out for-ever! are you ready for this already Leo??


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nah, this will be Leo, dancin' in September!


----------



## smoke665

We're overflowing with figs off our little tree trying to come up with ideas of how to use them, so I tried a Sauteed Fig recepie I found. Will be one of my favorites in the future. Has the texture of a cooked fruit with a sweet/sour/salty/spicy taste all rolled into one. 

Super easy to make, slice fresh fig in half, and place in skillet face down in bacon grease (everything tastes better in bacon grease). Cook over medium heat 3 mins, then flip and cook 3 more. Remove to bowl. Make a topping using Maple syrup and Red wine vinegar in the ratio of tablespoon of syrup to a teaspoon of vinegar. (Adjust for the amount of figs). To this add a pinch of red pepper flakes, and salt/black pepper to taste. Whisk to mix, then dribble over the figs. If you want have it add a little fresh basil


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Nah, this will be Leo, dancin' in September!



Trippy!


----------



## CherylL

It took 3 hours of prep work for the school interview set.  I washed & dried the sheet, ran it again under steam wrinkle, and then ironed.  Got most of the wrinkles out, but it did sag some.  I had to add another folded sheet in the back because of light coming in thru the hall window.  There was a small soap spot on the sheet.  The talent showed up after school and the 6yo had a mini melt down and did not want to participate.  I had the oldest at the news desk to interview the younger ones.  She referred to them as "contestants"  lol.  She then switched to sisters.  The 3yo danced in between questions about preschool.  And there was some baby shark dance moves too.  I would have moved the coffee table, but it is too heavy so I threw my new dog blanket over the top.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> but it did sag some. I had to add another folded sheet in the back because of light coming in thru the hall window.



Can't wait to see the final shots!!! I've got a couple of theme ideas, but it's been so hot and humid I just haven't been up to it. Little bit is into the Lion King now, if that gives you a hint.  You are braver then I, as I know how difficult it is with one on a set, I don't  think my nerves could stand several. Baby shark dance, been there, finally got that &^%* ear worm music out of my head.

The sags in the middle look sort of like the ones I've gotten with sheets, the cross bar on my stand will sag in the middle the more I try to stretch the sheets. FYI: to cover up the windows in the back, black plastic trash bags work great. Use straight pins in the woodwork, the holes are so tiny they don't show or pin it on the top and let them drape over. I'm thinking about trying black out curtain panels (the kind with the grommets at the top where the rod goes through). I've seen them used as a backdrop before and it didn't look bad.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> It took 3 hours of prep work for the school interview set.  I washed & dried the sheet, ran it again under steam wrinkle, and then ironed.  Got most of the wrinkles out, but it did sag some.  I had to add another folded sheet in the back because of light coming in thru the hall window.  There was a small soap spot on the sheet.  The talent showed up after school and the 6yo had a mini melt down and did not want to participate.  I had the oldest at the news desk to interview the younger ones.  She referred to them as "contestants"  lol.  She then switched to sisters.  The 3yo danced in between questions about preschool.  And there was some baby shark dance moves too.  I would have moved the coffee table, but it is too heavy so I threw my new dog blanket over the top.
> 
> View attachment 178310



 Wonderful memories you’re making for your grandkids and your own children to share. Wish I’d taken more videos of princess when she was little but I was always more interested in photos than video. We do have some from when she was young and silly though and I love them.


----------



## RowdyRay

smoke665 said:


> We're overflowing with figs off our little tree trying to come up with ideas of how to use them, so I tried a Sauteed Fig recepie I found. Will be one of my favorites in the future. Has the texture of a cooked fruit with a sweet/sour/salty/spicy taste all rolled into one.
> 
> Super easy to make, slice fresh fig in half, and place in skillet face down in bacon grease (everything tastes better in bacon grease). Cook over medium heat 3 mins, then flip and cook 3 more. Remove to bowl. Make a topping using Maple syrup and Red wine vinegar in the ratio of tablespoon of syrup to a teaspoon of vinegar. (Adjust for the amount of figs). To this add a pinch of red pepper flakes, and salt/black pepper to taste. Whisk to mix, then dribble over the figs. If you want have it add a little fresh basil



You were looking for recipes. Sorry, forgot to reply. Google fig pizza recipes. Sounds strange, I know. Never in a million years did I think this would be good. 

Last summer, a friend of of mine built an outdoor pizza oven. He invited a bunch of people over for a pizza party. One preferred to not eat meat. She brought fresh figs, pears and other ingredients. We made traditional pizzas for the young ones, but us adults had so much fun playing with the figs and pears, we had to make a store run. Lol. 

Don't follow any recipe to a tee! We tried gorgonzola, goat cheese and blue cheese. Prosciutto, ham and bacon. With and without arugula.We all agreed the Vadalia onions caramelized with a little brown sugar was a must. And the balsamic vinegar/brown sugar glaze was a must. Everything else was personal preference. 

All of this can be done in an oven. Invite your friends and make a night of it. Pretty sure you can come up with a combination that will be made over and over.


----------



## smoke665

RowdyRay said:


> You were looking for recipes. Sorry, forgot to reply. Google fig pizza recipes



Doesn't sound strange at all, I've seen some recipes like that I want to try.


----------



## vintagesnaps

All I know are fig newtons. Maybe there's a homemade recipe??


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> All I know are fig newtons. Maybe there's a homemade recipe??


----------



## RowdyRay

vintagesnaps said:


> All I know are fig newtons. Maybe there's a homemade recipe??



I love fig newtons and should be part owner by now. Lol. There's definitely recipes out there but, much more work than grabbing a package. 

Now, if I were swimming in figs............


----------



## SquarePeg

One more time!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Is that what's going on in Smoke's backyard??


----------



## SquarePeg

Right now I should be...


Packing!


----------



## Tropicalmemories

SquarePeg said:


> Right now I should be...
> 
> 
> Packing!



Where are you going?

Anywhere nice?


----------



## SquarePeg

Tropicalmemories said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Right now I should be...
> 
> 
> Packing!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Where are you going?
> 
> Anywhere nice?
Click to expand...


Getting ready for our annual extended family trip to NH White Mtns.  Love it up there.  Hiking, lazy river tubing, waterfall swimming, mountain coastering, bbq-ing and lots of just hanging out.  I plan on using our hikes and other activities to scout out some new spots for my annual no family fall photo trip (shhhh).   Our rental this year is half way up a mountain so views from the deck should be nice.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sun is out so charging up the batteries then off out to take some images of a great street band, I saw them yesterday and they were great.


----------



## JonA_CT

My wife and daughter got a new friend at the humane society yesterday. This is Kat or Itty Bitty (name in progress, haha).


----------



## snowbear

Awwwww.


----------



## snowbear

MLW is working an OT shift at the Watch Office so it's just Zoe and I.  There's a load in the dishwasher and I'm enjoying cup number two, a grocery-store branded "Breakfast Blend."

Tonight is chicken and andouille jambalaya.  Since MLW won't be home until about 8:00, this time I'll make the rice on the side and add it when served.


----------



## JonA_CT

“I like it when her belly makes that noise!”


----------



## davidharmier60

I seem to have not been here since 8-10.
Missed a lot. Welcome back Fuji Dave. 
Love cats but our dogs don't. 
Finished this week with 33.26.
I asked Susan to guess about pennies and she said probably Tuesday. But I said I will have the box in the truck on Monday. 
So that's a lot of my day.
Benny gave me an old funky plane with a very weird control. I have repurposed the wing and tail feathers for a foam board airplane. It is an undercambered wing so it should be a lot like my Old Timer back in the 80s and very docile. Should have a radio, servos and such arriving starting Tuesday. Might fly next Saturday. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## vintagesnaps

Jon, look how much she's grown!!


----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon all, sunny here but blowing a gale at the moment.  Off to the dentist soon to have some teeth taken out which I`m not looking forward too at all as will have a gap in the top front row till I get some new ones.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all


----------



## Jeff G

Fujidave said:


> Off to the dentist soon to have some teeth taken out



  Sorrry to hear that Dave. 

Dentists are my worst nemisis. This is why I cant be a secret agent,you can stick bamboo under my fingernails or snip off a toe no problem, but put me in a dentists chair, and I'll tell you whatever you want to know.


----------



## Fujidave

Jeff G said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Off to the dentist soon to have some teeth taken out
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorrry to hear that Dave.
> 
> Dentists are my worst nemisis. This is why I cant be a secret agent,you can stick bamboo under my fingernails or snip off a toe no problem, but put me in a dentists chair, and I'll tell you whatever you want to know.
Click to expand...


Thanks Jeff, had to have my top front bridge taken out as one tooth snapped so I now have a horrible gap till my gum heals and get dentures, plus had three teeth taken out at the bottom back so an early night for me tonight.


----------



## smoke665

On the news today, let's give a big round of applause for another Darwin Award winner. You just can't make this kind of stuff up New York man allegedly impersonating a police officer pulls over van of detectives


----------



## CherylL

Fujidave said:


> Afternoon all, sunny here but blowing a gale at the moment.  Off to the dentist soon to have some teeth taken out which I`m not looking forward too at all as will have a gap in the top front row till I get some new ones.



Sorry for the tooth problem.  Speedy recovery!


----------



## davidharmier60

We had a scare today. My Sister left Cleveland and heard what was the belt disintegrating. She drove to the Liquor store across the highway from us. Must be a pretty tough engine because it did not blow up or lose the head gasket.
Only problem is it's going to be an all day job to put a belt on it. The professional floor people could be coming Friday so Saturday morning might be when I begin. 
Sunday if that doesn't happen.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

davidharmier60 said:


> We had a scare today. My Sister left Cleveland and heard what was the belt disintegrating. She drove to the Liquor store across the highway from us. Must be a pretty tough engine because it did not blow up or lose the head gasket.
> Only problem is it's going to be an all day job to put a belt on it. The professional floor people could be coming Friday so Saturday morning might be when I begin.
> Sunday if that doesn't happen.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


What car?  Generally belts aren't too difficult, and on almost any modern vehicle (post mid 80s) with a serpentine belt, as long as you have a de-tensioning tool (or a long breaker-bar and socket) it should only be minutes.


----------



## RowdyRay

tirediron said:


> What car?  Generally belts aren't too difficult, and on almost any modern vehicle (post mid 80s) with a serpentine belt, as long as you have a de-tensioning tool (or a long breaker-bar and socket) it should only be minutes.



Should be........Unless you're talking timing belt. Swear they purposely make those as difficult as possible.


----------



## tirediron

RowdyRay said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> What car?  Generally belts aren't too difficult, and on almost any modern vehicle (post mid 80s) with a serpentine belt, as long as you have a de-tensioning tool (or a long breaker-bar and socket) it should only be minutes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Should be........Unless you're talking timing belt. Swear they purposely make those as difficult as possible.
Click to expand...

Ahhhhhhh... right; was assuming it was the accessory belt.  Usually when a timing belt goes, the results are spectacular.  One of the reasons one of first questions when buying any new vehicle is: "Timing belt or timing chain?"  "Timing belt!"  "Okay, thanks... bye."


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> On the news today, let's give a big round of applause for another Darwin Award winner. You just can't make this kind of stuff up New York man allegedly impersonating a police officer pulls over van of detectives


Many years ago some fool tried to rob a guy in the car next to him while stopped at a red light - "I have a gun, give me your money".  Of course, the potential victim was a detective "This is my gun and badge; get out of the car and get face down."


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all sun is out but a rest day today, had a great sleep but the gap in the top row is horrible.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

I went to a motorcycle show at the weekend, and took some pictures of the promotional models as they posed by the bikes.  I download my photos to my phone via WIFI as back-up.

My wife just went through my phone and deleted all the photos of the girls.  This raises two questions:

1. Should I be concerned about my personal safety?

2. Should I explain about the benefits cloud storage?


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Fujidave said:


> Morning all sun is out but a rest day today, had a great sleep but the gap in the top row is horrible.



Distressing, but temporary.  And you will notice it much more than others.


----------



## Fujidave

Tropicalmemories said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning all sun is out but a rest day today, had a great sleep but the gap in the top row is horrible.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Distressing, but temporary.  And you will notice it much more than others.
Click to expand...


Once the gum has healed then I go back for some new teeth.


----------



## snowbear

Tropicalmemories said:


> I went to a motorcycle show at the weekend, and took some pictures of the promotional models as they posed by the bikes.  I download my photos to my phone via WIFI as back-up.
> 
> My wife just went through my phone and deleted all the photos of the girls.  This raises two questions:
> 
> 1. Should I be concerned about my personal safety?
> 
> 2. Should I explain about the benefits cloud storage?


Perhaps a sacrifice offering to the all knowing SWMBO is in order.  Jewelry is but one possibility,


----------



## smoke665

@Tropicalmemories I've found that food (as in nice restaurants) and jewelry (as in diamonds) cause DW to develop amnesia about my transgressions.


----------



## Fujidave

Picked up my new XF16mm f1.4 today as had to go out, and in Jessops the X-T2 new has dropped to the great price of £599.


----------



## davidharmier60

The CAR in question is a Dodge Avenger with a sideways mounted 2.4L .
Remove passenger side tire and inner fender to get to the tensioner. And one of the lug nuts stripped and doesn't want to come off. And by the time I get home the temp is near 100 with humidity not far behind. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

August is like a bludgeon.

But I got to pet a dog at work today, so it's all good.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Are you like me and really detest those thieves dubbed " porch pirates "? Well, here's one you might not find so disgusting

Bear Caught on Camera Stealing Package from Chewy Right off Family’s Porch


----------



## smoke665

Guess we're lucky we only have a limited bear population. Just got a package delivery from Chewy this week.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Guess we're lucky we only have a limited bear population. Just got a package delivery from Chewy this week.



I have had several close encounters with them here in northeastern Pa. They actually turn ones trapped as nuisance bears loose on the ridge above my house because there are few people living between here and a state prison up-river from me. According to a guard there at the prison, they use this fact to try and dissuade escape attempts


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

A funny story from the same guard: Employees that have been there awhile know to pick up a rock and throw at the dumpsters that are on the grounds when doing their checks on the perimeter so the bears that like to feed from them will stand up and see what is happening. They watched a new guard walk up to them one day on a video feed without doing this and were provided an " America's Funniest Video " moment that gave the staff entertainment for quite some time.


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> They watched a new guard walk up to them one day on a video feed without



This happened to my daughter a few years back. She was staying at a hotel in Gatlinbug, parked in a back lot. She came out one morning and decided to dump the trash out of car in the dumpster. When she raised the lid up, she came eyeball to eyeball with one. Don't know who was more frightened, her or the bear when daughter let out a scream that could probably be heard all over town.


----------



## CherylL

My daughter sent her 3 girls back to school with these teacher gifts.  Daughter is a hospital nurse and subs at the school so she knows the teachers.   Another parent sent a list of the coming year's full moons.


----------



## compur

We don't get many bears in these parts. I guess they're afraid of the mountain lions.


----------



## Fujidave

The last bear I saw over here in the UK was, a bear in the air the other night 10/4 buddy


----------



## smoke665

@CherylL when little bit goes to school, I'm afraid the bribe required is going to be much larger.

@compur here in our valley we have a couple small black bears roaming around which generally try their best to avoid humans. We also have a couple of Cougars (4 legged) and a couple of Panthers roaming within a few miles of the house. Those make me nervous when hiking.


----------



## Derrel

Awwww, mush!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Cheryl, those would have given me a good laugh! Full moons, yeah I usually noticed those on my calendar... Our assistant would have her desk calendar out the first week (or day??!) to see all the holidays, breaks, etc. for the school year! lol


----------



## CherylL

@smoke665, better start saving now for a big $$$ bribe!

@vintagesnaps, Too funny she would have her holidays marked off at the beginning of school!

Day 1 the 3yo had no problems no tears the first day.  Day 2 my daughter made it halfway to the door when the screaming started.  She said it was a cross between sirens and the exorcist.  Day 3 daughter made it almost down the hall to the door and the screaming started.   Both days lasted about 10 minutes and then she was fine and happy.  Teacher needs a big Christmas bonus gift!


----------



## smoke665

A little parody humour for those old enough to remember 1972.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> A little parody humour for those *old enough* to remember 1972


or sober enough.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sun is out and it is my last day at the rehab gym which I do think has helped me a lot.  But I seem to have a horrible cough that won`t go, might go for a mooch later though.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> @smoke665, better start saving now for a big $$$ bribe!
> 
> @vintagesnaps, Too funny she would have her holidays marked off at the beginning of school!
> 
> Day 1 the 3yo had no problems no tears the first day.  Day 2 my daughter made it halfway to the door when the screaming started.  She said it was a cross between sirens and the exorcist.  Day 3 daughter made it almost down the hall to the door and the screaming started.   Both days lasted about 10 minutes and then she was fine and happy.  Teacher needs a big Christmas bonus gift!



Day 2 is always the one!  Day 1 they see it as an adventure but on Day 2 they realize this is their new normal and they freak out.  Had to pry Princess off my legs.  Went out to the car and cried.  She was so hysterical that the principal of the school called me herself 10 minutes later to assure me she was now happily playing with some blocks.


----------



## SquarePeg

Heading home from the mountains tonight.  Miss the dogs and looking forward to sleeping in my own bed!  Cleaning lady came while we were away so going home to a shiny house, fresh sheets already on the beds and my comforting city noises to lull me to sleep.  The mountains are gorgeous and I could live up here in spring and fall but it would take some getting used to the quiet at night.


----------



## davidharmier60

Got the wheel off today.
A YouTube video showed taking the Inner fender off and there you where.
But different year or vehicle because there is metal under the Inner fender. 
But came a gully washer rain.
So doing comics at the moment and pennies after.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Best Twenty Bucks ever spent one of these puzzles and the treats for Sadie. She loves this thing. She'll work till she finds alk the treats then brings it to me to fill it up again


----------



## smoke665

Whew just came in from outside grooming and giving Ms Sadie a bath. Not sure who was wetter, me or her as the humidity was 92%. Had to bring her inside to dry.


----------



## Fujidave

Sunny and very hot here today, so I passed my rehab gym with flying colours on Friday but this cough has now gone to a stupid chest infection so taking it easy for a while till I can see my doctor.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Take care of yourself - you don


Fujidave said:


> Sunny and very hot here today, so I passed my rehab gym with flying colours on Friday but this cough has now gone to a stupid chest infection so taking it easy for a while till I can see my doctor.



Take care of yourself - need to get fully fit again.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Good morning.  View over my breakfast this morning ....


----------



## Fujidave

Tropicalmemories said:


> Take care of yourself - you don
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sunny and very hot here today, so I passed my rehab gym with flying colours on Friday but this cough has now gone to a stupid chest infection so taking it easy for a while till I can see my doctor.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Take care of yourself - need to get fully fit again.
Click to expand...


It wont stop me going out today though, I hate having all these chest infections.  If it does not kill me going out to take photos then thats a result for me as fed up to the top of my head now.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> A little parody humour for those old enough to remember 1972.
> 
> View attachment 178585



I was on a Greyhound bus from LA to St Louis in 1975.  The bus stopped in Winslow and this song came on someones transistor radio on the bus.  The timing was surreal.


----------



## CherylL

The 6yo grand started cheering for the peewee football team.  I told her I would come and take photos.  She told me I should take video because she moves around too much and my photos will be blurry.   Ouch, not much faith


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, another red hot day and humidity is through the roof again here, so charging up the batteries then off out.


----------



## davidharmier60

Obviously I haven't been here in days. 
This is supposed to be a rainy week but it is sunny hot and humid. 
I'm halfway through my pennies and have done the comics already.
Have every part for at least two planes except a Transmitter, receiver motor mount and some propellers. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## smoke665

Long day. Left at 7 this morning for Emory Hospital, in Atlanta and just got back. DW had a 6 month followup on her treatment protocol, and to determine what changes needed to be made. Her primary Onocologist is in Birmingham, but Emory has one of the top research specialist in the country for Multiple Myeloma (an incurable cancer of the blood), who provides oversight and suggestions on her care. Can't say enough good about her team of doctors and specialists working together on her treatment! This November marks 10 years since her diagnoses. Pretty outstanding considering the prognosis was only a few months when first diagnosed.


----------



## SquarePeg

Coffee house on page 2?  For shame Hosers, for shame!  Here’s a cute puppy pic to get us back on page 1.  

Besties


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, a nice sunny start today, have to wait in for the delivery of my XF50mm f2 today.


----------



## smoke665

In a football crazed state dominated by Alabama and Auburn, the Division I schools sometimes get overlooked. I think JSU just upped the anty  with a preseason video release called "Are You Ready". According to the news this morning its approaching 600k views and was just released yesterday.
JSU Football (@JSUGamecocksFB) Tweeted:
❓❓❓ARE YOU READY❓❓❓ JSU Football on Twitter JSU Football on Twitter


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm waiting for hockey to start... 

And now that the power came back on, after being off for some unkonwn reason on a sunny day, the cable finally came back on but no sound. Been doing that but if I turn the TV off and back on it kicks on. Since the TV had gone out awhile back and they had to put in a new cable line I don't know if it's the TV or the cable. I don't even want to call the cable company, hoping I can figure out myself how to get it working. Guess I could put on music and pretend I'm watching silent movies!


----------



## smoke665

Hope all our Southeast members stay safe this weekend. Watching the news on Hurricane Dorian, and trying to decipher the spaghetti models, but..........


----------



## smoke665

Dang, pretty serious down south. Calling for a "Cat 4"...........


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Coffee house on page 2?  For shame Hosers, for shame!  Here’s a cute puppy pic to get us back on page 1.
> 
> Besties
> View attachment 178872



She is wondering why the new pup is still here


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee house on page 2?  For shame Hosers, for shame!  Here’s a cute puppy pic to get us back on page 1.
> 
> Besties
> View attachment 178872
> 
> 
> 
> 
> She is wondering why the new pup is still here
Click to expand...


Yeah he is slowly adjusting to the puppy being a permanent family member, lol.  Very slowly.  

Hi Hosers!  What is everyone up to for the long weekend (at least here in USA it's a long weekend...)?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good question... already it started clouding up, thundered, got darker, and just started raining! It was supposed to be nice this weekend!  Since then they've said a chance of pop up storms, etc. so who knows, the forecast keeps changing. 

So anyway, my best friend and I were talking about doing some picture taking but now, I dunno... guess we'll see, could be we'll head out and if we have to cut it short, get some carryout and call it a day. Or not... 

I wondered yesterday when I got some Polaroid film out of the fridge (with 'ice cream' color frames!) if I would end up using it...  

It's pouring, it better get it out of its system today!! But if I don't do much this weekend, we're heading into fall so there will be another weekend.

I just hope people in Florida stay safe.


----------



## smoke665

@vintagesnaps lots of indecision here as well. Planning on heading for the Gulf Coast at some point, but waiting until Dorian finally makes up it's mind where it's planning on hitting. If it hits to far south there's a chance it will skip across FL and reform in the gulf. If it hits farther north then will likely curl north, and leave us alone.  Have some friends that were headed back to their base in Orlando, that peeled off in GA yesterday, headed for Panama City, to wait it out.


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m planning a staycation this weekend.  A couple of home improvement projects are a possibility.  Definitely some hikes with the dogs.  Some cooking, some eating out, some drinks with friends and maybe a movie.   So...pretty much what I do every weekend


----------



## smoke665

In other news, we were at Walmart picking up a few things this morning. DW sent me to the meat isle to pick up some chicken legs and wings for the grill. While I was studying the packages in the poultry section, a young lady with a Walmart vest (apparently mistook my concentration for senility) and asked me an overly condescending way if I needed help. Without missing a beat I asked her if she knew if the legs were front legs or rear legs. She got a confused look on her face, and said she didn't really know but she'd go ask her manager. I heard a loud burst of laughter from behind the swinging doors, and a very red faced young lady came sailing out shortly thereafter. Judging by the look on her face, I don't think she was very happy with me.


----------



## terri

Gorgeous weather here, for the next few days at least.   Lower humidity and reasonable temps.   Hard to get the cats to stay in.
No plans, standing down from anything more exerting than getting some good dinners together.   Enjoying the weather!

My sister lives in central Florida, and so far she's prepared and staying put.  But she may change her mind and skitch on up here if she wants.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Do I want to look at the updated forecast?? lol The sun peeked out then it got darker again with some thunder rumbling. One station said some changes in the forecast. I guess! Maybe I'll be putting that Polaroid film back in the fridge... This might turn into a play lazy weekend. 

At least I have sound. The wait time last night was going to be up to 45 min. so I did a call back for today. All it was that it was set for Dolby instead of HDMI. Doh! So far the weather hasn't knocked out the power today. Yet. I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition, I mean thunderstorms this weekend. (Monty Python reference.)


----------



## limr

terri said:


> My sister lives in central Florida, and so far she's prepared and staying put.  But she may change her mind and skitch on up here if she wants.



Hope your sister stays safe. Mine is in Jax and she's doing the same - trying to figure out if and when to evacuate. Keeping good thoughts for them all!

HOSERS. I have worked 25 of the past 30 days and I.Am.Shot. My weekend plans involve no alarm clocks, mindless binge-watching, kitty snuggles, and a walk now and then.


----------



## waday

Hoping all those in Florida a safe few days coming up. Wife’s family is located throughout southern Florida, and they’re all preparing.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi from UK. Just had the kids and g kids over, still knack..d 
Now I have to start on some of those, I will do it later, diy jobs, it seems that now is later.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee house on page 2?  For shame Hosers, for shame!  Here’s a cute puppy pic to get us back on page 1.
> 
> Besties
> View attachment 178872
> 
> 
> 
> 
> She is wondering why the new pup is still here
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah he is slowly adjusting to the puppy being a permanent family member, lol.  Very slowly.
> 
> Hi Hosers!  What is everyone up to for the long weekend (at least here in USA it's a long weekend...)?
Click to expand...

Getting the windshield replaced in the Honda (rock from a truck tire) and shopping for a new mattress set.  MLW is working OT tonight, so I'll probably do some art of some kind.

I'll put the contest voting up tomorrow.

LAST CHANCE FOR THE MONTHLY CHALLENGE


----------



## limr

Kitty snuggles.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> A little parody humour for those old enough to remember 1972.
> 
> View attachment 178585


Strictly speaking... that would be a stakeside!   (And I'm pretty sure it's a Chev....)  please go back and try again!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Kitty snuggles.
> 
> View attachment 178950 View attachment 178951


You're one step away from a present in your slipper, judging by their expressions!


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> A little parody humour for those old enough to remember 1972.
> 
> View attachment 178585
> 
> 
> 
> Strictly speaking... that would be a stakeside!   (And I'm pretty sure it's a Chev....)  please go back and try again!
Click to expand...


Well technically a "stakeside" is a flat bed with stake pockets for inserting the sides, and without a little more shown on the truck, I'd argue Ford vs Chevy. Chevy had different vents on the side of the hood.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Well technically a "stakeside" is a flat bed with stake pockets for inserting the sides...


Fair, but I've been away two weeks,  I've got a lot of time to make up!



smoke665 said:


> and without a little more shown on the truck, I'd argue Ford vs Chevy. Chevy had different vents on the side of the hood.


That'll I'll put a beer on...  I'm pretty sure that's a '39 Chev 1, 1 1/2 ton.  The drip line on the door and handle are pretty distinctive... vis!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Kitty snuggles.
> 
> View attachment 178950 View attachment 178951
> 
> 
> 
> You're one step away from a present in your slipper, judging by their expressions!
Click to expand...


You'd think, eh? But they're good fine kitties that love their mama and show their displeasure only by squirming and running away for about 5 minutes before they come back and curl up on the couch behind my head, purring away. Zelda will occasionally get a little bratty and hiss at me (while purring) and then she comes back for head butts to apologize for being a brat.


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> That'll I'll put a beer on... I'm pretty sure that's a '39 Chev 1, 1 1/2 ton. The drip line on the door and handle are pretty distinctive... vis!



You may be right on the 39, the vent matches on the side of the hood, Ford was much different that year.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Kitty snuggles.
> 
> View attachment 178950 View attachment 178951
> 
> 
> 
> You're one step away from a present in your slipper, judging by their expressions!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You'd think, eh? But they're good fine kitties that love their mama and show their displeasure only by squirming and running away for about 5 minutes before they come back and curl up on the couch behind my head, purring away. Zelda will occasionally get a little bratty and hiss at me (while purring) and then she comes back for head butts to apologize for being a brat.
Click to expand...

Those head butts are the best things.       Bex always, without fail, gives three in a row - boomboomboom - then curls up.   Finn doesn't know a head butt, but she goes into kitten mode if I start rubbing my chin all over her head.   Instant purring and slant-eyed love.

They're all quirky and fantastic animals, cats.


----------



## Fujidave

Sunny start here today, just charging up the batteries as not sure what I`m up to today yet.


----------



## SquarePeg

I got a lot of home projects done yesterday so today is mine!   I’m heading up to Gloucester for lunch with a friend.  It’s the annual Schooner Festival.   We’re going to try to catch the parade of sail that’s happening before the schooner race.  Later Princess and I are taking the pooches on a hike and then feet up and a good book out on the deck.   Going to be a great day!

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Yesterday was quite crashy. Didn't leave the house until about 4:30 when I went for a walk. Then came back and crashed some more. 

Today, Buzz and I went for brunch at Daryl's House - a restaurant/live music venue opened up by Daryl Hall a few years back. About | Daryl's House Club It's the second time we've been there for brunch, and keep meaning to go there for dinner but just haven't done so yet. I'm going to push for getting up there at least once for dinner before the end of the year. Still annoyed that we missed Canned Heat a few months back.

Tomorrow, we may head on up to Hudson, walk around a bit, get some Baba Louie's pizza for lunch.

Overall, a nice, low-key weekend, us both trying to stay away from Labor Day crowds, and me trying to recover from the bludgeon that was August (and part of July.)


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey, Leo's come out from under kitties! 

I've seen Daryl's House! on MTV Live that is, shows from awhile back. Good show, good performances. Looks like it'd be fun to go there. 

Today was a washout - thunder, downpour, lights flickered, never mind any picture taking, will save that for a nice? fall weekend (if or when we have such a thing! lol). At least I didn't lose power again because I am NOT resetting clocks anymore this week!! This is turning out to be a typical Labor Day, hot and muggy, not quite the beautiful weekend predicted. But I have had some leaves falling - go leaves!! 

Last night was pizza, and my best friend's coming up again and it will be carryout chicken dinners. And watching Downton. She said she's gotten used to coming here out in the country and seeing some unusual things, but had never seen people going down the street in golf carts. I said, yeah, they do that here...


----------



## terri

It IS September now.  No matter the temps, August is done.  

This is a goodly thing.


----------



## Tony744

Quiet weekend for me here. Bought a new strap for my camera yesterday. Heading into Boston later to take the Historic Harbor cruise.


----------



## snowbear

We had a crashy day, too.  I didn't sleep well (shopping for a mattress set, today) ; MLW worked 12 at the watch office Saturday night, and didn't get a chance for her allocated four hours sleep.  She figured she wouldn't so I took her in and picked her up (5 AM comes early when sleep is screwed up).

I did a little truck shopping; it will be a year or two before we are ready, but shopping can be fun.

Well, time for a refill.


----------



## terri

Happy US Labor Day, hosers!  Hope it's restful and a good day off for all.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> ... but shopping can be fun..


Ehhh???


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... but shopping can be fun..
> 
> 
> 
> Ehhh???
Click to expand...

Think of browsing the web, looking for old steam-powered machinery.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... but shopping can be fun..
> 
> 
> 
> Ehhh???
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Think of browsing the web, looking for old steam-powered machinery.
Click to expand...

Well........... maybe.....


----------



## Fujidave

Jazz on the street today with X-T3 + XF35mm f2.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

The fellow sitting could be a young Johnny Carson @Fujidave


----------



## Fujidave

Dean_Gretsch said:


> The fellow sitting could be a young Johnny Carson @Fujidave



Yes it could be, as just Googled him.


----------



## snowbear

The day is winding down.  We're back home from the mattress store and the car dealership.
We bought a mattress (to be delivered Thursday) and looked at a Gladiator (no test drive this time); MLW did like what she saw.

I'm descaling the mini Keurig.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

snowbear said:


> The day is winding down.  We're back home from the mattress store and the car dealership.
> We bought a mattress (to be delivered Thursday) and looked at a Gladiator (no test drive this time); MLW did like what she saw.
> 
> I'm descaling the mini Keurig.



I hadn't heard of the Gladiator (not available here) but just googled it.  Yes!  Buy one!


----------



## Tony744

Had a fun trip into Boston yesterday. Ended up taking the DUKW tour as well as the historic cruise.


----------



## terri

Tony744 said:


> Had a fun trip into Boston yesterday. Ended up taking the DUKW tour as well as the historic cruise.


Sounds fun!    Any pics from the venture?


----------



## CherylL

The 6yo cheer photos were not blurry!  The pressure was on because of the 6yo critic.  I took my long lens thinking I would need it.  Got there and I was 4 feet away.  They cheer on a mat between the snack bar and the fence.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The day after a holiday is a drag man. Waiting for the grass cutting to be done and keep thinking, I need to get off the computer and write a check before he rings the doorbell... meanwhile here I sit, as the dryer calls my name. Isn't Labor Day a two day holiday??! lol


----------



## Tony744

terri said:


> Tony744 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a fun trip into Boston yesterday. Ended up taking the DUKW tour as well as the historic cruise.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds fun!    Any pics from the venture?
Click to expand...


I shot over 300 photos, will post some as soon as I've had a chance to process them.



vintagesnaps said:


> The day after a holiday is a drag man. Waiting for the grass cutting to be done and keep thinking, I need to get off the computer and write a check before he rings the doorbell... meanwhile here I sit, as the dryer calls my name. Isn't Labor Day a two day holiday??! lol



I WISH! Especially since that's when the boss usually returns.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That sounds even worse, having to go back to work _and_ the boss is in!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, raining here today, so not up to much.


----------



## D7K

Another day at work with no plans for shooting [emoji20] almost the weekend and here it’s a long one starting fri-mon then four more days to a decent amount of time off


Sent from my mobile device because I’m either outside or too lazy to get my MacBook..


----------



## SquarePeg

Tony744 said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tony744 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a fun trip into Boston yesterday. Ended up taking the DUKW tour as well as the historic cruise.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds fun!    Any pics from the venture?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I shot over 300 photos, will post some as soon as I've had a chance to process them.
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> The day after a holiday is a drag man. Waiting for the grass cutting to be done and keep thinking, I need to get off the computer and write a check before he rings the doorbell... meanwhile here I sit, as the dryer calls my name. Isn't Labor Day a two day holiday??! lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I WISH! Especially since that's when the boss usually returns.
Click to expand...


My daughter and I did the duck boat toar for the first time when she was about 10.  It was a lot of fun.  I wasn't a fan of the water part though.  Seems like they are too unwieldy to float.  But I guess if it's good enough for the Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins and Celtics it's good enough for me!


----------



## CherylL

The boxer puppy photo session has been rescheduled a few times.  I am hoping soon before she gets out of the puppy stage.  My friend has an illness where there are good days and bad days so totally understand the situation.  Our schedules will meet up soon.


----------



## Tony744

The duck boats were designed primarily for river crossings where the bridges were destroyed or nonexistent. Needless to say, their water performance left a lot to be desired.


----------



## Jeff G

Just because....


----------



## Original katomi

Talking of the duck boats. I lived in West Sussex Chichester when was flooded driving over the Bally bridges was a strange experience.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, weather here today is wet and grotty.  Had a great night last night at Fudgies jazz gig, X-H1 + XF16-55mm f2.8.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I didn't know Marty Stuart had a show...


----------



## Jeff G

From Wikipedia - 
*The Marty Stuart Show*
Stuart is host of _The Marty Stuart Show_, which features traditional country music in the vein of _The Porter Wagoner Show_, _Flatt & Scruggs_, _The Wilburn Brothers Show_, and _Hee Haw_. _The Marty Stuart Show_ began airing at 8:00 p.m. on November 1, 2008 on cable's RFD-TV. Although no new episodes have been produced recently, the network continues to air old episodes of the show under the name _The Best of the Marty Stuart Show_.[_citation needed_]

Each episode features music by Stuart and his band the Fabulous Superlatives, as well as his wife, Grand Ole Opry star Connie Smith, banjo-picker Leroy Troy, and guests. The show is sponsored by Mississippi Tourism.

Stuart hosts and produces the 30-minute episodes, with WSM disc jockey and Grand Ole Opry announcer Eddie Stubbs serving as the show's emcee.


----------



## compur

He's currently touring:
Events – Marty Stuart


----------



## Fujidave

This will be quick, but sadly I will not be posting for a long time.  After a very stressful phone call from my Mother this morning I need to try and get help for her as it is a age related illness that is tearing me apart.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Fujidave said:


> This will be quick, but sadly I will not be posting for a long time.  After a very stressful phone call from my Mother this morning I need to try and get help for her as it is a age related illness that is tearing me apart.



Very sorry to hear that.  My Mother has dementia, and I find conversations with her very stressful as she slips through time.  But strangely she seems to be happier now she's living in a surreal world where time in no longer linear.


----------



## snowbear

Fujidave said:


> This will be quick, but sadly I will not be posting for a long time.  After a very stressful phone call from my Mother this morning I need to try and get help for her as it is a age related illness that is tearing me apart.


So sorry to hear this, Dave.  Family comes first.
Hoping things work out, and we will talk to you later.


----------



## smoke665

Early start on Football Saturday. It's 5 o'clock some where.....right. https://www.florabama.com/ what a wild and eclectic place.  Spent many a wild nights here in my youth, looks different in the daylight. LOL but the food's still good and the beer still cold.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> Early start on Football Saturday. It's 5 o'clock some where.....right. https://www.florabama.com/ what a wild and eclectic place.  Spent many a wild nights here in my youth, looks different in the daylight. LOL but the food's still good and the beer still cold.
> 
> View attachment 179257



Glad it still has good food and beer.  Sometimes it is best not to revisit the old stomping grounds.  Can't live up the memories.


----------



## CherylL

Fujidave said:


> This will be quick, but sadly I will not be posting for a long time.  After a very stressful phone call from my Mother this morning I need to try and get help for her as it is a age related illness that is tearing me apart.



Dave hope you can get things sorted out for your mother soon.


----------



## tirediron

The view from my office window today...




Setting up for the fall fair next week...  the guy on the tractor gets all the glamorous jobs... like moving the dumpsters!


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> Can't live up the memories.



Sure I can. Just last night we were out with friends, didn't get home till 8:30.


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning Hosers!  The crisp bite of fall is in the air these last few nights.  When the temps drop at night like this and we’ve had some rain, it makes for incredible fall foliage colors.  I’ve already seen a few trees starting to turn!  Even saw this on a recent hike up north.


----------



## Original katomi

Noticed that the evenings are getting dark sooner, just managed to squeeze in some photography of the Fox before the light failed.


----------



## SquarePeg

If we could freeze seasons and sunlight hours, right here right now would be my ideal.  You can catch a sunrise and still get some sleep.  You get out of work and can still catch a few hours of light or a sunset .  Sunset can be after an early dinner or not too late to wait for dinner after.  Skies are cobalt blue with gorgeous clouds rolling in and out.  Great sleeping weather and not too hot during the day.  Some flowers still lingering around.  It’s perfect.


----------



## terri

I love September, too!   It means the worst of the summer heat is over.   It's freaking hot around here right now, though because it's September, once that mid-90's temp is reached it starts falling off fairly quickly.   Humidity is also very low, so the wind feels nice.

I'll take late September/early October as my best time of year.   It takes us until then to get where you are right now!


----------



## smoke665

Just got back from the Gulf coast, only bad thing about the trip was the unrelenting heat and humidity. If the temperature wasn't 99.9 the humidity  was. Thankfully here it's in the mid 80's which is nice compared to the past week.


----------



## Original katomi

Here we have come out of the heat wave, now that the temp is lower we are noticing it. Saw dew on the car early today. Time to find the torches and make sure the battery is charged just in case the mains go down, it’s not unknown.


----------



## Original katomi

Canon released the 90d. What are they going to call the next ver as there is already a 100d


----------



## compur

91D


----------



## SquarePeg

Great us open (tennis) match going on right now.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Fall isn't quite here yet... have had some cool evenings and not too hot days but it's supposed to warm up this week back into the 90s I guess. Whoopee. Leaves - change! anytime now is good! I'm ready for some pretty fall days.


----------



## Jeff G

We were blessed with 86 degrees today, back up to 100 by Friday, but I'll take what I can get.


----------



## Tony744

Found a covered bridge up in New Hampshire, waiting for the leaves to change to get some photos of it.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Is it Friday yet? No?

Crap.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Is it Friday yet? No?
> 
> Crap.


Weekdays:
Monday
Second Monday
Getting there
Friday Eve
Friday


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> Is it Friday yet? No?
> 
> Crap.
> 
> 
> 
> Weekdays:
> Monday
> Second Monday
> Getting there
> Friday Eve
> Friday
Click to expand...

Monday
Tuesday-Monday
Wednesday-Monday
Thursday-Monday
Friday-Monday
Saturday
Pre-Monday


----------



## SquarePeg

Monday/Just be happy I showed up
Tuesday/I'll get to it when I'm done with the stuff I didn't do on Monday
Wednesday/That can definitely wait until tomorrow
Thursday/Can't start something new so close to Friday
Friday/Is it 5 yet?  Is it 5 yet?  Is it 5 yet?
Saturday/laundry, gym, groceries, manicure, shopping, dogs, hiking, yard work, housework, photography, cooking, dinner, drinks, music
Sunday/exhausted


----------



## Fujidave

Sunny start today here, so might have a me time day.  This shot is of Ana I took Sunday when I had to have some time to myself.


----------



## smoke665

Fujidave said:


> unny start today here, so might have a me time day. This shot is of Ana I took Sunday when I had to have some time to myself.



Nice one! As one who's been a primary caregiver for close to 10 years now, I can tell you it's imperative that you take a little time for yourself when you can.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

A blessed day! Beautiful granddaughter born last night - 9/9/19 at 9pm, weighing 9 lbs 9 oz! Mom and baby are doing great


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> A blessed day! Beautiful granddaughter born last night - 9/9/19 at 9pm, weighing 9 lbs 9 oz! Mom and baby are doing great



CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!


----------



## SquarePeg

Dean_Gretsch said:


> A blessed day! Beautiful granddaughter born last night - 9/9/19 at 9pm, weighing 9 lbs 9 oz! Mom and baby are doing great



Mazel!


----------



## Jeff G

Congrats Grampa Dean!


----------



## SquarePeg

Went for a hike yesterday before dinner and this guy was just sitting almost at eye level only a few feet from the path.  The puppy didn’t know what to make of him.  Of course the only time I’ve ever gone to this trail without my camera!  Here’s a crappy cell phone pic.


----------



## Jeff G

Always see good stuff when the camera is at home, DOH!


----------



## snowbear

Dean_Gretsch said:


> A blessed day! Beautiful granddaughter born last night - 9/9/19 at 9pm, weighing 9 lbs 9 oz! Mom and baby are doing great


Congratulations!


----------



## tirediron

Hoooooooooo's in the photo?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Congratulations Dean!! 

Looks like the number keys on your keyboard got stuck on 9. What are the odds?!!


----------



## zulu42

1/999999


----------



## vintagesnaps

The school year is officially up and running, the first couple of kids came to the door selling ___ for their school. This year - cookie dough!! I don't even remember what it's for, I just saw cookies. I went to get money, came back and there were a couple more with bikes in the driveway - they were multiplying! Made me think of trick or treat but backwards, since I handed them money to bring me treats.


----------



## Tony744

Congrats Dean!



SquarePeg said:


> Went for a hike yesterday before dinner and this guy was just sitting almost at eye level only a few feet from the path.  The puppy didn’t know what to make of him.  Of course the only time I’ve ever gone to this trail without my camera!  Here’s a crappy cell phone pic.
> 
> View attachment 179382



Saw a red-tailed hawk Friday afternoon, pulled over to get a photo only to realize I'd forgotten to grab my camera on the way out the door.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Thanks to all for the congrats. I don't play the lottery, but if I did, you know the number I'd pick!


----------



## snowbear

Sculpture at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial, Emmittsburg, MD


----------



## CherylL

Dean_Gretsch said:


> A blessed day! Beautiful granddaughter born last night - 9/9/19 at 9pm, weighing 9 lbs 9 oz! Mom and baby are doing great



Congrats!!!! That is a lot of 9's.  Maybe a write up in the paper or other media?


----------



## CherylL

Another heat wave here.  A good day to go to the craft store and dollar store for Halloween photo set items.  Starting early with the set this year.  @smoke665 game on!


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> Another heat wave here.  A good day to go to the craft store and dollar store for Halloween photo set items.  Starting early with the set this year.  @smoke665 game on!



LOL Started yesterday on a couple projects, though I'll admit I'm stumped on the 3rd set. Granddaughter wants to be Nala from the Lion King. DW already nixed the idea of me building a replica of the Serengeti on her side of the garage.


----------



## smoke665

%^%$ little %$#@* buggers. I hate the little %^^%$##(*&^%. Managed to go all summer without getting stung. Today started off being a good day till I hit a ground nest of yellow jackets on the mower. Never saw them coming, the little %$^&% got me from behind. Nailed me twice on the back before I even knew they were there. At least I had on a thick tee shirt or they would have really got me.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> %^%$ little %$#@* buggers. I hate the little %^^%$##(*&^%. Managed to go all summer without getting stung. Today started off being a good day till I hit a ground nest of yellow jackets on the mower. Never saw them coming, the little %$^&% got me from behind. Nailed me twice on the back before I even knew they were there. At least I had on a thick tee shirt or they would have really got me.


Wasps (and their relatives)... the @$$holes of the insect world!


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> LOL Started yesterday on a couple projects, though I'll admit I'm stumped on the 3rd set. Granddaughter wants to be Nala from the Lion King. DW already nixed the idea of me building a replica of the Serengeti on her side of the garage.



I have the same conversations with my DH.  My reply is but it is for the grands, or it is for the pups, or lastly it is for art.


----------



## Jeff G

Ouch @smoke! They pack quite a punch for being so small.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hey Hosers!  I'm super excited - just grabbed last minute tickets to A Night With Janis Joplin:  A NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLIN | Official Site  Was planning a low key weekend but got an email for 1/2 price tickets tomorrow night! 

My photo meet up group is having a harvest moon rise shoot tonight.  I was planning to go but forgot that I had told Princess she could take my car to the away football game.  Her new bf is on the team so she'll be busy every Friday night for the season...  Going to see if I can carpool with someone from the photo group as I was looking forward to the shoot.   

What's up for your weekend?


----------



## terri

Well, dang - nothing that sounds that fun, Sharon!    I'm basically hiding indoors waiting for this late summer heat wave to move out.   I will venture out to the screened in porch with a glass of wine to watch the moon rise.   Our new next door neighbors have a thing about leaving their outside flood lights on, which has really spoiled my stargazing.        It's been hot and we haven't been out too much so we've let it ride, but eventually we're likely to ask if they'd cut the lights when they go in.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Hey Hosers!  I'm super excited - just grabbed last minute tickets to A Night With Janis Joplin:  A NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLIN | Official Site  Was planning a low key weekend but got an email for 1/2 price tickets tomorrow night!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nothing that exciting by any stretch! Our weather is still hot too, was supposed to get nicer but if anything seems more humid because it never did rain (and stayed too cloudy for any full moon!). Was going to try to get to a new quilt store but it closes earlier on Sat. than I realized and my best friend has a hair appt. so we won't make it there; we'll see what else we come up with.

I saw part of a special about Janis Joplin not long ago on MTV Live, it was interesting to see footage of her I'd never seen before.

Sharon we expect to see pictures of you at the show in *bell bottoms and a head band looking groovy!

*hip hugger


----------



## Tony744

Had an interesting day at work yesterday. Went inside to use the bathroom and get a cup of coffee. Ended up talking a photo of the boss for an ad in one of the trade magazines.








SquarePeg said:


> My photo meet up group is having a harvest moon rise shoot tonight.  I was planning to go but forgot that I had told Princess she could take my car to the away football game.  Her new bf is on the team so she'll be busy every Friday night for the season...  Going to see if I can carpool with someone from the photo group as I was looking forward to the shoot.
> 
> What's up for your weekend?



That sounds like fun! Haven't tried moonscape photos yet.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Congrats Tony! Have you tried cropping the right side so the blue toned BG is out?


----------



## Tony744

Hadn't thought of that. I'll have to try that when I get home. 

Sent from my Moto E (4) using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Tony744 said:


> Hadn't thought of that. I'll have to try that when I get home.
> 
> Sent from my Moto E (4) using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app



I am just a 57 y/o novice that has liked taking pics most of my life and had no formal training other than a high school photography class and a community college DSLR class, so don't take anything I say very seriously, lol! I did stay at a Holiday Inn before though...


----------



## Tony744

I left the photo uncropped so the magazine could crop it as needed to fit the space allotted. One a separate note, I put up the wood paneling on the wall behind him.

Sent from my Moto E (4) using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I think the paneling and logo makes an awesome backdrop sir!


----------



## Tony744

Thanks [emoji4] It came out better than I expected.

Sent from my Moto E (4) using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nice looking paneling! 

That white line across the top isn't part of the photo, so it would be better out of the frame, it just makes for a visual distraction that takes away from the image. I agree about the blue background, same thing. 

I think there's still enough room for editing (for lettering, cropping to fit, etc.). 

And I hope the trade magazine is licensing usage of your photo.


----------



## vintagesnaps

_Now_ the sun comes out!  Didn't see any harvest moon last night, and already had nixed plans for photo anything today, but I'm worn out anyway... the seasonal/weather/allergy whatever is making me feel almost like a slight cold today. I'll settle for a nice dinner later! 

This was the week for kids selling stuff for school, first cookies then fall mums - I like that one! Had these two girls before, Brianna and Bri_ann_a (the taller one is Bri-awn-a). They're a grade apart and the younger/shorter one is funny, she was suggesting where to put the mums, on the porch, or I could put them at the end of the driveway... and said next year I could buy the bigger ones and save these Halloween pots from this year!


----------



## davidharmier60

I haven't been here in ages.

Got a Fly Sky transmitter with 10 Channels and a 6 Channel receiver.
Have flown the plane twice with a crash ending both flutes. Broke the 3 blade 8x6 first. Ordered some props and a 7x5.5 was the next victim. First crash was at home.
Second at the flying field. 

Yesterday I put up a LOT of sheetrock. 
Today a lot of chillin.

Who could put to use a working Canon AE-1 and a couple lenses? I'm not going to ditch the EOS 350 just yet however but I don't see ever shooting film again.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

davidharmier60 said:


> I haven't been here in ages.
> 
> Got a Fly Sky transmitter with 10 Channels and a 6 Channel receiver.
> Have flown the plane twice with a crash ending both flutes. Broke the 3 blade 8x6 first. Ordered some props and a 7x5.5 was the next victim. First crash was at home.
> Second at the flying field.
> 
> Yesterday I put up a LOT of sheetrock.
> Today a lot of chillin.
> 
> Who could put to use a working Canon AE-1 and a couple lenses? I'm not going to ditch the EOS 350 just yet however but I don't see ever shooting film again.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk



Maybe post that in the film forum


----------



## davidharmier60

Checking in 
Somebody wants the AE-1. 
4 hours and 50 minutes today. 
Was to work at the house again but that is off. Got my coin stuff packed up so I'm out of the penny business until we get into the house and set up. Going to do my comics online and pack up some more stuff. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## CherylL

I stopped by the local pawn shop.  He does jewelry repair and I needed a stone place back into a pendant.  He charged me $6 which I thought was a bargain.   Sadly no camera or lenses on display.


----------



## davidharmier60

Happy WET Wednesday. It hasn't not rained since early this morning 
Plan to do comics. Then pack some more stuff. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Tony744

Got roped into helping my brother move some furniture this weekend. Driving a box truck in Boston traffic...always fun!


----------



## SquarePeg

Tony744 said:


> Got roped into helping my brother move some furniture this weekend. Driving a box truck in Boston traffic...always fun!



Could be worse, it could be moving day 9/1!  Stay off of Storrow - you don't want to be THAT guy:

'Storrowed' In September, Stuck Box Truck Causes Backup


----------



## smoke665

@CherylL I've never found much camera gear at a pawn shop, and when I did they usually had it priced high enough that it wasn't a bargain. It's their job to know value. Thrift stores and Goodwill on the other hand can yield up some great finds. I've found everything from lenses to stands, bags, cases, etc at way under market.


----------



## Tony744

SquarePeg said:


> Tony744 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Got roped into helping my brother move some furniture this weekend. Driving a box truck in Boston traffic...always fun!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Could be worse, it could be moving day 9/1!  Stay off of Storrow - you don't want to be THAT guy:
> 
> 'Storrowed' In September, Stuck Box Truck Causes Backup
Click to expand...


I was a long haul trucker for way too long to do something THAT stupid.


----------



## Tony744

Got a notice from town hall. Traffic down the street from me is gonna be a nightmare Monday night... filming a scene for the Hulu series Castle Rock.

Sent from my Moto E (4) using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Hi all. I just returned from vacation visiting family in Kentucky and wanted to share a story that happened while I was there. I was driving near my sister's house after dark when I topped a small hill and saw a deer jump a fence to my left. Having spent much time in rural areas, I knew it was probable there would be another and immediately hit my brakes. Sure enough, I saw a small deer run from my right in front of me and into the path of an oncoming car traveling in the other direction. Unfortunately the other car did not see it and struck it. I pulled into my sister's driveway to check on it and to let her know the collision she heard while inside did not involve me directly. When I walked to where I could see it, it was motionless and the other car sat in the road with steam coming from the radiator. I walked to the deer ( the other driver had taken off by then ) and it raised it's head in a very dazed and sad way. The impact had thrown it 15-20 feet away, and that fact along with the initial thud caused me to think it would very soon die. I dragged it from the road to a spot near a woven wire fence on the side so it would not be hit again and would not cause any further accidents. I rubbed it's neck in a final farewell and said a silent prayer for it's suffering to end soon and walked back across the road. The next day when I went back, I learned my brother in law went to check on it that morning and it was sitting curled up as a fawn will do, but lifted it's head to look at him. A member here that I work with had told me a few times about his wife's aunt and her husband in Vincennes, Indiana that spend most of their time and money rehabilitating animals so I decided to call them and see what could be done. I was told to leave the young deer where it was because if you take a deer and pen it up, it will create stress which could be fatal with it's injuries. She said since it had been observed standing and even eating grass, the best thing we could do was take a container of water and place near enough to it so it could smell it, but not so close as to frighten the deer and cause it to try and run. She said it sounded as if it was just trying to recuperate and we should give it time to do so on it's own. Over the next couple days, we saw it had moved around quite a bit but was staying near the fence line and in shade. We saw it continue to stand and be active and alert. On the third day, I drove by and happily saw it was nowhere to be seen. We hope it's mother led it back to the woods after it was able to do so and it continues to thrive. I took this time hoping other wildlife lovers might gain something from this and also to promote the efforts of the kind couple that took the time to instruct me what would be best for the fawn. They are not allowed to ask for donations, but they are allowed to take them if freely given. They are very well known, loved and admired in their area and by officials of the state of Indiana. If you'd like to read about them please go here  Guardian Angel: Wildlife Rehabilitator


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I wanted to say after speaking with Angel's wife, she called me back a few days later to check on the deer's condition. This only reinforced my opinion that they were very caring people and did what they do out of compassion. My niece only received cold comments and sterile replies when she attempted to contact local offices there close to where they live in Kentucky.


----------



## Jeff G

It's all to easy to look the other way, your a good man, I hate to see any living creature in pain. Glad to hear it seemed to recover, and nice to hear about your good encounter with the kind folks that helped out.


----------



## smoke665

Good news today, got an email that we snagged another FEMA grant for our Fire Department. $60k for  replacement of 9 SCBAs , extra tanks, and accessories. The department refused to let my best friend and I retire, instead creating another classification of non active members so we could continue grant writing for the department. We've had some decent success getting grants 8 out of the last 9 years totaling close to 500K, and still have 3 more active that we haven't received "Dear John Letters" on.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Jeff G said:


> It's all to easy to look the other way, your a good man, I hate to see any living creature in pain. Glad to hear it seemed to recover, and nice to hear about your good encounter with the kind folks that helped out.



Jeff, thank you for those kind words, but I really hoped to bring attention to Angel and Joanne and the wonderful work they and people like them do.


----------



## tirediron

Spotted at a swap-meet today....  for @pixmedic


----------



## pixmedic

tirediron said:


> Spotted at a swap-meet today....  for @pixmedic


Its an elna grasshopper!

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> Spotted at a swap-meet today....  for @pixmedic
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Its an elna grasshopper!
> 
> Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

It is!


----------



## tirediron

So, what do you do when you have a small animal pen that you need to move around your yard?

Well... I don't know about you, but I dig around in the shed and find a set of wheels and axels from an old lawn-mower and a few feet of square tubing.  A few minutes with the angle grinder and the MiG, and...





(It is completely square, just the aspect is makes it look a little wonky).  It needs rain caps on the uprights, the welds grinding and a coat of paint, but it's looking like rain now, so that's a tomorrow job.

Voila...




Put it under one end, walk around to the other, and you can move it anywhere with one hand!


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> So, what do you do w



Well aren't you a Jack Of All Trades!


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, what do you do w
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well aren't you a Jack Of All Trades!
Click to expand...

Thank's man... I like to think I'm at least as handy as the average bear around the house.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Red Green would be proud! And NO DUCT TAPE!


----------



## Tony744

No duct tape?! but that's the handy man's secret weapon!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all


----------



## tirediron

Tony744 said:


> No duct tape?! but that's the handy man's secret weapon!


I never said I was handy...


----------



## Fujidave

Chucking it down here again, must be the 4th day on the trot and we are still forecast for more days of this.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Trade ya some hot for some rain.


----------



## vintagesnaps

#1 on the speed dial.


----------



## RowdyRay

Red Green! Duct tape aficionado. (See Sig)


----------



## Jeff G

I'm with the other Sharon, Dave I'll trade some moisture for some heat, 100°F today, l am so done with summer!


----------



## Fujidave

I have now forgotten what Blue sky is, 5th day of rain today.


----------



## Original katomi

Wind an rain here plans to go do some photography down the drain like the rain
Change in weather and temp killing the joints,


----------



## smoke665

Oh boohoo you guys are killing me. We are in the midst of a drought, with temperatures in the high 90s. No fall color for us, the trees are just saying the heck with it, and dropping dried up leaves.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Oh boohoo you guys are killing me. We are in the midst of a drought, with temperatures in the high 90s. No fall color for us, the trees are just saying the heck with it, and dropping dried up leaves.



That stinks.  Had a fall like that here a few years ago and it was very disappointing unless you went up into the mountains where it was one of the best seasons ever.  I have high expectations this year.  We've had some very cold nights and very hot days with a small amount of rain.  Should make for perfect peak conditions but only time will tell.  I'm heading to the Cape this weekend where temps are expected to be in the low 70's and partly cloudy - perfect weather in my opinion.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> That stinks.



X2. Headed to the Smokies next week for a club event. They've had sufficient rain that there should be decent color but we're going in about 2-3 weeks to early. Very little color yet even at the higher elevations. From the Gapcam -  Great Smoky Mountains Newfound Gap Camera 
or from Clingman's Dome Webcam Home - Air (U.S. National Park Service)


----------



## davidharmier60

Hey y'all, this old phone is getting pretty much done. And that would mean no more Photo Forum. The house is getting a little closer to be ready to live in. Have 22.49 hours for four days. Been watching a guy named Mustie1 on YouTube. The guy messes with ANYTHING and usually makes whatever it is work.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Somebody got all dirty chasing bunnies and digging up my yard!  Look at her feet!


----------



## vintagesnaps

No fall color here, green and brown and some leaves have come down, but it _is_ still just September, guess we've got a ways to go. I like the Smokies, haven't been there in years; I like Little Nashville (Indiana) more.

Saturday is World Cyanotype Day (didn't know there was such a thing). Guess I'll stick some blue thing (blue paper/treated fabric) in the window (on a table in front of the window that is).

Elvis is in the house. (Watching the ball game (sort of) while listening to it on the radio, or trying to, for me it's just too much like watching paint dry.)


----------



## Fujidave

smoke665 said:


> Oh boohoo you guys are killing me. We are in the midst of a drought, with temperatures in the high 90s. No fall color for us, the trees are just saying the heck with it, and dropping dried up leaves.



I`m beginning to agree with all this Climate Charge lark now.


----------



## smoke665

At the store today, so many things went through my mind when I saw these. The quips and innuendoes were swirling. LOL Then I saw the little disclaimer in small print: "Product enlarged to show detail". My wife pulled me away before I started.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Friday 3:15 pm on TCM (Turner Classic) - "The Mummy's Shroud"!!!

Not even safe in the darkroom, notice the reflection in the chemistry - 
if you see that, run!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Finally!! the mummy appears! I don't know about some of these Hammer films, kind of campy but kind of hard to stay with it til the 'good' part.

I wonder about the end result of eating one of those Glo Balls! lol


----------



## SquarePeg

No need for a night light


----------



## smoke665

Would have made some great promotional giveaways for Jerry Lee Lewis.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The mummy's been and gone from the darkroom, best part of the movie. Maybe the only good part, one of the archaelogical types just said he thought something was trying to get them - no, really???!!


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Somebody got all dirty chasing bunnies and digging up my yard!  Look at her feet!
> 
> View attachment 180023


The eyes seem to indicate it wasn't her fault, and that you need to give the good puppy a treat.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Somebody got all dirty chasing bunnies and digging up my yard!  Look at her feet!
> 
> View attachment 180023



My favorite part of this is the motion blur of the tail.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Somebody got all dirty chasing bunnies and digging up my yard!  Look at her feet!
> 
> View attachment 180023
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My favorite part of this is the motion blur of the tail.
Click to expand...


Her tail is never still.


----------



## smoke665

We actually had a couple of nice localized rain storms come through last night, complete with a thunder and lightning. Seemed strange at first hearing thunder as it's been awhile. Didnt get enough to allieviate the drought weve been in, but definately eased the fire conditions. With it being so dry, wildfires have been a serious problem around the state.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It tried to rain a little here, heard something about getting close to drought conditions but the grass in my backyard didn't get the memo. 

Hotting up again, not much doin' this weekend. In a couple of weeks my best friend's taking a week of vacation so maybe getting into October will give us some nice weather.

All of a sudden it's getting darker...


----------



## Original katomi

Had a Harley bike meet here today about 300 bikes arrived
Took about 250 images, no one stand out pic but a good record of the event


----------



## davidharmier60

Hey y'all. Finished the week with 33.29.
Went to the house after work and did a few things I was supposed to and messed with bicycles. All but one girls bike was 16".
And the 26" bike has a blown out shifter and a rusty chain. The Weedeater brand Weed eater we found has a throttle cable problem. But a wet vac that was missing a plug tested good. And there is a push mower that because I have been watching Mustie1 I'm sure I can fix.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Six days now


----------



## Original katomi

Just a couple of the 200 odd pics from the biker rally
Yesterday


----------



## CherylL

Looks like another week of 90 degree weather.   I love summer, but I wouldn't mind it just a tad cooler.  Saw an accident waiting to happen in the neighborhood.  Ladder leaning on a tree, a few beers and a chainsaw.  Said a prayer for the person.


----------



## smoke665

One of the largest and oldest warehouses in our area caught on fire just after lunch yesterday, and is still going. Roughly 65 fire departments respond to Attalla warehouse fire At last count over 65 departments have sent men and equipment. Our department has had men and equipment on scene since the first call out. Because of the volume of water being used local water supply was being sucked dry, requiring water to be shuttled via tanker from other areas.  The overhead night time shots in the link show just how massive the fire is. Fortunately no hazardous chemicals were in this building and the building for those was far enough away that the fire didn't spread to it.  This building stored paper products for manufacturers, the largest being Hudamaki, the manufacturer of Chinet paper plates. Despite temperatures in the high 90's only a couple FF's have been transported for heat and one other person for an unknown illness.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

smoke665 said:


> One of the largest and oldest warehouses in our area caught on fire just after lunch yesterday, and is still going. Roughly 65 fire departments respond to Attalla warehouse fire At last count over 65 departments have sent men and equipment. Our department has had men and equipment on scene since the first call out. Because of the volume of water being used local water supply was being sucked dry, requiring water to be shuttled via tanker from other areas.  The overhead night time shots in the link show just how massive the fire is. Fortunately no hazardous chemicals were in this building and the building for those was far enough away that the fire didn't spread to it.  This building stored paper products for manufacturers, the largest being Hudamaki, the manufacturer of Chinet paper plates. Despite temperatures in the high 90's only a couple FF's have been transported for heat and one other person for an unknown illness.




Wow.  That's a huge fire.  Hope nobody gets injured.


----------



## smoke665

Tropicalmemories said:


> Hope nobody gets injured.



Other then sore muscles and exhaustion most of the guys seem to be okay. By early afternoon the roof had collapsed, forcing them into defensive mode to contain and prevent spreading to other buildings. It will likely continue burning under the metal for several days.


----------



## SquarePeg

Prayers for their safety.


----------



## Jeff G

I'm excited, this last week has finally dropped down to the 70's and 80's. Finally cool enough to get some stuff done around the house. We just had Laminate flooring put in, and now we have started removing the popcorn ceiling, when that is done we will repaint the living room and dining room and start putting things back in order. At the rate we are going we might be done in a month or two. We have both been exhausted from work. I have been traing on three different new pieces of equipment at work for the last month, and my brain is frazzled. This is the wife's busy season at her office and she is in about the same frame of mind. We are looking forward to things settling back down again.


----------



## SquarePeg

Jeff G said:


> I'm excited, this last week has finally dropped down to the 70's and 80's. Finally cool enough to get some stuff done around the house. We just had Laminate flooring put in, and now we have started removing the popcorn ceiling, when that is done we will repaint the living room and dining room and start putting things back in order. At the rate we are going we might be done in a month or two. We have both been exhausted from work. I have been traing on three different new pieces of equipment at work for the last month, and my brain is frazzled. This is the wife's busy season at her office and she is in about the same frame of mind. We are looking forward to things settling back down again.



You’ll just get settled in time for the holiday madness to descend.  I made plans to travel in December and already regretting it and feeling the holiday time crunch.  With the calendar this year there are only 3 weekends in between Thanksgiving weekend and Christmas.  That always makes for a much busier end of year for work and social events.


----------



## smoke665

I don't know how I survived my working years.  In the office by 6:30 Mon-Friday and hardly ever got home before 7-8 of an evening, if I got home. The couch in my office was my bed many nights. Sat was easier, I slept in, didn't get in till 8 and usually home b4 2. Now I still get up at 5am, but drink coffee, answer emails, and watch the sun come up. After it's light out, Sadie an I do our morning hike. Mornings are my time now.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Just bought a little classic motorcycle based on photos, a video and a phone call.   Bad idea?   Probably.  

It will be delivered next week.


----------



## smoke665

Talking to some of the guys working the fire last night. Because of the water needed the local system couldn't keep up. Most of the equipment brought in by other departments were tankers to shuttle water  from other locations. Our guys set up our primary pumper next to a large creek not far from the fire. All told they were on the scene for 13hrs, during which time they filled 2400 tankers with almost 4,000,000 gallons of water. Proud of our guys they were smoking!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sounds like a fire that size could've been worse if the firefighters hadn't been able to keep it maintained as well as they did, a great effort by them.

Jeff you and your wife could make for a good pair of zombies for Halloween, no costume needed, just wander around and people may assume that's what you are!


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> One of the largest and oldest warehouses in our area caught on fire just after lunch yesterday, and is still going. Roughly 65 fire departments respond to Attalla warehouse fire At last count over 65 departments have sent men and equipment. Our department has had men and equipment on scene since the first call out. Because of the volume of water being used local water supply was being sucked dry, requiring water to be shuttled via tanker from other areas.  The overhead night time shots in the link show just how massive the fire is. Fortunately no hazardous chemicals were in this building and the building for those was far enough away that the fire didn't spread to it.  This building stored paper products for manufacturers, the largest being Hudamaki, the manufacturer of Chinet paper plates. Despite temperatures in the high 90's only a couple FF's have been transported for heat and one other person for an unknown illness.



Wow!  Hope everyone is safe.


----------



## smoke665

Last update, they've mostly contained the fire within the perimeter of the warehouse, and the only thing left burning is in the center under the collapsed roof. Businesses and schools were closed today because of the water shortage in the system. At last count only 3 FF out of the 150 plus on the ground have been hospitalized because of heat.  More than 30 FFs experienced heat exhaustion but received IVs from onsite medical personnel and went back to work fighting the fire. Tough bunch of guys we have.


----------



## Jeff G

SquarePeg said:


> You’ll just get settled in time for the holiday madness to descend.  I made plans to travel in December and already regretting it and feeling the holiday time crunch.  With the calendar this year there are only 3 weekends in between Thanksgiving weekend and Christmas.  That always makes for a much busier end of year for work and social events.



My niece is getting married in mid October and it's just going to get busier for the holidays. We haven't  had a vacation this year except for the few days we took off for errands and babysitting the floor installers, we decided to put the vacation budget into some much needed updates to the house. We will desperately need that vacation next year.



vintagesnaps said:


> Jeff you and your wife could make for a good pair of zombies for Halloween, no costume needed, just wander around and people may assume that's what you are!


 we have already decided not to decorate for Halloween this year due to the mess we have created, so being zombies is about as festive as we are going to get, would be awesome if we accidentally won a costume contest!


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all,
Around here holloween is quite quiet we may get a few of the local kids round, and a few carved pumpkins 
Last few years I have put glow sticks inside ours because of having cats


----------



## SquarePeg

I usually decorate for fall, not necessarily for Halloween although I did that when Princess was little.  Our street is busy so we don’t get a ton of trick or treaters.  I usually hang at a friends house a few streets away to see the cute kids in costume and help give out candy.  Our city has an adorable downtown trick or treat from 3-6 every year on Halloween for kids 8 and under.  Will definitely be dressing up the puppies and taking them to that.


----------



## terri

Hard to even think about Halloween and fall, in general, with these disgustingly high temps around here.   I've been thinking, "Next week, for sure!" for a month now, waiting for the weather to become more seasonal.   ugh!


----------



## Jeff G

We had a week of high 70's and low 80's and it was great, this weekend we are back up to the 90's. Mother nature is such a tease! Personally I'm looking forward to the days when 65 is the hi temp.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah, c'mon fall! One more day... 

I now have two huge mums! and I bought the smaller size, kids from the elementary school were selling them. I didn't expect them to be this big! had to rethink where to sit them. So that's the start of fall decor,I do more seasonal than real Halloween-y decor so I can just leave it up for awhile!


----------



## Original katomi

Flood warnings for my area, time to find the flood boards for the front and back doors


----------



## limr

It was hot as all (%&*#%&* get out today - 85F and 92% humidity - but it's supposed to rain tonight and drop the daytime high tomorrow down to 53F.

Happy doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about this.


----------



## otherprof

SquarePeg said:


> Went for a hike yesterday before dinner and this guy was just sitting almost at eye level only a few feet from the path.  The puppy didn’t know what to make of him.  Of course the only time I’ve ever gone to this trail without my camera!  Here’s a crappy cell phone pic.
> 
> View attachment 179382


I disagree. That’s a very good cell phone photo!


----------



## JonA_CT

limr said:


> It was hot as all (%&*#%&* get out today - 85F and 92% humidity - but it's supposed to rain tonight and drop the daytime high tomorrow down to 53F.
> 
> Happy doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about this.



I'm with you. I sweat all day, with the "A/C" running.

The windows are open and I'm waiting for the cold air to stream in. 


I hope you're all well. Things haven't quieted down much for me. I'm teaching, working at the brewery one day a week (plus other work from home), and I'm studying for the LSAT. I'm hoping to find some more time for some photography. In the mean time, here are a couple quick snap shots from this weekend -- we went to a corn maze that has a huge corn pit and hay rides. Both of my kids loved the crap out of the corn pit.


----------



## Original katomi

That has put me off corn flakes and sweet corn in a tin lol


----------



## snowbear

MLW is expecting to be moved to a new (unknown) position in the next few weeks.  Local government being what it is, when a new administration rolls in, many in the top level tends to be replaced; her boss is retiring at the end of the month (his replacement was selected months ago) and he will be the Fire Chief of Orlando, FL.

The incoming chief (now the Chief deputy) has the option to bring in someone else as her aide, and she's going to bring in whom she currently has, so MLW will have to move elsewhere.  She's at the top of her grade and won't be required to take a demotion; she may be moved to the to administrative assistant series.

This week has been hot but not real humid.  The mornings have been OK, mostly in the low to mid 70s.


----------



## Jeff G

Hope she lands somewhere she likes, office politics can suck if you get dropped in the wrong spot. Crossing my fingers for her.


----------



## snowbear

Jeff G said:


> Hope she lands somewhere she likes, office politics can suck if you get dropped in the wrong spot. Crossing my fingers for her.


Thanks.

It doesn't take very much to make her happy - don't make her take a demotion, and let her do her work.  There's one office in the Department that has expressed an interest in bringing her in, it just comes down to what the department is willing to do.  Someone is floating her name around in another office, but she's have to leave the IAFF.  My boss expressed an interest in getting her on board as a contractor to handle a few projects, but my company basically said it's extremely unlikely that they would put spouses on the same contract.  We're retiring (for real) in a few years, so most anything is tolerable.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> MLW is expecting to be moved to a new (unknown) position in the next few weeks.  Local government being what it is, when a new administration rolls in, many in the top level tends to be replaced; her boss is retiring at the end of the month (his replacement was selected months ago) and he will be the Fire Chief of Orlando, FL.
> 
> The incoming chief (now the Chief deputy) has the option to bring in someone else as her aide, and she's going to bring in whom she currently has, so MLW will have to move elsewhere.  She's at the top of her grade and won't be required to take a demotion; she may be moved to the to administrative assistant series.
> 
> This week has been hot but not real humid.  The mornings have been OK, mostly in the low to mid 70s.





snowbear said:


> Jeff G said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hope she lands somewhere she likes, office politics can suck if you get dropped in the wrong spot. Crossing my fingers for her.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> It doesn't take very much to make her happy - don't make her take a demotion, and let her do her work.  There's one office in the Department that has expressed an interest in bringing her in, it just comes down to what the department is willing to do.  Someone is floating her name around in another office, but she's have to leave the IAFF.  My boss expressed an interest in getting her on board as a contractor to handle a few projects, but my company basically said it's extremely unlikely that they would put spouses on the same contract.  We're retiring (for real) in a few years, so most anything is tolerable.
Click to expand...


I hope she gets something good that she enjoys!  I have been dealing with “tolerable“ for a bit after some recent changes and it is not great.  

Weather here was just short of brisk this morning with a killer sunrise of bright pink.  Love the fall.


----------



## otherprof

I've just finished the first week of an excellent, online, and free course about the origins of motion pictures in Victorian England. The course is produced by the British Film Institute and presented buy Futurelearn.com.  They present courses from accredited universities and esteemed institutions, and I've taken a number of courses from them, ranging from "Health and Wellbeing in the Ancient World" to "Forensic Science." (Ask me about blood splatters!)
I think this course, "The Living Picture Craze: An Introduction to Victorian Film,"  would be of interest to many Forum members. Just watching the many films included is worth the time, but the instructors are also very good.
As I wrote, the courses are free, but you have the option of paying a fee if you want a certificate or permanent access to the course after you complete it.
Right now I'm musing about the task of hand-coloring each frame in a 25 meter length of 35mm film! 

To check it out, or just browse among the courses, go to futurelearn.com.


----------



## terri

otherprof said:


> I've just finished the first week of an excellent, online, and free course about the origins of motion pictures in Victorian England. The course is produced by the British Film Institute and presented buy Futurelearn.com.  They present courses from accredited universities and esteemed institutions, and I've taken a number of courses from them, ranging from "Health and Wellbeing in the Ancient World" to "Forensic Science." (Ask me about blood splatters!)
> I think this course, "The Living Picture Craze: An Introduction to Victorian Film,"  would be of interest to many Forum members. Just watching the many films included is worth the time, but the instructors are also very good.
> As I wrote, the courses are free, but you have the option of paying a fee if you want a certificate or permanent access to the course after you complete it.
> Right now I'm musing about the task of hand-coloring each frame in a 25 meter length of 35mm film!
> 
> To check it out, or just browse among the courses, go to futurelearn.com.


That actually sounds like it was interesting and fun! 



otherprof said:


> Right now I'm musing about the task of hand-coloring each frame in a 25 meter length of 35mm film!


     Using what kind of medium, may I ask?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Interesting sounding course. I did TCM's summer courses (none was offered this year) - Film Noir, Hitchcock, Slapstick, and even Mad About Musicals (which isn't particularly my thing, and the course was really good and I enjoyed it more than I expected). I'm hoping they do more. 

The entire length of film?? That ought to be - a nice challenge! There's a short I've seen on TCM a number of times that shows behind the scenes of MGM studios in the silent era - you should see all the cameras lined up and cranking! - and there's a shot of employees sitting at tables tinting film...  

If you want to see a cool tinted film look (on YouTube) for 'The Adventures of Prince Achmed' from 1926 (or it's available from Milestone Films). It's an early animated fantasy done in silhouettes against vibrant colors. Here's a quick look at a showing with live accompaniment.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey it's Jon! Not surprised you've been busy with the start of school. Look at those kids!! he's getting big, and has she ever grown! Cute as can be. 

Charlie you and she will probably be glad when you can retire. Mine was early (in my early 50s) and not exactly planned, but I don't miss working or the job! I enjoyed the kids and families but after our long time director left and one thing and another, nobody had to ask twice about retiring early!


----------



## otherprof

terri said:


> otherprof said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've just finished the first week of an excellent, online, and free course about the origins of motion pictures in Victorian England. The course is produced by the British Film Institute and presented buy Futurelearn.com.  They present courses from accredited universities and esteemed institutions, and I've taken a number of courses from them, ranging from "Health and Wellbeing in the Ancient World" to "Forensic Science." (Ask me about blood splatters!)
> I think this course, "The Living Picture Craze: An Introduction to Victorian Film,"  would be of interest to many Forum members. Just watching the many films included is worth the time, but the instructors are also very good.
> As I wrote, the courses are free, but you have the option of paying a fee if you want a certificate or permanent access to the course after you complete it.
> Right now I'm musing about the task of hand-coloring each frame in a 25 meter length of 35mm film!
> 
> To check it out, or just browse among the courses, go to futurelearn.com.
> 
> 
> 
> That actually sounds like it was interesting and fun!
> 
> 
> 
> otherprof said:
> 
> 
> 
> Right now I'm musing about the task of hand-coloring each frame in a 25 meter length of 35mm film!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Using what kind of medium, may I ask?
Click to expand...

They explained that most of the hand colored ones no longer exist because the inks were very acidic and destroyed the film.


----------



## Original katomi

Sat up watching the world alethics last night, in addition I was watching how the press treated their cameras. It’s a hard life for some of their kit. I look at them working away, and wonder do they see the sports and the events  or do they see it as they photograph, ie shot by shot


----------



## terri

otherprof said:


> They explained that most of the hand colored ones no longer exist because the inks were very acidic and destroyed the film.



Okay.  Kinda what I thought.   Dyes were used, no special archival considerations applied.   It became better to make archival prints and use photo oils on the prints, which had archival properties themselves.   Prints could also be toned with selenium or sepia before applying the oils, which further added to the stability of the print.   Film/negatives didn't fare so well.  I wondered if you'd heard something different through this course, but it doesn't sound like they had anything new.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's cold! cold I say!! And I'm not complaining.

I'm thinking I'm going to take that course after watching the promo. TCM has shown a good bit of early films but the ones in the BFI promo are different than any I've seen (like the horse drawn carriages that almost wreck (early version of traffic!?!), or the dancer with the veils/scarves, etc., that I've seen a good bit!).

Katomi I've done sports and if I'm watching thru the viewfinder, especially with a telephoto lens, I'm seeing it as I'm photographing it. But I'm not seeing the game the same way as if I put the camera down and just watch the game. I've been at ice level during warmups or a practice and all of a sudden everything goes dark because there's a hockey player that looms up in front of me on the other side of the glass! lol


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> It's cold! cold I say!! And I'm not complaining.


It's hot!!  Hot here, I say - 98'F to be exact. 

And I AM COMPLAINING.   This is ridiculous.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Maybe I shouldn't LOL but Terri you made me laugh! I would try to send this cold air your way but going out on the porch with a fan and aiming it south probably isn't going to do the trick!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's cold! cold I say!! And I'm not complaining.
> 
> 
> 
> It's hot!!  Hot here, I say - 98'F to be exact.
> 
> And I AM COMPLAINING.   This is ridiculous.
Click to expand...


What???? That is ridiculous.  It is chilly here today.  Tomorrow is looking to be warmer and sunny.  

I was hoping for a bit of cloud cover and cooler temps tomorrow.  I'm hiking my first real NH "peak".  I do a lot of what I like to call horizontal hiking.  In the woods, up and down, around some lakes, small waterfalls, the occasional hill... nothing scary or steep.  No real elevation.  Tomorrow going with my brother who is a serious hiker for what he considers an easy hike - elevation only 2000'.   Skill level "moderate".  My brother is in the Nh 48 club - and has hiked all but one of the 48 4000+ foot peaks in the NH mountains.  I'm starting my hiking training for a photo trip I want to go on next year to either Glacier NP or Yellowstone.  But before I commit to that, I want to make sure I am in good enough hiking shape to hike with my equipment without being exhausted.    

Four-thousand footers - Wikipedia


----------



## smoke665

OMG I  found something that combines two of my favorites into one sandwich today. Fried Green Tomatoe BLT with special sauce. I'm hooked for life!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's cold! cold I say!! And I'm not complaining.
> 
> 
> 
> It's hot!!  Hot here, I say - 98'F to be exact.
> 
> And I AM COMPLAINING.   This is ridiculous.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> What???? That is ridiculous.  It is chilly here today.  Tomorrow is looking to be warmer and sunny.
> 
> I was hoping for a bit of cloud cover and cooler temps tomorrow.  I'm hiking my first real NH "peak".  I do a lot of what I like to call horizontal hiking.  In the woods, up and down, around some lakes, small waterfalls, the occasional hill... nothing scary or steep.  No real elevation.  Tomorrow going with my brother who is a serious hiker for what he considers an easy hike - elevation only 2000'.   Skill level "moderate".  My brother is in the Nh 48 club - and has hiked all but one of the 48 4000+ foot peaks in the NH mountains.  I'm starting my hiking training for a photo trip I want to go on next year to either Glacier NP or Yellowstone.  But before I commit to that, I want to make sure I am in good enough hiking shape to hike with my equipment without being exhausted.
> 
> Four-thousand footers - Wikipedia
Click to expand...

That sounds wonderful.   I love hiking and, like you, the best for me is to avoid constant ups and downs.   Especially when carrying a backpack of photo gear!

Tomorrow we're being promised a high of 77' F.  I'll believe it when I feel it.


----------



## otherprof

terri said:


> otherprof said:
> 
> 
> 
> They explained that most of the hand colored ones no longer exist because the inks were very acidic and destroyed the film.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Okay.  Kinda what I thought.   Dyes were used, no special archival considerations applied.   It became better to make archival prints and use photo oils on the prints, which had archival properties themselves.   Prints could also be toned with selenium or sepia before applying the oils, which further added to the stability of the print.   Film/negatives didn't fare so well.  I wondered if you'd heard something different through this course, but it doesn't sound like they had anything new.
Click to expand...

Not so far, but I’ve just started week two (of three).  I’ll reply here again if any interesting preservation/deterioration stuff comes up.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The season opening Hockey Night in Canada is tonight. Tomorrow I'm going to a Sunday afternoon college hockey game. All is well with the world.

And... it's cool and sunny. For now anyway!


----------



## smoke665

What a let down. Thought I'd found a new favorite food yesterday..........until last night. Apparently something was contaminated because DW and I spent most of the night in the bathroom with food poisoning. Mostly over it today, except for the occasional cramp. Called the restaurant and reported, will see if they do anything.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's cold! cold I say!! And I'm not complaining.
> 
> 
> 
> It's hot!!  Hot here, I say - 98'F to be exact.
> 
> And I AM COMPLAINING.   This is ridiculous.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> What???? That is ridiculous.  It is chilly here today.  Tomorrow is looking to be warmer and sunny.
> 
> I was hoping for a bit of cloud cover and cooler temps tomorrow.  I'm hiking my first real NH "peak".  I do a lot of what I like to call horizontal hiking.  In the woods, up and down, around some lakes, small waterfalls, the occasional hill... nothing scary or steep.  No real elevation.  Tomorrow going with my brother who is a serious hiker for what he considers an easy hike - elevation only 2000'.   Skill level "moderate".  My brother is in the Nh 48 club - and has hiked all but one of the 48 4000+ foot peaks in the NH mountains.  I'm starting my hiking training for a photo trip I want to go on next year to either Glacier NP or Yellowstone.  But before I commit to that, I want to make sure I am in good enough hiking shape to hike with my equipment without being exhausted.
> 
> Four-thousand footers - Wikipedia
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That sounds wonderful.   I love hiking and, like you, the best for me is to avoid constant ups and downs.   Especially when carrying a backpack of photo gear!
> 
> Tomorrow we're being promised a high of 77' F.  I'll believe it when I feel it.
Click to expand...


Made it to the top and back!  It was tough and I’m more out of shape than I thought.  It was beautiful and quiet when we were up there.  We headed up at 7am and reached the summit about 9.  We stayed up there about an hour I think then we started to get cold just standing around.  I did take some pics but the foliage in the area we were in has only just started to turn.  We passed so many people heading up on our way down - it must have been like a crowded city park on the summit by 1pm.  The hiking poles I borrowed from my sister in law were a huge help - especially on the way down which was steep and rocky.   Had lunch after at a little pub then stopped at the local Apple Festival for some treats.  All in all a great but exhausting day.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> What a let down. Thought I'd found a new favorite food yesterday..........until last night. Apparently something was contaminated because DW and I spent most of the night in the bathroom with food poisoning. Mostly over it today, except for the occasional cramp. Called the restaurant and reported, will see if they do anything.


That sucks!!!!!  Nothing worse than food poisoning...  glad you're over it (mostly).


----------



## smoke665

@tirediron definitely put a damper on the day. Finally ate a little for supper. Jury is still out on if I'll retain it.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

smoke665 said:


> @tirediron definitely put a damper on the day. Finally ate a little for supper. Jury is still out on if I'll retain it.



It's often the dehydration that makes you feel bad - drink plenty of water, or even better, rehydration salts.  Food can wait.


----------



## smoke665

Tropicalmemories said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @tirediron definitely put a damper on the day. Finally ate a little for supper. Jury is still out on if I'll retain it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's often the dehydration that makes you feel bad - drink plenty of water, or even better, rehydration salts.  Food can wait.
Click to expand...


Yeah we did lots of water, and the supper stayed in place, despite all the noises and grumbling. Hopefully today is the end of it.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Made it to the top and back! It was tough and I’m more out of shape than I thought. It was beautiful and quiet when we were up there. We headed up at 7am and reached the summit about 9. We stayed up there about an hour I think then we started to get cold just standing around. I did take some pics but the foliage in the area we were in has only just started to turn. We passed so many people heading up on our way down - it must have been like a crowded city park on the summit by 1pm. The hiking poles I borrowed from my sister in law were a huge help - especially on the way down which was steep and rocky. Had lunch after at a little pub then stopped at the local Apple Festival for some treats. All in all a great but exhausting day.


That really sounds like an awesome day!   Good on you to get up early and beat the crowd to the summit like that.   I've not used actual hiking poles, but good quality, sturdy walking sticks and they are terrific helpers on terrain like that.

It's time to explore apple festivals in my neck of the woods, now, too!   (Now that the temps are suddenly more seasonal and we're not battling 95+ degrees.)


----------



## vintagesnaps

Heading out for some hockey later. Hoping the rain holds off, getting in and out with a cane/walker etc. isn't so great if what you're hanging onto is getting wet. Warmups and the 1st will probably be it today, there's hockey again next weekend. At least it's not hot!


----------



## Fujidave

I see the stupid sad woman ran home to the USA claiming sad rules.  Please President send her back to the UK as she killed a young boy 

PM's plea to US to rethink immunity over crash


----------



## compur

Fujidave said:


> ...  she killed a young boy



When was the trial?


----------



## Fujidave

compur said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...  she killed a young boy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When was the trial?
Click to expand...



There was not trial, as the UK police wanted to talk to her as evidence shows she drove on wrong side of road and KILLED the boy, us embassey says diplomatic ammity which imo should NOT happen to family members.


----------



## compur

Fujidave said:


> There was not trial, as the UK police wanted to talk to her as evidence shows she drove on wrong side of road and KILLED the boy...



I don't know how it works in your country but in my country accused persons are considered innocent  until proven guilty via the courts. Being "wanted for questioning" is not proof of anything. Police always say what they believe. It's part of their job. But, it's up to the state to prove guilt.

And, falsely stating publicly that someone committed a serious crime is a serious crime in itself.


----------



## Fujidave

compur said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> There was not trial, as the UK police wanted to talk to her as evidence shows she drove on wrong side of road and KILLED the boy...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know how it works in your country but in my country accused persons are considered innocent  until proven guilty via the courts. Being "wanted for questioning" is not proof of anything. Police always say what they believe. It's part of their job. But, it's up to the state to prove guilt.
> 
> And, falsely stating publicly that someone committed a serious crime is a serious crime in itself.
Click to expand...


Think it might be the same as the USA, but she ran away before the police could talk to her but that was because the US lot told her to go home.  If she has any sort of love as a mother she should come back to the UK if only to talk to the police, but I don`t think she will.  The 1961 act should be sacked imo as it gives a person a chance to kill anyone then run off home.


----------



## Fujidave

compur said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> There was not trial, as the UK police wanted to talk to her as evidence shows she drove on wrong side of road and KILLED the boy...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know how it works in your country but in my country accused persons are considered innocent  until proven guilty via the courts. Being "wanted for questioning" is not proof of anything. Police always say what they believe. It's part of their job. But, it's up to the state to prove guilt.
> 
> And, falsely stating publicly that someone committed a serious crime is a serious crime in itself.
Click to expand...


Even if I have said what the UK police have said, is NOT a crime.  Why did said woman run away when told too then if it was an accident which sounds like it was as USA drive on other side or road to Uk then come back say, OH I`m sorry I drove on wrong side and knocked over the lad.


----------



## tirediron

While I agree that hiding behind the skirts of diplomatic immunity is a cowardly act, as Compur states, right now, she only guilty by her trial in the court of public opinion.  I think this might be an issue best left for the Subscriber's Forum...


----------



## Fujidave

tirediron said:


> While I agree that hiding behind the skirts of diplomatic immunity is a cowardly act, as Compur states, right now, she only guilty by her trial in the court of public opinion.  I think this might be an issue best left for the Subscriber's Forum...



OOOPs sorry I forgot about the Subcribers Forum.


----------



## Fujidave

Well it`s rained all day on & off, but thank god the sun might pop out tomorrow which will be nice as taking Mum out.


----------



## SquarePeg

Making some chicken stir fry tonight.  It's a pretty basic but super tasty and filling recipe that ticks all the boxes: sweet, savory, veggies, crunch, carbs and protein.  I make it with homemade teriyaki sauce, jasmine rice, snow peas, carrots, zuchini, yellow peppers, green onion, sprouts and chicken breast in a stove-top wok.  Princess has decided that my stir fry is her new favorite dish and she has been asking me to make it every day.  It's a bit of a pita to make it from scratch so I say yes only once per week...  Before this it was my homemade mac & cheese that she begged for and before that it was a different dish...  usually her infatuation lasts about 4 months during which I get sick of whatever it is in about a month then I teach her how to make it so she can drive me nuts cooking it for herself and her friends over and over for about 3 months before she decides she's off it too.   At least I can load my plate up with veggies and chicken and go light on the sauce and rice so it doesn't kill my diet.


----------



## snowbear

We got presents at work, today: the new desktops and monitors arrived.  We're going from four 24" monitors to two 42" or 48" (I don't recall which).

We're deep frying a turkey tomorrow or Wednesday.  We tried getting a fryer last year but everyone was sold out, so we jumped on this one when it went on sale.  We are looking at two herb marinades to try -- practice run before November since the sisters-in-law seem to be ready to celebrate this year.


----------



## Fujidave

Couple of grey clouds, but the rest is blue sky had forgotten what blue sky was so off to mums soon.


----------



## smoke665

Finally it looks as if summer has relinquished it's grip on us. After 120 consecutive days above 90, even some triple digit record breaking days the first of this month, we have finally started to cool down. Three more days of highs in the mid 80's, then it's 70's from there on, my kind of weather.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> We got presents at work, today: the new desktops and monitors arrived.  We're going from four 24" monitors to two 42" or 48" (I don't recall which).
> 
> We're deep frying a turkey tomorrow or Wednesday.  We tried getting a fryer last year but everyone was sold out, so we jumped on this one when it went on sale.  We are looking at two herb marinades to try -- practice run before November since the sisters-in-law seem to be ready to celebrate this year.


I'll be interested in hearing how it turns out!  This is something that I find interesting from a food prep viewpoint, but I'm very unlikely to ever try it on my own.   It sounds messy, but maybe it isn't - and it's hard to get past Thanksgiving without hearing about someone who sets their deck on fire while doing it.


----------



## Fujidave

Lovely time and day at mums today, cold here now.


----------



## snowbear

I got the new desktop and monitors set up, and cleaned up half of the work space.  Before I could get everything else done, we lost power.  I shut down (I have a large UPS so I can easily shut down safely) and switched over to the laptop to handle a few tasks.  Someone from the director's office came in and told us wee had to go outside because the fire alarm was sounding (the alarm panel was sounding, not the actual alarm claxon).  After about 20 minutes, we were given the all clear from fire activity, but the power was still out.  Ultimately we were sent home - we couldn't even sing in to the servers.



terri said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> We're deep frying a turkey tomorrow or Wednesday.  We tried getting a fryer last year but everyone was sold out, so we jumped on this one when it went on sale.  We are looking at two herb marinades to try -- practice run before November since the sisters-in-law seem to be ready to celebrate this year.
> 
> 
> 
> I'll be interested in hearing how it turns out!  This is something that I find interesting from a food prep viewpoint, but I'm very unlikely to ever try it on my own.   It sounds messy, but maybe it isn't - and it's hard to get past Thanksgiving without hearing about someone who sets their deck on fire while doing it.
Click to expand...

That is always a concern.  This one is electric, and designed for indoors.  The maximum oil level (3.75 gallons) is at the half-way point of the tank so there shouldn't be any issue with displacement overflowing the tank.  We shall see how it goes this weekend: we've decided to put it off because we normally don't get home soon enough to try it during the week.  One of the biggest things to do is get the surface of the turkey absolutely dry; we all know water and oil don't mix but water and hot oil can be downright frightening.


----------



## CherylL

I took a few photos of the 6 and 9 yo grands after school.  Afterwards they wanted to take photos of me and their mother.  I was nervous because I didn't have the strap on the 5D.   They didn't drop it thankfully.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> I took a few photos of the 6 and 9 yo grands after school.  Afterwards they wanted to take photos of me and their mother.  I was nervous because I didn't have the strap on the 5D.   They didn't drop it thankfully.



no one uses my camera without the strap


----------



## SquarePeg

Puppy cuteness


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> I took a few photos of the 6 and 9 yo grands after school.  Afterwards they wanted to take photos of me and their mother.  I was nervous because I didn't have the strap on the 5D.   They didn't drop it thankfully.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> no one uses my camera without the strap
Click to expand...

FTFY


----------



## Fujidave

Rain on and off here, but on a great note hope to pick up my new Xpro2 this week


----------



## CherylL

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> I took a few photos of the 6 and 9 yo grands after school.  Afterwards they wanted to take photos of me and their mother.  I was nervous because I didn't have the strap on the 5D.   They didn't drop it thankfully.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> no one uses my camera without the strap
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> FTFY
Click to expand...


When I have the tripod I let them push the button or use the remote.  But, yes I was a tad careless yesterday.  I bought the Fuji XP140 for them to use.  It can be dropped from 8 feet.


----------



## pixmedic

When you know just what to get your work partner for his special day....
Nothing makes a medic look good better than a great EMT, so i dont skimp on mine.






Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> I took a few photos of the 6 and 9 yo grands after school.  Afterwards they wanted to take photos of me and their mother.  I was nervous because I didn't have the strap on the 5D.   They didn't drop it thankfully.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> no one uses my camera without the strap
Click to expand...


With a strap or even without a strap, No one uses any of my cameras.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Fujidave said:


> With a strap or even without a strap, No one uses any of my cameras.



My daughter used one of my old point and shoots on a trip to Virginia Beach. When I got it back, sand was preventing the shutter from closing


----------



## tirediron

Someone likes someone!


----------



## snowbear

Work space is almost back to normal; there are still a few things to do once I regain the administrative rights on the machine.




IMG_1181 by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## CherylL

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> With a strap or even without a strap, No one uses any of my cameras.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My daughter used one of my old point and shoots on a trip to Virginia Beach. When I got it back, sand was preventing the shutter from closing
Click to expand...


Wow, how did the sand get into the camera?  I lent one of my camcorders to my daughter for her Florida vacation years ago.  It did come back like it left.   When cell phones got better I told her to just shoot video of their vacation on the cell and I would edit.  She is left handed so the phone was turned opposite.  (at least it wasn't vertical video)  It was annoying to scrub thru the video upside down before I put it in the timeline.   I've loaned out my GoPro to the other daughter.   I will not lend out my Fuji or Canon.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

CherylL said:


> how did the sand get into the camera?



Your guess is as good as mine She said she had no idea. After a good blowout with a low pressure air hose, it was good as new though.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Work space is almost back to normal; there are still a few things to do once I regain the administrative rights on the machine.



Like I told my son when he texted me pictures of his new monitors.......That's just wrong!! LOL My ADD would be all over the place, I wouldn't be able to get anything done, trying to settle on a spot to look at.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Work space is almost back to normal; there are still a few things to do once I regain the administrative rights on the machine.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Like I told my son when he texted me pictures of his new monitors.......That's just wrong!! LOL My ADD would be all over the place, I wouldn't be able to get anything done, trying to settle on a spot to look at.
Click to expand...

I had four in the front and two (three with the laptop open) on the side.  Believe me, when I'm in the zone, I'll use it all:  Outlook is top-left for email, main GIS software window is bottom left, web browser is top right and other things at bottom right - typically Word, Excel or the GIS attributes table (which nooks like a spreadsheet).  Amazon music or iTunes is set om the small player and on top towards the middle (lower right corner of  Outlook).

I might switch these to side-by-side it my neck starts to bother me.  I'm not using the laptop in the office that much, so I ditched one monitor.  I'm contemplating bringing the 24" home for the occasions I telecommute.


----------



## snowbear

Sand?  Maybe she had it on a blanket and folks waking by with sand on their feet.  I remember camping near the beach, as a kid, and we ended up getting sand in everything, including the food.  At least it wasn't salt water ... that will corrode electronics, like the old pagers/beepers, in the matter of a couple hours.


----------



## Braineack

Need suggestions for a (4) camera harness.





j/k -- but I think I have enough redundancy for a wedding this weekend.


----------



## Fujidave

Thank you Jessops for my shiny new Fuji Xpro2.


----------



## SquarePeg

Braineack said:


> Need suggestions for a (4) camera harness.
> 
> View attachment 180585
> 
> j/k -- but I think I have enough redundancy for a wedding this weekend.


----------



## Braineack

I'm only bringing (4) bodies, (5) speedlights, (3) strobes, (7) lenses, and a bunch of other junk...


----------



## smoke665

Braineack said:


> I'm only bringing (4) bodies, (5) speedlights, (3) strobes, (7) lenses, and a bunch of other junk...



Have you considered one of these? They're rated for 1200#


----------



## Braineack

yes, actually.  I bought a foldable hand-truck.

Part of it is that I need to have a photo-booth up and running for about an hour.  My 2nd will run that during cocktail hour. Apparently it's common at asian weddings for the B&G to pose with every guest for a picture.  I have a little 4x6 printer and everything.

I plan to just setup my large 3x4' softbox as a single light source just above and off camera-axis.  But I'll bring a second stand and strobe just in case.

One of the D800s will be devoted to that.  I'm borrowing it, used it before, and I think it has the back-focus problem.  at f/8-11 it doesn't really matter. this will be set and forget.

My third strobe is a battery powered unit with a strobe head I can mount on a monopod and mount my 32" softbox on it for lighting for posed portraits.  To use like this: https://wasabiphotography.com/in-re...8-behind-the-scenes-outtakes-05-2560x1707.jpg

Then the biggest problem is I'm supplying pretty much all the equipment for my second.  He's going to be more of an assistant than a shooter, but needed to make sure we are both covered.


----------



## smoke665

Braineack said:


> yes, actually.  I bought a foldable hand-truck.



Good luck on the wedding!! May the weather be fair, the bride be a beauty, and the groom sober. LOL


----------



## snowbear

Braineack said:


> Need suggestions for a (4) camera harness.
> 
> View attachment 180585
> 
> j/k -- but I think I have enough redundancy for a wedding this weekend.


A second shooter.


----------



## CherylL

Fujidave said:


> Thank you Jessops for my shiny new Fuji Xpro2.



Congrats on the new camera.  Why the Xpro2 and not a XT3?


----------



## CherylL

I went to a visitation today and the woman loved to take photos.  The family had her camera next to her.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> I went to a visitation today and the woman loved to take photos.  The family had her camera next to her.



that’s sweet


----------



## Fujidave

CherylL said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you Jessops for my shiny new Fuji Xpro2.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats on the new camera.  Why the Xpro2 and not a XT3?
Click to expand...


I already have the X-T3 plus X-H1 and now the Xpro2, as I only want prime lenses now.


----------



## Fujidave

Chucking it down here today and very windy too.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you Jessops for my shiny new Fuji Xpro2.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats on the new camera.  Why the Xpro2 and not a XT3?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I already have the X-T3 plus X-H1 and now the Xpro2, as I only want prime lenses now.
Click to expand...


Are you using each one for something different?  The camera bodies that is, not the lenses.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you Jessops for my shiny new Fuji Xpro2.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats on the new camera.  Why the Xpro2 and not a XT3?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I already have the X-T3 plus X-H1 and now the Xpro2, as I only want prime lenses now.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Are you using each one for something different?  The camera bodies that is, not the lenses.
Click to expand...


At the moment I`m using the three cameras for just my jazz gig shots, today I`m taking the X-T3 + XF50mm f2 and the Xpro2 + XF35mm f2.  When it is a really dark pub gig I take the X-H1 + XF16mm f1.4.


----------



## snowbear

Reminds me of how it was done back in the day, before zooms.

When I was in tenth grade, I was downtown and went by Blair House (DC) where visiting dignitaries tended to stay.  I saw a few reporters at a police line at the end of the building and wandered over (with my Hi-Matic).  I noticed one reporter had three bodies with different lenses - what was probably a 28 or 35, I'm sure a 50, and probably a 105.

A few minutes later, then Senator Edmund Musky and Golda Meir come over to talk with the reporters.  I have a couple of slides, but in mom's house.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Golda Meir?? and a Hi Matic!! Cool to have gotten to be in that right place at that right time.

Rainy today and not sure about tomorrow so not sure what I'm doing tomorrow.


----------



## RowdyRay

I am so sick of rain. If we haven't broken the record for the wettest year, we will shortly. Cruddy all week. Windy and raining all day. Now the temp plummeted and snowing like crazy. Guess parts of the Dakotas are impassable. Too early for this crap!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all,  cold and wet  here,  every time I try and get to do some photography something happens. Ach well such is life


----------



## smoke665

Coming off of 120 days of continuous temperatures in excess of 90 degrees and drought conditions, it looks like summer is finally releasing it's grip on us. Rain showers have started moving through, and the highs in the low to mid 70's. Life is good!


----------



## snowbear

Mid 60s when we got to the restaurant last night (we still sat out on the patio).  We decided to close the window before bed -- it was 46, overnight.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Mid 60s when we got to the restaurant last night (we still sat out on the patio).  We decided to close the window before bed -- it was 46, overnight.


That sounds so lovely!   It's so much better here, but still dry.  We're sunny and mild, enjoying the last of the hummingbirds at the feeder.   They're likely transitional birds, passing through while preparing for their big fall migration.    The rain in the forecast is definitely welcome, and will likely be the end of hummer sightings.


----------



## smoke665

Wow!!!!!!!!! Somebody is going to be in big trouble over this.


----------



## CherylL

Fujidave said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you Jessops for my shiny new Fuji Xpro2.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats on the new camera.  Why the Xpro2 and not a XT3?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I already have the X-T3 plus X-H1 and now the Xpro2, as I only want prime lenses now.
Click to expand...


Does the Xpro2 have the hidden screen?


----------



## limr

I am sooooooo happy that summer and Indian summer are finally gone!!

Did the brakes on the Mazda today. Now Ponch doesn't have to save me when my brakes fail just as I am heading down a California mountain road  

Also bought a new phone (to be delivered on Monday.) There was an issue with a notification for two phantom voicemails that kept showing up. Long story short, I spent much time interacting with Verizon customer service and technical support and we did everything short of a factory reset. Nothing worked. So the last thing left for me to try was a complete factory reset. Did that last night. We have yet to see if it worked.

The reason for the new phone, though, was because having to set up the phone (Samsung Galaxy s7) again as if it's new made me realize just how much I hate all the bloatware that comes from the manufacturer. It took me all day - and I'm still not quite done - just to basically strip down all the preloaded crap that I neither need nor want, and then to take the rest of the apps that I use and change all the defaults to turn off all of the auto-this and auto-that bullshit. It also reminded me of the fact that I never really liked this phone, and there were a few things that I downright hated.

And so, it's time for an unlocked Android One phone - good phones with a stripped-down stock OS - pure Android, with no preloaded crap from Samsung or LG or whatever. I chose the Nokia 7.2, which should get here on Monday.


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> Reminds me of how it was done back in the day, before zooms.
> 
> When I was in tenth grade, I was downtown and went by Blair House (DC) where visiting dignitaries tended to stay.  I saw a few reporters at a police line at the end of the building and wandered over (with my Hi-Matic).  I noticed one reporter had three bodies with different lenses - what was probably a 28 or 35, I'm sure a 50, and probably a 105.
> 
> A few minutes later, then Senator Edmund Musky and Golda Meir come over to talk with the reporters.  I have a couple of slides, but in mom's house.



Wow Golda Meir and Edmund Musky?  I haven't heard their names in ages.


----------



## Jeff G

smoke665 said:


> Wow!!!!!!!!! Somebody is going to be in big trouble over this.



Dang, hard to tell if those people running away got clear.


----------



## SquarePeg

Latest reports are saying at least 1 dead, 2 missing and a bunch injured.  Scary how it just collapsed like that.


----------



## Tony744

Gonna be mostly sunny and in the mid 60s today. Should be a good day to see the WWII battle reenactment at the American Heritage Museum


----------



## Original katomi

morning all.


----------



## tirediron

Jeff G said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow!!!!!!!!! Somebody is going to be in big trouble over this.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dang, hard to tell if those people running away got clear.
Click to expand...

To quote the site superintendent.... "Oops!"


----------



## Braineack

kill me now.


----------



## tirediron

Braineack said:


> kill me now.
> 
> View attachment 180721


Always willing to help a fellow photographer; any particular reason?


----------



## Braineack

I took 4419 images in a 15 hour period and now I have to process them.


----------



## tirediron

Braineack said:


> I took 4419 images in a 15 hour period


Why?????



Braineack said:


> and now I have to process them.


Have fun with that?


----------



## Braineack

tirediron said:


> Braineack said:
> 
> 
> 
> I took 4419 images in a 15 hour period
> 
> 
> 
> Why?????
> 
> 
> 
> Braineack said:
> 
> 
> 
> and now I have to process them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Have fun with that?
Click to expand...


See, now you get it.

Vietnamese wedding.  Started at 8:30am, and the morning ceremonies went till about 2pm.  Then I had to head over to the hotel to get ready for the american reception, that went until midnight.  Between me and my second, we took a metric ton of shots.


----------



## vintagesnaps

But still... doesn't that tell you something? I've done events, weekend/2 day with a lot going on, a lot to cover, maybe took a couple/three hundred or so. What are you and/or a client ever going to do with even a portion of those 4 thousand pictures?

Between that and a camera that wasn't back focusing concsistently and an assistant that sounded like more of a schlepper than an experienced photographer, it didn't exactly sound like the best or most professional way of going about this, it seems more like counting on firing off shots and hoping enough turn out OK. Not sure this is going to be the best way over the long haul to be successful and have fun doing this.


----------



## smoke665

To each their own method of work, but I have to admit that like the others 4k plus images sounds like a lot. If my math is right at 15 seconds per image to load, view, pick and cull that's over 18 man hrs just to do the initial cull, which doesn't account for bathroom stops, and eye strain breaks.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> To each their own method of work, but I have to admit that like the others 4k plus images sounds like a lot. If my math is right at 15 seconds per image to load, view, pick and cull that's over 18 man hrs just to do the initial cull, which doesn't account for bathroom stops, and eye strain breaks.



I'm thinking next week, he has a new hobby


----------



## Braineack

Professional image sorter.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Latest reports are saying at least 1 dead, 2 missing and a bunch injured.  Scary how it just collapsed like that.



Two dead so far, but search, for more continues. Still no word on the cause.


----------



## Braineack




----------



## Fujidave

Thinking about making an Ark, as still rain here and to the point it is really peeving me off and wish it would clear off up north.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Two dead so far, but search, for more continues. Still no word on the cause.


The radio news said there is one unaccounted for.



Fujidave said:


> Thinking about making an Ark, as still rain here and to the point it is really peeving me off and wish it would clear off up north.


Get a big 3D printer . . . the University of Maine just "printed" a 20-foot patrol boat.


----------



## snowbear

Well, the deep fryer and the turkey played well together; there're a couple minutes of cooling time left.




Not Just for Thanksgiving by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## tirediron

Looks tasty...  where's the cranberry sauce?


----------



## SquarePeg

That looks yummy!


----------



## snowbear

No berries this time around.  It could have used 5 or so fewer minutes but I think it's good.  Dress rehearsal for November.


----------



## Original katomi

Yumm


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> No berries this time around.  It could have used 5 or so fewer minutes but I think it's good.  Dress rehearsal for November.



Did you brine?


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Well, the deep fryer and the turkey played well together; there're a couple minutes of cooling time left.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not Just for Thanksgiving by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


Wow, that looks like it turned out beautifully! 

Guess you're over the fear factor now. 

....where's the cherry pie?


----------



## pixmedic

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

Purely for medicinal purposes of course, right?


----------



## smoke665

The description on that scotch, said it pairs well with chocolate. Two of the basic food groups covered......sounds like a winner to me!


----------



## pixmedic

tirediron said:


> Purely for medicinal purposes of course, right?



i have a prescription for it...somewhere around here. 
wow. that pic is tilted as $@%. 

ill just call it a Dutch tilt...and it was totally done for creative purposes and not because im on my 4th glass.


----------



## pixmedic

smoke665 said:


> The description on that scotch, said it pairs well with chocolate. Two of the basic food groups covered......sounds like a winner to me!


 



Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> ill just call it a Dutch  Scotch tilt...and it was totally done for creative purposes and not because im on my 4th glass.



FTFY


----------



## vintagesnaps

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! 

Good weekend for a trial run of cooking turkey. Or for drinking a fine beverage that goes well with chocolate (of course anytime is good for that!).

Apparently a good reason for dual citizenship, according to a former player doing commentary this weekend - to have Thanksgiving twice!


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Did you brine?


No - Injected with a pre-mix veggie brine (it was OK) and light dry rub with a Cajun blend (it worked).  It's a work in progress - I thought it could have used a bit more salt, and I never add salt after cooking.



terri said:


> Guess you're over the fear factor now.
> ....where's the cherry pie?


You have to make sure you lower the bird in very slowly - it spatters a bit and the oil really boils up.

Funny about the pie ... I went to see my new NP that morning and got a lecture and a half about my blood sugar.  I agreed to good from now, on, so the pie would have been out, anyway.  Once things are under control, I'll have a sliver once in a while.


----------



## smoke665

Lot to get done this week. Yesterday was kind of a bust. Drove to town to take care of several business items and totally forgot it was Columbus Day. All the State, Federal offices, and Banks closed.  So now I'm a day behind as I head back in today. At least we have fall weather finally.


----------



## SquarePeg

Not a fan of the half ass holidays where the kids don't have school, banks are closed but I have to work!  The only good thing about it was that when I was driving home from a quick day trip up to Maine on Sunday, we didn't hit the usual Sunday late afternoon traffic.  I guess most people were taking a 3 day weekend.  Alas!  Poor Suarepeg - she had to work.


----------



## stapo49

I have obviously become a photography snob. When I view peoples images on other sites I think these are great but, you didn't straighten the bloody horizon! lol


----------



## SquarePeg

stapo49 said:


> I have obviously become a photography snob. When I view peoples images on other sites I think these are great but, you didn't straighten the bloody horizon! lol



That is definitely the giveaway for someone who either is new or who only posts on sites where it’s all likes and gold stars.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Not a fan of the half ass holidays where the kids don't have school, banks are closed but I have to work!  The only good thing about it was that when I was driving home from a quick day trip up to Maine on Sunday, we didn't hit the usual Sunday late afternoon traffic.  I guess most people were taking a 3 day weekend.  Alas!  Poor Suarepeg - she had to work.


Well... just full-ass it; *Cough* *Cough*


----------



## vintagesnaps

Schools around here seem to have an inservice day, or conference day, or whatever. Not much of a holiday but it was quiet, no cars/kids going or coming from school. 

We never had this day off because our county agency's logic thought Columbus Day was the day after Thanksgiving! lol


----------



## NE-KID

Good morning everyone.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> We never had this day off because our county agency's logic thought Columbus Day was the day after Thanksgiving! lol


"Employee Appreciation Day" in the work county, though, as a contractor I have to take leave.  It became a holiday about 20 or 25 years ago, mainly because everyone took off, anyway.



AHotPhototaker said:


> Good morning everyone.


Good morning, to you.


----------



## Original katomi

Very morning here to all of you.@00:03 BST/UT
Night all.


----------



## smoke665

You're heading into the day, we're headed out. Rained off and on most of the morning finally had clearing skies, by 11. The rest of the day here was one of those ideal days, blue sky, sunny, 72 degrees and a light wind.


----------



## limr

Played hooky today and took a few pics with the new phone (Nokia 7.2). The lenses are Zeiss, apparently.


----------



## terri

Nice!  Guess you're pretty pleased with this.  They look great.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Nice!  Guess you're pretty pleased with this.  They look great.



Thanks! Yeah, it seemed to perform pretty well in tricky light and with those really funky skies over the water. I'm also still astounded at the shell I found.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.
I haven't played hooky (or hockey) in a long time.  Nice shots - which beach was that?

I'm still working on a bunch of data updates - yesterday I went through and validated airports and cemeteries; I redraw the boundaries to conform to property parcels, where needed.

No real plans for the weekend.


----------



## smoke665

What a difference a few days makes. Went from highs bumping triple digits and lows in 70's to a comfortable high of 70 yesterday, to 40 this morning. Best of all starting to see just a little spattering of color here and there.


----------



## NE-KID

Good morning from Murica.


----------



## SquarePeg

Nice!  2 and 5 are magic.


----------



## Jeff G

Right back at ya Jamie!


----------



## NE-KID

Jeff G said:


> Right back at ya Jamie!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Good morning, peeps.
> I haven't played hooky (or hockey) in a long time.  Nice shots - which beach was that?
> 
> I'm still working on a bunch of data updates - yesterday I went through and validated airports and cemeteries; I redraw the boundaries to conform to property parcels, where needed.
> 
> No real plans for the weekend.



Thanks, Charlie. That was Silver Sands, just west of New Haven. Long Island Sound, not "proper" ocean, but big and salty, so it did the trick.  I am happiest right next to big salty water. 



SquarePeg said:


> Nice!  2 and 5 are magic.



Thanks! I was also pleased, especially for what were essentially test shots.

Other than an issue with not being able to make calls (the phone just came out in Sept and Verizon doesn't sell it, so it's not yet properly added into their systems yet - should be fixed today), I am pleased with the new phone. The stock Android OS without manufacturer bloatware is such a relief. And it means I also get a lot more battery life.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> That was Silver Sands, just west of New Haven. Long Island Sound, not "proper" ocean, but big and salty, so it did the trick. I am happiest right next to big salty water.


We may have stopped near for a breather on one of the trips north; I'll have to look on the maps.

Be sure to let me know when you want to come visit the Chessie Bay.  I don't recall if you like shellfish - if so and the time is right it'll be steamed crabs - the real ones, with Old Bay.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, peeps.
> I haven't played hooky (or hockey) in a long time.  Nice shots - which beach was that?
> 
> I'm still working on a bunch of data updates - yesterday I went through and validated airports and cemeteries; I redraw the boundaries to conform to property parcels, where needed.
> 
> No real plans for the weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, Charlie. That was Silver Sands, just west of New Haven. Long Island Sound, not "proper" ocean, but big and salty, so it did the trick.  I am happiest right next to big salty water.
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nice!  2 and 5 are magic.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thanks! I was also pleased, especially for what were essentially test shots.
> 
> Other than an issue with not being able to make calls (the phone just came out in Sept and Verizon doesn't sell it, so it's not yet properly added into their systems yet - should be fixed today), I am pleased with the new phone. The stock Android OS without manufacturer bloatware is such a relief. And it means I also get a lot more battery life.
Click to expand...


_I went in the opposite direction and got a new iphone 11.  It just came today.  So far I love it.  It's smaller than my previous phone but the screen is bigger so more convenient to carry but no lost eye candy.  New camera has wide angle and telephoto.  I don't tend to take a ton of iphone photos but maybe that will change.  It's 128GB which is a huge improvement over my previous iphone 6s 16gb which was always having issues with not enough space to update.  _


----------



## vintagesnaps

I like the one of the shell, that's cool. The others seem a little dark, but I like the one of the single tree. 

Be careful Charlie with the cemetaries, you know what happened in Poltergeist! I should stop staying up late watching such movies. They do have a watch/look back feature but I never seem to get back to whatever I started watching.

TCM has been showing Godzilla movies on Friday nights, I never knew there were so many Japanese 'monsters' in so many low budget movies with bad acting. Tonight is one with '_all_ the monsters'. Thankfully there's hockey on!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leo I was going to ask you about your phone the other day. Mine quit working completely and I was looking at a 'retro' style Nokia that's unlocked (and was sold more in Europe/Asia than in the US but Amazon has it). 

If I get that but only pay for basic service I have now (my phone is a stupid phone, not a smart one! lol) would I be able to just use it, you know, as a phone?? As in to call someone? I just have no need for a smart phone.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just pulled the plug on this weekend's hiking plans due to how much rain we got in that area.  Was thinking of trying to get one more scenic foliage drive in but from what I've been reading on line, the wind and rain of the storm the past 2 days has devastated the foliage and it's over 

I may be forced to do chores and yard work


----------



## snowbear

NE-KID said:


> Good morning from Murica.


I'm not sure where that is (and I'm a geographer) -- is it near Alabama?  



vintagesnaps said:


> Be careful Charlie with the cemetaries, you know what happened in Poltergeist! I should stop staying up late watching such movies. They do have a watch/look back feature but I never seem to get back to whatever I started watching.
> 
> TCM has been showing Godzilla movies on Friday nights, I never knew there were so many Japanese 'monsters' in so many low budget movies with bad acting. Tonight is one with '_all_ the monsters'. Thankfully there's hockey on!


It's all remote sensing: if it looks like there are tombstones in the aerial, it's verified.

I always said the biggest reason Japan lost the war was because their army had so many defeats against Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, etc.

Let's Go Caps!


----------



## NE-KID

snowbear said:


> NE-KID said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning from Murica.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure where that is (and I'm a geographer) -- is it near Alabama?
Click to expand...


It's over there some where.


----------



## stapo49

Finally getting some warmth here. A lovely 33 Celsius today.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## Original katomi

Just a bit of sun here for a change, hope it lasts long enough to dry the washing.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

stapo49 said:


> Finally getting some warmth here. A lovely 33 Celsius today.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk



GM! It's a chilly 34 Fahrenheit here!


----------



## smoke665

Cool and rainy day here. Time to light the fireplace, and kick back.


----------



## limr

stapo49 said:


> Finally getting some warmth here. A lovely 33 Celsius today.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## Original katomi

She does not look to happy about being photo’d


----------



## terri

Rainy, cool, and a totally inside kind of day.  It is a beautiful thing, considering that 2 weeks ago, we were dry and baking under the sun, with 98'F temps.  It was disgusting! 

Today makes it all better.     I may even  get some soup going.


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> She does not look to happy about being photo’d



Nor about the idea of 33C.


----------



## SquarePeg

High 50’s here today.  No hiking this weekend . Got the yard work done and put all the patio furniture away for the season.  Going to be 60’s all week but won’t have time to get to it later and then it will be too cold to use the deck anyway. I left one chair out for when I sit out there while the pups play .  

Puppy had the zoomies today and ran a crazy 8 loop around the yard over and over and over while we worked.  She’s sleeping now having really worn herself out.  A nap seems like a good idea...  zzzz. Zzzz. Zzzz


----------



## Fujidave

X-T3 + XF35mm f2 yesterday at a jazz gig, this is Martin a lovely gentleman who loves to draw and paint the jazz artists, I have printed it up to give him.  




Martin by Dave, on Flickr

After helping Mum tomorrow, I`m off to shoot a jazz gig in town, the lady has come over from LA to see friends and sing some jazz gigs.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's actually sunny (mostly, it can't quite decide) and fall has hardly started here; some leaves are turning yellow, some falling, and it's been about the same for the past couple weeks. I expect they'll turn brown and fall off all at once.

Woke up hoarse etc. and thought it might get better but hasn't. So doubt we're going to a game after all, especially with it being parents weekend and a noisy zoo. Gonna see when my best friend gets off work in a bit if she wants to come on up or another time or what we'll do. At least there's hockey on the tele, I just better not watch a game that makes be want to yell/cheer!

Maybe I need Terri to send me some soup!! lol Guess there's always opening a can... (I _could_ actually make some... I could but I don't feel like cooking!)

edit - My friend thought of where she could stop for soup _and_ get a couple of chicken dinners! winner winner!


----------



## Original katomi

Ahhh just seen the time, 01:45BST been on the I pad way too long. Night all


----------



## smoke665

Lots of errands this morning. Finally ordered DW a new car. Seriously thought about switching brands, or models but in the end she went back with another Ford Escape. Now over for some routine service on the truck, and hopefully back home before to long. Now that the rain has stopped have some outside work to do.


----------



## smoke665

Sharing here because at this point the little girl could be anywhere. I can't even imagine the agony the parents and family are going through. Search fails to turn up missing 3-year-old Alabama girl


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh, I hate to see something like that. 

Getting some sun as the day goes on, the cold front was really blowing thru earlier. Was thinking about doing some leaf lumen prints since Mother Nature finally decided it's October and time to fling some leaves into the yard, maybe this weekend. Or maybe some more on fabric if I have some left.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Marx Brothers movies on this afternoon, some of their later ones that aren't necessarily the best. But this one had a scene where one of the bad guys picked up a camera off a table of (early) press cameras and replaced it with a big wooden box camera with a gun inside. That's not what's meant by loading a camera!!

edit - Well of course Groucho and Chico grabbed that camera, the lights went out, the bad guy got the gun out of it, and they were in a darkroom with Harpo developing the photo they took. A chase ensues, thru a dept. store, and they ended up on roller skates - still carrying the picture!


----------



## snowbear

I ran into a Deluge on the way to the hotel, or rather it ran into me.  The fast wiper speed could barely keep up for a little while.  It’s no longer raining and 66 degrees.

Dinner is at Denny’s (Caesar salad with grilled chicken).  Unfortunately ABBA is on the sound system.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> Sharing here because at this point the little girl could be anywhere. I can't even imagine the agony the parents and family are going through. Search fails to turn up missing 3-year-old Alabama girl



I hope they find her soon.  She has been on the news everyday so at least the media is keeping it fresh.


----------



## CherylL

I am behind on the Halloween photos this year.  The pups still need to get groomed.  I shot 2 of the 3 grandkids.  Between their activities, fevers, and strep throat hard to squeeze in.  The 6yo's cheer squad competition the other night in a gym.  I took the XT-2 and 50-140 and had to bump up the ISO.  Not the best shots, but my only long lens.  Fun to see the other teams perform.   There are 3 different age groups in each team so different to see them all perform as one unit.  One of the other teams did a gyrating number for their musical portion.  I'm getting old because I thought it was distasteful to see 6 to 12 yo's dancing that way.  My daughter and some of our team moms thought the same thing.  My grand daughter's team and the other 8 teams did cute age appropriate dance numbers.


----------



## smoke665

@CherylL despite the reward climbing there aren't many new leads coming in.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> I am behind on the Halloween photos this year.  The pups still need to get groomed.  I shot 2 of the 3 grandkids.  Between their activities, fevers, and strep throat hard to squeeze in.  The 6yo's cheer squad competition the other night in a gym.  I took the XT-2 and 50-140 and had to bump up the ISO.  Not the best shots, but my only long lens.  Fun to see the other teams perform.   There are 3 different age groups in each team so different to see them all perform as one unit.  One of the other teams did a gyrating number for their musical portion.  I'm getting old because I thought it was distasteful to see 6 to 12 yo's dancing that way.  My daughter and some of our team moms thought the same thing.  My grand daughter's team and the other 8 teams did cute age appropriate dance numbers.



The first thing I learned when Princess was into cheer was earplugs are a must for all the indoor competitions.  Those gyms have terrible sound systems and the techno music is enough to make you crazy.   I do not miss it.


----------



## smoke665

I was afraid of this as the days past. So sad, the evil out there that could do this to a child. Kamille ‘Cupcake’ McKinney’s body believed found in dumpster


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> I am behind



Don't feel bad, I  managed a couple sets with granddaughter but still have a couple shoot, two family shoots, a set of twins and a project shoot. All outside, all fall theme, unfortunately the leaves have not been very cooperative.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Saw that about the little girl, how awful.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leaves have been coming down here! All of a sudden, whoosh! The guy who does my yard is coming up shortly.

Nice sunny day and one side of my head/nose started dripping nonstop, maybe the leaves? I started with a sore throat over the weekend and here we go.

ABBA??! Wouldn't be playing that if Ted Nugent had bought muzak. 

Didja know the name for Mu-zak was inspired by Ko-dak?


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Didja know the name for Mu-zak was inspired by Ko-dak?


You mean Snooz-ak?


----------



## vintagesnaps

In the elevator there's a captive audience.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> In the elevator there's a captive audience.



Memories of things I've done in the elevators.......it took awhile to go to the top of the Peachtree Plaza's 72 floors, even the express.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> In the elevator there's a captive audience.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Memories of things I've done in the elevators.......it took awhile to go to the top of the Peachtree Plaza's 72 floors, even the express.
Click to expand...


You do know there are cameras in those, doncha?


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> You do know there are cameras in those, doncha?



As I aged I realized that being young and alcohol, didn't always mix.


----------



## smoke665

@Dean_Gretsch  Someone just sent me this. Lot of truth in it.


----------



## RowdyRay

As true as that is, I haven't run out of stupid things to do. Now, they're purely accidental. And no where near as fun!


----------



## Fujidave

Rain is back after one day of sun, shooting and doing a video in church later today with the Fuji so looking forward to that.


----------



## Original katomi

Re smoke’s pic pos.
Now that I have got older, I know that if I do stupid things it’s going to hurt.
I found that I no longer bounce when I fall over. I think of some of the things I used to do.... shudder
Maybe it’s cos I am a G dad but the thought of absailing down a disused bridge and taking photos whilst doing it no longer appeals


----------



## smoke665

RowdyRay said:


> , they're purely accidental



When I was young I remember that feeling of being invinsible which got me in situations that a prudent person wouldnt be in. A lot of that bravado waned as I  aged, but I think my many years as a VFFR provided a controlled outlet for the adrenaline fix, keeping the body and mind younger. I miss that part of my life, even more when I hear a siren in the distance. 



Original katomi said:


> Now that I have got older, I know that if I do stupid things it’s going to hurt.



And take longer to bounce back from. I've never had a fear of heights, but a couple years ago I fell off a ladder. Wasn't that high up and shouldn't have caused any injury, but I fell backward causing the back off my head to hit the corner of a sharp piece of steel. Ended up with 17 staples to close the wound, a big bump, and a concussion that took a few weeks to fully recover from. Even though it was a freak accident that caused the fall, I'll admit it's made me very apprehensive about heights now.


----------



## Original katomi

For those that saw my posts of Charlie, the snow Bengal he was killed on Tuesday


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

The dog poem that made Johnny Carson cry

I am sure pet lovers of all types can relate to this one. I love and miss you, Baxter. You gave me a lifetime of memories in the few years we had together. A true BFF ( best furry friend ).


----------



## smoke665

Sadie and I just had a cold, wet walk in the rain. Mornings like this make wonder if I could teach her to use the commode.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Sadie and I just had a cold, wet walk in the rain. Mornings like this make wonder if I could teach her to use the commode.


'Cause you want two women nagging you when you forget to put the seat down?


----------



## vintagesnaps

How 'bout a doggie door? 

I hate to think you did whatever in an elevator at Peachtree plaza sometime before I went to a convention and Underground Atlanta there... (hopefully a long time before I was there! lol).

Thank goodness for NESN, the cable company dropped the Fox College Sports channels after they got sold. Usually I watch east coast college hockey games anyway so can get some variation of Boston v Boston (or a NE team). Can actually watch two games tonight switching back and forth between NESN and the Notre Dame game on NBCSN.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> How 'bout a doggie door?
> 
> I hate to think you did whatever in an elevator at Peachtree plaza sometime before I went to a convention and Underground Atlanta there... (hopefully a long time before I was there! lol).



Problem is Sadie has long hair, that soaks up a lot of water.

If you visited Underground you must have gone just after it opened or you were very brave, because by the mid 70's it was headed downhill, lot of crime, closed in 80. The Peachtree opened late 70's


----------



## NE-KID

Just got home took my parents to see where my father was born and raised before he moved away to join the Marines. It brought memories some good and some bad looking at his old home where he lived growing up.


----------



## Tony744

Went to Newburyport last night for the Untapped History Haunted Candlelight tour.












The tour ticket included drinks and appetizers after the walking tour at Michael's Harborside. The ghost stories of New England were great as well as the people I met on the tour, one of which turned out to be author David S. Brody.


----------



## smoke665

@Tony744 That sounds like an interesting tour!!!

Not much here, been wet, windy and cool, since Friday, watched parts of the Oklahoma/K State game, Most of the Auburn/LSU game, and finally Alabama/Arkansas. Think I was pretty much burnt out on football by the time we went to bed.  Next weeks a bye week for us, so I should be ready for the Alabama/LSU game the following weekend.

Leaves are finally starting to turn, it'll be my luck that before they all turn they'll just drop off.

Did manage to get my big softboxes hung up on the garage wall. Now they're easy to get to when I need them, out of the way when I don't.


----------



## SquarePeg

Good one!


----------



## Fujidave

Cracking jazz gig on Thursday, beautiful backdrop too as it was in a big Church.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Smoke, a drippy Sadie, that sounds fun! lol 

The bit of a scratchy throat etc. that seemed like nothing decided to do something after all, such as making me breathe thru my mouth and drool on the pillow. Maybe a couple of days of playing lazy and having soup and I'll be more perky by Thursday. My best friend is going to run up after work so may let her do a lot of the handing out of the treats. If it's rainy it might not be quite so busy but I don't know, there are a lot of kids around here!


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all,


----------



## SquarePeg

Was I the only one locked out of TPF all night?


----------



## RowdyRay

SquarePeg said:


> Was I the only one locked out of TPF all night?



Nope. Tried several times.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Was I the only one locked out of TPF all night?



Nope. It was still down when I went to bed last night. Anyone know what happened????


----------



## Original katomi

Nope, locked out here as well, I put it down to the time difference. I regularly have probs getting logged on here late evening


----------



## CherylL

I was wondering why the page wouldn't load last night.


----------



## SquarePeg

Must have been a server issue or update.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Must have been a server issue or update.


That's the most likely scenario.   If there's an upgrade major enough to take the site offline for several hours, we'd likely notice.   
Seems to be functioning just fine atm.


----------



## GimmeAnother1

Could’ve been dns Issue. Maybe the domain name expired and had to be renewed. It can take some time for dns to propagate even after renewing.


----------



## SquarePeg

Let’s go Nats!!!!

‘where is Dave who messes with pennies?


----------



## NE-KID

I haven't been active much through the years since I have been a forum member here on this great knowledgeable photography website/forum. I just found few days ago that I will be going back for surgery on my stomach. In 2015 I had a Nissen Fundoplication with Robotics to fix a real bad hiatal hernia that pushed my stomach all the way in my throat causing damage to my throat lining area that almost cost my life.  Now in this year of 2019 I started getting sick really bad/nauseated not feeling well I went for a endoscopy to figure out what is causing it and find out my acid reflux returned with a severe case of Esophagitis all over my throat area.   So, I was referred to a well re-known surgeon who deals with stomach surgeries that is where he found hernia mesh implanted/exploded all over my stomach area inside me.  Now, I see another surgeon who even agrees that is something really wrong with my stomach but he's trying to figure out where the issue is. He did tell me for my age (38) and 6'6 and 225 lbs medium build I should not be having all these issues.  So hopefully when I see the surgeon in December I'll know where I stand and what type of surgery is needed for me to recover from all the issues with my stomach.

- Jamie


----------



## Original katomi

All the best


----------



## SquarePeg

NE-KID said:


> I haven't been active much through the years since I have been a forum member here on this great knowledgeable photography website/forum. I just found few days ago that I will be going back for surgery on my stomach. In 2015 I had a Nissen Fundoplication with Robotics to fix a real bad hiatal hernia that pushed my stomach all the way in my throat causing damage to my throat lining area that almost cost my life.  Now in this year of 2019 I started getting sick really bad/nauseated not feeling well I went for a endoscopy to figure out what is causing it and find out my acid reflux returned with a severe case of Esophagitis all over my throat area.   So, I was referred to a well re-known surgeon who deals with stomach surgeries that is where he found hernia mesh implanted/exploded all over my stomach area inside me.  Now, I see another surgeon who even agrees that is something really wrong with my stomach but he's trying to figure out where the issue is. He did tell me for my age (38) and 6'6 and 225 lbs medium build I should not be having all these issues.  So hopefully when I see the surgeon in December I'll know where I stand and what type of surgery is needed for me to recover from all the issues with my stomach.
> 
> - Jamie


that really stinks.  I hope they figure out the best way forward for you.   Sending some good thoughts your way.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Best wishes @NE-KID 

A forum for another hobby of mine also would not load at the same time TNET wouldn't if that gives you I-Net detectives a clue.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I think George Bush, Senior would have been happy with me this morning. There are times when I do have my moments of becoming kinder and gentler. It's very overcast today and the forecast is for 45 miles per hour gusts, which should blow off the remaining brown and green leaves we have. I still felt joy walking amid the leaves falling and seeing a flock of geese flying in a southerly direction with only one leg of a traditional " vee ". It seems I went to sleep marveling at how green our area was even in late summer, and woke only today to wonder how did I miss our peak fall foliage again?? I think life must be passing me by very quickly and in those brief moments when my eyes see the world around me with clarity, I am grateful and appreciative. Is this what older age gives us?


----------



## terri

Dean_Gretsch said:


> ...seeing a flock of geese flying in a southerly direction with only one leg of a traditional " vee "


Flocks of geese flying in this manner, perfect or otherwise, is one of my favorite sights on the planet.   It's wonderful to hear them honking at one another as they pass overhead, if they're low enough.   I love them!

In other news - congrats to the Nats!   World Series champions!


----------



## SquarePeg

Yes Way to Go Nats!  Sorry Dave who messes with pennies, maybe next year.  

Harlie, the cutest puppy ever, loooooves the geese and watches them mesmerized every time they fly over us honking at each other to hurry hurry hurry!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I think Dave was going to be moving, maybe that's why he hasn't been around.

Jamie I hope the surgery gets things taken care of for you. When you mentioned fundo- something that rang a bell. I worked as an Early Intervention Spec and had kids with g tubes/buttons, etc. so I've probably read medical reports with that terminology. Having a surgeon who's a specialist might be a good thing for you. Hang in there with it.


----------



## Jeff G

Jamie, sounds like a lot of fun....NOT! Hope whatever they decide, that they get it taken care of quickly and smoothly. Hospitals are not the funnest places to hang out.

We have a ton of Canada Geese in our area, they are here year round. I still stop to watch every day as they fly over on their way to and from their meals.


----------



## vintagesnaps

If you go into an antique shop and Peter Cushing is the proprieter, whatever you do don't buy anything! Was watching a movie with a number of well known British actors so it was actually pretty good, but strange.

Next is 'Black Sabbath', I suppose the movie where the band got their name. Another anthology of short stories, this time hosted by Boris Karloff. He just cracks me up.


----------



## Jeff G

Sharon, I love the oldies, the actors were so droll, You get so used to modern action thrillers that you forget what pacing was like. I love horror movies but they have to have a plot (other than the cemetary variety)


----------



## CherylL

@Dean_Gretsch saw this macro idea today and thought of you 
Macro Photography Trick: Create 'Rainbow Flares' with a CD


----------



## CherylL

Every Halloween I go to my daughter's house to take photos of the 3 grands and who ever else is around in their neighborhood.  Last year it was 50 kids and adults.  Tried to leave a few times and more showed up.  This year is biting cold.  38 with a wind chill in the 20's.  I planned on skipping out this year (bad grandma), but daughter said to take photos of just the grands in the house.  Not ideal lighting, but better than freezing.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@CherylL Thank you! That was pretty neat. I am sure the cd trick will come in handy this winter when I am stuck indoors and trying some macro/trick photography!


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> Every Halloween I go to my daughter's house to take photos of the 3 grands and who ever else is around in their neighborhood.  Last year it was 50 kids and adults.  Tried to leave a few times and more showed up.  This year is biting cold.  38 with a wind chill in the 20's.  I planned on skipping out this year (bad grandma), but daughter said to take photos of just the grands in the house.  Not ideal lighting, but better than freezing.



It’s going to be terrible rainy and windy here tonight and several neighboring towns trick or treated last night or have pushed it to Saturday but the show will go on here in our town.  

They shut down Main St from 3-6 and it’s a nice friendly event but I’m skipping it this year.  I would usually go downtown for the parade of littles in their adorable costumes, going from one business to the next, all reaching in the same buckets of candy then putting fingers in their mouths - and repeat.  Happily spreading their strep and their sniffles and coughs to others from all around the city.  I think Princess got  sick the week after Halloween every year until she outgrew that event.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Now a movie with a 'warning'! (oooh, scary) that there will be 'Fear/Fright Flashes' (what kind of flashes are they talking?!?) and 'Horror Horns' that go off whenever the movie is going to get scary! lol So far it's Victorian with a shotgun wedding using a little Victorian pistol, made in the '70s with a few familiar faces... 

Gotta go get the bowl of candy ready for trick or treating; blustery out so usually get a lot of kids but we'll see.


----------



## limr

Best of luck to you, Jamie! I hope they figure it out soon.

We have geese on campus and I adore them. They never fail to put a smile on my face, especially when they have goslings.


----------



## Tony744

Sorry to hear the news Jamie. Hoping everything goes smoothly and you recover soon.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I would have needed a change of clothes for a couple of these!

15 spectacular shots from Weather Photographer of the Year contest


----------



## NE-KID

Thanks everyone who posted. I go in tonight for a blood draw (WBC, Hemoglobin and Iron levels) to see what they are. The lady nurse practitioner for my GI doctor did look at me and said you look really pale in the skin and I think your levels are low and so I am ordering you labs so that's that.


----------



## CherylL

NE-KID said:


> Thanks everyone who posted. I go in tonight for a blood draw (WBC, Hemoglobin and Iron levels) to see what they are. The lady nurse practitioner for my GI doctor did look at me and said you look really pale in the skin and I think your levels are low and so I am ordering you labs so that's that.



Hope things improve for you!


----------



## CherylL

I shot the usual Halloween photos of the grands and their friends.  Too cold outside for me so took the photos inside.  I did the grands first and each individual child as they showed up.  Took Mom and child shots, group shots, and 2's & 3's of who they wanted to be with.  About 45 minutes and it worked out fairly good.  I plugged in my settings and sprayed the flash with black foam thingy.  Upped the flash to about +2.  The moms herded the cats and it went fast.  I told the kids to stand with toes on the carpet and it helped getting them in place.  Much easier than chasing them down outside although I do like the fall backdrop shots.

The kids thought it was fun when I asked for some attitude.  Here is one of the attitude shots of the grands.


----------



## SquarePeg

Daylight savings = 1 hour of sleep for 6 months of darkness. 

No thank you!


----------



## limr

The darkness is soothing to me.

And even if it weren't, I would rather have it at the end of the day than when I'm trying to wake up in the morning for work. Nothing sucks quite like your alarm clock going off in what still feels like the middle of the night because it's still dark outside.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  I have a splinter.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  I have a splinter.


Ouch?


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  I have a splinter.
> 
> 
> 
> Ouch?
Click to expand...


Yes it’s very painful.  it’s in my finger on my right hand and I’m right handed so having trouble getting it out.


----------



## terri

Get that needle and dig! dig! dig!


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Get that needle and dig! dig! dig!


Right handed ... give the needle to Princess to dig.


----------



## Original katomi

Just popped in for a coffee between clearing up the storm damage in the garden. It’s a rain/sun day so I am dashing out in between the rain to do some work. The bigger jobs will have to wait, iam not setting up electric drill in the wet/rain. The isles of Whight recorded 105 mph winds and they are 4miles across the water from us. Not sure what speed we got here but the winds did damage.
Off to drink coffee then work if the rain stops.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Get that needle and dig! dig! dig!



Eek!  



snowbear said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Get that needle and dig! dig! dig!
> 
> 
> 
> Right handed ... give the needle to Princess to dig.
Click to expand...


Once when Princess was about 6 or 7 she had a splinter and was terrified of me getting it out.  It was summer, all the windows were open, we live in a small city so houses on smallish lots... and she was screaming “NO , NOT THE TWEEZERS PLEASE NOOOO!”  I was seriously worried that one of the neighbors was doing to call DSS!


----------



## SquarePeg

Got it!  Ahhhhhh


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all .Square Peg, no more splinters I hope.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  I have a splinter.
> 
> 
> 
> Ouch?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes it’s very painful.  it’s in my finger on my right hand and I’m right handed so having trouble getting it out.
Click to expand...

Amputate at the second knuckle!


----------



## Original katomi

Tirediron, I am so pleased that you are not here, given the amount of splinters I get. I would be H armless


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  I have a splinter.
> 
> 
> 
> Ouch?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes it’s very painful.  it’s in my finger on my right hand and I’m right handed so having trouble getting it out.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Amputate at the second knuckle!
Click to expand...


Tempting but I soaked it and was able to get it after cutting my skin open.  Fun.


----------



## Jeff G

If it didn't need stiches it didn't hurt.  My wife is the same way with splinters...once she has one it's all she can focus on until she's rid of it. Not a big fan of them myself.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Original katomi

Flipped sunny side up.
Post edited. Printer Q moved to equipment....


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Flipped sunny side up.
> Hi all I am looking for your thoughts
> I am changing printers I am looking at canons pro 1 and the
> Pro 10/10s Question is for just a hobby photography print are the extra colours/cost worth it.



You should probably put this in the equipment forum.  You’ll get a better variety of responses.   There are so many TPF members who don’t come in to the coffee house thread...


----------



## Original katomi

Ok thanks


----------



## CherylL

@SquarePeg, use a syringe to suction out the splinter.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> @SquarePeg, use a syringe to suction out the splinter.



good idea that I’ll try to remember for next time!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all


----------



## limr

Hi!

About to go change for my yoga class. It's raining, I've had a long day, and I would rather be going home now, but I am going to stick it out. Two hours is too long for a yoga class and I haven't been looking forward to it each week, but I do generally feel glad afterwards that I went. So there's that. It's just that the class isn't over yet so I don't get to feel glad for another two hours. Now I just have the, "Do I really have to go?" feeling. And a bit of a headache.


----------



## stapo49

Tomorrows forecast. Northerly wind like a blast furnace.

Partly cloudy. Hot. High 39ºC. Winds NNE at 25 to 40 km/h.

WindNNE 31 km/h

Chance of Rain0%

Humidity22%

UV Index10 of 10




Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## stapo49

Just goes to show you are never to old.





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=491065098160727
			




Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## Jeff G

TODAY
FRI 11/08/2019
HIGH 80 F
0% Precip. / 0.00 in
Abundant sunshine. 
High around 80F. 
Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Hi!
> 
> About to go change for my yoga class. It's raining, I've had a long day, and I would rather be going home now, but I am going to stick it out. Two hours is too long for a yoga class and I haven't been looking forward to it each week, but I do generally feel glad afterwards that I went. So there's that. It's just that the class isn't over yet so I don't get to feel glad for another two hours. Now I just have the, "Do I really have to go?" feeling. And a bit of a headache.


A two hour class!   That is kind of long.   I would humbly expect a 15-minute savasana!


----------



## stapo49

Jeff G said:


> TODAY
> FRI 11/08/2019
> HIGH 80 F
> 0% Precip. / 0.00 in
> Abundant sunshine.
> High around 80F.
> Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.



I like your weather better!


----------



## CherylL

limr said:


> Hi!
> 
> About to go change for my yoga class. It's raining, I've had a long day, and I would rather be going home now, but I am going to stick it out. Two hours is too long for a yoga class and I haven't been looking forward to it each week, but I do generally feel glad afterwards that I went. So there's that. It's just that the class isn't over yet so I don't get to feel glad for another two hours. Now I just have the, "Do I really have to go?" feeling. And a bit of a headache.



A two hour class seems too long.  When I was in therapy for my knee all summer the therapist said I should pay myself first when it comes to time to do the exercises.   I have a quick 15 minutes stretching every morning with a few other exercises thrown in.  That is manageable on most days.  I really need to get back on the rowing machine.


----------



## waday

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi!
> 
> About to go change for my yoga class. It's raining, I've had a long day, and I would rather be going home now, but I am going to stick it out. Two hours is too long for a yoga class and I haven't been looking forward to it each week, but I do generally feel glad afterwards that I went. So there's that. It's just that the class isn't over yet so I don't get to feel glad for another two hours. Now I just have the, "Do I really have to go?" feeling. And a bit of a headache.
> 
> 
> 
> A two hour class!   That is kind of long.   I would humbly expect a 15-minute savasana!
Click to expand...

I had a yoga class in college. It was my best semester. That said... I fell asleep every single savasana. I’d wake up to people leaving or the professor shaking me. LOL


----------



## jcdeboever

I have not been here on a while. I want to be a great photographer. My wife wants me to be a great husband. I am a great husband (according to her) because I provide for her and don't expect anything in return. I also want to be an amazing photographer because I can be one. She has recently made it a choice. My fat ass is out I guess. I don't want to be out. I am such an idiot. Fast food and my lack of discipline has thumped me.


----------



## Jeff G

It's all about balance JC, sometimes we all teeter one way or the other, the trick is not to fall. Sometimes real life sucks but does need our full attention.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi!
> 
> About to go change for my yoga class. It's raining, I've had a long day, and I would rather be going home now, but I am going to stick it out. Two hours is too long for a yoga class and I haven't been looking forward to it each week, but I do generally feel glad afterwards that I went. So there's that. It's just that the class isn't over yet so I don't get to feel glad for another two hours. Now I just have the, "Do I really have to go?" feeling. And a bit of a headache.
> 
> 
> 
> A two hour class!   That is kind of long.   I would humbly expect a 15-minute savasana!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I had a yoga class in college. It was my best semester. That said... I fell asleep every single savasana. I’d wake up to people leaving or the professor shaking me. LOL
Click to expand...

There's always one in every class, Wade!  Especially in college, when you're likely not sleeping a lot, anyway.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, cold and heavy rain here, looking at this weeks chalange. As soon as the rain stops I plan to get some tools out of the workshop.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi!
> 
> About to go change for my yoga class. It's raining, I've had a long day, and I would rather be going home now, but I am going to stick it out. Two hours is too long for a yoga class and I haven't been looking forward to it each week, but I do generally feel glad afterwards that I went. So there's that. It's just that the class isn't over yet so I don't get to feel glad for another two hours. Now I just have the, "Do I really have to go?" feeling. And a bit of a headache.
> 
> 
> 
> A two hour class!   That is kind of long.   I would humbly expect a 15-minute savasana!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I had a yoga class in college. It was my best semester. That said... I fell asleep every single savasana. I’d wake up to people leaving or the professor shaking me. LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There's always one in every class, Wade!  Especially in college, when you're likely not sleeping a lot, anyway.
Click to expand...


Yeah, she has very long savasanas and I always doze off! The problem is that her sense of time is somewhat...fluid...so we'll often go past time, which is already late. The class is from 7-9 on Thursday nights, and we'll often go to 9:15. It's not a bad class, but just too long. I would probably take it again if it were just an hour.

It's an interesting class, though. Never realized how different kundalini yoga could be from hatha yoga, and how the practices can be combined and how different the exercises can make me feel. The kundalini routines end up making me feel almost jittery. It does focus a lot on activating different glands and endocrine systems, and I can feel it for sure. Sometimes it's good and sometimes I just feel depleted, but then better the next day.

I like it enough that I want to continue the practice myself at home, or maybe I'll find a different class. I can't take this class again next semester anyway, if for no other reason than I will be teaching on Tues and Thurs nights in the Spring.


----------



## limr

I'll say one thing I really appreciate about the class: I have found out that I am still pretty darn flexible even at the age of 48


----------



## terri

_Never realized how different kundalini yoga could be from hatha yoga, and how the practices can be combined and how different the exercises can make me feel. _
Kundalini yoga is awesome!   With my chronic back issues, it's nearly always a beneficial workout for me if I'm not up for a lot of standing poses.  There's a lot of emphasis on pranayama, the breathing exercises.   Lots of oxygen to the brain, which can make you kind of jittery but feeling great later.   Sounds like a great class, with intermixed styles like that.  (Though 2 hours is still a bit long, IMO.)

Yoga is a gift.


----------



## tirediron

Kundalini yoga?


----------



## NE-KID

I finally found a tea place called Zen Tea in Chamblee, Georgia where they sale Blood Orange Sorbet loose leaf tea. I came to like this particular type of tea when I lived in Florida and when the tea place called TeaVana was still in business before they closed all the stores down. I was lucky enough to find Zen Tea to have Blood Orange Sorbet in stock so I ordered 1lb of it. 

I like to drink this Blood Orange Sorbet cold with sugar in it I don't like this tea hot doesn't taste good to me when served hot.


----------



## CherylL

Yesterday was a beautiful warm 63 degree fall day for the Veterans parade.  The grands marched in the parade with the girl scouts.  I took a few photos of the parade.  Less entries this year.  Today is snow and 30s.


----------



## snowbear

CherylL said:


> Yesterday was a beautiful warm 63 degree fall day for the Veterans parade.  The grands marched in the parade with the girl scouts.  I took a few photos of the parade.  Less entries this year.  Today is snow and 30s.


And it's headed our way!


----------



## SquarePeg

We’re expecting sub freezing temps and maybe some snow but not a lot of accumulation this week.  The pups are going to have to make do with running around out back.  Mama don’t do the cold!


----------



## vintagesnaps

It snowed. It accumulated. 

Too much too early (3 inches). But with the full moon there were long shadows from the trees across the snow last night, and hoppity hop footprints across the back yard this morning.


----------



## tirediron

vintagesnaps said:


> It snowed. It accumulated.
> 
> Too much too early (3 inches). But with the full moon there were long shadows from the trees across the snow last night, and hoppity hop footprints across the back yard this morning.


Please keep it on your side of the continent, thankyewverymuch!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't know, I think it's on the wrong side of the border...

And speaking of... what is the deal with Grapes being fired? He's been saying nutty stuff for decades, did they just now notice?? I watched it, twice (when I changed channels and the other game was still in intermission); who said anything about immigrants? I thought he was gripin' about people who have it pretty good and don't wear a poppy. Then they showed that clip of him in France where there are rows of headstones from WWI or II. 

He said in the Toronto Sun that he thinks 'everybody' should wear a poppy and he stands by that... So if it was interpreted as critcizing a particular group of people or whatever why not suspend him, send him for some sort of sensitivity/awareness training (although I don't know with him if it'd sink in); then decide if it's necessary to make it permanent or whether to have him back on in the future. I'm tired of knee jerk reactions.

All you had to mention was Canada... what can I say? I'm a long time hockey fan.


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> It snowed. It accumulated.
> 
> Too much too early (3 inches). But with the full moon there were long shadows from the trees across the snow last night, and hoppity hop footprints across the back yard this morning.


We got flurries throughout the day today! But, I’m with John, keep it there! I’m not ready, yet!


----------



## tirediron

vintagesnaps said:


> I don't know, I think it's on the wrong side of the border...
> 
> And speaking of... what is the deal with Grapes being fired? He's been saying nutty stuff for decades, did they just now notice?? I watched it, twice (when I changed channels and the other game was still in intermission); who said anything about immigrants? I thought he was gripin' about people who have it pretty good and don't wear a poppy. Then they showed that clip of him in France where there are rows of headstones from WWI or II.
> 
> He said in the Toronto Sun that he thinks 'everybody' should wear a poppy and he stands by that... So if it was interpreted as critcizing a particular group of people or whatever why not suspend him, send him for some sort of sensitivity/awareness training (although I don't know with him if it'd sink in); then decide if it's necessary to make it permanent or whether to have him back on in the future. I'm tired of knee jerk reactions.
> 
> All you had to mention was Canada... what can I say? I'm a long time hockey fan.


Typical over-the-top "PC" over-reaction to a perceived interpretation of what someone said and the assumption that because it was a particular someone, whatever he said must be wrong/bad, etc.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, I have no idea what you are talking about, but that’s normal. Catch you later


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m hoping this early freeze is not signaling a snowy winter.  We are flying to FL in a few weeks for a family trip to Disney.  We won’t be there during the actual Christmas madness, we’re going early December which is sneaking up on me pretty quickly!  If you’ve never been there in December, it’s really beautiful and festive and the temps are just right for all that walking.  This will be our 3rd time going at this time of year.  Crossing our fingers for good flying weather.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I’m hoping this early freeze is not signaling a snowy winter.  We are flying to FL in a few weeks for a family trip to Disney.  We won’t be there during the actual Christmas madness, we’re going early December which is sneaking up on me pretty quickly!  If you’ve never been there in December, it’s really beautiful and festive and the temps are just right for all that walking.  This will be our 3rd time going at this time of year.  Crossing our fingers for good flying weather.


Good luck! That sounds awesome! We’d love to go to Disney at some point, but we think our daughter is still a little young at 2. What age about do you think would be good?

Also, I agree on the snowy winter. So cold so fast, and it seems like it’s been a wetter year, as well. My back is thinking of getting a snow blower this year.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I’m hoping this early freeze is not signaling a snowy winter.  We are flying to FL in a few weeks for a family trip to Disney.  We won’t be there during the actual Christmas madness, we’re going early December which is sneaking up on me pretty quickly!  If you’ve never been there in December, it’s really beautiful and festive and the temps are just right for all that walking.  This will be our 3rd time going at this time of year.  Crossing our fingers for good flying weather.


That sounds fun!  My niece worked there  (in the finance department) and she said the same thing about how beautiful it is dressed up during the holidays.   She's since been transferred to LA, and likes it, but is waiting to see if the holiday action equals Orlando.


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> It snowed. It accumulated.
> 
> Too much too early (3 inches). But with the full moon there were long shadows from the trees across the snow last night, and hoppity hop footprints across the back yard this morning.


That sounds so sweet!


----------



## CherylL

Sun out today and a heat wave at 40 degrees.  Still biting cold.  The 3 pups do not waste anytime outside when it is this cold.


----------



## NE-KID

For everyone who drinks hot tea or know who someone who does what does everyone use for tea scoops? I am looking for one.


----------



## snowbear

NE-KID said:


> For everyone who drinks hot tea or know who someone who does what does everyone use for tea scoops? I am looking for one.


This; measured table spoon.  It’s also perfect for the you-fill-it Keurig K-Cups.


----------



## snowbear

It’s going to be a rough night.  I have a long overdue procedure tomorrow and had to take a “special” drink a few hours ago.  Combined with the liquids only diet, it’s kicking my butt (not a figurative statement).  I get to partake in another of the drinks at 3AM.

There is good news, though.  I’ve lost about 12 pounds in a month, and my glucose is on a downward trend, to about half of what it was a month ago.


----------



## limr

NE-KID said:


> For everyone who drinks hot tea or know who someone who does what does everyone use for tea scoops? I am looking for one.



A Perfect Cup Tea Scoop - Stainless Steel

I know it's essentially the same size as a measuring spoon (one teaspoon) but we have a Harney and Sons store near us and I picked up one of these spoons and it's just really really nice to use. Nice heft, clean lines, pretty, functional.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I’m hoping this early freeze is not signaling a snowy winter.  We are flying to FL in a few weeks for a family trip to Disney.  We won’t be there during the actual Christmas madness, we’re going early December which is sneaking up on me pretty quickly!  If you’ve never been there in December, it’s really beautiful and festive and the temps are just right for all that walking.  This will be our 3rd time going at this time of year.  Crossing our fingers for good flying weather.
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck! That sounds awesome! We’d love to go to Disney at some point, but we think our daughter is still a little young at 2. What age about do you think would be good?
> 
> Also, I agree on the snowy winter. So cold so fast, and it seems like it’s been a wetter year, as well. My back is thinking of getting a snow blower this year.
Click to expand...


The first time you take your kid to Disney is more for you than them since they won’t even remember it!  You have to find the sweet spot between still willing to get in a stroller and able to enjoy most of the rides.  4-5 is perfect imo, especially if they are into the movies.  Princess was in K our first trip.  I have great photos and fond memories.  We went back when she was 8 and could ride the big kid rides and stay up late for the fireworks - best trip!  We’ve gone a few more times, every 3-4 years has suited us pretty well.  I suspect this will be our last Disney trip for quite some time...


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I’m hoping this early freeze is not signaling a snowy winter.  We are flying to FL in a few weeks for a family trip to Disney.  We won’t be there during the actual Christmas madness, we’re going early December which is sneaking up on me pretty quickly!  If you’ve never been there in December, it’s really beautiful and festive and the temps are just right for all that walking.  This will be our 3rd time going at this time of year.  Crossing our fingers for good flying weather.
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck! That sounds awesome! We’d love to go to Disney at some point, but we think our daughter is still a little young at 2. What age about do you think would be good?
> 
> Also, I agree on the snowy winter. So cold so fast, and it seems like it’s been a wetter year, as well. My back is thinking of getting a snow blower this year.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The first time you take your kid to Disney is more for you than them since they won’t even remember it!  You have to find the sweet spot between still willing to get in a stroller and able to enjoy most of the rides.  4-5 is perfect imo, especially if they are into the movies.  Princess was in K our first trip.  I have great photos and fond memories.  We went back when she was 8 and could ride the big kid rides and stay up late for the fireworks - best trip!  We’ve gone a few more times, every 3-4 years has suited us pretty well.  I suspect this will be our last Disney trip for quite some time...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! We’ve been casually talking about it, but now that she’s turning 2, time is flying.

Four or five sounds like a nice age to go. I do want her to be able to do some rides, so that would be good. And, I didn’t think about still being in a stroller...

Every 3-4 years? That’s cool! I’m going to start with going once and then work up to going more times.. lol


----------



## snowbear

The doctor's visit went well; no real problems found.


----------



## waday

This darkness has me getting my SAD light out...


----------



## limr

waday said:


> This darkness has me getting my SAD light out...



I feel sympathetic with the concept of the change in light affecting your mood in a negative way, so I'm feeling bad for you right now. It's just that I work in the complete opposite way. I feel like I can finally relax and get a respite from heat and light, both of which are quite hurty to me.


----------



## limr

In other news, I have a new Pixel 3 XL. Supposedly has one of the best cameras of any smartphone. I'll take some test shots for y'all tomorrow.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> This darkness has me getting my SAD light out...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I feel sympathetic with the concept of the change in light affecting your mood in a negative way, so I'm feeling bad for you right now. It's just that I work in the complete opposite way. I feel like I can finally relax and get a respite from heat and light, both of which are quite hurty to me.
Click to expand...

I hear you, as I’m sympathetic to you and those that dislike warmer weather when the “days get longer”. I do enjoy colder weather (especially crisp fall days), but not as much as I enjoy being outside in spring and summer.


----------



## NE-KID

Morning everyone well almost afternoon time.


----------



## terri

We went to see _Parasite_ last night.   Well.   It was a somewhat bizarre flick while, at the same time, almost formulaic in a way.   I had been intrigued by all the hype, too - this film won several 2019 Cannes awards and is getting Oscar buzz, for all that it's a South Korean film directed by a South Korean director.   

I did like it.   Believable, though over the top, storyline.  Wealth/class conflicts are present in all cultures, it seems.  Great acting by all.   Scenes are beautiful and haunting by turns.   Some definite dark humor, lots of tension, and it has a couple of very violent scenes, which I tend to find icky in a general way.      It's somewhat of a slow build, as well, which I felt could have been improved by some mild editing in minor scenes to move things along -  so, be aware of that going in.   If you're not at all intimidated by subtitles,either - by all means, give it a shot.


----------



## snowbear

We have some parasites at work; new ones show up every four or eight years.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

snowbear said:


> We have some parasites at work; new ones show up every four or eight years.



We have some too, and because of the union, they get the same paycheck as the ones that actually work.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

A few quick test shots with the new Pixel of my little Jurassic Park windowsill at work. Cropped but nothing else. First shot is in the morning, backlit. The next two shots were kind of obviously at sunset.

Official opinion so far: not bad.


----------



## Original katomi

Nice shots. 
I have just found out there is an I pad/phone app for this site. I was browsing the photography apps and chanced upon the app.


----------



## smoke665

Sad day for Alabama fans, our quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s suffered a hip dislocation and fracture just before halftime Saturday at Mississippi State that not only ends his season, but could end the Crimson Tide star’s career permanently. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/11/16/tua-injury/ He is expected to undergo surgery later tonight.


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's a shame to hear an injury may end someone's career, hope his recovery goes well. 

On a lighter note, in the 3rd period of a game it was said 'his pants pushed the puck in' - what kind of way is that to score a goal?! Had it counted, would his skate pants be listed as scoring the game winner? Would his pants go on the score sheet as receiving a point??! lol The goal being disallowed was iffy enough, but sliding/being pushed thru the crease and into the net and possibly moving the leg/skate pants forward is hardly a kicking motion.

Leo, I love the first picture, it just made me laugh with that big eye looking at me around the disproportionate jurassic plants! Always good to have a nice view at work.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> That's a shame to hear an injury may end someone's career, hope his recovery goes well.
> 
> On a lighter note, in the 3rd period of a game it was said 'his pants pushed the puck in' - what kind of way is that to score a goal?! Had it counted, would his skate pants be listed as scoring the game winner? Would his pants go on the score sheet as receiving a point??! lol The goal being disallowed was iffy enough, but sliding/being pushed thru the crease and into the net and possibly moving the leg/skate pants forward is hardly a kicking motion.
> 
> Leo, I love the first picture, it just made me laugh with that big eye looking at me around the disproportionate jurassic plants! Always good to have a nice view at work.



Googly eyes make everything better


----------



## vintagesnaps

Vancouver's wearing a retro jersey tonight as part of their 50th season. I just hope if they haven't yet that they don't feel compelled to wear the one from the '70s that I read described having a 'traffic cone orange flying V' on the front, or they may need to hand out sunglasses to the fans.


----------



## snowbear

Well, I went and did it.  I ordered a Jeep Gladiator.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Well, it does have a bottle opener.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Smoke I was glad to read that the Alabama player's surgery was successful and there's a good prognosis for his recovery.


----------



## smoke665

Nope, don't think I'd ride with this guy if offered. CRAZY.


----------



## snowbear

I just downloaded a new (Kindle) book for 2.99.  @limr would probably be interested in it.
https://www.amazon.com/41-Reasons-S...07JDN7X94?_bbid=13511487&tag=bookbubemail3-20


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I just downloaded a new (Kindle) book for 2.99.  @limr would probably be interested in it.
> https://www.amazon.com/41-Reasons-S...07JDN7X94?_bbid=13511487&tag=bookbubemail3-20



Nice!


----------



## RowdyRay

smoke665 said:


> Nope, don't think I'd ride with this guy if offered. CRAZY.



I would. He's literally the best there is.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Going through some older photos and may want to post a couple. I went into my profile to see what photos I have posted... Says 'none'.
It's been a couple of years since I would have posted a photo. Is there any other place to find what (few) photos I have ever posted?


----------



## SquarePeg

I believe that only shows things you've posted in "gallery".  If you directly uploaded to a thread or used a bb code from Flickr or the like then the only way to see is to find threads you have posted.  

IMO - just post what you want.  No one is going to know or care if it's been posted before.  It's not like you're some spammer or a newbie flooding the site with 2 dozen new threads your first day.


----------



## snowbear

NancyMoranG said:


> Going through some older photos and may want to post a couple. I went into my profile to see what photos I have posted... Says 'none'.
> It's been a couple of years since I would have posted a photo. Is there any other place to find what (few) photos I have ever posted?


You _might_ be able to find if they've been posted using tineye.  I use it at the other site to try and cull out the spammers.


----------



## NancyMoranG

SquarePeg said:


> I believe that only shows things you've posted in "gallery".  If you directly uploaded to a thread or used a bb code from Flickr or the like then the only way to see is to find threads you have posted.
> 
> IMO - just post what you want.  No one is going to know or care if it's been posted before.  It's not like you're some spammer or a newbie flooding the site with 2 dozen new threads your first day.



Thanks. The BB code sounds vaguely familiar. If that was the easiest way for me to post, trust me, that's what I used!
Yes, not looking to fool anyone with repeat photos. I do not think I ever did post the bird photos I have. 
Finally going through stuff and these photos are dated 3-4 months before our son died. Haven't been looked at in a while.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all. Just seen and replied to the latest member.
It made me think, this site has a global coverage that the old ham/armature radio operators could only dream of.
Yet I doubt anybody gives it a second thought, I can’t see members here with a map on the wall marking the places they have chatted to other members.
We can all enjoy each other’s images of places we will never get to go to, 
I wonder how long before VR will be linked to real time web and we will not type or speak our text but have real time conversation


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Original katomi said:


> Morning all. Just seen and replied to the latest member.
> It made me think, this site has a global coverage that the old ham/armature radio operators could only dream of.
> Yet I doubt anybody gives it a second thought, I can’t see members here with a map on the wall marking the places they have chatted to other members.
> We can all enjoy each other’s images of places we will never get to go to,
> I wonder how long before VR will be linked to real time web and we will not type or speak our text but have real time conversation



...or, you might just beam me up, and we could sit and have a cup of coffee!


----------



## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> Morning all. Just seen and replied to the latest member.
> It made me think, this site has a global coverage that the old ham/armature radio operators could only dream of.
> Yet I doubt anybody gives it a second thought, I can’t see members here with a map on the wall marking the places they have chatted to other members.
> We can all enjoy each other’s images of places we will never get to go to,
> I wonder how long before VR will be linked to real time web and we will not type or speak our text but have real time conversation


There are at least two of us that could set up a map, of sorts, though it would likely be off site; I'll have to think more about that.

The Web-VR thing is already here.  I think the bigger question is when will it be cell-phone affordable (basic equipment is free with the 9.99 per month service).


----------



## Original katomi

I will have a word with Scotty, about the beer up......


----------



## SquarePeg

Princess and friends use an App called house party where they all face chat on their phones or iPads together.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Are you going to beam yourselves up or just the beer??


----------



## Original katomi

vintagesnaps said:


> Are you going to beam yourselves up or just the beer??


Lol just seen my typo, makes sense now, considering I don’t drink beer that much the typo is as weird as some of the sci fi.
Well a dry ish day here, which means not much time here as outdoor tasks to be done. Chat later, I hope


----------



## Original katomi

Just been playing with reflections. This is my B shot


----------



## NE-KID

Not much has been going on with us I'm just getting over a sinus infection. I bought myself a iFootage Cobra 2 mini tripod/monopod (Some people call it?) for my Nikon D810 camera. I am still learning this camera and the best settings for it but doing good so far.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, just got in, cold wet, and so on. Just having five mins, or more, with my feet up.
Been told that I need new glasses, maybe there will be less typos..... naa not much chance lol
Was asked why I chew the arms of the glasses..
.”I am a photographer, I hold my glasses in my teeth whilst taking photos.” Did not go down too well.


----------



## Jeff G

Katomi, You should ask if they make different flavored frames for your next pair of glasses.


----------



## terri

To the USA members :  Happy Thanksgiving! 

Hope everyone has a wonderful day with family and friends.   Enjoy the holiday!


----------



## Original katomi

Jeff G said:


> Katomi, You should ask if they make different flavored frames for your next pair of glasses.


Lol i can see the next advert.. should have gone to..... frames now available in different flavours


----------



## waday

terri said:


> To the USA members :  Happy Thanksgiving!
> 
> Hope everyone has a wonderful day with family and friends.   Enjoy the holiday!


Happy Thanksgiving!

I was going to take a picture of the food, but it was gone before I remembered!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> To the USA members :  Happy Thanksgiving!
> 
> Hope everyone has a wonderful day with family and friends.   Enjoy the holiday!



Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Friday Eve to the non-US hosers!


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Back from a business trip - and this is just a mobile phone snap of my 'travel camera' in a coffee shop in Georgetown, Penang, but I thought lucky timing made it one of those images that summed up a mood ....


----------



## limr

Wow, Coffee House on the 3rd page!

It's a rainy/snowy Sunday. If the weather reports are correct, then there's a good chance I'll have a snow day tomorrow. Fingers will remain crossed until I either get the call or have to leave for work.

In the meantime, it's lazy, snuggly time with the girls.


----------



## Jeff G

Leonore, the furries do love vacation days when we are home all day.  The girls look quite happy.


----------



## Jeff G

Just did a quick walk through the house, one furry is snoozing somewhere secret, one napping in a chair, one one the catpole, and one helping to decorate for Christmas.


----------



## limr

They're so helpful that way


----------



## limr

Oh my god, this is my dream! Books and cats. Add coffee and you've got the trifecta! 

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5348327?__twitter_impression=true


----------



## Jeff G

Have to swap the coffee for cocoa.


----------



## Jeff G

I can't believe that we got rain for two of our 4 days off, and overcast for the other two. Made it finally seem like the holidays.


----------



## SquarePeg

Snowing here.  More accumulation than I was led to believe by Alexa and Siri, those unreliable broads!  The new puppy's first encounter with the fluffy stuff was pretty hilarious.  She licked, she tip toed for a few steps then it was full on sprint followed by belly slides, face plants and snow angels.  It was so much fun to watch.


----------



## Jeff G

Sharon, sounds like it was fun to watch! Our baby's are indoor cats but now and then we let them come out back with us. We have one cat that loves water and he didn't  even hesitate to go play in the rain.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Oh my god, this is my dream! Books and cats. Add coffee and you've got the trifecta!
> 
> https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5348327?__twitter_impression=true





Well, since the name of it is "Otis and Clementine's Books And Coffee" ...


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Snowing here.  More accumulation than I was led to believe by Alexa and Siri, those unreliable broads!  The new puppy's first encounter with the fluffy stuff was pretty hilarious.  She licked, she tip toed for a few steps then it was full on sprint followed by belly slides, face plants and snow angels.  It was so much fun to watch.


That sounds like so much fun with the new puppy!

We got freezing rain yesterday, then flurries this morning. I was hoping for something more substantial..and not rain. One person at my company from MA said that they had 9-inches and counting. The only thing I use Siri for with regards to weather is current temperature. Everything else, I look up on the NWS website.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Snowing here.  More accumulation than I was led to believe by Alexa and Siri, those unreliable broads!  The new puppy's first encounter with the fluffy stuff was pretty hilarious.  She licked, she tip toed for a few steps then it was full on sprint followed by belly slides, face plants and snow angels.  It was so much fun to watch.
> 
> 
> 
> That sounds like so much fun with the new puppy!
> 
> We got freezing rain yesterday, then flurries this morning. I was hoping for something more substantial..and not rain. One person at my company from MA said that they had 9-inches and counting. The only thing I use Siri for with regards to weather is current temperature. Everything else, I look up on the NWS website.
Click to expand...


Yes Siri will no longer get my weather questions!  Here we only got 2-4 before it turned to rain but just a bit north of us is the “snow belt” which is route 495.  It circles around Boston and seems to attract the snow.  I lived a bit further out years ago and it was so much worse than where we are now.  just about every storm they get double what we get.


----------



## compur

Yes, it does snow in parts of Los Angeles County on a regular basis. But, more than usual so far this year.

Snow blankets Southern California mountain and high desert communities — and more weather is coming Tuesday

I wouldn't be surprised if downtown Lalaland gets hit with a few inches this Winter.


----------



## Tony744

24 inches total here. I'm sick of winter already!


----------



## pixmedic

On shift again today. Only 84 hours this week.


----------



## tirediron

Does the 'stache get OT as well?


----------



## pixmedic

tirediron said:


> Does the 'stache get OT as well?


Its a separate payroll entity


----------



## vintagesnaps

It was excellent for Movember, which is maybe just a thing in hockey. But yours is outstanding!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Where's Sparky? Did I miss the photo exchange sign up? I don't remember what section of the forum it was posted in, and don't remember the title of the thread, and can't find it...


----------



## Original katomi

Ahhhhhhh, just got in from doing some shopping... the worlds gone mad. Sore in places I can not say here, belt line and down a bit, from being shoved with trolleys. 
Time to come here have a coffee and look to see what this weeks challenge is


----------



## CherylL

Back to the cold from sunny Mexico.  We were walking on the beach one day when we saw a man in distress.  Husband handed me his glasses and phone as he jumped in to get the man.  He was in chest deep water, but was struggling standing up in the waves and the cross current.  He was near a rock outcropping where people do not swim.  My husband got him from behind and the guy went limp.  Got him to shallow water, but he couldn't get him farther because the guy was over 300 lbs and in his 80's.  A young man ran down the beach to help.  Lifeguard and beach concierge showed up and the 4 of them got him out.  The man's whites of his eyes were blood red and his lips bluish.  He may have had a medical issue or was just exhausted.  He refused medical attention.  Hotel management checked in on him later and again he refused to see the hotel doctor.  

My husband was a life guard in high school/college way back in the day.  Once a guard always a guard.  I was worried about him because he isn't the young guard anymore.


----------



## NE-KID

CherylL said:


> Back to the cold from sunny Mexico.  We were walking on the beach one day when we saw a man in distress.  Husband handed me his glasses and phone as he jumped in to get the man.  He was in chest deep water, but was struggling standing up in the waves and the cross current.  He was near a rock outcropping where people do not swim.  My husband got him from behind and the guy went limp.  Got him to shallow water, but he couldn't get him farther because the guy was over 300 lbs and in his 80's.  A young man ran down the beach to help.  Lifeguard and beach concierge showed up and the 4 of them got him out.  The man's whites of his eyes were blood red and his lips bluish.  He may have had a medical issue or was just exhausted.  He refused medical attention.  Hotel management checked in on him later and again he refused to see the hotel doctor.
> 
> My husband was a life guard in high school/college way back in the day.  Once a guard always a guard.  I was worried about him because he isn't the young guard anymore.



Glad to see there is still nice people who go out of there way for someone who is in need so urgently. I am proud of your husband job well done to him.


----------



## NE-KID

Not much for me today getting over very bad case of sinusitis and got my Panasonic Lumix GH4 in the mail today very nice camera can't wait to do some video taking with it.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Where's Sparky? Did I miss the photo exchange sign up? I don't remember what section of the forum it was posted in, and don't remember the title of the thread, and can't find it...


Sparky hasn't done it for a year, or two.  I don't recall who handled it last year.


----------



## smoke665

@CherylL I wondered where you've been, welcome back. Sounds like you had some excitement on your trip. Some of the stories I could tell about 1st responder calls involving obese people.


----------



## CherylL

NE-KID said:


> Not much for me today getting over very bad case of sinusitis and got my Panasonic Lumix GH4 in the mail today very nice camera can't wait to do some video taking with it.



Congrats on the new camera.  Do a search on Vimeo for that camera.  I've seen a few videos with it and very impressive.  There are 8 groups on Vimeo for that camera: https://vimeo.com/search/group?q=Lumix+GH4


----------



## CherylL

A recent conversation 

Husband:  You have really nice cameras and could be making money with them.

Wife:  You have really nice lawn equipment.  You could be making money with a weekend job with your lawn gear.

All is good


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> @CherylL I wondered where you've been, welcome back. Sounds like you had some excitement on your trip. Some of the stories I could tell about 1st responder calls involving obese people.



I bet!  He was too heavy for one person.  Last year the exciting thing was we got stranded over night in Playa del Carmen.  Taxi blockades on the major highway from Cancun to Tulum.  Ended up at a sister resort which they did not have to put us up.  Didn't sleep anyway.   Too old for all nighters!


----------



## smoke665

Freaky!!! Not my photo, it hit twitter recently, this one came from Iheart.com and the link is from their site.  When you see it, you won't be able to unsee it. Innocent Photo Of Girl With Popcorn Creates Disturbing Optical Illusion | iHeartRadio


----------



## Original katomi

Ahaaaaaa copying some 5 year old external hard drives old usb 1 they still work but some said that 5 years is about the life of these things
Can’t believe how slow they are, pop up box says 6 hours. It’s going to be a long night


----------



## jbuenavides

I am still trying to figure out how to install electric dog fences, I feel like it will be easy if I just set up a traditional wooden gate.


----------



## snowbear

jbuenavides said:


> I am still trying to figure out how to install electric dog fences, I feel like it will be easy if I just set up a traditional wooden gate.


I can't help you with this -- I have a cat.  Maybe someone will chime in soon.


----------



## smoke665

A little humour the cat people will enjoy


----------



## waday

jbuenavides said:


> I am still trying to figure out how to install electric dog fences, I feel like it will be easy if I just set up a traditional wooden gate.


We tried to put up an electric dog fence for my childhood dog... she got shocked once, then shook constantly in fear until we took the collar off. We never used it again.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Charlie, I saw Sparky had posted asking about the Christmas photo exchange (I suggested he'd be good at it!!) but I can't find where it was posted! I wondered if it ever got going. I don't remember offhand who did it last year, but seems like it was someone who may have been somewhat newer, or hasn't been on much lately, or whatever.


----------



## limr

Oh, how I love a fresh snow! 

From my commute this morning:


----------



## terri

That is beautiful!!   A picture-perfect winter scene.


----------



## NE-KID

CherylL said:


> NE-KID said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not much for me today getting over very bad case of sinusitis and got my Panasonic Lumix GH4 in the mail today very nice camera can't wait to do some video taking with it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats on the new camera.  Do a search on Vimeo for that camera.  I've seen a few videos with it and very impressive.  There are 8 groups on Vimeo for that camera: https://vimeo.com/search/group?q=Lumix+GH4
Click to expand...


Thank you ma'am. I'll make sure to click on the website link and see what they have to offer. I found a lot of videos on the camera on YouTube.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Charlie, I saw Sparky had posted asking about the Christmas photo exchange (I suggested he'd be good at it!!) but I can't find where it was posted! I wondered if it ever got going. I don't remember offhand who did it last year, but seems like it was someone who may have been somewhat newer, or hasn't been on much lately, or whatever.


The others are in Off Topic Chat - maybe search "Secret Santa"


----------



## smoke665

After an absence of several years coyotes have taken up residence on the property again. Went out last night to walk Sadie and rousted a pack in the pines not far from our house. I'd been noticing Sadie was on the scent of something different the last couple weeks. If they don't move on soon, I'll have to move them, permanently. Just starting to recover my bird population after the last time they came through.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all,


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> After an absence of several years coyotes have taken up residence on the property again. Went out last night to walk Sadie and rousted a pack in the pines not far from our house. I'd been noticing Sadie was on the scent of something different the last couple weeks. If they don't move on soon, I'll have to move them, permanently. Just starting to recover my bird population after the last time they came through.


Tell Sadie to be careful!


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> After an absence of several years coyotes have taken up residence on the property again. Went out last night to walk Sadie and rousted a pack in the pines not far from our house. I'd been noticing Sadie was on the scent of something different the last couple weeks. If they don't move on soon, I'll have to move them, permanently. Just starting to recover my bird population after the last time they came through.
> 
> 
> 
> Tell Sadie to be careful!
Click to expand...


Yeah, just called my neighbor to tip him off. They have small dogs. We might have to team up to do a little spotlighting to thin them out.


----------



## smoke665

Yikes!!!!! This just popped up on my feed yesterday.  FIRST LOOK: Inside Celadon’s Nearly $400 MILLION “Bloodbath” Bankruptcy   Nothing to do with photography, but I owned a trucking company for over 25 years. One of my friendly competitors sold their old family owned transportation company to Celdon about 3 years ago and still haven't been fully paid, now sadly it looks like they won't. Last report was they switched to Chapter 7 liquidation, and 2 of the top executives remain in jail for fraud. The ripple effect across the country from vendors, employees, and even shippers, that still have 1,000's of loads of freight setting on trailers could be horrendous. Now sadly reports of drivers stranded across the country are starting to come in as fuel cards get shut off. How's that for coal in your Christmas Stocking.


----------



## Original katomi

It’s bad when the working people end up suffering because of fat cats.
Once had to un load 3 imperial toms of materials off lorry because the firm we worked for had not paid their bills.
 Then we had to explain to the customer why we could not do their job.
We caught the brunt of the customers anger


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Oh, how I love a fresh snow!
> 
> From my commute this morning:View attachment 183564



Gorgeous photo limr!  If you send out Christmas cards that’s a money shot!


----------



## CherylL

@smoke665 watch out for the coyote!  My pups would be a snack.  There was a juvenile bobcat out back a few years ago.  The neighbor got a grainy photo and it was confirmed.


----------



## CherylL

The 6yo grand told me she wants a picture maker camera.  Finally figured out she wants an Instamatic.   That would be expensive and dangerous going thru a pack of film in minutes.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, how I love a fresh snow!
> 
> From my commute this morning:View attachment 183564
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gorgeous photo limr!  If you send out Christmas cards that’s a money shot!
Click to expand...


Thanks, I hadn't thought of that, but I think that's exactly what I'm going to do


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hi, Katomi.

Beautiful, Leo.

Thanks Charlie, I'll go browse OT...

Cheryl - an Instamatic?? How'd she find out about one of those?! I thought at first you meant instant film/cameras and wondered about the Fuji Instax. I have one of the Polaroids that are basically the same thing and use the Instax film. Not sure of the cost but less than Polaroid. If she'd get an Instamatic she'd need to learn that she only has so much film and will need to think about what 24 or 36 things she wants to photograph. But maybe film development's too pricey for that age. Seems like there was something digital for kids but I can't think what it was... 'picture maker' sounds familiar, wonder what she saw/found?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Found it Charlie, by going to Sparky's profile; it was under Photographic Discussions - 'So... are we going to have a Secret Santa exchange this year?'

Apparently not...



480sparky said:


> Just curious..... Turkey Day is fast approaching.  And before you know it, the Fat Guy will be wiggling down the chimney.


----------



## SquarePeg

@CherylL 

I got my daughter one of the instant cameras a few years ago.  The film doesn’t go very far for the money.  The Cannon Pixma is easy to use to print from any digital camera.  The paper and “ink” are reasonable as well.  Maybe go that route.


----------



## 480sparky

vintagesnaps said:


> Found it Charlie, by going to Sparky's profile; it was under Photographic Discussions - 'So... are we going to have a Secret Santa exchange this year?'
> 
> Apparently not...
> 
> 
> 
> 480sparky said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just curious..... Turkey Day is fast approaching.  And before you know it, the Fat Guy will be wiggling down the chimney.
Click to expand...


The Totally Unofficial TPF 2019 Secret Santa Thread : Dec. 10 deadline


----------



## snowbear

Happy Friday the 13th, hosers.


----------



## stapo49

Can I come and stay with one of you guys up there next summer? We have a 39 degrees Celsius day now in the middle of 4 days over 40! And I thought I was joking on an earlier post about still suits. We will be changing Australia's name to Arrakis the way it's going.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## RVT1K

stapo49 said:


> Can I come and stay with one of you guys up there next summer? We have a 39 degrees Celsius day now in the middle of 4 days over 40! And I thought I was joking on an earlier post about still suits. We will be changing Australia's name to Arrakis the way it's going.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk




When will the spice mining begin? 
And should I refer to you as Maud'Dib from now on?


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Happy Friday the 13th, hosers.


 
Back atcha, hoser


----------



## limr

stapo49 said:


> Can I come and stay with one of you guys up there next summer? We have a 39 degrees Celsius day now in the middle of 4 days over 40! And I thought I was joking on an earlier post about still suits. We will be changing Australia's name to Arrakis the way it's going.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk



I was gonna say, you wouldn't want to come stay in NY in the summer,you'd be just as miserable...oh wait. *Your* summer. That's now. So next winter for us. Oohhhh, I get it now 

Now I have to go google Arrakis.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Ohhhh, that's what it is! Yeah, totally.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hi Hosers!  Back from a great vacation with the family.  Of course caught a cold that’s been kicking my butt the last few days - between that and post vacation laundry I’ve been too busy to post much.  Hope everyone is well.  Looks like I missed the Secret a Santa deadline.  I will have to look at it as one less thing to worry about this year.  

wanted to share a photo that popped up in my Facebook feed today.  It’s been 10 years since we brought home our older dog - here’s a pic from his first day with us.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@SquarePeg  I don't bother with Facebook, but the wife does. Every once in a while, something pops up on her timeline like this. Great reminder of what's really important in our lives


----------



## vintagesnaps

I had to google a conversion from celcius to farenheit. I thought at first Stapo was freezing down there!

I'm going to send Sparky a message anyway!! I know I hadn't seen it since it was posted, thought of it the other day, and then couldn't find it.

Sharon, what a couple of cuties!


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> I had to google a conversion from celcius to farenheit.


Trivia: At what temperature are Celcius and Fahrenheit the same?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Are you trying to make us think on a Friday afternoon??!


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Are you trying to make us think on a Friday afternoon??!


Yes!


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had to google a conversion from celcius to farenheit.
> 
> 
> 
> Trivia: At what temperature are Celcius and Fahrenheit the same?
Click to expand...

.

I cheated and looked it up, didn't have a clue. LOL It's really cold!!


----------



## stapo49

stapo49 said:


> Can I come and stay with one of you guys up there next summer? We have a 39 degrees Celsius day now in the middle of 4 days over 40! And I thought I was joking on an earlier post about still suits. We will be changing Australia's name to Arrakis the way it's going.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk





RVT1K said:


> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can I come and stay with one of you guys up there next summer? We have a 39 degrees Celsius day now in the middle of 4 days over 40! And I thought I was joking on an earlier post about still suits. We will be changing Australia's name to Arrakis the way it's going.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When will the spice mining begin?
> And should I refer to you as Maud'Dib from now on?
Click to expand...


Spice mining commencing shortly. Just got to watch out for those bloody great worms!
Muad'Dib is wise in the ways of the desert." 



limr said:


> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can I come and stay with one of you guys up there next summer? We have a 39 degrees Celsius day now in the middle of 4 days over 40! And I thought I was joking on an earlier post about still suits. We will be changing Australia's name to Arrakis the way it's going.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was gonna say, you wouldn't want to come stay in NY in the summer,you'd be just as miserable...oh wait. *Your* summer. That's now. So next winter for us. Oohhhh, I get it now
> 
> Now I have to go google Arrakis.
> .
> .
> .
> .
> .
> .
> Ohhhh, that's what it is! Yeah, totally.
Click to expand...

Sweet! See you next winter. I mean your winter our summer


----------



## Original katomi

When it gets it zero kelvin you know it’s cold


----------



## waday

Original katomi said:


> When it gets it zero kelvin you know it’s cold


Not 0K, but it might as well feel like it! Lol


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> @CherylL
> 
> I got my daughter one of the instant cameras a few years ago.  The film doesn’t go very far for the money.  The Cannon Pixma is easy to use to print from any digital camera.  The paper and “ink” are reasonable as well.  Maybe go that route.



I found out that Santa is giving the 6yo & 9yo Instamatic cameras.   My daughter found a bundle on Amazon that came with film.  She said there would be plenty of film for both girls.  Taking bets how long that film lasts!


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> @CherylL
> 
> I got my daughter one of the instant cameras a few years ago.  The film doesn’t go very far for the money.  The Cannon Pixma is easy to use to print from any digital camera.  The paper and “ink” are reasonable as well.  Maybe go that route.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I found out that Santa is giving the 6yo & 9yo Instamatic cameras.   My daughter found a bundle on Amazon that came with film.  She said there would be plenty of film for both girls.  Taking bets how long that film lasts!
Click to expand...


if they’re anything like my daughter at those ages it will be gone in 24 hours!


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> found out that Santa is giving the 6yo & 9yo Instamatic cameras. My daughter found a bundle on Amazon that came with film. She said there would be plenty of film for both girls. Taking bets how long that film lasts!



Probably till the first round of developing


----------



## limr

CherylL said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> @CherylL
> 
> I got my daughter one of the instant cameras a few years ago.  The film doesn’t go very far for the money.  The Cannon Pixma is easy to use to print from any digital camera.  The paper and “ink” are reasonable as well.  Maybe go that route.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I found out that Santa is giving the 6yo & 9yo Instamatic cameras.   My daughter found a bundle on Amazon that came with film.  She said there would be plenty of film for both girls.  Taking bets how long that film lasts!
Click to expand...


Are you talking about the Fuji Instax cameras?


----------



## smoke665

Just got in from taking Li'l Bit to Disney Frozen Jr musical presented by one of our local theater groups. We may be a small town but nothing small about the performance of these talented folks. It was held at the Fine Arts Center on the campus of our local community college, to a sellout crowd. I was in awe at the costumes, set design, vocal and dance talent coming from a cast of over 50 ranging in age from some not much older then Li'l Bit, to college seniors. The logistics of even putting this together with just volunteers  seems mind boggling and to do it in such a polished manner was truly amazing. Their work rivals or exceeds that of many off Broadway performance I've thrown money away on over the years. Can't wait for 2020 season to roll around.


----------



## Original katomi

Really nice when the local group does so well.


----------



## smoke665

Original katomi said:


> Really nice when the local group does so well.



We actually have three groups in our community, one of which owns thier own theater, and also does some fantastic productions. The group that did the one we went to see yesterday, also runs a theatrical school for kids, which is well respected. The support for local theater from volunteers and patrons has been strong over the years. The theater yesterday seats over 1200, and rarely is it not a sellout crowd for these major productions.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hi hosers.  Trying to decide if I should put up our regular big tree or stick with the small one we put up before going out of town.  With our trip and the new puppy we opted for a small tree that I put up on a table.  But we’re expecting lots of guests next week. And the house seems bare.  The puppy is still pretty rambunctious...   really of two minds on this one.


----------



## Jeff G

Sharon, I guess the simple answer is, whichever tree brings you more joy.


----------



## CherylL

limr said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> @CherylL
> 
> I got my daughter one of the instant cameras a few years ago.  The film doesn’t go very far for the money.  The Cannon Pixma is easy to use to print from any digital camera.  The paper and “ink” are reasonable as well.  Maybe go that route.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I found out that Santa is giving the 6yo & 9yo Instamatic cameras.   My daughter found a bundle on Amazon that came with film.  She said there would be plenty of film for both girls.  Taking bets how long that film lasts!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Are you talking about the Fuji Instax cameras?
Click to expand...


Yes, the instax mini


----------



## tirediron

It's rare for me to come across a lighting modifier that I don't have at least one of in some version, but every now and then.... You've all heard of Santa, Baby, right?



Well...






Check out....












Santa Brolly:


----------



## smoke665

We started L'il Bit in dance school (Ballet &Tap) this fall. At 4 yrs old we weren't expecting much but have we ever been surprised. After an initial rough spot with listening to directions, our little duckling has found her pond. Their recital isn't until May but the school gave us a preview of some of the things they've  learned. Yeah her Pirouettes were a little wobbly and getting a rear view of a focused toddler doing a Plié is hilarious, but all in all we were amazed at how much she'd learned in such a short time. Really looking forward to her recital.


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning hosers!  Snowing here but just a few inches.  Princess was disappointed that the anticipated snow day never happened.


----------



## SquarePeg

Ugh one of the other forums that I frequent has a spam issue with annoying pop ups locking your browser.  Absolutely un-usable this past week.  Makes me appreciate our well run site here on TPF.  As long as I’m logged in I never get annoying pop ups here.


----------



## terri

Did you make a tree decision?    It's not an easy one!

We've been listening to our poor next door neighbors' dog for the last week, suddenly relegated to her outdoor kennel (which I despise, anyway - big, ugly chain link thing) and we're assuming it's because they can't trust her around the tree or other holiday decorations.   She's a big golden retriever, loves to romp.   But she hates her kennel!    She yowls, cries, and I've watched her dig furiously around the door to try to get out.   Those folks want to give their kids a tree, but another family member is suffering for it!    

There really is no easy answer.    We had one crash years ago - and it was because one of the cats decided to climb it - and it was a mess to clean up.


----------



## limr

I might put a few decorations up this weekend, but no big tree this year. The girls have never seen a big, decorated tree, so I'm not really sure how they'll react whenever they see their first one (hopefully next year.) Might be a non-issue, or it could be a very...interesting holiday season 

No snow here, but freezing rain and sleet all day until evening. The weather farther south in the county has already turned to plain rain, and that's where my college is, so they had a delayed opening instead of a full-day cancellation. However, I live to the north of the line where weather often turns from "not too bad" to "just stay home," so I've stayed home. Up here, it's still all ice and sleet, and I don't exactly relish the idea of sliding and spinning my way to and from work.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Did you make a tree decision?    It's not an easy one!
> 
> We've been listening to our poor next door neighbors' dog for the last week, suddenly relegated to her outdoor kennel (which I despise, anyway - big, ugly chain link thing) and we're assuming it's because they can't trust her around the tree or other holiday decorations.   She's a big golden retriever, loves to romp.   But she hates her kennel!    She yowls, cries, and I've watched her dig furiously around the door to try to get out.   Those folks want to give their kids a tree, but another family member is suffering for it!
> 
> There really is no easy answer.    We had one crash years ago - and it was because one of the cats decided to climb it - and it was a mess to clean up.



Yes decided to spare myself the drama of the dog pulling the tree down and possibly breaking some of our family ornaments that I cherish.  Just going with the small one this year.  She’ll be almost 2 next Christmas and better behaved I’m sure.

We’ve been super lucky (knock on wood) that she’s not a barker so far.  She has only barked a few times - at the lawnmower and at the shark robot vacuum.  Not scared of it just wants to play.  She loves to run around our yard digging holes and chasing chipmunks and birds.  So she’s happy to be outside during the day because she has the run of the yard since it’s 100% fenced in.  She also doesn’t seem to mind her crate when we have to go out without her. She runs right in there on command.  When I’m home she’s either with me where I can keep an eye in her or shut in the mostly puppy proof kitchen just hanging out.

She’s got a pretty sweet gig.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all we had the same delemma. We have a tree just outside the f door.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Feel like your day at work was really tough? A fellow at my work went out at the end of the day to discover his car was not in his usual parking spot and called the police to report it stolen. They came pretty quickly and were taking his info when another worker yells from the other end of the lot " Isn't this your car?". Apparently he totally forgot. Me, being the caring person I am, came home and made him a card


----------



## tirediron

Brilliant!


----------



## snowbear

This year we decided on a theme tree ... I see bears.




DSC_3033.jpg by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## terri

Haha, love it, Charlie!


----------



## vintagesnaps

And I see a camera...


----------



## snowbear

Yes, there is a camera.  There are also a few globes, a firefighter ornament, a Maryland ornament, and a "Hello Kitty."  MLW also grabbed one of the Pier 1 annual ornaments (the heart at the bottom).

We didn't realize how many polar bears we have.


----------



## SquarePeg

great tree!


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, Sharon.


----------



## CherylL

I've been wrapping presents for the last 3 days, about 20 hours.  I help my daughter by wrapping all of her gifts.  Found the Instax mini cameras in the pile.  One has a very cute llama case and the other one is bunnies.  So cute!  My daughter stopped by to drop off another load for me to wrap and we tested out one of the cameras.  After today's marathon I told my daughter if she has any more gifts then she will have to wrap.  Santa's workshop sweatshop is closed.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> I've been wrapping presents for the last 3 days, about 20 hours.  I help my daughter by wrapping all of her gifts.  Found the Instax mini cameras in the pile.  One has a very cute llama case and the other one is bunnies.  So cute!  My daughter stopped by to drop off another load for me to wrap and we tested out one of the cameras.  After today's marathon I told my daughter if she has any more gifts then she will have to wrap.  Santa's workshop sweatshop is closed.



That’s a lot of wrapping Cheryl!  I’m planning to wrap all my stuff tomorrow night while Princess is out.  It’s not a lot as the older kids just want cash and gift cards but I usually grab a small gift to go with.  Also have some stuff for a few friends and relatives.  I expect it to take about 2 hours if I’m watching a Christmas movie and having a nice festive cocktail while I do it.


----------



## RowdyRay

I for one, don't miss all the wrapping. With two left thumbs and generic tape, the HULK could have done better. Did the best I could. Glad nobody really cared. Lol. 

These days, I only have to deal with the grandkids. Used to be easy. Now the oldest is almost 16. He wants a car. Good luck with that.....here's 50.00!


----------



## snowbear

I have it very easy ... MLW does the shopping (I help wrap), but I have to get her something.  I known what to get her, and will take an extended lunch break tomorrow.


----------



## Original katomi

We have gone down the gift bag route, as neither have the movement in our hands to wrap anything


----------



## waday

We've had some damage to our roof trim because of the high winds recently. We can't get it fixed because no one will come out since it's such a cheap job (the part is less than $20 and just needs tacked in)... I've talked with 5 roofing companies, 3 siding companies, and about 6 local handymen.

I've had 4 people actually come out, but then they've ghosted me. (Granted, 3 of the 4 were local handymen that didn't have the ladders.) The one person was an actual roofer who said he'd book me in his schedule, but then ghosted me and never showed up and never called me back.

One guy said he'd drive his truck around the back of my house and put the ladder in the bed of his truck... uhhhh, no. I don't need anyone falling and getting hurt or worse on my property.

I'd do it, but I don't have the ladder for it and my wife is scared to let me do it. Haha (I'd buy a ladder for it.)

Does anyone have any recommendations on how to get someone (qualified) to come out to do the work?


----------



## tirediron

If the construction market in your area is anything like it is here, you probably won't get anyone.  My father spent the better part of six months trying to get a general contractor for a >20K renovation to his workshop recently....

Do the job yourself, and know that it's done correctly.  Buy or rent the ladder you need, get a buddy to come over and spot you, and that's it... job done.


----------



## SquarePeg

Yes it’s nearly impossible these days.  Around here home costs are high and inventory is low so everyone is remodeling or adding on instead of trading up.   I have a guy who is a paramedic and a part time contractor who does all our stuff but I have to wait on his schedule so not always done as quickly as I want it.  If you find someone good hold on to them tight lol.  I pay him for smaller jobs that I could pay some local handyman less money to do so that I’m at the top of his list when I need something more complicated done.  

If you have any friends or relatives in the construction business try to get them to pin someone down for you.  If your insurance is going to cover this maybe get them to give you a list of their approved contractors.  Having the job come through a high volume customer like an insurance company may make them think twice about ghosting you.


----------



## Original katomi

This getting work done, is part of getting older that bothers me the most.
So many of the diy jobs that I would not thought twice about, just gone and done it and then onto the next.
Now I can’t do them or those that I do just cause me so much pain and take all day.
There a a couple of jobs I have paid to have done, that I look at now and think what 
# cuss word      a load of blood everywhere  mess #  
I would have been ashamed to leave things in the state some of these so called builders have.


----------



## SquarePeg

Got lucky today folks!  Our older dog was barking up a storm this morning by the front door.  I didn’t see anyone through the window but he kept barking so I opened the door expecting to see a package but instead it was our puppy Harlie on the front steps!  I had just let her out back a few minutes before.  When I checked to see how she got out I found that some ice was blocking the gate from latching.  Must have not closed completely when we took out the trash this morning!  Thank goodness she stayed by the house as we live on a very busy street and it is sub freezing here today.


----------



## Original katomi

Ahhhhh so lucky. Glad that your pet is ok.


----------



## CherylL

Did some last minute shopping this morning and too many people.  I had to pick up art supplies too.  Started making one of my miniature photo sets.  The grands are coming over this weekend to shoot their parts.  I have to wait to finish the project after I get photos of the grandson later in the week.  One of the sets involves food.


----------



## Jeff G

Sharon, glad the baby didn't stray, and glad she's safe.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.
Lazy lobster comes in Monday afternoon.  MLW is off for the rest of the year; I'm only off on Christmas Day, and Christmas Eve if work County closes. I'll have to take leave because it isn't a company holiday, but the County won't pay; the day after Thanksgiving was the same deal.  I am supposed to be off the second and third; planning to take lazy lobster back to Maine, weather permitting.

I'm taking an extended lunch break to get MLW's present.  It's not exactly what she wants, but she's been talking (and looking) for something like this for a while.  Most have been too big or too dark.


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> If the construction market in your area is anything like it is here, you probably won't get anyone.  My father spent the better part of six months trying to get a general contractor for a >20K renovation to his workshop recently....
> 
> Do the job yourself, and know that it's done correctly.  Buy or rent the ladder you need, get a buddy to come over and spot you, and that's it... job done.





SquarePeg said:


> Yes it’s nearly impossible these days.  Around here home costs are high and inventory is low so everyone is remodeling or adding on instead of trading up.   I have a guy who is a paramedic and a part time contractor who does all our stuff but I have to wait on his schedule so not always done as quickly as I want it.  If you find someone good hold on to them tight lol.  I pay him for smaller jobs that I could pay some local handyman less money to do so that I’m at the top of his list when I need something more complicated done.
> 
> If you have any friends or relatives in the construction business try to get them to pin someone down for you.  If your insurance is going to cover this maybe get them to give you a list of their approved contractors.  Having the job come through a high volume customer like an insurance company may make them think twice about ghosting you.



I get it, I do. I'm used to doing everything myself so that I know it gets done right... I just figured, if I have to rent the ladder, I might as well buy it considering all the trouble I'll go through trying to get it to my house (and not to mention I'll probably pay for a third of the ladder in rental costs). Just thinking about putting a 30-ft extension ladder on my Subaru Outback roof racks... LOL.

I'm near the same timeline, though, John. I've been trying to get someone to my house for almost three full months now. I hadn't really thought about having it go through insurance, only because I doubt it'd be worth it. But, you're right, they'd probably do it faster if it was coming from an insurance company.

Since I'll have all the tools, I guess I'll just go into the business myself. I'll get a contractor's license, insurance, etc. LOL, only kidding.


----------



## Original katomi

Thought I was going to have to get a plumber in, the toilet kept flushing.....
No plumber needed.   our bengal has worked out how to flush the toilet.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> I'm taking an extended lunch break to get MLW's present. It's not exactly what she wants, but she's been talking (and looking) for something like this for a while. Most have been too big or too dark.


Hmmm.   Can't figure it out based on this cryptic information.      Whatever it is, you'll have to share later - and let us know how she liked it!


----------



## terri

Okay, hosers - so far, this is THE best story of the holiday season:

Family finds owl in Christmas tree.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm taking an extended lunch break to get MLW's present. It's not exactly what she wants, but she's been talking (and looking) for something like this for a while. Most have been too big or too dark.
> 
> 
> 
> Hmmm.   Can't figure it out based on this cryptic information.      Whatever it is, you'll have to share later - and let us know how she liked it!
Click to expand...

Pic on Wednesday.


----------



## Jeff G

My cats would have noticed the owl instantly, great article Terri.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Okay, hosers - so far, this is THE best story of the holiday season:
> 
> Family finds owl in Christmas tree.



The perils of real Christmas trees!  We had some friends a few years ago that brought home a fresh tree and woke up the next morning to a house full of moths.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Hope everyone has a happy Christmas.

-  This was my Christmas shot from last year, and for this year I bought a 'deluxe santa outfit' for me and a 'sexy santa dress' for her - both mail order from China and they cost me almost $4!   

Christmas is not a holiday here, but the plan is to head to the local village with some gifts for the kids, but my significantly better half has said the dress is too small to wear in public (we're heading out on a motorcycle, so she may have a point) - so may need to work on an alternate costume for Santa's helper.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just add some pants and that “dress” becomes a long coat.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

SquarePeg said:


> Just add some pants and that “dress” becomes a long coat.


Yes - good idea.  Looking for some red track suit pants or similar.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey hosers, the coffee house is too far behind in recent posts! lol I'm sure it's the last of the holiday rush.

Watching 'Gaslight' on TCM. 'They say he has six bodies buried in his basement'! Don't know 'he' who, was from a headline in a fictional newspaper. Ingrid Bergman's character says, that's a lot! lol Nooo, reallly??


----------



## tirediron

What a great movie!


----------



## smoke665

@waday feel your pain on getting someone out. Took us almost 6 months to get a gas certified plumber out to put in a gas line for gas logs, and supplemental heater in the garage. Most wouldn't call back, one came out and gave us an estimate that I thought was really high, but agreed to it anyhow. He said he'd be back the next day.......never heard another word. Finally did find one in between jobs that ended up doing it for a reasonable price. We hired an architect to draw up the plans for an estimated 60k addition to the house. He finished the plans in May, and we have yet to get a contractor to bid it. As you say they either don't call back or they come out, look and never call back. I also have some exterior maintenance that needs to be done, but after a bad fall a couple years ago I'm not keen about going 40' up on a ladder either. I keep joking with DW, that I'm going to rent one of these. If I don't find someone soon, it may not be a joke.


----------



## smoke665

Original katomi said:


> Thought I was going to have to get a plumber in, the toilet kept flushing.....
> No plumber needed.   our bengal has worked out how to flush the toilet.



Does he put the lid down??????


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thought I was going to have to get a plumber in, the toilet kept flushing.....
> No plumber needed.   our bengal has worked out how to flush the toilet.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Does he put the lid down??????
Click to expand...

Why?


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thought I was going to have to get a plumber in, the toilet kept flushing.....
> No plumber needed.   our bengal has worked out how to flush the toilet.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Does he put the lid down??????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Why?
Click to expand...


Actually meant toilet seat but lid supposedly goes down to prevent micro spray from contaminating the area surrounding when you flush.  After leaving both up, and hearing the wails of Ll'bit when she got stuck in the toilet, then getting a lecture from Mimi for a good 30 mins, I have learned my lesson, they both go down now.


----------



## terri

Happy Christmas Eve Eve, hosers!


----------



## limr

Happy Festivus!


----------



## limr

And now for the Airing of Grievances.

I've got a lot of problems with you people.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> @waday feel your pain on getting someone out. Took us almost 6 months to get a gas certified plumber out to put in a gas line for gas logs, and supplemental heater in the garage. Most wouldn't call back, one came out and gave us an estimate that I thought was really high, but agreed to it anyhow. He said he'd be back the next day.......never heard another word. Finally did find one in between jobs that ended up doing it for a reasonable price. We hired an architect to draw up the plans for an estimated 60k addition to the house. He finished the plans in May, and we have yet to get a contractor to bid it. As you say they either don't call back or they come out, look and never call back. I also have some exterior maintenance that needs to be done, but after a bad fall a couple years ago I'm not keen about going 40' up on a ladder either. I keep joking with DW, that I'm going to rent one of these. If I don't find someone soon, it may not be a joke.


It’s so insane! I actually did the same thing about agreeing to a higher price. A guy said he’d do it for $750, which is ridiculous to me considering the amount of work needed and cost of parts, but I agreed because I couldn’t get anyone else. No response now!

I have a quasi-fear of heights, and walking about on the roof or going up a 30/40-ft ladder can cause me to freeze up. It’s happened before... I joked to my wife that I’ll get the work done if she calls the fire department to get me down. (Thankfully, I’ve never had to call the fire department. LOL)

I have actually looked into renting one of those hahaha... they’re like $1000 for a day or two. Cost of the machine rental isn’t bad, but there’s like a several hundred dollar delivery fee, insurance fee, this fee, that fee, etc.


----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> I have actually looked into renting one of those hahaha... they’re like $1000 for a day or two. Cost of the machine rental isn’t bad, but there’s like a several hundred dollar delivery fee, insurance fee, this fee, that fee, etc.



If your yard is fairly level they have a tow able model that I looked at renting. Here it was around $200 a day, and there was no delivery as you tow it behind your vehicle. A lot of times rental places will do a weekend deal, pick up on Friday return on Monday. Unfortunately our yard has some substantial grades, so it wouldn't work for us.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Festivus for the rest of us!!

11:30 pm Monday night on TBS. 

And the strike's over at H&H bagels!


----------



## snowbear




----------



## vintagesnaps

And on a more serious note, I don't know if I've talked lately about my dad, and after having had a fall being in rehab, then him trying being at home briefly and that not being manageable, so he'd been at a senior living care facility. This fall he was diagnosed with dementia, which was mostly him getting mixed up on what day it was, etc. It got worse in November and he started going down hill all of a sudden and passed away a couple of weeks ago. We had the visitation and funeral last week, and with a small family not too many there, but a number of people he'd worked with came which was nice. 

One of his favorite movies was The Christmas Story, and the funeral home now has a third partner whose name is Flick. I said, isn't that the name of the red headed kid in the movie...? and everyone said/groaned, yeaahh... Then later I got a delivery of a box of perishable food items and when opening it a fragile sticker flittered off... I thought OK dad, Flick, fra-gi-le', I get it, I'll do something with the Christmas Story house ornaments... he would have appreciated the humor.


----------



## snowbear

Sorry to hear about your dad, Sharon.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> And on a more serious note, I don't know if I've talked lately about my dad, and after having had a fall being in rehab, then him trying being at home briefly and that not being manageable, so he'd been at a senior living care facility. This fall he was diagnosed with dementia, which was mostly him getting mixed up on what day it was, etc. It got worse in November and he started going down hill all of a sudden and passed away a couple of weeks ago. We had the visitation and funeral last week, and with a small family not too many there, but a number of people he'd worked with came which was nice.
> 
> One of his favorite movies was The Christmas Story, and the funeral home now has a third partner whose name is Flick. I said, isn't that the name of the red headed kid in the movie...? and everyone said/groaned, yeaahh... Then later I got a delivery of a box of perishable food items and when opening it a fragile sticker flittered off... I thought OK dad, Flick, fra-gi-le', I get it, I'll do something with the Christmas Story house ornaments... he would have appreciated the humor.



I'm so sorry, Sharon


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> And on a more serious note, I don't know if I've talked lately about my dad, and after having had a fall being in rehab, then him trying being at home briefly and that not being manageable, so he'd been at a senior living care facility. This fall he was diagnosed with dementia, which was mostly him getting mixed up on what day it was, etc. It got worse in November and he started going down hill all of a sudden and passed away a couple of weeks ago. We had the visitation and funeral last week, and with a small family not too many there, but a number of people he'd worked with came which was nice.
> 
> One of his favorite movies was The Christmas Story, and the funeral home now has a third partner whose name is Flick. I said, isn't that the name of the red headed kid in the movie...? and everyone said/groaned, yeaahh... Then later I got a delivery of a box of perishable food items and when opening it a fragile sticker flittered off... I thought OK dad, Flick, fra-gi-le', I get it, I'll do something with the Christmas Story house ornaments... he would have appreciated the humor.


I'm so sorry to hear about this, Sharon.  I know you shared a little bit about his fall, but not much beyond that.   You and your family have my condolences.


----------



## Jeff G

Sharon, sorry about your dad, especially  during the holiday season.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have actually looked into renting one of those hahaha... they’re like $1000 for a day or two. Cost of the machine rental isn’t bad, but there’s like a several hundred dollar delivery fee, insurance fee, this fee, that fee, etc.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If your yard is fairly level they have a tow able model that I looked at renting. Here it was around $200 a day, and there was no delivery as you tow it behind your vehicle. A lot of times rental places will do a weekend deal, pick up on Friday return on Monday. Unfortunately our yard has some substantial grades, so it wouldn't work for us.
> View attachment 184125
Click to expand...

Hmmmmmmmm... that’s interesting. I could hook that up to my Outback no problem. Thanks for the tip! I’ll have to look into this!


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> And on a more serious note, I don't know if I've talked lately about my dad, and after having had a fall being in rehab, then him trying being at home briefly and that not being manageable, so he'd been at a senior living care facility. This fall he was diagnosed with dementia, which was mostly him getting mixed up on what day it was, etc. It got worse in November and he started going down hill all of a sudden and passed away a couple of weeks ago. We had the visitation and funeral last week, and with a small family not too many there, but a number of people he'd worked with came which was nice.
> 
> One of his favorite movies was The Christmas Story, and the funeral home now has a third partner whose name is Flick. I said, isn't that the name of the red headed kid in the movie...? and everyone said/groaned, yeaahh... Then later I got a delivery of a box of perishable food items and when opening it a fragile sticker flittered off... I thought OK dad, Flick, fra-gi-le', I get it, I'll do something with the Christmas Story house ornaments... he would have appreciated the humor.


Sorry to hear this, Sharon


----------



## RowdyRay

Sharon, very sorry for your loss. My condolences.


----------



## smoke665

@vintagesnaps it's always tough to lose a family member but when it happens in December it's really tough. Lost my father in law suddenly and without warning in December of last year, he was the last of our parents. My condolences to you and your family.


----------



## RowdyRay

So....last night my son, the PC guru, stopped by. Said he was there to steal my PC. Wait! What? He assured me it would be back by tonight. Said it would be easier to work on it at home. OK.... I was having storage issues. Running Windows 7 and a hybrid 2 TB hard drive. A platter drive with a small SSD to make things boot faster. Some of the games we play are 50-60 gigs now, plus raw files. I asked him to find a deal on another hard drive to use just for photos. 

He brought it back this evening. It's a whole new PC! Upgraded to Windows 10. A 480 GB SanDisk SSD PLUS running the OS. The hybrid drive is now for games, and a new 4 TB drive for my photos. He also installed an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650. 

His Christmas present to me. I'm flabbergasted!


----------



## SquarePeg

So sorry to hear about your dad Sharon.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @waday feel your pain on getting someone out. Took us almost 6 months to get a gas certified plumber out to put in a gas line for gas logs, and supplemental heater in the garage. Most wouldn't call back, one came out and gave us an estimate that I thought was really high, but agreed to it anyhow. He said he'd be back the next day.......never heard another word. Finally did find one in between jobs that ended up doing it for a reasonable price. We hired an architect to draw up the plans for an estimated 60k addition to the house. He finished the plans in May, and we have yet to get a contractor to bid it. As you say they either don't call back or they come out, look and never call back. I also have some exterior maintenance that needs to be done, but after a bad fall a couple years ago I'm not keen about going 40' up on a ladder either. I keep joking with DW, that I'm going to rent one of these. If I don't find someone soon, it may not be a joke.
> 
> 
> 
> It’s so insane! I actually did the same thing about agreeing to a higher price. A guy said he’d do it for $750, which is ridiculous to me considering the amount of work needed and cost of parts, but I agreed because I couldn’t get anyone else. No response now!
> 
> I have a quasi-fear of heights, and walking about on the roof or going up a 30/40-ft ladder can cause me to freeze up. It’s happened before... I joked to my wife that I’ll get the work done if she calls the fire department to get me down. (Thankfully, I’ve never had to call the fire department. LOL)
> 
> I have actually looked into renting one of those hahaha... they’re like $1000 for a day or two. Cost of the machine rental isn’t bad, but there’s like a several hundred dollar delivery fee, insurance fee, this fee, that fee, etc.
Click to expand...


My uncle had a painting company and if he didn’t want a job (for whatever reason ice he’s looked at it) he would double his quote so they wouldn’t use him.  Sometimes people would agree!


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @waday feel your pain on getting someone out. Took us almost 6 months to get a gas certified plumber out to put in a gas line for gas logs, and supplemental heater in the garage. Most wouldn't call back, one came out and gave us an estimate that I thought was really high, but agreed to it anyhow. He said he'd be back the next day.......never heard another word. Finally did find one in between jobs that ended up doing it for a reasonable price. We hired an architect to draw up the plans for an estimated 60k addition to the house. He finished the plans in May, and we have yet to get a contractor to bid it. As you say they either don't call back or they come out, look and never call back. I also have some exterior maintenance that needs to be done, but after a bad fall a couple years ago I'm not keen about going 40' up on a ladder either. I keep joking with DW, that I'm going to rent one of these. If I don't find someone soon, it may not be a joke.
> 
> 
> 
> It’s so insane! I actually did the same thing about agreeing to a higher price. A guy said he’d do it for $750, which is ridiculous to me considering the amount of work needed and cost of parts, but I agreed because I couldn’t get anyone else. No response now!
> 
> I have a quasi-fear of heights, and walking about on the roof or going up a 30/40-ft ladder can cause me to freeze up. It’s happened before... I joked to my wife that I’ll get the work done if she calls the fire department to get me down. (Thankfully, I’ve never had to call the fire department. LOL)
> 
> I have actually looked into renting one of those hahaha... they’re like $1000 for a day or two. Cost of the machine rental isn’t bad, but there’s like a several hundred dollar delivery fee, insurance fee, this fee, that fee, etc.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My uncle had a painting company and if he didn’t want a job (for whatever reason ice he’s looked at it) he would double his quote so they wouldn’t use him.  Sometimes people would agree!
Click to expand...

That’s hilarious and now I’m wondering why people don’t want to work on my house. Lol


----------



## smoke665




----------



## Tropicalmemories

Tropicalmemories said:


> Hope everyone has a happy Christmas.
> 
> -  This was my Christmas shot from last year, and for this year I bought a 'deluxe santa outfit' for me and a 'sexy santa dress' for her - both mail order from China and they cost me almost $4!
> 
> Christmas is not a holiday here, but the plan is to head to the local village with some gifts for the kids, but my significantly better half has said the dress is too small to wear in public (we're heading out on a motorcycle, so she may have a point) - so may need to work on an alternate costume for Santa's helper.



We found a compromise, red gym shorts.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## terri

You damn well better!!!


----------



## CherylL

vintagesnaps said:


> And on a more serious note, I don't know if I've talked lately about my dad, and after having had a fall being in rehab, then him trying being at home briefly and that not being manageable, so he'd been at a senior living care facility. This fall he was diagnosed with dementia, which was mostly him getting mixed up on what day it was, etc. It got worse in November and he started going down hill all of a sudden and passed away a couple of weeks ago. We had the visitation and funeral last week, and with a small family not too many there, but a number of people he'd worked with came which was nice.
> 
> One of his favorite movies was The Christmas Story, and the funeral home now has a third partner whose name is Flick. I said, isn't that the name of the red headed kid in the movie...? and everyone said/groaned, yeaahh... Then later I got a delivery of a box of perishable food items and when opening it a fragile sticker flittered off... I thought OK dad, Flick, fra-gi-le', I get it, I'll do something with the Christmas Story house ornaments... he would have appreciated the humor.



Sharon so sorry about your father's passing.  Loved the heartwarming Flick story.


----------



## CherylL

Is Christmas over?  I'm exhausted.  We are having our family time on Friday when everyone is in town.  Two of grand girls are sick today and hopefully will be better by then.  I have a Christmas folder that I keep notes each year.  Some years I write myself a note for next year on what to-do's to cut out.  Wrote my note for next year and the list is 9 items.  I can't keep up anymore and need to simplify things.   One note from a few years ago was just that one word "simplify".


----------



## snowbear

Merry Christmas to all those that celebrate.

MLW has been looking for some stained glass for a while.  An upscale flea market we go to has a few pieces from old windows and doors, but they are either too big or too dark.  I got this for her in Annapolis.




DSC_3038.jpg by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## terri

Ah HA!   So that's what it was.    Beautiful gift, Charlie!      I bet she just loves it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Charlie that's beautiful. I like the Celtic looking design. 

Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts. It was an odd Christmas, my best friend and I went over to visit my mom, this is her first Christmas in the senior living apts. where she moved this summer so it was different.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Happy Boxing Day to all in Canada and the UK.

World Jr. IIHF hockey starts today, USA led Canada 2-0 after 1 but Canada just scored again to even it up at 2-2.

Switched over to statehouse choirs on local PBS. Mostly high schools, bell ringers were good, but now littler kids playing recorders, remember those? Oh, they gave them bells too... then sang Small World, it's time for hockey to start the 3rd period!


----------



## smoke665

Christmas is finally over for us this year. Started Tuesday for lunch carried over till today when the last son left just after breakfast. One of our more memorable ones, but DW and I, even Sadie, are wore out.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The Trouble with Tribbles is apparently they made Captain Kirk start repeating things - storage compartments? storage compartments? lol Does he know there will soon be lots of tribbles in them or what?? 

I love the mod decor particularly in this episode, very groovy.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, she says she really likes it.

Sharon, I can relate - we really didn't have Christmas (or Thanksgiving) for a couple years after Mom-in-law and brother-in-law passed away.  This year Miriam's two local sisters came down for Christmas Eve dinner (one is with the Sheriff's office and had to work on the 25th).  We did the same thing at one of their places (we cooked) for Thanksgiving.

If the weather cooperates, we'll be heading to Maine on Wednesday or Thursday to take Lazy Lobster back.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> The Trouble with Tribbles is apparently they made Captain Kirk start repeating things - storage compartments? storage compartments? lol Does he know there will soon be lots of tribbles in them or what??
> 
> I love the mod decor particularly in this episode, very groovy.


"That's my chicken sandwich and coffee."


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all just in for a few mins.  Just to wish you all a happy new year.


----------



## smoke665

On the news this morning  How KFC became Japan’s Xmas food with millions munching buckets kind of funny, because we had chicken tenders (called chicken fingers in the south) for Christmas Eve. Though we prefer Jacks, a popular fast food location in the south, headquartered in Birmingham, Al.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Tonight late night (Friday) for anyone who's up... 'A Most Unusual Camera' episode of the Twilight Zone. I love the vintage camera they use, it cracks me up how they pretend a photo pops out of the top of a camera that old (even then)! Of course it's the Twilight Zone, an unusual camera is the least of it!


----------



## Original katomi

Lol on the camera. For me it was the CSI series using the uv light.#torch#
The csi staff just snap away taking pics with a uv torch as a light source. 
A filter on the lens as well all hand held. 
Never a blurry shot or under exposed... na don’t think so. 
I tried it just to see. 
Ok I love my tv and films, sometimes bad science is ok, but other time it just is bad science that could have been corrected.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Canada isn't having a good afternoon at the World Juniors... down 6-0 after two, changed goalies etc. but they can't catch a break. 

Hockey all afternoon. And evening. Suits me, I'm worn out still from the past couple of weeks. Going to watch other people chase pucks around the ice!


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all.


----------



## SquarePeg

May I present Baby Yoda Catalano


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yes, master Yoda, I will bring you doggie treats. 
(Couldn't think of a good Yoda quote!)

Team USA just defeated Team Russia, whose coach is former Detroit Red Wings player Igor Larionov known as 'The Professor'. The tournament seems to be going fast, feels like it just started and after New Year's they go into quarterfinal elimination games.


----------



## RowdyRay

Yesterday, we woke up to everything coated in ice. Skating rink out there. Metro transit shut down service and the DOT issued a no travel warning. Did they listen. Nope. Accidents everywhere. I did have some running to do. No thanks. So....Netflix binging it was. Good thing I had just stocked up on snacks too. Lol.  

This morning it was 38 and rained most of the day. Weird. But hey, if this were snow, I'd still be digging out.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Team USA in World Jrs. defeated the host country Czech Republic in OT. Our players were out there on the ice circling the net like vultures. We seem to be gaining momentum with another win, but in juniors you never know. Holidays & Hockey, I'll take it!


----------



## RowdyRay

And.........now it turned to snow. Started early this morning supposed to go until tomorrow. Heavy, wet and just broke the blower.


----------



## Original katomi

Here in south coast UK the free view is out of action because of the weather, so many complaining.
I know the kids have become a genaratiln who can’t live without their gadgets but tv...... dose no one rem the days of just three or four stations and arials that had to be constantly adjusted.... then you got a sort of a pic if you were lucky

Yes I would miss the tech but I still do a lot of my photography the old way, even though I am digital
Yes my camera can bracket up to 7 shots but I prefer to look at each situation and bracket be it with f stops iso or s speed
But I am a fossil who has one foot in the old ways and is trying really really hard to keep a nose above water with the new tech/methods


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> May I present Baby Yoda Catalano
> 
> View attachment 184394


So cute!


----------



## Original katomi

So sweet,


----------



## SquarePeg

I love photography and everything that comes with it... but I am officially done in #2020. This is taking up too much of my time. I’m struggling to keep up with the everyday chores of cooking, cleaning and maintaining my home, so something has to give. I have decided to get rid of all my gear.

Below is a list of what's available. Serious inquiries only, and please don't insult me with low offers.

Thanks for reading and understanding...

1. Vacuum cleaner
2. Dustpan and broom
3. Mop and bucket
4. Lawn Mower
5. Leaf blower
6. Laundry detergent
7. Iron

Anything helps for more Photo Gear...

Feel free to steal this as I stole it. Lol


----------



## waday

Just got back from the dealership, who was fixing an open recall on my car. They forgot to close the hood.

Imagine my surprise when I'm driving down the highway, in a construction zone with no pull off, and I see the hood start bobbing up and down. 

Oh man, I am ready for today, this year, this decade, etc. to be over.


----------



## smoke665

Came in on my news feed,  https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/12/30/lessons-yk-years-later/  20 years ago today the thought on everyone's mind was what happens at midnight? Naysayers were predicting apocalyptic events all over the world from computers failing during the transition to the 21st Century. Even though I believed everything would be okay, I'll admit breathing a sigh of relief when the clock ticked past midnight. Planes didn't fall out of the sky, electricity still flowed down the lines, nuclear power plants didn't explode, everything remained and life continued.


----------



## SquarePeg

Omg wade that could have been a very serious accident!  Glad you’re ok.


----------



## pixmedic

Decisions decisions


----------



## tirediron

pixmedic said:


> Decisions decisions
> 
> View attachment 184492


What?  You only own one glass???


----------



## pixmedic

tirediron said:


> pixmedic said:
> 
> 
> 
> Decisions decisions
> 
> View attachment 184492
> 
> 
> 
> What?  You only own one glass???
Click to expand...



glass? who said anything about using a glass?


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> I love photography and everything that comes with it... but I am officially done in #2020. This is taking up too much of my time. I’m struggling to keep up with the everyday chores of cooking, cleaning and maintaining my home, so something has to give. I have decided to get rid of all my gear.
> 
> Below is a list of what's available. Serious inquiries only, and please don't insult me with low offers.
> 
> Thanks for reading and understanding...
> 
> 1. Vacuum cleaner
> 2. Dustpan and broom
> 3. Mop and bucket
> 4. Lawn Mower
> 5. Leaf blower
> 6. Laundry detergent
> 7. Iron
> 
> Anything helps for more Photo Gear...
> 
> Feel free to steal this as I stole it. Lol



Love the list!  I'll have to put my gear up online for sale too.


----------



## CherylL

waday said:


> Just got back from the dealership, who was fixing an open recall on my car. They forgot to close the hood.
> 
> Imagine my surprise when I'm driving down the highway, in a construction zone with no pull off, and I see the hood start bobbing up and down.
> 
> Oh man, I am ready for today, this year, this decade, etc. to be over.



Glad you are okay!  A friend had her tire fall part way off.  Seems the repair shop forgot to tighten down the bolts.   Christmas day we went for a ride and eagle hunting.  On the way back my husband wasn't paying attention and almost drove us into a 5 ft ravine.  I screamed and he corrected in time. Makes you count your blessings.


----------



## terri

Wishing all you hosers a safe and happy New Year!    

 

I'm not betting on making it past 11 pm, but we'll see.   

We still have the Twilight Zone marathon to get through!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi just popped in to say happy new year


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Omg wade that could have been a very serious accident!  Glad you’re ok.


Thank you... definitely! I called to let them know about it. Hopefully they’ll be more careful with others’ cars.



CherylL said:


> Glad you are okay!  A friend had her tire fall part way off.  Seems the repair shop forgot to tighten down the bolts.   Christmas day we went for a ride and eagle hunting.  On the way back my husband wasn't paying attention and almost drove us into a 5 ft ravine.  I screamed and he corrected in time. Makes you count your blessings.


That’s terrifying about the wheel partially falling off! And scary about the ravine!

When I was little, my mom accidentally drove herself, me, and my brother down a 5-ft-ish drop. We were coming back from karate practice at night and it was foggy out. There was a sharp corner, and there were no street lights. All I remember was flying in the air, my mom saying “whoops”, and my mom not skipping a beat by driving right back on the road. LOL


----------



## RowdyRay

Happy new year everyone! Celebrating with a little of this.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Phone shot from last night .... cutting through the new years eve traffic on motorcycle taxis to get to the party.

Happy new year everyone


----------



## waday

Happy New Year!


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy New Year Hosers!


----------



## limr

Happy New Year, hosers!


----------



## Original katomi

Re the girl on the bike.
Nice pic with a good story line
But the former motor cycle instructor in me can’t help but cringe.... just hope she got home safe


----------



## terri

Happy New Year!   Hope all you hosers have a good holiday.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Happy New Year and enjoy the rest of the 12 days of Christmas.

'On the 12th day you coulda got me a dozen donuts...'


----------



## vintagesnaps

My youngest brother sent me a card that said 'I ate all the pears, and the partridge flew away'. That sounds about right.


----------



## CherylL

Happy New Year!  And happy shooting and editing too!


----------



## tirediron

vintagesnaps said:


> Happy New Year and enjoy the rest of the 12 days of Christmas.
> 
> 'On the 12th day you coulda got me a dozen donuts...'


Hands up all those who actually bought that LP as a new release!


----------



## vintagesnaps

No but found their anniversary album (which I never knew about) on ebay (from Canada), with the can opener. What a find.

Oh no.... Team USA only has 2 minutes left playing Finland, in a game with no score til into the 3rd. We could be out of this.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Pulled the goalie, swarming the net, getting chippy...

That was a long 2 seconds sorting things out, and why hasn't the time left been adjusted? That clock was still running after the whistle (as the announcers were just talking about). 

What a shame, we played well as the tournament went along and were at/near the top of our pool. That's how it goes with these single elimination tourneys. These are the U20s, young players that look so disappointed. 

So I guess I'll be rooting for Canada in the semis.


----------



## RowdyRay

And now......a good laugh.


----------



## vintagesnaps

O Can-a-da!!!!! In the semis at the world juniors they scored in the 1st in under 2 minutes, then in another minute and a half, then scored again - 3 goals in just under 4 minutes. I think they really, really want to win this! Good luck to them.


----------



## Original katomi

Ahhhhhh. A sit and relax for a few mins.
Dad asked to to mount and frame a picture he got for mum. Ok no problem... I have not cut mountboard for a year
And have just spent most of the day doing just the one pic. Gave and walked away for a few hours because I was making stupid errors, just get going and the door bell, oh wrong number.. get going yep wrong number
Just finished well sort of ... the self adhesive  tape that I was going to use has become a solid mass  and had to just reorder more. ...
Some days


----------



## vintagesnaps

O Canada, in the championship of the World Jrs. was O-O til midway thru the game, then the scoring started. Less than half of the 3rd left, it's become an edge of your seat kind of game.

I seem to have had a good bit of that lately Katomi, something that should've been quick 'n simple snowballed... into why did I even?

edit - Omg Canada, they tied it up to 3-3, now scored again with the go ahead, 3 min. left... almost too much time left.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Stoppage, puck hit a camera... the TSN (Canadian network for you non hockey fans!) camera. Callled delay of game but replay shows camera was out of play (other side of the glass) so no penalty after all.

edit - Finally! game's over, Canada wins gold in the World Jr. U20. If it can't be us (Team USA) then go Canda! Whew what a 3rd.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. I've got the crud


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Hey hosers. I've got the crud


Boo, hiss!   No time of year is good, but wintertime is especially bad for the crud.    

Nighty-night!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, cold snap here, the cold and damp are really doing my knees in


----------



## smoke665

Rain and damp finally left us for a few days. Also been dealing with cold and cough. Almost gets to the point that I think I need to go to the doctor, then it gets better, then it comes back. Been on the up and down roller coaster for about a week now.


----------



## vintagesnaps

There's something really strange with the weather here - it's sunny! I mean, really bright!!

Leo feel better soon.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> There's something really strange with the weather here - it's sunny! I mean, really bright!!
> 
> Leo feel better soon.



Thanks, Sharon. The girls are taking care of me


----------



## waday

Hope everyone feels better soon! I don’t have a cold like everyone else, but I do have a foot sprain and get to walk around in a fancy boot for the next couple weeks.

Where’s the walkway?






ETA: catwalk, not walkway. *facepalm*


----------



## Original katomi

Nice cats


----------



## RowdyRay

My youngest son and family were sick with the crud during Christmas. They did not attend the festivities. Still not great on New years day, so we got together yesterday to exchange gifts. His employer gave him a 12 lbs. turkey. His track record has not been great, and asked if I would cook it. Sure, if I can do something crazy. Lol. Went with an apple theme. If more details are needed, just ask.

Wasn't much left and the Grandkids went back for more. That's saying something. Lots of other good dishes, too. We were stuffed watching the Vikings game. Sorry for the poor cell pics. We wanted to eat. Lol.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> There's something really strange with the weather here - it's sunny! I mean, really bright!!
> 
> Leo feel better soon.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, Sharon. The girls are taking care of me
> 
> View attachment 184780 View attachment 184781
Click to expand...

Kitties. ...the best medicine.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Do we get any of the leftovers?? jk Turkey I mean, not kitties. 

Sunny again, but we'll be SOL by the weekend (rain's comin'). My best friend and I were talking about that this can't last, the bottom's got to drop out one of these days, it's been too mild for January (I'll take it! but I'm highly suspicious that it will last much longer! lol).


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  First 5 day work week in a whiiiiile.  Sucks.


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's been so mild I heard kids out on the playground yesterday at the school up the street. The temperature did drop and it's colder today, but still sunny. Supposed to rain by the weekend (of course! lol) and I suspect having a mild January will mean winter in March!


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  First 5 day work week in a whiiiiile.  Sucks.


FTFY


----------



## snowbear

Good evening, peeps.  Happy New year & whatever else I haven't been around to say.

It's been a busy couple of months:  PT twice a week for shoulder pain and data updates at work.  We drove lazy lobster back to Portland on Thursday (Jan. 2) and headed back on Friday; stayed in CT on the way up and back.  It was a rushed trip but not too tiring.  The blood sugar is pretty much under control though it does get a bit high at times, and I've lost about 30 pounds since I started in October.   I have a long way to go, but it's a good start.

I ordered a used 18-70/3.5-4.5 DX lens and a charger for the EN-EL9s.  I gave my D40 to Boomer (son #1) a while back, so he got the 18-135, batteries, and charger.  Back in August, lazy lobster gave me his old D40 back but couldn't find the charger.  I am going to ship it off for an IR conversion and the 18-70 is Life Pixel's standard lens for the Nikon DSLR conversions.

I've started getting the watercolors and pastels (@terri) together so I can serious about expanding the artwork; I'm considering art as part of my next (final) career.  My physical therapist calls me a workaholic.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> I've started getting the watercolors and pastels (@terri) together so I can serious about expanding the artwork;






snowbear said:


> I'm considering art as part of my next (final) career.


Doooo iiiitttt!   You have a knack with the inks, and I'd LOVE to see more pastel work from you.   Come to think of it, I haven't posted any of my stuff for awhile.   So much is kinda junky, it takes a hot minute to find something I consider "moderately okey-dokey."   



snowbear said:


> My physical therapist calls me a workaholic.


Oh, what does (s)he know?   If you didn't have that kind of energy, you likely wouldn't have lost so much weight already.   Thirty pounds is nothing to sneeze at - congrats!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good for you Charlie! So does your PT consider being a workaholic a good thing or a bad thing? lol I suppose it depends on if one means every day workin' for a living or enjoyable work. Seems good to have projects or some semblance of a career etc. in mind for retirement.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, Terri and Sharon.

"My name is Charlie and I'm a Workaholic."  I guess I have to prove myself, which, apparently I have done.  One of my former bosses sent me an email asking to meet with him about a position (their GIS guy just left).  My current GIS boss is very supportive of what his people want to do with their careers, I told him not to worry.  This is the agency where I was miserable (except the last few years when I was assigned TDY to elsewhere), and the was going to RIF me (prompting my early retirement.)  Apparently the former has contacted a number of people and no one is interested,  Besides, I've committed to the current contract until (at least) July.

Part of the problem with my shoulder is my posture.  I've spend 8-12 hours a day for 35 years in front of the computer, and tend to slouch - lean forward, head down, shoulders down and forward.  I am supposed to be taking a 30-second break every hour but may take two.

Terri - Maybe we should start another creative thread, specifically for watercolors and pastels.  I have some exercises to go through, so that may be a start.  I may still slouch over a bit, but at least it's not at a keyboard.


----------



## smoke665

Looks like we're in for a pounding the next couple days, as a front moves through tomorrow into Saturday. From our local weather "storms will be capable of producing wind gusts up to 60 to 70 mph along with a few embedded tornadoes". As of now the forecast is for the worst of it to move south of us, hoping that doesn't change.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> Maybe we should start another creative thread, specifically for watercolors and pastels


I’d be interested in this... although, I’d be more into watercolor and pen/drawing.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe we should start another creative thread, specifically for watercolors and pastels
> 
> 
> 
> I’d be interested in this... although, I’d be more into watercolor and pen/drawing.
Click to expand...

My sketches are in the _Creative Corner_, here and some of Terri's pastels are here.  I'll try to get _something_ put together this weekend.  If nothing else, I'll post the color cards for the watercolors and acrylic inks.

I started with some oil painting as a kid (maybe 10) and played a little with pastel and watercolor. I took an oil painting class when I started the local community college and it was no longer fun, but work.  I didn't pick up a brush for years, though I did make a set of caricature drawings (coloring book style) of my shift when I was a police dispatcher.)  Fast forward to 2007, or so, when I was working on the Geography/GIS degree and couldn't find major classes in my time slot (school part time at night) so I took a few of basic art (drawing) and photo classes.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> My sketches are in the _Creative Corner_, here and some of Terri's pastels are here. I'll try to get _something_ put together this weekend. If nothing else, I'll post the color cards for the watercolors and acrylic inks.


You start it and I'll be there, Bear!


----------



## snowbear

Will do.


----------



## waday

TGIF is all I can say. This week has been very long, and people have seemed much crankier than usual.


----------



## waday




----------



## smoke665

waday said:


> TGIF is all I can say. This week has been very long, and people have seemed much crankier than usual.



We all took a vote and elected to give you a pass this week.


----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> Happy Friday, hosers!


Please provide evidence to support your hypothesis.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> TGIF is all I can say. This week has been very long, and people have seemed much crankier than usual.



Yes!  It’s first full work week in a while syndrome.  Also known as TGIFF.


----------



## CherylL

January is a good month to take online classes at Creative Live or just watch tuts on YouTube.  My new build computer was delivered and all week I've been getting things set up and transferred.  I bought the components back in Nov and told the person building it for me no hurry.  So far liking the new monitor.  It says it came calibrated.  The colors are looking good and doesn't seem too bright.  Hopefully my old Spyder will work on W10.


----------



## smoke665

Balmy 70 degrees at 5 am this morning and the storm front is approaching the western edge of the state. Going to be a bumpy ride for us today.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Balmy 70 degrees at 5 am this morning and the storm front is approaching the western edge of the state. Going to be a bumpy ride for us today.


It’s supposed to be 64 here today. Just a couple days ago it was in the 20s with several inches of snow covering everything.


----------



## smoke665

Power has already flickered a couple of times this morning. We'll be lucky if we don't lose power before the storm even gets here. Wind gusts are already topping 30 mph. Damage reports across TX, OK, LA already coming in with 3 dead in LA.


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Power has already flickered a couple of times this morning. We'll be lucky if we don't lose power before the storm even gets here. Wind gusts are already topping 30 mph. Damage reports across TX, OK, LA already coming in with 3 dead in LA.
> View attachment 184991


Wow! Good luck with the storm


----------



## terri

tirediron said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> Please provide evidence to support your hypothesis.
Click to expand...

Why, sure!


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> Power has already flickered a couple of times this morning. We'll be lucky if we don't lose power before the storm even gets here. Wind gusts are already topping 30 mph. Damage reports across TX, OK, LA already coming in with 3 dead in LA.
> View attachment 184991


Yeah, this one's been nasty so far.   We've been hearing that it is supposed to lose a lot of force by the time it reaches Georgia, but that remains to be seen.   

And it's tracking north, as well - stay safe, everyone!


----------



## SquarePeg

65+ here and breeeezy as hell.  Just took the dogs for a 2 hour walk at the nearby lake.  They were so happy. Here they are smiling for me and posing.


----------



## smoke665

Survived the storm, had weakened by the time it got to us, but we list power of course.  An ant sneezes here and we lose power.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> 65+ here and breeeezy as hell.  Just took the dogs for a 2 hour walk at the nearby lake.  They were so happy. Here they are smiling for me and posing.
> 
> View attachment 185007



Two posing at the same time!!  Looks like the pup is smiling and not scowling at the new guy.   I guess they are getting along great now.


----------



## CherylL

My husband is getting a new TV and he came home with the brochure that listed the services like mounting.  There was a page on computer set up and data transfer, which I been doing all week.  At least I know how much I'm worth


----------



## terri

Terrific shot, Sharon!   Just like with kids, it's hard to get our critters to smile and look pleasant for the camera at the same time.   You nailed it!

Looks like you had a great day at the lake.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Terrific shot, Sharon!   Just like with kids, it's hard to get our critters to smile and look pleasant for the camera at the same time.   You nailed it!
> 
> Looks like you had a great day at the lake.



Thanks!  I owe it all to IPhone Live Photo.  You can go back in and choose from the burst and find one with both of them looking.


----------



## smoke665

After 18hrs without power we are finally back on. Guess I should consider us lucky it's back on in less then 24hrs, unlike times past when it might take 3 or 4 days. I'm so happy we made the decision to go all electric when we built.......NOT. I put in a gas hookup for a standby generator last year, but extra expenditures prevented installing a standby unit. Our RV unit just isn't big enough to run much in the house.


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> After 18hrs without power we are finally back on. Guess I should consider us lucky it's back on in less then 24hrs, unlike times past when it might take 3 or 4 days. I'm so happy we made the decision to go all electric when we built.......NOT. I put in a gas hookup for a standby generator last year, but extra expenditures prevented installing a standby unit. Our RV unit just isn't big enough to run much in the house.


Do you have a wood stove?


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> 65+ here and breeeezy as hell.  Just took the dogs for a 2 hour walk at the nearby lake.  They were so happy. Here they are smiling for me and posing.
> 
> View attachment 185007



They are so stinkin' cute!


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> 65+ here and breeeezy as hell.  Just took the dogs for a 2 hour walk at the nearby lake.  They were so happy. Here they are smiling for me and posing.
> 
> View attachment 185007


Pups is getting big.


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> Do you have a wood stove?



Nope. Installed gas logs in the fireplace, and have a gas heater in the basement/garage/studio, but it wasn't needed. The high yesterday afternoon right before the storm came through was 72.  We really didn't have much of a storm, little wind and rain. Other areas north and south of us got hit. Brindle Mountain School is about 30 miles north of us Storms tear through Marshall County school they think it was mostly straight line winds. Pickens County is south of us about 150 miles, it got hit pretty hard 3 killed in Alabama storms identified


----------



## Fujidave

Thought I`d pop in and say Hi, before Xmas in and out of hospital with the worst chest infection ever, was bed ridden for nearly a week, still taking it easy to get my strength back up so slow walks every day for a while.


----------



## CherylL

Fujidave said:


> Thought I`d pop in and say Hi, before Xmas in and out of hospital with the worst chest infection ever, was bed ridden for nearly a week, still taking it easy to get my strength back up so slow walks every day for a while.



Hope you feel better soon!


----------



## Original katomi

Smoke , Hi. Hope that you are ok now and that you have power. I can sort of relate as living right by the sea  the sub station that serves us is under 100 yards from the sea. Power loss during a storm or high waves is always a possibility 
We have torched, candles and a small gen set. Not big enough to supply the house but will give us light and some heat


----------



## smoke665

Original katomi said:


> Smoke , Hi. Hope that you are ok now and that you have power. I can sort of relate as living right by the sea  the sub station that serves us is under 100 yards from the sea. Power loss during a storm or high waves is always a possibility
> We have torched, candles and a small gen set. Not big enough to supply the house but will give us light and some heat



Yeah, we finally got power restored after 18 hrs. One of my best friends (about 2 miles from me), didn't get power restored till later last night 30hrs.


----------



## smoke665

Not photography related, but for you car buffs out there. If you go to O'reilly's web page  https://www.oreillyauto.com/ in the search box at the top, type in part number 121G. You really can find anything on the internet. LOL


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning all.  What a weekend!  High 60’s to low 70’s both days and the only rain was overnight.  It was great to open up all the windows and let the fresh air in, walk the dogs, sit out on the deck and enjoy a good book... crazy spring like weather in the middle of January!  Of course, this is New England, so it was snowing lightly when I woke up this morning.  Back to the dreary gray of winter.


----------



## Original katomi

Someone please pass me the coffee.
This morning.... no hot water.... think the water heater is naff,d call plumber or three, find one who will call back in 30mins..does not. 3pm now hot water IS working..call plumber to say seems ok no need to call back
4.pm looking for file to print, external hd, not working, working , not working.working
Whilst working decided to copy the whole hd. 1.5TB. Laptop now tied up doing copy.
4.30pm internet... bad gateway to this site......
off to kitchen, see if I can find a pint bucket to make coffee in .... hope kettle works
4.37. Sister called. Staying for tea. ......more coffee.plz
Edit 17.20 sister Justin our door then  got phone call, she has just turned round and headed home


----------



## tirediron

smoke665 said:


> Not photography related, but for you car buffs out there. If you go to O'reilly's web page  https://www.oreillyauto.com/ in the search box at the top, type in part number 121G. You really can find anything on the internet. LOL


"_This item is not available for purchase_."  Well... that's useful!


----------



## waday

smoke665 said:


> Not photography related, but for you car buffs out there. If you go to O'reilly's web page  https://www.oreillyauto.com/ in the search box at the top, type in part number 121G. You really can find anything on the internet. LOL


----------



## smoke665

@Original katomi If plumbers there are as bad as they are here, then good luck. Took us 3 months to get one lined up to install a gas line. Most never called back, some called back but never came out to give an estimate, one came out gave an estimate, we agrreed on price, last we heard from him.


----------



## Original katomi

Smoke, Hi well fingers crossed the hot water is working. Now I have a blocked bath drain, but that can wait until daylight. One plumber I called said he could fit us in in.....February


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not photography related, but for you car buffs out there. If you go to O'reilly's web page  https://www.oreillyauto.com/ in the search box at the top, type in part number 121G. You really can find anything on the internet. LOL
> 
> 
> 
> "_This item is not available for purchase_."  Well... that's useful!
Click to expand...

Aren't DeLoreans extinct in the wild?

Somewhat related - apparently Chevy (Canada) accidentally released a Camaro trim for 2020 earlier than planned.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Morning all.  What a weekend!  High 60’s to low 70’s both days and the only rain was overnight.  It was great to open up all the windows and let the fresh air in, walk the dogs, sit out on the deck and enjoy a good book... crazy spring like weather in the middle of January!  Of course, this is New England, so it was snowing lightly when I woke up this morning.  Back to the dreary gray of winter.


Still warm like that down here in GA, and the rain seems never-ending.   A January thaw is not unheard-of, but this is a little ridiculous.   Our forsythia bushes have popped a few bright yellow blooms.   I'm hoping the temps drop back down quickly or other buds will pop only to be killed later.   Ugh - I don't like warm winters!


----------



## vintagesnaps

When I was first teaching there was a family at our school that had a DeLorean. Every once in a while the mom would come to school and pull into the circle (where my classroon faced) and we'd all stare out the window at it! Was pretty cool when those doors would open up to see one in real life.


----------



## Original katomi

Storm hit here waves overtopping just put storm boards in
Prob loose power in..
Edit lost phone for a short time.


----------



## Original katomi

3am  we are over the peak of high tide, there is some flooding but nothing major  and it should ease off now


----------



## snowbear

It's rained a bit and expecting snow/rain mix on Saturday morning; MLW will be pulling a 12-hours at the Watch Office on Saturday.

I'm a happy bear.
I had my appointment with my RPN this evening and was told I should be proud -- verified I've lost about 30 pounds (13,6 kg / 2 stones), but the best news is my A1C dropped from 10% (October 2019) to 5.5%, putting me out of the "diabetic" range.  I am still on the medication (pills, not insulin) for the next three months, then get re-evaluated to see how much the dosage can drop.


----------



## smoke665

@Original katomi Hope all is well soon there.


----------



## Original katomi

Good going, not sure what scale system you use for diabetics but it sounds good that you are out of the diabetic range


----------



## Original katomi

Smoke, Hi.
Thanks we will be sitting up for a bit just to keep an eye on the water level outside.
The local authorities are working to reduce the amount of water that comes down our road
The worst should be over for now at least. Will have to watch next high water if the storm keeps up.
1300 bst wens
Hi all still here not washed away, the storm seems to have died
No longer buffeted by gale force 9 winds
The high water is in about 1 and half hours looks like there will be no more flooding


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, after the storm here it’s calmed down now. Yesterday gale force 9 wind made going on the beach impossible 
Today people are out enjoying the day. This lad and his dog would have been washed away at the location at 3am this morning
As you can see in the b&w it’s still rough but not crashing over the top


----------



## waday

No post for nearly 2 days?!






Installed a new dishwasher last night.

Ready for the weekend!


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> No post for nearly 2 days?!



Wow!  Bunch of lame hosers lately.  It's the post holiday winter blues?  Or riveted by the weather?


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Or riveted by the weather?


Yeah, the weather is among the things that's kind of been riveting lately.   

Thankfully, our warm spell seems to have snapped and it's 20 degrees cooler today.   These fronts have brought a ton of rain, one deluge after another, for the last 10 days, and the yard is still boggy in a couple of spots.   Temps are supposed to drop even more over the weekend, which is a welcome return to actual winter!

Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> No post for nearly 2 days?!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wow!  Bunch of lame hosers lately.  It's the post holiday winter blues?  Or riveted by the weather?
Click to expand...


I can only speak for myself. Just like August, January is a bludgeon at work. This weekend will be like a brief breaking of the surface to take a deep breath, but then come Tuesday, I'm going back under.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I was thinking Leo I hadn't seen you on here lately, but I hadn't thought about it being a new and fabulous semester. OK, a new semester.

Weather here is I don't know what. Supposed to snow today but the forecast pushed that back to overnight. Then back to rain tomorrow, then dropping into the teens. Was planning to go to a hockey game but probably will wait til next Saturday, not worth risking a fall with a cane on even a thin a glaze of ice. 

The big brown truck just took away the broken thing being returned. A retractable cord should, you know, retract... so once the money's credited back this evening I'll buy another hair dryer (without any retractability!) and hope 3rd time's a charm.


----------



## smoke665

Anyone else use the organizer function on Flickr? If so where did it go??????


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Anyone else use the organizer function on Flickr? If so where did it go??????



I still have it on my Flickr.  Do you have a "pro" membership or the free account?  I have pro.


----------



## SquarePeg

Forgot to answer you - it is the last option under You


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone else use the organizer function on Flickr? If so where did it go??????
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I still have it on my Flickr.  Do you have a "pro" membership or the free account?  I have pro.
Click to expand...


I'm still on Free, that may be the difference, as a lot of the tools available before have disappeared.


----------



## terri

One of the few heartening stories from this awful event:

Aussie Firefighters Save World's Only Groves Of Prehistoric Wollemi Pines


----------



## snowbear

At least they are finally getting rain.

Good morning, peeps.
We have a light dusting of snow, but it is not doing anything now.  The storm, in general, is supposed to go to a mix, later this morning, and all rain this afternoon.

No plans for today, except hit the PB Box.  We picked a post office that's not expensive and between work and home, but the lobby isn't always open.  I'm going to use it for my reoccurring meds, since insurance want's me to get three months at a time, and the local delivery person sometimes puts mail in the wrong box.

After that, and a little work that I brought home (just formatting a Word and equivalent HTML document) I'll probably play with some paint.  I picked up a kid's watercolor pan set to use while I try techniques.


----------



## snowbear

Smoke -- yes, it's in "You" and does appear in the free version.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all.... just popped in to say hi whilst on line ordering mountboard, cutter blades etc.
If anyone knows of a good dot com that does #fastmount# products and is in uk please drop me a pm
My supplier is no more, 
Thanks


----------



## snowbear

Timing is everything and mine sucks.
The roads were fine, just a bit wet, but I did need to stop and put air in the front tires.  The PO Box was empty, not even containing junk mail.  Returned home and check the phone (I had left it home on the charger) and MLW had sent a text stating she got an email from the prescription plan but not sure if it was related to my refill order.  

I go to their website and it shows my things have been shipped.  I hit the tracking and it shows them being delivered at 10:00.  I was the post office at 9:00.  Bother.  I guess we'll swing by on Tuesday (Monday is a Federal Holiday for the non-USA peeps) at lunch.

Cup number three and lunch are history; some of the work-work is done; the bed sheets are in the dryer and the comforter is waiting it's turn for the hot tumble; I have a few dishes to do, then it's painting time.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> I have a few dishes to do, then it's painting time


 
Saw earlier that you'd picked up a watercolor set, have you ever done any ink pen and water color, or used Prismacolor water color pencils?


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Saw earlier that you'd picked up a watercolor set, have you ever done any ink pen and water color, or used Prismacolor water color pencils?



I've done some pen and ink, both dip pen and fountain pen (My Weekly Themed Sketch and Other Art Works), but not with watercolor in the same work, though I typically use the ink in washes.

I have a set of the Prismacolor water-soluble pencils, but I'm waiting for the Derwents to get used up before I open them (Pastels and Watercolors).  I also have some Prismacolor regular color pencils.  The acrylics are a blend of brands, mostly student quality.  The "good" watercolors are tubes (again, student quality) whereas the new set for testing techniques is an eight-color kid's set by Crayola.

There's even a tube of oil paint I used to selective hand-color an B&W silver print.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> There's even a tube of oil paint I used to selective hand-color an B&W silver print.


  !

Pics or it didn't happen.   I wanna see!!


----------



## snowbear

OK, here it is.




Oh, you meant the selective color photo?   Here's Jasper (RIP), Tri-X, Ilford RC paper, artist's oil paint


----------



## vintagesnaps

Where's Leo??? 'Harry Lime', zither music, kitties in doorways...




edit - And canted angles, and an abandoned looking ferris wheel, plenty of great photographic aspects.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Speaking of Freestyle... (sort of, in another sort of related thread!) I've used these, but vintage ones that blended in surprisingly well.

Peerless Black & White (Dry) Handcoloring Dye Sheet (Complete Edition Water Color Book) - 15 sheets | Freestyle Photographic Supplies


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, just a bit hacked off at the moment, putting away the kit from macro shoot. The adapter ring for ring light jammed on the thread of uv filter.#67mm#
Tried all the normal tricks, finally used grips and pliers... still not moving, by not I have damaged both adapter ring and uv filter had to throw both away, just pleased that it did not jam on the lens.
POSs going to have to get new ring light or more lightly use what size adapter rings I have left 
A real pain as the adapter ring /rings are unique to that light,


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Hi all, just a bit hacked off at the moment, putting away the kit from macro shoot. The adapter ring for ring light jammed on the thread of uv filter.#67mm#
> Tried all the normal tricks, finally used grips and pliers... still not moving, by not I have damaged both adapter ring and uv filter had to throw both away, just pleased that it did not jam on the lens.
> POSs going to have to get new ring light or more lightly use what size adapter rings I have left
> A real pain as the adapter ring /rings are unique to that light,



That stinks!  The macro lens filter I just got is a spring load and goes on like a lens cap.  Super easy.   MYbe they make a ring light with a similar mechanism?


----------



## Fujidave

I wonder if this shop is owned by Sweeney Todd...lol


----------



## otherprof

Squirrel Appreciation Day!
The Dull Men's Club ("Celebrating the Ordinary!")  newsletter tells me that tomorrow, 1/21, is Squirrel Appreciation Day in the U.S.  Enough said! You know who you are!  (The holiday is now in its 19th year, and was started by wildlife conservationist.)


----------



## vintagesnaps

The tatoo parlor looks much more interesting than squirrel day sounds! lol 

It's so quiet today, even more than usual since it's not exactly too lively out here most of the time anyway. Especially in this cold, nobody seems to be out unless they have to. I had a Dr. appt. and was in and out pretty quick. Got into a conversation with someone there about a holiday craft show where she sells, so the trip into town was worth something. 

I had extra coffee this afternoon. Especially good after coming inside. It feels like winter now! Brr! I still feel chilly.


----------



## JonA_CT

Good morning, hosers. Hope life has been treating y'all well.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Good morning, hosers. Hope life has been treating y'all well.



Well well, look what the cat dragged in!  Never understood that one when my mom said it but it seems to fit.  How’s the family?  The little ones and the bar must be keeping you pretty busy.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, just having a real coffee, after yesterday’s photo shoot in the park, I am kinda stuck indoors as I am paying the price for yesterday. The knees are really playing me up, pain killers and rest today.
So I may be here a lot .....


----------



## JonA_CT

SquarePeg said:


> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, hosers. Hope life has been treating y'all well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well well, look what the cat dragged in!  Never understood that one when my mom said it but it seems to fit.  How’s the family?  The little ones and the bar must be keeping you pretty busy.
Click to expand...


Crazy busy. There's always something, and my daughter is starting ballet soon so I'm sure it'll only get worse. The photography bug just isn't with me at the moment. I'm sure it'll return as the weather gets warmer.  My brewery involvement should go down soon, I think, as we are discussing the need to hire a taproom manager before summer. Most of my hours at the brewery have been in that role recently, but we'd like the expand the scope a bit to include event planning and scheduling and other stuff, and I have no interest/wouldn't be good at that kind of thing. Once that happens, I'll have some more time to breathe. 

I'm sure I'll be around here when it comes time to take photos of my house though -- we're doing some clean-up work and minor renovations to get it ready to sell this spring. My 1050 sqft 2ish bedroom starter home (you know, the one we said we would live in for 5 years max...it's been 11, haha) is closing in on us as the kids are getting bigger.


----------



## terri

Great to see you, Jon!      Sounds like business is good!   Glad to hear the family is doing well.    Looks like life is kinda taking over, and it's really hard to squeeze our hobbies in, too.   We've all been there!

No worries, but we'd love to get pics every now and then of the fam.   Good luck with the renovations (ugh!).


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey, Jon! Nice to see you.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JonA_CT said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, hosers. Hope life has been treating y'all well.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well well, look what the cat dragged in!  Never understood that one when my mom said it but it seems to fit.  How’s the family?  The little ones and the bar must be keeping you pretty busy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Crazy busy. There's always something, and my daughter is starting ballet soon so I'm sure it'll only get worse. The photography bug just isn't with me at the moment. I'm sure it'll return as the weather gets warmer.  My brewery involvement should go down soon, I think, as we are discussing the need to hire a taproom manager before summer. Most of my hours at the brewery have been in that role recently, but we'd like the expand the scope a bit to include event planning and scheduling and other stuff, and I have no interest/wouldn't be good at that kind of thing. Once that happens, I'll have some more time to breathe.
> 
> I'm sure I'll be around here when it comes time to take photos of my house though -- we're doing some clean-up work and minor renovations to get it ready to sell this spring. My 1050 sqft 2ish bedroom starter home (you know, the one we said we would live in for 5 years max...it's been 11, haha) is closing in on us as the kids are getting bigger.
Click to expand...


Good for you.  Looking forward to before and after pics of the house and pics of your new digs.  Better to move up now than wait.  I added on by converting the garage and wish I’d done it 10 years sooner!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all,  Just a last post of the day or the first post of the next day...  we’ll both as started before midnight and finished after.


----------



## snowbear

Jon!  Yeah, kids will keep you busy.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Where's Leo??? 'Harry Lime', zither music, kitties in doorways...
> 
> edit - And canted angles, and an abandoned looking ferris wheel, plenty of great photographic aspects.



Ahhh, _The Third Man_. One of my favorites.

I'm still treading water over here, just trying to get through January.

Also in the middle of an elimination diet to see if there are food triggers that are making my autoimmune thing worse. I think stress has put my immune system on overtime, which just means my body is attacking itself even harder now, creating issues I didn't have a year ago. So just trying to manage that, too. Good times 

Had a good first day of class last night. It's been a full year since I taught. Of course, walking into the room last night felt like I never left.

Oh, and hey Jon!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I had zither music in my head the rest of the day...


----------



## Tony744

Nice to see you Jon. I have to remember to stop by your bar next time I'm down that way.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Had a good first day of class last night. It's been a full year since I taught. Of course, walking into the room last night felt like I never left.


That's awesome; it's how it should be!   

Sorry about the all the other stress, though.   Winter can be challenging enough without health issues flaring up.   Hope you get a handle on it soon, when this work stuff dies back a little.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The snow we're supposed to get still hasn't gotten here. Didn't go to the hockey game I'd planned on since it's not worth risking a fall walking with a cane, and of course it hasn't done anything! Still supposed to snow tonight, so if I'd gone it'd probably be coming down by the time I would have been leaving. Can't win for losing! lol At least there's the NHL All Star game and some college hockey on tonight. And left over pizza from the freezer which is better than concession food!


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, ugg it,s morning again. A rather late night photography session means that I am going to see
Two 2oclocks today. If and when I get the technical aspects correct I will post some images..... don’t hold your breath you will pass out lol
Edit
Decided to post some early attempts, I have a few ideas to try out


----------



## SquarePeg

Wow Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Is that what happened! Oh my gosh, I just saw mention of it on something hockey related and was wondering.


----------



## SquarePeg

His 13yo daughter was with him and 3 others including pilot are dead.  Horrific for his wife and other children.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> His 13yo daughter was with him and 3 others including pilot are dead.  Horrific for his wife and other children.


Yes, this is an awful, tragic story.    I don't even follow basketball, but I know what a superstar athlete he was.   Having his daughter along...that poor family is just gutted today.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Even if you don't follow Bball it's still a shock, isn't it? he's so well known beyond the sport.

The LA Times has free access to their site today and a good bit of coverage. He was coaching at a kids' tournament which cancelled the rest of the games once they got word. 

I hadn't thought about the Grammys tonight but they were having dress rehearsals... They displayed his two rafter jerseys side by side, put up a curtain over the others, and have a spotlight on his for tonight.


----------



## Fujidave

Raining today again.


----------



## waday

Fujidave said:


> Raining today again.


Hi!

It’s sunny here, after what felt like weeks of clouds, rain, and wind. Highs have been in the 40sF, which is much warmer than usual for this time of year. 

I’m looking forward to spring.


----------



## SquarePeg

I don’t mind the snow when it’s just a few inches but I hate the bitter cold.  I got my share of snow photos so I’m all set with winter!

Spring this year will be different for me.  Usually I am running around to my daughters HS softball games but this year she says she is not going to play.  I’m hoping she changes her mind but it doesn’t look like it will happen.  Also I no longer am on the rec league softball board having “retired” from that when Princess aged out.  So, this spring I will have a lot of time for flowers and hiking.


----------



## Fujidave

GRII bumped into Spikey..lol


----------



## waday

Fujidave said:


> GRII bumped into Spikey..lol


Good to see the GRII is still in use! I still think the GRIII was one of the best camera purchases I made.


----------



## Original katomi

Cold wet here.
Decided to do some _serious_ photography . Decided to try some more strobe work. Molly decided that this was the latest of the many games that we play. She thought running back and forth for treats was really good fun
So not a photo session more of a game of run play for treats.


----------



## limr

It is still only January, stop wishing my winter away from me!


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> It is still only January, stop wishing my winter away from me!


I would never do that. I will happily wish all MINE to you however!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'll stay in winter for awhile too! I'm just now getting going on some winter projects. It's been so mild it seems like it should be later, but we've got a ways to go til spring. I imagine we'll have January in February and/or January in March since we had August in October! lol  

Hi FujiDave.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> It is still only January, stop wishing my winter away from me!


Sorry.   But my jonquils seem to be doing it no matter how I scold them!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is still only January, stop wishing my winter away from me!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would never do that. I will happily wish all MINE to you however!
Click to expand...


Send it over!



terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is still only January, stop wishing my winter away from me!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry.   But my jonquils seem to be doing it no matter how I scold them!
Click to expand...


Bah, what do jonquils know?









What are jonquils?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Little daffodilly looking plants. They should still be hibernating, we got freezing rain over the weekend, that'd get 'em to knock it off with the trying to be springy!

This must be Terri's!


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> It is still only January, stop wishing my winter away from me!



Just ordered some winter hiking gear on clearance since the season is over


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> Little daffodilly looking plants. They should still be hibernating, we got freezing rain over the weekend, that'd get 'em to knock it off with the trying to be springy!
> 
> This must be Terri's!


That's them!    Little sob's, they usually appear in Mid-February, so seeing a bright yellow bloom yesterday was a mite disconcerting.  Too early!


----------



## snowbear

It's supposed to be in the 60's, here, next week.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

So last weekend someone tried to use my debit card on line, then yesterday 4 transactions on my credit card that were not mine - (cards not lost or stolen, but now cancelled), then my regular barber decides to cut off all my hair so I now look like an old toothbrush, then today I was told I'm being made redundant.

Think I need a stiff drink before the weekend.


----------



## SquarePeg

Tropicalmemories said:


> So last weekend someone tried to use my debit card on line, then yesterday 4 transactions on my credit card that were not mine - (cards not lost or stolen, but now cancelled), then my regular barber decides to cut off all my hair so I now look like an old toothbrush, then today I was told I'm being made redundant.
> 
> Think I need a stiff drink before the weekend.



Drink up!


----------



## Tropicalmemories

SquarePeg said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> So last weekend someone tried to use my debit card on line, then yesterday 4 transactions on my credit card that were not mine - (cards not lost or stolen, but now cancelled), then my regular barber decides to cut off all my hair so I now look like an old toothbrush, then today I was told I'm being made redundant.
> 
> Think I need a stiff drink before the weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Drink up!
Click to expand...


The goods news is that the credit card company have just refunded the fraudulent payments, but my hair has not grown back yet.


----------



## Tony744

limr said:


> It is still only January, stop wishing my winter away from me!



We got a new tractor and snowblower attachment at work




 
and haven't had any snow to try it out.


----------



## Original katomi

Tony,
If you can’t use the snow blower, I have a #use# for it said very much not really
Can I borrow it to poo pick my back garden,


----------



## snowbear

Tropicalmemories said:


> So last weekend someone tried to use my debit card on line, then yesterday 4 transactions on my credit card that were not mine - (cards not lost or stolen, but now cancelled), then my regular barber decides to cut off all my hair so I now look like an old toothbrush, then today I was told I'm being made redundant.
> 
> Think I need a stiff drink before the weekend.


Have one for me. too.

Maybe a card scanner attached to an ATM' fuel pumps are typical targets in this area.  It could even be someone working at a shop that scans the card.  We've had that happen a few times; luckily the Credit Union is on top of things and we can get a new card in a couple of hours (during normal business hours.

There are also small devices that can read a card in close proximity -- like walking very close to you.  I took an introductory cyber security class a while back and got to see one in  action.


----------



## Original katomi

Those close proximity scanners are about in the UK as well .
I have had the smart contact less chip in mine disabled. 
It causes my a few problems but to me it worth the extra hassle knowing that I have to put my card into a reader before it can be used


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## vintagesnaps

You mean there's some sport other than hockey on this weekend?? 

NESN had on a Beanpot preview... but didn't watch it since I just tuned in to an early Big Ten game. I hadn't thought about that it's February tomorrow and - the Beanpot starts Monday!! (Thank you cable company for adding NESN to my sports package.) Go Northeastern dog pound.


----------



## terri

Happy Friday evening, hosers!

It's officially fire and wine time here.   Been a drizzling, cold, ugly day out there.   My firewood is dry, though, and will be crackling soon.   Red wine and pizza next up.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh goody, the Beanpot preview is on again Sunday afternoon, if I remember to watch it. Notre Dame v. Penn St.'s getting chippy...

(Made myself a note on my Page a day calendar, but will I look at it?? on the weekend? never know! lol)

edit - Wine time is official?? alright!!! (All I got is some leftover Kahlua that's been in the fridge awhile...)


----------



## Fujidave

YES a Great Friday night indeed


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Happy Friday evening, hosers!
> 
> It's officially fire and wine time here.   Been a drizzling, cold, ugly day out there.   My firewood is dry, though, and will be crackling soon.   Red wine and pizza next up.



We are going with Five Guys take out and soda tonight.  I need beef and salt!!!  I had a couple of martinis last night and don't quite feel up to drinking anything tonight...


----------



## snowbear

Neither of us felt like cooking, so tonight's dinner was leftover pizza and microwave meatballs.  Tomorrow brings haircuts and art of some kind.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Maybe combine leftover meatballs and art... on top of ol' Smoky, all covered with cheese, I lost my poor meatball, when somebody sneezed.

And I haven't had a drop of an adult beverage this evening.


The Golden Domers are down a point in the 3rd.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Maybe combine leftover meatballs and art... on top of ol' Smoky, all covered with cheese, I lost my poor meatball, when somebody sneezed.
> 
> And I haven't had a drop of an adult beverage this evening.
> 
> 
> The Golden Domers are down a point in the 3rd.



Do you mean something like this?




#1B Something That Is Round.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## RowdyRay

Last weekend a retired couple I know, called and said their washer wasn't agitating as it should. A local repair service quoted around 300.00. Did my usual Googling and figured out what the problem was. The official "branded" repair kit, (8 pieces) was about 25.00. Found a generic version for 5.00 on Ebay. Arrived yesterday. Stopped after work tonight. Literally took me about 20 minutes. Ridiculous. 

They're on a fixed income and I won't take their money. They already know this, but surprised me. Barb, has had to take a part time job to pay for some of the meds they're on. She came in the door as I was finishing up. Handed me two chicken sandwiches. Jerry reached into the fridge and handed me a 12 pack of my favorite beer. What's a guy to do? Dinner and drinks are on them tonight! Lol.


----------



## terri

RowdyRay said:


> Last weekend a retired couple I know, called and said their washer wasn't agitating as it should. A local repair service quoted around 300.00. Did my usual Googling and figured out what the problem was. The official "branded" repair kit, (8 pieces) was about 25.00. Found a generic version for 5.00 on Ebay. Arrived yesterday. Stopped after work tonight. Literally took me about 20 minutes. Ridiculous.
> 
> They're on a fixed income and I won't take their money. They already know this, but surprised me. Barb, has had to take a part time job to pay for some of the meds they're on. She came in the door as I was finishing up. Handed me two chicken sandwiches. Jerry reached into the fridge and handed me a 12 pack of my favorite beer. What's a guy to do? Dinner and drinks are on them tonight! Lol.


That's a wonderful story.   What being neighborly is all about.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

January was a tough year, but it's finally over! It's our second-busiest registration period and the start of Spring classes (and I am teaching a class this semester), I had my annual reappointment review, had to prepare my share (shared with 2 other people) of the writing and data for the yearly grant report, and helped write a conference proposal. And I only reintroduced caffeine about halfway through the month (I'm reintroducing yogurt today. Still off other dairy, gluten, soy, refined sugar, and alcohol.)

If I take a shower and put on clothes other than my pyjamas and robe, I'm going to call that a productive day.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leo, it sounds like you deserve a play lazy weekend. (Our old family doctor used to say that when one of us was sick, to go home and play lazy.)

It is... gray. It might do something... rain, fog, snow, it's anyone's guess. 

I have a nothing goin' on kind of weekend and thought I'd get some stuff done but I'm not exactly kicking it into gear. I'm going to get fabric & supplies together for a couple of quilt/embroidery projects and get it organized. I am, really I am, I'm going to get on it in a minute... while I watch afternoon hockey and evening hockey and late night hockey...


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all
00.20 bst, love the story about the washing machine,


----------



## Tony744

Original katomi said:


> Tony,
> If you can’t use the snow blower, I have a #use# for it said very much not really
> Can I borrow it to poo pick my back garden,



Doubt I could talk my boss into that. I can't even talk him into letting me take it home to do my driveway, and I live only 1.5 miles away.


----------



## Original katomi

Tony, thanks yes I think your boss would be a bit #issed if you said the snow blower was in the uk lol
The stones from the beach/sea defence being washed up over the foot path is a constant prob here.
Locals even suggested to the local council that a jcb be left here and locals trained to drive it. That way the council could leave the locals to move stone when needed..... Apparently can’t do that health and safety


----------



## terri

We've had fires for the last couple of nights.   We ripped out the gas logs and replaced the mantel and surrounding tile over the summer, since the last mantel was apparently way out of compliance.  

So, the best discovery has been that Miss Finn is quite a fire cat.   She collapses in front of the logs and barely moves.












Our other cat, Bex, sits at a safe distance and doesn't seem to care one way or another.      Finn's like a hound dog.


----------



## snowbear

The temperature is _almost_ at the point where we can open the windows, just a little too cool.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Our other cat, Bex, sits at a safe distance and doesn't seem to care one way or another.  Finn's like a hound dog.



Weird angle or ginormous kitty?


----------



## Fujidave

Not up to much today, cold grotty and grey out and no rain forecast.


----------



## Fujidave

Well the rain did actually come in today, so Susie wanted a shot for her boyfriend.  Plus it gave me time to practice using the Godox350TTL on the camera.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our other cat, Bex, sits at a safe distance and doesn't seem to care one way or another.  Finn's like a hound dog.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Weird angle or ginormous kitty?
Click to expand...

Weird angle, cell phone shot.      She's actually the smaller of the two, but she can still stretch out with the best of them!


----------



## waday

Hi all, odd question for you. I was recently the winner of an online contest, and I won a gift card to the store. I'm trying to figure out what to get. My question is this: would you buy a wide variety of inexpensive items (that you would potentially buy separately without a free gift card), or would you buy one or two expensive/high quality items that you would likely never purchase if they weren't free? Or another option?

ETA: for example, pretend it's a gift card for $500 for a camera store. Would you put it all towards a lens for $500 that you probably wouldn't buy if it weren't free, or would you buy a lens cloth, a new camera battery, other batteries, etc.? Would you be practical or spoil yourself?


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Hi all, odd question for you. I was recently the winner of an online contest, and I won a gift card to the store. I'm trying to figure out what to get. My question is this: would you buy a wide variety of inexpensive items (that you would potentially buy separately without a free gift card), or would you buy one or two expensive/high quality items that you would likely never purchase if they weren't free? Or another option?



I don't think you can really go wrong with either approach.  I would be tempted to splurge since spending winnings on practical stuff is kind of lame .  As long as you believe in the value of these otherwise out of reach items.  I find that, if we're talking camera gear, there's a lot of really good cheap versions out there - especially if you're not a pro.  If this is a general type of retailer like Target or Walmart then I would buy the practical items or put it on hold and use it when you have an unexpected expense.  If it's a smaller store that could go out of business then I would spend it right away on the smaller things.


----------



## SquarePeg

Ugh - lots of issues that are sucking up my time today...

Princess got a report card on Friday and 2 of the grades were incorrect.  For one class there was no Q2 grade posted at all on the report card or the online grading system.  Then this morning a 50 gets posted which is wrong (should have been a 94 by my calculations) so she emails the teacher since she doesn't have his class today and he fixes it on the Q2 "grades" page (to a 98, so one of us can't do math) but it doesn't update on the online transcript or gpa calculation so we'll have to chase that down.  Another class the teacher posted the grade as a 70 but it should have been 84.3 (which is how it is shown on the quarterly page so probably just a typo when she was inputting final grades).  What a pita to chase all this down.  I'm making Princess do most of the work but she would never have thought to check the transcript or the gpa pages so I can't stay totally out of it...  I knew to check because this is not my first rodeo with this online system.  

Also doing research to buy a new (probably used) car.  Anyone have a CRV?  I need something smaller and newer than my 2007 Pilot.  I inquired about a car on one of the websites and have gotten no less than 30 emails from car dealerships.  One is even offering to bring the car to my house for the test drive.


----------



## Original katomi

Given your  what if.
I would see how long the card was valid and watch the used section and get the best value.
Prob something that I would not normally be able to afford.
Lens cloths , those I regard as consumable  and replace ... maybe more often than some but my 
thought is a lens cloth is cheaper than a lens to replace. So it’s not worth using a dirty lens cloth


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> ...Also doing research to buy a new (probably used) car.  Anyone have a CRV?  I need something smaller and newer than my 2007 Pilot.  I inquired about a car on one of the websites and have gotten no less than 30 emails from car dealerships.  One is even offering to bring the car to my house for the test drive.


Don't own one, but I've wrenched on a couple.   Seem to be well made, reliable vehicles on the higher end of the Honda/Toyota reliability spectrum.  Any particular year/trim package?


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Also doing research to buy a new (probably used) car.  Anyone have a CRV?  I need something smaller and newer than my 2007 Pilot.  I inquired about a car on one of the websites and have gotten no less than 30 emails from car dealerships.  One is even offering to bring the car to my house for the test drive.
> 
> 
> 
> Don't own one, but I've wrenched on a couple.   Seem to be well made, reliable vehicles on the higher end of the Honda/Toyota reliability spectrum.  Any particular year/trim package?
Click to expand...


I'm currently trying to find a 2017 or 2918 Ex-L in my are - one that has a dark leather interior (because dogs) with less than 15k miles/year on the odometer.  You'd think it would be easy but no...


----------



## vintagesnaps

If I won a $500 card I'd probably buy something I wouldn't buy otherwise, unless I had other expenses and would be better off to just use it for more practical necessities.

It's trying to be sunny. Before we warm up, get rain, then get colder - again! It is Groundhog Day, the movie, same weather again this week as the week before and the week before...!


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> I'm currently trying to find a 2017 or 2918 Ex-L in my are - one that has a dark leather interior (because dogs) with less than 15k miles/year on the odometer.  You'd think it would be easy but no...


Have you looked at private sales?


----------



## vintagesnaps

1 hour til - Beanpot!!!!!!!!!!! Hockey, no actual beans will be consumed. 

Realized I've seen 3 of those 4 Boston college teams play live, in person, at a tournament. Was thinking I should look for my pictures of Northeastern U's Doghouse, they apparently had/have a 'road' version to travel to their games, small in number but energetic. They're going for a threepot (-peat)!


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Also doing research to buy a new (probably used) car.  Anyone have a CRV?  I need something smaller and newer than my 2007 Pilot.  I inquired about a car on one of the websites and have gotten no less than 30 emails from car dealerships.  One is even offering to bring the car to my house for the test drive.
> 
> 
> 
> Don't own one, but I've wrenched on a couple.   Seem to be well made, reliable vehicles on the higher end of the Honda/Toyota reliability spectrum.  Any particular year/trim package?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm currently trying to find a 2017 or 2918 Ex-L in my are - one that has a dark leather interior (because dogs) with less than 15k miles/year on the odometer.  You'd think it would be easy but no...
Click to expand...

We've had our CR-V for a year now, and love it - 2019 EX.  It's the right size for us, and the CCT (aka, the rubber band transmission) is peppy enough with the turbo-4.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Also doing research to buy a new (probably used) car.  Anyone have a CRV?  I need something smaller and newer than my 2007 Pilot.  I inquired about a car on one of the websites and have gotten no less than 30 emails from car dealerships.  One is even offering to bring the car to my house for the test drive.
> 
> 
> 
> Don't own one, but I've wrenched on a couple.   Seem to be well made, reliable vehicles on the higher end of the Honda/Toyota reliability spectrum.  Any particular year/trim package?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm currently trying to find a 2017 or 2918 Ex-L in my are - one that has a dark leather interior (because dogs) with less than 15k miles/year on the odometer.  You'd think it would be easy but no...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We've had our CR-V for a year now, and love it - 2019 EX.  It's the right size for us, and the CCT (aka, the rubber band transmission) is peppy enough with the turbo-4.
Click to expand...


That’s good to know.  The “pep” is a concern since I’m used to the 6 cylinder Pilot which, despite being a big soccer mom box,  is a beast when you hit the gas.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I don't think you can really go wrong with either approach.  I would be tempted to splurge since spending winnings on practical stuff is kind of lame .  As long as you believe in the value of these otherwise out of reach items.  I find that, if we're talking camera gear, there's a lot of really good cheap versions out there - especially if you're not a pro.  If this is a general type of retailer like Target or Walmart then I would buy the practical items or put it on hold and use it when you have an unexpected expense.  If it's a smaller store that could go out of business then I would spend it right away on the smaller things.





Original katomi said:


> Given your  what if.
> I would see how long the card was valid and watch the used section and get the best value.
> Prob something that I would not normally be able to afford.
> Lens cloths , those I regard as consumable  and replace ... maybe more often than some but my
> thought is a lens cloth is cheaper than a lens to replace. So it’s not worth using a dirty lens cloth





vintagesnaps said:


> If I won a $500 card I'd probably buy something I wouldn't buy otherwise, unless I had other expenses and would be better off to just use it for more practical necessities.



Thanks all! I think I'll splurge and be spoiled. Most of their stuff is on the more expensive side (it's not a camera store, BTW), so it probably won't go far. But, I'm excited nonetheless.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh - lots of issues that are sucking up my time today...
> 
> Princess got a report card on Friday and 2 of the grades were incorrect.  For one class there was no Q2 grade posted at all on the report card or the online grading system.  Then this morning a 50 gets posted which is wrong (should have been a 94 by my calculations) so she emails the teacher since she doesn't have his class today and he fixes it on the Q2 "grades" page (to a 98, so one of us can't do math) but it doesn't update on the online transcript or gpa calculation so we'll have to chase that down.  Another class the teacher posted the grade as a 70 but it should have been 84.3 (which is how it is shown on the quarterly page so probably just a typo when she was inputting final grades).  What a pita to chase all this down.  I'm making Princess do most of the work but she would never have thought to check the transcript or the gpa pages so I can't stay totally out of it...  I knew to check because this is not my first rodeo with this online system.
> 
> Also doing research to buy a new (probably used) car.  Anyone have a CRV?  I need something smaller and newer than my 2007 Pilot.  I inquired about a car on one of the websites and have gotten no less than 30 emails from car dealerships.  One is even offering to bring the car to my house for the test drive.


I feel your pain. Trying to convince the water company that they screwed up and that I did not actually use over 17,000 gallons of water last month. As much as I can look at the meter and tell them, they don't seem to understand that usage should be going in ascending order...

Speaking to the CRV, our previous neighbors bought a new one a few years ago, and they loved it. My father-in-law almost bought one, but he ended up going with a Subaru Outback.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh - lots of issues that are sucking up my time today...
> 
> Princess got a report card on Friday and 2 of the grades were incorrect.  For one class there was no Q2 grade posted at all on the report card or the online grading system.  Then this morning a 50 gets posted which is wrong (should have been a 94 by my calculations) so she emails the teacher since she doesn't have his class today and he fixes it on the Q2 "grades" page (to a 98, so one of us can't do math) but it doesn't update on the online transcript or gpa calculation so we'll have to chase that down.  Another class the teacher posted the grade as a 70 but it should have been 84.3 (which is how it is shown on the quarterly page so probably just a typo when she was inputting final grades).  What a pita to chase all this down.  I'm making Princess do most of the work but she would never have thought to check the transcript or the gpa pages so I can't stay totally out of it...  I knew to check because this is not my first rodeo with this online system.
> 
> Also doing research to buy a new (probably used) car.  Anyone have a CRV?  I need something smaller and newer than my 2007 Pilot.  I inquired about a car on one of the websites and have gotten no less than 30 emails from car dealerships.  One is even offering to bring the car to my house for the test drive.
> 
> 
> 
> I feel your pain. Trying to convince the water company that they screwed up and that I did not actually use over 17,000 gallons of water last month. As much as I can look at the meter and tell them, they don't seem to understand that usage should be going in ascending order...
> 
> Speaking to the CRV, our previous neighbors bought a new one a few years ago, and they loved it. My father-in-law almost bought one, but he ended up going with a Subaru Outback.
Click to expand...


Had many issues with our local water department when we moved here 20 years ago.  I took photos of the meter and went down to city hall to explain my concerns.  Turned out they had been using an "estimated" read for years because of a thorny bush blocking them from reading the actual meter.  So easily solved if only the guy reading the meters had bothered to knock on our door and say hey now that someone new is living here can you trim back those bushes?  Now it is all done by wireless readers and they just drive by and hit a button.  For the record though - our water bills are super high in our town (we are MWRA and still paying for Boston Harbor clean up from many years ago).   When we remodeled recently I replaced both existing toilets with ones that conserve water and we installed a 3rd bath with a water saver toilet as well.  Our water bills dropped by almost $200 per quarter.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Guess things _are_ cheaper in the country, my water bill is about $25 or so (for one person though). And I didn't know they still made 6 cylinder, those were the days (which I thought were long gone). Having worked in a hilly part of the city a poor lil' 4 cylinder often made me feel like I needed to get out and give it a push!


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh - lots of issues that are sucking up my time today...
> 
> Princess got a report card on Friday and 2 of the grades were incorrect.  For one class there was no Q2 grade posted at all on the report card or the online grading system.  Then this morning a 50 gets posted which is wrong (should have been a 94 by my calculations) so she emails the teacher since she doesn't have his class today and he fixes it on the Q2 "grades" page (to a 98, so one of us can't do math) but it doesn't update on the online transcript or gpa calculation so we'll have to chase that down.  Another class the teacher posted the grade as a 70 but it should have been 84.3 (which is how it is shown on the quarterly page so probably just a typo when she was inputting final grades).  What a pita to chase all this down.  I'm making Princess do most of the work but she would never have thought to check the transcript or the gpa pages so I can't stay totally out of it...  I knew to check because this is not my first rodeo with this online system.
> 
> Also doing research to buy a new (probably used) car.  Anyone have a CRV?  I need something smaller and newer than my 2007 Pilot.  I inquired about a car on one of the websites and have gotten no less than 30 emails from car dealerships.  One is even offering to bring the car to my house for the test drive.
> 
> 
> 
> I feel your pain. Trying to convince the water company that they screwed up and that I did not actually use over 17,000 gallons of water last month. As much as I can look at the meter and tell them, they don't seem to understand that usage should be going in ascending order...
> 
> Speaking to the CRV, our previous neighbors bought a new one a few years ago, and they loved it. My father-in-law almost bought one, but he ended up going with a Subaru Outback.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Had many issues with our local water department when we moved here 20 years ago.  I took photos of the meter and went down to city hall to explain my concerns.  Turned out they had been using an "estimated" read for years because of a thorny bush blocking them from reading the actual meter.  So easily solved if only the guy reading the meters had bothered to knock on our door and say hey now that someone new is living here can you trim back those bushes?  Now it is all done by wireless readers and they just drive by and hit a button.  For the record though - our water bills are super high in our town (we are MWRA and still paying for Boston Harbor clean up from many years ago).   When we remodeled recently I replaced both existing toilets with ones that conserve water and we installed a 3rd bath with a water saver toilet as well.  Our water bills dropped by almost $200 per quarter.
Click to expand...

That’s so frustrating. $200 a quarter! Jeez. I’m afraid of what the bill looked before that! We pay $50-60 a month for 2 adults, kid, and dog. It’ll go up a bit in the summer for kid sprinkler and watering plants. But usually not over $70 a month. 

How’s Boston doing with CSOs? Did they already address them? PA is dragging its feet, much to Maryland’s annoyance.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh - lots of issues that are sucking up my time today...
> 
> Princess got a report card on Friday and 2 of the grades were incorrect.  For one class there was no Q2 grade posted at all on the report card or the online grading system.  Then this morning a 50 gets posted which is wrong (should have been a 94 by my calculations) so she emails the teacher since she doesn't have his class today and he fixes it on the Q2 "grades" page (to a 98, so one of us can't do math) but it doesn't update on the online transcript or gpa calculation so we'll have to chase that down.  Another class the teacher posted the grade as a 70 but it should have been 84.3 (which is how it is shown on the quarterly page so probably just a typo when she was inputting final grades).  What a pita to chase all this down.  I'm making Princess do most of the work but she would never have thought to check the transcript or the gpa pages so I can't stay totally out of it...  I knew to check because this is not my first rodeo with this online system.
> 
> Also doing research to buy a new (probably used) car.  Anyone have a CRV?  I need something smaller and newer than my 2007 Pilot.  I inquired about a car on one of the websites and have gotten no less than 30 emails from car dealerships.  One is even offering to bring the car to my house for the test drive.
> 
> 
> 
> I feel your pain. Trying to convince the water company that they screwed up and that I did not actually use over 17,000 gallons of water last month. As much as I can look at the meter and tell them, they don't seem to understand that usage should be going in ascending order...
> 
> Speaking to the CRV, our previous neighbors bought a new one a few years ago, and they loved it. My father-in-law almost bought one, but he ended up going with a Subaru Outback.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Had many issues with our local water department when we moved here 20 years ago.  I took photos of the meter and went down to city hall to explain my concerns.  Turned out they had been using an "estimated" read for years because of a thorny bush blocking them from reading the actual meter.  So easily solved if only the guy reading the meters had bothered to knock on our door and say hey now that someone new is living here can you trim back those bushes?  Now it is all done by wireless readers and they just drive by and hit a button.  For the record though - our water bills are super high in our town (we are MWRA and still paying for Boston Harbor clean up from many years ago).   When we remodeled recently I replaced both existing toilets with ones that conserve water and we installed a 3rd bath with a water saver toilet as well.  Our water bills dropped by almost $200 per quarter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That’s so frustrating. $200 a quarter! Jeez. I’m afraid of what the bill looked before that! We pay $50-60 a month for 2 adults, kid, and dog. It’ll go up a bit in the summer for kid sprinkler and watering plants. But usually not over $70 a month.
> 
> How’s Boston doing with CSOs? Did they already address them? PA is dragging its feet, much to Maryland’s annoyance.
Click to expand...


Yes the bill was close to $600 per quarter - we must have had a leak or two with the older toilets and now is just below $400 the past 3 quarters so a big drop for a relatively small investment.  

What is CSO - something with the sewer?


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh - lots of issues that are sucking up my time today...
> 
> Princess got a report card on Friday and 2 of the grades were incorrect.  For one class there was no Q2 grade posted at all on the report card or the online grading system.  Then this morning a 50 gets posted which is wrong (should have been a 94 by my calculations) so she emails the teacher since she doesn't have his class today and he fixes it on the Q2 "grades" page (to a 98, so one of us can't do math) but it doesn't update on the online transcript or gpa calculation so we'll have to chase that down.  Another class the teacher posted the grade as a 70 but it should have been 84.3 (which is how it is shown on the quarterly page so probably just a typo when she was inputting final grades).  What a pita to chase all this down.  I'm making Princess do most of the work but she would never have thought to check the transcript or the gpa pages so I can't stay totally out of it...  I knew to check because this is not my first rodeo with this online system.
> 
> Also doing research to buy a new (probably used) car.  Anyone have a CRV?  I need something smaller and newer than my 2007 Pilot.  I inquired about a car on one of the websites and have gotten no less than 30 emails from car dealerships.  One is even offering to bring the car to my house for the test drive.
> 
> 
> 
> I feel your pain. Trying to convince the water company that they screwed up and that I did not actually use over 17,000 gallons of water last month. As much as I can look at the meter and tell them, they don't seem to understand that usage should be going in ascending order...
> 
> Speaking to the CRV, our previous neighbors bought a new one a few years ago, and they loved it. My father-in-law almost bought one, but he ended up going with a Subaru Outback.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Had many issues with our local water department when we moved here 20 years ago.  I took photos of the meter and went down to city hall to explain my concerns.  Turned out they had been using an "estimated" read for years because of a thorny bush blocking them from reading the actual meter.  So easily solved if only the guy reading the meters had bothered to knock on our door and say hey now that someone new is living here can you trim back those bushes?  Now it is all done by wireless readers and they just drive by and hit a button.  For the record though - our water bills are super high in our town (we are MWRA and still paying for Boston Harbor clean up from many years ago).   When we remodeled recently I replaced both existing toilets with ones that conserve water and we installed a 3rd bath with a water saver toilet as well.  Our water bills dropped by almost $200 per quarter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That’s so frustrating. $200 a quarter! Jeez. I’m afraid of what the bill looked before that! We pay $50-60 a month for 2 adults, kid, and dog. It’ll go up a bit in the summer for kid sprinkler and watering plants. But usually not over $70 a month.
> 
> How’s Boston doing with CSOs? Did they already address them? PA is dragging its feet, much to Maryland’s annoyance.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes the bill was close to $600 per quarter - we must have had a leak or two with the older toilets and now is just below $400 the past 3 quarters so a big drop for a relatively small investment.
> 
> What is CSO - something with the sewer?
Click to expand...

Combined sewer overflow. Many older cities have their storm drains and sewers connected, so during heavy rainfall events, they discharge raw sewage to rivers/streams. Lovely. Haha. 

Some cities have addressed this already, some are in the process of addressing it, and some haven’t done anything, yet. Problem is that it can cost major major bucks. Like hundreds of millions of dollars.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh - lots of issues that are sucking up my time today...
> 
> Princess got a report card on Friday and 2 of the grades were incorrect.  For one class there was no Q2 grade posted at all on the report card or the online grading system.  Then this morning a 50 gets posted which is wrong (should have been a 94 by my calculations) so she emails the teacher since she doesn't have his class today and he fixes it on the Q2 "grades" page (to a 98, so one of us can't do math) but it doesn't update on the online transcript or gpa calculation so we'll have to chase that down.  Another class the teacher posted the grade as a 70 but it should have been 84.3 (which is how it is shown on the quarterly page so probably just a typo when she was inputting final grades).  What a pita to chase all this down.  I'm making Princess do most of the work but she would never have thought to check the transcript or the gpa pages so I can't stay totally out of it...  I knew to check because this is not my first rodeo with this online system.
> 
> Also doing research to buy a new (probably used) car.  Anyone have a CRV?  I need something smaller and newer than my 2007 Pilot.  I inquired about a car on one of the websites and have gotten no less than 30 emails from car dealerships.  One is even offering to bring the car to my house for the test drive.
> 
> 
> 
> I feel your pain. Trying to convince the water company that they screwed up and that I did not actually use over 17,000 gallons of water last month. As much as I can look at the meter and tell them, they don't seem to understand that usage should be going in ascending order...
> 
> Speaking to the CRV, our previous neighbors bought a new one a few years ago, and they loved it. My father-in-law almost bought one, but he ended up going with a Subaru Outback.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Had many issues with our local water department when we moved here 20 years ago.  I took photos of the meter and went down to city hall to explain my concerns.  Turned out they had been using an "estimated" read for years because of a thorny bush blocking them from reading the actual meter.  So easily solved if only the guy reading the meters had bothered to knock on our door and say hey now that someone new is living here can you trim back those bushes?  Now it is all done by wireless readers and they just drive by and hit a button.  For the record though - our water bills are super high in our town (we are MWRA and still paying for Boston Harbor clean up from many years ago).   When we remodeled recently I replaced both existing toilets with ones that conserve water and we installed a 3rd bath with a water saver toilet as well.  Our water bills dropped by almost $200 per quarter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That’s so frustrating. $200 a quarter! Jeez. I’m afraid of what the bill looked before that! We pay $50-60 a month for 2 adults, kid, and dog. It’ll go up a bit in the summer for kid sprinkler and watering plants. But usually not over $70 a month.
> 
> How’s Boston doing with CSOs? Did they already address them? PA is dragging its feet, much to Maryland’s annoyance.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes the bill was close to $600 per quarter - we must have had a leak or two with the older toilets and now is just below $400 the past 3 quarters so a big drop for a relatively small investment.
> 
> What is CSO - something with the sewer?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Combined sewer overflow. Many older cities have their storm drains and sewers connected, so during heavy rainfall events, they discharge raw sewage to rivers/streams. Lovely. Haha.
> 
> Some cities have addressed this already, some are in the process of addressing it, and some haven’t done anything, yet. Problem is that it can cost major major bucks. Like hundreds of millions of dollars.
Click to expand...


I believe they’ve done a lot of sewer updates over the past decade.


----------



## terri

Sometimes it's nice to live in a small town.   We had unknowingly sprung a leak in the basement, and the city water department called to alert us to the unusual spike over a 3-4 day period.   We discovered the location quickly and got a plumber out the next day.

Our typical bill is around  $30 a month, higher in the summer with more outside watering.


----------



## limr

It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out what water bill you all were talking about and why I don't have one: we've got a well instead.


----------



## vintagesnaps

The last I drank well water was at my aunt and uncle's farm before they went on 'city' water. It tasted odd when you weren't used to drinking it. 

They also used to have a party line, it'd be funny when the phone would ring and nobody'd answer because it wasn't 'their' ring. Memory lane...


----------



## Original katomi

Party phone lines... what a blast from the past 
CSO
Yea. London are developing a new system to cope with their problems. Seems the same everywhere pop growth is overtaking the infa structure. Here on Hayling  we have one road on/off the island.  That gets hectic to just about impossible to get on or off the island. There are days when the locals know it’s best just to stay at home


----------



## SquarePeg

G’day Hosers!


----------



## Original katomi

Hiya,  what is that greeting of yours?


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Hiya,  what is that greeting of yours?



Coffee House posters were called Hosers when I got here, not sure how it started.  Maybe @limr or @terri ?


----------



## Original katomi

Ah makes sense, ta.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hiya,  what is that greeting of yours?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee House posters were called Hosers when I got here, not sure how it started.  Maybe @limr or @terri ?
Click to expand...


Yup, it was my fault. Gary A used to greet us as Coffee Housers and I misread it at Hosers and the rest was history 

Hosers.


----------



## SquarePeg

I miss Gary.  After all the issues we have discussed calmly  on TPF and all the fun times and laughs, it’s too bad Halloween-gate had to be such a touchy subject.   Really he left over nothing.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hiya,  what is that greeting of yours?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee House posters were called Hosers when I got here, not sure how it started.  Maybe @limr or @terri ?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup, it was my fault. Gary A used to greet us as Coffee Housers and I misread it at Hosers and the rest was history
> 
> Hosers.
Click to expand...

I must have missed that.   Never knew the back story until now!


----------



## limr

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hiya,  what is that greeting of yours?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Coffee House posters were called Hosers when I got here, not sure how it started.  Maybe @limr or @terri ?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup, it was my fault. Gary A used to greet us as Coffee Housers and I misread it at Hosers and the rest was history
> 
> Hosers.
Click to expand...


Hey, check it out, I found the post where I first made the mistake! More than 5 years ago!?!
The Coffee House

And a few pages, here's where Designer picked it up and we starting running with it 
The Coffee House


----------



## waday

I miss Gary, too..


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm currently trying to find a 2017 or 2918 Ex-L in my are - one that has a dark leather interior (because dogs) with less than 15k miles/year on the odometer.  You'd think it would be easy but no...
> 
> 
> 
> Have you looked at private sales?
Click to expand...




snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...Also doing research to buy a new (probably used) car.  Anyone have a CRV?  I need something smaller and newer than my 2007 Pilot.  I inquired about a car on one of the websites and have gotten no less than 30 emails from car dealerships.  One is even offering to bring the car to my house for the test drive.
> 
> 
> 
> Don't own one, but I've wrenched on a couple.   Seem to be well made, reliable vehicles on the higher end of the Honda/Toyota reliability spectrum.  Any particular year/trim package?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm currently trying to find a 2017 or 2918 Ex-L in my are - one that has a dark leather interior (because dogs) with less than 15k miles/year on the odometer.  You'd think it would be easy but no...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We've had our CR-V for a year now, and love it - 2019 EX.  It's the right size for us, and the CCT (aka, the rubber band transmission) is peppy enough with the turbo-4.
Click to expand...


Bought a 2017 CRV EX-L tonight!!!  Basque Red Pearl exterior with gray leather seats, 22K miles (!).  One owner, clean car fax - I'm sure it was a little old lady who only drove it on Sundays to church lol.  It's really purdy!  Good price after I talked them down a bit and they agreed to fix the small ding in the back.  I'm super excited about all the modern features - I've been driving my 2007 Pilot for a looong time and it doesn't have any of the conveniences that the CRV has.  Remote start, heated seats, back up camera, apple car play, blue tooth, driver's seat position memory, power lift gate with the fancy activate with your foot thingy... not to mention all of the new automated safety features.  

Princess is "buying" the Pilot from me.  Even though it's a 2007 there are only 105,000 miles on it which is low for a Honda so that should last her a few more years until she's ready to get something newer.


----------



## limr

Mazel tov!


----------



## snowbear

Ours is Dark Olive, no leather.


----------



## Fujidave

Well the third virus case now in the UK is in my home town.  IMO it would of been better to ban all travel like USA and Australia have done.


----------



## SquarePeg

At a funeral on the Cape for my stepfathers brother.  It’s freezing and rain down here.  Sitting in the car waiting for the procession to the cemetery.  Then a reception after  and 2 hour ride home.  It’s going to be a long day.


----------



## Jeff G

And all this time I thought the "hoser" thing was because we are infested with Candians! 

Congrats on the new ride Sharon.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> At a funeral on the Cape for my stepfathers brother.  It’s freezing and rain down here.  Sitting in the car waiting for the procession to the cemetery.  Then a reception after  and 2 hour ride home.  It’s going to be a long day.


Oh, dear.   I'm sorry for your family's loss.      It does sound like it's going to be a long, depressing day up there, in the cold and freezing rain.   Stay safe!   

And as an aside, congrats on making the decision on the new wheels.


----------



## terri

Hosers, we're completely socked in under this massive storm front moving through the South/southeast US.   Wave after wave of heavy rain, thunder/lightning, and we're under a tornado watch until late this afternoon.   The city just ran a long test of the warning system; it was loud and unnerving.   Lights keep flickering.   Nasty day.


----------



## Original katomi

Hope you are all safe.


----------



## snowbear

Sorry to hear this, Sharon.  Stay safe & dry, Terri.
It's been raining off-and-on here for a few days, but nothing heavy.  We'll see what happens.

I filed tax returns on Sunday, state refund was deposited in bank last night.


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m back.  Froze at the cemetery. Very sad service.  He had 4 kids and many grandchildren.  A Vietnam vet who worked tirelessly bringing awareness to the POW/MIA cause.  Long ride home, lots of traffic.  We’re tired.  Taking a nap then going to do my taxes.  Might as well get all the suck over with in one day.


----------



## vintagesnaps

What a day you had Sharon, sorry for your loss. 

Leo I didn't remember the origins of hosers, but leave it to you to come up with that! lol

I remember that Terri but at the time I didn't get exactly what happened, felt like I missed something.

I miss Gary too, isn't somebody in touch with him elsewhere? If so please ask him to c'mon back to the coffeehouse. I miss his stories about life in the backyard oasis, I need to live vicariously thru somebody besides my fellow hosers in the same gray rainy gloom as me! lol


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I’m back.  Froze at the cemetery. Very sad service.  He had 4 kids and many grandchildren.  A Vietnam vet who worked tirelessly bringing awareness to the POW/MIA cause.  Long ride home, lots of traffic.  We’re tired.  Taking a nap then going to do my taxes.  Might as well get all the suck over with in one day.


eww, taxes.   You're actually very smart to knock it out on what sounds like a totally crappy day.   Glad you made it home safe and sound.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey, it's snowing! We might get - 1/2"!! 

Although I'm wondering if that prediction might increase, it's sticking plenty in a short amount of time and is supposed to keep up overnight. This is when I Iike being retired and not having to get out in it in the morning, can watch it and not have to commute in it or scrape it or anything!


----------



## SquarePeg

Went to Cheesecake Factory with Princess.  No longer hangry and tired.  On a sugar high, full and happy.  Isn’t the world a wonderful place?


----------



## terri

We had Chinese take out.   Vegetable mei fun for me, yum! !


SquarePeg said:


> Isn’t the world a wonderful place?


Indeed.


----------



## SquarePeg

Had food and a nap.  It’s all puppies and smiles here now.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, nice bit of sun here ,at the moment have a good day


----------



## snowbear

Sorry the day had a bad start, Sharon, but glad it ended up with CCF & puppies.

Taxes ... I filed on Sunday and the state check was in the bank on Wednesday.  Ours are fairly simple, though.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Dave has been gone 5 years!!?? I would have said 2-3! 
Sharon, was  friend buried at Veterans Cemetary at Bourne? That's where our Kevin is.
Sorry for all and their loss.


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> Dave has been gone 5 years!!?? I would have said 2-3!
> Sharon, was  friend buried at Veterans Cemetary at Bourne? That's where our Kevin is.
> Sorry for all and their loss.



Hi Nancy hope you are well!  It was called "National Cemetery" but I'm thinking that is the same thing?  It's a beautiful cemetery.


----------



## CherylL

@SquarePeg, Sharon so very sorry for you loss.


----------



## CherylL

January was busy transferring data to my new computer and catching up with the last Mexico trip edits.  My husband bought an L shaped desk in a box.  I decided to surprise him and put it together while he was on a business trip.  Got about 90% done and what is left takes 2 people.  Day 1 about hour 2 I tore a hole in my palm so I then had to use the screw driver left handed.  Made for slow going.


----------



## terri

Whew!   That's a project and a half, Cheryl.   Good on ya for taking it as far as you did.

It's snowing here this morning, hosers!   Will likely turn to sleet/freezing rain in a bit.

Ugh.  Been nasty weather the last few days.


----------



## SquarePeg

Very cold and windy here today.  I’m supposed to be going to a photo meet up in Boston this afternoon but the weather kind of sucks for that.  Sunny, no clouds and no snow on the ground.  Yuck.  I don’t want to be standing around in the Boston wind tunnels taking overly harsh photos of buildings and “street” stuff.   I may hike up to the res instead with the dogs.  The trees will provide some wind break and the exercise will keep me warm.


----------



## Fujidave

Thank you China gov lot for all your lying and deny deny deny it is now right on my god damn doorstep as I live less then a minutes walk to my local pub.

Pub staff in 'self-isolation' after man with coronavirus visited venue


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Thank you China gov lot for all your lying and deny deny deny it is now right on my god damn doorstep as I live less then a minutes walk to my local pub.
> 
> Pub staff in 'self-isolation' after man with coronavirus visited venue



Stay in.


----------



## SquarePeg

Nooooooo
Can't find your Excedrin Migraine pills at the pharmacy? Here's why


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you China gov lot for all your lying and deny deny deny it is now right on my god damn doorstep as I live less then a minutes walk to my local pub.
> 
> Pub staff in 'self-isolation' after man with coronavirus visited venue
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stay in.
Click to expand...



I left the pub before 7 and before the man came in last Saturday, went out today to a different pub for lunch and it was packed out solid.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Fortunate on the timing there, Dave. There were a couple of students quarantined at the university near me at the beginning of the semester because they had symptoms and had been traveling in Asia; it turned out luckily that their illness was something else. 

Cheryl your husband does't have to sit in the box to use his desk in a box, does he? lol (My mind has a little too much imagination!)


----------



## vintagesnaps

I have no intention of going out of doors. It snowed a little, not much, but still... my respiratory whatever that seemed about gone got worse so that's it!! I'm stayin' in.

And watching hockey because today is - Hockey Day in Canada!! the 20th anniversary! In Winnipeg they like to sing 'true north' loudly during O Canada, then TSN was showing an intersection that is supposed to be the exact center of Canada. A little geography with my hockey.


----------



## snowbear

We had a few minutes of flurries, last night, even though it was 40 degrees.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, we have just got the storm and flood warnings today.  Mans that we will have to worry about the sea overtopping the defences.


----------



## Fujidave

Bad gusty winds here in Hove on the South Coast, just seen a wheelie bin fly down our Close.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Fujidave said:


> Bad gusty winds here in Hove on the South Coast, just seen a wheelie bin fly down our Close.


Speak English, willyas?!??!


----------



## Original katomi

Ah now I know who’s bin, there is rubbish all over the estate here.
Sea defences, sort of holding some overtopping but not bad yet the next high water will be the one that I will worry about
At the moment we abr being pounded by winds salt spray and the foam stuff that you see in rough seas. 
Flood boards are at the ready and sand bags are piled up.


----------



## Original katomi

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Fujidave said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bad gusty winds here in Hove on the South Coast, just seen a wheelie bin fly down our Close.
> 
> 
> 
> Speak English, willyas?!??!
Click to expand...

Why, of course dear boy. My bin made of plastic with wheels on the base and a hinged lid. The afore mentioned lid being different colours to denote the type of rubbish allowed.  And so on ya de ya


----------



## Fujidave

Bad in the countryside too...lol

TOM OMARA (@Tom_OMara_) | Twitter


----------



## Original katomi

When the water starts to bubble up the street drain, I know the road into the estate is under water.
Dave, hiya. I imagen for you it’s river flooding and downed trees 
People are so daft, the sea is starting to overtop the defences and people are still walking on the top of the gravel 
# Oh look that last went right over the top of me# 
When they are dragged out to sea by the receding water it’s
#how did this happen#
Some people have no knowledge or respect of the power of moving water.


----------



## Fujidave

Last time I was in a storm like this me and a mate nearly died saving a girl from the water as a wave hit her, Never again and still have photos that I took before I came home to change.


----------



## Original katomi

Good on you for saving the girl. Apparently there was/is a kite surfing... person out at the moment.
They are, brave, very very good, or daft. Pick an answer


----------



## Fujidave

Original katomi said:


> Good on you for saving the girl. Apparently there was/is a kite surfing... person out at the moment.
> They are, brave, very very good, or daft. Pick an answer




I`d never do it again though, all the fathers fault trying to get a great pic of his young daughter in the water then bang hit by a wave.  Did not even say Thank you so reported him to police who came out for a stern telling off.  We had a kite surfer jump the pier last year.


----------



## CherylL

vintagesnaps said:


> Cheryl your husband does't have to sit in the box to use his desk in a box, does he? lol (My mind has a little too much imagination!)



A box would have been easier to assemble!


----------



## vintagesnaps

It was supposed to warm up and rain; that was some fluffy white rain awhile ago! But it's already melting.


----------



## RowdyRay

I wasn't supposed to get snow. Just cleaned up another 5 inches. Wrong every day and still have a job. Where do I apply?


----------



## Tony744

Original katomi said:


> Good on you for saving the girl. Apparently there was/is a kite surfing... person out at the moment.
> They are, brave, very very good, or daft. Pick an answer



All of the above! But mostly daft!


----------



## SquarePeg

It was supposed to snow a bit yesterday afternoon.  I wanted to take a hike with the puppy during the snow so I held off until after 1 but it never materialized.  It was a cold day - about 30 but very little wind so it was nice.  
Here’s an iPhone snap of one of our favorite walks.  We ignore the busy path and climb the trail up through the woods to the top then cut over to the water.  Then we do the loop.  



 

Looks like it’s going to be a lame winter as far as snow goes.  I had some sites planned out for some winter landscape shots that are probably not going to happen this year


----------



## Original katomi

Nice pic.  Looks like a nice walk.


----------



## Fujidave

8 cases now in Brighton here.  One for the Tin hat lot, man knows he is infected so goes to France to spread it then comes to Brighton and spreads it.


----------



## Original katomi

Hiya Dave, how are you doing with the storm. Still being hammered?


----------



## Fujidave

Original katomi said:


> Hiya Dave, how are you doing with the storm. Still being hammered?




Yeah still getting high gusts here today.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Has anybody seen Smoke on here? or elsewhere? I don't think I've seen him on in awhile and was thinking weren't there storms/tornadoes in Alabama? Didn't see much about it. Seems like he loses power at a few drops of rain so I hope if anything he's OK even if they lost power, and that he just hasn't been able to get on here.


----------



## SquarePeg

If you click on his avatar it usually gives a link to recent activity and you can see if there are any postings.  I don’t recall him posting in any threads I’ve seen recently.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Tonight - Beanpot!!!!!!!!!! Go Doghouse dwellers!


edit - 'A lot of barkin's going to be going on' according to the announcer doing color.

BU Terriers v. NU Huskies, Dog Pound v. Doghouse.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all 0052 GMT
Just about high water, awake watching, to see if there is going to be a problem. So far all ok another 2 hours and I can relax.
Hope all of you are ok, I know others are getting hammered as well.
Hope that Smoke is ok.


----------



## tirediron

vintagesnaps said:


> Has anybody seen Smoke on here? or elsewhere? I don't think I've seen him on in awhile and was thinking weren't there storms/tornadoes in Alabama? Didn't see much about it. Seems like he loses power at a few drops of rain so I hope if anything he's OK even if they lost power, and that he just hasn't been able to get on here.


"Talked" to him not too long ago.  He's taking a break from TPF for a bit.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all,  still being hammered. Looks like we are going to loose the back gate and some of the fencing.
Noting I can do about it, until the storm is over.
Flood warnings extended until Thursday, so a few more sleepless nights to come.


----------



## snowbear

I went downtown to the Federal GIS Conference this morning.  I was going o meet up with one of the Deputy Chiefs and introduce him to our GUS account people so he could get some ideas.

But I am on the way to the eye doctor,  I started getting some flashes of light in the left eye and I have some pretty persistent “floaters.”  MLW pushed me to do it now, and not wait a week or so.


----------



## waday

Good luck at the eye doc!


----------



## snowbear

Thanks.  I’m quickly loosing DOF due to wide open apertures!


----------



## vintagesnaps

I guess you mean you're in the waiting room, after getting those eye drops that dilate...

Glad you went to the Dr., my mom's had umpteen eye surgeries since I was in high school, and I think sudden floaters etc. can be an indication of something. At least now they can correct many things with lasers or simpler procedures than what they used to do. I'll spare you what my mom had done back in the day...

Keep us posted. Or should I be typing like this til after the eye drops wear off?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Northeastern U. won the Beanpot in a three-pot! Lively game.


----------



## snowbear

I'm back home.  The first ophthalmologist said there was some bleeding at the back of the one eye, but the retina looked OK.  He sent me upstairs to a retina specialist to make sure, so I got dilated, yet again.  Everything looks good, but I need to go back in two weeks to make sure.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> I'm back home.  The first ophthalmologist said there was some bleeding at the back of the one eye, but the retina looked OK.  He sent me upstairs to a retina specialist to make sure, so I got dilated, yet again.  Everything looks good, but I need to go back in two weeks to make sure.


Ugh.   Glad everything seems to be okay, that's the bottom line.      But still - ugh!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, wet and windy here today just getting ready for storm Dennis as it`s going to be a wet windy and wild weekend again.


----------



## Tony744

Woke up to snow this morning, already turning to sleet. Supposed to switch over to rain by mid-morning, hopefully that'll wash all the snow away.


----------



## RowdyRay

Temps dropped drastically in 24 hours. -10 this morning. But the high winds today are supposed to make it miserable. Then back into the 30s this weekend.


----------



## Original katomi

Starting to count the costs here, just stared to get hammered by the next storm. Have not even really had chance to clear up from the last one


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Starting to count the costs here, just stared to get hammered by the next storm. Have not even really had chance to clear up from the last one



stay safe!


----------



## Original katomi

Thanks will do staying in doors as much as poss. Clearing up can wait, the damage can also wait, not worth getting injured over


----------



## Fujidave

The calm before the storm today, Dennis hits later tonight.  X-H1 + XF50mm f2




West Pier Ruins by Dave, on Flickr


----------



## Original katomi

Getting ready for the next storm, just got some of the last storm damage sorted.
Sand bags ready, storm board in place, loss of phone and power are possible  so if iam not here you know why,


----------



## terri

Eek!   Sounds like it's going to be a bad storm, Ok.  Stay safe!


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy V Day photo nerds!  Hope you’re all enjoying some wine and chocolates!


----------



## Fujidave

Dennis is now here.


----------



## Fujidave

Yesterday was a nice day to shoot though, X-H1 + XF50mm f2.




Storm Explosion by Dave, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

I've dusted off the sewing machine and spent 20 minutes trying to get it threaded.  The new meter's case does not have a zippered pocket like the old one, only an open pocket, so it's not easy to store the lancets.  I'm trying to make a zippered pouch to put in the pocket.

I've only sewed one thing before; a costume for one of the kids, and that was 20 years ago.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> I've dusted off the sewing machine and spent 20 minutes trying to get it threaded.  The new meter's case does not have a zippered pocket like the old one, only an open pocket, so it's not easy to store the lancets.  I'm trying to make a zippered pouch to put in the pocket.
> 
> I've only sewed one thing before; a costume for one of the kids, and that was 20 years ago.


Should be like falling off a log.   Just don't let a needle drive through your painting finger!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leo, get out your zither, 'The Third Man' is on TCM again shortly. 

Hope Katomi is OK. Great picture, Dave. I wondered who's Dennis? then realized that must be the name of the storm. 

Sunny here but kind of windy. This respiratory thing is hanging on as usual, so don't feel up to par enough to go to a hockey game, gonna wait and catch the next one.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Charlie, I do hand sewing (haven't sewn on a machine in ages but learned how from my mom) and I cut the thread at an angle, so there's a teeny tiny edge/point to the end of the thread. ( Using nice sharp scissors, I have separate ones for fabric/thread, and others for paper and the old junky pair in my junk drawer for cutting open junk)

And I moisten the end of the thread usually, give it a lick just enough to dampen it a bit. Then hold it really really really close to the end of the thread. And look over the top of your glasses or take them off! at least I'd probably have to. 

Speaking of... glad it was nothing worse at the eye Dr. I had something similar, but the Dr. could see it before it was symptomatic I guess, he saw a slight bleed. I had to go to a retina specialist and they zapped the blood vessels back there to cauterize them. Glad there's laser eye surgery, better than what used to be! Hope yours gets taken care of OK.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Leo, get out your zither, 'The Third Man' is on TCM again shortly.
> 
> Hope Katomi is OK. Great picture, Dave. I wondered who's Dennis? then realized that must be the name of the storm.
> 
> Sunny here but kind of windy. This respiratory thing is hanging on as usual, so don't feel up to par enough to go to a hockey game, gonna wait and catch the next one.




Thank you, and yes Dennis is the name of this storm.  At the moment it`s quite bad out and they say tomorrow will be worse.


----------



## SquarePeg

Got all bundled up this morning like an Alaskan mailman to try to get some frozen bubble shots.  Temp said 12 degrees but in the sun it was more like 20.  The bubbles need 17 degrees or less to freeze.  No go.  By the time they started to freeze it was too late - bubble would break.  Tried in the shade and was a bit more successful but without the back lighting it’s just meh.  Going to download them and double check but I think I got zilch!


----------



## snowbear

Threading the needle wasn't too hard; I put some bee's wax on the fresh cut end.  Tangles & thread breaks are a different matter.  I either have to start over with a new zipper (can't un-sew the mess I have), or keep using the plastic bags.  I'll pick up a zipper tomorrow,

The simple way would be to hand sew it, but I have to prove that I am smarter than the machine.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh wait, are you trying to sew into plastic??! if so, good luck with that! lol If not, I don't know why you'd be getting thread breaking, although zippers can be kind of tricky. Are you using a zipper foot? Let us know what the machine thinks as to who's smarter!

I've got that zither music stuck again in my head, but I had to watch something between hockey games.


----------



## snowbear

No plastic.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good, I realized I probably read that wrong! 

It's the 55th anniversary of Canada's red & white flag signifying their independence. Interesting the things I learn with my hockey. 

If the Rideau Canal (in Ottawa) is frozen and being skated on I guess no one can drop kick the Stanley Cup or anything else into it. (That supposedly happened in early days of the NHL, or maybe even before; the Cup seems to have 9 lives and then some.)


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all  still getting hammered here, had to drive on m27/A27 wind was blowing cars sideways.  Still more to come got to see how bad the sea is overtopping in an hour. 
Saw the posts, thanks everyone for your thoughts


----------



## vintagesnaps

Glad you were able to check in, hang in there.


----------



## Fujidave

Was going to go to the beach and take some shots of storm Dennis, but not a cat in hells chance as it`s far to dangerous to go out in this weather now.


----------



## Original katomi

Hiya all, got a bit of a calm moment here, so catching out breath so to speak.


----------



## snowbear

Glad to hear you're all getting through it.


----------



## Original katomi

Thanks all, the met office had removed the storm warnings. There are still very strong winds and big waves
There are still stupid people walking on the beach going #oh look at the big waves and how close they are#


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gotta wonder about people sometimes. Glad you were able to check in and made it thru.


----------



## Original katomi

There are some really daft people out there, yesterday I had to drive on a27 m27 it was a hell of a drive in the wind. Whilst driving thro portchester and there were police ambulance and coast guard out by the waters edge
Did not stop and gawk


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, storm winds still battering us here, getting some damage now, so far #touch wood# all small things. Others have on the island not been so lucky.


----------



## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> Hi all, storm winds still battering us here, getting some damage now, so far #touch wood# all small things. Others have on the island not been so lucky.


Fingers crossed that it doesn't got worse


----------



## SquarePeg

We’re expecting some mild winter weather this week.  30’s and 40’s with sun.  Usually February is our nastiest month but I suspect the worst has passed and we’ll have some warm days late in the month and a warm March followed by the usual freezing and rainy April - the worst New England month imo!


----------



## terri

Same here - the temps will hang in the 50's all week, with lots of rain, before dipping back down at the week's end.   It's been a mild and rainy winter - ugh!   I've learned to never wish away rain in the south, and will likely be begging for it come August - but we're just chronically soggy and boggy.


----------



## SquarePeg

This goofball says Hey Hosers!


----------



## terri

I love that dog!


----------



## Original katomi

That dog pic is a real.
#What yea doing.# moment.


----------



## SquarePeg

Coffee house on page 2?  That won’t do at all.  Here’s a couple of phone shots from my lunchtime hike today.  Just caught a peak at Boston off in the distance.  This is right by our house so it gives a good idea of how close we are to the city but still lots of nature to be found right outside our door!


----------



## Fujidave

Weather here might be rubbish, but cheered up by getting my photo in todays paper for best B&W in Sussex.


----------



## Original katomi

Good on you,


----------



## waday

At work today:


----------



## Original katomi

Lol, lol, lol,


----------



## SquarePeg

Hahahaaa.  That’s me on the daily.  


Been taking lunch breaks (one of my 2020 resolutions) and taking the pup for long walks in the local woods.  Today it was a brisk 32 when we emerged from our climb up to the reservoir.  It was pretty chilly and windy out in the open. 


 

Little Miss Harlie enjoyed a Scooby snack on the rocks above the water.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Hahahaaa.  That’s me on the daily.
> 
> 
> Been taking lunch breaks (one of my 2020 resolutions) and taking the pup for long walks in the local woods.  Today it was a brisk 32 when we emerged from our climb up to the reservoir.  It was pretty chilly and windy out in the open.
> View attachment 187234
> 
> Little Miss Harlie enjoyed a Scooby snack on the rocks above the water.
> 
> View attachment 187235


Major issues focusing today, LOL

Looks like an awesome hike! I need to start taking more lunch breaks. 

On a positive note, finally found a contractor to fix my roof. Only took how many months.  This guy’s phone number is going right into my contact list!


----------



## tirediron

waday said:


> At work today:


Huh... I'd always pictured you as a guy.


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> At work today:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Huh... I'd always pictured you as a guy.
Click to expand...

I support all genders


----------



## Fujidave

I knew a delivery moped rider would crash today, and he did right in front of the bus I was on.  A queue of traffic had stopped and along comes mr delivery and a lady in her car pulled out to turn round and SPLAT he smashed in to the side of her car.  Bus driver let us all off as road was then blocked, as Susie and I walked past the rider was sat up looking dazed to hell and the poor lady driver was is bits by the look of it.


----------



## Fujidave

Then I went off for a mooch about, this is just down the road from us.




Storm Damage by Dave, on Flickr


----------



## SquarePeg

Wow that was some storm!


----------



## SquarePeg

TGIF Hosers!


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Wow that was some storm!




Some of the photos that have been in the paper are mad, big waves crashing but you can clearly see the stones in the waves too.


----------



## Original katomi

Dave where was that photo taken,


----------



## Fujidave

Original katomi said:


> Dave where was that photo taken,



I took it today on Hove Promenade, right next to Hove lawns.  East Sussex.


----------



## SquarePeg

@limr @terri


----------



## waday

Hey, you know what’s fun? Misplacing a large pack of AAA batteries that you just bought. It’s even more fun (and you get bonus points) when you had a resurgence of an interest for film photography and you can’t power your film camera because it takes batteries. (Yet, you had film in your fridge that is currently “defrosting” on the countertop, according to your wife.)

*shakes fists in the air*


----------



## terri

waday said:


> Hey, you know what’s fun? Misplacing a large pack of AAA batteries that you just bought. It’s even more fun (and you get bonus points) when you had a resurgence of an interest for film photography and you can’t power your film camera because it takes batteries. (Yet, you had film in your fridge that is currently “defrosting” on the countertop, according to your wife.)
> 
> *shakes fists in the air*


Oh, no!


----------



## Original katomi

Waday, in the digital equivalent my daughter #borrowed# my mem card because it was larger than hers.


----------



## Original katomi

Dave, I am not far down the coast from you at hayling island


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Hey, you know what’s fun? Misplacing a large pack of AAA batteries that you just bought. It’s even more fun (and you get bonus points) when you had a resurgence of an interest for film photography and you can’t power your film camera because it takes batteries. (Yet, you had film in your fridge that is currently “defrosting” on the countertop, according to your wife.)
> 
> *shakes fists in the air*



I’m sure you our them somewhere special so they would be available when you need them.


----------



## Fujidave

Original katomi said:


> Dave, I am not far down the coast from you at hayling island



In the middle of Portsmouth and West Wittering which I`ve been too, but never Hayling Island.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, you know what’s fun? Misplacing a large pack of AAA batteries that you just bought. It’s even more fun (and you get bonus points) when you had a resurgence of an interest for film photography and you can’t power your film camera because it takes batteries. (Yet, you had film in your fridge that is currently “defrosting” on the countertop, according to your wife.)
> 
> *shakes fists in the air*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I’m sure you our them somewhere special so they would be available when you need them.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what has happened. Now, if I could just find that somewhere special...


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, you know what’s fun? Misplacing a large pack of AAA batteries that you just bought. It’s even more fun (and you get bonus points) when you had a resurgence of an interest for film photography and you can’t power your film camera because it takes batteries. (Yet, you had film in your fridge that is currently “defrosting” on the countertop, according to your wife.)
> 
> *shakes fists in the air*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I’m sure you our them somewhere special so they would be available when you need them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> This is exactly what has happened. Now, if I could just find that somewhere special...
Click to expand...


They are with the power cord for our old laptop, the extra forks I bought for Christmas dinner and my measuring tape.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, you know what’s fun? Misplacing a large pack of AAA batteries that you just bought. It’s even more fun (and you get bonus points) when you had a resurgence of an interest for film photography and you can’t power your film camera because it takes batteries. (Yet, you had film in your fridge that is currently “defrosting” on the countertop, according to your wife.)
> 
> *shakes fists in the air*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I’m sure you our them somewhere special so they would be available when you need them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> This is exactly what has happened. Now, if I could just find that somewhere special...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> They are with the power cord for our old laptop, the extra forks I bought for Christmas dinner and my measuring tape.
Click to expand...

Well, if you guessed, “wrapped in a bag, in another bag, in a random box in the garage,” you’re the winner.

I’d give you the prize, but I misplaced it.


----------



## Tony744

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey, you know what’s fun? Misplacing a large pack of AAA batteries that you just bought. It’s even more fun (and you get bonus points) when you had a resurgence of an interest for film photography and you can’t power your film camera because it takes batteries. (Yet, you had film in your fridge that is currently “defrosting” on the countertop, according to your wife.)
> 
> *shakes fists in the air*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I’m sure you our them somewhere special so they would be available when you need them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> This is exactly what has happened. Now, if I could just find that somewhere special...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> They are with the power cord for our old laptop, the extra forks I bought for Christmas dinner and my measuring tape.
Click to expand...


Is THAT where my martini glasses are?


----------



## waday

Hosers...

I found another package of AAA batteries...

Hmm.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I do stuff like that, then find it and think, if it was a snake it'd bit me. 

Today is the, uh, 40th? is that right?? anniversary of the 1980 (yes it is!) Olympic hockey team's victory over Russia to go on and win the gold medal. Two of our college players were on the team, everybody else was from Minnesota or Boston. 

I don't know however how much Hockey Night in Canada (and the US and New-foundland) will talk about it! 

Wade, get a mechanical film camera, you hoser!


----------



## Fujidave

Better late than never, they have just closed the Brighton beach because of dangerous waves.  After two storms here in town, and still gusty high winds they close the beach at last, but they might need a big long fence though.


----------



## Original katomi

Dave hi
Yes storms here as well, I decided that I am going to stay in but there is no doubt peeps walking on the beach here
Playing chicken with the waves


----------



## Fujidave

Original katomi said:


> Dave hi
> Yes storms here as well, I decided that I am going to stay in but there is no doubt peeps walking on the beach here
> Playing chicken with the waves




Having a look at the UK long term forecast, it looks like we will have more of this wet and very windy weather till nearly the end of next month.


----------



## RowdyRay

After stopping at the thrift store yesterday, the old rust bucket, decided it didn't want to go home. So, guess what I'm doing today? Fixin' on junk instead of enjoying the warmest, sunniest day we've had in weeks. Great. Just what I had in mind!


----------



## Original katomi

Sitting having a hot choc, hacked off. Just spent two hours setting up and doing photos, packed away camera and light tent, lights etc. Put sc card in pc.
No images on the sd card, not one. Tried on camera. No images. Going to test camera once finished choc,
Will test card and camera with diff card. If camera writes ok the card will get the broken into bits treatment I dont really want to loose a scan disk 16g class 10. But this could be a warning the card is failing.
Better here for replaceable pics than some I would not be able to re do.
If it’s the 600d. No don’t even want to think about that option....
Edit. Sorted. Don’t ask,  let’s just say it’s the last time I “demo”
Setting changes
Edit of the edit
The card is still not working properly it reads then does not
Well it reads no more, it’s been folded in half, not taking chances failed twice today


----------



## Original katomi

These are the ones that did not make this weeks to a T challenge


----------



## waday

vintagesnaps said:


> Wade, get a mechanical film camera, you hoser!


Haha, I need to! The one I’m currently using is the same model as my grandfather’s latest camera. I’m not sure what he used through the ages, but I remember the Minolta Maxxam 7000.


----------



## Fujidave

Heavy rain and high winds yet again today, but on a good note I got my thinking head on for movies with a colour in the title.  OH I did say in the thread I was a film buff.


----------



## terri

Hosers.   It's raining again.


----------



## Fujidave

terri said:


> Hosers.   It's raining again.



Well you can`t have my Ark as still needed here


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yup, it is. 

Fujidave we kinda figured! lol

Got to watching the Kobe Bryant memorial service. Not even remotely a BB fan but still, something to see it. Jimmy Kimmel was emotional and Michael Jordan had tears running down his face.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Yup, it is.
> 
> Fujidave we kinda figured! lol
> 
> Got to watching the Kobe Bryant memorial service. Not even remotely a BB fan but still, something to see it. Jimmy Kimmel was emotional and Michael Jordan had tears running down his face.



I`m not a fan of BB, but that was a very sad accident and the sport lost a lengend.


----------



## Fujidave

Rain again today.  Just want to say that most of my life while in front of a TV I have watched many many films and my granddad also taught me how to remember a film.  On some I can remember the title and who was in it plus the year, so when the game that @SquarePeg thought of was posted I was well chuffed as I can even remember a few very old films.  As  I keep saying I am a film buff.
PS:  You could say, when I want my mind is like encyclopedia so thought I`d say.


----------



## Original katomi

Dave stuck indoors here as well, I have spent way to much time on this site, but have spent some time taking part in the weekly challenge. Made a few brain cells work, lol


----------



## Fujidave

Original katomi said:


> Dave stuck indoors here as well, I have spent way to much time on this site, but have spent some time taking part in the weekly challenge. Made a few brain cells work, lol



I was just looking at that now, T sounds a good one.


----------



## vintagesnaps

EncyclopediaDave, you should be able to come up with plenty!

It must be raining everywhere... Supposed to clear out and of course the temp drop, so we're going back to January! lol I don't trust this weather, it's probably not done with winter yet! Of course it is still just the end of February, and I'm not ready to start getting grass cutting/yard work done etc.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> EncyclopediaDave, you should be able to come up with plenty!
> 
> It must be raining everywhere... Supposed to clear out and of course the temp drop, so we're going back to January! lol I don't trust this weather, it's probably not done with winter yet! Of course it is still just the end of February, and I'm not ready to start getting grass cutting/yard work done etc.



As they come in to my head I write them down, got about 30 + at the moment.


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> EncyclopediaDave, you should be able to come up with plenty!
> 
> It must be raining everywhere... Supposed to clear out and of course the temp drop, so we're going back to January! lol I don't trust this weather, it's probably not done with winter yet! Of course it is still just the end of February, and I'm not ready to start getting grass cutting/yard work done etc.



This is definitely fake Spring.  Winter cold wet damp nasty will rear it’s ugly head at least once more.  Rain expected here the rest of this week.  Trails will be muddy which will put a crimp in my hiking schedule with the pupper.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> This is definitely fake Spring.  Winter cold wet damp nasty will rear it’s ugly head at least once more.  Rain expected here the rest of this week.  Trails will be muddy which will put a crimp in my hiking schedule with the pupper.


Get some Wellies.  The puppy, like most :kids" will probably enjoy playing in the mud, and if it's raining hard enough, you won't need to hose her off when you get home.


----------



## Jeff G

You guys are killing me, I would gladly take some of your rain! Spring has sprung here, the air is so perfumed with pollen it's sickly sweet. We have been in upper 70's here and supposed to be in the 80's by the end of the week. Allergy season is going to start early this year.


----------



## SquarePeg

Jeff G said:


> You guys are killing me, I would gladly take some of your rain! Spring has sprung here, the air is so perfumed with pollen it's sickly sweet. We have been in upper 70's here and supposed to be in the 80's by the end of the week. Allergy season is going to start early this year.



Cracks me up when Californians complain about the weather.  70’s and sweet smelling air -  Oh the horror!  



jk - I have allergies and spring is a challenge so I get it.


----------



## Jeff G

I am a winter person, and I love the rain dangit!


----------



## Fujidave

Off to Mums for lunch today, have to be careful when going out as loads of Jack Frost about.


----------



## Fujidave

Jack Frost soon cleared off, had a stonking day in town after helping Mum.  On the mooch I took a few shots so edit them and see what I got for the B&W challenge.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Jeff G said:
> 
> 
> 
> You guys are killing me, I would gladly take some of your rain! Spring has sprung here, the air is so perfumed with pollen it's sickly sweet. We have been in upper 70's here and supposed to be in the 80's by the end of the week. Allergy season is going to start early this year.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cracks me up when Californians complain about the weather.  70’s and sweet smelling air -  Oh the horror!
> 
> 
> 
> jk - I have allergies and spring is a challenge so I get it.
Click to expand...



You could say,  I love Californian Women


----------



## Jeff G

You better change that to women Dave, girls will land you in jail!


----------



## Fujidave

Jeff G said:


> You better change that to women Dave, girls will land you in jail!




Surfs up,  I blame the Beach Boys


----------



## vintagesnaps

Define 'stonking'.
(I watch enough British tv shows, I ought to know but that's a new one!)

It snowed. It stuck. It melted. It dripped. Then it started raining, sort of... with what looked like big snowflakes mixed in. Now it's snowing. Supposed to freeze tonight. This is not that charming by this time of year, but not surprising after a mild winter and touch of early spring to have winter now. Again, whatever.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Define 'stonking'.
> (I watch enough British tv shows, I ought to know but that's a new one!)
> 
> It snowed. It stuck. It melted. It dripped. Then it started raining, sort of... with what looked like big snowflakes mixed in. Now it's snowing. Supposed to freeze tonight. This is not that charming by this time of year, but not surprising after a mild winter and touch of early spring to have winter now. Again, whatever.



Stonking.. 

used to emphasize something impressive, exciting, or very large.

ie... We had a stonking night at the party


----------



## CherylL

It was sunny and warm over the weekend.  Then the rain came and today snow.  March is usually a bigger mixed bag of nice to cold back to nice.  Called the local camera store to see when they expect shipment of the Fuji XT4.   They were told by Fuji rep sometime the end of April.


----------



## Fujidave

CherylL said:


> It was sunny and warm over the weekend.  Then the rain came and today snow.  March is usually a bigger mixed bag of nice to cold back to nice.  Called the local camera store to see when they expect shipment of the Fuji XT4.   They were told by Fuji rep sometime the end of April.



I was going to get the X-T4 but changed my mind as already have the X-H1, but I am getting a X100V and the XF80mm macro lens.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Glad you enjoyed your lunch then Dave.

The term does not apply to our weather, it's stinkin'.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Glad you enjoyed your lunch then Dave.
> 
> The term does not apply to our weather, it's stinkin'.




With all the rain we will get as of tomorrow, I might be a hermit and hide in the dunny.


----------



## CherylL

Fujidave said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> It was sunny and warm over the weekend.  Then the rain came and today snow.  March is usually a bigger mixed bag of nice to cold back to nice.  Called the local camera store to see when they expect shipment of the Fuji XT4.   They were told by Fuji rep sometime the end of April.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was going to get the X-T4 but changed my mind as already have the X-H1, but I am getting a X100V and the XF80mm macro lens.
Click to expand...


I've heard good things about the X100v.  I bought my XT2 for travel, but find I use it more for everyday.  If the XT4 is good for video then I wouldn't take my Sony on vacation too.


----------



## SquarePeg

I was going to get the xt3 but then decided to wait for the price drop when the xt4 came out but now sooo tempted by the xt4


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> I was going to get the xt3 but then decided to wait for the price drop when the xt4 came out but now sooo tempted by the xt4



I've been reading a ton of blogs and watched a few videos of the new XT4.  If I had the XT3 and did not shoot video then I would not be getting the XT4.  Then again on another thought, the IBIS for hand held for photos sounds pretty good.  One of the videos talked about fast charging via USB and no wall charger in the box.  The downside to this would be if you wanted to use the camera while you charge up the 2nd battery.  I looked at specs at a few online places and could not find what was shipped in the box.  Not sure if the no wall charger is true.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was going to get the xt3 but then decided to wait for the price drop when the xt4 came out but now sooo tempted by the xt4
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've been reading a ton of blogs and watched a few videos of the new XT4.  If I had the XT3 and did not shoot video then I would not be getting the XT4.  Then again on another thought, the IBIS for hand held for photos sounds pretty good.  One of the videos talked about fast charging via USB and no wall charger in the box.  The downside to this would be if you wanted to use the camera while you charge up the 2nd battery.  I looked at specs at a few online places and could not find what was shipped in the box.  Not sure if the no wall charger is true.
Click to expand...



I don’t shoot video but the ibis is tempting.  I don’t have the best hand holding technique and I have a few lenses without OIS.


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m wondering what the 6 stops of OIS on the 16-80 would be like on the xt4 with 4 (is it?) stops of ibis.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> I’m wondering what the 6 stops of OIS on the 16-80 would be like on the xt4 with 4 (is it?) stops of ibis.



I'm not sure how that would work.   The eye focus and the burst rate sound appealing.  I tried the eye focus tracking on the XT2 and did not have very good luck.  I prefer the single point focus and fairly fast moving the dot around.


----------



## waday

IBIS in my Olympus is insane. I’ve taken sharp handheld shots down to 1/8 second. I’m seriously considering the XT-4...


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> IBIS in my Olympus is insane. I’ve taken sharp handheld shots down to 1/8 second. I’m seriously considering the XT-4...



Another TPF Fuji shooter?  It’s epidemic.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> IBIS in my Olympus is insane. I’ve taken sharp handheld shots down to 1/8 second. I’m seriously considering the XT-4...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Another TPF Fuji shooter?  It’s epidemic.
Click to expand...


You and other Fuji users prompted me to get one.


----------



## stapo49

I was interested in the XT-4 myself until I saw the Australian pricing. As usual we get smashed. A$4000 with 16-80 and A$3299 with 18-55. Probably just buy a nice lens for G9.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## Jeff G

Oh you kids and your new toys.


----------



## SquarePeg

Jeff G said:


> Oh you kids and your new toys.



easy now gramma


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> IBIS in my Olympus is insane. I’ve taken sharp handheld shots down to 1/8 second. I’m seriously considering the XT-4...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Another TPF Fuji shooter?  It’s epidemic.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You and other Fuji users prompted me to get one.
Click to expand...


Any regrets?


----------



## SquarePeg

Goodnight!  West coast peeps, those across the pond just waking up, carry on.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> I was going to get the xt3 but then decided to wait for the price drop when the xt4 came out but now sooo tempted by the xt4



It might prove to be a better upgrade for you as you have the X-T2 so a better one could be worth it and IBIS, for me it is not worth it as already have the T3 and H1 that`s why I went for the X100V.


----------



## Original katomi

And the third storm heads towards UK,, my hands and feet are going to be webbed soon. maybe I should invest in an underwater housing


----------



## Fujidave

Original katomi said:


> And the third storm heads towards UK,, my hands and feet are going to be webbed soon. maybe I should invest in an underwater housing



They say we might get storm silly billy this weekend, Oh what joy NOT.  I`m so glad I built an ark thoug...lol


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> IBIS in my Olympus is insane. I’ve taken sharp handheld shots down to 1/8 second. I’m seriously considering the XT-4...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Another TPF Fuji shooter?  It’s epidemic.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You and other Fuji users prompted me to get one.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Any regrets?
Click to expand...


A little late for regrets with 5 lenses


----------



## Fujidave

Storm Silly Billy woke us up, OH and did I say it`s raining...lol


----------



## Original katomi

Things crashing around the garden , “Darn only just tidied up the mess from last time. Feel sorry for those who’s homes are flooded  they still have another 5 or more days before it starts to let up


----------



## Jeff15

We had snow this morning, turned to rain (again) now. I am very glad we live a good distance from a river....


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 187691



I will say one thing, We are DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED


----------



## Jeff15

I will keep my head down then.............


----------



## Jeff G

That's all light weight stuff, the thing that will kill you is other motorists!


----------



## Jeff15

Seasonal Flu kills thousands every year........


----------



## terri

In other news, happy Friday, hosers! 

.....and wash your hands.


----------



## waday

Happy Friday!


----------



## SquarePeg

Just finished my lunchtime hike with Harlie.  That is 4 of 5 days this week plus last Saturday so 5 of 7 for the week!  Great weather though a bit cold and breezy today.  Was happy to have my hat when we came out of the woods by the lake.  Here’s Miss Harlie trying to carry this little old thing on our hike back to the car.


----------



## otherprof

Spotted last night in Los Angeles. Are there no laws against usury?


----------



## SquarePeg

otherprof said:


> View attachment 187696 Spotted last night in Los Angeles. Are there no laws against usury?



Those places take advantage of people who don’t have the money to open a bank account to be able to cash their paychecks.  It’s terrible.


----------



## Fujidave

Woke up a few times last night so as I was having a brew, I wrote some films for the movie challenge think it`s about 40 now and my mind is still thinking mode as have a few silent films too


----------



## Fujidave

On another forum I use one very scary thing was shared in a post about the virus,  Dean Koontz book called The Eyes of Darkness.  Really creepy as he wrote about 2020 having some man made thing in Wuhan-400 killing folk.
PS: That book was written years ago too.

Here you go, I will delete if asked too.

LINK


----------



## Fujidave

Raining and very strong winds here today, so will be getting a taxi to Mums I think.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Jeff G are you anywhere Palm Desert, Ca? We are here for a few weeks in our RV before heading toward Grand Tetons for the summer.


----------



## Jeff G

We are about 5 hours north of Palm Desert. Almost in the center of the state.


----------



## snowbear

Well, it's ugly as all get out, but it's done.  I made a zippered bag for my test lancets because the new tester case only has an open pocket.  It seems to work OK, even though the zipper stitches are a but close to the teeth - it doesn't always open easily.  I ended up sewing in the zipper by hand because I kept breaking the thread.


----------



## Fujidave

Rained this morning, and now turned out pretty good as only strong gusts but lovely sunshine.


----------



## Original katomi

Went and visited my parents, bright sunshine when we left hail and heavy rain when we left


----------



## vintagesnaps

You guys in the UK might as well just stay inside!

We had winter, snow, bitter cold, then sun today, which at least looks pretty out if deceptively cold. Then the usual warm up and rain, gloom 'n doom, why not?! lol

That turned out nice Charlie, and I actually kind of like that fabric.
(edit - I got to thinking the thread breaking might have been tension, I remember having to adjust it on my mom's sewing machine.)


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> You guys in the UK might as well just stay inside!



We can`t stay inside, as now the new Ark has been built we are sailing about for a while


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> That turned out nice Charlie, and I actually kind of like that fabric.
> (edit - I got to thinking the thread breaking might have been tension, I remember having to adjust it on my mom's sewing machine.)


Thanks.  Yes, I think the main problem was tension, though the zipper was also more of a challenge than I could handle with the machine.  Yeah, the fabric really caught my eye when I saw it.  It's a small piece, maybe 1/2 yard, from a quilting shop; they had a bunch of these for a few dollars, each.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> That turned out nice Charlie, and I actually kind of like that fabric.
> (edit - I got to thinking the thread breaking might have been tension, I remember having to adjust it on my mom's sewing machine.)
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks.  Yes, I think the main problem was tension, though the zipper was also more of a challenge than I could handle with the machine.  Yeah, the fabric really caught my eye when I saw it.  It's a small piece, maybe 1/2 yard, from a quilting shop; they had a bunch of these for a few dollars, each.
Click to expand...

You did a great job!   It's functional and looks terrific - I like that fabric as well.   I agree the thread breaking is likely a tension issue; it can be frustrating to get it right.  

I sewed quite a bit at one time.   Still have a late '60's-era Singer, very basic with a lot of accessories.       I'm no longer making myself clothes but it's still a handy thing to have for ripped seams or adjusting hems.   I've taken it to various repair shops over the years for the sewing machine equivalent of a CLA.     The repair folks love it, and I'm told this thing could run almost indefinitely.


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> Well, it's ugly as all get out, but it's done.  I made a zippered bag for my test lancets because the new tester case only has an open pocket.  It seems to work OK, even though the zipper stitches are a but close to the teeth - it doesn't always open easily.  I ended up sewing in the zipper by hand because I kept breaking the thread.
> 
> View attachment 187770 View attachment 187771 View attachment 187772



Great job!  Zippers are tricky to sew.  I agree with @terri that the thread could break due to the tension setting.  I used my grandmother's old Singer for many years.  The zipper foot was long lost and no backstitch.  I think it was a t 1920's model.  Got a new fancy machine 20 years ago.  I don't sew as much anymore.  Too hard on the back sitting over the machine.


----------



## CherylL

Beautiful short lived sunny day here.  The wind is too cold.  The grands stopped by for a few late Mardi Gras photos and some St. Pat's photos.  The 3yo did not want to cooperate today.  I even had 2 surprises each for them as bribes.  The oldest is getting too tall for my backdrop.  She barely fits sitting.  I'll probably get a different one before next winter and have been looking at a 2 strobe light cheap set.


----------



## Original katomi

Snow bear nice job with the zip.  That’s the one job I always disliked, if you dont get the tension right the zip can end up all wavy, on a 26 inch zip in a fleece that looks terrible.


----------



## SquarePeg

I don’t sew.  Wanted to learn a few years ago and was looking for a class but they were all during the day when I’m at work.  I do crochet and have made hat/scarf sets and some blankets.  My hands get crampy  so it’s not something I can do easily. 

Cold and sunny here today.  I didn’t do much.  My late night Milky Way chase up to Maine and back really wiped me out.  I slept a bit, walked the dogs and camped out on the couch for the rest of the day.  Caught up on my dvr, played some Bubble Witch, ordered take out, thought about doing some laundry but that made me tired...


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> I don’t sew.  Wanted to learn a few years ago and was looking for a class but they were all during the day when I’m at work.  I do crochet and have made hat/scarf sets and some blankets.  My hands get crampy  so it’s not something I can do easily.
> 
> Cold and sunny here today.  I didn’t do much.  My late night Milky Way chase up to Maine and back really wiped me out.  I slept a bit, walked the dogs and camped out on the couch for the rest of the day.  Caught up on my dvr, played some Bubble Witch, ordered take out, thought about doing some laundry but that made me tired...



I learned at a young age.  I made my first shift dress at age 7.  When I got to high-school I wanted to take an advanced sewing class, but the school said I had to take the 101 class first.  The first week I stopped others in the class from cutting out their pieces wrong and then had half the class asking my help.  The teacher asked if I would be her assistant lol.  She also said not to take the advanced class because it wasn't really advanced and would be a waste of my time.  It was an easy A, but a pain being the assistant.  Most in the class couldn't thread a needle.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don’t sew.  Wanted to learn a few years ago and was looking for a class but they were all during the day when I’m at work.  I do crochet and have made hat/scarf sets and some blankets.  My hands get crampy  so it’s not something I can do easily.
> 
> Cold and sunny here today.  I didn’t do much.  My late night Milky Way chase up to Maine and back really wiped me out.  I slept a bit, walked the dogs and camped out on the couch for the rest of the day.  Caught up on my dvr, played some Bubble Witch, ordered take out, thought about doing some laundry but that made me tired...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I learned at a young age.  I made my first shift dress at age 7.  When I got to high-school I wanted to take an advanced sewing class, but the school said I had to take the 101 class first.  The first week I stopped others in the class from cutting out their pieces wrong and then had half the class asking my help.  The teacher asked if I would be her assistant lol.  She also said not to take the advanced class because it wasn't really advanced and would be a waste of my time.  It was an easy A, but a pain being the assistant.  Most in the class couldn't thread a needle.
Click to expand...


I made a terry cloth track suit in Home Ec class back in the 80’s lol.  That’s the only time I’ve used a sewing machine.


----------



## Original katomi

Grandmother and mother insisted that I learnt to sew do needle craft as well as sisters. Sad thing is I am the only one who does any now. 
Years ago I used to have a really long wait at the doctors. Others would bring a book, I started to take  my cross stitch
The receptionist got quite cross, “why do you do that here,” she asked one morning after I had been waiting 3/4 hour
“Because I am sat here most of the day at least doing the cross stitch means I have not wasted my day.”
This if front of a room of people waiting.
You know what my waiting time was much reduced after that lol


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don’t sew.  Wanted to learn a few years ago and was looking for a class but they were all during the day when I’m at work.  I do crochet and have made hat/scarf sets and some blankets.  My hands get crampy  so it’s not something I can do easily.
> 
> Cold and sunny here today.  I didn’t do much.  My late night Milky Way chase up to Maine and back really wiped me out.  I slept a bit, walked the dogs and camped out on the couch for the rest of the day.  Caught up on my dvr, played some Bubble Witch, ordered take out, thought about doing some laundry but that made me tired...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I learned at a young age.  I made my first shift dress at age 7.  When I got to high-school I wanted to take an advanced sewing class, but the school said I had to take the 101 class first.  The first week I stopped others in the class from cutting out their pieces wrong and then had half the class asking my help.  The teacher asked if I would be her assistant lol.  She also said not to take the advanced class because it wasn't really advanced and would be a waste of my time.  It was an easy A, but a pain being the assistant.  Most in the class couldn't thread a needle.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I made a terry cloth track suit in Home Ec class back in the 80’s lol.  That’s the only time I’ve used a sewing machine.
Click to expand...

At least you got to make something interesting.   We had to make aprons.   _Aprons_.


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> ...  We had to make aprons.   _Aprons_.


What's wrong with aprons?  I have a bunch of them... leather ones for welding and forging, a vinyl one for painting & chemical work, a heavy cotton one for wearing around the lathe/mill...  nothing at all wrong with a good apron.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don’t sew.  Wanted to learn a few years ago and was looking for a class but they were all during the day when I’m at work.  I do crochet and have made hat/scarf sets and some blankets.  My hands get crampy  so it’s not something I can do easily.
> 
> Cold and sunny here today.  I didn’t do much.  My late night Milky Way chase up to Maine and back really wiped me out.  I slept a bit, walked the dogs and camped out on the couch for the rest of the day.  Caught up on my dvr, played some Bubble Witch, ordered take out, thought about doing some laundry but that made me tired...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I learned at a young age.  I made my first shift dress at age 7.  When I got to high-school I wanted to take an advanced sewing class, but the school said I had to take the 101 class first.  The first week I stopped others in the class from cutting out their pieces wrong and then had half the class asking my help.  The teacher asked if I would be her assistant lol.  She also said not to take the advanced class because it wasn't really advanced and would be a waste of my time.  It was an easy A, but a pain being the assistant.  Most in the class couldn't thread a needle.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I made a terry cloth track suit in Home Ec class back in the 80’s lol.  That’s the only time I’ve used a sewing machine.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> At least you got to make something interesting.   We had to make aprons.   _Aprons_.
Click to expand...


If memory serves, we were supposed to make a simple smock type dress but we went all Norma Rae on the teacher and she gave in lol.


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...  We had to make aprons.   _Aprons_.
> 
> 
> 
> What's wrong with aprons?  I have a bunch of them... leather ones for welding and forging, a vinyl one for painting & chemical work, a heavy cotton one for wearing around the lathe/mill...  nothing at all wrong with a good apron.
Click to expand...

I think it has more to do with the how and why aprons were required/made as opposed to the aprons themselves?


----------



## RowdyRay

Don't laugh, I own a sewing machine. An old Singer. You know, the cast iron one. No fancy stitches but, will sew denim! Got it at a garage sale probably 25 yrs ago now. The woman that sold it to me was moving into an assisted living complex. She was very protective of it. Complete with cabinet, owners manual, button hole attachment and can of oil. Showed me where to oil it, and made me promise not to sell it for a profit. I assured her that was not my intention. Could see she was attached to it and asked about the 10.00 price. She said, "It's what the trashman said he'd charge to haul it away." Lol. Pleased with the price, but had no idea how to use it!

Didn't buy it to make things. Raising two boys by myself, I knew it would be cheaper to patch or repair, than replace. Luckily, a female friend of mine came to the rescue. She was very patient and helped a lot. Did cost me a nice dinner. Totally worth it. It's served me well, and not going anywhere. In fact, my youngest son now has three boys. He brings things over to be mended and I'm slowly showing him how to use it. Maybe that's where it will go when I'm gone.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don’t sew.  Wanted to learn a few years ago and was looking for a class but they were all during the day when I’m at work.  I do crochet and have made hat/scarf sets and some blankets.  My hands get crampy  so it’s not something I can do easily.
> 
> Cold and sunny here today.  I didn’t do much.  My late night Milky Way chase up to Maine and back really wiped me out.  I slept a bit, walked the dogs and camped out on the couch for the rest of the day.  Caught up on my dvr, played some Bubble Witch, ordered take out, thought about doing some laundry but that made me tired...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I learned at a young age.  I made my first shift dress at age 7.  When I got to high-school I wanted to take an advanced sewing class, but the school said I had to take the 101 class first.  The first week I stopped others in the class from cutting out their pieces wrong and then had half the class asking my help.  The teacher asked if I would be her assistant lol.  She also said not to take the advanced class because it wasn't really advanced and would be a waste of my time.  It was an easy A, but a pain being the assistant.  Most in the class couldn't thread a needle.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I made a terry cloth track suit in Home Ec class back in the 80’s lol.  That’s the only time I’ve used a sewing machine.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> At least you got to make something interesting.   We had to make aprons.   _Aprons_.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> If memory serves, we were supposed to make a simple smock type dress but we went all Norma Rae on the teacher and she gave in lol.
Click to expand...


I don't remember what the 101 class made.  Maybe it was a smock with the flutter sleeve.  I made pink bell bottom jeans with a pink seersucker denim style jacket.  A second outfit was a seersucker plaid pants & jacket.  Matching up the pattern was a bear.


----------



## snowbear

I've sewn one other thing (other than the occasional button or uniform type patch): when the kids were little, they had to do a "March of Saints" type of thing at (Catholic elementary) school.  Number one picked St. Patrick (I don't recall lazy lobster's pick).  We decided to made the costume so we came up with a brown and dark green robe & cape combo; I added a gold Celtic cross applique to the back.  I don't know what the material was, but it was heavy, kind of like a velour.

I'm looking at beginner's studio light kits - I might have a product job for a friend, if she needs someone to shoot.  I'm leaning toward the Flashpoint 320M or the Godox SKII 300 or 400.

MLW and I are thinking about a small day trip, this weekend, if she doesn't get OT at the WO.  I was thinking about hitting the coast and try what SquarePeg just did, but there is no way MLW will be getting up THAT early, so maybe mountains.


----------



## Original katomi

Just been down to the beach to see the damage from the storms, the beach has changed shape and worse the  small path along the beach to the pub has been washed out. May have time to post pics later, I have to stop being a photographer and be a hubby, jobs to do, shopping to get.....


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Original katomi said:


> Just been down to the beach to see the damage from the storms, the beach has changed shape and worse the  small path along the beach to the pub has been washed out. May have time to post pics later, I have to stop being a photographer and be a hubby, jobs to do, shopping to get.....



Which beach was that?  I know UK had bad storms, didn't realise they were that bad.


----------



## Original katomi

Hayling island, the beach closest to us is piled up with stones as sea defences which are washed away every storm 
Down at the ferry crossing the last few years has seen a lot of erosion of the banks. In one place the beach was the same night as the road now it’s 6feet lower. At the inn on the beach a roadway and some of the car park has been washed away


----------



## terri

waday said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...  We had to make aprons.   _Aprons_.
> 
> 
> 
> What's wrong with aprons?  I have a bunch of them... leather ones for welding and forging, a vinyl one for painting & chemical work, a heavy cotton one for wearing around the lathe/mill...  nothing at all wrong with a good apron.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I think it has more to do with the how and why aprons were required/made as opposed to the aprons themselves?
Click to expand...

Bingo.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...  We had to make aprons.   _Aprons_.
> 
> 
> 
> What's wrong with aprons?  I have a bunch of them... leather ones for welding and forging, a vinyl one for painting & chemical work, a heavy cotton one for wearing around the lathe/mill...  nothing at all wrong with a good apron.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I think it has more to do with the how and why aprons were required/made as opposed to the aprons themselves?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Bingo.
Click to expand...



But of course @tirediron already knew that.  He was just pulling our pigtails.


----------



## Original katomi

An old friend has fallen. This sign for shipping to warn of a underwater cable has been there forever
The path to the pub you can see the night of the soil on the wall on the far side


----------



## Original katomi

The beach /sea defences  are being put back one truck load at a time
In the far background there is a green sign, the road used to go as the sign


----------



## Original katomi

Just give you an idea of scale






The sign heavy plant, Triffids crossing lol


----------



## Fujidave

Cloudy and raining here.


----------



## Fujidave

It may of rained today, but I had a stonking day at Mums then went for a mooch round town.


----------



## terri

Another rainy day here, as well, hosers.   A shocker, I know.


----------



## Fujidave

terri said:


> Another rainy day here, as well, hosers.   A shocker, I know.




Glad we can share our rain with you 
Today it is raining


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## snowbear

SO, if I get Corona virus, should I try to top it off with Lyme disease?

Nothing planned this weekend, except some work around the abode, though MLW and I are going to be in Annapolis for a bit, tomorrow.  I'll take the camera, but have no idea what to go shoot.  Next weekend we're planning on going to the Eastern Shore so I'll be looking to get some shots.


----------



## Original katomi

Don’t tell everybody but we have some sun, just done the outside jobs, now sitting with a coffee and slice of cake.
Staying at home, both Mrs and I have health issues so we are avoiding public place at the moment


----------



## Original katomi

SquarePeg said:


>


I used to work in a church aided school, I asked my boss if I could give up work for lent.
Yes I could, but they would give paying me for lent lol


----------



## terri

The rain has finally moved out after a long, soaking wet week.   

Sunshine out there!     Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## snowbear

G'night peeps; it's been a busy day.

It seems my shoulder problem is the rotator cuff; I'm to continue PT for the immediate future and something to help the pain.  Yeah - the joys of getting old.

On the work front, I've been given a few of quick assignments (one or two hours, each) while the boss does some administrative stuff: list of dry hydrants (six, plus six underground water tanks) and stations that have engines (all but one station) and tankers (two stations); four or five changes to polling places; and the Medical Cannabis Dispensaries in the County (seven).  I've also been told that I am now on the list for working the Emergency Operations Center when it is activated.  As a contractor, the boss has exempted me, but with the (scary) Corvid-19 now in the county next door, he's having to update contingency plans.  At least we don't necessarily need to physically respond the the EOC; we can telecommute in.   I take it as an honor, as I am number three on the list (the boss is number one, the senior project manager, number two).  He has also asked me if I were interested in the upcoming vacancy in the office, as a County employee.

The past few days have been cool, but getting cold this weekend; possible flurries in the area.  Next week is supposed to be in the 70s.  If you don't like the weather in DC, come back tomorrow.


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy weekend Hosers!  First a hike with my sweet girl -



 

Then a bath for my good boy


 
As for me - I’m both good and sweet haha! Going to grab a movie today I think.  Emma.  I love Jane Austen’s characters and sense of irony.  Emma is one of my favorites.  

Also scoping out  sites for a Milky Way shoot tonight if the skies are clear.  Fingers crossed for less than 20% cloud cover!


----------



## terri

He looks so happy to be getting his bath!        I love that he fits right into the sink.  

I'll be interested in hearing your take on Emma.   Love me some period flicks when they're well done.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I like Jane Austen too. Did you see the special with Lucy Worsley on PBS? She's rather fun, small enough to fit into vintage Henry VII era gowns, and wear a big powdered wig with modern day dress! Local PBS stations showed the '90's 'Pride and Prejudice', watched it twice on different stations a few weeks apart. 

And - it's sunny here too!! Cold, but still.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Is that full moon going to interfere with your Milky Way?
FYI, I got my Sequator to load with some help. 
Going to try and actually post a photo today!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Charlie, go for it, work for the county! lol if you like dealing with anal retentive!  I did it for 20+ years (well, not the same county obviously) so if I hadn't liked it I wouldn't have stayed. But one of my coworkers did invent a fictional Department of Redundancy Department! We were a separate agency, so the only things 'THE County' included us in were paychecks, benefits, etc. 

My best friend was telling me about her work this week and it sounds like people are revving up for the full moon extra early this month.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> He looks so happy to be getting his bath!        I love that he fits right into the sink.
> 
> I'll be interested in hearing your take on Emma.   Love me some period flicks when they're well done.



will let you know!  He loves his bath as long as I’m singing and scrubbing.  If I stop for a photo he cries.  



vintagesnaps said:


> I like Jane Austen too. Did you see the special with Lucy Worsley on PBS? She's rather fun, small enough to fit into vintage Henry VII era gowns, and wear a big powdered wig with modern day dress! Local PBS stations showed the '90's 'Pride and Prejudice', watched it twice on different stations a few weeks apart.
> 
> And - it's sunny here too!! Cold, but still.



‘The Masterpiece P&P is the best one!  I watch it at least once a year.  It used to be free on Netflix or Prime but now it’s on Hulu.  I own the dvds but don’t really have a dvd player anymore unless I want to sit at my desks Nd use the old laptop.    



NancyMoranG said:


> Is that full moon going to interfere with your Milky Way?
> FYI, I got my Sequator to load with some help.
> Going to try and actually post a photo today!



I believe moonset it at 3am and the MW core will be visible until 4:30.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Good luck! But it looks like you have the hang of those night shots!


----------



## vintagesnaps

To backup a bit... boy, Katomi you really got pummeled by those storms, I didn't see or read much about it.

My mom sewed a lot of my clothes so I learned how (home ec. was kind of sucky, and I don't know _what_ we made!). My grandma made me a whole little suitcase of Barbie clothes (I have her vintage sewing machine because nobody wanted it and it's a pretty piece of furniture but I haven't done anything with it!). I do hand quilt piecing, embroidery, a little lace making... I hate zippers. And the zipper foot, it's only on one side and I have a heckuva time keeping it in place. I also can't keep a sewing machine going at an even pace, it either zooms ahead or goes too slow!

I learned quilting from a gentleman in the area who was a quilt judge etc., learned more good techniques from him than anybody. He since passed away, but he learned from his mom back in the day; his wife did some quilting but more embroidery, etc.

So Charlie, now I know who has a quilt shop nearby!  jk I find plenty online! which can be an advantage but obviously is some of the reason many shops closed up (that or because the owner retired). Washed and folded and sorted fabrics for a nice spring-y quilt wall hanging I'm starting, adapted from something called BloomTopia.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> If I stop for a photo he cries.


Sounds like most of my friends and family.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Charlie, go for it, work for the county! lol if you like dealing with anal retentive!  I did it for 20+ years (well, not the same county obviously) so if I hadn't liked it I wouldn't have stayed. But one of my coworkers did invent a fictional Department of Redundancy Department! We were a separate agency, so the only things 'THE County' included us in were paychecks, benefits, etc.
> 
> My best friend was telling me about her work this week and it sounds like people are revving up for the full moon extra early this month.



I was a County employee, there, for 28+ years, so it's almost like a second home.  It's been ten years since I "retired" from there so I don'tn even think my pension would be held (I'll check before I do anything), but even if it is, the pay would be a little more than my current plus the pension.  I'm just waiting for the announcement to come out, at this point.

We went to Annapolis and I took a few pano shots.  I'll get them stitched together tonight.  Before the photo session, we went to _The Barn Show_ this morning; it's an upscale flea market and only open a few weekends each year  It was originally held in a barn styled out building, but neighbors complained and zoning was questionable so they have moved to a mall.  We try to go every time they are open, as the key owners are family friends.  Anyway, we weren't planning on buying anything, but MLW fell in love with a table and asked them to let her know if it was still available next month.  Her sister (whom works there) got it for her and told us to just pay her back a little at a time, whenever.  It's a side table, about 6' x 2-1/2' and has an added marble top - perfect for rolling out dough and other culinary projects.   We've talked about replacing the dining room table and chairs, and this would work.  We'll pick it up next weekend.






In other stuff, number one and the love-of-his-life have set a date in October.  The wedding will be in Tulsa, but we have some time to plan the trip.




Andrew and Hannah by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## SquarePeg

Love  the table!


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Love  the table!


Thanks; so does she.


----------



## CherylL

@snowbear love the table!  And congrats on the couple's on their set the date.


----------



## CherylL

Cleaning out my office closet today and found old discs Premiere Elements 3 and Photoshop Elements 5.  That was back when the sequence numbers didn't match up.  Found a hard drive from 2003 that will soon meet a hammer.


----------



## snowbear

CherylL said:


> @snowbear love the table!  And congrats on the couple's on their set the date.


Dank je.


----------



## snowbear

Dressed up for St. Patrick's




cmw3_d750_DSC_3217.jpg by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

For the Maryland & Virginia folks:



cmw3_6s_IMG_1313.jpg by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr

And for the New Englanders:



cmw3_6s_IMG_1314.jpg by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, a nice bit of sun for a change


----------



## Original katomi

Reading all the news about people going mad over toilet rolls, maybe they could reuse all the bumff (junk mail)
News paper used to be cut into squares and threaded on a string then hung in the out house (toilet) and was called bumf or
Bumff ... AKA bum fodder 
I once lived in an area that called the out house a Netty. Since then I have stoped calling my sister Netty


----------



## Warhorse

Hah!

My BIL's name is John, in his presence I always refer to the restroom as the "John". I am fairly certain he dislikes it.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Love  the table!
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks; so does she.
Click to expand...

She has a great eye, the table is  unique and quite beautiful!   Looks like a fun day.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, it is a nice table.  The marble needs a little cleaning but it will see a lot of dough rolling.

Now comes the fun part -- getting it home and into the apartment.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Thanks, it is a nice table.  The marble needs a little cleaning but it will see a lot of dough rolling.
> 
> Now comes the fun part -- getting it home and into the apartment.


That marble top will act as a countertop extension, that's for sure.   But yeah, I'm guessing it adds a _lot_ of weight.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all


----------



## SquarePeg

Just finished watching the last episode of Hunters on Amazon Prime.  Loved it!


----------



## Original katomi

Was that the 1st series or is there more


----------



## Fujidave

Cold drab day here today, still waiting for the X100V in black to go on sale in the shops here then I might get it for the weekend.  I hope.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Just finished watching the last episode of Hunters on Amazon Prime.  Loved it!


Good to know.  That is on my summer watch list.  Just finished the first season of Modern Love, very good.


----------



## CherylL

I asked my husband to drill a few holes in my hard drive.  Looks like the data is safe.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sure picking up some good British slang on here! 

My aunt & uncle's farm, where now my cousin lives, had an outhouse (wasn't used!); it's a stone farmhouse from the 1800's. My aunt would always put a lighted Santa figure on the back of the downstairs toilet in the house; it had once been holding a Christmas tree which got substitued for a little corn cob. Supposedly back in the day people used corn cobs for TP.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Didn't realize Charlie you're already a fellow county employee! I joke about it but it was really a good place to work (with moments of anal redundancy! lol). Good luck and congrats with the new position. I like that marble topped table, that's a beauty.

The weather is - gray. Not doing a thing, just gray... yes, it's March! And speaking of, apparently there are questions about March Madness. I saw already that a college hockey playoff game refunded tickets and would just show the game online, no fans in the stands. Our local hockey is already done at high school and college level so nothing to get cancelled. There are local college Bball games coming up but I guess that remains to be seen.


----------



## Warhorse

My wife worked for the county for ~10 years, talk about a cesspool of quarreling old hens...sheeez.


----------



## vintagesnaps

We were too busy with kids for that! And we were a separate agency, we weren't working directly for THE County. Only thing was benefits and paycheck from the County treasurer who also did a weekly radio show playin' the oldies!


----------



## SquarePeg

Great walk today after work.  There were a lot of low clouds around.  Thought we were going to get a great sunset but the clouds kept coming.


----------



## Jeff G

This one hits just the right spot. Beautiful shot!


----------



## Original katomi

Nice image


----------



## SquarePeg

90 suspected cases of c19 here in MA.  70 of them are directly related to a bio conference held in Boston last month.  My family has decided to practice social distancing.  No malls or restaurants, no indoor crowded spaces, no public transportation, no bowling league or committee meetings or planned college visits, no gym or nail salon. Princess still has school but that may soon be online - we’re locking it down as much as possible.


----------



## Original katomi

Square Peg hiya.
We are much the same, Mrs & I had planned an evening out to the pics but did not go as we both have a number of health issues we decided on social distance as much as possible. I am normally a very tactile person but hugs and hand shakes are stopped, standing back from people when chatting. Mrs is doing more on line food shopping to save going out.
It’s getting closer to us, just seen the news here, the minster for health has tested positive.... 
I have noticed that as the virus has gotten worse the jokes have stopped. People seem to know it’s no longer funny and that jokes funny pics may cause offence 
Hope you stay well. Katomi


----------



## SquarePeg

Stay safe everyone!  I hope most are being allowed to telecommute or at least are in jobs where there is not a lot of close contact.


----------



## Original katomi

Medically retired, so staying at home.


----------



## NancyMoranG

SquarePeg, your comment about no gym, nail salon etc reminded me of the original Batman movie with Jack Nicholson. He had spiked the shampoo and soap, so the news anchors went from picture perfect to a mess. 
Sisters are nurses in S. Fl and they had to lock up all the gloves, people were taking the whole box!


----------



## Original katomi

Not sure which hospital but one has had to ask that visitors do not steal the hand gel


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> SquarePeg, your comment about no gym, nail salon etc reminded me of the original Batman movie with Jack Nicholson. He had spiked the shampoo and soap, so the news anchors went from picture perfect to a mess.
> Sisters are nurses in S. Fl and they had to lock up all the gloves, people were taking the whole box!



Yes it’s nuts.  I’m a bit of a prepper when it comes to stuff like this and have had an emergency supply box since the bird flu scare.  We always have enough water and dry goods on hand to last a few months if we need to hunker down.  I’ve been more expecting some type of cyber attack than anything else but this is just as likely. 

We recently updated the stuff in the box and have stocked up on our prescriptions and some Advil and tissues - but not reseller quantities like some people!  No hand sanitizer to be found in any stores but I did order some from bath and body works which will be delivered on Friday.  Regular prices no gouging.


----------



## Original katomi

Some of the things you see, people going crazy stocking up.
Square Peg.. pm sent


----------



## NancyMoranG

SquarePeg said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg, your comment about no gym, nail salon etc reminded me of the original Batman movie with Jack Nicholson. He had spiked the shampoo and soap, so the news anchors went from picture perfect to a mess.
> Sisters are nurses in S. Fl and they had to lock up all the gloves, people were taking the whole box!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes it’s nuts.  I’m a bit of a prepper when it comes to stuff like this and have had an emergency supply box since the bird flu scare.  We always have enough water and dry goods on hand to last a few months if we need to hunker down.  I’ve been more expecting some type of cyber attack than anything else but this is just as likely.
> 
> We recently updated the stuff in the box and have stocked up on our prescriptions and some Advil and tissues - but not reseller quantities like some people!  No hand sanitizer to be found in any stores but I did order some from bath and body works which will be delivered on Friday.  Regular prices no gouging.
Click to expand...


No I don't think you are nuts! 
No real panic here in stores that I have seen. (Southern Ca.) I did hear a lady yesterday say matter-of-factorly, she had to go to 3 stores to find a thermometer.


----------



## vintagesnaps

So far 3 cases in my state, a couple who'd been on a cruise and someone who'd been to a conference out of state. Our state is being preventive, all the state universities are cancelling in-person classes and doing work online. They'll have a week off for spring break anyway, and a couple of weeks besides that. (I figure students ought to have a syllabus and know what reading they need to do, and if they have a paper due later in the semester, get to it! lol) 

Only thing I was planning to do was go to a quilt show next weekend, but after yesterday I decided, nope. Events are starting to get cancelled anyway. There was another state press conference that was on local PBS and the Gov. said think about where you want to go, and do you really need to go? and if not, don't - more or less. 

So, I am just getting started on a quilt project and so far washed and folded a stack of fabric and untangled a bunch of frayed thread! I think it's more the thought of feeling stuck at home especially getting into spring, especially on a sunny day with a birdie chirping. But tomorrow we're back to gray, rain, etc. etc. since it is just early/mid March, so that ought to dampen any enthusiasm for getting out and about! lol


----------



## SquarePeg

All the spring flower shows are cancelled here.  And NCAA has made it official that the b-ball tournament will be played without fans.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I was wondering, there are tournaments in my area. 

I saw there was a college hockey playoff (but can't remember which one, east coast maybe?) had refunded tickets and would be playing with no fans in the stands, game shown online. It'll be like going back to their youth hockey, back yard pond hockey... I've been to local hockey with hardly anyone there, the puck echoes when it's smacked off the boards in a near empty arena! 

Gotta do what they gotta do. At least we have the internet to watch.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Just saw that Harvard cancelled their hockey playoff games, forfeiting the rest of their season.

And saw that RPI was supposed to have their Big Red Freakout, which is apparently a thing they do, not anything to do with the virus. But since their first round game was with Harvard, I guess their Freakout may have to wait. A bit of levity I suppose. edit - nm They already had their Freakout, so why is a College Hockey Inc. article coming up now?! lol


----------



## CherylL

Today Washington Univ and SLU are on spring break.  They told students not to return after break and not to retrieve their stuff.  Any students still in housing have until Sunday to get out.  The remainder of the semester will be online.  I've got plenty of food for 2 weeks, but not the fresh vegetables.  I may swing by the local store and get a few more items tomorrow.

During the swine flu we went to Mexico and the resort was less than 30%.  It felt like a ghost town.  It was sad that so many workers in the region were out of work.  I've read on their fan FB pages that people are cancelling and some are down 30%.  Our next trip is not for a few months and will wait and see.  I do buy trip insurance so we are covered.  Hopefully it won't be that bad.  I am concerned for people out of work here in the U.S. and the question on child care if schools close.


----------



## snowbear

Nine in Maryland (three in work county) but we aren't counting the ones that were exposed at the (republican thing) at National Harbor since they were all from out of state.  So far, the EOC is just monitoring but MLW had to compile a list of telecommute-eligible workers.  They're just preparing at this point.

University of MD, College Park is going to extend the Spring Break.

We have stuff but will probably pick up another jar of peanut butter and a few little things.  So far we haven't seen any shortages of anything.


----------



## SquarePeg

Biggest crush I saw today was at the liquor store.   Priorities.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Biggest crush I saw today was at the liquor store.   Priorities.


Rum, vodka and gin are replacements for hand sanitizer, don't you know.


----------



## SquarePeg

Wow - NBA season suspended after player tests positive for corona virus.  Also Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson tested positive.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I saw that. I can't help but wonder if the NHL will be next? I suppose they could later on play shortened seasons/playoffs. Or... if not maybe it's just gonna be a short season in the books. They've lost part of a season due to a strike/lockout before so I think they'll manage. Even though I love my hockey, they need to do whatever needs to be done to help keep people safe.

I'm already wondering if universities may end up finishing up their semesters online, by the time they get into April they don't have all that long til exams in May. The university near me just quarantined a few students because they'd been to a conference in D.C., but no symptoms yet. 

They were showing getting the field ready for Opening Day, made me wonder if that will be delayed.


----------



## Warhorse

Have noticed all the jokes about Corona virus have slowed quite a bit. They are not quite as funny now that it is spreading, as has been predicted.


----------



## Fujidave

Two more deaths here in the UK, sadly IMO it will be many many many more here, BJ needs to shut down the UK now.


----------



## Fujidave

So here in the UK yesterday it was 400+ today it has jumped to 596, this is so scary and prey to god me and mum don`t get it.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, worrying here as Mrs and I are in the high risk group because of underlying health problems.we have started social distance, not going out to places.


----------



## NancyMoranG

In 'National Tresure' movie, I think he quotes and interprets a line from Constitution something like 'those that have the ability, have the responsibility..'
And that is my thought with current CoronaVirus reprecussions ...
I AM NOT picking on just rich Corp/people, but at this point they have the ability.
Ideas, not perfected ..just thinking...

Pay your average Joe who works in your stadiums for the next month. Rental apts should label complexes X or z. X does not pay rent in April, and z does not pay in May. Give people a 1 (+)  month break.
Small business should not have a mortgage payment for 3-4 months, and  the payment gets tagged onto the end of you term..

Etc....OBVIUOSLY,  some BIG thinking OUTSIDE the box has to happen.

More community efforts also in this emergency.


----------



## tirediron

While I don't suggest for a second that this Coronavirus/Covid-19/Whatever we want to call it isn't serious, we need to keep things in perspective.  As of this morning, there were about 133,000 cases, world-wide.  That equates to roughly 1 case for every 4.8 MILLION people on the planet.  Of those, there have been lest than 5000 fatalities, and the vast majority of those have been elderly or people with compromised immune systems.  For the average person, aged less than 70, and with an appropriately healthy immune system, the fatality rate is minute.  We see one of these cases every 8-10 years it seems.  History suggests, fairly strongly that this too will pass, in somewhere between a few weeks and a few months, and life will return to normal, and most people in 2-3 years will have all but forgotten about it. 

To put it in perspective, look at the global statistics for the common cold, the flu, and other, similar conditions.

Again, not my intent to belittle anyone, nor make light of their concern, but we have to stop what is becoming an almost global panic, fueled primarily by the media.  THEY are the ones responsible, more than any other single body for the economic issues and fear.  Don't feed it.  Do you part by using common sense, washing your hands, and carrying on with your day!


----------



## Fujidave

Original katomi said:


> Hi all, worrying here as Mrs and I are in the high risk group because of underlying health problems.we have started social distance, not going out to places.



Hope you both take it easy at this worrying time, like you I have to be careful as have COPD.


----------



## vintagesnaps

My state is being preventive, just had another live press conference on a local PBS channel. Schools will close after Monday for three weeks. Which will make for a long spring break. All events with 100+ people statewide are cancelled. 

And saw the NHL suspended games til further notice, which wasn't surprising. The local college hockey team was already where they go for league playoffs, so they're playing with no fans in the stands. I've known the guy for years from other local hockey who does their play by play, this ought to be interesting to listen to this weekend, playing in a big empty. 

Hope everybody stays healthy.


----------



## NancyMoranG

tirediron said:


> While I don't suggest for a second that this Coronavirus/Covid-19/Whatever we want to call it isn't serious, we need to keep things in perspective.  As of this morning, there were about 133,000 cases, world-wide.  That equates to roughly 1 case for every 4.8 MILLION people on the planet.  Of those, there have been lest than 5000 fatalities, and the vast majority of those have been elderly or people with compromised immune systems.  For the average person, aged less than 70, and with an appropriately healthy immune system, the fatality rate is minute.  We see one of these cases every 8-10 years it seems.  History suggests, fairly strongly that this too will pass, in somewhere between a few weeks and a few months, and life will return to normal, and most people in 2-3 years will have all but forgotten about it.
> 
> To put it in perspective, look at the global statistics for the common cold, the flu, and other, similar conditions.
> 
> Again, not my intent to belittle anyone, nor make light of their concern, but we have to stop what is becoming an almost global panic, fueled primarily by the media.  THEY are the ones responsible, more than any other single body for the economic issues and fear.  Don't feed it.  Do you part by using common sense, washing your hands, and carrying on with your day!



I am NOT even talking about the virus itself anymore. I am talking about all of the reprecussions.

Agreed. I think the media could do much better in reporting this and not promoting the panic but proper measures. Don't get me started on the media.

I am NOT in the group of panic. But my suggestions are because I believe we have PASSED the point of rational reporting.  businesses are closing, hence employees not being paid, stadiums, concert sect all with employees not being paid, Broadway closing, average  waiters not getting tips or paid, etc...then all can't pay rent or mortgage ..

Schools closing and no babysitters for parents who are still working ( but not for long if this panic continues), schools closing and kids who ONLY ate a meal because they were IN school, etc.

I am not in a panic because I am retired, don't count on a weekly paycheck, do not have to go to a crowded workplace, use bus or subway etc.
But this is the makings of a world wide depression if it is not dealt with responsibly.


----------



## snowbear

MLW is in the compromised immune system category (spleen removed 20+ years ago) but we are not overly worried.  Common sense and a bit of precaution is always a good thing.  What scares me, is that we have to tell grown adults how to wash their hands. 

Computers at work have been a nightmare - laptop has been re-imaged three times but it kept getting the BSOD.  Now my user account keeps getting locked, even though I know and have not mistyped the jammin' password.  I can get into the network with Outlook just fine on the phone, but not with the computers that are hard-wired to jammin' thing.

I'm done with this place for the day - time to head to PT.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Computers and the internet can be a wonderful thing, other times more of a PITA! 

Apparently my state was one of the first to close schools. I think we're somewhat lucky being so far inland and can take preventive measures before it spreads much here. The Dr. with our state health agency said there's also flu etc. going around, so they said if someone has symptoms to contact their Dr., they'll schedule people to go to the hospital and sit in their car while they get swabbed. 

As far as I know day cares are still open. I was a teacher, and I haven't heard yet of any plans for programs for school age kids like they have in the summer but I would think they'd plan to do something similar for now if possible. In the summer they have meal programs/groceries for families with kids on free/reduced lunches, and they get federal/govt. subsidized cheese, etc. to provide to families so maybe they'll figure out a way to make that available.


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> In 'National Tresure' movie, I think he quotes and interprets a line from Constitution something like 'those that have the ability, have the responsibility..'
> And that is my thought with current CoronaVirus reprecussions ...
> I AM NOT picking on just rich Corp/people, but at this point they have the ability.
> Ideas, not perfected ..just thinking...
> 
> Pay your average Joe who works in your stadiums for the next month. Rental apts should label complexes X or z. X does not pay rent in April, and z does not pay in May. Give people a 1 (+)  month break.
> Small business should not have a mortgage payment for 3-4 months, and  the payment gets tagged onto the end of you term..
> 
> Etc....OBVIUOSLY,  some BIG thinking OUTSIDE the box has to happen.
> 
> More community efforts also in this emergency.



many brother worked for a textile mill that burned down. The owner paid his employees a full year before they could get back to work. 


tirediron said:


> While I don't suggest for a second that this Coronavirus/Covid-19/Whatever we want to call it isn't serious, we need to keep things in perspective.  As of this morning, there were about 133,000 cases, world-wide.  That equates to roughly 1 case for every 4.8 MILLION people on the planet.  Of those, there have been lest than 5000 fatalities, and the vast majority of those have been elderly or people with compromised immune systems.  For the average person, aged less than 70, and with an appropriately healthy immune system, the fatality rate is minute.  We see one of these cases every 8-10 years it seems.  History suggests, fairly strongly that this too will pass, in somewhere between a few weeks and a few months, and life will return to normal, and most people in 2-3 years will have all but forgotten about it.
> 
> To put it in perspective, look at the global statistics for the common cold, the flu, and other, similar conditions.
> 
> Again, not my intent to belittle anyone, nor make light of their concern, but we have to stop what is becoming an almost global panic, fueled primarily by the media.  THEY are the ones responsible, more than any other single body for the economic issues and fear.  Don't feed it.  Do you part by using common sense, washing your hands, and carrying on with your day!



The”it’s no worse than the flu” argument has been debunked several times already by statistics.  Imo this is not undue panic.  I think they waited too long to close some things.  Hopefully it’s not too late.  We need to avoid an Italy scenario here in the US.  Flatten the curve as they say   I’d rather overreact now than play catch up later.


----------



## vintagesnaps

And on a lighter note, to top it off, besides the NHL suspending games, the NCAA cancelled hockey playoffs/regionals, and my friend who just got up there for the league tournament this weekend posted that it got cancelled. Now they've got that long 12 hour bus trip all the way back... But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I'm glad they're being preventive.


----------



## limr

I like to look at silver linings. Traffic is a lot lighter these days, and my school's decision to extend Spring Break for a week and then go to online for the following week means that I get four more evenings when I can go home after work instead of staying to teach my class.

I have an autoimmune disease, so I suppose I am technically more at risk to have a worse bout, and I also work just 15 miles from New Rochelle, which is the center of the outbreak in NY. I am, however, not panicking. Neither am I taking this lightly. I like to live in the grey area between extremes


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> I like to look at silver linings. Traffic is a lot lighter these days, and my school's decision to extend Spring Break for a week and then go to online for the following week means that I get four more evenings when I can go home after work instead of staying to teach my class.
> 
> I have an autoimmune disease, so I suppose I am technically more at risk to have a worse bout, and I also work just 15 miles from New Rochelle, which is the center of the outbreak in NY. I am, however, not panicking. Neither am I taking this lightly. I like to live in the grey area between extremes



We have a lot of college educators in our town and there was a lot of controversy today over colleges going to online for students but some schools making teachers teach online. Class from campus!  What’s your school doing?


----------



## NancyMoranG

Nephew in Ohio has school closed tomorrow until April 12.


----------



## Jeff15

I am 70 years old with COPD, its all getting very worrying...


----------



## snowbear

Real sign at a store (work county)


----------



## SquarePeg

Leo Varadkar announces Ireland will go into LOCKDOWN from 6pm today until March 29 | The Irish Post


----------



## Original katomi

Hiya all, 00:45GMT  just a quick post before I call it a day.
I believe in God in my own way and respect others have different ways.

 So without offence I am putting up a prayer for loved ones and friends that are at risk. 
Night all. 
Katomi


----------



## Derrel

Quite a day for big blows to organized sports across the USA... it was especially bad for the University of Oregon women's basketball team which was in a good position to possibly win the NCAA Championship. Kind of hard to believe what has happened today it has shaken the stock market quite a bit- I heard on the radio that it was the largest one-day drop since Black Monday back in 1987.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like to look at silver linings. Traffic is a lot lighter these days, and my school's decision to extend Spring Break for a week and then go to online for the following week means that I get four more evenings when I can go home after work instead of staying to teach my class.
> 
> I have an autoimmune disease, so I suppose I am technically more at risk to have a worse bout, and I also work just 15 miles from New Rochelle, which is the center of the outbreak in NY. I am, however, not panicking. Neither am I taking this lightly. I like to live in the grey area between extremes
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We have a lot of college educators in our town and there was a lot of controversy today over colleges going to online for students but some schools making teachers teach online. Class from campus!  What’s your school doing?
Click to expand...


We extended Spring Break (which is this week) to a second week to give time faculty enough time to figure out how to put their classes online, and then the following week (last week in March), all classes will be delivered online. So far, that's the plan, but things are evolving pretty fast so who knows what will happen. For the moment, the campus is open and staff are reporting to work.

There are a fair number of classes that were already online that will obviously be fine. A lot of profs also deliver a lot of their content online as well, even if it's an in-person class. I'm one of those, and I'll have no problem switching to online for the rest of the semester if I have to. There are other profs, however, who have no clue what to do to bring their classes online. Training is being offered this week and next.

In the meantime in student affairs, we're making sure we're well-versed with video conferencing so we can still offer our services remotely. And our IT dept is getting laptops ready for people who absolutely need to access campus systems from home if need be. Again, there are no plans at the moment to close the campus, but just find ways to allow ourselves to still serve students from a distance.

This is the case with the whole SUNY and CUNY system. They are not closed - their employees are still going to work and students are allowed on campus. Some classes like lab sections will still be taught in person. They're just trying to avoid the density of people on campus.


----------



## RowdyRay

snowbear said:


> Real sign at a store (work county)
> 
> 
> View attachment 188326



I shouldn't laugh at this, but it's true. Funny thing is, I bought a case of toilet paper and paper towels, 2 dozen eggs and several 1/2 gallons of almond milk......right before this happened. Not a prepper, but have plenty of food in the freezer and pantry too. I'm good. Didn't plan it, just plain dumb luck. The REALLY funny thing is...... that's never happened before! USUALLY, I'm the last to know. 

In no way shape or form do I think this isn't serious. It is, but I'm not going to live my life in fear. Before anyone yells at me, I'll remind you, I'm a handicapped transportation driver. Regularly transport sick clients to and from hospitals and clinics. Been exposed to everything under the sun. At some point, I WILL come in contact with it. Not much choice unless they shut things down. Don't see how that will happen. Unless they plan to crawl, someone needs to do it. I've lived through how many now? 30 plus years and only 2 days sick. Doesn't mean this one won't get me. 

What is crazy, is the fear being spread. The media should be fined for some of the headlines I've read. Had to scroll WAY down to the bottom to get the truth. Got me to click on it, and I guess that's what pays the bills. What a world. Shameful.


----------



## snowbear

It's just nuts, here - this is how the DC area acts to any given impending snow storm.  Toilet paper?  The virus is respiratory, not digestive.
There's a back story to this ... when I worked for the PD, it was said that in this area, many of the residents are quite strange: "They put stupid pills in the water".  Unfortunately, sometimes it was quite believable.

We've purchased the amounts and types of things that we usually purchase, but picked up a few extra canned goods, some freezable things like pre-cooked chicken, and a few OTC cold/flu medications to help with the symptoms should we get hit.

UMD is also doing an extended Spring break and an online bit for a couple weeks.
The Governor has closed schools for the next two weeks and state employees that are able to telecommute have to do so.  It's rumored the EOC is to be activated tomorrow, so I'll be on call 24/7 (I sure hope my jammin' laptop is ready tomorrow).  Agencies have been compiling lists of workers that can telecommute (MLW and I can), so it's coming.


----------



## Derrel

I thought that explosive diarrhea was one of the main effects of the Coronavirus?


----------



## snowbear

Derrel said:


> I thought that explosive diarrhea was one of the main effects of the Coronavirus?


From CDC's page:


> *Watch for symptoms*
> Reported illnesses have ranged from mild symptoms to severe illness and death for confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases.
> 
> The following symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure.*
> 
> 
> Fever
> Cough
> Shortness of breath


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all just popped to say hiya. A nice day here so maybe chance to see some sun


----------



## SquarePeg

I already work from home but yesterday our company made it mandatory for all management employees who don’t have direct reports that need to be on site. For those that do need to be on site to do their jobs, the ceo and hr department have been telling people to come to them if they have family members who are high risk and are concerned about exposure.  At some point they will close all of our on site locations.  They are working with the union to get our associates remote access.  

One of my coworkers was agonizing over having to cancel a trip to Disney World that his kids were really going to be upset about.  Disney took that decision out of his hands by closing as of Sunday.  

Stay safe all Hosers.  We’ll ride out this storm together.


----------



## stapo49

We have decided to cancel our trip to Vietnam in April. Not that we are worried  about catching the flu, sorry corona virus, but we don't want to end up quarantined for 12 days in case someone on the plane tested positive. Plus a lot of the places we wanted to visit are being restricted or closed. We will just holiday here in Western Australia  somewhere. 

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## SquarePeg

Not my photos.  

The MBTA during 6pm rush hour yesterday.  This is the Orange line usually packed like sardines at this time.  




 


Trader Joe’s and Shaw’s supermarket this morning.  The last one is the line to checkout.


----------



## Fujidave

Wont be around for a while, mums doctor phoned to say she is in hospital very ill and told me not to go out at all


----------



## SquarePeg

So sorry to hear that Dave.  If you’re stuck indoors please use the Coffee House to keep you company.


----------



## Warhorse

Very sorry to hear of your mums illness, hope your quarantine period is uneventful.


----------



## Original katomi

Hiya Dave, sorry to hear about your mum.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm so sorry to hear that Dave. Take care.


----------



## SquarePeg

TGIF?  Doesn’t feel like a Friday.  Going to lay low this weekend and only venture out for some hiking and beach time with the pup!  She had a blast at the beach last weekend.  Can’t remember if I posted those pics but in case I didn’t just look at her joy first time at the beach first time off leash in such a big place.  




the beach! by SharonCat..., on Flickr


----------



## terri

She's such a beautiful dog!    

Cute animal pics are welcomed at this stage, I think.   Anytime, really, but it's nice to focus on the near and dear.   

I'm sorry to hear your mom has taken ill, Dave.   Best wishes for you and your family.


----------



## Fujidave

Thanks everyone, Mum phoned me from the hospital it`s not the virus thank god.  She had been getting injections for a blood clot in her leg, but now her blood is not clotting at all hope to get up to see her Sunday as she wants rest.


----------



## SquarePeg

One more.  Our older dog tried to herd her but in the end he could only sit back and watch her fly.


----------



## snowbear

Sorry to hear she's not feeling well, Dave.  Hope it works out soon.

I had to fill out the paperwork for situational telecommuting.  I was told to pick two days to go in to the office, so I picked Thursday and Friday; everyone will want Friday so it will be quiet and my PT (Tuesday and Thursday) is close to the office.

Guessing it will start in the middle of next week or the week after.


----------



## SquarePeg

The latest cocktail.  A quarantini.  It’s your favorite martini but you have to drink it alone.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> The latest cocktail.  A quarantini.  It’s your favorite martini but you have to drink it alone.
> 
> View attachment 188387


You're hilarious.   That's brilliant!   

The tp and wipes are perfect.


----------



## Original katomi

Dave hope mum is home soon. Square Peg, like the drink, just had a wee dram a single malt.
Love the dog pics, our two here love the beach our car is always got sand on the back seats.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> The latest cocktail.  A quarantini.  It’s your favorite martini but you have to drink it alone.
> 
> View attachment 188387



Apparently, I've been drinking quarantinis for years!


----------



## limr

In other news, according to Facebook, on this day in 2013, I used a Smashing Pumpkins lyric to teach complex sentence structure and comma placement.

Now I have that song stuck in my head, so y'all are going down with me


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Original katomi

Let loose the dogs, of war and cry Havoc


----------



## SquarePeg

Mom!  Harlie isn’t social distancing herself again!


----------



## Fujidave

Susie loves the new X100V Film sim.


----------



## Original katomi

Have I missed it, but does anyone know what the next weeks challenge is.


----------



## Fujidave

Sadly ten deaths here now and over 1,000 cases comfirmed.


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Have I missed it, but does anyone know what the next weeks challenge is.



thanks for the reminder!  One too many quarantinis last night!


----------



## Fujidave

I`d love to hear that these creeps have been locked up

Michelle Davies on Twitter


----------



## Original katomi

Dave, how is your mum


----------



## Fujidave

Original katomi said:


> Dave, how is your mum



Funny thing, I just spoke to her now and she sounded great.  As they want and need beds she is coming out first thing in the morning.  She asked me to come over on Wednesday as her friend is staying to help her.


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dave, how is your mum
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Funny thing, I just spoke to her now and she sounded great.  As they want and need beds she is coming out first thing in the morning.  She asked me to come over on Wednesday as her friend is staying to help her.
Click to expand...


Good to hear!


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> I`d love to hear that these creeps have been locked up
> 
> Michelle Davies on Twitter



I believe a crisis like this strip down the layers and reveals what's really lying inside a person. That's why you see some of the best and some of the worst of human behavior in an emergency.


----------



## Original katomi

Good to hear Dave.
Just looked at some pics I took yesterday..... I don’t know what was wrong with me... underexposed, overexposed, shutter speed to slow or just not focused.... 
I guess that trying to weld a 70 200 mm zoom and  shoot from drivers seat was not such a good idea.


----------



## Jeff G

That's  great news Dave!


----------



## Jeff G




----------



## Jeff15

I really cannot understand why people are stockpiling bog rolls, food I can understand............


----------



## Jeff G

Because nobody can be bothered to read past the headlines.


----------



## Jeff G

Some shots from the grocery store this morning.

 

 



What really makes me mad is they were out of peanut butter, so now the wife can't make cookies!!!


----------



## jcdeboever

My house is like a sams club. I have always considered survival and readiness important.


----------



## Jeff G

Our pantry is decently stocked, but we went out for the weekly essentials, like milk and bread, didn't expect everyone had lost thier marbles.


----------



## stapo49

We have had only 5 recorded cases of Covid 19 here in Perth and that was from people who had just flown in from overseas.
The benefit of being an isolated city I guess. Still people here are also in a toilet paper frenzy!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Went out yesterday before Trump announced 'National Emergency'. Figured that would really send everyone over the edge!
Wasn't too bad. BUt busier than normal.

We have a job at Grand Teton National Park starting in May. We have an RV and usually stock up for a few months since grocery is more expaensive in that type area. 
We just did it a month early not knowing what would happen.

We are starting to wonder about the jobs still being needed though????


----------



## stapo49

Seinfeld new!



Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## Fujidave

Just signed up for online food shopping, and at long last got some backside wipes


----------



## Fujidave

On a more serious note, take care everyone.


----------



## smoke665

Just dropped in to see if everyone was still surviving. We finally got our first confirmed case on Friday morning. By Friday night it had gone to 6, and by this morning, it had jumped to 12. To think we were immune from it was a fallacy.... can't be confirmed if you're not testing for it. The state director of health said Friday he was certain there were many more cases that hadn't been diagnosed yet. Governor closed all K12 schools in the state effective this coming Wed, and limited gatherings above 100. Colleges across the state announced they were going to online classes. Shortages at the grocery stores had been sporadic up until Friday.  By Saturday morning the buying panic spread pretty fast. Fresh meat, eggs, and toilet paper were the first to go followed by the canned chili, and meat. Surprisingly the frozen sections still had selections. The big box stores and Walmart were the first to go, then the crowds descended on the smaller grocery only stores. It got so bad at one, they had to limit the number of customers in the store, causing a long line to form outside, as customers had to wait until someone left before they could enter. Fortunately we had been stocking up with a few extras here and there for the last 3-4 weeks so we avoided the madness and for now we're good for at least 3 weeks with food in the freezer and pantry, maybe even more if we have to be. Because of DW's immune system, and my health issues we'd already decided to hibernate on the mountain, only going out for limited trips when we absolutely have to, Friday's events sort of pushed us to start.

To quote Stephen King from "The Stand", "The place where you made your stand never mattered. Only that you were there...and still on your feet." Hopefully we will be, and hopefully others will be as well.


----------



## CherylL

Here in Illinois the governor declared all dine in restaurants & bars closed or at least to go to carryout.  Illinois schools will shut down for 2 weeks after Monday.  The kids will get homework packets and can check out their chrome books.
Reading the local community FB pages there is a lot of anger.  Two camps with one not wanting to be inconvenienced and the other trying to do their part.
I've asked my daughter to not bring the grands over.  I went to one store and got a few things Thursday before the rush and had to go to another store Friday for items not available at the first one and stuff I forgot.  There were people with over flowing baskets on Friday and one guy had 2 baskets full.  Pantry is stocked as usual here with meat in the freezer so I think we are good for a few weeks.  I am concerned with our ages about the virus.  My husband will find out his company's policy tomorrow as he is an outside rep.  His customers may not want him visiting.  Two weeks with phone calls would be sufficient.  He is 69 and I do worry.


----------



## CherylL

On a few photography FB pages there have been many clients cancelling.  The dilemma for some is that when rescheduling they are booked tight and their rates go up later in the year so the decision to lock in the old rate for the re-schedulers and finding the time to fit them in.   One talked about taking an infant session and reworking it later as a family session.


----------



## SquarePeg

MA Governor drops the hammer as many people, especially those with young children and 20 somethings blatantly ignore the social distancing guidelines.   From the Boston Globe:

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker on March 14.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker on March 14.JONATHAN WIGGS/GLOBE STAFF
Governor Charlie Baker announced Sunday that all bars and restaurants in Massachusetts would be shut down to on-premise consumption starting Tuesday through April 17, and banned gatherings larger than 25 people, in an effort to stem the coronavirus outbreak in the state. He also ordered a three-week suspension of all public and private schools, effective Tuesday through April 7.

“If we take decisive steps now and everyone plays their part by following the best medical guidance, we can slow down the spread,” Baker said at a press conference Sunday night, adding that the coronavirus is “incredibly contagious. It is more contagious than the seasonal flu.”

Baker said that bars and restaurants can continue to offer food for takeout or delivery, and noted that the order does not apply to grocery stores or pharmacies.

This breaking story will be updated.


Finally.  Hopefully the horse is not already halfway to the next farm.


----------



## SquarePeg

I went out yesterday with the dogs to a local outdoor park with trails and saw many people at the playground and an adult soccer game going on.  Plenty of people in the local restaurants when we drove by.   We have been eating at home and going for walks with the dogs and drives to the beach when we can. Spent the afternoon at the beach in Maine watching the dogs run around and keeping a safe distance from my brother and sister in law as well as all the other dog walking folks.   The dogs are exhausted from all the attention the last week and are snoring away in the kitchen. Too tired to even remember that they don’t really get along!


----------



## limr

We are planning on going to Maine next week. We're going to Ogunquit and tend to avoid people as a general rule, and also already have the habit of cleaning the hotel room with Lysol wipes anyway, so for us, not much is really changing. Maybe we'll end up getting more take-out instead of eating in restaurants, or get some groceries to have picnic lunches and just deal with dinner. I think if we're extra careful, we'll be fine. We're more in the line of fire here in NY than in Maine anyway.


----------



## snowbear

I am officially on three-day per week telecommute for the next two weeks.  Depending on traffic (Zoe winding my ankles) it should take me between two and three minutes to get to the office (Monday though Wednesday).


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> We are planning on going to Maine next week. We're going to Ogunquit and tend to avoid people as a general rule, and also already have the habit of cleaning the hotel room with Lysol wipes anyway, so for us, not much is really changing. Maybe we'll end up getting more take-out instead of eating in restaurants, or get some groceries to have picnic lunches and just deal with dinner. I think if we're extra careful, we'll be fine. We're more in the line of fire here in NY than in Maine anyway.



I wouldn’t plan on any restaurants being open for dining in.  But take out picnics at the beach are always fun!


----------



## SquarePeg

This actually happened today:

My 77 year old mom as we passed a big Walmart 18 wheeler on the highway today, “You think he’s got toilet paper in there?  He’s old,  we can take him.”


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> We are planning on going to Maine next week. We're going to Ogunquit and tend to avoid people as a general rule, and also already have the habit of cleaning the hotel room with Lysol wipes anyway, so for us, not much is really changing. Maybe we'll end up getting more take-out instead of eating in restaurants, or get some groceries to have picnic lunches and just deal with dinner. I think if we're extra careful, we'll be fine. We're more in the line of fire here in NY than in Maine anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I wouldn’t plan on any restaurants being open for dining in.  But take out picnics at the beach are always fun!
Click to expand...


We'll keep an eye on things and if it looks like we'd end up just sitting in a hotel room all day, then we'll cancel. When we go to Ogunquit, it's usually a lot of walking around, hitting some beaches or walks for some pictures, and maybe doing some shopping (I can't explain our love of Reny's, but it's an essential part of our trip whenever we are in Maine.) The only time we would be near larger numbers of people is when we are at restaurants. We don't mind take-out, but if it looks like everyone's just going to roll up the sidewalks and there'll be nothing to do, we might postpone. As much as I love the ocean, there's only so many days in a row one can walk up and down a beach, y'know? Well, unless I lived there and I was just going for a walk and then getting on with my day. Then I would be there every day. But I digress...


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> We are planning on going to Maine next week. We're going to Ogunquit and tend to avoid people as a general rule, and also already have the habit of cleaning the hotel room with Lysol wipes anyway, so for us, not much is really changing. Maybe we'll end up getting more take-out instead of eating in restaurants, or get some groceries to have picnic lunches and just deal with dinner. I think if we're extra careful, we'll be fine. We're more in the line of fire here in NY than in Maine anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I wouldn’t plan on any restaurants being open for dining in.  But take out picnics at the beach are always fun!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We'll keep an eye on things and if it looks like we'd end up just sitting in a hotel room all day, then we'll cancel. When we go to Ogunquit, it's usually a lot of walking around, hitting some beaches or walks for some pictures, and maybe doing some shopping (I can't explain our love of Reny's, but it's an essential part of our trip whenever we are in Maine.) The only time we would be near larger numbers of people is when we are at restaurants. We don't mind take-out, but if it looks like everyone's just going to roll up the sidewalks and there'll be nothing to do, we might postpone. As much as I love the ocean, there's only so many days in a row one can walk up and down a beach, y'know? Well, unless I lived there and I was just going for a walk and then getting on with my day. Then I would be there every day. But I digress...
Click to expand...


We went to York ME today and not much was open by the beach but it’s still off season and there’s not a lot open to begin with in March.  In MA all in restaurant dining is banned as of Tuesday and restaurants can offer take out or delivery only.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> We are planning on going to Maine next week. We're going to Ogunquit and tend to avoid people as a general rule, and also already have the habit of cleaning the hotel room with Lysol wipes anyway, so for us, not much is really changing. Maybe we'll end up getting more take-out instead of eating in restaurants, or get some groceries to have picnic lunches and just deal with dinner. I think if we're extra careful, we'll be fine. We're more in the line of fire here in NY than in Maine anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I wouldn’t plan on any restaurants being open for dining in.  But take out picnics at the beach are always fun!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We'll keep an eye on things and if it looks like we'd end up just sitting in a hotel room all day, then we'll cancel. When we go to Ogunquit, it's usually a lot of walking around, hitting some beaches or walks for some pictures, and maybe doing some shopping (I can't explain our love of Reny's, but it's an essential part of our trip whenever we are in Maine.) The only time we would be near larger numbers of people is when we are at restaurants. We don't mind take-out, but if it looks like everyone's just going to roll up the sidewalks and there'll be nothing to do, we might postpone. As much as I love the ocean, there's only so many days in a row one can walk up and down a beach, y'know? Well, unless I lived there and I was just going for a walk and then getting on with my day. Then I would be there every day. But I digress...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> We went to York ME today and not much was open by the beach but it’s still off season and there’s not a lot open to begin with in March.  In MA all in restaurant dining is banned as of Tuesday and restaurants can offer take out or delivery only.
Click to expand...


We are used to off season up there since that's when we usually go. We've been practicing social distancing for years!  But we'll see how things go in the next few days and make a decision.


----------



## Original katomi

SquarePeg said:


> This actually happened today:
> 
> My 77 year old mom as we passed a big Walmart 18 wheeler on the highway today, “You think he’s got toilet paper in there?  He’s old,  we can take him.”


Dorthy Terpin I assume he says as she cry’s “stand and deliver”
Dick Turpin - Wikipedia
A link to my highway man reference with gender change.


----------



## Fujidave

Managed to get out and do a good shop for Mum as Tesco had just had a delivery so managed to get everything she wanted, then got back home and got a email saying my Xpro3 in Black is being delivered today, so some nice news for a change.


----------



## Jeff15

Been out to the forest today, I saw only one person and he was at least 10 feet away.


----------



## Fujidave

Xpro3 Classic Neg.




Snoozing by Dave, on Flickr


----------



## The_Traveler

*NYC Bars and restaurants closed for on-premise consumption*

By Monday morning, Governor Andrew Cuomo moved up the timeline on the closures. 
*Starting at 8 p.m. Monday night, restaurants and bars across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut need to close to anything but take-out and delivery business.* 

*Movie theaters, gyms, and casinos must also close, but grocery stores can stay open.*

Notably, businesses with liquor licenses will be allowed to sell alcohol for customers to consume off-premises


----------



## Original katomi

Just watching the BBC .....  and the PM


----------



## vintagesnaps

There's been a state press conference every day, a local PBS station has been carrying it, but over the weekend I checked online and they have a stationary camera outside the statehouse, so I watched it snow there! Here it was chunky rain or something noisy.

Last week public schools closed, state universities closed, etc. for at least 3 weeks. Talked to a neighbor who called and they're working on getting homework etc. available at some point (enough kids don't have computers so can't go completely online). They were lucky to not have used calamity days so they'll for now have a really long spring break. 

Over the weekend they closed restaurants for dining in, will have drive up/delivery only. Today they're cancelling in person voting for a primary tomorrow (a local school district has a levy on) mostly to not expose poll workers, who are apparently a lot of retirees. They're 'freezing' votes already cast (absentee I think) and extending voting (by mail) til beginning of June. 

Saying most of the testing is in the big 3 C's, which makes me glad I'm retired and not working in one of the C's anymore! Actually out of people tested about 10-20% have been positive, and the flu etc. is going around too. Only cases in my region was a family (no info. on if they'd traveled) and a worker at an agency affiliated with one of the medical centers. So far anyway, I'm sure there will be more before it's over. They seem to expect it to peak in 3 weeks which is I guess how they determined cancellations, so I'm glad they're shutting down things and being preventive.


----------



## tirediron

The_Traveler said:


> *NYC Bars and restaurants closed for on-premise consumption*
> 
> By Monday morning, Governor Andrew Cuomo moved up the timeline on the closures.
> *Starting at 8 p.m. Monday night, restaurants and bars across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut need to close to anything but take-out and delivery business.*
> 
> *Movie theaters, gyms, and casinos must also close, but grocery stores can stay open.*
> 
> Notably, businesses with liquor licenses will be allowed to sell alcohol for customers to consume off-premises


I'm curious as to what legislation they're basing this on.  I understand requesting that premises close, but has something akin to a modern version of the War Measures Act or similar been enacted that gives the government the right to mandate closure to private business?


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> The_Traveler said:
> 
> 
> 
> *NYC Bars and restaurants closed for on-premise consumption*
> 
> By Monday morning, Governor Andrew Cuomo moved up the timeline on the closures.
> *Starting at 8 p.m. Monday night, restaurants and bars across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut need to close to anything but take-out and delivery business.*
> 
> *Movie theaters, gyms, and casinos must also close, but grocery stores can stay open.*
> 
> Notably, businesses with liquor licenses will be allowed to sell alcohol for customers to consume off-premises
> 
> 
> 
> I'm curious as to what legislation they're basing this on.  I understand requesting that premises close, but has something akin to a modern version of the War Measures Act or similar been enacted that gives the government the right to mandate closure to private business?
Click to expand...

I think it’s when a state of emergency is declared, but I haven’t looked into it in any sort of detail.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The_Traveler said:
> 
> 
> 
> *NYC Bars and restaurants closed for on-premise consumption*
> 
> By Monday morning, Governor Andrew Cuomo moved up the timeline on the closures.
> *Starting at 8 p.m. Monday night, restaurants and bars across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut need to close to anything but take-out and delivery business.*
> 
> *Movie theaters, gyms, and casinos must also close, but grocery stores can stay open.*
> 
> Notably, businesses with liquor licenses will be allowed to sell alcohol for customers to consume off-premises
> 
> 
> 
> I'm curious as to what legislation they're basing this on.  I understand requesting that premises close, but has something akin to a modern version of the War Measures Act or similar been enacted that gives the government the right to mandate closure to private business?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I think it’s when a state of emergency is declared, but I haven’t looked into it in any sort of detail.
Click to expand...


Governors' Powers & Authority - National Governors Association


----------



## vintagesnaps

I think that might be it, our state declared a state of emergency. They've now closed bowling alleys, and other indoor whatevers. 

My neighbor works for a local park district, and those in the area all seem to have indoor facilities closed & activities cancelled but outdoors can be used by the public. The state park in my area is open, so I guess you could go down to the boat docks and watch nothing go by! unless people are getting boats in the water but it's awfully early for that. But seriously people could take walks, hike, whatever. And take their kids to a park to expend some energy.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Governors' Powers & Authority - National Governors Association


Interesting, so does the President's declaration of a "national emergency" (I think that was the phrase I heard) give states the right to invoke these powers, or are they solely resident with the State and have they all declared states of emergency (and why don't we declare provinces of emergency?????)?


----------



## snowbear

Part of it has to do with resources: when it comes from Pennsylvania Avenue, the Federal Government can release resources, be it money, personnel (FEMA, CDC, etc.), or something else.  The Governors do the same thing, but when the conditions exist in their state. Gov. Hogan issued a SOE in Maryland a while back, due to the Opioid addiction situation.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I dunno, why don't you declare provinces of emergency?? - hockey season's suspended, there was no Hockey Night in Canada, isn't that about the same thing?! jk a little levity...

States can declare a state of emergency, usually it's been when there was severe storm/tornado damage, etc. If they declare that they can get supplies without having to take bids (our county agency had to do that too for certain things) or be eligible for funding. Our governor got asked at the press conference about some criticism that's he's being too aggressive. I think, go for it! If it keeps it from spreading as much as possible, then do what needs to be done.

There's one bar in a college town near me that was packed and had lines down the sidewalk over the weekend, and is now closed, and green beer day won't be happening - will students panic in the streets?! Nah, they'll probably just have it at the houses they rent off campus! (while they're supposed to be doing their work online). Especially with unseasonably warm weather. They don't start spring break til next week, although schools like my alma mater are closing dorms (making arrangements for students who will be staying) since they're just starting spring break then going online til the end of the semester.


----------



## SquarePeg

I just read a post on Facebook that San Fran and other Bay Area cities are going to issue a shelter in place.  That means not leaving your house for any reason.  Now all the toilet paper and food panic is looking a little less alarmist yes?


----------



## CherylL

Husband's work wants all outside sales to phone customers and not call in person.  A few of his clients are not letting anyone visit.  I am relieved that he won't be out and about.  A letter went out from the resort chain we visit in Mexico.  They are a company out of Spain and have closed all of those resorts with more to follow in other countries.  Mexico is thinking about shutting its borders and not allowing flights into the country.  Our trip is still 2 months out and we will end up rescheduling.  I am waiting a few weeks to see when is a safe time to travel.

My daughters are nurses and I worry about them.  The local daughter said she will shop for us if needed.  We may pick up an extra bag of dog food this week.  Husband may have to do a beer and vodka run.


----------



## SquarePeg

This is eerily like the beginning of every end of civilization movie I’ve seen - you know the part they sort of fast forward through with news clips and video footage where everyone starts to get concerned before getting to the survivors and their fight to stay alive.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Good your hubby can work from home, seems a lot of places are going to that as much as possible.  

What I just saw on the SF Chronicle website says shelter in place except people can go out for essentials like groceries, etc. for the Bay area. They seem to really have it widespread.

Locally I saw a PSA by our Governor giving a phone number and website where people can find info. about what to do. Then flipped over to local late news to catch the weather, and there it was again. Then they went on to football...


----------



## Original katomi

I had two doc,s appointments this week, rung the surgery....they have cancelled the appointments
They were due to ring me today to let me know
Square Peg.
I know what you mean about the films.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Governors' Powers & Authority - National Governors Association
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting, so does the President's declaration of a "national emergency" (I think that was the phrase I heard) give states the right to invoke these powers, or are they solely resident with the State and have they all declared states of emergency (and why don't we declare provinces of emergency?????)?
Click to expand...


States have the right to declare a state of emergency for the state. They don't have to wait for the federal government to declare it for the country. New York declared a state of emergency a day before the feds. Remember that our states were sovereign states when we declared independence from England. The Constitution is a careful balance between federal rights and states rights. There are still powers that reside with the states and other powers that reside with the Federal gov't. Interstate commerce and immigration, for example, are under federal jurisdiction, not state. Also, states cannot make laws that are more restrictive than what the Constitution or SCOTUS case law allows, but they can grant citizens more rights than the feds give.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Also, states cannot make laws that are more restrictive than what the Constitution or SCOTUS case law allows, but they can grant citizens more rights than the feds give.


Interesting.  That seems backward to me, bu t'm hardly a constitutional law expert.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> This is eerily like the beginning of every end of civilization movie I’ve seen - you know the part they sort of fast forward through with news clips and video footage where everyone starts to get concerned before getting to the survivors and their fight to stay alive.



We haven't even confirmed yet that this is NOT the virus that causes the zombie apocalypse.

In other words, I'm working from home for the next two weeks (at least), and we've decided not to go to Maine. Not really because we're not willing to, but more because we don't feel like paying all that money just for the chance to be sequestered in a hotel room instead of our homes. There will be nothing to actually do there.

I was on campus today from about 9 to 2, but from now on, no one is actually allowed on campus. I technically have permission to show up in a 2-hour window to drop of a bunch of recruitment letters that we were going to send out this week, but otherwise, I won't be seeing my office for a while. I brought my plants home. One of them is friggin' Little Shop of Horrors, it's grown so much!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Also, states cannot make laws that are more restrictive than what the Constitution or SCOTUS case law allows, but they can grant citizens more rights than the feds give.
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting.  That seems backward to me, bu t'm hardly a constitutional law expert.
Click to expand...


The Tenth Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

The Bill of Rights enumerates the powers of the federal government. The 10th amendment (the last one in the Bill of Rights) basically says "everything else belongs to the states."


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Now all the toilet paper and food panic is looking a little less alarmist yes?


I blame the internet and e-commerce ... if they hadn't forced the mail order businesses to go under, we'd have plenty of catalogs to use.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now all the toilet paper and food panic is looking a little less alarmist yes?
> 
> 
> 
> I blame the internet and e-commerce ... if they hadn't forced the mail order businesses to go under, we'd have plenty of catalogs to use.
Click to expand...


Why is ordering from a catalogue better than ordering online?


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now all the toilet paper and food panic is looking a little less alarmist yes?
> 
> 
> 
> I blame the internet and e-commerce ... if they hadn't forced the mail order businesses to go under, we'd have plenty of catalogs to use.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Why is ordering from a catalogue better than ordering online?
Click to expand...

Because then... you have catalogues.  Try wiping your butt with your cell phone and let me know that goes!


----------



## Jeff G

Sounds like a good time to curl up with a good book, been a while since I've read "The Stand"


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now all the toilet paper and food panic is looking a little less alarmist yes?
> 
> 
> 
> I blame the internet and e-commerce ... if they hadn't forced the mail order businesses to go under, we'd have plenty of catalogs to use.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Why is ordering from a catalogue better than ordering online?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Because then... you have catalogues.  Try wiping your butt with your cell phone and let me know that goes!
Click to expand...


But then you kill all those trees.  Try breathing when there are no more trees and let me  know how_ that _goes.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> [But then you kill all those trees.  Try breathing when there are no more trees and let me  know how_ that _goes.


Well... that was meant tongue in cheek, but if you want to play serious, I would submit that the pollution and waste caused by the tech industries far outweigh the benefits of not producing mail-order catalogues...


----------



## vintagesnaps

_That's_ what else people used to use in outhouses down on the farm! corncobs and Sears catalogs, I knew there was something...


----------



## vintagesnaps

And how does chocolate Guiness beer bundt cake sound? Yeah, I thought so too! Also ordered Irish soda bread, both from an area sort-of gourmet store (not all that gourmet but have a yummy deli and bakery). The internet can be a wonderful thing.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, well I hear you talking about alternative toilet paper. We will be ok we get so much junk mail, bumf,
Or as used to be the squares of paper that were threaded on string and hung up in the out house.
But I don’t know if this will translate out of the uk so..
As I tell my g kids it could be worse you could have to use that hard tracing like toilet paper think it was called Izal


----------



## Original katomi

Just replied to another post, so going to ask question here.
How many of you are affected or will be affected by the restrictions on movement or restrictions on gatherings
With regard to your photography pro, or hobby.
Have you had to find new locations, cancel events or change the sort of photography you do.


----------



## Fujidave

Original katomi said:


> Just replied to another post, so going to ask question here.
> How many of you are affected or will be affected by the restrictions on movement or restrictions on gatherings
> With regard to your photography pro, or hobby.
> Have you had to find new locations, cancel events or change the sort of photography you do.




As I have COPD and Asthma I have been staying in a lot, this Saturday will be the last time I go out for 12 weeks as I really have to be careful as it is now a Life and Death choice for me.


----------



## Original katomi

Dave hi,  do what you can to keep well


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Now all the toilet paper and food panic is looking a little less alarmist yes?
> 
> 
> 
> I blame the internet and e-commerce ... if they hadn't forced the mail order businesses to go under, we'd have plenty of catalogs to use.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Why is ordering from a catalogue better than ordering online?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Because then... you have catalogues.  Try wiping your butt with your cell phone and let me know that goes!
Click to expand...

I don’t know... those glossy pages might make it worse...


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Just replied to another post, so going to ask question here.
> How many of you are affected or will be affected by the restrictions on movement or restrictions on gatherings
> With regard to your photography pro, or hobby.
> Have you had to find new locations, cancel events or change the sort of photography you do.



I have backed out of a few meetups with my local group and have attended one - because it was outdoors in a very open space and only 5 others attending.  I am thinking of another solo milky way shoot tomorrow night as weather and the moon rise/set look to be cooperating with the galactic core visibility window.  Hoping to get in at least one more try before they impose some type of curfew or shelter in place here in MA.  If I wait until the new moon on the 24th it might be too late.  

This is the first spring in many years that I wasn’t going to be coaching a softball team or having to run all over attending my daughters high school games. I was looking forward to hitting all my spring bucket list shots in New England but now I may be either reduced to locations that don’t require an overnight stay or possibly tabletop macro if there is a restriction on going out.


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> Just replied to another post, so going to ask question here.
> How many of you are affected or will be affected by the restrictions on movement or restrictions on gatherings
> With regard to your photography pro, or hobby.
> Have you had to find new locations, cancel events or change the sort of photography you do.



My book club decided to cancel this month.

Otherwise, in terms of hobbies or activities outside of work, it affects me exactly zero. I wasn't joking when I said I've been practicing social distancing for a very long time. Events with over 50 people? That's usually a big fat nope for me. So there's really no big change for me.


----------



## waday

Original katomi said:


> Just replied to another post, so going to ask question here.
> How many of you are affected or will be affected by the restrictions on movement or restrictions on gatherings
> With regard to your photography pro, or hobby.
> Have you had to find new locations, cancel events or change the sort of photography you do.


I’m minimally impacted. Like Leo, I tend to avoid large gatherings (and really all gatherings lol), and I actually already work from home. It did cancel a conference that I didn’t want to go to, so that’s a positive! However, my daughter is now home from daycare and my wife is home from work (she is able to work from home, as well).

Regarding hobbies, it doesn’t impact me whatsoever. I never really did meetups (see the aforementioned avoidance of gatherings), and the photography group near me is too inconvenient to go to their meetings (time and location both). Plus, I have like 3 Harry Potter books to finish, so I’m set for another 2 months at least lol.


----------



## Original katomi

its Nice to know that most of you are going to be ok, SquarePeg I hope that do get your evening shoot in.  Photography wise I will see minimal effect as well, because of illness I have been doing indoor or sat in the back garden photos. I tried to do a indoor shoot last night. I gave up after our cat Tinka started climbing up the back drop paper and batting 7 bells out of the stand because it was in the way lol
Chat to you all agin later.


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> Just replied to another post, so going to ask question here.
> How many of you are affected or will be affected by the restrictions on movement or restrictions on gatherings
> With regard to your photography pro, or hobby.
> Have you had to find new locations, cancel events or change the sort of photography you do.


It's not going to affect me as far as photography.   When I go to shoot, it's locally, and I'm not working with models or clients who I would now want to avoid.   My photography has always involved social distancing.  

In general, all my outdoor activities - hiking, leisure walking or riding my bike - don't involve other people, which is likely why they ARE my outdoor activities.


----------



## terri

@SquarePeg :   What do you think about the REAL breaking news of the day - Tom Brady is leaving the NE Patriots?


----------



## NancyMoranG

We are living in an RV full time. Arrived Las Vegas yesterday into a campground for 2 weeks. (Part of our free campgrounds nationwide)

We are here as part of our northward trek to Grand Tetons National Park, where we are supposed to have summer jobs.
Looks like we may be on hold for that job, as they are figuring out what to do..
May go out 1 night to photo deserted streets without touching anything..


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> @SquarePeg :   What do you think about the REAL breaking news of the day - Tom Brady is leaving the NE Patriots?



the horror!  Will miss him and his steady leadership of the team but if he wants to continue to be QB1 and the Pats want to go in another direction then I wish him the best.  Will be sad to see him in another uniform but that seems to be how it goes these days - Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre...



NancyMoranG said:


> We are living in an RV full time. Arrived Las Vegas yesterday into a campground for 2 weeks. (Part of our free campgrounds nationwide)
> 
> We are here as part of our northward trek to Grand Tetons National Park, where we are supposed to have summer jobs.
> Looks like we may be on hold for that job, as they are figuring out what to do..
> May go out 1 night to photo deserted streets without touching anything..



Hoping the parks stay open - not sure why they would close them unless the country moves to a stricter shelter in place type of mandate.   Strange times ahead.


----------



## NancyMoranG

We hope they stay open also. As we thought about it, there is an 'employee chain' to having the parks open too. 
Even if you close Visitor Centers, do you leave rest rooms open? Need employee to clean. Employee has to eat, live at Park. 
Park open, need Rangers, vehicle needs gas station, maintenance...
No collection booths? 
Do people run rampant as some did during Gov't shutdown?

Simplistic thoughts. I would LOVE to be in the near vacant park this summer!!


----------



## SquarePeg

When the couch is just not comfy enough...


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> We are living in an RV full time. Arrived Las Vegas yesterday into a campground for 2 weeks. (Part of our free campgrounds nationwide)
> 
> We are here as part of our northward trek to Grand Tetons National Park, where we are supposed to have summer jobs.
> Looks like we may be on hold for that job, as they are figuring out what to do..
> May go out 1 night to photo deserted streets without touching anything..



Not sure if you’ve seen this:  Traveler's View: The National Park Service's Battle With Politics And Common Sense


----------



## Tony744

Was planning on doing some photography workshops...those will be put on hold for the time being. Outside of that it shouldn't affect me much unless they issue a shelter in place order. I spend most of my free time out in the woods, away from people.


----------



## Fujidave

This panic buying is just totally stupid, why can`t people think about others... OH sorry they can`t they are thick and stupid.


----------



## Jeff15

I hope the dick heads who panic buy get the virus first........


----------



## RowdyRay

Jeff15 said:


> I hope the dick heads who panic buy get the virus first........



That's what I've been saying. Karma can be a.........bleep. 

Just remember, if you do run out of TP, social distancing won't be a problem. Lol.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all.


----------



## Jeff15

I have no problem with social distancing, when I go out with my camera people are a nuisance I avoid them anyway......


----------



## tirediron

Social distancing just allows me to justify my normal lifestyle.


----------



## Original katomi

Interesting replies from everyone. I am having a coffee break in a mo I will go and pack up my camera kit.
I tried a photo project last night.... big flop. Lol I guess I was over reaching trying to do portraits in our front room
ESP with a cat that likes to try and climb the backdrop. Oh well it was entertaining as well as a learning curve


----------



## NancyMoranG

Thanks SquarePeg, I had not seen that article. Good stuff.


----------



## terri

Jeff15 said:


> I hope the dick heads who panic buy get the virus first........


Wrong attitude.   They're simply having a typical knee-jerk reaction to circumstances that are suddenly out of their control.   The panicked part just wants some sense of control in their lives, so they're doing something silly.   Once they see the delivery trucks keep showing up with paper products, as well as fresh produce, for a few weeks, this kind of behavior will hopefully calm down.  

I get the attitude - I live in a small town with one grocery chain store and a WalMart - each of them picked clean.   But they are getting restocked, so I'm trying not to get too aggravated.  

I've told my husband that this small town is two missed delivery trucks away from going all The Monsters are Due on Maple Street.    Funny/not funny.


----------



## SquarePeg

Not everyone will get this but...


----------



## Original katomi

No don’t get it
UK schools to close, here a group has formed to help those staying in doors.
BBC are to stop filming.  Eastenders and others Whilst not affected I can see a lot of peeps having withdrawals symptoms because there are no tv soap programmes


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> No don’t get it
> UK schools to close, here a group has formed to help those staying in doors.
> BBC are to stop filming.  Eastenders and others Whilst not affected I can see a lot of peeps having withdrawals symptoms because there are no tv soap programmes



I've gone through East Enders withdrawal. It ain't pretty.


----------



## waday

If anyone wants a feel good show (aside from Repair Shop), the Detectorists is great.

@SquarePeg, I get it, and it hurts. I hated that guy, and frankly, his demise wasn't nearly as bad as he deserved. But, good folks never torture bad folks, eh?


----------



## CherylL

Too bad the parks are closing, but understand.  The local Nature Preserve closed and was our favorite hiking path.  There is a private lane behind us and I'll walk that to get some exercise, but nothing to photograph. My daughter did find us milk today in Missouri.  She dropped off surprise flowers too.  I can see stocking up for a 2 week period and hopefully when this is over the hoarders will donate their excess to the local food pantry.  My husband had to run to Home Depot for a part to our grill and one of the workers said they sold freezers like hot cakes last week.


----------



## Jeff15

terri said:


> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hope the dick heads who panic buy get the virus first........
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong attitude.   They're simply having a typical knee-jerk reaction to circumstances that are suddenly out of their control.   The panicked part just wants some sense of control in their lives, so they're doing something silly.   Once they see the delivery trucks keep showing up with paper products, as well as fresh produce, for a few weeks, this kind of behavior will hopefully calm down.
> 
> I get the attitude - I live in a small town with one grocery chain store and a WalMart - each of them picked clean.   But they are getting restocked, so I'm trying not to get too aggravated.
> 
> I've told my husband that this small town is two missed delivery trucks away from going all The Monsters are Due on Maple Street.    Funny/not funny.
Click to expand...


No its not the wrong attitude, they are selfish Dick Heads....


----------



## SquarePeg

Yellowstone to modify operations to implement latest COVID-19 health guidance | East Idaho News


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, got in some last moment shopping, no not toilet paper. There were gaps on the shelves but not to bad.
Finally managed to master the modern technology....well sort of.
My kids were trying to get me to have, what’s up doc.... no that’s not right what’s something or the other a video call thingie. 
At last I have it on my phone and working and gave the kids a call....
No reply, no reply.... getting worried so use the land line. Answer straight away, they did not answer the mb, because even though it said my number..... “but you don’t use Mbl to call and you don’t have video calling.”


----------



## terri

Jeff15 said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hope the dick heads who panic buy get the virus first........
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong attitude.   They're simply having a typical knee-jerk reaction to circumstances that are suddenly out of their control.   The panicked part just wants some sense of control in their lives, so they're doing something silly.   Once they see the delivery trucks keep showing up with paper products, as well as fresh produce, for a few weeks, this kind of behavior will hopefully calm down.
> 
> I get the attitude - I live in a small town with one grocery chain store and a WalMart - each of them picked clean.   But they are getting restocked, so I'm trying not to get too aggravated.
> 
> I've told my husband that this small town is two missed delivery trucks away from going all The Monsters are Due on Maple Street.    Funny/not funny.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No its not the wrong attitude, they are selfish Dick Heads....
Click to expand...

Calling them selfish dickheads is one thing - especially when they're acting like selfish dickheads, hoarding supplies and such. 

You took it to a different level, and a dangerous one IMO, by wishing them physical harm.  You lose your moral authority with those words. 

These are frustrating times, scary even, but try a little patience.  You're only increasing your own stress level.


----------



## Derrel

WhatsApp,perhaps.


----------



## waday

terri said:


> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hope the dick heads who panic buy get the virus first........
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong attitude.   They're simply having a typical knee-jerk reaction to circumstances that are suddenly out of their control.   The panicked part just wants some sense of control in their lives, so they're doing something silly.   Once they see the delivery trucks keep showing up with paper products, as well as fresh produce, for a few weeks, this kind of behavior will hopefully calm down.
> 
> I get the attitude - I live in a small town with one grocery chain store and a WalMart - each of them picked clean.   But they are getting restocked, so I'm trying not to get too aggravated.
> 
> I've told my husband that this small town is two missed delivery trucks away from going all The Monsters are Due on Maple Street.    Funny/not funny.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No its not the wrong attitude, they are selfish Dick Heads....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Calling them selfish dickheads is one thing - especially when they're acting like selfish dickheads, hoarding supplies and such.
> 
> You took it to a different level, and a dangerous one IMO, by wishing them physical harm.  You lose your moral authority with those words.
> 
> These are frustrating times, scary even, but try a little patience.  You're only increasing your own stress level.
Click to expand...

People are just scared. They have no idea what’s happening and no one has experience with this. It leads to fear of the unknown. I don’t think they’re hoarding or being mean on purpose, I think they’re just scared and need to find some way to cope with the situation. And that means buying up all of whatever it is that gives them a sense of normalcy. (I’m not saying they should do it, I’m trying to find a reason why—get into someone else’s shoes.)

Now, the guys who went out and purposefully bought up all the supplies of hand sanitizer and then tried to corner the market and sell them at a huge profit, they’re actual arseholes. But, even they got their justice, as they were pretty much forced to give away all of their hand sanitizer for free once the TN attorney general started looking into the situation.


----------



## Jeff G

Our city is officially shut down except for essential services. Fortunately my wife and I both have jobs currently in that category. Never thought I would have to be worried about being locked out of work for a few weeks. But who knows what's next.  Been a strange month so far.


----------



## Jeff15

They have no idea what’s happening and no one has experience with this. It leads to fear of the unknown. I don’t think they’re hoarding or being mean on purpose, I think they’re just scared and need to find some way to cope with the situation.

They are just thick


----------



## stapo49

Australia is banning all travel by foreign nationals to Australia from tomorrow night, 20th.
All the cases so far have been brought in from overseas.  You folks can come visit next year


----------



## Jeff15

I have been lucky enough to have been to Australia twice, its a pity it's so far away......


----------



## Tony744

I've only been to Australia once, unfortunately it was when I was in the Navy...most of the visit is a blur.


----------



## Jeff15

IF THE PAST WEEK HAS TAUGHT US ANYTHING IT'S THAT STUPIDITY SPREADS FASTER THAN ANY VIRUS EVER COULD


----------



## Original katomi

People are scared, this virus is something that is beyond their control.


----------



## Original katomi

Just a thought..
I wonder just how many people are joining forums, chat sites because they are stuck at home. I have not seen a vast jump here, any thoughts folks


----------



## Jeff15

People are scared, this virus is something that is beyond their control

Stupidity is within everyone's control.....


----------



## SquarePeg

Jeff15 said:


> People are scared, this virus is something that is beyond their control
> 
> Stupidity is within everyone's control.....



Obviously not.


----------



## Jeff15

I am going to say no more on this subject because it makes me angry even thinking about the selfish idiots....


----------



## Fujidave

Well I managed to get Susie to the groom room to have her nails clipped, then I walked round to Mums as she could not do a shop so I said leave it with me.
I went to her small local Tesco that was packed, so using my head I managed to get everything on her list and she was gobsmacked.  I told her what I did as it had to be done and this is how,  I put my hand over my mouth and did a great few loud chesty coughs and it got folk out of my way, plus I got some toilet rolls too.  If folk are going to panic buy, then I will do what I have to to get some food for Mum.


----------



## Fujidave

I then asked Susie for a pic but she said, no as she is self isolating 




Yes Daddy Iam Self Isolating by Dave, on Flickr


----------



## waday

I read a really interesting article early last week, when everyone started to clean shelves at the stores.

The article helped put this whole thing into perspective, for me anyways. People are scared because the virus is new. Compare it to the flu (not that it’s the same, I know): everyone has either had the flu or knows someone that has had it. They are familiar with the symptoms, they know how to avoid it, and they know how to treat it.

With COVID-19, people are scared because we hear doom and alarmist reports all over the news and... the majority of people don’t know anyone who’s had it, so they can’t relate.

Turn on the news, and they’re reporting on it constantly. People sit in front of their TV and just bask in this constant barrage of fear. We need to turn the news off every now and then to mentally regroup. At least I know I need to. I know I hear about how many people have it and how many died, but what about the number of people that have persevered? Where’s that number and why isn’t it being reported?

I’d posit that everyone is a bit scared of this thing, and that all of our reactions during this time, whether it’s panic hoarding of toilet paper or name calling of those panic shoppers, are solely to help soothe our own fears.


----------



## terri

Jeff15 said:


> They have no idea what’s happening and no one has experience with this. It leads to fear of the unknown. I don’t think they’re hoarding or being mean on purpose, I think they’re just scared and need to find some way to cope with the situation.


  Yes - this is the more intuitive and rational response, and will help you keep your head level as you and your family deal with this.



Jeff15 said:


> IF THE PAST WEEK HAS TAUGHT US ANYTHING IT'S THAT STUPIDITY SPREADS FASTER THAN ANY VIRUS EVER COULD


 No - this all caps, name-calling kind of response speaks more to your own fears, and is not going to help your family at all.  

Stick to the first of your line of thinking, and share it with others.   Compassion and calm will help us all get through this.   It, too, is a form of taking control.


----------



## JonA_CT

Hey hosers -- glad to see things are calm around here 

I hope you are all safe and healthy. I'm not working again until who knows when -- probably when the Commissioner of Education figures out how to allow schools to transition to distance learning. My wife is already doing some. I'm super fortunate because my income is not tied to this crisis whatsoever. My contract will continue to be honored with both pay and benefits, so we're working to help out others who don't have the same luxuries by buying groceries (and booze) for our friends and family who aren't so lucky.

The brewery business is a bit tougher. We were lucky that it all dropped when it did -- we were getting ready to make a large capital expenditure for new, larger equipment, but had been arguing over what exactly to buy so we hadn't put down a deposit yet. That cash is going to be useful since we can only sell to-go beer. In house pours were maybe 40% of our business, but we shouldn't have to dip into our savings that much. We're also lucky that all but two of our employees have other full-time jobs, and are being gracious to give all of our shifts to the employees who rely on our income to pay their bills. 

My mom is having the hardest time with all of this. She'll be 70 in the fall, and has been in the hospital twice in the last year with serious respiratory infections. My family is doing our best to keep her home, but she's awfully crotchety about it. (or is that but so different from normal? haha)


Anyways, I hope you all continue to have good health and fortune!


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> Hey hosers -- glad to see things are calm around here
> 
> I hope you are all safe and healthy. I'm not working again until who knows when -- probably when the Commissioner of Education figures out how to allow schools to transition to distance learning. My wife is already doing some. I'm super fortunate because my income is not tied to this crisis whatsoever. My contract will continue to be honored with both pay and benefits, so we're working to help out others who don't have the same luxuries by buying groceries (and booze) for our friends and family who aren't so lucky.
> 
> The brewery business is a bit tougher. We were lucky that it all dropped when it did -- we were getting ready to make a large capital expenditure for new, larger equipment, but had been arguing over what exactly to buy so we hadn't put down a deposit yet. That cash is going to be useful since we can only sell to-go beer. In house pours were maybe 40% of our business, but we shouldn't have to dip into our savings that much. We're also lucky that all but two of our employees have other full-time jobs, and are being gracious to give all of our shifts to the employees who rely on our income to pay their bills.
> 
> My mom is having the hardest time with all of this. She'll be 70 in the fall, and has been in the hospital twice in the last year with serious respiratory infections. My family is doing our best to keep her home, but she's awfully crotchety about it. (or is that but so different from normal? haha)
> 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you all continue to have good health and fortune!



So good to hear from you!  Glad you and you’re family are ok.  My mom is also struggling with the social distancing.  

She’s a very healthy and active 78.  She works 3/5 days week to “keep busy” and that’s her social time.  I was glad they closed the catering business she works for as she would not have voluntarily stayed home.  She’s miserable.  Trying to keep her busy and entertained is more work than keeping my teenager on track with studying and away from her friends.  

I hope you’re taking advantage of this family time to spend quality time with your kids while they’re young.  Maybe some good things can come out of this.


----------



## snowbear

Hey Jon, good to hear from you.

And I came back to the office today.  Finished up one project, or at least the working draft, then got sent to the ops center.  They needed one map, which is done, so now I’m plain bored.  Hoping they’ll release me real soon.  I could have made this at the office, and can certainly update it from there.


----------



## terri

Great to hear from you, Jon!   Glad to hear you and the fam will be doing okay - and it's definitely good news about the brewery.  

I talked to my mom today, too - she lives alone and I've been concerned about her getting out and about for groceries, etc.   Turns out her next door neighbor has been encouraging her to buy online through her own Amazon account, so she finally did.   She won't have to pay shipping, and they'll be getting their groceries and other whatnot from Whole Foods delivered to the door by Amazon.   I don't think much of Amazon for a variety of reasons, but in this instance, they are providing a real service during a time when people _should_ be staying home - so I'm grateful.

In other news - Happy 1st Day of Spring, hosers!         Yes, it's Spring.   Mother Nature prevails.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all,  just got back from shops the shelves are empty even cat and dog food is rationed


----------



## terri

Gracious.   Sorry to hear that.   Hopefully, you hit the store at a better time soon, and get more. 

We actually have had better luck recently.  We know what days the delivery trucks come, and went in earlier than usual.   Aside from no red potatoes and, oddly, no ginger root for a pot of soup, we got everything on the list - even toilet paper.       My cats get their chow from the vet, and we're stocked up on that, as well. 

We're trying not to feel too crazy during all of this.    I'm actually glad that Spring has begun, because outside chores are actually comforting in their normalcy.   

Stay safe, and happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## SquarePeg

When you find a post you typed in yesterday but never hit send and are too lazy to update it to be relevant to today’s conversation...


----------



## SquarePeg

Crazy busy day today after working very late last night.  Lots of covid related urgent business from our customers who support hospitals and government agencies that are shoring up their communication networks in anticipation of the coming tide of patients.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Crazy busy day today after working very late last night.  Lots of covid related urgent business from our customers who support hospitals and government agencies that are shoring up their communication networks in anticipation of the coming tide of patients.


Ugh.  I feel for them.  They have every reason to be concerned.   At this stage, we're still chasing our tails, I'm afraid.   Can't know what to expect until we get the numbers; can't get the numbers until we get the tests.  They're trying to prepare for an onslaught of patients while watching the numbers rise, and I don't see how much louder they can yell about needing more PPE for our testers, doctors and nurses.   Maddening to watch.


----------



## snowbear

We were notified that essential personnel are on telecommute next week, while non-essential folks are going to be on administrative leave.  The local situation will be re-evaluated at the end of the week, and updated as needed.  As  contractor, I am not eligible for admin leave, but the GIS boss has authority to have us work as he needs, so I and my co-contractor have been deemed essential (so we get paid).

This evening MLW gets a phone call from one of the Deputy Chiefs: someone that has been working in the Ops Center with her has been sneezing and came down with a 102* temp.  We are now both on self-monitor for the next couple of days until the person's results come in.

As of yesterday, we were going to run up to Maine on Thursday to collect lazy_lobster - the school is going full remote and they need to vacate the dorm  by 3/30.  Now, we will wait and see.  Worst case, we'll get everything moved to storage (up there), and fly them home. Maybe they can stay at MLW's sister's place for a couple weeks.

In the meantime, I brought one of the 32" curved monitors home.


----------



## Jeff G

One of our local hospital looks like they are doing prescreening out front before anyone is aloud in, they have a big mash tent set up that I didn't  notice yesterday. We do signs and printing for another hospital in the area and they have been very busy with all the updates and revisions. I can't  imagine the chaos inside right now.

My mom and dad both had colds last week (not the Corona virus) they have been having their kitchen remodeled, and the workers leave all the doors open in the cold while they are working. My mom is very susceptible to bronchitis and pneumonia so I am glad she seems to be getting over it quickly. The boss at work is getting nervous, we are good for a while but I think next week he's  going to ask for volunteers to take time off. Fortunately I am necessary at the moment, just hope things don't  slow down for too long.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Looks like my class is going to be online until the rest of the semester. I don't think it's quite official yet, but it sure does seem that way. As for the campus re-opening, we still haven't heard anything, but I have a feeling we won't be back on March 30th, which is the current plan.

I am super super fortunate: I have a job that I can do at home, I am not really in a higher-risk population, and I have the house to myself, just me and the kitties (which is a huge positive for a hardcore introvert homebody!) My 83-year-old mother is with my brother in NC so she's away from the worst of it here in NY, where we have by far the most cases of any other state. Almost 7,500 statewide. As of tonight, there are 1,000+ cases in Westchester County. I live in the next county but I'm very close to the line and my campus is in Westchester. 

I haven't been checking the news obsessively, but I do check this site once or twice a day: Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count

Even though I'm not panicking and am in a good position right now, I'm still not leaving the house except to see Buzz or do occasional, quick trips to the grocery store. And I wash my hands when I get home and wipe down my groceries and bags.


----------



## Original katomi

Snow bear,
 Hope you are both ok. It’s a worry for you.
I had to go to our local hospital to pick up a a replacement part for my sleep apnoea machine ... watching the news later and there had been two deaths there.


----------



## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> Snow bear,
> Hope you are both ok. It’s a worry for you.
> I had to go to our local hospital to pick up a a replacement part for my sleep apnoea machine ... watching the news later and there had been two deaths there.


Thanks.  MLW is at a much greater risk.  We're tracking our temperatures and staying home.

It hit somewhere around 80° F yesterday, but cooled down a bit by the time we got home.  It's 49° now and raining; window and patio door are open.


----------



## Original katomi

You are a bit far for me to drop supplies in but I can wish you both well and hope you are ok.


----------



## SquarePeg

On call all weekend!  I very rarely get asked to cover weekends or holidays but our work is essential to the communication network and there is a huge increase in call and data volume with everyone working from home.  Next week will be even worse.  I am tied to my desk waiting for others to finish their work so I can move things along.


----------



## compur




----------



## Original katomi

Lol


----------



## NancyMoranG

That's funny !


----------



## vintagesnaps

SharonCat - "On call all weekend!" - blech. I guess the good thing is still being working as I've known people to say.

My best friend is now working from home and when she has a day off this week (for working a Sat.) she's going to pick up a small grocery order for me and drop it off and do the Mel Brooks thing. (If you look for it you'll probably find it!)

There's a church in the area that's having services tomorrow at a drive in movie theater! People will need to stay in their cars, and the restrooms/concessions will be closed. No popcorn in church!

NESN is tossing me a bone replaying a Beanpot from '90. I didn't get Center Ice or any sort of sports package that long ago, much less NESN. The players sure wore less/thinner padding then. This game is 5-0 BU over Harvard in the 2nd and I'm going, this game is over. Isn't it...??

edit - As soon as I said that, Harvard scored, so maybe this is goiong to get inteesting yet!


----------



## stapo49

They have decided to start the Australian Football League (AFL) season minus any spectators. It's bizarre to see the two teams playing with no one in the stadium.


----------



## dxqcanada

Now this has justified paying for my Amazon Prime subscription.


----------



## stapo49

AFL pre-corona.






Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## Jeff15

It's all getting so serious that all you can do is just have an extra beer, I am social distancing and not going out unless I know I will be on my own. What more can I do.


----------



## Original katomi

Hiya all hope you are all ok


----------



## smoke665

Day 9 of our self imposed shelter in place. Except for a quick trip on Monday with limited exposure we haven't been out. DW is at the lowest level of immune system for the month, as she finishes up her Chemo round for the month. Really hasn't been that bad, as we've played this game all winter because of the severity of the flu in our area, but the days do start to take a toll on you. I remembered this from another time when we were going through a month long hospital quarantine preceding and following a stem cell transplant. Still appropriate, and at least we're both together this time. The title is "Waiting".


----------



## dxqcanada

Time to power up that Nintendo Wii that's been sitting in the closet for the past decade.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Next thing you know people will getting out their old Ataris and be playing Pong. That's why we have basements people!

SMOKE!!! I meant to post the other day, I'm backtracking, I'm so glad you're on here. Now, we need to get Gary back on here, 'moms' worry. Whatever happened let's all move forward, we're all in this same leaky boat together. Stick around, Smoke.

Our state just went to just stay at home - can't think what it's called... Our state has daily press conferences and the other day when the Governor was asked about shelter in place (that's what it is!) he said that was pretty much what we were already doing... games and events cancelled, places like bowling alleys, hair salons, etc. closed. Restaurants and shops can do online orders and carry out/curbside. 

I'm going to do an online quilt-along, and they said earlier they had like 10 thousand quilters participating! yowza. I don't know how much I'll actually do, I may eat popcorn and watch the videos! I'll actually probably do one block and work it into a project I'm starting.


----------



## vintagesnaps

As I backtrack, Jon!! nice to see you, glad you and your family are OK. Some schools here have gone online, some haven't, but the district where I live is working on getting homework packets out, etc. 

Is your brewery going to make hand sanitizer?? Not the preferred use of the equipment but whatever it takes.


----------



## CherylL

dxqcanada said:


> Time to power up that Nintendo Wii that's been sitting in the closet for the past decade.



I may have to hook up the 20 yo nintendo and play Banjo Kazooie


----------



## CherylL

We are shelter in place.  Husband has been working from home the past week.  We did some inside spring cleaning yesterday.  Hoping the weather gets better to get outside and work in the yard.  We have plenty of food for us and the pups.  I am worried about my 2 daughters that are nurses and SIL is a cop.


----------



## Original katomi

Smoke, hiya nice to see you here. Hope your wife is ok,


----------



## vintagesnaps

I forget what we're under, it was called something different, like I told you people what to do and some of you didn't want to listen! lol Kind of like being a teacher. I figured the press conference was about over when the governor said to one of the reporters something about what he had on YouTube using a hair dryer to blow tissue paper for his kids to catch.

edit - Ours is a Stay at Home order. About the same as it's been, just gives them the abiity to enforce. Like the local bar that didn't just continue dine-in (drink-in??) but decided to have a big buffet and party; they got shut down and boarded up. Guess that got the message across.


----------



## dxqcanada

Helpful Tip ... when you take your Wii out of the closet, use vinegar or lemon juice to clean off the corrosion from the 10 year old leaking battery that you forgot to remove.


----------



## stapo49

All states in Australia are now locked down so only essential travel is allowed. I imagine essential travel would include interstate freight that sort of thing. Also all bars, gyms and restaurants are closed, only allowing take away/delivery. They may close beaches as well.


----------



## Jeff G

On the bright side, traffic has been awesome!


----------



## SquarePeg

So...on call all weekend turned into working Sat 8-8 and 7-7 today.  I did sneak in a quick walk with the dogs this afternoon but it was freezing.  Canceled my Milky Way plans last night was too tired to do a 2am 3 hour Milky Way run to Maine.  Next weekend I hope.  Assuming still ok to move about and not working...


----------



## CherylL

stapo49 said:


> All states in Australia are now locked down so only essential travel is allowed. I imagine essential travel would include interstate freight that sort of thing. Also all bars, gyms and restaurants are closed, only allowing take away/delivery. They may close beaches as well.



Same here in Illinois except no beach.  I plan on using a delivery service for groceries.  The local produce market opened for the season last week.  They are taking orders and will deliver free of charge.  Hopefully they will get a bread and milk supplier.  Their FB page said they had a cannolis supplier.  An odd mix.


----------



## compur

This is my bread and milk supplier:


----------



## Original katomi

Hiya all
Went out in the back garden to do some star photography, apart from being cold it was really weird
Normally we see planes flying over coming and going there will be a group of them enough that I have to normally shoot in between the groups of planes.... last night nothing  not one plane
Sign of the times


----------



## Jeff15

Been out to the forest today just me in the car only saw one other vehicle while there and had no interaction with anyone.


----------



## Original katomi

Some days you make really stupid mistakes
Today is such a day, I have been out in the garden trying to photograph sea gulls, going well up to dropping lens cap.
Ok here is the pic I have the camera around my neck on a long strap my inner voice said take camera off and put it down safe  indoors....
No I had to bend down to get cap, camera swung down and canon 70 200 l series clipped the ground.
Awllllll bad word more bad words........
End result I was one lucky daft fool, just the UV filter marked/dinked/ scratched
Tried cleaning filter no good leaves a dust like mark on the pics..... had been the front element.....
Going to cost new filter, better say a thank you to the god that looks after idiot photographers


----------



## Original katomi

Well that’s the damage, a new filter will have to wait.


----------



## Original katomi

Had just thrown some bread up moments before, then the frenzy started 
The pics 1&4 before I marked filter pics 2&3 after I can see the mark in the images. Ok could clone it out but....


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Some days you make really stupid mistakes
> Today is such a day, I have been out in the garden trying to photograph sea gulls, going well up to dropping lens cap.
> Ok here is the pic I have the camera around my neck on a long strap my inner voice said take camera off and put it down safe  indoors....
> No I had to bend down to get cap, camera swung down and canon 70 200 l series clipped the ground.
> Awllllll bad word more bad words........
> End result I was one lucky daft fool, just the UV filter marked/dinked/ scratched
> Tried cleaning filter no good leaves a dust like mark on the pics..... had been the front element.....
> Going to cost new filter, better say a thank you to the god that looks after idiot photographers



my understanding is that front elements are much more ding and scratch resistant than uv filters.  Was your lens hood on?  That’s your best protector IMO.  Those things bounce.


----------



## dxqcanada

Yup, dropped my camera in a similar fashion ... tying shoe lace ... and my lens bounced off large gravel but hit the lens hood first.


----------



## snowbear

Take some similar shots without filter and compare ... you might find the quality is a little better without it.


----------



## snowbear

No known results from the person with the fever.  We've been consistently in the upper 97 degree range.

MLW bought a landline phone in order to use the new all-in-one printer/scanner as a fax so she can send papers back to the office.  Best Buy will bring it out to us (we just missed closing by about 20 minutes.)  I picked one with two handsets - one wireless and one corded to the base, so it's still usable in a power outage (and the cell batteries die).

Lazy_lobster was able to get an extension on the apartment/dorm (urban college without real dorms so they lease apartments for the students) until the end of the semester, but he does have to move to the other building; we've hired a moving company to do it, so we don't need to do that trip until May, at least.

I got Zoe a catnip carrot because, well, she's my baby.




__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=262062434790808


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m beat.  Worked about 12 hours each of the past 5 days.  Is it really Monday if I didn’t get a weekend?  I shouldn’t complain though, happy to have work during this time.  Only slightly jealous of those getting to paint their laundry closets and clean out garages...


----------



## Jeff G

Charlie, Zoe has the same exact build as our daughter, had to look twice at first.


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> No known results from the person with the fever.  We've been consistently in the upper 97 degree range.
> 
> MLW bought a landline phone in order to use the new all-in-one printer/scanner as a fax so she can send papers back to the office.  Best Buy will bring it out to us (we just missed closing by about 20 minutes.)  I picked one with two handsets - one wireless and one corded to the base, so it's still usable in a power outage (and the cell batteries die).
> 
> Lazy_lobster was able to get an extension on the apartment/dorm (urban college without real dorms so they lease apartments for the students) until the end of the semester, but he does have to move to the other building; we've hired a moving company to do it, so we don't need to do that trip until May, at least.
> 
> I got Zoe a catnip carrot because, well, she's my baby.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=262062434790808



Ahhhh kitty cap nip video so adorable.  Thanks for the smile today


----------



## Original katomi

Can’t quite see from the pic, with cat nip is your cat a licker or does it give the cat nip the killer treatment


----------



## snowbear

Jeff G said:


> Charlie, Zoe has the same exact build as our daughter, had to look twice at first.View attachment 188820


She does.  The markings are a bit different, but she's a cutie, too.  By the way, Calico is the Maryland State Cat.



Original katomi said:


> Can’t quite see from the pic, with cat nip is your cat a licker or does it give the cat nip the killer treatment


A little of both, it seems.  She has only recently shown any real interest in nip.  There were two "dynamite" toys that she has ignored forever, then torn both apart in the past couple of weeks.

She'll kick the toy with her back feet, then she'll lay on it for a bit, then start over again.  I give the carrot two weeks, at the most.



CherylL said:


> Ahhhh kitty cap nip video so adorable.  Thanks for the smile today


You're welcome.


----------



## Jeff G

Lol! Autumn, our calico is a kicker and a head shaker, but she will give you a bath as long as you will let her.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Jeff G said:
> 
> 
> 
> Charlie, Zoe has the same exact build as our daughter, had to look twice at first.View attachment 188820
> 
> 
> 
> She does.  The markings are a bit different, but she's a cutie, too.  By the way, Calico is the Maryland State Cat.
> 
> 
> 
> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Can’t quite see from the pic, with cat nip is your cat a licker or does it give the cat nip the killer treatment
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> A little of both, it seems.  She has only recently shown any real interest in nip.  There were two "dynamite" toys that she has ignored forever, then torn both apart in the past couple of weeks.
> 
> She'll kick the toy with her back feet, then she'll lay on it for a bit, then start over again.  I give the carrot two weeks, at the most.
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ahhhh kitty cap nip video so adorable.  Thanks for the smile today
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You're welcome.
Click to expand...

I loved that video of Zoe having so much fun!      She's gorgeous.   Both my cats love catnip, rubbed on toys or embedded in toys like the carrot.   And they both raise up their back legs like that for a big kicking scratch - my husband calls it "the kangaroo move."    

I agree, that carrot ain't long for the world.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks.

We just say she's using rumpers or rumper feet.


----------



## waday

Before, we didn’t know anyone that had COVID-19... now we do. One of wife’s coworker’s extended family has it. 

And, the father of one of her best friends. Best friend’s dad is in medically induced coma. He was given a 30% chance of surviving yesterday, so they’re really hoping that since he hasn’t gotten worse, he’s over the worst of it.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Before, we didn’t know anyone that had COVID-19... now we do. One of wife’s coworker’s extended family has it.
> 
> And, the father of one of her best friends. Best friend’s dad is in medically induced coma. He was given a 30% chance of surviving yesterday, so they’re really hoping that since he hasn’t gotten worse, he’s over the worst of it.



So sorry to hear that.  I don’t know anyone so far.  We have 3 confirmed cases in our town but names are not out there. They better find a vaccine and a better treatment quickly.


----------



## Jeff G

Wade, was he sick before, or was he hospitalized just from the Covid-19? Sounds like a rough time for the family, hope it all comes out ok.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> Before, we didn’t know anyone that had COVID-19... now we do. One of wife’s coworker’s extended family has it.
> 
> And, the father of one of her best friends. Best friend’s dad is in medically induced coma. He was given a 30% chance of surviving yesterday, so they’re really hoping that since he hasn’t gotten worse, he’s over the worst of it.


Sorry for your wife's co-worker, friend and family.  This is likely to be one of those times when many of us will be touched.   All we can do is take care of ourselves, families, and practice kindness and compassion with each other.


----------



## Original katomi

Sorry to hear about wife’s co worker, friend of mine has just come back on line his kids had it
Edit wed 25,3,2020
Just had e mail from friend, his kids are getting better


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, sitting planning the next photo shoot. 
Hope everyone out there is ... seems silly to ask if you are all ok
Hope everyone is coping the best they can,


----------



## Jeff15

Hopefully, we will see the light at the end of the tunnel by July. I hope we can all stay sane till then......


----------



## snowbear

The virus test result was negative, so I guess I have to go back to the office next week, if it's open.


----------



## tirediron

snowbear said:


> The virus test result was negative, so I guess I have to go back to the office next week, if it's open.


Maybe you should have studied harder?


----------



## snowbear

tirediron said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> The virus test result was negative, so I guess I have to go back to the office next week, if it's open.
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe you should have studied harder?
Click to expand...

Perhaps.


----------



## Jeff G

snowbear said:


> The virus test result was negative, so I guess I have to go back to the office next week, if it's open.



I hate when good news is bundled with bad.


----------



## SquarePeg

A quick iPhone photo from my socially distant walk yesterday after work.  Finally got some time to escape.


----------



## Original katomi

Snow bear, hiya. Mixed news, never fun.


----------



## snowbear

Jeff G said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> The virus test result was negative, so I guess I have to go back to the office next week, if it's open.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hate when good news is bundled with bad.
Click to expand...

Being at the office, in itself, is fine.  It's the 45-60 minute drive (each way) that gets old, though last week it was only about 25 minutes.  I told my boss that I could really get used to this.  I may request to telework on Mondays (Friday is already taken).


----------



## stapo49

SquarePeg said:


> A quick iPhone photo from my socially distant walk yesterday after work.  Finally got some time to escape.
> 
> View attachment 188918


What a great place to walk!


----------



## Jeff15

I am no longer allowed to drive the short distance to my local forest (too far to walk) So from tomorrow, I will be staying home learning to fly my Drone in the garden.


----------



## Original katomi

Just a quiet day, not doing much as I fell yesterday. I have been told just sit and enjoy the sun, in a day or so we will be back to rain.


----------



## SquarePeg

stapo49 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> A quick iPhone photo from my socially distant walk yesterday after work.  Finally got some time to escape.
> 
> View attachment 188918
> 
> 
> 
> What a great place to walk!
Click to expand...


I love it there and only 10 minutes from home. It’s a bit more crowded these days as people try to keep their kids occupied without schools and parks and malls...and many solo hikers seeking fresh air.  Used to be if we stayed on the hiking trails and off of the gravel paths we would rarely see anyone until we got up to the reservoir but now even on our “secret” trails we are encountering families and solo hikers.  We step off away from the trail and give a wave from 6 ft away... maybe this will get a lot more “city” people to appreciate nature and hiking.  



Jeff15 said:


> I am no longer allowed to drive the short distance to my local forest (too far to walk) So from tomorrow, I will be staying home learning to fly my Drone in the garden.



So you did get one?  What did you get?



Original katomi said:


> Just a quiet day, not doing much as I fell yesterday. I have been told just sit and enjoy the sun, in a day or so we will be back to rain.



Sorry you fell!  Not seriously hurt I hope?


----------



## NancyMoranG

The best part of the photo is the missing ice on the pond!
Wow,  nice walking spot..


----------



## Original katomi

The naff  knees gave out and I fell, not seriously hurt. Just a reminder that I am no longer young and bounce.
A few more bruises and cuts, thank for asking.


----------



## Original katomi

Here in uk police have started to enforce the lock down telling people to go home.


----------



## PJM

SquarePeg said:


> We step off away from the trail and give a wave from 6 ft away...



I went out yesterday.  I used my walking stick to enforce the 6' rule


----------



## Jeff15

The main problem with being self-isolated is going to be insanity...


----------



## terri

Jeff15 said:


> The main problem with being self-isolated is going to be insanity...


That's what books are for.  

And photography, drawing, painting.   You also have this forum to visit. 

It's not forever - try not to let it get in your head.  Step outside for some fresh air as often as you need.


----------



## Original katomi

Jeff as Terri said you can come here and chat to others. .chat on the thread or pm me.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Ugh, am not going to be able to delay cleaning out my closet much longer....:{


----------



## Original katomi

You never know it may open open up to some woodland


----------



## stapo49

Here in Perth we are not fully locked down as yet but that will change soon I think. We have had only 255 confirmed diagnoses so far with most of them being from disembarking cruise ship passengers.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The main problem with being self-isolated is going to be insanity...
> 
> 
> 
> That's what books are for.
> 
> And photography, drawing, painting.   You also have this forum to visit.
> 
> It's not forever - try not to let it get in your head.  Step outside for some fresh air as often as you need.
Click to expand...

... and crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, creative writing ...

Contractors came into the office to clean and disinfect everything.  The boss is holding down the fort and was chased out by folks in hazmat suits, spraying the surfaces.  MLW was there and had to unlock the doors in her area while they went around.  She said it was only an ammonia-water mix, nothing worth trying to obtain.

I'm on full telework until April 24.  I've set my hours to 6:30 AM until 3:00 PM; I could really get used to this.  It seems the County laptop has an issue: the built-in speaker works but not the input side of the audio jack.  I can hear through the earbuds just fine, but the mic does not work on the laptop (it works fine on the phone.)  Since we have a weekly staff meeting, I've been having to phone in to the conference bridge, and that took four tries this week.  I'm going to just use my laptop for the audio and the County's for video, since the 32" is hooked to it.

It was a pretty day to be home, even if working.  It's 66 F right now and partly cloudy.  At least here, I can open windows and the patio door.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The main problem with being self-isolated is going to be insanity...
> 
> 
> 
> That's what books are for.
> 
> And photography, drawing, painting.   You also have this forum to visit.
> 
> It's not forever - try not to let it get in your head.  Step outside for some fresh air as often as you need.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> ... and crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, creative writing ...
> 
> Contractors came into the office to clean and disinfect everything.  The boss is holding down the fort and was chased out by folks in hazmat suits, spraying the surfaces.  MLW was there and had to unlock the doors in her area while they went around.  She said it was only an ammonia-water mix, nothing worth trying to obtain.
> 
> I'm on full telework until April 24.  I've set my hours to 6:30 AM until 3:00 PM; I could really get used to this.  It seems the County laptop has an issue: the built-in speaker works but not the input side of the audio jack.  I can hear through the earbuds just fine, but the mic does not work on the laptop (it works fine on the phone.)  Since we have a weekly staff meeting, I've been having to phone in to the conference bridge, and that took four tries this week.  I'm going to just use my laptop for the audio and the County's for video, since the 32" is hooked to it.
> 
> It was a pretty day to be home, even if working.  It's 66 F right now and partly cloudy.  At least here, I can open windows and the patio door.
Click to expand...


When we video conf for work I use my work laptop to join the meeting for video and webcam but I call into the conference bridge using my trusty landline on speakerphone.  So much better.   No headset and no crazy cutting in and out like when you voip.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Friday Hosers!   I have this weekend off barring any major crises at work.  Debating a run up to Portland light for a Milky Way to sunrise shoot.  A convoy of socially distant photo ladies driving up and keeping our distance while we shoot.  But...would need gas for the car and it’s a long drive solo and I don’t know if I want to be so far from home.  I would normally stay over for something like this so less driving at night and then a nap before driving home.  Talking myself out of it as I type this...


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, sleep pattern shot to hell. Here the police are stopping people and making sure they obey lockdown.
Even people driving miles to walk the dog, according to tv, thought about taking our two guys out but they are  v friendly and will run and say hi to other people and wait for me to catch up and say hi, up till now this has been a good thing.


----------



## Tony744




----------



## Jeff15

I think this would work fine....


----------



## Original katomi

Just sneeze,


----------



## SquarePeg

Running low on a few key grocery items.  Nothing that I would deem urgent enough to venture into a store though.  Spent some time checking online delivery options.  The only option that had a delivery window available anytime soon was Target.  Managed to get about 80% of what we needed with a delivery scheduled for this afternoon.  Will be interesting to see which items actually arrive.   Our plan is to hold out as long as possible without going into the stores.


----------



## Jeff G

We have been to the supermarket once a week for our usual bread and milk run since this all started. The shelves are getting somewhat back to normal, except for the TP, which still hasn't been restocked. We are homebodys so this really hasn't  affected us as much as most other folks.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Running low on a few key grocery items.  Nothing that I would deem urgent enough to venture into a store though.  Spent some time checking online delivery options.  The only option that had a delivery window available anytime soon was Target.  Managed to get about 80% of what we needed with a delivery scheduled for this afternoon.  Will be interesting to see which items actually arrive.   Our plan is to hold out as long as possible without going into the stores.


Agreed.   The last few trips I made, before everything blew up, I kept buying a few extras that could be frozen or sit on the shelf.   I've been making menus for 5 days out and sticking to it, using everything methodically until I have to go back.   If it weren't for running through produce quicker, I could stretch it out even longer.   I don't want to hit the stores but every 7-10 days.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Running low on a few key grocery items.  Nothing that I would deem urgent enough to venture into a store though.  Spent some time checking online delivery options.  The only option that had a delivery window available anytime soon was Target.  Managed to get about 80% of what we needed with a delivery scheduled for this afternoon.  Will be interesting to see which items actually arrive.   Our plan is to hold out as long as possible without going into the stores.
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed.   The last few trips I made, before everything blew up, I kept buying a few extras that could be frozen or sit on the shelf.   I've been making menus for 5 days out and sticking to it, using everything methodically until I have to go back.   If it weren't for running through produce quicker, I could stretch it out even longer.   I don't want to hit the stores but every 7-10 days.
Click to expand...


From everything I have read about how this thing spreads, limiting contact with people is really the best defense.  Our favorite grocery store has put up plexiglass dividers between the cashiers and the shoppers but they haven’t done much to limit your exposure while you’re shopping.  They’re not limiting how many can be in the store at once nor are they making the aisles one way.  A friend was in there recently and said some people were not maintaining the recommended 6ft zone.  Also no tp, paper towels or disinfectant sprays on the shelves.  

TJ’s, on the other hand, I’ve heard has been well stocked and is limiting shoppers to 25 in store at a time with clearly taped waiting spaces for each person.  They did have some paper products and were limiting each item to 2 per shopper.  If and when I have to go into a store it will be there.     

One huge plus is that our favorite butcher shop sells their marinated steak tips and chicken at a local specialty shop that delivers.


----------



## dxqcanada

https://howmuchtoiletpaper.com/


----------



## Original katomi

We had a on line order got about 2/3 of what we ordered.
Our village butcher will do online,phone orders and deliver


----------



## SquarePeg

This was beautiful. Virtual 'Love Sweet Love' From Quarantined Berklee College of Music Students


----------



## terri

That was fantastic!   Not even my favorite song, but so beautifully done.   
I love the ingenuity of people right now, to help us feel better.


----------



## waday

Hi all, thanks for the messages. Best friend’s dad hasn’t gotten better yet, got a little worse, but is stable. Her mom now tested positive for it. 

More bad news, though—NOT Coronavirus related. Brother-in-law’s brother was hospitalized and passed away this week. He did have some complications, but it was a very short and sudden thing that no one had expected. His father had passed away in 2019. Sad all around.

On a lighter note, it’s definitely getting warmer out, so I can finally go out with the daughter. She loves looking at and poking flowers. We poke flowers to avoid picking them. LOL


----------



## terri

Good lord - so sorry for your family's loss, Wade!   Sad times for you all - my condolences. 

Yes, it's definitely Spring, so at least you can spend that outdoor time with your daughter.  Thankfully she's too young to really comprehend these times.  Have fun "poking" those flowers!


----------



## waday

Thanks Terri! Agree, I’m very happy that she doesn’t understand what’s happening!

Is anyone watching the Tiger King on Netflix? We just  finished it. Our reactions included, “what,” “are you kidding,” “no, really,” “this is ridiculous,” “all of these people are insane,” and ended with “what just happened.”


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Thanks Terri! Agree, I’m very happy that she doesn’t understand what’s happening!
> 
> Is anyone watching the Tiger King on Netflix? We just  finished it. Our reactions included, “what,” “are you kidding,” “no, really,” “this is ridiculous,” “all of these people are insane,” and ended with “what just happened.”



Haven’t seen it but it’s all the rage around here.


----------



## Original katomi

Is anyone watching the Tiger King on Netflix? We just  finished it. Our reactions included, “what,” “are you kidding,” “no, really,” “this is ridiculous,” “all of these people are insane,” and ended with “what just happened.”[/QUOTE]
We watched, Lost.
Our reaction was much the same


----------



## CherylL

waday said:


> Hi all, thanks for the messages. Best friend’s dad hasn’t gotten better yet, got a little worse, but is stable. Her mom now tested positive for it.
> 
> More bad news, though—NOT Coronavirus related. Brother-in-law’s brother was hospitalized and passed away this week. He did have some complications, but it was a very short and sudden thing that no one had expected. His father had passed away in 2019. Sad all around.
> 
> On a lighter note, it’s definitely getting warmer out, so I can finally go out with the daughter. She loves looking at and poking flowers. We poke flowers to avoid picking them. LOL



Sorry Wade on your Brother in law's passing.  With the lock down you have too much added onto you.  Hoping your best friend's dad improves.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Hi all, thanks for the messages. Best friend’s dad hasn’t gotten better yet, got a little worse, but is stable. Her mom now tested positive for it.
> 
> More bad news, though—NOT Coronavirus related. Brother-in-law’s brother was hospitalized and passed away this week. He did have some complications, but it was a very short and sudden thing that no one had expected. His father had passed away in 2019. Sad all around.
> 
> On a lighter note, it’s definitely getting warmer out, so I can finally go out with the daughter. She loves looking at and poking flowers. We poke flowers to avoid picking them. LOL



I'm so sorry


----------



## vintagesnaps

Wade sorry for your family's loss. How is your best friend's dad?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Took forever for YouTube to connect, guess that tells what people are doing with their Mondays. Was watching MTV Classic and it's the '80's!  so of course I saw a gem worthy of the time wasting leaderboard. 

And speaking of the leader_bored_, why aren't you hosers posting and racking up useless points?? D'ya mean you have something better to do?? 

Weekdays being retired are not that different, but the weekends are weird. My best friend dropped off something on the wicker table next to the front door and we talked from the doorway to the driveway. Seems like we're going to be on the phone more and doing anything in person less. 
The worst is - hockey ended!!


----------



## Original katomi

What leaderboard


----------



## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> What leaderboard


Start here.  I deleted most of my crap.


----------



## Original katomi

Snow Bear, 
Thanks for the link, I have seen something like that in the past.
I thank you for the link and your help.


----------



## snowbear

It was ... entertaining.


----------



## SquarePeg

We have 24 cases in our town now including someone who worked for the DPW for his whole life and is very well known.  His son says he went downhill in a matter of days and is on a ventilator in critical condition.  Very glad we have been staying in.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all,


----------



## Warhorse

Starting to feel like we are living in one of those apocalypse movies.


----------



## Original katomi

Warhorse,  so true


----------



## waday

Thank you, all. Sorry I’ve been a little MIA recently.




vintagesnaps said:


> How is your best friend's dad?


Stable. We’re currently being told no news is good news. We’ve been trying not to check in too often, but my wife said she was going to ping them again to see how he’s doing.


----------



## Jeff15

Starting to feel like we are living in one of those apocalypse movies.

Me too, I like many other people have COPD and at the moment it is all getting very scary...


----------



## waday

Warhorse said:


> Starting to feel like we are living in one of those apocalypse movies.


I was out at the supermarket over the weekend, and they’re in full social distancing mode. Additional queues to get to registers, signs everywhere, cashiers behind plexiglass, and they had a recurring message over the loudspeakers saying, “Due to COVID-19, please maintain a distance of at least 6-feet away from other customers to abide by social distancing recommendations.” 

Creepy. Very sci-fi-esque.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> Starting to feel like we are living in one of those apocalypse movies.
> 
> 
> 
> I was out at the supermarket over the weekend, and they’re in full social distancing mode. Additional queues to get to registers, signs everywhere, cashiers behind plexiglass, and they had a recurring message over the loudspeakers saying, “Due to COVID-19, please maintain a distance of at least 6-feet away from other customers to abide by social distancing recommendations.”
> 
> Creepy. Very sci-fi-esque.
Click to expand...


Yesterday, I had to stand on line to get into the grocery store because they're only allowing a certain number of people in the store at any given time. There were cones to mark 6 feet. There was an employee at the entrance managing the line and offering gloves to everyone who went in. There was an employee who managed the cashier lines. As spooky as it all was, it was also very impressive and comforting to see how they were handling things.

My own personal silver lining to all of it is that I finally - finally! - get some relief from the anxiety I feel at how close people usually stand next to each other on lines. Apparently, 5-6 feet is my true comfort zone.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> Starting to feel like we are living in one of those apocalypse movies.
> 
> 
> 
> I was out at the supermarket over the weekend, and they’re in full social distancing mode. Additional queues to get to registers, signs everywhere, cashiers behind plexiglass, and they had a recurring message over the loudspeakers saying, “Due to COVID-19, please maintain a distance of at least 6-feet away from other customers to abide by social distancing recommendations.”
> 
> Creepy. Very sci-fi-esque.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yesterday, I had to stand on line to get into the grocery store because they're only allowing a certain number of people in the store at any given time. There were cones to mark 6 feet. There was an employee at the entrance managing the line and offering gloves to everyone who went in. There was an employee who managed the cashier lines. As spooky as it all was, it was also very impressive and comforting to see how they were handling things.
> 
> My own personal silver lining to all of it is that I finally - finally! - get some relief from the anxiety I feel at how close people usually stand next to each other on lines. Apparently, 5-6 feet is my true comfort zone.
Click to expand...

Very good point! I was definitely happy to see how well it was handled. Our supermarket wasn’t restricting the number of shoppers at once, but other stores around here have been (e.g., Costco).


----------



## limr

The little convenience store across the street from my house, however, is an entirely different story. That place seems to have as many cars in front of it as it always had. And I'd bet money that it's full of townies who think this is all a hoax. No WAY I'm stepping foot in that place without a hazmat suit unless it's absolutely and critically necessary. Luckily, I rarely go in there anyway, so it's not like I'm missing out on anything by not going in there now.


----------



## snowbear

I have learned two things from all of this: I can very easily get used teleworking, and I really am ready for retirement.


Spoiler



Really, there are four, but I won't go into government incompetence and the general stupidity of people, in this thread


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> We have 24 cases in our town now including someone who worked for the DPW for his whole life and is very well known.  His son says he went downhill in a matter of days and is on a ventilator in critical condition.  Very glad we have been staying in.



Sadly the number of cases keep rising.  We've been staying in and our daughter dropped off groceries last week.  The local produce market opened last week and offer free delivery.  Placed an order for tomorrow.  They take photos or video each morning of what is in stock and post on FB.  They only have whole milk and no skim so daughter is picking that up for me and of course her Dad's beer. He told me to suck it up and drink whole milk and I told him I don't like drinking butter.

Our neighbor returned recently from the Ukraine.  He is a pastor here in town and was on mission trip.  He self quarantined to be safe and after a few days tested positive for the virus.  There are only a handful of confirmed cases on the east side, but in St. Louis it is rising daily.  There are still people around here not taking it seriously.


----------



## SquarePeg

I was trying to be good so I ordered a very small bag of Hershey’s kisses with my Target grocery delivery for when we want a little something sweet, instead of baking a whole cake or too many cookies... and they substituted the mega size 3lb bag


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I was trying to be good so I ordered a very small bag of Hershey’s kisses with my Target grocery delivery for when we want a little something sweet, instead of baking a whole cake or too many cookies... and they substituted the mega size 3lb bag


That’s a win in my book! Our supermarket has stopped doing substitutions during this time. Fine by me, because their substitutions were terrible anyways.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> I was trying to be good so I ordered a very small bag of Hershey’s kisses with my Target grocery delivery for when we want a little something sweet, instead of baking a whole cake or too many cookies... and they substituted the mega size 3lb bag



SCORE!!!


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> I was trying to be good so I ordered a very small bag of Hershey’s kisses with my Target grocery delivery for when we want a little something sweet, instead of baking a whole cake or too many cookies... and they substituted the mega size 3lb bag


----------



## SquarePeg

I can see you people are going to be absolutely no help at all with my goal of 0 weight gain during the quarantine.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> I can see you people are going to be absolutely no help at all with my goal of 0 weight gain during the quarantine.


Don't think of it as weight gain; rather think of it as helping the environment by increasing your personal 'R' value, and thus reducing the need to heat your home next winter!


----------



## Original katomi

morning all


----------



## Jeff15

I can see you people are going to be absolutely no help at all with my goal of 0 weight gain during the quarantine.

Our problem with this is that we are not able to buy exactly what we are used to, yes we can get food we will not starve but we just have not got the choice....


----------



## Original katomi

Some people have less problems with staying in esp if there is some sun to lay in


----------



## Original katomi

Re jeff15 post
On the choice of food and so on
I can see when the virus is over  there will be a lot of changes, and probably there will no longer be the vast range of food or other items to choose from. How long this will be for who knows.


----------



## Jeff15

You are right, I don't think the world will ever be the same....


----------



## stapo49

I was talking to a co-worker yesterday and we were discussing the future of world travel after all this is over and whether people will become more isolationist and travel less? Especially on cruise ships.


----------



## Jeff15

We have been on some cruises and I often thought while onboard ship what would happen if a disease broke out. Now we know.....


----------



## NancyMoranG

stapo49 said:


> I was talking to a co-worker yesterday and we were discussing the future of world travel after all this is over and whether people will become more isolationist and travel less? Especially on cruise ships.



I wonder HOW a place like Disney or Universal Parks are going to fare after this? Are people really going to feel comfortable being packed liked sardines in those parks? Concert venues, Broadway etc!!??


----------



## smoke665

We're in day 20 of our self imposed shelter in place at the suggestion of DW's oncologist. The days are starting to run together and the humor is turning more sinister. I would suggest that this cartoon could easily apply to either gender.


----------



## SquarePeg

Jeff15 said:


> We have been on some cruises and I often thought while onboard ship what would happen if a disease broke out. Now we know.....



I thought the cruise ships and cruise lines themselves handled it pretty well considering the circumstances. It’s just definitely a situation that I would not want to find myself in.


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was talking to a co-worker yesterday and we were discussing the future of world travel after all this is over and whether people will become more isolationist and travel less? Especially on cruise ships.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder HOW a place like Disney or Universal Parks are going to fare after this? Are people really going to feel comfortable being packed liked sardines in those parks? Concert venues, Broadway etc!!??
Click to expand...


We love Universal and Disney (although with Disney we are all set with the current way you have to plan everything so far in advance so we have likely visited for the last time).  But, it is not possible to avoid germs there no matter what you do.  Being a bit aware, it is possible to avoid the germs you pick up by contact if you are careful of where you put your hands and use wipes/hand sanitizer liberally and don't touch your face but you can't avoid the close contact germs.  No matter how hard we try, we have never come home from a place like that and not caught something.  Plus the flying doesn't help...


----------



## SquarePeg

An elderly resident became the first person to die from our town of the coronavirus.  29 cases confirmed and 1 death.  very scary and upsetting.  29 seems like a lot to me but even though I sometimes call it a town and it does have a small town feel, technically we are a city and our population here is about 29,000.


----------



## Original katomi

Sorry to hear about the death in your town . We are a small island, Hayling Island, and the village here has still got that sm village life. Everyone know everyone else and there are no secrets.  Look at all the local shops here and can’t wonder if they will still be there after this is over.


----------



## Original katomi

Iam having problems with my balanced diet.
Trying to find enough chocolate to balance the apple


----------



## terry_g

My wife and I have been self isolating for three weeks.


----------



## stapo49

Social distancing  Australian Style .




Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Good morning hosers.

MLW had to go to the office, yesterday, and has to report o the EOC this morning.  At least her department canceled the Admin Leave for the other Aides (everyone in the Fire/EMS Department is considered essential), so at least there isn't a group of them sitting on their butts getting paid for nothing (Admin Leave is just that - paid time off).


----------



## tirediron

stapo49 said:


> Social distancing  Australian Style .
> View attachment 189286
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


While I grant that the Ku (Kangaroo Unit, a distance equal to 4 Wu or Wallaby Units) is a handy measurement, I think you need to re-evaluate your positioning.  The Ku begins against the arm of the arm of the right-hand person, yet goes all the way to the leg of the left-hand person, meaning that the person on the left is a good six inches, or approximately 1/4 Wu closer to the center than the one on the right....


----------



## Jeff G

Personally, I wouldn't  get within kicking distance of a kangaroo.


----------



## snowbear

I tried going old school by wearing a string of garlic around my neck, but every time I walk by the kitchen, I  pop off a couple cloves and mince them.


----------



## Jeff G

At least vampires won't  be an issue.


----------



## SquarePeg

Boston style.


----------



## Original katomi

Is this where I look up and say something stupid like .. what do you do if you can’t find a kangaroo in your town
Edit. Here I am at oo58 BST trying to think of a funny to reply.
Looks like I will stick to picking cat hair out of the carpet or counting the grains of sand in the concrete path
And with a manic laughter he signs off......


----------



## SquarePeg

I am on martini #2 and deciding if I want #3.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I am on martini #2 and deciding if I want #3.


I'm guessing it's down the hatch by now.

Wine is flowing at my house.   Cheers!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am on martini #2 and deciding if I want #3.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm guessing it's down the hatch by now.
> 
> Wine is flowing at my house.   Cheers!
Click to expand...


I’m sorry what were we talking about?


----------



## Jeff15

There will probably be more bad news later today but I have a few beers with my name on for later......


----------



## Jeff G

It's finally Saturday! With all that is going on, I thought work would slow down, but I have been slammed.  I really need a day of no deadlines. Other than some light housework I think today will be  a movie marathon day.


----------



## snowbear

Did our running - we had to take the Honda up for a windshield. swing by the credit union and the P.O. Box.  I figured, since we were in the area, we'd go by Wegman's.  Nope, big ol' line waiting to get in; there's nothing we need that badly.


----------



## limr




----------



## Original katomi

I have washed my hands so much, that I am probably peeing pure bleach.


----------



## Jeff15

Me too, every time I pee I clean the bog.......


----------



## Original katomi

Hiya all,


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Did our running - we had to take the Honda up for a windshield. swing by the credit union and the P.O. Box.  I figured, since we were in the area, we'd go by Wegman's.  Nope, big ol' line waiting to get in; there's nothing we need that badly.



If you have Amazon Prime and there is a Whole Foods near you... download the Prime Now app.  Use the app to place a WF order and when you get to the delivery page change “delivery” to “pick up”.   They will give you a pick up time and text you when your order is ready.  For us last week it was 1 hour.  When you get the text you drive up and open the trunk.   Stay in the car.  They put the groceries in the back and off you go. Super convenient and no contact.


----------



## snowbear

No Whole Foods here; I think the closest ones are about an hour away.  MLW has to go to the office on Thursday & Friday, so she'll just hit the local Giant (Stop & Shop, up there) on the way home.  Giant also has a "Senior Hour" in the early morning, that I might try.  They also have a Pea Pod delivery service, though I don't know much about it.

I ordered my BP and T2 meds & test supplies, yesterday, so that _should_ be at the POB by Friday.  The insurance company was getting real anal about reorder dates.  They would not authorize payment until it was at least 30 days from the previous order (I ran out, once because the pharmacy had to order something), so I finally resigned to their bulk mail-out plan, where they are a bit more lenient.

Well, well; the girl at the end of the bar is asking to be petted.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> No Whole Foods here; I think the closest ones are about an hour away.  MLW has to go to the office on Thursday & Friday, so she'll just hit the local Giant (Stop & Shop, up there) on the way home.  Giant also has a "Senior Hour" in the early morning, that I might try.  They also have a Pea Pod delivery service, though I don't know much about it.
> 
> I ordered my BP and T2 meds & test supplies, yesterday, so that _should_ be at the POB by Friday.  The insurance company was getting real anal about reorder dates.  They would not authorize payment until it was at least 30 days from the previous order (I ran out, once because the pharmacy had to order something), so I finally resigned to their bulk mail-out plan, where they are a bit more lenient.
> 
> Well, well; the girl at the end of the bar is asking to be petted.



Pea Pod delivers for our local S&S but good luck getting a delivery date.  They are booked weeks out.


----------



## terry_g




----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> No Whole Foods here; I think the closest ones are about an hour away.  MLW has to go to the office on Thursday & Friday, so she'll just hit the local Giant (Stop & Shop, up there) on the way home.  Giant also has a "Senior Hour" in the early morning, that I might try.  They also have a Pea Pod delivery service, though I don't know much about it.
> 
> I ordered my BP and T2 meds & test supplies, yesterday, so that _should_ be at the POB by Friday.  The insurance company was getting real anal about reorder dates.  They would not authorize payment until it was at least 30 days from the previous order (I ran out, once because the pharmacy had to order something), so I finally resigned to their bulk mail-out plan, where they are a bit more lenient.
> 
> Well, well; the girl at the end of the bar is asking to be petted.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pea Pod delivers for our local S&S but good luck getting a delivery date.  They are booked weeks out.
Click to expand...

Not really worried about going there, just the line to get in.


----------



## Original katomi

Re terry g
Forget NSFW
NSBT not safe before tea 
Terry g I have another for you BUMF
All those old magazines and papers cut into squares and threaded on string.
BUMF bum fodder


----------



## Original katomi

Well photography speaking not been doing much. I have been making the most of the fine sunny day.
However, I have just set a trail cam... Mrs bought it for B day few years ago, we decided to set it up today to see what our girls (hens ) got up to at night. Could be interesting.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> No Whole Foods here; I think the closest ones are about an hour away.  MLW has to go to the office on Thursday & Friday, so she'll just hit the local Giant (Stop & Shop, up there) on the way home.  Giant also has a "Senior Hour" in the early morning, that I might try.  They also have a Pea Pod delivery service, though I don't know much about it.
> 
> I ordered my BP and T2 meds & test supplies, yesterday, so that _should_ be at the POB by Friday.  The insurance company was getting real anal about reorder dates.  They would not authorize payment until it was at least 30 days from the previous order (I ran out, once because the pharmacy had to order something), so I finally resigned to their bulk mail-out plan, where they are a bit more lenient.
> 
> Well, well; the girl at the end of the bar is asking to be petted.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pea Pod delivers for our local S&S but good luck getting a delivery date.  They are booked weeks out.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Not really worried about going there, just the line to get in.
Click to expand...


Avoid it if you can.  My aunt went to the grocery store yesterday and was telling me how the other customers invaded her space quite a bit. They were not wearing masks and were not keeping a safe distance.


----------



## limr

Just tried to put a grocery order in for pickup.  First of all, they are now making people wait to even get into the website. Then I finally get in, put my order together, and then go to choose a spot for pick-up. Last time I did so, I had to wait several days but it wasn't too bad. This time, I went all the way out to April 13th and there was not a single spot available.

Looks like I'll be making a mask and just going to the store myself.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Just tried to put a grocery order in for pickup.  First of all, they are now making people wait to even get into the website. Then I finally get in, put my order together, and then go to choose a spot for pick-up. Last time I did so, I had to wait several days but it wasn't too bad. This time, I went all the way out to April 13th and there was not a single spot available.
> 
> Looks like I'll be making a mask and just going to the store myself.



Try again in a few days.  Did you do Prime now with WF?  I read online that grocery deliveries and pick ups are super busy right now because a lot of people just got their first unemployment check.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just tried to put a grocery order in for pickup.  First of all, they are now making people wait to even get into the website. Then I finally get in, put my order together, and then go to choose a spot for pick-up. Last time I did so, I had to wait several days but it wasn't too bad. This time, I went all the way out to April 13th and there was not a single spot available.
> 
> Looks like I'll be making a mask and just going to the store myself.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Try again in a few days.  Did you do Prime now with WF?  I read online that grocery deliveries and pick ups are super busy right now because a lot of people just got their first unemployment check.
Click to expand...


Huh - realize I never hit post on this.

Yeah, I might try again in a day or two, or if I decide to just go in person, I'll do a drive-by to see how they're handling it all, and if I don't like it, there are several other stores nearby that I can try. 

I don't do the Amazon Prime with Whole Foods. The closest Whole Foods is about 25 miles away, and even though it's in a city very close to where I work, it's a major pita to park and wasn't worth the trouble, so I never bothered. And they don't deliver to my zip code. I'm too far in the sticks


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all,


----------



## Original katomi

Just relaxing with a wee dram, no tv, in a few moments going to log off set up head phones and sit back and let the music flow. Ok bat out of hell by meat loaf may not be classical but I relax to it 
Night all.


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Just relaxing with a wee dram, no tv, in a few moments going to log off set up head phones and sit back and let the music flow. Ok bat out of hell by meat loaf may not be classical but I relax to it
> Night all.



One of the best concerts I’ve ever been to was Meatloaf outside on a warm beautiful night.  Everyone singing along to every word of Paradise by the Dashboard Light, 50 year olds getting stoned with 20 somethings, and then to cement the memory forever - listening to the news of the OJ Simpson bronco chase on the radio on the way home!  Surreal.


----------



## CherylL

limr said:


> Just tried to put a grocery order in for pickup.  First of all, they are now making people wait to even get into the website. Then I finally get in, put my order together, and then go to choose a spot for pick-up. Last time I did so, I had to wait several days but it wasn't too bad. This time, I went all the way out to April 13th and there was not a single spot available.
> 
> Looks like I'll be making a mask and just going to the store myself.



Do you have Instacart in your area?  I'm going to use it for the first time tomorrow.  A friend uses it and works fairly good.  A personal shopper will text you if the item is out and will swap for something else.   I did an online thru Wmart website for delivery and was 2 weeks shipped.  A local produce market does free delivery and got my first order last week.


----------



## Original katomi

Just about morning still here 11;47 BST
How is everyone today.


----------



## waday

Friend’s dad doing worse. No word yet. His wife (friend’s mom) tested positive.

Yesterday was the start of week 4: staying at home. Funny how in the beginning, it was a mess. It’s gotten a lot better as we’ve started to get into a groove. Daughter is getting used to it, too, although now all she wants to do is watch TV. She’s 2!


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Friend’s dad doing worse. No word yet. His wife (friend’s mom) tested positive.
> 
> Yesterday was the start of week 4: staying at home. Funny how in the beginning, it was a mess. It’s gotten a lot better as we’ve started to get into a groove. Daughter is getting used to it, too, although now all she wants to do is watch TV. She’s 2!



Even though the circumstances suck, it’s nice that you get to spend this time at home with your little one.  It’s hard to work remotely with a young one in the house but it’s not impossible and no matter how busy you are, you still get that time together that you wouldn’t otherwise have had.  No commute probably adds a couple of hours to your free time too.


----------



## Original katomi

Waddy, sorry to hear about friends dad. Enjoy your time with your daughter, I was a mr mum/house husband when my daughter was little,  1992 those early years few enjoy them.


----------



## CherylL

Tried Instacart today and no deliveries available.  The site says to check back for openings.  Odd I got an email 2 hours later that I needed to retrieve my abandoned cart.


----------



## CherylL

waday said:


> Friend’s dad doing worse. No word yet. His wife (friend’s mom) tested positive.
> 
> Yesterday was the start of week 4: staying at home. Funny how in the beginning, it was a mess. It’s gotten a lot better as we’ve started to get into a groove. Daughter is getting used to it, too, although now all she wants to do is watch TV. She’s 2!



Hoping things improve for your friend's Dad and his Mom.   And I can't imagine trying to work from home with a 2yo.


----------



## waday

CherylL said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Friend’s dad doing worse. No word yet. His wife (friend’s mom) tested positive.
> 
> Yesterday was the start of week 4: staying at home. Funny how in the beginning, it was a mess. It’s gotten a lot better as we’ve started to get into a groove. Daughter is getting used to it, too, although now all she wants to do is watch TV. She’s 2!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hoping things improve for your friend's Dad and his Mom.   And I can't imagine trying to work from home with a 2yo.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Just got the news, he passed away.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Friend’s dad doing worse. No word yet. His wife (friend’s mom) tested positive.
> 
> Yesterday was the start of week 4: staying at home. Funny how in the beginning, it was a mess. It’s gotten a lot better as we’ve started to get into a groove. Daughter is getting used to it, too, although now all she wants to do is watch TV. She’s 2!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hoping things improve for your friend's Dad and his Mom.   And I can't imagine trying to work from home with a 2yo.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks. Just got the news, he passed away.
Click to expand...


I'm so sorry


----------



## terri

waday said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Friend’s dad doing worse. No word yet. His wife (friend’s mom) tested positive.
> 
> Yesterday was the start of week 4: staying at home. Funny how in the beginning, it was a mess. It’s gotten a lot better as we’ve started to get into a groove. Daughter is getting used to it, too, although now all she wants to do is watch TV. She’s 2!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hoping things improve for your friend's Dad and his Mom.   And I can't imagine trying to work from home with a 2yo.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks. Just got the news, he passed away.
Click to expand...

OMG, I'm so sorry.


----------



## Jeff G

Sorry to hear that Wade.


----------



## Original katomi

Sorry to hear about that Wade


----------



## snowbear

Sorry to hear this, Wade.


----------



## Warhorse

My most sincere condolences.


----------



## waday

Thank you, all, appreciate the kind sentiments.

Thanks for being such a great, loving community.


----------



## Tony744

Sorry to hear the sad news Waday


----------



## Original katomi

Husband to wife. Or which ever way works for you..
“ I have packed the food, drinks, medicine and toilet paper. Is there anything else you need before you get on the phone to ...insert food, bank, chemist, ....”
We have been on the phone in a que for one and a half hours... and counting
Edit now 3 1/2 hours and still in the que. oh well one way to pass the time lol


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Friend’s dad doing worse. No word yet. His wife (friend’s mom) tested positive.
> 
> Yesterday was the start of week 4: staying at home. Funny how in the beginning, it was a mess. It’s gotten a lot better as we’ve started to get into a groove. Daughter is getting used to it, too, although now all she wants to do is watch TV. She’s 2!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hoping things improve for your friend's Dad and his Mom.   And I can't imagine trying to work from home with a 2yo.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks. Just got the news, he passed away.
Click to expand...


So sorry for your loss Wade.   It’s awful what is happening.


----------



## SquarePeg

My sister-in-law is sick and was tested yesterday- we are waiting anxiously to hear.  Not the sister-in-law who lives in my downstairs apartment, this is the other one who lives in NH.   

She hasn’t been in contact with anyone who has tested positive but she works for a doctor’s office that treats cancer patients so they have been seeing patients all through this.  Also both my brother and nephew are still working.  NH closed all non essential businesses on 3/26.  My nephew works at a restaurant so I know they are considered essential but my brother works for a gun manufacturer and I wouldn’t think that would be considered essential but apparently it is.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> My sister-in-law is sick and was tested yesterday- we are waiting anxiously to hear.  Not the sister-in-law who lives in my downstairs apartment, this is the other one who lives in NH.
> 
> She hasn’t been in contact with anyone who has tested positive but she works for a doctor’s office that treats cancer patients so they have been seeing patients all through this.  Also both my brother and nephew are still working.  NH closed all non essential businesses on 3/26.  My nephew works at a restaurant so I know they are considered essential but my brother works for a gun manufacturer and I wouldn’t think that would be considered essential but apparently it is.


Ugh, I sure hope she tests negative for it - or, if positive, has a mild case.

It hits everyone so differently.   I haven't heard anyone deviate from the original assessment that 80% of those infected have mild to moderate cases.  Some people don't have any symptoms at all, which is what helps to make this Corona strain such a mutha.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> My sister-in-law is sick and was tested yesterday- we are waiting anxiously to hear.  Not the sister-in-law who lives in my downstairs apartment, this is the other one who lives in NH.
> 
> She hasn’t been in contact with anyone who has tested positive but she works for a doctor’s office that treats cancer patients so they have been seeing patients all through this.  Also both my brother and nephew are still working.  NH closed all non essential businesses on 3/26.  My nephew works at a restaurant so I know they are considered essential but my brother works for a gun manufacturer and I wouldn’t think that would be considered essential but apparently it is.
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh, I sure hope she tests negative for it - or, if positive, has a mild case.
> 
> It hits everyone so differently.   I haven't heard anyone deviate from the original assessment that 80% of those infected have mild to moderate cases.  Some people don't have any symptoms at all, which is what helps to make this Corona strain such a mutha.
Click to expand...


She said she is really fatigued, chills, cough and sore throat.  She has very mild asthma but no other risk factors and only just turned 50 so hoping for the best.  So much goes around this time of year it’s hard to tell what’s what.  I always get a sore throat and sinus issues due to allergies in March/April so trying not to panic over every headache and throat tickle.


----------



## Original katomi

SquarePeg said:


> My sister-in-law is sick and was tested yesterday- we are waiting anxiously to hear.  Not the sister-in-law who lives in my downstairs apartment, this is the other one who lives in NH.
> 
> She hasn’t been in contact with anyone who has tested positive but she works for a doctor’s office that treats cancer patients so they have been seeing patients all through this.  Also both my brother and nephew are still working.  NH closed all non essential businesses on 3/26.  My nephew works at a restaurant so I know they are considered essential but my brother works for a gun manufacturer and I wouldn’t think that would be considered essential but apparently it is.


Fingers crossed for you.
You know you have friends here and if you need someone to “chat” to then  you can send me a pm
Ok with the time zone difference it will not be a instant reply, but will reply when I can


----------



## NancyMoranG

Wade, so sorry for all those involved. So sad for you and the family.
SquarePeg, hoping for a mild case if anything for your SiL...


----------



## snowbear

Fingers crossed, Sharon.  As far as your brother, I've heard that sales are up, so I suspect the build rate is going strong; that's all I will say on that subject.

We are taking things one week at a time.  The rumor mill is speculating furloughs before all is said and done.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> My sister-in-law is sick and was tested yesterday- we are waiting anxiously to hear.  Not the sister-in-law who lives in my downstairs apartment, this is the other one who lives in NH.
> 
> She hasn’t been in contact with anyone who has tested positive but she works for a doctor’s office that treats cancer patients so they have been seeing patients all through this.  Also both my brother and nephew are still working.  NH closed all non essential businesses on 3/26.  My nephew works at a restaurant so I know they are considered essential but my brother works for a gun manufacturer and I wouldn’t think that would be considered essential but apparently it is.
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh, I sure hope she tests negative for it - or, if positive, has a mild case.
> 
> It hits everyone so differently.   I haven't heard anyone deviate from the original assessment that 80% of those infected have mild to moderate cases.  Some people don't have any symptoms at all, which is what helps to make this Corona strain such a mutha.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> She said she is really fatigued, chills, cough and sore throat.  She has very mild asthma but no other risk factors and only just turned 50 so hoping for the best.  So much goes around this time of year it’s hard to tell what’s what.  I always get a sore throat and sinus issues due to allergies in March/April so trying not to panic over every headache and throat tickle.
Click to expand...

Fingers crossed for her.    I agree about the allergies fear - they were never an issue with me until about the last year or so.   Pollen is flying through the air these days, and I've been reacting.   No fever, no cough, just sinus-y stuff and itchy eyes - which tells me it's all pollen-related, but during a pandemic, it would be _nice_ to not be experiencing anything.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Fingers crossed, Sharon.  As far as your brother, I've heard that sales are up, so I suspect the build rate is going strong; that's all I will say on that subject.
> 
> We are taking things one week at a time.  The rumor mill is speculating furloughs before all is said and done.


Hope that doesn't happen, but yes - one week at a time is about the best any of us can do.   One of my nieces works for Disney, and was told to work from home early in March.   She was fairly busy (works in the finance dept) and thought she'd be okay through this, but she ended up being furloughed last week.   It's very catch-as-catch-can.


----------



## waday

Sharon, hope it is nothing but normal for this time of year.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> As far as your brother, I've heard that sales are up, so I suspect the build rate is going strong; that's all I will say on that subject.


In PA, permit applications have been through the roof.


----------



## CherylL

waday said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Friend’s dad doing worse. No word yet. His wife (friend’s mom) tested positive.
> 
> Yesterday was the start of week 4: staying at home. Funny how in the beginning, it was a mess. It’s gotten a lot better as we’ve started to get into a groove. Daughter is getting used to it, too, although now all she wants to do is watch TV. She’s 2!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hoping things improve for your friend's Dad and his Mom.   And I can't imagine trying to work from home with a 2yo.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks. Just got the news, he passed away.
Click to expand...


So very sorry Wade


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> My sister-in-law is sick and was tested yesterday- we are waiting anxiously to hear.  Not the sister-in-law who lives in my downstairs apartment, this is the other one who lives in NH.
> 
> She hasn’t been in contact with anyone who has tested positive but she works for a doctor’s office that treats cancer patients so they have been seeing patients all through this.  Also both my brother and nephew are still working.  NH closed all non essential businesses on 3/26.  My nephew works at a restaurant so I know they are considered essential but my brother works for a gun manufacturer and I wouldn’t think that would be considered essential but apparently it is.



Hope your sister in law doesn't test positive.


----------



## dxqcanada

Hmm, I just saw a really crappy image ... and I mean really


----------



## limr

dxqcanada said:


> Hmm, I just saw a really crappy image ... and I mean really



No worries. It is gone. Flushed, even


----------



## limr

First puzzle done.


----------



## limr

Next up:


----------



## Jeff G

We haven't  built a puzzle in eons!


----------



## limr

Jeff G said:


> We haven't  built a puzzle in eons!



I used to do them a lot when I was a kid. The last one I did was this one: https://www.amazon.com/Breakfast-Tiffanys-Movie-Jigsaw-Puzzle/dp/B0014GGDE6

And funnily enough, that was a few years ago when there was a big winter storm and we lost power for almost a week, and I was spending a lot of time at home. At least this time I have electricity (so far...knock on wood...that was not an invitation to make things worse, universe!)

I love puzzles. They engage my mind, but they require spacial skills, not the skills used in the language- and data-heavy work that I do all the time, so it still feels like a mental break. It's also visual - which, as photographers, we can all relate to. And finally, there's the tactile aspect that I really enjoy (which is another reason I still work with film...which reminds me, I have a backlog of film to develop!). It's just SO satisfying to fit those pieces in together!

And when that puzzle is done, I can either start the third one I have, or I'll more likely start on my desktop trebuchet kit.


----------



## SquarePeg

My mom just started a puzzle last night.  We were both saying that the last time we did one was the blizzard of 78!


----------



## waday

Do 12-piece toddler puzzles count?


----------



## Original katomi

why not,  
Best I can do is call my parents each day, sometimes I use that what’s.....app , face something so we have vid calls


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Next up:


I love these!


----------



## SquarePeg

SIL tested negative thanks for all the good vibes.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Jeepers, what a scare for everyone. So glad for 'negative news'...


----------



## Original katomi

So pleased to hear neg results,


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> SIL tested negative thanks for all the good vibes.



Good news!


----------



## CherylL

Poor pup Oscar had yet another trip to the vet.  Last month a back toenail was down to the quick and he got it cleaned up & meds.  Monday a front paw toenail same thing.  Same meds.  Today the other front paw a toenail was hanging and bleeding.  Sedated at vet and he lost the nail.  More meds on top of the Monday meds.  Seems he has a disease, that is common, where the nails are brittle.  Poor pup is limping, hates the bandage, and hates the cone.  He will be on meds for the next 3 months and an ongoing vitamin E regimen.


----------



## Jeff G

Ouch, feel bad for Oscar. Our kitty Houdini is going to get a bunch of teeth extracted on the 25th, not looking forward to that.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> Poor pup Oscar had yet another trip to the vet.  Last month a back toenail was down to the quick and he got it cleaned up & meds.  Monday a front paw toenail same thing.  Same meds.  Today the other front paw a toenail was hanging and bleeding.  Sedated at vet and he lost the nail.  More meds on top of the Monday meds.  Seems he has a disease, that is common, where the nails are brittle.  Poor pup is limping, hates the bandage, and hates the cone.  He will be on meds for the next 3 months and an ongoing vitamin E regimen.



oh poor pup!  That sounds painful.


----------



## waday

CherylL said:


> Poor pup Oscar had yet another trip to the vet.  Last month a back toenail was down to the quick and he got it cleaned up & meds.  Monday a front paw toenail same thing.  Same meds.  Today the other front paw a toenail was hanging and bleeding.  Sedated at vet and he lost the nail.  More meds on top of the Monday meds.  Seems he has a disease, that is common, where the nails are brittle.  Poor pup is limping, hates the bandage, and hates the cone.  He will be on meds for the next 3 months and an ongoing vitamin E regimen.


Oh no! Roxy sends her love!


----------



## Original katomi

Poor pup,  lot s treats


----------



## snowbear

CherylL said:


> Poor pup Oscar had yet another trip to the vet.  Last month a back toenail was down to the quick and he got it cleaned up & meds.  Monday a front paw toenail same thing.  Same meds.  Today the other front paw a toenail was hanging and bleeding.  Sedated at vet and he lost the nail.  More meds on top of the Monday meds.  Seems he has a disease, that is common, where the nails are brittle.  Poor pup is limping, hates the bandage, and hates the cone.  He will be on meds for the next 3 months and an ongoing vitamin E regimen.


Poor baby.


----------



## Original katomi

Hiya all
After a day doing diy yesterday, and the stiff and painful joints in the evening. Today Mrs. Has said have a quiet day I decided to sit with the camera in the back garden and play with some kit that I have not used before


----------



## Original katomi

Started off with 100 400 then added 1.5 converter
Then changed to 2* converter
Really could do with tripod as almost to heavy to hold in the end arm braced on back of bench to keep still
Had to crank iOS up to 400 to get enough light as f11 was min appature with 2* converter
If anyone can I’d the birds, please do. I think they are house martins. We have  a group of these come every year same birds or the next gen I don’t know but they always use the same bramble bush and our hunny suckle


----------



## Original katomi

A recent post has made me think and ask this question
What is a pro, semi pro, amateur , hobbyists 
I was always under the impression that an amateur was someone who did not earn a living or money at, in this case, photography 
Semi pro, well that’s is self evident as is pro.
But like all titles these get misused
I would class myself as a hobbyist 
What are others thoughts on this


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, Hosers.  A bit of a late start but we have an on-the-patio activity planned.  A while back, we bought a re-purposed cart; the kind that used to be used at railroad stations to haul baggage.  It has had some box-like shelves added so it is just right as a flower/plant cart.  It needs to be refinished, so we plan on stripping it, and start painting.  We'll add some plants, herb and maybe a couple of peppers, next payday.



Original katomi said:


> A recent post has made me think and ask this question
> What is a pro, semi pro, amateur , hobbyists
> I was always under the impression that an amateur was someone who did not earn a living or money at, in this case, photography
> Semi pro, well that’s is self evident as is pro.
> But like all titles these get misused
> I would class myself as a hobbyist
> What are others thoughts on this


I am a professional Geographer (GIS Analyst/Cartographer) - that's what the money comes from.  Everything else is a hobby.


----------



## stapo49

Original katomi said:


> A recent post has made me think and ask this question
> What is a pro, semi pro, amateur , hobbyists
> I was always under the impression that an amateur was someone who did not earn a living or money at, in this case, photography
> Semi pro, well that’s is self evident as is pro.
> But like all titles these get misused
> I would class myself as a hobbyist
> What are others thoughts on this


That's an interesting one. I guess,as you said, a pro makes their living totally from photography, a semi-pro has income from photography and other sources and the other two I would bunch together. There is also the "enthusiast" which seems to be between semi-pro and hobbyist? Having said that I have seen images from people who are "hobbyists" that are just as good as any pros and images from supposedly "pro" photographers that aren't that great. I think sometimes a "label" doesn't reflect the ability of the image taker.


----------



## Jeff15

House arrest is beginning to get me down.........


----------



## Original katomi

Hiya Jeff, in what way?
Are you normally an outgoing person


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just tried to put a grocery order in for pickup.  First of all, they are now making people wait to even get into the website. Then I finally get in, put my order together, and then go to choose a spot for pick-up. Last time I did so, I had to wait several days but it wasn't too bad. This time, I went all the way out to April 13th and there was not a single spot available.
> 
> Looks like I'll be making a mask and just going to the store myself.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Try again in a few days.  Did you do Prime now with WF?  I read online that grocery deliveries and pick ups are super busy right now because a lot of people just got their first unemployment check.
Click to expand...


So I tried again last night and yup, it was better. No wait to get into the website and there were actually two free spots for pick-up today, so I did my shopping. Also put in an order at another store that I was able to pick up today, and I stopped at CVS for my prescription.

All things considered, it was fairly painless. No lines, and I was able to run into the grocery store for a few things that I forgot. One thing that the annoyed me is that they had told me a bunch of things I ordered were out of stock, but when I went through to grab the 2 items I had forgotten to order, I ended up picking up 4 of the items they said were out of stock.

Either way, I am now home and I have food.


----------



## Original katomi

Night all, chat again later. Stay safe


----------



## dxqcanada

I think I recall going to an AC/DC concert in the 80's


----------



## limr

I saw the B-52s in the '80s.


----------



## Jeff G

limr said:


> I saw the B-52s in the '80s.



Lucky!


----------



## snowbear

Nothing says "Easter" like a white chocolate dinosaur.


----------



## limr

Jeff G said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I saw the B-52s in the '80s.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lucky!
Click to expand...


University of Florida, free outdoor concert at the bandshell. We got there nice and early to be close to the stage. It was such a fun concert.


----------



## dxqcanada




----------



## limr

Morning hosers. Happy Easter to those who celebrate.

Zelda's a bunny for the day.


----------



## tirediron

And clearly NOT impressed by it!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> And clearly NOT impressed by it!



Very little impresses her.


----------



## terri

Zelda the Easter-cat!    

Drizzly chill day down here.   I'm grateful for it, since I'm just busy with laundry and cooking today.   Snuggle time with cats is scheduled for later.


----------



## SquarePeg

It is sunny and cool here.  A very perfect Easter Sunday on the surface.  Of course it won’t be the same without family to celebrate with.


----------



## snowbear

Hoppy Easter.
We got most of the cart stripped of paint.  We may need to pick up some veneer to re-do the edging on the side panels, which are hardwood plywood.  The rest looks like red oak.


----------



## CherylL

Oscar went back to the vet to get the dressing changed.  Healing up, but still some bleeding.  He goes in for another check Monday.  He is resting comfortably and take the cone off only when he sits by us.  He is not happy.


----------



## terri

Bless his heart!   He doesn't look happy, not at all.   Poor little guy.   

Hopefully he will heal quickly.


----------



## Original katomi

Aww bless, poor chap.
Best not tell him he looks like he has a tutu on and is ready to dance swan lake


----------



## waday

Those ears! Poor guy!


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Aww bless, poor chap.
> Best not tell him he looks like he has a tutu on and is ready to dance swan lake



he looks very Elizabethan


----------



## PJM

Jeff15 said:


> House arrest is beginning to get me down.........



Are you flying that drone in the house yet?


----------



## Warhorse

Still here in FL, it is getting uncomfortable quarantining in the MH. Thinking of returning home to MI this Friday.


----------



## SquarePeg

Warhorse said:


> Still here in FL, it is getting uncomfortable quarantining in the MH. Thinking of returning home to MI this Friday.



Michigan C19 numbers are really high.  Is that all centered around the Detroit metro area?


----------



## snowbear

We've just added cases by zip code and demographics (race/ethnicity, age, gender) to the main map.


----------



## stapo49

Here in Perth the case numbers are so low they are considering easing restriction in early May. 99% of our cases have been imported via cruise ships and airline travellers. Western Australia has closed it's borders to the other Australian states except for essential occupations like truckers carrying groceries etc. They have also locked down different regions within WA. If you are in Perth you can't travel  down south say to the Margaret River region etc. Again essential services are exempted.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all,


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning Hosers. I hope everyone is healthy and in good spirits today.


----------



## Original katomi

Healthy  and wet, just washed the car. Going to drip to the shower..     ..       ..       ..


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Morning Hosers. I hope everyone is healthy and in good spirits today.


So far so good!   It's very nice outside today after the recent wild storms.   Pollen has been beaten back, sunny and mild.   I traipsed around the back yard with the cats while the hubby did some pruning and picking up yard debris from the storms.   Quite a mess.   

My barn swallows have arrived, as they do every spring - they go right back to the same nest just outside my front door.   Right now, they are still in repair and feather mode, but I expect eggs will be coming soon.


----------



## Original katomi

Taking time out.... aurghhhhhhhh 
I have never been much one for instructions manual or leaflet in 30 languages.
Now I am batting my head against the wall.
I am setting up to do some images using a Hahnel giga pro 2or least trying.
Just had to down load the instructions off the web,  need extra hands to hold remote!i pad the remote trigger 
Arughhhhhhhhhhhh


----------



## SquarePeg

Deep breaths.  Breath in for 4, hold for 4, breath out for 4, hold for 4...ommmmm


----------



## CherylL

Original katomi said:


> Taking time out.... aurghhhhhhhh
> I have never been much one for instructions manual or leaflet in 30 languages.
> Now I am batting my head against the wall.
> I am setting up to do some images using a Hahnel giga pro 2or least trying.
> Just had to down load the instructions off the web,  need extra hands to hold remote!i pad the remote trigger
> Arughhhhhhhhhhhh



Duct tape???  Works for extra pair of hands maybe.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. Hanging in there. It's been far too easy to settle into my night owl ways. When I start the day, I can barely get through an email without having to take a break, drink more coffee, pet the cats, etc. Between about 7:30 and now, however? Caught up on all of my counseling notes, sent a pile of emails, paid bills, planned out a to-do list for the rest of the week, and re-organized my music files so I can get rid of iTunes.

Okay, I need to go slip a mickey into my drink or something or I'll be up all night!


----------



## Derrel

limr said:


> SNIO》re-organized my music files so I can get rid of iTunes.



I would love to hear more about that. Back in the early 2000s from about 2000 to 2009, I amassed a huge collection of MP3 files. I have music that I will never listen to and so much stuff that I have never listened to. Last year my iTunes had 24,591 songs in it. Over the past six weeks I have created an archive of 3,334 songs that I like the most, and I would be open to hearing about getting rid of iTunes. Is there an alternate MP3 playing program that you have found good?


----------



## limr

Derrel said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> SNIO》re-organized my music files so I can get rid of iTunes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would love to hear more about that. Back in the early 2000s from about 2000 to 2009, I amassed a huge collection of MP3 files. I have music that I will never listen to and so much stuff that I have never listened to. Last year my iTunes had 24,591 songs in it. Over the past six weeks I have created an archive of 3,334 songs that I like the most, and I would be open to hearing about getting rid of iTunes. Is there an alternate MP3 playing program that you have found good?
Click to expand...


I've been using Music Bee on my laptop. I just started using it regularly a few weeks ago when my personal computer became my work office and I was once again playing a lot of music on my computer. So far so good. I hated iTunes. The only reason I still had it installed is because I still have an iPod Nano that is mounted on a speaker, and I've used that to play music in other parts of the house too far away to hear the computer. However, I recently got a Bluetooth speaker and can listen to music on my phone now, so I think it's time to get rid of the Nano and iTunes for good.


----------



## Derrel

Thanks for the info. I will check out Music Bee.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, once I have finished housework I will see if I was able to work out how to use the time lapse remote.
Don’t hold your breath..... you will pass out.


----------



## Warhorse

My wife and I just received our stimulus direct deposit of $2400 this morning.
Anybody else gotten theirs yet?


----------



## limr

Warhorse said:


> My wife and I just received our stimulus direct deposit of $2400 this morning.
> Anybody else gotten theirs yet?



I just checked, and indeed I did. Funny because as I said above, I was up pretty late paying all my bills, so I'm kind of glad this didn't come in until after I was done. Now I get to go in again and put all of this into my house fund!


----------



## smoke665

Hopefully we can go back to our quiet shelter in place life again. Sunday evening two tornadoes passed close, one north of us about 5 miles and one south less then 3 miles. Fortunately no injuries, but several homes destroyed, lots and lots of trees and power lines down. Even though we were realitvely calm, the substation to the south of us took a hit. We lost power at 6 pm, on Sunday, didn't come back on till 9 pm Monday night. Had the RV generator running to provide limited power to the house. No wind damage but had to repair several areas that had washed out from the heavy rains.


----------



## limr

And done. I'm now $1200 closer to having my upfront costs for my house.


----------



## terri

Warhorse said:


> My wife and I just received our stimulus direct deposit of $2400 this morning.
> Anybody else gotten theirs yet?


Nothing here, but we didn't file electronically this year, so we'll be last in line.   I'm not tapping my foot for it, at least.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all
Well I finally worked out how to do time lapse.
My test subject is not brilliant but it’s has given me the skills to move on to other things.
My test piece was milk with old dark engine oil shaken the time lapse shows them separating
Seems that I can’t post the vid here without putting it  on some photo web hosting site first


----------



## terri

Here is mama barn swallow:






They showed up on April 1st, which is very early.   Just a cell phone shot.   This is the upper corner of my front porch, where this same nest is used every year - I think they started in 2016, so we're on year 4.   Last year, 2 different mama swallows used this nest over the summer.   5 eggs each.   We watched them all take to the air.   I'd like to think this bird is one of those ten born in this nest, which is how she knew where to find it.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all


----------



## terri

Happy Thursday, hosers!


----------



## Original katomi

Thanks Terri,


----------



## SquarePeg

Warhorse said:


> My wife and I just received our stimulus direct deposit of $2400 this morning.
> Anybody else gotten theirs yet?



Yes yesterday.  I guess I just squeaked in for the child credit.  It said 16 and under.  Princess turned 17 in January so they either ent by age on 1/1/20 or based it on last year’s (2018) return.



smoke665 said:


> Hopefully we can go back to our quiet shelter in place life again. Sunday evening two tornadoes passed close, one north of us about 5 miles and one south less then 3 miles. Fortunately no injuries, but several homes destroyed, lots and lots of trees and power lines down. Even though we were realitvely calm, the substation to the south of us took a hit. We lost power at 6 pm, on Sunday, didn't come back on till 9 pm Monday night. Had the RV generator running to provide limited power to the house. No wind damage but had to repair several areas that had washed out from the heavy rains.



I hope with your wife’s medical issues that you two are staying isolated. 



terri said:


> Warhorse said:
> 
> 
> 
> My wife and I just received our stimulus direct deposit of $2400 this morning.
> Anybody else gotten theirs yet?
> 
> 
> 
> Nothing here, but we didn't file electronically this year, so we'll be last in line.   I'm not tapping my foot for it, at least.
Click to expand...


I haven’t filed yet this year but got mine right away.  I did my 2019 taxes a few weeks ago but needed one document that I couldn’t find at the time.  I found it the next day but have just been procrastinating- I’m getting a refund so no reason to wait other than I’ve been busy during the day and uninterested in anything other than stupid tablet games at night.  Wordscapes anyone?  Two dots?  I’m obsessed with Two Dots. 



Original katomi said:


> Hi all
> Well I finally worked out how to do time lapse.
> My test subject is not brilliant but it’s has given me the skills to move on to other things.
> My test piece was milk with old dark engine oil shaken the time lapse shows them separating
> Seems that I can’t post the vid here without putting it  on some photo web hosting site first



looking forward to seeing it. 



terri said:


> Happy Thursday, hosers!



Almost the weekend!  We got some snow just north of us in NH last night.  Chilly here today.  This quarantine seems like it’s going to be endless... Glad to have you Hosers to talk to.


----------



## limr

Yesterday was the day that I usually celebrate the girls' birthday. They were found as kittens and so never knew the exact birth date, but knew it was in April. I picked April 15th to celebrate, but I totally forgot until last night. Going to have to have a delayed birthday celebration over the weekend


----------



## Original katomi

Ok folks stupid question 
How do I load video here 
Thanks


----------



## tirediron

Remote hosting 'site (YouTube, Vimeo) and embed link in post.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Yesterday was the day that I usually celebrate the girls' birthday. They were found as kittens and so never knew the exact birth date, but knew it was in April. I picked April 15th to celebrate, but I totally forgot until last night. Going to have to have a delayed birthday celebration over the weekend


Happy Birthday, girls.  Zoe sends hugs.


----------



## Original katomi

Thanks Tired iron
Edited 17.06 bst
Thanks Tired iron. Think this should work
https://www.flickr.com/gp/katomi/55fZ63
Milk and oil


----------



## smoke665

I guess the fact that we were out of power last week for awhile was a small price to pay considering it could have been worse. It was a good thing the EF2 tornado Sunday, that passed about 4 miles South of us wasn't very wide at the base, because the destructive force within that base was unbelievable. As it wobbled back and forth in the narrow valley for the better part of 20 miles, the smaller area helped to lessen the damage to houses. A corner of a house here, shingles blown off there, but fortunately the property damage was light and no injuries. The other fortunate thing was it's speed, radar was estimating it was traveling at upwards of 60 miles an hour, which is pretty fast for tornadoes, usually they drag along, giving them more time to destroy.

As we watched both twisters approaching on radar, it was evident the one that went to the north would miss us, but this one was headed straight for us. Here we have fairly narrow mountain ridges with valleys in between, once a tornado gets in a valley it usually stays there until it runs its course. Radar showed it enter our valley, then the power went off, all we could do is wait. For some unknown reason, it must not have hit the valley square because at a gap about 4 miles from us, it jumped over the ridge separating us, continuing up the valley on the other side. 

The one that went to the north of us about 10 miles (also an EF2) struck the south edge of a town, completely obliterating houses and businesses, and injuring several people in it's path. I didn't go there to take pictures because it didn't feel right going there to gawk while they were trying to clean up from the tragedy.


----------



## Original katomi

Smoke, glad you are ok,


----------



## waday

Glad to hear you’re safe, @smoke665 !!


----------



## smoke665

@Original katomi and @waday Still here, but another bad storm predicted for this coming Sunday. Just another Spring in the South.


----------



## PJM

Glad to hear all is OK for you.  Hope it stays that way.


----------



## SquarePeg

When I woke up this morning...


----------



## SquarePeg

Not sure why that’s sideways...


----------



## terri

April snow!   Likely the last little bit of it.   I used to see that fairly often, growing up in Michigan.   Used to tick me off when I had to clean the car windshield just to get to work, that late in the season.    

Love that walkway, Sharon!    

It's cool and sunny here, perfect April day.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> When I woke up this morning...
> 
> View attachment 190304


Ugh. We had snow flurries two days this week, but thankfully no accumulation


----------



## Jeff15

Two weeks today is my 70th birthday, I hope I can survive until then......


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all this is what I have being playing with. The first part of the sequence I made the mistake of not noticing the air bubbles. Not posted for c&c I know there is a lot wrong, just for fun. This is something  like 9 hours of camera work for just a few seconds
https://www.flickr.com/gp/katomi/GR1758
Hope you enjoy,


----------



## Original katomi

Hi morning all, normally would not be up posting this time Sunday am 08.06 but we have a food delivery
And at the moment it’s a case of accepting any time slot, they are hard to get.
No boring time lapse vid today lol
Have a good day & stay safe. Thoughts with you all be it storm,flood or bug


----------



## waday

Original katomi said:


> Hi morning all, normally would not be up posting this time Sunday am 08.06 but we have a food delivery
> And at the moment it’s a case of accepting any time slot, they are hard to get.
> No boring time lapse vid today lol
> Have a good day & stay safe. Thoughts with you all be it storm,flood or bug


Good luck with the food delivery. Same here with the any time slot. Last time, our delivery time was anytime between 6 AM and 3 PM.


----------



## Original katomi

Thanks  Waday, we got about 2/3 of what Mrs. ordered.  9 am BST the driver is knocking on the door, we have a table outside that all delivery drivers can leave items on. It saves me from bending and means that the distance can be kept.


----------



## limr

I still do pick-up instead of delivery. The last time I put an order in, they said that half of what I ordered was out of stock. I had forgotten a few things on the order anyway, so I asked if I could just run in the store to grab them (there's a separate area where pick-ups happen.) As I was going to the aisle I needed, I noticed at least 3 or 4 of the items that they said were out of stock were, in fact, in stock, so I grabbed those, too.

So now I figure that I will make a list of what they said they don't have, pick up everything else, then go back into the store and get the things they think they don't have. I noticed that some of the things they skipped were things that might not be in an obvious area, so the shopper missed it. They are also not doing any substitutions, so they might still have plenty of spinach, for example, but not the brand that I asked for. So I'd rather take a little extra time to make a quick run-through for the missing items.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> When I woke up this morning...
> 
> View attachment 190304


Someone sprinkled salt on your lawn?


----------



## SquarePeg

Jeff15 said:


> Two weeks today is my 70th birthday, I hope I can survive until then......



You got this!



limr said:


> I still do pick-up instead of delivery. The last time I put an order in, they said that half of what I ordered was out of stock. I had forgotten a few things on the order anyway, so I asked if I could just run in the store to grab them (there's a separate area where pick-ups happen.) As I was going to the aisle I needed, I noticed at least 3 or 4 of the items that they said were out of stock were, in fact, in stock, so I grabbed those, too.
> 
> So now I figure that I will make a list of what they said they don't have, pick up everything else, then go back into the store and get the things they think they don't have. I noticed that some of the things they skipped were things that might not be in an obvious area, so the shopper missed it. They are also not doing any substitutions, so they might still have plenty of spinach, for example, but not the brand that I asked for. So I'd rather take a little extra time to make a quick run-through for the missing items.



Our app has a check off box where you can choose whether or not you’ll accept substitutions.  Some of the stories I’ve read about the substitution choices were pretty funny so I was leery of checking the box but for our WF order it was mostly them substituting organic vs non organic or larger vs smaller sizes.  We now have enough jasmine rice to last through 2021.  The Target grocery delivery was through Shipt and I selected text me option for substitutions.  That was pretty good - said YES to Giardelli chocolate chips instead of Nestle and NO to gluten free anything.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Our app has a check off box where you can choose whether or not you’ll accept substitutions.  Some of the stories I’ve read about the substitution choices were pretty funny so I was leery of checking the box but for our WF order it was mostly them substituting organic vs non organic or larger vs smaller sizes.  We now have enough jasmine rice to last through 2021.  The Target grocery delivery was through Shipt and I selected text me option for substitutions.  That was pretty good - said YES to Giardelli chocolate chips instead of Nestle and NO to gluten free anything.



This service usually does allow substitutions and they would send a text  a few hours before pick-up so I could review and approve or deny the substitutions they were offering. They are just suspending that service for the time being, unfortunately.

And I'm the opposite these days - I'm still avoiding gluten and certain other foods, so I need to make sure I don't get the gluteny substitutions.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our app has a check off box where you can choose whether or not you’ll accept substitutions.  Some of the stories I’ve read about the substitution choices were pretty funny so I was leery of checking the box but for our WF order it was mostly them substituting organic vs non organic or larger vs smaller sizes.  We now have enough jasmine rice to last through 2021.  The Target grocery delivery was through Shipt and I selected text me option for substitutions.  That was pretty good - said YES to Giardelli chocolate chips instead of Nestle and NO to gluten free anything.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This service usually does allow substitutions and they would send a text  a few hours before pick-up so I could review and approve or deny the substitutions they were offering. They are just suspending that service for the time being, unfortunately.
> 
> And I'm the opposite these days - I'm still avoiding gluten and certain other foods, so I need to make sure I don't get the gluteny substitutions.
Click to expand...


Your story about the stores not really being out of stock on some items is interesting.  Seems like a lot of the shoppers are new due to the sudden high demand so that doesn’t surprise me but it does make me wonder if I should make a grocery run myself at some point.  For now I’m going to suffer through without my favorite chips and caffeine free Diet Coke but soon...


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our app has a check off box where you can choose whether or not you’ll accept substitutions.  Some of the stories I’ve read about the substitution choices were pretty funny so I was leery of checking the box but for our WF order it was mostly them substituting organic vs non organic or larger vs smaller sizes.  We now have enough jasmine rice to last through 2021.  The Target grocery delivery was through Shipt and I selected text me option for substitutions.  That was pretty good - said YES to Giardelli chocolate chips instead of Nestle and NO to gluten free anything.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This service usually does allow substitutions and they would send a text  a few hours before pick-up so I could review and approve or deny the substitutions they were offering. They are just suspending that service for the time being, unfortunately.
> 
> And I'm the opposite these days - I'm still avoiding gluten and certain other foods, so I need to make sure I don't get the gluteny substitutions.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Your story about the stores not really being out of stock on some items is interesting.  Seems like a lot of the shoppers are new due to the sudden high demand so that doesn’t surprise me but it does make me wonder if I should make a grocery run myself at some point.  For now I’m going to suffer through without my favorite chips and caffeine free Diet Coke but soon...
Click to expand...

That’s exactly what happens at our store, too. Things that I knew weren’t out of stock, but they said they were. It happens at Home Depot a lot, too. HD made me so mad the one time that I wrote an email to corporate and actually got a callback. 

Also, our service used to offer substitutions, but they actually suspended substitutions until things return to “normal”.


----------



## SquarePeg

Home Depot is no longer on the list of stores that will get my money.  Been shopping at Lowe’s for about a year.  trying to put my money where my mouth is both politically and socially.  Had to give up a few favorite brands at the grocery store and eating out but sleeping better!  Also have been watching which companies stepped up to support their communities and employees during the pandemic.  I’m making a list and checking it twice...


----------



## RowdyRay

SquarePeg said:


> Home Depot is no longer on the list of stores that will get my money.  Been shopping at Lowe’s for about a year.  trying to put my money where my mouth is both politically and socially.  Had to give up a few favorite brands at the grocery store and eating out but sleeping better!  Also have been watching which companies stepped up to support their communities and employees during the pandemic.  I’m making a list and checking it twice...



Forgive me if I'm being stupid. What has HD done to be on your **** list? 

Think I've made two purchases from them in the last ten years. Both were on-line and pick it up at the store. The first was so cheap it broke when taking it out of the package. They refunded my money. The second wasn't even the item I ordered. Again, they refunded my money. Inferior products and no ad has prompted me to buy anything from them since. 

Lowes is 2- 3 times the price as any one else and the nearest is 20 miles away. Much cheaper and faster to go to the mom and pop hardware store a mile down the road for a nut or bolt. Plus, I'd like them to stay there for those goofy random items I need in a pinch.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all,


----------



## SquarePeg

Quarantine sunset.  Sticking to the porch today.  Will tell all about my adventures this past weekend when I have time Later tonight.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all here is a thought for everyone 
Our g kids don’t believe the things we tell them now. Will they every believe that we used to go out when we felt like it and went where we liked. There was no need to have hazmat sites and we used to touch people when we greeted each other.
Already “ lockdown” is a state of being and no longer just a word. Wonder if the dictionary will be amended lol

Just for fun
Girls forget the excuse that you are washing your hair, 
“Sorry can’t come out with you mum says we are in lockdown”


----------



## limr

Women forgot that excuse decades ago.

"Sorry, not coming out. I don't want to."


----------



## Original katomi

Ok I consider my self slapped....


----------



## waday

Original katomi said:


> Ok I consider my self slapped....


Or use it as a learning lesson.


----------



## Original katomi

Yep lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's a nice sunny day. I think I like it just as well when it's rainy and/or cold since that seems to cause less inclination to want to go somewhere! lol Of course I'm used to being home during the week but the weekends have been odd. I seem to be doing a certain amount of talking from the doorway to the driveway.

Have been already doing grocery pickup since I can't traipse thru a store and lug groceries. But the ones here same as some of you, no substitutions, you get what you get. And I think the reason stores may have items in store and not online is items might ship separately, some might be more limited in how much sells so they don't stock as much, etc. etc. and they just don't have everything online.

Our local Big Boy has marketplace items available and the delivery service actually comes out here! Driver's app showed the address wrong but we figured it out, emailed the company about getting it corrected but no response yet. That was handy to get milk, eggs, bread from a local bakery chain, etc. 

Schools are closed the rest of the school year, which I figured. If I was still working I'd like a long spring break that runs into a long summer. But the catch is schools are doing online or sending packets home and having to grade homework, etc. so working from home is still work! lol

Going to take a couple of online courses, one quilting and one embroidery, so that should be interesting and keep the time moving along. Although someone said April has gone fast, and I was thinking somehow it has!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Wade sorry to see that about your best friend's dad, that's a shame.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I heard a bird one evening at dusk that sounded close to the house considering there's nothing really to perch on there. Another evening looked out the bathroom window, terrorizing the mama bird in the process; it was getting dark but could see a nest. Obviously a bird found enough room to perch. Next day looked and can see one little blue egg. The mama bird chirps and chatters every evening at dusk. 

Also have bunnies! Two of them close to the house, I got a couple of pictures thru the screen then as soon as I started to open it (I knew it! lol) one of them bolted for the bushes. The other was laying down and looked pretty comfy, but after a pause it followed the other. I imagine I'll see baby bunnies running in the yard one of these days. 

It's quiet here but it's been really quiet! Probably why the birds and bunnies are closer to the house than usual. They already seem to think the bushes are their condos.


----------



## smoke665

Stopped at our only local Craft Brew, Back Forty Beer, today. They had to close earlier because of the lockdown but thanks to a hastily acquired still they were able to pivot and start producing hand sanitizer. They're producing some high grade liquor, that smells so good I keep wanting to lick my fingers every time  I rub it on my hands.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I heard there were breweries that would be making hand sanitizer. I'm wondering how the equipment for one works for the other! but good for them. And I figured people might feel a need to have a beer everytime they clean their hands!


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> I heard there were breweries that would be making hand sanitizer. I'm wondering how the equipment for one works for the other! but good for them. And I figured people might feel a need to have a beer everytime they clean their hands!



They distill alcohol, same way they make moonshine. Considering the bead (bubbles) when you shake it and how fast it evaporates, I'm putting it at well over a 100 proof.


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> I heard a bird one evening at dusk that sounded close to the house considering there's nothing really to perch on there. Another evening looked out the bathroom window, terrorizing the mama bird in the process; it was getting dark but could see a nest. Obviously a bird found enough room to perch. Next day looked and can see one little blue egg. The mama bird chirps and chatters every evening at dusk.
> 
> Also have bunnies! Two of them close to the house, I got a couple of pictures thru the screen then as soon as I started to open it (I knew it! lol) one of them bolted for the bushes. The other was laying down and looked pretty comfy, but after a pause it followed the other. I imagine I'll see baby bunnies running in the yard one of these days.
> 
> It's quiet here but it's been really quiet! Probably why the birds and bunnies are closer to the house than usual. They already seem to think the bushes are their condos.


That sounds so sweet!   Our barn swallows are still circling around during the day, working on tidying up the existing nest outside the front door.   They seem to be in no rush, but then, I know they showed up early this year.  We're still dipping down into the 40's F. at night, and they are acting accordingly.  

And we suddenly have a few rabbits around, too!   They love our clover and dandelions.   It pays to have a bunch of weeds in the backyard, I guess.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yep, I have clover too. They like to be smack dab in the middle of the back yard (when no peeps or critters are around).

D'ya mean they brew hand sanitizer in those copper pots with coils out the top? run it into town in the back of a pickup truck?

Why does this come to mind? used to be a place where you could take in a jug and they'd fill it with beer you could walk home with (was near the house of a friend of mine). Nowadays I guess they'd give you hand sanitizer instead! lol


----------



## CherylL

Jeff15 said:


> Two weeks today is my 70th birthday, I hope I can survive until then......



Happy early Birthday!  You got this milestone!


----------



## CherylL

Used Instacart this week.  Two weeks ago I had to wait almost a week to get a delivery date.  This week placed the order at 2:30 and it was at my house an hour later.  I have a table set up in the garage for the delivery people to set the bags.  Since I ordered wine I got carded in my own garage lol.   The bad thing was that I had to put my birth year in the app and had to scroll and scroll.


----------



## SquarePeg

Finally getting caught up from the weekend!  Saturday afternoon one of my photo buddies texted me that she was heading up to NH White Mtns for a Milky Way shoot that night.  I was invited along with one other but we would be driving up each in our own cars because of social distancing.  I haven’t really been anywhere since this started - even my hikes with the dog have been cut down due to parking lots closed and semi crowded trails so I decided to go for it.  

Left my house at 9:15pm, drive almost an hour to meet up with the others then followed them up into the mountains.  Out in the cold all night, at least 6 ft apart, 3 different locations, a very looooong solo ride home arrived at 6:45am.  

Still editing most of the shots and I’m still tired but damn it felt good to be out there shooting!  Nice at night when there’s no one else around.   We did see one couple shooting together but we all kept our distance.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, excuse any typos, plz I have been doing diy for 3 days and now my joints hav no longer protesting but have gone on lockdown  . Looking at Square Pegs post I was looking for ward to watching the meteor shower but once again cloud cover and being told that given how much pain I was in I was mad to consider sitting out in the cold for hours.
Here I think the police would question me if I drove miles to do photography
Have a good day stay safe.


----------



## Jeff15

I believe in social distancing but when I go to the forest I deliberately go where I know I will see hardly anyone, in the unlikely event that I do it would be easy to keep a safe distance. I don't see a problem with this. What are your views guys ?......


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, don’t know about the rest of the world but here the tv channels are digging out all the oldies, to fill the gaps.
Just waiting to see if they bring out the original cartoons, Felix, Tom and Jerry, or even the keystone cops and Lorral and Hardy. The latter would really please my dad


----------



## Original katomi

Jeff, Hi
Good on you for keeping distance, my thoughts are don’t tell anybody where that way you won’t get everybody trying to do the same.


----------



## SquarePeg

The problem here is that they’ve closed most of the large parking areas at the popular trail heads because people were not keeping social distancing.  So that forces everyone to the few state parks that are open or the smaller spots.  My favorite trail has only about 6 parking spots and it’s been full every time we’ve tried it for the past 2 weeks.  Normally I would park along the road but they are ticketing these days.  

I don’t like to walk the puppy around our block, there are too many people and other dogs around and she doesn’t understand why she can no longer say hi to everyone.


----------



## RowdyRay

Jeff15 said:


> I believe in social distancing but when I go to the forest I deliberately go where I know I will see hardly anyone, in the unlikely event that I do it would be easy to keep a safe distance. I don't see a problem with this. What are your views guys ?......



Exactly. That's what I'm doing. I was sort of a hermit before this. Now....I don't want to see any ones ugly mug. Lol.


----------



## PJM

Jeff15 said:


> I believe in social distancing but when I go to the forest I deliberately go where I know I will see hardly anyone, in the unlikely event that I do it would be easy to keep a safe distance. I don't see a problem with this. What are your views guys ?......



I do the same, Jeff.  I often go early in the morning when even fewer people are out.  Most of the time I don't see another person.


----------



## limr

Jeff15 said:


> I believe in social distancing but when I go to the forest I deliberately go where I know I will see hardly anyone, in the unlikely event that I do it would be easy to keep a safe distance. I don't see a problem with this. What are your views guys ?......



I don't see any problem with that. Like was said, as long as the park isn't closed. I have noticed that more people are walking these days, so it's possible you might see a few folks that you wouldn't have otherwise, but like you said - easy to stay 6 feet away.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Picked up a grocery order today. As suspected, there were several things that were "out of stock" so after I picked up the remainder of the order, I went into the store to see what I could find. Sure enough, there were one or two things that were actually in stock, and others that had suitable substitutions. For example, I ordered a bag of dried beans - 16 bean soup mix. They didn't have that. Instead, they had a 15 bean soup mix. If these were normal times, they would have said, "Hey, is this okay instead?" and I could have approved all the substitutions on their website.

Of course, I also left with a ton of other stuff I never even had on my list, but I figured I'd stock up. I now have a LOT of dried beans. I also bought a bag of pre-cut frozen salmon fillets, forgetting that I had already bought a bag and it was sitting in my car. I now have a LOT of salmon in my freezer.

Gotta say, being single with no kids and being mostly vegetarian sure does make it easier to shelter at home during a global pandemic.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> 15 bean soup mix


How did you manage without that 16th bean?


----------



## terri

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 15 bean soup mix
> 
> 
> 
> How did you manage without that 16th bean?
Click to expand...

Seriously, it's going to taste like crap.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 15 bean soup mix
> 
> 
> 
> How did you manage without that 16th bean?
Click to expand...

 
I will let you know. I may have to do research on what to use to substitute for the last bean.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, I was going to make some pun about the bean but it sounded better in my head than on the screen.
Here at both ends of the morning does not help. I was doing a photo shoot last night, just waiting for the images of the mad man out in the road doing light trails to come up on the news.
Woken up by the butcher phoning to say my delivery s ready.....


----------



## Tony744

Jeff, I've been doing the same myself when I don't have to work and our wonderful New England weather cooperates. Sharon, try Minuteman National Historic Park out in Lincoln/Concord. There are numerous parking areas and every time I've been out there it's been easy to maintain social distancing. The main trails are wide enough for everybody to keep a safe distance apart.


----------



## stapo49

ANZAC day here in Australia today. This is equivelant to veterans day in the USA and Canada I imagine? As people could not congregate at the various war memorials due to Covid 19 they asked people to stand at the end of their driveways at 0600 and wave flags etc. In my sister in laws street there was a guy playing the bagpipes.


----------



## stapo49

ANZAC  day update. A guy in Darwin drove around with kegs in the back of his truck serving beer to veterans standing in their driveways lol.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.

Thursday, we donned our masks and went to the fish shop (the supermarkets don't carry decent seafood).  Last night's dinner was very simple - shimp sauteed in butter, garlic, and Pernod (abbreviated shrimp scampi), with a side of baked jalapeno poppers.  Tonight will be the salmon (MLW is cooking, so I'm not sure of the recipe) and making clam chowder (New England style) for another night.  I'll put the pork roast in the crock pot, tomorrow.

Well, I must have read an earlier plan for the stim-pack, or completely misread it.  I didn't think we were eligible because MLW had a bunch of overtime last year, but the IRS deposited a wee bit into our checking account.  I figured it was a mistake, so we moved it to savings, figuring they will eventually want it back (might as well get a few cents interest).  Went back to the books and, yes, we are eligible.  It partly re-pays what I had there earlier and used to get lazy lobster moved from one apartment to the current one.


----------



## Original katomi

Hiya all,
Just had a letter, yea real paper, from the kids and G kids. 
They added a pic they had drawn, these are going in our window.

Snow bear, nice when you get something back from the government. You were wise to put it in savings until you were sure. Seen so meany peeps get something like that, spend it then it’s oh cr.....a....p when they have to pay it back


----------



## vintagesnaps

Watched some of the NY Rangers v. NJ Devils '94 Wales conference game 7 (still 'Wales', I miss that). Forgot how badly the NHL Network edits vintage footage, it's about unwatchable because when the players skate end to end they and the dasherboard lettering looks like double vision. Came back for OT, yelled Mess at the TV a number of times - why? I know they're going to win because the Rangers will be winning the Cup. And Mess got that Wales cup, so much for that superstition that's been going on for years (to not touch it, Mess grabbed it!). 

I felt like getting out my authentic Rangers jersey I bought online from Gerry Cosby at MSG when you could still do such a thing (before the NHL cookie cutter online so-called team stores). Although I've noticed some teams started going back to having their own team store online, but you have to know to look for it. I managed to find 'em! 

Okay that's my hockey for the week. Maybe the month. Maybe they'll show the '94 Cup final but mostly they rerun last year's playoffs. No Beanpot replays Friday night, c'mon NESN don't fail me now! lol


----------



## stapo49

Myself and a mate of mine loved watching ice hockey when we lived in Canada for a year many years ago. Somehow we ended up a Calgary Flames supporters? Think it was because we liked their jerseys? lol. We met a guy in BC who played professionally named Ron Flockheart who invited us to see him play in St Louis I think it was? Unfortunately we never got down there. We did drink a lot of beer with him though. lol


----------



## SquarePeg

PSA - Don’t drink and shop when you’re feeling sorry for yourself!


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> PSA - Don’t drink and shop when you’re feeling sorry for yourself!
> 
> View attachment 190624



I am trying really really hard to wait for Black Friday. Working from home has made me realize how long I've had my computer, and though it still works - and a little better since the RAM upgrade - I want a shiny new one. I am resisting by telling myself that if I save some money by Black Friday, I can get a fancier computer than I can get now.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> PSA - Don’t drink and shop when you’re feeling sorry for yourself!
> 
> View attachment 190624
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am trying really really hard to wait for Black Friday. Working from home has made me realize how long I've had my computer, and though it still works - and a little better since the RAM upgrade - I want a shiny new one. I am resisting by telling myself that if I save some money by Black Friday, I can get a fancier computer than I can get now.
Click to expand...


I was planning to wait for holiday sales as well.  I finally ran into something I couldn’t do on my iPad- star stacking.   I tried to do it on my Laptop (which had needed replacing for a few years) and it was painful and slow enough that it pushed me over the edge.  Best Buy has curbside pick up...


----------



## stapo49

SquarePeg said:


> PSA - Don’t drink and shop when you’re feeling sorry for yourself!
> 
> View attachment 190624



Lucky you weren't browsing the Ferrari page!


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> PSA - Don’t drink and shop when you’re feeling sorry for yourself!
> 
> View attachment 190624


Wife and I have our fingers hovering over the submit button for one. My wife is pushing for a new one. I mean, it’s not like it’s my fault the old one doesn’t work.

Oh, wait, it is. I was the one that spilled the wine...


----------



## limr

I'll be buying more puzzles before I buy a computer. This is my last one and I'm kind of obsessed with it, so I think it's going to go quickly. Here's what it will look like:






Yesterday, I did the border. This morning, I started in, working from outside in:







Tonight, I've got a good part of the outer part done:


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, nice kitty puzzle. 
I think that lockdown madness has got me, sorted out my mending pile and got out the sewing machine ready for the dull wet days that we are being promised


----------



## Tony744

I've been needing a new computer for a while now and keep putting off buying a new one. It isn't the cost that holds me back, it's shopping for the right computer that I dread.


----------



## snowbear

I have a (relatively) new computer.  MLW ordered a laptop for herself;  expecting delivery any time, now.


----------



## SquarePeg

Tony744 said:


> I've been needing a new computer for a while now and keep putting off buying a new one. It isn't the cost that holds me back, it's shopping for the right computer that I dread.



It’s like buying a car!such a big commitment these days and so many confusing choices.


----------



## Original katomi

Talking of new computers,
The problem for me is that if I upgraded my pc I would have to up grade  all my software and printer and other hardware


----------



## SquarePeg

Hey Hosers if anyone is interested, Creative Live’s creator pass is 50% off right now.  That is the cheapest I’ve ever seen it.  Be aware though that some specific instructor’s classes are excluded. 

Also - streaming live (free) on CL on 5/5 @9am PDT will be one of my favorite classes - The Art of Flower Photography with Kathleen Clemons.  Highly recommended by me to anyone interested in flower photography and even more so for anyone with a Lensbaby Velvet.


----------



## Jeff G

I'm afraid spring is almost done here, we were already at 92 degrees this weekend.


----------



## terri

Jeff G said:


> I'm afraid spring is almost done here, we were already at 92 degrees this weekend.


Holy crap!   That's awful.   

Despite a couple of short-lived warm spells, we've had a fantastic spring here.   It's still dipping down into the 40's almost every night, and there's been a ton of rain.  

All bets are off once May starts.   I did peek at a 30-day outlook, which isn't terribly reliable but I wanted to see what the trend currently is.   It looks like a typical May: mostly high 70's and low 80's, with a couple of spiky hotter days, but still very comfortable at night.   Very nice to see, so I hope that's what actually happens.


----------



## Jeff G

Looks like next week will cool back down to the mid to high 80's. Just not quite ready for summer yet. My air conditioner  has been on its  last legs for several years.


----------



## SquarePeg

Rain rain go away...


----------



## NancyMoranG

Jeff G said:


> I'm afraid spring is almost done here, we were already at 92 degrees this weekend.



We live in an RV and left Las Vegas yesterday. Forecast of 100-102 for next few days!
In Utah now, Grand Teton job May 15.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Technology question..
If I load TPF app on my Galaxy Note 9, can I upload photos from my phone easy onto TPF?
I wouldn't mind posting some daily photos or such like some of you do.


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> Technology question..
> If I load TPF app on my Galaxy Note 9, can I upload photos from my phone easy onto TPF?
> I wouldn't mind posting some daily photos or such like some of you do.



when I load a phone shot I usually have to change the size from original to large before it will load.  This is with iPhone 11.

Would love to see some photos from your travels.


----------



## Jeff G

SquarePeg said:


> Rain rain go away...



Rain rain come my way...


----------



## tirediron

@limr -  Kodak's got your back!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> @limr -  Kodak's got your back!



Might need that soon! 

This one's going fairly quickly. Will probably be done tomorrow. Found a few on Amazon that I'll be ordering.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, well the promised rain has arrived


----------



## limr

Done.


----------



## SquarePeg

kitties in windows!  meeow


----------



## Jeff G

Leonore, now you need to spackle all those cracks and get it sanded down smooth.


----------



## SquarePeg

Good morning Hosers!  I’m tired.  Best Buy thought it was ok to text me at 1:40AM last night to tell me my order was delayed!  They need to fix their app.


----------



## Jeff15

We have had enough rain for now, roll on summer.......


----------



## NancyMoranG

SquarePeg said:


> Good morning Hosers!  I’m tired.  Best Buy thought it was ok to text me at 1:40AM last night to tell me my order was delayed!  They need to fix their app.



Few nights ago @ 1 a.m., Googel texted me to ask if I was trying to recover my password in India!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, fingers tips now rainbow coloured, never before have I had so many problems changing inks in my printer


----------



## terri

NancyMoranG said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning Hosers!  I’m tired.  Best Buy thought it was ok to text me at 1:40AM last night to tell me my order was delayed!  They need to fix their app.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Few nights ago @ 1 a.m., Googel texted me to ask if I was trying to recover my password in India!
Click to expand...

Whoa, not a good text at ALL, anytime!


----------



## terri

I am not ashamed or embarrassed to admit that yesterday I charged $150 online at Barnes & Noble.       My order is actually arriving on time, too!  

This hunkering down is giving me a great excuse to buy books.   Doesn't matter how obscure.


----------



## Original katomi

Terri
Hiya what sort of books do you read?


----------



## waday

terri said:


> I am not ashamed or embarrassed to admit that yesterday I charged $150 online at Barnes & Noble.       My order is actually arriving on time, too!
> 
> This hunkering down is giving me a great excuse to buy books.   Doesn't matter how obscure.


That’s awesome! I’m always a fan of book deliveries.

The wife and I used to buy so many books, but we’ve succumbed to ebooks through our local library. It didn’t help that Borders went out, and the closest Barnes and Noble went out. We have to drive 30-40 minutes to get to B&N, so it’s not happening even on a semi-monthly basis with a 2-year old.

We have a couple of books lying around that I want to read/reread.

Read:
Starless Sea

Reread:
Night Circus
Lonely Hearts Hotel

Lonely Hearts Hotel was probably one of my favorite reads in a long time. It’s super dark and gritty. 

I’d love to see Night Circus adapted into a film, but I don’t think they’d be able to do it justice. (Well, can they ever?)

ETA: I’m about halfway through the last Harry Potter book as of last night.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> I am not ashamed or embarrassed to admit that yesterday I charged $150 online at Barnes & Noble.       My order is actually arriving on time, too!
> 
> This hunkering down is giving me a great excuse to buy books.   Doesn't matter how obscure.





waday said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am not ashamed or embarrassed to admit that yesterday I charged $150 online at Barnes & Noble.       My order is actually arriving on time, too!
> 
> This hunkering down is giving me a great excuse to buy books.   Doesn't matter how obscure.
> 
> 
> 
> That’s awesome! I’m always a fan of book deliveries.
> 
> The wife and I used to buy so many books, but we’ve succumbed to ebooks through our local library. It didn’t help that Borders went out, and the closest Barnes and Noble went out. We have to drive 30-40 minutes to get to B&N, so it’s not happening even on a semi-monthly basis with a 2-year old.
> 
> We have a couple of books lying around that I want to read/reread.
> 
> Read:
> Starless Sea
> 
> Reread:
> Night Circus
> Lonely Hearts Hotel
> 
> Lonely Hearts Hotel was probably one of my favorite reads in a long time. I’d love to see Night Circus adapted into a film, but I don’t think they’d be able to do it justice. (Well, can they ever?)
> 
> ETA: I’m about halfway through the last Harry Potter book as of last night.
Click to expand...


Bookshop: Buy books online. Support local bookstores.

I think this is going to be my new favorite way to buy books. I read about it in the NYT a little while ago and it's a way to buy books online while still supporting independent bookstores. I can't remember how it all works - and that's assuming I understood it all in the first place  - but it's apparently really taken off, especially now that people are looking for alternatives to Amazon.  I've bought only one book so far, but it seems pretty good.


----------



## SquarePeg

I do a lot of ebook borrowing from our library.  Super easy.  But I do occasionally give my eyes a break and get a real book. Especially in summer as I won’t bring my tablet to the beach and my dreaded has not worked in a bit.


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> Terri
> Hiya what sort of books do you read?


All kinds, rotational like.      This latest group includes parts 2 and 3 of the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake, along with some sci-fi, a novel by Alice Walker, and a used copy of my old biology textbook, among other things.   

What about you?


----------



## stapo49

terri said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Terri
> Hiya what sort of books do you read?
> 
> 
> 
> All kinds, rotational like.      This latest group includes parts 2 and 3 of the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake, along with some sci-fi, a novel by Alice Walker, and a used copy of my old biology textbook, among other things.   [emoji38]
> 
> What about you?
Click to expand...


I love Gormenghast.Titus alone my favourite of the three.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


----------



## Jeff15

I wish I read books but my problem is I have a very short attention span, that's mainly why I try to use fast shutter speeds.......


----------



## terri

stapo49 said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Terri
> Hiya what sort of books do you read?
> 
> 
> 
> All kinds, rotational like.      This latest group includes parts 2 and 3 of the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake, along with some sci-fi, a novel by Alice Walker, and a used copy of my old biology textbook, among other things.   [emoji38]
> 
> What about you?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I love Gormenghast.Titus alone my favourite of the three.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Good to hear, since it's the last of the trilogy.  Usually the reviews say the first one is the best.  I tend to think that has more to do with the newness element of the novel, which can't be duplicated, of course.


----------



## terri

Jeff15 said:


> I wish I read books but my problem is I have a very short attention span, that's mainly why I try to use fast shutter speeds.......


Too bad, but it seems you've learned to live with it.   I think part of my soul would die if I couldn't read!


----------



## NancyMoranG

My parents thought it important to read. Am so glad they instilled it in us!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Don't you turn your phones off at night...? or am I missing something? My plan when I retired was to take my work cell and fling it in the river. (And of course give them the money for it! lol) Not really... one of my coworkers said she was going to wear a tube top and flip flops her last day. I think we were in fantasy land.

Just got a new cell, an updated version of my oldie but goodie. It's red. It's cute. It's too light weight and I already flung it on the floor! I can't hang on to it and I tried to catch it and juggled it and off it went! lol 

And waiting for a call back because the activation super secret code or whatever hasn't activated it yet. The old phone finally died and won't recharge so they had to email it and I give up on a call back because it's the weekend. Geez thought it'd be easy enough to put in the new SIM card and battery and I'd have a fun new toy to play with.  Because this plastic is just like what they made toys out of! lol I got a new CD player/radio and it's nice that it's small and compact compared to my old one, but - it's a toy! lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

The only thing about that Bookshop site is the return procedure, if I'm reading it right. You need to send it to them, not to the seller. Usually for things I buy I get a return label and I can just leave it out for UPS. So that doesn't sound like an option for me, but I do have things in my B&N cart, and it's the 1st so it's time to go help a bookstore stay in business. And could pay a bill or something but nah, that'll wait til Monday, I have priorities!

edit - And apparently it's the phone... back to Amazon and back to the drawing board I guess.


----------



## terri

Meanwhile, about those barn swallows....







As of taking a peek yesterday morning.   This vantage point is from holding my cell phone blindly over the nest, reaching up from a step stool and pointing down.


----------



## Jeff15

Nice shot......


----------



## terri

Jeff15 said:


> Nice shot......


Thank you.   She's been working for weeks repairing and building up this old nest.  They arrived exactly on April 1, hanging around, flying in and out.  Have no idea where these birds find the fluffy white feathers, year after year.


----------



## Jeff15

Into my 7th week of lockdown and I am beginning to crack now, might go for a short drive tomorrow.


----------



## SquarePeg

Jeff15 said:


> Into my 7th week of lockdown and I am beginning to crack now, might go for a short drive tomorrow.



Driving is helpful.  Other than the lack of traffic, it almost feels normal.


----------



## snowbear

<rant>Why can't people follow jammin' instructions? </rant>

Now that I got that off my chest ... Good morning, peeps.
We had a little thunderstorm last night; it actually got stuffy inside so we had to turn on the A/C for a bit.  Found the year's first stink bug, yesterday; disposed of in a manner befitting it's name.

Scratching my head on the latest round of work stuff - I'm writing a script that looks at the data source of map layers.  If the source is a particular server, I change it to a different server, then save the map (we're changing from one database type to another).  Basically it's like going through my posts here, and changing the link for my Flickr photos to a different hosting location.  My method looks fine, the intermediate steps are OK, but it either does not change the source, or it fails to save the map file.  I think we're calling customer support on this one.


----------



## Jeff15

Been out for a drive, everywhere in the forest closed off but at least I got out for a while, so liberating........


----------



## SquarePeg

May the 4th be with you.


----------



## Jeff15

Fuel is so cheap now but nowhere to go............


----------



## Jeff G

Terri, is that going to be soup or an omelette?   seriously, keep us posted when the little guys hatch, they go from hideous, to cute to gone so quickly.


----------



## Original katomi

Jeff, uk fuel prices have really dropped even the local garage that is normally a few pence above the supermarket is down to 1.07  as you say no where to go. I have not left the island since feb... is there still something attached to the other side of the bridge


----------



## terri

Jeff G said:


> Terri, is that going to be soup or an omelette?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Wendy's, where's the beef??!!! there's a shortage?? no singles? panic now! lol So eat a salad. Or, a Frosty! mmm


----------



## Original katomi

If this looks appetising,
Then you could have a drink problem


----------



## Original katomi

My dogs wake me up at 6am to go out, 
This is what 6am looked like today


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> My dogs wake me up at 6am to go out,
> This is what 6am looked like todayView attachment 191047



Wow.


----------



## RowdyRay

Original katomi said:


> My dogs wake me up at 6am to go out,
> This is what 6am looked like todayView attachment 191047



I love it when that happens.


----------



## Jeff15

Nice sky......


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## RowdyRay

Original katomi said:


> Jeff, uk fuel prices have really dropped even the local garage that is normally a few pence above the supermarket is down to 1.07  as you say no where to go. I have not left the island since feb... is there still something attached to the other side of the bridge



Crazy, I know. I've got a Dodge Ram 5.9L gas hog with a 35 gallon tank. Rarely filled it unless going on a road trip. Had a company vehicle and only drove mine on weekends. Right before the quarantine started I filled it up. To the top, and couldn't believe how cheap it was. Laughed all the way home. Dummy me. Should have waited. 

Now, it's like a dollar less per gallon and no where to go. Drove it 3 or 4 times to local parks. Mainly to just start it and make sure it's still operational. Not good to just leave them sit. Still on full. Irks the heck out of me that I can't take advantage of the cheapest gas prices seen in many years. Been wanting to drive to several nesting/breeding areas, but distance and gas have been the biggest deterrent. Now most are closed to the public. Can't win.


----------



## CherylL

vintagesnaps said:


> Wendy's, where's the beef??!!! there's a shortage?? no singles? panic now! lol So eat a salad. Or, a Frosty! mmm



I don't eat beef or pork so no worries.  However my husband will not be happy if no beef.


----------



## snowbear

50 degrees (F) and raining.  I finally gave in and closed the window.


----------



## D7K

8 degrees (c) here and rain, but looking to the weekend and next week (24,26,28 c) with sun..   Summer is coming


----------



## Original katomi

Bright sun shine here, just came in to cool down before continuing to tidy the garden


----------



## Jeff G

This weekend we will see our first triple digit temps of the year.


----------



## Jeff15

Wow, 100c that will be very very hot...........


----------



## SquarePeg

For @limr


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> For @limr
> 
> View attachment 191088


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all,


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> Morning all,


Happy Thursday!


----------



## compur

George Carlin on germs:


----------



## Original katomi

Just finished creating a designer crystal for Mrs.
The Rebecca crystal


----------



## Original katomi

Well folks as it is 20 to 1am BST I am going to call it a day. 
Chat again later, stay well, stay safe.


----------



## Jeff15

Another day of adventure in the lockdown, my back yard safaris are getting boring now....


----------



## Original katomi

Jeff hi
I know what you mean  maybe I should try that next. I have about done to death the water beads
Time lapse done
Still life/flash chalange done
Macro done
Photoshop magic done
Oh well there is always the housework to do that never ends


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hosers, good grief the Coffee House was on the 2nd page!! 

Leo 'The Third Man' was on again, I just sat down to take a break and caught the end of it. That scoundrel Harry Lime, he just can't stay out of trouble.

Off to online class to learn embroidery stitches.


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Hosers, good grief the Coffee House was on the 2nd page!!
> 
> Leo 'The Third Man' was on again, I just sat down to take a break and caught the end of it. That scoundrel Harry Lime, he just can't stay out of trouble.
> 
> Off to online class to learn embroidery stitches.



I 3as wondering where CH was!  Thought I must have skipped it in error.


Happy weekend all!  It was snowing here around 6 when I was rudely awakened by the king wanting to be let out.  I miss the days when he slept in until 10 and had to be kicked out the door.  Of course once he saw the snow he didn’t want to get his little feet wet so he peed on my deck!  

Had planned to head to Western Mass ( it’s essentially a state of its own) today to chase some waterfalls but my back has been cranky all week so I didn’t want to risk the 4 hours round trip in the car.  Instead I’m going to play with the dogs and watch sone LR and PS tutorials.


----------



## limr

Well, I started another puzzle but won't be finishing it. It's missing three edge pieces  Luckily, there are two more that have arrived that I can start on instead, and two more on the way  And, it's apparently one of those items on Amazon that will be refunded without requiring return of the actual product, so I just just throw this one into the fire. Or send it to someone who isn't bothered by missing pieces.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Well, I started another puzzle but won't be finishing it. It's missing three edge pieces  Luckily, there are two more that have arrived that I can start on instead, and two more on the way  And, it's apparently one of those items on Amazon that will be refunded without requiring return of the actual product, so I just just throw this one into the fire. Or send it to someone who isn't bothered by missing pieces.



That’s a bummer.  We ordered some paint by numbers (my mom was reminiscing about doing them when she was younger) but apparently they have run into shipping issues.   I was looking forward to doing something together.  We may do a virtual paint night instead.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, I have tried to keep the home fires burning here. But it looks sad if I just post on my own, the whole site has been through a quiet period the last few days, at first I thought it was the time difference.
I have some item coming from Amazon but the delivery date in now June....arrrgh
I have done the water bead images to the point where I am fed up with them lol
Hope the puzzles arrive soon. If you hear a scratching on wood sound it’s just me scratching my head  thinking what the next project is going to be


----------



## Original katomi

Square Peg
Pm sent
Edit.

 Five to midnight here so I hope you are all well and I will be about sometime Sunday
as is said in the cartoons
That’s all folks


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Hi all, I have tried to keep the home fires burning here. But it looks sad if I just post on my own, the whole site has been through a quiet period the last few days, at first I thought it was the time difference.
> I have some item coming from Amazon but the delivery date in now June....arrrgh
> I have done the water bead images to the point where I am fed up with them lol
> Hope the puzzles arrive soon. If you hear a scratching on wood sound it’s just me scratching my head  thinking what the next project is going to be



it is almost always quiet over the weekends.  I think most people try to get away from their screens for a time.   Mother’s Day tomorrow.   Is that US. only or international?


----------



## snowbear

We had to perform some intervention to preserve mental health.
Blackwater NWR, Dorchester County, MD, on the DelMarVa peninsula (AKA, the Eastern Shore),




cmw3_d750_DSC_3257.jpg by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, least ways it’s morning here according to the clocks
We have gone from bright sunny days to gray overcast.


----------



## Jeff15

Weather cr@p here too.........


----------



## Original katomi

It’s such a hard life during lockdown. Keep the humans entertained really takes it out of one


----------



## Original katomi

Morning Jeff


----------



## Fujidave

Thought I`d pop in and say Hi.


----------



## Fujidave

Susie on our walk this morning, Huawei P30




Watching by Dave, on Flickr


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Mother’s Day Hosers!


----------



## Jeff G

Hi Dave, good to see miss Suzie too.


----------



## Fujidave

Jeff G said:


> Hi Dave, good to see miss Suzie too.



Thanks mate been hell here for the last week, so hanging on just.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all.


----------



## Jeff15

Sunny but with a cold wind today, from next Wednesday there will be a change in our lockdown rules which means I will be able to drive to the forest again.


----------



## Fujidave

Jeff15 said:


> Sunny but with a cold wind today, from next Wednesday there will be a change in our lockdown rules which means I will be able to drive to the forest again.




Windy here too, it is from this Wednesday Jeff.


----------



## Jeff15

That's what Boris said yesterday.....


----------



## Fujidave

Jeff15 said:


> That's what Boris said yesterday.....



Yes, from this Wednesday not next.


----------



## Jeff15

Today is Monday so Wednesday will be the next Wednesday or am I missing something...


----------



## SquarePeg

Jeff15 said:


> Today is Monday so Wednesday will be the next Wednesday or am I missing something...



That’s an age old dispute!  IMO, if today is Monday then Wednesday is THIS Wednesday (as in this coming Wednesday) and Wednesday (of NEXT week) is NEXT Wednesday, not THIS Wednesday.


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning all.  I hope everyone had a nice weekend and a chance to visit with their Mom or children (in person or via video) to celebrate Mother’s Day.   

My mom lives with us so I am fortunate to see her all the time.  My brother and sister-in-law and nephew came to visit from NH and we chatted and had lunch.  We kept our distance and ate at separate tables outside and ordered take out delivered.  It was so nice to see them.


----------



## Fujidave

Jeff15 said:


> Today is Monday so Wednesday will be the next Wednesday or am I missing something...



Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday..  So it makes this Wednesday is Two days away which makes Wednesday this week.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today is Monday so Wednesday will be the next Wednesday or am I missing something...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That’s an age old dispute!  IMO, if today is Monday then Wednesday is THIS Wednesday (as in this coming Wednesday) and Wednesday (of NEXT week) is NEXT Wednesday, not THIS Wednesday.
Click to expand...




Fujidave said:


> Jeff15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today is Monday so Wednesday will be the next Wednesday or am I missing something...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday..  So it makes this Wednesday is Two days away which makes Wednesday this week.
Click to expand...


Yup! "This" Wednesday usually refers to the Wednesday that falls in the same week.


----------



## Jeff15

This coming Wednesday will be the very next Wednesday, I really cannot see the problem.......


----------



## SquarePeg

Jeff15 said:


> This coming Wednesday will be the very next Wednesday, I really cannot see the problem.......


m

Ok then  We’ll meet you there next Wednesday, wait for us...


----------



## RowdyRay

Not sure why you're quibbling over terminology. I can't seem to remember what day of the week it is anyway. About to go bat bleep crazy. Lol.


----------



## Fujidave

Jeff15 said:


> This coming Wednesday will be the very next Wednesday, I really cannot see the problem.......



Ok Jeff, will see you on the 20th of May next week and see everyone else this Wednesday 13th this week


----------



## Jeff15

Are you being deliberately obtuse ? Is this a wind up ?........


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> That’s an age old dispute!  IMO, if today is Monday then Wednesday is THIS Wednesday (as in this coming Wednesday) and Wednesday (of NEXT week) is NEXT Wednesday, not THIS Wednesday.


I've always taken "next" to mean the next one, so, today being Monday, if you said, "Next Wednesday" to me, I would assume the day after tomorrow, or the third Monday of this week.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> [...Yup! "This" Wednesday usually refers to the Wednesday that falls in the same week.


So if today were Thursday, and we were talking about [respectively] 'this' and 'next' Wednesday, to which days would we refer (NOT being obtuse, just interested in how others see this)?

The whole "this" vs. "next" thing is why I always insist on dates.  Same with addresses, "Oh, were the third house along after the intersection.".  That's nice, what's the street address?


----------



## Fujidave

Not a wind up from me Jeff at all, but this Wednesday the 13th of May I will be going out more plus if it`s still safe next Wednesday the 20th I will go out.


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> That’s an age old dispute!  IMO, if today is Monday then Wednesday is THIS Wednesday (as in this coming Wednesday) and Wednesday (of NEXT week) is NEXT Wednesday, not THIS Wednesday.
> 
> 
> 
> I've always taken "next" to mean the next one, so, today being Monday, if you said, "Next Wednesday" to me, I would assume the day after tomorrow, or the third Monday of this week.
Click to expand...


If I were talking to you on Monday I would just say Wednesday - no need for “next”.  




tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> [...Yup! "This" Wednesday usually refers to the Wednesday that falls in the same week.
> 
> 
> 
> So if today were Thursday, and we were talking about [respectively] 'this' and 'next' Wednesday, to which days would we refer (NOT being obtuse, just interested in how others see this)?
> 
> The whole "this" vs. "next" thing is why I always insist on dates.  Same with addresses, "Oh, were the third house along after the intersection.".  That's nice, what's the street address?
Click to expand...


Exactly why I said it was an age old dispute.  Everyone has a different idea of what next xday means.  I too insist on clarifying with a date if there is any question at all of what we’re talking about.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> [...Yup! "This" Wednesday usually refers to the Wednesday that falls in the same week.
> 
> 
> 
> So if today were Thursday, and we were talking about [respectively] 'this' and 'next' Wednesday, to which days would we refer (NOT being obtuse, just interested in how others see this)?
> 
> The whole "this" vs. "next" thing is why I always insist on dates.  Same with addresses, "Oh, were the third house along after the intersection.".  That's nice, what's the street address?
Click to expand...


First of all, if it were Thursday the 15th and I were referring to Wednesday the 14th, I would say 'yesterday'. If it were Friday and I didn't feel like saying 'the day before yesterday,' I might just say 'Wednesday' - the verb tense distinguishes it as being in the past. "I sent that email on Wednesday" I might say to someone at work. Maybe I would say 'this past Wednesday.' If I said 'last Wednesday' then it refers to the previous week.

The pronoun/adjective 'this' refers to things that are closest to the speaker - this includes both space and time. In space, for example, the contrasting pronoun/adjective would be 'that' - something that is farther away from the speaker but closer to the listener, or far away from both of them. When speaking about time, we often use 'this' to talk about an event or day closest in time, and 'next' as the subsequent occurrence of that event/day.

And yes, even though there are distinctions built into certain function words, language is also full of redundancies, so when we don't have those additional cues, we sometimes get confused. For this reason, many people like to add additional words or details, like dates, to clarify.


----------



## terri

In the South, we'd say "This Wednesday," for the day after tomorrow, and for the week after that, we say, "Wednesday week."

Took me awhile to get used to it, but it makes sense.   It's kept pretty simple around here.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> In the South, we'd say "This Wednesday," for the day after tomorrow, and for the week after that, we say, "Wednesday week."
> 
> Took me awhile to get used to it, but it makes sense.   It's kept pretty simple around here.



Exactly. Function words often have regional differences, which is another reason redundancies are used, even within lingustic communities.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ...First of all, if it were Thursday the 15th and I were referring to Wednesday the 14th, I would say 'yesterday'...


I meant:  If today were Thursday the 15th and I was referring to Wednesday the 21st...., that is, the Wednesday of the following week, but also the 'next' Wednesday.


----------



## Original katomi

Day? What month is it? Lol
Hiya all, how is everyone today


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...First of all, if it were Thursday the 15th and I were referring to Wednesday the 14th, I would say 'yesterday'...
> 
> 
> 
> I meant:  If today were Thursday the 15th and I was referring to Wednesday the 21st...., that is, the Wednesday of the following week, but also the 'next' Wednesday.
Click to expand...


This is still consistent with the idea that 'this' refers to the closest Wednesday and 'next' refers to the Wednesday further away in time. In this case, the closest Wednesday is actually in the past and the person may choose to say 'yesterday' or 'this Wednesday' in conjunction with the past tense.


----------



## Jeff G

Lol! The wife also gets me confused with this or next.  I always have to get clarification.


----------



## limr

Jeff G said:


> Lol! The wife also gets me confused with this or next.  I always have to get clarification.



Language has never been and never will be an exact science


----------



## NancyMoranG

Gee, it's almost as if someone should start a thread about 'this or next Wednesday '.  Lol...


----------



## Fujidave

NancyMoranG said:


> Gee, it's almost as if someone should start a thread about 'this or next Wednesday '.  Lol...




Squarepeg did, a vote for this week or next.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I like that we're now voting on what day of the week any day is since nobody seems to know anymore! lol 

I started an online embroidery/sampler class, and need to organize supplies. But I'm not exactly getting much done today, mostly browsing online to see what else I need and don't need but am looking at anyway.

Sunday there was a stitch along, which was entertaining when the teenage daughters of one of the pod/webcasters kept coming out in different oufits as different characters (pageant contestants, men in black, zookeeper and a penguin, etc.). I'm not used to having to pay attention to the time and get something done, too much like actual work! I just need to get back into the swing of courses/classes. The one is a year long class so I can ease back into it!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Was wondering how far back I'd have to go to see what started this! - 4 pages. 

John, if it was Thursday, next Wed. would be next week on the 20th. There'd be no this Wed., it would've passed on by yesterday and you missed it!

These days it's sort of like when I had summers off teaching, I usually knew what day of the week it was, but the date? I could ballpark it within maybe 2-3 days (like, is it the 15th already??!) and would have to look at a calendar.


----------



## Fujidave

So now we have all decided next Wednesday is really this Wednesday that`s great.  Stay tuned in folks to catch the next showing of Soap, next week or this week


----------



## tirediron

vintagesnaps said:


> Was wondering how far back I'd have to go to see what started this! - 4 pages.
> 
> John, if it was Thursday, next Wed. would be next week on the 20th. There'd be no this Wed., it would've passed on by yesterday and you missed it!
> 
> These days it's sort of like when I had summers off teaching, I usually knew what day of the week it was, but the date? I could ballpark it within maybe 2-3 days (like, is it the 15th already??!) and would have to look at a calendar.


Aarggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Jeff15

I am looking forward to the day after tomorrow, next Wednesday.......


----------



## compur

When is your next meal?


----------



## Fujidave

compur said:


> When is your next meal?



Next week..lol


----------



## Jeff15

Breakfast tomorrow, Tuesday.......


----------



## RowdyRay

compur said:


> When is your next meal?



Shortly.


----------



## CherylL

The next and this Wednesday is an ongoing debate at my house.  Good to know I am not alone.


----------



## compur

If today is Tuesday the 12th then when is next Tuesday and when is next Monday?


----------



## RowdyRay

compur said:


> If today is Tuesday the 12th then when is next Tuesday and when is next Monday?


 
Next week.


----------



## compur

RowdyRay said:


> compur said:
> 
> 
> 
> If today is Tuesday the 12th then when is next Tuesday and when is next Monday?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next week.
Click to expand...


And, when is next week?


----------



## limr

compur said:


> RowdyRay said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> compur said:
> 
> 
> 
> If today is Tuesday the 12th then when is next Tuesday and when is next Monday?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next week.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> And, when is next week?
Click to expand...

 
What is next week, really? Does it even exist? Is it not as imaginary as last week? Who can really tell the true measure of time? It's all just random made up ****, isn't it?


----------



## compur




----------



## limr

compur said:


>



Exactly.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, 
Photo projects on hold, some diy projects need to be started 
Problem is getting the materials


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Hi all,
> Photo projects on hold, some diy projects need to be started
> Problem is getting the materials



The two big DIY and contractor supply stores around here, Hone Depot and Lowe’s, are absolutely booming during this lockdown.  Many people have taken this forced time at home to tackle all the projects they’ve been putting off.  These stores have been considered essential and have been open all along with full parking lots and long waits to get in.


----------



## vintagesnaps

What?


----------



## Original katomi

We have a hardware shop that is brill, I e mailed them with a request and the called back within two hours.
The builders supplies shop said they could help but I would need to open an account
I will have make what I need out of what have


----------



## SquarePeg

Just made some wings.  If anyone is looking for a sweet and not too spicy wings recipe, this is the way to go.  The feminist in me hates the name but if you google “husband approved dry rub” you’ll find the recipe.  I make them in the oven or on the grill.  I prefer these from the oven.


----------



## SquarePeg

This chick says hi.


----------



## limr

The next puzzle is underway.


----------



## Jeff G

Leonore, I'm finding your post quite puzzling.


----------



## SquarePeg

No puzzles for me.  Been playing scrabble with Princess or Words with Friends.  My attention span is pretty short right now.  Not sure if it’s the quarantine or just a phase I’m going through.  Haven’t even been able to get into a good book.  Sigh.


----------



## Original katomi

My puzzle  should say awaits outside. How to turn odd ends of wood into something I can use
Up early , housework to do before I go and do diy
Hope you are all well
Edit spelling and 
Well I have managed to cut down some rough wood to the size I need. Just one more piece to find, 
Stopped to do a shopping run and now the weather is turning 
That is a good enough excuse to call it a day, time to think about some photography


----------



## Fujidave

Sunny and a light breeze here today.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Today is Wednesday. Next Wednesday is _the_ next Wednesday which is next Wednesday. 


I think...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leo's comments have certainly been getting into existentialism, philosophy, that sort of thing, like - I think therefore I am. Especially on Wednesdays.


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Today is Wednesday. Next Wednesday is _the_ next Wednesday which is next Wednesday.
> 
> 
> I think...



Tomorrow-  Wednesday, this Wednesday, next Wednesday and Wednesday week will all mean the same thing!  Head explodes...


----------



## dxqcanada

Don't worry ... everything is explained by Douglas Adams.

BBC Radio 4 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - The Game - 30th Anniversary Edition


----------



## CherylL

Week 3 of watching online photography videos.  Or this could be week 4?  Everyday is the same.  The one I am watching now has an outgoing host.  My husband asked what was I watching because he could hear her laughing off and on for hours.  I didn't think she was laughing that much, just upbeat personality.


----------



## JonA_CT

I found maybe 7-8 rolls of unused film while packing some things up for storage while we put our house on the market. 
I loaded a roll of Agfa Vista 400 into my Minolta XD11 and it made me think of you all.

Hope you're all safe and well.


----------



## snowbear

You, too, Jon.

Flying through the area, tomorrow.  Hopefully the next time we travel up, conditions will be well enough to stop again.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hi Jon.

It is now no longer Wednesday. Say no more! say no more! (Any of our friends in the UK Monty Python fans? if not disregard this sentence...)


----------



## vintagesnaps

I have three baby robins on the bathroom windowsill. I saw one blue egg, then two... (Where it's perched I'd have to hang my head out the window I think to see all of it!) SInce they hatched I only saw two little bits of fuzz, then a beak would wobble up from the fuzz when mama bird returned to the nest. The other day I saw three little birdie butts! I sure hadn't seen a third one before. Now they all chatter every so often, probably whenever mama comes back.

I've lost track of when I first saw they'd hatched. I thought not quite two weeks, but do they grow that fast??


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> I have three baby robins on the bathroom windowsill. I saw one blue egg, then two... (Where it's perched I'd have to hang my head out the window I think to see all of it!) SInce they hatched I only saw two little bits of fuzz, then a beak would wobble up from the fuzz when mama bird returned to the nest. The other day I saw three little birdie butts! I sure hadn't seen a third one befpre. Now they all chatter every so often, probably whenever mama comes back.
> 
> I've lost track of when I first saw they'd hatched. I thought not quite two weeks, but do they grow that fast??


I just love this time of year.     Being able to track baby birds from eggs to empty nest is a beautiful thing. 

Our mama barn swallow barely leaves her nest right now.  We've had some chilly nights - dipping into the 40's F. - which I'm sure she didn't count on.   They definitely arrived early this year; we're usually on bird-watch in June!   It's warming though, so I think the worst is over for her and her brood.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Hi Jon.
> 
> It is now no longer Wednesday. Say no more! say no more! (Any of our friends in the UK Monty Python fans? if not disregard this sentence...)




Totally loved Monty Python as a boy, my favourite was the sweet little Killer Rabbit


----------



## vintagesnaps

That's a good one. 

I got a Monty Python t shirt their website/store did since Terry Jones passed away, Whizzo chocolates. Got this package from the UK and couldn't think what on earth did I buy..? then remembered. It didn't take all that long, considering. I guess Monty Python gets the Royal Mail moving right along! (It's from Monty Python! a Very Important Package!! lol)


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Hi Jon.
> 
> It is now no longer Wednesday. Say no more! say no more! (Any of our friends in the UK Monty Python fans? if not disregard this sentence...)



Wink wink nudge nudge!

In other news, I just ordered some humane mouse traps. Three guesses why.


----------



## Jeff15

Has to be the dead parrot........


----------



## Tony744

You have elephants running around?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Jon.
> 
> It is now no longer Wednesday. Say no more! say no more! (Any of our friends in the UK Monty Python fans? if not disregard this sentence...)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wink wink nudge nudge!
> 
> In other news, I just ordered some humane mouse traps. Three guesses why.
Click to expand...

Zelda and Mrs. Parker are slackers?


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all


----------



## waday

limr said:


> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Jon.
> 
> It is now no longer Wednesday. Say no more! say no more! (Any of our friends in the UK Monty Python fans? if not disregard this sentence...)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wink wink nudge nudge!
> 
> In other news, I just ordered some humane mouse traps. Three guesses why.
Click to expand...

You want a mouse as a pet?
You want to use the mouse as bait to catch a cat?
You like the traps as decoration?


----------



## limr

Jeff15 said:


> Has to be the dead parrot........





Tony744 said:


> You have elephants running around?





snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Jon.
> 
> It is now no longer Wednesday. Say no more! say no more! (Any of our friends in the UK Monty Python fans? if not disregard this sentence...)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wink wink nudge nudge!
> 
> In other news, I just ordered some humane mouse traps. Three guesses why.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Zelda and Mrs. Parker are slackers?
Click to expand...




waday said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> vintagesnaps said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Jon.
> 
> It is now no longer Wednesday. Say no more! say no more! (Any of our friends in the UK Monty Python fans? if not disregard this sentence...)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wink wink nudge nudge!
> 
> In other news, I just ordered some humane mouse traps. Three guesses why.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You want a mouse as a pet?
> You want to use the mouse as bait to catch a cat?
> You like the traps as decoration?
Click to expand...


You are all correct! 

Funnily enough, the last time I lived in a house that had mice was in grad school. The four of us who lived in the house were not particularly bothered and we called him Mishka. Then he got into the pantry and we knew we had to trap him, which we did. We had already sort of bonded with him so we got a set-up and kept him as a pet. Except he didn't like that arrangement and died a few days later  

Since we already had the set up, we then went to the pet store and bought two mice that were already used to captivity, and we had them for a the rest of grad school. We got one white mouse that we named Earl and a brown one that we named Freddie. After we realized they were girls, we decided to name them...Earl and Freddie.  

They were the cutest little things! Earl absolutely loved the wheel and she would run *fast.* Freddie could never keep up, so when they were in the wheel together, Freddie would get so far behind that she just had to hang on and spin around the wheel while Earl ran 

Not planning on keeping my current resident mishka, but I will be rehoming as much of the family as I can catch.


----------



## snowbear

Lazy Lobster had some things to pack so we’re filling boxes.  I get to play with these once we get home!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Train it to be a (small) darkroom rat.


----------



## Jeff15

It could be a giraffe......


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all,  how is everyone today. Ok I know with the time difference some of you could still be thinking about breakfast
Lockdown here is being eased and a lot of people seem to think that translates to do whatever you like. 
Well for me it’s 12.45 BST so it’s time to do some lunch, chat to you all again later


----------



## vintagesnaps

It promises to be an interesting night of hockey, said the announcer on a classic college hockey game from '93 on NESN. Of course he wouldn't know that it would be shown in the middle of the afternoon 25+ years later during a season stoppage with no hockey playoffs going on.

It's been a good one, when the Maine Black Bears defeat Boston U. to win their league Hockey East championship (but maybe not so much for Boston fans!) I never got to see these games, none of this was televised or on cable then.

Why is there always a  bit of meloncholy watching these past games? There was a BU player who later went on to scout for an NHL team and was on one of the planes on 9/11. And a coach that since passed away at a fairly young age. Of course it's fun to see players who went on the the NHL when they were still playing college hockey.


----------



## Fujidave

Evening all, this lockdown is now playing merry hell with my mental health.


----------



## Jeff15

Me too, phoned the doctor and now have some pills.....


----------



## vintagesnaps

I guess for me, after a stroke this hasn't seemed that long, having been thru not just months but into years of recovery and adjusting to things being different than before. (And I'm lucky, strokes at a relatively young age tend to be more debilitating than just needing a cane.) Taking an early retirement I'm already used to being home and not working so my routine during the week isn't that different. Weekends are when it's odd to not go out and about somewhere.

And I'm glad that you're being preventive and knew to contact your doctor/medical professional. You aren't alone.

Seems like the lockdown was more restrictive in the UK, I'm glad it seems to be starting to be a little less so. My state has been taking it gradually getting reopened which in the long run will probably be best than to rush it and end up with it starting right back up.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Evening all, this lockdown is now playing merry hell with my mental health.



Yes it’s getting hard to take.  I know you Brits are used to “carrying on” and not hiding out...



Jeff15 said:


> Me too, phoned the doctor and now have some pills.....



Hope you feel better...



vintagesnaps said:


> I guess for me, after a stroke this hasn't seemed that long, having been thru not just months but into years of recovery and adjusting to things being different than before. (And I'm lucky, strokes at a relatively young age tend to be more debilitating than just needing a cane.) Taking an early retirement I'm already used to being home and not working so my routine during the week isn't that different. Weekends are when it's odd to not go out and about somewhere.
> 
> And I'm glad that you're being preventive and knew to contact your doctor/medical professional. You aren't alone.
> 
> Seems like the lockdown was more restrictive in the UK, I'm glad it seems to be starting to be a little less so. My state has been taking it gradually getting reopened which in the long run will probably be best than to rush it and end up with it starting right back up.



Your patience was hard earned.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, we just found out that shielded people are  to remain Shielded until the end of June


----------



## Jeff15

I read yesterday that social distancing will be with us until at least the end of the year, now that is depressing.......


----------



## Original katomi

Yes sure is depressing, esp when you have like yesterday loads of peeps on the sea front
Just hope we don’t have a 2nd peak and have to go backwards into lockdown


----------



## Jeff G

I think once the weather warms up and people start getting crankier, all these regulations will go out the window when people start doing what they want.


----------



## limr

Jeff G said:


> I think once the weather warms up and people start getting crankier, all these regulations will go out the window when people start doing what they want.



That's not how regulations work. They don't just concede to whatever people feel like doing.


----------



## limr

I, for one, welcome the idea that people will have to stand 6 feet away from me in public.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Jeff G said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think once the weather warms up and people start getting crankier, all these regulations will go out the window when people start doing what they want.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's not how regulations work. They don't just concede to whatever people feel like doing.
Click to expand...


Except in Wisconsin.


----------



## snowbear

... and I am officially back in quarantine for two weeks.  Like the last time (when we weren't sure if we had been exposed),  I'm taking my temperature daily.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Well Charlie, you can hang with us hosers that are barely out of quarantine, starting the coffee house was a great idea, gives us someplace virtual to hang out! You know, I was thinking when I broke my ankle, had knee surgery,etc. (yeah, I'm a klutz!) I was off work hobbling around at home for 2 months. The time can drag but you manage to get thru it. 

Thanks SharonCat, I guess sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. When my family Dr. took a position at one of the hospitals and I started seeing a new Dr., she said I must've worked really hard to be doing as well as I was. I was like, I guess so! I was in for the long haul, felt like I lost almost a year; I lost function of one side of the body and nerves take a long time to heal so it's a slow process but I kept getting better. Still do, stroke recovery can go on for years, my Dr. said she thinks a lot of people just give up.

Of course I've been retired for long enough I'm used to being home, it was weird at first after 31 years for school to start to still be home; summers off I was used to. Guess for all of us it's going to be a summer of figuring out what you can do from home. My state just this past week started gradually reopening in a limited way, half the fire code capacity, wear face masks, etc. and there's not much else to go do other than the store, etc. 

If this was the middle of winter nobody'd care that they're spending more time at home! Maybe turn the AC on, bundle up, pretend there's a blizzard outside... nah, don't suppose that'd fool yourself!


----------



## Jeff G

limr said:


> Jeff G said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think once the weather warms up and people start getting crankier, all these regulations will go out the window when people start doing what they want.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's not how regulations work. They don't just concede to whatever people feel like doing.
Click to expand...


The east coast seems to have been hit much worse than west coast, minus San Francisco and Los Angeles. I didn't say I agree or disagree, but unless they are going to rally the national guard they will not be to contain the majority here. Law enforcement has pretty much said they will not enforce unless it causes major problems.

Once people start down that road others will join in. . When people don't  actually see the problem they tend to think they are invincible.

My life has only changed in the fact that I can't go out to dinner, and my hobby stores are still closed, other than that, pretty much normal. I've always avoided going out in public if I can, people in general tend to irritate me.


----------



## terri

I think medical professionals across the board advocate for people getting outside, fresh air and sunshine - you just have to follow your local regulations when you do.   Stay 6 feet away from people and wear a mask if that seems unlikely to be able to do.   Take hand sanitizer along to keep your hands clean; don't touch public places.   

But by all means, get out from the four walls to the extent your local ordinances allow it.   Even when we were "shut down," it was okay to traverse along the street or through a park as long as the social distancing guidelines were adhered to.  More attention is being given to wearing simple masks.   Protect others from yourself; protect yourself.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Exactly, a good point. It's not like you can't go putter around in your garage, yard, garden, or just go walk around the block or whatever. We just won't have a summer of a lot of places open as usual; in my area state parks have been open to go take a walk/hike, etc. but no buildings/events open or happening. Local parks were closed and my neighbor works at one, she was still working since she has to go in and feed the chickens & goats! lol 

And even though I lol'd at the post, the situation in Wisconsin isn't really funny, it is but it isn't, makes me shake my head because it seems unbelieveable. Some people have apparently just gone 'round the bend.


----------



## Original katomi

Hiya all just a last post before I call it a night, take care stay safe.


----------



## SquarePeg

Well, number one (my nephew) has decided to come home from CA for a few weeks now that air travel is seemingly ok if you take precautions.   He won’t be going back to work until August and being single he’s basically out there alone with the current circumstances.  It’s going to be a long flight for him with no food/drink.  He’s flying in tomorrow night and going to overnight here before I drive him up to NH.  We’ll have to mask it up in the car and keep a safe distance while he’s here.  He’s been isolating for months in CA but once he gets to the airport that quarantine is all canceled out and he’ll need to start over before he can relax around family.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Jeff G said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think once the weather warms up and people start getting crankier, all these regulations will go out the window when people start doing what they want.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's not how regulations  work. They don't just concede to whatever people feel like doing.
Click to expand...

That's not how they're supposed to work, but the reality is, once people get tired of regulations (ANY regulations), or feel they're pointless/inconvenient, whatever, they will ignore them.  All you have to do is look at the number of people who ignore traffic laws, and let's face it, there's a far greater chance of getting killed on the highway then dying from Covid-19.  Once the novelty of the current situation has worn off, I agree with Jeff, they will go out the window; not because they've been repealed, but because people will ignore them.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeff G said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think once the weather warms up and people start getting crankier, all these regulations will go out the window when people start doing what they want.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's not how regulations work. They don't just concede to whatever people feel like doing.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's not how they're supposed to work, but the reality is, once people get tired of regulations (ANY regulations), or feel they're pointless/inconvenient, whatever, they will ignore them.  All you have to do is look at the number of people who ignore traffic laws, and let's face it, there's a far greater chance of getting killed on the highway then dying from Covid-19.  Once the novelty of the current situation has worn off, I agree with Jeff, they will go out the window; not because they've been repealed, but because people will ignore them.
Click to expand...


It's not that simple, though. Regulations don't just go away simply because people ignore them. It depends on the effect of ignoring the regulations. If nothing major happens, then sure, the state might be lenient in enforcing the rules.

But if easing the enforcement leads to a cluster outbreak? One that overwhelms the hospitals or significantly affects a major industry in the area? Yes, there is going to be enforcement.

This is not the same as traffic laws. There are a lot of traffic deaths, but they don't all happen in such high numbers in a concentrated area and short period of time. They don't overwhelm medical staff every day for months. They don't infect people who were just rubbernecking past the accident. And yes, traffic laws are still enforced, but of course people still break the laws and often get away with it, but the state does not say, "Oh well, people want to speed, so we might as well get rid of the laws." The laws stand and are enforced - unevenly and depending on manpower, but enforced nonetheless.

So no, I don't think the state is now going to say, "Oh well, people don't want to stay in, so we'll just get rid of regulations."

This isn't a one-and-done. There are going to be waves, both of infections and in the easing and then reinstating of regulations. I think it's simplistic to assume that regulations are all just going to go away when people get tired of them.

Edit: And Jeff, I'm the same - other than working at home instead of campus, my life hasn't changed much either, so it's no skin of my ass, really. I'll be staying home because I don't like to be around people as a general rule anyway, and the pandemic hasn't changed any of that. In fact, it makes me want to stay away even more - not even because of the virus but because people are just so obnoxious right now.


----------



## dxqcanada

Just to break up the conversation ... just had a baby Panda Cory. It's only about 1/2" long.


----------



## limr

dxqcanada said:


> Just to break up the conversation ... just had a baby Panda Cory. It's only about 1/2" long.
> 
> View attachment 191665



Tiny fish baby!


----------



## SquarePeg

And...number one just bumped his trip out to...wait for it....next Wednesday


----------



## Jeff G

In our area I know people who work in the three major hospitals in town, they are all baffled by the local media gloom and doom reports. They are sending home nurses with nothing to do who would normally be busy. The lack of people being out and doing stupid things to themselves, and the stop of non emergency surgery has actually hurt the medical industry in town.

Leonore, I think I am just getting old, my lack of patience for the general public's non existent use of common sense or personal responsibility. And that's  not including the added bonus of Covid. I have definately become a misanthrope.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> ...This isn't a one-and-done. There are going to be waves, both of infections and in the easing and then reinstating of regulations. I think it's simplistic to assume that regulations are all just going to go away when people get tired of them....


I'm not suggesting for a moment that the regulations will go away just because people don't like them, but I do believe, that in the same way that speed-limit signs are usually nothing more than highway decorations, many, if not most of the regulations relating to the current situation will ignored by increasingly more people until they are about as effective as a chocolate teapot.  Not suggesting it's good, but it is, I believe, human nature.


----------



## SquarePeg

Jeff G said:


> In our area I know people who work in the three major hospitals in town, they are all baffled by the local media gloom and doom reports. They are sending home nurses with nothing to do who would normally be busy. The lack of people being out and doing stupid things to themselves, and the stop of non emergency surgery has actually hurt the medical industry in town.
> 
> Leonore, I think I am just getting old, my lack of patience for the general public's non existent use of common sense or personal responsibility. And that's  not including the added bonus of Covid. I have definately become a misanthrope.



That means the shutdowns are working, not that they were unnecessary.


----------



## waday

tirediron said:


> human nature


I think our “intelligence” is actually going to be our own Chicxulub impactor. 

I read an article mentioning a Harvard Medical School professor (Julia Marcus) saying that an abstinence-only approach likely won’t work. Here’s the article. There’s also a linked article in here.

I like the article, because it helps link general risks to specific activities. IMO, it’s unrealistic to think we can abstain from all interaction and keep businesses closed, because people won’t stand for it. However, having an understanding of what risks there are with what we do might help everyone. 

A problem is when people believe and say (and yes people actually do say this-just check the comment section of any news article mentioning COVID-19), “I know it’s wrong and selfish, but I’m not going to wear a mask because this is a free country and that’s what’s great about it.” 

That line of thinking is a huge problem. And IMO, it starts with education, because the people that say stuff like this clearly aren’t fully understanding the gravity of the situation nor do they understand the impacts of their decisions on others.


----------



## SquarePeg

I agree.  The shut downs were to flatten the curve and keep the hospitals from being overwhelmed.  We can’t stay locked down forever and need to start making choices and changes to create our new normal.  Good article.  They seemed to have nailed some of the indecisive and conflicting info from the piece I had read in the Atlantic, which was confusing.  I posted this in the Covid19 thread in the Subscriber’s forum but I’ll add it here for those who don’t have access to that.  I found this very enlightening on transmission and it helped me to make some decisions on what our family will/won’t do as things start to open back up.

https://www.erinbromage.com/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them


----------



## Jeff15

Other parts of Europe are opening their bars and restaurants and trying to get back to some sort of normality. The problem is how do you keep your social distance on a plane or a train..


----------



## SquarePeg

Jeff15 said:


> Other parts of Europe are opening their bars and restaurants and trying to get back to some sort of normality. The problem is how do you keep your social distance on a plane or a train..



Everyone must wear a mask, don’t touch your face, sanitize frequently touched surfaces, use hand sanitizer frequently, wipe down seats and trays before sitting, don’t serve drinks or food on shorter flights/rides, don’t sell every seat to reduce crowding, shower and change clothes upon arrival...


----------



## Jeff15

I don't think we are going to fly till there is a vaccine.....


----------



## Original katomi

On the subject of pubs/clubs and Social distancing 
Most people go to the pub)club to mix and see others this is going to be hard if everybody has to stay 2m from everyone else.


----------



## Jeff15

Its not going to happen unless everyone ignores the rules.....


----------



## snowbear

On flights:
Friday, we flew to Portland. Maine to extract Lazy Lobster (out youngest).  Where Southwest usually has three flights from Baltimore to Portland, they are now down to two.  This is probably more to do with lowered demand, than the virus itself, as the number of passengers seemed to be much less than normal.

The boarding was delayed a little, I guess because they were sanitizing the inside of the plane.  Still, boarding went quickly as there weren't many passengers.  The front 5 or so rows were blocked off and they did not serve the usual crackers/pretzels and drinks for the 1-1/2 hour flight.

Though I didn't hear anyone say you could not use the center seats, it didn't look like anyone was sitting in them except MLW and the kitty in the carrier behind us.  Definitely everyone was wearing masks; I don't know if any were available from the airline, as we had our own.


----------



## snowbear

Anyone here with a D750?  I have acquired a NIB MB-D16 grip and don't need a spare.


----------



## Jeff G

Maybe if I start with the grip I can work my way up to the rest of the camera.


----------



## Original katomi

Jeff lol


----------



## Tony744

limr said:


> I, for one, welcome the idea that people will have to stand 6 feet away from me in public.


----------



## Jeff15

I don't have a problem with social distancing, I avoid people anyway. It would just be nice to be able to go and buy a coffee or a beer...


----------



## limr

Tony744 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I, for one, welcome the idea that people will have to stand 6 feet away from me in public.
Click to expand...


I hear they make nice pets, actually. I do not oppose this idea.


----------



## snowbear

When I was a kid, I knew someone that had one as a pet.  He didn't know his stinker was gone - If he didn't know you, he'd stomp his front feet at you, then turn around and try to spray.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all


----------



## terri

Whew, I'm having a busy day, I can hardly believe the time.   

Hosers, I had my first official "pandemic dream" - apparently, it's a thing.   I was in the grocery store and suddenly realized no one was wearing a mask.   I looked at my husband and he didn't have one, either.   I touched my face and mine was also missing.   I started to panic and say, Where are all the masks?   Why is no one wearing them?   And some voice from across the store said, "We ARE wearing them - can't you see them?"    So it turned into an icky (but stupid) nightmare, a'la Twilight Zone.     

I was at the store earlier today, btw, and everyone was actually in compliance.


----------



## snowbear

Good evening, peeps.

Well, I put in an application for the GIS Job opening in our office (the desk is actually in front of the one I have now.)  The job is pretty much what I do with some project management thrown in.  I checked on the status and I meet the minimum qualifications.  Apparently there were 19 applications passed to the agency, but the boss does not know the names; we'll see in the next few weeks.

I have LazyLobster's old desktop.  I'm trying to decide whether to change it from WinXP to Linux, or just carry it to the dumpster.


----------



## SquarePeg

Still on vacation... this morning I painted the trim in the kitchen, had to do it early to avoid the inevitable fur flying when the puppy woke up.   She and Princess have been sleeping in until at least 9:30-10am every day.  Must be nice.


----------



## Jeff15

I am retired the only problem is you don't get a day off......


----------



## snowbear

I've decided I am not going to retire ... I'm going to be the office poltergeist.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

SquarePeg said:


> Still on vacation... this morning I painted the trim in the kitchen, had to do it early to avoid the inevitable fur flying when the puppy woke up.   She and Princess have been sleeping in until at least 9:30-10am every day.  Must be nice.



Dare I say " It's probably nice for Mom too?"


----------



## terri

They're here! 






Little heads, bobbing up and down.   We had 5 eggs, will likely be a few more days before they all pop up at once.   We found the first eggshell Saturday morning.


----------



## CherylL

terri said:


> Whew, I'm having a busy day, I can hardly believe the time.
> 
> Hosers, I had my first official "pandemic dream" - apparently, it's a thing.   I was in the grocery store and suddenly realized no one was wearing a mask.   I looked at my husband and he didn't have one, either.   I touched my face and mine was also missing.   I started to panic and say, Where are all the masks?   Why is no one wearing them?   And some voice from across the store said, "We ARE wearing them - can't you see them?"    So it turned into an icky (but stupid) nightmare, a'la Twilight Zone.
> 
> I was at the store earlier today, btw, and everyone was actually in compliance.



I had one  a few weeks ago.  My friend wanted to go to Walmart and I kept telling her it was too dangerous.


----------



## CherylL

I got to leave the house yesterday for 3 hours and socialize with new people.  Too bad it was for a root canal.


----------



## SquarePeg

Ugh sorry Cheryl!  I’m due for a cleaning and they are only doing emergency visits right now so it got pushed out.   Had to reschedule my mamo and my skin cancer screening too.   I’m more worried about another skin cancer than I am about anything else.  Once around with that was enough even though only a squamous cell which is not the “good” one and not melanoma...


----------



## Jeff G

Snowbear, Good luck, on the job opportunity.


----------



## Jeff G

Cheryl, I think there has got to be a better way to meet new people!


----------



## Tony744

limr said:


> Tony744 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I, for one, welcome the idea that people will have to stand 6 feet away from me in public.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I hear they make nice pets, actually. I do not oppose this idea.
Click to expand...


I've had one walk up to me early in the morning and start rubbing its' head against my leg like a cat.


----------



## SquarePeg

More overachieving today! Painted the trim in the hallway, cut the grass in the backyard, took all the outdoor furniture out of the shed, cleaned everything up set it up and then filled some of the holes the puppy dug.  Pool is going up tomorrow morning.  I had a list a mile long for this “vacation” and I’m about halfway through.  4.5 days off left.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> More overachieving today! Painted the trim in the hallway, cut the grass in the backyard, took all the outdoor furniture out of the shed, cleaned everything up set it up and then filled some of the holes the puppy dug.  Pool is going up tomorrow morning.  I had a list a mile long for this “vacation” and I’m about halfway through.  4.5 days off left.



BLOCKED!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Where are meeting this energy!!??
But, I am glad you are still 'speaking' to us after winning POTM!
Congrats, again.


----------



## SquarePeg

In other news...a monkey has been spotted in Tewksbury MA - about 20 miles north of me.  I know the wildlife has been slowly taking back their space but...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Gee Charlie you may have to move an entire desk's length?!

My baby robins already flew the coop. They went from bits of fluff to barely fitting in the nest in no time. Had started hearing them when the momma bird would come back to the nest, but that didn't seem to last long before one morning they were gone. Have a good life, little birdies!

Hmm, Massachusetts has big bad Bruins, and Huskies and Terriers and Eagles, but monkeys? whose mascot is that??


----------



## limr

Progress on my latest puzzle has slowed. The rest of it is basically made up of a LOT of pieces that look exactly the same. But I'm slowly chipping away...


----------



## Original katomi

Limr, hi nice puzzle 
Maybe you should do a sequence of photos  of the next one
Get that time lapse effect video of you doing the puzzle


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Gee Charlie you may have to move an entire desk's length?!
> 
> My baby robins already flew the coop. They went from bits of fluff to barely fitting in the nest in no time. Had started hearing them when the momma bird would come back to the nest, but that didn't seem to last long before one morning they were gone. Have a good life, little birdies!
> 
> Hmm, Massachusetts has big bad Bruins, and Huskies and Terriers and Eagles, but monkeys? whose mascot is that??



I am assuming now that we’ve had Contagion, Twister, Killer Bees and Snowmageddon that Planet of the Apes is next...


----------



## Original katomi

My cat says,
Theses humans, they are driving me mad staying home all the time. It’s driven me to drink!


----------



## terri

Beautiful kitty!   Bengal spots.   

Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## SquarePeg

Sad Friday for me - vacation almost over


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah, a speeded up video of Leo putting that puzzle together would be highly entertaining! Yup, we're at rock bottom...

I have absolutely nothing going on. Well, that's not quite the case, I have an online embroidery class and keep forgetting which Sat. is it? and how much time do I have to get it together to hem the fabric to be ready for next class - do I have some time left or will I be in the crapper soon if I don't get on the stick? I'm not used anymore to having to keep track of things.


----------



## Fujidave

Evening all, my Apollo MTB arrived today so had fun putting it together but found the hardest part was getting the pedals on.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Apollo?? are you going into outer space?


----------



## SquarePeg

Was just playing Words with Friends - why isn’t iriteen a word?  Anyone with teenagers knows it should be a verb and a noun.


----------



## Jeff15

Apollo 13, now that was a good film......


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Apollo?? are you going into outer space?




The Apollo Slant MTB is my shiny new Mountain bike.


----------



## Jeff15

Mountain bike, I would have thought you were a bit long in the tooth for that Dave.....


----------



## dxqcanada

You're never too old to fall off a bike!!


----------



## dxqcanada

Hmm, I was just reading an article about vacuum tube testers at the local drug store ... crap, I remember those !!


----------



## Original katomi

Tinka is our second bengal and yes he is quite the charmer 
He has a liking for feet, attack, cuddle, rest against depending on his mood
Apparently he also likes to go and sit in our dog owning neighbours back room


----------



## Original katomi

Vacuum tubes, wow want some of those my pc is wind up lol


----------



## Fujidave

Jeff15 said:


> Mountain bike, I would have thought you were a bit long in the tooth for that Dave.....




Have loved riding for many years starting at a very young age, learn most tricks and jumps then gave it up for skateboarding which was fun for 20 odd years.  But now because of the lockdown and wanting to get some of my fitness back I got the MTB, plus as I wont be using the buses again it will be great just riding and feeling free.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Sad Friday for me - vacation almost over


*sniffle*  

But no one expects you to work Monday, right?   Memorial Day!


----------



## dxqcanada

McIntosh MC2152 70th Anniversary Vacuum Tube Amplifier


----------



## Fujidave

@Jeff15 Here you go Jeff, once I learnt tricks when growing up on bikes I could do all of these.  The only one I never managed was the backflip.


----------



## tirediron

dxqcanada said:


> Hmm, I was just reading an article about vacuum tube testers at the local drug store ... crap, I remember those !!


I remember having one at home!


----------



## compur

There is still a healthy market for tube testers. Certain vintage models fetch hundreds or, in some cases, even thousands of dollars.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Time for the Modern Rock 500, vroom vroom, on 97X the Future of Rock 'n Roll... gee it was nice when I could listen to it on the radio. If want to listen to all of these, I better get started, 10 years' worth...

Hey Leo, guess what's #2 on the list from the last year they were on the air in '09? Got this from one of their former DJs, but of course you gotta sign up, yadda yadda... (why do these things always turn into a PITA??). 

john spurlock 2019 : here is every 97x woxy modern rock 500 playlist from 1989 to 2009, bam!

So I'll post the song from YouTube Leo, just for you! Why didn't we get Tops of the Pops on our side of the pond?


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> So Why didn't we get Tops of the Pops on our side of the pond?



Because it was ours


----------



## dxqcanada

Ah, I have fond memories at club RPM being drunk and attempting to "dance" to that.


----------



## dxqcanada

and this one from an American band


----------



## dxqcanada

and one from the Great White North band


----------



## dxqcanada

This is for Dave ... since we are still in the 80's


----------



## limr

Ah, Top of the Pops. I saw plenty of it while I was overseas. We had things like Soul Train and American Bandstand. Not the same, but we did have music shows.

And since we're sharing Top of the Pops videos, there's this gem


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yes we did, but... I've always liked new wave/punk, which became alternative rock, or modern rock, or indie, or whatever else it's been called. A good bit later than Dick Clark and Soul Train of my childhood. 

Been listening this evening, not sure how far I am into the 6-7 hours from '09... and realized it was always their top 500 all time, picked that year. Think I'll go next to the first one, there are probably a lot of repeats in between. They did really used to play sound effects like it was the Indy 500 every so often, so I half expect to hear that. And the DJs, it's odd to not hear them.


----------



## vintagesnaps

6 hours is getting long... back to it tomorrow. 

Hello, where'd you find that Leo?? priceless. And the dancing, if you could call it that, in a glimpse of the fans near the stage, that was a bit of a flashback.

Hey, all you Brits, was Cliff Richard really popular? or... not so much...
Quite the fine mullet though...


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> 6 hours is getting long... back to it tomorrow.
> 
> Hello, where'd you find that Leo?? priceless. And the dancing, if you could call it that, in a glimpse of the fans near the stage, that was a bit of a flashback.
> 
> Hey, all you Brits, was Cliff Richard really popular? or... not so much...
> Quite the fine mullet though...




Once we moved from Australia to the UK, Sir Cliff Richard was the Elvis of  the UK, and loved by many.


----------



## SquarePeg

The pool is up!  Waiting on my water delivery from h2o to go.   Hopefully they’ll squeeze us in this weekend.  Tuesday is expected to be back to the 80 we hit yesterday.  Right now I’m chilling on the couch with the pups - trying to get enough energy to order or cook dinner and waiting for my turn on Words w Friends.  My exciting quarantine life.  Time to shake things up with some cocktails I think!


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> The pool is up!  Waiting on my water delivery from h2o to go.


Out of curiosity, why not just use a garden hose?


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> The pool is up!  Waiting on my water delivery from h2o to go.
> 
> 
> 
> Out of curiosity, why not just use a garden hose?
Click to expand...


Mostly cost - water bills here are expensive.  The pool holds 8,000 gallons of water.  That’s just over 30,000 liters for you Canadians and Europeans.  I’ve done the math in the past and it’s cheaper to have it delivered.  Once we go above 2000 gallons for the quarter it bumps us up into a higher per gallon cost.  Our pool empties out at the end of the season and we store it away.  The cost to fill it is about what we’d pay a pool service top open and close up a year round pool. 

Also it would take about 2-3 days to fill the pool by a hose which would be annoying having it run all that time.  This is easy - they show up with a tanker truck full of spotlessly clean water and it takes about 15-20 minutes to empty the truck. 

This is the only pic I have on my iPad that gives a good idea of the size.


----------



## tirediron

They must really gouge you on the rates if delivery is cheaper than municipal, but that makes sense.  Only a government entity could get away with increasing the charge for purchasing more of a product....


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> They must really gouge you on the rates if delivery is cheaper than municipal, but that makes sense.  Only a government entity could get away with increasing the charge for purchasing more of a product....




It’s complicated but in short - our city is among a group that pays a premium as we are under some type of surcharge for Boston harbor cleanup from many years ago.  It’s ridiculous.  I pay about 3x as much as my cousin who lives in the next town over.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, 
Square peg, you must have to watch your water use all the time


----------



## Original katomi

I was listening to a pod cast last night and the host was giving out tips
He said that he has 3,three, batteries for two cameras, if he goes out on a shoot.
My reaction was shocked, I mean if I am going out the back door to photo birds I take three bats
If I am away from home, for the day or on holiday I will take 8 batts, the mains and the car chargers 
I am not running out of battery power, I can’t images doing a shoot paid or not with two cameras and only three batts
Between them 1 in each camera and 1 left over..... 
He also went on about so/cf men cards
Well that I know I am over the top on. In my film days I would use 5mtrs of film in a day
So now I carry lots of mem cards, but When I have finished photos at one location, I will put that mem card(s)
Away and use clean ones for the next location
I won’t delete anything until I am back home and have downloaded the images.
So yea I tend to use a lot of sad cards


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Morning all,
> Square peg, you must have to watch your water use all the time



It forces us to do our part for conserving water.   I’m expecting a big bill this quarter with all the extra cleaning and hand washing plus everyone being home 24/7.



Original katomi said:


> I was listening to a pod cast last night and the host was giving out tips
> He said that he has 3,three, batteries for two cameras, if he goes out on a shoot.
> My reaction was shocked, I mean if I am going out the back door to photo birds I take three bats
> If I am away from home, for the day or on holiday I will take 8 batts, the mains and the car chargers
> I am not running out of battery power, I can’t images doing a shoot paid or not with two cameras and only three batts
> Between them 1 in each camera and 1 left over.....
> He also went on about so/cf men cards
> Well that I know I am over the top on. In my film days I would use 5mtrs of film in a day
> So now I carry lots of mem cards, but When I have finished photos at one location, I will put that mem card(s)
> Away and use clean ones for the next location
> I won’t delete anything until I am back home and have downloaded the images.
> So yea I tend to use a lot of sad cards



I always carried just one spare with my Nikon and rarely had to use it unless I was heavily using the lcd for live view.  With my Fuji mirrorless I take at least 2 spares, usually 3 as battery life is the only con that I’ve found for the xt2.   

I tend to keep using a card until it’s full then I will switch it out.  I don’t delete after uploading, I leave them on there until I need to reformat the card.  No real reason and something I need to change


----------



## NancyMoranG

Yesterday morning at Grand Tetons! Lots of elk on the move towards Yellowstone. Except for cars into YNP, they closed south gate yesterday because of heavy snow!


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> I pay about 3x as much as my cousin who lives in the next town over.


Sink a well in your back yard?


----------



## smoke665

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I pay about 3x as much as my cousin who lives in the next town over.
> 
> 
> 
> Sink a well in your back yard?
Click to expand...


Over the years our FD filled a lot of pools. Our local water district is on the high side as well, for less then half the cost of "running a hose", we'd bring the tanker out. Funny thing was we filled up the tanker at the fire hydrant (which was on the water district), and being a FD we aren't charged for water. They've complained about it off and on, but no one was brave enough to try and stop it.


----------



## dxqcanada

Hmm, call in a fire that is occurring in your empty pool ... instant fill?


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I pay about 3x as much as my cousin who lives in the next town over.
> 
> 
> 
> Sink a well in your back yard?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Over the years our FD filled a lot of pools. Our local water district is on the high side as well, for less then half the cost of "running a hose", we'd bring the tanker out. Funny thing was we filled up the tanker at the fire hydrant (which was on the water district), and being a FD we aren't charged for water. They've complained about it off and on, but no one was brave enough to try and stop it.
Click to expand...


The past few years it’s been the same person who does the delivery and he is a retired firefighter.


----------



## Fujidave

Had a lovely ride today the park had quite a few folk sunbathing.


----------



## Jeff G

Dave, kind of jealous of your new bike. Been thinking about getting one. I miss riding.


----------



## Jeff15

I think I will stick with the car.........


----------



## smoke665

dxqcanada said:


> Hmm, call in a fire that is occurring in your empty pool ... instant fill?



But don't forget the "donation" we only get about 40% of our operating cost from tax dollars. The rest comes from grants and a lot of fundraisers.


----------



## SquarePeg

Jeff G said:


> Dave, kind of jealous of your new bike. Been thinking about getting one. I miss riding.





Jeff15 said:


> I think I will stick with the car.........



A Tale of Two Jeffs


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning Hosers!  I’m off to plant some petunias out front then going to put the house back together - with all my cleaning and painting projects last week things are a bit out of place.  We may grill some burgers later.  And of course a visit to the cemetery is on for this afternoon as it’s Memorial Day here in the US.  I may have to skip my annual Band of Brothers Memorial Day weekend marathon this year since I haven’t started it yet!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning Sharon.  Today I'll work on the watercolor, and do some more stripping / sanding on the plant cart.  I may do some "window" shopping for a long lens; hoping to get something at the end of the year.


----------



## terri

Morning, hosers!   A good Memorial Day to those of us in the USA. 

I'm trying to finish up something I started for @snowbear 's May Themed Art Challenge.   

We're planning to grill out later, but rain might put a damper on that.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all hope you are all safe and well
Here it’s 11..04 pm so have a good day chat again later
EDIT 03.30
unable to sleep I decided to take part in this weeks DOF Challenge
Going back to bed now its done... Night all


----------



## Original katomi

My fav go to lens is going to have to go 
Canon EFS 17 85 5.6 is
There is now so much dust inside that’s I can see it on the images and by looking through the lens
Sadly the cost of service is more than twice the cost of a used replacement from a trusted camera shop


----------



## NancyMoranG

Good morning from the Tetons. This was yesterday @ 6 am. Trying to get out early for the glow on all snow covered mountains. 
Today, it is currently 41 degrees at 5 am, and should get up to high 50's ...woo-hoo.


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> View attachment 192148
> 
> Good morning from the Tetons. This was yesterday @ 6 am. Trying to get out early for the glow on all snow covered mountains.
> Today, it is currently 41 degrees at 5 am, and should get up to high 50's ...woo-hoo.



Beautiful!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Hope you still get to come in Sept. This park is really spectacular!
Aren't they all...


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@NancyMoranG Friends of mine were supposed to have been in Yellowstone these past 2 weeks, but because of the pandemic, they had to cancel the trip until this fall. When I forwarded your previous post about the snowfall and closing of the south gate, they told me they would have been leaving the day it snowed there.
Your pic is absolutely beautiful. I imagine it was actually nice for you to have the area with a minimum of tourists to get in your way? Keep sharing please!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Thank you Dean for the kind words.. I would love to share. My photos are a work in progress and it is my therapy this summer.


----------



## PJM

NancyMoranG said:


> View attachment 192148
> 
> Good morning from the Tetons. This was yesterday @ 6 am. Trying to get out early for the glow on all snow covered mountains.
> Today, it is currently 41 degrees at 5 am, and should get up to high 50's ...woo-hoo.



I'm jealous.  I was there for just a few day two years ago.  You are going to be there for a while aren't you?  Do enjoy.  And looking forward to seeing your pictures.


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> Hope you still get to come in Sept. This park is really spectacular!
> Aren't they all...



Crossing my fingers for my end of September trip.  So many variables at this point that there’s no way to know for sure.  Getting there will be the biggest challenge.  Who knows of my original flights will even still be on the airline’s schedule.


----------



## NancyMoranG

I have the best reception in early a.m. for posting.
This bear with 4 Cubs is driving everyone crazy for photos!
She has caused 1 mile backup and everyone that was in the park the other day, I swear was here!!


----------



## Original katomi

Stunning pics,


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Just saying hey. It's Tuesday and all I know is that I think I need more than a 3-day weekend.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Just saying hey. It's Tuesday and all I know is that I think I need more than a 3-day weekend.



Hey. Not rubbin' it in or anything, but guess who has a 5 day weekend?


----------



## limr

Dean_Gretsch said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> Just saying hey. It's Tuesday and all I know is that I think I need more than a 3-day weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey. Not rubbin' it in or anything, but guess who has a 5 day weekend?
Click to expand...




Though I can't be too envious because I have a ton of vacation time that I have to take before Sept or else I lose all of it except the 2 weeks that I can roll over (it then starts accumulating from there.)

I will be taking some time at the end of June, and will be trying to give myself regular 3-day weekends.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Definitely don't be envious because I neglected to say my weekends don't actually include weekendsThis 5 day runs Mon-Fri.


----------



## CherylL

NancyMoranG said:


> View attachment 192148
> 
> Good morning from the Tetons. This was yesterday @ 6 am. Trying to get out early for the glow on all snow covered mountains.
> Today, it is currently 41 degrees at 5 am, and should get up to high 50's ...woo-hoo.



Beautiful!


----------



## CherylL

My husband has been a walking calamity.  He banged up his toe, burned his hand on the power washer, and got stung by a bee.  This happened over the last week.  I told him to stay off ladders.


----------



## Original katomi

There is a new phrase for people like your hubby
Don’t do that! We are NOT going to A&E


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> View attachment 192152
> 
> 
> I have the best reception in early a.m. for posting.
> This bear with 4 Cubs is driving everyone crazy for photos!
> She has caused 1 mile backup and everyone that was in the park the other day, I swear was here!!



Oh!  Is that bear #399 that I have been seeing on Instagram and Facebook all week?  Those cubs are so sweet. 



limr said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> Just saying hey. It's Tuesday and all I know is that I think I need more than a 3-day weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey. Not rubbin' it in or anything, but guess who has a 5 day weekend?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Though I can't be too envious because I have a ton of vacation time that I have to take before Sept or else I lose all of it except the 2 weeks that I can roll over (it then starts accumulating from there.)
> 
> I will be taking some time at the end of June, and will be trying to give myself regular 3-day weekends.
Click to expand...


We can usually carry over 150% before we stop accumulating more but that has been pushed to 200% due to the pandemic.  I never carry over more than 2 days that I hold for emergencies and use for Princess's birthday in January and a post holidays mental health Spa day for myself.   This may be the first year ever that I carry over more than 2 days...  Outside of the pandemic situation, I’m not sure why anyone has vacation time stacked up.  Use it up!  Enjoy it even if you just stay home and chill.  



CherylL said:


> My husband has been a walking calamity.  He banged up his toe, burned his hand on the power washer, and got stung by a bee.  This happened over the last week.  I told him to stay off ladders.



Yikes!  No power tools or biking for him.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Outside of the pandemic situation, I’m not sure why anyone has vacation time stacked up.  Use it up!  Enjoy it even if you just stay home and chill.



I am told that I have...a problem  To be fair, I get quite a bit of vacation time and it can be hard for someone with an overdeveloped sense of responsibility to take all of it. I was going to take a week off in March, and then we had to go remote and I had to do a ton of work to move my teaching work and my counseling work online. Then it was just getting through the semester. And now it's trying to get geared up for our busy recruitment and registration time.

If we were still on campus, we'd probably have flex time and I'd be taking every Friday off to eat up some time, but I am still trying to do that anyway (it's complicated, but basically counselors have to enter vacation time for certain times when the rest of the college is closed. Flex time would normally be a half-Friday and all counselors would have to charge 4 hours to vacation time to cover the Friday afternoons when the college was closed. I would just take the whole day and charge 8 hours. We actually don't have flex time this year, but I'm going to try to take every Friday off anyway to eat up some time. Just gotta deal with one pesky meeting that is scheduled for every Friday.)

I'm also taking some time off in June - about 2 weeks - though to illustrate the problem that I have, 5 of the days is so I can do English Language AP scoring.  But I am taking some time after the scoring so I can have some real time off.

And with any luck, I'll need some more time for moving. Took tomorrow morning off to go see two properties (alone in the house, with mask and gloves on.)


----------



## NancyMoranG

@SquarePeg, YES, that is #399! She is @25 yrs old and has had 2 sets of triplets I believe. But at her age, all the 'experts' are shocked at 4 !!


----------



## snowbear

At the work county, employees are allowed to carry over 60 days of annual leave; everything over that gets converted to sick leave, which has no limit.  the two personal days are use or lose.  When we left (retired or resigned), we were paid for 1/2 of our sick leave balance at last salary, and all of our unused annual.  Now, they just get the annual.  If you retire, you get service credit for unused sick (one month for 22 days of unused sick leave.)  I got three months, I think, and donated the rest to a friend that was on extended sick leave.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh Leo, the memories... reminds me of working in EI for a county agency, and before that a public school district. Let's make things as convoluted as possible! lol Have I said I'm glad I'm retired?? yes, I have.

There is now another little blue robin egg in the same nest. Last night at dusk could hear that robin, then one on the other side of the house, I guess they heard each other and were chirping back and forth. The other robin did the same thing, deja vu! Will see if there's another egg or two soon.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey, we're at 4000 pages in the Coffee House. FOUR THOUSAND!!!???!!!!!!!!!!




That's a lot of caffeine.


----------



## snowbear

and ...


----------



## snowbear

... 48,000  posts!


----------



## tirediron

Sorry... 48,001 !!!!


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Outside of the pandemic situation, I’m not sure why anyone has vacation time stacked up.  Use it up!  Enjoy it even if you just stay home and chill.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am told that I have...a problem  To be fair, I get quite a bit of vacation time and it can be hard for someone with an overdeveloped sense of responsibility to take all of it. I was going to take a week off in March, and then we had to go remote and I had to do a ton of work to move my teaching work and my counseling work online. Then it was just getting through the semester. And now it's trying to get geared up for our busy recruitment and registration time.
> 
> If we were still on campus, we'd probably have flex time and I'd be taking every Friday off to eat up some time, but I am still trying to do that anyway (it's complicated, but basically counselors have to enter vacation time for certain times when the rest of the college is closed. Flex time would normally be a half-Friday and all counselors would have to charge 4 hours to vacation time to cover the Friday afternoons when the college was closed. I would just take the whole day and charge 8 hours. We actually don't have flex time this year, but I'm going to try to take every Friday off anyway to eat up some time. Just gotta deal with one pesky meeting that is scheduled for every Friday.)
> 
> I'm also taking some time off in June - about 2 weeks - though to illustrate the problem that I have, 5 of the days is so I can do English Language AP scoring.  But I am taking some time after the scoring so I can have some real time off.
> 
> And with any luck, I'll need some more time for moving. Took tomorrow morning off to go see two properties (alone in the house, with mask and gloves on.)
Click to expand...


My next door neighbor is selling and they had 49 scheduled showings on Saturday and Sunday!  So if anyone wants to be neighbors with Princess and I and the pups, now is your chance.  for the low low low low price of $589900 you can have a lovely 3b 1.5ba home with an older kitchen but a lovely backyard and awesome neighbors!



snowbear said:


> At the work county, employees are allowed to carry over 60 days of annual leave; everything over that gets converted to sick leave, which has no limit.  the two personal days are use or lose.  When we left (retired or resigned), we were paid for 1/2 of our sick leave balance at last salary, and all of our unused annual.  Now, they just get the annual.  If you retire, you get service credit for unused sick (one month for 22 days of unused sick leave.)  I got three months, I think, and donated the rest to a friend that was on extended sick leave.



We do not officially get sick time but we get 7 personal days that are expected to be used instead.  We used to be able to “bank” unused vacation time and get paid for it when we retired but that practice went out the window about 10 years ago.  This year was my 25 year anniversary at my company.  I had 4 was vacation and was supposed to get a 5th week this year but they changed the vacation policy and now at 25 years you get 6 weeks so I went from 4 wks to 6!  With the pandemic I’m not sure I will use it all this year but I damn sure am going to try.


----------



## SquarePeg

@limr  I used to take every Monday off from July 4th to Labor Day and loved it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

John you just messed up the whole ding dang thing! lol It was a fleeting moment, 4000 pages and 48,000 posts at the same time (give or take an extra post by the polar bear but let's not get technical). A historic day to remember... 

or, maybe not. 

I think this has officially hit rock bottom in things to talk about.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all,


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.  MLW and I have ordered some things, and they are starting to arrive.
I’m sure glad I know how to use this without the instructions.


----------



## Original katomi

Lol


----------



## Original katomi

new to me lens arrived today.
My canon EFS 17 85 F 4 5.6 IS USM  is full of dust. I can’t think where I got so much dust at one time as I am careful 
But I do zoom in and out a lot so maybe that’s the prob.
However, I looked at getting the lens cleaned... 
turns out a used replacement was less expensive 
The new lens is just the same spec as the old one just no visible dust to be seen on the inside.
As this is my go to lens, I will be play...er using the new one soon.


----------



## SquarePeg

My new office space


----------



## snowbear

Nice, Sharon, but I can't do that: we had to turn on the AC yesterday.  I miss having the windows open.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> My new office space
> 
> View attachment 192205


Bragging.   

BLOCKED!


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Nice, Sharon, but I can't do that: we had to turn on the AC yesterday.  I miss having the windows open.



it’s a lot cooler up here.  Yesterday was a perfect 72 with a gentle breeze.  Spent last night assembling this thing.  Princess and my sister in law put the screens on backwards so will have to fix that tonight but otherwise it’s all set.  I just ordered a battery/usb ceiling fan and some fairy lights for it.




terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> My new office space
> 
> View attachment 192205
> 
> 
> 
> Bragging.
> 
> BLOCKED!
Click to expand...


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> My new office space
> 
> View attachment 192205



I would be able to use this for about a minute before it got too hot for me. It's 75F today. Might be okay in the shade, but it's basically my upper limit, and it's only getting warmer. I'm much more likely to have an outdoor setup for Oct/Nov and April/maaaaybe May, and have a firepit nearby to warm it up a bit. It would be too chilly even for me in the dead of winter, and waaaaaaay too hot for me anytime past the end of May.

Also, I could only do this if I had at least a mile of space around me so I could ignore that other people exist. 

I also don't care that much about being outdoors, so this is all quite hypothetical.


----------



## Jeff G

Our low was 72° F  our high today is 107°F . We have a similar gazebo in the backyard, we replaced the cover last weekend. Looks like the pool is going to get a workout this weekend.


----------



## SquarePeg

@NancyMoranG  check out neilsimmonsphotography on Instagram.  He has some adorable photos of 399 and her cubs.  He must have a super zoom.


----------



## limr




----------



## NancyMoranG

@SquarePeg. Thanks...there was some SERIOUS equipment here this week!!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, how is everyone today ?


----------



## Fujidave

Original katomi said:


> Hi all, how is everyone today ?




me today i feel crap, lost two new born grandchildren mum might have the virus and so might i.  apart from that im great.


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> Hi all, how is everyone today ?


Doing well; how are things on your end?   

We're finally getting some sunshine again after several rainy, overcast days.   I've discovered 2 new tomatoes coming on one of my patio container plants.  I've never tried tomatoes in containers but according to the little tags, I have two varietals that will stay bushy and bear fruit.   We'll see!

The baby swallows are getting bigger by the hour, it seems.   Sprouting little feather tufts and giving full-throated yells when mama flies in.   They're learning to hunker down and hide when I appear with my camera, but I'll try to get more pictures.


----------



## terri

Fujidave said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi all, how is everyone today ?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> me today i feel crap, lost two new born grandchildren mum might have the virus and so might i.  apart from that im great.
Click to expand...

Good lord, FD - I'm so sorry for your family's loss.  You have my condolences.    I hope your mom tests negative.   Stay safe.


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi all, how is everyone today ?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> me today i feel crap, lost two new born grandchildren mum might have the virus and so might i.  apart from that im great.
Click to expand...


I'm so sorry. Fingers crossed that you and your mom are okay.


----------



## Original katomi

Dave so sorry. About now feels like I have put my big foot in my mouth.
Fingers crossed for you both


----------



## vintagesnaps

FujiDave, what happened? I'm not sure what you meant about two grandbabies, were they twin preemies or maybe two of multiple babies (triplets, quadruplets)? I'm sorry to hear that. That's what I used to do, working with babies & toddlers with developmental delays, preemies, etc. 

And I hope you and your mom are OK.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> FujiDave, what happened? I'm not sure what you meant about two grandbabies, were they twin preemies or maybe two of multiple babies (triplets, quadruplets)? I'm sorry to hear that. That's what I used to do, working with babies & toddlers with developmental delays, preemies, etc.
> 
> And I hope you and your mom are OK.




10 weeks early Leo died, but Sunny died because the hospital gave him the wrong pill and oxygen was switched off accidently so he died on the 8th day.  Hospital have admitted they screwed up and Sunny would of survived.


----------



## Fujidave

My new Silver X-T4 was delivered today,  I was bored stupid so ordered it yesterday and very nice it is too.


----------



## NancyMoranG

FugiDave, my gosh, I am so sorry for your whole family and their loss.
Prayers for all of you.


----------



## Fujidave

Just had a phone call, Mums swab results came back negative.  We are over the moon here.


----------



## Jeff G

Dave, sorry about the grandbabies. Glad to hear your mom tested negative.


----------



## Original katomi

Good news on your mum


----------



## Jeff15

That's good news Dave.....


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Friday Hosers!


----------



## Jeff15

But its Saturday..............


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all


----------



## terri

Swallow update!

Mom and kids.   All 5 babies are growing and usually yelling for food.   They've learned to hunker down when I try to step outside for pics, so I'm stuck shooting through the glass.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Mrs. Parker was waiting for me to wake up:


----------



## limr




----------



## terri

Mrs. Parker!      

Don't you love it when you feel you're being watched....and it turns out you ARE??


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


>


Apparently _someone_ has forgotten to feed the cat!


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently _someone_ has forgotten to feed the cat!
Click to expand...


Nah, otherwise she'd be licking my head. This was just her reminder that it was almost breakfast time. Either that, or she was staring at ghosts.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Some Wild Life at Grand Teton...just a small section of them. We had to keep moving thru per officers..


----------



## Jeff15

Nice cat......


----------



## snowbear

Work County starts to open up on Monday, however it looks like I'm going to continue teleworking for three or four days per week.  The only real reason we need to physically be in the office is to handle the printed maps, and most of our products are going online.  They can actually be farmed out to the County print shop or to one of the various stores that handle large scale printing; the only "downside" being the agencies will have to pay for them, where we were not charging.   My boss is all for the telework - feels he could do his job just a s easy in North Caroline beside a mountain lake (I'm opting for near Moosehead lake or Casco Bay).

So, since telecommuting is still a policy, I've been rethinking my work space.  The stool I use with the drawing table is really starting to give me fits at night; I have neuropathy (a side effect of the diabetes) and I've been having trouble falling asleep.  So after discussing things with _SWMBO, AKA MLW*_, I'm going to be ordering a desk, next week.  The stool will adjust down, so I can get a chair later (those have to be tried out first).  The drawing table and a paper cabinet (made by MLW's uncle) will go into storage.

I found out that one of the neices' son has tested positive for COVID19, so now they are all on quarantine.

* She Who Must Be Obeyed, Also Known As My Lovely Wife.


----------



## Original katomi

Ah nice cat, is the feed me look


----------



## Jeff15

Is it not the I am watching you look....


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all,


----------



## NancyMoranG

Good Morning @Original katomi.
5:30 am here in Grand Tetons National Park, Wyoming, USA...
Going out to catch a sunrise.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Work County starts to open up on Monday, however it looks like I'm going to continue teleworking for three or four days per week.  The only real reason we need to physically be in the office is to handle the printed maps, and most of our products are going online.  They can actually be farmed out to the County print shop or to one of the various stores that handle large scale printing; the only "downside" being the agencies will have to pay for them, where we were not charging.   My boss is all for the telework - feels he could do his job just a s easy in North Caroline beside a mountain lake (I'm opting for near Moosehead lake or Casco Bay).
> 
> So, since telecommuting is still a policy, I've been rethinking my work space.  The stool I use with the drawing table is really starting to give me fits at night; I have neuropathy (a side effect of the diabetes) and I've been having trouble falling asleep.  So after discussing things with _SWMBO, AKA MLW*_, I'm going to be ordering a desk, next week.  The stool will adjust down, so I can get a chair later (those have to be tried out first).  The drawing table and a paper cabinet (made by MLW's uncle) will go into storage.
> 
> I found out that one of the neices' son has tested positive for COVID19, so now they are all on quarantine.
> 
> * She Who Must Be Obeyed, Also Known As My Lovely Wife.


Ugh, I'm sorry to hear about your family members, Charlie.   Hopefully no one gets seriously ill and the quarantine can be lifted routinely.

Glad you're getting a real desk to work at.   I agree, you should think of getting a real chair, too.    I have chronic back issues and tend to work standing at my drafting table for the most part.   But a desk chair with good lumbar support is right behind me.   Stools provide zero back support and should be a major no-go for anyone working at a desk.   I'd put more money into a good chair before a desk, which only has to be strong enough to hold your (many) computers.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, Terri.  It really isn't a stool, but a chair without arms.  It will do until I can find a chair I like.  I was looking at (much) lower cost items, but MLW said no way.

Neph is about 13 with no underlying health issues; he should be fine.  We're just waiting the next couple of weeks, and see how things work out.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all it’s 11.25 bst and I am off to bed soon
I have been trying to help a new member Marvin 123  photos turn dark when external flash Is on
I am old school 100 iso f8 1/200 sec and an external flash meter is my starting point
I know nothing about e TIL if someone can pick up the torch and solve the problem 
Thanks all and night from me


----------



## limr

Hosers, we were on the second page. Not cool, man. Not cool.

It's soooooo Monday today.


----------



## terri

It's getting crowded in there!   The 5th one is likely getting sat on from the back.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> Hi all


Hi back!


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, I am doing my bit to keep this off the second page lol
Well just had our replacement wheely bin arrive, some kind person took ours last week
I have to pay for the cost of a replacement.
Sat making a stencil so that I can put our address on the bins. 
Sad that it has come to this, almost having to lock up the rubbish bins.


----------



## Original katomi

Terri love the bird pics


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

terri said:


> It's getting crowded in there!   The 5th one is likely getting sat on from the back.
> 
> View attachment 192511



I see some Grumpy Bird scowls in there!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Original katomi said:


> Morning all, I am doing my bit to keep this off the second page lol
> Well just had our replacement wheely bin arrive, some kind person took ours last week
> I have to pay for the cost of a replacement.
> Sat making a stencil so that I can put our address on the bins.
> Sad that it has come to this, almost having to lock up the rubbish bins.



OK, we have to lock up rubbish bins here, but because of 4-legged thieves : bears!


----------



## Fujidave

Hot here today, X-T4 + XF90mm f2




It&#x60;s the Doorbell Daddy by Dave, on Flickr


----------



## Original katomi

. We don’t have to worry about bears, 
Kids/youths who should know better, are more of a problem lol
Dave nice B&W  hope your model got a reward


----------



## snowbear

Dean_Gretsch said:


> OK, we have to lock up rubbish bins here, but because of 4-legged thieves : bears!


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, cooler here today maybe even some rain
Like the sign, think I will order one for next year
If I put something like that up in our estate road maybe it will be more effective than the parking restrictions at stopping day trippers from parking in our estate
Wonder if they will make me a version with the wording below

Do not park here, 
Fine for illegal parking
Being Eaten


----------



## Jeff15

We have a 10c drop in temperature today...BRRRR.


----------



## terri

And, we have liftoff!  

Well, sorta.      Once they're out of the nest and flapping those wings, within a day or two, they're aloft.   These two on the ledge were likely born on the same day, with the other three close behind.   They all have plumage and are constantly grooming, stretching those wings, and acting generally very restless.


----------



## SquarePeg

Quick explanation of the new profile pic - it's my daughter's hospital photo.  We have another "normal" photo (sans birdie) and I had thought the paper copy I had of this one was lost but I came across it this week and it is too funny not to share.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all,  just come in for a drink and a snack
We have been planting the flowers and shrubs we bought yesterday
I sat we have been planting.
Mrs says where and what to plant and i do the digging 
Our Tinker who has been here before has decided he just has to help
I have told him the digging part comes _before  _I have put the plant in the ground


----------



## Jeff15

I hate gardening...........


----------



## SquarePeg

This girl loves to “garden”.  In fact she did some gardening today when we went to a friend’s house for a socially distant doggie play date.   Yes, we helped clean up before we left!


----------



## vintagesnaps

It's like it's 1989... finally finished listening to the 97X Future of Rock n' Roll's Modern Rock 500 from 2009, the last year they were on the air. So had decided to go back to the first year and see how long it takes me to listen to another Memorial Day weekend's worth of music!

Leo, guess what the first song was! yes, The Smiths. Off to a great start. *

Good rainy day, with the cable still out, to pretend it's 1989 except - with a computer, and internet! And I'm doing online stuff on needlework etc. and gotta get it together and get something done. I'm not used to, ya know, actually having to do something! on a deadline, and - homework! and I'm already behind!! lol 

Going to the eye Dr. wore me out. I go in for one thing and next day my shoulder and hip ache from too long in those Frankenstein labor-a-tory chairs, and I didn't get up til like 11:30 and still could take a nap! lol

*1989 so far was a very good year.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> This girl loves to “garden”.  In fact she did some gardening today when we went to a friend’s house for a socially distant doggie play date.   Yes, we helped clean up before we left!
> 
> View attachment 192646 View attachment 192647


Instant Dalmatian kit!


----------



## SquarePeg

tirediron said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> This girl loves to “garden”.  In fact she did some gardening today when we went to a friend’s house for a socially distant doggie play date.   Yes, we helped clean up before we left!
> 
> View attachment 192646 View attachment 192647
> 
> 
> 
> Instant Dalmatian kit!
Click to expand...


She had a busy day.  She caught a baby bunny in the back yard this morning.  Thankfully she didn’t kill it, but it was stunned and I thought it was dead at first.  She was just nudging it and sniffing at it.  After a few minutes and many teardrops from Princess it got up and hopped away.


----------



## terri

And then, there was one:








And actually, in the short time between my taking this shot and getting it posted, that baby is GONE.

*sob*   Empty nest syndrome!    But that's 5 more of these (endangered or on the decline in certain areas in the US) that have come from my porch.   I'm happy about that.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> And then, there was one:
> 
> View attachment 192649
> 
> 
> 
> And actually, in the short time between my taking this shot and getting it posted, that baby is GONE.
> 
> *sob*   Empty nest syndrome!    But that's 5 more of these (endangered or on the decline in certain areas in the US) that have come from my porch.   I'm happy about that.



Somce they keep going to that same spot to nest, can you get a little motion sensitive video camera up there?  That would be super cool to see next year!


----------



## SquarePeg

View attachment 192651


----------



## tirediron

terri said:


> And then, there was one:
> 
> View attachment 192649
> 
> 
> 
> And actually, in the short time between my taking this shot and getting it posted, that baby is GONE.
> 
> *sob*   Empty nest syndrome!    But that's 5 more of these (endangered or on the decline in certain areas in the US) that have come from my porch.   I'm happy about that.


His (hers?) expression reminds me of Carlos from 'Hop'!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> And then, there was one:
> 
> View attachment 192649
> 
> 
> 
> And actually, in the short time between my taking this shot and getting it posted, that baby is GONE.
> 
> *sob*   Empty nest syndrome!    But that's 5 more of these (endangered or on the decline in certain areas in the US) that have come from my porch.   I'm happy about that.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Somce they keep going to that same spot to nest, can you get a little motion sensitive video camera up there?  That would be super cool to see next year!
Click to expand...

We've talked about this a dozen times!     There's a need for Bird Watch!


----------



## Original katomi

Terri 
I know all the birds have gone now but thank you Following their progress via you pictures has been interesting


----------



## terri

You're welcome!   We've already scrubbed the porch down.   Typically we lay down a large cut-up section of a cardboard moving box directly under the nest, to catch the worst of the nasty from the little buggers.    

We'll see if there's a round 2 this summer.   This group came and left early, by our calendar.  Plenty of time for more.

I'm sad they've just up and left.   We're more familiar with them returning to the nest for several days while they're fledglings.   It's cute to watch them coming in as darkness falls for a few days.   Both parents come in, too, and sit on the opposite ledge, and they stay together.    It's usually a more gradual process than how this family behaved.   (Makes notes in mental Bird Book.)


----------



## dxqcanada

vintagesnaps said:


> Good rainy day, with the cable still out, to pretend it's 1989 except - with a computer, and internet!


----------



## limr




----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, blowing a hoolie here, wind has put pay to the plans in the garden today 
Looks like it’s going to be a day to do jobs.. housework ... indoors
Catch you all again later,


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy weekend Hosers!  Not much going on today.  May take a ride north to try to find some wildflowers.  It’s lupine season here.  Tomorrow is my nephews graduation parade.  That’s the new version of a party.


----------



## snowbear

Hi.
Bye.

On the way to get a pickup, then bring this table home.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> Hi.
> Bye.
> 
> On the way to get a pickup, then bring this table home.


Nice table!


----------



## snowbear

Well, we got it into the apartment without any major injuries; I swear the top is 200 pounds.   Luckily the neighbor and "lost boyfriend" were there and came over to help.  The table leg and rail have cracks, so I glued up the leg.  We'll put the top on tomorrow, and glue up the rail afterwards.  Of course, MLW saw a sideboard/cabinet while we were there, so we may be going back in a few weeks.

We grabbed the stools, as well.


----------



## terri

Pics when it's all put together!


----------



## Original katomi

Nice table, marble top. Ideal for home cooking/baking


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Pics when it's all put together!


Of course.  And then one when MLW uses it to make bread or cinni-noms.


----------



## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> Nice table, marble top. Ideal for home cooking/baking


The main reason MLW wanted it.


----------



## SquarePeg

My latest work of art. My family famous vanilla cupcakes with chocolate mousse filling and caramel sauce.


----------



## Original katomi

The above post is dangerous.... I drooled all over my I pad lol
They look delicious


----------



## limr

I don't have a sweet tooth at all, but those look super yummy delish, and I am starving right now, so...


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> My latest work of art. My family famous vanilla cupcakes with chocolate mousse filling and caramel sauce.
> 
> View attachment 192740
> 
> 
> View attachment 192741


I gained three pounds just reading their name!


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> My latest work of art. My family famous vanilla cupcakes with chocolate mousse filling and caramel sauce.
> 
> View attachment 192740
> 
> 
> View attachment 192741




They look OH so yummy, and thank you very much too...
NOT, as I had to clean the screen of my PC because of me licking it..lol


----------



## Jeff15

Very nice lookin cakes.......


----------



## snowbear

The table is back together.  The bookcase is not normally there - we are rearranging furniture like crazy.
Man, I need to create the profile for the short end of this lens and get rid of this distortion.




Table #2 by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr




Table #3 by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr




Table #1 by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## terri

Looks even better than the pics you showed of it from the store.   Love that top, and all that tooling.   A beauty!  



snowbear said:


> Man, I need to create the profile for the short end of this lens and get rid of this distortion.


I agree.  I really find it offensive.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, Terri.  Offensive isn't the word I's use - more aggravating, but it has to be fixed.  I have the target to make the profile, but I haven't had the time.  Maybe _next_ weekend.

My next major project will be to (eventually) replace the table portion.  The wood is very dry and one leg split (mainly due to the wheel, we think) a little.  It glued up, nicely.  There is another split in the back rail, but it appears to be structurally sound.  Someday, when I get a shop again, I'll replace the wood, maybe a nice maple.


----------



## SquarePeg

Nice table.  I love the stools too.  They look super comfy.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks.  They are nice, too.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, they're nice.  I think we'll get some with backs later on.
And for those that don't recognize it, that is a bodhrán on the left, Celtic knot work by your's truly (acrylic).


----------



## Original katomi

Nice pics really shows off the table


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Thanks, Terri. Offensive isn't the word I's use - more aggravating, but it has to be fixed. I have the target to make the profile, but I haven't had the time. Maybe _next_ weekend.


I kid, I kid ya, Bear!   

No one takes worse snaps than I do, and I'd never consider making a profile for them.  Too lazy.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Nice table Charlie, beautiful marble. Maple would be pretty with it too. You posted a picture of the bodhran before, didn't you? Very nice. Although I can't say I'd remembered that just looking at the picture til you mentioned it. But then I was distracted by that lovely marble...

I need to get something done...

or not!

edit - Are the cupcakes all gone?? Darn, I missed 'em!!


----------



## snowbear

I'm sure I posted a detail of the knot work.   It's actually my avatar for Google and one of the Flickrs.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all
A day in doors today cold and wet out and my joints are now telling me all about it


----------



## snowbear

Well, no new job.  I was told it was very close, but they are going with someone with more experience (I have very little in the project management area).  I've been told I may know them (but didn't release name, yet) because they are also involved with the State Geo group (MSGIC) and he should be a good asset to the team.  I don't know if anyone is familiar with the GIS lady in Florida whom got fired because she wouldn't fudge the COVID recovery numbers, but apparently she also applied.

MLW is on her way back from West-By-God - she and "Shird" (her sister) went to spread brother's ashes.


----------



## terri

I'm sorry it didn't go your way.    



snowbear said:


> I don't know if anyone is familiar with the GIS lady in Florida whom got fired because she wouldn't fudge the COVID recovery numbers, but apparently she also applied


I am aware of that story.  Sounds like there was some major competition for that position!


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all,


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> I'm sorry it didn't go your way.
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know if anyone is familiar with the GIS lady in Florida whom got fired because she wouldn't fudge the COVID recovery numbers, but apparently she also applied
> 
> 
> 
> I am aware of that story.  Sounds like there was some major competition for that position!
Click to expand...

I believe that things happen, or don't, for a reason.  I would have committed myself for at least five more years.  This way, I could leave in two, when the contract is up (I'll be eligible for Social Security) if I want to.  I'm getting a little practice in the watercolors for career number ... five, I think.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

I see Flickr is down again.  I just uploaded a photo of my muse in a swimming pool - perhaps I broke it.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Tropicalmemories said:


> I see Flickr is down again.  I just uploaded a photo of my muse in a swimming pool - perhaps I broke it.



How do you like Flickr? I used Photobucket years ago to share a lot of photos of my travels to people. Am now just getting back and would hate to pay monthly fee to PB...


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> I see Flickr is down again.  I just uploaded a photo of my muse in a swimming pool - perhaps I broke it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How do you like Flickr? I used Photobucket years ago to share a lot of photos of my travels to people. Am now just getting back and would hate to pay monthly fee to PB...
Click to expand...


you didn’t ask me but I love it.  Small amount of free storage.  I pay for Flickr “Pro” to get the unlimited full res storage.  I enjoy the community there and all of the groups.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

NancyMoranG said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> I see Flickr is down again.  I just uploaded a photo of my muse in a swimming pool - perhaps I broke it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How do you like Flickr? I used Photobucket years ago to share a lot of photos of my travels to people. Am now just getting back and would hate to pay monthly fee to PB...
Click to expand...


As a storage/hosting site it's good, but as a discussion site it's hopeless.

You could try the free option, then when you approach the limit, decide if you like it?


----------



## Original katomi

I use the free flicker to share photos with my family.
My kids have set their phone to ding when I post new images.
During lockdown I have posted things for the to brighten their day


----------



## SquarePeg

Tropicalmemories said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> I see Flickr is down again.  I just uploaded a photo of my muse in a swimming pool - perhaps I broke it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How do you like Flickr? I used Photobucket years ago to share a lot of photos of my travels to people. Am now just getting back and would hate to pay monthly fee to PB...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> As a storage/hosting site it's good, but as a discussion site it's hopeless.
> 
> You could try the free option, then when you approach the limit, decide if you like it?
Click to expand...


Yes the discussion threads are not comparable to TPF or photography Facebook groups but the individual photo comments are sometimes very interesting and the community is very supportive.


----------



## NancyMoranG

I have a TON of photos on PB from years ago. With personal tragedy I stopped everything for a while. 
They sent emails but I didn't do anything with account.
Now, I will have to figure out how/if to get MY photos off there if I move.


----------



## snowbear

I have the free account, actually two of them.  Once some of by other obligations are paid off, I'll probably switch to a pro account.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Ok thank you all. I am going to look into pricing for Flickr and make decision.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all,


----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, 
Cold wet and windy here. Just went to post some more pics on flicker, decided to use lap top not I pad
Flicker wants me to use a newer web browser... oh well back to I pad


----------



## vintagesnaps

I didn't like changes to Flickr quite some time ago, I think I just have a header photo on there. Don't like the layout, but can't remember what Yahoo did with it that made me take everything off. (Oh wait, sold it, didn't they?) I guess I ought to sign in and close it out if I'm not going to use it. I just never need anything to host photos, I have them on my computer and ext. hard drives and that seems to be all I really need.

I got 'homework' to go finish, break's about over!

edit - Tropicalmemories you broke what, Flickr or the swimming pool?? lol

Charlie, I think too sometimes work out for the best, and down the road you're just as glad it worked out the way it did. Of course, sometimes sh#% just happens...!


----------



## dxqcanada

Well, I was just looking at a video about balancing the tonearm on your turntable ... so I did it ... spun up the old Dual ... then I got stuck listening to numerous records ... nothing beats that clickn pop hum ... Touched by the Hand of Dub.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Did some price checking on Flickr and PB. Still looking into it.
I know 'everyone' has Facebook....but I used PB 6-8 yrs ago for emailing photos.
Because of our travels in an RV, I would load @15 photos maybe a short video onto PB. Then write an explanation, story and link the photos to email.
It worked really well at the time. Our friends, family really enjoyed the story/history/ wow factor to the info.
Guess I am still stuck in the past....

( I do have some family members without FB, so was leaning with how to do this efficiently)


----------



## Original katomi

Please Miss
I don’t have face book


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> Did some price checking on Flickr and PB. Still looking into it.
> I know 'everyone' has Facebook....but I used PB 6-8 yrs ago for emailing photos.
> Because of our travels in an RV, I would load @15 photos maybe a short video onto PB. Then write an explanation, story and link the photos to email.
> It worked really well at the time. Our friends, family really enjoyed the story/history/ wow factor to the info.
> Guess I am still stuck in the past....
> 
> ( I do have some family members without FB, so was leaning with how to do this efficiently)



Google Photos is free and you can share the albums.  The only issue is that it’s not full res storage.  But for social media sharing needs it’s great.  You can share the album on Facebook or email or text a link to your family and friends or, I believe, make the photos public for them to view via Google Photos app.  Not so great if people want to download and print.


----------



## tirediron

NancyMoranG said:


> Did some price checking on Flickr and PB. Still looking into it.
> I know 'everyone' has Facebook....but I used PB 6-8 yrs ago for emailing photos.
> Because of our travels in an RV, I would load @15 photos maybe a short video onto PB. Then write an explanation, story and link the photos to email.
> It worked really well at the time. Our friends, family really enjoyed the story/history/ wow factor to the info.
> Guess I am still stuck in the past....
> 
> ( I do have some family members without FB, so was leaning with how to do this efficiently)


Why not get yourself some webspace on a hosting service, a Wordpress template and set up your own 'site.  So much easier... upload as many as you like, ftp access, so multiple uploads go really quickly, and you can display them however you want.  There are literally thousands of free templates for blogs and galleries.


----------



## Fujidave

I`m knackered after my ride with Marilyn ( Name of bike) today.  Marilyn Monroe was my all time favourite, so my new Whyte Ridgeway is named after MM.  Taken with my Huawei P30.





Whyte Ridgeway and St Peters Church by Dave, on Flickr


----------



## NancyMoranG

SquarePeg said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did some price checking on Flickr and PB. Still looking into it.
> I know 'everyone' has Facebook....but I used PB 6-8 yrs ago for emailing photos.
> Because of our travels in an RV, I would load @15 photos maybe a short video onto PB. Then write an explanation, story and link the photos to email.
> It worked really well at the time. Our friends, family really enjoyed the story/history/ wow factor to the info.
> Guess I am still stuck in the past....
> 
> ( I do have some family members without FB, so was leaning with how to do this efficiently)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Google Photos is free and you can share the albums.  The only issue is that it’s not full res storage.  But for social media sharing needs it’s great.  You can share the album on Facebook or email or text a link to your family and friends or, I believe, make the photos public for them to view via Google Photos app.  Not so great if people want to download and print.
Click to expand...




tirediron said:


> NancyMoranG said:
> 
> 
> 
> Did some price checking on Flickr and PB. Still looking into it.
> I know 'everyone' has Facebook....but I used PB 6-8 yrs ago for emailing photos.
> Because of our travels in an RV, I would load @15 photos maybe a short video onto PB. Then write an explanation, story and link the photos to email.
> It worked really well at the time. Our friends, family really enjoyed the story/history/ wow factor to the info.
> Guess I am still stuck in the past....
> 
> ( I do have some family members without FB, so was leaning with how to do this efficiently)
> 
> 
> 
> Why not get yourself some webspace on a hosting service, a Wordpress template and set up your own 'site.  So much easier... upload as many as you like, ftp access, so multiple uploads go really quickly, and you can display them however you want.  There are literally thousands of free templates for blogs and galleries.
Click to expand...


Hey thanks guys. Great info and options.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all,
I wonder if anybody has ever tried to mark on a world map
Where all the different members they talk to are.


----------



## tirediron

Finally... I'm getting up in the world..


----------



## Jeff G

It is a cool view but no thanks, never again! Last November was the last time I'll ever climb a tree. On landing while exiting the tree I broke my tailbone, still can't  sit in the car more than 45 minutes without it killing me. Apparently old fat guys are supposed to know better.


----------



## NancyMoranG

I was hoping you were going zip-lining!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Even though visitation is down at National Park, everyone was here today!  
Bear 399 with her 4 cubs made an appearance...


----------



## tirediron

Jeff G said:


> It is a cool view but no thanks, never again! Last November was the last time I'll ever climb a tree. On landing while exiting the tree I broke my tailbone, still can't  sit in the car more than 45 minutes without it killing me. Apparently old fat guys are supposed to know better.


This one doesn't... yet!



NancyMoranG said:


> I was hoping you were going zip-lining!


I wish...  tree trimming!


----------



## tirediron

NancyMoranG said:


> View attachment 193066
> 
> Even though visitation is down at National Park, everyone was here today!
> Bear 399 with her 4 cubs made an appearance...


I wonder how many dollars worth of glass is in that image?


----------



## NancyMoranG

Yes, the gear is amazing. It's fun to pass someone eating out of the back of their truck and seeing the plywood platforms they made. Either for sleeping, or organizing all their gear!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all


----------



## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> Morning all,
> I wonder if anybody has ever tried to mark on a world map
> Where all the different members they talk to are.


I might give it a shot; I think most list at least the country.  State for US, Province for Canada, and whatever I can get for the rest.  For the moving targets, like NancyMoranG, I can get just take a guess. 



tirediron said:


> Finally... I'm getting up in the world..


If I were meant to climb trees, I'd have real claws.



NancyMoranG said:


> View attachment 193066
> 
> Even though visitation is down at National Park, everyone was here today!
> Bear 399 with her 4 cubs made an appearance...


That _is_ a lot of glass.  I  the cubs.

Part one of the new home-office, the table, is done.  The current desk (a drawing/drafting table) was moved from the window this past weekend.  The new desk is supposed to be delivered Friday.  We think we're going to be on home telecommute for a while (one of the CATV company HQ folks are home through until September).  Even after we phase back to the regular office, I'll be telecommuting at least one day per week.  Management is impressed on how productive we are being from home.




Home-office 1 by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> I think most list at least the country. State for US


Actual location or state of mind?


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think most list at least the country. State for US
> 
> 
> 
> Actual location or state of mind?
Click to expand...

Yes.  Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, Confusion, Befuddled, Florida ...


----------



## CherylL

I had another dental procedure last week and the pain back.  After a week of pain things are finally feeling better.   The good news is that the camera I ordered 4 weeks ago came in today.  I traded in my Fuji X-T2 for the X-T4.  Had to wait for the silver version.  It is slightly bigger and a little more weight, but really not that noticeable.   Took a few test shots and the AF is so much faster.  I'll give it a work out tomorrow and looking forward to shooting some video too.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, saw my parents for the first time since feb, yesterday.
Made their day and mine, even though we talk on the phone and do the thing where we can see each other
It’s not the same as in person.
Stay well stay safe, chat to your friends and family if you can.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think most list at least the country. State for US
> 
> 
> 
> Actual location or state of mind?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes.  Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, Confusion, Befuddled, Florida ...
Click to expand...

I’m north of the Mason-Dixon Line, somewhere between Befuddled and Confused.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. Found two boxes of overhead transparencies in a closet yesterday. Pretty sure I am not going to need them anymore. Which is sad, because I really liked using the overhead.

I talked to my family on Saturday. I still have agida.

It's Tuesday, hosers. What's going on?


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> Hey hosers. Found two boxes of overhead transparencies in a closet yesterday.


Were they the coloured ones or just transparent?


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Hey hosers. Found two boxes of overhead transparencies in a closet yesterday. Pretty sure I am not going to need them anymore. Which is sad, because I really liked using the overhead.
> 
> I talked to my family on Saturday. I still have agida.
> 
> It's Tuesday, hosers. What's going on?


Not much happening this Tuesday.   I'm making a new one-pot wonder dish later where the pasta is cooked in the pan, as opposed to boiling separately and adding later.   I usually follow this latter method so this will be interesting.   To me, at least.   

My back has flared up again, after giving me several decent weeks.   I did some yogic-style stretching and made it worse, so I'm downing pharmaceuticals and trying not to be too cranky.   

Other than that, I'm marveling at the weather - it's as cool outside right now as it would be if I were at my mom's house in Michigan.   We've had a long, amazingly wonderful spring this year.   Love it!    All my potted herbs are happy, too.


----------



## limr

tirediron said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers. Found two boxes of overhead transparencies in a closet yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> Were they the coloured ones or just transparent?
Click to expand...


Transparent. Intended for use with special markers. The other box are transparent for use in laser printers.


----------



## SquarePeg

Agree our plants have never looked better and weather has been so cool and dry - I love 70 and sunny with big fluffy clouds with a nice gentle breeze!  I think we’re going to have a wonderful summer, weatherwise, because it’s one of those summers where everyone has had to cancel their plans!

I went to my other nephews graduation this morning from 10 AM to 10:30 AM. We were the only family there. It’s a small school, very limited class sizes - they spread the graduation out over three days and made it a very personal event for each student. It wasn’t just handing a diploma it was a speech by the principal about the accomplishments of each student, well I’m assuming they did the same thing for everyone that they did for my nephew... each teacher said a little something then the diploma and cheers all around.  I was back home by 10:45.


----------



## tirediron

limr said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers. Found two boxes of overhead transparencies in a closet yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> Were they the coloured ones or just transparent?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Transparent. Intended for use with special markers. The other box are transparent for use in laser printers.
Click to expand...

Too bad... the coloured ones make great lighting gels.


----------



## SquarePeg

The clear ones make great face shields for the hospital workers.  Maybe you can donate them.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all,  
thank you square peg
Those clear sheets also make good stencils  cut out your shape, whatever and you are away
Could have used some last week, when I stencilled our addy on the bins. Bright lumaglow yellow, 
No chance of a mistake, lol


----------



## Fujidave

What a fantastic day it was today, life is so beautiful and it`s great to feel alive again.  Reason why is after Mum going in to hospital nearly a month ago she is now doing great and coming back home tomorrow,  we are so over the moon with this news and can`t wait to see her tomorrow.
So a big thank you to the wonderful NHS staff who helped save my Mum, total respect to you xx


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Agree our plants have never looked better and weather has been so cool and dry - I love 70 and sunny with big fluffy clouds with a nice gentle breeze!  I think we’re going to have a wonderful summer, weatherwise, because it’s one of those summers where everyone has had to cancel their plans!
> 
> I went to my other nephews graduation this morning from 10 AM to 10:30 AM. We were the only family there. It’s a small school, very limited class sizes - they spread the graduation out over three days and made it a very personal event for each student. It wasn’t just handing a diploma it was a speech by the principal about the accomplishments of each student, well I’m assuming they did the same thing for everyone that they did for my nephew... each teacher said a little something then the diploma and cheers all around.  I was back home by 10:45.



The grads are in a different wold now.  That is a nice touch for the principal to make it personal for each student.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> The clear ones make great face shields for the hospital workers.  Maybe you can donate them.



I have a friend who does 3D printing who said he could use them to make face shields for healthcare workers, so I'm sending him the boxes.



Original katomi said:


> Hi all,
> thank you square peg
> Those clear sheets also make good stencils  cut out your shape, whatever and you are away
> Could have used some last week, when I stencilled our addy on the bins. Bright lumaglow yellow,
> No chance of a mistake, lol



And I'll probably hold a few back for myself for this exact purpose.



Fujidave said:


> What a fantastic day it was today, life is so beautiful and it`s great to feel alive again.  Reason why is after Mum going in to hospital nearly a month ago she is now doing great and coming back home tomorrow,  we are so over the moon with this news and can`t wait to see her tomorrow.
> So a big thank you to the wonderful NHS staff who helped save my Mum, total respect to you xx



Good news, Dave!


----------



## Original katomi

Goon to hear Dave


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all,


----------



## snowbear

Good  morning.  Time for work.


----------



## SquarePeg

3 hour virtual training class today.  Can’t wait.


----------



## Original katomi

An early morning post
The tip/recycling centre here has introduced a time slot system  and limited customers/users to just one slot a week
So here I am up at 7 am loading the car packing as in as I can just taking a break to say hi knowing there will not be time later


----------



## Original katomi

Wow nobody posted since this am
Well it’s time 6 28 pm for me to go and put our evening meal on 
Chat again later, save this thread from page 2 lol


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> Wow nobody posted since this am
> Well it’s time 6 28 pm for me to go and put our evening meal on
> Chat again later, save this thread from page 2 lol


Busy photo peoples.


----------



## snowbear

and busy geography peoples.


----------



## waday

And lazy other peoples.


----------



## CherylL

Good news @Fujidave on your Mom's recovery.


----------



## SquarePeg

Greetings Hosers!  What’s everyone doing this weekend?


----------



## SquarePeg

By the way, all day today I thought it was Friday. I’m just crushed to realize that it’s not right.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Taking an online workshop Sat. from the Royal School of Needlework (in the UK) on sketching flowers using color pencils, then making embroidery designs/patterns from that. 

They'd just started online courses before the pandemic and their school of course has been shut down since. They scheduled this workshop (actually had two sessions I think a week or two apart which both filled/sold out) to accomodate US times, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST (which for them is like, 3 to 9 p.m.). All the sessions of their various workshops sold out in a hearbeat; they added sessions which also filled up fast! A much needed benefit for them I'm sure, and pretty cool for us in the USA to be able to participate (without having to be up at 5 a.m. if it was held on their time!).


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> By the way, all day today I thought it was Friday. I’m just crushed to realize that it’s not right.


I hate when that happens


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Greetings Hosers!  What’s everyone doing this weekend?


I have to go help MLW move her stuff at work on Saturday, she's being transferred to another office. Other than that, I was planning on putting the new desk together but the top is still in Cali, so I guess I'll draw or paint.  Probably go ahead and take photos of the D750 grip and put that up for sale.


----------



## tirediron

SquarePeg said:


> By the way, all day today I thought it was Friday. I’m just crushed to realize that it’s not right.


That's what sick days are for!


----------



## RowdyRay

SquarePeg said:


> By the way, all day today I thought it was Friday. I’m just crushed to realize that it’s not right.



You and me both. Lol.

Edit: Not that it matters when you're stuck at home....but it is good to remember what day to set the trash out.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> By the way, all day today I thought it was Friday. I’m just crushed to realize that it’s not right.



Yup, that sucks 

I technically have off from work for the next two weeks. Tomorrow, I start my other job, though 

I am doing a week of AP scoring starting tomorrow, and every day until Thursday. Then I have *real* time off and go back to work on July 6th.


----------



## snowbear

I'm "taking off" a few days in July; Esri (the GIS Software Co.) is having their user's conference virtually so I don't have to pay out for travel and lodging.  I tried to attend another virtual conference while working, and it didn't go well - missed 3/4 of the presentations.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> I'm "taking off" a few days in July; Esri (the GIS Software Co.) is having their user's conference virtually so I don't have to pay out for travel and lodging.  I tried to attend another virtual conference while working, and it didn't go well - missed 3/4 of the presentations.


Awesome, enjoy it. 

I’ve had supervisors try to tell me to keep working while taking detailed notes of webinars. Yeah, that’s a big no for me. Which one do you want, boss? Notes or work?


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> Hi all


Happy Friday, to you and all you hosers!


----------



## Tropicalmemories

SquarePeg said:


> By the way, all day today I thought it was Friday. I’m just crushed to realize that it’s not right.


It's been Friday all day where I am.


----------



## SquarePeg

Tropicalmemories said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> By the way, all day today I thought it was Friday. I’m just crushed to realize that it’s not right.
> 
> 
> 
> It's been Friday all day where I am.
Click to expand...


well yeah, now it is! I posted that on Thursday.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> By the way, all day today I thought it was Friday. I’m just crushed to realize that it’s not right.
> 
> 
> 
> It's been Friday all day where I am.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> well yeah, now it is! I posted that on Thursday.
Click to expand...

Time is relative, Sharon. You posted it on Thursday, but it felt like Friday, so it’s really Saturday in your head, which means tomorrow is Sunday, but you gained an extra day, so Monday will actually be Sunday. And Monday will feel like Tuesday, which kinda sucks, because Tuesday is the worst day of the week. And you’ll have two Tuesdays. Yikes. But, for Tropical, it’s been Friday all along, and when you thought it was Friday, it was really Thursday, but now that it’s Friday, he lost a day, so tomorrow is still Saturday, Sunday is still Sunday, Monday is still looming, and Tuesday still sucks. But, what’s interesting, is that he didn’t realize that you posted it Thursday, which means that he is possibly behind a day, so while today is Friday, at the time, he thought it was Friday, but it was actually Thursday in the posts.

Sorry, I’m bored. 

And Tuesday still sucks.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> By the way, all day today I thought it was Friday. I’m just crushed to realize that it’s not right.
> 
> 
> 
> It's been Friday all day where I am.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> well yeah, now it is! I posted that on Thursday.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Time is relative, Sharon. You posted it on Thursday, but it felt like Friday, so it’s really Saturday in your head, which means tomorrow is Sunday, but you gained an extra day, so Monday will actually be Sunday. And Monday will feel like Tuesday, which kinda sucks, because Tuesday is the worst day of the week. And you’ll have two Tuesdays. Yikes. But, for Tropical, it’s been Friday all along, and when you thought it was Friday, it was really Thursday, but now that it’s Friday, he lost a day, so tomorrow is still Saturday, Sunday is still Sunday, Monday is still looming, and Tuesday still sucks. But, what’s interesting, is that he didn’t realize that you posted it Thursday, which means that he is possibly behind a day, so while today is Friday, at the time, he thought it was Friday, but it was actually Thursday in the posts.
> 
> Sorry, I’m bored.
> 
> And Tuesday still sucks.
Click to expand...


mind officially blown


----------



## SquarePeg

Well Hosers crazy Catalano is making another mountain run tonight hoping for clear dark skies for some Milky Way photos.  Original plan was a nice leisurely drive up the coast of Maine, late dinner outdoors and some coastal locations but that area is expecting 40% cloud cover vs 6% in the mountains.  This spot should be interesting if it works out - Cog railroad station and railroad bridge foreground.  Plan B is the lake with the lupines in front of it that I posted some photos from the other day.  

Going to be another long night of driving and bug spray!  Fingers crossed for good skies, it’s a long drive.  I’ll be shooting with a few of my local photo sisters.  We’ll each drive our own car and practice distancing at each stop.  This thing ain’t over people!  Now is not the time to slack off on precautions.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

SquarePeg said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> By the way, all day today I thought it was Friday. I’m just crushed to realize that it’s not right.
> 
> 
> 
> It's been Friday all day where I am.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> well yeah, now it is! I posted that on Thursday.
Click to expand...


But your Tbursday was my Friday.  Perhaps I should check the winning lottery ticket and let you know the number?


----------



## terri

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> By the way, all day today I thought it was Friday. I’m just crushed to realize that it’s not right.
> 
> 
> 
> It's been Friday all day where I am.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> well yeah, now it is! I posted that on Thursday.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Time is relative, Sharon. You posted it on Thursday, but it felt like Friday, so it’s really Saturday in your head, which means tomorrow is Sunday, but you gained an extra day, so Monday will actually be Sunday. And Monday will feel like Tuesday, which kinda sucks, because Tuesday is the worst day of the week. And you’ll have two Tuesdays. Yikes. But, for Tropical, it’s been Friday all along, and when you thought it was Friday, it was really Thursday, but now that it’s Friday, he lost a day, so tomorrow is still Saturday, Sunday is still Sunday, Monday is still looming, and Tuesday still sucks. But, what’s interesting, is that he didn’t realize that you posted it Thursday, which means that he is possibly behind a day, so while today is Friday, at the time, he thought it was Friday, but it was actually Thursday in the posts.
> 
> Sorry, I’m bored.
> 
> And Tuesday still sucks.
Click to expand...

@waday:  Time is a creation inside the physical universe.

Experience life outside of time - from fifty years in the future to fifty years in history - or, at least as far back as last Tuesday.


----------



## limr

Day one of AP scoring on the books. Did only five hours today - which is technically what is scheduled. We are supposedly in for 35 hours over 7 days = 5 hours/day. We can do more per day if we want - I _think_ the maximum is 8 hours/day but I'll confirm tomorrow. I've heard that some of the scoring for other tests is getting done a few days early, so I'm planning on cranking it out over the next few days to make sure I get in my minimum 35 hours before they run out of essays. This is when it really pays off that I'll be home all weekend anyway


----------



## CherylL

Happy Father's Day!  Any special plans this weekend?  Gave my husband a card and candy from me and the pups.  Daughter stopped by last nigh with a gift, the traveling nurse one.  The other will drop by too.  Going to get carry out BBQ ribs for him and the place has non beef/pork entry for me.  Hot tub gets delivered Wednesday.  We got that since our 2 trips this year were canceled.  I told him it was his Father's day gift


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, talking of Father’s Day I have got three amazon parcels and strict instructions not to open until Sunday 
I know Mrs and daughter have been planning something a B day and Father’s Day combo 
Just wrapped up the diy for the W/e poss until Tuesday maybe I can find some time to quietly slip into photography mode lol


----------



## limr

Just some takeout with Buzz and his family tomorrow. Otherwise, just doing my work and some chores.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> Happy Father's Day!  Any special plans this weekend?  Gave my husband a card and candy from me and the pups.  Daughter stopped by last nigh with a gift, the traveling nurse one.  The other will drop by too.  Going to get carry out BBQ ribs for him and the place has non beef/pork entry for me.  Hot tub gets delivered Wednesday.  We got that since our 2 trips this year were canceled.  I told him it was his Father's day gift



Yeah that’s the ticket, it’s for you dear, for Father’s Day... nicely done.  

still waiting for Princess to realize that I should get gifts on Father’s Day since I’m doing double duty.

survived the trip to the mountains and got home at 5am.  I’m beat.  Had to get up early to take the dog to the groomers (yeay!) only to find out that his appointment us not until tomorrow at 11 (umm what???).


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Father's Day!  Any special plans this weekend?  Gave my husband a card and candy from me and the pups.  Daughter stopped by last nigh with a gift, the traveling nurse one.  The other will drop by too.  Going to get carry out BBQ ribs for him and the place has non beef/pork entry for me.  Hot tub gets delivered Wednesday.  We got that since our 2 trips this year were canceled.  I told him it was his Father's day gift
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah that’s the ticket, it’s for you dear, for Father’s Day... nicely done.
> 
> still waiting for Princess to realize that I should get gifts on Father’s Day since I’m doing double duty.
> 
> survived the trip to the mountains and got home at 5am.  I’m beat.  Had to get up early to take the dog to the groomers (yeay!) only to find out that his appointment us not until tomorrow at 11 (umm what???).
Click to expand...


Oh no up all night and wrong grooming day appointment?  You must have been tired.  Yes the hot tub will be my plunge pool in the summer.  Bought a smallish sorta raft.  Should fit with just me.


----------



## limr

Done for the night. A little over 8 hours and 128 essays.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Done for the night. A little over 8 hours and 128 essays.


I'd be feeling a mite bug eyed after that!   That's a lot of essays.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Done for the night. A little over 8 hours and 128 essays.
> 
> 
> 
> I'd be feeling a mite bug eyed after that!   That's a lot of essays.
Click to expand...


And about to start on another day of the same!

I am keeping a picture of the washer and dryer I want to buy to remind myself of why I am doing this


----------



## limr

Done for Day 3. I refuse to give up my lazy recovery Sunday mornings, so I started late, and I also left the house for a few hours to have dinner with Buzz and his parents for Father's Day, so I only got in 7 hours and 95 essays in for the day. Slightly slower rate than yesterday. One more day of going hard and then on Tuesday, I can start to ease up a bit, I think. I'm kinda hoping that there are enough essays to keep going for the full 7 days, or at least Day 6. Anything over 40 will be overtime, and I expect to hit my minimum 35 hours by Tuesday afternoon (Day 5).


----------



## SquarePeg

Yeow it was hot as hell here today!  90 and humid.  After some errands we went for a dip in the pool then spent most of the rest of the day hiding out inside with ac and the dogs, editing photos and watching movies.  But, right before sunset, it cooled off so nicely that I took my laptop out on the back porch and enjoyed the pretty sky and soft breeze.


----------



## Derrel

I went  to see Back to The Future with my son who turned 17 on June 12. He had never seen the full film before.  We were the only two people in the small auditorium.

Afterwards he cooked us dinner...chicken drumsticks and baked potatoes with Arizona ice tea .

A nice Father's Day.


----------



## Original katomi

Did you enjoy the film


----------



## Original katomi

My parents came over Sunday we sat out in the garden for a few hours,
Had a nice b day and Father’s Day combo day
Daughter had a cream tea delivered... still enjoying it today lol


----------



## Jeff15

Looks like our bars and pubs will be allowed to open on July 4, I can't wait to just order a beer when I like.....


----------



## Original katomi

Not so worried about a beer because I am the driver but a pub lunch sat in the sun.......


----------



## Derrel

Original katomi said:


> Did you enjoy the film



Yes, it was good. I looked it up afterwards....a 96 on Rotten Tomatoes ...


----------



## smoke665

Derrel said:


> Afterwards he cooked us dinner...chicken drumsticks and baked potatoes with Arizona ice tea .



Handsome young man, and nice thing he did. We have 3 grown kids and 10 grandchildren- a grandson 3, Lil'Bit is 4, a granddaughter 5, a grandson 6, a grandson 9, two grandsons 17, a grandson 19, a granddaughter 23, and the oldest granddaughter is 25.  It was a lonnnnnggg day of phone calls Sunday. LOL


----------



## CherylL

limr said:


> Done for the night. A little over 8 hours and 128 essays.



That is a lot of essays!  Do they all run together after awhile?  A friend is a recently retired Honors and AP English teacher.  She misses teaching but not all the weekend essay reading grading.


----------



## limr

CherylL said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Done for the night. A little over 8 hours and 128 essays.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is a lot of essays!  Do they all run together after awhile?  A friend is a recently retired Honors and AP English teacher.  She misses teaching but not all the weekend essay reading grading.
Click to expand...


They totally run together. At least scoring is a lot easier than grading. I just read them, slap on a score, then move on. It's still remarkably draining, but 8 hours of scoring is still better than 1 hour of grading my own students' essays. 

In other news...

Plethora count: 7


----------



## Jeff G

Leonore, I just realized that you are torturing yourself with essays, so that you can have more fun doing laundry! You rebel you!


----------



## limr

Jeff G said:


> Leonore, I just realized that you are torturing yourself with essays, so that you can have more fun doing laundry! You rebel you!



I was never one to choose a traditional life 

And hey, do not underestimate how much easier life can be with the right laundry set-up!!


----------



## Jeff G

limr said:


> Jeff G said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leonore, I just realized that you are torturing yourself with essays, so that you can have more fun doing laundry! You rebel you!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was never one to choose a traditional life
> 
> And hey, do not underestimate how much easier life can be with the right laundry set-up!!
Click to expand...


I'm with you on that one.


----------



## limr

Jeff G said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeff G said:
> 
> 
> 
> Leonore, I just realized that you are torturing yourself with essays, so that you can have more fun doing laundry! You rebel you!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was never one to choose a traditional life
> 
> And hey, do not underestimate how much easier life can be with the right laundry set-up!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I'm with you on that one.
Click to expand...


Cool.

So tell me one of your non-traditional ways and I'll tell you one of mine


----------



## Jeff G

Other than being a misanthrope?


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## limr

Jeff G said:


> Other than being a misanthrope?



Pfff. That's standard for the non-traditional welcome basket.


----------



## Jeff G

Well then I will have to go with my love of Lego.


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## waday

limr said:


> do not underestimate how much easier life can be with the right laundry set-up!!


I need to step up my laundry game, so I’m not stepping up and over a pile of clothes.


----------



## snowbear

Well, Summer has officially arrived at the snowbear house ... we had watermelon last week, and today's lunch was a tomato sandwich.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Tis summer here - rain, sun, humid, rain, repeat. At least the grass cutting got done in between rain and rain.


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> Well, Summer has officially arrived at the snowbear house ... we had watermelon last week, and today's lunch was a tomato sandwich.


Ooo, both sound delicious right about now!


----------



## limr

Plethora!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Plethora!


$#!t-load.


----------



## limr

Done with Day 5. Cumulative total: 450 essays and 9 plethoras. Got to 35.5 hours, so I've hit my minimum. Anything now is gravy.

Just about 13 essays/hour, which averages to 4 minutes per essay. Some are much faster and others take me a little while to figure out. I probably read faster when we did in-person readings, but not by a whole lot. I'm probably reading at an average speed but I'm also apparently quite accurate, so it's all good.


----------



## Mike Drone

limr said:


> Done with Day 5. Cumulative total: 450 essays and 9 plethoras. Got to 35.5 hours, so I've hit my minimum. Anything now is gravy.
> 
> Just about 13 essays/hour, which averages to 4 minutes per essay. Some are much faster and others take me a little while to figure out. I probably read faster when we did in-person readings, but not by a whole lot. I'm probably reading at an average speed but I'm also apparently quite accurate, so it's all good.



This is why I do not give my students any essays or papers.  I let the communications department handle English 101 and 102.  Now I have more photography time! =]

I do assign a paper in one of the courses I teach but what a train wreck.  I admire your essay grading skills! =]


----------



## Original katomi

Hiya all, just got in out of the sun, way to hot for any more diy/gardening at the moment
How is everyone today
The ginger boy likes a vantage point lol


----------



## Jeff15

Very warm and humid here...........


----------



## Original katomi

Hi Jeff 
Just hot here, some breeze off the sea, idea for sun burn


----------



## limr

Plethora!


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Plethora!


I don’t know how to play this game, but...

Metric f*ckton!


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Plethora!




Or as we say in Boston - that’s a lotta freakin essays Fitzy.


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## limr

So, word on the street is that we will be done today. I am trying to hit both of the following marks: 40 hours total, 500 essays. I am 14 essays away from the second, and about 1hr 45m from the former. I can easily read 14 essays within an hour, so that means I have to either slow down my reading pace by a lot, or just accept that I'll be moving past 500. I think I'm just going to keep scoring at my regular pace until I hit 40 hours and then call it done for another year.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leo you're a maniac! Makes me feel cross eyed thinking about it. So go girl, bang it out and get 'em done and celebrate being done! Yay! 

Of course other than a stint in jr. high I never did much grading papers, not in EI; that involved assessments and notes and oh, I don't know what all. I remember detention duty and the kids had to write sentences. I admired the writing with 2 pencils at a time 'skill', even though I had to confiscate the extra pencils til they were done. Didn't seem to realize they had to sit there for the entire time regardless of how much they wrote so they were doing double the writing for no reason! lol Kids...


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Leo you're a maniac! Makes me feel cross eyed thinking about it. So go girl, bang it out and get 'em done and celebrate being done! Yay!
> 
> Of course other than a stint in jr. high I never did much grading papers, not in EI; that involved assessments and notes and oh, I don't know what all. I remember detention duty and the kids had to write sentences. I admired the writing with 2 pencils at a time 'skill', even though I had to confiscate the extra pencils til they were done. Didn't seem to realize they had to sit there for the entire time regardless of how much they wrote so they were doing double the writing for no reason! lol Kids...



I knew how to write with two pencils at the same time. Got pretty good at it, even though I never really needed it because I never had detention. Talk about a useless skill! 

So I got to my 40 hours (and 2 minutes) and 510 essays a few hours back and went out to do some errands. First time at the grocery store in probably 2 weeks.

I just heard that we're apparently almost done but not quite, so we'll log in tomorrow, too. There's still technically 2.5 hours left before the system goes down, so I wonder if anyone else scoring this question is still reading tonight. I would normally still be reading and I thought of logging back in to sneak some more hours in, but I don't think I have it in me. I'll bang some out OT tomorrow. New washer and dryer, here I come!


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## limr

Good night, from me and my judgy little gargoyles.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Plumbing Wars ...... This must be a Thailand thing ...... but anyone else live in a country where U bend water seals are seen as a bad thing?

Had to resort to trench warfare to get my wife and the plumbers to fit traps to all the sinks and basins during a condo refit.


----------



## Original katomi

Only a bad thing when you are lying on your back trying to reach something you can’t see cussing the last person who just swept their rubbish under the bath. An oh yea, why oh why did the bath fitter have to use an obsolete size


----------



## SquarePeg

GM Hosers!  It’s almost Friday and I am on vacation all next week.  No big plans as I am still not ready to use a hotel or bnb.  Was hoping to do a lighthouse run up the coast of Maine and catch 4 or 5 of them but Maine is not accepting visitors from MA right now - even though MA currently has the lowest transmission rate in the country. We may spend a day on the Cape instead.  Definitely heading to NH at least one day with my mom. She’s been stir crazy and needs a day out.


----------



## tirediron

Tropicalmemories said:


> Plumbing Wars ...... This must be a Thailand thing ...... but anyone else live in a country where U bend water seals are seen as a bad thing?
> 
> Had to resort to trench warfare to get my wife and the plumbers to fit traps to all the sinks and basins during a condo refit.


  I have to admit I never noticed them lacking when I'd been there; why would anyone NOT want a 'P' trap on a sink/tub drain?????


----------



## Tropicalmemories

tirediron said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> Plumbing Wars ...... This must be a Thailand thing ...... but anyone else live in a country where U bend water seals are seen as a bad thing?
> 
> Had to resort to trench warfare to get my wife and the plumbers to fit traps to all the sinks and basins during a condo refit.
> 
> 
> 
> I have to admit I never noticed them lacking when I'd been there; why would anyone NOT want a 'P' trap on a sink/tub drain?????
Click to expand...


I was told the trap will be a problem with drain blockages.  I said that's my risk and fit them anyway.

The lack of traps is a common cause of drain smells in condos, and in Hong Kong it was even the cause of SARS spreading in a building.


----------



## tirediron

Tropicalmemories said:


> I was told the trap will be a problem with drain blockages.  .


That is utterly ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Original katomi

I can’t images not having traps on the sink and bath,


----------



## limr




----------



## Tropicalmemories

Original katomi said:


> I can’t images not having traps on the sink and bath,



Before the trap added as a 'special request' .....


----------



## tirediron

Tropicalmemories said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can’t images not having traps on the sink and bath,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Before the trap added as a 'special request' .....
> 
> View attachment 193464
Click to expand...

And with a dish-washer yet.... that is crazy!


----------



## Original katomi

I would imagine that had quite a smell


----------



## SquarePeg

Going for it this week!  I just made a pedicure appointment and a massage appointment after speaking to the spa owner about what precautions they are taking and their new intake and exit processes.  I'm thinking since these places just reopened, now is the time to get in there before the covid starts spreading again.  Mass has been pretty good with the lock down and waiting for solid declines in numbers and transmissions to reopen so I feel good about it.  So glad I'm not in FL right now where they are setting a new record every day for new cases.  Yikes.  I think because we were one of the original states with cases, we are in a better position now.


----------



## limr

Taking a wee break from extra reading today. The live scoring is done, but we were given the chance to get extra hours by doing practice sets of other prompts that were given this year, plus some experimental ones. There are a total of 52 sets, 8 essays each. No way anyone could get through all of them in one day, so I'm trying to do an even 10 sets at least. I've got a little over an hour before I hit 5 hours for the day. Total of 45 hours since Friday.


----------



## Jeff15

Hottest day of the year so far today 31.1c.....


----------



## Mike Drone

Jeff15 said:


> Hottest day of the year so far today 31.1c.....



Nice!  It is a beautiful 110F (43c)right now.  I really should be playing outside to welcome the hottest part of the day, around 4pm.  Maybe I shall go shoot some HP5.


----------



## Jeff15

For us here in the UK 31c does not happen very often............


----------



## limr

Mike Drone said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Done with Day 5. Cumulative total: 450 essays and 9 plethoras. Got to 35.5 hours, so I've hit my minimum. Anything now is gravy.
> 
> Just about 13 essays/hour, which averages to 4 minutes per essay. Some are much faster and others take me a little while to figure out. I probably read faster when we did in-person readings, but not by a whole lot. I'm probably reading at an average speed but I'm also apparently quite accurate, so it's all good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is why I do not give my students any essays or papers.  I let the communications department handle English 101 and 102.  Now I have more photography time! =]
> 
> I do assign a paper in one of the courses I teach but what a train wreck.  I admire your essay grading skills! =]
Click to expand...


Yeah, I need to start teaching classes that don't require essays. For the moment, I am just going to not teach anything at all for at least another year (good thing teaching isn't my primary source of income anymore!  )

What do you teach?


----------



## Mike Drone

limr said:


> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Done with Day 5. Cumulative total: 450 essays and 9 plethoras. Got to 35.5 hours, so I've hit my minimum. Anything now is gravy.
> 
> Just about 13 essays/hour, which averages to 4 minutes per essay. Some are much faster and others take me a little while to figure out. I probably read faster when we did in-person readings, but not by a whole lot. I'm probably reading at an average speed but I'm also apparently quite accurate, so it's all good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is why I do not give my students any essays or papers.  I let the communications department handle English 101 and 102.  Now I have more photography time! =]
> 
> I do assign a paper in one of the courses I teach but what a train wreck.  I admire your essay grading skills! =]
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, I need to start teaching classes that don't require essays. For the moment, I am just going to not teach anything at all for at least another year (good thing teaching isn't my primary source of income anymore!  )
> 
> What do you teach?
Click to expand...


Automotive Technology @ Arizona Western College.

The students do have to write a paper on hybrids, diesels, and emerging tech so I am not completely free but it is only one of the ten automotive courses that I teach. =]


----------



## limr

Mike Drone said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Done with Day 5. Cumulative total: 450 essays and 9 plethoras. Got to 35.5 hours, so I've hit my minimum. Anything now is gravy.
> 
> Just about 13 essays/hour, which averages to 4 minutes per essay. Some are much faster and others take me a little while to figure out. I probably read faster when we did in-person readings, but not by a whole lot. I'm probably reading at an average speed but I'm also apparently quite accurate, so it's all good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is why I do not give my students any essays or papers.  I let the communications department handle English 101 and 102.  Now I have more photography time! =]
> 
> I do assign a paper in one of the courses I teach but what a train wreck.  I admire your essay grading skills! =]
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah, I need to start teaching classes that don't require essays. For the moment, I am just going to not teach anything at all for at least another year (good thing teaching isn't my primary source of income anymore!  )
> 
> What do you teach?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Automotive Technology @ Arizona Western College.  Some of the students in the pic.  I am on the far right.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The students do have to write a paper on hybrids, diesels, and emerging tech so I am not completely free but it is only one of the ten automotive courses that I teach. =]
Click to expand...


Nice. My father was a mechanic - he worked on anything, of any size, with an engine. He was one of the very few skilled large-machinery mechanics in the area so even after he retired, we constantly had in our back yard: flatbeds, cement mixers, well-drillers, tractors, dump trucks... There was so much oil and grease in that ground, it took years for the grass to grow back 

He was old-fashioned enough to think that my brother should be the one to really learn everything from him, but also insisted that all of us sisters knew enough to keep our cars running in good shape. I was the one that kept bugging to hang out in the garage with him (I loved getting my hands dirty so I could clean them off with Goop), so he'd give me little things to do to keep me satisfied. I still change my own oil.


----------



## limr

In other news, I've done the 45 hours that was my goal. I completed 10 practice sets = 80 essays.

I can be done, now right? I shouldn't try to push things...just 2 more sets? 4 more sets? Or just one more hour, let's see how many sets I can do?

I might have a problem...


----------



## snowbear

The only thing I know about plumbing is "hot on the left, cold on the right, and stuff don't go uphill," but traps keep out the sewer gas - a real health problem.


----------



## snowbear

Oooo, thunder!  
I take a look outside and there are blue skies, except the grey bit rolling in directly over the apartment.


----------



## CherylL

The hot tub got delivered yesterday.  So nice to sit and float this morning.  I have one of those two inflated rolls with mesh in-between.  Odd my knees don't ache too much today.  Must be the water therapy.  My husband has a bad shoulder and hopefully it will help him.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> The hot tub got delivered yesterday.  So nice to sit and float this morning.  I have one of those two inflated rolls with mesh in-between.  Odd my knees don't ache too much today.  Must be the water therapy.  My husband has a bad shoulder and hopefully it will help him.



we have those floats in our pool and I love them.  How big is the hot tub?


----------



## Tropicalmemories

snowbear said:


> The only thing I know about plumbing is "hot on the left, cold on the right, and stuff don't go uphill," but traps keep out the sewer gas - a real health problem.


I think the general view is if you live in Bangkok, sewer gas is a comparatively low risk.    But apart from the smell, I think there could be infection and pest risks - so I now have a fully trapped condo.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

CherylL said:


> The hot tub got delivered yesterday.  So nice to sit and float this morning.  I have one of those two inflated rolls with mesh in-between.  Odd my knees don't ache too much today.  Must be the water therapy.  My husband has a bad shoulder and hopefully it will help him.



Nice!  I guess it releases pressure on joints, so helps reduce pain?


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, hot here already @9.41 BST
Up early to finish diy project before the day got toooooo hot
Photography has taken a back seat with all the good weather, the little jobs that need doing that now can be done because I can get the materials are taking my time. Problem is that because of naff knees everything takes me so much longer than it used to 30years ago  but I get out there do what I can, stop do a bit more until it’s just too painful then I stop for a day or two.


----------



## PJM

SquarePeg said:


> GM Hosers!  It’s almost Friday and I am on vacation all next week.  No big plans as I am still not ready to use a hotel or bnb.  Was hoping to do a lighthouse run up the coast of Maine and catch 4 or 5 of them but Maine is not accepting visitors from MA right now - even though MA currently has the lowest transmission rate in the country. We may spend a day on the Cape instead.  Definitely heading to NH at least one day with my mom. She’s been stir crazy and needs a day out.


Some friends of mine from MA went scuba diving at Nubble Light the other day.  There was even a car there from Georgia.  The police drove through and no one bothered them.


----------



## SquarePeg

PJM said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> GM Hosers!  It’s almost Friday and I am on vacation all next week.  No big plans as I am still not ready to use a hotel or bnb.  Was hoping to do a lighthouse run up the coast of Maine and catch 4 or 5 of them but Maine is not accepting visitors from MA right now - even though MA currently has the lowest transmission rate in the country. We may spend a day on the Cape instead.  Definitely heading to NH at least one day with my mom. She’s been stir crazy and needs a day out.
> 
> 
> 
> Some friends of mine from MA went scuba diving at Nubble Light the other day.  There was even a car there from Georgia.  The police drove through and no one bothered them.
Click to expand...


I’m sure I could go to Maine and not get hassled but I’m going to respect their quarantine requirements.  It drives me nuts when people just ignore the public health rules and recommendations like it applies to everyone but them.   That’s how the US has ended up being at the bottom of the pack in stopping this virus from spreading.  Our town is having some free Covid testing so if I end up going to that and get a negative result, then I’ll go.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all here in uk people are going mad at the beaches, the police had to close a road 
If this does not cause a second wave, we will be extremely lucky


----------



## stapo49

This is our latest here in Perth in relation to Covid. Melbourne not doing so good.
Take a look at life behind WA's hard border if you want to see a post-COVID world

Sent from my CPH2009 using Tapatalk


----------



## Original katomi

This has been my diy project for the last few months, take a piece of scrap wood that is used in the transport of wood known locally as Dunnage. Often is two pieces nailed together
And turn it into the following, a set of border edgings plus a small fan for a climbing plant. Some of the off cuts were used to make the fan, rest will be used on the bbq and the saw dust was used for rabbets run.
Eco friendly, bio degradable, reused scrap wood


----------



## terri

stapo49 said:


> This is our latest here in Perth in relation to Covid. Melbourne not doing so good.
> Take a look at life behind WA's hard border if you want to see a post-COVID world
> 
> Sent from my CPH2009 using Tapatalk


Good job, mates!   That's a strong, no BS position taken by your leaders, and the results are obvious.   I really hope that as you begin to open back up the virus stays at bay.   The signs are hilarious!


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> This has been my diy project for the last few months, take a piece of scrap wood that is used in the transport of wood known locally as Dunnage. Often is two pieces nailed together
> And turn it into the following, a set of border edgings plus a small fan for a climbing plant. Some of the off cuts were used to make the fan, rest will be used on the bbq and the saw dust was used for rabbets run.
> Eco friendly, bio degradable, reused scrap wood
> View attachment 193564View attachment 193567View attachment 193568View attachment 193569View attachment 193571


Wow - impressive work!   The edgings look amazing, and so does the little trellis fan.   Your garden will look amazing!   Definitely smart way to reuse this scrap wood.


----------



## mjcmt

Original katomi said:


> This has been my diy project for the last few months, take a piece of scrap wood that is used in the transport of wood known locally as Dunnage. Often is two pieces nailed together
> And turn it into the following, a set of border edgings plus a small fan for a climbing plant. Some of the off cuts were used to make the fan, rest will be used on the bbq and the saw dust was used for rabbets run.
> Eco friendly, bio degradable, reused scrap wood
> View attachment 193564View attachment 193567View attachment 193568View attachment 193569View attachment 193571


Excellent idea. I'll have to make a similar boarder fence. Staining should help, but if the wood is pine it'll rot in 1-2 years. Would be nice to find cedar and maybe extend it.


----------



## stapo49

terri said:


> stapo49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> This is our latest here in Perth in relation to Covid. Melbourne not doing so good.
> Take a look at life behind WA's hard border if you want to see a post-COVID world
> 
> Sent from my CPH2009 using Tapatalk
> 
> 
> 
> Good job, mates!   That's a strong, no BS position taken by your leaders, and the results are obvious.   I really hope that as you begin to open back up the virus stays at bay.   The signs are hilarious!   [emoji38]
Click to expand...


Here in Perth we are, in this case anyway, trusting our government is doing the right thing in regards the citizens. It will certainly be fingers crossed that there is no '2nd wave." Those signs are special [emoji1].

Sent from my CPH2009 using Tapatalk


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all,


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> The hot tub got delivered yesterday.  So nice to sit and float this morning.  I have one of those two inflated rolls with mesh in-between.  Odd my knees don't ache too much today.  Must be the water therapy.  My husband has a bad shoulder and hopefully it will help him.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> we have those floats in our pool and I love them.  How big is the hot tub?
Click to expand...


The tub is a 4 seater and I think the outside dimension is shy of 7 ft square.


----------



## CherylL

I traded in my Fuji X-T2 for the X-T4 recently.  Used it a few times and noticed that the single focus point kept moving on me between shots and taking photos with out depressing the shutter button.  I thought it was just sensitive compared to the X-T2 that I bought used.  Reading the manual today I find out it has a touch screen.   Duh I must have been bumping the screen between shots.  Turned that feature off.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, that hot tub sounds nice


----------



## tirediron

CherylL said:


> I traded in my Fuji X-T2 for the X-T4 recently.  Used it a few times and noticed that the single focus point kept moving on me between shots and taking photos with out depressing the shutter button.  I thought it was just sensitive compared to the X-T2 that I bought used.  Reading the manual today I find out it has a touch screen.   Duh I must have been bumping the screen between shots.  Turned that feature off.


  like me and my cell phone.  Can’t guess how many times I’ve hung up on someone or done something with my ear or cheek while talking...


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> I traded in my Fuji X-T2 for the X-T4 recently.  Used it a few times and noticed that the single focus point kept moving on me between shots and taking photos with out depressing the shutter button.  I thought it was just sensitive compared to the X-T2 that I bought used.  Reading the manual today I find out it has a touch screen.   Duh I must have been bumping the screen between shots.  Turned that feature off.



I have similar issues with my xf10.  I haven’t turned the touch screen off though because the af on that camera is better when you use the screen to focus and shoot.  For me anyway.  I suspect I’m mashing the shutter.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> I traded in my Fuji X-T2 for the X-T4 recently.  Used it a few times and noticed that the single focus point kept moving on me between shots and taking photos with out depressing the shutter button.  I thought it was just sensitive compared to the X-T2 that I bought used.  Reading the manual today I find out it has a touch screen.   Duh I must have been bumping the screen between shots.  Turned that feature off.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have similar issues with my xf10.  I haven’t turned the touch screen off though because the af on that camera is better when you use the screen to focus and shoot.  For me anyway.  I suspect I’m mashing the shutter.
Click to expand...


I wonder if the X-T4 does better with screen focus?  I'll have to check it out.  I could just turn the screen inside.  Now you got me wondering.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> I traded in my Fuji X-T2 for the X-T4 recently.  Used it a few times and noticed that the single focus point kept moving on me between shots and taking photos with out depressing the shutter button.  I thought it was just sensitive compared to the X-T2 that I bought used.  Reading the manual today I find out it has a touch screen.   Duh I must have been bumping the screen between shots.  Turned that feature off.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have similar issues with my xf10.  I haven’t turned the touch screen off though because the af on that camera is better when you use the screen to focus and shoot.  For me anyway.  I suspect I’m mashing the shutter.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I wonder if the X-T4 does better with screen focus?  I'll have to check it out.  I could just turn the screen inside.  Now you got me wondering.
Click to expand...


I really think the issue is me.  Not having a viewfinder means I have to hold the camera steady while I try to press the shutter instead of having it braced against my face.  Pretty sure I’m the problem!


----------



## SquarePeg

Other than that, how do you like the xt4?  I need a 2nd body and thinking of getting another used Xt2.  Any major upgrades making the xt4 a better choice?


----------



## Tropicalmemories

SquarePeg said:


> Other than that, how do you like the xt4?  I need a 2nd body and thinking of getting another used Xt2.  Any major upgrades making the xt4 a better choice?



The  biggest differences are the in-body stabilisstion and the bigger battery - and these may be significant improvements depending on how you shoot, although there's been evolutionary improvements in most other areas.

But it's also gained some weight, and a touch screen that most people turn off.


----------



## Mike Drone

Original katomi said:


> This has been my diy project for the last few months, take a piece of scrap wood that is used in the transport of wood known locally as Dunnage. Often is two pieces nailed together
> And turn it into the following, a set of border edgings plus a small fan for a climbing plant. Some of the off cuts were used to make the fan, rest will be used on the bbq and the saw dust was used for rabbets run.
> Eco friendly, bio degradable, reused scrap wood
> View attachment 193564View attachment 193567View attachment 193568View attachment 193569View attachment 193571



Nice Job!  I built these boxes in May and planted seeds.  Approximately two months later (today, July) the watermelons have seem to have grown wild.


----------



## SquarePeg

Tropicalmemories said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Other than that, how do you like the xt4?  I need a 2nd body and thinking of getting another used Xt2.  Any major upgrades making the xt4 a better choice?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The  biggest differences are the in-body stabilisstion and the bigger battery - and these may be significant improvements depending on how you shoot, although there's been evolutionary improvements in most other areas.
> 
> But it's also gained some weight, and a touch screen that most people turn off.
Click to expand...


maybe I’ll rent one when I go on my trip if it still happens. Then decide when I get home.   Big A the differences between button placement and things like that am I gonna be lost if I’m trying to use the XT four without practice?


----------



## waday

Mike Drone said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> This has been my diy project for the last few months, take a piece of scrap wood that is used in the transport of wood known locally as Dunnage. Often is two pieces nailed together
> And turn it into the following, a set of border edgings plus a small fan for a climbing plant. Some of the off cuts were used to make the fan, rest will be used on the bbq and the saw dust was used for rabbets run.
> Eco friendly, bio degradable, reused scrap wood
> View attachment 193564View attachment 193567View attachment 193568View attachment 193569View attachment 193571
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice Job!  I built these boxes in May and planted seeds.  Approximately two months later (today, July) the watermelons have seem to have grown wild.
Click to expand...

Nice!


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Ventured out to Home Depot today. It was kinda crowded, and my goodness, it was hot outside!

In other news, you may remember me talking about trying out the Hello Fresh meal delivery service. So I did it for probably about 2 months. The meals are tasty enough, and the recipes are easy to follow - maybe more difficult for someone who has never picked up a kitchen knife, but still not complicated.

But the recipes do get a bit repetitive - most of the recipes involve green onions, sriracha sauce, sour cream or mayo-based sauces, and there was almost always a lime involved. Also, veggies are almost always green beans, carrots, or broccoli, and it seems like they only send jasmine rice. And it was guaranteed that you would have to add "a generous drizzle" of oil or a tablespoon of butter at some point in every single meal.

Also, they would choose two meals for you automatically each week based on what kind of meal plan you chose. If you didn't want those meals, you could switch, and they would show about 18 different options. I chose "vegetarian" as my meal plan, and the meals they chose were vegetarian, but the 18 or so alternative meals I was shown if I wanted to switch were about 80% meat-based. And I know they had other vegetarian options because the meal alternatives changed every week, but they didn't show me those options. I had to pick through all of the meat-based meals to find the handful of alternative veggie or fish-based meals they offered. Not a huge deal, but very annoying nonetheless.

The cheapest weekly package (2 recipes/week) was about $50/week, or about $12.50/meal. (Each meal is supposed to serve two people - or one person for 2 meals - so it's 4 meals per box). It really depends on the recipe, however, and how much you want to eat. Their meals that featured a separate protein, a veggie, and a starch would usually be fine for 2 meals for me, but some of their one-dish meals (like chickpea tabouleh or a veggie bibimbap) felt more like one full meal plus enough for a snack later on or a side dish for the next day's meal. When I got those, I would usually supplement with my own salad.

For others, this may seem like a good value, but for me, it's just not worth it. I know how to cook and can manage to make the same meals for myself much more cheaply. It was nice for a while when it was harder to get fresh veggies or to provide a little variety, but I've saved the best recipes to make on my own later on if I want, and I learned a few new little tricks, so it served its purpose for me.


----------



## waday

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Ventured out to Home Depot today. It was kinda crowded, and my goodness, it was hot outside!
> 
> In other news, you may remember me talking about trying out the Hello Fresh meal delivery service. So I did it for probably about 2 months. The meals are tasty enough, and the recipes are easy to follow - maybe more difficult for someone who has never picked up a kitchen knife, but still not complicated.
> 
> But the recipes do get a bit repetitive - most of the recipes involve green onions, sriracha sauce, sour cream or mayo-based sauces, and there was almost always a lime involved. Also, veggies are almost always green beans, carrots, or broccoli, and it seems like they only send jasmine rice. And it was guaranteed that you would have to add "a generous drizzle" of oil or a tablespoon of butter at some point in every single meal.
> 
> Also, they would choose two meals for you automatically each week based on what kind of meal plan you chose. If you didn't want those meals, you could switch, and they would show about 18 different options. I chose "vegetarian" as my meal plan, and the meals they chose were vegetarian, but the 18 or so alternative meals I was shown if I wanted to switch were about 80% meat-based. And I know they had other vegetarian options because the meal alternatives changed every week, but they didn't show me those options. I had to pick through all of the meat-based meals to find the handful of alternative veggie or fish-based meals they offered. Not a huge deal, but very annoying nonetheless.
> 
> The cheapest weekly package (2 recipes/week) was about $50/week, or about $12.50/meal. (Each meal is supposed to serve two people - or one person for 2 meals). It really depends on the recipe, however, and how much you want to eat. Their meals that featured a separate protein, a veggie, and a starch would usually be fine for 2 meals for me, but some of their one-dish meals (like chickpea tabouleh or a veggie bibimbap) felt more like one full meal plus enough for a snack later on or a side dish for the next day's meal. When I got those, I would usually supplement with my own salad.
> 
> For others, this may seem like a good value, but for me, it's just not worth it. I know how to cook and can manage to make the same meals for myself much more cheaply. It was nice for a while when it was harder to get fresh veggies or to provide a little variety, but I've saved the best recipes to make on my own later on if I want, and I learned a few new little tricks, so it served its purpose for me.


Thanks for the report back. Sounds kind of disappointing, in my opinion. Not sure I’d want to keep paying, especially if it’s so hard to get a variety of vegetarian dishes. I tend to get tired of similar sauces quite easily, so if I’d be eating the same thing over and over, meh. Also, portion sizes would probably be an issue for me, as well.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Ventured out to Home Depot today. It was kinda crowded, and my goodness, it was hot outside!



When you buy a house you spend all your money and most of your free time at HD the first few months.  I think I could probably better direct people to find what they need than most of their employees.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi we, Just ordered the hello fresh, I cooked the first two nights ago. Ok, not something I would have every night
Whilst I am no cook I do like cook when I am not in too much pain.
We will give the hello fresh a try for a time, but I have a feeling that we to will get tired of the meals and go back to our own style. Such as what we call my rainbow salad... a mix of as many colours as we have in the fridge and or the fruit bowl.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ventured out to Home Depot today. It was kinda crowded, and my goodness, it was hot outside!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When you buy a house you spend all your money and most of your free time at HD the first few months.  I think I could probably better direct people to find what they need than most of their employees.
Click to expand...


Kind of what I'm expecting


----------



## Original katomi

SquarePeg 
Hi like your post about the diy store, we have a local hardware store, one of the old type, stocks any and everything
A lot of the nails,screws,nuts bolts are still sold loose. Pre covid one customer could be seen helping another either showing where to find items or suggesting ways of doing the task


----------



## Mike Drone

I am surprised that there is not a food thread on the main page.  I am thinking about starting one because we eat awesome food multiple times a day, and sometimes suck it through a straw.  I personally like to bake a lot of cakes, pies, and cookies.  I let the wife cook food.  Take a picture and start eating.  It would be a what are you eating thread but it would somehow be different then food photography.  =]


----------



## Original katomi

Mike D
Nice, set up enjoy the water melons
Edit
What are we eating thread...
Oh dangerous.. to much drool on the I pad from reading others posts lol


----------



## terri

Mike Drone said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> This has been my diy project for the last few months, take a piece of scrap wood that is used in the transport of wood known locally as Dunnage. Often is two pieces nailed together
> And turn it into the following, a set of border edgings plus a small fan for a climbing plant. Some of the off cuts were used to make the fan, rest will be used on the bbq and the saw dust was used for rabbets run.
> Eco friendly, bio degradable, reused scrap wood
> View attachment 193564View attachment 193567View attachment 193568View attachment 193569View attachment 193571
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice Job!  I built these boxes in May and planted seeds.  Approximately two months later (today, July) the watermelons have seem to have grown wild.
Click to expand...

Those look absolutely beautiful!    You're in Yuma, right?   Holy crap, I know it gets hot there.   Here in GA, watermelons have been coming in locally for a few weeks now.   When will yours actually bear fruit?  

Oh, and nice job with the planter boxes, too.


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> SquarePeg
> Hi like your post about the diy store, we have a local hardware store, one of the old type, stocks any and everything
> A lot of the nails,screws,nuts bolts are still sold loose. Pre covid one customer could be seen helping another either showing where to find items or suggesting ways of doing the task



I learned pretty quickly at Home Depot to ignore the people in the orange aprons and look for the other people in the aisles who looked like they knew what they were doing.  I've gotten advice from contractors, plumbers and electricians rather than retired teachers, truck drivers and secretaries.


----------



## Original katomi

We could start a TPF version B
The Project forum lol


----------



## terri

Mike Drone said:


> I am surprised that there is not a food thread on the main page.  I am thinking about starting one because we eat awesome food multiple times a day, and sometimes suck it through a straw.  I personally like to bake a lot of cakes, pies, and cookies.  I let the wife cook food.  Take a picture and start eating.  It would be a what are you eating thread but it would somehow be different then food photography.  =]


Go for it!     

We hosers in the Coffee House get lazy and tend to throw all conversations in here.   But most of us like to cook/garden/etc., so a food thread would be fun!


----------



## SquarePeg

Tonight I'm making sweet and spicy dry rub chicken wings.  Served with crusty bread an a red chile oil and balsamic dip.


----------



## Mike Drone

> Those look absolutely beautiful!    You're in Yuma, right?   Holy crap, I know it gets hot there.   Here in GA, watermelons have been coming in locally for a few weeks now.   When will yours actually bear fruit?
> 
> Oh, and nice job with the planter boxes, too.



Thank you!  Yes I am in Yuma, it is a beautiful 104F right now.  I am going on a ride here in a few minutes to the lake for sunset.  I honestly do not know when the plants will bear fruit because this is the first watermelon that we have planted.  Thanks!


----------



## Original katomi

SquarePeg
You are so right for the big diy stores, at the local Hardware store the staff will help but will not push in..
SquarePeg 
I would say I would pop round for tea, those wings sound nice
But it’s nearly 10 pm here, plus by the time I got to you the wings would be cold lol


----------



## Original katomi

I like to do pork chops in a mushroom sauce with a cheese and bread crumb crumble topping
I am assuming that for Mike D, SquarePeg and Terri it’s early evening for you


----------



## SquarePeg

Mike Drone said:


> Those look absolutely beautiful!    You're in Yuma, right?   Holy crap, I know it gets hot there.   Here in GA, watermelons have been coming in locally for a few weeks now.   When will yours actually bear fruit?
> 
> Oh, and nice job with the planter boxes, too.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you!  Yes I am in Yuma, it is a beautiful 104F right now.  I am going on a ride here in a few minutes to the lake for sunset.  I honestly do not know when the plants will bear fruit because this is the first watermelon that we have planted.  Thanks!
Click to expand...


We had a small backyard garden one year.  My mom and my daughter, who was about 7 at the time, promised they would take care of it  because I thought it would be a big pita and I didn't have time to deal with it working full time and going to school at night.  The tomatoes were a big hit as were the mini peppers and the basil.  Very useful and easy to manage.  But... the eggplant grew like crazy and the cucumbers and just took off and spread out everywhere!  Way outside of the small enclosure we tried to contain things to.  We were giving away eggplant to anyone who stopped by and were so sick of cukes!  The watermelon was a fail.  We got maybe 2 small ones and that was it.  And yes, you guessed it, yours truly was the chief weeder, waterer and bunny watcher.  Now that my daughter is older and I work at home full time, I could probably manage a small container garden but the puppy is a digger and would not cooperate! She has taken over the yard.  



Original katomi said:


> SquarePeg
> You are so right for the big diy stores, at the local Hardware store the staff will help but will not push in..
> SquarePeg
> I would say I would pop round for tea, those wings sound nice
> But it’s nearly 10 pm here, plus by the time I got to you the wings would be cold lol



I will send you the recipe via PM if you are interested.  They are really good.  I make them in the oven instead of the grill for better consistency of cooking and less clean up!


----------



## SquarePeg

@Original katomi it's just past 5pm here in the Northeast US


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> I like to do pork chops in a mushroom sauce with a cheese and bread crumb crumble topping
> I am assuming that for Mike D, SquarePeg and Terri it’s early evening for you


Sharon and I are in the Eastern time zone (daylight savings right now).   Mike D is out in Yuma, Arizona, knocking on the door of the west coast of the USA.   Mid-afternoon for him.


----------



## Jeff15

22.06 here in the UK


----------



## Original katomi

SquarePeg 
Yes please


----------



## Original katomi

Hi Jeff, how are you today


----------



## Jeff15

Just fine thanks.....


----------



## Original katomi

Jeff, good to hear
To everyone, it’s time for me to go, night all


----------



## SquarePeg

Ugh. Was playing with the dogs - Harlie has a small partially deflated soccer ball that she likes me to kick and then she fetches it and brings it back to me in her mouth.  But she likes to tease me and lay down with the ball instead of drop it.  Sometimes I kick it gently out of her mouth and she chases it. Well I stupidly played this game with flip flops on tonight and she moved her head and I kicked her tooth and have a small puncture would now on my toe.  It bled a lot but seems fine after being bandaged and elevated for a while.  

Dammit after I finally got a pedicure and now I’m all bandaids and gauze.


----------



## Mike Drone

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh. Was playing with the dogs - Harlie has a small partially deflated soccer ball that she likes me to kick and then she fetches it and brings it back to me in her mouth.  But she likes to tease me and lay down with the ball instead of drop it.  Sometimes I kick it gently out of her mouth and she chases it. Well I stupidly played this game with flip flops on tonight and she moved her head and I kicked her tooth and have a small puncture would now on my toe.  It bled a lot but seems fine after being bandaged and elevated for a while.
> 
> Dammit after I finally got a pedicure and now I’m all bandaids and gauze.



Hmm.. I can't like it because, well, rude.  I can't agree because I'm a dude and I don't paint anything.  I can't disagree because your SquarePeg.  I don't think it's funny even though I can't stop laughing.  You did not win anything.  Informative and useful don't match...

How does the dog feel about this situation?  
I hope you feel better soon. =]

That video...Haha.


----------



## limr

Mike Drone said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh. Was playing with the dogs - Harlie has a small partially deflated soccer ball that she likes me to kick and then she fetches it and brings it back to me in her mouth.  But she likes to tease me and lay down with the ball instead of drop it.  Sometimes I kick it gently out of her mouth and she chases it. Well I stupidly played this game with flip flops on tonight and she moved her head and I kicked her tooth and have a small puncture would now on my toe.  It bled a lot but seems fine after being bandaged and elevated for a while.
> 
> Dammit after I finally got a pedicure and now I’m all bandaids and gauze.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm.. I can't like it because, well, rude.  I can't agree because I'm a dude and I don't paint anything.  I can't disagree because your SquarePeg.  I don't think it's funny even though I can't stop laughing.  You did not win anything.  Informative and useful don't match...
> 
> How does the dog feel about this situation?
> I hope you feel better soon. =]
> 
> That video...Haha.
Click to expand...


Agreed. We need a Sympathy button or something.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ventured out to Home Depot today. It was kinda crowded, and my goodness, it was hot outside!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When you buy a house you spend all your money and most of your free time at HD the first few months.  I think I could probably better direct people to find what they need than most of their employees.
Click to expand...


..... and do you find that it always needs 2 trips per job?  One to get the main stuff, then you need to go back again because you forgot a specific type of screw or you don't have the right sized drill bit/spanner/screwdriver.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

limr said:


> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh. Was playing with the dogs - Harlie has a small partially deflated soccer ball that she likes me to kick and then she fetches it and brings it back to me in her mouth.  But she likes to tease me and lay down with the ball instead of drop it.  Sometimes I kick it gently out of her mouth and she chases it. Well I stupidly played this game with flip flops on tonight and she moved her head and I kicked her tooth and have a small puncture would now on my toe.  It bled a lot but seems fine after being bandaged and elevated for a while.
> 
> Dammit after I finally got a pedicure and now I’m all bandaids and gauze.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm.. I can't like it because, well, rude.  I can't agree because I'm a dude and I don't paint anything.  I can't disagree because your SquarePeg.  I don't think it's funny even though I can't stop laughing.  You did not win anything.  Informative and useful don't match...
> 
> How does the dog feel about this situation?
> I hope you feel better soon. =]
> 
> That video...Haha.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Agreed. We need a Sympathy button or something.
Click to expand...


Sympathy for Harlie!


----------



## SquarePeg

Tropicalmemories said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh. Was playing with the dogs - Harlie has a small partially deflated soccer ball that she likes me to kick and then she fetches it and brings it back to me in her mouth.  But she likes to tease me and lay down with the ball instead of drop it.  Sometimes I kick it gently out of her mouth and she chases it. Well I stupidly played this game with flip flops on tonight and she moved her head and I kicked her tooth and have a small puncture would now on my toe.  It bled a lot but seems fine after being bandaged and elevated for a while.
> 
> Dammit after I finally got a pedicure and now I’m all bandaids and gauze.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm.. I can't like it because, well, rude.  I can't agree because I'm a dude and I don't paint anything.  I can't disagree because your SquarePeg.  I don't think it's funny even though I can't stop laughing.  You did not win anything.  Informative and useful don't match...
> 
> How does the dog feel about this situation?
> I hope you feel better soon. =]
> 
> That video...Haha.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Agreed. We need a Sympathy button or something.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Sympathy for Harlie!
Click to expand...


SHE was just fine.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh. Was playing with the dogs - Harlie has a small partially deflated soccer ball that she likes me to kick and then she fetches it and brings it back to me in her mouth.  But she likes to tease me and lay down with the ball instead of drop it.  Sometimes I kick it gently out of her mouth and she chases it. Well I stupidly played this game with flip flops on tonight and she moved her head and I kicked her tooth and have a small puncture would now on my toe.  It bled a lot but seems fine after being bandaged and elevated for a while.
> 
> Dammit after I finally got a pedicure and now I’m all bandaids and gauze.


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. Well, it is morning for another 8 minutes for those of us in this time zone, anyway.

It's day...3? 4? of my headache, so life is just grand at the moment. Off to nurse another cup of coffee.

How are y'all?


----------



## Tropicalmemories

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. Well, it is morning for another 8 minutes for those of us in this time zone, anyway.
> 
> It's day...3? 4? of my headache, so life is just grand at the moment. Off to nurse another cup of coffee.
> 
> How are y'all?



..... perhaps stay off the coffee?  That and chocolate can trigger headaches?


----------



## limr

Tropicalmemories said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning, hosers. Well, it is morning for another 8 minutes for those of us in this time zone, anyway.
> 
> It's day...3? 4? of my headache, so life is just grand at the moment. Off to nurse another cup of coffee.
> 
> How are y'all?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ..... perhaps stay off the coffee?  That and chocolate can trigger headaches?
Click to expand...


Nope, that's not it. I barely ever eat chocolate (I have a fairly low tolerance for sweet foods) and caffeine helps the headache.

I've been dealing with my multi-day migraines for years now.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Morning, hosers. Well, it is morning for another 8 minutes for those of us in this time zone, anyway.
> 
> It's day...3? 4? of my headache, so life is just grand at the moment. Off to nurse another cup of coffee.
> 
> How are y'all?



It’s the heat and all this damp weather! Get yourself to a dark cool room and shut your eyes.   Princess and I both get them - hers are worse than mine these days.


----------



## SquarePeg

And hydrate!


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Other than that, how do you like the xt4?  I need a 2nd body and thinking of getting another used Xt2.  Any major upgrades making the xt4 a better choice?



I got the X-T4 for the IBIS.  I shoot video and that was a big factor.  The AF is noticeably faster and haven't tried out the low shutter speed for photos handheld.  Reports I've read is the IBIS helps.  I loved the articulating screen on the X-T2 and do not like how it flips out on the X-T4.  When I shot photos in a crowd I could tilt the screen up and out slightly which is less noticeable compared to flipped out to the side.  I shoot video mostly of our travels and local festivals which are all on hold this year.  I plan to take the camera to the local nature center and try out the video.


----------



## limr

Yeah - there are other triggers, but they're usually worse in the summer because of the light and the heat, both of which are triggers for me. I've got my super dark glasses on and the a/c is running - but then again, it's always running these days. 

When the headaches are more sinus-related, the coffee alone is often enough to get rid of it by about noon. When it's a migraine, the caffeine and Advil makes a dent, but it never really goes away until it's just ready to go away. I keep away from light and heat, have an extra cup of coffee and lots of water, and just ride it out.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Yeah - there are other triggers, but they're usually worse in the summer because of the light and the heat, both of which are triggers for me. I've got my super dark glasses on and the a/c is running - but then again, it's always running these days.
> 
> When the headaches are more sinus-related, the coffee alone is often enough to get rid of it by about noon. When it's a migraine, the caffeine and Advil makes a dent, but it never really goes away until it's just ready to go away. I keep away from light and heat, have an extra cup of coffee and lots of water, and just ride it out.


That sucks!


----------



## CherylL

limr said:


> Yeah - there are other triggers, but they're usually worse in the summer because of the light and the heat, both of which are triggers for me. I've got my super dark glasses on and the a/c is running - but then again, it's always running these days.
> 
> When the headaches are more sinus-related, the coffee alone is often enough to get rid of it by about noon. When it's a migraine, the caffeine and Advil makes a dent, but it never really goes away until it's just ready to go away. I keep away from light and heat, have an extra cup of coffee and lots of water, and just ride it out.



Feel better!  A friend gets those and she lays in a dark room.  With modern medicine you would think by now there would be treatments.


----------



## limr

Ten years ago today, two tiny kittens came to live with me. And yes, they're still here, and hopefully will be for at least another ten


----------



## terri

The girls!


----------



## Original katomi

Lovely cats
Re headaches do you use glasses
For years I had headaches every time I went to the cinema 
I needed glasses, in short I was seeing two images at slightly different focus


----------



## terri

Happy Independence Day, USA!

Hope those who celebrate stay safe, and have fun!


----------



## Original katomi

Happy 4th  have a good day, stay safe


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> Lovely cats
> Re headaches do you use glasses
> For years I had headaches every time I went to the cinema
> I needed glasses, in short I was seeing two images at slightly different focus



Yes, I have glasses for distance and other glasses for reading. The glasses don't cause the headaches. The main triggers are monthly hormone shifts, and heat/light/barometric pressure changes/some kinds of booze are secondary triggers.


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy 4th!  No fireworks near us this year so here is a photo from last year.


----------



## SquarePeg

My brother and sister in law just left after an early lunch.  Princess and her bf were here as well.  Everyone is gone now except me and the dogs - and my mom but she’s in her suite napping and watching Hallmark movies and won’t be out until she gets hungry again around 7.  I think I’ll paint a bit and then take the pup for a hike.  It’s a gorgeous day here, 70’s and sunny.  Hopefully most of the mud on our favorite trail has dried up after almost 2 days without rain.   We might try to make it to  the beach tomorrow morning for a few hours.


----------



## Space Face

It's not something we celebrate across here.  Probably because you whipped our butts to get your independence

Hope you all enjoyed it tho.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Friend of mine's on her way here picking up dinner (because who's cooking? not me!). I know somebody who went to drive in style fireworks, everybody had to stay in their cars (or sit in lawn chairs outside the cars). No other events this year, not in my state, no large events happening, still distancing and carry out/curbside. 

There is hockey on, yay NESN! The '96 NHL All Star game - I'll take it!


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Happy 4th!  No fireworks near us this year so here is a photo from last year.
> 
> View attachment 193941



I just remembered that Buzz and I were in Boston for the 4th last year. We were on the Queen Mary 2 and it stopped in Boston. We went into the city during the day but went back to the boat for evening. We didn't want to be in the crowds and could see enough of the fireworks from the boat.

This was taken I think the day before on our way towards Boston.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy 4th!  No fireworks near us this year so here is a photo from last year.
> 
> View attachment 193941
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just remembered that Buzz and I were in Boston for the 4th last year. We were on the Queen Mary 2 and it stopped in Boston. We went into the city during the day but went back to the boat for evening. We didn't want to be in the crowds and could see enough of the fireworks from the boat.
> 
> This was taken I think the day before on our way towards Boston.
> 
> View attachment 193945
Click to expand...

I remember this!  Looked like so much fun.


----------



## CherylL

The town over had fireworks last night.  Most towns around here are canceled so I am sure there were crowds.  Floated in the hot tub this morning, did a few things around here and had chicken kabobs for dinner.  Last year we went to daughter's subdivision for the kids' bicycle parade.  I took a ton of photos last year.  We didn't go this year.  Too many people and we are staying away from crowds.  Going to the outdoor produce market in the morning before it gets busy.


----------



## VidThreeNorth

I thought I'd make a short UHD (4K) video -- evening before sunset.  I was out for about 4 hours and I thought that I'd probably gotten a good clip or two.  When I got home, I was checking the battery level and glanced at the screen and found I'd recorded everything at FHD (1080) instead.  Oh well, it was still good practice.


----------



## SquarePeg

So many unofficial fireworks tonight in the neighborhoods around us and the surrounding towns. Fireworks are illegal in Massachusetts but that never seems to stop anyone.  Our older dog is freaked out and hiding under my chair.  He cries and if I try to pick him up he just wants to get down and get back under the chair.    Lots of just loud booms that don’t seem to have any rickets attached.  m-80’s?  I’ve turned on The Avengers battle scene loudly to drown out the noise.  But it doesn’t disguise the boom and the house practically shaking!  

The puppy, on the other hand, is sitting on the couch looking out the window watching the ones that are going into the air from the golf course up the hill.  She seems entertained.


----------



## limr

Same here. There are a few small things that just became legal in NY, but the big stuff is still illegal. There were usually firecrackers around, but things are much worse this year than they ever were before. Luckily it doesn't bother the girls. Annoys the heck out of me, though.


----------



## RowdyRay

Wow. Everything is illegal here and for the last 2 hours it's been like WWII out there. Been here 25 years and never heard anything like it. Crazy. My cat is going berserk.


----------



## limr

Poor kitty 

Haven't heard anything for about half an hour or so, and I'm hoping the townies have either used up their supplies or passed out drunk.

Damnit, I knew I was going to jinx it. Didn't even finish that last sentence before some more started. 

It's ridiculous. People ruin everything.


----------



## Original katomi

hi All


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Things opening up here, and it's a long weekend holiday too - so we found a great deal on a 5☆ beach-front suite for the cost of a budget hotel room.  

Taking all my photo gear for some beach portraits, and planning some William Tell Overture love making to celebrate getting out of the city.


----------



## limr

I wonder how many people have earned the nickname Lefty after last night.


----------



## terri

Our subdivision did a controlled fireworks display on Friday night.    There's a largish green space/pasture that's far enough away from houses to be reasonably safe.  The fireworks were impressively huge, though - and people had driven over and parked in the pasture, maybe to maintain social distancing?   But several vehicles had to scramble to get away from falling debris during the show.  Grabbing kids, yelling and being yelled at while others dodged them.  I stood on my front porch and laughed.   So mean.  

No one was hurt, and it was largely over by 10 pm.  My cats reappeared from under the bed by 10:30.


----------



## Mike Drone

Good morning...  Black coffee best coffee.


----------



## SquarePeg

Trying to pick an exterior paint color is a big pita!  We have a brick front ranch with lots of white trim and many large windows out front so I think the house can handle a dark, strong color.  Current color is boring cream with white trim.  I want a dark blue or  blueish grey.  I think I’ve got it narrowed down to either #2 or #4.  But neither says “Marry me, I’m the one”.  Thoughts?


----------



## Mike Drone

#2 looks to have the same saturation level as the red brick and looks like home.  #4 looks old like it has been there for years.  Is the paint dry?  It will get darker as it drys.  I think #2.  It goes with the blue chair on the right. =]


----------



## terri

I agree with Mike about the #4 color.  It might look too aged within a couple of years.    

Personally, even though it's not in contention, I like #3.  Just a shade brighter than #2, and would have a nice pop next to white trim, too.


----------



## limr

Mike Drone said:


> #2 looks to have the same saturation level as the red brick and looks like home.  #4 looks old like it has been there for years.  Is the paint dry?  It will get darker as it drys.  I think #2.  It goes with the blue chair on the right. =]



Hmm, good point. I liked #4 the best at first, with #2 as my second choice, but I looked back at that second picture and I agree with your assessment, so I've reversed my choices.


----------



## SquarePeg

They may still be a bit wet.  Will take more pics tomorrow morning in different light.


----------



## SquarePeg

Despite the consensus on #2, both  on TPF and among my family,  I’m leaning toward #4.   My concern holding me back is exactly what Mike pointed out.  It may look old sooner.   But, I really don’t want anything too bright and colorful.  With the red brick, I kind of prefer the darker grey.  Although our roof is also dark grey so that may be too much.  I have a few drive bys to do today of houses painted in #2.  Addresses I got from a local Facebook group about local historical homes and what colors were used.  That is Benjamin Moore Newburyport Blue very popular in this area.  Will see how they look on a whole house!


----------



## SquarePeg

Alright we have a winner.  #2.  Once they were fully dry and the sun moved a bit you can see that there’s too much green in #4 and #2 darkened up a bit which is what I wanted.


----------



## SquarePeg

Back to waffling on the color.  I really want something more navy.  I have to decide by tomorrow because the contractor is coming to drop off the contract and will be buying the paint and starting painting on Thursday!


----------



## Mike Drone

SquarePeg said:


> Back to waffling on the color.  I really want something more navy.  I have to decide by tomorrow because the contractor is coming to drop off the contract and will be buying the paint and starting painting on Thursday!



How about medium ultramarine?
Navy blue - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Of course the screen color may vary but the color code is there. =]


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Back to waffling on the color.  I really want something more navy.  I have to decide by tomorrow because the contractor is coming to drop off the contract and will be buying the paint and starting painting on Thursday!


Were these samples all the dark blue shades at the store?   Maybe try a different paint company with similar shade names?   What looks dull from one company could be perfect from another.


----------



## SquarePeg

I think this is the color I’m going with.  I’m going to get a sample after work and will see how it looks with the brick.  This is the color I originally wanted but saw it on a house and thought it was too dark but it looks great on this other house which is a few blocks over from us.  I drove by today and snagged a quick photo.


----------



## limr

That's a beautiful color!


----------



## limr

Hey hosers!

Cable and Internet are down so I'm going super retro and breaking out the old pieces of vinyl. Bonus if you can correctly guess the year this was released


----------



## Mike Drone

limr said:


> Hey hosers!
> 
> Cable and Internet are down so I'm going super retro and breaking out the old pieces of vinyl. Bonus if you can correctly guess the year this was released
> 
> View attachment 194069



1979?  <3 the cat in the back...


----------



## limr

Mike Drone said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers!
> 
> Cable and Internet are down so I'm going super retro and breaking out the old pieces of vinyl. Bonus if you can correctly guess the year this was released
> 
> View attachment 194069
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 1979?  <3 the cat in the back...
Click to expand...


Close, but a bit too early.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Flock of Seagulls?? sounds like an early '80's extravaganza to me! Then again "Mickey" by Toni Basil, more of an '80's nightmare! 

I'll guess - 1982.

And phthalo blue?? oh wait that's for the art thread. 


(Doesn't the downspout or window trim or whatever close up look rather bluish white? or is it a light blue? wondering if that photo showed it accurately.)


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'm only a little ways into the fourth year of the 97X Modern Rock 500, started on the last year they did it in 2009 then went back to 1989, now I'm up to 1991. My summer long listening event. Just heard, wait for it - The Smiths! who else?


----------



## Tropicalmemories

First trip out of the city since COVID .....


----------



## Original katomi

Wonder how many looked at the image in previous post and thought ...... nice camera


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Flock of Seagulls?? sounds like an early '80's extravaganza to me! Then again "Mickey" by Toni Basil, more of an '80's nightmare!
> 
> I'll guess - 1982.
> 
> And phthalo blue?? oh wait that's for the art thread.
> 
> 
> (Doesn't the downspout or window trim or whatever close up look rather bluish white? or is it a light blue? wondering if that photo showed it accurately.)



Oh, Mickey was a fun song.

1982 is much closer!

The answer is 1983. 
Various - Hit Explosion


----------



## limr

Internet is still down, so there will be more records getting into the rotation today to keep me company as I putter.


----------



## SquarePeg

New choice on top vs previous front runner.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> New choice on top vs previous front runner.
> 
> View attachment 194089



Kinda looks like #4 from the previous batch, at least on my phone. Amy chance of a shot of all three colors?


----------



## SquarePeg

This one is from a different side of the house and has the darker color - #4 from the first posts (Blue Note) below the new dark color (Hale Navy) and really shows the difference between the 2.  I don't have a pic of the original 2 along with the new.  Ignore that one on the bottom - it doesn't look anything like it did on Pinterest.  I guess that is what paint samples are for!


----------



## SquarePeg

paint might have still been wet when I took that one.


----------



## dxqcanada

limr said:


> Hey hosers!
> 
> Cable and Internet are down so I'm going super retro and breaking out the old pieces of vinyl. Bonus if you can correctly guess the year this was released



Vinyl Album: Various Artists - Hit Explosion (1983)


----------



## dxqcanada

Steppin' Out is an awesome song !!


----------



## Jeff15

Tropicalmemories said:


> First trip out of the city since COVID .....
> 
> View attachment 194077



Nice camera.....


----------



## Original katomi

Lol
Well folks It’s pumpkin time for me, I am in a lot of pain and feeling a bit offended by a post elsewhere 
Night all chat again later


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Lol
> Well folks It’s pumpkin time for me, I am in a lot of pain and feeling a bit offended by a post elsewhere
> Night all chat again later



Gnight!  Sleep tight.  Don't let the internet bite.


----------



## Mike Drone

Original katomi said:


> Lol
> Well folks It’s pumpkin time for me, I am in a lot of pain and feeling a bit offended by a post elsewhere
> Night all chat again later



Good night =]


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Feeling a bit salty at the moment. I have two large garbage bags filled with old clothes, plus several small appliances and knickknacks that I was bringing to the Goodwill today. Checked to make sure that stores were open and taking donations. Got everything into the car and shlepped over there, only to find a sign saying "No donations today" and a guy telling me to go away.

Grrrrrr 

I left everything in the car and will try again probably on Thursday or Friday.

For now, I at least get to burn stuff. 
(No, nothing important, just years of files that I do not plan on keeping anymore. It's fun to burn it, though.)


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Jeff15 said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> First trip out of the city since COVID .....
> 
> View attachment 194077
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice camera.....
Click to expand...


Yes - it's old Fuji X-M1 with a very versatile 27mm lens - and I still use it more than my newer, bigger, heavier DSLR style body and zooms.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, cold wet here. G daughters birthday, rung and sang happy birthday, poor kid lol, 
Times like this, covid bites. Normally we would have gone to them or they would have come here.
Oh well, they are safe so are we.


----------



## Mike Drone

Good morning everyone!

Good afternoon everyone!

Good night everyone!


----------



## terri

I will bid you a hearty good afternoon, Sir!   It's just after 12:30 pm on the East coast.    

Waiting for the humidity to leave the area.   I hope it does.   Our temperatures haven't been bad for this time of year, but the humidity is thick and nasty, and drives people indoors early.   If we're lucky we'll get a few showers out of it.


----------



## SquarePeg

Nasty here.  Humid and gross.  Been hiding out in the air conditioning with the pups all day.  Not cooking tonight (sorry food thread, see you in September!).  Might whip up a nice frozen drink though.  Chambord Colada anyone?


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Waiting for the humidity to leave the area.


That would be sometime in late September.


----------



## limr

Yes!!! I found the missing piece!!






NOOOOOOOOO!!!


----------



## Mike Drone

Nice, puzzle glue or tear down? =]


----------



## limr

Mike Drone said:


> Nice, puzzle glue or tear down? =]



Depends on if I can find the missing piece. Normally, it would be glued.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nice, puzzle glue or tear down? =]
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Depends on if I can find the missing piece. Normally, it would be glued.
Click to expand...

I'm starting to think that it was sold with one piece missing.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nice, puzzle glue or tear down? =]
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Depends on if I can find the missing piece. Normally, it would be glued.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm starting to think that it was sold with one piece missing.
Click to expand...


I say I buy a second one, find the missing piece, then return it for having a piece missing


----------



## snowbear

MLW ordered a new laptop but it was stolen (delivered to the wrong address, signed for by "Covid," and never turned in.  A copy of the theft report was sent to Dell, and they sent a replacement.  It took forever, but it finally got here about last week.

Today, she gets a letter from Dell, with a return address label, asking for the computer that was replaced ... the one that was stolen ... the one they have the stolen property report for.

Obviously, the letter was either automatically generated, or they need to raise their employment standards a little.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> MLW ordered a new laptop but it was stolen (delivered to the wrong address, signed for by "Covid," and never turned in.  A copy of the theft report was sent to Dell, and they sent a replacement.  It took forever, but it finally got here about last week.
> 
> Today, she gets a letter from Dell, with a return address label, asking for the computer that was replaced ... the one that was stolen ... the one they have the stolen property report for.
> 
> Obviously, the letter was either automatically generated, or they need to raise their employment standards a little.


Trying to think which "like" button works here, but none really suffice.    We need a  "Gah!" button.


----------



## Mike Drone

limr said:


> Agreed. We need a Sympathy button or something.



^This =]


----------



## SquarePeg

Many times, on other sites I frequent, I’m looking for the “Winner” or “Useful” buttons and they are not there!


----------



## Mike Drone

What are platinum forum sponsors?  I could not find any information. =]


----------



## Space Face

SquarePeg said:


> Many times, on other sites I frequent, I’m looking for the “Winner” or “Useful” buttons and they are not there!



Buttons are indeed a moot point.


----------



## snowbear

Mike Drone said:


> What are platinum forum sponsors?  I could not find any information. =]


I believe they are vendors, probably those that spend over a certain amount on advertising.

I know when non-profits have functions like conferences, tournaments, and whatnot, they will get donor sponsors.  The level (silver, gold, platinum, or whatever scheme they are using) are based on the amount donated.  Each higher level will give the company additional incentives, like number or size of ads, swag for employees, paid participation in the event, etc.


----------



## Original katomi

Oh no not more buttons 
My wayward thumb is already getting me into trouble. I use my r thumb to swipe pages and often find that I have swiped the buttons by mistake


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

The good thing about breaking two bowls in the past week is that now I don't have to pack them. They were also bowls that I wasn't particularly attached to, so no real loss.

The bad thing was that the bowl that I broke today still contained my uneaten lunch


----------



## vintagesnaps

Ok that wasn't really useful but none of the emojis fit the situation and it seemed like you could use a carrot of sympathy. 

After the stroke I was so good at floor flinging I don't know how many dishes I broke! Luckily I have no valuable dishes. I was a klutz to begin with, and my gripping of things improved, but I still manage to drop things. The worst is - dribbling coffee!! no, not wasting coffee!!!


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Ok that wasn't really useful but none of the emojis fit the situation and it seemed like you could use a carrot of sympathy.
> 
> After the stroke I was so good at floor flinging I don't know how many dishes I broke! Luckily I have no valuable dishes. I was a klutz to begin with, and my gripping of things improved, but I still manage to drop things. The worst is - dribbling coffee!! no, not wasting coffee!!!



Well, the first bowl had developed a crack in it, so even though it was still a small crack, it was prone to breaking anyway, so I am not going to take the blame for that one. 

The second one is totally my fault though. I had just given it a quick shot of heat in the microwave and I had forgotten that these particular bowls got suuuuuuper hot, even if the food wasn't. So I reached in to pick it up and ended up flinging it to the floor to avoid getting a nasty burn on my finger.

For ten+ years, I have remembered to test the temperature of those bowls or to bring a towel to protect my hands.

Today, I forgot. I think it was a sign that I didn't really want the bowls anymore 

There's one more small bowl (they were matching nesting bowls). I might have to just break that one to complete the set.


----------



## Mike Drone

I also was going to respond but no sympathy button.  =]


----------



## terri

There should at least be a "sad face" button.       *sniffle*


----------



## limr

Nah, couldn't bring myself to do it. The lone surviving bowl (there were originally four...or five maybe? Can't remember.)


----------



## Mike Drone

That is a nice bowl, even solo. =]


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Nah, couldn't bring myself to do it. The lone surviving bowl (there were originally four...or five maybe? Can't remember.)
> 
> View attachment 194300


So, use it for water when you are painting.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nah, couldn't bring myself to do it. The lone surviving bowl (there were originally four...or five maybe? Can't remember.)
> 
> View attachment 194300
> 
> 
> 
> So, use it for water when you are painting.
Click to expand...

Always thinking, aren'tcha?


----------



## NancyMoranG

Ran into a gentleman using this 1 early morning. 
Nice enough to answer my few questions about his set up. Was doing b/w with 2 sec shutter delay. 
4x5 negative or 3x4 sorry forgot.
Getting more crowded here at Grand Teton N.Park!


----------



## NancyMoranG

With my phone early morning before camera set up, and then they were gone. I could not complain about that background!
As you know, not much service to post photos but wanted to say hi!


----------



## terri

NancyMoranG said:


> View attachment 194311
> With my phone early morning before camera set up, and then they were gone. I could not complain about that background!
> As you know, not much service to post photos but wanted to say hi!


Hi back!   It's incredibly beautiful out there!   There's no way you can get tired of that scenery.


----------



## Mike Drone

NancyMoranG said:


> View attachment 194310
> Ran into a gentleman using this 1 early morning.
> Nice enough to answer my few questions about his set up. Was doing b/w with 2 sec shutter delay.
> 4x5 negative or 3x4 sorry forgot.
> Getting more crowded here at Grand Teton N.Park!





NancyMoranG said:


> View attachment 194311
> With my phone early morning before camera set up, and then they were gone. I could not complain about that background!
> As you know, not much service to post photos but wanted to say hi!



Nice image set =]


----------



## NancyMoranG

[QUOTE="terri, post: 
Hi back!   It's incredibly beautiful out there!   There's no way you can get tired of that scenery.   [/QUOTE]

It is too beautiful to ever get tired of.!


----------



## NancyMoranG

@Mike Drone..thank you. I am so glad to be here and am making the most of it!


----------



## Mike Drone

Got my new graduated cylinders.  I was interrupted while developing film for the wife's craving of spiced pumpkin bread.  So I baked some spiced pumpkin bread.  =]


----------



## limr

Mike Drone said:


> Got my new graduated cylinders.  I was interrupted while developing film for the wife's craving of spiced pumpkin bread.  So I baked some spiced pumpkin bread.  =]



*Sigh*

That looks awesome, all of it!

This post reminds me that gluten-free bread - pumpkin or otherwise - suuuuuuuuucks, and that I have a huge backlog of film to develop. It's been so long that I have no idea what I am going to find on those rolls.


----------



## Original katomi

Did the film rise and is the bread developed


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> Got my new graduated cylinders.  I was interrupted while developing film for the wife's craving of spiced pumpkin bread.  So I baked some spiced pumpkin bread.  =]
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Sigh*
> 
> That looks awesome, all of it!
> 
> This post reminds me that gluten-free bread - pumpkin or otherwise - suuuuuuuuucks, and that I have a huge backlog of film to develop. It's been so long that I have no idea what I am going to find on those rolls.
Click to expand...

Gluten-free bread is a contradictory effort, doomed to failure, I agree.   Gluten is kind of the point in good bread!

And, oddly - I just found an undeveloped roll of Tmax.  I am painting a bookcase and it was lying on its side in the back.  Not even refrigerated, so I'm not expecting much.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

A fun day river rafting  but was a bit worried about the transport arrangements ....... what could possibly go wrong ......


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> View attachment 194311
> With my phone early morning before camera set up, and then they were gone. I could not complain about that background!
> As you know, not much service to post photos but wanted to say hi!



Wow so beautiful!  Hi Nancy, I'm glad you're having fun and staying safe.  I am really hoping my trip out there is still a go in a few months.  Not sure if I'll be willing to travel if things don't start to turn around with the virus.  Northeast US got off to a rough start but has been good about getting it under control.  Meanwhile the rest of the country is spreading it like crazy.   If they don't cancel the photo tour and I opt not to go I will probably lose my money that I paid.  I can cancel my flights and pre and post tour hotel reservations and get my points and miles back but I will be out the cost of the photo tour which included hotel and meals so was pretty pricey.

Happy Sunday Hosers!  It is hot hot hot here in the Boston area.  Going to chill with the ac, maybe venture out for a dip in the pool in the late afternoon.  Dinner will have to be out somewhere so I won't be cooking once again.  Sorry food thread - maybe next week...


----------



## Original katomi

SquarePeg 
Hiya fingers crossed for you on the photo trip,


----------



## Mike Drone

*Hope for SquarePeg*

It appears my  camera may have a light leak according to the last roll of film...


----------



## terri

Mike Drone said:


> *Hope for SquarePeg*
> 
> It appears my  camera may have a light leak according to the last roll of film...


*Inserts sad face face button*

Seriously, that sucks.   Have you been shooting it regularly, or this a recent purchase?


----------



## Mike Drone

terri said:


> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> *Hope for SquarePeg*
> 
> It appears my  camera may have a light leak according to the last roll of film...
> 
> 
> 
> *Inserts sad face face button*
> 
> Seriously, that sucks.   Have you been shooting it regularly, or this a recent purchase?
Click to expand...


I have had the camera a long time.  It was one of my first cameras.  Minolta X370.  I may have to grab one of the x700's until I get the problem figured out.

All of my images have the soft line on the left.


----------



## snowbear

I'm doing the virtual GIS conference this week.  Tonight should be interesting - Public Safety Happy Hour on zoom.

Not sure if anyone can get to this without a conference login, but there is a map competition, every year.  This is the third place winner in the Education category - counting DC cats.
Virtual Map Gallery | 2020 Esri User Conference


----------



## terri

Kitties! !!   

I've heard of these kinds of tracking maps.   When used on feral cat colonies, local communities can use the data to help with "trap and neuter" efforts, usually done by a Humane Society chapter.   Tracking and keeping count lets them know the effectiveness of the venture.


----------



## snowbear

We're using it to trap & neuter firefighters.  KIDDING!!!!

They're hard to catch.


----------



## limr

Dude. This cereal has been in this canister, stored in a plastic storage bin in a dry basement, for more than 10 years. Another one held rice and a third contained popcorn. The fourth was empty. All food smelled a little stale but was otherwise completely unchanged. No mold, no mustiness, no moisture.

I am very impressed and a tiny bit horrended (how did I not know there was food in them when I put them in storage?? What if the seals had not been so totally awesome??) But almost certainly going to keep these canisters!


----------



## SquarePeg

Gross!  You got lucky.  As a mom I have seen some pretty nasty cases of things being stored when they were not cleaned out first.  Backpack aged peach anyone?  No?  How about a softball bag of loose gummy bears left for 9 months.  No?  Half order of McDonald's french fries stuffed in the car side door panel?  

I would imagine that there are going to be some pretty nasty school lockers with the way things shut down so suddenly.


----------



## snowbear

We once found a 6-8 month old baby bottle under a car seat. RLC was on a soy-based formula so we had a nice aged tofu.


----------



## terri

We found an atrophied carved pumpkin in my father in law's house, a few years before he died.    He put it in a closet and forgot about it. 

It looked _awesome_.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Dude. This cereal has been in this canister, stored in a plastic storage bin in a dry basement, for more than 10 years. Another one held rice and a third contained popcorn. The fourth was empty. All food smelled a little stale but was otherwise completely unchanged. No mold, no mustiness, no moisture.
> 
> I am very impressed and a tiny bit horrended (how did I not know there was food in them when I put them in storage?? What if the seals had not been so totally awesome??) But almost certainly going to keep these canisters!
> 
> View attachment 194469


Heck yeah, keep those canisters!   That's gross, but impressive, too!


----------



## Mike Drone

Eew.


----------



## limr

It really was oddly gross for food that was so remarkably well-preserved. Seriously, there wasn't even the tiniest hint of any kind of mold or rotting or anything. You'd think it was just a few weeks old instead of a decade. Like I said, I was horrended, despite the non-gross condition of the food, and also mightily impressed.

The canisters were washed thoroughly and are now going through a high-temp dishwasher cycle. They are totally coming with me.


----------



## limr

And yes, in case y'all haven't caught on by now, I will be moving in a few weeks.


----------



## Original katomi

So the food was just a touch out of sale by date


----------



## Mike Drone

@limr  ....


----------



## limr

Mike Drone said:


> @limr  ....




What am I looking at? (Other than Reverse being in the correct position?  )


----------



## terri

"Missing puzzle piece," I'm guessing.     

I don't guess you ever found it?


----------



## limr

terri said:


> "Missing puzzle piece," I'm guessing.
> 
> I don't guess you ever found it?



Ah yes! Duh.

Nope, never found it  I am making a decision on what to do about the puzzle tonight. I'm leaning towards breaking it down and sending it off to someone else. The other possibility is pretending that I did it on purpose as an artistic statement on irony and Surrealist ideals, with a complementary performance piece of me eye-twitching next to the picture.

But that seems like a bit of a fuss.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> "Missing puzzle piece," I'm guessing.
> 
> I don't guess you ever found it?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ah yes! Duh.
> 
> Nope, never found it  I am making a decision on what to do about the puzzle tonight. I'm leaning towards breaking it down and sending it off to someone else. The other possibility is pretending that I did it on purpose as an artistic statement on irony and Surrealist ideals, with a complementary performance piece of me eye-twitching next to the picture.
> 
> But that seems like a bit of a fuss.
Click to expand...

X-acto knife, card stock (several layers glued together), and paint.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> "Missing puzzle piece," I'm guessing.
> 
> I don't guess you ever found it?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ah yes! Duh.
> 
> Nope, never found it  I am making a decision on what to do about the puzzle tonight. I'm leaning towards breaking it down and sending it off to someone else. The other possibility is pretending that I did it on purpose as an artistic statement on irony and Surrealist ideals, with a complementary performance piece of me eye-twitching next to the picture.
> 
> But that seems like a bit of a fuss.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> X-acto knife, card stock (several layers glued together), and paint.
Click to expand...


My soul  and my poor broken brain will still know the difference.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> "Missing puzzle piece," I'm guessing.
> 
> I don't guess you ever found it?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ah yes! Duh.
> 
> Nope, never found it  I am making a decision on what to do about the puzzle tonight. I'm leaning towards breaking it down and sending it off to someone else. The other possibility is pretending that I did it on purpose as an artistic statement on irony and Surrealist ideals, with a complementary performance piece of me eye-twitching next to the picture.
> 
> But that seems like a bit of a fuss.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> X-acto knife, card stock (several layers glued together), and paint.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> My soul  and my poor broken brain will still know the difference.
Click to expand...

Rum.  Lots of Rum.


----------



## terri

It's a new Snowbear avatar!!


----------



## snowbear

Snowbear = map bear.


----------



## snowbear

I have new mappy coloring things.  Maybe I can give them to the painting club and turn you loose.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr  ....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What am I looking at? (Other than Reverse being in the correct position?  )
Click to expand...

I remember seeing an old ladder truck (1930's maybe, I;m sure it was a Seagrave) that had an up-right-down to get from 4th to 5th (a bit awkward, I'd think)  I don't remember where reverse was.

1  3
2  4  5


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr  ....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What am I looking at? (Other than Reverse being in the correct position?  )
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I remember seeing an old ladder truck (1930's maybe, I;m sure it was a Seagrave) that had an up-right-down to get from 4th to 5th (a bit awkward, I'd think)  I don't remember where reverse was.
> 
> 1  3
> 2  4  5
Click to expand...


Weird!


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, just called in to say hi before I have to go and do a rubbish tip run
I have managed to book a slot, well a week ago I did and even though I hurt like hell today I have to do the run or loose the slot. If I am really lucky the rain will hold off until I have been. 
I missed the post so what’s with the pic of the inside of the car, or is someone boldly going forward because they can’t find reverse.  If so there be clingon’s on the starboard bow


----------



## Mike Drone

Original katomi said:


> Morning all, just called in to say hi before I have to go and do a rubbish tip run
> I have managed to book a slot, well a week ago I did and even though I hurt like hell today I have to do the run or loose the slot. If I am really lucky the rain will hold off until I have been.
> I missed the post so what’s with the pic of the inside of the car, or is someone boldly going forward because they can’t find reverse.  If so there be clingon’s on the starboard bow



It was a weak attempt at keeping someone engaged on the forums with updates about their extracurricular activities.  =]


----------



## limr

Mike Drone said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning all, just called in to say hi before I have to go and do a rubbish tip run
> I have managed to book a slot, well a week ago I did and even though I hurt like hell today I have to do the run or loose the slot. If I am really lucky the rain will hold off until I have been.
> I missed the post so what’s with the pic of the inside of the car, or is someone boldly going forward because they can’t find reverse.  If so there be clingon’s on the starboard bow
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was a weak attempt at keeping someone engaged on the forums with updates about their extracurricular activities.  =]
Click to expand...


It was only weak because I was slow and didn't get it  

In my defense, I don't have a whole lot of mental bandwidth at the moment.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> In my defense, I don't have a whole lot of mental bandwidth at the moment.


Packing and moving does that to you.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers... I’m exhausted from chasing the comet.  I am getting too old for this!  Early to bed tonight if I can stay away from editing all my cool comet pics.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers... I’m exhausted from chasing the comet.  I am getting too old for this!  Early to bed tonight if I can stay away from editing all my cool comet pics.


From what I've seen already, you just killed it!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers... I’m exhausted from chasing the comet.  I am getting too old for this!  Early to bed tonight if I can stay away from editing all my cool comet pics.
> 
> 
> 
> From what I've seen already, you just killed it!
Click to expand...


Thanks a bunch!  We had a blast and I was amazed at how easy it was to photograph the comet!  Around here the challenges are many for night sky stuff.  But where we were last night (Gloucester and Rockport MA), the main issue is the residents are very stingy with beach access.  There are a few spots here and there of donated conservation land along the ocean that they can't control and it kills them so they restrict parking everywhere around it.  Finding a spot with legal parking, public beach access, an interesting foreground and dark skies is like finding a unicorn!  We were totally thrilled with the location even though we had to hike back out of there uphill in the dark.  And my car was still there when I got back to it!


----------



## Mike Drone

I took a few 12 or so pictures last night with newly suggestion settings but I could not see anything on the camera screen.  I have not check on PC but am going to wait because I am going back out tonight but to a different spot.  The coffee house has been so quiet! =]


mmm coffee...


----------



## terri

Mike Drone said:


> The coffee house has been so quiet! =]


 It's hot!   No one wants to come into the Coffee House for coffee!   

More to the point, the forum always experiences a slowdown in the middle of summer.   People are out, on vacation or stay-cations, and just not as likely to spend time here.   It's always been this way, here and on other forums I visit.   

Things seriously pick up again after Labor Day/onset of fall.


----------



## CherylL

It is hot here with almost 100.  Should drop down to the high 80s soon.  I have 2 families in town this week that want photos.  Hopefully we will get a few nice evenings.  My grandson is in town and just turned 2 and will pull out the bubble machine.  We are still social distancing so everything will be outside.


----------



## terri

Eek, that's hot, Cheryl!    

We're in for a hot week ahead, mid-90's every single day.   I am hoping we get afternoon thunder busters to knock it back a few times. 

It's been a beautiful spring and early summer here, but since about the 4th of July, we've moved into deep South icky-weather.


----------



## SquarePeg

It was 92 today and expected to top 100 tomorrow.  Too hot for me.  My cousin is bringing his little ones over to swim in the pool. I'll make an appearance to make sure they have everything they need and then will go back to hiding in the house with the doggies and the ac.  Maybe I'll paint.


----------



## Mike Drone

terri said:


> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> The coffee house has been so quiet! =]
> 
> 
> 
> It's hot!   No one wants to come into the Coffee House for coffee!
Click to expand...


Ice coffee!    Bad night... went out for photos of comet.  Can Am would not make it up some mountains, something is wrong.  UTV party turned around and went to the sand dunes with us.  Belt broke on Can Am right at the sand dunes...  Car is done, stuck in the sand dunes.  Buddy let me borrow RZR to go to house to get truck and trailer.  Loading Can Am on truck another truck with a boat and trailer drove over the train tracks fast and lost his speed boat.  Boat nearly hit us.  A boat in the sand dunes, no trailer.  HAHA.  Sheriff comes up... * me hides beer*.  Do you lose a boat?  No...  I lost a Can Am.  Did you see a boat...  Yep, guys lifted it back on the trailer and took off.  Can Am back on trailer.  Lost interest in any photo.  Friends drank my beer.  Ran out of beer.  I am going home.  Work for tomorrow.  Changing a belt on a commander is tedious and crap.  Thanks for the rant.  This night sucks.

Pre-fun Can Am photo.  Except there was no fun this night.  Wish I had a night photo, the whips and lights are awesome.    Although I hit a new high score, or so the wife tells me, I'll let you know if I can get up tomorrow morning.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all a cooler day here after the sun baked days
Mike sorry to hear about your day. Seems some days no mater what you do they just don’t go right


----------



## SquarePeg

Mike Drone said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> The coffee house has been so quiet! =]
> 
> 
> 
> It's hot!   No one wants to come into the Coffee House for coffee!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ice coffee!    Bad night... went out for photos of comet.  Can Am would not make it up some mountains, something is wrong.  UTV party turned around and went to the sand dunes with us.  Belt broke on Can Am right at the sand dunes...  Car is done, stuck in the sand dunes.  Buddy let me borrow RZR to go to house to get truck and trailer.  Loading Can Am on truck another truck with a boat and trailer drove over the train tracks fast and lost his speed boat.  Boat nearly hit us.  A boat in the sand dunes, no trailer.  HAHA.  Sheriff comes up... * me hides beer*.  Do you lose a boat?  No...  I lost a Can Am.  Did you see a boat...  Yep, guys lifted it back on the trailer and took off.  Can Am back on trailer.  Lost interest in any photo.  Friends drank my beer.  Ran out of beer.  I am going home.  Work for tomorrow.  Changing a belt on a commander is tedious and crap.  Thanks for the rant.  This night sucks.
> 
> Pre-fun Can Am photo.  Except there was no fun this night.  Wish I had a night photo, the whips and lights are awesome.    Although I hit a new high score, or so the wife tells me, I'll let you know if I can get up tomorrow morning.
Click to expand...


tough night.


----------



## limr

Mike Drone said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> The coffee house has been so quiet! =]
> 
> 
> 
> It's hot!   No one wants to come into the Coffee House for coffee!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ice coffee!    Bad night... went out for photos of comet.  Can Am would not make it up some mountains, something is wrong.  UTV party turned around and went to the sand dunes with us.  Belt broke on Can Am right at the sand dunes...  Car is done, stuck in the sand dunes.  Buddy let me borrow RZR to go to house to get truck and trailer.  Loading Can Am on truck another truck with a boat and trailer drove over the train tracks fast and lost his speed boat.  Boat nearly hit us.  A boat in the sand dunes, no trailer.  HAHA.  Sheriff comes up... * me hides beer*.  Do you lose a boat?  No...  I lost a Can Am.  Did you see a boat...  Yep, guys lifted it back on the trailer and took off.  Can Am back on trailer.  Lost interest in any photo.  Friends drank my beer.  Ran out of beer.  I am going home.  Work for tomorrow.  Changing a belt on a commander is tedious and crap.  Thanks for the rant.  This night sucks.
> 
> Pre-fun Can Am photo.  Except there was no fun this night.  Wish I had a night photo, the whips and lights are awesome.    Although I hit a new high score, or so the wife tells me, I'll let you know if I can get up tomorrow morning.
Click to expand...


Yikes. No fun, indeed.

Sounds like that Can Am is a CAN'T Am...

That's my time, folks, but I'll be here all week! Don't forget to try the veal and tip your server!


----------



## Mike Drone

limr said:


> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> The coffee house has been so quiet! =]
> 
> 
> 
> It's hot!   No one wants to come into the Coffee House for coffee!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ice coffee!    Bad night... went out for photos of comet.  Can Am would not make it up some mountains, something is wrong.  UTV party turned around and went to the sand dunes with us.  Belt broke on Can Am right at the sand dunes...  Car is done, stuck in the sand dunes.  Buddy let me borrow RZR to go to house to get truck and trailer.  Loading Can Am on truck another truck with a boat and trailer drove over the train tracks fast and lost his speed boat.  Boat nearly hit us.  A boat in the sand dunes, no trailer.  HAHA.  Sheriff comes up... * me hides beer*.  Do you lose a boat?  No...  I lost a Can Am.  Did you see a boat...  Yep, guys lifted it back on the trailer and took off.  Can Am back on trailer.  Lost interest in any photo.  Friends drank my beer.  Ran out of beer.  I am going home.  Work for tomorrow.  Changing a belt on a commander is tedious and crap.  Thanks for the rant.  This night sucks.
> 
> Pre-fun Can Am photo.  Except there was no fun this night.  Wish I had a night photo, the whips and lights are awesome.    Although I hit a new high score, or so the wife tells me, I'll let you know if I can get up tomorrow morning.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yikes. No fun, indeed.
> 
> Sounds like that Can Am is a CAN'T Am...
> 
> That's my time, folks, but I'll be here all week! Don't forget to try the veal and tip your server!
Click to expand...


Yes! New sticker incoming.


----------



## terri

Mike Drone said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> The coffee house has been so quiet! =]
> 
> 
> 
> It's hot!   No one wants to come into the Coffee House for coffee!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ice coffee!    Bad night... went out for photos of comet.  Can Am would not make it up some mountains, something is wrong.  UTV party turned around and went to the sand dunes with us.  Belt broke on Can Am right at the sand dunes...  Car is done, stuck in the sand dunes.  Buddy let me borrow RZR to go to house to get truck and trailer.  Loading Can Am on truck another truck with a boat and trailer drove over the train tracks fast and lost his speed boat.  Boat nearly hit us.  A boat in the sand dunes, no trailer.  HAHA.  Sheriff comes up... * me hides beer*.  Do you lose a boat?  No...  I lost a Can Am.  Did you see a boat...  Yep, guys lifted it back on the trailer and took off.  Can Am back on trailer.  Lost interest in any photo.  Friends drank my beer.  Ran out of beer.  I am going home.  Work for tomorrow.  Changing a belt on a commander is tedious and crap.  Thanks for the rant.  This night sucks.
> 
> Pre-fun Can Am photo.  Except there was no fun this night.  Wish I had a night photo, the whips and lights are awesome.    Although I hit a new high score, or so the wife tells me, I'll let you know if I can get up tomorrow morning.
Click to expand...

Definitely a bad night!   Guess it could have been worse: you didn't get harassed by the cop over the beer.     So there's one good thing.   

But yeah, pretty much a sucky Saturday night.    I'm sorry.


----------



## Mike Drone

I am going to put a new belt on today.  Hopefully before dark so that we can go back out tonight with everyone.  I can get some good photos, at night the led whips and light bars in a mad max environment is awesome.  Day is good but sunset to sunrise is when everyone comes out to play.  I am pretty sure the Sheriff knows, they don't care as long as your not blatant about it.  All last night in the dunes someone was shooting off aerial fireworks and he just sat there watching.  I am off to fix the Can't Am...  haha @limr .

Edit* Hope everyone has a good day! =]


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Mike Drone said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> The coffee house has been so quiet! =]
> 
> 
> 
> It's hot!   No one wants to come into the Coffee House for coffee!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ice coffee!    Bad night... went out for photos of comet.  Can Am would not make it up some mountains, something is wrong.  UTV party turned around and went to the sand dunes with us.  Belt broke on Can Am right at the sand dunes...  Car is done, stuck in the sand dunes.  Buddy let me borrow RZR to go to house to get truck and trailer.  Loading Can Am on truck another truck with a boat and trailer drove over the train tracks fast and lost his speed boat.  Boat nearly hit us.  A boat in the sand dunes, no trailer.  HAHA.  Sheriff comes up... * me hides beer*.  Do you lose a boat?  No...  I lost a Can Am.  Did you see a boat...  Yep, guys lifted it back on the trailer and took off.  Can Am back on trailer.  Lost interest in any photo.  Friends drank my beer.  Ran out of beer.  I am going home.  Work for tomorrow.  Changing a belt on a commander is tedious and crap.  Thanks for the rant.  This night sucks.
> 
> Pre-fun Can Am photo.  Except there was no fun this night.  Wish I had a night photo, the whips and lights are awesome.    Although I hit a new high score, or so the wife tells me, I'll let you know if I can get up tomorrow morning.
Click to expand...


I had to Google Can Am Commander - that's a very cool looking vehicle.  I only knew about their 3 wheeler.


----------



## Mike Drone

Tropicalmemories said:


> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mike Drone said:
> 
> 
> 
> The coffee house has been so quiet! =]
> 
> 
> 
> It's hot!   No one wants to come into the Coffee House for coffee!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Ice coffee!    Bad night... went out for photos of comet.  Can Am would not make it up some mountains, something is wrong.  UTV party turned around and went to the sand dunes with us.  Belt broke on Can Am right at the sand dunes...  Car is done, stuck in the sand dunes.  Buddy let me borrow RZR to go to house to get truck and trailer.  Loading Can Am on truck another truck with a boat and trailer drove over the train tracks fast and lost his speed boat.  Boat nearly hit us.  A boat in the sand dunes, no trailer.  HAHA.  Sheriff comes up... * me hides beer*.  Do you lose a boat?  No...  I lost a Can Am.  Did you see a boat...  Yep, guys lifted it back on the trailer and took off.  Can Am back on trailer.  Lost interest in any photo.  Friends drank my beer.  Ran out of beer.  I am going home.  Work for tomorrow.  Changing a belt on a commander is tedious and crap.  Thanks for the rant.  This night sucks.
> 
> Pre-fun Can Am photo.  Except there was no fun this night.  Wish I had a night photo, the whips and lights are awesome.    Although I hit a new high score, or so the wife tells me, I'll let you know if I can get up tomorrow morning.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I had to Google Can Am Commander - that's a very cool looking vehicle.  I only knew about their 3 wheeler.
Click to expand...


My  car. Here you go, a picture I actually put some effort into.  Before the light bar and led whip mods.  and one after...I did not know I had.


----------



## Space Face

Looks handy for the golf course​


----------



## Mike Drone

It is awesome to see the comet from everyone's state.  It appears the comet is much brighter on the east coast.  =]


----------



## snowbear

It was too jammin' hot to go anywhere this weekend.  I'll try one night this week from near the power plant.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all,


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

G'morning OK. I am sneaking away from the grandkids to have a brief quiet moment


----------



## vintagesnaps

Calgon, take him away...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leo if the Subaru couldn't find the missing puzzle piece, then you're SOL. Did you buy this puzzle new? then it's got to be somewhere... if not, guess you know why someone got rid of it.....

But still, you did that whole puzzle (except the MIA piece), I would've looked at the cover of the box and said forget it.


----------



## Original katomi

Errr morning all, I think.


----------



## RowdyRay

Original katomi said:


> Errr morning all, I think.



It's morning....I think. Lol.


----------



## SquarePeg

Mike Drone said:


> It is awesome to see the comet from everyone's state.  It appears the comet is much brighter on the east coast.  =]



I wonder if it has to do with latitude?  I know I read somewhere that in Alaska it is very visible and someone I know in FL has been trying to see it and can’t.  If anyone wants to see truly incredible comet photos, @neilsimmonsphotography on Instagram has some absolutely amazing shots from Yellowstone.  Just beautiful!


----------



## RowdyRay

The article I read said the comet would only be visible in the northern hemisphere. I assume the further north the better.

With all the heat and storms we've had the passed week, I haven't had the chance to see it. Finally got a break and I looked for it last night. Unsuccessfully. It's clouded over again and supposed to get worse as the week progresses. Just my luck.


----------



## Mike Drone

RowdyRay said:


> The article I read said the comet would only be visible in the northern hemisphere. I assume the further north the better.
> 
> With all the heat and storms we've had the passed week, I haven't had the chance to see it. Finally got a break and I looked for it last night. Unsuccessfully. It's clouded over again and supposed to get worse as the week progresses. Just my luck.



Rainy/stormy photos are some of the best shots ever captured.  Think about all the opportunities you have.  It rains one day a year here and even then it's a sand storm.  =]


----------



## snowbear

Thunder in the distance, again.  We'll wait and see if it rains, and if it will be another deluge (like last night).  MLW got stuck at the supermarket waiting for it to slack off.
Homemade lasagna for dinner (meatless, this time)!


----------



## snowbear

Well, I'm going in to be working from the office for the second time since the end of March..  The department is in the process of remodeling their spaces in the building: new paint, carpet cubicles, and getting rid of junk, as well as larger gathering spaces.  I have already packed my desk, but there are some common spaces in our area that need to be addresses.  The boss is going in tomorrow and Monday to pack his stuff and tackle some of the common areas.  The others are going in tomorrow.  So that we aren't all in there at once, I chose today.


----------



## Original katomi

Are they reducing the common space so you don’t gather there
Or giving you more room?


----------



## Mike Drone

A corner office, top floor?


----------



## snowbear

One file cabinet cleared out, maps off of the nine bulletin boards around the office, and a whole bunch of junk thrown out.



Original katomi said:


> Are they reducing the common space so you don’t gather there
> Or giving you more room?


More an issue of "gathering" spaces.  The office is split into three sections.   - an outer area where you enter (four work spaces there), the manager's office, and the inner area (four work spaces) where I am.  The outer office has a large table we use to lay out & roll up maps for delivery, glue up posters to foam core, etc.  There are also two 42" plotters, an eight foot paper cutter, and a supply cabinet.  The inner office has a bookcase, two file cabinets, a cart with a regular office printer, a "banana table" (really an elongated "S") where we have staff meetings, another supply cabinet, and a roll-around large screen TV.

The two tables are red flags for "social gathering".  The outer office one has to stay, or it needs to be replaced as it is a work surface.  The banana can go since we don't anticipate having in person staff meetings for quite a while.  Ultimately the TV, at least one supply cabinet, at least one file cabinet and the plotters are going out the door.  We will bring in another big screen (it is used for presentations and, we hope, to monitor the status of our servers) and a newer plotter.



Mike Drone said:


> A corner office, top floor?


I have a view.  I spent close to 20 years in buildings without windows, so what I have is wonderful.  I truly think my next real move will be out.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Opening Day was really odd... not that I'm a big baseball fan, but I usually watch the parade and home opener. It was strange obviously late July to just be starting baseball season. At least with the PA going there was a little background noise, it just looked odd behind home plate to see empty seats.

I don't know what hockey playoffs will be like. I don't really get the point of the NHL holding playoffs three months after the season ended. What I don't get is how they'll play in August and then go into a regular season. Not that there wasn't already a long break but I wonder if it won't take a toll if they start preseason in Sept. and then go til next June, that'd be an awfully long season. 

But if they're going to televise hockey, I'll watch! I'd watch if they brought back Pro Beach Hockey - ramp it up!


----------



## SquarePeg

I listened to some of the Red Sox opener on my drive yo to the mountains yesterday. It helped the 2.5 hour drive pass by as it it were only 4.5 hours!  Had to karaoke all the way home to stay awake.  Left home at 6:30pm and arrived back at 5:30am.  Astrophotography is a young person’s game!  Or for the retired crowd with not a lot of other responsibilities.  I’m neither and had a tough day today.  Had to wale up to take the dog to the vet appointment then had to drop by a socially distant bbq and have been dragging you know what all day!


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> I listened to some of the Red Sox opener on my drive yo to the mountains yesterday. It helped the 2.5 hour drive pass by as it it were only 4.5 hours!  Had to karaoke all the way home to stay awake.  Left home at 6:30pm and arrived back at 5:30am.  Astrophotography is a young person’s game!  Or for the retired crowd with not a lot of other responsibilities.  I’m neither and had a tough day today.  Had to wale up to take the dog to the vet appointment then had to drop by a socially distant bbq and have been dragging you know what all day!



You need a young driver so you can sleep on the road.  I can't do the all nighter's anymore.  Two years ago we got stuck in Playa del Carmen overnight with the taxi strike and that was rough.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I listened to some of the Red Sox opener on my drive yo to the mountains yesterday. It helped the 2.5 hour drive pass by as it it were only 4.5 hours!  Had to karaoke all the way home to stay awake.  Left home at 6:30pm and arrived back at 5:30am.  Astrophotography is a young person’s game!  Or for the retired crowd with not a lot of other responsibilities.  I’m neither and had a tough day today.  Had to wale up to take the dog to the vet appointment then had to drop by a socially distant bbq and have been dragging you know what all day!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You need a young driver so you can sleep on the road.  I can't do the all nighter's anymore.  Two years ago we got stuck in Playa del Carmen overnight with the taxi strike and that was rough.
Click to expand...


We used to be able to share driving but with Covid we’ve all been taking our own cars and driving solo.  I slept about 4 hours when I got home and took as hour nap in between errands and the bbq.  I'm zonked but I know if I got to sleep before 11 I'll be wide awake at 4.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Saw this in a pharmacy shop yesterday.
Kids sweets made to look like pills.
What could possobly go wrong? :-(


----------



## Original katomi

Omg how stupid


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Those candies that look like pills seem like a remarkably bad idea. If that were in the States, it might as well literally say "future lawsuit" on the packaging.

In other news, I am organizing my cameras to start packing them up. I apparently have a Voigtlander Vito II. Totally forgot about it. Maybe when the dust settles, I'll finally get to that backlog and start shooting again, and take this little guy out for a spin.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

limr said:


> Morning, hosers.
> 
> Those candies that look like pills seem like a remarkably bad idea. If that were in the States, it might as well literally say "future lawsuit" on the packaging.
> 
> In other news, I am organizing my cameras to start packing them up. I apparently have a Voigtlander Vito II. Totally forgot about it. Maybe when the dust settles, I'll finally get to that backlog and start shooting again, and take this little guy out for a spin.
> 
> 
> View attachment 195104



That's a very nice compact classic.  Hope you get things sorted soon.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oooh! I think I have a Vito too, but maybe a different model. 

MLB didn't get too far past Opening Day and here we go... Miami Marlins I guess didn't even start their season yet?! No, I won't be getting to any college hockey games, fall semester anyway, even though they haven't made an announcement yet. 

Class started, and besides a syllabus, points? paper? I don't think so... lol Didn't mention non credit options, others are teachers who are doing what I used to do and using the hours toward renewing their certificate/license. Gotta check with the prof but no grade no credit is what I paid and signed up for, don't need that stuff anymore - yay!!


----------



## CherylL

@vintagesnaps, Sharon I thought the Marlins played in Phillie last weekend?   Are you working as a teacher?  How are classes set up?


----------



## Original katomi

I see the cat loves the camera, what does he/she shoot.


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> I see the cat loves the camera, what does he/she shoot.



Mostly wildlife - birds and fish and squirrels


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> I see the cat loves the camera, what does he/she shoot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mostly wildlife - birds and fish and squirrels
Click to expand...

and Bob.


----------



## snowbear

Moved the five desktops to a training room across the street (we remote connect to them for running the analysis), got all of the "surplus" property to a single spot, went through one of the two supply cabinets (my fellow contractor went through the other one), and threw out the trash; including that  left behind by the other two people in the office.  The boss was not pleased with them.  Of course, I'm exhausted and in a bit of pain.

I was taking a short break, after moving the towers, and poked my head into the boss's office.  "I just got off the phone with Wanda (the director), you better sit down."  Not really bad news, we are probably going to be moved, from the second floor to the first, and into a larg

I still need to move my remaining 38" monitor to wherever they want to store them, and bring the 17" home, so I'm going back in tomorrow.

I went "out back" to look for the comet, Saturday evening.  That was the first night we didn't have storms or fully cloudy skies.  No comet (I think the trees were too tall) but a cloud antelope did pass by.



DSC_3353.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Nightlife in Bangkok is starting again, although many venues have closed permanently.  But this was the entrance to a new bar called 'The Locker Room".


----------



## SquarePeg

What’s up for the weekend Hosetown homies?


----------



## SquarePeg

My exterior house painting has turned into a full interior paint as well! When some of the vents that were outside for the old portable air-conditioning system were removed the walls have to be patched so now they need to be painted and then of course that makes the trim look dingy so that needs to be painted as well and changing color was in order and then rearranging some furniture! It’s a whole new house.  Could it just be that I’ve been watching too much hgtv while stuck in the house more than usual?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@Tropicalmemories It's probably a good thing this pattern is on the _entrance _side of the door. Should help keep out the patrons already drunk


----------



## Space Face

Tropicalmemories said:


> Nightlife in Bangkok is starting again, although many venues have closed permanently.  But this was the entrance to a new bar called 'The Locker Room".
> 
> View attachment 195247




I've had plenty 'lock ins' in pubs over the years but never seen anything like this.  Thank goodness I no longer partake in the consumption of alcohol.


----------



## Original katomi

Plans for the W/e on hold. The island is grid locked, Even some  staff from local shops Who live on the island taking an hour to home. There seems to be a manic got to do this now don’t get In my way feel 
Even local pizza delivery is asking where on the island one lives before taking orders to be delivered.
Take care all,


----------



## Mike Drone

The planter boxes I installed in May grew wild with no fruit to bear.  This morning I pulled out the watermelon plant since nothing grew to plant pumpkin seeds for October.  I found this strange looking dude hidden on the bottom of the watermelon plants.  Pumpkins seeds in, lets see what else I can be surprised with.  =]


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yum.

Ya know Katomi there have been TV shows about getting voted off the island... 

But more seriously, hang in there, things seem to be at a standstill in Europe, although all I know is needlework supplies. A shop owner said they've been waiting for supplies from France, Germany; were told 3 weeks now 4. I had an order cancelled and I just went with what they had in stock because they are waiting for things to be shipped across the Atlantic by boat - what is this, the 1940's? 

I do hope you're doing OK.


----------



## Jeff15

Space Face said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nightlife in Bangkok is starting again, although many venues have closed permanently.  But this was the entrance to a new bar called 'The Locker Room".
> 
> View attachment 195247
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've had plenty 'lock ins' in pubs over the years but never seen anything like this.  Thank goodness I no longer partake in the consumption of alcohol.
Click to expand...


Alcohol is the nectar of the Gods.....


----------



## vintagesnaps

My class this week has worn me out, I'm not used to working at this pace having to ya know, actually get things done! I'm not even taking this grad level course for credit much less a grade (because I am NOT writing any semblance of a paper!). But it's been a lot of mess and paint and I am NOT I swear using any more red. But of course I have to get things done enough to get out of the class what I paid good money for, but it is rather freeing to not need credit hours etc. and to be able to do what projects I want.

Leo, in pursuit of said needlework supplies (for another class) I found a great quilt pattern for you - Lana the Lemur.

Lana Lemur Quilt Kit | Featuring Adventure by Elizabeth Hartman


----------



## Space Face

For reasons I'll not go into here, I'll beg to differ. Each to their own of course.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

So I did a thing today.


----------



## terri

Congrats!!!        And how are the girls and Bob taking to their new digs?     Everyone hiding?


----------



## SquarePeg

Saweeeeet!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Congrats!!!        And how are the girls and Bob taking to their new digs?     Everyone hiding?



They don't even know yet! Closing was this morning. Moving will happen slowly over the next two weeks. First painting, new floors, some minor repairs and cosmetic updates. Buzz and I are going to Ikea on Friday - got a few pieces I would like to buy new. Tomorrow we are going to pick up the flooring, which has to acclimate for a few days, start on the paint prep work, and I'm going to spend a good while cleaning.

But I'm telling the girls about the bunnies and deer in the back yard, and the morning doves in the front yard. They are going to lose their furry little minds!    They're used to the view from the second floor  Just wait until I get them harness trained and take them out for the first time!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Just wait until I get them harness trained and take them out for the first time!


 o HO!   Now that's what I'd call a ticket-selling event!


----------



## SquarePeg

Pics or it didn’t happen


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Pics or it didn’t happen



Oh there will be pictures!


----------



## snowbear

YAY!  Congrat's, Hon.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> YAY!  Congrat's, Hon.



Thanks, Charlie Bear


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> YAY!  Congrat's, Hon.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, Charlie Bear
Click to expand...

Got your package the other day - Lindo, Obrigado*.  


* Google Translate, so please don't yell too loud if wrong.


----------



## SquarePeg

@limr 

(2ND 50% OFF)-Cat Vest Harness and Leash Set to Outdoor Walking


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> @limr
> 
> (2ND 50% OFF)-Cat Vest Harness and Leash Set to Outdoor Walking



Those are so cute!!


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr
> 
> (2ND 50% OFF)-Cat Vest Harness and Leash Set to Outdoor Walking
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Those are so cute!!
Click to expand...


Facebook must be cyber stalking me again.  I commented on your post last night and the ad for the cat harness popped up in my FB feed this morning.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr
> 
> (2ND 50% OFF)-Cat Vest Harness and Leash Set to Outdoor Walking
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Those are so cute!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Facebook must be cyber stalking me again.  I commented on your post last night and the ad for the cat harness popped up in my FB feed this morning.
Click to expand...


Yes, and not just based on our searches.  I thought it was an urban myth about our phones listening to us, but I was discussing flooring in a DIY store, and ads for flooring popped up later in the day - but I'd not typed in any searches about flooring.


----------



## limr

Tropicalmemories said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr
> 
> (2ND 50% OFF)-Cat Vest Harness and Leash Set to Outdoor Walking
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Those are so cute!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Facebook must be cyber stalking me again.  I commented on your post last night and the ad for the cat harness popped up in my FB feed this morning.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yes, and not just based on our searches.  I thought it was an urban myth about our phones listening to us, but I was discussing flooring in a DIY store, and ads for flooring popped up later in the day - but I'd not typed in any searches about flooring.
Click to expand...


Soooooo creepy!


----------



## Tropicalmemories

No other reason to post this photo from yesterday, other than it made me smile, and hope it does the same for others ....


----------



## limr

I miss electricity.


----------



## SquarePeg

0h no!  Storm or moving issues?


----------



## SquarePeg

We had tornado warnings here or maybe it was a tornado “watch”...  windy but no real issues here.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> 0h no!  Storm or moving issues?



Storm. Not sure if power was out at the new house. We were on our way up to start cleaning and then pick up flooring, but the rain and wind were really bad and trees were down everywhere. We barely made it about halfway after two merges on the highway to avoid trees when we decided to bag it and go back to have a daytime cocktail before I went back for my second Home Depot run of the day. Power's been out since mid-afternoon.


----------



## limr

Bad news: still no power.

Good news: power is on at the new house.

Shower curtain has been hung.


----------



## terri

I WANT THAT SHOWER CURTAIN.       I will be stealing it _and_ Bob when I come visit.   Maybe you won't notice.       

This sucks about the power, though it's a good sign that it's on at your new house!    Hopefully it all comes back soon.


----------



## CherylL

@limr, saw this cat shirt on FB.  If I still had my cats I would get this one.
Black Cat Ew People 2020 Quarantined Funny by molfun


----------



## CherylL

With the much cooler temps we've been taking the pups individually for walks at the nature center.  Last night changed to a walk at a neighboring city park.  The garden club has a beautiful garden and vegetable garden.  Started chatting with a young couple dressed up and the parents.  They wanted prom photos even though their prom was cancelled.  Mom was taking photos with a cell.   I volunteered to take one for them.  Fortunately I had switched out the 35mm for the 90mm on the Fuji.  Ended up taking about dozen with 6 keepers.


----------



## terri

CherylL said:


> With the much cooler temps we've been taking the pups individually for walks at the nature center.  Last night changed to a walk at a neighboring city park.  The garden club has a beautiful garden and vegetable garden.  Started chatting with a young couple dressed up and the parents.  They wanted prom photos even though their prom was cancelled.  Mom was taking photos with a cell.   I volunteered to take one for them.  Fortunately I had switched out the 35mm for the 90mm on the Fuji.  Ended up taking about dozen with 6 keepers.


Good for you!   One never knows when one is walking into a photo op.        Very cool!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all,


----------



## CherylL

terri said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> With the much cooler temps we've been taking the pups individually for walks at the nature center.  Last night changed to a walk at a neighboring city park.  The garden club has a beautiful garden and vegetable garden.  Started chatting with a young couple dressed up and the parents.  They wanted prom photos even though their prom was cancelled.  Mom was taking photos with a cell.   I volunteered to take one for them.  Fortunately I had switched out the 35mm for the 90mm on the Fuji.  Ended up taking about dozen with 6 keepers.
> 
> 
> 
> Good for you!   One never knows when one is walking into a photo op.        Very cool!
Click to expand...


We usually walk at the nature center which has been popular lately with photographers.  I've seen the same photographer and his assistant 3x this week taking Senior photos.  She pulls a wagon with gear and a chair.  They normally stay on the paved section, but the other night was setting up light stand off the path.  You have to navigate a big mud mess to get there.  I didn't see the Senior he was planning on shooting.  She or he may not be happy to go thru mud.  On the other side of the marsh is an open grass cut area, but again you have to navigate a muddy path on that side.  We saw one family walking back.  The mom had 2 kids and shoes, the dad was pushing a stroller thru the mess.  My husband said "oh you must be getting family photos"  the mom replied "trying to".  She didn't look happy nor the small children.  I don't understand trying to navigate the muddy areas.  Or just change locations all together.


----------



## RowdyRay

Sorry for the late reply. Recovering from roofing my son's house. I'm not getting any younger. 

Congrats @limr on the new place. Nothing like the freedom to do what you want. Love the new shower curtain. 

Saw this picture the other day and thought of you. Mine will not be winning races any time soon. Lmao.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Tropicalmemories said:


> No other reason to post this photo from yesterday, other than it made me smile, and hope it does the same for others ....
> 
> View attachment 195474



After using Flickr for 10 years - the above photo was my first 'Explore'.

I know it's only a Flickr algorithm and doesn't really mean anything, but still quite fun, especially as this was just a quick shot.

I don't dump my Flickr images in hundreds of Groups or Follow ten thousand people - so I never expected to appear in Explore.  Probably be another 10 years before my next one


----------



## CherylL

Tropicalmemories said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> No other reason to post this photo from yesterday, other than it made me smile, and hope it does the same for others ....
> 
> View attachment 195474
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After using Flickr for 10 years - the above photo was my first 'Explore'.
> 
> I know it's only a Flickr algorithm and doesn't really mean anything, but still quite fun, especially as this was just a quick shot.
> 
> I don't dump my Flickr images in hundreds of Groups or Follow ten thousand people - so I never expected to appear in Explore.  Probably be another 10 years before my next one
Click to expand...


Congrats on Explore!  I don't understand the Explore algorithm.   Saw a post once that it is based on participating in groups, commenting on photos, and if someone who has been explored liked your photo.  I think it is all magic fairy dust


----------



## NancyMoranG

Hello all. In Jackson doing some things and have better service. 
My nephew and I at dawn for the glow on Tetons. He was a good sport and had fun.
Caught up on @20 pages of coffee house news..
Congratulations Limr on the house!!


----------



## CherylL

Tropicalmemories said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> No other reason to post this photo from yesterday, other than it made me smile, and hope it does the same for others ....
> 
> View attachment 195474
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After using Flickr for 10 years - the above photo was my first 'Explore'.
> 
> I know it's only a Flickr algorithm and doesn't really mean anything, but still quite fun, especially as this was just a quick shot.
> 
> I don't dump my Flickr images in hundreds of Groups or Follow ten thousand people - so I never expected to appear in Explore.  Probably be another 10 years before my next one
Click to expand...


Looks like I just got Explored too!  There is thankyou thread on the Explore discussion group that most says thanks.  Your fairy dust must have traveled my way 




unknown by Cheryl, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

I don't think I've been probed, er, explored.



RowdyRay said:


> Saw this picture the other day and thought of you. Mine will not be winning races any time soon. Lmao.
> View attachment 195579



Mine would win if someone opened a can of food or shook a bag of treats at the finish line.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

CherylL said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> No other reason to post this photo from yesterday, other than it made me smile, and hope it does the same for others ....
> 
> View attachment 195474
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After using Flickr for 10 years - the above photo was my first 'Explore'.
> 
> I know it's only a Flickr algorithm and doesn't really mean anything, but still quite fun, especially as this was just a quick shot.
> 
> I don't dump my Flickr images in hundreds of Groups or Follow ten thousand people - so I never expected to appear in Explore.  Probably be another 10 years before my next one
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Looks like I just got Explored too!  There is thankyou thread on the Explore discussion group that most says thanks.  Your fairy dust must have traveled my way
> 
> 
> 
> 
> unknown by Cheryl, on Flickr
Click to expand...


Well done!  That is a really nice image - the green tones, smooth background and sharp subject are excellent.  Perhaps membership of this forum is part of the updated algorithm


----------



## limr

Hosers! We were >< this close to being on the THIRD PAGE!!

Work is in progress.





And wildlife has arrived in the backyard. Saw these two, a family of three rabbits, and a groundhog. I'm going to love my back yard 








CherylL said:


> @limr, saw this cat shirt on FB.  If I still had my cats I would get this one.
> Black Cat Ew People 2020 Quarantined Funny by molfun



I need that shirt! 



RowdyRay said:


> Sorry for the late reply. Recovering from roofing my son's house. I'm not getting any younger.
> 
> Congrats @limr on the new place. Nothing like the freedom to do what you want. Love the new shower curtain.
> 
> Saw this picture the other day and thought of you. Mine will not be winning races any time soon. Lmao.
> 
> View attachment 195579



Thanks, Ray! Gee, I wonder why that picture would remind you of me


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, another hot one here. Already 28 deg c indoors
Love the back garden you are going to have a lot of photo opportunities


----------



## Original katomi

Does kitty  get the full a1 package
Drinks, candles. Nice scented bath gel


----------



## terri

@CherylL, I need that tee shirt, too!    Showed the link to my husband, so we'll see. 

@limr, your backyard is beautiful even without the critters - and of course, there will be lots more.   It's going to be so much fun to watch them.  Birdbath and feeders up next!

Looks like a major bunch of work going on in there.     What's the project?


----------



## NancyMoranG

Can't beat Mother Nature for a great back yard! 
Wow for you!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> @CherylL, I need that tee shirt, too!    Showed the link to my husband, so we'll see.
> 
> @limr, your backyard is beautiful even without the critters - and of course, there will be lots more.   It's going to be so much fun to watch them.  Birdbath and feeders up next!
> 
> Looks like a major bunch of work going on in there.     What's the project?



A few minor wall repairs, painting, ripping up carpet and laying hardwood floors, sink replacement.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> @CherylL, I need that tee shirt, too!    Showed the link to my husband, so we'll see.
> 
> @limr, your backyard is beautiful even without the critters - and of course, there will be lots more.   It's going to be so much fun to watch them.  Birdbath and feeders up next!
> 
> Looks like a major bunch of work going on in there.     What's the project?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A few minor wall repairs, painting, ripping up carpet and laying hardwood floors, sink replacement.
Click to expand...

Fun adult stuff, actually.        Not grossly expensive but amazing turnarounds to a room.   Have fun with it!    We'll need pics!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all 11pm gmt still 26 deg c indoors. To hot for me.  Oh well could be worse


----------



## snowbear

Looks good, Leonore.

I was browsing e-books for something related to pandas, a module used in Python programming.  The first book title listed: “Pandas Cookbook.”  Maybe I’ll keep looking.


----------



## SquarePeg

First coat is finally started.  This is primer tinted about 75% so final will be a bit darker.   I’m pretty happy with it after all that agonizing.


----------



## Original katomi

Looking good


----------



## SquarePeg

@limr What colors are on your wall patches?  I now consider myself an expert on blue paint (and gray).  Also have about 10-15 color samples of you’re interested...


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> @limr What colors are on your wall patches?  I now consider myself an expert on blue paint (and gray).  Also have about 10-15 color samples of you’re interested...



I definitely thought of you when I was putting those samples on the wall! 

L = Laguna something
A = Arrowhead something
SJ = Skinny Jeans
SH = Shipyard

All Behr colors. It's going to be one accent wall and a bright white on the other walls. Thinking of a dark grey to do the trim along the floors.

I really liked the Skinny Jeans, but when I put a floorboard up against the patches, the Shipyard really stood out and the Skinny Jeans seemed kind of dull in comparison. So I'm keeping the sample so I can paint a couple of wooden step stools for the other rooms, just so I could use the color.









This is the flooring I got:


----------



## SquarePeg

Oooh very pretty flooring!


----------



## Original katomi

Nice floor, just hope that onix horns don’t fall and stab whoever is in the bed.
More I look at the pic the more I like the room, the otter man suits the room to a t


----------



## terri

Between those blues and that floor, your room is going to be gorgeous!  

@SquarePeg: It was worth going through the agonizing when it looks this good.   Beautiful color!   Samples are helpful but you always have to rely on your powers of previsualization.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all
Hot again this morning, photography on hold as I am like a kids ice cream in this heat
Melting and dripping everywhere
As I found out the hard way, sweating on a camera does not do it any favours
I had a p&s I used a lot before getting the canon
Using it on a hot day smoke started to come out of the camera, it got hot enough to burn  skin and melt the plastic
Needless to say I have been more careful since
I can’t see the camera shop selling a sweat /waterproof housing
For a 600d. Lol


----------



## CherylL

And yet rain again today.  At least the temperature is cooler and hopefully can get a walk in tonight.  We take one dog at a time for their only child time.  Plus taking 3 is them taking us for a walk.  I was looking at cabins online to social distance near state parks next month.  My husband found a really nice one right on the river, but no go.  You have to climb a ladder to the loft for the bedroom.  Not practical at our ages.  I did find one that has its own gravel bar on the river that is walking distance.


----------



## terri

CherylL said:


> And yet rain again today.  At least the temperature is cooler and hopefully can get a walk in tonight.  We take one dog at a time for their only child time.  Plus taking 3 is them taking us for a walk.  I was looking at cabins online to social distance near state parks next month.  My husband found a really nice one right on the river, but no go.  You have to climb a ladder to the loft for the bedroom.  Not practical at our ages.  I did find one that has its own gravel bar on the river that is walking distance.


  Yes, I'd take a hard pass on thinking about going up and down a ladder - possibly in the middle of the night!   The other one sounds nice for a quick late summer getaway.    We've done zippo this summer - had terrific travel plans for this month and cancelled all of it.   Anything involving air travel just isn't appealing right now.


----------



## CherylL

terri said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> And yet rain again today.  At least the temperature is cooler and hopefully can get a walk in tonight.  We take one dog at a time for their only child time.  Plus taking 3 is them taking us for a walk.  I was looking at cabins online to social distance near state parks next month.  My husband found a really nice one right on the river, but no go.  You have to climb a ladder to the loft for the bedroom.  Not practical at our ages.  I did find one that has its own gravel bar on the river that is walking distance.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, I'd take a hard pass on thinking about going up and down a ladder - possibly in the middle of the night!   The other one sounds nice for a quick late summer getaway.    We've done zippo this summer - had terrific travel plans for this month and cancelled all of it.   Anything involving air travel just isn't appealing right now.
Click to expand...


Funny husband didn't notice the ladder.  I saw it first thing in the photos and then in the reviews.  Middle of the night would be dangerous.  We cancelled our May Mexico trip and was hoping to go in Nov or Dec, but looks like that won't happen either.  The cabin is a 3 night quick trip.  If it looks good I may book another quick trip when the leaves turn.  But, that is so iffy around here.  It could rain and the leaves just drop overnight.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all
I know this is not a wood work forum
But is their anyone who knows how to count/age tree rings
I am making a raised planter for my daughter so that she can “ garden” from her wheel chair and plan to include the story of how it was made for her.
Having the age of the knot would be a bonus 
Thanks all


----------



## snowbear

It’s been a slightly bad day with a great ending.  After a very short night the morning started with a torrential downpour; flash flood warnings in the area.  On the way up the road to take MLW to her carpal & cubical tunnel surgery, we saw work Fire heading south with the Zodiac boat (swift water rescue). 

I found a Panera a few blocks from the surgery center and hauled the laptop and a couple books there to camp out; they no longer offer the bottomless cup of coffee, so I get one cup and a veggie sandwich.  Get a table, set up laptop and knock over my coffee.

MLW’s surgery went well; waiting for her to get dressed and come out. 

I got her a little something.


----------



## Original katomi

Ah how lovely hope  Mrs is well and she heals quickly


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers. A bit cooler around here today, thank Jeebus! On my way to...wait for it....Home Depot! Again!

A piece of sheetrock, paint for the bedroom, some new trim, and a kitchen sink.


----------



## vintagesnaps

So Leo you're buying everything _including _the kitchen sink?!

Charlie, not the coffee!! spill anything but that. Glad your wife is doing OK, lovely flowers, I like the simplicity of a single color flower, very nice.

Cheryl that so called cabin sounds more like a treehouse for kids! Can you imagine being half asleep and forgetting you're atop a ladder?! watch out belooooow! 

Katomi isn't the age of a tree, one ring = one year? I'm not sure but I always thought that's what it meant. That'll be nice.

Well I enjoyed learning about printing but I've had enough of paint for awhile! and painty messes to clean up, and crafty fabric paints that want to stick to the print plate and brayer and everything they shouldn't! A do nothing weekend, my best friend will be up and we'll get pizza, and - there's hockey on!! 4 games today!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all,  hope you all have had a good day


----------



## SquarePeg

I had a great day!


----------



## Tropicalmemories

My day just starting - off to a 1000 year old temple - should be some good photo ops.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all
TM How did the temple visit go
Well day here started early with a crash times 3
A thunderstorm. 
Our small dog Molly gets really stressed during thunderstorms so we were claiming her and  the big boy who was bouncing about because  Molly was stressed.
After it was all over and just belting down with rain both of the wanted to go... outside
Opened the door for them, they took one look at the rain and after a look of
“Ok ta but we will wait till later”
They went back to bed


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Original katomi said:


> Morning all
> TM How did the temple visit go
> Well day here started early with a crash times 3
> A thunderstorm.
> Our small dog Molly gets really stressed during thunderstorms so we were claiming her and  the big boy who was bouncing about because  Molly was stressed.
> After it was all over and just belting down with rain both of the wanted to go... outside
> Opened the door for them, they took one look at the rain and after a look of
> “Ok ta but we will wait till later”
> They went back to bed



Temple visit was excellent thank you.

Two amazing temples, both built at the end of the first century.  Soooo many photos, here's a couple .....


----------



## Fujidave

All my Fuji X system I got based around my jazz shots, but like a lot of folk the lock down put a stop to that.  I now only have the Fuji X100V that I will keep as I sold the rest to get a Sony A7 III.  Waiting for the Sony A7RIV now.






St Nicholas of Myra by Dave, on Flickr


----------



## Original katomi

Lockdown.. I have done so little photography just lately I did a lot of indoor/table top at the start of lockdown but recently nothing, I had a near miss damaging my camera whilst photographing with a mask of
I had placed a ... ok laugh... padded plaster on the back to provide protection and found that the nose clip had scratched/torn the back of the plaster..... just glad it was not the camera


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Mood today:


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Original katomi said:


> Lockdown.. I have done so little photography just lately I did a lot of indoor/table top at the start of lockdown but recently nothing, I had a near miss damaging my camera whilst photographing with a mask of
> I had placed a ... ok laugh... padded plaster on the back to provide protection and found that the nose clip had scratched/torn the back of the plaster..... just glad it was not the camera



Yes, we're having to re-learn many common tasks in the era of the COVID-mask.  

I had an embassasing experience when wearing a hat with a chin strap (sun protection) - when the camera bag strap plus the camera strap got tangled in the mask strap causing hat to be pulled down over eyes, sunglasses to fly off and camera and bag to end up tied around my arms.  Needed female assistance to untangle the wreckage.


----------



## snowbear

TC: I've found getting feminine assistance is very frequently a good thing.

Well, MLW had her last visit to the wound center for her foot.  They took off the "football" (oblong, very large wrapping) and gave her some 4" x 4" bandages for the next few weeks, to help protect the area.  She has a followup with the surgeon next week, at which point she should be cleared to drive.  She will be off work (FMLA/IOJ so she doesn't lose leave or money) for the next six weeks.  Then, she'll get to play it all again with the other elbow & wrist.  She figures sometime in November, so that should keep her home through the holidays.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

snowbear said:


> TC: I've found getting feminine assistance is very frequently a good thing.
> 
> Well, MLW had her last visit to the wound center for her foot.  They took off the "football" (oblong, very large wrapping) and gave her some 4" x 4" bandages for the next few weeks, to help protect the area.  She has a followup with the surgeon next week, at which point she should be cleared to drive.  She will be off work (FMLA/IOJ so she doesn't lose leave or money) for the next six weeks.  Then, she'll get to play it all again with the other elbow & wrist.  She figures sometime in November, so that should keep her home through the holidays.



Hope the road to full recovery goes well.


----------



## snowbear

Tropicalmemories said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> TC: I've found getting feminine assistance is very frequently a good thing.
> 
> Well, MLW had her last visit to the wound center for her foot.  They took off the "football" (oblong, very large wrapping) and gave her some 4" x 4" bandages for the next few weeks, to help protect the area.  She has a followup with the surgeon next week, at which point she should be cleared to drive.  She will be off work (FMLA/IOJ so she doesn't lose leave or money) for the next six weeks.  Then, she'll get to play it all again with the other elbow & wrist.  She figures sometime in November, so that should keep her home through the holidays.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hope the road to full recovery goes well.
Click to expand...

Thanks.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Yes, good luck with everything. Hopefully she heals completely and swiftly.


----------



## snowbear

Her second time through the carpal & cubital tunnel stuff -- 30 years of typing and another 5 after the first surgeries.

Oh, I see @Dean_Gretsch has his Staff Member tag!  He and I are going to co-mod the contests.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Yes. As you said, Terri works magic! I hope to learn much from you, sir!


----------



## terri

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Terri works magic!





Hosers - be sure to engage in the POTM contest so Dean has lots and lots to do.   Keep the boy out of trouble.


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> TC: I've found getting feminine assistance is very frequently a good thing.
> 
> Well, MLW had her last visit to the wound center for her foot.  They took off the "football" (oblong, very large wrapping) and gave her some 4" x 4" bandages for the next few weeks, to help protect the area.  She has a followup with the surgeon next week, at which point she should be cleared to drive.  She will be off work (FMLA/IOJ so she doesn't lose leave or money) for the next six weeks.  Then, she'll get to play it all again with the other elbow & wrist.  She figures sometime in November, so that should keep her home through the holidays.



Speedy healing to your wife.


----------



## snowbear

CherylL said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> TC: I've found getting feminine assistance is very frequently a good thing.
> 
> Well, MLW had her last visit to the wound center for her foot.  They took off the "football" (oblong, very large wrapping) and gave her some 4" x 4" bandages for the next few weeks, to help protect the area.  She has a followup with the surgeon next week, at which point she should be cleared to drive.  She will be off work (FMLA/IOJ so she doesn't lose leave or money) for the next six weeks.  Then, she'll get to play it all again with the other elbow & wrist.  She figures sometime in November, so that should keep her home through the holidays.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Speedy healing to your wife.
Click to expand...

Thanks.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

terri said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> Terri works magic!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers - be sure to engage in the POTM contest so Dean has lots and lots to do.   Keep the boy out of trouble.
Click to expand...


Hey, they're getting busy in there now!


----------



## SquarePeg

Hi Hosers!  I had a busy week so haven't had too much time for posting until today.  Just catching up on the coffee house chit chat.  Snowbear I hope YLW is doing well.  Limr can't wait to see pics of the finished sprucing to the new place.  How do you like it so far?  Have the cats come out of hiding yet?  Dean - I know you'll be a great contest moderator.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Ahh thanks! With mentors like you, snowbear, limr and terri I feel like I can't lose!


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Original katomi

Lol at the numbers gag


----------



## SquarePeg

It's so hooooooot here today~.   Muggy.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

It"s 4:00 am here.  That time when worries are magnified.

Laid off and put on a two day a week contract due to COVID, offered a new job with a new company in a different countty.

During the day this is an exciting adventure, with a good company and the chance to experience (another) new culture ...... I'm experienced in my niche area, it's a good employer, a more developed country - what could go wrong.

At 4:00 am; I'm leaving my friends (again), having to learn a new language (again) and due to COVID it's a solo, one-way trip with no chance of return to a place I know and enjoy, fot an unknown length of time.  Everything in my world will be different in less than a month.

Sleep may not happen for a while longer tonight.


----------



## terri

Oh geez, TM, that's a tough one.   I suppose the good news is that you DO have a job offer that seems solid.   A lot of people who lost their jobs don't.   

Hope everything works out for you.   I think it's a perfectly normal reaction to weigh the pros and cons - only you can decide what tips the scale in your decision-making.   Good luck!


----------



## SquarePeg

Tropicalmemories said:


> It"s 4:00 am here.  That time when worries are magnified.
> 
> Laid off and put on a two day a week contract due to COVID, offered a new job with a new company in a different countty.
> 
> During the day this is an exciting adventure, with a good company and the chance to experience (another) new culture ...... I'm experienced in my niche area, it's a good employer, a more developed country - what could go wrong.
> 
> At 4:00 am; I'm leaving my friends (again), having to learn a new language (again) and due to COVID it's a solo, one-way trip with no chance of return to a place I know and enjoy, fot an unknown length of time.  Everything in my world will be different in less than a month.
> 
> Sleep may not happen for a while longer tonight.



Sorry to hear about the lay off.  Change can be scary.  It can also energize us!


----------



## Tropicalmemories

terri said:


> Oh geez, TM, that's a tough one.   I suppose the good news is that you DO have a job offer that seems solid.   A lot of people who lost their jobs don't.
> 
> Hope everything works out for you.   I think it's a perfectly normal reaction to weigh the pros and cons - only you can decide what tips the scale in your decision-making.   Good luck!



Yes, I'm in a much better position than many.   I spent the early part of the pandemic trying to help others, in the days before the tsunami reaxhed me too.

 I've done it before, several times.  But each time moving further from my family, losing friends and odly, my bearings.  Move enough times, and you lose a sense of direction.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

SquarePeg said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> It"s 4:00 am here.  That time when worries are magnified.
> 
> Laid off and put on a two day a week contract due to COVID, offered a new job with a new company in a different countty.
> 
> During the day this is an exciting adventure, with a good company and the chance to experience (another) new culture ...... I'm experienced in my niche area, it's a good employer, a more developed country - what could go wrong.
> 
> At 4:00 am; I'm leaving my friends (again), having to learn a new language (again) and due to COVID it's a solo, one-way trip with no chance of return to a place I know and enjoy, fot an unknown length of time.  Everything in my world will be different in less than a month.
> 
> Sleep may not happen for a while longer tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear about the lay off.  Change can be scary.  It can also energize us!
Click to expand...


Thank you ..... yes, 'what does not kill us makes us stronger'.

In my insomniac state, I tried to work out how many times I've moved home.  Son of an armed forces Father, my first of a series of country changes was when I was 6 months old.  University, career moves, expat assignments followed.

I estimate I've moved home 44 times.  My 45th move next month will go OK , I've had plenty of practice! - but 4:00 am is where the demons lurk.


----------



## snowbear

Tropicalmemories said:


> It"s 4:00 am here.  That time when worries are magnified.
> 
> Laid off and put on a two day a week contract due to COVID, offered a new job with a new company in a different countty.
> 
> During the day this is an exciting adventure, with a good company and the chance to experience (another) new culture ...... I'm experienced in my niche area, it's a good employer, a more developed country - what could go wrong.
> 
> At 4:00 am; I'm leaving my friends (again), having to learn a new language (again) and due to COVID it's a solo, one-way trip with no chance of return to a place I know and enjoy, fot an unknown length of time.  Everything in my world will be different in less than a month.
> 
> Sleep may not happen for a while longer tonight.


Sorry to hear about the layoff.  I am luckier than most.  As a contractor, I generally get very little protection; the County employees come first.  My County boss, however, made me "essential" so I am still working and have had no furlough (County folks that weren't telecommuting got paid administrative leave - contractors aren't entitled to that).  Now, if the County furloughs their people or worse, layoffs (RIF), all bets are off.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

snowbear said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> It"s 4:00 am here.  That time when worries are magnified.
> 
> Laid off and put on a two day a week contract due to COVID, offered a new job with a new company in a different countty.
> 
> During the day this is an exciting adventure, with a good company and the chance to experience (another) new culture ...... I'm experienced in my niche area, it's a good employer, a more developed country - what could go wrong.
> 
> At 4:00 am; I'm leaving my friends (again), having to learn a new language (again) and due to COVID it's a solo, one-way trip with no chance of return to a place I know and enjoy, fot an unknown length of time.  Everything in my world will be different in less than a month.
> 
> Sleep may not happen for a while longer tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry to hear about the layoff.  I am luckier than most.  As a contractor, I generally get very little protection; the County employees come first.  My County boss, however, made me "essential" so I am still working and have had no furlough (County folks that weren't telecommuting got paid administrative leave - contractors aren't entitled to that).  Now, if the County furloughs their people or worse, layoffs (RIF), all bets are off.
Click to expand...


That's a good position to be in as a contractor, hope it goes well for you.  Businesses are starting to realise that COVID is not going away, so the 'new normal' really is the way we need to live and work now.  Hopefully this will mean the short term 'panic' reasponses will give way to positive thinking and forwatd planning.  We can't furlough everyone!


----------



## SquarePeg

Big storm just blew through here.  Our gazebo took flight despite the 5000 stakes it came with.  It landed back in our yard but we were watching through the kitchen window and had an Auntie Em moment.  Also have a tree down at the end of the block and a huge river of mud trying to get in the basement door.  I’ve lived here 20+ years and have never had a drop of water in the basement until today!  Lights flickered a few times and came back in.  Thankfully - as I have a fully stocked freezer in the basement!  No injuries or serious property damage so we were lucky.  The local news tonight will be filled with photos of trees on top of cars and broken windows and fences.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Big storm just blew through here.  Our gazebo took flight despite the 5000 stakes it came with.  It landed back in our yard but we were watching through the kitchen window and had an Auntie Em moment.  Also have a tree down at the end of the block and a huge river of mud trying to get in the basement door.  I’ve lived here 20+ years and have never had a drop of water in the basement until today!  Lights flickered a few times and came back in.  Thankfully - as I have a fully stocked freezer in the basement!  No injuries or serious property damage so we were lucky.  The local news tonight will be filled with photos of trees on top of cars and broken windows and fences.
> 
> View attachment 196437 View attachment 196438 View attachment 196439 View attachment 196440


Holy crap!!         Glad everyone is okay, but that must have felt like a wild ride! 

Glad you didn't lose power, too.   Whew!


----------



## SquarePeg

Here are some photos from my local friend’s Facebook posts.


----------



## SquarePeg

Every big storm someone tries to drive through the “puddle” under the bridge and finds out it’s about 3 ft deep.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Every big storm someone tries to drive through the “puddle” under the bridge and finds out it’s about 3 ft deep.


Ha!   Happens everywhere, I guess.   When I lived in Houston, we heard regularly about people getting themselves trapped in flash floods downtown.   They never learned!


----------



## snowbear

Glad everyone is OK.


----------



## snowbear

Here, too - "Oh, it's not that deep" or "I have an SUV so I can get through it."  Heavy rain last week and on the way to surgery we saw one of the swift water rescue teams heading out.  They had three runs that morning.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Big storm just blew through here.  Our gazebo took flight despite the 5000 stakes it came with.  It landed back in our yard but we were watching through the kitchen window and had an Auntie Em moment.  Also have a tree down at the end of the block and a huge river of mud trying to get in the basement door.  I’ve lived here 20+ years and have never had a drop of water in the basement until today!  Lights flickered a few times and came back in.  Thankfully - as I have a fully stocked freezer in the basement!  No injuries or serious property damage so we were lucky.  The local news tonight will be filled with photos of trees on top of cars and broken windows and fences.
> 
> View attachment 196437 View attachment 196438 View attachment 196439 View attachment 196440



Wow!  What a storm.  Glad you are safe.


----------



## CherylL

Tropicalmemories said:


> It"s 4:00 am here.  That time when worries are magnified.
> 
> Laid off and put on a two day a week contract due to COVID, offered a new job with a new company in a different countty.
> 
> During the day this is an exciting adventure, with a good company and the chance to experience (another) new culture ...... I'm experienced in my niche area, it's a good employer, a more developed country - what could go wrong.
> 
> At 4:00 am; I'm leaving my friends (again), having to learn a new language (again) and due to COVID it's a solo, one-way trip with no chance of return to a place I know and enjoy, fot an unknown length of time.  Everything in my world will be different in less than a month.
> 
> Sleep may not happen for a while longer tonight.



Sorry to hear about the lay off.  Hoping the new job brings good vibes.  We have had to move several times due to layoffs.  It is strange to pull up stakes and move to a new area.  Before cell phones in the 80s & 90s the first thing I bought at a new location was a map.  Got turned around one time and had to go back to the new bank and ask for directions to my house.


----------



## SquarePeg

And we just lost power.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> And we just lost power.



Gah! Sorry, that sucks  I'm glad the damage was minimal for you and everyone's okay.


----------



## limr

Tropicalmemories said:


> It"s 4:00 am here.  That time when worries are magnified.
> 
> Laid off and put on a two day a week contract due to COVID, offered a new job with a new company in a different countty.
> 
> During the day this is an exciting adventure, with a good company and the chance to experience (another) new culture ...... I'm experienced in my niche area, it's a good employer, a more developed country - what could go wrong.
> 
> At 4:00 am; I'm leaving my friends (again), having to learn a new language (again) and due to COVID it's a solo, one-way trip with no chance of return to a place I know and enjoy, fot an unknown length of time.  Everything in my world will be different in less than a month.
> 
> Sleep may not happen for a while longer tonight.



I'm sorry about the layoff and hope the new opportunity works out well. I haven't moved nearly as often as you have, but I've had my fair share of wandering. Even when you're used to it, it's still quite disruptive. I hope everything goes smoothly for you. And as long as there's internet, you'll still have us, so at least there's one thing that won't change!


----------



## SquarePeg

Power is back!  The perks of living a few blocks from a hospital!  We rarely lose power for long.  On the flip side now I have to work today.  

At one point in my life, due to various circumstances over which I had very little control, I moved 5 times in 7 years.  It was mostly involuntary due to being a renter and properties being sold or rents being raised above my budget.  After that I started looking to buy something and have been here ever since.  Moving is a lot of work and stressful.  But I’ve been thinking lately of selling this place when Princess graduates from college and moving somewhere more rural like the mountains.  Haven’t decided yet if that’s too isolating for me.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, nice to hear that you are all ok. 
On the peeps trying to drive throttle water, yep seen that a lot of peeps here who have the 4*4 don’t know how to drive them off road or throu deep water even if they do have the hi level air intake
I have seen one chap float down a river because he kept the doors shut tight
Seen some funny things off road, a Ford Fiesta (a small road car) being a sea saw cos it was bottomed out on a 3 foot deep  gully washed through the track... best part of it was it had overtaken me on the easy part, giving me the finger for being slow..
Was kind.... gave them a lift to the road so they could call and wait for Rescue truck


----------



## Tropicalmemories

limr said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> It"s 4:00 am here.  That time when worries are magnified.
> 
> Laid off and put on a two day a week contract due to COVID, offered a new job with a new company in a different countty.
> 
> During the day this is an exciting adventure, with a good company and the chance to experience (another) new culture ...... I'm experienced in my niche area, it's a good employer, a more developed country - what could go wrong.
> 
> At 4:00 am; I'm leaving my friends (again), having to learn a new language (again) and due to COVID it's a solo, one-way trip with no chance of return to a place I know and enjoy, fot an unknown length of time.  Everything in my world will be different in less than a month.
> 
> Sleep may not happen for a while longer tonight.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sorry about the layoff and hope the new opportunity works out well. I haven't moved nearly as often as you have, but I've had my fair share of wandering. Even when you're used to it, it's still quite disruptive. I hope everything goes smoothly for you. And as long as there's internet, you'll still have us, so at least there's one thing that won't change!
Click to expand...


Thank you!  Yes, the internet has made travel less isolating.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Power is back!  The perks of living a few blocks from a hospital!  We rarely lose power for long.  On the flip side now I have to work today.
> 
> At one point in my life, due to various circumstances over which I had very little control, I moved 5 times in 7 years.  It was mostly involuntary due to being a renter and properties being sold or rents being raised above my budget.  After that I started looking to buy something and have been here ever since.  Moving is a lot of work and stressful.  But I’ve been thinking lately of selling this place when Princess graduates from college and moving somewhere more rural like the mountains.  Haven’t decided yet if that’s too isolating for me.



The last time I moved was about 13 years ago, and of course, I'm preparing to move in the next couple of weeks (painting is taking longer than expected, especially when we had to unexpectedly replace the sheetrock on an 8'x4' section of wall in the master bedroom, and we still have to put the floors in.) But before that, I moved 15 times within the span of 18 years. Some of those moves were within the same city/town, but there were also 3 international moves and 4 moves between different states. 

And I've progressively been moving farther and farther away from large population centers.


----------



## Original katomi

That was a lot of moves. Were the moves because of work,


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> That was a lot of moves. Were the moves because of work,



Was that for me?

Some of the moves were to and from college, to and from grad school. The international moves were for ostensibly work (I taught ESL) but I didn't have to leave the country to teach. I wanted to live abroad at least for a little while, and I ended up spending 5 years as an ex-pat. I've moved less often since coming back to the States, though I've certainly been kind of antsy. I'm only moving about 30 minutes away, but it's still an area that is less familiar to me so I get to feel like I'm getting to live someplace "different." I've lived in my current county and have lived and still work in the county to the south of me, but I'm now moving 20 miles north and get to explore a whole new county.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

limr said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> That was a lot of moves. Were the moves because of work,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Was that for me?
> 
> Some of the moves were to and from college, to and from grad school. The international moves were for ostensibly work (I taught ESL) but I didn't have to leave the country to teach. I wanted to live abroad at least for a little while, and I ended up spending 5 years as an ex-pat. I've moved less often since coming back to the States, though I've certainly been kind of antsy. I'm only moving about 30 minutes away, but it's still an area that is less familiar to me so I get to feel like I'm getting to live someplace "different." I've lived in my current county and have lived and still work in the county to the south of me, but I'm now moving 20 miles north and get to explore a whole new county.
Click to expand...


Hope your move goes well - as you'll know too well - physically moving is only part of the project, setting up utility bills, internet, TV and changing addresses at banks, insurance companies, driving licences etc can feel like an extra job!


----------



## limr

Tropicalmemories said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> That was a lot of moves. Were the moves because of work,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Was that for me?
> 
> Some of the moves were to and from college, to and from grad school. The international moves were for ostensibly work (I taught ESL) but I didn't have to leave the country to teach. I wanted to live abroad at least for a little while, and I ended up spending 5 years as an ex-pat. I've moved less often since coming back to the States, though I've certainly been kind of antsy. I'm only moving about 30 minutes away, but it's still an area that is less familiar to me so I get to feel like I'm getting to live someplace "different." I've lived in my current county and have lived and still work in the county to the south of me, but I'm now moving 20 miles north and get to explore a whole new county.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Hope your move goes well - as you'll know too well - physically moving is only part of the project, setting up utility bills, internet, TV and changing addresses at banks, insurance companies, driving licences etc can feel like an extra job!
Click to expand...


----------



## Original katomi

Limr
Yes that was for you.... put the lag in reply to the time zones lol


----------



## snowbear

MLW has the bandage off of her arm.  She said there is feeling in a part of her hand that she hasn't felt in a couple years, so this is a very good sign.  The stitches make her look a little like the Frankenstein monster, but they'll come out.


----------



## snowbear

From the _For What It's Worth_ department:


> This week, the U.S. Census Bureau began to release daily 2020 Census housing unit completion rates including the 2020 Census self-response rate and Nonresponse Followup completion rate. *76.5% of housing units have been accounted for* in the 2020 Census as of today, with *12.1%* counted by census takers and other field data collection operations, and *64.4%* of housing units responding online, by phone, or by mail.


----------



## Original katomi

Snowbear,
Good news about your Mrs.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

I just deleted some spam that was recruiting for the Illuminati with Priest Elvis.

Coolest spam I've seen in a while!   Certainly better than all the keto diet ads.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I'm off to read that one since Terri has the trashcan set up now


----------



## Original katomi

No sent very much in jest, please don’t slap me, or take offence




limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> I just deleted some spam that was recruiting for the Illuminati with Priest Elvis.
> 
> Coolest spam I've seen in a while!   Certainly better than all the keto diet ads.



It’s always Spam, never ham, corn beef or even a veggie option lol


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> No sent very much in jest, please don’t slap me, or take offence
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> I just deleted some spam that was recruiting for the Illuminati with Priest Elvis.
> 
> Coolest spam I've seen in a while!   Certainly better than all the keto diet ads.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It’s always Spam, never ham, corn beef or even a veggie option lol
Click to expand...


Because ham, corned beef, and veggies are real foods, while Spam is kinda just wrong


----------



## Original katomi

Lol


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> No sent very much in jest, please don’t slap me, or take offence
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> I just deleted some spam that was recruiting for the Illuminati with Priest Elvis.
> 
> Coolest spam I've seen in a while!   Certainly better than all the keto diet ads.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It’s always Spam, never ham, corn beef or even a veggie option lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Because ham, corned beef, and veggies are real foods, while Spam is kinda just wrong
Click to expand...


shhh don’t tell Hawaii


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Friday Hosers!  Drink up.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

limr said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> No sent very much in jest, please don’t slap me, or take offence
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> I just deleted some spam that was recruiting for the Illuminati with Priest Elvis.
> 
> Coolest spam I've seen in a while!   Certainly better than all the keto diet ads.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It’s always Spam, never ham, corn beef or even a veggie option lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Because ham, corned beef, and veggies are real foods, while Spam is kinda just wrong
Click to expand...


It's a little known fact that everyone has a can of corned beef in a kitchen cupboard.  You may never eat corned beef, or you may be vegan, but search far enough back in your kitchen cupboards, and you'll find a can of corned beef.  Probably bought during the Cuban Missile Crisis by a previous owner of your house, but it will be in there somewhere.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all


----------



## waday




----------



## Space Face

Monday morning blues are thing of the past for me.


----------



## limr




----------



## Original katomi

Mondays are no problem. Tuesdays are scary
Tuesday is bin day here, the lorry is noisy, big and scary


----------



## waday




----------



## Jeff15

Since I retired what day it is don't really bother me where we are in the week..........


----------



## waday

Original katomi said:


> the lorry is noisy, big and scary


Cute cat, sorry to hear it’s afraid of the lorry. Our dog is afraid of the garbage truck when she’s standing far from it, but when it’s beside her, she goes on as if nothing is happening. 

She’s also the same with water. She won’t step in puddles, but she’ll be more than happy to walk into a river.

Gotta love pet quirks!


----------



## SquarePeg

Today is primary day here in Massachusetts.  I voted using early voting a few weeks ago to avoid the crowds.  

Took today off from work and drove down to Falmouth with my sister in law and my mom.  We had a great day exploring and shopping.   Stopped at IKEA on the way home but they did not have all of the pieces in stock for the bookcase and sidebar that I wanted to buy.  They started delivering now due to covid so I may try to order online when it comes in.


----------



## snowbear

I signed up for vote by mail a while back.  The MD Primary was sometime in June, but as a registered Independent, I don't normally get to play.  There are a couple exceptions: one is if one of the major two parties "invite" independents to vote in their primary.  The other is if there are non-partisan offices elected during a primary, such as School Board.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Today is primary day here in Massachusetts.  I voted using early voting a few weeks ago to avoid the crowds.
> 
> Took today off from work and drove down to Falmouth with my sister in law and my mom.  We had a great day exploring and shopping.   Stopped at IKEA on the way home but they did not have all of the pieces in stock for the bookcase and sidebar that I wanted to buy.  They started delivering now due to covid so I may try to order online when it comes in.



I miss IKEA shopping.  Too afraid to go into stores.


----------



## limr

CherylL said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today is primary day here in Massachusetts.  I voted using early voting a few weeks ago to avoid the crowds.
> 
> Took today off from work and drove down to Falmouth with my sister in law and my mom.  We had a great day exploring and shopping.   Stopped at IKEA on the way home but they did not have all of the pieces in stock for the bookcase and sidebar that I wanted to buy.  They started delivering now due to covid so I may try to order online when it comes in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I miss IKEA shopping.  Too afraid to go into stores.
Click to expand...


I'm going to have to go in a week or two. Going to get some new pieces of furniture for my new place. I could order them online and just pick them up from stores, but I would like to see the actual product before shelling out the money.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today is primary day here in Massachusetts.  I voted using early voting a few weeks ago to avoid the crowds.
> 
> Took today off from work and drove down to Falmouth with my sister in law and my mom.  We had a great day exploring and shopping.   Stopped at IKEA on the way home but they did not have all of the pieces in stock for the bookcase and sidebar that I wanted to buy.  They started delivering now due to covid so I may try to order online when it comes in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I miss IKEA shopping.  Too afraid to go into stores.
Click to expand...


it wasn’t crowded at all inside.  We had to line up to get in as they were doing one in one out.   And best of all no wait for check out!  Of course we didn’t buy anything because a lot of items were out of stock.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

SquarePeg said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today is primary day here in Massachusetts.  I voted using early voting a few weeks ago to avoid the crowds.
> 
> Took today off from work and drove down to Falmouth with my sister in law and my mom.  We had a great day exploring and shopping.   Stopped at IKEA on the way home but they did not have all of the pieces in stock for the bookcase and sidebar that I wanted to buy.  They started delivering now due to covid so I may try to order online when it comes in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I miss IKEA shopping.  Too afraid to go into stores.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> it wasn’t crowded at all inside.  We had to line up to get in as they were doing one in one out.   And best of all no wait for check out!  Of course we didn’t buy anything because a lot of items were out of stock.
Click to expand...


When Ikea reopened here, the social distancing measures inside the store created huge crowds outside the store.  

When businesses reopened, my first thought was not that I had to have a Billy Bookcase.


----------



## waday

I wish we had an IKEA close enough to us to go. Closest one is a little over an hour and a half away. 

I agree with @limr, I won’t purchase IKEA unless I see it. Some of their stuff is great, others not so much, at least IMO.


----------



## waday

Tropicalmemories said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today is primary day here in Massachusetts.  I voted using early voting a few weeks ago to avoid the crowds.
> 
> Took today off from work and drove down to Falmouth with my sister in law and my mom.  We had a great day exploring and shopping.   Stopped at IKEA on the way home but they did not have all of the pieces in stock for the bookcase and sidebar that I wanted to buy.  They started delivering now due to covid so I may try to order online when it comes in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I miss IKEA shopping.  Too afraid to go into stores.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> it wasn’t crowded at all inside.  We had to line up to get in as they were doing one in one out.   And best of all no wait for check out!  Of course we didn’t buy anything because a lot of items were out of stock.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> When Ikea reopened here, the social distancing measures inside the store created huge crowds outside the store.
> 
> When businesses reopened, my first thought was not that I had to have a Billy Bookcase.
> 
> View attachment 196818
Click to expand...

Where are the lines?! Lol


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

waday said:


> Where are the lines?! Lol


No lines...it's connect the dots


----------



## limr

waday said:


> I wish we had an IKEA close enough to us to go. Closest one is a little over an hour and a half away.
> 
> I agree with @limr, I won’t purchase IKEA unless I see it. Some of their stuff is great, others not so much, at least IMO.



There isn't one very close to me, either, but the one in New Haven is manageable for more significant buying trips, and it also allows us to go to Frank Pepe's: Here Are The Best Pizza Places In America


----------



## SquarePeg

Tropicalmemories said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Today is primary day here in Massachusetts.  I voted using early voting a few weeks ago to avoid the crowds.
> 
> Took today off from work and drove down to Falmouth with my sister in law and my mom.  We had a great day exploring and shopping.   Stopped at IKEA on the way home but they did not have all of the pieces in stock for the bookcase and sidebar that I wanted to buy.  They started delivering now due to covid so I may try to order online when it comes in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I miss IKEA shopping.  Too afraid to go into stores.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> it wasn’t crowded at all inside.  We had to line up to get in as they were doing one in one out.   And best of all no wait for check out!  Of course we didn’t buy anything because a lot of items were out of stock.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> When Ikea reopened here, the social distancing measures inside the store created huge crowds outside the store.
> 
> When businesses reopened, my first thought was not that I had to have a Billy Bookcase.
> 
> View attachment 196818
Click to expand...


We waited in line outdoors.  There may have been 10-20 people ahead of us.  We had tried to go there a few weeks ago on a Saturday and it was packed - the line looked like the queue for Space Mtn at Disney. We drove on and went to Jordan’s (another furniture store) instead.  



waday said:


> I wish we had an IKEA close enough to us to go. Closest one is a little over an hour and a half away.
> 
> I agree with @limr, I won’t purchase IKEA unless I see it. Some of their stuff is great, others not so much, at least IMO.



The one “near” me is about an hour south.  That’s why we stopped on the way home from the Cape.  After striking out on the weekend we figured we’d give it a try during the week since we had to go right past it anyway.  I agree about seeing it first.  That’s why I’m ok with ordering online now that I’ve seen the items in person. 

I’m actually glad it’s not closer, I’d be poking around in there all the time!


----------



## waday

limr said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> I wish we had an IKEA close enough to us to go. Closest one is a little over an hour and a half away.
> 
> I agree with @limr, I won’t purchase IKEA unless I see it. Some of their stuff is great, others not so much, at least IMO.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There isn't one very close to me, either, but the one in New Haven is manageable for more significant buying trips, and it also allows us to go to Frank Pepe's: Here Are The Best Pizza Places In America
Click to expand...

Oh that’s awesome! We have decent pizza down here, but it’s nothing like pizza in NYC (and area). I always take it for granted. The last few years when traveling for work out of the northeast, I’d really crave a good slice of pizza, but the only pizza would be Pizza Hut, Dominos, etc. Meh.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I’m actually glad it’s not closer, I’d be poking around in there all the time!


Good point!


----------



## snowbear

We have one in the Work County, near the University of MD.  I was looking at their desks when I realized I needed to build the home office.  MLW said no - get grown-up furniture.  I still like a lot of their stuff, though.  We have two of their display cabinets for bears, the art supply drawer units, night stands, dressers and a book case.  The main TV sits on a small shelf unit from there.

I guess we aren't completely grown up.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> We have one in the Work County, near the University of MD.  I was looking at their desks when I realized I needed to build the home office.  MLW said no - get grown-up furniture.  I still like a lot of their stuff, though.  We have two of their display cabinets for bears, the art supply drawer units, night stands, dressers and a book case.  The main TV sits on a small shelf unit from there.
> 
> I guess we aren't completely grown up.



See, this IS grown-up furniture for me. Some of their cheaper stuff - yeah, it's not the greatest and it's good for temporary setups. But it depends on what line/style you get. I have a Hemnes dresser that is really nice and is still in really good condition after more than 10 years. Honestly, if it weren't for kitty claws, the thing would still be like new. Their overall style is very Euro, and that can border on a little *too* simplistic and plain at times, but they still have a good variety of options.


----------



## snowbear

I think those are the ones we have.  Not great but they've outlived the sofas - 12 years.


----------



## snowbear

and we have some Ikea cookware.


----------



## terri

Dang.   Y'all are giving me Ikea fevah!!    Haven't been in one in years.   It's too far a drive atm - over an hour.   I'd have to be contemplating something major, and make sure they actually had the item out where I could see it, before I made the trek.   I have a set of wooden shelves that I painted, and some lesser knick-knack type things from there.   Been a while.   I agree with Sharon - if it were closer, I'd be rummaging around a lot more!


----------



## Jeff15

Have not been in Ikea for about 25 years........


----------



## smoke665

41 years DW and I have been married. Bar none she is one great cook but alas the art of making biscuits has always alluded her.  Now we live in the south, where a good biscuit is a staple, one of the major food groups. It goes with anything!!! Her Mother made good biscuits, her Father made good biscuits, but my poor DW just never caught on.

For years I've had to go to Jacks if I wanted a good biscuit till this week. Happened to catch a video of a dear old southern lady, that showed how to make biscuits in a manner I could understand. Headed to the store determined to try my hand at making biscuits. When we arrived DW asks how much flour do you need. "Enough to fill a large bowl", I replied, she rolled her eyes, we moved on. How much Crisco do you need she asked? "A good size wad in my hand", I replied, again the eye roll and we moved on. How much buttermilk do you need, she asked? "I'm supposed to keep pouring until it looks right, GEEZ why you want to make it so complicated?" As she walked away I heard mumbling under her breath, some of which didn't sound very nice.

In any case with supplies in hand I set out to "make biscuits" this afternoon, despite her overwhelming negativity in my potential for success.  They might not be up to Jack's standards yet, but for a first time effort they turned out pretty good. I noticed DW not only ate them, but went back for more at supper, and suggested that I make them again. Finally after 41 yrs I guess it's true if you want it done right.............do it yourself.    A few left overs for breakfast.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@smoke665 My dear old mother has been making biscuits for over 80 years now. She measures nothing also and I have yet to taste a biscuit better than hers. She grew up on a farm and started making them when she had to stand in a chair because she was so young!


----------



## smoke665

@Dean_Gretsch regrettably most of my side of the family didn't have a clue what a real biscuit was. The kind they made/served where those little hard things that made better weapons then a food choice. Wasn't till I moved south that I learned the difference.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> @Dean_Gretsch regrettably most of my side of the family didn't have a clue what a real biscuit was. The kind they made/served where those little hard things that made better weapons then a food choice. Wasn't till I moved south that I learned the difference.



A big difference is the flour. Soft winter wheat in the South vs....some other kind of wheat - red winter wheat? Hard wheat? Something like that. And it's generally not available in the North. Last time I was south of the Mason-Dixon, I bought a bag of White Lily. Tried a batch with the White Lily and another batch - _exactly_ the same everything except the flour - and the difference was very clear. The White Lily biscuits were so light and fluffy and the others were hockey pucks. The flavor was good, and imo, actually a bit richer and more interesting. They were just not particularly fluffy.


----------



## charlie76

smoke665 said:


> Bar none she is one great cook but alas the art of making biscuits has always alluded her.



Ha!! Yessir I could say the same about my dear sweet wife


----------



## smoke665

limr said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Dean_Gretsch regrettably most of my side of the family didn't have a clue what a real biscuit was. The kind they made/served where those little hard things that made better weapons then a food choice. Wasn't till I moved south that I learned the difference.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A big difference is the flour. Soft winter wheat in the South vs....some other kind of wheat - red winter wheat? Hard wheat? Something like that. And it's generally not available in the North. Last time I was south of the Mason-Dixon, I bought a bag of White Lily. Tried a batch with the White Lily and another batch - _exactly_ the same everything except the flour - and the difference was very clear. The White Lily biscuits were so light and fluffy and the others were hockey pucks. The flavor was good, and imo, actually a bit richer and more interesting. They were just not particularly fluffy.
Click to expand...


You may be right on the difference between those made with hard vs soft wheat. White Lily is without a doubt good, though I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between Pillsbury or Martha White. One thing I found out, is that part of the secret, is getting it mixed without over mixing as that makes for a less flaky or fluffy texture.


----------



## limr

smoke665 said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Dean_Gretsch regrettably most of my side of the family didn't have a clue what a real biscuit was. The kind they made/served where those little hard things that made better weapons then a food choice. Wasn't till I moved south that I learned the difference.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A big difference is the flour. Soft winter wheat in the South vs....some other kind of wheat - red winter wheat? Hard wheat? Something like that. And it's generally not available in the North. Last time I was south of the Mason-Dixon, I bought a bag of White Lily. Tried a batch with the White Lily and another batch - _exactly_ the same everything except the flour - and the difference was very clear. The White Lily biscuits were so light and fluffy and the others were hockey pucks. The flavor was good, and imo, actually a bit richer and more interesting. They were just not particularly fluffy.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You may be right on the difference between those made with hard vs soft wheat. White Lily is without a doubt good, though I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between Pillsbury or Martha White. One thing I found out, is that part of the secret, is getting it mixed without over mixing as that makes for a less flaky or fluffy texture.
Click to expand...


Yup - whatever fat you use needs to stay cold, and the more it's mixed, the warmer it gets, which makes it less fluffy. Something about air pockets forming when they're cooking if there are still bigger chunks of the fat. And overmixing also creates all kinds of chemistry with the gluten, and higher gluten=tougher biscuit. The soft wheat is generally a lower-gluten flour to begin with.


----------



## limr

Damn, now I want biscuits. Gonna have to wait until I have the kitchen properly set up.

Slowly getting the house together, hosers. Painting is done - well, at least the painting that needed to get done before floors could go in. I still need to do the bathroom, but I can do that after I move in since I'm not doing anything with the bathroom floors. I am also not painting the kitchen just yet. The color is fine and probably in a couple of months, I'll match the color but get it in a semi-gloss instead of the matte finish they put up. It's nice color, but dear lord, does that matte finish suck up all the light! It just looks dull.

We also have the carpets ripped up in the three bedrooms and hallway. The boxes of flooring are in the living room, so we'll do the floors in the bedrooms, then move the rest of the boxes so we can rip up the carpets in the living and dining room and put the floors down.

Even though it's a small house, it's just Buzz and me doing the work, so we probably won't be able to finish it all in one weekend. So it seems I am looking at two more weekends, and then a trip to Ikea and then moving day!


----------



## Tropicalmemories

limr said:


> Damn, now I want biscuits. Gonna have to wait until I have the kitchen properly set up.
> 
> Slowly getting the house together, hosers. Painting is done - well, at least the painting that needed to get done before floors could go in. I still need to do the bathroom, but I can do that after I move in since I'm not doing anything with the bathroom floors. I am also not painting the kitchen just yet. The color is fine and probably in a couple of months, I'll match the color but get it in a semi-gloss instead of the matte finish they put up. It's nice color, but dear lord, does that matte finish suck up all the light! It just looks dull.
> 
> We also have the carpets ripped up in the three bedrooms and hallway. The boxes of flooring are in the living room, so we'll do the floors in the bedrooms, then move the rest of the boxes so we can rip up the carpets in the living and dining room and put the floors down.
> 
> Even though it's a small house, it's just Buzz and me doing the work, so we probably won't be able to finish it all in one weekend. So it seems I am looking at two more weekends, and then a trip to Ikea and then moving day!



Sounds like a major restoration project - hope all goes well.  

We're currently building a house, but it's a long term project as we do a bit each month as funds allow.  Yesterday was choosing bathroom tiles and fittings.

After hearing from a friend how choosing tiles led to a huge argument in the same bathroom superstore, I suspect she dressed in a way that would ensure I agreed with everything she said.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, How is everyone


----------



## CherylL

@limr, sounds like a lot of work.  The upside is you get what you finishes you want.

@Tropicalmemories, building a house is a million little decisions.  When we built our house, we had a heated discussion picking out sidelights to the front door.  Finally the sales guy told us to drive around and look at houses front doors to see actually doors and not just a brochure.


----------



## CherylL

Since March with so many people out of work, I've been donating weekly to a blessing box.  Where you leave what you can and take what you need.  Since I don't shop I add items to my Instacart.  The delivery people are probably wondering why I need 4 jars of peanut butter or tuna or how much spaghetti can 2 people eat.   Each week the items are different in the box so there is a definite need in the community.  Last night when I dropped off my items the box was almost empty.  I donate to the local pantry too.  It is really a hard time for some and guess it is the invisible hunger in the community.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

CherylL said:


> @limr, sounds like a lot of work.  The upside is you get what you finishes you want.
> 
> @Tropicalmemories, building a house is a million little decisions.  When we built our house, we had a heated discussion picking out sidelights to the front door.  Finally the sales guy told us to drive around and look at houses front doors to see actually doors and not just a brochure.



Yes - so many things to decide.  We've not got to windows, lighting or built in furniture yet.


----------



## limr

Tropicalmemories said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr, sounds like a lot of work.  The upside is you get what you finishes you want.
> 
> @Tropicalmemories, building a house is a million little decisions.  When we built our house, we had a heated discussion picking out sidelights to the front door.  Finally the sales guy told us to drive around and look at houses front doors to see actually doors and not just a brochure.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes - so many things to decide.  We've not got to windows, lighting or built in furniture yet.
Click to expand...


How does that work with the new job that has you relocating?


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Damn, now I want biscuits. Gonna have to wait until I have the kitchen properly set up.
> 
> Slowly getting the house together, hosers. Painting is done - well, at least the painting that needed to get done before floors could go in. I still need to do the bathroom, but I can do that after I move in since I'm not doing anything with the bathroom floors. I am also not painting the kitchen just yet. The color is fine and probably in a couple of months, I'll match the color but get it in a semi-gloss instead of the matte finish they put up. It's nice color, but dear lord, does that matte finish suck up all the light! It just looks dull.
> 
> We also have the carpets ripped up in the three bedrooms and hallway. The boxes of flooring are in the living room, so we'll do the floors in the bedrooms, then move the rest of the boxes so we can rip up the carpets in the living and dining room and put the floors down.
> 
> Even though it's a small house, it's just Buzz and me doing the work, so we probably won't be able to finish it all in one weekend. So it seems I am looking at two more weekends, and then a trip to Ikea and then moving day!



Super exciting!  Best advice I got when I bought our fixer upper was to live in it first before making any major changes layout, kitchen or bathroom as you don’t really know what works and what doesn’t until you move in.  I’m glad I waited on the kitchen as what we initially planned on doing wasn’t as flexible as our current set up and would have really not worked very well long term.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Damn, now I want biscuits. Gonna have to wait until I have the kitchen properly set up.
> 
> Slowly getting the house together, hosers. Painting is done - well, at least the painting that needed to get done before floors could go in. I still need to do the bathroom, but I can do that after I move in since I'm not doing anything with the bathroom floors. I am also not painting the kitchen just yet. The color is fine and probably in a couple of months, I'll match the color but get it in a semi-gloss instead of the matte finish they put up. It's nice color, but dear lord, does that matte finish suck up all the light! It just looks dull.
> 
> We also have the carpets ripped up in the three bedrooms and hallway. The boxes of flooring are in the living room, so we'll do the floors in the bedrooms, then move the rest of the boxes so we can rip up the carpets in the living and dining room and put the floors down.
> 
> Even though it's a small house, it's just Buzz and me doing the work, so we probably won't be able to finish it all in one weekend. So it seems I am looking at two more weekends, and then a trip to Ikea and then moving day!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Super exciting!  Best advice I got when I bought our fixer upper was to live in it first before making any major changes layout, kitchen or bathroom as you don’t really know what works and what doesn’t until you move in.  I’m glad I waited on the kitchen as what we initially planned on doing wasn’t as flexible as our current set up and would have really not worked very well long term.
Click to expand...


Yup, I'm definitely going to wait a little while on the kitchen. I know I am going to want to redo it totally. The washer and dryer are in the kitchen, which is totally fine with me as I am used to this arrangement from Europe. The problem is that she had really large machines, so they take up more space than necessary for one person, especially when there really isn't much counter space. What I'd love to do at some point is replace the machines with small front-loaders and then add counter space above it. The other thing is that she had some sort of free-standing butcher block island thing that's actually pushed up against the wall (kitchen is too small for an island) and it has the only two drawers in the entire kitchen. Next to that is a crappy chipboard tall cabinet that I am planning on moving elsewhere and replacing with a metal cart so I can keep the microwave and toaster over off of the very limited counter space. I'd love to replace that whole thing with permanent cabinets with drawers and a real counter. The kitchen doesn't look terrible and it's certainly functional, but looking at it more closely, it's definitely cobbled together with some half-assed stuff. I just need some time living there to figure out what I want and to save up to pay for it.


----------



## Space Face

I just bought a synthesizer.  Random!!  I confuse myself at times.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Damn, now I want biscuits. Gonna have to wait until I have the kitchen properly set up.
> 
> Slowly getting the house together, hosers. Painting is done - well, at least the painting that needed to get done before floors could go in. I still need to do the bathroom, but I can do that after I move in since I'm not doing anything with the bathroom floors. I am also not painting the kitchen just yet. The color is fine and probably in a couple of months, I'll match the color but get it in a semi-gloss instead of the matte finish they put up. It's nice color, but dear lord, does that matte finish suck up all the light! It just looks dull.
> 
> We also have the carpets ripped up in the three bedrooms and hallway. The boxes of flooring are in the living room, so we'll do the floors in the bedrooms, then move the rest of the boxes so we can rip up the carpets in the living and dining room and put the floors down.
> 
> Even though it's a small house, it's just Buzz and me doing the work, so we probably won't be able to finish it all in one weekend. So it seems I am looking at two more weekends, and then a trip to Ikea and then moving day!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Super exciting!  Best advice I got when I bought our fixer upper was to live in it first before making any major changes layout, kitchen or bathroom as you don’t really know what works and what doesn’t until you move in.  I’m glad I waited on the kitchen as what we initially planned on doing wasn’t as flexible as our current set up and would have really not worked very well long term.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup, I'm definitely going to wait a little while on the kitchen. I know I am going to want to redo it totally. The washer and dryer are in the kitchen, which is totally fine with me as I am used to this arrangement from Europe. The problem is that she had really large machines, so they take up more space than necessary for one person, especially when there really isn't much counter space. What I'd love to do at some point is replace the machines with small front-loaders and then add counter space above it. The other thing is that she had some sort of free-standing butcher block island thing that's actually pushed up against the wall (kitchen is too small for an island) and it has the only two drawers in the entire kitchen. Next to that is a crappy chipboard tall cabinet that I am planning on moving elsewhere and replacing with a metal cart so I can keep the microwave and toaster over off of the very limited counter space. I'd love to replace that whole thing with permanent cabinets with drawers and a real counter. The kitchen doesn't look terrible and it's certainly functional, but looking at it more closely, it's definitely cobbled together with some half-assed stuff. I just need some time living there to figure out what I want and to save up to pay for it.
Click to expand...

whew!   A lot of work done already, so be proud!   Once those floors are down, it will look amazing.   Exciting times!

I agree on just using the kitchen for awhile and see what works.   It's always a process of must-haves vs. okay-with-its.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

limr said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> @limr, sounds like a lot of work.  The upside is you get what you finishes you want.
> 
> @Tropicalmemories, building a house is a million little decisions.  When we built our house, we had a heated discussion picking out sidelights to the front door.  Finally the sales guy told us to drive around and look at houses front doors to see actually doors and not just a brochure.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes - so many things to decide.  We've not got to windows, lighting or built in furniture yet.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> How does that work with the new job that has you relocating?
Click to expand...


A very good question.  While the new job helps to pay for the house build, it also makes it difficult to manage.  But we may not be able to get a visa for my partner - so she can continue with managing the build while I'm away.

It's a 2 year fixed term contract, so the plan now is for me to return to Thailand and live in the house in 2 years.  Although if she can get a visa, we have a problem, as travelling back is currently not possible due to COVID.  

Our original plan was to stay in Thailand where I'd been living and working for 10 years, and move into the house when it's finished, but that changed when I got laid off, as there's no job for me here.  I know we're still in a better position than most people these days, but life's a bit complicated now.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Damn, now I want biscuits. Gonna have to wait until I have the kitchen properly set up.
> 
> Slowly getting the house together, hosers. Painting is done - well, at least the painting that needed to get done before floors could go in. I still need to do the bathroom, but I can do that after I move in since I'm not doing anything with the bathroom floors. I am also not painting the kitchen just yet. The color is fine and probably in a couple of months, I'll match the color but get it in a semi-gloss instead of the matte finish they put up. It's nice color, but dear lord, does that matte finish suck up all the light! It just looks dull.
> 
> We also have the carpets ripped up in the three bedrooms and hallway. The boxes of flooring are in the living room, so we'll do the floors in the bedrooms, then move the rest of the boxes so we can rip up the carpets in the living and dining room and put the floors down.
> 
> Even though it's a small house, it's just Buzz and me doing the work, so we probably won't be able to finish it all in one weekend. So it seems I am looking at two more weekends, and then a trip to Ikea and then moving day!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Super exciting!  Best advice I got when I bought our fixer upper was to live in it first before making any major changes layout, kitchen or bathroom as you don’t really know what works and what doesn’t until you move in.  I’m glad I waited on the kitchen as what we initially planned on doing wasn’t as flexible as our current set up and would have really not worked very well long term.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yup, I'm definitely going to wait a little while on the kitchen. I know I am going to want to redo it totally. The washer and dryer are in the kitchen, which is totally fine with me as I am used to this arrangement from Europe. The problem is that she had really large machines, so they take up more space than necessary for one person, especially when there really isn't much counter space. What I'd love to do at some point is replace the machines with small front-loaders and then add counter space above it. The other thing is that she had some sort of free-standing butcher block island thing that's actually pushed up against the wall (kitchen is too small for an island) and it has the only two drawers in the entire kitchen. Next to that is a crappy chipboard tall cabinet that I am planning on moving elsewhere and replacing with a metal cart so I can keep the microwave and toaster over off of the very limited counter space. I'd love to replace that whole thing with permanent cabinets with drawers and a real counter. The kitchen doesn't look terrible and it's certainly functional, but looking at it more closely, it's definitely cobbled together with some half-assed stuff. I just need some time living there to figure out what I want and to save up to pay for it.
Click to expand...


I have a laundry closet in my kitchen with my washer and dryer and I love having it right there. I can’t imagine having to run up and down to the basement for every load.  If we took out the laundry closet we could easily open up our kitchen to the living room and have a nice big island with seating but I just can’t give it up. Having a washer and dryer under the counter is actually very interesting idea that I will have to think about. I remodeled my kitchen about 12 years ago so I won’t be doing it again anytime soon. 

I am going to be updating the kitchen and the downstairs apartment soon.  We were at IKEA the other day and I was looking at the kitchens and I was surprised at how affordable their prices were for their cabinets and countertops. If you’re willing to put them together yourself and can get somebody to do the install for you you can definitely save a lot of money. If it all possible just keep the plumbing where it is and you won’t have to break the bank doing your kitchen over


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Internet is down. They say it will be restored around 11. If it's not, I am going to drive up to the new house to see if I have service there. It's far enough away that I think I will, but I am going to hold off for half an hour to see if it really does get restored while it's still morning. At least it's a quiet day and I am not missing meetings. I have Zoom on my phone so was able to take care of the two one-on-one meetings I had this morning.

Sharon, I have always hated having laundry in a basement, too.  Unfinished basements are even worse! So yeah, I love having the machines in the kitchen. In European apartments, they are often incorporated under the counter, just like a dishwasher would be. In Portugal, I had a front loader that was both washer and dryer. I was thinking of getting one for the house, so I would then also have room for a dishwasher, but I found out that those combo machines break a lot more often than dedicated washers and dryers, so I will stick to separate machines for now. I could stack them, but then I lose cabinet space, which I don't want to do until I am able to redo the whole kitchen.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Internet is down. They say it will be restored around 11. If it's not, I am going to drive up to the new house to see if I have service there. It's far enough away that I think I will, but I am going to hold off for half an hour to see if it really does get restored while it's still morning. At least it's a quiet day and I am not missing meetings. I have Zoom on my phone so was able to take care of the two one-on-one meetings I had this morning.
> 
> Sharon, I have always hated having laundry in a basement, too.  Unfinished basements are even worse! So yeah, I love having the machines in the kitchen. In European apartments, they are often incorporated under the counter, just like a dishwasher would be. In Portugal, I had a front loader that was both washer and dryer. I was thinking of getting one for the house, so I would then also have room for a dishwasher, but I found out that those combo machines break a lot more often than dedicated washers and dryers, so I will stick to separate machines for now. I could stack them, but then I lose cabinet space, which I don't want to do until I am able to redo the whole kitchen.



I was helping my sister in law research w&d for the apartment downstairs and she considered the combo but in addition to being pricey and not having good longevity, they also take a really long time to dry the clothes - hours.  She ended up getting a front loader washer from Kenmore (the local Sears is closing and she got a $1200 unit for $519!) and a dryer from LG.  Her choices were limited to smaller units because the hookups are in the furnace room which has a very very small entranceway that can’t be adjusted.  But, once past the door, there was enough room to put them side by side or stack so she went with side by side and is going to get one of those shelf units to go over them.  

Just a caution on your plan to use a glossy paint instead of a matte finish on the walls.  Anything above eggshell, while more “cleanable” and light reflective, tends to show every flaw in the walls/paint when it’s on a big space - especially in a darker color.  Make sure you really prep the walls perfectly.  We used a “pearl” finish in the kitchen (Benjamin Moore’s version of satin) with a darker blue and I see at least 3 spots where he patched that he’s going to have to come back and fix.  I’m debating having him paint all of the walls again in eggshell.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> I was helping my sister in law research w&d for the apartment downstairs and she considered the combo but in addition to being pricey and not having good longevity, they also take a really long time to dry the clothes - hours.  She ended up getting a front loader washer from Kenmore (the local Sears is closing and she got a $1200 unit for $519!) and a dryer from LG.  Her choices were limited to smaller units because the hookups are in the furnace room which has a very very small entranceway that can’t be adjusted.  But, once past the door, there was enough room to put them side by side or stack so she went with side by side and is going to get one of those shelf units to go over them.
> 
> Just a caution on your plan to use a glossy paint instead of a matte finish on the walls.  Anything above eggshell, while more “cleanable” and light reflective, tends to show every flaw in the walls/paint when it’s on a big space - especially in a darker color.  Make sure you really prep the walls perfectly.  We used a “pearl” finish in the kitchen (Benjamin Moore’s version of satin) with a darker blue and I see at least 3 spots where he patched that he’s going to have to come back and fix.  I’m debating having him paint all of the walls again in eggshell.



Good point! Most of the kitchen is appliance or cabinets, and the one wall that has a large expanse is mostly covered by the "island," but it's still an older house so I"m sure there will be imperfections. Already found plenty in the other rooms!  Part of me doesn't mind - for me, it's part of the charm of an older house. But I still try to reduce it as much as possible.

The color is a sort of medium-to-light greyish green...or greenish grey. In certain lights, you'd swear they used two different colors in the kitchen, but then the light changes and it all looks the same again. So maybe the semi-gloss will be a bit much, but I'll probably still go with a satin finish at least . Just seeing how much more light is being reflected off of the satin finish in the other rooms and how it makes the space feel a bit bigger makes me want to use the satin in the kitchen as well.

Those combo machines really do dry slowly. It doesn't bother me too much because it's just me. If I had to do laundry for a family, it would drive me crazy. As it is, the first couple of loads I did in the machine that came with the house was also really frustrating for the same reason. But it's a full-sized dedicated dryer. I figured it just sucked and I would need to replace it sooner rather than later, but we were looking in the attic this past weekend, and I think what's happening is that the exhaust duct is crushed in one section. We're going to see about fixing that soon, but I still think I will be buying new appliances during the Black Friday sales.


----------



## limr

Oh, and yes, the new house...which, btw, I have named the Birdhouse...has internet. Woot!


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was helping my sister in law research w&d for the apartment downstairs and she considered the combo but in addition to being pricey and not having good longevity, they also take a really long time to dry the clothes - hours.  She ended up getting a front loader washer from Kenmore (the local Sears is closing and she got a $1200 unit for $519!) and a dryer from LG.  Her choices were limited to smaller units because the hookups are in the furnace room which has a very very small entranceway that can’t be adjusted.  But, once past the door, there was enough room to put them side by side or stack so she went with side by side and is going to get one of those shelf units to go over them.
> 
> Just a caution on your plan to use a glossy paint instead of a matte finish on the walls.  Anything above eggshell, while more “cleanable” and light reflective, tends to show every flaw in the walls/paint when it’s on a big space - especially in a darker color.  Make sure you really prep the walls perfectly.  We used a “pearl” finish in the kitchen (Benjamin Moore’s version of satin) with a darker blue and I see at least 3 spots where he patched that he’s going to have to come back and fix.  I’m debating having him paint all of the walls again in eggshell.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good point! Most of the kitchen is appliance or cabinets, and the one wall that has a large expanse is mostly covered by the "island," but it's still an older house so I"m sure there will be imperfections. Already found plenty in the other rooms!  Part of me doesn't mind - for me, it's part of the charm of an older house. But I still try to reduce it as much as possible.
> 
> The color is a sort of medium-to-light greyish green...or greenish grey. In certain lights, you'd swear they used two different colors in the kitchen, but then the light changes and it all looks the same again. So maybe the semi-gloss will be a bit much, but I'll probably still go with a satin finish at least . Just seeing how much more light is being reflected off of the satin finish in the other rooms and how it makes the space feel a bit bigger makes me want to use the satin in the kitchen as well.
> 
> Those combo machines really do dry slowly. It doesn't bother me too much because it's just me. If I had to do laundry for a family, it would drive me crazy. As it is, the first couple of loads I did in the machine that came with the house was also really frustrating for the same reason. But it's a full-sized dedicated dryer. I figured it just sucked and I would need to replace it sooner rather than later, but we were looking in the attic this past weekend, and I think what's happening is that the exhaust duct is crushed in one section. We're going to see about fixing that soon, but I still think I will be buying new appliances during the Black Friday sales.
Click to expand...


Our dryer vent routinely blocks at the screen at the end and it definitely hurts the dryer performance.   The dog hairs help the lint form a wall.  It’s vented through the attic so we have to get up on a ladder to clean the vent.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was helping my sister in law research w&d for the apartment downstairs and she considered the combo but in addition to being pricey and not having good longevity, they also take a really long time to dry the clothes - hours.  She ended up getting a front loader washer from Kenmore (the local Sears is closing and she got a $1200 unit for $519!) and a dryer from LG.  Her choices were limited to smaller units because the hookups are in the furnace room which has a very very small entranceway that can’t be adjusted.  But, once past the door, there was enough room to put them side by side or stack so she went with side by side and is going to get one of those shelf units to go over them.
> 
> Just a caution on your plan to use a glossy paint instead of a matte finish on the walls.  Anything above eggshell, while more “cleanable” and light reflective, tends to show every flaw in the walls/paint when it’s on a big space - especially in a darker color.  Make sure you really prep the walls perfectly.  We used a “pearl” finish in the kitchen (Benjamin Moore’s version of satin) with a darker blue and I see at least 3 spots where he patched that he’s going to have to come back and fix.  I’m debating having him paint all of the walls again in eggshell.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good point! Most of the kitchen is appliance or cabinets, and the one wall that has a large expanse is mostly covered by the "island," but it's still an older house so I"m sure there will be imperfections. Already found plenty in the other rooms!  Part of me doesn't mind - for me, it's part of the charm of an older house. But I still try to reduce it as much as possible.
> 
> The color is a sort of medium-to-light greyish green...or greenish grey. In certain lights, you'd swear they used two different colors in the kitchen, but then the light changes and it all looks the same again. So maybe the semi-gloss will be a bit much, but I'll probably still go with a satin finish at least . Just seeing how much more light is being reflected off of the satin finish in the other rooms and how it makes the space feel a bit bigger makes me want to use the satin in the kitchen as well.
> 
> Those combo machines really do dry slowly. It doesn't bother me too much because it's just me. If I had to do laundry for a family, it would drive me crazy. As it is, the first couple of loads I did in the machine that came with the house was also really frustrating for the same reason. But it's a full-sized dedicated dryer. I figured it just sucked and I would need to replace it sooner rather than later, but we were looking in the attic this past weekend, and I think what's happening is that the exhaust duct is crushed in one section. We're going to see about fixing that soon, but I still think I will be buying new appliances during the Black Friday sales.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Our dryer vent routinely blocks at the screen at the end and it definitely hurts the dryer performance.   The dog hairs help the lint form a wall.  It’s vented through the attic so we have to get up on a ladder to clean the vent.
Click to expand...


Oh lord, I can already imagine the lint I'm going to have to clean out of the trap once the girls are here!


----------



## smoke665

I'm sure the residential model combo units operate more efficiently, but we have one in our RV. the biggest complaints are it doesn't hold much, takes a long time to dry and wrinkles are a problem.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

smoke665 said:


> I'm sure the residential model combo units operate more efficiently, but we have one in our RV. the biggest complaints are it doesn't hold much, takes a long time to dry and wrinkles are a problem.



I have s combined condenser washer dryer - only good if you are short of space.  They can only dry about half the amount of clothes they can wash (mines a 10kg wash but a 7 kg dry) so you need to take out some clothes before drying, or only do small washes.  Plus the condenser system uses the water supply for cooling, which wastes water, and in the Tropics the 'cold' feed is still warm - so it takes hours to dry anything.  Separate is much better if you have the space.


----------



## limr

Yes, well, as I mentioned, I'm not planning on buying one, even though it didn't really bother me to do small loads that took a little longer. I wasn't doing laundry for a house full of people, and it's not like I was down at the river, beating clothes against a rock. You press a couple of buttons and ignore it for a couple of hours. Big deal.

I just don't want to deal with more frequent service calls in a few years.


----------



## SquarePeg

Did I tell you all that I had the day off today?  4 day weekend Hosers!!!!


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Did I tell you all that I had the day off today?  4 day weekend Hosers!!!!



Nice!

I have one more week of blackout days, but then the following week, I am thinking of taking Thursday and Friday off so I can sleeeeeeeeeep. Or finish floors and then sleeeeeeeeeep.


----------



## Original katomi

Hiya all
How is everyone?
Sorry in advance for typos
We, the royal we.  Mrs suggests ideas, I try and make them happen
Have been doing some work out in the back garden, well and truly over knack......d I was planing to doa night photography as a clear night.
I have osteoporosis in various joints inc knees and hands
At the moment I Can’t hold the I pad let  alone DSLR....... if I don’t post Sunday it’s cos
In the morning I -ave pulled the blanket over my head and mummbled ..... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


----------



## Jeff15

I will have one of what you are on......


----------



## smoke665

Glorious end to a great day. Huge breakfast at one of the tourist joints that Lil'Bit enjoys (they have animatron chickens that sing), followed by a drive through the mountains. No bears or wildlife, but L'il Bit rode in her lawn chair (with Mom) in the bed of the truck on the 11 mile Cades Cove loop. That in itself was a treat for a little city girl. Finished off with a light supper, sitting out by a mountain stream, enjoying the sound of the stream, crickets, and a bottle of our favorite vino. Temperature and humidity couldn't be better if we planned it......every now and then life is good.


----------



## compur

Currently in my neighborhood (and still rising):


----------



## compur




----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> Glorious end to a great day. Huge breakfast at one of the tourist joints that Lil'Bit enjoys (they have animatron chickens that sing), followed by a drive through the mountains. No bears or wildlife, but L'il Bit rode in her lawn chair (with Mom) in the bed of the truck on the 11 mile Cades Cove loop. That in itself was a treat for a little city girl. Finished off with a light supper, sitting out by a mountain stream, enjoying the sound of the stream, crickets, and a bottle of our favorite vino. Temperature and humidity couldn't be better if we planned it......every now and then life is good.


It sounds lovely!   You must have sent that low humidity east, because it sure has dropped, and it's just a beautiful day here! 

We've had tons of rain this summer, which always beats having a drought in the SE USA, but the trade-off is air so sticky it almost beads up on your skin.  Nasty! 

I'm getting fall fever.


----------



## terri

compur said:


>


----------



## compur




----------



## limr

Ew.


----------



## Jeff15

46.1 is a little too warm for me.......


----------



## Tropicalmemories

compur said:


>



Wow - that's hot!  Take care.


----------



## compur

Whew! That was a scotch-ah! An hour ago I took a little drive and it was down to 107*° *and now it's down to a mere 99*°*. It's supposed to be almost 20 degrees "cooler" tomorrow, fortunately.


----------



## SquarePeg

compur said:


> Whew! That was a scotch-ah! An hour ago I took a little drive and it was down to 107*° *and now it's down to a mere 99*°*. It's supposed to be almost 20 degrees "cooler" tomorrow, fortunately.



Yikes!  Take care.  I heard on the radio the other day that they now want to name heat waves the way they name hurricanes - the purpose being to increase awareness.  I believe they said heat waves kill more people each year than any other type of severe weather.


----------



## limr

One room is basically done except for finishing touches.

Before:




 


After:


----------



## SquarePeg

Love the floors!  Is that hardwood or the porcelain tiles that look like wood?


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Love the floors!  Is that hardwood or the porcelain tiles that look like wood?



Engineered hardwood. Which means there is a thin layer of real hardwood bonded to a plank of a different kind of wood. So it's all wood, but only the top layer is the fancy wood. This is acacia wood. I am sooooo happy with how it came out. Took us about 5 hours to do the room, so we'll do two more rooms next weekend. At that point, I may move in enough furniture to set up the office and bedroom and start staying there to make it easier to do the rest of the house.


----------



## Original katomi

SquarePeg said:


> compur said:
> 
> 
> 
> Whew! That was a scotch-ah! An hour ago I took a little drive and it was down to 107*° *and now it's down to a mere 99*°*. It's supposed to be almost 20 degrees "cooler" tomorrow, fortunately.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yikes!  Take care.  I heard on the radio the other day that they now want to name heat waves the way they name hurricanes - the purpose being to increase awareness.  I believe they said heat waves kill more people each year than any other type of severe weather.
Click to expand...


If they name them with female names..... there will be a whole load more   “Hotties”
You can already hear the chat up lines...


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> One room is basically done except for finishing touches.
> 
> Before:
> 
> View attachment 197068
> 
> 
> After:
> 
> View attachment 197069


LOVE the wood.  I made a pen & pencil set out of Acacia back when I had the lathe.  I take it that isn't the same corner.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Love the floors!  Is that hardwood or the porcelain tiles that look like wood?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Engineered hardwood. Which means there is a thin layer of real hardwood bonded to a plank of a different kind of wood. So it's all wood, but only the top layer is the fancy wood. This is acacia wood. I am sooooo happy with how it came out. Took us about 5 hours to do the room, so we'll do two more rooms next weekend. At that point, I may move in enough furniture to set up the office and bedroom and start staying there to make it easier to do the rest of the house.
Click to expand...

That turned out great!   Looks beautiful.  

I'm betting that you'll get faster, too.  5 hours isn't bad at all, but the more you get in the groove  of a project like this the easier it becomes.    Love your choices here. 

You must be getting pretty pumped!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> LOVE the wood.  I made a pen & pencil set out of Acacia back when I had the lathe.  I take it that isn't the same corner.



No, it's not the same corner. I got lazy and just snapped a shot from where I was standing when I decided to take an After picture 

Acacia is gorgeous wood. Too bad you don't have the lathe anymore. Those things are fun. My father had one. Pretty sure my brother took it. 



terri said:


> That turned out great!   Looks beautiful.
> 
> I'm betting that you'll get faster, too.  5 hours isn't bad at all, but the more you get in the groove  of a project like this the easier it becomes.    Love your choices here.
> 
> You must be getting pretty pumped!



Thanks! I am so excited we're finally at the flooring stage. It means moving day is getting closer  And yeah, now that we've done one room and know better what we're doing and have also established a workflow, I think it will go more quickly. Buzz starts his classes this week, and he starts getting crashy in the evenings whereas I start getting more energy, so usually during the week, I will head up to the house after work and keep working, so I'll prep the floors in the two other bedrooms and do some other detail work, and we figure both rooms and maybe the hallway will be done over the weekend.


----------



## snowbear

I'll get another lathe once we leave this apartment, though I'll probably get a smaller one.  I want to learn to turn bowls, this time.

I got where I could do various kits: pen & pencil sets, tree ornaments, a dinner bell, even a couple of these for a Harry Potter event for the kids at the bookstore.  15", 5-1/4" handle; maple and mahogany.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I'll get another lathe once we leave this apartment, though I'll probably get a smaller one.  I want to learn to turn bowls, this time.
> 
> I got where I could do various kits: pen & pencil sets, tree ornaments, a dinner bell, even a couple of these for a Harry Potter event for the kids at the bookstore.  15", 5-1/4" handle; maple and mahogany.



Gorgeous work, Charlie bear!


----------



## SquarePeg

Expellioramus!


----------



## Original katomi

Nice lathe work,


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, guys.


----------



## waday

Is it Charlie, or Ollivander?


----------



## snowbear

I think Ollivander was only the shop keeper; I don't think anyone knows who really made the wands.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> I think Ollivander was only the shop keeper; I don't think anyone knows who really made the wands.



Nah, he was the wand maker, too. You have to take credit!


----------



## snowbear

I just found out my GIS boss has recommended me to be the chair of the "Local Government" caucus in the state GIS committee.  Basically I'll report on what the other counties and municipalities in the state are doing for GIS projects and events.  Attend monthly executive committee meetings and give a short presentation at the quarterly membership meetings.
----------------
Completely unrelated (forgive me).
Apparently this is a catering company.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

snowbear said:


> I just found out my GIS boss has recommended me to be the chair of the "Local Government" caucus in the state GIS committee. Basically I'll report on what the other counties and municipalities in the state are doing for GIS projects and events. Attend monthly executive committee meetings and give a short presentation at the quarterly membership meetings.






snowbear said:


> Apparently this is a catering company.



Just _what_ do they cater to though?


----------



## snowbear

Yeah, or where?  We' don't want to go any further down that road in the public side.  The mods pretty much leave us alone and let us get away with some mild or understated stuff; I'd like to keep it that way.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Yeah, or where?  We' don't want to go any further down that road in the public side.  The mods pretty much leave us alone and let us get away with some mild or understated stuff; I'd like to keep it that way.


DOWN,  SIMBAH!


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> I just found out my GIS boss has recommended me to be the chair of the "Local Government" caucus in the state GIS committee.  Basically I'll report on what the other counties and municipalities in the state are doing for GIS projects and events.  Attend monthly executive committee meetings and give a short presentation at the quarterly membership meetings.
> ----------------
> Completely unrelated (forgive me).
> Apparently this is a catering company.
> View attachment 197182


Is it a public meeting? Can I come as a disgruntled member of the public and cause a ruckus for the caucus?

As for the catering company, we’re gonna need the Six Ws.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just found out my GIS boss has recommended me to be the chair of the "Local Government" caucus in the state GIS committee.  Basically I'll report on what the other counties and municipalities in the state are doing for GIS projects and events.  Attend monthly executive committee meetings and give a short presentation at the quarterly membership meetings.
> ----------------
> Completely unrelated (forgive me).
> Apparently this is a catering company.
> View attachment 197182
> 
> 
> 
> Is it a public meeting? Can I come as a disgruntled member of the public and cause a ruckus for the caucus?
> 
> As for the catering company, we’re gonna need the Six Ws.
Click to expand...

Yes, the meetings are public.  My term won't start until January.  I am still on very friendly terms with some police types. 

The funny thing was how I found out II haven't been officially told I was nominated).  At the Exec meeting, my boss mentioned the group really needs a photographer, as the person that was doing it has left.  Some of them know I play around with a camera - I usually take it when we meet in person.

Afterwards, I told the boss "So you need a photographer?  I think I know someone."  He told me "But you already have a job."
Long story short, he told me of his recommendation.  We'll see what happens at the election ( I suspect I am unopposed).


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Of the 2, which would you prefer though?


----------



## snowbear

Caucus chair or photographer?  I'll go with the chair, and still take a few photos when I get the chance.  It's all volunteer, anyway.


----------



## SquarePeg

Our older dog had surgery today for bladder stones.  2nd time in 2 years.  He’s resting now at home.  Poor baby.


----------



## snowbear

Aww, poor puppy.


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Just _what_ do they cater to though?



What's in a name?  According to the website they're a minority owned  catering/food truck company in Waldorf, MD, founded by Chef Stephen Humphrey in memory of his mother Thelma Humphrey and his Aunt Eleanor Grant, who both died of cancer.  Seems they also donate 10% of their proceeds to cancer research and organizations that support cancer victims. Sometimes there's a lot more to a name than first glance reveals.


----------



## limr

It's still a funny name.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Our older dog had surgery today for bladder stones.  2nd time in 2 years.  He’s resting now at home.  Poor baby.


     Sounds like he was in some pain!   Hope he feels better soon.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Our older dog had surgery today for bladder stones.  2nd time in 2 years.  He’s resting now at home.  Poor baby.


Any idea on how to prevent them? Our dog used to have UTIs all the time and she had lots of minerals in her urine. We changed her food a bit and made sure she got more water in her diet. Doc thinks that has helped, but apparently she’s more prone to them than some other breeds. She hasn’t had a UTI in some time.

We need an empathy button on here...


----------



## snowbear




----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> It's still a funny name.


Like "Save the Ta Tas" only with some Southern Maryland directness.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our older dog had surgery today for bladder stones.  2nd time in 2 years.  He’s resting now at home.  Poor baby.
> 
> 
> 
> Any idea on how to prevent them? Our dog used to have UTIs all the time and she had lots of minerals in her urine. We changed her food a bit and made sure she got more water in her diet. Doc thinks that has helped, but apparently she’s more prone to them than some other breeds. She hasn’t had a UTI in some time.
> 
> We need an empathy button on here...
Click to expand...


he’s been on a special diet with prescription food that’s supposed to help break down the crystals before they form into stones. I don’t know how well it works because this is the second time he’s needed this same surgery in 2 years.  we are pretty generous with the healthy treats like carrots and frozen blueberries.   One of the vets that I spoke to last time said that as long as he eats the prescribed food, he can have other healthy items with it, This time they said it’s best not to give him anything but the prescription food (which he doesn’t really like). The surgeon at the vet hospital told me that the type of stones that he has aren’t caused by diet and some dogs are genetically inclined to develop the stones.  He’ll be limited to just the prescription food this time with no treats


----------



## snowbear




----------



## snowbear

My latest med is causing some drowsiness - later peeps.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our older dog had surgery today for bladder stones.  2nd time in 2 years.  He’s resting now at home.  Poor baby.
> 
> 
> 
> Any idea on how to prevent them? Our dog used to have UTIs all the time and she had lots of minerals in her urine. We changed her food a bit and made sure she got more water in her diet. Doc thinks that has helped, but apparently she’s more prone to them than some other breeds. She hasn’t had a UTI in some time.
> 
> We need an empathy button on here...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> he’s been on a special diet with prescription food that’s supposed to help break down the crystals before they form into stones. I don’t know how well it works because this is the second time he’s needed this same surgery in 2 years.  we are pretty generous with the healthy treats like carrots and frozen blueberries.   One of the vets that I spoke to last time said that as long as he eats the prescribed food, he can have other healthy items with it, This time they said it’s best not to give him anything but the prescription food (which he doesn’t really like). The surgeon at the vet hospital told me that the type of stones that he has aren’t caused by diet and some dogs are genetically inclined to develop the stones.  He’ll be limited to just the prescription food this time with no treats
Click to expand...

Poor dude. 

Ah, crystals, that’s what I meant! Roxy had a lot of crystals according to the one vet, and we put her on prescription diet, etc. We ended up changing vets, and new vet said, “If you get her to drink more water, you could probably take her off prescription meds; give her a wet and dry mix.” That actually worked, and she’s been on that for 3 years or so. 

Roxy was also getting a lot of milkbones. We stopped those, and that also seemed to help quite a bit. Now, she only gets a small treat once a day before bed.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Sharon, how's the pup? Hope he's feeling better, poor little thing 

I spent the weekend laying floors. My whole body hurts and if there were a way I could bathe in lidocaine pain cream, I would. But things are starting to shape up. 

Master bedroom, before: 







After:


----------



## SquarePeg

The pup is doing good.  We had some drama Friday night with him freaking out and acting crazy and we had to call the emergency vet but he seems to be past that.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Our older dog had surgery today for bladder stones.  2nd time in 2 years.  He’s resting now at home.  Poor baby.



Ahhh poor pup!  Snickers had bladder stone surgery 2 years ago.  Since then he is on a cranberry chew regime and no new stones.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our older dog had surgery today for bladder stones.  2nd time in 2 years.  He’s resting now at home.  Poor baby.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ahhh poor pup!  Snickers had bladder stone surgery 2 years ago.  Since then he is on a cranberry chew regime and no new stones.
Click to expand...


Please tell me more about this cranberry chew regime?


----------



## terri

Those floors look gorgeous, Leo!  Great job. 

Glad to hear the little guy's on the mend, Sharon.        Poor buddy.


----------



## smoke665

So much for the diet this week!!! Yesterday was treatment day for DW, so I volunteered to have supper ready when she got home. Pan seared 1/2" thick center cut ham steak, sweet potato casserole, and a big platter of fried green tomatoes with Mississippi Come Back sauce on the side. 

This morning I was up early making a batch of biscuits to go with the left over ham. Even DW admitted they were better then the store bought, but not quite as good as Jack's yet. 

Thankfully we only snacked during the day, because this evening while grilling some chopped sirloin, I noticed we finally had some ripe Brown figs. While she finished up the supper and made the salad, I picked enough figs for sauteed figs in butter, cinnamon, with caramelized brown sugar. OMG they are so good just by themselves, but as a topping for vanilla ice cream, they're over the top. 

Guess I'll diet next week


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our older dog had surgery today for bladder stones.  2nd time in 2 years.  He’s resting now at home.  Poor baby.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ahhh poor pup!  Snickers had bladder stone surgery 2 years ago.  Since then he is on a cranberry chew regime and no new stones.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Please tell me more about this cranberry chew regime?
Click to expand...


From NaturVet the Cranberry Relief, a healthy urinary tract.  Also switched out dog food to a grain free Zignature.  Snickers gets a yearly urinary test and no stones in 2 years.


----------



## snowbear

Well, I got the official word of nomination for the State Geo Committee - Chair of the Advocacy subcommittee.  I'd be the primary contact for information on (applying for and receiving) grants, oversee a team to accomplish awarded grant activities, and report any state and local government actions that could have impact on the organization's, or member's activities.

I gave my acceptance speech on the front lawn, in the (unidentified bush) garden.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

snowbear said:


> I gave my acceptance speech on the front lawn, in the (unidentified bush) garden.




Congrats!


----------



## CherylL

Yesterday morning I dropped off items for the local Blessing Box.  I couldn't believe how empty!  My husband & I posted on FB and 2 community pages for donations.  By afternoon the box was full.  Got a few messages from people that since there was no room in the box they would take their items later.  It is nice when the community comes together.  There is a definite need.
The box that morning.  It is deeper than it appears.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, all.  Not a big deal, but it's a way to help out more.  GIS boss mentioned that it only takes one vote if the position is uncontested, and he offered to sell his vote.  I'll make him a crab cake; that's the MD-VA equivalent of a Lobstah Roll for the New Englandahs.  They're wicked good.


----------



## snowbear

CherylL said:


> Yesterday morning I dropped off items for the local Blessing Box.  I couldn't believe how empty!  My husband & I posted on FB and 2 community pages for donations.  By afternoon the box was full.  Got a few messages from people that since there was no room in the box they would take their items later.  It is nice when the community comes together.  There is a definite need.
> The box that morning.  It is deeper than it appears.
> View attachment 197588


 Around here the contents and the box would disappear.


----------



## Original katomi

Years ago where I used to live there was a box like that for books drop books in or take book for a donation 
Local yobs set it on fire on night


----------



## snowbear

A dose of local "Awww"


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> A dose of local "Awww"



SQUEEEEE!!


----------



## Original katomi

Found a new use for the storm boards
I have a drop in board in the f door just in case of a flood high tide
So hot today I put the board in to stop the dogs just running out of the propped open f door
Brill lol flood board now dog board


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Years ago where I used to live there was a box like that for books drop books in or take book for a donation
> Local yobs set it on fire on night



We have several of those here in town.  They're called "little free libraries" and are very popular.  I did notice the one on our street had some canned goods in it one day when I was dropping some books off.  Maybe someone got confused????


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yesterday morning I dropped off items for the local Blessing Box.  I couldn't believe how empty!  My husband & I posted on FB and 2 community pages for donations.  By afternoon the box was full.  Got a few messages from people that since there was no room in the box they would take their items later.  It is nice when the community comes together.  There is a definite need.
> The box that morning.  It is deeper than it appears.
> View attachment 197588
> 
> 
> 
> Around here the contents and the box would disappear.
Click to expand...


You may have one in your area.  The box no on disappearing, but the food yes.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

The Little Free Library is a big hit around here too @SquarePeg.


----------



## CherylL

There are a few little free libraries around here too.


----------



## CherylL

Pet peeve:  Everyone wants a review online.  From online purchases at Amazon or Walmart, the car dealership for oil change, the check up at the doctor's office, toner or notepads bought online, the vet, etc.   I don't mind rating my Instacart shopper.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> Pet peeve:  Everyone wants a review online.  From online purchases at Amazon or Walmart, the car dealership for oil change, the check up at the doctor's office, toner or notepads bought online, the vet, etc.   I don't mind rating my Instacart shopper.



I will usually only review something if I’m really not happy and think I can save someone else the pain.


----------



## RowdyRay

SquarePeg said:


> I will usually only review something if I’m really not happy and think I can save someone else the pain.



Exactly why I read the reviews for a serious purchase. Many won't leave a positive review. But, if it's bad............they'll let you know. 

I'm "Up North" this week. Had to get out of the house. A couple weeks too early for the full fall colors. Oh well. Hoping for some loon or eagle shots. Sitting next to a roaring fire, drinking some wobbly pops as I type. Life is good. Hope everyone else is doing well.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Hmm...no comments on RBG? I listened to a wonderful commentary on a friendship with her on NPR's "All Things Considered" yesterday on the way home from work. Search for " A Decades-Long Friendship With The Late RBG " by Nina Totenberg. I am sorry I can't post the link. This Chromebook doesn't allow copy and paste Junk, junk, junk!


----------



## SquarePeg

I fear that any serious comments about RBG will turn into a political “debate” which is not allowed in the main forums so I’ve kept my thoughts to myself and in the Trump thread in the subscriber’s section.  All that can safely be said in the open forums is that we lost a legend.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> Hi all



Hey


----------



## SquarePeg

Howdy!


----------



## Original katomi

How are you all today ?


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> How are you all today ?


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## CherylL

It was Quincy's turn for the only child walk at the nature center.  On the way there an idiot pulled out in front of us and had to slam on the breaks.  Little Quincy hit the back seat.  He is okay thankfully.  I think it is time to get him a doggie seat.  The plus side is he would then be able to see out the window.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> It was Quincy's turn for the only child walk at the nature center.  On the way there an idiot pulled out in front of us and had to slam on the breaks.  Little Quincy hit the back seat.  He is okay thankfully.  I think it is time to get him a doggie seat.  The plus side is he would then be able to see out the window.



Glad he’s ok.  We have a clip that goes into the seatbelt buckle on one end and attaches to the dog’s harness at the other.  Harlie doesn’t mind it she just lays on the back seat and doesn’t seem to like the car at all.  Xing stands against the side with his whole face out the window.  He hates the harness and I usually humor him so I don’t have to listen to the whining.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all love that gif of the person on a chair going round and round 
It about sums up my day today ...just going round and round getting no where


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> He hates the harness and I usually humor him so I don’t have to listen to the whining.


That's what I had to do with Boomer (son #1) and Lazy Lobster.


----------



## SquarePeg

House painting is finally almost done.  Just the front door left to do.  What do you think of my color choice?

house color




Door color




Color on someone else’s door on Pinterest


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> House painting is finally almost done.  Just the front door left to do.  What do you think of my color choice?
> 
> house color
> View attachment 197890
> 
> Door color
> View attachment 197888
> 
> Color on someone else’s door on Pinterest
> View attachment 197889


Love the colors


----------



## SquarePeg

It’s official, I’m once again welcome in Maine!!!   Just in time for my 4 day weekend coming up.


----------



## compur

SquarePeg said:


> ... in the subscriber’s section.



Where is this subscriber's section you speak of?


----------



## limr

Very nice! The blue looks similar to the one I chose for the accent wall in the living room. Though it looks greener in this picture than it does in real life. (Those aren't my new floors - that's the tile we found when we started ripping up the carpet.)


----------



## SquarePeg

Please don’t bring comments on closed/controversial threads into our friendly Coffee House.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Very nice! The blue looks similar to the one I chose for the accent wall in the living room. Though it looks greener in this picture than it does in real life. (Those aren't my new floors - that's the tile we found when we started ripping up the carpet.)



The darker blues are super hot right now.  That looks just like the color I used in the “eat in” part of my kitchen.  It’s gorgeous with the white trim.  Are those wood tiles?  I have a parquet floor in my basement.  It’s very 50’s. When was the house built?  I saw a funny meme the other day about Boomers making fun of Millenials but they were the ones who covered up wood floors with carpeting!


----------



## SquarePeg

compur said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... in the subscriber’s section.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Where is this subscriber's section you speak of?
Click to expand...

There is an annual fee for supporting members who have access to the Subscribers forum.  Warning -while  I wouldn’t say it’s “no holds barred”, it is generally left to the users to moderate so it’s not for the easily offended. . Most of the hot button threads in there are political.   To subscribe Click on your user name top right then select Account Upgrades.


----------



## Original katomi

Squarepeg 
Like the colours

the place is looking good


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Very nice! The blue looks similar to the one I chose for the accent wall in the living room. Though it looks greener in this picture than it does in real life. (Those aren't my new floors - that's the tile we found when we started ripping up the carpet.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The darker blues are super hot right now.  That looks just like the color I used in the “eat in” part of my kitchen.  It’s gorgeous with the white trim.  Are those wood tiles?  I have a parquet floor in my basement.  It’s very 50’s. When was the house built?  I saw a funny meme the other day about Boomers making fun of Millenials but they were the ones who covered up wood floors with carpeting!
Click to expand...


The tiles are some sort of thin ceramic, not wood at all. The house was built in 1977 and then the woman I bought it from had lived there with her husband and daughter starting in 1990, give or take a year. The tile must be original, since it was mounted directly on the concrete slab foundation. I don't know who first put the carpets down, but clearly there had been carpets for a long time. I know that the carpets in the photo were only about 2 years old and all the padding was new, but the giveaway is that the installers only replaced some of the wooden trim with the nails that hold down the carpet. It was new in the bedrooms and very easy to remove. The hallway and the main living area carpet was installed on the original trim and that stuff is a beast to get off. Pulling out the nails sometimes also takes a piece of the tile with it. So the prep for the new flooring is taking almost longer than actually laying the new floor. Last night I worked on just getting the carpet and pad off the floor. Tonight or tomorrow, I'll chip away at the trim.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> House painting is finally almost done.  Just the front door left to do.  What do you think of my color choice?
> 
> house color
> View attachment 197890
> 
> Door color
> View attachment 197888
> 
> Color on someone else’s door on Pinterest
> View attachment 197889


Love it!   You chose well, these are beautiful colors together.   Gonna look great!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Very nice! The blue looks similar to the one I chose for the accent wall in the living room. Though it looks greener in this picture than it does in real life. (Those aren't my new floors - that's the tile we found when we started ripping up the carpet.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The darker blues are super hot right now.  That looks just like the color I used in the “eat in” part of my kitchen.  It’s gorgeous with the white trim.  Are those wood tiles?  I have a parquet floor in my basement.  It’s very 50’s. When was the house built?  I saw a funny meme the other day about Boomers making fun of Millenials but they were the ones who covered up wood floors with carpeting!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The tiles are some sort of thin ceramic, not wood at all. The house was built in 1977 and then the woman I bought it from had lived there with her husband and daughter starting in 1990, give or take a year. The tile must be original, since it was mounted directly on the concrete slab foundation. I don't know who first put the carpets down, but clearly there had been carpets for a long time. I know that the carpets in the photo were only about 2 years old and all the padding was new, but the giveaway is that the installers only replaced some of the wooden trim with the nails that hold down the carpet. It was new in the bedrooms and very easy to remove. The hallway and the main living area carpet was installed on the original trim and that stuff is a beast to get off. Pulling out the nails sometimes also takes a piece of the tile with it. So the prep for the new flooring is taking almost longer than actually laying the new floor. Last night I worked on just getting the carpet and pad off the floor. Tonight or tomorrow, I'll chip away at the trim.
Click to expand...

It's a labor of love, isn't it?    But it's going to be worth it at the end - going to look gorgeous.


----------



## SquarePeg

Obviously landscaping is still not done and walkway needs new “grout” or whatever it’s called but almost done!  Plants and grass will wait until next year.    I think I’m going to change the hardware and kick plates on the doors to a dark bronze.  Rustoleum makes a great paint called Oil Rubbed Bronze that looks beautiful on everything metal.


----------



## terri

It looks great!!       The walkway looks so nice in front of it, ties it all in.   

Yeah, likely too late in the year to bother with too much landscaping (though fall is supposed to be a good time of year for grass - at least here in the SE USA).   It's going to shine by next summer.    I'm sure you're glad to be on the other side of this project!


----------



## waday

So fudging cute!


----------



## SquarePeg

Got to get my house numbers back on the door so Uber eats can find us again! #pandemicpriorities


----------



## snowbear

compur said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... in the subscriber’s section.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Where is this subscriber's section you speak of?
Click to expand...

It's the second left after the NSFW gallery, but it's "members only."  Contact @terri to join up.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 197927 View attachment 197928
> 
> Obviously landscaping is still not done and walkway needs new “grout” or whatever it’s called but almost done!  Plants and grass will wait until next year.    I think I’m going to change the hardware and kick plates on the doors to a dark bronze.  Rustoleum makes a great paint called Oil Rubbed Bronze that looks beautiful on everything metal.



I love the combo and how the door pulls out the variation in brick colors.


----------



## snowbear

So, it's been a very long day at work.  At least the commute is short.
MLW said the Office Depot up the street is closing - apparently they're "restructuring" by closing stores and laying of up to 13,000 people over the next few years.  Sounds a little like Sears.  We normally go to Staples, but I'm going by to look for paper & other art-type supplies.

She was looking for a tablet but they shelves were stripped bare, so she's taking me to Best Buy, T-mo or the Apple store over the weekend!

Later - time to start thinking about cake & ice cream (low sugar, I assure you).


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 197927 View attachment 197928
> 
> Obviously landscaping is still not done and walkway needs new “grout” or whatever it’s called but almost done!  Plants and grass will wait until next year.    I think I’m going to change the hardware and kick plates on the doors to a dark bronze.  Rustoleum makes a great paint called Oil Rubbed Bronze that looks beautiful on everything metal.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I love the combo and how the door pulls out the variation in brick colors.
Click to expand...


Im happy with the way it turned out.  Princess doesn’t like the color but she’s not the boss of me.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> So, it's been a very long day at work.  At least the commute is short.
> MLW said the Office Depot up the street is closing - apparently they're "restructuring" by closing stores and laying of up to 13,000 people over the next few years.  Sounds a little like Sears.  We normally go to Staples, but I'm going by to look for paper & other art-type supplies.
> 
> She was looking for a tablet but they shelves were stripped bare, so she's taking me to Best Buy, T-mo or the Apple store over the weekend!
> 
> Later - time to start thinking about cake & ice cream (low sugar, I assure you).



maybe try to hold off for Black Friday sales


----------



## snowbear

You did a really nice job, Sharon.  Well done.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> So, it's been a very long day at work.  At least the commute is short.
> MLW said the Office Depot up the street is closing - apparently they're "restructuring" by closing stores and laying of up to 13,000 people over the next few years.  Sounds a little like Sears.  We normally go to Staples, but I'm going by to look for paper & other art-type supplies.
> 
> She was looking for a tablet but they shelves were stripped bare, so she's taking me to Best Buy, T-mo or the Apple store over the weekend!
> 
> Later - time to start thinking about cake & ice cream (low sugar, I assure you).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> maybe try to hold off for Black Friday sales
Click to expand...

That's a thought, too.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> You did a really nice job, Sharon.  Well done.



Silly  bear I just write the checks!  Well on the big projects anyway.  I do the small stuff myself.  I’ll post some before and after on the nice solid wood bookcase I got for free and refurbished.  Have to out the shelves in and “style “ it first!


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> So, it's been a very long day at work.  At least the commute is short.
> MLW said the Office Depot up the street is closing - apparently they're "restructuring" by closing stores and laying of up to 13,000 people over the next few years.  Sounds a little like Sears.  We normally go to Staples, but I'm going by to look for paper & other art-type supplies.
> 
> She was looking for a tablet but they shelves were stripped bare, so she's taking me to Best Buy, T-mo or the Apple store over the weekend!
> 
> Later - time to start thinking about cake & ice cream (low sugar, I assure you).



Office Depot and Office Max merged stores around here.  Sad that more jobs are lost.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 197927 View attachment 197928
> 
> Obviously landscaping is still not done and walkway needs new “grout” or whatever it’s called but almost done!  Plants and grass will wait until next year.    I think I’m going to change the hardware and kick plates on the doors to a dark bronze.  Rustoleum makes a great paint called Oil Rubbed Bronze that looks beautiful on everything metal.



I love the colors!  Brings out the bricks and the slate walkway.


----------



## CherylL

Busy day here with deliveries.  First Instacart, then Amazon and then a Fedex delivery from B&H.  New lens!
The pups checking out the booster car seat.  Oscar took ownership.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> Busy day here with deliveries.  First Instacart, then Amazon and then a Fedex delivery from B&H.  *New lens!*
> The pups checking out the booster car seat.  Oscar took ownership.
> 
> View attachment 197949



Do tell!


----------



## Gew

My day just got a bit better.
This was because of the dogs.

I love animals.
They are nicer than human.

Now, have a nice weekend! <3


----------



## terri

Gew said:


> My day just got a bit better.
> This was because of the dogs.
> 
> I love animals.
> They are nicer than human.
> 
> Now, have a nice weekend! <3


Lots of animal lovers here!  You have a nice weekend, too - come back to the Coffee House soon.


----------



## limr

Hosers.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: it is a cruel fact of life that one must make coffee before having had coffee.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

limr said:


> Hosers.
> 
> I've said it before and I'll say it again: it is a cruel fact of life that one must make coffee before having had coffee.



If there's no coffee in Heaven, I don't think I want to go


----------



## Space Face

Gew said:


> My day just got a bit better.
> This was because of the dogs.
> 
> I love animals.
> They are nicer than human.
> 
> Now, have a nice weekend! <3




Only some


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Keurig: best invention evah!


----------



## limr

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Keurig: best invention evah!



I kinda wish those worked for me, but they don't. I have one at work to use in a pinch, but I don't like it at home. First, the coffee is never quite strong enough for me, even with the darkest roasts. Also, it bothers me to use the disposable pods. I feel guilty every time I throw one away. Which brings me to third - because I don't like to use the disposable, I bought some refillable ones. They are better because I can use my own coffee and pack it tighter to make a stronger cup of coffee. But they are fussy and it's a pita to clean them. I could pre-fill them, but then the coffee gets stale and it defeats the purpose of a fresh cup of coffee every time.

So by the time I factor in the fuss of the refillable pods to ease my environmental guilt and to wring a good, strong cup of coffee, I figure I might as well just stick to my French press or stove-top Bioletti 

Ironically, the mistake I made this morning was to forget I had already put grounds in the French press, so I added them again and made a TOO strong pot of coffee. It was okay at first - basically tasted like espresso. And I like espresso. But there's a reason espresso is served in small cups. It's best in small doses, not in full-sized mugs


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I totally agree. I went to Cairo many years ago as a very young man. Being less than a world traveler at the time, I eagerly accepted a demitasse of Arab coffee, and asked for black please. OMG! Talk about putting hair in places that shouldn't have hair


----------



## limr

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I totally agree. I went to Cairo many years ago as a very young man. Being less than a world traveler at the time, I eagerly accepted a demitasse of Arab coffee, and asked for black please. OMG! Talk about putting hair in places that shouldn't have hair



When you order coffee in Turkey, they ask you if you want "şekerli " (with sugar = sweet), "orta" (medium sweet), or "şekersiz (without sugar). They always seemed to be very impressed with a foreign woman asking for şekersiz


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Food is a great ambassador, isn't it? The local restauranteurs in Korea used to love seeing Americans eat kimchi, and were very generous with the portions when they saw I liked it.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> First, the coffee is never quite strong enough for me, even with the darkest roasts. Also, it bothers me to use the disposable pods. I feel guilty every time I throw one away.


That's what makes these little pod-things a complete non-starter for me.   Doesn't have to be Keurig; there are so many knock-offs these days.   Plus, regular coffee brands think it's clever to package their brand in these plastic pods so they'll work in the Keurig dispensers.   As someone who routinely looks for ways to avoid plastics in general, that's a dismaying trend.  

I've consulted with my mom, the quintessential 50's housewife, and it's been a pleasant surprise to see how effective a thin cotton kitchen towel is over bowls, for up to a couple of days.   I've looked at places like Etsy, who has some very clever people designing cloth bowl covers, in varying sizes, designed with elastic like a shower cap.    I'm so going to invest in a couple of sets!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

terri said:


> As someone who routinely looks for ways to avoid plastics in general, that's a dismaying trend.


When I am waiting on the first cup, the world's problems take back seat


----------



## SquarePeg

I do not drink coffee.  I never have.  Can I still hang out in the coffee house?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I suppose Kahlua counts


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> I do not drink coffee.  I never have.  Can I still hang out in the coffee house?


----------



## terri

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do not drink coffee.  I never have.  Can I still hang out in the coffee house?
Click to expand...

That's what I was looking for!


----------



## terri

Dean_Gretsch said:


> When I am waiting on the first cup, the world's problems take back seat


----------



## Jeff15

Greek coffee for me............


----------



## SquarePeg

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I suppose Kahlua counts



You know I’m a mudslide fan!  I’ve also been known to have the occasional B52.


----------



## limr

Jeff15 said:


> Greek  Turkish coffee for me............



FTFY


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Busy day here with deliveries.  First Instacart, then Amazon and then a Fedex delivery from B&H.  *New lens!*
> The pups checking out the booster car seat.  Oscar took ownership.
> 
> View attachment 197949
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do tell!
Click to expand...


16mm f1.4


----------



## CherylL

limr said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> I totally agree. I went to Cairo many years ago as a very young man. Being less than a world traveler at the time, I eagerly accepted a demitasse of Arab coffee, and asked for black please. OMG! Talk about putting hair in places that shouldn't have hair
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When you order coffee in Turkey, they ask you if you want "şekerli " (with sugar = sweet), "orta" (medium sweet), or "şekersiz (without sugar). They always seemed to be very impressed with a foreign woman asking for şekersiz
Click to expand...


I have Turkish coffee and tea sets.  Loved when my Turkish daughter lived with us and cooked for me   She did show me how to make the coffee and tea.


----------



## snowbear

This is a very appropriate birthday cake for me -- Jim Henson's is the same day!
No candles (too much fire).



[


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Happy birthday. So, you can finally buy that beer legally?


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> This is a very appropriate birthday cake for me -- Jim Henson's is the same day!
> No candles (too much fire).
> 
> 
> 
> [



Happy Birthday!! Good cake.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> This is a very appropriate birthday cake for me -- Jim Henson's is the same day!
> No candles (too much fire).
> 
> 
> 
> [


That is so cute! !    Happy birthday, Bear!


----------



## snowbear

Cake is chocolate, icing very blue.  Too much sugar, but I don't care.


----------



## SquarePeg

Me want cake!


----------



## Jeff15

Let everyone have cake.........


----------



## JoshVam

It's also morning here.

I would like a cup of black coffee, and a cinnamon roll.


----------



## Original katomi

8pm here. If I  have a coffee now I will be awake all night
I have both pod coffee and drip filter. Depends on what I feel like having.
I am now normally a mug a day limit sometimes two.....
Many years ago I was in France and had a coffee there  it was small and strong enough to strip paint. First and last time lol


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, guys.
Come on down (and over) - there's  plenty.

MLW took me to lunch, then shopping.  Lunch desert was a Lady Godiva - coffee with Grand Marnier & Godiva Dark Liqueur.
Instead of a tablet, I found what will be a new bear cabinet to replace the IKEA stuff messed up in the the mini-flood.




Bear cabinet #2 by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## terri

That is an awesome looking cabinet, Bear.    My work area is crammed, too - I need to get me one!


----------



## limr

Good cabinet, Charlie!

It reminds me that I need to go "antiquing" for a good table for myself.

So, today I wrenched my anke pretty good while moving the table saw outside. Buzz says my new nickname is now Hopalong. Good thing that laying floors isn't done on my feet.

Going to do as much as we can tomorrow and also put together my new bed. Getting closer to moving day!


----------



## SquarePeg

After seeing a few reports about color up in the notches (northern NH) we decided to make a leaf peeping run today.  With the drought we’ve had this year and the weather ping ponging from 40’s to 80’s every day, I think we may be in for a blink and you missed it foliage season around here. 

See you all in about 12 hours!


----------



## snowbear

Take care of that ankle, Hopalong.  The cabinet is marked as green, though it looks closer to white.  I really wanted glass doors, but this works very well.  We'll try to pick it up next weekend; no rush, the shop owners are family friends.  

Sounds great, Sharon.  We're planning on going to see some color in a couple weeks; probably try for Blue Ridge / Skyline Drive, though Western MD and PA may be a good choice.  Hmmm ... if we can find a Jeep Gladiator to rent, without spending a small fortune, (and decent weather) maybe we can combine the bear case task with the mountain trip.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> That is an awesome looking cabinet, Bear.    My work area is crammed, too - I need to get me one!


Yes.  They have a couple other cabinets, though not exactly the same - come on up  (but wear a mask).


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> I really wanted glass doors, but this works very well.


This one will reduce smudges and fingerprints.   It's a good thing!    

I'll be up there in time for dinner tomorrow.   I think I can lash one on the top of my car.    

But it all depends on dinner - whatcha making?


----------



## snowbear

New England clam chowder, Maryland crab cakes, and a nice Caesar salad.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> New England clam chowder, Maryland crab cakes, and a nice Caesar salad.


Sounds great!     

Now all I have to do is figure out how to get one of those bad boys strapped to the car, and I'm golden.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> New England clam chowder, Maryland crab cakes, and a nice Caesar salad.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds great!
> 
> Now all I have to do is figure out how to get one of those bad boys strapped to the car, and I'm golden.
Click to expand...

Duct tape and bungee cords.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> New England clam chowder, Maryland crab cakes, and a nice Caesar salad.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds great!
> 
> Now all I have to do is figure out how to get one of those bad boys strapped to the car, and I'm golden.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Duct tape and bungee cords.
Click to expand...


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> This is a very appropriate birthday cake for me -- Jim Henson's is the same day!
> No candles (too much fire).
> 
> 
> 
> [



Love the cake!  Happy Birthday!!


----------



## CherylL

Take care with your ankle @limr  Good thing you are working on the floors.

@snowbear love the cabinet.  Appears to be well made.


----------



## CherylL

Quincy in the new booster car seat.  We took the optional padded bed out so the pups fit more in the basket instead of top.  He was apprehensive to get in the car after the brake slam last time.  Funny to see him looking out the windows.  A whole new world for him.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, 00:27 BST here, had a brew of coffee this afternoon about 3pm still bouncing off the walls


----------



## snowbear

BST - Brexit Standard Time?


----------



## waday

snowbear said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> New England clam chowder, Maryland crab cakes, and a nice Caesar salad.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds great!
> 
> Now all I have to do is figure out how to get one of those bad boys strapped to the car, and I'm golden.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Duct tape and bungee cords.
Click to expand...

Jeez, that must be a lot of food!

(Happy Belated Birthday!)


----------



## Original katomi

snowbear said:


> BST - Brexit Standard Time?


What next change BC and AD to 
Pre covid ,after covid


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Nahhh. We have endured pandemics before. We will again. Scientists have been saying one was coming for years.


----------



## terri

Hosers.   My back is currently burning from having steroid injections this afternoon.   The Lidocaine that is mixed into the steroid as a numbing agent is starting to wear off, but I'm supposed to wait awhile longer before gulping any NSAIDS.    Bah!    Back issues suck.    

The good news is that right before the shots, I did remember to load my mystery roll of TMax 100 last night.   I found it way in the back of a bookcase we painted this summer, and I honestly have no clue what it is.    Now that it's at least in the tank, I have made a date with it later this week.    Back must cooperate soon!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Hosers.   My back is currently burning from having steroid injections this afternoon.   The Lidocaine that is mixed into the steroid as a numbing agent is starting to wear off, but I'm supposed to wait awhile longer before gulping any NSAIDS.    Bah!    Back issues suck.
> 
> The good news is that right before the shots, I did remember to load my mystery roll of TMax 100 last night.   I found it way in the back of a bookcase we painted this summer, and I honestly have no clue what it is.    Now that it's at least in the tank, I have made a date with it later this week.    Back must cooperate soon!



That sucks about your back  I hope the time until you can gobble some NSAIDs passes quickly!

My ankle is getting better. All things considered, I got off easy. It was just a bad twist - not too much swelling at all and mostly fine when the foot is straight. It's the 3rd day and I don't really have a noticeable limp anymore. Been taking Aleve and using lidocaine cream and compression socks. Got an ankle brace, too, just to keep it all stable so I don't twist it again.

In other news, the dining area floors are down.


----------



## snowbear

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Nahhh. We have endured pandemics before. We will again. Scientists have been saying one was coming for years.


We're also overdue for another ice age, but I don't think that's going to happen.


----------



## snowbear

Sorry, Terri (and Leonore).  I'm having foot issues - I had to go into the office to move my stuff into the new work space, and my feet are killing me --  _*I am not used to wearing real socks and shoes*_.   I'm going back in tomorrow to finish up.  I only had one large box of stuff and after removing the phone, coffee mug and a beer water glass, I just dumped everything else out on the desk.  If I hadn't, a lot would have just stayed in the box and stashed under the desk.  This will force me to go through it.

Now it's time to rest the back and feet, and have something cold and liquid.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> _*I am not used to wearing real socks and shoes*_.


I HATE wearing socks and shoes!!   It's not that I can't find comfortable items, and even like shoes as a style kind of thing - they can be fun!   And boots.   Love boots. 

But - I'd just rather be barefoot.   Like, all the time.     

@limr :  The flooring is beautiful!   That color paint is about identical to the accent wall I painted this summer in my bedroom.   Ha!


----------



## CherylL

terri said:


> Hosers.   My back is currently burning from having steroid injections this afternoon.   The Lidocaine that is mixed into the steroid as a numbing agent is starting to wear off, but I'm supposed to wait awhile longer before gulping any NSAIDS.    Bah!    Back issues suck.
> 
> The good news is that right before the shots, I did remember to load my mystery roll of TMax 100 last night.   I found it way in the back of a bookcase we painted this summer, and I honestly have no clue what it is.    Now that it's at least in the tank, I have made a date with it later this week.    Back must cooperate soon!



Sorry you are having back issues.  Hope things improve.  Husband started therapy today for his back.


----------



## terri

CherylL said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers.   My back is currently burning from having steroid injections this afternoon.   The Lidocaine that is mixed into the steroid as a numbing agent is starting to wear off, but I'm supposed to wait awhile longer before gulping any NSAIDS.    Bah!    Back issues suck.
> 
> The good news is that right before the shots, I did remember to load my mystery roll of TMax 100 last night.   I found it way in the back of a bookcase we painted this summer, and I honestly have no clue what it is.    Now that it's at least in the tank, I have made a date with it later this week.    Back must cooperate soon!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry you are having back issues.  Hope things improve.  Husband started therapy today for his back.
Click to expand...

Oh dear - he has my sympathies.      I hope he gets relief. 

Thank you - I've been kinda sidelined by mine for 5 years now.   There are routine things that help, like chiropractic and Rolfing, and when I plateau with that I go for the injections.   Two years ago I had lumbar nerve ablation, which was pretty long lasting.   In between I keep up with my yoga and walking.      Nix to drugs beyond over the counter stuff, sparingly.


----------



## snowbear

Finished up in the office.  There is a little more to do but it can wait until we actually report for work; stuff is out of sight.

Yeah, back problems suck.  I got a sharp “twinge” in lower back last night, dull pain now.  I’m waiting room of local minor emergency - I don’t want it to get worse.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Finished up in the office.  There is a little more to do but it can wait until we actually report for work; stuff is out of sight.
> 
> Yeah, back problems suck.  I got a sharp “twinge” in lower back last night, dull pain now.  I’m waiting room of local minor emergency - I don’t want it to get worse.


Eww.      Hope it's not a big deal.  You're smart to get it checked out.   Let us know! 

A nice, overcast, off & on rainy day here.  Very cool temps.   I've made a batch of cream of tomato soup, and it seems perfect for this evening.


----------



## Jeff15

The Kangeroo came in the back door and looked sad.......


----------



## SquarePeg

Jeff15 said:


> The Kangeroo came in the back door and looked sad.......



you ok?


----------



## snowbear

It'll be OK; this isn't new to me.  I got anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxers, no heavy lifting allowed for a while.  The Doc said the prescriptions weren't "going through" on my medical plan, so they could either charge me retail or send it to a pharmacy.  The cost was $27 for the two of them; my company picks up the $30 copay ... yeah, charge me retail.

There isn't a lot going on at work, at the moment.  I just got the newly rehabbed desktop running and the remote-access working, so I'll spend tomorrow, installing all the crap I use that isn't on the refresh image (my GIS packages, Python modules, Adobe CC).


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  Last night my older dog woke me at 4am to go out.  I was waiting for him in the doorway when he knocked a pot of flowers off the steps on his way back up.  I stepped outside to stand it back up and the door blew shut behind me.  Outside in the rain and wind, no shoes, no phone, in my pjs and half asleep.  Thank goodness my mom lives with us or I would never have gotten back inside. Chances of waking the 17 year old just with knocking on the door would be nil.  I'll be hiding a key somewhere!


----------



## Original katomi

A key on a string to put around you neck at night


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  Last night my older dog woke me at 4am to go out.  I was waiting for him in the doorway when he knocked a pot of flowers off the steps on his way back up.  I stepped outside to stand it back up and the door blew shut behind me.  Outside in the rain and wind, no shoes, no phone, in my pjs and half asleep.  Thank goodness my mom lives with us or I would never have gotten back inside. Chances of waking the 17 year old just with knocking on the door would be nil.  I'll be hiding a key somewhere!



Doggie Door.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  Last night my older dog woke me at 4am to go out.  I was waiting for him in the doorway when he knocked a pot of flowers off the steps on his way back up.  I stepped outside to stand it back up and the door blew shut behind me.  Outside in the rain and wind, no shoes, no phone, in my pjs and half asleep.  Thank goodness my mom lives with us or I would never have gotten back inside. Chances of waking the 17 year old just with knocking on the door would be nil.  I'll be hiding a key somewhere!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Doggie Door.
Click to expand...


Also known as a raccoon door, o'possum door, cat door, or any other curious/hungry creature. I was always too paranoid to install one


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers!  Last night my older dog woke me at 4am to go out.  I was waiting for him in the doorway when he knocked a pot of flowers off the steps on his way back up.  I stepped outside to stand it back up and the door blew shut behind me.  Outside in the rain and wind, no shoes, no phone, in my pjs and half asleep.  Thank goodness my mom lives with us or I would never have gotten back inside. Chances of waking the 17 year old just with knocking on the door would be nil.  I'll be hiding a key somewhere!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Doggie Door.
Click to expand...


interesting idea


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> Finished up in the office.  There is a little more to do but it can wait until we actually report for work; stuff is out of sight.
> 
> Yeah, back problems suck.  I got a sharp “twinge” in lower back last night, dull pain now.  I’m waiting room of local minor emergency - I don’t want it to get worse.



Take care snowbear!  Hope you get relief soon.


----------



## CherylL

At 3am the smoke detectors started going off.  All 7 were either saying "Fire" or a siren.  The pups do not like the noise and stayed in bed.  Changed out the battery backups today.


----------



## SquarePeg

Getting ready for the local Art Walk.  If anyone is in the Melrose MA area - the Annual Art Walk showcases local artists in the storefront windows of our local downtown businesses.  It’s a great socially distant activity as you don’t have to go indoors if you just want to look at the art.  This years line up includes paintings, pottery, photographs, unique jewelry and sculptures.  The Art Walk runs from 10/3-10/19 on Main St.  

I need to make some cuts from my prints.  Although the shop owner offered both windows I don’t know if less is more in this case... Going to finish matting them and decide.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Getting ready for the local Art Walk.  If anyone is in the Melrose MA area - the Annual Art Walk showcases local artists in the storefront windows of our local downtown businesses.  It’s a great socially distant activity as you don’t have to go indoors if you just want to look at the art.  This years line up includes paintings, pottery, photographs, unique jewelry and sculptures.  The Art Walk runs from 10/3-10/19 on Main St.
> 
> I need to make some cuts from my prints.  Although the shop owner offered both windows I don’t know if less is more in this case... Going to finish matting them and decide.
> 
> View attachment 198224



They are all so beautiful!  Tough decision to cull.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Getting ready for the local Art Walk.  If anyone is in the Melrose MA area - the Annual Art Walk showcases local artists in the storefront windows of our local downtown businesses.  It’s a great socially distant activity as you don’t have to go indoors if you just want to look at the art.  This years line up includes paintings, pottery, photographs, unique jewelry and sculptures.  The Art Walk runs from 10/3-10/19 on Main St.
> 
> I need to make some cuts from my prints.  Although the shop owner offered both windows I don’t know if less is more in this case... Going to finish matting them and decide.
> 
> View attachment 198224


It's a good problem to have.     The prints look great in this photo. 

Hope it all goes smoothly, and there's lots of appropriately socially distant turnout!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Those all look awesome printed. I'd hate to cut any


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> At 3am the smoke detectors started going off.  All 7 were either saying "Fire" or a siren.  The pups do not like the noise and stayed in bed.  Changed out the battery backups today.



Fun.  Our older dog gets freaked out by them and hides downstairs in the basement.  The puppy doesn’t seem to notice or care. 



terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Getting ready for the local Art Walk.  If anyone is in the Melrose MA area - the Annual Art Walk showcases local artists in the storefront windows of our local downtown businesses.  It’s a great socially distant activity as you don’t have to go indoors if you just want to look at the art.  This years line up includes paintings, pottery, photographs, unique jewelry and sculptures.  The Art Walk runs from 10/3-10/19 on Main St.
> 
> I need to make some cuts from my prints.  Although the shop owner offered both windows I don’t know if less is more in this case... Going to finish matting them and decide.
> 
> View attachment 198224
> 
> 
> 
> It's a good problem to have.     The prints look great in this photo.
> 
> Hope it all goes smoothly, and there's lots of appropriately socially distant turnout!
Click to expand...




Dean_Gretsch said:


> Those all look awesome printed. I'd hate to cut any




Thanks Terri and Dean. I’m really happy with the way these turned out.  I ordered the from Hunts Photo since there’s one in my town and I could avoid waiting for shipping.  They called me three hours later all set for pick up!   

The best thing about these prints is I now know which ones I want to print larger and hang at home.


----------



## SquarePeg

Got the photos set up.  Would have preferred to have some shelves to place them on in frames but I don’t have control of that so I matted them and hung them on the window with clear command squares.  Hopefully they hold tight.  Princess helped me and gets all credit for the display.  Decided to mix it up and ended up using 2 comet photos, 2 lighthouse at night, 1 sunset and 4 Milky Way photos that I think are all different enough from each other to not be repetitive.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Got the photos set up.  Would have preferred to have some shelves to place them on in frames but I don’t have control of that so I matted them and hung them on the window with clear command squares.  Hopefully they hold tight.  Princess helped me and gets all credit for the display.  Decided to mix it up and ended up using 2 comet photos, 2 lighthouse at night, 1 sunset and 4 Milky Way photos that I think are all different enough from each other to not be repetitive.
> 
> View attachment 198296
> 
> View attachment 198298



The mattes and the colorful photos really stand out.  Looks great!


----------



## CherylL

Today is day 3 of teaching the pups a new command.  I thought Snickers would be the class clown, but he got it day one.  Oscar did show improvement today and Quincy is just Quincy.  He just wants the treats.


----------



## snowbear

CherylL said:


> Quincy is just Quincy.  He just wants the treats.


It sounds like he has "beg" down pat!


----------



## snowbear

Remembering the 103 firefighters in the 2020 Roll of Honor.






National Fallen Firefighters Memorial by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## limr

Almost done.

Before



 


After


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Almost done.
> 
> Before
> 
> View attachment 198385
> 
> 
> 
> 
> After
> 
> View attachment 198386


Gorgeous!

You must be getting pumped.


----------



## Original katomi

Nice job of the room


----------



## snowbear

Wonderful, Leonore.


----------



## SquarePeg

Love it.


----------



## limr

Thank you kindly, folks. Next weekend is closets, transition pieces, and trim. During the week, I will start painting the existing trim and the new. And then I start planning to move my stuff, and smaller jobs that can be done with furniture in the house will get dealt with after I move.


----------



## CherylL

Day 6 of schnauzer school learning a new command.  Funny they all line up and sit without direction now.  The command is head down.  Snickers got it first day, Oscar got it yesterday and actually did it later without a treat lure, and Quincy still the class clown.  He may need special one on one time.  Oscar goes in for dental cleaning tomorrow so I'll work with Quincy & Snickers only.  The class is only 5 minutes or so.


----------



## terri

Good luck with the training, @CherylL !    They are all so cute, but I bet they're a handful.      You're to be commended for getting them this extra training time.


----------



## CherylL

terri said:


> Good luck with the training, @CherylL !    They are all so cute, but I bet they're a handful.      You're to be commended for getting them this extra training time.



They are handful when the doorbell rings!  It took a week to sit on the little red stool for photos.  Each day sit and stay longer.  The head down is taking longer to accomplish.  When I take their photo sometimes I'll say to stay while I check my settings


----------



## Original katomi

Have fun with the training. Our Molly went to training classes, did fine until the day of test.
Someone had left a store room open at the centre and Molly is such a nosey girl she was far more interested in this new room than obeying stupid commands she could do with her eyes closed lol


----------



## terri

RIP, Eddie Van Halen.    A good musician on a guitar.


----------



## SquarePeg

So sad.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.  Happy Saturday!

MLW and I (and maybe Lazy_Lobster) are trekking out to Western Maryland and try to catch some Autumn colors.  It's been a while since I've been up that way, so I'm really looking forward to this little road trip.


----------



## Original katomi

Have a good day


----------



## SquarePeg

I may skip fall this weekend to get caught up on chores and sleep.  J/k!  

last night was watching a movie where the pilot had locked himself in the cockpit to get away from hijackers.  The hijackers were pounding on the door.  Had to turn it off because every time they pounded on the door both our dogs would run to our front door and bark!  It fooled me the first time and8 got up to see if someone was out there.  I may have to move the surround sound speaker to a different spot!


----------



## Original katomi

Lol I know that feeling. The Amazon advert where they ring the door bell sets our two dogs  off


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I may skip fall this weekend to get caught up on chores and sleep.  J/k!
> 
> last night was watching a movie where the pilot had locked himself in the cockpit to get away from hijackers.  The hijackers were pounding on the door.  Had to turn it off because every time they pounded on the door both our dogs would run to our front door and bark!  It fooled me the first time and8 got up to see if someone was out there.  I may have to move the surround sound speaker to a different spot!


When Odin was alive, it was the doorbell - any doorbell.   You don't think about these kinds of things on TV/commercials unless you have a family member who thinks they're guarding the place.     

Halloween was always a nightmare - until he was so advanced in age he went deaf.   Ah, that pug.   We still miss him and talk about him; he's part of the family lore.


----------



## snowbear

We made it home without any serious incidents.  Not a lot color; it will probably be peak in a week or so.



US 40 Bridge, Casselman River (Grantsville, MD) by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

Sideling Hill, near Hancock, MD.  Notice the downward folded strata (synclinal).  The road is I-86, the National Freeway.




Sideling Hill by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr




Sideling Hill #2 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Original katomi

Looks a bit like the cut through buster hill 
Years ago the road went over the hill over time the road has been lowered more and more now there are layers
And old boys who remember when the old cars had to stop at the top to cool down


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> We made it home without any serious incidents.  Not a lot color; it will probably be peak in a week or so.
> 
> 
> 
> US 40 Bridge, Casselman River (Grantsville, MD) by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr



If this is “not a lot of color”, I’d love to see what is!


----------



## snowbear

A little bumping in post, I guess.  There is still quite a bit of green on the hardwoods, but not all of the trees change at the same time.  It is certainly further along than areas further east and south, and at the lower elevations.

It's going to be rainy today and tomorrow as the remnants of Hurricane Delta roll through.  I had planned on getting out, but I'll probably paint something.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> A little bumping in post, I guess.  There is still quite a bit of green on the hardwoods, but not all of the trees change at the same time.  It is certainly further along than areas further east and south, and at the lower elevations.
> 
> It's going to be rainy today and tomorrow as the remnants of Hurricane Delta roll through.  *I had planned on getting out, but I'll probably paint something*.


How about, say, I dunno, a landscape?       (Or maybe you meant office furniture or something not NEARLY as fun....)

Those are good pics up there - love the one with the bridge and all that fall color.   So pretty up there.

Hosers, we still have a butterfly bush putting out blooms, with butterflies and hummingbirds feeding from them!   I put fresh nectar in the hummer feeder this morning.  Also pulling the very last of the cherry tomatoes off my patio plant, and am happy they lasted this long.   

This summer gave us tons of rain and moderate temperatures, which translates into this nice extension of the mini-garden I had going.   All my potted herbs are still doing great - just made a batch of pesto, and the basil plants look like they'll give another batch, easily.   The mint, oregano, and parsley look great, too.   I'm clipping and using them as fast as I can - I know they're pretty root-bound by now.


----------



## Original katomi

We clipped... cut back our chives and put the cuttings in the freezer for use in the winter


----------



## RowdyRay

Original katomi said:


> We clipped... cut back our chives and put the cuttings in the freezer for use in the winter



How do you freeze yours? I didn't have much luck until I tried the ice cube trays and water. Works good for the chives and basil. The rest I just dehydrate and vac. Tried something new. "Herb bombs". See how that turns out. Made several different combos including a riff on one of my favorite compound butters. "Ranchman's butter". To die for on a grilled steak. (Google both)

We've been threatened with frost warnings last week. Then had several 80 degree days. Now the threats are real. In the next week we will most likely see a hard freeze. Chopped everything yesterday. Have several neighbors and friends that take some but, spent yesterday and today preserving the herbs I grow. The last is dehydrated and vac'd today. My whole house smells like a pizza shop. Lol.


----------



## SquarePeg

For @limr 

An Oxford comma walks into a bar, where it spends the evening watching the television, getting drunk, and smoking cigars.
• A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly.
• A bar was walked into by the passive voice.
• An oxymoron walked into a bar, and the silence was deafening.
• Two quotation marks walk into a “bar.”
• A malapropism walks into a bar, looking for all intensive purposes like a wolf in cheap clothing, muttering epitaphs and casting dispersions on his magnificent other, who takes him for granite.
• Hyperbole totally rips into this insane bar and absolutely destroys everything.
• A question mark walks into a bar?
• A non sequitur walks into a bar. In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly.
• Papyrus and Comic Sans walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Get out -- we don't serve your type."
• A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud.
• A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.
• Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They converse. They depart.
• A synonym strolls into a tavern.
• At the end of the day, a cliché walks into a bar -- fresh as a daisy, cute as a button, and sharp as a tack.
• A run-on sentence walks into a bar it starts flirting. With a cute little sentence fragment.
• Falling slowly, softly falling, the chiasmus collapses to the bar floor.
• A figure of speech literally walks into a bar and ends up getting figuratively hammered.
• An allusion walks into a bar, despite the fact that alcohol is its Achilles heel.
• The subjunctive would have walked into a bar, had it only known.
• A misplaced modifier walks into a bar owned by a man with a glass eye named Ralph.
• The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense.
• A dyslexic walks into a bra.
• A verb walks into a bar, sees a beautiful noun, and suggests they conjugate. The noun declines.
• A simile walks into a bar, as parched as a desert.
• A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to forget.
• A hyphenated word and a non-hyphenated word walk into a bar and the bartender nearly chokes on the irony
- Jill Thomas Doyle


----------



## SquarePeg

Coffee house on page 4!  Whaaaaaat?  Where my Hosers at?


----------



## CherylL

Going to a new park tomorrow.  Last winter I made a list of places I wanted to see this summer and Fall.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> Going to a new park tomorrow.  Last winter I made a list of places I wanted to see this summer and Fall.



that was smart! I get so much more accomplished when I have a list.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Coffee house on page 4!  Whaaaaaat?  Where my Hosers at?



This hoser was at Home Depot again. SHOCKER! 

I'm in the middle of Details Hell. The big things are done, so you'd think I'd feel like I was almost done (at least with the initial list of things I want to do to the new house. I know, the work never really ends, yadda yadda  ) But then I turn around and think, "Oh yeah, the baseboards. Oh yeah, the top trim for that small bedroom. Oh yeah, the trim around the doors. Oh yeah, sanding and re-puddying that patch on the wall. Oh yeah...."







And that's not even counting the bathroom that I always knew was going to be put off until after I was moved and mostly unpacked and settled in.

Which will start happening this weekend. I have a bed all set up. The couch is coming tomorrow. The last of the bottom trim will be cut and angled, then painted and nailed. Going to get the table saws back to my friend and start putting things away in the attic to make room for furniture, which I will start moving on Sunday. At a minimum, I will bring my office furniture, my coffee table and television and maybe a bookshelf.

It's fine. Really, it's all fine. I'm fine.


----------



## SquarePeg

It is a never ending cycle.  Take your time and enjoy the process.  Take before and after photos of every project.  If the house is livable just live in and enjoy it.  There will always be another project!  I’m at the pony now where I am Redon g some things we did when we moved in here 20 years ago this month!  You’ve just go to love the process.  If you don’t, just sub out the work and move in when it’s all done.


----------



## SquarePeg

Gave myself a high frequency facial today with the HF wand I bought on prime day.  It’s a super weird sensation and who knows if the at home ones even produce any results like the salon strength machines but... it was cheaper than one spa visit so worth the chance.  Plus it works well on zits so Princess will get some use out of it.  Zzzzzzzzap!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Oh my ....just read about a months worth of Coffee House. Boy you guys have been busy!
@limr  and all the house updates, @snowbear and job, family, @SquarePeg and photo adventures ...and all of you, wow!
Congrats to all and continued happy outcomes.

For others, thoughts for strength on difficult times.

I hope to be more active on the forum in the next few days and onward. We leave Grand Tetons tomorrow ( :{. ) and heading south for weather and the job is done here..
Internet was sketchy here which was ok, and did not let me use a lot of time to Participate in everything that I wanted. 
Like TPF!!

Here is my own welcome back photo..(dirt road, bear near road, stayed in  vehicle, 200-500 Nikon lens helps! I do have some actually in focus!  )


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Interesting commute home last night - local stations closed while the police were getting ready to break up the student demonstrations in Bangkok.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all  web access from phone so slllllloooooooow


----------



## terri

Hosers, it's official - the last of the container tomatoes have been pulled.   Containers have been dumped and the dirt spread around under the bushes.

We had such a great summer - lots of rain, lower temps.   Three nights ago we saw a few fireflies ambling around the back yard - that's just crazy!   No hummingbird sightings now for about three days; they stayed a little longer than usual, but mid-October is about their limit.   I'm leaving the hummer feeder out for another week for any strays passing through.   

These little guys have been _great_ - they won't make it through the weekend.   







These have a little more window-ripening to do.  I just noticed that Bex is in the background exploring.


----------



## waday

Yo.

What’s up?


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Yo.
> 
> What’s up?




I’m at the vet approaching hour 3 waiting for my baby to have an ultrasound.  He’s not doing well.


----------



## waday

Oh no! I’m so sorry to hear this!  He’s such a strong guy!


----------



## Original katomi

Square peg 
How is your boy, 
Hi to everyone


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Square peg
> How is your boy,
> Hi to everyone




I’m very sad to say that we lost him today.  we just got a diagnosis yesterday and were hoping for a few more months with him so it was very unexpected.  We are devastated.


----------



## snowbear

So sorry, Sharon.


----------



## terri

You already know how I feel about it.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> I’m very sad to say that we lost him today.  we just got a diagnosis yesterday and were hoping for a few more months with him so it was very unexpected.  We are devastated.


I’m so sorry to hear this.


----------



## NancyMoranG

So sorry. ;(


----------



## limr




----------



## Dean_Gretsch

That is terrible news.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all


----------



## SquarePeg

Thank you all for your kind words.  I miss him terribly and am just trying to remember all the good times and sweet memories.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

SquarePeg said:


> Thank you all for your kind words.  I miss him terribly and am just trying to remember all the good times and sweet memories.



We lost our girl on Good Friday this year. Lots of things remind us of her actions and habits. They really leave themselves in our lives, even after gone.


----------



## CherylL

@SquarePeg, Sharon so very sorry to hear the loss of your pup.


----------



## limr

Hosers.

The plan is to move a few more pieces of furniture that I can fit into my car and also bring the cats to the new house. If all goes to plan, tonight will be my first night in the new house.

Which is good because I have run out of coffee in the old house and had to make myself tea this morning instead.


----------



## snowbear

Tea works - just use five or six bags for each cup of water; Earl Grey, if possible.

Speaking of moving, I have to pack up the bears tonight so they can move into their new home: the new Bear Cabinet gets delivered tomorrow.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Tea works - just use five or six bags for each cup of water; Earl Grey, if possible.
> 
> Speaking of moving, I have to pack up the bears tonight so they can move into their new home: the new Bear Cabinet gets delivered tomorrow.



I have some snow bears that haven't made it out of the attic the past 3 winters.  I will have to send them to you.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tea works - just use five or six bags for each cup of water; Earl Grey, if possible.
> 
> Speaking of moving, I have to pack up the bears tonight so they can move into their new home: the new Bear Cabinet gets delivered tomorrow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have some snow bears that haven't made it out of the attic the past 3 winters.  I will have to send them to you.
Click to expand...


Love the snow bears.    Here's the latest one.  Yeah, it's supposed to be for Winter/Christmas but I couldn't wait to put it out.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all just a late night post as I can’t sleep.  Unlike some


----------



## snowbear

So, this is why I am called "snowbear."

Bear Cabinet #1.  The WWF Bear (plush toy, bottom shelf, left side) was a retirement gift - part of a symbolic adoption.  There are a couple of the "Snowbabies" figurines in this cabinet.  These are what started the collection.




Bear Cabinet Number 1 by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr

Bear Cabinet #2.  The cabinet was my birthday gift from MLW. The flags on top are of four of the five countries where Polar Bears are indigenous: United States, Canada, Iceland (Norway) and Russia.  I still need a Greenland flag.  Most of the "Snowbabies" are in this one.  There are also two Lomonosov porcelain bears from Russia.  I'm looking for the third of the set.




Bear Cabinet Number 2 by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr

I think this weekend is fairly free so I should try to get shelf shots.


----------



## terri

Hosers - I am DOOMED.    

Back story: This afternoon, hubby left to make a routine trip to the county dump, which in our rural area, consists of a couple of rather nasty dumpster-type objects - it's where we take the recyclables.   

I'm in the house and, after about 15 minutes, I heard his car pull back in the driveway, only instead of the garage door opening, he honks the horn.   I glanced out the window and saw a KITTEN curled up on the dashboard!   I flew out the front door and headed to the car, only to see he has another kitten cradled on his shoulder.   He encountered them at the dump.   One was sitting right outside the dumpster, crying.   When he bent over to say Hi, another came over.   He walked around where the other one came from to see if he could find more, but couldn't.   Their eyes were crusty with an obvious infection, clearly abandoned on this country road.  

He'd already called our vet, and wanted me to round up the cat carrier, which I did.   The vet said other than the eye infection and likely worms, they're healthy - about 6 weeks old.   Both girls!   He didn't charge for a visit, and gave me a sample bag of kitten chow.   We paid for eye ointment, antibiotic shots and de-worming.   

On the way to the vet:






Back at the house, appreciating kitty chow and water:






They aren't the least bit feral.   We've had them both purring, and already administered the eye ointment with relative ease.   One went straight back to carrier after eating and curled up, while the other decided to explore a little.   We have them set up (with a litter box) in our bathroom, door closed.   Neither Bex or Finn has made contact yet.    Just a matter of time.


----------



## SquarePeg

Yep you’re family just grew a bit!  Mazel lol.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Hosers - I am DOOMED.
> 
> Back story: This afternoon, hubby left to make a routine trip to the county dump, which in our rural area, consists of a couple of rather nasty dumpster-type objects - it's where we take the recyclables.
> 
> I'm in the house and, after about 15 minutes, I heard his car pull back in the driveway, only instead of the garage door opening, he honks the horn.   I glanced out the window and saw a KITTEN curled up on the dashboard!   I flew out the front door and headed to the car, only to see he has another kitten cradled on his shoulder.   He encountered them at the dump.   One was sitting right outside the dumpster, crying.   When he bent over to say Hi, another came over.   He walked around where the other one came from to see if he could find more, but couldn't.   Their eyes were crusty with an obvious infection, clearly abandoned on this country road.
> 
> He'd already called our vet, and wanted me to round up the cat carrier, which I did.   The vet said other than the eye infection and likely worms, they're healthy - about 6 weeks old.   Both girls!   He didn't charge for a visit, and gave me a sample bag of kitten chow.   We paid for eye ointment, antibiotic shots and de-worming.
> 
> On the way to the vet:
> 
> View attachment 199501
> 
> 
> Back at the house, appreciating kitty chow and water:
> 
> View attachment 199502
> 
> 
> They aren't the least bit feral.   We've had them both purring, and already administered the eye ointment with relative ease.   One went straight back to carrier after eating and curled up, while the other decided to explore a little.   We have them set up (with a litter box) in our bathroom, door closed.   Neither Bex or Finn has made contact yet.    Just a matter of time.
> 
> View attachment 199503


----------



## Original katomi

Ah bless, your hubby sound like my dad
One time we took him a gallon of petrol to him,,,, yep he was always running out..
Handed him the can he passed mum a kitten, 
Good on you both for giving them a home


----------



## terri

Thanks all.   They are a sweet distraction.  They're doing great so far.   One's eyes have cleared up significantly already.   They are happy being enclosed in our bathroom and closet area; this is one instance where I'm glad for the size of the room (generally I think these oversized master baths are a waste of space).   

Today they get baths to get rid of the fleas, and continue with the eye ointment.   We're keeping them separated from Bex and Finn for awhile.   However, both older cats are _acutely _aware that there are others around - you can't fool a cat.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Thanks all.   They are a sweet distraction.  They're doing great so far.   One's eyes have cleared up significantly already.   They are happy being enclosed in our bathroom and closet area; this is one instance where I'm glad for the size of the room (generally I think these oversized master baths are a waste of space).
> 
> Today they get baths to get rid of the fleas, and continue with the eye ointment.   We're keeping them separated from Bex and Finn for awhile.   However, both older cats are _acutely _aware that there are others around - you can't fool a cat.



Names for the bebbehs, please! And please start a photo thread - I needz the kitteh pikchurs!!!


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all,
Sat here all morning listening to stupid “ your are on hold” music
Going slightly...".........no going total bonkers


----------



## SquarePeg

Are they girls or boys?


----------



## SquarePeg

Our current situation


----------



## waday

Whaaat! Snow! We’ve had cold rain all week.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Whaaat! Snow! We’ve had cold rain all week.



I blame Lowe’s because they put our their Christmas stuff a freakin month ago.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Whaaat! Snow! We’ve had cold rain all week.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I blame Lowe’s because they put our their Christmas stuff a freakin month ago.
Click to expand...

Haha. I was surprised to see that even last weekend, Target had only just begun to switch from Halloween to Christmas.


----------



## terri

Our little town square has also put out Christmas decorations - saw them the other day in our frantic drive to the vet.  There are pumpkins and hay bales also stacked around, but this is a real first.

I'm putting this in the "due to Covid" file, since all the small shops have been so negatively impacted.   I'm sure they appreciate extending the shopping days.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Are they girls or boys?


Both girls!    Usually, orange-y tabbies are male.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks all.   They are a sweet distraction.  They're doing great so far.   One's eyes have cleared up significantly already.   They are happy being enclosed in our bathroom and closet area; this is one instance where I'm glad for the size of the room (generally I think these oversized master baths are a waste of space).
> 
> Today they get baths to get rid of the fleas, and continue with the eye ointment.   We're keeping them separated from Bex and Finn for awhile.   However, both older cats are _acutely _aware that there are others around - you can't fool a cat.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Names for the bebbehs, please! And please start a photo thread - I needz the kitteh pikchurs!!!
Click to expand...

I can do that.


----------



## SquarePeg

Names - Sunshine and Sweet Caroline


----------



## CherylL

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Are they girls or boys?
> 
> 
> 
> Both girls!    Usually, orange-y tabbies are male.
Click to expand...


Congrats on the new additions.  Both look super sweet and glad you rescued them.


----------



## CherylL

I have started thinking about a Christmas backdrop for photos.   I'll dig through my decorations to add to the front of the backdrop.  Bought a cheap light kit and set it up.  Works great for the pups.   Hopefully it will be enough lights for the 3 grands.  I'll set up in the garage for their photos.  With Covid we are still social distancing and the garage may be a good alternative this year.


----------



## snowbear

Creamsicle (the orange and white baby) and Tang (the mostly orange baby).


----------



## limr

Thelma and Louise


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Our current situation
> 
> View attachment 199548



And I woke up to this:


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Thelma and Louise


Sugar and Spice


----------



## limr

Bert and Ernie.


----------



## snowbear

Dissun and Dattun


----------



## terri

Well.  It's Sage and Rose.  So there.       I tend to gravitate towards one-syllable names for kitties.   I think about vowels and getting them to associate their names in that way.

And - right now, we're still telling each other that we're _fostering.   _The vet said he may have a lead on someone who's interested in adopting them.   We'll see if that goes anywhere.  

Still keeping them separated from Bex and Finn.  Bex caught a glimpse into the bathroom this morning, and yowled her typical "intruder alert" yowl, usually reserved for neighborhood cats she sees crossing our yard.  This also gives us pause.   Finn was a stray, and Bex came from an animal shelter in Texas.   I really don't want to upset them.   We're kind of gripping.

Taking it a day at a time for now.   They're on medication, and go back to the vet in 2 weeks.   In the meantime, I have a couple new pics of the cuteness.      These were taken shortly after their baths, so they're clean and fluffy, with a lot fewer fleas.

Checking out new (to them) toys.   Sage is in the rear - it's that white spot that's shaped like a leaf that helped me name her.    






Here's Rose, in focus.    Their eyes are so much better already from the ointment!






Playing:





And playing!


----------



## limr

So stinkin' cute!!


----------



## snowbear

So adorable.


----------



## Original katomi

Not often you see a female ginger cat
As for names.... for animals cats ,dogs, husbands 
It got to be something you can stand at the door and call.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.  My experience has been that you don't bother calling a cat.  If they want to come to you, they will, without being called.  If they don't want to bothered with you, no amount of calling will work.

I just finished a small bowl of MLW's chili and now it's time for coffee.  MLW is returning to work next week and needs to go to the office, so we have to take her boxes back up.  She's been transferred (back) to the Emergency Operations Command, so we pulled all of her stuff out a while back.


----------



## terri

Happy Halloween to all those who partake!    Gonna be a chilly night in these parts for all those Trick or Treaters.   Be safe, all!


----------



## waday

Our daughter had a good time trick-or-treating. After the first three stops, she wanted to "go home and eat the candy". It ended when a neighbor dressed as a witch scared her.

We bought a Sesame Street Lego set for her for either her birthday or Christmas. Can't figure out which, but I'm excited to help her build it. She's still a little too young for it, but we're going to make it work.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Day 2 of 14 day quarantine in my new country (for next couple of years anyway).

COVID test came back negative today, so either the quarantine or the test is pointless.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Our daughter had a good time trick-or-treating. After the first three stops, she wanted to "go home and eat the candy". It ended when a neighbor dressed as a witch scared her.
> 
> We bought a Sesame Street Lego set for her for either her birthday or Christmas. Can't figure out which, but I'm excited to help her build it. She's still a little too young for it, but we're going to make it work.



I took my nephew out one year when he was about 3 or 4 dressed as a Dalmatian and sone nutty neighbor was dressed as Cruella and scared him so much we had to take him home.  



Tropicalmemories said:


> Day 2 of 14 day quarantine in my new country (for next couple of years anyway).
> 
> COVID test came back negative today, so either the quarantine or the test is pointless.



The test is pointless if you’re going to quarantine.


----------



## snowbear

Tropicalmemories said:


> Day 2 of 14 day quarantine in my new country (for next couple of years anyway).
> 
> COVID test came back negative today, so either the quarantine or the test is pointless.


Where are you, now?

We are going to Maine next week to pick up things in storage.  The last trip we were able to fly in, pack up the rental van with most of Lazy Lobster's things, and drive back the same day.  This time we have a definite time to be at the Moving and Storage place (they will be out on a job in the late morning) so we are going in on Friday, staying overnight.  Because we are staying a day, we have to get the rapid return test (Maine law).

When we return back home, we will be in quarantine for 14 days, since we travelled out of state (Maryland law).  I am on full telecommute, so it is no real change.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

snowbear said:


> Tropicalmemories said:
> 
> 
> 
> Day 2 of 14 day quarantine in my new country (for next couple of years anyway).
> 
> COVID test came back negative today, so either the quarantine or the test is pointless.
> 
> 
> 
> Where are you, now?
> 
> We are going to Maine next week to pick up things in storage.  The last trip we were able to fly in, pack up the rental van with most of Lazy Lobster's things, and drive back the same day.  This time we have a definite time to be at the Moving and Storage place (they will be out on a job in the late morning) so we are going in on Friday, staying overnight.  Because we are staying a day, we have to get the rapid return test (Maine law).
> 
> When we return back home, we will be in quarantine for 14 days, since we travelled out of state (Maryland law).  I am on full telecommute, so it is no real change.
Click to expand...


Mine was an international trip.  But there's no logic to anything to do with COVID.  In reality, it's how people behave that matters, not lockdowns and quarantines.


----------



## terri

More of Rose and Sage.   These are from Saturday afternoon.   Unfortunately, little Sage (with the white spots) has taken a bit of a downward turn.   She played a lot yesterday morning, but by the afternoon, her inner eyelids - the third eyelid - had rolled up in both eyes, and she started making frequent trips to the litterbox.   They are on an eye antibiotic ointment for the eyes, and getting it in there past that third lid became a challenge, and she fought a little last night.   They also received some kind of catch-all antibiotic injection that the vet said would last about 2 weeks, but kill off anything in their gut.   She seemed lethargic this morning, so we took her to the vet, and she's there now.   Rose is still playful and bright-eyed and happy - she's responded great to everything.   She's looking around for her sister, mostly.   Hopefully we'll be able to go get her soon.    Supposedly that third eyelid is an indicator of a gut infection, so a culture will be more specific.   Poor little baby!    

Saturday photos:

I meant to get a picture of Rose's pretty back stripes, but she looked up at the last second - it's out of focus, but I like it anyway:








Sage playing.   Her eyes still aren't 100% here, but they were improved, and the third eyelid wasn't present.











Ferocious beasts!


----------



## SquarePeg

Awwwww!  Kitten cuteness.  Sending good vibes to Sage.  Great names btw.


----------



## terri

Thanks!    They're a couple of sweeties.   I'm starting to pace the floor, even though I know they're running cultures and stuff, and we didn't have an appointment.   bah!


----------



## limr

Good thoughts for poor little Rose 

That open mouth of outrage in the last picture is killing me!


----------



## snowbear

^This - love firece little kitty!  Sending love and crossed fingers / claws for sage.

Zoe finally used the robot potty!  MLW has been trying to entice her with a few treats on the steps.  Zoe just proved she's tall enough to reach the top step with her mouth without actually stepping on them.



Tropicalmemories said:


> Mine was an international trip.  But there's no logic to anything to do with COVID.  In reality, it's how people behave that matters, not lockdowns and quarantines.


I think it's because so many people don't give a crap about others and do what they darn well want - "Cuz, Murica, ya know."  I'm not going any further down this trail, since there are two mods and an Admin as regular hosers. 
--------------
I'm thinking of renting a lens for Thanksgiving weekend.  I have my eye on a few for a possible Christmas purchase, but I want to try them out first.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all.
Well news here is that we will be in lockdown again from Thursday


----------



## terri

Good news, sort of, on Sage.  She has an intestinal parasite that the catch-all antibiotic wouldn't kill.  Since they share a litter box, the vet is assuming that Rose has it, too.  I had to bring Rose with me when I went to pick up Sage, so he could get her weight and start her on the same, new antibiotic.   Just a half cc, liquid, once a day for both girls.  They gave me a syringe so that's easy enough.

I was a mite freaked out hearing the word "parasite," but he assured me it's not fatal - just hard to get rid of at this age.  So we may have to extend the antibiotic. 

But she's home with her sister, and back to bouncing around with joy.   That's what matters.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Good thoughts for poor little Rose
> 
> That open mouth of outrage in the last picture is killing me!


Isn't it a hoot?   

And - notice those perfect tan spots on the bottoms of her back feet.   That girl is a trip!


----------



## CherylL

terri said:


> More of Rose and Sage.   These are from Saturday afternoon.   Unfortunately, little Sage (with the white spots) has taken a bit of a downward turn.   She played a lot yesterday morning, but by the afternoon, her inner eyelids - the third eyelid - had rolled up in both eyes, and she started making frequent trips to the litterbox.   They are on an eye antibiotic ointment for the eyes, and getting it in there past that third lid became a challenge, and she fought a little last night.   They also received some kind of catch-all antibiotic injection that the vet said would last about 2 weeks, but kill off anything in their gut.   She seemed lethargic this morning, so we took her to the vet, and she's there now.   Rose is still playful and bright-eyed and happy - she's responded great to everything.   She's looking around for her sister, mostly.   Hopefully we'll be able to go get her soon.    Supposedly that third eyelid is an indicator of a gut infection, so a culture will be more specific.   Poor little baby!
> 
> Saturday photos:
> 
> I meant to get a picture of Rose's pretty back stripes, but she looked up at the last second - it's out of focus, but I like it anyway:
> 
> View attachment 199735
> 
> 
> 
> Sage playing.   Her eyes still aren't 100% here, but they were improved, and the third eyelid wasn't present.
> 
> View attachment 199736
> 
> 
> View attachment 199737
> 
> 
> Ferocious beasts!
> 
> View attachment 199738



Adorable!  Love the last shot with the open mouth play time.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Good news, sort of, on Sage.  She has an intestinal parasite that the catch-all antibiotic wouldn't kill.  Since they share a litter box, the vet is assuming that Rose has it, too.  I had to bring Rose with me when I went to pick up Sage, so he could get her weight and start her on the same, new antibiotic.   Just a half cc, liquid, once a day for both girls.  They gave me a syringe so that's easy enough.
> 
> I was a mite freaked out hearing the word "parasite," but he assured me it's not fatal - just hard to get rid of at this age.  So we may have to extend the antibiotic.
> 
> But she's home with her sister, and back to bouncing around with joy.   That's what matters.




You have literally saved their lives.  You guys are amazing!


----------



## terri

Well.    Two abandoned kittens sitting by a dumpster on a country road.   Hurricane is coming  (Zeta).   Temperatures supposed to plunge afterwards.   My husband did what any human should do: act first, worry about the how-to stuff later. 

That's why he's a great guy.  I won't soon forget hearing the car horn sounding, and looking out to see one kitten sitting on the dashboard, and another curled up under his chin.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Aww the poor things. Glad they are on the right medicine!
We have had 3 stray cats adopt us through the years but only 1 at a time.


----------



## terri

NancyMoranG said:


> Aww the poor things. Glad they are on the right medicine!
> We have had 3 stray cats adopt us through the years but only 1 at a time.


That's usually how it goes, isn't it?   One of our 2 older cats, Finn, came to us like that.  She showed up in our backyard while we were still living in Texas, and pretty much refused to leave.   She definitely adopted us!


----------



## Fujidave

Can`t remember if I posted this, but I`m alive after having the virus.  I did take care and wore a mask when going out,  I still feel like a bus has hit me and I need more tests as it did a lot of damage to my lungs and heart.




I m Alive by Dave, on Flickr


----------



## terri

Good lord, Dave!   The last I knew someone in your family had tested negative, and I thought you were, as well.   So glad you're on the mend, but it sounds like it hit you pretty hard.  

Yes, this virus is known for attacking the heart and lungs.   So sorry!      Glad you're on the mend - hope you make a full recovery!


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> Can`t remember if I posted this, but I`m alive after having the virus.  I did take care and wore a mask when going out,  I still feel like a bus has hit me and I need more tests as it did a lot of damage to my lungs and heart.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I m Alive by Dave, on Flickr



I "liked" that you're alive, not that you had the virus. I hope you keep feeling better!


----------



## snowbear

Glad to hear you're on the mend, Dave.  I understand this is some nasty sh**.

MLW just took Lazy Lobster up to get tested -- they were at the dentist yesterday and we found out this morning, an employee has tested positive.


----------



## SquarePeg

@Fujidave so sorry this happened to you.  Hanky in there.   



snowbear said:


> Glad to hear you're on the mend, Dave.  I understand this is some nasty sh**.
> 
> MLW just took Lazy Lobster up to get tested -- they were at the dentist yesterday and we found out this morning, an employee has tested positive.



Yikes!  What’s the current guess on the incubation period?  I hope you and YLW are masking and keeping distance from LL as best you can until you know.


----------



## waday

So sorry to hear this, @Fujidave . You can beat this!

@snowbear , keep an eye out for symptoms. It’s good that you’re working remotely.


----------



## snowbear

waday said:


> So sorry to hear this, @Fujidave . You can beat this!
> 
> @snowbear , keep an eye out for symptoms. It’s good that you’re working remotely.


Thanks.  It will all depend on L_L's results.  If they are good, so are we.  MLW & I get tested next week for the Maine trip (it has the be within 72 hours of arrival).


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> @Fujidave so sorry this happened to you.  Hanky in there.
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Glad to hear you're on the mend, Dave.  I understand this is some nasty sh**.
> 
> MLW just took Lazy Lobster up to get tested -- they were at the dentist yesterday and we found out this morning, an employee has tested positive.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yikes!  What’s the current guess on the incubation period?  I hope you and YLW are masking and keeping distance from LL as best you can until you know.
Click to expand...

As far as I know it's still 14 days.  We'll see what the test shown in another hour or so.  I don't know what the proximity was for anyone involved; and am not certain it was a staff member or another patient.


----------



## snowbear

Yay! Zoe has used the new Litter Robot twice in the past two days.  She's still a little hesitant but she's working on it (or in it, I guess).

The clinic didn't do the rapid test so we're in quarantine mode for three to five days and cancelling a few appointments.  Back to daily temperature checks.


----------



## limr

Yay for Zoe! 

Boo for quarantine


----------



## NancyMoranG

So sorry Dave. You listen to your great nurses and you will beat it!


----------



## Original katomi

Dave, hope you are well soon. Berill attitude you have.
Snow bear. Fingers crossed for you and your family.


----------



## Fujidave

Thanks folks, what I thought was a cold was actually the virus first of all and thank god I did not pass it on.  I think I might of caught it while on the bus, then the aches came in quick.  I`ve had the Flu once in my whole life and ended up off work for about 7 weeks, but having the virus is totally different and the way the pain and aches hit the body is horrible.  I`m 100% negative but my smell has still not come back yet, and now we have gone back in to another lockdown here in the UK I will have to wait a bit to carry on seeing the doctors.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Take care of yourself, Dave. My two grandchildren, my step-daughter and son-in-law all tested positive with it too, but the worst of it was a 101 fever and no taste for a day. They just received their all clear so they can quit the quarantine. My son in law was confined to a semi-small Coast Guard cutter with 2 positive crew members for 3 weeks at sea. They didn't stand a chance of not catching it.


----------



## CherylL

Fujidave said:


> Thanks folks, what I thought was a cold was actually the virus first of all and thank god I did not pass it on.  I think I might of caught it while on the bus, then the aches came in quick.  I`ve had the Flu once in my whole life and ended up off work for about 7 weeks, but having the virus is totally different and the way the pain and aches hit the body is horrible.  I`m 100% negative but my smell has still not come back yet, and now we have gone back in to another lockdown here in the UK I will have to wait a bit to carry on seeing the doctors.



So sorry Dave!  Wishing you a speedy recovery.


----------



## CherylL

We've been staying in and social distancing.  I've gone to the local drug store a few times and husband has been to a few small stores.  Instacart for everything else.  Fortunately my husband has been working from home since March.  Trying to stay safe from the virus.  Grand daughter is in quarantine again because a classmate tested positive.   Today I did go to the local craft store for items for the Christmas set.  It felt so very strange to be out at a store.  I went early and not many people.  Was in and out in less than 30 minutes.

I ordered a Christmas theme background and yesterday's tracking said it was in Shanghai.  So I was very surprised when UPS delivered today.  That was quick


----------



## smoke665

@CherylL once the "themed set" bug hits, it's all downhill from there.  Can't wait to see what you've come up with. I have something a little different planned for this year, will see how it goes.


----------



## smoke665

Social media selfies with cat ears, big eyes, or blurred to the max skin, seem to be the rage today, for adults and kids. I have to wonder when they look back on these 30-40 years from now if they wonder WTH was I thinking.


----------



## limr

Yesterday's snapshot: Hitchcock-y afternoon light on my mid-century lamp.

Given what I have been learning about how the light moves through the Birdhouse at this time of year, I think I shall be doing a lot of still lifes this winter. Time to break the C330 out!


----------



## terri

@limr :  Cool!!    You'll have to try some B&W, too.   Film noir!


----------



## limr




----------



## terri




----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> @CherylL once the "themed set" bug hits, it's all downhill from there.  Can't wait to see what you've come up with. I have something a little different planned for this year, will see how it goes.



I set up the decorations today and took a few photos.  I need to adjust my lighting and move a couch so I can back up more.  For the grands I will set up in the garage. It is an 8x8 ft backdrop!


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all 
Rough night here, the fireworks stress out one of our dogs, up to 00.00 trying to calm her down
Off now to sort out about having meds delivered


----------



## snowbear

Good news & bad news.
Lazy_Lobster's COVID test was negative. 
Their wisdom teeth now hurt more so back to the dentist for extraction next week. 

Of course this puts off the ME trip for a while.  Not sure if I'm up to braving it (alone) Thanksgiving weekend or Christmas - New Year's week.


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> Good news & bad news.
> Lazy_Lobster's COVID test was negative.
> Their wisdom teeth now hurt more so back to the dentist for extraction next week.
> 
> Of course this puts off the ME trip for a while.  Not sure if I'm up to braving it (alone) Thanksgiving weekend or Christmas - New Year's week.



Ouch on the teeth!  Feel better soon.


----------



## snowbear

Not me!  Mine were yanked a long time ago!  I'll pass the well wishes along.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Thanks folks, what I thought was a cold was actually the virus first of all and thank god I did not pass it on.  I think I might of caught it while on the bus, then the aches came in quick.  I`ve had the Flu once in my whole life and ended up off work for about 7 weeks, but having the virus is totally different and the way the pain and aches hit the body is horrible.  I`m 100% negative but my smell has still not come back yet, and now we have gone back in to another lockdown here in the UK I will have to wait a bit to carry on seeing the doctors.



Glad you’re feeling better Dave.  Numbers are climbing here in Massachusetts and they’ve just rolled back things a bit to close restaurants and non essential businesses at 9:30pm.  Masks are required in public now even when socially distanced.  Small gatherings are limited to 10 people.  I hope this is enough to stop the spread.  Other states here in the US have much worse numbers than we have here in New England - we here had some serious restrictions at the beginning and that worked.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> close restaurants and non essential businesses at 9:30pm



Never understood how COVID  gets more contagious as the night progressed, unless it's like the old Mickey Gillis song "Don't the girls (guys) all get prettier at closing time".


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> close restaurants and non essential businesses at 9:30pm
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Never understood how COVID  gets more contagious as the night progressed, unless it's like the old Mickey Gillis song "Don't the girls (guys) all get prettier at closing time".
Click to expand...


A mystery to me like the 15 minute rule or the gatherings of 10 people.  Magic numbers??


----------



## CherylL

Having bought a super big background at 8x8, my white fluffy blanket is too short.  Ordered a  9 ft one yesterday and delivered today.  My first background from last year was only about 5 ft wide that I went overboard.  The new background is microfiber and thru it in the dryer with a damp towel and most wrinkles disappeared.


----------



## terri

CherylL said:


> Having bought a super big background at 8x8, my white fluffy blanket is too short.  Ordered a  9 ft one yesterday and delivered today.  My first background from last year was only about 5 ft wide that I went overboard.  The new background is microfiber and thru it in the dryer with a damp towel and most wrinkles disappeared.


Sounds great - got your projects lined up?


----------



## CherylL

terri said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Having bought a super big background at 8x8, my white fluffy blanket is too short.  Ordered a  9 ft one yesterday and delivered today.  My first background from last year was only about 5 ft wide that I went overboard.  The new background is microfiber and thru it in the dryer with a damp towel and most wrinkles disappeared.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds great - got your projects lined up?
Click to expand...


Pups go first after they get groomed.  It is set up in the basement now and still arranging items.  I'll tear it all down and set up in the garage for the one day session with the grands.  One of the grands is in quarantine due to a classmate exposure.  We have been social distancing to a greater degree with the grands since they have been back at school full time.


----------



## limr

CherylL said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> close restaurants and non essential businesses at 9:30pm
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Never understood how COVID  gets more contagious as the night progressed, unless it's like the old Mickey Gillis song "Don't the girls (guys) all get prettier at closing time".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> A mystery to me like the 15 minute rule or the gatherings of 10 people.  Magic numbers??
Click to expand...


I believe it's about viral load. The fewer people in a room, or the less time they spend in a room, the lower the potential amount of virus that builds up in the air. This all helps reduce the viral load a person may end up being infected with, which makes it more likely their immune system can fight it off.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> close restaurants and non essential businesses at 9:30pm
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Never understood how COVID  gets more contagious as the night progressed, unless it's like the old Mickey Gillis song "Don't the girls (guys) all get prettier at closing time".
Click to expand...




CherylL said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> close restaurants and non essential businesses at 9:30pm
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Never understood how COVID  gets more contagious as the night progressed, unless it's like the old Mickey Gillis song "Don't the girls (guys) all get prettier at closing time".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> A mystery to me like the 15 minute rule or the gatherings of 10 people.  Magic numbers??
Click to expand...


I believe in MA the early closings of the restaurant and liquor stores and the 10 person or less rule is to stop the parties that are happening with the 20 and. 30 somethings. With bars being closed here still, they are gathering indoors or “dining” at restaurants - mostly drinking and socializing and not respecting the social distancing guidelines.  Boston is full of college students and young people with no where to go.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> Having bought a super big background at 8x8, my white fluffy blanket is too short.  Ordered a  9 ft one yesterday and delivered today.  My first background from last year was only about 5 ft wide that I went overboard.  The new background is microfiber and thru it in the dryer with a damp towel and most wrinkles disappeared.



All of my standard backgrounds are 10'x20' rolled on tubes, except for a few smaller ones that I use for head shots, and still I have issues sometimes with FOV trying to separate the subject from the background enough. Are you planning on lighting it? Wrinkles can be a problem even rolling them, which is why I have a little hand held steamer. You can find them less than $20 and they  really works great on last min touch up.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Having bought a super big background at 8x8, my white fluffy blanket is too short.  Ordered a  9 ft one yesterday and delivered today.  My first background from last year was only about 5 ft wide that I went overboard.  The new background is microfiber and thru it in the dryer with a damp towel and most wrinkles disappeared.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> All of my standard backgrounds are 10'x20' rolled on tubes, except for a few smaller ones that I use for head shots, and still I have issues sometimes with FOV trying to separate the subject from the background enough. Are you planning on lighting it? Wrinkles can be a problem even rolling them, which is why I have a little hand held steamer. You can find them less than $20 and they  really works great on last min touch up.
Click to expand...


I have 2 continuous lights.  Working on their placement.  If I do a even cross light subjects may be too flat, but at the same time I want the backdrop to be evenly lit.  I plan to darken with a vignette in post so not too worried about the edges.


----------



## smoke665

So anyone know what's up with Derrel???? Hasn't posted since late Sept, and not seen since Oct 4th. Unusual considering he's always been active and has now gone silent??? Given the pandemic still going, that's worrisome.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> So anyone know what's up with Derrel???? Hasn't posted since late Sept, and not seen since Oct 4th. Unusual considering he's always been active and has now gone silent??? Given the pandemic still going, that's worrisome.




Hopefully he is ok. He and another member got into a bit of back and forth.  He may be taking a break.


----------



## Original katomi

Err morning all 02.36 GMT  awake so thought I say hi all


----------



## SquarePeg

Hi there!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> So anyone know what's up with Derrel???? Hasn't posted since late Sept, and not seen since Oct 4th. Unusual considering he's always been active and has now gone silent??? Given the pandemic still going, that's worrisome.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hopefully he is ok. He and another member got into a bit of back and forth.  He may be taking a break.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure that's all it is.    He's been known to take breaks from here before, too.  Life gets busy.  He always circles back around.


----------



## Original katomi

I can see it’s going to be one of those days.
One dog is taking up one end of the sofa and the pillows and the other dog has taken the other end, now the cat is looking at the sm gap between the two of them.
Ummmmmm wonder how comfortable the dogs bed is.......


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> I can see it’s going to be one of those days.
> One dog is taking up one end of the sofa and the pillows and the other dog has taken the other end, now the cat is looking at the sm gap between the two of them.
> Ummmmmm wonder how comfortable the dogs bed is.......



Our dog sheds a lot so we have one couch covered with a sheet for her to lay on but of course she prefers to make herself at home on my spot on the other couch.  The other night I realized she had not only taken over both couches but she had all the throw pillows too!


----------



## snowbear

Another unique find from The Barn Show; Agfa Memo, f/3.5. by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## dxqcanada

1/2 frame?


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Our dog sheds a lot so we have one couch covered with a sheet for her to lay on but of course she prefers to make herself at home on my spot on the other couch.



Sadiemae rules our house-


----------



## CherylL

I had a fun day yesterday.  Late afternoon photos with a young couple and 2 children.  They are friends of our daughter and we have known the wife since she was in middle school.  Their children don't know me so the first thing I did was tell them the plan.  We were going to take a short walk (sort of) and stop a few times with stand and smile photos.  We would also do fun photos along the way.  About the 3rd location I had the 9yo pose everyone.  She was all in after that   Fall colors, a warm day and the kids had fun.  I asked the 4yo what was his favorite and he said he like being an airplane best.  We also did a few bunny hops.


----------



## Original katomi

Musical chairs ...pet style


----------



## snowbear

dxqcanada said:


> 1/2 frame?


35mm, but not the current canisters.  Apparently there was an early 35mm film canister design, from 1928 (the camera model began produciton in 1932), that uses two "D" shaped containers.  The right side contained unexposed film and the left side was a take-up can (opposite of today).  This camera has both sides, so I should be able to load some Tri-X.

I haven't researched enough to look for any type of user's manual or to figure out an approximate build date.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Our dog sheds a lot so we have one couch covered with a sheet for her to lay on but of course she prefers to make herself at home on my spot on the other couch.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sadiemae rules our house-
> 
> View attachment 200000
Click to expand...

A lot like rules for non-cat  people, except the last one goes "To me, s/he is the boss who is short ..."

Notice I said non-cat people - there are no cat owners.  Dogs have owners, cats have staff.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Dogs have owners, cats have staff.



You've never had a Brittany in the house. They only "choose" to listen to you, when you have something more interesting than the current object of their attention. By and large Sadie Mae is a sweetheart, but even she has her moments. Our first Britt was a couple years old, before she figured out her name wasn't really MILLIEDAMMIT. LOL


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> You've never had a Brittany in the house. They only "choose" to listen to you, when you have something more interesting than the current object of their attention.


Like teenagers.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, sat here on hold for the doc’s 
I have been told there is life beyond being on hold.... I don’t believe


----------



## snowbear

It's official - negative COVID test result, so I'm go for Maine.  I just need to verify regulations for Connecticut, New York & Pennsylvania in case I decide I can't drive straight through (I'm OK for Massachusetts).


----------



## terri

A kitty update...they were doing pretty well, and then came the diagnosis of a parasitic infection.   Rose got through it all right, but it really kicked little Sage's butt.  We had to run her back to the vet this week and check her out.   She was - surprisingly - given the all clear, and they are now both off the antibiotics.   Her turnaround since Monday has been remarkable!   Within half a day, she went from napping a lot and rather listless play to bouncing off the walls.  

Now, she and her sister Rose are officially doing much, much better.   I'm so relieved.   These little kitties were much sicker than we thought initially.   The vet still wants them back in 2 weeks and do the usual testing for feline leukemia, though he says there's not really a lot of that around here.   But because we don't know where they came from, and we may still be giving them away, they have to have the final all clear.   If we could guess the test results based on energy, appetite and playfulness, I'd say they already passed.   

Some pics from the last few days.   These first few were taken right after I walked into our closet, where we've got the litter and bed set up, and was met by a wild party the likes of which you've never seen: litter flung everywhere, clothes torn down from hangers, clothes hamper upended - they had a fine time celebrating their new-found energy.   After we cleaned everything up, I got down on the floor with them and they pounced.

These were taken in a dark closet, and are blurry, but I was laughing so much it didn't matter.  

Being attacked by Sage:






And then being attacked by Rose:







Finally deciding to settle down and cuddle (Rose is the ginger in the front, Sage in the back), so I could get a better picture.   Note that third eyelid is still showing, but has receded a bit:






And another nap later in the day:






They're sweet when they're sleeping.   Been a roller coaster last couple of weeks, and I'm about toast!


----------



## SquarePeg

TGI Freakin Friday Hosers!  Friday the 13th 2020 - what could possibly go wrong?  Personally plan on hiding in my house all day today lol.


----------



## waday

TGIF!


----------



## terri

Yes, Friday the 13th in 2020!  Time to venture out, where I could a) get hit by a car, b) catch Covid or 3) be chased by the local hyenas.  <-  We're in the country, and can hear them howling at night. They're creepy.

Or yeah, stay indoors and play with kittens.   Tonight is pizza and red wine.   Not a bad way to end the week.


----------



## SquarePeg

Kitties pizza and wine!  I’ll be right over lol.


----------



## limr

I've got kitties and wine, but no pizza. Mmm, pizza.


----------



## Original katomi

Terri 
Love the kitty up date lol


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> Terri
> Love the kitty up date lol


I'm glad!      Even online, kittens can bring a smile.


----------



## SquarePeg

This one is for both @terri and @limr


----------



## Original katomi

You all know my Tinka, well he has taken to looking after Mrs. Even not moving when the nurse is helping
Here he is in his spot ant is moving for nobody


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> This one is for both @terri and @limr
> 
> View attachment 200292


Yeah, Zoe is one that likes to walk across the ke/;ljkcxfsdzzfdsxcgb<?.jhbmvcgf


----------



## snowbear

Maine trip over (some details posted in COVID thread).  To make a long (12 hour) story short, I ended up with a big 20-22 foot box van instead of the 12 footer we wanted.  Sort of witnessed a fight between a pickup and a tree (the tree won), and drove the 600-odd miles with only three stops leaving the truck, and a few to text MLW.  I'll unload the beast and return it to the local shop, and rest the ankle (sore from driving) and self quarantine for two weeks.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Maine trip over (some details posted in COVID thread).  To make a long (12 hour) story short, I ended up with a big 20-22 foot box van instead of the 12 footer we wanted.  Sort of witnessed a fight between a pickup and a tree (the tree won), and drove the 600-odd miles with only three stops leaving the truck, and a few to text MLW.  I'll unload the beast and return it to the local shop, and rest the ankle (sore from driving) and self quarantine for two weeks.
> 
> View attachment 200296


Glad you made it back safely!    It's hard to get those smaller trucks, they stay in demand.   Sounds like a robo-drive, all those miles with so few stops.


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> View attachment 200294 View attachment 200295 You all know my Tinka, well he has taken to looking after Mrs. Even not moving when the nurse is helping
> Here he is in his spot ant is moving for nobody


Tinka is gorgeous!


----------



## snowbear

Salvadoran take on fajitas & tacos, tonight.


----------



## CherylL

terri said:


> A kitty update...they were doing pretty well, and then came the diagnosis of a parasitic infection.   Rose got through it all right, but it really kicked little Sage's butt.  We had to run her back to the vet this week and check her out.   She was - surprisingly - given the all clear, and they are now both off the antibiotics.   Her turnaround since Monday has been remarkable!   Within half a day, she went from napping a lot and rather listless play to bouncing off the walls.
> 
> Now, she and her sister Rose are officially doing much, much better.   I'm so relieved.   These little kitties were much sicker than we thought initially.   The vet still wants them back in 2 weeks and do the usual testing for feline leukemia, though he says there's not really a lot of that around here.   But because we don't know where they came from, and we may still be giving them away, they have to have the final all clear.   If we could guess the test results based on energy, appetite and playfulness, I'd say they already passed.
> 
> Some pics from the last few days.   These first few were taken right after I walked into our closet, where we've got the litter and bed set up, and was met by a wild party the likes of which you've never seen: litter flung everywhere, clothes torn down from hangers, clothes hamper upended - they had a fine time celebrating their new-found energy.   After we cleaned everything up, I got down on the floor with them and they pounced.
> 
> These were taken in a dark closet, and are blurry, but I was laughing so much it didn't matter.
> 
> Being attacked by Sage:
> 
> View attachment 200164
> 
> 
> And then being attacked by Rose:
> 
> View attachment 200165
> 
> 
> 
> Finally deciding to settle down and cuddle (Rose is the ginger in the front, Sage in the back), so I could get a better picture.   Note that third eyelid is still showing, but has receded a bit:
> 
> View attachment 200168
> 
> 
> And another nap later in the day:
> 
> View attachment 200170
> 
> 
> They're sweet when they're sleeping.   Been a roller coaster last couple of weeks, and I'm about toast!



Glad the kitties are recovering.  They hit the jackpot with you as cat mom


----------



## SquarePeg

Just attended a Zoom meeting on paying for college.  Sigh.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning!  Is it really only Tuesday?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

My Friday!


----------



## SquarePeg

Dean_Gretsch said:


> My Friday!



never liked you...   lol


----------



## limr

Dean_Gretsch said:


> My Friday!








Happy Friday to you! When real Friday comes, you can harrumph us back


----------



## Original katomi

Yep only Tuesday.


----------



## CherylL

Heads up cat people!  Photo idea for your little kitties.  Makes me want to get another cat. Hope I got the link correct.

"Catographer at work  #furryfritz #cat #photography #christmas #foryou"


----------



## SquarePeg

Hmmm wonder if my dog will participate without breaking everything...


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Totally going to try this with the girls.

In other news, I'm feeling pretty salty today. 

That is all. Carry on.


----------



## terri

CherylL said:


> Heads up cat people!  Photo idea for your little kitties.  Makes me want to get another cat. Hope I got the link correct.
> 
> "Catographer at work  #furryfritz #cat #photography #christmas #foryou"


So cute!    

No intention of trying it myself, with 4 cats in my household at the present.       But great idea!


----------



## terri

Speaking of cats....er, kittens.    Update photos!

They became oddly obsessed the other night with the Pyrex measuring cup I use to pour water into their bowl.   I'm giving them only filtered water from the fridge, so this is how I transport it from the kitchen to the closet.   They love to watch the water pour out.   Then they attacked the cup.






Rose wouldn't stop until she jammed her whole head in there.






Then Sage had to do it, too, of course.


----------



## limr

Zelda does the same thing! I use a pitcher to fill with filtered water from the kitchen and she loves to watch me pour the water. The other day, she stuck her head right in to drink from the pitcher. 

But of course, she has recently discovered that the new house also has a Magic Fountain (bathroom faucet), just like the old house, so she still gets excited when I fill the water bowls, but she gets just as excited if I walk into the bathroom, and she'll jump onto the counter and wait for me to make the Magic Fountain work.


----------



## SquarePeg

I know I have seen something about cats in glass bowls.  Not sure if it was Facebook or Insta or tiktok... a quick google search yielded dozens of hilarious photos.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> I know I have seen something about cats in glass bowls.  Not sure if it was Facebook or Insta or tiktok... a quick google search yielded dozens of hilarious photos.



Scientific proof that cats can exist in both solid and fluid states.






More proof: 15 Proofs That Cats Are Liquids


----------



## snowbear

We were at one of the landscape nurseries last week looking for Christmas decorations.  As we were in the aisle that contains dog toys, MLW said something like "I guess they have cat toys, somewhere."  Lazy_lobster piped back "Everything is a cat toy."


----------



## Original katomi

Love the kitty pics, the jug pics are just so cute.


----------



## Original katomi

As I am sitting here, I am planning my next out of the box photo shoot. Has to be something that I can do around  the house and something I can stop at a moments notice if Mrs needs me. 
If it works I will post images and how it was done notes


----------



## terri

The little girls say Good morning from their favorite snuggle place   Happy Friday!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> The little girls say Good morning from their favorite snuggle place   Happy Friday!
> 
> View attachment 200481



Oh dear lord, those faces! So snuggly!  I die


----------



## terri

You'll be glad to know those faces get chewed on regularly by me.   It cannot be avoided!


----------



## waday

I found the cup I need to get me through the day.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> The little girls say Good morning from their favorite snuggle place   Happy Friday!
> 
> View attachment 200481


Awwwwww.
Thanks, now I'm completely worthless for the rest of the night!


----------



## SquarePeg

TGIF hosers!  Big big big plans this weekend.  

pjs - check
cocktails - check
netflix - check
take out - check
indoor photo project - check
watercolor tutorials - check

And next week I'm working only 1/2 day on Monday and then full day on Tuesday.  After that I am off for a 5 day weekend of 

pjs - check
cocktails - check
netflix - check
turkey - check
indoor photo project - check
watercolor tutorials - check


----------



## SquarePeg

2 episodes of Queen’s Gambit and I’m hooked.


----------



## Original katomi

Awww bless on the cats image


----------



## Original katomi

Aw mum dad, please turn out the lights. I am trying to sleep here
The project, well I have cleared space to get to the camera kit


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> 2 episodes of Queen’s Gambit and I’m hooked.


I can’t wait to watch this


----------



## waday

Y’all, I’m sick for a couple of days, come back, and I see things blowing up, threads locked, and cats galore.

What did I miss?!

Unrelated, my brother-in-law is an ER/ICU nurse and he got COVID. Thankfully he hasn’t experienced any complications so far, but he’s been out of commission since early last week with bad cough and difficulty breathing.


----------



## terri

waday said:


> Y’all, I’m sick for a couple of days, come back, and I see things blowing up, threads locked, and cats galore.
> 
> What did I miss?!
> 
> Unrelated, my brother-in-law is an ER/ICU nurse and he got COVID. Thankfully he hasn’t experienced any complications so far, but he’s been out of commission since early last week with bad cough and difficulty breathing.


Good lord - another of our wonderful first responders coming down with this.    I hope it doesn't get any worse beyond this, and he kicks it to the curb quickly!


----------



## terri

Well, hosers - today turned out to be the day that we said goodbye to little Rose and Sage.   I think I mentioned early on that there was an iron in the fire, someone in the wings who might be willing to adopt the kitties for a forever home - but it didn't seem likely and we never pushed it.   The were so sick for most of the time we had them, and hadn't even had their feline leukemia/HIV testing yet.   They have improved SO much, and yesterday we took them back to the vet for these tests.   I was ready to pass out from worry, thinking how cruel the universe would be if they had gone through so much already, just to ultimately test positive for something with no cure.   BUT - they were negative.       The vet was impressed with them, and said, "They look like completely different animals."   

It was the vet who told us that the person who might be interested in adopting the kittens was actually our former vet, who had retired and sold him the practice.   She is semi-retired, actually, and comes to work there periodically and had mentioned she was looking for kitties recently.   So yesterday, after we got the all clear, he took a couple of pictures and texted them to her.   We barely got in the door yesterday before my phone was blowing up, and it was the clinic, saying she was definitely ready to take them, and could we bring them in today? 

So hosers - that's what we did.   The girls are now with their forever mom, a veterinarian, where they will be raised together, and never lack for anything.   We have been all over the place with emotions and wanting to do right by them.   Four cats in our current house isn't ideal for a myriad of reasons, and this seemed too perfect to pass on.   We came home and cleaned up everything in the bathroom, and sniffled the whole time.   

Here are my last few photos of them.    I miss them already!   

Sage in the tunnel, one of their favorite places:



 

Sleepy Rose:



 


Sage hiding behind a box:



 


Ferocious beasts!



 

Can't quite believe they're gone, really.   But I know they're going to have a wonderful healthy life.   *sniffle*


----------



## snowbear

One of the reason's I couldn't foster - I'd want to keep them.  At least it's a good home.  And besides, you don't want to be the crazy cat lady.


----------



## SquarePeg

I miss them too!  You guys are angels for saving them and even more so for giving them up when it was the right thing to do.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 2 episodes of Queen’s Gambit and I’m hooked.
> 
> 
> 
> I can’t wait to watch this
Click to expand...


I blew through the whole thing over last weekend.  It was excellent!  Just weird enough for me and the clothes and sets - just incredible.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> And besides, you don't want to be the crazy cat lady.


How cute you are.  Like, in a so-wrong kind of way. 

Soon.  Just not this time.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I miss them too!  You guys are angels for saving them and even more so for giving them up when it was the right thing to do.


Thanks.   It was going to be her, or no one - I figured the odds were that we'd be keeping them.   I'm fairly zen about it.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I miss them too!  You guys are angels for saving them and even more so for giving them up when it was the right thing to do.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks.   It was going to be her, or no one - I figured the odds were that we'd be keeping them.   I'm fairly zen about it.
Click to expand...


If they can't be with you, it at least sounds like they have found what sounds like the next best thing. And they never would have had the chance without you and your husband! I'll miss their sweet little faces. Tell her to start an Instagram and flood it with pictures that we can all see


----------



## smoke665

Thanksgiving at oldest son's house this year. Obeying two out of three shouldn't be hard


----------



## SquarePeg

If you obey that last one the other two will follow.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> If you obey that last one the other two will follow.



I'm sort of bummed, I've been practicing a collections of classic songs of Thanksgiving to perform a solo for the family, guess that's out.............LOL The limit on the alcohol would have to be pretty high to get enough for me to start singing!!!! Now if the moonshine comes out all bets are off, that blue lighting in a jar, will make you do all kinds of crazy things.

I learn something new everyday though, seems COVID can apparently be transmitted by music, the higher the volume the more the risk??????


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you obey that last one the other two will follow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sort of bummed, I've been practicing a collections of classic songs of Thanksgiving to perform a solo for the family, guess that's out.............LOL The limit on the alcohol would have to be pretty high to get enough for me to start singing!!!! Now if the moonshine comes out all bets are off, that blue lighting in a jar, will make you do all kinds of crazy things.
> 
> I learn something new everyday though, seems COVID can apparently be transmitted by music, the higher the volume the more the risk??????
Click to expand...


The louder the music the more people will speak loudly to be heard which, like singing, transmits a lot more of the virus than normal conversation.


----------



## Original katomi

I’m on the naughty list then as I have just started my first beer since med October


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you obey that last one the other two will follow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sort of bummed, I've been practicing a collections of classic songs of Thanksgiving to perform a solo for the family, guess that's out.............LOL The limit on the alcohol would have to be pretty high to get enough for me to start singing!!!! Now if the moonshine comes out all bets are off, that blue lighting in a jar, will make you do all kinds of crazy things.
> 
> I learn something new everyday though, seems COVID can apparently be transmitted by music, the higher the volume the more the risk??????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The louder the music the more people will speak loudly to be heard which, like singing, transmits a lot more of the virus than normal conversation.
Click to expand...


Right. It's not the sound but the fact that air and droplets are coming out of your mouth at a higher volume and velocity, which means more potential virus in the air for others to breathe in.


----------



## Original katomi

I have nurses come in to help look after Mrs. Each morning. Today I found out that they need a time gap between when I take off/stop using my sleep apnoea mask /machine and when they visit
It’s for much the same reasons as above, the droplets in the air. If I am late getting up I have to call and let them know so they can delay their visit


----------



## snowbear

I'm already turkeyed out - we had a dress rehearsal of the brining/injecting/frying this past weekend, and now we get to do it all over.  I think I'll stick to the sausage & pepper quesadillas, and the cranberries; I love cranberries.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you obey that last one the other two will follow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sort of bummed, I've been practicing a collections of classic songs of Thanksgiving to perform a solo for the family, guess that's out.............LOL The limit on the alcohol would have to be pretty high to get enough for me to start singing!!!! Now if the moonshine comes out all bets are off, that blue lighting in a jar, will make you do all kinds of crazy things.
> 
> I learn something new everyday though, seems COVID can apparently be transmitted by music, the higher the volume the more the risk??????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The louder the music the more people will speak loudly to be heard which, like singing, transmits a lot more of the virus than normal conversation.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Right. It's not the sound but the fact that air and droplets are coming out of your mouth at a higher volume and velocity, which means more potential virus in the air for others to breathe in.
Click to expand...


Except in my case.  If I sing, every one and every thing will hyper-speed away to escape the sound.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you obey that last one the other two will follow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sort of bummed, I've been practicing a collections of classic songs of Thanksgiving to perform a solo for the family, guess that's out.............LOL The limit on the alcohol would have to be pretty high to get enough for me to start singing!!!! Now if the moonshine comes out all bets are off, that blue lighting in a jar, will make you do all kinds of crazy things.
> 
> I learn something new everyday though, seems COVID can apparently be transmitted by music, the higher the volume the more the risk??????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The louder the music the more people will speak loudly to be heard which, like singing, transmits a lot more of the virus than normal conversation.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Right. It's not the sound but the fact that air and droplets are coming out of your mouth at a higher volume and velocity, which means more potential virus in the air for others to breathe in.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Except in my case.  If I sing, every one and every thing will hyper-speed away to escape the sound.
Click to expand...


I only sing to the girls. Certain songs make Mrs.Parker suddenly run over to me to yowl and violently lick my head. Zelda just stares at me, all "What fresh hell is this?"


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> smoke665 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you obey that last one the other two will follow.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sort of bummed, I've been practicing a collections of classic songs of Thanksgiving to perform a solo for the family, guess that's out.............LOL The limit on the alcohol would have to be pretty high to get enough for me to start singing!!!! Now if the moonshine comes out all bets are off, that blue lighting in a jar, will make you do all kinds of crazy things.
> 
> I learn something new everyday though, seems COVID can apparently be transmitted by music, the higher the volume the more the risk??????
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The louder the music the more people will speak loudly to be heard which, like singing, transmits a lot more of the virus than normal conversation.
Click to expand...


You've never been to one of our family gatherings. The normal decibel level is somewhere between dueling air wrenches and squadron of jets taking off.  Four adults, 6 grands ranging in age from 3-20 and, four dogs,  I don't think we have to worry about it affecting how we talk


----------



## Rickbb

Had to cancel ours, son in law exposed last week and in quarantine and with 2 other family members imuno-compromised, made no sense to have it.


----------



## smoke665

@Rickbb that's tough. DW is a cancer patient (incurable) with compromised immune system, and I'm a cancer survivor in my second year cancer free. We follow the protocols as much as possible, as do the kids, but we know its always a roll of the dice. The flip side is our age and health problems means we never know if there will be a next year. So we roll the dice and pray.


----------



## snowbear

For us, it's myself, MLW & Lazy Lobster but MLW is taking plates the her sisters, nearby.  One won't venture out until things improve and the other has to work (she's with the Sheriff's office).  

We may try to get out to see nieces at Christmas, but I don't know.  Probably the do the same thing, then.

My quarantine ends Saturday.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, I did try and copy the quote about the dogs joining in the sing song
Mrs and I were driving to Devon and “your the one I want “ from “Grease” was on the radio and so we were howling along to it. 2 so called grown up adults and two dogs...”your the one I want, howl howl, yell, yell.... “
you kind of get the pic lol


----------



## waday

Happy Thanksgiving!


----------



## SquarePeg

Rickbb said:


> Had to cancel ours, son in law exposed last week and in quarantine and with 2 other family members imuno-compromised, made no sense to have it.



Sorry your plans got canceled, I hope everyone is ok


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Coffee House Hosers!


----------



## terri

Rickbb said:


> Had to cancel ours, son in law exposed last week and in quarantine and with 2 other family members imuno-compromised, made no sense to have it.


Sorry you had to cancel, but you're definitely doing the best thing for your family.    Best wishes that everything turns out well and you can Zoom your way through the day with them!


----------



## terri

Happy Thanksgiving to all hosers who celebrate here in the USA!    

Hope everyone has a safe day.


----------



## snowbear

YaY!  Zoom visit to Tulsa with #1 and new Daughter in law tonight!


----------



## Rickbb

Thanks guys, he gets his test tomorrow and we'll see how it turns out. He's probably ok, he wears his mask rigorously when he has to audit customers and exposure was brief, but this virus is tricky. Doing the zoom thing today, kind of weird being only 5 miles away, but do what you have to.


----------



## CherylL

Happy Thanksgiving!  Made a peach pie with blackberries sprinkled in.  The turkey breast is in the oven and making the yearly corn pudding for my husband from his mother's recipe.  Made my 1/2 batch cranberries with triplesec.


----------



## SquarePeg

Such a quiet day here compared to the usual loud and boisterous holiday meals that we have. I’ve been painting since about 830 trying to avoid eating too many leftovers. Had a nice day but again super quiet.  Thankful to have some family around and a nice meal.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, not up on your holidays etc but wish everyone a good time , here in uk there is talk about letting us loose for Christmas


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Hi all, not up on your holidays etc but wish everyone a good time , here in uk there is talk about letting us loose for Christmas



Here in the US, Thanksgiving is the first of “the holidays”.  Traditionally a turkey dinner with all the trimmings shared with family - many of whom travel  “home” to where they grew up.  Originally (allegedly) based on a meal that the Pilgrims and Indians shared to give thanks for the harvest, it has become a day to be grateful for the good things in your life and appreciate time spent with family and friends.

Canada has thanksgiving as well but it’s a few weeks earlier than in the US.


----------



## Gew

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's a really "loving" tradition that i wish we'd celebrate here where I'm currently situated.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> Canada has thanksgiving as well but it’s a few weeks earlier than in the US.


LOL. We made the mistake of going to Niagara Falls and Toronto on that weekend. We had no idea and wondered why the wait to get to the top of the CN tower was nearly 3 hours.


----------



## VidThreeNorth

Did anyone actually buy something on Black Friday or Cyber Monday this past weekend?  I just bought my usual groceries and meals.


----------



## waday

VidThreeNorth said:


> Did anyone actually buy something on Black Friday or Cyber Monday this past weekend?  I just bought my usual groceries and meals.


We waited to buy some Christmas gifts and some badly needed new clothes, but we didn’t splurge on anything big.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hi Hosers!  Happy Humpday.  Had a nice lunchtime hike with the pup.  She loves to climb!  I tried to keep it to the main paths today but she would not be denied at least one trip up the rocks for a view.  




 







VidThreeNorth said:


> Did anyone actually buy something on Black Friday or Cyber Monday this past weekend?  I just bought my usual groceries and meals.



Nothing.  We don’t need anything and neither does the rest of the family.  Christmas gifts will be very low key this year.


----------



## terri

I can't believe how big Harlie's getting!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> I can't believe how big Harlie's getting!



she’s about 35 lbs. More long and lean than anything else.  She won’t get much bigger,  maybe a bit heavier but not much.  Because she was a rescue she was spayed really young.  When that happens they don’t tend to get very big as they miss puberty.


----------



## CherylL

VidThreeNorth said:


> Did anyone actually buy something on Black Friday or Cyber Monday this past weekend?  I just bought my usual groceries and meals.



Same here bought groceries on Cyber Monday.  I did buy a SD card, but not a big discount.


----------



## VidThreeNorth

Re: Not much buying.  That's what I was expecting really.  Looks like the real economy is going to be hurting for the next few months at the least.  Not much to do about it.  Have a good Christmas anyway!


----------



## snowbear

MLW got a call last night - one of her half-brothers passed from COVID.  We're waiting for arrangement details, and may be flying to Michigan.


----------



## Original katomi

Sorry to hear, thoughts with you


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> MLW got a call last night - one of her half-brothers passed from COVID.  We're waiting for arrangement details, and may be flying to Michigan.



I'm so sorry, Charlie  Please give my condolences to your wife.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Yes, sorry to read that. With the current situation, I hope you're allowed to attend. My condolences to you both.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, guys.  It doesn't look like there are travel restrictions, but there are limits on groups - 25 for indoor funerals.  We'll know more in the next couple of days.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> MLW got a call last night - one of her half-brothers passed from COVID.  We're waiting for arrangement details, and may be flying to Michigan.



So sorry for your loss. Such a sad situation for all involved.  Be safe.


----------



## SquarePeg

Have not seen any posts from the other Sharon lately.  Has anyone heard from @vintagesnaps ?  I hope all is well.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> MLW got a call last night - one of her half-brothers passed from COVID.  We're waiting for arrangement details, and may be flying to Michigan.


Terrible news, Charlie  - I'm so sorry.   Condolences to your wife and the rest of your family.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Have not seen any posts from the other Sharon lately.  Has anyone heard from @vintagesnaps ?  I hope all is well.


You're right - it's been about a week since she's been on.   I haven't heard anything from her.

That's according to her profile, btw - that she logged in Nov. 27th, but she's not posted anything since the end of Sept.   I know she was taking on a new class, haven't heard an update.


----------



## waday

Sorry to hear this Charlie


----------



## snowbear

Geography Quiz:  Where does the dot represent?  (hint: looks like I'm travelling there, this weekend).


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

snowbear said:


> Geography Quiz:  Where does the dot represent?  (hint: looks like I'm travelling there, this weekend).



Pontiac or Flint?


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Geography Quiz:  Where does the dot represent?  (hint: looks like I'm travelling there, this weekend).



Detroit!


----------



## terri

Detroit!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Geography Quiz:  Where does the dot represent?  (hint: looks like I'm travelling there, this weekend).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Detroit!
Click to expand...

Ding-a-ling! We have winners.  And, yes, at least some Michiganers actually use their built-in map for the LP.  Actually, we are going to Monroe, which would be about half-way between the tape dot and the wrist (Toledo).

Getting a later start than we had hoped but Zoe has to go to the vet; it looks like she has a UTI so we have to see what they say, first.  We started her on some OTC drops, and they seem to be doing well - she doesn't appear to be hurting, but we want to let the pro look at her.


----------



## smoke665

With all the bad things going on this year, thought I'd share a little good. We got an early Christmas present in the form of four new grandchildren (ages 4 to 9). Our oldest son and his wife have been fostering a sibling group of four and trying to adopt them for well over half the 1,335 days they've been in their care. The wheels of the legal system don't just turn slow, they barely move. Throughout it's been one delay after another, but today at long last it became official. I now have four more models to practice on. LOL


----------



## SquarePeg

Congrats Smoke.  

howdy Hosers!  Been busy decorating and painting. Busy at work too.  Going to be a strange Christmas season this year.  No cookie swaps, no festive drinks with friends, no holiday symphonies or nutcrackers, no overcrowded Christmas Eve mass with the children’s choir singing and no big joyous noisy family Christmas party.   Ugh.  

On the good news front, Princess is 2 for 2 with college acceptances.  Still waiting to hear from a few others but she’s very happy with her options so far.  All MA schools which was her choice and something I’m really happy about with the way things are right now in this country.


----------



## VidThreeNorth

Why Do They Always Discontinue The Good Stuff?

Many years ago I found that gardening gloves were cheap and handy in the Winter for general wear.  After many years of use, I lost the left glove from my favorite pair and went looking for them again.  I found out they were discontinued.  So this year, I finally got a replacement pair.  Unfortunately, I do not like the colour, and the material is not as nice.  But they will have to do.

The Watson Black Hawk were what I wanted.  Real leather, but cheap.  The "Gardena" are the replacements.  I'm definitely not happy about the colour.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Congrats @smoke665. My wife was " chosen " by her Mum and Dad as well. May your son and wife be blessed by their act


----------



## Original katomi

Congratulations Smoke


----------



## terri

That's lovely, @smoke665 !    We will obviously expect lots of pics since you have so many new models in the family.   

Congrats to Princess, @SquarePeg !    It's nice to already have options in the bag.   Good on her!   

Been a week of hell for me, hosers.   Seems like yesterday I had those two little rescued kitties, and we still miss them daily.   BUT - hubby had a bad incident that took him to the hospital for 5 days.   Avoided surgery though, and just got him home last night.   All's well that ends well.   But -  if I'd had to handle 4 cats getting to know each other, all by myself, in addition to having to do battle with the fleas that the little ones brought to the older ones, I might have decompensated.      I had a small procedure for my back on Monday while hubby was still in the hospital, so had to make last minute transportation arrangements.    My back has been killing me the whole time I've been vacuuming flea dirt and wiping down everything while keeping up hubby's spirits.  

Bring on the END of this godforsaken year, I say.   A dumpster fire.


----------



## SquarePeg

Oh @terri that sucks.  I hope both you and hubby recover quickly and that you get some relief from the back pain.   Hang in there!


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Bring on the END of this godforsaken year, I say. A dumpster fire.



Learned many years ago to not say it can't get any worse, but hopefully gets better for you to at least catch your breath. As to the new year I saw this today........Now I'm a little concerned


----------



## CherylL

@snowbear, Charlie so very sorry for your loss.  Condolences to the family.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> With all the bad things going on this year, thought I'd share a little good. We got an early Christmas present in the form of four new grandchildren (ages 4 to 9). Our oldest son and his wife have been fostering a sibling group of four and trying to adopt them for well over half the 1,335 days they've been in their care. The wheels of the legal system don't just turn slow, they barely move. Throughout it's been one delay after another, but today at long last it became official. I now have four more models to practice on. LOL



Good news!  The more the merrier!


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, @CherylL.

We ended up not going to MI, due to a number of reasons, two of which are the increased risk of COVID and Zoe being at the vet this morning.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  Today at 10:30 am I ordered 2 sd cards from BestBuy and they were delivered before 5pm.  Amazed.  There is a BB right up the road, maybe they realized how close we were and decided not to bother with shipping?


----------



## SquarePeg

Harlie enjoyed her first time in the city tonight.  We walked for hours just enjoying the mild weather (40’s) and lack of crowds. Everyone we saw loved her pretty Christmas sweater and wiggly happy bounciness.  iPhone:


----------



## Original katomi

Hiya all,  sorry still no photos to add to the forum.  I feel bad that I am here and not adding to the group but sadly home life, is taking up just about every moment. I can’t start something that I can’t stop at a moments notice. The number of times I have logged on here, had to go off to help Mrs and by the time I get back I have been logged out by time out.
So thsee images are just for fun .. no cc I know they are bad. Low light, shaking hands, old I pod . No plan just snap th e image
Top Alfie and Tinka. It looks like Tink is using Alfie’s tail as a blanket
2 This is Alfie, tucked up on the sofa. Pinching my bedding.


----------



## snowbear

Rest in Peace, brother.  You were one of the reasons I was attracted to Country music in my youth.


----------



## SquarePeg

it’s a mild 55 here in Massachusetts once the sun burned off the morning fog. Typical mid December weather would be mid 30’s.  Harlie and I got a nice walk in to enjoy the nice day!  Heading back to Rockport today - I heard they have decorated motif #1 and want to see it.


----------



## terri

Such a pretty area - no wonder Harlie loves to visit.   We're also enjoying a mild, sunny day after some morning fog burned off.   Just a matter of time before it starts to feel like December again, though.

Enjoy your Sunday, hosers.


----------



## Original katomi

Square peg 
Nice images  I like the dog coat, our Molly will let us play dress up
Where as the boy, Alfie would be off and he will not play
Hectic morning here, we see few people ... today everyone seems to be “just on the island” and can pop round now.lol


----------



## Original katomi

You all know the story,
Waiter there is a fly in my soup.
We'll coffee will never be the same


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Square peg
> Nice images  I like the dog coat, our Molly will let us play dress up
> Where as the boy, Alfie would be off and he will not play
> Hectic morning here, we see few people ... today everyone seems to be “just on the island” and can pop round now.lol



She loves wearing her sweaters.  Probably because we make a big deal out of how pretty she looks when we put it on. She prances all around showing it off lol.  Our small dog that passed last month hated to wear anything and would sit, literally in the corner, and pout and whine until the offensive item was removed.


----------



## waday

Original katomi said:


> Hiya all, sorry still no photos to add to the forum. I feel bad that I am here and not adding to the group but sadly home life, is taking up just about every moment.


No need to be sorry! Especially at this time with the pandemic and all. Happy to have you here and chatting!


----------



## waday

Original katomi said:


> View attachment 201258 View attachment 201258 You all know the story,
> Waiter there is a fly in my soup.
> We'll coffee will never be the same


Whaaat. Nope. Nope. Nope.


----------



## CherylL

Haven't felt great the last few days.  I may have hurt my back mopping.  It could be the cold weather giving the aches.  Of course don't want to freak out and think covid is coming on.  I've been taking the smell test of horseradish sauce.    Unscrew the lid and sniff and yep still can smell.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> Haven't felt great the last few days.  I may have hurt my back mopping.  It could be the cold weather giving the aches.  Of course don't want to freak out and think covid is coming on.  I've been taking the smell test of horseradish sauce.    Unscrew the lid and sniff and yep still can smell.



Just go get tested so you can have peace of mind.  We got tested on Friday at a local drive through site that takes appointments.  There and back in 30 minutes.  Of course they texted me at 2am on Friday with the results and woke me out of a sound sleep.  All negative and feel less stressed for a few days anyway.  Princess will be back in school next week and I can worry all over again.  I am both grateful and terrified that my mom lives with us during this mess.


----------



## SquarePeg

@CherylL how are you feeling?

Here’s something to make you all smile.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> @CherylL how are you feeling?
> 
> Here’s something to make you all smile.



She's having so much fun!! 

I got a solid foot of snow. Totals in the area ranged from about 10 to 15. Red Hook (farther north and right on the river) got 20 inches.

I burned me some maaaaaad calories shoveling. Judgy Bracelet (aka Fitbit) tells me I walked over 12,000 steps and I never left my driveway!


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> I burned me some maaaaaad calories shoveling. Judgy Bracelet (aka Fitbit) tells me I walked over 12,000 steps and I never left my driveway!



You beat me!  I had 7600+ steps and a boatload of calories as well.  Shoveling and playing with the dog was exhausting.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I burned me some maaaaaad calories shoveling. Judgy Bracelet (aka Fitbit) tells me I walked over 12,000 steps and I never left my driveway!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You beat me!  I had 7600+ steps and a boatload of calories as well.  Shoveling and playing with the dog was exhausting.
Click to expand...


I feel like a walking bruise today!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 201404


The cuteness!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> I burned me some maaaaaad calories shoveling. Judgy Bracelet (aka Fitbit) tells me I walked over 12,000 steps and I never left my driveway!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You beat me!  I had 7600+ steps and a boatload of calories as well.  Shoveling and playing with the dog was exhausting.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I feel like a walking bruise today!
Click to expand...

I grew up in Michigan and have hoisted many shovelfuls of snow in my day.    I know exactly how you feel!

The best part of heavy snows, of course, is watching our critters having fun, like Miss Harlie up there - along with snuggling down, cooking big pot meals and having a fire. 

Shoveling the stuff kinda sucks.


----------



## terri

CherylL said:


> Haven't felt great the last few days.  I may have hurt my back mopping.  It could be the cold weather giving the aches.  Of course don't want to freak out and think covid is coming on.  I've been taking the smell test of horseradish sauce.    Unscrew the lid and sniff and yep still can smell.


Hope you're feeling better, Cheryl.


----------



## smoke665

@CherylL maybe I need to do the horseradish test on DW. This morning she decided to fix my favorite for breakfast (biscuits and sausage gravy) she makes the best gravy. When it was done I ran to the stove biscuits in bowl, and started dipping gravy, but something was wrong with the gravy?????? It looked like it had sand in it and didn't quite smell right. Of course dummy me had to do the taste test..........Let's just say the milk was waaaayyyyy past it's prime. Talk about a let down to my morning. 

In her defense though, years of chemo have not been kind to her sense of smell and taste.


----------



## SquarePeg

The dog is completely exhausted today from all her snow run-jumping yesterday!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@limr We had about the same amount of snow. Counties north of me and also Binghamton area got 3 ft+ I believe. My wife's heating pad sure helped last night


----------



## CherylL

Thanks for the concern.  I am feeling much better.  Still a little back pain.  I need to quit mopping


----------



## snowbear

After 36-1/2 years, I finally took off my wedding band.  They needed me to try to remove it so they could x-ray the hand.  I had an issue with the "social" finger on that hand, and the nurse was extremely concerned that the ring was very tight.

They had to cut it off.

Now we have to decide whether to get this one re-sized and re-soldered back together, or just get new ones; maybe a pair of Claddagh rings.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> After 36-1/2 years, I finally took off my wedding band.  They needed me to try to remove it so they could x-ray the hand.  I had an issue with the "social" finger on that hand, and the nurse was extremely concerned that the ring was very tight.
> 
> They had to cut it off.
> 
> Now we have to decide whether to get this one re-sized and re-soldered back together, or just get new ones; maybe a pair of Claddagh rings.



   I'm sorry you were forced into cutting off your wedding band like this.   BUT - it sounds like it could indeed have been causing an issue, so maybe it's for the best?   

You do have choices.   36 1/2 years = upcoming anniversary soon; it might be fun to get new rings to mark the occasion.   Could certainly resize the original, too, so it could more easily be slipped off when needed. 

What does She Who Must Be Obeyed think?   Naturally, your voice must be heard, but...you know.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> I'm sorry you were forced into cutting off your wedding band like this.   BUT - it sounds like it could indeed have been causing an issue, so maybe it's for the best?
> 
> You do have choices.   36 1/2 years = upcoming anniversary soon; it might be fun to get new rings to mark the occasion.   Could certainly resize the original, too, so it could more easily be slipped off when needed.
> 
> What does She Who Must Be Obeyed think?   Naturally, your voice must be heard, but...you know.


Yes, in the long run, it is better. Although I didn't notice any discomfort in the ring finger, the tightness _may_ have been contributing to the pain in the adjacent finger.  I mentioned the Claddagh and she is open to it, but wants to see it beside her engagement ring (1/4 ct brilliant solitary).  For now, we'll wait.  She'll probably start wearing hers after the next surgery.

I've thought of the re-affirmation thing, but we'd have to wait until the COVID stuff is lot lower (Anniversary is June).  Maybe in Maine, instead of MD, this time.  We could open it up to @SquarePeg & Princess and @limr & Buzz.


----------



## SquarePeg

Count me in!


----------



## Original katomi

Ah sorry to hear about your ring. I have mine and Mrs, on a chain around my neck


----------



## SquarePeg

Was going to clean the house and finish my shopping today.  Went up into the attic to get something - the ladder is a bit old and I was just wearing socks.  Just pulled a half inch long splinter from my foot.  I may need to call it a day and binge watch The Mandalorian.


----------



## terri

Ouch!   Is it one of those pull-down ladders, Sharon?  We had one in our last house that we learned early on to never attempt without shoes!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Ouch!   Is it one of those pull-down ladders, Sharon?  We had one in our last house that we learned early on to never attempt without shoes!



Yes one of those!  Lesson learned.


----------



## Rickbb

SquarePeg said:


> I may need to call it a day and binge watch The Mandalorian.



Did that last week, want me to tell you how the season ended?


----------



## terri

Rickbb said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I may need to call it a day and binge watch The Mandalorian.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Did that last week, want me to tell you how the season ended?
Click to expand...


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Charlie, sorry about your ring  I vote for melting it down and making a new ring out of it. And if we're able to travel by June, I think a re-affirmation ceremony in Maine would be lovely! 

I had a COVID test this morning. Will find out in 24-48 hours. No symptoms, but everyone who wants access to campus now has to have had a test. I have to go to campus once a month (long story, not worth the telling, but suffice to say it requires me picking up physical items to mail to students, and as of yet, there are no electronic alternatives), so I took the test this morning then went straight to campus. Not sure if I have to have another one before the next visit. Our procedures have changed several times since September, so it's anybody's guess, really. Just going to wait for my test result and hope it's negative. I mean, if it's positive, it means that I'm probably one of those asymptomatic people who never actually gets seriously ill. Silver lining is not getting sick. But it's still bad because I'll have to quarantine and hope that I haven't already spread it to anyone else.

So I had the whole brain scrape this morning, then several hours of work on what is technically my first day of vacation. So hell yeah, I have a glass of wine right now! Cheers, everyone! 
Saúde! 
Şerefe! 
Na zdravje!
Sláinte!


----------



## limr

And no more than 5 seconds after I hit "Post Reply," I spilled my wine. I got cocky.







But it's okay. It spilled in a way that was convenient to clean up, and there's more in the bottle.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Charlie, sorry about your ring  I vote for melting it down and making a new ring out of it. And if we're able to travel by June, I think a re-affirmation ceremony in Maine would be lovely!
> 
> I had a COVID test this morning. Will find out in 24-48 hours. No symptoms, but everyone who wants access to campus now has to have had a test. I have to go to campus once a month (long story, not worth the telling, but suffice to say it requires me picking up physical items to mail to students, and as of yet, there are no electronic alternatives), so I took the test this morning then went straight to campus. Not sure if I have to have another one before the next visit. Our procedures have changed several times since September, so it's anybody's guess, really. Just going to wait for my test result and hope it's negative. I mean, if it's positive, it means that I'm probably one of those asymptomatic people who never actually gets seriously ill. Silver lining is not getting sick. But it's still bad because I'll have to quarantine and hope that I haven't already spread it to anyone else.
> 
> So I had the whole brain scrape this morning, then several hours of work on what is technically my first day of vacation. So hell yeah, I have a glass of wine right now! Cheers, everyone!
> Saúde!
> Şerefe!
> Na zdravje!
> Sláinte!



Cent’anni!  Or the Ital-American slang version Chindon!


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> After 36-1/2 years, I finally took off my wedding band.  They needed me to try to remove it so they could x-ray the hand.  I had an issue with the "social" finger on that hand, and the nurse was extremely concerned that the ring was very tight.
> 
> They had to cut it off.
> 
> Now we have to decide whether to get this one re-sized and re-soldered back together, or just get new ones; maybe a pair of Claddagh rings.



Sorry about the ring.  Maybe a good thing since it was too tight?  The ring looks like my husband's original band.  At our 25 year anniversary we got new rings.  He went with a titanium ring.


----------



## terri

Hosers, just in time for Christmas, my less-than-2 year old microwave blew this morning.        Checks of fusebox, outlet, etc., have us thinking it could be an internal fuse, but we'll see.   I'm not a particular fan of microwaves, but I do like them at least for zapping coffee.   Local repair people are sympathetic but still say they'll see me next Monday.   

Humbug!


----------



## snowbear

Popcorn.  They work for popcorn, too.

Well, I found a pair of rings that we both like, but we are still looking around.  Traditional wedding band with a Celtic knot and Claddagh design around the center, from Ireland.  A little pricey, but if we want them bad enough, we'll save up.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Hosers, just in time for Christmas, my less-than-2 year old microwave blew this morning.        Checks of fusebox, outlet, etc., have us thinking it could be an internal fuse, but we'll see.   I'm not a particular fan of microwaves, but I do like them at least for zapping coffee.   Local repair people are sympathetic but still say they'll see me next Monday.
> 
> Humbug!



Bummer!  That happened to us Christmas week a couple of years ago but it was a total loss - they just don’t make these things repairable anymore!  Ended up having to settle for a less than perfect one because stock was very limited as I really needed it for the holidays.  Avoid Samsung.


----------



## Original katomi

Terri
Re microwave did my sister come to see you
Every time she uses something electric at my parents she breaks it her best item was dubbing the sound on a shop bought video


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hosers, just in time for Christmas, my less-than-2 year old microwave blew this morning.        Checks of fusebox, outlet, etc., have us thinking it could be an internal fuse, but we'll see.   I'm not a particular fan of microwaves, but I do like them at least for zapping coffee.   Local repair people are sympathetic but still say they'll see me next Monday.
> 
> Humbug!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bummer!  That happened to us Christmas week a couple of years ago but it was a total loss - they just don’t make these things repairable anymore!  Ended up having to settle for a less than perfect one because stock was very limited as I really needed it for the holidays.  Avoid Samsung.
Click to expand...

This is a Frigidaire, supposedly a good model, if the price tag was any indication!      But they're likely all made from the same electronics.   Agreed, very little seems built to last these days.  

Personally, I have never been a fan of mounting them over the stove top, and would gut the whole thing for a range hood if it wouldn't lead to a mini kitchen remodel.   But putting an appliance in an area where it's routinely subjected to steam seems to invite malfunction.   Just a bad idea.

I'm heating my second cup of coffee on the stove top until Monday.   My carafe doesn't keep it hot long enough.   ☕


----------



## Original katomi

Re coffee, make two cups and put them in a flask. Enjoy hot later


----------



## Original katomi

Wishing you all a good day on the 25th


----------



## CherylL

My parents had a microwave back in the late 60's.  A box with dials and was a heavy weight.  I think they paid $300 to $400 for it back then.  

Had to Xmas Facetime with the Grands for gift opening.  The girls got me hot chocolate bombs and I will add some Baileys cream.  @SquarePeg, what is your drink recipe with champagne?  I had it a year or two ago and can't remember how to mix.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey, were some of you hosers talking about me some pages back??!!! I have been busy with classes, which is the busiest I've been in awhile. I'm retired, I'm not used to having to get things done, and ya know, deadlines and stuff! I've hopped on but not taken time to log in much less post. Thanks for asking and thinking of me, I appreciate it.

What's good for popcorn? fuses? chocolate bombs?? See what happens when you try to go back and catch up...

It's an odd Christmas for sure, strange to not be going over to my parents house. My dad passed away in early December last year, and my mom's at a senior living community where there can't be visitors. But of course nobody I know is doing much this year. At least for me the World Jrs. in hockey starts tomorrow, yay! I'll take that for Christmas.

edit - Merry Christmas hosers!


----------



## snowbear

Merry Christmas to you, too, Sharon.  Stay safe.  We were just thinking out loud - hoping you were OK.

As usual, you didn't really miss much in this thread.


----------



## vintagesnaps

D'ya mean this is 4100+ pages of not much?? lol Charlie you're underestimating the importance of the Coffee House! 


I bought Kahlua. And Kahlua mocha coffee. My best friend is picking up dinner later so that's the plan for tonight. And whether to watch 'White Christmas' or 'Ghostbusters', both classics in their own right.


----------



## terri

Great to hear from you, @vintagesnaps!   We were definitely wondering what you were up to - somebody remembered your classes, and it turns out they were right!  

Just about everyone I know is having a quiet Christmas, definitely the safest thing.   Hope you have a good one.

Happy Christmas Eve, hosers.


----------



## snowbear

OK all you hosers:

Wee fish, ewe, a mare, egrets. moose. panda, hippo, gnu, deer.


----------



## SquarePeg

Merry Christmas Eve to my TPF family!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Charlie, 'We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year' too! 

I love Boynton!! Cats!


----------



## SquarePeg

Christmas dinner!  Vegetarians look away now.  


I hope everyone is having a wonderful day.  We’re taking a break before dessert!


----------



## Original katomi

Yum yum


----------



## Original katomi

Using blue tooth key board.  B thing spells worse than i do. Taken 3 goes to some posts


----------



## pixmedic

I got a 48 hour shift for Xmas






Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk


----------



## snowbear

We have a rare white Christmas in DC!  It's only millimeters deep, but there is snow on  the ground.


----------



## terri

pixmedic said:


> I got a 48 hour shift for Xmas
> 
> View attachment 201627
> 
> Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk


Bless you, Jason - you're a hero.   Hope you have a lovely make-up holiday once your shift is over.

Stay safe out there.  Merry Christmas!   ❤


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Christmas dinner!  Vegetarians look away now.
> 
> 
> I hope everyone is having a wonderful day.  We’re taking a break before dessert!
> 
> View attachment 201621


Looks perfectly cooked.   Beautiful!   I'll have a glass of red wine with mine, please.


----------



## RowdyRay

Merry Christmas and whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year! 

Sorry for the late post. Woke up yesterday to a burst water pipe. Long story. My son came over today and we got things sorted out. Sucked, but could have been much worse. Got a bit more clean up tomorrow. 

Hope everyone is doing fine. It's been a very weird year.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

RowdyRay said:


> Merry Christmas and whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year!
> 
> Sorry for the late post. Woke up yesterday to a burst water pipe. Long story. My son came over today and we got things sorted out. Sucked, but could have been much worse. Got a bit more clean up tomorrow.
> 
> Hope everyone is doing fine. It's been a very weird year.



Sorry to hear that - not what you want on Christmas day.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, blowing a gale here. Some damage to the garden depending on how Mrs is today I may be able to get out and do some repairs


----------



## terri

RowdyRay said:


> Merry Christmas and whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year!
> 
> Sorry for the late post. Woke up yesterday to a burst water pipe. Long story. My son came over today and we got things sorted out. Sucked, but could have been much worse. Got a bit more clean up tomorrow.
> 
> Hope everyone is doing fine. It's been a very weird year.


Yikes - what a way to start the day - any day, let alone Christmas.   Burst water pipes are no joke.   Glad you were able to tackle it yourself.  

"Weird year" - yeah, that's one way to put it.      Drawing to a close, at last, though we're still in the weeds with the pandemic and all.  

Happy New Year!


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> Hi all, blowing a gale here. Some damage to the garden depending on how Mrs is today I may be able to get out and do some repairs


We had a wild weather night/day a few days ago but only lost one shutter, so I'm grateful for that!   Hope your garden isn't too badly damaged. 

The appliance repair folks are scheduled for tomorrow morning to (hopefully) fix the dang microwave.   Stupid appliance, that happens to be annoyingly convenient - I've missed it!


----------



## VidThreeNorth

Weather around here was embarrassingly good.  No snow in the week before Christmas and then overnight snow for a fresh cover.  There was even some sun briefly in the afternoon.  It has been just cold enough to keep it from melting, and again brief sun in early noon yesterday and today.  The only downside is that I just keep getting busy when the sun is around and then I get out with my camera and it's heavily clouded again.  Anyway, I hope we are all staying well. . . .


----------



## SquarePeg

This is too funny not to share.


----------



## Original katomi

Lol


----------



## limr

Fell to the second page??

Here, let me fix that. You're welcome.


----------



## terri

It took me a minute but I see them now!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> It took me a minute but I see them now!



Now that I see them, I can't NOT see them!


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Original katomi

morning all,


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.

I bought myself a couple of goodies, and they are starting to arrive.  First is the bike helmet, so I can get back on the trails.  I'm determined to finish that darned C&O Canal, even if it's only 20 miles at a time.  I'm also replacing the tripod Manfrotto R2 quick release to their Arca Swiss compatible "Top Lock" and picking up an AS plate and L-bracket.  I came up short for the telephoto, so that will wait a couple months, but I caved in and got an iPad and case/folio.  The folio is supposed to be here today, the iPad in about two to two-and-a-half weeks.

Son #1 is in ninth day of COVID.  He presumably caught it on the job as a field tech, servicing printers.  SDIL (sweet daughter in law) and their roommate are also infected, though SDIL has the milder of the symptoms.  We're really hoping they'll be over this crap in another week or two.


----------



## terri

Happy New Year, hosers!    It's almost over!  

Congrats on getting the new toys, Charlie!   Getting new gear is good incentive to get out there.

Hope everyone in your family gets well soon.   Glad it seems to be staying on the milder side.


----------



## terri




----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Good morning, peeps.
> 
> I bought myself a couple of goodies, and they are starting to arrive.  First is the bike helmet, so I can get back on the trails.  I'm determined to finish that darned C&O Canal, even if it's only 20 miles at a time.  I'm also replacing the tripod Manfrotto R2 quick release to their Arca Swiss compatible "Top Lock" and picking up an AS plate and L-bracket.  I came up short for the telephoto, so that will wait a couple months, but I caved in and got an iPad and case/folio.  The folio is supposed to be here today, the iPad in about two to two-and-a-half weeks.
> 
> Son #1 is in ninth day of COVID.  He presumably caught it on the job as a field tech, servicing printers.  SDIL (sweet daughter in law) and their roommate are also infected, though SDIL has the milder of the symptoms.  We're really hoping they'll be over this crap in another week or two.



I hope your son is on the mend soon! 

I'm in the middle of a new project:






Started painting them outside but got too much crud on them and they took forever to dry in the cold air, so I brought the operation inside:






Hopefully there will be more progress pictures later today.

Happy last day of 2020!!


----------



## snowbear

And I just added three fountain pens to the mix.  LAMY has a few limited colors to their Safari line every year.  These are fairly nice pens for under $40 and I've been concentrating on these and Shaeffers whenever I get a new pen.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, peeps.
> 
> I bought myself a couple of goodies, and they are starting to arrive.  First is the bike helmet, so I can get back on the trails.  I'm determined to finish that darned C&O Canal, even if it's only 20 miles at a time.  I'm also replacing the tripod Manfrotto R2 quick release to their Arca Swiss compatible "Top Lock" and picking up an AS plate and L-bracket.  I came up short for the telephoto, so that will wait a couple months, but I caved in and got an iPad and case/folio.  The folio is supposed to be here today, the iPad in about two to two-and-a-half weeks.
> 
> Son #1 is in ninth day of COVID.  He presumably caught it on the job as a field tech, servicing printers.  SDIL (sweet daughter in law) and their roommate are also infected, though SDIL has the milder of the symptoms.  We're really hoping they'll be over this crap in another week or two.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hope your son is on the mend soon!
> 
> I'm in the middle of a new project:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Started painting them outside but got too much crud on them and they took forever to dry in the cold air, so I brought the operation inside:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hopefully there will be more progress pictures later today.
> 
> Happy last day of 2020!!
Click to expand...

Bookcase, or basic shelving project?   

I see that Hello Fresh box back there!


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> And I just added three fountain pens to the mix.  LAMY has a few limited colors to their Safari line every year.  These are fairly nice pens for under $40 and I've been concentrating on these and Shaeffers whenever I get a new pen.


I feel the need for more oil pastels.   Because oil pastels.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning, peeps.
> 
> I bought myself a couple of goodies, and they are starting to arrive.  First is the bike helmet, so I can get back on the trails.  I'm determined to finish that darned C&O Canal, even if it's only 20 miles at a time.  I'm also replacing the tripod Manfrotto R2 quick release to their Arca Swiss compatible "Top Lock" and picking up an AS plate and L-bracket.  I came up short for the telephoto, so that will wait a couple months, but I caved in and got an iPad and case/folio.  The folio is supposed to be here today, the iPad in about two to two-and-a-half weeks.
> 
> Son #1 is in ninth day of COVID.  He presumably caught it on the job as a field tech, servicing printers.  SDIL (sweet daughter in law) and their roommate are also infected, though SDIL has the milder of the symptoms.  We're really hoping they'll be over this crap in another week or two.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I hope your son is on the mend soon!
> 
> I'm in the middle of a new project:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Started painting them outside but got too much crud on them and they took forever to dry in the cold air, so I brought the operation inside:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hopefully there will be more progress pictures later today.
> 
> Happy last day of 2020!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Bookcase, or basic shelving project?
> 
> I see that Hello Fresh box back there!
Click to expand...


Floating shelves mounted to the wall. There will be six 4-foot shelves on one wall (staggered depths: two 12-inch, two 10-inch, two 8-inch) and then around the corner, six more 2.5-foot shelves, all 8 inches deep.

Need to run to Home Depot to get the rest of the brackets. Don't know if we'll get all of the shelves up today but we'll do as much as we can.

The Hello Fresh box is filled with boring Paralegal books and notes  When I tried the service earlier this year, I kept all the boxes in anticipation of needing boxes to move. In a weird way, the pandemic made it a lot easier to move because of all the home delivery and Amazon stuff I ordered!


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy New Year’s Eve Hosers!  Here’s to better times ahead.  Cheers!



no...I haven’t started drinking already.  But I expect to celebrate tonight with a few martinis and some binge watching on Netflix.  As soon as I decide which pjs to wear to the living room tonight.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all 
Hope you all have a good evening and wishing you a happy new year


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> I feel the need for more oil pastels.   Because oil pastels.


Actually, I threw together a small one yesterday.  I don't like it, but it was something to do.  I'll post it in the challenge thread (furry).  Lazy_lobster was cleaning up and gave mne some of their acrylics and oil pastels from classes!



SquarePeg said:


> Happy New Year’s Eve Hosers!  Here’s to better times ahead.  Cheers!
> 
> no...I haven’t started drinking already.  But I expect to celebrate tonight with a few martinis and some binge watching on Netflix.  As soon as I decide which pjs to wear to the living room tonight.



No big New Years plans.  We did pick up a bottle of sparkling cranberry and apple cider (we're not really party people).  We're pushing the pork roast thing, sans sauerkraut, to tonight instead of tomorrow (I'm much more Italian and Celtic, than I am German).  We might go to a very nice local brick-oven place for brunch tomorrow, but not sure.

Netflix sounds like a winner, but I'll probably watch more of the Doctor Who marathon.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Happy New Year’s Eve Hosers!  Here’s to better times ahead.  Cheers!
> 
> 
> 
> no...I haven’t started drinking already.  But I expect to celebrate tonight with a few martinis and some binge watching on Netflix.  As soon as I decide which pjs to wear to the living room tonight.


Cheers!   <clinks glasses>    You know the old saying....it's midnight somewhere.    Happy New Year!      

Stay safe, everyone.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning everyone happy new year to you all 
Not sure of time zone difference but here it’s 08.33 GMT  
Snow Bear Dr who yep done that even picking up some of the original first series off the web
Show my age now I am a Jon Pertwee era child worked on the same set as him once or twice.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Behold, my new "built in" bookshelves! Six more shorter shelves will be going up around the corner. We have the wood and it's been painted, but we need more screws.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Happy New Year! Looks good. If I may suggest: maybe paint the screw heads white for uniform aesthetics?


----------



## SquarePeg

Has anyone seen the previews for 2021?  Is it better than the last one?


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

You probably should wait to ask. I think the view from bloodshot eyes might give a jaundiced view


----------



## limr

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Happy New Year! Looks good. If I may suggest: maybe paint the screw heads white for uniform aesthetics?



Good suggestion. The brackets are also a much cooler shade of white and I figured I would paint them to match the wall. I was also going to load a shelf with books first to see how it looks and if it still bothers me.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> Happy New Year! Looks good. If I may suggest: maybe paint the screw heads white for uniform aesthetics?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good suggestion. The brackets are also a much cooler shade of white and I figured I would paint them to match the wall. I was also going to load a shelf with books first to see how it looks and if it still bothers me.
Click to expand...

Won't the books pretty much cover all that up?    Looks like they're all on the inside and may not really show.   

It can be hard to gauge this kind of thing - something you think might stand out like a sore thumb while you're working turns out to be barely noticeable when finished.   Looking great so far - and yeah, I think you moved pretty fast on this project - looking good!


----------



## SquarePeg

Books?!?  You mean it won’t just be filled with tchotchkes and photos like mine?


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Books?!?  You mean it won’t just be filled with tchotchkes and photos like mine?
> 
> View attachment 201907



I have a distressing number of books


----------



## vintagesnaps

And what's sitting on one of the shelves already? Coffee cup. 
I like the looks of that nice big window back there...

I have books, and other... things. Like hockey pucks of course. 

Thanks to NESN and Hockey East there's a triple header of games today. Usually colleges are on break but this season, schedules are all over the place. World Jrs. start elimination games tomorrow, the USA looks good, so does Team Canada, Russia, and Sweden.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> And what's sitting on one of the shelves already? Coffee cup.
> I like the looks of that nice big window back there...



Naturally, it's a coffee cup 

That window is actually a sliding glass door to the backyard.

The girls approve:


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Won't the books pretty much cover all that up?    Looks like they're all on the inside and may not really show.
> 
> It can be hard to gauge this kind of thing - something you think might stand out like a sore thumb while you're working turns out to be barely noticeable when finished.   Looking great so far - and yeah, I think you moved pretty fast on this project - looking good!



That's why I am going to put the books up before I decide. I still have too many boxes of books to move from the old place, so I am sure that I am going to be reorganizing the books at some point when they are all under one roof, so if I decide that I want to paint the brackets, then I will do it when I have the books off the shelves for the reorganization.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> reorganizing the books


Oh ho!   That's a task that usually leads to great distraction.   Stacks of "to be read" or "to be re-read" books suddenly appear.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> reorganizing the books
> 
> 
> 
> Oh ho!   That's a task that usually leads to great distraction.   Stacks of "to be read" or "to be re-read" books suddenly appear.
Click to expand...


I usually have mine initially divided into fiction and non-fiction. The fiction books are then alphebtized by author. Except for the Hemingways - they are separated. I am thinking of making the bookcase in my bedroom the "Lost Generation" authors and artists, and books about them. If you couldn't tell, I've got a thing for early 20th century art and lit 

The non-fiction books are further subcategorized into Lingustics/Language/Literature, History, Biography, Science and Math, Religion, Law, and - and this is the most technical category - Random 

And so help me, I have a label maker now, so there may be labels for each shelf, just like in a bookstore 

In other news, here, have a meme!


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all
Well I have drunk my coffee posted a few posts, now I had better get back to real life


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, took me some time to find you as had slipped off page 1
Coffee spluttered over I pad.... just taken mouthful of coffee and it’s cold and it looks like that I used the wrong mug
It does explain why I can’t find mug of OJ


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning Hosers!  Ugh first 5 day work week in awhile!  Time to put my head down and get back to the grind.


----------



## Original katomi

Aww poor you.  It’s hard getting back to the grind


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> Aww poor you.  It’s hard getting back to the grind


Unless it's the coffee grind....


----------



## CherylL

Organized the pantry and found my french press in the back.  Coffee was good today!


----------



## snowbear

Another one of the little goodies arrived today.  QR clamp should be here tomorrow, and iPad, next week.





Lamy Safari Candy Special Edition 2020 by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## SquarePeg

Harlie checking out the latest posts on TPF


----------



## vintagesnaps

As the announcer just said, 'sticks flyin', pucks bouncin'... A stick went flying toward the net, pinged off the pipe and I thought for a minute something went in. Team USA is 5 minutes from winning the gold at the World Jrs. Unless Canada scores, it's now 2-0 with time winding down. We played quite well in this tournament, seemed to really gel as a team, well deserved victory.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Harlie's such a cutie. Has good taste in internet viewing too!


----------



## vintagesnaps

'Red, white, blue, and gold...' says the announcer as gloves go flying in the air in celebration. Team USA's captain got a nice birthday present with the win. 

Oops, mic picked up what it shouldn't, wonder who said 'are you shittin' me?' lol. You'd think they'd know better than to put mics where they do sometimes! 

Got a glimpse of maybe one lone photographer at ice level, the camera panned past too quick to tell. The games have been in a big empty.


----------



## Original katomi

Harlie cute,


----------



## waday

Hi all, been too long. Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Holidays!



limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Books?!?  You mean it won’t just be filled with tchotchkes and photos like mine?
> 
> View attachment 201907
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have a distressing number of books
Click to expand...

LMAO. Last time we moved, we had 25 boxes of books, and that was after we had purged probably 75-100.


----------



## SquarePeg

waday said:


> Hi all, been too long. Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Holidays!
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Books?!?  You mean it won’t just be filled with tchotchkes and photos like mine?
> 
> View attachment 201907
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have a distressing number of books
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LMAO. Last time we moved, we had 25 boxes of books, and that was after we had purged probably 75-100.
Click to expand...


Good to see you here!  I hope all is well with the family.  Steady on - we’re in the home stretch.


----------



## waday

SquarePeg said:


> waday said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi all, been too long. Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Holidays!
> 
> 
> 
> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Books?!?  You mean it won’t just be filled with tchotchkes and photos like mine?
> 
> View attachment 201907
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have a distressing number of books
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LMAO. Last time we moved, we had 25 boxes of books, and that was after we had purged probably 75-100.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Good to see you here!  I hope all is well with the family.  Steady on - we’re in the home stretch.
Click to expand...

Thanks, it's good to be back on here. Family is doing pretty well. Daughter is literally running in circles around me as I type this, so she's in a good mood, haha. Quite a bit going on in my life, I'm ready for things to settle down a bit.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all


----------



## SquarePeg

My new home made rustic mantle.  Still needs to be stained and leveled - it’s not attached yet.  I’m thinking a darkish brown since everything else Sinai light.  Here’s a before and after.  Cost of the wood and nails $39. Free labor from myself and Princess’s bf.  I’ve been here 20 years and have always hated this fireplace with its rough granite slab mantle.  It used to be a slate gray and was depressing.  I painted it about 10 years ago and have been wanting to add a wood mantle ever since.


----------



## Original katomi

Looks really good


----------



## waday

Agree, that’s nice!


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Almost halfway through January. After August, it's my busiest month at work. I'm already fairly exhausted. Not gonna lie, I am losing the energy I need to resist buying one of those robe blankets from Amazon and just wearing it all the damn time.

In other news, the library corner is done, just waiting for the rest of my books to be moved to the Birdhouse:


----------



## Original katomi

Looks very nice,  neat and tide it makes good use of a corner


----------



## Original katomi

In other news, like to say sorry if I am off my game or short in my posts to people
In addition to my wife being end stage kidney failure and having palliative care here at home
I have just had to request a home covid test 
To say I am stressed ..... 
So sorry if my comments or posts are not as they are normally


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Original katomi said:


> In other news, like to say sorry if I am off my game or short in my posts to people
> In addition to my wife being end stage kidney failure and having palliative care here at home
> I have just had to request a home covid test
> To say I am stressed .....
> So sorry if my comments or posts are not as they are normally



Wishing you all the best!


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> In other news, like to say sorry if I am off my game or short in my posts to people
> In addition to my wife being end stage kidney failure and having palliative care here at home
> I have just had to request a home covid test
> To say I am stressed .....
> So sorry if my comments or posts are not as they are normally


Don't worry about us here, we're fine.   I'm just sorry you're having to start the year feeling the extra stress.       Make sure you take care of yourself, too!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Almost halfway through January. After August, it's my busiest month at work. I'm already fairly exhausted. Not gonna lie, I am losing the energy I need to resist buying one of those robe blankets from Amazon and just wearing it all the damn time.
> 
> In other news, the library corner is done, just waiting for the rest of my books to be moved to the Birdhouse:


This looks amazing!   I agree, a great use of space.   Is that _Inventing Memory_ I see there?   It's been years since I read anything by Erica Jong, and never this one; did you like it?

Go buy yourself that robe blanket!   Heck, I want one, too!   Chilly in the house today; overcast and windy outside.   I need a snuggly.


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> In other news, like to say sorry if I am off my game or short in my posts to people
> In addition to my wife being end stage kidney failure and having palliative care here at home
> I have just had to request a home covid test
> To say I am stressed .....
> So sorry if my comments or posts are not as they are normally



I'm so sorry, that's a whole lot to deal with  



terri said:


> This looks amazing!   I agree, a great use of space.   Is that _Inventing Memory_ I see there?   It's been years since I read anything by Erica Jong, and never this one; did you like it?
> 
> Go buy yourself that robe blanket!   Heck, I want one, too!   Chilly in the house today; overcast and windy outside.   I need a snuggly.



Thanks! If it's one thing I have learned in this life, it's how to live in small spaces 

I haven't actually read the Erica Jong yet. But now I may put it to the top of my pile in the "green room." By which I mean the small book rack below the antique end table Buzz found for me, which is where I keep the books that I want to read next.

I had just put the blanket robe to the "save for later" list and all it took was for you to tell me to just buy it, and boom! It was back in the cart


----------



## CherylL

Original katomi said:


> In other news, like to say sorry if I am off my game or short in my posts to people
> In addition to my wife being end stage kidney failure and having palliative care here at home
> I have just had to request a home covid test
> To say I am stressed .....
> So sorry if my comments or posts are not as they are normally



So very sorry with your wife and now having to get a covid test.  Post when you can.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Almost halfway through January. After August, it's my busiest month at work. I'm already fairly exhausted. Not gonna lie, I am losing the energy I need to resist buying one of those robe blankets from Amazon and just wearing it all the damn time.
> 
> In other news, the library corner is done, just waiting for the rest of my books to be moved to the Birdhouse:



That looks great!



Original katomi said:


> In other news, like to say sorry if I am off my game or short in my posts to people
> In addition to my wife being end stage kidney failure and having palliative care here at home
> I have just had to request a home covid test
> To say I am stressed .....
> So sorry if my comments or posts are not as they are normally



So sorry you are going through all this, especially now with normal support systems unavailable.  Take care.  Prayers for you and your family.  



terri said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey hosers.
> 
> Almost halfway through January. After August, it's my busiest month at work. I'm already fairly exhausted. Not gonna lie, I am losing the energy I need to resist buying one of those robe blankets from Amazon and just wearing it all the damn time.
> 
> In other news, the library corner is done, just waiting for the rest of my books to be moved to the Birdhouse:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This looks amazing!   I agree, a great use of space.   Is that _Inventing Memory_ I see there?   It's been years since I read anything by Erica Jong, and never this one; did you like it?
> 
> Go buy yourself that robe blanket!   Heck, I want one, too!   Chilly in the house today; overcast and windy outside.   I need a snuggly.
Click to expand...


no need for a snuggie, just put your bathrobe on backwards.  Been doing it for years.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry to hear that Katomi. 

Oooh Leo, nice! There's no such thing as too many books. I like those end brackets on the right.


----------



## snowbear

@Original katomi:  So sorry to hear this.  We're always open, and will be here whenever you can stop by.

@limr: Those are great!

Son #1 is over the covid-crud, but had a lingering cough.

MLW took my new door access thing (kind of a key fob instead of a card)  on Monday to test it on doors, since I didn't do it when I got the thing.  She said it worked on the Fire Department doors and on out new office door.  My agency didn't bother to tell us that lock zones were finally changed and we could get access (we moved in August).

We were also told our new plotter had arrived and out inventory guy was going to get it put in our office.  I went in today but saw no plotter.  I finally tracked it down, and it was delivered.  Unfortunately it's now sitting, catawampus, in a cubical until they get the second "printer" room remodeled.  Again, our area (adjoining the printer room) was done in August ... remodeling brought to you by O So Lowbid Construction.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> no need for a snuggie, just put your bathrobe on backwards.  Been doing it for years.



Ah, but it's not a snuggie.  It is basically a giant, oversized, full-length fleece hoodie dress.


----------



## vintagesnaps

There's also no such thing as too much hockey, 5 games tonight - FIVE!!!!! Montreal leading Toronto so far, yes! then 2 late games to switch back and forth.

Somebody I know is taking photos at a local college's hockey games. Sounds like it's weird being in a big empty, but I am jelly, I never minded taking pictures at local games with nobody much there. Who needs fans? lol Haven't actually been to a game in so long I'd go watch Peewees.

Ooh, Habs are now up 3-1! Now it's gettin' chippy...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh Charlie, that makes me sentimental for the days working for a county agency - NOT!! lol 

Starting to fill up the penalty boxes, and one of the players is trying to hide between the posts in the glass. We can still see you in there!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> no need for a snuggie, just put your bathrobe on backwards.  Been doing it for years.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, but it's not a snuggie.  It is basically a giant, oversized, full-length fleece hoodie dress.
Click to expand...

or a deformed hospital gown


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> no need for a snuggie, just put your bathrobe on backwards.  Been doing it for years.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, but it's not a snuggie.  It is basically a giant, oversized, full-length fleece hoodie dress.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> or a deformed hospital gown
Click to expand...


Bit it's not open in the back. It's a robe, just big enough to snuggle under like it's a blanket.

I had gift card money on Amazon. I decided to "splurge."


----------



## Original katomi

Go for it snuggle up and be warm


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

SquarePeg said:


> no need for a snuggie, just put your bathrobe on backwards. Been doing it for years


I bet you actually like those hospital gowns


----------



## Original katomi

Re hospital gowns
As Mrs is bed bound I converted a few of her night dresses to be open back like hospital gowns so much easier for her to get on and off and does not bunch up under her back

Re spam and spamming 
I wonder if these firm that spam here and elsewhere have some poor bod working for them who has a list of sites to spam before they go home.
Be enough to drive one mad doing that all day


----------



## Original katomi

We don’t get the hockey here that you do, well not that I know of.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I don't see Great Britain in televised international hockey much except I think they may play in the Winter Olympics. 

In night two, there was the 'covid catfish' - god I love hockey! lol (Except the NY Rangers lost and boy, did they... second night and already I'm yelling at the TV!) So I switched over to this game...

Nashville Predators' 2021 season begins with two catfish hitting ice


----------



## Original katomi

Iam glad we are not the only ones who shout at the tv telling them how they got it wrong


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all


----------



## Original katomi

slow here today


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Hi all





Original katomi said:


> slow here today



hi there!  Hope all is well.  Did you get your test and results?  I e been very preoccupied with my latest obsession on Netflix - Lupin - and the quarterly rearrange of my living room furniture.  This room drives me nuts as there are no walls that don’t have either windows, doorways or fireplace so it never feels quite right.  I bought a new rug which I love but now my sofa and ottoman look shabby...


----------



## snowbear

The iPad Air arrived a day early


----------



## SquarePeg

Snowbear check out Affinity photo for iPad app.   One time cost of $20 and has many of the features of LR and PS.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks.  I haven’t put anything on other than the Kindle reader and my password manager, so far.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all got results both Mrs and I pos 
Rushed me to hospital early am mon took Mrs to the hospice 
I am back home on what they call virtual ward eg I am my own nurse with phone backup 
Next few days to sun are going to be the hi risk I could relapse 
So I will either be here all the time or not at all.

Funny how once you replace one item like the rug how it makes other items look
I just put up new nets, I knew the old ones were looking tired but didn’t know how dirty they looked lol
Made you there was not much net left after the cat had a mad moment and found it made a nice rip sound when he hung from them


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Hi all got results both Mrs and I pos
> Rushed me to hospital early am mon took Mrs to the hospice
> I am back home on what they call virtual ward eg I am my own nurse with phone backup
> Next few days to sun are going to be the hi risk I could relapse
> So I will either be here all the time or not at all.
> 
> Funny how once you replace one item like the rug how it makes other items look
> I just put up new nets, I knew the old ones were looking tired but didn’t know how dirty they looked lol
> Made you there was not much net left after the cat had a mad moment and found it made a nice rip sound when he hung from them



sending positive vibes your way.   Take care of yourself and fight!


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> Hi all got results both Mrs and I pos
> Rushed me to hospital early am mon took Mrs to the hospice
> I am back home on what they call virtual ward eg I am my own nurse with phone backup
> Next few days to sun are going to be the hi risk I could relapse
> So I will either be here all the time or not at all.
> 
> Funny how once you replace one item like the rug how it makes other items look
> I just put up new nets, I knew the old ones were looking tired but didn’t know how dirty they looked lol
> Made you there was not much net left after the cat had a mad moment and found it made a nice rip sound when he hung from them



I hope you are okay!


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> Hi all got results both Mrs and I pos
> Rushed me to hospital early am mon took Mrs to the hospice
> I am back home on what they call virtual ward eg I am my own nurse with phone backup
> Next few days to sun are going to be the hi risk I could relapse
> So I will either be here all the time or not at all.
> 
> Funny how once you replace one item like the rug how it makes other items look
> I just put up new nets, I knew the old ones were looking tired but didn’t know how dirty they looked lol
> Made you there was not much net left after the cat had a mad moment and found it made a nice rip sound when he hung from them


Ugh, that's not the news you wanted!  Glad you got to go home, and hopefully you will be just fine.  Don't hesitate to use that phone backup!


----------



## Original katomi

Home, relapse, hosp, home.
Been told to take it very carefully as slightest thing is leaving me done in. I am ok if I sis and do nothing, go shower and I am wheezing like an old steam train. So much for coming home and getting the house ready to get Mrs home.
They will not let Mrs home until I am well enough to care for her. Yea I know makes sense and is right 
Tomorrow I am going to carefully look at the night shots from hosp room window to see if any good.
Have to rem how to get pic ugly base jpg from phone to pc


----------



## Original katomi

Square Peg thanks I am fighting, I have been since felt ill over 10 days ago covid had me on my knees lapsing in and out of consciousness with a 40 deg c temp.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, took me hour to fine this thread on page 3 
I did some pics from hospital but it was with an old I pod so it looks like I printed onto sugar cubes
I am going to have a lot of time recovering, just a shower wipes me out.
Maybe I can get the camera out, only today been up to paying here a visit
Chat to you all from time to time


----------



## CherylL

Original katomi said:


> Hi all, took me hour to fine this thread on page 3
> I did some pics from hospital but it was with an old I pod so it looks like I printed onto sugar cubes
> I am going to have a lot of time recovering, just a shower wipes me out.
> Maybe I can get the camera out, only today been up to paying here a visit
> Chat to you all from time to time



Feel better soon!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all 
Yea working at getting better, a pop in here is about all I am up at the moment
My sister is threatening to come over in a month and help me clear all of Mrs belongings..... no way 
I  know it will have to be done but I want do it slow and work out what I want and not be told what to keep


----------



## SquarePeg

So sorry for your loss.


----------



## Original katomi

Thanks, Peg.
It’s nice to have this group to pop in to


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> Thanks, Peg.
> It’s nice to have this group to pop in to


My condolences to you, and your family.


----------



## RowdyRay

Original katomi said:


> Hi all
> Yea working at getting better, a pop in here is about all I am up at the moment
> My sister is threatening to come over in a month and help me clear all of Mrs belongings..... no way
> I  know it will have to be done but I want do it slow and work out what I want and not be told what to keep



I'm so sorry for your loss. Tell your sister to mind her own business.


----------



## CherylL

Original katomi said:


> Hi all
> Yea working at getting better, a pop in here is about all I am up at the moment
> My sister is threatening to come over in a month and help me clear all of Mrs belongings..... no way
> I  know it will have to be done but I want do it slow and work out what I want and not be told what to keep



So very sorry for you loss.  Hugs


----------



## CherylL

This is week 2 of my annual cleaning of media files.  I keep things nice and tidy all year, but just a little organizing, saving to externals & backups.  I fired up my oldest PC with Windows XP and think I haven't started it since 2011.  I had transferred files long ago to my old PC and wanted to make sure there wasn't anything on there I wanted before I take out the 2 hard drives and drill holes.


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> Hi all
> Yea working at getting better, a pop in here is about all I am up at the moment
> My sister is threatening to come over in a month and help me clear all of Mrs belongings..... no way
> I  know it will have to be done but I want do it slow and work out what I want and not be told what to keep



I'm so sorry  Your sister needs to back off and let you handle things in your own time.


----------



## waday

I’m so sorry to hear this, @Original katomi


----------



## SquarePeg

Hey Hosers! Haven’t been sleeping well and mentally exhausted from all the worries the past few months have brought.  I need a drink, a spa visit and a vacation in the mountains.


----------



## Original katomi

Peg
Book me in as well. Lol


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all
Gutted just had msg that I am Covid pos again
Here we go again


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> Morning all
> Gutted just had msg that I am Covid pos again
> Here we go again


----------



## nokk

Original katomi said:


> Morning all
> Gutted just had msg that I am Covid pos again
> Here we go again



my mom tested positive and she was sick at the end of december.  she recovered, tested negative, then positive, then negative again in the course of a few weeks.  dr. said she could test positive for up to a three months after but she's not contagious and hasn't had symptoms since the original bout.  hoping that's all it is for you too.


----------



## Original katomi

Thanks that’s given me hope, I will do the quarantine period so this pos could just be a hang over from the covid


----------



## Overread

Katomi - first my condolences for your loss  


From what I'm aware the covid tests that test if you're infected can throw up false positives if you've recently had it. This is because they are either detecting dead covid cells still in your body and/or they are detecting the anti-bodies that you've made to fight it which are still buzzing around in your system. So even though its dead and gone from your system it can still appear as if you've got it to the tests. You are doing the right thing in treating it as if you are infected and isolating and keeping an eye on your overall health. Most certainly treat it as if you do have it. 

It's a hellish thing to be sick and isolated at the same time, I hope you do keep reaching out online through forums, facebook, webcam and on the phone to friends and family. Setup some regular time slots with those close to you to check in with every day/twice a day etc... It will give you some focal points in the day to help structure around


----------



## SquarePeg

nokk said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Morning all
> Gutted just had msg that I am Covid pos again
> Here we go again
> 
> 
> 
> 
> my mom tested positive and she was sick at the end of december.  she recovered, tested negative, then positive, then negative again in the course of a few weeks.  dr. said she could test positive for up to a three months after but she's not contagious and hasn't had symptoms since the original bout.  hoping that's all it is for you too.
Click to expand...


Same thing happened with my uncle.  He never had any symptoms but tested positive, negative after quarantine,  then positive again.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all 
Overread, hi thanks I chat to family each day and pop in here when I can


----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!    

Anyone doing anything special this weekend?   I have a family zoom call in honor of my mom's birthday on Sunday.    

And extra laundry.   Not much else.    

Who can beat that?


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> Anyone doing anything special this weekend?   I have a family zoom call in honor of my mom's birthday on Sunday.
> 
> And extra laundry.   Not much else.
> 
> Who can beat that?



temps will be in the single digits this weekend so I will be staying in and reading or painting.  I’ll probably FaceTime and catch up with some family.   My nephew moved from CA to Houston so want to check in with him on how it’s going.


----------



## Original katomi

Well as I am stuck indoors this w/e I plan to play with some studio backgrounds 
I will prob use stuffed toys for models, 
I have wanted to use backgrounds for some time, and as I don’t do well with people  the stuffed toys will stand in 
They don’t winge need paying or fidget lol


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@Original katomi  I am very sorry for your loss and health issues. Stay strong and my prayers are with you.


----------



## Original katomi

Thanks Dean


----------



## Original katomi

Whoops 
I planned to use some backgrounds and have a play 
I bought the backgrounds over a year ago never unpacked them
I thought I had black, white, grey
But on unpacking I have grey and 2 black 
Oh well, sort out kit tonight play tomorrow


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> Anyone doing anything special this weekend?   I have a family zoom call in honor of my mom's birthday on Sunday.
> 
> And extra laundry.   Not much else.
> 
> Who can beat that?


I’m really, really ordering my new eyeglasses (leaving in a few minutes, actually).  We’re also taking the Honda in for service.

And shoot and/or draw something.


----------



## SquarePeg

It's currently 16 degrees and I'm trying to talk myself out of an attempt at frozen soap bubbles...


----------



## snowbear

They are calling for snow, here, Sunday / Monday


----------



## Original katomi

Morning 
Wet and cold here 
Time to turn on the fire and get my act together and try to do some photography


----------



## Original katomi

It’s taken me ages to get set up, trying to sort the flash
I could not get constant reading with my electric flash meter so I went old school with an old film flash meter
Here is my set up


----------



## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> It’s taken me ages to get set up, trying to sort the flash
> I could not get constant reading with my electric flash meter so I went old school with an old film flash meter
> Here is my set up


That looks pretty good; looking forward to the result. 

Sorry for your loss, mate.


----------



## Original katomi

Some results from the morning play. I have to say the models were very well behaved 
Iso 100, F 5.6  on manual 
Twin flash on manual with white brolly one shot through other one as reflection 
Adjusting the power output as needed on review of the image as shot
Some post processing , 
Enjoy this is a first for me so CC is welcomed


----------



## snowbear

I think the lighting is pretty good; you could also go with auto ISO.  I think I would have gone a little wider on the last two.


----------



## Original katomi

I see what you mean on the last two they are bit cramped
Q. Why auto iso


----------



## Original katomi

Changed lens and camera  otherwise same settings hopefully  less cramped


----------



## SquarePeg

Cute.  You should branch out and post them in the Just For Fun gallery as the Coffee House thread has a pretty small audience compared to TPF overall.


----------



## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> I see what you mean on the last two they are bit cramped
> Q. Why auto iso


It will adjust to match your other settings and the light.  If the light is a little low, it will automatically up the ISO.


----------



## snowbear

Changes:  Snow will begin tonight and continue tomorrow.  Should end up as sleet/freezing rain.

Since I have all the W2s and 1099-somethings, I'm starting the income tax returns.

New glasses were a no go.  The "kid" who wrote the prescription didn't write it for bifocals, so either anything further than arms length, or closer than arms length would be OOF.
Jammin' prime instead of the zoom I need.    

I'll have to call the office on Monday.

Anyway, this is what I've picked out - brown over blue (somewhat transparent); blue matches my eyes and the brown matches what my hair _used_ to be.


----------



## Original katomi

Well I had fun setting up studio shoot, learn from it and will think about doing it again with people
Can’t believe how long it takes to pack away lol


----------



## Original katomi

To add to my fun.  My lap top has decided not to read the sd card


----------



## smoke665

Original katomi said:


> To add to my fun.  My lap top has decided not to read the sd card



Once the studio bug bites, it's hard to do anything else. As Sharon said earlier posting your studio shots in the appropriate forum will get much more assistance.

My internal SD reader quit several months ago. I've been to lazy to get it fixed. In studio I shoot tethered, so I  don't need it, on the rare occasion I need to transfer from the SD, I either connect a patch cord, or I have a little multi card reader that plugs into the USB port. They're only a few bucks.


----------



## snowbear

It's snowing; the grass, cars and roof tops are coated, pavement is just wet.  We are supposed to get 3" to 6", locally.

Taxes are done; now we just wait for the refunds.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Taxes are done; now we just wait for the refunds.


ooo!   New art supplies!


----------



## Original katomi

What art supplies are you getting.
I have just ordered 36 aa batteries for the flash units and a white background 
The studio bits I have been getting over a few years, birthdays gifts from Rebecca 
I was a bit surprised when I dug it all out how many items I had.
During the week I will have to sort out things to do with Rebecca’s death, but the W/e I plan to relax and do some more photography


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> snowbear said:
> 
> 
> 
> Taxes are done; now we just wait for the refunds.
> 
> 
> 
> ooo!   New art supplies!
Click to expand...




Original katomi said:


> What art supplies are you getting.



Maybe a couple brushes, but that would be all.  Any "mad money" out of it will go to the 200-500mm fund.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

January madness at work is done. February gets better, though there is still some spillover from Jan, so it's been a long week.

Celebrating the weekend with a lazy Saturday afternoon nap with Zelda and her peets.


----------



## snowbear

Snow by morning!


----------



## SquarePeg

Here too just a few hours later.  What’s everyone cooking for the Super Bowl?


----------



## Original katomi

We have been told we will get snow, although I doubt it. Yesterday the sky was a real weird colour but no snow
Being lazy today decided that 8am was far tooooo early to get up on a Sunday
So it’s coffee in bed with the I pad to chat to here and spot the spammers lol
Edit cooking  for super bowl. Err what?


----------



## Original katomi

Dogs have joined me and snuggled up on the bed.
Oh well, I can .......zzzzzzzzzz


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> We have been told we will get snow, although I doubt it. Yesterday the sky was a real weird colour but no snow
> Being lazy today decided that 8am was far tooooo early to get up on a Sunday
> So it’s coffee in bed with the I pad to chat to here and spot the spammers lol
> Edit cooking  for super bowl. Err what?



I think you Brits see more of the spam because of the time difference.   By the time those of us in the States log on you and SpaceFace have already reported it all.


----------



## Space Face

SquarePeg said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> We have been told we will get snow, although I doubt it. Yesterday the sky was a real weird colour but no snow
> Being lazy today decided that 8am was far tooooo early to get up on a Sunday
> So it’s coffee in bed with the I pad to chat to here and spot the spammers lol
> Edit cooking  for super bowl. Err what?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think you Brits see more of the spam because of the time difference.   By the time those of us in the States log on you and SpaceFace have already reported it all.
Click to expand...



Some of us just have our finger on the pulse


----------



## Original katomi

Square peg I think that the spammer target the time difference
Snow flurries here now


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Here too just a few hours later.  What’s everyone cooking for the Super Bowl?


When is it?
Who's playing?

(No, really,  I have no idea)


----------



## Original katomi

Ok for the stupid Brit here
What is super bowl?


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here too just a few hours later.  What’s everyone cooking for the Super Bowl?
> 
> 
> 
> When is it?
> Who's playing?
> 
> (No, really,  I have no idea)
Click to expand...


Tampa vs KC.  Tom Brady playing in another Super Bowl.  If he wins this one they will run out of superlatives.   



 




Original katomi said:


> Ok for the stupid Brit here
> What is super bowl?



Super Bowl = championship game of American football. Basically a holiday here in the US as people normally gather for parties or at bars to watch together, drink beer and eat wings, nachos and bbq.  With covid most people are staying home so I was wondering if anyone was cooking anything special for the game.


----------



## Original katomi

Ah I see  thanks was feeling stupid


----------



## SquarePeg

The snow has arrived.


----------



## Rickbb

Original katomi said:


> Ah I see  thanks was feeling stupid



No, some of us here on this side of the pond call it the Stupid Bowl.


----------



## terri

@SquarePeg : my sister lives in Florida and she is totally stoked!   Bucs fans have been waiting many years for this.  

Me, I like Kansas City.       The elder statesman vs. the young up & coming makes for a great headline, doesn't it?   As usual, I just hope for _good football_ being played - no lopsided victories, no one getting a serious injury, etc.  

This year, it's also noteworthy that women are coaching.    More organizational challenges, too, from having to deal with the pandemic, but it should be fun.


----------



## Original katomi

Square peg
Like the photo fun in the snow
Here are my two boys, it’s cold here so there is a truce


----------



## SquarePeg

Just ran out for some pics before it gets too dark.  It’s gorgeous out there.


----------



## Original katomi

Wow stunning


----------



## Original katomi

Well peeps, I have a, well my small dog has an appointment at the vet so I have to be up early
Night all catch you all sometime tomorrow.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, well it is snowing here 
Compared to what some of you have this is just a dusting
Hope all is well with everyone


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Just ran out for some pics before it gets too dark.  It’s gorgeous out there.
> 
> View attachment 203293
> 
> 
> View attachment 203294
> 
> View attachment 203295
> 
> View attachment 203296


Sharon, your newly painted front door looks so pretty when it snows like this!   Again: you did great with your color scheme.  

I guess you're happy with the Superbowl outcome?       My sister enjoyed it thoroughly, and now she has next season to look forward to, since Brady claims he's not retiring (yet).   

Me, I thought it was a terrible Superbowl.   Not only did my preferred team lose, but it was the kind of game I was mentioning beforehand that I find awful - a blowout!   Couple that with some questionable ref calls, some poor sportsmanship, and it kind of ends up being a stinker.   

On the plus side, there were a few commercials that were actually funny and well-crafted.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just ran out for some pics before it gets too dark.  It’s gorgeous out there.
> 
> View attachment 203293
> 
> 
> View attachment 203294
> 
> View attachment 203295
> 
> View attachment 203296
> 
> 
> 
> Sharon, your newly painted front door looks so pretty when it snows like this!   Again: you did great with your color scheme.
> 
> I guess you're happy with the Superbowl outcome?       My sister enjoyed it thoroughly, and now she has next season to look forward to, since Brady claims he's not retiring (yet).
> 
> Me, I thought it was a terrible Superbowl.   Not only did my preferred team lose, but it was the kind of game I was mentioning beforehand that I find awful - a blowout!   Couple that with some questionable ref calls, some poor sportsmanship, and it kind of ends up being a stinker.
> 
> On the plus side, there were a few commercials that were actually funny and well-crafted.
Click to expand...


I was happy to see Brady win. I don’t think we ever had a blowout Super Bowl when he was with the patriots, seems like they were all real nail-biters. I definitely know what you mean about the commercials there were some good ones this year.


----------



## Original katomi

Cold here 
Well the trip to the vet cost about twice what I expected darn just what i don’t need at the moment 
But like all dog lovers we pay the vet then live on soup and backed beans lol


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Snow again


----------



## SquarePeg

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Snow again



Tonight for us.  I think your weather is about 6 hours ahead of us.  My friends in NJ and PA are my weather guys!  No need for the tv.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all bitter cold here


----------



## SquarePeg

Well it started to snow here already.  Early.  Glad to be home and warm.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Original katomi said:


> Hi all bitter cold here



Yesterday morning my drive to work was at 3 deg F. At least it warmed up so it could snow


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, I will not be here in the morning tomorrow I have an early Doc appointment


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> Hi all, I will not be here in the morning tomorrow I have an early Doc appointment



Good luck at the doctor's!

I'll probably go clear off the snow in about an hour. It's been snowing since morning, supposed to stop around 5ish but I think I'd rather deal with it now before it gets dark. I have meetings tomorrow morning and I'm not a morning person, so it's not really realistic to think I can get out and clear the snow in the morning and then start work.


----------



## Original katomi

Thanks 
My blood sugars have been high for the last few months  as has blood pressure 
Told Doc a number of times she says  it’s stress
I think this blood test is to put my mind at ease and find out for certain 
Been on tablets for over a year, so who knows


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Thanks
> My blood sugars have been high for the last few months  as has blood pressure
> Told Doc a number of times she says  it’s stress
> I think this blood test is to put my mind at ease and find out for certain
> Been on tablets for over a year, so who knows



Meditation and breathing exercises went a long way toward lowering my stress levels.  So did not watching the news.  Mostly just read my news these days.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi all, I will not be here in the morning tomorrow I have an early Doc appointment
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck at the doctor's!
> 
> I'll probably go clear off the snow in about an hour. It's been snowing since morning, supposed to stop around 5ish but I think I'd rather deal with it now before it gets dark. I have meetings tomorrow morning and I'm not a morning person, so it's not really realistic to think I can get out and clear the snow in the morning and then start work.
Click to expand...


Snowing here too.  I may go out and try to photograph a snowflake.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi all, I will not be here in the morning tomorrow I have an early Doc appointment
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck at the doctor's!
> 
> I'll probably go clear off the snow in about an hour. It's been snowing since morning, supposed to stop around 5ish but I think I'd rather deal with it now before it gets dark. I have meetings tomorrow morning and I'm not a morning person, so it's not really realistic to think I can get out and clear the snow in the morning and then start work.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Snowing here too.  I may go out and try to photograph a snowflake.
Click to expand...


I photographed Zelda judging me from her warm inside perch:


----------



## SquarePeg

Lol she does look a bit judgy, even for a cat.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks
> My blood sugars have been high for the last few months  as has blood pressure
> Told Doc a number of times she says  it’s stress
> I think this blood test is to put my mind at ease and find out for certain
> Been on tablets for over a year, so who knows
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Meditation and breathing exercises went a long way toward lowering my stress levels.  So did not watching the news.  Mostly just read my news these days.
Click to expand...


I've been reading books and watching TikTok videos to de-stress.   Doing a big purge around here helps me de-stress too.  I've shredded a few boxes of old files.


----------



## CherylL

It is bitter cold with snow today.  I was concerned when I saw a cat out back just sitting in one place for about 10 minutes.  I put on boots and bundled up to see if he was a lost pet.  By the time I walked out to the field he was gone.  Hope he finds his way home.


----------



## snowbear

It started snowing this afternoon about 4, I guess, melting as soon as it hit the ground.  It as since gotten colder and it's sticking to the grass.  Expecting up to about 5", regionally util it quits tomorrow; actually calling for snow/sleet mix in SoMD.  Snow again, possible, on Saturday (and two days next week)


----------



## Rickbb

Rain and ice for the next week or more here, I’d rather have snow.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all it’s now to cold for snow here, sat wrapped up drinking coffee 
I turned up the heating last night but forgot it takes a couple of days before  the underfloor heating  will make a difference that I will notice brrrrrrrr


----------



## Original katomi

Sat here going slightly mad, trying to sort out Mrs estate.
Because all accounts were in here name and she had kept her previous name no one will even talk to me until I have sent marriage and death certificates.  Arrrrrrrrrr
On a brighter have been looking to upgrade for some time, before she died Mrs said to use some of the money when I got it(see top ) and get the camera I was looking at and to keep up with the photography 
She used to set me challenges or suggest ideas, and very keen that I kept doing things like that


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Original katomi said:


> Sat here going slightly mad, trying to sort out Mrs estate.
> Because all accounts were in here name and she had kept her previous name no one will even talk to me until I have sent marriage and death certificates.  Arrrrrrrrrr
> On a brighter have been looking to upgrade for some time, before she died Mrs said to use some of the money when I got it(see top ) and get the camera I was looking at and to keep up with the photography
> She used to set me challenges or suggest ideas, and very keen that I kept doing things like that



Yes - the Probate process can be frustrating, at a time you don't really need frustrations.  And great idea to keep up with your interests.  Look after your health too.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Happy Chinese New Year.

Photo from out Lunar New Year's Eve dinner on the beach.  Apologies to anyone suffering from snow and ice this winter.  (And I think selective color can look cool, and don't care what anyone says


----------



## limr

No need to apologize. Snow does not automatically indicate suffering.




Instax Snowy Lawn by limrodrigues, on Flickr





Instax Snowy Welcome by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## SquarePeg

I like the snow.  Except the shoveling it’s beautiful.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> I like the snow.  Except the shoveling it’s beautiful.


Encourage Princess to get a muscular boyfriend; even if it only lasts until Spring.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all
Just found out where all the wind is comming through the windows yea right where I sit
Mind you half an hour and a roll of gaffs tape cured the problem lol


----------



## terri

If you're in Texas (or elsewhere being impacted by this new polar vortex), hope you stay safe - and warm!    I was still living in Texas when one hit, and it killed back our orange tree significantly, but we didn't lose power.

This one's worse - nearly 3 million without power reported in Texas alone - among them, my sister- and mother-in-law, who lives with my sister-in-law.   They texted us this morning to report their power went out around 5 AM today, and it's currently showing 11' F outside their window.      Cold, cold, cold.   She's been comforted by having a generator built into her house, but it never occurred to her to maintain it.   She turned it on and it ran for about 2 minutes and then died, and it's covered with ice.    So they are huddled around a gas fireplace and bundled up.   Their only saving grace is that they do have natural gas, so they can cook on the stove top and take hot showers.   

Brrr-r-r-r-r!    We're very fortunate that it didn't travel to the Southeast USA.


----------



## Original katomi

My thoughts and prayers to all those affected by the cold.
This site is very much a global community


----------



## Rickbb

Still raining here, (central NC), but good news is it's above freezing so no more ice and most of us have our power back. But forecast is for more rain, ice, snow, etc. What Texas is getting now we get in 2 days. Just half way through Feb and we are already 3 inches above normal in rain.

Rinse, repeat. sigh

I'd rather have snow.


----------



## Original katomi

And for something different lol
I have ordered on line a new sofa. Due 18th 
booked rubbish removers for 17th so ok so far all organised 
Just looked at e mail not expecting anything new and the msg 
the sofa is  now being delivered on 16th my thought was


Oh


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> If you're in Texas (or elsewhere being impacted by this new polar vortex), hope you stay safe - and warm!    I was still living in Texas when one hit, and it killed back our orange tree significantly, but we didn't lose power.
> 
> This one's worse - nearly 3 million without power reported in Texas alone - among them, my sister- and mother-in-law, who lives with my sister-in-law.   They texted us this morning to report their power went out around 5 AM today, and it's currently showing 11' F outside their window.      Cold, cold, cold.   She's been comforted by having a generator built into her house, but it never occurred to her to maintain it.   She turned it on and it ran for about 2 minutes and then died, and it's covered with ice.    So they are huddled around a gas fireplace and bundled up.   Their only saving grace is that they do have natural gas, so they can cook on the stove top and take hot showers.
> 
> Brrr-r-r-r-r!    We're very fortunate that it didn't travel to the Southeast USA.



My nephew just loves to the Houston area from CA. They have no power and roads are all ice.  He’s from NH so he’s used to the cold but his gf is from CA and is not loving it.   The southern half of the US is not used to nor do they have the equipment to deal with  this type of weather so it’s always ten times worse than it would be here.  That is par for the course of winter around here and work crews usually get it fixed quickly.


----------



## terri

^^Exactly.   I chatted with my mom earlier today - she looked at the radar and wasn't sure if I was out of the line of this storm or not, so she wanted reassurance since it's such a doozy.    I grew up in Michigan and it never fails to amuse me how this state decompensates over the thought of snow.   But, of course, it's not frugal to have a fleet of salt trucks to deal with something that may or may not happen any given winter - around here, we throw sand on ice.      So cute.

Still no power at SIL's house, but they are making do.


----------



## terri

Kitten update!   

Remember these precious little babies, found outside last October, sitting by a dumpster before a hurricane?






Of course you do, because they are unforgettable!      After my husband and I nursed them back to health, we gave them to a retired vet - the vet we'd been going to for some years, who sold her practice to our (now) current vet.   We knew 4 cats in our small house was a stretch, and the older cats were jumpy and nervous the entire month we had them - that month worked because they were tiny enough to be quite happy to stay in our master bathroom.  Which would not have lasted much longer.

We have to buy cat food at this clinic, since it's a prescription.   Hubby went in to buy some today, and asked as usual for any news.  It turns out, the girls were there, getting spayed!   I wasn't there, and he didn't pester the technician to let him have a peek, as they had just finished the procedures and were in recovery.   But he was told that they are healthy, strong and happy in their new home.   He also didn't ask if the vet had given them new names (they are known as Rose and Sage in this photo), but we'll find out.   Amazing as it seems, this is the first time anyone's been there who has been able to speak about the kittens since we dropped them off right before Thanksgiving.   We usually duck in and out due to Covid restrictions, and it's a different tech each time.

They weigh 5 pounds now.   Healthy.  Happy.  Gorgeous.   And I miss them terribly and regret giving them away, even though it's a happy ending for them.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Kitten update!
> 
> Remember these precious little babies, found outside last October, sitting by a dumpster before a hurricane?
> 
> View attachment 203564
> 
> Of course you do, because they are unforgettable!      After my husband and I nursed them back to health, we gave them to a retired vet - the vet we'd been going to for some years, who sold her practice to our (now) current vet.   We knew 4 cats in our small house was a stretch, and the older cats were jumpy and nervous the entire month we had them - that month worked because they were tiny enough to be quite happy to stay in our master bathroom.  Which would not have lasted much longer.
> 
> We have to buy cat food at this clinic, since it's a prescription.   Hubby went in to buy some today, and asked as usual for any news.  It turns out, the girls were there, getting spayed!   I wasn't there, and he didn't pester the technician to let him have a peek, as they had just finished the procedures and were in recovery.   But he was told that they are healthy, strong and happy in their new home.   He also didn't ask if the vet had given them new names (they are known as Rose and Sage in this photo), but we'll find out.   Amazing as it seems, this is the first time anyone's been there who has been able to speak about the kittens since we dropped them off right before Thanksgiving.   We usually duck in and out due to Covid restrictions, and it's a different tech each time.
> 
> They weigh 5 pounds now.   Healthy.  Happy.  Gorgeous.   And I miss them terribly and regret giving them away, even though it's a happy ending for them.



 Yay, kitties! That picture kills me dead   I know you made the best decision for them, but I know you miss them and we're missing them right along with you! I'm glad they are doing so well and that we get updates.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Our monkey rescue is having volunteers not come in.. what monkey rescue??  (that's a new one to me, I assume it's at the zoo, I just saw they closed this afternoon).

Other closures include our large local pizza chain, which I've never seen listed as closed; their call center is near where I worked (and by local I mean the greater city area, not out here in the boonies where I live!). The ferry isn't running, takes a lot for that to happen.

Good grief, the interstate looks empty! well, only momentarily, a local station is still on with news. The usual thing when it snows is for people to hop in their cars and race around like maniacs. This is bad enough there's actually hardly anyone on even the highways.

And now there's no curling! They could just move that out to the middle of a street, roads they're showing that are usually busy are mostly empty. I've heard some ice hitting but from here northward mostly it's been snow and they were still saying 8-10". Earlier today I heard a songbird, it was being optimistic! 

I'm just glad I don't have to go out in this, and hope nobody else needs to, and everyone stays safe.


----------



## Original katomi

morning all sat here on the kitchen stool waiting for sofa to arrive lol


----------



## Original katomi

Good news on the kittens, so cute


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Yay, kitties! That picture kills me dead  I know you made the best decision for them, but I know you miss them and we're missing them right along with you! I'm glad they are doing so well and that we get updates.


Since the moment I got back into the car with an empty carrier last November, I've been second-guessing myself.   I knew all the downsides, but was still very zen about the entire thing while they were here.   It definitely helps to get updates and see that they are doing perfectly fine.   Of COURSE they are - the only person who would have gotten them was this retired vet, and I figured I had 50-50 odds that they'd stay with me.   But it's okay.   Sorta.  

Finn and Bex are absolutely certain the right decision was made, of course.   Brats.


----------



## CherylL

Good news on the kittens @terri !  Glad they have a good home.


----------



## snowbear

Baby kitties!   Still adorable.

Well, maybe only a few more days on the Emergency Rent Assistance project.  The dataset design is done and all but two fields are loaded.  I don't have numbers for the last two fields, so those will get put in when someone with the right connections gives them to me.  The project is in support of a COVID grant to help those that have been impacted by the pandemic and need help paying their rent.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Original katomi

Don’t understand lol


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Good morning all. Great news! Our son in law got orders for Rhode Island. Only about 5 1/2 hr drive to see the grandbabies! Sure beats Key West or Ketchikan, Alaska


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Don’t understand lol



Do they have Ground Hog Day in the UK?  It’s a ridiculous tradition where men in tophats go into a cave and bring out Punxsutawney Phil who is a groundhog. If he sees his shadow that means they’ll be six more weeks of winter. This year he saw his shadow.  Again, it’s completely ridiculous.   There is also a movie by that name with Bill Murray that is about a man who repeats the same day over and over. So sometimes people in the US refer to “Groundhog Day” meaning it’s more of the same.  



Dean_Gretsch said:


> Good morning all. Great news! Our son in law got orders for Rhode Island. Only about 5 1/2 hr drive to see the grandbabies! Sure beats Key West or Ketchikan, Alaska



Yeah!  Lots of great places to shoot in RI and some pretty beaches.  Of course any good excuse to head to AK or the Keys would have been fine with me...


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Original katomi

No ground hog day here
We have a lot of wife tails and superstitious


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

SquarePeg said:


> Yeah! Lots of great places to shoot in RI and some pretty beaches. Of course any good excuse to head to AK or the Keys would have been fine with me...



Oh visiting those places was definitely nice, but now we can see them every week 
They will be in Newport, if you are familiar with it.


----------



## SquarePeg

Dean_Gretsch said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah! Lots of great places to shoot in RI and some pretty beaches. Of course any good excuse to head to AK or the Keys would have been fine with me...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oh visiting those places was definitely nice, but now we can see them every week
> They will be in Newport, if you are familiar with it.
Click to expand...


I know Newport from my younger days.  Used to rent a summer house share with 30 of my closest friends lol.  Haven’t been in a long while.  The bridge is a great photo op.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Before visiting a new place, I always search Flickr for photos. It looks like a really nice town.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, how is ever today


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> Don’t understand lol
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Do they have Ground Hog Day in the UK?  It’s a ridiculous tradition where men in tophats go into a cave and bring out Punxsutawney Phil who is a groundhog. If he sees his shadow that means they’ll be six more weeks of winter. This year he saw his shadow.  Again, it’s completely ridiculous.   There is also a movie by that name with Bill Murray that is about a man who repeats the same day over and over. So sometimes people in the US refer to “Groundhog Day” meaning it’s more of the same.
> 
> 
> 
> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good morning all. Great news! Our son in law got orders for Rhode Island. Only about 5 1/2 hr drive to see the grandbabies! Sure beats Key West or Ketchikan, Alaska
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Yeah!  Lots of great places to shoot in RI and some pretty beaches.  Of course any good excuse to head to AK or the Keys would have been fine with me...
Click to expand...


To be fair, they don't go into a cave to get Phil. They just take him out of his cage and put him into a fake tree stump to pretend 

My friends and I once took a run to Punxatawney from Pittsburgh to do the whole Groundhog Day thing. Gobbler's Knob is real, but it's actually a clearing in the woods outside of town, not the gazebo in the middle of the town like it was in the movie. It was fun. They're really not taking themselves too seriously. And the town is really cute. We had an awesome breakfast at the diner (not the same one in the movie. Pretty sure that was just a set.) I would have liked to stay but we had to get back to Pittsburgh for class.

@Dean_Gretsch   Love Rhode Island! I spent quite a lot of time there with one of my best friends who grew up there and lived just outside of Providence before she got married and moved to Indiana. There are some good pubs in Newport - the waterfront is beautiful but kinda touristy, so definitely explore the town beyond the waterfront. And on one of your trips out to Newport, stop at Narragansett and go to Crazy Burger - one block from the beach. Couldn't tell you the street off the top of my head, but the Googles will tell you.  Or probably better to go on the way back to PA - you should get there before noon or the line gets pretty long.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all 
Well I have the dentist in the morning so if I am here later in the day you may he me go arrrrrrrrrr

Your ground hog day sounds interesting I did not know there was such history to it.


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> Hi all
> Well I have the dentist in the morning so if I am here later in the day you may he me go arrrrrrrrrr
> 
> Your ground hog day sounds interesting I did not know there was such history to it.


Clearly, by February each year we become twitchy for entertainment on this side of the pond, so we have invented some weird sh*t..


----------



## SquarePeg

Boston


----------



## Original katomi

Lol


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Boston
> 
> View attachment 203845


Perfect!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all well I got through the dentist appointment better than I thought.
Think they took pity on me because I was early socking wet and dripping on their floor 

And for a lighter note so you call laugh at me.
I bought small combo pad locks to lock the zips on my camera bags not a lot of protection but enough to give me warning if someone was trying to open the back pack in a crowd  and of course 
I have forgotten the combo number...... oh well time to find the bolt croppers


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Boston
> 
> View attachment 203845
> 
> 
> 
> Perfect!
Click to expand...


Although we definitely drop our R’s around here, I don’t think anyone has said “wicked” in decades except on the caricature Dunkin commercials.  



Original katomi said:


> Hi all well I got through the dentist appointment better than I thought.
> Think they took pity on me because I was early socking wet and dripping on their floor
> 
> And for a lighter note so you call laugh at me.
> I bought small combo pad locks to lock the zips on my camera bags not a lot of protection but enough to give me warning if someone was trying to open the back pack in a crowd  and of course
> I have forgotten the combo number...... oh well time to find the bolt croppers



I’m assuming you’ve tried all the relevant birthdays and phone numbers?  I use the same number for everything so it’s easy.


----------



## Original katomi

Tried all the normal ones thanks


----------



## CherylL

After 2 weeks of below freezing temps finally tomorrow will be 65!  Hopefully there won't be a wind chill down to 35.  Made a blackberry cobbler for my daughter today.


----------



## CherylL

It is warming up today.  I am taking my new lens over the grands after school to try out.  Full sun photos not good, but I'll try.


----------



## terri

CherylL said:


> It is warming up today.  I am taking my new lens over the grands after school to try out.  Full sun photos not good, but I'll try.


Beautiful around here, as well.   Our jonquils (daffodils) have been pushing up for the last couple of weeks - amazing how they stand strong through subfreezing temperatures.   Now they have buds on them and will be popping soon.

I can hardly believe it, but spring is beginning to, well, SPRING out around here.   Nearly March, so lots of early bloomers will be following those jonquils.


----------



## limr

Oof, not ready for spring around here. I'm enjoying my proper winter!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all


----------



## nokk

limr said:


> Oof, not ready for spring around here. I'm enjoying my proper winter!



i love fall and winter but hate snow.  the winter weather related work obligations are cutting into my free time.  i had just under 70 hours of work in last week for my 40 hour work week.  and i'm thoroughly sick of getting to work at 3am.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all probably will not be around during the day (uk time) my small dog is going for a trim
I have done it at home the last half dozen times she now needs it done properly 
Also time for me to get off my backside, Mrs would not want me to be like I am right now, 
I may even attempt a studio set up shoot with the dogs this w/e. Hope the guys behave, or are willing to pose 
I hear lots of dog treats get results....
Night all.


----------



## SquarePeg

I enjoy winter much more these past few years than I ever did when I was younger.  I credit my new love of hiking, winter photography landscapes and our 2 year old pup.


----------



## terri

The best we can hope for around here is a long, drawn-out spring.   I grew up in Michigan and had my fill of digging out the car or driveway just to get to work in the winter.   BUT I really detest the brutal summers down here.   2020 was a disaster on so many levels, but we _did_ have an amazingly temperate summer.   Lots of rain and very few days where the temperatures even wilted the yard.   The extra rain extended the fireflies and the flower garden, so it was wonderful to sit out on the porch.   Quite often the heat and humidity drives us back inside.   Ugh!!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, my Molly (dog) has had her trim. She looks so cute. It’s ok me doing it but every so often she needs a proper trim.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 203973



It's funny because it's true 

(And yes, I'm east of the Hudson, which was the traditional boundary, so I count as a New Englander  )


----------



## snowbear

Fighting the neuropathy and it's winning; it's going to be a long day.

Tax refunds went into the bank a couple days ago.  I've been saving a few dollars here and there for the 200-400 f/5.6, but for just about the same price I can get one of the Trinity and the 2x, so I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a 70-200 (VR II) and a TC-20E III.

On the work front, my part of the Emergency COVID-related Rent Assistance (phase 1) is done; the program goes live next week.  Once they start getting applications and distributing the money, I'll have to add those data to the dashboard.  On the same day as the Rent Assistance go live, the Fire/EMS is getting back out into the community to install begin installing a bunch of smoke detectors that have been on hold due to the pandemic.  Out=r current set up is for businesses to "adopt" a neighborhood and donate detectors or funds for the detectors, but we're expanding it better track detector requests coming in to 3-1-1.

The installs will be catch-ups for a while so the stations will update the files at the desktop from paper.  Once I get the addresses on the spreadsheets cleaned up (to our standard convention) we'll batch load them into file.  Our goal is to automate the entry process by grabbing the 3-1-1 entries directly into out geo-files, if possible.  We can then have a script email the report of pending installation requests.  We will probably go in the field with the crews the first few weekends to help them that don't know how to use the phone app.

After these two major projects are done, I should be able to get back to the other three things I was doing; updating some data, getting five years of Fire & EMS calls into the geo-files, and revamping the Fire Preplanning setup.  L:uckily we hired a new SR Analyst back in September and we've been paired up on a few things.

Stay safe.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Fighting the neuropathy and it's winning; it's going to be a long day.
> 
> Tax refunds went into the bank a couple days ago.  I've been saving a few dollars here and there for the 200-400 f/5.6, but for just about the same price I can get one of the Trinity and the 2x, so I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a 70-200 (VR II) and a TC-20E III.
> 
> On the work front, my part of the Emergency COVID-related Rent Assistance (phase 1) is done; the program goes live next week.  Once they start getting applications and distributing the money, I'll have to add those data to the dashboard.  On the same day as the Rent Assistance go live, the Fire/EMS is getting back out into the community to install begin installing a bunch of smoke detectors that have been on hold due to the pandemic.  Out=r current set up is for businesses to "adopt" a neighborhood and donate detectors or funds for the detectors, but we're expanding it better track detector requests coming in to 3-1-1.
> 
> The installs will be catch-ups for a while so the stations will update the files at the desktop from paper.  Once I get the addresses on the spreadsheets cleaned up (to our standard convention) we'll batch load them into file.  Our goal is to automate the entry process by grabbing the 3-1-1 entries directly into out geo-files, if possible.  We can then have a script email the report of pending installation requests.  We will probably go in the field with the crews the first few weekends to help them that don't know how to use the phone app.
> 
> After these two major projects are done, I should be able to get back to the other three things I was doing; updating some data, getting five years of Fire & EMS calls into the geo-files, and revamping the Fire Preplanning setup.  L:uckily we hired a new SR Analyst back in September and we've been paired up on a few things.
> 
> Stay safe.


So what the heck do you do all day?   












  I kid the Bear, I kid!    You all are doing amazing work up there for your community.    Hats off to you.    Huge job, getting all this coordinated.   Wow!

Sorry the neuropathy is getting the best of you today.     I know the feeling; tho it's back pain on my end.   Hope it gets better soon!


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 203973
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's funny because it's true
> 
> (And yes, I'm east of the Hudson, which was the traditional boundary, so I count as a New Englander  )
Click to expand...


Was out walking the pup at lunch and saw a couple of teenaged boys wearing shorts.  I almost took a pic for you all but realized a middle aged mom snapping their pic would be creepy and the explanation that I was going to make a meme for the coffee house thread would not have been understood.


----------



## Original katomi

Thoughts go out to Terri, hope you feel better soon.


----------



## Original katomi

Square Peg
I know what you mean, taking photo of kids or youngsters is a real risk.
I saw a post that a member was invited to photograph kids and staff somewhere.
My first though was to make sure that all the permissions were in place 
I like to do street photography and saw a kid come out of a cake shop, and was looking in the bag with  a big grin and delight on their face.
Without thinking I snapped the shot, then thought, 
An older man photographing kids.....
I quickly went up to the adults with the child after finding that they were parents I showed them the image
And asked did they want me to delete it
I was allowed to keep it for the cost of sending them an e copy and never, ever putting the image on the web
I kept it for a short time, then decided that I would delete it so it could never be uploaded even in error.

Good on you, you have the eye for a good image


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> So what the heck do you do all day?
> 
> I kid the Bear, I kid!    You all are doing amazing work up there for your community.    Hats off to you.    Huge job, getting all this coordinated.   Wow!
> Sorry the neuropathy is getting the best of you today.     I know the feeling; tho it's back pain on my end.   Hope it gets better soon!


I make some maps, edit some tables, have a meeting  now and then, and pet the kitty when she's laying on the desk (the most important task).  

Thanks; some nights are worse than others. 



SquarePeg said:


> Was out walking the pup at lunch and saw a couple of teenaged boys wearing shorts.  I almost took a pic for you all but realized a middle aged mom snapping their pic would be creepy and the explanation that I was going to make a meme for the coffee house thread would not have been understood.


I've heard about you ...


----------



## NancyMoranG

It's just so awful we have to think this way when taking a kids picture! Geez..
Been off the Forum a while. Life got in the way. 
Thankfully, no Covid or sickness, just stuff.

I think I missed a lot!


----------



## snowbear

NancyMoranG said:


> It's just so awful we have to think this way when taking a kids picture! Geez..
> Been off the Forum a while. Life got in the way.
> Thankfully, no Covid or sickness, just stuff.
> 
> I think I missed a lot!


Just fluff and nonsense.
MLW has had both of her vaccines, the second made her sick - pain, nausea, lack of energy; her sister hardly had any pain with the second dose.  I'm on the waiting list in two Counties (work & home) - we'll see which one gets to me first.


----------



## Original katomi

night all its 00.00 gmt here and I have to hand back Mrs, car tomorrow
I wanted to get it valeted before handing it back, sadly covid has meant all the car wash/valet places near me have gone.


----------



## snowbear

And the trigger is pulled ... a 70-200/2.8 Nikkor and TC-20 teleconverter are being put together in GA and being shipped to SoMD.


----------



## limr

And I just pulled the trigger, too!

My mu shu shrimp and hot & sour soup will be ready in 15 minutes.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all.
Snow bear have fun with your new kit
And for my next trick... just got appointment for covid jab a long 20 mile ish taxi ride but according to google it’s just four miles in a straight line. Yea right I live on an island can’t  just do the straight line I have to do the u shape


----------



## Original katomi

To OP
It’s is poor form to start posting links like this you risk
A your threads being removed
B getting a name for posting spam, and people will avoid your posts and or report them
So giving the benefit of you are new here, and you are not just posting spam 
Tell us more about yourself what you shoot where, why if you feel like it what camera you used there are no bragging rights I only speak canon so if you said my camera is doing...... knowing what brand and if you feel like it model 
People may be able to post ideas that may help.


----------



## Space Face

Original katomi said:


> To OP
> It’s is poor form to start posting links like this you risk
> A your threads being removed
> B getting a name for posting spam, and people will avoid your posts and or report them
> So giving the benefit of you are new here, and you are not just posting spam
> Tell us more about yourself what you shoot where, why if you feel like it what camera you used there are no bragging rights I only speak canon so if you said my camera is doing...... knowing what brand and if you feel like it model
> People may be able to post ideas that may help.



Six identical posts one after the other all with the same ad links?  Dodgy imo.


----------



## SquarePeg

Spam bot


----------



## limr

Space Face said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> To OP
> It’s is poor form to start posting links like this you risk
> A your threads being removed
> B getting a name for posting spam, and people will avoid your posts and or report them
> So giving the benefit of you are new here, and you are not just posting spam
> Tell us more about yourself what you shoot where, why if you feel like it what camera you used there are no bragging rights I only speak canon so if you said my camera is doing...... knowing what brand and if you feel like it model
> People may be able to post ideas that may help.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Six identical posts one after the other all with the same ad links?  Dodgy imo.
Click to expand...


Thank you both for being very diligent spam reporters!

Just so you know what goes on "behind the curtain", when someone reports a spam bot and we mark the user as spam, *all *their messages are deleted, so if you see more messages by the same user, it's not necessary to report them all. They will get automatically deleted from that first spam report.

What's really helpful is to leave a simple message in the thread - like the ones that SpaceFace and Sparky leave - that the message was reported, even if you reported a different message from that same user. 

We seem to have gotten a huge uptick in spam lately, so again, thanks to all of you who are helping us keep on top of it!


----------



## Space Face

limr said:


> Space Face said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> To OP
> It’s is poor form to start posting links like this you risk
> A your threads being removed
> B getting a name for posting spam, and people will avoid your posts and or report them
> So giving the benefit of you are new here, and you are not just posting spam
> Tell us more about yourself what you shoot where, why if you feel like it what camera you used there are no bragging rights I only speak canon so if you said my camera is doing...... knowing what brand and if you feel like it model
> People may be able to post ideas that may help.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Six identical posts one after the other all with the same ad links?  Dodgy imo.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Thank you both for being very diligent spam reporters!
> 
> Just so you know what goes on "behind the curtain", when someone reports a spam bot and we mark the user as spam, *all *their messages are deleted, so if you see more messages by the same user, it's not necessary to report them all. They will get automatically deleted from that first spam report.
> 
> What's really helpful is to leave a simple message in the thread - like the ones that SpaceFace and Sparky leave - that the message was reported, even if you reported a different message from that same user.
> 
> We seem to have gotten a huge uptick in spam lately, so again, thanks to all of you who are helping us keep on top of it!
Click to expand...


Cheers.  All noted.


----------



## Original katomi

Thanks Limr


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, sunny here today.


----------



## terri

Morning, FD!    

Happy Monday, hosers.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all,


----------



## Fujidave

Another sunny start to the day here.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Fujidave

A bit nippy out, but no rain.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all dull and overcast here


----------



## Original katomi

Chat again later got to get going 
Got the loss adjuster coming to look at the damage here from upstairs water leak.
Just what I did not need at this time


----------



## snowbear

Where to go, this weekend, to play: shore or mountains?


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Where to go, this weekend, to play: shore or mountains?


Is both out of the question?   

In the meantime, I'll trouble you for that quilt.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Where to go, this weekend, to play: shore or mountains?



I always choose the mountains over the shore but... if the snow is gone where you are then it’s stick season in the lower mountains which is pretty uninspiring.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Is both out of the question?
> In the meantime, I'll trouble you for that quilt.


A few hours between them, in this area.  I can get to the Bay in less than an hour, and the Atlantic in three.  Mountains are a couple hours in the opposite direction.  We bought six or seven from one of MLW's co-workers.  They belonged to her mom who had recently passed.  You'll have to fight MLW for any of them.  I'll get shots of the others and post them.



SquarePeg said:


> I always choose the mountains over the shore but... if the snow is gone where you are then it’s stick season in the lower mountains which is pretty uninspiring.


  My thought was the Chesapeake - geese and ducks are pretty plentiful right now.  Maybe I'll wait until April/May to hit Skyline Drive.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is both out of the question?
> In the meantime, I'll trouble you for that quilt.
> 
> 
> 
> A few hours between them, in this area.  I can get to the Bay in less than an hour, and the Atlantic in three.  Mountains are a couple hours in the opposite direction.  We bought six or seven from one of MLW's co-workers.  They belonged to her mom who had recently passed.  You'll have to fight MLW for any of them.  I'll get shots of the others and post them.
> 
> 
> 
> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> I always choose the mountains over the shore but... if the snow is gone where you are then it’s stick season in the lower mountains which is pretty uninspiring.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> My thought was the Chesapeake - geese and ducks are pretty plentiful right now.  Maybe I'll wait until April/May to hit Skyline Drive.
Click to expand...


My first choice is always shore, but the decision is usually dependent on the answer to the question, "Where will there be fewer people?"


----------



## SquarePeg

For our favorite English professor - you know who you are.


----------



## CherylL

After 2 weeks of below freezing weather it has been warm and sunny.  I started spring cleaning of the garage.  Getting out  this weekend for a hike at the nature center.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> After 2 weeks of below freezing weather it has been warm and sunny.  I started spring cleaning of the garage.  Getting out  this weekend for a hike at the nature center.



Had a very cold hike at lunch today.  It was 34 and breezy.  It was ok while we were in the woods but when we circled the reservoir out in the open it was brisk!  I was glad I wore my hat and scarf and mask!  Only my eyes were cold.  

It’s supposed to be 50’s here next week so I’ll be heading to the beach to let the pup run off some energy.  Can’t wait!


----------



## Original katomi

Peg
The English language was one described as
A pot hole filled road to hell. ( Sue Highfold. Date unknown)
You are going to fall down the holes find all the pit falls and get hell at the end of the trip


----------



## snowbear

Filter ring, arca plate and extra screws, and some connectors for the new strap, and a filter thread repair scanner come today or tomorrow, the strap is set for Tuesday.  LL wants to go to Trader Joe’s in Annapolis tomorrow, so I guess I’ll slip away to the water then.



SquarePeg said:


> For our favorite English professor - you know who you are.
> 
> View attachment 204204



One of my favorites is “Know your $h!t or know you’re $h!t.”


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all
Decided to have a day of fun, get the camera out day. Well due to cermstances I am limited to being at home
Ok we always have sea gulls here,  thought I would do something different from the normal back garden shoot
 today and do a front of house shoot however,  the gulls decided  decided not to play.
So in the end  and half a loaf of bread it was a back garden shoot lol
Pics to follow this evening when I down load the camera and sort the junk from the keepers


----------



## Original katomi

Photos as promised


----------



## terri

@Original katomi :  These turned out nice!    Is that a starling on the bottom?


----------



## terri

I mentioned the jonquils (AKA daffodils) around our house have been coming up in the last few weeks.    Here's what they looked like yesterday, full on:












Although not yet widespread, spring has sprung in my neck of the woods, hosers!


----------



## limr

No daffodils up here, but I did see some snowdrops yesterday.


----------



## SquarePeg

Whomp whomp still frozen here.


----------



## Original katomi

Terri
I don’t know what the bird is
I just wanted a photo session to give me a break from the constant sorting out paper work and sorting out problems


----------



## Space Face

Original katomi said:


> Terri
> I don’t know what the bird is



It is indeed a Starling.


----------



## Original katomi

Thanks Space face


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all just popped in before I call it a day
Started my new project
I plan to do a 1 meter square montage of photos of my wife and the few there are of me
Just got to 60th layer, now it’s time to make a cuppa have a biscuit with it whilst the pc saves the latest version
Well just had pop up msg pc can’t save tif version.
I will have to flatten image to save or save in psd
Looking at the green save in progress bar I have time for a three course meal
May have to skip the coffee and mints
Edit no wonder it’s slow to save the file size is now 2.7Gb


----------



## snowbear

These are at the entrance to the apartments.



DSC_3471.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

There were about a dozen of these guys hopping around, yesterday.



DSC_3496.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> These are at the entrance to the apartments.
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_3471.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr
> 
> There were about a dozen of these guys hopping around, yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> DSC_3496.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


Spring!!!!!


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Spring!!!!!


It done sprung.

I'm liking this lens.  The robin was maybe 5 yards away and I cropped the heck out of it.  Exif recorded 2-ex equivalent, so it shows 400mm @ f/5.6.

Handheld snap of our neighbor, Chelsea.  75mm, 1/50 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 100.


----------



## SquarePeg

Ugh power just went out.  Seems to be half the town and the next.  I guess I’ll get some sleep for a change.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Original katomi said:


> Hi all just popped in before I call it a day
> Started my new project
> I plan to do a 1 meter square montage of photos of my wife and the few there are of me
> Just got to 60th layer, now it’s time to make a cuppa have a biscuit with it whilst the pc saves the latest version
> Well just had pop up msg pc can’t save tif version.
> I will have to flatten image to save or save in psd
> Looking at the green save in progress bar I have time for a three course meal
> May have to skip the coffee and mints
> Edit no wonder it’s slow to save the file size is now 2.7Gb



That's a huge file - only normally see that size with video!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh power just went out.  Seems to be half the town and the next.  I guess I’ll get some sleep for a change.


Eww.   What happened??   

Hope it's on pretty quickly; it's still cold up your way.


----------



## Original katomi

Yes it is a huge file and it’s only 1/3 done at the moment 
At the moment there are only 60 layers by the time I have finished there will be over 200


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ugh power just went out.  Seems to be half the town and the next.  I guess I’ll get some sleep for a change.
> 
> 
> 
> Eww.   What happened??
> 
> Hope it's on pretty quickly; it's still cold up your way.
Click to expand...


Someone hit a utility pole and knocked it out.  Power was out for a couple of hours. Came back on in the middle of the night and of course all the lights in the house lit up because I didn't turn off the lights before going to bed since they weren't working lol.  A very rude awakening.


----------



## Original katomi

At least you were  without power for a short time


----------



## RowdyRay

Under a tornado watch.....in March!! Thunder and lightning like crazy right now. The worst is to the southeast of me going northeast. Hopefully won't be an issue here but, really? Called my brother to give him a heads up. He's in the path of it. Nobody's expecting it this time of year. He hadn't heard. Unreal.


----------



## CherylL

RowdyRay said:


> Under a tornado watch.....in March!! Thunder and lightning like crazy right now. The worst is to the southeast of me going northeast. Hopefully won't be an issue here but, really? Called my brother to give him a heads up. He's in the path of it. Nobody's expecting it this time of year. He hadn't heard. Unreal.



Stay safe!!


----------



## CherylL

This morning had a 4am fire drill.  The CO/smoke detectors all going with the voice saying Fire Fire.  Had to put the poor shaking pups outside.  Husband took out the batteries of all 7 detectors and since they are hard wired they were still going off.  While he ran frantically around with the ladder and trying reset buttons I googled and found out the one flashing green/red is the one to dismantle.  The others were flashing orange/green.  Finally got the thing unplugged.  This was an hour of high level noise.  At least we now know what to do if this happens again.   I was concerned my husband was going to have a heart attack.


----------



## terri

CherylL said:


> This morning had a 4am fire drill.  The CO/smoke detectors all going with the voice saying Fire Fire.  Had to put the poor shaking pups outside.  Husband took out the batteries of all 7 detectors and since they are hard wired they were still going off.  While he ran frantically around with the ladder and trying reset buttons I googled and found out the one flashing green/red is the one to dismantle.  The others were flashing orange/green.     Finally got the thing unplugged.  This was an hour of high level noise.  At least we now know what to do if this happens again.   I was concerned my husband was going to have a heart attack.


 

Knowing how piercingly LOUD those are, I can only imagine how awful that was!  

We had one - just one - that went bonkers one time, and had to take it down to dismantle it while it was screaming.  The eventual silence was awesome!

So sorry- glad everyone got through it with nothing more than jagged nerves.   Poor puppies.   ❤


----------



## SquarePeg

This baby’s feet don’t touch the ground when she’s got room to run.


----------



## terri

This is such a great photo, Sharon!   The shadow here is just awesome.   Great capture. 

And she's so happy!   

I just love it.


----------



## Original katomi

Having fun


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, how is everyone this evening (1904 GMT)


----------



## terri

Hey, O-kat!   Having a busy Saturday so far, just sitting down to get off my feet for a minute.    

It's kind of overcast outside, but warm and no rain in the forecast.   Feels nice.


----------



## Original katomi

Nice to put your feet up, I am having a day off from doing paperwork and packing away my wife’s stuff.
I have worked on the montage, now up to 80 plus layers and 2.7Gb that’s with flattening the image at 60 layers
The pc is slowing now lol just found that PSE 12 has a max 3GB  limit

Stormy here prevented me from doing the garden


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> This baby’s feet don’t touch the ground when she’s got room to run.
> 
> View attachment 204414



You have a hover runner!  Happy dog, happy happy dog song.


----------



## nokk

i worked until 3 last night so i'm going in to work a little late today.  i was going to go to the wildlife refuge for an hour.  but then some vandal drove through the gate last night and now it's closed for an investigation and repairs.  same deal tonight with work.  so if i want to go shoot i'm left with the abandoned fishing port where i can see osprey, drug deals, hawks and dead bodies.  or a 45 minute drive south to the crappy refuge to turn around and drive 1hr north to work.


----------



## CherylL

nokk said:


> i worked until 3 last night so i'm going in to work a little late today.  i was going to go to the wildlife refuge for an hour.  but then some vandal drove through the gate last night and now it's closed for an investigation and repairs.  same deal tonight with work.  so if i want to go shoot i'm left with the abandoned fishing port where i can see osprey, drug deals, hawks and dead bodies.  or a 45 minute drive south to the crappy refuge to turn around and drive 1hr north to work.



Sad that vandals have to ruin a refuge.  I see lots of trash at the nature center that I frequent.


----------



## nokk

CherylL said:


> nokk said:
> 
> 
> 
> i worked until 3 last night so i'm going in to work a little late today.  i was going to go to the wildlife refuge for an hour.  but then some vandal drove through the gate last night and now it's closed for an investigation and repairs.  same deal tonight with work.  so if i want to go shoot i'm left with the abandoned fishing port where i can see osprey, drug deals, hawks and dead bodies.  or a 45 minute drive south to the crappy refuge to turn around and drive 1hr north to work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sad that vandals have to ruin a refuge.  I see lots of trash at the nature center that I frequent.
Click to expand...


there's trash out there too, sad to see it.  but they actually rammed the closed gate last night.  a few months back someone broke all of the windows out of the 1750's historic farm house on the refuge and vandalized the inside.  i keep telling the refuge admin to put cameras up, but i think he's afraid of spending his life in court going after every one.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Jeepers people! Just can't fathom ruining a place just for fun?!


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> nokk said:
> 
> 
> 
> i worked until 3 last night so i'm going in to work a little late today.  i was going to go to the wildlife refuge for an hour.  but then some vandal drove through the gate last night and now it's closed for an investigation and repairs.  same deal tonight with work.  so if i want to go shoot i'm left with the abandoned fishing port where i can see osprey, drug deals, hawks and dead bodies.  or a 45 minute drive south to the crappy refuge to turn around and drive 1hr north to work.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sad that vandals have to ruin a refuge.  I see lots of trash at the nature center that I frequent.
Click to expand...


A lot more trash since covid started.  I see quite a few more people while hiking than ever before so I'm sure that is what is going on.  Lot of families keeping the kiddies busy and tiring them out on the trails.  I usually have plastic bags with me in case I need to pick up after the dog and if I have my gloves on I'll pick up trash when I see it.  We recently organized a small crew to clean up around our local pond.  Only 1 side of the pond is public access and we pulled at least 5 bags of trash from the shore and surrounding areas.  Could have easily filled another 5 if we had the time.  Will go back again in a few weeks and do some more.  



NancyMoranG said:


> Jeepers people! Just can't fathom ruining a place just for fun?!



People suck.  end of sentence.


----------



## nokk

SquarePeg said:


> People suck.  end of sentence.


yes.  yes, they suck.  

glad you're picking up behind people, but it shouldn't be necessary.  everyone over the age of 3 should know to clean up behind themselves and not be a douche bag.


----------



## limr

nokk said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> People suck.  end of sentence.
> 
> 
> 
> yes.  yes, they suck.
> 
> glad you're picking up behind people, but it shouldn't be necessary.  everyone over the age of 3 should know to clean up behind themselves and not be a douche bag.
Click to expand...


"Should" being the operative word. People ruin everything.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi everyone how are you all today?
I am playing hokey now, I have spent the morning doing paperwork re my wife’s estate letters more letters send this reply to that.
So now I am here having a relax  
Later I will have a look at my photography kit and have a sort out and decide if I am going to trade in some to trade up/ up grade my camera. Depends on what I get for the kit I am willing to let go.


----------



## SquarePeg

At first I thought that said you were playing hockey..,


Hope all is well over there.


----------



## Original katomi

No ...should have guesses you would think of that  lol
Playing hocky, skyving, bunking off , awol, 
All local terms for  not doing what you should and doing something else
EG  I am not at school to day I am skyving
I should be in the office doing the report for the boss but I am playing hokey by going out with the camera


----------



## terri

After a few days of warm, spring-has-sprung weather, yesterday and today have been cool and rainy - very welcome!    

We're supposedly in for some bad storms later tonight and tomorrow.   After that the sun shines, and it will turn cold again.   I'm very happy about that, since a nice cool spring keeps summer heat at bay.  I'm not even remotely ready for that!


----------



## vintagesnaps

So Katomi's playing hooky on St. Patrick's Day, and speaking of hockey... 

College league playoffs have been on the weirdest schedule. Many played Sunday games, then championship games on a Tuesday night. No fans in the stands (except for one league I noticed) so I guess it doesn't matter what night. This afternoon Hockey East is having semis and the first game went into OT; was looking like an upset til there was a scoring frenzy in the 3rd which ended the period at 5-5. 

Freestyle Photo just emailed out that they have in stock psychedelic film, groovy baby! I just got my stimulus check so I'm feeling very stimulated to treat myself to some wacky film.


----------



## Original katomi

Oh heck
It’s nearly 02 am GMT
I had real coffee not decaf this morning, made a pot, 4 cups, and enjoyed the lot by lunch time
Now I can’t sleep, oh well


----------



## Original katomi

4 am i just run out of stream. Very tired today.


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> 4 am i just run out of stream. Very tired today.



It's almost 4pm here and I don't think I even had any steam today.


----------



## SquarePeg

Stealing that - it describes 2021 for me so far.


----------



## CherylL

And yet another cold, windy rain day.  The pups do not want to go outside.  This weekend should be warm and sunny to go to the nature trail.


----------



## SquarePeg

Supposed to snow here overnight


----------



## NancyMoranG

@SquarePeg sorry to hear you may have snow!? At this point I am sure you are all hoping to start seeing spring signs...meaning NO snow. 

We are in Florida dealing with some family issues but heading back to Tetons in April.

Was able to get my 1st Vaccine shot today! Yeah...


----------



## SquarePeg

If you’re from New England, you know who Wolfman is!  If you’re not, you’ve missed out on one of the the craziest traditions ever!


----------



## terri

I have never heard of this one!      Love the crazy tractor.    In Georgia, there used to be a Wolfman who sold cheap furniture.    Weird, weird commercials.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> I have never heard of this one!      Love the crazy tractor.    In Georgia, there used to be a Wolfman who sold cheap furniture.    Weird, weird commercials.



You ride in a train through the mountains and he chases the train firing blanks and howling.  It’s pathetically hilarious when you look back on it but in the moment, the kids LOVE it.


----------



## snowbear

Awesome!

A couple of snaps from the retirement luncheon, yesterday.  I took the day off to help MLW with the setup (her boss, the EOC Deputy) was retiring.  I ended up being the designated photographer.  By far, most were candid shots.  The Chief gets them Monday, when he comes in to the office for the check-out process.  I still need to go through them once more and tweak.




EMS Balloons by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr




Retirement Favors by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr




Frankel Shadow Box by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## terri

@snowbear:  That looks like a great event, Charlie!   Nice of you to be there to act as photographer for it.   mmm...candy!

In other news:   Happy first day of Spring, hosers!      




I know @limr is absolutely ecstatic at the thought of warm weather and air conditioning.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> @snowbear:  That looks like a great event, Charlie!   Nice of you to be there to act as photographer for it.   mmm...candy!
> 
> In other news:   Happy first day of Spring, hosers!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know @limr is absolutely ecstatic at the thought of warm weather and air conditioning.


----------



## snowbear

Actually, I didn't touch the candy, other than putting it on the tables.

I did have a piece of cake.
And some peach cobbler.
And some salmon.
And some pulled pork BBQ.




Bam-Bam, the smoker truck. by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

After much worrying, DW and I finally have our 2nd COVID shots. Thankfully neither of us noticed anything unpleasant from either shot. Now because of DW's immune system we wait for a few weeks until she can get an antibody test to see if it worked. Maybe then we can start to resume our pre-COVID life.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Glad you got your vaccines Smoke! hope your wife gets good results on the antibody test. Our state is quite the kerfuffle, no appt's to be had. In for the long haul. I wanna go to a hockey game in July so I'm just hoping for one by then! 

In that order Charlie?? 

Leo, hope you got out your zither tonight, 'The Third Man' is the midnight noir movie on TCM. I 'predict' that Harry Lime is still alive! And that I'll be hearing zither music in my sleep tonight. 

Somebody was shooting off firecrackers earlier, celebrating the first day of spring?? People have been cooped up too much and are getting more wacky patacky by the day.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Finally, Orson Welles showed his face... have been half paying attention and don't seem to know what's been going on half the time; might watch the replay at 10 am Sunday and pay attention to it, and this is an interesting movie from a photography perspective.


----------



## Original katomi

I had my 1st covid jib get my 2nd on may 18th
I will never get back to my pre covid life, start a new life


----------



## smoke665

Original katomi said:


> I will never get back to my pre covid life, start a new life



On the positive side we haven't had the usual sinus/bronchitis problems this year. Maybe it's the mask, maybe it's avoiding crowds, and hand sanitizer, probably all of the above. So our "new life" will likely still include those same things to some extent.


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## terri

smoke665 said:


> After much worrying, DW and I finally have our 2nd COVID shots. Thankfully neither of us noticed anything unpleasant from either shot. Now because of DW's immune system we wait for a few weeks until she can get an antibody test to see if it worked. Maybe then we can start to resume our pre-COVID life.


That's awesome news.   You're very lucky.    Our state is more like what Sharon was describing, long wait times and, in most cases, just not enough vaccines yet.   I took the time to create a Walgreen's account, just to be able to give an account number when they actually don't mind making appointments a little further out than they are atm.    Right now, they lead you through this Q&A process just to kick you to the curb at the end.   Annoying.  

Continuing to be patient.    It's getting warmer outside, so I'm getting a little twitchy.


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## smoke665

@terri it seems the rollout across the country has some significant differences.


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## terri

smoke665 said:


> @terri it seems the rollout across the country has some significant differences.


Agreed.   Update: I went back to the online Walgreen's signup, and 5 minutes later had an appointment!   They seem to cling to this "5-days out" restriction.   Hubby decided to go with me, but In the time it took for him to make his own account, the day was already full so he had to content himself with the day after.   We don't have a Walgreen's in our small town, so are driving about 30 minutes to the next county.  

I feel better just getting ball rolling.   We were both instructed online to make the appointments for the second dose, too, so there's nothing left now but the jabbing part.


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## smoke665

terri said:


> I feel better just getting ball rolling. We were both instructed online to make the appointments for the second dose, too, so there's nothing left now but the jabbing part.



Interesting side observation, have no idea if this is factual or just coincidence, but on the first shots, DW got hers more to the front of the arm, I got mine more toward the back. She had no pain whatsoever from the shot, while my arm was pretty sore for 2-3 days. On the second shots, it was reversed, me in the front her in back. I had virtually no pain in the arm from the shot, but hers was sore for three days??????


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## CherylL

My husband got his 2nd shot last week and was ill for about 24 hours.  I got my 1st shot and will get the 2nd one next week maybe.  We are going to keep up the masks & social distancing until the numbers get better.  Hopefully things will be much better this fall.  I know several people who will not get the vaccine and wonder what those numbers are in our area.


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## SquarePeg

From tonight until September, sunset is after 7pm!!!!  Whooopeeee!  The dark days are over.  I love that I can take the dog for a hike AFTER work instead of trying to squeeze one in before 8am or at lunch.  I also love that I can have early dinner before going out to shoot sunset.  That works well with my current intermittent fasting (I fast from 7pm to 11am).  But most of all, I love love love that when I finish work, it is not yet dark out.  The day is not over.  The extra daylight makes me feel like there is so much more time each day!


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## limr

SquarePeg said:


> From tonight until September, sunset is after 7pm!!!!  Whooopeeee!  The dark days are over.  I love that I can take the dog for a hike AFTER work instead of trying to squeeze one in before 8am or at lunch.  I also love that I can have early dinner before going out to shoot sunset.  That works well with my current intermittent fasting (I fast from 7pm to 11am).  But most of all, I love love love that when I finish work, it is not yet dark out.  The day is not over.  The extra daylight makes me feel like there is so much more time each day!



It's funny how differently people feel about this. I am a night owl and tend to be more productive in the evening, so I actually end up feeling like I have much *less* time in the day. I was thinking just last night how, when it gets dark around 5 or 6, I feel like it's a visual cue that the work day is over and I now have the evening stretched in front of me to do my own stuff, even if it was just relaxing or puttering. Now, I don't get get the visual cue until later and later, and I feel like I have less and less time for myself. I looked at the clock last night and thought, "Damnit, it's already past 7:00!" To much light makes me very jittery. I miss my nice, soothing dark evenings.


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## snowbear

As of today, I am eligible fir vaccines in MD: 2A due to age and, lesser extent, diabetes (I am not under hospital care for it).  I'm now registered at the state level (two mass vaccine sites) and the Univ. of MD Hospital system (local facility), and the hospital where the primary care provider is located.  We'll see.

A couple of the local pharmacies (Walgreens, CVS) have been providing the shots, but there have been a number of co plaints that they are not scheduling the second shot when the first is administered, leaving folks to get back on lists. 

MLW had minor ache from #1, was nauseous from #2; SIL had no reaction to either one.


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## terri

@limr:  I can appreciate this, though generally I do like daylight savings time.    The worst thing for me lacking that usual visual cue is that dinner gets pushed back later and later!   It's hard to think about stopping for the day to get into the kitchen with the sun still high - and it's only going to stay higherfor a couple more months.    During the summer we're often not sitting down for dinner until 10pm!


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## terri

smoke665 said:


> terri said:
> 
> 
> 
> I feel better just getting ball rolling. We were both instructed online to make the appointments for the second dose, too, so there's nothing left now but the jabbing part.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting side observation, have no idea if this is factual or just coincidence, but on the first shots, DW got hers more to the front of the arm, I got mine more toward the back. She had no pain whatsoever from the shot, while my arm was pretty sore for 2-3 days. On the second shots, it was reversed, me in the front her in back. I had virtually no pain in the arm from the shot, but hers was sore for three days??????
Click to expand...

Depends on how much muscle tissue gets involved, I think.


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## Original katomi

Here everyone who has lost someone is lightinga candle


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## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> As of today, I am eligible fir vaccines in MD: 2A due to age and, lesser extent, diabetes (I am not under hospital care for it).  I'm now registered at the state level (two mass vaccine sites) and the Univ. of MD Hospital system (local facility), and the hospital where the primary care provider is located.  We'll see.
> 
> A couple of the local pharmacies (Walgreens, CVS) have been providing the shots, but there have been a number of co plaints that they are not scheduling the second shot when the first is administered, leaving folks to get back on lists.
> 
> MLW had minor ache from #1, was nauseous from #2; SIL had no reaction to either one.



CVS here requires you to book shot #2 when you book #1.  Even if you can only book the first one just do it.


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## vintagesnaps

Vaccination, schmaccination, thppt!! lol After initial frustration I'm just waiting it out...

And of course now there are news stories about appt's being slim to none, in my area and the other two major metropolitan areas. (Never realized we're the 6th or 7th largest state population wise.) Problem is the state keeps lowering the age for eligibility which I guess works OK in rural counties, but here it's just making for a big kerfuffle.

Just was at the Dr. a couple three weeks ago, due for a checkup and had something rhino whatever... usual thing with the temps up & down, just got more spray to squirt up my nose! lol And too cold in March to bother with it being light later. That and it messes with our natural circadian rhythms. 

Katomi the reason I said your comment was useful (because none of the emojis really fit) is that I'm taking an online class thru the Royal School of Needlework in the UK and we stopped for a break for everybody to go out and bang pans & noisemakers etc. to acknowledge health care workers & first responders, etc. Pretty cool idea. So it was interesting to me what you were talking about, I don't know of that being done where I live. 

Last week our class break was more about the tea...


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## Original katomi

Hope you enjoy the classes


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## Fujidave

Original katomi said:


> Here everyone who has lost someone is lightinga candle




I lit two, one for my daughter and the other for mother in law.


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## Fujidave

Sunny here today, off to the dentist to get some front teeth.


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## smoke665

Here our state seemed to be intent on micro managing the distribution to the point that supplies weren't moving. The appointment web site was a huge fail, many of the county health departments either weren't equipped to work with it, or didn't want to. The health department in our county was booking appointments and the one in the next county was walk in. Then they were all working in slow motion, supposedly only able to give 20 shots per day, per nurse.  We got ours through a local hospital concentrating on health care, and emergency services, with little to no wait once they got the vaccine. Could have gotten ours even earlier, but we waited for active members running calls to go ahead of us.


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## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Vaccination, schmaccination, thppt!! lol After initial frustration I'm just waiting it out...
> 
> And of course now there are news stories about appt's being slim to none, in my area and the other two major metropolitan areas. (Never realized we're the 6th or 7th largest state population wise.) Problem is the state keeps lowering the age for eligibility which I guess works OK in rural counties, but here it's just making for a big kerfuffle.
> 
> Just was at the Dr. a couple three weeks ago, due for a checkup and had something rhino whatever... usual thing with the temps up & down, just got more spray to squirt up my nose! lol And too cold in March to bother with it being light later. That and it messes with our natural circadian rhythms.
> 
> Katomi the reason I said your comment was useful (because none of the emojis really fit) is that I'm taking an online class thru the Royal School of Needlework in the UK and we stopped for a break for everybody to go out and bang pans & noisemakers etc. to acknowledge health care workers & first responders, etc. Pretty cool idea. So it was interesting to me what you were talking about, I don't know of that being done where I live.
> 
> Last week our class break was more about the tea...



We had been banging pans for healthcare workers on Fridays at 7 on our front lawn for a few months in the early days of things.  It was fun and during the scariest beginnings of the lockdowns it was good to see neighbors and check in across the driveway on how everyone was doing.  



smoke665 said:


> Here our state seemed to be intent on micro managing the distribution to the point that supplies weren't moving. The appointment web site was a huge fail, many of the county health departments either weren't equipped to work with it, or didn't want to. The health department in our county was booking appointments and the one in the next county was walk in. Then they were all working in slow motion, supposedly only able to give 20 shots per day, per nurse.  We got ours through a local hospital concentrating on health care, and emergency services, with little to no wait once they got the vaccine. Could have gotten ours even earlier, but we waited for active members running calls to go ahead of us.



Massachusetts had a shitty website and vaccine roll out as well at the beginning.  It was like the Hunger Games competing for appointments.  You would think with some of the best hospitals in the country, MIT and Harvard and with a Governor who used to be a Healthcare administrator that we would have nailed it but it was poorly done.  Web sites crashing, constantly changing eligibility, hospitals vs mass vac sites using different criteria, long lines, rumors of waiting lists, supply and demand issues (unavoidable).   Finally 2 weeks ago they rolled out a  registration for all and a final list of who would be eligible when.  Everyone in MA is eligible as of 4/19. 

I’ve had luck getting appointments for family members at cvs.  They load new openings just after midnight.  Princess became eligible on Monday due to her job and gets her first dose on Friday. Everyone else is either done or waiting on dose #2. Can’t even begin to describe my relief that my mom is vaccinated


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## terri

Just got back from my first dose.   It all went very well, and I was in and out of there in under 45 minutes.   Already have the second dose scheduled, so I'm starting to feel better about Covid.   My mom is now 100% vaccinated, and so is her next door neighbor with whom she is good friends, so she's starting to have a bit of socializing again.   They can do better than chatting through the fence.   Hopefully, we can get up there for a visit this summer.  



In other news:   Kitten update! 

We learned yesterday that they have, in fact, been re-named by their new mom.    They are going through life as Skittles and Snickers.   Quite frankly, I couldn't be bothered to ask which was which after hearing that.    Eww.      

But OTOH, the names Rose and Sage are now officially released!  and can be re-used, WHEN and if the need arises.    I'm okay with that.    And more importantly, they are both doing well, and are very happy.   That's what matters.     It kills me to know they are likely twice as big now as they are in this picture.   Still miss those sweet little girls.


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## Original katomi

Hi all how is everyone today


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## SquarePeg

@terri that’s great news!   I agree about the kitten names.  A bit too cutesy.  


Princess got in a fender bender today.  Everyone is fine no injuries and no damage to the rear of the car she hit but - the front of our old Ronda the Honda is crushed.  She’s an older car so they might consider her totaled which would be a shame since she’s definitely got many good miles left in her.  So now have to deal with the insurance company and sharing a car until it’s resolved.  Big pita.


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## smoke665

@SquarePeg sheet metal can easily be repaired or replaced, loved ones not so much. Glad she's okay.


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## smoke665

In the good news today, DW and I went through the drive through at Krispy Kreme today for our first FREE donut of the year. From now through the end of the year you can get a free donut every day, just for showing your vacinnation card, no purchase required. Krispy Kreme - Promotions . The downside is I'm not gonna be happy without a cream filled chocolate icing delight to go with it.

While not on same level as a tasty doughnut, Staples has announced that they will laminate your vaccination card for free.


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## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> @terri that’s great news!   I agree about the kitten names.  A bit too cutesy.
> 
> 
> Princess got in a fender bender today.  Everyone is fine no injuries and no damage to the rear of the car she hit but - the front of our old Ronda the Honda is crushed.  She’s an older car so they might consider her totaled which would be a shame since she’s definitely got many good miles left in her.  So now have to deal with the insurance company and sharing a car until it’s resolved.  Big pita.


Yes, cars can be fixed or replaced.  Glad she is OK.


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## vintagesnaps

Yeah, at least it was a fender bender and she's OK. Reminds me my first car accident (which was minor) involved a teenager who pulled out and banged into me; felt bad for her she was so upset. Sorry you might be losing the car, they do seem to consider them totalled when I wouldn't call it that. Too bad it's not the days of banging a ding out of a fender and you were good to go! lol


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## vintagesnaps

Glad your mom got hers Sharon, my mom got vaccinated early where she lives in Senior apts. Those of us in the 3 C's as it's called are gonna have a long wait, I've checked in 4 different counties. 

Well Smoke, goody goody gumdrop, you got a donut! lol By the time I get one all that'll be left will be stale and hard as a rock! (I know, they're actually continuing the promotion thru fall...) 

You know what, Staples turned out to be the best and fastest place to get supplies (discovered that during the toilet paper shortage). They must have their own trucks but I'm surprised they trek out this far, the box just magically and mysteriously appears on my porch. Maybe they should have Staples and UPS deliver vaccines!

There wasn't a single car in the background shot of the interstate they showed on the late news - that never happens. Seem to have a new vantage point for a camera but not sure which interstate it was, kinda freaky! Oh good a car went by, we can't have that, no cars...


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## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Yeah, at least it was a fender bender and she's OK. Reminds me my first car accident (which was minor) involved a teenager who pulled out and banged into me; felt bad for her she was so upset. Sorry you might be losing the car, they do seem to consider them totalled when I wouldn't call it that. Too bad it's not the days of banging a ding out of a fender and you were good to go! lol



The car she rear ended was being driven by one of her friends.  They were leaving school and someone up ahead of them stopped short and Princess wasn't quick enough on the brake - probably following too close.  They were going slow enough that the air bags didn't go off and no damage to other cars or injuries to any one so that was a relief.  She was pretty upset with herself.  We just spent some money on new tires and brakes and some other routine maintenance.  Hopefully if it's totaled my insurance company will add a percentage of those receipts to the pay out.


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## terri

SquarePeg said:


> @terri that’s great news!   I agree about the kitten names.  A bit too cutesy.
> 
> 
> Princess got in a fender bender today.  Everyone is fine no injuries and no damage to the rear of the car she hit but - the front of our old Ronda the Honda is crushed.  She’s an older car so they might consider her totaled which would be a shame since she’s definitely got many good miles left in her.  So now have to deal with the insurance company and sharing a car until it’s resolved.  Big pita.


Omg  - I bet that scared the crap out of her.   Glad to hear she's okay. 

Hopefully, you can convince your insurance company that it's worth it to repair the car, if there's no damage to the engine.


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## smoke665

@SquarePeg not sure how your state works, but here if the insurance company totals it, you can keep the car for the salvage value, you'll get the settlement minus the salvage value. You can then rebuild it, or use the best parts from it to rebuild another one. (IE engine, transmission, seats, tires, body parts, etc.) Or, just avoid the hassle take the money, and buy another one.


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## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> @terri that’s great news!   I agree about the kitten names.  A bit too cutesy.
> 
> 
> Princess got in a fender bender today.  Everyone is fine no injuries and no damage to the rear of the car she hit but - the front of our old Ronda the Honda is crushed.  She’s an older car so they might consider her totaled which would be a shame since she’s definitely got many good miles left in her.  So now have to deal with the insurance company and sharing a car until it’s resolved.  Big pita.



Glad princess is ok!  Scary when they get their license.  I had a rule that they had to leave at a certain time and not be home by a certain time.  I didn't want them rushing to beat curfew.


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## CherylL

terri said:


> Just got back from my first dose.   It all went very well, and I was in and out of there in under 45 minutes.   Already have the second dose scheduled, so I'm starting to feel better about Covid.   My mom is now 100% vaccinated, and so is her next door neighbor with whom she is good friends, so she's starting to have a bit of socializing again.   They can do better than chatting through the fence.   Hopefully, we can get up there for a visit this summer.
> 
> 
> 
> In other news:   Kitten update!
> 
> We learned yesterday that they have, in fact, been re-named by their new mom.    They are going through life as Skittles and Snickers.   Quite frankly, I couldn't be bothered to ask which was which after hearing that.    Eww.
> 
> But OTOH, the names Rose and Sage are now officially released!  and can be re-used, WHEN and if the need arises.    I'm okay with that.    And more importantly, they are both doing well, and are very happy.   That's what matters.     It kills me to know they are likely twice as big now as they are in this picture.   Still miss those sweet little girls.
> 
> View attachment 204808



Ahhh thanks for the kitten update.  I like the names Rose & Sage.  Our Snickers came with that name.  He was a year old when we got him.


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## SquarePeg

K9Kirk said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> K9Kirk said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> photoflyer said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> K9Kirk said:
> 
> 
> 
> If the Milky Way is everywhere do you need a particular constellation or star to shoot at or do can you just point anywhere in the sky and capture something cool like with the last two pics?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The last two are the Orion Nebula and you need to center it in a lens that is at least 300mm and use a tracking mount.
> 
> I believe  @SquarePeg  shots are taken with a 12mm lens on a Fuji (micro 4/3rds?) covering a nearly a quarter of the sky.   You don't need a tracker for multi-second shots but it can help.  Maybe she can tell us how long these were.   I'm using an R6 and the hype about low light performance is true, meaning I can jack ISO up and shoot a bit faster for sharper images.
> 
> Something else you will see in her shots is a nice balance between a foreground object, like a lighthouse, and a dark sky. That is really tricky to pull off.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I have two lenses that I think 'may' be able to capture some night shots. I know they wouldn't be the best at it because one is a 50 mm f/1.8 so it could capture the light and be fast enough  but it wouldn't be very wide at 500 mm. The other lens is an 8 mm f3.5. I know it's recommended that you use at least an f/2.8 for astrophotography but could you pull it off with a longer exposure or would it be too slow to capture with any sharpness? Thanks for any help.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Of those two lenses I would think the 50 mm would be better but I would maybe shoot at F2 not 1.8.   You would probably have to shoot a pano in order to get everything that you wanted to into the shot at 50 mm. Are you using a crop sensor or a full frame? I would think you would need at least 4-6 frames to get foreground and sky with a 50.
> 
> For the other lens you would have to bump the ISO not the exposure time or you’d get star movement.  If you shoot 10 or 15 frames that are relatively high ISO but shorter exposure times you can stack them to get rid of some of the noise.   You really have to experiment. But if you’re living in a dark sky area and you’re really interested check out the Samyang 12 mm it’s pretty cheap.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> It's a crop sensor. Thanks for the info.
Click to expand...




CherylL said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> @terri that’s great news!   I agree about the kitten names.  A bit too cutesy.
> 
> 
> Princess got in a fender bender today.  Everyone is fine no injuries and no damage to the rear of the car she hit but - the front of our old Ronda the Honda is crushed.  She’s an older car so they might consider her totaled which would be a shame since she’s definitely got many good miles left in her.  So now have to deal with the insurance company and sharing a car until it’s resolved.  Big pita.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Glad princess is ok!  Scary when they get their license.  I had a rule that they had to leave at a certain time and not be home by a certain time.  I didn't want them rushing to beat curfew.
Click to expand...


That is how we do it too.  She has to leave at a certain time and text me to let me know she is on the way.  She wasn't going anywhere after school - just heading back here.


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## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> @SquarePeg not sure how your state works, but here if the insurance company totals it, you can keep the car for the salvage value, you'll get the settlement minus the salvage value. You can then rebuild it, or use the best parts from it to rebuild another one. (IE engine, transmission, seats, tires, body parts, etc.) Or, just avoid the hassle take the money, and buy another one.



I don't think that the damage is anywhere other than the front and side bumper.  It didn't affect the engine as far as we could tell.  It was drivable, not leaking anywhere and the headlights worked.  The main reason I question whether or not they will fix it is that it is an older car - 2007 - and they redid the body shape a few years ago so I wonder if parts will be too tough to get.  With the cost of repairs and the low value for an older car...  the math might not be in our favor.  Which is too bad because it's in great shape otherwise and only has 125k miles which for a 2007 Honda is nothing!  If the body shop can't fix it we will probably take the money and walk.


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## SquarePeg




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## snowbear

That’ll buff right out.


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## smoke665

Or third option is to drive as is, as a reminder to be careful. Many years ago as a just turned 16 driver, Mom and Dad left in the pickup, leaving me and the family car at home. Having  watched one of those car chase movies the night before, I got the bright idea to try some moves in a big barn yard. I was sliding around having a merry old time, till I went sailing backward straight into an immovable plow. It hit dead center in the middle of bumper, putting a huge dent in the backend. Everything still worked, still drove okay but it was butt ugly.

When my parents got home, I calmly told them, I had some good news and some bad news. The good news was I was okay, not even a scratch, the bad news was I'd been acting dumb and wrecked "their" car. Never will forget my Dad kinda grinned and said, son I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is, my "new" car is sitting out front. The bad news is you wrecked "your" car.

I worked every odd job I could find for over a year to get enough money together to replace that car, and learned some valuable life lessons along the way.


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## terri

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 204824 View attachment 204825


That looks ugly, but very fixable.   Used cars are fetching a pretty penny these days, and of course new ones are even worse.   I'd really push for the repairs, because otherwise it does look really good.


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## limr

Morning, hosers.

Kitties!!!  Stupid new names but still 

Glad Princess is okay. My mother used to say that you don't really learn how to drive until you've had your first accident. Sounds more like something she said to justify her first accident  But still, there are lessons to be learned about driving from each accident, so hopefully this will help her avoid further accidents.

"not leaking anywhere" = famous last words  But seriously, it doesn't look like it got to the engine proper, but the costs can ramp up fast if it affected the cooling system, which is often in the front. Or if there's subframe damage. Apparently, it could also cause some electrical system issues, which then translates into problems with windows, locks, lights, starters, etc.

And apparently I need more coffee because I could have sworn I hit "Post Reply" on this post while it was still morning.


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## Rickbb

Very minor, I'd fix that myself. New bumper and grill yank a bit on the brackets that hold the headlight to make it point in the correct direction and good as new. Less than $500 in parts on Amazon, a Saturday's work and she can have a car for the next fender bender, (instead of a more expensive replacement car. Can you tell I've been through 2 teen drivers?) lol


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## Rickbb

On a totally separate note, why does the search tags at the bottom on the page list "wife in short shorts" ?


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## SquarePeg

Rickbb said:


> Very minor, I'd fix that myself. New bumper and grill yank a bit on the brackets that hold the headlight to make it point in the correct direction and good as new. Less than $500 in parts on Amazon, a Saturday's work and she can have a car for the next fender bender, (instead of a more expensive replacement car. Can you tell I've been through 2 teen drivers?) lol



Got the estimate.  Parts 2263.  Labor and materials 1779.  When they add in the tax we’re at just about max book value.  Sigh.  It’s going to be close.  Waiting to hear back from insurance company now.  She knows I prefer to fix it.


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## limr

Rickbb said:


> On a totally separate note, why does the search tags at the bottom on the page list "wife in short shorts" ?



I have no interest in pulling that thread.


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## Rickbb

limr said:


> Rickbb said:
> 
> 
> 
> On a totally separate note, why does the search tags at the bottom on the page list "wife in short shorts" ?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have no interest in pulling that thread.
Click to expand...


Since I'm at work and behind more than a few good firewalls and would be protected from what may lurk there. I clicked the tag, totally disappointed, (or relived depending on your point of view), went to ads for shorts.


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## vintagesnaps

Thinking about Smoke, sounds like a rough storm going thru. Hope he and his wife and family (and neighbors etc.) stay safe.


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## vintagesnaps

Leo, please, coffee first! what were you thinking??!!! Although you did well, it didn't not make sense.


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## vintagesnaps

Rick I think we actually need a carrot emoji with that circle and a slash across it.

Now that dumb commercial about we wear short shorts is in my head, thanks a lot!


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## Original katomi

Hi   Glad to hear that no one was hurt in the accident.
It’s the same here they look at the age of the car how much it is worth in some guide book and say it’s not worth repairing


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## smoke665

@vintagesnaps  so far nothing but rain........Lots and lots of rain. Went down to get the mail, and discovered that the heavy rains had washed lots of leaves and trash in the road ditch down the hill. The 24" culvert under our drive was almost plugged, which resulted in a backup, creating a fast flowing flood across the highway. Finally managed to pull out enough that the rest broke free. Gonna be a long night I'm afraid.


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## Rickbb

It’s moving in here tonight, thunder and rain starting, sigh.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hope it doesn't get too bad there. Looked like huge tornadoes were expected, hope things are OK in the morning.


----------



## smoke665

Finally settled down here about 10 last night. A tornado hit about 30 miles south of us, killed 5 people, injured several more, and a nasty hail storm missed us to the north by only a couple mile. We got rain on top of rain in the valley. Many of the interior low lying roads were flooding by early evening. More rain forecast for us over the next few days..........looking at plans for an Ark today.


----------



## limr




----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, bitter cold here


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.  Currently we are at a  beautiful 47F/8C and sunny; expected high of 79F/21C.
I'm helping lazy_loster with a photo shoot north of Baltimore this afternoon.

I hear a woodpecker, somewhere.


----------



## SquarePeg

60 here!  Fantastic day.  Not a clouds in sight.  Going to do some yard clean up today.  May be heading out to photograph moon set early morning tomorrow if the sky stays clear.


----------



## snowbear

I did some moon shots last not but the focus was soft - will try again tonight with remote shutter relaese.


----------



## Rickbb

Was 80+F here today, got the grass cut, tree cut down then more thunder storm and tornado warnings, lots of rain, wind and temp dropped 20 degrees. Again. 

We are on the rinse repeat weather cycle. Severe storm warnings through tomorrow night.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Cleared out and kind of warmish, full moon and people and things are accordingly wacky.

Been watching college hockey playoffs and tonight's game is endless... just finished 3rd OT, it's like watching these two teams play 2 games back to back - and they're still not done. Showing the same highlights during intermission for like the 6th time! (And, in the 4th OT the game set a new record for the longest college hockey playoff - ever.)

Edit - And they're gettin' the shovels out, that's what you want to hear at a hockey game! snow's pilin' up.

Edit Edit (or Pizza Pizza!) - game started at 7:30 pm, finally after 1:30 am, 6+ hours, just into 8th OT, we have a winner, Duluth over NoDak.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hi, funny pictures! People funny - good night!


(And whose wife is still in short shorts?? how does the site come up with these search tags???).


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all  well sort of clocks went forward here now the clock says nearly 9am my body say nearly 8
Somebody stole an hour in the night lol


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy weekend to all!  Going to rain here today.  I have some “homework” to do for the Adopt a Senior campaign that we’re planning for Princess’s graduating class.  Need to whip up sone communications to the kids, their parents and the community to get everyone on the same page about what the goal is and what we can/cannot do based on the current covid restrictions.  

We were thrilled to hear from the principal that there will be an actual full class graduation for Princess’s year.  Only 4 guests per graduate and 3 ft social distancing will be enforced but a mostly “normal” graduation ceremony yay!  Her class has missed out on so much this year.  All the senior year traditions have been put aside for safety protocols (rightfully but still sadly). Ideally there would have been 9-10 of us attending graduation.  She’ll have to make some cuts.  Welcome to adulthood.


----------



## Original katomi

Peg
Hope it goes well, nice that there will be something to mark the event


----------



## snowbear

lazy lobster postponed their shoot; we had a thunderstorm blow through early, this morning.  Pretty nice out now, though it's overcast.


----------



## terri

That's such good news for her, @SquarePeg!    I'm sure she'll accept the restrictions if it means they'll get an actual ceremony.   Not everyone was so lucky during this pandemic.    Good for her!

In other news (and I say this every spring):

They're back!    My returning American Barn Swallows.   We leave their twig & mud nest alone all year, and it's always a happy time to see the new arrivals swooping in, looking it over, and making repairs.







I know my photos always look the same, too - but this is where they hang out.   The nest is on the opposite side of the entrance here.

It's getting ready to rain here, but I feel very sunny atm.    I love these noisy, messy critters.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all 
Took the two dogs to the beach today, first time in a long time
Molly the small one looked to make sure I could see here, thus reassured she went into the water
And in other news lol my a3 printer is getting long in the tooth so I am looking at a new a3 photo printer
The Epsom range has been suggested any one use these


----------



## Rickbb

Original katomi said:


> And in other news lol my a3 printer is getting long in the tooth so I am looking at a new a3 photo printer
> The Epsom range has been suggested any one use these



I used to use Epsom's but now IMHO Cannon has the best out there now.


----------



## snowbear

One down, one to go.


----------



## terri

Hey!   I didn't get a button!


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## SquarePeg

Hoody Hosers!  While I am very grateful and happy to have received the vaccine, I’m having an annoying side effect.  My tinnitus is much worse.  About 10x worse.  If you don’t have tinnitus consider yourself lucky and hope you never have to experience it.  Usually mine is mild and I’ve learned to live with it.  Since shot 2 of the vaccine it has become increasingly maddening. I’ve read that it can temporarily increase during times of stress and when taking medication such as antibiotics.  I’ve seen a bunch of stories online about this happening after the vaccine.  Just trying to wait it out without stabbing myself in the ear.  It’s annoying enough that it has been affecting my sleep and my mood so if I’m not online as much, it’s because I need louder distractions than my iPad!


----------



## snowbear

Ouch, Sharon.  I have it, too; partly because of using power tools a while back, and partly (I think) of the earpiece I had to wear when I was a dispatcher.

Terri: MLW didn't get one, either but she went to mass site.  

I picked the right time of day, I think - there were, probably 10 or 12 people in front of me.  They scheduled number two while I was still there.


----------



## CherylL

Sharon that sounds awful!  Hope it clears up soon.

I got my 2nd shot yesterday.  Arm is not as sore and side effects are not there like the 1st shot.  The mother ship keeps buzzing me   I didn't get a sticker or a button.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Hoody Hosers!  While I am very grateful and happy to have received the vaccine, I’m having an annoying side effect.  My tinnitus is much worse.  About 10x worse.  If you don’t have tinnitus consider yourself lucky and hope you never have to experience it.  Usually mine is mild and I’ve learned to live with it.  Since shot 2 of the vaccine it has become increasingly maddening. I’ve read that it can temporarily increase during times of stress and when taking medication such as antibiotics.  I’ve seen a bunch of stories online about this happening after the vaccine.  Just trying to wait it out without stabbing myself in the ear.  It’s annoying enough that it has been affecting my sleep and my mood so if I’m not online as much, it’s because I need louder distractions than my iPad!


Ugh - I hope it backs off over time.   Maybe after the immunity is actually complete, which isn't for a couple-three weeks after full vaccination?   Crossing my fingers for you!  

Maybe I'll get a sticker after the second one.   I had zero side effects outside of a sore arm, which is to be expected.   Ready to get past it!


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Ouch, Sharon.  I have it, too; partly because of using power tools a while back, and partly (I think) of the earpiece I had to wear when I was a dispatcher.
> 
> Terri: MLW didn't get one, either but she went to mass site.
> 
> I picked the right time of day, I think - there were, probably 10 or 12 people in front of me.  They scheduled number two while I was still there.



Interesting...  I worked in a call center for a few years and had to wear a headset 8 hours every day.  But that was 25 years ago!  The more likely cause for me is the tinnitus that is associated with hearing loss.  I don’t have very good hearing in my right ear, since my early 30’s, and always had ear issues growing up.  This new spike in intensity is in the other ear.  Hopefully it will fade as time passes.


----------



## snowbear

This was the in-ear type, like ear buds.  The shop tools definitely made it worse.


----------



## Original katomi

My hearing is almost zero since I had flu
I get the buzzing like others it gets worse with stress


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## terri

Truth!


----------



## Original katomi

Type louder please lol


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


>



UhOh.  My oldest says this to me ))


----------



## Original katomi

Today my small dog decided to do some gardening, she sees me doing it then decides to have a go later 
This her when she came and told me that the weeding was now done. And oh by the way could she have a shower as her face was covered in mud. Which she promptly shaired with me


----------



## terri

OMG - she looks like she had a party out there!       She's a cute little thing.


----------



## Jeff15

Nice dog..........


----------



## limr

Morning, hosers.

Sorry, that's all I could muster on a Monday morning. I'll try again after the coffee hits my system.


----------



## Original katomi

This is the other dog he is more restrained when it comes to gardening
But he does like to get in on the action now and then. He is due to have a grooming on the 12th maybe I won’t have so much hair on the carpet, sofa, bed, pillows


----------



## Original katomi

A lot of spam today, 8 out of the first 50


----------



## Jeff15

The spam has become more regular over the last few days...


----------



## Space Face

Original katomi said:


> A lot of spam today, 8 out of the first 50



Just about average I'd say.  Usually a bit quieter on a Sunday for some reason.


----------



## limr

Space Face said:


> Original katomi said:
> 
> 
> 
> A lot of spam today, 8 out of the first 50
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just about average I'd say.  Usually a bit quieter on a Sunday for some reason.
Click to expand...




Jeff15 said:


> The spam has become more regular over the last few days...



That's just the spam that you see. The moderators also see users who have registered but were flagged by the software as possible spam, and we go in to approve or delete. I can tell you that I have personally never approved any of these users; they're basically all spambots. There used to be a handful every day or every other day. These days, I wake up and there is an average of 50 spambots trying to get in. Right now there are 35 (yes, I'm about to go delete them, but I've logged in and seen over 100.


----------



## Original katomi

Lime
Hiya yes I was aware that you and the others do a lot behind the scenes so to speak and a thank you to you all
I know space face catches a lot of the early morning uk time spam  and the others who do the same
Sometimes when I log on I see there are a lot of guest bots .


----------



## Jeff15

Keep up the good work, thank you.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Got my 2nd shot yesterday.  Very efficient and 3rd in line!
So far no issues. 

Unfortunately on my Dr appt the other day, I now have extremely high Blood Pressure! Never had it before...
The last 4 months has had us out of sorts with family issues. We have been eating to go dinners of Chinese food, pizza, hamburgers, pre made chickens etc...NOT our norm by any means...

Ugh... I hate medicines and have avoided them until now. :{


----------



## Original katomi

Aww sorry to hear that your BP is up  stress can do that 
Hope you better soon


----------



## terri

NancyMoranG said:


> Got my 2nd shot yesterday.  Very efficient and 3rd in line!
> So far no issues.
> 
> Unfortunately on my Dr appt the other day, I now have extremely high Blood Pressure! Never had it before...
> The last 4 months has had us out of sorts with family issues. We have been eating to go dinners of Chinese food, pizza, hamburgers, pre made chickens etc...NOT our norm by any means...
> 
> Ugh... I hate medicines and have avoided them until now. :{


awww, sorry to hear about the HBP.       Hopefully the stress of family issues combined with the to-go dinners will subside, so you can get back to a more normal routine and the BP might come down some all by itself.   Did they tell you to start medication right away, then?

Great news on the vaccine, anyway - my second one is coming up in a couple of weeks, and I'm very much looking forward to it!   Glad you didn't have any issues.   What I've been hearing is that IF a person is going to have issues, it will likely be with that second dose.  

Take care, Nancy!


----------



## NancyMoranG

Thank you @terri . I fly tomorrow from Tampa, Fl , back to our RV and our regular life.
We will be heading out from Texas to the Grand Tetons @ 4/15. SOO, looking forward to our summer there!

As far as vaccine shot. I hydrated, hydrated,  day before and day of the shot. I also moved my arm a lot for the day, putting over my head, swinging it whatever.
Whether it helped or not,  I don't care, I felt good afterwards.
Good luck Terri and all.


----------



## terri

Thanks!   I didn't even think about extra arm movements ahead of time, but that's a good idea!   A stab by a needle is a stab by a needle - kinda hard to get around that.   

Happy hump day, hosers!    

We've had a 2-day warm spell that allowed us to get tomato plants in the ground yesterday.   I still have a couple patio tomatoes in big pots, too.  Cherry tomatoes seem to do well, and I'm excited to get them going.   

Still too early for my local nurseries to be putting out herbs, apparently.   I looked over the weekend and nothing yet.


----------



## CherylL

NancyMoranG said:


> Got my 2nd shot yesterday.  Very efficient and 3rd in line!
> So far no issues.
> 
> Unfortunately on my Dr appt the other day, I now have extremely high Blood Pressure! Never had it before...
> The last 4 months has had us out of sorts with family issues. We have been eating to go dinners of Chinese food, pizza, hamburgers, pre made chickens etc...NOT our norm by any means...
> 
> Ugh... I hate medicines and have avoided them until now. :{



Sorry about the BP.  Maybe go on meds for awhile until you can get back to normal dinners?  Got my 2nd shot too.  My arm trick with any shot is to let it dangle loosely down.  The first time I had my arm bent and had a sore arm.  The 2nd one with the dangle method the arm was only slightly sore to the touch.


----------



## snowbear

Five years ago, we lost Lt. John E. "Skillet" Ulmschneider when he was shot by a mentally ill man who thought "Skillet" was breaking into his home.

His locker at station 830.




At the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial, Emmitsburg, MD.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Five years ago, we lost Lt. John E. "Skillet" Ulmschneider when he was shot by a mentally ill man who thought "Skillet" was breaking into his home.
> 
> His locker at station 830.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial, Emmitsburg, MD.


    So sorry.    I see the family in the photos, it's just heartbreaking.     Respect to the fallen firefighter.


----------



## Original katomi

There was something on the uk local news about a shooting to day 
Hope you are all ok
Respect for the fallen fire man,


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> Five years ago, we lost Lt. John E. "Skillet" Ulmschneider when he was shot by a mentally ill man who thought "Skillet" was breaking into his home.
> 
> His locker at station 830.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial, Emmitsburg, MD.



Sorry this happened.  The locker and plaque is a nice tribute.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning or afternoon all
Frustrated here at the moment  photo editing software now showing its age and everything I have looked at needs windows 10
Tonight when it’s quieter and all the phone callers have  happened  I will dig out the original disks  and reload  the software 
Start from scratch 
I should have bought photoshop 6 when I had the chance lol
Have a good day, catch up with you all later


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning all and happy weekend!  We had some snow here yesterday!! We went from 70s last weekend to snow and sleet this weekend.  Remind me please, Why do I live in New England?  

oh yeah...


----------



## terri

Beautiful pic - the pup is loving life there!   ❤

It's gotten cooler here, as well.   No snow, though!  Spring in the Southeast US can be gloriously long and leisurely.    As bad as 2020 was, I do know we had terrific weather.   A drought last year might have sent me over the edge.    

My potted tomatoes out on the deck have doubled in size already, and full of fruit and flowers.    Very exciting.   

The screened in porch is always a  pita - gets filthy over the winter, then covered with pollen.   Hubby scrubbed the mold off the ceiling yesterday.  Next is a rinse of the screens and rails.   Then the floorboards.    

Then  - and only then - do I get to start buying my annuals, and more herbs.    Can't wait!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all
Peg stunning pic 
It’s nice here today, sun is out and it’s warm. I have started to Plant the raised planters
I even bought flowers, normally Mrs would get the plants or tell me what she wanted
I have no idea what the flowers are, they just look nice.
All the plants Mrs  planted last year are hidden by blue bells


----------



## Jeff15

Spring has sprung here in the UK but still a chilly breeze......


----------



## smoke665

In the category "Should Have Known Better". One of the younger members of our FD contacted me about doing some promotional shots for him (he has a DJ business). Even though he would have paid, I offered to do them for TFP, because I could use some additions to my portfolio and thought he was a friend. We set up the time for yesterday afternoon in studio. It normally takes me 45mins to an hour to set up the studio depending on the lighting, but when he contacted me Sunday morning to confirm that he would be here, but a little later, my intuition kicked in. Thankfully I didn't waste my time with a full set up, as the guy never showed, never called..... nothing. Like I said "should have known better", to often friends and even family, seem to take a lackadaisical attitude when you do something for them without charge, but then get "P****d" if you charge them. I'm getting the point of just saying sorry I'm busy.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> In the category "Should Have Known Better". One of the younger members of our FD contacted me about doing some promotional shots for him (he has a DJ business). Even though he would have paid, I offered to do them for TFP, because I could use some additions to my portfolio and thought he was a friend. We set up the time for yesterday afternoon in studio. It normally takes me 45mins to an hour to set up the studio depending on the lighting, but when he contacted me Sunday morning to confirm that he would be here, but a little later, my intuition kicked in. Thankfully I didn't waste my time with a full set up, as the guy never showed, never called..... nothing. Like I said "should have known better", to often friends and even family, seem to take a lackadaisical attitude when you do something for them without charge, but then get "P****d" if you charge them. I'm getting the point of just saying sorry I'm busy.



That’s incredibly rude of him.  At least he could have made a courtesy call to say hey I know I suck but I’m blowing you off due to some lame made up reason.  Not many excuses I would accept for a no call/no show.  Most involve hospital stays or worse.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> That’s incredibly rude of him. At least he could have made a courtesy call to say hey I know I suck but I’m blowing you off due to some lame made up reason. Not many excuses I would accept for a no call/no show. Most involve hospital stays or worse



It seems to happen more and more, maybe it's a generation thing?????? Hospital or other issues weren't the problem, because he was posting on FB.  Like I said it's become a situation where I hear certain things, my intuition kicks in, letting me make preemptive changes, so I don't let it bother me much. Unless I've made special arrangements on the time, or missed other engagements because of it. Then I'll unload on them.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> That’s incredibly rude of him. At least he could have made a courtesy call to say hey I know I suck but I’m blowing you off due to some lame made up reason. Not many excuses I would accept for a no call/no show. Most involve hospital stays or worse
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It seems to happen more and more, maybe it's a generation thing?????? Hospital or other issues weren't the problem, because he was posting on FB.  Like I said it's become a situation where I hear certain things, my intuition kicks in, letting me make preemptive changes, so I don't let it bother me much. Unless I've made special arrangements on the time, or missed other engagements because of it. Then I'll unload on them.
Click to expand...

Are you going to ask?   "Saw you on FB while I was getting ready to set up the studio....." might be in order.  

Why should you _not_ make him squirm - even a little bit -  for being so thoughtless, inconsiderate, and rude?   

Oh, I get the notion to just let things ride.   But it annoyed you enough to vent here.   He contacted _you_; you weren't begging for a gig -  and you were being gracious with your time.   You may be thinking, "If I'd asked him to pay, even a down payment in advance, he might have taken me more seriously."     And you might be right!


----------



## Tropicalmemories

smoke665 said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> 
> That’s incredibly rude of him. At least he could have made a courtesy call to say hey I know I suck but I’m blowing you off due to some lame made up reason. Not many excuses I would accept for a no call/no show. Most involve hospital stays or worse
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It seems to happen more and more, maybe it's a generation thing?????? Hospital or other issues weren't the problem, because he was posting on FB.  Like I said it's become a situation where I hear certain things, my intuition kicks in, letting me make preemptive changes, so I don't let it bother me much. Unless I've made special arrangements on the time, or missed other engagements because of it. Then I'll unload on them.
Click to expand...


I made the same mistake once.  A friend was getting married, and in Asia the custom is to have a 'pre-wedding' photoshoot in a local beauty spot so you can have some nice prints on display at the wedding.  Often the bride will wear her dress, or some other special clothes.

I asked about their plans for the pre-wedding shoot,  but they said money was tight, so they are not doing one.  I offered to do it for them, thinking if they are not getting a professional photographer anyway - my amateur shots may be appreciated.  I'm a keen portrait shooter, have a selection of off-camera flashes and lights and some decent prime lenses, and I also knew a nice park with good light around the 'golden hour's.

I lugged the gear in the 100'F heat into the park (no cars allowed), took some test shots of my 'assistant' and waited.  The couple eventually turned up, casually dressed and looking like it was a chore.  They acted like they were doing me a favour.  I was pleased with the results, and my assistant helped with pose suggestions and tried valiantly to improve their mood during the shoot.

I had the best of the shots printed, with some large prints for the day.

Never had any feedback on the images, none were used on the day.

Perhaps they felt obliged to turn up and thought I just wanted to play with my gear .... but I had better things to do that day, and was only trying to help.   Now I stick to photos of my partner, who at least appreciate the results.

May post some of the pre-wedding shots here, so at least they see the light of day?

But what I did learn is that being a pro must be tough ..... I was exhausted after the session!


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Oh, I get the notion to just let things ride. But it annoyed you enough to vent here. He contacted _you_; you weren't begging for a gig - and you were being gracious with your time. You may be thinking, "If I'd asked him to pay, even a down payment in advance, he might have taken me more seriously." And you might be right!



I've become more mellow about letting things upset me and don't feel  the need to "chase after" someone to tell them off, but my memory is still good.  The next time I'm at the fire hall, and I see him all bets are off. Doing it in front of his peers, will be a better learning experience for him.


----------



## snowbear

... or send him an invoice for your time.


----------



## Original katomi

Smoke
I don’t know if it’s a Gen thing . I have a sister mid 50s who does the same thing or only hears what she wants to hear
Her phone is “always on” but never answers
She was meant to come over Sat, I gave up waiting at 3pm and went out
Seems to be a sign of the times


----------



## terri

Rain, rain, and more rain today!    Can't seem to get through this crazy front, hosers.    

I'm glad I was too busy to get more herbs and an extra jalapeño plant into the ground.  Poor little things would likely have drowned in all this!  

Supposed to be sunny and a nice warmup after all this.    Hubby has finished washing the screened in porch, and I'm ready to get it decked out for the summer.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all


----------



## NancyMoranG

We arrived at Grand Tetons National Park (Wyoming, USA) on Friday. 
We will be here until early October. 
1-3" snow predicted tonight and Minday nights. I guess I will miss the full moon!


----------



## terri

NancyMoranG said:


> We arrived at Grand Tetons National Park (Wyoming, USA) on Friday.
> We will be here until early October.
> 1-3" snow predicted tonight and Minday nights. I guess I will miss the full moon!


Sounds chilly, but I bet it's gorgeous out there.       Enjoy - and stay safe!


----------



## Jeff15

Nancy, I look forward to your photographs.....


----------



## NancyMoranG

Jeff15 said:


> Nancy, I look forward to your photographs.....



Me, mine? Wow thanks for making my day


----------



## CherylL

@smoke665, Bill sorry you got stood up.  What is that saying about no good deed goes unpunished.  I've taken photos of friends of my daughters and have texted them earlier in the day that I'm looking forward to the shoot.  That way I'm not wasting the whole day not knowing if they remembered or not.


----------



## limr

Huh. So this is new. Hey hosers.


----------



## dxqcanada

We've been purged of May !!


----------



## snowbear

Azzhat used old admin account to vandalize.


----------



## terri

....waiting for the inevitable comments on the new "Like" system.     

Looks like the hated "red X" for Disagree is gone.   I consider this nothing but happy dance time.


----------



## terri

Hosers!    It's time to put this new & improved TPF through its paces!    We need to make sure it's functioning - let's see some uploaded photos, for starters.    And it looks like posts can now be bookmarked....?    That could seriously come in handy.    

Imma gonna try that mountain/insert icon up there....

Hey!   Easy as pie!    Fast, too.

I give you the late & great O-dog (aka Odin) and the hubby.    Hand colored print, hosers!


----------



## limr

Ooh, and images can be resized before posting. I uploaded this and it showed up kinda huge but it allowed me to drag the corner to make it smaller.


----------



## Original katomi

I DO NOT like this new system layout 
It’s just made life hard, is there any way I can go back to the old layout


----------



## Space Face

Original katomi said:


> I DO NOT like this new system layout
> It’s just made life hard, is there any way I can go back to the old layout



I'd guess not.  If it ain't broke blah blah blah.  Hey ho.

Hope you are well otherwise.😉


----------



## Space Face

At least it accommodates off site smileys now tho.😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😃😃😍😍😘😘🥰🥰🙄🙂☺😎😐😑🤗🙄😏🤩🤩🤩🥰😗😗😗😴😛😯🤐😐😋🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Ooh, and images can be resized before posting. I uploaded this and it showed up kinda huge but it allowed me to drag the corner to make it smaller.
> 
> View attachment 244067


I didn't even try that!    Now that is a handy feature for a photo forum!!


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> I DO NOT like this new system layout
> It’s just made life hard, is there any way I can go back to the old layout


Well, it's an upgrade to the newest version of xenForo, so that layout isn't possible.   Why not give yourself time to play with it a little bit - the old one was new to you once, too - you just got used to it.     

Also, there may be some extra "skins" that might give slight alterations offered.   Right now, the site techs/owners have their hands full - this is a huge site with tons of data, and we've had a bad breach.   I'm sure everything is being done to work out the bugs.   

On another note: Sharon (SquarePeg) let us know about your father's passing.      Please accept my condolences.


----------



## terri

Space Face said:


> I'd guess not.  If it ain't broke blah blah blah.  Hey ho.
> 
> Hope you are well otherwise.😉


Well, not to belabor the point, but....it kinda WAS broke.   Broke/hacked/defaced - it wasn't good, and did indeed call for major action.    Of course, no one likes seeing the pages looking different, but that's just a question of getting used to it.


----------



## nokk

Original katomi said:


> I DO NOT like this new system layout
> It’s just made life hard, is there any way I can go back to the old layout


just a few minutes ago the media slider wasn't working and now it is.  maybe give them a day or two to get the new layout sorted.  😉


----------



## smoke665

Oh gee something else to relearn at my age. 🙄


----------



## Space Face

nokk said:


> just a few minutes ago the media slider wasn't working and now it is.  maybe give them a day or two to get the new layout sorted.  😉


What's a media slider?


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Looks like the hated "red X" for Disagree is gone. I consider this nothing but happy dance



THIS IS GOOD!  Looks like the Agree, Funny, Useful, and Infomative button disappeared as well.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> Oh gee something else to relearn at my age. 🙄


Keeps man strong like bull!


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Keeps man strong like bull!


I'd click the funny button but it isn't there LOL


----------



## smoke665

So as I understand all the May posts are gone? Or just temporarily misplaced?


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> I'd click the funny button but it isn't there LOL


It is, just looks different.    Click on that Like icon, lower right here, to see the lineup.    As I mentioned earlier, the awful "Disagree" button is blessedly gone.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> It is, just looks different.    Click on that Like icon, lower right here, to see the lineup.    As I mentioned earlier, the awful "Disagree" button is blessedly gone.


On Android there's no lineup, just like.

Yup you know my feelings on that button. I won't be sorry it's gone.


----------



## nokk

Space Face said:


> What's a media slider?


no idea, but there were x's under the words media slider at the top of the forum home page and now there's images instead of x's.  so whatever it is is working.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> So as I understand all the May posts are gone? Or just temporarily misplaced?


They exist in a former version of TPF that is no longer viable to use, since it was hacked and is likely buggy as all git-out.   We don't want it, I'm sure.    So their best recourse was to go back to version that was still clean, then do the upgrade from that date in time.    

I do feel the worst for Charlie atm, having to start the May POTM all over again - ALL those photos are gone, unfortunately.    At least we have the April winner, but that will have to be re-posted, too.   

No one likes re-work.


----------



## smoke665

@terri Just logged in on computer. The Icons pop up when you hover over the Like, but on the Android Tablet/phone they don't. You just have the Like option.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> @terri Just logged in on computer. The Icons pop up when you hover over the Like, but on the Android Tablet/phone they don't. You just have the Like option.


Interesting.   I've stayed on the laptop since this morning, just to make sure I got a larger view!    

Apparently users can now import emojis, if that floats your boat - wonder if that will work from phones/tablets.


----------



## snowbear

I think I have a couple around here, somewhere.



Sleepy by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr



DSC_3372.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr



cmw3_d750_DSC_2692.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr



EMS Off Duty by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr



cmw3_d750_DSC_3204-Pano.jpg by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Interesting.   I've stayed on the laptop since this morning, just to make sure I got a larger view!
> 
> Apparently users can now import emojis, if that floats your boat - wonder if that will work from phones/tablets.


I'll give it look, tonight.
I am missing the other (red) skin.


----------



## Jeff15

Where have all my posts gone for the last 30 days..............


----------



## terri

Jeff15 said:


> Where have all my posts gone for the last 30 days..............


All posts from the last couple of weeks are gone due to the site being hacked.   The TPF techs/owners had to go back to a clean version of the site before being able to upgrade to the latest version of xenForo.


----------



## snowbear

Jeff15 said:


> Where have all my posts gone for the last 30 days..............


Into the ether,




__





						ThePhotoForum.com Outage and Update/Lost Data
					

As some of you may have noticed the site has been upgraded to the latest software and we are also running on newer (faster) hardware. The biggest thing you may have noticed is that the past couple weeks of forum posts/threads/media has disappeared.   An old administrator account that was no...



					www.thephotoforum.com


----------



## snowbear

The site looks pretty good in Safari on iPad Air.  I notice the Adjust Width is gone, but that’s fine.

Hmmm . . . Most Reactions?  Looks like another Leaderboard challenge.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Interesting.   I've stayed on the laptop since this morning, just to make sure I got a larger view!
> 
> Apparently users can now import emojis, if that floats your boat - wonder if that will work from phones/tablets.


I can use emojis from my android devices🤪🤢🤠👍but won't accept gifs


----------



## terri

Uploading this from my android phone.   @limr mentioned being able to resize, but I'm not seeing anything.    Hmm...

Regardless, this is right outside my front door, up on a ledge.   My precious barn swallows.   Had to wait for mama bird to go eat.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> On Android there's no lineup, just like.
> 
> Yup you know my feelings on that button. I won't be sorry it's gone.


Try holding your finger/stylus on the icon; that gives pop up with other emi
ojies in IOS.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> View attachment 244078
> 
> Uploading this from my android phone.   @limr mentioned being able to resize, but I'm not seeing anything.    Hmm...
> 
> Regardless, this is right outside my front door, up on a ledge.   My precious barn swallows.   Had to wait for mama bird to go eat.



I just checked and I don't see it on my phone.

On the computer, after the picture is uploaded, I click on the picture and that's when you'll see the squares at the corners that will allow you to drag and resize:






I see those when uploading on a phone, but then they disappear before being able to resize, and nothing I've tried brings them back. So it seems to be a feature that is not available on the mobile version.


----------



## dxqcanada

I take back anything that I have written in the past two weeks


----------



## Fujidave

Raining here as the last few days have been plain yucky


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all 
I miss the larger txt box but there you go I will stretch the image to read the text
Sorry to hear the site was hacked, some people has no respect


----------



## smoke665

I haven't figured out why all day this keeps popping up my TPF Page.....I swear I haven't been within 700 miles of the woman in years!!!!!


----------



## terri

We have babies now!   This is a sneaky through the window pic, trying not to scare them.





We lay down the extra tile to catch all the debris mama bird tosses out.   They're messy little buggers.    But it's always nice to see the eggshells start getting heaved over the edge.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Smoke you aren't going to end up in the tabloids are you?!! lol

Hi FujiDave! gonna get rain here later in the week too, blue skies only last so long around here!

Good grief, look at the people on that old thread that aren't on here anymore! Which reminds me, I keep meaning to ask what happened with John (Tirediron)?? Can tell if I get on late night that he isn't on clearing out the keto spammers etc. (I know they get booted eventually, it was just that he was west coast and cleared 'em out).


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Smoke you aren't going to end up in the tabloids are you?!! lol
> 
> Hi FujiDave! gonna get rain here later in the week too, blue skies only last so long around here!
> 
> Good grief, look at the people on that old thread that aren't on here anymore! Which reminds me, I keep meaning to ask what happened with John (Tirediron)?? Can tell if I get on late night that he isn't on clearing out the keto spammers etc. (I know they get booted eventually, it was just that he was west coast and cleared 'em out).


How have you been?  I believe @tirediron has been lurking around.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh, well if he is - hi John! 

Doing OK but dealing with changes in the retirement community where my mom lives. She's been in an apt. and during the pandemic were delivering meals to rooms etc.; now going to the dining room and her back hurts and balance isn't the greatest to juggle a tray, etc. So she moved to assisted living, and getting therapy which I think will make her feel better - but they call every little step of the way. So hopefully she'll get settled in. 

I'm taking another class, same instructor and this time choosing a painting to study, learn some color theory, and do goldwork/needlework to interpret it. You can put into it as much as you want; some of this I remember from taking art in school but some, not so much! I've got homework!! but no tests, no grades!


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> from taking art in school but some, not so much! I've got homework!! but no tests, no grades!



I've thought several times of auditing some classes at the local junior college as a refresher, but just not sure about committing the time for a whole semester.


----------



## jowensphoto

Hi old friends!


----------



## snowbear

jowensphoto said:


> Hi old friends!


HEY!  How have you been?


----------



## terri

Hi!   Great to see you posting!

Upgraded TPF software is the latest news, so take a look around.   It's actually pretty good!


----------



## SquarePeg

Hey Hosers!  I'm back from OBX and have thousands of photos to edit.  Meanwhile I'm getting a new job (same company) and expect to be super crazy busy for most of the rest of this month with that and with Princess graduating/prom etc.  I will definitely check in on the new stuff as often as I can.  Hope everyone is well.


----------



## smoke665

Something to chuckle about. Yesterday at the grocery store we turned down an aisle and  encountered a crowd of people and buggies. As I stood there trying to decide if I should back up, an attactive woman directly in front of my buggy looked at me, nodded and stepped forward giving me room to slip beside her. Just as I got even with her she suddenly steps against me. When I pushed forward to get out of her way, she throws her arms around me.😲 So much for social distancing, and hello...my wife is right behind me!  Fortunately before I moved again we were able to determine that a strap on her purse was firmly lodged in a loose wire on my buggy. Once she was dislodged, we were all able to share a slightly embarssed laugh, and DW decided I wasn't qualified to  drive the buggy anymore.😁


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Something to chuckle about. Yesterday at the grocery store we turned down an aisle and  encountered a crowd of people and buggies. As I stood there trying to decide if I should back up, an attactive woman directly in front of my buggy looked at me, nodded and stepped forward giving me room to slip beside her. Just as I got even with her she suddenly steps against me. When I pushed forward to get out of her way, she throws her arms around me.😲 So much for social distancing, and hello...my wife is right behind me!  Fortunately before I moved again we were able to determine that a strap on her purse was firmly lodged in a loose wire on my buggy. Once she was dislodged, we were all able to share a slightly embarssed laugh, and DW decided I wasn't qualified to  drive the buggy anymore.😁


And just how long did it take you to perfect that little trick?😂


----------



## smoke665

Dean_Gretsch said:


> And just how long did it take you to perfect that little trick?


Lol. I have the buggy in question marked for future trips.😉


----------



## Original katomi

Dodged a slap there Smoke


----------



## Original katomi

Hi everyone,  just popped in to say hi all


----------



## terri

Hey O-kat!    Hope all is going all right on your side of the pond.   

Beautiful day in the US southeast, hosers.   Getting ready for the heat wave that is expected next week - gonna be around for 4 or 5 days, eww.    At least it's expected to move on quietly, and the nighttime temps will stay cool.   Too early to be worrying about my tomatoes and herbs getting cooked!

@SquarePeg: congrats on the new gig!!   Sounds like a hectic couple of weeks you suddenly have, but it all seems positive.   I hope Princess really enjoys her prom and, more importantly, her graduation.   Have fun!!


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Hey Hosers!  I'm back from OBX and have thousands of photos to edit.  Meanwhile I'm getting a new job (same company) and expect to be super crazy busy for most of the rest of this month with that and with Princess graduating/prom etc.  I will definitely check in on the new stuff as often as I can.  Hope everyone is well.


Glad the trip was worthwhile.  Congrat's on the new challenges.



smoke665 said:


> Something to chuckle about. Yesterday at the grocery store we turned down an aisle and  encountered a crowd of people and buggies. As I stood there trying to decide if I should back up, an attactive woman directly in front of my buggy looked at me, nodded and stepped forward giving me room to slip beside her. Just as I got even with her she suddenly steps against me. When I pushed forward to get out of her way, she throws her arms around me.😲 So much for social distancing, and hello...my wife is right behind me!  Fortunately before I moved again we were able to determine that a strap on her purse was firmly lodged in a loose wire on my buggy. Once she was dislodged, we were all able to share a slightly embarssed laugh, and DW decided I wasn't qualified to  drive the buggy anymore.😁


Reminds me of watching Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" video; MLW asks "You're watching that _again? _She'd hurt you._" _ Without hesitation or looking away I told her "she'd kill me, but what a way to go."


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Hey Hosers!  I'm back from OBX and have thousands of photos to edit.  Meanwhile I'm getting a new job (same company) and expect to be super crazy busy for most of the rest of this month with that and with Princess graduating/prom etc.  I will definitely check in on the new stuff as often as I can.  Hope everyone is well.


Congrats on the new job and congrats to Princess graduating.  Busy time of the year for seniors!


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Hey Hosers!  I'm back from OBX and have thousands of photos to edit.  Meanwhile I'm getting a new job (same company) and expect to be super crazy busy for most of the rest of this month with that and with Princess graduating/prom etc.  I will definitely check in on the new stuff as often as I can.  Hope everyone is well.



Welcome back! Buzz and I just got back from Maine. I don't have thousands of photos to edit, but there's still more than I have had in a while.  Good luck with the new job!




Original katomi said:


> Hi everyone,  just popped in to say hi all



Hey, how've you been doing?


----------



## vintagesnaps

I must've missed something, trying to figure out OBX and I got nuthin'! Congrats on the new job and it sounds like a fun time of year for Princess.

I assume a 'buggy' is a grocery cart... I was starting to imagine Smoke in a traffic jam of baby strollers in the grocery store..... 

It's that time of year, NHL playoffs (finally) and the Worlds (finally). (World IIHF international hockey that is.) Across the many channels of NBC, and the MLB can have my Center Ice channels now.


----------



## smoke665

vintagesnaps said:


> I assume a 'buggy' is a grocery cart... I was starting to imagine Smoke in a traffic jam of baby strollers in the grocery store.....



Yup it's what we call them in the south, though Wal-Mart buggies are more like torture devices for shoppers. I swear they order them from the factory with one flat wheel and one wheel wrapped with junk. That way as you push them through the store they bump, rattle and pull to one side.


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> I must've missed something, trying to figure out OBX and I got nuthin'! Congrats on the new job and it sounds like a fun time of year for Princess.
> 
> I assume a 'buggy' is a grocery cart... I was starting to imagine Smoke in a traffic jam of baby strollers in the grocery store.....
> 
> It's that time of year, NHL playoffs (finally) and the Worlds (finally). (World IIHF international hockey that is.) Across the many channels of NBC, and the MLB can have my Center Ice channels now.


OBX is the Outer Banks in North Carolina


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh! well that I've heard of. And wasn't Princess just in middle school, like, last year?? or maybe yesterday, doesn't it seem like it? I didn't realize she was graduating already, good grief.


----------



## smoke665

So what's on the menu????? Everyone got their favorite Cicada recipes ready to go. For those who indulge, here's some information on wine pairings.


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Oh! well that I've heard of. And wasn't Princess just in middle school, like, last year?? or maybe yesterday, doesn't it seem like it? I didn't realize she was graduating already, good grief.


I feel the same.  She was just playing with her stuffed animals and holding my hand to cross the street.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> So what's on the menu????? Everyone got their favorite Cicada recipes ready to go. For those who indulge, here's some information on wine pairings.


----------



## smoke665

@terri supposedly they can be used in place of shrimp in a recipe. Maybe a little stir fry with rice and Sake? Lots of Sake to get you in the mood, lots to wash it down with, and lots to finish with?


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> @terri supposedly they can be used in place of shrimp in a recipe. Maybe a little stir fry with rice and Sake? Lots of Sake to get you in the mood, lots to wash it down with, and lots to finish with?


It would take a lot more than sake to get me past that particular crunch.   And it's illegal in these parts.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> And it's illegal in these parts.



Sake or eating Cicada???? LOL I haven't decided yet, supposedly the texture is like shrimp. Tried Roasted Meal Worms with Smoky BBQ flavor once, wasn't that bad. As I remember, alcohol was involved then as well.


----------



## snowbear

Um, cicada's are fish food, not people food.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Um, cicada's are fish food, not people food.


Might want to check out that video I posted. He's from the University of Maryland


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Might want to check out that video I posted. He's from the University of Maryland


They have their fair share of nuts; one of the reasons the campus has a bunch of squirrels.


----------



## Rickbb

Only bug I’ve knowingly eaten was at the bottom of a bottle of cheap tequila. It didn’t end well.


----------



## snowbear

Back when I was about 12, I had a grasshopper.  Those bas****s kick.


----------



## RowdyRay

Geez, I leave for a week of fishing, and somebody failed to hold the fort down. Very confusing from the phone. Figure it out when I get home on Sunday.

It's been quite the adventure this year. Caught a lot of fish but, the equipment took a beating. Nothing that money can't fix. Lots of stories to retell.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, least ways I think it is. Body is moving but the brain is still sleeping. After listening to a pod cast on storage of photos and that hdd’s have about 3 year life I decided to back up my 2008 and on drives. By the drag and drop method... poor pc is still chugging away now.
Just ordered a new 6Tb desk top drive, I will have to go in and to a cull on the current back up drives..... remove some of the dozens of saved as versions of a project. You know the ***. 1a,1b,2z...
Given that some of these are 3Gb tiff files, I should free up a lot of space. On the down side, some of my 11 year old SD cards are starting to fail. I can still read images off, save to the card. But can not delete or format ... seems the card has gone into a SAFE mode
Which is good gives me warning all is not well.
Hope you are all well and get chance to get out with the camera.
Be phone, film or digital


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Morning all, least ways I think it is. Body is moving but the brain is still sleeping. After listening to a pod cast on storage of photos and that hdd’s have about 3 year life I decided to back up my 2008 and on drives. By the drag and drop method... poor pc is still chugging away now.
> Just ordered a new 6Tb desk top drive, I will have to go in and to a cull on the current back up drives..... remove some of the dozens of saved as versions of a project. You know the ***. 1a,1b,2z...
> Given that some of these are 3Gb tiff files, I should free up a lot of space. On the down side, some of my 11 year old SD cards are starting to fail. I can still read images off, save to the card. But can not delete or format ... seems the card has gone into a SAFE mode
> Which is good gives me warning all is not well.
> Hope you are all well and get chance to get out with the camera.
> Be phone, film or digital


I need a new back up drive. Let me know what you end up getting.  Save me some research.


----------



## Rickbb

I like Western Digital USB drives for backups. I have 3 or 4 multiple terabyte models that have taken a beating and keep running no issues. Thay have outlasted several PCs.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> View attachment 244386


Looks like DC-Baltimore traffic, except most of our bridges aren't as fancy.



SquarePeg said:


> I need a new back up drive. Let me know what you end up getting.  Save me some research.


I've got a WD My Book, 4TB.  I think it was about $150 at Best Buy a few years ago; probably about $100, now.


----------



## snowbear

Thinking about a print:16x20.




cmw3_d750_1673.jpg by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## Original katomi

FAO
Square Peg
I have just ordered another of these to replace my multi 1/2 Tb and 1Tb drives


----------



## snowbear

In the grass behind the apartment.  Life status, unknown.




Luna Moth by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## Original katomi

Looks like one of the life forms from the film The Abyss


----------



## ac12

SquarePeg said:


> I need a new back up drive. Let me know what you end up getting.  Save me some research.



Two basic options
#1, the 3.5inch drives.  Larger size and larger capacity, needs AC power.
#2, the 2.5inch drives.  Smaller (you can store more drives in the same space), gets its power from the USB connection.

I get mine at Costco.  Seagate, 2.5 inch.  I think 4TB.  

I use 2.5 inch drives, simply because I can store more of them in my safe deposit box.  Most safe deposit boxes are NOT big, and a 3.5 inch drive takes up a LOT of space, and may not even fit into the small boxes.

I get the largest capacity 2.5 inch drive that they have.
When the capacity increases, like from 1TB to 4TB, I get the larger one for backup, and use the smaller one for something else.  Usually at that point I have accumulated more pic files, so I need the larger capacity anyway.

Whatever you get, don't get just one.
Get two or three (ABC), and rotate through them.  

*Backup strategy is a different but related matter.*

When?
- When you download the card to the computer, also to the local backup.
- Once a month or quarter, do a full backup that you rotate out of the house.
- When you do a major gig.

Rotation:
I keep the most recent backup in the house, in case I delete a file and need fast recovery.
Next two older go out of the house, into the safe deposit box.

Backup A1 - You can have a local backup, that does not rotate.  This can be the larger 3.5 inch drives.
Backup A2 - Rotating backup, but you keep it at home for a cycle.
The purpose of the A backup at home, is to have fast access to the backup files.

Backup B - Out of the house.

Backup C - Out of the house.

When you rotate, send one outside your home, relative/friend/safe deposit box.  That way you don't loose EVERYTHING if something happens to the house; theft, fire, flood, etc.  
If you live in a flood plain, the out of the house backup, should be in a location that is OUT of the flood plain, if at all possible.  You don't want to lose both the primary and secondary backups.


----------



## snowbear

About two hours to go until MLW is released from her surgery, then I get to play in metro DC traffic.  Until then I have this wonderful view.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> In the grass behind the apartment.  Life status, unknown.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Luna Moth by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr



A luna moth!    They are gorgeous.   I've only seen a few of them.   Apparently they don't live long once they've reached this stage.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> About two hours to go until MLW is released from her surgery, then I get to play in metro DC traffic.  Until then I have this wonderful view.View attachment 244544


Ewww.    Hopefully she's out soon and you'll be battling traffic without incident!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> About two hours to go until MLW is released from her surgery, then I get to play in metro DC traffic.  Until then I have this wonderful view.View attachment 244544



No fun  Hope all goes smoothly with the surgery!


----------



## Original katomi

Snow Bear
Hope all is well or has gone well. This darn I pad wants to keep changing the spelling. 
I am here off and on at the moment.
I am shuttling between home and mums place,  helping her sort out dad’s estate and all the paperwork that goes with it and still sorting our my Mrs estate, as well as deal with the after effects of having the bed room flooded from flat above.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, hosers.  She is doing well but is not able to lift anything heavier than a cup of coffee.  I'm helping her any way I can (as usual).


----------



## terri

Hope she has a smooth recovery, Bear.   Strength will return eventually. 

To all the USA hosers: Happy Memorial Day!   A thank you to all our service members, past and present.    🇺🇸


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> Thanks, hosers.  She is doing well but is not able to lift anything heavier than a cup of coffee.  I'm helping her any way I can (as usual).


Hope she gets her strength back soon!


----------



## SquarePeg

Get well soon to YLW! I’m sure you’re taking excellent care of her.


----------



## snowbear

The feeling in her arm is coming back a bit more each day.  She plans on going back to work in September


----------



## snowbear

I apparently have "trigger finger" from overuse of the mouse.  If I bend the index finger, it is very hard to straighten back out (and somewhat painful).  I've splinted it until the Doc can see me.  So far, it's working just fine.

Unfortunately, I didn't have any of those cushioned aluminum splint things, so I had to improvise.  I am learning to use the twi midde fingers to control the mouse buttons.


----------



## Rickbb

Have that in both middle fingers. Only real fix is surgery. Had it done on the worst one. Wasn’t too bad, out patient in the office.


----------



## Fujidave

Sunny and hot here today.


----------



## ac12

snowbear said:


> I apparently have "trigger finger" from overuse of the mouse.  If I bend the index finger, it is very hard to straighten back out (and somewhat painful).  I've splinted it until the Doc can see me.  So far, it's working just fine.
> 
> Unfortunately, I didn't have any of those cushioned aluminum splint things, so I had to improvise.  I am learning to use the twi midde fingers to control the mouse buttons.
> 
> View attachment 244759View attachment 244760



Unfortunately, that is all to common with HEAVY use of the computer.

In the early days, it was "Mac elbow" from overuse of the mouse.

I switched to a Logitech trackball, so I use my thumb, instead of my index finger.  
But then I overuse my index and middle finger turning the ball.
I really should do as my doc told me, LAY OFF THE COMPUTER for a while, and let your muscles rest and recover.

Ice to bring down the swelling, then heat to relax the muscles.

BTW, the other reason I use a Logitech trackball is, it is symetric, so I can use my left hand.
It takes a LOT of practice/training to get the left hand working, but it really reduces the workload on the right hand.
In the office it was funny.  When I reconfigure for left hand, if anyone tries to use my computer, they went nuts.  They don't know how to use a left-hand trackball.


----------



## snowbear

Easier said than done; half of the job is mouse work; I also didn't realize how much I use that right index (picking up things, writing, drawing, painting, camera shutter button ...).  It will get better.
I also use a trackball (but the ball is on the left side) - thumb on the ball, index and middle fingers on the buttons; I've shifted the fingers so I'm now using the middle and ring for buttons.


----------



## ac12

I think I had that trackball, but changed to a symetric one that I could use left-handed.

Try this one.  It is symetric, so easier to use left-handed.


			https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Trackman-Marble-Four-Button-Programmable/dp/B001F42MKG/ref=asc_df_B001F42MKG?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80195681205795&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583795260638133&psc=1
		


Shutter button, tell me about that one.
As a sports photographer, I shoot so much that I often use my middle finger on the shutter button, to rest my index finger when it starts to cramp/hurt.


----------



## Rickbb

Mine were damaged from hand tools, even though the past 20+ years my day job has been computer work. My hobbies and the fact I like doing all my own carpenter, auto mech work, etc.


----------



## pixmedic

wrecked my car. lady pulled out right in front of me trying to make an illegal turn. 
totaled the car.  going to miss my shift tomorrow. hopefully won't miss any work past that. 
hitting another car, then the sidewalk, then a fire hydrant isn't much fun, especially when you have to pull yourself out through a window opposite you. 
hurt like hell. 
Medic in me kicked in though and I got the other driver out of their car before I even realized what was hurting on me. 
EMS arrived in the middle of me doing a trauma assessment and took over.  It's weird being on the other end of the accident.


----------



## SquarePeg

pixmedic said:


> wrecked my car. lady pulled out right in front of me trying to make an illegal turn.
> totaled the car.  going to miss my shift tomorrow. hopefully won't miss any work past that.
> hitting another car, then the sidewalk, then a fire hydrant isn't much fun, especially when you have to pull yourself out through a window opposite you.
> hurt like hell.
> Medic in me kicked in though and I got the other driver out of their car before I even realized what was hurting on me.
> EMS arrived in the middle of me doing a trauma assessment and took over.  It's weird being on the other end of the accident.


Yikes!  Glad you are ok!  You'll be sore tomorrow.


----------



## SquarePeg

ac12 said:


> Unfortunately, that is all to common with HEAVY use of the computer.
> 
> In the early days, it was "Mac elbow" from overuse of the mouse.
> 
> I switched to a Logitech trackball, so I use my thumb, instead of my index finger.
> But then I overuse my index and middle finger turning the ball.
> I really should do as my doc told me, LAY OFF THE COMPUTER for a while, and let your muscles rest and recover.
> 
> Ice to bring down the swelling, then heat to relax the muscles.
> 
> BTW, the other reason I use a Logitech trackball is, it is symetric, so I can use my left hand.
> It takes a LOT of practice/training to get the left hand working, but it really reduces the workload on the right hand.
> In the office it was funny.  When I reconfigure for left hand, if anyone tries to use my computer, they went nuts.  They don't know how to use a left-hand trackball.



I was doing some research on how to keep my brain in shape after my uncle was diagnosed with dementia.  One of the recommendations is to do small/easy tasks with your non dominant hand.  This forces your brain to work out.  

For the record - some of the other things you can do to keep your brain young:

dance!  random dancing, where you have to make up your moves as you go along is a good brain workout

any exercise that gets your heart rate going will help blood flow to your brain

watch a funny movie - laughter stimulates the brain


What is the worst thing you can do to your body and your brain?  Stress.  Chronic stress is deadly.  Take care of yourselves!  PSA over.


----------



## SquarePeg

Prom!  Or as we old folks refer to it..."the Prom".  Princess is on the far left in the light green.



Prom by SharonCat..., on Flickr


----------



## limr

pixmedic said:


> wrecked my car. lady pulled out right in front of me trying to make an illegal turn.
> totaled the car.  going to miss my shift tomorrow. hopefully won't miss any work past that.
> hitting another car, then the sidewalk, then a fire hydrant isn't much fun, especially when you have to pull yourself out through a window opposite you.
> hurt like hell.
> Medic in me kicked in though and I got the other driver out of their car before I even realized what was hurting on me.
> EMS arrived in the middle of me doing a trauma assessment and took over.  It's weird being on the other end of the accident.



Damn, glad you're all right! Sorry about the car. I've had a car totaled and it sucks. Granted, it was an older car and not worth much so it didn't take a bad accident to total it, but it still sucks.

Funny story about that. It was in grad school in Pittsburgh and I was ironically on my way to the chiropractor's office. The other woman hit me and it was totally her fault, but her insurance company was fighting it. I got money for the car but not my deductible for as long as the dispute was still active. I totally forgot about it after a while. About 3 years later, I got a letter from the insurance company saying they won the dispute and I could claim my $250 deductible. I was glad but was already living in another state and getting ready to move overseas. I forgot about it again.

Maybe 4 years ago, I randomly saw something about websites that checked if you had unclaimed funds lying around somewhere. I was curious so I looked it up. I found nothing, but then remembered that this all happened in Pennsylvania, so I checked their website and lo and behold! There was $250 in my name, just waiting to be claimed.

And so 20 years after the accident, I finally got my deductible back


----------



## terri

pixmedic said:


> wrecked my car. lady pulled out right in front of me trying to make an illegal turn.
> totaled the car.  going to miss my shift tomorrow. hopefully won't miss any work past that.
> hitting another car, then the sidewalk, then a fire hydrant isn't much fun, especially when you have to pull yourself out through a window opposite you.
> hurt like hell.
> Medic in me kicked in though and I got the other driver out of their car before I even realized what was hurting on me.
> EMS arrived in the middle of me doing a trauma assessment and took over.  It's weird being on the other end of the accident.


Well, that sucks to hear - glad you're okay.   Kinda funny about the medic in you kicking in and taking over the situation, but that's how you're trained, right?    

I hope the medics were good to you!   Take it easy now.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Prom! Or as we old folks refer to it..."the Prom"


Yeah, what's up with that, anyway?    PROM.   Not, "I'm going to THE prom."    I don't like it - kinda like using the word "jail," isn't it?   One doesn't say, "Going to THE jail."    

A campaign should be started to re-insert the THE.    

Regardless, Princess looks beautiful!   Gorgeous dress.


----------



## ac12

SquarePeg said:


> Prom!  Or as we old folks refer to it..."the Prom".  Princess is on the far left in the light green.
> 
> 
> 
> Prom by SharonCat..., on Flickr



Glad your daughter got her prom.

Last year, my high school shut down before the prom, so no prom.
This year, with loosened restrictions, they had a "Senior Gala," instead of a prom.  But that was seniors only, no guests, and outside in the school courtyard.  Not the same, but it was something.


----------



## SquarePeg

ac12 said:


> Glad your daughter got her prom.
> 
> Last year, my high school shut down before the prom, so no prom.
> This year, with loosened restrictions, they had a "Senior Gala," instead of a prom.  But that was seniors only, no guests, and outside in the school courtyard.  Not the same, but it was something.


Similar for her school.  No outside guests, not even from the junior class so a lot of the kids went stag.   Instead of the country club it was held on the football field under a tent.  It was different that’s for sure.  But better than no prom at all.  They had good weather and thankfully no mask required!  Graduation is tomorrow night!  Fingers crossed for more good weather.


----------



## pixmedic

terri said:


> Well, that sucks to hear - glad you're okay.   Kinda funny about the medic in you kicking in and taking over the situation, but that's how you're trained, right?
> 
> I hope the medics were good to you!   Take it easy now.


  The local EMS crew was good.  I basically just told them I would sign a refusal and go.


----------



## snowbear

Pix: sorry to hear the wheels are shot, but glad you’re OK.
Leonore: Maryland’s comptroller publishes a list like that every year.
Sharon: Glad Princess got Prom and I agree with Terri - very pretty young lady and very pretty dress (though it looks light blue on the pad).


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sorry to hear about the accident PixMedic and glad it wasn't worse. (I agree Terri, the training just kicks in, I've had that working with kids, just do whatever and think about it later). 

Princess does look lovely. And it's - 'the' prom, what, are we in England?? (Like they say, 'hospital', not 'the ___'). Way to go Leo, nothing like taking your good ol' time! lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

And not that there's a good time to say this, and I don't think I did yet, but my mom passed away recently. Rather sudden, even though she was getting up there in years and had moved from independent to assisted living. Mostly she was getting more unsteady and had started therapy for that and her hip/back hurting, etc. 

I suppose it's better than a health situation that drags on. She got sick to her stomach and there was a little blood so the Dr. there ordered lab work. Later they called that she went to the hospital and was admitted for observation. They expected she'd be released the next day and I got a call early morning. Our family Dr. said it was probably a blockage due to plaque in the arteries, which is consistent with other symptoms before. 

She'd said to me recently 'I'm 89!!' I was like, yeah, I know! like what are ya telling me for?! lol So we'd had a good laugh about that.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> And not that there's a good time to say this, and I don't think I did yet, but my mom passed away recently. Rather sudden, even though she was getting up there in years and had moved from independent to assisted living. Mostly she was getting more unsteady and had started therapy for that and her hip/back hurting, etc.
> 
> I suppose it's better than a health situation that drags on. She got sick to her stomach and there was a little blood so the Dr. there ordered lab work. Later they called that she went to the hospital and was admitted for observation. They expected she'd be released the next day and I got a call early morning. Our family Dr. said it was probably a blockage due to plaque in the arteries, which is consistent with other symptoms before.
> 
> She'd said to me recently 'I'm 89!!' I was like, yeah, I know! like what are ya telling me for?! lol So we'd had a good laugh about that.



I'm so sorry, Sharon


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> And not that there's a good time to say this, and I don't think I did yet, but my mom passed away recently. Rather sudden, even though she was getting up there in years and had moved from independent to assisted living. Mostly she was getting more unsteady and had started therapy for that and her hip/back hurting, etc.
> 
> I suppose it's better than a health situation that drags on. She got sick to her stomach and there was a little blood so the Dr. there ordered lab work. Later they called that she went to the hospital and was admitted for observation. They expected she'd be released the next day and I got a call early morning. Our family Dr. said it was probably a blockage due to plaque in the arteries, which is consistent with other symptoms before.
> 
> She'd said to me recently 'I'm 89!!' I was like, yeah, I know! like what are ya telling me for?! lol So we'd had a good laugh about that.


So very sorry Sharon.


----------



## snowbear

Sorry Sharon.


----------



## Original katomi

Sorry to hear the news, Sharon.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

@vintagesnaps My condolences to you.
@pixmedic Take care of yourself, man. You can replace the car, but you, well, you know...
@snowbear Hope your hand gets better quickly and your wife bounces back better than ever!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Thanks everybody, I've been worn out. Doing a workshop online on quilt surface embellishment this weekend, should be interesting and it probably helps to be busy.


----------



## xbambam

> And not that there's a good time to say this, and I don't think I did yet, but my mom passed away recently. Rather sudden, even though she was getting up there in years and had moved from independent to assisted living. Mostly she was getting more unsteady and had started therapy for that and her hip/back hurting, etc.
> 
> I suppose it's better than a health situation that drags on. She got sick to her stomach and there was a little blood so the Dr. there ordered lab work. Later they called that she went to the hospital and was admitted for observation. They expected she'd be released the next day and I got a call early morning. Our family Dr. said it was probably a blockage due to plaque in the arteries, which is consistent with other symptoms before.
> 
> She'd said to me recently 'I'm 89!!' I was like, yeah, I know! like what are ya telling me for?! lol So we'd had a good laugh about that.


Sorry for your loss..


----------



## smoke665

@vintagesnaps  so sorry for your loss. Both my parents and grandparents have been gone many years now, and while the sense of loss remains,  the memories of their lives remains strong, so it will with you.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all just something to brighten your day


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> And not that there's a good time to say this, and I don't think I did yet, but my mom passed away recently. Rather sudden, even though she was getting up there in years and had moved from independent to assisted living. Mostly she was getting more unsteady and had started therapy for that and her hip/back hurting, etc.
> 
> I suppose it's better than a health situation that drags on. She got sick to her stomach and there was a little blood so the Dr. there ordered lab work. Later they called that she went to the hospital and was admitted for observation. They expected she'd be released the next day and I got a call early morning. Our family Dr. said it was probably a blockage due to plaque in the arteries, which is consistent with other symptoms before.
> 
> She'd said to me recently 'I'm 89!!' I was like, yeah, I know! like what are ya telling me for?! lol So we'd had a good laugh about that.


My condolences, Sharon.     It does seem unexpected, since the way you talked about her, she was quite in charge of her faculties.    Very sorry for your family's loss.


----------



## Fujidave

Nice sunny day here today.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all. It’s silly o clock here 
Off to the funeral at 2 pm today should really try and sleep.
Watched a prog on tv 
Like master chef but for photography.. brill prog, found myself CC the images and deciding how I would do the challange/task
I did get some good ideas from it, and soon as can be arranged I am going to be brave and face my nemeses and do a studio style portrait shop ..yes with a human lol.....
Will post images if ok if not will post sad face.....if my G kids show me how...


----------



## Fujidave

Another warm and sunny day here today.


----------



## CherylL

@vintagesnaps, Sharon so very sorry on your Mother's passing.  Hugs


----------



## Fujidave

Grey day here today.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hi All.  It is nice here today.  70's and clear.  A welcome break from the crushing heat and humidity of the past few days.  The weekend is looking cloudy and possibly rainy so we are moving our milky way chasing to tonight.  Staying out all night is not my favorite thing to do on a work night but it must be done!  Heading to the Cape which I prefer to NH for milky way because... no bears!


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all grey day here today became nice late evening
Had a bright sunny day yesterday and as these thing go yesterday went well.
We paid for the limo to take us to the cremation and all the staff were brill.
And today the builders finished the repairs and the re Dec of my bedroom can stop camping in my lounge now lol
Maybe even get time to do some photography


----------



## vintagesnaps

Thanks everyone. Now it's been going thru what was in the desk, paperwork... did she ever keep everything, and lots of notes on little note pads, but I'm finding what I need. Just takes time. 

Need to finish up an online embroidery class that ends next week, then I'm not starting anything else for awhile! Whew, I need a breather.


----------



## ac12

Just don't do what happened to my brother and  sister.
I sorted my mother's papers, and made stacks for each of them, and LABELED the stacks.
And I told them to come get their papers.
Then someone threw out all the papers, as trash, ignoring the label.   
Now those irreplaceable document are "gone." 😭


----------



## terri

I'm ready for the weather patterns to change here in the SE US!   Heavy humidity, overcast, off and on showers, and did I mention humidity?   This is more like late July-August.   Disgusting!   I've been run indoors shortly after tending to the herbs and tomatoes for the past several days now.   I'd planned more shooting with one of my old box cameras, but it's just out of the question.    Ugh!!! Temperatures are moderate, but I'd rather go with higher temps and drier air. Slightly higher, anyway!


----------



## SquarePeg

Chased the Milky Way into the blue hour then saw what looked to be an amazing sunrise developing so chased that too.  Some successes and some flops.  It was a looong night.  Left here last night at 7:30pm and arrived  home at 6:30am.  got a short nap before work.  Going to sleep like a baby tonight if I make it that far!


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

First day of AP essay scoring on the books. Eight hours and 36 essays done. Half of my time today was training and waiting for the site to start working again, and one meeting with my reading group for this year. Gonna try to see if I can do at least 100 tomorrow. Can't remember what my daily personal best was from last year.

Plethora count so far: 0


----------



## Mike Drone

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> First day of AP essay scoring on the books. Eight hours and 36 essays done. Half of my time today was training and waiting for the site to start working again, and one meeting with my reading group for this year. Gonna try to see if I can do at least 100 tomorrow. Can't remember what my daily personal best was from last year.
> 
> Plethora count so far: 0


I was not able to teach summer school because of facilities.  I will be sitting here until school starts August 18th.  I do not know what to do with myself.  I will be putting your recipe of pão de ló to a lot of use.  =]


----------



## ac12

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> First day of AP essay scoring on the books. Eight hours and 36 essays done. Half of my time today was training and waiting for the site to start working again, and one meeting with my reading group for this year. Gonna try to see if I can do at least 100 tomorrow. Can't remember what my daily personal best was from last year.
> 
> Plethora count so far: 0



My eyes would cross at that volume.
When I graded written exams, I was looking for phrases that told me the student understood the problem, and had the answer.  I did not READ everything.  Half of what some of the student wrote was just "filler/padding," taking up space and saying nothing.  And this was short stuff, a page or less.  The long stuff took longer and harder to grade.

Funny thing is, when I was grading, I recognized what I used to do myself.  oops


----------



## limr

Mike Drone said:


> I was not able to teach summer school because of facilities.  I will be sitting here until school starts August 18th.  I do not know what to do with myself.  I will be putting your recipe of pão de ló to a lot of use.  =]



Mmmm, pão de ló.



ac12 said:


> My eyes would cross at that volume.
> When I graded written exams, I was looking for phrases that told me the student understood the problem, and had the answer.  I did not READ everything.  Half of what some of the student wrote was just "filler/padding," taking up space and saying nothing.  And this was short stuff, a page or less.  The long stuff took longer and harder to grade.
> 
> Funny thing is, when I was grading, I recognized what I used to do myself.  oops



Oh, my eyes are definitely going to be crossed. But thankfully, this is simple scoring and not grading. No comments required! Just read and give numerical scores. I'd never be able to grade that many in one day if I had to read more carefully and write comments about the score. And since these are timed essays, none of them are very long.

Still gonna be cross-eyed.


----------



## terri

Mike Drone said:


> I was not able to teach summer school because of facilities.  I will be sitting here until school starts August 18th.  I do not know what to do with myself.  I will be putting your recipe of pão de ló to a lot of use.  =]


Well, hi there, stranger!   Been a hot minute since you've poked your head in here.    We might have to dig up the cooking thread so you can show us how the pão de ló turns out.


----------



## limr

About 4 hours into reading today. Going for a total of 9 hours for the day. I have done 64 of my goal of 100 for the day, so I'm clearly going to need to up my target.


----------



## limr

Finally, my first 'plethora'!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leo maybe after grading go out and take some pictures and see if you can get some cool double exposures. Or if you accidently do you won't know the difference! 

And... do you get something called Classic Showcase on any of your PBS channels? I put it on sometimes as background music and they showed a clip of the zither music from 'The Third Man' being performed; kind of cool to see from an early TV program. It was from The Firestone Collection, there seem to be a number of those.


----------



## limr

Second plethora!


----------



## limr

Happy Sunday, hosers! 

Did 9 hours yesterday. Been at it for about an hour so far this morning. I'm starting my 221st essay for the weekend.


----------



## SquarePeg

Thought you were going to say starting your 221st cup of coffee...


----------



## RowdyRay

Been extremely hot. High 90's for over a week. 101 on Thursday. Woke up Saturday morning to 67 degrees! Grabbed my gear and headed to my favorite park. Not much happening. Guess the critters don't like the heat either. But, I found a few interesting things. I'll post a them. 

On my way home, I noticed a number of garage sale signs. Something I haven't seen in over a year. Hit about 8 before the heat got to me. Didn't find much of interest. Some hunting and fishing gear for a good price. The last one I stopped at had an Anova Sous Vide cooker. 30.00. Used once. Offered them the 17.63 I had in my pocket. They accepted. I've really wanted to try it...just couldn't justify the price. Got some more studying to do.


----------



## limr

Done with scoring for the day. Managed another 9 hours, though I was reading at a much slower pace, so I finished just 110 essays instead of yesterday's 174. We get a little graphic that gives us feedback on our scoring accuracy. Yesterday, I was reading faster but my accuracy was lower. I was still fine - the graphic said "Meets expectations." When I slow down a little bit, however, my accuracy rises to "Exceeds expectations". I know some people who score a lot faster and who can still be reasonably accurate, and I'm sure there's nothing wrong with "meets expectations," but a) it's not a race, and b) I'd rather have much more accurate, reliable, and consistent scoring than speed.


----------



## limr

Plethora!


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Plethora!


Do you have a plethora of plethoras?


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Do you have a plethora of plethoras?



I'm not sure. Does three count as a plethora? I might need a few more plethoras.


----------



## limr

Five days, 42 hours, 555 essays, three plethoras. Two days to go.

What I should have been doing was keeping track of how many people misspelled simile as 'similie.' I would definitely have a plethora of similies.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Better than a plethora of smilies! 







But not as good as a plethora of cats.


----------



## Mike Drone

vintagesnaps said:


> But not as good as a plethora of cats.



I tried to tell him but he was not listening.


----------



## limr

Plethora!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Don't start yelling that out in meetings!


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Five days, 42 hours, 555 essays, three plethoras. Two days to go.
> 
> What I should have been doing was keeping track of how many people misspelled simile as 'similie.' I would definitely have a plethora of similies.


Hat trick.


----------



## snowbear

The Maine move logistics have changed slightly.  The car company's idea of full-size SUV is a Ford Fusion or similar - No way will that transport a 6-foot long bed and the other stuff.  Looked at trucks - price is about the same but I can't turn it in on Saturday (after noon) or Sunday (my flight out).  So on to plan  C - the trailer hitch gets installed the Monday before we go, I get the trailer on Tuesday, and new we will leave on Thursday.  If it all goes well, Lazy lobster will be delivered to their new abode on Friday afternoon, the trailer turned in that evening and my driving partner and I will head back home on Saturday morning.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all 08,17 BST
Up and ready  here to go for hearing appt. 
good news is that the builders have finished the work in the bedroom I do t have to camp in my front room
The paper work for Mrs. Estate is finally coming to and end
On the other hand shutting between here and mums to sort out dads estate paperwork... I am just starting to get that going.
Part of the problem with dads stuff is that some of the letters are old and phone numbers have changed and or the firm has gone or changed names
But isn’t that what G kids are for, get them on the www to find info .....  my G daughter has taken over from my Mrs, as being the finding all things on the internet person 
Have a good day, or whatever part of the day your time zone is


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> The Maine move logistics have changed slightly.  The car company's idea of full-size SUV is a Ford Fusion or similar - No way will that transport a 6-foot long bed and the other stuff.  Looked at trucks - price is about the same but I can't turn it in on Saturday (after noon) or Sunday (my flight out).  So on to plan  C - the trailer hitch gets installed the Monday before we go, I get the trailer on Tuesday, and new we will leave on Thursday.  If it all goes well, Lazy lobster will be delivered to their new abode on Friday afternoon, the trailer turned in that evening and my driving partner and I will head back home on Saturday morning.


National Car rental might cost a bit more but you get to choose from the “emerald aisle” any car.  I’ve never had an issue getting a large suv or a mini van when needed (for the price of a full size).  In the past, if I absolutely had to have a minivan, I would set up two rentals one for the minivan and one for the full-size aisle choice. When I got there after I insured that they had the van that I wanted as an option in the aisle, I would go on the app and cancel the minivan reservation.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all


----------



## snowbear

Avis has the same thing, an express rental; you can pick any vehicle in the same price point.

In the long run, this makes more sense for us.  I've been wanting to get the hitch for the CFR-V anyway, and the total cost for each option is about the same.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hitch 'em up and head out! Just reading about a move makes me want to moan and groan. 

Katomi I've been doing the same thing, going thru folders and files etc. Tedious work but I think I've got everything we need. My mom was organized and saved everything, but - saved everything! And we had to dump and grab and go so didn't get to sit and go thru the desk in an organized way. 

Now to get it put away for the time being instead of spread out all over. My best friend picked up a grocery order and got us dinner on the way up and went in the kitchen and asked where are we going to put the groceries? and my brilliant answer was uh..... Sat dinner on an end table til we got groc put away because the kitchen table is otherwise occupied with boxes and piles of folders. 

So any mention of moving or packing/unpacking sounds less than appealing right now!!


----------



## limr

7 days, 60 hours, 810 essays, still only 4 plethoras, and many many many uses of the word 'similie' [sic].

We were supposed to be done today but there's still essays left so there's the option to keep reading tomorrow. It is totally optional, but I could use a few extra bucks, and so come morning, it's once more unto the breach!


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all


----------



## Original katomi

Niall, just had four hours of writing and making phone calls
For mum. Some of the time I had to www search for current company address
I expect the poppy will be battered to death by the rain but it was nice 
Hope all are ok


----------



## limr

And the grand total when I finally got the screen that says there are no more essays to grade: 7.5 days, 62h 40m, 842 essays.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

limr said:


> And the grand total when I finally got the screen that says there are no more essays to grade: 7.5 days, 62h 40m, 842 essays.


I hope you can immerse yourself into whatever you do for fun now. You deserve it!


----------



## limr

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I hope you can immerse yourself into whatever you do for fun now. You deserve it!



I certainly will, although I apparently spoke too soon. There were no more responses for the question I was assigned, but since there are still more essays to score, our group was assigned to a new question (same type of essay at least.) So I'm back at it for a little while.

Upside #1: More hours = more money.
Upside #2: Plethora count is now up to 5.


----------



## ac12

limr said:


> I certainly will, although I apparently spoke too soon. There were no more responses for the question I was assigned, but since there are still more essays to score, our group was assigned to a new question (same type of essay at least.) So I'm back at it for a little while.
> 
> Upside #1: More hours = more money.
> Upside #2: Plethora count is now up to 5.



I like upside #1.


----------



## limr

And now I really am officially done. Turns out I only had to read for the 2nd question for a little over an hour. The website we use only shows the hours/essays if we're actively scoring. I had to log off briefly to meet with a student and by the time I was done, I had gotten the message that there were no more essays, so it was too late to log back in to check my official numbers. But I'm fairly certain it was 64 hours almost on the nose, and I'm definitely sure I finished 855 essays.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Keep goin' for those plethoras!


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Keep goin' for those plethoras!



Nah, it's time for takeout and jammies and the 2nd episode of Loki 

I took most of this past week off work - just left a couple of hours M-Th to attend a few meetings I didn't want to miss and get some things done that I couldn't really leave. But I took ALL of next week off. I am friiiiieeeeed. I need some serious recovery time now.


----------



## limr

Okay, I lied. I have energy for very little else today, but apparently leaving my house to go *literally* 4 minutes away to pick up an order of Chinese food takes more energy than just cooking something, cracking open a beer, and flopping on the couch.


----------



## Mike Drone

Couch flopping can be a dangerous sport.  Make sure you know where all your remotes and pets are prior to commencing to flop.


----------



## Mike Drone

My new to me car broke down and left me stranded about 20 miles between two cities in the middle of nowhere (the desert).  It really sucks because I was looking to get photos for the weekly 70-300 zoom challenge, I have been waiting all week to participate in the challenge but all I got was dehydrated and a sunburn waiting for a rescue.  Looking on the bright side though, it was a beautiful 117 degree day.  It's to bad I had to spend it stuck on the side of the road waiting on my kid to get my truck and trailer and pick me up.  Hopefully I can get in the next challenge.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Bummer Mike. Hope the rest of the weekend is better. 

Leo sounds ready for a plethora of cats & snacks & veg out time.


----------



## limr

Mike Drone said:


> My new to me car broke down and left me stranded about 20 miles between two cities in the middle of nowhere (the desert).  It really sucks because I was looking to get photos for the weekly 70-300 zoom challenge, I have been waiting all week to participate in the challenge but all I got was dehydrated and a sunburn waiting for a rescue.  Looking on the bright side though, it was a beautiful 117 degree day.  It's to bad I had to spend it stuck on the side of the road waiting on my kid to get my truck and trailer and pick me up.  Hopefully I can get in the next challenge.



Oof, that's rough!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Nothing like having a car break down in the middle of nowhere to make you wish you'd been born in the days of horseback


----------



## smoke665

Morning all. I'm hoping July will slow down a little for us. Haven't been able to do much photography. Took an extended trip the end of May-first of June through northern Illinois, back through southern Illinois and Indiana.

In the process of buying a lot, on Weiss Lake, about 30 miles from us. We close on the 1st. It's already setup with utilities, decks, a dock and cover. Even comes with a 2019 travel trailer, that we'll probably leave for now. I love our place in the woods, but I miss all those years we lived on the water, now can have both.

This past week the minor surgery on a spot on Sadie Mae's eyelid turned into a little more complicated than we expected. So now, she has to wear the dreaded cone for 10 days. She is definitely not happy. 

Have some studio work coming up next month if I can slow down long enough to work it in.


----------



## Mike Drone

Happy Father's Day


----------



## terri

Mike Drone said:


> Happy Father's Day


Happy Father's day to you too!   Hope you're recovered from the sunburn.    That heat sounds freaking awful out there.    

Happy Summer Solstice, hosers.   Actual time is 11:30pm EDT, I think I saw that earlier.    The rain from Claudette that's been around the last couple of days has finally pulled out.   Hummingbirds have been going nuts at the feeders.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

__
		https://www.reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/comments/o66lam

A chuckle/omg moment I thought I’d share🤯


----------



## Fujidave

Raining here again today.


----------



## SquarePeg

Anybody home?


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

It seems that I have wild berries in my yard. Yum!


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, just got the bedroom back and started to get straight after living in the front room since end of feb
Now I must be mad as I have arranged to h ave the front room re carpeted and re decorated so everything is up side down. Again
On the photography side 
I have just completed my wish list/dream team of lenses
Just added  70 200 mm f2.8 v1 L series
Ok image stabilisation is nice but I started in the days of ASA film speeds  and men walked in fron of the cars with red flags
Ok not that far back,,, 
I never had IS on lenses so not that worried about it now 
Have a good day or whatever time frame at your location


----------



## ac12

Original katomi said:


> Morning all, just got the bedroom back and started to get straight after living in the front room since end of feb
> Now I must be mad as I have arranged to h ave the front room re carpeted and re decorated so everything is up side down. Again
> On the photography side
> I have just completed my wish list/dream team of lenses
> Just added  70 200 mm f2.8 v1 L series
> Ok image stabilisation is nice but I started in the days of ASA film speeds  and men walked in fron of the cars with red flags
> Ok not that far back,,,
> I never had IS on lenses so not that worried about it now
> Have a good day or whatever time frame at your location



I too started with film, a long time ago.  So I know how to shoot a long lens without IS.
But, having used a Nikon 70-200/4 with VR/IS, on an APS-C camera (equiv to a 300 on a FF camera),  I won't willingly go back to a non-stabilized long lens (unless the camera has IBIS).  IS makes it sooo much easier to shoot, especially as I am getting older.
For me, the unexpected and really appreciated benefit of IS is not for low shutter speed, but IS stabilizes the image in the viewfinder, when I am shooting moving subjects.  So that I can HOLD the subject on the AF point, rather than have the subject bounce around the viewfinder.


----------



## Original katomi

I know what you mean about the image bouncing about
You know being old school we hold the lens in the cradle of the hand using thumb and finger to focus.
And of course a bean bag or at a push a sock filled with dry rice makes a brill camera support
The sock and rice I have done on many a holiday where I had to limit the kit I could take


----------



## vintagesnaps

Now why does the Daily Mail say that van was rolling _slowly_ (which seems apparent) but knocks a garage wall _off_ the foundation?? Doubt it hit that hard, and it's just somebody's security camera footage. These tabloids... they make mountains out of molehills.

What are you going to make with your berries Leo? I had a vine with tiny strawberries that started growing along the porch but it fizzled out.


----------



## ac12

Original katomi said:


> I know what you mean about the image bouncing about
> You know being old school we hold the lens in the cradle of the hand using thumb and finger to focus.
> And of course a bean bag or at a push a sock filled with dry rice makes a brill camera support
> The sock and rice I have done on many a holiday where I had to limit the kit I could take



I zoom the way you focus.  BUT, I can only do that with the Nikon 70-200/4.  
ALL my other zooms have too much drag to zoom with my thumb and fingers.  I have to GRAB the zoom ring with my hand so that I can use the larger wrist and arm muscles to turn the zoom ring.

I never took a bean/rice bag on vacation, but that is a good idea.
I would probably get stopped at agriculture inspection.


----------



## smoke665

Morning all. Well I  guess my summer hibernation is finally at hand. High heat and humidity is a major Asthma trigger for me. Friday afternoon late we had a rain shower followed by the sun popping back out. The steamy environment triggered an attack that went from bad to worse quickly. Spent 6 hrs in the ER on oxygen and IV steroids, before I could breathe normal again. Not the first time and probably won't be the last this has happened, but it doesn't get any easier. At least there's no waiting at the ER when you show up turning blue and complaining of chest pain.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all
Had a day out to do a photography  day 
Got home and dropped the newest camera and L glass
Gutted or what
It could not be the old camera with the old cheep kit lens could it


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> Morning all. Well I  guess my summer hibernation is finally at hand. High heat and humidity is a major Asthma trigger for me. Friday afternoon late we had a rain shower followed by the sun popping back out. The steamy environment triggered an attack that went from bad to worse quickly. Spent 6 hrs in the ER on oxygen and IV steroids, before I could breathe normal again. Not the first time and probably won't be the last this has happened, but it doesn't get any easier. At least there's no waiting at the ER when you show up turning blue and complaining of chest pain.



That must be scary.  Glad you’re feeling better.  The steamy heat is the worst!  Not for medical reasons but just for general comfort, I become a vampire during the hot weather.   I only go out after 6 when the temp go above 80 unless I absolutely have to.    


Original katomi said:


> Hi all
> Had a day out to do a photography  day
> Got home and dropped the newest camera and L glass
> Gutted or what
> It could not be the old camera with the old cheep kit lens could it


Oh no!  Damage report?


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> Morning all. Well I  guess my summer hibernation is finally at hand. High heat and humidity is a major Asthma trigger for me. Friday afternoon late we had a rain shower followed by the sun popping back out. The steamy environment triggered an attack that went from bad to worse quickly. Spent 6 hrs in the ER on oxygen and IV steroids, before I could breathe normal again. Not the first time and probably won't be the last this has happened, but it doesn't get any easier. At least there's no waiting at the ER when you show up turning blue and complaining of chest pain.


Ugh, so sorry  to hear that, Smoke.   The humidity has been ghastly in our neck of the woods this year, hasn't it?   I'm always glad to have lower temperatures, but that usually means we get more rain so the humidity stays high.   Other years, we are much drier and hotter - easier on the lungs but  harder on the surrounding environment.    We've had a rainy couple of summers - I do recall commenting to my husband last year that, despite the full-on pandemic of 2020, we had pretty amazing weather in these parts.   Much more humid this year!    Hope you recover quickly.


----------



## Original katomi

Smoke
Are you ok now, do you have oxygen at home
Peg,
I take the camera to the camera shop on Friday morning
Lens 24 70 F4 L IS USM
prob beyond repair, the uv filter shattered  and the end of the lens where filter screws on is bent
The canon 5dmk4 
just hope that the damage is just the marks but it had the lens attached. So had one hell of a jolt
Needs to be looked at
The battery grip gouged


----------



## smoke665

Original katomi said:


> Smoke
> Are you ok now, do you have oxygen at home


So far so good for now. Dr appointment next week, see what he has in mind.


----------



## ac12

smoke665 said:


> Morning all. Well I  guess my summer hibernation is finally at hand. High heat and humidity is a major Asthma trigger for me. Friday afternoon late we had a rain shower followed by the sun popping back out. The steamy environment triggered an attack that went from bad to worse quickly. Spent 6 hrs in the ER on oxygen and IV steroids, before I could breathe normal again. Not the first time and probably won't be the last this has happened, but it doesn't get any easier. At least there's no waiting at the ER when you show up turning blue and complaining of chest pain.



Do you have AC in a room in your house to retreat into, when the weather turns bad.
I put a portable AC in the bedroom, so when it gets too warm/hot, we have some place to retreat into.  
And I have air filters running, so that my allergy does not keep me from sleeping.

But yeah, it is like going into hibernation, when I have to stay in that one room.


----------



## smoke665

ac12 said:


> Do you have AC in a room in your house to retreat into, when the weather turns bad.
> I put a portable AC in the bedroom, so when it gets too warm/hot, we have some place to retreat into.
> And I have air filters running, so that my allergy does not keep me from sleeping.
> 
> But yeah, it is like going into hibernation, when I have to stay in that one room.



Central HVAC stays constant year round. Unlike the weather outside. LOL


----------



## snowbear

Closing in on CT


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Closing in on CT



Tappan Zee?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Tappan Zee?


Yep.  Didn’t want to go GW with trailer.  Just passed Sikorsky


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Yep.  Didn’t want to go GW with trailer.  Just passed Sikorsky



I personally think it's always better to avoid the GW, trailer or no trailer.


----------



## snowbear

Dinner view


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Dinner view



Nice! What restaurant is that? I recognize the brick buildings over on the left of the photo. Pretty sure these are the them, no?




Gull by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## Original katomi

GW ?
Hi all where or what is GW


----------



## snowbear

GW = George Washington bridge, connecting New Jersey and New York City.

Leo: J’s Oyster, on the waterfront at Portland.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I knew what the GW is from watching too many perpetually running Seinfeld episodes.

Cool photo Leo. And the shadow of the gull, great timing. Or was that your trained gull? lol

Forgot Harry Lime was on, again; TCM must really like The Third Man. Just catcing the end of it, still getting to see plenty of 'Dutch' tilt. It is a cool movie visually, I hit the mute so I don't get that music stuck in my head again.

Looks nice Charlie! And I think the east coast seems like a small world.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Dinner view


I wanna be there!!!!!


----------



## SquarePeg

Just watched season 2 of Lupin on Netflix.  Anyone else seen it?


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> I wanna be there!!!!!


I want to go back.  We’re home.  Delaware DOT and State or Transit Police had all northbound lanes of 95/295 blocked near Wilmington; no idea why.  I didn’t see any crashes north of that point.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> I want to go back.  We’re home.  Delaware DOT and State or Transit Police had all northbound lanes of 95/295 blocked near Wilmington; no idea why.  I didn’t see any crashes north of that point.


Did the incident here in Mass with the armed militia group heading for Maine to “train” make the news elsewhere?  








						Boston News, Weather and Sports - Massachusetts News - WCVB Channel 5
					

Get the latest Boston news, weather and sports online, anytime. Stay in the know with Boston’s news leader – WCVB.




					www.wcvb.com


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Yeah I saw it here. “ We don’t recognize your laws” 😒


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, 
Just popped in


----------



## vintagesnaps

Seems like those things make the news everywhere. Some people should go find a desert island and live there... one far away out in the middle of the ocean! jeez


----------



## vintagesnaps

There was a young goalie in the Columbus Blue Jackets organization who died after a fireworks accident. They thought at first he got injured running and falling but it was from the blast; internal injuries to heart and lungs. Had been playing in Cleveland in the minors and for Team Latvia in the Worlds, but might have been called up as an NHL backup goalie for the Jackets.


----------



## Robshoots

These random, tragic events such as the deaths of the young goalie and those folks in the Florida condominium that collapsed often remind me of these lines from Year’s End by Richard Wilbur:

These sudden ends of time must give us pause.
We fray into the future, rarely wrought
Save in the tapestries of afterthought.
More time, more time.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all how are you all today
Well news of a better kind here.
Had the canon 5d mk4  and l series lens inspection today
It seems I am one very lucky person 
The canon 5d has scrapes but is otherwise ok
The lens.... well the filter ring, all that remains of the filter, is jammed on and the lens has been sent away to have the ring removed. Apart from the scrapes and that the thread for the filters on the lens could be damaged the lens is ok no damage inside and no scrapes on the front element.
So fingers crossed it will cost me 100 ish GBP not the 6 thousand to replace the lot.
If some scrapes on the body and the lens is the cost.... well it will remind me of what could have been.


----------



## terri

Hosers.

Here I am.   With Vincent.   ❤


----------



## vintagesnaps

Pullman Van Gogh, was he Vincent's brother? 

Yeah, that was bad... lol


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Hosers.
> 
> Here I am.   With Vincent.   ❤
> 
> View attachment 246064


Oooohhhhh!  We have tix for that in September and I. Can’t. Wait.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Oooohhhhh!  We have tix for that in September and I. Can’t. Wait.


It's a fun time.   I really appreciated the basic intent, homage to this artist without them really having any access to his stuff.       There's a lot of replicas, well done, and good biographical data.    Anything that gets the word out is fine with me.  

Every venue is going to be different and present in different ways.   We were at the old Pullman Yards outside of Atlanta, and there are still a few more of these buildings getting reclaimed.   It's going to be a cool place for exhibits.   

I won't ruin it for you, but here's one shot I took inside.    They have no problem with photography, just no flash.

This is the "Immersive Room," where you get surrounded by several different paintings and they flow over the walls and floor and spectators, with music and quotes.   It was really cool.






@SquarePeg:   Sharon - MAKE SURE you take the 10 minutes for the Virtual Reality part, after the Immersive Room.   It's a head trip!  


We spent the night in Decatur and had breakfast at one of my favorite old haunts, The Flying Biscuit.    Great room to chill and have a cup of coffee or two.    Glad we were there in the middle of the week, it's usually packed.    It's painted like this from ceiling to floor in every room.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Wow, that immersive room exhibit looks cool! After everybody's been to it so it won't spoil the experience, it would be fun to see your pictures of it.


----------



## CherylL

@terri the Vincent immersion room looks cool.  There was a bar in Decatur "Esker's" that served pork tenderloin sandwiches for lunch.  The thing I remember about Decatur is the stink from Staleys.  Depending on how the wind blew determined the amount of stench.


----------



## CherylL

I went to Mexico last month.  It rained 5 of the 7 days and sadly my cameras spent most of the time in the safe.  It was disappointing yet relaxing sitting on the beach under the palapa in the rain.  We had a swim out room to a long narrow meandering pool.  One morning there was a cayman in the pool.  One night about 10 or 11 sitting on our patio when 4 skinny dippers appeared.  I guess it was someone's birthday and there was a dare, etc.  They asked for a towel and gave them one.  Two more showed up and we went inside.  Didn't want to appear creepy


----------



## vintagesnaps

Well Cheryl, it wasn't boring!


----------



## Rickbb

It would only be creepy if you broke out the camera.


----------



## terri

CherylL said:


> @terri the Vincent immersion room looks cool.  There was a bar in Decatur "Esker's" that served pork tenderloin sandwiches for lunch.  The thing I remember about Decatur is the stink from Staleys.  Depending on how the wind blew determined the amount of stench.


It was really cool!    

Are you thinking of another Decatur?   I've never heard of Staleys and, when I looked for it online, it's in Decatur, IL.    I'm outside of Atlanta.   
Sorry about your rainy trip!   At least you got a break from the routine, and I'm sure it all still looked lush and lovely.


----------



## CherylL

Rickbb said:


> It would only be creepy if you broke out the camera.


Maybe I did?


----------



## CherylL

terri said:


> It was really cool!
> 
> Are you thinking of another Decatur?   I've never heard of Staleys and, when I looked for it online, it's in Decatur, IL.    I'm outside of Atlanta.
> Sorry about your rainy trip!   At least you got a break from the routine, and I'm sure it all still looked lush and lovely.


Oh wrong Decatur.  I was thinking you were at the Chicago exhibit and went south an hour to Decatur IL


----------



## snowbear

With Lazy Lobster having migrated to Maine, I started setting up a new home office.  MLW decided to get me a pair of table lamps.  😀


----------



## SquarePeg

@snowbear @limr   Heading up to midcoast Maine for a few days later this month.  Portland and points north.  Going to check out some of the little harbor towns and fishing villages, hopefully get some time on the beach at sunrise and maybe some lighthouses.  Hoping to get all the way up to Pemaquid Point Light but that will depend on the timing and weather.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> With Lazy Lobster having migrated to Maine, I started setting up a new home office.  MLW decided to get me a pair of table lamps.  😀
> 
> View attachment 246239



It took me far too long to figure out what those were!


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> @snowbear @limr   Heading up to midcoast Maine for a few days later this month.  Portland and points north.  Going to check out some of the little harbor towns and fishing villages, hopefully get some time on the beach at sunrise and maybe some lighthouses.  Hoping to get all the way up to Pemaquid Point Light but that will depend on the timing and weather.







(Well, except I am not jealous. People use that word wrong all the time. I'm envious. Of your going to Maine, not the sunrises. Sooo not a morning person. But it's still a funny meme and I still totally wish I were going to Maine!  )


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m definitely stealing that meme.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, snow bear I like the lamps.
Well the dropped camera up date is
The 5d mk 4 has some scratches but is working ok
The l series lens. I got lucky there I had to have the remains of the filter cut off but the thread  on the end of the lens for filters was not damaged. Again just some scratches.
Lesion learnt the camera WILL be secured between locations


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Morning all, snow bear I like the lamps.
> Well the dropped camera up date is
> The 5d mk 4 has some scratches but is working ok
> The l series lens. I got lucky there I had to have the remains of the filter cut off but the thread  on the end of the lens for filters was not damaged. Again just some scratches.
> Lesion learnt the camera WILL be secured between locations



great news!  You dodged a bullet there. 

What is up Hosers?  I’m just back from Maine where we had foggy skies most of the time.  I did manage to get one sunrise that was not fogged out.  Spent it at Portland Head Light.    Had the whole place to myself for about an hour before a photo workshop  appeared.  It was Mr Ben Williamson himself - I’m a huge fan of his Maine photos.  Check him out on Instagram he is benjaminwilliamsonphotography.  He is known around here for his ability to read the weather and has dozens of once in a lifetime shots. 

Haven’t really processed many of the photos yet but here’s a shot of the pastel sunrise that I did a quick jpeg conversion and edit on my iphone.


----------



## snowbear

MLW and I have been down with summer colds; mine may be turning into sinus infection.  Very jealous, Sharon.


----------



## ac12

Original katomi said:


> The l series lens. I got lucky there I had to have the remains of the filter cut off but the thread  on the end of the lens for filters was not damaged. Again just some scratches.
> Lesion learnt the camera WILL be secured between locations



Had to do that at school.
"someone" dropped or BANGED the lens onto something hard, and shattered the filter.  The filter ring was distorted enough to NOT be able to be unscrewed from the lens.  After trying everything to unscrew the filter, I cut the filter ring in 3 places so that I could remove the pressure of the filter ring on the lens, and was able to remove the filter.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> great news!  You dodged a bullet there.
> 
> What is up Hosers?  I’m just back from Maine where we had foggy skies most of the time.  I did manage to get one sunrise that was not fogged out.  Spent it at Portland Head Light.    Had the whole place to myself for about an hour before a photo workshop  appeared.  It was Mr Ben Williamson himself - I’m a huge fan of his Maine photos.  Check him out on Instagram he is benjaminwilliamsonphotography.  He is known around here for his ability to read the weather and has dozens of once in a lifetime shots.
> 
> Haven’t really processed many of the photos yet but here’s a shot of the pastel sunrise that I did a quick jpeg conversion and edit on my iphone.
> 
> View attachment 246385


That is so beautiful, Sharon!    Just love it.    

Oh, I bet it felt so cool and breezy.    *sigh*    Nuttin but humidity around here - temperatures not bad for these parts, but the humidity is disgusting.     

Very cool to run into someone whose work you know and admire - small world, eh?


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> MLW and I have been down with summer colds; mine may be turning into sinus infection.  Very jealous, Sharon.


Feel better mr and mrs bear!  


terri said:


> That is so beautiful, Sharon!    Just love it.
> 
> Oh, I bet it felt so cool and breezy.    *sigh*    Nuttin but humidity around here - temperatures not bad for these parts, but the humidity is disgusting.
> 
> Very cool to run into someone whose work you know and admire - small world, eh?


Terri it’s been the same here it was very humid although not that hot.  The whole week in Maine it was only 75 but we were sticky.   Breeze was non existent!  Even at 430am when I got there I didn’t need my hoodie.  It was super buggy as well.  I’m usually impervious to mosquito bites- haven’t had one in years - but something got my feet.  Probably when I was standing in the wet grass in my flip flops behind the lighthouse using my zoom.  My poor feet are covered in bites.  I never think to put on bug spray because they don’t usually like me.  

Can’t wait for FALL!!!!!   If you’d ever told the younger, thinner, beach loving, premenopausal me that I would come to dislike summer, I would have laughed in your face.   Now I can’t wish it away fast enough.  Especially with all this rain, can’t even get any Milky Way shooting done which is the only redeeming thing about summer these days.


----------



## terri

@SquarePeg:   LMAO!!!   I feel the same way.   I've turned into a person who appreciates the transition seasons even more, because the full onslaught of summer isn't around.   Winters here are short, can have the occasional snowstorm and be well below freezing, but it's pretty much over by the beginning of March.   Summer around here has been known to drag on until October.   Ugh!!

I grew up in Michigan, and could easily be convinced to move back there.   Winter and snow don't bother me, especially now that I'm retired.  Who cares where I hunker down?


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> @SquarePeg:   LMAO!!!   I feel the same way.   I've turned into a person who appreciates the transition seasons even more, because the full onslaught of summer isn't around.   Winters here are short, can have the occasional snowstorm and be well below freezing, but it's pretty much over by the beginning of March.   Summer around here has been known to drag on until October.   Ugh!!
> 
> I grew up in Michigan, and could easily be convinced to move back there.   Winter and snow don't bother me, especially now that I'm retired.  Who cares where I hunker down?


I used to say I was going to buy a place and snow bird in FL from Jan 2 - March 31 but now I think I’m staying in New England.  May move a bit out of the city once Princess is done with college and on her own but since I can’t decide mountains (not in winter!) or the cape (only in off season!), I’ll probably stay just here which is right in the middle! Although Mid Coast Maine is pretty tempting!!!


----------



## limr

I hate summer like poison. Always have, always will. This summer has been hot and gross and I was ready for it to be over before it even started.

We went to visit a friend on Sunday and I slathered myself with bug spray. Still got a bite on my ankle. Mosquitos love me. The worst was one summer about 10ish years ago when Buzz and I spent no more than one hour at an outdoor bar having a beer. I had 52 bug bites on my legs from toes to knees. About evenly distibuted between legs. I literally could not walk for more than 5 minutes without being in horrible itchy painful hell. They finally got dried up enough to not itch anymore but I still had the marks all over my legs. I was teaching one morning and writing on the board when I heard a student whisper to a classmate, "What happened to teacher's legs?" I turned around and told them it was mosquito bites. Not only were they amazed that I heard, ("Uh...my ears still work if I'm not look at you, you know.") but they'd apparently never seen anyone who had barely escaped being eaten alive by bugs.

In other news, I fully expect another night of crappy sleep.
(PS, it should be 'lying in bed' but the point stands.)


----------



## SquarePeg

Check it out now… thanks for putting that song in my head for the day.  Slightly worse than the tinnitus lol.

The bugs love Princess and my sister-in-law.  It’s a running joke in our family to sit between them if you don’t want to get bit.  

It’s been so long I’ve forgotten how annoying and itchy bites can be!  Princess let me use some of her Benadryl Gel lotion and that worked really well.  Highly recommend.  She says it must be the gel not the cream.


----------



## snowbear

This popped up in my Facebook feed, from *Donegal Online*


----------



## snowbear

Good morning hosers.  Heading back to the physical office, today; I'll commute in two days per week (Monday & Friday) UFN.

I'm trying to figure out why the increase in single-character avatars.


----------



## SquarePeg

Good luck bear!  

not sure what you mean about the avatars?


----------



## snowbear

The first day back to Largo went fine but with the numbers increasing again, it may be short lived.

Sharon, I've notices a higher number of members changing their avatars to the first letter of their screen name - For example we'd both use an "S".  Just wondering if it's a trend from somewhere else.

Trying to figure out if we can swing a trip to Downeast soon - deliver some boxes to lazy lobster and catch the wild blueberry season.


----------



## CherylL

I haven't been around here much.   Did I miss anything?   Family was in from NY and took a bunch of family photos.  One trip to the sunflower fields for portraits in the harsh evening sun, but turned out ok.  Lots of bugs and bees!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Does it feel like you never left??

Which thing, Charlie, the wedding on a beach with lots of rocks or Borat with a unique way to wear a face mask?

Last week went to a virtual un-convention so I didn't actually go anywhere, but there was so much to see. And do, speaking of Ireland, I did a workshop on a type of Irish lace and the instructor had a lovely lilting accent. Got an email from the Lace Museum she's teaching another one and I signed up in a heartbeat.

My photo that was in an exhibit at Lightbox Gallery came back yesterday. At least they have standard black frames they reuse so only had to send a matted print. My photos go places more than I do.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> The first day back to Largo went fine but with the numbers increasing again, it may be short lived.
> 
> Sharon, I've notices a higher number of members changing their avatars to the first letter of their screen name - For example we'd both use an "S".  Just wondering if it's a trend from somewhere else.
> 
> Trying to figure out if we can swing a trip to Downeast soon - deliver some boxes to lazy lobster and catch the wild blueberry season.


I wonder if that is just the page being slow to load the actual avatars and names?  Or could be new members who haven’t uploaded an avatar yet.


----------



## snowbear

Maybe the page loading - some have been here a while.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all 
We have gone from hot to cold and wet.
All my fault, just got a new to me 85mm f2.8 and wanted to get out and play... 
however, since Mrs died I have been making a quiet area in the garden, to sit in the evenings


----------



## SquarePeg

How have you been Hosers?  It’s been a pretty wet and weird summer here in New England.  Last week we had our first 4 days in a row without any rain.  The gardens are off a bit with some of the usually larger plants being a bit stunted this year and some of the typically shy plants really putting on a show.  You’d thin all this rain would be good for them but it seems to be causing a lot of early and short lived flowering.   I’ve been out among the flowers and bees, using my 70-300 to take some macro-ish photos.  Spent an hour the other day trying to capture an in focus photo of a butterfly in flight.  No such luck but 


in other news, we are counting down the days we have left before Princess leaves us to go off to college.  She’ll only be 30 minutes away but I expect she’ll be immersed in campus life and we won’t see much of her until the holidays.  

What is everyone else up to?  @limr  how are you liking the new location?  Are you going to be on campus full time in the fall?  Princess’s school is one of those requiring vaccinations for students, faculty and staff, and as of now they expect to have in person classes and no social distancing requirements.  

@snowbear I’m also seeing the letter avatars.  I contacted 0ne of the members via PM to ask if that was intentional or if they had added their own avatar but he never responded.  I’m going to try someone else.  

@Original katomi that looks like a nice idea.  Is it buggy at night in your part of the world?


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I wonder if that is just the page being slow to load the actual avatars and names?  Or could be new members who haven’t uploaded an avatar yet.


I'm guessing it's for members without avatars.   Probably related to the recent software upgrade.   The older version we were under had some non-avatar design that followed members with no uploaded avatars, and everyone had the same look.   Now, the system appears to just be taking the first letter of the user name and filling the box with it - it reminds me of other platforms, like outlook email, that also do this.  

Just a guess.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> I'm guessing it's for members without avatars.   Probably related to the recent software upgrade.   The older version we were under had some non-avatar design that followed members with no uploaded avatars, and everyone had the same look.   Now, the system appears to just be taking the first letter of the user name and filling the box with it - it reminds me of other platforms, like outlook email, that also do this.
> 
> Just a guess.


That's it - no avatar.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> How have you been Hosers?  It’s been a pretty wet and weird summer here in New England.  Last week we had our first 4 days in a row without any rain.  The gardens are off a bit with some of the usually larger plants being a bit stunted this year and some of the typically shy plants really putting on a show.  You’d thin all this rain would be good for them but it seems to be causing a lot of early and short lived flowering.   I’ve been out among the flowers and bees, using my 70-300 to take some macro-ish photos.  Spent an hour the other day trying to capture an in focus photo of a butterfly in flight.  No such luck but
> 
> 
> in other news, we are counting down the days we have left before Princess leaves us to go off to college.  She’ll only be 30 minutes away but I expect she’ll be immersed in campus life and we won’t see much of her until the holidays.
> 
> What is everyone else up to?  @limr  how are you liking the new location?  Are you going to be on campus full time in the fall?  Princess’s school is one of those requiring vaccinations for students, faculty and staff, and as of now they expect to have in person classes and no social distancing requirements.
> 
> @snowbear I’m also seeing the letter avatars.  I contacted 0ne of the members via PM to ask if that was intentional or if they had added their own avatar but he never responded.  I’m going to try someone else.
> 
> @Original katomi that looks like a nice idea.  Is it buggy at night in your part of the world?


We've been having a pretty good summer.   The humidity has been nasty, but the air temps have been very good for this area of the country.  Plenty of rain.   I've had to dump my patio tomatoes and I miss them - but all the rain brought them to maturity a little quicker than usual, and they were on the wane.   We still have 3 large tomato plants in the ground that we might nurture along for a few more weeks.   I'll miss them when they're gone!    All my herbs and potted flowers have been doing very well.

We took a trip into Atlanta for the van Gogh Immersive show a couple weeks ago.   We're doing another run next week, this time to the High Museum for a Picasso exhibit - mostly sculpture.    Once we're out of that event we're free to wander the rest of the museum, and I'm really looking forward to it.   Then dinner in the city and spending the night.   

Later this month, I'm taking my first plane trip since the pandemic started to visit my 94 yo mom up in Michigan.   She's done remarkably well during the pandemic, and my niece and brother have both been able to check in on her.   We'll be there for a week.   I love the area she lives in, and am really looking forward to it.

@SquarePeg:  I can hardly believe Princess is off to college!   You must be excited for her, but it might feel bittersweet, too.   Exciting time for her!




SquarePeg said:


> @limr how are you liking the new location? Are you going to be on campus full time in the fall? Princess’s school is one of those requiring vaccinations for students, faculty and staff, and as of now they expect to have in person classes and no social distancing requirements.


I've been wondering the same thing!    The new pad looked killer once you got the flooring and paint done - how are you liking it?   I recall the back yard looking very lush and close to some woodsy area.   Are you seeing any critters in the back yard?


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> That's it - no avatar.
> View attachment 247031



Anither mystery is history!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> @SquarePeg: I can hardly believe Princess is off to college! You must be excited for her, but it might feel bittersweet, too. Exciting time for her!



If memory serves, she was 10 when I joined TPF.  We were headed to Hawaii and I came on here looking for some shooting and equipment advice for our trip.


----------



## CherylL

@terri so happy that you can finally visit your mother.


----------



## snowbear

MLW got us new sparkly-shinies today.


----------



## SquarePeg

Miss Harlie has ear infection and seasonal allergies. Went to the vet last week.  The cone is already off and she’s feeling better after antibiotic treatment for ear and allergy shot.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Miss Harlie has ear infection and seasonal allergies. Went to the vet last week.  The cone is already off and she’s feeling better after antibiotic treatment for ear and allergy shot.  View attachment 247198


Glad the baby is feeling better


----------



## Warhorse

Hah!
I received a PM from Mirirana785 saying “Warhorse, hеy) Еmilly, 25, fеmаlе. Frоm USА. Writе mе оnly in КIK mеssеngеr fоr frее sеx chаt, my usеrnаmе: emi9541”.
Must be because of my magnetic personality!


----------



## SquarePeg

Warhorse said:


> Hah!
> I received a PM from Mirirana785 saying “Warhorse, hеy) Еmilly, 25, fеmаlе. Frоm USА. Writе mе оnly in КIK mеssеngеr fоr frее sеx chаt, my usеrnаmе: emi9541”.
> Must be because of my magnetic personality!


Sorry to burst your bubble but they spammed just about everyone this week!  Must have gotten over 50 member reported posts about these messages.  The spammers are working overtime lately.  Please continue to report the spam so we can ban them and delete their accounts .  The spam police will soon figure out how to stop them.  Until they find another way in.


----------



## limr

Warhorse said:


> Hah!
> I received a PM from Mirirana785 saying “Warhorse, hеy) Еmilly, 25, fеmаlе. Frоm USА. Writе mе оnly in КIK mеssеngеr fоr frее sеx chаt, my usеrnаmе: emi9541”.
> Must be because of my magnetic personality!



Not to disappoint you  but we have been inundated in the past couple of days with reports some kind of spam bot messaging everyone with this same exact message, using multiple IPs and user names.

I have not gotten a message, however. I might be insulted.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I didn't get a message either, I feel so left out! 

Is Harlie feeling better? Odd summer weather, not just pets but some of us people have had respiratory stuff too. Mine started in my ear/jaw, and had to use one of my asthma inhalers that I never use (but luckily had the one marked 2019 refilled!). Today was whistling a little breathing when I woke up but much better.

Sharon I didn't want to mess up your challenge but all I could think was, is there a hockey game?? Shooting thru glass with puck and stick marks and smears and unidentified goo on the other side, that I can do!!


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> I didn't get a message either, I feel so left out!
> 
> Is Harlie feeling better? Odd summer weather, not just pets but some of us people have had respiratory stuff too. Mine started in my ear/jaw, and had to use one of my asthma inhalers that I never use (but luckily had the one marked 2019 refilled!). Today was whistling a little breathing when I woke up but much better.
> 
> Sharon I didn't want to mess up your challenge but all I could think was, is there a hockey game?? Shooting thru glass with puck and stick marks and smears and unidentified goo on the other side, that I can do!!



They must be playing or practicing somewhere!


----------



## snowbear

D*** - I can't even get propositioned by a spambot!  

Just cut the cable TV; getting second Internet to test for a month or two.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Miss Harlie has ear infection and seasonal allergies. Went to the vet last week.  The cone is already off and she’s feeling better after antibiotic treatment for ear and allergy shot.  View attachment 247198


Aw, poor Harlie!   Glad the cone of shame is off.  As I mentioned in another thread, Bex had a huge abscess on her tail.  Lanced and treated by the vet, who mentioned casually that, although he thinks this should heal, if it returns he'd likely have to remove it surgically.    All I can envision is a cat wearing a cone.    It would get ugly really fast.


----------



## SquarePeg

Me looking out kitchen window in the morning - oh look a cardinal!  a butterfly!  golden hour!  a dragonfly! a bunny!  

Me gets camera and goes outside.,,

Nature - vanished!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Me looking out kitchen window in the morning - oh look a cardinal!  a butterfly!  golden hour!  a dragonfly! a bunny!
> 
> Me gets camera and goes outside.,,
> 
> Nature - vanished!


That explains my pictures of the back end of most of my visiting critters - they're either gone or in full retreat by the time I'm back and ready!


----------



## vintagesnaps

On the occasion I see one of the elusive white squirrels, it's gone back into the bushes before I can even think of getting a camera! Got a few shots from a distance but they never get close. Bunnies are more cooperative.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, just been able to get here, and first thing I get a sex msg.
Just been very very naughty. There was this canon 6d with shutter count of only 5k calling me. I was going to have a watch from dad before he died but the watch idea fall through so dad has “bought” me a camera.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Me looking out kitchen window in the morning - oh look a cardinal!  a butterfly!  golden hour!  a dragonfly! a bunny!
> 
> Me gets camera and goes outside.,,
> 
> Nature - vanished!


There is a deer that shows up most evenings.  I've had my camera ready for weeks waiting for a decent light shot.  Most evenings it is too dark.  Last night she was there earlier than usual.  My camera was not ready!  It was upstairs and I had to change the lens.  The deer did wait and I got a few shots.


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Hi all, just been able to get here, and first thing I get a sex msg.
> Just been very very naughty. There was this canon 6d with shutter count of only 5k calling me. I was going to have a watch from dad before he died but the watch idea fall through so dad has “bought” me a camera.


Congrats on the new camera.  The sex message spammers are killing us.   It’s not like when they post in a thread once we se it and spam them, you don’t even see it but when they send you a message we don’t know about it until it’s reported.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just back from a fantastic dinner at Morton's The Steakhouse down at the seaport in Boston.  It’s restaurant week here so we took advantage of that and had a great meal that would have cost use twice as much any other time.  Non USA Hosers - do they do restaurant week in your neck of the woods?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Darn, I feel left out! But really it's a bummer you mods are having to deal with such spammers. 

I'm a USA hoser and we don't have restaurant week, too busy eating chili spaghetti (yum!) or goetta (not my thing). Or going to festivals but it's too early.


----------



## limr

Seriously, those spammers need a proper throat punching. I've taken to stalking the new members lists to see if I can catch some that way before more members are tempted by sexy Emily.


----------



## Original katomi

Square Peg
Thanks, it arrived just a few moments ago. So I will playing today if I get chance. At the moment I am rushing.... welll hobbling slowly ... doing housework ready for having a BBQ sat afternoon. 
Having a get together of a few friends. The first since lockdown and first since Rebecca and Dad passed. It’s going to be strange.
Well looking forward to Sunday as I am planning on having a day out with the dogs, camera(s) and a packed lunch.

Spammers..... I know the mods and admin staff are doing their best and that they do a good job
This sexy sue or whatever She is called needs a brain. We all do our bit with NSFW to protect others, youngsters and she comes in with her posts. At the moment I am rather busy with helping mum so don’t get here as much as I did. But like others I will look for spam and report it when I can


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Original katomi said:


> Square Peg
> Thanks, it arrived just a few moments ago. So I will playing today if I get chance. At the moment I am rushing.... welll hobbling slowly ... doing housework ready for having a BBQ sat afternoon.
> Having a get together of a few friends. The first since lockdown and first since Rebecca and Dad passed. It’s going to be strange.
> Well looking forward to Sunday as I am planning on having a day out with the dogs, camera(s) and a packed lunch.
> 
> Spammers..... I know the mods and admin staff are doing their best and that they do a good job
> This sexy sue or whatever She is called needs a brain. We all do our bit with NSFW to protect others, youngsters and she comes in with her posts. At the moment I am rather busy with helping mum so don’t get here as much as I did. But like others I will look for spam and report it when I can


It’s good to see you are getting out and not staying home thinking about things. I wish you much joy with the new camera.


----------



## SquarePeg

Yesterday we had a very intense storm come through here yesterday.  Torrential rain while I was out at lunch getting a mani.  Tornado warning on my phone to get in the basement as I got home.  Turned on the local news and they were saying the danger had passed and was heading north so I skipped the whole hiding in the basement thing.  Lots of flooding and downed trees in the area then the sun came out.  Now the gov is on tv saying we need to prep for tropical story Henri.  Going to be a wet weekend.  This summer here has been nothing but rain, rain, rain, unbearable heat and humidity, rain, rain, repeat...


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

SquarePeg said:


> Yesterday we had a very intense storm come through here yesterday.  Torrential rain while I was out at lunch getting a mani.  Tornado warning on my phone to get in the basement as I got home.  Turned on the local news and they were saying the danger had passed and was heading north so I skipped the whole hiding in the basement thing.  Lots of flooding and downed trees in the area then the sun came out.  Now the gov is on tv saying we need to prep for tropical story Henri.  Going to be a wet weekend.  This summer here has been nothing but rain, rain, rain, unbearable heat and humidity, rain, rain, repeat...


Been the same here. The rental across the street has a tree down right now from the storm that passed through night before last. The ground is so saturated it only takes a good wind to take them down.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Watching the NYC concert (sort of, waiting for Italian for dinner with my best friend), liked Santana, Earth Wind & Fire. Barry Manilow just into his performance and they started getting sprinkles & said he was going to sing Made it Thru the Rain (well, not quite...), and lightning started. Sounded like they cancelled rest of it but people don't seem to be leaving. 

Darn, been waiting for The Killers, Springsteen, Elvis Costello...

But more seriously, it's supposed to make land around Long Island. Don't think Leo is too close to the coast but they expect power outages, etc. Was thinking of her, hope the worst of it misses her and she doesn't lose power.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Now they said the Mayor said they wanted people to get to a shelter (like maybe their cars?) and they might resume. Guess it's expected to ease up in 20 minutes. Was thinking if it was a ball game they'd get out the tarps and wait. Now maybe it's cancelled?? who knows.


----------



## CherylL

terri said:


> That explains my pictures of the back end of most of my visiting critters - they're either gone or in full retreat by the time I'm back and ready!


I have a lot of bird butt photos.  All flying away


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

CherylL said:


> I have a lot of bird butt photos.  All flying away


Bird butts, deer butts…too bad there isn’t a market for them!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Just wondered if Leo had checked in. I didn't think she'd be in the worst of it, and at least it got downgraded, but there were power outages.


----------



## snowbear

She was in on Thursday - I just sent her a text message.


----------



## snowbear

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Bird butts, deer butts…too bad there isn’t a market for them!


or, in our case a home, cat butts.


----------



## CherylL

I hope all the East coasters are safe!  Are you all still getting lots of rain?  Flooding?


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Just wondered if Leo had checked in. I didn't think she'd be in the worst of it, and at least it got downgraded, but there were power outages.



Hey there! It's definitely wet around here, though in my neck of the woods, we didn't get anything dramatic at all. I've seen scarier thunderstorms. They had some issues with roads flooding further south in the closer suburbs, but thankfully, I didn't have to drive to work. As of last week, I will be working two days a week - Tues/Thurs - on campus and three at home. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. My house is on higher ground and I'm not in a flood zone anyway, even for smaller local creeks, so the worst I got was a big puddle on my front walk that was gone by afternoon.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks for checking in, Leo, and thanks for checking up on us, CheryIL.

In my immediate area, we had light to medium rain Friday and over the weekend; a lot more to the north of us.  We had some flash flood watches, but nothing close to us.

Like Leo, I'm commuting to the office two days/week and telecommuting three. I chose Monday & Friday to go in.  With the COVID numbers going back up, I wouldn't be surprised to be told to go back to full telecommute or drop to one day per week.  The boss has decided we won't be printing wall art (wall maps) to decorate offices any more, but we'll continue with maps for the fire stations, since they are actually used a reference tools and training.  Fewer paper maps means fewer reasons to go in.

MLW is scheduled to return to work after the surgery the second week of September, following Labor Day.  She's been told she can telecommute one day/week.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Glad those of you on the east coast are good. Leo I thought you might be far enough inland to not get the worst of it. I wondered how widespread power outages might be. Lucky that it got downgraded.


----------



## limr

HOSERS!!! The Coffee House on the 7th page? Unacceptable! 

Though to be fair, as a moderator, my "active threads" list is cluttered with deleted Spam threads as well as active ones.

Aaaaaanyway...

It's Tax Day!

By which I mean the first day of classes for the semester, and we are as busy as accountants would be on April 15th. Thus, it's Tax Day.

Bright sides:
-The day is going to go by much more quickly this way, which means Friday will come faster! 👏
-Today is a work-from-home day, so at least I get to be cozy with fluffy socks and purring kitties on a rainy day. 🐱
-IT IS NOT AUGUST ANYMORE!!


----------



## terri

limr said:


> -IT IS NOT AUGUST ANYMORE!!





Today has actually been rather lovely in these parts - the humidity has dropped, after Hurricane Ida blew us a kiss, and the temps are moderate.    A teeny, tiny whiff of fall is in the air.    w0oT!


----------



## snowbear

... And after the storm blew through here, the temp is 75.   There is a gale warning, but it's 75.


----------



## VidThreeNorth

Ahem, bad luck. . . .

For the last few weeks I have been trying to get some video clips done for what should have been a quick and simple exercise.  Unfortunately weather has been messing up, either with rain, or wrong lighting.  Today, I thought I had finally got it done, but for the first time on this project, I got a tiny water splash on my lens which ruined all the key clips.  Hopefully I will get it done in the next couple of days.  The weather forecast looks about right.


----------



## limr

Still raining here. Ida is supposed to blow through tonight and tomorrow will be cooler with lower humidity. I was very happy to be able to work from home today.


----------



## vintagesnaps

We got a good bit of rain but then - a cool front blew thru today! And I think the calendar should show this month as 'Now No Longer August'!! I've had respiratory crap that's triggered asthma crap and I'm finally doing now no longer so crappy and glad crappy August is done!! 

Gee I finally got a spammy message! I was feeling left out (not!). But more seriously how are they sending messages so easily?? it's a ridiculous waste of time for the mods to have to keep dealing with this nonsense and getting not so funny as it keeps happening.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hi Hosers!  I haven’t been online much recently during my free time.  I have new responsibilities at work and it has been very busy and a bit stressful.  Off hours I’ve been working on house projects.  

Princess has been deposited at college and is settling in very nicely.  She’s loving the campus and enjoying the freedom of college life.  Classes are “good” and food is “good” and roommates are “good”.  All good lol.  

Happy to be heading into a long weekend.  I haven’t been shooting much the past month due to the oppressive heat and all the rain.  Going to try to change that this weekend.  There are fireworks tonight at Boston Harbor.  I’m meeting a friend and planning to get there early and have some dinner al fresco and hope for a nice sunset before shooting the show. Schooner fest in Gloucester this weekend so will try to get there as well.  

What does everyone have planned for the weekend?


----------



## terri

That sounds fun, Sharon!  Looking forward to seeing the pictures!

Nothing too exciting on my end this weekend.  Our lovely, low-humidity weather continues, so likely we'll be out on the porch this evening to enjoy it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Supposed to be pretty nice but already started clouding up and and not sure when we may get a little rain. Memorial Day usually no fireworks or anything anyway, and with statewide mask mandates, some schools closed already, etc. not sure what's going on. Finally not feeling so cruddy so not planning a big weekend.

Fireworks sound like a fun photo op Sharon, and can't help but wonder if Princess is going to a college with hockey! lol with Beanpot choices in your area.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Hi Hosers!  I haven’t been online much recently during my free time.  I have new responsibilities at work and it has been very busy and a bit stressful.  Off hours I’ve been working on house projects.
> 
> Princess has been deposited at college and is settling in very nicely.  She’s loving the campus and enjoying the freedom of college life.  Classes are “good” and food is “good” and roommates are “good”.  All good lol.
> 
> Happy to be heading into a long weekend.  I haven’t been shooting much the past month due to the oppressive heat and all the rain.  Going to try to change that this weekend.  There are fireworks tonight at Boston Harbor.  I’m meeting a friend and planning to get there early and have some dinner al fresco and hope for a nice sunset before shooting the show. Schooner fest in Gloucester this weekend so will try to get there as well.
> 
> What does everyone have planned for the weekend?


No real plans other than a trip to the Eastern Shore on Sunday.  No, not the beach, but a farm stand or two; hunting some decent DelMarVa tomatoes, corn and 'lopes or melons if we can find them.  I'll take the camera for whatever catches my eye.  We've got some Granny Smiths so tomorrow is apple pie day.  Monday we'll just stay at home and relax.  MLW goes back to work on Wednesday (Tuesday is her scheduled telecommute day).


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Supposed to be pretty nice but already started clouding up and and not sure when we may get a little rain. Memorial Day usually no fireworks or anything anyway, and with statewide mask mandates, some schools closed already, etc. not sure what's going on. Finally not feeling so cruddy so not planning a big weekend.
> 
> Fireworks sound like a fun photo op Sharon, and can't help but wonder if Princess is going to a college with hockey! lol with Beanpot choices in your area.


She’s at Merrimack College which is a very small school but has a D1 hockey team.  Can’t say I know much about college hockey but I know they play BU, BC, Northeastern and UMass a bunch of times because we were looking at the schedule with my brother and nephew trying to pick out a game to go to next month…. Her school recently became D1 for all sports but I think hockey has been D1 for a bit longer.  


snowbear said:


> No real plans other than a trip to the Eastern Shore on Sunday.  No, not the beach, but a farm stand or two; hunting some decent DelMarVa tomatoes, corn and 'lopes or melons if we can find them.  I'll take the camera for whatever catches my eye.  We've got some Granny Smiths so tomorrow is apple pie day.  Monday we'll just stay at home and relax.  MLW goes back to work on Wednesday (Tuesday is her scheduled telecommute day).


Sounds like a very relaxing and fun weekend!


----------



## snowbear

So, Lazy lobster got a job at the Home Depot, fulfilling online orders and helping out on the floor when they're not busy.  What do they do with their first paycheck?  Send mom some flowers!




Still Life 09012021.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## terri

Awww....so nice!


----------



## terri

Well, I can't that thirty minutes of my life back.    At least it's all cleaned up now.   

I stepped on a soft Sennelier oil pastel that had fallen off the drafting table.







I only realized it later when I came back into the room and saw this: 







It was only on the one shoe, so I was spared the cleanup of full tracks.    But it went out into the hallway onto the hardwood floors.   More cleaning.    

The good news is that it actually did clean up completely, and it happened on a carpet we're planning to rip up next spring, anyway.   (Part of the reason I do this stuff in there!)   Still...kinda took the fun out of that painting.    And Senns are currently retailing for close to 4USD a stick!   Not the kind of thing you like to see clinging to the bottom of your shoe.   

At least it's still gorgeous outside, which is where I'm headed now.   Hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday!


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.

Been spending the weekend so far starting to pack my mother's house. Closing is in a few weeks. There's 45 years of stuff that we are trying to sort through and pack, donate, or toss. Good thing I am not an only child! But I am taking tomorrow to relax and recover because I am still in my super busy period at work and I cannot start this coming week pre-exhausted.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Well, I can't that thirty minutes of my life back.    At least it's all cleaned up now.
> 
> I stepped on a soft Sennelier oil pastel that had fallen off the drafting table.
> 
> View attachment 247903
> 
> 
> 
> I only realized it later when I came back into the room and saw this:
> 
> 
> View attachment 247904
> 
> 
> It was only on the one shoe, so I was spared the cleanup of full tracks.    But it went out into the hallway onto the hardwood floors.   More cleaning.
> 
> The good news is that it actually did clean up completely, and it happened on a carpet we're planning to rip up next spring, anyway.   (Part of the reason I do this stuff in there!)   Still...kinda took the fun out of that painting.    And Senns are currently retailing for close to 4USD a stick!   Not the kind of thing you like to see clinging to the bottom of your shoe.
> 
> At least it's still gorgeous outside, which is where I'm headed now.   Hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday!


Oh boy!  I did that with some paint last year when I stepped on the drop cloth and didn't realize I was tracking it all over -  but it came off of the hardwood floor pretty easily with some elbow grease.  Glad it wasn't something permanent!


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hey hosers.
> 
> Been spending the weekend so far starting to pack my mother's house. Closing is in a few weeks. There's 45 years of stuff that we are trying to sort through and pack, donate, or toss. Good thing I am not an only child! But I am taking tomorrow to relax and recover because I am still in my super busy period at work and I cannot start this coming week pre-exhausted.


Rest up!


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Well, I can't that thirty minutes of my life back.    At least it's all cleaned up now.
> 
> I stepped on a soft Sennelier oil pastel that had fallen off the drafting table.
> 
> View attachment 247903
> 
> 
> 
> I only realized it later when I came back into the room and saw this:
> 
> 
> View attachment 247904
> 
> 
> It was only on the one shoe, so I was spared the cleanup of full tracks.    But it went out into the hallway onto the hardwood floors.   More cleaning.
> 
> The good news is that it actually did clean up completely, and it happened on a carpet we're planning to rip up next spring, anyway.   (Part of the reason I do this stuff in there!)   Still...kinda took the fun out of that painting.    And Senns are currently retailing for close to 4USD a stick!   Not the kind of thing you like to see clinging to the bottom of your shoe.
> 
> At least it's still gorgeous outside, which is where I'm headed now.   Hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday!


I remember when I was a kid, first messing with oil paints.  I guess I had laid the palette down where the cat we had could get to it.  He stepped in the red and walked around.  Mom was not amused.

We went to two farm stands (mini markets, really) and picked up corn, peaches, cantaloupe, watermelon, apples, tomatoes, a yellow squash, a zucchini, and some peppers.  I put two of the peaches on the grill pan and sautéed the squash, zucchini, and two ears of corn (deglazed the pan with some peach wine), while MLW baked a chicken.  two of the peach halves got a topping of cinnamon-butter, for an appetizer, while the other two got cut up with some strawberries and blackberries, then served with ice cream (carb smart) for dessert.

No photos, today, but I did start an oil for the "Vacation" themed art challenge.  Maybe I'll wander out to the pond, tomorrow.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> I remember when I was a kid, first messing with oil paints.  I guess I had laid the palette down where the cat we had could get to it.  He stepped in the red and walked around.  Mom was not amused.
> 
> We went to two farm stands (mini markets, really) and picked up corn, peaches, cantaloupe, watermelon, apples, tomatoes, a yellow squash, a zucchini, and some peppers.  I put two of the peaches on the grill pan and sautéed the squash, zucchini, and two ears of corn (deglazed the pan with some peach wine), while MLW baked a chicken.  two of the peach halves got a topping of cinnamon-butter, for an appetizer, while the other two got cut up with some strawberries and blackberries, then served with ice cream (carb smart) for dessert.
> 
> No photos, today, but I did start an oil for the "Vacation" themed art challenge.  Maybe I'll wander out to the pond, tomorrow.


You've got a good life my friend.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> You've got a good life my friend.


Agreed!   Those peaches sound especially amazing.  Yum!!

I'll have to post the painting that caused the drama once I get a picture taken.   Forgot.


----------



## limr

Is anyone else suddenly getting pop up ads at the top of the screen on mobile Chrome? It just started happening and I already want to throw the phone violently against a wall. It's only happening on this site.


----------



## snowbear

I can check; I have Chrome but use Safari.


----------



## SquarePeg

Have not seen that but I do now have an add for AARP at the bottom of my screen that was never anything there before.  . Also - does anyone else have the "My Ex-Wife Killed in Freak Accident Last Night!!!" at the bottom of their TPF just under the page numbers?  And if you do...have you clicked it?  WHAT HAPPENED?????  

We don't get the popcorn guy nearly enough on this site anymore.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Have not seen that but I do now have an add for AARP at the bottom of my screen that was never anything there before.  . Also - does anyone else have the "My Ex-Wife Killed in Freak Accident Last Night!!!" at the bottom of their TPF just under the page numbers?  And if you do...have you clicked it?  WHAT HAPPENED?????
> 
> We don't get the popcorn guy nearly enough on this site anymore.


I've seen that one a few times, but I don't click on them.


----------



## limr

I see that  ex wife  killed link all the time but have never clicked on it. 

I installed AdBlock and restarted the phone a few times. As of last night, I was still getting the ads but this morning, it appears to have stopped. I hope I didn't just jinx myself! It was so annoying!


----------



## snowbear

Depending on which blocker you use, you may be able to block an "element," an entire frame.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Is anyone else suddenly getting pop up ads at the top of the screen on mobile Chrome? It just started happening and I already want to throw the phone violently against a wall. It's only happening on this site.
> 
> View attachment 248162


Nope, nothing like that on my end.  

I missed your follow-up post here - glad you got it under control.   That kind of stuff will drive me buggy, too!


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy weekend Hosers.  Another weekend of planting for me.  I’ve got a new cherry blossom tree to plant today and some rose bushes before the weekend is done.   Right now it’s 60s and a bit misty.  Perfect planting weather.


----------



## terri

Those are going to look great against that psint job, Sharon!    Watch your back after all that digging.   😆 

It's misting and cool around here, too.  Kind of stuck in this weather pattern for several more days.  Still, this beats the year when everyone's Halloween pumpkins were rotting on their porches from the heat!


----------



## SquarePeg

So many rocks!  Gardening in New England.


----------



## terri

This turned out great!   Looks like perfect placement in the yard.


----------



## Rickbb

Haven't gotten a weird ad in awhile, but did get a porn invite email from a forum member over the weekend.


----------



## terri

Rickbb said:


> Haven't gotten a weird ad in awhile, but did get a porn invite email from a forum member over the weekend.


Not a real forum member  - persistent spam bots!       We're deleting them routinely.   

Our techs are aware of this issue.   The captured spam outweighs this batch, it's ticked up a lot lately.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all. here for just a few mins and i get one of those spam posts ( reported)
Out for the morning with the camera, sat people watching, just two from the morning.


----------



## Original katomi

This one, well the face says it all.


----------



## terri

Great to see you, katomi.   Looks like lovely weather in your part of the world. 

In similar news:

Happy First Day of Fall, hosers!!     My favorite time of year.   🍂

We still have a few hummingbirds around, fighting over the feeders.   Our temps are supposed to plummet over the next couple of days, and it will likely drive them off.   *sniffle*  I love watching them.


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, hosers. I only have a minute to check in - MLW and her oldest full sister are clearing out middle full sister's trailer; I'm making landfill and donation box runs, and need to get back before time to turn the truck in.  Mid sister had a couple of her toes amputated and has developed heart disease, but didn't want to go through the  heart surgery.  She will be living with the older sis once she is out of rehab.  We're hoping she'll change her mind about the surgery.

We've reclaimed our former dining room table from Sherry's (Mom was using it for a while when the place was hers), and a rocking chair Ada was storing for us.  Pics after everything is cleaned up and put into place.  We also have all of the old photos and MLW's late brother's drawings.  We still have another rocker that Lazy Lobster wants, so that goes on our next trip north.


----------



## terri

Whew, @snowbear  -  you've been busy!!

Absolutely want to see the pics when it's all done!

Sorry to hear about your sister-in-law.


----------



## JonA_CT

👋

I still use a camera occasionally -- hope all are well!


----------



## snowbear

How have you been, Jon?  Hope all is going well.


----------



## terri

Great to see you, Jon!   The kids look great.   You're missed around here.


----------



## limr

JonA_CT said:


> 👋
> 
> I still use a camera occasionally -- hope all are well!
> 
> View attachment 248842
> 
> View attachment 248844


JON!!!


----------



## JonA_CT

Funny story about I how I posted here yesterday...

I was transferred to the high school from the middle school in my district this year, and I have quite a few old students on my roster. One of the girls I had 4 years ago asked if I was still doing photography since my room was decorated in prints at the middle school, and got me to look for some recent photos on my computer. It turns out that one of my other student's in that class has some photography/youtube/tutorial celebrities as parents, which explains why her step-dad looked familiar  . Anyways, I posted here after digging through the archives a bit.

Life is pretty solid here. Things at school are pretty good. Last school year was super rough with a variety of teaching models, teaching kids in the classroom and at home simultaneously, etc etc... but our only restrictions at this point is that we wear masks inside the building, and that's a super small price to pay in comparison.

We moved last summer, and are finally feeling settled in the new house at this point. The brewery survived/thrived during the pandemic. Initial debt and expansion are almost paid off, and we're looking for a new, larger brewhouse and taproom space now. We've also hooked up with distributor that is getting our product out to an ever increasing number of states, so definitely look for Tox Brewing in the Northeast at your favorite package store, haha. 

I feel a lot of motivation to take the camera out these days, just not much time. I keep thinking if I carry it around, I might use it...but no success so far.


----------



## limr

It's good to hear from you, Jon! Glad to hear things are good with the brewery, and you can bet I will start looking for some 6-packs 

Hosers.

The closing for my mother's house was on Monday. It is sold. It belongs to someone else after more than 50 years. It was a herculean effort to get everything packed or donated or thrown away. The process started months ago but it still took four of us at least a month to finish the last of it all. My mother has never been organized, but she has also been fairly traumatized by the whole process that it was basically up to us siblings (except for my 5th sibling who stayed in Florida.) I will admit that we went through a LOT Of bourbon 

It is going to take her some time to feel better, but we know this is the best decision for her and for us. In the meantime, she is staying wit my brother and sister-in-law in North Carolina until we figure out where her next home will be.

It was a very stressful, emotional process for all of us and I am going to be recovering for a little while. Exhausted and drained doesn't even begin to describe how I feel. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go sleep for 3 days.

@snowbear  Sounds like you've been dealing with some similar stuff, though I'm sorry to hear that it's because of mid-sister's health troubles. I hope you can talk her into getting the surgery. I have also somehow ended up with a lot more stuff from my mother's house than I expected to have, so now it's time to go through my own house to donate or toss things to make room for new stuff and prevent my house from getting too cluttered. If I learned anything from this whole process, it's that as much as I have pared down, I need to pare down even more!


----------



## terri

@JonA_CT: Sounds like good news all the way through.   I'm so glad to hear the brewery stayed solid through the pandemic.   Congrats on the deal with the distributor!!!    

@limr:  I'm happy for you that it's over and the house is actually sold - that's a BFD!    Very emotional and exhausting situation for your family.   Now you do get to sleep!   

And get back to some photography in some form or fashion, both of y'all.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, Leonore; we're really hoping she change's her mind.  She has a more of her father in her than her mom, so she leans a bit to the stubborn side.  MLW had to run to the rehab center a while ago for some issue with her - don't know what, yet.

Glad to hear the old place is sold.

Oooo - volcano on TV (they fascinate me).


----------



## Original katomi

Lima
Hiya, I know what it’s like, I am still sorting my Mrs”s as well as helping mum sort dads. One flat bed truck and two skips later for mum we are just making inroads.
My next challenge is to clear the shear of junk and convert it to a workshop, the  plan is to run the workshop on solar power if I can.
Already I am charging batteries for tools and my cameras on the solar panels.


----------



## CherylL

@limr it is hard to go thru all the accumulative things that we pick up along the way.   50 years is a long time to be in one house and hard to see their home sold.  When I did this for both our mothers, I kept thinking is this how it ends with a few items in a box?  Life in a box.

I dejunk here a few times a year.  I don't want to burden my daughters when it is our turn to downsize.


----------



## terri

CherylL said:


> @limr it is hard to go thru all the accumulative things that we pick up along the way.   50 years is a long time to be in one house and hard to see their home sold.  When I did this for both our mothers, I kept thinking is this how it ends with a few items in a box?  Life in a box.
> 
> I dejunk here a few times a year.  I don't want to burden my daughters when it is our turn to downsize.


I think that's very wise, Cheryl.    We've moved twice in the last decade - the first time to Texas to literally do this job for my MIL when my FIL passed, somewhat unexpectedly though he'd been in poor health.    We stayed around a few years but really has no desire to live in Texas, so we packed up and moved again.   

During both moves, we tried to sort & dump stuff.   Our lives will be measured in boxes of photography gear and art supplies.


----------



## Jeff15

Only two things in life are worse than moving house, divorce, and close family death...


----------



## Space Face

Kidney stones and gout are too.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Hi @JonA_CT . I thought about you a little bit back when we drove through Ct on the way to RI. Glad the brewery survived and sounds like it’s growing and going to be a worthy venture!


----------



## CherylL

terri said:


> During both moves, we tried to sort & dump stuff. Our lives will be measured in boxes of photography gear and art supplies.


Whenever I bug my husband to dejunk his trash treasures he reminds me of my photography closet


----------



## Warhorse

My wife began feeling ill the weekend before last, on Monday (09/27/21) she was able to get a doctor's appointment. They gave her a chest X-Ray, and swabbed her for COVID-19, the next day she was informed she was positive for COVID, we both were in a state of shock, as we both had been vaccinated. I was tested that day (Tuesday) and the results on me came back negative. Also on that Wednesday the hospital gave her an appointment for Friday (10/01/21) to come in for the Monoclonal antibodies infusion. Saturday she didn't feel any better, Sunday she felt slightly better. Today she is remarkedly better, she tells me she feels almost normal. That infusion treatment works wonders!
Surprisingly, I never caught it, go figure.
All I can say is, God forbid, anybody develops COVID, please get that infusion treatment...it really is a gamechanger.


----------



## SquarePeg

JonA_CT said:


> 👋
> 
> I still use a camera occasionally -- hope all are well!
> 
> View attachment 248842
> 
> View attachment 248844





JonA_CT said:


> Funny story about I how I posted here yesterday...
> 
> I was transferred to the high school from the middle school in my district this year, and I have quite a few old students on my roster. One of the girls I had 4 years ago asked if I was still doing photography since my room was decorated in prints at the middle school, and got me to look for some recent photos on my computer. It turns out that one of my other student's in that class has some photography/youtube/tutorial celebrities as parents, which explains why her step-dad looked familiar  . Anyways, I posted here after digging through the archives a bit.
> 
> Life is pretty solid here. Things at school are pretty good. Last school year was super rough with a variety of teaching models, teaching kids in the classroom and at home simultaneously, etc etc... but our only restrictions at this point is that we wear masks inside the building, and that's a super small price to pay in comparison.
> 
> We moved last summer, and are finally feeling settled in the new house at this point. The brewery survived/thrived during the pandemic. Initial debt and expansion are almost paid off, and we're looking for a new, larger brewhouse and taproom space now. We've also hooked up with distributor that is getting our product out to an ever increasing number of states, so definitely look for Tox Brewing in the Northeast at your favorite package store, haha.
> 
> I feel a lot of motivation to take the camera out these days, just not much time. I keep thinking if I carry it around, I might use it...but no success so far.



Jon!  So nice to see your post.  The kids are beautiful and look happy and healthy!  I'm sure teaching has been epically challenging the past 18 months.  I've thought of you and your family during these difficult times.  Congratulations on the new house and success with your business.  When the kids are that age, you can pretty much forget about time for photography unless you're willing to sacrifice sleep.  I did a lot of sunrise photos before Princess had to be up for school and a lot of late night editing.  If your kids enjoy hiking, forget about planning a big elaborate landscape shoot with perfect timing and ideal lighting - leave your tripod at home and go exploring with your kids and a lightweight camera and zoom.  Just shoot!  

Again - happy to see you and your family are healthy and well!


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> It's good to hear from you, Jon! Glad to hear things are good with the brewery, and you can bet I will start looking for some 6-packs
> 
> Hosers.
> 
> The closing for my mother's house was on Monday. It is sold. It belongs to someone else after more than 50 years. It was a herculean effort to get everything packed or donated or thrown away. The process started months ago but it still took four of us at least a month to finish the last of it all. My mother has never been organized, but she has also been fairly traumatized by the whole process that it was basically up to us siblings (except for my 5th sibling who stayed in Florida.) I will admit that we went through a LOT Of bourbon
> 
> It is going to take her some time to feel better, but we know this is the best decision for her and for us. In the meantime, she is staying wit my brother and sister-in-law in North Carolina until we figure out where her next home will be.
> 
> It was a very stressful, emotional process for all of us and I am going to be recovering for a little while. Exhausted and drained doesn't even begin to describe how I feel. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go sleep for 3 days.
> 
> @snowbear  Sounds like you've been dealing with some similar stuff, though I'm sorry to hear that it's because of mid-sister's health troubles. I hope you can talk her into getting the surgery. I have also somehow ended up with a lot more stuff from my mother's house than I expected to have, so now it's time to go through my own house to donate or toss things to make room for new stuff and prevent my house from getting too cluttered. If I learned anything from this whole process, it's that as much as I have pared down, I need to pare down even more!



Oh Leo that must have been a lot of work and very tiring emotionally.


----------



## terri

Warhorse said:


> My wife began feeling ill the weekend before last, on Monday (09/27/21) she was able to get a doctor's appointment. They gave her a chest X-Ray, and swabbed her for COVID-19, the next day she was informed she was positive for COVID, we both were in a state of shock, as we both had been vaccinated. I was tested that day (Tuesday) and the results on me came back negative. Also on that Wednesday the hospital gave her an appointment for Friday (10/01/21) to come in for the Monoclonal antibodies infusion. Saturday she didn't feel any better, Sunday she felt slightly better. Today she is remarkedly better, she tells me she feels almost normal. That infusion treatment works wonders!
> Surprisingly, I never caught it, go figure.
> All I can say is, God forbid, anybody develops COVID, please get that infusion treatment...it really is a gamechanger.


Good grief.   I'm so glad she's better and you never tested positive.    

The word on the vaccine has been that, should you still get covid-19, it will dramatically reduce any chance of you having to be hospitalized, and be able to bounce back quicker with treatment.   There have been terrific advancements with these treatments, too - excellent that she got it so fast!   

Eventually we'll beat this damn thing.       Stay well!


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Oh Leo that must have been a lot of work and very tiring emotionally.



Can't say it was the easiest thing I've ever done. The hardest part of saying goodbye to the house was that it felt like saying goodbye to my father. He renovated that house for us to move in back in 1975. There was SO much of him in the house - the custom staircase railing, the fireplace, the archways. It's been 15 years since he died but it felt like I could still "visit" with him in the house just by resting my hand on the fireplace, but then we had to say goodbye to that, too. So I am feeling a lot better, but still get randomly teary-eyed. It felt good to have nothing to do all weekend long.


----------



## snowbear

We did a thing tonight.

O I I I I I I I O


----------



## SquarePeg

Go Sox!   I always miss Gary A the most during MLB post season.  I hope he is well.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Can't say it was the easiest thing I've ever done. The hardest part of saying goodbye to the house was that it felt like saying goodbye to my father. He renovated that house for us to move in back in 1975. There was SO much of him in the house - the custom staircase railing, the fireplace, the archways. It's been 15 years since he died but it felt like I could still "visit" with him in the house just by resting my hand on the fireplace, but then we had to say goodbye to that, too. So I am feeling a lot better, but still get randomly teary-eyed. It felt good to have nothing to do all weekend long.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> We did a thing tonight.
> 
> O I I I I I I I O


Spill it!    

Better yet, show it!


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Spill it!
> 
> Better yet, show it!


It’s rainy and there is some funky lighting so I’ll get better ones in the next couple of days (need a steep incline to pose it on).


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Go Sox!   I always miss Gary A the most during MLB post season.  I hope he is well.


You must be happy with your team today  Sharon.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> You must be happy with your team today  Sharon.


Of course!  Always happy with my Sox even when I’ve barely watched a game all year and have no idea who most of these guys are 😮.   I fell asleep in the 8th.


----------



## snowbear

OK @terri,  you asked for it.  Her name will most likely be _Gladys_.  She's a 2021 Jeep Gladiator, Overland.  Only a couple options - a spray-in bed liner and the Cold Weather (AKA "Butt Warmer") package.  I'll add some things over the next couple years.

Rear quarter




Front Quarter




An Easter Egg (passenger-side windshield)




From the Back Seat




Another Easter Egg (Headlight)




Massive Key Fob.  It looks like a jerry can.


----------



## CherylL

Warhorse said:


> My wife began feeling ill the weekend before last, on Monday (09/27/21) she was able to get a doctor's appointment. They gave her a chest X-Ray, and swabbed her for COVID-19, the next day she was informed she was positive for COVID, we both were in a state of shock, as we both had been vaccinated. I was tested that day (Tuesday) and the results on me came back negative. Also on that Wednesday the hospital gave her an appointment for Friday (10/01/21) to come in for the Monoclonal antibodies infusion. Saturday she didn't feel any better, Sunday she felt slightly better. Today she is remarkedly better, she tells me she feels almost normal. That infusion treatment works wonders!
> Surprisingly, I never caught it, go figure.
> All I can say is, God forbid, anybody develops COVID, please get that infusion treatment...it really is a gamechanger.


Glad your wife is better.  Thanks for the first hand experience with the infusion.  We are still taking precautions even though we are vaccinated.  My husband has to see customers periodicaly and I worry about him.  He is retiring in 5 months at 71 and can't get here soon enough.


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> OK @terri,  you asked for it.  Her name will most likely be _Gladys_.  She's a 2021 Jeep Gladiator, Overland.  Only a couple options - a spray-in bed liner and the Cold Weather (AKA "Butt Warmer") package.  I'll add some things over the next couple years.
> 
> Rear quarter
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Front Quarter
> 
> 
> 
> 
> An Easter Egg (passenger-side windshield)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From the Back Seat
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Another Easter Egg (Headlight)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Massive Key Fob.  It looks like a jerry can.


Love the color!  How does it ride?  We have a grand cherokee and it is smooth.  Wondering if the truck type is a rougher ride.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks,.  My color preference was blue but this is the only one they had in our budget.  It's a bit smoother than the Wrangles sonce it'sw a little longer, but it is a truck, so it's probably not as smooth as the GC.


----------



## Warhorse

Snowbear, congrats on your new Jeep, here’s a cell phone pic of my 2021 Jeep Gladiator Sport purchased almost 13 months ago, the color is called “Sting Gray”. They are great little vehicles. I named mine “Sparty”, short for Spartacus.


----------



## snowbear

Nice.  Sting Gray was my second color choice.

There was a Rubi 392 in the showroom.  MLW said it looked like a "fun" car ... that's an understatement.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> OK @terri,  you asked for it.  Her name will most likely be _Gladys_.  She's a 2021 Jeep Gladiator, Overland.  Only a couple options - a spray-in bed liner and the Cold Weather (AKA "Butt Warmer") package.  I'll add some things over the next couple years.
> 
> Rear quarter
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Front Quarter
> 
> 
> 
> 
> An Easter Egg (passenger-side windshield)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From the Back Seat
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Another Easter Egg (Headlight)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Massive Key Fob.  It looks like a jerry can.


This looks badass, Charlie!    I bet it's fun to drive.   

Congrats on the new wheels!    🥳


----------



## SquarePeg

@snowbear  Sweeeeeeet ride.




Warhorse said:


> Snowbear, congrats on your new Jeep, here’s a cell phone pic of my 2021 Jeep Gladiator Sport purchased almost 13 months ago, the color is called “Sting Gray”. They are great little vehicles. I named mine “Sparty”, short for Spartacus.
> View attachment 249205



I love people who name their cars.  Those are my people.  Our 2007 Pilot was Rhonda the Honda.  My daughters Red Ford Escape is Clifford (the big red dog) and my new Honda CRV is Cardi V.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers…knocked a biggie off my bucket list today.  A friend and I hiked Artist Bluff in Franconia Notch.  Short but difficult hike that is very steep but has killer views.   Haven’t downloaded my photos yet but did grab some phone snaps while we were on the way up.  It was epic.  Got buzzed by a couple of military planes and saw a proposal while we were up there.


----------



## This child

snowbear said:


> OK @terri,  you asked for it.  Her name will most likely be _Gladys_.  She's a 2021 Jeep Gladiator, Overland.  Only a couple options - a spray-in bed liner and the Cold Weather (AKA "Butt Warmer") package.  I'll add some things over the next couple years.
> 
> Rear quarter
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Front Quarter
> 
> 
> 
> 
> An Easter Egg (passenger-side windshield)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From the Back Seat
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Another Easter Egg (Headlight)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Massive Key Fob.  It looks like a jerry can.


Remember. It's a JEEP. It's meant to get dirty, dinged, scraped and in places you probably shouldn't go.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> @snowbear  Sweeeeeeet ride.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I love people who name their cars.  Those are my people.  Our 2007 Pilot was Rhonda the Honda.  My daughters Red Ford Escape is Clifford (the big red dog) and my new Honda CRV is Cardi V.



I knew you loved me for a reason! 

My Cobalt was Lucille. My Mazda is Alice B.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> @snowbear  Sweeeeeeet ride.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I love people who name their cars.  Those are my people.  Our 2007 Pilot was Rhonda the Honda.  My daughters Red Ford Escape is Clifford (the big red dog) and my new Honda CRV is Cardi V.


The CR-V is Kaiteki (supposed to be Japanese for "Comfortable").  I had one car, years ago, whose name was "Piece of $%&^"



This child said:


> Remember. It's a JEEP. It's meant to get dirty, dinged, scraped and in places you probably shouldn't go.


Eventually.  For now, she's a pavement princess, that can carry a moderate load.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> I knew you loved me for a reason!
> 
> My Cobalt was Lucille. My Mazda is Alice B.
> View attachment 249243


We always name our cars.   My old Beetle was Big Blue.  Our 2007 Infiniti is the Kat.   The 2012 BMW is the Toaster.


----------



## SquarePeg

You Hosers are my people.


----------



## snowbear

Good evening, Hosers.  Happy Friday.

Gladdie is no longer an "extended test drive;" we dropped the check off this afternoon.   Tomorrow I get to celebrate with some trips to the landfill.

We are planning a New England trip over Veteran's Day.  We have some boxes to get to Lazy Lobster, so we'll do the day-and-a-half shot to Auburn, then come home through NH, VT and NY (Finger Lakes area).

Unfortunately we missed the wedding celebration due to both the COVID numbers being on the rise again, and the issues with peg leg, but here's Cujo* and Hannah.  Photo provided by Cu Andrew's new MIL.






* He had rabies shots when he was three - indirect exposure to a positive-tested raccoon.


----------



## Warhorse

snowbear said:


> Nice.  Sting Gray was my second color choice.
> 
> There was a Rubi 392 in the showroom.  MLW said it looked like a "fun" car ... that's an understatement.


snowbear, have you found any “easter eggs”?
Heres a quick pic of one on my cowling.


----------



## snowbear

Warhorse said:


> snowbear, have you found any “easter eggs”?
> Heres a quick pic of one on my cowling.View attachment 249268


The two I have found are the Willys on the windshield and the grill on the headlights. This one doesn’t appear to have the Willys on the wheels.  No spoilers.

2herecabouts in MI are you.  MLW is from Monroe; some of her nieces and nephews are still there.


----------



## Warhorse

snowbear said:


> The two I have found are the Willys on the windshield and the grill on the headlights. This one doesn’t appear to have the Willys on the wheels.  No spoilers.
> 
> 2herecabouts in MI are you.  MLW is from Monroe; some of her nieces and nephews are still there.


I think the Willys on the windshield, and the grill in the headlights are common to all 2021 Gladiators because mine has those too. The sandals are a true "Easter egg", If memory serves me right I also have a spider somewhere else, I will have to look.
Small world...my wife was born in Monroe, but raised in Taylor, which is also where we live now, it is a little north of Monroe.









						Do All Jeeps Have Easter Eggs? (Complete Guide)
					

There are many Easter eggs hidden in jeeps. Some of them are very well-hidden, and others can be found with a little searching.




					jeepmodified.com


----------



## SquarePeg

Oh man the Easter egg thing makes me want one even more!


----------



## Original katomi

Evening all, (11 pm uk daylight time) Just sat here at pc doing photo edits and prints ... After finally sorting out printer problems.
I collected the G kids today and had a day at my mums place. The G daughter is photogenic the G son ...gooffie silly smile  but was a nice off the cuff shoot. 
the attached image is from a trip a few weeks ago, considering that I had two dogs pulling on their leads to look at the ducks as i took this  i am pleased with the result


----------



## This child

Original katomi said:


> Evening all, (11 pm uk daylight time) Just sat here at pc doing photo edits and prints ... After finally sorting out printer problems.
> I collected the G kids today and had a day at my mums place. The G daughter is photogenic the G son ...gooffie silly smile  but was a nice off the cuff shoot.
> the attached image is from a trip a few weeks ago, considering that I had two dogs pulling on their leads to look at the ducks as i took this  i am pleased with the result


For being pulled by a pair of dogs that wanted to go say Hi, the picture came out fine.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, hosers.  I found some more Easter Eggs on Gladdie:

Inside Tailgate pattern: resembles classic Jeep headlights and grill




Inside head of the bed: again with the grill motif, but also bike tire treads, I guess alluding to the recreational part of the Jeep culture.




One of my favorites: 419 is the area code for Toledo, Ohio, where the Wranglers and Gladiators are built.




Well, off to the office, today.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Good morning, hosers.  I found some more Easter Eggs on Gladdie:
> 
> Inside Tailgate pattern: resembles classic Jeep headlights and grill
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Inside head of the bed: again with the grill motif, but also bike tire treads, I guess alluding to the recreational part of the Jeep culture.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One of my favorites: 419 is the area code for Toledo, Ohio, where the Wranglers and Gladiators are built.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well, off to the office, today.


That's so cool!!   How fun to keep noticing these.

I like the whole idea behind the Easter eggs.   Fun marketing.


----------



## snowbear

There is an animation on starting the truck that I'll try to video, and a couple underneath the truck.  I may, or may not, crawl under there and get shots.

There is definitely a culture associated with the brand.  I have learned to "Jeep wave" at others, and have gotten return waves.  I've put a "Duck of Justice" (Bangor Police Department) on the rear window but I'm looking forward to receiving my first rubber duck (Jeeps are being "ducked," and it all started in Canada) as well as buying a pack to give some out.

We're thinking about a trip to the beach (to drive on it), as soon as this stuff with SIL clears up.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> There is an animation on starting the truck that I'll try to video, and a couple underneath the truck.  I may, or may not, crawl under there and get shots.
> 
> There is definitely a culture associated with the brand.  I have learned to "Jeep wave" at others, and have gotten return waves.  I've put a "Duck of Justice" (Bangor Police Department) on the rear window but I'm looking forward to receiving my first rubber duck (Jeeps are being "ducked," and it all started in Canada) as well as buying a pack to give some out.
> 
> We're thinking about a trip to the beach (to drive on it), as soon as this stuff with SIL clears up.


Fun stuff!  The Bangor PD has a hilarious Facebook page.  Simone there has a great sense of humor.  You could drive to OBX and drive on the beach with the wild horses!  We did that in May and it was so much fun.  

Here’s the grill on the Jeep Wrangler my brother bought.   Looks custom.  The tire cover has a trex theme.


----------



## snowbear

I think that is an added overlay: the angry eyes are kind of neat.  Love Bangor PD.  Tim Cotton was at the DCTravel show a couple years ago ; we have a photo with him somewhere.

Some parts of Cape Cod allow beach driving, as well as one of our own barrier island, Assateague. Just have to watch out for the ponies.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. Good thing I'm working from home today because I have one doozy of a headache. Plus, I also get to have either sinus issues or allergies. Haven't determined which one is preventing me from breathing. Good times, hosers. Good times.

I'm also getting very bummed out because I haven't seen my Rollei since I moved.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> I'm also getting very bummed out because I haven't seen my Rollei since I moved.


Uh-oh.    That's been months and months now.    Any chance it's gotten tucked into someplace weird, that you've forgotten about?   You just went through a lot of stress with your mom's house and all, so maybe you've forgotten?        Sure hope it turns up.    I hate misplacing things!!

Sorry about the migraine, too.   Around here we still have a lot of goldenrod and other late-season allergy triggering plants.   They're getting to me this year, but not as badly as you.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Uh-oh.    That's been months and months now.    Any chance it's gotten tucked into someplace weird, that you've forgotten about?   You just went through a lot of stress with your mom's house and all, so maybe you've forgotten?        Sure hope it turns up.    I hate misplacing things!!
> 
> Sorry about the migraine, too.   Around here we still have a lot of goldenrod and other late-season allergy triggering plants.   They're getting to me this year, but not as badly as you.



I'm starting to go through the unusual places where it might be hiding. I still have boxes that have been set aside for a while, or other boxes that were partially unpacked and consolidated, so I am going to go through them more thoroughly now that I have some time and space to do so. I fear that I accidentally missed it when I unpacked the rest of my cameras, like it was in there in the midst of all of the newspaper or packing material and I somehow missed it because it's small. Or that maybe it was left in my mother's house and one of my siblings packed it or tossed it into a donate pile without checking with me. I'm not giving up hope yet, but I'm also trying to prepare myself in case I can't find it.


----------



## SquarePeg

Sorry Leo.  Losing things sucks.


----------



## limr

HOSERS! HOSSSEEEEEERRRRS!!!

I found it!


----------



## Original katomi

... claps that it’s been found and passes tissue to Lima for the tears of joy finding it


----------



## terri

limr said:


> HOSERS! HOSSSEEEEEERRRRS!!!
> 
> I found it!


Oh, thank heavens!   You must have done a major happy dance!   

It's such a cute little bugger, it would be easy to overlook!   Yayyyyyyy!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Oh, thank heavens!   You must have done a major happy dance!
> 
> It's such a cute little bugger, it would be easy to overlook!   Yayyyyyyy!



I know, that's exactly why I was afraid that I had somehow forgotten to pack it or missed it when unpacking the rest of the cameras. As it turns out, I had organized some of my photo equipment in some decorative stacked boxes, but I had thought it was just equipment like accessories, and one box has my Baby Graphic. So I didn't think any other cameras would be in those boxes.  I had been sort of casually looking around but then in the last couple of days, I got a little obsessed and tore apart lots of boxes and was getting very discouraged. Then, right before I went to bed, I had a totally random thought to check those decorative boxes, and there it was! And there's still film in it


----------



## terri

limr said:


> And there's still film in it


That's the best of all!


----------



## Original katomi

morning all
just sat here watching the car wash


----------



## limr




----------



## CherylL

Set up this year's xmas backdrop and filler items.  The grandson is visiting next week and wanted to get his photos.  For the 3 girls I'll move my set out to the garage next month.  Looks like xmas in the basement and summer not yet fall outside.


----------



## Original katomi

hi all


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> hi all


----------



## Original katomi

hi  how are things that side of the pond


----------



## snowbear

Cool and wet outside, dry inside.

Spent the last week finding bus and mapping about 500 shelters.  I have them spotted to the nearest intersection, so now I'm going through trying to nail the locations using the orthographic imagery.

Then I get to locate trash bins along the side of the road.


----------



## Original katomi

why? job? hobby?


----------



## limr

Original katomi said:


> hi  how are things that side of the pond



Finally cooling off to proper autumn temperatures. Leaves are turning, which means my nice quiet little corner of the Hudson Valley is being overrun by folks from NYC all out to "look at the foliage" or go apple picking at the farm up the road. It's quite annoying and I wish they would just stay away. I did some long-needed yard work this weekend. My knees are not too happy about it but I'm sure my neighbors are


----------



## Original katomi

I used to photo the iron work in the pathways as so much is being replaced by plastic.
then the pc with all the images died so still no record
Limr its always good to get the garden/yard sorted.  I did mine today. Tues i plan to have a morning out with the camera


----------



## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> why? job? hobby?


Job - I make maps and perform spatial analysis.


----------



## Original katomi

Ah i see. 
Well its 00.08 BST here I have just finished editing an image for a club photo comp and sending it off no I am going to bed. Night all chat again soon


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Finally cooling off to proper autumn temperatures. Leaves are turning, which means my nice quiet little corner of the Hudson Valley is being overrun by folks from NYC all out to "look at the foliage" or go apple picking at the farm up the road. It's quite annoying and I wish they would just stay away. I did some long-needed yard work this weekend. My knees are not too happy about it but I'm sure my neighbors are


We were hoping to get some fall views but it doesn't look like it's going to happen, with all the stuff going on with SIL.  MLW and I decided next Autumn we are going to VT for color, and swing down through the finger lakes region.

She found a couple places for sale around Watkins Glen/Lake Seneca - both B&Bs.  It's a shame we're not ready to go.


----------



## ronald_michael

Warhorse said:


> It's also morning here.
> 
> I would like a cup of black coffee, and a cinnamon roll please.


Coffee bartender ! With a shot of bourbon !


----------



## snowbear

Here ya go.
Years ago I was at a Scottish Festival with my father.  We were the first ones at the tent that morning and the guy at the next tent asked if we wanted some "sweetener" in our coffee.  After dad told him we already has cream and sugar, he grinned and pulled out a bottle of single malt.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. Today was an on-campus day but there's flash flooding so I am working from home today. Not as good as a snow day, but I'll still take it!


----------



## SquarePeg

Pouring buckets here!  We’re having a n’oreaster according to the local news.  

This past weekend they finally installed our new fence.  Been impatiently waiting over a month for the materials to arrive.  I’m pretty happy with it.  It will look a lot more organic once the rose bushes grow - I wanted them close enough to poke through the pickets and trail over the top.  Planted a lot of tulip and iris bulbs in front of it.  Hard to tell from the photos but it’s set 1.5’ feet back from the sidewalk so I can soften it with some low plants in between the flowers.  Going to close off that right side with some Rose of Sharon to form a loose hedge.  once it’s all done I’ll have the grass spruced up.  The view from inside the house is much improved.  It’s nice to have something to look at other than passing cars.


----------



## terri

It looks good already!   Can only imagine how pretty it will be surrounded by roses and other flowers.   This was a great idea, homeowner!


----------



## snowbear

Just got home; took MLW to Texas Roadhouse for dinner (it's her birthday).

Looks real nice, Sharon.


----------



## terri

Happy birthday to Mrs. Bear!   🥳


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Just got home; took MLW to Texas Roadhouse for dinner (it's her birthday).
> 
> Looks real nice, Sharon.


Ooooh we love TXRH!  Especially those yummy rolls with the cinnamon butter.  I took Princess there a few weeks ago and had to request an order of rolls to go for her to bring back to her roommates.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Ooooh we love TXRH!  Especially those yummy rolls with the cinnamon butter.  I took Princess there a few weeks ago and had to request an order of rolls to go for her to bring back to her roommates.


Yes, the rolls and butter.  We both got the bone-in ribeye (AKA Tomahawk) which is 1-1/2 meals in itself.  Guess what I had for lunch!

How is she doing, by the way?


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> How is she doing, by the way?


Yes, Sharon, how's our college girl doing so far?


----------



## SquarePeg

She’s doing great!  We had dinner tonight with her roommates and their moms.  We’ve decided it will be a monthly event.  One of the perks of having her at a school so close!


----------



## terri

How fun!   That's such a great idea, everyone getting to know everyone's immediate family.  

Hosers, it's raining cats and dogs outside.   Gonna be a dreary day, and much cooler.   I'm going to head to the kitchen and make a pot of split pea soup.    There's a fat Italian round of bread on the counter.   So, dinner is officially decided.


----------



## SquarePeg

More rain and wind here!  Thankful to know I don’t have to drive anywhere today.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> She’s doing great!  We had dinner tonight with her roommates and their moms.  We’ve decided it will be a monthly event.  One of the perks of having her at a school so close!


Glad that princes is doing great in school.  Good that she is nearby for a dinner meet up.  When our oldest was in college nearby she invited us over about a month after she moved into the dorm.  I went shopping and had several grocery bags of snacks.  Thought I was going to get mugged in the hallway


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> Glad that princes is doing great in school.  Good that she is nearby for a dinner meet up.  When our oldest was in college nearby she invited us over about a month after she moved into the dorm.  I went shopping and had several grocery bags of snacks.  Thought I was going to get mugged in the hallway


Lol!  I get that vibe when I’m there too.  Despite the extremely expensive room and board meal plan (required), food at the campus dining hall is a bit gross and is an ongoing issue from  what I’ve learned. I have been sending a steady supply of meals they can zap in the microwave.  Last week I made them a big pan of baked Mac n cheese and a couple of batches of nestle toll house.  This week I’ve promised spaghetti and meatballs.


----------



## snowbear

It's supposed to rain here, tomorrow - The Fire/EMD Operations Duty Chief asked if I could provide any floodplain maps; chance of coastal flooding.  Even though we are not on the coast, we are between a couple of tidal rivers, so it could be interesting.  If it get's real bad, I'll see how this Jeep fords streams.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> If it get's real bad, I'll see how this Jeep fords streams.


I hope it doesn't get that bad!   Eek!


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Lol!  I get that vibe when I’m there too.  Despite the extremely expensive room and board meal plan (required), food at the campus dining hall is a bit gross and is an ongoing issue from  what I’ve learned. I have been sending a steady supply of meals they can zap in the microwave.  Last week I made them a big pan of baked Mac n cheese and a couple of batches of nestle toll house.  This week I’ve promised spaghetti and meatballs.


The meal plan is expensive!  If my daughters had money left on the plan at the end of the year, they would go to the little on campus quick type shop and spend the remainder.  We had snacks for months.  I donated some to the local food pantry.  Any money left on their plan was not carried over to the next year.  So use it or lose it.


----------



## CherylL

The 3yo grandson was in town for a few days.  He doesn't visit often and just now warming up to us.  When I act silly for him, he laughs and then says crazy.  Guess I am now the crazy grandma.

Set up this years' xmas set and took a few photos.  The session was only 5 min and he kept asking if we were done.  Didn't get him smiling big, but got this half smile.  Another day tried to get his photo in his dinosaur halloween costume and the photos were him laying on the floor in melt down mode.  I did get a couple as he went up the steps.


----------



## terri

CherylL said:


> Another day tried to get his photo in his dinosaur halloween costume and the photos were him laying on the floor in melt down mode.


   Kids!   I don't mean to laugh, but he's so cute and I can just envision him so clearly in melt down mode!!

Thank goodness you got this one.   It's perfectly fine, and he's adorable in his jammies!


----------



## CherylL

terri said:


> Kids!   I don't mean to laugh, but he's so cute and I can just envision him so clearly in melt down mode!!
> 
> Thank goodness you got this one.   It's perfectly fine, and he's adorable in his jammies!


It was a cute meltdown   He was wearing a dinosaur costume


----------



## snowbear

Taking a short break from work.  I'm locating (to map) specific trash bins.  I was given a spreadsheet with the "locations" and get to map them, after verifying the locations.  Sometimes the people who make these lists aren't very precise; my favorite in "Cabin Branch Road / 4th Telephone Pole"  

Rains stopped after Saturday night and the streams are still high, but not over the banks, from what I've seen.  Still working to get stuff out of SIL's place, but MLW is confident we can get it done this week.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> "Cabin Branch Road / 4th Telephone Pole"


Oh!  I am SO there.


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> "Cabin Branch Road / 4th Telephone Pole"





snowbear said:


> "Cabin Branch Road / 4th Telephone Pole"


Sounds legit !  Many years ago my Dad gave me directions for us to meet him at a campground.  He said to turn left at the large tire.  Well that is what I heard, but he was actually saying tower.


----------



## snowbear

My mother grew up in an area where a local furniture store had a huge chair in the parking lot, so "the large tire" would make sense to me.


----------



## vintagesnaps

3 year old, meltdown, that sounds about right ! lol having worked with that age group for 20 years. Cute picture of him, love the Santa hat dinosaurs.

@Sharon - Merrimack! I've seen them play hockey here years ago. Should hunt thru my old pictures. They were playing in an older smaller arena where they let fans stand around the glass the whole game so of course I took pictures. I think I've seen most of Hockey East in a tournament that used to be played here.

College food seems to not have improved over the years! lol I still to this day cannot eat chicken parmesan. Not sure why we had that every week...


----------



## SquarePeg

Hi Hosers!  My Milky Way photo posse went out last night to get photos of the northern lights without me because I had another commitment. Of course they got some awesome amazing looks at the lights. I am debating going out tonight but I would have to cancel some plans and go up two hours north by myself… Sigh I don’t know what to do.  Having major FOMO but I also don’t want to throw my whole weekend into chaos by being out all night in the cold - also changing my plans tonight means moving things to tomorrow and working with little sleep… but it’s the Aurora baby!


----------



## snowbear

They were visible in about the same areas a few years go, so you'll get another shot if you can't do it tonight.  These things are cyclic.  I'm wishing this was delayed a week or so - we'll be up over the Holiday.


----------



## SquarePeg

I decided to skip it because the forecast called for a little bit more clouds than what I was comfortable with for that long of a drive. I’ll just avoid Instagram and Facebook for a few days in case everybody else went up there and got their shot of a lifetime LOL.


----------



## snowbear

With the mess that SIL has been in and our trying to get the trailer cleaned out for sale, we haven't been anywhere to see Autumn colors.  MLW suggested a trip to New England next year.


----------



## snowbear

Waiting at the local pharmacy waiting for my COVID booster and Flu shot.


----------



## Jeff15

I have had all three Covid jabs now but this thing is not going away anytime soon. We all still have to be careful where we go..


----------



## snowbear

That is so right.


----------



## snowbear

Another weekend clearing out Peg-Leg's place.  Tomorrow I go to the office while MLW takes PL for a DR's appointment, then back to the trailer to work some more.  I'm taking off Wednesday to install the bed cover on Gladdie (if it's delivered), then off to Maine on Thursday after MLW's therapy session.


----------



## snowbear

On the road again.


----------



## terri

You're a busy Bear!


----------



## snowbear

Yes, we are.  we changed our usual overnight spot from Mystic, CT (as in the Pizza movie) to Sturbridge, Mass.  a little longer drive today but it puts us an hour closer to Maine.

g’night, peeps


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Hi all! Just wanted to ask if you have a spare 5 or 10 minutes today to check out loveforourelders.org. It’s a program to brighten lonely elders’ day by writing cards/notes to them. Doesn’t cost you anything except time, postage and writing/art supplies! Think of what it will mean to them!


----------



## SquarePeg

Hosers!  A stomach bug knocked me on my arse the past few days.  I was fine Sunday afternoon but bam by Sunday night I was a mess.  Roughest 24 hours I can ever recall.  Thought I had a fever too but that turned out to be a sunburn from walking on the beach Sunday morning!  To add insult to injury I threw my back out in the middle of the whole thing.  Covid test was negative fortunately.  Stomach is feeling a bit better today but I’m left with the backache and a blinding headache.   If you’ve never known the agony of sneezing while your back is in pain consider yourself lucky.  Hoping to be back to “normal” tomorrow.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Hosers!  A stomach bug knocked me on my arse the past few days.  I was fine Sunday afternoon but bam by Sunday night I was a mess.  Roughest 24 hours I can ever recall.  Thought I had a fever too but that turned out to be a sunburn from walking on the beach Sunday morning!  To add insult to injury I threw my back out in the middle of the whole thing.  Covid test was negative fortunately.  Stomach is feeling a bit better today but I’m left with the backache and a blinding headache.   If you’ve never known the agony of sneezing while your back is in pain consider yourself lucky.  Hoping to be back to “normal” tomorrow.


Wow you have it all!  Feel better soon!


----------



## terri

Ugh, @SquarePeg:  that sounds awful!   I'm so sorry.     I hope you turn the corner soon!   

I'm very familiar with the back pain being worse upon sneezing, unfortunately.   🤧 

Get well soon.    ❤


----------



## snowbear

I hope you're feeling better, Sharon, and I swear, it wasn't me.  We went through New Hampshire to get home, Sunday.  really.


----------



## snowbear

I went to my first Jeep "thing" yesterday - a "rolling wave" for a boy's 9th birthday.  The back story: his dad is a Jeeper and the family goes on off-road / camping weekends.  Dad is being deployed to the Middle East and will miss his son's birthday.  Dad asks his off-road pals to "take care of Jax on his birthday" and word spreads among a couple Jeep clubs.

Between 20 and 30 Jeeps met at the nearby high school, and we lined up.  A couple plain black SUVs went to get the family, and drove them by us, "on review."  When the SUVs passed the group, the Fire Engine, MD CHART truck and two State Troopers lead us in the procession back to the family's house.  The Engine and Troopers blocked traffic for us.

I could only get one shot, as we lined up and waited for the family to review us.




Untitled by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## Jeff15

It all looks good to me......


----------



## This child

snowbear said:


> I went to my first Jeep "thing" yesterday - a "rolling wave" for a boy's 9th birthday.  The back story: his dad is a Jeeper and the family goes on off-road / camping weekends.  Dad is being deployed to the Middle East and will miss his son's birthday.  Dad asks his off-road pals to "take care of Jax on his birthday" and word spreads among a couple Jeep clubs.
> 
> Between 20 and 30 Jeeps met at the nearby high school, and we lined up.  A couple plain black SUVs went to get the family, and drove them by us, "on review."  When the SUVs passed the group, the Fire Engine, MD CHART truck and two State Troopers lead us in the procession back to the family's house.  The Engine and Troopers blocked traffic for us.
> 
> I could only get one shot, as we lined up and waited for the family to review us.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Untitled by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


Refreshing story about what was done for the boy's birthday.


----------



## snowbear

Jeff15 said:


> It all looks good to me......


Thanks.  You can't see that they (we) were wrapped around the corner.


This child said:


> Refreshing story about what was done for the boy's birthday.


Yes, it is.  It was a lot of fun; I'm looking forward to more rides like this.


----------



## Warhorse

snowbear said:


> I went to my first Jeep "thing" yesterday - a "rolling wave" for a boy's 9th birthday.  The back story: his dad is a Jeeper and the family goes on off-road / camping weekends.  Dad is being deployed to the Middle East and will miss his son's birthday.  Dad asks his off-road pals to "take care of Jax on his birthday" and word spreads among a couple Jeep clubs.
> 
> Between 20 and 30 Jeeps met at the nearby high school, and we lined up.  A couple plain black SUVs went to get the family, and drove them by us, "on review."  When the SUVs passed the group, the Fire Engine, MD CHART truck and two State Troopers lead us in the procession back to the family's house.  The Engine and Troopers blocked traffic for us.
> 
> I could only get one shot, as we lined up and waited for the family to review us.



Youse "Jeepers" are cool peoples!


----------



## SquarePeg

USA Hosers!  Just wanted to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!  And for those not in the USA - have a great weekend!


----------



## terri

Happy Thanksgiving, hosers in the US!   I hope everyone has a relaxing day with family and friends, and good food.    ❤


----------



## snowbear

Happy Thanksgiving!  I've started cooking; I'll add the rice tomorrow.


----------



## Warhorse

Happy Thanksgiving my fellow Americans!


----------



## limr




----------



## This child

This child said:


> Remember. It's a JEEP. It's meant to get dirty, dinged, scraped and in places you probably shouldn't go.





 enuff said


----------



## snowbear

Well, it is dirty and there are a couple scratches on the bed cap (plastic), but no dents.

It's been a long night.  Pegleg is back in the hospital with bone infection.  MLW came up first thing yesterday morning and I popped in yesterday evening.  I ran home long enough to feed kitty and take a shower, then got back up here (about 1-1/2 hours from home) a few minutes ago.  She is in "comfort care" which means she does not want to be resusitated.  We've heard a few hours to one guess of two or three weeks.  Looks like it may be another sucky Christmas.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Well, it is dirty and there are a couple scratches on the bed cap (plastic), but no dents.
> 
> It's been a long night.  Pegleg is back in the hospital with bone infection.  MLW came up first thing yesterday morning and I popped in yesterday evening.  I ran home long enough to feed kitty and take a shower, then got back up here (about 1-1/2 hours from home) a few minutes ago.  She is in "comfort care" which means she does not want to be resusitated.  We've heard a few hours to one guess of two or three weeks.  Looks like it may be another sucky Christmas.


So sorry bear.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> So sorry bear.


Thank you, Sharon


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Well, it is dirty and there are a couple scratches on the bed cap (plastic), but no dents.
> 
> It's been a long night.  Pegleg is back in the hospital with bone infection.  MLW came up first thing yesterday morning and I popped in yesterday evening.  I ran home long enough to feed kitty and take a shower, then got back up here (about 1-1/2 hours from home) a few minutes ago.  She is in "comfort care" which means she does not want to be resusitated.  We've heard a few hours to one guess of two or three weeks.  Looks like it may be another sucky Christmas.



I'm so sorry


----------



## snowbear

thanks, hon.

in a nutshell, antibiotics have been stopped as they appeared to be causing a drop in kidney function.  Pain med was given IV.  She isn’t responsive to verbal questions but does respond to touch.  We are waiting for hospice to determine if she will receive home or in-patient care (likely).

I’ll probably go home tonight and come back tomorrow unless I am needed to go back to her trailer.

 I’ll return to work Monday if nothing changes.


----------



## snowbear

Sherry's (SIL's / 'Pegleg's") journey is finally over - no more pain, anxiety and depression.  She drove me crazy, but she always meant well and put others before herself.

Rest in peace.


----------



## Warhorse

Both you, and your wife have my condolences.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Sherry's (SIL's / 'Pegleg's") journey is finally over - no more pain, anxiety and depression.  She drove me crazy, but she always meant well and put others before herself.
> 
> Rest in peace.



I'm so sorry, Charlie. Love to you and your wife and family.


----------



## Robshoots

limr said:


>


I remember that episode!  It was just as funny this time.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> I'm so sorry, Charlie. Love to you and your wife and family.


Thanks.  MLW, Ada (the other SIL “) and I decided no cooking tonight, so we’re at a local seafood place near Ada.  Yep, we’re near Bawlmer.


----------



## snowbear

Well, the arrangements have been made.  Really, the only thing left is flowers and we have some time for that.  We do need to contact a couple of the local newspapers (here and Michigan) for the obits.  I got fussed at today by the boss for even thinking about calling into the staff meeting while at the funeral home.


----------



## WalterRowe

snowbear said:


> Sherry's (SIL's / 'Pegleg's") journey is finally over - no more pain, anxiety and depression.  She drove me crazy, but she always meant well and put others before herself.
> 
> Rest in peace.


My sincere condolences to you and your family.


----------



## snowbear

And $#!t comes in threes:
First my sister-in-law, then a friend's/former co-worker's son was killed in a robbery, and yesterday my mom passed away.  Thanks, Leo for taking care of POTM last night.  Keeping busy to not dwell on things that I can't change.


----------



## SquarePeg

So sorry bear.  You’ve had more than your share recently.  Don’t forget to take care of yourself during all of this.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> And $#!t comes in threes:
> First my sister-in-law, then a friend's/former co-worker's son was killed in a robbery, and yesterday my mom passed away.  Thanks, Leo for taking care of POTM last night.  Keeping busy to not dwell on things that I can't change.


Good lord, Charlie- somehow I missed these recent posts and this ordeal you and your family are going through.   I'm so very sorry about your mom.   ❤    You have my condolences.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, love you guys.  we’re getting some help and support from my aunt and cousin.  A lot of work ahead and we still have a couple more weekends working at Sherry’s place.  It seems like we’ll never get done.  A big shout out and thanks to Leo for finishing up the POTM.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Thanks, love you guys.  we’re getting some help and support from my aunt and cousin.  A lot of work ahead and we still have a couple more weekends working at Sherry’s place.  It seems like we’ll never get done.  A big shout out and thanks to Leo for finishing up the POTM.



Whatever you need, Charlie!


----------



## Warhorse

So sorry to hear about your mom snowbear.


----------



## snowbear

Thank you, Warhorse


----------



## Original katomi

Snow bear
Hi just logged in sorry to hear your news
Hugs..


----------



## Warhorse

I have noticed that Old Hippy has not posted in a month or so. Has anyone been in contact with him? I hope all is well with him.


----------



## SquarePeg

Warhorse said:


> I have noticed that Old Hippy has not posted in a month or so. Has anyone been in contact with him? I hope all is well with him.


His last post was in Nov but he was “last seen” viewing a thread last week.  Not sure if this info is available to all?  I clicked on user his name and it shows for me but that may be a mod power (muahaha).   He may be out of flowers to shoot with winter here!


----------



## snowbear

I think the "last seen" is visible to everyone unless the user blocks it out in their preferences.

Sherry's funeral was nice, and the escort provided by the Sheriff's Office was very impressive: eight motorcycle units which took turns blocking intersections, then leapfrogging back to the front.  There were a few County Police (different agency) cruisers in the procession, as well.  Aurelia (lazy_lobster) flew down from Maine, and helped MLW wrote the eulogy.  Aurelia is taking it very hard - they were pretty close.  Though I really hate public speaking, I read the eulogy.  Even the family members that don't get along left the drama at home.

After all was done, we went up to the florist and ordered the spray for mom.  It will be seasonal: reds, green, and white with winter greenery (pine, maybe holly).  Mom always liked the way houses in Williamsburg were decorated for Christmas.  Very simple, usually a wreath with a red ribbon and single candles in windows.

The three of us went into DC to see the National Christmas Tree.  The smaller State trees have disks that were painted by students from the one or more schools in the state.  Puerto Rico's ornaments were pretty and all seemed to incorporate their flag in some way.  I have some shots on the phone that I'll pull off a little later.

Back to work today and tomorrow, though they are telecommute days.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, I was looking for a table top photo topic and found this wee gem


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> I think the "last seen" is visible to everyone unless the user blocks it out in their preferences.
> 
> Sherry's funeral was nice, and the escort provided by the Sheriff's Office was very impressive: eight motorcycle units which took turns blocking intersections, then leapfrogging back to the front.  There were a few County Police (different agency) cruisers in the procession, as well.  Aurelia (lazy_lobster) flew down from Maine, and helped MLW wrote the eulogy.  Aurelia is taking it very hard - they were pretty close.  Though I really hate public speaking, I read the eulogy.  Even the family members that don't get along left the drama at home.
> 
> After all was done, we went up to the florist and ordered the spray for mom.  It will be seasonal: reds, green, and white with winter greenery (pine, maybe holly).  Mom always liked the way houses in Williamsburg were decorated for Christmas.  Very simple, usually a wreath with a red ribbon and single candles in windows.
> 
> The three of us went into DC to see the National Christmas Tree.  The smaller State trees have disks that were painted by students from the one or more schools in the state.  Puerto Rico's ornaments were pretty and all seemed to incorporate their flag in some way.  I have some shots on the phone that I'll pull off a little later.
> 
> Back to work today and tomorrow, though they are telecommute days.


I'm glad it went as well as it could, Charlie.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning.  I've got to get ready to go to DCA and get Andrew (son #1).  Probably take a quick trip to The Barn Show, to see the fam friends, then get ready for the funeral, this afternoon.  I'll probably check back in this evening, or in the morning (daily spam crush).


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Christmas Eve Eve! Today is the day I pay the price for all of my Christmas procrastination. 😟 😳🤪Shopping, cleaning, baking, wrapping… who’s in this boat with me? If only I were as enthusiastic about these things as I am about my hobby.  Drive 3 hours in the middle of the night to get a Milky Way photo?  I’m in!  Get up at 4am to shoot the sunrise?  I’m in!  A 24 hour photo road trip to NYC?  You bet I’m in!  Presents to wrap?  Ugh I’m too tired! 😩

I’m going to need a very large martini later today!  Who’s with me on that? 🍸 🥂 🍻


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Good morning.  I've got to get ready to go to DCA and get Andrew (son #1).  Probably take a quick trip to The Barn Show, to see the fam friends, then get ready for the funeral, this afternoon.  I'll probably check back in this evening, or in the morning (daily spam crush).


I hope your day goes by quickly and without any undue trauma, Charlie!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Happy Christmas Eve Eve! Today is the day I pay the price for all of my Christmas procrastination. 😟 😳🤪Shopping, cleaning, baking, wrapping… who’s in this boat with me? If only I were as enthusiastic about these things as I am about my hobby.  Drive 3 hours in the middle of the night to get a Milky Way photo?  I’m in!  Get up at 4am to shoot the sunrise?  I’m in!  A 24 hour photo road trip to NYC?  You bet I’m in!  Presents to wrap?  Ugh I’m too tired! 😩
> 
> I’m going to need a very large martini later today!  Who’s with me on that? 🍸 🥂 🍻


The older we get the more Christmas planning seems to take its toll!    I planned well this year: NO presents due to our hosting the big dinner, and the big dinner -for the absolute first time in my life - is all being picked up today at the market.    I'm baking my famous cherry pie tomorrow, and will be adding another homemade side dish to the dinner, and the house is already decorated.    And of course, we'll provide the wine and after dinner coffee.  

Today is my madhouse day to run around for packing supplies and to pick up the food - it's going to be a zoo in there and I'm dreading it.   But I must admit it could be so much crazier, so I'm going to try to enjoy it.  

I can only hope that the food will be decent on Saturday.   I'll toast you later, @SquarePeg with a glass of wine!   🍷


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Good morning.  I've got to get ready to go to DCA and get Andrew (son #1).  Probably take a quick trip to The Barn Show, to see the fam friends, then get ready for the funeral, this afternoon.  I'll probably check back in this evening, or in the morning (daily spam crush).








SquarePeg said:


> Happy Christmas Eve Eve! Today is the day I pay the price for all of my Christmas procrastination. 😟 😳🤪Shopping, cleaning, baking, wrapping… who’s in this boat with me? If only I were as enthusiastic about these things as I am about my hobby.  Drive 3 hours in the middle of the night to get a Milky Way photo?  I’m in!  Get up at 4am to shoot the sunrise?  I’m in!  A 24 hour photo road trip to NYC?  You bet I’m in!  Presents to wrap?  Ugh I’m too tired! 😩
> 
> I’m going to need a very large martini later today!  Who’s with me on that? 🍸 🥂 🍻



I've done all my shopping, but presents are not wrapped yet and I probably won't get to mailing my cards until tomorrow. I am not hosting anything but I still need to make a grocery run. My sister usually hosts Christmas Eve and this year we've talked her into just a quick afternoon drink/appetizers on the deck, maybe an hour or two. Buzz's family hosts Christmas but we've again managed to make it a potluck brunchy sort of thing for a few hours. Both of us like to try to keep the holidays as low-key as possible. 

I'll still join you in that martini, though, Sharon!


----------



## limr

I did some errands this afternoon. I got gift certificates for Buzz's parents at a cat cafe about 20 minutes from my house. While I was in that town, I stopped at a local bakery and got some very yummy bread products. I stopped at the grocery store on my way home but it was m.o.b.b.e.d. so I just turned right around in the parking lot and got the hell out of there. Instead, I drove  about a mile past my house to a local farm stand and got some local cheese, eggs, and their house-made pie shells for a quiche, and a bottle of their dry hard cider. Because I spent over a certain amount, I got to spin their "gift wheel" and ended up with a gift certificate for a "pick-your-own" visit. Their season starts in May and I can just walk up the road and pick my own fruit. I'm thinking I might just get some Chinese food from my favorite little place just 4 minutes from my house. I'm so happy I moved up here 

Now it's time to pour that martini and start wrapping!


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, Leo.  MLW and I are calling the Jeep a present to each other but I did get her a Coach gift certificate and a pie crust shield.  Not sure that we’ll do much this year, otherwise.  We are going to take food up to her sister’s and spend Christmas Day with her and the boys.

The funeral service went well; saw some cousins I haven’t seen in years.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Because I spent over a certain amount, I got to spin their "gift wheel" and ended up with a gift certificate for a "pick-your-own" visit. Their season starts in May and I can just walk up the road and pick my own fruit. I'm thinking I might just get some Chinese food from my favorite little place just 4 minutes from my house. I'm so happy I moved up here


That sounds so nice!   Very cute thing to do with shoppers, and it's fun to anticipate just being able to walk up the road in the spring.    So glad you're enjoying your new 'hood!


----------



## SquarePeg

Harlie cookie by Sophia.  She easily won this year’s family cookie decorating contest.


----------



## snowbear

Merry Christmas, hosers.




2021  Wreath by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## Warhorse

Merry Christmas everybody!


----------



## Fujidave

Hi everyone, just thought I'd say hello as now back and feeling pretty good in my self now, looking forward to joining back in with photography that I love so much.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Hi everyone, just thought I'd say hello as now back and feeling pretty good in my self now, looking forward to joining back in with photography that I love so much.


Welcome back.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Welcome back.



Thank you Sharon.


----------



## Fujidave

Cool nice to be a supporting member again.


----------



## Fujidave

Goodnight everyone off to bed now, see you tomorrow.


----------



## terri

That cookie is amazing, @SquarePeg !!   Harlie looks like she's waiting to eat it.   

Love that wreath, Bear!!!!  ❤

Good to see you around the forum again, FD.


----------



## Fujidave

Good morning everyone, dark gloomy and raining here today but very mild.


----------



## terri

Mild here in the SE USA, as well.   Foggy morning!   

Happy Monday, hosers.


----------



## limr

It is gloriously cloudy and cold up here in the Hudson Valley. It's a perfect day for me to go for a walk.


----------



## snowbear

Currently 39 and a little rain, off and on.  Calling for spotty sleet north of the city (higher elevations, no doubt).  Normally I wouldn't mind but I still have chills.  Couldn't get in for testing; I'll start again in the morning.  The place opens at 8, so I'll get there between 7:00 and 7:30.

Zoe was sleeping in her usual afternoon spot: our bed, near the foot, MLW's side.  I put one of my hoodies on my side ... she moved over to it.


----------



## SquarePeg

Old and gloomy here. Damp but no rain.  I had today off so I walked the dog then cleaned the house as I’d had my lay around in pj’s day yesterday after hosting dinner on Christmas.   3 day work week this week then another long weekend!


----------



## Warhorse

Anyone else get any photo related presents from Santa?

He stopped by my house and left me this tripod.  




It's a 
Benro Tortoise Columnless Carbon Fiber Three Series Tripod with GX35 Ball Head​


----------



## terri

Good Santa!     

Nothing that fun arrived here.    Go have fun with that thing, Warhorse!


----------



## Fujidave

Santa sent me some cool prezzies, mini tripod and SR for my Iphone 12 Pro some great pocket watches one of which has MM my favourite actress more editing software and books.  Now I just have to wait for the best to arrive, my Red Arrows Citizen wrist watch.


----------



## NancyMoranG

Ok,  I've been gone @ 7 months,  what did I miss??

Spent summer in Grand Tetons again and had a Blast.
More soon but wanted to check in and say hi.


----------



## terri

NancyMoranG said:


> Ok,  I've been gone @ 7 months,  what did I miss??
> 
> Spent summer in Grand Tetons again and had a Blast.
> More soon but wanted to check in and say hi.


Hi, Nancy!   I've been wondering about you - the last we heard, you'd just arrived out there and were settling in for the season.   Hope you had a lovely Christmas, and Happy New Year to you!

More pictures of that glorious place, please.


----------



## CherylL

Hope everyone got something special this year from Santa  photo related.

On another note, I read the post by Zombiesniper about the changes are coming.  At first I thought is this for all posts?  Then I realized it was for the C&C gallery.  May want to preface that to not scare away all the newbies that got cameras this year.  I do agree with asking for specific critique in the C&C section.


----------



## snowbear

Good idea, Cheryl.  We'll pass it along to @zombiesniper .

Mom's journey is complete: her ashes were placed with Dad at the veteran's cemetery, this morning.


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> Good idea, Cheryl.  We'll pass it along.
> 
> Mom's journey is complete: her ashes were placed with Dad at the veteran's cemetery, this morning.


So very sorry on your loss snowbear


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Sorry to hear about your mother’s passing @snowbear.


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, guys


----------



## limr

Nooooooo! 









						Betty White Dies: The Golden Girls and Mary Tyler Moore Show Star Was 99
					

Betty White, 99, died on Dec. 31, 2021. Look back at her groundbreaking and decades-spanning career in television, on shows including The Golden Girls and The Mary Tyler Moore Show




					people.com


----------



## Warhorse

RIP Betty, I loved your work.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Nooooooo!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Betty White Dies: The Golden Girls and Mary Tyler Moore Show Star Was 99
> 
> 
> Betty White, 99, died on Dec. 31, 2021. Look back at her groundbreaking and decades-spanning career in television, on shows including The Golden Girls and The Mary Tyler Moore Show
> 
> 
> 
> 
> people.com


Rotten news, isn't it?     Just - unexpected, since apparently her 100th birthday is coming soon and there has been some kind of celebration in the works.   You start thinking certain people will just stick around with us forever.   

She made me laugh many times.   🥀


----------



## RowdyRay

RIP Betty. Sad.

18 days shy of 100. Yesterday on my homepage was an interview asking her secret for longevity. She didn't eat anything green. Lol.


----------



## snowbear

😢


----------



## snowbear

62 degrees F today, and calling for one to seven inches of snow tomorrow (starting after midnight).


----------



## SquarePeg

NancyMoranG said:


> Ok,  I've been gone @ 7 months,  what did I miss??
> 
> Spent summer in Grand Tetons again and had a Blast.
> More soon but wanted to check in and say hi.


Nancy!  Glad you are doing well.  Happy New Year!!!  I'm hoping to reschedule my GTNP trip for this coming fall.  Will you be going back?


CherylL said:


> Hope everyone got something special this year from Santa  photo related.
> 
> On another note, I read the post by Zombiesniper about the changes are coming.  At first I thought is this for all posts?  Then I realized it was for the C&C gallery.  May want to preface that to not scare away all the newbies that got cameras this year.  I do agree with asking for specific critique in the C&C section.


I got a gorilla pod w arca swiss ball head from Princess.  Exactly what I needed!


limr said:


> Nooooooo!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Betty White Dies: The Golden Girls and Mary Tyler Moore Show Star Was 99
> 
> 
> Betty White, 99, died on Dec. 31, 2021. Look back at her groundbreaking and decades-spanning career in television, on shows including The Golden Girls and The Mary Tyler Moore Show
> 
> 
> 
> 
> people.com


----------



## snowbear

I went out and measured between noon and 1:00 and we were at 9-3/4 inches of snow on the sidewalk.  it stopped about 2:00.


----------



## limr

Ahem...

May I remind you all that Soylent Green was set in the year 2022.

Be careful what you eat this year, hosers.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> May I remind you all that Soylent Green was set in the year 2022.


I forgot about that!   It was based on the book _Make Room! Make Room!   _and it's easy to forget those things.


----------



## CherylL

limr said:


> Ahem...
> 
> May I remind you all that Soylent Green was set in the year 2022.
> 
> Be careful what you eat this year, hosers.


Odd coincidence that my husband was talking about Soylent Green just the other day.


----------



## VidThreeNorth

I do not really follow stocks, so I am not going to make a topic for this.  It was just a Canuck coincidence.  Back around September, Canon Inc (yes, the Japanese camera company) bought up a Canadian Xray company "Redlen" because it had developed a new CT scan technology.  That surprised me because the most common buy-out of a company is usually between Canada and the US.  But yeah, the X-Ray field is fairly specialized, so Canon clearly looks globally for acquisitions.  Anyway, I thought I would read up on it today, and I searched Canon's website, and I found that In Dec (2021) they had also made an investment in an Ontario IT company "Supra ITS".  It's all very normal "big business invests in smaller company" stuff.  But it seems we are doing some stuff right in Canuckland.  Good.


----------



## snowbear

That's nice, but let's get back to the silly $#!t.    Expecting snow/rain in DC area this weekend.  I'm hoping it's snow, but that means more work for Zoe - keeping those 'squatches away.

This is in my Amazon cart - probably order it tomorrow.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08X1JS6T3/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1A5WTPZ4HUHTW&th=1


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> That's nice, but let's get back to the silly $#!t.    Expecting snow/rain in DC area this weekend.  I'm hoping it's snow, but that means more work for Zoe - keeping those 'squatches away.
> 
> This is in my Amazon cart - probably order it tomorrow.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08X1JS6T3/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1A5WTPZ4HUHTW&th=1


Must order!!!!


----------



## snowbear

I have to measure the window; I'm interested in the 12x12 version.  Now where is MLW with the truck?


----------



## snowbear

MLW are trying to get to Portland, ME next month ... lazy_lobster has another photo in the gallery at MECA, plus the four at a gallery in NJ that we haven't been able to see.  Interestingly, the banner for the Institute of Contemporary Art is one of LL's from a series on decay.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> MLW are trying to get to Portland, ME next month ... lazy_lobster has another photo in the gallery at MECA, plus the four at a gallery in NJ that we haven't been able to see.  Interestingly, the banner for the Institute of Contemporary Art is one of LL's from a series on decay.



Nice!


----------



## SquarePeg

Newly obsessed with Wordle.  Got today’s word in 2 tries.  Anyone else playing?  I’m new to it so not sure if today was an easy one or typical.   Also check out the alternative game of Absurdle for more word play!


----------



## CherylL

Ordered a new backdrop today for the pup's Valentine photos.  The backdrop is generic so I can use it for other projects.  The pup's said no to head gear so I will stick with scarves.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Newly obsessed with Wordle.  Got today’s word in 2 tries.  Anyone else playing?  I’m new to it so not sure if today was an easy one or typical.   Also check out the alternative game of Absurdle for more word play!


I remember the kids talking about Squirtle, from Pokemon.


----------



## snowbear

We did another Jeep thing.

This morning, MLW and I went to the local Jeep dealership to help escort Mr. Vanderquack through part of Southern Maryland.  Mr. Vanderquack is is visiting all 50 States and the District of Columbia, raising money for St. Jude's Hospital.

Mr. Vanderquack is a duck.  Ducks and Jeeps go together (Official Ducking Jeep Est2020).

Mr. Vanderquack




Some of the escorts (ours is the grey pickup)




My new friend, Ziggy (and his mom)


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Newly obsessed with Wordle.  Got today’s word in 2 tries.  Anyone else playing?  I’m new to it so not sure if today was an easy one or typical.   Also check out the alternative game of Absurdle for more word play!




Yes I have been playing, good bit of fun.  Easy one today here.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Yes I have been playing, good bit of fun.  Easy one today here.


Haven’t looked at todays yet.  I usually check it while I’m having lunch.  An easy one would be nice.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Haven’t looked at todays yet.  I usually check it while I’m having lunch.  An easy one would be nice.



I wonder if you like coffee.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Newly obsessed with Wordle.  Got today’s word in 2 tries.  Anyone else playing?  I’m new to it so not sure if today was an easy one or typical.   Also check out the alternative game of Absurdle for more word play!



Not sure how I missed this. Yes, I have been playing. There are also two other versions that let you play as many games as you want. Also, there are two, um, adult versions 😂 called Lewdle and Sweardle. They're all perfect for us word geeks


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Not sure how I missed this. Yes, I have been playing. There are also two other versions that let you play as many games as you want. Also, there are two, um, adult versions 😂 called Lewdle and Sweardle. They're all perfect for us word geeks


Sweardle sounds right up my alley.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Sweardle sounds right up my alley.



Yeah, I'm pretty good at it 😂


----------



## SquarePeg

Howdy hosers!  How is everyone doing?


----------



## snowbear

Hi, yourself.

I just did a home CIVID test which came back negative; and the boss extended full-time telework through February.


----------



## Warhorse

Guess it's my turn, supposed to get ~15" inches of snow starting in the early AM.


----------



## terri

Warhorse said:


> Guess it's my turn, supposed to get ~15" inches of snow starting in the early AM.


Did you get that much?   My mom lives there (SE Michigan) and she said the forecast reduced the amount and it ended up less than was feared.


----------



## Warhorse

They have reduced the forecast snowfall amounts, I live in the downriver area, and now they say we will get about 10 inches.


----------



## Jeff15

Here in the middle of England so far we have been lucky. No significant snowfalls this winter, YET.


----------



## SquarePeg

I took a day off today and went to the immersive Van Gogh exhibition and lunch with my bff.  It was amazingly beautiful.  Very well done.  I would LOVE to see this type of immersive exhibit of Monet’s works.  @terri was it you who went or was it @CherylL ?

A few favorites 











And of course


----------



## Warhorse

terri said:


> Did you get that much?   My mom lives there (SE Michigan) and she said the forecast reduced the amount and it ended up less than was feared.


I only saw about 6" of snow, so much for modern weather forecasting.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I took a day off today and went to the immersive Van Gogh exhibition and lunch with my bff.  It was amazingly beautiful.  Very well done.  I would LOVE to see this type of immersive exhibit of Monet’s works.  @terri was it you who went or was it @CherylL ?
> 
> A few favorites
> View attachment 253324
> 
> View attachment 253326
> View attachment 253325
> 
> And of course
> View attachment 253327


We went to the one in Atlanta last summer.   It was beautiful to look at, very enjoyable.   Definitely geared towards the general public and not a museum experience, but still a serene and wonderful experience.   

I've heard that there is a Picasso Immersive but not read much about it.    



SquarePeg said:


> I would LOVE to see this type of immersive exhibit of Monet’s works.



Me too!  For Monet, as well as others - it's really a fun and casual way to spend time looking at artists' works, reading info and becoming acquainted.    Lots of people don't want to go to a museum so this is a more casual way to get some art history.   It's all good.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> We went to the one in Atlanta last summer.   It was beautiful to look at, very enjoyable.   Definitely geared towards the general public and not a museum experience, but still a serene and wonderful experience.
> 
> I've heard that there is a Picasso Immersive but not read much about it.
> 
> 
> 
> Me too!  For Monet, as well as others - it's really a fun and casual way to spend time looking at artists' works, reading info and becoming acquainted.    Lots of people don't want to go to a museum so this is a more casual way to get some art history.   It's all good.


Currently being stalked by social media ads for the Immersive  Frida Kahlo experience…


----------



## terri

Frida is amazing!!  That would really be a good one.   

No one is stalking me about it, so after we get settled I'll look for a schedule.    Yay!


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> I took a day off today and went to the immersive Van Gogh exhibition and lunch with my bff.  It was amazingly beautiful.  Very well done.  I would LOVE to see this type of immersive exhibit of Monet’s works.  @terri was it you who went or was it @CherylL ?
> 
> A few favorites
> View attachment 253324
> 
> View attachment 253326
> View attachment 253325
> 
> And of course
> View attachment 253327


Great shots Sharon!  I would have loved to see the exhibit.  It was in St Louis recently


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> Great shots Sharon!  I would have loved to see the exhibit.  It was in St Louis recently


Thanks.  There were two in Boston. Immersive Van Gogh or Experience Van Gogh.   Both got good reviews.  We went with the one that was at a more convenient location and had tickets available for when we wanted them.


----------



## terri

We're in the process of moving.    Been busy today as we're getting closer to the day. 

Bex wants to make sure that no one forgets the cat!


----------



## vintagesnaps

And Bex can apparently go in the Bedroom, Family Room. Dining Room, or Kitchen...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Everyone 'round here has gone Super Bowl crazy (or as a fellow hockey fan calls it, Superb Owl). One channel has extended local late news a half hour for stories about Bengals Bagels, Hoo Dey Lattes... I might actually watch some pro football this weekend!


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Everyone 'round here has gone Super Bowl crazy (or as a fellow hockey fan calls it, Superb Owl). One channel has extended local late news a half hour for stories about Bengals Bagels, Hoo Dey Lattes... I might actually watch some pro football this weekend!


Oh - they still have a Super Bowl now that Tom Terrific has retired?


😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

I have no skin in this year’s game having barely watched a few quarters here and there.  So if you’re rooting for Cinci then I’ll jump on board the band wagon.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Another thing is which is better, Skyline or Gold Star? lol Either seems to be questionable to people who don't live in this area, but I see no problem with putting shredded cheese on chili spaghetti... nor do I see anything wrong with squirting hot sauce in oyster crackers although it's not my thing. 

Just realized I need to see when the game is on, and if it interferes with Olympic hockey I'll just have to flip back and forth.


----------



## snowbear

I haven't enjoyed football since the Colts left Charm City.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> Another thing is which is better, Skyline or Gold Star? lol Either seems to be questionable to people who don't live in this area, but I see no problem with putting shredded cheese on chili spaghetti... nor do I see anything wrong with squirting hot sauce in oyster crackers although it's not my thing.
> 
> Just realized I need to see when the game is on, and if it interferes with Olympic hockey I'll just have to flip back and forth.



I understand all of the words but have no idea what you said.  🤣 

What are Skyline and Gold Star? What is chili spaghetti? Wouldn't hot sauce go ON oyster crackers? Do people just eat bowls of oyster crackers like they're potato chips instead of just a few in a bowl of soup? Or are oyster crackers something different than what I know oyster crackers to be?


----------



## snowbear

I would have been OK with either team winning, but glad to see USA over Canada in Hockey.


----------



## vintagesnaps

USA Hockey was looking pretty fast, hope they can continue the momentum.

Today we won in Men's Curling; glad to see lots more curling coming up.

My best friend and I talked about dinner, but it is cold!! and snowy, and neither of us felt motivated. So when in this sport involving pointy balls do they actually play?? I know Super Bowl commercials are a big deal but they don't play more than like 12 seconds and go back to a commercial! lol (I do in the fall watch college football if local/regional games are on but they aren't much anymore.)

Well I watched pregame starting at 6, saw them go out on the field, the flyover, etc. Not sure how much of the game I'll watch since it dawned on me maybe some Canadian teams would be playing hockey on Center Ice. Yep, the Habs, but a replay of an earlier game, with no fans in the stands (first western Canada now Quebec went under stricter Covid protocols).


----------



## vintagesnaps

Leo - two different stores/brands, one local (it's Skyline time - there's a song) Gold Star's a chain store. After 20 years of working in the city I got addicted to it... instead of the usual tomato/pasta sauce, it involves chili over spaghetti noodles, with onion if you want to make it a 4 way (my favorite way), then shredded cheddar cheese on top (add beans for a 5 way). Or you can get it on a hot dog.

What some people do (and maybe this started while waiting for their meals??) is to find oyster crackers that have holes in them and squirt a dab of hot sauce_ in_ the cracker.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Who Dey!

P.S. Well, looked like there was a chance... people here might be cryin' in their chili spaghetti, or wings/pizza or whatever. Just heard a couple'a three cars go by, somebody nearby must have had a party and it's over. (Now more cars, their party is definitely over.)


----------



## vintagesnaps

Tonight been watching - The Beanpot.

The four universities in Boston play in the tournament the first two Mondays in February. Odd thing is no announcers on NESN... more like being at a game, just crowd noise, the pep band, etc. I thought last week there was a problem with the sound but same thing tonight; announcers on the NHL Network broadcast.

I've seen both teams in person, some years ago. Go Huskies!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Score was 0-0 til BU got a goal with less than 3 minutes left in the game... Dog Pound over DogHouse with 20 sec. left. 

And Boston U. wins the Beanpot.


----------



## vintagesnaps

And as NESN continues on with postgame, players skating the Beanpot around the ice with pep band music and crowd noise in and out but no audio for interviews, etc., I still like this -


----------



## terri

vintagesnaps said:


> Who Dey!
> 
> P.S. Well, looked like there was a chance... people here might be cryin' in their chili spaghetti, or wings/pizza or whatever. Just heard a couple'a three cars go by, somebody nearby must have had a party and it's over. (Now more cars, their party is definitely over.)


Well, as far as Superbowl games go, this one was good because it wasn't a blowout!   These teams were evenly matched.   I confess to having a preference to the Rams, because I like Matthew Stafford (former Detroit Lion QB, which is where I live now).   It was fun watching them fight it out and prevail.   🏈


----------



## vintagesnaps

Local news seemed optimistic about the future for the Bengals (for a change!).

And because it's the 2nd Monday in February -


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> And as NESN continues on with postgame, players skating the Beanpot around the ice with pep band music and crowd noise in and out but no audio for interviews, etc., I still like this -


They may have lost the rights to call the game if it’s showing on another network nationally.  I’m assuming they still aired it so that local students not at the game could watch.  Everyone around here has NESN.


----------



## Warhorse

terri said:


> Did you get that much?   My mom lives there _(SE Michig_an) and she said the forecast reduced the amount and it ended up less than was feared.





terri said:


> Well, as far as Superbowl games go, this one was good because it wasn't a blowout!   These teams were evenly matched.   I confess to having a preference to the Rams, because I like Matthew Stafford _(former Detroit Lion QB,_ _which is where I live now)._ It was fun watching them fight it out and prevail. 🏈


Both you and your mom live in SE MI then?


----------



## terri

We do!   Temporary situation for us - she's going to move to assisted living and needs help.


----------



## Warhorse

Good luck, getting someone into the right assisted living home is easier said than done...I have heard.


----------



## SquarePeg

@vintagesnaps  I had insomnia last night and ended up watching the Olympic hockey USA overtime loss.  They had so many chances!  I felt really bad for them.  Especially with that winning goal being scored by a former Boston Bruin.   After that it was endless episodes of Golden Girls…


----------



## snowbear

Good evening, hosers.

Had a little excitement of the wrong kind on Friday night.  When we left to go to Sherry's to paint the steps (going up for sale in the next few days), we noticed the passenger-side mirror was rotated forward.  MLW just thought someone was messing with me.  We didn't give it another thought.

Monday, Chelsea came over to tell me that she hear some fool outside yelling and banging Friday night.  She looked out the window and saw a male at the front of the jeep, banging his fist on the front.  He then went between her car and the JEEP, looking in them.  He then walked off.  She called the Sheriff's Office, but didn't see any come by.

I looked the front of the jeep over, and didn't see any damage. Again, no further thoughts on it.  That night, I noticed the headlights were out of alignment.  I checked them further and saw a gap, wider than normal, between the passenger-side headlight and the back of the grille.  After talking to the insurance company and a shop, I pulled the grille and found the bottom bracket of the headlamp assembly is cracked.  Since getting Jeep parts are almost impossible at the moment, I'll ask the shop if they can just super-glue the pieces back together, and maybe add some thin plastic to both sides to strengthen it until the part come in.

I also bought the Jeep a present.  They don't come with hood locks.  I'm not sure if it's because they are convertibles with doors that can (and are) removed, but I bought a hood lock.  Something to do this weekend.  The lock is already programmed to my key, so I just need to pop off the grille again, rivet the lock in place, then replace the grille.  I had to cut away a small part of the grille for access (the included insert is for the Wrangler which has a different "mesh" in the grille slots) which I did while it was off from checking the light.

The good side




The broken side



The lock.  The piece with the little hexagons is the insert.  The gladdy's hexagons are much larger.


----------



## Hardus Nameous

snowbear said:


> found the bottom bracket of the headlamp assembly is cracked. Since getting Jeep parts are almost impossible at the moment, I'll ask the shop if they can just super-glue the pieces back together, and maybe add some thin plastic to both sides to strengthen it until the part come in.


Depending on the type of plastic you might be able to weld it back together.  It most likely won't look pretty, but it could hold until it's replaced.


----------



## snowbear

It's still a fairly new truck so having the part replaced is better in the long run.  It will cost me $100 at the most.  If I can get the piece in thr back upo to where it belongs (near the bolt, not where the "crack" is) the light should be fairly close to where it should be.  A piece of chewing gum to hold it in place and I'll be good (it's a Jeep thing)


----------



## SquarePeg

@snowbear  that stinks.  What do you think happened?  Was it a mentally ill person or were you in someone’s parking spot?


----------



## snowbear

We don't have assigned parking spots, so it's first come, first parked.  I think he was drunk or high, and maybe drove something not as nice.  It could have been a lot worse - broken window, dented metal, etc.  It's a car; they break.  I just hope the guys in the cars with red & blue lights catch up with him; the next car owner may be less easy-going and armed.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, sorry to hear that some rat bag has messed with your jeep
I have been designing and building new gates for the front of my place. Now I can let the dogs out with me


----------



## CherylL

@snowbear, sorry someone took out their anger on your Jeep.   Crazy!  Stay safe.


----------



## CherylL

Original katomi said:


> Hi all, sorry to hear that some rat bag has messed with your jeep
> I have been designing and building new gates for the front of my place. Now I can let the dogs out with me


Wow!  Excellent wood working!


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> We don't have assigned parking spots, so it's first come, first parked.  I think he was drunk or high, and maybe drove something not as nice.  It could have been a lot worse - broken window, dented metal, etc.  It's a car; they break.  I just hope the guys in the cars with red & blue lights catch up with him; the next car owner may be less easy-going and armed.


You're very likely right on the money here; the behavior seems so arbitrary and weird.    

He's lucky he picked on you!      Glad you already have a fix in hand.   I agree with Sharon: that stinks!   Sorry that even happened.


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> Hi all, sorry to hear that some rat bag has messed with your jeep
> I have been designing and building new gates for the front of my place. Now I can let the dogs out with me


That turned out great!   Beautiful work!


----------



## Original katomi

Aww thanks. I wanted to let the dogs out the front. You can see I watch too many westerns hence the saloon bat wing style


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all being hammered by the storm the bridge to the island was closed for three hours today.. A vid of how bad was posted on facebook "hayling Island"
Just taking a break from looking at and editing photos from last week when I had a day out with the dogs and the camera.  visited a place that i have not been to for forty plus years.. a lot of changes.
wont have much time for a number of days as the back garden that i have worked so hard on is now a wreck.


----------



## terri

Eek!   Sounds like that storm was a bad one, Katomi!  

Looking forward to seeing the recent pics whenever you get time.   Stay safe!


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, hosers.  We have a busy day planned, trying to get caught up on things we've missed at Sherry's.
The new ceiling fan is up but I have to re-work the wiring  in that spot to get everything "hidden."  I also have to add the light module to the fan.   My second job is to hang two inside doors.  The door frames are already drilled so this won't be too bad.

Tomorrow or Monday, I'll install the lock on the truck.  I'm also going to pull the spare out and get the wheel and tire spec's.  Jeep only made a 17" spare for the Wrangler/Gladiator but this trim level rolls on 18" wheels.  My plan is to get a wheel & tire to match the others for the spare.  I'm also seriously considering a set of 17" wheels (probably match the spare) for actual snow tires for next year.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Good morning, hosers.  We have a busy day planned, trying to get caught up on things we've missed at Sherry's.
> The new ceiling fan is up but I have to re-work the wiring  in that spot to get everything "hidden."  I also have to add the light module to the fan.   My second job is to hang two inside doors.  The door frames are already drilled so this won't be too bad.
> 
> Tomorrow or Monday, I'll install the lock on the truck.  I'm also going to pull the spare out and get the wheel and tire spec's.  Jeep only made a 17" spare for the Wrangler/Gladiator but this trim level rolls on 18" wheels.  My plan is to get a wheel & tire to match the others for the spare.  I'm also seriously considering a set of 17" wheels (probably match the spare) for actual snow tires for next year.


I am loving my Michelin Cross Climate 2 all season tires.  Very smooth ride and great in the snow.  I’m happy I spent the extra money - they are a huge upgrade over the factory tires that were on the car when I bought it.  Check out BJs Wholesale tire service.  Very competitive pricing and good service.


----------



## CherylL

Original katomi said:


> Hi all being hammered by the storm the bridge to the island was closed for three hours today.. A vid of how bad was posted on facebook "hayling Island"
> Just taking a break from looking at and editing photos from last week when I had a day out with the dogs and the camera.  visited a place that i have not been to for forty plus years.. a lot of changes.
> wont have much time for a number of days as the back garden that i have worked so hard on is now a wreck.


Stay safe!  Hope your garden isn't damaged.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> I am loving my Michelin Cross Climate 2 all season tires.  Very smooth ride and great in the snow.  I’m happy I spent the extra money - they are a huge upgrade over the factory tires that were on the car when I bought it.  Check out BJs Wholesale tire service.  Very competitive pricing and good service.


I'll look at them.  When we had the TrailBlazer, we got a set of Bridgestone Deulers and really liked them: pretty quiet but good traction in the slop.  The Gladdy came with Deuler HTs, the highway tire.  For snow, I'm leaning toward the Bridgestone Blizzak line, and if I do throw A/Ts on, I'll give the Deuler ATs a shot.  There's plenty of time - less than 10k on the truck and I don't think we'll get any more measurable snow this season.


----------



## VidThreeNorth

It seems to be a bad winter in the east.  Toronto had some flooding which is very rare.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all, least ways it’s morning here. Well the back garden is trashed. All the  seating area I built and fixed up lights is under the pile in pics 3&4 had to build an temp fence to stop my dogs from excepting 
But on the bright side the high tide and storm surge did not reach me and I am ok


----------



## limr

Wow, I am sorry about the garden, but glad it wasn't worse and that you're okay.


----------



## SquarePeg

Glad your ok!


----------



## Warhorse

snowbear said:


> I'll look at them.  When we had the TrailBlazer, we got a set of Bridgestone Deulers and really liked them: pretty quiet but good traction in the slop.  The Gladdy came with Deuler HTs, the highway tire.  For snow, I'm leaning toward the Bridgestone Blizzak line, and if I do throw A/Ts on, I'll give the Deuler ATs a shot.  There's plenty of time - less than 10k on the truck and I don't think we'll get any more measurable snow this season.


I had a set of 4 Bridgestone Blizzak's on my old Toyota Camry, amazing tires, made it seem like I had 4 wheel drive on that little rice burner!


----------



## Warhorse

Original katomi said:


> Morning all, least ways it’s morning here. Well the back garden is trashed. All the  seating area I built and fixed up lights is under the pile in pics 3&4 had to build an temp fence to stop my dogs from excepting
> But on the bright side the high tide and storm surge did not reach me and I am ok



What caused the damage?


----------



## Rickbb

UK just had a massive storm blow through, 90+ wind gusts.


----------



## snowbear

We went to a couple stores over the weekend, and at one of them, the local "crack" dealers made us buy some of their wares: Do-Si-Dos, Tagalongs, Trefoils, and Samoas.  🤣


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy 2’s Day Hosers!


----------



## Rickbb

What are the numerologists doing this afternoon at 2:22 on 2-22-22?

(I would ask about this morning at 2:22, but no one in their right mind is up at that hour.)


----------



## SquarePeg

Rickbb said:


> What are the numerologists doing this afternoon at 2:22 on 2-22-22?
> 
> (I would ask about this morning at 2:22, but no one in their right mind is up at that hour.)


If the Milky way core was visible I’d be up at 2:22am… oh wait you said “in their right mind” 😂😂😂


----------



## SquarePeg

For my friends doing Wordle - here is a link to the archive where you can do the original puzzles from game 1, as many at a time as you want.  It’s good practice.  Open it up in a new tab or you lose progress when you click off of it.  









						Devang Thakkar
					

Computational Biologist + Designer + more




					www.devangthakkar.com


----------



## limr

Rickbb said:


> What are the numerologists doing this afternoon at 2:22 on 2-22-22?
> 
> (I would ask about this morning at 2:22, but no one in their right mind is up at that hour.)



Plenty of us night owls could be awake at 02:22 and yes, we are in our right minds, so 

Also, you've skipped right over 22:22.


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> We went to a couple stores over the weekend, and at one of them, the local "crack" dealers made us buy some of their wares: Do-Si-Dos, Tagalongs, Trefoils, and Samoas. 🤣


Two of my grands are selling the cookies too.  This year they are also setting up a drive by stand in the park and a few businesses.


----------



## CherylL

Senior moments or user errors?  I could not get the Fuji 16mm to auto focus.  After much googling realized that I had the "clutch" out on the lens and not locked in place towards the camera.  I must have moved it when I was switching lenses.  The other camera, the Canon, I got a few months ago and set cards to sequential.  When 1 fills up it switches to 2.  Every time I took the card out of 1 to transfer to the computer I would then put the card back in the camera and now it is switched to 2.  I would then have to go into the menu and switch it to 1 and then 2.  I thought for months now that I must be bumping something on the screen when I was shooting.  Finally found out by googling that when I took the 1 card out for transfer by closing the camera door the camera thinks there is only one card and changes to 2.  Even when the camera is off.  So now I leave the door open while transferring all is good.


----------



## snowbear

CherylL said:


> Senior moments or user errors?  I could not get the Fuji 16mm to auto focus.  After much googling realized that I had the "clutch" out on the lens and not locked in place towards the camera.  I must have moved it when I was switching lenses.  The other camera, the Canon, I got a few months ago and set cards to sequential.  When 1 fills up it switches to 2.  Every time I took the card out of 1 to transfer to the computer I would then put the card back in the camera and now it is switched to 2.  I would then have to go into the menu and switch it to 1 and then 2.  I thought for months now that I must be bumping something on the screen when I was shooting.  Finally found out by googling that when I took the 1 card out for transfer by closing the camera door the camera thinks there is only one card and changes to 2.  Even when the camera is off.  So now I leave the door open while transferring all is good.


I generally have mine set the same way: one, then two.  But I'll switch them after a few sessions so the same card isn't the only one getting used.  I marked them "A" and "B"


----------



## SquarePeg

I never shoot sequential.  I shoot one card jpeg one raw since the Fuji jpegs are gorgeous and usable most of the time.  For astro or tricky exposures, when I know I’ll have to make a lot of adjustments, I switch to use slot 1 as main and 2 as back up.  I’d hate to spend the whole night out hiking and shooting and then have a bad card lose all my data.  I carry extra cards and swap out if I fill them which I rarely do.  The only time I get a full card message is if I forget to format the card before I start shooting and I have last shoot’s images still on the card.


----------



## snowbear

It was 71 F when I went out at 5:00, this evening.  Tomorrow is supposed to start as snow, then change to snow-rain mix.

In other stuff, I finalized my reservations for the Delmarva GIS Conference in May, and the big Esri User's Conference in San Diego, in July.  The latter will be special: I am going to fly into Santa Barbara a couple days early and spend some time with my cousin; I haven't seen her in 25 or 30 years,  We connected, via phone a few times, most recently after Mom's passing.

Zoey is laying down on the couch between MLW and I, purring very loudly.


----------



## snowbear

I dropped the truck off at the shop to get the headlight fixed.  I'll probably get it back tomorrow.

They will also install the hood lock since I couldn't do it; the riveter I have doesn't accommodate a 1/4" rivet stud (nail).  I also don't have the upper body strength of a gorilla that is required to do this by hand.  The man said he probably wouldn't actually put in a ticket, just have me "pay a couple bucks to his guys."  No problem, I can bring $20 cash and a couple six-packs.


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> I generally have mine set the same way: one, then two.  But I'll switch them after a few sessions so the same card isn't the only one getting used.  I marked them "A" and "B"


Good idea on switching the cards around so one is over used.  When I was shooting a lot of video with the Sonys and the GoPro I had marked all of the cards with a number and letter system to keep track.  Taking photos I don't seem to use up one card.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> I never shoot sequential.  I shoot one card jpeg one raw since the Fuji jpegs are gorgeous and usable most of the time.  For astro or tricky exposures, when I know I’ll have to make a lot of adjustments, I switch to use slot 1 as main and 2 as back up.  I’d hate to spend the whole night out hiking and shooting and then have a bad card lose all my data.  I carry extra cards and swap out if I fill them which I rarely do.  The only time I get a full card message is if I forget to format the card before I start shooting and I have last shoot’s images still on the card.


Shooting astro and hiking to the location I can see why it is important to have a copy.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## Original katomi

Hi all just reviving an old project, something other than photography


----------



## snowbear

Only eight more things left in SIL's shed.  We'll get them out in the next day , or so, and we are done with that project.  The "For Sale" sign is already in the window (the mobile home park doesn't allow any more than that on the property).  It's taken six months, many trips to the landfill, and a lot of sweat.  But there were some good things to come out of it: I got a few tools, and the truck.  Now it's time to spend the next four months on the other house.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Only eight more things left in SIL's shed.  We'll get them out in the next day , or so, and we are done with that project.  The "For Sale" sign is already in the window (the mobile home park doesn't allow any more than that on the property).  It's taken six months, many trips to the landfill, and a lot of sweat.  But there were some good things to come out of it: I got a few tools, and the truck.  Now it's time to spend the next four months on the other house.


I can relate.   It's amazing how much stuff we can accumulate over time!   After carefully packing up a couple dozen glasses from my mom's cupboards for the Good Will trip, I found one that matched in the dishwasher.


----------



## snowbear

Yeah.  We are definitely getting rid of some our own stuff at the same time we're cleaning the other house.


----------



## Original katomi

Know your pain ... clearing up dads stuff for mum 5 skips and a lorry (rip off) later we are still sorting
mum has decided to clear some of her stuff now so that we( the kids) dont have the same problems later when she goes.


----------



## Original katomi

Has a nice day out yesterday, combined taking mum to her monday church thing and got in some photography. blue sky much more drematic than i rem and no i did not have a cpl on the lens just the 24-105 f4 l series


----------



## CherylL

Dejunking here too!  We have 8 bags of clothing, coats and bedding getting picked up this month.  The charity picks up from your porch which makes it easier to get rid of things.

After cleaning out both moms' homes it teaches a lessen to dejunk now and not later.  A relative recently moved from a 3 bed 2 story home they lived in for 50 years to a 2 bed duplex.  I tried to help unpack, but they have way too much stuff.  Their adult children will have to deal with it.  If they will part with things.  The good thing is that it drove home to my husband that we have to dejunk our stuff now.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I just had to share this with you guys that enjoy cooking. I made “ Cajun Chicken Pasta “ from a website my wife saw on FB. Iamhomesteader.com is the site. This was the best! For the Cajun seasoning, we have always used Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning. If you like spicy, it’s awesome stuff. This is the first dish we have tried from the site, but there are tons that sound really nice, including one of my wife’s favorites : Penne in Vodka Sauce


----------



## snowbear

A general-use Cajun seasoning is pretty easy to do:
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried sage
a pinch of chili powder
6 cups cayene pepper


----------



## snowbear

(no typo's above )

Finished with SIL's place!  Only thing left is to take some photos (Saturday) for the realtor friend to list it for sale.

Now the bigger project - the other house.  I'm meeting with my cousin at the Probate office tomorrow so she can have them make me executor and her as co-executor.  She's had a lot of back-and-forth with the County folks so me being officially involved makes a lot of sense (she's in White Plains, NY).


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. I haven't been around much the past week or so. Lots of fires to put out at work and just feeling run down.

It took us months to clear out my mother's house to get it ready to sell in Sept. I had already burned out any potential pack rat tendencies of my own during my 20s and 30s because I moved so many damned times. Any remaining inclination towards saving thing, even for sentimental reasons, got burnt to ashes by moving myself in late 2020, then clearing out my mother's house through most of 2021.

I am still going through boxes I brought with me and dumping most of it. Getting my next few bags of clothing ready for donation. Marie Kondo would be very proud 🤣


----------



## snowbear

And another step taken; well two but different subjects.

I went to the probate office with my cousin this morning and filled out the paperwork to open the estate.  We decided that she would remain executor to maintain a single point of contact.  I'll do whatever local work needs to be done while she handles the paperwork.

I've been looking to getting into doing some portraiture and have been occasionally looking at monolight strobes.  My thought has been to pick up an inexpensive two-light set, like the Flashpoint M series or , at most, a pair of Alien Bees.  When lazy-lobster moved back to ME, I sold them my speedlight so I haven't had one for a while.  Yesterday I took the plunge into the shallow rnd of the pool and ordered a basic Strobist kit - flash, stand, umbrella, and trigger.  Once I see how I do with the single OC Flash, I'll consider getting a second kit, with a possible upgrade to AB strobes later.


----------



## snowbear

Oh, yeah, a work related thing.  My contract ends on June 30.  We know the County is putting together a Request For Bid so another six-months or year extension is not likely.  The last time, as is normal, the incoming company will get resumes from everyone on the contract and negotiate salaries with those that are interested in staying.  We sign an agreement to stay for a minimum amount of time and come in the next work day with a new employer.

But, if the new company already has staff (GIS in my situation) that can be readily moved into this contract or elect to hire new, they may do so and replace existing personnel.  It could suck for us, but that's how the game is played.

As it happens, one of my co-workers decided to take a trek across country to southern California and took a position with one of the water authorities leaving an opening.  Five applicants were selected to interview but only two were able to be contacted, and neither of them had the Python experience the boss needs.  The position was re-announced yesterday.

As I would no longer need to concern myself with contracts and the advertised minimum salary is about a 60% increase from what I currently make, I've decided to apply.  No idea if I will get it, but I definitely have the Python experience.  It would make no change to my current pension, leave is about the same, and I would potentially get a cube with a window.


----------



## snowbear

One more, hosers.  If ANYONE is interested in some free cookbooks, let me know.  There are a bunch at the other house, mostly the "Taste of Home" series.  You might have to pay shipping, or, depending on where you are, we could meet/I'll deliver.

Seriously - there are boxes of them.  We won't use them and there aren't enough donation bins in the area.


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> One more, hosers.  If ANYONE is interested in some free cookbooks, let me know.  There are a bunch at the other house, mostly the "Taste of Home" series.  You might have to pay shipping, or, depending on where you are, we could meet/I'll deliver.
> 
> Seriously - there are boxes of them.  We won't use them and there aren't enough donation bins in the area.


About 5 years ago I got rid of a bunch of cookbooks and a mountain of food magazines.  Spent hours over a few weeks weeding thru it all and made 3 notebooks.  One for meats, veggies, and desserts with dividers.  Put in the books only recipes that I liked from all those books and magazines.  I have 3 recipe boxes that were mine, my MIL and my Mom's.  Put the special recipes in the binders.  I did keep the 3 card boxes.  Now if I see a recipe online I will print and put in the binder only after I make it and we like it.  Before I kept way too much.  It is so easy and organized now.  It was a pain those weeks going thru it all.   I did keep about 6 cookbooks.  One is from my Mom when she took home-ec back in the 40's.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> One more, hosers.  If ANYONE is interested in some free cookbooks, let me know.  There are a bunch at the other house, mostly the "Taste of Home" series.  You might have to pay shipping, or, depending on where you are, we could meet/I'll deliver.
> 
> Seriously - there are boxes of them.  We won't use them and there aren't enough donation bins in the area.


Ha!   I'll see your cookbooks and raise you a working, 1940's-era hand mixer.   It actually looks kinda badass.


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Know your pain ... clearing up dads stuff for mum 5 skips and a lorry (rip off) later we are still sorting
> mum has decided to clear some of her stuff now so that we( the kids) dont have the same problems later when she goes.





CherylL said:


> Dejunking here too!  We have 8 bags of clothing, coats and bedding getting picked up this month.  The charity picks up from your porch which makes it easier to get rid of things.
> 
> After cleaning out both moms' homes it teaches a lessen to dejunk now and not later.  A relative recently moved from a 3 bed 2 story home they lived in for 50 years to a 2 bed duplex.  I tried to help unpack, but they have way too much stuff.  Their adult children will have to deal with it.  If they will part with things.  The good thing is that it drove home to my husband that we have to dejunk our stuff now.



We did a major clean out a few years ago when we converted our garage (which was 100% storage) to a suite for my mom.  With the apartment in the basement taking up all but the boiler room, all my storage now is attic or shed.  This forces me to be ruthless about keeping anything that doesn’t have sentimental value.   Of course I have boxes of Princess’s papers and artwork from school... 

My rule for clothes and household items is one in one out.  




snowbear said:


> Oh, yeah, a work related thing.  My contract ends on June 30.  We know the County is putting together a Request For Bid so another six-months or year extension is not likely.  The last time, as is normal, the incoming company will get resumes from everyone on the contract and negotiate salaries with those that are interested in staying.  We sign an agreement to stay for a minimum amount of time and come in the next work day with a new employer.
> 
> But, if the new company already has staff (GIS in my situation) that can be readily moved into this contract or elect to hire new, they may do so and replace existing personnel.  It could suck for us, but that's how the game is played.
> 
> As it happens, one of my co-workers decided to take a trek across country to southern California and took a position with one of the water authorities leaving an opening.  Five applicants were selected to interview but only two were able to be contacted, and neither of them had the Python experience the boss needs.  The position was re-announced yesterday.
> 
> As I would no longer need to concern myself with contracts and the advertised minimum salary is about a 60% increase from what I currently make, I've decided to apply.  No idea if I will get it, but I definitely have the Python experience.  It would make no change to my current pension, leave is about the same, and I would potentially get a cube with a window.



Wow sounds perfect and great timing for you!  Good luck.  



CherylL said:


> About 5 years ago I got rid of a bunch of cookbooks and a mountain of food magazines.  Spent hours over a few weeks weeding thru it all and made 3 notebooks.  One for meats, veggies, and desserts with dividers.  Put in the books only recipes that I liked from all those books and magazines.  I have 3 recipe boxes that were mine, my MIL and my Mom's.  Put the special recipes in the binders.  I did keep the 3 card boxes.  Now if I see a recipe online I will print and put in the binder only after I make it and we like it.  Before I kept way too much.  It is so easy and organized now.  It was a pain those weeks going thru it all.   I did keep about 6 cookbooks.  One is from my Mom when she took home-ec back in the 40's.
> 
> View attachment 254462


Look at you so organized!  I scanned and digitized all my recipes and cookbook favorites last year and put them in the cloud so I have access from iPhone, iPad or laptop.  There’s not that many that I don’t know by heart so finding what I’m looking for among the rest is easy.


----------



## snowbear

Cheryl and Sharon: A few years ago, MLW transcribed some of her mom's recipes and mad a spiral bound book.  She gave copies to the nieces.  We'll go through my mom's recipe boxes and maybe do the same thing.  We'll pass any of the older cookbooks along to the kids, if they want them.  We've gotten rid of a lot of the ones we had and didn't really use.

Thanks, Sharon.  We'll see how it goes on the job and contract.

Terri: I have MIL's mixer, here.  It may be a little newer than that one.  I'll get a shot an post it sometime this weekend.

We are experiencing typical DC weather.  I had the top panels off of the Jeep last weekend (though we were wearing sweatshirts) and tomorrow there's a slight chance of snow.


----------



## SquarePeg

We got a really pretty 1-2 inches of snowfall overnight on Wednesday.  The kind that sticks to the trees and looks magical.  I wanted to get out and shoot it yesterday morning but couldn’t get away.  It was all melted away by mid day.


----------



## CherylL

terri said:


> Ha!   I'll see your cookbooks and raise you a working, 1940's-era hand mixer.   It actually looks kinda badass.
> 
> View attachment 254486



Now that is an old mixer!  We have a 1960's avocado green blender.  Thought it quit last month, but got it working.  It was my MIL's.  My Dad gave me his old drill decades ago because he was tired of me borrowing his tools.  This drill must be from the 30s or 40s.  It is heavy and built like a tank.  Works much better than the newer plastic ones.


----------



## terri

CherylL said:


> This drill must be from the 30s or 40s. It is heavy and built like a tank. Works much better than the newer plastic ones.


I hear you!   I kid my mom for hanging on to some of this stuff, but there's no question that these are usually very well built items, be they cookware/kitchen gadgets or tools.   They harken back to the days when "planned obsolescence" wasn't a thing.   

It makes me think of my older cameras, and how wonderful it feels to get good shots from them.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> We got a really pretty 1-2 inches of snowfall overnight on Wednesday.  The kind that sticks to the trees and looks magical.  I wanted to get out and shoot it yesterday morning but couldn’t get away.  It was all melted away by mid day.



Same here. It was gorgeous on Thursday morning. This was my back yard when I woke up. I made sure I at least got a few cell snaps because it wouldn't last more than an hour or two.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning hosers.   It's 46°, raining, and a gale warning is in place, but supposed to get cold and switch over to snow in some areas.  Slinky (the truck) did very well in the last snow that I hardly used four-wheel drive, but I avoid driving on ice.  I think, instead of going to the other house today, we're going to stay here and do some cooking (chili and beef stew for starters).  My Strobist kit arrives sometime today so I guess I can play with that.

Zoe went to the vet for a wellness visit yesterday morning.  She was not very happy when we put her in the carrier.  When MLW picker her up, the vet said how good she was during the exam.  She was putting when they did the blood draw.  Of course she wasn't happy coming home until she was out of  the carrier.  I guess we should have taken her for weekly rides when she was a kitten, to help get her used to it.


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Same here. It was gorgeous on Thursday morning. This was my back yard when I woke up. I made sure I at least got a few cell snaps because it wouldn't last more than an hour or two.
> 
> View attachment 254508


Beautiful backyard, Leo.   I'm sure you had pretty scenes like this in mind when you bought the place.      Very cozy inside.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning hosers.  I'm back in the real office, today.  My wall calendar was still on December 2021, so I guess I haven't been here since before Christmas.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Good morning hosers.  I'm back in the real office, today.  My wall calendar was still on December 2021, so I guess I haven't been here since before Christmas.


I had no idea that it had been that long!   Must have felt a little strange, getting there and looking around.


----------



## snowbear

Yeah.  I didn't really want to go back.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Beautiful backyard, Leo.   I'm sure you had pretty scenes like this in mind when you bought the place.      Very cozy inside.



Thanks! When I first saw the house, I was already thinking that it would work out, and then I looked in the back yard and thought, "Yup, this is it!" Not having space around me was a deal breaker. Saw a bunch of houses that were very nice, but were on a 1/3-acre lot and I couldn't do it.

In other news, I switched my snow tires to my all seasons yesterday. It's nice to actually drive again and not just manage to get the car chassis from A to B rolling on 4 jelly doughtnuts. At least that's what it feels like driving on snows once the weather gets warmer.


----------



## snowbear

It's 70 degrees today.  I have to go to SIL's to put a transport tag on the van (we're getting it inspected, then off to a friend's place for her business), but I'm pulling the top panels off of the truck, first.


----------



## Warhorse

snowbear said:


> It's 70 degrees today.  I have to go to SIL's to put a transport tag on the van (we're getting it inspected, then off to a friend's place for her business), but I'm pulling the top panels off of the truck, first.


I've never had mine off, do you put them in the storage bag and take them with you?


----------



## snowbear

Warhorse said:


> I've never had mine off, do you put them in the storage bag and take them with you?


I usually put them in the bag, then put that in the bed (if empty).  If I don't have th bag with me (I keep it at home) I put them in the back seat with a furniture pad between them.  Yesterday I just decided to bring them inside.

Once we move and I have a place to put it, I'll be tempted to pull the whole top off (8 bolts), but we'll see.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, hosers; it's been a few days.
We have a contract on SIL's place, and settlement is slated for the sixth.  The offer cam e in at a little over asking, but the buyers have to sell their place first.

I found a sweet deal on a set of four slightly used steel Jeep wheels, the stock ones from a base model Gladiator.  They are not as pretty or light as the alloy wheels, but these will be for $15 each, I couldn't resist.  They'll be for off-road or winter tires  One more thing checked off the big wish list.

I've messed up my leg so except for yesterday's ride to get the wheels, I've been elevating it as much as possible.  MLW has advised me that my job at mom's house will be to stay in the recliner and catalog the cook book titles.  If I need a break from that, I can start working out floor plans and figuring out where tp put our furniture.

Finally, I've been asked to photo a family friend's fashion show in September.  I'll get at least one more strobist set (light, stand, umbrella, trigger receiver), a decent light meter, and a 24-70/2.8.  I have the 70-200 for closer shots but swapping lenses will most likely be an issue so I will probably rent a second 750 body, unless I can find a real good deal on one.  We'll see how it goes.


----------



## terri

Lots of updates in there, Bear!   Good luck with the transition to the new-to-you home!   Sorry about your leg; I hope you listen to your wife (I know you will).   😉 

That's exciting news about the upcoming photo shoot.    I don't mess with setups like this, too intimidating for me.    You'll have to keep us posted!


----------



## SquarePeg

Ooh a high fashion photo shoot!  Fun stuff.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Ooh a high fashion photo shoot!  Fun stuff.


Cyndi studied design in Atlanta but never opened her business unti recently.  She and MLW worked together at the County for a number of years.  She’s a sweetheart; I wouldn’t attempt this for anyone else.


----------



## SquarePeg




----------



## SquarePeg

Hi Hosers!  I’m suffering today.  Went out to shoot the milkyway last night and am working today eeek!  Wouldn’t normally go out on a school night but it was the only night this week that was expected to be clear.  I’m sure many of you have seen on the news that there’s a big aurora storm starting tonight and for the next 3 nights.  Here in the northeast we’re expecting to be totally clouded out!  If you have clear skies and you’re in the northern us or Canada be sure to get out there!!


----------



## smoke665

Looks like TPF got spammed by the Chinese. LOL


----------



## SquarePeg

Yes I have been spam policing like crazy.


----------



## Warhorse

smoke665 said:


> Looks like TPF got spammed by the Chinese. LOL


Indeed!!!


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Yes I have been spam policing like crazy.


对你笑


----------



## snowbear

It's a constant battle


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> 对你笑



北極熊


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> 北極熊


I think you meant 白熊 😁


----------



## snowbear

Either one will work.


----------



## snowbear

Goofy week at work.  After moving from one office to another (different building), we were told to not unpack any more than we already had.  Either our director didn't get full confirmation that it was OK for us to move, or the group that controls tenancy didn't get word that we were going.  I am ready for retirement, right now.

We're working on the other house, trying to get it ready to move in.  Our target is June (the lease on the apartment is up at the end of July), but we will stay there on weekends after it's cleared and cleaned enough.  The mower that is there hasn't been used for at least ten years; MLW talked me into a rider, so we ordered a Deere X350.  I was kidding her that we should get the 1025R, with front loader and back hoe blades so I can eradicate the &%^$#& bamboo in the back yard.

We're attending a "Home Show" tomorrow, hoping to get some ideas for the eventual kitchen and bath renovations.  Sunday, we're going to get one of the two sheds cleared out enough to have a space to park the tractor.  Last weekend was spent shopping for lumber, concrete mix, and a few tools to replace SIL Ada's mailbox post, and ceiling fan.


----------



## Fujidave

Evening all, I had been busy shooting my jazz gigs, then came down with a chest infection.  Hope everyone is well as can be.


----------



## snowbear

Get better.


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> Goofy week at work.  After moving from one office to another (different building), we were told to not unpack any more than we already had.  Either our director didn't get full confirmation that it was OK for us to move, or the group that controls tenancy didn't get word that we were going.  I am ready for retirement, right now.
> 
> We're working on the other house, trying to get it ready to move in.  Our target is June (the lease on the apartment is up at the end of July), but we will stay there on weekends after it's cleared and cleaned enough.  The mower that is there hasn't been used for at least ten years; MLW talked me into a rider, so we ordered a Deere X350.  I was kidding her that we should get the 1025R, with front loader and back hoe blades so I can eradicate the &%^$#& bamboo in the back yard.
> 
> We're attending a "Home Show" tomorrow, hoping to get some ideas for the eventual kitchen and bath renovations.  Sunday, we're going to get one of the two sheds cleared out enough to have a space to park the tractor.  Last weekend was spent shopping for lumber, concrete mix, and a few tools to replace SIL Ada's mailbox post, and ceiling fan.


Wow, you have a lot on your plate!  Bamboo is an invasive plant.  Good luck


----------



## CherylL

Fujidave said:


> Evening all, I had been busy shooting my jazz gigs, then came down with a chest infection.  Hope everyone is well as can be.


Feel better soon


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, hosers.

Before Sherry passed, she asked we get her place cleared out and sold.  We started working on it in September, and finished up a few weeks ago - new floors, carpet, stove, and bathroom fixtures.  It was on the market two days and we had a contract.  Our realtor just told Ada that the lender is sending the check to us on Monday, so this chapter is finally over.

Ada wants a celebration dinner, so after the Home Show, we're going to pick her up and go out to dinner.  It's a restaurant we haven't been to in a  number of years, but I'm looking forward to it.  They are known for their popovers and fine French food.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Goofy week at work.  After moving from one office to another (different building), we were told to not unpack any more than we already had.  Either our director didn't get full confirmation that it was OK for us to move, or the group that controls tenancy didn't get word that we were going.  I am ready for retirement, right now.
> 
> We're working on the other house, trying to get it ready to move in.  Our target is June (the lease on the apartment is up at the end of July), but we will stay there on weekends after it's cleared and cleaned enough.  The mower that is there hasn't been used for at least ten years; MLW talked me into a rider, so we ordered a Deere X350.  I was kidding her that we should get the 1025R, with front loader and back hoe blades so I can eradicate the &%^$#& bamboo in the back yard.
> 
> We're attending a "Home Show" tomorrow, hoping to get some ideas for the eventual kitchen and bath renovations.  Sunday, we're going to get one of the two sheds cleared out enough to have a space to park the tractor.  Last weekend was spent shopping for lumber, concrete mix, and a few tools to replace SIL Ada's mailbox post, and ceiling fan.


Renos are fun but frustrating.  Choose wisely my friend - especially on the things that are difficult or expensive to change.  Sharon's kitchen reno live and learn tips - don't put the microwave above the stovetop, get a trash compactor, avoid Samsung appliances!



Fujidave said:


> Evening all, I had been busy shooting my jazz gigs, then came down with a chest infection.  Hope everyone is well as can be.


Sorry you've been under the weather.  Feel better and share some of those jazz photos.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sounds like you've had a lot going on Charlie. 

I ended up in phys. rehab, long story, but probs with Medicare and glad to have supplemental insurance thru our state teachers retirement, but still, on hold... would be glad to get home but can't manage by myself quite yet so that's a worry. Think going home too soon I'll be right back here. 

At least some hockey, NCAA final is on ESPN tonight.


----------



## snowbear

Hope it all works out for you, Sharon.


----------



## smoke665

@vintagesnaps hope you're on the mend quickly. Isn't getting older fun? I've learned that isn't gold in your "golden years"......it's rust!


----------



## Warhorse

smoke665 said:


> @vintagesnaps hope you're on the mend quickly. Isn't getting older fun? I've learned that isn't gold in your "golden years"......it's rust!


My dad was fond of saying to us, "there is no such thing as the golden years, they are tin".


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Sounds like you've had a lot going on Charlie.
> 
> I ended up in phys. rehab, long story, but probs with Medicare and glad to have supplemental insurance thru our state teachers retirement, but still, on hold... would be glad to get home but can't manage by myself quite yet so that's a worry. Think going home too soon I'll be right back here.
> 
> At least some hockey, NCAA final is on ESPN tonight.


Sharon you’re smart to give yourself time to heal and be ready.  Get well soon!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, frosty start here today, not sure what I'm up to today yet.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, peeps.

The Home Show was OK.  We were hoping for more displays, but there were a couple with features we liked.  We did agree to have a few come out and give us quotes.  At least it's a start.

Ada called and had to cancel on dinner. as she wasn't feeling well, so we went to The Barn Show, an upscale antique store/flea market (family friends own it).  I picked up an inkwell (silver plate) and MLW found a nice crystal or glass vase.  We also bought a pie safe cabinet that they will hold for a couple weeks while we get the new dining room area cleared (it's replacing a worn-out book case).  We'll do the celebration dinner next weekend.

We swung by the house and popped open the shed for MLW as she hasn't looked inside yet.  We pulled out two Styrofoam shipping boxes (mom & dad had ordered steaks from somewhere) and five other coolers, which are destined for the dumpster.  We'll finish clearing out the half of the shed by the door, today, so the tractor can go in there.  The larger shed will wait, though I'll pull out the old mower and see if I can get the engine un-seized.  I can always use it for trim and edging.  I think there's a radial arm saw in there, as well (Yay! Tools!)


----------



## SquarePeg

Ok I have just been released from paperwork jail!  I had some things that I have been putting off because they are no fun and today I grounded myself until it was all done.  Other than the few minutes I spent posting some photos on here while I was eating a snack, I spent the ENTIRE morning going through all of the medical bills/receipts/invoices from my recent lab tests, ultrasound and surgery and Princess's concussion dr visits.  Matching them up with the forms from the insurance company and paying the ones that needed to be paid.  Then I did my taxes.  And finished it off with paying utility, water and cell phone bills.  Adulting stinks!


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all very overcast here but mild, busy day for me today as have a few tests that have to be done.


----------



## smoke665

YIKES! The Chinese spammers have struck again. Not a good day to be a moderator.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> YIKES! The Chinese spammers have struck again. Not a good day to be a moderator.


The spam clean up process is pretty easy.  The system will search out all of the posts by that person and by anyone sharing that IP address and can send them all to the spam trashcan with a couple of clicks.  Thanks for reporting the spam.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> The spam clean up process is pretty easy.  The system will search out all of the posts by that person and by anyone sharing that IP address and can send them all to the spam trashcan with a couple of clicks.  Thanks for reporting the spam.



They seem to just keep coming the last few days. Is there a full moon there?? LOL


----------



## Rickbb

Covid lock down in China is literally a lock down. I guess all the teenagers out of school are getting quite bored.


----------



## snowbear

It seems they happen in cycles; we seem to be in a heavy cycle, now.


----------



## Robshoots

Recently I’ve been watching episodes on YouTube of a show call Man with a Camera, starring Charles Bronson.  It aired from ‘58 to ‘60 and was similar in format to Sea Hunt (I realize this won’t mean much to the younger members).  Mike Kovac (Bronson) is a former war photographer turned freelance photographer in New York.  He uses his camera to help police solve crimes and takes other dangerous photo assignments.  It’s fun to watch for the equipment he uses and for some of the applications of photography.  Recommended to anyone who has about twenty minutes to spare.


----------



## limr

Rickbb said:


> Covid lock down in China is literally a lock down. I guess all the teenagers out of school are getting quite bored.



Funny thing? I checked the IP of a few of them just out of curiosity. The content is coming from all over the place. Some of them are in China or places with Chinese populations (Hong Kong, Singapore) but others are in France, Russia, Kenya, and even in Canada, the US, and the UK. Probably using a VPN and bouncing the signal around, which can make it harder for the system to match IPs and block new accounts. Can't just blame this on lockdowns.


----------



## snowbear

Or else it's being generated by malware on other machines, though I suspect we'd be seeing a lot more if that were the case.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Ok I have just been released from paperwork jail!  I had some things that I have been putting off because they are no fun and today I grounded myself until it was all done.  Other than the few minutes I spent posting some photos on here while I was eating a snack, I spent the ENTIRE morning going through all of the medical bills/receipts/invoices from my recent lab tests, ultrasound and surgery and Princess's concussion dr visits.  Matching them up with the forms from the insurance company and paying the ones that needed to be paid.  Then I did my taxes.  And finished it off with paying utility, water and cell phone bills.  Adulting stinks!


It pays to match up the bills with the EOB from the insurance company.  We overpaid a few times and another time the ins. said we did not owe one of bills.  I called that doc/lab and they adjusted.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> It pays to match up the bills with the EOB from the insurance company.  We overpaid a few times and another time the ins. said we did not owe one of bills.  I called that doc/lab and they adjusted.



Yep it pays to check, the whole medical billing process is an error waiting to happen......most likely in thier favor. 😏 it also pays to check on high priced generic vs brand name drugs. My big box pharmacy switched me to a generic version on one my asthma inhalers without my asking. My copay was almost twice what I paid for the brand name. Seems the insurance companies formulary had the generic version in a higher tier, which caused a higher copay.


----------



## snowbear

Yay!  The tractor/mower is at the dealer.  I pick up a trailer tomorrow morning, then the tractor.  I'll run it to the other house at lunch, and break it in Saturday morning.


----------



## Rickbb

limr said:


> Funny thing? I checked the IP of a few of them just out of curiosity. The content is coming from all over the place. Some of them are in China or places with Chinese populations (Hong Kong, Singapore) but others are in France, Russia, Kenya, and even in Canada, the US, and the UK. Probably using a VPN and bouncing the signal around, which can make it harder for the system to match IPs and block new accounts. Can't just blame this on lockdowns.


Classic sign of a bot net, hard to shut down.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Yay!  The tractor/mower is at the dealer.  I pick up a trailer tomorrow morning, then the tractor.  I'll run it to the other house at lunch, and break it in Saturday morning.


So what do you have? Best purchase ever was a Kubota L3240 4x4 with a front end loader. I've worked it just about every week, so far I have just under 900 hrs on it, with no problems. Thinking this might be the year to trade though as I'd like to have just a bit more horsepower.


----------



## snowbear

Deere X350/42"


----------



## smoke665

So it looks as if there's a new category emerging on TPF.....Chinese Spam. 😁 I just don't get what they "think" they're accomplishing.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> So it looks as if there's a new category emerging on TPF.....Chinese Spam. 😁 I just don't get what they "think" they're accomplishing.


I suppose if they get one person to click on any of their links I suspect is embedded ( I haven't actually clicked on their posts, so in fairness, I don't know ) they have got one sucker!?!


----------



## Rickbb

They are selling fake college degrees and industry certifications. At least the one I checked was.


----------



## smoke665

Rickbb said:


> They are selling fake college degrees and industry certifications. At least the one I checked was.



You know you shouldn't click on an unknown link, but the devil on your shoulder, said DO IT.  Been there.....sadly done that.


----------



## Rickbb

Didn’t need to click the links this time, ran it through google translate.

When I do need to click a link like that I use an old throwaway android tablet. If it gets infected, just wipe, format and reinstall the last image. I keep a few tablets laying around  just for these kinds of things, my day job is keeping all the companies devices up and running. Some of the really “smart“ people who work here keep me busy with it.


----------



## smoke665

@Rickbb Most of the time I'm very cautious about links, and I have corporate level security but that desn't mean I don't have the overwhelming urge to click on them sometimes. Curiosiy is a strong motivator. LOL In addition to security, I have a son who is the head of IT for a large federal court. Believe me there is nothing worse than listening to your son scold you for clicking on something you shouldn't have clicked on.


----------



## snowbear

Well, hosers, I have a 10x14 shed sort-of picked out.  With only 140 square feet, I don't need to pull a permit or submit plans for review.  We'll probably get the buried but never used electrical cable installed and activated but that will be covered by the Electrical Permit for the house renovation.  The house has 2-wire AC outlets and I hate those adapters.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I am still playing around with the idea of installing a Harbor Freight solar kit on my shed I put up last year. I really want to get some experience with solar.


----------



## snowbear

I think I'd have to get a permit for that.

I guess I'll get serious with clearing out the existing two.  The smaller one is in better shape and will hose the tractor for now.  The larger one is rotting away and needs to be emptied and demolished as soon as possible.  I think we'll order whatever we get in the next couple of weeks.

I may be getting the 24-70 next week; going new this time.


----------



## Original katomi

I have 2 100w solar panels on my shed roof with a 2kw 240v inverter. It is a back up to the mains but I also use it for diy charging cordless tool, I pad phone even us it to power the vacuum cleaner both in the shed/workshop as well as indoors
Not to mention the batts for my camera… brill in the summer not so good in the winter. If this reads as non sense I am suffering with chest infection and typing tween bouts of rib hurting coughing


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

You made perfect sense to me! Get better soon.


----------



## snowbear

For them that celebrate:
Happy Easter!

For them that don't:
Happy Sunday!

I went out to dinner with MLW and SIL last night.  We haven't been to this restaurant in years, but it was very good.  Talking to the waiter on the way out and the place is being sold in June, and will be closed for remodeling.  He didn't know what kind of restaurant it will be, but it won't be "French Country."


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy Spring, Easter, Passover, Ramadan!


----------



## Original katomi

hi all sitting here late because the chest infection is stopping me from sleeping. I finally gave in and bought a usb 3 cf card reader. up till now its not been an issue but using the 5d more I now needed fast transfers and my vintage card reader was just not good enough. I have been doing camera transfers
I dont know how all of you one your side of the pond celebrate easter. but have a good time whatever you do


----------



## Original katomi

well night all. going to try and get some sleep.....


----------



## Warhorse

Hope you feel better in the morning.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Was watching people marrying strangers, this time in Boston, and thought I saw Northeasterns brick entrance - is that along a riverfront there? Or was I seeing things?? Did a double take. Sharon how is Princess liking Merrimack?


----------



## Original katomi

hi all BST here  whats up with the site awhole load of threads that in in chinese/or sumthing////


----------



## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> hi all BST here  whats up with the site awhole load of threads that in in chinese/or sumthing////


It’s part of a spammer exchange program, they send us theirs and we send them ours; win-win.


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Was watching people marrying strangers, this time in Boston, and thought I saw Northeasterns brick entrance - is that along a riverfront there? Or was I seeing things?? Did a double take. Sharon how is Princess liking Merrimack?


Northeastern is not along the Charles River but BU is and Harvard.


----------



## snowbear

Joy, joy!  Came home to a flood in the apartment.  Not sure what it is, yet - nobody here today and nothing running, but our apartment is the closest to the service in the street.  We have shutoff for the building, and are the closest to the sewer, so we get all of the action.

I'm glad tomorrow is a telecommute day.


----------



## Warhorse

Oh no snowbear!!


----------



## snowbear

Yeah.  Fun times.


----------



## snowbear

Plumber is packing up but they'll probably leave the fans here overnight.  Trying to decide if we can actually sleep here or go somewhere else.  The other house is not quite ready and SIL Ada has told us to go there anytime we needed to.  I'll see what MLW wants to do.

And Zoe has come out of hiding.


----------



## Warhorse

What turned out to be the problem snowbear?


----------



## snowbear

Not really sure but they did snake out to the sewer, like the last time.  I guess we'll all get letters from the leasing office if someone did something stupid like flush wipes.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Poor Zoe! 

Sharon it was some familiar looking arena, my hockey radar went off. Will have to search the Boston colleges and find it.


----------



## Jeff15

Original katomi said:


> hi all BST here  whats up with the site awhole load of threads that in in chinese/or sumthing////


There is lots more spam on this forum than most others, Something is going wrong....


----------



## SquarePeg

Jeff15 said:


> There is lots more spam on this forum than most others, Something is going wrong....


You see it more than some of the others because of the time zone difference.  Currently, most of the mods are in the US on east coast time.


----------



## Jeff15

As I have said previously we need mods on both sides of the pond.....


----------



## snowbear

We are working on it.


----------



## Rickbb

2 other forums I’m in have also been plagued with them in the past 2weeks.

Homeland Security has been shutting down bot nets so they are ramping up attacks to regain some more hosts to make up for it. Or so I’ve been told by someone that should know.


----------



## limr

There's always a lag between the time when the spam bots learn new tricks and anti-spam measures catch up.

It's clearly spam, we all know it's spam, and I hope no one here is silly enough to click on a link for CBD gummies or keto pills or Mumbai escorts or something written almost entirely in Chinese. So it may be an inconvenience to spend an hour or two scrolling past spam threads until a mod can get to it, but it's not the end of the world.

We would have to have a lot more moderators in every time zone who never left their computers if we wanted to catch every piece of spam before members noticed, and even then, a few would slip through during these attack periods. We also do still manage to catch a lot of messages before they see the light of day.


----------



## snowbear

The Mod Squad catches the majority of the spammers.  Normally, the vast majority is caught and stays in queue waiting to be approved, which are never seen by the users.  I think most realize that eventually, this will pass or be grabbed by the filters.


----------



## Jeff15

I have an idea although this must have been thought of already? Why not ask new members for a verifiable email address?


----------



## terri

Jeff15 said:


> I have an idea although this must have been thought of already? Why not ask new members for a verifiable email address?


Email isn't the problem, Jeff.   If it's questionable or with many duplicates here, it gets swept up and into the moderator queue, which isn't visible.  Same with suspect IP addresses, though unique IPs can and do slip by, but those are also easily captured.   The onslaught is by _bots_ and has been widely noticed and is being addressed.    You seem to be very focused on whipping the mods over this, and I'm sorry it bothers you so much.


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy almost Friday Hosers!  Time to turn the Coffee House focus back to where it belongs - chit chat!  

I’m obsessively watching the Kwanzan Cherry tree that I planted last fall waiting for it to flower.  There are so many little blooms waiting to open right now!!  I’m so happy about this.  I was really worried I might have killed the tree last year when I planted it and then I did some research and realized all the things I had done wrong… So I dug it up and planted it again!  It was a lot of extra work and risky but so happy that I did because it looks so healthy and has so many buds!!!  Planting in the fall is preferred but it’s a long wait to see how you did.


----------



## Jeff15

I am not criticizing *anyone, *all that I am saying is that we need mods on both sides of the pond.....


----------



## snowbear

We are working on it.  Having a hard time finding someone to pass the background investigation.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Happy almost Friday Hosers!  Time to turn the Coffee House focus back to where it belongs - chit chat!
> 
> I’m obsessively watching the Kwanzan Cherry tree that I planted last fall waiting for it to flower.  There are so many little blooms waiting to open right now!!  I’m so happy about this.  I was really worried I might have killed the tree last year when I planted it and then I did some research and realized all the things I had done wrong… So I dug it up and planted it again!  It was a lot of extra work and risky but so happy that I did because it looks so healthy and has so many buds!!!  Planting in the fall is preferred but it’s a long wait to see how you did.
> 
> View attachment 255803


That's a lot of work, but it seems to have paid off!   It looks pretty already and the blooms haven't even opened up all the way.  

Agree with you about fall planting.   It's hard to sit back and not know the outcome for months. 

Congrats!


----------



## snowbear

I'm finally going to get to try some planting without killing everything.  By the time we get to the house, Spring will be over, so we'll try Fall plants.

Lilacs.  I can handle lilacs.


----------



## Warhorse

snowbear said:


> I'm finally going to get to try some planting without killing everything.  By the time we get to the house, Spring will be over, so we'll try Fall plants.
> 
> Lilacs.  I can handle lilacs.


Growing Lilacs = easy
Killing Lilacs = not so easy

Darn things spread like wildfire!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

My wife planted an ornamental almond tree a few years ago. @fishing4sanity ( I believe it was him without checking ) posted a pic of one in your weekly challenge thread Bokehlicious @SquarePeg. They are beautiful just like I believe your Cherry tree will be.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Warhorse said:


> Growing Lilacs = easy
> Killing Lilacs = not so easy
> 
> Darn things spread like wildfire!


We noticed Ash borers on ours last year. My wife thinks the foliage isn't as full this year because of them.


----------



## SquarePeg

Dean_Gretsch said:


> My wife planted an ornamental almond tree a few years ago. @fishing4sanity ( I believe it was him without checking ) posted a pic of one in your weekly challenge thread Bokehlicious @SquarePeg. They are beautiful just like I believe your Cherry tree will be.



Almond blossoms are so beautiful - they make me think of van Gogh.   This was from the immersive van Gogh exhibit I went to back in Feb.


----------



## SquarePeg

This spring’s plantings:

Replaced the lilac bush Princess bought me for Mother’s Day that got crushed during snowmageddon a few years ago.  I missed the boat on these a couple of years in a row because I waited too long to buy and none of the local nurseries had any left.  This year I made sure to get there first!  This is planted near my bedroom window so I can enjoy their beautiful fragrance.  








And this is the new magnolia I bought.  Not a saucer magnolia like the 40ft tall one on Beacon St in Boston that I love - I don’t really have a good spot for something that size..  This is a Ricki magnolia which has darker flowers and is more of a low and round tree that grows to about 12 ft.  I’m planning to make it the center of a small wildflower garden on the side of our house.


----------



## snowbear

Warhorse said:


> Growing Lilacs = easy
> Killing Lilacs = not so easy
> 
> Darn things spread like wildfire!


But that is a good thing.  Black-Eyed Susans are also on my list to plant, being the state flower.  The biggest yard job will be trying to eradicate the bamboo.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pandas laying around.  🐼


----------



## ac12

snowbear said:


> The biggest yard job will be trying to eradicate the bamboo.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pandas laying around.  🐼



Use a systemic poison similar to Roundup.  AND ALWAYS WEAR A POISON RATED RESPIRATOR.
It may take a few years to kill the bamboo.
It took me 5 years to kill the weeds in my backyard.  Each year I would kill what I did not kill the year before, and gradually the weed jungle got smaller and smaller.


----------



## snowbear

What I would like to do is go after it with a Deere compact - front bucket to dig roots, then the backhoe to dig the perimeter and put in a barrier to keep the neighbor's bamboo out.  We will only be there a few years, so I'll probably cut and dig.  A number of years ago we tried using Vapam to kill some major weeds in another yard.  After reading through the instructions and warnings, I nicknamed it "Agent Orange."

Though very highly unlikely, I really love the pandas solution.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just under 10k steps today which isn’t all that amazing until I tell you that other than a quick run to HDepot I never left my front yard!  Most of the yard is now mowed, weeded, planted, composted and mulched.  Just the flower bed in front left to do.  Got some pansies and dahlia tubers.  I always leave that bed for last because it’s easy and the most visible so doing that last motivates me to get the rest of the stuff finished.


----------



## ac12

SquarePeg said:


> Just under 10k steps today which isn’t all that amazing until I tell you that other than a quick run to HDepot I never left my front yard!  Most of the yard is now mowed, weeded, planted, composted and mulched.  Just the flower bed in front left to do.  Got some pansies and dahlia tubers.  I always leave that bed for last because it’s easy and the most visible so doing that last motivates me to get the rest of the stuff finished.



You have way more energy than me.


----------



## snowbear

And way more time.  Looks great, Sharon. Want to visit DC next spring?


----------



## limr

Hey hosers.


----------



## SquarePeg

Finally!


----------



## snowbear

Good afternoon, hosers.

We've been doing a bit of bill paying and a little shopping.  The photo backpack is scheduled to be here tomorrow, and the 24-70 is ordered.  It will probably ship Friday or Saturday with a delivery on Tuesday.  I head to Dewey Beach, Delaware on Wednesday for a conference and will take them.

We have selected a roofer and a company to handle the door replacements, and are asking for a quote from a chimney specialist for sweeping and repairing the cap.  MLW had a teleconference with the movers yesterday, so we are well on the way.  We can't take too much up until a couple more rooms are cleared and cleaned, but I'll take a rocking chair and a couple boxes with me tomorrow when I go up and cut the grass tomorrow.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Finally!
> 
> View attachment 255943View attachment 255944View attachment 255945


Yayyy, the tree looks great!   I love seeing it in front of that little picket fence.   

Lots of work but always so rewarding.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Good afternoon, hosers.
> 
> We've been doing a bit of bill paying and a little shopping.  The photo backpack is scheduled to be here tomorrow, and the 24-70 is ordered.  It will probably ship Friday or Saturday with a delivery on Tuesday.  I head to Dewey Beach, Delaware on Wednesday for a conference and will take them.
> 
> We have selected a roofer and a company to handle the door replacements, and are asking for a quote from a chimney specialist for sweeping and repairing the cap.  MLW had a teleconference with the movers yesterday, so we are well on the way.  We can't take too much up until a couple more rooms are cleared and cleaned, but I'll take a rocking chair and a couple boxes with me tomorrow when I go up and cut the grass tomorrow.


Busy times!!   And a new lens to boot!   Hope you get some time to play with it. 

Moving is kinda fun, kinda painful, and always kinda crazy.  🤪


----------



## Warhorse

Anybody seen hide or hair of oldhippy, I've noticed that he hasn't been posting since 12/28/2021.

I miss his flower shots, and whimsical titles.


----------



## SquarePeg

Warhorse said:


> Anybody seen hide or hair of oldhippy, I've noticed that he hasn't been posting since 12/28/2021.
> 
> I miss his flower shots, and whimsical titles.



@oldhippy 

Tagging him in case he has email notifications set up.


----------



## snowbear

So, I guess USPS will deliver on stormy nights, but not on overcast days.  Backpack is somewhere in transit, "Picked up by carrier" according to Amazon, but USPS says "Status not available."  New date is between today and the 10th.  Amazon is still holding off on shipping the lens since I requested delivery on the 10th.


----------



## Warhorse

I bought a Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary from Adorama  on the 5th, UPS is supposed to have it in my hand tomorrow.


----------



## snowbear

It looks like it has been handed off to UPS (AKA "Brown Santa"), which says delivery Monday.  It also says "Signature required."  I am not home on Monday.

Luckily I've paid a few bucks to have ir rerouted to the local UPS store.


----------



## Warhorse

I had some errands to do today, my wife knew it was supposed to be delivered today along with a required signature. She found their sticker on the door that they were there, oh well I'll just go to their office Monday and pick up the lens.


----------



## ac12

Warhorse said:


> I had some errands to do today, my wife knew it was supposed to be delivered today along with a required signature. She found their sticker on the door that they were there, oh well I'll just go to their office Monday and pick up the lens.



They some/many times do not wait for you to come to the door.
Sticker on the door then back to the truck for the next delivery.


----------



## snowbear

Why I like the UPS Store or other retail drop off points,


----------



## snowbear

Happy day, all you mothers!

No, really, Happy Mother's Day.  And have a great day, even if you aren't a mother.


----------



## SquarePeg

Thanks Bear!


----------



## Warhorse

Picked up my new lens today! UPS delivered it undamaged, woo-hoo!


----------



## snowbear

The 24-70 (the "son") is supposed to arrive tomorrow, along with the backpack.


----------



## Original katomi

hi all . just getting over chest infection 4 weeks ... decided to have a day out.. 
spotted this gem... only the one shot as the road was v slippery and i dont need another fall.


----------



## snowbear

Heading to the Delmarva peninsula soon, for a conference.  For those that don't know where, or what it is, it's locally referred to as the Eastern Shore.  The name is from Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.  If you look on a map, DelMarVa is the piece of land between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean (the Eastern Shore of Maryland).  There are a lot of farms (it's alluvial) and beaches.  It's a shame it's too early for melons, 'lopes and silver queen corn.

Taking the camera and monopod, though I don't know how much time I'll have to shoot.


----------



## limr

Hey Hosers. 

Got my second booster this morning. I expect tomorrow to be a couch day, and that's no big deal. Feeling tired and achy...well, it's not all that different from how I usually feel, so whatever  I just hope my arm doesn't react the way it did to the first booster. I had Pfizer for the first two primary COVID vaccines, and then I switched to Moderna for the boosters. The first booster left a huge, hard lump that took up half my upper arm, and not only hurt, but it itched like crazy. And it lasted for over a week. The Pfizer shots just left me sore for a day or so and then it was done. I am really hoping that doesn't happen again. It was doubleplusungood.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hope you do OK with it Leo. And if you're still up at midnight couch-potatoing, how about some zither music? Yes, it's once again, on TCM, 'The Third Man'.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Charlie hope it is/was a nice trip. You talk about great sounding seafood on the coast, some of us are too far inland for more than carp or fish sticks. I appreciate good seafood when I can, not quite the same in my tristate area compared to yours.


----------



## Warhorse

limr said:


> Hey Hosers.
> 
> Got my second booster this morning. I expect tomorrow to be a couch day, and that's no big deal. Feeling tired and achy...well, it's not all that different from how I usually feel, so whatever  I just hope my arm doesn't react the way it did to the first booster. I had Pfizer for the first two primary COVID vaccines, and then I switched to Moderna for the boosters. The first booster left a huge, hard lump that took up half my upper arm, and not only hurt, but it itched like crazy. And it lasted for over a week. The Pfizer shots just left me sore for a day or so and then it was done. I am really hoping that doesn't happen again. It was doubleplusungood.


How long ago did you get the first booster? This second booster is news to me.


----------



## snowbear

I had the first booster in November '21, the second in April '22.  I was luck enough to just have some soreness min the arem for a couple days.


----------



## limr

Warhorse said:


> How long ago did you get the first booster? This second booster is news to me.



First booster was at the beginning of December. The recommendations for a 2nd booster started around the end of March/beginning of April. It's currently recommended for those over 50 or with underlying conditions and four months after their first booster.

The county where I work just upgraded to a higher level of alert. Masks had been optional for a couple of weeks, but we are back to mandatory masking as of Monday. Which is fine with me. It still feels weird being inside a public building without a mask. I've kept the mask off if I am in a store for just a few minutes, but anything longer than 5-10 minutes and I always have a mask on.


----------



## terri

I'm ready for my second booster.    I just keep forgetting to get online through Walgreens to schedule it.   It's silly to have to do it that way, since the demand is so much more manageable. 

Happy Friday the 13th, Hosers!


----------



## Warhorse

Thanks limr, guess I'm due for my second booster in August.


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m putting off the second boost as long as I reasonably can. The second shot gave me tinnitus and the booster brought it back just when it started to fade.  I’m at that point now where it’s almost ignorable and I’d like to have a few peaceful months first.  My risk level of exposure is pretty low - I work remotely, avoid crowds and I mask indoors in public places.


----------



## smoke665

I've had 3 Moderna, DW has had 4 (immune compromised).


----------



## otherprof

SquarePeg said:


> Happy Spring, Easter, Passover, Ramadan!
> 
> View attachment 255476


----------



## Warhorse

Looks like we are not going to see the lunar eclipse here tomorrow evening.


----------



## SquarePeg

Warhorse said:


> Looks like we are not going to see the lunar eclipse here tomorrow evening.


Likely will be clouded out here as well.  Was also hoping for sunset moonrise tonight but 96% cloud cover is a non starter.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Likely will be clouded out here as well.  Was also hoping for sunset moonrise tonight but 96% cloud cover is a non starter.


We'll try to watch for it but we're due to have clouds building by late afternoon, so I think it'll be a bust here, too.   Too bad, since last night's moon was full/near full and very visible from the yard.


----------



## SquarePeg

It did clear up over here for the eclipse but not for my target which was sunset moonrise.


----------



## snowbear

We had a thunderstorm blow through last night.  It was partly cloudy until a little after we got home, then the rain started.  Pretty much overcast, today, as well.


----------



## terri

There's a litter of kittens underneath our neighbor's deck!  We can hear them when the mama comes back.   I want to go see them so much, but of course that's a mistake.  She'll just move them, and our neighbor actually fosters kittens and works with a rescue group.   They're watching and waiting a few more days before attempting to get mama.   

The kittens themselves will be easy.    They'll be kept together before adoption efforts start.  🐈 😻 🐈‍⬛️


----------



## limr

terri said:


> There's a litter of kittens underneath our neighbor's deck!  We can hear them when the mama comes back.   I want to go see them so much, but of course that's a mistake.  She'll just move them, and our neighbor actually fosters kittens and works with a rescue group.   They're watching and waiting a few more days before attempting to get mama.
> 
> The kittens themselves will be easy.    They'll be kept together before adoption efforts start.  🐈 😻 🐈‍⬛️



KITTENS!!!

(For the record, that was yelled out in a pitch so high that only dogs could hear it.)


----------



## vintagesnaps

I got the second booster, I think... lol every time I go in for anything else they take your temp, and I've been retested a couple of times (asthma, no longer a spring chicken...). I think I've been boosterized and checked within an inch of my life! 

Terri - kitties!!!

Leo, same here, counties in my area back under higher risk exposure _*again*_! Haven't completely gotten away from wearing a face mask. I'm tired of being one of the responsible ones, if it wasn't so contagious I don't know if I'd care anymore if people won't get vaccinated and make themselves seriously ill. (Of course I don't mean people who have medical reasons to not do it, or who had reactions, etc. that's different than just not doing it for no good reason).

But enough is enough of this already. We lost an awful lot of people early on, what don't people get about that?? Once we had vaccines available that help prevent people from being hospitalized or dying it's senseless that we have to go thru this again.

If people thought about it, they got vaccinated as kids, so what's the big deal about another shot? Of course my work meant getting a flu shot every year, etc. so what's one more vaccination?? People need to get over themselves! lol sheesh.


----------



## snowbear

I found these little guys when I was walking to the (Atlantic) beach at the conference, last week.  I think the front one is a fountian, though it wasn't running.




cmw3_d750_DSC_3956.jpg by Snowbear Photography, on Flickr


----------



## SquarePeg

Today I got a message on Instagram from someone from a local business organization wanting to know if it was ok to use one of my photos on their website and some media publications and of course they would give credit for the photo.  I said no not for free thanks but we can talk about licensing the photo for your needs -  which is what I always say and then I never hear from them again.  

Well today I got a follow up asking for a call to discuss.  When I was questioning them about what they wanted to use it for they gave me their website and mentioned some upcoming trade show.  They are a non profit that promotes travel to our area.  

After a short discussion about their budget, I asked for an email with specifics on how they wanted to use my photo.  After we hung up, I went on their website only to find… you guessed it.  They already used my photo in this years 2022-2023 travel guide!  Uncredited.  What is on their website and appears to be a copy of a printed travel guide.


----------



## Rickbb

Lawyer time!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Today I got a message on Instagram from someone from a local business organization wanting to know if it was ok to use one of my photos on their website and some media publications and of course they would give credit for the photo.  I said no not for free thanks but we can talk about licensing the photo for your needs -  which is what I always say and then I never hear from them again.
> 
> Well today I got a follow up asking for a call to discuss.  When I was questioning them about what they wanted to use it for they gave me their website and mentioned some upcoming trade show.  They are a non profit that promotes travel to our area.
> 
> After a short discussion about their budget, I asked for an email with specifics on how they wanted to use my photo.  After we hung up, I went on their website only to find… you guessed it.  They already used my photo in this years 2022-2023 travel guide!  Uncredited.  What is on their website and appears to be a copy of a printed travel guide.


That's a bunch of crap!   They must know you'd see it, since they gave you the website, so what's your next move?    Photo credit would be nice for starters!


----------



## snowbear

Devil's advocate: is it the production website, or possibly a development copy (does the URL show up in a search)?


----------



## SquarePeg

Spoke to the head of the organization.  She confirmed they already “mistakenly” used my photo in the printed guide.  She admitted their responsibility for the error explaining  that the photo somehow was in their digital files with others that they had permission to use.  From our conversation it appears that the business who’s boat is in the photo may have sent it to them last year.  They realized their mistake when they went to use it again on their website and didn’t have the photo credit in their file.  That’s when they did an image search that led back to me.  

She apologized and offered a decent payment for the photo and asked for permission to use it going forward on their website with photo credit.  Currently waiting for the details in writing via email.  

I guess I could be a jerk and hold their feet to the fire over this but frankly that’s more stress and animosity than I want in my life.  If they had contacted me from the start I would probably have let them use it in exchange for photo credit in their guide.  Since I can’t have that I’ll take the money and use it to buy myself something


----------



## vintagesnaps

Take the money and - shop! Being a nonprofit at least I'd probably be willing to work something out with them. 

So how did the boat owner get your photo to have provided it to the nonprofit? They don't own rights to your photo, not that they'd know it... I tell ya, it takes vigilance to protect photographic work. I rarely share/post online especially social media, sometimes the terms to me seem to allow outright thievery!! 

Glad you got it worked out in a professional way. Good for you, win-win if you make a little money too!


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Take the money and - shop! Being a nonprofit at least I'd probably be willing to work something out with them.
> 
> So how did the boat owner get your photo to have provided it to the nonprofit? They don't own rights to your photo, not that they'd know it... I tell ya, it takes vigilance to protect photographic work. I rarely share/post online especially social media, sometimes the terms to me seem to allow outright thievery!!
> 
> Glad you got it worked out in a professional way. Good for you, win-win if you make a little money too!


I sold the photo to the boat captains wife last year!  She saw it on Instagram and contacted me.  Usually I order the print myself and then have it delivered but she asked for digital and agreed to my terms for that and I was stupid.  Obviously she lied and felt free to share it even after she agreed not to.  Lesson learned.

I really need to get my act together and create a website so when people contact me I can just let them buy online without the drama of negotiation.   I just don’t want this to turn into work.  I already have a job.


----------



## snowbear

The way I look at it - they're going to give you something for their mistake, and they are a non-profit that helps get tourismt to the area.  Maybe they would consider a receipt for donation, for tax purposes.


----------



## Rickbb

Take the money and run. ;-)


----------



## vintagesnaps

I provide prints, and even that's a rarity, I'm not looking for work either! At least she contacted you, she could've just snagged it off Instagram I suppose.


----------



## Fujidave

Hello all, we had a lovely warm sunny day here.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Fujidave said:


> Hello all, we had a lovely warm sunny day here.


Hello Dave. Dreary, misty day here today🤨


----------



## CherylL

Fujidave said:


> Hello all, we had a lovely warm sunny day here.


Hi Dave.  Overcast yet again today.  Things should get warmer and sunnier starting tomorrow here.


----------



## limr

It started raining today and is supposed to be raining off and on through tomorrow evening as well and it's GLORIOUS.  From now until about the end of October, I relish any day that will give me rain and cooler temperatures. The sun is just mean and oppressive at this time of year.


----------



## otherprof

SquarePeg said:


> Today I got a message on Instagram from someone from a local business organization wanting to know if it was ok to use one of my photos on their website and some media publications and of course they would give credit for the photo.  I said no not for free thanks but we can talk about licensing the photo for your needs -  which is what I always say and then I never hear from them again.
> 
> Well today I got a follow up asking for a call to discuss.  When I was questioning them about what they wanted to use it for they gave me their website and mentioned some upcoming trade show.  They are a non profit that promotes travel to our area.
> 
> After a short discussion about their budget, I asked for an email with specifics on how they wanted to use my photo.  After we hung up, I went on their website only to find… you guessed it.  They already used my photo in this years 2022-2023 travel guide!  Uncredited.  What is on their website and appears to be a copy of a printed travel guide.


Are they listed on Charity Navigator?  My first stop before contributing anything is seeing how much the officers of the non-profit are making, and what percentage that comes to of every dollar contributed. I wouldn't be easy on them just because they are "non-profit", with the photo or any other item of value.


----------



## SquarePeg

otherprof said:


> Are they listed on Charity Navigator?  My first stop before contributing anything is seeing how much the officers of the non-profit are making, and what percentage that comes to of every dollar contributed. I wouldn't be easy on them just because they are "non-profit", with the photo or any other item of value.


They’re a non profit, not a charity.  I did some research and I’m happy with the way things worked out.  I was annoyed that the first person who contacted me tried to cover up their mistake but not upset enough to make a big deal out of it.  I believe they only paid me because they had used the photo already.  If they had asked me up front and I wanted to be paid they would have just moved on to another photo.  So in the end I have a bit of cash I wouldn’t otherwise have had over something I probably would not have ever known about had they not contacted me.


----------



## Fujidave

Good morning all, looks like another warm and sunny day so off in to town soon as Brighton Fringe is still on.


----------



## snowbear

Getting ready to take some furniture to #1 in Oklahoma in a few weeks.  We noticed a glass panel was sitting on one of the shelves, and further investigation revealed two retainer clips had broken.  I just ordered some, and they'll be here next week.  I also got a dowling jig (the one I have is in storage, somewhere) so I'll join the pantry shelf boards.  I used 1x6 pine and put down two for each shelf (three for the bottom shelf).

We are taking Ada (favorite SIL)  out to dinner after we do a little work at the house; a Greek + Mediteranian place a bit south of us.


----------



## SquarePeg

Full morning for me - weeded the flower beds, mowed the grass, went to Lowes for neem oil and a sprayer (my roses have attracted some white flies), walked the dog and ran back inside just as the rain started.  We’re expecting thunderstorms this afternoon then clearing tonight.  I might run into Boston later to shoot the Memorial Day flag tribute if sunset looks promising.  I’m on staycation all next week and I am determined to knock a ton of stuff off my list.


----------



## Fujidave

One from Brighton Fringe today.



Unicyler Juggler by Rohan, on Flickr


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> went to Lowes for neem oil


I had never heard of this stuff until last summer and now I can't do without it!   It's very effective on whiteflies.   The damn things have killed more annuals than I care to recall.   

@Fujidave :   looks like a fun day!   😀



snowbear said:


> Getting ready to take some furniture to #1 in Oklahoma in a few weeks.


Road trip!!   That's quite a drive, Bear!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Been listening to a compilation of about 20 years' worth of the Memorial Day weekend 'Modern Rock 500' that 97X used to play... as in 'Bam! 97X The Future of Rock and Roll' in the movie 'Rain Man'. The 'Bam!' was added for the movie. Asked one of their former DJs what song was playing on 97X in that part of the movie and now I forget! but he's the one that sent me down that rabbit hole...

But still, I listened all the time, brings back memories of using the darkroom at the local university, just me and trays of developer and fixer and 97X on the radio and - in the summers, no students! well not many anyway.

And Leo, what was the first song on the compiliation list of 500 top 'Modern Rock 500' songs from '89-'09?? 'How Soon Is Now', The Smiths. The playlist is not necessarily in that order so haven't heard that song yet.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Looks fun FujiDave!! Glad to see you're out doing that, bet it's been fun.

edit - Mr. Google found it for me, does that look like a blast! Have a fun time there Dave!


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> I had never heard of this stuff until last summer and now I can't do without it!   It's very effective on whiteflies.   The damn things have killed more annuals than I care to recall.
> 
> @Fujidave :   looks like a fun day!   😀
> 
> 
> Road trip!!   That's quite a drive, Bear!


Yep.  two days drive but we’ll fly back.


----------



## CherylL

Finally sunshine and warm temps today.  Took a drive up the river road and stopped at a fish stand for lunch.  Left my camera at home to just enjoy the day.  I did regret it once when I saw a nice shot that was possible.  

There is a male and female ducks that have taken a liking to our backyard.  I think it is the birds seed dropped from the feeders that is attractive.  They show up twice a day and sometimes just sit.  We have to keep a lookout before we let the 3 wild pups out.  Give the ducks a chance to fly over the fence.  Saw the first humming bird this morning and two squirrels.  A couple of deer were out back yesterday.  Good to see the wildlife flourish.


----------



## vintagesnaps

NYRangers up 3-0 at MSG. Whoa-oh, oh, oh.....

Carolina pulled their goalie and put who in net??
And of course the Hurricanes just scored...



Whew, Rangers scored, this is more like it. Let's go Rangers!!


And Mess had a horse named after him in the Derby...


----------



## limr

terri said:


> I had never heard of this stuff until last summer and now I can't do without it!   It's very effective on whiteflies.   The damn things have killed more annuals than I care to recall.
> 
> @Fujidave :   looks like a fun day!   😀
> 
> 
> Road trip!!   That's quite a drive, Bear!



Fun fact - neem oil is also great for your skin and hair. I have used it as a moisturizer and to help acne breakouts.



vintagesnaps said:


> And Leo, what was the first song on the compiliation list of 500 top 'Modern Rock 500' songs from '89-'09?? 'How Soon Is Now', The Smiths. The playlist is not necessarily in that order so haven't heard that song yet.



Ah the Smiths. That reminds me, there's a pair of Doc Martens Chelsea boots that I've been meaning to get. 



vintagesnaps said:


> Whew, Rangers scored, this is more like it. Let's go Rangers!!



Let's go Rangers!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Those would be outstanding!

Still have 450 of 500 songs to go in the countdown. Guess what I'm doing today.

I thought the pollen and I had an agreement, it stays outside, I stay inside, and never the twain shall meet.

Game 7 Monday night...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Had to look up what a neem is. Probably allergic to it unless it produces no pollen.

'Is It Really So Strange?', The Smiths, John Peel Sessions. Why did they have all this stuff in the UK and I never knew?? Thanks to the Tube of You I can now watch what I missed and never knew about then.

Fujidave, do you know by chance if Glastonbury is going to be streamed online? 

MTV Live had shown past years' later in the summer but not sure if they are this year. That or hope to find it online in the US. Now that's some good music! And for a change one of the MTV channels remembers what the M stands for.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Got interrupted during 'Planet Clare', B-52s. Had to go back and listen to that!

At this rate, I'm not getting thru these 500 very quickly, starting to skip to the next with songs I don't care for. But, B-52s!! couldn't pass that up. 

At least have something while I stay in and avoid the dreaded pollen, reliving the '90's. Needed a cold compress for one train wreck of an eye this morning.


----------



## snowbear

The panels are off the Jeep; just painted Ada’s mailbox.  Kidding her that I was going to gang-tag her fence.


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Had to look up what a neem is. Probably allergic to it unless it produces no pollen.
> 
> 'Is It Really So Strange?', The Smiths, John Peel Sessions. Why did they have all this stuff in the UK and I never knew?? Thanks to the Tube of You I can now watch what I missed and never knew about then.
> 
> Fujidave, do you know by chance if Glastonbury is going to be streamed online?
> 
> MTV Live had shown past years' later in the summer but not sure if they are this year. That or hope to find it online in the US. Now that's some good music! And for a change one of the MTV channels remembers what the M stands for.



Sadly I'm not sure if they will stream Glastonbury, but I will check it out and let you know in here.


----------



## Fujidave

@vintagesnaps   This is the only thing at the moment doing the rounds.










						Glastonbury Festival 2022
					

Glastonbury 2022 will take place at its natural home in Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset - from Wednesday 22nd to Sunday 26th June.




					www.glastofestfeed.com


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, overcast here at the moment so might have a lazy day.


----------



## SquarePeg

It’s going to be pushing 90 here today.  I could already feel the humidity on my 6am walk with the dog.  The heat is not for me! I am heading to the movies and out for lunch and then I will be sitting in my air-conditioned house painting or editing photos for the rest of the night. The remainder of this week, my staycation, is going to be in the 70s which is perfecto!

Watched The Staircase on HBO max this weekend.   It’s based on a true story that I don’t remember - I’m not much into true crime fan but this was really well done.


----------



## Fujidave

Michael Peterson Crime writer, The Staircase.  Thought I'd heard of this as I love true crime.


----------



## snowbear

Upper 70's again today.  I pulled the Jeep top panels off and took a short ride.  I'm parked under a tree (the only spots available), so I placed a tarp over the front seats; bird$#!t on the upholstery will ruin your day.


----------



## Warhorse

I'm a little afraid to take mine off...they've been on there ever since it was manufactured over a year and a half ago.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. Gonna be stupid hot today and tomorrow. I plan on staying next to the air conditioner until I have to go to campus on Wednesday morning.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Stupid hot, yeah. In the AC...

Thanks Dave, will check that out.  So much good music at Glastonbury. 

Still 350 or so of 500 songs to go, and I've started skipping thru.


----------



## Fujidave

So you ladies have a stupid hot, we have it stupid overcast with drizzle lol


----------



## Warhorse

I'm just a chillin' in the 72° air conditioned house …vs. 89° outside.


----------



## limr

Fujidave said:


> So you ladies have a stupid hot, we have it stupid overcast with drizzle lol



I would take overcast with a drizzle any day of the week over hot and sunny. Seriously. I would pay money to have the sun be buried in a dark storm cloud right now.



Warhorse said:


> I'm just a chillin' in the 72° air conditioned house …vs. 89° outside.



Yeah, mine is set much lower


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sheena is a ... Punk Rocker. Ramones. 330 more to go! going to go beyond Memorial Day weekend.


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hey hosers. Gonna be stupid hot today and tomorrow. I plan on staying next to the air conditioner until I have to go to campus on Wednesday morning.


They lied.  Dash thermometer showed 92 as we were driving up to Ada’s but it’s all good; just ran A/C.  Got a crap load of poison ivy cut down in the back yard.


----------



## Rickbb

90’s all week here, will be most of summer, but I’m used to it so no worries. People think I’m crazy for walking 2 miles at lunch in the heat but been doing it for decades.


----------



## vintagesnaps

'There is a Light That Never Goes Out', The Smiths.

Let's go Rangers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

How many times are The Smiths in the top 500 all time modern rock?? I dunno, haven't kept track, but a lot.

NY Rangers won game 7!!!!!!!!!! on to the next round.


----------



## SquarePeg

Yesterdays heat seems to have popped the peonies out of their sleep!


----------



## Fujidave

So got the camera battery all charged up and ready to go out and start my 100 Strangers project, rained here so will have to try tomorrow.


----------



## Robshoots

If it makes anyone feel better, we’re expecting 105 by Thursday and steady triple digits from then on.  But as they say, it’s a dry heat.  The good news is that monsoon (July and August) should be pretty wet this year, and that makes for lots of wild flowers.  Monsoon clouds can be pretty spectacular, too.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> So got the camera battery all charged up and ready to go out and start my 100 Strangers project, rained here so will have to try tomorrow.


Maybe it should be a 100 Strangers in the Rain project?  


Robshoots said:


> If it makes anyone feel better, we’re expecting 105 by Thursday and steady triple digits from then on.  But as they say, it’s a dry heat.  The good news is that monsoon (July and August) should be pretty wet this year, and that makes for lots of wild flowers.  Monsoon clouds can be pretty spectacular, too.


I agree the dry heat is easier to take than the humidity at 90 here but 105 is still 105!  Not for me at all!  I’m getting ready to step into my vampire mode when I am only outdoors between 6pm and 9am unless I am on my covered deck or it’s a cloudy day.


----------



## Fujidave

Sadly the 100 strangers will not be done when it rains, as I don't do rain at all.  My camera might be WS as I am but I hate the rain when I want to be out and about.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> I agree the dry heat is easier to take than the humidity at 90 here but 105 is still 105!  Not for me at all!  I’m getting ready to step into my vampire mode when I am only outdoors between 6pm and 9am unless I am on my covered deck or it’s a cloudy day.



Yup, hot is still hot. Part of it for me is that even in cooler temperatures, the sun is way too strong. It just *hurts* and it didn't used to - and I've even got that Mediterranean olive complexion, so I've got skin that can handle sun exposure. But it's not that I'm getting sun burns (it would take me a long time to burn and I would never be in the sun that long), it's that even after only a few minutes, being in the direct sun just hurts. I recently saw a chart that showed that summer temperatures are definitely rising, so I don't think that I'm just not remembering how hot it used to be or how I used to feel in the sun. And I also don't think it's simply a matter of being personally less tolerant of heat than I used to be. These are factors, I'm sure, but I'm also sure that there are quantifiable scientific reasons regarding the climate as well.

Here's the Instagram post with animation: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CeL_y8UgWv-/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

And the longer article/explanation of the data: What’s Going On in This Graph? | Hotter Summers


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, we have a nice sunny day with a lovely breeze here.


----------



## Jeff15

Today I am going to one of the very few places on the English mainland where Red Squirrels live, I should have some decent shot by the weekend....


----------



## SquarePeg

Here come the roses!  I worked my tail off last fall creating these beds and getting 10 rose bushes planted while waiting for the fence materials to come in.  By the time they were able to install the fence the roses had died off for the season so I didn’t really get to see them together.   The roses should get up to 4ft tall which will put them above the 3 1/2 ft fence but they are already peeking through the pickets.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Oh, I like those roses against the white fence, nice! I'm planning to have some planting done but not sure when, have things with the house to take priority.

I thought the pollen and I had an agreement, I stay in, it stays outside! It's sneaking into my territory and making my eyes puff up. Waiting for the rain later to wash it down!!


----------



## vintagesnaps

'Blitzkreig Bop', The Ramones. That's a song to get the morning going. Hey ho.

Down to under 200 songs to go. Lots of The Smiths, Depeche Mode. How is it possible one of their band just passed away? The band announced it last week but no info. about what happened, seemed sudden... Some people seem to leave us too soon.


----------



## terri

Still waiting for the peonies around here to pop.    These buds are fat and round, and they must be putting out some kind of sap or nectar since the ants love them.     

Temps are moderating back down after a spike the last couple of days.   @SquarePeg your roses look wonderful against that fence!   Are you putting up the pool this summer?


----------



## vintagesnaps

My peonies hardly came up! Everybody's are looking bad this year, or really late. I hope they come back better next summer! I have pink, white, and red. With ants!! yes the ants like them!
poor ants...

C'mon, let's rock 'n roll with the Ramones.


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Oh, I like those roses against the white fence, nice! I'm planning to have some planting done but not sure when, have things with the house to take priority.
> 
> I thought the pollen and I had an agreement, I stay in, it stays outside! It's sneaking into my territory and making my eyes puff up. Waiting for the rain later to wash it down!!


The pollen has been absolutely terrible this year.  I think the trees loved how late winter lasted and then it’s been super windy here.  The pollen and I have an agreement too - it kicks my butt and I draw smiley faces on my car.  


terri said:


> Still waiting for the peonies around here to pop.    These buds are fat and round, and they must be putting out some kind of sap or nectar since the ants love them.
> 
> Temps are moderating back down after a spike the last couple of days.   @SquarePeg your roses look wonderful against that fence!   Are you putting up the pool this summer?


The ants do love the sap on the peonies - once you see the ants the flowers will pop soon!  Yea putting up the pool soon.  Yesterday I remodeled my closet with one of those diy kits.  Have three huge bags of clothes to donate.  Found some stuff in a box from the Red Sox 2004 World Series win and a bag of Princess’s favorite tshirts from when she was little.  Yep I’m a sentimental hoarder.


----------



## Fujidave

It really is lovely to see so many here who have Ponies as they are lovely animals.

Edit :  OOOPs you mean Peonies that flower beautifully lol


----------



## SquarePeg

Nerd alert - Harlie and I just watched the first 3 episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi.  So far very entertaining!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Did you feel the force?


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> Did you feel the force?




May the Fuji be with you lol


----------



## Fujidave

Looking like a nice sunny day at the moment, so off for a mooch soon.


----------



## snowbear

Hellow.
Goodbye.
Got a retirement thing to go to.  It's also our anniversary.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Happy Anniversary!! 

Not a retirement thing for you, is it?

Watched some of the Queen's Jubilee. Someone I follow related to needlework is on the coast of Cornwall and they lighted one of the beacons where she lives, kind of cool to see.


----------



## cgw

vintagesnaps said:


> My peonies hardly came up! Everybody's are looking bad this year, or really late. I hope they come back better next summer! I have pink, white, and red. With ants!! yes the ants like them!
> poor ants...
> 
> C'mon, let's rock 'n roll with the Ramones.


I heard you:






Saw this, heard the Ramones, stopped and shot just north of Guelph, Ontario:


----------



## cgw

SquarePeg said:


> Nerd alert - Harlie and I just watched the first 3 episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi.  So far very entertaining!


Try Babylon Berlin or Peaky Blinders if you missed 'em.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> Happy Anniversary!!
> 
> Not a retirement thing for you, is it?
> 
> Watched some of the Queen's Jubilee. Someone I follow related to needlework is on the coast of Cornwall and they lighted one of the beacons where she lives, kind of cool to see.


Thank you - 38 years.

No, one of the Fire/EMS Lieutenants, and our former GS Cookie pusher (her daughter was the Girl Scout).  I'm going to be the office poltergeist.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning everyone, looks like another sunny and warm day out, so a mooch is in order for the day.


----------



## terri

Happy Friday, hosers!   

It's June.  

That's all I got.


----------



## Warhorse

Started up my sprinkler system yesterday, tomorrow morning will be the first full cycle watering.


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Happy Friday, hosers!
> 
> It's June.
> 
> That's all I got.



Happy Friday!

One more day into June means one more day towards days getting shorter again and the eventual end of summer. These are the things that make me happy  Also having Fridays off through the end of July.

Getting a new lawn mower today. The one my sister gave me was just not right for me or my lawn. It is a giant commercial mower that I can barely manage, and I don't have a very large lawn so it was like killing a mosquito with a shotgun. Also, mice ate through a spark plug wire over the winter and it wasn't working.

So a friend of Buzz's actually wanted to buy it as-is (it's a very easy fix to replace the wire) and now I have money to get myself a new mower that is more appropriate for my needs and ability to use it without putting my life - or at least the life of plants I don't want to cut down - at risk.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Happy Friday!
> 
> One more day into June means one more day towards days getting shorter again and the eventual end of summer. These are the things that make me happy  Also having Fridays off through the end of July.
> 
> Getting a new lawn mower today. The one my sister gave me was just not right for me or my lawn. It is a giant commercial mower that I can barely manage, and I don't have a very large lawn so it was like killing a mosquito with a shotgun. Also, mice ate through a spark plug wire over the winter and it wasn't working.
> 
> So a friend of Buzz's actually wanted to buy it as-is (it's a very easy fix to replace the wire) and now I have money to get myself a new mower that is more appropriate for my needs and ability to use it without putting my life - or at least the life of plants I don't want to cut down - at risk.


I got a Ryobi battery powered mower last year and love it.  Nice and quiet and no nasty fumes.  It’s a self propelled and very easy to manage.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> I got a Ryobi battery powered mower last year and love it.  Nice and quiet and no nasty fumes.  It’s a self propelled and very easy to manage.



That's what I just got! A Ryobi, battery-powered and self-propelled, and it came with an extra battery. Just got back and am charging the batteries before I test it out in a few hours.


----------



## snowbear

I have a Milwaukee battery powered string trimmer.  Long enough that I'm not constantly bending over.

Took a crap load of cookbooks to the dump over the past couple days, and more on the way.  Not sure what mom was thinking of - there were duplicates of duplicates.

Going to celebrate the 38 on Sunday with dinner.

Took a walk across the street at lunch time to deliver a map: cloudy and warm but not muggy.  A nice day, overall.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning everyone overcast and very breezy here with rain due, so a day in today for me.  Had a great day at the Brighton Fringe yesterday.


----------



## Fujidave

Stonking day at Brighton Fringe today, last day tomorrow and it has been so much fun and a joy to photograph the different performers.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I got nuthin'!! Trying to get into Paypal... grrr..... Now I remember last time the customer service rep got me into it. Here I go again. And... the call cut off so guess I'll have to start over. Or wait til Monday... 

I may seriously just close it out, I'm fed up with it. Stop make me jump thru hoops, have had that account for years but if they don't want me as a customer I guess I'll manage without it. And it's possible to use it as a guest...


----------



## otherprof

Fujidave said:


> Morning everyone overcast and very breezy here with rain due, so a day in today for me.  Had a great day at the Brighton Fringe yesterday.


Sunset was at 8:01! I skipped the sunblock.


----------



## smoke665

Got a brief reprieve ftom heat and humidity here, but it's headed back up this week. Weatherman just called it "air you can wear", that describes it perfectly. I love summer but heat and humidity triggers my asthma so my summers are spent mostly in A/C.


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## snowbear

We turned in our notice of intent to vacate the apartment, as of July 31 (we're required to submit the form 60-days in advance).  We're not working at the house today, but will do some work around the apartment getting ready for their inspection.  We're planning on celebrating out anniversary at a new (to us) restaurant down the road.

MLW & FSIL (Favorite Sister-In-Law) Ada, were at the house all week and have gotten the place livable: living room, master bedroom and the smaller spare bedroom are cleared of junk, though we are storing some items in the small room.  The mattress in the MBR is in good shape so we'll just get bed linens and be able to camp out there on weekends.  I think we'll have our prefered CATV + Internet access company give us a basic package at the house next week and I;ll actually be able to telecommute from that location. 

Friday, we signed a contract to replace the two double-hung + picture window configurations in the living room, dining room, kitchen, and basement "big room."  We're going from original wood single pane to composite double pane + heat shield.  Other windows in the front and side were replaced a while back.  We also just got a call that the storm doors are in and will be delivered next week.  I guess we'll put them in the living room until the other doors are here and being installed.

I finally took a couple phone photos of the back yard.  The cleared area in the middle was full of poisin ivy, Virginia creeper, and other assorted weeds.  You can see some in the lower-left of the photo.  I cut and pulled the poison ivy and other "stringy" crap, then mowed over the rest.  It looks like some grass is starting to come back.  There is still some hosta around the larger trees and I found two azaleas still living, which I'll transplant to the front of the house.  You can see the larger shed here.  It is rotting out along the bottom of the doors and side wall (Dad and I built it about 1978).  The smaller one, just beyond it, is in better condition but is really too small: the lawn tractor barely fits.  We'll eventually put in a larger one on the other side of the yard.










Finally, here is part of dad's HO model train layout.  One of the cats liked to lay up there so much of the scenery, locomotives and railroad cars have been knocked over, but it doesn't look like any real damage.  The building on the right is a model of the county courhouse he built from scratch.  I'm still undecided on what to do with is - fix and use, scale it back and use, or keep some of the loco's and cars, and sell off the rest.

You can see some clutter in the shot - most of the house was like that, with paths to the rooms she used.  There is still a lot of work to be done.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> You can see some clutter in the shot - most of the house was



I can relate. My mother passed 1986. She had lived in big rambling 2 story farmhouse with basement since 1950. We had an estate auction that lasted all day, and still brought back a 53' semi trailer load of stuff that we didn't know what to do with. We packed it in military moving crates, where it stayed in our warehouse for the next 20yrs, while we gradually worked through it. As the years went by we found we were a lot more discriminating in our keep selections.


----------



## terri

Sounds like several of us have gone/are going through it.   My mom's basement was starting to freak me out- we'd haul 7-8 plastic bags of junk out every week and it still looked like it had barely been touched.    She lived in the condo for 40 years - a very neat and tidy packrat, but a pack rat all the same.    

Charlie, that back yard looks really nice!   Once you get it cleared out it's going to be beautiful back there.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Charlie, that back yard looks really nice!   Once you get it cleared out it's going to be beautiful back there.


Thanks.  Thinking about removing a couple of trees so we can have a little garden.

MLW is trying to get the CATV and Internet instal scheduled for this week so we can start teleworking from there.


----------



## snowbear

Yuccas are in bloom at the new house.


----------



## terri

Wow,  that's one in seriously full bloom!   Very pretty plant.   

I wouldn't have guessed that a yucca would do so well in your neck of the woods, Bear.  Nice!


----------



## snowbear

They've been there for years, and at my aunt & uncles place before that.  I guess they are pretty tolerent of colder weather.  Not sure how they's do in the North Woods or Downeast, but I guess we'll find out eventually.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> I guess they are pretty tolerent of colder weather


The blooms can be pretty, but the &^%$% needle tips will eat you up if you get against them. We had some at the old house, I swear they could stick you if you got within 6' of them. Finally got rid of all of them.


----------



## smoke665

Well another delightful day of rain and storms for us. Phoebe is terrified of storms even with the meds. Last night they finally passed and she settled down enough that we got to bed just after 10. She woke me up at 4 am as the next round came through. Another 30mins to an hour and we hopefully get a reprieve until this evening.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> Well another delightful day of rain and storms for us. Phoebe is terrified of storms even with the meds. Last night they finally passed and she settled down enough that we got to bed just after 10. She woke me up at 4 am as the next round came through. Another 30mins to an hour and we hopefully get a reprieve until this evening.


When our furbabies were with us, I dreaded 4th of July every year. Our biggest, meanest looking friend would shake uncontrollably. The neighbor at the end of the street always tried outdoing the last year's show and poor Baxter just was miserable.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all just a quick pop in whilst waiting for a Zoom meeting to start.


----------



## Original katomi

I had a ride down a small lane near home and found this  spot,, sadly no where to park safe. Maybe I should design a warning road sign  Photographer Ahead


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> I had a ride down a small lane near home and found this  spot,, sadly no where to park safe. Maybe I should design a warning road sign  Photographer AheadView attachment 256892



Oh my, that's not safe!   Especially once the sun goes down.   I'd alert your local traffic officer, who may not be aware.   I wonder if it floods out like this regularly.




smoke665 said:


> Well another delightful day of rain and storms for us. Phoebe is terrified of storms even with the meds. Last night they finally passed and she settled down enough that we got to bed just after 10. She woke me up at 4 am as the next round came through. Another 30mins to an hour and we hopefully get a reprieve until this evening.


Poor little girl.    The biggest dog my mom ever had was the one who would routinely climb into the bathtub whenever there was thunder!   I don't think she ever tried to put him on any medication for it, though.    It's so hard when you can't explain to them that there's nothing to fear!


----------



## snowbear

The new storm doors are being delivered to the house tomorrow.  The delivery window is from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM.  I don’t feel like getting up and leaving the apartment by 5:30 AM so we’re going to do the first overnight in the house tonight.  A remodeling company is coming by to look at the kitchen on Saturday, though we won’t be ready for that for a while.  The heat uses radiators But the hot water heater runs on fuel oil.  We’ll swap that for electric as soon as possible. we can’t take $800 fuel deliveries very long.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> The blooms can be pretty, but the &^%$% needle tips will eat you up if you get against them. We had some at the old house, I swear they could stick you if you got within 6' of them. Finally got rid of all of them.


They are spikey.  I’ll move them back from the driveway later, to save wear and tear on the ankles.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> The new storm doors are being delivered to the house tomorrow.  The delivery window is from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM.  I don’t feel like getting up and leaving the apartment by 5:30 AM so we’re going to do the first overnight in the house tonight.  A remodeling company is coming by to look at the kitchen on Saturday, though we won’t be ready for that for a while.  The heat uses radiators But the hot water heater runs on fuel oil.  We’ll swap that for electric as soon as possible. we can’t take $800 fuel deliveries very long.


A water heater that runs on fuel oil - wow!   I don't blame you for wanting to swap that out.   Not sure I've ever even heard of that.    

This sounds like a fun house, despite the costs of upgrades and remodeling.  Those projects can really be fun!   

When was the house built, Charlie?


----------



## Warhorse

snowbear said:


> The new storm doors are being delivered to the house tomorrow.  The delivery window is from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM.  I don’t feel like getting up and leaving the apartment by 5:30 AM so we’re going to do the first overnight in the house tonight.  A remodeling company is coming by to look at the kitchen on Saturday, though we won’t be ready for that for a while.  The heat uses radiators But the hot water heater runs on fuel oil.  We’ll swap that for electric as soon as possible. we can’t take $800 fuel deliveries very long.


Are you saying you have a hot water boiler for heat in the house, and a separate hot heater for tap water?


----------



## vintagesnaps

I'll be zooming later too, and color pencil sketching, an art thing (obviously!). 

Stay 6 feet away, Smoke you're so funny. I've never seen plants like that around here in the boring midwest. Just as well maybe.

Sorry people's pets had storms to contend with. Some storms here too. Cooler today and weather settled down, still cloudy though.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> A water heater that runs on fuel oil - wow!   I don't blame you for wanting to swap that out.   Not sure I've ever even heard of that.
> 
> This sounds like a fun house, despite the costs of upgrades and remodeling.  Those projects can really be fun!
> 
> When was the house built, Charlie?


Built in 1955; we moved there in 1977 (I was 7 months out of high school).

I'll get some shots of the front once we get a few more things cleaned up.  We do have some $#!thouse outhouse  Tiger lillies in the front flower beds.  As I recall they just popped up a number of years ago and weren't intentionally planted (at least by us).

One small azelia in the front, two in the back that I'll move later.  Also need to trim back and probably move a crepe myrtle (or is it a rose of sharon - IDK) away from the flagpole.  I also need a decent set of flags; mice have gotten into the ones in the closet.



Warhorse said:


> Are you saying you have a hot water boiler for heat in the house, and a separate hot heater for tap water?


No.  A single oil furnace and a single hot water heater that supplies the radiators and the hot tap water.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

snowbear said:


> The heat uses radiators But the hot water heater runs on fuel oil. We’ll swap that for electric as soon as possible. we can’t take $800 fuel deliveries very long.


Is it a boiler or a water heater? Do you use it for radiant heat too?


----------



## snowbear

I call it a hot water heater.  The house heat is from radiators, though not the large cast iron type I grew up with in the DC apartment.  These are baseboard, with a pipe or two (one return, I guess) and fins along the length.  I'll get some shots this weekend.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Yep, sounds like the exact same heating/hot water system I have. Think I am going to install some valves and an electric water heater so I can isolate the boiler during warm season. It's expensive at the moment! Just paid $600 for a delivery of 125 US gallons.


----------



## limr

I have that setup as well. The furnace heats the water that goes through baseboard radiators and also the water that comes through all the kitchen and bathroom faucets. There is no hot water reservoir or separate heater. It's fairly common in Europe - I had that setup in a couple of places where I lived.

It's really not as expensive as you'd think (current fuel prices notwithstanding) Granted, I live alone in a small house so my heating and hot water needs are minimal. I like it cold so the heat is never very high in the winter, and the only time the furnace kicks in during the summer is when I am washing dishes or taking a shower.  But it's still more efficient than it seems at first glance.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

limr said:


> I like it cold so the heat is never very high in the winter, and the only time the furnace kicks in during the summer is when I am washing dishes or taking a shower.


Same here. We just had to replace our boiler about 3 years ago ( that was around $5500 ), and like most things, the new ones are really more economical. The old one looked like a 1960’s model.


----------



## snowbear

Ultimatelty we want central HVAC - but we need a hot water heater, anyway, so that can be a first step.


----------



## limr

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Same here. We just had to replace our boiler about 3 years ago ( that was around $5500 ), and like most things, the new ones are really more economical. The old one looked like a 1960’s model.



I think mine was replaced by the previous owners in...I want to say 2012, so it's relatively new. Hopefully I won't have to think about replacing it for a while! (Knock on wood, just in case  )


----------



## terri

I had to replace one in the last house, right before we put it up for sale to make sure it passed inspection.    

The installer laughed at me for saying "hot water heater."    

But it seems many people say that, so screw that guy.


----------



## snowbear

To me, a boiler creates steam, mainly for power, but some heating in larger buildings.  A hot water heater isn't producing steam, the temperature of the water ic probably closer to 135* F, not 212*.


----------



## Warhorse

Is natural gas available where your house is? It would be much more reasonable dollar wise, to heat your hot water system with than electric.


----------



## snowbear

No And not a viable option.  We checked a while back and every house between us and the main road (where the main is) would have to sign on or we’d have to pay for the whole run.  I have a friend that recently retired from the gas company,


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

snowbear said:


> To me, a boiler creates steam, mainly for power, but some heating in larger buildings.  A hot water heater isn't producing steam, the temperature of the water ic probably closer to 135* F, not 212*.


If you’d ever had a flush while you were in the shower, you’d swear that hot water striking your body _was _steam😂


----------



## Warhorse

snowbear said:


> No And not a viable option.  We checked a while back and every house between us and the main road (where the main is) would have to sign on or we’d have to pay for the whole run.  I have a friend that recently retired from the gas company,


I retired from a gas company eight years ago. Propane available?


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> I don't think she ever tried to put him on any medication for it, though. It's so hard when you can't explain to them that there's nothing to fear!


Even if they could understand I don't think you could explain it to her. The fear/anxiety was off the charts. We have this nagging feeling that there was abuse in her previous life, because she was extremely timid and scared of everything.  We tried all the non medical options but they just wouldn't  work and the concern was that the level of the anxiety was so great that she would either overheat or go into cardiac distress.  Our Vet has tried a couple of different meds without success, but the last combo seems to be working (it's the most expensive of course). She's on a daily pill called  Clomicalm, then supplement it with Trazodone for storm events. She's been getting progessively better on the Clomicalm daily, seems to be mellowing her out, so she isn't so skittish about everything. Once we found the right dosage for her on the Trazodone, it seems to help with the storms also. Without, the Trazodone added, on a scale of 1-10 she was still like 10+. With the correct dosage now she's more like -5, still a little skittish but bearable. We found out early on that there's a tipping point on the meds. You have to increase the dosage to get the desired effect, but if you go to far, you get the opposite effect, she'll turn into a bouncing off the walls crazy wild thing, it's been a challenge. She actually went out on the boat with us the other day, didn't faze her a bit. A month ago, we wouldn't have been able to hold her in.


----------



## snowbear

Warhorse said:


> I retired from a gas company eight years ago. Propane available?


Yes but I’m not sure I want to go that route.


----------



## Warhorse

I would think it would be less expensive than heating with electric.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Aww, Smoke, wonder what she experienced to be that scared. Glad you and your vet are figuring out what works best for her and she's got a good home now with you.


NY Rangers need to score in the 3rd...


----------



## vintagesnaps

Rose of Sharon is a bush if I'm remembering correctly. My Dad and I talked about planting some at my house but never did. I may look into getting some planted but need to get other stuff done first. 

Let's Go, Rangers!!


----------



## smoke665

Warhorse said:


> I would think it would be less expensive than heating with electric.



I think that would depend on electric rates in your location, availability of solar, size of the house and the energy efficiency of the house. We built an all electric energy efficient design house 12 years ago. Except in the very cold or very hot months our total bill never runs over $200 on 3600 sqft. The original plan was to add solar, but so far a timely payback just isn't there. Our 60 gal electric water heater provides all the hot water we need.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> Even if they could understand I don't think you could explain it to her. The fear/anxiety was off the charts. We have this nagging feeling that there was abuse in her previous life, because she was extremely timid and scared of everything.  We tried all the non medical options but they just wouldn't  work and the concern was that the level of the anxiety was so great that she would either overheat or go into cardiac distress.  Our Vet has tried a couple of different meds without success, but the last combo seems to be working (it's the most expensive of course). She's on a daily pill called  Clomicalm, then supplement it with Trazodone for storm events. She's been getting progessively better on the Clomicalm daily, seems to be mellowing her out, so she isn't so skittish about everything. Once we found the right dosage for her on the Trazodone, it seems to help with the storms also. Without, the Trazodone added, on a scale of 1-10 she was still like 10+. With the correct dosage now she's more like -5, still a little skittish but bearable. We found out early on that there's a tipping point on the meds. You have to increase the dosage to get the desired effect, but if you go to far, you get the opposite effect, she'll turn into a bouncing off the walls crazy wild thing, it's been a challenge. She actually went out on the boat with us the other day, didn't faze her a bit. A month ago, we wouldn't have been able to hold her in.


Poor girl.    What a story!   I'm glad this stuff is helping.    

Without any hard proof, we were pretty sure my mom's last dog witnessed a lot of physical abuse, though she herself didn't act like a victim.  But she placed her body between mom and any male who was around, and would lunge at them if they moved unexpectedly in any direction.    Not an issue around me or any other women.  It never really left her though improved over time.  Everyone was wary of her.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Yes but I’m not sure I want to go that route.


Let the reliability of your local power company help you decide.    If this neighborhood rarely loses power in inclement weather, you could stick with electric.    

I lived in a rural area where we lost power several times a year.    It was strange, and annoying to lose hot water in particular.   No showers or washing dishes which, showers in particular, help ease the loss of power over a period of several days, especially in winter.   

There was no natural gas line in the subdivision, so we thought about propane.   Never did it  - ultimately moved away instead.


----------



## Rickbb

An on demand gas hot water heater was the best energy/money saving investment I’ve made to the house. Paid for itself within 2 years and has been saving much $ ever since.


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Rose of Sharon is a bush if I'm remembering correctly. My Dad and I talked about planting some at my house but never did. I may look into getting some planted but need to get other stuff done first.
> 
> Let's Go, Rangers!!


I love them and have 3 mature bushes.  Careful - they love to spread and will pop up all over the places where you don’t mow.  Also they are water hogs so don’t plant them near anything that also needs a lot of water.  Hard to kill.  Had one that the contractor had to chain saw almost to the ground when we were doing a reno and 4 years later it’s 8 ft tall again.  They attract a ton of bees so good for the pollinators.  Ugly bunch of sticks in winter.


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m in northern coast Maine.  Can see Canadian border from our rental.  It’s ocean front and they are not lyin!


----------



## snowbear

We have a kitchen remodeler signed on.  We're not going to open the kitchen into the dining room as we had originally wanted; the wall is load bearing and it doesn't seem to be cost effective to put in a beam (we're planning on seeling in a few years).  We're going with flooring, cabinets, counters, back splashes, lighting, and new appliances (except fairly new fridge) as well as adding a couple of electrical outlets.  The oven and stove (all currently electric) will be put on seperate circuits; they are currently on one.  We may try to have some of the other rooms split into seperate circuits, later.

There is also a _huge_ mirror over the fireplac in the living room that was been there when Dad and Mom bought the place in '77.  We don't like it but don't have the skills to take it down ourselves.  MLW rememebered that one of the grand nephews does glass work so gave him a shout.  He'll be out next week to take care of it.  CATV/Internet access goes in next week, as well, so then I can start working on the office area.  I'll take up the side table and one of the chairs, but MLW wants the movers to handle the heavy desk. 

The windows contractor is coming out tomorrow for the pre-install inspection.  We got the basment cleared to the picture window that will be replaced, except they will have to shimmy between two of the walls and the trains.  It'ss be a while befpore they can be moved with the stuff stored beneath them.  I also got a good portion of the stuff off the patio (hasn't been cleared off in a few years).  I removed ten buckets (the five-gallon ones you can get at Lowe's and Home Depot) of basically leaves, mud and compost.  There are still a dozen or so loads left.  The patio is below grade and has a few low spots, so I guess I'll look for a concrete person that can level those, ad put in enough of a grade for water to flow to the drain.

There is still a lot of poison ivy, Virginia creeper and some other kind of ivy in the back yard.  The old concrete bench is still out there, in the bamboo, and some other stuff that was dumped back there, like a couple of old trash cans and an old milk cart.  I'm working my way to them.

Off to the real office - have a good one, peeps.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> Even if they could understand I don't think you could explain it to her. The fear/anxiety was off the charts. We have this nagging feeling that there was abuse in her previous life, because she was extremely timid and scared of everything.  We tried all the non medical options but they just wouldn't  work and the concern was that the level of the anxiety was so great that she would either overheat or go into cardiac distress.  Our Vet has tried a couple of different meds without success, but the last combo seems to be working (it's the most expensive of course). She's on a daily pill called  Clomicalm, then supplement it with Trazodone for storm events. She's been getting progessively better on the Clomicalm daily, seems to be mellowing her out, so she isn't so skittish about everything. Once we found the right dosage for her on the Trazodone, it seems to help with the storms also. Without, the Trazodone added, on a scale of 1-10 she was still like 10+. With the correct dosage now she's more like -5, still a little skittish but bearable. We found out early on that there's a tipping point on the meds. You have to increase the dosage to get the desired effect, but if you go to far, you get the opposite effect, she'll turn into a bouncing off the walls crazy wild thing, it's been a challenge. She actually went out on the boat with us the other day, didn't faze her a bit. A month ago, we wouldn't have been able to hold her in.


Ahh poor pup!  Hope you get the med combo figured out.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Without any hard proof, we were pretty sure my mom's last dog witnessed a lot of physical abuse



Abuse can take on many forms with hunting dogs. Being okay with gunfire is not necessarily a trait they're born with. Each one is different in how you train them to handle loud noises.  Inexperienced trainers pushing gun fire on a dog not ready for it can scar them for life.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> We have a kitchen remodeler signed on.  We're not going to open the kitchen into the dining room as we had originally wanted; the wall is load bearing and it doesn't seem to be cost effective to put in a beam (we're planning on seeling in a few years).  We're going with flooring, cabinets, counters, back splashes, lighting, and new appliances (except fairly new fridge) as well as adding a couple of electrical outlets.  The oven and stove (all currently electric) will be put on seperate circuits; they are currently on one.  We may try to have some of the other rooms split into seperate circuits, later.
> 
> There is also a _huge_ mirror over the fireplac in the living room that was been there when Dad and Mom bought the place in '77.  We don't like it but don't have the skills to take it down ourselves.  MLW rememebered that one of the grand nephews does glass work so gave him a shout.  He'll be out next week to take care of it.  CATV/Internet access goes in next week, as well, so then I can start working on the office area.  I'll take up the side table and one of the chairs, but MLW wants the movers to handle the heavy desk.
> 
> The windows contractor is coming out tomorrow for the pre-install inspection.  We got the basment cleared to the picture window that will be replaced, except they will have to shimmy between two of the walls and the trains.  It'ss be a while befpore they can be moved with the stuff stored beneath them.  I also got a good portion of the stuff off the patio (hasn't been cleared off in a few years).  I removed ten buckets (the five-gallon ones you can get at Lowe's and Home Depot) of basically leaves, mud and compost.  There are still a dozen or so loads left.  The patio is below grade and has a few low spots, so I guess I'll look for a concrete person that can level those, ad put in enough of a grade for water to flow to the drain.
> 
> There is still a lot of poison ivy, Virginia creeper and some other kind of ivy in the back yard.  The old concrete bench is still out there, in the bamboo, and some other stuff that was dumped back there, like a couple of old trash cans and an old milk cart.  I'm working my way to them.
> 
> Off to the real office - have a good one, peeps.


Holy crap!   You all are working your tails off here.   That's a lot of labor.    Kitchen remodeling sounds like fun!   Do we get before and after shots?


----------



## vintagesnaps

Sounds like Rose of Sharon can go waaay back in the back yard! Plenty of room, and then I'll have to think what to plant along the side closer to the front yard. Need a little something to block the view of the side of the neighbor's garage. Well, it will be a project beyond this summer.


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Holy crap!   You all are working your tails off here.   That's a lot of labor.    Kitchen remodeling sounds like fun!   Do we get before and after shots?


Yes; that I can shoot anytime (very little mess).  The initial estimate for work starting in November or December for the kitchen, but the windows should be August ot September.  Doors should be any time (storm doors are on site).  I have to go up tomorrow for the pre-order window inspction, so I'll get a couple shots of the kitchen and front of the house.

We are working tails off, but not the remodel - that's just signing a bunch of papers.  We are clearing out the rooms one-by-one.  MLW told me today we have a date when the movers will be there - we have about a little over a month.


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> Sounds like Rose of Sharon can go waaay back in the back yard! Plenty of room, and then I'll have to think what to plant along the side closer to the front yard. Need a little something to block the view of the side of the neighbor's garage. Well, it will be a project beyond this summer.


Rhododendron!  They get big, flowers are gorgeous and they are evergreen.  I like the dark pink ones.


----------



## snowbear

We're cancelling the kitchen contract for a while.  We really want to talk to some other companies, specifically about the LB wall, as well as a possible extension of the kitchen, five or six feet.  Thinking next spring or summer would be better - less going on and we;de be settled in.

I noticed the 70-200 auto-focus stopped.  It seemed to skip a beat last year, but has been fine.  I can handle manual focus until after San Diego, then send it to Nikon.  A new one would be great, but not at this point.


----------



## SquarePeg

Hi all.  Sorry have been a bit MIA from the forum lately.  Went on a trip to northern Maine (Lubec) which was wonderful but far! Had a death in the family and had to cut that short to come home for the services.  I’m totally exhausted between all that driving and family emotional stuff.


----------



## Robshoots

SquarePeg said:


> Hi all.  Sorry have been a bit MIA from the forum lately.  Went on a trip to northern Maine (Lubec) which was wonderful but far! Had a death in the family and had to cut that short to come home for the services.  I’m totally exhausted between all that driving and family emotional stuff.


Sorry to hear about your loss, Sharon.  I hope you have a few days to recoup before returning to your regular routine.


----------



## Warhorse

My condolences Sharon.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Hi all.  Sorry have been a bit MIA from the forum lately.  Went on a trip to northern Maine (Lubec) which was wonderful but far! Had a death in the family and had to cut that short to come home for the services.  I’m totally exhausted between all that driving and family emotional stuff.



Sorry to hear of this Sharon, my thoughts are with you and family.


----------



## snowbear

I'm so sorry, Sharon.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Hi all.  Sorry have been a bit MIA from the forum lately.  Went on a trip to northern Maine (Lubec) which was wonderful but far! Had a death in the family and had to cut that short to come home for the services.  I’m totally exhausted between all that driving and family emotional stuff.


Oh, I'm sorry for your family's loss, Sharon.    It does sound like a trying time.   I hope you were able to get some enjoyment from the trip before coming back unexpectedly.    You posted a picture that looked like a beautiful area!   Hope you got some rest today.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Hi all.  Sorry have been a bit MIA from the forum lately.  Went on a trip to northern Maine (Lubec) which was wonderful but far! Had a death in the family and had to cut that short to come home for the services.  I’m totally exhausted between all that driving and family emotional stuff.



I'm sorry for your loss  Lubec and the surrounding area is beautiful, and I'm also sorry you had to cut your time there short for such a sad reason.


----------



## CherylL

Sharon sorry for the loss in your family.


----------



## SquarePeg

Robshoots said:


> Sorry to hear about your loss, Sharon.  I hope you have a few days to recoup before returning to your regular routine.





Warhorse said:


> My condolences Sharon.





Fujidave said:


> Sorry to hear of this Sharon, my thoughts are with you and family.





snowbear said:


> I'm so sorry, Sharon.





terri said:


> Oh, I'm sorry for your family's loss, Sharon.    It does sound like a trying time.   I hope you were able to get some enjoyment from the trip before coming back unexpectedly.    You posted a picture that looked like a beautiful area!   Hope you got some rest today.





limr said:


> I'm sorry for your loss  Lubec and the surrounding area is beautiful, and I'm also sorry you had to cut your time there short for such a sad reason.





CherylL said:


> Sharon sorry for the loss in your family.


Thanks all, much appreciated.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Sorry for your loss. Hope everyone is healing spiritually and emotionally.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. I've been doing AP scoring for...going on 9 days now. I started on Friday the 10th and was supposed to be done on Thurs, but they had problems scanning essays and loading them into the system, so we're behind and are being asked to keep scoring until Monday. I was committed to 8 hours a day during the regular scoring period - 56 hours total - but beyond that, we are not required to keep scoring at all, though most people are because, hey, more money! I took a bit of a break yesterday and only scored for 2.5 hours, but will try to ramp it up again today. Two hours done so far this morning and now I have to go mow the lawn.

I'm kinda shot.


----------



## cgw

limr said:


> Hey hosers. I've been doing AP scoring for...going on 9 days now. I started on Friday the 10th and was supposed to be done on Thurs, but they had problems scanning essays and loading them into the system, so we're behind and are being asked to keep scoring until Monday. I was committed to 8 hours a day during the regular scoring period - 56 hours total - but beyond that, we are not required to keep scoring at all, though most people are because, hey, more money! I took a bit of a break yesterday and only scored for 2.5 hours, but will try to ramp it up again today. Two hours done so far this morning and now I have to go mow the lawn.
> 
> I'm kinda shot.


Somewhere in Hell there's a place...


----------



## limr

I'm at 63 hours and 810 essays. There are people who have read more than twice as many essays as I have, and I don't know how they do it. I know I am a slow reader and I probably think too much about the score than I should. I do read faster in the second half of the week because you start to just get a feel for what the score should be. But still. Damn.

Also, I mowed my back yard for the first time! I mean, for the first time by myself. Last summer, Buzz did it for me because the mower I had is gi-effing-normous and there was no way I would be able to handle that thing through my whole back yard. I did half of my small front yard and was sore for two days. But my new electric self-propelled machine is fabulous!

(I mowed the front yard, too, which is good, but it's a lot smaller and flat, so I'm more proud of the back yard  )


----------



## terri

limr said:


> I'm at 63 hours and 810 essays. There are people who have read more than twice as many essays as I have, and I don't know how they do it. I know I am a slow reader and I probably think too much about the score than I should. I do read faster in the second half of the week because you start to just get a feel for what the score should be. But still. Damn.
> 
> Also, I mowed my back yard for the first time! I mean, for the first time by myself. Last summer, Buzz did it for me because the mower I had is gi-effing-normous and there was no way I would be able to handle that thing through my whole back yard. I did half of my small front yard and was sore for two days. But my new electric self-propelled machine is fabulous!
> 
> (I mowed the front yard, too, which is good, but it's a lot smaller and flat, so I'm more proud of the back yard  )
> 
> View attachment 257244


Your back yard is gorgeous, Leo!   It looks so lush.   Have you had a lot of visits from the local critters? 

I know you do these essays every year, and every year it sounds brutal.      I think I would be more like you in grading - really trying to read each one and get a feel for it, which would slow down the process.    I'm a deliberate reader regardless of what it is.   

Hang in there  - sounds like it will be a healthy check when you get paid, and it's almost over!


----------



## Warhorse

Limr, I too love your backyard, you could put a great pistol range there!  

Though I'm pretty sure you wouldn't do that.


----------



## SquarePeg

what a great yard.  It needs one of these 




Haha jk I know that’s not your style!


----------



## limr

terri said:


> Your back yard is gorgeous, Leo!   It looks so lush.   Have you had a lot of visits from the local critters?
> 
> I know you do these essays every year, and every year it sounds brutal.      I think I would be more like you in grading - really trying to read each one and get a feel for it, which would slow down the process.    I'm a deliberate reader regardless of what it is.
> 
> Hang in there  - sounds like it will be a healthy check when you get paid, and it's almost over!



Thanks! We still have more vines to cut away from the apple tree and I'd eventually like to put up some kind of trees at the bottom, like rocket junipers or something, to mark the end of the property and provide perhaps some tiny bit more sound isolation from the highway sounds (which aren't too bad but less noise is always better!) I'd love to have the trees put in, then clear out the brush a bit to create a small meadow. Lots of work to get there, but at least in the meantime, it's still pretty to look at 

And yes, I have my regular critters! There are the bunnies, of course.





And there's a pair of groundhogs who have decided that Zelda is just bee-yoooo-tiful, and they like to hang out at the back door with her sometimes. And Zelda eats it up, gets all flirty and purrs her fool head off.







Warhorse said:


> Limr, I too love your backyard, you could put a great pistol range there!
> 
> Though I'm pretty sure you wouldn't do that.



Why would anyone ruin a backyard for something as silly as that? And even if I wanted to, I would never want to be the jackass who ended up pissing off all of her neighbors with the noise of a gun going off in the back yard over and over again.


----------



## smoke665

Well here's a public service announcement that might save others some grief. We have those red reflectors on a fiberglass pole marking the end of the culvert at a drive. Decided to pull them up and relocate for better visibility. Wrong move!!!!! Apparently sun causes the gel coat to deteriorate leaving tiny glass fibers (smaller than a hair) exposed. Both palms were on fire from all the tiny fibers stuck in the skin. Managed to get all but a few of the more embedded fibers out with soap and water. Guess the rest will eventually work their way out.


----------



## snowbear

Nice critters, Leo.  I went to the back of the house a couple weeks ago and we had a yard kitty lounging on the back steps.  That's kind of cute, Sharon.  I don't think I'd want one, but it's cute.

We're working at the house all weekend.  The living room is mostly done, the small bedroom is mostlky cleared and being set up as a staging area for the various boxes we're packing (keep, go through, save for others to look through).  Also a place to get some of the furniture out of the way for when we move our stuff in.  We started in the chaos referred to as the basement, and made some progress, though ot will look a whole lot better after we've called someone to cart away the junk.  The truck is loaded for a trip to the landfill (tomorrow) with stuff from the main floor.  I'll get a second run in, but it's quicker and less hassle to let the pros take care of everything in the basement.  Tomorrow I think we'll concentrate on the area that will become the office.

I took a few shots, today.

The front of the house.  Ada's Saturn and the Gladdie are in the driveway.  I started on some yard work, trimming the crepe myrtle (the round bush to the left) back yesterday, and cut down some of the weeds and small saplings (oak and maple to the right).  




Side of the house.  I have to pull the ivy.  I'm glad the ferns and hydrangia are stiill alive.




These are the original 1955 hardwood floors, a nice warm oak.


----------



## terri

The place is going to look great, Charlie!   You shouldn't have to do too much with that yard, I agree the side bushes look pretty good already!  And a maple and oak tree?   Wonderful!!  Nice brick house.   ❤️ 

@limr :  That picture of Zelda and the groundhog is hilarious!      I love it!


----------



## snowbear

Thanks, Terri.  The flower beds need some TLC.  I'll probably relocate the crepe myrtle: it's too close to the flag pole.  I found three azaleas in among the clutter,  We're also thinking about cutting down a couple trees close to the house in the back so we can put in an herb garden.

I'm hoping for the open house  in October or November; definitely want to host Thanksgiving this year.


----------



## Warhorse

Judging by that extension on the base of the fire hydrant, you must get a lot of snow in the winter there.


----------



## snowbear

Warhorse said:


> Judging by that extension on the base of the fire hydrant, you must get a lot of snow in the winter there.


We’re just east of DC, so no.  I don’t know why the water people did that.


----------



## snowbear

Tried to replace the line on the flag pole but it didn’t work.  I guess I should have taped the new to old instead of trying to whip them together.  I’ll have to come up with a new plan to add the rope.  It’s only about 30’, I guess.


----------



## smoke665

And another wonderful sunny day here in the south.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> And another wonderful sunny day here in the south.
> View attachment 257312


One of the reasone we want to migrate north.


----------



## SquarePeg

It’s been nice here.  Not a lot of hot days and a bit chilly at night.  My garden is a bit behind without the heat.  I started a new butterfly garden this spring and it’s not really growing as fast as I expected.  Just sort of sitting there waiting.  The established plants in the rest of the yard are loving the cool spring but not the new stuff.  

Also the mild days and cool nights mean that  the pool is still freezing.  I don’t usually find the water warm enough for me until it’s been consistently in the mid 80’s for more than a week without any big temp drops at night.


----------



## limr

It's been cooler here, too. I am enjoying it while it lasts. I fear that reasonable June weather means that July and August is about to pummel us.


----------



## SquarePeg

New England roller coaster weather - just look at the low tomorrow  vs the high on Saturday then back to 50’s on Monday.  No wonder the plants don’t know if they should be growing or blooming or going to seed!


----------



## CherylL

Looks a little finicky Sharon.  We have been having hot humid days.  It was nice 2 days and got in a hike.  I like it on the warm side, but not high humidity.  You know it is hot out when all 3 pups are looking in the back door to come in after 10 minutes.


----------



## snowbear

I guess we're sending you our stuff.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> Looks a little finicky Sharon.  We have been having hot humid days.  It was nice 2 days and got in a hike.  I like it on the warm side, but not high humidity.  You know it is hot out when all 3 pups are looking in the back door to come in after 10 minutes.


Last time it was really hot here I went outside to get Harlie and she was laying in the sun on the hot cement of the patio!  Her Alabama roots were showing through.  


snowbear said:


> I guess we're sending you our stuff.


You always do pal.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

I am sitting under the patio umbrella as I write this, not for shade, but to keep the light drizzle off me Currently 62 deg F. We have that roller coaster pattern too.


----------



## smoke665

@Dean_Gretsch I'd gladly trade you some warm weather for cool. Maxed out at 102 today. Hopefully will stay in the high 90s tomorrow. By next week they are saying we'll catch a break in the heat.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

Well, a first for me this afternoon. I was out on the patio putting my tools away from carving another wood spirit and about to go in the house when I noticed a male ruby throat hummingbird in quite the predicament! My wife has a couple solar powered glass flowers with color changing bulbs attached to the flower box that also has the feeders hanging from it. The “ flowers “ have an alligator clip and tightly coiled spring that allows them to bounce a bit in the wind. The hummer somehow had his beak stuck between the coils of the spring and could not free himself. I think it had just happened because it still had strength when I freed it. It flew away instantly. I would have taken a pic of it if I had known it wasn’t weak. I wanted to give it a chance and quickly dismissed getting the camera😊. I took those flowers away so that won’t happen again🤭


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

smoke665 said:


> @Dean_Gretsch I'd gladly trade you some warm weather for cool. Maxed out at 102 today. Hopefully will stay in the high 90s tomorrow. By next week they are saying we'll catch a break in the heat.


Yeah, my mother said it’s been very hot there too in south central Kentucky. I think I heard we are about 4 inches precipitation above average for June, so we have had a lot of cloud cover.


----------



## limr

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Well, a first for me this afternoon. I was out on the patio putting my tools away from carving another wood spirit and about to go in the house when I noticed a male ruby throat hummingbird in quite the predicament! My wife has a couple solar powered glass flowers with color changing bulbs attached to the flower box that also has the feeders hanging from it. The “ flowers “ have an alligator clip and tightly coiled spring that allows them to bounce a bit in the wind. The hummer somehow had his beak stuck between the coils of the spring and could not free himself. I think it had just happened because it still had strength when I freed it. It flew away instantly. I would have taken a pic of it if I had known it wasn’t weak. I wanted to give it a chance and quickly dismissed getting the camera😊. I took those flowers away so that won’t happen again🤭



I'd much rather know that the hummingbird is safe and happily flying around than see pictures of it  Thank you for saving him!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

limr said:


> I'd much rather know that the hummingbird is safe and happily flying around than see pictures of it  Thank you for saving him!


Me too! That’s why I freed it after the split second thought. We love to watch them and I believe it’s his own habit of vigorously defending “ his “ feeders that probably caused the problem.


----------



## terri

Dean_Gretsch said:


> Me too! That’s why I freed it after the split second thought. We love to watch them and I believe it’s his own habit of vigorously defending “ his “ feeders that probably caused the problem.


We've had them get their tiny beaks stuck in screens before.    They just go so fast, a single wrong move just pushes them in deeply.   It's a thrill to touch them even though they don't appreciate the save.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

terri said:


> We've had them get their tiny beaks stuck in screens before.    They just go so fast, a single wrong move just pushes them in deeply.   It's a thrill to touch them even though they don't appreciate the save.


I wanted to see what it felt like in my hand but they seem so fragile and tiny, I just pulled the spring to open the coil and never touched it.


----------



## John 2

*A lesson Learned*

Just had a week away in a cottage by a lake near Carlisle in Cumbria.  All very nice except that on day 6, in a distracted moment, I managed to delete every image on the main SD card in the Fuji X-T4.  No sweat I thought because I have a free copy of the SanDisk recovery software provided with the card when I bought it.  However, I made the mistake of taking one more shot before I removed the card thinking it could only overwrite one of the deleted images.  Not so!  When I ran the card through the SanDisk software I founds literally hundreds of images, none of which were taken on this trip.  It had recovered what looks like every single image ever written to the card in the past.  It looks like reformatting the card in camera after use doesn't destroy any images but adding one new image after an accidental deletion will overwrite everything in the current folder and that does destroy all of the other images in that folder.  I don't often cry - but I came close.   Thankfully I also had my small Sony (RX100M7) with me and so I have some images from the week but for instance the interior shots of Carlisle Cathedral and the like taken with wide angle primes attached to the Fuji, are a distant memory.  Ditto the bird life on the lake.

Just thought I would pass on the experience gained.


----------



## snowbear

Deleting files does not remove the files from the media, it simply removes the file's name from the directory and marks the locations those files were stored as available; why basic recovery tools work.  If you add a new file (take a photo) it may use some of the area recently marked available, overwriting whatever is there.  

I wasn't aware that in-camera formatting simply "deleted" everything.  I wonder if that is brand-specific or general practice.  I do know that basic formatting will not remove everything on a disk, there are usually traces of date remaining unless you do some secret squirrel (NSA, et al) stuff.  I have an app that does the secret squirrel stuff that I got when I had to prep some old computers that had contained applicant information, including SS numbers for surplus sale.


----------



## John 2

snowbear said:


> Deleting files does not remove the files from the media, it simply removes the file's name from the directory and marks the locations those files were stored as available; why basic recovery tools work.  If you add a new file (take a photo) it may use some of the area recently marked available, overwriting whatever is there. ..........................................


Thanks Snowbear.  That's how I thought it would work but there was not single image from the week showing in the retrieved files.  They were definitely there originally because it was in the process of reviewing the weeks images that I did the idiot thing.  All I got were several hundred images that go back to sometime last year. I suspect that had I not taken the extra image, all would have been OK.  That's life though.


----------



## SquarePeg

John 2 said:


> Thanks Snowbear.  That's how I thought it would work but there was not single image from the week showing in the retrieved files.  They were definitely there originally because it was in the process of reviewing the weeks images that I did the idiot thing.  All I got were several hundred images that go back to sometime last year. I suspect that had I not taken the extra image, all would have been OK.  That's life though.


That really stinks.  I’m assuming you tried more than once?


----------



## John 2

SquarePeg said:


> That really stinks.  I’m assuming you tried more than once?


Yes I did in fact I also tried several other Apps that offered trial copies.  They wouldn't let me retrieve anything without paying a subscription but at least they all detected what was on the card.  They all showed the same result.  I suppose there is a good news side to the story in that I (we) now know that if there ever is a need to recover an image after a card has been re formatted (I've been known to save changes to the original rather than a copy in PP), it can be done.


----------



## John 2

A quick update.  Just formatted the card in my Sony R100M7 and then ran it through the recovery software.  No images were found.  I think that answers Snowbear's question above about it being a brand specific thing.  Interestingly, reformatting on the Sony takes longer for a 32 GB card than formatting a 128GB card on the Fuji.  Possibly the same difference as a Quick Format Vs a Full Format in Windows.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, hosers.  Happy Monday.

I have a job interview this morning, so fingers crossed.  This is for County position in same office, so if I get it, I go from contractor back to being a County employee doing the same job.  Pay is a little better, benefits about equal, but a bit more stable since I don't have to guess who my  employer will be in three months, and then three years.

Hot as anythind this past weekend, so we didn't go to the house.  I did have o venture out to pick up a dress shirt and the new suit for today.


----------



## SquarePeg

Morning Hosers!  Hot and steamy weekend here.  The only excitement was my car battery died yesterday morning after I had everything packed and ready to go to the beach 🥵.   Would have been my first summer beach day in a few years… the Gods have spoken and I am back to my vampire ways of hibernating between 10-2 when the sun is out.

Harlie and I are sitting out on the deck enjoying the pre rain coolness this morning.   Looks like it will start to drizzle any minute now.


----------



## terri

Happy Monday, hosers!   A beautiful morning here: sunny, cool and breezy.    Nice way to start the week since it'll be heating up again in a few days. 

@snowbear :   good luck with the interview!   Hopefully you'll get it since you already know the work.    Fingers crossed!

@SquarePeg : Sorry the beach trip got canceled over a dead battery.    Boo!!   I'm guessing you didn't have to replace it.    Pita!

Might get a bike ride in later today.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Happy Monday, hosers!   A beautiful morning here: sunny, cool and breezy.    Nice way to start the week since it'll be heating up again in a few days.
> 
> @snowbear :   good luck with the interview!   Hopefully you'll get it since you already know the work.    Fingers crossed!
> 
> @SquarePeg : Sorry the beach trip got canceled over a dead battery.    Boo!!   I'm guessing you didn't have to replace it.    Pita!
> 
> Might get a bike ride in later today.


Yes had to replace it.  It was the original battery (2017 Honda) and only at 30%.  I called roadside assisting rob come jump start it and he was able to get and install the battery for me.  Better to have it fail in the driveway at home than after a long walk back to the parking lot at the beach.


----------



## terri

Oh wow - I guess in that regard, you were lucky that it happened at home!   Can't imagine having to wait on roadside assistance after being at the beach for hours.    

It does seem like you got the "goody" out of the life of that battery, though.


----------



## snowbear

Sharon: my boss has an Accord (don't know the year) and his battery died fairly quickly.  It may be a Honda thing.  Ours is a 2019 and it's been slow to turn over the engine (takes several more seconds than usual) so I'm keeping an eye on it.  The Jeep has two batteries and the smaller one (stop/start EPA system) can run down the larger one (main).

Thanks, Terri.  A series of ten questions, all related to the job responsibilities and associated experience.  I feel OK about my answers, but we shall see.  If I get it - fantastic.  If not, well, I have a job so I guess it wouldn't be in the cards.  If nothing else, it proves that I do, in fact, clean up a little.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Charlie!! very nice! You do look like a snow bear! a smart one. Good luck, and if not meant to be, maybe another opportunity will work out better in the long run.

Sharon, vampire ways! 🦇
Who's roadside assisting Rob??

Stanley Cup won last night, but wait - hockey's not over! Found summertime hockey on CBSSN called 3ICE. Mostly former college or minor pro players and Hall of Fame coaches. Fun & fast! Wondered how did I never hear of this?? did my hockey radar fail me? no, it's new this summer. Made me think of Pro Beach Hockey - ramp it up!! That was roller hockey but fun and the hockey world is once again tossing me a bone.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Yes had to replace it.  It was the original battery (2017 Honda) and only at 30%.  I called roadside assisting rob come jump start it and he was able to get and install the battery for me.  Better to have it fail in the driveway at home than after a long walk back to the parking lot at the beach.


Good thing it was in the driveway.  Sorry you missed out on beach time.


----------



## CherylL

The weather has been up and down here.  Got in a few walks at the nature center.  Working on the grandson's birthday set.  I made a large "4" out of styrofoam insulation board and painted.  Got the small test jar of paint and used half.  That is the way to go instead of buying a can or a ton of craft paint.  Using balloon garland with my stone wall backdrop.  He will be in town tomorrow and I hop he will be in a photo mood one of their visit days.


----------



## snowbear

Sharon, too:  I heard the cup was dropped on the ice and dented.  Not really interested in any other opportunities - next career is doing stuff in retirement, mainly photos, painting, and hopefully some woodworking.  You know, “me” stuff.


----------



## snowbear

It’s supposed to be cooler tomorrow so we are going to telecommute from the house and I’ll get some more yard work done after the regular job.  I’m less than two weeks away from the Cali trip and three away from moving.  We will take Zoe to the house the day after I get back from San Diego so she has three days to get settled before the movers show up with furniture and boxes.

I’m trying to decide whether or not to take the 70-200 on the trip.  A visit to SD zoo is likely but not definite.  Most of my time will be in conference sessions but the morning and late afternoons are mostly mine.  There will be the evening gathering at Balboa Park and of course, my time with Paula (cousin I haven’t seen in years) so workhorse 24-70 will be the primary lens.


----------



## SquarePeg

Looking good snowbear!  Have you lost weight?  Take the long zoom.  

Sharon - roadside assist Rob should’ve said roadside assistance.  His name was Ed.  

Cheryl - looking forward to the birthday photos.


----------



## SquarePeg

Garden update - the dahlias are really filling in - no blooms yet.  Poppies are budded up and growing fast.  Roses and hydrangeas are in bloom.  Rose of Sharon is covered with buds.  Crepe myrtle is still leafing out.  

Butterfly garden - Cosmos that I planted from seed are still pretty small.  They won’t bloom for another 4-6 weeks.  Swamp milkweed and purple milkweed are showing some buds on the larger plants.  The milkweed seedlings I planted are growing but won’t flower this year I think.  The Joe Pye and the bee balm are flowering now.  The tall thistle is still short.


----------



## snowbear

On weight, maybe, and thank you; I will most likely take the big lens.

Looking forward to your bloom and butterfly photos.  I think we're going to plant some heather next year.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all hi Peg my poppies are just about done but I have had so many different colours this year. My kitchen looks like an onion sellers with all the onions I have had come up this year.
Seems the year has shot past no time for photography just the months marked by the paying of bills.
They say you should not work with kids or pets... I did a studio session a few months back with mum’s dog. Two hours later and 100 plus shots non that I would say was THE shot 
As I sat there, calling it a day the dog suddenly posed in her I am a pretty girl.. in two shots I had it nailed.....mad


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Hi all hi Peg my poppies are just about done but I have had so many different colours this year. My kitchen looks like an onion sellers with all the onions I have had come up this year.
> Seems the year has shot past no time for photography just the months marked by the paying of bills.
> They say you should not work with kids or pets... I did a studio session a few months back with mum’s dog. Two hours later and 100 plus shots non that I would say was THE shot
> As I sat there, calling it a day the dog suddenly posed in her I am a pretty girl.. in two shots I had it nailed.....mad


I’m jealous of where you live - we don’t have any poppy fields here.  Let’s see the dog photo please!!  Hope you are well.


----------



## SquarePeg

Happy surprise this morning!  Was inspecting the garden after last night’s thunderstorm and heavy rain and found my first poppy.  It’s tiny.  Much smaller than I expected.  Of course I spilled the seeds when planting them and then didn’t have the heart to thin them out when they sprouted so they’re totally overcrowded!


----------



## terri

That poppy looks great!   Sounds like they may have gotten overcrowded this year - BUT this should help nature decide who stays and who may get choked out.   Very pretty color, too.   I've never tried poppies but now in a cooler environment I have options!    I hope you end up with tons of butterflies there once the butterfly garden is fully mature.   Build it and they will come!  

@snowbear :  Your schedule sounds like it's making your summer fly by.   I'm going to be interested in how Zoe does with the move - we have our 2 cats in a situation where they can't possibly know we'll be moving them again.   I foresee a potential rebellion.   

@Original katomi:  That's too funny about working so hard to pose the dog only to have her decide to do it herself at the very end.   Hope you post the winning shot(s)!


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> @snowbear :  Your schedule sounds like it's making your summer fly by.   I'm going to be interested in how Zoe does with the move - we have our 2 cats in a situation where they can't possibly know we'll be moving them again.   I foresee a potential rebellion.


my guess is that she will be pissed, at first, and hide under the closest object for an hour or two.  After that she’ll be busy checking everything out.  We’re going to take some of her things up first, like one of her blankets and some of her toy mice, so she has familiar smells.  And a pack of treats.


----------



## snowbear

Took the old couch at the house to the curb for trash pickup at lunch time today.  Now I get to spend dinner time at the urgent care with pulled back muscles.

We got the living room rug cut up and ready to go to the landfill.  We’ll make that trip Saturday morning, after which we’ll pick up Ada and head to SE PA to look for a nice live edge plank or two for fireplace mantles.  We also grabbed another portable AC unit since it’s blazing down here.

MLW also got me a new cordless jigsaw calling it a belated Father’s Day gift that the kids _should_ have gotten me.

I got a couple interior shots yesterday; I’ll try to get them processed tonight after I get out of the UC clinic.


----------



## snowbear

House shots.

First is the front door.  Fire had to force entry to check on mom's welfare.  We've been locking the storm door and driving a wedge (wooden door stop) between the frame and door, and going in and out the basement door.  New storm doors are on site, and regular doors should be there soon.




This is a tilt-top table that dad made.  It is a kit from an antique reproductions company called Bartley (no longer in business).  It's a Queen Anne style, made from solid cherry, finished in Pennsylvania Cherry (red).;  Not really our style, but we are keeping two of the five pieces he made: this one and a small oval-topped table I believe they referred to as a candle stand.  Son #1 is getting the two end tables and the "low boy" table.  I'll post photos of them later.  The red wing-back chair is staying for now.




The living room fireplace.  A big mirror was mounted to the wall at the pinkish area over the fireplace.  You can also see where various photos were mounted, as well as a couple of brass wall sconces.  We will get a larger flat screen later, and mount it to the wall over the fireplace, and eventually I want to build a pair of bookcases/stereo cabinets to go beside the fireplace.




From the living room looking into the dining room and kitchen in the back.  We want to remove the half wall but will have to leave the arch as it is lead-bearing.  The wall between the dining room and kitchen will be cut away in the same way as the arch, as it is also load-bearing, but that will allow us to get an open concept.  The china cabinet and dining room table go to son #1, as well (#2 doesn't want them, nor has room for them).  The secretary on the right stays - it was my grandmother's and the lighter cabinet beyond that is a pie safe cabinet that we got a while back.


----------



## limr

Hey hosers. This is me. In cat form.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch

limr said:


> Hey hosers. This is me. In cat form.
> 
> View attachment 257576



I subscribe to this! One of my favorite pandemic memes is something about practicing social distancing and noticing your life really hasn’t changed that much.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Charlie bet it'll be so nice when done! I love cherry, have some dark and some light. Had to save up to buy 'real' wood, one's a library bookcase. 

Poppies!! Wonder how mine are doing, they got knocked over in the rain one time too many and haven't been coming up.

Wondering because - did I ever post about being in rehab??? Maybe I did but not lately; therapy OT/PT and now starting to transition toward going home. Long story, but 2 of my meds that in combo can case kidney problems, did. Thanks to my PCP catching it early thru routine tests and getting me to a nephrologist (who knew that was a thing!), intensive treatment/dialysis - which is DONE!!! Done, done, done!! Never thought it would be this good this soon! (About 3 months or so, better than what could've been, some people never get off dialysis.) My kidneys got real happy and I'm over the moon! 

Leo, when I get outta here, I just want to hear - quiet. You'd really love it here. 

Will have to ask my best friend if she sees any poppies in my back yard, nice red ones.


----------



## terri

Holy crap, Sharon!   I didn't know you are in rehab - it sounds like you've been through the wringer!   Glad the worst is behind you.  ❤️  Hope you're on your way home very soon!

@snowbear :   These pictures look great!  A lot has been done, but more to do of course.   Question: how hard was it to remove that big mirror from over the fireplace?


----------



## SquarePeg

Dean_Gretsch said:


> I subscribe to this! One of my favorite pandemic memes is something about practicing social distancing and noticing your life really hasn’t changed that much.


The pandemic gave a lot of introverts permission to live life the way  they always wanted.  I definitely didn’t miss people as much as I thought I would.  


vintagesnaps said:


> Charlie bet it'll be so nice when done! I love cherry, have some dark and some light. Had to save up to buy 'real' wood, one's a library bookcase.
> 
> Poppies!! Wonder how mine are doing, they got knocked over in the rain one time too many and haven't been coming up.
> 
> Wondering because - did I ever post about being in rehab??? Maybe I did but not lately; therapy OT/PT and now starting to transition toward going home. Long story, but 2 of my meds that in combo can case kidney problems, did. Thanks to my PCP catching it early thru routine tests and getting me to a nephrologist (who knew that was a thing!), intensive treatment/dialysis - which is DONE!!! Done, done, done!! Never thought it would be this good this soon! (About 3 months or so, better than what could've been, some people never get off dialysis.) My kidneys got real happy and I'm over the moon!
> 
> Leo, when I get outta here, I just want to hear - quiet. You'd really love it here.
> 
> Will have to ask my best friend if she sees any poppies in my back yard, nice red ones.


Oh wow Sharon I’m so glad you’re feeling better! I hope your poppies are doing well.  Please keep us posted about your health and your garden.  

@snowbear  I hope you will have room for that beautiful kitchen island that you guys got a few years ago.


----------



## Original katomi

These are from 2021 but it gives an idea of the colours I get each year


----------



## snowbear

Oh crap, Sharon, too.  Glad you'll be going home soon.  Us elders have to be careful.

Leo:  I can relate, sometime. 😁

Terri: Luckily the mirror wasn't glued to the wall, but held in place with four screws.  When Adam (our nephew) took the third screw out, it popped out from the wall.  It surprised him, as well as us.  We had the kitchen guy there, at the time, and ran over to hold the mirror up while Adam finished unscrewing it.  He just carried outside and cut into smaller pieces to transport it out.

Sharon Cat: It's not really an island, but a side table.  Since the center of the wall is being removed, we will be able to put it in the kitchen.

I slept most of the day due to the muscle relaxer.  The trip to the lumber yard is still on, but MLW will have to drive a good bit of it.  I cut down most of the weeds in the front and sides of the house this week, but still have to conquer the back.  I'll do what I can on Sunday and Monday, if the back allows.  We picked up some stuff in a bottle to help get rid of the poison and other ivy.  Not quite Agent Orange, but I hope it clears this crap and I can put grass back in before too long.


----------



## SquarePeg

Skip the grass.  Go with clover ground cover!


----------



## SquarePeg

What are all you hosers doing to celebrate July 4th?  Or for those who are not in the US what are your weekend plans?


----------



## snowbear

We’re working at the house all weekend.  This is what we picked out for the mantle.  We’re keeping the curve to give an organic look.  The wood is Cocobolo, a Central American hardwood.  We just need to decide what kind of finish to use (oil, wax, epoxy, urethane, etc.


----------



## John 2

SquarePeg said:


> Skip the grass.  Go with clover ground cover!



....or even camomile - or is that none native?


----------



## snowbear

If I really wanted to keep people away, I’d use thistle and nettles.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> If I really wanted to keep people away, I’d use thistle and nettles.


I planted a tall thistle in my butterfly garden.   I put it way in the back in the corner so it won’t get anyone!


----------



## SquarePeg

Sticky but oh so yummy!  These are my 5 hour croc pot ribs after they’ve been slathered with Hawaiian bbq sauce and grilled until they get that nice carmelized crust.


----------



## John 2

Oh dear, and I'm on a diet.


----------



## Jeff15

SquarePeg said:


> Sticky but oh so yummy!  These are my 5 hour croc pot ribs after they’ve been slathered with Hawaiian bbq sauce and grilled until they get that nice carmelized crust.
> 
> View attachment 257722


It makes my mouth water.....


----------



## cgw

Food porn...


----------



## Jeff15

Food porn..?..Keep them coming.....


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Sticky but oh so yummy!  These are my 5 hour croc pot ribs after they’ve been slathered with Hawaiian bbq sauce and grilled until they get that nice carmelized crust.
> 
> View attachment 257722


Beautiful ribs, Sharon!   

We took our bikes out and had a decent ride yesterday morning.   Fireworks were all around us, but not close enough to alarm the cats.   They don't seem to mind the booms, but that whistling noise when they first go up really spooks them.   Poor girls!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Had to scroll on past the ribs! lol even a glimpse looked toooo good.

Thanks everyone. Went to the nephrologist (never knew that was a thing), nothing real new because the Dr. office is right next to dialysis and his nurses/nurse practitioner see me there so I've been informed along the way. 

I was looking up how to spell creatinine and ended up on the Mayo Clinic site (I try to not look up much medical stuff online and go by what the doctors/medical experts say) but did read a blurb that sounded a lot like my situation. It said the condition can be reversible. The Dr. didn't seem to quite want to confirm yet but said it's likely that's what's happened. Remembered later he said he'd be taking me off the Prednisone (steroids) and I was like really??!!! Wow is all I can say.

Tomorrow the port comes out.  Rescheduled once, welcome to life in a nursing home. Just yank the sucker!! jk And have to go into the city, oh dandy. But at least it'll get done and that'll be that! The main thing is, no more dialysis, condition likely reversed, better/sooner than I ever hoped or expected. I'll take it!

Charlie that is one gorgeous piece of wood!!

Sharon I have lots of clover, no reason, that's just what grows in the grass in my back yard. Fine with me! 

Haven't seen poppy fields but there's a place that has sunflower fields, late summer is that a pretty sight.


----------



## CherylL

vintagesnaps said:


> Had to scroll on past the ribs! lol even a glimpse looked toooo good.
> 
> Thanks everyone. Went to the nephrologist (never knew that was a thing), nothing real new because the Dr. office is right next to dialysis and his nurses/nurse practitioner see me there so I've been informed along the way.
> 
> I was looking up how to spell creatinine and ended up on the Mayo Clinic site (I try to not look up much medical stuff online and go by what the doctors/medical experts say) but did read a blurb that sounded a lot like my situation. It said the condition can be reversible. The Dr. didn't seem to quite want to confirm yet but said it's likely that's what's happened. Remembered later he said he'd be taking me off the Prednisone (steroids) and I was like really??!!! Wow is all I can say.
> 
> Tomorrow the port comes out.  Rescheduled once, welcome to life in a nursing home. Just yank the sucker!! jk And have to go into the city, oh dandy. But at least it'll get done and that'll be that! The main thing is, no more dialysis, condition likely reversed, better/sooner than I ever hoped or expected. I'll take it!
> 
> Charlie that is one gorgeous piece of wood!!
> 
> Sharon I have lots of clover, no reason, that's just what grows in the grass in my back yard. Fine with me!
> 
> Haven't seen poppy fields but there's a place that has sunflower fields, late summer is that a pretty sight.


Wishing you a speedy recovery!


----------



## CherylL

Went to St Louis to my favorite camera store today.  I've bought new and used and have traded in gear too.

I handed the sales rep the box with the Fujinon lens and told him I wanted to trade in for an EF lens.  He paused and said slowly, so you want to trade the Fuji lens in for an EF lens.  
I then explained that I had 2 systems, the Fuji and a Canon.  I said did you think I wanted to put an EF lens on a Fuji 

He said well I had to ask because you never know   He has probably seen it all working at the store.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning hosers.  At the airport having a crab omelette before the plane gets to the gate.  Why, doncha know, that’s how we do it in Bawlmer, Merland.


----------



## snowbear

Made it to Denver.  Plane was packed but I got a window in the last row.  Now wait a couple of hours for the last leg to Santa Barbara.

the photo backpack is fairly comfortable but I only have the camera, 24-70, 70-200, 2x extender and spare clothes.

edit: I hate spell checkers.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> Made it to Denver.  Plane was packed but I got a window in the last row.  Now wait a couple of hours for the last leg to Santa Barbara.
> 
> the photo backpack is fairly comfortable but I only have the camera, 24-70, 70-200, 2x engender and spare clothes.


Whew - long day you're having, Charlie.   Keep us posted.   Safe travels!


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> Whew - long day you're having, Charlie.   Keep us posted.   Safe travels!


Thank you.  At least this leg I’m in the first group on (after the usual priorities).  It’s going down to the sixties at night in SB and San Diego.  It should feel good but I grabbed a hoodie from one of the airport shops.  About 40 minutes until boarding.

I took a couple shots from the terminal window, but nothing special.  I decided not to bring the laptop so post will be when I get home unless I can figure out how to load them on to the iPad.


----------



## vintagesnaps

So where ya going Charlie, and why? Maybe I missed something... 

Hope you have safe travels and a fun trip.


----------



## snowbear

Final destination is San Diego for a GIS conference, but first I stopped on Santa Barbara to visit my cousin whom I haven’t seen in years.


----------



## Warhorse

vintagesnaps said:


> Had to scroll on past the ribs! lol even a glimpse looked toooo good.
> 
> Thanks everyone. Went to the nephrologist (never knew that was a thing), nothing real new because the Dr. office is right next to dialysis and his nurses/nurse practitioner see me there so I've been informed along the way.
> 
> I was looking up how to spell creatinine and ended up on the Mayo Clinic site (I try to not look up much medical stuff online and go by what the doctors/medical experts say) but did read a blurb that sounded a lot like my situation. It said the condition can be reversible. The Dr. didn't seem to quite want to confirm yet but said it's likely that's what's happened. Remembered later he said he'd be taking me off the Prednisone (steroids) and I was like really??!!! Wow is all I can say.
> 
> Tomorrow the port comes out.  Rescheduled once, welcome to life in a nursing home. Just yank the sucker!! jk And have to go into the city, oh dandy. But at least it'll get done and that'll be that! The main thing is, no more dialysis, condition likely reversed, better/sooner than I ever hoped or expected. I'll take it!
> 
> Charlie that is one gorgeous piece of wood!!
> 
> Sharon I have lots of clover, no reason, that's just what grows in the grass in my back yard. Fine with me!
> 
> Haven't seen poppy fields but there's a place that has sunflower fields, late summer is that a pretty sight.


I hope you have a complete and speedy recovery.
So far, I just see a Nephrologist once a year to keep tabs on my elevated numbers due to diabetes, and the meds I take for that, plus the fact that I was born with only one kidney.


----------



## snowbear

Paula and the bear in front of her place near Santa Barbara.


----------



## terri

Nice shot!   I can see a family resemblance - y'all look more like siblings than cousins, but that happens in a lot of families.    

Hope you had a great visit.


----------



## snowbear

We we’re both happy to see each other again.  We’ll try to get back here in a few years when we finally retire.  I’d like to take the train from San Diego up to Seattle, and spend a couple days in a few places.  MLW likes the idea.

Today is the start of the conference.  I hit the zoo yesterday; only took a few snaps.  Total walking count for the day was 9.4 miles and 8 stories of stairs (I walked down one big hill and up another).

Heading down to Convention Center; have camera with me.


----------



## CherylL

Grandson was in town last week.  I made the 4 out of styrofoam insulation board and painted.  Added the balloon valance.


----------



## Warhorse

Looks good, nice work  CherylL.
​


----------



## CherylL

Warhorse said:


> Looks good, nice work  CherylL.
> ​


Thank you!  The other 3 grands jumped in the next day.  The nice thing about setting up inside I didn't have to worry about the weather.  It was too hot that week.


----------



## snowbear

Nice job, Cheryl.

I found an Irish pub two blocks from the hotel, so sausage roll, fish and chips, and a half and half for dinner.  I’ll swing by the Cat Cafe on Wednesday or Thursday.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> Nice job, Cheryl.
> 
> I found an Irush pub two blocks from the hotel, so sausage roll, fish and chips, and a half and half for dinner.  I’ll swing by the Cat Cafe on Wednesday or Thursday.


Missed your posts on Saturday - didn't know you were in SB.  Next time check out Uncle Rocco's famous NY Pizza!


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> Missed your posts on Saturday - didn't know you were in SB.  Next time check out Uncle Rocco's famous NY Pizza!


I’ll look it up.
I climbed a bunch of steps yesterday and pulled calf muscles, so today is flat walking to stretch and escalators.  A lot of sessions but a little free time this afternoon to swing by the training area or the store.  I’ll go through the vendor area but won’t talk to any of them, otherwise I get a load of emails for three months.  They are sales people.


----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon all, still alive but have been getting treated for skin cancer.  Had a nice big bit of my inner thigh removed and now have the stitches out thank god, so just waiting for my results.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> I’ll look it up.
> I climbed a bunch of steps yesterday and pulled calf muscles, so today is flat walking to stretch and escalators.  A lot of sessions but a little free time this afternoon to swing by the training area or the store.  I’ll go through the vendor area but won’t talk to any of them, otherwise I get a load of emails for three months.  They are sales people.


Take it easy bear!  It’s a marathon.  


Fujidave said:


> Afternoon all, still alive but have been getting treated for skin cancer.  Had a nice big bit of my inner thigh removed and now have the stitches out thank god, so just waiting for my results.


So sorry to hear this Dave.  I have gone a few rounds with squamous cell skin cancer on my lower legs and getting cut up is not a pleasant experience.  I hope your results come back clear.


----------



## snowbear

Today was a waste.  I made it to one session, and my phone got locked up.  I wasn’t able to connect to the conference schedule with Safari but Chrome would and Safari on the iPad would (the problem started last night).  I prefer Safari on the phone so I reset it and when I went to re-create the pass key / password I must have jumbled something because I couldn’t get back in.  Ultimately I had to take the trolley a few miles north to the local Apple store and have the phone reinitialized and mostly restored with the iPad.  I pretty much missed all of the sessions I intended to attend.

I did go to dinner with a former coworker and his wife.  Erick was in my office but is now with San Diego water.

Tomorrow is a light schedule with a side trip to the Cat Cafe, where I’ll get a chance to play with some adoptable kitties. 😍🐱


----------



## ac12

snowbear said:


> Today was a waste.  I made it to one session, and my phone got locked up.  I wasn’t able to connect to the conference schedule with Safari but Chrome would and Safari on the iPad would (the problem started last night).  I prefer Safari on the phone so I reset it and when I went to re-create the pass key / password I must have jumbled something because I couldn’t get back in.  Ultimately I had to take the trolley a few miles north to the local Apple store and have the phone reinitialized and mostly restored with the iPad.  I pretty much missed all of the sessions I intended to attend.
> 
> I did go to dinner with a former coworker and his wife.  Erick was in my office but is now with San Diego water.
> 
> Tomorrow is a light schedule with a side trip to the Cat Cafe, where I’ll get a chance to play with some adoptable kitties. 😍🐱



That is a reason for paper, and posted schedules.


----------



## Original katomi

Must be the day for I pad problems I just spent two hours on mums trying to sort it out….. someone had turned on voice over sorted now


----------



## snowbear

MLW just called.  Pretty bad storm last night and the AC in the living room and TV are not working.  She hit the resets on the devices without succes.  I asked her to check breakers in basement.  Lights behind bar are also out.  Realized there was a puddle on the floor.  She verified two breakers were tripped but left them alone until the puddle is mopped up.  The puddle is probably from the freezer which we know is broken.  I guess I’ll make getting it out a priority when I get back.


----------



## snowbear

ac12 said:


> That is a reason for paper, and posted schedules.


with hundreds of sessions I’d rather save a tree or two.


----------



## snowbear

Went to the State and Local Government social, drank a couple cups of water, took a few photos of sailboats going by, and left after about an hour.  I just wasn’t in the social mood, I guess.  Maybe tomorrow night will be better at the _big_ geogeek party.


----------



## SquarePeg

I have been unmotivated to shoot anything other than my garden lately.  I dragged myself kicking and screaming out to a full moonrise photo meet up tonight.  It was gorgeously cool along the Charles after a hot and steamy day.  Moon came up behind the Longfellow Bridge.  Hopefully got enough decent frames for an exposure blend.


----------



## snowbear

“Yo!  Down there!  Bring me the nips”


----------



## snowbear

The younger, stronger guys (movers) brought most of the stuff from the apartment to the house.  Two of them carried the marble table top while the third helped them put it on the table.  When we brought it home form The Barn Show, it took four of us to get to the apartment and a hydraulic lift to get it on the table.  Everything was brought to the livingroom, with the exception f the desk and projectt table, which went to the basement.  I'll spend the weekend moving things to their proper places while MLW sits in the recliner and nurses what we believe is a cracked rib.  W're going to rent another storage unit for short term and store the things that will be taken to Maine (lazy lobster) and Oklahoma (offspring #1) live.  OK is scheduled for October; ME hasn't been scheduled.

The desk and side/back table are in the new office, though the room is barely "livable."  There is still a bunch of crap on the floor, more specifically residue from when the ciling tiles/planks fell down and apart (water damage).  Additionally the desk only worked for a brief couple of seconds, enough to rais it up (it's an electric sit & stand desk) then quit.  It appears to be the ungrounded witing in the house (two-prong outlets) so I get to change out the outlet this weekend.  We also discovered the washing machine is leaking, so we've bought a new one that will be delivered on Monday.

Time t get to bed; I have an early appointment in Baltimore with a Gastra ... Gastroanty ... internal specialist.  I seem to have something on my liver, that isn't grilled onions.


----------



## snowbear

The younger, stronger guys (movers) brought most of the stuff from the apartment to the house.  Two of them carried the marble table top while the third helped them put it on the table.  When we brought it home form The Barn Show, it took four of us to get to the apartment and a hydraulic lift to get it on the table.  Everything was brought to the livingroom, with the exception f the desk and projectt table, which went to the basement.  I'll spend the weekend moving things to their proper places while MLW sits in the recliner and nurses what we believe is a cracked rib.  W're going to rent another storage unit for short term and store the things that will be taken to Maine (lazy lobster) and Oklahoma (offspring #1) live.  OK is scheduled for October; ME hasn't been scheduled.

The desk and side/back table are in the new office, though the room is barely "livable."  There is still a bunch of crap on the floor, more specifically residue from when the ciling tiles/planks fell down and apart (water damage).  Additionally the desk only worked for a brief couple of seconds, enough to rais it up (it's an electric sit & stand desk) then quit.  It appears to be the ungrounded witing in the house (two-prong outlets) so I get to change out the outlet this weekend.  We also discovered the washing machine is leaking, so we've bought a new one that will be delivered on Monday.

Time t get to bed; I have an early appointment in Baltimore with a Gastra ... Gastroanty ... internal specialist.  I seem to have something on my liver, that isn't grilled onions.


----------



## snowbear

So, it's been a week and we still have a bunch of furniture and boxes in the living room.  MLW is still having pain in her side, so her abilities are limited to lighter than five pounds lifting.  She's been sleeping in the recliner because it hurts to lay down all the way, and getting up is a real chore.

The basement is divided up into three rooms: the shop/utility room, the office, and the "big" room which houses dad's HO scale model railroad layout (about 8' x 13'), the bar, and a restaurant style booth.  We want to swap out the lights (mostly fluorescent with an incandescent in the office) with recessed LEDs.  Three of the fluorescent lights have quit working (not bad tubes) as well as the light in the stairwell.  The stairwell is the main priority, while the others can wait, so it's time to go shopping again.  MLW found out the washing machine was leaking so we had a new one delivered Monday.  At least the dryer works.

We play a tile shuffle puzzle:  Junk from room one to the trash, boxes from room two to  room one (temporary), a chair from here to there, then the small table to here.  It's slow, but it works.  FSIL, Ada hasn't been down to help.  She's kitty sitting Zoe until the house is in a little better shape.  It is helping Zoe, as she isn't alone (she's staying at Ada's), and it's helping Ada get over losing her own kitty.  We only need to get the stuff out of the living room (not really that much), paint the bottom of the walls and baseboards with a mold killer/primer, and finish removing the nasty kitchen tiles and get the temporary tiles in place.

It's a lot of work, but in the end, it will be worth it.


----------



## terri

@snowbear :  I think it's exciting!   Moving and getting a new (to you) place put together how you want it is very rewarding.   It's home!   Gotta be comfortable as well as functional.   

Hope your wife gets better soon.  I'm sure she's quite annoyed with that sore rib, or whatever it is that's keeping her down.      I know I would be!


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> @snowbear :  I think it's exciting!   Moving and getting a new (to you) place put together how you want it is very rewarding.   It's home!   Gotta be comfortable as well as functional.
> 
> Hope your wife gets better soon.  I'm sure she's quite annoyed with that sore rib, or whatever it is that's keeping her down.      I know I would be!


Yes, it will be good in the end.  Hoping to get far enough along this week and next that Zoe can come home.

MLW fell today and did a faceplant right on the sidewalk.  Bloody nose, but fine otherwise.  She' fallen twice before in the past few weeks - her foot just quits working (neuropathy, most likely).  We'll get her checked further after the swelling goes down.


----------



## Warhorse

snowbear said:


> Yes, it will be good in the end.  Hoping to get far enough along this week and next that Zoe can come home.
> 
> MLW fell today and did a faceplant right on the sidewalk.  Bloody nose, but fine otherwise.  She' fallen twice before in the past few weeks - her foot just quits working (neuropathy, most likely).  We'll get her checked further after the swelling goes down.


That doesn't sound good. She needs to be checked by a Doctor ASAP!


----------



## CherylL

snowbear said:


> Yes, it will be good in the end.  Hoping to get far enough along this week and next that Zoe can come home.
> 
> MLW fell today and did a faceplant right on the sidewalk.  Bloody nose, but fine otherwise.  She' fallen twice before in the past few weeks - her foot just quits working (neuropathy, most likely).  We'll get her checked further after the swelling goes down.


Sorry your wife fell facefirst.  A friend has the neuropathy too.  She says the bottom of her feet become numb.  Hope your wife feels better soon.


----------



## snowbear

CherylL said:


> Sorry your wife fell facefirst.  A friend has the neuropathy too.  She says the bottom of her feet become numb.  Hope your wife feels better soon.


Thanks, Cheryl.  We both have it, but mine tingle more than get numb.  When it really flares up, it feels like burning.


----------



## snowbear

Warhorse said:


> That doesn't sound good. She needs to be checked by a Doctor ASAP!


She wants to wait until the swelling goes down a little.  It doesn't look too bad, really.  I stopped yelling "SHE FELL, I DIDN"T PUSH HER!" to the neighbors.


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Yes, it will be good in the end.  Hoping to get far enough along this week and next that Zoe can come home.
> 
> MLW fell today and did a faceplant right on the sidewalk.  Bloody nose, but fine otherwise.  She' fallen twice before in the past few weeks - her foot just quits working (neuropathy, most likely).  We'll get her checked further after the swelling goes down.



I'm really glad the house is coming along for you, and sorry about your wife falling  Just think, in a couple of months, when you're all settled in - including Zoe! - and feeling better, you'll look back and think how glad you are that this stage is over and how good it feels to be in your new hold


----------



## snowbear

Yep.  We've already started the initial ideas for a little vacation once it's over.  I'm thinking PEI or Iceland.


----------



## Fujidave

Well got my skin cancer results, I am now free of it thank god but have a lovely big scar on my inner thigh.


----------



## terri

Fujidave said:


> Well got my skin cancer results, I am now free of it thank god but have a lovely big scar on my inner thigh.


That's such good news!    No real question which you'd rather have: the scar or the skin cancer - scar wins!   Congrats on the clean bill of health.


----------



## cgw

Fujidave said:


> Well got my skin cancer results, I am now free of it thank god but have a lovely big scar on my inner thigh.


I always demand sexy scars. Otherwise, why bother? Relieved you're relieved.


----------



## CherylL

Fujidave said:


> Well got my skin cancer results, I am now free of it thank god but have a lovely big scar on my inner thigh.


Good news!


----------



## CherylL

It has been hot and steamy here.  Too hot for walks or photos.  There was one day about a week ago that was very nice and managed to get out.  Hard to get photo motivated with the heat.

I have a few events that I want to go to later this month.  Back this year after a 2 year hiatus is the Festival of Nations.  Lots of talent on several stages and the food is hard to decide what to eat.
The other event coming back again is painting the flood wall.  Grafitti artists from around the country come for the event and there usually are a few international teams.   I like to go on day 2 to see the murals almost finished.


----------



## Fujidave

cgw said:


> I always demand sexy scars. Otherwise, why bother? Relieved you're relieved.



Thanks folks, if anyone asks I will say it's a shark attack scar lol


----------



## vintagesnaps

Yeah, and you got it during Shark Week (some thing on I forget what network here in the US). Seriously, glad it's taken care of and you're good.


----------



## vintagesnaps

And Leo, for tonight, an extravaganza of zither music!! Yes, once again on TCM, 'The Third Man'. It's Orson Welles day during their 'Summer Under the Stars'. Good ol' Harry Lime. ('What if it wasn't an accident?' no, really?? lol)


Oh, and I'm going home from rehab next Friday - whoo hoo!! boy will it be nice to be home. And a weekend to relax before starting in-home PT/OT. Been ordering stuff and why is it so hard to find just a regular pillow? what's with all this foam fake down stuffing and whatnot??


----------



## snowbear

New windows!  Three done, eleven to go.


----------



## terri

@vintagesnaps - boy, I bet you will be happy to get back home!   I'm sorry it's had to take so long in rehab.   Keep checking in when you can to let us know how it's going.

@snowbear  - WOW, those windows look great!   Looks like a good installation.  

Best of all - so clean!


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Well got my skin cancer results, I am now free of it thank god but have a lovely big scar on my inner thigh.


Awesome news!  Such a relief I know.  


CherylL said:


> It has been hot and steamy here.  Too hot for walks or photos.  There was one day about a week ago that was very nice and managed to get out.  Hard to get photo motivated with the heat.
> 
> I have a few events that I want to go to later this month.  Back this year after a 2 year hiatus is the Festival of Nations.  Lots of talent on several stages and the food is hard to decide what to eat.
> The other event coming back again is painting the flood wall.  Grafitti artists from around the country come for the event and there usually are a few international teams.   I like to go on day 2 to see the murals almost finished.


I agree the heat just saps all my motivation for photography.  Then I go out into the garden "just to check on a few things" and 2 hours later I come back inside covered in sweat and dirt.  The other night I finally had a cool enough night to install the trellis I bought a month ago.  Ran out of time before I could plant the honeysuckle and then it got hot again so I am keeping that alive in the pot hoping for a cooler day.  Today it is 95° but the "feels like" is 107°!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WTH - literally.    


Fujidave said:


> Thanks folks, if anyone asks I will say it's a shark attack scar lol


That is exactly what I told my nephew to tell people when he ended up with a huge scar on his arm from an accident with a glass door!


----------



## snowbear

terri said:


> @snowbear  - WOW, those windows look great!   Looks like a good installation.
> 
> Best of all - so clean!


Yep, these guys did a great job; replaced one window sill thar had rotted when A/C unit leaked over time, then painted the rest of the frame to match.  We're glad we had the grid added; it really makes a difference.


----------



## Fujidave

They are saying we are in for another heatwave this month, lovely and sunny here today.


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m up in York Beach, Maine for a few days for my mom’s 80th birthday.  It was humid and 90’s when we got here but yesterday just as the tide turned and started coming in, at almost the exact time of the turn according to Google, it was like someone turned on the ac at the beach.  Literally one second we were melting and the next there was a cool breeze coming in off the water.  Needed a hoodie last night, which was the first time in about 5 weeks that it was bearable to be outside, even at night!

My nephew is flying up from Houston tomorrow to surprise my mom.  Princess stayed home with the dog but will be up this afternoon and tonight for the big birthday celebration dinner.


----------



## terri

That sounds like a wonderful vacation!   Glad to hear the weather turned so you can enjoy the beach.   Hope you can get a few pics.   

Enjoy the time away and happy birthday to your Mom!  🥳


----------



## snowbear

We may be heading back up to the PA lumber yard for another piece of cocobolo to use as trim below the mantle.

We ordered the windows for the rest of the house, including the steel casement (drop-down) windows in the basement.  We're going with sliders.  In looking around the outside, I discovered a casement I didn't realize we had.  Went downstairs, and it's behind the bar, paneled over; I'm sure done by the folks mom and day bought the house from.  I never noticed it before.  So now we have to contact the company and add a window.  There was a little TV in the sill (no HDMI input so it won't work with our system), so I'll come up with something to do with it.  I plan to remodel that area - most likely switching from a railroad theme to mapping or Fire/EMS.


----------



## VidThreeNorth

*RIP: Olivia Newton-John*

This is a sad coincidence.  Olivia Newton-John died Aug 8, 2022.   Most of my life I was not particularly a fan of hers, or her songs, or her acting.  I liked it all well enough, but I never bought her records and never went to see her movies.  Back in the 80's there was a *lot* going on, so the stuff to which I paid money towards were, well, in truth I do not even remember.  I'd actually have to do research just to be sure.

Now here is the coincidence:  Back around 2020 - 2021, a number of clips were posted to YouTube, and I re-discovered "Xanadu".   "Grease" was never a big attraction to me, and "Xanadu" was even less so back then.  But this time around I found that I liked the "Xanadu" sound track.  A quick check back then told me that Olivia Newton-John was still alive.  I did not expect that I'd necessarily see anything new from her, since she was in her '70s and seemed to be retired.  But in the back of my mind, it was nice to know that she was still around, and maybe it was possible she might produce something.  Maybe a book might come out.  You never know. . . .

So what do I know about her?  Aside from the fact that she was talented and pretty, she seemed to be a nice person, and I think her final years were generally happy.  I just wish I had sent her a "fan mail" note a couple of years ago, when it might have counted.

[Added 2022-08-12 15:52]
This is a clip I found before but lost:

"Xanadu | "Suspended in Time" - Olivia Newton-John & Electric Light Orchestra", "Universal Pictures", posted to YouTube Jun 16, 2021, [length 3:54]
"



"


----------



## otherprof

cgw said:


> I always demand sexy scars. Otherwise, why bother? Relieved you're relieved.


great news!


----------



## snowbear

So tomorrow we’re going to get Ada’s old broken TV from her basement and transport it to the landfill, then instead of a lumber run, we’re going to explore the watershed “trails” in Frederick, MD.  Really just some dirt roads but a break from the house for part of a day.

 I’ll start disassembling the wall behind the bar when we get home.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> So tomorrow we’re going to get Ada’s old broken TV from her basement and transport it to the landfill, then instead of a lumber run, we’re going to explore the watershed “trails” in Frederick, MD.  Really just some dirt roads but a break from the house for part of a day.
> 
> I’ll start disassembling the wall behind the bar when we get home.


You’re smart to take a break from house stuff to do something else.  Moving and remodeling can be all consuming and burn out is a concern!  It’s a marathon…


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all another blistering hot day only now at 21.08 BST is it cool enough to do anything outside.
The phone line is down so life is via the mbl at the moment.
How is everyone on your side of the pond


----------



## snowbear

Dirt Road Therapy done.  Drove the loop, mainly crushed gravel but some bare rock and dirt.  A lot of potholes, some with mud and water.  Definitely would not go there in the CR-V; happy with some ground clearance.

 I will go back in the Autumn when the leaves are in color, and would be very interested in playing there in the snow.


----------



## snowbear

Started tearing down the 1960s/1970s paneling from behind the bar.  The secret window is actually broken so I left it covered for now; the fewer critters in the house, the better.

Water on the floor is from dripping pipe, I think the radiator in master bedroom.  I put down a bucket to catch the water, and mopped up what I could; I'll use towels to get the rest.  We'll call a plumber once we get some of the stuff out of the way for him to work (like a dresser).  I haven't seen any puddling or wet floor boards so my guess is it's not the actual radiator but the supply or return side pipes - those below the floor (in the basement ceiling).

I took two shots of one of the the trout streams in the watershed, yesterday.  I'll process them tonight and see what they look like.  Next weekend is a "Jeep & Greet" for new members of the Gladiator club.  I'm looking forward to going to that one, since it is the evening and the new doors are supposed to be installed that morning.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, at last I have a phone line again yay….
How is everyone today


----------



## snowbear

Kitchen tiles are removed and we picked up the pressure roller and adhesive ("helper") this afternoon.  The floor is chalked with center lines so I'll start in one quadrant tonight.

We'll get the new, temporary tiles down over the next couple of evenings, then bring Zoe home on Saturday.  We really appreciate Ada watching her while we get things cleaned up, and she appreciates having a kitty for a while.


----------



## snowbear

We haz doors!  The new doors and frames were installed today; storm doors get done in a few weeks.  I still have the cut tiles to do, around the edge of the room, but I’ll get done tonight.


----------



## limr

Hosers.

Felt quite fragile today.

We were called back to work full time on Aug 1st, which also coincided with blackout dates for our period of 'mass registration.' My commute is about 45-60 minutes depending on traffic. After a year and a half of 100% remote and then another year of only 2-3 days on campus, I am starting to get used to a 5-day commute again, but it still sucks rocks.

It was super busy all month long, but this week has been insane. We counselors work 9-hour days (in exchange for many many many vacation days - we just can't take any of those days off until Sept 10 when add/drop is done) and I haven't had a proper lunch break for 2 weeks. There are just SO MANY PEOPLE coming in at the very last minute and then get all pissy when they are forced into a crappy class schedule, or can't figure out their email, or blah blah f*****g blah.

So I was already frazzled as hell when I left for work this morning, and I was happy that traffic was really really light, and it was Friday, just one more day...and then I killed a little squirrel that ran out into the highway too late for me to do anything to avoid it. I burst into tears and weeped uncontrollably for a full 20 minutes. At some point, I had to acknowledge that it wasn't entirely about the squirrel anymore, and that I probably had been holding onto more stress than I realized.

I had a good venting session with my team and felt a little better, and somehow got through the day, though I still want to cry when I think of the squirrel 😥

In other news, I am getting an emotional support fish for my office this weekend.


----------



## cgw

limr said:


> Hosers.
> 
> Felt quite fragile today.
> 
> We were called back to work full time on Aug 1st, which also coincided with blackout dates for our period of 'mass registration.' My commute is about 45-60 minutes depending on traffic. After a year and a half of 100% remote and then another year of only 2-3 days on campus, I am starting to get used to a 5-day commute again, but it still sucks rocks.
> 
> It was super busy all month long, but this week has been insane. We counselors work 9-hour days (in exchange for many many many vacation days - we just can't take any of those days off until Sept 10 when add/drop is done) and I haven't had a proper lunch break for 2 weeks. There are just SO MANY PEOPLE coming in at the very last minute and then get all pissy when they are forced into a crappy class schedule, or can't figure out their email, or blah blah f*****g blah.
> 
> So I was already frazzled as hell when I left for work this morning, and I was happy that traffic was really really light, and it was Friday, just one more day...and then I killed a little squirrel that ran out into the highway too late for me to do anything to avoid it. I burst into tears and weeped uncontrollably for a full 20 minutes. At some point, I had to acknowledge that it wasn't entirely about the squirrel anymore, and that I probably had been holding onto more stress than I realized.
> 
> I had a good venting session with my team and felt a little better, and somehow got through the day, though I still want to cry when I think of the squirrel 😥
> 
> In other news, I am getting an emotional support fish for my office this weekend.


The rodent was probably depressed and suicidal anyway. Days that bad usually occasion a brief episode of "Mad Men" style drinking. All better next day. Dunno about the fish, though. Never had one that loved me back. Maybe you'll get lucky.


----------



## limr

cgw said:


> The rodent was probably depressed and suicidal anyway. Days that bad usually occasion a brief episode of "Mad Men" style drinking. All better next day. Dunno about the fish, though. Never had one that loved me back. Maybe you'll get lucky.



As a matter of fact, I did have a good proper martini with two olives when I got home. Buzz and I even poured a shorter second martini after dinner.

I'll keep y'all posted about the fish. I am planning on calling him Nigel.


----------



## terri

Dang, Leo - that's just a crappy day.   In general it's nice to stay busy, because it makes the time fly faster.   But it sure can backfire when you're at a frenzied pace like that - then time seems to revert back to a crawl, like it'll never end!

Sorry about the little squirrel.   The last time I hit an animal was when I was headed for a job interview, and a rabbit darted out into the road.  I pulled over, looked everywhere for that bunny, and was late for the interview and was distracted.   Ugh.

Hope you were able to vent and purge completely!   🍷


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Hosers.
> 
> Felt quite fragile today.
> 
> We were called back to work full time on Aug 1st, which also coincided with blackout dates for our period of 'mass registration.' My commute is about 45-60 minutes depending on traffic. After a year and a half of 100% remote and then another year of only 2-3 days on campus, I am starting to get used to a 5-day commute again, but it still sucks rocks.
> 
> It was super busy all month long, but this week has been insane. We counselors work 9-hour days (in exchange for many many many vacation days - we just can't take any of those days off until Sept 10 when add/drop is done) and I haven't had a proper lunch break for 2 weeks. There are just SO MANY PEOPLE coming in at the very last minute and then get all pissy when they are forced into a crappy class schedule, or can't figure out their email, or blah blah f*****g blah.
> 
> So I was already frazzled as hell when I left for work this morning, and I was happy that traffic was really really light, and it was Friday, just one more day...and then I killed a little squirrel that ran out into the highway too late for me to do anything to avoid it. I burst into tears and weeped uncontrollably for a full 20 minutes. At some point, I had to acknowledge that it wasn't entirely about the squirrel anymore, and that I probably had been holding onto more stress than I realized.
> 
> I had a good venting session with my team and felt a little better, and somehow got through the day, though I still want to cry when I think of the squirrel 😥
> 
> In other news, I am getting an emotional support fish for my office this weekend.




I remember having an owl fly into my headlight many years go as I was driving down a country road.  I looked but never saw it, so I guess it was able to keep flying.
We went out late yesterday afternoon to pick up a baby gate and some kitty litter.  When we got close to the main road, MLW saw a doe crossing the road, followed by a fawn (not quite baby but still had spots).  The second fawn was trailing behind, so we just sat and waited for a couple minutes until it crossed the road.





The need for kitty litter should be pretty obvious: we're picking up Zoe today.  The baby gate: also for Zoe.  I didn't finish the floor tiles last night and we don't want her going in the kitchen or stairwell until it's all cleaned up.  We figure she'll spend a few days in the bedroom until she's readjusted so we're good for now.  The gate will allow me to finish up without feeling rushed.


----------



## snowbear

We’ll, we brought Zoe home this afternoon.  Tried to get her yesterday but she slipped out of the dreaded carrier and wouldn’t let me near her.  She was still pissed today but I was able to pick her up and get her in the carrier.  She nosed and the house a little then went under the bed, as we figured she would do.

Ada decided she’d give up our birthday anc Christmas presents yesterday.  She gave the two of us a whole-house surge protector; MLW got a new mixeri/bread maker and I got a table saw!.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hosers.
> 
> Felt quite fragile today.
> 
> We were called back to work full time on Aug 1st, which also coincided with blackout dates for our period of 'mass registration.' My commute is about 45-60 minutes depending on traffic. After a year and a half of 100% remote and then another year of only 2-3 days on campus, I am starting to get used to a 5-day commute again, but it still sucks rocks.
> 
> It was super busy all month long, but this week has been insane. We counselors work 9-hour days (in exchange for many many many vacation days - we just can't take any of those days off until Sept 10 when add/drop is done) and I haven't had a proper lunch break for 2 weeks. There are just SO MANY PEOPLE coming in at the very last minute and then get all pissy when they are forced into a crappy class schedule, or can't figure out their email, or blah blah f*****g blah.
> 
> So I was already frazzled as hell when I left for work this morning, and I was happy that traffic was really really light, and it was Friday, just one more day...and then I killed a little squirrel that ran out into the highway too late for me to do anything to avoid it. I burst into tears and weeped uncontrollably for a full 20 minutes. At some point, I had to acknowledge that it wasn't entirely about the squirrel anymore, and that I probably had been holding onto more stress than I realized.
> 
> I had a good venting session with my team and felt a little better, and somehow got through the day, though I still want to cry when I think of the squirrel 😥
> 
> In other news, I am getting an emotional support fish for my office this weekend.


Ugh so sorry for your work stress!  You’d think that since it has been proven that you can do your work remotely that they would consider some work/life balance and give you a few remote days a week.  

I’m sure your college is inundated this year as most seem to be!  Princess’s school got a record number of applications this year, and subsequently got more commits than they can handle.  They are having a housing crisis and are forcing triples and quads into rooms meant for two.  Princess lucked out and is in a 3 br apartment across the street from campus with her chosen 5 roommates.  It’s huge and has ac, w&d, dw and there is a pool and gym on site.  A bit less supervised than I would like but she’s a responsible kid and her roommates are good students…

As for me, I’ve been working on my garden - built a fountain yesterday (pics coming soon)!  

Well it’s Monday so back to work.   I hope you’ve all been well.


----------



## snowbear

About 4:00 AM Zoe decided to lay down on the side of the bed with her front paws on my night stand, so she's adjusting to the house pretty well.  The (rest of the) windows have been delivered, but we'll keep the end of September for installation.  MLW just sent me information on a Fried Chicken festival in NOLA (October) - something to think about for next year.


----------



## Warhorse

I am wondering what became of K9Kirk. He hasn't posted in a month or so, I hope all is well with him.


----------



## terri

In the same vein, I've been wondering about Old hippy - Ed.   It's been months.   Anyone follow him on FB/other social media?   Sometimes folks get too busy with other things in their lives and photography can take a back seat, but they still might post elsewhere.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, I will be here more often soon. The summer is on its way out and the colder days are on their way. This means  more time with the camera indoors doing photo projects... I hope.


----------



## SquarePeg

First day off of a 5 day weekend for me… Very productive and fun day!  Got the garden squared away in the morning, errands and shopping for company coming tomorrow, had a puppy play date for Harlie, helped my cousin with a computer issue, chilled on the deck with a nice cold beverage and now I’m catching up on TPF!  

I’m having some friends over tomorrow afternoon and then I have a party to attend on Sunday and plans to go hiking if it doesn’t rain on Monday.  Thank goodness I took Tuesday off or I’d be feeling stressed by all these plans.  I like to socialize but I also don’t like to have my weekend too full.  I want to be able to relax or just jump in the car if the mood strikes.


----------



## snowbear

Three days for us.  We're planning on working around the house, trying to clear one room and a couple areas in the basement so the windows can get installed at the end of the month.  I want to swing by what the kids called DTRU (Daddy's Toys R Us - the woodworking store) to look at some cabinet knobs / handles, and measure a bandsaw and a couple lathes for future reference.


----------



## Rickbb

“future reference” ;-) One of those I had been looking at was delivered this week. )


----------



## Original katomi

hi all, 
seeing Snowbear's  post above I have just looked into the local  Mens Shed group here. It looks promising.
As for the photography, well nothing yet, although I saw the challenge round... um sound of brain cells bumping...


----------



## snowbear

Well, we finally finished up the kitchen - temporary floor tiles by me, painting (lower half) by MLW.  We've taken down the baby gate so Zoe can go in and explore.  She's allowed to go down the steps, but not into the basement until that is cleared and cleaned.  I'll move her food and water dishes in there tomorrow or Wednesday, after she's gotten used to the room.  We ended up not going anywhere, so maybe next weekend.


----------



## Fujidave

R.I.P To our Queen of England.


----------



## CherylL

A little dachshund has been in our area yesterday.  He was spotted on our porch in the afternoon.  A few of us on our street where out trying to catch him last night.  Since he or she liked our porch, we put out food, water and dog bed last night.  Found him sleeping on the bed in the morning.  Of course he ran off when we went outside.  The local resource officer brought out a small trap.  The little guy has been running around the other side of the town since last week.  Guess he/she is a local on the run celebrity.

The pup came back and the trap is too small.  So, got a giant one from the humane society.  Hopefully the pup will show up tonight.  The humane society will hand the pup off to a rescue.  The rescue won't take pups directly. 

My husband posted on the local lost dog and local FB pages.   This little pup has been around town!


----------



## VidThreeNorth

Fujidave said:


> R.I.P To our Queen of England.



Also Gorbachev.  Seems like the world is changing all at once.  Long live the rest of us?​


----------



## snowbear

9/11 343

National Fallen Firefighters memorial.



DSC_2039.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr

Those lost from the rescue and recovery efforts.



DSC_2040.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr




DSC_2035.jpg by Charlie Wrenn, on Flickr


----------



## limr

Here's the memorial in Westchester County, located in Kensico Dam plaza:




Day 99 - Memorial by limrodrigues, on Flickr





Day 100 - Walker by limrodrigues, on Flickr


For context, here is the plaza. The memorial is located to the right side just near the base of the dam.




Day 329 - Dam by limrodrigues, on Flickr





Day 261 - Dam by limrodrigues, on Flickr


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> R.I.P To our Queen of England.


My condolences to all of our TPF’rs across the pond. Truly the end of an era.  She’s the only English monarch in my lifetime and that is true for many others.


----------



## KyleS

I saw these flowers and they were just so beautiful. I don't know the name of these but there were a bunch of them.


----------



## Hardus Nameous

Does anyone speak Chinese?  I want to get my degree in degree forgery so I can sell my wares by annoying foreigners in a language they don't speak.


----------



## KyleS

Hardus Nameous said:


> Does anyone speak Chinese?  I want to get my degree in degree forgery so I can sell my wares by annoying foreigners in a language they don't speak.


Hi, I do. How can I help you?


----------



## snowbear

The spam is under control, really; let's move along.

One of the Jeep clubs are going a basic trail in a couple weeks, so I'm going to go play in the dirt for my birthday.  I was told that the stock street tires and height were not a problem, but I'm ordering a recovery strap, a couple "D" shackles, and an inexpensive portable compressor.  I'll also pick up a 2x6 or 2x8 until I can get the recovery boards; I have a short shovel in one of the sheds.

MLW noticed there were no facilities along the trail, so decided not to go.  She suggested I ask the more adventurous of the nieces.  Her son has a band competition that weekend so I guess I'm crawling solo.  I'm taking the good camera.  We are planning to pick up a Over Sand Vehicle permit for either Assateague Island or Delaware State Seashore, next year.  Maryland and Virginia allow driving on the designated areas of beach (stay off the dunes) but limits the number of vehicles at any time - one out, one in.  Delaware allows driving on the beach only for surf fishing.  The distance is about the same but DE runs more for the OSV and fishing permits.


----------



## SquarePeg

snowbear said:


> The spam is under control, really; let's move along.
> 
> One of the Jeep clubs are going a basic trail in a couple weeks, so I'm going to go play in the dirt for my birthday.  I was told that the stock street tires and height were not a problem, but I'm ordering a recovery strap, a couple "D" shackles, and an inexpensive portable compressor.  I'll also pick up a 2x6 or 2x8 until I can get the recovery boards; I have a short shovel in one of the sheds.
> 
> MLW noticed there were no facilities along the trail, so decided not to go.  She suggested I ask the more adventurous of the nieces.  Her son has a band competition that weekend so I guess I'm crawling solo.  I'm taking the good camera.  We are planning to pick up a Over Sand Vehicle permit for either Assateague Island or Delaware State Seashore, next year.  Maryland and Virginia allow driving on the designated areas of beach (stay off the dunes) but limits the number of vehicles at any time - one out, one in.  Delaware allows driving on the beach only for surf fishing.  The distance is about the same but DE runs more for the OSV and fishing permits.



If you're going to Assateague Island I'm crashing that party!  Been wanting to go there to shoot some milky way.  Please plan your trip around my needs and the new moon/galactic core visibility.


----------



## snowbear

SquarePeg said:


> If you're going to Assateague Island I'm crashing that party!  Been wanting to go there to shoot some milky way.  Please plan your trip around my needs and the new moon/galactic core visibility.


I can do that.  You'll have to leave Princess at college since MLW and SIL will be along and the Jeep only seats four adults.

With any luck, the trip might coincide with a launch from Wallop's Island.


----------



## dxqcanada

Hmm, I must be getting old ... don't recognize most of the active people in this forum ... hmmm.


----------



## SquarePeg

dxqcanada said:


> Hmm, I must be getting old ... don't recognize most of the active people in this forum ... hmmm.



Really?  I've been here almost 10 years.  Snowbear since 2008.  That being said, all are welcome in the Coffee House, including new TPF  members.


----------



## Warhorse

Welcome home dxqcanada!


----------



## dxqcanada

SquarePeg said:


> Really?  I've been here almost 10 years.  Snowbear since 2008.  That being said, all are welcome in the Coffee House, including new TPF  members.


Ah, I know you old forum-timers ... I am not that active, so I should expect new people would be here.


----------



## SquarePeg

dxqcanada said:


> Ah, I know you old forum-timers ... I am not that active, so I should expect new people would be here.


What have you been up to?


----------



## dxqcanada

Eh, not much ... been working on getting rid of accumulated stuff that is just using space in my house.
Working.
Paying for keeping for car repairs cause I can't afford to buy a replacement.
Have not really taken any real photo's
Still fixing broken cameras


----------



## snowbear

Happy to see you back.


----------



## dxqcanada

I've always been here ... just not reacting to posts as much.


----------



## Fujidave

Evening all, well sold up all my Sony FF and have come back to Fuji X as love it plus a lot lighter.  Now have the X-T3 again and a X-S10.


----------



## cgw

Fujidave said:


> Evening all, well sold up all my Sony FF and have come back to Fuji X as love it plus a lot lighter.  Now have the X-T3 again and a X-S10.


It's a sleeper system--beautifully-made bodies and superb optics. The last Nikon DSLR for me was a D7200+a bag of G primes(which I love for its MF Nikkor capability)before moving to Fuji. Still jonesing for a mint X-Pro2...You're in on something--enjoy it!


----------



## dxqcanada

Fujidave said:


> Evening all, well sold up all my Sony FF and have come back to Fuji X as love it plus a lot lighter.  Now have the X-T3 again and a X-S10.


Hi FormerSonydave now again just Fujidave !!


----------



## SquarePeg

Bay Photo floating metal 16x24 print of my Boston skyline photo that I’m donating to a fundraiser for a charity that helps kids with autism.  It will be one of the raffle prizes.  Chose this photo because many of the fundraiser guests are from Cambridge and this is the view of Boston from the Cambridge side of the Charles River.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Bay Photo floating metal 16x24 print of my Boston skyline photo that I’m donating to a fundraiser for a charity that helps kids with autism.  It will be one of the raffle prizes.  Chose this photo because many of the fundraiser guests are from Cambridge and this is the view of Boston from the Cambridge side of the Charles River.
> 
> View attachment 260280




What a beautiful and heart warming thing to do Sharon, lovely image as well.


----------



## cgw

SquarePeg said:


> Bay Photo floating metal 16x24 print of my Boston skyline photo that I’m donating to a fundraiser for a charity that helps kids with autism.  It will be one of the raffle prizes.  Chose this photo because many of the fundraiser guests are from Cambridge and this is the view of Boston from the Cambridge side of the Charles River.
> 
> View attachment 260280


Good on you! Stunner image.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Bay Photo floating metal 16x24 print of my Boston skyline photo that I’m donating to a fundraiser for a charity that helps kids with autism.  It will be one of the raffle prizes.  Chose this photo because many of the fundraiser guests are from Cambridge and this is the view of Boston from the Cambridge side of the Charles River.
> 
> View attachment 260280


A beauty!   Anyone from the area would be tickled to get this as a prize, and even those not from the area should love this.


----------



## snowbear

For one of my more enjoyable birthdays in recent years, I went on an off-road trail with one of my Jeep clubs ("Get Over It Jeep Club").  It's considered a beginner's trail, but there has apparently been quite a bit of erosion so more rock is being exposed.  I scraped a rock at one point, but I didn't see any oil on the ground, behind me, and the truck still handled fine so I guess I just hit of the shields underneath.  I did see some "road rash" (minor scaring) on one of the wheels while I was airing the tires back up, and a scratch in the paint, but that's expected.  Photo is a very mild section of the trail.  The trail is in the George Washington National Forest, in the Blue Ridge mountains (part of the Appalachians) in Virginia.


----------



## SquarePeg

This morning I was lucky enough to see the monarch migration as it passed through Eastern Massachusetts.  It was amazing.  I have way too may photos to cull through.  But here is a quick edit on one that shows how they were just all over the trees and fluttering everywhere.  


Monarch Migration by SharonCat..., on Flickr


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Bay Photo floating metal 16x24 print of my Boston skyline photo that I’m donating to a fundraiser for a charity that helps kids with autism.  It will be one of the raffle prizes.  Chose this photo because many of the fundraiser guests are from Cambridge and this is the view of Boston from the Cambridge side of the Charles River.
> 
> View attachment 260280


The photos is beautiful Sharon.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> For one of my more enjoyable birthdays in recent years, I went on an off-road trail with one of my Jeep clubs ("Get Over It Jeep Club").  It's considered a beginner's trail, but there has apparently been quite a bit of erosion so more rock is being exposed.  I scraped a rock at one point, but I didn't see any oil on the ground, behind me, and the truck still handled fine so I guess I just hit of the shields underneath.  I did see some "road rash" (minor scaring) on one of the wheels while I was airing the tires back up, and a scratch in the paint, but that's expected.  Photo is a very mild section of the trail.  The trail is in the George Washington National Forest, in the Blue Ridge mountains (part of the Appalachians) in Virginia.
> 
> View attachment 260454


Glad you had fun on your birthday, Charlie!  Happy birthday!!!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> This morning I was lucky enough to see the monarch migration as it passed through Eastern Massachusetts.  It was amazing.  I have way too may photos to cull through.  But here is a quick edit on one that shows how they were just all over the trees and fluttering everywhere.
> 
> 
> Monarch Migration by SharonCat..., on Flickr


What an amazing experience that must have been!   Good that you had a camera nearby to grab some images.    So cool!


----------



## CherylL

Working on crafts for this year's xmas set.  Going with a rustic type theme.  The backdrop hasn't arrived yet and hopefully it will work.  We went to a big box home store and they had 4x4 thick double sided wood textures.  Bought 3 and would not fit in the Jeep.  SIL picked up and delivered for me.  When we were in the parking lot I was looking around to make sure no one was taking phone video of us trying to see it the pieces fit in the car


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> The photos is beautiful Sharon.


Thank you Cheryl.  I really liked the way it came out.  The woman who won it was very happy with it!  



terri said:


> What an amazing experience that must have been!   Good that you had a camera nearby to grab some images.    So cool!


It was the second attempt at catching it!  We drove up there last weekend and the winds had shifted and they were gone.  This morning was a bit cooler but the winds from last week had died off.  It was fun to watch them start to flutter while they warmed up.  Then they took little test flights, rearranging themselves on the tree - spreading out in the sun.  I was hoping for a mass lift off but they left in twos and threes, probably looking for nectar in the field behind the trees.  Harlie and I hiked down there and saw a few on the goldenrod but no groups like there had been in the trees early morning.  



CherylL said:


> Working on crafts for this year's xmas set.  Going with a rustic type theme.  The backdrop hasn't arrived yet and hopefully it will work.  We went to a big box home store and they had 4x4 thick double sided wood textures.  Bought 3 and would not fit in the Jeep.  SIL picked up and delivered for me.  When we were in the parking lot I was looking around to make sure no one was taking phone video of us trying to see it the pieces fit in the car



Curious what these look like.  Would love to see them if you have time later to take a quick snap.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Curious what these look like. Would love to see them if you have time later to take a quick snap.


I bought 3 and they are heavy.  With the weight they will stay in place and feel solid.  Old barn wood on one side and white slick on the back.


----------



## Fujidave

I do love these New Fuji Primes, now have the XF18mm XF33mm and hope to have the new XF23mm in a couple of days.


----------



## snowbear

Cheryl: I can't wait to see the finished project.  I like the look of the wood.

I didn't sign on this morning to catch spammers; I was up after midnight trying to get some GIS database updates done.  I forgot to do them before, so I had to stay up, and they can take a while.

Going to dinner with MLW and FSIL tonight.  Finally getting to a Brazilian Steakhouse we've been meaning to try.  Also picking up the Jeep compressor while we are in FSIL's town; wish I'd had it Saturday, but the club had me covered.


----------



## Fujidave

Well I had only been back home a minute when a knock on our door, it was the delivery from the Fuji shop online delivered my lovely XF23mm f1.4 WR.  One happy bunny as now have the three new primes.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Well I had only been back home a minute when a knock on our door, it was the delivery from the Fuji shop online delivered my lovely XF23mm f1.4 WR.  One happy bunny as now have the three new primes.


Spend those pounds while you can Fujidave!  We are all hoping for a quick bounce back for GB economy.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Spend those pounds while you can Fujidave!  We are all hoping for a quick bounce back for GB economy.



That's why I got the primes now before it gets far worse here sadly, will test out the XF23mm f1.4 WR tomorrow as it is now on my X-S10.


----------



## smoke665

For all the TPF friends still on the coast of Florida in the path of the hurricane. You're braver than I am. For those of you who left my prayers that the damage is minimal.


----------



## SquarePeg

I don't get the cartoon.  Well, I get it - but not in relation to the hurricane.  Is the bird the hurricane?  IMO it's more stupidity than defiance to not evacuate when there is advance notice of what is coming.  Looking at the news videos on this it's scary that some people would put their lives at risk in something like this if it could be avoided.  I've even seen some idiots going swimming during the eye.  I hope my tax dollars are not going to be used to rescue morons from themselves.


----------



## smoke665

@SquarePeg defiance of anything bigger than you is relevant, though in the case of many that didn't leave I'm not sure it was defiance as much as no other choice. We have some friends in the path that evacuated to hotels out of danger, but on the news there's a lot of elderly and low income staying because they don't have the means to get away.. Our daughter has a 1st floor investment condo in Ft Myers. Her renters evacuated but she's not hopeful that it will survive. We have family further inland, that are in the path, but they're high enough that flooding shouldn't be a problem. They boarded up and braced the windows, stocked up on food and water, and filled up the generator gas cans, not their first storm.


----------



## vintagesnaps

I wonder why people stay, but realize that some don't have the means to stay in a motel etc. elsewhere. Just now making landfall I think. Hope it's not too bad for people there, but already power outages.

I haven't been on here since I got home. Long delay, long story, but I had to get help to get out of there. Found resources for patient advocacy thru our official state website. Never should have taken so long to get me a hospital bed for home, at least I kept copies of things like a fax from a supplier that the nursing home didn't print and give me for almost a week (then trying to bill me for room and board, I had no need to still be there). What a mess. Ended up renting a bed for now, lucky to have med supply place in the area.

But at least I'm home!! just worn out from it all, and now a little under the weather from the weather! usual respiratory stuff. It got cold!! and cloudy but not actually raining, just gloomy. I can't get warm, too long in a stuffy rehab facility. Turned on the heat and keep edging up the temp a notch. I usually like it on the cool side.


----------



## smoke665

@vintagesnaps some stay out of fear that looters will take everything, some stay because they don't have any other option, and some stay because they're  foolish. The beaches along the southern coasts are nice places to visit, but Mother Nature likes to remind everyone she doesn't like them overstaying their visit.

Wasn't aware you were having health problems, hope you're on the mend quickly!


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I wonder why people stay, but realize that some don't have the means to stay in a motel etc. elsewhere. Just now making landfall I think. Hope it's not too bad for people there, but already power outages.
> 
> I haven't been on here since I got home. Long delay, long story, but I had to get help to get out of there. Found resources for patient advocacy thru our official state website. Never should have taken so long to get me a hospital bed for home, at least I kept copies of things like a fax from a supplier that the nursing home didn't print and give me for almost a week (then trying to bill me for room and board, I had no need to still be there). What a mess. Ended up renting a bed for now, lucky to have med supply place in the area.
> 
> But at least I'm home!! just worn out from it all, and now a little under the weather from the weather! usual respiratory stuff. It got cold!! and cloudy but not actually raining, just gloomy. I can't get warm, too long in a stuffy rehab facility. Turned on the heat and keep edging up the temp a notch. I usually like it on the cool side.



Nice to have you back! I am sorry for how much trouble you had to get home, but I'm glad you're home


----------



## SquarePeg

@vintagesnaps  Hang in there Sharon!  Good thing you know your rights.  Sending healing thoughts your way.


----------



## CherylL

vintagesnaps said:


> I wonder why people stay, but realize that some don't have the means to stay in a motel etc. elsewhere. Just now making landfall I think. Hope it's not too bad for people there, but already power outages.
> 
> I haven't been on here since I got home. Long delay, long story, but I had to get help to get out of there. Found resources for patient advocacy thru our official state website. Never should have taken so long to get me a hospital bed for home, at least I kept copies of things like a fax from a supplier that the nursing home didn't print and give me for almost a week (then trying to bill me for room and board, I had no need to still be there). What a mess. Ended up renting a bed for now, lucky to have med supply place in the area.
> 
> But at least I'm home!! just worn out from it all, and now a little under the weather from the weather! usual respiratory stuff. It got cold!! and cloudy but not actually raining, just gloomy. I can't get warm, too long in a stuffy rehab facility. Turned on the heat and keep edging up the temp a notch. I usually like it on the cool side.


Glad you are home!  Wishing you speedy recovery.


----------



## Warhorse

Best wishes for a complete and speedy recovery.


----------



## Fujidave

Overcast here today, plus a bit nippy.


----------



## smoke665

We are finally starting to see the beginning of fall. The mornings have a noticeable nip, the leaves have the slightest hint of color development, and the %&$#@*%$#@ spiders are going crazy building webs everywhere. Every time I walk through the yard I invariably walk face first into one, then spend the next few mins like some spastic Kung Fu fighter trying to dislodge the stringy webs. I've yet to figure out why the spiders become so active during the fall, and why their webs seem stronger and more sticky.


----------



## SquarePeg

Here it was like someone flipped a switch on 9/21.  It went from 80’s to 60 overnight.  Nights have been beautifully cool and days are very mild.  This is my favorite weather.  It’s fleeting and I’m planning to enjoy all of it that I can!!  This morning it’s perfect out there.  Just a slight feel of fall.  We may get some rain from Hurricane Ian tomorrow.  I hope not as it’s family/homecoming weekend at Princess’s school and we have a big group planning to go and tailgate Saturday morning.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi from south coast UK. I know what you mean about the cold I have just relented and put the heating on. I will take a few days to make a difference as its underfloor heating. I normally get it wrong put it on then the weather goes back to being warn. I think we are due for a  few cold days getting colder so before the place looses all the heat I have put the heating on. Now I start to worry about the next electric bill.


----------



## snowbear

I don't recall the date we started, but we've had the windows open for a while.  For the off road trip on 9/24 I had the top panels off but wearing a heavy flannel shirt - it was 54*F; pretty darn cold at 70MPH down the Interstate.

We're expecting rain and wind for the next few days due to the remnants of Ian.  The last prediction I was places the center going east of us, but enough rain our weekend plans have changed to inside activities at the house.  Maybe next weekend we can hit the Apple Harvest Festival in PA.


----------



## Fujidave

Original katomi said:


> Hi from south coast UK. I know what you mean about the cold I have just relented and put the heating on. I will take a few days to make a difference as its underfloor heating. I normally get it wrong put it on then the weather goes back to being warn. I think we are due for a  few cold days getting colder so before the place looses all the heat I have put the heating on. Now I start to worry about the next electric bill.



I started to put our heating on a few days ago about 4pm, it gets pretty nippy now.


----------



## SquarePeg

Once the cold gets in the house, it’s hard to get it out. Timing is always tricky on when to close up the windows. We have a lot of south facing windows so the house is pretty warm during the day in fall.  I try to just use my electric fireplace if it’s chilly in the evening.  I don’t like to turn on the heat until 10/31.  Especially now with Princess at school it’s just me and I like it cool while sleeping so will hold out as long as I can.


----------



## Fujidave

Morning all, very overcast and yuck here today.


----------



## Warhorse

Sorry to hear that, absolutely gorgeous day here in SE MI.


----------



## terri

Fujidave said:


> Morning all, very overcast and yuck here today.


Not a great day for photography unless you can pierce through the gloom!   

Happy Monday, Hosers!


----------



## snowbear

Rain and chilly, yesterday.  I finally shut the windows because MLW was cold (but heat was not turned on).  A little bit of rain on the ride in to the offoce this morning but it's just overcast, now.

We have all new windows, now, including the casement windows in the basement.  It's a lot lighter down there; I'm going to put up curtains, and not the shutters that were on there before.  I am definitely going to swap out the paneling (barnwood look on one side and fake brick on the "ends") with sheetrock so everything is brighter.

Other projects are the chimney repairs and cleaning (replace chimney cap, replace lining in furnace flue), a replacement shed, and the electrician.  I also need a plumber to fix a leak in the shut off valve for the dowstairs toilet.  We'll need the plumber and electrician back when we do the furnace/hot water heater conversions.  We're not sure when that will be, likely next summer.  The shed goes in before the electrician becasue I want lights & outlets in there and I don't want to pull permits twice - do it all at the same time.

I have a pair of Ikea two-drawer units that will have the fire extinguisher lamps on them and are planned to go on either side of the fire place.  The problem with that is I then woin't have a place to put the firewood, so I have to either rethink how I have things set up, or put the wood elsewhere.  Once I get everything that doesn't belong out of there it might be easier - maybe both along the wall opposite the desk (behind me).  They have art supplies in them so there is no rush top get them moved.


----------



## Fujidave

terri said:


> Not a great day for photography unless you can pierce through the gloom!
> 
> Happy Monday, Hosers!



Lovely white sky here it was, terrible for photography so maybe take images with no sky at all will solve that.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Once the cold gets in the house, it’s hard to get it out. Timing is always tricky on when to close up the windows. We have a lot of south facing windows so the house is pretty warm during the day in fall.  I try to just use my electric fireplace if it’s chilly in the evening.  I don’t like to turn on the heat until 10/31.  Especially now with Princess at school it’s just me and I like it cool while sleeping so will hold out as long as I can.



I also don't turn on the heat until it's much colder. I took my bedroom floor a/c unit out but ONLY because I had a stink bug situation that was freaking me out and I had to get that window closed and sealed. I'm kinda mad about it, too, because I like to have the window at least a little bit open at night now that it's better sleeping weather, but I am still too grossed out at how many stink bugs I had to deal with. *shudder* I hate them so much. I still have the floor unit set to fan, though. I need it nice and cold at night with some moving air. There were 2 or 3 nights after I closed the window up when I woke up feeling warm, but it's getting better now.

I still have the window unit in the living room, though it's set on fan now, and I still keep windows open as long as it's quiet out and none of the neighbors is doing lawn work or there are no kids yelling in the yard next door or playing basketball or whatever.

I finally had to wear a jacket today and I love it!!


----------



## snowbear

Back in the "Black Watch" flannel shirt.  We'll turn the heat on if the temperature inside drops below 58.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> I also don't turn on the heat until it's much colder. I took my bedroom floor a/c unit out but ONLY because I had a stink bug situation that was freaking me out and I had to get that window closed and sealed. I'm kinda mad about it, too, because I like to have the window at least a little bit open at night now that it's better sleeping weather, but I am still too grossed out at how many stink bugs I had to deal with. *shudder* I hate them so much. I still have the floor unit set to fan, though. I need it nice and cold at night with some moving air. There were 2 or 3 nights after I closed the window up when I woke up feeling warm, but it's getting better now.
> 
> I still have the window unit in the living room, though it's set on fan now, and I still keep windows open as long as it's quiet out and none of the neighbors is doing lawn work or there are no kids yelling in the yard next door or playing basketball or whatever.
> 
> I finally had to wear a jacket today and I love it!!



Interesting… we have seen more stink bugs this year than ever before !  Always by the front door.  Not more than one at a time and not too too frequently but enough that I know they must be hanging outside the front door waiting to get in!


----------



## snowbear

a Few years ago I was flushing or throwing out at least four each week.  This year I haven’t seen but a couple.  Maybe the new hood is tougher than the last one.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Interesting… we have seen more stink bugs this year than ever before !  Always by the front door.  Not more than one at a time and not too too frequently but enough that I know they must be hanging outside the front door waiting to get in!





snowbear said:


> a Few years ago I was flushing or throwing out at least four each week.  This year I haven’t seen but a couple.  Maybe the new hood is tougher than the last one.



Last year, it was not a problem - the occasional bug when the weather started cooling off because they are all trying to find a warm place to hang out for the winter, but I would spray around the house with a homemade bug spray - neem and peppermint oil, a touch of Dawn. All things that kill or repel many bugs, including stink bugs.

And they always seemed to cluster outside my bedroom window, probably because of the warmth coming from the air conditioner hose, but they somehow mostly managed to stay outside. Just a stray once in a while, and then I'd spray again. 

This year, though, they found a way to get in somehow, despite all kinds of foam seals that I put in or spraying (though to be fair, I didn't do it nearly as often since I had to go to campus 5 days a week again.) It started with just one that made its way in each day. Then one night it was two. Then the next night, I killed three within about half an hour. And it would get worse every night until one Friday night about a week or so ago. I ended up killing 6 of them that night. And they were coming in one at a time, so I would kill one, check all around the window and not see anything, and then 10 minutes later, the next one would appear. They just kept coming and I couldn't relax, not knowing if or when they would keep coming in the window.

I slept on the couch that night and the next day, I took the hose out of the window, cleaned it all up, and put gaffer's tape all around the window (I got some white tape so it at least matches!)


----------



## Fujidave

Still have our lights on here, it is that dark and gloomy.


----------



## waday

Hi all, been a while. Hope you’re all doing well!

Had some ups and downs, but trying to get back into photography as a hobby. 

Please meet Dolly.


----------



## limr

waday said:


> Hi all, been a while. Hope you’re all doing well!
> 
> Had some ups and downs, but trying to get back into photography as a hobby.
> 
> Please meet Dolly.
> 
> View attachment 260729
> 
> View attachment 260730



Hey there! Nice to see you around again! Dolly is a total cutie 😍


----------



## SquarePeg

Well Helllllooooo Dolly!


----------



## terri

waday said:


> Hi all, been a while. Hope you’re all doing well!
> 
> Had some ups and downs, but trying to get back into photography as a hobby.
> 
> Please meet Dolly.
> 
> View attachment 260729
> 
> View attachment 260730


Aww, Dolly looks like a sweetie!

Great to see you, Wade.      Hope to see some more pics from you.


----------



## Warhorse

Today makes six months since I quit smoking cigarettes.


----------



## cgw

Warhorse said:


> Today makes six months since I quit smoking cigarettes.


Probably just seems that long...Congrats, though, for opening the way for another camera system. I managed last century to kick killer unfiltered coffin nails like Gitanes, Gauloises, Camels and Sobranies. Suspect my lungs look less like First basemens' gloves now.


----------



## smoke665

Warhorse said:


> Today makes six months since I quit smoking cigarettes.


Been so long I forgot when I quit smoking, but somewhere around 1987? I don't like to even be around cigarette smoke now, but if I smell a good cigar all those cravings come rushing back. I have to get away from it, or I'd light up in a hurry. I'd be one of those people alternating puffs between and oxygen mask and the cigar.


----------



## limr

I never had a strong habit and have always been the kind of person who could bum a smoke once in a while after officially quitting and not go right back into the habit. But still, it was tough to break the association with certain other behaviors: having a drink out with friends,  studying/working at a coffeehouse, hanging out on the balcony by myself trying to sort of think through some kind of problem or situation or just staring into space. 

I am going to start smoking again when I am 90.


----------



## cgw

limr said:


> I never had a strong habit and have always been the kind of person who could bum a smoke once in a while after officially quitting and not go right back into the habit. But still, it was tough to break the association with certain other behaviors: having a drink out with friends,  studying/working at a coffeehouse, hanging out on the balcony by myself trying to sort of think through some kind of problem or situation or just staring into space.
> 
> I am going to start smoking again when I am 90.


Love this:


----------



## snowbear

Congratulations.  I quit in early 2000 after the third attempt, and haven't even thought opf going back to it.


----------



## limr

cgw said:


> Love this:



Jim Jarmusch! That movie has a fantastic soundtrack. I just checked the date because I could have sworn I saw it in grad school, but it came out several years after I left Pittsburgh, so I think it just reminds me so strongly of grad school that I always associate the two.


----------



## SquarePeg

I quit in 2002.  Within a month I was totally done with it.  Haven’t been tempted since.   

I can’t believe the cost of a pack now!  Insanity.


----------



## Warhorse

Thanks everyone. 

I have become an expert quitter, once quit for seven years.


----------



## Fujidave

Evening all, had my scan and it shows my cancer has come back good style on my lungs,  as Ned Kelly said Such is Life.


----------



## CherylL

Fujidave said:


> Evening all, had my scan and it shows my cancer has come back good style on my lungs,  as Ned Kelly said Such is Life.


So very sorry Dave.  Hugs


----------



## terri

Fujidave said:


> Evening all, had my scan and it shows my cancer has come back good style on my lungs,  as Ned Kelly said Such is Life.


Oh no.  So sorry to hear this, Dave.   I'm sure they're working up a new treatment plan for you, and it's good that they have been on top of this. Knowledge is power.   Keep us posted.


----------



## Warhorse

That's tough news Dave, but you have to stay strong! You can beat this.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Evening all, had my scan and it shows my cancer has come back good style on my lungs,  as Ned Kelly said Such is Life.



So sorry Dave.


----------



## Original katomi

Sorry to hear your news Dave.


----------



## Original katomi

Had a nice day out with the camera and the dogs last week. Sat people watching, for a few hours.


----------



## terri

Original katomi said:


> Had a nice day out with the camera and the dogs last week. Sat people watching, for a few hours.


Nice!   That ruin of a wall looks very intriguing.


----------



## SquarePeg

If you’re a fan of Stranger Things, you’ll enjoy this local house’s Halloween decor.  ( not my photo)


----------



## terri

Haha, I love it!   

Some people get really creative around Halloween - it's the best part!


----------



## vintagesnaps

Aw Dave, sorry to hear that. Hope they get a treatment plan for you that'll kick it.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey Leo! Yesterday's Far Side page-a-day calendar featured - lemurs!!! It says 'Although never achieving the fame of Tarzan'... 'Larry of the Lemurs was a common sight'... And one of the lemurs is leaping from tree to tree like a flying squirrel.


----------



## snowbear

How have you been, Sharon?


----------



## VidThreeNorth

I do not know if there is a photo idea in this or not.  It seems to me that this "event" should cause something worth photographing, but I do not have the time to think it through, so I am posting it here so if anyone else sees a way to make use of this, then, well have fun with it:

"Wow! October 2022 GRB Was So Powerful It Had Effects on Planet Earth",
posted to YouTube Oct 24, 2022 by "Anton Petrov", [length 12:22]
"



"


----------



## Fujidave

Thanks folks, it seems as though they made a mistake it was showing a mass but it turned out to be a bad chest infection that I'm still getting over.  Having another scan once my chest is all clear.


----------



## SquarePeg

Fujidave said:


> Thanks folks, it seems as though they made a mistake it was showing a mass but it turned out to be a bad chest infection that I'm still getting over.  Having another scan once my chest is all clear.


Wow that is unbelievable.  Something similar happened to a friend of mine many years ago.  So scary.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Wow that is unbelievable.  Something similar happened to a friend of mine many years ago.  So scary.



100% agree with you Sharon, it stuck the fear of god right up me if I say so my self.


----------



## terri

Fujidave said:


> 100% agree with you Sharon, it stuck the fear of god right up me if I say so my self.


Wow!  You must be struggling between huge relief and great annoyance that they scared you needlessly.    

But wonderful news, no matter what!


----------



## limr

As disconcerting as that must have been, I think all of us, you especially, are grateful that the mistake wasn't the reverse!


----------



## Fujidave

Thank you ladies, you could say my head was right up my backside and when they told me it went to anger but now I'm just so over the moon.


----------



## VidThreeNorth

Good to hear everything is ok!  Thinking about it, as camera people some of us (most?) were raised on films and have seen lots of negatives.  I have to feel a bit of sympathy for people who "read" X-rays.  It's hard to figure out what you are seeing.  Error on the side of caution is probably common. . . .


----------



## cgw

You deserve an X-Pro3--courtesy of your radiologist...

Needless to say, great news.


----------



## SquarePeg

Just tested positive for covid.  Yuck.  Was having some symptoms (fever and headache) but thought it was side effects from the flu shot and booster I got on Monday.  Then today I got a stuffy nose and sore throat which are not vaccine side effects so took a test.  I took paxlovid last time I had it and it went away with no worsening of symptoms.  Will call my dr tomorrow and see what she thinks I should do.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Just tested positive for covid.  Yuck.  Was having some symptoms (fever and headache) but thought it was side effects from the flu shot and booster I got on Monday.  Then today I got a stuffy nose and sore throat which are not vaccine side effects so took a test.  I took paxlovid last time I had it and it went away with no worsening of symptoms.  Will call my dr tomorrow and see what she thinks I should do.


Yuck - not again!    I'm so sorry.   I recall you getting on that medication before and it seemed to help quickly.    Hopefully you'll be on it or something similar very soon.


----------



## snowbear

Fujidave said:


> Thanks folks, it seems as though they made a mistake it was showing a mass but it turned out to be a bad chest infection that I'm still getting over.  Having another scan once my chest is all clear.


Glad to hear it's not cancer, though I'm sorry they mis-read the scan.  I guess they decided to "err on the side of caution." 




SquarePeg said:


> Just tested positive for covid.  Yuck.  Was having some symptoms (fever and headache) but thought it was side effects from the flu shot and booster I got on Monday.  Then today I got a stuffy nose and sore throat which are not vaccine side effects so took a test.  I took paxlovid last time I had it and it went away with no worsening of symptoms.  Will call my dr tomorrow and see what she thinks I should do.


Sorry, Sharon.  I just treated the symptoms which only lasted a few days.  Just remember, it can stay in your system for 30 days so you can be "over it" and still test positive.


----------



## Original katomi

opps these are for  dave


----------



## Warhorse

Fujidave said:


> Thanks folks, it seems as though they made a mistake it was showing a mass but it turned out to be a bad chest infection that I'm still getting over.  Having another scan once my chest is all clear.


I am really glad for you, I hope the next scan is good.


----------



## Original katomi

hi all just popped in for a break just sorting todays images the good , bad and why did i shoot that
1300 images three memory cards.......... Ok i went just a bit mad


----------



## Original katomi

here is one from today.... and on the down side i dropped my camera....  the 70 200 f4 l  is at the camera doc to have a uv filter removed


----------



## terri

Sorry you dropped the camera, katomi!   That sucks.   I do like your shot, though, the Spitfire looks great!

Happy Weekend before Halloween, hosers!


----------



## Fujidave

Original katomi said:


> here is one from today.... and on the down side i dropped my camera....  the 70 200 f4 l  is at the camera doc to have a uv filter removed



Hope they can sort it out for you.


----------



## Original katomi

camera shop will send lens off for repair..cost me 25 gbp lucky me just uv filter naffed


----------



## snowbear




----------



## VidThreeNorth

This is a cellphone thing that is not photographic, so I think this is where I'll put it.  FM radio keeps eluding me on my phones.  I had working FM radio reception on my Sony Xperia 5 compact, but the phone was small and did not have a big battery, so I did not feel that I could use it.  So now I have an Xperia 10 iii which has a battery that I feel is big enough, but it does not have an FM radio.  Recently I ran across a set of programs "SDRTouch" and related, that control an attachable radio receiver, but the complete setup is clunky and not practically portable (and apparently costs around $60, which is a bit high).  So I'll pass.  So still no practical broadcast radio on a cellphone that I own.  Actually, I'm surprised. . . .


----------



## SquarePeg

This cracked me up.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> This cracked me up.
> View attachment 261439



In my defense, I have only had a few sips of coffee and I am very very tired today...but I don't get it


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> In my defense, I have only had a few sips of coffee and I am very very tired today...but I don't get it


Couldn’t afford chicken.


----------



## Fujidave

Hi everyone, today has been a nice sunny day but had to stay in for a delivery so hope it arrives soon.

Chest infection has cleared off now thank god, it is great to sleep in the bed again as have been trying to sleep in the armchair sat up.


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Couldn’t afford chicken.



Ahhhh!  🤣 That's pretty funny. I'm also laughing at myself and how long I sat there starting at the photo thinking, "Is it bad food photography? Pretending to do a white balance thing...but then why is there a drawing of a chicken leg? Play on words...chicken and rice, chicken and rice...nope, still can't figure out how it connects to photography..." I'm kind of dull this morning


----------



## terri

limr said:


> Ahhhh!  🤣 That's pretty funny. I'm also laughing at myself and how long I sat there starting at the photo thinking, "Is it bad food photography? Pretending to do a white balance thing...but then why is there a drawing of a chicken leg? Play on words...chicken and rice, chicken and rice...nope, still can't figure out how it connects to photography..." I'm kind of dull this morning


Then I'm dull too, because I was thinking along the same lines!   As in, suddenly inspired to shoot every plate of food, no matter how silly?    
But now I get it!


----------



## terri

In other news, Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## Fujidave

limr said:


> Ahhhh!  🤣 That's pretty funny. I'm also laughing at myself and how long I sat there starting at the photo thinking, "Is it bad food photography? Pretending to do a white balance thing...but then why is there a drawing of a chicken leg? Play on words...chicken and rice, chicken and rice...nope, still can't figure out how it connects to photography..." I'm kind of dull this morning





terri said:


> Then I'm dull too, because I was thinking along the same lines!   As in, suddenly inspired to shoot every plate of food, no matter how silly?
> But now I get it!




Glad I was not the only dull one, thought Sharon might of lost the plot first off lol


----------



## snowbear

Leo may have seen this in my feed.  Turn on the audio - the voices are what make it funny.  I laugh every time I see/hear it.  This happened in CT.





__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2945367975743810


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> Leo may have seen this in my feed.  Turn on the audio - the voices are what make it funny.  I laugh every time I see/hear it.  This happened in CT.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2945367975743810



I did! It gave me a good laugh. And it will again because it's worth watching again!


----------



## limr

Reminds me of this:


----------



## cgw

"And now for something completely different..."

Columbia just released a live recording set of a 20 year-old Barbra Streisand at the Bon Soir in NYC shelved since 1962. Simply jaw-dropping:









						Barbra Streisand on Her Pristine Early Recordings: ‘That Girl Can Sing’
					

“Live at the Bon Soir,” a restored set of songs from November 1962, allows listeners today — and Streisand, herself — to rediscover the sounds of a star being born.




					www.nytimes.com
				




If the NYT paywall limits things, these songs should be available elsewhere now if not soon.


----------



## SquarePeg

I can’t believe only 1 person got the joke!  I thought it was hilarious and it hit me right away.  But that may have been because it was posted in a Facebook thread about the high costs of some hobbies. Context is everything!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I can’t believe only 1 person got the joke!  I thought it was hilarious and it hit me right away.  But that may have been because it was posted in a Facebook thread about the high costs of some hobbies. Context is everything!


Yeah, that's right!   Excuse us dummies - er, context IS everything!


----------



## cgw

Recall jokes like that among broke-a$$ grad students.


----------



## Warhorse

I noticed a lump on my cheek, just off the side of my nose about 4 years ago. Dermatologist said to just let it be, unless its appearance bothered me, which it hadn't, but if it changed at all to get back with him. It started to weep a little blood when I washed my face, got back into his office to have him check it out again, biopsy showed it to be Basal cell carcinoma. Got an appointment to have it removed two months later (which was this last Thursday), the Moh's surgery was successful on the first slice. Went straight to the plastic surgeon down the hall to close the nickel sized hole in my cheek. It was all a very easy procedure. Moral to the story...don't ignore those bumps and moles we all get as we age. Basal cell carcinoma is the one you hope for if you have to have skin cancer, as it doesn't metastasize to other organs.


----------



## Fujidave

Warhorse said:


> I noticed a lump on my cheek, just off the side of my nose about 4 years ago. Dermatologist said to just let it be, unless its appearance bothered me, which it hadn't, but if it changed at all to get back with him. It started to weep a little blood when I washed my face, got back into his office to have him check it out again, biopsy showed it to be Basal cell carcinoma. Got an appointment to have it removed two months later (which was this last Thursday), the Moh's surgery was successful on the first slice. Went straight to the plastic surgeon down the hall to close the nickel sized hole in my cheek. It was all a very easy procedure. Moral to the story...don't ignore those bumps and moles we all get as we age. Basal cell carcinoma is the one you hope for if you have to have skin cancer, as it doesn't metastasize to other organs.



Glad it all turned out good for you, agree on always get it checked out.


----------



## smoke665

Warhorse said:


> Moral to the story...don't ignore those bumps and moles


DW has been plagued with them for many years. Had one on the shin that required a large area to be removed and plastic surgery. Had several on face/neck/arms that weren't as bad, but one in the very corner of the eye next to the nose required some expert reconstructive surgery. Scheduled to have yet another removed this coming Wed.  She claims redheads and blue eyes are more prone to them. I asked her how it's possible that she is still getting them, as her hair has been white for many years.


----------



## CherylL

Warhorse said:


> I noticed a lump on my cheek, just off the side of my nose about 4 years ago. Dermatologist said to just let it be, unless its appearance bothered me, which it hadn't, but if it changed at all to get back with him. It started to weep a little blood when I washed my face, got back into his office to have him check it out again, biopsy showed it to be Basal cell carcinoma. Got an appointment to have it removed two months later (which was this last Thursday), the Moh's surgery was successful on the first slice. Went straight to the plastic surgeon down the hall to close the nickel sized hole in my cheek. It was all a very easy procedure. Moral to the story...don't ignore those bumps and moles we all get as we age. Basal cell carcinoma is the one you hope for if you have to have skin cancer, as it doesn't metastasize to other organs.


Glad you got it taken care of!  My husband had one on the side of his nose.  Large hole!  Amazing how the plastic surgeon fixed it up and can't tell that it was there.


----------



## SquarePeg

Warhorse said:


> I noticed a lump on my cheek, just off the side of my nose about 4 years ago. Dermatologist said to just let it be, unless its appearance bothered me, which it hadn't, but if it changed at all to get back with him. It started to weep a little blood when I washed my face, got back into his office to have him check it out again, biopsy showed it to be Basal cell carcinoma. Got an appointment to have it removed two months later (which was this last Thursday), the Moh's surgery was successful on the first slice. Went straight to the plastic surgeon down the hall to close the nickel sized hole in my cheek. It was all a very easy procedure. Moral to the story...don't ignore those bumps and moles we all get as we age. Basal cell carcinoma is the one you hope for if you have to have skin cancer, as it doesn't metastasize to other organs.


Glad you got that taken care of.  I’ve had 2 squamous cell spots removed from my legs.  Not quite as “good” as basal cell but not as bad as melanoma.


----------



## terri

Warhorse said:


> I noticed a lump on my cheek, just off the side of my nose about 4 years ago. Dermatologist said to just let it be, unless its appearance bothered me, which it hadn't, but if it changed at all to get back with him. It started to weep a little blood when I washed my face, got back into his office to have him check it out again, biopsy showed it to be Basal cell carcinoma. Got an appointment to have it removed two months later (which was this last Thursday), the Moh's surgery was successful on the first slice. Went straight to the plastic surgeon down the hall to close the nickel sized hole in my cheek. It was all a very easy procedure. Moral to the story...don't ignore those bumps and moles we all get as we age. Basal cell carcinoma is the one you hope for if you have to have skin cancer, as it doesn't metastasize to other organs.


Whew!   Glad you got it looked at, and taken care of.   Not what anyone wants to go through, but sounds like you've gotten the best result.


----------



## Fujidave

Good evening everyone, grotty day here today as non stop rain again, we are still forecast for more over the next two days so roll on Wednesday when the weather gets better.


----------



## Rickbb

Warhorse said:


> I noticed a lump on my cheek, just off the side of my nose about 4 years ago. Dermatologist said to just let it be, unless its appearance bothered me, which it hadn't, but if it changed at all to get back with him. It started to weep a little blood when I washed my face, got back into his office to have him check it out again, biopsy showed it to be Basal cell carcinoma. Got an appointment to have it removed two months later (which was this last Thursday), the Moh's surgery was successful on the first slice. Went straight to the plastic surgeon down the hall to close the nickel sized hole in my cheek. It was all a very easy procedure. Moral to the story...don't ignore those bumps and moles we all get as we age. Basal cell carcinoma is the one you hope for if you have to have skin cancer, as it doesn't metastasize to other organs.


Good on you, as someone that's had a few "divots" removed from my exterior, you can never be too vigilant.


----------



## Fujidave

Funny as when I had my chest infection for two weeks the weather was lovely, now I got over it the weather has been terrible as still raining here yet again.


----------



## Warhorse

Happy 247th Birthday to all the Marines here!!


----------



## snowbear

The kitchen cabinets have been delivered, so the remodel has been moved up from January/February to mid-December (tentative).  Because of the new timeframe, we've postponed next week's trip to Maine & Oklahoma (delivering some furniture and boxes) until the new year.

I haven't been takin g any photos of the house as we got it, because rooms full of junk and filth are embarrassing.  I'm taking some snaps as we go along, though.  Half of the main floor are "livable" but because we are still playing the shuffle-tile-game, there is still clutter.  The house is still in probate, so we can't get rid of any furniture.  The kitchen, living room, master bedroom, guest room, main bath, and the /12 bath in the master are useable, though there are still things to do.  We have started in the basement and have a very long way to go, though we can wash clothes.

The Guest Room; still being used for staging boxes.  We've put up new curtains and curtain rods, and need to get the boxes and extra things out.  The furniture stays, for now.  Some of the boxes contain photos to be scanned.





The first floor office (MLW's).  This is the staging area on the main floor.  This week end's project is to attack this room.  There is a day bed that will stay, and the round-top table will eventually be relocated to the living room.  The chairs go to the dining room once the old dining set has been delivered to Oklahoma (after probate is done).  We will stage the contents of the kitchen cabinets and pantry closet in here during the remodel.




The main bathroom.  Eventually the tiles will be replaced, as well as some of the hardware.  MLW found the rug and shower curtains, somewhere.


----------



## terri

I happen to love the old style tiles in these houses!     They have such charm.   They do collect grime and grit over the decades but can be cleaned up pretty easily with something like TSP or other icky household cleaners.   We've got a similar bathroom and it cleaned up nicely.  

What my bathroom doesn't have are BEAR towels, rug, or shower curtain.    

The rest of the remodel looks like it's coming along great, too!   You're very lucky to have things being delivered ahead of schedule.   I'm still waiting on a freaking garage door that was ordered in early September, as well as a small drop-leaf table and chairs.   2-3 weeks has turned into months.  

I like seeing your progress pics - keep 'em coming!


----------



## limr

snowbear said:


> The kitchen cabinets have been delivered, so the remodel has been moved up from January/February to mid-December (tentative).  Because of the new timeframe, we've postponed next week's trip to Maine & Oklahoma (delivering some furniture and boxes) until the new year.
> 
> I haven't been takin g any photos of the house as we got it, because rooms full of junk and filth are embarrassing.  I'm taking some snaps as we go along, though.  Half of the main floor are "livable" but because we are still playing the shuffle-tile-game, there is still clutter.  The house is still in probate, so we can't get rid of any furniture.  The kitchen, living room, master bedroom, guest room, main bath, and the /12 bath in the master are useable, though there are still things to do.  We have started in the basement and have a very long way to go, though we can wash clothes.
> 
> The Guest Room; still being used for staging boxes.  We've put up new curtains and curtain rods, and need to get the boxes and extra things out.  The furniture stays, for now.  Some of the boxes contain photos to be scanned.
> View attachment 261612
> 
> The first floor office (MLW's).  This is the staging area on the main floor.  This week end's project is to attack this room.  There is a day bed that will stay, and the round-top table will eventually be relocated to the living room.  The chairs go to the dining room once the old dining set has been delivered to Oklahoma (after probate is done).  We will stage the contents of the kitchen cabinets and pantry closet in here during the remodel.
> View attachment 261611
> 
> The main bathroom.  Eventually the tiles will be replaced, as well as some of the hardware.  MLW found the rug and shower curtains, somewhere.
> View attachment 261613
> 
> View attachment 261614
> 
> View attachment 261615
> 
> View attachment 261616



Just a thought - you said because the house was still in probate that you couldn't get rid of any furniture. Does it have to stay in the house, though? What about a storage unit?


----------



## snowbear

limr said:


> Just a thought - you said because the house was still in probate that you couldn't get rid of any furniture. Does it have to stay in the house, though? What about a storage unit?


No, storage units are fine, and there are four pieces of furniture in one until we head to Tulsa. The main thing is an inventory had to be made of the assets. She didn't really have anything but the house, the furniture inside, and the car. We already have a couple small storage units: lazy lobster's stuff is in one; stuff for son #1 (in Tulsa), and things from apartment are in the other. The inventory was submitted and approved, so now it's a waiting game. We are still waiting for the insurance to pay out so her debt can be paid off.

Once we get the basement cleared out, it will be a lot easier. I am disassembling the trains; I am storing track, trains - rolling stock, locomotives, and main scenery items - cars, trucks, trees, buildings, etc. and will use some, later on a "bookshelf switching" layout, display others in a cabinet, and probably sell some of the items. A good part of the area used by trains (about 10x18) will be the wood shop. The rest (10x22) will be combination art studio (an easel and drawer unit with supplies), and the recreation/entertainment area (bar and restaurant booth). The other parts of the basement are the utility + laundry room and my office. The office will also be a hobby area, and we're going to make the laundry are a but more workable. Attached to the utility/laundry space is a bathroom/shower. The shower is black with mildew so will either be steam cleaned/bleached or replaced. If I decide to put a darkroom in this house, this will be the location.

Oops - I forgot a couple shots:
This is a model of the house that dad built for the trains. HO (1:87) scale, made of card stock. It is pretty close, though the window for one of the bathrooms is missing. This will now resides on the ;living room mantle.





Finally, the Crew Leader.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all
11 22 GMT here and this is just a short hi before I call it a day. Going to collect my 70 200 f4  from the camera repair shop in the morning. Decided to have a look at a used, 2nd hand, canon 6d. Hope all of you are well.


----------



## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> Hi all
> 11 22 GMT here and this is just a short hi before I call it a day. Going to collect my 70 200 f4  from the camera repair shop in the morning. Decided to have a look at a used, 2nd hand, canon 6d. Hope all of you are well.


Can't wait to see the results,  Have a good night


----------



## vintagesnaps

I must have missed something Charlie, why are you going to Oklahoma? Love the snowbear shower curtains, etc. what fun those are!

Leo, love the pictures of the cats with Christmas trees. And I like houndstooth, where did you find those chairs?

Guess what! a grill bot is a perfect gift, a commercial just told me so. If I'd quit watching 'Midsomer Murders' where English villagers bump off each other I wouldn't keep seeing the same commercials over and over. 

That one and 'Martha' for medicare supplements - 'I'm NOT going to call!' good idea Martha, don't call! lol it's not going to be free after all.


----------



## SquarePeg

vintagesnaps said:


> I must have missed something Charlie, why are you going to Oklahoma? Love the snowbear shower curtains, etc. what fun those are!
> 
> Leo, love the pictures of the cats with Christmas trees. And I like houndstooth, where did you find those chairs?
> 
> Guess what! a grill bot is a perfect gift, a commercial just told me so. If I'd quit watching 'Midsomer Murders' where English villagers bump off each other I wouldn't keep seeing the same commercials over and over.
> 
> That one and 'Martha' for medicare supplements - 'I'm NOT going to call!' good idea Martha, don't call! lol it's not going to be free after all.


My mom’s new favorite show!  Those channels have a lot of ads aimed at seniors.  Resist!!!   How are you Sharon?  I hope you’re still on the road to recovery.


----------



## snowbear

vintagesnaps said:


> I must have missed something Charlie, why are you going to Oklahoma? Love the snowbear shower curtains, etc. what fun those


Thanks.

Long story short, Mom passed away last December and some of the furniture in the house is not our favorite style (Queen Anne), but my dad made it from repro kits so we will keep a tilt-top table and "candle stand" table.  The end tables and a 'lowboy" chest, as well as the dining room set (we already had one) go to my oldest son and daughter in law, whom live in Tulsa.  The youngest, lazy lobster, only wanted a rocking chair (we already have two).

I’ve also been watching Midsommer Murders.  My morning background TV is Monarch of the Glen, Ballykissangel, Franky Drake Mysteries, then Midsommer Murders.


----------



## limr

vintagesnaps said:


> I must have missed something Charlie, why are you going to Oklahoma? Love the snowbear shower curtains, etc. what fun those are!
> 
> Leo, love the pictures of the cats with Christmas trees. And I like houndstooth, where did you find those chairs?
> 
> Guess what! a grill bot is a perfect gift, a commercial just told me so. If I'd quit watching 'Midsomer Murders' where English villagers bump off each other I wouldn't keep seeing the same commercials over and over.
> 
> That one and 'Martha' for medicare supplements - 'I'm NOT going to call!' good idea Martha, don't call! lol it's not going to be free after all.



Hey Sharon! That chair came from the very exotic location of the giant Ikea store in New Haven   I wasn't planning on getting it, but when I saw it, I couldn't resist!

I've never even heard of Midsomer Murders but despite the annoying commercials, I might have to start watching that.


----------



## Robshoots

I love all those British mysteries along with other shows on PBS such as Durrells in Corfu and Poldark.  If any one enjoys reading British mysteries, two of my current favorites are Anne Perry and Tasha Alexander.  My current Sunday-night lineup on PBS is Miss Scarlet and the Duke, Magpie Murders, and Annika.  At least the commercials don’t interrupt the programs.


----------



## CherylL

I'll have to check out "Midsommer Murders".   I recently watched "Enola" and "Enola 2" on Netflix.  Enola is Sherlock's little sister.  Love the period movies.   
Another recent movie watch was "Bohemian Rhapsody".  It is from 2018, but just now watching.
Next up on my to watch list is "Where the Crawdads Sing".  I loved the book and hopefully the movie does it justice. 

I'm ahead of schedule this year.  I have most of my gift buying and wrapping done.  Waiting on 2 that were on delayed shipping.


----------



## VidThreeNorth

Technically Annoying:

Lately I have had a lot of trouble with viewing the Internet on my main computer.  My mouse is locking up a lot.  I have a feeling the problem is probably coming from YouTube.  I tend to leave a lot of tabs open, and YouTube likes to make changes.  I expect that the most recent changes are loading up and re-distributing "interrupts" and overloading the mouse handling.  If a non-YouTube tab is open (like this forum) there is less locking up, so that is an indicator.

I guess I'll have to reduce my YouTube watching.  Ok. . . .


----------



## Fujidave

vintagesnaps said:


> I must have missed something Charlie, why are you going to Oklahoma? Love the snowbear shower curtains, etc. what fun those are!
> 
> Leo, love the pictures of the cats with Christmas trees. And I like houndstooth, where did you find those chairs?
> 
> Guess what! a grill bot is a perfect gift, a commercial just told me so. If I'd quit watching 'Midsomer Murders' where English villagers bump off each other I wouldn't keep seeing the same commercials over and over.
> 
> That one and 'Martha' for medicare supplements - 'I'm NOT going to call!' good idea Martha, don't call! lol it's not going to be free after all.



I'm surprised that any villagers are left to kill, as they bump each other off so much lol


----------



## snowbear

VidThreeNorth said:


> Technically Annoying:
> 
> Lately I have had a lot of trouble with viewing the Internet on my main computer.  My mouse is locking up a lot.  I have a feeling the problem is probably coming from YouTube.  I tend to leave a lot of tabs open, and YouTube likes to make changes.  I expect that the most recent changes are loading up and re-distributing "interrupts" and overloading the mouse handling.  If a non-YouTube tab is open (like this forum) there is less locking up, so that is an indicator.
> 
> I guess I'll have to reduce my YouTube watching.  Ok. . . .


Or close some of the tabs.  Check that there isn't another app in the background that may be causing it.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> I'll have to check out "Midsommer Murders".   I recently watched "Enola" and "Enola 2" on Netflix.  Enola is Sherlock's little sister.  Love the period movies.
> Another recent movie watch was "Bohemian Rhapsody".  It is from 2018, but just now watching.
> Next up on my to watch list is "Where the Crawdads Sing".  I loved the book and hopefully the movie does it justice.
> 
> I'm ahead of schedule this year.  I have most of my gift buying and wrapping done.  Waiting on 2 that were on delayed shipping.


I enjoyed the Enola movies although I am not a fan when they break the 4th wall.  

Have you watched the new Persuasion?  It’s a Bridgerton-ish take on the classic.  It was fun as long as you’re not a purist.  

Also good period dramas - Sandition, Belgravia, Poldark, The Forsyte Saga, North and South (the BBC not the US civil war mini).


----------



## SquarePeg

Oh and Anne with an E!


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> I enjoyed the Enola movies although I am not a fan when they break the 4th wall.
> 
> Have you watched the new Persuasion?  It’s a Bridgerton-ish take on the classic.  It was fun as long as you’re not a purist.
> 
> Also good period dramas - Sandition, Belgravia, Poldark, The Forsyte Saga, North and South (the BBC not the US civil war mini).


Thanks!  Have my winter watching list now.


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> Thanks!  Have my winter watching list now.


There’s a Facebook group called For the Love of Period Dramas that is a good source.  We mostly talk about Pride and Prejudice and Downton Abbey lol..


----------



## VidThreeNorth

snowbear said:


> Or close some of the tabs.  Check that there isn't another app in the background that may be causing it.



That's what I meant.  I leave YouTube tabs open because I am no finished viewing something or I want to re-watch it.  Closing the tabs means I won't finish watching something or I won't re-watch it, so I will end up watching YouTube less.

I have not added new apps to the computer in at least a year, so other than YouTube's constant tinkering with their pages and an occasional update to Microsoft Edge everything is accounted for.  And since YouTube pages appear to be the ones with problems, it does seem to point at that source.  But yes, it is possible that it could be something else.  Thanks anyway. . . .


----------



## VidThreeNorth

Robshoots said:


> I love all those British mysteries along with other shows on PBS such as Durrells in Corfu and Poldark.  If any one enjoys reading British mysteries, two of my current favorites are Anne Perry and Tasha Alexander.  My current Sunday-night lineup on PBS is Miss Scarlet and the Duke, Magpie Murders, and Annika.  At least the commercials don’t interrupt the programs.



And Dr. Who.  If I have to give up anything, Dr. Who will be the last to go.


----------



## Robshoots

CherylL said:


> I'll have to check out "Midsommer Murders".   I recently watched "Enola" and "Enola 2" on Netflix.  Enola is Sherlock's little sister.  Love the period movies.
> Another recent movie watch was "Bohemian Rhapsody".  It is from 2018, but just now watching.
> Next up on my to watch list is "Where the Crawdads Sing".  I loved the book and hopefully the movie does it justice.
> 
> I'm ahead of schedule this year.  I have most of my gift buying and wrapping done.  Waiting on 2 that were on delayed shipping.


My wife saw the movie and said it was true to the book.  You might also check out Inspector George Gently and Endeavour, the prequel to Inspector Morse (if you haven’t already).


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, went and collected my lens, cost me 25 gbp for the repairs and the cost of a new uv filter so not to painful .
and then I got the canon 6d. Had to go to mums today, don’t ask, and took the camera with me… only I picked up the mem card holder and took cf cards with me and not sd cards…. 
will post pic, eventually lol


----------



## Original katomi

Which Dr Who, the new series or the, old , classics


----------



## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> Which Dr Who, the new series or the, old , classics


Both, though I started watching when Tom Baker was The Doctor.  These were on US PBS, so they may have been reruns.


----------



## VidThreeNorth

Sunday is the local Santa Claus parade.  I was planning on taking a camera but the weather looks a bit too cold for me, so I guess I'll skip it completely.


----------



## smoke665

The freezing temperatures have killed off everything this morning except the Chinese Spam on TPF. 😒


----------



## cgw

Still jonesing for a new "Peaky Blinders" season...



			https://www.google.com/search?q=peaky+blinders+explosion+baby+carriage&client=firefox-b-d&ei=uC56Y5zdENPg0PEP6KqB8A0&ved=0ahUKEwicmY3b8bz7AhVTMDQIHWhVAN4Q4dUDCA4&uact=5&oq=peaky+blinders+explosion+baby+carriage&gs_lcp=Cgxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAQAzIFCCEQoAE6CggAEEcQ1gQQsAM6BQgAEIAEOgYIABAWEB46BQgAEIYDOggIIRAWEB4QHToECCEQFToHCCEQoAEQCkoECEEYAEoECEYYAFCIDVjTJWCXKGgBcAF4AIABbIgBqAqSAQQxMi4ymAEAoAEByAEIwAEB&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:4ce790ae,vid:ONAymTQQtZw


----------



## CherylL

My xmas backdrop is up and ready.  I have 2 composites planned and a creative photo planned.  Now to wait until the grands get here on Friday.  I write up a shot list every year so as to not forget things when the chaos reigns down.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> I have 2 composites planned and a creative photo planned



I have a really great Christmas theme shot that would work great for all the grands, but I'm coming up blank on the period clothing I need. I've looked at some rental and used clothing places but to rich for me. Lil'Bit is missing her two front teeth which would also tie into the song "All I want for Christmas" but I'm coming blank on inspiration of how to put it together.


----------



## cgw

smoke665 said:


> I have a really great Christmas theme shot that would work great for all the grands, but I'm coming up blank on the period clothing I need. I've looked at some rental and used clothing places but to rich for me. Lil'Bit is missing her two front teeth which would also tie into the song "All I want for Christmas" but I'm coming blank on inspiration of how to put it together.


"Period." What period were you considering? There's often not much daylight between "vintage" clothing sellers and donation stores apart from $$$, especially for kids' stuff.


----------



## cgw

Too much snow and polar temps too early this year in S. Ontario. Nasty wind chills cowering behind the snow blower this afternoon. Curtain-raiser on Winter 2022-23? NOOOooo...


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> I have a really great Christmas theme shot that would work great for all the grands, but I'm coming up blank on the period clothing I need. I've looked at some rental and used clothing places but to rich for me. Lil'Bit is missing her two front teeth which would also tie into the song "All I want for Christmas" but I'm coming blank on inspiration of how to put it together.


Vintage clothing is expensive.  I once made a prarie theme for my daughter, school project.   I took an old dress of my MIL's which went to the ankles on the daughter and made a long bib type apron to go over it.


----------



## CherylL

Quincy has started the season off on Santa's naughty list.


----------



## smoke665

cgw said:


> "Period." What period were you considering? There's often not much daylight between "vintage" clothing sellers and donation stores apart from $$$, especially for kids' stuff.



Late 40's, adult and children. I generally find my props in antique and thrift stores. I've found some but the cost is outrageous.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> Vintage clothing is expensive



You got that right. Stuff we once picked up for pennies, now brings $$$ especially  in adult sizes.

Love the pup shot. Good match


----------



## terri

CherylL said:


> Quincy has started the season off on Santa's naughty list.
> 
> View attachment 261816


He is too cute, Cheryl!


----------



## Fujidave

Afternoon everyone hope alls well, still have my bad cough that is knocking me for 6.  So I give you an Elephant taken with the X-T5.



Elephant by Rohan, on Flickr


----------



## smoke665

I went old school this year for Thanksgiving. I got out my hunting camo, boots, shotgun and headed out. Wasnt long before i tracked a large turkey. One shot brought him down......
...............unfortunately walmart has now banned me from their stores🤪


----------



## snowbear

"Naughty" is subjective and has multiple degrees.

Happy (and a safe) Thanksgiving to the US hosers.
We were going to do like last year and cook everything here then take it up to Ada's as our place is still a wreck.  Then we were invited to a family friend's (along with Ada) but rather than one of them hosting, they've decided to go to a restaurant.  We'll go get Ada in a little while and head to Annapolis.

I got the new ceiling lamp and new wall switch installed in the dining room,, as well as the curtains up.  I also got in two trips to the landfill, and one to the hardware / home improvement store.  The kitchen cabinets have been delivered to the contractor and the remodel is tentative for mid December.  We'll order the appliances next week and go from there.  The pantry has been relocated to a spare room for now, and I'll take the pantry closet wall out this weekend.

Before.  We had just moved the tables into the room, having put mom's stuff in the spare room until we get the truck for Tulsa.  Unfortunately we are going to have to let the marble-top "baking" table go.  It has developed a bow and there is a crack in the back that is getting bigger.  I don't know when I would be able to make a new one, and space isn't really big enough for both.




After.  We still need to patch holes, patch plaster, and paint, but it's useable once we clear the tools and hardware from the table.  The bulbs are LEDs but we dialed down the brightness and set them much warmer.  I'm going to raise it another chain link or two, as well.


----------



## smoke665

@snowbear my back hurts just listening to your plans. No more projects for us. The lake place took us over a year to complete, a lot of hurry up and wait. Just waiting for the final inspection and we're done. No projects planned for this coming year for us, we need a break.


----------



## Warfarin

I know it’s an U.S.A. Holiday but I hope it was a great day for everybody.


----------



## Rickbb

We had plans, but between several family, (us included), having the flue and my son back in the hospital, the wife and I just stayed home being thankful that all this will pass, and everyone will come out just fine. 

So anyway, I'm about halfway through binge watching Wednesday Adams. I know it's not exactly critically acclaimed, but I like that corny, dry, dark humor.


----------



## terri

We had a nice Thanksgiving, cherry pie made on Wednesday and Yukon gold mashed potatoes earlier in the day, so things went smoothly.   Very relaxing!    

Anyone shopping on Black Friday?   I only went to the store for more food, oddly.


----------



## snowbear

@smoke665:  Mine hurts, too!

Yes, @terri, we ventured out of the house today.  We went to look at some sheds and were set on looking at kitchen appliances.  We ended up at the local big box store, picked out a stove/oven, fridge, and dishwasher (we'll order them next week when MLW's big check clears).  MLW also picked out a new TV that we'll get when other things are done.  While we were there we bought ourselves an early gift - something we've been talking about for a few years but always had to do other things - a gaming console.  They are never on sale, but they tend to sell out quickly.  Looking around, I noticed only one DSLR on display and no lenses.  I also didn't see any iMac (desktops), though the pro=icing sign was there.  The store wasn't as crowded as I figured, though there are a lot of cars on the road.

We had a late lunch at the noodle place and will order a pizza for later.  Another shed shopping trip tomorrow, and if there is time, a trip to what the kids used to call DTRU: Daddy's Toys 'R Us, or the woodworking tool & supply store.  I'm looking at bandsaws and lathes.  We are also looking for knobs and handles for the new kitchen cabinets.

Dinner was great, though a little slow between courses, but that's to be expected - we had 28 people in our group.  We went next door to The Barn Show (our host's store) and spotted a few things to get next week.  Ada made a pumpkin pie and sent half of it home with us.


----------



## limr

Oddly enough @terri I also went grocery shopping! If I buy anything else today, it will be online.

Oops, I lied - I bought lip balm and cough drops at Walgreens this morning when I went for my bivalent COVID booster and my first flu shot in decades. After that, Buzz and I went for a hike. When we got back, I decided to make a food run because if I am down tomorrow with the side effects (history suggests I will be useless tomorrow) and still draggy on Sunday, then the last thing I would want to do is go to the grocery store.

Got the jabs at just before 10am and so far, my arm is a tiny bit sore but nothing bad, and the fever/fatigue hasn't hit yet.

I purposely left the latest season of "The Marvelous Mrs Maisel" for tomorrow.


----------



## terri

I've only seen about 3 episodes of "The Marvelous Mrs Maisel".... we were sponging off someone's Amazon and no longer have access.   Is it worthwhile to chase it?   🤔

I'm ready to go get the bivalent booster but, like you, trying to schedule it around bad weather afterwards since I know I'll be dragging ass....


----------



## smoke665

I've had 3 COVID shots and DW 4. In addition she gets IVig monthly due to her low immune system, which is also said to include COVID antibodies. It still didn't stop her from catching COVID in September though admittedly it was a very mild case. We both got Flu shots last month, only mild had mild side effects the evening of. Next day we were fine. Supposedly the Flu shots are only around 60% effective, but knock on wood, it's been several years since we've had the Flu. I'm not sure they're telling the truth on the effectiveness of the COVID vacinnes.


----------



## Rickbb

terri said:


> I've only seen about 3 episodes of "The Marvelous Mrs Maisel".... we were sponging off someone's Amazon and no longer have access.   Is it worthwhile to chase it?   🤔



The first couple of seasons were good, then it got formulaic and.not very funny for me anyway.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, flooding here. The sea is coming over the defences, I have put the storm boards in place and the sand bags in place and pulled up the drawbridge and buttoned the hatches. Just trying some table top pics.... not bad results but not oh wow. On to the next idea.


----------



## Original katomi

Smoke sorry to hear mrs had/has COVID hope she is ok


----------



## smoke665

Original katomi said:


> Smoke sorry to hear mrs had/has COVID hope she is ok



She's like the Everready Bunny. Didn't seem to faze her much.


----------



## CherylL

Rickbb said:


> We had plans, but between several family, (us included), having the flue and my son back in the hospital, the wife and I just stayed home being thankful that all this will pass, and everyone will come out just fine.
> 
> So anyway, I'm about halfway through binge watching Wednesday Adams. I know it's not exactly critically acclaimed, but I like that corny, dry, dark humor.


Hope you and family feel better soon.  Two of the grands had strep throat earlier in the week and grandson getting over a cold.  We got together since the 2 were on antibiotics.  After everyone left we sanitized all the touch surfaces.   fingers crossed.

We've been binge watching Wednesday too.  It is like an adult version of a classic childhood show.  Special effects are very good.


----------



## CherylL

limr said:


> I purposely left the latest season of "The Marvelous Mrs Maisel" for tomorrow.


Oh love that series!  Love the writing, the acting and the vintage clothing.  The first season opening few minutes were all shot in one take with one camera.   The camera flying thru the scenes and down the mail drop.


----------



## CherylL

We had a family photo session while the youngest daughter and family were in town.  Two hours with a snack break.  I took individual, family, kids, a few creative type photos and a few photos for composites.

This was after the posed session before snack break.  Told them it was their choice on how to pose.  Too bad I cut the head off, I was laughing while shooting.


----------



## smoke665

Flue vaccine 0....Flu 1. Thought I was coming down with a sinus infection. Totally surprised when the Dr told me I tested positive for the Flu. Seems the shot let me down.


----------



## Warhorse

smoke665 said:


> Flue vaccine 0....Flu 1. Thought I was coming down with a sinus infection. Totally surprised when the Dr told me I tested positive for the Flu. Seems the shot let me down.


Sorry to hear that smoke. Did your doctor prescribe Tamiflu or a similar product?


----------



## smoke665

Warhorse said:


> Sorry to hear that smoke. Did your doctor prescribe Tamiflu or a similar product?



Started on Tamiflu yesterday. Ran a low fever most of the afternoon, that finally broke about 6, I was able to sleep most of the night. Lots of congestion this morning and groggy, but otherwise maybe better.


----------



## snowbear

Started the teardown of the old pantry closet.  I'm not using the As-seen-on-TV sledge hammer, butr rather a regular claw hammer, crowbar, and the occasional cordless jigsaw.  Going slow on the right side because of the 110 volt wall switch.  The cable going into the rear wall is an abandoned Cable TV feed into the basement; there is a newer one in the living room so I'll rip this one out.  The part of the wall directly below the arch will stay, but everything to the right of that goes.


----------



## smoke665

Bad week for us, first the Flu diagnoses yesterday for me, now DW just tested positive for COVID again.


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> Bad week for us, first the Flu diagnoses yesterday for me, now DW just tested positive for COVID again.


Ouch.  How long ago was her first diagnosis?  It can take a month after getting it for test results to come back negative.  I home tested after two weeks and was still positive.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Ouch.  How long ago was her first diagnosis?  It can take a month after getting it for test results to come back negative.  I home tested after two weeks and was still positive.



She had it first part of September. Started showing symptoms Saturday.


----------



## otherprof

Rickbb said:


> The first couple of seasons were good, then it got formulaic and.not very funny for me anyway.


I agree. The early shows were the best. We stopped watching before they stopped airing.


----------



## cgw

Liked Bosch and Goliath.


----------



## limr

I ended up not watching Mrs Maisel this weekend. I felt fine all day Friday after the COVID booster and flu shot, and the fever hit later at night. On Sat morning, I felt surprisingly good, no fever, so I did some puttering, and then around 12:30 or so, it all kind of hit me again and I slept a good portion of the afternoon. Woke up and still had a fever but got sucked into whatever was already on tv when I woke up. 

So I can't say how I like the 3rd season yet, but I loved the first two seasons. @terri It gets better after the first few episodes. It's fun to see her come into her own.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> Bad week for us, first the Flu diagnoses yesterday for me, now DW just tested positive for COVID again.


So very sorry Bill.  Hope DW feels better soon.  Hope you are on the mend.


----------



## snowbear

MLW and I went to one of the big box/home improvement stores to check on kitchen appliance sizes, and to Daddy's Toys R Us.  I was going to get a bandsaw or a lathe, but ended up getting both. Now to get busy in the basement so I can get them set up.  I also picked up a set of turning tools (chisels and gouges used to shape the wood on the lathe), a couple pen kits, a pizza cutter kit, and some small pieces of wood.  Pic's when everything is put together.

The bank limits the daily amount we can charge against the debit card and we paid most of the property taxes today, so we'll go back tomorrow to order the appliances (oven/stove, dishwasher, fridge).



smoke665 said:


> She had it first part of September. Started showing symptoms Saturday.


So sorry for her.  Hoping it's a milder variant.


----------



## smoke665

Thanks @CherylL and @snowbear . Because of DW's low immune system, any infection scares us. She took Paxlovid the first time with great success but for some reason they didn't recommend it this time, and her kidney function is to low for some of the treatments. For now they're treating the symptoms. So far she's doing well.

I'm hopeful that the worst of the flu symptoms are over for me.


----------



## snowbear

MLW has the same issue because of her not having a spleen.  A cold for her is like flu for others.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> You got that right. Stuff we once picked up for pennies, now brings $$$ especially  in adult sizes.
> 
> Love the pup shot. Good match


Try the head of the drama club at your local HS or middle school.  You could offer to trade taking some social media advertising  photos for their next show in exchange for access to their costume and prop inventory.  



Fujidave said:


> Afternoon everyone hope alls well, still have my bad cough that is knocking me for 6.  So I give you an Elephant taken with the X-T5.
> 
> 
> 
> Elephant by Rohan, on Flickr


Oh the xt5!  Already!  Wow you are certainly Johnny on the spot. How do you like 


smoke665 said:


> Thanks @CherylL and @snowbear . Because of DW's low immune system, any infection scares us. She took Paxlovid the first time with great success but for some reason they didn't recommend it this time, and her kidney function is to low for some of the treatments. For now they're treating the symptoms. So far she's doing well.
> 
> I'm hopeful that the worst of the flu symptoms are over for me.


I had it twice and took Paxlovid both times.  They did check my kidney blood work that had been taken for a recent surgery before approving the second time around. 

Glad to hear she’s doing well.  



Have seen the first couple of seasons of Mrs Maisel but not the last one or two.   This weekend I watched Magpie Murders on PBS and enjoyed that a lot.  It was a who done it weekend as we also saw the new Knives Out movie which I really liked.  Still not buying Daniel Craig with a southern drawl but it was less annoying this time around.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Smoke, sorry to hear that, hope you're both better. 

Rick, what was your son in the hospital for?

I'm finally getting in-home therapy/nurse visits (finally, don't any agencies answer the phone or return calls?), supposed to be able to get a flu shot thru them, not sure about this latest Covid booster. Not that I'm around anybody to catch anything. Having been a teacher I got other immunizations, HepB, Tetanus, etc. and did fine with the other Covid shots. 

Coming along slowly but surely after months of rehab. Had to reschedule seeing the kidney Dr. (long story), going in a couple of weeks. l seem to have a fountain flowing. Never expected to recover this well from kidney problems due to the evil Metformin/Lisinipril combo that caused the whole thing.

Cheryl, I love Quincy! The expression (or lack thereof, so deadpan!) cracks me up. Looks like the kids were having fun.


----------



## Fujidave

SquarePeg said:


> Try the head of the drama club at your local HS or middle school.  You could offer to trade taking some social media advertising  photos for their next show in exchange for access to their costume and prop inventory.
> 
> 
> Oh the xt5!  Already!  Wow you are certainly Johnny on the spot. How do you like
> 
> I had it twice and took Paxlovid both times.  They did check my kidney blood work that had been taken for a recent surgery before approving the second time around.
> 
> Glad to hear she’s doing well.
> 
> 
> 
> Have seen the first couple of seasons of Mrs Maisel but not the last one or two.   This weekend I watched Magpie Murders on PBS and enjoyed that a lot.  It was a who done it weekend as we also saw the new Knives Out movie which I really liked.  Still not buying Daniel Craig with a southern drawl but it was less annoying this time around.



I like the X-T5 very much as it is lighter than the X-T4 that I had a few years ago, went for the Silver one this time.  The shutter sound is beautiful if I say so my self and it is a joy to use, while I'm still getting over the nasty cough the weather here has been very wet and windy so have not really had a chance to get out with it yet.


----------



## Warhorse

Smoke, sorry to hear your wife caught Covid again, I hope she just has a mild version, also hope you get over the flu soon.


----------



## Rickbb

vintagesnaps said:


> Rick, what was your son in the hospital for?


He has leukemia, had a bone marrow transplant this summer and now the transplanted immune system and his body are at war with each other. Officially called graft vs. host disease. they believe he can be discharged in another week or 2 once they get everything back in balance.


----------



## terri

Rickbb said:


> He has leukemia, had a bone marrow transplant this summer and now the transplanted immune system and his body are at war with each other. Officially called graft vs. host disease. they believe he can be discharged in another week or 2 once they get everything back in balance.


That is rough, Rick - so sorry to hear about your son's illness.   Hope he gets stabilized soon for a discharge back home.


----------



## Evertking

🍄

Cool shot.... Think I seem em before myself...


----------



## smoke665

Rickbb said:


> He has leukemia, had a bone marrow transplant this summer and now the transplanted immune system and his body are at war with each other. Officially called graft vs. host disease. they believe he can be discharged in another week or 2 once they get everything back in balance.



That's tough under the best of circumstances. Almost 5 yrs ago DW went through an autologous stem cell transplant (her own). It took 6 weeks in hospital and almost a year more for her to recover. I'm assuming since there's an immune graft issues that your son had an allogeneic stem cell transplantation (donor). I remember the trials patients on the floor faced, as day after day as we did our daily walks during her recovery. Our prayers of strength and healing  go out to your son and prayers of comfort to you and his mother.


----------



## snowbear

Sorry to hear that @Rickbb.  In our thoughts.


----------



## limr

Rickbb said:


> He has leukemia, had a bone marrow transplant this summer and now the transplanted immune system and his body are at war with each other. Officially called graft vs. host disease. they believe he can be discharged in another week or 2 once they get everything back in balance.



"Liking" that your son will be home soon.


----------



## Warhorse

Rickbb said:


> He has leukemia, had a bone marrow transplant this summer and now the transplanted immune system and his body are at war with each other. Officially called graft vs. host disease. they believe he can be discharged in another week or 2 once they get everything back in balance.


Sorry to hear this Rick, well wishes, thoughts, and prayers for your son.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Rick, I didn't realize what was going on with your son, I'm sorry to hear that. Hope he'll be heading home soon. 

I was out of the loop this summer, in the world of dialysis and therapy and naps. On a floor with a bunch of 80 somethings, not the rehab unit (it was full), in the world of - is it time to eat? can I get my medicine yet? is there bingo this afternoon? Glad I had a laptop. And earbuds.


----------



## vintagesnaps

Hey Dave, I forgot you have a Ricoh. I have the GXR, and a spare. What an oddball camera it is, I love it. They quit making them some time ago so I got an extra body and 'units' (that slide in and have different lens mounts) while they were still making them. As much as anything got it to use with my rangefinder lenses. 

My first camera was a Ricoh Singlex II, still have it but got dropped on concrete in a hockey rink twice and the second time about did it in! Might tinker with repairing it someday but probably not worth the trouble. Kind of like when there were metal bumpers on cars and people would hammer out the dings, that's about what the lens on it needs! lol


----------



## SquarePeg

@Rickbb  sorry to hear about your son’s illness.  I hope he is able to go home soon.


----------



## Rickbb

Thanks everyone, his numbers keep getting better and may come home in another week. It’s just a reminder that this ordeal is a years long process with lots of ups and downs.


----------



## cgw

Fingers crossed. Wish I had more.


----------



## SquarePeg

This girl says hi!


----------



## Warhorse

Chinese SPAM!!!
ARRGGHH...


----------



## snowbear

Warhorse said:


> Chinese SPAM!!!
> ARRGGHH...


It's being handled.


----------



## Warhorse

snowbear said:


> It's being handled.


I know, everyday it's being handled.


----------



## snowbear

Multiple times.


----------



## CherylL

@Rickbb hope your son can go home soon.  Hugs


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, just back from mums. Waved to self going other way on M27.
mum goes into hosp on friday so multiple trips back and forth. Did a test run to hospital... got lost, found hospital, got very lost, found pub, then found way home. Left my home at 9ish this morning just got in 15.30 gmt. Don’t feel up to taking a walk with dogs and camera now. Oh well. Hi to all hope you are all ok


----------



## terri

Hi back, katomi!   Sounds like this week is going to be busy for you.   Hope your mom is okay!

Maybe get the dogs and camera out for a walk later this week.


----------



## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> Hi all, just back from mums. Waved to self going other way on M27.
> mum goes into hosp on friday so multiple trips back and forth. Did a test run to hospital... got lost, found hospital, got very lost, found pub, then found way home. Left my home at 9ish this morning just got in 15.30 gmt. Don’t feel up to taking a walk with dogs and camera now. Oh well. Hi to all hope you are all ok





terri said:


> Maybe get the dogs and camera out for a walk later this week.


Or take the dogs and camera out to the pub.


----------



## smoke665

9 days later and hopefully we're over the worst that Covid (DW) and the Flu (ME) could throw at us. Still dealing with some congestion, cough and fatigue issues, but nothing compared to this past week.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> 9 days later and hopefully we're over the worst that Covid (DW) and the Flu (ME) could throw at us. Still dealing with some congestion, cough and fatigue issues, but nothing compared to this past week.


Glad to hear that, Smoke.   I just got my 2nd booster, this time it was the Moderna bivalent. All my other ones have been Pfizer.   The Moderna knocked me down for a full 2 days.  Woke up with chattering teeth, then sweats - really caught me off guard!   

I know I'll be compliant about Covid boosters, but dang I don't think I want Moderna again!


----------



## cgw

terri said:


> Glad to hear that, Smoke.   I just got my 2nd booster, this time it was the Moderna bivalent. All my other ones have been Pfizer.   The Moderna knocked me down for a full 2 days.  Woke up with chattering teeth, then sweats - really caught me off guard!
> 
> I know I'll be compliant about Covid boosters, but dang I don't think I want Moderna again!


Reactions to the vaxes--Covid&flu--seem highly idiosyncratic. For me, just a sore arm or 36hr sub-lethal hangover-ish reactions at the extremes. This aside, they work. 'Nuff said.


----------



## smoke665

@terri strange how the vaccines affect people differently. I've had 3 Moderna with no side effects at all. DW's had 3 Moderna shots   and 2 Moderna boosters with no side effects. So far I haven't had COVID that I'm aware of, but she got it the first of September, then again last week. 

The Flu shot made me feel a little sluggish that night, but Next day I was fine. Now 60 days later I get the Flu. We aren't very lucky with vaccinations this year.


----------



## SquarePeg

smoke665 said:


> 9 days later and hopefully we're over the worst that Covid (DW) and the Flu (ME) could throw at us. Still dealing with some congestion, cough and fatigue issues, but nothing compared to this past week.


Glad to see you’re both feeling better.  


smoke665 said:


> @terri strange how the vaccines affect people differently. I've had 3 Moderna with no side effects at all. DW's had 3 Moderna shots   and 2 Moderna boosters with no side effects. So far I haven't had COVID that I'm aware of, but she got it the first of September, then again last week.
> 
> The Flu shot made me feel a little sluggish that night, but Next day I was fine. Now 60 days later I get the Flu. We aren't very lucky with vaccinations this year.


Likely dodged a bullet with lesser illnesses than you would have had without any vaccines.   At least that’s what I tell myself after having two “mild” cases of Covid.


----------



## Warhorse

smoke665 said:


> 9 days later and hopefully we're over the worst that Covid (DW) and the Flu (ME) could throw at us. Still dealing with some congestion, cough and fatigue issues, but nothing compared to this past week.


This is good news, keep up whatever it is that is helping you guys.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Likely dodged a bullet with lesser illnesses than you would have had without any vaccines. At least



That was the case with the Flu. It was mostly bearable, but with DW this round of COVID was much worse than the first round in September.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> That was the case with the Flu. It was mostly bearable, but with DW this round of COVID was much worse than the first round in September.


I'm so sorry about that.   I keep reminding myself of what we used to explain to patients (I was in healthcare management for 20-odd years, mostly primary care): "medicine is not an exact science."   True enough, but it annoys people when they are the ones with bad reactions or a less than desirable outcome.    

I did great with Pfizer: sore arm and a little sluggish.   The Moderna made me appreciate that I DO NOT WANT to catch any variant of Covid; that's some nasty stuff.   

And @SquarePeg is correct: these vaccines won't prevent the virus, just give your body a real leg up on knocking it out faster.


----------



## terri

In other news: Happy Monday, hosers!    

Twenty shopping days left until Christmas.


----------



## smoke665

In other news, it looks like the spammers have hit FB now. A local group page I belong to is being bombarded by "new members' posting all kinds of fake deaths of celebrities. I counted over two dozen in the last couple hours. I just don't get how they get any gratification from being such a PITA.


----------



## CherylL

The holiday sickness is going around.  I'm on day 6 and I think I'm on the mend.  It was worth having the family here for Thanksgiving. Two were sick and two were getting over what they had.   I took 2 covid tests and negative, so that is a relief.

@smoke665, Bill I hope you and and your wife are on the mend too.


----------



## smoke665

@CherylL day 9 for us, and I hope we've turned the corner. Still dealing with fatigue 😩


----------



## SquarePeg

I’m hopeful that my immunity from the recent bout of Covid (end of October) and last booster (two days before the Covid!) will get me through the holidays!  

Sadly I have not picked up my camera since early October.  I’m having a motivational crisis.  I’ve been concentrating on other things - fall garden projects, refinishing some furniture that has been long overdue and trying to get back into painting.  Right now I’m watching more tutorials than actually painting anything so that’s a bust too.   But,  I’ve committed to a couple of holiday photo outings with my New England photo group to force myself to get back out there.  Bought tickets for Sturbridge Village candlelight Christmas and for Tower Hill Botanical Gardens Festival of Lights.


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> hopeful that my immunity from the recent bout of Covid (end of October) and last booster (two days before the Covid!) will get me through the holidays!



That's what's crazy about these viruses,  there's only sporadic immunity. Some people get it multiple times,  some people never get it.


----------



## SquarePeg

Look how crazy tall this amaryllis is!  Soda can for scale.  First time growing one.  Are they usually so tall?


----------



## snowbear

Made it to Philly.  I wasn’t on the Acela service but the train was running about 120, except through the urban areas (Baltimore, Wilmington).

Geogeek workshop tomorrow, then back home on the train tomorrow evening.

I’ll put the POTM voting thread up tomorrow night or Wednesday morning.  I packed light and didn’t bring the laptop.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> @CherylL day 9 for us, and I hope we've turned the corner. Still dealing with fatigue 😩


I thought I turned the corner 2 days ago and came back.  2 naps a day helps with the fatigue.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Look how crazy tall this amaryllis is!  Soda can for scale.  First time growing one.  Are they usually so tall?
> View attachment 262100


An elderly friend gave me one for xmas one year.  2 months later I didn't think it was going to bloom.  Came home from her funeral and it bloomed.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Look how crazy tall this amaryllis is!  Soda can for scale.  First time growing one.  Are they usually so tall?
> View attachment 262100


My mom sent me a trilogy of these a few years ago.   One of them stayed on the shorter side but the other two shot up into the air like this.   Gorgeous!   Needed a little staking at the end, but they were lots of fun.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> I’m hopeful that my immunity from the recent bout of Covid (end of October) and last booster (two days before the Covid!) will get me through the holidays!
> 
> Sadly I have not picked up my camera since early October.  I’m having a motivational crisis.  I’ve been concentrating on other things - fall garden projects, refinishing some furniture that has been long overdue and trying to get back into painting.  Right now I’m watching more tutorials than actually painting anything so that’s a bust too.   But,  I’ve committed to a couple of holiday photo outings with my New England photo group to force myself to get back out there.  Bought tickets for Sturbridge Village candlelight Christmas and for Tower Hill Botanical Gardens Festival of Lights.


Aw, I don't think you're suffering from lack of motivation.   Sounds like you're just allowing yourself time to turn to other interests, legitimate interests and projects.   Nothing wrong with that!   I

'm looking forward to seeing some of your new WC  work.   I have finally gotten my art supplies unpacked and in kind of an order, but I won't really know until I actually set up and try to paint something - anything, really.   I want to be able to reach out a hand and grab what I need.   So many other areas to attend to (including darkroom/photography equipment!) that it's been hard to focus on a single thing.


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> My mom sent me a trilogy of these a few years ago.   One of them stayed on the shorter side but the other two shot up into the air like this.   Gorgeous!   Needed a little staking at the end, but they were lots of fun.


You read my mind.  Was just thinking I should both weigh down the really light pot and try to stake the stalk!  I can imagine it leaning toward the sun and toppling over.


terri said:


> Aw, I don't think you're suffering from lack of motivation.   Sounds like you're just allowing yourself time to turn to other interests, legitimate interests and projects.   Nothing wrong with that!   I
> 
> 'm looking forward to seeing some of your new WC  work.   I have finally gotten my art supplies unpacked and in kind of an order, but I won't really know until I actually set up and try to paint something - anything, really.   I want to be able to reach out a hand and grab what I need.   So many other areas to attend to (including darkroom/photography equipment!) that it's been hard to focus on a single thing.


Moving households is very time consuming and stressful.  It’s good that you can take your time.   I get what you mean about not knowing until you paint something.  It’s hard to mentally inventory all you need.  There are so many little things that you don’t think twice about when you’re using them.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Aw, I don't think you're suffering from lack of motivation. Sounds like you're just allowing yourself time to turn to other interests, legitimate interests and projects. Nothing wrong with that! I


In my case I'm pretty sure it's lack of motivation. I just don't seem to be excited about doing anything over the last few weeks. Maybe it's the weather, time change, age, sickness, or just plain lazy, I don't know, but it stinks.


----------



## cgw

Guess it's why I like my little Fuji + Ricoh kit so much--pocketable. Really dislike lugging a DSLR bag once cooler weather dictates heavy coats. Smaller, lighter gear has built-in motivation.


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> In my case I'm pretty sure it's lack of motivation. I just don't seem to be excited about doing anything over the last few weeks. Maybe it's the weather, time change, age, sickness, or just plain lazy, I don't know, but it stinks.


That sounds like the kind of funk that we can all go through, as photographers/artists, and it's also true that the onset of winter weather can be depressing.     Plus, you both have been sick and that's just exhausting by itself.   

I could call you many things  but lazy would never be one of them!


----------



## Original katomi

I have had my 4th covid jab , like others I don’t want to have covid again still don’t have sense of smell back to normal
Did some table top photography using the remains of a poppy seal head skeleton..  not happy with result not enough DOF and I am not into focus stacking.


----------



## smoke665

Original katomi said:


> I have had my 4th covid jab , like others I don’t want to have covid again still don’t have sense of smell back to normal
> Did some table top photography using the remains of a poppy seal head skeleton..  not happy with result not enough DOF and I am not into focus stacking.


Unless you're a fanatic about detail/gear you can buy a focus rail for less than $50 that takes the hassle out of focus stacking


----------



## Original katomi

Hi Smoke, I have a rail that I use, but I never had good results with the software. To honest, I am not going to bother that much I will try something else. Took mum to hosp this morning for a 10 am GMT appointment at 16 30 she was still waiting. It’s meant to be day surger.


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> I could call you many things  but lazy would never be one of them!


 I bet you could!!!!!!!!!! LOL


----------



## smoke665

Original katomi said:


> Hi Smoke, I have a rail that I use, but I never had good results with the software


I use both focus stacking and composite shots to build small model shots like this one. The truck was lit using a 9 light LED flashlight. I can't remember how many shots it took, maybe 20-30 to build it. I generally first edit in LR for my basic things like WB, contrast, and set the White and Black Point, then stack in PS.  

Christmas Delivery (1 of 1).jpg by William Raber, on Flickr


----------



## Original katomi

Up date. Just got back from collecting mum had a 10.00 am appointment finally seen 17.30
Smoke , nice image, I may have another go and use LR this time


----------



## trichome3

Hey there. I wanted to greet all the forumites. I am a new member. Cheers.


----------



## SquarePeg

trichome3 said:


> Hey there. I wanted to greet all the forumites. I am a new member. Cheers.


Hi.  Welcome to TPF and the Coffee House.


----------



## wobe

smoke665 said:


> I use both focus stacking and composite shots to build small model shots like this one. The truck was lit using a 9 light LED flashlight. I can't remember how many shots it took, maybe 20-30 to build it. I generally first edit in LR for my basic things like WB, contrast, and set the White and Black Point, then stack in PS.
> 
> Christmas Delivery (1 of 1).jpg by William Raber, on Flickr


Love this, kind of magical effect, reminds me of being a small child again  
Can almost imagine Wallace and Gromit behind the windscreen..


----------



## smoke665

wobe said:


> Love this, kind of magical effect, reminds me of being a small child again
> Can almost imagine Wallace and Gromit behind the windscreen..



 Thank you,I do these when I get bored and don't want to set up a lot of equipment. This was a table top shot. A piece of cotton batting for the ground, and black poster board background. Lighting was a 9 light LED pen light, I use it like a paint brush to paint in light where I need it on multiple shots, then stack them in PS. I  use a black layer mask, and opacity adjustment to reveal what I need.


----------



## snowbear

Good night, hosers.  I'm on leave tomorrow; going with one of the Jeep clubs to "escort" and unload the trucks carrying wreaths to the veteran cemeteries for Wreaths Across America.


----------



## SquarePeg

TGIF!  Half day for me today.  Going out for lunch then to the Immersive Monet exhibit in Boston.   Cheers!


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> TGIF!  Half day for me today.  Going out for lunch then to the Immersive Monet exhibit in Boston.   Cheers!


Ooo!   Can't wait to hear about this one!!

Happy Friday, hosers!


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> Going out for lunch then to the Immersive Monet exhibit in Boston. Cheers!


Looking forward to your comments on it. This was in Birmingham, December-early January. I was going then after reviewing what it was decided not to. The reviews I read from those that attended were not the best.


----------



## snowbear

We unloaded about 500 boxes of wreaths at the Veteran's cemetery, 32 at the American Legion, and ten at a local church, in three counties in Southern Maryland.  I think there were ten Jeeps and six County Police vehicles escorting two tractor trailers to the cemetery.  Seven Jeeps continued on to escort one truck to the other two locations.  It was a lot of work, but well worth it.

MLW and I go back to the cemetery at 9 tomorrow morning to lay the wreath at the grave of Dad and Mom.


----------



## otherprof

Rickbb said:


> Thanks everyone, his numbers keep getting better and may come home in another week. It’s just a reminder that this ordeal is a years long process with lots of ups and downs.


Wishing him - and you - all the best.


----------



## dxqcanada




----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Ooo!   Can't wait to hear about this one!!
> 
> Happy Friday, hosers!


Didn't care for it at all!  I loved loved loved the Immersive Van Gogh last year and was really looking forward to this one but it was not very good.  The way they kept switching the scenes and then moving the objects in the video all around made it impossible to enjoy and really look at them.  It was too much movement and too much about the transitions from one "scene" to the next and not enough about the actual works themselves.  Also, I know he did many other works but how can you have an Immersive Monet with only about 30 seconds of water lilies, no haystacks and most of the garden stuff was in abstract!  The amount of motion in the transitions and displays started to trigger my motion sickness - it was like being in an imax.  Also the music was not a good fit for the scenes and was very loud.  My friend kept muttering about Bolero not being very Monet lol.  Thankfully I had my ear plugs with me.  Too bad really as we were so looking forward to another great experience like we had with Immersive VG.  




smoke665 said:


> Looking forward to your comments on it. This was in Birmingham, December-early January. I was going then after reviewing what it was decided not to. The reviews I read from those that attended were not the best.


I should have read those reviews!  After we so enjoyed the VG last year I had said Oh I hope they do Monet!!!  so when I saw the ads I bought the tickets without a second thought.  

Still, I got to hang out with an old friend, found $4 meter parking in Boston on a Friday afternoon, had a nice 2 cosmo dinner after and found some very reasonably priced and very pretty gifts in the Monet exhibit gift shop so it wasn't a total disaster.  

And now I'm home and Princess just got home for winter break for a month and we are watching a movie and eating popcorn instead of decorating our tree!


----------



## smoke665

SquarePeg said:


> I should have read those reviews! After we so enjoyed the VG last year I had said Oh I hope they do Monet!!! so when I saw the ads I bought the tickets without a second



We are pretty much halfway between Birmingham and Huntsvile which tend to attract good shows and events, but you never know till you go. Surprisingly we have three local theater groups that put on fantastic shows throughout the year, these productions rival many I've been to on/off broadway,  I'm never disappointed by them, and don't cost a fortune to attend.


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Didn't care for it at all!  I loved loved loved the Immersive Van Gogh last year and was really looking forward to this one but it was not very good.  The way they kept switching the scenes and then moving the objects in the video all around made it impossible to enjoy and really look at them.  It was too much movement and too much about the transitions from one "scene" to the next and not enough about the actual works themselves.  Also, I know he did many other works but how can you have an Immersive Monet with only about 30 seconds of water lilies, no haystacks and most of the garden stuff was in abstract!  The amount of motion in the transitions and displays started to trigger my motion sickness - it was like being in an imax.  Also the music was not a good fit for the scenes and was very loud.  My friend kept muttering about Bolero not being very Monet lol.  Thankfully I had my ear plugs with me.  Too bad really as we were so looking forward to another great experience like we had with Immersive VG.
> 
> 
> 
> I should have read those reviews!  After we so enjoyed the VG last year I had said Oh I hope they do Monet!!!  so when I saw the ads I bought the tickets without a second thought.
> 
> Still, I got to hang out with an old friend, found $4 meter parking in Boston on a Friday afternoon, had a nice 2 cosmo dinner after and found some very reasonably priced and very pretty gifts in the Monet exhibit gift shop so it wasn't a total disaster.
> 
> And now I'm home and Princess just got home for winter break for a month and we are watching a movie and eating popcorn instead of decorating our tree!


Good to know, so thanks for this review!   Sounds like the day wasn't a wash even though the show was.   It happens.   

But really, you'd think the powers that be would have paid close attention to the van Gogh show and the loving details that made it a success.   There is some criticism for these kinds of shows for these very reasons - it's not the same as seeing the works in a museum; it's a money-grab, etc.  But the vG was really tastefully done and attendees left with a real sense of what the artist was about, with the many quotes from his letters and the lingering imagery of so many paintings and drawings.   And isn't that the point?


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> We are pretty much halfway between Birmingham and Huntsvile which tend to attract good shows and events, but you never know till you go. Surprisingly we have three local theater groups that put on fantastic shows throughout the year, these productions rival many I've been to on/off broadway,  I'm never disappointed by them, and don't cost a fortune to attend.


Local theater can quite often be the best!   Affordable and easy to get to.   Talented people live everywhere.   Love local theater!


----------



## SquarePeg

terri said:


> Local theater can quite often be the best!   Affordable and easy to get to.   Talented people live everywhere.   Love local theater!


It’s so nice when there are good non “Broadway” options.  Going next week to North Shore Music Theater’s annual production of A Christmas Carol.  Tickets are affordable and it’s an easy drive for me.  But I’m also super excited to go see Funny Girl in March in NYC!!  Not quite so affordable or easy to get to lol.  Be on the lookout for a possible TPF NYC meetup that weekend!


----------



## terri

I'm green with envy!   Wish I could be there!


----------



## snowbear

A short Facebook video of the escort entering the cemetery, showing the support from the Prince George's County PD (Special Op's Division).  Wreaths Across America at Cheltenham, MD.  I'm driving the second jeep (grey Gladiator pickup) after the tractor trailers.


----------



## Warhorse

My wife and I caught colds upon returning from our trip to Vegas, we got in at 2:00am Friday morning. By Saturday we were both sick. Sunday was worse for both of us, Monday my wife became much worse, coughing very bad and trouble breathing. I took her into the ER at 7:00am, they immediately put her on oxygen and took her into the back. She was tested for covid, influenza type A and B, and RSV, she tested positive for type A influenza. They kept her in ER overnight, I went to the doctor yesterday afternoon, and was negative for covid, and both types of influenza, was given steroids and codeine cough syrup. My wife is still in the ER while waiting for a regular room (hospital is full), she is expected to be released tomorrow or Friday. We are both fully vaccinated for covid, and last year she caught covid while I did not, this year we had flu vaccines, and voila, she gets a bad case of the flu, go figure.


----------



## CherylL

Warhorse said:


> My wife and I caught colds upon returning from our trip to Vegas, we got in at 2:00am Friday morning. By Saturday we were both sick. Sunday was worse for both of us, Monday my wife became much worse, coughing very bad and trouble breathing. I took her into the ER at 7:00am, they immediately put her on oxygen and took her into the back. She was tested for covid, influenza type A and B, and RSV, she tested positive for type A influenza. They kept her in ER overnight, I went to the doctor yesterday afternoon, and was negative for covid, and both types of influenza, was given steroids and codeine cough syrup. My wife is still in the ER while waiting for a regular room (hospital is full), she is expected to be released tomorrow or Friday. We are both fully vaccinated for covid, and last year she caught covid while I did not, this year we had flu vaccines, and voila, she gets a bad case of the flu, go figure.


Sorry to hear you and your wife are both sick.  Lots of viruses going around.  I had the flu for 10 days earlier this month.  Now the drainage is lingering with a dry cough.  Week 3.  

I wish you both a speedy recovery.


----------



## smoke665

Warhorse said:


> We are both fully vaccinated for covid, and last year she caught covid while I did not, this year we had flu vaccines, and voila, she gets a bad case of the flu, go figure.


That's tough. DW's doctor won't let her fly because of her immune system, calls them flying Petri dishes. She's had 5 covid shots, and me 4, as well as the flu vaccine. Didn't stop her from catching COVID just after Thanksgiving (2nd time in 3 months), and I tested positive for Flu. Thought we were both on the road to recovery till early last week had to go back to the DR. Seems I picked up a respiratory virus that leads to Strep. So, I'm just finishing up a round of antibiotics. We're so tired of being sick this fall


----------



## SquarePeg

Warhorse said:


> My wife and I caught colds upon returning from our trip to Vegas, we got in at 2:00am Friday morning. By Saturday we were both sick. Sunday was worse for both of us, Monday my wife became much worse, coughing very bad and trouble breathing. I took her into the ER at 7:00am, they immediately put her on oxygen and took her into the back. She was tested for covid, influenza type A and B, and RSV, she tested positive for type A influenza. They kept her in ER overnight, I went to the doctor yesterday afternoon, and was negative for covid, and both types of influenza, was given steroids and codeine cough syrup. My wife is still in the ER while waiting for a regular room (hospital is full), she is expected to be released tomorrow or Friday. We are both fully vaccinated for covid, and last year she caught covid while I did not, this year we had flu vaccines, and voila, she gets a bad case of the flu, go figure.


Sorry to hear that you’re both sick.  Sending healing vibes your way!


----------



## snowbear

Warhorse said:


> My wife and I caught colds upon returning from our trip to Vegas, we got in at 2:00am Friday morning. By Saturday we were both sick. Sunday was worse for both of us, Monday my wife became much worse, coughing very bad and trouble breathing. I took her into the ER at 7:00am, they immediately put her on oxygen and took her into the back. She was tested for covid, influenza type A and B, and RSV, she tested positive for type A influenza. They kept her in ER overnight, I went to the doctor yesterday afternoon, and was negative for covid, and both types of influenza, was given steroids and codeine cough syrup. My wife is still in the ER while waiting for a regular room (hospital is full), she is expected to be released tomorrow or Friday. We are both fully vaccinated for covid, and last year she caught covid while I did not, this year we had flu vaccines, and voila, she gets a bad case of the flu, go figure.


You and her get better


----------



## Warhorse

Sorry to hear that Cheryl, and smoke are sick as well. Wishing everybody a speedy recovery.
​


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> That's tough. DW's doctor won't let her fly because of her immune system, calls them flying Petri dishes. She's had 5 covid shots, and me 4, as well as the flu vaccine. Didn't stop her from catching COVID just after Thanksgiving (2nd time in 3 months), and I tested positive for Flu. Thought we were both on the road to recovery till early last week had to go back to the DR. Seems I picked up a respiratory virus that leads to Strep. So, I'm just finishing up a round of antibiotics. We're so tired of being sick this fall


Get better, everyone.


----------



## VidThreeNorth

For the Winter Solstice Dec 21 @ 4:47 (I assume AM) I thought about a project but didn't get a good inspiration.  Anybody do anything special for it?


----------



## VidThreeNorth

Approaching the end of the year, I hope those who are healthy stay that way and the rest do better in the coming days.


----------



## snowbear

Good morning, hosers.

Winter Solstice / Saturnalia: We're just bracing for the storm.  We're supposed to get rain, but below-freezing temps will cause ice.

The kitchen appliances are supposed to arrive today; we'll stage in the dining room until the remodelers are ready to install them next week.  The pantry closet is almost gone.  I've been trying to get other things done so this little project has been "as I have time."  I absolutely _*love*_ my cordless reciprocating saw.


----------



## SquarePeg

VidThreeNorth said:


> For the Winter Solstice Dec 21 @ 4:47 (I assume AM) I thought about a project but didn't get a good inspiration.  Anybody do anything special for it?



Went to the beach for sunrise shoot with a friend.  Beautiful sky to bring in winter.  



Coastal Christmas by SharonCat..., on Flickr


----------



## limr

SquarePeg said:


> Went to the beach for sunrise shoot with a friend.  Beautiful sky to bring in winter.
> 
> 
> 
> Coastal Christmas by SharonCat..., on Flickr



Hey, is that Ogunquit?

Edit: Nevermind, I just saw your other thread. I knew I recognized that boat!  🤣  It's impossible not to take a picture of it! I love that they put the tree in the boat and the lights on the footbridge! Great shot.


----------



## SquarePeg

limr said:


> Hey, is that Ogunquit?
> 
> Edit: Nevermind, I just saw your other thread. I knew I recognized that boat!  🤣  It's impossible not to take a picture of it! I love that they put the tree in the boat and the lights on the footbridge! Great shot.


Funny story… the lights on the tree in the boat are solar powered, and the lights usually die a few hours before sunrise. Which we didn’t know when we went, and when we got there and the lights on the tree weren’t on, we were a bit disappointed.  Then I remembered that I had a small string of battery powered lights in a bag in my car, so we lit the tree ourselves!    

I love what they did with the footbridge lights.  I hope they leave them on all year but the arches are red and green so I expect they’ll come down soon.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> absolutely _*love*_ my cordless reciprocating saw.


I use a corded version. Me and batteries just don't seem to get along. They always need recharging. I also find a circular saw with a carbide tooth demolition blade cuts faster and cleaner.


----------



## TanBrae

I've been wanting to put my toesies in the water here, but you all take such amazing pictures that I'm afraid mine will not live up in any way, shape, or form.
In my email today, I saw that there is this "Coffee House" forum! Hurray! 
I know there is no competition or stress here, so here goes...
These are a couple of my favorite shots from our Spearfish, SD drive this fall.


----------



## TanBrae

And, here are some from our visit to Bear Country in SD.
I wanted to go there specifically to see the wolves. They didn't fail! The sad thing, though, is that all photos had to be taken through the vehicle windows.


----------



## Original katomi

Hi all, wishing you all the best. That’s me done for now, what I have not got in .....well I go without.
rain and more rain ... when the the solar/battery powered inverter runs out of powers my Christmas lights will go out.
hoping it will last until 25th at least. But hay it lights up the area here (only 5 houses)
chat later


----------



## Original katomi




----------



## Original katomi

Just a snap shot to share the joy with all of you


----------



## smoke665

TanBrae said:


> been wanting to put my toesies in the water here, but you all take such amazing pictures that I'm afraid mine will not live up in any way, shape, or form.
> In my email today, I saw that there is this "Coffee House" forum! Hurray!
> I know there is no competition or stress here, so here goes...



First of all welcome. There are members of all skill levels here. Over the years I've been blessed with knowledge and improvements but more important I've witnessed the growth and improvements of others here. We were all beginners once.

While we all post the occasional shot on the Coffee House, it's more of a casual chat thread. Posting in one of the other defined threads will get more critique and help. If you don't want critique look at th "Just for fun" thread.

Again welcome!


----------



## SquarePeg

Original katomi said:


> Hi all, wishing you all the best. That’s me done for now, what I have not got in .....well I go without.
> rain and more rain ... when the the solar/battery powered inverter runs out of powers my Christmas lights will go out.
> hoping it will last until 25th at least. But hay it lights up the area here (only 5 houses)
> chat later


Merry Christmas!  I didn’t put up any of the usual outdoor lights this year, just a big red bow on the lamppost and a wreath on the door.  Electricity costs are nuts right now and my solar lights from last year got run over by the snow blower 😊


----------



## smoke665

Stay warm all. They're calling for 5-7 as the low here. Possibility of snow flurries but no accumulations. We aren't equipped for this.


----------



## Rickbb

Wind chill here is supposed to be zero tomorrow afternoon. That just does not happen here, (central NC).


----------



## cgw

Ready for 48hrs+ of crap weather here in S. Ontario. Food, booze, goodies for Xmas stockpiled. Snow clearing this year grounds for impromptu Christmas cocktail parties+snacks in driveways I'm told today. Love my 'hood!


----------



## snowbear

It's been raining all day, currently 54*F and we have a gale warning.  It turns cold tonight/tomorrow.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> It's been raining all day, currently 54*F and we have a gale warning.  It turns cold tonight/tomorrow.


Same here.  Looks like a lot of us are being impacted by this mess of a storm system. 

Stay safe and warm this Christmas weekend, hosers!     After some last minute running around, we're finally ready to hunker down and aren't planning to leave the house for the next several days.   🌨️


----------



## Warhorse

The only thing that I have to go outside for in the next three days is this, and wild horses couldn't keep me from doing it, I am going to go get my beloved wife out of the hospital in the morning and bring her home where she belongs!!!


----------



## Original katomi

Lend you the saddle for the wild horse to get misses
really though..
wish you both all the best please to hear that she is coming home
mum wishes you a healthy and blessed new year


----------



## smoke665

I was greeted with a balmy 6 degrees and snow on the ground when I took Pheobe out this morning. Needless to say neither of us were impressed! The good news is that the predicted long lasting cold snap is already easing up. By this afternoon we have a gradual warming trend in play.

The good thing about the cold is it finally forced me to address issues with my CPAP. For the past few months I've had off and on issues with the humidifier. Sometimes it worked fine sometimes it didn't, and I'd wake up with sinuses dryed out. Managed to get to the Medical Supply yesterday, seems the heater plate wasn't working. Fortunately it was under warranty so they swapped me a new machine. For the first time in months I got a good night's sleep. 



Warhorse said:


> it, I am going to go get my beloved wife out of the hospital in the morning and bring her home where she belongs!!



That's great news!!!!!


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> I use a corded version. Me and batteries just don't seem to get along. They always need recharging. I also find a circular saw with a carbide tooth demolition blade cuts faster and cleaner.


I have a corded one, as well.  I like the flexibility of cordless, and over the past year, have switched to one brand so the batteries for drill, saws, and even yard power tools are interchangeable.


----------



## CherylL

-4 here this morning with windchill of -27.  Should get up to a high of 7 today.  The pups don't waste time going outside.  They are cold even with coats.


----------



## Warhorse

Slight delay in bringing my wife home, they want her to stay another day while they ween her off the steroids. She is not happy but understands why.


----------



## terri

Warhorse said:


> Slight delay in bringing my wife home, they want her to stay another day while they ween her off the steroids. She is not happy but understands why.


Ugh - I'm sure she's impatient to get out of there, but better to be in the best possible place before leaving, to avoid any returns.


----------



## terri

CherylL said:


> -4 here this morning with windchill of -27.  Should get up to a high of 7 today.  The pups don't waste time going outside.  They are cold even with coats.


I bet they set a new record today!


----------



## Original katomi

Aww sorry to hear the delay
our thoughts with you


----------



## snowbear

Checking in while the computer is running one of my mapping scripts.

It only rained on the morning commute and the temp was about 44 F, but it turned over to snow flurries later in the morning.  Skies are now mostly clear but the temperature has dropped to 21 F and we are still under a gale (34 to 47 knots or 39  to 54 mph) warning.

We're supposed to go to dinner with a couple friends tonight, but we might reschedule.  Heading to SIL's tomorrow for Christmas Eve and Day.


----------



## cgw

Gettin' whacked here by nasty wind chill, drifting snow, glassy roads late this afternoon. More to come?
My advice: start drinking heavily...


----------



## terri

cgw said:


> Gettin' whacked here by nasty wind chill, drifting snow, glassy roads late this afternoon. More to come?
> My advice: start drinking heavily...


We're having spaghetti and salad for dinner, with a bottle of chianti and a fire in the fireplace.   It's silly cold outside!  🥶


----------



## cgw

terri said:


> We're having spaghetti and salad for dinner, with a bottle of chianti and a fire in the fireplace.   It's silly cold outside!  🥶


Nice. Enjoy!

Meet-up with the snowblower tomorrow a.m.  We the North, as they say...


----------



## terri

cgw said:


> Nice. Enjoy!
> 
> Meet-up with the snowblower tomorrow a.m.  We the North, as they say...


Ewww.     Bundle up!


----------



## snowbear

*EIGHT-OH-TWO!
  *


----------



## smoke665

OMG getting serious. We're served by Alabama Power, which surprisingly has been stable primarily because they own their generation facilities. At our lake house, the power is through a local Co-op that like other small independent electric companies, buys their power from TVA. Throughout TN and northern AL, TVA is reporting an emergency overload on the grid, necessitating rolling blackouts to manage the overload. Further north communities served by Ameren are experiencing power outages caused by ice and wind. Many of them have been without power for over 24 hrs. With temperatures down to -10 even once the power comes on there's been ruptured water lines in houses everywhere.

All it takes is one little incident to make you realize just how fragile our infrastructure really is.


----------



## snowbear

We're good, though I suspect there will be some power problems.  It was 16 degrees when I got home, yesterday.

Speaking of power, the electricians came in yesterday and put in the new panel and bumped up all of the circuits, doubling capacity on most.  I have to go get another kitchen-friendly butane torch for making SIL the promised creme brulee.  Our little torch has gotten lost in the move and MLW won't let me use the Bernzomatic I have in the shop.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> OMG getting serious. We're served by Alabama Power, which surprisingly has been stable primarily because they own their generation facilities. At our lake house, the power is through a local Co-op that like other small independent electric companies, buys their power from TVA. Throughout TN and northern AL, TVA is reporting an emergency overload on the grid, necessitating rolling blackouts to manage the overload. Further north communities served by Ameren are experiencing power outages caused by ice and wind. Many of them have been without power for over 24 hrs. With temperatures down to -10 even once the power comes on there's been ruptured water lines in houses everywhere.
> 
> All it takes is one little incident to make you realize just how fragile our infrastructure really is.


The last few days with the minus temps, I've said many times that things could be worse with no power.  Very thankful.  About 20 years ago we lost power for 5 days with cold snow weather.  Spent one night in a local hotel and then borrowed a generator for the other nights.


----------



## CherylL

The grands are coming over tomorrow.  To spice things up after the gift opening I made a clue type game.  First they have to find the pickle ornament on the tree and from there clues to find more things around the house.


----------



## Warfarin

Merry Christmas everybody


----------



## snowbear

I just pulled the crème brûlée out if the oven.  It should be cooled enough by dinner, then we get to torch it.  It is SIL Ada’s favorite dessert.


----------



## terri

snowbear said:


> I just pulled the crème brûlée out if the oven.  It should be cooled enough by dinner, then we get to torch it.  It is SIL Ada’s favorite dessert.
> 
> View attachment 262480





Yum!!  One of my favorites, too!   That looks beautiful.


----------



## snowbear

Thank you.  The recipe made nine of them so we had one for an appetizer.  A couple small lumps (run scalded cream through strainer next time) but taste was spot on.  I’m very happy with the results!


----------



## limr

Happy Holiday, hosers!


----------



## SquarePeg

CherylL said:


> -4 here this morning with windchill of -27.  Should get up to a high of 7 today.  The pups don't waste time going outside.  They are cold even with coats.


Reminded me of that joke where the car won’t start and the driver tells the AAA guy there’s a warning light on the dash of a person sitting on the toilet.     -4°

The grands are coming over tomorrow.  To spice things up after the gift opening I made a clue type game.  First they have to find the pickle ornament on the tree and from there clues to find more things around the house.

So that pickle ornament search is really a thing?  Someone gave us one and we had never heard of it and we really gave her a hard time about it lol.  Lots of pickle jokes all day.  She was really in a pickle!


----------



## smoke665

Back to Dr, round 3 for December. Another round of antibiotics. I've been on meds in one form or another the whole month of Dec.😒


----------



## terri

SquarePeg said:


> Reminded me of that joke where the car won’t start and the driver tells the AAA guy there’s a warning light on the dash of a person sitting on the toilet.     -4°
> 
> The grands are coming over tomorrow.  To spice things up after the gift opening I made a clue type game.  First they have to find the pickle ornament on the tree and from there clues to find more things around the house.
> 
> So that pickle ornament search is really a thing?  Someone gave us one and we had never heard of it and we really gave her a hard time about it lol.  Lots of pickle jokes all day.  She was really in a pickle!


I'd never heard of it, either!  And here I was thinking how original Cheryl was being for the kids  - so, a pickle ornament search is a thing?


----------



## terri

smoke665 said:


> Back to Dr, round 3 for December. Another round of antibiotics. I've been on meds in one form or another the whole month of Dec.😒


Ugh.  Sorry, Smoke!  Crappy way to end the year.


----------



## ac12

terri said:


> Ugh.  Sorry, Smoke!  Crappy way to end the year.



There are worse ways.
I would take meds over being IN the hospital.


----------



## Original katomi

Morning all
You put the bones up out of the dogs reach and this happens


----------



## smoke665

terri said:


> Ugh.  Sorry, Smoke!  Crappy way to end the year.



This has been a month for us at our house, between COVID, Flu, Strep, and now this respiratory crud that wont let go. DW is still feeling the after effects of COVID from the first of the month.....fatigue and surprisingly the brain fog. When she had COVID the first of September she bounced back within days. Everyone around our area seems to be sick with something. The weather has been such a rollercoaster of temperature swings.


----------



## terri

ac12 said:


> There are worse ways.
> I would take meds over being IN the hospital.


Well, sure.   But sometimes it's nice to just get some metaphorical tea and sympathy, as opposed to some well-meaning "glass half full" platitudes that somehow imply the recipient should buck up and cope.      If you feel like crap, you feel like crap.


----------



## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> This has been a month for us at our house, between COVID, Flu, Strep, and now this respiratory crud that wont let go. DW is still feeling the after effects of COVID from the first of the month.....fatigue and surprisingly the brain fog. When she had COVID the first of September she bounced back within days. Everyone around our area seems to be sick with something. The weather has been such a rollercoaster of temperature swings.


I hope your DW recovers soon.  She has been through a lot.  Hopefully you will get better too.  The respiratory stuff hangs on.  I am in week 4 and have a doc appointment tomorrow.


----------



## CherylL

SquarePeg said:


> Reminded me of that joke where the car won’t start and the driver tells the AAA guy there’s a warning light on the dash of a person sitting on the toilet.     -4°
> 
> The grands are coming over tomorrow.  To spice things up after the gift opening I made a clue type game.  First they have to find the pickle ornament on the tree and from there clues to find more things around the house.
> 
> So that pickle ornament search is really a thing?  Someone gave us one and we had never heard of it and we really gave her a hard time about it lol.  Lots of pickle jokes all day.  She was really in a pickle!


 -4 icon cannot unsee it now!

I heard about the pickle ornament from someone in the New England area.  I thought it was a New England thing.


----------



## smoke665

CherylL said:


> I am in week 4 and have a doc appointment tomorrow.


What ever this stuff is it just keeps hanging on........almost get over it but not quite, then it flares up again.

@terri No sympathy at my house. DW will be the first to admit she isn't a good patient and even less the caregiver. LOL


----------



## snowbear

The kitchen is coming along.  Demo almost complete and the cabinets were delivered today and installation should start tomorrow.

The bulkhead that sticks out from the wall still needs to be removed.




And as quick as it was emptied, it gets filled up again.  Two cabinets, a door, the new sing, disposal and some hardware are staged in the living room.


----------



## smoke665

snowbear said:


> Demo almost complete


No bags of cash, bones, or other exciting items found?????


----------



## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> No bags of cash, bones, or other exciting items found?????


Only a carpenter's notes on a 2x4.

There is some $#!t on the wall of what was the pantry closet.  Some is from the very old can of cherry pie filling that exploded when we were cleaning it out (SIL Ada loved that) but the rest is unidentifiable.  Cleaners barely put a dent into it, so I picked up a belt sander tonight.


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## terri

snowbear said:


> Only a carpenter's notes on a 2x4.
> 
> There is some $#!t on the wall of what was the pantry closet.  Some is from the very old can of cherry pie filling that exploded when we were cleaning it out (SIL Ada loved that) but the rest is unidentifiable.  Cleaners barely put a dent into it, so I picked up a belt sander tonight.


We removed a large (4'x6'), over-the-mantle mirror in our old house, just like you did - and we were _really_ hoping to discover a wall safe.  

Sad!


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## terri

Happy New Year, hosers!   🎉


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## dxqcanada

terri said:


> Happy New Year, hosers!   🎉


What? It's over now ?


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## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> What ever this stuff is it just keeps hanging on........almost get over it but not quite, then it flares up again.


Yep!  I feel better on meds, but you are correct it keeps hanging on.  How are you and DW?


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## snowbear

A happy and safe (and healthy) New Year, hosers.

Cabinet installation is coming along, countertop folks coming out Tuesday to make the template.


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## snowbear

Where we are.  Base cabinets are dark blue.  The light fixtures will get changed out.


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## smoke665

CherylL said:


> How are you and DW?


My sinusitis is mostly gone but it just won't quit totally. Still have a few more days of antibiotics so we'll see. Dw is still feeling some of the long lasting effects of COVID.....the fatigue, the brain fog. We're both tired of not feeling well. Just heard tonight that our DIL tested positive for COVID today. So far the rest of the family is still okay, but the last time it hit them in January, it went thru the whole house.


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## terri

snowbear said:


> Where we are.  Base cabinets are dark blue.  The light fixtures will get changed out.View attachment 262614


Love that dark blue for the cabinets, and that farmhouse sink is the bomb!    I inherited someone else's recent kitchen remodel when we bought this place, so I'll be living with other people's choices for quite some time.   Much more fun to do it your way!


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## smoke665

Ham and blackeyed peas have been in the slow cooker all morning. Collard greens and cornbread just about done. 😁


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## terri

smoke665 said:


> Ham and blackeyed peas have been in the slow cooker all morning. Collard greens and cornbread just about done. 😁


Happy New Year, Southerner!      How's your mama and them?


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## smoke665

terri said:


> How's your mama and them?


Well bless your heart, I think you meant "em" instead of "them". We're all fair to middlin here. That meal left us fuller than a tick on a coon dog. Y'all have a good rest of your holiday....hear!


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## SquarePeg

Happy New Year Hosers!  Wishing you all good light and great skies in 2023!


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## CherylL

smoke665 said:


> My sinusitis is mostly gone but it just won't quit totally. Still have a few more days of antibiotics so we'll see. Dw is still feeling some of the long lasting effects of COVID.....the fatigue, the brain fog. We're both tired of not feeling well. Just heard tonight that our DIL tested positive for COVID today. So far the rest of the family is still okay, but the last time it hit them in January, it went thru the whole house.


Hope DW gets relief soon.  Sorry about DIL testing positive.  I hear you on the sinus stuff lingering.  I finished my antibiotic yesterday and have 2 days left of steroids.  The upside is that my knees feel better on the steroids.  Feel like I'm functioning at 70%.

Hope you all get better soon!


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## smoke665

@snowbear still to early to visualize how the dark blue will work for me. Always nice to see someone's vision complete.



CherylL said:


> Feel like I'm functioning at 70%.



I might be 80% today. This Sinusitis going around here is bad this year. I don't think it helped matters that I had the Flu, then Strep, then Sinusitis one after the other, with no recovery in between. I ran out of Meloxicam for the knees before Christmas, haven't had a chance to get back to Dr. Been trying to grin bear it, because he's probably going to start talking replacement. 

DW has started improving, the brain fog and fatigue getting better. Son called us yesterday more cases of COVID in the house. 😞 so far symptoms all mild.


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## snowbear

smoke665 said:


> @snowbear still to early to visualize how the dark blue will work for me. Always nice to see someone's vision complete.


What we didn't want was all white, nor all navy.  Navy over white looked top-heavy so we went with white over navy.  Hardware is "brushed nickel" and we'll have two types of curtains - white sheers on the sides and an accent curtain made of burlap.  MLW's vision is "French Country."  I'll build a small table to go against the picture window and put a marble top on it so she can roll out her dough.

These guys are really rolling today.  They just put the stove in place and ran the water line to the basement for the fridge's ice-maker/water fountain.  Now we just need the plumber and electrician.


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## snowbear

In other stuff, MLW got me a couple light bracket sets for the Jeep.  One mounts on the bumper, and the other goes on the cowl, in front of the "A Pillar" or windshield.  The bumper get the Moose Lights (auxiliary high beams) while the A Pillar gets "ditch" lights.  These are flood lights that are aimed to the side and slightly forward, and are used off road to light up the ditches, so you can see what's to the side.  I'll wire each ditch light separately so I can choose left, right or both, and the moose lights will take the third switch.  That will leave me one switch in reserve.  I'll use the last one for a winch, if I decide to put one on.

We had the dealer install the factory auxiliary switch bank for these, as well as installing the proximity locks - they unlock when you touch them.  We've gotten spoiled with the Honda having the proximities.


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## CherylL

The grands gave me an Amazon gift card for xmas.  I ordered a light wand and it was delivered with the product box inside open and taped.  Not a good sign.  It turned on, but could not cycle the lights.  The remote worked for a nano second and the USB charger was missing.

Sent it back and ordered a different model from a different company.


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## smoke665

@CherylL sounds like you got a return instead of new. The only issue we had with shipments through the holiday was with a live plant delayed in transit during the artic cold snap. It didn't survive the experience. The seller was very prompt on getting a replacement out.


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## Original katomi

Hi all how are you all today.


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## terri

Hi katomi!   Happy weekend!


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## cgw

It's a bit late but had to share this--the ultimate in true Hoser Xmas lawn decor in my 'hood. Never pitch an old hockey stick, eh? Cheered me up--hope it does the same for the inmates here!

Best to all for 2023!


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## snowbear

Good evening, hosers.

Last month, a Sheriff's Deputy in a neighboring county was shot.  As part of a fundraiser, a local ice cream shop was selling pies.  Being diabetics, we certainly do not need pies. but since we both worked for (and met at) the Police Department, I bought a "flight" - an assortment of mini pies.  I am supposed to pick them up tomorrow afternoon.

This evening I learn that the Deputy is being released from the hospital tomorrow and anyone on MD Route 4 can expect a "large precession" southbound in the early afternoon.  Perfect - I should be able to do both!

Unfortunately, the electrician _may_ be coming by.  MLW hopes not, so she can go on the ride.


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## SquarePeg

TGIF hosers!  First week back to work after the holidays and some extra time off was tough, even if it was only a 4 day week.  Had to go to our Boston office on Thursday for a meeting - traffic was light.  I had hopes of getting some nice city view shots and brought my camera but it was very foggy and visibility was awful.  We do have some nice views from our building.  Hopefully soon will have better timing. 

This is the North End - Boston’s version of Little Italy.  That’s the “Old North Church” on the left - Boston’s oldest surviving church, where legend has it that Paul Revere instructed his fellow patriots to hang two lanterns in the steeple to warn the militiamen that the British were coming, before continuing on his infamous midnight ride.


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## snowbear

We (the Jeep clubs) didn't drive in the procession, but we did get a spot to watch it.

Welcome home, Sr. Deputy Flynt

__
		https://flic.kr/p/2oag6QY


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## Original katomi

Snow bear
add my thought and well wishes to the police man who was shot.
morning everyone, how did Christmas and new year go for you all. 
here it was a quiet time with sadness new year as this year there were only three of us to see it in ... the used to be 24 and a big party... could nor help think of those not there.
once Again life and appointments have taken over this month already and I see little chance of time out with the camera.


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## snowbear

Original katomi said:


> Snow bear
> add my thought and well wishes to the police man who was shot.
> morning everyone, how did Christmas and new year go for you all.
> here it was a quiet time with sadness new year as this year there were only three of us to see it in ... the used to be 24 and a big party... could nor help think of those not there.
> once Again life and appointments have taken over this month already and I see little chance of time out with the camera.


Thank you.
We haven't really celebrated Christmas for the past few years so it was nice to do so.  New Years was quiet as we typically don't do much for that.


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